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Christian Witness

Reflection for Trinity Sunday 2025

Christian Witness

Reflection for Trinity Sunday 2025

Christian Witness

Reflection for Trinity Sunday 2025

Current Events, Media

The Lion, the Witch, and get those Christians away from me…

An excellent article from Spike.

Check out: The curious rise of anti-religious hysteria It is the Anglo-American cultural elites’ insecurity about their own values that encourages their frenzied attacks on religion.

This article by Frank Furedi, self described as “a secular humanist who is instinctively uncomfortable with zealot-like moralism” really makes some salient points about cultural elitism and its venomous anti-Christian mantra.

Mr. Furedi is the author of Politics of Fear: Beyond Left and Right.

Since I’ve been in the mood for good Catholic/Christian films I recently purchased Come to the Stable and The Miracle of the Bells. Both arrived today so I’ll be sitting down to watch them tonight.

Miracle of the Bells is among my all time favorites.

A beautiful young Polish woman from a poor coal mining town in Pennsylvania makes it to Hollywood. She is screen tested and chosen as the lead in Joan of Arc. Her Catholic faith and purity shine through. At the conclusion of the production she dies of black lung disease.

Her manager, who loves her, played by Fred MacMurray, brings her body back to Pennsylvania. Her last wish was that the church bells be rung for her at her funeral. Concurrently he finds out that the film she made is going to be canned. Frank Sinatra plays the young parish priest —“ a fine looking Polish boy if I don’t say so myself!

The movie is sad and glorious. It shows the power of miracles of the heart and the power of dedicated love. On a secondary level it is an ode to all those who are poor, work hard, have deep faith, and are far more complex than the elites would have us believe.

As the IMDB says:

This film was also made in the days of John L. Lewis as head of the United Mine Workers. One of the big issues for that union was the pollution that caused the premature deaths of a lot of their members and families. In that sense Miracle of the Bells was a very socially relevant movie for its time and even today.

I think we can all agree with that. If you’ve never seen it check it out. If you have watch it again.

Homilies

The Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B

My brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus,

You are a member of the Church for a reason. The reason is your belief in Jesus Christ.

Have you ever given serious thought to what you believe?

By belonging to the Polish National Catholic Church you believe some very important things.

The first reading today may leave you confused about what you believe. Is Jesus just a powerful prophet? Frankly no, He is more than that. He is God Himself.

So let’s take a moment to focus, to clarify, and to review what your being here says you believe. By belonging to the Church you believe:

  • There is one God
  • There are three persons in one God.
  • All three are equal and eternal.
  • Jesus is the second person in the Holy Trinity, the Son of the Father.
  • Jesus was born into the world at a moment in time, of the Virgin Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
  • Jesus is truly God and truly man.
  • Jesus died a horrible death on the cross and was buried.
  • Jesus died for your sins —“ to redeem you.
  • Jesus rose from the dead.
  • Jesus ascended into heaven.
  • Jesus will be your judge upon your death and on the last day.

You believe that the Church is the ordered body of Christ and the commissioned teacher of all that is true.

You believe in the seven sacraments, the communion of saints, and that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.

You believe that the Holy Eucharist is the real presence of Jesus Christ, body, blood, soul, and divinity and that when you receive the Eucharist you are eating Jesus’ body and blood, not bread and wine.

You believe that Christ commissioned His church to forgive sins.

You believe that God created us, that we were born innocent and good, that evil is real, and that evil tempts us.

While believing in the reality of evil, you do not believe in the personification or anthropomorphization of evil into the devil, Satan, or any other being.

You believe that God offers a continuous opportunity to repent from evil, both in this life and the next, and that the door to heaven is only shut when we shut it.

You believe that you must make an active choice for God in order to best prepare yourself for eternity.

You adhere to the Confession of Faith of the Polish National Catholic Church and all it contains.

You believe that the pope is a bishop like all other bishops and is, by faithful tradition, the first among equals. He is not infallible and cannot proclaim doctrine except as a result of a truly ecumenical synod.

You do not subscribe to the notion of the Immaculate Conception nor to the bodily assumption of Mary into heaven.

This list does not cover it all, but is does raise a serious question. Can you validly say you believe all these things? Can you believe them even if your senses and logic tell you differently? Can you believe them just because the Church says so?

When we stand for the Creed we do not say —We believe— as some other Catholic or Protestant churches do. We each say —I believe.— This is a very strong statement. This is a proclamation of something extraordinary.

My friends,

Belief in the truth is difficult in the face of the world. Setting aside your personal ideas and agendas, and agreeing with the Church is difficult as well. While these difficulties are real, and while we do not sit down and actively review and enumerate our beliefs each day, we need to take time to assess them.

God has given us the grace to be included in His Church, an inclusion that carries not only a myriad of blessings, but also a great responsibility.

I can only speak for myself. I believe each and every one of these things. I believe them even when my senses tell me different. I believe them because the Church says so. To put it even more simply I fall back on the words of the children’s song: I believe because the Bible tells me so.

Do not be fooled. Many cults and ‘world religions’ claim to believe in Jesus Christ, or they acknowledge Him in some way. The problem is that they do not believe in the Jesus Christ presented in the Bible and proclaimed by the Holy Catholic Church —“ Jesus who is God.

In the Bible Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to His Church and left the Church as His instrument. Together, the Bible and the Church are here for our salvation, to lead us home to God. Jesus set it up this way on purpose, and being God, He knows what He is doing.

My faithful people,

When we reflect on today’s Gospel we need to remind ourselves that we cannot stand here and be astonished like the people in Capernaum.

The people were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.

…and again,

All were amazed and asked one another,
—What is this?
A new teaching with authority.
He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.—
His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.

We need to stand strong in our faith, reassured by our belief, and the promise of Jesus Christ. We cannot simply be here because we think Jesus is a cool, famous guy; a kind of millennial Hollywood star. We cannot be like others who turn Jesus from God into a mannequin of their own making. They create a false Jesus who is just a thing that supports, justifies and fulfills their own desires.

If you are coming here to be social, to have a good time, to eat some cool blessed wafers and drink wine, to kneel, bow, and be blessed by the power of a cool guy, to listen to some interesting philosophical fables, you are deluding yourself.

If you are going to other churches thinking they are just as good and just as equal, you are mistaken.

We, need to heed Paul’s words:

I am telling you this for your own benefit,
not to impose a restraint upon you,
but for the sake of propriety
and adherence to the Lord without distraction.

Therefore I tell you —“ adhere to the Lord without distraction, stand and profess, with the Church, your belief in Him.

Current Events

I’m Going to be Sick—¦

It is all over the blogsphere and the net… Michael Schiavo is remarried.

Now you would not expect that from the world’s most selfish man (marriage, commitment, etc.) but get this, he’s remarried, to his long time live in ‘lover’, the well know and public adulteress Jodi Centonze, in a Roman Catholic Church ceremony!

I guess she wanted to make her family proud.

Here’s Michael Schiavo professing his vows:

Evil Mike

Oops, he let something slip…

It looks like the gates of hell are now located somewhere within the chancery halls of the St. Petersburg, Florida Roman Catholic diocese.

Among the comments I’ve seen:

From Stuck on Stupid

Michael Schiavo married his long time concubine a mere ten months after his legitimate wife’s death.

Mikey’s new wife better be sure that her life insurance is in a trust fund for someone other than her husband.

From Politik Ditto

Michael Schiavo, Noted Adulterer, Gets Re-Married

No word yet on whether or not the marriage vows included an addendum citing that if the bride were to unfortunately get into an accident that landed her in a vegetative state, that all bets would immediately be called off, like yunno, all that petty “for better or worse . . . in sickness or health” stuff.

From the Justice for Terri Schiavo site:

Terri Schiavo had to die in order for Michael Schiavo to make a mockery of traditional marriage vows for a second time.

From Thrown Back:

“The priest offered no homily”. Well, what could the priest say? “Don’t kill this one, Michael”?

I like this one.

From the St. Petersburgh Times:

“Except for the fact that the world knows their name, it was like any wedding you’ve ever been to,” said Michael Hirsh, who attended, and who is helping Michael Schiavo write a book.

Mr. Hirsh, it is not supposed to be like any other wedding, it is supposed to be a sacrament. Marriage in any truly Catholic Church is supposed to be holy. So I ask, why did they do it? Why be so evil? Go to the courts; get a judge or justice of the peace.

These people are sick across the board. They are also hypocrites.

Hey, Bishop Lynch (Bishop of St. Petersburg – his name is appropriate no?)

The adulterous couple you allowed to marry in your diocese:

  • Are both divorced;
  • Are the parents of two illegitimate children;
  • Have lived together in a public adulterous relationship for over 10 years, right up to the day of marriage;
  • Refused a Catholic funeral to a lifelong Catholic (Terri Schiavo)

But this is nothing for a bishop who:

  • Eliminates Eucharistic adoration across the diocese
  • Equates the —people of the Church— to Jesus Christ in the Eucharist
  • Pays over $100,000 to quiet an abuse allegation against him
  • Paid $25 million in no-bid construction contracts to a buddy of his
  • Stayed silent on the whole Schiavo situation, did not follow the directives of his superiors, and went on vacation while she died.
  • Will probably pay out millions in abuse settlements
  • Is the Chairman of Catholic Relief Services – I’ll not be donating thank you.

If I were Roman Catholic I would be deeply embarrassed that this Bishop never met a scandal he couldn’t help but be involved in. He must be accident prone (or just stupid). Dante was right, hell is paved with the skulls of bishops.

Current Events, Perspective

A Voice Crying Out

I was going to write a piece on the continuing evil of abortion in the United States and across the world. However, the debate generated by the Episcopal Church’s now outright support and financing of abortion and the commentary thereon does a better job than I could.

I previously highlighted the Pontificator’s stance on the issue.

Now, Gawain de Leeuw has replied to Al Kimel (the Pontificator) on the issue. Mr. Kimel has responded in kind and most excellently.

One general comment about Mr. de Leeuw’s posts —“ notice he calls the ECUSA the EcUSA, i.e., a church —“ small ‘c’. That, is a very powerful statement.

Mr. de Leeuw begins:

Al Kimel writes: “A Christian community that supports the unconditional legal right to abortion has ceased to be Christian; it has ceased to be Church. A Church that is not willing to stand against the evil of abortion cannot be the Church that Jesus Christ founded. The lampstand has been taken away.”

This author agrees as previously noted. Mr. de Leeuw goes on:

It’s pretty powerful rhetoric, and reveals the monolithic, totalitarian impulse within Roman Catholicism. It first removes legitimacy from its opponents. It renders the opposing church “evil” which permits the obvious: death.

In one sentence he does the same thing he claims Mr. Kimel does. He does so by resorting to threadbare reformation rhetoric about the Roman Church. How unfortunate for him. He is not marching with Luther, Calvin, or Henry VIII, for if he were he would be condemned just as heartily. To wit:

John Calvin (1509-64). “The fetus, though enclosed in the womb of its mother, is already a human being and it is a most monstrous crime to rob it of the life which it has not yet begun to enjoy. If it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field, because a man’s house is his place of most secure refuge, it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fetus in the womb before it has come to light” (Commentarius in Exodum, 21,22)

Martin Luther (1483-1546). “Even if all the world were to combine forces, they could not bring about the conception of a single child in any woman’s womb nor cause it to be born; that is wholly the work of God.” (Luther’s Works, VII, 21)

He goes on:

In the end, Al wants ECUSA destroyed – what else can one do with such evil homophilic babykillers like ourselves?

While I cannot imply Mr. Kimel’s motives or goals, I can acknowledge my feelings on the idea and they come from this Sunday’s Gospel:

—This is the time of fulfillment.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the gospel.—

Mr. de Leeuw says:

And of course, this is part of Roman history. And it is justified, because we kill fetuses upon the altar of religious pluralism. Such extremism makes me quite glad that I am in the liberal, reformed end of the church. I do not need to worry about his damning me. I sleep well at night.

He starts again with rhetoric. Mr. Kimel has touched a nerve. I do not think Mr. Kimel personally damned him. However, the failure to worry over the fate of one’s everlasting soul is simply a failure to have any fear of God.

Mr. de Leeuw continues:

Although it seems that the issue is about babies, it is more properly about the church’s relationship to the state; and secondly about the church’s relationship to its own body.

Yes, it is about babies. Because you agree with the government’s sin you believe that no one has a right to stand against it? Abortion is wrong, evil, sinful, and murder —“ this is fact. Is the Church’s stand dependant on the state? Is a relationship required?

The choice to sin is the choice for evil over God. We can take a historical tour of governments that have actively promoted evil, but I’ll save everyone the time and energy right now.

And, sure, you can stand and work for the government. You can believe in the infallibility of the government and you can support it whole heartedly. Just call yourself a secular humanist, not a Christian.

Can Christians accept a government that permits people, of different religions, to have abortions? Or shall it provide a law that says, for example, Christians cannot have abortions, but atheists can – kind of like a Christian Sharia?

I say no on both accounts. Christians cannot accept such a law nor may they uphold it. Now notice, he says ‘government’. He would like to imply that real Christians are damning the United States. He fails to remember that any human power is from God and that right is right by God’s law.

As Christians we cannot permit evil and must stand against it. We must stand against evil on behalf of Christians and non Christians alike. Mr. de Leeuw, did Jesus Christ redeem the world? Is Jesus Christ God? Is Jesus Christ our arbiter and judge? Does this apply to all of mankind, regardless of what people think?

It may be that in the choice between a woman’s life and a child’s life, the Episcopal Church has decided to admit the law of the land – the choice that most of its baptized members agree. His claim, however, is that ECUSA is not a Christian church. Well that’s his opinion, and not Gods, but by the nature of their acts, it would not be the view of most Catholics, who would agree with most of the teaching of Episcopal churches.

Why do our parents tell us those funny little sayings that turn out true? It appears that Mr. de Leeuw never heard the one about everyone jumping off a bridge/cliff/building.

Also, please spare us the rhetoric about the ‘teaching of the Episcopal churches.’ What teaching? Where is it standardized? I can go from church to church, state to state, country to country and get a different message every time, right down to core beliefs about baptism (non-use of the Trinitarian formula). Basically Episcopal teachings are made up by whomever is there at the moment, high church, low church, and apparently, no Church.

Also, most Catholics of any persuasion would balk if they understood the phony priesthood and the rest of the phony sacraments of the Episcopal church. If you explained your views on the sacraments honestly you would have to tell them – no it is not the ‘Body of Christ’ —“ its just bread in the Episcopal Church. It is only a symbol, not reality – which again says a lot.

As the title of my post implies, powerful rhetoric is needed. Proclamation is needed. Make straight the way of the Lord, that is, the Lord’s way.

“They will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. … You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.

Let’s pray that as Christians we can stand together and bear witness in the face of all evil.

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