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Taking Life, Love and Faith Seriously

"Blog" component of "Thoughts and Faith to Share Anthology"

« *Pope Benedict XVI’s call for the use of Latin
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*The Failure of Parish-Based Catechesis and Proposed Solutions, i.e., Taking Catechesis Seriously

July 13, 2013 by Taking Life, Love and Faith Seriously

Repenting of the Failure of Parish-Based Catechesis: Time for An Old Idea

Nice doesn’t mean good teaching and we urgently need some good teaching.

By Barbara R. Nicolosi, May 29, 2013

[Republished with author’s permission. Original source: Patheos Catholic]

“How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him?” (1 Sam 16) 

The Problem

“Who can name the Gifts of the Holy Spirit?” It was Pentecost, and our pastor was walking up and down the middle aisle with a goofy grin and tone that said, “Bear with me, here.” There were a few embarrassed chuckles from the congregants who hadn’t already tuned out. Father pressed on, “Come on, anybody?” Again, the people dutifully and lightly snickered. This was supposed to be the funny set up of some point, right? I didn’t think it was funny at all. I raised my hand.

I think our pastor was a little put out because he really hadn’t intended for anyone to speak up. He made a comical face and then said, “Really?” The people laughed. Still grinning but with his hands on his hips, Father nodded at me, “Okay, let’s hear it.” So, I answered using the WUCKPuFF formula I had learned back in the third grade from Sr. Mary Randall, RSM. “Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Knowledge, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord.” (Probably because I am a child of the Sixties, I prefer the word “Reverence” to “Fear of the Lord,” but WUCKPuFR just doesn’t work as well as a mnemonic.)

People gasped. Father approached our pew actually shocked. He was intrigued and, I guess, figured maybe I had gotten lucky. “Stand up and say them again. Slower.” So, I did. And then our priest looked around and pointed at me and people applauded. Like I had done something extraordinary. Like I had said something brilliant. Like I was some kind of theological nerd, instead of just a fellow disciple in the pew, delineating something so catechetically pedestrian that seven-year-olds should know it before we ever think of placing the Eucharist in their little mouths. I would have been much more impressive explaining the meaning of all the gifts but Father clearly didn’t want to go that far with his little trivia moment.

At the Sign of Peace, an older woman behind me shook my hand and leaned in conspiratorially. She said with a touch of bravado, “I knew Piety.” I had to force myself not to grimace in dismay. “Peace be with you,” I rejoined.

If I was pastor of this parish, and only one person in the pews could name the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, I would reorient my entire preaching calendar for the next seven months. And every month for the next seven would be on one of the Gifts. I would drill it in at every Sunday Mass until the whole parish would know in depth and forever, what God’s life in us means, that is, the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Looking around the church as Father moved on to whatever his point was—it certainly wasn’t the scandal of religious ignorance—I thought to myself, “Was the Baltimore Catechism really so bad? Really?”

It’s long past time for the Catholic Church in the United States to acknowledge and address the fact that in many, possibly most, dioceses, parish-based catechesis has been an abject failure. In the vaunted Year of Faith, it should sting all of our leaders and pastors that few of the ever-dwindling percentage of Catholics in the pews on a Sunday morning could pass a basic catechetical quiz. How many Gen X Catholics could name one of the precepts of the Church or recall any one set of the Mysteries of the Rosary? How many of our teenagers could list all Ten Commandments? How many First Communicants could recite the Acts of Faith or Hope, or name the Seven Sacraments? The terrible, tragic, and fundamental truth for 21st-century Catholicism is, not many!

It’s beyond my scope here to say how devastating and even cruel it is for the Church Militant to perpetuate Her systemic failure in this area. Ignorance leads to suffering. Religious ignorance leads to eternal death.

We are awash in a broader culture of banality, ugliness, and stupidity, and we have several generations of disciples who are completely incapable of coping with it because of their double ignorance of their faith. Double ignorance, from Plato, means they don’t know, and they don’t know that they don’t know.

I’ll stipulate that there are some exceptions—parishes here and there that are handing on the faith well and forming solid little disciples. But they are the great exception and we can’t let the fact of their existence derail the urgent discussion of what we have to do about rest.

About a month ago, a convert friend called me with pained concern in her voice. “Caitlin has been going to St. Charles’ religious education program for more than a year now. She is supposed to make First Communion, but we are worried because she doesn’t know anything.” This news hit me hard. This was a family that had been catechumens in a RCIA program that I created in Hollywood for people in the entertainment industry who were coming into the Church. Caitlin, her mother and father and her little sister Laurie, were all accepted into the Church a few years ago, and now they were dealing with the scandal of banal catechesis. I agreed to meet with eight-year-old Caitlin.

It was shocking what she didn’t know, especially because St. Charles was going to let her receive First Communion in this state of unknowing. She didn’t know what Original Sin is. She didn’t know the difference between a mortal and venial sin or of what an examination of conscience should consist. She didn’t know what grace is, or what the Trinity is, or what we mean by the Holy Eucharist. As a result of all this unknowing, Caitlin hated going to Church and thought the religious education classes she associated with the Church were boring and stupid.

So I told Caitlin’s mother that I would meet with her and her daughter for an hour every Saturday for the next three months. We started with, “Who made you?” and “What can we know about God from the world?” and then, “Why did God make you?” and “How does God talk to you?” and we’ll be moving on according to the brilliant and sturdy structure of the Baltimore Catechism. Lord knows, by the time we’re done, this could probably earn the little girl an honorary doctorate from the sorry, intellectual vacuum that is catechesis in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

We have a problem in the Church in the U.S. We need to suppress the impulse to defend the indefensible, because we don’t want to hurt the feelings of the lovely people who have been pulled in to teach the Faith in all our parishes. They are lovely, and God will bless them for their sacrifices. But, in my experience, nice doesn’t mean good teaching and we urgently need some good teaching.

Teaching is an art. It is a craft. It can be a profession. It is something people go to universities to learn how to do. There are two key aspects to being an effective teacher. The first is to know your subject. The second is to know how to communicate, translate, and “make enthralling,” your subject.

Most parish DREs find their religious education teachers from the rolls of the parents who have kids in the programs. Over and over through my years in the “corporate Church,” I encountered people teaching the Faith who had no pedagogical training and little if any theology. The various dioceses count heavily on their one- or two-day religious education congresses to get their catechists up to speed, but it is an absurd expectation. You can’t make theologians and educators out of people in a day. Typically, the highlight of these conferences for the attendees is the exhibit hall where they swoop all over booths of Catholic publishers and purveyors of holy hardware, looking frantically for tools that they can use in their classes. Talk about setting people up for failure!

The sad reality of parish-based catechesis in most places is that it’s boring, lightweight, irrelevant drivel for the kids, and frustration and embarrassment for the catechists.

First Proposal: Recommit to Content and Rigor

I got into teaching RCIA because I had two converts who were in graduate programs in engineering and I couldn’t find a parish program that wasn’t insultingly banal. I didn’t want us to lose them because what they found in the Church was so much dumber than what they found at UCLA. I sat in on RCIA classes at three different local parishes before I despaired of finding a good program and decided to teach them myself.

You think I’m kidding about how dumb these parish programs are? I have seen sessions that SNL would reject as being too ridiculous. Oh, the humanity!

Not long ago, my husband and I attended a mandatory two-hour session at a local parish, for parents with new babies and their corresponding godparents-to-be. There were about fifty of us in the hall and the main miracle of the evening was that none of us left the Church for another religion during the course of the evening. It was dreadful! Instead of helping us understand and value the glorious baptismal ritual, the three “team leaders” wasted our time asking us to decorate little white cloth dresses with colors and pictures that made us think of God. They told stupid stories about when their babies were born and embarrassing moments they had seen at baptisms. There was a long, awful period in which every pregnant couple got to explain the name they had for their baby. Almost none had chosen a patron saint’s name. And why would they? No one on the “team” suggested it as a good idea!

The evening was a well-intentioned, dumbed down, idiotic mess that was a waste for everyone who had crawled out of their offices and homes and missed dinner. I hated how the much-needed opportunity to prepare these parents and god-parents was squandered. We don’t have time for this!

I get that the Baltimore Catechism by itself isn’t enough. But it doesn’t follow that it isn’t very good. Because it is — especially for children who need to be sponging up and storing as many concepts as we can give them as resources for their future lives. What is infuriating in so many of these terribly banal parish programs is that they may say little truths, but their whole subtext is a giant lie. The lie is that the Catholic Faith, that Christianity, is a boring, irrelevant unreasoned cacophony of old dogmas and rituals. No! Our Faith is smart! There’s more to it than any of us can ever fully learn morally, spiritually, intellectually, and liturgically. There’s a ton that we need to memorize so as to ruminate over—psalms and lists and parables and turns of phrase and principles.

The reason our parish programs are boring to kids is not because they are too difficult, but because they are too dumb! We need to ask a lot more of our candidates, catechumens, and students. And they will respond to this demand because the truth they find will be worth it.

Second Proposal: Let’s Get Teachers to Teach the Faith

The Church in the U.S. grew and thrived largely due to the efforts of religious brothers and sisters who ran and taught in the parish school system. We don’t have enough nuns anymore, but many areas still have Catholic schools. Let’s drop the Sunday school model and instead have the government school students brought over to the Catholic schools one afternoon a week. Let’s pay the Catholic school teachers to stay an extra two hours one day a week to teach religion. They will know how to teach, and they will know much better what to teach. It would be a thousand percent improvement on what the kids are getting now.

Third Proposal: Recruit Theology and Scripture Majors as Tutors

Let’s pretend that each child is failing religion the way some kids fail math. What do we do for the kids who are failing? Well, good parents find a tutor.

There is a wonderful resource sitting right there in the pews every Sunday that we need to tap. Lots and lots of people have studied theology and Scripture. They are probably right there sitting two rows away, heads down while suffering through some ditty from “Glory and Praise.” I suggest all pastors invite these people to come forward and take on one or two students from the program. We can take some of the money we are blowing on religious ed programs and give it as a small stipend to these folks.

This one-on-one or one-to-two approach will be especially effective with older kids and RCIA students. The parish’s role should move from teaching the kids to coordinating the tutors. The parish can vet the tutors and set the standards for what the students need to know. The tutors can meet with the kids at whatever time is best for all and when the students are ready, the mentors can present them to the pastor for scrutiny. This method will allow the students and tutors to cover a lot more material in a much more powerful way. Their interactions will be more sharings than classes, and the student will be constantly engaged in relating the truths being discussed to their own lives.

Also, the truth is, learning the Faith is different than learning algebra. It is a more personal kind of learning that is ill-suited to classroom rote. Some candidates learn faster. Some catechumens can take in more abstract concepts. Some are going to respond better to exhortation and others to parables. All are going to need to share what they are hearing and what it means to them. The tutorial model is better at this than the group of unruly government school kids in a classroom model.

Some of the people out there in the pews will be experts in Scripture. Some will know a lot about moral theology and ethics. Some will have more to say about liturgy or ecclesial history. The new job of the DRE will be to coordinate these tutors and utilize them with a couple of students several months every year or so.

How about that, for asking people to be real disciples? This will create lasting bonds of friendship and discipleship in the parish. Those who are taught will feel gratitude and will move on to becoming tutors themselves. It would be a great, great thing for a parish.

I am speaking from personal experience here. Our Hollywood RCIA program is very rigorous and demanding. We not only require an hour or two of catechism study every week, but we usually stipulate two Catholic novels be read a month during the program. We read directly from the documents of Vatican II, and regularly work in other texts on moral theology, history, and Scripture. It’s almost too much for the learners but the powerful subtext they absorb is that the Catholic faith is rich and deep and much, much smarter than you are. This tutorial model works very well with the catechumens and candidates, and always draws in twice as many people because they start to bring their spouses and friends and co-workers to sit in. And, of course, it has been great for my soul.

When I have addressed this matter in public, it always evokes the response that the problem in our religious education programs is not the parishes but in the parents and families. It is certainly true that parents should be the primary educators in the faith. But they can’t now, can they? Let’s be real. You can’t give what you don’t have, and we have two or three generations of parents now who know next to nothing about their faith. A big plus of the “living room catechesis” model is that it draws the parents in. They will naturally be part of it, and they will learn along with their kids.

We have to stop the madness. We have to stop lying about how bad this problem is because we don’t want to cause a stir and hurt feelings. The Church in the 21st-century is dying of a malaise that comes from ignorance. People aren’t praying because they don’t know anything about God. They aren’t evangelizing because they don’t know what they have to share. Hurt feelings are not the worst thing that can happen to a religion.

“But when the Son of Man comes, will there be any faith left on earth?”

Barbara Nicolosi is the Executive Director of The Story Institute at Azusa Pacific University and an adjunct professor of screenwriting at Azusa Pacific University and at Pepperdine University. She blogs at The Church of the Masses.

Follow-up article:

Becoming Catholic in 34 Weeks… When You Really Mean It

By Barbara R. Nicolosi, July 10, 2013

[Republished with author’s permission. Original source: Patheos Catholic]

It’s actually encouraging and discouraging both at the same time. Ever since I wrote this, I have been getting a steady stream of inquiries about the contents of the RCIA program that we use with our Hollywood converts. It’s encouraging how many people want to find a smarter, more cohesive and rigorous program of introduction to Catholicism. It’s discouraging how many people find the offerings at their local parish pathetic, banal and disappointing. For posterity’s sake – and in hopes that it will cut down on the emails – I am posting the curriculum here.

It’s probably obvious that this program is both rigorous and demanding of the candidates/catechumens and the instructors. We tell the students to plan on an hour or two of reading every week and sometimes more. We count on the students feeling over-whelmed as that seems to make for a better preparation for prayer than the way a banal program would leave them feeling superior.

There are a whole bunch of sub-texts to this kind of program which the students hopefully absorb and generally start saying out loud by week three.

– “Wow, the Catholic faith is a lot smarter than I am.”
– “I could spend my whole life and not get to the bottom of the Church’s moral theology, or Her spirituality, or Her liturgy, or Her Biblical hermeneutics, or Her ecclesiology, or Her Christology or Her epistemology, etc. etc. etc.”
– “There isn’t anything I could wrestle with that the Church doesn’t have a lot to say about in Her ordinary or extraordinary Magisterium, or in the writings of Her saints and scholars.”
– “Who knew there were great storytellers who were Catholic?”
– “Everything Jesus gave us is saving. And none of it is superfluous.”
– “Catholic prayer is brilliant.”

One lovely gent from the UK wrote me to ask for the syllabus. After I sent it, he wrote me back and said, “Could you please send the instructor along with the syllabus?” It’s a good point. This program requires a teacher who has studied theology, philosophy and Scripture, and who knows and loves the great literature written by Catholics. The reading is more of a survey, but the lessons absolutely need to drill down into making dogma matter in the lives of the students.

It looks imposing, but it really is a blast, in the best possible sense of that. The students tend to love the classes and, by the end of the program, there is always a deep bond between everyone who has sat in the room all year. I can’t conceive of anyone going through this exercise without discovering a whole new life. A better one.

Hollywood RCIA Program

Created by Barbara R. Nicolosi, M.A.

Program Goals: A presentation of the basic theology and spirituality of the Catholic Church using classic texts and literature. To set the seeker on the journey of faith with humility through awareness of the richness of thought with which the Catholic Church protects the deposit of faith.

Course texts:

– The Catholic Study Bible, ed. John Senior
– The Catechism of the Catholic Church – (CCC) – Get the big green version
– Vatican Council II: Constitutions, Declarations, Decrees, ed. Flannery, (VCII)
– Triumph: The History and Glory of the Catholic Church, by Crocker
– The Christian Idea of Man, by Josef Pieper
– Brideshead Revisited, by Eveyln Waugh
– The Lord, by Roman Guardini
– Introduction to the Devout Life, by Francis De Sales
– The Power and the Glory, by Graham Greene
– The Abolition of Man, by C.S. Lewis
– The Inferno, by Dante
– Silence, by Shusaku Endo
– The Reed of God, Caryll Houslander
– Handouts will include: “The Grand Inquisitor,” (by Dostoevsky, from The Bros Karamazov) “A Temple of the Holy Spirit” and “Revelation” (Two short stories by Flannery O’Connor), “The Four Ways to God” (by Benedict Groeschel from Spiritual Passages)

Curriculum:

#1 – ORIENTATION/INTRODUCTION – THE BEATITUDES
Reading: Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5:1-12

#2 – FAITH and PRAYER IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
Reading: CCC 27-49, 142-175, 2558-2565, 2626-2643, 2697-2745
To learn: The Glory Be, The Morning Offering

#3 – “THAT CATHOLIC THING”
Reading: Brideshead Revisited

#4 – THE NATURE AND SPIRITUAL CONDITION OF THE HUMAN PERSON
Reading: CCC 355-379, 1700-1709, 1730-1742; Handout: Revelation by Flannery O’ Connor
For journal: “Why do I do the things I hate?”

#5 – THE NATURE OF THE HUMAN PERSON, PT. II
Reading: The Christian Idea of Man
For journal: What is a human person? How is a human person distinct from animals?

#6 – SCRIPTURE IN CATHOLIC LIFE
Reading: Vatican II, “Dei Verbum, CCC 50-141
For journal: How has God spoken to me personally through His Word?

#7 – THE TRINITY / GOD THE FATHER
Reading: CCC 238-256 (for memorization: #266); Handouts: from Fr. Groeschel’s Psychology
and Spirituality; The Book of Job

#8 – GOD AS REVEALED IN THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES; COMMANDMENTS 1-3
Reading: Bible, Wisdom, Song of Solomon; CCC 2083-2188
For journal: What is the name that God gives me?

#9 – JESUS CHRIST – Part I
Reading: CCC 430-463; The Lord, Chapters 1-12
For journal: “And you, who do you say that I am?”

#10 – JESUS CHRIST – Part II
Reading: CCC 464-560, The Lord, Chapters 13-17

#11 – JESUS CHRIST – Part III
Reading: CCC 561-679, The Lord, Chapter 17 – end
For journal: Which metaphor of Christ (ie. Good Shepherd, Light of the World, Sheepgate, Bread of Life, The Vine, Divine Physician, Way, Truth, Life) speaks the most to me and why?

#12 – THE HOLY SPIRIT AND GRACE
Reading: CCC 687-741, 1830-1832; “Temple of the Holy Spirit” by Flannery O’Connor
To learn: The gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit

#13 – THE CHURCH, PT. I
Reading: Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church – Vatican II);
To Learn: The Precepts of the Church

#14 – CHURCH, PT. II: HIERARCHY, APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION, INFALLIBILE
MAGISTERIUM, GRACE
Reading: CCC 748-870, 1996-2005, 2041-2043

#15 – THE SACRAMENTS OF BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION
Reading: CCC 1210-1216, 1229-1274, 1285-1314;
For journal: What can confirmation mean in your life? What will make the difference in what it
could mean, and what it will mean?

#16 – MAN AND THE NATURAL LAW
Reading: The Abolition of Man, by CS Lewis

#17 – THE CLASSICAL AND THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES
Reading: CCC 1803-1829; Handout from Pieper “The Four Virtues”

#18 – CONSCIENCE, EVIL AND SIN
Reading: CCC 309-314, 385-412, 1846-1869; Man’s Search for Meaning
To commit to memory: types of sin and conditions necessary for serious (mortal) sin
For journal: What kind of a person would I have become as a prisoner in Auschwitz?

#19 – TEMPTATION
Reading: “The Grand Inquisitor,” from The Brothers Karamazov

#20 – COMMANDMENTS 4, 5, 7 and 8 / ON RESPECT FOR AUTHORITY, MURDERING, STEALING AND LYING
Instructor: Barbara Nicolosi Harrington
Reading: CCC 2197-2246, 2258-2317, 2401-2449, 2464-2503

#21 – HOLY MASS AND EUCHARIST, PT. I
Reading: Vatican II “Sacrosanctum Concilium;”

#22 – HOLY MASS, PT II
Reading: CCC 1322-1405; Handout from Spirit of the Liturgy
.
#23 – SACRAMENTS OF VOCATION I: MATRIMONY AND HUMAN SEXUALITY (COMMANDMENTS 6, 9, 10)
Reading: CCC

#24 – SACRAMENTS OF HEALING: PENANCE AND ANOINTING OF THE SICK
Reading: CCC 1434-1439; CCC 1422-1424, 1440-1470, 1499, 1511-1525;
To learn: The Act of Contrition (see p. 191 in the Compendium)
For journal: What is it that tempts you? How do you respond to temptation? How do I
understand the sacrament of reconciliation?

#25 – SACRAMENTS OF VOCATION II: PRIESTHOOD / RELIGIOUS LIFE
Reading: CCC 1536, 1572-1584; The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
View: Becket
For journal: Is God calling me to priesthood or religious life? Why or why not? (If you are
married, how can you help others who might be discerning a religious or priestly vocation?)

#26 – SUFFERING
Reading: Silence, by Endo

#27 – The Last Things: DEATH, JUDGMENT, HEAVEN, HELL / PURGATORY Reading: CCC 988-1014, 1020-1050; “The Inferno” from The Divine Comedy by Dante

#28 – CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING I (Bioethics / Life Issues)
Reading: CCC 1877-1948; Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church – Vatican II)- Preface, Introduction, Part I, Part II (chapters 1 and 2)

#29 – CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING II (Economic/Political Systems, Environmental
Stewardship, Nuclear Weapons, etc.)
Reading: Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church – Vatican II)
– Part II, chapters 3-5; Conclusion

#30 – THE LAY APOSTOLATE
Reading: Vatican II, “Apostolicam Actuositatem”

#31 – INTRODUCTION TO THE DEVOUT LIFE
Reading: Introduction to the Devout Life, by St. Francis De Sales

#32 – BEAUTY AND STORY IN THE LIFE OF THE DISCIPLE
Reading: Handouts from Maritain and Pieper

#33 – CHURCH HISTORY: The “Dark Ages,” the Orthodox Split, Crusades, Inquisition, Galileo Incident, and Reformation
Reading: Triumph

#34 – SAINTS AND THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
Reading: The Reed of God; CCC 954-975

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    • *A Very Important Documentary for Serious Americans, Parents and Christians
    • *A war between Christ and the Antichrist on a scale never seen before
    • *A War on Maternity Waged in the Name of Mother Earth
    • *ABOLISH ABORTION NOW! – The second civil war?
    • *Abortion – An obstacle to peace
    • *Abortion and a Failure of Community
    • *Abortion Is The Defining Life Issue
    • *Abortion Pill Reversal
    • *Abortion Supporters Should Not Receive Communion Says Archbishop Robert Carlson
    • *Affirmation of Personal Faith
    • *Affirming a Culture of Life Together
    • *Always Remember
    • *Always Remember (Part Two)
    • *America has chosen the culture of death, the agenda of perversion, and anti-Catholicism
    • *America’s Greatness
    • *America’s Shame
    • *Americans are confused about life
    • *An Apostolic Exhortation to Catholic Men from Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted
    • *An inversion of the hierarchy of values
    • *An open letter to all Catholics, laity and clergy
    • *An Unborn Child’s Plea
    • *An Urgent Plea for Prayer at the New Year!
    • *Angel of Rio: One Woman Rescues 3,000 Babies From Abortion
    • *Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco Commends The Gabriel Project
    • *Archbishop Raymond Burke on admonishing public officials
    • *Are Embryo Banks for Spare Parts Next?
    • *Are John McCain and Mitt Romney pro-life?
    • *Are You A Catholic Protestant?
    • *Are you in full communion with the Catholic Church and worthy of receiving Holy Communion?
    • *As a firm believer in the apparitions of Medjugorje, my deep concern is that they might be approved by Pope Francis (and Cardinal Schonborn)
    • *As Christians, we persevere as foreigners and pilgrims in this world
    • *Ash Wednesday – How Real Are Your Ashes?
    • *Ask the Children
    • *Attending My First Latin Mass – by a devout young Catholic
    • *Authentic Christian Discipleship
    • *Authentic Motherhood
    • *Bad Catholics are something to fear
    • *Banning the expression of Christian sexual opinions
    • *Bart Stupak’s Health Care Bill Vote – Indefensible!
    • *Be More Urgent in Preparing for Final Judgment
    • *Be or become an authentic Catholic despite those who are trying to destroy Catholicism!
    • *Bear Witness to the Truth and Oppose All Confusion Between Good and Evil
    • *Being Catholic
    • *Benedict XVI Put Liturgy Front and Center
    • *Benedict XVI: “Renunciation of the truth is lethal to faith”
    • *Beware of Fake Mercy
    • *Beware of the Joel of Prosperity and the Joel of Lust.
    • *Beware the Deception of False Prophets
    • *Beware the Strangest Idol of All – A Reflection on How Even Works of Charity Cannot Eclipse Obedience to Christ
    • *Bishop Aquila: Catholics are obligated to work tirelessly for life and the protection of the unborn child
    • *Bishop Blair of Toledo corrects politicians on Church teachings on abortion – instructs laity on voting
    • *Bishop Farrell of Dallas and Bishop Vann of Fort Worth instruct the laity on voting
    • *Bishop Finn on Courage
    • *Bishop Finn: Can a Catholic Vote in Support of Abortion?
    • *Bishop Galante: Faithful Citizenship is living in a way worthy of the Gospel
    • *Bishop Hermann: Every bishop should be willing to give up his life, if it meant putting an end to abortion
    • *Bishop Hermann: Judgment Day is on its way
    • *Bishop Hermann: Let us call God’s mercy down upon us as a nation
    • *Bishop Hermann: SAVE OUR CHILDREN!
    • *Bishop Martino: A Pastoral Letter for Respect Life Sunday
    • *Bishop Riesbeck: Eliminate the crisis, not the pregnancy
    • *Bishop Robert McElory advocates “disruptive” actions to accomplish his favored political goals.
    • *Bishop Robert Vasa’s Response to the HHS Mandate
    • *Bishop Serratelli: A Politician’s Promise: No Right to Life! No Freedom!
    • *Bishop Strickland’s call to investigate and demand accountability of all found to be culpable even at the highest levels of the Church.
    • *Bishop Vasa on Courage
    • *Bishop Vasa: As you form conscience, know not all issues are equal
    • *Bishop Wenski: “We Catholics have become too complacent about the legal killing of unborn children in America and elsewhere.”
    • *BISHOPS CORRECT PELOSI AND BIDEN ON CHURCH TEACHINGS ON ABORTION (CONSOLIDATED)
    • *Bishops Instruct Faithful Citizens on Voting
    • *Bishops of Kansas: Moral Principles for Catholic Voters
    • *Brain Dead – Really?
    • *Brava, Dr. Anca-Maria Cernea’s Message to the Pope and Synod Fathers
    • *Bravo, all of those afflicted with same-sex-attraction who struggle to live in a state of holiness
    • *Bravo, Archbishop Aymond!
    • *Bravo, Bishop DiMarzio!
    • *Bravo, Bishop Mark Davies: A Saviour given to all humanity who turns our minds to thoughts of peace vs the ill-founded belief in the lyrics of John Lennon’s song “Imagine”
    • *Bravo, CongressmanTrey Gowdy: Fully Defund Planned Parenthood
    • *Bravo, Dr. Everett Piper: This is Not a Day Care. It’s a University!
    • *Bravo, Family of Jahi McMath!
    • *Bravo, Family of Justina Pelletier!
    • *Bravo, Fr. Joseph Illo: We cannot give up on America
    • *Bravo, Jim Bazen: “Dress codes keep girls from becoming ‘sex objects'”
    • *Bravo, Kelsey Grammer sports pro-life t-shirt
    • *Bravo, Mr. & Mrs. Ulf Ekman for joining The Roman Catholic Church
    • *Bravo, Population Research Institute (PRI)
    • *Bravo, Priests for Life: We will intensify both our language and our protests.
    • *Bravo, Steve Jalsevac’s report regarding Terri Schiavo
    • *Bravo, Steve Mosher: Support For Pregnant Women
    • *Brief Introduction to the Traditional Mass
    • *Building a Culture of Life via The Gabriel Project
    • *Called to be an Angel
    • *Calvary in Pinellas Park
    • *CARDINAL BURKE INTERVIEW
    • *Cardinal Gerhard L. Müller on certain burning Church related issues
    • *Cardinal Raymond Burke: “We are living in most troubled times in the world and also in the Church.”
    • *Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke on the Catholic “Man-crisis” and what to do about it
    • *Cardinal Rigali Urges Support for ‘Pregnant Women Support Act’
    • *Cardinal Robert Sarah: The Light of the Family in a Dark World
    • *Catholic Agnosticism Demands A Church Without Dogma
    • *Catholic Jesuit University Hosts Commander-in-Chief of Baby Killers
    • *Catholic Relief Services Compromises Catholic Teaching, Promotes Population Control/Family Planning in Madagascar
    • *Catholic Venom
    • *CHILDREN DESERVE BIRTH
    • *China’s Shame – Repulsive crime(s) against humanity
    • *Choosing a new heart and a new mind.
    • *Choosing Heaven Or Hell – Yes, Hell Does Exist
    • *Church teaching enjoins all Catholics – even legislator
    • *Come Home to the Catholic Church
    • *Commander in Chief on Mother’s Day 2013: Happy Motherhood Prevention
    • *Commander in Chief: “God bless you (Planned Parenthood)”
    • *Common Sense End of Life Decision Making
    • *Community of Believers
    • *Conception to birth – visualized
    • *Confronting Would-be Demagogues
    • *Confusion: The Introduction of Evil
    • *Conscientious objection to vaccinations
    • *Consequences of Destroying Unwanted Babies/People
    • *Consider well the glories that are ever before us
    • *Considering the Crusades in the Context of the Current Conflict with Radical Islamists
    • *Contraception as a “Solution” to Abortion: No way!
    • *Contraception the Love Killer
    • *Core Democratic Moral Values: Abortion and Gay Marriage
    • *Cutting Foreign Aid to Save Lives
    • *Deacon Keith Fournier corrects Jon O’Brien and ‘Catholics for Choice’ on Church teachings on abortion
    • *Deacon Keith Fournier corrects Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
    • *Deacon Keith Fournier: Senator Biden, Prop 8, Marriage and the New ‘Know Nothings’
    • *Deacon Keith Fournier’s Pastoral Response to Doug Kmiec’s Support of Abortion Hawk Barrak Obama
    • *DEATH WISH!
    • *Death, where is thy victory?
    • *Defend the truth against those who lie about the authentic teachings of the Catholic Church
    • *Defend the unborn and protect pregnant mothers at all times
    • *Deliver Thy Church, O Lord, from a flawed liturgy
    • *Denial of the Truth is Denial of the Gospel and Betrayal of Christ.
    • *Differentiating the ‘Church’ from ‘churches’
    • *Dignitas Personae helps Catholics form their consciences
    • *Disability is not an all-or-nothing proposition.
    • *Discipleship Beyond Minimalism
    • *Disqualified from Public Office
    • *Distinguishing true discipleship from the “lip service”
    • *Do not be misled by wolves in sheep’s or shepherds' clothing.
    • *Do not endorse death warrants of unhappy people
    • *Do not fear being judged as being judgemental.
    • *Do we and those whom we influence appreciate our aged loved ones?
    • *Do you give a darn about the killing of unborn babies?
    • *Do you have loved ones whom you would like to help grow in spirituality?
    • *Do you love deeply enough to care passionately enough and experience justified indignation?
    • *Do you love deeply enough to care passionately enough and to experience justified indignation?
    • *Does your church/religion support abortion?
    • *Don’t miss the ultimate point of prayer (and our very existence)
    • *Doug Kmiec, read this:
    • *Dr. Martin Luther King (Refuting Atheistic Materialism)
    • *Dressing with Dignity
    • *Easter Sunday Sermon – A Missed Opportunity
    • *Easter Sunday Sermon – A Missed Opportunity (Update)
    • *Election 2008 Part I: “We Have No King But Caesar”
    • *Election 2008 Part II: Catholic Culture and the Election of Barack Obama
    • *Election 2008 Part III: Assault on Conscience and Reality
    • *Eliminating Poverty or Eliminating Children?
    • *Embryonic vs. Adult Stem Cell Research – Obama Ignores the Facts
    • *END YOUR SLAVISH DEVOTION TO THE DEMOCRAT PARTY
    • *Eradicating Poverty Is Not a Gospel Value
    • *Ethical and morally acceptable alternative vaccines are being witheld from Americans
    • *Even in trying times, we can’t cast aside innocent life
    • *Every human being is to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception
    • *Excommunication may be the only responsible and charitable thing to do
    • *Faces of the American Holocaust versus Faces of Angels
    • *Fetal Cannibalism, Planned Parenthood Style
    • *Filling Our Pews
    • *Filling Their Pews
    • *Five Disciplines of Discipleship
    • *Fortitude, Patience, and Meekness: Three Virtues We Often Separate, but That Belong Together
    • *Fr. Corapi calls for a Rosary Novena between October 27th and Election Day
    • *Fr. Corapi: The Eleventh Hour
    • *Fr. Stefano Gobbi (Rest In Peace) – His Last Annual Letter
    • *Fr. Stefano Gobbi’s Funeral
    • *Fr. Stefano Gobbi’s Spiritual Testament
    • *From 7 Billion People To 500 Million People – The Sick Population Control Agenda Of The Global Elite
    • *From Family Planning to Death Planning
    • *From the Holy Spirit to the Adversaries of Medjugorje?
    • *Funeral Home Prayer Card – Is heaven a Sure Thing for You?
    • *Funerals and Purgatory
    • *Gabriel Project parish ‘angels’ watch over troubled moms, families
    • *Gabriel Project: Gabriel’s Angels Show God’s Love to Pregnant Women in Distress
    • *Get Out of Your Own Way.
    • *Global Warming Skeptic
    • *God or Nothing by Cardinal Robert Sarah
    • *God or Nothing by Cardinal Robert Sarah (Update)
    • *God thunders: “THIS IS A CHILD!”
    • *God wants me to be happy, so I’ll do it my way
    • *Good preaching provokes a response
    • *Grow up in the Lord or miss the whole point and dignity of your life.
    • *Happy 86th birthday Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
    • *Happy Third Birthday Gabriela
    • *Having too much to lose can be a loss in itself
    • *Heaven on Earth Amidst a Non-believing Culture
    • *Heil Barack or Hail Mary
    • *Help for Saving the Souls of Your Loved Ones
    • *HELP PREVENT ABORTIONS
    • *Help your adult children (or yourself) return to the Church.
    • *Heroes Do Die: John McCain (Leave abortion alone)
    • *Hillary Calls for Global Abortion at UN
    • *His Eminence, Raymond Cardinal Burke on abortion and the duty of Catholic politicians
    • *His Holiness Benedict XVI, Pope Emeritus
    • *Hospices – A Trojan horse for euthanasia?
    • *How “Catholic” is Catholic Relief Services?
    • *How do you receive Holy Communion?
    • *How should we respond to questions that can be alienating?
    • *How the Gates Foundation is Robbing African Women of their Freedom and their Lives
    • *How to have friends
    • *How to Kill Vocations in Your Diocese
    • *How to Save the World, God’s Way – A Reflection on a Liturgical Teaching of Pope Benedict
    • *Human Lives, Human Rights
    • *Human Nature, Values and Morals – the Era of the Donna Reed Show vs. Today
    • *I Cannot Care Less!
    • *I Support NOW
    • *I’M REPULSED TO NO END
    • *I’m sad and concerned; are you?
    • *Ideology As Religion
    • *If Obama won’t strike to defeat ISIS, perhaps we should.
    • *If you believe there aren’t enough resources on our planet to accommodate its population, keep your filthy wealth and instead, sacrifice your life. That would be the greater good.
    • *If you know anyone who might vote for Hilary Clinton, please share this with them.
    • *If you trust God, your fears will lessen.
    • *If You Want Peace, Remember God
    • *Imagine Revised as a Reflection on the Faith and Social Doctrine of the Church
    • *In Times Like These – A Scriptural Guide for Troubled and Confused Times
    • *Interpretations of Papal Statements Have Consequences
    • *Invitation to Christians
    • *Is attending Mass an ordeal for you? Perhaps it should be.
    • *Is the Catholic Church Reinventing Catholicism?
    • *Is your attendance at Mass a sacrifice of praise?
    • *It is necessary to revive staunch adherence to the Catholic faith.
    • *It’s time to get serious; many are being lost!
    • *Joe Biden and the Obama Administration willing to turn a blind eye to China's Atrocities
    • *June 26, 2015 – U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Same Sex “Marriage”
    • *Kermit Gosnell will never kill another baby
    • *Leading Catholic exorcist on those indifferent to Medjugorje: “They are fools!”
    • *Leave Your Past Behind and Grow in Your Love of The Lord
    • *Let the Holy Spirit light a fire in you
    • *Let’s Be Reasonable About Vaccines
    • *Let’s Be Sincere
    • *Letter to my children (daughters, sons, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren)
    • *LIFE IS FUN
    • *Lives are saved, but some vaccines aren’t morally neutral
    • *Living in the midst of a time of rebellion and deep delusion
    • *Love is greater than kindness
    • *Mamas Don’t Let Your Daughters Grow Up To Be Girl Scouts
    • *Mandela’s Support of Abortion “Shameful”
    • *Marches and Walks for Life
    • *Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood’s Racist Founder
    • *Martha and Mary in the Gospel – Msgr. Pope's interpretation of what is being taught here
    • *Martin Luther King’s Niece: Obama Election Heals “White Guilt” at the Cost of Life and Family
    • *May We Donate Our Organs?
    • *Medjugorje
    • *Medjugorje – an impulse statement
    • *Message to the pro-life community
    • *Miscarriage of justice – call for Kathleen Sebelius’ resignation
    • *Misguided Priorities
    • *Moral Liberalism, having largely destroyed Christianity in America, will sooner or later destroy America itself.
    • *Moral teachings of the Church are in accord with human dignity
    • *More dangerous than Roe v. Wade
    • *Must Read Speech by Cardinal Robert Sarah
    • *My Best Birthday Present Ever
    • *My Hope for a Future Pope: Cardinal Raymond Burke
    • *My Mom’s Letter to Pope John Paul II
    • *My Most Important (Personal) Posts
    • *My Prolife Heroes
    • *My response to “McCain Is Pro-death not Pro-Life”
    • *My Way vs. God’s Way
    • *No ‘Abortion Rights’ only Human Right
    • *No Cross, No Crown
    • *Notre Dame President Sits on Board of Directors of Pro-Abortion, Pro-Contraception Organization
    • *Obama 2012 Launched: Should Catholics Support Him?
    • *Obama Administration’s definition of “reproductive health” includes abortion
    • *Obama and the Media on Stem Cells – the Untold Truth
    • *Obama Pressures UN to Drop Family Language (What a Representative of the Best America Has to Offer the World!)
    • *Obama v. Life
    • *Obama: "Every Time I Think About Those Kids It Gets Me Mad"
    • *On Evangelization
    • *On The Wonder of the Word of God
    • *One of the reasons that our Churches have emptied over the past 40-50 years.
    • *Only what you do for Christ will last
    • *Organ Donation – What you need to know
    • *Our faith must become flesh in us
    • *Our greatest duty is to prepare ourselves and our children (and others) for eternity.
    • *Our Lady of Fatima – Her Prophecies and Warnings Remain as Essential as Ever!
    • *Our Message to Worried Pregnant Mothers
    • *Our Mission is Culture Conversion not Culture War
    • *Our need – for and to be – true prophets
    • *Paean to Personhood
    • *Parish ‘angels’ embrace struggling pregnant mom
    • *Path to Serenity
    • *Pay Attention!
    • *PEACEFUL MAJORITY IRRELEVANT
    • *Perhaps my dream will come true
    • *Piercing the Darkness
    • *Plan B – Is it contraception or not?
    • *Plan B for 17 year old girls: Equipping Children to Kill Children?
    • *Planned Parenthood Uses Manual Vacuum Aspirators to Harvest Organs
    • *Planned Parenthood: False Prophet with Plans for U.S. Health Care
    • *Plea to Filipinos: Defeat the Tyrannous RH Bill
    • *Please read Bobby Schindler’s story about Terri Schiavo.
    • *Pondering the Most Holy Trinity
    • *Pope Benedict XVI’s call for the use of Latin
    • *Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI Embrace
    • *Pope Francis: “we have done little to adequately accompany [pregnant] women in very difficult situations”
    • *Population control ideology stands in stark contrast to the reality of a withering Russia
    • *Post-Election Reflections: The Change We Need the Most
    • *Postfertilization Effect of Hormonal Emergency Contraception
    • *Pray (more)
    • *Preaching without risking suffering causes others to suffer the loss of truth and faith.
    • *President Trump addresses participants in the 2018 March for Life
    • *Pro-life Movement: Be Prepared to be Smeared Thanks to Donald The Disaster
    • *Protect your daughters from the Girl Scouts
    • *Proverbs for Pro-Lifers and Those Who Should Be
    • *R.I.P. Justice Antonin Scalia – We'll Miss You
    • *Rally for Life – What you can do to minimize abortions
    • *Rape, Todd Akin and appeasing abortionists
    • *Re: Let’s All Use Adjective “Preborn” Not “Unborn”
    • *Reaching Out for Life
    • *Readers Beware
    • *Real Love Involves Real Hatred
    • *Reaping the Whirlwind of Abortion
    • *Receive ‘Charity in Truth’ with Charity and Hunger for the Truth
    • *Rediscovering Saint John Paul II
    • *Regarding Bishop Robert McElroy’s appointment as Bishop of San Diego
    • *Religion, reason, voting
    • *Remembering Pope John Paul II
    • *Reproductive Health Language is Properly an Obstacle for the Holy See
    • *Rescind Jahi McMath’s Death Certificate!
    • *Respect for Life – Is its Link to Peace Still Understood?
    • *Respect for Unborn Human Life: The Church’s Constant Teaching
    • *Responding to His Call to Love
    • *Retain or Reclaim the Greatest Gift God Has Given You
    • *Salvation depends on our choice to come to obedient faith
    • *Satan, while hidden, remains active in us and in society
    • *Satan’s Loved Ones
    • *Save the Embryonic Humans!
    • *Seeking a health plan that does not expand abortion
    • *Selective Reduction Abortions Increasing: Children Have Become Commodities
    • *Senator Joseph Biden’s sophistry
    • *Serious errors in today's Catholic Church listed by Bishop Athanasius Schneider
    • *Serious Health Care and End of Life Decisions
    • *Sermon on the Mass in the Traditional Form of the Roman Rite given by His Excellency Alexander Sample.https://fjdalessio.wordpress.com/2018/04/29/sermon-on-the-mass-in-the-traditional-form-of-the-roman-rite-given-by-his-excellency-alexander-sample/
    • *Shallow sermons miss what is the heart of the matter
    • *Singing During Liturgy
    • *Some forms of so-called ‘contraception’ take a human life
    • *Spice Up Your Christian Life
    • *State of the Catholic Church (2016)
    • *State of the Family – 2018
    • *Study Proves Abortion is not the Answer for Pregnant Women with Zika
    • *Stupida, Gloria Steinem: Pope is causing global warming
    • *Stupido; Ben Carson on Terri Schiavo: “I think it was much ado about nothing.”
    • *Submit yourselves to God
    • *Subsidiarity, solidarity, and the lay mission
    • *Tainted Wealth
    • *Taking Abortion Seriously
    • *Taking Catholicism Seriously
    • *Taking Discipleship Seriously
    • *Taking Our Death Seriously
    • *Tears from South Africa
    • *Telegram to Pope Francis re: Medjugorje
    • *That cold, stainless steel bowl
    • *The 5th and 6th Marks of the Church
    • *The Abyss of Oblivion
    • *The America of Catholic memory is not the America of the present moment or the emerging future.
    • *The Body God Gave Us Doesn’t Lie – A Meditation on the Sexual Confusion of Our Day
    • *The Church is Ready to Capsize!
    • *The Church must be the faithful echo of the Lord Who is speaking
    • *The Church of Christ
    • *The Church of Christ Jesus
    • *The Church of Christ Jesus or of the People?
    • *The Church when I was 12 years old
    • *The cost of affluence and abundance (part two of *Will you ever be able to truly say “I want for nothing more”?)
    • *The Crisis of Conservative Catholicism
    • *The Critical Danger of Unbelief
    • *The Dignity of a Person
    • *THE DIGNITY OF THE EUCHARISTIC CELEBRATION
    • *The dilution of the sacredness of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and of the Blessed Sacrament
    • *The experience of greed
    • *The Failure of Parish-Based Catechesis and a Proposed Solution
    • *The Faithful Should Not Fear Death
    • *The Feast of Corpus Christi: how well did your parish fare in worship?
    • *The Fruits of Sidewalk Counseling
    • *The Fundamental Reproductive Right
    • *THE GABRIEL PROJECT
    • *THE GABRIEL PROJECT II
    • *The Holy Spirit and Grace
    • *The Impact of Headlines
    • *The Importance of the Traditional Roman Liturgy
    • *The Inevitable Triumph of the Pro-Life Position
    • *The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) reports that its affiliates [exterminated] nearly one million unborn children in 2015.
    • *The Legacy of Pope Benedict XVI
    • *The Lethal Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
    • *The Little Sisters of Limousine Liberalism
    • *The Millennium Development Goals and Abortion
    • *The Millennium Development Goals and the Critical Next Step for the Catholic Church
    • *The Millennium Development Goals: In Light of Catholic Social Teaching
    • *The New Sustainable Development Agenda
    • *The New Threat to World Order
    • *The Nonconformist and Mistreated Pope
    • *The Obama HHS ‘Compromise’ Switches the Tiger for the Lion
    • *The Passing of a Real Hero – Robert Schindler
    • *The Peace that Comes with Faith and Trust in God
    • *The Perfect Christian Funeral Homily
    • *The Philippines Under Fire
    • *The Pope Cannot Totally Ruin The Catholic Church
    • *The Pope of Divine Mercy should be declared “Doctor of the Church”.
    • *The President’s Speech; Why I Wasn’t Impressed
    • *The pro-abortion agenda of the Millennium Development Goals
    • *The Prosperity Gospel’s Unholy Trinity: Me, Myself and I
    • *The protection of life from conception must rank first among all dedications of philanthropy
    • *The Roots of the Culture of Death…
    • *The SBA So-called Pro-Life Presidential Leadership Pledge
    • *The serious crisis that the Church is going through.
    • *The Sound of the Magnitude of Abortion in America
    • *The Straight Facts about Tiller and Anti-Abortion Violence
    • *The Sustainable Development Goals and the Critical Errors of the Catholic Church
    • *The theology of the Cross versus Hedonism
    • *The Times Are Out of Joint
    • *The Tragedy of Aborting Healthy Babies
    • *The Truth About “Brain Death”
    • *The Ultimate Heresy
    • *The War in the Womb
    • *Theology of the Body
    • *There are just and unjust choices
    • *This message must be heard by every American
    • *Those who profess to love God, but back abortion, are liars
    • *Though only a small remnant remains faithful, God will rebuild, working with them – don't miss out.
    • *To All American Bishops Who Did Not Make Every Effort To Save These Lives
    • *To be fully pro-life requires a mind like Christ’s
    • *To My Dear Mother – Always On My Mind
    • *To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards out of men
    • *To vote or not to vote
    • *Too Important for You to Ignore
    • *Traditional Roman Rite Mass
    • *Twelve Reasons Not to Prefer the Novus Ordo
    • *Tying Abortion to Millennium Development Goal #5
    • *Tying Abortion to Millennium Development Goal #5 UPDATES
    • *U.N. Abortion Will Harm, Not Help, Millennium Goals
    • *ULTIMATELY A LIFE IS A LIFE
    • *UN Declares Right to Abortion
    • *UN Petition for the Unborn Child – Your Name is Needed
    • *UN Secretary-General calls for universal access to reproductive health (UN code for abortion)
    • *Understanding the Deadly Sin of Anger
    • *Understanding the Deadly Sin of Envy
    • *Understanding the Deadly Sin of Greed
    • *Understanding the Deadly Sin of Lust
    • *Understanding the Deadly Sin of Pride
    • *Understanding the Deadly Sin of Sloth
    • *Understanding The Gabriel Project
    • *UNICEF Exposed (Again)
    • *United Nations Continues to Push a Radical Abortion Agenda
    • *Unnecessary Fear Vs. Neglected Fear
    • *Until Abortion is Abolished …
    • *Update to 'What is an American to do in the Presidential Election of Nov. 2016?'
    • *Update to ‘A Sign in the Sky?’: Pius XII Saw “Miracle of the Sun”
    • *USCCB corrects Biden on Church teachings on abortion
    • *Vaccinations: Are you justified to participate or refuse?
    • *Victims of the Abortion Industry and You
    • *View from the Top
    • *Volition
    • *Vote as a Catholic with a Catholic Moral Vision
    • *Warriors for the Victory of Life
    • *We are all impoverished by our failure to correct the sinner.
    • *We Are Catholic
    • *We are currently burying the last generation to be taught that Sunday Mass was an obligation to be met under pain of mortal sin.
    • *We can choose to be good or good for nothing!
    • *We decided to keep our baby
    • *We must be at least intensely spiritually minded as we are with worldly matters.
    • *We Must Not Retreat from Preaching The Gospel of Life
    • *We must proclaim the whole counsel of God
    • *We Must Speak Up for Human Embryonic Life!
    • *We’re responsible for our failure to protect unborn life
    • *Welcome to California Bishop Robert Vasa; We Need You!
    • *What a difference a pope makes!
    • *What a Pope, traditionally-speaking, does.
    • *What Abortion Really Is
    • *What Americans are bringing to Africa is “an abomination”: Obamabortion
    • *What And Whom Do You Fear?
    • *What are faithful Catholics to do under the current circumstances?
    • *What does it mean to be a Catholic?
    • *What does New Year’s Day mean to you?
    • *What does the Lord mean in using sheep as a sign for us?
    • *What Effect Will Pressure to Accept Same Sex Acts or “Marriage” Have on Church Teaching? None!
    • *What every priest needs to say to his congregation!
    • *What Happened to Our Pro-life Leaders?
    • *What Happened to Our Pro-life Leaders? – Part II
    • *What has caused the decline of our dioceses over the last 50 years?
    • *What is an American to do in the Presidential Election of Nov. 2016?
    • *What is happening now and will worsen over time
    • *What Is the Deepest Root of Sin? It’s Not in Your Wallet and It’s Much Closer Than You Might Think
    • *What Is the Gabriel Project?
    • *What kind of Catholic are you?
    • *What many Catholics my age have forgotten and younger never learned
    • *What the Catholic Church really teaches about population control
    • *What We Really Need is a Moral Bail Out
    • *What you’re not likely to hear about Medjugorje from the usual news souces
    • *When Helpers Turn into Destroyers
    • *When we live our life in God, we receive the Beatitudes.
    • *When You Are Absent From Mass You Are Blocking Your Blessing
    • *Where Do You Draw The Line?
    • *Who is the Jesus you worship?
    • *Why Blog?
    • *Why can’t we be more like the mega-churches with contemporary music and a rock-star-like pastor delivering sensitive, toned-down preaching with many promises and few demands?
    • *Why Catholic Churches Are Closing
    • *Why Obama should not receive awards, honors or platforms from universities with Catholic identities
    • *Why the Church Is In Decline
    • *Will Pope Francis’ visit to America bear holy fruit?
    • *Will the Church forget?
    • *Will you ever be able to truly say "I want for nothing more"?
    • *Withdraw your children from unorthodox Catholic parishes and schools
    • *Words I don’t expect to hear on Judgment Day
    • *YOU CAN BE AN ANGEL
    • *You might not have a church to go to if you don’t vote the right way.
    • *You Need a Savior!
    • *You say you’re pro-life and you’re going to vote for Obama or Clinton?
    • *Zeal is More Necessary Today than Ever – True Zeal, That Is, Not a Mere Human Imitation of It
    • *Zombie charities push population control
  • Recommended Links

    • *Anthology of Thoughts and Faith to Share
    • *Being Catholic
    • *Children Deserve Birth
    • *Coming Home – Dr. Gerard M. Nadal
    • *Making All Things New
    • *Serious Health Care and End of Life Decisions
    • *Sidewalk Counseling
    • *The Gabriel Project
  • Archives by Month

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