The Greys of The Faith

The Greys

Why do we as Catholics possess this weird pseudo-philosophy, that I like to call the "Greys of Faith", where we skirt right up against the edge of what is permissible and prohibited. What I mean is how so many of us fight tooth and nail to find a way to do certain things that although aren't impermissible per se, but definitely aren't the most prudential thing we could choose to do.

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skating along the edges

For example, my most recent posting about New Agey Stuff (this isn't about Yoga here). There are some people that are going to fall on the sword of such things, purely to win their point. Why? Most likely because they enjoy doing these things, and believe that if they can win an argument about the propriety of something in and keep it in unity with Catholicism, then they have somehow saved their ability to continue that practice. This post isn't about just New Aged technique or Yoga, in fact you see this all over the place – it is even worse in doctrinal and theological realms. Name something that is 'newer' to the Faith or somewhat controversial and my theory applies. Labyrinths, Meditation, Cohabitation, NFP, 'Birth Control,' the Rubrics, attire, art, music, etc...

Fog of War or Deceit?

It reminds me of kids that try and skate their way through something in school. Whether it be cheating, laziness, or defiance they look for a way to purposefully not do what is required of them. You know what I am talking about, the kid that spends more time making up a lie, an excuse, or an easy way out instead of studying. The kid that if they put half the time into studying instead of their stupid plan would not only do fine on their task but actually learn it as well? We all do it, even as adults we do it at work. Instead of learning a procedure or protocol we learn a short-cut. We even do it in our personal lives, even in small ways. Think that pair of boots or shoes that we leave loosely tied so we can easily slip them on, but in reality it is hard to slip them on, and once on they are too loose for our comfort. It would be better overall to just tie and re-tie them every time.

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Why do we do this in our faith though? Do we think God won't notice? Are we that daft? 

I was once at a meeting where I told someone how I fast before Mass. I explained that I didn't eat prior to Mass on Sundays. A person became visibly and audibly upset at me, not because I was telling others that they should do the same, in fact I said that I personally chose to do so and didn't expect others to do likewise. Still, she was upset that I would personally do such a thing. She reprimanded me and said, "It is only an hour fast, why would you DO SUCH A THING!?" I really didn't know what to say, I didn't mention to brag and it was only brought up as an example to something someone else had said. I was so taken aback though by her displeasure with my practice I was left wordless – yet it was clear that she was upset that I would go beyond what the Church has asked us to do.

Judgmental?!?

So it isn't just about Yoga, it is about lots of things. I started realizing this was a problem within our faith, it seemed almost pathological. I thought for a long time that I might have been the one inducing it. Especially as I moved to a new area and found myself a little more traditional or orthodox than most. Maybe I was becoming "uber-Catholic-boy", the guy that runs around acting holier-than-thou making everyone feel bad because they aren't just like him. Maybe I am, that, but I wasn't the catalyst for this problem because I wasn't the only one inducing these actions.

Another example was when there were some liturgical abuses during Holy Thursday last year. I asked some folks who had lived here a while about them and whether it was a common practice. I thought I asked it rather politely and without any indictment of anyone in particular and yet there was such a defensive snap given as an answer that I obviously struck a nerve. Again, it could have been just me and the manner in which I asked the question but the answer revealed to me that it was more about the belief than the actor or question. To them, I was somehow attacking their beliefs. My question was not seen as inquisitive but judgmental – a most serious offense to someone in The Greys.

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living in the Greys

I finally have come to the conclusion that there are a lot of modernist Catholics that have grown up in what a friend of mine calls the "Am Church", that have spent their lives living in the "Greys" of the faith. That place sort of between doctrinal obedience and heterodoxy or heresy. Like in Doctor Who there is this theory that between dimensions there is a void that exists where nothing exists naturally - time, creatures, etc... just dont occur. It is sort of like that margin area in the middle of a book – it holds space, but nothing else really. You see, these Catholics exist there, the middle margin, the void – THE GREYS. It isn't really black and bad, they aren't going against the Church...really. But they surely aren't in the White, in other words they wouldn't be getting applause from the Pope for their beliefs and ideas.

The Fog of Sin or the Greys? Are they the same?

I always thought it was because they were lazy, ignorant, or undereducated. I knew for certain the root cause was sin. Just as some of the worst creatures are nothing more than the best of creatures, except in a deformed state, like how demons and the devil are the fallen angels. Except these people who live in The Greys aren't casting away good, in fact they cling to it by their fingernails. They ultimately want to be "in the light" except they want it on their own terms. As I said, I always thought it was that they were under-informed. Yet, I am more and more becoming of the belief that it is worse than that. I unfortunately believe that they really are so attached to their wants and desires that they will do anything to try and conform the rest of us to their way of thinking. It is as if might makes right for them. If only they can convince enough folks to their beliefs, they then will hold dominion over what are the teachings of the Church on some particular subject. As I said, to them fidelity is not important, but ultimate acceptance is.

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a protestant way of believing the faith

It really is a very protestant mentality really, and I don't use that in a pejorative sense. What I mean by it is that they want to change the Church through opposition and convincing. Take for example the teaching on contraception. There is a very adamant wing of folks that call themselves Catholic but don't believe that we as humans should abstain from using contraception in marriage. What that means to them, and to the bigger picture is that it shouldn't be (or isn't really) a sin. Now obviously the Church doesn't make something a sin simply by saying it is or it isnt... well, not exactly. There is that whole "what you bind on Earth, I will bind in Heaven" thing... but it isn't as if Church Teaching is some malleable thing like the legislative texts of a state. Things can't just be argued and lobbied for until they change.

So what we have is a bunch of people that want 95% of what the Faith offers but as long as they can conform the other 5% to their liking. To them, the Church is all reason, and no faith. God is an intellectual pursuit, and the faith is something to argue for in an intellectual way. To them the teachings of the Church are oppressive and legalistic, so they argue for flexibility, they are crafty. But is that what we really need, or want from our Faith? The Greys? The 90%? The "you're ok, I'm ok" kind of religion where "as long as we are all happy, and mostly on the same page we are good, cuz God is gonna' save us all anyways!" Of course it isn't... at least not what we want, but not those in the Greys.

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wanting it their way

The Greys want exactly that, a faith where things are very loose and open to interpretation. Moral absolutes, Canon Law, and even Mass Rubrics are much more fluid than firm. Restraint, law, rigidity, rubrics, requirements, absolutes, facts, truths, and other hard and fast things are not what exist in The Greys. In fact, nothing really exists in the Greys. The Greys is a sort of plyable matter, sort of like silly putty where you can bend it, shape it, mold it, bounce it, and bend it any way seen fit for a purpose.

So anyone that speaks boldly and in absolutes is an enemy. Anyone that professes that there can be, and should be, a right and wrong is cast out as a traitor. The Greys have no room for the whites, and they surely can't be associated with the blacks neither one accomplishes their goal and so they want nothing to do with them. The Bible, the Catechism, The Pope, and anything that is undeniable is only used in support of their points or to attack someone in the opposition. They are used as tools and not a road map. They become a means and not the ends. God is a person that grants them their desires, and isn't an ultimate goal. Heaven is a reward, and for some even an entitlement.

I have finally come to understand these folks are not the naive little lost wanderers of the faith. They aren't the misguided, the unfortunate, and the underprivileged. No, they know full well what they do. They sit and plot, they anger and fight, and they know full well their thoughts and actions. You see, those smiling adversaries that skate along the edges of the truth aren't misunderstood simpletons, they are plotting geniuses. They wait in the fog, the mist, they infiltrate everywhere they can under the cover of their fog. They want to change what we know to be true into what they want to believe. This isn't about a conflict of ideas, this is about systematic eradication of our beliefs for theirs.  If this were a purely intellectual pursuit, there would be discourse and a meeting of minds, there would be a common ground upon which we all started – but there isn't. This is about cafeteria selection of ideas, this is about intellectual dishonesty. This is about desires over truth. This is spiritual war for the truth of our Faith. Those Catholics in The Greys... they are the enemy within.

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Is this blog ILLEGAL?

Is this a felony?

Just days ago, a horrible tragedy occurred in Tucson, Arizona. Moments after the dust settled on the chaos of the parking lot where lives were lost and changed forever, the media started making up reasons why this horrible event occurred. Much of the rhetoric was blamed on – rhetoric. Nothing was fact, it was all conjecture, scores of writers, reporters, and pundits were formulating stories out of their own twisted ideas as to why a young man went on a shooting spree.

We have all read the accounts of what happened, we have heard the blame that has been tossed around, and by now we have all made up our minds as to why what happened occurred in the way that it did. So I won't waste your time giving you my thoughts on ideas on it, instead I want to talk about how it affects us as Catholics and those of you that read this blog and agree with me from time to time.

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One of the salient points that has come from all of this is that we need to bring back civility to our public discourse. There has been a call for all rhetoric of violence, war, and conflict to go the way of the dinosaur. Many in the media, the very ones who perpetuated things, have called for the talking heads to end the hate. There is a strain of thought amongst some that the reason the tragedy happened in Tucson is because the media, politics, and society has created such a hateful and violent discourse in this country that it drives folks to act out in the way that Jared Loughner did – through violence. I say that this is false, and that it is an attempt to shape the debate into the waiting hands of liberals and modernists to help give them leverage.

Now, just in the fact that I say this I will be accused of spreading more hate. But you see, it isn't that I hate these people. It is that I hate their ideas, and I do hate their ideas. You see, some would have a blog like mine 'outlawed.' In fact, the day after the Tuscon shooting their were Congressman and Elected Officials who were calling for legislation against any speech that could be considered violent against elected officials. There were other random media reports of folks that called for any violent speech to be squelched and considered dangerous. All of this in the moments and days after a horrible event that left hundreds of lives changed forever. All of this effort to ban something that had no cause to the horrible effect. Yet, where was the peace and where was the prayer?

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A kindler gentler battle

In the wake of all of this, people started calling for an end to speech that was violent, aggressive or even discussed conflict. Kind of damaging to a blog where "Battle" is in the title, so I was a little bit concerned. I started thinking of alternate titles right away: 

• Help preserve us, in the wake of alternate ideas.
• Keep us safe, as long as we dont offend anyone else.
• Make sure we are ok, and so is everyone else.
• God - help us all hold hands. 
• Protect us and others, from each others mean words.

None of them rang a bell in my head, so I have gone back to the drawing board on that one. [Combine this with the fact that someone would have to re-write the entire St. Michael prayer and I got a headache.] I realized this effort was futile for now, and that I would have to probably put it to a vote anyways, so I decided to wait for the legislation banning my blog, and its hateful speech, before I made any rash decisions. 

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This was serious though, there are those that think that my blog, and others like it, are violent and hateful. That our words somehow perpetuate violence and hate and do nothing to bring unity or glory to God. In Mass yesterday I heard the priest call for "Christian Unity", and rather than accuse, criticize, or condemn we should instead have patience, understanding and civility. Generally, I would agree with this, but the context in which it was explained made it understood that conflict, criticism, and opposition are almost always wrong. There are those out there that think a blog like this, or any speech for that matter, that calls out the problems in our society, is somehow bad because it is so negative. 

But isn't it Jesus that said that violence exists, and that violent men are the ones that seek Heaven? In fact it was, and it is the bible verse that guides this blog:

From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force. Matthew 11:12

The worst part is that in wanting to remove such rhetoric, as they call it, from society you ending instilling fear and submission. If we think that the cause of violence is violent speech and we offer the solution of squelching all such speech we leave ourselves vulnerable. The vulnerability comes in because we are in constant fear that we are somehow the catalyst of hate, and none of us want to be hateful. Therefore we end up supplanting so called violence with a very real fear. This fear is what those modernists, pacifists, and liberals want; they want to be able to invoke the hate card anytime someone brings to the discourse an aggressive idea against their own. For instance, many who buy into this stop the hate and violence mentality would be playing that card on me right now. And what does it do? It inoculates anything that I have said, it discredits me as a hater and attempts to nullify me and my words as worthy of consideration.

Now this is a very powerful weapon oh wait, I forgot I can't use violent language; it is a very powerful tool. It is the equivalent of using the "Race Card" because the second it is played any attempt to discuss it enters you into a discussion where "explaining is losing." This means there is very little someone can do once they are accused of being violent, hateful, or critical. Their point isn't to be kinder and gentler, in fact it is the opposite – they want to oppress and subjugate. I know this may seem harsh, but it is very true, this isn't about everyone getting along it is about them being right and you being wrong, or in this case this blog, a reporter, a politician, or a priest being hateful and critical.

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The flaming sword isn't for looks

As Catholics this is important to understand this for two reasons. First, because we are often engaging ourselves in social discourse, and we therefore are often found fighting for the principles and teachings of the Church. Therefore we need to understand that there will be an attempt to marginalize our ideas through this method. We will be called hateful, disrespectful, and other names in an attempt to inoculate our Faith. The World hates our Faith and the God that gives us life. So they will do anything to minimize our ideas and desecrate our standing in the world. Be careful, and defend yourselves against this.

The second reason, is because of the internal attacks we will face from such a philosophy. These attacks won't just come from atheists who want to see Christianity crushed under their "open-minded" idealism. The attacks will also come from those inside the Church. There are those that don't want conflict or violence 'rhetoric' because it is contrary to their entire philosophical base, and is a danger to their success. You see, the progressive modernists survive on a 'Love will save us all' mindset. But it isn't love of Truth that they want, they want a love of blind acceptance to reign. Their contrarian beliefs can only be validated through acceptance, because it can not be validated as truth. So as long as there are those of us willing to defend the Faith, to battle against relativism, and to fight for truth; well then blogs like this won't become illegal. So we must not back down, we must continue to fight for the Truth, we must pray and trust in God and we must prepare for battle. We are called to put on the armor of God, to be violent, heaven seeking men, and we are called to be Spiritual Warriors.

Evil exists folks, it exists in the worst of places and its only focus is on the destruction of souls. It will attempt to accomplish this by any means necessary so we must pray that God, all the Angels and Saints - defend us in battle.

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Men with their Women - Reclaiming your marriage rite

There are a lot of stereo types about men and women out there, I think we can all agree on this. The main theme on this blog is the Defense of our Faith, and thereby our families and country, against the forces of the Devil, evil, and of course his main weapon: RELATIVISM. These two intersect when relativism or evil creates some sort of chasm between the interaction between the sexes. These chasms become interwoven into our culture and into the dynamic which is the everyday interaction of men and women, especially those courting one another.
I met my wife a long time ago. We didn't marry for a long time, which is another story for another time, but one of the the things we have always fought against, and one of the things "of this world" which we have always struck out against are the "new age" stereo types that exist in the sexes. Don't get me wrong I think that gender roles EXIST, are a good thing, and are often innate in us. Yet, stereotypes are sort of anti-roles that have emerged through cultural and societal conditioning. [This is especially true since the late 60's and early-70's.] It has hurt both sexes, but I think it has hurt men the most. I have talked about this before, the immasculation of men, the portrayal of men in tv as bumbling idiots, and the way that our culture has formed the image of the man into an un-chivalrous buffoon.
One of the ways this has happened is the idea that men love and should love activities which get them away from women. [Don't read this incorrectly. I am not arguing that men SHOULDN'T have their own hobbies and have times, places and things where they join other men in friendship and camaraderie.] We have terms like "deer hunting widows" and "man caves." These terms have been created to explain situations and places where men and women separate from each other for "alone" time. Interestingly, there aren't "fad-tastic" words for spending time together.
Now, this isn't my way of bragging about my wife or my marriage for that matter. Instead I am going to use my marriage and examples from my life to show ways that these stereotypes and situations can be broken and battled against.
When I proposed to my wife she had never fired a gun, gone hunting, ridden a snowmachine, or gone ice fishing. In the last 10 months she has done all of the above. Now I am not saying that these things are intrinsically important to a marriage, but they are examples of how a guy can find ways to not only do things in which he enjoys, but find opportunities to spend time with his wife and broaden their relationship. This is what I have found with my wife. Sure, there are times in which I do these things alone, or with other guys absent my wife. In fact, those are necessary and important times for both of us in a marriage. But just as these activities don't carry anything intrinsic within them that adds to a marriage, they also don't inversely have anything intrinsically beneficial within them that add to a man when they are done purposefully without his wife. In short, the activities carry their intrinsic qualities regardless of the fact with whom they are shared.
So guys, every once and while ask the wife along hunting, fishing, or whatever it is you do. Don't expect her to like it, don't expect her to "Get it," be "good" at it, or even go more than once. Do let her experience it though. Let he see what it is you do, so that she has SOME context. This will prove dividends when you DO "go it alone." Heck, who knows... maybe she WILL love it and the next thing you know she will want to spend your next tax return on matching shotguns instead of a new patio set. I don't think any marriages are in danger of having to many mutual activities. I do think there are marriages in danger of having too many solo ones though. God wants us to have time together, and time apart. He doesn't want us to live separate lives though. Therefore, we must include our spouses in the things we love if for no other reason than to allow them to share in the things that make us happy.
As an example I am including some pictures of what my wife and I did today. We went ice-fishin in Alaska. That meant getting all bundled up, taking some snow machines out on a lake, and standing in the cold for a few hours. I know this won't be every ladies' cup of tea, but to prevent some excuses my wife is 37+ weeks pregnant and said, "Who WOULDN'T want to do this or try this?" [Note: We were safe in everything that we did. We understand the precautions and health implications of everything surrounding pregnancy and nothing we did was contrary to her health, the baby's health, or any doctors advisory.]

My take on the Taunton Craziness

By now most of you have heard about the 8-year-old Taunton, Mass. boy that was suspended, forced to undergo a psych eval, and subsequently transfered schools all because he drew a picture of Jesus on The Cross. If you haven't you can check if out here: Catholic.org - "Taunton 8-yo Suspended"

Most blogs have covered this quite well. I have a different take, at least different than I have seen so far.

What bothers me most is that the boy ended up taking the Psych eval. Someone didn't step in beforehand and say, "Wow, we are sorry someone CLEARLY overreacted." If you read a lot of the news accounts of this story, there is a blurb at the end about this same school going through an incident a few years back where a young student drew a picture of a stick figure shooting their teacher and classmates. [This bothers me as well - but I won't get into this part of the story.]

So anyways, we have this student who then is forced to take a psych eval. to ensure that he is "safe" to come back to school. Most people read this and say, how horrible, how invasive, how wrong, and they are all right. What most fail to realize is that having a psych eval., especially a mandatory or ordered eval., is forever on your record. This *could* later affect this boys military, law enforcement, college, or other applications. Now I know this is a stretch, but for something completely out of his control it is very unfair! I am sure he could eventually explain it away, but it is similar to having a misdemeanor on his record that he got charged for and convicted of erroneously. You can't un-ring this bell.

This is just one small feature of how horrible this story is. Again, this is just *another* reason why it is so horrible, not the only or main reason. It is sad that our society has come to this point. It is probably a good thing they didn't ask the kids to draw a picture of their hero... could you imagine if someone drew Saint Sebastian, Saint Joan, John the Baptist, or some other martyr? Heck, that school would *still* be on lockdown!

Alice, Wonderland, and The Reform of the Reform..

There is a mini-series which started on the Syfy channel tonight called: ALICE. It is a re-imagine of Lewis Carroll's classic with a syfy - modern - totalitarian twist. I am only about 40 minutes in but so far I like it. It is pretty "family" friendly so far [I would label it 16+]. It is a sort of Alice meets 1984 sprinkled with the Matrix.

One line that instantly caught my attention was the King of Hearts of the totalitarian-esque wonderland who says:

If our people don't feel what they want to feel when they want to feel it - well the whole system breaks down!! Instant gratification, it's a very complex business.

If that isn't a summation of our society I don't know what is. At some point we become dependent on instant-gratification. Once we have it... and then start to lose it, we begin to rebel. But where does that rebellion take us?

Think about the Church as we see it today. We have lived in a sort of WONDERLAND since the 1970's. We felt and worshipped how we wanted, when we wanted it. Then, as Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict have begun to remove that instant-gratification we have rebelled. But against what? And where do we hope to get? What is our ultimate end?

Likewise, what about our culture? When we no longer can feel what we want to feel... what will we rebel against? And what will we hope to "win"? Has right and wrong been destroyed only to leave fun and boring as our "moral poles"?

The show seems REALLY good, at least on an allegorical level... and I look forward to doing a full post about it after I watch the full thing and take some notes. And survive doing so w/o my wife killing me. So until then....

Fall into the Gap... of Relativism?

Remember those cute Christmas commercials from a few years ago that Gap put out around Christmas. The melodic jingle and the "...fall into the GAP."

Well they have left those simple roots and have now become a place that I wouldn't shop at even if I could... Why you ask?

Well... I was reading one of my favorite blogs: The Curt Jester and found this GEM [<---sarcasm]:



Really? "86 the rules?" They want our money, but they also want everyone to feel included so they can get their money too? I mean don't get me wrong... they are just trying to make money and market. I won't cry foul SIMPLY because they want to get as much money as possible... I just won't let them distort Christmas. So I won't shop there.

See some other takes on this:
Acts of the Apostasy: Merry Tossmas!
Beliefnet: Is the GAP ad anti-Catholic?

Downs Syndrome & Abortion: Abp. Chaput Speaks Up!

Two separate blog posts popped up in my reader today, and I find it no coincidence, especially on All Souls Day.

The first was on Fr. Tim Finigan's Blog: "The Hermeneutic of Continuity" It was entitled: Chaput Speaks Up for children with Downs Syndrome which is published in "First Things"

Then the Creative Minority Report published a similar article. Theirs was entitled "We Are Not a Pro-Life Nation"

Both articles detailed similar statistical reports which described the horrifyingly high rates at which parents abort children whom are tested in-utero and are allegedly diagnosed with Downs Syndrome. (I say allegedly because of all the "false positives" which are reported.)
As Abp. Chaput said in his article:

"Every child with Down syndrome, every adult with special needs—in fact, every unwanted unborn child, every person who is poor, weak, abandoned, or homeless—is an icon of God’s face and a vessel of his love. How we treat these persons—whether we revere them and welcome them or throw them away in distaste—shows what wereally believe about human dignity, both as individuals and as a nation."

I think this a sentiment shared by all those that embrace the Culture of Life! It clearly is not the mentality of those that view abortion as a "choice" or "option." Matthew Archbold echoes this idea on the CMR post when he says:

"I think sometimes when it comes to abortion I become very focused on changing the laws. But I think we have a lot of hearts to change in this country or changing the laws won't really matter all that much."

 The hardest part is that the debate has been pulled from its philosophical "black and white" roots. At one point the argument revolved around "when life begins" and the "rightness" and "wrongness" of taking life at certain stages. Yet, just like most arguments we have let the Culture of Death steal from us the truths which are intrinsic in Natural Law. The world no longer speaks in absolutes or truths, but instead in idioms and axioms. So instead of talking about life, death, innocence, and individuals, we now use terms like quality, normality, and personal ethics. Without going on too much here, the Person is no longer the human person but some conscience carbon "robot" where the soul belongs to itself, rather than its owner, God.

This is another example of where we as Catholics and as humans, must demand that Natural Law be respected and upheld. We must demand that higher principles be adhered to, rather than the feelings of preference and comfort. The Culture of Death argues that if we were to "outlaw" abortion it would lead to unintended consequences. They are speaking in axiom here, based on a philosophy which they created out of their own "preference ethics." Therefore we must take back the Natural Law, and take back the essence of humanity. We must demand that "selective" abortions no longer be acceptable, and the only way to do so is to make all abortions the aberration that they truly are. We must demand the recognition of absolute truths, of moral truth, of HUMAN TRUTH!