David Ancell / Monday, August 12, 2002 / Comments(0)
I just got a letter from Catholic Answers about World Youth Day. Apparently, there was concern that “Catholics” for a Free Choice was going to come and distribute tons of condoms. Well, according to this letter, they never showed. In fact, the letter goes on to state that only one group actually showed up to distribute condoms, and they had to go to other venues (e.g. shopping malls, theaters) to distribute them because the World Youth Day participants wouldn’t take them. Thanks be to God!
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David Ancell / Sunday, August 11, 2002 / Comments(0)
Today’s New York Times headlines digest featured this article claiming that lay people in the Catholic Church are frustrated by “aloofness” of the hierarchy. My reading of the article can be summed up as follows:
Cardinal Law didn’t want to accept money from the “moderate” Voice of the Faithful; therefore, the Cardinal must not care about lay people.
Indeed further in the article, one can find that Voice of the Faithful is pressing “for the laity to have a greater say in church policies” (supposedly without “alienating the Church hierarchy”). This all looks to me like a power struggle. Jesus said that a leader must serve others. If leaving the hierarchy as the governors of the church causes the Church to be governed by corrupt bishops, then having a lay-governed Church will cause the Church to be governed by corrupt lay people.
True, the article does mention that not everyone is unhappy, but it is still largely one-sided in that it doesn’t consider another very important point of view:
Check out the June 14, 2002 blog from Pete Vere and the blog by Mark Shea. I am in complete agreement with the aforementioned men about the abuse scandal. The sexual abuse is a horrible sin, but it is but one symptom of the larger problem of a lack of authentic faith. This problem is not just a problem of our Bishops. We also have a responsibility to learn the faith and proclaim it, but it’s very hard to do without the opportunity to gain an authentic formation. To gain authentic formation, we need a bishop who will work tirelessly to safeguard the teaching of the faith. We need the assurance that every program that is under the auspices of a parish or a diocese is 100% orthodox. We also have the duty to support our bishops when they work to give us that assurance.
There is hope. Yes, lay people will be a part of the reform of the Church. As I have said earlier, since we are just as much the Church as the hierarchy, we need to reform just as much as they do. We must resolve to live holy lives. We must learn our faith, love our faith, live our faith, and proclaim our faith wherever we are.
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David Ancell / Saturday, August 10, 2002 / Comments(0)
Here I am with another random rant . . . .
Sometimes I think that the very people who are trying to detract from the Church are actually saying exactly what we want them to say about the Church. They mean their comments as an argument against us, but really, they’ve told us that we are accomplishing our mission.
Back when Evangelium Vitae was written, I remember one detractor saying something to the effect of “The Pope is out of step with the modern world.” Think about this for a moment, and you might realize that this is really a compliment. I don’t know about you, but I sincerely hope that the Holy Father is way out of step with the Culture of Death that is rampant in the “modern world.” To be in step with this “modern world” is to march to the beat of Satan’s drum straight down the Road to Hell.
Another great line is that the teaching of the Magisterium is “far from the way people really live.” Did it ever occur to the authors of such statements that the teaching may be correct and “the way people really live” be wrong? If I am committing serious sin, then I would hope that the preaching of all of the ordained would be totally opposed to the way that I’m living. Given the fact that serious sins such as fornication and contraception have widespread acceptance in society, I hope that the teaching of the Magisterium is a long way from how people live.
With that being said, please pray for the souls of the people who write these things. I don’t remember who they are, but God does.
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David Ancell / Saturday, August 10, 2002 / Comments(0)
As much trouble as I often have doing this, I believe we should presume good will in people until demonstrated otherwise. I know I want the same treatment. Read the excellent book from Fr. Lawrence Lovasik, The Hidden Power of Kindness.
With that being said, it would be foolhardy to presume good will with people like NARAL, NOW, and Planned Parenthood. When “pro-choice” groups oppose every measure to help make the choice a free, informed choice, it’s a bit hard to believe that they are pro-any choice but abortion. This is why I use the term “pro-abortion.”
NARAL has even gone on record opposing the newly signed Born-Alive Infants Protection Act. This is scary, to say the least. The last thing we need in our society is to relegate personhood only to those who are “wanted.” After all, who is it who’ll get to decide who is truly “wanted.”
As a pro-life Catholic, I oppose abortion for any reason. It is morally indefensible. Here’s a thought for you . . . . if a baby is born prematurely the child will be given needed medical care to attempt to save him/her. However, a child of the same gestational age can be killed inside the womb by partial-birth abortion. What occurs upon exiting the womb that makes the child a person if he/she wasn’t before?
Here’s another thought . . . . I saw something in a book that said that a mother calls an unborn child a “baby” if she wants a child, and a “fetus” if she doesn’t. Well, how true this is, despite the fact that “fetus” is Latin for “unborn child”!! How many expectant mothers will say to you “My fetus is kicking.”?
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David Ancell / Saturday, August 10, 2002 / Comments(0)
Think again . . . as this article from the National Catholic Register on World Youth Day shows. Here’s an editorial from the Register that is well worth reading.
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David Ancell / Friday, August 09, 2002 / Comments(0)
Here a nice article about Patrick Madrid. I saw him in Steubenville at the Defending the Faith conference, and he struck me as a very genuine man. He was calm and polite, but he presented the faith clearly. In fact, that’s one thing I noticed about the apologists is that I had a certain sense that they were really good, caring people. Often there is a notion that these people will be argumentative and arrogant, but I can assure you that this isn’t the case with the Steubenville crowd.
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David Ancell / Thursday, August 08, 2002 / Comments(0)
I see that Catholic Exchange has enlisted the excellent resource of Catholics United for the Faith. I’m a member of the organization myself. Check out these viewer letters to find some gems, especially concerning the existence of purgatory after Judgement Day (meaning the General Judgement at the end of the world). It seems to imply that somehow everyone will be completely purified, but we don’t know exactly how.
St. Joseph’s Communications has produced a new CD set by Fr. Isaac Mary Relyea that offers a somewhat different perspective. It’s called The Final Journey, and it’s available on compact disc or cassette. Fr. Relyea seems to think that there will be an immediate purification on Judgement Day, the severity of which will be in accordance with one’s need. A word of caution about this series: Much of the material presented relies on revelations of saints (which are not necessarily dogma), and is therefore not for the faint of heart. Fr. Relyea is especially graphic in his description of Hell.
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David Ancell / Wednesday, August 07, 2002 / Comments(0)
I’ve been wanting to post on this topic, but I was waiting for some more assurance that this was to be made public. It appears that eight bishops have written a letter to the others calling for a Plenary Council. The letter (click here to read) is pretty powerful. Much good can be done if this goes through. Our church in America is in great need of a restoration of authentic Catholicism.
Please be praying that God’s will is done in this matter.
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David Ancell / Monday, August 05, 2002 / Comments(0)
Take a look at Amy Welborn’s excellent article on her web site. Little saddens me more than our society’s loss of belief in truth. The truth matters so much to me, and I’m often at a loss to understand (or communicate with) those who don’t seem to view it as a matter of eternity.
We seem to have lost a healthy realization of the possibility of spending eternity in the smoking section. Yes, hell does exist, and you can go there. I don’t think we should live with an obsessive fear of Hell, but we should have a healthy concern for the health of our souls as well as those of whom we love.
Someone once told me that he couldn’t believe that someone could go to Hell for not believing in Jesus. I think he misunderstands Heaven. Heaven is living in a loving union with God. If one tried to know the true God but unintentionally fails, he/she will likely love the true God upon receiving the true revelation. Such a person can live in Heaven. However, if God reveals to someone who he is, and that person says “No, God, I’m going to believe [insert something else here],” then he/she has rejected God and cannot live in union with him.
Another problem is that few realize the loving revelation that God made of himself in Jesus Christ. Although it is true that we can’t know everything about God, this doesn’t mean that we can’t know anything. Because God loves us, he wants us to know him. If we love God and our neighbor, we will want our neighbor to know God.
I pray that a spirit of evangelization and missionary zeal will rain down upon all who hold the Catholic faith.
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David Ancell / Sunday, August 04, 2002 / Comments(0)
I had quite a trip to Steubenville last weekend. I must admit it was different from what I expected. There was a big element of the Charismatic Renewal there (about which I will claim no knowledge, one way or the other). The music was contemporary, as was their main chapel. However, there were great speakers, and the bookstore had so much great stuff that it seemed like a conspiracy to deplete my bank account. The speakers included Tim Gray, David Curie, Scott and Kimberly Hahn, Jesse Romero, Rosalind Moss, Benedict Groeschel, Steve Ray, Allen Schreck, and Patrick Madrid.
All in all, it was a great trip, and one well worth taking. I’ll have to try it again.
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