The Hypocrisy of Our Culture and Our Condemning Silence

By now, most people have already heard how former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling was fired from his position at ESPN. (see story here).The reason for his termination was a post he put on his personal Facebook account that some found offensive to the transgender (or whatever we are calling them this week) community. ESPN then went so far as to remove virtually any reference to Curt Schilling in documentary they produced about the Red Sox 2004 World Series win, in which he played a large part in.

You can view his facebook post at this link. While I agree that it is somewhat unpleasant to look at, it points out the absurdity of the transgender bathroom debate in our culture right now. To sum it all up, the "progressive" minded folks in our society are willing to put our children at risk in public bathrooms in order to appease a very minuscule, but very vocal, percentage of the general population that due to a mental disorder, cannot identify with their God given gender. Schilling agrees with those of us who see the need for states to pass these "bathroom laws" to protect the most vulnerable in our society.

One Christian's Perspective on The Death of Bin Laden

I haven't blogged in a few weeks because I busy studying for a certification exam for my job. I have been looking forward to getting back into blogging, but I wasn't expecting Osama Bin Laden's death to be the first thing I would write about. However, since the news broke, I have been struggling with what the right response should be to his death. My initial gut reaction was to celebrate like so many did across our nation. On the other hand, I know as a Catholic, that we should not celebrate at the loss of any life. So this has caused me to reflect on what the right reaction to this event should be.

I came across two well written articles today that I feel best describes what the most appropriate Christian reaction would be to this whole affair.  The first piece is titled "Bin Laden died long ago" and is written by Presbyterian minister David Lewicki. The second is titled Osama Bin Laden! How Much Do You Love Your Enemies? and is a homily by Fr. Timothy Henderson. The main point of both was that we should follow the words of Christ to "love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us." This is a very radical way of thinking especially towards someone like Bin Laden. However isn't that what Christ calls us to do - live contrary to what the world is telling us to do?

As Fr. Henderson pointed out, this isn't about whether or not Bin Laden's killing was justified, but about how our reactions measure up to Christ's teachings. I'll leave you with a powerful excerpt from David Lewicki's post. Please read both articles above and take some time to reflect on the messages in each.

Beyond our feelings, Christians might also spend time considering our Lord’s call to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. This is not easy. If we call ourselves Americans as well as Christians, we may feel a strong civic sense that what our government did in our name was the embodiment of public justice.

But our political identity and our identity as followers of Jesus are rarely reconcilable. Jesus did not meet enemies with violence. He asserted that the way to loose ourselves of our enemies was, counter-intuitively, by loving them and forgiving them — by wanting God’s best for them and believing in the Holy Spirit’s power to convert any person to faithful obedience. Jesus implied that if the Spirit does not convert them to goodness in this life, any judgment of their deeds is to be left in the hands of their creator — God alone. Our job is to never cease praying that they receive God’s blessing.

I have been praying for Osama bin Laden for 10 years. I was not surprised by news of his death. As I asked myself why, I suspect it is because, in my eyes, bin Laden died long ago. He died to goodness; he died to mercy; he died to peace. He died to the things that God cares most about. He was alive until this week — but he died to life a long time ago.

I have wondered over the years what God tried to do to win him back to love. I wonder about the confounding ability of human beings to resist the love of God. I wonder about these things for Osama bin Laden and I wonder about same things with respect to my own life. Today, as I have many days before, I pray for my enemy — I pray him into the hands of the God of justice and of mercy.

Christian Persecution

As you can probably guess by reading this blog, I am no fan of the mainstream media here in the United States. This is due to the obvious bias and distortion of facts in journalism today. What I am about to post here is probably one of the worst examples of this poor reporting that I have ever seen. Take a look at these stories from MSNBC and  CNN below:

Elected president's forces storm Gbagbo's residence in Ivory Coast

Gbagbo negotiating surrender, Ivory Coast foreign minister says

Please keep in mind this last line of the last paragraph in the CNN article above:

In one of the bloodiest incidents yet, the International Committee of the Red Cross reported the killings of 800 people last week in the western cocoa-producing town of Duekoue.

Now please take a look at some of the stories in the links below:

Reprisals rock Ivory Coast after strongman deposed

MASSACRE: MUSLIM TROOPS SLAUGHTER 1,000 CHRISTIANS IN IVORY COAST

Rebel Forces Target Catholic Priests in Ivory Coast – Church Facilities Destroyed

Atrocities at Catholic mission in Ivory Coast a sign of things to come

More Than 1,000 Shot and Hacked to Death in Ivory Coast Town

Massacre of 800 to 1,000 Catholics in Ivory Coast likely work of Islamists

The next Rwanda? ‘In all districts of Abidjan there is gunfire’

The difference between the CNN/MSNBC report and these stories from alternative sources is that CNN and MSNBC, in their politically correct blindness, neglect to mention that this massacre of 800 to 1000 civilians in the Ivory Coast occurred in a Catholic mission. These victims were predominantly Catholics and Christians, and the murders responsible were mainly from Muslim tribes. In their rush to support the Obama backed new leader of the Ivory Coast, these so-called journalist willingly ignored the fact that these tribes are using the political turmoil to cover their motivations for an ethnic and religious war in the Ivory Coast. 

It disgusts me that the news media of this country either don't care or don't find it news worthy when Catholics and Christians are being forced from their homes and raped and murdered by Muslim tribes. Now I am not condemning all Muslims or all of Islam. I realize those responsible for inciting these horrific acts are only interested in spreading their radical views of Islam. My point is that the media is quick to condemn anyone who portrays Islam in an unflattering light, such as the preacher burning the Koran recently. Our media is leading this insane charge to coddle and protect anything remotely tied to Islam, while attacking and completely disrespecting anything Christian. This goes far beyond the tragic events of the Ivory Coast. While heralding the regime changes and new goverments in countries like Egypt, again these journalists completely ignore the fact that Catholics and Coptic Christians are being forced from their homes, attacked, jailed and their chruches bombed by this aggressive radical Muslim element that is now gaining control of these governments. Just look at the articles below for examples of this. When was the last time that CNN, MSNBC, ABC, FOX, CBS, NBC, or the New York Times reported these truths?

Egyptian Army Attacks Coptic Monastery

Iraqi Christians search for havens

This negligence and distortion of truth by the mainstream media is criminal in my opinion. There is no excuse for this deplorable behavior by these journalists. To ignore the persecution of thousands of Christians in Africa and the Middle East all in the name of ratings and political correctness, makes these news organizations complicit in these horrible crimes against these innocent civilians. By suppressing the truth, these reporters are helping these crimes go unnoticed and unpunished.

Please pray for our Christian and Catholic brothers and sisters in these regions of Africa and the Middle East. Pray for God's comfort, strength, and healing for these victims. Pray also for God's mercy for the conversion of those that allow these crimes to happen.

Women's Ordination and the Double Standard

I was surprised to see this headline on CNN.com yesterday, “Catholic Church defends male-only priesthood”. Apparently, certain groups, that have little or no understanding of Catholic doctrine, are planning billboards and protests in favor of women’s ordination during the Pope’s visit to London.

The Catholic Church has been defending this position for 2,000 years, which makes this headline that more absurd and amusing. It is typical of CNN and the rest of the mainstream media to try to dig up anything to portray the Church in a negative light in hopes of boosting their ratings. This next line from the article further displays the reporter’s ignorance of the Church’s history:

“It's rare for the Catholic Church to defend its fundamental positions in this way.”

I guess countless teachings and statements by bishops and Popes through the centuries, including public documents by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI in which they said they do not have the authority to ordain women, doesn’t matter for this reporter. This next quote from Fr. Wang in the article must have gotten the feminists and other liberals really upset.

The bottom line is that Jesus chose 12 men - and no women - to be his apostles, Wang argues.


The choice was "deliberate and significant, not just for that first period of history, but for every age," Wang says.


Men and women are equal in Christianity, he continues, but "this does not mean that our sexual identity as men and women is interchangeable. Gender is not just an accident."

I was actually surprised to see that CNN had the guts to publish these lines. Thank you Fr. Wang for having the courage to defend our faith in this article.