Praying and Running

Hitler was an evil man and you know that from the fruit of his work, the mass annihilation of ethnic groups. He was pure evil. He killed people simply for their Israelite heritage. That being the case, it's only natural in the modern American political landscape that from time to time you see various politicians likened to Hitler by their detractors. After his comments on general immigration and specifically Muslim immigrants and visitors, Donald Trump is the latest target of the "Hitler Attack"and his supporters are likened to Hitler's supporters. Don't get me wrong, I'm no Trump supporter. I think the guy is a joke and frankly, I wish he would sit down and shut up. However, to compare him to Hitler; that's wrong. It is as wrong to the Jewish people, the cripples, the infirm, and the rest of the "useless" people who suffered under the Nazi regime as it is to Trump himself. If you really feel the need to compare someone or something in Am...

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding Indiana’s RFRA that passed last week. The main subject of controversy is being beat to death and I think most people have made up their minds so I won't try to convince you one way or the other except to say that for myself after reading the bill’s synopsis and listening to the people who have actually read the bill it doesn't sound like it legalizes discrimination. Instead it attempts to protect small business owners from being forced into participating in something they find objectionable on the grounds of their faith. That being said, I’m not a lawyer or politician and I won’t speak from the perspective of an expert. I’ll say this, I don’t believe that there are more than a small handful of people in the entire state, let alone the elected government, that would actually like to see discrimination legalized so I don’t believe that there is a statehouse full of these evil little people who would advocate treating anyone in ...

Are we really watching this fight? The fight between an inalienable right granted to us by our Creator and the new "right to health insurance" granted to us by our government. Worse still, it is only being called a "right to health insurance". That is not even what this fight is about. Instead, there is a certain political faction that is trying to trick us into thinking that birth control is health care. Not only that but, they are trying to make us believe that health care is incomplete without artificial birth control and abortion inducing drugs. What this fight actually comes down to is a fight between the inalienable right of free expression of religion and the right to methods and drugs that have existed for only about 50 or 60 years. It is a fight between a right that is truly ours as part of our very nature and a  "right" to demand that someone else pay for our lifestyle choices. Because anyway you cut it birth control is a lifestyle ...

I read Humanae Vitae this weekend. If you are unfamiliar with this document it is a papal encyclical written by Pope Paul VI in 1968. The document addresses the problem of artificial birth control in the context of modern society and applies the Church's Traditional teaching on the matter. When it comes to current events involving birth control and the teachings of the Catholic Church you don't have to look far to find people saying things like "it's none of their business", "why doesn't the Church move in to the 21st century", "what does an old celibate guy know about sex anyway", "the Church just wants to tell women what they can do with their bodies" etc, etc ad nauseum. Sadly, it is not only people who are outside of the Church saying this but Catholics themselves often express like sentiments. I think the most common objections to the Churches teaching are answered in Section 17 "Consequences of Artificial Methods...

We are coming to a close on the year of the catechism that I have posted about a few times. It has been very enlightening and coming on the heels of the year of the Bible I have learned more about our faith than I even dared to imagine and gained a ton of perspective through these exercises. One thing that I have found that is evident through reading the entire Bible and the Catechism (what amounts to the catholic guide to the faith) is that there is no foundation for some of the political stereotypes that have evolved in the church. To the contrary, the authentic teachings of the Church transcend the American political landscape. You know what I am talking about. We have Catholics that are conservative and we have Catholics that are liberal. There are others, I am sure but these are the ones I see the most and it seems that the people who fall into these stereotypes allow their American political views to shape their faith. It seems to ...