Parting thoughts...

My heart hurts.

What a joy this parish has been to work for. I cannot say that I have not been wounded and even feel beaten up because of the manner in which I was laid off from St. Jude. There are many things that one must question about why I was let go. Nevertheless, that is not for me to expound on here.

Rather, I want to focus on a few things: 1) I am profoundly struck by the many people who have stopped me this last week to offer their thanks for all that I have done and tried to do at this parish. One of the most striking was when an elder lady of our parish mentioned to me that "you have brought a real sense of a Catholic identity to this parish." WOW! If that is not a compliment, then I don't know what is. But when one stops to think about it, one begins to question: of what significance is this of the parish before I arrived, and of what after I leave? Now, please don't get me wrong. I am not so prideful as to think I have been some kind of savior, if anything has been done through me then I give all praise to Christ Jesus, My Lord and My God. However, why is it that lay people recognize that another layperson has done something to bring "being Catholic" back to the center of this parish?

Could it be that the unorthodox elements of this parish have been laboring and suppressing the practice of the Catholic Faith in some way? Perhaps. Could it be that the laicized priest who preceded me had suppressed the wonder and awe due to the Holy Catholic Faith since he himself had to have been jaded or at best felt guilty and hypocritical for teaching the demands of the Holy Catholic Faith, especially since he was charged not to when he was laicized (as I understand the official letters of discharge to say)? Perhaps. Its hard to say in the end. But perhaps the fact that the shackles of fear have emerged at our parish as our nation's economy continues to plummet, also might have something to do with it.

All I know is that I hope "Ben", who I understand to be my replacement in the Children's religious education, will help to restore some vigor and passion to the children's program for the sake of the parents who are coming to receive the Catholic Faith. So many of the people teaching Religious Education in our nation tend to ignore the Integrity and the Mystery of the Holy Catholic Faith, and prefer to focus on "social justice" or "social interaction." This, of course, was the philosophy also of Anthony Gallegos, and many people at this parish were disgusted (it seemed) by it because it was uncomfortable to actually be Catholic and to teach the teens to actually defend and live up to the challenging adventure that is the Holy Catholic Faith.

2) I am deeply impressed, given all that I have said above, by the people who have actually heard what I have been teaching for the past 5 years and taken it to heart (which has been nothing more than explaining what is in the Catechism or in the Sacred Tradition of the Catholic Church). Many of the RCIA participants and some parents have actually been moved to compunction - that is, to actually repent, to be restored to grace and to take up their cross and follow after the Lord Jesus. Unfortunately, with so much confusion and misinformation about the Catholic Faith out there, and at times having been taught here at St. Jude, one begins to see why Catholics are so half-hearted that they can't even understand why we should be OUTRAGED that our Pro-Abortion President is on the verge of receiving an award from our nation's premiere Catholic University. My hope is that in the near future, someone will also stand up and, whether from the pulpit or from the pews, help push to restore the proper worldview we should have as Catholics at the Parish of St. Jude.

This parish is entrusted to the Patron of Impossible Cases, and I have been struck how many people come from all over the city to pray to St. Jude here at our parish. How awesome that Fr. Schaffer wisely put up the relic of St. Jude for people to come and to storm heaven for their needs with the Apostle to whom Our Archbishop has continued to entrust us! May we all turn to heaven for our parish and especially for our parish leaders, who have many decisions to make and every one of them they will have to stand before the Gates of Hell to answer for why they did what they did, as one of my University professors used to point out us. For this reason, let us pray for them and for their desire to seek Christ above money, above popularity, and above their own way of doing things.

3) Every year, for the last 5 years - since I started on July 12th 2004, I have chosen a scripture verse to be the focus of the Catechetical Year. I haven't pushed it much on the parish, but more importantly I have tried to make a point of it to the catechists (though I don't know how I well I did with that), to the parents, and to the children (though this only in a general way). Not least of all of these, I always chose a scripture that spoke to my heart and where I was at, as this it seems to me is at the heart of a Catholic leader. Unless I have been living out my Catholic Faith, and continuing and enduring the struggle to be a disciple of Jesus, then I have no ability to witness to what this means. To put it another way, "One can not give what one does not have." Or to put it in Papal terms, so to speak, "Modern man listens more willing to witnesses than he does to teachers, and if he listens to teachers it is because they are witnesses."

My scripture verse for the year, which has allowed me to endure many things this year with peace and some solace, is this: "Indeed, I count EVERYTHING as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as [REFUSE], in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him (Phil 3:8-9)." Now, I have tried to live up to this all year. Not focusing on money, on popularity, on pleasure, but to focus entirely on Christ. Perhaps I have not lived up to this entirely, but I have tried. Nevertheless, what I find so heart-wrenching is the fact that I also have realized much more that in the Church, the faithful of Christ, lies the joys of working for the Church. There is a famous story of St. Lawrence the Deacon who was asked to bring the treasure of the Church before the Emperor, and he went away and came back with the poor people of Rome. He said, "Here is the treasure of the Church." Too true. My heart is saddened to leave Christ who is present in every parishioner of St. Jude, even those who reject him by holding positions contrary to our Holy Mother Church.

The Letter to the Hebrews is quite clear: "Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation which addresses you as sons? - "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage when you are punished by him. For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." It is for discipline that you have to endure. Fos is treating you as sons; for what son is there whom a father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons." As Catholics, we must learn the obedience that our Lord and Master learned in his humanity. This is what is left for us, all of us - from layperson, deacon, priest, bishop, or Pope. We must learn to find the joy of living in the discipline of Holy Mother Church; and by that I mean, trying to understand what her wisdom is in her teachings and not presuming we know better than her!

I have a heavy heart. Am I excited for my new job? Somewhat, and I am sure tomorrow on May 1st, the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, I will be much more excited, when I realize I will soon have a job again. But for now, to live in this moment of my life, to enjoy the present as it should be enjoyed, my heart is heavy with sadness.

Today is also the Feast of St. Pius V, who established the so-called "Tridentine" Mass or what we call today "the Extraordinary Form" of the Mass or even more popularly "the Old Latin mass" as valid in perpetuity. I find that somehow fitting for my last day at St. Jude. I have been told, through the grapevine, that someone had mentioned how they thought that I was laid off from this parish because I was "too Catholic." I don't know about that, but it is comforting to know that the Church will carry on in perpetuity, regardless of what happens at this parish, there will always be a Catholic Church until the end of time. The complimentary question, which has been the question I have been about the business of getting people to answer in thier own lives in my time here at St. Jude, is whether we will choose to remain Catholics until the end of each of our time on earth.

I pray, as you have endured this last post, that you dear reader will find that joy and the comfort that allows you also to endure. May you be hidden in and defended by the prayers of our foster-father and the Universal Patron of the Holy Catholic Church, St. Joseph, the Terror of Demons. If you would like to follow my adventures after tomorrow I invite you to keep an eye on my new Website and Blog that will eventually be on there: http://www.terrorofdemons.com

With every hope for you to be spiritual enriched and to find great comfort in losing everything that you may find Christ, I remain yours in Christ,

The (former) Director of RE & RCIA at St. Jude Catholic Church (2004-2009)

What is in the dark...

One has to wonder at this point whether we are seeing a raw transformation of our country. Michael Savage, who appears on KNUS from 9:00-12:00pm and who I enjoy listening to, has been suggesting there is a real possibility that this is a bio-terrorist attack, manifested through the most useful target: illegal mexican nationals crossing the border.

Now I am of mexican descent, and I do agree that all people deserve basic human respect, but I also agree with Pope Benedict XVI's assessment that every nation has a "responsilibity to protect" its people, as he said in his address to the United Nations.

What I find incredibly interesting is whether this new Avian-swine-human virus may just be something even more heinous. I don't understand what to make of this article from 2004 that the CDC was already trying to manufacture these types of viruses! What does it mean? Why is Janet Napolitano, head of the Department of Homeland Security, not so worried about this possible pandemic? Could it be that there is something more sinister going on? I don't know. But one wonders... After all, Margaret Sanger, who founded Planned Parenthood, was demonstrably a racist who sought to destroy all people of color. Now, as a policy, our "leader" Barack Obama has diverted a lot of money to Planned Parenthood and their mission, while continuing to divide the Catholic Church by turning the knife in the back of the mystical body of Christ by promoting disobedient so-called "pro-choice" Catholics who embrace the pro-abortion, pro-articifical contraception, and so on and so forth, positions that reject the Church's teaching.

The modernist desire to unite the Church with the pro-abortion lobby forces one to wonder whether Satan is laughing his head off all the way to the bank. Not that Obama is Satan, but he sure seems to have a clear understanding of his position which seeks to divide the Church further by means of those who are already endangering their souls by rejecting Holy MOther Church's teaching.

May God have mercy on our country.

By the sweat of our brows...

If you are not aware of it, then you may have missed the chill put on by laypeople, by priests, and by unfortunately even a few bishops in the last 40 years. Since people began to not hear the teaching of Holy Mother Church and focusing on the so-called "Spirit of Vatican II" - read a spirit of rebellion or revolution - some of the older Catholics who fill the pews, unfortunately have allowed themselves to fall into disobedience. The Letter to the Hebrews is quite clear that we should keep ourselves from this sin of Adam. Rather, as with Adam & Eve, we should have the wisdom and faith to abandon and entrust ourselves to the Holy Catholic Faith. Why? Well, obviously because a bunch of old dudes got together and made it all up, right? Certainly, these merely human mythic old dudes could come up with something that would last for 2000 years, longer than any other institution on the face of the planet earth.

Or could it be that the Holy Spirit of God promised by Jesus has maintained the Sacred Tradition of the Church in handing on the Deposit of Faith in every generation.

Perhaps, as one gentleman who has published a heretical book from St. Jude has said, "the Church must change with the times." NO! Of course not!

Why do we humans have such an aversion to believing and then believing fully. Paul told his listeners in Hebrews, "For whoever enters God's rest also ceases from his labors as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest [which God provides], that no one fall by the same sort of disobedience (Heb 4:10-11)." We so often want to tell God how things should be run, that we forget that the salvation and redemption wrought by Jesus on the Cross was a free gift!

This gift freely given, however, calls us to a new way of life. This is why Jesus told his disciples, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching to observe all that I have commanded you; and behold I am with you always until the close of the age (Mt 28:19-20)." You are NEVER going to come up with the Catholic Faith by watching "Meet the Press" on Sunday Mornings, or watching "American Idol", or any other TV program or doing anything else. The Holy Catholic Faith is something that must be learned, and even to be studied. In short, the whole of the Holy Catholic Faith is a free gift to be received with great joy. As Jesus puts it, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will NEVER enter the kingdom of heaven (Mt 18:3)."

We have the ability as humans, by our freewill, to receive God or to reject God. Yet, what is best for us? As Paul again says in Hebrews, "About this [i.e. the mystery of Jesus] we have much to say which is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need some one to teach you again the first principles of God's word. You need milk, not solid food; for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil (Heb 5:11-14)."

Unfortunately, in my experience so many of our elderly brothers and sisters in the Catholic Church today have NOT been taught the Holy Catholic Faith. They have been taught opinions and conjectures and lies. Is this not why Jesus called Satan the "Father of Lies" though? How else would he draw Christ's faithful away from Him who has said of Himself that He is "the truth, the way and the life (Jn 14:6)." Brothers and Sisters in Christ, whoever may read this humble post, flee to Christ! Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church! Ask questions of those who speak Christ's Truth: good solid Priests, Deacons and Catechists, and theologians who love Jesus and serve Jesus!

"How will I know them?" You might ask, Jesus already told us: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are revenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathed from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will known them by their fruits (Mt 7:15-20)."

IF all of us can get "weaned" from Holy Mother Church, in order that we learn how to pick up our cross and follow after our Lord Jesus Christ, then Christ will finally have the means to change the face of the planet earth by first establishing his kingdom in us! We can only do this when we abandon ourselves fully to the Holy Spirit who gives us every grace to accomplish our tasks assigned to us by God. As St. Paul put it in Ephesians, "We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Eph 2:10)." And could it be that some of our Catholic brothers and sisters are already awakening to the Holy Ghost from the slumber of faithlessness and doubt sown, largely, by ravenous wolves after Vatican II?

Micheal Voris puts this into perspective in his most recent commentary over at RealCatholicTV.com. I, for one, agree with him. Let us also awake, for our salvation draws near!!!

WARNING: video may be INAPPROPRIATE for minors

Are you kidding me...

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

This video is ridiculous. Why is this particular man deciding a beauty contest on political grounds? Who cares what a beauty contestant believes about this political issue. And why is this so-called reporter completely siding with this man? He argues that she would represent all Americans, and yet she is not going to be a political activist she would have been a beauty queen!!! Is this what passes for objective questions these days... on second thought that was going to be a question, but it is a statement: THIS IS what passes for journalism... Thanks NBC for brainwashing the country, and not staying objective.

So what if she misspoke about the legality of same-sex marriage? Why would one even ask the question!!!? Why is this political issue now being pushed on a beauty pageant, which by the way I could care less about anyway. Nevertheless, this "man" also is verbally beating up a woman. He says that she was "instantly divisive" and yet he is the one who poses a political question at a beauty pageant. Fair enough. But what was his response. He says nothing about how she stated her opinion, rather - listen carefully when he says, "I was not upset or frustrated about her disagreeing with me about gay marriage." In other words, she wasn't able to state her opinion without already being prejudged. Why is supporting traditional marriage ostensibly the reason this guy voted against her? In other words, why is a beauty queen being discriminated against for her thoughts? And further, this "man" is calling her a "B****" and a "C***" (apparently) because she "disagrees" with him. Is THIS what a passes for as a "man" these days? If women wonder why chivalry is dead, you need look no further than this woman reporter who basically implicitly is saying, "you are right."

This demonstrable political activist should have been banned from asking about this topic, it seems to me. I watched this "show" for about 4 minutes, and only because I was connecting my new DTV box. I couldn't bring myself to watch this ridiculous contest for too long anyway, but this definitely puts the nail in the coffin of my ever even thinking about watching it ever again.

One last note, why is this "celebrity blogger" even a judge? Is that the last leg this contest is on? You couldn't get someone who is even known, maybe a national commercial ad extra? Sorry Mr. Trump, but perhaps you should stick with "The Apprentice" and Real Estate.

I know, I know...

Ok it is the last day of Easter, but it is STILL Easter! I love being Catholic! In case you might have missed it, here is the Pope's Message to the city and the world. It is incredible to be a part of this...

Why I chose Franciscan University...

Every year I show new parents to our Children's program a video which helps to make clear the role of Secular Humanism in the public state-run schools. Many people were originally offended by that, but it is demonstrably clear this is happening in our state-run schoools. Nevertheless, it was quite clear to me growing up, and it has been demonstrated by the kids in the program here at St. Jude who have already been indoctrinated without their knowing it. And now, it is becoming more mainstream to recognize this problem. Enter a new film:



As happened with the Movie "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," produced by Ben Stein, I really hope many people, but more importantly we Catholics, become aware of the problems in today's state-run schools. If we aren't aware that the small persecutions of teachers telling kids they can't write "B.C." but that they have to write "B.C.E." as happened to one of the 5th graders here at the parish, then we are already losing another generation of Catholics by their Secular Humanistic indoctrination.

Well.. why bother now...

I have never seen the Movie "Kill Bill," but in one minute there is need to bother... even if you never wanted to...

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Doesn't seem so exciting now does it... hmm...

Old McDonald had a farm...

with a conspiracy theory here, with a conspiracy theory there, here a theory there a theory... everywhere a theory theory...

What all these conspiracy theorists and Mr Hannity don't get is that there has always been a conspiracy theory. The thing is it has always had less to do with money or politics, these are only symptoms of what has always been the case, and which our first Pope made very clear: "Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experience of suffering is required of your brotherhood throughout the world (1Pet 5:8-9)." Not only that but Pope Clement XII and Pope Leo XIII made it clear that the Freemasons have been plotting to blot out Christ's Holy Catholic Church from their inception. This is ulitmately the whole point of the only conspiracy that matters to all mankind, because it is Satan's plan.

Now I know some of you who happen to be non-Catholics and/or atheists may not buy that, but whether you buy it or not it is the truth. At end of our lives we will know it fully, but now it is already true in the midst of our lives. May we learn to fight those would destroy free humanity best hope, namely the Holy Catholic Church that gives us True freedom from sin and the oppressive thinking of the world upon our souls!

Too bad they can't just dislike us a lot...

With the way modern TV has become (see above), I am quickly becoming very supportive of Michael Voris, executive producer of RealCatholicTV.com. He has had some brilliant commentary on the Obama at Notre Dame Debacle as I posted here a few days ago. But now he has come up with a very intensive reflection for our last week of Lent.

Unfortunately, many Catholics will blow this off. Some priests, deacons, and lay people alike may laugh off his position as being "extremist" or "overly traditional" or "being too Catholic." I, for one, think he couldn't be more right. If you read through the Letters of St. Paul he clearly said, "I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as "refuse" [which in the original Greek really means "poop"] in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him (Phil 1:8-9)."

With relatively recent surveys that have up to 60% of Catholics, if not more, NOT believing in the Real Presence of Our Lord Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, one wonders what will become of Christ's Holy Catholic Church which we have been entrusted with to promote and to grow. If only more priests and deacons would preach on the fact that everyone in the parish is, whether they know it or not, part of the RCIA team at each and every Parish! Every one of us is already giving the witness of the importance and persistent practice of our Catholic Faith... or we aren't. The question we must ask ourselves is can we say everything else in our life, even our own earthly desires - including our desire to see the Church transformed the way we want to see it go, have been crucified with Christ, so that in Christ I meet God's way of living, God's way of thinking, because in our baptism we have already been made his adopted sons and daughters!!!

Let us be like the littlest children, and obey God with childlike love by means of the teachings of his Holy Catholic Church - though we may disagree with our priest or our deacons, never let us forget that they are not our Catholic Faith. Our Catholic Faith comes in the teachings of Holy Mother Church (which can be found summarized in the Catechism of the Catholic Church). We should never let a priest, deacon or lay person lead us astray or cause us to lose faith, though they are human they are still our brothers and sisters in Christ and we should obey Him who gave them pastoral authority over us (namely God our Father), as hard as it may be sometimes.

In fact, one of my students at the Biblical School asked me this morning if Paul really meant in Romans 13:1 "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of him who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain; he is the servant of God to execute his wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be subject, not only to avoid God's wrath but for the sake of conscience. For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due (Rom 13:1-3)." The answer is YES, he did mean it! We must be faithful citizens, but to be faithful citizens means to honor Christ above all things, otherwise we aren't even faithful to being what we are!!!

The question, in the Notre Dame Scandal, is whether our President is due an honorary Doctorate by a Catholic Institution. The answer, demonstrably, is "No!" ON the one hand, we due owe respect to the office of President. On the other, if we are to serve Christ first above all things, even the President cannot be held in honor by a University claiming the glorious title "Catholic."

As I said, Michael Voris has a great point and each of us should also consider our own lives and whether each of us - priest, deacon, or lay person - are also worthy of having others consider our life and ascribe to us that same glorious title of being "Catholic." Even if people are annoyed by us, at least he has a point.

What if your ALMA MATER DID IT?!

Michael Voris over at RealCatholicTV.com is nothing if not gutsy! He is turning up the heat by calling for the resignation or at least to put the pressure on Fr. Jenkins, current president at Notre Dame, for the outrage of disobeying the Bishops of our Country. You can find his latest commentary on the subject either by subscribing at RealCatholicTV.com or by following this link.

In fact, as he says in the video link above, he has now also posted a survey for those of us who wish to make our voices heard, as he himself is tied into the University as an alumnus. Please visit his site and add your voice to the many other faithful Catholics who are speaking out. You can find it here: http://www.realcatholictv.net/ndobama/survey.php

Let us join this man who is standing up for the Church and for those innocents whose lives are being destroyed in our country. God bless you Michael Voris!