Married Deacon Controversy

It seems that I am late getting in on the whole fight among Catholic bloggers about the comments of a Traditionalist Canon Lawyer that married Deacons are no longer allowed to have sex with their wives.

The Bad Catholic finds this whole argument to be, as Mr. Shakespeare said, "Much ado about nothing." Is this all we have to worry about?

It seems to me that the Sacrament of Marriage makes the marital embrace holy. This is why it is not allowed outside of sacramental marriage. Sacraments do not cancel each other out. The Sacrament of Holy Orders does not somehow cancel the Sacrament of Marriage regardless of what canon law says.

The Bishops, as the successors of the Apostles, have ordained married men to the Diaconate and now the Priesthood. These Bishops have known that their married deacons were not remaining celebate. It seems to this simple old country lawyer that the authority of the Bishops as the successors of the Apostles trumps some ancient Canon.

You may read a summary of the whole controversy here.

Here's a good response from a Married Deacon.

I invite your rebuttals.

Saint John Bosco

Colonel Allen West on Islam

Colonel Allen West is an Iraq War Combat Veteran who was recently elected to Congress from Florida.

Father Barron - Arguments for the Existence of God

Gay Activists Call for a Boycott of Chick-Fil-A

Apparently, some Gay activists were shocked to find out that Chick-Fil-A restaurants support Evangelical Christian causes including upholding traditional marriage and opposing the homosexual lifestyle.

Where I live, down in the wilds of Southwest Georgia, everybody knows that Chick-Fil-A is owned by devout Evangelical Christians whose mission in life is to feed fried chicken sandwiches to other Protestants. (They also make a great milkshake!). However, Gays, Lesbians, Trans-Sexuals, Jews, Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Atheists, Agnostics and other minorities may also be fed if they come to the altar, I mean the counter, with the appropriate funds available.

I am sure that so many homosexuals were eating Chick-Fil-A that the company will immediately need to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Read all about the controversy at the New York Times.

Here's an adverstisement for the offending conference:

King Charles the Martyr

King Charles I was executed by Oliver Cromwell's Puritan government on January 30, 1649. King Charles has long been considered a saint and a martyr by the High Church Party in the Church of England.

See last year's post on King Charles the Martyr.

Who Is the Muslim Brotherhood?

Article from CNN on the background of the Muslim Brotherhood which is poised to take over Egypt.

Return to Greeneland

The Bad Catholic discusses Graham Greene's 1932 thriller Stamboul Train at The Eclectic Reader.

David Horowitz Confronted By Muslim Student Association

The Muslim Brotherhood are the people who may take over Egypt.

Jews and Others Persecuted by Chavez

Venezuala's dictator Hugo Chavez has instituted persecution of Jews and other groups. Commentary from the Israeli paper Haaretz.

Radical Muslim Cleric Tries to Illegally Enter U.S.

The American press is useless. Why is it that I have to read a British newspaper to find out that a Radical Muslim Cleric tried to sneak into the U.S. from Mexico? Read the full story here.

Israel Supports Mubarak

If the secular government of Egypt falls to Islamic Radicals, this could bode ill not only for Israel but for the entire world. Read more from Time magazine. Also, here is a New York Times article about the Iranian support for Islamic hardliners.

MTV Child Porn Show is a Flop

A very thoughful post about MTV's controversial "child porn" show "Skins."

Restrepo

The Sal Giunta Story from SebastianJunger/TimHetherington on Vimeo.

Tony Blair on Islamic Extremism

Saint Agnes

National Catholic Register Acquired by EWTN

The National Catholic Register newspaper has been acquired by Catholic cable channel EWTN. Full story here.

Evangelical "Bible Scholar" Predicts Date for the Rapture

An Evangelical Radio Preacher in San Francisco says that the Second Coming of Christ will occur on on May 21, 2011. Read the full story here.

Egypt Boycotts the Vatican

Muslim leaders in Egypt have announced that they are suspending communication with the Holy See. Read the full story from National Catholic Register.

What Little Wayne Read in Prison

Rapper Little Wayne told Rolling Stone Magazine that he read the Bible for the first time while serving his recent prison sentence.

Philadelphia Abortionist Charged with 8 Counts of Murder

A Philadelphia doctor has been charged with 8 counts of murder for killing children born alive during abortion procedures.

The Reports of the Church's Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

Joanna Bogle at Inside Catholic reports that the decline of the Catholic Church in Britian has been greatly exaggerated.

Canadian Government Stands Up to Iran

A showing of a film on the threat which Iran poses to the world as a nuclear power was cancelled due to threats which were apparently orchestrated by Iran. The Candian Government has sent a diplomatic cable to the Iranian Embassy stating that Canada is a free country and its citizens will not be dictated to about what will and will not be shown. The showing of the film has been rescheduled to February with additional security. Read the full story here.

Beatification of John Paul II Gets Green Light

The cause of the late Pope John Paul II is well on the road to full Sainthood. Read more from Whispers in the Loggia.

President Obama Invokes the Bible to Understand Arizona Tragedy

"Scripture tells us that there is evil in the world, and that terrible things happen for reasons that defy human understanding."

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

Pakistani Interior Minister: Blasphemy Law is Here to Stay

The Pakistani Interior Minister has announced that the blasphemy laws are here to stay and that un-Islamic content on the internet should be reported to the government and blocked. So it looks like reading LOVE IN THE RUINS will be illegal in Pakistan. Read the full story here.

Saudi Arabia Seeks To Control Bloggers

Saudi Arabia is enacting strict new laws to control the content of blogs. All bloggers must be Saudi citizens (31% of the people in the country are not citizens), must have a high school degree and must be above 20 years of age. All blogs must also contain the Islamic call to prayer and obey Sharia Law. In other words, LOVE IN THE RUINS will be illegal in Saudi Arabia. Read the full story here.

Purgatory: A Purifying Fire for Souls

The Holy Father expounded on Purgatory when speaking about Saint Catherine of Siena at his weekly audience. Read the full story from National Catholic Register.

Blizzard of 2011

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Bad Catholic Book Review

The Bad Catholic reviews Joel C. Rosenberg's The Twelfth Imam at The Eclectic Reader.

Father Barron on "True Grit"

Saudi Arabia Will Release Vulture Accused Being Israeli Spy

Saudi Arabia will release a vulture which had a tracking device from Tel Aviv University for research on migration patterns. The Saudis accused Israel of implanting the vulture with the tracking device for espionage purposes. (Read the full story here).

Baptism of the Lord

Since I used to be a Southern Baptist, I made sure I found a picture showing a full immersion baptism.

Today, the Sunday after the Epiphany, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord.

From a sermon by Saint Gregory of Nazianzus:

"Today let us do honor to Christ's baptism and celebrate this feast in holiness. Be cleansed entirely and continue to be cleansed. Nothing gives such pleasure to God as the conversion and salvation of men, for whom his every word and revelation exist. He wants you to become a living force for all mankind, lights shining in the world. You are to be radiant lights as you stand beside Christ, the great light, bathed in the glory of him who is the light of heaven. You are to enjoy more and more the pure and dazzling light of the Trinity, as now you have received - though not in its fullness - a ray of its splendor, proceeding from the one God, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen."

PRAYER: Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and annointed him with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Tragedy in Arizona

We don't have to wait for Al Qaeda to commit mass murder against Americans, we have plenty of our own home grown nuts who are ready to do it. (Read about Arizona tragedy here.) We all need to pray for the victims and for the sick perpetrator.

Twelfth Night

Either last night or tonight, depending on who you ask, is Twelfth Night or the last day of the Christmas season. Wikipedia Article on Twelfth Night. Here's a London Telegraph article from 2009 discussing the confusion over when Twelfth Night actually is.

Faith

Faith is the basis of all worship; only the truly faithful can pray each day.

And what is the basis of faith? "He renews each day the work of Creation."

The faithful one sees that every day is a new creation, that all the worlds are new, that we ourselves have just been born.

How could we not want to sing the praise of the Creator?

If we do not have the faith that God creates anew each day, prayer becomes an old, unwanted habit. How difficult it is to say the same words day after day!

Thus scripture says: "Cast us not into old age!" - may the word never become old for us.

(Source: Your Word is Fire: The Hasidic Masters on Contemplative Prayer Edited by Arthur Green & Barry W. Holtz, Jewish Lights Publishing, 1993).

Saint John Neumann

True Grit

If you haven't seen the Cohen brothers new version of True Grit it is an awesome movie. I will dare say that it will rank as one of the best westerns of all time. Here's an interesting post about the religious aspects of the film and all of the Cohen brothers work.

Date for the Apocalypse

Interesting column from National Catholic Register about a Fundamentalist Cult which is expecting the end of the world in May of this year.

Pakistani Governor Was Assasinated For Defending Christians

The Pakistani Governor of Punjab province who was assasinated by his own security guard, was killed for being opposed to the Pakistani blasphemy laws. Read the full story here.

Captain Honors: The Bad Catholic Opinion

This blog post is not politically correct and will likely offend the squeamish. If you are sensitive stop reading now and go to Salon.com.

Here's my two cents worth about the suspension of Captain Honors of the Aircraft Carrier U.S.S. Enterprise for making a racy comedy video for the crew while he was the Executive Officer. Political Correctness is destroying the United States of America. I've seen the video, which is available on the Internet, and I say "So What?" It's no worse than what's on cable TV every single day. There is much worse stuff put up on You Tube all the time.

This officer was just trying to do something to make the crew laugh and uplift their morale during a long cruise. OOOOH, they made fun of gay people and had jokes about sex and masturbation! Have we gone crazy?

Let's get real people: THE PURPOSE OF THE MILITARY IS TO KILL THE ENEMIES OF OUR COUNTRY!

If we're this politically correct, we need to pack it in now, pull down Old Glory and go ahead and let the North Koreans and Iranians march in and take over, because that's what's going to happen. If we now live in a country where our fighting men and women, whom we expect to take bullets for us and kill the enemy for us, can't blow off a little steam with a few off color jokes, then we are truly doomed.

Using today's politically correct standards, there is no way that the Allies would have won World War II. What would these politically correct pinheads have done with a hard-bitten, hard fighting soldier like General George S. Patton?

That's my two cents worth.

Lindsay Lohan Mocks Christ

Well, what did you expect from Lindsay Lohan? Full story here.

Alabama Atheist Billboard

The American Atheist organization has put up the above billboard in Huntsville, Alabama to promote its upcoming conference in that city.

In an effort to follow up on earlier posts, LOVE IN THE RUINS challenged the atheists to put up a billboard critical of Islam and not just Christianity. To their credit, the above advertisement insults everybody (note the cresent, representing Islam).

Of course, the cowards put it up in Alabama. Huntsville, Alabama is probably about 90% Evangelical Protestant Christian. There ain't many Muslims in Alabama! Why not put this up across the street from a Mosque! (Better yet, hold your conference in a Muslim country and see what happens).

Saudis Accuse Israel of Using Vultures to Spy

According to several Israeli blogs, Saudi officials are accusing "the Zionist entity" of using vultures equipped with tracking devices from Tel Aviv University to spy on them. A few months back when a shark attacked a Russian tourist in Egypt, Egyptian officials accused Israel of training sharks to attack tourists to damage the Egyptian tourist trade.

Egyptian Clerics Want Errors in Printing Koran to be Punished

A group of Egyptian clerics is proposing that accidental errors in printing the Koran be made a felony punishable by 15 years in prison.

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast Day of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. After being widowed, Saint Elizabeth converted to Catholicism and founded an order of nuns.


O God, whose blessed Son became poor that we through His poverty might be rich: Deliver us, we pray thee, from an inordinate love of this world, that, inspired by the devotion of thy servant Elizabeth Ann Seton, we may serve thee with singleness of heart, and attain to the riches of the age to come; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Holy Name of Jesus

Eternal Father, You gave to Your incarnate Son the holy name of Jesus to be the sign of our salvation: Plant in every heart, we pray, the love of Him who is the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

(Source: 1979 BCP).

Litany of St. Michael the Archangel

Let us pray to St. Michael for protection from evil in the new year. Thanks to Lisa Graas for posting this.

Epiphany of the Lord

O God, by the leading of a star You manifested Your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know You now by faith, to Your presence, where we may see Your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Source: 1979 BCP p.214

Mary Mother of God

On this first day of the year, the Church honors Our Lady, the Blessed Mother of God.

FROM THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS:

Father, source of light in every age, the virgin conceived and bore Your Son who is called Wonderful God, Prince of Peace. May her prayer, the gift of a mother's love, be Your people's joy through all ages. May her response, born of a humble heart, draw Your Spirit to rest on Your people. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Welcome to 2011

Already this year, North Korea has threatened "a nuclear holocaust" and a Church in Egypt was bombed by Islamic extremists. Welcome to the future!