Dude started pushing steel at age 44.  Forty-freakin’-four.
He’s 70, now.
And still at it.

I needed this, today.  More than a plate of tortilla chips and bowl of chili con queso I needed this.

And a human, is an ape, is a horse, is a dog, is a frog, is a worm, is an amoeba?

Yeah. Right.

“Look at me… I’m staging a ‘die-in’… but don’t ask me to go to jail, or anything…”

(precursor – this rant is directed first and foremost to Damian Goddard who hasn’t the balls to really love Christ THAT much.  It’s also directed SPECIFICALLY to those who have demeaned the actions and intentions of Mary Wagner who has courageously chosen to sacrifice herself for love… for TRUE love of Christ.  It is also directed at all those who think “marching” one day out of 365 is enough to cull the scourge that has marked our age.  I sincerely applaud those who steadfastly fight abortion!  And their great numbers will dot the lawn today.  This is directed at those in attendance who are queasy in their comfort.  Abortion is from Satan.  End.  Of.  Story.)

Just a quick note, folks.

I mean it.  I really do.

If not even a MENTION of Mary Wagner is uttered from the podiums of these Marches for Life, specifically the one that is underway today on the National Mall in Washington, DC,  I will be thoroughly disgusted.

If I hear one Catholic criticize another for busting out a Rosary in full view of the cameras and microphones and media, I may lose it.

I’m of the convicted believe we are fast approaching critical mass on this most demonic of topics, abortion.  How can this clock be turned back?  Simple marching?  Voting for the same old, same old neocon talking heads?

No.  I’m of the firm belief that desperate times call for… desperate measures?  Or, simply living out our faith?

I’d love to hop on the meme and hashtag bandwagon and post #JeSuisMaryWagner.  But the fact of the matter is, I’m too chicken-shit to follow in her simple, Christ-like footsteps.

That’s right, you read that correctly.

“Simple”.

‘Cuz I have to believe that when you love Jesus as much as she does – and I should know having visited her in prison – willfully suffering for love of Him and souls is exactly that.

Simple.

Pray for courage.  Pray for Mary Wagner.  Because Mary is certainly praying for us.

True heroism… true courage… in the mold of St. Joan of Arc.

Here’s another famous Charlie.

(And you can put the keyboard away, put down the pen, and stop before you even start with the “insensitive” blast… this has nothing to do with the poor souls who succumbed to demon Islam yesterday. This is about the word “Charlie” and how it has re-entered our cultural lexicon in a way that not even Shelley Hack’s Ocean Spray hairdo could. That’s it. That’s all.)

“They (Muslims) say: ‘No, we are not this, the Koran is a book of peace, it is a prophetic book of peace,’” he added.

Those were the words of Pope Francis. He did not call the Koran “a prophetic book of peace.”

Vatican II did. In so many words.

Nostra Aetate #3
“The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all- powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth,(5) who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God.”

The use of the term “inscrutable” is exceedingly worrisome because it proposes a newer yet Old Covenant relationship to God, bereft of any influence or mention of the factual Jesus Christ. There is no partiality to God. You can’t believe in God the Father, and the Holy Spirit while tossing out the Son. And to propose that an inscrutable understanding of God exists, as Vatican II proposes, is – putting it mildly – confusing.

But then, what did we hear from the lips of the pope last January? He told Muslims to cling to their Koran, and the faith their parents taught them. So, he may not have used those precise words in that recent chat with journalists on the way back home from Turkey. But he has proven time and again, in relation to other false religions, that he is a true child of the Second Vatican Council.

“Instead of stonewalling (no pun intended), the Vatican should once and for all really start investigating and extirpating the secret network revealed by former Commander Mäder.”

Rorate Caeli expounds on the latest news emanating from Rome.  And this story surrounding the dismissal of the Swiss Guard Commander, has a “queer” twist to it.

Now, how the hell are we supposed to evangelize when this putrescence would turn off even the most charitable, open-minded, Christ-seeking non-Catholic?

I dunno. Is there possibly a contextual interpretation to “proselytism is solemn nonsense” that I’ve been missing? Are the efforts of bringing people to the faith so seriously absurd, due to the wiles and whims of this wicked age, that it LITERALLY makes no sense?

A “Heaven Is For Real” follow-up. (BTHT (big-time hat-tip) to Neal Ford for the video.)

Let me be absolutely clear, yet again. My rant last night had absolutely nothing to do with “hating Protestants”. On the contrary, it is about loving Protestants enough to openly question the events of one Colton Burpo and his parents, with the hope that some are led to an investigation in what the Church has traditionally held and passed down to Her faithful throughout the ages.

My rant also had absolutely nothing to do with “hating Kathy Schiffer”. On the contrary, it is about loving Kathy enough to ask her to further discern the subject-matter through the lens of her Catholic faith. And to do so, even as I justly criticize her interviewing skills on the most important of worldly topics.

But I must say, I woke up this morning with the weirdest of feelings. I went to bed late, tossed and turned, can’t remember the dreams I had, and yet… woke up like I’d experienced a blue-ribbon night of sleep. I’m usually a little dim in the mornings, but I awoke with a sense of peace and clarity… and with my blog post from last night still on my mind.

And just to show that I don’t hate Protestants (while loathing Protestantism), I present to you a pretty solid video by a fellow named David Platt; a Southern Baptist pastor, who takes to task the Burpo phenomenon.

Now, let me clarify that I don’t subscribe to everything Platt states from a theological standpoint. For instance Platt, at the 3:30 mark, insinuates that Lazarus went to Heaven. Of course, that is an impossibility as Christ had not yet died on the Cross, thus opening the Gates. I would imagine Lazarus went to Limbo of the Patriarchs, which I’m sure would cause a stir with Platt. But the video merely shows that there are some Protestants who are closer to the truths of Christ’s Catholic Church than some Catholics who aim at only coddling Protestants who would flatly object to peers like Platt.

Hey.  This salvation thing?  We’re all in it together.  All of us.  And we’re simply not doing our job if we keep mum, for fear of upsetting the apple cart.

We must serve God first.

Catholic blogger Kathy Schiffer had an incredible opportunity fall to her; an interview with the boy who has allegedly sat on the lap of Jesus, and is the inspiration behind the movie “Heaven Is For Real”.

From the blog post,

“The Burpos were resigned to living their lives in accordance with the will of God, wherever He would take them. But things are complicated now, Sonja told me. Sure, they still live in the same house; Todd still pastors the same church, Crossroads Wesleyan. But now they have eight employees, and four attorneys; and their schedule includes frequent travel (such as the trip to Los Angeles to meet with me and other journalists, and a trip to New York City to appear on major media outlets).”

Don’t it give you the warm and fuzzies? Just like the story of Bernadette Soubirous. Or Lucia Dos Santos. Or Melanie Calvat. Simon Stock. Gemma Galgani…
…
….

I apologize for being facetious on such an important issue, but I’ve long been unable to buy into this story.

And then, this. When Colton tells the interviewer Kathy Schiffer that he will not become a pastor like his dad,

“That was my cue to say, “Well Colton, come on over to the Catholic Church!” But this was an interview, not a witnessing session; and his father and mother were sitting beside him, happy in the Christian church they ran. I said a prayer for the Burpos after my interview, asking God, if it be His will, to bring someone into their lives who would talk with them about the Catholic Church’s 2,000 years of continuity and consistent teaching.”

A “witnessing session”? Wha? This kid purports to have spoken to Jesus, and you don’t ask the kid if that wafer-y thingy that Catholics get all gushy about is REALLY and SUBSTANTIALLY Jesus?  The kid practically opened the door when he expressed concern for “the number of denominations”.  His dad is still “pastorin'”.  He’s basically unfolding an avenue to broach these theological issues.  And Schiffer steps off the rubber.  She didn’t want to turn it into a “witnessing session”.  Well, God forbid that happening eh?   But that’s fine.  After all,  “witnessing” would have been proselytizing to the kid. “Journalism” is asking the questions – even the tough ones! – that everyone wants answered.

I guess we’ll just have to wait.  Until then, more souls get sucked into the vortex of a kid who allegedly talked to Jesus.  And his Jesus has allegedly revealed absolutely nothing that would lead folk – including his own father – into the bosom of the Church that Christ Himself established.

Where’s Barbara Walters when you need her?

Who am I kidding?  “Wawa” wouldn’t have asked, either.