Happy Feast of St. Joseph

St. Joseph, patron saint of the family, Pray for us!

God bless you all and light a candle on this special day.

Fr. Robert Barron on The Meaning of Easter

"We must never forget that only when love between human beings is put to the test can its true value be seen." - St. John Paul II

"Be not afraid!"

No rant. Just a smile

"I Don't Fund My Enemies!"

I hate ribbons! Oh, it's been a long road my friend. But I walk into the liqueur store on Holy Saturday and I get a Sodomite accost me with with the bleeding heart emotional blackmail donation pitch, "Sir, you going to donate to support Aids victims in YOUR community?!". Now I'm not proud of the fact I forgot to buy wine for Easter and am shopping on a Holy day. I'm honestly wet and uncombed from a shower I had 20 minutes earlier. And finally, it's freakin' snowing. His Serene Highness is not a happy Sovereign...

All these things contributed to the perfect storm of the only truly, real, angry political outburst to an opponent I've made since I left the communist movement. I scratched my head as I approached the door, looked him strait in the eye and and growled with a contempt I rarely show publicly, "I don't fund my enemies!" and blew by.

I've stated this in private conversations and consistently on my Facebook for some years now. The West is enslaved to what I can only describe as a demeaning existence under the Gucci boots of a fascist regime of pink shirted overlords. But the most offensive to my sensibilities is the utter stupidity and moral cowardice of my own side. What do I mean by that?

First, whether it's pro-abortion, radical feminist; deceitfully titled "women's groups", homosexualists, or whatever morally bankrupt "social justice" cause many companies financially support; you must acknowledge you were already supporting them, and by proxy these causes, before they came out on the opposing side. Guinness was already paying obscene amounts of money to homosexualist lobby groups before they recently decided pull out of the St. Paddy's day parade in support of the Lettuce Guacamole Bacon and Tomato crowd.  And they really don't care anymore whether you buy their product anymore because it's cheaper for them to lose your business than face the PR nightmare and financial ruin of the politically well connected and vindictive "Social Justice" crowd. Which brings me to my second point.

None seems to understand that fascism is a left wing ideology. Their language and study is not in the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, but Coercion, Intimidation, and Fear. I openly state that I expect to be imprisoned in the next ten years for being vocally pro-family. That is to say, pro-civilization. And I truly believe, mark my words, that we are where the Jews were in Germany in 1934. The apparatus is being set up to systematically exclude Catholics, Orthodox Christians, conservatives, and pro-life citizens out of every public power structure where they can effect any change. We see it with the attack on the right of exclusion based on conscientious objection to the compelled participation in the acts and propagation of abortion, artificial contraception, homosexual faux-marriage, and parental rights. Then followed by the suppression of any protest, or reasoned criticism, in the media whether television or print. The Canadian "human rights" tribunal is the poster child of this. The ubiquitous "if you don't agree then get out of the business" is exactly the pattern of political and cultural Nazism. Let me posit this thought experiment: Do you really believe Krupp wanted to remove their talented engineers or the civil service really wanted to expunge their most efficient functionaries? No. It had to be made so inconvenient; so expensive and personally dangerous to make it not worth their while to resist. And that is where the big corporations and bureaucracies are today.

And this is where my outburst comes from, and in the end goes. For all the distributist self absorbed chitty chat about subsidiarity it's always, to date, divorced from actual subversive Catholic teaching. What i am suggesting is that these folk go on and on about bankers and corporate greed -indistinguishable from socialist nonsense-, but never touch the real essence of subsidiarity as moral resistance. Where do you go for your morning coffee that doesn't support womb bound infanticide? Where do you go for breakfast that doesn't have a rainbow flag behind the counter? Where do you grocery shop that doesn't throw up posters advertising the Vagina Monologues? This is where subsidiarity would actually make me turn my head with some seriousness to distributist rhetoric. Rhetoric that doesn't revolve around Marxist mantras of wealth redistribution and the irrational demonization of the rich. The homosexuals have set up businesses, "charities", and advocacy groups that feed into each other and allows them the money and resources to effect resistance and minimize the alienation that occurs being the disenfranchised underdog. And so be it. But it's time to learn from our opposition and do the same!

Indeed, charities are extremely suspect as well. which brings me back to the story. The red ribbon campaign during the most important Christian Holy day is not an accident. Red ribbon is just homosexual activism by another name. They timed and executed this emotional blackmail and cash grab attack against the people preparing for the celebration of our blessed Lord's resurrection! This is what in your face cultural warfare looks like and I will not be brow beaten into compliance. And I will expose the agenda, and define my enemy to their face. It's time to act on the beliefs we say we actually have.

Culture of Death in the Kitchen?

 We all know we're in a stereotypical Catholic home when we come into the dining area and there is some variation of the Lord's Supper over the table. I always found this a gaudy and rather tacky cultural tradition. Yet as I've grown in my faith, and expanded my studies, I've come to understand the profound nature of this traditional set up. And especially, lamenting what appears to be its approaching loss. It's always interesting how information crosses our path to come to, what should be, obvious conclusions.

Interestingly the earliest Christian
document we have is on communion
and the last supper!

A former co-worker of mine had previously been a youth/child social worker. On learning I had children the first thing from his mouth was an emphatic, "Do you eat together at least once a week? The most important part of a stable family is eating together at least once a week!". Although I already knew routine was paramount to family stability, I found the secular emphasis on meals striking. I suppose it should have been unsurprising that regular religious practice was not even thought of in his training; but such is the nature of "multicultural" sensitivity training. At any rate, a year and a half later in a completely unrelated event, I finally got around to renovating my bathroom. A dear contractor friend was kind enough to do the project for us. And as happens as one works on one's home, dreams and suggestions for further work flow as naturally as any construction project of castles in the sky.

In the course of these most entertaining discussions, the suggestion that I turn my dining room into a bathroom and bedroom was brought up. My friend, whose experience I have no reason to doubt in these matters, said "None uses dining rooms anymore. Everyone is building breakfast islands/bars with stools. None is home at the same time anymore. And who eats together anymore anyway?".  This really struck me in an unexpectedly unpleasant manner. Especially as my friend has the enviable blessing of being a faithful catholic from a large and intimate family. Although that casual architectural point brought into sharp contrast the Catholic principle of sacraments being and outward sign of inward grace. What does that say about our priorities when we do not consider eating as a family important enough to devote a significant space for it?

Let us expand on this more broadly. Ignoring the debate on the shifting of emphasis of the Mass to the celebration of the Lords supper rather than on the representation of His sacrifice. Let's take that transferred emphasis as is. As Vatican II rightly exhorts, "the celebration of the Eucharist is the source and summit of our Faith", that is to say the communion of the Lambs Supper; so too then is then, the communion of the family supper. The devoted space and time to the sharing of the meal is the centrepiece of our entire religion. And yet, children and families have created an environment  that makes it almost impossible to understand and participate in the celebration of the Lord's supper as they have no concrete, material, reference to the communion of the family supper? Or vis-a-vis, what significant impact can the communion of the Lord's Supper have on the Family when they have no experience or reference points to the communion of supper in their very own homes?


If I might be allowed to indulge in my Commie lexicon of former convictions... This seems to me to physically impose upon the family a very real alienation from one another. Throwing each member into a radical individualism, divorced from the shared community (communion) of the actual institution of the family. This, tragically, is the self fulfilling cycle of narcissism, ego-centrism, and materialist nihilism that has come from the, so called, sexual liberation of Feminism. And if, dear reader, you espouse the notion that one can be a Catholic AND a feminist, I fear you're exactly the problem being addressed. And make no mistake, feminism has always hated and sought to undermine the communion of the family from the beginning. Emma Goldman, not a "moderate" feminist in any regard, observed this traditional feminist hatred of the communion of the Family in her logically incoherent lament, The Tragedy of Women's Emancipation.

"The narrowness of the existing conception of women's independence and emancipation; the dread of love for a man who is not her social equal; the fear that love will rob her of her freedom and independence; the horror that the love or the joy of motherhood will only hinder her in the full exercise of her profession-all these together make of the emancipated modern woman a compulsory vestal, before whom life, with it's great clarifying sorrows and its deep, entrancing joys, rolls on without touching or gripping her soul."

The natural consequences of rebelling against the Traditional Christian Family Order and general feminist animosity toward it was clear back in 1910! But this overall attitude; this willful blocking of communion and family by way of fear of failure to self aggrandizement, has spread to both sexes and all members of the family. Indeed, what I find so resentful, is that it seems to be so fully embraced by the Church and laity alike. An outright hostility to the plain wording of Ephesians 5 And Genesis 3 regarding the organic and divinely mandated hierarchical structure of the family. As sentimental and moving John Paul II's Encyclical on the Dignity and Vocation of Women my be, it still attempts to explain away the obvious, and give the impression Christianity has historically abusive and oppressive to women. This kidy gloved response only validated the corrosive idea that the traditional communion of the family is always holding each individual member back from more pressing material concerns. Some ethereal and shapeless "liberation" of ones "genius".

And is it not so, in the attempt to realize this "liberation", this "genius", hockey practice, dance lessons, work etc. are always scheduled in opposition to the families supper? Always pressing individual house members into racing through food as a fuel rather than a family communion... especially the mother.  This focus on constant individual enterprises clearly undermines the very ability to engage in family communion supper, let alone the Lamb's supper. We all see it. "Oh we don't go to mass in the summer. We focus on our (insert second leisure property here) in the summer." "Well (insert child here) has (insert activity here) on Sundays.". no sense of authentic communion whatsoever.

Consequentially, therefore, we are now seeing it in the architecture of the kitchen. The outward sign if inward dis-grace. Lifeless, impersonal, anemic, fast food inspired feed bars. What could be a more plain tableaux of the culture of death in the home? Spiritually, emotionally, cut off from each other. Not even facing each other to facilitate the sharing of glances of affection, spur on spontaneous discussion. To be simply alone, with another household occupants body beside you, staring into one's own plate... in ones own thoughts. Int the same place, but alone. The solution is clear; and even sadly easy. To suggest high dining with ones family every day or week is to completely miss the simplicity of the point. The idea is to make the communion less stress filled and hectic. Simply spaghetti and the family around the table. Share in prayer before the meal. It may be the only time the family comes together in daily prayer. Take the opportunity. Discuss the days events, ask questions about the Faith, school, what everyone is reading... the old art of conversation. Put the icon of the Last Supper over your table.

In the end, the death of communion in the home very much seems to be linked to the death of engagement of the communion of Christ's supper at Mass. But we don't need to let it be so. Change your dining area into the genuine practice of the Way of Life. May God bless and protect you and yours. Amen.