We need!

This year WYD (World Youth Day) is in Brazil, on the home continent of our Papa Pope Francis. Recently I have been paying attention to it, and some day I hope to go to it. It is the largest gathering of Catholics each year. He said something that struck me and stuck with me. He said:

"We need saints without cassocks, without veils - we need saints with jeans and tennis shoes. We need saints that go to the movies that listen to music, that hang out with their friends. We need saints that place God in first place ahead of succeeding in any career. We need saints that look for time to pray every day and who know how to be in love with purity, chastity and all good things. We need saints - saints for the 21st century with a spirituality appropriate to our new time. We need saints that have a commitment to helping the poor and to make the needed social change. We need saints to live in the world, to sanctify the world and to not be afraid of living in the world by their presence in it. We need saints that drink Coca-Cola, that eat hot dogs, that surf the internet and that listen to their iPods. We need saints that love the Eucharist, that are not afraid or embarrassed to eat a pizza or drink a beer with their friends. We need saints who love the movies, dance, sports, theater. We need saints that are open sociable normal happy companions. We need saints who are in this world and who know how to enjoy the best in this world without being callous or mundane. We need saints."


He called for saints, I am a big fan of The Communion of Saints, I read about their lives all the time and wonder, "How can I even come close?" How can I come close to even imitating their lives. One they lived so long ago even if it is 50 years ago that they died that is a long time. Two, we as people don't operate the same as the did say in St. Francis time, or St. Paola Elisabetta Cerioli (a Saint that died in 1965). They didn't have Ipads, TV, and Social Media. People were different, Yes, you can take a lot from Saint's lives, their virtue, morality, and unwillingness to fall into temptation. But or Pope is right, we don't have Saints where they stories include being sports fans, that listened to music on their iPods, used social media, drank beer. We need saints who aren't afraid to live in this world. 

In a few months Pope Francis will canonize  one of the most modern Saints. John Paul the Great aka John Paul II! This is a moment of history for us as Catholics, JP II has influenced almost everything in our faith as it stands today. He lived in WWII Poland, saw his family die...well let this picture explain it:

Truly We need more people like this man, commit yourself to live your life through the eyes of Jesus Christ. Saints don't have to be perfect in fact  none of them were. They lived extraordinary lives for Jesus Christ and now it is our turn!

Ordain A Lady....Huh?

Recently I have become aware of a movement of the Catholic Church, Women's Ordination to be Priests.  IT has been kind of big in the last 10 years, but has been around since the 1960's with women's liberation. When  I want to provide you some background in this movement, because I knew nothing about it. So I looked into it: 

"The Roman Catholic Women-priests is a renewal movement within the Church that began in Germany with the ordination of seven women on the Danube River in 2002. In 2003, Gisela Forster and Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger (two of the original Danube 7) were ordained bishops and in 2005 Patricia Fresen from South Africa (who currently lives in Germany) was also ordained a bishop. Women-bishops ordained in Apostolic Succession continue to carry out the work of ordaining women in the Roman Catholic Church. In 2006, Ida Raming was ordained a bishop and in 2008 Dana Reynolds of California became the first American Roman Catholic Woman-bishop. These women and those who have come after them continue to carry on the pastoral work of ordaining women to the priesthood. Currently there are over 145 Roman Catholic women worldwide who are reclaiming their ancient spiritual heritage and are re-shaping a more inclusive, Christ-centered Church for the 21st century. We advocate a new model of priestly ministry united with the people with whom we serve.  We are rooted in a response to Jesus who called women and men to be disciples and equals living the Gospel."

This video is comical more than anything, it went viral in the catholic community because it is wrong,  and here is why. 

The Church has a really strong position on this...There is no better way then to explain it then a quote by Blessed John Paul the Great, he felt so passionate and that it was such an issue that in 1994 he wrote a papal Letter called an . It was named ORDINATIO SACERDOTALIS, it means Ordination is Sacred. It it he writes:  "Although the teaching thapriestly ordination is to be reserved to men alone has been preserved by the constant and universal tradition of the Church and firmly taught by the magisterium in its more recent documents, at the present time in some places it is nonetheless considered still open to debate, or the Church’s judgment that women are not to be admitted to ordination is considered to have a merely disciplinary force. Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church’s divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Luke 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful."

One of the Women's biggest pieces of evidence that they should be able to be Priests is a quote from St. Therese of Lixuex where in there words she says she is called to be a Priest.  They quote here in saying "To be betrothed to You, Jesus, to be a Carmelite, to become, through my union with You, a mother of souls — surely that ought to be enough for anybody? But somehow, not for me. I seem to have so many other vocations as well! I feel as if I were called to be a fighter, a priest, an apostle, a doctor, a martyr. . . I want to be a priest."

Now first we have to think how Serious is Therese taking herself, and how serious are we supposed to take her. We all use metaphors like "Our hearts are on Fire" or "I could eat a horse." That is what I think she is using. I have read Story of a Soul her autobiography and I saw the movie that was filmed with so much accuracy. Also they aren't even using the full quote at that, notice the points of ellipsis. They leave out a whole section. This is what she really says (what is taken out is bold: “I feel as if I were called to be a fighter, a priest, an apostle, a doctor, a martyr; as if I could never satisfy the needs of my nature without performing, for Your sake, every kind of heroic action at once. I feel as if I'd got the  cour­age to be a Crusader, a Pontifical Zouave, dy­ing on the battlefield in defence of the Church. And at the same time I want to be a priest; how lovingly I'd carry You in my hands when you came down from heaven at my call; how lovingly I'd bestow You on men's souls! And yet, with all this desire to be a priest, I've nothing but admiration and envy for the humility of St. Francis; I'd willingly imitate him in refusing the honour of the priesthood."

She basically is saying that she feels like she could do anything! Lets look at the things she says she "wants" to be Crusader (some one who fought in the Crusades), and a Pontifical Zouave (another solider type, that was created to defend the Papal States). She then says she wants to be a priest and she has admiration for St. Francis. How can she be a solider and a priest when priest's are forbidden to bear arms? How can she also die in battle and give people communion? She knows she can't, she is basically saying she feels like being a carmlite she could conquer the world! 

Those who are in favor of this also say that St. Paul was wrong, and that he shouldn't be listened to 

Another way to think of it is that Jesus chose 12 Men to follow him as his apostles, he chose no Women. They followed him but they weren't apart of the 12.  Mary was not anointed as a Priest and she was Jesus' mother, she was closer to  Jesus than any women in history. She even was not called to Priesthood. So why should women who are not Christ's mother. Also it is in scripture that Women cannot be Priest's St. Paul talks about the early church saying: "Let a woman learn in silence with full submission.  I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve;  and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor."
(Timothy 2:11-14)

Paul is writing about women teaching in churches and he said God formed Adam first. Man was created before women, therefore God gave man the authority to teach & Preach.

I am all in favor of women having a BIG role in the church, some of the greatest Saints in the world have been Women. Therese is a Doctor of the church, which means she has been given special designation that she impacted the church! But it is just not theologically accurate to have women who are Priests.

In the Name of the FATHER, THE SON, and the HOLY Spirit! AMEN!

Why am I Catholic ?

The title is a question and the question deserves to be answered. There are over 300 different religions in the United States of America, so why am I Catholic? G.K. Chesterton wrote an essay of the same title, he said "The difficulty of explaining “why I am a Catholic” is that there are ten thousand reasons all amounting to one reason: that Catholicism is true." Now I am no Chesterton, he was one of the greatest modern thinkers of the Catholic Church. This blog will not be just a summary of Chesterton's work. It is going to have my own reason, personal reasons and Bible reasons.  The first big reason  is that I was born into it.  Some people would call me a   cradle Catholic that means that I am born and raised. It might seem like a lame reason, but it isn't more or less it is because it was passed down from my parents to me, from their parents to them. It is a very Catholic thing.  The second reason is that it is apostolic & is the only faith that can be traced down to Christ.  Apostolic is a term that means of or relating to a succession of spiritual authority from the apostles held to be perpetuated by successive ordinations of bishops and to be necessary for valid sacraments and orders.  This is the Catholic church in a nutshell. It is the only Church that can be traced straight to Jesus Christ himself. No other faith in the world can said it was started by Our Savior, when he said the words “This is my body & this is my blood, do this in memory of me.” He created The Mass and there is nothing more catholic than The Mass. Because it is progressive, most non Catholics see the church as old and out dated. But did you know 200 years before the Enlightenment was even a thing, during and age that was full of Kings with Divine right (Kings being chosen by God to be Kings.).  Cardinal and Saint Robert  Bellarmine and Suarez the Spaniard laid down lucidly the whole theory of real democracy. For a more modern example Pope Leo XIII (13^th) wrote his very cutting edge encyclical on Labor called Rerum Novarum. He wrote it during what is called in history classes “The Industrial Revolution.” , and he wrote about workers’ rights when workers had no real rights.

The last reason is I am Catholic because it makes sense, it comes straight from Jesus Christ , He himself established it. He established the Eucharist, Confession, and holy orders, and then confirmation. Jesus created it and why wouldn’t you want to be a part of that religion.