We Maniacs discussed this internally somewhat yesterday... Actually, it was mentioned and then commented on by HeathenBoy. It then degenerated into an intense discussion on the religious worldview of said HeathenBoy. Interesting day to say the least.

Anyway, Australia's Catholic Bishops and representatives of 14 Protestant denominations committed to a sharing of resources and ministers. The Church did not commit to intercommunion though. What was agreed was that all of them would recognize each other's baptisms and some agreed to exchange ministers. At first I missed some of the details about the intercommunion and it being a parital sharing of ministers. That is what generated the discussion by HeathenBoy. He commented that you can't have non-Catholics participate in the officiating of Mass or distributing Communion. Doesn't work. Smart, for a heathen. :)

I view this development as a mixed bag. I am pleased that the umbrella group (National Council of Churches, which doesn't include Baptists, Pentecostals or Presbyterians) has recognized the role of Baptism in that it is a one-time thing if valid and that it is effecacious or leaves a permanent mark of some kind on the person. That at least is the conclusion I draw by their recognition of each other's baptisms. If you recognize it, no need to do it again. Legit is legit. Too bad we didn't get the Baptists and Pentecostals in on this as they seem to be the ones most likely to reject the Traditional view of Baptism as permanent, necessary and regenerative.

On the other hand, I am concerned that this may lead to a watering down of the faith in an ecumenical environment. I have seen the effects of that here in our Archdiocese. One of the Archdiocesan meeting spaces they use for ecumenical meetings was a chapel when the building was a convent. Now it's been stripped bare of all religious symbols and context so as not to offend anyone. The place where once the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was offered has been sanitized. That offends me.

Will we see the same thing in Australia? I hope not. As HeathenBoy said, ultimately Christian unity means the protesters (Protestants) have to stop protesting and come home. What happens when they get there and find that the Church they are returning to largely looks like the one they left? Will they take the time to hunt down the orthodox parishes and fight for orthodoxy, or will they return to their old churches?

That is why being ashamed of being Catholic hurts not only us, but our separated brethren as well. We can't be that shining city on a hill by meeting them in the valley. If we believe we are right, then we must help them make the climb, not come down from the mountaintop. True ecumenism will offer a hand, a rope, a ladder or whatever. Leaving the mountaintop is tantamount to forsaking the faith in my opinion.

OK. This is totally sick. SICK SICK SICK!!!!!!!!

Planned Parenthood has announced for sale a new blood red (how appropriate) t-shirt that states "I had an abortion."

Now you too can walk around town proudly proclaiming the fact that you killed your defenseless, innocent child in your very own womb!

How wonderful!

And only $15 to boot.

See the Drudge Report for the link.

Wow... So busy, but since the Deacon hasn't gotten off his Deke yet to post some notes, I figured I ought to. :)

Friday night Deacon, Mrs. Deacon, myself and Mrs. Fric met up at the Galt House for the first night of the Church Teaches Forum. The Forum is put on by Eternal Life, the organization co-founded by Fr. John A. Hardon. Fr. Hardon was an extraodinary individual. He was asked by the Holy Father to create a catechetical course that would eventually be put in use by Blessed Theresa of Calcutta's Missionaries of Charity. That course is called the Marian Catechist.

Friday night we had Fr. Pavone as the main speaker. Fr. Pavone is of course the founder of Priests for Life. Fr. Pavone really hammered home the pro-life message. He was awesome. Never heard him speak before, so it was a real treat. All the speakers this year really hammered home the vital importance of these upcoming elections. Though not endorsing any one candidate, you could tell who they would be voting for. And I don't think it's the faux Catholic candidate.

Also had the chance to meet ArchBp. Burke and thank him for his courage in speaking out. We need more like him and I told him so. He was so humble it almost embarrassed ME! Then he asked me to pray for him. OK. Now THAT is humbling to me. I think I could use his praryers more, but he's included on my list for sure. Cool thing was that I got to receive communion from ArchBp. Burke at the Mass on Saturday. That was very cool too.

Saturday was a long day of several speakers. All were really good. I especially liked Fr. Arnsparger and Fr. McCaffrey. Both have an excellent sense of humor and a way of getting the point across without sounding condescending.

After lunch and at the end of the day, I spent time in the vendors section. Got some great deals on books and a Catholic United for the Faith membership. Got the membership which includes a subscription to Lay Witness along with Catholic for a Reason Vol. I, II and III, Scripture Matters and Understanding Our Father by Scott Hahn and Servants of the Gospel... all for only $55! Awesome deal. Membership without the books is normally $40. The books retail for $12-15 each. Way cool. Also picked up all bit one of the remaining volumes I need in the Beginning Apologetics series. If you want to get a quick primer on essentials of the faith, plus how to defend them, pick this 8 book set up. Catholic Answers has it I believe. Finally, I picked up the Basic Catechist course of the Marian Catechists and the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius by Fr. Hardon in book and MP3 CD forms. Spent a lot more money than I planned, but it was worth it. I am set on reading material for the rest of the year. :)

More blogging tomorrow...

Hey guys... Been really busy with this new contract of late. It's making even weekend blogging a hard thing to come by. Had a couple of minutes and I wanted to make a point or two.

Every liberal, pro-abort, big-government, socialist Democrat in America can go to any church in the country and make speeches at Sunday services to promote their campaigns.

Why anyone should find this incongruous I don't know...

A few brave Catholic Bishops and a well-placed Cardinal or two remind people that if you hold positions contrary to the Church on certain issues, you are in a state of sin, possibly grave. Specifically when it comes to certain non-negotiables like abortion, gay "marriage", euthanasia, human cloning and embryonic stem cell research... But mostly abortion. If you hold these contrary positions publicly and continuously by voting for these things over and over, even after being corrected, you obstinately persist in grave sin and can be denied communion. Of course if you have any integrity you should refrain from it anyway, but that's another story.

Along comes every social liberal screaming "Separation of Church and state!!!!"

My response is...

SO!!!!!!!!

The constitution does NOT require anyone to leave their religion at the altar each Sunday. It simply requires that no laws be made by Congress (and the states as of the 14th Amendment I think it is) to establish a national (or state) church like the Church of England for instance. It also requires that no laws prohibit the free exercise of religion, which used to be understood that the state can't persecute minority religions. As a Catholic that is important considering the severe and forgotten discrimination Catholics faced for much of this country's history.

That said, I'd also like someone to show me a quote or comment by any Bishop or Cardinal or Pope that tells any politician how to vote. That is what these liberals are screaming about isn't it? But I don't see it happening. I see them telling these politicians that there are consequences to their votes and they must recognize that.

Of course to a liberal, telling them there are consequences to things they do is tantamount to telling them not to do something. They don't like being told there are responsibilities that go along with rights and that no right is unlimited. They don't like limits unless it's on someone else.

Definition: A liberal is someone whose interests are not at stake at the moment.

Anyway, the thing that always annoys me the most is the hypocrisy of these guys. Dems can go preach on Sunday all day long all the time. Yet the Catholic Church can't remind it's own members of the rules governing this venerable 2000 year institution? Outside of Mass? Privately? Publicly? At all?

And what about this idea that the Church should be stripped of its tax-exempt status? Hello!!! Anybody seen what liberal think tanks, the unions and who knows how many non-profits do to get Democrats elected, never mind members' opinions. What about their status?

Finally, I find it very chilling indeed that no one seems to be screaming from the rooftops about this on the civil liberties, libertarian or conservative side at all. Does no one see this attempt by non-governmental groups and individual politicians as a sly way to silence us without actually using direct government actions? When you silence the biggest one, what's to stop these people from silencing the rest of us? There is a direct and definite movement (has been for years really) to silence any kind of thought, idea, voting, legislation and candidate that may have any kind of influence from religion. Especially Christian.

This effectively removes any devout believer from ever holding office or a position of authority.

Why?

Because no one... NO ONE... can separate their conscience from their voting or support for things. What you support shows your values and your conscience quite nicely. You can't truly be personally opposed to something and then say others should have the right to do it when you are talking about something like abortion. If you believe abortion to be killing a baby, then how can you say you can't force your religion on others?

Can you be personally opposed to slavery, but not want to impose that belief on others?

What about rape?

Incest?

Child molestation?

It's simply not possible. Everyone's conscience is formed by their belief or lackthereof in religious precepts. It's part of what separates us from the beasts of the wild.

It seems to me that some of us are closing that gap though. Day by day. Abortion by abortion.

I surf a lot of different news sites and blogs, like a lot of you I am sure...

I have noticed that there are an awful lot of angry Catholics out there.

Well, duh, Fric!

OK. OK. I deserved that. Seriously though, the places I go to you would expect Catholics of the orthodox bent. Many tend to lean to the Traditionalist bent, some incredibly so. The anger is often directed at the episcopate, they being the top dogs and whose desks the buck stops on as it were in this country. People are angry at them for coverups, being too strict about who can receive communion, not being strict enough, following the Vatican on Vatican II reforms, not folling the Vatican on the reforms, etc. etc.

I know we have been perpetrators of such comments and sentiments at times here. I have come to realize that there is nowhere near enough Christian charity though. All too often we judge actions as if they were done with certain intentions. But how can we know these intentions? We can't unless a person says so explicitly. We can make a pretty good approximation and guess at times. But it's almost impossible to know 100% for sure.

So what do we do about it? Well, how about we step back and stop assuming the worst? How about we offer up prayers for our priests and bishops? Especially the ones who seem to be heterodox. Then how about we pray for ourselves so that we don't commit sins of presumption, calmny or outright slander? Remember that Christ considers how we treat others to be how we treat Him.

Anyway, thought I'd mention it and make the pledge to work on it myself. What do you guys think? Are we too hard on our episcopate? Too soft? Do they deserve what they are getting? How much mercy is too much? When does accountability kick in? When is it too late?

Today is the 228th birthday of the United States of America...

And the 38th birthday of Fric.

Happy birthday to us. :)

The subject of ecumenism rears its head this past week. Normally, this is a subject I approach with some queasiness, because it seems in this country it means we Catholics give up what makes us Catholic to make friends with those who have no interest in being united with us in the faith... No matter what we do, unless it's renounce the Church and get "saved", praise Jesus!

That said, this week was full of ecumenism from the Vatican front. JP2 met with the Patriarch of Constantinople (located in Istanbul, Turkey) on the feast day of St. Peter. This also marked the 40th anniversary of the meeting between Paul VI and his counterpart. That started the ball rolling to get the Orthodox to come back home.

Now, I know that probably wouldn't be an approved statement and that's likely why the Vatican hasn't called upon me for all my expertise... But I digress. The point is that these two met and while the relations were somewhat cool, due to the words of the Patriarch in my opinion, it's a good sign. The Patriarch seemed to say at one point that Papal infallibility is a major obstacle to reunion between the East and the West.

Well, duh! They don't like it and we can't give it up, since it's True and infallibly defined by a council. So what to do? Good question. Honestly I don't know, but I do know that we need to keep talking and doing things that will bring them closer and closer to full communion.

The Patriarch of Constantinople is the defacto head of the Orthodox Churches. A little background is in order here...

After Constantine legalized Christianity, he moved the Roman Empire's capital to what is now Istanbul and called it Constantinople after himself. Eventually, the Patriarchs there, started to stand up for more of an equal footing/power with the Bishop of Rome because of the status of the new capital being in their hometown. They mistakenly equated the location of the secular capital with the authority of the Church. At various times the Patriarch of Constantinople (and many other Bishops) have been material heretics. Only the Bishop of Rome has never taught error. The others have. The Eastern bishops have at various times gone schismatic and returned, even after the original schism in 1054. Eventually, they left for good. They have managed to keep Apostolic succession though, unlike the Anglicans. They have valid sacraments and holy orders.

So what keeps us from reuniting the Church of Christ (Catholic Church)?

Pride.

That's my opinion. Initially, it was pride on both sides and for quite a long time too. But in the reign of this Pope, we have seen the Church return to a more fitting humility and charity. Many disagree on the appropriateness of much of it, but it's there. He has reached out to all who call themselves Christian in an effort to restore unity to the Body of Christ.

Though they meet and talk, I wonder how we will ever get back together. In the West our understanding of the Deposit of Faith has deepened over the centuries. Our search for understanding and faith didn't end after the 7th ecumenical council. There's seems to have. Now we have formally defined dogmas that the East seems unlikely to embrace. Yet to restore communion, they must as they are formal dogmas.

Only the grace of God can help us. Pray for them and us.

More tomorrow...

Well, the weekend is here and it's time to catch up. As I said last week, I will be blogging mostly on the weekends it seems until the end of July. The plus side of that is that the Fric household is getting some nice coin coming in for a while. :) And Mrs. Fric really appreciates that! And anything Mrs. Fric appreciates, I appreciate.

Met up with the other Maniacs last night for some quiet fellowship. We hadn't had all four of us together at the same time in quite a while. A grand time was had by all.

OK... enough of the sentimentality. Time for some serious blogging...