Can you imagine the public reaction at the time of the Normandy Invasion to public school officials who openly advocated homosexuality, homosexual marriage, and homosexual sex education for grammar school children?
I was about to offer an anecdote that might encourage people like George Chedid...
To wit:
In the 3d grade I had a teacher whom I didn't like (unusual for me). She was from a distant state. She was a Republican and praised Abraham Lincoln. I went home and told my mother, who was a staunch Democrat and hated Lincoln. She said to me: "You are a DEMOCRAT," and she followed with a diatribe against Lincoln. I didn't tell my teacher about this, but I accepted my mother's dogma over my teachers and resented the attempts of my teacher to indoctrinate me.
I thought this might demonstrate the power of parental authority over that of schools and teachers.
However--upon reflection--I am now a Republican and an admirer of Lincoln...
Maybe this anecdote demonstrates an ability to think for oneself beyond indoctrination. I hope so. But I'm not sure.
My parents were also staunch Protestants. I am seriously considering sending my grandchildren to Catholic schools--because of the indoctrination of the Leftist madrassas mentioned in the article. I'm not convinced that non-parochial private schools are better than public schools in this respect.
I'm an Episcopalian, but it seems to me that the Catholic Church is emerging as a solid resistance to the decadence. On the other hand, the Catholic Church is under heavy fire from the decadence, especially in Europe.
Thank you for your words of encouragement, NY, concerning my rant (post #27). It's hard to be sure we're not full of baloney when we launch one. ~S
There is some truth to that first statement followed immediately by another that demonstrates the wisdom that comes with age. My mother is only 16 years older than I but still appeals to her childhood memories of the Good Works programs and how the Democrats jump started the economy back then. She and my father both watch the msm news and tv morning shows and buy into whatever hogwash they are fed. My mother's ignorance is frightening; she still believes that Terri Schiave was on life support and that her husband did the right thing by pulling the plug. My father is more open minded but lacks friends and has isolated himself from discussions with others.
I used to be a news junkie and would flip back and forth each night from CNN to MSNBC to FOX. Since television is a one way form of communication, I often found myself shouting at the program host and going to bed bitter, angry and frustrated. 3 years ago, I gave up watching the news for Lent and peace entered my life. I have never gone back. I catch all the news at Drudge or right here on FR, where we can discuss issues and challenge the msm reporting.
I'm an Episcopalian, but it seems to me that the Catholic Church is emerging as a solid resistance to the decadence. On the other hand, the Catholic Church is under heavy fire from the decadence, especially in Europe.
The Catholic Church holds the deposit of faith entrusted to it by Jesus Christ through the Apostle Peter. There are some progressivist bishops who have tried unsuccessfully to move the Church is a different direction. They apparently failed to factor in the work of the Holy Spirit. Only last night, Geoge Weigel, a Catholic theologian and one of America's leading public intellectuals, appeared as a guest on EWTN's Friday night program The World Over Live. He spoke about Pope Paul VI's Encyclical HUMANAE VITAE . This Encyclical was intended to be the Catholic Church's response to the use of artificial birth control by catholics. Many religious within the church, anticipating the Vatican's approval, had paved the way by assuring their congregations to be patient. Some had already told penitent's to go ahead and use the pill. I still recall my parent's watching the news during dinner that night when the encyclical was released. The msm were surprised that the Catholic Church had decided to remain in the "middle ages". It shocked many of the catholic religious who did not expect this outcome. But once again, the Holy Spirit spoke through Christ's representative. In the Encyclical, Pope Paul VI writes:
Neither is it valid to argue, as a justification for sexual intercourse which is deliberately contraceptive, that a lesser evil is to be preferred to a greater one, or that such intercourse would merge with procreative acts of past and future to form a single entity, and so be qualified by exactly the same moral goodness as these. Though it is true that sometimes it is lawful to tolerate a lesser moral evil in order to avoid a greater evil or in order to promote a greater good," it is never lawful, even for the gravest reasons, to do evil that good may come of it (18)—in other words, to intend directly something which of its very nature contradicts the moral order, and which must therefore be judged unworthy of man, even though the intention is to protect or promote the welfare of an individual, of a family or of society in general. Consequently, it is a serious error to think that a whole married life of otherwise normal relations can justify sexual intercourse which is deliberately contraceptive and so intrinsically wrong.
IVF was unknown in the 60s yet this encyclical providentially anticipated the 'slippery slope' down which we would all travel with the approval of a simple birth control pill. (See my post #64)
As for the situation in Europe, the issues are relativism and secularism. With increased education, people tend to think they no longer need God in their lives. They have the intelligence to resolve all their problems. My parents are classic examples of this as well. They have formulated so many legal documents to ensure they "will not be a burden on society". Actually, I had looked forward to the day when I could give back to my parents some modicum of the love and dignity they had inbued in me. On the contrary, they feel they are the masters of their own destiny. All I can do for them now, is offer up prayers and remain as a sentry anticipating the day when they not only need but want me.
Thank you for your words of encouragement, NY, concerning my rant (post #27). It's hard to be sure we're not full of baloney when we launch one. ~S
You are absolutely correct and that is why I pointed the others to your post. If you scroll back towards the top, you will find a similar post from me.
For a period of 11 years, my life was reduced to living from one paycheck to the next. It was a very rocky road to traverse and along the way, in utter desperation, I opened the Bible one night in hopes of finding some redress. I just happened to open to the Book of Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes
Chapter 1
- 1
- 1 The words of David's son, Qoheleth, king in Jerusalem:
- 2
- 2 Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!
- 3
- 3 What profit has man from all the labor which he toils at under the sun?
- 4
- One generation passes and another comes, but the world forever stays.
- 5
- The sun rises and the sun goes down; then it presses on to the place where it rises.
- 6
- Blowing now toward the south, then toward the north, the wind turns again and again, resuming its rounds.
- 7
- All rivers go to the sea, yet never does the sea become full. To the place where they go, the rivers keep on going.
- 8
- 4 All speech is labored; there is nothing man can say. The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor is the ear filled with hearing.
- 9
- What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun.
- 10
- Even the thing of which we say, "See, this is new!" has already existed in the ages that preceded us.
- 11
- 5 There is no remembrance of the men of old; nor of those to come will there be any remembrance among those who come after them.
Nothing is new under the sun! Here is the wisdom so lacking in today's society. I have heard it and I'm sure you have too that "we need to get with the times!" We're living in the 21st century. Each time I hear those words, I recall those of Qoheleth, written about three centuries before Christ.
God bless you!