Bishop Vasa is one person I greatly admire and this little piece from him certainly increases my admiration.
The following hoaxes/myths will be exposed in 2010:
Manmade global warming
Atheistic evolution
Relativism is the only absolute
Abortion is “health care”
Nobody can do health care better than the government
A Catholic can be pro-choice
The government will take care of you
How Obama saved America
America no longer needs GodCome, Lord Jesus!
The Most Rev. Robert F. Vasa is bishop of Baker, Oregon.
A list of predictions from various Catholics at Inside Catholic,
I am a sucker for versions of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” that mention me along with a bunch of other bloggers.
The Ironic Catholic points to a new novel called Lamb, which is subtitled “The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal.”
Okay the subtitle is bad enough and it is hard to imagine a Jew named Biff in the first place. I just wondered how awful the book could be so I read the first page of it at Amazon.
It starts with Biff describing a 6 year old Jesus letting a lizard play in his mouth. I’m not kidding. Biff yells “Unclean, unclean”, but the mothers around him ignore him. Jesus’ “younger brother” manages to take the lizard and then smashes it with a rock. Jesus takes the dead lizard and places it into his mouth. The lizard is then resurrected and crawls back out of his mouth. His “younger brother” than kills it again.
Now we know the later story in Jesus life is based on Lizardus. Though it would be hard for child Jesus to say “Lizardous come forth” with the lizard in his mouth. As an adult I guess he had perfected his technique.
It seems this book has the flavor of the Gnostic books that also described a child Jesus making clay birds and bringing them to life.
Recently their has been a lot of talk about Microsoft’s new 300 million dollar ad campaign created in part to respond to Apple’s successful “I’m a Mac and I’m a PC” ad campaign and to try to do some damage control on the Vista brand.
Personally I thought the two Jerry Seinfeld/Bill Gates ads were quite strange, though fun. Like Seinfeld not only were they about nothing, they were also nothing about Vista. After paying Seinfeld 10 million dollars that ad campaign stopped at 2 commercials (which they now say they planned all along.)
The new Microsoft commercials have a John Hodgman look-a-like saying “I’m a PC and I have been made into a stereotype” followed by all kinds of people repeating “I’m a PC.” Now Microsoft playing the victim card and directly responding to Apple’s ad doesn’t seem like a good ad campaign to me. Especially since once again they don’t talk about Vista.
As for myself I am a Mac switcher since last October after having used Windows since 2.0 and while I really prefer iMac and OSX Leopard, I am not a Vista hater. It is not as bad as its reputation and initial driver problems are mostly gone. I make my living as a Windows developer, but ironically Iknow code using Visual Studio on my iMac via VMWare Fusion.
Anyway I want Microsoft to have a good ad campaign, something they have never really had. So I started thinking how effective political attack ads are. What if Microsoft went down that route instead. So without receiving a penny from Microsoft I decided to create a commercial for them with my first YouTube video.
I made my Microsoft ad using iMovie 08 on my Mac, but that’s okay since Microsoft’s “I’m a PC” Ads were also made on a Mac by their ad agency.
Bishop R. Walker Nickless in an excellent pastoral letter released yesterday Ecclesia Semper Reformanda (The Church is Always in Need of Renewal) at one point said.
Lastly, the Holy Father, going into greater detail later in the address, explains that the “spirit of Vatican II” must be found only in the letter of the documents themselves. The so-called “spirit” of the Council has no authoritative interpretation. It is a ghost or demon that must be exorcised if we are to proceed with the Lord’s work.
Well the Bishop might be interested in the text I wrote as part of a Parody three years ago.
Rite of Exorcism of the Spirit of Vatican II
The priest delegated by the Ordinary to perform this office should first go to confession or at least elicit an act of contrition, and, if convenient, offer the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and implore God’s help in other fervent prayers. He vests in surplice and purple stole. Having before him the person possessed (who should be bound if there is any danger), he traces the sign of the cross over him, over himself, and the bystanders, and then sprinkles all of them with holy water. After this he kneels and says the Litany of the Saints, exclusive of the prayers which follow it. All present are to make the responses. Do not be surprised if during the Litany of the Saints if the subject becomes uncomfortable with so many pre-Vatican II names. The person might try ot interject other names like for example Gandhi.
It might also be necessary to gag the possessed person. The possessed will often appeal to dialoguing and will attempt to do it for countless hours and then days on end. This faux dialoguing in not an attempt to get to the truth, but to wear you down in sophist arguments. Appealing to Holy Scripture, Apostolic Tradition, and reason are fruitful avenues in most situation, but only the most patient exorcist should try to employ them in this situation since the possesed are normally immune to them.
The next step in the exorcism has been known to produce especially strong reactions from the possessed person. Even if the person is bound it is suggested that a minimum of two people be on hand to hold them down and to assist you. The exorcist after appealing to the Holy Spirit begins to read the actual texts of the documents of Vatican II. As mentioned above be prepared for a violent reaction especially while reading Sacrosanctum Concilium. If the possessed person is not gagged be prepared for obscene outbursts like "Your mother is a homophobe." Rainbow colored projectile vomiting has also been known to occur. While the text is read the bystanders chant "The power of the text compels you." Make sure that a medical team is on hand in case the possessed person goes into shock during the reading. They will no be spinning of their head or displaying supernatural phenomenon, but the logic they will use in defending the spirit of Vatican II might make your own head spin.
The following invocation is then chanted:
From all evil, Deliver us, 0 Lord.
From the spirit which denies the text, Deliver us, 0 Lord.
From modernist interpretations, Deliver us, 0 Lord.
From inclusive language, Deliver us, 0 Lord.
From the pride of independence, Deliver us, 0 Lord.
From liturgical abuses, Deliver us, 0 Lord.
From disobedience to the magisterium, Deliver us, 0 Lord.
From an unformed conscience, Deliver us, 0 Lord.
From the spirit of the age, Deliver us, 0 Lord.The exorcist than commands the spirit of Vatican II to come out
Therefore, I adjure you every modern spirit, every specter from academia, every dissident power, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who was led into the desert after His baptism by John to vanquish you in your citadel, to cease your assaults against the creature whom He has, formed from the slime of the earth for His own honor and glory that you leave this soul. I command you moreover that you leave immediately so that this person can not only come to enjoy the actual documents of Vatican II, but that he (she) may appreciate and accept in obedience all of the Church’s councils and magisterial teachings of Holy Mother Church. That he (she) may see the Second Vatican Council as an organic growth and not a starting point of a new church.
Depart, then, impious one, depart, accursed one, depart with all your deceits, for God has willed that man should be His temple. Why do you still linger here? Give honor to God the Father almighty, before whom every knee must bow. Give place to the Lord Jesus Christ, who shed His most precious blood for man. Give place to the Holy Spirit, who by His blessed apostle Peter openly struck you down in the person of Simon Magus; who cursed your lies in Annas and Saphira; who smote you in King Herod because he had not given honor to God. Depart you mischievous spirit that denies sin and calls right wrong and wrong right. I order you depart deceitful spirit to leave and to never return.
All the above may be repeated as long as necessary, until the one possessed has been fully freed.
It will also help to say devoutly and often over the afflicted person the Our Father, Hail Mary, and the Creed, as well as any of the prayers given below.
The Canticle of our Lady, with the doxology; the Canticle of Zachary, with the doxology.
The exorcist then looks for signs that the evil spirit of modernity has truly departed. Have the subject read from the Catechism of the Catholic Church and VII documents and observe their demeanor. If they look comfortable doing this let the person read some scriptural texts. If they can do this without injecting inclusive language for references to God, then this is a further sign of healing. As a final test have the person as a test of obedience recite the Affirmation of Personal Faith. If they can read this without breaking a sweat, screaming in terror, or any sign of discomfort then this is a very good sign indeed. "The devil can imitate humility but he cannot imitate obedience." St. Faustina