THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A CONSERVATIVE CATHOLIC

Lying has always been considered horribly sinful, in Old Testament and in New. We are not supposed to give false witness against our neighbor, but fellow Catholics do this all the time, while defending this vehemently. They're very confused.

It is very disturbing that the man elected to the highest office in the land is an inveterate, continual and bald-faced liar and many  Catholics defend his lies, without even bothering to try and ascertain the Truth. I find it shocking, especially since most Catholics that I know who voted for him only did so because there is a chance he will reverse Roe v. Wade with his choices for Supreme Court Justices. I doubt that will happen, but I certainly understand why some would take a chance on him, hoping that he WOULD follow through.

My problem is that I am a convert and I learned my religion at the knee of the desert fathers and mothers, the mystics and saints of the church. I read myself into the church, while the flesh-and-blood church bears little resemblance to the early church, or even to the present-day convents. The mother superior of a Carmelite convent warned me that I would have a hard time adjusting to parish life, having spent a lot of time in a Hindu convent and being accustomed to the mystical contemplative life.

Oh, how I wish I could hide in some out-of-the-way skete, but I'm physically not able. I NEED the world and its medicines, wheelchairs and scooters, but coming into contact with the sickness of our church has made me want to cry for IT much more than I would ever cry for myself.

WHERE is the Catholic faith I read about in the Hindu convent? Where is the faith for which I left my monastic life behind?

Another thing I see, almost daily, is that many Catholics are confused about politics. They imagine that there is such a thing as a "liberal" Catholic or a "conservative" Catholic when, in fact, there is no such thing. "Liberal" and "Conservative" are POLITICAL terms that have nothing whatsoever to do with Catholicism, which is not a political party. Why don't people know this? It is confusing to me.

Someone actually wrote me today and told me (on Facebook) that being a liberal is sinful! The fact of the matter is that there are aspects of each political orientation that are sinful and neither one is better than the other. It shocked me, though, that someone actually thinks such a confused thought, conflating religion with politics.

If politics was the solution to the world's ills, Jesus would have come as an earthly king, instead of a poor dirty kid, born in a stable and held in the animal's feeding trough. His whole life, he worked with his adopted father, Joseph, in hands-on physical labor.

The liberal ideology wants to allow mothers to kill their babies with abortion. Conservative ideology kills the poor, the sick and the old by removing government programs that help them. Liberals kill them fast and young. Conservatives kill them old and slow. Each is bad.  In fact, the liberals don't FORCE anyone to have an abortion, whereas the conservatives DO force economic policies that kill vulnerable populations, so perhaps it is the conservatives that are the sinful ones. What about THAT? 

Conservative economic policies benefit the rich and squash the poor, creating the perfect environment for lots of abortions because babies are expensive. Conservatives don't like to pay for other people's babies. They don't want to pay to abort them, and they don't want to pay to raise them. Conservatives do not like babies unless their parents are wealthy and never need help. This is why the conservatives don't follow through with promises to make abortion illegal again. They don't want to pay for other people's babies.

Catholics who identify primarily as Republicans and/or conservative dislike paying for other people's babies so much that they sometimes forget the church's longstanding proscription against contraception and end up "disagreeing with the church" about it. They want the poor people to have access to contraception so they don't have to pay for the babies of the poor. Artificial contraception is not pro-life and cannot be condoned in a faithful Catholic life. It is "inherently evil," according to Holy Mother Church.

According to the Catechism, a man having a vasectomy is as sinful as a woman having an abortion. Having a vasectomy is "intrinsically evil" and must never be done, "no matter how good the reason." How many people KNOW this?  How many Catholics are using vasectomies and other forms of artificial contraception, on the one hand, and loudly decrying abortion on the other?  A man cannot serve two masters. You are either pro-life or you are not. You can't cut it in half and say it is alright to frustrate God's generative power on the one hand, but not on the other. Are you open to life or not?

Every single time a program comes on the air, whether the television of the radio, and it's about "pro life," the only thing discussed is abortion. What a sad state of affairs. It seems that only the unborn are alive, in the minds of some people.

Republicans, in fact, do not want the government to help ANYONE who is vulnerable: the sick, the disabled, the poor. They do not want any social programs. They talk about "free markets" and "choices," but the poor, disabled and elderly do not HAVE any choices. They don't have enough money to have choices, especially if Social Security and Medicare are turned into voucher programs that we have to use to purchase needed services from for-profit businesses instead of not-for-profit Medicare? How is that going to work, exactly?

So - back to the man who called me sinful because he imagined that I am one of them damn lubruls. The arrogance of certain conservatives who impugn the character of people whose economic policies run more toward the liberal side, is a terrible sin in itself. Arrogance is pride, and pride goeth before a fall.

In matter of fact, I am neither liberal nor conservative. I am CATHOLIC. I am pro-life. I am against abortion. I am in favor of social programs. You cannot pin me down to any political orientation because I am not a political animal. I am CATHOLIC. Neither Democrat nor Republican will satisfy my yearning for a world in which life is honored, celebrated, supported and held up to God with a grateful HUZZAH!

I pray that all my Catholic brothers and sisters will actually study their faith and stop reading the twisted opinions of priests and others who've become obsessed with abortion and Republican trickle-down economics that has NEVER worked. There is more than one way to kill a person, and abortion is just one. It's a terrible thing. I wish it was illegal, but being pro-life requires more of me than simply being against abortion. LIFE is an enormous topic.

Being PRO-LIFE means being PRO-PLANET and environmentally savvy and caring. It means taking care of animals properly. It means caring about my neighbor to the extent that I want him to live as well as I do. Being PRO-LIFE means being PRO-CREATION, and using the creative gifts that God has showered upon me, especially in a spirit of worship of Him. PRO-LIFE is making chaplets for my friends who pray in front of the abortion clinics. PRO-LIFE is making hats for the homeless who refuse to shelter under a roof, even during the coldest nigiht. PRO-LIFE is feeding a hungry guy - even one who reeks of alcohol. PRO-LIFE is guarding our food supply from dangerous chemicals and crazy DNA experiments (like putting fish genes into tomatoes so they don't freeze). Being PRO-LIFE means protecting the water supply for all peoples and demonstrating against the fracking pipeline that risks the safety of the water of the indigenous peoples. Being PRO-LIFE means being AGAINST CAPITAL PUNISHMENT unless there is absolutely no other way to protect society against a violent predator. Being PRO-LIFE means treating domestic and wild animals with kindness AND RESPECT . 

I'd also like to see the wages increased so that families can afford to have as many children as they want, and mothers can afford to stay home and raise them. THIS is pro-life also. Wages have been kept artificially low for more than 40 years now. When I was working, I saw my income go DOWN over the years, while my responsibilities and my bills increased. Now, wage reform, in addition to being a LIBERAL economic idea is ALSO a PRO-LIFE idea. Am I sinful for being in favor of this liberal idea that I believe will result in fewer abortions and more big families? Nope. HUGE topic.  HUGE.

Poor medical care kills the poor, who die at least 10 years sooner than wealthy people. Why is no one up in arms about that?  I will answer that. Because some Catholics have conflated Catholicism with Republicanism. Republicans hate social programs and, especially these days, want to privatize everything so that everyone has to fight for every ounce of life. Survival of the fittest, is what it boils down to.

In an economic system in which only the strongest survive, the old, the sick and the disabled are naturally the losers and die off. Jesus would never approve of this.

Every time we get into a dialog about social programs, the know-nothings pipe up and equate social programs with socialism and claim that the liberals, and therefore the Democrats, are socialists. It's another LIE. Social programs have the SAME relation to socialism as Social programs has to ice cream socials. Socialism is characterized by the OWNERSHIP OF ALL BUSINESS BY THE GOVERNMENT.  Social programs are common to MANY different types of government that have nothing to do with socialism. (If you didn't learn this in High School, folks, Google is your friend. Hell...break out the dictionary,, for cryin' out loud.)

The real problem we have is that our social programs come nowhere near supplying the needs of the poor, 97% of which are not able bodied and cannot work. All of Donald Trumps blabber about jobs is not going to help the 47 million people in our country who are poverty stricken and living on entitlement programs. Notice...they are STILL poor, even though they've put money into the program their whole lives.

The reason why the social programs do not supply all our needs is that the rich do not pay their fair share. The normal wage earner pays up to 17% of their salaries into the Social Security fund, whereas the rich people pay less than a fraction of 1% because of the CAP on contributions into the fund. Social Security contributions stops for every cent a person earns over $116,000.00 a year! This robs the fund of MILLIONS of dollars of income and is THE reason why we are running a little shy of funds...in addition to the fact that both Democrats and Republicans have stolen money from the fund every year.

If the social programs were run in the same way as they are run in other countries, there would be no problem. America is the only civilized country that doesn't take care of its poor. Now isn't that revolting? The reason why is that the Republicans put up a fuss every time the democrats try to take care of the poor, every time they try to raise the minimum wage, every time they try to pass a bill that helps the sick, the disabled and the elderly.

Isn't it more Christian to take care of the population of a country, to clothe the naked, feed the hungry and visit the prisoner? How can Catholics ally themselves with a party or an ideology that doesn't believe in doing what Jesus asked of us.

It is a cop-out to claim that "Jesus never said you had to force someone to help the poor."  Well, He also didn't say we should force people to pay taxes.  Oh, wait...never mind. He DID say to pay to Cesar what is Cesar's.

The Republican party is the enemy of the poor, the sick, the elderly and the disabled, but that Catholic man called me "sinful" because I have liberal economic ideas? Isn't that backwards and upside down?

The happiest countries in the world, self reported, are places like Denmark, where the taxes are high, and the social programs are adequate to care for the population. It would seem that we do not care about our people at all, in comparison to these countries. CLEARLY, having social programs WORKS for these countries, whereas trickle-down theories have never worked in any ANY countries. The money doesn't trickle down. It stays on the top, with the fat cats. Trickle-down theory is what dictators use.

So, our social programs do not work very well, due to the selfishness of the wealthy and those people who identify as conservatives, above and beyond whatever devotion they claim for Christianity, but there are some conservatives who are sincerely Catholic who recognize the defects in our current system and who step forward to fill in the gaps to the best of their abillities.

I know several of these saintly people, and it is because of them that I am alive.  They identify as conservatives, including the economic orientations, for the most part, but they step in and help the poor who have fallen through the cracks...like me.

They buy me organic food because I'm allergic to pesticides and pesticides give me asthma attacks. They've bought me computers, such as the laptop I am currently using, and even my service dog owes his life to one such earth-bound angel. These are Catholics who walk the talk and who come forward with kindness and generosity in the face of social programs that do not provide life-supporting funds. Not everyone is as lucky as I have been. 

These are the only conditions under which Republican economic ideas can begin to work, and that is if every Republican were to take on one person such as myself who has fallen through the cracks. There are 47 million of us. Can we depend upon the Republicans to come forward and take care of all of us? 97% of us are elderly, disabled, children, or the working poor.

In my mind, allowing for social programs is far more reliable when dealing with the number of poor people we currently have in this country, Trickle down economics has never worked. It is a theory that HAS FAILED but to which many are devoted. 

Does this mean I am "sinful" because I do not believe in this conservative theory? Obvious not.

I would like to ask my Christian brothers and sister to STOP identifying as liberals or conservatives, democrats or republicans, and begin to really identify as CATHOLIC people...because you cannot identify as both. You cannot serve two masters. Either you are Catholic, and you support all Catholic theology, or you are a liberal or a conservative and you only support SOME of the Catholic faith.

Secondly, you need to stop identifying OTHER people as either liberals or conservatives because it's a lie for many of us.

Silver Rose

THE CHAIR OF PETER, MODERNISM, AND THE LAITY

the chair of St. Peter in Rome

I would like to take a moment to clarify that, just because I have written lately that modernism has infected the Holy Catholic Church and we DO have a number of clerics spouting heretical ideas, and some living in luxury in palatial mansions, this does not mean that I think we should abandon Holy Mother Church. To the contrary, as Michael Voris recently said, we need to "step it up." What is meant by that? We can't sit around mooning about how much we looooove Jesus, batting our eyelashes and sighing over our great love for Him or, in the alternative, stomp out in a huff because the administrators of the faith are not protecting it and propagating it.

The Church is in crisis, and we have to get busy. Yes, we have to be busybodies. We have to actively energize our own faith and the faith of others. We have to study, pray and preach The Truth until Jesus comes again. We can no longer sit back in the pews and soak up the holiness and knowledge from the guy at the altar. There are some fabulous priests in the Catholic Church, probably some very holy ones, but there are a lot of guys at the altar whose Catholic education is faulty, or who disagree with aspects of the faith, or who have just lost their zeal. Some are struggling with ill health that would sideline someone working in the secular world, but they keep plugging away, delivering lukewarm homilies because they're exhausted.

Some priests work long past retirement age, pouring themselves out for the church because we aren't getting enough priestly candidates and/or the candidates that we ARE getting, many of them, are homosexuals intent on changing the church's teaching about this type of sin. Holy priests see this state of affairs and can't bear to remove their orthodox voice from the mix, and I am grateful for them.

The congregation is not an audience. Mass is not another piece of entertainment. We are participants in the mass, just as much as the guy at the altar. We are responsible for the faith and for our own education in it. We can't turn it off like a television show that gets boring. We don't change the channel for another faith because this one is too taxing. We don't throw up our hands in despair because "it's not our job" to help correct the errors in the church. It IS our job. We just have to do the right things in the right way. Most of all, we have to be prepared for backlash, and a lot of it.

We are not alone, however. The Holy Spirit is with us. The current batch of schismatic, heretic, and/or greedy prelates will be taken care of by Christ's church, in time. Sometimes it takes a long time, but I trust The Lord's Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, established by Jesus Christ himself upon "the rock" - Saint Peter - the first Pope. I will not leave it, even when the behavior of some of its ersatz leaders is alarming. Their behavior is not the fault of the religion, which is perfect. It is perfect because it came from Jesus Christ.

Christ infused His Church with authority, responsibility for souls, and with grace. He transmitted something real when he gave his breath upon the disciples. The faith came directly from Jesus. The church is administered by sinners like you and I. Of COURSE some of them are going to fall off the rails and land in a ditch on occasion. They're human. We have to lift them up, not stand at the sidelines saying, "Tsk, tsk, he had such promise!" They need our prayers and our voices, but we must have informed, educated voices that ring with the Truth of Christ.

Satan has always attacked the Catholic Church, from both within and without, yet it has endured for 2,000 years. The Catholic Church will prevail, even against the "gates of Hell." Jesus promised he would be with us until the end of time. Time has not ended, so He is still here, and I take comfort in that. I pray for his guidance in the steps that I take.

As long as I continue to study and practice my faith, I should be inoculated against the erroneous messages that come from some of the clergy. I will know my faith and I will recognize when I am hearing something else, and I can simply dismiss the crazy talk and stick to the Truth, while I pray for the church and for these misguided men. Sometimes I write about this process on this blog, but I wish to be clear that my intention is to be completely faithful to the Holy Mother Church and her magisterium and that I recommend that we remain respectful to the positions that these men hold while at the same time ordering our minds to the True Faith.

Yes, The Church may be in crisis at the moment, but it has always fought Satan in one guise or another. Satan would love nothing more than for us to become discouraged and abandon the faith because the discord and disobedience of those that should know better has reached a crescendo, but that isn't right. We, the true believers, are faithful to the church that Jesus started and we will not abandon it. We will study, pray and preach the Truth until Jesus comes again. We are to participate in the work of keeping the True Faith alive.

In order to know the faith, what it teaches and why it teaches it, I have previously recommended that we study as much as we can. There is so much misinformation flying around the media and in the parishes, you pretty much have to conduct an independent course of study, unless you are lucky enough to have access to a good educational system. I am poor and disabled, so I have to do what I can within the boundaries of my abilities.

In service of this goal, I am giving you a link to a list of recommended books to read and to keep in one's library as resource material. These are in addition to The Holy Bible, The Catechism of the Catholic Church, and Papal Encyclicals that are available on the Vatican website. This list includes the early fathers and mothers of the church, the doctors of the church, and some saints.

I have read many of these books, years ago, but do not currently have them in my library and wish to read them again and to make use of them when writing my blog, which is why I initially started this list.  I would like to share it with you, in case there are any offerings on it that you've not heard of. Perhaps some of us can read these books together and compare notes. Let's see how it goes.

You may find this list HERE

God bless you,

Silver Rose Parnell
(c) Copyright 2015
All rights reserved

AMERICA'S THUG CULTURE

Cars blocking emergency exit

I have recently noticed that people are regularly parking in front of the only emergency exit on the property where I live, placing their fat, toadish SUVs right on top of the red cross-hatching and directly in front of the signs that say NO PARKING - FIRE EXIT.

When I first approached the new apartment manager about this safety issue almost a month ago, she was outside with her dog, which was not on a leash and which was wildly chasing after my little poochon who, though normally quite calm and dog-friendly, was cowering and trying to escape. She said she didn't know who was parking there, but I was later told that several of those cars belonged to her family and/or friends. Indeed, the very next morning, those same cars were lined up on the OTHER side of the parking lot, this time blocking all of the garages of the residents, giving the distinct impression that she had, indeed, recognized that the cars had been noticed and she had told her family and friends to block the residents' garages instead of the emergency exit.

I tend to be someone who follows the rules and I am civic minded. I won't typically make a big fuss over an issue that is strictly personal to myself, but if the matter is one which affects a class of protected persons, such as the elderly or the disabled, I am more inclined to speak up.

Reporting a problem that impacted the health and safety of all the tenants seemed a natural thing to do. Several weeks went by, however, and the cars continued to park there, night after night.

One morning, I happened to see the owners of one of the vehicles, with husband and children in tow, climbing into one of the little SUVs, and I respectfully asked to speak with her, telling her that it was not legal to park in the fire lane and was dangerous. In a colorful, coarse and loud manner, she told me off and claimed that the office manager had given her permission to park there.

[It is ironic that I recognized her as the daughter of one of our residents who stole from me when she visited my house, despite my having been incredibly generous toward her. That daughter has been sleeping on an expensive day bed and sheets that I gave her mother a couple years ago, and now she was giving me the ugly face, yelling at me like a fishwife. I never have believed in that adage that "what goes around, comes around." Usually, the opposite is true.]

Safety issues have become important to me since becoming disabled. I always need to know that I can GET OUT if I need to do so. Having tried to handle it with the woman directly (and failing), I made a detour to the apartment office to follow up with the manager on our previous conversation.

The first thing I noticed was the manager's sullen expression when I walked into the office and gave her a cheery "good morning," using her name and smiling. I asked her, "Remember a few weeks ago when we discussed the people parking in front of the emergency exit?"

She strongly asserted that we definitely did not have any such conversation.  This comment came just a few days after her telling me that an email I sent her asking for a work order was not received. I was beginning to see a pattern of lies from this woman. Not a good sign.

First, I tried to see if I could disarm her obvious hostility by expressing concern. I asked her if the new job was stressing her out. She just got more irate. There was no saving the conversation, which went downhill, with her lobbing sarcastic, demeaning and insulting comments at a very puzzled little hermit. She was talking very fast, interrupting every sentence I tried to get out of my mouth, and acting like an obnoxious teenager on the playground...the kind that used to rat their hair up really high on their head so they could hide knives in it.

Her perspective was that (a), it was none of my business; (b) she didn't think it was any big deal (she called it "petty"); and, (c) there aren't enough parking spaces for the number of cars people own (and therefore it was OK.)

The woman got nastier and nastier, and I could see there was no sense in continuing the interaction. I had run up against someone highly influenced by America's thug culture once again. 

Thug culture has a "value structure" that is completely narcissistic and runs counter to Christian values. Thugs will never admit to doing anything wrong and will go to great lengths to cover up any error they may have made. Apologies are simply not in their wheelhouse, and lies are their stock in trade. They use high levels of hostile behavior to mask their own crimes. They are highly prejudice against religious folks. They may tattoo huge pictures of our blessed mother on their bodies or even claim to be Christian, but these are cultural constructs and are not reliable indicators of any faith in the theology of the Christian church.  Rather, they employ religious imagery as magical talismans meant to get them what they want out of life. Praying to escape punishment for crime would be typical, not prayer for assistance in giving up crime. Their God is a vending machine, and prayer is the currency. If they don't get what they want, they'll get mad at God also because even God is supposed to revolve around them, like a satellite. In the more extreme cases, a member of the thug culture will go on the attack against someone who has discovered some wrongdoing of theirs. It is all about them.

How did this culture evolve?

The first thing I think about when the topic of thug culture comes up, aside from nearly everyone having a chip on their shoulder, is the incredible difference in music from my generation to theirs.  The music of my youth was all about peace and love, respect and gentleness, which is a far cry from today's disgusting thug music. It can't even be rightly called music, since the snippets of videos I have seen feature men talking to a beat while mostly naked women pose and dance in revolting positions meant to simulate sex acts. The words are primitive, violent and offensive. Women are called whores, and enemies are meant to be shot and killed. The imagery is filthy, dark, and depressing.

The "fashions" are the next thing that come to mind.  Men who wear their pants below their rump, with their underwear showing, are dressing in a style originally adopted in prisons where it was code for "I am available for anal sex." The women wear clothing that is as tight and revealing as possible. The DO dress like whores, who likewise are advertising sexual availability like animals do. I can tell you, I am just fed up with having to see mammoth exposed breasts and skin-tight clothing sticking to every roll and crevice whenever I go shopping in one of the local stores. It offends my eyes.

I think back to my childhood and to the months I spent in "charm school" which was the poor woman's version of finishing school. They taught us how to be ladies, how to walk and talk, how to improve ourselves and aim for the highest standard of carriage and behavior. I even learned to model on a catwalk, as a practice for developing grace of movement.

We did not learn how to twerk, pole dance, or lap dance in the charm schools, finishing schools and cotillions.  These dances, that have their origin in the sex trade and strip clubs, are being widely taught these days. Whereas we were encouraged to better ourselves, elevate our minds, and refine our behavior, thug culture directs the mind to the most venial, base and animalistic strata.

Instead of turning out refined, elegant, cultured and intelligent ladies, thug culture turns out grotesque, damaged and empty women. These women, who live on the plane of anger and hostility, have plenty to be angry about. They must compete with other women for who can be the raunchiest, in order to capture the attention of a male and avoid spending the rest of their lives alone. They know that if they do not give sex soon and freely, the men will quickly move on to another woman who will. Even if they DO pony up the sex on demand, the man may still leave them, since thug culture encourages men to put a lot of notches on the bed post.

The dismantling of the structure of moral life that was a natural part of society for thousands of years is, in large part, responsible for the rise of thug culture. When the protestant church abandoned its traditional stance against contraception in 1930, it was the beginning of the destruction of the family, which is the beginning of the destruction of society as a whole. Shortly thereafter, when the birth control pill began to be distributed, all connection between sex, children and the family was severed. This perversion of the intent of sexual activity has resulted in a perverted "culture."

This perversion of the structure of society caused the entire edifice to collapse. The perception of the purpose of one's life shifted from an awareness of one's place in and responsibility to the larger community, to one which encouraged selfishness and the pursuit of sensory pleasures and comforts.

In America's thug culture, everything is backward. The safety and welfare of society at large has taken a back seat to the individuals' personal convenience. It is perfectly OK to cause a dangerous situation that could result in the loss of lives to other people, if blocking the only emergency exit gets you closer to your apartment, or the apartment of your friend or relative. Parking in front of someone else's garage is also perfectly OK because your needs take precedence over the needs of anyone else. (I can't tell you how many times I have missed a doctor's appointment, missed mass or some other appointment because some idiot has parked their car in front of my garage, around which are multiple, blaring signs that say "NO PARKING" and "RESERVED FOR GARAGE NUMBER 6."

Thug culture has no compassion for anyone else, unless that compassion serves a purpose that benefits the individual. Thug culture is the more mild version of straight up sociopath.

Thousands of people are using their dead grandmother's parking placards so they can take handicap parking, rather than having to use their perfectly good legs and walk, thus causing the legitimately handicapped people to have to go home without getting their shopping done because they CAN'T walk that far.  This has happened to me. On the rare occasions when I have caught the culprit in the act, no one has the good sense to be ashamed of themselves.  Nope. The thug culture rules, and I am treated to the most disgusting language.

Not long ago, here in Albuquerque, a number of employees of the Department of Transportation were caught on camera by one of Larry Barker's "stings", as they parked in handicapped parking spots in downtown, where parking is very expensive in the lots and very scarce on the streets.  Imagine - the agency that is supposed to administer this kind of thing is full of people who flout the law, using phony, stolen or "borrowed" placards. When this intrepid journalist confronted them, they behaved as if HE was doing something wrong.

This attitude of personal entitlement has seeped into every part of our culture. Even the people whose job it is to help others less fortunate actually rob from them on a regular basis. I will never forget taking a car load full of high quality household items, jewelry and clothing into one of the local "charity" thrift stores, only to find out that NONE of it ever made it onto the floor.

When I called them on it, even the administrator refused to do anything about it, defending her employees despite being notified of the theft. In fact, the administrator was nasty toward me.  I was the bad person because I had brought it to her attention.  Perhaps the administrator was part of it.  I can picture her, rifling through the boxes and bags, claiming all the nice things for herself instead of putting it in the shop where customers would notice that good items were stocked and where business would improve as a result.  It is practically Dickensian.  I am reminded of various scenes in Victorian novels in which the dead are practically stripped naked so that their shoes, their jewelry, their money, and anything else of value can be taken right off the still-warm body.

Without exception, every time I try to report something that is illegal, dangerous, and/or criminal, the persons who SHOULD be saying, "thanks for letting me know. I will take care of that," instead defends the practice and finds fault with me in a hostile and often vulgar way.

Many people will participate in the crimes of others by actively hiding the actions of criminals. In the last apartment building where I lived, one of the women told me she had seen someone bury a handgun in the garden beneath her window and then come back for it a few days later. She didn't call the police, even though this guy could have gotten into the apartment and held us all up or killed us. She told me that to call the police just wasn't done.

In thug culture, you are supposed to protect the criminal.  If you follow the rules, respect the police, and report crime, you're a rat, the one who is "wrong" in this scenario. The "wrong guy" is the person with a sense of moral and ethical responsibility. The "wrong guy" cares about the health and safety of other people, including the disabled, the poor, the baby in the womb and the frail elderly. It is just crazy.

In thug culture, there is no moral imperative. No standard. Whatever the thug has to do to "win" in any situation, they will do, without any regard for the condition of their soul. Lie, cheat, steal...whatever. 

As far as I can see, thug culture spreads across all socio economic boundaries and is not limited to any ethnic group.

The religious leadership is certainly not free of this dark tendency to sacrifice others at the altar of one's own satisfaction and convenience!  Even in the rarified upper echelons of the Catholic hierarchy, I am learning that some bishops and cardinals are living like princes in exclusive, luxurious residences crammed with fine art and jet-setting around the world while scores of parishes are closing for lack of funds. They're living in luxury, thanks to the nickels of the poor being thrown into the collection plate. It is not what Jesus had in mind when he told the young man to sell all he owned, give it to the poor and follow him.  He did NOT say, "Call the moving men, have all your possessions packed up, and hire them to follow us all over the Holy Land while I preach...and make sure you've got the wine and cheese in a refrigerated compartment. I may get a bit peckish."

Cardinal Donald Wuerl

In a religion that is, supposedly, a religion of the poor, started by God who came into the world as a poor person with no entitlement, where the tradition is one of poverty, chastity and obedience, prelates like Cardinal Wuerl who lives in the penthouse of a building on Embassy Row, the most expensive neighborhood in Washington, D.C., might as well be in one of those rap videos where the gangster is peeling off dollar bills and bragging about how he's "gonna make it rain up in here."

Cardinal Wuerl lives in the 3rd floor penthouse of this

exclusive building that is valued at 43 million dollars

(photo from Churchmilitant.com)

http://www.churchmilitant.com/news/trending/category/14/cdl.-burke

The taxes ALONE for Cardinal Wuerl's residence were more than $67,000 in 2013. My entire yearly income in 2013 was less than $18,000, and I used to fret about not contributing more to my church.  I have a different perspective now.

Cardinal Wuerl's previous home, where he lived for nearly 20 years when he reigned over Pittsburgh, was a 39-room Morewood Heights mansion that "was filled with antiques, sacred art, Oriental rugs and elegant furniture from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries." (quote from Church Militant)

39 room Mansion - home to Wuerl for almost 20 years

Thanks to the Vatileaks scandal, we now know that Cardinal Burke's residence is more than 4,000 square feet and Cardinal Turkson's is more than 3,000 square feet.

I am just flabbergasted at these numbers. Americans, who tend to lionize the rich and hate the poor, often have no problem with these religious "executives" living like kings while the peasants scramble for bread.  I admit that, when I first heard of the flack about the expensive residences of some bishops and cardinals, I dismissed it, not realizing how extreme is the problem. I live in a 675 square foot apartment, so I imagined that the prelates were being criticized for a 5 bedroom house or something like that. When I learned the extent of the problem, I was more than a little upset.  First of all, the damn unfairness of it; to suck the life out of the church while we are going downhill financially and parishes are closing all over the place is just awful. I am quite sure that Jesus is NOT pleased about this situation.

I want to make it clear that I have no problem whatsoever with a beautiful, grand church building. I love them.  Churches are accessible to everyone. We can ALL enjoy the beauty of the place, the architecture, the fine paintings and statutes. This is a form of public art that lifts the spirit and sets the mind on the highest plane. A cardinal's personal residence is another thing entirely. Unlike a church, where I can become a member and sit and enjoy the surroundings during the mass and at other times, none of us will have access to the cardinals private residence.  Unlike a church, where I can just walk into it any time I like, I can't walk into the Cardinal's private residence and enjoy his artwork, comfy couches and delicious food. It is for his personal enjoyment.

So, I have wandered from cars blocking emergency exits, to handicapped parking, to stealing from the poor in small and great ways. What is the unifying factor in all this?  I will tell you what. SELFISHNESS. We have enshrined selfishness in our culture and have made graven images of ourselves which we worship daily. From the moment the Christian world gave up the high ground on morality, some time in the early 20th century, Americans have rapidly slid down that slippery slope of virtue, landing at the bottom of the heap, a bunch of malignant narcissists, a mere 85 years after the protestants reversed their position on contraception. It only took one generation to become a pagan nation and hand the whole thing over to Satan.

What is the solution?  As for myself, all I can do is write my little blog and pray, but I have an idea as to what is needed, and that is for the church to return to its authentic self. We started this whole mess when we let go of the moral reins and let the whole thing slide into a muddy ditch. I am kind of mad about it, on a personal level, because I was born into this insanity and it took me years to shake off the self-centered and promiscuous culture and recognize it for what it was. I had been raised by two religion-hating hedonists and then walked out into a world similarly inclined. How was I supposed to learn about Jesus and His church?

We have to go back to where we started. We need to preach and live and believe in the faith that Jesus gave us, which is the OPPOSITE of selfishness.

The very first thing that needs to be done is to de-Protestanize the faith. Something happened somewhere along the line where the Catholic Church began to copy the protestant church for some reason I cannot fathom. Some people blame Vatican II, but I can't render an opinion on that, since I wasn't around when Vatican II came down the pike, and I have not studied it in detail.

All I know is that the churches here in Albuquerque, many of them, look like Baptist meeting halls or empty Protestant churches. Statues, kneelers, and beautiful art and architecture has been replaced with some of the ugliest buildings I have ever seen. Some look like convention centers or theatre in the round. It is appalling. The music is dreadful. The atmosphere lacks reverence. The reserved host has been shuttled away from the altar. I could go on and on.

Most important, however, is that the Catholic Church is chock full of people who do not believe in the faith and, as such, should go elsewhere until and unless they experience a conversion of heart and mind that results in a sincere belief in the Catholic Church and the recognition that Jesus instituted it and gave power and authority to the Apostles to help them bring forth what he taught them and that Jesus, true to his promise, is with us "until the end of time."

Those who will not or cannot believe in the faith should go elsewhere. All those protestants in Catholic clothing, should just get out instead of trying to bend the faith to their sinful desires. Anyone, whether professional religious or lay person, who has decided that they know better than the doctrines of the church, and the Code of Canon Law, should rethink their position with great humility and, if they cannot repent, they should leave the church and go to the church they can believe in. Don't get me wrong. I am staunchly Catholic and I pray EVERY DAY that all people will become converted to Jesus Christ and to His Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, but it does no one any good to ensconce non-believing heretics in the pews or the pulpit, and especially not in the hierarchy. You're just putting the wolf in the hen house when you do that.

When Pope Benedict was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he predicted that our church would have to become small again. It would have to become poor. I rather agree with him, because having a poor church is the only way to shake off the leeches that have attached themselves to it and are sucking it dry of all earthly resources.

The only salvation for the world is the Catholic church, but we cannot save the world if we do not believe and behave as authentic, faithful Catholics.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, before he became Pope Benedict XVI

Cardinal Ratzinger prophesies:

"The church will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning.  She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes...she will lose many of her social privileges...As a small society, [the Church] will make much bigger demands on the initiative of her individual members...

"It will be hard-going for the Church, for the process of crystallization and clarification will cost her much valuable energy.  It will make her poor and cause her to become the Church of the meek...The process will be long and wearisome as was the road from the false progressivism on the even of the French Revolution - when a bishop might be thought smart if he made fun of dogmas and even insinuated that the existence of God was by no means certain...But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church.  Men in a totally planned world will find themselves unspeakably lonely.  If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty.  Then they will discover the little flock of believers as somethign wholly new.  They will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, an answer for which they have always been searching in secret."
"The church will become small." from Faith and the future (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2009).

Please pray for the church and all its members, and remember that the Bible specifically speaks to this situation and tells us many times to warn the wicked:

"Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to a wicked person, "You will surely die," and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.  But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself." Ezekiel 3:17-19

In 1 Corinthians 5:9-13, we are urged to "Purge the evil person from your midst:"

"I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people, not at all referring to the immoral of this world or the greedy and robbers or idolaters, for you would then have to leave the world.  But I now write to you not to associate with anyone named a brother, if he is immoral, greedy, an idolater, a slanderer, a drunkard, or a robber, not even to eat with such a person. for why should I be judging outsiders? Is it not your business to judge those within? God will judge those outside. Purge the evil person from your midst."

It is time for us to get serious about our Catholic faith and realize that it is not our own little personal faith and our own little personal club with lovey-dovey Jesus at the head of a small table. Those of us who actually believe in the faith and who do our best to follow the commandments of Jesus, form the body of Christ. Each of us is not a little island on which our individual interpretations of scripture and tradition rule. This is why it is called the "Catholic" church. It is UNIVERSAL TRUTH.

We must overthrow this thug culture and save the world. We must do some hard things and stick to the definitive teachings of the last 2,000 years, even if the rest of the world hates us. We have let the world sink into this morass of debauchery, lies and selfishness. Now we have to resurrect the moral life of our people and drag them to high ground, if necessary. Take the high road, speak strongly, and don't let the thugs convince you that right is wrong and wrong is right. Resist Satan.

Silver Rose Parnell
(c) 2015 All rights reserved.

UPDATE:

On Friday, the 27th of November, one of the neighbors who lives near the emergency exit and had, apparently heard about the great fence flack, evidently had visitors. They were parked in front of his garage, where he customarily parks, and he decided to block the emergency exit on the other side of the parking lot.

 

That same evening, at 11:30 p.m., there was an SUV I had not seen before, parked in front of the emergency exit and, I kid you not, it was a FIREFIGHTER'S CAR. New Mexico license plate number 1017. It was too dark to take a photo. Even a firefighter doesn't give a crap about fire safety. This world is ridiculous.

SRP

LIBERAL CATHOLICISM

"Liberal Catholicism" is an oxymoron. That term is a conflation of a political orientation with the Catholic faith. It gives the impression that there are different types of Catholicism. This is a lie.  The doctrines of the Catholic faith are specific and unambiguous. They are laid out in detail in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. There is one Catholic faith.

If you disagree with the doctrines of the Catholic faith, you are not a "liberal Catholic," you are a protestant.

If you knowingly and deliberately mislead people into believing that the Catholic faith approves of things that are intrinsically evil, you are a heretic and an enemy of the faith. You are not a "liberal Catholic."

I dearly wish that none of us would use these terms "liberal" or "conservative" in relation to the Catholic faith, since it conveys the lie that the Catholic faith is a democracy. It isn't.

Silver Rose
(c) Copyright 2015

All rights reserved