Love, Peace, and Deer in the Headlights

 Tolerance is the only virtue common to those who don't believe in anything.----G.K. Chesterton 

This is going to be a really quick post.  It is entirely in response to my personal opinion of an audio that was posted on my Facebook by a friend, who just happens to be Novus Ordo.  I'm sure you've seen it posted on Facebook, too, or YouTube.  But just in case, here is Donna, the Deer Lady.  I remarked on Facebook that there is no excuse for the stupidity of the American people.  Personally, I think that was a fair representation of the situation, and something poor Donna even admitted herself!  What surprised me, really, in the whole matter, was that eventually I was admonished for my comments and counseled to be more tolerant and compassionate.  And why?  Because I found this poor woman's ignorance to be offensive rather than humorous.  What a shame.
     Somewhere in the comments, there began a conversation regarding the nature of what I was saying.  I was reminded that the poor woman was just "an airhead" and I should give her a break.  Most people, my Catholic friends, seemed to be offended by my not finding any humor in the ignorance and stupidity of this woman.  They were offended by me!  Finally, I was completely admonished and then reprimanded for not being tolerant and lacking compassion.  I shouldn't be surprised, really.   The modern Catholic Church has taught her children well:  Be Nice At All Costs!  Some People Are Just Born That Way.  They Can't Help It.  You MUST Show Them Compassion!  You MUST Be Tolerant!  
   Of course, poor Donna has zilch to do with Catholicism.  But lucky for Donna, she has had good friends who have been charitable enough to instruct her in her ignorance.  And because she is warm and forgiving, she has, by her own admission, learned the truth about the deer.  Good for Donna's friends!  So in a like manner, I am going to be charitable with my friends and instruct them in their ignorance.  What will happen as a result:  I will probably be unfriended and chastised for being judgmental!
     As always, I suppose the best place to start is with the words themselves.  Words have meanings.  Yes, some words, like "nice," have changed over time, well because we just don't like what they mean!  I will let you do your own research on that word and focus my thoughts on just four:  ignorant, stupid, compassion, and tolerance.  Oh this is so much fun!

Ignorant:  lacking knowledge or comprehension.

Stupid: acting in an unintelligent or careless manner.

Compassion: a sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it.

Tolerance: sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one's own.

    Let's talk about poor Donna first:  Poor Donna was ignorant.  She lacked a real knowledge about the nature of animals.  She really believed that these poor creatures had some primitive form of intelligence and could be convinced to cross the highway at specifically designated points.  I don't know why this poor woman thought this.  Perhaps this lack of comprehension grew out of her genuine love for animals and elevating them to some status they don't deserve.  Who knows?  But she admitted that this is indeed what she thought, that animals could understand road signs.  Her phone call into the radio station, her letter writing, her insistence were all very stupid.  She was acting in a very unintelligent manner.  Her actions were based purely on her lack of knowledge.  And she embarrassed herself.  And that is absolutely not funny.  But lucky for Donna, her friends decided she was important enough and loved enough to be saved from this embarrassment.  Out of genuine compassion, a desire to alleviate her stupidity and embarrassment, they called her and instructed her on the true nature of deer---they cannot read.  They do not follow road signs.  The deer crossing signs are not to guide them, but are there to ALERT US to their presence!  Out of love for their friend, they just could not tolerate her ignorance.  Why?  Because she had already had 3 accidents due to her ignorance and stupidity.  They love her and just could not imagine allowing her to continue to risk her life over her ignorance.  Such good friends that sweet Donna has.  And yes, I think Donna is genuinely sweet.  Bless her heart!
     Now let's talk about what any of this  has to do with Catholicism:  Modern Catholics are ignorant.  They, by their own admission, lack any real knowledge about their faith.  Oh sure, they know who the Pope is.  They love him dearly.  They trust him.  But they couldn't tell you a thing about Catholicism, other than what their priest tells them.  Syllabus of Errrors--what's that?  Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus--Huh?  Christ is Really Present in the Eucharist---what does that mean?  Why are so many Catholics ignorant of their own faith?  I don't know.  Most have never been properly instructed by either their parents or their priests.  Many just don't have time or no where to go.  Some or blissfully happy with the way things are because of sentiment.  Whatever the reason for their ignorance, these Catholics just do the silliest and nonsensical things.  They marry people who are not Catholic or who have no faith at all.  They don't have their children baptized.  They receive the Precious Body of Our Lord in their dirty hands.  They continue to send their children to public schools.  And they do so in good faith and in all sincerity.  And eventually they embarrass themselves, like these people in Germany.
     Lucky for our modern Catholics, they have friends of the traditional variety, who love them and don't want them to continue to risk their souls.  So out of compassion, we approach them.  We bring them books on the dangers of the New Mass.  We invite them over on Fridays in the summer for fish and chips.  We encourage them to read the Encyclicals of all the Popes, not just the modern ones.  We keep on encouraging them to find a traditional Mass and go there.  We share with them the necessity for confession.  Most of all we pray for them.  What we don't do is tolerate the ignorance, the stupidity.  Why?  Because tolerance is an infection.  It grows in our hearts like a virus, eventually making us comfortable with whatever anyone wants to do.  All we become concerned with in our tolerance is making people happy, being nice, and making people feel comfortable.  In our tolerance, we've decided to replace compassion with acceptance.  Instead of sharing other's distress and attempting to alleviate it, we just approve of whatever they are doing because it makes them happy or feel comfortable.  It is truly sorrowful.  But that is the state of modern Catholics and the modern Catholic Church.
    Advent is upon us.  Perhaps during the time of fasting, sacrifice, and contemplation, we can offer prayers up for the whole Church.  She is suffering.  She is not what she used to be and many Catholics are confused and many souls are lost.

St. Andrew, pray for us!
   

Oh, Beautiful Lady, Why Do You Weep?

     A day or two ago, I stumbled across a blog of some really amazing political cartoons by Me & Folly.  They have some great conservative political commentary through their cartoons over on their blog.  Check it out, here.  Just the other day, they posted this cartoon, in honor of the re-election of President Barack Obama.

Here she sits, Lady Liberty, an icon of our great nation, weeping in sorrow over what this election might mean for the United States.  And as shocking and representative as this image is in the outcome of this past election, let me offer you another image, of greater significance to compare.

This photograph is a picture of the statue of Our Blessed Mother in La Salette, France on the site where she appeared to two little children, Melanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, on September 19, 1846.  According to the children, they found this Beautiful Lady weeping in Her hands.  She wept the entire time she spoke to the children.  Why was this Beautiful Lady weeping so?  She was crying for Her children, Our Lord's children, because we have become so lost and have turned so far away from Our Lord.  She was weeping because She knew that Our Lord was going to punish us for our disobedience, for our rejection of His Commandments, and for our loss of love and faith.  She knew and She came to warn us.  What She had to say to these little children has gone mostly unheeded, except for a few.  What She warned would come to pass has been all but dismissed and, in recent years, redefined.  The leaders in the Catholic Church haven't wanted you to hear Our Mother for fear that you might "worry" or become "overburdened."  Well, American Catholics, it's too late now.  Our Lady Liberty weeps now because she is finally realizing that what Our Blessed Mother said is true.  If you don't know what Our Blessed Mother said, or if you aren't sure of the significance of it, I'll clarify it here.

     When Our Mother appeared on the Alps in Southern France in 1846, she spoke very seriously and sweetly with these two little, poor, uneducated children.  She gave them messages to take back to the bishops of the Church and secrets to be revealed only when She wanted them to be known.  Many of the messages Our Blessed Mother told the children were very disturbing.  In these messages, Our Lady warned that the whole world would suffer loss of faith, decline of morals, waging of war after war, poverty, and devastation.  While most of her messages have to do with France and the French Revolution in the 1850s, She made some dire predictions that would effect the entire world.  And while some priests and religious have continued to discredit what Our Mother said to little Melanie in the fields that day, I am inclined to believe the entire message.  And while there is much to read in Our Lady of LaSalette's messages, I specifically want to highlight something that applies to our times, in our beloved United States, and in the Modern Catholic Church.  After that, you can read Our Lady's messages and decide for yourself if what she said is true or not.

In the year 1864 Lucifer, together with a great number of devils, will be loosed from hell; little by little they will abolish the faith, and that even in persons consecrated to God; they will so blind them, that without a special grace, these persons will take on the spirit of these evil angels; a number of religious houses will lose the faith entirely and cause many souls to be damned.

     Why in the heavens would Our Blessed Mother mention the year 1864?  It seems like such an arbitrary number, doesn't it?  But a pretty quick search of history, reveals that 1864 was pretty significant for the Devil's work.  It was this year, that the Communist Karl Marx, in political exile in England, was able to exert his influence through the International Working Men's Association.  Where he had previously been isolated and ostracized, Karl Marx, through his journalism experience, was able to draft and launch a platform that would eventually become what we know as Communism.  In September of 1864, workers from across Europe met and organized to address the political and social plight of the working class.  And it was through this newly founded organization that Marx's was able to frame his political and social ideas in a way that seemed positive and hopeful.  He drafted his platform and set it in motion in his Inaugural Address, and thus, as Our Lady foretold, a great number of devils were loosed from hell.  

     That evil, repugnant, godless philosophy called Communism has many names, most specifically Socialism but one you may not have heard of---Communitarianism.  Communism has all but taken root in the entire world, and now, under another term of President Barack Obama, Socialism is set to become the new norm in the United States of America.  Oh, sure.  You've heard people proclaim that Communism is dead.  They will jump up and down insisting that Communism died with the last thud of the bricks from the collapse of the Berlin Wall.  Oh, Catholics will tell you that Pope John Paul II dedicated his Papacy to dismantling Communism.  These same people will tell you that Ronnie Reagan and Maggie Thatcher tirelessly and doggedly forced an end to that vile social, economic, and political system called Communism.  But they are all wrong.  Communism is not dead.  Communism lives on and it continues to invest every nation and every institution on earth, including the Catholic Church, just as Our Blessed Mother said it would.

     So pay attention my dear American Catholics!  Each year, our nation grows more and more socialistic in practice.  Almost half of American citizens depend on the government to do something for them:  Social Security, food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid, farm subsidies, student loans, public schools, school lunches, day care subsidies, unemployment, disability.  Each year the programs grow and the people become less dependent on themselves and their families and more dependent on the government.  And there is nothing to be done.  The train has left the station, folks, and it ain't gonna stop until individuals have lost their personal sovereignty.  But of course, every American knows this.  And that is why there was so much backlash against another Obama term.  And who helped him get re-elected?  Why, the Catholics, of course!

    You see, just as Our Blessed Mother told little Melanie and Maximin, the priests, bishops, and religious will slowly become infected with the Communist spirit that they will lose the faith entirely and souls will be damned!  Once upon a time, Popes defended the Church from evil.  In 1878, Pope Leo XIII condemned the rising ideas of communism in Quod Apostolici Muneris.  He was certainly not trying to play nice when he called the socialists and communists a "wicked confederacy."  He exposed their plan for all to see--the overthrow of civil society.  He showed us how they work.  He condemned their ideas: refusal to acknowledge God, absolute equality of all men in rights and duties, sexual freedom, greed, materialism, and their assaults on the natural right of property.  Not only did Pope Leo XIII condemn the evil scourge of communism, he also forbid Catholics from becoming involved in any organization that promoted such ideas. In fact, Pope Leo XIII recognized that the ONLY defense against the spread of communism across the world was the One True Church:  Since they know that the Church of Christ has such power to ward off the plague of socialism as cannot be found in human laws, in the mandates of magistrates, or in the force of armies, let them restore that Church to the condition and liberty in which she may exert her healing force for the benefit of society. 

     But is the Catholic Church speaking like this now when socialism is running rampant throughout society and beginning to take root in the United States?  Nope.  Instead she is busy bringing the cause of sainthood forward for Communists!!  Just today, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops lead by the ever jovial Cardinal Dolan announced that they intend to canonize Dorothy Day, the communist turned communitarianist.  In case, you have never heard of Dorothy Day, let me share with you a few things I discovered on my own.

     Dorothy Day was born in New York at the turn of the 20th century.  She spent her 20s roaring through the 20s and embracing every feminist ideal that was popular in her day.  She had multiple sexual relationships, an unwed pregnancy, and an abortion.  She had been a nude model and was a member of the American Socialist Party.  She was a journalist, a peace activist during WWI, and a champion for women's suffrage.  She is by all signs, a model for modern women feminism.  It was perhaps her daughters illegitimate birth that led Ms. Day to her "personal" conversion, as she had her daughter baptized a Catholic.  In 1932, she met up with a man who shared her cause and together they established a newspaper called the Catholic Worker, which became a vehicle for her to promote her ideas regarding Catholic social justice.  Throughout her life and career, Dorothy Day, through her newspaper, which later became a movement, she continued to criticize the capitalist economic system, she supported the rising trade unions which were calling for worker's equality, she challenged the Catholic Church to embrace pacifism, and she insisted that Our Lord's teaching was one of non-violence and peace.  She spent her life leading causes such as ending nuclear war, opposition to WWII and Vietnam, the Civil Rights movement, and working with Cesar Chavez' United Farm Workers.  In short, throughout her entire life, Dorothy Day, in spite of claiming she had a conversion, continued to live, embody, and promote socialist ideals.  In fact, I don't believe she ever recanted her communist beliefs or apologized for her actions even until her death in 1980.

     Some say that Ms. Day was no longer a communist, that she did a great service for the Church, especially the poor.  But I say this is purely an attempt to mislead Catholics.  In fact, let me share with you her own words from her own newspaper in 1948:

To see only the good, the Christ, in others!  Perhaps if we thought of how Karl Marx was called "Papa Marx" by all the children on the street, if we knew and remembered how he told fairy stories to his children, how he suffered hunger and poverty and pain, how he sat by the body of his dead child and had no money for coffin or funeral, perhaps such thoughts as these would make us love him and his followers.  Dear God, for the memory of that dead child, of that faithful wife, grant his stormy spirit a "place of refreshment, light, and peace."
And there was Lenin.  He hungered and thirsted and at times he had no fixed abode.  Mme. Krupskaya, his widow, said that he loved to go into the peace of the pine woods and hunt mushrooms like old Mrs. Dew down at Easton did, and we with her one October.  He lived one time in the slums of Paris, and he lived on horse meat when he had meat, and he started schools for the poor and the workers.  "He went about doing good."  (For reference see this link.)

    Here is your new saint, modern Catholics!  Your new saint has told you to forget about the millions of CATHOLICS who were slaughtered by the Bolsheviks and Vladimir Lenin.  Is that the good he went about doing, Ms. Day?  Are we supposed to forget about it the repression, the gulags, the forced migration?  Are you so blind, Catholic faithful, that you cannot see what Our Lady of LaSalette warned you about your bishops and priests???

     Just as this is a dark day for the United States of America, this is an even darker day for the Catholic Church.  Yes, Our Lady is weeping.  She is weeping because their is nothing left for us to do.  The devil has been unleashed.  The Catholic Church, who once stood in armor battling evil, particularly communism in all its forms, is now either silent or embracing the very evil itself!  Our Lord is going to punish us very severely and soon.  The United States and the Catholic Church are about to suffer the same fate---we are all about to be chastised.  What can us Americans do to prepare for the economic and social depravity we are about to face at the hands of our socialist government?  Stock up on food and supplies.  Keep some cash on hand.  Find a safe place to go when it all comes crashing down.  What can Catholics do to prepare for God's wrath over the desecration of His Altars and the loss of faith of His holy priests?  Find a True Mass.  Wear Our Lady's Scapular.  Pray a daily Rosary as Our Lady of Fatima told us.  Keep your family close.  There is nothing left for us to do.

    May God have mercy on the United States and on His faithful Catholics!

     Our Lady of LaSalette, pray for us!