The Crescat Has Faith

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The keys to the Kingdom of Heaven

The keys to the Kingdom of Heaven

At Patheos the Crescat is one of many who responded to the Anchoress’s call when she asked people why they stay Catholic.

… The question of why we remain Catholic has been asked of the Patheos writers, in response to Pew Report stating our numbers are dwindling.

I’m not much for big word-y words, preferring to keep it straightforward.

I’m Catholic and plan to remain so until I die and my big fat Catholic soul flies off to Catholic Heaven – the part of Heaven where the alcohol and fireworks are kept in ample supply. The existence of Catholic Heaven has been well documented.

If I didn’t leave the Church amidst scandal or liturgical abuse it stands to reason that there’s not much that would make me go. Not even other Catholics.

On the other side of the coin, I don’t stay simply because I love my priests and think they are awesome guys. I don’t stay for the art, the architecture, the traditions, or even the awesome nuns.

You can’t base decisions like that on such superficial reasons.

As awesome as I think the Catholic Church is; with Her brains, beauty and generous nature, that is not why I choose to remain a Catholic. It’s not the beer nor the bacon.

I remain Catholic because the Church is Truth.

I’ve seen the Truth. I’ve experienced it firsthand. I’ve been baptized in the Truth. Confirmed in it. I’ve tasted and drank the Truth. I’ve Adored it and received graces and forgiveness from the Truth.

I have looked plainly and unflinchingly at the Truth and to leave the Church would be to turn my back on all that I know, believe, and have experienced.

To leave the Church is to embrace Hell.

Amen. The end.

This is a good answer.  It reminds me of St. Peter.  The Church has unity in itself.  The truth is complete.  It has a life of its own.  Partial truth is just false and morbid.

How long must we endure all this blather about being part in and part out of the Church, about an ‘ecumenism of blood’ in the name of Jesus, and how the Devil knows all Christians are one?  It doesn’t stand to reason.  It is killing souls.

Let the heretics pray Our Lord will have mercy above and beyond the truth He has revealed. Let them try to make sense out of confusion, and integrate sins using false faith.  If our own voice doesn’t ring clear how will they hear it and be saved?

Katrina Fernandez makes the sacrifices and pays the price to be united to the Church.  She’s no fool and sees the difference between black and white.  You have to take the long view and see the ends of things to understand.

 

 

 

 

Vatican Archbishop: Don’t Try Calling Your Climate Denial Catholic Anymore!

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Ready to do or say anything for the UN

Ready to do or say anything for the UN Church

Vatican Radio reports on the “Climate and Health” 68th World Health Assembly meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, where Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi c.s., gave an adress.

In his presentation the Claude Rains-ish archbishop discussed the respect and protection of nature, technology, and the role of various nations in health and environmental issues.

It is a great honour to address this distinguished panel and audience on a topic of such urgent importance, not only to the technical and scientific community but to all people now living on our planet and, most especially, to the future generations who will follow in our footsteps.

The moral imperative to respect and protect nature is not a new topic for faith traditions. The Jewish and Christian Scriptures are replete with such exhortations, and most of the major religious traditions offer similar commandments. Man is not the owner of creation but its steward.  In more recent times, the leadership of the Catholic Church has publicly and forcefully expressed concern about the damage to nature being caused by a privileged few, while the health and overall wellbeing of the vast majority of humans is being threatened through no fault of their own. Pope Benedict XVI, expressed such grave concern on this issue that he was popularly labelled as the “green Pope”. Pope Francis continued this tradition and has encouraged a more profound reflection on this global concern. I am sure you are well aware already of the ongoing preparation of a special teaching document on climate justice, about which  United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, said: “I very much look forward to the upcoming encyclical by Pope Francis. It will convey to the world that protecting our environment is an urgent moral imperative and a sacred duty for all people of faith and people of conscience. It is critically important that people and their leaders hear your strong moral voice in the coming months.”

So the ancient scriptures, all the popes including the most recent and credibly Catholic Pope Benedict, and that UN-Vatican farce conference all agree this is urgent, urgent.

These religious leaders and technical experts left no further room for denial under the mistaken guise of so-called religious belief when they declared that human-induced climate change is a scientific reality.  They acknowledged the “very vital role” played by religions through their affirmation of “the inherent dignity of every individual linked to the common good of all humanity” as well as “the beauty, wonder, and inherent goodness of the natural world.”  They proclaimed as “our moral duty to respect rather than ravage the garden that is our home.” They noted the particular vulnerability experienced by poor and excluded people who are menaced by “dire threats from climate disruptions, including the increased frequency of droughts, extreme storms, heat waves, and rising sea levels.”

Don’t dare call your climate-denying a ‘religious belief!’  There’s nothing Catholic about climate skepticism, right Archbishop?

So they had a conference with the UN and a bunch of ‘experts’ and now they know that poor and excluded people are menaced by dire threats?  How can anyone possibly believe this?  What a perfect atheist idea to start calling this bunk ‘faith’ then turning it ‘c’atholic.

 

 

 

 

 

Pope Francis: The Answer to Obama’s Prayers

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Pope Francis: The Answer to Obama's Prayers

Superhuman Political Force for the Poverty Panel

NBC News reports:

It’s being dubbed “the Francis effect” and it’s hitting Washington, DC.

From 4500 miles away Pope Francis is exerting his influence on everything from foreign policy to summits on poverty. Pope Francis got a big shout out on Tuesday from the leader of the free world as a great example of someone who understands what’s important.”Nobody has shown that better than Pope Francis, who I think has been transformative just through the sincerity and insistence that he’s had that this is vital to who we are,” President Barack Obama said during a panel discussion at Georgetown University.

“And that emphasis I think is why he’s had such incredible appeal, including to young people, all around the world.”

Why does the Francis adulation from Obama go on and on and on? Is the Pope more sincere?  Is he ‘transformative,’ whatever that liberalspeak means?  What does it say when something is ‘vital to who we are?’  Does Pope Francis really have an ‘incredible appeal’ especially including young people, or is it just non-stop well-funded hype?

I know one thing: it’s not filling up Churches, but we don’t need those any more anyway.  You can ‘kneel before the poor’ anywhere, can’t you?

Well, not in Georgetown.

The three day Catholic-Evangelical leadership summit at Georgetown is a direct response to the pope’s call to help the poor.

It’s been answered by an influential lineup of people on vastly different ends of the political spectrum. Speakers include ideological opposites from progressive Senator Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat and former conservative presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty to members of Opus Dei, a Roman Catholic lay organization, to Nuns On The Bus, a Catholic groups focused on social justice.

Democrats, dissidents, and a Romney Republican.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a pope have this kind of influence in the United States,” said E.J. Dionne, Washington Post columnist who moderated the poverty panel including President Obama.

…and the whole thing run by a left-wing Wapo pundit.  Does anybody ever help the poor by actually doing something for them?  I’ve never met a poor broke person who would be interested in moderators of ‘poverty panels.’

However, it’s too early to say whether Tuesday’s talk will lead to change.

“If they care about these problems, Americans can change the politics that would, over the next five to 10 years, make a huge difference. And I’m not talking about changing Republican-Democrat. I’m talking about making poverty and the opportunity to escape from poverty a higher issue on both parties’ agendas,” said Robert Putnam, the Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard.

I guess if both parties adopted your big government redistribution platforms it wouldn’t matter if they were Republican or Democrat, you’re right.

The report presents some silly charts showing how beloved and respected Pope Francis is.  Then it talks about how important Catholics in Congress supposedly are.  It all boils down to a sort of superhuman papal political force.

The president said he can’t wait to host the pope and if he can spur the least effective congress in history to action, it might just be a certifiable miracle.