Monday, March 13, 2017

Bill Schutt COMPLETELY WRONG about Catholic Church

Bill Schutt is a professor of Biology Professor at Long Island University. He wrote a book about cannibalism where he says it's perfectly natural. But he doesn't seem to have the first clue what he's talking about when it comes to the Catholic Church.

He was being interviewed tonight, March 13, 2017 on The Current by Anna Maria Tremonti of CBC News. The anti-Catholic bigotry was overt.

He makes one gaffe after another and is completely wrong. I would seriously question anything this man says. If we are to judge the validity of his claims based on how bad he represents historical Catholicism, then his works are worth the paper they're written on.

Let's go claim by claim from the radio interview:

Schutt: Well, mainly because for nearly 400 years, starting in the 13th century, once Pope Innocent the Third proclaimed that the host was the actual body of Jesus Christ that was being consumed.

??? So he pinpointed Pope Innocent III as the originator of the idea of Transubstantiation??

Ok, let's look at references:
St. Iraenus of Lyon said the following a few decades after Jesus Christ:
"[Christ] has declared the cup, a part of creation, to be his own Blood, from which he causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of creation, he has established as his own Body, from which he gives increase to our bodies."

For dozens more references which date to the first and second century, visit this link.

Jesus himself said the bread and wine are true flesh and true blood. This is a constant teaching of the Church from the very beginning. At best what Bill Schutt is doing here is an amateur move where they see an official pronouncement (done because the doctrine is being denied by heretics) from the pope as the beginning of that belief. This is complete nonsense. The belief existed, and was dogma. It had to be officially defined in a particular way in response to heresies. You'd have to be a first year student to make that mistake.

Even Wikipedia points out that belief in the Real Presence, i.e. that Jesus Christ is present body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Eucharist, dates back to the earliest days of Christianity.

The interviewer, Anna Maria Tremonti, who is equally uninformed then pipes up and says "I mean it is true in the Catholic doctrine. It's the body and blood of Christ. The wine is supposed to be the blood. Yeah."

To which Bill Schutt replies: "Absolutely."

No Bill and Anna, ABSOLUTELY WRONG. The bread AND the wine BOTH become the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ. The wine doesn't only become the blood and the bread only become the body. Anyone with the most cursory understanding of Catholicism would know this. It's the most basic information.

Bill also mentions that many of his so-called good Catholic friends don't "really" believe in the Real Presence, but rather they do a sort of "wink wink nudge nudge" about it and really believe that it's just a symbol. Sorry BILL, those aren't good Catholics, they are bad, informed, uncatechised friends. They ought to know better. If you do not believe in the Real Presence, you should not partake in communion. Real Catholics believe in the Eucharist and that it is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ.

I find it pathetic that CBC would interview people on a subject which they know nothing about. In fact, Catholicism is the only area where this is deemed acceptable. You wouldn't have someone who knows nothing about baseball doing the color commentary for baseball games. Yet, no one bats an eye when someone whose understanding of Catholicism is less than that of a 5 year old presumes to speak for all Catholics. It's truly pathetic. I can GUARANTEE you, CBC would never have anyone misrepresenting or mocking Islam. They would only hire Islamic experts and apologists.

Our tax dollars are once again being completely wasted on these programs which are spouting countless lies to attack the faith of millions. CBC should be ashamed of themselves.

Sunday, March 05, 2017

SHOCKING: woman reads gospel and gives homily in st. John's Newfoundland

Although I wasn't present at this Mass my friend who was informed me that this morning at 9:30 a.m. at st. Theresa's Church on Mundy Pond Road in St. John's Newfoundland a woman read the gospel from memory in the center of the Altar and then proceeded to give a homily. This is while two ordained priests looked on as she was doing this.

This practice is fully and explicitly forbidden in the general instruction of the Roman missal as well as in the code of canon law. These are two of the guides which govern all the activities that occur within the church.

If you would like the details of what is contained within these Church documents please go to this exclamation given by Father John trigilio when something similar happened to someone else:

http://www.ewtn.com/vexperts/showmessage.asp?number=346259&Pg=&Pgnu=&recnu=

I am not sure but I fear this could be part of a new program initiated in Newfoundland to deal with the shortage of priests in certain areas. In the case where there is no priest present in a particular area on a Sunday it is permissible for parishioners to have a form of service. However this service would not include Eucharist or anything that is specifically assigned to a priest. Also it requires that there be no priest available at the time. However this was clearly not the case here because there were two priests actually in the church sitting there doing everything else for Mass.

What is happening is that priests are being given an inch and they are taking a mile. This is pretty much what happens every time there is any form of slight change that occurs in the church. There are radicals within the church that will take it to an extreme that was never intended.

Celebrating this mass or father Tony bidgood and another priest who has not been identified. Either one of these priests should have stepped in to stop what was happening here. But it is most likely that father Tony not only didn't try to stop it but had actually set it up.

This is an outrageous disaster. My friend was so distraught and put off by this that he simply walked out of the church. He felt he had no other option. In fact what I told him was that Catholics are forbidden from spending their Sunday celebration at a non-catholic place of worship. If a Catholic Church is not respecting specific and explicit Catholic laws I have to wonder if it would even fulfill one's Sunday obligation. My friend did the right thing by walking out of the church. When something so manifestly wrong is occurring it is our moral duty to stand up and do something about it. I'm not talking about tiny little peccadilloes which can sometimes occur. I'm talking about massive violations of canon law.

He will be contacting the bishop for something to be done about this. Hopefully the bishop will follow his duty invocation and explicitly forbid this action and tell the priest this is unacceptable. My fear in all of this is that the bishop does nothing and ignores canon law.

I will keep you posted on any updates.

Saturday, March 04, 2017

Temptation

Does anyone here have struggle with sin? It’s such a huge battle at all times. Various things I find a daily thing. It can be anger, lust, gluttony, sloth, etc. I really do envy people who have been able to transcend these. I know we remain human with temptations until death, so no one really fully “overcomes” these sins, I don’t think. But I think you can get to the point where you are not internally tempted to do certain things. You can recognize they are wrong and you use your will to avoid them. But this also applies to positive things, such as almsgiving or attending religious events.

Ultimately I think a lot of it is habit and being at peace with your life. With habit, we can create a lifestyle where we do not face such temptation all the time. Like eating healthy. At first, because we are still fully addicted, it can be difficult. But once we develop a habit of eating a proper breakfast and having good quality nutrition, the longer we do this, the less we are internally tempted to partake. We may still have, in the back of our minds, the idea that partaking in a particular sin might seem like it would be pleasurable but we aren’t holding on to the door frame to prevent ourselves from doing it.

Anyway like I said many saints have come to this point where they are no longer pulled internally toward a sin. They see it, but they are not really “tempted” by it.

Why do I keep saying “internal”? Well, there are two types of temptation. One is you are being tempted. The other is you are internally tempted, you are struggling to not give in, etc.

For example, if you were offered drugs, if you had no desire for them, someone could still be “tempting you” with them. An internal temptation is one where you are a drug addict and it takes all your will power to decline the offer. In the first example, you are not internally tempted. I feel like after much discipline and habit you can eventually reach that level. I guess that’s our spiritual goal!

Friday, March 03, 2017

How is Everyone’s Lent Going?

Hi everyone, just checking in to see how your Lent is progressing. We are still in the initial stages of it. I gave up soft drinks, but I should do more I think. That's not much of a penance really, even though I partake frequently. I'm in awe of some people. I knew one girl who gave up meat FOR ALL OF LENT! Crazy. She is Indian so maybe they know more recipes. My fiancée is Indian and vegetarian all her life. But still that's a lot. Others will give up drinking all together, chocolate, etc. some are tall orders.

 

But it all depends. If you never eat chocolate, then giving it up is pretty meaningless. Also some people, including myself in past Lents, give up so little it hardly seems like a penance. Like giving up one flavour of ice cream or maybe not drinking one type of alcohol. Pretty low-end. You should really be looking for something that will bring you closer to God. Look for things that take you away from union with the Almighty, and those are good places to start.

 

I do wonder about people who live an entire life of penance, do they give up something else? Some people have already given a lot. Btw, you can also take up something, like being more helpful or saying more prayers. Not all about stopping everything. What do you do for Lent, write it down below!

Google Search #1 "Why do Catholics...Pray to Mary?"

This is the ninth in a series of articles which are based on the top 9 google searches which come after "Why do Catholics..." in the search suggestions. I start at the ninth and will work my way to #1. If you have follow-up questions or comments, please post them below.

The topic of today's blog is "Why do Catholics Pray to Mary?"

Thursday, March 02, 2017

Google Search #2 "Why do Catholics...Pray to Saints?"

This is the eighth in a series of articles which are based on the top 9 google searches which come after "Why do Catholics..." in the search suggestions. I start at the ninth and will work my way to #1. If you have follow-up questions or comments, please post them below.

The topic of today's blog is "Why do Catholics Pray to Saints?"