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.

Did "Liberating Potential" undo the dissent of the Winnipeg Statement?

In September 2008, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) issued a document called "Liberating Potential". The document was issued to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the encyclical Humanae Vitae. Liberating Potential is an excellent document that speaks about the greatness of the gift of sexuality and the fact that contraception and abortion are incompatible with God's plan for life. The document is very robust and doesn't contain any trace of dissent.  It is everything you would hope to see from the pen of our bishops.

I applaud the bishops for having issued this document. It was badly needed.

Given that "Liberating Potential" is in agreement with the Church's teaching on contraception, it is legitimate to ask the question as to whether this nullifies the Winnipeg Statement. In other words, did the assent in "Liberating Potential" undo the dissent of the Winnipeg Statement?  I don't think so. In my opinion, it was a good first step, but it doesn't go far enough. Let me explain why.

When the average Joe like you or me commits a sin, God requires several steps in order for us to be forgiven:

1.  We must admit our wrongdoing.
2.  We must be sorry for having offended God and others.
3.  We must change our behavior and make a firm resolve to not commit that sin again.

I think that the bishops need to be held to the same standard when it comes to the Winnipeg Statement. So let's see if Liberating Potential lives up to this standard.

1.  Admitting their wrongdoing

Have the bishops admitted the error of the Winnipeg Statement and all the erroneous pastoral actions that flowed from it over 40 years?  No.
Has there has been any admission of guilt and of the huge damage done over the last four decades?  No. 

Now someone might claim that the bishops may have privately repented of the Winnipeg Statement. That's certainly a possibility. However, bishops should know that a public sin requires a public repentance, as was

Toronto Transit Commission rejects bus ads promoting adultery

The title of this post probably makes most readers say: "Duh!  Of course they should reject such ads!"  Sadly, in today's world, there's no guarantee that secular government organizations will display any amount of common sense.  Not so long ago, the TTC allowed ads on their buses that said:  "There's probably no God.  Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."  We had those same ads in Ottawa.


Fortunately the TTC trashed the adultery ads that would have show a huge message that says:  "Life is short.  Have an affair."

You may ask:  who on earth would want to advertise and promote adultery?  The answer is Ashley Madison, a company that specializes in... you'll never believe it... hooking up married people to have affairs.  They've been called "The kingpin of Internet infidelity."  They work like an online dating service for married people.

The founder is a Toronto native who is married and has children.  Here's a question for you women out there:  would you marry a guy who makes a living out of helping others have affairs and who thinks there's nothing immoral about it?

I suspect that business at Ashley Madison is going to take a hit after the Tiger Woods scandal.  Through Tiger's self-destruction, many would-be adulterers might come to understand the disaster that awaits them if their affair were ever to become know by their spouse or children.

While we're on this topic, let's remind ourselves that the surge in infidelity during the last half-century has been largely facilitated by the generalized use of contraception and abortion. Without these two "backup plans",

Totalitarianism is alive and well in Germany

When Catholics in Canada didn't bother opposing the advances of promiscuity in this country, they kept saying to themselves: "It won't affect me." It was most obvious when Chrétien and his gang were legalizing same-sex marriage. Most Catholics were opposed, but most didn't raise a finger to stop it, saying "if some homosexuals get married, that doesn't change my life."

Well, reality is setting in. Our school children are now being indoctrinated with contraception, casual sex and books like "My Two Dads". It's worse in other countries, but we're catching up fast. For example, read about these dads in Germany that are going to jail for the ominous crime of pulling their elementary-aged children out of sex-ed classes and for refusing to enroll them in a theatre production that informs young children on how to engage in sexual intercourse.

Can you believe it?  God helps us.

"Human Rights Commission" showing intolerance towards Church

One of Canada's Human Rights Commissions has decided to play God again. This time it's the Alberta Human Rights Commission (AHRC). It seems that nothing is beyond the reach of these kangaroo kourts. Nothing is too sacred or too logical to be questioned by these arbitrary commissions.

The latest incident involves a Catholic school teacher in Alberta that claims that she's suffering from "gender identity disorder" and that she must undergo a sex-change operation. Of course, such a rejection of the gender granted by God is a violation of Church teaching. From a purely secular standpoint, it's also a violation of plain common sense. When you have a problem of any kind, the only lasting solution comes from addressing the root of that problem. In this case, the teacher has a mental illness of some kind. Therefore, the logical and loving solution is to address the mental problem, not mutilate her body by making it look like a man.

As a result of her planned sex change, the teacher has been dismissed from the Catholic school board where she taught. She considers this to be a violation of her rights, and has filed a complaint against the school board. Unfortunately, the AHRC has accepted this complaint and will therefore hear arguments about it. The fact that they didn't reject this ridiculous complaint from the outset is very disturbing. It shows just how willing these commissions are to interfere in Church affairs.

I feel sorry for the teacher. I really do. Mental illness is not something that we should treat lightly or that we should scoff at. I have witnessed many people struggle with mental illness. It is extremely difficult to bear. Fortunately, it appears that the school board treated her kindly and respectfully when they let her go. The school board is well within its rights to decide who to employ.

The fact that the State is even considering the possibility of imposing its beliefs on the Church is extremely disturbing and intolerant. Canada is a diverse nation. It is not merely inhabited by the left wing extremists that run these commissions. These kangoroo kourts need to get in touch with reality and start being more tolerant of other peoples beliefs.

As for us Catholics, we better start moving our butts and make sure that our politicians understand that these commissions are unacceptable and violating the human rights they are supposedly intended to protect. If you don't act now, you're going to wake up someday and find out you're slave to the government's whims and fancies.

This incident also highlights the crucial fact that the true challenge for the Church in this day is to convert her own members. More damage is being inflicted on the Church in Canada today by Catholics than by any outsiders.

So before you go to bed tonight, look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself: "What concrete action will I take to propagate the true Faith within the Church?"  Don't go to bed until you've made a firm commitment.

Bishop Says Funding 'Pro-Choice' Groups Okay if Restricted to Good Projects

LifeSite published an excellent article about a bishop anonymously discussing Development and Peace's funding of pro-abortion groups. This is an interesting article for a number of reasons, mostly because this bishop admits that Development and Peace is funding groups that are pro-abortion. Finally somebody comes clean!!

Yet, he doesn't think it's a big deal as long as the money is "earmarked" for projects that don't contradict Church teaching.

This approach poses a number of problems, many of which are enumerated in the article. I'll add two additional problems not covered in the article.

First, funds given to pro-aborts can be misused in ways that are extremely difficult to anticipate or even measure.  Fr. Pierre Ingram, CC, who is a systematic theologian, wrote an excellent article on this matter here.  He points out, among other things, that a pro-abortion group typically has a distorted understanding of life, sexuality and other moral issues. Those distortions will likely trickle into everything they do, even the programs that are supposed to be "not morally objectionable".  He also explains that Catholics must not merely avoid committing evil, but must also avoid the appearance of cooperation with evil in order to not scandalize others.  His article is a must read if you want to understand your faith better.

Second, the Vatican -- which is our leader and guide -- decided to stop funding UNICEF way back in 1997 precisely because the organization was pushing abortion and contraception in developing countries.  UNICEF had "earmarked" programs too, by which you could theoretically target your donations to unobjectionable causes.  Yet, the Vatican, being wise and astute, realized that UNICEF was not providing sufficient accountability to ensure that donations were not being used for immoral purposes.  As a result, they pulled the plug on financing UNICEF.  Read the official Vatican announcement here.  If it's good enough for the Vatican, it's good enough for me.

Why won't our bishops just follow the Vatican's example?  That's all I'm asking.  Is that too much to ask?

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Ottawa Citizen gets it wrong on priest sex scandals

The Ottawa Citizen recently published an article where Janice Kennedy, who describes herself as a liberal Catholic, tries to explain the true causes of the sex abuse scandals in the priesthood.

Given her liberal leaning, you won't be surprised with her conclusions.  She essentially says that the problem would go away if:  1) priests were allowed to marry and;  2) if women were allowed to become priests.  Quite predictable and not exactly a deep revelation.

On her first point, she argues that celibacy is unnatural and fosters uncontrollable impulses.  Unfortunately, this argument does not hold water.  Research has shown high rates of sexual abuse among teachers, Protestant ministers and other professionals.  Do you know what these groups have in common?  They're allowed to marry.  Consequently, the fact of having regular sexual relations with a consenting adult does appear not "cure" anybody of their pedophile tendencies.  

On her second point, about women priests, is largely irrelevant to the point being discussed.  How would the existence of women priests affect men's ability to control their sexual impulses?  In fact, many Protestant churches report a high incidence of harassment an sexual abuse of their women ministers by the males.  Moreover, about 41 percent of all sexual abuse of children in the U.S. is done by women, so they certainly are not immune to pedophilia.  Ms. Kennedy's article also contains a momentous historical inaccuracy, where she claims that women priests were common in the early Church.  This is totally false and unsubstantiated.

The truth is that the priesthood and the vow of celibacy are not for everybody. Jesus himself told us so (Matt 19.12).  A man who feels called to the priesthood has several years of formation and discernment in which he must ask himself if he can handle the vow of celibacy.  If he cannot, he should do everybody a favour and leave the seminary.  It would be imprudent to assume that some miraculous transformation will occur after his ordination and that he'll suddenly be able to manage it.

The union of man and woman in sexual intercourse is meant to imitate the union of love within the Persons of the Trinity, as well as to anticipate the intimate union we will have with God in Heaven.  Although the vow of celibacy may seem unnatural from a purely worldly point of view, it is entirely natural from a spiritual point of view, since it skips the intermediate "sign" of sexual union and jumps directly to the union of the soul with God, which we all hope to enjoy in the beatific vision.

David Warren on our sexualized culture

I highly recommend that you read this excellent article by David Warren of the Ottawa Citizen.  Mr. Warren is a Catholic convert and excellent writer.


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