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February 2009 |
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Last month's columns focused on how Catholic Fundamentalism sees what government is, what it does, and why it usually makes things worse. This month, the focus will be on our minds. They are able to consider the physical, mental, and spiritual realities within and without them. Unfortunately, the usual concentration on the first two of our attributes often crowds out an appreciation of the third. Column focus changes on February 13 to consider the merits, or lack of same, in the "vicariate program", which may be coming soon to a diocese near you.
Sunday, February 1, 2009 Considering the vastness of our own minds. We are able to look up at night and see the moon. Beyond, we see the planets. Beyond that, we are able to see what appears to be light from countless stars, millions of light years away. Each of us can picture the earth rotating on its axis as it revolves around the star that's closest to us. We may infer from those facts that our mind is, in some way, as big as the universe. Just as a map invariably leaves out some details, so our minds leave out details of what Catholic Fundamentalists see as "Outside Programs". Despite our imperfect understanding of the Outside Programs, we do have the ability to understand some things about them. We have a similarly cloudy notion of the tiniest particles. Each of us has our own simple notions of electrons, protons, neutrons, atoms, and molecules. Others talk wisely of quarks. We also know that we are made out of cells. We can picture some aspects of a cell in our mind. We can picture lots of cells, working together as we consider levels of increasingly complicated animals. All of us have an idea of history. Some picture a universe that's twenty billion years old, others picture a creation that was programmed several thousand years ago by The Unprogrammed Program, our Father in Heaven. We have both an individual and collective mind. All those minds, working individually or in groups, has obtained and understood a vast amount of information about every part of creation. One way to picture the mind's operation. Most of us have seen tiny LED lights, or light-emitting diodes. They are small, solid-state devices that emit light when an electric current passes through them. There are billions of neural highways through our minds. At each intersection, we can imagine a very tiny light emitting diode. When we want to think about, say, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, we can visualize a little "cloud" caused by molecule-size LEDs going off in that part of our brain that stores Lincoln information. When we have recalled that information, the "cloud" of lights travel the other way, carrying the information to the body's various "information output centers", (voice, keyboard entries, facial expressions, body movements) where it is, by a miraculously complicated series of muscles, translated into spoken or written words. The internal lights provide a "map" of how the Outside Programs are downloaded within our Inside Programs. If the earth goes around the sun in the Outside Programs, we would like to be sure that our Inside Programs reflect that reality. If, in the Outside Programs, two apples and two apples make four apples, we want to be sure that our Inner Programs come to the same conclusion. Things that mess up mental alignments. We know that parasites often grow within our bodies. Tumors, worms, and hurtful microbes live inside, draining energy that could be put to better use. Parasites live to get inside our bodies and take everything they can from them. If they overpower our body's' defenses, they will kill us. The things that keep our mental maps from accurately reflecting the Outside Programs are ethereal versions of bodily parasites. They are various forms of short-circuits. Like the larger parasites of the body, they are alive. Just as the larger parasites are classifiable in hierarchies, the living short-circuits represent various tribes of demons. Catholic Fundamentalists postulate that the Other Side, where the de-programmer constantly works to download viruses into our ether discs, is arranged in a flawed reversal of what The Programmer has programmed. Since The Unprogrammed Programmer, Father of us all, had programmed nine choirs of angels into being, we feel that it's reasonable to assume that the father of viruses has programmed nine orders of disruptive viruses. The nine orders of viruses operate within the parameters of the seven deadly sins. Each "sin tribe" represents either pride, envy, greed, gluttony, anger, lust, or sloth. Each sin tribe has nine orders, beginning with little, tiny sins prompted by imps. More powerful demons try to lead us to more destructive sins. These demons, if they get into our minds, are living "reverse sparks", little blobs of darkness putting confusion into our minds whenever it will do the most harm. We can picture them, not as merely dark places in the cloud of sub-microscopic LEDs in our mind, but also, places where light is actually stained, weakened, and twisted so that it carries misinformation, rather than information. Sin and error go hand in hand, literally rejoicing at every single thing that may lead to our destruction.
Monday, February 2, 2009 Aligning our mental maps. Our minds were programmed to download and comprehend as much of the world as would be necessary for us. Each of us can download, for instance, the multiplication tables. When we do so, we can recall what has been downloaded and use it to multiply far larger numbers, enlarging our "map". If we have downloaded the wrong multiples, any answers we reach will probably be wrong. If we download correct and larger multiples, for instance memorizing the multiplication tables through 15 times 15, we will save a surprising amount of time as we go through life, with the added bonus of frequently being thought to be intelligent. The "map" of the multiplication tables that we put in our minds must be accurate if it is to help us. The same thing is true of every "map" we download. Our downloads are maps that tell us a little about how corresponding sections of The Outside Programs are arranged. Our lives involve only two types of alignment. We should learn about Outside Programs so that we can duplicate them on maps within our mind. That is the first sort of alignment, making sure that our Inside Programs accurately reflect the Outside Programs. At one time, schools used to try to provide accurate maps of the Outer Programs for students to download. No more. The other type of alignment concerns both valid desires and vanity. Once we are able to understand the Outside Programs, we often want to change them. That involves the second kind of alignment, in which we try to make Outside Programs align with our Inside Programs. This involves overriding or modifying an Outside Program so that it behaves the way our Inside Program wants. A simple example is deciding that a white room should be painted beige and having that done. Alexander the Great provided the same example on a somewhat larger scale by making a large section of Outside Programs conform to his Inside Program of what many, many things around him should be. The most popular errors involve aligning other people to do what we think they should do, which usually involves taking time and money from them.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009 Good alignments. The Programs were all written and downloaded in three or four, or however many dimensions The Programmer has written. We, each individual human program, were written according to a basic pattern, but each with important characteristics. Our individual programs were infected with a virus that became part of their operating system when our first mother decided that she would infect her operating system with a virus, ignoring orders from The Loving Programmer. She then convinced our first earthly father to do so, as well. The New Program allows us to get rid of that error with the Sacrament of Baptism. When that is done, and we are repentant of our desire to disobey The Loving Programmer, we have the rest of our live to align our program with His. Considering the long-term payoff, that's the smartest thing to do.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009 Bad alignments. The Outer Programs include many, many viruses. We see them existing all around us as all entities encouraging us to ignore The Programmer, Program, and Holy Wireless Connector. Each of these viruses falls into one of seven categories, pride, envy, greed, gluttony, anger, lust, and sloth. When we become aware that one or more of these is trying to align us with their particular operating error, we have but to cry out to the Loving Programmer, "God, help me." He will.
Thursday, February 5, 2009 The nicest things about computers is that they help us visualize how God operates. When we can email a thousand people at a time, we may think we're hot stuff. We can see how God can not only "email three billion people at a time", but also, effect actual changes in their minds and bodies, as He did with the troops of Sennacherib. We are always sending messages to, and receiving from, Him. He is aware of every thought, word, and deed. He is also responding to them, usually invisibly, often through angels, and always through His priests at The Sacraments. Our computers also exemplify how a working system can be damaged by a virus. Like demons, viruses are invented and sent forth to destroy as many operating systems as possible. When we consider the malevolent mind behind a virus, we see there mirrored a human version of the source of evil beyond. On the bright side, we see that various filters can keep our computers safe from destructive viruses. The ongoing operation of these filters is an Information Age counterpart to the Sacraments of The Church. Monday, February 9, 2009 Communication helps make alignments successful. We alter our own problems, and the programs within others, by communicating. Successful communication is rewriting other peoples' programs. We utilize two types of communication. Internal Communications go from our own spirit, the spiritual entity within us that makes us say "I want" or "I will" to the parts of our minds and bodies that deal with such things, and causes them to write the Programming it needs to create to get the job done. "Today, I want to make a picnic table." is a communication between our spirit and our Mind and Body Programs. There are trillions of such decisions being made every day. One may decide, "Today, I want to make a successful sales call." Someone else may decide, "Today, I want to change public policy regarding water usage." Or, "I'm planting my own tobacco." When we multiply the number of wishes and wants worked on by the number of people in the world who want and do things, we get a very vague notion of just how much wanting and willing is going on around us. If all this programming were as visible to us as it is to God and His angels, it would be as if a huge cloud of bees had enveloped the globe and each one of us. After we decide to act on a want, our communication is between our mind and body and the Outside Programs that must be aligned to satisfy our will. External Communication is necessary. We get feedback (External Communications) from the Outside Programs as we try to align them with ours. If we have, for instance, determined to make a picnic table, we often want to save time by getting Operating Instructions from those who have built picnic tables. We may download the information they found, compiled, and recorded to decide what sort of wood to buy, and line up the necessary tools and equipment. Soon, we start actually making the picnic table. That requires Internal Communication with body parts to cut the wood and drive the nails, and is often enjoyable. That Internal Communication is always more successful when interrupted by Outside Communications with the instructions. We use External Communication to encourage people, living programs like ourselves, to do what we want. We may decide, for instance, "The Picnic Table Program that I want to exist in my yard is at Home Depot. I will get it there and a clerk will put it in my car." Or, we may decide that another Picnic Table Program will work better to align our specialized desire with a picnic table that has to be custom-made. So, we may decide, "Joe, who has already programmed himself with the necessary carpentry skills, should build the picnic table for me." This requires External Communications aligning Joe to provide the three dimensional programming we need. We will often rehearse what we want to tell Joe with Internal Communications to reach the proper Outside Alignment of his programming skills with our desires. If Joe is a good programmer of such things, and will leave him alone, we'll usually find ourselves with what we wanted. If we stand over Joe, making no end of helpful programming suggestions, the result of his programming is almost guaranteed to be less successful than it would have otherwise been. When we get other people involved in helping us re-program things, two other types of programs, Carrots and Sticks, are necessary to download. Those who choose stick programs are usually not happy with their own programming, much less with that which is done for them.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009 The Body Programs As long-time readers know, Catholic Fundamentalists delight in boiling things down to their elemental programs. As we get in the habit of doing so, many other things become clearer. When we consider our body, we are aware that there are trillions of tiny cell programs, each with unknown numbers of programs within it, all working together. Each is within larger programs. Some of our Inside Programs carry energy, some carry nutrients, some make chemicals, some get rid of chemicals. Our bodies are some of the most complicated programs that The Programmer programmed, though not nearly as complicated as our mind programs. Mind and body programs work together. Some minds focus on bodies. Entire sections of the economy are based on different body programs. Hundreds of millions of jobs have sprung into being to take care of the many, many body programs that are in operation between the hair program and the toenail program. Indeed, one reason The Programmer gave us bodies was to provide jobs for many of the free will creatures who would come to live on earth. This month's columns began by discussing alignment. Many millions of people make a living by helping to keep various body programs aligned with some idea or another of perfection. Such goals are not to be taken too seriously. It is far better to spend more time aligning our own thought programs with The Programmer and The Program. The Holy Wireless Connector is always glad to help us do that.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009 A good thing may come from focusing on body programs. At every stage of our lives, we are encouraged to focus on our bodies. Most worry about being too fat. Some worry about being too thin. Others worry about the amount of hair on their heads. Concerns about "proper nutrition" abound. All this focus on making our individual bodies as perfect as they can be is silly, but it may have a good end, and that is the idea of trying to attain perfection. That involves our minds. Eventually, the innate appreciation of truth in most minds help us get sick and tired of worrying about things we cannot, and often should not, change. But, we do have to think about something, unless we dull our minds with drugs. One logical thing to think about is our minds. Thinking about our minds make us wonder why we want to think all the time. It may occur to some happy souls that the highest things their minds may consider is God. So, it is possible to evolve from thinking about body parts to consider our mental operations to thinking about God. There are many distractions along the road. We should think about why they're there.
Thursday, February 12, 2009 Wanna Bet? All of us make bets. Right now, we're all betting that we're going to wake up tomorrow. Most of us will win that bet. But, there will come a day when we will lose that bet. In preparation for that day, we may wager: "I bet that I have an immortal soul that is going to Judgment, and I'm going to get ready for it." On the other hand, we may decide, "I bet that I don't have an immortal soul, and if I do, I bet that there is no Judgment, and if there is, I bet I'll be rewarded because I am a good person." Others will make another bet: "I'll bet on whatever will get me the most reward for the least amount of trouble." As Pascal developed Probability Theory, he applied it to choosing a religion. "What is the safest bet that I can make?", he pondered. There were many new Christian religions springing up at the time, and each of them offered different approaches to God, Judgment, and Salvation. Blaise Pascal decided that the safest bet was to remain Catholic. His reasoning may be summed up as follows: "The Roman Catholic Church has been around longer than all the other denominations. It, alone, has a living link with the First Pope, St. Peter, the Disciples, and through them, Jesus, Whom they claim can forgive sins. They have the greatest historical authority. If there is a God, He has guided them through more than fifteen centuries. Therefore, that Church is statistically likely to have the support from God, if there is One, necessary to sustain it. It provides Sacraments, which bring believers closer to God. The closer to God I am, the more likely it is that my soul, if I have one, will know eternal joy in Heaven, if it exists." Then, Pascal made a great breakthrough: "The thing to consider is the size of the reward versus the cost of gaining it. If there were a lottery with all the money in the world, I can see that it would be stupid not to buy a ticket. If there were a lottery with half the money in the world, it would be stupid not to buy a ticket. When the prize is big enough, it is stupid not to buy a ticket." His conclusion could be summed up: "Spending one hour at Mass each week is a small price to pay for a ticket that appears to have a very good chance of winning the greatest prize of all. Even if there is no Heaven, obeying the teachings of The Church will make me a better person. If there is a Heaven, and obeying those teachings gets me there, I will win two prizes, either of which is more than worth the price of the ticket." We may think that we are smarter than Blaise Pascal. Wanna bet?
Friday, February 13, 2009 No news is good news. The "news", itself an instrument of gain by those who control it, is rented out to help its lessees gain. "News" falls into several categories. The most common "News" tells us of dangers while letting us know that giving more power to officials will keep us safe. Thanks to the internet, more people than ever find out that most of these "dangers" are imaginary and self-serving. That only induces a greater outpouring of ever more absurd lies. Other "news" helps those who want to take money from their neighbors. These are summed up in common underlying theme of most "news": "Taxes, or borrowing, must increase." Those who love their neighbors do not want to make them poorer with higher taxes. Those who love themselves excessively do not mind taking money from their neighbors. Then, there is "news" that buries truth. Those who gain by taxing their neighbors will always hide their demands for more by saying that "There is a long term benefit that makes this not a tax, but an 'investment'." Other "news" tells us about the many false idols whose current worshippers can afford the Public Relations fees to let us know how important it is that we do as their idol orders. The more we look at "news", the more clearly we see the hate behind it. More "No news is good news": The following story did NOT appear, and still could not be found on Reuters, The Ass. Press, Breitbart, Newsmax, or The Drudge Report as of today, Sunday, February 15. Odd that such a gruesome story could be ignored in favor of the many, many less important stories these same "news" agencies did report on extensively: Buffalo Man Who Launched TV Network to Show Muslims in Positive Light Arrested -- for Beheading His Wife NEW YORK A prominent Buffalo area businessman who founded the BridgesTV network to improve the image of Muslims in the U.S. has been arrested and charged with murdering his estranged wife – by beheading her at his company’s office in Orchard Park, N.Y., on Thursday. When reading, and rereading this horrific story, we must continually wonder why not one mainstream media covered it nationally. Not one. Not even one. It is as if this woman's tragic death has been willingly swept under the rug by spiking editors. When we ask "why?", two answers, fear and bribery, come to mind.
Friday, February 13, 2009 Wasn't Vatican II enough? The Church in Pittsburgh, as in many other areas, is shrinking. To give what some think is another kick in the head, a plan is afoot to install yet another layer of bureaucracy between parishioners and their Bishop. This would take additional priests out of their parishes and cause the unnecessary closing of more churches. A recent opinion was sent to the Bishop of Pittsburgh: Most Reverend Bishop: First of all, thank you for the opportunity to comment. Only the blind can fail to see that, since Vatican II, our seminaries have been emptied, those convents and monasteries that have not disappeared are increasingly vacant, and the number of priests decreases relentlessly. The number of Catholic baptisms is dropping, and overall Catholic population reports are inflated by large numbers of illegal immigrants and "counts" that bear false witness by inflating the actual number of practicing Catholics. It is hard to see how the peculiar "reorganization" now being contemplated, interjecting a layer of "Vicars" between you and your priests, will solve any of those problems. In fact, it can only make things worse. "The Church Alive!" (Who thinks of these names? Labels with exclamation points usually, if not invariably, accompany projects of dubious worth.) seems to take precedence over "Thou shalt not kill.", which never needed to be followed by an exclamation point. Few Catholics know, and even fewer are told from the pulpit, that many birth control chemicals work by killing the tiniest of babies. When Roman Catholic Bishops around the world start telling Catholic mothers and fathers to stop killing their own children, the Bark of Peter will carry more passengers than ever. As those on the Titanic knew, rearranging the deck chairs will not keep a ship from sinking. But, if the Captain of the Ship is willing to get his hands dirty and actually fix the holes in the hull, we who invisibly labor below the decks will man the pumps and enthusiastically do our part to keep the boat afloat. It would be wrong to be less than frank. It is actually disturbing (the word "sickening" first came to mind) to watch the waste of your time, considerable talents, and the money we donate, to shuffle priests into yet another layer of bureaucracy that will further separate your flock from you. In the best secular organizations, top administrators focus on cutting out layers of bureaucracy, rather than adding to them. That "flattening", found in all effective organizations, has been facilitated by computers that allow for rapid transfers of information. It's hard to imagine how adding another supervisory layer, especially to an organization that is shrinking both in numbers and properties, is either the best, or the soundest, management. Some will think it an indication that the person at the top really doesn't want to be bothered focusing on the real problems, like declining Church attendance, dropping birth rates, restoring Catholic Schools with cyber-solutions, and shepherding Catholic politicians who vote to fund abortion, but wants to put off that hard, hard work, using what many will see as an excuse, "First, we must solve the Imaginary Problems, with which I feel more comfortable." A great mystery to many: For more than a century, this Diocese was much, much larger in every way. It had more parishes, more priests, more parishioners, more schools, more students, more convents, more Sisters, more monasteries, more Monks, more hospitals, more employees, and many more properties. If it could have been run so successfully for so many decades by Shepherds with smaller staffs and with no computer-automated procedures, why can't it be run even more efficiently and directly today? One cannot help but suggest that if you, Most Reverend Bishop, were to spend as much time and energy in publicly, strongly, and frequently condemning birth control, abortion, and every other soul-destroying practice desired by the culture of death, both the born and unborn in Your Diocese would be helped far more than by disrupting your (and, our) organization for no sound management gains. On the other hand, there are advantages. Any bureaucracy-centered project is sure to attract the sort who love to embrace the illusion of "progress", no matter how ultimately useless it may be. And, it provides a great way to identify kiss-ups. Such people can be relied upon to do three things, underestimate the costs of the project, make excuses for the inevitable monetary overruns in operating and staffing of what appear to be several "mini-dioceses", and be very, very sure that you get little, if any, negative feedback. As our Bishop, a Prince of The Church, you have every right to do as you will. We who are faithful must, as Scripture commands (Hebrews,13;17), "Obey your leaders and do as they tell you, because they must give an account of the way they look after your souls." We who are faithful will not jump ship no matter what you do. We, especially converts who have first-hand experience with the lunacies far beyond the pale, know well the answer to Peter's question, "Where else can we go?" Your ship is slowly sinking, but the deck chairs are still above water. Many are eager to rearrange them. Others would prefer that actual problems be addressed and solved. It is your call, Most Reverend Bishop, to decide what will do the most good with the time and resources available.
Saturday, February 14, 2009 Another problem is the disappearance of Catholic Schools. When we think of Catholic Schools, and their long, successful record of educating to the highest standards, we can't help but be impressed. In most cities, the Catholic Schools provide education for a third the price per student that the public schools cost. In spite of being chronically short of funds, their students read, write, and do arithmetic better. Every year, more Catholic Schools disappear. The costs are simply too high. The Catholic middle class is, intentionally, so overburdened with taxes that it's harder for them to pay the extra tuition for their childrens' education. Bishops do make a great effort to keep Catholic Schools going. At the same time, they never seriously consider actually reducing those costs, as their public education counterparts have successfully done with cyber-schools. Many Catholic students could learn at home three or four days a week with computerized instruction and computer contact with their teachers. Once or twice a week, if necessary, they could go to school for lab work, group instruction, gym classes, or tutoring. This would allow each Catholic School to either handle two or three times more students, or allow their staffing costs to be cut by half. Additionally, each Catholic Church with classrooms could, by hooking those classrooms into a far wider net, become its own parish's full or part-time Catholic School. Computers allow one classroom to provide instructions for many grades, just as one-room schools did for so many years. Every parish has retired teachers and other skilled people whose expertise could be used on a partly-paid, partly-volunteer basis. Instead of trying something that's been proven to work, most Bishops just let their schools close, throwing the children into the less than tender mercies of a public education system run by big, anti-Church establishments because they are unwilling to take advantage of technological advancements which would keep those schools open. One reason? Generally, diocesan schools have a superintendent who's utterly attuned to the old, pre-computer, bricks-and-mortar schools of the past. When bishops replace those hide-bound administrators with those who are plugged-in, great things can happen in Catholic Schools.
Sunday, February 15, 2009 A big problem with liberal Catholics can be most easily seen when they violate the Doctrine of Subsidiarity: Subsidiarity was supported as a principle by Pope Pius XI in Quadragesimo Anno, 2 . It was clarified by Pope John Paul II in Centesimus Annus. Subsidiarity teaches that any society works best when decisions are made at the lowest possible level: “A community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to coordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good.” When a bishop wilfully reduces the authority of his parish priests, if only by separating them from him with a needless layer of bureaucracy, he cannot help but be seen as violating a principle upon which the Popes themselves have opined that Church activity is best based. Many are sure to be reminded that the very Founder of their Faith has told us that "a house divided cannot stand." To reduce the power of his priests is to reduce his own power, as well, for he is suddenly dependent on a new layer, for instance, a "vicariate", to get his mission accomplished. It is far better to deal with a hundred priests than with five vicars. The five vicars will quickly organize themselves into at least two factions, each of which will have competing goals. The hundred priests, each busy with the needs of his parish, don't have the time nor the inclination to organize themselves politically to push agendas that often have little to do with the welfare of the parishioners. The five vicars, on the other hand, will have little else to do. In fact, they ended up being appointed as vicars because they were politically astute. The leftmost of them, in fact, are almost certain to enjoy pointing out how their very existence as a vicar makes them a living example of how the bishop has already violated one Catholic Doctrine, so there's really no good reason why he shouldn't violate more of them.
Monday, February 16, 2009 Good management
never takes too much, or too little, advantage of authority. Any manager has the power to tell subordinates what to do. When managers won't insist on using that authority to get good things done, they have failed. On the other hand, when managers overuse their authority, another type of failure emerges. The above columns have been concerned with The Church and its management. Local dioceses are run by bishops, and we who are subordinate to them have to do what they decide is best. They know that, and they also know what a mess Vatican II has made of things. It is hard to believe, but true, that many who supported the changes in Vatican II think that The Church is in better shape now than it ever was because of those changes. "What!", many of us reply in astonishment. "We see the Catholic diaspora into other denominations. The shattered infrastructure is visible all around us. We are appalled that anyone could think Vatican II has left The Church in better shape." One hallmark of the left is an inability to see that their positions have been wrong, are wrong, and will continue to be wrong. Global Warmers see the lowest solar output and the lowest temperatures recorded in centuries while still insisting that Global Warming is a real danger. Those who proclaimed the imaginary Ozone Hole Threat to be a danger to mankind still tell us to get rid of our refrigerators. Politically, leftists can look at the destruction of Cuba, Zimbabwe, Russia, and Venezuela and go on insisting that things are better than ever in those countries, despite more famine, poverty, disease, and oppression than ever. The "Mark of Cain", in fact, may be manifested in the leftist inability to admit that one has erred, is erring, and will continue to err. Looked at this way, the "Mark of Cain" is replacing God with self, a mark made obvious whenever they opine about anything. Those with the "Mark" are easy to spot. They do a lot of opining.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009 Sauce for the goose. . . As previous columns have mentioned, some Catholic Bishops are pushing for a layer of management between themselves and their priests. This "vicariate" is believed by some to be "just what we need to make things better". Many in favor of it also support the Vatican II changes that they believe has greatly improved The Church in some unique way that defines success as having fewer priests, seminarians, sisters, parishes, and parishioners. A question comes to mind for those in favor of adding an extra layer of administration with the vicariates; "If a bishop cannot deal effectively with a hundred priests, isn't it unfair to expect a priest to deal with several hundred familes and thousands of people?" To achieve "administrative fairness", people in a parish could be divided into several groups. Each of these "sub-vicariates" would report to a "sub-vicar". Between three and five sub-vicars in each parish would attend Mass, take Communion, go to Confession, and receive The Sacraments for the rest of the parishioners. This would give each parish priest more time to focus on vital administrative duties. The plan is tentatively called "The Church Alive!".
Wednesday, February 18, 2009 At first, thinking about the "vicariate system" was fun, because it is so silly. Now, it's depressing. Very often, top executives get talked into really stupid decisions that they have a hard time getting out of. A classic example was Germany's invasion of France in the early days of WWI. The invasion had been planned, with typical Teutonic thoroughness, for many years. "In thirty nine days, we will have broken through the French lines and will be attacking Paris!", the planners announced. The Kaiser was firmly behind the plans. On the very day the invasion was to begin, the Kaiser got a telegram from his cousin, the King of England. "We have decided", the King told him, "that if you invade Russia instead of France, England's army and navy will do nothing to hinder you. Should you attack France, England's interests dictate that we must help defend her." Excitedly, the Kaiser showed the telegram to Von Moltke. "Let's cancel the invasion of France and shift the railroad trains toward Russia! England has promised not to attack us if we do that!" Von Moltke, the classic bureaucrat, said "That's impossible. The trains are already rollling.", and overrode his commanders' decision. The result, of course, was the destruction of a generation of young men, endless waves of whom were marched into machine guns along a Western Front that would not have existed had the Commander in Chief had the moral courage to override his bureaucracy-loving Chief of Staff. One may hope that a Prince of the Church would have more moral courage in standing up to professional bureaucrats than a mere Kaiser had when it comes to wasting generations of spiritual resources. One may hope.
Thursday, February 19, 2009 When something doesn't make sense, look to the money. Some wonder: "Surely, the 'vicariate system' is not an excuse to access parish bank accounts?" The last several columns have been concerned with the "vicariate system". When something is strongly desired that makes very little sense, there's usually money involved. Of the hundred or so parish priests in a typical diocese, many have obeyed the Biblical instructions to be "wise stewards". Many priests have, with an admirable focus on thrift and economy, managed to pile up some surprisingly large sums of money. Those funds are no longer kept in separate bank accounts under the control of the parish priest. Instead, they are kept in a "diocesan account". There, those funds are looked at longingly by those who would like to be able to utilize those monies for their own goals and desires. Parish priests know that the individual parishioners of their parish made personal sacrifices to provide those funds. Their priests, quite properly, feel responsible for protecting the investments their own parishioners have made on behalf of their parish. Few parishioners know, or care, much about those accounts. Most of us go on tithing what we feel we can afford, and are thankful for the opportunity to do so. But, whether in The Church, politics, or business, there are always those who feel they can put other people's money to "better use" than is currently being made of it. As a "Prince of The Church", the bishop may be said to "own" those funds. If a bishop actually needs them, there is no practical way of stopping him from taking them. But, there is a political cost to pay for high-handedness. In every aspect of human life, the clever know that excuses have to be made to keep those whom they wish to loot from noticing that they are being looted, the way a pickpocket jostles someone to distract them from his hand in their pocket. In organizations supported by voluntary tithing, those who may encourage an executive toward confiscation of moneys may cause a future slamming shut of purses and billfolds. But, if funds can be confiscated as the result of a "modern, progressive change" that is "the best for all", their appropriation is made easier. If a "vicariate system", for instance, could be implemented, the bank accounts of many small parishes, which might have a combined total of eight or nine digits between the dollar sign and the decimal point, could be brought under a "central control" for "the common good". Most of us would be so focused on all the activity of such a change that we would not notice the disappearance of many, many bank accounts far away. Global Warming is a vast smokescreen designed by those who will profit from making people pay far, far more for the energy they use than that energy costs. The "vicariate system" provides a similar distraction. Those who most willingly participate in Global Warming lies see them as an opportunity to justify gaining money and power in order to "help make things better". Within a diocese, those who work hardest to install a system that allows the transfer of funds from others to themselves may also be seen as having provided themselves a good opportunity to be made vicars.
Friday, February 20, 2009 Gresham's Law, "Bad money drives out good money." has a deadly spiritual corollary. When there was gold and silver coinage, people learned that they could "shave" the edges of a coin, and end up with a few grains of precious metal to keep for themselves. Those who shaved the coins promptly passed them on, keeping for themselves maybe a percent or so of the intrinsic value of each coin they handled. Since "unshaved coins" weighed more, they were more valuable. People tended to keep the heavier coins and spend the "shaved" ones. With surprising speed, the "coin of the realm" was debased. Gresham brilliantly summed up what was happening to the money of a realm by saying "Bad money drives out good money." The same thing happens in every area of human life. Bad politicians accumulate enough bribes to keep good politicians from being elected. Bad businesses devalue their goods and services to the detriment and destruction of good businesses. In The Church, those who embrace bad policies and practices drive out good policies, people, and practices. It is a "good practice" for parish priests to protect their parishes, carefully husband their resources, and do everything they can to pass on a financially sound church to their replacement. It is a "bad practice" for a higher authority to rearrange its corporate structure simply to take over the funds that so many good priests have patiently stored away. Once a good priest sees that there is no point in being careful and thrifty because that which he accumulates will be stripped away as soon as a higher authority wants his assets badly enough, that "bad practice", of taking what belongs to someone else, drives out the desire to have a sound, prosperous parish. Even worse, a "spiritual equivalent" of Gresham's Law inevitably kicks in. "If those people who think they're so smart are going to strip my parish of its funds, they may get rid of it, altogether, even if it is a sound, viable parish." That makes it hard for a priest to encourage vocations. "What's the point?", they may say, even subconsciously. "I have given my whole life to The Church. I have spent decades in my parish, tending the sheep in my particular sheepfold. I, like Christ, have been the living door to my sheepfold, guiding my sheep to safety and salvation. Can I, in good conscience, encourage someone to follow in my footsteps, the very path the Disciples trod, knowing what his superiors will do to him if he is successful?" This vicariate system is an attack on common sense. It will do more harm than good to The Church, Herself.
Saturday, February 21, 2009 The other side of the coin. Can something good come out of considering the "vicariate system"? The arguments against the "vicariate system" have been outlined in several preceding columns. It is possible, but hard to imagine, that those Bishops of The Church who support it are totally wrong. When we look at reasons why such a system could be thought to have any good in it, we quickly see that there could be one. The many "bank accounts" that are currently "owned" by the individual parishes may actually be under-utilized. It is possible that those funds may be put to a better use. It is not uncommon in any government or business organization to find and liquidate assets that are, in fact, not providing their full use. As a general rule, those who wish to access such funds are driven by a need to pay bills generated by past commitments. When those funds are accessed, salaries are increased, pensions and benefits enhanced, and bills are paid. When that money is gone, and without vision, it quickly is, there are no resources left to pay for the higher costs those commitments require. In fact, one may make the very reasonable argument that, in this and other dioceses, there is a pressing need for cash to provide increases to people who are, by any standard, underpaid. The drive to provide these increases often precludes a more beneficial outcome. The reason that most dioceses are short of funds can be summed up in two words, "Catholic Schools". These magnificent institutions are deserving of support. Catholic Schools save souls, provide for the intellectual and spiritual well-being of all involved, and provide an invaluable service. The current status of Catholic Schools is one of institutionalized inefficiency. Their activities, though incredibly laudable, are the opposite of efficient. Catholic Schools operate as they always have. They are, in a phrase, in the same economic position as a large farm that insists on using dozens of horses rather than a single tractor that uses fuel only when it is working. Consider their operation: Early every morning, hundreds of teachers and thousands of students leave their homes, most of which are heated and cooled throughout the day. They go to a large building, which is also heated and cooled during most days and nights. Lights have to be turned on. Buses have to be filled and emptied. Classes start. Students open books and take out pencils and papers. At the end of the day, all leave the school buildings, which still require heat, maintenance, and upkeep. This process is repeated every day of every week of every month for three quarters of a year. While the buildings stand empty every summer, their costs continue. Thus it has been for nearly two thousand years. Consider an alternative: Each student in a Catholic School is given a computer disc. On that disc is the equivalent of dozens, even hundreds, of books. When it is time for a student to learn to read, the "reading" part of the disc is used, and the student is walked through basic phonics. Students are provided with questions, and as those questions are answered, learning takes place, with surprising speed. Other discs walk pupils through addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, algebra, and the other math disciplines. The disc may, at times, show the world's best teacher of that particular subject, patiently and effectively showing each student how to make progress. Each student moves at his own speed, and each will thereby make better progress than would be possible in a classroom. Literature, history, geography, science, and all the other subjects are similarly treated. Without leaving his home, the student has made better progress than any classroom, no matter how expensive, can provide. Costs? Each child's computer will cost less than a thousand dollars. Discs containing all the information that a child needs to get through all the subjects between first grade and high school can be obtained for less than two hundred dollars. Every parish with CCD classrooms, and every Protestant Church with Sunday School space, could utilize a variant of this system, staffing both with paid professionals and with volunteers. As more students use this "Catholic Cyber Schools" concept, every school in every diocese could make dramatic decreases in their costs, while providing better-educated Catholics. How does this relate to the preceding columns? Bishops could use available funds, such as some of those monies in parish accounts, to make an investment that would eliminate, or very greatly reduce, future expenditures in Catholic Schools. At the very same time, they would increase the number of students who could avail themselves of a Catholic Education. Each parish, diocese, indeed, the entire world, would be a better place. Few priests or parishioners would be reluctant to see such an investment made with funds that such a visionary bishop might wish to use to make The Church truly come alive. They would quickly understand that the downstream savings in Catholic education would reduce their future expenditures and see that those future savings would allow them to quickly replenish those accounts. By committing to a real improvement, those funds might be accessed without imposing the burden of an additional layer of vicariate bureaucracy. There are, to be sure, many parishes that have made a sizable investment in bricks and mortar. Those must be paid off, so a combination of cyber/traditional schools must be contemplated over the coming years, allowing many Catholic School teachers to move into a well-deserved retirement. Unfortunately, we have not been told of using existing assets to provide a brighter future for Catholic Schools. The "vicariate system", as currently communicated, shows only a desire to increase funding for a system that is as antiquated, inefficient, and as sure to fail as the aforementioned large farm whose owners insist upon using dozens of horses instead of a single tractor "because that's the way we've always done it." Note: There have been more than a week of columns on the topic of the "vicariate system". If you find them interesting, please feel free to forward to others. Our Bishop has caused issues to be brought up whose importance may not be immediately apparent to many, but upon which our future depends.
Sunday, February 22, 2009 The preceding columns were presented with some trepidation. Frankly, they began with a great fear that The Church in America was about to be damaged by an organizational misstep that would put a layer of bureaucracy between the Parish Priests and their Bishops. Over the course of last week, it became apparent that one underlying motivation for this "new layer of bureaucracy" had to do with the need for funding Catholic Schools. It was hoped that by accessing the "bank accounts" of parishes, that the funding could be provided. And, it could, but only for a short time. Abraham Lincoln said, in his address at Gettysburg, "We are engaged in a great civil war. . ." I respectfully suggest that we, today, are similarly engaged. Our own "great civil war", however, is not so much with each other, but with technology. Long time readers know that Catholic Fundamentalism sees most societal disruptions as being largely caused by technological advancements and those who resist them. The Programmer programs people who see new and better ways of doing things in every age, and programmed those mired in the past to fight for tradition. The ongoing tension thus provided in every age gives each person an opportunity to choose to love their neighbors or hate them, thus helping to provide the necessary opportunities to exercise our free will that will lead us to one place or another. Today, one battle in our own age's "civil war" is between those who are still mired in the vast and dying print/paper industries, which includes most educational processes, and those who have begun to swim in the wonderful new flow of electrons. If Catholic Schools are to survive, they must move away from the print/paper practices of the past and dive into this new, and vastly less expensive, process of Computerized Intergenerational Information Transfer. In fact, this "civil war" is actually a "revolutionary war" between those of us who see the joys of being set free from more earthly, expensive, and complicated information transfer methodology of the past. It is a continuation of the same war that Jesus fought when He brought the Word directly to those who would believe in Him. His battle was with those who worshipped the process they developed more than He Who programmed those processes. The Church may be seen, in some degree, as being "paralyzed" by the high costs of maintaining salaries and structures necessary to provide intergenerational information transfer in the old, slow ways. Computerized Intergenerational Information transfer can, if the bishops decide, let us "throw away our stretchers and walk". CIIT (computerized intergenerational information transfer) can make every priest and parent a teacher, every church a school, and allow every Catholic student access to the finest education it is possible to have.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 CIIT (Computerized Intergenerational Information Transfer) is hated by the establishment, and, not without reason. It's a threat to a myriad of interlocking profit centers, from textbook publishers to unions. One would think that the Catholic Church, with it's historical emphasis on efficiency and low-cost operation, would be among the first to provide children with the least expensive educational alternatives. Sadly, this is not the case. Even as Catholic Schools in their present form are a huge financial drain on parishes and dioceses, continuing the wasteful spending has taken precedence over the huge cost-cutting possible with distance learning. A child with a little over a thousand dollars invested in a computer, discs with small libraries full of source material and tutorials, along with a printer and modem is in a position to learn more, at a lower expense, than any previous child in history. The Church has buried its collective head in the sand when it comes to implementing such improvements. Why hasn't The Church moved to reduce educational costs to ten or twenty percent of their current cost? This is probably the greatest mystery in a Church that is built upon Mystery. One guess: If children are learning in independent situations, there is no control over the curriculum. Those on the left greatly prefer that children learn, for instance, the leftist bilge of Thomas Merton rather than the rigorous thinking of Thomas Aquinas. They would far rather have young minds stuffed with drivel from the liberation theologians than absorb the joyful doctrine embraced by Chesterton and Belloc. The failure of The Church to utilize the cyber-school concept is another indication that it has been hijacked by the far left. The Catholic Schools, in their focus on bricks and mortar, may have become another bastion of leftists who've seized the command centers, funded by the voluntary donations from all of us who are faithful. When any diocese persists in asking people to give money to subsidize continued inefficiency, we have a clear indication of the mindsets that control it. When people have stopped supporting the inefficiencies to such a degree than the individual parishes must have their assets stripped from them to subsidize it, and no one complains, the leftists can certainly think they've won.
Thursday, February 26, 2009 If C. S. Lewis were writing today, the Screwtape Letters might include: Screwtape: My dearly hated Wormwood, you have been given the awesome task of destroying not only a Bishop, but his diocese, as well. Wormwood: What, my magnificently vicious master, am I to do? Screwtape: We have found that if we can get a powerful bishop to focus his talents on insignificant and imaginary problems, he forgets all about battling with us demons. He's also distracted from doing as much as he could for the souls for whom he is responsible. Our goal is to get bishops to lose touch with common sense, itself. Wormwood: I can see how that would help our side! What am I to do? Screwtape: We have found that separating shepherds from their sheep makes it easier for the sheep to stray. So, the shepherd must not be able to deal directly with those accursed sheepdogs who protect the flocks that make up a diocese. Wormwood: So, the sheepdogs, by which I assume you mean those disgusting priests that keep us from devouring their flocks, must no longer receive their commands from the shepherd, by whom I assume you mean those even more disgusting bishops. How am I to do this, unholy master? Screwtape: You are to find the most clever and ruthlessly ambitious sheepdogs. Encourage them to insert themselves between the shepherd and the sheepdogs by getting them jobs directing separate groups of sheepdogs. Wormwood: Oh, what a good idea! Then, we can get some of those who are closest to us as intermediaries between the shepherd and the sheepdogs. Then, the bishop's directives can be questioned endlessly, analyzed forever, and less will get done! There will be more of the paralysis that we love! Screwtape: That's right! They will fight among themselves, fight with the bishop, and confuse the sheep. The fools won't know whether they're coming or going. And, you must continually fight to drain the bishops' funds with needless expenditures. Wormwood: I like that idea! What can I do to make them poorer? Screwtape: Whatever you do, don't let them cut the costs of their precious Catholic Schools. They could have children learning on home computers, and cyber-schools, for pennies on every dollar they're wasting now. We don't want that! We need to keep the same bureaucrats in place who are doing such a fine job bankrupting them! Wormwood: And, if we can keep them in the schools, enlightened higher-ups can control what they read, how they learn, and be sure that none of them ever know as much as they could. And, because of their costs, they'll gradually be unaffordable and have to be closed. Screwtape: That's right on both counts. We don't want them using phonics, and we certainly don't want them learning to work with numbers. Most of all, we don't want them reading sound Catholic thinkers or histories. Keep 'em dumb, keep 'em down! Bankrupt 'em! Wormwood: Will do, my master of destruction! What brilliant ideas you have had, most unholy one!
Friday, February 27, 2009 The sheer frustration of watching a horde of lemmings race toward a cliff is the feeling many of us have regarding the "vicariate system" that looks ever closer to being foisted upon us. It's supporters aren't the only lemmings rushing to destruction. We see global warmers, ozone hole alarmists, ice cap worriers, and stem cell proponents, all too worried about Imaginary Problems to think straight. In recent years, the flood of lunacies has risen. We watch bank bail-outs that can't work, economic plans that are doomed to destruction, and endless projects that are sure to fail. The manic stupidity being foisted off as "good" has risen to levels never seen in history. We can but assume that God has turned His face away from the formerly Christian countries. What do we do? From erring bishops to bumbling bureaucrats to quasi-governmental agencies desperate for funding, we have but one choice. We have to love them, no matter how incompetently they behave, no matter how much they cost us, no matter how much harm they do. We must fear more than anything that we may do something that will make Him turn away from any of us Catholic Fundamentalists believe that such lunacies are allowed to exist in order to exercise our free will. We can decide to look at those involved and find very good reasons to hate and despise them. Or, we can choose to love our neighbors.
Saturday, February 28, 2009 Myth #1: Liberals are intelligent. Most liberals like to think of themselves as being smarter than those who disagree with them. In actual fact, no liberal plan has ever worked better than what it replaced. When we look at the funding mechanisms of the left, education is at the top. But, despite more money being spent on education than ever before, students are leaving school knowing less than at any time in centuries. Similarly, all sorts of welfare programs have been instituted, each of which has made things worse. Myth #2: Liberals care about people. Few lies are told as often. In fact, all liberal programs are concerned about taking money from those who have more and giving it to those who have less. To facilitate what is actually theft, the left pretends to care. Those who care about "women's rights", for instance, never raise a whisper of protest about "honor killings" that allow countless members of some religions to kill female relatives who "dishonor" them. Those who most loudly proclaim their concern about "people" are uniformly in favor of the right to kill unborn children. They are able to care and kill because of Myth#1.
Saturday, February 28, 2009 What is happening in England, or Wales, or Scotland, or whatever that country is, looms over us in America. As Orwell said, "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stomping on a human face -- forever." Consider what seems to be coming: Are such things done on Albion’s shore? Philip Pullman "The image of this nation that haunts me most powerfully is that of the sleeping giant Albion in William Blake’s prophetic books. Sleep, profound and inveterate slumber: that is the condition of Britain today. We do not know what is happening to us. In the world outside, great events take place, great figures move and act, great matters unfold, and this nation of Albion murmurs and stirs while malevolent voices whisper in the darkness - the voices of the new laws that are silently strangling the old freedoms the nation still dreams it enjoys. We are so fast asleep that we don’t know who we are any more. Are we English? Scottish? Welsh? British? More than one of them? One but not another? Are we a Christian nation - after all we have an Established Church - or are we something post-Christian? Are we a secular state? Are we a multifaith state? Are we anything we can all agree on and feel proud of? The new laws whisper: You don’t know who you are You’re mistaken about yourself We know better than you do what you consist of, what labels apply to you, which facts about you are important and which are worthless We do not believe you can be trusted to know these things, so we shall know them for you And if we take against you, we shall remove from your possession the only proof we shall allow to be recognised The sleeping nation dreams it has the freedom to speak its mind. It fantasises about making tyrants cringe with the bluff bold vigour of its ancient right to express its opinions in the street. This is what the new laws say about that: Expressing an opinion is a dangerous activity Whatever your opinions are, we don’t want to hear them So if you threaten us or our friends with your opinions we shall treat you like the rabble you are And we do not want to hear you arguing about it So hold your tongue and forget about protesting What we want from you is acquiescence The nation dreams it is a democratic state where the laws were made by freely elected representatives who were answerable to the people. It used to be such a nation once, it dreams, so it must be that nation still. It is a sweet dream. You are not to be trusted with laws So we shall put ourselves out of your reach We shall put ourselves beyond your amendment or abolition You do not need to argue about any changes we make, or to debate them, or to send your representatives to vote against them You do not need to hold us to account You think you will get what you want from an inquiry? Who do you think you are? What sort of fools do you think we are? The nation’s dreams are troubled, sometimes; dim rumours reach our sleeping ears, rumours that all is not well in the administration of justice; but an ancient spell murmurs through our somnolence, and we remember that the courts are bound to seek the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and we turn over and sleep soundly again. And the new laws whisper: We do not want to hear you talking about truth Truth is a friend of yours, not a friend of ours We have a better friend called hearsay, who is a witness we can always rely on We do not want to hear you talking about innocence Innocent means guilty of things not yet done We do not want to hear you talking about the right to silence You need to be told what silence means: it means guilt We do not want to hear you talking about justice Justice is whatever we want to do to you And nothing else Are we conscious of being watched, as we sleep? Are we aware of an ever-open eye at the corner of every street, of a watching presence in the very keyboards we type our messages on? The new laws don’t mind if we are. They don’t think we care about it. We want to watch you day and night We think you are abject enough to feel safe when we watch you We can see you have lost all sense of what is proper to a free people We can see you have abandoned modesty Some of our friends have seen to that They have arranged for you to find modesty contemptible In a thousand ways they have led you to think that whoever does not want to be watched must have something shameful to hide We want you to feel that solitude is frightening and unnatural We want you to feel that being watched is the natural state of things. One of the pleasant fantasies that consoles us in our sleep is that we are a sovereign nation, and safe within our borders. This is what the new laws say about that: We know who our friends are And when our friends want to have words with one of you We shall make it easy for them to take you away to a country where you will learn that you have more fingernails than you need It will be no use bleating that you know of no offence you have committed under British law It is for us to know what your offence is Angering our friends is an offence. It is inconceivable to me that a waking nation in the full consciousness of its freedom would have allowed its government to pass such laws as the Protection from Harassment Act (1997), the Crime and Disorder Act (1998), the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (2000), the Terrorism Act (2000), the Criminal Justice and Police Act (2001), the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act (2001), the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Extension Act (2002), the Criminal Justice Act (2003), the Extradition Act (2003), the Anti-Social Behaviour Act (2003), the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act (2004), the Civil Contingencies Act (2004), the Prevention of Terrorism Act (2005), the Inquiries Act (2005), the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (2005), not to mention a host of pending legislation such as the Identity Cards Bill, the Coroners and Justice Bill, and the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill. Inconceivable. And those laws say: Sleep, you stinking cowards Sweating as you dream of rights and freedoms Freedom is too hard for you We shall decide what freedom is Sleep, you vermin Sleep, you scum" It is rare for catholicfundamentalism to post such a long article, but Mr. Philip Pullman has written of the attack upon us so eloquently that putting his words here are appropriate. |