NBC Tackles the Abortion Issue

Check out this amazing clip from an episode of Law and Order: SVU



I never saw the episode myself, so I don't know what the verdict ends up being. But, as it stands by itself, this clip does a good job of exposing a little bit of the horror of the abortion industry. The whole reason the defense attorney is frustrated is because he knows that the jury has just been awakened to that horror and he will be hard-pressed to create the cognitive dissonance necessary for the jury to not feel completely repulsed by what the doctor has done.

I'm surprised that this episode even saw the light of day. What do you think? Leave a comment and let me know.

Pax Christi,
phatcatholic

Planned Parenthood's Declaration of Debauchery

Halloween and All Saints/Souls Day

There is much confusion about the origins of Halloween, and about what the Church celebrates on and around this day. Sometimes it can be a little difficult to make sense of it all. As a result, I offer the following links to articles and other resources that will help you to learn more about these holidays, and to defend them against the oh-so-typical charge that Catholics are pagans (in case you're wondering, we're not). I say Protestants just don't know how to throw a party like we do! (evidence here)

• All Hallow's Eve
• All Saints Day
• All Souls Day
• Halloween: Its Origins and Celebration
• Smashing Pumpkins: Halloween
• Ghosts, Hauntings, and Things that Go "Bump" in the Night
• Catholic Education: All Hallow's Eve
• Ideas for Sanctifying Halloween
• Halloween: Reclaim the Celebration of All Saints
• Halloween, All Saints, and All Souls Day
• Taking Back Our "Holy" Halloween
• Halloween, High Street, and Holy Witnesses
• Halloween's Origins
• Halloween Word Origins
• Holiday Hysteria
• Pulling the Plug on the Halloween Habit
• Reinventing the Hallowheel!
• Laughing at Satan
• Great Tips for Halloween Fun
• What the Halloween Hullabaloo Says about Our Culture

Have fun everyone! Be holy!

Pax Christi,
phatcatholic

Catholics Come Home

The Truth About the Senate Bill

Going to the Chapel

.... and I'm gonna get married.

About to drive to Louisville to take the plane to Maine. Please pray for me that the trip goes well. Me and planes don't get along very well.

Pax Christi,
phatcatholic

SoulWow: Removes Stains .... from Your Soul

October: Month of the Rosary

In honor of the most Holy Rosary, which we take up as our sword and shield particularly during this month of October, I have collected the following resources for your edification:

General Articles

• A Brief History of the Rosary


• Family Rosary in the Irish Home


• How to Recite the Holy Rosary


• Light for the World: New Mysteries for an Old Prayer Form


• Little Rosary of St. Francis Xavier Cabrini


• New Advent: The Rosary


• New Mysteries for the Rosary


• Pope Calls for a Rediscovery of the Rosary


• Pray the Rosary, Enter Deeply Into the Mystery


• Praying the Rosary


• Rosary Scripture Citations (a Word doc)


• St. Louis de Montfort's The Rosary


• The Garden Way of the Rosary


• The Rosary


• The Rosary and the Christian Wake


• The Rosary Dissected


• The Rosary in History: From the Beginning to the Consolidation of its Actual Structure

The Rosary Encyclicals (go here for a summary of the Rosary encyclicals)

• Adiutricem (On The Rosary)


• Consueverunt Romani (On the Rosary)


• Diuturni Temporis (On The Rosary)


• Fidentem Piumque Animum (On The Rosary)


• Grata Recordatio (On The Rosary)


• Ingravescentibus Malis (On The Rosary)


• Ingruentium Malorum (On Reciting The Rosary)


• Iucunda Semper Expectatione (On The Rosary)


• Laetitiae Sanctae (Commending Devotion To The Rosary)


• Magnae Dei Matris (On The Rosary)


• Octobri Mense (On The Rosary)


• Rosarium Virginis Mariae (On the Most Holy Rosary)


• Supremi Apostolatus Officio (On Devotion Of The Rosary)

Rosary Apologetics

• Common Questions and Concerns about the Rosary


• Not In Vain: Repitition and the Rosary


• All Mothers Are Alike....Save One


• Devotion to Mary Is the Result of Devotion to Her Son....and Vice Versa


• Did Jesus Renounce Marian Devotion? (Lk 11:27-28)


• Don't Confuse Catholic Poetry with Catholic Doctrine


• How to Explain Mary to a Sola Scriptura Protestant


• Is Mary a Pagan Goddess?


• Is Mary Worshiped By Catholics?: The Latria/Dulia Distinction


• Is the "Catholic" Mary an Imitation of Ancient Pagan Goddesses?


• Mariology?


• Mary Worshippers Need Not Apply


• Mary: Seventh-Day Misconceptions


• The Original KJV Honors Mary


• Why Don't We See Marian Devotion in Paul's Epistles?

Pax Christi,
phatcatholic

Hiding Behind Hyde

For more information on how exactly the Hyde Amendment does not apply to the House Health Care Reform Bill, go to www.StopHyding.com

Pax Christi,
phatcatholic

Those Mormons Have At Least One Thing Going For Them

Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
Charles Wesley

Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of heaven to earth come down;
Fix in us thy humble dwelling;
All thy faithful mercies crown!
Jesus, Thou art all compassion,
Pure unbounded love Thou art;
Visit us with Thy salvation;
Enter every trembling heart.

Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit,
Into every troubled breast!
Let us all in Thee inherit;
Let us find that promised rest.
Take away our love of sinning;
Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith, as its Beginning,
Set our hearts at liberty.

Come, Almighty to deliver,
Let us all Thy life receive;
Suddenly return and never,
Never more Thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
Serve Thee as Thy hosts above,
Pray and praise Thee without ceasing,
Glory in Thy perfect love.

Finish, then, Thy new creation;
Pure and spotless let us be.
Let us see Thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in Thee;
Changed from glory into glory,
'Til in heaven we take our place,
'Til we cast our crowns before Thee,
Lost in wonder, love, and praise.

The Essence of Michael

This right here is pretty stinkin incredible:





I provided the video from YouTube instead of the one from Yahoo Video, so it should be working now. Also, apparently, one guy did all the vocal parts, video taped himself doing each part, and then combined each recording of himself into one video so that it looks like 7 different guys are involved.

I think the guy on the left providing the cymbal sound is a different guy, but still, crazy good.

Dope Vocations Video

Quick Update

My tract on the Immaculate Conception is finally complete. See Part 1, which is the initial defense, and Part 2, which is a response to common objections. I have tried to make this tract as comprehensive as possible so that the reader will have, in one article, the various arguments in defense of the Immaculate Conception that one usually finds scattered throughout various different articles from different Catholic sites all over the internet.

I hope you find it useful and, as always, your comments are appreciated.

Pax Christi,
phatcatholic

What Is a Prophet?

In the Old Testament, a prophet was someone who brought the word of God to the people by the power of the Holy Spirit. “He has spoken through the prophets,” as we say in the Nicene Creed.

Sixteen books in the Old Testament (the “prophetic books”) are by or about these prophets. The four “major prophets” are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. The 12 “minor prophets” are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. Of course, Moses, the greatest Old Testament prophet, is traditionally regarded as the author of the first five books of the Bible. There are also many noteworthy prophets who did not contribute to the canon of the Bible, such as Samuel, Nathan, and Elisha. There were female prophets too: Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, Anna, and Philip’s four daughters.

Sometimes, in speaking for God, a prophet would foretell the future, and the legitimacy of his prophetic office was confirmed when his prophecies came true. Often his role was to convict the Israelites of their sin and to implore them to return to the Lord and remember the covenants He established with them. A prophet would also interpret current events in light of God’s plan for his people and warn them of His impending judgment (which usually came by way of the Israelites being conquered by their enemies). After the exile, when all the nations of Israel were scattered, the prophetic message was one of accepting the justice of God’s punishments and preparing for the coming Messiah.

A genuine Old Testament prophet was always directly called by God Himself, and he received the message he was to deliver by way of visions, dreams, and audible encounters. The prophets always spoke the “hard truths” that no one wanted to hear, and as a result they were often persecuted by their own people. The last and greatest of the prophets was John the Baptist, who was the immediate precursor of the Messiah and paved the way for Him with his message of repentance.

Jesus, of course, is the Priest, Prophet, and King par excellence, and in Baptism we are empowered to participate in that three-fold ministry of Christ. We are prophets today whenever we speak the truth with boldness, convict people of their sin, bring people to Christ, or share the teachings of His Church with others. Such actions often require sacrifice, just as they did in Old Testament times, but it is a calling that we all have been given and that we must undertake.

I hope that helps.

Pax Christi,
phatcatholic

Mozart's Sonata in C Major .... on Two Guitars!

This is easily one of the coolest things I've ever seen. My mouth literally dropped open when I saw it. Wanna know what mad skillz is? Exhibit A:

New Content Coming Soon!

Over the next couple of days I will be back-dating a bunch of posts and spreading them out over the last two months in order to provide content that I wrote but did not have the time to post on my blog. So, check back often -- and scroll down! -- to read those posts as they appear. Some of them are short, others are long, but I think they are all helpful and instructive.

Pax Christi,
phatcatholic

Poll-Release Monday #67: The Final Poll

I have decided that this will be my last poll. As you have undoubtedly noticed, I no longer have the time to update the poll as often as I would like. So, I feel that it would be best to just conclude that feature of my blog, instead of leaving people wondering when the next poll will come.

Here is your final poll question:

• True or False?: In the celebration of the Eucharist with the apostles and his commandment to them to celebrate it until His return, Jesus constitutes the apostles as priests of the New Testament.

What say you? I'll keep this poll in the sidebar for a month. If you want to vote after that, see the poll archives. The answer to the poll question is here.

The majority of the polls that I have featured here over the years are still open. So, you may be interested in voting in them as well. The poll archive is interesting because, in a way, it provides a sort of snapshot of my readership: what they like or don't like, how well they know their faith, what interests them, etc. The number of you who visit my blog and read it on a regular basis has waxed and waned over the years (depending, I think, on how much time I am able to devote to my blog), but I have always appreciated you nonetheless.

As for the previous poll, here are the results:

• True or False? The Eucharist is also called Holy Mass because it concludes with the sending forth of the faithful to fulfill God's will in their lives.
  • True: 35 (61%)
  • False: 22 (39%)

The correct answer is:

• TRUE, cf. CCC, no. 1332: [It is called] Holy Mass (Missa), because the liturgy in which the mystery of salvation is accomplished concludes with the sending forth (missio) of the faithful, so that they may fulfill God's will in their daily lives.

I would imagine that the reason many of you voted "False" was not so much the last part of the statement (the "sending forth"), but the first part, where the Eucharist is called "Holy Mass." Personally, I'm not used to calling the Eucharist "Holy Mass." As I understand it, the Mass is where we receive the Eucharist. There is more to the Holy Mass than the Eucharist, although the Eucharist is certainly central to the Mass. So, the identification of "Eucharist" with "Holy Mass" is odd to me. What do you think? Leave a comment and let me know.

Pax Christi,
phatcatholic