So proud! ...in a good way

Here's what today's BGNews had in store. There were two letters published. The first letter has two goals: one, to show that yet again, people in their limited understanding, are too prideful to say, 'ya kno, maybe they're on to something', but instead say 'well i just completely disagree. you must be wrong,' and two, to argue that the event shouldn't have even be covered in the BGNews.

I'll just focus on the second part. These letters have been written in response to the very poorly written first article that appeared in Monday's edition. I'm pretty sure that the four people who just had to make their view heard weren't even at the event. It's really doesn't give justice to Veritas, Prof Smith, and the Catholic Church at large (because that's who the enemy wants to attack anyway), to continue critiquing the presentation when those critics weren't there. As for the notion that it shouldn't even have been printed, well... that's not for me to decide. Blame the BGNews... but yet they also printed this very letter that indirectly attacks themselves.

I'd also like to share an article by a friend of mine who also writes for the BGNews. While this guy is Christian [though, as I discovered rather unfortunately, he's also quite anti-Catholic (...does that give anyone else pause? i mean, how can one profess Christ yet still oppose fellow Christians??)], when you read the article, it's ironic how right my friend's thesis is. I submitted for comment the following:

Well said, [name removed].


Take it a few steps further ("south") and you've got the reason why the Catholic Church speaks out against contraception.

Romantic relationships, as I hope you would agree, are about the journey towards loving each other completely and fully. So, by extent, if a guy is dating a girl and they're having pre-marital sex and using contraception, he does not love her alone...but he also loves contraception.

So, I would be so bold as to add "contraception" to the list of things you've already mentioned that don't make a girl who she is...especially as contraception does in fact change who she is chemically and hormonally.

That's what I submitted. It's not posted yet because it's under review. Then again, since the article was written at the end of January, and no other comments appear, I'm not getting my hopes up of anyone seeing what I posted... so I wrote it on here!

Anyway... I'd also be so bold as to say that the 'hypothetical' guy I mentioned in the all too common scenario, in addition to not loving his girlfriend alone but also contraception, he probably also loves sex. I'd venture to say that they both probably love sex than they do each other, and thus they simply use each other. At that point, love goes out the window.

This is why Janet Smith herself expressed her pessimism almost two weeks ago. Sometimes I can't help but agree with Smith. The world is fading away... The warnings Pope Paul VI's prophetic encyclical (see paragraph 17) are coming to pass... and the sheer irony is that the very naysayers to the decline of morality only prove those words to be true!
Yet, God is still good. I am truly proud of how the students within the Church local community are reacting. Not only have I responded (which I posted yesterday on here... though I didn't receive a confirmation of reception by the BGNews like others have...), but so have plenty of students, like Gina, Veritas' president, whose reply was printed. Other steps being taken by the prayer warriors of our local Church Militant include, but are not limited to: our continued inclusion of the BGSU community in our prayers, especially those who need to hear the message Prof Smith presented, the written submissions to the BGNews by close to ten other current Catholic BGSU students and alum and members of Veritas, and the invitation into conversation by several former students to those who have responded negatively. I myself am considering now to email directly the male student who spoken negatively about the entire situation, inviting him into conversation, reaching out to him... not to change his mind, but to change his heart. All in all, eeeing the readiness for battle, first with prayer, among the students here is fantastic.

Bare in mind that when I speak of the Church Militant, the enemy is not those who disagree with the Church, but in fact satan himself and the army of evil spirits. We cannot deny their existence nor the enemy's tactics. If there's one thing that the movie The Rite did, though I have yet to see it, was to promote this truth: "not believing in the devil won't protect you from him". Yet, our weapons in this fight are NOT the same as the enemy's. Even though I'm continuing to use military language and imagery, I want to be clear that it might not exactly be the first idea that comes to mind. We as faithful Catholics engage the enemy in battle when we pray, most especially during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and and for Our Lady's intercession by way of the Most Holy Rosary. Our weapon when we're not praying the official prayers of the Church (because we should never stop praying) is the prayer of Love. It's living out the Christian walk, words and actions, in the light of Love. It's dragging sin into the light. It's being honest with each other. It's confessing. It's calling the world to conversion with compassion... and sometimes that makes us look mean... Jesus looked mean to some of the people of His day. Jesus said some pretty shocking things to the people of His time... and He still does through His Bride, His Church, His Holy Nation, a People called and set apart. ...that's us.

I'm proud because I can see that here locally... I pray that other parishes will join us... that all dissenting catholics will return to the True Faith... that all Christians will come Home... One Flock, One Shepherd, One Church... battle ready, waiting to be welcomed into Eternity and hear the Father say "Well done, my good and faithful servant". Yet, it's in matters both big AND small that we need to fight this battle. Christopher West has said that we won't stop global warming until we stop contracepting. I'd say that we won't stop contracepting until we start doing things, even little things, for others out of simple love for God and for others. West would agree with me, though, that it's because our world doesn't know how to authentically love...even when it's right in front of them. That's why we're experiencing the situation at hand.

I'd like to end with this quote from St. Catherine of Siena. I found it on this article, providentially.
"We’ve had enough of exhortations to be silent! Cry out with a hundred thousand tongues. I see that the world is rotten because of silence"