Meet Arius

This is not a story about a saint. This is a story about a man who defied both Scripture and the Magisterium and plunged the Church into strife for decades.

            Arius was born in the year 250 A.D. in modern-day Libya. He was a Catholic priest under the bishop of Alexandria. Now, Arius was a troublemaker. Prior to his ordination, he had been involved in schismatic activities. But St. Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria, was a forgiving man and overlooked Arius’ past mistakes. St. Alexander would come to regret his clemency. 

            Arius received theological instruction from Lucian of Antioch who, though venerated for his personal holiness and martyrdom, proposed a heretical Christological system (the relationship between God the Son and God the Father). Lucian suggested that the Son was not unified with the Father and was created instead of begotten. This undermines the very nature of the Trinity! Under Lucian’s system, which Arius adopted, Jesus Christ was the Son of God, but not one with God. Arius argued (in a manner eerily like the Protestants) that because Sacred Scripture never explicitly says that Jesus is of the same substance as God, He must have been created.

            Once he began preaching this heresy, Arius was quickly condemned by the authorities of his diocese. In 321, Arius was excommunicated. Unfortunately, what is known as the Arian Heresy did not end there. Though orthodox members of the Church quickly pointed out his error, there were others who encouraged it, several of them high-ranking members of the clergy. The most prominent among these was Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia, another former protégé of Lucian. Eusebius petitioned for the reinstatement of Arius. This created a rift in the early Church: Arians against orthodox.

            Three years after Arius’ excommunication, Constantine became Emperor of Rome after a bloody civil war. This was a turning point in the history of Christianity. Before going into battle against the far superior forces of Roman Emperor Maxentius, the pagan Constantine saw a flaming cross in the sky and heard the words “In hoc signo vinces” – “In this sign you will conquer.” Constantine had his soldiers paint the chi-rho symbol on their shields and engaged Maxentius in the battle of Milvian Bridge. Constantine’s significantly smaller force routed Maxentius. Crediting Jesus Christ for his victory, Constantine immediately issued the Edict of Milan which protected the practice of Christianity. To answer claims that Constantine merely converted as a political move, I find it unlikely that a pagan warlord fighting for control over a pagan empire would suddenly embrace a religion that had been marginalized and persecuted for three centuries.

            Soon enough, the Arian Heresy came to the attention of Emperor Constantine. He attempted to resolve their differences himself. In a letter to both Arius and St. Alexander, Constantine wrote that he saw the theological differences between the Christians and Arians to be of “a truly insignificant character,” and that he wanted Christianity to return to “settled uniformity.” Clearly, Constantine did not appreciate the importance of Christology. He was a soldier, not a theologian. When Constantine could not facilitate a reconciliation on his own, he worked with Pope Sylvester I to convene the First Council of Nicaea in 325.

            The Council of Nicaea was one of the most significant gatherings in Church history. It was the first ecumenical council and brought together 318 bishops. This council was not an exercise of authoritarianism. The orthodox bishops and Arian bishops discussed their mutual differences. One of the stars of the council was St. Athanasius. He personally debated Arius on the question of Christ’s unity with God and earned his reputation as the “Father of Orthodoxy” for his stalwart defense of the faith against Arianism.

            The most interesting legend to have been passed down to us about the Council of Nicaea concerns a certain St. Nicholas. Though largely unsubstantiated, it is said that St. Nicholas punched Arius in the face when the latter said something especially heretical. This is certainly an interesting contrast to Santa, St. Nicholas’ modern persona.

            After several months of deliberation, the council came to its decision. Arianism was formally condemned, and the homoousios formula was adopted. Homoousios means “one in being.”  The creed from the first Council of Nicaea, the forerunner of the Nicene Creed we recite today, states, “We believe in one God the Father Almighty… and in one Lord Jesus Christ… begotten not made, of the same substance with the Father [homoousion to patri]” and ends with, “Those who say: There was a time when He was not, and He was not before He was begotten; and that He was made out of nothing; or who maintain that He is of another hypostasis or another substance, or that the Son of God is created, or mutable, or subject to change, the Catholic Church anathematizes.” This is consistent with the beginning of the Gospel of John, “In the beginning was the Word: and the Word was with God: and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Every bishop present signed the formula except for two who were exiled and anathematized.

            Despite this agreement and the authority of the Council of Nicaea, the Arians continued to be a problem. They were led by Eusebius of Nicomedia. Though he had signed the creed, Eusebius strove to overturn the condemnation of Arianism. He was aided by the weak emperors who succeeded Constantine, many of them advised by heretics. The orthodox bishops, St. Athanasius chief among them, were therefore persecuted for many years as they maintained the validity of the homoousios formula.

            This controversy lasted for almost sixty years until the First Council of Constantinople was held in 381. The canons of this council strongly condemned Arianism and several other heresies. The Semi-Arians were subsequently reconciled with the Catholic Church, finally defeating the lies of Arius.

            The story of Arianism is important for two reasons. Firstly, it is an important chapter in the history of the Catholic Church. Arianism coincided with the end of the Roman persecution and demonstrated the ability of the Church to solve doctrinal disputes. This is painfully timely with the controversy of Amoris Laetitia and the dubia.

 Secondly, it highlights the importance of details when it comes to theology. The dispute revolved around the use of a single word to describe the relationship between the Father and Son. That one word led to decades of conflict. For that word, St. Nicholas was willing to punch Arius in the face and St. Athanasius was willing to suffer years of persecution and exile. Why? Because of the Church’s commitment to the Truth. The nature of the relationship between God the Father and God the Son is of the utmost importance to our faith. The saints would rather die than allow Christ to be reduced to a creature.

We need that same zeal today! Forget about one heresy, our age has thousands. Instead of just worrying about Arians, we contend with a never-ending number of Protestant denominations, militant atheists, Islam, the assorted New Age spiritualities, and progressive members of our own Church.

Many of these heresies are, just like Arianism, of a Christological nature. Self-styled intellectuals like to think of Jesus as a good moral teacher who was nonetheless not the Son of God. Islam makes the same mistake. They lower Christ to the rank of a prophet. They claim that He was not the Son of God. In other words, Jesus Christ, who said that He was the Son of God - “For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son” (John 3:16) - and never corrected those who called Him the Son of God on several occasions, said some good things but was just wrong about that little detail.

This is a logically untenable position. You cannot call Jesus a moral teacher while denying His claim to being the Son of God. Why? C.S. Lewis has the perfect answer in Mere Christianity:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Arianism is important because we face many of the same theological challenges today. We must stand firm in the Truth of Christ. We must not cede a single inch to the modern-day Arians, heretics, and schismatics.

Christ Jesus, one in being with Your Most Heavenly Father, have mercy on us.

Deus Vult!

Who Are These Crazy Christians?

What does it mean to be a Christian? The world has its own convenient labels for us. We are zealots, fanatics, bigots, and oppressors. Certain people have said that Catholicism is the "most socially acceptable politically conservative religion" while others claim we worship in a "middle ages dictatorship" that lacks "democracy and respect for gender equality." Others say that we use our faith  as justification for "discrimination, intolerance, racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, Christian supremacy or any form of intolerance." We are too conservative for some, too liberal for others. But these are all superficial definitions of Christianity that try to apply political labels to our faith.

Questions about Christian identity have existed as long as the Church. In fact, one of the best descriptions of Christianity comes from the second century. An anonymous writer calling himself Mathetes (Greek for disciple) wrote a letter to Diognetus explaining just what Christianity looks like. He begins by distinguishing Jews and Gentiles from Christians. Jews, he says, follow legalistic "superstitions" while Gentiles have a foolish pantheon of fallible gods. What I want to look at is his description of Christianity.

"For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life." 

Unlike the Jews who made a clear distinction between the circumcised and uncircumcised, Christians can be found in any land. They are people of all nations. They are universal, the literal meaning of the word "catholic". At first, it is difficult to distinguish them from anyone else. They don't wear special hats or walk a certain way. Christians often initially appear to be just like the average Joe, but reveal the Truth of their faith in how they act and treat one another.

"They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers."

Mathetes continues, writing that Christians are not citizens of any single country. They are just as comfortable in a foreign country as they are in their homeland. This is especially important for us to remember in the aftermath of an election year. Before we are Republicans, Democrats, or even Americans, we are Catholics.

Christ said that Christians are "not of the world, as I also am not of the world" (John 17:16). Christians are present in the world while remaining distinct from its sinfulness. We live in a culture of death. It is very difficult not to get caught up in the allure of our surroundings. So many movies, books, and songs promote disrespect for life and glorify sin. Christians are not distracted by the worthless promises of comfort that the world offers because we are striving for a greater prize: eternal joy in Heaven. Elsewhere, Mathetes writes that, "what the soul is in the body, Christians are in the world." We are supposed to be in the world but not of the world just as the soul is distinct from the body.

"They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh." 

These words could not be more timely. In Mathetes' day, Christians "marry as do all." In these confused times, however, it is not that simple. The redefinition of marriage to include homosexual "couples" and an incredibly high divorce rate have seriously damaged the institution of marriage. We need strong married Catholics to write a testament to the beauty of married love through their lives. We need formation programs for engaged couples to prepare them for the reality of sacrificial love. We need Church officials who are not afraid to speak the Truth about marriage and who do not confuse the laity with vague language and outright lies.

Christians do not kill their children. This should be pretty straightforward, but it was not in the second century and it certainly is not in the twenty-first. As Mathetes wrote this letter, there were pagans who would "burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods" (Deuteronomy 12:31) and Romans who abandoned infants in the wilderness if they were considered "unfit" (to steal from Margaret Sanger's terminology). Today, children are sacrificed on the altars of convenience, fear, and profit. Groups like Planned Parenthood enrich themselves through ripping apart preborn babies. As Christians, we cannot tolerate the grave evil of abortion. Unfortunately, all too often we do. Only 50% of Catholic parishes have pro-life groups. Protestants are even worse with a dismal 5% of their groups promoting pro-life activities. Too many Christian women have had abortions, too many parishes have failed to address abortion, too many priests have equivocated on abortion.

This does not represent true Christian identity. We ought to be defenders of life. As Mathetes said, married Christians bring children into the world. They do not take them from it.

Furthermore, Christians are both generous and chaste, "They have a common table, but not a common bed." Jesus welcomed everyone to His table. He gave the Pharisees cause to ask Him, "Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners?" (Luke 5:30). Just like Jesus, we must be open to everyone and not just favor those who can help us or those who are respectable. Just like Jesus, we must treat the dirty beggar we pass on the street with the same dignity with which we would treat a king dressed in finery.

But this generosity does not translate into a tolerance of sin. Christians do not share "a common bed," a euphemism for sexual sin. True love means willing the good of the other. This idea is essential in our age of normalized perversity. We support marriage but refuse to redefine it. We believe in the beauty of sexuality but do not tarnish that beauty with lust and promiscuity.

"They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred."

Here we come to the crux of Christianity as described by Psalm 79, "Thou hast made us to be a contradiction to our neighbors" (Psalm 79:7). Christians contradict the behavior of the world just like the horizontal beam of the Cross contradicted the vertical beam. Though we "are reviled", we do not hate anyone. Christians respond to persecution with love, the same love with which Christ said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34)  on the Cross and with which St. Stephen said, "Lord, lay not his sin to their charge" (Acts 7:59) as he was being stoned to death.

Though today we do not have to fear being torn apart by wild beasts like the Early Christians, we still face derision and scorn. Choosing to follow Christ will absolutely lead to the persecution, revilement, and condemnation that Mathetes writes about. The vast majority of the media, academia, politicians, and celebrities either openly despise Christianity like Jennifer Lawrence and Peter Singer or pretend to be practicing Christians while advancing policies diametrically opposed to the teachings of Christ like Tim Kaine and Nancy Pelosi. I hate to say it, but there are even members of the Church hierarchy who hold beliefs antithetical to the Magisterium and who censure faithful Catholics.

This is the essence of what it means to be Christian, being spit on, mocked, beaten, and even killed, all for the greater glory of God. Being Christian means carrying the Cross.

What is beautiful about this excerpt from Mathetes' letter to Diognetus is how it captures Christian identity. Christianity is not just a checklist of facts to believe in or a political orientation, it is a way of life. It is a radical way of life that provokes the world to hatred because we refuse to believe its lies. Being a Christian is both life-changing and revolutionary. It's simple really. All you have to do is pick up your cross and follow Jesus.

Deus Vult!

The Word: Responding to Mercy

The Gospel is a proclamation of mercy. The world likes to think that the Christian message is one of intolerance and hatred, but that is just because there is no room in the teachings of Christ for its militant hedonism. Jesus did not come to condemn, but to save. The Cross is not a verdict of "guilty" for the human race, it is the source of our salvation.

This Sunday's readings present us with two examples of this mercy: the healing of Naaman and of  the ten lepers. Naaman was a general of the King of Aram, a Gentile. He was afflicted with leprosy and desperate for a cure, turned to Elisha, the prophet, even though the Arameans were carrying out raids against the Israelites. "Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of Elisha, the man of God" (2 Kings 5:14). And he was healed.

Likewise, ten lepers interrupted Jesus on His way to Jerusalem, His way to the Cross. They cried out from a distance "Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" (Luke 17:15). And Jesus did. He sent them away and all ten were cured of their leprosy. Only the Samaritan leper, however, returned to thank Jesus.

We can learn a lot about responding to God's mercy from these two passages. Every human ever born (except for Jesus and Mary) entered the world stained with original sin. And as we get older, we add to the sin of Adam with our own sins. Leprosy is an analog for sin: it dirties, it decays, and it causes isolation. In the Bible, leprosy describes a number of skin diseases that mark the body just like sin sullies the soul. We associate leprosy with skin falling off, a physical decay that mirrors the spiritual death brought on by sin. Finally, sin separates us from God just like leprosy separated men from the rest of society. The lepers were, in the words of St. Cyril, "banished from the towns and cities, and counted unclean according to the rites of the Mosaic law."

Before they could be healed of their disease, both Naaman and the ten lepers had to ask for help. They could not cure themselves; Jesus points out this folly to the pharisees: "And He said to them, 'You will surely quote to me this proverb, Physician, heal yourself" (Luke 4:23). Likewise, we cannot forgive our own sins. Naaman needed Elisha, the man of God. The ten lepers needed Christ just as we need Him today.

By presenting their visible afflictions to God, Naaman and the lepers were making a sort of primitive Confession. They bared their flesh in the same way we bare our hearts in the confessional. Naaman "plunged into the Jordan seven times". When he came out, "His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." (2 Kings 5:14). Washing himself in the Jordan was both physically and spiritually purgative. The lepers were "cleansed" (Luke 17:14) on their way to present themselves to the high priest. When we receive absolution, our own hearts are plunged into the Jordan, the waters of Christ's baptism, and we emerge with the clean heart of a child.

Despite the miracle of their healing, nine of the lepers never returned to thank Jesus. Their ingratitude betrays a lack of faith: "For although they knew God they did not accord Him glory as God or give Him thanks" (Romans 1:21). And we see God's mercy here. Jesus, being omniscient, knew this would happen. He knew that He would heal these men only to have them run away. But He still healed them. He loved them while allowing them to choose not to respond to that love.

How many times have we been those nine lepers? How often do we approach God on our knees, in our darkest hours, begging "Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" and then once saved, we utterly forget the mercy of God and return to past sins? Do we come back to the confessional again and again with the same sins without making any efforts to amend our lives? Lord, forgive us for our ingratitude, for seeking pity and comfort instead of new life.

We must take as models Naaman and the tenth leper. After "his flesh became again like the flesh of a child, and he was clean of his leprosy", Naaman came back to Elisha and confessed the greatness of God: "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel" (2 Kings 5:14-15). The tenth leper "realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him" (Luke 17:15-16). Note that the Church fathers universally identify the other nine lepers as being Jews. Christ was their Messiah, foretold by their prophets. They had a much greater obligation to return to thank Jesus. And yet it was the Samaritan alone who came back. Such was his faith. His falling at the feet of Jesus is what St. Catherine of Sienna calls the "slavish fear" of conversion.

Simultaneous with their gratitude and praise, Naaman and the tenth leper resolved to change their lives. Naaman, a great general, recognized that God's "right hand and holy arm have won the victory" (Psalm 98:1) and promised to only offer sacrifices to the Lord of Israel. St. Bede writes of the tenth leper that "he is commended to rise and walk, because he who, knowing his own weakness, lies lowly on the ground, is led to advance, by the consolation of the divine word, to mighty deeds."

Let us therefore hear Christ's words to the tenth leper as being addressed to each one of us. "Stand and go, your faith has saved you" (Luke 17:19). The Gospel is not limited to the historical time that Christ spoke them: "the word of God is not chained" (2 Timothy 2:9). Brothers and sisters, let us stand and "sing joyfully to the Lord" (Psalm 98:4), proclaiming the mercy of God.

We are in the Jubilee Year of Mercy. Let us be like Naaman and the tenth leper and respond to Christ's mercy with repentance and spiritual renewal. Remember that "if we persevere, we shall also reign with Him. But if we deny Him, He will deny us" (2 Tim 2:12).

DEUS VULT!

The Lie of Gender Neutrality

Who am I? Our search for identity begins as soon as we are able to put together coherent thoughts. It involves understanding our own character and finding where we fit into the world. We know through the Gospel of Jesus Christ that each of us was "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14) by the hands of God. Each of us has a purpose, a vocation, a calling.

Part of this identity has to do with our gender. In fact, it's a big part. For the last couple of thousands of years (up until the last century) whether you we're a man or a woman decided a lot; whether you were a protector or a nurturer, a warrior or a child-raiser, a hunter or a gatherer. I'm not saying that all of this was a good thing or that women shouldn't leave their homes (I'll leave that to Islam). The feminist movement, when it wasn't trying to promote abortion or throw off the "burden" of sexual morality, did advance the rights of women and give them the opportunity to play a more important role in the public sphere. That is good. 

But somewhere along the line, something went wrong. We went from the positive message of enhancing the position of women to the autocratically egalitarian statement that all genders are the same. There's a huge difference here. While women certainly deserve to vote and get paid the same as men, that doesn't mean that there are no differences between men and women. There are! It's biological. Men are the providers and protectors. Men are the hunters and the warriors. Women, on the other hand, are designed to be nurturers. Their bodies have been perfected for the beautiful mystery of the creation of life. They are emotionally much stronger than men. This is the reality of masculinity and femininity. We cannot blot out these essential differences!

But we have done just that. The thought that there is a difference (not a superiority) between men and women has become "sexist", "bigoted", and "ignorant." And where does that take us? If there's really no difference between men and women, what's the big deal about which of the two you are? If I was born a man but feel like a woman, what difference keeps me from deciding that I am in fact a woman? A logical response would be the Y-chromosome, a male body, etc.... But this is not a logical movement. It is one driven by rabid passions and intolerant "tolerance."

This brings us to the philosophy of Gender Neutrality: the idea that gender is a social construct, distinct from biological sex, that is determined by the preference of the individual. Hence the 79 "genders" recognized by Facebook. They claim that your biological sex is distinct from your gender "identity". Anyone can decide what they want their gender to be at any given time, a gender for every mood, even. Gender Neutrality is not just wrong, it is insane. It is completely divorced from science, reason, and, most importantly, the Truth. 

Gender Neutrality owes much of its modern following to the work of one man, Dr. John Money. He wrote about the subjectivity of gender for years before the case that would make him famous. David and Brian Reimer were identical twins born in 1965. Both required circumcision for medical reasons, but David's operation failed, resulting in serious mutilation. Worrying about the effects his injury might have had on his development, David's parents brought him to John Hopkins Hospital where they met Dr. Money. He suggested that David's interests would best be served if he were to receive a surgical transformation that would attempt to give him the body of a girl. And so, until the age of 14, David was raised believing that he was a girl. Now, if the Gender Neutrality theory is true, David would have lived our the rest of his life as a "girl." If gender is just a social construct, then shouldn't David, who was treated like a girl throughout his childhood, encouraged by Dr. Money's self-interested and often unethical treatment (he forced the twins to engage in "childhood sexual rehearsal play"), and even injected with estrogen, have accepted the lie that he was in fact a girl? 

But he didn't. Ironically the case that is lauded for validating Gender Neutrality was an utter failure. Unfortunately it was also a tragedy. David rejected the lie that he was a girl as soon as his parents revealed the truth about his upbringing. Beforehand he had been struggling with suicidal depression. In his young adulthood, David reversed Dr. Money's operations and began speaking out against his treatment, wanting to protect other children from the same fate. But the abuses of Dr. Money had left their mark. Both David and his twin brother, Brian, committed suicide two years apart. 

Dr. John Money, on the other hand, received awards and fame for his "innovative" work. He went on to, and I'm not making this up, write that pedophilia is not a behavioral disorder and that its stigma is just another social construct. I would not be surprised, as insane as it sounds, if by the end of this decade speaking out against pedophilia will become just as "intolerant" as saying that there are only two genders. 

Gender neutrality has gone from the absurd fantasy of a depraved psychologist to a widely accepted "truth." This progression was gradual up until Bruce Jenner decided he wanted to be a woman and the legalization of same-sex marriage, both in 2015. Then the movement reached a fever-pitch, an acceleration that continues to this day. Now, children can receive the same operations as David Reimer, sometimes without their parent's consent. Our president personally led the noble charge to allow grown men who identify as women to enter the same bathrooms as little girls. Just a county over in Anne Arundel, boys confused about their gender can now sleep in the same hotel rooms as girls on overnight school field trips. And their parents apparently have no right to know who will be sharing a room with their children. 

This is not progress. This is insane! Brothers and sisters, we have become a society that sticks its head into the sand, ignoring reality in order to avoid offending anyone. We cannot, as faithful believers in Christ, allow this error to continue. 

The philosophy of Gender Neutrality is blasphemous. We read in the book of Genesis that "In the day that God created man, He made him to the likeness of God. He created them male and female" (Genesis 5:1-2). As Christians, believe that God created each of us intentionally, with "plans for your welfare" (Jeremiah 29:11). God does not make mistakes. Gender neutrality says that He does. 

If God made you a man, then you are a man, regardless of your inclination. If you quite seriously believe that you are a woman, that does not change the reality of who you are. Rather, it is a psychological disorder known as gender dysphoria, which has been linked with depression and suicidal tendencies. 

Instead of indulging the illusions of people struggling with their gender identity, we need to embrace them with the love of God which is inseparable from the Truth. Especially when children experience these difficulties, we must give them compassionate care while not ignoring the essential reality of their gender. 

To put it bluntly, there are not 79 genders. There are two genders. The rest are mental illnesses. 

We cannot sit back and allow our culture to destroy itself in a rabid frenzy of egalitarianism. The reality of human sexuality is the glue that holds the family together. The family is the foundation of society. When the family crumbles, as we are trying so hard to do with the legalization of same-sex marriage and now this Gender Neutrality ideology, society will follow. Just think about how far we have fallen! Forty years ago, of you were to suggest that there were more than two genders, you would have been ridiculed. Today, if you were to say that there are in fact only two genders, you will be persecuted. We need to draw a line in the sand, brothers and sisters. The progressive forces have gone too far. They are tampering with the essential facts of life. 

If not now, when? Will I be forced to write this same piece when pedophilia becomes legalized? If we do not stand now, we will have no voice when things get even worse. We need to be willing to suffer for the Truth about human sexuality, to endure momentary affliction in order to safeguard future generations from the insidious lie of gender neutrality, to make sure that our children will not be forced to drink this poison! Stand and fight men and women of God!

DEUS VULT!

Who Do You Serve?

Last Sunday's Gospel asked a simple question of each of us. Who do you serve? It is simple because there are only two answers. You can either serve God or serve something else: "No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Luke 16:13). There is no middle ground. It's not about how hard you try or whether or not you did the "best that you could." It's about who you serve.

Most of us don't like that word, "to serve." It sounds beneath us, humiliating. These days we like to talk a lot about "freedom." We adore the idea of utter independence, a man who acts without regard to any restriction. We have freed ourselves from many things: from having to form relationships by using pornography; from working any harder than we have to; from procreation as a gift and an essential part of the marital act with contraceptives and abortion; from pain with alcoholism, rapidly legalizing drugs, and euthanasia; from the responsibility of raising our children by shoving an iPhone in their hands; from the Truth about masculinity, femininity, and human sexuality; from every last taboo; from decency; from common sense; and even from God Himself.

But our "freedom" is a lie! Is a man free if he is addicted to pornography or ruled by his passions? Is a child free when if they are struggling with perversity, they are told that sin is good? Something to be proud of?

The man of the twenty-first century is one emancipated from the good and enslaved to that which is evil. Everyone is the servant of someone or something, even themselves.

Why isn't it good to serve yourself? You'll be more comfortable. You'll probably be more successful. You might even think you'll be happier. The problem is that you aren't alone. God didn't put us in our own little bubbles. If He did, it might make sense to live for ourselves. But the reality is that each and everyone of us, if we're not a hermit, has people we live with, people we work with, people we pass every day on the street or in the hallway. God put those people there for a reason. They are not objects to be used, that is the evil of the sinners described in last Sunday's First Reading: "We will buy the lowly for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals" (Amos 8:6). God gives us other people so that we can love them in a reflection of His love for us.

And yet we are not just called to serve the people around us. This too can lead to error if we try only to satisfy everyone. It's impossible and may even be harmful. A child might want to eat a whole chocolate cake for breakfast, but that doesn't mean it would be good for them. Sometimes loving people can make them angry. Because of our fallen and sinful nature, we are inclined to sin. You are not loving someone if you tolerate their sin! You are only allowing them to live in slavery! Tolerance is just another word for apathy. If you truly care about your brothers and sisters, you will show them the Truth that Christ has revealed to us. And sometimes that hurts.  If sin has become a habit, it is as if we are living in a dark cave: it hurts our eyes to see the light, the light of Truth. It's like pulling off a Band-Aid: it's something we have to do, but it's certainly not pleasant. We cannot tiptoe around each other's sensitivities trying our best just not to "offend" anyone. In our service to those around us, we must take our directions from a Higher Authority.

We must serve God above all else. By serving Christ, we will most perfectly love each other and ourselves. Serving Christ is not something to be afraid of, "For my yoke is sweet and my burden light" (Matthew 11:30). In fact we read in Imitation of Christ that "Go where you may, you will find no rest except in humble obedience to the rule of authority."

What does serving God look like? For one thing, it is radically different than the ways of the world. There are two paths: one wide and well-trodden and the other narrow and thorny. Though His "yoke is sweet", following Christ is not always easy. You will be mocked, you will be persecuted, and you may even be killed, just ask the host of Martyrs. There might be times that it looks like you are totally alone on this path. You're not. Saints have walked this path ahead of you, but most importantly Christ walks with you. He took on the weakness of our flesh, He understands our temptations and struggles. As the old story goes, sometimes you will be walking besides God and sometimes He will be carrying you. No matter what, persevere until the end!

A servant of God stores up treasure in heaven. He speaks and acts with love. He suffers without complain, offering it up for his intentions and the Holy Souls of Purgatory. He goes to Mass, not out of an obligation, but because of a fervent love for Christ truly present in the Eucharist. He defends the innocent, the weak, and the downtrodden. He stands up for the Truth, even when it hurts. He conforms his will to God's in all things.

And even though he may suffer in this world, the servant of God knows that he runs after a greater prize than man can offer. His hope is in heaven and in the infinite mercy of God. Christ is reaching out His pierced hands to each and everyone of us. All we have to do is accept His mercy and become His servant.


DEUS VULT!

The Word: The Love Story

Sunday's Readings:
    1st Reading: Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14
    Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51: 3-4, 12-13, 17, 19
    2nd Reading: 2 Timothy 1:12-17
    Gospel: Luke 15:1-32

God loves you.

It's a pity those words have become cliché, because all too often we fail to recognize the significance of that simple Truth. God loves you.

We hear those words and shrug our shoulders. Of course He does. And then we seek "real" love in things, celebrities, and one another. how often has that terrible, hear-rending cry of "No one loves me" been heard? And yet it's not true. God loves you.

And it isn't a wishey-washy, general warm feeling for mankind as a whole. God loves you the individual. In the words of St. Augustine, "God loves each of us as if there were only one of us." He doesn't just like you. He loves you. He loves you passionately. The romantic poetry of the Song of Songs: "Behold thou art fair, O my love, behold thou art fair, thy eyes are as those of doves" (Song of Songs 1:14), "In my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him and found him not" (Song of Songs 3:1); of the Spiritual Canticle of St. John of the Cross: "In search of my Love I will go over mountains and streams; I will gather no flowers, I will fear no wild beasts"; and of St. Augustine: "Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient and ever new! Late have I loved you! And, behold, you were within me, and I out of myself, and there I searched for you"; we read not of the love between a man and a woman, but of the love between God and the soul. He loves us more perfectly than the most enamored of lovers. You were created, not by chance, not by mistake, but by the love of God.

His is a jealous love. It is easy to look at the wrath of God in the Old Testament and wonder why it is brought forth by something so simple as crafting a golden calf, as in today's reading from Exodus. But we are interpreting the Law as if it were a law of men and not one of Divine love. When the Israelites fashioned the golden calf, they were not just breaking a rule. They were betraying God's love. It was an act of infidelity, of adultery to attribute their salvation from Egypt to a molten image. That is why we hear a God that might startle us a bit: "Let me alone, that my wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them"(Exodus 32:10). Part of God's love requires justice.

But His mercy exceeds our sinfulness. God allowed Himself to be "appeased from doing the evil which He had spoken against His people" (Exodus 32:14) by the prayers of Moses, His servant, because of love.

God's mercy is overwhelming. He loves us so much that He was willing to die on a Cross for our redemption. Our response to that mercy must be one of awe-struck humility: "Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin" (Psalm 51:4).

It is easy to think that we are not worthy of God's love because time and time again we fail to follow His will. But as the song in Jonah, the Veggietales movie, goes, "Our God is a God of second-chances." The Israelites failed time and time again to remain faithful to God's love and yet He chose them as His Son's people. St. Paul persecuted His Church and yet "I obtained mercy" (1 Timothy 1:16) because "Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief" (1 Tim 1:15).

God does not hate us when we sin, He hates our sin because it separates us from Him. He is restless until we return to Him, like the man who leaves ninety nine sheep in the desert to "go after that which was lost until he find it" (Luke 15:14), like a woman searching for a single coin, like a father running to meet his son.

We are the prodigal children of God. Time and time again we squander our inheritance on created things. We prefer our will to God's plan. But this sinfulness leaves us empty, so hungry that we want to eat "the husks the swine did eat" (Luke 15:16).

Unsatisfied in the flesh, we have nowhere else to turn but to the Father. And we fall on our knees in the Confessional, heavily burdened by our sins saying "Father, I have sinned before heaven, and before thee, I am not now worthy to be called thy son" (Luke 15:18).

The beauty of God's love is that He does not wait for us to climb up to Him; when we turn towards Him, he runs to meet us where we are. The Father rejoices for in our sin we had become dead in the spirit and now have come alive again.

Are you afraid of the Confessional? Don't be. It might be painful, but so is resetting a dislocated shoulder. Both are necessary for our health.

"So I say to you, there shall be joy before the angles of God upon one sinner doing penance" (Luke 15:10). God loves you so much that He eagerly awaits your repentance. He waits, the perfect Lover separated from His beloved.

God loves you. He loves you no matter who you are or what you have done. Sin is repulsive in His eyes, not because of our wickedness, but because it creates a wall between us and His Sacred Heart.

Remember that no matter how many friends you have, whether or not you feel appreciated or understood, regardless of if you feel totally alone, the One who created the universe loves you so much that He took on the weakness of our flesh and died on a Cross for you. He would have suffered the ignominy and torment of His Passion even if it was just for you alone.

To quote Veggietales yet again, "God made you special and He loves you very much."

DEUS VULT!

Bribing God: George Soros' Dirty Money

The Church is not a political tool. She is the rock of human history. Only the Cross stands, and the rest of the world revolves around it - as the motto of the Carthusians goes. The Church doesn't endorse candidates for office or change her position at the whim of its constituency. She is the stronghold of the faithful. Of course this doesn't stop men like George Soros.

Soros is one of the biggest names in the world of finance. His Soros Fund has made billions in investments, most famously by betting against the British pound just before it was massively devalued. Not all of his deals are so lauded. The government of Thailand accused him of launching speculative attacks against the Thai baht in 1997. In 2002, Soros was convicted of insider trading by a French court. Long story short, Soros is a money man with a not-so-clean track record.

What's worse is that he's using that money to spread an agenda that is totally opposed to the Truth.

Thanks to documents released by WikiLeaks, it was discovered that George Soros is using his massive fortune to try to influence the Catholic Church. In addition to funding subversive elements within the Church, Soros' pet political organization, the Open Society Foundation, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars ahead of Pope Francis' visit to the United States in an order to shift the policy of the Catholic Church so that it would better fit the extreme progressivism of Soros.

What exactly does Soros believe in? One of the best ways to know what a man values is to pay attention to how he uses his wallet. George Soros, albeit a man with a rather large wallet, is no exception.

Soros is the founder of the Open Society Foundation and the Center for American Progress. Both groups are agents of the culture of death. They are zealously pro-abortion and seek to undermine the Sacrament of Marriage through pushing the gay agenda, especially in developing countries. The Open Society Foundation goes so far as to support the decriminalization of prostitution!

In 2012, Soros donated $1M to the effort to legalize marijuana in California. He is also pro-euthanasia, an issue that is getting more and more important with its legalization in Belgium, a policy that could better be called suicide on demand. Soros has even said publically that he offered to help his mother kill herself!

Now it would be unfair to overlook the large amount of philanthropic work Soros supports. He donates millions of dollars to various charities. Without a doubt some of that money has done a lot of good. The problem is that many of those organizations combine helping the poor with providing abortions and euthanasia and lobbying for the destruction of marriage. Let us remember the words of St. Paul to the Corinthians: "And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:3). It is impossible to truly love your fellow man if you support his being butchered in abortion.

Let us now turn to the recent scandal reported by the Washington Times and the Catholic League. Leaked documents unveiled a deliberate attempt by Soros' organization to attack the Tradition of the Catholic Church. He paid grass-roots activists to spread lies about the social teachings of the Church and even discussed the "buy-in of individual bishops" to give his agenda the momentum to "shift the Catholic Church."

Brothers and sisters, we ought to be outraged! This modern day tax-collector is interfering in the Church. His activism is just as harmful to the Church as an armed invasion, even worse because of his subtlety.

This is not the first time Soros has tried to change the Church. He is a regular supporter of Catholics United, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, and Catholics for Choice.

Catholics United was founded to get Catholics to vote for pro-abortion politicians. Their president is a regular guest of the White House.

Catholics in Alliance is even worse. They have hijacked Pope Francis' message for their anti-marriage ends. Their website is filled with such drivel as "Could Pope Francis be a Feminist Pope?" that confuses and divides the laity. Catholics in Alliance also has a history of supporting heretic-priests universally condemned by the Church for their schismatic efforts.

I can't do the perversity of Catholics for Choice justice. They are a pack of wolves masquerading as the flock of Christ. Saying abortion can be consistent with the Catholic faith is nothing but lies. This group steals our name and supports the killing of children! Not hard to see why George Soros bankrolls them.

Soros makes it apparent that he sees the Church as a tool, something to be manipulated for his own gain. He supports the spread of contemptible falsehoods and misguidance under the pretext of faith. Soros would in fact like nothing more than the destruction of the Catholic Church, despite his charitable pretenses.

He is not the first. The Romans owned the known world and threw Christians into torture pits for their entertainment. King Henry VIII outlawed Catholicism, established his own false breed of Christianity, and beheaded St. Thomas Moore. The radicals of the French Revolution executed countless priests and religious in the name of liberty. Hitler, the Soviets, and countless kings and warlords have all tried to subvert, divide, or destroy the Catholic Church. Every single one of them failed.

Soros will be no different. No matter how much money he wastes, he will never shake the foundation established by Christ.

That doesn't mean we should remain inactive. No Catholic organization, or bishop for that matter, should accept one cent of Soros' money. It is bloodied by his support for abortion and euthanasia. Furthermore, we ought to call out these faux-Catholics groups, these wolves in sheep's clothing. They are "traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasure more than God" (2 Timothy 3:4). If a group supports abortion or the destruction of marriage, they are not Catholic. Period. Catholics for Choice is a sham; they and their ilk need to be exposed as the liars they are. "Cast down, O Lord, and divide their tongues; for I have seen iniquity and contradiction in the city" (Psalms 54:10).

Being a Christian can be intimidating. The foes of the Church always seem to have more money, more power, and more votes. But in the words of St. John Paul the Great, "Do not be afraid!" Brothers and sisters, continue thou in those things which thou hast learned, and which have been committed to thee: knowing of whom thou hast learned them" (2 Tim 3:14). Stand for the Truth even if it means you're the only one standing!

DEUS VULT!

Imprisoned by Desire: Pornography and the Road to Death

What is the most dangerous addiction of our time? Is it gambling, video games, tobacco, alcohol, heroin or cocaine? None of those. We worry about keeping drugs off of our streets, taxing cigarettes, and keeping the bottle beyond our child's reach. But all too often we pay far too little attention to an insidious poison, a thief that can reach into our homes and snatch away our children, destroy marriages, and annihilate the family. I'm talking about pornography.

Porn is a dirty word. Though it has become far less stigmatized than in ages past - we have the sexual revolution to thank for that - we still shudder when we hear the word whether from the pulpit or at the dinner table. And this is good. At the same time however, we cannot allow our revulsion to keep our heads buried in the sand while we pretend pornography isn't a problem.

The fact of the matter is this: a lot of people are addicted to porn. The statistics are hazy because of the shame involved, but I would go so far as to say that three quarters or more of Americans are addicted to pornography.

Addicted? Isn't that a little harsh? Can't there just be people who watch it every once and a while, recreationally? Most people could just stop any time they wanted to, couldn't they? It's an innocent habit.

Absolutely not. There is no such thing as a casual porn-user just as there is no such thing as a casual heroin-user.

The relationship between pornography and heroin is closer than you'd think. When you see a pornographic image or ingest an opioid like heroin, the same thing happens in your brain. Both trigger the release of a neurotransmitter called dopamine. Neurotransmitters are like the brain's messengers, and dopamine is a reward message. It not only makes the brain feel good, the brain wants to feel that way again. But there's a catch. The high levels of dopamine released from stimulus like pornography and hard drugs dull the receptors in your brain - you build up a resistance. It's the addict's tolerance. So there is a need for more of the stimulus for longer periods of time and in stronger dosages. This applies whether the trigger is cocaine or pornography. Both lead to addiction. Pornography is highly, dangerously addictive.

If you think an addiction to pornography is just something you can step away from, just look up the symptoms for going cold-turkey with cocaine.

But porn doesn't just hurt the individual. It hurts society. It drives a wedge into relationships. If a man is watching pornography, he cannot love his wife with his whole heart as he ought to. He falls for the lies portrayed in pornography and inevitably his real wife cannot meet those absurd and distorted standards of beauty. The high divorce rate in our country is certainly influenced by the increased availability and perversity of pornography. There is also a well-established link between sexual trafficking and the porn industry. One study found that as many as 49% of women involved in sexual trafficking are also coerced into participating in the production of pornography.

And it gets worse. There is a proven correlation between pornography and sexual violence. Pornography trains the brain to view women as objects. It trivializes sexual violence. What type of men does this training create? Men like Ted Bundy. The day before his execution for the rape and murder at least 28 women, serial killer Ted Bundy gave an interview. Hours before he faced the judgement of God, Bundy did not blame society or his parents for his horrible crimes. He did not insist his innocence.  Instead, he wanted to talk about the role pornography played in making him who he was.

He said that he came from a "fine, solid Christian home," but became addicted to pornography at the age of 12 or 13. He did not remain satisfied with the first magazine he stumbled across and was compelled to find more and more violent forms of pornography in order to satisfy his addiction. This played a huge role in the development of a sexual fantasy that he sought to fulfill by killing women.

It is incredibly significant that in his last chance to speak to the world, Bundy said that "If you don't want people like me, don't burn Catcher in the Rye, burn Hustler." The most chilling thing that Bundy said in the interview is that "There are lots of other kids playing in streets around the country today who are going to be dead tomorrow, and the next day, because other young people are reading and seeing the kinds of things that are available in the media today."

It's not an innocent habit.

While not every porn-addict is a Ted Bundy, every Ted Bundy is a porn-addict. He mentioned in the interview that the one thing all serial killers had in common was an addiction to porn.

The problem is that pornography trains you to see women, and human beings in general, as objects for your own pleasure, devoid of personhood. To see them as pieces of meat on display. And once you begin to look at people as meat, you are a fine line away from treating them like meat. Just like Ted Bundy did.

But the worst part of pornography is that it kills the soul. Christ tells us that adultery is not just an action: "But I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:28). In his masterpiece on our human identity, The Theology of the Body, St. John Paul the Great wrote about the "ethos of the image." He defines pornography as taking place "when the limit of shame is overstepped, that is, of personal sensitivity with regard to what is connected with the human body with its nakedness." Reproducing the image of the human body carries with it an ethical responsibility to ensure its dignity. Otherwise, a grave sin is committed. For as man was created in the image and likeness of God, destroying the dignity of the human body through its objectification in pornography is a blasphemy against God. Pornography isn't just wrong because the Church says so (in fact nothing is). Pornography involves violating the inherent dignity and beauty of the human body and using it for self-gratification.

Real men and women are far more beautiful than the lies sold by porn. Love is far more than meaningless sex. Each and every one of us has a uniqueness given to us by God, a soul. We are far more than things to be used.

A great group, Fight the New Drug, uses "Porn Kills Love" as their slogan. And it doesn't get any simpler than that. Pornography is the antithesis of love. It seeks your wants and needs before the dignity of the human being you see on the screen. Real love puts the good of the other before yourself.

Pornography is not okay. We cannot accept it in ourselves, in our spouses, in our families, or in our society. What we face today is not a new problem. Porn has been around for a long time. The issue is that it has become so available. Nearly everyone of us can just whip our smartphones and have access to pretty much anything you could think of through the Internet. And I mean anything. Yes, it's convenient, but without the proper safeguards, it is also incredibly dangerous. Whereas a few decades ago you actually had to get your hand on a dirty magazine, today you have an unlimited supply of pornography through a device that has become ubiquitous.

And what is inexcusable is that parents give their children these Pandora's boxes, sometimes before they are even in school, and expect them to exercise a level of self-control that most adults don't have! To quote one of my favorite priests yet again, "Giving a child access to the Internet is like leaving them alone in an adult bookstore." The Internet can be a very nasty place. In caving to the fad of for every kid a smartphone, we are exposing them to incredible temptations.

If a kid stumbles across pornography, it's rarely even their fault. The porn industry is just that, an industry. They profit from every new user they get hooked just like your everyday neighborhood drug dealer. Matt Fradd is one of the greatest Catholic writers of our generation and a leading voice in the battle against pornography. In his podcast, Integrity Restored, he addresses this reality: "The pornography industry is looking for our children.... because our children, to the porn industry, are like dollar symbols." Pornographic websites target children through meta-tagging. They're sort of like hashtags in Twitter. That's why when you type "awesome Catholic blogs" in your web browser, you get The Crusade for Truth, even though that's not my URL (or you would if I paid Google for advertising). Porn sites use meta-tags like the names of cartoon characters so that children will accidently stumble upon their material and become addicted. What could be more despicable or perverse?

 Brothers and sisters, we have to make a stand against pornography. We have to protect ourselves, our families, our friends, and our children. Pornography is not just an idle pleasure. It is the crowbar of the Devil. It pries apart the soul from God, husband from wife, child from family, man from masculinity, and woman from femininity. Pornography reduces us to inanimate objects for the fulfillment of a passing pleasure.

What can you do? First, protect yourself. You can't defend anyone else if you are addicted yourself. "Cast first the beam out of thy own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to take out the mote from thy brother's eye" (Luke 6:41). If you are controlled by your passions, you must let God set you free. Do not let shame keep your sin in the dark and out of the light of the Confessional. Know that you are not alone. I have struggled with porn, many of the strong Catholic men I look up to have struggled with porn. Know that this is not something you can beat alone. No slave can remove his own shackles. The Lord is "the strength of my salvation" (Psalm 139:8), "our refuge and strength: a helper in troubles" (Psalm 45:2). Trust in God and His mercy, discipline your spirit, avoid the near occasion of sin, and you will find freedom. For a practical, Catholic approach to beating your porn addiction, Integrity Restored is a great place to start.

Next, you must protect your family. There's a lot of great software out there like Covenant Eyes that will block pornographic sites from your computer or even your Wi-Fi network. If your husband or wife is struggling, support them. Do not tolerate the sin, but remember to love the sinner. Maybe your kid really doesn't need a smartphone. It can be useful and convenient, but it can also be a door to sin.

Finally, we must protect our society. There is something deeply wrong in a culture that has no shame. Our culture of death is also a Playboy culture. Just look (or rather don't) at the music videos, red carpet, or the beach. Listen to our music. It has become acceptable to expose our bodies in the name of expression. It has become acceptable to treat women like objects in the name of sexual liberation. Remember that the ways of the world are not the ways of God! The Truth of our faith tells us that these things are not acceptable!

And so we must preach the Truth. In our dress, our thoughts, our words, and most importantly our actions, we must bear witness to the inalienable dignity of the human body. We must defend love as being more than sex and sex as being more than pleasure. Fight porn with purity and love!

DEUS VULT!

Keeping the Fire Burning

I'm high.

No, it's not what you're thinking. I am on a "Jesus high." Or at least I was when I returned from Lifeteen's Camp Hidden Lake two weeks ago. We had a blast: Mass every day, two hours a day for Confessions, a Eucharistic procession, and Lectio Divina in addition to an obstacle course, our own lake, tubing on a river, team-building on high and low ropes courses, and messy games. With guidance from college student summer missionaries, our youth group grew closer to one another and especially to God. It was a life-changing experience for all of us. At least for a week or so.

When you come home from a high-octane religious experience like a Lifeteen Camp, a Steubenville Conference, or even a World Youth Day, a lot of people have this euphoric "Jesus high." After feeling the presence of God with hundreds or even thousands of other faithful, you feel ready to take on the world and all of its challenges, to give your life to God.

But the thing about a high is that it doesn't last. I should know. I've been to seven Lifeteen Camps, three Steubenville Conferences, and a bunch of other retreats with my local parish. Pretty much every time, I come home with the bravado and fervor of a "Jesus high." I'll make huge changes to my faith life. But then a week later, I'm back to where I was before the retreat. Often it's when I first really begin to struggle with temptation or something unexpected happens in my life.

We see this a lot in the Bible. The Hebrew people were enthusiastic about Moses leading them out of slavery, but lost their faith as soon as they felt the first pangs of hunger. After Jesus multiplied the loaves and fish to feed the five thousand, the crowd was understandably excited. This Man can get us all the food we could ever want, they must have thought. They said "This is truly the Prophet the one who is to come into the world" (John 6:14) and even tried to carry Jesus off to crown Him their king. They followed Him across the sea of Galilee when He left with His disciples. Surely these men and women, so on fire with enthusiasm for Christ, will go out and proclaim the Good News. This must have been the early Church, right?

But Jesus followed the feeding of the five thousand with what is known as the Bread of Life Discourse. He spoke of "the food that endures for eternal life" (John 6:27) which is in fact Himself. The crowd was confused. They were expecting some sort of earthly food that would fulfill all their hungers, a political philosophy that will free them from Roman oppression and enrich their poverty. Instead, Jesus said "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him on the last day" (John 6:54). Rather than accept the Truth, even though it is hard, "many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him" (John 6:66). Their faith had no endurance.

So many times, after coming back from an awesome retreat, I become like the crowd. When the Eucharist is enthroned in the Monstrance right in front of me and all of my friends are at my side and the beautiful praise and worship music is blasting, I feel ready to give my life to God, no matter the consequences. Everything is right there, I can see it - Christ has just fed an immense crowd with almost no food. But then I come home and things start to get difficult. When I'm in school it's hard to remember how I felt on retreat. I return to my "former way of life" all too easily.

And I can't accept this dichotomy. Every time I try to get comfortable with acting like a Christian only when I'm on retreat and assuming that will be good enough, I am reminded of Christ's warning: "Not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven" (Matthew 7:21). When I am on retreat, I am saying "Lord, Lord" because it's easy, it's what everyone else is doing. But then I all too often fail to follow the will of God when it's not what everyone else is doing.

This is a problem for the Church as a whole. We leave treat Christ like a box to be checked off our schedules, a life of holiness as something only to be lived on Sundays and retreats. We say 'Lord, Lord' but then fail to protect the poor, the suffering, the unborn. We fail to defend Truth outside of the physical building of our parish and allow poisonous ideologies like gender fluidity to spread and threaten our children. Cardinal Robert Sarah writes that "The Church can no longer go on as though the reality did not exist; she can no longer be content with ephemeral enthusiasm that lasts for the duration of major meetings or liturgical gatherings, as beautiful and rich as they may be" (God or Nothing, p. 174).

This does not mean that youth retreats like those put on by Lifeteen or Steubenville are useless. Quite the opposite: I would not be half the Catholic I am today if I hadn't gone on my first retreat. Lifeteen's Camp Covecrest brought me back to Confession and introduced me to Eucharistic Adoration, something that simply wasn't big in my old parish at the time. It taught me the value of brotherhood and how to treat my sisters with dignity and respect.

The only thing I am condemning here is my approach to taking the fervor and devotion I felt on retreat back home with me, my failure to keep the fire burning.

What I have learned is that if you really want to change your life after a retreat, you have to do something concrete, consistent, and with the support of a community.

The worst thing that you can do after a retreat is to make a vague resolution: "I want to be more holy" or "I'm going to try to pray more." You might as well have just said you're not going to do anything different at all, the end result is the same. If all you are trying to do is "pray more," you might end up saying the Rosary for the first couple of days. But as soon as you stop feeling the "Jesus high," you won't feel like praying when it's so much easier to scroll through Instagram. The Rosary will become a decade, which will turn into a single Hail Mary, until you aren't praying at all.

That is why you must resolve to do something that is concrete. Instead of saying you'll "pray more," say you'll read the Bible for five minutes every day, or that you'll go to Daily Mass once a week. These are real resolutions. They might be hard to keep at first once the "Jesus high" goes away, but you will have something specific that you promised yourself you would do. It is easier to remain constant when you know exactly what you should be doing.

And that brings me to my second point: consistency. Once you have something you've decided to do, make sure you do it often! I find that it's easiest to stay consistent if you give yourself a definite timeline. So "I'll read the Bible for five minutes" becomes "When I wake up, I'll read the Bible for five minutes" and "going to Daily Mass every once and a while" becomes "going to Daily Mass every Tuesday."

Finally, consistently doing something concrete is much easier when you have a community that supports you. Accountability is a huge part of taking the devotion of a retreat and bringing it home. You're no longer just disappointing yourself when you neglect your resolutions, now you're letting down your brothers and sisters. It's a big change in dynamic. With community, you help each other to grow in holiness. You remind people of their commitments and ask for their prayers when you yourself begin to struggle.

Concreteness, consistency, and community are what help you to form habits that will lead you into an ever-closer relationship with God. Once you've established that habit, you won't need enthusiasm or a "Jesus high" to remain constant in your faith.

Being Christian does not begin and end with retreats. They ought not to be a "safe place" where you can actually live out your faith but instead tools that will "recharge your spiritual batteries" and inspire you to advance in holiness.

Don't only let your light shine when you're on retreat. Keep that flame burning bright and carry it home with you so that you can set the world on fire!

DEUS VULT!

The Pelosi Heresy

Far too often in the public sphere, we have seen this watered-down, tamed, and inert kind of Catholicism, most recently with Hilary Clinton choosing Time Kaine as her running mate. Tim Kaine claims to be a "traditional Catholic" who is "personally pro-life." Of course, he doesn't let that interfere with his legislative career. Kaine is a firm supporter of a woman's right to chose, better known as a woman's right to kill - he has a 100% rating from Planned Parenthood, a gold star from the murder industry. Though it has not been as publicized, Kaine is also a staunch supporter of gay "marriage." What kind of Catholic is this?

Among other names he deserves to be called (spineless flip-flopper among them), Tim Kaine is a Pelosi Catholic. I choose the name Pelosi simply because the former Speaker of the House is one of the mots prominent of this type of Catholic, though there are others: Biden, John Kerry, and the late Ted Kennedy just to name a few.

Their error is both grave and scandalous; they believe that it is possible to separate your private life from your public life, to be a faithful Catholic at Mass but a partisan abortion promoter in Congress.

This doesn't work. Christ tells us that "No man can serve two masters.... You cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24), or in this case you cannot serve both God and party. One or the other will end up being your priority. And I am not saying that this problem is limited to the Democrats. Many Catholics who operate in the public sphere, regardless of their political affiliation, are guilty of this. But the issue here is that these Catholics are in such prominent positions and flaunt such flagrant contradictions. When the New York Times writes articles like "In Pelosi, Strong Catholic Faith and Abortion Rights Coexist," the faithful must respond.

We are not simply condemning a sin. We are proclaiming to the world that this is not Catholicism!

In times past, we would have called such a trend a heresy.

It is a heresy because you cannot separate what you believe from how you live. There's that famous quote of St. Francis, "Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words." And this is the truth. Will people be inspired by your faith if you leave it on your lips and it never reaches your hands? How often did Jesus rebuke the Pharisees for merely sermonizing instead of authentically living their faith.

A popular excuse from people like Tim Kaine is that they don't want to impose their views on others. Sure I think abortion is murder, but I'm not going to interfere if someone else makes that their choice. But that is not consistent with the Message of the Gospel! Jesus imposed His views on others *gasp. When He saw the adulterous woman about to be stoned, Our Lord did not shrug His shoulders and rationalize that while He was personally opposed to this punishment, it would be intolerant of Him to try to stop it. No, Jesus stepped in front of the raised stones and rebuked the self-righteous condemnation of the crowd. Neither did Jesus allow the woman to continue in her sinful ways, accepting her different "lifestyle." After sending the crowd away, Jesus said to her "Go, and now sin no more" (John 8:11). That is not tolerance, that is love.

It is impossible to build a wall between your private faith and your public life.

While I cannot speak for Kaine, Pelosi, or any of the rest of their equivocating ilk, it does appear tht they are only Catholic when it looks good. Our country has not yet fallen so far that being a person of faith does not look good, just so long as that faith remains uncontroversial. Tim Kaine did a fair amount of mission work in his youth, and that ought to be applauded. And the truth of the matter is, that looks good. But the masses and the media and the party officials have decided that the right to have an abortion and gay "marriage" ought to be as sacred as the name of God. Hence Pelosi Catholics, despite the word "Catholic," are both abortion promoters and foes of traditional marriage. And complicity in the murderous evil of abortion blots out a whole lot of good.

Is this really Christianity? Faithful when it's convenient, pagan when it's not?

Father David Knight writes in His Way (a book that I can't recommend enough) that this is instead what he calls civil religion. "Civil religion is a religion whose morality is simply a reflection or an echo of what the 'nice' people in one's culture think, say and do." And that is what Pelosi Catholicism amounts to.

The scandal of this Pelosi heresy is great because of their position and power. Think about what good could be done if we had a truly faithful Catholic vice-president! God does not expect a lower standard of Catholicism from those in power. "And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required" (Luke 12:48). Children and even some adults look up to people in power. They become role-models. What message does it send our youth if abortion activism appears to "coexist" with the Catholic faith? It is these heretics who lend credence to the idea that support for traditional marriage is merely something for "conservative Catholics." Once more from the Gospel of Luke, we read that "It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin" (Luke 17:2). Woe to those who lead others into sin by their examples!

Of course, this rebuke is not limited to those with Secret Service details. Each and every one of us, myself most certainly included, must reflect upon our lives and ensure that there is no contradiction between our private faith and our public lives. Embrace the fullness of the Gospel! Catholicism is not a la carte. We cannot pick and choose. Being Catholic means that we also have to follow those teachings of Christ that we might not necessarily want to, those that make us uncomfortable, and even those that hurt a little like loving your enemy or praying for those who persecute you.

Remember that pretty much every one of us is an example for someone else whether we are a manager, a teacher, a parent, or even an older sibling. Your life is not just your own. Make sure that your conduct leads others, particularly the vulnerable, towards God instead of towards sin and bondage.

Brothers and sisters make your faith controversial! Counter the message that certain high-profile Catholics are sending. We are not of the world and so it is only natural for the world to hate us. If you're living comfortably in your faith in the midst of the world, chances are you're doing it wrong.

Deus Vult!

The Problem with Protestantism

Since Vatican II, the Catholic Church has become more open to ecumenism. She has begun a dialogue with a variety of Christian denominations, most notably the Anglicans and Lutherans in an attempt to find common doctrinal ground. While this communication is very good in itself, and we should certainly pray that fallen-away congregations might once more be united in Mother Church, we must also be aware of the message that this can send, particularly to the youth. Unfortunately, this dialogue can be interpreted as approval rather than bride-building. Particularly in this age of moral relativism, people have come under the impression that any group just so long as it is Christian, or even just religious, will lead them to salvation.

But that is a lie. The Catholic Church is one as we profess in the Creed. There is no other Church. All other faiths are just a shadow of the Truth, they might contain a semblance, but never the whole thing. 

There is but one Church. We read in the Vatican II document Lumen gentium that the Church is the "instrument for the salvation of all" (LG 9.2). The Catechism states that the Sacrament of Baptism is "necessary for salvation" for all who have heard the Gospel message (CCC 1257).

We are playing a very dangerous game when we are not clear about the Truth that other Christian denominations are not just another path to salvation among many.

Ever since Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the doors of the Wittenberg cathedral in a supreme act of pride, Protestant denominations have been multiplying like, well, like Catholics. Including all the different separations within the denominations, there are something like 30,000 Protestant churches. Just because one man did not feel like reforming the Church from within as have so many saints since the days of Paul, there remains to this day a rift in Christianity between Catholicism and Protestantism, the Truth and imitation. 

Note that I am not attacking Protestants personally but rather the theology of Protestantism. There's a difference.

There are several very real problems with the Protestant faith. Chief among these are the absence of Apostolic Succession, a reverence of the Blessed Mother, and the Sacraments. 

There is a clear breach in Apostolic Succession in every Protestant faith whether it was founded by a lay person or by a fallen clergy. Apostolic Succession has two parts: tradition and authority. The Catholic Church has an unbroken line of bishops, cardinals, and popes going all the way back to when Jesus said to St. Peter "Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18). This is why we can trust that the Catholic Church is true. And this lineage of tradition leads to authority. The Pope in Rome can speak with the backing of Apostolic Succession and respond to the challenges of today as Christ's vicar on earth. 

Some Protestant churches hardly even have people that can be called clergy. Pastors can get online degrees and then go off to lead congregations. Others allow votes to decide their course instead of the Word of God. Even denominations with hierarchies are insufficient because they are not valid successors of St. Peter. Their words have no authority. 

And all of this leads to confusion. Without authority derived from Christ or even a hierarchy to establish order, many pastors are free to do as they please, as long as the congregation does not revolt. They simply interpret the Word as they see fit. Some unfortunately exploit the power and influence of their position. For some this means greed and money laundering from the offering plate without oversight. Others twist the Word to mean whatever benefits them leading to godless ultra-progressives like the Unitarian Universalist Church or file and hate-filled groups like the Westboro Baptist Church (which isn't even Baptist). Some Protestant churches can't even follow their own rules like the United Methodists who just recently elected their first openly gay bishop. 

This is not to say that priests or even bishops cannot be guilty of the same flaws. The difference is that the structure of the Church means two things: they cannot change tradition and there is a higher authority with the power to rebuke them.

Outside of the Catholic Church and Apostolic Succession, the Truth can be hard to find and often comes packaged with lies.

The most negative comments I have ever received about my writing came when I published an article on Catholic365 about the importance of a devotion to Mary. And the attacks weren't from atheists or pagans but from Christians! Any Protestant attack on Catholicism always includes the claim that we worship the Blessed Mother and then goes on to demean her importance. This, of course, is enough to get the temper up of any red-blooded Catholic. We love our Mother - in his early stages of conversion, St. Ignatius of Loyola nearly killed a man for insulting Mary.

But perhaps instead of just defensively explaining the reasons behind our rightful veneration of Our Lady, we should question why the Proddies feel that they have to make this attack so consistently. Why are they so threatened by Mary?

St. Louis of Montfort writes that "An infallible sign by which we can distinguish a heretic, a man of false doctrine, an enemy of God, from one of God's true friends is that the heretic and hardened sinner show nothing but contempt and indifference for Our Lady. He endeavors... to belittle the love and veneration shown to her." Sounds just like the standard line of Protestant attack.

If you truly love Jesus, you cannot help but love His Mother.

A serious issue with Protestantism of today is that it shows a lack of reverence and sometimes even an "indifference" towards the Mother of God.

Thankfully, this is not the case for all Protestants. Some show a very healthy and commendable love for Our Lady. My grandfather was an Episcopalian, but in the years before his death he faithfully prayed the Holy Rosary.

The single greatest failure of Protestantism is that it lacks the Sacraments. Martin Luther himself began dismantling the Sacraments very early on. When he was done, only Baptism and Communion remained. And even then he denied the True Presence!

Now some denominations (or non-denominations) don't even pretend to have a communion service. The Unitarians don't even have baptisms (or a creed for that matter). The Eucharist is the "source and summit of the Christian life" (LG 11). Without the Eucharist our faith would be empty!

And that is the problem with Protestantism. It is empty. It can only ever offer fellowship and a chance to pray in a group, not the "Bread of Life" (John 6:35).

What would you or I be without the Eucharist? The Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of God Himself sustains us along our spiritual journey, gives us strength through grace.

That is why we must protect and educate our youth. Teach them that it's not all the same to God whether you go to Mass on Sunday or a non-denominational praise and worship service. That the "communion" offered at another church is not the same as Holy Communion.

Not all denominations are the same, but there is only one Church.

Certainly a great number of Protestants are authentically trying to journey with God. But some Protestant churches are worse than others. And these we must be watchful against.

Too many denominations openly approve of the massacre of innocents that is abortion! They condone murder and trample every teaching of Christ. Some go so far as to attack the pro-life movement. For so many years, abortion has been thought of as just a "Catholic issue" simply because only the Church had the courage to stand in the breach and defend life. Make no mistake, any "church" that supports or is even indifferent to abortion is not Christian in any sense of the word. They are collaborators.

Too many Christian churches have backed away from defending marriage. They allow openly homosexual clergy, "open" in the sense that they revel in their sinful behavior, take pride in it. They perform gay "marriages" eagerly, without a thought to what example this sets to young people honestly struggling with homosexual attractions. These are cowards who when the world said "Move" they replied "How far?"

 The problem with Protestantism is that they are, to varying degrees, away from full communion with the Truth. You will only find the fullness of Truth, of life, within the arms of the Church.

Therefore, when we are engaged in ecumenical ministries, let us not forget the flawed reality of Protestantism. Let us engage in a Crusade for Truth to bring our Protestant brothers and sisters back into the fold. Spread the fullness of the Gospel where it is lacking in their chosen faith. Bring them home.

DEUS VULT!