THE Center for Bioethics and Culture reported earlier this week:

Europe’s leading human rights organization, the Council of Europe, today urged the rejection of all forms of surrogacy in Europe, labeling the practice exploitative of women and children. This follows a similar statement from the European Parliament.

Today’s move is part of a broad social justice movement across the European continent, Asia, and Africa to halt an expanding baby manufacturing industry that leaves largely poor women physically, emotionally, and psychologically harmed, and that produces children who are frequently wholly engineered from egg donation to birth. The commercial surrogacy industry in America has exploded as other nations have banned the practice and as same sex American couples increasingly seek to build families through what has become, in effect, a marketplace for children.  (more…)

THE idea that a massive and long-running conspiracy by phantom Jesuits is responsible for what many people refer to as the “New World Order” has gained a lot of currency on the Internet. But is it true? Thomas Fitzpatrick writes, “Much of the popularity of the Jesuit meme is due to dupes, especially in conspiracy circles, who mindlessly accept, without verifying, the Jesuit meme and then replicate it.” In this terrific essay, Fitzpatrick looks closely at foundations of the Jesuit conspiracy meme:

From attributing the creation of Zionism to an excommunicated Jesuit named Franciso Ribera to blaming the rise of Hitler and Nazism on the Church, there is no place the Jesuit memers won’t go. It borders on clownish with absurd claims that the Jesuits sunk the Titanic, created Islam, and assassinated John F. Kennedy. Of course, the grand proof they present of this alleged Jesuit conspiracy is Jewish Adam Weishaupt’s (founder of the Bavarian Order of the Illuminati) education under the Jesuits—something these Jesuit memers almost always bring up. Hypocrisy runs deep among these anti-Catholics, as they say in one breath that it is wrong to blame one group of people (especially Jews) and in the next breath they blame all the world’s problems on the Church. These clowns must have low regard for their audience for them to believe their blatant double standard goes unnoticed.

One hand tied behind the back

Before I go on here, I want to point out that this is not to absolve the Catholic Church of clerical abuses and legitimate corruption within it. And, of course, there is the heretical Second Vatican Council that has been foisted upon Catholics, which further maligns the legitimate faith and demonizes (at least in Protestant eyes) Catholics in general. This council is the handcuff that has one hand of the Church behind its back—done so that She would not be able to defend herself against the Judeo-Masonic onslaught going on. With the Church on the ropes, so to speak, the Jesuit meme is a sucker punch. (more…)

THE 20th-century French composer Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986), who was an assistant organist at Notre-Dame in Paris and a professor at the Paris Conservatoire, published only thirteen works in his lifetime, including his Requiem and Quatre Motets sur de themes Grégoriens. I know very little about him, but I heard both these beautiful works performed by a university choir this week, including this soft and meditative version of the famous hymn Ubi Caritas, which is one of the antiphons sung on Holy Thursday. No secular humanist ever produced anything remotely this beautiful, in the humble opinion of this supernaturalist.

Thank you to the lovely college student who introduced me to these works.

(more…)

THE vision of secular humanists is so much a part of our surroundings, it’s hard to believe it was ever dogmatically defined in detail. But it was. The first Humanist Manifesto was completed in 1933. The second Humanist Manifesto was published in 1973. They were signed by dozens of authors, academics, psychiatrists, scientists and business leaders. Betty Friedan was not surprisingly among them.

According to secular humanists, human beings are self-created. The proofs of the Greek philosophers for the immortality of the soul and the existence of God have been rendered irrelevant by the advance of science. Though scientists never can explain, and never have explained, why we are here in the first place, the humanists believe they have answered ultimate questions once and for all. All focus on God is escapism. The humanist is not, however, without an object of worship. He reveres man, in a highly idealized form. He reveres man, while conveniently ignoring his evil tendencies. He reveres man, without offering any satisfying explanation for why man suffers. With world government and “maximum individual autonomy,” the cult of man will somehow lead to lasting peace on earth. Secular humanists are busy people. There is always something undone toward this ultimate goal. Secular humanism is secular madness. Secular humanism is secular superficiality. It is the end of thought enshrined in seemingly logical manifestos.

We live in a secular humanist world. Even our religious ceremonies are impregnated with it. There is no hereafter, only now. Whether this vision of life is an actual religion or not is much debated among humanists. What difference does it make? It is a compelling worldview, one that accounts to a large degree for the superficiality of modern life. In the declarations of the humanists, we can see the escapist thinking that is all around us. It is not surprising that secular humanism has brought us “assisted suicide.” Dying cries out for answers. From Humanist Manifesto II: (more…)

HILLARY Clinton’s e-mails lend weight to the theory that the interests of global bankers were behind the American role in Qaddafi’s overthrow, according to Ellen Brown. (more…)

KEVIN WILLIAMSON, of The National Review, in an article now widely considered to be the ultimate in elitist sneering and Nazi comparisons, dismisses the concerns of Americans who say immigration has negatively affected their economic prospects. He says these concerns are “wholly bunk.” The problem with working class communities is moral decline, not economics.

In reality, the problem is both. Williamson so grossly misrepresents the economic picture, one has to wonder whether he is living in another country:

On the trade front, American manufacturing continues to expand and thrive — an absolute economic fact that is, perversely, unknown to the great majority of Americans, who believe precisely the opposite to be the case. Americans have false beliefs about manufacturing for a few reasons: One is that while our factories produce much more than in the past, they employ fewer people; another is that we tend to produce capital goods and import consumer goods — you won’t see much labeled “Made in the USA” at Walmart, but you’ll see it on everything from the aircraft flown by foreign airlines to the robotics in automobile factories overseas. (more…)

Passion Sunday: Gospel: John viii. 46-59 At that time, Jesus said to the multitude of the Jews: Which of you shall convince me of sin? If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God. The Jews therefore answered and said to him: Do not we say well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? Jesus answered: I have not a devil; but I honor my Father, and you have dishonored me. But I seek not my own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. Amen, amen, I say to you: if any man keep my word, he shall not see death forever. The Jews therefore said: Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets: and thou sayest: If any man keep my word, he shall not taste death forever. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Whom dost thou make thyself? Jesus answered: If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father that glorifieth me, of whom you say that he is your God, and you have not known him: but I know him: and if I shall say that I know him not, I shall be like to you, a liar. But I do…

ALEX CHARLES, an American expatriate living in Europe, writes:

As someone who enjoys your articles on European issues, I just wanted to give you a heads up about a post I put together on the African Migrant Crisis.

I think you’d like it. (more…)

THE Bergoglian Bombardment continues with "Pope" Francis's new book for children, in which the phony pope demonstrates that he has rejected the Catholic Faith since childhood. In the book, he mocks the Catholic Mass and attempts to spread his nauseating religion of joy to children today. Here is commentary by Fr. William Jenkins of the Society of St. Pius V.  

LYDIA SHERMAN writes: A friend in Florida sent this today. I never approved of Mark Twain and his values, but I thought this was interesting: "If voting mattered, they wouldn't let us do it." ---- Mark Twain

A FEMALE reader writes from England:

I have been a reader of your site for some years now and I was hoping for your advice. Please feel free to place my letter on your website if you feel it would be helpful.

I have been married for five years to a wonderful man, we have children together and another on the way. We try to cultivate healthy, natural gender roles in which he acts as provider and head of the family. (more…)

  TELEVISION induces mental passivity and gradually undermines the source of human creativity. Jerry Mander, whose work I am not familiar with, makes these points in this talk and also says television is responsible for hyperactivity in children. (Recommended in an article here on television.)

WILLIAM writes:

In this video, a young Polish priest tackles Islam and liberal lies in front of a huge crowd last November. To me, this is like a diamond, so hard and so bright that it seems impossible to fathom, as if from another dimension.

Like a diamond also, because it is so beautiful. Such a speech would be totally impossible in the
Netherlands where I live. Even my beloved England is light years away from anything like this. (more…)

IN 1965, the top ten rated television shows were:

1. Bonanza
2. The Beverly Hillbillies
3. Gomer Pyle
4. The Lucy Ball Show
5. Red Skelton
6. The Andy Griffith Show
7. Get Smart!
8. Saturday Night At The Movies
9. The Ed Sullivan Show
10. Petticoat Junction

Not much in the way of great drama or comedy, but not much explicit sexual content either.

Introibo Ad Altare Dei reflects on the changes since then. (more…)

FROM E. Michael Jones’s article, “David Bowie Was: Berlin, the CIA and Heroin Chic,” in the March issue of Culture Wars magazine:

As Elvis Presley demonstrated in the 1970s, the best career move an aging pop star can make is dying. Like Elvis and Michael Jackson, David Bowie’s career took off the minute he died. What united all three men was their sense of style. They became iconic figures whose music remained secondary to the persona that their music allowed them to project. David Bowie was without a doubt the most style-conscious of the three. He had the distinction of building a towering career as a singer songwriter on a virtually non-existent foundation of musical talent. Before the Bowie fans get en-raged, let me ask a simple question: can you hum one melody from the David Bowie songbook? Even if you can hum the first three bars of, say, “Heroes,” can you hum one tune from beginning to end? The answer, I would wager, is no. All of his songs were overproduced studio creations, whose elaborate arrangements were calculated to disguise the fact that there was, musically speaking, nothing there. If melody is the soul of music, David Bowie’s tunes were musical zombies wandering around an elaborately produced MTV video in search of musical purpose. The sound that emanated from a David Bowie album was calculated to showcase a series of personae which Bowie created over the course of his career. They had names like Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, the Thin White Duke, etc., and they had elaborate costumes, but the music always came across as an afterthought. (more…)

IN 1970, one in fifteen U.S. residents was a recent immigrant. Now it is nearly one in five.

MAX LUCADO, a Protestant pastor and best-selling author from San Antonio, Texas, refuses to jump on the Trump bandwagon. Lucado wrote a blog post called, “Decency for President,” in which he took the candidate to task for his tone. He said, in so many words, that Trump is insulting and arrogant. In this, Lucado was correct and should be commended, though he was beat up by Trump supporters for saying it. He told Christianity Today, “I would have absolutely no right to speak up except that he repeatedly brandishes the Bible and calls himself a Christian.”

There was one occasion he held up a Bible. On another occasion, at Liberty University, he read from Scripture. On multiple occasions he’s said “Of course I’m a Christian.” There was a time in Iowa when he said “I’m a Christian,” and somebody asked about forgiveness and he said “I’ve never asked God for forgiveness.”

I can’t imagine that. I’m just shaking my head going “How does that work?” Does a swimmer say “I’ve never gotten wet?” Does a musician say “I’ve never sung a song?” How does a person claim to be a Christian and never need to ask for forgiveness?

The Washington Post, which normally shows no concern for indecency in popular culture, picked up on Lucado’s piece and published it:

“The stock explanation for Mr. Trump’s success,” wrote Lucado, “is this: he has tapped into the anger of the American people. As one man said, “We are voting with our middle finger.” Sounds more like a comment for a gang-fight than a presidential election. Anger-fueled reactions have caused trouble ever since Cain was angry at Abel.” (more…)