Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Pope Francis and the new corporal work of mercy?!

I was at Mass on Sunday and one of the prayer intentions was to join in with Pope Francis who wants us to add a new work of mercy. I forget if it’s classified under corporal or spiritual. But he wants to add a couple. One has to do with sharing resources with the less fortunate or something and the other is about protecting mother earth. All I could do was sigh. Pope Francis is such an activist pope. He can’t just leave anything alone. People aren’t coming into the Church because of all the new stuff that’s happening. They want the original and undiluted. Why is he so intent on changing everything?

 

BUT Phil! What’s wrong with sharing and protecting the earth???? Nothing in principle. But the corporal and spiritual works of mercy have been around for like 1000 years. And now he will just change them?? They are already complete in my opinion. Jesus was never focused on saving mother earth and earth-worship. He cared more about our disposition towards God and man. And those are thoroughly addressed by the existing works of mercy. In fact, they are taken from the words of Christ himself. Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the prisoner, etc. What we do with plastic bottles is something each person must decide. Nobody wants to destroy the planet for no purpose. Pope Francis, in his encyclical seems to think the earth is becoming a giant trash heap. He even says this. Like really? The main source of “trash” is the trash morality we have. But he rarely seems to address that. He is more interested in climate change or whatever.

 

While Pope Francis is trying to come across as hip and “with it”, he’s not bringing any new people into the Church. That’s statistically verified. Why not stick to what Catholicism is about? Spiritual growth and becoming holier, it’s not about reducing our carbon footprint.

Wednesday, August 02, 2017

Modern society turns morality on its head.

One interesting and disturbing thing I have noticed about people in the society around me is that rather than lacking morals altogether, they have flipped them on their heads. Things which should matter do not and vice versa.

One example is in the area of reproductive technology. Ab○rtion and I.V.F. involve the destruction of embryos and fetuses yet this doesn't seem to faze many people, including Catholics. I know many so-called Catholics who wouldn't flinch at using these life-killing technologies to achieve their goals. I know one couple right now in that situation. It seems absolutely irrelevant to them. I brought up naprotechnology, which is a Catholic re-productive technology which has a higher success rate than the standard methods. Yet they wouldn't even consider it. "The doctor at the hospital didn't mention it so I won't do it." They are like moral jellyfish – they just ebb and flow with the prevailing moral attitudes of their environment. We are supposed to be more like salmon, swimming against the tide of popular opinion and moving towards the truth.

But the irony of it is that these same people aren't amoral. They do not have a "nothing matters" attitude. On many subjects, they are zealous. I like to use the example that if we were on a nature walk and I just threw an empty water bottle into the forest or a stream and they saw me do it, they would be outraged. They would look on in shock and become very angry at me. If possible, they would do everything possible to collect the water bottle so it didn't harm the environment. Yet when it comes to human life, they wouldn't even be bothered to find out if something is morally acceptable and why. They would rather remain ignorant. Upon learning the truth, they are unaffected and couldn't care less. How perverse.

Off the top of my head, here is a list of things "modern" people care about vs. what they don't.

Things modern-day people care about:

Animal shelters and animal welfare

Recycling

Global Warming

"Gender expression"

Multiculturalism – regardless of the values of the cultures

 

Things modern-day people don't care about:

Human life

se×ual morality

Intact families

God

Their own culture and values

 

Now more than ever we need a revival of these morals.