Friedrich Hayek: The Meaning of Truth

Friedrich August von Hayek, the father of Classical Liberalism (not to be confused with the Liberalism of the Left), is featured in the Notable & Quotable section of today's Wall Street Journal.

From economist Friedrich Hayek’s 1944 book “The Road to Serfdom”:

The word truth itself ceases to have its old meaning. It describes no longer something to be found, with the individual conscience as the sole arbiter of whether in any particular instance the evidence (or the standing of those proclaiming it) warrants a belief; it becomes something to be laid down by authority, which has to be believed in the interest of unity of the organized effort and which may have to be altered as the exigencies of this organized effort require it.

The general intellectual climate which this produces, the spirit of complete cynicism as regards truth which it engenders, the loss of the sense of even the meaning of truth, the disappearance of the spirit of independent inquiry and of the belief in the power of rational conviction, the way in which differences of opinion in every branch of knowledge become political issues to be decided by authority, are all things which one must personally experience—no short description can convey their extent. Perhaps the most alarming fact is that contempt for intellectual liberty is not a thing which arises only once the totalitarian system is established, but one which can be found everywhere among intellectuals who have embraced a collectivist faith and who are acclaimed as intellectual leaders even in countries still under a liberal regime. . . .

The tragedy of collectivist thought is that while it starts out to make reason supreme, it ends by destroying reason because it misconceives the process on which the growth of reason depends. It may indeed be said that it is the paradox of all collectivist doctrine and its demand for the “conscious” control or “conscious” planning that they necessarily lead to the demand that the mind of some individual should rule supreme—while only the individualist approach to social phenomena makes us recognise the super-individual forces which guide the growth of reason. Individualism is thus an attitude of humility before this social process and of tolerance to other opinions, and is the exact opposite of that intellectual hubris which is at the root of the demand for comprehensive direction of the social process.

USCCB: SCOTUS Decision a "Tragic Error"

From the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Supreme Court decision, June 26, interpreting the U.S. Constitution to require all states to license and recognize same-sex “marriage” “is a tragic error that harms the common good and most vulnerable among us,” said Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). 

The full statement follows:

Regardless of what a narrow majority of the Supreme Court may declare at this moment in history, the nature of the human person and marriage remains unchanged and unchangeable. Just as Roe v. Wade did not settle the question of abortion over forty years ago, Obergefell v. Hodges does not settle the question of marriage today. Neither decision is rooted in the truth, and as a result, both will eventually fail. Today the Court is wrong again. It is profoundly immoral and unjust for the government to declare that two people of the same sex can constitute a marriage.

The unique meaning of marriage as the union of one man and one woman is inscribed in our bodies as male and female. The protection of this meaning is a critical dimension of the “integral ecology” that Pope Francis has called us to promote. Mandating marriage redefinition across the country is a tragic error that harms the common good and most vulnerable among us, especially children. The law has a duty to support every child’s basic right to be raised, where possible, by his or her married mother and father in a stable home. 

Jesus Christ, with great love, taught unambiguously that from the beginning marriage is the lifelong union of one man and one woman. As Catholic bishops, we follow our Lord and will continue to teach and to act according to this truth.

I encourage Catholics to move forward with faith, hope, and love: faith in the unchanging truth about marriage, rooted in the immutable nature of the human person and confirmed by divine revelation; hope that these truths will once again prevail in our society, not only by their logic, but by their great beauty and manifest service to the common good; and love for all our neighbors, even those who hate us or would punish us for our faith and moral convictions. 

Lastly, I call upon all people of good will to join us in proclaiming the goodness, truth, and beauty of marriage as rightly understood for millennia, and I ask all in positions of power and authority to respect the God-given freedom to seek, live by, and bear witness to the truth.

Good news for Seniors: A Death Knell for the Death Panel

From Lifenews.com:

The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday voted to repeal a portion of the Obamacare law that pro-life advocates strongly opposed because it could lead to rationing of health care for patients across the nation.

This is the first step toward giving the elderly a better chance that their end date will come when God makes the decision - not a panel of "15 unelected members of the President’s choosing."

If you or someone in your family is currently fighting an incurable disease, but hope, in the way of new treatments and new drugs, is on the horizon, it would be beneficial to make yourself aware of IPAB: one of the most heinous elements of Obamacare.

You can start by reading the entire piece from Lifenews.com, HERE.

You can also go HERE and HERE for additional information.

The Samsung Safety Truck

This two minute video was posted, on June 9, 2015, and as of today it has been viewed more than 2 million times.  Good ideas deserve a wide dissemination.

 

Fr. John Jamnicky: “The people wanted a church that looks like a church, and honestly, so did I”

Fr. John Jamnicky, pastor of St. Raphael the Archangel Church in Old Mill Creek, Illinois, with the help of Francis Cardinal George, former Archbishop of Chicago (RIP), played a major role in an effort toward "Restoring the Sacred" in Illinois, and that effort is still ongoing.  It's a fascinating story, and it was told in some depth by Michael Tamara today in Crisis Magazine.

Fr. Jamnicky, commented on the ongoing project, and the why behind such a huge undertaking:

“The people wanted a church that looks like a church, and honestly, so did I,” declares Fr. Jamnicky. “The newer parishes in Lake County have been built in ‘big box’ styles, so this is very unique in this area of the archdiocese. People comment about the monumental scale. It’s otherworldly. It’s a little bit of heaven.”

The essay by Michael Tamara details how parts of two old and closed churches in the Illinois archdiocese were combined (and are still being combined) to restore the sacred, and once again to create a beautiful place in which the Catholic faithful can honor God.
You can read the entire essay HERE.

Fr. Rutler on Faith, Morals, and Global Warming

Fr. George Rutler wrote an essay today at Crisis Magazine, which is the most forthright explication of the much ballyhooed, and just published, encyclical of Pope Francis on the environment.  He addressed the historical problem of Mixing Up the Sciences of Heaven and Earth, which is the title of his essay.

Pope Urban VIII and his advisers, in the misunderstood (and sometime deliberately misrepresented) Galileo case, inadequately distinguished the duties of prophecy and politics, and of theological and physical science. St. John Paul II said that “this led them unduly to transpose into the realm of the doctrine of the faith, a question which in fact pertained to scientific investigation.”

If you see the above as possibly analogous to the issuing of this new encyclical, you might be right.  Fr. Rutler went further, intimating that Pope Francis might have written an encyclical on a more clear and pressing problem:

While the Holy Father has spoken eloquently about the present genocide of Christians in the Middle East, those who calculate priorities would have hoped for an encyclical about this fierce persecution, surpassing that of the emperor Decius.  Pictures of martyrs being beheaded, gingerly filed away by the media, give the impression that their last concern on earth was not climate fluctuations. 

Finally, he points out that papal encyclicals are considered infallible only when they deal with matters of faith and morals such as Church teaching on contraception, abortion and marriage.  Interestingly, those who ignore encyclicals that deal with such matters, are rushing to expound on the infallibility of papal teaching on the matter which is the subject of the current encyclical which, as Fr. Rutler points out, "does NOT involve faith or morals."

Saint Peter, from his fishing days, had enough hydrometeorology to know that he could not walk on water. Then the eternal Logos told him to do it, and he did, until he mixed up the sciences of heaven and earth and began to sink. As vicars of that Logos, popes speak infallibly only on faith and morals. They also have the prophetic duty to correct anyone who, for the propagation of their particular interests, imputes virtual infallibility to papal commentary on physical science while ignoring genuinely infallible teaching on contraception, abortion and marriage and the mysteries of the Lord of the Universe.  At this moment, we have the paradoxical situation in which an animated, and even frenzied, secular chorus hails papal teaching as infallible, almost as if it could divide the world, provided it does NOT involve faith or morals.

You can read the entire essay by clicking HERE.

Hilaire Belloc: Politics and Religion

Hilaire Belloc, one of the most prolific 20th century English writers, provided a lesson for today's overly ambitious and hypocritical seekers of political office.  He declared himself a candidate for the House of Commons, in 1906, at South Salford, in the general election.  His opponents immediately attacked him because of his religion and his nationality (he was born in France).  At least today's candidates here in America can only be attacked on religious grounds since religion, especially Catholicism, is the last acceptable prejudice in this country.

Unlike today's candidates who are apt to avoid confronting such attacks, Belloc confronted them head-on, and in his first public appearance as a candidate, addressed a packed audience as follows:

Gentlemen, I am a Catholic.  As far as possible, I go to Mass every day.  This [taking a rosary out of his pocket] is a rosary.  As far as possible, I kneel down and tell these beads every day.  If you reject me on account of my religion, I shall thank God that He has spared me the indignity of being your representative.

Belloc was elected, perhaps because voters in the England of 1906 valued honesty.


The above is from Literary Converts
by Joseph Pearce, Ignatius Press.

Gov. Bobby Jindal: Obama's "Moral" Case for Socialism

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is featured in the Notable & Quotable section of today's Wall Street Journal.  No comment is necessary as Gov. Jindal states the obvious.

From Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s response to a question on Mike Gallagher’s June 10 syndicated talk-radio show about the “moral case” made this week by President Obama for ObamaCare:

Let’s call his remarks exactly what they are. He made the moral case for socialism. Let’s not sugarcoat it, that’s exactly what he believes. He doesn’t hide it, he doesn’t pretend, we shouldn’t either. This isn’t new. Those who favor socialism always make the moral case for it. The truth is, maybe they actually believe in it, but in the real world, socialism harms, it weakens the economies of countries that have tried it. It just does. Weaker economies hurt everybody in them. Socialism kills incentive, opportunity, freedom. It is the opposite of what America is all about. Look, socialism always harms the people it claims to help the most. It handicaps them, leaving them weaker, less self-determined, less free. We should have this debate out in the open. His “moral case” for ObamaCare is actually immoral. Spending money you don’t have is immoral. Borrowing more money than you can pay back is immoral. Lying to the American people is immoral, so it’s ironic he chooses to use the terms “moral case” or “moral imperative” to make the case for what I think is a very flawed law. The Supreme Court, I hope, rules the correct way. We need to repeal this, replace this. Mike, we cannot measure success by how many people are dependent on government. That’s what President Obama wants. That is the opposite of what America stands for.

Crisis Magazine: "German Bishops have Prepared the Way for a De Facto Schism"

Marie Meaney, who received her doctorate and an M. Phil. in Modern Languages from the University of Oxford, wrote an essay today on Crisis Magazine entitled: German Bishops have Prepared the Way for a De Facto Schism, which you can read in its entirety HERE.

The constant meme of Mercy espoused ad nauseam by many German bishops, and others who have bought into the meme, came in for sharp and damning criticism in the essay, as is clear in the below quote.

Here's the quote:

 A Christianity that pretends it can do without marriage while claiming to be acting out of compassion, has taken on the trappings of Christianity while leaving us with an empty shell. This is one of the faces of the anti-Christ rearing its ugly head as it has throughout history. Our society has already fallen for it hook, line and sinker. We abort our children in the name of compassion, and kill the elderly out of mercy. We produce children for the infertile while killing the imperfect in the process. We call for mercy for the divorced and remarried, yet throw the children of the original marriage together with the abandoned spouse under the bus. This is the nasty underbelly of a false kind of compassion and mercy. 

Matt Walsh on Bruce Jenner's Insult to Women

Matt Walsh took the occasion of the appearance of Bruce Jenner on the cover of Vanity Fair to try, once again, to enlighten a sleeping majority (who don't know why, of even if, they're opposed to this latest evidence of our cultural decay).

He wrote, as usual, at Blaze.com, and you can read the whole piece, entitled: "Calling Bruce Jenner a Woman is an Insult to Women" HERE.

Two memorable quotes from the essay that jump out at the reader follow:

GLAAD applauded Bruce for being his “authentic self.” Tragically, they weren’t trying to be ironic. A digitally modified, cosmetically altered, manipulatively posed, chemically tampered with, basically cartoon image on a magazine cover is now authentic, according to the terminally dishonest folks in the gay and lesbian activist camp…and

If progressives can wield the power to demolish and remake even the definition of “man” and “woman” in their ideological image, then they have achieved a total  and irreversible cultural victory. They have reached into the universe and reshaped reality itself. They have become gods, or at least that’s the kind of power we give them. You can blab on and on about economics and foreign policy, but if we live in a country where confusion, perversion, and self-worship reign supreme, what’s the point? America will already be dead.

Franciscan University Chorale: Fauré's Requiem, In Paradisum

From YouTube:

Fauré's Requiem in D Minor, VII. In Paradisum, sung by the Franciscan University Chorale, Paul Weber, director. Live performance, November 19th, 2012, St. Peter's Church, Steubenville, OH.

The Franciscan University Chorale is a performing ensemble that is open to all members of the Steubenville community. Admission to the choir is by audition. For more information go to the department's website at www.franciscan.edu/sacredmusic.

Matt Walsh: Christian Heretics and The Devil

Matt Walsh wrote yesterday at The Blaze about a game called "Charlie, Charlie" that has become popular with kids, unfortunately, and even more unfortunately is seen by many parents as "just a game."  In the “game,” kids draw a sort of makeshift version of a Ouija board on a piece of paper, place two pencils together like crosses, and attempt to raise a Demon who can answer their questions and tell them the future.

Walsh calls out "Christians" who don't believe in demons or in hell, and provides numerous passages from scripture giving the lie to that position.

It’s terrifying that this belief is so prevalent among Christians in this country. Yes, there have always been heretics, but the denial of Hell, demons, and evil goes deeper and is more bold and more arrogant and more dangerous than most heresies. Hell and Satan are not ambiguous subjects in Scripture. They are clearly addressed over and over again, in both Old and New Testaments, by prophets, apostles, and Christ Himself. Read 1 Peter 5:8; 2 Peter 2:4; Luke 8:2; Luke 11:14; Leviticus 17:7; Genesis 3:1-7; Matthew 10:1, Matthew 12:22; Matthew 25:41; Mark 3:11; Mark 9:38; 1 Corinthians 10:20; James 2:19, Revelation 20:10.

Demons are mentioned 63 times in the New Testament. Satan is mentioned over 30 times.

You can read the whole post by clicking HERE.

Those of us who remember the great preaching of Venerable Fulton J. Sheen might recall his once answering a lady in his audience who loudly proclaimed that she did not believe in hell: "Well, you will when you get there, madam."

Fr. Rutler: "The Irish vote is worse than perverse: it is blasphemous."

Fr. George Rutler, pastor of St Michael's parish in Manhattan, wrote a most succinct column deconstructing the recent vote in Ireland which approved same-sex (so-called) marriage.

Here's a snippet:

What happened in Ireland was not sudden. Like a dead elephant that remains standing for a short while before collapsing, so the Flame that Patrick kindled on Tara had died long before Catholicism was mixed up with political causes, and ethnic drollery replaced dogma. 

You can read the whole column by clicking HERE.

Our Lady of Akita: A Terrible Warning to be Heeded

Our Lady of Akita issued a "terrible warning" in 1973, and not many people living outside of Japan are aware of it.  The below video provides a summary of her warning, in which she prophesied exactly what is happening in the Catholic Church today, as anyone familiar with the turmoil surrounding the upcoming Synod in Rome can attest:

"The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against other bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres, churches and altars will be sacked. The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the devil will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. The demon would be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer any pardon for them."  

You can read much more about Our Lady of Akita, and the miraculous events associated with her in Akita, a Prefecture on the main island of Japan, by clicking HERE.

Here's the six minute video (be sure, after watching the video, to click on "For Mary in Scripture Click Here" to watch another important video:

Fr. Dwight Longenecker: Time for the Benedict Option?

St. Benedict of Nursia, who introduced the  Rule of St. Benedict to a world much in need of spiritual awakening back in the 6th century, is being called on today by many who believe the Catholic church (and the rest of the world) is very much in need of another such awakening.  Rod Dreher, an Eastern Orthodox journalist, has been concerned about the "collapse of Christianity in the West" for some time and is now "calling for what he calls 'The Benedict Option.'" 

Fr. Dwight Longenecker wrote today at The National Catholic Register, a piece entitled: Is It Time for the Benedict Option?  In it, he quotes from the above mentioned Rod Dreher:

“In our time, the Benedict Option does not offer a formula (at least not yet), but it does call for a radical shift in perspective among Christians, one in which we see ourselves as living in the ruins (though very comfortable ones!) of Christian civilization, and tasked with preserving the living faith through the coming Dark Ages.”

Fr. Longenecker, who is also concerned about the "radical shift in Catholicism," offers yet another quote in support of the need for corrective action, from Pope Benedict XVI.

“From today’s crisis, will emerge a Church that has lost a great deal. … It will become small and will have to start pretty much all over again. It will no longer have use of the structures it built in its years of prosperity. The reduction in the number of faithful will lead to it losing an important part of its social privileges. It will start off with small groups and movements and a minority that will make faith central to experience again. It will be a more spiritual Church, and will not claim a political mandate flirting with the Right one minute and the Left the next.  It will be poor and will become the Church of the destitute.”

Memorial Day: Remembering Those Who Died

NATIONAL WW II MEMORIAL

The Enchantment of Catholicism: Bellarmine Forum

Terri Aluise, a parishioner of St. Benedict Church in Chicago wrote a guest essay on the Bellarmine Forum yesterday entitled: The Enchantment of Catholicism.  In it she discusses the difficulty of garnering support from a church committee for a procession outside the church on the feast of Corpus Christi, with the priest "holding up the Eucharist in a monstrance."   She did not get that support, and it might make one wonder about the worth of church committees, and ask: isn't this something the pastor should decide?  

Aluise goes on to recount the beautiful history of the feast, and the part played in its creation by Pope Urban IV and St. Thomas Aquinas.  The essay is beautifully written and full of information about the feast of Corpus Christi that most young Catholics probably will read for the first time.

You can read the entire essay HERE.

President Obama to Coast Guard: Denying Climate Change "Dereliction of Duty"

Today's Wall Street Journal printed excerpts of President Obama's commencement speech at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy yesterday.  It is hard to understand how, in the midst of the turmoil and the constant terror threat spreading around the world (that has recently reached our own shores), the commander-in-chief could make such a speech to the military organization charged with protecting the homeland.  He did, though, and here are the excerpts from the speech:

From President Obama’s commencement address Wednesday at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn.:

Around the world, climate change increases the risk of instability and conflict. Rising seas are already swallowing low-lying lands, from Bangladesh to Pacific islands, forcing people from their homes. Caribbean islands and Central American coasts are vulnerable, as well. Globally, we could see a rise in climate change refugees. And I guarantee you the Coast Guard will have to respond. Elsewhere, more intense droughts will exacerbate shortages of water and food, increase competition for resources, and create the potential for mass migrations and new tensions. All of which is why the Pentagon calls climate change a “threat multiplier.”

Understand, climate change did not cause the conflicts we see around the world. Yet what we also know is that severe drought helped to create the instability in Nigeria that was exploited by the terrorist group Boko Haram. It’s now believed that drought and crop failures and high food prices helped fuel the early unrest in Syria, which descended into civil war in the heart of the Middle East. So, increasingly, our military and our combatant commands, our services—including the Coast Guard—will need to factor climate change into plans and operations, because you need to be ready.

The global warming religion continues to suffer setbacks fueled by facts, but that doesn't even slow them down.  Read THIS.

Gary Kasparov: "American values created the greatest democracy in the world."

Gary Kasparov delivered the commencement address at St Louis University, on May 16, 2015.  The Wall Street Journal published parts of his address in the Notable & Quotable section today.

Here's the quote:

From the commencement address given by Garry Kasparov, the Russian opposition figure and former world chess champion, at Saint Louis University, May 16:

Every day we make choices large or small: individuals, companies, entire nations. Are those choices guided by the values we treasure? Are we loyal to the principles of individual freedom, of faith, of excellence, of compassion, of the value of human life? Or do we trade them away, bit by bit, for material goods, for a quiet life, and to pass the problems of today on to the next generation?

These moral values are also the values of innovation and the free market, by the way. It is no coincidence that these founding American values created the greatest democracy in the world and also the greatest economy in the world. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus urged his believers to be a “City on a Hill,” a shining example to the world, a phrase used to describe America by John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. I saw that America from the other side of the Iron Curtain and I can tell you that it mattered. And it matters still.

If America is to continue as a “light of the world” it will be up to you and to your generation to hold fast to these values and not to trade them away for a safe and stagnant status quo. Risk is not only for entrepreneurs. Risk is for anyone who will fight for these values in their lives and in the world every day.

Nigeria's Boko Haram and The Battle of Lepanto

Our Lady of the Rosary is credited with the miraculous defeat of the Turlish (Mislim) Fleet by a vastly overmatched Christian fleet in the Gulf of Lepanto, in 1571.  The battle pitted the two largest naval forces ever assembled: the Turks fielded 280 ships; the Christians, 212.  You can read more about that battle in a previous post by clicking HERE.

Our Lady may be at it again, in Nigeria, in the fight against the Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram.

The following is from onepeterfive.com:

Bishop Oliver Dashe Doeme, head of the Diocese of Maiduguri in Nigeria’s Borno State, was in a chapel praying before the Blessed Sacrament last December when, he says, something extraordinary happened: Jesus Christ appeared holding a sword, which He offered to the prelate.

According to Bishop Dashe, the moment he took the sword from Jesus’ hands, it transformed into Rosary beads. He then heard Christ repeat three times, “Boko Haram is gone.”

The bishop recalls, “I didn’t need any prophet to give me the explanation. It was clear that with the Rosary we would be able to expel Boko Haram.”

Fast-forward one month, and the position of Boko Haram in Nigeria appears to have all but collapsed. Gbenga Akingbule, reporting for the Wall Street Journal, describes the sudden and surprising turn of events:

Boko Haram has abandoned so many hundreds of kidnapped women and girls recently that Nigerian officials tasked with bringing them back into society on Sunday said they were looking to open a second rehabilitation camp, a nod to how fast the tide of abductions has reversed. In the past few weeks, as troops from Nigeria and surrounding countries have punched deep into Boko Haram territory, soldiers said they have rescued about 1,000 women and girls, hostages the Islamist insurgency left behind. They include about 275 that army pickup trucks brought into the city of Yola on Saturday night and 260 rescued on Sunday.

Of course, Boko Haram has not been thoroughly defeated, and the Christians of Nigeria are still undergoing horrible trials and tribulations. But I cannot help but be reminded of the words once spoken by Blessed Pope Pius IX: