Trust the Science Not The Scientists (Or Politicians)- Must be the water!

Since there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. The Church teaches (CCC 159) that; "Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth." "Consequently, methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God. The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are." Then, those who say, follow the Science, should not follow the Doctors of the Church?

As Stanford University's president is forced to resign

Bob Dylan, an American singer-songwriter is generally regarded as one of the greatest songwriters ever and has been a major figure in popular culture over his 60 year career. In 1964, he composed "The Times They Are a-Changin'" that became one of his most celebrated work and an anthem for the civil rights and antiwar movements:


"Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'"


As liberal arts students joined in the
civil rights and antiwar movements, STEM students focused on their studies not having to worry about taking any ethnic or ethics studies

Now it's different. While the college majors that pay the most right after college are STEM-based, a BS In Race Hustling is the highest paid degree: The University of Michigan has 163 DEI officers. Ohio State and the University of Virginia have 94. Georgia Tech has 41, but only 13 history teachers. The Highest-paid diversity and inclusion employees rake in substantially more than the average full-time professor. While the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill offers Racially Exclusive-Programs and Scholarships. Now to graduate high school, students are required to take ethnic studies and undergraduate and graduate students are required to take several ethics classes.


Bob Dylan was right: times, they are a-Changin


Consider that as casualties keep mounting with over 200 000 Russian and Ukranian soldiers killed and or wounded and some 30% of Ukranians are displaced, while Ukraine is also waging War On Christianity - not unlike the one in the USA why us it CNN, New York Times the rest of the legacy media are not covering the war wall to wall 24X7 like all previous wars? Where is Christian Anammpour or Geraldo Rivera? No more war correspondents left? According to Finance Buzz, journalism is a dying profession.













Now journalists are vested on supporting their bosses' narrative, not on uncovering the truth. Pulitzer Prizes are now given to the best fake news. Just like lawyers are paid to come up with the best argument money can buy. Not to uncover the truth. A lawyer will argue that because a wealthy client broke the law, the law must be changed. Explains why the poor are overrepresented in the prison system. While Proverbs and the Psalms warn against corrupt judgesProverbs 17:23 - Corrupt judges accept secret bribes, and then justice is not done.

Psalms 94:20-22. You have nothing to do with corrupt judges, who make injustice legal, who plot against good people and sentence the innocent to death. But the LORD defends me; my God protects me.



Politicians are paid to keep people safe. But instead of trying to solve our problems, they are trying to solve their own problems—of which getting elected and re-elected are number one and number two. Whatever is number three is far behind. - Sowell

The fact that so many successful politicians are such shameless liars is not only a reflection on them, it is also a reflection on us. When the people want the impossible, only liars can satisfy.



Obviously scientists are paid to increase their employers' profitability not to make the world a better place. The Twitter Files show how "anti-disinformation" academics and NGOs undermined free speech and expression


You may recall that at the onset of the pandemic, public health officials, corrupt politicians, MSM, Big Tech and Big Pharma, were in lockstep behind the lockdown-at-all-costs strategy, censoring contrarian research that threatened the status quo.

Recently. at least 330 COVID-19-related medical papers have been retracted since the coronavirus pandemic began, oftentimes for scientific errors or ethical shortcomings.





Back to Stanford University's president who was forced to resign: Tessier-Lavigne became the subject of scrutiny in early December, after allegations of altered images and other research misconduct in at least five papers co-authored by the president surfaced.



Separately, Dan Ariely a behavioral science catapulted to superstar status after his research on honesty, cheating, and irrationality. The findings are “extremely clever and extremely intuitive,” accirding to fellow behavioral scientist Eugen Dimant of the University of Pennsylvania—and it has had a huge impact on both the field and government policies. Ariely, who founded the Center for Advanced Hindsight at Duke University, has also written three New York Times bestsellers and is a TED Talks regular. But some researchers are calling Ariely’s large body of work into question after a 17 August blog post revealed that fabricated data underlie part of a high-profile 2012 paper about dishonesty that he co-wrote.

Over at the University Of Minnesota PhD's were forced to retract an article they wrote about "structural racism in the Journal Of Health Services Research - The authors, UM employees are focused on racial equity: Stuart Grande, senior Lecturer, Janette Dill, an associate professor, and Tongtan Chantarat, a research scientist. The retraction is because its claims were "inaccurate, misleading, or false," according to a note on the withdrawn article.


Eric Steward a Florida State Universuty professor abruptly left his 190K job after faking data to make racism seem more common and having six research papers retracted. Meanwhile in Kansas, Mahesh Visvanathan and Gerald Lushington, two computer scientists from the University of Kansas, confessed to accusations of plagiarism. They copied large chunks of their research from the works of other scientists in their field. The plagiarism was so ubiquitous that even the summary statement of their presentation was lifted from another scientist’s article in a renowned journal.


And Étienne Klein, a celebrated French physicist and popularizer of science, seems set to lose his post as president of the Institute for Advanced Studies for Science and Technology (IHEST) in Paris after allegations that he plagiarized more than a dozen scientists, philosophers, and writers in books and articles

Who can forget Francesca Gino, a prominent behavioral scientist at Harvard Business School who is facing accusations of fabricating results in multiple studies, including at least one purporting to show how to elicit honest behavior
Joseph Goebbels infamously stated: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe itl. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie"



Goebbels was the Gauleiter (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 1945. He was one of Adolf Hitler's closest and most devoted acolytes

Thomas Aquinas had said it this way: “Men could not live with one another if there were not mutual confidence that they were being truthful to one another.” Living in falsehood and then perpetuating those lies does have serious consequences — at the very least, there will be a lack of personal integrity and a negative impact upon community and society as a whole.

Was Bob Dylan right that times they are A-changin'0? King Solomon disagreed: "The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." C. S. Lewis was right “Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a cleverer devil.” – C.S. Lewis

Consider that since SCOTUS (1963) kicked God out of public schools

[  ] We have mental health crisis
[  ] Infanticide turned into #BlackGenocide
[  ] African American nuclear family has joined the Sea Turtles in the endangered list
[  ]  80% of AA kids are raised in fatherless homes
[  ] We have a fatherlesssness crisis
[  ] A Girlhood Crisis
[  ] A Trans Crisis 

Trust the Science, not the man.

Related:

Follow the Science - Not the Scientist Series



A journal has retracted an entire special issue over concerns the guest-edited papers underwent a “compromised” peer review process. 

https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/13341#t=aboutBook


The black market for papers; the secret life of retractions; a ‘troublesome pattern’ And why I say follow the Science, not the so-called scientists, or the politicians.: https://www.conservativedailynews.com/2023/07/trust-the-science-not-the-scientists-or-politicians-must-be-the-water/


https://retractionwatch.com/2023/07/29/weekend-reads-the-black-market-for-papers-the-secret-life-of-retractions-a-troublesome-pattern/

The week at Retraction Watch featured: July 29 2023

• Science rescinds expression of concern issued last month
• Exclusive: Public health journal says it will retract vaping paper for questions authors say were addressed in peer review
• Exclusive: City of Hope cancer researcher goes to court to fight misconduct finding
• Meet the author who has published more than 500 letters to the editor in a year

Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up to nearly 350. There are now 41,000 retractions in our database — which powers retraction alerts in Edifix, EndNote, LibKey, Papers, and Zotero. The Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker now contains 200 titles. And have you seen our leaderboard of authors with the most retractions lately — or our list of top 10 most highly cited retracted papers?

• have been retracted.
• “Implementing statcheck during peer review is related to a steep decline in statistical reporting errors.”
• Is Hindawi “well-positioned for revitalization?”
• “Theorists are good peer reviewers – but tend to prefer significance over rigour.” That’s according to a new study.
• “ChatGPT identifies gender disparities in scientific peer review.”
• Professor “sees second paper retracted under accusations of data fabrication.”
• “Is biomedical research self-correcting?”
• “Elisabeth Bik, a lynx eye against falsified images.”
• The true cost of science’s language barrier for non-native English speakers.”
• The world’s retraction record holder earns a slew of expressions of concern.
• As recognition in peer review is yet to be applied across the sector, I would like to see ghost-written peer review reports become a thing of the past.”
• “Marc Tessier-Lavigne’s resignation shows what happens when you don’t pay attention to lab culture.”
• “Meet Sheila Garrity, the New Director of the HHS Office of Research Integrity.”
• “I have been contacted by a whistleblower with a remarkable story of corruption of the academic peer-review process involving a paper published in 2022.”
• “Science Has a Reproducibility Problem. Can Sample Sharing Help?”
• “Theoretical arguments and empirical investigations indicate that a high proportion of published findings do not replicate and are likely false.”
• “Best poster award.”

Allegations of data fabrication have sparked the retraction of multiple papers from Ranga Dias, a researcher who claimed discovery of a room-temperature superconductor 0

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02401-2

A Pennsylvania study suggests links between fracking and asthma, lymphoma in children

A CBJ study suggests scientists are paid to increase their employers' profitability  not to make the world a better place:

A new study in the International Journal of Drug Policy found that states with legal medical marijuana enjoyed significant reductions in health insurance premiums compared to states where cannabis remained completely illegal.


A separate research team discovered that individuals who used cannabis long-term (for several years or more) and heavily (at least weekly, though a majority in their study used more than four times a week) exhibited impairments across several domains of cognition.

CONCLUSION:  Trust the Science Not The Scientists


https://www.conservativedailynews.com/2023/07/trust-the-science-not-the-scientists-or-politicians-must-be-the-water/

https://www.msn.com/en-US/health/-news/a-pennsylvania-study-suggests-links-between-fracking-and-asthma-lymphoma-in-children/ar-AA1fji2W

In the 21st century, some prominent researchers were promoting, and the media helped popularize, the idea that people who refused to take the COVID Vaccine were a menace to society.

Now, the same people: #NYT/MSM now reporting the COVID Vaccine is dangerous – after reporting those who claimed the vaccine was dangerous were conspiracy theorists.

https://www.conservativedailynews.com/2024/05/breaking-news-msm-report-covid-vaccine-is-dangerous/

Stanford University 

The Stanford Prison Experiment was massively influential. We just learned it was a fraud.
https://www.vox.com/2018/6/13/17449118/stanford-prison-experiment-fraud-psychology-replication





EXHIBIT A - Bob Azarian's piece "A neuroscientist explains how religious fundamentalism hijacks the brain"


Why You Should Follow the Science. Not the Scientists, Corrupt Politicians or Propagandists

https://www.msn.com/en-US/news/opinion/a-neuroscientist-explains-how-religious-fundamentalism-hijacks-the-brain/ar-AA1fNCBi?



Stanford University


Follow the science, not the scientist series;

#JoachimBoldt, has now been credited with 210 retractions – making him the first author with more than 200 retractions to his name.

https://www.conservativedailynews.com/2023/07/trust-the-science-not-the-scientists-or-politicians-must-be-the-water/

https://cotobuzz.blogspot.com/2023/07/trust-science-not-scientist-must-be.html

Follow the Science - Not the Scientist

Wiley journal retracts two papers after it said they were fine

The lead author of the study, Ashraf Nabhan of Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt, was editor for Contemporary Issues in Women’s Health and systematic reviews until April of 2023. He currently sits on the senior editorial board for BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, where 10 editorial board members resigned earlier this year because they felt the journal mishandled allegations of data fabrication.



A threat to the integrity of scientific publishing’: How often are retracted papers marked that way?

A look at 441 retractions in the public health literature sourced from the Retraction Database in 2023: Few were marked as retracted in various places researchers might look for the status of such paper, including PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and other databases.




Follow the Science- Cannabis is not good for you.

Despite its growing popularity, scientific studies suggest that cannabis may negatively impact higher-order cognitive processes. These detrimental effects can occur both immediately after consumption and in long-term users, regardless of whether they are currently under the influence.






Older People Who Use Psychedelics Show Fascinating Brain Functions

Other studies show Cannabis users have altered patterns of brain activity when switching tasks

There's a growing body of research showing that self-serving research is highly suspect

Chemists just broke a 100-year-old rule and say it's time to rewrite the textbooks

I tol

UCLA chemists have found a big problem with a fundamental rule of organic chemistry that has been around for 100 years—it's just not true. And they say, It's time to rewrite the textbooks.

"We shouldn't have rules like this—or if we have them, they should only exist with the constant reminder that they're guidelines, not rules. It destroys creativity when we have rules that supposedly can't be overcome."

Feast of St Kateri Tekakwitha. Lily of the Mohawks and the first Native American Saint

Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, also known as the "Lily of the Mohawks," is the patron saint of ecology, the environment, and Indigenous peoples. She is also venerated as a patron saint for people in exile and those who are persecuted for their faith. 

Kateri Tekakwitha given the name Tekakwitha, was baptized as Catherine, and informally known as Lily of the Mohawks (1656 – April 17, 1680)

 

Prayer to Saint Kateri from Divine Office July 14, 2023 Afternoon Prayer

St. Kateri Tekakwitha is the first Native American to be recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church.

Tekakwutha was an Algonquin–Mohawk. Born in the Mohawk village of Ossernenon, in present-day New York State, she contracted smallpox in an epidemic when she was just a four-year-old child, left orphan since her entire family died during the outbreak. In addition to the psychological scars, she was left with physical scars - a source of humiliation in her youth. She was raised by her uncle, the chief of a Mohawk clan.

At age 19, Kateri Tekakwitha converted to Catholicism, taking a vow of chastity and pledging to marry only Jesus Christ. Her decision was very unpopular with her adoptive parents and their neighbors. Some of her neighbors started rumors of sorcery. To avoid persecution, she traveled to a Christian native community south of Montreal.

Kateri was very devout and was known for her steadfast devotion, sekf-mortification and denial did not help her health as she was sickly

Only five years after her conversion to Catholicism, she became ill and passed away at age 24.

St. Kateri Tekakwitha was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on Oct. 21, 2012. She is the patroness of ecology and the environment, people in exile and Native Americans.

yom rishon

Blessed Sunday! - Yom Rishon



The Hebrew Shabbat, the seventh day of the week, is "Saturday" but in the Hebrew calendar a new day begins at sunset (or, by custom, about 20 minutes earlier) and not at midnight. The Shabbat therefore coincides with what is now commonly identified as Friday sunset to Saturday night when three stars are first visible in the night sky.


Sabbath in Christianity is the inclusion of a Sabbath  a day set aside for rest and worship, a mandatory practice described in the Ten Commandments in line with God's blessing of the seventh day,  making it holy, "because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation". The practice was associated with the assembly of the people to worship in synagogues on the day known as Shabbat.

 It was above all on "the first day of the week," Sunday, the day of Jesus' resurrection, that the Christians met "to break bread." From that time on down to our own day the celebration of the Eucharist has been continued so that today we encounter it everywhere in the Church with the same fundamental structure. It remains the center of the Church's life. CCC 1343

As the feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover was drawing near, and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking a way to put Jesus to death, for they were afraid of the people.

But Judas, the one surnamed Iscariot, who was counted among the Twelve, went to the chief priests and temple guards to discuss a plan for handing him over to them.They were pleased and agreed to pay him money.

He accepted their offer and sought a favorable opportunity to hand him over to them in the absence of a crowd.

When the day of the feast of Unleavened Bread arrived, the day for sacrificing the Passover lamb,he sent out Peter and John, instructing them, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”

The Last Supper

When the hour came, he took his place at table with the apostles. He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for, I tell you, I shall not eat it [again] until there is fulfillment in the kingdom of God. Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and said, Take this and share it among yourselves;for I tell you [that] from this time on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.Luke Chapter 22



The command of Jesus to repeat his actions and words "until he comes" does not only ask us to remember Jesus and what he did. It is directed at the liturgical celebration, by the apostles and their successors, of the memorial of Christ, of his life, of his death, of his Resurrection, and of his intercession in the presence of the. CCC 1341


Christianity is the ultimate inclusive set of beliefs  - everybody is welcome.   In the words of James Joyce


The Pope Francis' prayer video, released monthly, includes images of the Mass, especially the moment of the elevation of the Eucharist during transubstantiation — or the moment the bread becomes Christ’s body.

As for me and my House, we Will Serve the LORD

On Day 189 of Father Mike Schmitz's Bible in a Year podcast, Father goes over 2 Kings 23 and one Chronicles noting that throughout Israel's history, not unlike America's, there's been good and bad leaders, and most people, still follow the bad leaders, like sheep.





In some cases Israel's leaders were so bad, it ended in execution of their family, their own, and their followers and or their exile: Circa 605 BC Jeremiah (Jer 25:1) prophesied in Nebuchadnezzar's first year would begin Judah's phased exile to Babylon. When Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Holy Temple, he exiled 10,000 of the brightest and most promising of the Jewish nation, including Daniel, Chananya, Mishael and Azariah.The Jewish people who remained in Israel under the rule of King Zedekiah began rebelling against Nebuchadnezzar. The remainder of the Jews in Israel were crushed and sent into exile. Jeremiah's prophecy specifies that Judah and the surrounding nations would serve the king of Babylon 70 years (Jer 25:9-13).

Father Mike then asks, instead of blaming the leaders, "what are you going to do? What am I going to do?" Father Mike then recalls Joshua (Joshua 24) when he gathered together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem, summoning the elders, leaders, judges, and officers of Israel. When they stood in ranks before God and asked "If it is displeasing to you to serve the LORD, choose today whom you will serve, the gods your ancestors served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

On Friday July 7, 2023 KATU joyfully reports that Portland's O'Bryant Square to be renamed in honor of legendary drag queen Darcelle. "This momentous decision pays tribute to the legendary drag performer and LGBTQ+ icon, Darcelle XV, while celebrating the vibrant LGBTQ+ history and culture that have shaped Portland,"

Now,consider Gay men dressing in vulgar and blasphemous nun costumes celebrated by major league sports. The Los Angeles Dodgers gave a national platform to so-called “queer and trans nuns” who Dress up in sexually explicit and rainbow-colored “nun” clothing to mock Catholics. Who mock the Catholic faith with ridiculous stunts like pole dancing on a crucifix. Tricked an archbishop into giving them communion, then defiled the Eucharist

Now, before you ask What about Inclusivity? Let's note that
Christianity is the ultimate inclusive set of beliefs. In the words of James Joyce, everybody is welcome. While everybody is welcome and everybody is invited to partake of the Eucharist, only those who believe what the Church teaches, are allowed to join in: Tolerance does not mean acceptance.


2 Kings 22 states that "Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in all the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left" and in 2 Kings 23 we are told that while  Josiah Renewed the Covenant, previous actions have consequences:

23 Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2 He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord. 3 The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord—to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.

4 The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel. 5 He did away with the idolatrous priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns of Judah and on those around Jerusalem—those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations and to all the starry hosts. 6 He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the Lord to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder and scattered the dust over the graves of the common people. 7 He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the temple of the Lord, the quarters where women did weaving for Asherah.

8 Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He broke down the gateway at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which was on the left of the city gate. 9 Although the priests of the high places did not serve at the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.

10 He desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice their son or daughter in the fire to Molek. 11 He removed from the entrance to the temple of the Lord the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court[a] near the room of an official named Nathan-Melek. Josiah then burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.

12 He pulled down the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof near the upper room of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh had built in the two courts of the temple of the Lord. He removed them from there, smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley. 13 The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption—the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the people of Ammon. 14 Josiah smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones.

15 Even the altar at Bethel, the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin—even that altar and high place he demolished. He burned the high place and ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole also. 16 Then Josiah looked around, and when he saw the tombs that were there on the hillside, he had the bones removed from them and burned on the altar to defile it, in accordance with the word of the Lord proclaimed by the man of God who foretold these things.

17 The king asked, “What is that tombstone I see?”

The people of the city said, “It marks the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced against the altar of Bethel the very things you have done to it.”

18 “Leave it alone,” he said. “Don’t let anyone disturb his bones.” So they spared his bones and those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

19 Just as he had done at Bethel, Josiah removed all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria and that had aroused the Lord’s anger. 20 Josiah slaughtered all the priests of those high places on the altars and burned human bones on them. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

21 The king gave this order to all the people: “Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” 22 Neither in the days of the judges who led Israel nor in the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah had any such Passover been observed. 23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem.

24 Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the Lord. 25 Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.

Take away the euphemisms, it’s obvious that we have a full on attack on Christianity by Corporate America, including Bud Light, NorthFace,  the US Navy, Kohl’s, Major League Baseball, #LosAngelesDodgers, #Target et al. as the White House, DOJ, FBI and Main Stream Media are in lock step to promote the Christo-Fascist, America Is Racist narratives


Thus, as  Joshua told the israelites: If it is displeasing to you to serve the LORD, choose today whom you will serve, the gods your ancestors served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.

Los Angeles Dodgers Of Shame Can't Dodge It

Last Friday the Los Angeles Dodgers shamelessly went ahead with its plan to mock Catholics giving a national platform to so-called “queer and trans nuns” who dress up in sexually explicit and rainbow-colored “nun” clothing to mock Catholics - the organization allowed two “sisters” on the field to receive their award, quietly, in the dark- an hour before the game … with the stadium empty well before any fans arrived!


Why do you suppose the Dodgers try to hide the big event from the public, after heavily and shamelessly promoting it?





HINT: “The true test of a man's character is what he does when no one is watching.” former UCLA Basketball Coach John Wooden

The Dodgers ducked and dodged hoping the controversy over their blatant anti-Catholic bigotry would soon fade away - it won't go away - ask Anheuser-Busch! The Dodgers' can't Dodge Shame!


Anheuser-Busch finds recently found out it can't serve God and Mammon: One of Minneapolis' most well-known gay bars says it will stop serving Anheuser-Busch beers after the company walked back a marketing campaign featuring a trans spokesperson. Accirding to Matthew 6:24-26
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [money, possessions, fame, status, or whatever is valued more

Let's be honest, take away the euphemisms, and it’s obvious that we have a full on attack on Christianity by Corporate America, including Bud Light, NorthFace, the US Navy, Kohl’s, Major League Baseball, Target et al
as the White House, DOJ, FBI and Main Stream Media are in lock step to promote the Christo-Fascist, America Is Racist narratives



You see, St. John Paul II prayed that all families would look to God, the source of all fatherhood, and not be seduced by the "father of lies."

Sadly, corrupt politicians crowned the Father of Lies & kicked God to the curve, with predictable consequences: Since SCOTUS (1963) kicked God out of public schools these are some of the creeping elegance consequences


[ ] We have mental health crisis
[ ] Infanticide turned into #BlackGenocide
[ ] African American nuclear family has joined the Sea Turtles in the endangered list
[ ] 80% of AA kids are raised in fatherless homes
[ ] We have a fatherlesssness crisis
[ ] A Girlhood Crisis
[ ] A Trans Crisis


Now the White House, DOJ, FBI,MSM, Corporate America, including MLB, are in lock step to promote the #ChristoFascist, #AmericaIsRacist narrative.


And while the Los Angeles Dodgers try to Dodge its Shame, the organization should, like Anheuser-Busch, soon find out it can't serve God and Mammon.

Christianity is Counter-intuitive, in Harmony with Faith & Reason

Christianity is counter-intuitive and in harmony with faith and reason. Why it has been used as a punching bag for thousands of years:  Take for example Gay men dressing in vulgar and blasphemous nun costumes  celebrated by major league sports. The Los Angeles  Dodgers gave a national platform to so-called “queer and trans nuns” who…

-Dress up in sexually explicit and rainbow-colored “nun” clothing to mock Catholics

-Mock the Catholic  faith with ridiculous stunts like pole dancing on a crucifix

-Tricked an archbishop into giving them communion, then defiled the Eucharist

Then there is Hollywood:  One of the most popular film genre is action film, where the inciting incident is revenge: the inciting incident is ‘the reason why the protagonists blows up buildings or kills lots of people, even the innocent," often quoting the Code of Hammurabi: 

"An eye for an eye" (Biblical Hebrew: עַיִן תַּחַת עַיִן, ʿayīn taḥaṯ ʿayīn)  and a commandment found in the Book of Exodus 21:23–27 expressing the principle of reciprocal justice measure for measure. The earliest known use of the principle appears in the Code of Hammurabi, which predates the Hebrew Bible

But in Matthew 5:38 "Jesus said to his disciples:

"You have heard that it was said,
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.
When someone strikes you on your right cheek,
turn the other one to him as well.
If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic,
hand him your cloak as well.
Should anyone press you into service for one mile,
go with him for two miles.
Give to the one who asks of you,
and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow."


Pope Benedict XVI says " The Catholic insistence on a close connection between faith and reason is based on the belief that God created human beings and is always close to them."


While the Catholic Catechism states that: "Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth." "Consequently, methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God. The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are." CCC 159


Brings up a rhetorical question:
Since human intelligence is surely already capable of finding a response to the question of origins, is it not reasonable then to conclude that Gödel’s Theorem, just like Stephen Hawking’s belief that it’s not possible to find a Theory of Everything due to limitations in human understanding,that all laws are subject to the Creator, including the Algorithm of Life?

RELATED

  


If one was not really to blame then there is nothing to forgive. In that sense forgiveness and excusing are almost opposites - CS Lewis


https://www.maitlandpres.org/post/cslewis

Call to prayer of a different kind

While the mainstream media typically associates the term "call to prayer" with adhan - the Islamic call to prayer, several religions have their own call to prayer

In the days before clocks, keeping of Canonical Hours was one way to tell time as it was based on the sun rising and setting.

The Islamic call to prayer is the Adhan recited by a muezzin at defined times of the day. The call is recited loudly from the mosque five times a day on most days and all day long during the religious holidays of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, traditionally from the minaret. It is the first call summoning Muslims to enter the mosque for obligatory prayer. A second call, known as the iqamah summons those within the mosque to line up for the beginning of the prayers.

Outdoor loudspeakers, usually mounted on tall minarets, are used five times a day for the call to prayer, beginning at dawn. Some loudspeakers are powerful enough to be heard as far as three mikes away and in areas where more than one mosque is present, the loudspeaker sounds overlap one another, especially in the early morning when sounds are more clearly heard.

Sunnis believe that the adhan was not written or said by the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, but by one of his Sahabah (his companions). Abdullah ibn Zayd, a sahabi of Muhammad, had a vision in his dream, in which the call for prayers was revealed to him by God, after it had been decided that Islam should find its own method to announce the time of prayer rather than using those of other religions, such as the use of bells by Christians

Sanctifying Time

From the time of the Mosaic law, the People of God have observed fixed feasts, beginning with Passover, to commemorate the astonishing actions of the Savior God, to give him thanks for them, to perpetuate their remembrance, and to teach new generations to conform their conduct to them. In the age of the Church, between the Passover of Christ already accomplished once for all, and its consummation in the kingdom of God, the liturgy celebrated on fixed days bears the imprint of the newness of the mystery of Christ. CCC 1164


In the Christian tradition, church bells are rung as a call to prayer voluntarily. at the canonical hours prayed at fixed prayer times, as well as at the start of a church service, but typically not referred to as a "call to prayer " - In the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, for example, canonical hours are also called officium, since it refers to the official prayer of the Church, which is known variously as the officium divinum ("divine service" or "divine duty"), and the opus Dei ("work of God"). Canonical hours mark the divisions of the day in terms of fixed times of prayer at regular intervals.


The mystery of Christ, his Incarnation and Passover, which we celebrate in the Eucharist especially at the Sunday assembly, permeates and transfigures the time of each day, through the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, "the divine office."This celebration, faithful to the apostolic exhortations to "pray constantly," is "so devised that the whole course of the day and night is made holy by the praise of God." In this "public prayer of the Church," the faithful (clergy, religious, and lay people) exercise the royal priesthood of the baptized. Celebrated in "the form approved" by the Church, the Liturgy of the Hours "is truly the voice of the Bride herself addressed to her Bridegroom. It is the very prayer which Christ himself together with his Body addresses to the Father. CCC 1174


A book of hours, chiefly a breviary, normally contains a version of, or selection from, such prayers for the Liturgy of the Hours. In the early Church, different methods were used to call the worshippers: playing trumpets, hitting wooden planks, shouting, or using a courier. The use of social media apps, such as the Divine Office, makes it easier to refer to the prayers in the Liturgy of the Hours.








The Liturgy of the Hours is intended to become the prayer of the whole People of God. In it Christ himself "continues his priestly work through his Church."50 His members participate according to their own place in the Church and the circumstances of their lives: priests devoted to the pastoral ministry, because they are called to remain diligent in prayer and the service of the word; religious, by the charism of their consecrated lives; all the faithful as much as possible: "Pastors of souls should see to it that the principal hours, especially Vespers, are celebrated in common in church on Sundays and on the more solemn feasts. The laity, too, are encouraged to recite the divine office, either with the priests, or among themselves, or even individually." CCC 1175

The celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours demands not only harmonizing the voice with the praying heart, but also a deeper "understanding of the liturgy and of the Bible, especially of the Psalms." CCC 1176

The hymns and litanies of the Liturgy of the Hours integrate the prayer of the psalms into the age of the Church, expressing the symbolism of the time of day, the liturgical season, or the feast being celebrated. Moreover, the reading from the Word of God at each Hour (with the subsequent responses or troparia) and readings from the Fathers and spiritual masters at certain Hours, reveal more deeply the meaning of the mystery being celebrated, assist in understanding the psalms, and prepare for silent prayer. The lectio divina, where the Word of God is so read and meditated that it becomes prayer, is thus rooted 

       in the liturgical celebration. CCC 1177

The Liturgy of the Hours, which is like an extension of the Eucharistic celebration, does not exclude but rather in a complementary way calls forth the various devotions of the People of God, especially adoration and worship of the Blessed Sacrament. CCC 1178

From the time of the early Church, the practice of seven fixed prayer times, being attached to Psalm 119:164, have been taught: Psalm 119:164 states: "Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws." Symeon of Thessalonica writes that "the times of prayer and the services are seven in number, like the number of gifts of the Spirit, since the holy prayers are from the Spirit; in Apostolic Tradition, Hippolytus instructed Christians to pray seven times a day "on rising, at the lighting of the evening lamp, at bedtime, at midnight" and "the third, sixth and ninth hours of the day, being hours associated with Christ's Passion
In the West, the Rule of Saint Benedict, was modeled on his guidelines for the prayers on the customs of the basilicas of Rome. It was he who expounded the concept in Christian prayer of the inseparability of the spiritual life from the physical life. St. Benedict set down the dictum Ora et labora – "Pray and work". The Order of Saint Benedict began to call the prayers the Opus Dei or "Work of God"

By the 9th century in the West, the canonical hours consisted of daily prayer l liturgies:

Matins (nighttime)

Lauds (early morning)

Prime (first hour of daylight)

Terce (third hour)

Sext (noon)

Nones (ninth hour)

Vespers (sunset evening)

Compline (end of the day



We have heard about sanctifying places and spaces. Now we can also sanctify time.

The one who sings prays twice - St Augustine

CIY Day 157 - Justified
“The one who sings prays twice”- Saint Augustine.

Two or three years ago my wife and I got into the habit of having Alexa play gospel music in the backround while Chrome randomly display pictures chronicling our life together, in the big screen- it has over 8,000 pictures going as far back as to when we were kids.





Sometime ago, one of our twin granddaughters ask me why we had the gospel music playing in the background all the time, and also when we were in the car. I immediately blurted out: "because when we are singing we are also praying" - I had not heard this until today, so I don't know why I said it, but now I feel justified.No wonder Father Tomassi's first Mass at Holy Redeemer right after his ordination the day before, felt so special. He sang the entire Mass!

Where do you find Catholic Singers? Was the first question that came up - All the Christmas songs we ever heard were sung by popular musicians and mostly not even Christian.

In no time we found John Michael Talbot - came up during the Jesus Freaks era, and Andrew Goldstein who is much younger -I wrote a review when we first met Andrew, in part reads "Needless to say, we were double blessed: Attended a beautiful service and were treated to an outstanding free service. We just had to get Andrew's by donation CD. Life is good! If you want to hear Andrew's music so we can compare notes, perhaps is best to contact him at the Parish."







Now we have Christian gospel music Playlists for every mood - we will also listen Christian music with other artists like Elvis Presley, Alan Jackson, Bill Gaither, The Isaac's and so on.  Some Catholics object to gospel music by non-Catholics saying something like "there are a few groups that you should be aware of that do sing songs that are not in line with our faith - Hillsong being one of them. I came from a protestant background and I look up what their beliefs are before I let me kids listen to the music."  On the other hand, I love Elvis Presley's rendition of gospel music, including that of other artists who may not be Catholic, including Hilsong.I try to listen to the message, as opposed to the messenger - consistent with CCC 1158 "The harmony of signs (song, music, words, and actions) is all the more expressive and fruitful when expressed in the cultural richness of the People of God who celebrate. Hence "religious singing by the faithful is to be intelligently fostered so that in devotions and sacred exercises as well as in liturgical services," in conformity with the Church's norms, "the voices of the faithful may be heard." But "the texts intended to be sung must always be in conformity with Catholic doctrine. Indeed they should be drawn chiefly from the Sacred Scripture and from liturgical sources.""

Saint Augustine's Commentaries to the Psalms, Psalm 72,: “Whoever sings a praise, not only praises, but only praises with gladness. He that sings praise, not only sings, but also loves him of whom he sings. In praise, there is the speaking forth of one confessing; in singing, the affection of one loving.”

I'm amazed at the quality of the Christian music genre and wonder why, with so much talent, local radio station during the Christmas Season resort to mainstream singers. 

 Sacred music imparts spiritual truth to one's mind, heart, and soul. It displays a dimension of meaning and feeling that mere words cannot. Music makes prayer more pleasing, promotes a sense of congregational unity, and confers greater solemnity upon the sacred rites. Three criteria need to be present for song and music to fulfil their potential: “beauty expressive of prayer, the unanimous participation of the assembly at the designated moments, and the solemn character of the celebration” (CCC 1157

Habemus Sacerdos - We Have Priests

Saturday. June 3rd, the Archdiocese of Seattle welcomed Deacons John Paul Tomassi and Deacon Sylvester Chanda as Archbishop Paul D. Ettiene presided over their ordination Mass. 

Deacons Tomassi (L) & Chanda (R) 

Newly minted priest Father Tomassi celebrated his first Mass at his home parish, Holy Redeemer Church, Vancouver, WA. Established in 2000, Holy Redeemer is fertile ground,as it has already produced two priests, including Father Tomassi.

If you happen to attend Sunday Mass at Holy Redeemer, and witness the procession of altar servers, you might guess why of the fertile ground.  

In many Catholic churches, the priest likes to have three to six altar servers. Although once prohibited in the Catholic Church, female altar servers are now allowed to serve provided that the diocesan bishop and the parish priest allow the practice. Altar servers carry the cross and the processional candles. They hold the book for the priest celebrant when he is not at the altar. They carry the incense and censer and present the bread and wine along with the water to the priest during the preparation of the gifts or assist him when he receives the gifts from the people. At Holy Redeemer. Father Nathe usually has fifteen altar servers for Sunday Masses. Father Tomassi was an altar server at Holy Redeemer and entered the Seminary right after High School.

Begs the question. Who celebrates the liturgy? And the answer is everybody!  Dead or alive! The pews are not bleachers for expectators but for participants.  

"Liturgy is an "action" of the whole Christ (Christus totus). Those who even now celebrate it without signs are already in the heavenly liturgy, where celebration is wholly communion and feast."  CCC 1136

""Recapitulated in Christ," these are the ones who take part in the service of the praise of God and the fulfillment of his plan: the heavenly powers, all creation (the four living beings), the servants of the Old and New Covenants (the twenty-four elders), the new People of God (the one hundred and forty-four thousand), especially the martyrs "slain for the word of God," and the all-holy Mother of God (the Woman), the Bride of the Lamb, and finally "a great multitude which no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes, and peoples and tongues."" CCC 1138

Father Tomassi & Holy Redeemer Church illustrate the Law: lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi 

"It is in this eternal liturgy that the Spirit and the Church enable us to participate whenever we celebrate the mystery of salvation in the sacraments." CCC 1139

It should not bee too surprising then that  Father Tommassi started as an Altar Server at Holy Redeemer.

Sacramental Grace

DRAFT

Argument for infant baptism - its not the one who is being baptized 

Sacraments are visible rites seen as signs and efficacious channels of the grace of God to all those who receive them with the proper disposition.  The sacraments according to Catholic theology were instituted by Jesus and entrusted to the Church.  According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Sacraments have a visible and invisible reality, a reality open to all the human senses but grasped in its God-given depths with the eyes of faith. When parents hug their children, for example, the visible reality we see is the hug. The invisible reality the hug conveys is love. We cannot "see" the love the hug expresses, though sometimes we can see its nurturing effect in the child. USCCB

[  ] Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace that they signify.

[  ] Sacranents are efficacious because in them Christ himself is at work: it is he who baptizes, he who acts in his sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies CCC 1127


[  ] By virtue of the saving work of Christ, the sacramental graceis not a function of the celebrant or the recipient, but by the power of God. CCC 1128


[  ] The fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them. CCC 1128


[  ]  The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation
CCC 1129

From the moment that a sacrament is celebrated in accordance with the

1127 Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace that they signify. They are efficacious because in them Christ himself is at work: it is he who baptizes, he who acts in his sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies. The Father always hears the prayer of his Son's Church which, in the epiclesis of each sacrament, expresses her faith in the power of the Spirit. As fire transforms into itself everything it touches, so the Holy Spirit transforms into the divine life whatever is subjected to his power.


1128 This is the meaning of the Church's affirmation that the sacraments act ex opere operato (literally: "by the very fact of the action's being performed"), i.e., by virtue of the saving work of Christ, accomplished once for all. It follows that "the sacrament is not wrought by the righteousness of either the celebrant or the recipient, but by the power of God." From the moment that a sacrament is celebrated in accordance with the intention of the Church, the power of Christ and his Spirit acts in and through it, independently of the personal holiness of the minister. Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them.

1129 The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. "Sacramental grace" is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. The Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Savior. 

Creeping Elegance in Progressive Policies

Analogous to creeping elegance in software development, by design or happenstance progressive policies have had a regressive impact on the American culture. Not unlike the deleterious effects on Native Americas & Alaska Natives

In software development, creeping elegance is related to creeping featurism and second-system effect. The tendency of programmers to disproportionately emphasize elegance in software at the expense of other requirements such as functionality, shipping schedule, and usability. Consider that since SCOTUS (1963) kicked God out of public schools - School District of Abington Township, Pennsylvania v. Schempp (1963) is a U.S. Supreme Court case holding that mandatory religious activity as part of a public school's curriculum, such as Bible readings and the recitation of the Lord's Prayer, violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

You may recall that during Jesus' ministry, He not only cured physical ailments, but also mental and spiritual sickness.  These are some of the creeping elegance consequences

[ ] We have mental health crisis
[ ] Infanticide turned into #BlackGenocide
[ ] African American nuclear family has joined the Sea Turtles in the endangered list
[ ] 80% of AA kids are raised in fatherless homes
[ ] We have a fatherlesssness crisis
[ ] A Girlhood Crisis
[ ] A Trans Crisis

Now compare to the recent Washington Sate firong of Office of Equity Director Dr. Karen Johnson’s. According to investigation, she was fired for a number of reasons including, micromanagement, lack of organization, lack of adequate structure and processes, made unreasonable requests of staff, made inappropriate or insensitive comments to some staff members and publicly criticized some staff members regarding issues unrelated to protected classes, including "credible examples" of Johnson making inappropriate comments about the personal appearances of staff, their bodies, as well as "comments about a staff person’s ethnicity, race, and/or veteran status." Get it?

And then it gets even more regressive: The college majors that pay the most right after college are STEM-based. Except for a BS In Race Hustling - the highest paid: The University of Michigan has 163 DEI officers. Ohio State & U of Virginia have 94. Georgia Tech has 41, but only 13 history teachers. The Highest-paid diversity and inclusion employees rake in substantially more than the average full-time professor. While the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill offers Racially Exclusive-Programs and Scholarships. Even as the University Of Minnesota PhD's were forced to retract an article they wrote about "structural racism in the Journal Of Health Services Research - The authors, UM employees are focused on racial equity: Stuart Grande, senior Lecturer, Janette Dill, an associate professor, and Tongtan Chantarat, a research scientist. The retraction is because its claims were "inaccurate, misleading, or false," according to a note on the withdrawn article.

Not to be undone, Targets diversity Chief Kiera Fernandez said that it’s the role of white women to call out transgressions, and continued to single out a white employee and said that because of her race her voice carries more weight and she has a responsibility. She runs Targets Racial Equity Action and Change. Her task force focuses on engaging with black customers and hiring more black employees. Target is also shifting to more black owned suppliers and ending contracts with white owned companies. She was hired internally from the Human Resources department.

And a FSU professor abruptly left his 190K job after faking data to make racism seem more common and having six research papers retracted.

It can't get worse, right? Wrong! The California legislature's LGBTQ Caucus join the Los Angeles Dodgers in their War On Christianity as they are set to honor anti-Catholic Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence member, despite Dodgers backlash

Progressive policies are not only regressive, but if you take away the euphemisms, it's obvious that we have a full on attack on Christianity by Corporate America,

 including #BudLight, #NorthFace, the #USNavy, #Kohl’s, Major League Baseball, as the White House, DOJ, FBI and Main Stream Media are in lock step to promote the Christo-Fascist, America Is Racist narratives