Roman Catholicism

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In Vatican City, Pope keeps sodomy legal...

Italian newspaper il Fatto Quotidiano just disclosed another sodomite scandal in Vatican City.

A priest serving as personal secretary to one of the highest ranking cardinals in Rome's Curia was busted for drugs after Vatican Gendarmerie responded to complaints about a party. Entering the Monsignor's apartment, gendarmerie found it filled with drug-addled sodomites getting it on with one another. Vatican Gendarmerie had to take the monsignor to a hospital for detox before they could...


Pat Buchanan on the "deep state's" revolution...

When it comes to cultural and political commentators, I'll take Roman Catholics over Evangelical Protestants ninety times out of a hundred. One of the wisest is Pat Buchanan.

Fran Griffin just sent out this Buchanan essay which is a perfect summary of my judgments observing the revolution-by-other-means being perpetrated against our nation by the media and their very supportive deep state fiends...


Baptists' nuclear option...

Some lives never make sense until we realize the man can't get out of his nuclear reactor mode. The choices of such men concerning their religion only begin to be comprehensible when we understand this man is one of the many today who can never get far enough away from the indignities he suffered being raised Baptist. The simplicity of the Biblical Christian faith his father and mother subjected him to as a child is so embarrassing he can't seem to do enough to heal his humiliation.

He keeps running and running away, almost always toward that first choice of the superstitious man with a tender conscience—sacramentalism. Typically, these men start transitioning by becoming Presbyterian. If their new Presbyterian pastor and elders are themselves former Baptists also, the man may find his sacramentalist itch scratched sufficiently that he's able to stay in his new church. If his new pastor and elders are historically Reformed, though, and have read the Reformers, after a little while the man will not be able to stand the Reformed church's fencing of the Lord's Table and he'll start to howl in anger over...


Dreher, Chaput, and Esolen: sacraments and culture...

The lead book review of the April 2017 issue of First Things is Notre Dame prof Patrick Deneen's group-review of three prognostications for the future of Christianity in North America. Each work is set against the backdrop of the sexual anarchists' revolution concluded in 2015 by the Supreme Court's Obergefell decision.

The books' authors are Rod Dreher (a former Methodist who converted to Roman Catholicism, then to Eastern Orthodoxy), and two Roman Catholics—Charles Chaput, archbishop of Philadelphia, and Tony Esolen who serves as professor of English at Providence College. Before critiquing these men's religious faith, let me say that I have often been grateful for the leadership of both Charles Chaput and Tony Esolen...


Pining for Christendom...

NYT's David Brooks is so very precious about buggery. My friend Mark Albrecht forwarded a link to Brooks's latest piece dissing Rod Dreher's exquisitely titled "The Benedict Option" while flattering Dreher for writing the most important book on religion in ten years. He points out twice in his three-minute read that he disagrees with Dreher's opposition to buggery.

Noted.

Noted again.

Dreher thinks the inspiration for his book's title is the sixth century founder of the Benedictine monastic order who wrote...


Sexual abuse: church coverups don't justify witch hunts...

[NOTE: After reading this post, Mary Lee was confused about whether or not I thought Marie Collins's resignation was justified or not? I have no idea, and that's my point in writing this post. Concerning sexual abuse and its coverup, the truth is harder to come by than we think or wish—and certainly harder to come by than those fomenting witch hunts would have us believe. Thus my recommendation of hard investigatory work and careful procedure.]

There's a witches brew of websites stirring steaming cauldrons of rebellion and mockery against male church officers faithful to Scripture. On these sites, no theme is more popular than sexual abuse committed by men—unless it is the coverup of male sexual abuse by male church officers. But note: you will never read about the sexual abuse committed by women on these sites. The women who write and comment are uninterested in any abuse that fails to strengthen their narrative of male oppression, so sexual abuse committed by sisters and mothers never shows up. And this despite female sexual abuse's steep growth curve.

Before we get to the point of this post, let me make it clear that nothing has consumed more time and tears among our pastors, elders, and Titus 2 older women at Clearnote Church, Bloomington than the sexual abuse of children and young people. We've done this terribly sad and difficult work for many years now, both in our own congregation and as advisers and helpers to other congregations around the country. We've worked with congregations from the Pacific Northwest to the Southeast... 


Federal Vision and Rome's homoerotica...

Whether its leaders see it or not, Federal Vision has always been a pilgrimage to Rome. Objectivity of the covenant, covenant succession, paedocommunion, celebrations of the Lord's Supper without preaching of the Word, patriarchal fathers communing their wives and children; taken together, we have a path of greased lightning to Rome's sacramentalism, but you'll never get Federal Vision leaders to admit it.

What is Federal Vision? Murkiness and imprecision.

Over a decade ago, I asked my friend Vern Poythress what he thought of Federal Vision and he responded, "You know, I don't think I understand it."

If you know anything about Vern, the one thing certain is that...


Love letters written to oneself...

While driving to a funeral the other day, I listened to a talk show host make fun of this new trend of people marrying themselves. Self-love is the center of our empire of desire, and it's the cultural elite who lead us.

Take President Obama, for instance; as he leaves office, he takes this opportunity to send out across the nation a love song to himself. He's cut "our deficits by nearly two-thirds." His Affordable Care Act "prevented an estimated 87,000 deaths." His administration has been great. The country is great. The lives of all his subjects are great. His Own Eminence is great.

President-elect Trump tells us he's great, too. He says he'll make America great again, but the egotism of The Donald is so bodacious it's hard not to laugh. He's a buffoon and he knows it.

The one thing President Obama knows beyond the slightest doubt is that he himself is...


Pope Francis says abortion can now be forgiven by priests...

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. (Isaiah 40:2)

The Roman Catholic Church exists to dispense sacraments. Roman Catholics are taught that they are saved by their own righteousness—not the righteousness of Jesus Christ—and the principal way to get all the righteousness they need is to get their priest to give them the sacraments. The principal sacrament is the Mass, so when women who have had abortions are barred from the Mass, it's a really big deal. 1

Which is the reason today's announcement that Pope Francis has finally granted parish priests the right to forgive the sin of abortion is a really big deal...


Bitterness, crackpots, and Joe Sobran...

This post was a private e-mail sent to me by a friend who thinks Joe Sobran went sour as his age advanced. My friend was responding to a couple recent posts (first and second) and comments made under those posts. I thought the e-mail worth posting on the blog given the movement of many young Reformed into libertarianism of a toxic sort (although I myself believe libertarianism is intrinsically toxic)

It's true that Joe's libertarianism went toxic, tending towards anarchism. A friend who serves as a civil magistrate remonstrated with Joe about this, personally, but seemingly to no avail. Joe remains our hero, but listen to these good warnings from a wise young man.

* * * 

I'll take this opportunity to identify myself as the "young man" with whom Tim corresponded. I agree with about 90% of what he's written about Joe Sobran—maybe more. Joe Sobran’s essays in defense of the faith were rare gems. "Is Darwin Holy?", one he wrote toward the end, is another one that stands out in my mind.

I started reading Sobran on the recommendation of a high school teacher when I was about 16. Reading him disabused me of the notion that a young man could make a good living writing truth. It's one of the reasons I decided to become an engineer, instead. Call me cynical if you wish, but I wanted to be able to support a wife and children...


Construction begins, again: no, we're not Roman Catholic sacramentalists...

“If you want to compare with our Protestant brethren, probably Catholic churches are, on average, more expensive,” said architect Duncan Stroik, a member of the faculty at University of Notre Dame and a leading expert on Catholic architecture. “They should be, since we believe they are sacramental architecture and houses of God. Buildings are catechism in bricks, mortar and glass.” - Why Church Construction Costs More For Catholics Than Protestants

We're adding 60,000 square feet to our church-house and the precast walls started arriving today, semi after semi after semi after semi. The semis backed up inside the shell of the building and then these wall pieces were lifted off the semi and set in place by a crane, after which they were anchored by the work_ _ _.1

Some pastors want monuments that will pander to the egos of their rich and proud congregations. Some want precast concrete at less than $50 per square foot completed. This was the cost of our first phase.

Compare this with the average cost of $167 per square foot for church buildings back in 2013. We're not sure yet what our figures will be when this second phase is completed, but we expect it won't be much more than...


Fr. Paul Scalia buries his Dad...

What a privilege, to have a son who is a priest deliver your eulogy. But really, this is not a eulogy. It is an homily that Father Paul Scalia refused to allow to descend to the level of eulogy. It is excellent precisely because Fr. Scalia is restrained in speaking well of his father he calls "Dad."

Rather, he voices his Dad's unease with the sort of overbearing sentimentalities that have become characteristic of funerals today. Instead of spending his time speaking well of his father, Son Scalia spends his time speaking well of the One he directs our attention to throughout his homily, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Only One we may ever speak well of without risking the descent into idolatry. So Fr. Scalia points our attention to the Man Jesus Christ Who came to save the ungodly, saying several times that his Dad was a sinner in need of salvation. Praise God for this witness!

Still, this is an homily given by a Roman Catholic priest during a Roman Catholic mass, and so heresies seep out as Fr. Scalia preaches—the heresies of Roman Catholic dogma...


Rome is anti-Semitic...

On December 10, 2015, one month ago, the Vatican's Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews released a statement on the relationship of Roman Catholicism and Judaism titled, The Gifts and the Calling of God Are Irrevocable (Romans 11:29): A Reflection on Theological Questions Pertaining to Catholic-Jewish Relations on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of "Nostra Aetate" (No. 4).

What is this document whose 50th anniversary is being celebrated?

Nostra Aetate is a statement on interreligious relations which came out of Roman Catholicism's most recent ecumenical council, Vatican II. Nostra Aetate is most notable for laying a groundwork for the Vatican's recent and growing repudiation of evangelism of the Jews. Nostra Aetate exhibits the typical post-Holocaust pandering to the Jews in its declarations that "what happened in [Christ's] passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today."

Tell that to the Apostles preaching in the book of Acts.

Nostra Aetate also declares: "the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God." Also, "the Church believes that by His cross Christ, Our Peace, reconciled Jews and Gentiles. making both one in Himself."

Since Nostra Aetate, the Vatican has been undercutting the Church's historic call to Jews to repent of their part in the persecution and murder of their Messiah, and to turn and believe in His Name. Historically, the Christian Church has patterned our witness to the Jews after the Apostolic sermons preached to the Jews which are recorded for us in Acts. Take, for instance, this record of the sermon preached by the Apostle Peter...


First Things...

Speaking of being accountable to no one, First Things comes to mind.

It used to be the journal of record among orthodox Christian believers Protestant and Roman Catholic, alike. Founded out of the Sturm and Drang between Richard John Neuhaus and his former publisher which left Neuhaus put out on the sidewalk, down below the Rockford Center's editorial office in Manhattan. While the Rockford Center continued the publication Neuhaus had edited, replacing Neuhaus with Joe (Harold O. J.) Brown—who did a serviceable job, Neuhaus didn't miss a beat and started First Things.

At the time, Neuhaus's ministerial credentials were lodged with the mainline Lutheran Church of America (now the ELCA). Later, he converted to Rome. Despite my disappointment, Neuhaus's explanatory statement resonated with me and I've often thought of it since as I watched my own longtime denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America. On the general assembly and presbytery level, too often it appeared that institutional advancement and the protection of its denominational trademark trumped its Biblical calling as the pillar and foundation of God's truth.

Neuhaus wrote...


The robber wasp...

Here is a taste of the abuse Zwingli suffers at the keyboards of the Covenant Renewal Worship, Federal Vision men, these excerpts from that self-styled "Reformed theologian," Peter Leithart:

...the most obvious sleight of hand here is to make Zwingli stand in for the Reformers as a whole. How many readers will realize that Luther vociferously battled Zwingli (and hence stood on the side of “sacramentality”), and that Calvin was equally opposed to Zwinglianism? Gregory makes it sound as if Zwingli’s admittedly dualist eucharistic theology was the most logical outcome of Protestant metaphysics. In fact, many of the Reformers rejected Zwingli.

And...


Covenant Renewal Worship, Federal Vision men abuse Zwingli...

It's impossible to reconcile the Zwingli-bashing of former Baptists within the Covenant Renewal Worship, Federal Vision party with the actual words of Zwingli at the Marburg Colloquy and here in Zwingli's Short Exposition of the Christian Faith (1531). Zwingli is no "mere memorialist." Read his doctrine below. Then read his actual liturgy for the Eucharist, asking yourself if anyone in the Covenant Renewal Worship, Federal Vision group would object to this liturgy if they had no idea where it came from?

Two things they may object to (even not knowing they were hearing Zwingli's liturgy) are things where Zwingli is right: namely, Zwingli's repudiation of special attire for the celebrant and the faithfulness of Zwingli's warnings of danger to participants who don't eat and drink by faith.

The liturgy is at the end of the Short Exposition, beginning with the words, "Here follows substantially the order of service we use at Zurich, Berne, Basel, and the other cities of the Christian alliance." It's also instructive to read the text from Augustine near the end of the Short Exposition which Zwingli cites as an explication of in his position. Scroll to the end for Zwingli's liturgy and his defense from Augustine.

A Short and Clear Exposition of the Christian Faith

by Ulrich Zwingli

Chapter IV: The Presence of Christ's Body in the Supper

To eat the body of Christ sacramentally, if we wish to speak accurately, is to eat the body of Christ in heart and spirit with the accompaniment of the sacrament.


Calvin on Covenant Renewal, Federal Vision worship...

Responding to the post titled, "Worship wars: Jeff Meyers and Peter Leithart have won...", one brother comments:

Surely the issue is not how often, but simply "how"? Weekly communion is Reformed (Calvin). Communion without a sermon, communion which is somehow emphasized at the expense of the sermon, communion in which there is any adoration of the elements, any concern that "Jesus is being spilled," etc., communion which is understood and presented as repetition of the sacrifice of Christ—or anything approaching that—is not.

I respond: Most of the things you highlight have been Reformed commitments from the beginning. The pairing of weekly communion and paedocommunion have not. Each without the other would have less of an implication for Reformed worship than both together. And make no mistake about it: both together are a confessional issue to the Covenant Renewal Worship, Federal Vision crowd. Yet there's no precedent for it in Reformed sacramentology or worship.

Everyone likes to say Calvin was for weekly worship, acting as if that supports what the Covenant Renewal Worship, Federal Vision men have done to Reformed sacramentology and worship, but they miss the larger picture. Calvin was for weekly communion, yes; but Geneva's observance of the Lord's Supper was quarterly and Calvin didn't leave Geneva over it. In other words, for Calvin and the Geneva reformers, frequency of communion was adiaphora.

You'll never get the Covenant Renewal Worship, Federal Vision crowd to agree with Calvin on this. For them, weekly communion is anything but adiaphora. To them, weekly communion is a confessional issue and you'll know it because you'll watch as they drive from Geneva to Strasbourg every single Lord's Day to get their family...


Worship wars: Jeff Meyers and Peter Leithart have won...

I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one would say you were baptized in my name. Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other.

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  - 1Corinthians 1:14-18

Luther didn't bother writing a systematic theology because his dear friend Melanchthon had. Luther held Melanchthon's volume of systematics titled Loci Communes (Commonplaces in Theology) in such high esteem that he declared them worthy of inclusion in the canon: "Invictus libellus non solum immortalitate, sed quoque canone ecclesiastico dignus."

Considering the current fascination with all things sacramental among the Federal Vision crowd and Covenant Seminary alumni... 


Boston philosopher laments end of China's one-child policy...

CORRECTION: One reader points out that Bowdoin is not in Boston. He's right and I should have written the headline "Boston's philosopher..." The prof's frame of reference is Boston although she doesn't live in Boston. I haven't altered the title because links would break.

A friend who's a journalist points out that Boston's archdiocese was once the most powerful archdiocese in North America, so it's particularly significant this piece ran in the Boston Globe. The foundations of Roman Catholicism continue to crumble.

Soon after matriculating at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, I took a job cleaning the walls of a Roman Catholic church near Park Street and the Common. There are good jobs and bad ones. This was bad, but not because of the pay or fellow workers. it was the work itself. Every interior surface of that Roman Catholic church was black with the soot of votive (vow) candles the pious had purchased and burned to the Blessed Virgin Mary, a saint, or sometimes God Himself. Decades of soot. Decades of intentions.

This was the Roman Catholicism that read the Globe back thirty-five years ago, but the Roman Catholic church is changing and the Globe is pedalling hard to keep up. Yesterday they ran an opinion piece written by a prof of philosophy at Bowdoin College and the piece's content takes your breath away. Titled "Here's Why China's One-Child Policy Was a Good Thing," Bowdoin's philosopher told Boston she believes freedom of religion should not extend to freedom to have children. The prof likens the denial of freedom to reproduce to the denial of freedom to yell "Fire!" in a movie theater, telling us that "uncontrolled fertility is likely to have worse consequences than the false cry of 'fire!'"

Why?

Because of...


Trick or treat...

Peter, Peter pumpkin eater,
Had a Mother and didn't love her;
Peter learned to read and spell,
And then he loved her very well.

Read the wish-list Peter Leithart put together for all his fellow Christians in the Roman Catholic Church. He was asked to write a short piece on the subject, "What I Want from Catholics," and he utterly failed.

Start with his claim that the wish list is "terribly old-fashioned," then that it's "terribly assertive." Read on, though, and you'll recognize it's neither. Peter is the master of misdirection. [NOTE: Thinking about this later, it came to me that Peter was likely speaking to Roman Catholics in acknowledging their perceptions of his piece, not Reformed Protestants. To Roman Catholics his piece might well appear "old-fashioned" and "assertive," although any Roman Catholics with even a smattering of knowledge of the Reformation would have been gobsmacked that this "Reformed theologian" failed to be old-fashioned or assertive enough to remind them of the chasm between their false teaching concerning how a man is saved, is declared righteous before God.]

Dr. Leithart is also a master of flattery. Reading his stuff makes men feel...