The Practical Parson

 In recent weeks, there has been a growing obsession with the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X (SSPX), due to the announcement that they will be pursuing the consecration of new bishops for their society in July.   Ever the fraternal, loving, ecumenical, "God wants us all to be together in love" crowd; the mainstream Roman Catholic Hierarchy have taken to staunch denouncements of the society, proclaiming them schismatics, heretics, and worse.  For daring to presume that they have the right to have their own bishops; a number of otherwise intelligent and decent Christian people are quite legitimately threatening the SSPX with the fires of eternal damnation.  The crux of the matter is the breakdown in communications between the society and the prefect for the congregation of the doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Fernandez.  Specifically, it is known that Cardinal Fernandez himself has prevented the SSPX from being able to meet with the Roman Pontiff themselves...

 There is a malignant ideology that pervades our society today; wherein man considers that all that is old, traditional, and past, must be swept away in favor of a new approach to life.  That all that has been before is somehow ignorant, outdated, or invalid; in light of the modern pursuit of the modern concept of "unity".  This is true not only of our churches, but also of our secular society as well. Millennia of Human history and civilization, law and order; we are urged to cast aside in order to "free" the modern man from the perceived bonds of the past.  Yet if one casts aside what has gone before, is one truly Free?  Consider the example of cultures that seek to erase what came before them.  When the system that they establish on this principle is unleashed, it spends a vast amount of time and effort almost solely focused on suppressing the past and oppressing the people until they accept it.   This can be demonstrated in the Draconian estab...

 The Bishop of Charlotte seeks to cement his legacy in destruction and demanding the faithful pay for the privilege of it.   Let's help him out, shall we?

 Recently in the State of North Carolina where I live and conduct my own ministry, the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Charlotte Diocese has issued new "liturgical norms", pertaining to the administration and reception of Holy Communion.  In his letter, he orders that altar rails and prayer kneelers no longer be used by people who wish to receive communion, that altar rails should be removed, and that the faithful are to be encouraged (if not commanded) to receive communion standing instead of kneeling.   While it is entirely within the Roman Church's capacity to force upon its followers whatever it may deem appropriate; one must keep in mind that forcing the faithful to practices which go against their own tradition and the faith they practice, is a mark of arrogance and irreverent pride.   The Bishop writes that he has chosen to enforce these actions to produce "Uniformity" within the church's liturgies.  Ah yes, the age-old myth of liturgical "Uniformi...

 With the recent election of a Woman to sit in the seat of St. Augustine at Canterbury; the Anglican world is yet again aflame with the half-a-century old debate on women's ordination.  Having written extensively in previous posts on the matter from a theological and philosophical perspective, which are still unconvincing to those most ardent supporters of women's ordination; it would seem a point of futility to argue the point any further.  However a cleric that I have known made the statement recently, that the ordination of men only, was only a "tradition" of the church; and argued that such could be changed by the church.  Unfortunately, this is not only untrue, but it degrades the very heart and essence of the priestly ministry to a position of non-consequence.  If such a thing were indeed true that the church alone created and could change the dignity and nature of the priesthood by popular acclaim, then the promised salvation and ever-abiding presence tha...

 20 days ago a young man was assassinated in front of his own children and a crowd of several thousand people on a college campus in Utah.  Almost spontaneously, our "progressive" brethren broke out in thunderous celebration for the death of this man; posting fictitious quotes attributed to him and calling him every manner of slander the left is capable of summoning as an insult against their opponents.  One of the more fascinatingly ironic facts of that phenomena for me personally, was a massive increase in downloads of/ internet searches for the song "no One Mourns the Wicked", from the titled movie "Wicked" which was released just a year ago.  The lyrics proclaim that the wicked die alone, the wicked's life is lonely, etc.; much to the delight of the liberals who played the song in celebration.   However the irony of them playing this song as a celebration of that man's death is overwhelming to those of us who have seen the movie and know the st...