Lady Who?

LADY GAGA? To start with that is no name that will immediately equate with talent in my mind.

 But regardless, she seems to be a sensation all over the world. But since the world is our enemy, there's that much more of a chance she's no good. So I would ordinarily ignore her until Fox reported her as saying...

“I think that gay marriage is going to happen. It must." she said.  "We are not actually equal—humanity—if we are not allowed to freely love one another."

“What the Pope thinks of being gay does not matter to the world. It matters to the people who like the Pope and follow the Pope. It is not a reflection of all religious people.”

So first of all, she is not even qualified to speak about the Pope. Gay "marriage" is a moral issue. She can not deny that, since her own "morals" uphold it's defense.

That said, it is in the Pope's job description to define "faith and morals". Not a pop singer's. Point made.

So now that we've seen that it's not even Lady Gaga's job to point out that somebody else is doing their job wrong [(that would be like me telling computer tech he's doing something wrong even though I know almost nothing about programming) that example makes it even funnier because Lady Gaga seems to know almost nothing about morals!], let's look at what she actually said:

"We are not actually equal—humanity—if we are not allowed to freely love one another."

That's not love. It will get you to Hell. 'Nuff said.

“What the Pope thinks of being gay does not matter to the world."

In a way, she is right. But in another sense, she is completely wrong.

She is right, because what the Pope says doesn't matter to the world. That may sound strange, but there are different ways of interpreting this. The world doesn't care what the Pope says, so in that sense she is right that it doesn't matter to the world.

But she is wrong in the implication of that statement. Why does what President Obama thinks of gay marriage matter, but not what Pope Benedict thinks? From a totally secular view, he is a head of state. Come on! Double standard, if I ever saw one.

And from a spiritual view, what he says does matter, because he is our spiritual Father. We have to listen to him. She also said....

“This is not what Christians believe, those who believe in something, that have a religion,” she clarified. “It is the point of view of one person.”

But what person is this? This is the Pope, the Vicar of Christ. He IS Christ.  It is the point of view of Jesus Christ. So if "Christians", as she says, don't even believe in the teachings of one whom they profess to believe....what have we? A personality cult following or something - "the guy is just awesome, but I don't agree with what he says" type religion. It is stupid.

Christians must believe in what Christ teaches. Christ teaches that gay "marriage" is wrong. A Christian who believes in gay "marriage" is wrong. Lady Gaga is wrong, whether she is a Christian or not.

If behavior shows anything, she is most certainly not. So much for convent schools.

Reclaiming Our Culture

There has been an awful lot of discussion in recent times about the "Culture War". But what is the "Culture War"?

Let's define "culture". Merriam-Webster gives several definitions, and we'll look at some of those.

1. the act of developing the intellectual and moral faculties especially by education

2. the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; also : the characteristic features of everyday existence (as diversions or a way of life} shared by people in a place or time <popular culture> <southern culture>

3.  the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization

So, the culture is basically the environment around us. This is the beliefs, customs, traditions, and practices of everyone around us. So if there is a "culture war", there must be some kind of conflict. What is this conflict?

Well, it must be one or more sets of beliefs, customs, traditions, and practices against another. What sets are these?

The three great enemies are the World, the Flesh, and the Devil. All three of these have combined to make the culture of death: the spirit of the World, with the appeal of the Flesh, masterminded by the cunning of the Devil. That is the Culture of Death. All things contrary to God are part of that culture. There is no middle ground.

"No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." (Matt. 6:24)

But not only mammon, but any other master puts on against God.

Then there is the Culture of Life.

The pinnacle of the Culture of Life

 This is pitted against the Culture of Death; they are at utter variance with each other.

This Culture is directly dependent on God. What is God's Will is it's command. And since only the One,  Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church can completely carry out God's Will,  it follows that the Culture of Life is intrinsically a Catholic culture. This does not mean that Protestants, or Mormons, or Jehovah's Witnesses can not aid in the battle. By all means, no. But if one really wishes to do their utmost, they must seek refuge in the only shelter which is completely set against the Culture of Death - there are no compromises with Death in the Church.

Ultimately, the "Culture War" is the battle between the Church and her enemies, as we have seen. It is not Big Government vs. small government, it is not Republican vs. Democrat, it is not conservative vs. liberals.

The only way to win the Culture War is to be Catholic.

Pray the Rosary.
Receive the Sacraments. 
Sacrifice.

We should all be doing those anyways just to save our souls. It necessarily follows that if we all save our souls we save the world. But that takes time - Why not jump start it?

Make a Holy Hour.
Join the Legion of Mary.
Sponsor a Seminarian. 
Say two Rosaries. 
Serve Mass.

The list goes on! But not until we are all doing everything in our power to reclaim our culture will we win. We may have victories, but the ultimate victory will not be until the entire world is Catholic.