R. J. Grigaitis

“I never lose an argument; even when I’m wrong.”

I’ve heard the above saying many times. I even had the same attitude myself; although, I was never so bold to  state it out load. Over many years of reflection, I now have a different attitude, which I sum up with the following words:

“I always lose an argument; even when I’m right. I never lose a discussion, unless it turns into an argument.”

I should clarify. I’m not using the word argument in the philosophical sense, but in the worldly sense of a confrontation. Disagreements and corrections can be discussed, and a solution where there are no losers can be reached, but when a discussion turns into an argument (confrontation), even the party that is right loses because of bad feelings.

I don’t mind being wrong in a discussion because I can become a better person once I am corrected. In an argument, however, the confrontation makes me feel ill, and I feel like the loser regarudless of if I am right or wrong. I find no consolation in being right when an issue cannot be calmly discussed.

Sometimes one has to engage in confrontation. I dread the very thought. Nevertheless, when it’s necessary, I pray that any arguments turn in to discussions. An argument that turns into a discussion really isn’t an argument anymore.

When I first heard about the movie No Greater Love, I thought, “Great, another good movie teaching Christian values.”

When I saw the trailer, I thought, “Oh No! They know nothing about Christian marriage and make Christians look like a bunch of nuts.”

I was planning on watching No Greater Love as soon as it came out so I could write a review to warn everyone to stay away from this movie, but I couldn’t find the time. Fortunately, Sr. Helena Burns, who is an actual movie critic, has written a really good review of the movie, which, unfortunately, confirms my concerns raised by the trailer. I’m not going to waist my money on this movie now that Sr. Helena has taken the time to warn us of its major problems.

If you’re considering watching No Greater Love, read Sr. Helena’s review first:
http://hellburns.blogspot.com/2010/02/movies-no-greater-love-dvd.html

There are some men that have “left” the priesthood so they could marry, only to be later confronted with news of married clergy from other churches entering the Roman Catholic Church and being ordained to the priesthood. They feel they have been done an injustice because they had to “give up” the priesthood to marry, and here married men have become priests without giving up their marriage. To some, this looks like a double standard.

The first mistake these men make is that they never left or gave up the priesthood. The Sacrament of Holy Orders, like Baptism and Confirmation, is unrepeatable and permanent. What they did leave or give up was their vow of celibacy. Being released from this vow came with the serious consequence of not being allowed to normally exercise their priesthood. I’ve explained this in a previous post (http://blog.grigaitis.net/2009/04/married-clergy/).

The second mistake these men make is in seeing a similarity between their situation and the situation of married men coming into the Roman Catholic Church and being ordained as priests. The main difference is that celibate clergy have taken a vow of celibacy, and married clergy have not. If the wife of a married priest dies, the priest must remain celibate. He would be in the same situation as a priest that took a vow of celibacy before ordination. A widowed priest can also petition the Church to release him from his vow of celibacy and allow him to remarry, in which case he would suffer the same consequence of not being allowed to normally exercise his priesthood.

This is not a matter of a double standard but an example of compassion on the part of the Church towards those coming from a different tradition in which mandatory clerical celibacy is not the norm. It must be remembered that it is a norm and not a doctrine. It is possible, although very unlikely, that the Church return to the original norm of clerical celibacy being optional. However, all bishops, priests, and deacons that took a vow of celibacy before ordination will be expected to keep that vow. As well, widowed clerics would also be expected to remain celibate.

Celibate priests that give up their vow of celibacy and marry are not allowed to normally exercise their priesthood. Married men that become priests and have not taken a vow of celibacy are obviously not in the same situation.

or if you’re Eastern Rite, Happy Theophany
or if you’re on the Julian calendar, Merry Christmas
or if your bishop thinks Epiphany shouldn’t be on a weekday, Happy Wednesday After Epiphany

I celebrated Epiphany twice this year, both times in the Roman Rite, and both times in my home diocese. On the 3rd I assisted at Sunday Epiphany Mass at my local parish, and today I assisted at an FSSP Epiphany Mass. FSSP is for Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Petri (Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter). If you want to know more about the FSSP, visit their website: http://fssp.org

Why do some Roman Catholics celebrate Epiphany on the Sunday between January 2nd and 8th, and some Roman Catholics celebrate Epiphany on the actual feast of Epiphany? I guess you’ll have to ask the men who made this option available to Roman bishops in 1969.

What if they did the same thing for Christmas? Would more people come to Christmas Eve Mass if it were on the Saturday night between December 20th and 26th? Would Santa Clause know which house to go to on the Sunday and which house to go to on the 25th? What if the family isn’t Catholic, or even Christian? Which day should Santa visit? What if a family does on Christmas what I did this Epiphany? Would Santa visit their house twice?

These are some deep theological questions that make my head hurt. I wonder if their heads hurt in 1969?

This video is an update on the Obama Admits He Is A Muslim blog entry.

Something inside me snapped a couple weeks ago. I saw this great big lit up sign in my hometown that said, “Season’s Greetings.” Immediately the design for the button to the left came into my mind. It’s not “Season’s Greetings,” but “Merry Christmas.” And, Christmas is short for “Christ’s Mass” or “Christ Mass.” We celebrate the coming of Christ with Mass. Click on the image to get your own “Merry Christ Mass” button.

Personally, I believe that Obama will go down in history as the president that did the most damage to America; however, other than bowing to a Muslim king, this video exposes none of the actual harm he has done. Not only does Obama not admit that he is a Muslim in this video, no evidence is given to prove that he is. Much is implied, but nothing is proven.

Being able to speak perfect Arabic does not make one a Muslim. I’ll give you four examples of prominent Catholics that speak Arabic: Jean Benjamin Sleiman, Roman Archbishop of Baghdad; Emmanuel Dabbaghian, Armenian Archbishop of Baghdad; Athanase Matti Shaba Matoka, Syrian Archbishop of Baghdad; and, Emmanuel III Delly, Chaldean Archbishop of Baghdad and Patriarch of Babylon. Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly was elevated to cardinal on November 24, 2007, so not only could he vote for our next pope, he could be our next pope.

Everything that Obama says to praise and glorify Islam is true. Much of what he says has also been said by Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. The people that deny the debt we have to Islamic culture are usually the same people that deny the debt we have to Catholic culture.

Visiting a mosque does not make one a Muslim. Both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have visited mosques. If Obama was a practicing Muslim, wouldn’t he be visiting a mosque every Friday? All practicing Catholics visit a church most, if not every, Sunday. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be practicing Catholics.

Obama may be a Muslim; however, it seems he hasn’t actually admitted to being one yet. He may also be right that America is not at war with Islam, but a large part of Islam is at war with America. If Obama decides that he is Muslim, will his loyalties lie with America, or the part of Islam that is at war with America?

November 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Supporters of Linda Gibbons are disseminating the following information to encourage support for the Canadian pro-life sidewalk counsellor:

Linda Gibbons has been a “common criminal” for many years now.  For fifteen years, since 1994, this grandmother has been in and out of Ontario prisons. Her totally accumulated jail time is seven years.  What is her crime?  Linda prayerfully and quietly witnesses in front of Ontario abortion clinics, in violation of an unjust “bubble zone” law.

This past session has been particularly onerous – she has been behind bars since last January, and this will be her second consecutive Christmas in jail.

Please consider sending Linda a Christmas card this year.  She will be encouraged and uplifted by your thoughtfulness. To maximize the effectiveness of this initiative, why not talk to your pastor and see if you can put this message in your church bulletin?  Why not pass this message along to family and friends?

Her address is:

Attention: Linda Gibbons
Vanier Center for Women
655 Martin Street, Box 1040
Milton, Ontario  L9T 5E6

There are some mailing guidelines because the Detention Centre mailing department reads everything sent to the inmates:

1. Don’t use stickers (address, return address, pro-life) on the envelope or card.
2. Don’t send any laminated cards, bookmarks, prayer cards, pro-life pamphlets. Non-laminated items will get to her.
3. Don’t ask direct questions about daily activity of the detention centre.
4. Put your address directly in the card or letter. (Sometimes the mail sorter keeps the envelope and Linda feels badly if she can’t write back.)
5. If you would like to send a little monetary gift to Linda it must be a money order made out to “Linda Gibbons.” The detention centre will deposit the money directly to her account. She uses any donations for envelopes and stamps.
6. Many people add a variety of Christian reading material in their mailings to her. She often shares articles with others in the Centre. She can receive pro-life material that show the development of the baby but not post abortion photos. She can’t receive books. Try to stick to one or two pages of reading materials or pamphlets.

I’ve looked at the pictures (http://noticias.uol.com.br/ultnot/album/bbc/091019calendario_album.jhtm), and I am completely disgusted. Please send an e-mail to the Minister of Justice of Spain and tell others.

It seems that the new e-mail address for the Minister of Justice of Spain is not working. You can copy and paste the message below to the contact form for the Spanish Minister of Justice at this address:
http://www.mjusticia.es/cs/Satellite?c=Page&cid=1057821035277&lang=en_gb&pagename=Portal_del_ciudadano%2FPage%2FContacto

(What an ugly address. Compare it to mine (http://grigaitis.net/contact/). I’d say the Spanish Minister of Justice needs a better computer programmer working on his website.)

You may have to be patient, the server for the Spanish Minister of Justice website seems to be getting overloaded today. There must be a lot of outraged Catholics around the world trying to contact him.

Excmo. Sr. D. Francisco Caamano Dominguez,

My heart is broken to learn about the calendar launched by homosexuals in Spain that pervert, distort and blaspheme my Catholic faith and the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima.

I write to express my deepest and most just outrage at this calendar being allowed to circulate in Spain, the country that is home to the world’s first Marian shrine of Our Lady of PiIar.

Spain has always been known as the Most Catholic Nation. How then can this unspeakable blasphemy be allowed there?

The choice of the calendar’s theme is clearly intended to offend the religious sentiment of Spanish Catholics, which is in violation of #525 of the Spanish Criminal Code.

As a Canadian, I am also offended by this blasphemy, more than words can express.

I urge you to use all measures afforded by law to stop the circulation of this highly offensive and blasphemous calendar.

Respectfully yours,
R. J. Grigaitis, sfo

This is the original e-mail that I received from America Needs Fatima:

October 29, 2009

Dear Mr. Grigaitis,

My heart is sick to tell you, but…

…as Catholics, we must defend Our Lady’s honor, especially when She is blasphemed, and shown half-naked!

According to press reports, homosexual groups in Spain published a calendar that has horrific, unspeakable blasphemies against Our Lady of Fatima and other Marian apparitions!

Besides a man that is practically naked alongside Our Lady, the calendar has “images that are based on famous works of sacred art, especially apparitions of the Virgin Mary, but interpreted by transsexuals.

“In the ‘Secular Calendar,’ each month is represented by a free interpretation of famous scenes of Catholic imagery, such as Our Lady of Fatima and the three shepherd children. But redecorated with homosexual esthetics.”

“The scenes show saints dressed as drag queens, using crowns, necklaces, bracelets, and colored condoms with applicators and vibrators attached to the crowns.”

Moreover, the homosexual group behind the calendar suggests December 25 be officially declared the Day of Democracy instead of Christmas. (BOL Noticias, online 10/19/09). http://noticias.bol.uol.com.br/internacional/2009/10/19/ult36u47296.jhtm
— (Access with caution).

As Catholics, you and I cannot remain silent before such blasphemous insults to Our Lady and the Catholic faith! No matter where in the world it is.

So please send a protest message NOW via email to the Minister of Justice in Spain.

It’s vital that you send your message right away. I don’t believe the honor of Our Lady has ever been attacked like this before in history. Ever!

You and I, and tens of thousands of Americans MUST speak out against this and spread our just outrage to other countries too. And, with God’s help, our prayers and protest may become so huge that the authorities in Spain will enforce the country’s anti-blasphemy laws, and prohibit this blasphemous calendar.

How wonderful that would be!

For love of Our Blessed Mother, please pray this happens.

So please send your e-message today to the Minister of Justice of Spain.

And consider forwarding this email message to all the Catholics you know.

And since the honor of Our Lady was insulted in the worst way ever, you and I MUST offer the most fervent and widespread act of reparation possible at this time.

To join our nationwide, even worldwide campaign of reparation, please go here to download and pray these acts of reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Thank you for joining me in this fervent, filial and global act of reparation in face of such a vile, unspeakable blasphemy against our dearest and purest Mother.

May God bless you!

Sincerely in Jesu et Maria
Robert E. Ritchie
America Needs Fatima
www.ANF.org

PS — Please send your instant e-mail protest against this blasphemy to the Minister of Justice of Spain.

Above all, please pray that our protest be blessed by God, and that hundreds of thousands of Americans and Canadians join Catholics worldwide in defending the holy honor of Our Lady against this vile calendar.