+ St. Eustace, Martyr+

Introduction

This is the last I will say on the Charlie Kirk matter. The hysteria being spread on the Internet about his death is disgusting. Some examples: he was wearing a blood bag and it blew up, making him appear to be dead. He is still alive and living in Valhalla, the island where the witness protection folks go, and I guess Kash Patel and his “Mossad girlfriend” (???) will see him there eventually. And the body in the casket that his wife was bending over, that was just a dummy. You can tell because the hands were yellow and rubbery-looking and “it was just so staged.” People are saying that Erica Kirk was wearing a Masonic necklace and a Masonic ring. Some believe she isn’t even Erika Kirk — just an actress — and has already joined her husband wherever he may be.

Come on people, grow up. Start acting like Catholics and stop acting like the people that give “dissident” Catholics a bad name, justifying the contention of their critics that they are just conspiracy theorists that base their beliefs and opinions on suppositions and half-truths. They classify them in the same category as those who also believe Elvis and JFK Jr. are alive (on Valhalla too?) and aliens will come to save mankind. Yes, we are being gaslighted; yes, we are being propagandized, but why play into their hands?

Now as far as Kirk looking waxy and his hands being rubbery and yellow, let me say this. I’ve seen more dead bodies than I would care to have seen in recent years, my own husband and my own grandson in particular and both of their bodies exhibited that rubbery, yellow look. If you go to the link HERE a mortician will explain why that happens. And I recently read an online report of a gentleman who says that he was with Kirk when he died. Now people out there will say I’m foolish, naive and even evil to believe that he is no longer alive and it wasn’t a plot to do whatever. I may be all those things. But what you’re saying publicly, online, when you are assuming these claims is that this man is a liar and other people around him are liars, including his wife. And that’s just not Catholic.

As for the Masonic ring and necklace, it is said to be a miniature of one that Erika Kirk’s grandfather reportedly received as a Swedish knight. It also closely resembles a piece of jewelry related to membership in the Knights of Malta, which some believe (those in the NO, as she was) is a legitimate Catholic organization. It isn’t of course, but she may not know that — IF that is what the necklace really is. We don’t know for certain and it is wrong to assume. The same can be said of the ring. Yes, it is a “G,” but is not representative of other typical Masonic rings, even for women. There could be other explanations of what it means to her. Is she portrayed by an actress? A double? Prove it; prove all the above. Because unless you can, you most likely are guilty of detraction and primarily rash judgment, both mortal sins.

Rash Judgment

Here is what the Moral theologians Revs. McHugh and Callan have to say on rash judgment from their work: Moral Theology a Complete Course Based on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Best Modern Authorities; 1958.

1734. Sinfulness of Rash Judgment.– Rash judgment strictly understood, then, is a firm assent of the mind, based on insufficient data, and given to the view that a neighbor is or has been guilty of sin.

(a) From its nature this sin is mortal, for it consists in a contempt for, and an injury to, what is regarded as one of the chief goods of man, namely, the favorable opinion of him that is entertained by others. It is denounced in Scripture as an injury to the law itself (“He that judgeth his brother judgeth the law,” James, iv. 11), and as meriting condemnation (“Judge not, and you will not be judged, condemn not and you will not be condemned,” Luke, vi. 37).

1743 (b) It is lawful to suspend judgment in case of reasonable doubts, if there is no obligation of deciding one way or the other, for in so doing one does no injury either to one’s own intelligence (since the doubt is reasonable) or to the honor of another person (since, as supposed, there is no obligation of judging positively in his favor). Just as there is no duty of making acts of love of our neighbor on every occasion, neither is there a duty of deciding doubts to his advantage on every occasion, or of having any opinion about him whatever. Some authors do not admit this, but the common teaching is against them.

(c) It is not lawful to suspend judgment, but the reasonable doubt must be resolved in a favorable sense, if there is an obligation or a wish to decide one way or the other; otherwise one would decide in an unfavorable sense and be guilty of rash judgment. This is what is meant by the well-known maxim that doubts about the character of a neighbor should be settled in favor of the neighbor.

1744. The interpretation of doubts in a favorable sense does not mean that one may not take into consideration the possibility of danger or deception and use remedies or precautions. This course is not rash judgment, for even when one judges that another person is good, one knows that the judgment is possibly wrong and therefore cannot be entirely relied on for external guidance.

So basically, we can suspend judgment while warning others privately that we may not be getting the real story. But online and in public we should keep our mouths shut, simply saying we don’t know, which we don’t. And if we wish to voice an opinion, we must decide in favor of the neighbor. If Christ considered the Samaritans capable of good in the Good Samaritan parable, a sect hated by the Jews for worshipping idols alongside the true God, surely we can spare some charity for erring Protestants, even if we suspect they may somehow be drawn into Freemasonry or Zionism. We must also consider how hard those fomenting conspiracy theories work to disrupt our actual thinking processes, as one online writer recently pointed out below.

Mental Health: Pill Pushing?

During the psychedelic era of the 1960s and 1970s, people used LSD, mushrooms, and other street drugs to enter an altered reality.

Now 50 years later, a few people use LSD and mushrooms, but most of the mind-altering drugs are legal. Around 18% of women are on some type of antidepressant and about 7% of kids are on some type of behavior modifying (mind altering) drug.

Then there are the additives that companies place in food. Some of these additives are used because they impact the brain. Several studies have indicated that sweeteners, preservatives, and emulsifiers may trigger mental disorders including anxiety, depression, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

And then there is a completely different reality conundrum. This reality shift can impact anyone, even people who are not taking pharmaceutical or illegal mind-altering drugs or eating food with additives or preservatives.

This is the “information” reality shift. Through extensive research, companies and governments discovered it is possible to control behavior with “information” that is delivered in special ways. This information can be delivered in audio, video, or written formats. It can be true. It can be false but made to appear true. It can be delivered to inspire fear or happiness.

When mind control techniques are used, it becomes very difficult to determine whether the “information” is real, partially real, or fake. In recent years, information controllers have used “experts” to sway people. And in the last couple of years, they paid “fact checkers” to “verify” information they wanted people to believe. In addition, universities sometimes push an agenda to keep low-cost employees or put forth half-truths that make it easier for them to obtain grants.

[In some states], we see people paying big money to make things appear different than they are. For example, on [one state’s] Amendment, the proponents spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to convince people that veterans could not vote. People have become wise to this type of manipulation.

On the other hand, it is harder to know when a doctor or hospital has the right motivations. Many people have started to wonder if a well check is sometimes just a way to find something wrong to generate income. Or if a free session with a personal trainer is really just a way to pressure you into a sale.

The worst part of a morphing reality is figuring out how to escape the mind control matrix, whether it is legal drugs, food additives, or information. Maybe a first step is to leave our phones, TVs, computers, and the slick marketing materials and escape into the beautiful outdoors. Then it is just you and nature. And no one seems to be trying to manipulate that experience yet. (southdakotavoices.substack.com/p/mental-health-pill-pushing; all emphasis added.)

A spiritual crisis

We know that Kirk’s teachings on the Church up to shortly before his death were definitely sinful. There is plenty of evidence for that. And we also know it is reported that he had a change of heart and was considering taking a different path. There is reliable evidence that this was indeed the case and it was a very recent development not reflected in some of his earlier comments. Some around Kirk have reported that he was in what we might call a state of spiritual crisis. He had discovered some things that were very devastating for him, things that would force him to make major changes to both his organization and possibly his religious affiliation. Whether he would have or not or to what extent we don’t know. But if he was attending what he believed to be a Catholic mass and praying the rosary as reported then perhaps he at least believed he was on a better path and we don’t know what would have happened from there. We’re simply not supposed to judge what we don’t know.

Can any of you remember how terribly painful it was for you to learn the Church you loved was gone, the confusion and sorrow you experienced? The first few stages of this process are described below:

“1. SHOCK & DENIAL – You will probably react to learning of the loss with numbed disbelief. You may deny the reality of the loss at some level, in order to avoid the pain. Shock provides emotional protection from being overwhelmed all at once. This may last for weeks.

“2. PAIN & GUILT -
As the shock wears off, it is replaced with the suffering of unbelievable pain. Although excruciating and almost unbearable, it is important that you experience the pain fully, and not hide it, avoid it or escape from it with alcohol or drugs. You may have guilty feelings or remorse over things you did or didn’t do… Life feels chaotic and scary during this phase.” (https://www.recover-from-grief.com/7-stages-of-grief.html).

Is it too much to ask for a little compassion and understanding here?

Liberal charity?

Some will say all the above is an example of liberal charity on my part. But it isn’t and I’ll tell you why. There is reason to believe that he could possibly have saved his soul based on reports from those close to him, not that he definitely did. That is all I said in my last blog.  We can’t rule that possibility out if he was in a better place than he had been. I would say the same of some traditionalist, whether they be leader, pseudo-clergy or followers, if they passed away after exhibiting doubts that their position was not correct. And especially if they were praying about the situation and seemed to have begun to repent of their previous errors. Just as we can never say for certain that someone is in Hell, neither can we be certain any soul is in Purgatory or Heaven.

We have the teachings of the Church to direct our behavior, and yet even those considering themselves devout Catholics sinfully engage in this fantastical Internet guessing game rather than even consider what conduct the Church expects from us. Who else but the Church can we rely on for the truth? This little exercise has been a really good opportunity to assess where we are today. Turning Point could and should have been a Catholic endeavor if those exiting the Novus Ordo had followed the example of the Japanese and made certain that future generations were taught how to perpetuate their faith in a hostile environment. Instead, we’re all out there pointing fingers and criticizing each other while pretending to be Catholic.

Conclusion

You know, this is a wake-up call folks. Instead of tearing Charlie Kirk’s image down, maybe someone, preferably a young, home-schooled, pray-at-home Catholic male, could manage to replicate the zeal and energy he dedicated to his cause.  Such a young man, on fire for the faith, could reap the harvest of some of these “Gen Zers” now showing an interest in religion, including many seeking out the Latin Mass. The harvest is great, the laborers few, and men are noticeably absent from the fields. It is my hope Kirk met his own “turning point” shortly before he died. And it is our responsibility to see that the youth he appealed to, so far as possible, have at least the option to find that same turning point presented from a truly Catholic perspective, not the Christian Nationalist framework Kirk advocated.

(Stay tuned for an announcement on the grand opening of our new business endeavor, St. Eustace Lodge and Family Retreat.)

Refresher Course on Salvation “Outside” the Church

Questions About Membership in the Church, by Msgr. Joseph C. Fenton

(The American Ecclesiastical Review, The Catholic University of America Press, July 1961)

“Now it must be understood that the Church militant of the New Testament, as a supernatural entity, is not to be judged by ordinary human standards. Concretely, a man may pertain to this society or in some way or other be “within” it other than by membership in its ranks. In order to appreciate our question, and in order to realize the harm that has been done by careless and unscientific writing on membership in the Catholic Church, we must consider the other ways in which a man can be said to “belong” in some way to this organization… Far more involved is the case of that person who is not a member of the Catholic Church, but who is “within” the Church in such a way as to enjoy the life of sanctifying grace. It is absolutely imperative for the well being of contemporary theology that the situation of this individual be accurately analyzed.

“The Suprema haec sacra interprets this passage of the Mystici Corporis Christi as showing that people in this condition, that is, those who are ordered to the Church by an unconscious intention or desire, are not excluded from the possibility of attaining to eternal salvation… The Suprema haec sacra makes it completely clear that those who are in a position to be saved only by reason of the fact that they have at least an implicit intention or desire to enter the Church and to remain within it are not reapse or in reality members of the true Church… It is definitely a disservice to the cause of Catholic theology to insinuate that, in order to be saved, a man has to be in some way a member of the Church. But, by the same token, it is imperative that the difference between being in the Church as a member, and being “within” it by reason of a desire, a prayer, or an intention to enter this society be very well understood.

“The man who desires to be within the Church, and whose desire is such that it brings him “within” the true Church in such a way as to attain salvation “within” it, is one who intends and desires and prays for those objectives that are indicated in the text of the Pater noster and in the petitions of the Mass. And this remains true even though, through no fault of his own, the individual who is thus “within” the Church does not have a clear and explicit understanding of some of these individual objectives. Thus it is apparent that the man who is not a member or a part of the Church, but who has a salvific intention or desire to enter it and to remain within it, is actually praying and working along with the Church for the objectives of Jesus Christ. In this way he is truly “within” the Church. And, since the work of the Church is accomplished in the face of serious and never-ending opposition, the non-member of the Church who has a salvific intention to join it is actually fighting for Our Lord “within” His company. He is actually serving God with his whole mind and his whole heart, and thus he is joined to the Church even in his status as a non-member of this society.

“It is quite obvious that this condition can exist only as long as, for one reason or another, membership in the Church is impossible for this individual. When it becomes possible for a man to become a member of the Church, or when he becomes aware of the true status of the Catholic Church in the supernatural order, he can no longer work effectively for Our Lord except as a member of His Church… The men and women who have a salutary votum or desiderium of entering the Church are “within” it insofar as they are working and fighting within it for the attainment of the objectives of Jesus Christ. Yet they are definitely not parts or members of this society.” (End of the excerpts from Msgr. Fenton’s article).

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This reminder is necessary because people seem to have forgotten what the Church teaches on this topic. We must remember that this teaching is for those outside the Catholic Church, be it the Novus Ordo or other non-Catholic sects. It is now impossible for most non-Catholics to distinguish the true Catholic Church from the false. If it is scarcely possible for mature Catholics who were once in the Church Herself — and knew what She taught — to recognize the Novus Ordo as false, how much more so for those outside the Church, especially the younger among them?! The important thing in the case we are considering above is that at one point Kirk (only 31) may have been considering the teaching on the Church’s authority regarding Scripture and the hierarchical order as correct. If he truly began to consider this, and reject his previous beliefs, regardless of whether he knew the church he was turning to was false, then he was beginning to turn away from his prior condemnations of things Catholic.

We end with this quote from Pope Pius IX:  “Certainly we must hold it as of faith that no one can be saved outside the apostolic Roman Church, that this is the only Ark of salvation, and that the one who does not enter it is going to perish in the deluge. But, nevertheless, we must likewise hold it as certain that those who labor in ignorance of the true religion, if that [ignorance] be invincible, will never be charged with any guilt on this account before the eyes of the Lord. Now, who is there who would arrogate to himself the power to indicate the extent of such [invincible] ignorance according to the nature and the variety of peoples, regions, talents, and so many other things? For really when, loosed from these bodily bonds, we see God as He is, we shall certainly understand with what intimate and beautiful a connection the divine mercy and justice are joined together. But, while we live on earth, weighed down by this mortal body that darkens the mind, let us hold most firmly, from Catholic doctrine, that there is one God, one faith, one baptism. It is wrong to push our inquiries further than this.”

In his comment on the above quote, Msgr. Fenton writes: “It is not within the field either of our competence or of our rights to search out the way in which God’s mercy and His justice operate in any given case of a person ignorant of the true Church or of the true religion. We shall see how these divine attributes have operated in the light of the Beatific Vision itself… God is never outdone in generosity. The person who tries to come to Him will never be forsaken. As a matter of fact, the movement toward God, like all good things, originates from God Himself” (The Catholic Church and Salvation, Newman Press, 1958).