Real Catholic Blog

Remember the game show To Tell The Truth? A panel of celebrity judges had to determine, by asking each certain questions, which of three contestants was the real person and which two were the impostors. When they made their determinations, they explained which answers tipped them to pick one over the other two. After that, the host would ask for the “real” person to step forward and, after several fits and starts among the three, the real person would step forward.

Thursday night, the leaders of the three major parties in Great Britain held the second of an unprecedented series of debates in advance of the country’s parliamentary elections. The prime minister is not elected directly by the people — the P.M. is the party leader of the party that captures a majority of seats in the House of Commons — so these debates are causing quite a buzz not only within the UK but internationally as well because they are, in effect, nationalizing the election around these individual men. It’s also caused a stir because the leader of the long-time third party, the Liberal Democrats (acknowledged to be further to the left than even the Labour Party), was acknowledged to have won the debate. Coupled with the quickly falling poll numbers of the front-running, and main opposition, Conservative Party, incumbent Labour is back in the hunt in a nearly three way tie.

Background as prologue done, please see the video below from the debate last Thursday. The replies are in response to a question from a voter who supports homosexual unions, abortion, and condom distribution, who wants Pope Benedict’s fall visit to Great Britain cancelled. (It is expected he will beatify 19th century English Cardinal John Henry Newman during the visit.) Then, try to identify the “Conservative Party” candidate. It’s well nigh impossible.

To Tell The Truth: Will the real conservative, if there really is one, please stand up?

If the Conservative Party is on the same plank as the two leftist parties, is there hope in the UK? No wonder it’s an island of moral irrelevence where the dictatorship of relativism rules. (Who needs an election, then?)

If you think this is amazingly sad, I wish I could find a video with the complete discussion — there was a follow up in which all three lauded Britain’s homosexual union law with the “Conservative Party” candidate even saying, “the Pope needs to get with the times,” which prototypically misunderstands the point. A man, The Pope, does not make Church doctrine. No man can. The Pope defends Church teaching which is the teaching of our Creator, our Heavenly God.

One of the three, as you heard, even said he was “not a man of faith,” which may make him the first such Western leader. All three gladly said they were in agreement on disagreeing with the Pope. 

But I guess we should be thankful that they at least will welcome His Holiness to their country. Or will he even attend now? Because, as the Brits like to say, there is a twist to the tale.

Apart from the debate, but at about the same time, a memo by a government official about the historic first-ever Papal visit to Britain became public. In it, he wrote such vile as that the Pope might, during the visit, launch Papal-branded condoms, bless homosexual marriages and open an abortion ward (see American Catholic blog).

If this insult was made about a Muslim leader, the official would have been fired immediately. Instead, this man is allowed to stay in Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government. Or, as Gerald Warner of the Daily Telegraph wrote:

Wear a cross to work and you are sacked; insult the Pope and you are “transferred to other duties.”

The Vatican, however, showing the humility of Christ, stated the visit is still on, despite forceful letters of protest by Scottish and English Catholic bishops (The Scotsman). No doubt, this will put whoever wins the election and has the great honor of receiving Pope Benedict, in a more humble position in lieu of their adamantly arrogant ”disagreements with the Pope.” Maybe they will learn a lesson in humility from him. 

To Tell The Truth identities. Oh yeah, in case you are wondering: The man on the left, the first to answer the question, is David Cameron, the Conservative Party leader; the man who admits he is of no faith is Nick Clegg, of the third party Liberal Democrats; and the third candidate is incumbent Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the Labour Party. 

In November, I wrote about an exciting new film produced by Newt and Callista Gingrich about John Paul II. Yes, that Newt Gingrich, who converted to Catholicism within the last couple of years (as written about here with video), with the earthly influence of his wife, Callista, and the late Holy Father himself; as well, of course, from the Divine guidance of the Holy Spirit. 

Originally, the movie, Nine Days That Changed The World, a DVD documentary which chronicles the Pontiff’s 1979 visit to his native Poland — a pilgrimage that drew a third of Poland’s population to see him and peacefully, but forcefully, jackhammered the first cracks into the grip of Soviet enslavement of Eastern Europe — was supposed to have been released late last year. It wasn’t, but in a bittersweet irony it was released a couple of weeks ago, around the time of the plane crash that killed the Polish president, first lady and several high ranking government officials.

Nine Days That Changed The World looks extraordinary. That’s easy, of course, because John Paul The Great is and an extraordinary subject. The movie features priceless archival film and photos and interviews with John Paul biographer George Weigel and Solidarity leader and former Polish President Lech Walesa. It will bring back to life a period not long ago but neglected and taken for granted already, one which, as with all John Paul did, brings to life timeless lessons. It was a history altering event, an impact  unforeseen and unexpected by almost everyone at the time, but one which to this day shows the Heavenly power of the Holy Spirit.  

Here’s more about the film from Gingrich Productions:

Pope John Paul II’s historic nine-day pilgrimage to Poland in June of 1979 created a revolution of conscience that transformed Poland and fundamentally reshaped the spiritual and political landscape of the 20th Century. … explore what transpired during these nine days that moved the Polish people to renew their hearts, reclaim their courage, and free themselves from the shackles of Communism.

Nine Days That Changed The World and showed the unequal power of the Holy Spirit in the realm of man.

Last week I wrote about the inventive way CatholicVote.org is turning the secularist high holy feast of Earth Day on its head by promoting God’s greatest creation: Human Life! Today, it released a complementary video on people’s reactions to its provocative bus boards in major markets (click to learn more or get involved). It also announced it is expanding the campaign to Los Angeles! Here’s the video. Let us know what you think.

Another slant on Earth Day: Celebrating God’s greatest creation! The people get it!

A lecture entitled “Science and The Shroud” will take place at The Shroud of Turin Center at Mary Mother of the Church Benedictine Abbey, this Saturday at 10:00 a.m., in Goochland County in suburban Richmond, Va. (12829 River Road). If you are in the central Virginia area this weekend or want to make a special trip, please do so. Interest in The Shroud is very high again, as we’ve written about, due in part to the Easter Season, the History Channel special and the fact that later this year, The Shroud will go on a rare public display. Pilgrimages are being arranged and thousands are expected to attend the exhibit in Italy.

But for those who can’t make a European vacation, this may be a good option. The event is free. For more information, call 804.784.3366.

Normally, a headline like that would signal a sarcastic post, instigated from some wacky, ill-thought, usually liberal fad or, worse, actual policy. But . . . not this time. As they used to say (and probably still do, somewhere): Now that I’ve got your attention!

In this case, it’s CatholicVote.org turning the liberal paganism of Earth worship around on its illogical head to make some actual sense of the Earth Day, whose advocates are vigorous population control freaks. It is buying up billboard and bus signage space around the country to promulgate the pro-life message by using the secular line of thinking. Pretty brilliant to use their words to promote the most precious aspect of God’s creation on Earth:

Human Life!

It is more than disturbing that “environmentalists” choose to protect and prioritize anything living except the unborn. You cannot celebrate the Earth and not celebrate the Creator — and that which He created in His Likeness. As CatholicVote’s Brian Burch said in a statement: 

Our goal is to use Earth Day to get Americans to think more deeply about what it means to truly respect the Earth and creation. Prevailing environmental attitudes too often view humans as the enemy of nature. We believe the human person is God’s greatest creation, and the Earth’s greatest resource. Building up a culture of life is the single most important way to build a culture that respects the environment.

If we truly care about building a world that respects the environment, we must begin by building a moral culture — one that understands pollution not just in materialistic terms, but in spiritual terms too. In fact, moral pollution does more to harm the environment than inefficient cars or greenhouse gases.

If we are wasteful and reckless with the environment, maybe it is because we are wasteful and reckless with each other — including the unborn.

Here’s what Pope Benedict wrote in a recent encyclical:

If there is a lack of respect for the right to life and to a natural death, if human conception, gestation and birth are made artificial, if human embryos are sacrificed to research, the conscience of society ends up losing the concept of human ecology and, along with it, that of environmental ecology.

It is contradictory to insist that future generations respect the natural environment when our educational systems and laws do not help them to respect themselves.

CatholicVote.org has bought space for these ads in Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle for starters. You can read more the Earth Day Pro-Life campaign from Joshua Mercer at the CatholicVoteAction blog, here. 

According To CatholicVote’s Burch: “Let’s remember: Transforming pagan feasts into Christian celebrations is what our faith has been doing for 2,000 years.”

It’s no secret I’ve become a big Michael Voris fan. It’s hard not to be. He’s bold, he’s aggressive and he’s right. He’s not afraid to confront the evils facing The Church within and beyond its walls. If he seems to focus on the former it’s because it’s the greater threat, as it is with any force trying to bring down an institution.

This week, the founder of RealCatholicTV.com started a series on progressives within The Church and goes into detail about their history, their aims and their motivation. They’ve already brought certain Christian denominations into irrelevancy, thus the schism we’ve seen in the Episcopal Church and the flight of many to the Evangelical movement. Now they want the Catholic Church to turn into nothing more than a social or community club that mires itself in moral equivalency.

For another lane on the same road, read George Neumayr’s piece in the latest issue of The American Spectator. It reveals the media and the political left’s assault on The Church and the Pope. 

Please watch the first two parts of the series. Think about what he says. Then, let me know what you think.

In the begining . . . . Progressives were innocuous.

Now, they have infested themselves in The Church for the purpose of ending it as we know it.

In the Maronite Catholic Tradition, in Lebanon, there is no “Happy Easter.” Instead, during the Easter Season the greeting is translated, literally, as:

Christ is risen!

Imagine greeting your loved ones, friends and others with that! Do you think it might have an impact? How do you think they would take it? While nothing is wrong with “Happy Easter!” saying, “Christ is risen!” certainly frames it concisely and accurately, and with no possibility of misinterpretation (i.e., no commercial or secular connotation). Most important, it directly conveys not only what happened 2,000 years ago, but the true hope that is Easter — The Resurection brings us the promise of eternal salvation.

Now let the heavens be joyful,

Let earth her song begin:

Let the round world keep triumph,

And all that is therein;

Invisible and visible,

Their notes let all things blend,

For Christ the Lord is risen

Our joy that hath no end.

- Saint John of Damascus

In a rush again today, but a very seasonally appropriate message from RealCatholicTV.com. Just as many turned Jesus over to death in favor of Caesar’s rule, many today forget that the Kingdom to Come is what counts, not today’s earthly world.

Parallels to today: Jesus betrayed and handed over to the state. Do we worship the state in this age?

If you missed the debut earlier this week of the absolutely spectacular History Channel documentary The Real Face of Jesus? — I watched it and highly recommend it — this part history of the Passion, part history of the Shroud of Turin and part hi-tech CSI airs tonight at 8:00 Eastern and at midnight, as well as at 5:00 p.m. Easter Sunday and at 5:00 p.m. a week from today. It may have additional showings in the next two weeks.

According to media reports (see Boston Herald), millions watched. It is absolutely stunning and I hope to share my impressions next week (I don’t want to ruin it for anyone).

But I will say this: since I saw the film, I now have a dynamic perspective when I read and hear the Gospel in church now, as I did at Mass Spy Wednesday and Holy Thursday, and at Good Friday service. I now visualize the man whose words are being read! If that doesn’t have an impact on you and your faith . . . . It just does. At least for me.

Another thought: Why is Jesus’ face the most sought after of pre-camera historical figures? No one clamors for Julius Caesar’s face, nor Alexander the Great, Aristotle, Henry VIII, Charlemagne, Confucius, Thomas Jefferson or George Washington. But the drive to discover Jesus physically certainly implies a yearning for a deeper understanding and commitment to faith.

From Brother John, myself and the whole Real Catholic team, thank you for your support of our blog and the online store. We wish you a Holy and Blessed Easter.