Author: Catholic Candle

The Similarity of the Present Great Apostasy to Arian Times

Posted on by Catholic Candle

We are in a state of war in the human element of the Catholic Church.  Although the Gates of Hell will never prevail against the Church,[1] the current crisis is an all-out combat between the faithful members of the Church Militant and the modernist enemies of Christ.

Our fight is similar to the war in the Fourth Century, between Catholics and the Arian heretics.  The great historian, Cardinal Newman, tells us that during this Arian crisis, the pope, the bishops, and General Councils of the Church hid the truth and compromised the Catholic Faith.  Here is how Cardinal Newman recounted these events:

[I]n that time of immense confusion the divine dogma of our Lord’s divinity was proclaimed, enforced, maintained, and (humanly speaking) preserved, far more by the ‘Ecclesia docta’ [i.e., the laity] than by the ‘Ecclesia docens;’ [i.e., the hierarchy]; that the body of the Episcopate was unfaithful to its commission, while the body of the laity was faithful to its baptism; that at one time the pope, at other times a patriarchal, metropolitan,[2] or other great see, at other times general councils, said what they should not have said, or did what obscured and compromised revealed truth ….[3]

The same is true now, in the present Great Apostasy.  Pope Francis and the rest of the Church’s hierarchy as well as the Second Vatican Council, have hidden, compromised, and falsified the truths of the Catholic Faith.

St. Basil the Great, Doctor of the Church, recounts how only heresy was loudly professed during Arian times and how true Catholics avoided the church buildings because those buildings were places of evil.  Here are St. Basil’s words:

Religious people keep silence, but every blaspheming tongue is let loose. Sacred things are profaned; those of the laity who are sound in faith avoid the places of worship as schools of impiety, and raise their hands in solitudes, with groans and tears to the Lord in heaven.[4] 

What was true during Arian times, is also true during the current Great Apostasy.  Faithful and informed Catholics are marginalized and ignored, while the so-called Catholic leaders in the civil and ecclesiastical spheres let loose their “blaspheming tongues” (as St. Basil called them). 

Moreover, as was true during Arian times, so it is also true now.  Faithful and informed Catholics would never go into a conciliar church (or other compromise church) to pray because those churches are “schools of impiety” (as St. Basil called them).[5]

St. Basil the Great recounts how, because they were driven out of the churches (which were occupied by a false religion), faithful Catholics sanctified the Sunday wherever they could worship in solitude, despite their sufferings.  Here are St. Basil’s words:

Matters have come to this pass: the people have left their houses of prayer, and assemble in deserts, — a pitiable sight; women and children, old men, and men otherwise infirm, wretchedly faring in the open air, amid the most profuse rains and snow-storms and winds and frosts of winter; and again in summer under a scorching sun.  To this they submit, because they will have no part in the wicked Arian leaven.[6] 

Again, what was true during Arian times, is also true during the current Great Apostasy.  Faithful and informed Catholics sanctify the Sunday in their homes or wherever else they can pray in peace and solitude, wishing to have no part of the wicked conciliar leaven.

St. Basil the Great recounts how Catholic Tradition was banned but anything else was accepted.  Those Catholics who were faithful to Tradition were deprived of the churches and altars for Mass.  Here are St. Basil’s words:

Only one offence is now vigorously punished — an accurate observance of our fathers’ traditions. For this cause the pious are driven from their countries, and transported into deserts. The people are in lamentation, in continual tears at home and abroad. There is a cry in the city, a cry in the country, in the roads, in the deserts.  Joy and spiritual cheerfulness are no more; our feasts are turned into mourning; our houses of prayer are shut up, our altars deprived of the spiritual worship.[7]

As was true during Arian times, the same is true during the current Great Apostasy.  Anything is permitted except Catholic Tradition, and it alone is “vigorously punished” (to use St. Basil’s description).  Faithful and informed Catholics are deprived of their churches and altars for Mass.  We are also, in effect, “driven out” of the churches of liberal groups because it would be a compromise to enter there.

Just as in Arian times, so also now in the present Great Apostasy, the conciliar Catholics have the churches but we have the Catholic Faith.  Here are the words of St. Athanasius, Doctor of the Church, consoling his flock during the Arian crisis:

May God console you! … What saddens you … is the fact that others have occupied the churches by violence, while during this time you are on the outside.  It is a fact that they have the premises – but you have the apostolic Faith.  They can occupy our churches, but they are outside the true Faith.  You remain outside the places of worship, but the Faith dwells within you.  Let us consider: what is more important, the place or the Faith?  The true Faith, obviously.  Who has lost and who has won in this struggle – the one who keeps the premises or the one who keeps the Faith?

True, the premises are good when the apostolic Faith is preached there; they are holy if everything takes place there in a holy way …  You are the ones who are happy: you who remain within the church by your faith, who hold firmly to the foundations of the Faith which has come down to you from apostolic Tradition.  And if an execrable jealousy has tried to shake it on a number of occasions, it has not succeeded.  They are the ones who have broken away from it in the present crisis.

No one, ever, will prevail against your faith, beloved brothers. And we believe that God will give us our churches back some day.

Thus, the more violently they try to occupy the places of worship, the more they separate themselves from the Church.  They claim that they represent the Church; but in reality, they are the ones who are expelling themselves from it and going astray.

Even if Catholics faithful to Tradition are reduced to a handful, they are the ones who are the true Church of Jesus Christ.[8]

To quote St. Athanasius, who consoled his flock during the Arian crisis, we should also be consoled in the present Great Apostasy:

➢  We remain Catholic, whereas the conciliar revolutionaries “claim that they represent the Church, but in reality … are the ones who have broken away … in the present crisis”;

➢  Although small in number, “even if Catholics faithful to Tradition are reduced to a handful, they are the ones who are the true Church of Jesus Christ”.

 

➢  As in Arian times, so now in our time, “we believe that God will give us our churches back some day.”

Why are/were Faithful Catholics willing to suffer greatly, both in Arian times and during the present Great Apostasy?

The spiritual life is inherently aimed at espousal of our souls as brides of Christ.[9]  For those Traditional Catholics who love Our Lord more, their sufferings during this present Great Apostasy are a joy because they suffer for the Bridegroom of their souls, Who is Christ.  This joy in suffering is explained in the Traditional Catholic Exhortation before Marriage, in these words:

Only love can make suffering easy; and perfect love can make it a joy. We are willing to give in proportion as we love.

However, even for the rest of us, we see that this suffering and ostracism from (the human element of) the Church is much better than committing a sin – even a venial sin – not to mention the grave sin of joining with the Masses or sacraments of the compromise groups.  Here is how Cardinal Newman states this truth:

 

The Catholic Church holds it better for the sun and moon to drop from heaven, for the earth to fail, and for all the many millions on it to die of starvation in extremest agony, as far as temporal affliction goes, than that one soul, I will not say, should be lost, but should commit one single venial sin, should tell one willful untruth, or should steal one poor farthing without excuse.[10]

Conclusion

Let us Traditional Catholics bear our tribulations with joy – if our love for Christ makes us joyful in our sufferings, through the extra graces He gives during this present Great Apostasy.

Otherwise, let us at least firmly bear our sufferings with a strong heart and with peace of soul, “knowing that the same affliction befalls [our] brethren who are in the world.” 1 Peter, 5:9.


[1]           St. Matthew’s Gospel, 16:18.

[2]           Patriarchs and metropolitans are positions of leadership in the Catholic Church.

[3]           The Arians of the Fourth Century, by John Henry Cardinal Newman, Seventh Edition, Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1890, pp. 466-67 (bracketed words added for clarity; emphasis added).

 

[4]           The Arians of the Fourth Century, by John Henry Cardinal Newman, Third Edition, E. Lumley, London, 1871 (Epistle 92) pp. 467-8 (emphasis added).

 

[5]           For a more in-depth explanation why we should not go into conciliar churches, read this article: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/evil-praying-conciliar-church.html

 

[6]           The Arians of the Fourth Century, by John Henry Cardinal Newman, Third Edition, E. Lumley, London, 1871, p.468, quoting St. Basil’s epistle 242 (emphasis added).

 

 

[7]           The Arians of the Fourth Century, by John Henry Cardinal Newman, Third Edition, E. Lumley, London, 1871, p.468, quoting St. Basil’s epistle 243 (emphasis added).

 

[8]           Letter of St. Athanasius to his flock (emphasis added), available here: https://onepeterfive.com/the-church-is-like-the-light-of-a-dying-star/

[9]           To read more about the goal of the spiritual life, read this article: https://catholiccandle.org/2019/06/20/our-souls-should-be-docile-brides-of-christ/

 

 

[10]         Apologia Vita Sua, by John Henry Cardinal Newman, Image Books, Doubleday, Garden City, New York, © 1956, p.324.

 

Excuses for Compromise Confessions

Posted on by Catholic Candle

Our Lord permits the current Great Apostasy in which we are living.  It is for our good: “All things work together unto the good for those who love God.”   Romans, 8:28.

Further, we must remember that Our Lord can never be outdone in generosity.  He gives extra graces to Catholics in the catacombs, who stand firm against compromise.  He does not abandon them but merely changes His methods of blessing and sanctifying them.  Our Lady of Fatima informed us about God’s approaching change of method.

For example, we don’t have Mass and Holy Communion because there are no uncompromising priests (at least in most places in the world).  Instead, Our Lord gives much greater efficacy than ever before, to the Holy Rosary, so that it fills all needs.[1]  

Similarly, the lack of uncompromising priests also means we don’t have confession (at least in most places in the world).  But again, our generous Lord knows our needs and He does not abandon us.  He only uses alternate means to sanctify us.  He gives great power to alternatives which are within our power during these apostate times.  St. John Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church, tells us the important use we can make of good works to blot out sin during the current Great Apostasy:

There is no sin which almsgiving does not blot out.  It is the fitting remedy to heal every wound.  But almsgiving does not only mean giving money, but also refers to every other good work helping others, including a physician healing the sick or a wise man giving good counsel.[2]

There are some people who call themselves “Traditional Catholics” yet who accept compromise confessions under the appearance of good.[3]  They rationalize their compromise by excuses such as:

➢  Excuse #1: “We are sinners and so we can’t be without confession”.  This is a false humility and a lack of trust in God.

 

·         A Catholic with true humility would say: “God is in charge and I will do His Will.  When He permits me to be without the Sacraments out of love for Him and for the uncompromising Catholic Faith, I won’t presume I know what I need better than God does.”

·         A Catholic who trusts in God would say: “God will not abandon me, if I don’t abandon Him.  He will take care of me and give me the means for my salvation, if I don’t abandon (and offend) Him by compromising and going to compromise priests.”

 

➢  Excuse #2: “We need to go to the Sacraments to show our children how important the Sacraments are.”  This is a false piety.  True piety would reject compromise Sacraments because they offend Our Lord and thus are against true piety.  When parents compromise in this way, they are merely teaching their children the life-long lesson that the Faith is “negotiable” and can be compromised for the Sacraments.  Beginning in the 1960s, conciliar Catholics taught their children the same lesson when they stayed in their local parishes for the sake of the Sacraments.

Our Lord is offended and angered by such compromise confessions!  Let us remain faithful to Him and use the means of salvation which He sends us, rather than the means which we choose, thinking we know better than He does.


[1]               Sister Lucy, seer at Fatima, revealed this truth in the following words addressed to Fr. Fuentes:

 

God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  …  Prayer and sacrifice are the two means to save the world.  As for the Holy Rosary, Father, in these last times in which we are living, the Blessed Virgin has given a new efficacy to the praying of the Holy Rosary.  This in such a way that there is no problem that cannot be resolved by praying the Rosary, no matter how difficult it is – be it temporal or above all spiritual ….

 

Words of Sister Lucy, seer at Fatima, from her December 26, 1957 interview by Fr. Augustin Fuentes, vice-postulator of the cause of beatification for Francisco and Jacinta.  (Emphasis added.)  This interview can be found at: http://radtradthomist.chojnowski.me/2019/03/is-this-interview-that-caused-her.html

[2]           St. Thomas Aquinas quoting and following St. John Chrysostom, in the Catena Aurea on St. Luke’s Gospel, Ch. 12, section 9 (emphasis added).

[3]           St. Ignatius of Loyola received the Spiritual Exercises from Our Lady, in a cave at Manresa, Spain, in 1522.  In these Spiritual Exercises, here is how Our Lady warns us about committing sin under the appearance of good:

 

Fourth Rule: It is proper to the evil Angel, who forms himself under the appearance of an angel of light, to enter with the devout soul and go out with himself: that is to say, to bring good and holy thoughts, conformable to such just soul, and then little by little he aims at coming out drawing the soul to his covert deceits and perverse intentions.

 

Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Rule Four for the Discernment of Spirits, Second Week.

Why did Rome beatify and canonize the evil-doers?

Posted on by Catholic Candle

Rome had (and has) a problem after the Second Vatican Council.  How do you give credence to – and make believable – the anti-Catholic results of the Council?  Well, the Masons and the Church leaders in Rome decided that if the popes at the time of and after the Council (1962-l965) were beatified/canonized, it would go a long way to convince gullible Catholics that the Council results were good and holy.

It worked, because most Catholics now believe and accept the following evils of the Council (whether those Catholics have ever heard of Vatican II or not):

1.    The replacement of the Tridentine Mass with an anti-Catholic service (i.e., the Novus Ordo mass) that does not give grace.  Without grace, you lose the Faith.  The Blessed Mother stated at La Salette, France, on Sept. 19, 1846, that “Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat of the anti-Christ.”

2.    Religious liberty (i.e., you can choose any faith and be saved).

3.    Universal salvation (i.e., everyone will go to heaven).

4.    The adulterating of the Catholic Sacraments to have them more in line with Protestant false “sacraments”.

5.    “Catholic divorce” – annulments for false or doubtful reasons.

 

6.    Maintaining that the Council was necessary to update the Catholic Faith to make it more relevant in the modern age.  (If you believe that was necessary, you have already lost the Faith – because the Faith does not change.)

 

7.    The establishment of a new anti-Catholic conciliar church to replace the Roman Catholic Church.

 

8.    Rome also had to make many changes in the beatification/canonization process in order to make it fit the less-than-saintly lives of the popes involved in and after the Council.  The following disastrous changes were made:

 

a.    Reduced the number of miracles required,

b.    Shortened the time before declaring the heroic level of virtue,

c.     Allowed the beatification and canonization processes to be influenced by popular emotions and public opinion,

 

d.    Gave diocesan bishops the right to instruct the trial and to judge.  Therefore, since bishops are making the determination on the canonizations, these decentralized decisions are less consistent, lack the quality control and uniformity of the Vatican’s prior decisions.

e.    Accepted lower standards of life unworthy of canonized saints – many of these conciliar “saints” are so far from heroic sanctity that in many cases there is not even reasonable assurance that such “saints” even died in the state of grace.

 

f.     Eliminated the Devil’s Advocate (who is similar to a prosecutor and is the one who challenges the evidence), thus changing the canonization proceedings into an academic process rather than a courtroom-style procedure.

 

g.    Accepted doubtful “miracles” without serious investigation.

These changes give Catholics a great uncertainty they did not have in the past, and cause much doubt concerning the beatifications and canonizations after Vatican Council II, now and in the future.   

The following popes were involved in the conciliar church, during and after the Council, and their causes for beatification/canonization were or will be moving through the process.

➢  “St.” John XXIII, who initiated the Council and agreed with and promoted the anti-Catholic changes.

➢  “St.” Paul VI, who agreed with and fostered all of the anti-Catholic changes.

➢  “St.” John Paul II, who also agreed with the changes of the Council and enacted additional anti-Catholic changes.

➢  Former Pope Benedict XVI, who agreed with the changes but was so pressured that he chose to abdicate the papacy in order to make room for a more liberal pope (i.e. Pope Francis), who will increase the number of heresies to be accepted.   I believe Benedict will be beatified and canonized in due time for his efforts to promote the evils of the Council.[1]

➢  As for Pope Francis, the conciliar church is already talking about the need to beatify and canonize him.[2]

As stated above, the plan is to make the anti-Catholic Council seem holy, accepted, and believable by beatifying and canonizing all the popes involved in it or promoting it, during or after.  Who would have believed 60 years ago that the human element of the Catholic Church would be so completely destroyed?  Believe it also because the Blessed Virgin foretold this at La Salette. 

Have faith!  An all-powerful God is in charge, so all is not lost!  We must pray and do penance following Our Lady’s request at Fatima.  The human element of the Catholic Church will come back strong and holy. 

God will raise up uncompromising Traditional Catholic leaders from among unworthy men, just as He is able to raise up sons of Abraham from the stones on the banks of the Jordan River.[3]


[1]           In connection with Pope Paul VI’s supposed “canonization”, and in an apparent joke masking an underlying truth, Pope Francis quipped, “As for Benedict XVI and myself, we’re on the waiting list” for sainthood.  https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/02/18/18/pope-says-hes-on-sainthood-waiting-list

 

 

[2]           See, e.g., Pope Francis documentary: A film that could buttress the case for sainthood, found here: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/pope-francis-documentary-a-film-that-could-buttress-the-case-for-sainthood-1.3582228

 

[3]           On the banks of the Jordan River, St. John the Baptist declared to the Jews:

 

Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of penance; and do not begin to say, “We have Abraham for our father”.  For I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.

 

St. Luke’s Gospel, 3:8 (emphasis added).

Posted on by Catholic Candle

Words to Live by – from Catholic Tradition

The Voice of Christ:

Do not consider yourself forsaken if I send some temporary hardship, or withdraw the consolation you desire.  For this is the way to the kingdom of heaven.

The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis, Book III, Chapter 30.

Guidance Concerning a Medical Power of Attorney

Posted on by Catholic Candle

Catholic Candle note: Recently, Catholic Candle examined the permission the Church traditionally gives to a person who is in danger of death, to confess to a priest whom an uncompromising Catholic could not otherwise support (or confess to) because that priest is a compromiser, an apostate, or someone whom it is otherwise impermissible to support.  Find the article here: https://catholiccandle.org/2020/01/01/using-a-compromised-priest-when-dying/

Catholic Candle also addressed how uncompromising laymen can bury their dead in these times of great apostasy when an uncompromising priest is not available.  Find the article here: https://catholiccandle.org/2020/04/02/a-traditional-catholic-funeral-and-burial-when-there-is-no-uncompromising-priest-available/

Between this last confession (discussed in the first of those articles) and the burial (discussed in the second article), is the crucial moment of death.  We gave recommendations how to assist at a person’s death, based on the experience of some of the Catholic Candle Team, who recently assisted at the deaths of two uncompromising Traditional Catholics.  Find the article here: https://catholiccandle.org/2020/06/01/how-to-assist-a-person-in-dying-a-holy-death/

Also, in our last days of life, we must continue to give sufficient care to sustain our life – even as it is waning – and must not yield to the culture of death, which promotes euthanasia.  Therefore, we examined the minimum care we are obliged to provide to sustain our life even when we are dying.  Find the article here: https://catholiccandle.org/2020/07/01/use-of-ordinary-care-even-as-we-are-dying/

Again, because we live in a culture of death, part of our using sufficient care to sustain our life – even as it is waning – we must never acquiesce in being murdered by having our vital organs removed to be “donated” to another person.  Further, we must never accept the “donation” of a vital organ from someone else, as we would then become complicit in his murder.  Therefore, we examined the evil of such murder by the “donation” of a vital organ.  Find the article here: https://catholiccandle.org/2020/08/01/our-duty-not-to-donate-or-accept-donated-vital-bodily-organs/

Finally, it is sometimes advisable to appoint a wise and virtuous person to make decisions concerning our medical treatment when we cannot do so ourselves at some future time.  This goal is accomplished in many jurisdictions through a document called a Power of Attorney for Healthcare, or a Medical Power of Attorney.  Below, we examine this type of document and offer guidance (which would apply in many jurisdictions) based on the past experience of some of the Catholic Candle Team.

We recommend that you save all of these articles for future reference and use.

 


What is a Medical Power of Attorney?

Granting a “power of attorney” simply means giving a person the legal authority to act for you in certain matters.  In other words, granting a “power of attorney” simply means making a person your agent.  It does not refer to the person being a licensed attorney for the practice of law.  A Power of Attorney for Healthcare (also known as a Medical Power of Attorney) is a document through which you grant to your agent the legal authority to make medical decisions for you, when you cannot do so for yourself.


Why should you grant someone a Medical Power of Attorney?

Living, as we do, in a pagan world, we are surrounded by people urging us to make sinful decisions.  But we have a non-delegable duty to resist evil pressures and to do our best to make correct Catholic decisions.[1]  To help us make those Catholic decisions, we must have recourse to prayer, to study/research, and to advice from wise and virtuous persons.

Some of those Catholic decisions concern our medical treatment.  Further, it is foreseeable that the time might come when we cannot make medical decisions for ourselves because we are delirious, in a coma, or are otherwise unable to make them.  Therefore, it is prudent to provide for that possibility now by deciding who could best make the correct Catholic decisions for us then, in the event we cannot do so.

Below, we provide a draft Power of Attorney for Healthcare document.  This draft might need to be revised based on the laws of your particular jurisdiction. 

However, first let’s consider the type of person you should select for this important responsibility of holding your power of attorney for your medical treatment.


Selecting an agent to hold this medical power of attorney

You should select carefully the person to whom you give a medical power of attorney.  This person should be:

1.    Willing;

2.    Available;

3.    Sufficiently instructed in the Catholic principles which must be applied to your condition;

4.    Sufficiently intelligent to understand your condition;

5.    Decisive enough to make a decision without unreasonable delay; and

 

6.    Strong and steadfast in the face of opposition.

Below, we discuss each of these important conditions needed to make a person a suitable agent to hold your medical power of attorney.

1.   Your agent should be willing

Depending upon your future medical situation, it might be a substantial burden on a person to be responsible for making your medical decisions.  Therefore, common courtesy demands that you do not impose this burden on someone without first asking his permission.

Further, you will get better, more diligent decisions from a person if he has voluntarily accepted the responsibility for making your medical decisions and is willing to do it (if/when you cannot make the decisions).

2.   Your agent should be available

Even if a person is very willing to help you and accepts the responsibility for making your medical decisions if/when necessary, he would be a poor choice as your agent if it were foreseeable that he would likely not be reachable when urgent medical decisions must be made.

With the ubiquity of cell phones, this is usually not a problem.  However, if a person is foreseeably often unreachable, that would make him a poor choice as your medical agent.

A person who is in your area is preferable to a person who would need to make decisions without being able to actually assess your condition in person and meet in person with your doctors and other caregivers, when necessary.

For whatever agent you do choose, place all of his contact information (i.e., all ways to reach him) right into the form you use to grant him the power of attorney to make your healthcare decisions.  In this way, every caregiver who has a copy of your medical power of attorney would also have all of your agent’s contact information.

Because the future comes with many uncertainties, it is possible that your agent will not be available despite your best-laid plans.  Therefore, it is prudent that your medical power of attorney document would designate an alternate agent who would act in the event that your first agent is unavailable.

3.   Your agent must be sufficiently instructed in the Catholic principles which must be applied to your condition

Even if a person is willing and available, he would be a poor choice to act as your agent if he does not understand the Catholic principles controlling the medical decisions which must be made.  To take two examples:

❖  Your agent must understand that so-called “brain death” is not real death[2] and that he has a continued duty to take all reasonable measures to preserve your life and health even if the hospital declares that you are dead (meaning that you are so-called “brain dead”).

&#10070  Your agent must understand that the assertion that your life lacks “dignity” is not a basis for failing to sustain your life.


4.   Your agent must be sufficiently intelligent to understand your condition

However willing and available a person might be and however well-instructed in the relevant Catholic principles, he would be a poor choice as your agent if he cannot understand your medical condition and clear-headedly apply those Catholic principles to your medical condition. 

For example, Catholic principles require that a person be given sufficient fluids (and not be killed by dehydration).  However, if a patient’s organs have shut down and the patient is internally drowning in his own fluids because his body can no longer expel those fluids even with the aid of diuretics, then your agent should understand that the requirement of giving the patient hydration no longer applies (because it will no longer help sustain his life).

 

5.   Your agent must be sufficiently decisive so that he can make a timely decision

However willing and available a person might be and however sufficient his understanding, a person would be a poor choice as your agent if he was not able to make a reasonably prompt decision when necessary – even when the consequences of that decision are grave. 

A crucial decision should not be made through inaction and so your agent must be capable of being decisive when necessary.

6.   Your agent must be strong and steadfast in the face of opposition

However well a person might otherwise fit the requirements to be a good agent to hold your medical power of attorney, he would be a poor choice if he is not strong enough to remain steadfast in the face of opposition from medical personnel and emotional relatives.

Hospitals and doctors sometimes apply tremendous pressure on a decisionmaker if he seeks to prolong a patient’s life.  They might declare they refuse to provide the additional treatment – waiting to see how your agent will react to that declaration. 

Or, the caregivers might selectively disclose information to your agent, seeking to steer him into the medical decision they wish him to make.  This situation might require unusual tenacity in your agent to investigate and to insist upon treatment which would be in your best interests.

In extreme situations, to protect your life or welfare, your agent must be willing to threaten to hire an attorney and file a lawsuit to ensure your medical care or to prevent you from being murdered.  This lawsuit could either be you seeking a judge’s order to restrain medical caregivers from harming you,[3] or you threatening to hold them personally liable for medical malpractice.

Similarly, your medical agent must be strong enough to withstand the opposition of emotional family members who cry and plead: “How can you be so cruel and make Mom suffer?”, or relatives who shout or say: “Let Dad die with dignity”.

How not to choose a medical agent

Do not choose as your medical agent an unsuitable person because that person would have hurt feelings if he were not chosen.  Similarly, do not choose an unsuitable agent because of love or friendship.  The selection of your agent can literally be a matter of life and death for you.  Hurt feelings or emotional attachment should not be a consideration in the selection.

Generally, it is not a good idea to select a group, e.g., all of your adult children, to jointly make decisions concerning your medical treatment.  “Committees” are inefficient decisionmakers.  Further, sometimes medical decisions must be made quickly.  The more decision makers there are, the larger the potential delays in both successfully contacting the group and in their reaching a consensus decision.

Generally, a single decisionmaker is best.  However, if multiple decisionmakers are used, an even number of decisionmakers is a bad choice unless there is provision for breaking a deadlock (a tie) if there is a disagreement.  Although an even number of agents is generally a bad idea, it is a good idea to have a single agent with provision for an alternate agent if the first agent is unavailable.

We recommend that your medical power of attorney document has features similar to this draft form:


                    Draft durable power of attorney for health care

I, [name], residing at [address and other contact information], hereby appoint my close friend, [name and all contact information], as my attorney in fact (“Agent”) to act for me and in my name, in any way I could act in person, to make all decisions for me concerning my personal care, medical treatment, hospitalization, and health care. 

If at any time and for any reason [insert agent’s name here] is unable or unwilling to act as my Agent, then I hereby appoint [alternate agent and all contact information here], as the then-successor Agent.

The powers I grant to my Agents do not include the power to direct or consent to withholding food or nutrition, water or hydration, oxygen, IVs, or common medicines such as antibiotics, which might be necessary or helpful for my well-being or for sustaining my life.  The powers I grant to my Agents do not include authorizing cremation or donating any of my organs to anyone, for any purpose.  My Agents shall have the same access to my medical records that I have, including the right to disclose the contents to others.

My Agents shall also have full power to authorize an autopsy and full responsibility for selecting the funeral home and choosing the “hard goods” (casket, etc.) and services related to my funeral, to be paid for through my [identify will or trust here].  I wish to be buried in the grave plot [information here concerning the cemetery, plot number, etc.].

I designate my Agent to have all authority to make all decisions concerning the religious aspects of my funeral and burial, including selecting the priest, if any, for the funeral and burial, etc.  All expenses related to these decisions shall be paid by my [identify will or trust].

I ask that at no time, including at my wake, that I be eulogized or that it be suggested that my soul is known to be already in heaven.  I would like the five Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary to be recited at my wake (not the Glorious Mysteries).     

If a guardian of my person is to be appointed, I nominate my Agents acting under this power of attorney as such guardian, to serve without bond or security.

I understand the full significance of the broad powers I am granting to my Agent in this instrument.  This is a durable power of attorney which has no expiration date and is not rendered null or void by the passage of time or by my disability or my declining health.

 

Date:                                  Signed:   _________________________________________                  

                                   

The principal has read this instrument and signed it in my presence.

 

Witness:                              Residing at:  _____________________________________                          

 

Witness:                              Residing at:                                 ____________________

 

Specimen signature of my Agents              I certify that the signatures of my Agents are correct.

 

______________________________            _______________________________________                                                         

[1st Agent’s name typed here]                   [name of person granting power of attorney]

 

______________________________            _______________________________________                                                         

[2nd Agent’s name typed here]                  [name of person granting power of attorney]

Note: Obviously, this medical power of attorney should be modified according to your circumstances.  For example, this form should be modified to reflect your prepayment of your funeral expenses, if you have prepaid them.

Final consideration – what should I do with my Medical Power of Attorney after it is signed?

After your medical power of attorney is completed and signed, do not merely put it with your important papers or in a safety deposit box at a bank (although those are good places to leave a copy). 

Broadly disseminate your power of attorney to your family, friends, and caregivers – because when you have a medical emergency, they are going to be focused on your treatment, not focused on searching through your important papers to find your medical power of attorney.

Give your power of attorney to your hospital, your family doctor, your specialist doctors, your oral surgeon, your assisted living facility, your medical rehabilitation facility, etc.  The more broadly you spread your power of attorney, the more likely it will be that it will be known and used in an emergency because more people will know about it and have access to it. 


Conclusion

In the culture of death in which we live, it is foreseeable that we might be harmed (or killed) by our treatment not corresponding to the requirements of Catholic principles.  A medical power of attorney is a tool to help us to prevent potential harm and to obtain help making those decisions when we are unable to do so.

It is prudent to provide now for a capable and virtuous agent who can make treatment decisions for us, according to Catholic principles, at that future time. 

We recommend that you give your agent a copy of the articles in this series on end-of-life matters.

 

False Human Respect: The Deceit of the Devil vs. The Desire of Pursuing the Truth

Posted on by Catholic Candle

Objective Truth Series – Reflections Article #14

In our last reflection we considered how God wants us to seek His help in our problems.  However, we must also consider that God intends that man have a desire for Him especially as our last end.  Because we were created to be with God, it is built into our nature to want to have knowledge of Him. Hence there is a natural seeking or desire to know God and truth.  It is God’s Will that we pursue this desire.  God wants to satisfy this thirst for the knowledge of the truth.

God wants us to perfect our intellects and He uses this way to draw our souls to Him.  Of course, He wants us to learn more about Him for His glory and not our own.  God captivates our minds while we are thinking about Him or any aspect of truth. 

Humans are created with the ability to ponder the facts about something and have a sort of mental discussion about these facts. Thus, we come to concrete conclusions and acquire knowledge of the truth.  In this way, God also sparks our desire to know Him more and more.   We then desire more Truth and we love Truth more, and, consequently, we’ll want God more and more.  “Thy Word is Truth,” says Our Lord in His prayer to His Father in St. John’s Gospel (Ch. 17:17).

St. Thomas defines truth as “the mind’s conformity to reality.”  When our minds are conformed to reality, we are seeing how the facts fit together to make a proper conclusion.  We indeed discover the truth.

God puts the delight of truth in our minds and hearts.  The soul has an excitement about truth within itself.  Therefore, our hunger and thirst for truth, once sparked, should grow and grow. “They that eat me, shall yet hunger; and they that drink me, shall yet thirst” [Eccl. 24:29].

So, with this hunger and thirst for the truth, there naturally comes a greater love for truth and a desire to spread the truth. “Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house.  So, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in heaven” [Matt. 5; 15-16].  Our Lord is telling us that we should not be ashamed of the truth. We should not be afraid to stand up for the truth.

“And I say to you, whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God.  But he that shall deny me before men, shall be denied before the angels of God,” says Our Lord in St. Luke’s Gospel [Luke 12; 8-9].   Here Our Lord is saying again to not be afraid of standing up for the truth, and to rejoice, to glorify God by spreading the truth.

The devil, on the other hand, hates the truth.  He tempts us to have a fear of standing up for the truth.  Of course, this fear is a false and irrational one.  This temptation is a typical tactic of the devil.  It is using shame in the wrong way.

When we just do things to please others and/or when we do not stand up against errors or unreasonable behavior because we are afraid to stick out, then we are betraying the truth.  This is a way of betraying Our Lord.  This betrayal comes from what is called false human respect or human respect pride.

Our Lord warned His Apostles of the way the world will view them, and, for that matter, us too. “You shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake: but he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved” [Matt. 10; 22].  And Our Lord says also, “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” [Matt 5; 10] Further, “If the world hates you, know ye, that it hath hated Me before you.  If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” [John 15; 18-19]

Our Lord tells us not to worry by saying, “And I say to you, My friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have not more that they can do.  But I will show you whom you shall fear: fear ye him, who after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say to you, fear him” [Matt 12; 4-5].

Our Lord consoles and reassures us, “In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world.” [John 16; 33]

We live in neo-pagan times of the great apostasy.  Common sense, reason, and truth are attacked viciously everywhere.  Political correctness is the modern world’s term used to describe exactly what Our Lord forbade, namely, speaking and doing the things and actions which the world favors, but which are against God and His commandments.  

In our times there is a tremendous pressure and tension throughout the world for all humans to succumb to the modern world’s immorality.  It really reminds us Catholics of what is referred to in the Apocalypse 13; 15, “And it was given him to give life to the image of the beast, and that the image of the beast should speak; and should cause, that whosoever will not adore the image of the beast, should be slain.”

However, when we read the following in the Apocalypse:  

Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to render to every man according to his works.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.  Blessed are they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb: that they may have a right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city.  Without are dogs, and sorcerers, and unchaste, and murderers, and servers of idols, and every one that loveth and maketh a lie ….  Apocalypse 22:12-15.

We should be terrified to not tell the truth.

These quotes should make us long for the truth all the more.  Likewise, they should urge us to stand up for the truth, fully knowing that this is what Our dear Lord expects of us.  They also fill us with the fear of human respect pride and make us want to humbly speak out to tell the truth.

Besides praying for the grace of final perseverance, we should pray for the love of the truth – that we have a deep devotion to the truth; that we always seek the truth; and that God gives us the fortitude to be willing to suffer and die for the sake of the truth.  With all of the powerful words of Scripture to remind us about truth, and the delight we take in learning the truth, maybe our hearts would swell to say the following:

Oh, the science of truth, Divine,

Thou, man is made to know, by design,

Thou, the First Cause, Thou, Our Last End,

Thou, to learn, our life, we must spend.

 

By pondering, of facts we find,

Proper conclusions, come to mind.

One’s seeking Thee, becomes desire,

And, an ever-increasing fire,

 

E’er thirsty and hungry, are we,

To know more and more, about Thee.

To fill the soul, more with Thy light,

Becomes now, our only delight.

 

Oh, then Truth, becomes our sole love,

Humility, a proper fruit of,

Only truth can make us replete,

Our satisfaction to complete!

 

 No wonder, we wish to adore,

We do seek, ever more and more,

Oh, Truth, for Thy own sake alone,

We want to possess for our own.

 

‘Cause for this end, didst Thou us make,

Thus to live and die, for Truth’s sake,

That Thy truth, we ever pursue,

To Thee, keep our hearts, ever true.  

 

And if we the whole world could gain,

By smearing the truth with false stain, 

Then our friendship with Thee, would cease,

And would destroy, our inner peace.

 

Friend of the world, and friend of Thee

Could never reality be,

To focus on how we are viewed,

To worry e’er, how we’re construed.

 

E’er trying with the world to fit,

With our conscience, does not well sit,

This nightmare’s easy, to deflect,

Put aside, false human respect.

 

Only Sin alone, should we fear,

Not say things, just to please the ear,

May we the courage to ne’r seek,

To agree with fads, from week to week.

 

‘Cause truth does not change, nor should we,

With error in harmony be,

We must e’er pray, ready to fly,

The worldlings who want us to lie.

 

With Truth may we ever abide,

And long to stay, on Our Lord’s side,

In this earthly sojourn, truth love,

Desire to be with Truth above!

The Benefits of Home Schooling

Posted on by Catholic Candle

Educating your Children – Part 4

Catholic Candle note: This is the Fourth Part in a series on EDUCATING YOUR CHILDREN during the current crisis in the Church.  There can be no more important concern for traditional Catholic parents today than how to best educate their children since it is so intrinsically connected to helping them save their precious souls.

     Part I:  Reflects on how one traditional Catholic family approached the gargantuan responsibility of this formidable task.  Part I can be found here: https://catholiccandle.org/2020/06/01/approaching-the-responsibility-of-homeschooling/

     Part II:  Investigates what choices were available to the next generation of our family, and how they met the challenge.  Part II can be found here: https://catholiccandle.org/2020/07/01/educating-your-children-part-2/

     Part III:  Examines what is involved in Home Schooling.  Part III can be found here: https://catholiccandle.org/2020/08/01/educating-your-children-part-3/

     Part IV (this present article): Looks at some of the Benefits of educating your children at home.

What are the benefits of Home Schooling?  There must be some, right?  Well, it turns out there are countless extraordinary benefits, and we will examine some of them in this last installment of the Educating Your Children series.

But first, let’s take a quick look at the elephant in the school room.  You know, the parent who is quick to say that she/he never taught before, doesn’t have a college degree, and isn’t sure she can handle it.  How valid is that concern?  If you find yourself assailed by that doubt, remember that God intended parents to be the primary educators of their children.  He will help, for sure.

Practically speaking, with the pitiful condition of schools today, it would be hard not to have your Home School be an improvement over them.  And if you think that you couldn’t teach everything that your children need to know, remember that the “outside” schools can’t do that either.  The key here is that your teaching can give them the tools they need in order to succeed in life, but more importantly, to get to heaven.

One of the small points often overlooked is that the Home School teacher can and does (re)learn a great deal as she goes along.  It was probably some years earlier that she mastered compound fractions and the provisions of the Bill of Rights, etc., and refreshing her memory with the daily school assignments might sometimes seem like re-connecting with old friends.

In Part III we talked about how it can be a means for developing a greater family unity.  Once you get your Home School up and running, it tends to promote a closeness within your family.  Not an us-against-the-world mentality, but a feeling that you can count on each other.

Let me digress a bit to enhance that point.  Once when visiting the rural home of one of our daughters in another state, her two boys, about 7 and 9, took their younger sisters for a walk in the woods (on their property).  They didn’t know I was watching, but I saw them help the girls over logs and tangled brush, and just generally make it safer and easier for them.  You could easily see that it was the most natural thing in the world to them.  I marveled what good brothers they were, and my daughter said, “Do you know why?  It’s because they’re home-schooled.  They don’t have anyone from school looking over their shoulders and whining, “How come you have to take your little sisters with you?”

Now this doesn’t mean, of course, that squabbling siblings will never disagree or argue, but it does mean that they tend to get along with each other; after all, these are their closest companions and friends.  As a matter of fact, I have been greatly impressed over the years with how well the homeschoolers treat each other – with kindness and more like a friend than a sibling.

This brings up another subject.  Some of your friends and acquaintances, well-meaning or not, will inevitably bring up the subject of “socializing” your children, meaning how will they learn to interact with other children if they don’t attend “outside” schools?  There are several answers to this.  First, is that they have family to socialize with, as mentioned above.  And this includes cousins, good old (traditional Catholic) cousins.  Our families were fortunate in having dozens of that precious commodity.  There was hardly a week went by that some of them didn’t “exchange” children after Stations of the Cross on a Friday, for example, and “reclaim” them after Mass on Sunday.  (Of course, that was when we could still attend the SSPX under Archbishop Lefebvre.)

(Now it’s true that not every family has “dozens” of traditional Catholic cousins, or for that matter, can devote one room in their house to “the school room,” or can fly off to a foreign country to check out their schools/churches, but if you’re trying your best to educate your children to be truly “children of God,” the good Lord will send you other methods of accomplishing this.  For example, instead of flying off to Portugal or Ireland to learn the truth about the status of the Church, you have The Catholic Candle!  Something that did not exist in those earlier days.)

Another means of socializing is sports.  Playing Little League baseball or football (if so inclined) is generally feasible.  Music, hiking, and chess club are also potential activities.  Or a Science Club with other home schoolers.  Of course, the corruption of bad companions can come from any direction, so potential companions should be thoroughly scrutinized these days.  (This is not a “home school issue” as such.)

Another HUGE benefit of teaching your children at home is that you get to control the flow of information that finds its way into their minds.  Thus, instead of learning about evolution and global warming, they will learn about God’s creation of the world and His control over the weather for these thousands of years.  And you can see that your children learn American History and Geography, and they won’t think New Mexico is a foreign country.

One more substantial benefit is that your children are being taught by people who love them and are totally invested not only in their temporal welfare but, more importantly, in the salvation of their souls and their happiness. 

However, as important as it is to see how your children can benefit from homeschooling, there is another benefit to consider.  Grandparents make pretty good adjunct teachers in many home schools, so they are a good resource for the teacher-parents.  But an additional advantage to homeschooling must not be overlooked.  It is to the grandparents themselves!  I have been helping to homeschool my grandchildren for many years, and I can’t stress enough how much benefit I have received from this.  You get to know them wonderfully well.  You build a loving relationship with them, a true closeness that can remain even after they are no longer “your” students.

Now it is an unfortunate truism that many parents may not be able to call on their parents to give them a hand in this most important endeavor for a variety of reasons, e.g., a job, poor health, or distance.  But to those who are able, I can guarantee that the time and the effort could not be better spent.

A further benefit that probably might not be appreciated until you’re knee-deep in homeschooling is the satisfaction it brings to you, knowing you are doing your best.  The peace of mind alone is incalculable.

Home-schooling is challenging and rewarding labor.  Is it easy?  Not so much.  But is it worthwhile?  You bet!

With God’s help it has worked for our family and others, and it will work for you if you will not settle for less than a solid traditional Catholic education for your children.

 

Should you choose to take this path, please know that you will be in our prayers every day. 

Catholic Candle note: To assist parents in homeschooling, we call your attention to a new Traditional Catholic homeschool which is now accessible worldwide.  Here is some information from this homeschool:

Angelic Doctor Academy

We would like to introduce Angelic Doctor Academy, a Traditional Catholic homeschool for grades 9 – 12 (lower grades coming soon).  We think careful Catholics will appreciate our solid Traditional Catholic high school curriculum, which contains many new textbooks written across the subjects because we have had enough of problematic books.  But even more, busy Catholic parents – especially mothers! – will appreciate our unique grading system which corrects everything – even the daily / weekly coursework – for the parents, so they can concentrate on teaching, explaining, and keeping order.   Please visit https://www.ada.school to learn more.

Yours in St. Thomas,

The Angelic Doctor Academy Staff

 

CC in brief — September 2020

Posted on by Catholic Candle

Catholic Candle note: Catholic Candle normally examines particular issues thoroughly, at length, using the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas and the other Doctors of the Church.  By contrast, our feature CC in brief, gives an extremely short answer to a reader’s question.  We invite readers to submit their own questions.

Q.  We call Our Lady the “Mother of God”.  But God is eternal and has no beginning.  Why don’t we call her the “Mother of Jesus” instead?

A.  Although it is correct to call Our Lady the “Mother of Jesus”, she is also truly the Mother of God.  Our Lord is a Divine Person, not a human person.  Mary is the mother of a Person – and that Person is God.

Posted on by Catholic Candle

Words to Live by – from Catholic Tradition

If all fathers fulfilled their duty of watching over the education of their children, we should have but few crimes and few executions.

St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Sermon 36, On the Education of Children, First Point, section 4.

 

Our Duty not to “Donate” or Accept Donated Vital Bodily Organs

Posted on by Catholic Candle

Catholic Candle note: Recently, Catholic Candle examined the permission the Church traditionally gives to a person who is in danger of death, to confess to a priest whom an uncompromising Catholic could not otherwise support (or confess to) because that priest is a compromiser, an apostate, or someone whom it is otherwise impermissible to support.  Find the article here: https://catholiccandle.org/2020/01/01/using-a-compromised-priest-when-dying/

Catholic Candle also addressed how uncompromising laymen can bury their dead in these times of great apostasy when an uncompromising priest is not available.  Find the article here: https://catholiccandle.org/2020/04/02/a-traditional-catholic-funeral-and-burial-when-there-is-no-uncompromising-priest-available/

Between this last confession (discussed in the first of those articles) and the burial (discussed in the second article), is the crucial moment of death.  We gave recommendations how to assist at a person’s death, based on the experience of some of the Catholic Candle Team, who recently assisted at the deaths of two uncompromising Traditional Catholics.  Find the article here: https://catholiccandle.org/2020/06/01/how-to-assist-a-person-in-dying-a-holy-death/

Also, in our last days of life, we must continue to give sufficient care to sustain our life – even as it is waning – and must not yield to the culture of death, which promotes euthanasia.  Therefore, we examined the minimum care we are obliged to provide to sustain our life even when we are dying.  Find the article here: https://catholiccandle.org/2020/07/01/use-of-ordinary-care-even-as-we-are-dying/

Again, because we live in a culture of death, part of our using sufficient care to sustain our life – even as it is waning – we must never acquiesce in being murdered by having our vital organs removed to be “donated” to another person.  Further, we must never accept the “donation” of a vital organ from someone else, as we would then become complicit in his murder.  Below, we examine the evil of such murder by the “donation” of a vital organ.

We recommend that you save these articles for future reference and use.

 

 

What is death?

Death is the separation of body and soul.[1]  Death occurs at an instant.  In other words, death is not something that occurs gradually over a period of time, although the subsequent corruption of the body does occur gradually. 

A dying person is a person who is still alive.  A deeply comatose person is still alive; (a corpse cannot be comatose).

Although we know that death is the separation of body and soul, we usually do not know exactly when this separation (viz., death) occurs.  We usually can only know with certitude afterwards, that a person has already died.

 

Corruption of the body – gangrene contrasted to a person’s death

Our soul is what makes our body to be what it is, viz., a human body.  Without our soul, our body becomes merely a decaying lump of organic matter which is on its way to becoming dirt, dust or ashes.[2] 

It can happen that the soul ceases to be present in a bodily part of a person who is still alive.  In other words, that part of a person’s body is no longer vivified by his soul.  This can happen, e.g., in the limb of a diabetic person who is still very much alive.  When the soul ceases to vivify part of the body, that part of the body dies and rots.  This is called “gangrene”.[3] 

If some parts, e.g., the person’s feet, are dead and begin rotting (i.e., have gangrene), but other parts, e.g., his heart and other internal organs, remain uncorrupted, this lack of corruption is a sign that the person is not yet dead – because those internal organs do not yet exhibit the corruption which would tell us that his soul is no longer vivifying any parts of his body (i.e., preserving them from corruption). 

Just as gangrene shows a part of a body is no longer vivified by the soul, likewise general corruption throughout the whole body shows the entire body is no longer vivified by the soul.  This tells us that the person is certainly dead.[4]

Although the Catholic Church uses the safer and more reasonable standard requiring general corruption of the body as a condition for certainty that a person is really dead, people sometimes use the “cold, blue, and stiff” standard to determine death.

This “cold, blue, and stiff” standard for determining death could leave room for different interpretations in some circumstances, e.g., how cold is the body and for how long?  Where, and in how many places, is the body’s temperature measured?  Moreover, particular circumstances can add uncertainty of whether a person is really dead, e.g., when a cold, non-responsive swimmer is pulled out of cold water.

 

What are “vital organs”?

A “vital organ” is an organ (i.e., a part of the body) the loss of which results in death.  If a person consents to the removal of one of his vital organs while he is alive, he would be consenting to his own death.

Even if a person were unavoidably near to death, he still must not consent to having his life shortened by having a bodily organ removed which brings about his death.  This is like the fact that a person’s nearness to death does not permit him to jump off of a cliff or do anything else which would cause his death to come sooner.

Therefore, because a person must not consent to his own murder, a person cannot agree to “donate” one of his vital organs (such as his heart) until his body (including his heart) has begun corrupting (showing us that he has truly, already died).  Once he has truly died and his body has begun a general corruption, then his body can be donated to help others, e.g., in medical research.

 

The multi-billion-dollar industry of transplanting vital human organs

In 1967, a cardiac surgeon, Christiaan Bernard, performed the first human-to-human heart surgery.[5]  This landmark surgery opened up whole new possibilities for patients, but such organ transplant surgeries obviously require a supply of “donated” hearts and/or other vital organs.

Today, the transplantation of vital organs is a many-billion-dollar industry.[6]

 

The organ transplant industry gets vital organs by murdering living people who are labeled as dead.

Although the organ “donor” and his family cannot receive any payment, there are many billions of dollars made collectively, by many persons and organizations involved in this industry, e.g., the hospitals, the pharmaceutical companies, and the surgeons.[7]

The organ transplant industry’s problem is a shortage of high-quality human organs.[8]  If the “donor’s” organs are not cut out of his body until after he is really dead and has begun corrupting, then his organs are worthless for transplantation into another person.  Even under the alternate standard for determining death – the “cold, blue, and stiff” standard – all vital organs are useless for transplanting into another human.[9]

Thus, the organ transplant industry saw that it needed to remove the “donor’s” vital organs while he was still alive.  But the transplant industry needed to label him as dead and pretend he was dead so that surgeons would be legally permitted to extract the organs and also in order that the public would accept this practice.[10]

The result was a legal and medical fiction[11] beginning with a Harvard Medical School proposal in 1968.  Under this proposal a person who is in a so-called “irreversible coma” would be relabeled as “brain dead” and then the medical establishment would pretend this so-called “brain death” was the person’s real death.[12] 

Obviously, when a person is in a supposed “irreversible coma”, he is still alive.  No cadaver could ever be in an “irreversible coma”.

Those “brain dead” persons are often euphemistically called “beating heart cadavers”, tacitly showing that everyone knows those “brain dead” persons are really alive.[13] 

The authors of the New England Journal of Medicine article quoted and cited above, promotes organ “donations” from so-called “brain dead” persons.  The authors do not dispute that “brain death” is not real death.  However, they advocate that the medical profession should stop pretending that the “brain dead” person who is “donating” his organs is not being killed by having his vital organs “harvested”.[14]

 

The evidence shows conclusively that “brain death” is not real death

Whereas a body’s general corruption tells us that the person has died, likewise while a body’s vital functions continue, they tell us that the person is alive.  This is true even if the person receives assistance from medical machines, such as a respirator.  Here is how Pope Pius XII taught this truth:

Human life continues for as long as its vital functions – distinguished from the simple life of organs – manifest themselves spontaneously or even with the help of artificial processes.[15]

So-called “brain dead” persons are really helpless living persons whose vital organs are “harvested” by murdering them.  These persons are often warm and pink, with a normal pulse and blood pressure.[16]

The bodies of so-called “brain dead” persons are able to heal wounds, fight infections, respond to stimuli, and retain their spinal reflexes.[17]  A “brain dead” person can survive for months on life support equipment.[18]

When a “brain dead” person is cut open to extract one of his vital organs, he moves in reaction to the pain, unless he is paralyzed by drugs”.[19]  Obviously, such a “donor” is not really dead because a corpse does not need anesthesia or react to pain.  When a “brain dead” person is cut open, his pulse rate and blood pressure rise[20] just as any other person during surgery.[21]

A so-called “brain dead” expectant mother can be kept alive for months, for the sake of her baby.[22]

 

There have been many examples of so-called “irreversible comas” being reversed

Because of advancements in medical treatments since 1968, there have been very many persons whose supposedly “irreversible coma” was reversed and the person made a full or substantial recovery to an independent life.

For example:

❖  Trenton McKinley, a 13-year old Alabama boy, was declared brain dead after suffering skull fractures and a traumatic brain injury in March 2018.  All the usual tests showed he was “brain dead”.  His mother signed papers to donate his organs.  Fortunately, he regained consciousness before his vital organs were removed.  Trenton was taken off the ventilator and eventually went home.  He is now conscious, walking and talking.[23]

❖  In 2007, Zach Dunlap, a 21-year-old Oklahoma man, flipped over on his 4-wheeler and suffered catastrophic brain injuries.  A day and a half after his accident, doctors at United Regional Healthcare System in Wichita Falls, Texas determined he was "brain dead.”  They had subjected Zach to a battery of tests including a scan that showed a complete absence of blood flow to the brain.  Preparations to harvest his organs were underway when a relative scraped the bottom of his foot with a pocket knife and he jerked his foot away.  Just months later, Zack was walking and talking.  He recalled hearing a doctor say he was dead and being “mad inside” but unable to move.[24]

❖  Kate Allat suffered a stroke at the age of 39 and spent the next ten days in a coma.  Allat later revealed that she heard everything going on around her in her hospital room and she was fearful her life support would be turned off.  Her mind was functioning normally during her coma but everyone around her thought she was “brain dead” as she laid in her hospital bed paralyzed and unable to speak or breathe on her own.  She listened in fright as medical staff discussed switching off her life support with her family.  …  “They thought I was in a vegetative state.  I couldn’t move a muscle.  There was no signal I was in there,” she said.  “I was on life support and they might have turned it off.”  “I couldn’t breathe for myself but I could hear conversations that I didn’t want to hear.”  Kate made a full recovery.[25]

❖  Steven Thorpe suffered devastating injuries in a car crash.  His parents were told there was no chance of their son surviving.  But they refused to give up hope – despite four specialists declaring that the 17-year-old was “brain dead”.  Steven’s parents were convinced they saw a “flicker” of life as Steven lay in a coma.  They refused to allow the hospital to switch off his life support machine.  Two weeks later, Steven woke from his coma. Within seven weeks, he had left the hospital.  And four years later, Steven was working as a trainee accounts clerk.[26]

It might surprise readers that so-called “brain death” does not even require confirmation that the person has no measurable brain activity.  Some co-called “brain dead” persons can continue to have brain activity[27] (as well as many other bodily functions which prove they are still alive). 

Furthermore, a “brain dead” person’s brain can “fall silent” in response to a decreased blood flow, even if his brain remains uninjured.  This is called “ischemic penumbra”.[28]

 

Summary of “brain death” and deep coma

It is obvious that a “brain dead” or comatose person is alive.  Would anyone ever bury a person showing so many signs of life?  No!  Because he is alive!  Yet, he is labeled as “brain dead” and so he can be considered fit to be murdered by “harvesting” his vital organs.

 

Some countries have “laws”[29] which automatically designate everyone in the public as a “donor” of his vital organs unless he opts out.

In the transplant industry’s tireless pursuit of vital organs, some countries take advantage of most people’s inattention and inaction by passing “laws” which declare everyone as a consenting “donor” of his vital organs unless he opts-out of the country’s organ harvesting program.

For example, in 2020, England passed a “law” presuming people consent to “donate” their vital organs when they become “brain dead”, unless they register on a government website to opt out of being thus murdered.[30]

Other countries which have opt out “laws” are Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Spain, Austria, and Belgium.[31]  The state of California now has an opt out “law” too.[32]

Obviously, the Catholic Faith, the Natural Law, and sound thinking require a person to opt out of this type of murderous organ “donation” program.

 

Pressure and false compassion

Vital organ transplantation should be recognized for what it is – murder – and should be a felony.  But today, it is common for people to be pressured into agreeing ahead of time to “donate” their vital organs, often in the name of “charity” and “compassion”.  This pressure often occurs when they renew their driver’s license.

People are told that “donating” their vital organs is unselfish.  They are told that “your heart will continue living in someone else”, etc.  Ironically, people are told that donating their heart – which murders them – is “lifesaving and lifegiving”.[33]

Even if many people act in ignorance or with misplaced “charity” when they agree to “donate” their vital organs, they are nonetheless agreeing to be murdered.  But such organ “donation” is not real charity any more than it is charitable to commit suicide for ecological reasons such as to “reduce greenhouse gases” to “save the planet”.

Therefore, it is plain we must not agree to the “donation” of our vital organs.  But even if a person does not explicitly consent ahead of time, a person could still be murdered for his organs in the future, as he lies helpless and defenseless in a coma.

Therefore, no one should remain silent on this issue.  Everyone should explicitly reject the “donation” of his vital organs and reject receiving another person’s vital organs, using a declaration such as this:

I reject any treatment that uses an organ or tissue of another person obtained in a manner that causes, contributes to, or hastens that person’s death.  I reject any treatment that uses a vital organ “donated” by any other person who is declared “dead” (usually this declaration of “death” is made shortly before the organ is removed).  I also reject any treatments that use an organ or tissue of an unborn or newborn child who has been subject to an induced abortion.  I do not want any of my organs to be donated.[34]

 

Donating non-vital organs

Although it is a mortal sin to consent to murder by “donation” of a vital organ, it is a good and generous work for us to donate even an important bodily organ which does not cause our death.  For example, we can donate one of our two kidneys, a lobe of our liver, or a lobe of a lung, part of our pancreas, a cornea, or bone marrow, none of which impede our continued life.  These donations are a charitable work for those in need.

 

Beware of cooperating in any way in murder to “harvest” vital organs!

Not only must we never consent to murder by “donating” or receiving a vital organ, we must also never cooperate in any other way, when people commit this evil.  A person can be responsible for another person’s murder through organ “donation” in nine separate ways,[35] including by remaining silent (when we should object), by expressing approval, or by advising a person to “donate” his vital organ (or to receive the transplant of a vital organ). 

 

Society has sunk into the murderous practices of the pagan Aztecs

We see that, in a way, our society has sunk back to the evils of pagan times, murdering people to obtain their beating hearts (or hearts still able to beat).  Here is what the Spanish encountered when they first went to Aztec Mexico:

In 1519, at the time when Spanish Captain Hernán Cortez, came to Mexico, the barbaric, pagan Aztec Indians offered human sacrifices almost daily.  The Aztecs, who ruled from Mexico City, offered about 20,000 human sacrifices every year to their pagan (false) gods.  That is an average of more than 50 each day!  These victims usually had their hearts cut out while still beating; then their bodies were dismembered.  The Aztecs sometimes ate body parts.  At the Aztecs’ inauguration of their pagan temple at Mexico City, they massacred about 20,000 victims in four days.  That averages about one such gruesome murder every 17 seconds, all day and night![36]

Whereas the Aztecs offered their human sacrifices to their false gods, modern man offers similar human sacrifices to a creature lower than a “god”, viz., to a fellow man.  The modern “harvesting” of vital organs is, as it were, merely Aztec human sacrifices committed under surgical draping and using sterile technique.

 

Conclusion

“Harvesting” a person’s vital organs is premeditated murder.  Your organ donor card might be your death warrant. 

Catholics should never give permission to “donate” their vital organs and should not allow this authorization to be indicated on their driver’s license.  Such permission would be to consent to their own murder. 

Likewise, Catholics should be careful to opt out of organ “donation” in those countries such as England, where permission to “donate” organs is assumed unless a person opts out.


[1]           Here is how Fr. Spirago explains this truth, in The Catechism Explained:

 

At death, the soul is separated from the body ….  The body, deprived of the soul, is no longer alive, because it has no longer the principle of life ….

 

The Catechism Explained, Rev. Francis Spirago, Benziger Bros., New York, 1921, Eleventh and Twelfth Articles of the Creed, The Last Things, §1, p.254.

 

[2]           We owe respect to the human body as a temple of the Holy Ghost.  This means that it is a mortal sin to cremate the body (except in very unusual circumstance, such as where this is necessary in order to protect the living from a deadly, widespread plague).  For a further analysis of the evils of cremation, read these articles:

 

v  https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/cremation-is-barbaric.html

 

v  https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/may-poor-people-choose-cremation-instead-of-burial-because-they-cannot-afford-burial.html

 

Although the human body deserves a respectful burial, this does not mean that, in itself, a dead body is other than organic matter returning to dust.  On Ash Wednesday, the Church reminds us what happens to a person’s body when his soul departs: “Remember Man, that thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return.”

 

[3]           Here is how the Mayo Clinic explains this truth:

 

Gangrene refers to the death of body tissue due to either a lack of blood flow or a serious bacterial infection. Gangrene commonly affects the extremities, including your toes, fingers and limbs, but it can also occur in your muscles and internal organs. 

 

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/gangrene/symptoms-causes/syc-20352567

[4]           Here is how Fr. Henry Davis explains this truth, in Moral and Pastoral Theology:

 

Now we know as a fact that life often persists after apparent death; advanced decomposition is the only certain sign of death especially after drowning, paralysis and death from sickness.

 

Moral and Pastoral Theology, Henry Davis, S.J., Sheed and Ward, New York, ©1959, Vol 2, Ch. 6, Section: The Fifth Commandment, Appendix 2, Point 16, Embalming, p.168 (emphasis added).

[9]           Here is how this truth is stated in one article published in the New England Journal of Medicine:

 

[It used to be that] the diagnosis of death was relatively straightforward: patients were dead when they were cold, blue, and stiff.  Unfortunately, organs from these traditional cadavers cannot be used for transplantation.

 

The Dead Donor Rule and Organ Transplantation, Robert D. Truog, M.D., and Franklin G. Miller, Ph.D., published August 14, 2008, at: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp0804474 (emphasis added).

 

Similarly, whistleblower Doctor Cicero G. Coimbra, MD PhD, a neurologist and professor of neuroscience at the Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil, who warns about the murder involved in “harvesting” a person’s vital organs, states plainly how crucial a person’s beating heart is for “harvesting” his vital organs:

 

if it’s not beating you cannot use vital organs.  If there is an arrest in circulation, you have damaged organs that you’re trying to transplant to other people. 

 

Read the June 5, 2019 interview of Dr. Coimbra here: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/neurologist-exposes-brain-death-myth-behind-multi-billion-dollar-organ-transplant-industry (emphasis added).

[11]         Two advocates for vital organ transplantation candidly admitted that “brain death” as real death is considered a fiction which is expedient in order to obtain vital organs.  In an article published in Intensive Care Medicine, they state:

 

Brain death is, since the first definitions in the scientific literature in 1968, closely related to organ donation.  This is why, some scholars consider equating brain death to death as a moral and legal fiction.  […] Without the needs of transplantation medicine, ‘brain death as death’ would not exist at all ….

 

Erwin J.O. Kompanje and Yorik J. de Groot, Sounding board: is mandatory recovery of organs for transplantation acceptable? Published in Intensive Care Medicine (2015) 41:1836–1837.  This is quoted and cited in ‘Brain death’ is a medical fiction invented to harvest organs from living people: expert, an article found here: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/brain-death-is-a-medical-fiction-invented-to-harvest-organs-from-living-people-expert

 

[12]         A definition of irreversible coma: report of the ad hoc committee of the Harvard Medical School to examine the definition of brain death. JAMA 1968;205:337–340

 

[14]         The Dead Donor Rule and Organ Transplantation, Robert D. Truog, M.D., and Franklin G. Miller, Ph.D., published August 14, 2008, at: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp0804474 (emphasis added).

 

[15]         November 24, 1957, Address to an International Congress of Anesthesiologists, Pope Pius XII (emphasis added).

[16]         Here is how this truth is stated in one article published in the New England Journal of Medicine:

 

[Brain dead] patients look very much alive: they are warm and pink; they digest and metabolize food, excrete waste, undergo [physical] maturation, …. To a casual observer, they look just like patients who are receiving long-term artificial ventilation and are asleep.

 

The Dead Donor Rule and Organ Transplantation, Robert D. Truog, M.D., and Franklin G. Miller, Ph.D., published August 14, 2008, at: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp0804474

 

[21]         Is “Brain Death” True Death? by Randy Engel, citing Brain Death – A U.K. Anesthetist’s View, by David J. Hill, published in Finis Vitae, edited by Paul A. Byrne, M.D., p.172, and found here: http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/engel/120117


[22]         See, e.g., a “brain dead” mother was kept alive for three months for the sake of her healthy child.  http://www.lifenews.com/2013/11/13/baby-boy-born-after-brain-dead-mother-kept-alive-three-months/

 

[24]         Quoted from IS THERE MORAL CERTAINTY THAT "BRAIN DEAD" ORGAN DONORS ARE DEAD?  This article is found here: http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/abbott/190423  summarizing an account given by Natalie Morales, in “‘Dead’ Man Recovering after ATV Accident," Dateline transcript, NBC News, March 23, 2008.

 

[27]         What You Lose When You Sign That Donor Card, By Dick Teresi, Wall Street Journal, March 10, 2012, page C3.

 

[28]         Neurologist exposes ‘brain death’ myth behind multi-billion-dollar organ transplant industry,  interview of Doctor Cicero G. Coimbra, MD PhD, a neurologist and professor of neuroscience at the Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil, June 6, 2019 from https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/neurologist-exposes-brain-death-myth-behind-multi-billion-dollar-organ-transplant-industry

[29]         A real law must be reasonable and for the Common Good.  Summa, Ia IIae, Q.90, a.4.  A government’s evil decrees (such as this one) are not real laws.  

 

[34]         This formula (rejecting vital organ donation is part of a draft living will contained here: https://catholiccandle.org/2020/07/01/use-of-ordinary-care-even-as-we-are-dying/

 

[35]            Here is summary of this basic truth about the various ways we can be responsible for another’s sin:

 

328. When are we answerable for the sins of others? 

We are answerable for the sins of others whenever we either cause them, or share in them, through our own fault. 

329. In how many ways may we either cause or share the guilt of another’s sin? 

We may either cause or share the guilt of another’s sin in nine ways:

 

1.    By counsel.

 

2.    By command.

3.    By consent.

4.    By provocation.

5.    By praise or flattery.

6.    By concealment.

7.    By being a partner in the sin.

8.    By silence.

9.    By defending the ill done.

 

Quoted from The Penny Catechism, Nihil Obstat, Joannes M.T. Barton, S.T.D., L.S.S., Censor deputatus, Imprimatur, Georgius L. Craven, Epus Sebastopolis, Vicarius Generalis, Westmonasterii, die 20a Junii, 1958, p.57 (emphasis added).

 

[36]         Quoted from: Latin America: A Sketch of its Glorious Catholic Roots and a Snapshot of its Present, by the Editors of Quanta Cura Press, ©2016, Section 2 – (Latin) North America – Mexico, p.38.

Humility Fostered by Seeking God

Posted on by Catholic Candle

Objective Truth Series – Reflections article #13

We have considered[1] how God sculptures our souls, how He leads us, teaches us about ourselves, gives us tools and weapons to keep pride at bay, reveals to us His bountiful blessings that He has bestowed on each of us individually, and by all of this, He primes the fountain of gratitude in our hearts. Yet another method God uses to sanctify our souls is sending or allowing us precious crosses through the circumstances in our lives. He tests us to see if we will look to Him to find the solutions to our problems and with His remarkable Wisdom, He teaches us humility at the same time.

We frail humans are too focused on our problems and we rack our brains to find solutions to them.  When we approach problems in this manner, we are bewildered by them. Ironically, as soon as we place our problems fully in God’s Hands, that is, realizing intellectually our helplessness, then we will be humbling ourselves. It is only then that we will be able to see this method of God’s humbling us by sending us challenging circumstances. Furthermore, by abandoning ourselves to God, amazingly the problems begin to fix themselves or we see solutions appear, simply because we entrust our problems to God, knowing that truly only He can fix them. In this way, we are resigning ourselves to God’s Holy Will.

“Whoever looks for God is not without God even if he has not found Him,” says St. Augustine [Dei vita beata].

“Seek and you will find”, says Our Lord.  It is the seeking that God wants. He wants us to see our helplessness and seek, seek, and seek, which means desire, desire, and desire.  He alone can console the soul and comfort her in her difficult trials. Remember, too, that God inspires this desire we have, namely, this seeking.

God mercifully gives this intense longing and this intense spiritual pain to a particular soul because He wants that soul to ache for Him and not rest until she has found Him, namely by taking her eyes off of herself and her perceived problems, and setting her eyes on Him Who is in charge. This redirecting of the soul’s eyes is an act of humility. God is our Master and our teacher in the school of sanctity. We must struggle to keep our spiritual eyes fixed on God and what He wills and directs us to do.

 Let’s face it: the world has so many problems, especially moral ones, in these times of apostasy.  We won’t add a single cubit to our height by excessive worry.  We cannot solve any problem by ourselves. The best means to solving problems is by prayer and by seeking God’s guidance through prayer. Prayer is the window that sheds God’s light on our poor darksome souls. “The Lord is my light and my salvation.” [Ps. 26:1] Remembering this in frequent acts of humility can help us tremendously to keep seeking God’s guidance. St. Alphonsus de Liguori says, “Prayers such as these should restore peace to your soul, for no one has ever been lost who has placed his trust in Him [God].” With great longing for God’s guidance, let us seek through prayer to find God’s answers. It is with seeking that we could also find our hearts pouring out something like what follows:

‘Tis with aching hearts, we do seek,

To find Our Lord, with Him to speak,

To tell Him all, of our poor woes,

He knows all, the tricks of our foes.


Nothing can we, solve without Him,

Our souls are dark, and all seems dim,

Without His aid, we always will fret,

Then no problem can, be solved yet.


 Still we toil, our problems to fix,

Then we see how, we have solved nix,

Alas!  Then find we, are forced to turn,

To the One for Whom, we must yearn,


The One Who all, the answers knows,

Whose tender care, for us e’er shows,

Our troubled hearts, in anxious fear,

Find that only God, can our hearts hear.


 If we, with desire, our prayers let fly,

 Do seek guidance, from God on high,

We’ll see solutions, soon are there,

Those of which, we were unaware.


The Lord wants us, to seek and find,

He cares for us, our peace of mind,

‘Cause with seeking, our desires increase,

To find Him and, to be at peace.


Humility, comes to the soul,

Who seeks God first, as his one goal,

God wants our seeking, so He can,

Fulfill in us, His Divine plan.

           


[1]            To read the previous reflections articles, use this link: https://catholiccandle.org/category/resources-for-faith-and-practice/on-working-for-holiness/objective-truth-series/

 

CC in brief – August 2020

Posted on by Catholic Candle

Catholic Candle note: Catholic Candle normally examines particular issues thoroughly, at length, especially using the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas and the other Doctors of the Church.  At the urging of one of our readers, we are trying new feature: CC in brief, giving an extremely short answer to a reader’s question.  We invite readers to submit their own questions.

Q. In the Apostles Creed, it says Christ "descended into hell."  What exactly does that mean?  And if it doesn’t actually mean hell, why does it say “hell”?

A. “Hell” refers to those places where the souls of the decease are detained, that have not been admitted to heaven.  “Hell” includes the place of eternal punishment suffered by the damned, but also includes Purgatory, the Limbo of the Babies and the Limbo of the Fathers.  Our Lord descended into hell to free the souls of the just, who were waiting for Him in the Limbo of the Fathers.