Seriously... SERIOUSLY!?!?! Is this what we have forgotten...

There are a great many things wrong with the world. However, what is wrong in the world should not be in the Holy Catholic Church. Nevertheless, the Catholic Church is a divine institution entrusted to humanity. It is comprised of people who are fallible, though she herself is without defect because of the promise of the Holy Spirit. That being said, we as Catholics must be informed. "Informed?" you say, "About the sinfulness in the Church???" No!!! My point here is that we must be informed about why the Church is important in our lives. Only then can we understand the humanity in which the Church acts, and in which the Holy Spirit seeks to work - including you and I.

And, unfortunately, we must understand when men choose to work against the mission and teachings of the Church, and the destruction they cause in doing this. Only when we come to know how vital is the Catholic Church to the mission of Christ in the world, that all of his disciples "may be one, as [He] and the Father are one," then - and only then - will we have the love for God to help reform His Holy Bride. Faithful Catholics, it seems to me, are in one of two positions as the Bride of Christ - either 1) continuing to exercise and beautify ourselves for His return, or 2) making a destructive mess of ourselves (as a Church) so that we can fashion ourselves to be beautiful as we see beauty, and not as Christ has revealed how we can beautiful for him. Yes, humanity can be beautiful in the way we respond to God. But, at times, one wonders whether the "destroyers" within the Church even know what they are doing to the Mystical Body of Christ. Every baptized Christian is called to act in the Mercy and Mind of Christ. Yet, how can we come to reports like this:



This is very much along the lines of the report done by Michael Voris for Churchmilitant.TV about the CCHD, which can be found here. I am not one to leave the Church, nor to whine about such things (nor I hope are you, dear reader), rather, as this post aims to demonstrate, I hope to love the Church enough to help educate about the errors that go on, which ought not to.

It is love that compels us as Catholics, or at least it should. Nevertheless, there seems to be a rebellious and anti-catholic spirit that continues to manifest itself in various events and actions around the world. For example: sadly, one should be informed that, for one Diocese, public opinion seems to outweigh the need to Pray AND ACT for the Defense of Human Life:
For discussion's sake, can anyone else come to another conclusion?!? Read this document linked to that video and PLEASE inform me.

Jesus left two final tasks for the Church, well really four sub-tasks: 1) Go forth & Baptize all nations. 2) Teach them to observe all that i have commanded you. Notice, 1) Go, 2) Baptize, 3) Teach & 4) Observe. Inherent in the fourth sub-mission is to be faithful to both the Baptism we receive and, when we make that Apostolic Mission our own, AS WE SHOULD, to be observant of all that we have learned ourselves. This is where things like ignoring the Church's constant teaching on Hell, or Contraception, or Abortion, or the necessity of utilizing the Sacrament of Confession does not help to beautify the Church, but seeks to destroy the "veil" and "dress" which the Lord has left for us, as His bride. In my humble (yet educated) opinion, ignoring these teachings is tantamount to stomping on the ring which he has placed on the finger of the Church. Yes, it is that serious!

The point of this post is not to "destroy", but to inspire awareness that all is not well "Right here in River City!" We Catholics need to be informed of the things going wrong in the Church, and when we are, then the love we have for Him who has established this beautiful bride should encourage and challenge us to do our best to mend her "accoutrements" and her "actions" by what we do in our lives. We can not be those that destroy the faith and love of others for the Church. We must be the Saints that are the face of the Church in the world! As St Teresa of Avila pleaded for us to understand:

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks with
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.

The question, then, that we are left with is: Will we allow ourselves not just to be placed in his service, but rather will we SEEK OUT how to help in EVERY way possible that we can?

Nevertheless, we can not utilize evil or deceptive means to make the Church more beautiful. And to demonstrate that, as well as for a little "entertaining deceptiveness" (which may arguably be the only place where it can be acceptable), I leave you with the Music Man (one of my favorite musicals):

Character.....its not as hard as it looks...

Its interesting in a world where Syria has almost blown up into war that many argue it began with our President's comments regarding what would happen if Syria used chemical weapons. He said this:

On the one hand, I think it is interesting that President Obama saw necessary to give an ultimatum to Asad and his opponents, which could and may draw America into the conflict. On the other hand, and since this is not meant to be a political post, I do find it interesting that President Obama was consistent in his comments once those weapons had been utilized.

If nothing else, and here is the point of my post, one can say that at least he was consistent in what he said. Often times in our world it is very easy to give up on being consistent with what one has said. I think that often as modern people we think, "Well, who cares, really?" Thankfully, there are some who continue to understand that our integrity as human beings is what makes us distinctly more human.

For us Christians, this is particularly what we call "virtue." In virtue, we become more real and more who we are supposed to be in God's grace. Of course, it is not always easy, but in love many things are possible. Which leads me to a new advertisement by Guinness - yes, Guinness the Brewery. In a new ad, they are extolling what used to be known as manhood. Today, for many modern men, sexual conquest or a pragmatic approach to people seems to be prevalent. We know this from the number of abortions that overflow in our world today. Something like 11 every hour in the world!? Thankfully, the human spirit yearns to find real humanity, to become what we are supposed to be in this life. And I think I, and you if you are fan and of age, can certainly enjoy a Guinness with more gusto knowing that they are also promoting men to become virtuous, even if inadvertently:

Is there realy a Crisis in the Church?

There is so much to discuss in this program. There are two hours of material, there is a very real consideration of the state of the Church in America that is worth the time, if you are a serious Catholic who loves and is concerned for the Church.

Discussion in the comments would be VERY VERY welcomed.