Seeking a missionary opportunity in Haiti

I've been heart-wrenched at the images of Haiti that I've seen on TV.  I'm feeling a tug to go on a trip to Haiti to help with the disaster relief.  I'm currently discerning this in prayer.  

In the meantime, I would be grateful if anybody would let me know of any Canadian Christian groups that may be organizing a missionary trip to Haiti to help with the relief.  I don't want to go on my own.  I wouldn't know where to go or how to make myself useful.  That's why I'd like to go with a group that has a plan and has done this sort of thing before.  This would be a first for me. 



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Will we eventually see AbortionGate?

Many researchers have found that women who have abortions have a significantly higher risk of developing breast cancer.  In fact, the majority of research on this topic reaches the same conclusion.  Only a minority of studies have found no link.  However, as pointed out by Lorne Hunter in this excellent article, the politically correct "consensus" on this issue appears to be that no link exists.

I wonder what would be found if somebody hacked the servers of the major researchers who claim that such a link doesn't exist...

Yet, I think that pro-lifers sometimes get too excited about this issue.  The abortion-breast-cancer link (or ABC link) is not the reason why we oppose

Killing me softly with his blog?

I read the results of a new study suggesting that watching TV is bad for your health.  And it's not because it correlates with less exercise and poor health.  Read this excerpt:

Researchers tracked the TV-viewing habits of 8,800 adults and followed them for six years. They found those who spent four hours daily in front of the tube had an 80 percent greater risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than those who watched the box for less than two hours. The association was independent of risks such as smoking, obesity and unhealthy diet.

Prolonged inactivity, which can raise blood-sugar and cholesterol levels, is to blame for the health effects, not the appliance itself, said David Dunstan, a study author and researcher at Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute in Melbourne.(Source)

(...)

“Too much sitting is bad for health,” said Dunstan, a professor of health sciences. “Avoid sitting for prolonged periods and keep in mind to move more, more often.”

So sitting for extended periods is bad for your blood-sugar and cholesterol.  Go figure.  Sitting in front of a computer isn't very different from sitting in front of a TV, is it?  So is blogging bad for your health?  Should I sue my boss for making me work at a desk all day?  At home, maybe I should raise my desk and blog while standing up?  Better yet, let me setup a treadmill or a stationary bike in front of my PC...

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So much work to be done in educating the faithful

Here's an excellent article from CatholiCity regarding the dire state of Catholics' knowledge of their faith.  One particular area of weakness is their knowledge of the Word of God.  According to this article, 93% of adult Catholics in the U.S. own a Bible, but about 3% read the Bible each day only 7% read it at all each week.  This paragraph would be funny if is wasn't tragic:

Recent studies have shown that sixty percent of American Christians believe that Jesus was born in Jerusalem, not Bethlehem. Only forty percent of Christian Americans can name any five of the ten commandments. Half of high school seniors think that that Sodom and Gomorrah were married. Less than half can identify Genesis as the first book of the Bible. Only a third of Americans know who gave the Sermon on the Mount, and more people believe that the Reverend Billy Graham delivered it than Jesus. Twelve percent think that Noah's wife is Joan of Arc. The examples abound.

There's so much work to be done in helping Catholics learn about the Faith.  But there's a key problem:  you can't teach someone if they're not listening.  How can we get Catholics to make the effort of educating themselves when we can't even get their attention for five minutes?

Great humour on "dentists" from an old Bill Cosby monologue

This video cracks me up! Good clean humour. 

Ontario Catholic schools could be forced to push homosexual agenda

In April 2009, the Ontario government launched an Equity and Inclusive Education Strategy that might force all school boards in the province, including the Catholic ones, to fight "homophobia" and ensure the absence of discrimination based on "sexual orientation".  The policy is to be fully implemented for the start of the next school year in September 2010.  Read about it here and here.  

I can't say that I'm surprised given the McGuinty government has pushed many policies that contradict the Church's teaching on family values.  It's still too early to tell exactly where this is going, but we've certainly seen this game before.  The incremental approach is all too familiar. If this strategy is implemented in its current form, it will likely force Catholic schools to teach that homosexuality is a legitimate lifestyle choice, allow students to hold a "Pride Week" and create homosexual student clubs, not to mention the open acceptance of teachers living an active homosexual lifestyle. 

Nobody in the Catholic Church endorses authentic discrimination against homosexuals.  Like every other human being, homosexuals deserve complete respect and love.  Bigotry, insults and violence against homosexuals are completely out of the question. But as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith so eloquently pointed out, "Sexual orientation' does not constitute a quality comparable to race, ethnic background, etc. in respect to non-discrimination. Unlike these, homosexual orientation is an objective disorder and evokes moral concern.” 

I believe that there is still time for Ontarians to fight this proposal between now and September.  Let us pray that clergy and laity will join forces to oppose any intrusion that would force Ontario Catholic schools to act in contradiction to our values.  Contact your MPP to voice your views.  Otherwise, the little bit of Catholicism that is still left in our diluted schools will be lost.


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Two Men Arrested in Probe of New York Terror Plot

Read about the latest Islamic terrorist plot.  As you can see, airplanes are not the only places where security needs to pay attention.

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Naming the evil of terrorism

This video is so politically incorrect, yet so accurate on most levels.

Disclaimer to protect myself from Human Rights Commissions (normal people need not read this paragraph):  I hereby solemnly declare that I do not harbour any hatred or anger towards any religion or religious group, especially not Islam or Muslims.  I do not advocate any form of violence, hatred or discrimination against Muslims.  I am simply concerned by the statements made by Muslims themselves to the effect that they support terrorist acts.  I am therefore exploring the implications of their position on the public good of Canadians and the world.

The Global Warming Inquisition

A few insightful article from The Catholic Thing regarding the oppression that honest scientists are facing at the hands of the manipulators who are perpetrating the great fraud of man-made global warming.  Here are a couple of juicy excerpts:

Probably more scientists have been adversely affected – estopped altogether from a given line of research, guided, shaped, propelled, decelerated, forced into nonpublication, secrecy, turned down for funds or promotion, and barred from access to laboratory space or archives – because of defiance of conventional wisdom in America since World War II . . . than existed in the whole of the world in Galileo's day.

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Fr. James Schall and historian Paul Johnson have observed how some strains of environmentalism have religious features: a fall of man, a catalogue of sins, a call to repentance and asceticism (at least for those of us who aren't ex-Vice Presidents living in Nashville mansions), the promise of salvation, and dire warnings of a secular apocalypse.

Interesting perspective on pornography

I only watched Part 1, but I though there was some good insight there from a secular perspective (although the audio was bad quality).

Happy feast of Blessed Brother André!!

Today the Church commemorates Blessed Brother André, that holy and humble religious from Montréal who founded St. Joseph's Oratory and spread devotion to Jesus' adoptive father. I'm looking forward to the day, coming soon, when he will be officially canonized.

Bienheureux Frère André, priez pour nous!

Sacraments 101

This is a beautiful explanation of the sacraments from a Catholic perspective.

Understanding the meaning of our bodies

Every human being on Earth needs to know about the Theology of the Body. It will revolutionize the way you see the world and sexuality. Here is a little teaser.

Good show by our national junior hockey team

Last night, Canada's junior hockey team played it's heart out and lost the gold medal match to the Americans in overtime. It was a great game and much more entertaining than many NHL games. Our juniors have nothing to be ashamed about. They made us proud.

You did a great job guys. I know you must feel very disappointed right now, but there are worse things in life than winning a silver medal. It's good to keep everything in perspective. We'll get 'em next year ;-)

Hang in there, Brit Hume

On January 3, 2010, Brit Hume publicly recommended that Tiger Woods turn his life over to Jesus Christ in order to experience the forgiveness and redemption that he needs at this time in his life. Well done Brit! Watch the video below.

Not surprisingly, he did this on Fox News, the only network where you can still say these things and not get fired.

Also not surprisingly, other networks and reporters have been heaping scorn on Mr. Hume for his remarks. One guy from MSNBC actually compared Mr. Hume to Islamic extremists. Are you kidding me? I don't suppose the the families of dead American soldiers are too pleased with that remark.

Hang in there, Brit, you did the right thing. We're praying for you and Tiger.

Are you ready for retirement?

There's an interesting parable that many people find difficult to understand.  I was fortunate to have a priest explain it to me.  It's often called the parable of the dishonest manager or crafty steward (Luke 16:1-8).  Let's read it:

Then Jesus said to the disciples, ‘There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, “What is this that I hear about you? Give me an account of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.”

Then the manager said to himself, “What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.” So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, “How much do you owe my master?” He answered, “A hundred jugs of olive oil.” He said to him, “Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.” Then he asked another, “And how much do you owe?” He replied, “A hundred containers of wheat.” He said to him, “Take your bill and make it eighty.”

And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.

On the surface, the story isn't too hard to understand: The manager wants to make friends and build "connections" so that he can receive favours in return

UK moving towards an atheist autocracy

Imagine this: a teacher offers to pray for a student who has leukemia, but then gets fired because the atheist parents complained about it. That's what has just happened in the UK. Read about it here.

The UK has become delirious.  The government has completely lost its mind.  There's no way I'm going to vacation in UK anytime soon. I think Afghanistan ranks higher on my "top vacation destinations" than the UK.

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Fr. Prieur gets it wrong -- again

I was surfing the web and minding my own business when I came across an article by Catholic Insight that debunks another error by Father Michael Prieur.  In 2001, Fr. Prieur claimed that it was acceptable for Catholic hospitals to cooperate in a tubal ligation performed for the purpose of contraception.

Wrong -- again.

Why do we care what one priest thinks? This isn't just any priest. He's a Professor of Moral and Sacramental Theology at St. Peter's Seminary in London, Ontario. He's also Canada's foremost Catholic bioethicist. If you're angry about the rotten state of the Catholic Church in Canada, ask yourself what kind of formation our priests and ethicists are receiving with teachers like this. You can read more about Fr. Prieur's other errors here and here.

This is not a witch-hunt, but I'm tired of blind shepherds leading Christ's faithful into a spiritual ditch. If we ever hope to turn this Church around, there will need to be changes at many levels, not the least of which is in our seminaries and other areas of formation.

Let's get back to the issue of tubal ligation.  Dear reader, in case you think that you don't have enough theology degrees to address this question, please don't underestimate yourself so quickly.  Your gut instinct is correct.  This one is a no-brainer.  There's no way a Catholic can freely and directly cooperate with a tubal ligation or any other method of contraception.  Don't take my word for it. Read the Catholic Insight article here.

In the meantime, our seminary professor continues to mislead our future priests and health care practitioners.  Here's a non-exhaustive list of major errors found to date:

1. He endorsed "early inductions" before viability for 12 years, which is exactly the same thing as abortion but under a different name (by his own admission).  He only changed his tune when the US bishops dropped the hammer in 1997.
2. He continues to endorse "early inductions" on babies with severe deformities using a misguided notion of viability. The hospital where he serves as ethics advisor even performs early inductions in cases when the mother's life is not in danger, which is euthanasia, pure and simple.
3. He supports the Winnipeg Statement and believes that the decision to use contraception is up to the individual conscience.
4. He wrote an article endorsing embryonic stem cell research, in opposition to Church teaching.
5. And now we know about his support for tubal ligations, again in opposition to the Magisterium.

On virtually all the major issues in bioethics, he's at odds with Church teaching. And yet we rely on him to form our priests and health care practitioners? We're getting what we deserve.

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Is Novalis questioning the humanity of the fetus and endorsing divorce?

Novalis is a "Catholic" publishing company based at St. Paul's University in Ottawa.  In the past two weeks, I came across some troubling stuff in their French daily missalette.

If you know anything about St. Paul's, you'll understand why I put the word "Catholic" between quotation marks.  While St. Paul's used to be a world-renowned Catholic institution several decades ago, it is now more renowned for it's liberal brand of Catholicism.  In an effort to increase enrollment, the university has diluted the teaching in order to welcome Christians from all denominations.  Tragically, successive Archbishops of Ottawa have done little or nothing to fix the problem.  There are still good teachers there, but there's too much crap.  It's not a safe place for a beginner to learn about theology or philosophy.  

Novalis is best known for the daily missalette called "Living With Christ" (in French it's called "Prions en Église").  But they produce a wide variety of other books too.   In 2004, they caused quite a stir among faithful Catholics when

Summary of the ClimateGate scandal

In case you're just tuning in, this article provides a great summary of the ClimateGate scandal that reveals that man-made global warming is likely the greatest scientific fraud ever committed.  Don't let yourself be duped.

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Canadian terror suspect arrested in Chicago; Danish police stop Muslim terrorist

The attacks keep coming.  We live in dangerous times.  God help us.

Danish police said on Saturday they shot and wounded a Somali man with al Qaeda links when he tried to break into the home of a cartoonist whose 2005 caricatures of Prophet Mohammad sparked global Muslim outrage. (Source)

In a separate report, we learn that a Canadian Muslim has been arrested in Chicago for allegedly helping plot a terrorist attack against the same Danish newspaper that published those cartoons of Mohammed. Story here.

Where are the so-called "moderate" Muslims to denounce these terrorists?Surely, the majority of Muslims oppose terrorism, so why don't the speak up and talk some sense into the minority?



Disclaimer to protect myself from Human Rights Commissions (normal people need not read this paragraph):  I hereby solemnly declare that I do not harbour any hatred or anger towards any religion or religious group, especially not Islam or Muslims.  I do not advocate any form of violence, hatred or discrimination against Muslims.  I am simply concerned by the statements made by Muslims themselves to the effect that they support terrorist acts.  I am therefore exploring the implications of their position on the public good of Canadians and the world.
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Concerns about Islam: Part 3

Disclaimer to protect myself from Human Rights Commissions (normal people need not read this paragraph):  I hereby solemnly declare that I do not harbour any hatred or anger towards any religion or religious group, especially not Islam or Muslims.  I do not advocate any form of violence, hatred or discrimination against Muslims.  I am simply concerned by the statements made by Muslims themselves to the effect that they support terrorist acts.  I am therefore exploring the implications of their position on the public good of Canadians and the world.

In the second article of this series, we saw that a large proportion of Muslims living in European countries support terrorist acts.  But Muslims are only a small part of the population, right?  Wrong.  In the four countries we examined, the Muslims supporting terrorist acts totalled more than 2.1 million people.  And that was just four countries.

The situation will become more preoccupying in the future due to demographics.  The vast majority of immigrants into Europe are Muslims.  Muslims already living in Europe are having way more children than other groups.  So the share of the population represented by Muslims is growing rapidly.

I used to be concerned about the USSR being a threat to world peace, but they disintegrated.  While Russia is still unstable, I'm not all that worried. 

I also used to think that China was a big threat to world peace.  They're still communist and have nukes too.  They are also growing very rich and influential.  But China's history has generally not involved invading neighbouring countries.  They have been relatively peaceful in that sense and their current ambitions

Shooting at Fort Hood raises fresh questions about Muslims: Part 2

Disclaimer to protect myself from Human Rights Commissions (normal people need not read this paragraph):  I hereby solemnly declare that I do not harbour any hatred or anger towards any religion or religious group, especially not Islam or Muslims.  I do not advocate any form of violence, hatred or discrimination against Muslims.  I am simply concerned by the statements made by Muslims themselves to the effect that they support terrorist acts.  I am therefore exploring the implications of their position on the public good of Canadians and the world.

In part 1 of this series, I presented the result of an opinion survey conducted among Muslims living in the U.S.  The results showed that 13% of Muslims living in America, or approximately 305,500 people, support the use of suicide bombings and other violence against civilians.  Among those under 30 years old, support for such attacks on civilians was 26%.  That's very disturbing.  I'm sure it causes many a sleepless night for law-enforcement officials in the U.S.

Today I will be presenting further survey results conducted in other countries.  They are even scarier. 

You may be aware that Muslims represent a larger share of the populatoin in European countries than here in North America.  The Pew Research Center, the same group that did the aforementioned study for the U.S., also conducted surveys in major four European nations in a report published in June 2006. They asked the same quesiton as in the U.S. study, i.e. whether it was ever justified to conduct suicide bombings or other attacks against civilian targets. 

Lord Monckton and Michael Coren denounce global warming fraud

Christmas terrorist attack: a real miracle

Disclaimer to protect myself from Human Rights Commissions (normal people need not read this paragraph):  I hereby solemnly declare that I do not harbour any hatred or anger towards any religion or religious group, especially not Islam or Muslims.  I do not advocate any form of violence, hatred or discrimination against Muslims.  I am simply concerned by the statements made by Muslims themselves to the effect that they support terrorist acts.  I am therefore exploring the implications of their position on the public good of Canadians and the world.

By now, most of you have heard about the despicable failed terrorist attack that a man tried to perpetrate against the American people on Christmas Day.  You won't find me running for cover behind politically correct platitudes.  I'll call a spade a spade:  he was a Muslim terrorist.  Period.

Here's a brief summary of the key facts:

• A man named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab boards a plane in Nigeria en route for Detroit.  He's carrying explosives, but nobody seems to detect them.
• The plane makes a stop-over in Amsterdam.  Nobody notices the explosives.
• As the plane is approaching Detroit, the man tries to detonate his explosives, which were strapped to his body.
• The chemicals did not explode but rather caught fire, which severely burned the terrorist but didn't do much other damage­.
• The man is now under arrest and claims that he was sent by al-Qaida.

I think this is a real Christmas miracle.  The guy had succeeded in circumventing all the security checks and inspections.  Although his name had been put on an international watch list by his father one month earlier because his dad thought that his son had gotten to extreme in his religious views (kudos to the dad), somehow that didn't show up on the computer screen when he checked in.  He had flown on two planes for many hours without anybody noticing a thing. He was home free.  He even managed to pull the trigger, so to speak, to detonate the bomb.  Somewhere in his distorted extremist mind, he must have been filled with some whack-job glee, exhilaration and pride of a job well done.  Yet the bomb didn't blow because God didn't let it happen.  Praise God!

God doesn't prevent every evil, as we've witnessed so often in our lives, not the least of which was the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.  Why does God allow evil?  Because He intends on making an even greater good come from it.  Remember that God doesn't sit in an ivory tower watching us suffer.  The stepped up to the plate Himself and let us crucify Him.  He suffered evil too.  In fact, it was the greatest evil of all time:  deicide, the killing of God in His human nature.  Yet He brought the greatest good out of it: salvation for all humanity.  The pattern is repeated in our lives.

Somebody once wrote:  "All men are born to live; one man was born to die."  As we look at Christ in the creche during this Christmas time, it is worthwhile to remember that religious artists over the centuries have often painted the birth of our Lord with a crucifix hanging in the manger.  In other cases, the baby Jesus is wrapped in burial clothes (see right).  This is precisely to illustrate the key part of His mission on Earth.

Nothing has changed in 2,000 years.  God still allows suffering in some circumstances because He's capable of making a greater good come from it, as long as we cooperate with His plan.  We might never see that good.  In fact, most of the time we don't see it.  It can frequently take the form of grace brought down from Heaven thanks to someone patiently offering up their suffering.  This is extremely powerful.  Countless souls can be given the grace of repentance and conversion if you offer up your sufferings patiently in order to obtain grace.  Don't let your suffering go to waste. 

Follow St. Paul's example:  "I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church." (Col 1:24)  Many Protestants don't understand this verse.  What could possibly be lacking in Christ's suffering?  Catholics and Protestants agree that Christ's sufferings were more than sufficient and complete to expiate the sins of the whole world.  So what's missing?  Our sufferings are missing.  If you read the Bible, you'll realize that God doesn't want to carry out His will unilaterally.  He makes us partipants and cooperators in His plan of salvation.  Consider:

• Christ is the true King of kings.  Yet, Christians are called a "royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9) and are promised that they will reign with Christ (2 Tim 2:12).  So He lets us participate in His royalty and priesthood.
• Christ is the true Teacher.  Yet, through the Holy Spirit, many Christians are given the gift of teaching in order to build up the bretheren (Eph 4:11).
• Christ is the true mediator and advocate before the Father on behalf of humanity.  Yet, Christ mandates Christians to pray for one another and promises to hear our prayers (Matt 7:7-11; Matt 18:19; Matt 21:22).  We therefore participate in this role of mediator/advocate.  He goes as far as to make some grace conditonal on our efforts (Gal 6:9; James 4:3)
• Likewise, Christ is the Holy Redeemer of mankind through His Cross.  But he asks us to cooperate in the redemption by uniting our suffering to His in order to bring down grace. That's the meaning of Colossians 1:24.  So please play your part!

Also keep in mind that God is still busy preventing lots of evil from occurring.  You never hear about those instances because they never happened.  You might have died in a car crash a couple of years ago, but God prevented it from happening so you never noticed. 

This past Christmas Day, we learned of one such instance where God prevented it.  Let us give thanks to Him. 

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