Safe Haven

 You could remind me that the paragraphs in the universal Catechism have different levels of assent they require of us, and consequently, the formulations are only as true as the teachings they rely on. And that’s true. But I am not a PhD, for one, and practically, levels of assent don’t help most people. When I read the Catechism, it is my intention to believe what the Church teaches, to understand what the words mean as best I can, and if I can’t understand, to seek those with more faith and/or knowledge than I have. Frankly, though I have great zeal for our faith, I have never been able to consent to the label “traditionalist.” It seems to be a habit of mind that supposes that the Church in her spiritual dimension can err, and that the men set apart by God to govern and teach us are not owed submission or deference in any respect. Moreover, there is a conceit that a purer time in the past existed, and that if we draw from this alone, we will be unstained by the world. Yet all th...

Let’s get right to the point: Is it acceptable to ask God to end our suffering, even though God shows us the true nature of everything through it? Good question. I say yes. Physical pain is a reminder of death in a groaning creation. It is—rather inconveniently—the result of original sin. God uses everything for our good, including suffering and death. But He doesn’t grant a goodness in itself to either of those things. We’re not dualists. We don’t want the proclamation of God’s goodness and wisdom to confuse us. We must endure suffering, but there need not be a necessity in itself for suffering. And if you think about it some, it makes sense. He couldn’t promise to wipe away every tear from our eyes, if sorrow had some inherent value. Death, thirst, every other privation, is not necessary, strictly speaking. God’s will gives it purpose, and thus, direction. Therefore, I am a spiritual being whose hopes and desires ought to reach to the highest Heaven, but I am also a creature trapped ...

 To state the obvious, Muslims are not Christians, because among other things, Christians worship Jesus Christ as God. Moreover, we say they have distorted the Hebrew Scriptures. Theologically, it’s so deterministic in a philosophical sense that John Calvin would cry. Somewhat alarmingly, The Atlantic reported in an essay that perhaps 20 percent of worldwide Muslims would be willing to engage in violence to advance their religion. To be completely fair to that point, one out of five is not a good number. On the other hand, I have met plenty of ordinary Muslims here in America. I wouldn’t get scared in Dearborn at a mosque, or at a fencing club near Savannah. I just wouldn’t. I don’t know what the demons are up to ordinarily, and it would be incredibly self-serving to imagine that of course the Muslims are infested with demons, whilst I and my co-religionists are beloved of God. But let’s cut the mess: the Catholic Church teaches that Muslims, Christians, and Jews all worship the sa...

 I can't remember exactly when I picked up a book by St. Teresa of Avila, but I was too young in faith to understand it. It was The Interior Castle, and I definitely thought she was nuts. The spiritual life goes forward, and then things become clearer. I had another book by a British nun named Ruth. I guess one feels more freedom to speak plainly in the same spiritual family. Sr. Ruth definitely didn't agree all the time with St. Teresa. What follows is some speculation based in my reading and direct experience. I think physical suffering is to separate the soul from the world. I use "the world" in the negative sense that St. John the Evangelist does when he refers to "the world, the flesh, and the devil." That is, everything opposed to God. Everything in normal human experience teaches us that pain is bad. It's in fact a really good indicator that something is wrong. Pain and problems unresolved lead to death. It's normal. We are destined to die, in...

 I appreciate the efforts of the leaders at the school where I once worked to discourage the students from drinking, from drinking and driving, and riding home with anyone who has been drinking. And now that I don’t work there, I can say one more thing freely: You don’t have to have sex, either.  If you choose not to, you’re not weird. Even if you’re 17 or even 18, you have a right to not be ready. I have often been told that pastors don’t preach about it in the churches. I think we were so worried about not seeming “judgmental” that we’re forgetting to mention that unmarried sex is a sin, according to both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. God is ready and willing to forgive *anything* you have done. And you can always start over. Sometimes we feel guilty about things, and we’re unable to forgive ourselves, in a way. So it becomes easier to pretend that others are trying to make us feel guilty, when we’re doing it ourselves. Remember, my beloved students: I loved you alw...

 I’m gonna help you with this, and I don’t need a dubious degree in a dubious discipline to do it. What is a “boy band”? If it’s white/Latino/Asian kids singing Black music, or pop in a Black style, it’s a boy band. We know it, but we don’t say it. If it’s Black kids doing the exact same thing, it’s a vocal group. It might not even be fair, but that’s how it works. It’s even more obvious if the audience is pre-teen or teenage white girls. That’s a boy band. You might feel slightly embarrassed to put on really old New Edition; awkward songs about youthful crushes. But they did OK after that. I don’t have any Backstreet Boys albums; I just don’t. Why? I wasn’t their audience. That’s why Andy Samberg getting criminals to sing “I Want It That Way” was really funny; we know he’s twisting a gender and sex boundary, even if we don’t say it. This is your “JK Liberal Post Of The Week.” Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

 For the record, I am only part-way into season 3. And a lot of people who probably go to a lot of therapy are really inspired by it. I suppose that’s fine; I can’t claim my eyes have stayed dry the whole time. But it’s a comedy primarily, and it’s actually funny. Those of sensitive conscience will be out; it’s got strong language. But I speak Swear natively, so I hardly noticed. It’s about a soccer team in England who hires an American football coach as a gag, but Ted isn’t a bumbler, and it starts to work. You’ll like these people, and you should. I have been a teacher and a coach, so I know that motivation is the true key to success, and Ted Lasso absolutely believes it, too. Brett Goldstein as Roy Kent is the best character on Anglo-American TV this side of Alec Hardy. He’s crass and endearing, and it just works. I saw him in a Sesame Street clip, and I just got happier not long ago. Goldstein was originally just a writer on the show, and he said, “I think I’m Roy,” and he cert...

 These liberal politicians just grind my gears. The police are part of the system, but at the top of that system is capital punishment. No major Democrat has moved against it. They’re the Government Is Good Party, but they can’t even move against the supreme expression of state power, which is unnecessary. Rural cops haven’t been leading in extrajudicial killings since like 1930, but on and on they rail about rural Republican love of guns. Mark Shea is intellectually useless, but Greydanus might stand to notice that New Jersey isn’t quite as wide open as say, Utah, or Kansas. I’d be way more afraid of guns, too, if my neighbors were on top of me. And mental health plays a role in almost all these mass shootings, too. Personally, I am all for more spending on mental health. Maybe we can use the annual subsidy that Planned Parenthood gets.

 Let me preface this by saying that my general sense of the social doctrine of the Catholic Church seems to advocate for a social democratic state that would terrify Ronald Reagan, to say nothing of American “conservatives” today. But. One funny little aspect that throws a wrench into various left-wing dreams AND Tom Darrow’s advocacy for a UBI: The dignity of work. We could probably do everything conceivable along the lines of preventing disastrous externalities—and it’s probably right and good to do so—but a UBI can’t replace a minimum wage, because it’s not a wage. Wages and salaries get paid for work that gets done. We could make a Basic Needs Floor or something, but that’s not a wage. Looking forward to where this goes.

 But Dr. Bryan Cross of Mount Mercy University was my Confirmation sponsor. And taught me RCIA/OCIA. He’s a credentialed expert on Alasdair MacIntyre. Some of it possibly rubbed off. Dr. Lawrence Feingold was my teacher, also. He’s a  Thomist. A group of folks spent hours at Larry’s reading the Summa. I don’t mind zucchini because of dinners there, and I can read St. Thomas without wanting to curl into the fetal position. Maybe that makes me a Thomist.  You just gotta read him; no easy way to become a Thomist. You can be guided by a great teacher through Aquinas, but you’re not a Thomist until Thomas is your teacher. When you can anticipate what he would say—or flat-out recite it—you’re a Thomist. Pastor Timothy Butler of Little Hills Church in St. Peters, MO is absolutely a Thomist. I think he thinks in Summa article format. Good quirk to have. [Oddly, he’s not Catholic.] He oddly is a lot of other things, though! I’m willing to lose a bet that Tom Darrow has read the Su...

 It’s probably insane to mark the time when I was about 20 as “the good ol’ days,” but if you think about it, unless you’re sick, being 20 is generally awesome. I didn’t fornicate with any women, so I can’t talk about that. I’m a massive nerd, who was the type to learn whilst entertaining himself. I never belly-laughed at Dennis Miller, but I appreciate him. The forerunner of every rightist trying to be funny. A conservative Republican at his/her best knows something you don’t. He’s not depressed; he leaves that for you, liberal. I will say Gutfield is trying too hard; when The Five was first on, it was hilarious. Conservatives aren’t funny when they’re aggrieved; they’re funny when you’re aggrieved. I don’t have anything to say really about the Pope and Vice President Vance. It wasn’t a smooth move for a general election, when the Catholic vote—both observant and otherwise—will be crucial. You can totally see Marco Rubio getting photographed at Mass, hugging his Bishop, and carryi...

 I always fear that my friend Tom Darrow, lately of Denver, Colorado and now presumably Iowa, cannot follow my chaotic digressions. But he seems to hold up well enough. [You probably shouldn’t give him your private message novellas late at night; he has a family, you scumbag.—ed.] Well, I used to rely on the forced generosity of the Mountain time zone; now, I am legitimately just trash. Anyway, I had a point, other than shouting out Tom. Being on the Right like 25 years ago at the dawn of the internet age was wild. Instapundit was the blogger version of the New York Times. And from there, you could go to Blackfive and Ace of Spades for military blog posts, James Lileks for culture and humor, some chick named Virginia who was in tech or something who was attractive and interesting, and on and on. Kausfiles was linked, and I am sure liberals thought and think he’s a betrayer, but those were the days that Democrats could outright win national elections. No, seriously. It used to be a ...

 Barry Manilow is a great songwriter, producer, and performer. His most famous songs are ones he didn’t write. “Mandy” and hilariously, “I Write The Songs” are the obvious examples. But he did write “Looks Like Me Made It.” Now, I love that bloody song; the lyrics and chorus just ring somehow. Yet I got to thinking. That’s the exact song that made me realize Manilow is gay. If he’s got actual sexual experience with women back there somewhere, I stand corrected. But no healthy heterosexual man—if you will forgive the term—would openly say anything like this, and especially not when he’s supposed to marry someone else. Maybe most people are recklessly…active, and I’m naive. But most of his records are kinda heteronormative in a way that isn’t convincing. With all due respect. Granted, pop singers aren’t known for continence and fidelity. But if say, Lionel Richie had been closeted gay for 40-odd years, I’d be stunned.

 I said that the Left had a presentation problem, and that is not quite right. First, a couple anecdotes: 1. I read once that 86 percent of babies aborted in New York City are Black; 2. Gov. JB Pritzker, someone with presidential aspirations, and whose state contains one of the largest cities in America, signed a bill authorizing euthanasia in Illinois. (Pope Leo XIV is a Chicago native.) Two literal examples of genocide, if not in intent, in result. Even the people who caved and used IVF or condoms one time know that we’re in a spot. Even if you can be funny on Colbert, you’re not “just one of the folks” if you support a genocide. Before you support single-payer healthcare (all the government), what are you going to say when that euthanasia becomes involuntary? Meanwhile, some Christians make a big fuss about various “visibility days” related to LGBTIA issues. Before I go on, let me say this as carefully as I can: I can show respect and even sympathy for people who are struggling—...