Author: Sal

From the Northern Virginia Journal Online comes a story about Frank Creel, an independent candidate running on the Constitution Party’s ticket against four-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Thomas M. Davis III, R-11th District. Mr. Creel is Catholic, pro-life, and sings in the Latin choir at St. Mary’s in D.C. His campaign’s website is at http://www.frankcreel.org/

Mr. Creel will surely be annihilated in the election but God bless him for trying. We need an unabashedly pro-life representative in that seat. NOW describes Tom Davis’s voting record on abortion as “mixed” – I wish we could elect someone they really hate!

Why is this man smiling?

It’s hard to understand considering that some tanks driven by a few of God’s Chosen People just turned his compound into moonscape. They must be serving chocolate pudding tonight at the Rest Home for Washed-Up Middle Eastern Terrorists and Demagogues. Or perhaps the “V” is for “Vanilla.” Heaven help the nurse who has to put his bib on!

One of the men in the choir works for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Today I asked him about Cardinal Keeler’s list. “He really raised the bar for the other Bishops,” he said. “Why would he post the names of priests who were dead?” I asked. “I guess to be totally transparent,” he replied. I wish we’d had more time to talk but we were in the middle of our rehearsal before Mass.

Raised the bar? What bar? I just can’t see the justification of posting a list of names of priests and religious who were only accused, some of whom were deceased. I won’t defend the indefensible – I’m sure there were perpetrators on the list. But to be accused and no fault proven or admitted? To be accused and be dead? What was the point?

A reprint from the New Oxford Review via the CRFC website. (CRFC = Cardinal Ratzinger Fan Club)

“With few exceptions, the results of Catholic catechesis over the past forty years have been dismal. We Catholics, both laity and clergy, are all too often abysmally ignorant of our own Tradition. For more than two generations now, we have been robbed of the fullness of Catholicism, which is our birthright. With a few thankful exceptions, our collective acquaintance with Scripture is piecemeal, our knowledge of Tradition is pathetic, our hymns are embarrassing, our religious art is ugly, our churches look like U.N. meditation chapels, our ethics are slipshod, and our aesthetic and spiritual sensibilities are so far from being sublime that they almost look ridiculous.”
– Dr. Blosser, The Kasper-Ratzinger Debate and the State of the Church
New Oxford Review (April 2002)

That sums it up quite succintly. What can we do about it? First and foremost we should pray. The Holy Spirit will guide the Church through this trial. Second, guided by the spirit we should determine what we might do in our own parishes to foster better knowledge of and appreciation for the fullness of Catholicism. Catechesis is the key, both for children and adults. I’m pitifully ignorant of what is out there besides Catholic study Bibles and the CCC. Obviously Church history and the Church Fathers should be studied as well. I’m going to make it a point to look into what is offered at my parish and determine if I can participate. Can I be so bold as to suggest our readers do the same?

I have been on a few benders in my day, but nothing like this one.