The usual Open Thread rules apply:Â be concise, be charitable and, above all, be amusing!
Open Thread
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Someone once said that the best anti-depressant was doing something for somebody else.
“their Creator” (Declaration of Independence) made each and every human soul in original innocence.
Jesus Christ became man to save every human soul fallen into original sin.
(I believe that Jesus Christ would have become man to live among the human race if Adam had stayed obedient and faithful to God.)
In Jesus Christ’s sacred heart are every human soul to be redeemed. Christ gave us to His Mother on Calvary and then to Saint John the Beloved before He died.
Christ rose again from the dead since death is the wages of sin and Jesus Christ was true God and true man. Jesus Christ was and is an innocent man, the perfect human being Who loved man perfectly.
Every human being from Adam until the end of time is loved by Christ perfectly.
In the Real Presence of the altar and in the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist every human soul for whom Christ laid down His life is with Him, in His sacred heart(and Mary’s sorrowful heart)
In Christ’s sacred heart each an every soul is the way God, the Creator made us, and the way Jesus Christ, our redeemer, redeemed us, whole, innocent and perfect.
When we received Jesus Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in Holy Communion, we receive our perfect, saved and renewed selves.
Holy Communion is a divine mystery, I mean miracle. Man receives Christ and his renewed self as God created him to be.
God keeps all things in existence. And always in every way perfects His creation.
When a person adores Christ in the Real Presence the better and better he learns who he really is created to be.
“I am with you until the end of time.”
My whole comment can be summed up in the word “re-create” for I become who I am supposed to be.
The Declaration of Independence guarantees the “pursuit of Happiness”, that is the pursuit of the joy of truth. Anyone who prevents the pursuit of the joy of truth commits assault.
Some years ago I was walking home from work. At my back someone covered my eyes and said: “Be quiet or I will blow your brains out.” I thought:” He will kill me here or drag me somewhere and kill me.” So, I gave him both elbows into his gut as hard as I could. I turned around and looked into his eyes and there was nothing there. It was as though I was looking at the cement beneath his shoes. He was devoid of his soul…empty…nothing.
I started screaming bloody murder. I could taste the blood in my mouth. He ran away.
Sovereign persons are nothing without their soul. And Jesus Christ re-creates our soul through His love for us, making us over into the sovereign persons we are created to be.
While I love dogs, I love cats more. Unfortunately, because the grandchildren are allergic to cat hair / dander, we don’t have cats. And I have observed that Filipinos – all my wife’s side of the family – prefer dogs to cats. I think it sad that these animals who have given me (indeed all of us) such joy have no eternal souls with which to enjoy the paradise of heaven. That includes horses, too; my sister is very partial towards horses and counts some at her local equine ranch as her closest friends.
BTW, cats are God’a perfect little murder machines. You got a rodent or other vermin problem? Get a cat and your problem will disappear in no time.
I assume you caught this:
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https://pjmedia.com/victoria-taft/2026/01/14/federal-dhs-whistleblower-doxxes-identities-of-thousands-of-ice-and-border-patrol-agents-n4948300
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I’m remembering the IRS employee who turned over the confidential information of the National Organization for Marriage to gay groups. Every time you think partisan Democrats have finally hit bottom and cannot sink any lower, they prove you wrong. If the laws and their administration are minimally just, this twit will have a long spell in federal prison.
I like how this criminal is portrayed as a whistle blower.
LQC, the late Father Benedict Groeschel opined as follows regarding our animal friends in this life and their lack of an immortal soul:
We are promised “paradise” by Christ Himself if we attain Heaven. The idea is put forth by some theologians that the Beatific Vision will be so awesome that we won’t care if our earthly pets and other animal companions are not there. This could be true, but real Paradise would not exclude the creatures we loved and cared for in our mortal lives. God, who is omnipotent, can restore these creatures to Heavenly existence if He so chooses. Fr. Groeschel believed it is quite reasonable to hope that He will do so.
I agree.
Fr. Groeschel’s opinions should hold no value in the eyes of good God-fearing Christians. Some have been quite heinous.
There’s plenty of great saints to cite, mention of Groeschel should be limited to our prayers for the souls of the departed (IMO).
Sorry for the downer post, but, c’mon!
Re: Pets in heaven. The classic response has always been that because animals have material souls, they do not “go to heaven,” which I happen to agree with.
However, N. T. Wright (conservative Anglican biblical scholar, who has been the leading Pauline scholar forever) has begun to make waves with his insistence that according to scripture, heaven is not “up there,” but there will be a new heaven and new earth that will take place here, on earth. And yes, animals will be a part of this redeamed creation and humanity. How that is going to happen, is still a mystery, but it is gaining traction in the Protestant world.
CAG, I know Father Groeschel said some foolish things about the priestly sex abuse scandal, claiming that sometimes the priests were the ones being seduced. He did apologize for that and subsequently left his public ministry at EWTN. That happened about a decade or so after an accident which should have killed him or left him mentally incapacitated, but didn’t. I guess what I am saying is that after some reflection, I would cut him some slack. Yeah, a flawed priest, but perhaps better than the clerics whom Jorge the Heretic promoted. Just my opinion for whatever it’s worth.
Thanks to others here for your thoughts about whether or not our pets have souls that’ll be in heaven. Regardless that they were vicious little murder machines, my cats in the past were far more deserving of heaven than I.
My cats – 3 girls, 1 boy, and their mama – wrestle and chase one another all the time, and mama doesn’t hesitate to take on her boy, who outweighs her by about 4-5 pounds (the kittens are almost 2 years old and therefore young adults; mama probably about 4 years old)
LQC:
Pope John Paul II told the American bishops: “One crime and the priest is out,”
How can I accept an individual who disobeys our Pope?
The Dallas Charter said: “two or more crimes. It cost the church $249,000 to educate a priest.”
It cost the church a lot more for keeping the criminals.
Groeschel was comfortable with that; telling on EWTN that only six or eight abusers returned to abusing.
So, where are the millstones?
All good points, Mary De Voe. Agree completely. I think Farher Groeschel was foolishly overreacting to attacks against the Church and said some very stupid and very wrongful things. At least he had the decency to retire from the public limelight.
Regarding Father Groeschel:
Gee whiz, lighten up, y’all. I didn’t propose the guy for sainthood, I just quoted one thing he said. If we totally cancel everyone who ever said anything stupid and offensive, there wouldn’t be many people left to talk about. And we would start to look a bit like the lefties we pillory here on a daily basis for their cancel culture. Just saying.
Frank, why cite someone whose opinion is suspect (at best!)? Not citing people who’ve demonstrated egregious error in judgment is not equivalent to ‘cancelling’ them, it’s just common sense. I’m certain you could find some feel good quote from a respectable Catholic authority without much effort.
“Frank, why cite someone whose opinion is suspect (at best!)?”
Maybe because his opinion on the topic at hand had nothing to do with the issue on which he made the stupid statements for which he later apologized? I believe you are actually making my point: does a man’s very poor judgment on one issue automatically vitiate his entire preceding body of work, regardless of the subject matter? You seem to be saying that it does. I respectfully but strongly disagree.
Onward and upward. God bless all here.
I hear Adolph Hitler liked dogs and thought they’d go to the afterlife.
Nietzsche was a huge cat lover.
You can’t really “cancel” dead people
… Just throwing these factoids out there, carry on 😀
It won’t happen in my lifetime, but I’d expect Father Groeschel to be canonized one day.
IIRC Fr. Groeschel had been in an accident and had a stroke that brought physical and mental infirmities along with them. His EWTN show had gone from a live format to a pre-recorded presentation. He did apologize for his comments. EWTN issued a statement about Fr. Groeschel citing his declining health in the discontinuation of his show.
LQC, I don’t know if animals have an “after life”, but according to an old animated movie, “All dogs go to heaven”. Cats? I think they’d go to puuurrrrr-gatory.
I enjoy your observations about your wife’s Filipino family. I am always grateful that the Blessed Mother, with a little help from the Little Flower, played matchmaker with a pretty Filipina and me over 40 years ago. Quail eggs and bagoong aside, she and her family have so enriched my life.
Thx to everyone who makes these columns so interesting and welcoming – starting with you, Don. God bless.
LQC:
The American bishops hired Groeschel to counsel abusive priests. This charade was all concerted.
Yep 14 year old boys were seducing 30 year old ordained adults. The 30 year old ordained adults never heard of the spiritual works of mercy?
GregB and Pinky:
Disobeying Pope John Paul II’s order to oust abusive priests is no small matter. Six or eight more victims makes the bishops and Groeschel co-molesters and enablers.
Greg B and or Pinky:
So, turning child molesters free is a good thing?