During my three years at Nashotah House (a seminary of the Episcopal church in Wisconsin) I had the pleasure meeting a bishop from the Church of England: Bishop John Broadhurst, who is now a Monsignor in the Catholic Church and part of the English Ordinariate.

I cannot exactly recall why he was there (I think it was because the school was giving him an honorary doctorate) but I do recall one specific interaction. He was giving a talk, or maybe it was a homily, to the students (and this being an Episcopal seminary some of the students were women) in which he brought up the topic of the ordination of women to the priesthood. For those who do not know, Anglicans all over the world do allow for the ordination of women, but since the inception of this novelty in the 1970s it has always been a contentious subject. And Bishop Broadhurst was part of a group of bishops within the Church of England that refused to perform such an ordination. And during his talk that day the good bishop made it very clear that he was against such an innovation. Needless to say, there were some feathers ruffled by his saying so. He then posed a question to himself, which went something like this,

He answered his own question quite simply by saying, "Tell 'em NO!"

There are many times when we all need to have this same bold and frank attitude. Of course, when we speak we should do so in a loving manner that has true concern for the welfare of the other person. But consider this - what is more loving than to correct our brother when he is mistaken about something of vital importance? And I think everyone will agree that things pertaining to the salvation of another person's soul is of ultimate importance.

The Church is very clear: certain things are right and certain things are wrong. If we see our fellow man going down the path that could lead him to everlasting damnation then we have a duty to speak up and boldly "Tell 'em NO!"

The Most Reverend Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, the Bishop of Peoria, has issued a very strong letter to his flock and has also required that it be read at all Masses for this coming Sunday by each celebrating priest. The letter is very succinct and would not take very long to read the whole thing by clicking the link above. Nevertheless I include here in this blog the Bishop's strongest point.

Today, Catholic politicians, bureaucrats, and their electoral supporters who callously enable the destruction of innocent human life in the womb also thereby reject Jesus as their Lord. They are objectively guilty of grave sin. For those who hope for salvation, no political loyalty can ever take precedence over loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his Gospel of Life. God is not mocked, and as the Bible clearly teaches, after this passing instant of life on earth, God’s great mercy in time will give way to God’s perfect judgment in eternity.

So here we have yet another Bishop who is most certainly not namby-pamby. God willing, this courageousness will continue to spread like wildfire to all the Bishops of the United States and the world. May none of them fear death or the condemnation of this world for speaking the Truth, but only fear God and His judgment if they do not speak the Truth with boldness.

One thing that really, really, REALLY bothers me is when people change the masculine pronouns that refer to God during the Mass or other liturgies. For instance, when the priest says, "Pray, brethren, that my sacrifice and yours etc." And then the response is changed to "May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of God's name, for our good and the good of all God's holy Church." Now in both instances where I inserted God's the word is of course supposed to be 'his', which is referring to God. This is especially noxious when it is done by one of my namby-pamby brethren. And why do people do this? I suppose they're afraid of offending some ultra-feminist nun that wears a pant suit instead of a habit.

I will admit that God is neither male or female, except of course for our Lord, the second person of the Trinity, who is still a man even though He has ascended into Heaven. But, even though God is neither male or female, to omit the masculine pronoun and change it to God doesn't make sense for the following reason. Christ, when His disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray, taught them to say "Our Father...". Are not fathers referred to with masculine pronouns? So why is it that some people, even some priests, insist on changing the words in our sacred liturgies? Well, I don't know why they do it, except for the reason listed above, but I can tell you that they are not supposed to do so.

First of all, in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), it states in instruction #24, "the Priest will remember that he is the servant of the Sacred Liturgy and that he himself is not permitted, on his own initiative, to add, to remove, or to change anything in the celebration of Mass." (For those who don't know, the GIRM is the rule book for how priests are required to celebrate Mass.) And attached to this is a footnote that directs you to Sacrosanctum Concilium #22 which states, "no...person, even if he be a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority." In other words, for those who are guilty of doing this - stop it!

The words of the Mass have been carefully translated from the Latin original into a multitude of languages for a reason: to convey the same beliefs to all Catholics around the world. And when namby-pamby priests and the sheep they have led astray just change the words on a whim then that meaning is lost. As a result we begin to worship differently than our brothers in other parts of the world. If you want that then why do you want to be Catholic at all? I know I have asked that question in a different post and I will probably ask it many more times. It seems to make sense that if you want something different than what the Catholic Church is then why not just go somewhere else. On the other hand, you could stop trying to change what the Church is, and instead, become a part of it. Please, for your own sake and for the sake of your fellow Catholics, stop interjecting your own false opino.

This is sort of a part 2 to my earlier post 'Political Correctness'. This is an explanation of why I am happy to be politically incorrect. Basically, I see it as an antidote to all the political correctness that surrounds me in this country. And how do I accomplish this in practice? Primarily by being anti-green. First of all, I have a large V8 SUV with four wheel drive. The fuel economy is so bad that I'm not sure you can even measure it in miles per gallon. Gallons per mile might actually be more appropriate. I think there should be at least one on the road for every Prius.

Next, things like glass bottles, plastic containers and even batteries go straight into the regular trash. I only use the recycling bin for large items like cardboard boxes in order to cut down on the amount of trash bags I have to use. Now,  don't get me wrong - I don't do this in order to keep the plastic bags out of the land fill. No, I do it so I don't have to take the trash out so often. With four kids our family generates a lot of trash and it becomes a real hassle to empty the trash can multiple times per day. As soon as my son is big enough to empty the trash, thus giving me some help, we may never use the recycling bin ever again.

But let me be serious for a moment. Why would I want to jump on the 'green' bandwagon? It is an idea that is being championed by the liberal media and the crazy people in Hollywood so why would any sane person want to be a part of it? And isn't it interesting that so many of these people who want to 'save the planet' care nothing at all about saving unborn babies? And with that we come to the real reason for this post.

I will not be green or try to save the planet or any other such nonsense until such a point that the unborn are completely protected. The reason for this is that there seems to me to be a huge fallacy behind the idea of being 'green'. It is the idea that mankind is here to serve the planet instead of the planet having been created by God for the use of mankind. Now, I am willing to admit that men are the stewards of the planet and that it actually belongs to God. Therefore, we don't have the right to treat it in whatever way is convenient to us: such as dumping toxic waste into rivers or lakes. But all the other 'being green' nonsense that is touted by the pro-abortion liberals is absolutely ridiculous. Why would I want to save the planet unless all the people who it was created for are allowed to be born so that they too may use it as God intended?

Now that's a little about how and why I am anti-green. But let's be honest: I'm only one man. If this anti-green campaign is going to catch on and succeed I will need your help. So the next time you're at your favorite fast food restaurant make sure you use the drive-thru. Also, make sure you don't turn the engine off; instead, crank up the A/C and rev the engine. Next, when lighting your house use only the biggest, brightest incandescent bulbs you can find and leave all of your lights on 24 hours a day. Lastly, whenever you're at a red light and the light turns 'green' then floor it and burn rubber.

While I am working on a different post I thought I would quickly give my thoughts on political correctness. Basically, I think it is stupid. Political correctness is based on the timid fear of offending someone else's sensibilities. Such as saying 'humankind' instead of 'mankind' in order not to offend any women in the audience. (By the way, you won't see me do that in any of my posts, at least not on purpose.) And this in turn has led to people being fearful of speaking up about things that are actually important because they don't want to offend anyone. For example, someone who is not willing to correct a friend about his homosexual lifestyle. Or somenone being unwilling to encourage a friend to keep her baby instead of having an abortion. This must stop. If you know something is wrong then you have a duty to speak up and try to change the wrong behavior. How is anything in this world ever going to improve unless you do?