Passions, Ford and Ireland’s Referendum
Adam Child’s playful take on women’s dressing, or dressing down, provides a humorous side to the debate on modesty, which does play in some way into the #MeToo movement. We are fallen creatures, with what the Catechism calls ‘concupiscence’; that is, our passions move in ways contrary to reason, at times violently so, without our willing such, one of the consequences of original sin (which John Henry Newman described as one of the more obvious of revealed truths, even to the most atheist of atheists). The more we exacerbate these disordered movements of our appetites, the more out-of-control they get, until in the end they dominate reason, and make us act in ways that are decidedly irrational, lustful, even bestial. And modesty, or the lack thereof, not ‘unveiling what should remain hidden’, is one way to help keep the passions in check, or not. Fallen nature is what it is, regardless of what the ‘elites’ might say.
So Doug Ford has won the Conservative leadership. Hmm. I may have more to write on this, but one thing for now is that he is going to have to carry the reputational baggage of his deceased brother, requiescat in pace, whom he resembles, as brothers often do. Is Ford a conservative? There is not much, and not many, that are conservative anymore, in any true, Edmund Burke-sense of that term, including the Conservative Party, but things can change and develop, especially in a Newtonian reaction to the increasingly insane policies of the Liberals (who, as I will never tire of repeating, are anything but ‘liberal’).
And on that note, an article in today’s National Post corroborates my point that the Liberals, at both levels of government, can more or less rig elections, being able by legislative fiat (that is, budgets) to buy our votes with our own money or, as I put it more accurately, to purchase the votes of some with the hard-earned money of others. Alas. We seem to be in a descending vicious circle, a labyrinth with no good end-point.
While on end-points, Ireland has set May 25th for its referendum on abortion ‘rights’, claiming that it is an unjust burden to have women travel to Britain to ‘terminate’ their pregnancies. Of course, as Pope John Paul firmly taught, moral principles cannot be decided my majority vote, especially the right to life. Again, alas. As we approach the feast of Saint Patrick, we should ponder what faith means, not just in the Emerald Isle, but in all nations on earth. As Leo XIII wrote in his 1885 encyclical Immortale Dei (on the relations between Church and State), a country without religion (and he means the one true Catholic religion) can never be well governed. In fact, if we return to the teaching of Pope John Paul, a democracy without values quickly descends into a thinly-veiled totalitarianism, which is where Canada and Ireland and host of other countries are quickly headed.
May 25th is the memorial of Saint Bede the Venerable (+735), who by his saintly, reflective, dedicated, monastic life helped keep the faith alive in the midst of what have rather inaptly come to be called the ‘Dark Ages’, but wherein the faith in fact burned quite brightly, here and there, not least in the monastery of Jarrow in north-east England, where Father Bede spent most of his earthly existence, faithful to his rule, considered the ‘most learned man of his time’. Let’s hope from his current home in heaven he teaches his Irish brethren a few things about the inviolable sanctity of human life .
A blessed and fruitful continued Lententide to one and all.
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
A Closed, Unsustainable, Descending Loop
As a follow-up to my thoughts on Payette’s payout, here be a stark image of where are here in Canada. As the graph shows in, well, graphic terms, since 2025, the public sector has contributed to 95.5% of economic growth. The private sector – which funds the public sector, or is supposed to – has[…]Continue reading→
Remembering Father Alphonse de Valk
(Today marks the sixth anniversary of the death of Father Alphonse de Valk, C.S.B., a faithful, courageous and indefatigable Basilian priest, pro-life-and-family apostle, and the founder of Catholic Insight magazine. Here is what we wrote those on his entering into eternity five years ago, as we continue to remember him in our prayers and thoughts)[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Presidential Pardon of Weronika Krawczyk
As a good news, follow-up to our story from Poland, of the persecution of Weronika Krawczyk for her pro-life views, we heard that she has been granted a presidential pardon. One might still wonder why one needs a presidential pardon for simply holding the long-held belief that the child within the womb is a child,[…]Continue reading→
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→
The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Divine Mercy Sunday – An Echo of Every Mass
Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe’… ‘My Lord and my God!’ (Jn. 20:18)). Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, and as we celebrate the end of the Easter Octave, we contemplate the wounded side of our Saviour, the Church’s source of life. On Good Friday in the[…]Continue reading→