Lesbian Teacher Fired from Catholic School

This story is fairly common... lesbian teacher takes job at Catholic school... brags about orientation... gets canned... gets lawyer... big media blah-blah.

It was the comment section that really got my attention.  Surprisingly (or not), many of the comments are really anti-Catholic and pretty darn nasty.  Although, I have to admit that some of them were kind of amusing.


My favorite:


"Christianity: The belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree... yeah, makes perfect sense."

At least this one was creative... but the hatred of the Church and the Truth that is present in the hearts of these people should be a clear sign of the intrinsic disorder in their lives.  I wish that such people could see that true source of hatred lies not in the Church, but in their hearts.

More Stem Cell News

Well, after my look into the connection between embryonic stem cells and autism, I thought that I would provide some interesting updates in other stem cell news.

The big story, which has gotten a fair amount of spin in the media, is the story about the young Israeli who developed a brain tumor due to a treatment involving embryonic stem cells.  In general, this story is covered from the perspective that the doctors who treated the boy had not been responsible in their injection of aborted fetal tissue into the brain of this ill boy; however, there has been no actual evidence that any other effect would have been forthcoming.  Scientists have yet to achieve any meaningful advance with therapies utilizing embryonic stem cells.

Interestingly, the much less popular adult stem cells (and umbilical cord blood stem cells) are generating useful treatments and therapies all the time.  The Vatican* has even begun funding research with adult stem cells.

One needs to wonder why it is that there is so much less interest in adult stem cells (which have been utilized in successful therapies and treatments) than there is in embryonic stem cells (which have not produced much more than tumors).  I think it has to do with money and with patents (adult stem cells have much less profit potential than do embryonic stem cells);  part of this problem has to do with WARF and the patents that they hold on embryonic stem cell lines.  There is also the question of therapies using embryonic stem cells being more profitable than those that utilize adult stem cells, because of the publically financed nature of most adult stem cell research at this point; interestingly, embryonic stem cell research (which is more expensive and less predictable that adult stem cell research) requires government subsidies to work (as most investors realize that embryonic stem cells are much less likely to result in failures).

So these corporations that want both government subsidies and freedom from government intervention in their profits and affairs, expect that they should be able to take tax-payer funding and utilize this research to reap profits from those same tax-payers.

For more information, check out Do No Harm.


*I also have to point out that I am irritated with the obfuscational coverage that this story has generated in the secular media.  Journalists have made a concerted effort to blur the line between adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells in their coverage of the stem cell debate (for example, any story that you come across that claims a treatment has been developed with the use of stem cells, always fails to prominently and clearly state that these therapies have all be performed using adult stem cells). 

In the same vein, the media now boldly pronounces, with disingenuous surprise, that the Vatican has 'changed' its position and now embraces stem cell research.  Just to be clear, the Vatican has NOT changed its position one iota; instead, the Vatican has simply 'put its money where its mouth is' and begun financially supporting the therapy that it has supported since this issue first arose.

Abortion and Autism

It seems that a reasonable link can be inferred between the use of aborted fetal tissues in the preparation of certain vaccines and the massive spike in autism since 1988.  As a father and a Catholic, I have agonized over the question of vaccination, not because of the supposed link to autism, but because of the use of aborted fetal tissue in the cultivation of certain vaccines.  My wife and I try to be both moral and responsible with with regards to our children's vaccinations, and so we always ask for any vaccines that are not made with aborted fetal tissues.  I wish that I was surprised by the fact that so few doctors even know that aborted fetal tissue is used in several of the major vaccines, but I really am not.  Anyway, the USCCB made it clear that we, as parents, have a responsibility to see our children vaccinated, but also have a responsibility to make every effort to avoid using illicitly created vaccines.  We do this, but sometimes we are still forced to use tainted vaccines.

I always thought that the mercury issue was a red herring, but I did wonder why there appeared to be a such a strong coincidence with autism and vaccination.

Well, I have to say that this news about the correlation betweeen autism and abortion is really not surprising.  From the perspective of natural law, it makes sense that there would be such consequences for violating the natural order like this.  This is not to say that God is punishing children who get vaccinated, or even that God is indirectly punishing the scientists that engineered these vaccines, but that there are always severe consequences for violating the natural law... Sadly, I am not surprised that the consequence here is so terrible.

Live Nude Girls as 'art'

You know, I really hate it when stuff like this passes as art.  I find it interesting that models who have no problem being ogled while naked, and being squeezed between in a doorway, would then be offended when people poked and touched them 'inappropriately.' 

We are able to draw such strange lines regarding behavior in our society, because we ignore any sort of natural law.  If one does not desire to be touched inappropriately, one should not participate in inappropriate activities. 

It is as though the part of the soul that informs an individual's shame is slowed by the degeneracy of our culture, but not stilled entirely.  We are able to ignore our impulse to shame until it is too late to avoid the consequences of shameful behavior.  If one does not want to be treated shamefully, one should not engage in shameful acts, and one should not encourage others to engage in shameful acts.  To encourage a person to look at and touch naked bodies with no expectation of them losing a their sense of propriety is simply unreasonable. 

Instead of kicking out the over-stimulated spectators, they should be kicking out Abramović and her 'art.' 

A beautiful change of life...

Mandy Smith, former 'lover' of Bill Wyman (guitarist for the Rolling Stones), has come out in support of raising the age of consent in England.  She has gone from being a 'wild child' in the '80s (literally, Smith was 14 when she began her sexual relationship with Wyman), to having become a celibate, Roman Catholic mentor of young women and an advocate for protecting young girls from predators.

Her story is truly inspirational.

Interesting choice for Miami

I gotta say that I am fairly impressed that Bishop Thomas Wenski has been named the new bishop of the 'gay friendly' diocese of Miami.

Bishop Wenski has a reputation for being staunchly Pro-Life, and calling dissenting Catholics on their BS.  He seems like a pretty no-nonsense kind of guy.  Just what Miami needs right now.

So, I was locked out of my account for a few days... sorry.

Well, I did it.  I forgot my password for my blog account and it took a little longer to get it back than I though it would.  My bad.

Pornographic Crucifix?

Unfortunately, I can kind of see what they are talking about here.  I doubt that it was intentional in any way, but I still might consider touching it up a bit.  I wish I did not see it... but I do.

Irritated...

I have to say that I am irritated. I am irritated and disappointed with myself, because of my failure to stand up against the BS at the Academy. I am particularly irritated that I took down my former blog and hid away my faith for a few years. I did not deny Christ, but I certainly denied my vocation to evangelize.

All I can say to my former readers who have come back... sorry. All I can say to my new readers... I hope I do not disappoint you.

The Ridiculous Nature of Mistheism

Sometimes I just love the complete asininity of the new mistheists. I use the term mistheist, because we are not really talking about simple atheists; atheists simply do not acknowledge the existence of God, or gods, or supernatural powers, whereas mistheists actively hate God and work to discredit and annoy believers.

I was a mistheist. I used to make asinine comments about God and His believers. I lived to annoy people of faith. Well... I take that back... like most mistheists, I really only lived to annoy Christians. I thought I was so much more clever than these silly and credulous believers, and so I would mock them and try to make them question their faith with all my 'clever' and 'original' arguments (arguments that I had learned from watching television and having no experience with faith or God).

The inherently anti-rational position of the mistheist is a morass of contradictions and self-delusion. The hatred of God emerges not so much from a love of evil, as it does from shame. The mistheist is so ashamed of the things that he has done, things that he knows are inherently wicked and sinful (even if they have been permitted and normalized by the society at large), and that he must lash out at the one thing that he knows he cannot lie to or hide from. The mistheist denies God, because he knows that God exists; the mistheist knows that he will be judged and he fears this judgment. This fear is so overwhelming that it drives the mistheist away from his only opportunity for resolution… for salvation.

Ultimately, the only possible justification for the hatred of God that is expressed by people like Dawkins and Hitchens, is the egoism that can only be born of true nihilism.

The nihilist denies that there is any God, any purpose, and ultimately (even he does not realize it), any reason in the universe. The mistheist has chosen to do this because his ego will not permit him to recognize an authority above himself; the mistheist has chosen to do this, because he fears a final judgment and cannot bring himself to admit his weakness. Ironically, it is precisely this weakness that the mistheist construes as strength… and it is this weakness that keeps him from realizing the Truth.

I wonder how long it will take for this to get overturned...

So, apparently it is illegal to kill an unborn child without the consent of the mother... I guess that fits right in with the culture of 'choice'.

Therapy and the Sex Abuse Scandal

Well, here is an interesting admission. Apparently, someone is finally on record regarding the complicity of the psychological establishment in encouraging sexual predators within the Church.

Gendercide continues

I am not really sure what it will take for people to realize that we should not be mucking about with the unborn. Abortion on demand (or, in this case, mandated by the state) will be leading us to WWIII.

Remember that China and India contain roughly 1/2 of the world's population. Both are suffering ecological catastrophes, both practice selective female infanticide, and will be suffering massive water shortages in the next few decades. Both are nuclear powers. Both will have massive surplusses of unmarriagable males. Make your own conclusions.

Newsweek and the Truth? Really... ?

Well, Newsweek has apparently accepted the fact that the sexual scandals which the Church has fallen victim to, are not unique to Catholics.

Father Z, over at What does the prayer really say?, has already commented on it pretty thoroughly...

BTW, this one was referred to my by my sister-in-law.

Troy and the New Paganism

So, I just finished watching Troy, which I had avoided since it came out, figuring it was likely garbage; however, I finally decided to watch it and found it to be kind of interesting. I was particularly taken with the film's approach to paganism. Obviously, the conceit of the creators was that the Greek gods do not exist and that the people who worship them make ridiculous decisions based on reading the innards of animals, portents, and visions.

Now, I actually tried to see this as some sort of oblique criticism of Christianity, but it really doesn't work. The film seems to be legitimately criticizing paganism (which surprised me). Perhaps it was intended as a broader critique of 'religion', but it really doesn't work on that level either. I found it to be fairly cogent in its presentation of the bleak and hopeless character of paganism (and most non-monotheistic religions). This pleased me to no end, but the film also misses out on a few significant elements of the materialist vision of paganism.

Considering that we exist within in a new paganism (particularly in our entertainment industry), I figured that they must have some semblance of an understanding about what paganism is. But I was surprised by both what they missed and what they hit.

First, let me say what I mean by the New Paganism. I do NOT mean the sort of wicca-wannabe-aesir-loving-new-agers; I do mean idolaters. Pagan gods were simply personifications of human desires; the gods of our society are money, sex, power, etc.

Hollywood certainly understands idolatry (as does the banking industry and most other Modernist innovations and ideologies), even if they don't necessarily have any insight into why it is problematic. The idolatry of Troy was nicely presented and the characters seemed to be fairly conscious of their materialist paradigm.

In general, the film embraced idolatry and materialism, even managing to capture some of Homer's attempts to skewer and criticize the system (however, lacking the gods within the story, this becomes much more difficult). The one place where I feel the film failed is in its understanding of Achilles' reaction to the death of Patroclus.

For some reason, the film decided to fudge Achilles' (and Odysseus') complicity in the death of Patroclus and managed to undercut the pagan significance of Achilles' rage. The significance of Achilles’ rage at Patroculus' death was that Achilles had a brief moment of realization that the pagan ethos was not sufficient. That death in battle was not glorious for its own sake; however, his response to this was to make Hector die in battle, compounding Achilles' culpability and making the resolution of his conflict even more impossible to attain.

Now, we need to view this from a moral (and ultimately Catholic) morality; Homer clearly understands that there is something seriously lacking in the so-called 'heroic' code. Plato picks up on this and loves Homer for realizing the limitations of the heroic code, but condemns him for being unable to offer any sort of meaningful alternative.

Plato himself can only proceed to a certain point in trying to resolve the problem of Achilles, because he has no conception of original sin. Plato would argue that Achilles did not fully realize that what he was doing was 'wrong'; however, I would argue that Achilles DOES seem to understand that there is something wrong about the heroic culture, but has no real alternative. Plato can only offer a myth to explain what he sees as the basis of a moral universe, but lacks the revelation of Christ.

Even though Plato would come to influence much of what Catholics would come to say about morality, Plato's own morality falls short because of his isolation from the revelation of Truth on the Cross.

So, without a sense of what Achilles actually did not understand, it is difficult for the creators of the film to adequately justify Achilles' rage.
Even though I kind of respect the creators' decision to forgo present the gods as real, in doing so, they fail to take into account the metaphysical complexities that Homer was attempting to personify by using the gods.

The reason that the film feels so empty (especially at the end) is that it rejects the metaphysical implications of Achilles' rage and so fails to truly express Achilles' grief. This is a grief that can only be truly expressed by one who has not had the benefit of the revelation of Faith, but has realized the lie of his own metaphysical and ethical suppositions.

Because our new paganism has no metaphysics, it is even more hopeless and nihilistic than traditional paganism. Traditional paganism allowed for the imagination of metaphysical alternatives (and so for meaningful despair, I suppose... maybe just active despair), whereas the new paganism does not allow for any genuine metaphysical consolation and so generates a truly nihilistic despair, and acedia, that not only crushes our moral instincts, but causes us to despair even that those instincts exist.

This could probably be more coherent, but I am trying to get my ideas hashed out on a Saturday morning as I get ready to bring my kids to soccer practice. I am sure that others could offer meaningful criticism that I might incorporate into a more polished revision.

I will continue to think on these topics as well.

Census Bureau Encourages Homosexuals to Falsify Documents

I found this article to be a little bit unsettling... Why do you think that the Federal Government would encourage people to lie on these documents? I wonder what the government has in store for us?

Passion Mimes... why...

Passion Mimes... that is all I can muster the sanity to utter...

Amazingly depressing stuff...

Most of the news in the Catholic world has been about the increasingly expanding sexual abuse scandals throughout the Church.

This crisis is undermining the credibility of the Church on a wide variety of issues and is providing plenty of ammunition from its many detractors.

The crisis is of such a type that it is nearly impossible for the Church to defend itself from the more vicious attacks and misinformation that is currently flooding the world media. Certainly, the Church hierarchy has a responsibility to own up to its failures; however ,the Church also has a responsibility to correct lies, exaggerations, and libel.

Unfortunately, any attempt to do so appears primarily as sour grapes, and there is no way to effectively overcome this obstacle. It is incredibly frustrating to have the Church under attack by enemies with ulterior motives who, nevertheless, have legitimate criticism of horrendous acts. these acts are SO horrendous that nearly any exaggeration seems unassailable in response. Genuine evils were committed by Catholic priests and bishops, and this undermines the ability of Church hierarchy to respond to this smear campaign.

This scandal is also creating great danger for the Church, as its enemies are using it as an opportunity to attack it in many ways. Lawsuits, public denunciations, and even violence are being justified against the Church and its hierarchy.

This is a scary time for Catholics world-wide.

Archbishop Rowan Williams... Look To the Plank In Your Own Eye!

Boy, it really gets me steamed when the heads of other religions feel it necessary to weigh in on the Church's scandals... especially Rowan Williams (who is currently overseeing the dissolution of his own Protestant sect).

Unlike many traditional Catholics, I welcome the scrutiny that the Church has come under as a result of the homosexual infiltration of the priesthood and the subsequent sexual scandals. I do not believe that Truth can be wrong and it is certainly True that there have been truly horrendous lapses in judgment that allowed sexually unstable individuals into positions of authority and responsibility. I only wish that the media were using this as an opportunity for constructive criticism as opposed to a justification for smearing the Pope and the Church as a whole.

With all this in mind, however, I find it fairly ridiculous that Rowan Williams ('head' of the Anglican Communion) would deign to criticize the Catholic Church for it's handling of homosexuals (and other sexual deviants) in the priesthood, when the Anglican Communion is currently tearing itself apart over the legitimization of homosexual clergy and the promotion of homosexual marriage.

Where the Catholic Church was shamed by it's homosexual problems (reacting iwith botched cover-ups), the Anglican Communion is actively INVITING the exact same problems into their own Church! They are actual CELEBRATING the inclusion of sexually unstable individual into positions of authority in their hierarchy!

So I say to Archbishop Williams, look to the plank in your own eye, before condemning the mote in the eyes of others.

Well, I take it back

I just experienced a grace-filled Easter Vigil Mass with my children (who were both over-tired and well-behaved... hence, the grace-filled)... It really reminded of why I love the Church and why I ended up converting to begin with.

I actually received my confirmation at Easter Vigil Mass in 2002 and so, I guess, it will always remain close to me.

We also watched The Passion of the Christ last night, which I have not seen in nearly 7 years. The film is still amazing and inspiring (even though Mel Gibson has gone off the deep end recently... pray for his reconversion).

Overall, this has been a glorious Lent and looks to be a glorious Easter season.

What a depressing time to come back to blogging

Man... it seems like the only stuff out there right now is concerning the various abuse scandals throughout the Church.

When I left the blogosphere, this certainly was going on, but it seemed as though it had gone away for a few years. Now it seems to have returned even stronger. There is a concerted effort to derail the Church hierarchy and to undermine the credibility of our leaders. Mother Church has been under consistent attack by the media, the secular governments, the educational institutions, leaders of other faiths, intellectuals, and pundits.

Therefore, I will probably not devote a whole bunch of time to these issue; instead, I will focus on the broader problems that led to and contribute to the current state of affairs in America and in the world.

I'm Baaaack...

Well, I have been off-line for about 3 years now and I am sure that very few, if any, of you will remember my old blog concernedcatholic. At the time, I was a graduate student at a fairly liberal university and was threatened with exposure as a Catholic... ;)

I looked at my options and eventually ended up closing my blog and moving on to other things.

In that time, many things have happened. I have had more kids (4 now) and have left the Academy to pursue a job teaching at a Catholic high school. I own a home and am no longer dependent on the whims of crazy academics for livelihood.

Also, I have been repeatedly urged to return to my cultural commentary by family, friends, and my faith.

Things have changed in this country since I last blogged... we have a new president... we are in a recession... we have nationalized healthcare... it is, indeed, a very different place... but we are still at war, still under threat from secularists and modernists, and still losing the culture wars.

With all that in mind, I begin my new foray into blogosphere.