Anyway, my point here this evening is to make a short-and-to-the-point statement on how the many crises facing marriage today can be traced back to the tragedy of history commonly known as the Protestant Reformation, though I’m one of those who believes “revolt” and “rebellion” to be more accurate terms. After reading this, I suspect readers will be able to understand why I hold the position that a return to a universal recognition of marriage as a Sacrament is the only way it will survive the current socio-political climate, not just here in the United States, but everywhere.

Prior to the Reformation, all Christians shared the proper understanding of marriage as one of the seven Sacraments established by Christ Himself. (That starts one issue I take with the, “We all worship the same Jesus!” approach to ecumenism: the Jesus that Catholics and Orthodox Christians believe in, the real Jesus and the Jesus of history, established SEVEN Sacraments, not one, two, or none, depending on which Protestant sect you follow.) The Church managed the Sacrament, not the State, and the State obediently let the Church “do Her thing” as regarded it.

Then comes the Reformation.

By diminishing marriage as a Sacrament, the rebels, intentionally or not, regulated it to a mere civil contract. (Anglicans, anyone?) As we’ve clearly seen, especially in the past half-century in the US, marriage that is merely a civil contract can be dissolved for any reason whatsoever. The State now regulates marriages and it sets its own rules regarding it. Furthermore, the “Reformation” encouraged a arrogant level of autonomy, one example being in the individual’s “right” to “interpret” Scripture however he sees fit, (the incomplete canon they have to interpret is another problem all together.) This autonomy is further shown in how Christians now think they “own” their own bodies, so of course contracept and abort all you want! No Church has the right to tell you what to believe! If YOUR interpretation of Scripture says you can close your womb of your own volition, and you’ve “really” prayed for the guidance of the Holy Spirit on this one, then that’s fine! I do believe it worth noting, though, that it is unlikely that the “reformers” themselves would like where their thought has gone today. I doubt Luther would look at the ecclesial community, (NOT!!! Church,) that bares his name today and recognize it as anything he wanted to achieve. When marriage is merely a civil contract, who is the State to deny it to two men, or two women, or one man and several women? The atheistic state has no grounds for doing so, but the Christian faith does.

Anyway, my point is that the “reformation” shifted the “responsibility” for marriage from the Church, where it rightfully belongs, to the State. Never mind Christ’s instruction, “What God has joined together, let no man tear asunder!” If you want to know what the greatest threat to Satan is at any given time in history, look at what the fiend attacks most viciously. Right now, it’s marriage, so imagine the power that a strong, Catholic family has, the “domestic Church,” modeled after the Holy Family, has to turn this culture AGAINST Satan’s wishes for it!

As a disclaimer, I know full well not every last Protestant accepts or likes divorce. My boyfriend came from such a home and he views divorce as a non-option for any professed Christian.

Aaaaand…I’m being summoned. I might elaborate on this further later, if Java homework doesn’t kill me first! =-S

You would NOT see this kind of shot taken at the Jewish people or Muslims (and indeed, the latter category has a modern history internationally of rioting over any attempt.)

Cheap, media. Cheap. Not that I expect any better.

What the dilly is up with Washington? Guliani (alright, he’s out of the picture, but still,) Pelosi, Durbin (I’m ashamed to say that he’s ours, too, along with Obama,) Kennedy, Biden, etc. etc. etc. What part of YOU CAN’T BE CATHOLIC AND PRO-ABORTION is so hard for these people to understand?!?!?! I don’t want McCain to win, either, but he’s better than Obama. Usually in this situation, I look at the Constitution Party, but I don’t know…. The Libertarian candidate is pro-death, as far as I know, so that’s out… Oi… The one thing I consider a non-option is NOT voting. I’ll write in Donald Duck if I have to. :p

ADD is kicking in…*Wanders off to play with shiny objects.*

That said, onto the main point of this post.

I already posted last week about the immature vandalism of part of the display for Pro-Life Awareness Week here.  Well, the campus paper today ran an editorial that made me positivly livid.  (By “editorial,” I mean an official position statement of the paper itself, no name assigned to it.)  The “Cliff’s Notes” version is that the paper does not think our yearly pro-life week should be allowed to happen.  They even twist the words of our Holy Father to implicate his disagreement!  Sick!  >_<  Furthermore, they claim the week is a violation of the “Dominican heratige” of the college.  (Quotes used because that “heretage” is almost always a perversion thereof whenever the school mentions it.)  The article also implied that our cross display was “threatening” to pregnant students.  ばかだよ！

Besides the expected Letter to the Editor, I’m starting to contemplate writing the Bishop of the Diocese.  Do I think it’s going to do a scrap of good?  Crud no; this Bishop is as spineless as the horror stories you hear about no-knees Bishops.  However, I can at least say I “put my money where my mouth is.”  Blah.

Is there anything I should know for writing a Bishop?  Terms of address or other such things?  Comments appreciated.

God Bless!  ^_^

Where from comes this lovely sentiment? Well, my children, (who are probably older than I…) let me tell you a story.

Every year, the week after fall break at this college is Students for Life’s Pro-Life Awareness week. Every year, we put simple white, wooden crosses out in the grassy area by the statue of Mary, known to those at the school as “touchdown Mary.” The sign out there varies, usually some statistic, but it makes the purpose of the crosses plain. This year’s sign read, “1 out of every 4 pregnancies ends in abortion. Who’s missing from your life?” (Our president came up with that. The VP, yours truly, has about as much creativity as an orange peel.)

Every year, (I’m a fifth-year senior,) I hear rumors that the pro-abortion segment of the campus (the majority,) is going to put coat hangers on the display, vandalize it. Well, my first two years saw no protests that I noticed, and junior year it was mainly our fliers for events that week being ripped down. Immature, but whatever. Last year, on Wednesday of the week, (a day there are many fewer people on campus, which made their choice seem funny, though it IS also a day fewer people are in class,) there were students standing in front of the display all day holding pro-abortion signs and all that. A few of them made me laugh because I wanted to say, “EXACTLY!” Signs like, “It’s not your body!” Duh! Not your body, either! It’s another body, an innocent child’s, being dismembered in the womb. There was a letter written to the editor of the newspaper by an outraged student, and I agreed with that letter, but I knew the response that was going to come, and did the next issue. Another letter basically told that student where he could stick his views, and I have it on trustworthy authority that most of the faculty and staff believed the same. (Can you tell this “Catholic” campus is extremely liberal?)

So what happened this year, you may be asking? Well, Wednesday was uneventful, and the SFL pres and I both felt we must have dodged a bullet. Wrong. This afternoon, I was walking from my dorm to the student cafeteria for our speaker for the week, (”How Abortion Affects Men,” very good talk by a post-abortive couple; they had aborted two children (conceived in wedlock) and now have two about my age, a little younger,) and I walked past our cross display. This year, my fears of vandalism were more for the Memorial for the Unborn by the chapel, but that’s college property, so I guess in that sense the pro-death side isn’t always as dumb as it usually acts. Anyway, I see a huge sign in the ground that seems to obscure our smaller sign in the cross display. The sign gives some WHO stat about a number of women dead from illegal abortions (conveniently neglecting giving it any context that would put it in some kind of context,) and a coat hanger attached to the sign. Already, my blood pressure is up and I can hear my heart pounding in my ears. Naturally, I walk closer. COAT HANGERS ALL OVER THE CROSSES. This was done in front of the building where most of the PhDs have their offices, and I’ve no doubt someone probably saw something, but due to aforementioned liberal bias of the campus, deliberately chose not to act. I took pictures for evidence on my cell phone, and then went to the speaker. Appraised our president and staff sponsor (all clubs need either a faculty member or a staff member to sponsor the club,) of the situation, and she mentioned it to one of our theology profs. (The theology department here is golden; as one of my friends puts it, a real “diamond in the rough,” and dang is it rough going here most of the time.) The look on the professors face was one of profound disappointment. Anyway, our staff sponsor called….someone, probably to report the flagrant vandalism.

The happy end of this, though, is that a few of my friends went and took down the whole mess (and one “clepto-ed” the hangers for her own personal use :p ) and took the sign to the house that is my dorm. After we’d taken down the entire cross display (we were required to today instead of tomorrow, since our new president is being inaugurated tomorrow and a pro-life display might offend some donor >_> ) our president and her husband took the sign back to their place. The poles’ll probably be reused for something. :p Part of me can’t wait to see what happens in the next issue of the campus paper, but I have a strong feeling that if any students write to complain about the pro-abortion vandalism, they’ll effectively be told to “bite it.”

Yeah, don’t go to this school. Ever. Unless you enjoy a mecca of political correctness that rarely passes up a chance to be utterly ashamed of its Catholic identity, especially knowing the bishop of the Diocese is not going to do JACK!

OK, rant done, must write annotated bibliography and prepare for my in-class presentation Saturday morning. I need to do well because it’s also the day I’ll be asking that professor for a recommendation for the ACE program. Eep!

God bless!!! ^_^

Know what? I dare someone to make a movie like this about Mohamed. Do it.
Once again, the rules of PC change when it’s the Christians being ridiculed.

However, I wish to leave you all with some satire: 3 Reasons Why The Latin mass Won’t Work