Apocalyptic Roman Catholicism

Traditionalist Catholics have been engaged in a quiet (and no so quiet) civil war for the past fifty years. They desperately want to overturn the changes that took place with Vatican II. The problem is there are other conservatives who embrace the changes in part, and then of course there are the large and even overwhelming numbers of Catholics who not only embrace the changes but want more.

Francis has not enacted any major doctrinal changes but he has altered the tone and change is certainly in the wind. The innumerable scandals as well as the rapid and seemingly unstoppable social changes are building momentum and some traditionalists are beginning to despair.

The Den of Iniquity

Recently I encountered an episode of The Wonder Years, a television show that was on in the late 1980's and early 1990's. To be honest I didn't watch it much at the time and in subsequent years my feelings about it are mixed. On the one hand it is both a humorous and reflective period piece that has some occasional value. On the other hand its humour is often out of bounds and reveling in Middle Class Americana is not exactly my cup of tea.

That said what struck me the other night was a shift in culture and a profound one at that. In the episode the Arnold family's daughter Karen has (while away at college) moved in with a boyfriend and the episode is about how this comes to light and the reaction on the part of the family.

The Third Rome Brings Down the Hammer

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2019/02/06/Russian-court-sentences-Jehovahs-Witness-to-6-years-in-prison/7661549488690/?sl=2

The Kremlin, seemingly at the behest of or in collaboration with the Moscow Patriarch continues to wage its war against all 'sects' as well as groups with perceived ties to the West.

The Watchtower Society also known as the Jehovah's Witnesses have been banned and forced underground and now some of their leaders are being sent to prison.

Interpreting Providence

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47066659

Sarah Huckabee Sanders assures us that God wanted Donald Trump to be president. Indeed in terms of God's Eternal Decree, it's true, Donald Trump was ordained to win the 2016 US presidential election.

But what exactly does this mean?

Italian Isolationism: A Cardinal Sin

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/02/07/venezuela-italy-must-be-neutral-di-maio_d005bf7c-613a-46dd-9445-aca0ad95b1fd.html

This latest move by the Italian coalition government is sure to anger Washington. One thing the United States won't stand for is Non-Alignment. During the Cold War it led to serious opposition on the part of the United States.*