What’s New
For the newest What’s New entries, please go here.
• The
Feast of St. Didacus, 2010 (11-13-10)
Added another article, The Infallible Magisterium Has Not Yet
Ruled Out the Possibility of So-Called ‘Baptism of Desire’ for
Catechumens, in the Books & Articles (B&A) section. The next step
in my battle against what I call ‘catholic fundamentalism’, it is
an excerpt from a letter I sent earlier this year to a former Catholic brother
of mine who has now entered into schism against me over, amongst other things,
the very issue mentioned in the title of this latest article. Confused, dear reader, about this subject? Not sure if it’s
permissible for Catholics to hold the opinion that catechumens can die ‘accidentally’
and still, potentially, enter into Heaven without water baptism? Or, maybe, you
are a Catholic fundamentalist but aren’t so
arrogant as to pretend to be ‘infallible’ in your interpretation of
the words of the Magisterium and hence are willing to read the simple good
sense and solid evidence of what I have said against your schismatic stance?
Then dig in! The matter is, truly, a grave sin against charity and leads to
Hell if you’re proudly stubborn about it.
Meanwhile, I’m continuing my
renovation of the website by slowly changing over the standard text font of old
posts to 14.
• The
Feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Saviour,
2010 (11-9-10)
Added the
article, The Hideous Schism of Catholic
Fundamentalism, in the Books & Articles (B&A) section. A condensation
of the principles for judging accusations of heresy as found in the Was Benedict XV an Antipope? book --- but
without the intricacy & details (or length) --- it addresses the new
allegations launched against Leo XIII by those who touted similar
accusations against Benedict XV last year. It also describes the
erroneous mentality of what I call ‘catholic fundamentalism’, which
inevitably manifests itself as the most grievous (and almost
always mortal) sin of schism.
Also revamped
the website’s design. Not radically so, yet added
another vertical bar to the frames, which I entitle the ‘quicklinks’ bar. In it surfers of the web
may now find direct links to the most recent posts, as well as links to
highlighted pages. Too, I decided to change the font
size on the homepage. I started out with large font due to my concern
that older folks might get discouraged trying to read smaller characters (which
is a big concern when your website is almost all text and you are genuinely
concerned about the eternal welfare of all of your readers!). However, I’m
convinced that now even older readers are so used to browsing the web ---
and their software so very capable --- that they can easily enlarge their
browser’s view without me having to cater to their particular need. Hence, I
shrunk the font from 16 to 14 on all standard text. I intend to do
this with other pages, too, but it’ll take
several weeks to gradually complete the task.
Finally, a word about the feast day and
the length of time it’s taken for an update to the site. Part of the
delay is because I’m very busy with other
things. Another part of the delay is, it seems to me, that the Devil is
working harder to oppose my efforts (which is why, if you’re truly
Catholic, I covet your prayers on my behalf). And part of the delay is
simply that I’ve bided my time before posting things that might
offend some people who are supposed to be Catholic.
At any rate, this is why it’s been exactly 280 days
(40 weeks precisely) since my last update on 2 February 2010. This happens to
be the period of gestation for a baby in the womb. Let us pray,
then, that this latest spiritual & intellectual newborn
grows strong and pious, bearing much fruit on the website!
But about the feast
day itself? Ah, the Basilica of
• The Feast of the Purification of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, 2010 (2-2-10)
Twenty-four new very short webpages added to the Straight & Simple (S&S)
section. All of these together create a new category called
Don’t think God has a Church --- and one Church alone --- or don’t
know as much about God’s Church as you should? Then take a look at these
pages. No page in S&S is more than five very brief paragraphs (except for
the title page, which lists all of the other pages), and most of the paragraphs
are only one or two sentences at most. This is Eternal Salvation we’re
talking about, my dear reader… you can’t afford to be wrong about
the One & Only Church that God started. So take a look!
Today is the Feast of the Virgin Mary’s
Purification. Under the Law of the Old Testament Church, a new mother could not
enter the women’s court of the
The Blessed Virgin Mary did not have any
uncleanness to be washed away by Old Testament baptism. This is because She was conceived immaculately in Her mother’s womb,
not having any sin passed on to Her, and kept Herself unsullied from sin for
the rest of Her life. This is why God chose Her to
bear His Son, Jesus. Jesus, being God and perfect, needed a mother unstained by
sin to bear Him Who has no sin --- not to mention that, since She gave Him His
Flesh, She could not have done so without giving Him sinful flesh if She
Herself was born in sin. If you don’t understand this very well --- or
are extremely skeptical --- then please go to the Home Page of The Epistemologic Works and scroll down past the picture of
Mary as Our Lady of Guadalupe until you reach the Mary Exalted article. Read this article entirely, especially the
latter part where it goes into some detail of commentary on a passage from the
Apocalypse (what Protestants call ‘Revelation’). It will enlighten
you greatly.
So why did Mary
enter the
Because She was
perfectly obedient to God. Just as Her Son, Jesus, did not need to be
baptized by
Incidentally, the Purification of Mary
is known as well as the Presentation of Jesus since, in going to the
Finally, yesterday was the Feast of St.
Ignatius of
“Continue to gather together, each
and every one of you, collectively and individually by name, in grace, in faith
and one Jesus Christ… in order that you may obey the bishop and the
priests with an undisturbed mind, breaking
one bread, which is the medicine
of immortality, the antidote we take in order not to die but to
live forever in Jesus Christ.” (St. Ignatius of
In one fell swoop he upholds both
obedience to the leaders of the Catholic Church (bishop & priests) and
teaches the Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist (what Protestants often call ‘communion’)
as the means of living forever with Jesus Christ, being the “medicine of
immortality”!
Too, a mere week ago (January 26th)
was the Feast of St. Polycarp of
“For it is good to be cut off from
the sinful desires in the world, because every “fleshly desire wages
war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11), and “neither fornicators nor the effeminate nor
homosexuals will inherit the
In one swift thrust he smashes the lie
that ‘faith alone’ saves a man while good works are worthless for
salvation, and upholds, as well, obedience to the leaders of the Catholic
Church (priests & deacons)!
Blessed Ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of God
Almighty, and Ss. Ignatius of Antioch & Polycarp
of
• The Feast of the Nativity of the Lord
Jesus Christ, 2009 (12-25-09)
Three new letters added to the Letters
& Admonishments (L&A) section.
The first, A Little Bit More About Me, the Salvation Dogma Defended Very
Explicitly, and Why Sedevacantism Must Explain Our Crisis, is a
continuation of an earlier letter, A
Little About Myself, Why I Designed the Website as I Did, and How
Sedevacantism Explains the Quandary We’re in Today, posted a few
months ago. Have doubts about sedevacantism, or mock it mindlessly without
bothering to study the thesis seriously? Then these two epistles are for you,
especially the latest one, which by hard evidence & powerful logic shows that
sedevacantism is not merely plausible but, indeed, the only thing that fits
the facts.
The second, The Myth of Overpopulation & the Wickedness of Birth Control,
addresses a very hot topic nowadays. Practically everyone in the western part
of the world, at least, has rejected children as a gift & necessity of
marriage between man & woman. Hence, the person who dares to reject
so-called ‘birth control’ is persona
non grata if he dares to bring this up.
Meanwhile, lots of people today try to morally justify their very immoral
behaviour by pretending that they are ‘saving’ the earth by doing
so. I.e., by rejecting children in marriage --- whether totally or limited to
one or two kids --- they imagine that the earth is a better place, being too ‘crowded’
or ‘overwhelmed’ by the numbers of human beings living presently.
Bought into this notion, my dear soul? Then this epistle is for you. It’s
very brief and to the point… perfect for the reader who refuses to
stomach more.
The third, The Term ‘Co-Redemptress’ for the Blessed Virgin Mary Is Neither
Heretical Nor Scandalous to the Catholic Faith, tackles the rather
strange & obtuse idea of late that this title is forbidden by the
infallible teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. Some even dare to say that
the title is ‘disrespectful’ toward God’s Mother! Confused by
this stance, dear reader? Or adamantly convinced that the claim is true?
Imitate the Blessed Virgin by showing humility and studying this epistle. In it
you will find ironclad reasoning, grounded in the teachings of the
Church, for why ‘Co-Redemptress’ is more than just permissible ---
it’s practically demanded by the
reality of what God happily gave Her!
Too, I have added one more page to the
series of webpages recently posted to the Straight & Simple (S&S)
section concerning the topic of Truth. These very easy & brief pages now
total 17 instead of 16 as before. Haven’t seen them yet? Then glance at them
now in S&S. Pick & choose, or go straight through all seventeen in a
few minutes.
Lots of other little tweaks added here
and there. Some are typos corrected, others are webmaster’s notes directing
readers to other pages related to what they’ve been reading in a certain
place. Still others are updates to the Home Page, linking to new posts.
O Light of the World and Creator of All
That Exists! You dwell in light inexpressible, clothing Yourself
with the stuff of this creation in order to enable men to perceive that which
is unperceivable. When it wears out, You shall change
it like we change garments. But You, O King above all other kings and Leader
above all other leaders, are always
the same from all of Eternity, being infinite, needing nothing, and
full of Grace & Truth. How can we see You and live? Yet You draped Yourself
in our humanity, the veil of human flesh hiding that which would destroy us in
order that we might live and see You Face-to-face in Highest Heaven forevermore
some day! Make us clean & light, burn us of all the dross & opacity
that weighs us down in the things of this corrupt earth, fallen by our father’s
sin. The Second Adam You are, the Son of God as well as Son of Mary, yet never,
like the First, departing from his Father’s House. O Self-Subsisting God!
May we subsist in You by our baptisms, never to leave
Your Side or Your Embrace.
O Holy Infant of Prague, we adore Thee
and worship Thee in Thy humble manger.
• The Feast of the Expectation of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, 2009 (12-18-09)
Revamped the
Straight & Simple (S&S) section. The one short article posted to
it previously, Betrayed, I have put
in The Great Apostasy section since it deals with this very subject. Sixteen
new webpages are now in S&S, linked horizontally in sequence. They address
the subject of Truth, a series of single questions answered very briefly one
after another. Other categories of questions will be forthcoming.
Don’t have the time, patience,
ability or interest to read longer & more complex writings, my dear soul?
Then the S&S section is for you. Dig in and enjoy!
Various other little things tweaked
& corrected here and there. For instance, the hyperlinks in the Creeds
pages now change color to white when the websurfer’s
cursor hovers over them --- something the other webpages already do, but
somehow got missed when the creeds were first posted.
Originally
celebrated by Catholics in
O Virgin Most Holy, how Your Soul must
have thrilled at the thought of the Greatest Event that Creation had ever known.
That God Almighty would clothe Himself in Human Flesh --- Your Flesh, the Flesh
given by You to Him within Your Sacred Womb! --- and
live amongst men and accomplish their Redemption.
• The Feast of the Immaculate Conception of
the Blessed Ever-Virgin Mary, 2009 (12-8-09)
New posts in the Prayers & Devotions
section of the website, opening a subsection called Prayers of Contrition &
Penance. One is entitled An Act of
Contrition, the other A Thorough
Contritional Prayer.
Consider yourself Catholic, dear reader?
Yet don’t take confession of sin seriously? Then you need to look at
these entries. Consider yourself Catholic and yet do take confession of sin seriously, but don’t quite know what to do when a lawful & truly
Catholic priest is nowhere to be found? Then you also need to take a long look
at these entries. The Great Apostasy makes things harder,
nevertheless, it’s not impossible. Meanwhile, if you don’t examine
your conscience carefully, confess your sins meticulously and practice penance
assiduously, then you won’t go to Heaven and no matter how
Catholic you are! Being Catholic only gives one a Hope for Salvation; whereas being
a good Catholic is what gives you
a reasonable Hope for this
Salvation. Don’t neglect confession & penance or practice them horribly
and expect to escape Hell!
The Beloved Queen of Highest Heaven, the
Perpetually Virginal Mary, was conceived immaculate upon this day without any
stain of sin. No one except Jesus, Her Divine Son, shares a similar
distinction. And it is because Jesus, as God, had to be conceived
without sin that Mary Herself, mere creature though She was, had to be
conceived immaculately by the prevenient grace of the
Almighty Creator prior to Jesus’ Conception.
Call yourself Catholic but don’t
understand this? Then take a look at the first half of the article, Mary Exalted, already long posted on the
Home Page of The Epistemologic Works. Just scroll down past the introductory
stuff and the picture of the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Guadalupe, and start
reading. Pay especially close attention to the latter portion where it goes
into the scriptural passage from the twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse (or ‘Revelation’
to those who are not Catholic).
Call yourself Christian, a bible
believer, a follower of Jesus --- or whatever --- and yet don’t want to
believe all of this Catholic teaching about Christ’s Mother? Then do the same thing… read Mary Exalted carefully & thoroughly, setting aside your
prejudices in the meantime. I designed it just for you, my dear soul, and you
can benefit from it by not pretending to be infallibly right about your ‘spiritual
beliefs’ or never-wrong when interpreting your bible. And if you have
trouble understanding it, then go to the Contact & Donations section and
find out how to reach me. I’d be glad to help you.
O Root of Jesse conceived without sin,
pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
• The Feast of St. Wenceslaus,
Duke & Martyr, 2009 (9-28-09)
Glorious upholder of the True Faith of Roman
Catholicism against the murderous wickedness of his own mother & brother,
pray for us!
Have added two
letters to the Letters & Admonishments (L&A) section of The
Epistemologic Works website.
The first, Catholics Are Forbidden to Worship With Those Who Are Not
Catholic… and This is Where the Catholic Church Has Said So!,
in eight pages shows, from the authoritative statements of the Roman Catholic
Church, how no member of the Church is permitted to join in the religious
ceremonies or prayers of those who belong to a false religion. Even if the
persons concerned call themselves ‘catholic’ and look very
Catholic, having 99% of the dogmas of the Catholic Religion correct, it matters
not. Anyone who is openly obstinate in denying a holy & infallible dogma of
the Church is a heretic, being outside
the Church, and thus not Catholic!
This is a matter of eternal salvation, so please, I beg you, dear soul, to read
this webpage if you have ever thought otherwise. The Triune God of the Catholic
Church is a jealous God, and grievously offended when His children mingle
religiously with the children of the Devil, those who are outside the Catholic
Church.
The second, What Makes People So Self-Righteous About the Metric System?, is a letter I
wrote recently to a science-oriented website, commenting on the curious
intolerance of metric supporters toward those who prefer a different measuring
system. Never thought this was important or worth pondering, my dear reader?
Then take a look at this very brief letter. It’s only one page and shows
that the metric system --- far from being simply an innocent paragon of measurement
‘efficiency’ --- is in reality one facet of the modern crusade for
internationalism. Not that metric is intrinsically evil, but that its
originators were not necessarily behind it for mere efficiency’s sake,
and the fruit that it bears in its present-day proponents --- arrogance &
intolerance --- is proof of something lurking behind the scenes, like telltale
smoke which warns of a fire. Check it out!
Too, I have made several tweaks to parts
of the website, most notably to the home page. Scrolling down from the top, you
now find that I have made a compact statement about the nature & source of
truth, laden with scriptural references, and all pointing to the infallible
fact that God is the Origin of All Truth, Jesus is His Revelation of This Truth,
and that Jesus’ Body, the Catholic Church, is the Pillar & Foundation
of This Same Truth. In short, I have stated succinctly the essence of
epistemology in the grandest sense --- and the purpose of this website. Then,
scrolling down from there, you will now see many direct links to various
webpages on this site, aimed at either those who call themselves Christian, or
those who consider themselves Catholic.
Finally, I have added a chunk to the A
Note to the Reader for the Was Benedict XV an
Antipope? book, and a Webmaster’s Note at
the end of Chapter 12 of the book. Why?
Because I fear that too many people who
go by the name of Catholic --- and may even really be so --- are oblivious to
the danger of despising those who are God’s chosen men to rule over His
people. Such persons are so used to denying the purported papacies of the last
five antipopes (John XXIII to Benedict XVI) that they are callous &
hardened to the possibility of rashly denying the true & legitimate
papacies of other men who came right before the antipopes in Rome during recent
times (i.e., during the last century or two). And the situation is not helped
by the fact that such men, while truly popes, were very probably rather rotten
popes, and hence not very wise or very holy in all of their words &
actions.
The bottom line is this, though:
It doesn’t matter if a man is a bad pope. He’s still the pope. And
it doesn’t matter if he ruled some time ago. You still need to
acknowledge him as such if you’re going to call yourself Catholic. Nor does
it matter if they did nothing significant… say,
they only ruled for a few days and then died. He was still the pope. And
a pope is God’s man, period. To carelessly, rashly, or stubbornly
& obstinately deny such a man’s papacy is, therefore, the same as to
deny Jesus Christ on earth. If you haven’t the ability or will to
investigate the matter properly & carefully, then stick with caution.
Follow previous Catholics’ lead and accept such men as popes. Whereas if
you do have the ability to
investigate the matter properly & carefully, yet refuse to ponder
thoroughly or patiently all sides in the argument, and you then rashly &
stubbornly join with previous deniers to slander such men as antipopes, then
you are schismatic and placing
yourself outside God’s Catholic Church, failing to acknowledge one
of Her succession of visible heads. Your ‘sincerity’ in the topic
is irrelevant. Lots of sincere people go to Hell. What’s more, such
‘sincerity’ is too often a ruse, being but a guise for impatience
& pride, not wanting to admit that you could be wrong or not wanting to
take the time to find out if you truly are right, with all of your ducks in a row.
For the record, then, this is what I
added to the A Note to the Reader:
Which leads me to
very clearly warn those who consider themselves Catholic:
Wrongly accusing a man of being an
antipope is a grievous evil, an act of schism against the Catholic Church.
We repeat:
Calling
a pope an antipope is a horrendous evil in God’s Sight, being an
act of schism against the Vicar of Christ on earth and thus also an act of rebellion, disobedience & schism against Jesus
Christ Himself, not to mention against His One & Only Roman Catholic
Body, too.
Case closed.
Therefore, my dear reader, you had better
get your facts straight and make the
right decision when it comes to submitting to men who occupy the Throne of
St. Peter. It is far too easy nowadays during the Great Apostasy, when no
man occupies the Throne of St. Peter, for those who consider themselves
Catholic --- but who won’t acquiesce to Vatican II or submit to the men
who lead the false Novus Ordo Church
erected in its wake --- to split at the drop of a hat. These persons, called
‘sedevacantists’, have already taken the
gigantic step of rightly recognizing as antipopes the men everybody else thinks
are ‘popes’. The shock of such a thing has worn off for them. As a
result, it doesn’t seem like such a dreadful leap to conclude that some
of the Roman Bishops of the last century or two, who ruled before the recent antipopes of the past half century, are also
‘antipopes’.
That is one of the dangers of our
present situation.
And I admonish you, dear reader:
Don’t be a fool. Don’t take
a big huge leap before you take a
very careful look.
And if you’re not able to look
carefully --- being limited in mind, strength, time, resources or patience ---
or are unwilling to do so, not having the interest, then be smart and play it
safe.
I repeat:
Be
smart and play it safe.
Nobody dared to impugn Benedict XV for
formal heresy during the 1910s or 1920s when he ruled. Nor
did any Catholic dare to impugn him during the 80+ years that have followed
since then. It is only in the last year or two or so (depending on what sedevacantists we’re examining) that this charge has
been brought forward publicly and that men have had the audacity to believe it.
All Catholics previous to now have accepted him as a
pope and have never doubted his legitimacy.
Consequently, my dear soul, it is safe
to accept him as such --- a legitimate pope --- in the meantime. Were this reasonable assumption to prove wrong in the long
run, God will not hold the honest
& simple Catholic soul responsible for mortal sin. Whereas, if you are
arrogant & impatient --- as well as foolhardy & self-righteous --- then
God very much will hold you responsible for a grievously mortal sin of
rebellion, disobedience & schism against both Himself and His Roman
Catholic Body by assuming wrongly that a real pope is a fake pope.
Because
to dare to touch God’s man is to dare to touch God Himself.
Ergo, when Catholics refuse to
acknowledge a legitimate pope’s legitimacy, they are as well
refusing to recognize his right to command, becoming disobedient rebels. For even if such a man never did
anything significant as a pope, simply their refusal to acknowledge his
God-given right to command is disobedience in-and-of-itself. But since it is not just a mere man that they
disrespect --- a legitimate pope being the representative of Our Creator on
earth and the visible head of His Body, the Catholic Church --- then they, by
refusing to call a man ‘pope’, who really is a pope, also
disrespect God Almighty, flouting His Authority.
This is dead wrong, and it is why
being foolish & headstrong about this subject is mortally perilous.
It is why I have troubled to lose sleep, exhaust my strength and invite the
vicious ire of others upon myself in order to defend the Supreme Throne of St.
Peter & his rightful successors by composing this book. Heaven willing, I
shall write an article that sums everything up, and ties together what has
already been said in Was Benedict XV an
Antipope?
Until then, my dear reader, “Be ye
therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves.” (Matthew 10:16b DRC) To be “wise as serpents” takes patience & time.
It is why Was Benedict XV an Antipope? seems so complicated & long to most people. Yet if you
have not the ability or interest to be “wise as serpents” regarding
Benedict XV, then at least be “simple as doves.” Which
is why I’ve said to just take it on trust, following the lead of every
Catholic for the past 95 years, that Benedict XV was a legitimate pope.
In any case, you have been fairly
warned.
As
For if men who consider themselves
Catholic but refuse to acknowledge the rightfulness of Benedict XV’s papacy, also refusing to read --- or, rather, to
read carefully & thoroughly ---
what I have written to defend his reputation for public orthodoxy, then, like
my name’s sake, I say to them:
“Your blood be
upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the
Gentiles.”
That is to say, I have acquitted myself
of my responsibility in God’s Sight. Henceforth I shall bother only with
those who are humbler and earnestly desire to know the truth, irregardless of
what their prejudices may be to start with. Such men will dare to look, and
examine the evidence, cautiously sifting for the truth. They are who I aim for.
And the addition to the end of Chapter
12 is as follows:
[Webmaster’s Note: If the reader
who considers himself Catholic is here satisfied that Benedict XV has been
adequately defended for the time being against the attacks of those who accuse
him of being a formal heretic and thus an antipope, then you may stop here.
Everything beyond this point in Was Benedict XV an
Antipope? might seem needlessly repetitive, or at
least tediously long. Nevertheless, if the reader still has doubts --- or is
openly disbelieving that the legitimacy of his papacy has been successfully
defended --- then you are duty bound in God’s Sight to read
further until the end of this book. This is especially true if you have been
exposed to the various slanders that his accusers have lobbed against him,
oftentimes in a ridiculously illogical fashion. Because in the remainder of
this book we address many of the later ‘proofs’ that the accusers
dredged up against him from his various documents, imagining that these things
are sufficient to indict him. And you, my very dear reader, are not all-knowing or never-wrong.
Therefore, to avoid the snare of ignorance or mistakenness upon your part, you must look at all of the evidence &
reasoning carefully (not to mention thoroughly!) found within this book in
order to make a just judgment. Anything less than this kind of caution
& thoroughness is arrogant & stupid, as well as impatient &
foolhardy. You will risk damnation of your soul if you insist on being this
way. I beg you to not commit this mortal folly.]
• The Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary and
the Fifth Day within the Octave of the Feast of Her Most Wonderful Nativity,
2009 (9-12-09)
How magnificent this day, the day Catholics honor the most beautiful & sweetest Name
of Mary, greatest of all names apart from that of Her Divine Son, Jesus!
‘Star of the Sea’ it means, says St. Bernard of Clairvaux,
a great lover of the Church’s Heavenly Mother & Queen. And
‘Lady’ or ‘Sovereign’ it signifies, too, adds St. Peter
Chrysologus, another of Her
affectionate children. And today is also the anniversary of some very important
victories of good Catholics over their enemies. For in 1213 Simon de Montfort defeated --- against odds of 40-to-1 --- an army
of Albigensian heretics in Muret, France,
thereby saving
Mighty is the regal hand of Our Lady
& Sovereign, how strong Her Tower of Davidic Strength! Praised be Her
Precious Name forever, greatest of all God’s creatures, She who takes the place in Heaven of that angelic traitor,
Lucifer. Truly She is the ‘bearer of
light’, for Her Son, Who abode in Her Womb, is the Light!
Two new letters posted in the Letters
& Admonishments (L&A) section of the website.
The first, The Catholic Church Is The Only Way to Save Your Soul, No
Exceptions Admitted --- and Here’s the Infallible Proof!, is the text
of a small email sent to someone who styles himself ‘catholic’
while denying the infallible truth of ‘no Salvation outside the Catholic
Church’. Think you’re Catholic, dear reader? Yet refuse to believe
that you can’t save your soul without being Catholic? Then read this to
find out what the Catholic Church has infallibly declared about
Salvation… and act now in order to save your immortal soul from the fires
of a perpetual Hell!
The second, A Little About Myself, Why I Designed the Website as I Did, and How
Sedevacantism Explains the Quandary We’re in Today, is the text of an
email sent to someone who was very enthusiastic about finding The Epistemologic
Works during a seemingly inconsequential search engine hunt for something else
entirely. I took the opportunity to tell a little about myself (returning the
favor of this friendly person, who shared several personal details), say why the website has almost no pictures, and explain how
it is sedevacantism is the necessary solution nowadays for the religious crisis
we’re in as Roman Catholics. This last topic, while by no means
exhaustively broached --- the letter is quite short --- is particularly
crucial to comprehend if you’re going to be a true Catholic during
the crisis of the Great Apostasy that we face.
Finally, I made numerous tweaks to
various webpages and corrected a few typos here & there.
O Mary, Sovereign Queen of Highest
Heaven, pray for us!
• The Feasts of Ss. Hippolytus
& Cassian, Martyrs, and St. Radegonde,
Queen of
New letter in
the Letters & Admonishments (L&A) section. Called Regarding Religious Association with
Heretics, Marital Relations, Geocentrism, & Etc.,
the title can only barely hint at everything it covers. Not that it’s
very long --- if it were, then I would have put it in the Books & Articles
(B&A) section --- but it addressed observations and a series of eighteen
questions that a visitor to the website sent me a few months ago. He remarked
that while I had several things correct, dogmatically speaking, there were some
things he couldn’t discover without specifically asking what my position
may be regarding them.
So, dear reader, if you’re curious
to know some of my stands on things that I might not yet have spoken about on
The Epistemologic Works, then review this posting. Or if you’re anxious
to know everything you may need to know in order to be assured of eternal life
while staying away from every lie of the Devil, then please, by all means, look
at this latest posting very carefully. As I always say, you just might learn
something!
Finally, I added a small yet significant
addendum to my Note to the Reader in Part 1 of the recent Was Benedict XV an Antipope? book in the
B&A section. For the record, this is the addition:
Meanwhile, there are some --- both those
who agree with me about Benedict XV and those who do not --- who say my defense
of Benedict XV is too long. I could have said the same thing in fewer words,
say they.
This is partly
true and partly false.
Yes, it is true I could have chosen to say things with a lot fewer words.
However, no, it is not true that it would be the same thing. In other
words, what I have chosen to say is truly
necessary to say in order to say everything that I deem is necessary
to know so as to be able to judge Benedict XV rightly & properly.
If I did not say everything I say in Benedict’s defense, then those who
dare to stand in judgment of Benedict XV would not have EVERYTHING THAT THEY NEED TO KNOW so as to
be able to judge Benedict intelligently, accurately & justly.
Period.
What it really
boils down to is this question:
“How
thorough are you going to be?”
And when I see something that is important
enough & complicated enough to demand a great deal of
thoroughness, then I will make it a book
--- which is why I call this defense of Benedict XV a ‘book’ and
why I’ve put it in the Books & Articles (B&A) section of the
website. Perhaps the poor souls who first received this lengthy defense out of
the blue via email felt unfairly put upon; I can certainly sympathize with
them. And perhaps the brave souls who later read this lengthy defense wonder
why it can’t be said a lot simpler & shorter; I sympathize with them,
too. But the accusation & defense of Benedict XV is a matter of justice, and every man who dares to stand in
judgment of him has stepped into a court
of law whether he realizes it or not. And courts of law are not
places guaranteed to need brevity & simplicity above all other things. A
judge in court deciding a matter of justice must be prepared to hear everything patiently and ponder everything carefully.
If you’re not willing or able to
do this, then you have no business standing in judgment of Benedict
XV.
End of sentence.
• The Feast of Ss. Cyriacus,
Largus & Smaragdus,
2009 (8-8-09)
New article in the Books & Article
(B&A) section called Concerning
Abjuration, Invincible Ignorance, Children & the Use of Reason.
Confused about
the role of so-called ‘invincible ignorance’ --- if any --- in the
salvation of a soul? Ever wonder who --- if anyone --- really is invincibly ignorant? Not certain what
the ‘age of reason’ is or why it is relevant to the question of a
baptized child’s membership in the Catholic Body of Jesus Christ? Never
heard about the Catholic Church’s requirement for baptized children
raised in heresy who are fourteen or older to
‘abjure’ before they enter the Catholic Church? Yet aren’t
you curious why those under the age of fourteen aren’t required to
‘abjure’, and even though they may be above the ‘age
of reason’? Dear reader, don’t be baffled; there is good reason (no
pun intended) for the Roman Church’s actions. Read this article to
comprehend the relation between youth, ability to reason, ignorance &
denunciation of one’s religious errors in order to enter the membership
of God’s Church, which is the Exclusively Singular Way to have hope of
saving an immortal soul… and regardless of how young or old a person may
be!
Curiously enough, the article references
a document issued by the Sacred Congregation in the Vatican of Rome under the
auspices of Pius the 10th, Quam singulari, which happens to be rather significant (as
well as authoritative) in understanding this matter. This papal document is
dated 8 August 1910, precisely 99 years ago to the day prior to my posting of
this article.
I have also corrected several more typos
in the book posted last week, Was Benedict XV an
Antipope?
• The Feasts of St. Peter in Chains, the Seven
Holy Machabee Martyrs & Ss. Faith, Hope &
Charity, 2009 (8-1-09)
New book in two
parts in the Books & Article (B&A) section. Entitled Was Benedict XV an Antipope?, it is the
result of a long email sent to many people who have either, one, accused Benedict
XV of being an antipope, or else, two, been the recipients of these
accusers’ attempts to convince them that Benedict XV was an antipope.
Yet is this allegation credible? At
first glance, on the surface of things, it can seem to be. Especially for those
who are sedevacantists and already long used to the
idea that men everyone accepts as ‘popes’ are really just
fakes… not to mention not even Catholic. At second glance, going much
deeper, the charge is revealed to be very much lacking in both hard evidence
& solid logic. Moreover, that there is plenty of weighty proof on behalf of
his public orthodoxy. Don’t want to think so? Then read this book!
Meanwhile, even for those not attracted
to the notion that Benedict XV was an antipope due to manifest heresy, it is
nevertheless worthwhile studying in order to see how to judge charges of heresy
correctly and what constitutes heresy that is both notorious &
pertinacious, and thus manifest & formal. And whether or not Benedict was a
good pope, how appropriate that the book should be finished yestreday on the
Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola (he was a great & loyal servant, as well as
defender, of the Holy Papacy) and posted today, the Feast of St. Peter in
Chains (commemorating St. Peter’s relics from his imprisonment by King
Herod, in addition to his later imprisonment by Emperor Nero).
• The Feasts of Pentecost Sunday, Our Lady
Queen of Highest Heaven, Mary the Mediatrix of All Her Son’s Graces &
St. Angela de Merici, 2009 (5-31-09)
After two-and-a-half weeks, I have
finally added the next installment of The
English Catechism of 1583. This is Chapter 3 of the catechism, and it is
even longer (at some 41 pages in regular print layout of font 16) than the
first two chapters together (at some 33 pages). The complexity of the archaic
words, phrasing & grammar took a great deal of time making sure it was
translated correctly and that it could be understood by the average reader who
exerts himself at least a little bit. Which was actually a pleasure on my part
since I love etymology (the study of a word’s origin, history &
evolution across the centuries and through various languages) --- I’m
afraid it wasn’t much of a penance for me in this regard --- but was also
quite frustrating in not being able to get the means to someone’s
potential salvation up quickly… which was a penance! Not to
mention that I have left a couple of emails languishing in my correspondence,
for which I have not been able to spare the time to respond to for the last
month lest I cause the catechism’s text to delay even longer.
At any rate, this chapter of the
catechism deals with the Ten Commandments, as well as the Commandments of the
Church and good counsel concerning the bodily senses. It is filled with
practical wisdom & necessary knowledge about how to obey God. Want to know
if you’re on the Narrow Path to Salvation, my dear & precious soul?
Then study this catechism carefully --- and examine this chapter very, very,
very minutely. Two more chapters remain to be posted, along with some
appendices.
I have also corrected a handful of typos
hidden in the text previously posted and added a few sentences to the
Webmaster’s Note at the beginning of the catechism, in addition to adding
another webmaster’s note deeper in the text where the catechism’s
teaching of the Hail Mary Prayer needed to be explained in light of later
centuries of practice in the Catholic Church. Too, I have activated the
hyperlink for the Catechisms subsection in the Profession & Abjurations
section, which is where The English
Catechism of 1583 is located on the website.
And on a similar note, I have fixed a
couple of typos in the text for the two parts of the Protestant Protests Rebutted book posted last month in the Books
& Articles section of The Epistemologic Works.
What a glorious day for the Church! Today,
Pentecost Sunday --- the second most important feast of the Church’s
liturgical year --- is the remembrance & celebration of the Holy Ghost
descending from Heaven upon the 120 disciples gathered in the Cenacle in
Pray for us!
• The Feasts of Our Lady of
I have activated the thirteenth --- and
for now, at least --- last link in the navigation bar! Entitled ‘What
Must I Do To Be Saved?’, this section contains links to other documents
on the website that show a man exactly what God has said he must believe &
do in order to save his immortal soul. Most importantly, this section connects
to a document newly uploaded to the Profession & Abjuration (P&A)
section in the Catechisms subsection. Specifically, I have translated,
formatted & uploaded the first two chapters of an English catechism first
published in 1567, based on an edition that was printed in 1583. Hence, the
title of the document: The English
Catechism of 1583.
A Protestant critic of this site accused
me a few months ago of not having this last navigation link activated because I
do not know how to save a man’s soul. However, both he & I know this
was a facetious remark, mere words empty of truth while calculated to do
injury. Plenty of other pages in the website openly indicate, if only in broad
outline, what a man must do to enter Heaven. No, I left this navigation link as
the last to be activated for three reasons. One, salvation is precious and I
must not post something that is less than clear & thorough. Two, I am
extremely busy and cannot yet marshal the time & effort necessary to
compose a properly clear & thorough webpage intended just for this topic.
And, three, it took careful searching & evaluation --- not to mention
extensive translation & formatting --- to find something appropriate that
could stand in the brink in the meantime. Namely, an archaic catechism from
over four hundred years ago, untainted by the doctrinal errors & ambiguous
mush of later times closer to the spiritual darkness & confusion of the
Great Apostasy.
Note for the moment, again, how I have
only posted the first two chapters of The
English Catechism of 1583. I still have to translate the archaic words,
inverted grammar & lengthy sentences of the final three chapters.
Nonetheless, be it the Will of the Triune Catholic
God, then, with the Blessed Ever-Virgin Mary’s assistance, I shall have
these last chapters done & uploaded within the next week or two.
Note, too, that I have also put links in
the What Must I Do To Be Saved? section
to the four great creeds of the Catholic Church as already contained in the
Creeds category of the P&A section. Never meant to be completely
comprehensive documents, they are, all the same, authoritative & pithy
statements of the Church’s dogmatic teaching. Understood rightly, they
are crucial & infallible resources for knowing the Roman Catholic Faith.
Finally, and on a nostalgic note, this
is the anniversary of the first webpage uploaded to The Epistemologic Works
website in 2008. May is the month of Mary, and May 13th is, as you
may have realized from the bulleted line above, the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima,
Who appeared to three shepherd children in Portugal in 1917, heralding the
horrendous evil of the establishment of the world’s first ever Communist
government (in Russia, of course) and the outbreak of open apostasy against the
Catholic Church. It is She to Whom I dedicate this site, and --- although I
focus on the homepage on Queen Mary as Our Lady of Guadalupe (an apparition of
the Blessed Virgin to a poor Indian peasant in Mexico in 1531, which silently
foreshadowed the Rebellion of Protestantism & Atheism throughout the earth)
--- Our Lady of Fatima was like a last promise of Heaven to Faithful Catholics
that this dark night of Apostasy would not last forever. It would engulf the
world, dragging countless men’s souls into the abyss of Hell, but the
Light of Saving Truth on the earth would not be extinguished completely…
God’s Catholic Testimony would remain, however ignored or persecuted.
This website is at least one example of
this promise made good. To Jesus through Mary, for the Greater Glory of God
Almighty! And remember, dear souls: there is absolutely no Hope of Salvation
outside of membership in the Roman Catholic Church, which is Jesus
Christ’s Body. You may not want to believe this, but if I --- a
Protestant heretic raised to despise the teachings of the Catholic Church, and
a worldly & wicked man before my conversion --- could be brought to accept
this necessary, reasonable & easily proven truth by the miraculous power of
God, then there is no guarantee that He won’t do the same for you. So
look out! Your familiar life may just get upended for the better.
·
Low Sunday & the Feast of Ss. Elphege
& Leo IX, 2009 (4-19-2009)
New book in the Books & Article
section of the website entitled Protestant
Protests Rebutted. Roughly 94 pages long when printed out at font 12 in Times New Roman, it is posted as two parts. Written for an anonymous reader who
sent me five long emails late last year, it covers a wide range of criticisms
concerning the Catholic Church, refuting them soundly. Together with Catholic Ritual Defended, Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus and The Dogma of Baptism Upheld & the Lie of
‘Faith Alone’ Cast Down, it forms a quartet of writings that
explain, defend & propagate Roman Catholicism by way of combatting
the more ‘conservative’ variations of false religion posed by
Protestantism. Before adding any similar types of writings in this repertoire, I
shall now have to turn my attention to a book that is aimed at those who consider
themselves Catholics, as well as a long-promised addition to the Questions
& Answers section on Salvation.
Incidentally, some readers of The
Epistemologic Works may wonder what takes me so long sometimes to post new
compositions, especially larger ones. The answer is at least partly obvious.
Aside from the study, prayer & time writing required for each one ---
which, the lengthier the item, the longer the time needed, of course --- I also
have to govern & provide for a large family. This is time consuming, and a
human being only has so many hours and so much strength in a day to give. At
this date, I can muster around 20 hours per week for the task of composition,
occasionally 30 when I skimp on sleep. Certain things are not quite as obvious,
however. For instance, when writing about a particularly complex or obscure
subject, it can take hours upon hours just to tie up one little handful of
paragraphs in order to make sure that a topic is, first, comprehended by me
rightly, and, second, that the topic will be comprehended by my reader
correctly. This doesn’t happen all the time; but even a few times during
one composition is enough to add weeks to the work. Another big consumption of
time is local & global edits. The longer the text, the more small areas to
edit there are. And, conversely, the longer the text, the more there is to do
when making the global (or continuity) edit, which goes through everything as
uninterrupted as possible in order to make certain that everything flows &
adheres logically. E.g., at 94 pages long, it took about eight hours
uninterrupted (which is an ideal that is never truly attained, since there are
always interruptions along the way) to do a complete continuity edit to Protestant Protests Rebutted when it was
nearly finished. Then comes the formatting of the composition
to the website’s style & motifs, not to mention conversion into HTML,
the computer language used to post something to the Internet.
Anyhow, this can give you a bit of an
idea of the hard labour that is involved in writing for the Faith. It is truly
a job.
Finally, I made a few tweaks to the
website. I corrected a potentially misleading sentence in the synoptic
description of a letter in the L&A section that had worried a fellow
Catholic. I added a small header to the home page alerting readers to the existence
of the Mary Exalted article further
down the home page when you scroll down, as well as reconfigured the
introductory words to this article at that point. I added a small header to the
navigation bar letting people know when the last update to the website
occurred. Which is enough for now… but more is bound to arrive in the
not-too-distant future!
·
The Feast of St. John Bosco, 2009 (1-31-09)
There is an addition to the middle of
the article regarding the Our Father prayer in the Prayers & Devotions
(P&D) section of the website. Haven’t read
it yet? Then read it now. If you aren’t Catholic but seriously interested
in converting, then I guarantee you that you’ve probably never considered
most of the stuff that you’ll learn there. And if you’re truly
Catholic, I’m still willing to bet that you probably haven’t yet fathomed
half of the things that it reveals. The bottom line is this: Jesus didn’t
teach His disciples to pray the Our Father on a whim. It wasn’t just something
he cooked up on the spur of the moment off the top of His head. But if not,
then why did He teach them to pray the words that He spoke? What is their
significance? And how can this prayer be relevant to our world today?
The addition brings home the answer to
the last question in a big way.
Communion is at the basis of everything. And it’s either communion
with the Triune God of the Catholic Church or else communion with the Ancient
Serpent & Enemy of Mankind, the Devil, in the end --- there is no middle
ground.
Meanwhile, let us praise great saints!
John Bosco served young people like no other saint
had, especially during these troubled modern times. Living in the 1800s at the
beginning of the so-called ‘industrial revolution’, he befriended,
took in, cared for & converted thousands upon thousands of orphaned,
worldly & godless young boys wandering the streets of ugly, modern cities
or leading dissolute lives. Founding a religious order, the Salesians,
they eventually did the same for young girls, too. May his prayers from Heaven
obtain from God for this world --- now even darker of spirit than it was during
his lifetime while on earth --- the graces to convert still millions more to
the Catholic Faith! And may real Catholics be enabled, somehow, to serve their
corporeal necessities as well as their dire spiritual needs.
And, on a final note, St. John Bosco was a great admirer of an earlier saint,
·
The Feast of the Nativity of Christ, 2008 (12-25-08)
To all real Catholics who may read these
words, I wish you a blessed & holy Christmas! It is 2007 years since Jesus Christ
of Nazareth was born of the Blessed Ever-Virgin Mary, His Mother (He exited Her
Womb on December 25th, A.D. 1), it then being at that time --- as
the Roman Martyrology informs us --- precisely 5199
years since the creation of heaven & earth and the formation of Ss. Adam
& Eve, exactly 2957 years since the Great Flood of St. Noe, 2015 years
since the birth of St. Abraham, 1510 years since the exodus of St. Moses &
the Israelites from Egypt, and 1032 years since the anointing of St. David as the
King of the Jews, whose Kingdom his divine descendant, Jesus, established
forever & ever, world without end, to the Greater Glory of the Triune
Catholic God and the exaltation of Queen Mary, His Handmaid!
I have now activated the twelfth link in
the navigation frame for the section entitled Straight & Simple (S&S). Don’t have the time, energy, interest or ability to deal with
writings that are longer or more complicated? Want it short? Like it simple
& sweet? Then this area is for you. If Heaven will let me, I will
eventually put these writings on a website of their own called --- what else?
--- Straight-n-Simple. In the meantime, look through this collection as it
grows. There’s no particular order that you have to read them in, but, at
this point, I’m putting them together in the way that makes the most
sense. That is to say, if you want to read them all --- and don’t know
where to start --- then begin with the first and read them one at a time, down
through the list, until you reach the end. No article is longer than five pages
(if it were printed out in a normal, typical font size). Every article is split
into very short chapters, and I do my best to stay away from fancy words or big
sentences that might scare some people off or bore them. Dig in and enjoy!
And what is the first S&S article
about? Big stuff. It’s called Betrayed! (The Real Global Disaster Is
Spiritual). The world economy, international pollution, global warming,
nuclear terrorism, asteroids hitting the earth, war between nations…
living in modern times can be frightening! To top it off, who trusts their
leaders anymore? They all seem to be in it for the power or wealth --- or
something even worse, but hidden & unspoken. What’s a person to do?
Well, I can’t say soothing things that will put your mind to rest.
Because, like it or not, things are
bad. But I can let you in on a little secret… the real disaster that
hangs over our heads and threatens the entire earth is not a collapsing
economy, pollution, global warming, terrorists, asteroids, war, or so on and so
on. Some of these things may truly threaten us. Yet the only reason that they
do is because, in the first place, the
real global disaster is spiritual --- not physical! In other words,
the only reason we have to deal with these other things is because, to start
with, we aren’t friends with God. We’re His enemies! And
practically the whole world is this way. Don’t believe it? Then read the
article to find out how wrong you are, my dear reader… how dead wrong.
You might not like finding this out. But at least you’ll know from now on
what you have to do to stay alive!
Moreover, seeing as how this first
S&S article deals with the Great Apostasy, I have put a link directly to it
in The Great Apostasy section of the website as part of a growing collection of
writings that will deal with this subject until I have time to craft special
articles & writings specifically for this category in a very orderly way.
·
The Feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal &
I have added a tenth letter to the
Letters & Admonishments (L&A) section, entitled Regarding the Bible, Infallibility & the Church. It shows how
practically all men, whether they realize it or not, and whether they wish to
admit it or not even if they do realize it, at least tacitly claim to exercise
infallibility, while only the Catholic Church actually comes right out and says
it, boldly & plainly. Moreover, whereas the Catholic Church actually has
rational grounds for demonstrating Her God-Given Infallibility --- She being
the Ecclesial Body of Jesus Christ on earth --- no other men or religion have
any real & reasonable grounds for believing the same thing about themselves. Indeed, they have very excellent reasons for
concluding the contrary! Moreover, this combination of two epistles shows how
infallibility is the only thing that can assure a man of having what he
absolutely needs in order to do what he must to save his immortal soul. Nothing
less can grant this certainty, the practice of religions (and let us remember
that even so-called ‘atheism’ & ‘agnosticism’ are
religious dogmas!) without such infallibility being the function of mere
passions or prejudices that are, necessarily speaking, sheer crapshoots from
the perspective of the one practicing them.
I have also fixed a very small typo in
the Regarding Myself & Conversion to the Catholic
Church (for my Maternal Family) letter in L&A.
In addition, I have tweaked the wording
in Question #344 of Roman Catholic Church
in the Q&A area. A fellow Catholic was scandalized that I had spoken of Pr.
Abraham Lincoln in a way that might be interpreted as laudatory. I can say with
vehemence that no such interpretation was intended by me to be drawn by my
readers from the former wording of the long answer to this question. Yet rather
than risk the offense of my brother, I have happily changed the words to
something that is not only impossible to interpret as such, but does indeed
preach the very opposite! Let it be understood, then --- both Mr. Lincoln &
all
Finally, I have updated the Contact
& Donations (C&D) section to reflect our new postal address.
Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, pray for us! And obtain for the people of the Jews the aid
of Thy patiently merciful Son to convert their stubborn, hard & blinded
hearts to the New Covenant of Our Lord which they rejected in the days of His
First Advent. Just as Thou gained for the blasphemous Jew, Alphonse Ratisbonne, in 1842 in Rome the graces to convert him
wholeheartedly & most astonishingly in a widely public fashion to the Roman
Catholic Religion, so, too, I beg, may many of the blasphemous Jews of today
convert as well in a widely public fashion, wholeheartedly & most
astonishingly, to the Church of Catholic Rome, Thy Divine Son’s
Sovereignly Ordained Religion.
·
The Feast of St. Edward the Confessor, King of England, and the 91st
Anniversary of the Dancing of the Sun at the Final Apparition of Our Lady of
Fatima in Portugal to the Shepherd Children, 2008 (10-13-08)
Have added a
ninth letter to the Letters & Admonishments (L&A) section. Called Regarding the Great Apostasy & Not Putting
the Mass Before the Faith, it explains in brief what a real Catholic must
know & what such a person must do in the face of our present perilous era
when almost no one holds the True Religion whole & entire, and when there
are no --- or almost no --- lawful priests available to whom one may turn to
receive the Sacraments. Responding to an anonymous writer who inquired as to
what parish I belonged, together with a long introductory note it gives an
adumbrative but quick overview of what someone needs to know who is determined
to be Catholic at the consummation of our world.
In light of this posting, I have also,
finally, activated the link for The Great Apostasy section of The Epistemologic
Works website in the navigation frame to the left. Eventually I hope to have a
thorough explanation available there for those of good will who wish to know
why we are enduring the evil days we suffer and how an eventual solution to
these awful times might be found, not to mention what real Catholics must do in
order to please the Triune God of the Catholic Church during His Punishment of
bad members for their betrayal of the most precious thing in the world --- the
sacred means for saving our immortal souls. For now it only contains a link to
the newly posted letter, Regarding the
Great Apostasy & Not Putting the Mass Before the
Faith, in the L&A section.
Lastly, I have tweaked a few things in
the other recently posted letter in L&A, Regarding ‘Scripture Alone’, ‘Faith Alone’
& the So-Called ‘Crimes’ of the Catholic Church, not to
mention a slight typo repaired in Part One of The Dogma of Baptism Upheld & the Lie of ‘Faith Alone’
Cast Down in the Books & Articles area.
·
The Feast of St. Bridget of
There’s a new letter in the
Letters & Admonishments section of the website today called Regarding ‘Scripture Alone’,
‘Faith Alone’ & the So-Called ‘Crimes’ of the
Catholic Church. Think only the Bible can tell everyone what it is
they’re supposed to believe when it comes to religion? Think just
‘faith’ all by itself is what saves a man’s soul? Think the
Roman Catholic Church is guilty of all kinds of hideous ‘crimes’
against non-Catholics in centuries past? Then think again, my dear soul. These
positions are rebutted soundly here.
Too, I have added two new questions
& answers to the already very long entry entitled Roman Catholic Church in the Q&A section, and which I had just
updated with a lengthy addition two weeks ago. Why the latest addition? Because
the anonymous writer of a series of emails assailed, in the most recent email,
the defense I had made of Catholicism against the so-very-typical modern
accusations of horrible ‘crimes’ by the Catholic Church against
non-Catholics. Exploiting certain riots & rampages that bad Catholics had
committed rashly & unjustly against non-Catholics, the writer used these
events, together with other common complaints made against the Inquisition
& Crusades --- and which I had already sensibly rebutted in the addition
made two weeks ago --- to assail Catholicism as indefensible. Do your
prejudices automatically incline you to agree? Then stop cruising on
auto-pilot, my dear reader, and employ the God-given instrument of your mind to
examine, with the same skepticism you unquestioningly reserve for Catholicism,
the biases to which you cling! If you haven’t read the Roman Catholic Church entry at all, then
read it now. And if you haven’t read the addition of two weeks previous,
then start at Question #307 and read until the new ending of Question #360. Or, having read the latest addition recently, then check out the
two new questions of #357 & #358, along with the slightly reworked
questions of #359 & #360. Bad Catholics invited the Wrath of God
against the members of His Catholic Church, and bad Catholics encourage the slander
of enemies against this Church. Nevertheless, all of the bad Catholics in the
world can’t excuse foes of Catholicism for denying the simple good sense
presented here… and can never make all of the solid reasoning & rock
hard evidence for Catholic Teaching just up & disappear!
·
The Feast of Our Lady of Ransom & the Fourth Day within the
Octave of the Feast of St. Matthew the Apostle, 2008 (9-24-08)
Posted a huge
addition to the Roman Catholic Church entry in the Questions &
Answers section of the website, amounting to an increase of three-fifths in its
length. Why have I done this? Very simple.
Because one of the biggest tactics of the Church’s enemies nowadays is to
slander Her members with charges of ‘cruelty’, ‘murder’
& other ‘hideous crimes’ during the Inquisition and the
Crusades, as well as, it is often alleged, during the Conquest of the New
World.
Yet what have the Church’s members
to say for themselves against these charges?
I haven’t time right now to
address all of these accusations in meticulous detail, citing overwhelming
documentary evidence & marshalling solid logic in defense of every single
conceivable angle that an anti-Catholic foe might try to exploit against them.
Nonetheless, I’ve done the next best thing in the meantime --- use a
large dose of simple good sense, together with a smattering of general
historical facts that are either commonly acknowledged by people today or else
easily verified with a little scholarly research, to show that the Inquisition
& Crusades were not only not filled with such ‘crimes’,
but were instead absolutely necessary & almost completely just in dealing
with the horrible challenges that they faced.
Sound hard to believe?
Then, my dear reader, please get off
your duff, stop thinking that you already know it all concerning the Catholic
Church and that you couldn’t possibly be wrong about Her in your
judgment, and so read for yourself what the new addition has to say! If you
haven’t perused the Roman Catholic Church entry a single bit, then
examine the entire thing carefully & thoroughly. And if you’ve
previously looked at it, then pick up at Question #307 and read it through
assiduously until the new ending at Question #358. As I’m occasionally
fond of saying elsewhere in the website... you just might actually learn
something if you only bother to take a close look!
Dearest Lady, Blessed Ever-Virgin Mary
& Queen of Highest Heaven, today is the day Roman Catholics honor you as
Our Lady of Ransom. When, in centuries past, poor Catholics were enslaved by militant
Muslims as the latter conquered various Catholic lands or fought battles
against the Catholic armies that dared to defy them, you raised up other good
Catholics, even saints, to free them from their cruel masters by paying them
ransom for their lives... sometimes, indeed, offering their own lives in
exchange for the lives of those freed! In such a charitable way were the souls
of these poor slaves saved from the threat of apostasy, of caving in due to the
fear of losing their lives or suffering grievously were they to remain
staunchly Catholic in the face of their captors. Some, too, were at risk of
losing hope, thinking that the Triune Catholic God had entirely abandoned them
by allowing them to become oppressed, wondering if it was not ‘better’
to forsake Him rather than continuing to believe in He Who had let them come to
such a desperate situation.
Beloved Queen, the whole world is now
enslaved by the lies of the Great Apostasy, by those who speak such religious
lies and believe such religious lies! Countless numbers of Thy Catholic
children have left the Bosom of Holy Mother Church, Thy Son’s Body, to
embrace the false religions of heretics, schismatics, infidels, pagans &
Talmudic Jews. Everywhere the True Faith has been wiped from the face of the
earth, and True Charity --- Divine Love --- grows cold in the hearts of those
few who have remained, or who have become Faithful, to the Catholic Religion.
Have mercy on our souls! Have mercy upon destitute sinners lost in the
deception of spiritual blindness! Our Dear Lady of Ransom, do Thou please
ransom our immortal souls from the horrors that assault us, from the Evil One
& Father of Lies who seeks to destroy all of us with him in Hell
forevermore!
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us
who have recourse to Thee.
·
The Feast of St. Raymond Nonnatus, 2008 (8-31-08)
Posted another letter (or, rather, a
combination of two sequential letters) in the Letters & Admonishments
section called Exhorting a Former Co-Worker. Do you imagine that
evidence or logic is all you really need, that if the Catholic Faith could come
up with solid facts & rock hard reasoning then you could easily convert?
Then think again. This website already has tons of solid facts & rock hard
reasoning on behalf of Roman Catholicism for those who are merely willing to
take the time to look! To the contrary, most people refuse to convert in
spite of the unassailable evidence & ironclad logic. And it is the
‘little things’ which very often prove to be so seemingly difficult
& even insurmountable obstacles to conversion for many persons here on
earth --- and this although such things are as nothing in the Light of
Eternity. Read this entry, my dear soul, for the gentle yet fateful warning it
contains... and don’t you, please, refrain from saving your immortal soul
simply because you can’t stand the thought of what you might have to lose
on earth in order to accomplish it!
Too, I have continued updating webpages
with a new standard note at the bottom which directs people who have stumbled
on them from a search engine or other website. As well, I have added a couple
of paragraphs and tweaked a few words & a typo in the recent entry
regarding the Our Father in the Prayers & Devotions section.
·
The Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist & St.
Sabina, 2008 (8-29-08)
Added another prayer to the Prayers
& Devotions section, the Our Father prayer, with both suitable &
extensive commentary & explanation. As always, the words of the prayer are
given in Latin as well as English. However, this prayer may be said in two
slightly different ways, the eucharistic mode and the customary mode.
Read the commentary & explanation to find out why!
Also have been updating various webpages
to direct those who have stumbled upon The Epistemologic Works from a search
engine or other website. Since this website is done with frames --- and I am
not clever enough yet to construct automatic frames for those who do not start
out at the home page --- then the new note at the bottom of the pages tells
such persons to type in the site's address in their URL bar to view other pages
on the site. I will continue this updating till all webpages are up to par.
·
The Feast of St. Praxedes, 2008 (7-21-08)
Added an afterword to the letter, Regarding
Preaching & the Catholic Faith, in the Letters & Admonishments
section. My wife’s relative had responded irrationally toward this
letter, not even sensibly addressing what she had said or trying to come to
grips with the very simple & reasonable points that were made. In short, he
was not of good will toward the Catholic Faith. All the same, we
continue to pray for his immensely valuable immortal soul, that he might be
granted the graces from God through Queen Mary’s Immaculate Hands to
convert before it is too late. Because it is just such persons as these ---
blind, rebellious & irrational --- for whom Jesus died, His Blood able to
overcome their ungratefulness and to cleanse their sins, provided they but
consent to Him to do so by believing & obeying all that He teaches &
commands via His Singular Catholic Religion!
Dearest Saintly Virgin, Praxedes, thou
died of a broken heart seeing the slaughter of good & brave Catholics all
around thee during the times of the awful persecutions against the True
Religion of Catholicism by a still thoroughly pagan Roman Empire. A martyr,
too, wert thou, although thou did not shed thy blood! You visited the poor
Catholics in prison, treated their wounds, comforted their spirits, and built
up their hearts with fortitude against the diabolic hatred arrayed against
them. Do thou, O Blessed Praxedes, do the same for us who live as bearers of
the Name of Jesus & His Holy Catholic Body during these our times, even
worse than then, since the True Faith is almost nowhere to be found anywhere
upon the Earth! (Luke 18:8) St. Praxedes, pray for us, that we might love our
enemies regardless, and even though we must oppose them! O Blessed Mother of
God, Queen Mary the Ever-Virgin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
·
The Feast of Our Lady of
Finished tidying up the Letters &
Admonishments section by adding the website identification & copyright
information at the end of each webpage in that category. Also tweaked little
things here-and-there on the website. For instance, I underlined the info in
the What’s New category (see below for the Feast of Ss. Cyr & Julitta, 6-16-2008) and on the Home Page right before the
first half of the Mary Exalted
article regarding the different colors for hyperlinks. To wit, I make
hyperlinks that are not yet used a light sea blue, used hyperlinks a dark navy
blue, while any active hyperlinks light up as white when the cursor or pointer
hovers over it. Did this to make sure no one could mistakenly think that
hyperlinks are not underlined on my website --- and hence miss them for what
they are --- just because I use underlining & other rich text extensively
elsewhere in my writings. Too, tweaked a sentence or two in Roman Catholic Church in the Questions
& Answers (Q&A) category, did the same in The World Offended in the Books & Articles (B&A) section,
as well as in the Letters & Admonishments (L&A) introduction with
paragraph-long synopses underneath the hyperlink to each entry.
Meanwhile, I am working hard to finish
up another lengthy posting for the Q&A section called Salvation, as mentioned in the recent short letter posted to
L&A called Regarding Myself &
Conversion to the Catholic Church (for my Maternal Family). Additionally, I
am preparing to increase by several pages the lengthy posting already in
Q&A called Roman Catholic Church.
These extra pages will deal with the ‘horrible crimes’ typically
laid at the feet of the Catholic Church by just about everybody in the last
couple of hundred years concerning the Inquisition & the Crusades. Other
much lengthier postings will come, Heaven permitting, upon these topics
(entitled, of course, Inquisition and
Crusades), but these pages, when
posted, will do fine in the meantime, not letting people who irrationally hate
the Church of Rome get away with their unjust accusations scot-free and showing
people of good will how there is nothing to obstruct them from reasonably
converting to Her Precious Sanctuary.
Today Jesus’ Catholic Body honors
His Glorious Mother under the name of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Long ago, during
the
O Blessed Ever-Virgin Mary, Queen of
Highest Heaven, bestow upon us Thy Children the graces experienced by that
wonderful man of the Triune Catholic God, St. Elias, who stood in opposition to
his own apostate people despite the mockery heaped upon him & the threats
breathed against his life.
·
The Feast of
Tweaked the answer to Question #213 in
the Roman Catholic Church entry in
the Questions & Answers section of the website. Ended up doing this
because, in correcting a slight error in The
World Offended article in the Books & Articles category (I had listed
Question #214 instead of Question #213 as being the relevant thing to see in
regard to the ‘faith alone’ fantasy of Protestantism), I found
several things more worth saying, adding about 35% to the answer’s
length. Should you have never even glanced at the Roman Catholic Church in Q&A, then take an opportunity to do so
--- it’ll definitely challenge your preconceptions & turn your
worldview on its head!
·
The Feast of Ss. Cyril & Methodius,
2008 (7-7-08)
Posted a new letter in the Letters &
Admonishments section called Regarding
Myself & Conversion to the Catholic Church (for my Maternal Family).
For over a decade my extended family on my mother’s side has been aware
of my conversion to the Catholic Church. Nevertheless --- and including my
parents, who would visit routinely at first & then began attacking
Catholicism with regularity every few months until a final showdown in 2007
(which you may learn about in my book, The
Dogma of Baptism Upheld & the Lie of ‘Faith Alone’ Cast Down)
--- not a one of them ever bothered to ask even a single question about why
I did so. And this despite the fact that they disdain the Catholic Faith
& had taught me to do the same since earliest childhood! You’d think
they’d be at least a little bit curious to know my reasons for
leaving their ‘born again christianity’ in opposition not only to
their own bias, but in contradiction to the prejudices of the rest of the
world, too. Occasionally through my wife (who took longer to convert than I and
hence for awhile was viewed by them as someone they could ‘talk some
sense to’) or through my parents (who in savaging the Catholic Faith via
emails to me would make such disparaging remarks as follows) I would glean that
they thought of my conversion as just one of my latest ‘phases’ or
‘weird ideas’ (I’d always been the ‘oddball’ in the
clan). Yet, of course, the facts proved them wrong. That is to say, the
evidence of history, scripture & reason itself upheld me. And, after eleven
years, my own behaviour was beyond reproach. To wit, a decade is more than
enough time for me to have ‘come to my senses’ or ‘go on
to the next phase’ if passing fancy & foolish dream was all that it
amounted to… I thus issued a very simple challenge: take my conversion
seriously. Excuses are no longer viable, nor were they ever. Investigate
‘The Epistemologic Works’ website, see for yourself how there is
more than enough justification to save one’s soul by becoming a real
Roman Catholic!
·
The Feast of
Set up pages for titles alone in both
the Letters & Admonishments and the Books & Articles sections. That is
to say, when the web surfer goes to these sections, he sees a list of all
hyperlinked titles along with summaries of the individual contents of each one.
However, every reader now has the option, at the top of this page, to go to a webpage
with the titles alone listed, sans summary descriptions.
What a wonderful day! St. Irenaeus was a disciple of St. Polycarp,
who in turn was a disciple of
O Glorious Virgin Mary, most marvelous
of all God’s Creatures! Thou who sum up and complete the Week of the Old
Creation, Thy Son, Jesus, beginning the Week of the New Creation! All praise,
honor, lauding & veneration be Thine, O White Lily of Blessed Purity &
Vermilion Rose of Holy Sacrifice! And through Thee, may Thy Divine Offspring,
Our Heavenly Lord & Crucified Saviour, be worshipped & adored forever,
world without end, amen.
·
The Feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Succor, 2008 (6-27-08)
Added a new article to the Books &
Articles section entitled The World
Offended. Begun as a response to a second, longer letter sent to me by the
same person to whom I wrote the Regarding
‘The Epistemologic Works’ Website, Truth, Hell & the Catholic
Faith email that’s posted in the Letters & Admonishments section,
it addresses my relative’s primary concern --- why must we as Catholics
“shut out” the rest of the family? Why do we make a point of
telling people they’re going to Hell if they don’t become Catholic?
Don’t we know this comes off as ‘cult-like’ &
‘arrogant’? Don’t we think we’d make a lot more
converts by focusing on aspects of Catholicism other than exclusion from the
Hope of Heaven via a lack of conversion to the Roman Catholic Faith? Along the
way I also describe where those calling themselves Christian or born again go
wrong, what the Bible is for, the reason Catholics ‘preach’, how
come they tend to stick to themselves, and refute an anti-Catholic conspiracy theory
(albeit very briefly). In addition, I explain the religious tyranny that almost
all people nowadays slave under, all the while they pretend it to be a
‘freedom’. Do you hate Catholics, my dear reader? Do you consider
them ‘weird’, ‘arrogant’ & ‘rude’, the
way they seem to talk different, act different & think different from
everyone else? Then this might be the article for you. If you want to know how
a real Catholic can be certain there’s no Salvation outside of membership
in the Catholic Church, then read Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus in the Books & Articles category. However, if
you want to know why, given that a real Catholic believes this Dogma of
Salvation to be true, such a real Catholic behaves the way he does, then read The World Offended. It will open your
eyes to a new way of seeing things… indeed, to the only sensible way a
man can see things, knowing that Roman Catholicism is true!
Too, I tweaked the Official Policy for Public Use of the Writings Posted on ‘The
Epistemologic Works’ Website webpage slightly to include reference to
the need for copyright information to be in every publishing or distribution
made of the writings on this website, even those that are but partial publishings, as well as adjusted minor wordings in other
sentences. This tiny article can be accessed by hyperlink at the end of all
recent postings and via postings that I am slowly updating to include the link.
·
The Feast of
Added a new letter in the Letters &
Admonishments section called Re Preaching
& the Catholic Faith. Are you of the opinion, my dear reader, that
‘preaching’ is a no-no nowadays, being impolite & politically
incorrect? Do you think real Catholics are ‘intolerant’ &
‘narrow-minded’ merely for daring to tell someone that there is no
Salvation outside the Roman Catholic Church? Then this short little letter is
for you. The modern dogma of ‘no preaching or proselytizing’ is itself
revealed to be intolerant &
narrow-minded against the Roman Catholic Faith!
Also, replaced the small For Those Who Call Themselves Christian or
Born Again article in the First Things First section with an even smaller
article. After reflection, I realized that the older version did not address
the most pertinent concern (and bias) of such folks with enough alacrity &
directness. That is to say, their attention would waver and my point be lost if
I didn’t get it made quicker and challenge them to read further to see if
what I dare to say is the actual truth --- that real Catholicism truly is the
only way that God has designed for men to save their souls, that Catholicism
actually is
Christianity… and that nothing else can even rival it. I may decide to
use the old text later as separate article in the Books & Article section.
Until then, take a glance at what the new text has to say!
·
The Feast of Ss. Cyr & Julitta, 2008
(6-16-08)
Opened up the Prayers & Devotions
section with the modest addition of Foundational Prayers of the Catholic Faith,
in which may be found a link to the words of the Sign of the Cross along with
suitable commentary & explanation. Many more prayers will be added, the
Triune Catholic God willing, in coming months & years, not to mention the
area for devotions developed & fleshed out.
Too, added a small preface to the Home
Page right before the first half of the Mary
Exalted article. This preface warns new visitors how hard to comprehend Mary Exalted may be for those who
neither consider themselves Catholic nor call themselves Christian or born
again. In which case, they may want to focus their attention elsewhere at
first; for instance, in the Questions & Answers category, where writings
won’t usually require familiarity with a topic before launching into an
exposition upon it.
Finally, I also mention in the little
preface newly placed on the Home Page that I make unexplored hyperlinks a light blue
color, almost sea green, whereas hyperlinks already explored are a blue that
is darker than my typical font color. I do this to avoid
confusion since many of my writings employ rich text with extensive
underlining. But if there should be any doubt, simply hover your cursor over
the suspected link and --- if actually a hyperlink --- it will turn white, just like the
color of this font.
·
The Feast of St. Anthony of
Finally added a short article intended
for readers of this website who may call themselves Christian or born again.
Entitled --- what else? --- For Those Who
Call Themselves Christian or Born Again, it joins the For Those Who Consider Themselves Catholic article already posted.
One more brief article of this nature will be forthcoming for those who may
practice some other form of religion or who lay claim to no religion at all.
Each of these is located in the First Things First section, and each can also
be accessed through links placed on the home page prior to the Mary Exalted article, the initial half
of which has been ensconced there since the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima in
order to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary & highlight Her Heavenly
Prerogatives for visitors to this site via a thorough exposition of various
passages from the Bible.
Also added a small letter in the Letters
& Admonishments section called Regarding
‘The Epistemologic Works’ Website, Truth, Hell & the Catholic
Faith, which responds to a pleasant email someone sent to me recently after
having looked at The Epistemologic Works.
Lastly, have added a tiny webpage
explaining my policy for public use of writings found on this website. Links to
it can be found at the end of the new letter posted in the Letters &
Admonishment category, as well as at the end of the Letters & Admonishments
links page itself. Further links will be established throughout the website on
pages previously posted as soon as I can make time to do so.
·
The Feast of
Updated version of For Those Who Consider Themselves Catholic placed in the First
Things First section. No major renovations in the initial half of the article,
simply minor changes of a grammatical or stylistic nature, or a few added
sentences to clarify certain points & illustrations. However, in the latter
half of the article I added a longer section to grapple with the need of a formal
abjuration for those adults who, in rightly professing Catholicism,
nevertheless inadvertently associate religiously for a time with those that are
not truly Catholic. Presuming guiltlessness on such a person’s part, the
urgency for formal abjuration in this instance is that such a Catholic must
avoid any appearance of heresy or causing confusion & scandal amongst both
Catholics and non-Catholics. That is to say, by formally abjuring, the Catholic
involved in such a situation is only saying what he already thinks &
believes, and is doing so to show non-Catholics who is really Catholic and to
show real Catholics that he is really Catholic. His concern, then, is for the
souls of others even if his own soul was safe all along.
·
The Feast of
Posted both English & Latin versions
of the fourth of the Roman Catholic Church’s four major creeds in the
Creeds area of the Profession & Abjuration section --- the Tridentine
Creed.
During the A.D. 1500s many Catholics in
the northern European countries rebelled against the Papacy and started a new
religion which came to be known as ‘Protestantism’. Still calling
themselves ‘christian’ (and still pretending to be
‘catholic’, too, at first), their spiritual lies & obstinate
arrogance compelled the popes to convoke the Council of Trent in order to
combat their heresies, the latter then invoking the Supernatural Power of the
Holy Ghost as given to them to protect God’s True Church from solemnly
teaching error. The popes also wished to cleanse members of Roman Catholicism
from various immoralities that had crept into their lives, these
long-entrenched sins forming the rotten soil from which the putridity of
Protestantism had germinated in the first place. It should come as no surprise,
therefore --- and worldly or heretical readers will know exactly what I’m
talking about --- that
·
The Feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen & Mediatrix of All
Graces, and of
Posted both English & Latin versions
of the third of the Catholic Church’s four major creeds (and which people
of modern times hate with a passion since it indicts them for their
indifference toward religion under the guise of a so-called
‘tolerance’ for any beliefs no matter how false & blasphemous)
in the Creeds area of the Profession & Abjuration section --- the
Athanasian Creed.
·
The Feasts of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, St. Joan of Arc, St. Felix
I &
Posted both English & Latin versions
of the second of the Catholic Church’s four major creeds in the Creeds
area of the Profession & Abjuration section --- the Nicene Creed.
·
The Feast of
Have the Professions & Abjuration
section up & running… albeit barely. Ah, well, good things start
humbly, just as a new plant in the garden begins so small as to be barely
discernible, and so frail as to be thought impossible to survive for even the
fewest of days. That is to say, the section now holds but one item --- the
Apostle’s Creed in both English & Latin --- with many other future
links noted on the opening page, so as to give the peruser of this site a clear
idea of what lies in store for him further down the road. To the Triune
Catholic God, Who created all things out of nothing, be the Glory, Power & Dominion,
world without end, amen! To the Blessed Ever-Virgin Mary, Queen of Highest
Heaven & Mother of the Second Person of God, be the greatest of honor,
praise & veneration amongst all of God’s Saints, forever & ever!
My God & My All… O Littlest of the Little, St. Francis of
·
The Feast of
Activated link in the navigational frame
to the First Things First section, adding a short article intended for those
readers of this website who may consider themselves to be Catholic. Future short
articles will be forthcoming for those who may call themselves Christian or
born again, and for those who may practice some other form of religion or who
lay claim to no religion at all.
·
The Feasts of
Last third (Part Three) of The Dogma of Baptism Upheld & the Lie of
‘Faith Alone’ Cast Down posted in the Books & Articles
section.
I also put up two more admonishments in
the Letters & Admonishments section. The first, for the late Fr. Eugene Heidt, was in response to his heresy of
‘nonjudgmentalism’ toward those who are supposed to be leaders in
the Catholic Church, although I also had to take him to task for not professing
all of the dogmas of the Church like he’s supposed to do if he was going
to be truly Catholic --- and a priest, at that! The second, directed toward a
couple named Stan & Joan Heidt, who consider
themselves ‘catholic’, calls for them to renounce their heresies
& take seriously what I had told them some time ago in person, face to face.
Sadly, they, like so many other people today, believe merely what they want
to believe… and never lift a finger to investigate the matter further, to
see if what they prefer is actually the
truth. In this way do such people bring down upon themselves the Wrath of
God when they die. For if they care so little for what God has created &
designed us to accomplish, particularly when it comes to His Religion --- which
is how we become united to Him in perfect intimacy of being --- then how is it
they expect God to love them when they appear before Him on their day of
reckoning? How can He, when they have not loved Him by seeking out His Will
& His Purpose for their lives, caring enough to obey?
·
The Feasts of St. Gregory VII, St. Urban I &
Second third (Part Two) of The Dogma of Baptism Upheld & the Lie of
‘Faith Alone’ Cast Down posted in the Books & Articles
section.
·
The Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians, 2008 (5-24-08)
Posted first third (Part One) of The Dogma of Baptism Upheld & the Lie of
‘Faith Alone’ Cast Down in the Books & Articles section.
Are you of the opinion that Baptism of Water is merely symbolic, a ‘nice
thing’ that Jesus said people should do if they’re going to follow
Him, but certainly in no way intrinsically necessary for Salvation? Do you
consider anything more than ‘just believing’ in Jesus useless for
saving a man’s soul? Are you inclined to call Catholicism a ‘dead
religion’ and love to mock Catholics for trying to ‘work’
their way into Heaven? Do you despise veneration of Mary & the saints,
while at the same time you spare no effort to constantly honor the Jews as
God’s ‘chosen people’? Or are you, perhaps, a student of holy
scripture, studying it in the ancient languages of Hebrew & Greek, picking
apart what you like to think doesn’t belong there --- having only been
added or changed long afterward, say you --- whilst treating the decisions of
modern scholars about the earliest biblical manuscripts as if they’re infallible
papal decrees from on high? Then this book is for you. Find out that, yes, the
Bible really does say Baptism is necessary to save one’s soul; that, yes,
good works rooted in Christ really are necessary above & beyond mere
‘faith in Jesus’ to be allowed to enter Heaven. See how neither the
Law of God nor the Law of Christ is disparaged by
·
The Feast of
Posted the second fifth of the first
two-fifths of the book, Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus (‘Outside the Church, no Salvation’),
that is ready for publishing in the Books & Articles section. Learn how God
has given the Catholic Church, as His Son’s Body, the exclusive ability
to save souls, and how this can be known for certain. Discover that Christians
during the first few centuries after Jesus were --- shock of shocks ---
Catholic, and did indeed have popes who both spoke infallibly and ruled
supremely over their fellows just like popes have done in the most recent of
times. Find the argument of Protestants for the ‘bible alone’ as
their spiritual authority decimated, and their animosity toward religious
tradition laid waste. In short, read this book humbly, carefully &
thoroughly and never again find yourself able, with any believable pretense of
honesty, to say that the Church of Roman Catholicism isn’t the sole
religion that Jesus Christ started, endowed with everything She needed right
from the beginning. Don’t think it’s true? Then study the book for
yourself to see if Catholics boast idly!
·
The Feasts of
Sweeping explanation of the aim of The
Epistemologic Works website --- or ‘mission statement’, as the
popular lingo goes nowadays --- added in An Introduction To
This Site section, with navigational link activated. Want to know, without
getting into great depth, what this site’s all about? Then peruse the
webpage there.
Letters & Admonishments section
inaugurated, with first item posted being an admonishment of the conservative Novus Ordo priest, Nicholas Gruner. Famed for publicizing the Message of Our Lady of
Fatima, I used to support him occasionally in his apostolate. However, as the
years went by and I became more & more Catholic, I began to realize that he
wasn’t really Catholic despite saying a lot of the things that real
Catholics might say. In short, he might talk the talk, but he doesn’t
walk the walk --- and the talk doesn’t even add up right when you get
right down to it and truly examine his words closely! Yet why am I so brazen as
to denounce him publicly? Isn’t this cruel or ‘uncatholic’ of
me? Not at all. Real Catholics, to be real
Catholics, must know who is truly Catholic. Otherwise, what’s the
point of anyone saying that he’s Catholic? It’s a meaningless word
and achieves nothing. Consequently, real Catholics must denounce those who are not truly Catholic, exposing
them for what they are… phonies.
This is actually an act of kindness. For, in denouncing the fake, the phony is
given a chance to repent and become a real Catholic. Likewise, other fakes are
given a chance to repent, too. And, finally, real Catholics are protected from
falling for the lies & mistakes of those who are not truly Catholic,
thereby saving them from damning their immortal souls.
Questions & Answers section opened
up, with the first subject tackled being the Roman Catholic Church. Want to get a good overview of what the
Catholic Church is all about? Then investigate this webpage. It’s long
but broken up into more than one hundred queries & responses --- so it
ought to be easily digestible. Think the Church has nothing relevant to offer
the world today? Then think again. Better yet, put your brain into gear and
ponder the answers carefully. It’s guaranteed to surprise you and knock
your worldview out of kilter. Or, at the very least, to shake your prejudices
up pretty good. Also posted a Preface
for the Questions & Answers section; that is to say, a kind of prep for the
section, letting people know what the area is for, how it’s constructed,
and what future plans hold for it.
Finally, added the first part of a long
book, Extra Ecclesiam
Nulla Salus, to the
Books & Articles section. Think it’s ridiculous to say there’s
no Salvation outside the Catholic Church? Nevertheless, do you, at the same
time, claim to respect the Bible? And do you consider yourself a reasonably
intelligent person? Then read this book to find out how mistaken you are about
the Religion of Rome --- how very, very,
very, very mistaken. Using the simple verses of Sacred Scripture (from a
popular Protestant translation, what’s more!), the publicly available
documents of ancient history and the clear thought of good, plain,
straightforward sense, discover that earliest Christians were neither nothing
more nor nothing less than Roman Catholic. After all, why else should anyone
convert? If not to save one’s soul --- if not because Catholicism is what
Jesus started --- then it’s just a matter of stylistic preference,
isn’t it? And isn’t the ‘style’ of our era totally
against the ‘tradition’ of the Catholic Faith? Why, then, should
anyone care? This is how I used to think. I didn’t want to be Catholic,
and I was raised to despise Catholicism as ignorant, hidebound, blind,
unbiblical, full of ‘dead works’, foolish & even diabolic.
There was no way on earth I was going to convert. Except for one thing… I
found out I was wrong. The facts were against me. Unfortunately, it took me a
long time to figure this out. Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus (‘Outside the Church, no Salvation’)
is the distillation of that trail blazing effort, making the work of conversion
much easier for you. The first two-fifths of the book are ready to publish, and
the first fifth, which constitutes Part One, is already posted. Parts Two &
Three will arrive soon, perhaps as early as tomorrow. There’s plenty of
good reading, so take a look!
·
Whit Saturday, and the Feast of
Books & Articles page added with
first article posted, Catholic Ritual
Defended. The prejudice of both Protestants and other people during our era
is against anything to do with ‘organized’ or
‘institutional’ religion, causing them to be bored by or hate
rituals, liturgy, repetition & formality in worship. This article
demolishes those prejudices, showing how the Bible not only doesn’t
condemn Roman Catholic ritual or liturgy, but that Catholicism is the very
thing practiced eternally in Heaven by God Himself… and thus why He
created human beings, who are made in His Image, to practice it on earth, too!
Also added a Contact & Donations
page. Do you have something you wish to say to me? Do you wish to donate in
order to further this work and see souls gathered into the Catholic Church,
where they might have real hope of entering Heaven by dying in the state of
grace? Then use the navigational bar at the left to make your way there.
·
Whit Wednesday, and the Feast of St. Boniface, 2008 (5-14-08)
What’s New page added with link to
it in the navigational frame activated. Home page link also activated.
·
Whit Tuesday, and the Feasts of Our Lady of
Home page uploaded. Initial items
include the top emblem frame with The Epistemologic Works logo, the left
navigational frame with all eventual links to the website’s various sections
listed, and the bottom main frame with the first half of the long article, Mary Exalted, posted in praise of
God’s Greatest Creature, along with a picture of her as Our Lady of
Guadalupe.
The thing which conservative Protestants
despise by far --- and which people of this world in general view with at least
disdainful amusement --- is Catholic veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
This article shows how neither the Bible nor good sense ever condemns the honor
given by Roman Catholics to God’s Mother, rather portraying it as
reasonable and even demanded by the Creator that we do so. Think you know all
of the reasons you shouldn’t honor Queen Mary like Catholics do? Then
study this article and find your excuses both fully anticipated & thoroughly
annihilated by simple logic and the inerrant testimony of God’s Holy
Scripture.
·
The Feast of St. Athanasius, 2008
(5-2-08)
First half of the long article, Mary Exalted, finished. Aside from minor
typo & flow edits, sole remaining obstacles to launch of the
website’s home page are now technical.
·
The Feast of the Annunciation of St. Gabriel the Archangel to the
Blessed Virgin Mary concerning the Conception of Her Divine Son, 2008 (3-31-08)
The Epistemologic Works website is
officially established with the purchase of a domain name and the selection of
a host for the site. Multiple articles, books & etc., are in preparation
for posting on the Internet; however, most of my effort is now dedicated to
writing Mary Exalted for the home
page.
+
+ +
Pilate’s
query met:
Note:
if you have come
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on this website.
© 2010 by
Paul Doughton.
All rights
reserved.