I do not know if any readers or contributors at AATW follow the YouTuber, Computing Forever. He is an ardent supporter of liberty, in particular freedom of speech, an citizen of the Republic of Ireland, who supported Brexit. He speaks intelligently, passionately, and eloquently, with a sharp sense of humour. Recently he uploaded a video on the need to protect our mental health in a time of darkness for those who love liberty.
Christians have been the canary in the coal mine when it comes to prosecution over freedom of speech. They were among the first to be hounded – now they are coming for secular conservatives, libertarians, and centrists. The war continues apace.
In my own recent economic reading (not sure if I will add to the economics series here, I started – still need to finish the Son of God series), I have been looking at the Austrian School, in particular the views of von Mises and Rothbard. When I look at the great gulf between what anarchocapitalists and libertarians advocate and our present state of affairs, I feel sad. This is made worse by concerns about another pending financial crash, which Bill Gates and Warren Buffet expect to occur within a few years (as do members of the Mises Institute): http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-01/bill-gates-says-financial-crash-certainty-reddit-ama/9500326
In spiritual thoughts, I find myself excited by a spiritual sense that the LORD is going to do a great thing to revitalise the Christians of the West – but also a sense of trepidation at the cost of it:
For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
-1 Peter 4:17, NIV
I find myself in a mixture of views. On the one hand, there is an inescapable conviction within me, perhaps fed by a comment made by Chalcedon451 a while back, that Christ meant (among other things) that He would build His Church on Peter. On the other, there is something in my convictions that leads me to conclude that somewhere along the way, the Roman Catholic Church has stumbled. At the moment, I do not see how to reconcile these views, but what I would like is help in exploring the matter. Many doctrines and practices of Catholicism that I once abjured, I now see as compatible with the Gospel, and as historic developments of seeds in the Early Church period. But I have problems with accepting that some of these practices and beliefs should be mandatory. I have no intention of going to Orthodoxy. If I were to accept some formulation of Apostolic Succession, I would not concede of Peter as being simply a primus inter pares.
In the meantime, I bumble on, occupying myself with academic work and writing here. I appreciate the opportunity I am given to write both posts and comments here. Not least, I value the companionship this place offers in a world where my basic and fundamental views put me at odds with so many people.
All Along the Watchtower 
Excellent video, by the way, and I am in complete agreement with all he says here. Western Europe, and the U.S. is selling its inheritance for a bowl of pottage as they say. All the technology that is driving this world at the moment is controlled and operated by enemies of freedom, liberty, Christian values and virtues. Our governments are infested from the top down through all its many bureaucracies with those who hate who we are, where we came from and cannot wait to pronounce the death of traditions and values they no longer hold.
As to your spiritual battle on Catholicism or not . . . what exactly are the questions that you wish to get help with? I went through this battle myself some 25 years ago and I am simply ‘planting seeds’ as in the video, though I have no illusions that I will benefit in the least from my words or actions. But that is in essence what faith is about . . . belief in the unseen and the unexperienced Reality and Truth that does exist and to which I hold evil if ridiculed for holding such a belief.
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Last sentence: EVEN not “evil” 🙂
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Bloody autocucumber! 🙂
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Ain’t it the truth, NEO. I’ll never get used to this modern world . . . I think it those liberals who wrote the software are doing their best to subvert every word that is typed at times. 🙂
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Yep. I need a secretary – do they still exist? 🙂 Spell check is a help, but far from perfect. But then, when we were young, we were learning woodshop when the girls were learning to type. 🙂
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. . . sew and cook. Am I even allowed to speak of women in such degrading terms these days? 🙂
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Probably not, but we all know how much fun heresy can be! 🙂
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Might I make another comment on how to proceed on the Catholic questions?
If so, it might be helpful if you sit and list them all on a piece of paper and then write your objections to each of these beneath each question. That way you could make a post of each problem and fill in the rest of the post by the objections that you perceive; similar to the way that St. Thomas Aquinas does in his Summa Theologica. That way we could at least attempt to answer the objections to the problem which may help in your wrestling match with your conscience.
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And you are right, Nicholas, “first among equals” is not how we Catholics see the Pope. He simply inherits an office that is “supreme”. It is an office that received the keys (to bind and loose). Keys always belong to an office. These keys belong to the office of Pope and not to a particular man who occupies that office. Canon Law expresses this in its writings. We have had bad popes and great popes, anti-popes and false claimant popes but the written dogma has not changed but there are those who have tried to undermine the dogma by conflicting practices. We face one at present . . . if he is validly elected, and that is question that may be grappled with by later generations in a better way than the present hierarchy perhaps.
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Re: economics, you may enjoy this article on the Scholastics as the true founders of economic theory in the medieval and early modern periods: https://mises.org/wire/true-founders-economics-school-salamanca
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Yes, a fine article indeed. If only our countries and our wayward pope could think a bit more about what they say and how they act the world would be a better place.
The US does the dumbest things at times. For instance they are charging oil refineries a fine for not adding a particular chemical to the gasoline that is produced; lets call it ‘whiffle dust’. This whiffle dust does not exist in any quantity that is able to be purchased for nobody is producing it. So the refineries must pay the fine (nothing short of extortion) for not using what is not available anyway. It is thievery. The same could be said about the forced use of ethanol from grain which has driven up the price of food which contains wheat and corn and has produced a poorer product which costs more . . . all for the sake of ‘saving the planet’. It is hocus pocus economics and the people are the ones to suffer . . . for the producers of grain and the producers of oil simply add the cost to their products which the people have to pay for and get lower quality products for their money. And this is only a few examples.
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I saw on John Stossel’s show a young lady who had catalogued how many taxes are imposed in the US for transactions of various kind in New York. It’s insane. I am also increasingly convinced that another financial crash is coming because our governments have not learnt the lessons of ’08. You can’t fight the laws of economics.
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Well, the recovery from the last great crash could have been avoided by simply not saving those who were ‘too big to fail’. And one can also surmise that we wouldn’t have had a crash if there had not been government manipulation of prices of goods, currencies, and services around the world. They set prices and think they are doing us all a favor . . . our pope thinks this way as well. The crash always follows and the burden of hurt always falls on the consumer . . . so it is the government that should be vilified not the corporations which are always taking the heat for these things. They are only playing with the rules and laws that the government regulations have specified. The government needs to get out of the way and let commerce behave in a more sane and natural way.
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I completely agree. Alas, I see little chance of persuading either Parliament or Congress to pass Acts returning our nations to the gold standard and ending the control of the Fed and BoE.
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The artificial worth of our ‘fiat’ money far exceeds the amount of gold that is in the world I’m afraid. So the world is so far out of whack that a return to gold is probably impossible. Sadly, some day it will probably be in gallons of pure, drinkable water.
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This will all end badly, I fear. The market does not tolerate this kind of craziness – and people will riot eventually (I guess antifa already are).
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It almost seems that this is their intent. That is why they want to scrap the second amendment. It is the only thing that can save the blood of millions and stop them from having full control of the people. If it slips we will end up being less than slaves and the human person will have no use whatever unless we serve the masters of this world.
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That sounds like the False Prophet’s “mark of the Beast”, which also corresponds to the Roman requirement to worship the emperor as a precondition for marketplace access. Certainly I would expect something similar in an Islamist revived caliphate.
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My fear as well. It seems intended does it not? The globalists are called that for a reason. They are narcissistic maniacs that want full global control of the markets and every aspect of our lives. They will decide who lives and dies and who has value and who does not.
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Yes, it is a fundamentally anti-liberty, anti-democracy position. I forget whether it was Menger, von Mises, von Hayek or Rothbard or someone else who said that the market was the purest form of democracy.
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In my short 72 years of life I have seen liberty and freedom go from a position of strength to infirmity. I no longer feel free. I can expect no privacy from government or from large computer enterprises. If they want to prosecute a particular citizen the laws and regulations are so numerous and unknown by most people that anybody or everybody could be jailed if they want to do that to you.
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Yes, I feel very vulnerable as a Christian and conservative at the moment – genuinely frightened of saying things that could cost me job prospects or get me jailed/fined – which will also cost me job prospects since you need a clean record to be a lawyer (excepting things like speeding tickets).
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You’re right to feel so. They are holding all the cards at the moment and public outrage at the situation should be manifest everywhere. It amazes me as to the indifference most people have to the loss of their privacy and their freedoms. Seems as long as they can have their electronic toys they are happy; it is like a drug for most of the younger citizens.
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Yes…in general I think we have all become addicted to social media, email, TV, etc. Psychologists have done interesting studies on the chemical effects. If I have get married and have kids, I’m going to keep them away from these “drugs” as long as possible.
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Yes, I fear they have done far more harm than the good that was intended. Humans have socializing nature and this artificial, virtual, socializing does not satisfy that. It is not an adequate substitute and we are becoming less human the more we rely upon it.
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I see we are now at the beginning of the end:
http://moonbattery.com/california-bill-may-ban-the-bible/
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Although not an American, I am deeply disturbed by California’s behaviour over the past couple of years. NEO wrote a good piece on the crazy conflict between Sheriffs who want to round up illegal immigrants and the state legislature and Attorney-General who forbid it. 60 years ago you would not see this kind of madness.
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Indeed, California, for all intents and purposes, is a foreign nation unto itself. I would love people in the rest of the free world to stop trading with them and to boycott any company that does business with them . . . and withdraw all federal monies that are presently given them. If that is what it takes to bring them back into the real world then we should take some drastic actions.
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Just read the article. Truly frightening. California needs a reality check, as does the world in general. Too many cabals and exploiters and pressure groups. It’s crushing the human spirit. Nobody is happy under the current regime. The more they attack the Catholic Church, the worse it will be for the poor and minorities too because Catholics will be driven out of opportunities to do charity work. Everything has a cost: if you find the cost of admin/compliance/protection to high, you’ll choose to not do something.
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I think they are all high on LSD out there. Nothing they say or do is astonishing anymore. I would like to segregate them into a smaller portion and set them loose on their own. The US should retain all rights to the larger farms and the seaports. But outside of that . . . let them sink or swim. And they will sink.
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Incidentally, do you know of a good source for a gold price index extended over a series of years? I’d like to do some research on the market between 2008 and now. I’ve just done a short survey of various factors that together predict a severe economic and financial crash.
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Not sure exactly what you are looking for: is that what you are looking for: https://goldprice.org/gold-price-history.html
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Yes, that’s helpful. Thank you 🙂
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So are you pursuing a legal career then, Nicholas? What aspect are looking at; I would presume you are interested in corporate financial law etc. since you have an interest in capitalist laws and regulations.
If so, we need to get you a St. Thomas More medal and have it blessed since he is the patron saint of lawyers. 🙂
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Well, I’m applying to commercial/corporate firms. I would like to do a seat in banking and finance as part of my contract to see if I really like it. I’m hoping to become a solicitor, involved in transactional work. People who know me say I should become a barrister because of my public speaking skills, but barristers are largely self-employed and I’m not ready for that step yet. Not sure I want to spend all my time in court either; I think I prefer transactional work.
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Then St. Thomas More seems to be the right saint to have interceding for you.
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I have never read his Utopia. I have heard that what it describes is frightening if you’re a conservative. Is it meant to be satirical of statists or to advocate statism?
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I never read it myself but I think anyone frightened of it seems to have not understood the writing very well from what I know about it. This summary may help: http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/utopia/summary/
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Utopia was required reading in my major. I loved it. It really is funny. It is very short. You could read it in an hour. God bless. Ginnyfree.
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That’s a good idea – to be more specific.
For myself, I started as more or less Reformed, left completely for a while, and ended up a pretty conservative Lutheran. In England, I likely would have ended up Anglo-Catholic. Many of my practices, Veneration of Mary, the Rosary, the Real Presence, others not really countenanced by my synod, trace back to my independent reading of ‘Old Luther’, where I find that he continued almost all of the practices of Catholicism, saving only the Saints as Rome presented them, going back to Biblical authority. I like many of the saints, as do many of us, as examples to look up to as we become better Christians. But for us the term is wider, encompassing all Christians living and dead.
In sum, I, like Luther, think the Catholic church became sidetracked during medieval times, and the Protestant churches were a response to the stiff-necked clericalism of the times. And so I can see Lutheranism as following a corrected catholicism, founded just as much on St. Peter, as Rome was. And note, it wasn’t long until Rome reformed as well.
In many ways, these are questions that we must answer in our own hearts, one of the original ‘Your mileage may vary’ questions. But that underlies why you have seen C and I agree almost down the line, he gives more credence to the authority of the Pope, and I give more to individual free will. But almost always, we come to the same point.
It may be the difference between British and American as much as anything. He has said that he found he couldn’t live here permanently, and I doubt I could be entirely comfortable permanently in Britain, either. Cousins, pretty much the same beliefs, but not identical, we have diverged some in the last 250 years.
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I think it would be an interesting series to do . . . as both sides could add their objections or support. It might just bring out some areas where there really is no divide of thought but a divide in expression or understanding.
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I think so as well. Most of us here (excusing Bosco, I reckon) tend to believe musch the same things, but we express them differently.
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Who was it who said that to learn history is to cease to be Protestant?
Chalcedon knows well who that is. I think you need to read a book that helped me with my conversion: Apologia Pro Vita Sua. Don’t worry. It is in English.
The quote above is from An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine (1845)
To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.
To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant. (Introduction, Pt. 5.)
In a higher world it is otherwise, but here below to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often. (Chapter 1, Section 1, Part 7.)
Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5: 48. To do that, to follow Christ means to change one’s self to conform to Christ. St. John Henry Newman got it. It is time for you to do so too. Read the Apologia, it will help you see the limb you’ve gotten yourself out on to see Christ as He passes by. But He’d rather you come down and let Him abide in your home for a meal. He paid your debt in His own Blood, but you need to accept that payment in the way He requires you to. We all do. I did. You can too. God bless Ginnyfree.
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There’s truth in it, Ginny. I became much more catholic by studying history, just not quite Roman Catholic. I don’t rule it out, in the future, but it is increasingly unlikely. Not least because of Chalcedon’s advice. , don’t convert expecting the organization church to be better than what you know now. You have to have the word from God, not your own desire.
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I don’t understand what you wrote. Why would Chalcedon advise you to stay outside the Church? I don’t get that one at all. St. John Henry Newman converted and he went thru a hell of emotions and suffered greatly for his entry into the Church. His model is worthy of emulation. I think you should read both the Essay and the book. God bless.
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Because he recognizes, as I do, that one should move when God calls, and not for other reasons. If God calls I’ll move, if not, I won’t.
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I agree that our convictions matter, which is why I was unwilling to consider this at an earlier stage in my life. My consideration now is principally because of Matthew 16 still seeming to have Papal resonance on top of the exegesis I’ve discovered from Dr Heiser.
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They matter, but if you feel called by something, and I would say if it persists for some period of time, it may well be a true calling. As I recall, C crossed the Tiber because he believed in the Pope’s authority, and you know, it’s probably the only argument that could sway me, although it hasn’t yet. Quite a journey, isn’t it? 🙂
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Yes, and I’m not really sure where I’m going. I wish my thoughts were also more organised and that my mental health was clear. The problem with these questions is we make inferences about other people’s experiences, but they may not apply to us. If I were to become a Catholic, hypothetically speaking, would I spend a lot of time reading Catholic news-sources for example? Not necessarily. The current stuff might be adequate for my needs.
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I’l tell you what C told me, remember you take yourself to a new church. No church is the church you dream of. You read enough of the troubles the Catholic Church has, that’s not saying that isn’t a wonderful church, it is. Others are also good, some, in my opinion, better than others. Jesus founded his church on Peter yes, but peter was a man, and so were all his successors, and none were perfect, and all of our churches reflect that fact, no matter which side of the Tiber you are on.
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I’m going to be frank NEO. The problem with Chalcedon’s theology is that he subscribes to a thing called Branch Theory. That reduces the Catholic Church to one of many branches of the Vine with Jesus being the trunk. It is a rather simple solution to a complex problem. But Jesus only founded one Church, not many churches. Here is one brief explanation: “Branch theory is a Protestant ecclesiological proposition that the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church includes various Christian denominations whether in formal communion or not. Some Anglican proponents of the theory usually only include the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Anglican Communion churches, while others may also include the Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East, Old Catholic and Lutheran churches.[1] The theory is often incorporated in the Protestant notion of an invisible Christian Church structure binding them together.”
It is easy to see why Chalcedon would tell one church is as good as another. Your words here express nearly perfectly a Branch Theory theology. ” No church is the church you dream of. You read enough of the troubles the Catholic Church has, that’s not saying that isn’t a wonderful church, it is. Others are also good, some, in my opinion, better than others. Jesus founded his church on Peter yes, but peter was a man, and so were all his successors, and none were perfect, and all of our churches reflect that fact, no matter which side of the Tiber you are on.” Easy to see the influences of Branch theory in that statement. It also might interest you to know that Branch Theory was one of the errors St. John Henry Newman grappled with before admitting it was insane and coming to his senses, joined the only Church Christ founded, the Catholic Church. This is also why his early writing tends to contained shadows of this error as well as a few others. It took him a while and he wrestled with the Beast often. Branch Theory was part and parcel of the Oxford Movement and it was a way to prevent Anglicans from leaving behind their church as they were bleeding people in great numbers then. Adopting this view made it easier to convince their congregants to stay as any Brach would suffice, so why all the fuss? Stay were you are most comfortable, etc. I suggest you do some research on the Oxford Movement and the real reasons Newman left both that mess and Branch Theory behind. God bless. Ginnyfree.
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Nicholas, I sincerely wish you the Peace of Christ. You acknowledge your need, yet deny the Narrow Gate to get to it. Please reconsider your hesitations and leave behind your doubts and fears. It is called a leap of faith for a reason and it isn’t a tightrope walk across Niagra Falls. God bless. GInnyfree.
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NEO, God has never stopped calling humanity to HImself since the Cross was raised on Calvary. When I am lifted up, I will draw all men to myself. He still does. Only why do you need Him to “call” you in a specific way, when He has been calling you all along and you’ve made a decision to stop responding because you didn’t like the cost of discipleship? Really. God bless. Ginnyfree.
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Ginny, he called me to the Lutheran church. If he wants me elsewhere, he’ll tell me.
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If nothing changes, nothing changes.
Conversion is the answer to all of it. Wear the world like a loose garment. Toss it aside at the end of the day and spend your evenings in Christ. He has conquered the world. Detachment from all things frees you for Communion with Him that is abiding and intimate. Least that’s how it seems to work for me.
God bless. Ginnyfree.
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Thanks all. With the time-zone difference, I am only just reading these this morning. I think I would be interested in writing some posts using Scoop’s format (would like to do two more on the Son of God first, if possible). My thoughts on Catholicism are very much a mess at the moment – it is some years since I actively went into depth re: possible conversion. One of my objections is the amount of rules regarding devotional practice – that sort of seems like legalism to me.
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“devotional practice’ – it would be helpful to know what devotions you are speaking of and to make sure that you are not speaking of liturgical practice. An example?
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There may be some category confusion there on my part since I am not a Catholic. An example of what I’m thinking of would be holy days of obligation – is that liturgical rather than devotional? – supposing someone is unable to make it to church or has a prior commitment they feel it would be unfair to break?
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One can get dispensations for missing such things for a variety of reasons; no times available that are possible, sickness, age, lack of transportation etc. The Church does not lay any burdens on people that they cannot fulfill.
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I’d look to OT prefigurements for help in discerning this. There were Feasts with obligations as well as the Sabbath to be kept. Do you not remember Mary, Joseph and Jesus traveling to the Jerusalem to keep their obligations under the Laws of Moses? It was one of these Feasts with their obligations that resulted in the Last Supper at which the Eucharist was shared for the very first time. There are many other such prefigurements. These are the very things the early Church Fathers used to explain much of what Jesus did and said. It is called Typology and it is a fascinating study.
As to devotions, they are many and varied. It can be as simple as paying careful attention to one’s Patron Saints by making sure you get to a Mass on their Feasts day or praying a Novena prior to it as preparation. BTW a Novena which is another of the Church’s devotions has a long history. It is nine days of prayer for a specific purpose and the very first one was prayed by the Apostles in the Upper Room, called the Cenacle, at the express order of our Blessed Lord so that the Paraclete would come to them. This very first Novena was prayed from Ascension to the coming of the Holy Spirit nine days later. It did – Pentecost is the result! Novenas can be very powerful tools in the spiritual life. This particular Novena to the Holy Spirit asking for His Gifts, is still prayed by many in the Church, including me. This devotion is now 2018 years old. Hello?
The Rosary is an example of another widespread and old devotion. Mass itself has actions the laity are required to make, ie kneeling at the proper time, genuflections, use of Holy Water to renew one’s Baptismal vows and ask for forgiveness prior to staring one’s own participation in the Liturgy itself. etc. This what it means to practice piety. Our Blessed Lord kept the Laws and traditions incumbent upon Him as a child and even up to the trials of Gethsemane. His death paid the debt and the Laws changed, but they are binding still. As for the keeping of the Divine Office and the “rules” that require actions on my part, ie standing for the Gloria Patri, and making a deep bow for the first part of the Doxology, and there are a few othert rubics, (the correct term for liturgical rules BTW) well I keep two of these Hours each day and though I’m not vowed to do so, which would make it a grave sin for me to omit my Hours, it is pure joy to keep them and the only way to find this joy is to practice true piety. our Blessed Lord kept the Law and as He said regarding things binding upon the faithful, He did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it. That’s Justice. He kept the Law. So did Mary, His Mother, and St. Joseph.
Piety is the practice of devotions with reverence and care plus making sure one’s duties are fulfilled as fully as one is capable of.
As for you specific confusion about Holy Days of Obligation, what do you suppose would have happened to us all if Jesus and His disciples had decided going up to Jerusalem for Passover, this Jewish Holy Day of Obligation was simply too much for them as they were very tired men, traveling all over the countryside preaching and teaching and casting out demons and such. Weren’t they above the Jewish laws? Could they use the Feast as an excuse to just kick back and relax for a few days? Why go to Jerusalem, especially since they knew that they’d encounter trouble when they got there? Hello? No. They had piety which is born from practice. They wouldn’t dream of skipping a Holy Day of Obligation, the Jewish feasts with all their practices.
Take a quick read of about the Feast of Tabernacles. Imagine going to your roof and building a grass enclosure for you and your family to live in for a few days? How’s that for piety? Weird, but they did it. It prefigured the Upper Room, the Cenacle where Jesus and His disciples were before He went down to be Crucified. Typology is marvelous and only confounds the skeptics. It has done so for over 2000 years. it is this very thing that St. Philip used to convince the Ethiopian Eunuch on the road as he read from Isaiah the Prophet. Read that one too.
Wow this got long. Sorry for being so talkative. I’ve been in bed for a few days and needed to get verbal. I hope this helps you a bit. I’m going back to bed now. Pray for me that this flu goes away. I sick of being sick. Ugh. God bless. Ginnyfree.
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Though what Ginny has stated is true, it does not take into account that these festivals were held as Holy Days throughout the Jewish land just as Holy Days of Obligations were held as Holidays (Holy Days) in Catholic nations, when there still was such in the world.
Today, we live in secular societies and hold jobs in our particular secular society. Nobody gives Catholics special treatment for time off, though some employers might be more lenient than others. So your questions has much validity in modern life. It is, sometimes, both hard or actually impossible to attend. But that is not then a sin but a circumstance that is unavoidable. Business trips to foreign lands, hospital work, rural life all have a bearing on what a person is capable of doing or not doing and the Church understands this.
Each country, also, has its own list of Holy Days of Obligations. What is a Holy Day in the US is not necessarily what is one in Canada or Mexico etc. They are set by the national conferences of bishops in each country and sometimes have Holy Days for their own national patron saint.
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WHat???? ” these festivals were held as Holy Days throughout the Jewish land just as Holy Days of Obligations were held as Holidays (Holy Days) in Catholic nations, when there still was such in the world.”
Holidays can be anything from the Fourth of July to Armistice day. There is no equalizing them. This is reductionism, one Holy Day being as good as another and just another holiday on a calendar. Keep Holy the Sabbath. We have Sunday, the celebration of the Lord’s Ressurection. That is one of the Holy days of the year we are required to attend to. All Jews were bound to keep the Sabbath, not just with lip service, but with prayer and sacrifice. No work was done on this day and during certain Feasts of the year, elevating them by the various requirements. This prefigured what we have under the New Covenant. Yes, you are bound by your Baptism to be governed by the Church. “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven and whatever you lose on earth will be loosed in Heaven.” Simple formula and if you cannot except it, pray that you do. God meant what He said and all the Apostles honored His words to Peter and looked to him as the visible head of the Church. They were smart men and moved by the Spirit that was poured out upon them all at Pentecost.
God bless. Ginnyfree.
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Where do you think the word holiday came from? In the Jewish Nation Holy Days were observed nationally. In Catholic Nations the same was done. After the loss of Catholic Nations they were not observed nationally. So it becomes harder to observe them if you want to keep your job. You miss the point entirely.
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Personally, I think it’s a great witness to take Vacation Leave for Holy Days. My co-workers are often confused, “You took time off to go to Church!?”
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Absolutely, if you have that option. Some folks are not so blessed. I’ve been stuck in situations in the past where I could not get to Mass on a Holy Day of Obligation even though I wanted to. It has happened only infrequently as we are obliged to attend. But things do happen and other lives and situations can even make it impossible; sickness, lack of transportation or the absence of a Catholic Church in some remote place where you might find yourself. I’m simply pointing out to Nicholas that the Church does not require that we do what will possibly cost us our living (for the support of our families is primary in Catholic life) or to do that which is impossible for the sick and for situations where Mass is not offered. Otherwise we are certainly obligated to attend . . . even if we must take vacation days to attend. You did the right thing and I have done the same in the past . . . I often did it for Good Friday even though it wasn’t a Holy Day of Obligation.
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Ya know, all your objections are appropriately mentioned to your Priest in the Confessional. If you try and miss Mass on both the evening of the Vigil Mass and the Holy Day itself or even on a Sunday which also has a Vigil Mass on Saturday as well as the Sunday Masses because of work obligations that you truly couldn’t get out of, then he will decide if your attempts were sincere and your sin is only venial.
Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom. That isn’t just a trite saying. It is one of the 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit and for this Catholic gal, I was very fortunate to be gifted with this early in my conversion, long before my poor soul saw the waters of Baptism. What this did was help me to see the need I had for maintaining my anticipated Baptismal garment with which I’d be clothed in the near future in the condition I’d received it in. I experienced such contrition that I didn’t want to sin anymore in the sight of my God every again. Of course, I did, but God had a cure for that too. The ordinary means for the forgiveness of post-Baptismal sins, both venial and mortal, is the Sacrament of Penance. Going on a regular basis and seeking the guidance offered there by sincere men desiring nothing but your salvation and reconciliation to the One who instituted all our Sacraments, prevents one from developing objections that require excuses and man-made justifications. I’ve found pure joy by going to Confession on a regular basis for the past 23 years now. Most Saturdays, that’s where I’ll be, in the line waiting for the Precious Blood of my Savoir to be poured into the wounds I inflict on myself by sinning. By His stripes, I am healed and I don’t ever deny Him the opportunity to heal me in this most holy way He desired to heal me. The Sacrament of Penance is meant for us who desire to be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. Without this, practically no one would get to Heaven unless they put off Baptism until the end of their lives. Some in Ancient Rome did because there were no Priests to hear Confessions anywhere near them. Imagine having to travel 600 miles in crazy conditions to hopefully find a Priest of God? Remember they were all in hiding for over 300 years in the beginning. Death for being a Christian was quite common. If you think about that for very long, even a few minutes, the early Church’s Martyr’s witness to our Faith, then you’d quickly be ashamed of lame excuses such as loss a day’s wages made for skipping Mass on the days required of you by both the Commandments, ie to keep holy the Sabbath, and the positive laws of the Church, whatever you bind on earth is bound in Heaven, like a day’s wages lost. But this is what you work out with others in the RCIA classroom on your way into the Church. The grace is there in abundance for those who desire to live according to the will of God. God only died to give you that grace. He died that all men might be saved, but as we know not all those who called out Lord, Lord, will enter into Heaven, as He warned us. As the old saw goes, I wanna be in the number, when the Saints go marchin’ in.
Those who deny Him, He will deny before His Father. That’s Justice.
God bless. Ginnyfree.
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Oh my Lord Ginny. I hope Nicholas isn’t reading this. He would never join the Church if it was as unyielding as you make it sound.
Are you saying that common sense based on the sensus fidelium is not sufficient in certain circumstances? Just because you have the perfect life and can go to Mass everyday does not mean others have that same blessing.
You are on your way to Mass and your car gets a flat or you are in an accident. Do you need to confess that as a sin or are you smart enough to understand that this is circumstance that is beyond your control? You are enfeebled and can’t make it because the person who was to pick you up for Mass forgot and did not pick you up; are you in need of going to confession? Is it a mortal sin that you missed Mass? No. Don’t claim to preach a Gospel nobody can follow except the very privileged? Some folks work hourly rather than salaried and only have a 30 minute lunch. Some don’t even drive to work but get a ride from a fellow worker. They cannot go unless the Church is almost next door to them. You make it sound like you are this special saint because you have never missed (and, of course, you go to daily Mass); many of did when it was possible and many can’t even if they wanted to. You make it sound oh so simple because your life is oh so simple. In reality the world is not the same for everybody as you make it sound.
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Scoop, ALL THIS NEGATIVITY IS YOURS. Nobody is saying this horrid stuff but you. So, what can you say about that? God bless. Ginnyfree.
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I say that if you have no intent to commit a mortal sin then you did not commit one.
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That is the exact same thing as saying my not believing it is a mortal sin changes the nature of the sin.
Scoop’s moral theology: “I say that if you have no intent to commit a mortal sin then you did not commit one.”
Jesus’ moral theology: “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.
Is Jesus out of line too? I notice there is not one word in the about statement of our Blessed Lord about “full” anything. He’s just mentioning the fact that many men are guilty before Him of mortal sin, just because they allowed the thoughts to remain in their hearts. This is the Scripture behind the word “sufficient.”
Scoop’s moral theology: “I say that if you have no intent to commit a mortal sin then you did not commit one.”
So, if you don’t believe it is a mortal sin, then it isn’t. This is not Catholic teaching at all, but a distortion.
Will you now start to cite conscience abstractions to justify further dismissing of sins of all kinds, or will you remain with the original context regarding Holy Days of Obligation and the rigidity of those of us who actually attend regardless of the consequences, such as loss of a day’s wages or worse?
God bless. Ginnyfree.
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Now who has put words in someone’s mouth and calumniated another to boot? A simple answer to a simple question that Nicholas has did not require a books worth of commentary. The answer was simple. You are not required to do that which is impossible for you to do. You just go on and on and on ad infinitum. It isn’t helpful.
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This is simple enough to understand:
In Roman Catholic moral theology, a mortal sin requires that all of the following conditions are met: Its subject matter must be grave. It must be committed with full knowledge (and awareness) of the sinful action and the gravity of the offense. It must be committed with deliberate and complete consent.
Not a mortal sin; then not necessary to take to the confessional, Ginny.
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Scoop, the actual volumes of moral theology I have on my shelf are sufficient. In fact, the word “sufficient” is used to the describe the effort needed to fall into a mortal sin, not “full.” Some including QVO, would agree that is a modern rendition of our body of moral theology. Sufficient reflection, and then the action which speaks louder than words, or in your case, many words claiming much that isn’t true. I stand accused by you of being faithful to the teachings of my Church.
Grave matter, sufficient knowledge and consent, period. Not a spin doctoring of the words that makes mortal sins disappear like a bad odor meant to relieve the prideful of the embarrassment of having to reveal their sins to another human being in the dark chamber we meet our Blessed Lord in called the Confessional. The Sacrament exists to set you right with our Blessed Lord. He willed to have it this way and to deny its need in your own spiritual life is to deny Him. The Saints have made generous use of this Sacrament. And yes, vowed Religious and Priests are required by Canon Law to make use of it on a very regular basis. Why? Because it is the Gate of Heaven we open when we open the door to the Confessional and step inside for an encounter with our Blessed Lord and beg His forgiveness in the sight of both Him and His Minister for our sins, both venial and mortal.
I would ask you do you think all those souls like me who go to Confession on a regular basis are
1.) guilty of mortal sin,
2.) don’t know the difference between the two,
3.) need to get liberated from this religious duty by persons such as yourself so as not to need a Sacrament instituted by our Blessed Lord,
4.) can reject His Ministers and His Ministry,
5.) are in need of instructions from a person such as yourself who know our hearts and minds and find them wanting because we recommend others make use of Confession,
6.) should do like you recommend and discern away the need for Confession in our lives,
7.) and most importantly for the purpose of this “discussion,” most certainly shouldn’t mention any of the Church perennial teachings and practices regarding the Sacrament to Inquirers into the faith,
8.) offering them a dumbed-down version of Catholicism they can live with,
9.) sending them in further confusion when the Holy Spirit is telling their hearts that there is something else they need besides the dumbed-down versions offered them by others.
Personally, I think all of this negativity is something you’ve stored up to vent on others out of your own personal baggage. God bless. Ginnyfree.
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I’m sure you are the next St. Thomas Aquinas. It is really simple to determine for oneself in most circumstances if you need to go to Confession or not.
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Scoop your arrogance is rather pathetic. Your choice of the use of the words “Roman Catholic Theology,” as if to imply my religion is of another variety is patently false. You are wrong and on the attack and have been for a while. Why? Because I dared to speak up, period. I think it also has something to do with my sex, but that can wait for another day.
Plus the fact that I revealed my own personal experience of going to Confession every Saturday since my Baptism for over 23 years now, and which you dismiss as stupid and unnecessary is unfathomable coming from someone who claims he is walking the same walk I am with Jesus Christ. My Brother in Christ or my accuser? Scripture states clearly what use and accuser is and how they get dealt with: “10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying: Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: because the accuser of our brethren is cast forth, who accused them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of the testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death.” Revelation 12:10-11. It is part of the Divine Office I pray every day. Now attack me for that too, and you’ll only prove the nature of your reasons: you accuse constantly, just as the Scriptures declare. Ya might wanna give it up.
God bless. Ginnyfree.
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I simply cut and pasted that from the answer to how to decide if one has committed a mortal sin. It is simple and to the point and most school kids who read the Baltimore should know it.
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I don’t understand you. There has been an Anticipated Mass on Saturdays in the evening in most places in the country for well over 2 generations. This is done specifically for those who bosses are stingy and won’t give people leave to pursue their religious duties. Now we just call it the Vigil Mass. In highly populated places like the city of Philadelphia, Mass is available from early in the morning to as late as 8PM at night, both the days of the Feast and the Vigil hours before. Checking a simple website called Mass Times, https://masstimes.org/ will help you find a time that is convenient for you and your needs.
I think that those who follow Him will find a way. The knowledge that it is grave matter would be enough to motivate those who desire to keep the New Covenant. For those of us who truly desire to conform ourselves to Christ, there is no debate and no excuses desired. We just do it. Since my conversion, I have not found it difficult at all to attend Mass on these days. In fact, I go most days. anyway. I love being with the Lord and Mass gives me the opportunity to do so in several ways, none to be missed. God bless. Ginnyfree.
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Not every parish has that Ginny. Some parishes are served by priests who are serving 3 and sometimes 4 parishes. You think because you are lucky enough to have both offered that everybody has the same advantage? Not so. And besides that, are you trying to say that people who are sick and/or disabled are guilty of a mortal sin if they can’t make it to Mass (even on a Sunday)? We are not so legalistic as you think and Nicholas was worried that we were about such things. The Church has always made accommodations for circumstances that are beyond our abilities.
Also would an medical intern who is working a 48 hour shift be guilty of sin for not attending Mass or a Holy Day of Obligation? The Church is more understanding than that and always has been. Your simply off on some tangent that has nothing to do with the realities that Nicholas is asking about.
How about a businessman who is in China or Japan and is being accompanied by his foreign guests? Is he given an dispensation for the situation? Yes. That is all that I am saying. We are not going to add the impossible of people but they are expected to go if they are reasonably able to attend. To not do so would be a sin and must be confessed. I think Nicholas gets it now . . . if you don’t try to confuse him.
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Ya know what Scoop, you just wanna argument. I never said people who are sick who can’t get to Mass because they are sick are in sin. You tried to put those words in my mouth. They aren’t there, nor will they ever be.
If you were sincere in your commitment to Christ, you’d not argue with me at all because all I’m doing it repeating the perennial teachings of the Church. You obviously have a problem with them and are merely using Nicholas’ personal dilemmas as an excuse to expound upon them.
The problem is never the Church or her teachings and practices. She is the spotless Bride of the unblemished Lamb. Though she is made up of a bunch of sinners redeemed by the Blood of that very same Lamb, she has been carrying out the Great Commission of our Blessed Lord for over 2,000 years. That’s a long record of saving souls. Why argue with it? It has proven useless in every generation since He came.
God bless. Ginnyfree.
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Oh my, you seem to have become unhinged.
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I also just re-read what you stated in the above rebuttal, and it seems you are not only putting words in my mouth but Nicholas’ as well. Please stop. It is a lousy way to evangelize if that is your intention. You just want to fight and you’re using Nicholas as your excuse. For shame. God bless. Ginnyfree.
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I do not put words in anybody’s mouth though you say so many of them it would be hard not get totally off base with all the content that has nothing to do with the original question. I do not know the parish situation that Nicholas may encounter in the UK but am aware that it isn’t always as rosy as you make in sound in Philadelphia.
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Time zone and the flu for me. I’m out of bed to check email for a little while then I get to go back,. My fever spiked at 102.6! Yahoo! Its awful. I’m really sick. Pray for me. God bless. Ginnyfree.
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Ginny, I did pray for you, and since I did we all know you will be and feel better soon! The effects of the flu have caused you to react to Scoop wrongfully. You are been way to sensitive. IMHO an apology would be in order.
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