Dear Holy Priests Within the Diocese of Beaumont: Please Stop Denying Communion to Those Who Wish to Receive Kneeling

Polls consistently show that only 30% of Catholics in the United States go to Mass regularly. It's a safe bet that trends are very similar within the Diocese of Beaumont. This my brothers and sisters is a tragedy. This is a disease. It is also a safe bet to say that the majority among that 30% has little grasp of what the Church teaches. Polls also indicate that few practicing Catholics still profess a belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. This is also a tragedy. This is also a disease. I believe the key to recovering from the first disease is to heal the second. We get more Catholics to Mass by restoring belief in the Eucharist.  

A picture of St. Pio kneeling to receive Holy Communion.

The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith and therefor, for me, must be the source and summit of "The Year of Faith". This being said, we have a lot of work to do. From my perspective as a layman, we desperately need the "New Evangelization" because we as a church in general do not truly believe in the miracle that happens on the altar. Our fruits suggest that we do not truly believe in the Real Presence. I’m not accusing anyone. I myself stand accused. I, too, have walked up the Communion line and responded to “the Body of Christ“ with a parrot-like “Amen.”

My personal goal for this "Year of Faith" is to deepen my devotion to the Eucharist. Specifically by practicing Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi (Latin loosely translatable as "the law of prayer is the law of belief"). I truly believe "As we worship, so we believe" . What we pray is what we believe is how we live. If I pray like the Eucharist is really God, then I will believe that the Eucharist is really God. Alongside other faithful, I have chosen to deepen my faith in the Eucharist by receiving while kneeling. I have asked my own pastor for spiritual guidance regarding this issue and he has encouraged me to receive while kneeling if that is what I feel called to do. I have been warned by many that my attempted reverence might not be welcomed elsewhere in the Diocese.  I find this troubling. The faithful wish to be able to worship with the same reverence at all parishes, but  have not been able to do so. My personal attempts to practice Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi have been snuffed out by the very people who should be encouraging it- the priests of the Diocese. I and others have been discouraged, scolded, and refused from receiving Holy Communion while kneeling. This is going on in the majority of parishes in our Diocese. I have had it happen to me personally, and I have witnessed it happen to others. Since this happened to me I have done some research. I found that GIRM (General Instruction of the Roman Missal) paragraph 160 appears to apply to this situation:

"… The norm established for the Dioceses of the United States of America is that Holy Communion is to be received standing, unless an individual member of the faithful wishes to receive Communion while kneeling."

With that said, in 2004 the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments issued a very strong Instruction called Redemptionis Sacramentum. In paragraphs 90-91 of this document we read:

 “The faithful should receive Communion kneeling or standing, as the Conference of Bishops will have determined”, with its acts having received the recognitio of the Apostolic See. “However, if they receive Communion standing, it is recommended that they give due reverence before the reception of the Sacrament, as set forth in the same norms”.[91.] In distributing Holy Communion it is to be remembered that “sacred ministers may not deny the sacraments to those who seek them in a reasonable manner, are rightly disposed, and are not prohibited by law from receiving them”. Hence any baptized Catholic who is not prevented by law must be admitted to Holy Communion. Therefore, it is not licit to deny Holy Communion to any of Christ’s faithful solely on the grounds, for example, that the person wishes to receive the Eucharist kneeling or standing."

Reasons why I choose to kneel to receive: 

• Kneeling has always been the Universal Church's posture for reception of Holy Communion. It's the universal NORM.

• Kneeling is promoted by the Pope. 

• Kneeling points to the REAL presence of Christ.

• Kneeling is more reverent.

 Then Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Emeritus Benedict) giving communion to Blessed (soon to be Saint) Pope John Paul II

Some actual arguments I've been told against kneeling: 

• The Bishop prefers communicants to receive standing (I have never heard this stated directly by the Bishop but perhaps that is his preference. That's fine. He is our Bishop and we should always want to be obedient to him. However, we can never be disobedient to Church Law or teaching. Canon Law is clear on this matter- that faithful are left free to receive how they wish).

• Kneeling promotes disunity (That's just silly. Unity doesn't mean uniformity. The Catholic Church is ONE but has many many different types of spiritualistic preferences between religious orders and rites. Unity doesn't mean uniformity). 

• People could trip on you and fall (The Church has received kneeling for 2000 years. Wouldn't we have heard of someone falling over each other by now?).

• Vatican II did away with kneeling (The Council did not actually change the way of distribution, but it became a widespread practice in the years following, going against the teaching of the Church, and Pope Paul VI recommended to stay with the traditional way of distribution).

I am just requesting to have the freedom to worship the way I feel is best fitting with my convictions. In mimicking the saints, I do not feel that I am doing anything wrong. I am not trying to draw attention to myself- but to HIM. I believe the Eucharist is really Christ and so therefor I must respond so- on my knees. I do not wish to hamper others from receiving standing up. I do not wish to get in the way. I just want to give God the greater glory by giving Him total reverence. I am not a lone voice. Many in our Diocese feel the same way and have had the same experiences. 

My dear Holy priests in the Diocese of Beaumont, please stop refusing Holy Communion to those who wish to kneel. It's against Canon Law. And besides, shouldn't you be more worried about denying Pro-abortion supporters instead of those who wish to kneel before God?

During the Holy Friday Liturgy many witnessed Clergy kneel down and kiss the cross. It was beautiful. But it makes one wonder: how is it okay to kneel down and pay respect to a symbol but it's not permitted to kneel down and pay respect to the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity or our Lord?

Ask yourselves, "Why is the first picture allowed in the Diocese of Beaumont but not the second?"

Pray for our Bishop and our Priests. 

Calling All Prayer Warriors!

Join the Knights of the Immaculata in praying the rosary during the month of May for the intentions of our Bishop and the Diocese in which he governs. The month of May is the "month which the piety of the faithful has especially dedicated to Our Blessed Lady," and it is the occasion for a "moving tribute of faith and love which Catholics in every part of the world pay to the Queen of Heaven. During this month Christians, both in church and in the privacy of the home, offer up to Mary from their hearts an especially fervent and loving homage of prayer and veneration. In this month, too, the benefits of God's mercy come down to us from her throne in greater abundance"- Paul VI: Encyclical on the Month of May, no. 1.

This devotion became popular at the end of the 13th century. In the 16th century, books began to foster the devotion. In the early 18th century the Jesuit Order in Rome began its formal practice, and from there it spread to the Church worldwide; the month of May became known as ‘The Month of Mary’.

On this special month in dedication to Our Lady, we would like people to sign up for one Rosary on one specific day. You may Email us, Facebook us, or Tweet us to let us know what day you want. We hope and pray that all will sign up to pray the Rosary for our Bishop and Diocese. The Rosary is a powerful weapon against the gates of Hell. 

We commend all our prayers and actions of the month of Mary into the hands of the Immaculata, and we ask her to unite them with her own prayers for His Excellency Bishop Curtis J. Guillory, and for the Diocese of Beaumont.

Sign up today and pray the Rosary in the month of May! The heel of our Lady will crush the head of the serpent here in the diocese of Beaumont and throughout the world- if we fervently ask her.

*The Militia of the Immaculata Beaumont is not affiliated with the Dioceses of Beaumont

Bring Me My Weapon

"Bring me my weapon"-- St. Padre Pio


"Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world."
--Blessed Pope Pius IX



"The holy Rosary is a powerful weapon. Use it with confidence and you'll be amazed at the results."
--St. Josemaria Escriva

Why the rosary? How does the rosary have anything to do with our fight against secularism, relativism, and heresy? You might be a non-catholic wondering about the claims of the rosary and how they square away with your beliefs. Or you might be a practicing Catholic who is puzzled that the "weapon of choice" for this battle against the secular monster is simply prayer beads.

St. Padre Pio called the rosary a weapon- because that's exactly what it is. A weapon. It's not just some fuzzy-feeling meditation-the very gates of hell tremble when the rosary is prayed fervently. As Catholics, we know that the prayers of the holy rosary are more than just "vain" repetitious words. Saint Padre Pio states that “The Rosary is the 'weapon' for these times.” If we truly focus on the meditations of the mysteries, we examine deep into the heart of the Gospel of truth. Some might still be thinking “Why the rosary?” The simple answer is because it's powerful. Because it requires discipline. Because it fosters a love for the Immaculata and asks for her powerful intercession. The secular culture is also powerful and requires no discipline whatsoever. Rather, it promotes instant selfish pleasure. It is built on lies and the twisting of good and evil. If we are ever going to shake the very foundation of falsehood that the secularism is built on, we must arm ourselves with the truth. Praying the rosary is such a powerful way in which we will begin to take down the secret walls of hidden shame in our homes; praying the rosary for those nailed down by addictions of this world is the silent prescription for this disease.

The rosary is the Gospel on a chain. In many third-world countries, as in times before the printing press- the Bible was and is unavailable to the common man. For some, owning a personal copy of scripture was and is a luxury. How do those people know the Gospel truths? One time tested way is the regular recitation of the rosary. There are many Christians who have never personally read one page of Holy Scripture, but they know the saving message through a devotion of the rosary. They know Him personally because they pray the rosary. While reciting the rosary, we mediate on the essential moments of Christ’s life and on the life of Christ through His Mother’s perspective- a perspective that knows Christ more than we can ever hope too. The prayers of the rosary help us gain insight into the One who is the Divine Truth and Truth Giver. Not only do we arm ourselves with the truth, but we also implore the one who is the Mother of Truth to act with us. In the rosary we ask the model of purity herself, Mary, to pray for our purity. When we gain the intersession of our Blessed Mother, we gain all the power heaven can yield. St. Josemaria Escriva declares "If you say the Holy Rosary every day, with a spirit of faith and love, our Lady will make sure she leads you very far along her Son's path." We have a Goliath to take down and just as David had five stones in his arsenal, we have five decades in ours. So grab those beads and start praying, this beast must go down!

Go Beat Up a Baptist

St. Paul tells us that we are Christ's ambassadors... not His debate champions. The universal call to evangelization is not a command to go "beat up a baptist" but more like a call to go "love a baptist". This cannot be a blind love, no, it has to be a well informed love. A love that instructs with words and deeds. A love that leads to the fullness of Christ's teachings.

In football terms: Evangelization is offensive. Apologetics is defensive. You have to have both because you will lose the game without each working together. We are really familiar with the word "Evangelization" but sometimes the word "Apologetics" slips under our radar. The standard scripture for apologetics is 1 Peter 3:15, “Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence.”

A picture of what not to do:

Are you prepared to make a defense of your faith? The first step to defending your faith, is knowing your faith- you cannot give what you do not yourself have. Remember the scripture stated above said to "do it with gentleness.” We have to keep in mind that it’s the Holy Ghost who converts souls- we are at best broken tools who get to help. People from other religions do not get "saved" by bombarding strangers asking questions, clever argumentation, or cockyness. Handing people pamphlets through drive-thru windows is not fulfilling any call of evangelization. We have to present the faith in a clear and concise way. A way that makes people yearn for more. A way that makes people ask questions.

Honest questions like, “Why do Catholic’s do that?” I was one of those people. I was brought up Baptist and I guess you could also say “anti-catholic.” About 15 years ago I visited a Catholic Church for the first time. I went home thinking, “Dang those people act like drones.” I mean gosh they didn’t even bring their Bibles to church, and to make matters worse, it was boring! I made a long list of complaints within a week. I was for certain that the Catholic Church was off-kilter in its teachings, and I certainly wanted to prove it. I finally started talking to my friend's father, a Catholic, about my objections to the Church’s teachings. He answered a lot of my questions, but more importantly taught me a valuable lesson. “How can I judge something I do not understand?” So my new mission was to find information. Only with knowledge can people make up their own opinions. I started out very determined to prove the Catholic Church wrong. But as it turns out, all the answers I found went against my original opinions. For example, I perceived that the Catholic was unbiblical, but through study I realized that the Mass is soaked in Scripture, and Scripture is soaked with the Mass. If someone were to go to every Sunday Mass, for three years, he or she would have read the Bible almost in its entirety. It seems to me now that ignorance is the worst feature a person can acquire. If a person really looks at things, it is evident that all hatred comes from ignorance. People are more prone to hate what they do not comprehend. So I plea to you, do not make judgments, instead find information. The Great Bishop Fulton Sheen said this, "There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church, which is of course, quite a different thing." I found myself to be among the millions of uneducated and that most of the “Churches problems” were really “My problems” through unawareness.

My real big complaint was that the Church was boring and had no “Sprit.” Many people share this opinion. I ask you to do this next Sunday while at church. I want you to look around, you’ll see people that are totally thirsty for God, but you’ll also see some just going through the motions, often looking at their watch. This is in every church and in every denomination. My father in-law has a saying, “What tickles my ear, might not tickle my neighbors.” My senior English teacher also taught me this saying, “There is not a boring speaker, but a boring listener.” Which I find to be true, unless some is giving a two hour lecture on yarn or something else without tangible interest. Do not be comfortable by your own beliefs, but yet question them, and by all means question mine. How can one truly know what he or she believes in, if it has not been questioned, or better yet, answered...

Let me share with you a basic fact that got me thinking. The Catholic church did not suffer a doctrinal split until the fifteen-hundreds. Meaning that 75% of the Christian time period, has been nothing but Catholic. Here is a theory I like to call the “Buffet Theory.” Picture the founding Catholic Church as a restaurant. Or even better, an all you can eat restaurant. Okay now picture the Catholic Doctrine as the buffet inside the restaurant. For fifteen-hundred years the people were happy with the service and quality of the Catholic buffet. But one customer in 1517, decided that he did not agree on the buffet’s contents. He liked the bread, meat, vegetable, and dessert sections, but he didn't like the soups offered on the buffet. So he decided that he was going to open a new restaurant across the street. His restaurant was going to be a “Lutheran Buffet.” This new “Lutheran Buffet” was very similar to the Catholic Buffet except for the fact that it omitted soup from the menu. It was not long before a customer at the “Lutheran Buffet” stated that he loved the meat, vegetable, dessert sections of the “Lutheran buffet” but felt that the customers could do with out the bread section. So he opened up another restaurant similar to the Lutheran Buffet but with no bread. So on and so on through out history , until modern times when there are restaurants that just offer tofu. You see the more you break away, the farther you are from the original “Buffet” or Doctrine. There are thousands of Christian denominations/sects in our modern world that are all offshoots of the Protestant “Restaurants” of the Fifteen-hundreds. So ask yourself where you would like to eat. At the most established restaurant, which happens to be more than 2,000 years old. (Yes, that is longer than McDonald’s has been around.) Or at a restaurant that has just begun to dabble in the kitchen. I think the answer is clear. If the Catholic Church were a restaurant, I think that one of McDonald’s slogans would fit it perfectly, “Billion’s and Billion’s Served.”

QUAERITUR: Militia Immaculata and Diocesan Approval

Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

It has come to our attention that several Catholics in the Diocese of Beaumont, including clerics, have questioned the ability of laymen to form a chapter of the Militia Immaculata without explicit approval from the local Bishop.  In what follows it should be noted that each member of the Militia Immaculata of Beaumont is a Catholic in good standing desiring only the glory of God and salvation of souls.  We believe, as each Catholic must, all that the Holy Roman and Apostolic Church teaches regarding faith and morals.

Since Bishop Guillory is our spiritual father within this part of the Catholic world, we thought it fitting and appropriate to notify him of our new apostolate. Our letter to His Excellency was sent to him and made public, on this website and Facebook, at the very beginning of our work.

We invite everyone to investigate the Militia of the Immaculata to find out more for themselves (www.consecration.com). To see that it was founded by St. Maximilian Kolbe in 1917 and canonically established in 1922 by Pope Pius XI as a Pious Union of the Faithful.  To see that the Pontifical Council for the Laity on October 16, 1997 approved the MI's updated International Governing Statutes and granted the MI the privilege of status as an "International Public Association" - a status shared by only three other Catholic organizations.

Pope John Paul II noted that "membership in the MI means complete dedication to the Kingdom of God and to the salvation of souls through Mary Immaculate."

Of course, it has always been clear to us that lay Catholics do not need explicit approval from the local diocese to associate with one another and embark upon corporal and spiritual works of mercy.  In order to be even more certain of our rights, we sought the advice of the Canon Law Centre (http://www.canonlawcentre.com).  The professional opinion of their Canon Lawyers has confirmed what we always knew.  With permission of the Canon Law Centre, we provide below their response to our inquiry.  Please feel free to continue to contact us with any questions regarding our work.

Omnes cum Petro ad Iesum per Mariam!

Response from Canon Law Centre:
"Thank you for contacting the Canon Law Centre. I am happy to be of assistance regarding your question pertaining to starting a new chapter of the Militia Immaculata in your diocese.

Firstly, allow me to commend you for being mindful of the importance of canon law when organizing your apostolic efforts. As the recent popes have constantly reiterated, the law of the Church is meant to ensure the effectiveness of the means of sanctification and for the good ordering of apostolic undertakings.

As you point out in your email, the MI enjoys the status of an international public association of the faithful. As such, it enjoys the approval of the Holy See at the international level. In reviewing the statutes of the MI, article 43 provides that, “The local centers do not need to be canonically erected.” Practically speaking, this means that by virtue of the fact that the MI already enjoys the status of public international association of the faithful, its local chapters can be, but need not be, recognized by the local bishop. 

Your letter to the bishop advising him of the chapter's presence in the Diocese was entirely appropriate. While you don't need his permission to exist as an association, it is of course always a good thing to inform the bishop of the organization of particular apostolic works in the diocese. 

With regard to the contention of certain clerics in the Diocese who have alleged that you do not have approval from the Chancery, the simple fact is that you don't need it. To be clear, while the MI as such exists as an international public association of the faithful, the local chapters of the MI are (unless given formal recognition by a local bishop, and some might be) de facto private associations of the faithful. The bishop does have general oversight as to the effective exercise of apostolic works within the diocese (canon 322, et. al) but as a de facto association you come under his governance as individual Catholics only, and not as a group. 

In sum, continue to carry on your chapter's work without hesitation.  I pray that your charity and genuine good works win over the hearts of those who are hesitant to accept your group in the diocese. 

Please do not hesitate to call upon me should you have any further questions."

Bible Context = Catholic Context

A troubled man was pondering his existence. His life had seemed to hit rock bottom and he did not know where to turn. He remembered being told in his youth to always look in the Bible for answers to life’s hard questions. He then took a dusty Bible off a shelf and said a little prayer, “Please show me what I need to do.” He closed his eyes, opened the book, put his finger on the page, opened his eyes and began reading at a random place. Matthew 27:5 “Judas…then hung himself.” The young man shook his head and thought, “Surely this can’t be right.” So he randomly picked another verse the same way that he picked the first. It was Luke 10:37 “And Jesus said, “You go, and do likewise.”

The point of this story is to show that the Bible isn’t a Magic Eight Ball! Do not get me wrong, the Bible should shape our lives but we have to approach it and use it in the right way. You don’t use a TV remote to unstop a toilet. Why, because a TV remote is bad? No, because a TV remote was meant to serve another purpose. The Bibles purpose is the share divine truths to mankind about his creator not to be a magic book, almanac, or a scientific explanation of the universe. The better we understand the Bible, the better we will understand Gods message to us. Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.When we approach scripture, we have to approach it with the right context. If I were to say, “Put the kitty on the table.” You would need to know in what context I was speaking. If I was in Vegas and said “Put the kitty on the table” you would be able to conclude what I was gambling. But the meaning of “Put the kitty on the table” changes if I were at a pet store. Context is key! (Remember this, when a verse is taken out of context to be used as a proof text- that’s really a pretext.)

So what are some context tips for reading Scripture?

• Get a good study Bible, commentary, and concordance.
• Learn the history of the Bible and how it came into existence.
• Realize that The New Testament did not come before the Church but from the Church.
• Remember that Holy Scripture is a stream in which the elephant may swim and the lamb may wade.-Pope St. Gregory

I was raised Baptist. As a Baptist I was taught that the Bible was the most important “tool” I had as a Christian. If it could not be found in the Bible, then it obviously was not important. This view is called “Sola Scriptura,” or “by Scripture alone.” Ever since Martin Luther, Protestants have believed that the Bible alone is the sole teacher of truth and therefore the reason for faith. Ironically though, this is not found anywhere in the Bible. Scripture never says that the Bible alone is the sole rule of truth, but on the contrary it gives that authority to Christ’s Church , “…the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth.” (1Tim. 3:16) “And if he will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and the publican.” (Matt. 18:17) The idea of the “Bible alone” is not Biblical. Sola Scriptura falls apart with logic because the printing press was not invented until the sixteenth century. Therefore people could not afford a Bible and even if they could, the vast majority were illiterate. Christians heard the Bible at every Sunday Mass because the Church is the mother of the Bible and not vice versa. The New Testament did not come before the Church but from the Church. Jesus did not hand a Bible over to his apostles. Jesus wrote nothing and as far as we know, He never asked His disciples to write anything. His significant command to them was “do this,” not “write this” ; and “this” referred to the Church-forming sacraments. Only five of the twelve apostles wrote any thing down at all. The first generation of Christians had no new testament. Nine years past after Christ’s death before even one piece of the New Testament was written. It was sixty-four years before the last Gospel was completed. So there were sixty-four years without the twenty seven books of the New Testament. The New Testament, as we know it, was not gathered into one book and added to the existing Bible, the Old Testament, Until 393 A.D. at the Council of Hippo. The Bishops of the Catholic Church, gathered in council, prayed to the Holy Spirit for guidance, decided on those twenty-seven and excluded other writings. They said these books and these books alone are the Word of God. Who decided that? Catholic Bishops. Form then on, it was definitely referred to as the New Testament and as part of the Bible. The Church that canonized the Scriptures was the very Church that had produced them. During that four-hundred-year gap, before the New Testament was considered a part of the Bible, Christians relied on the traditions of the apostles for the truth. “Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.” (2 Thes 2:15).

Here is a short video I made about how Bible study can change your life:

The Holy Bible is with out question the most popular book of all times but that does not mean that it is the most read or most understood. Some Christians see the Bible as one big book. It is not A BOOK. Its huge collection of books, a library, that took thousands years to put together. When you go to the library, you do not read every book the same way. You do not read every book literally because there are many types of genres. It is the same for the Bible because it is made up of many types of literary genres. The Bible is made up of Jewish history, poems, political onion, mythology, letters, parables, and theologically rich narratives. The Bible’s complexity throw’s personal interpretation out the window. “Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation…”(2 Peter 1:20). “ Phillip ran up and herd him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” (Acts 8: 30-31). Martin Luther, the original spokesman for personal interpretation, later admitted its absurdity, “There is no rustic so rude but that, if he dreams or fancies anything, it must be the whisper of the Holy Spirit and he himself is a prophet.” It’s the scandal of Christianity that Protestantism has divided into thousands of rival sects each teaching its own set of doctrines while claiming to follow the Bible alone. My conversion to Catholicism did not weaken my view of the Bible; it reinforced it with two thousand years of tradition. The Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation states the following, “It is clear, therefore, that sacred tradition, sacred scripture, and the teaching authority of the church, in accord with God’s most wise design, are linked and joined together that one cannot stand without the others, and that all together and each in its own way under the action of the Holy Spirit contribute effectively to the salvation of souls.” The Church that produced and canonized the Scriptures in the past, is the same church that interrupts the Scriptures today.

Words Matter

Yesterday we talked about the gravity of the words we use (and choose not to use) CLICK HERE and the ripple of influence those words have for our spiritual lives. Our daily conversational words are powerful indicators of the strength of our spiritual pulse.

Looking at the bigger picture, we see that words matter even more when they are used to describe the principles we live by. The words we use to to describe our beliefs, our morals, and our ethical ruling philosophies must be clear and precise.

Our opposition uses words that are not clear nor precise. Words that can be interpreted and bent 205623095823 different ways. Confusion is part of the Devil's Propaganda. History is repetitive. Every nation that has ever engaged in war has published propaganda. Some of it clever. Some malicious. Some of it to boost morale. Some to stir up fear. Whatever the motivation behind it -advertising and word choice are powerful. Whoever has the best ads, sells the most product. One easy example - SEX SELLS.

A huge part of winning the culture war is seizing the lingo. Whoever controls the "words" controls the battle. Think about the word choice that the secularist industry uses:

"gentleman’s club,” "adult bookstore,” "pro-choice,” "sexual revolution,” "open relationships” "Women's Health Clinic".

All those terms convey a positive message but it is all smoke and mirrors…gift-wrap on garbage. We really know that "gentleman" do not degrade women by watching them publicly humiliate themselves. We really know that there is nothing that makes one more mature in "adult" bookstores-that's why the windows are tinted. We really know that "pro-choice" is just a nicer way of saying "I'm morally okay with mothers killing their unborn children." We all know that the only thing left open in an "open relationship" is a higher divorce rate and a better chance of getting an STD. We really know (or at least we are beginning to see) that no true freedom came from the so called "sexual revolution." Unless by "freedom" you mean more children that are raised in fatherless homes, higher sex-crime rates, and a “plastic surgery consumed” culture that has more body-image issues than the movie Shallow Hal. The modernist secular culture wants to re-define words.

We cannot be disillusioned to think that this battle is just being fought on the secular front. The vocabulary battle has leaked into the Church as well. Modernist theologians, liberal clergy and dissenting educators push their agendas by using ambiguous wording, teaching unclear definitions, and opposing any traditional interpretation or custom with a militaristic fervor.

The faithful Catholic must know the faith in order to defend it. We have to take back the higher ground of word control. We have to call truth, truth. Lies, lies. Smut, smut. Black, black. White, white. WITH LOVE and GENTLENESS for sure but also with clarity. You will get called a bigot for doing so. The opposition will label the truth as hate speech. They want it to seem as being intolerable, mean and uneducated.

We cannot and will not negotiate with spiritual terrorism. We cannot afford to "play nice." We are at war. Spiritual war. The father of lies,the inventor of confusing propaganda (see Genesis) wins with every word of divisional delusion. Our heavenly Father (the source of all truth) wins with every word of true clarity. Because our Lord IS the TRUE WORD. What side are you contributing to? Only one side is destined to win. Choose wisely.

MI's in Beaumont understand that our mission has to be clear. WORDS MATTER. We are the Church Militant (Ecclesia Militans), Christians on earth who are living; Christian militia, who struggle against sin, the devil and "..the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:12). The Latin word militans has a primary meaning of "serving as a soldier, military", but it acquired a secondary meaning of "to struggle, to make an effort", which is the intended sense here. Christians on earth (the Church Militant) are still struggling against sin in order that, when they die, they might go to heaven and be members of the Church Triumphant, those who have triumphed over sin. However, if this struggle is successful, but not completely so, then after death they temporarily become members of the Church Suffering before ultimately joining the Church Triumphant.

Words Matter. That is why we will let our founder speak for himself:

The purpose of the Militia is contained in these words: to do all you can for the conversion of sinners, heretics, schismatics and so on, above all the Masons, and for the sanctification of all persons under the sponsorship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Immaculate Mediatrix. —Saint Maximilian Kolbe