What the West Can Learn from the Chinese...

The secret of our success, according to the Chinese Academy of Social Studies is ...

“The Christian moral foundation of social and cultural life was what made possible the emergence of capitalism and then the successful transition to democratic politics. We don’t have any doubt about this.”

Naturally we are trying to eradicate this advantage as quickly and thoroughly as possible, in our self-immolating effort to be more 'tolerant' of every less successful culture in the world.
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"Capitalism and Christianity"

Ottawa Theology On Tap held a lecture featuring Richard Bastien:

"Capitalism and Christianity: Cooperation or Conflict?"


Is capitalism a 'Protestant' invention? Has the Catholic tradition played a role in the rise of capitalism? Why the tension between the Christian tradition and the capitalist 'spirit'? What does the Church have to say about economics? Why are so many Christians opposed to capitalism?



Richard Bastien studied public finance at the University of Montreal and at Harvard University and spent most of his career working as an economist in the Canadian Ministry of Finance, specializing in international finance. Throughout the 1990s, he was Canada’s representative in the Paris Club and in the G-8 Group of debt experts. Mr. Bastien is currently Director of the Canadian Catholic Civil Rights League for the Ottawa region and a founding member of ÉGARDS - the only culturally-conservative journal in Canada in either official language. He also writes for Challenge Magazine.

(via Facebook)

"The Triumph Of Style Over Substance"

Mark Crutcher on what America finds acceptable today :

...I can assure you that there have always been people who wanted to be president whose morals were no better than those of Clinton or Obama. The difference was that, back when America was still a Christian nation, the voters had better morals than to knowingly elect these kind of people to public office...

...All across America, there are those who claim that it is possible for them to be pro-choice – or vote for a supporter of legalized abortion – without abandoning their Christian principles. They get away with this despite the fact that, from a theological standpoint, what they are saying is clearly demonstrable hogwash.

Two fundamental doctrines of Christianity are that God is the author of life and that He is incapable of making mistakes. Obviously, the only logical conclusion that can be drawn from those concepts is that when life exists in the womb it is God’s will that it be there. Since the obvious goal of abortion is to deny that will, support for its legality is, by definition, incompatible with Christianity.

The fact is, when someone claims to be pro-choice they are asserting three things. The first is that life is not a right inherited from God but a privilege bestowed by human beings who can withhold it if they “choose” to do so. The second is that God is neutral on whether a child He created is brutally torn limb from limb. The third is that it is possible to reject the innocent new lives that God creates without rejecting God Himself. From a Christian perspective, all three of these views are absurd.

In the final analysis, Christians cannot be pro-choice about the intentional destruction of innocent human life any more than they can be pro-choice about rape, robbery, slavery, incest, child abuse, etc...

Separation of Church and State Allows Blurring of Good and Evil

Meditation on the Credo

Homily January 2009 at St. Hedwig's Catholic Church, Barry's Bay, ON
(Deacon Jean-Nil Chabot)

I’ve been thinking about the Creed, this week. Each day, at the beginning of the Rosary, and each Sunday and solemnities, we pronounce the articles of the Creed; we profess that we believe in God the Father who created the universe and gave it its laws, in God the Son who redeemed us from eternal death, and the Holy Spirit who sanctifies us through the Church. Then, I realized how important the Creed is for the Christian world in “this most critical time” as the prayer says it. There is no chance for renewal, no beneficial social reform in the world without at least a tacit acknowledgement of these truths contained in the Creed.

There is an understanding now, in the western world, that because the end or purpose of the State is different from that of the Church, the two must be completely separated as if there were a chasm between them. There are even some sincere Christians who are led to believe that this is what Christ meant when he said: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” True, Caesar, or the State, has its own purpose, which is to rule over temporal things, but God rules over everything, including Caesar himself. When it comes to moral issues, which relate to God’s law, the Church has the right and duty to judge Caesar’s actions and declare them right or wrong. There is a distinction between Church and State, but in the moral order the Church is the institution chosen by Christ to teach that which belongs to God, who is the ruler over all.

Belief in the radical separation of Church and State allows the powerful to speak out of both sides of their mouths. A leader who has climbed to the top of the political ladder in his country can profess to be Christian and yet produce policy after policy which, in the moral order, is categorically anti-Christian. From one side of his mouth comes the promise to defend the weakest and most defenseless members of society. On the other side comes the promise to give free rein to the murder of those still in the womb. From the one side comes a commitment to the family, on the other the commitment to its destruction by redefining marriage in order to legalize same-sex unions.

The citizens of his country, our own country or any other, should not be deceived into believing that such changes can produce the better world which is promised to them. Jesus foretold that “false messiahs would appear and would perform signs and wonders so great as to deceive, if that were possible, even the elect.” As far as I’m concerned, the kind of enthusiasm that was manifested throughout the world, earlier this week, could qualify as one of these wonders. However, our Lord said we would recognize them by their fruits. Whatever other reasons may attract us to such leaders, their charism in particular, let us not be fooled – let us look at their voting records and see if it indicated good fruit or decaying fruit. Let us see if they are divided within themselves, with one part professing the good and the other professing the evil.

We believe in God the Creator, God the Redeemer and God the sanctifier. Three in one: distinct, but united as one. With God, the only separation is from evil. All good is from God, all evil opposes Him. We cannot trust those leaders who separate Church and State in order to remove the opposition between good and evil and include them both without distinction, in one political agenda. Our hope is not in such men, but in God who rules over all. If we turn back to Him, He will call humble and holy men to lead us. Only then will we deserve that justice and the common good to be established in this world. Already the victory has been obtained for us through the merits of Christ who died for us – what is left to be accomplished, is for the world to claim that victory by returning to God. Then we will be able sing today’s Psalm, Psalm 85, with thankful hearts.

Psalm 85 'A prayer for God's grace to assist us to the end'
1. Incline thine ear O Lord, and hear me: for I am needy and poor.
2. Preserve my soul, for I am holy: save thy servant, O Lord my God, that trusteth in thee.
3. Have mercy on me , O Lord, for I have cried to thee all the day.
4. Give joy to the soul of thy servant, for to thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul.
5. For thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild: amd plenteous in mercy to all that call upon thee.
6. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer: and attend to the voice of my petition.
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17. Show me a token for good: that they who hate me may see, and be confounded, because thou, O Lord, hast helped and comforted me.

Christianity, Islam and Mary

I just read an interesting article about the historical relationship between Islam and Christianity, by Barbara Kralis . She included an article by the late Archbishop Sheen on the Moslem devotion to Mary:

....Today (1950), the hatred of the Moslem countries against the West is becoming hatred against Christianity itself. Although the statesmen have not yet taken it into account, there is still grave danger that the temporal power of Islam may return and, with it, the menace that it may shake off a West which has ceased to be Christian, and affirm itself as a great anti-Christian world Power.

It is our firm belief that the fears some entertain concerning the Moslems are not to be realized, but that Moslemism, instead, will eventually be converted to Christianity — and in a way that even some of our missionaries never suspect.

It is our belief that this will happen not through the direct teaching of Christianity, but through a summoning of the Moslems to a veneration of the Mother of God.....

During a visit to Lebanon as a Christian pilgrim in Feb. 2006, we visited (their)Cana. From the hillside we could see the shepherds and their flocks in the valley, and in the far distance, an unobstructed view of Israel. The site we visited is believed by those living there to have been the site of Jesus' first miracle, and was maintained as a little park with a path to a shrine of Mary - a cave with a statue of Our Lady of Fatima. As I recall , there were also some carvings in rock that were meant to depict the Apostles. While we were there, several cars bearing Moslem pilgrims arrived to pray at the shrine. It was quite remarkable.

I wonder whether Archbishop Sheen's hope that the Moslems may be converted through their veneration of Mary will be fulfilled before or after Christians are reconciled amongst themselves . In rejecting as insignificant Jesus' Mother, whom he offered to us from the cross, some Christians have separated themselves from Christ himself in a particular way that the Moslems have not. Whom shall Christ bring home first - those who implore the help of his beloved Mother, or those who do not?