Kaiser Wilhelm II

January 27, 1859—the birthday of His Imperial and Royal Majesty Wilhelm II, King of Prussia and German Emperor. The Kaiser is perhaps one of my most revered historical figures. A Protestant monarch responsible for the First World War? How can a staunch Catholic revere this monster? Allow me to explain.

Yes, the Kaiser was a Protestant—a Lutheran to be exact—but I look past that. To me, he embodies everything that is proud and noble about the German culture—at least the way German culture used to be. He may have been a Protestant, but was a much greater friend to Catholics than Otto von Bismarck (who often receives a much more generous interpretation in historical circles). Wilhelm scaled back the anti-Catholic measures enacted by Bismarck, met with the pope several times, and even had a secret respect and admiration for the Church (due to its pomp and regal ceremonies). But what about the war, the Great War?

Contrary to popular belief, the Kaiser was not the war-monger he has been portrayed. There is a saying—where it originated I have no idea—that history is written by the victors. This is largely true. Germany lost the war and Britain and America won (for the English speaking world). So it is only natural that the British and Americans would portray the defeated Germans in a poor light. What happened may only be natural, but is unfaithful to historical fact. Germany may have started the war—but all of Europe knew for decades before that the continent was on the brink of war, and considered war inevitable. The only question was where and when the war would take place. The Kaiser may have been a blow-hard, speaking without thinking, but when it came down to it he always chose peace in the end. Members of his General Staff knew this, and saw him as a stumbling block to German strength in a situation where the Empire was being choked to death by her enemies. When the Kaiser tried to keep the balance of power in Europe and work with his royal cousins, it was often King George in England and Czar Nicholas in Russia that defeated his efforts at keeping the peace.

Had Germany won the war, history would look more kindly upon him. I challenge you the visitor to my blog to do some research on Wilhelm (see especially The Last Kaiser by Giles MacDonogh and Europe’s Last Summer by David Fromkin). You may just learn something. R.I.P Wilhelm II, König von Preußen und Deutscher Kaiser.

John Paul II

Recently I watched the second part of CBS’ miniseries Pope John Paul II. I had watched the first installment in December when it first aired, but it wasn’t until just last week that I watched the second installment, which I had taped. I was not prepared for the effect it had upon me. I am not an emotional man, and seldom display sorrow, even more seldom cry. But watching this reverent and respectful rendition of our late Pontiff made me weep (thankfully I watched it alone, so no one had to see me).

I wasn’t so much moved by the tv show, but more moved by the show to realize how deep the hurt of his death still was to me. At 24, he was the only pope I had ever known. He had his faults, I disagreed with his administration in his latter days, but he was a good man and a good pope. I miss him deeply. Requiescat in Pace, Ioannes Paulus II.

Abortion, Feminism, and The Law

I was watching a forensic science/law show the other day. A man was convicted of beating his pregnant wife, which eventually led to the death of his unborn child. He was charged and convicted with not only the assault of his wife, but also the murder of his unborn child. This got me thinking.

In America, it is perfectly legal for a woman to murder her unborn child at any time during her pregnancy, even just before natural childbirth. If a man beats a woman and it leads to the death of that child (or in the case of Scott Peterson the murder of his wife and his unborn child) the man can be charged with the murder of that child. Should he be? Of course he should. Murder is murder. But what about the woman who “chooses” to end her pregnancy, should she be charged with murder? I think that she should, murder is murder, but not in this country. Could this double standard in the law be due to feminism in our culture? A different standard for men and women? I think that this just might be the case.

No More Pink Palaces

Tomorrow’s the big day. The Vatican is set to release its much anticipated document, approved by the Holy Father, barring all active gay men and those men who support the gay culture from entering the Church’s seminaries. These restrictions would not necessarily bar those men who have had same-sex attractions, but was during a time in their lives which is in the past and they have reformed and lived truly chaste lives for the past three years (at least according to all the reports that I’ve read in the blogosphere). Great news, huh? You might find yourself saying “It’s about time!”

Chew on this: these restrictions depend on the Church’s bishops to enforce. After all, many if not most seminaries in the Church are diocesan seminaries (correct me if I’m wrong on this one). Knowing the infamous job performance of American bishops, do you expect our bishops to enforce these restrictions? I’m not holding my breath. This document is a great first step, but the job won’t be done until our terrible bishops—some of whom I suspect either support the gay culture or are gay themselves—are dealt with. What this means is that those bishops who do not obey the Holy Father are severely reprimanded, up to and including removal from their sees and even the possible excommunication or two. We’ll just have to wait and see.

The Language of Gender

Wow, it's been a long time since my last post. I've been really busy with school--I still am, so this one will be short.

This really bothers me, and I see it all the time. "The child lost their ball." What's wrong with this sentence? The child is singular, and their is plural. A singular subject does not match with a plural pronoun. Most people do this without thinking, but what's the real reason behind it? The feminist powers that be have taken out the traditional "he" from our language and replaced it with "them." The above sentence should read "The child lost his ball." Is the child really a boy? It doesn't matter. When speaking in the hypothetical, always refer to the hypothetical person as a he. Why? That's how our language works. Don't like it? Get over yourself.

Multiculturalism

Does multiculturalism bother you? You may not be the only one, and maybe it's not only just a minor annoyance. Perhaps it's far more insidious than we think. Check out this article written by a Catholic Monarchist and papal knight Charles A. Coulombe. I may not agree with it in its entirety, but it's a good read. http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=4287

Our Holy Father

It's been a while since the election of our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, but I thought that I should make a post on him. I was familiar with Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger before he was elected to the Papacy, but looking back I wish I was more familiar with him. The only writing of his that I ever actually read was Dominus Iesus, but whenever I heard or read an excerpt from one of his writings I always thought "This man is a genius!! He knows exactly how I feel!"

When our late Holy Father Pope John Paul II died, my first pick for the new pope was Ratzinger. I always prefaced this when someone asked me who I was rooting for by saying that the Holy Ghost doesn't consult me when He raises up the man He has chosen to be the next pope--but nonetheless I was hoping Ratzinger would be elected Pope. When those great words rang out from the balcony of St. Peters "Habemus Papam!" and were followed with Ratzinger's name, it was all I could do to contain myself (I was in a public setting at the time).

I had great hopes at Benedict's accession to the papal throne, and I still do. He knows that the present state of the Novus Ordo Mass as it is commonly celebrated--especially in America and Europe--is a mess. He has celebrated the Traditional Latin Mass several times over the past 15 years, has relationship with the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (albeit a superficial one, but supportive at that), it is reported that as of today he will issue a document banning gays from the priesthood. It is also rumored that he will lift the restrictions presently upon the Traditional Latin Mass, making it possible for any priest in the Latin Rite to say the Traditional Latin Mass without needing the permission of the local Ordinary. But of course there is always room for improvement.

I had hoped, as a monarchist, that Benedict would have had a traditional coronation Mass. What he got instead was a fairly simple "installation Mass." There was no papal tiara, no Sedia Gestatoria (the throne upon which the popes of yesteryear where carried around so the people could see them). He even took the papal tiara out of his coat of arms. We must remember that after being a spiritual monarch, the Pope is also the sovereign of the Holy See (aka Vatican City State). If he would have taken advantage of his royal status, he would have brought so much interest, respect, and love for monarchy in general. Bring back the papal tiara, the Sedia Gestatoria, the coronation of Catholic monarchs by the pope, bring it all back. If we as a civilization are to restore monarchy to its proper place in the world, it should most certainly start with the papacy.

I had great expectations with the election of Josef Cardinal Ratzinger as pope and I still do. I am proud of him and to call him Holy Father. May God protect him and grant unto him a long and glorious reign. Long live the Pope! Long live Benedict!

Wrath of God?

I'm kind of reaching out on a limb talking about this topic at this time, but what the heck. As Catholics we shouldn't be afraid of anything, right?? I'd like to talk about natural disasters, which of course at this time includes Hurricane Katrina. I of course offer my prayers for all the victims, both living and dead, of Katrina, but I think that this topic should be brought up.

I've often thought this year about all the natural disasters we've had. It seems like we've had one hurricane or tropical storm after another. In my area of the world, we've experienced a water shortage--albeit a rather minor league one--since early this spring. Has anyone ever thought that perhaps all the weather related problems we've been suffering just might be the actual--not allegorical--wrath of God? Now God is of course slow to anger and rich in mercy, but He only has so much patience. Let's face it people, America is a sinful, hedonistic, evil country. We abort or unborn by the millions each year (a sin which in my opinion is worse than the holocaust--at least the victims of the holocaust had voices to cry out with), we use contraceptives like they were multivitamins, we use our fetuses for scientific experimentation, we fornicate, co-habitate, and commit adultery left and right, and we've tolerated and accepted the homosexual lifestyle to the point that as we speak, the idiots in the California state government have voted to allow gay marriage (the "honorable" Governor Schwarzenegger has not committed one way or the other as far as approving or vetoing it). What would you say, are we the model of Christian moral living? No!

But what about all the innocent victims of Katrina? As is the case with all sin, the innocent often suffer just as much or more than the guilty--it all goes back to Adam and Eve. They sinned, and pain and suffering entered the world. So what's the solution? Embracing Christ and His Church. Will it end the pain and suffering? No, but it certainly makes it more than pointless.

College Days

Yet again, it's been quite a while since my last post. I'll try from now on to post on a more frequent basis. This post, I'd like to focus on something totally unrelated to either Catholicism or monarchy: college. I'm currently in a college level program (to keep a semblance of anonymity--in other words, to protect my own butt from any negative action relating to school because of my views-- I'll not say what kind or where) at a college in Washington state. Here's what I've got to say.

I cannot stand college. In America in the 21st century, it's hard to get a good-paying career without at least a bachelor's degree--but with the proliferation of students in college getting four year degrees a bachelor's degree doesn't amount to a whole lot these days. Because of this, many young people need (or feel the need) to go to college. So you spend four or more years getting a degree in a field you have no idea if you will ever--or can--use in the real world. Many students spend their first 2-3 years just trying to decide on a major. At the end of four or five years, you've racked up anywhere from a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars in student loans. For what? A degree that you can't use and make it hard to find a career-track job. So then what do you do? Go back to school for a graduate degree. More money and time for another degree. But what if you find out that you don't like that field either?

Then there's the issue of college textbooks. Call me a conspiracy-theorist, but I believe that college professors must have some sort of financial agreement with textbook publishers. Just about any given textbook has already gone through several editions by the time you buy it, and then at the end of the semester you try to sell it but find that none of the campus or online book sellers will buy it because the book will have a new edition for the next session. So now you're left with an $80 book that you have no use for and will only collect dust on your bookshelf. Might as well throw the book away, or better yet, burn it--it'll make you feel better.

Then there's the professors. Most are extremely liberal, if not outright Communists. They like to preach the modern religion of diversity and multiculturalism, but all that amounts to is a philosophy of "all things are relative" except traditional Christian (especially Catholic) values and beliefs. Multiculturalism means accept, celebrate, and value all cultures as long as they're not of European origin--to them European means white and white means bad. I'm definitely no white supremacist, but I'm not ashamed to be white. Far too many college professors--let's admit it, most professors are white--are ashamed to be white. From white man's burden to white man's guilt. Not much progress, huh? Then there's the arrogance factor: college professors are better than you. Why? Because they have three characters in front of their names: Dr. Why spending six or more years in college makes a person better than others I'll never know.

Sometimes I look at life in the past and envy those who are long dead. Sure, their lives were far less comfortable than ours today, but does comfort make a life better? I'd answer with an emphatic NO! Before the modern age, people entered their "profession" at an early age. Many required a lot of physical activity (lower rates of obesity and hear disease). They got to be outside a lot (I love the woods, mountains, rivers, lakes). The average man didn't have to go into debt up to his proverbial eyeballs (with scandalously high interest rates) for school, house, car, boat, lake-place, etc. Life was simpler, not easier, and perhaps more fulfilling and meaningful. The average man was concerned with saving his own soul and providing for his family. The modern man worries about the mortgage, insurance, children's college funds, his 401K plan, the cost of gas, the war in Iraq, his teenage daughter getting pregnant, his teenage son getting someone else pregnant, his other teenager using drugs or alcohol, school violence, etc., etc., und so weiter, und so weiter. Life in the distant past may not have been easier, but it was a whole lot simpler. Well, that's my vent for the day. Thank you for helping me keep my sanity!!