Gingerbread is very Catholic

Gingerbread is very Catholic  

According to the 1901 book, “A Dictionary of Miracles: Imitative, Realistic and Dogmatic” by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, “Gregor of Armenia” fasted entirely every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.  “On Tuesday and Thursday, he ate three ounces of food after sunset. On Sunday he did did not fast but ate very sparingly. He never ate meat or butter but his chief food was lentils, steeped in water and exposed to the heat of the sun. His rule was to eat as many as he could take up in his left hand.”

Gregory became a bit of a popular holy man in the French countryside, attracting “bourgeois and peasants alike” whom he would offer his Eastern hospitality to, “finishing the meal with a cake that he made himself, according to a recipe from his country, and comprising of honey and spices, in the fashion of his far away homeland in Armenia.”

This is recorded, according to several sources, in a 10th century manuscript from the Micy Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in the region in which it is recounted that Gregory made, by hand, cake with honey and spices, “just like in his homeland.”

Thanks to Gregory, Pithiviers retained its rich gingerbread making tradition until this day – a “Saint Gregory of Nicopolis Gingerbread Brotherhood” or Brotherhood “du Pain d’Epices” if you’re French and fancy exists in the region, making gingerbread “according to the recipe passed down by Saint Gregory the Armenian.”
Liana Aghajanian  How an Armenian Monk Brought Gingerbread to the West, December 23, 2014  ianyanmag.com

Now, nobody knows about the exact origin of the gingerbread house, but here’s what we do know. Gingerbread was probably introduced to Europe by an Armenian monk in the 10th century. Apparently, he taught the art of baking gingerbread to Christian priests in France.

The Gingerbread Man has his origins in England. The English claim to be the first to bake and sell gingerbread, and they introduced the idea of the Gingerbread Man. Gingerbread was a much-loved treat in festivals and fairs in medieval Europe. It was shaped and decorated to look like many attractive things – birds, animals, flowers and armor. Gingerbread fairs were universally popular in those days.

Indeed, the young ladies of those days offered their favorite knights a piece of gingerbread to wish them luck in a competition. There was also a tradition of young women eating a “gingerbread husband” secretly hoping to find someone really special.

Gingerbread was prepared in a majority of monasteries, churches and other religious institutions in Europe. The Swedish nuns, for instance, used to bake them and even sold them to the public to raise money for charity. Gingerbread was also available for sale in pharmacies and farmers’ markets.
Gingerbread House History, Gingerbread Traditions Inc.

The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington has sometimes been called “a hymn in stone.” This year, it can also rightly be called “a hymn in gingerbread.”

That is because Charles Froke, the executive pastry chef at the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown, has recreated the national shrine as the hotel’s 2010 massive gingerbread replication of a Washington landmark.

The gingerbread shrine will be on display in the hotel’s lobby through the Christmas season.

“I’ve made a lot of cool buildings (out of gingerbread) in the past, but nothing like this,” Froke told the Catholic Standard, Washington’s archdiocesan newspaper. “In the past, I’ve done the National Cathedral, the Smithsonian Castle, the White House, the Capitol and Healy Hall at Georgetown University, but this is the most ambitious one to date.”

Froke, a Catholic who attends St. Ann Church in Washington, crafted the gingerbread shrine out of more than 125 pounds of a specially prepared gingerbread dough.

“It is a little more sturdy and not as sweet as regular gingerbread,” the pastry chef explained.

The creation also includes about 55 pounds of icing and 20 pounds of sugar. He used dyes to create the shrine’s ornate blue dome. The stained-glass windows – which are illuminated by electric lighting – are made from colored liquid sugar.
Catholic Review, Top pastry chef recreates Washington’s national shrine in gingerbread January 19, 2012, Archdiocese of Baltimore

Having fun by decorating a big intricate three-dimensional cookie isn’t a gendered activity.  The seminarians were playing with sugar to make a craft at a party. That’s a party game. It’s a normal thing to do at your average awkward Christmas party, and way more fun than playing “White Elephant.” Some of them would probably pour the sprinkles in their mouths for a treat instead of decorating; some would faceplant in the fresh icing just to see what we’d say. Some of those men would attempt to decorate to be sociable, and would fail miserably, and that would make them laugh. Some of them, the artists and architects, would sit down to decorate the gingerbread and produce a genuine work of art.
-Mary Pezzulo, Steel Magnolias: Everything is Grace

What I Believe as a Catholic

What I believe as a Catholic

If there is one thing, I’ve discovered from being on Catholic discussion forums online, is that you can’t talk about religion or politics without a full-blown argument breaking out.

You would think that every Catholic agrees on everything, but there differing beliefs on how the liturgy is to be celebrated, who can be ordained to the priesthood, and what the church’s official teaching on Harry Potter and yoga is. 

Certain Conservatives think liberals are modernist heretics.

Certain Liberals think conservatives are rigid mean Pharisees.

And Joe and Jane Catholic don’t care about the catholic culture wars and want to follow God to the best of their ability.  

We all forget sometimes….

“In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” -Rupertus Meldeniu

So, readers know where I’m coming from…  Here's what I believe as a Catholic. I try to view everything through a Catholic Lens

All thoughts are permissible as far as I know, to hold and believe as a Catholic.

I’ve chosen to express these beliefs though quotes because….

“I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself.”

― Marlene Dietrich

 Some of the phrasing and ideas are borrowed from other Catholics I found in the various Catholic groups I frequent.

Also thanks to catholic writer Mark Shea who really helped form a core of the phrasing and ideas that I put forth.

He’s one of my favorite Catholic spiritual writers.

I’ll probably upset some people with my thoughts, both liberal and conservative alike. I quote all types of Catholics, as long as they give 100% acceptable Orthodox ideas about the faith. It doesn’t mean I endorse all their ideas or writings.

“I myself am not the Catholic Church, I may have my own misconceptions regarding what she teaches, and  I cannot exclude my own pet heresy from the judgment of the whole of the Catholic Tradition. “-Dr. John Rao.

I’m sure I could add more to this list below, but here are some of the main bugaboos that crop up in Catholic discussions online.

Here We Go….. (in no particular structured order)

I am a Catholic who believes all that the Church believes, teaches and proclaims is revealed by God

The Church of Saint Augustine, St. Athanasius, St’s Francis de Sales, Xavier and of Assisi,

St’s Pope Leo and Gregory the Great, the Mystic Catherine of Sienna, The Dumb Ox Thomas Aquinas,
Carmelite Saints Theresa of Availa, Therese of Lisieux and John of the Cross,
St’s Ignatius Loyola, St. Benedict, St. Mother Theresa,  St. John Henry Newman,
St. Popes John XXIII, Paul IV, John Paul the 2^nd
and G.K. Chesterton, Fulton Sheen, Flannery O’Connor, J.R.R. Tolkien ​Bartolome de Las Casas , Michelangelo and so many others.

Find out more about some of these great people by going to  Word on Fire Pivotal Players

It’s a Joy to be Catholic

Catholic joy is a mature joy.  It is not a prolonged emotional high.  It is not giddy or naïve or silly or sentimental.  It is not an annoying kind of cheerfulness or jocularity.

Catholic joy is much more than an emotion.  It does not block us from having other emotions, such as sadness, fear, worry, anger.

Catholic joy comes from knowing that Christ atoned for our sins on the cross and that He has risen from the dead to reveal what awaits us when He comes again in glory on the Last Day.  “I look forward to the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come.”

Catholic joy is a spirit or disposition of inner peace, strength, hope, confidence, and determination that comes from experiencing God’s love for us in spite of our sins, selfishness, and mistakes.

Catholic joy does not always feel good, emotionally or physically.  Catholic joy is experienced during times of struggle and pain.  Battles will be lost, but the war has been won.  Christ has conquered evil, and we can share in His victory.

Catholic joy strengthens us to face reality and not escape it.  Catholic joy comes from facing reality and not escaping it.

Again, Jesus at the Last Supper: “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. . . . I have called you friends because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father” (John 15:11, 15).

It is never too late to seek or grow in friendship with Christ.  It is never too late to be Catholic or to be more Catholic.

Marty Dybicz The Joy of Being Catholic 28 February AD 2018, Catholic Stand

I Believe in the Both/And of Catholicism
Chesterton said that Catholicism keeps its beliefs “side by side like two strong colors, red and white…It has always had a healthy hatred of pink.” What he meant was that Catholicism consistently celebrates the coming together of contraries, not in the manner of a bland compromise, but rather in such a way that the full energy of the opposing elements remains in place. And so, to give just one instance, the communion of saints, which includes the warrior Joan of Arc and the pacifist Francis of Assisi; the towering intellectual Thomas Aquinas and the barely literate Catherine of Siena; Antony, the recluse of the desert, and Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor of England, who, as Chesterton delights in recalling, wore under the splendid vestments of his office a penitential hair shirt.

The deepest ground for this uncompromising celebration of the both/and is, I would argue, the orthodox Christology of the Church. According to the Council of Chalcedon, Jesus is not partly divine and somewhat human, nor partly human and somewhat divine. Instead, he is both fully divine and fully human, each nature non-competitively present to the other in the unity of his person. Early heresies missed this both/and principle. Monophysitism hyper-stressed the Lord’s divinity, and Nestorianism hyper-stressed his humanity; and Arianism presented the apparently reasonable compromise—a blend of divinity and humanity. Yet Chalcedon, with extraordinary finesse, said no to each of these positions, and waved the flag of divinity and the flag of humanity with equal vigor.

Once you grasp this principle, you begin to see it everywhere in the great Catholic tradition. Grace and nature; faith and reason; Scripture and tradition; body and soul; God’s immanence and God’s transcendence: what the great Protestant theologian Karl Barth called “that damnable Catholic ‘and’” is what I would call its vibrant paradox.

Bishop Robert Barron, Vibrant Paradoxes: The Both/And of Catholicism (2016)   

I believe in the Trinity

In the one divine Nature, there are three Persons - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is not the Father: no one of the Persons is either of the others.

The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God.

There are not three Gods but one God.

We have seen that the imagination cannot help here. Comparisons drawn from the material universe are a hindrance and no help. Once one has taken hold of this doctrine, it is natural enough to want to utter it in simile and metaphor - like the lovely lumen de lumine, light from light, with which the Nicene Creed phrases the relation of the Son to the Father. But this is for afterward, poetical statement of a truth known, not the way to its knowledge. For that, the intellect must go on alone. And for the intellect, the way into the mystery lies, as we have already suggested, in the meaning of the words "person" and "nature". There is no question of arithmetic involved. We are not saying three persons in one person, or three natures in one nature; we are saying three persons in one nature. There is not even the appearance of an arithmetical problem. It is for us to see what person is and what nature is, and then to consider what meaning there can be in a nature totally possessed by three distinct persons.

Frank Sheed | From Theology and Sanity | Ignatius Insight

I believe that Jesus Christ is the 2^nd person of the holy Trinity (consisting of the Father, the Son, and The Holy Spirit) and is 100% human and 100% God.

“The grace which was revealed in our world is Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, true man and true God...In him was revealed the grace, the mercy, and the tender love of the Father: Jesus is Love incarnate. He is not simply a teacher of wisdom; he is not an ideal for which we strive while knowing that we are hopelessly distant from it. He is the meaning of life and history, who has pitched his tent in our midst.”
JD Flynn, Did Pope Francis say that Jesus isn't God? Don't believe the report, Vatican says Oct 9, 2019, Catholic News Agency

I believe that the Eucharist is literally the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, fully present under the appearance of bread and wine.
 The Eucharist is an immense miracle. The Feast of Corpus Christi reminds us that we possess an immense treasure.  When a Catholic priest takes a little piece of unleavened bread and repeats the words that Jesus spoke at the Last Supper, "This is my body", and when he takes a small of amount of wine in a chalice and says, "This is my blood", the bread is no longer bread and the wine is no longer wine.  At every Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we participate in a marvelous miracle, the miracle called, in the Latin Rite, transubstantiation.  East or West, the mystery is still the same; words cannot express it. '
Fr. James Farfaglia Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity': The Miracle and Gift of the Most Holy Eucharist 6/6/2010 Catholic Online, Published in Living Faith

I believe that Mary is the Mother of God
From antiquity, Mary has been called "Theotokos", or "God-Bearer" (Mother of God). The word in Greek is "Theotokos". The term was used as part of the popular piety of the early first millennium church. It is used throughout the Eastern Church's Liturgy, both Orthodox and Catholic. It lies at the heart of the Latin Rite's deep Marian piety and devotion. This title was a response to early threats to 'orthodoxy', the preservation of authentic Christian teaching. A pronouncement of an early Church Council, The Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D., insisted "If anyone does not confess that God is truly Emmanuel, and that on this account the holy virgin is the "Theotokos" (for according to the flesh she gave birth to the word of God become flesh by birth) let him be anathema." (The Council of Ephesus, 431 AD)
Deacon Keith Fournier, Mother of God (Theotokos) Catholic Online

I believe we can ask the saints in heaven for their intersession.
To think of those in heaven as unwilling or unable to pray for us is to have a grave misconception of heaven. It is not an isolated part of the body of Christ that exists without concern for the other members of the body who are still working out their salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12). Those in heaven surround us as a “great cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12:1), and the book of Revelation teaches that the prayers they offer for us “saints” is an integral part of the eternal worship given to God.
Jason Evert How to Defend the Intercession of the Saints 11/1/2000 Catholic Answers

I believe that Mary and others from the next world appear in ours
So, what are Marian apparitions? Basically, the Blessed Mother has supposedly shown herself throughout the centuries, giving revelations or guidance to a variety of people. Usually, these appearances are accompanied by strange events like the sun spinning like a top. There are mass pilgrimages to the supposed site of the appearances. Many people testify to changed lives, healings (spiritual and physical), conversions, and a renewed devotion to God.

The idea that the Blessed Mother might appear to people and give them comfort/guidance/warnings doesn’t bother me. I am, as I’ve said, a confirmed believer in the Seen/Unseen world. Many Christians (and Catholics) have scoffed at the idea that the Virgin Mary would appear to peasant children in a field. Why, they ask, is she not appearing to Leaders of the World, or rich people who can actually do something about the world’s problems?

But God loves to use the weak, the powerless and the foolish to do His will. This fact is so well established in church history that to ignore it demonstrates a significant bias not worth considering. So, telling the Blessed Mother that she can’t appear to peasant children seems a bit absurd to me.
-Jonathan Ryan Marian Apparitions: Blessings or a Curse? May 17, 2016 Sick Pilgrim

I believe in an unseen world of Angels and Demons
Before the creation of the material universe God created the angels, billions of them. All at once they came into existence. One moment they were not, the next moment they were. Imagine that! Imagine being fully cognizant of yourself and your fellow celestial spirits all at once. Awesome, is it not? All of your knowledge of everything around you and your Almighty Creator, one God in Three Persons, was infused at your creation. You were a child of God from the start, gifted with the infused virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity; and all that you had to do to see God face to face forever was to love Him and obey Him.

The angels have no body; they are pure spirits, unmixed with matter. They have no need of a language for they communicate directly by one intellect engaging another, thought to thought, concept to concept. What tremendous minds they have! They see all the effects directly and immediately in their causes, all the conclusions in the premises. Therefore, they have no need to reason as we do. Philosophers call their intellectual activity “intuition.” They intuit, rather than think. They see the truth of things directly, so it is not possible for an angel to make an erroneous judgment. They do not know everything, of course. They can be ignorant. But they can never be wrong about what they do know.

Angels also have a will. It is their intellect and will, and sanctifying grace, that makes them the image and likeness of God. Because the angels have a free will, they could chose in
their trial state to obey or disobey God. Did they receive a specific command from God, like Adam and Eve? Yes. They were commanded to adore God’s Son in a nature inferior to their own, the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ. Before it came about, God revealed to all the angels the creation of man and the Incarnation to come. And, the mother of this God-man would be their Queen.

The good angels joyfully obeyed and were taken in to the beatific vision of the Blessed Trinity, whom they had known before only by Faith. The tradition is that two-thirds of the angels obeyed God. The one third that refused, and chose to follow the rebellious Lucifer, were cast into hell. Some of these demons are allowed to take their hell with them and roam the earth where they can tempt men. So, too, the more powerful, good angels, take their heaven with them, and roam the earth doing good to men. A guardian angel is assigned by God to every man at birth.
catholicism.org  Category: Angels and Demons

I believe you shouldn’t listen to demons for spiritual information
Jesus gives us a model of how exorcism ought to be done. It’s in Luke 4:33-35, where Jesus encounters a man in the synagogue possessed by a demon. The demon shouts at Jesus: “I know who you are, the Holy One of God!” Jesus does not say, “He tells the truth!” “Totally legit!” “What a red-pilled demon!” No. He tells the demon to shut up and leave.

That’s what an exorcist does. He’s there for one reason—to expel the demon. An exorcist does not engage the demon in conversation about the Rosary or Hans Kung. An exorcist does not care what the demon thinks of the Rosary or Hans Kung. He does not ask the demon his opinion of the Red Sox. He tells the demon to leave. End stop.

C.S. Lewis wrote that there are two errors into which one can fall about demons. The first error is to disbelieve in them. The second error is to believe in them and have an unhealthy interest in them.

Satan doesn’t care which error he traps you in. The attitude of a Catholic should be, I don’t care what the demons have to say. I’m not listening to you; I’m listening to the Church.”

I’ll say it again: Demons lie. And one way the lie is by mixing some truth in with a whole lot of lies, so you let your guard down. Don’t listen to them. What they say, they say not to save you but to damn you. And don’t listen to Taylor Marshall or anyone else with an unhealthy, spiritually dangerous interest in demons, or in confirming one’s private opinions through the testimony of demons. Listen to the Church.
-Scott Eric Alt, To Give a Defense


I believe in the Sacraments
The Incarnation, which made the redemption of mankind possible, “glorified” matter and raised it to previously unknown heights. God took on human flesh! All created matter was “good” in God’s opinion (Gen 1:25). Ritual and “physicality” were not abolished by the coming of Christ.

The sacramental principle flows from the Incarnation itself. If matter had nothing to do with grace, then God wouldn‟t have had to become man. Matter conveys grace often in Scripture: baptism confers regeneration (Acts 2:38, 22:16, 1 Pet 3:21), Paul’s “handkerchiefs” healed the sick (Acts 19:11-12), as did even Peter’s shadow – which also cast out demons (Acts 5:15-16), and of course, Jesus’ garment (Mt 9:20-22) and saliva mixed with dirt (Jn 9:5 ff., Mk 8:22-25), as well as water from the pool of Siloam (Jn 9:7).

Anointing with oil for healing is encouraged (Jas 5:14). The laying on of hands initiates and brings about ordination and commissioning (Acts 6:6), facilitates the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:3), and causes healing (Acts 9:17-18).

Catholics believe that Jesus instituted all the sacraments.
Dave Armstrong Why do Catholics Believe that Sacraments are Necessary? June 29, 2019  Biblical Evidence for Catholicism

I believe that mass is sacred
“No human tongue can enumerate the favors that trace back to the Sacrifice of the Mass. The sinner is reconciled with God; the just man becomes more upright; sins are wiped away; vices are uprooted; virtue and merit increases; and the devil’s schemes are frustrated.”
-St. Lawrence Justinian

 “The celebration of Holy Mass has the same value as the Death of Jesus on the Cross.”
-St. Thomas Aquinas

The ordinary form (the legitimate Novus Ordo) or  the extraordinary form (Traditional Latin Mass) are equal in value
Fr. Ripperger says demons react the same way to consecrated hosts confected during NO Masses as they do for consecrated hosts confected during TLM Masses. He’s an FSSP priest who celebrates TLM and is a well-known exorcist. Reine Lantz

Whatever mass gets you closer to God go to worship Him with church’s blessing and in good conscience.
In my life, I’ve never known anything other than the Novus Ordo. I’ve always thought it was beautiful when done well. And I figure if it’s good enough for Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa and Pope Benedict XVI - then it’s good enough for me.

I love the ideal of the Latin Mass and praying in a universal language in the universal Church (even though it’s also a universally dead language now).  

What does concern me, however, is the division I see this issue cause among the faithful around the thing that should be uniting us most. It’s called “Communion” for a reason. At the Last Supper, it was far more significant to the apostles that they happened to be dining together with the incarnated Creator of the Universe than what language was spoken while doing so.  

Pope Paul VI, in Missale Romanum, said the following regarding the change to the Novus Ordo:

The recent Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, in promulgating the Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium, established the basis for the general revision of the Roman Missal: in declaring “both texts and rites should be drawn up so that they express more clearly the holy things which they signify”;(4) in ordering that “the rite of the Mass is to be revised in such a way that the intrinsic nature and purpose of its several parts, as also the connection between them, can be more clearly manifested, and that devout and active participation by the faithful can be more easily accomplished”;(5) in prescribing that “the treasures of the Bible are to be opened up more lavishly, so that richer fare may be provided for the faithful at the table of God’s Word”;(6) in ordering, finally, that “a new rite for concelebration is to be drawn up and incorporated into the Pontifical and into the Roman Missal.”
Matthew Warner Which is Better: Latin Mass or Novus Ordo? National Catholic Register Feb. 26, 2011

Here's the thing: I find no difference with people who go to TLM and those who prefer the "modern style of praise and worship". These people tend to fight over a particular mode of prayer where they "feel" more united to God. Yes I don't agree with liturgical abuses, I myself am not comfortable with the modern style of worship. But SOME people who radically support the TLM also makes me feel like I want to distance myself from them. I just prefer a quiet style of prayer, small congregation, minimalist or simple art, prayers and songs in my vernacular. Not saying that this is what everyone should do. After all, we share in this one Heavenly Feast! -Niño Molina‎

Your allowed to receive communion in the hand or on the tongue or kneeling or standing.
I am not opposed in principle to Communion in the hand; I have both administered and received Communion in this way myself. The idea behind my current practice of having people kneel to receive Communion on the tongue was to send a signal and to underscore the Real Presence with an exclamation point. One important reason is that there is a great danger of superficiality precisely in the kinds of Mass events we hold at St. Peter’s, both in the Basilica and in the Square. I have heard of people who, after receiving Communion, stick the Host in their wallet to take home as a kind of souvenir.

In this context, where people think that everyone is just automatically supposed to receive Communion—everyone else is going up, so I will, too—I wanted to send a clear signal. I wanted it to be clear: something quite special is going on here! He is here, the One before Whom we fall on our knees! Pay attention! This is not just some social ritual in which we can take part if we want to.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI  (Light of the World, 2010)

I don’t believe in being a liturgical cop despite liturgical abuse.
Everybody will agree that the liturgy is an essential thing. The Eucharist is the source and summit of our Faith. The Sacrifice of the Mass is holiest act a human being can participate in. Because of this, a subculture has grown up in the Church which cares very much about following the fine points of ecclesial politicking about how the Mass is to be translated, what the gestures are, and so forth. That subculture is welcome, like all subcultures, to knock itself out over its interests.

What it is not welcome to do is assume its interests are as essential as the liturgy itself. It is not welcome to pass judgment on folk, uninterested in Liturgy Wars, whose attitude at Mass is: “I'm here to worship God. Whatever the bishops approve is fine by me. Just give me my lines and my blocking and let me get on with worshipping the Father and adoring Jesus in the Eucharist.”

Unfortunately, this judgmentalism sometimes happens. And the irony is that it often winds up being just as destructive of worship for ordinary people as liturgical abuses.
-Mark Shea Unity, Liberty, Charity SEPTEMBER 13, 2006 Catholic Exchange

Clapping shouldn’t be done during mass
 “Wherever applause breaks out in the liturgy because of some human achievement, it is a sure sign that the essence of liturgy has totally disappeared and been replaced by a kind of religious entertainment. Such attraction fades quickly – it cannot compete in the market of leisure pursuits, incorporating as it increasingly does various forms of religious titillation.
-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (before he was  Pope Benedict XVI) The Spirit of the Liturgy

Liturgical Music
One of the beautiful aspects of the Catholic tradition is the diversity (without adversity) of cultural and liturgical expressions.  Even within the Latin (or Roman) Catholic Church, one finds diversity in liturgical expression down through the years.  For example, the 12th century saw a liturgical revolution within monasteries that manifested itself in varied celebrations.  Cluniac monasteries favored huge choirs singing complex polyphony, many large, ornate candlesticks, incense, and golden vessels while Cistercian monasteries celebrated the liturgy with simple chants, a few modest candles, minimal incense, and wooden or copper vessels.  Similarly today, good and appropriate elements of modern music can and should be incorporated into the liturgy to speak to modern Christians (of course without marginalizing or replacing traditional music.)  The two can peacefully coexist.  In fact, way back in 1947, Venerable Pope Pius XII wrote, “It cannot be said that modern music and singing should be entirely excluded from Catholic worship. For, if they are not profane nor unbecoming to the sacredness of the place and function, and do not spring from a desire of achieving extraordinary and unusual effects, then our churches must admit them since they can contribute in no small way to the splendor of the sacred ceremonies, can lift the mind to higher things and foster true devotion of soul” (MD 193). 
Mike Tenney A Defense of Modern Worship Music in Liturgy November 3, 2016 Holy Ruckus

I believe Catholics should go to confession frequently
If we have any sense at all, we should earnestly strive to make a Good Sacramental Confession a frequent and integral part of our Christian life. The Church clearly states that the faithful are obligated to confess all known mortal sins at least once per year:

Can. 989 After having reached the age of discretion, each member of the faithful is obliged to confess faithfully his or her grave sins at least once a year.

Let me pose a question at this point: if dying outside of the State of Sanctifying Grace means eternal life in Hell, and that all it takes is one Mortal Sin to remove Sanctifying Grace from the Soul, are you content with waiting a whole year between Sacramental Confessions? Rolling the dice, so to speak, on whether or not you are going to die (even suddenly) prior to that year passing?

Those who think in such terms are content to confess once a year at some penance service, either during Advent or Lent, and then forget about Confession for the other 365 days – even if they committed a mortal sin (or, many, many, mortal sins) within a few weeks of their last confession! If one makes a minimum effort at something, then one should not be surprised with poor results. If one makes a minimum effort at the Spiritual Life, then one will end poor in Spiritual Life, and the consequences of that can be eternally catastrophic. Luke 12:16-21 comes to mind:
Father RP Forgive Me Father, For I Have Sinned – Part I: Why Confession? March 9, 2016 OnePeterFive

I believe that the Bible is a Catholic book
Some groups of Christians try to claim the Bible for themselves. They make it sound like the Catholic Church is opposed to Scripture. Some even claim that the Church “hates” the Bible. But as we’ll see, all Christians owe an enormous debt to the Catholic Church, for it was through the Church that the Bible was given to the world. Jesus himself founded the Catholic Church. He appointed its first leaders, and they were the ones who—under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit—wrote the books of the New Testament, which completed and became the capstone of all the scriptures that had come before. The Holy Spirit then guided the Catholic Church to discern which books belonged in the Bible and which did not. This involved the crucial process of sorting the true scriptures from all of the false ones that existed. The Catholic Church laboriously copied the scriptures in the age before the printing press, when every book—including lengthy ones like the Bible—had to be written by hand. It thus preserved these books through the centuries, unlike so many ancient works that have now been lost. The Catholic Church is why we have the Bible today, and everyone should be grateful for the gift that, by the grace of God, it has given to the world. The Bible is a Catholic book!
Jimmy Akin, The Bible is a Catholic Book  (2019)

 I believe in the power and necessity of Prayer
It is easy to be intimidated by the notion of “living a life of prayer”. One looks at the saints, floating and bilocating and being unruffled by being flayed alive and whatnot, and figure they’re some kind of Special Humans. Maybe it’s like the spiritual equivalent of genetics or something; some people are just born to be superheroes. Whatever the answer, you know one thing FOR SURE: that ain’t you. And you mostly just pray, when you remember to, that you’ll be spared the apparent ravages and social embarrassment of excessive saintliness, telling yourself that maybe Purgatory won’t be that bad, and anyway is probably the best you can aim at.

So, what is with all the floating and bilocating and stigmata and all that, anyway? How did the martyrs make jokes during their gruesome deaths? How did the seven sons of the Maccabees, with manly cheerfulness, declare their preference for being tortured to death rather than betray God? How did Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego walk about in the midst of the flames of the furnace of Nebuchadnezzar singing hymns of praise to the Lord?

All the saints say the same thing: mental prayer is the way to get this super-abundant unction, the way to become a saint. “But what is it?” you ask the great Abba Antony, whose mountain you have climbed for a day and a night with great pains.

“Mental prayer?” he replies as though it is inconsequential. “Ah, nothing more than this: to think about divine things, to ask God for help and to thank Him for his gifts.”
-Hilary White Prayer is scary; do it anyway  Dec 01, 2018

Rosary
The purpose of the Rosary is to help keep in memory certain principal events in the history of our salvation. There are twenty mysteries reflected upon in the Rosary, and these are divided into the five Joyful Mysteries (said on Monday and Saturday), the five Luminous Mysteries (said on Thursday), the five Sorrowful Mysteries (said on Tuesday and Friday), and the five Glorious Mysteries (said on Wednesday and Sunday). As an exception, the Joyful Mysteries may be said on Sundays during Advent and Christmas, while the Sorrowful Mysteries may be said on the Sundays of Lent.

The question is sometimes asked, why, of all the incidents in our Lord’s life, the Rosary only considers these particular twenty. The mysteries of the Rosary are based on the incidents in the life of Our Lord and His Mother that are celebrated in the Liturgy. There is a parallel between the main feasts honoring our Lord and his Mother in the liturgical year, and the twenty mysteries of the Rosary. Consequently, one who recites the twenty mysteries of the Rosary in one day reflects on the whole liturgical cycle that the Church commemorates during the course of each year. That is why some of the Popes have referred to the Rosary as a compendium of the Gospel. One cannot change the mysteries of the Rosary without losing the indulgences that the Church grants for the recitation of the Rosary.
Rosary Center, How To Pray The Rosary

Divine Mercy
The message of The Divine Mercy is simple. It is that God loves us – all of us. And, He wants us to recognize that His mercy is greater than our sins, so that we will call upon Him with trust, receive His mercy, and let it flow through us to others. Thus, all will come to share His joy.

The Divine Mercy message is one we can call to mind simply by remembering ABC:

A - Ask for His Mercy. God wants us to approach Him in prayer constantly, repenting of our sins and asking Him to pour His mercy out upon us and upon the whole world.

B - Be merciful. God wants us to receive His mercy and let it flow through us to others. He wants us to extend love and forgiveness to others just as He does to us.

C - Completely trust in Jesus. God wants us to know that the graces of His mercy are dependent upon our trust. The more we trust in Jesus, the more we will receive.

This message and devotion to Jesus as The Divine Mercy is based on the writings of Saint Faustina Kowalska, an uneducated Polish nun who, in obedience to her spiritual director, wrote a diary of about 600 pages recording the revelations she received about God's mercy. Even before her death in 1938, the devotion to The Divine Mercy had begun to spread.

The message and devotional practices proposed in the Diary of Saint Faustina and set forth in the web site thedivinemercy.org and other publications of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception are completely in accordance with the teachings of Church and are firmly rooted in the Gospel message of our Merciful Savior. Properly understood and implemented, they will help us grow as genuine followers of Christ.

Spend time to learn more about the mercy of God, learn to trust in Jesus, and live your life as merciful to others, as Christ is merciful to you.
Marians of the Immaculate Conception, The Divine Mercy Message and Devotion

Divine Office
The Divine Office is at the center of the Benedictine life. Through it the monk lifts heart and mind to Almighty God, and uniting himself to his confreres, the Church and the entire world in offering God praise and thanks, in confessing his sins, and in calling on God for the needs of all people. The office punctuates the day of the monk; like a leaven awakening his soul to make the entire day, indeed the whole of life, a gift of the self to God. Praying the hours puts the monk into the real world, sanctifying his whole life and assisting him toward his goal of unceasing prayer – Ut In Omnibus Glorificetur Deus.
stbernardabbey.com The Divine Office THE BENEDICTINE MONASTIC OFFICE

Lecto Divina
The phrase lectio divina, difficult to translate, is the Latin for “sacred reading.” The noun lectio could be translated as a reading which is sacred or better, divine. Ordinarily this practice is confined to the slow perusal of sacred Scripture, both the Old and New Testaments. It is undertaken not with the intention of gaining information but of using the texts as an aide first to contact the living God and secondly, to sustain that contact. Basic to this practice is a union with God in faith which, in turn, is sustained by further reading.

There is no special program or technique to lectio divina. Even more importantly, one must resist the modern temptation of covering a prescribed amount of material within a given time frame. This is more difficult to sustain over time than first meets the eye but certainly well worth the effort. However, the fruits gained from lingering over a single word or phrase without having your eye on the clock is well worth the effort, knowing with full confidence that it will lead to further appreciation of the text at hand. Combine that with the Church's liturgical cycle, and you have literally a never-ending source of inspiration. Such is one of the most attractive features to lectio divina which is open-ended and subject to continuous growth.
lectio-divina.org/

Jesus Prayer
The Jesus Prayer is a short, simple prayer that can put you in the right frame of mind to get closer to God. And, at one sentence long, it’s quite easy to memorize!

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

We find a similar version of this prayer in Luke’s Gospel in our Lord’s parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, illustrated above. Both of them are praying in the temple in Jesus’ account, yet the contrite tax collector is justified before God rather than the smug Pharisee, who’s boasting about his religious achievements (Lk 18:9-14). What does the tax collector ask of God here? “Be merciful to me a sinner” (Lk 18:13).
ourcatholicprayers.com

I regard Pope Francis as the true Pope of the Catholic Church and declare my submission to his magisterial authority.
The opposition to Francis is opposition to the Second Vatican Council and to the evangelical reform of the church that Pope John XXIII wanted to promote. Francis belongs to the line of all the prophets who have wanted to reform the church, joining Francis of Assisi, Ignatius of Loyola, Catherine of Siena and Teresa of Jesus, Angelo Roncalli, Dom Hélder Câmara, Dorothy Stang, Pedro Arrupe, Ignacio Ellacuría and the nonagenarian Brazilian bishop emeritus Pedro Casaldáliga.

Francis still has many tasks to complete for an evangelical reform of the church. We do not know what his future trajectory will be, nor what will happen in the next conclave.

Popes come and go, but the Lord Jesus is ever present and animates the church until the end of time. It is the same Jesus who was seen as an eater and drinker, a friend of sinners and prostitutes, the possessed, crazy, seditious and blasphemous. And we believe that the Spirit of the Lord who descended upon the early church at Pentecost never abandons her and will not allow sin to triumph over holiness in the long run.

In the meantime, as Francis always asks, from his first appearance on the balcony of St. Peter’s as bishop of Rome to the present day, let us pray to the Lord for him. Let us pray that he not lose hope and that he may strengthen the faith of his brothers and sisters (see Luke 22:32). And if we cannot pray or we are not believers, let us at least send him our good thoughts and energy (in his words, “me mande buena onda”).

Victor Codina, S.J. Why do some Catholics oppose Pope Francis? September 12, 2019 America The Jesuit Review

The pope is definitely not a heretic. I've read his documents. I think that Pope Francis, led by the Holy Spirit sees that an entirely different approach must be employed and that business as usual won't cut it. Basically, the way the church had done things for the past five centuries is definitely at an end. It's what Vatican II was about and Pope Francis is continuing what Vatican II ushered in. Problem is...some people hate change and in their own pride reject the pope and the Church and ultimately Christ himself.

-Rachel Dobbs

Some time ago I made it a policy to not criticize Pope Francis. My attitude to the Vatican corruption, immorality amongst the hierarchy, financial skullduggery and Pope Francis’ ambiguous teaching was simply, “He’s the Pope. He’s from a different culture and background. What can we learn from him? Is he a great pope? Time will tell. Is he a bad pope? I give him the benefit of the doubt and realize, sometimes we have good popes. Sometimes we have bad popes. Sometimes we have incompetent popes. Maybe before long we will have a different pope.”

Why complain about the Pope if you don’t like him? You can’t do anything about it, so just get on with doing what you can do with what you have where you are. Be real. Be local. Live the faith and perhaps your prayer for the pope will be that of Tevye for the Czar.

Fr. Dwight Longenecker Pope Francis: Catholicism in Confusion August 13th, 2019

Regarding Pachamama

"Some thieves broke into a church, stole some statues, and threw them into the river. Perhaps the perpetrators consider themselves a pack of modern St. Bonifaces, tackling pagan idols head on, plus a little bit of Jesus with a whip, cleansing the temple.

There are a few problems with this approach. One is that stealing and vandalism are sins, full stop. If your goal is to defend the Church, then you really need to start with defending the ten commandments.

The second problem is it is by no means clear that the statues they stole and threw away are actually idols.Everyone wants to imitate Jesus in the one time He showed some temper with the whip in the temple. Dude, you are not Jesus. It’s a much safer bet to imitate Him in the other 99% of the Gospels, like when He preached the good news, when He fed His sheep, when he gave over His body, and when He fixed His eyes firmly on the Father and then told us to do the same.

Oops, that’s what the Pope did, too. When in doubt, pray an Our Father.

It’s really easy to imitate outward actions. A saint did this, so I will, too! But let me tell you: The real work that every Christian is compelled to do is interior work. And it’s hard. And it doesn’t get a lot of views on YouTube. But it is what will save your soul."

SIMCHA FISHER The only thing I will write about the Amazon Synod, October 21, 2019 I have to sit down.

I believe that Vatican 2 is a legitimate Council

 “We are all required, as Catholics, to accept the twenty-first ecumenical council (a.k.a. Vatican II) and its teachings. Where it reiterates dogma, we are to give the assent of faith; where it is giving pastoral applications, religious assent of the will.

I will also add, that what the Council actually taught, especially in its four main constitutions (Sacrocanctum Concilium, Lumen Gentium, Dei Verbum, and Gaudium et Spes) is chock-full of excellent and fruitful teaching: not at all the “liberal” teaching that people (who haven’t read it) imagine it to be.” -Fr. Louis Melahn

About Modernism and Development of Doctrine

Modern is different than modernism. Church teaching has developed on things like slavery, marriage, capital punishment, usury, Christian/Jewish relations, treatment of the environment, and economics just to name a few. Those aren’t compromises with modernity, they are applying the principles of Christianity to modern situations. If that development didn’t happen it would mean the church was actually compromising with antiquity. Christianity is will always find certain areas of harmony and discord with the culture. In every age (classical, renaissance, medieval, modern, post modern etc) there are ideas compatible with Christianity and ideas that are incompatible. It’s why we need ecumenical councils, papal encyclicals, and doctors of the church. --Mike Tenney

For clarity, Modernism is the heresy that claims that doctrines can change based on our understanding of them.

This is different from the development of doctrine in that, in the latter, doctrines themselves do not change, so that we can never claim something that is contrary to a previous doctrine, but only expound on it.

-Conner Warren

The Catholic Church holds that our Lord Jesus Christ delivered one apostolic deposit to His apostles, and that it hasn't changed in terms of essence or substance. The Catholic Church preserves it, and is its guardian. But there is a growth in depth of clarity, in the understanding of those truths, without essential change.

In other words, the Church's subjective grasp of doctrines has increased through the centuries, without doctrines or dogma changing in an essential way. Development is not evolution (where a thing changes to something else).

Dave Armstrong, Development of Catholic Doctrine: A Primer Jan. 5, 2018, National Catholic Regester

I believe in ecumenism  

Ecumenism, from the Greek word “oikoumene,” meaning “the whole inhabited world,” is the promotion of cooperation and unity among Christians. Jesus Christ founded one Church and, in the midst of his Passion, prayed, “That they may all be one.” (John 17:21) In fidelity to that, the Catholic Church takes part in an ecumenical movement seeking visible unity among the diversity of Christian Churches and ecclesial communities.

The Catholic Church’s ecumenical movement truly began with the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio. . . . In this document, the Council Fathers recognize that a divided Christianity is a scandal to the world and that the movement of the Holy Spirit was calling for the restoration of unity. Underlying the Catholic Church’s pursuit of ecumenism is the recognition that despite the separation, “some and even very many of the significant elements and endowments which together go to build up and give life to the Church itself, can exist outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church” (Unitatis Redintegratio, 3). Thus, it can even be said that the Church’s pursuit of ecumenism is another way of expressing her radical catholicity or universality.

-USCCB

The Catholic Church acknowledges what is holy and true in other Christian communities, but it does not let these things undercut the necessity of evangelizing our separated brethren. Indeed, it would be unloving to withhold the saving power of the sacraments for fear that the Church’s teaching on these matters may offend those who disagree. As John Paul II said, “ecumenism is directed precisely to making the partial communion existing between Christians grow toward full communion in truth and charity” (Dominus Iesus, 17).

Trent Horn What You Need to Know About the Reality of the Church and Ecumenism3/28/2017 Catholic Answers

I believe in evangelization.

 (CNA).- Pope Francis spoke Sunday about the need for Catholics to be active in going out to announce the faith of Jesus Christ to the world.

“The world needs Christians who let themselves be moved, who never tire of walking the streets of life, to bring everyone the consoling word of Jesus,” he said Feb. 2 in his Angelus address.

“Every baptized person has received the vocation to proclaim,” he added “– to proclaim something, to proclaim Jesus – the vocation to the evangelizing mission: to proclaim Jesus!”

-Hannah Brockhaus Pope Francis: The world needs Catholics who go out, proclaim Jesus Vatican City, Feb 2, 2020- Catholic News Agency

To summarize the Holy Father's points, you could say that evangelization is all about trust, and proselytization is all about fear.

Proper evangelization is a proclamation of Jesus without fear or apprehension that no one will listen. It arises out of our living relationship with Jesus through prayer, regular reception of the Sacraments, performing the works of mercy, and fulfilling the duties of our state in life. We become transparent to Jesus and so are living proclamations of the Gospel. We don't all need to be saints or scholars to evangelize; we simply need to love Jesus and be prepared to share that love with other people. At the same time, we are to present Jesus as clearly and as accurately as we can, so we must study Church teachings in Scripture and Tradition, learn the lives of the saints, and be prepared to defend the faith to the best of our ability.

It's just like playing on a local sports team - players don't have to be ready for the big leagues, but they do have to be ready for the upcoming game. You don't have to be a professional athlete to have fun, but you've got to be fit enough to play the game at all.

Just so with evangelization. We need to be prepared, even though we don't need to be the next St. Thomas Aquinas.

Proselytization, on the other hand, is essentially spiritual bullying, driven by the fear of God and the fear of neighbor. We fear that if we don't make converts, we are failures and will be punished, because we believe that making converts depends upon us and our efforts, rather than on our cooperation with the Holy Spirit. We fear that if our neighbors don't convert, there's something wrong with the Gospel or with ourselves. Proselytization isn't inspired by the Holy Spirit, whose fruits are "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Gal 5:22-23). Proselytization arises from the works of the flesh, whose bad fruits include "hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy" (Gal 5:20-21).

-Chris Sparks Evangelization Vs. Proselytization. Feb 27 2017 The Divine Mercy.com

I believe Evangelization is necessary

That is why the Church “exists in order to evangelize,” as Pope Paul VI said, and why each of us is called to spread the Gospel, as Vatican II said. Evangelization is the reason why God set apart a special people for himself in the first place. He chose Israel precisely so they could be his instruments to bring his salvation to the rest of mankind, and he now chooses the new Israel, the Church, for that same exact reason. Simply put, evangelization is part of the very fabric of Christianity, so if we don’t evangelize, then we are failing at what it means to be Christian.

This doesn’t mean, however, that we all need to be professional missionaries and go to faraway lands to preach the Gospel to people who have never heard it before. Some people are called to do that, but others can spread the Gospel in much more modest ways. For example, like the ancient Israelites, we are all called to evangelize by our example. People should see our Christian way of life and be attracted by its beauty. However, evangelizing solely by example is not enough. There are times when we will need to use our words as well, like when people ask about our Christian way of life, and we can never back down from explicitly preaching the Gospel when necessary. We need to prudently discern when we need to use our words and when we can simply evangelize by example, but one thing we can never discern is whether to evangelize at all. We are all called to spread the Gospel one way or another. That is part of what it means to be a Christian, so we cannot shirk that responsibility.

-JP Nunez, Why We Have To Evangelize, 11 August AD 2017 Catholic Stand

 I believe that Hell is Real

Jesus and the Church have always warned of it. That's really it for me. I don't like cancer either. But when people who oughtta know tell me that certain behavior are like to lead to it, I don't assume they are trying to scare me. I assume they are trying to help me. Especially when they then die on a cross for me.

The citizens of heaven spend eternity grateful to God because they have no business being there.

The citizens of hell spend eternity arguing that everybody deserves to be there but them.  
-Mark Shea   

Let the sinner know that he will be tortured throughout all eternity, in those senses which he made use of to sin. I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by saying there is no hell, or that nobody has ever been there, and so no one can say what it is like...how terribly souls suffer there! Consequently, I pray even more fervently for the conversion of sinners. I incessantly plead God's mercy upon them. O My Jesus, I would rather be in agony until the end of the world, amidst the greatest sufferings, than offend you by the least sin." (Diary 741) St. Maria Faustina Kowalska

I believe that outside the Catholic Church, there is no salvation

If you have people today, real-time, who are where they are, through no fault of their own, they’ve never rejected the truth of Christ in his Church, but they seek God in accordance with the legitimate sacraments–for example, they may have, if they’re Orthodox they have seven, Protestants have two–but even if they’re not Christian, if they cooperate with the graces that they have now, the bits and pieces, in fact Lumen Gentium, in paragraph 16, talks about the “images and shadows” that even the religions that don’t even believe in God posses, like the Hindus and such. Those are sources of grace, God acting. And so, if they respond the best way they can, they have the possibility of salvation. So, now, is this a compromise? Are we really making so many exceptions that no salvation outside of the Church really doesn’t have any meaning? Absolutely not.

The truth is, all salvation comes through Jesus Christ and his Church. In fact, the graces that our Hindu friends, Buddhists, and anybody else who is honestly seeking God, will receive, ultimately, come through Jesus and his Church. But my friends, really, this was a teaching that attracted me to the Catholic faith among all the others, but in a particular way, because it just makes sense, doesn’t it?

In Romans chapter two, you know, verse 14 through 16, St. Paul makes the point that if pagans, people outside who don’t even know the law, keep the law that’s written in their hearts, he’s talking about natural law there, he says that will be a source, that is the law written on their hearts to either accuse them or, possibly, excuse them, on the day of judgment. St. Paul tells us that. So, the Bible is very clear on this, that if, in fact, you are invincibly ignorant, and you seek God the best way you can, you have the possibility of salvation. But, the last thing I would say about the no salvation outside of the Church is really an exhortation to Catholics, because I think today, in popular Catholic culture, the possibility of salvation outside of the Church has been so emphasized that evangelism has almost become a moot point.

Tim Staples, No Salvation Outside the Church7/3/2019 Catholic Answers Focus

I don’t know how many people will be in hell. The church doesn’t give an official answer to this question.

Jesus says the way to hell is broad and many find it and that the way to heaven is narrow and few find it. And he means it: you don't get to heaven simply by being born, by being nice, or by oozing into an eternal growth experience. But "few" here does not mean that less than half of mankind will be saved. For God speaks as our Father, not our statistician. Even one child lost is too many, and the rest saved are too few. The good shepherd who left his ninety-nine sheep safe at home to rescue his one lost sheep found even 99 percent salvation too "few”. - Peter Kreeft

The search for numbers in the demography of hell is futile. God in His wisdom has seen fit not to disclose any statistics All told, it is good that God has left us without exact information. If we knew that virtually everybody would be damned, we would be tempted to despair. If we knew that all, or nearly all, are saved, we might become presumptuous. If we knew that some fixed percent, say fifty, would be saved, we would be caught in an unholy rivalry. We would rejoice in every sign that others were among the lost, since our own chances of election would thereby be increased. Such a competitive spirit would hardly be compatible with the gospel.

We are forbidden to seek our own salvation in a selfish and egotistical way. We are keepers of our brothers and sisters. The more we work for their salvation, the more of God’s favor we can expect for ourselves. Those of us who believe and make use of the means that God has provided for the forgiveness of sins and the reform of life have no reason to fear. We can be sure that Christ, who died on the Cross for us, will not fail to give us the grace we need. We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, and that if we persevere in that love, nothing whatever can separate us from Christ (cf. Romans 8:28-39). That is all the assurance we can have, and it should be enough.

Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J.

Dare We Hope All Men Be Saved?

This [dare we hope] position of Balthasar seems to me to be orthodox. It does not contradict any ecumenical councils or definitions of the faith. It can be reconciled with everything in Scripture, at least if the statements of Jesus on hell are taken as minatory rather than predictive. Balthasar’s position, moreover, does not undermine a healthy fear of being lost.

 -Avery Cardinal Dulles “Dare We Hope?” FAQ page

Your allowed to believe that most people go to hell.

Your allowed to believe that most people go to heaven.
Your not allowed to believe with certainty that nobody goes to hell.
Your allowed to hope nobody goes to hell.-Me

Bishop Barron is not a Universalist with his belief in ‘Dare We Hope’ theology.

Universalism is a heresy that has been condemned by the Church. Its adherents claim to know that all people will be saved. Universalism is a claim of certainty, to have definite knowledge about hell being empty.

But Bishop Barron doesn’t claim this. He is not a universalist. He doesn’t claim to know all people will be saved, nor does he even think or expect that all will be saved. Instead, he merely prays and hopes that all will be saved. It’s critical to make these distinctions.

“Dare We Hope?” FAQ page

Even if you disagree with his position on hell, Word on Fire has a lot of great spiritual and theological content.

Word on fire is one of the most pertinent evangelization tools for the world. Bishop Baron continues to lead this movement of God in reaching souls everywhere.

Amazon Customer

I believe the reality of purgatory

The Book of Wisdom (3:1-9): "The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. ...Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of Himself. As gold in the furnace, He proved them, and as sacrificial offerings He took them to Himself."

Think of this image of "fire tried" gold or silver. When these precious metals are mined from the earth, other minerals or rocks accompany them. By fire, these impurities are separated, and the pure gold or silver remains. In the same sense, a soul containing the impurities of venial sin or hurts caused by sin will first be purified, i.e. "fire tried." Perhaps a more modern version would be the idea of radiation therapy "burning" out the cancer cells; while such therapy is very painful, one has the hope of returning to good health.

In a more positive light, St. Francis de Sales wrote of the sufferings of Purgatory, but as they are mitigated by the consolations which accompany them: "We may draw from the thought of Purgatory more consolation than apprehension. The greater part of those who dread Purgatory so much think more of their own interests than of the interests of Gods glory; this proceeds from the fact that they think only of the sufferings without considering the peace and happiness which are there enjoyed by the holy souls. It is true that the torments are so great that the most acute sufferings of this life bear no comparison to them; but the interior satisfaction which is there enjoyed is such that no prosperity nor contentment upon earth can equal it. The souls are in a continual union with God." (Espirit de St. Francois de Sales, IX, p. 16, quoted in Purgatory by Rev. F. X. Shouppe, S.J.)

Fr. William Saunders, What Is Purgatory Like? Catholic Education Resource Center

I believe in the reality of heaven

And this gazing forth at God in the Beatific Vision shall never cease to amaze us, to fill us with happiness, for God is the source of all that our heart desires. All in this life that we have ever enjoyed is actually the enjoyment of God Himself, for He alone is the source of all joy. Peter Kreeft tells us in Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Heaven...But Never Dreamed Of Asking! that “The Beatific Vision is also not boring because it is dynamic rather than static, exploring rather than staring at God, endless beginnings rather than merely the end.”

Nor shall we be outsiders simply witnessing all this wonderment. Father Michael Gaitley points out to us in The 'One Thing' Is Three that Heaven is not equivalent to being a spectator watching a game. Far from it. In Heaven our life will be one of participating in the Holy Trinity's own life and love. We ourselves will enter fully into the outpouring of Love between The Father and The Son, this eternal rush of love being the very person of the Holy Spirit. Heaven is the highest romance, the greatest dance imaginable. The Beatific Vision will be ecstasy without end, for Communion with the Holy Trinity, Our Godhead three in one will involve no intermediary whatsoever, the full light of God who has no beginning or end, but who is our beginning and our final end, will radiate upon us unfiltered, and we shall not be left feeling incomplete and restless, for the one place that our hearts were meant to find repose will at last be found, to our great delight and thrill. God Himself is ceaseless enthrallment. We are to be divinized, we are to enter into communion with the Eternal God, the Triune Communion of Persons Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in all Their majesty and wonder, in a completely unveiled, undimmed manner. We are to be “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4) Christ indeed did come to redeem us of our sins, but by so doing, He was opening back up Heaven for us, a fallen race, that we might see God face to face and enter into the everlasting Joy of God. Christ came not only to save us from death and sin, but to save us for the Beatific Vision, to glorify us by drawing us close, so close into His own life in the Holy Trinity that we enter into that very Blessed Communion.

Nate Lauer Why Heaven Won't Be Boring: What Seeing God Face To Face For The Rest Of Forever Means 3/28/2015 Catholic365

I accept just war teaching of the church.

It is true that war is a punishment for sin. However, as with everything that is evil, a faithful Catholic, with the help of God’s grace, can bring good out of the evil. After all, we are members of the Church Militant. When we received the Sacrament of Confirmation, we became “soldiers of Christ.” The Church has excellent reasons for using these war-like phrases. In order to save our souls, we must “fight the good fight .” The reality is that our fallen world includes war. In the spiritual sense, in order to save our souls, we must wage war against Satan and his legions.

The following conditions of a just war must be considered before deciding to go to war. All of these conditions must be present at one and the same time.

Just cause: force may be used only to correct an evil to the nation or community that is lasting, grave, and certain.

All other means of securing or defending its rights must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective.

There must be a serious probability of success.

Proportionality: the expected good to be achieved must be greater than the destruction and disorder that will be caused by the use of force. (Modern weapons of mass destruction must be seriously considered when evaluating this condition.)

Force may be used only as a last resort.

Br. Lawrence Mary M.I.C.M., Tert. Catholic Teaching Concerning a Just War Feb 21, 2006  Catholicism.org

I support capitalism (within the moral guidelines of the  Church’s social teaching.

 “If by ‘capitalism’ is meant an economic system which recognizes the fundamental and positive role of business, the market, private property and the resulting responsibility for the means of production, as well as free human creativity in the economic sector, then the answer is certainly in the affirmative …. But if by ‘capitalism’ is meant a system in which freedom in the economic sector is not circumscribed within a strong juridical framework in its totality, and which sees it as a particular aspect of that freedom, the core of which is ethical and religious, then the reply is certainly negative”
Pope St. John Paul II Centesimus Annus, 42

I believe in obedience to the Church's teaching against torture.

The Catechism could not be clearer on this issue: “Torture that uses physical or moral violence to extract confessions, punish the guilty, frighten opponents or satisfy hatred is contrary to respect for the person and human dignity” (No. 2297). That is, the human dignity of all concerned — torturers and tortured. The Catechism then teaches that the torture of innocent persons is “against the moral law.” Calling torture methods “degrading,” it says, “It is necessary to work for their abolition. We must pray for the victims and their tormentors” (No. 2298).

The 1993 encyclical Veritatis Splendor (The Splendor of Truth) reaffirms this teaching. It places torture with abortion and euthanasia as equally a disgrace to society, “and so long as they infect human civilization they contaminate those who inflict them more than those who suffer injustice, and they are a negation of the honor due to the Creator” (No. 80).

That is, torture contaminates us more than the terrorists, because in deciding to torture we choose to inflict violence on others. That torture may have a beneficial result — obtaining information, for example — is not in itself a justification for a dehumanizing act.

This is the key Catholic insight, and it is contrary to much of contemporary commentary. Catholic moral thought prohibits torture not just because of the pain inflicted on the victims, but because it is sinful as well to the torturers.

GERALD J. RUSSELLO Catholic Teaching and Torture Feb. 13, 2006 National Catholic Regester

I believe racism is a real and that it is a sin condemned by the church

There are many reasons to dislike people – without sinning. You may dislike the Beatles or rap music or unfamiliar foods. Lots of us are humiliated and appalled by the “culture” (really lack of culture) members of our own race have adopted.

But our emotions should be controlled by reason. When we allow our dislikes to devolve into a hatred, and desire for harm to others and unjust discrimination, we sin against God and man. Add a desire to harm another person on racial grounds, and we commit the sin of racism.

All sinful hatred is rooted in the sin of Adam, Original Sin (and its effects), as well as in our personal sins. It’s also rooted in the effective denial of the dignity of another person as created in the image of God. So as a working definition: Racism is the deliberate and habitual failure to recognize and respect a person’s equal dignity as a child of God on grounds of race or ethnicity.

A contributing factor is unresolved or festering historical grievances that are often aggravated – even deliberately cultivated – revisiting the scene of the crime over many generations. Think “Hatfields and McCoys.” Racism is an equal opportunity and multicultural sin. The Christian imperative to forgive one’s enemies applies to everyone and is indispensable in overcoming hatred.

Rev. Jerry J. Pokorsky  Racism and Catholicism,  September 2, 2017 The Catholic Thing

I believe that anti-Semitism is real and that it is a sin condemned by the church.

Jews ought to be able to count on Catholics to reject antisemitism with vigorous revulsion, because that is what Catholics are for: defending the vulnerable, defending the truth, defending our Faith which is inextricable from its Jewish roots.

During Advent, Jewish Mary and her Jewish baby boy fled for their lives. During Advent, Jews all over the world are in danger, and their danger increases when Catholics pretend they don’t see antisemitism in their ranks. It is here. I, a Jew, a mother of Jews, am asking you, if you’re a writer, an editor, a social media manager; if you book speakers or hire teachers; if you’re in charge of choosing curriculum; if you are active on social media; if you are a priest, if you influence other people:

Please see this cancer on the Body of Christ for what it is. Name it as evil, every single time, and keep it from spreading.
Simcha Fisher -Catholics can’t afford careless anti-Semitism

Not all Muslims are terrorists and we worship the same God.
The problem is not that Muslims, or heretics, believe in a different God, it is that they err in their conceptions about God. Muslims, Aquinas said, did not truly appreciate the depth of the mystery of God, and so in their lesser realization of God, they mocked the Christian faith: “From a similar mental blindness, Muslims are led to ridicule as well the Christian Faith which confesses Christ, the Son of God, died, because they do not grasp the depth of so great a mystery.”[11] But, they cannot be said to be wrong about God if they believed in and were teaching about a different God. This is why Aquinas, in discussing the errors of the Islamic faith, could and also grouped them along with Christians whom he believed were wrong about God (such as the Greeks in their rejection of the filioque). Thus, Aquinas did not argue that differing, indeed, erring beliefs meant people believed in different Gods, but rather because they are talking about the same God, we can talk about such errors.
Henry Karlson  Aquinas and God: Why Muslims And Others Believe In The Same God As The Christians January 28, 2020 : A Little Bit of Nothing: Pathos

I believe that violence against Christians is a big problem
Pope Francis argued on Monday that the 21st century has seen more Christians under siege for their faith than during the time of the early church.

"There are many martyrs today, in the Church, many persecuted Christians," said the pope during a mass in honor of Christian martyrs who were killed under Roman Emperor Nero. "Think of the Middle East where Christians must flee persecution, where Christians are killed. Even those Christians who are forced away in an 'elegant' way, with 'white gloves:' that too is persecution. There are more witnesses, more martyrs in the Church today than there were in the first centuries."

Coptic Christians protest against the killings of people during clashes in Cairo between Christian protesters and military police, and what the demonstrators say is persecution of Christians, in Los Angeles, California October 16, 2011. The demonstrators are rallying for Barack Obama's administration to intervene. | (Photo: REUTERS / David McNew)

Pope Francis' words come at a time when Iraq's small population of Christians, which trace their roots back to the earliest days of Christianity, have had to flee their homes as militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria have taken over the city of Mosul. On Sunday, Nigerian Christians were once again targeted by the Boko Haram, which killed scores of worshippers and burned down four churches in a major attack in Kwada and Kautikari villages.

The pope asked Christians to remember "our glorious ancestors" and "let us think also to our brothers who are persecuted, who suffer and who, with their blood are nurturing the seed of so many little churches that are born. Let us pray for them and for us," reported Vatican Radio.

Pope Francis also noted that the church's witness in the face of persecution and hard times could lead to church growth.

"When historical situations require a strong witness, there are martyrs, the greatest witnesses. And the Church grows thanks to the blood of the martyrs. This is the beauty of martyrdom. It begins with witness, day after day, and it can end like Jesus, the first martyr, the first witness, the faithful witness: with blood," he said.
Morgan Lee Pope: More Persecuted Christians Today Than Ever Before July 01, 2014 Christian Post

I believe that Jesus reserved the priesthood to men,
Yet the times have often favored a female priesthood and never more so than when Christ ordained His first priests, nearly 2,000 years ago. Virtually all the pagan religions of His day had priestesses, and it would have been entirely normal and natural for Him to choose women for this task. He had, moreover, a number of excellent potential candidates, from His own Mother, who accompanied Him at His first miracle and stood with Him as He suffered on the cross, to Mary Magdalene or the women of Bethany. Instead, He chose only men, and He remained immovable on this, continuing right to the end to exhort and train them all, leaving thus a Church which turned out to be safely founded on a rock. From those twelve men a direct line of apostolic succession has given the Catholic Church the bishops and priests it has today.
JOANNE BOGLE Women Priests No Chance Catholic Education Resource Center

I accept completely all the Church dogmas and doctrines--including on all the pelvic issues.
The specific teaching of the Church on the morality of sexual coition is a teaching that is rooted in a profound grasp of the goodness of human persons and of the human goods of life itself and friendship. If one freely chooses inwardly to shape his/her choices and actions in accordance with the truth that no human being ought ever to be unwanted, one will choose to engage in sexual relations only with that person who is irreplaceable and nonsubstitutable and with whom one is willing and able to welcome new life and give to it the home where it can take root and grow.
-Dr. William E. May, The Liberating Truth of Catholic Teaching on Sexual Morality- Catholic Culture

 There is more to Catholic Life then sexual ethics (as important as that is)

When you read the great evangelizing texts of the New Testament—the Gospels, the Epistles of Paul, the book of Revelation, etc.—you don’t get the impression that what their authors wanted you primarily to understand is sexual morality. Rather, they wanted you to know that the great story of Israel had come to its highpoint and that God, in the person of the crucified and risen Messiah, had come to reign as king of the world. God, redemption, the cross, the resurrection, Jesus the Lord, telling the Good News—these are the master themes of the New Testament. Again, please don’t misunderstand me: God impinges upon all aspects of life and therefore placing our sex lives under the Lordship of Jesus matters. But I fear that for so many people in the secular world today, religion is reduced to the policing of sexual behavior, and this is massively unfortunate.
Bishop Robert Barron, Dave Rubin, the "Pelvic Issues" and Larry David February 4, 2017

I believe that marriage is lifelong union between one man and one woman open to life.

That Means NO DIVORCE
Easy divorce is part of what Pope Francis calls the “throwaway culture.” We throw away unwanted trash, unwanted babies, and unwanted spouses. Such is life in a culture that rejects the transcendent, the idea that we owe duties to each other by virtue of being human—and by virtue of our word.

This throwaway culture is the great cost of our contemporary religion, which is self-actualization. The creed of our day is that each person’s private happiness and self-actualization is the ultimate good. Kids, the unborn, and spouses we no longer love must bow the knee to our own personal quests for happiness.
Daniel Davis How 50 Years of No-Fault Divorce Gave Us a Throwaway Culture September 03, 2019: The Daily Signal

Compassion for the divorced
The first thing Catholics should know is that divorce is not a sin that should keep a divorced Catholic from receiving the sacraments. A divorced or separated person is not excommunicated and is still a Catholic in good standing. The only reason for excommunication after divorce is remarriage without going through the annulment process.

Before a divorced person can remarry in the Catholic Church, he or she must obtain an annulment by a Catholic diocesan tribunal. Obtaining such a decree does not mean that the marriage never took place; it is a determination that a sacramental marriage did not take place.

This does not mean that the children of that marriage are illegitimate or that the couple was “living in sin.” It means that, in that particular case, the marrying couple had little or no idea what Christian marriage was all about or that there were deep problems from the beginning of the marriage, either in the couple’s relationship or in their families of origin.

Therefore, the Church may determine that it was impossible then for the couple to enter into a truly Christian marriage. Divorced Catholics who are seeking an annulment should talk to their pastors, who will direct them to the proper contacts at their diocese.
Susan K. Rowland-Seven Things Catholics Should Know about Divorce: St. Anthony Messenger

No Artificial Birth Control
The Church does allow married Catholics (with good reason) to abstain from having sex during the fertile time of the woman's cycle. Those who use birth control often say that natural birth spacing and artificial contraception are the same.

They are not.

With artificial birth control, the couple engages in a unitive act that is frustrated by a contraceptive. In Natural Family Planning, a couple is showing self-restraint and abstinence during a possible procreative time. Natural Family Planning is a prayerful decision by a couple to exercise self-restraint.

In other words, by abstaining the couple does not enjoy the unitive aspect of the marital embrace without the procreative aspect which is what is done when a couple enjoys the unitive part of sex while using birth control.

What the Obama administration fails to see is that defending this teaching is not about choice, it is about salvation. The Catholic Church cannot and will not back away from defending it.

The ramifications are eternal.

It is important to note that there are several natural birth regulation methods approved by the Catholic Church such as Natural Family Planning, the Ovulation Method, the Creighton Model Fertility Care System, as well as the Billings method. These methods also assist couples to achieve pregnancy.
Jenn Giroux  What is the big deal about Catholics using birth control?: Catholic News Agency

No Cohabitation before marriage
Cohabitation
Why is the Catholic Church opposed to couples living together before marriage?

There are several reasons for this. As we have seen, the Church believes that the beautiful gift of human sexuality should be reserved for marriage. When you live with another person you are romantically involved with, you will likely share the same bed. You will shower in the same bathroom. You are likely to walk in on each other changing. These potential situations happen each day. In other words, this creates ample opportunities for temptation to engage in intercourse outside of marriage.

Secondly, why do people move in together without being married? It’s because they haven’t made a commitment to each other yet, but they want to try out if they would like to get married. In other words, cohabitation is enjoying the benefits of marriage without the commitments. This is a selfish approach. People are not cars that can be “tested.” Such an approach objectifies the other person and, consciously or not, encourages an attitude of non-commitment towards the other person.

Living together before marriage also naturally encourages selfish treatment of the other person. It is also bad for the development of a relationship. In the first stage of a romantic relationship, you might feel like cupid struck you with an arrow. You might smile for no reason and think about your boyfriend or girlfriend constantly, getting distracted at work or school. At this point, your brain pumps tons of hormones called dopamines that make you feel ecstatic.

Eventually, however, this feeling of being lovestruck fades. This is often a challenge for couples. Suddenly, they are faced with the other person’s faults and weaknesses. This is usually the make-or-break point of relationships. Naturally, part of whether or not a relationship succeeds depends on compatibility. However, another ingredient to a relationship’s success is whether or not a couple works on being together. When a couple lives together before marriage, they make no commitments. Thus when the hormones die down and reality sets in, they began to see that the other person snores or leaves the toilet seat up. When a couple is married, they make a commitment to stay together during good and bad times. They won’t leave each other just because of some petty thing (and even because of major challenges). When a couple has made zero commitments, then they are likely to leave each other because of some minor quarrel. In other words, living together before marriage will not teach you about commitment and tenacity, the ingredients for a successful long-term relationship. Rather, it will teach you the “easy way out” of rough times in a relationship. Remember that the Cross is the ultimate symbol of love. Love isn’t just about candlelit dinners and snuggling. It’s above all about staying at the other person’s side at all times, including the frustrating and unpleasant ones.
Catholics Come Home

I believe that gay marriage is a sacramental impossibility,
The main reason why the Catholic Church will never allow same sex weddings: because we believe that marriage is a sacrament and we can’t change the content of the sacrament. A marriage is between one man and one woman for life and we can’t change it any more than we can say the grass is purple or the sky is green. We can’t change the content of the sacrament because that’s the way things are. We can’t change the content of marriage any more than we can say baptism is now putting ashes on your head instead of water.

If we don’t allow same sex weddings we don’t allow polygamy or remarriage after divorce for the same reason. We can’t change the sacrament. The sacrament is a given. It’s an ontological reality. Saying we can change marriage is as impossible as saying that water is no longer a molecule with two atoms of hydrogen united with one of oxygen.

This doesn’t mean that we hate gay people. It doesn’t mean that we are racist and bigots. We can even grant that homosexual people show love to one another. We can admit that they may establish a civil union or live together. They may do as they please. They can even call what they do “marriage” if they wish, but that doesn’t make it marriage and it certainly doesn’t make it a Catholic sacrament.
 Fr. Dwight Longenecker Why Are Catholics Against Gay Weddings and Women Priests? March 31, 2015

I believe that we should treat LGBT People with respect and dignity.
Our first priest once said, "When people tell you they're tempted to sin, you pull them close. Once they sin, you pull them closer."  Unless you've experienced it, you can't imagine the self-loathing and shame that comes with SSA. So it's critically important that we as Catholic parents do everything we can to assure our children who have this cross that while we can't support them having a romantic or sexual relationship with someone of the same sex, we will always, always love them deeply as a person. Jesus loved us "even as we were sinners."  Even when we're rotten to the core, He still adores us and pursues us. I'd want my son to know I still love his sense of humor, admire his cooking skills, and appreciate his kind soul — regardless of what else he does in his life. This message — that he is more than "gay" — is something he won't be hearing in the gay subculture.

The single greatest thing we must do if our child struggles with SSA is keep the relationship loving and open.
DAWN WILDE My Catholic Kid is Gay! Now What?? Catholic Education Resource Center

So, yes, it's hard to be gay and Catholic -- it's hard to be anything and Catholic -- because I don't always get to do what I want. Show me a religion where you always get to do what you want and I'll show you a pretty shabby, lazy religion. Something not worth living or dying for, or even getting up in the morning for.  

Would I trade in my Catholicism for a worldview where I get to marry a man? Would I trade in the Eucharist and the Mass and the rest of it? Being a Catholic means believing in a God who literally waits in the chapel for me, hoping I'll stop by just for ten minutes so he can pour out love and healing on my heart. Which is worth more -- all this, or getting to have sex with who I want? I wish everybody, straight or gay, had as beautiful a life as I have.
Steve Gershom "Gay, Catholic, and Doing Fine" Tuesday, July 12, 2011 Little Catholic Bubble

While the Church teaches that homosexual acts are immoral, she does distinguish
between engaging in homosexual acts and having a homosexual inclination. While the former is
always objectively sinful, the latter is not. To the extent that a homosexual tendency or
inclination is not subject to one’s free will, one is not morally culpable for that tendency.
Although one would be morally culpable if one were voluntarily to entertain homosexual
temptations or to choose to act on them, simply having the tendency is not a sin. Consequently,
the Church does not teach that the experience of homosexual attraction is in itself sinful.
USCCB, Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care, November 14, 2006  ,

I believe that LGBT people (and all people) should live in Chasity.
Chastity involves more than our desire to do good. We have to do good according to some standard! That standard is the truth written into our bodies—and that includes how we were written physiologically. In fact, to actually practice chastity, we must come to a point of joyfully (not resentfully) accepting ourselves as God has physiologically authored us. As a male, that includes me joyfully (not resentfully) accepting my maleness. It also includes me joyfully (not resentfully) accepting that my physiological complement is a female. This focus on physiological authorship above sexual/romantic desires made me realize that for me to even entertain the idea that I ought to engage in transgender pursuits or the pursuit of same-sex sexual/romantic relationships, I was rejecting chastity—yes, in mindset, long before even taking any action!

Being able to see the faith through this lens of how God authored me was critical. It helped me gain the confidence of knowing that our faith isn’t merely a belief system but rather is a belief system that is true. Inescapably true. Beforehand, I would try to escape, but found I couldn’t! But I’m glad, because I’m now living in time where I finally feel alive, knowing that regardless of what attractions God may permit me to experience, I live in the freedom of chastity and taste the joys I never before knew I could experience!
Hudson Byblow Navigating Same-Sex Attractions 10.16.19: Chasity Project

Regarding Transgenderism
And if you’re a teenager who experiences that your body doesn’t feel like your own, and that you weren’t meant to be the sex indicated by your body, I totally understand how it can feel like the Catholic Church isn’t the place for you.

But you are welcome here. This is why:

We understand life may feel overwhelming for you. Gender Dysphoria (the condition of feeling one’s emotional and psychological identity as male or female to be opposite to one’s biological sex) is a very real condition and many people suffer greatly because of it.

However, God doesn’t make mistakes. When He fashioned you in your mother’s womb with the care of that of an artist making His one and only greatest masterpiece, God took delight in choosing the things that make you uniquely you. If you feel like there was some big mistake when you were created, then let’s just be brutally honest and say that we don’t share the same definition of God. If God is an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-loving Father, it is impossible for Him to make mistakes because it would be contrary to His nature. God created you male or female for a reason.

If your sex is a source of suffering in your life, I want you to know that God can be there with you to comfort you and help you through that suffering. He doesn’t promise to take away our sufferings and struggles, but He does promise to be there carrying our crosses alongside us.
Christina Mead What the Catholic Church Wants the Transgender Community to Know, Lifeteen.com

I believe that  abortion, euthanasia, ESCR, and human cloning, are  gravely and intrinsically immoral.

Evil of Abortion
"Interrupting a pregnancy is like eliminating someone. Getting rid of a human being is like resorting to a contract killer to solve a problem.

 Is it just to resort to a contract killer to solve a problem?  How can an act that suppresses innocent life be therapeutic, civil or even human? .

(Referring to abortion of unborn children with disabilities, Francis criticized advice given to parents who were told to terminate their pregnancies.)

Sick children are just like every other needy person on earth, just like an elderly person who needs help, or the poor who struggle to make both ends meet.”
- Pope Francis

Now, as a man and a priest, and therefore someone who will never experience the joys and challenges of being a mother, someone who will never have to make a decision about an abortion and someone in a position of some power in the church, I recognize the limitations of my experience. And I recognize that many women consider it offensive to hear this from a man—because they have told me.

Many women whom I love, respect and admire support abortion rights and see these rights as a constitutive part of their authority over their own bodies. And who can doubt that over the centuries, women have been dominated and abused by men—even men responsible for providing them with legal, pastoral and medical care?

But acknowledging that women’s bodies are their own does not diminish my own reverence for the living body in a woman’s womb. Thus, I cannot deny that I see the child in the womb, from the moment of his or her conception, as a creation of God, deserving of our respect, protection and love. Mysterious, precious, unique, infinite, made in the image and likeness of God. Holy.
Fr. James Martin, S.J., Father James Martin: Why I Am Pro-Life January 10, 2019 America Magazine

 Compassion to Mothers facing an unwanted pregnancy
I spent years of my life in the pro-life movement, and met plenty of people who did indeed want women jailed and punished. I still meet them regularly, when moderating online debate.  But I also know pro-lifers (who are) ethically consistent people who oppose racism and violence, who travel to the border to help immigrants. Some of them are LGBTQ. Not all are white. And they believe that unborn human life has value, and deserves protection. Many of these people have been pro-life activists for decades.

The important thing is, we do agree that a right to life is real, and we do agree that bodily autonomy is real. We do not want to see a world in which abortion rates are high. Nor do we want to see a world in which women are routinely shamed, punished, and imprisoned because of personal choices they have made in dire circumstances. We should be able to come together and have the conversations that need to happen without demonizing one another.
Rebecca Bratten Weiss Reducing Abortion Rates and Protecting Women’s Rights Are Goals That Can and Should Co-Exist January 10, 2020  

Evil of Euthanasia
 The Pope borrowed a title for Christ employed by the Fathers of the Church: "Christus Medicus" ("Christ the Doctor"). He likened him to the Good Samaritan, mentioned in Luke 10, "who does not pass before the badly injured person by the wayside but, moved by compassion, he heals and serves." He noted that "Christian medical tradition" has always been "inspired" by this parable.

He further noted the example of Christ, who spent much time healing others. Paraphrasing Christ in Matthew 25, he recalled, "Every time you did it to one of these, my brethren, you did it to me."

"[T]he sacred value of the life of the patient does not disappear, neither is it ever darkened, but it shines with more splendor precisely in the person's suffering and helplessness," he continued.

"Fragility, pain and disease are a tough test for everyone, including medical staff," said the Holy Father. But he exhorted all not to surrender to "the temptation to apply quick, merely functional and drastic solutions driven by false compassion" driven by "efficiency and cost savings."

To give in to the practice of so-called "mercy killing," Pope Francis warned, would jeopardize not only "the dignity of human life" but also the "dignity of the medical vocation."
Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th  Pope Francis: Mercy Killing Isn’t Merciful June 14, 2016    ChurchMilitant.com 

Evil of ESCR
On May 18, meeting with people suffering from Huntington’s disease, a rare and incurable genetic brain disorder, Pope Francis addressed the scientists and medical personnel who accompanied them.
I encourage you to always pursue [a cure] with means that do not contribute to fueling that “throw-away culture” that at times infiltrates even the world of scientific research. Some branches of research, in fact, utilize human embryos, inevitably causing their destruction. But we know that no ends, even noble in themselves, such as a predicted utility for science, for other human beings or for society, can justify the destruction of human embryos.

Pope Francis has always strongly condemned embryonic stem cell research, particularly in his encyclical, Laudato Si. He wrote that there is “a tendency to justify transgressing all boundaries when experimentation is carried out on living human embryos.” (136) Certainly, the creation of chimeras and SHEEFs are examples of science not only transgressing boundaries, but essentially erasing them altogether. It doesn’t stop there, either, as more questionable developments are on the horizon, such as using skin cells to create babies.

The dangerous desire of mankind to free itself from the constraints of male vs female, the necessity of the procreative act to conceive children, as well as any form of imperfection or disability, will, in turn, give scientists greater freedom “to [disregard] the great ethical principles,  and [consider] any practice whatsoever as licit.”  As Pope Francis warns, “a technology severed from ethics will not easily be able to limit its own power.” (136)
Mary Pesarchick Of Mice and Men, SHEEFs and Chimeras, 1 July AD 2017: Catholic Stand

Evil of Human Cloning
The problem, one could almost say, is not what cloning does to the embryo, but what it does to us . . . Creating a human embryo just so it can be used and then destroyed undermines the very foundation of the moral prudence that informs the entire enterprise of genetic research: the idea that, while a human embryo may not be a person, it is not nothing. Because if it is nothing, then everything is permitted. And if everything is permitted, then there are no fences, no safeguards, no bottom.”

Outlawing human cloning would provide salutatory benefits. First, it would deprive cloning researchers of the funds to further perfect human cloning techniques. Outlawing human cloning would also be a clarion call to our scientists demanding that they stay within proper moral parameters as they serve society through the pursuit of knowledge. And it would protect women. Recall that human eggs are the essential ingredients in the cloning recipe. The need for human eggs in cloning threatens a great “human egg rush.”

But retrieving human eggs can be very dangerous to women’s health and fecundity. Banning cloning can thus prevent the further objectification of the female biological function.

Finally, on a positive note, once human cloning becomes beyond the pale, we could begin to row in the direction of areas of biotechnology that are morally licit, freeing human and financial resources for the pursuit of the abundant avenues of moral and efficacious biotechnological research “such as adult stem cell research, genetically tailored chemotherapy, and other medical treatments.
 Wesley J. Smith The Time Has Come to Outlaw Human Cloning 5 . 31 . 13, First Things

I believe that the sex scandal was evil
It has been a diabolical masterpiece. I am talking about the scandal that has gripped the Catholic Church for the past thirty years and that continues to wreak havoc even today. When I was going through the seminary, it was fashionable to conceive of the devil as a symbol for the evil in the world, a sort of colorful literary device. But the storm of wickedness that has compromised the work of the Church in every way and that has left countless lives in ruins is just too ingenious to have been the result of impersonal forces alone or merely human contrivance. It seems so thoroughly thought through, so comprehensively intentional.

Certainly, in the ordinary run of history, bad things happen, but this scandal is just too exquisitely designed. It has corroded Catholic credibility so completely that the Church’s work in evangelization, catechesis, preaching, outreach to the poor, recruitment of vocations, and education has been crippled. And most terribly, members of the Church, especially its most vulnerable, have been forced to live through a nightmare from which it seems impossible to wake. If the Church had a personal enemy—and indeed the devil is known as the enemy of the human race—it is hard to imagine that he could have come up with a better plan. In saying this, I am by no means implying that human beings bear no responsibility; just the contrary. The devil works typically through suggestion, insinuation, temptation, and seduction. He is essentially powerless until he finds men and women who will cooperate with him.  
Bishop Robert Barron, (2019) Letter to a Suffering Church: A Bishop Speaks on the Sexual Abuse Crisis  

Kids locked in cages is a pro-life issue
I get it– you’re “pro-life”, and nothing could be more important to you.

But here’s the funny thing: kids locked in cages who have been forcibly & illegally separated from their parents, kids who have no mattresses to sleep on or soap to clean with, kids who have no one to tend to them– no one to give them hope or even explain why they were taken from their parents and locked in cages where lice & flu spread like wildfire, where thousands of children and adults have been sexually abused or raped, and where they live in fear of retaliation if they report what’s happening to them, won’t be easy to convince.

I mean, how would you even be able to show them a sonogram image and explain why an unborn, pea-sized heart, represents a life so precious and valuable to God that you feel it must be stood up for and protected at all cost?

How would you be able to explain to them that your commitment to “protecting children” has been your highest professed political belief your entire adult life?

How would you explain the modern concept of what it means to be “pro-life” to a child who is locked in a cage, crying for their parents, and hasn’t had their diaper changed in God-knows-how-long?

I’m betting if you tried to explain this whole “pro-life” thing you believe in to them, they’d probably just sit in silence and bewilderment.
Benjamin L. Corey,  Kids Locked In Cages Aren’t So Sure You’re Actually “Pro-Life”- Formally Fundie

About Immigration
I think having open borders is extremely reckless and allows for dangerous people to live in our country. While police and social workers have enough trouble keeping up with drug trafficking, domestic violence, theft and murder within our own neighborhoods, I don’t believe having an absence of border security would do these already-overworked public servants any good service. But on the flip side, having stricter borders seems to show apathy to the rest of the world – especially towards foreigners who are fleeing hardship and persecution. From what I understand, the majority of those who immigrate into Canada and the United States are doing so to seek better opportunities for a better quality of life. While some countries like Canada have been more open to allowing asylum-seekers in faster, there seems to have been an equal amount of animosity towards letting in too many people – especially among citizens in the United States.
René Albert , My Thoughts on Immigration Control  December 22, 2018 Coffee and Crucifix

Gun Violence is definitely a pro-life issue
 Why are we not doing more to reduce gun violence? It’s a question that I have been asking myself lately, as a Catholic and as a moral theologian, but especially as a Catholic high school teacher. In that realm, talking about gun violence is taboo because it commits the unpardonable offense of being “political.” My school, I would wager, is not unique in this regard. Nor is it all that different from the parishes and dioceses that avoid the issue hoping to curb any potential divisiveness. And yet, our bishops call for change. We follow a social teaching that promotes the common good and justice for the most vulnerable. We name our schools after saints who loved peace, abhorred violence, and spoke truth to power. We worship a savior who blessed peacemakers, taught us to turn the other cheek, and advised his own student that those who live by the sword die by the sword. What is the point of a Catholic education if not to share this teaching? Literal children are crying out for change.  If we really believe that peacemakers are the children of God, then every Catholic school and parish should be standing and marching against gun violence.

I do not call for Catholics to reject absolutely every form of gun ownership, but to follow the clear, practical direction offered by Catholic teaching. While I think there is a strong case to be made that Catholics should always abstain from taking up arms, I only want to point out that we have a clear path to follow. America has a gun problem. Whatever the underlying causes of gun violence in this country, the overabundance of guns only exacerbates it.

We can summarize America’s problem simply. America has more guns per person than any other country in the world. Generally speaking, the more guns in a country, the more injuries and deaths that occur in that country. America has more firearm homicides than any other developed nation, though most gun-related deaths in the U.S. are suicides. Vox has done a good job compiling the statistics behind these statements here and here.

After Parkland, many bishops called for action—not for the first time. Cardinal Blase Cupich stated: “let us make it clear to our elected officials that the weapons and ammunition that facilitate this carnage have no place in our culture” He has made similar remarks many times before. Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida and Bishop George V. Murry, S.J. of Youngstown, Ohio released a statement calling for concrete actions, among them “setting a more appropriate minimum age for gun ownership, requiring universal background checks…and banning ‘bump stocks’.”  
Andrew Kuzma, The Children of God: The Catholic Response to Gun Violence May 1, 2018 |Catholic Moral Theology.com

Suicide Prevention is a pro-life issue
It is commonly and mistakenly reported that the Church teaches that suicide is always a mortal sin and unforgivable, and that those who die by suicide are in hell. It is crucial to nuance and correct this. In keeping with its vision of the dignity of the human person and the sacredness of human life, the Church teaches that, when chosen in freedom, suicide is a gravely sinful act. This is because God remains the author and master of our lives; we are merely their stewards. It is because we have a natural inclination to preserve our lives and are called to have a just love of ourselves. It is because suicide is an offense against the ties of solidarity we are called to have with family, friends, and the whole human family. As anyone knows who has survived the suicide of a loved one, suicide is, objectively and horribly, evil. The pain of losing someone this way is a unique and terrible wound.

But that objective, serious evil is not the whole story. In the Catholic moral tradition, our culpability for what we do is measured in large part by our freedom in choosing it. And so it is crucially important to talk about freedom and mental illness when we talk about suicide. The traditional language related to mortal sin is helpful here. For a sin to be “mortal” it needs not only to involve serious matter, but both the will and the intellect must be seriously and freely engaged in the act. This is what freedom is, and moral responsibility goes hand in hand with freedom. In other words, the agent must have a clear understanding of what s/he is doing and must freely choose to do it anyway.

And so, we can say with real legitimacy that, when someone who is living with severe mental illness chooses suicide, the act is likely not undertaken in full freedom, with full engagement of the intellect and will. And so, we have great reason to trust in God’s love and mercy for those who take their own lives, especially when this happens at the end of a battle with mental illness. The Catechism of the Catholic Church expresses the idea this way: “Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide” (CCC #2282).

In this Jubilee Year of Mercy, we should let mercy pervade our language, our thinking, and our relationships. Although it is crucial to continue to teach that suicide is a grave, objective, moral evil, we should hope that those who die by suicide did not choose it freely. Let’s be careful to share the hope of God’s mercy with those they have left behind.

If you or someone you know needs immediate help with suicidal thoughts, call the suicide prevention lifeline at 800-273-8255 (800-273-TALK) or visit their website to chat online or seek information. If you are looking for ongoing support for someone with a mental illness or for family and friends of those with a mental illness, check out NAMI. They probably have an education program or a support group (or both!) near you that could help.
Dana Dillon Suicide Prevention and the Catholic Moral Tradition Sep 12, 2016 Catholic Moral Theology

I believe that Clean Water is a human right
Fresh drinking water is an issue of primary importance, since it is indispensable for human life and for supporting terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Sources of fresh water are necessary for health care, agriculture and industry. Water supplies used to be relatively constant, but now in many places demand exceeds the sustainable supply, with dramatic consequences in the short and long term. Large cities dependent on significant supplies of water have experienced periods of shortage, and at critical moments these have not always been administered with sufficient oversight and impartiality. (LS 28)
― Pope Francis, Laudato Si (223)': On the Care of Our Common Home

I believe that The Seamless Garment is the Catholic and pro-life Position  
“Our defense of the innocent unborn, for example, needs to be clear, firm and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of a human life, which is always sacred and demands love for each person, regardless of his or her stage of development. Equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection”
- Pope Francis Gaudete et Exsultate, #101

Put simply, the Seamless Garment postulates that being pro-life involves not only fighting against abortion, but also against euthanasia, the death penalty, war, social injustice, anti-immigrant sentiment, and a host of other social issues that can also result in the death of human beings, whether directly or indirectly
Pedro Gabriel The Seamless Garment is the Catholic position, February 1, 2020 Where Peter Is

Now, some Catholics will complain that this is unfair and that there are not enough hours in the day to oppose abortion and euthanasia *and* run around doing stuff about unjust war, gun violence, torture, poverty, the death penalty, desperate refugees, the environment, and the many other things the Church teaches are part of a fully prolife ethic.  I have no problem with that objection.  We can’t all be everywhere doing everything.  So if your anti-abortion commitments are where you put your limited time, talent, and treasure I have no objection to that at all.  Do what you can with what you have and the Lord be with you.

Where I object is when anti-abortion Catholics manage to find lots of time and energy to sink into directly opposing and fighting *against* the obvious and clear teaching of the Church and who insinuate or say that concern about the rest of the Church’s teaching is somehow an act of support for abortion. 

I refuse to let such people characterize those who accept the Church’s whole teaching as “liberal” or to  buy the lie that accepting the whole of the Church’s teaching is somehow “watering down” opposition to abortion or euthanasia.  The Church’s teaching is a whole weave and it is long past time that we treated it as such.  If you don’t have the time or energy to address everything in the Church’s teaching, that’s fine.  But don’t spend your limited energy opposing things in the Church’s teaching you don’t happen to like.  Spend it on that bit of the Church’s teaching you can help advance.
-Mark Shea

I believe the New Prolife Movement tries to live the Catholic position out
First and foremost, we believe in a fundamental right to life. The mission of the New Pro Life Movement is to work towards creating a culture that values and protects the dignity of all life, especially human life from conception to natural death.

We believe abortion is a grave evil and a  horrible attack on human dignity that should be completely eradicated from our society. That said, we believe that a true pro-life ideology focuses on more than just abortion. Our movement supports any action that protects and sustains life at every stage.

Currently, our main objectives consist of education, outreach, and fundraising for organizations that we believe are working to create a truly pro-life society.
New Prolife Movement Website

It’s not enough just to be born – we also need to support the babies, the kids, the youth. And that means making sure everyone has the things they need to thrive – education, food, health care, housing, and all such things.

And Mother Teresa knew that abortion was not the only life issue. She was just as passionately against the death penalty and made some personal phone calls to governors in the U.S. to stop executions. She told them, “Do what Jesus would do.” She even wrote a letter to John Dear who was in a North Carolina jail for protesting war and asked him “to proclaim the love of Jesus even to the poor in prison.”

Mother Teresa consistently spoke out courageously for life. She’s a great model for us today, as we seek to be pro-life – and not just in word, but in deed.

So let us reimagine the pro-life movement today as a movement that stands consistently for life, and against death. And let us move beyond stale rhetoric and ideologies to action. What’s just as important as whether we are pro-life or pro-choice is how we are pro-active.

All of us who seek to be pro-life should continue to care about abortion – but we should just as passionately care about the death penalty, gun violence, the movement for black lives, the crisis of refugees and immigrants, the environment, healthcare, mass incarceration And all the other issues that are destroying the lives and squashing the dignity of children whom God created and loves so deeply.
Shane Claiborne A New Pro-Life Movement February 14, 2017

We should care about the environment.
“If we approach nature and the environment without this openness to awe and wonder, if we no longer speak the language of fraternity and beauty in our relationship with the world, our attitude will be that of masters, consumers, ruthless exploiters, unable to set limits on their immediate needs. By contrast, if we feel intimately united with all that exists, then sobriety and care will well up spontaneously.”
― Pope Francis, Laudato Si': On the Care of Our Common Home

I believe that Catholic Feminism is good.
Catholic and feminist don’t tend to go together, but I truly believe the Catholic Church is the most feminist institution in the world. To be a feminist is to believe that women are beautiful, unique, and equal in dignity to men. What other group believes women are made in the image of God? That we
were commissioned by God himself? That women are capable of raising children in the direst of circumstances, no matter our income or relationship status? Oh, yeah, and Pope John Paul II called us all geniuses.1 Doesn’t sound like woman-hating to me. The Church is absolutely filled to the brim with examples of believing in the importance of womanhood. The world needs so much more than your impeccable cookie-baking skills or your ability to quote scripture from memory. It needs more than your hashtags. It needs the resilience, strength, and true beauty given to you by God.

If we spend our days discussing the perils of Facebook and that mean thing that political leader said, so will the rest of the world. If we spend our days racing toward holiness, helping our neighbors, and fighting for justice, so will the rest of the world. To be a Catholic feminist is to love the Church and to love our sisters, those next to us in the pew and those on the other side of the world. I once eavesdropped on a men’s talk. (I’m nosy. Let’s establish that now.) The speaker referred to women as “teacups.” Oh, for the love. I know what he was trying to say because he is a good man I know, love, and trust. He meant that men should be protectors, and that women’s natural tendency toward being more relational leaves us greatly affected by our emotions. These are true sentiments! But can you imagine telling Mary, who stood by the Cross as her son perished, that she was a teacup? Or Joan of Arc, as she led men into battle? Or St. Teresa of Avila, as she became a Doctor of the Church? Teacups break when they’re dropped. They crack easily. They have floral patterns. The women are the ones who remained at the Cross, witnessing tragedy. Women are crafted with fortitude and strength; the Holy Spirit has given us, too, a spirit of power and love and a sound mind.

Claire Swinarski, Girl, Arise! (2019)

I believe it is not a sin for mothers to work outside the home.
The church has never taught as doctrine that mothers cannot work. What the Church has taught, and still teaches, is that mothers cannot neglect their responsibilities to their family. That core doctrine has never changed; our understanding of what that means, what those responsibilities are, and what constitutes neglect has developed over time.
JoAnna Wahlund What Does the Roman Catechism Teach about Working Mothers? October 23, 2019

I believe it is OK for women to wear pants
Motherhood is a blue collar job.  I don’t care what style of dress or skirt you’re wearing, there is no way to be modest while dealing efficiently with the routine emergencies that normal children engender —  children who, as a normal mode of expression, flail their limbs around like some kind of oversized, malevolent eggbeater, right at your hemline.  Today, I had to lunge halfway across the room to rescue my toddler, who had launched herself from an armchair at a glass gerbil tank.  I was able to lunge without pausing to consider whether my movements were graceful and feminine; and I didn’t worry, while lunging, about flashing the men in the room.  Pants.
Simcha Fisher, Pants: A Manifesto , September 13, 2010 , I Have to Sit Down

About Modesty
The cyberspace guardians of Catholic women’s modesty sometimes appear to believe that our Lady would not dream of setting foot outside the heavens without her customary veil. Therefore Catholic women must go forth and do likewise, especially in church.

When it comes to Catholic modesty, especially when the Blessed Mother is pulled forward for her opinion and example, there often is a conflation of two different concepts: imitation and mimicry. Imitation is using someone or something as a model for one’s own actions; mimicry is to attempt to create an external, superficial resemblance to something or someone else.

Too often in discussions of modesty, it seems that those advocating for using the Blessed Mother as a role model confuse mimicry with imitation. Perhaps that is why you sometimes hear of Catholic women who don’t cover their heads in church or elsewhere, or who choose to wear pants, or who do not cover every square inch from neck to toes, denounced as “immodest” for not following some perceived “Marian code of dress for Catholic women.”

We are not called to be mimics of the Blessed Mother, dressing as would be appropriate for a first-century Palestinian peasant woman (e.g., long veils, skirts to the floor, sandals). We are called to imitate the Blessed Mother in her virtues. In terms of modesty, that might mean dressing in a way that is appropriate to one’s culture and circumstances, not drawing undue attention to oneself either in one’s dress or undress, remaining circumspect about one’s own choices, and not denouncing the reasonable choices of others.
Michelle Arnold The Blessed Virgin’s Guide to Catholic Modesty 2/19/2013, Catholic Answers

About Submissiveness in Marriage
Quoting Ambrose, John Paul II writes: “Authentic conjugal love presupposes and requires that a man have a profound respect for the equal dignity of his wife: ‘You are not her master…but her husband; she was not given you to be your slave, but your wife. . . . Reciprocate her attentiveness to you and be grateful to her for her love.'” (FC 25). Pius XI stressed even more than John Paul the intrinsic equality of men and women: “This subjection [to her husband] does not deny or take away the liberty which fully belongs to the woman both in view of her dignity as a human person, and in view of her most noble office as wife and mother and companion; nor does it bid her obey her husband’s every request if not in harmony with right reason or the dignity due to wife, nor, in fine, does it imply that the wife should be put on a level with those persons who in law are called minors. . . .” (CC). So much for not letting women vote, own property, or enter into contracts.
Rachel Fay Wives Do What? 6/1/1999 Catholic Answers

Catholics shouldn’t be mean, nasty and jerks to other people.
Matthew 23 deals with Jesus being nasty to the leaders of the pharisees.  If Jesus can do it, I can do it as well, right?  This is one chapter.  We have to take it into account but it’s one chapter.  The four gospels contain a total of 89 chapters and in one of them, Jesus is exceptionally harsh.  In the other ones, He is mild, calm, articulate, firm, and even mildly angry.  Still, 1 out of 89 is 1.1% of the time.  Taking the words of 1.1% percent of the gospels and applying them to 80% of your behavior is not following Christ, it’s an excuse to act how you want, when you want.

The same case could be made with St. Paul.  He has one chapter that’s extremely harsh and in the other chapters, there is a range of ways that he articulates his message.

Here are a number of saints who are known for their harshness and even nastiness.  We must remember that saints, being holy men and women are still flawed.  No saint is perfect.  

St. Thomas More argued against Luther, Tyndale, and other Protestants quite viciously.  It’s almost painful to read at times.  St. Francis de Sales was the exact opposite.  He was gentle, mild mannered, but firm and spoke the truth when he needed it.
Allan Ruhl Nasty Internet Stuff October 9, 2019 allanruhl.com

Catholics shouldn’t swear
In recent years, the use of profanity has spread like a virus in our society. What tragic irony it is when the faithful sing the sacred words of the Holy Mass, only to utter profanity in trivial jests moments later! They utter profanity with the same tongues that have, by the benevolence of God, joined the choirs of angels in praising Him at Holy Mass.

We must ask ourselves what kind of structures we build with our words. The initial void we feel when we cast off vulgar expressions will quickly be filled from the outpouring of grace that the extraction of these words accommodates. Those of us graced with eloquence will use our words to speak ornately of Christ, like architects who built in the Gothic or Baroque style. Others of us may prefer simple speech more analogous to a simple Romanesque church. Whatever style of speech the Lord has bestowed on us, we may be sure we are called to use it to build up a beautiful edifice for Him.

When we refine our speech, even those who do not know God will desire to listen to us. Our words will draw them with the soft fragrance of a rose and the sharp clarity of a diamond.
Anna Kalinowski Domine, Labia Mea Aperies: Why Catholics Who Love Tradition Should Not Use Profanity January 28, 2019

Catholics also shouldn’t be upset when people do swear.
"I have three things I'd like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don't give a shit. What's worse is that you're more upset with the fact that I said shit than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night." -Tony Campolo
Ted Olsen The Positive Prophet January 1, 2003: Christianity Today

Harry Potter is not evil
“For the record: the Vatican has never condemned the Harry Potter books.   J.K. Rowling tells a story strongly influenced by her own Christian background. It's a story of sin and evil vs. love, friendship and self-sacrifice. Unfortunately, most critics haven't even bothered reading the books. There are many Christian and Catholic fans of the saga, even in the Vatican. “ -Fr. Roderick Vonhögen September 6, 2019 ·

What about Yoga?
Scripture talks about talking up serpents and not being bitten. Not that I think Yoga to begin with is serpentine like, but this is an example of the faith of a believer being stronger than any outside influence. If we have faith we won’t be bitten by a “new” prayer form, or a spiritual practice, that seems antithetical to Christianity. Why? Because nothing can bite through that type of faith. Now, it’s true we need that kind of faith, but if more faithful Catholics would embrace the concepts of Eastern meditation and posturing in prayer, and of the benefit of that was real growth of self-awareness and mindfulness in the understanding of loving God and loving neighbor, then wouldn’t that essentially  “Christianize” anything you do in prayer whether it’s Yoga or a walk in the park? And again, this has been the way Christianity has grown traditionally. We used to do a great job of looking at what the culture had embraced and then embracing it even more with the deeper understanding of why we do what we do.

What if we could do that? What if we could enter into any practice, regardless of how Pagan it is? And by doing so, show that we bring to the table an even deeper experience by connecting the Sun Salutation to the Son of God. Or our Child’s Pose becomes the pose of complete submission, like that of a little child as Jesus says, a Child of God. Our Mountain Top could be like that of a Mt. Tabor. There are so many opportunities to open ourselves to a deeper experience and by doing so offer a real witness that we’re here to connect and experience what others are connected into. Then, instead of being on the outside waiting for others to come to us, we could truly enter in and begin experiencing the love for others that Jesus says is essential to our expressing our love of God.
Leo C Brown, Will Yoga send you to hell? 11/6/2017 Cathowist

Politically speaking

“Is the Catholic Church Republican? Democrat? And what are you? As for me:

1.I’m against abortion, and they call me a Republican
2.I want greater justice for immigrants, and they call me a Democrat
3.I stand against “Gay” “Marriage,” and they call me a Republican
4.I work for affordable housing, and stand with unemployed in DC, and they call me a Democrat
5.I talk of subsidiarity and they say: “Republican, for sure.”
6.I mention the common good, and solidarity and they say, “Not only a Democrat, but a Socialist for sure.”
7.Embryonic Stem cell research should end, “See, he’s Republican!”
8.Not a supporter of the death penalty, standing with the Bishops and the Popes against it…”Ah, told you! He’s really a Democrat!…Dye in the wool and Yellow Dog to boot!”

Hmm, and all this time I just thought I was trying to be a Catholic Christian. I just don’t seem to fit in. And, frankly, no Catholic should. We cannot be encompassed by any Party as currently defined.”-Msgr. Charles Pope

On Voting
A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia. When a Catholic does not share a candidate’s stand in favour of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons. -CDF (under Pope Benedict)

When it comes to prudential judgments, I still would recommend not casting a vote for any of the current Democratic Presidential candidates, at least in the general election, since they all adamantly and actively promote abortion.

If someone thinks that Trump is not acceptable, I would recommend voting for a third party (one that is supporting, evidently, a candidate with more acceptable views on this issue), writing in a name, or leaving the ballot choice blank, but casting a vote *for* a vehemently pro-abortion politician, in this case, I think is going too far. -Fr. Louis Melahn

Here is a guideline to keep in mine when voting…
Reason attests that there are objects of the human act which are by their nature "incapable of being ordered" to God, because they radically contradict the good of the person made in his image. These are the acts which, in the Church's moral tradition, have been termed "intrinsically evil" (intrinsece malum): they are such always and per se, in other words, on account of their very object, and quite apart from the ulterior intentions of the one acting and the circumstances. Consequently, without in the least denying the influence on morality exercised by circumstances and especially by intentions, the Church teaches that "there exist acts which per se and in themselves, independently of circumstances, are always seriously wrong by reason of their object".  

The Second Vatican Council itself, in discussing the respect due to the human person, gives a number of examples of such acts: "Whatever is hostile to life itself, such as any kind of homicide,

genocide,
abortion,
euthanasia and voluntary suicide;

whatever violates the integrity of the human person,
such as mutilation,
physical and mental torture and attempts to coerce the spirit;

whatever is offensive to human dignity,
such as subhuman living conditions,
arbitrary imprisonment,
deportation,
slavery,
prostitution and trafficking in women and children;
degrading conditions of work which treat labourers as mere instruments of profit, and not as free responsible persons:

all these and the like are a disgrace, and so long as they infect human civilization they contaminate those who inflict them more than those who suffer injustice, and they are a negation of the honour due to the Creator-
 St. Pope John Paul 2, VERITATIS SPLENDOR 80.

Some issues to pray for…
Please pray for ending abortion, child abuse, adultery, molestation, rape, family abandonment, tribal warfare, euthanasia, assisted suicide, human trafficking, death penalty, racism, domestic violence, addiction, poverty, sexism, bullying, national shaming, pornography, ethnic cleansing, broken families, war, political correctness, deceitful politicans, national prejudice, religious persecution, racial tensions, terrorism, clericism, government-imposed famine and rampant materialism!
-Joseph Clement Buccilli September 4, 2018

Discover God in All Things
The universe unfolds in God, who fills it completely. Hence, there is a mystical meaning to be found in a leaf, in a mountain trail, in a dewdrop, in a poor person’s face. The ideal is not only to pass from the exterior to the interior to discover the action of God in the soul, but also to discover God in all things. Saint Bonaventure teaches us that “contemplation deepens the more we feel the working of God’s grace within our hearts, and the better we learn to encounter God in creatures outside ourselves”.
― Pope Francis, Laudato Si (223)': On the Care of Our Common Home

Use Humor
Humor makes a thick and tasty sauce to flavor the rather pungent meat of Catholic metaphysics and morals – which is hearty, low-fat, and nutritious, but you must admit has kind of a "wild" taste, like deer meat or turtle. Sometimes joking about such things is useful and truthful. A humorless Faith is stereotypically brittle or repulsive, raising the obvious question: "If believing all this stuff will make me a prig like you, do I even want to consider it? What I've learned from secular comedy's counter-apostolate is this: People's hackles go up when you attack them and drop when you tickle them. Get someone laughing – as the best Catholic authors knew how to, from Waugh and Chesterton to Percy and O'Connor – and his barriers collapse.- John Zmirak

“So be joyful. Use your sense of humor. And laugh with the God who smiles when seeing you, rejoices over your very existence, and takes delight in you, all the days of your life.”
― James Martin, Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life

FINALLY
I pray with St. Joan of Arc that if I am not in a state of grace that God put me there and if I am in a state of grace that he keep me there.