THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: The supposedly "tolerant" and liberal Left has no room in their hearts for a truly "Catholic" pope. There is no tolerance among them for real Catholicism, and certainly not a man who represents what the Catholic Church actually teaches. You see, to the "tolerant" and liberal Left, the only good Catholic is a bad Catholic, meaning one who doesn't believe or practice the Catholic Christian faith as it is taught by the Church and expressed in the Catechism. The only Catholics who are "good enough" for the so called "tolerant" Left are those who reject various aspects of Catholicism. These same people, of course, urge tolerance and respect for Muslims, who practice Islam - the supposed "religion of peace." They wouldn't dare speak out against Islam or the practices of Muslims, who like Catholics, abhor abortion and gay marriage. Unlike Catholics however, these same Muslims say the woman's place is in the home and properly covered from head to toe. No, for these people we must be "tolerant" and "respectful" of their culture. For Catholics however, it's a different story. There is no tolerance among the "tolerant" Left for any Catholic who would dare practice the cultural aspects of his/her religion. "How dare that man restore something so vile and disgusting as the traditional Latin mass. How dare he allow traditional Anglo-Catholics into his fold. How dare he encourage Catholics to practice the moral and cultural aspects of Catholicism. How dare he promote the moral teachings of the Catholic Church. Who does he think he is? The pope!?!" Yes, the "tolerant" Left shows it's true colors when it comes to Catholicism.
The pope is scheduled to visit Britain later this week, and I must say, I have not been so concerned for his safety since he visited Turkey back in 2006. I'm actually a little more concerned. Radical Muslims are at least predictable. Radical Leftists are a whole different lot. You never know what they're going to do, and Britain is a very Leftist country with a lot of Leftist people. At least with the Turks we could say the national government had a vested interest in making sure nothing happened to the pontiff during his stay, for fear of national embarrassment and sparking an international religious crisis. I'm not so sure I can say the same about the Brits. Revelations from earlier this year indicate the British government does not take the pope's visit nearly as seriously, and many within the inner circle of planning have a Leftist dislike for him. I suppose this is the Brits' big chance to prove themselves. Just how "tolerant" can their Leftists really be?
THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: The following is a checklist of things you can do to save America from total and complete demise. This checklist will work for any Western nation, including Canada, Mexico, Australia, England, Italy, France and many more. However, those reading this in European nations will have to be much more aggressive in it's implementation - extremely aggressive! Please consider sharing this blog entry with as many people as possible.
Keep in mind, this is not a checklist for averting disaster. Western Civilization is now set on an irreversible course toward an economic and social crisis unparalleled in history. Nothing can prevent this. It is inevitable. What this checklist will do however, if implemented on a wide scale, is reduce the negative results of this crisis and increase the speed of recovery. Before we get into the checklist however, we must make sure a couple things are understood....
First, in order to understand the solution, we must first understand the causes of our current crisis. The crisis Western nations now face is the result of philosophies and ideologies implemented in the late 18th through middle 20th centuries. They are both economic and social. They are both interconnected. We must understand this. It started with the late so-called "Enlightenment" period, with the abandonment of Christianity in favor of a naturalistic "religion" (called "Deism") embraced by the social elites of Europe and North America. The Masonic Lodges played a huge role in this process. By the end of the 18th century, two revolutions took place that would shape the Western World for the next two-hundred years. The first revolution took place in North America with the British colonial War of Independence (1776-1783) sometimes called the American Revolution. The second revolution took place in Europe and was simply called the French Revolution (1789-1799). While the second war was far more violent than the first, and took things to far greater extremes, both revolutions were based on the Masonic-Deist principles of social egalitarianism and religious secularism. In America they kicked out the Christian king. In France they killed him. With the establishment of secular republics, wealthy tycoons were now able to control vast resources and influence economies, by influencing the governments in ways that were impossible under Christian monarchies. Capitalism was born, and for a while it seemed like a pretty good thing, especially if you were a white land-owner of European descent. However, within a hundred years, the majority of property and wealth concentrated into the hands of just a few people (monopolies). Small family farms collapsed in favor of massive agricultural plantations. People moved into the cities and were forced to scrape by on meager wages primarily in factories. In response, the people began to clamor for Socialism. Once Socialism was implemented in various countries, primarily in Russia through a revolution (1917-1923) that resulted in the Christian king's assassination (1918), people began turning away from Christ and his Church in massive numbers all over the Western world. You see, Socialism kills religion faster than anything. It turns the state into a "church" of sorts, where all charity becomes "welfare" and there is no material need for religion. By the end of the 20th century virtually every nation on planet earth had implemented some form of Socialism. It was at this time the populations of Europe and North America began to decline, due to the widespread use of artificial birth control and the loss of the Christian ethic against it. To maintain the Socialist systems of the West, nations needed more taxpayers to support the aging population in the absence of a growing native population. (Artificial contraception killed the birth rate you see.) In order for Socialism to work, you MUST have a growing population. So since the state could not force people to have babies, and refused to make artificial contraception illegal, it simply imported new taxpayers in the form of immigrants. Unfortunately, the overwhelming vast majority of those immigrants were Islamic Africans and Middle Easterners. Most of these people remained Muslim and continued to practice the Muslim sexual ethic of marriage with lots of children. As a result, the European Muslim birthrate remained at 4 to 8 children per household, while the Native (non-Muslim) European birthrate dropped below 2 children per household. Do the math! Within half a century, Europe had absorbed so many Muslims that its very historic Christian identity was threatened. Canada now faces a similar future, and the only thing keeping the mosques out of the United States is rampant illegal immigration from Mexico. Once that is shut off however, even the United States will need to import legal immigrants (primarily Muslims) to shore up the failing Socialist schemes of the government. This is not to mention the collusion that has gone on behind the scenes between wealthy mega-Capitalist tycoons and godless-Socialist politicians, to create in many nations (including America) what can only be called the Servile State. This is a system that is not fully Socialist and not fully Capitalist either, but rather a hybrid between them, resulting in the concentration of property ownership between big government and large corporations, and the impoverishment of as many people as possible who are forced to rely on the big government and large corporations for their very existence. Once again, with native birthrates curtailed, more immigrants (usually Muslim) are needed to keep the system afloat. The whole system came crashing down in the fall of 2008, and in spite of massive government (socialist) spending to prop it back up, it all threatens to implode anyway. This is the inevitable demise of the Servile State.
Second, the purpose of the checklist below is to repair the damage done to our Christian culture, and address those problems created by both socialism and unbridled capitalism, which have both effectively manipulated and destroyed the free market for individuals and small family-run business. The solution is to restore social stability and the free market by returning to the Christian principles of family life, small business and cooperative ownership. In other words, we must return to the most widely distributed ownership of property possible. Only by doing this can we hope to lessen the effects of the economic crisis and restore the foundations of Western Christian civilization. This checklist is designed for individuals and families. It's something that can only be implemented on a personal and family level. There is no sense bothering government officials with this, as they won't do anything anyway. If ever any government gets involved to help, it will only be local city municipal governments or maybe county governments at the highest level. Expect no help from the state or national levels. These organizations are totally corrupt and cannot be salvaged. They are headed for collapse, and sadly, we're just going to have to let that happen. Perhaps in time the state governments will wake up, but it will be a cold day in hell before the national governments do anything to help. The way to kill the beast is to starve it to death, and the following checklist (if implemented widely) will do this...
THE CHECKLIST...
Go back to Church and practice the Christian faith in your home. This is absolutely necessary. If our Christian culture is not rebuilt all of this will be in vain. Stay-at-home (or television) Christianity is no longer an option. We need the Church (a real parish life) to teach us, challenge us and guide us.
Network with people in your local church community for the exchange of goods and services.
Get married and start making babies - seriously!
Make no less than three babies, but it would be preferable to make at least four or five. (Yes, seriously! The Muslims aren't going to stop at two babies, so why should you?)
Get your money out of the banks! (The banks are a huge engine of the Servile State.) Instead, try to get your money into a Credit Union or Savings & Loan. When you put your money in one of these you become a co-owner with voting rights and entitlement to profit shares.
Boycott mega-capitalist superstores that destroy small business here at home and support communist economies overseas. Examples would include Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Lowes, Home Depot, Sams Club and similar "big box" outlets. Every time we spend a dollar at one of these outlets, we contribute to the destruction of "mom & pop" stores nearby and in turn prop up communist China and other despotic regimes. We must understand that these superstores are the engines that feed the beast of the Servile State.
Support small businesses instead, particularly those that are locally owned. This brings business back into the community, and increases local wealth through property ownership, thus depriving the Servile State of corporate capital and making more money available for church and local charities.
Start your own family-run small business, even if it's just to supplement a little income on the side. This may help bring one of the spouses home from work to stay at home with the kids. (See item 10 below.)
Use community cooperatives instead of large corporations whenever possible. This can often be done for electricity and utilities. There are even cooperatives for retail goods and services. Again, membership has it's privileges. You get voting rights and may be entitled to profit benefits. If it is possible to switch your employment over from a corporation to a cooperative than do it! Otherwise, if you must work for a corporation, than try to buy stock in it somehow, if it is available to the public.
Consider private or religious school for your children (if you can afford it) and if not consider home schooling your children. Government run public school is another engine that drives the beast of the Servile State. (See item 8 above.)
That is the entire list. Ten items in total will renew our society and rebuild our civilization after it's eminent economic, social and political collapse. You'll notice that none of the items above involved politics or government. That's because they are simple things that individuals and families can do all by themselves, and these will make a big difference, far bigger than any political campaign or governmental policy could ever hope to accomplish. Don't expect to implement all ten items simultaneously. That just isn't possible for all of us. If you can't do all ten items, then do eight. If you can't do eight, then do five. Do whatever it takes. If you can only implement five, then rest assured in time a day will come when you can do six, then seven, then eight and so on. That's why it's called a "checklist." You check off the items slowly, as you go along, and are able to implement whatever items you can as your circumstances permit. Sadly, because of our current state of affairs, there will be plenty of people who will never be able to implement all ten items, but if those people could just implement half, our world would be a much better place.
Now you understand the crisis, how we got where we are today, and now you have the solution laid out before you in ten simple steps. These are things we can do all by ourselves, without help from any political or governing agency. It can be done, all we need do now is implement it, and spread this list to as many people as possible. Please consider forwarding this blog entry. You can use the "share" icons below, or forward the link manually. Here's the link: http://catholicknight.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-save-america.html
(Daily News) - A prominent Catholic priest wants European Christians to fight off Islam with a unique weapon: babies.
Father Piero Gheddo, an Italian missionary priest, said Wednesday he believes a declining birth rate among Europeans combined with a rising tide of Muslim immigrants could mean that Islam will soon dominate Europe.
"Certainly from a demographic point of view, as it is clear to everyone that Italians are decreasing by 120,000 or 130,000 persons a year because of abortion and broken families; while among the more than 200,000 legal immigrants a year in Italy, more than half are Muslims and Muslim families, which have a much higher level of growth," he said, according to Rome's Catholic news service Zenit News Agency.
Gheddo's solution? Christians need to start having more children.
THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: On September 11, 2001 the United States of America was brutally attacked by Islamic jihadists hell bent on killing as many innocent civilians (men, women and children) as possible. Al-Qaeda, a radical Islamic jihadist organization, took full responsibility for the attack and issued the following ultimatum to the people of the United States...
Withdraw all U.S. troops from Islamic territories.
Stop all support of the Zionist State of Israel.
Convert to Islam.
If, and only if, all three demands were met would the terrorist attacks cease. The United States responded with a full scale invasion of the Middle East.
We can debate the wisdom and effectiveness of post-9/11 American foreign policy all we want. I personally wouldn't care if the first two demands were met, namely because I think it would be best for America, not because some terrorist organization demands it. The third however - never the third! The third demand alone, in my opinion, is enough to justify eternal vigilance against Islamic powers. That however, was nearly a decade ago.
Since then a lot of things have happened. First, the United States electorate has swung far to the Left, electing to the highest office in the land, a man who was clearly raised a Muslim (though he denies it) and clearly has sympathies for Islam. Of course, this man has since bowed down to the King of Saudi Arabia and apologized for the United States to practically every Muslim group out there (radical or otherwise). That has emboldened Muslims here in this country and around the world. For completely different reasons, primarily economic and social, the United States electorate is about to swing far to the Right, and the Islamic sympathizing American president is about to discover what it's like to be isolated in Washington DC. His "messiah" complex is about to get an adjustment.
Regardless of what happens on this anniversary of the 9/11 bombings, and regardless of the ugly nature of our new American tradition, let us remember the chain of events to led up to it....
In May of 2010 a surprise proposal was made at a New York development committee that a mosque (Islamic cultural center) should be build near the 9/11 former twin towers memorial site.
Local and nationwide protest erupted immediately as the announcement was made on talk radio and cable news networks. The concept was considered salt in the wounds of the nation, and counter-proposals were made to build the mosque on a different site. All to no avail.
Within weeks the proposal was approved by development committees and money from Islamic groups all around the world starting pouring into the project.
After endless protest, and even offers by Donald Trump to buy the disputed site at a generous price, the plans for mosque construction were set.
In August of 2010 a Gainesville Florida pastor, Terry Jones, of Dove World Outreach Center (a Fundamentalist Protestant church) announced that Korans would be burned on the 2010 anniversary of 9/11 in protest of the mosque to be built near the 9/11 WTC memorial site.
As a result Muslims reacted with outrage around the world. People in the western world reacted too, as it seemed every public figure imaginable took the opportunity to condemn the proposed burning of Korans. Even the Vatican felt the need to respond.
Eventually the Gainesville pastor backed down after he announced a deal had been reached over moving the proposed 9/11 mosque. However, mosque builders in New York said no such deal has been made, and so the Gainseville pastor said the Koran burning may proceed as previously planned.
By this time, multiple groups across the Untied States vowed to do the same, and so by the time of this writing, no less than six organized Koran burnings were scheduled in the United States to take place on 9/11. This is coupled with protests at the proposed 9/11 mosque site from people on both sides. Police will be hard pressed to keep the two groups separated. There is a nervous sense that violence may erupt.
Now 'The Catholic Knight' is not personally into Koran burning. In fact, I own a copy of the Koran as well as the Book of Mormon. I regard them as equal in my library, under the title of "Religious Fiction" which I keep nicely pressed between Greek Mythology and Native American Spirituality. Personally, I think book burning is more often counterproductive than beneficial, but I do acknowledge that there have been times in history when the Church has proscribed the burning of books, and I would have to say for good reason, considering the times and the circumstances. In today's world of cheap and plentiful information however, such practices are pointless, unless however they are designed to send a political message. In this case, that is exactly what's going on. The American people are disgusted with the way Muslims are trying to assert their presence so forcefully in an area where their brethren did so in such a deadly way not so long ago. The proposed "Islamic Center" has all the characteristics of a "victory mosque" akin to those built all over the world wherever Muslims have won a great battle or taken territory by force. It's more than that though. It also has a lot to do with the way Islam seems to be taking over Western Europe and how the number of Muslims seems to be increasing rapidly here in the United States as well. It's more than that too. It also has to do with the way so many Muslims appear to be so intolerant of Christians in the Middle East, as well as Westerners in general, and there is no reciprocity of freedom in Islamic countries. Muslims can build a mosque anywhere they want in the West, but Christians can't build a church anywhere in the Middle East - period!
There are of course other reasons, but I think in general we can accurately say this. For the last nine years, Americans have been treated to a steady television diet of Islamic butchery around the world. We've watched brutal and savage beheadings of our own citizens. We've watched the charred remains of our people hung from bridges, people who were only there to rebuild their bombed cities. We've heard nothing but hate, vitriol, blasphemy and threats from these people for nearly a decade. We've watched them send their women and children into crowded markets, so they can be blown to bits by bombs strapped around their waists. We've been treated to episode after episode of so-called "honor killings" here in the United States by Muslim men angry with their wives or children for adopting "too much" Western culture. Everywhere we look it seems, we see nothing but a people who are intent on killing us, enslaving our children, and destroying everything we hold dear. Our government tells us "Islam is a religion of peace" but all around us we see nothing but war, hatred, brutality and murder. Americans aren't buying it anymore. We're starting to figure it out. It would seem Islam is no more a religion of peace than Judaism is a religion of pork! Americans are fed up and feel betrayed, not just by Islam, but most especially by our national leaders.
During the 9/11 memorial service at the WTC site, protests were going on just a few blocks away. Supporters of the proposed "victory mosque" clashed with those opposed to it. All across America, in various places, Korans were torn and burned. An unidentified man burned pages from the Koran near the WTC site, while another group of people tore pages from the Koran in front of the Whitehouse in Washington DC. 'The Catholic Knight' does not condone this, but I would be lying if I said I didn't understand it. What's happening here is a pitiful display of helpless defiance. Americans are sick and tired, indeed fed up, with Islam's seeming relentless intolerance, and our Liberal politicians' spineless response to it. What Emperor Palaiologos said in 14th century, I am forced to repeat with sorrowful frustration: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." Allow me to rephrased it my own way; Show me just what Islam has given us that is new, besides excessive violence in the name of religion.
In America, a few frustrated people burn Korans. In the Middle East, they burn Bibles, crosses and entire churches! In America, a few frustrated people said the don't like Islam. In the Middle East, they kidnap Christians and kill them! In America, a large majority of people (many non-religions) say "move your mosque" away from a certain controversial site. In the Middle East Christians are told they can't build churches at all and are treated as second-class citizens, often punished with death for expressing their Christian faith. You tell me, which group is more tolerant? Is it the one that occasionally burns Korans? or the one that regularly kills people in the name of the Koran? After ten years on a steady diet of Islamic violence in the name of religion, Americans are finally waking up to the fact that our leaders have lied to us (once again) and the so-called "religion of peace" appears just the opposite. I personally don't like this new American tradition of Koran burning. I don't think it solves anything, but I do understand America's frustration, and quite frankly, I can't blame those who do it. Mark my words though, this will be done again by similar folks next year, and the year after that, and the year after that, and so on for decades. Sadly but truly, it will soon become as American as apple pie. In response, from the Middle East every year we can expect a glut of riotous protests, along with church burnings, kidnappings, murders and mayhem. In so doing however, Muslims will only vindicate the message of those who burn the Koran.
I applaud the message of the Vatican and the Catholic bishops in all of this. They're trying to stay above it all, pointing to the gospel message of love and respect for our neighbors - even our Muslim neighbors. I applaud them for this. At least somebody is trying to take the high road. Good for them! Perhaps Catholics will listen. I hope other Christians listen too.
Let me say this, the kind of "Christianity" Pastor Terry Jones represents is a pseudochristianity, based more in politics than religion. This man does not represent my faith in any way, nor the faith of any Catholic I know. Furthermore, those who burn Korans for the sake of political show do not represent me or my faith in any way whatsoever. Nor do they represent the faith of any Catholic I know. While as an America citizen, I must defend their constitutional right to torch Korans, and I sympathize with the frustrations that led them to it, I cannot endorse this action.
I'm afraid Koran desecration has just become an annual 9/11 American tradition and there is nothing any of us can do to stop it now. Sadly, I think those who do the desecration on the American side, and those who riot on the Muslim side, are taking this world down a path that none of us want to be on. The final confrontation between East and West is inevitable now. In all of this let us remember who is ultimately responsible. That being the spineless Liberal politicians in New York who approved this 9/11 mosque, and the weak-kneed voters who have been electing liberal idiots like this for decades. May God have pity on us all.
THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: As Christians we are all familiar with the political parties and economic theories of the various nations we inhabit. In America it's the Democrats vs. the Republicans, or Liberals vs. Conservatives, or just Socialists vs. Capitalists. Most of us don't like to think in economic terms. We often take those for granted. Instead we prefer to look at the social issues, such as abortion, prayer in schools, gay-marriage, etc. What we often fail to realize is that all of these social issues are interrelated with economics, and that economics often shapes society's moral views without us even realizing it. The two prevailing economic theories operating in our world today are Socialism and Capitalism. What a lot of people don't know is that while they appear to be opposed to each other on the surface, they are actually related to each other underneath on a moral level. Both systems of thought operate on a similar principle that people are commodities, mere "things" to be used as needed for the goals of those "in charge." In the end Capitalism results in Socialism. Because both systems devalue life, marriage and family. Both systems, in their most pure form, know nothing of subsidiarity.
Subsidiarity is an organizing principle that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority. The Oxford English Dictionary defines subsidiarity as the idea that a central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed effectively at a more immediate or local level.
Socialization also presents dangers. Excessive intervention by the state can threaten personal freedom and initiative. The teaching of the Church has elaborated the principle of subsidiarity, according to which "a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to co-ordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good."
We are all familiar with the evils of Socialism. It's all around us. Our governments gradually (and sometimes not so gradually) take away our earnings and property to "re-distribute" them as they see fit, replacing the work of charity within the Church and setting themselves up as God. Along with our resources and property, these same governments deprive us of our freedoms. Make no mistake about it "re-distributism" (a.k.a. "Socialism") is THEFT! It is a violation of the Ten Commandments and an act of lawlessness. Those who advocate it are toying with their souls and placing their salvation in jeopardy. Socialism is a moral evil which the Catholic Church has always stood squarely against in it's doctrinal teaching. Sadly, many Catholics (including some clergy) are Socialists. For this they are denying the clear teachings of the Church and will have to answer before God. Along with Socialism however, comes a social ethic, or morality, which is really immorality. Anyone who reads the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels will quickly discover that the path to Socialism is paved with immorality - particularly sexual immorality. Yes, one sin leads to another, and the fathers of Socialism had no problem using vice as a means of furthering the "revolution." Make no mistake about it. Socialism destroys faith, turning the Church into a mere "religious institution" without sufficient works of charity. It is the Church's right to feed and shelter the poor. When the government takes this responsibility away from the Church, it deprives her of her right, and effectively strips her of her social mantle. In time, people lose faith in the Church. Who needs it? you see, when we have the government to take care of the poor. Socialism destroys families in a similar way, undermining subsidiarity and depriving the mother and father of their parental duties in favor of state-run schools, daycare and various "programs." Once the children are in the hands of the state, they can be further indoctrinated according to the immorality of socialism. Finally, Socialism destroys civilization, because once the faith and family of millions is broken, society starts to break down, causing an increase in lawlessness.
Yes, we all know the evils of Socialism, or at least we SHOULD know them. Sadly, it seems that every government in the world now is heading down the Socialist tracks straight for the cliff of tyranny.
The antithesis of Socialism is Capitalism - or so it would seem on the surface. Capitalism in it's most pure form is laissez-faire, meaning the government has virtually no role in directing the economy. The problem with this model is that it leads to corporate tyranny, wherein wealth and property are concentrated into the hands of the few, while the many are deprived of it. It creates a two-class society. The first class is the investor class, which is wealthy enough to live off capital investments. The second class is the labor class, and this is the class which subsists day to day on a meager wage that may (or may not) be enough to live on. Wealth and property are scarcely within reach for most of these people. Only a small few break out of the labor class and into the investment class. Small businesses are usually gobbled up by big business. The "mom & pop" general store is unable to compete with the mega-chain supermarket. Monopolies are created, driving out competition. The system becomes immoral because it is another kind of THEFT, that deprives families of their ability to own their own property and work it for their own livelihood. When this happens it attacks faith and family. In this case, the corporations become like gods, deciding the fate of their employees with little to no say-so from the employees themselves. Both husbands and wives are forced to work to pay the bills, resulting in children having to be left in daycare or home alone without parental guidance. The labor class becomes slave to the investor class, and unfortunately, this kind of a situation can only last so long before the people begin to demand Socialism. So long as there is wide-spread extreme social inequity as a result of unbridled capitalism, there shall always be those who cry out for Socialism.
Now the sad reality in all of this is that neither model works in it's most pure form. Socialism ultimately has to rely on some Capitalism in order to stay afloat and keep the system going. A perfect example of this is the City of Hong Kong. Originally a colony of the British Empire and now a district of Communist China, Hong Kong is a thriving center of laissez-faire Capitalism that helps support the Socialist policies of the Chinese government. Without Hong Kong, Red China would have collapsed around the same time as the Soviet Union. Inversely, in the United States, Socialism is regularly employed to prop up Capitalism. Large American corporations have, for their own benefit, manipulated government regulations for decades. Everyone who understands American politics knows that Wal Street in New York intersects with K Street in Washington DC. (K Street is where most government lobbyist are headquartered.) This backroom deal-making between big business and government is what made large corporations "too big to fail." Thus when they did fail in the Fall of 2008, the U.S. federal government supplied some $4 trillion of taxpayer money to bail them out. This effectively consolidated the government/corporate conglomerate - another type of Socialism. This is not to mention the multiple times big-business corporations have advocated (and even lobbied for) Socialist redistribution schemes. Social Security and Socialized Medicine are two forms of Socialism that greatly benefit big-business, effectively eliminating their moral responsibilities toward their employees. So on paper both Socialism and Capitalism would appear to work, but in practical application it would seem they are just two sides of the same coin.
“Socialism is the exploitation of man by man; capitalism is the opposite.” -- Old Polish Proverb
As Christians (particularly as Catholic Christians) we are called to a higher standard. In the late 1800s to early 1900s, to counter the rising tide of Socialism, the popes proscribed a means of Christian Economics that was later called "Distributism" sometimes called "Micro-Capitalism" or "The Third Way." This radically differs from the Socialist concept of "re-distributism" through the state, or the Capitalist concept of "re-distributism" through big business corporations. Distributism, in contrast, uses capitalism as it's core, micro-capitalism, based on the Biblical and moral value of private property. In other words, private property is good, and everyone has a right to seek it. Furthermore, it is immoral and sin for anyone (including the government) to take it away without permission. However, it is equally immoral for others to use unfair business practices in such a way that deprives the little people of a fair shot at seeking property. In other words, according to Distributism, such a thing as a monopoly (corporate or government) would be an anathema. This is the basis of it anyway. The idea is to allow individual enterprises and morally-regulated market forces to naturally "distribute" the property and resources of a region all by themselves. Instead of one or two giant chicken producers supplying meat and eggs to a whole country, we would instead see thousands of independently owned chicken ranches, each supplying meat and eggs to their local regions.
Distributism supports the local family, encouraging private enterprise and small business. It also supports faith, forcing each man to rely on God (not government or corporations) for his daily bread. Private wealth is based entirely on personal merit and hard work. Likewise, the work of charity is returned to the Church, and eliminated from the state.
Let me be perfectly clear here. Distributism does not regulate personal wealth. People are free to work or invest as they see fit, and the amount of wealth they attain from this is their own private property. The Distributist system demands small and localized government. In other words, government starts from the bottom up, gradually getting weaker as you go up the chain. The highest form of government, federal or national level, is simultaneously the weakest and the smallest, limited to very few and defined functions. In other words, the government that governs best, governs close to home. This is subsidiarity, and it goes hand in hand with Distributism.
The implementation of Distributism does not begin at the national politics level. It can't. Rather, it begins at home, with families and individuals. It begins by boycotting the big-business chains, and making a conscious decision to patron cooperatives and family run small-businesses. Of course this begins with where you keep your money. First things first, get your money out of the banks! Invest in a local credit union. Why on earth would you store your money somewhere where somebody else can make a profit on it? Shouldn't YOU be the one who makes the profit? or at least a portion of it? Unless you own your own bank, get into a credit union and divest yourself of the very system that is slowly destroying us. Next we must patron the locally run general stores, and independently owned restaurants, however, this would also include franchise establishments so long as they're locally owned. That's the key. If a franchise establishment is not locally owned, we and our families should boycott it. The next step is to start your own family run business of whatever type you want. If you can't do that, try to work for a cooperative rather than a corporation. If that's not available, try to work for a locally owned family business. Finally, if it's just impossible to get out from under the corporate environment, than turn around and buy some stock in it! For heaven's sake, you work there, so you out to at least own a piece of it. Now, if you're one of the fortunate ones who has been blessed with wealth, than please put it to good use and invest it locally. Finally, the last step on a local level is to work with others preparing a pamphlet or website (or both) listing all the locally owned family run business in your immediate area. Then get that list out to people in the most efficient way possible. This is the core of Distributism. It is the engine that makes it run. Without this it's just a theory on paper.
On a political level it all begins locally as well. We must corner our local politicians running for office - city, county and state. We must pressure them to focus their economic policy on supporting locally owned small business, and protecting them from interstate and international big business corporations. This is why. We need to hit them with these facts to drive the point home and make it stick...
The estimated 29.6 million small businesses in the United States:
Employ just over half of the country’s private sector workforce
Hire 40 percent of high tech workers, such as scientists, engineers and computer workers
Include 52 percent home-based businesses and two percent franchises
Represent 97.3 percent of all the exporters of goods
Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms
Generate a majority of the innovations that come from United States companies
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, September 2009
These are points we need to keep driving home to our politicians again and again and again. If our government would finally learn that protecting small business is the key to a good economy (and thus better tax revenue) it would be well on it's way toward restoring national stability. That of course leads to national politics. If the state and local governments are won over first, the federal and national politicians will follow suit, if they know what's good for them. Otherwise, they'll find themselves looking for new jobs after election day.
Of course what I describe here is a very simplified model, and of course people usually do require more detail. There are certain books written on this. One is titled Jobs of Our Own by Race Matthews. Another is titled Toward a Truly Free Market by John C. Medaille. Many more titles can be acquired from IHS Press. For Internet resources I will refer you to THE DISTRIBUTIST REVIEW, an online publication featuring FREE articles about Distributism and how it applies to everyday life. LEARN MORE HERE
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Even Pope John Paul II recognized the necessity of Latin in this Novus Ordo celebration of the mass.
THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has decided that he will use Latin during the preface and the canon of all the masses he celebrates, regardless of the vernacular language the mass is being celebrated in.
The Canon (Eucharistic Prayer) is the heart of the Mass, during which the priest consecrates and elevates the Host. There can be little doubt that Marini has put his foot down. Having already stopped liturgical philistines from subjecting the Pope to various musical horrors, he is now sending a clear – and, one suspects, deeply unwelcome – message to English, Welsh and Scottish bishops who actively discourage the celebration of Mass in Latin...
Once again, the Holy Father sets an example for the rest of the Church, but how many clergy will follow his example? Answer - virtually none! Why? Because the churches in Western countries are controlled by Modernists who abhor tradition. We only need look at how many priests and bishops currently encourage communion on the tongue while kneeling to see how bad of shape the Church is really in, and how indifferent (or even rebellious) her clergy really are.
So if you're a priest reading this, lets see how gutsy you are? I've got a challenge for you, if you have the courage to take it, and I'm willing to bet that the vast majority of you won't. Next Sunday after reading this, preach a homily explaining the Holy Father's liturgical examples for us, and how he wants us to imitate him in these things. If you need some more details into the way the Holy Father thinks, pick up a copy of The Spirit of the Liturgy and read it. Recommend it to your congregation as well, especially to anyone who seriously questions your actions. Then on the following Sunday after that, have your staff put a couple of kneelers out, ready to be placed by your altar-servers (or ushers) at the appropriate time during mass. Also put a crucifix on your altar, front and center, regardless of which way you celebrate mass (ad orientem or ad populum). Next, learn to say the canon of the mass in Latin. It's not that hard. I'm a layman with no formal training in Latin whatsoever and I can do it. So man up already! If I can do it so can you. Then implement everything.
Put a crucifix on the altar in the center. (consider the ad orientem posture during the Liturgy of the Eucharist if functionally possible.)
Have the servers or ushers position the kneelers at the right time during mass.
Say the canon of the mass in Latin.
Serve communion to your parishioners on the tongue while they kneel (if physically able).
If you've got the courage to do this, God bless you! If not, than maybe you should ask yourself which Church you really belong to. Is it the one governed by the pope? Or somebody else?
I invite any priest reading this to comment below, regardless of what you have to say, and you can do so anonymously without leaving your real name. Use a pseudoname like "Father Q" for example if you feel you must.
(LifeSiteNews.com) - As the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) prepares to receive a report on the controversial funding practices of their anti-poverty arm, one diocese has proposed a plan to cut off the group's shadier associations.
The diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph also suggested in a Monday post on its Catholic Key blog that its plan to reform the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), which it has implemented on a local level, could be used as a template for revamping national CCHD operations.
Jude Huntz, director of the diocesan Human Rights Office, pinpointed "[CCHD's] relationships with community organizing groups across the country" as "the fundamental problem with many CCHD grants."
The CCHD offers both community organizing grants and economic development grants. However, wrote Huntz, the diocese concluded following investigations last year that community organizing groups at large, despite their laudable goal of helping the underprivileged, "began to develop a partisan edge to their work."
"What is more, many organizing groups began to advocate for causes that are contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church, most notably in the areas of abortion, same sex marriage, and health care reform," he wrote.
Therefore, the diocese decided to "cease funding all community organizing projects in our diocese and not to grant such requests in the future," said Huntz. He wrote that while the diocese "supports the concept of providing a voice to those who lack a voice in our society," it also believes "that there are a variety of mechanisms to achieve such a goal that can take place without funding community organizing groups that offer positions contrary to Church teaching."
THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: While I think what the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is trying to do is admirable, I have serious questions as to whether or not it will work. After everything that has happened, why not just scrap the whole thing. There are those who would argue the CCHD is irredeemable, and they do have a valid point. Certainly very few Catholic laymen trust it anymore, and you can count me in among them. I left the envelope empty this year, and last year, and the year before that. I honestly see no point giving money to an organization that is likely to turn around and give it to another organization that attacks the very Church I gave my money to support. Even if the CCHD manages to be reformed, getting the laity to trust it again will be quite a task, and to even attempt it would put the reputation of the bishops and priest on the line. I will freely say this. Never in my life will I ever give money to the CCHD - period. It won't matter to me who comes out supporting it. Even if every Catholic bishop in the United States assured me it was safe, I still wouldn't do it. It's never going to happen. Till they put me in the grave, the CCHD will never get another dime out of me. I'll give charitably to Catholic organizations direct, bypassing the diocese if I have to, but never to the CCHD. Now you know where The Catholic Knight stands. I just hope the rest of you out there have a long memory and never forget what the CCHD did to us with the money we gave them. By the way, how's that knife in your back feeling these days?
by Race Matthews. Another is titled 
by John C. Medaille. Many more titles can be acquired from 
and read it. Recommend it to your congregation as well, especially to anyone who seriously questions your actions. Then on the following Sunday after that, have your staff put a couple of kneelers out, ready to be placed by your altar-servers (or ushers) at the appropriate time during mass. Also put a crucifix on your altar, front and center, regardless of which way you celebrate mass (ad orientem or ad populum). Next, learn to say the canon of the mass in Latin. It's not that hard. I'm a layman with no formal training in Latin whatsoever and I can do it. So man up already! If I can do it so can you. Then implement everything.
