What Must Be Done

Catholicism has been under attack for quite some time in the U.S., as well as other parts of the world. This is nothing new. Many Catholics have little idea of this, and consider things quite rosy. A good amount of Catholics, however, do know and argue considerably over what to do. I was once the former, now the latter. For me, it was a transition from liberal fallen away Catholic to Traditional Catholic that showed me the light. My lifestyle didn't change overnight; however, I list the following suggestions to Americans who wish to live a "radical" Catholic lifestyle in 2008 and beyond.
1. Pray the rosary, every day. This is not easy, and I have had difficulties with it. Nevertheless, true change begins here.
1.5 Attend Mass more often than weekly, if possible. Find a traditional Latin Mass in your area. (PDF alert)
2. Turn off the television. This might be the hardest, but if Catholics are to begin a serious culture war it MUST be done. Even non-Catholics agree on this. Not only do television shows waste our time, but there is a constant barrage of unChristian material. Grown ups and children alike are vulnerable. Turn off the television.
3. Find like-minded Catholics in your area. You need support. Your children need friends who share their values-you don't want to deny them television at home only to hear they are watching it at a friend's house. You will likely be looked at with pity/sympathy/whatever by worldly people who don't understand you. Make sure you have some friends that do.
4. Pull your children out of public schools. If you can't, begin finding out how you can. This is possible. Homeschooling associations are everywhere and curriculum is getting easier to find. Most so called Catholic schools are not very different from public schools and use the same textbooks. Your children will learn the same liberal junk, but in uniforms and with a prayer (maybe) beforehand.
5. Culture your family through better music (chamber music and choral music) and the arts. Don't let pop culture seep back into your house.
6. Love thy neighbor. Don't look down at everyone for not being like you. Be charitable, and do your best to help others find better ways to live. But, this is last, as your family is the most important. Basically, be a good role model.

If you can do three of these, you're on your way. Start a fourth. If you're already doing more than 5, you're in a great situation, and way to be a model Catholic! If you are at zero or one, it's time to start praying and looking at what truly matters in life: God, or mammon.

New Year's Resolutions

My wife and I donated some money to Ron Paul this fall and decided if we could tighten our budget enough for him, we sure could do it for some Catholic charities this year. Here's a list of some we've looked at so far:

Clear Creek Monastery. This traditional Benedictine monastery sent us a cd of Gregorian Chant as an advertisement. The monks here live a life of contemplation, work and prayer. There is no school. This looks to be a wonderful place to visit and get away from the world. I hope to take my boys here someday to teach them about this vocation. They're still building and need money.

Transalpine Redemptorists. I was amused to find that the famed monks from Papa Stronsay had a blog. On it, I found them to be making newspapers, and an email to their webmaster (you'll get anti spam reply that takes a moment to fill out) will get you a subscription to their quarterly newspaper for $20 U.S. I'm sure a little extra cash for Mass intentions wouldn't be turned down either.

FSSP. The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter is growing as numbers of young men flock to the orthodox teachings of the Faith. Our future parish priests will be studying here and they need all the support we can offer.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all who view this website. It is my wish you will find hope in celebrating the birth of our Lord this year. May God bless you and your family this Christmas season.

Book Review: Inside Delta Force

Inside Delta Force, by Eric L. Haney, is an autobiographical take on one of our nation's most secretive military groups, Delta Force (referred to as "Delta"). Haney rose to the rank of Command Sergeant Major while in the United States Army, about half of that time in Delta. Since his retirement, he has used his training for bodyguard and other related civilian work. He is also producer of the CBS television series "The Unit", based on his book's account of Delta.

I enjoyed the first half of the book, mostly because of the grueling conditions that were presented to the men who wished to join. These men were no slouches-they already had been invited from Rangers and Green Berets (and likely other special forces groups) where they had all proven themselves to be first rate soldiers. The training mostly involved long marches with heavy backpacks. Teamwork, usually an essential in the military, was not allowed. The men were forced to work alone and rely on wits and guts. Over a hundred men attempted to make the cut, and twelve passed in Haney's class.

The second half of the book was less enjoyable, as I felt there was often too much detail about small things in the missions that was not too interesting. One detail NOT overlooked (or boring to me) was the lists of names of those killed in action. It is right to remember our fallen soldiers, and it is always a good reminder to pray for the dead.

Probably the most memorable thing about the book was the lists of altercations that we have been involved in around the world. From the perspective of the soldier, it can be downright confusing. At one point, a situation erupts in the middle east. Haney, expecting to be deployed, rushes back to base, only to find his group on the way to Grenada.

Ironically, the cover has a quote from Bill O'Reilly: "In this rapidly changing and dangerous world, U.S. Special Forces are vital to the security of all Americans. Read Inside Delta Force and learn what we are really up against." That seems like a line right out of the FOX noise playbook, and yet, I didn't get the feeling from this book that it was an outright endorsement of the war on terror. To be fair, it was written before 9/11, and the author adds a short chapter at the end regarding his thoughts on the post-9/11 world. Haney defends the United States Military's actions as generally good by implying that if we weren't, we'd have nuked them already.

That is an overly optimistic assessment of the situation. To add to that, he also writes that careerism is dead in the Army as the common goal of fighting terror has focused everyone to one goal. I'll allow to the fact that he wrote that shortly after 9/11 when that was likely the case for a short time, but it is surely no longer the case: humans are humans. The government and military will always be full of careerists and bureaucrats, working for personal gain rather than the mission.

Finally, the language in this book leaves something to be desired. We get it. The military is full of people with potty mouths. Does it need to be in print? The book would have been far better if the author had kept things at a PG level. Vulgarity does not add to anybody's tough guy persona-their actions certainly were tough enough. I do not recommend this book to most people due solely to the language. Most of the information learned from it can be learned from other sources. Ron Paul's A Foreign Policy of Freedom is good, so is anything by Pat Buchanon.

Do not read Inside Delta Force unless you are accustomed to a lot of cursing.
Ideology: **** (out of a possible 5)
Content:* (*** if language were cleaned up)
Importance:**
Insomnia Effect:***

Total: **.5 Would be a ***.5 if the cursing were removed. Command Master Sergeant Haney, release a clean edition of the book and I'll buy it and recommend it!

Pray the Rosary

I found a very promising story about the decline of abortion in Croatia.

Our Lady of Fatima reminded us to pray the Rosary for peace in the world. Let's not forget also how important it is to pray for an end to abortion.
George Bush, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, not even Ron Paul can end abortion. We can work to criminalize it (necessary!) but it is truly an issue of converting hearts and minds. This effort must begin and end with a lot of prayer.
If you are a pro-life Catholic, you have no excuse for not saying the Rosary at least once a week, if not more. It is far more important than any vote you will ever cast.

Ron Paul: No Peacenik

There are a lot of people, I believe, who find many of Ron Paul's ideas refreshing and engaging. Furthermore, these people seem to understand that he is a man who has held fast to his beliefs for 10 terms of congress, voting no so many times as to earn the nickname "Dr. No". Agree with him or no, I think a lot of non-Paul supporters admire his courage and his seeming inability to pander to an audience.
The main issue is terror!
Terrorism is a serious issue and protecting ourselves is a natural and good thing. Our hearts go out to those who have lost loved ones in violence that is motivated by those who would justify killing to further their message.
Ron Paul wants to solve the problem differently than almost all other presidential candidates: he wants the U.S. to get out of the Middle East (and all other countries) and stop aiding foreign governments. The non-interventionist approach has been argued by many and I'll simply offer links for you to explore these ideas. I'd prefer to focus on what a Ron Paul military will look like.
I'm not affiliated with the campaign in any way and these are all personal conjectures, so if he's said something contrary to what I am writing, let me know and I'll fix it!
First off, Congressman Paul wants to bring the troops out of Europe, Korea, Japan, and everywhere else we are. This situation would be very similar to us about 100 years ago, about the time we were flourishing with a growing nation, few enemies, and prosperity. No, the good ol' days weren't perfect, but we didn't concern ourselves with terrorists (my grandparents were concerned about Indians attacking them on the way to town) or much else around the world. Nor did we have too much mass media in our lives telling us what to fear next (people knew what to fear: disease, cold winters, hot summers, etc).
Now, we have a pretty large military at the moment, and not everyone would fit in all the Stateside bases. Likely, some old ones would be reactivated, and perhaps a new one or two would be created. Military careerists could choose to spend their entire 20 years in one location for family stability. Deployments would decrease dramatically with the exception of the Navy, which would cooperate with other Navies around the world and aide the United States diplomatically (not "diplomatically" as a euphemism, but truly diplomatically, as has been the job of navies for hundreds of years). However, even sailors would likely see less time at sea, as they'd not be deployed (for the next 4-8 years) to the Middle East for nine months at a time, but rather enjoy more liberty cruises and close-to-home exercises.
The military budget would shrink due to not paying the massive overseas costs, but Paul has no naivety about the need for national security and a strong military. Likely pay would continue to increase, R&D would increase, and our special forces programs would continue to be well funded. I imagine a President Paul would cut through a lot of the BS funding that goes to contractors (if you've ever heard of supply costs in the military being ridiculous, you've heard correctly) and open up market alternatives to save money while updating gear.
Our country has programs in place already to find rogue nukes in the U.S. Focusing on us, while updating and enforcing our immigration laws to find out who is in the country will keep any would be criminal forces on their toes. And slimming down the massive bureaucracy (eliminating Homeland Security) will help as well.
I don't believe Ron Paul has said anything about getting rid of spies and special agents. Yes, he opposes some of the uses of the CIA, but I don't see him pulling every single spy we have out of every single foreign country. Espionage is important to a strong national defense.
*******
On a separate note, I'd like to point out that China and Russia are wary of our growing American Hegemony. It is only a matter of time before they begin to enact checks on us by way of military buildup. Their advantage is eerily similar to ours over the Soviets 20 years ago: lack of empire to maintain. Yes, they have economic advantages to us, which over time, will not bode well for our country's national security.
I shudder in horror to think of an open war with those two while simultaneously fighting terrorism in the Middle East.
Even if he were pro-life (pdf alert, but he has good points about the Republicans) and pro-market (he's neither), I would not vote for Dennis Kucinich, who I wouldn't trust as a Commander in Chief.
Ron Paul is no peacenik. He is a man who understand the current national security situation. He is against aggressive war but not "just war". He is a man who can make the country safer from all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Wanted

A Traditional Latin Mass in Yokosuka, Japan. If you are interested, please let me know via a comment or email and I will send along a couple of parish addresses that I'll be sending letters to shortly requesting the Mass.