St. Ignatius of Loyola - Soldier of Christ

I missed the feast of St. Ignatius and getting this posted but there is a nice biography that is relevant to the goal of this blog that I didn't want to wait until next year to post on. It was written by the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira of Brazil a Catholic thinker, writer, university professor, journalist, lecturer who founded the organization Tradition, Family, and Property. The decline of chivalry as was occuring in St. Ignatius' time has continued down until are own so that now not even the idea of a romantic chivalry exists in the hearts of men. Let us pray for the intercession of St. Ignatius that his vision of a knighthood will be realized by both the lay and religious vocations.

This selection does not sufficiently describe the key note of St. Ignatius’ work, the most profound sense of his conversion, which would determine the rest of his life. Let me try to fill this void.

St. Ignatius lived at a time when the tradition of medieval Chivalry still existed and had a strong influence. In his Spiritual Exercises one notes the presence of this tradition. For example, looking at the parable of the king who is a great general and invites his knights to fight with him, St. Ignatius asks this question: “Who would be so base and vile as to refuse such an invitation?”

It is a valid question and a well made argument to spiritually move the person who is making the Exercises. But what I would like to point out is the backdrop of the scene, which is the feudal ambience. St. Ignatius was describing the feudal system of vassalage, whereby a knight owes allegiance to his lord, and he was pointing out the disloyalty of the noble who does not follow his king. St. Ignatius presupposes the knight he addresses to be a medieval knight. Another confirmation of this can be found in his meditation on the two standards, the one of Christ, our Commander-in-chief, and the other of Lucifer, mortal enemy of our human nature, which also makes up a part of his Spiritual Exercises.

At the time of St. Ignatius, Chivalry had become decadent. Much of its style and many rituals remained the same, but an essential part had changed. I am referring to the dedication of the knight to the service of God, Our Lady, and the Holy Church. The ideal of a complete renunciation of the world in order to dedicate one’s life completely to the supernatural fight had passed away. The knight of that time was no longer a knight for the Catholic Church. His life was dedicated to serving his king and his lady. The notion of a sacred knighthood was dying.

The conversion of St. Ignatius took place during this period. During his convalescence his first desire was to read books on this romantic Chivalry, but none were available in the castle. He read the lives of saints to pass time because that is what was at hand. As he read, however, he realized the great ideal of the saints as warriors of God and a sublime notion of Chivalry took hold of his spirit. This sublimation represented on one hand, a return to the previous supernatural ideal of medieval Chivalry, and on the other hand, an even more perfect ideal than the medieval Chivalry.

When he decided to found the Society of Jesus, he was thinking of making an order of Chivalry, a military order. Compañia de Jesus is the Spanish name he chose for his work. Compañia means company, or army. He wanted to found an order exclusively turned to the fight for the Church, putting aside any other temporal concern. What he did was to restore the sacral knighthood.

The chivalry he founded did not have the sacramental of knighthood; it had the priesthood, that is, a participation in the Sacrament of Holy Orders. The new priest-warriors he envisioned would be a new style of warrior, warriors who did not shed blood, but entered the battle in response to a new type of attack inaugurated by the enemies. They would fight by means of the word: preaching, teaching, hearing confessions, and converting people in order to conquer the world for Our Lord Jesus Christ.

To make a religious order with a military spirit and way of being was the idea of St. Ignatius. The Society of Jesus is an army, its head is a general, the hierarchy is military, the obedience is military, the action is combative and carried out in a militant style.

This was the reason why the Society of Jesus was so combative - and also so combated by the enemies.

We can understand today how different the Society of Jesus has become when we see it promoting all kinds of reconciliation with the enemies of the Church.

What should we ask St. Ignatius on his feast day? To restore his work, to help to restore the whole Church immersed in this enormous crisis she has fallen into since Vatican II, to give us his spirit of combativeness and love for the Catholic cause.

Fr. Vincent Capodanno

Today is the anniversary of the death of Fr. Vincent Capodanno a heroic Navy Chaplain who received the medal of honor for his actions during a battle at Chau Lam, Vietnam. As his platoon was involved in fierce combat Fr. Capodanno went among the wounded and dying, administering last rites and taking care of his men. Fr. was shot twice before being mortally wounded taking care of a wounded corpsman. You can read more of his story at Da Mihi Animas and a the site of his cause for canonization.

Reclaiming Fatherhood

There is a Reclaiming Fatherhood Conference in Chicago for men dealing with abortion on Sept. 8th and 9th. Visit their website for more info.

Are We Hypocrites Because Our Children Disobey

The recent disclosure that the daughter of Sarah Palin is pregnant has demonstrated once again that the use of reason is not an ability that many American's possess. The argument runs either that abstinence programs don't work, the Republicans are hypocrites because they profess to be the party of family values, the Republicans didn't properly vet Gov. Palin or all of the above. But the pregnancy of Bristol Palin doesn't really tell us anything of the sort.

Sex education in schools, free birth control and the kids are gonna do it anyway mentality have done nothing to curb the numbers of teen pregnancy. An individual who's actions are contrary to the beliefs or philosophy of an organization do not render those beliefs invalid. St. Peter was the Apostle closest to Jesus, knew him the best, and he at least felt, loved him the most. Yet St. Peter was the one who most profoundly and publicly denied Jesus. That does not make the teachings of Jesus a lie or invalid. The Church continues to teach the necessity of celibacy on behalf of its priests. The fact that a greater or smaller number of priests violate their vow does not make the teaching wrong. It doesn't even necessarily make Fr. a hypocrite.

One would assume that the people who make such statements must not have children of their own. Either that or they are so permissive in their parenting that they allow their children to do whatever they want. It is easy not to be guilty of any wrong when you don't have anything to follow. When you send Bobby out the door with a pack of condoms and tell him that "I know you are going to have sex whether I tell you to or not so just make sure you're protected," it must make you feel good about yourself for not being a hypocrite. But as parents we are not hypocrites because our children ignore what we teach them. Fr. Corapi tells the story of his 14 year old sister who was in high school and wanted to go to a football game with some friends. Her mother said fine but she didn't want the daughter riding in a car. The sister protested and the mother refused. This went on all week with his mother holding firm that the sister could go to the game but not ride in the car with the other kids. On Friday she asked once again and one last time was told, No. His mother had a feeling that if she rode in the car something bad would happen. His mother went to work and the daughter to school. And despite all Mrs. Corapi did to keep her daughter from going to the game in the car, her daughter disobeyed, went and tragically was killed in an accident. We are all endowed with a free will and a fallen human nature, a fact seemingly forgotten by progressives and liberals. As parents we know that too frequently despite all efforts our children will go against what we taught them.

Perhaps that is the greatest difference between the two camps. One side believes in standards even though we will not always live up to them. The other side doesn't have them and therefore doesn't need to feel guilty for not living up to them.

L'OCDE - Europe Closer to Recession Than U.S.

We hear the incessant cry about how bad things are in this country after eight years of Pres. Bush and the Republicans. If only we vote for Obama and the Democrats we will be lead to the Promised Land where everyone will have healthcare coverage, good paying jobs, a clean environment and the litany goes on. Those who believe this pitch from the equivalent of carnival conmen would do well to read a foreign or at least international newspaper. This morning in Le Soir, a Belgian paper, there is a report from one of their government agencies declaring that Europe is closer to recession than the U.S.A. Another article puts nearly 17% of Belgian women at risk of being in poverty. Belgium like other European countries has many of the social programs that many of our politicians feel we should imitate in this country. But sloganeering and campaigning on promises and wishful thinking won't give us the true changes we need.
http://www.lesoir.be/actualite/economie/l-ocde-revoit-la-croissance-2008-09-02-634157.shtml#forums_reactions_wrapper

Feast of Beheading of St. John the Baptist

The drunken oath of a king with a shallow sense of honor, a seductive dance and the hateful heart of a queen combined to bring about the martyrdom of John the Baptist. The greatest of prophets suffered the fate of so many Old Testament prophets before him: rejection and martyrdom. The “voice crying in the desert” did not hesitate to accuse the guilty, did not hesitate to speak the truth. But why? What possesses a man that he would give up his very life?

This great religious reformer was sent by God to prepare the people for the Messiah. His vocation was one of selfless giving. The only power that he claimed was the Spirit of Yahweh. “I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11). Scripture tells us that many people followed John looking to him for hope, perhaps in anticipation of some great messianic power. John never allowed himself the false honor of receiving these people for his own glory. He knew his calling was one of preparation. When the time came, he led his disciples to Jesus: “The next day John was there again with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God.’ The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus” (John 1:35-37). It is John the Baptist who has pointed the way to Christ. John’s life and death were a giving over of self for God and other people. His simple style of life was one of complete detachment from earthly possessions. His heart was centered on God and the call that he heard from the Spirit of God speaking to his heart. Confident of God’s grace, he had the courage to speak words of condemnation or repentance, of salvation.

Feast St. Louis King of France

Solving Abortion is More than Education

William Donohue wrote an excellent article at Inside Catholic called "Abortion, Human Trafficking and the Left's Double Standard." He demonstrates that if the Left took the same approach to abortion as it does to human trafficking it would have to be illegal. It is a good and balanced article worth reading.

As someone who has spent several years in public safety education the successful approach to changing negative behaviors is through a combination of efforts, i.e., education, legislation, incentives etc. But no amount of education or incentives will convince some people to do the right thing whether it be giving up smoking, wearing seatbelts or requiring car seats for youngsters. For some, making it illegal will be the only message they hear. Pro-abortionists criticize pro-lifers as only caring about making abortion illegal and seeking to punish the poor woman who is often left to make this decision on her own or worse yet forced by a boyfriend or husband.

But making it illegal does not mean you lock everyone up. For example we have laws requiring children be placed in car seats. Now there are many poor families unable to buy a car seat or they come from a different cultural background which does not see the need for them. Regardless, for the safety of their children we have laws requiring their use. If someone doesn't have one and gets pulled over, they aren't arrested but this can be used is an opportunity to properly educate as well. People who unable to afford a car seat are directed toward community resources that can provide one and they can be given information on why they are needed. But to simply seek to educate in this instance without having legislation would be foolish.

Furthermore as stated earlier making something illegal will keep some people from doing it simply for that reason. There was a young artist in the U.K. pregnant with twins who because the system failed her had an abortion. Then a year later in her grief she killed herself after realizing what she had done. This woman would probably be alive today if abortion were illegal. The doctors who the pro-abortion lobby are always telling us should be the only ones involved in this decision making process neglected or ignored the obvious warning signs, that she was reluctant to have an abortion. She was actually excited when she found out she was pregnant but it was her boyfriend who was upset and wanted the abortion. (The role of men in abortion is another tragedy which needs to be dealt with in a different topic.)

Education is necessary but the legislation buys you time to reach those who aren't listening, won't listen or haven't heard. I sit on the board of an inner-city crisis pregnancy center and from personal experience, and that of others, know that some women even after being presented with ultrasounds, and alternatives will still have an abortion simply because it is easier and they have the voices of Planned Parenthood or others encouraging them to do so. And human nature being what it is we will often choose the easier path as long as it is open.

Sign the Petition, Support Univ. of San Diego

H/T American Papist for helping get this started.

Recently the University of San Diego rescinded an invitation to Rosemary Radford Reuther to be the Monsignor John R. Portman Chair in Roman Catholic Theology. She is a noted Catholic feminist theologian who among other things believes in the ordination of women, same-sex marriage, and is a board member of Catholics for Choice, an organization of pro-abortion Catholics. Supporters of Ms. Reuther have petitioned the University to re-extend the offer and are upset at what they see as right-wing fanatacs influencing this decision. Of course the only justified pressure is when it comes from the progressives and true to form they have collected 2000 signatures demanding USD rehire her.

But when a Catholic university does the right thing and adheres to its Catholic name they deserved to be acknowledged and so a counter-petition of support was established at the website of Ora et Labora. Faithful voices must be heard from so please visit the site and sign the position.

Late Term Abortions on the Rise in France

It is often stated that the main reason women have an abortion is economic. If we only raised the minimum wage, spent more on social programs and got people out of poverty there wouldn't be any abortions. As a member of the board on an inner-city crisis pregnancy center I know firsthand that poverty is only one of a number of reasons that lead women to consider aborting their child. More often it is a feeling of being overwhelmed, of lacking a positive support structure of family or friends, of not knowing there are other options available to them.

In further proof that poverty is not at the root of abortions comes this story from France. In a country that is far more socialist than the U.S. although no doubt there are many in this country who would like to see us become just like them.

In France, abortion is illegal after the 12th week of pregnancy, but a woman can
still procure one until the 32nd week if there is evidence of some kind of abnormality. Babies with Down’s syndrome, deformity or fetal abnormalities were victim to 76% of post-twelfth week abortions. According to l'Agence de la biomedicine, only 2.7% of the abortions were performed in an effort to preserve the health of the mother.

In another story we read that in the U.S. over 80% of pregnancies involving a child with Down Syndrome end in abortion. In the U.K in 2006 official figures estimate as many as 94% of women with babies with Down Syndrome had an abortion.

While these numbers are large for a particular cause they do not necessarily indicate a majority in the overall cases for abortion. Yet they are still cause for alarm that so many people would choose abortion in these cases.