AnarchoCatholic: Musings of Ultramontane Liberals

The Catholic Church against the Modern State

Ryan McMaken of LRC describes the modern state as the ultimate instrument of human degradation and the Catholic response to its vile nature:

"The State does not possess its coercive power by magic, but by the consent and support of human beings who have given up on the individual and on God, and have turned to the State for security and salvation. In John Paul II and in Benedict XVI, however, we find critics of an institution they view as profoundly opposed to the ancient institutions of society which Christian civilization has long been founded upon. But, while their critiques of the State are eloquent, we must also know the objective measure of value in human society. If not the State, what? The objective measure is the individual person."

So the proper question remains, are we to be ruled by God or by men?

Putting God to the Test

In watching American media coverage of the recent Papal election of Pope Benedict XVI, I am reminded vividly of Matthew 4:5-7 when Satan fails to tempt Christ.  On these shows like Chris Matthew's Hardball and Tim Russert's Meet the Press we have Catholic hosts and guests who continually call for Christ's Vicar to change God's laws and put the Lord, God to the Test.  Like Satan's temptation on the parapet of the temple, these individuals try to invoke a "squaring of the circle", calling for God to undo the rationality of His creation to save His Son.  Satan was calling for God to undo the Law of Gravity.  Unorthodox Catholic media pundits are calling for God through Christ's Vicar to undo the Laws of Chastity by saying that contraception and abortion are not intrinsically evil.

On Meet the Press one pundit stated that every Sunday Catholics recite the Nicene Creed which makes no mention of issues American Catholics want to debate like abortion and birth control.  Au Contraire, the Creed precisely speaks against birth control and abortion when it exclaims, "We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord the Giver of life..."  When Catholics proclaim the dominion of the Lord the Giver of life, we are stating that man is not the giver nor taker of life.  Catholics are saying that His dominion is absolute and that contraception and abortion are contra the Holy Spirit, every time they recite the Creed.  Both contraception and abortion say, don't come Holy Spirit, we don't like what you bring.

We must pray for these pundits and point out to them that when they call for changing Catholic dogma they are violating the commandment of not putting the Lord God to the test.  A violation which is essentially a sin.

For more on Antichurch pundits within the Church see Pat Buchanan's latest:

"What Benedict XVI is telling the world and dissident Catholics is: It is not Christ's church that must change its teaching, it is you who must change your hearts."

Current Pope blamed for Bush Reelection

According to Joe Feuerherd, of National Catholic Reporter, "Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had more to do with electing George W. Bush to a second term than any number of party activists and operatives who worked full-time on the task."  Why?  Since the Cardinal affirmed the teaching of the Church instructing Bishops not to give communion to any person in obstinate persistence of manifest grave sin, this gave American Catholics little choice but vote for Bush and not the obstinate Kerry.   

Of course Feuerherd fails to recognize that even in American politics there are many more choices than the binomial option offered by the state.  He also fails to recognize that Ratzinger and the Bishops could do very little in disciplining George Bush on any of his views, precisely because he is not a Catholic. 

Catholics could have wrote in another candidate, or exercised their right not to vote.  Not voting is a supreme choice for Catholics wanting to stay in line with Church teachings against the culture of death. 

Thankfully we can all rest easy knowing that Pope Benedict XVI had about as much influence on a Bush reelection, as Dubya had on a Cardinal Ratzinger elevation.

Long Live Pope Benedict XVI

Here is an excerpt of him explaining the limits of the state and the politics of enslavement:

"The state is not the whole of human existence and does not embrace the whole of human hope. Men and women and their hopes extend beyond the thing that is the state and beyond the sphere of political activity. This does not only apply to a state that is Babylon but to any and every state. The state is not the totality: that takes the load off the politician’s shoulders and at the same time opens up for him or her the path of rational politics. The Roman state was false and anti-Christian precisely because it wanted to be the totality of human capacity. In that way it claimed what it could not achieve; and in that way it distorted and diminished men and women. Through the totalitarian lie it became demonic and tyrannical. Getting rid of the totality of the state has demythologized the state and thereby liberated men and women as well as politicians and politics.

"But when Christian faith, faith in man’s greater hope, decays and falls away, then the myth of the divine state rises up once again, because men and women cannot renounce the totality of hope. Even when such promises dress themselves up as progress and monopolize the concept of progress and of progressiveness, nevertheless considered historically they are a going back behind the Christian thing that is new, a turning back on the scale of history. And even when they proclaim as their goal the complete liberation of mankind and the elimination of all domination, they stand in contradiction to the truth of man and in contradiction to his or her freedom, because they force people into what they can achieve themselves. This kind of politics that declares the kingdom of God to be the result politics and distorts faith into universal primacy of the political is by its nature the politics of enslavement; it is mythological politics."

Financial Problems at the Vatican

This article highlights many of the financial problems that befall the Vatican, most of which stem from its investments in dollar denominated assets and "risk-free" government debt.  This example is further evidence in favor of metallic tithing as opposed to usurious financial tithing. 

The Assault has begun

Not long after our Holy Father, the Great John Paul II's death the statist American media began its assault on the Catholic Church.  Anti-Church Catholics like Chris Matthews, Andrew Sullivan, including preists who hate their Church all have criticized John Paul and the Church for "squashing" the debate on contraception, women priests, and homosexuality.  Of course none of these things are, nor can be up for debate in the Church as they are considered part of the deposit of faith and reconciled to the Gospel.  Issues like these within the Church are as undebatable as the divinity of Christ, the Trinity, Marian doctrines, and Papal infallibility, precisely because they are dogmas of the Church.  Dogmas are beliefs required of the faithful. 

Now one thing that can be debated in the Church are things like disciplines, of course the Pope has the authority to decide the outcome of such debates.  Priestly celibacy is one of those disciplines in the Roman rite that has not always been in place and can change under the Magisterial authority of the Church.  What the Magisterial authority can not change is the dogma or doctrine of the Church.

It is scandalous that these Anti-Church Catholics go on the television to spread error and mislead the public, for they are further confounding an already confounded American Catholic laity. 

Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand

Micheal Dubruiel reports these words from the diary of St. Faustina, which were written in 1978 prior to John Paul II's pontificate:

"From Poland will come the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming."

A Critique of the Political Pro-Life Movement

Ron Paul offers a great critique of the political pro-life movement:

"Morality is inherent in law, no matter what the secularists might say. But morality is not inherent in politics. As law professor Butler Shaffer explains, politics is about obtaining power over the lives of others through government force. Thus politics is a rejection of the sanctity of life."

"This federalization of social issues, often championed by conservatives, has not created a pro-life culture, however. It simply has prevented the 50 states from enacting laws that more closely reflect the views of their citizens. Once we accepted the federalization of abortion law under the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, we lost the ability to apply local community standards to ethical issues. It is much more difficult for pro-life advocates to win politically at the federal level. Those who seek a pro-life culture must accept that we will never persuade 300 million Americans to agree with us. Our focus should be on overturning Roe and getting the federal government completely out of the business of regulating state matters. A pro-life culture can be built only from the ground up, person by person. For too long we have viewed the battle as purely political, but no political victory can change a degraded culture. A pro-life culture must arise from each of us as individuals, not by the edict of an amoral federal government."

The Fall of Rome?

The Jerusalem Post reports that Palestinian Koran scholar, Ziad Silwadi, speculates that the United States will cease to exist in 2007. 

"Silwadi said his study of the Koran showed that the US would perish mainly because of its great sins against mankind, including the Native Americans and blacks."

"The Holy Koran warns against the Omnipotent Allah's force. A great sin will cause a huge flood in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans."

George Strait might be right, maybe there will be ocean front property in Arizona.