Daylight Saving Time ....

Set your clocks ahead and save the world.  

Oh, wait.

Dr. Joseph Nicolosi RIP

Joseph Nicolosi

+Prayers for the repose of his soul and prayers for the consolation of the Nicolosi family.+

Linda Nicolosi, Joe's lifelong collaborator and also his wife of 39 years, is grateful for everyone's prayers and words of appreciation and has shared these words: 

"Joe was certainly a larger-than-life, one-of-a-kind guy. Never worried about political correctness, he was happy to swim against the cultural tide when he was sure the culture was going in the wrong direction. That got him into trouble quite a few times. Gay-activist web sites, for example, are still fond of quoting the occasional risqué jokes he made during his life in the public eye, and of showing and re-showing him tossing a mic back at a rude TV interviewer. But Joe had ardent convictions about the truth of male and female design, and because of his conviction and courage, his awareness that he would face biased reporters didn't stop him from appearing on Oprah Winfrey, Larry King Live, Hannity and Colmes, O'Reilly Factor, 20/20, Dr. Phil, BBC News, etc. 

Dr. Nicolosi had always hoped for his legacy as the creator of Reparative Therapy to go on. His career was dedicated to helping people align their lives with their deeply held convictions. Anyone, he stressed, is free to live his life as gay; but we are inevitably gendered beings, and our fullest humanity calls us to live out our biological design." - Facebook

What a shock for his wife Linda and their son.  My deepest sympathy.

I was surprised by the mean spirited comments left on the Facebook page.

There were aspects of Nicolosi's thought I would have to disagree with, but generally his research into the nature and causes of male homosexuality has been helpful for many, including myself.  LGBT activists are vehemently against any type of Reparative Therapy, pretty much based upon horrible attempts to eradicate homosexual inclination in the past - and in the present, as evidenced by ABC Brian Ross's report on Conversion Therapy, part of which I caught on Night Line last night.  I also understand families do send unwilling individuals into such therapy, perhaps causing even more psychological damage.  

I may be wrong, but I was always under the impression that Nicolosi accepted the fact that many are neither interested in, nor willing to change, while some may not be able to do so, especially adults who have lived or identified with gay culture most of their lives.  Nevertheless, I believe his research has helped such individuals who were unhappy with their sexual orientation, to understand themselves better, and to help them recognize the psychological motivations of their individual homosexual experience.  Such self-knowledge helped many to integrate themselves into the Church, especially withing the context of a Catholic community (parish).  I believe his work has been helpful in pastoral care as well - with the understanding his work should not be taken as the sole authority when it comes to ministering to gay people.  The response to the news of his death should make that very clear.  

I will admit I know little about NARTH, but most everything I've read by Dr. Nicolosi is certainly worthy of consideration in how Catholics respond to the issues related to homosexuality - especially those who wish to live faithful, chaste lives in accord with Catholic teaching.  Catholic teaching does not insist that a person go into therapy, or seek Reparative Therapy to change what he perceives to be his sexual orientation, but rather to live a chaste and holy life according to his station in life.  It's the same for unmarried men and women.  I believe it is the wrong focus to attempt to 'pray away the gay' or throw all of one's energies into changing so-called sexual orientation.

I personally believe that unless an individual is highly motivated to change, any form of Reparative Therapy with an expectation to suddenly be straight or free of homosexual temptation, can drive gay people away from the Church, and more specifically the Sacraments, not to mention cause greater psychological and moral harm.  I am also opposed to recommending gay people require therapy, especially that type which they may not want, and/or may not be able to afford, much less have the insurance to cover the expenses of such treatment.  I believe a devout life and the Sacraments are enough for salvation. 

People driving you crazy?

Ecce Homo ... Homo homini lupus est

Embrace your homophobia.

It's the counter-cultural thing to do.

It seems I've gone for weeks without writing about homosexual stuff - LGBTQ topics are all over Catholic social media today - why?  Like I always say, I hate writing about this stuff - if you leave something behind you, why keep looking back?  Remember Lot's wife, and all of that.  Unlike the Israelites in the desert, I don't look back with longing, quite the contrary.  Internalized homophobia?  That's what 'they' call it - yet I call it repentance, contrition, and conversion.  If that's homophobia, I gladly embrace it.

What I'm not phobic about is murals in Cathedrals, or gay bishops suggesting the Church change her teachings, or crazy bloggers screaming "FAGGOTS" as some sort of doomsday threat against the papacy, and I'm not even scared by people like feminist Camille Paglia citing the collapse of Western Civilization because LGB's embraced the T's and G's as part of their social-reconstruction-equality program.  I'm so scared!  Not.

What I do hate is what Austin Ruse revealed today ... I haven't vetted it, but I trust Ruse and his professional reputation.  He knows what he talking about.  Sometimes I disagree with his tone or repeated criticism of those who criticize him - that's not important.  Today just one thing in his essay at Crisis struck me as revolting and on some level - criminal - as it applies to grooming youth to embrace homosexuality, or to be more exact, sodomy.  It is, in my opinion a sexual  behavior or practice to fear and hate - or more precisely, to be phobic about.

The quite remarkable thing that has happened is they are now willing to talk openly about their way of life. The execrable but nonetheless mainstream gay publication Advocate published a story—by a doctor no less—teaching youngsters how to train their bodies for sodomy. It makes for truly gruesome reading.

He writes, “I often tell patients that great bottoms have been doing it for quite some time, with many first experiencing it in their youth. Unfortunately, no one showed us the right way to bottom in our high school sexual education class. Still, it’s never too late to learn, and we all enjoy new and positive sexual experiences. Here’s my 101 guide to bottoming…”

The publication also ran a piece on how gay men should have regular pap smears for their backsides. Now, these pieces will not be seen outside the homosexual bubble, but even more out in the open are two shocking and revealing pieces just published in the more mainstream Huffington Post. - Crisis

There is nothing generative, nurturing, or loving about sodomy.  Call me homophobic - I'm fine with that.

Transgender issues are not new - the Church has simply ignored the complexities of the phenomena for decades.

Whenever I paint the Holy Face ...

Holy Face 

T. Nelson

I mix a tiny bit of my blood in the paint ...

I always tend to cut myself when I do art and craft projects, and when I do, I drip a bit of blood on images of the passion of Christ.  Just a little.  It dries brown.  One painting even has some hairs from my beard embedded. Once, doing a wood cut and printing it on linen and silk, I cut myself really bad and most of the pigment is my blood.    I still have the block and perhaps on a very hot day, I can use my sweat to do a print - just to see if aging in the sun would cause it to discolor and leave an imprint?

So anyway.  Must get busy painting the icon I'm working on. 

LifeSiteNews offers a correction ...

For the fake news report:

March 6, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – On March 3, LifeSite published an article originally titled: “'Pope Francis has urged us to have fewer children,' claims Vatican academy member.” That article misquoted botanist and environmentalist Peter Raven, who was reported to have said at a Vatican press conference that, “Pope Francis has urged us to have fewer children to make the world more sustainable.” After reviewing audio recordings of the press conference, LifeSite has amended the story to accurately reflect Raven’s words.

What he actually said was, "We need at some point to have a limited number of people which is why Pope Francis and his three most recent predecessors have always argued that you should not have more children than you can bring up properly."

LifeSite sincerely regrets the error and has taken steps to ensure that similar errors do not occur in future. LifeSite places a very high priority on accuracy in reporting and this error violated that constant standard.

Now, will everyone else offer their corrections and make amends?  Canon 212?  Pewsitters?  Rorate?  One Peter Five?  Vox Cantoris?  LarryD? Kellyanne Conway? President Trump?

CIA uses techniques to make cyber attacks

look like they originated from enemy state.

Lent with style ...

Stylite style...

St. Alypius, Stylite

St. David and Simeon

Stylite tower in Jordan.

The reason this type of extreme asceticism died out is that monks didn't want be put on a pedestal.

ba-da-bing!

Ricardo Cinalli's Cathedral Fresco.

-source-

The 'Heavenly Jerusalem' detail just may be a bigger problem than the nudity and homoerotic subtext.

Someone on Facebook pointed out to me the inclusion of minarets in the scene.  Not that Muslims can't go to heaven ...  but the ecclesiology seems to be a bit off here.  At least something about it is hetero - albeit heterodox.  What?

I wish someone like Elizabeth Lev would critique the mural.  I'm not satisfied with the artist's narrative.  It would be nice if Archbishop Paglia would offer some catechesis on the composition as well.

As a work of art - I like it.

Looks okay to me.

Devout Catholics want to get rid of the Pope? Really?

Some say.

Some say some Cardinals do...

The report is considered valid, having been first reported by prominent Catholic journalist and Vatican expert Antonio Socci for the Italian newspaper Liberio. His report was quoted as saying that about a dozen of the cardinals who voted for Pope Francis are convincing him to retire. - Source

Some say, "It is time to stop pretending that everything is alright and to choose which side you are on."

Works for me.

I'm Catholic and Francis is my pope.

Mass Chat: First Sunday in Lent