No, Jorge. No they are not.

Jorge Bergolio, the anti-pope, claims that Muslim rapefugees are like "Joseph and Mary".  Sorry Jorge, but your logic is as weak and pathetic as your theology.  Joseph and Mary were not part of a blood-thirsty Satanic death cult, dedicated to the subjugation of the civilized world under the heel of sharia law.  Mary and Joseph returned to Nazareth at the first opportunity.  They didn't stay in Egypt demanding welfare for themselves and their multiple wives and kids. 

Every time Jorge Bergolio opens his mouth, he reminds everyone of just how unfit he is to hold the office he currently occupies.

Here's what the future under Jorge Bergolio looks like

I mean, if you're Catholic and you want to know what the future holds under the Marxist Argentinian homosexual, look no further than the Episcopal Church of the USA.

The headlines coming out of the Episcopal Church’s annual U.S. convention are stunning — endorsement of cross-dressing clergy, blessing same-sex marriage, the sale of their headquarters since they can’t afford to maintain it.
The American branch of the Church of England, founded when the Vatican balked at permitting King Henry VIII to continue annulling marriages to any wife who failed to bear him sons, is in trouble.
Somehow slipping out of the headlines is a harsh reality that the denomination has been deserted in droves by an angry or ambivalent membership. Six prominent bishops are ready to take their large dioceses out of the American church and align with conservative Anglican groups in Africa and South America.

ECUSA has been converged by Progs for decades now, so it's no surprise that it's membership is leaving in droves.  Well, apparently it's a surprise for the Proggies.  But the ECUSA doesn't stand for Christ, and it doesn't stand for God.  It stands for Social Justice, Homosexuality, Trans-genderism, and Marxism.

Which is not how you run a church, in case anyone out there was confused.  But when you have "leadership" like this:

Before being named bishop, Robinson deserted his wife and children to take up with a homosexual lover – 

Who makes statements like this:

“We have allowed the Bible to be taken hostage, and it is being wielded by folks who would use it to hit us over the head,” he said. “The sin of Sodom had nothing to do with homosexual sex but was a failure to care for the poor, the widows and the orphans. Scripture is not as plainspoken as some would have us believe.”

Folks, that's theology straight out of a Cracker Jack box.  This is not mere ignorance, especially from someone as high up in the church.  This is blatant lying about scripture.  This is blatant lying about sin.  This is blatant lying about the word of God, and the fact that the ECUSA chose to make this man a bishop shows just how fallen and corrupt the entire organization is.  

Now to tie this in with Catholics:

Vatican police raided a drug-fueled gay-sex party at an apartment belonging to an aide of one of Pope Francis’ key advisers, according to a new report. 

The Holy Father is “enraged,” since the home, inhabited by Francesco Cardinal Coccopalmerio’s secretary, belongs to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith — the arm charged with tackling clerical sex abuse, the Italian paper Il Fatto Quotidiano reported. 

Cops raided the apartment in late June after neighbors voiced concern about multiple people acting strangely while streaming in and out of the residence, the newspaper reported Wednesday. 

Once police were inside the apartment, they said they found multiple men engaged in rampant drug use and homosexual activity.

The only reason Jorge Bergolio is "enraged" is because his people got caught.  The upper level of the Catholic church is just as converged as the ECUSA.  However, the various traditional groups have managed to keep the damage down to a minimum, but they might not be able to do that for much longer.

If you don't want to see the Catholic Church follow the ECUSA into ruin, step one is to admit the truth.  Step two is to confront the problems when and where you can.  Ignoring the problem will just be allowing the problem to fester until it cannot be fixed.

The Catholic Church is in deep doo-doo

Jorge Bergolio, who claims to be pope, is nothing more than a Marxist agitator who is appointing more Marxist agitators in high church positions.

Ann Barnhardt has some of the best write-ups on why Bergolio is the Anti-pope.  As for me, all I can see is a man who cares more for this world than for the next, who is actively attempting to destroy church doctrine and replace it with Modernist bullshit, and who does't actually believe a damn bit of what the Church teaches.

I didn't like him when he first was selected.  I like him even less now, and my dislike for him grows every day.  I can only hope that we are able to repair the damage he's doing.

Hey Jorge, this isn't how you do it.

Pope Francis cuts penalties for pedo priests.

They have preyed on the children in their care, Jorge.  Do you know what Jesus says about that, Jorge?

6But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea.

One of the priests that Jorge Bergolio reduced the sentence on is now up for another trial after new evidence was found against him.

Priests who sexually abuse children are not good, Jorge.  They have no place in any position of authority.  Their only position in the church should be locked in a cell, praying daily that God forgive their sins.  If it's absolutely necessary to keep them in some position, then it should be as a monk, in a monastery far, far away from anyone else.  There, they can spend the rest of their life in monastic contemplation of the damage that they have caused, and beg God to forgive them.

What should never, ever, EVER happen, Jorge is for some white-clad imposter to sit on Peter's throne and make it easier for child abusers and pedos to go back into a church and continue doing what they did.

But that's what you just made happen, Jorge.

Gah.  I'm pissed.  I'm off to Mass to see if I can regain some sense of calm.

So gosh, what did you all do to celebrate Saint Valentine's Day?

Yeah.  SAINT Valentine.  Yesterday was his Feast day.  What made him such a saint?  Glad you asked!

Valentine was a priest who married Christian couples in Rome under the rule of Claudius II.  Claudius didn't want folks to get married.  A) he hated Christianity, and B) he thought that if men got married it made them less likely to do their duty in the Roman Army.  It's a bit more complex than that, but that's the short-short version.

So Valentine is out there, marrying young lovers against the will of the Roman emperor.  He gets arrested.  While he's in jail, his jailor tests his faith by asking Valentine to heal his blind daughter's eyes.  Valentine prays to God, touches the girl's eyes and she can see.  The jailor and his entire family convert.

Even Claudius is impressed with Valentine.  So impressed, in fact, that he makes a generous offer to Valentine:  Renounce Christ, worship the Roman gods, and Claudius would let him live.  Valentine says "No thanks, and hey, you should convert to Christianity and worship the Christ Jesus."  That does't go over well.  Claudius has Valentine tortured, beaten, and finally beheaded on February 14th.

So I don't do cards or flowers or chocolates for the Mrs. on St. Valentine's day.  I do my best to show her I love her every single day of the year.  St. Valentine's day is a day to reflect on just how much do I love God.

Do I love him enough to look death in the eye and say "Hey there, you should worship God like I do. Because then maybe you wouldn't be so angry all the time!"

To be honest, I might just say that out of sheer stubbornness.

It's because they don't actually believe a single bit of it.

Sorry folks, but most modern churches don't actually believe what they're preaching.  If they did, you wouldn't have crap like this happening.

A passage from the Koran that denies one of the central tenets of the Christian faith was sung aloud at a cathedral service in Scotland. 

The passage from Surah 19, which specifically denies that Jesus was the Son of God and says He should not be worshipped, was sung during a Eucharist service at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow to mark the feast of the Epiphany. 

A video of the recital was posted on YouTube showing a girl singing the passage in a typical Islamic style. It narrates the Islamic account of the birth of Jesus, which includes the claim that Mary was “ashamed” after giving birth, and the infant Christ miraculously spoke from the cradle – something not found in Christian scripture.

People who actually believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God do not allow a 7th century barbarian death cult to desecrate their church.  Period.  I knew the Episcopal Church was in a downward spiral.  I didn't know they had been corrupted and diseased this badly.

The proper response is "No".

The situation is that a group in Italy is asking a parish to "pray silently" to avoid upsetting African "migrants".

And that is flat out wrong.

These parishioners need to pray the rosary out loud, with the certainty that God does not want his flock to be silent in HIS OWN HOUSE.

And I would say to this supposed Catholic charity, who apparently are ashamed of their own faith and wish to see it silenced, that if the Middle East were a Catholic region, instead of a miserable festering shithole of Islam, which is nothing more than a cult started by a pedophile moon-god worshipper, then they wouldn't HAVE the migrant problem that they're currently facing.  Maybe THAT is what needs to be clearly stated.

Catholicism and praying the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary is not the problem here.  And those "migrants", those people begging for succor and running away from their Islamic societies, need to be reminded of that.

There are times

That I get a little resentful over the fact that the Catholic Church I grew up in was so divorced from what it used to be.  Reading things like this makes me wonder "Where was this when I was growing up?  Why couldn't things have been explained like this when I was a kid?"

The answer, of course, is that Fulton Sheen came from the Tridentine Rite, and therefore was considered not required by the new, "modern" Mass, and was discarded as being "old-fashioned".

What a crock.

Rage Spiral

Got into an argument with a supposed Catholic on Twitter.

I say supposed because this woman supported every Leftist meme you can think of, including abortion.  Anyone who claims to be Catholic or pro-abortion is lying about one side or the other.  You cannot be both Catholic, meaning you follow the Catechism of the Church, and pro-abortion.  They contradict each other.  They are mutually exclusive.

I have no doubt that in the Novus Ordo Catholic Church, there are many, many people who believe they can hold both views.  They are wrong, and they have never honestly looked at Church doctrine, or what they claim to profess.

In any case, I pointed out to this woman that you can be one or the other, but you cannot be both.  The result was something that I can only call a rage spiral, especially as she tried to hit me with SJW rhetoric, and I didn't back down.  I kept pointing out that claiming to be both Catholic and pro-abortion makes you a hypocrite for either one side or the other.

At that point, the woman called her friends into her little rage spiral, and they threw one massive, gigantic temper tantrum online.  However, you can look up a person's bio on Twitter, and I noticed one thing.

Not one single friend of hers joining in her rage spiral against me claimed to be Catholic.  I saw atheist, agnostic, anti-theists and one Jew.  But not one Catholic.

You surround yourself with people whom you agree with.  This woman apparently finds more agreement with people diametrically opposed to her faith, who encourage her to stray away from her faith and lead her down a path away from everything she claims to profess.

And when someone points it out, they all rage.

It's much like what drug addicts do when one of them tries to get clean.  You won't find much support for sobriety in a shooting gallery.

In any case, this is the last amount of energy I'm going to expend on her.  She's not worth anything more than that.

This is how far the Catholic Church has fallen

When an archbishop, a leader in the church, supposedly one of the most educated, theologically trained individuals the Church has, utters these words:

“We use that word “reconciliation” all the time.  It doesn’t mean about giving people forgiveness. It comes from an anatomical root, namely the eyelash, it is called a cilia. So you begin to see eye-to-eye with people.”

That is straight-up hocum, flat-out balderdash, utter rubbish, and outright bullshit.  How can this supposed man of God help people reconcile themselves to Christ when he cannot even accurately define the word "reconciliation"?

Folks, if you're still attending a Novus Ordo mass, find the nearest traditional chapel and start going there.  The more I hear coming out of the Novus Ordo groups, the more I fear that everyone going to a Novus Ordo mass is heading down the wrong path.

It's called "Surrender"

World's first Lesbian Bishop calls for church to remove crosses, point way to Mecca.

I just....  I mean, OK, it's not the Catholic Church, but shouldn't a Christian Bishop defend their flock?

Calling Muslim guests to the church “angels“, the Bishop later took to her official blog to explain that removing Christian symbols from the church and preparing the building for Muslim prayer doesn’t make a priest any less a defender of the faith. Rather, to do any less would make one “stingy towards people of other faiths”.

Well, I'm certain the muslims in Sweden appreciate her surrender.  Now she just needs to wear a burkha like a good infidel and be stoned to death for her homosexuality, and the muslims will be appeased!

I'm certain that'll work out just fine, right?  Right?  Or maybe not.  Maybe, just maybe, a person who claims to be a leader in a Christian church ought to defend their faith against people who would murder you for daring to not bow to their pedophile prophet.  Although an actively lesbian bishop is about as "Christian" as a goat in a mitre, so anything she does or doesn't do really can't be considered out of bounds.

And in other news, the Vatican has fired a bishop who came out as gay.

"I have to say who I am. I am a gay priest. I am a happy and proud gay priest," 

No, you are not.  You are not a priest, anymore than a man cheating on his wife is a "husband".  Your boyfriend with whom you violate your vows of celibacy on a daily basis is not your "husband" either.

Look folks, if I cheated on my wife, if I was unfaithful, if I broke the vows of chastity that I took when I married her, would you listen to me on any matter of morals?  And yes, when you get married you take a vow of chastity, to be faithful to your wife and your wife only.  A priest, when he is ordained, takes a vow of celibacy, no sexual contact with anyone, period.  He is supposed to be faithful to the church he serves.

A priest who violates those vows, and then stands up and says he is happy and proud, is not any kind of a priest that needs to be followed or listened to.  He should be prayed for.  He should be pitied, for having fallen so deep into sin that he celebrates the perverted and shuns the sacred vows he took.  But he should absolutely be removed and de-frocked.

Look, it's simple.  You can believe in Christianity, and in Christian values.  Or you can believe in modern values that have little to do with Christianity.  But if you hold to the latter, you cannot claim to be a priest of the former.

OK, this is disgusting

Some CongressCritter rushed to drink from Pope Francis' water glass after he left.

On the other hand, that's better than all the media rushing to drink from Obama's water glass.  But still - the Pope isn't divine, folks.  The Pope isn't God.  He doesn't give the water any special holiness just because he drank from the glass.

And on top of all that, it's disgusting.

Stop treating the Pope like a deity.  He's just a man.  He's a Bishop; the Bishop of Rome, to be exact.  The water from his glass isn't any holier than the water in my glass, and treating him as if his touch somehow makes water holy goes against the protocols of the Catholic Church.

On judging people or things

If I were to quote the parts of this post that were relevant to the Catholic Church today, I'd end up just copy-and-pasting the whole thing.  So go read it in total.

By the fruits of their works ye shall know them.

So, got a spare grand?

I want to get one of these for my priest.  For $180 more, I can get a set of altar linens.

I have a feeling that we might be needing a portable alter some time in the future.

The Pope's environmental crusade

Is a cause that hurts the people he claims to care about most:  The Poor.

Energy costs consume a substantial portion of the budgets of lower-income Americans. This simple chart tells the story: while energy costs account for only 7% of expenditures by those who earn over $50,000 per year, those making less than $30,000 pay an astonishing 23% of their after-tax income for energy.

I wish I could claim I was shocked, but I'm not, because I actually bother to read economic news instead of just blathering on in Marxist-fueled pipe dreams like the Pope does.  Folks, this particular pope, Francis, is a Marxist first and foremost.  You can see it in his attacks on Capitalism, the one force that has helped more of the poor than anything else in the world.  You can see it in the way he inserts himself into every marxist cause of this century (and the last), rather than focusing on the real, actual mission of the Church, which would be the saving of souls.

If you're Catholic, I'm begging you to find a traditional Latin Mass in your area and start attending that instead of the Novus Ordo caricature of a religious celebration.  Do it not just because you're missing out on an authentic religious ceremony, a beautiful celebration that has been stripped from you by modernists and other enemies inside the Church, but do it because Pope Francis hates the Latin Mass with a passion.  Because the Latin Mass isn't about "the ecology" or being against Capitalism or any of the other Marxist shibboleths that Francis espouses instead of focusing on his actual job.  The Latin Mass is focused on Jesus Christ, not the popular political movement of the day, or whatever Leftist bullshit is being tossed around.

And I think that's really why Frank hates it.  Because his focus is not on Jesus Christ, his focus is on this world and his ideology.  And he doesn't want to be reminded of that.

The Answer is "Yes"

To this question:

One by one, the great institutions that gave meaning to Western civilization have fallen to their infection.  Our schools teach their false history, our universities enforce their fascist speech codes, our media coddle their thuggish political hacks, our military is seconded to serve their social rather than our national security agenda, courts are enjoined to consider “just outcomes” rather than due process,” and now even the elected president of the United States questions the logic of the First Amendment, the guarantee of free speech. 

Can they possibly have now also captured the Church of Rome?

First, they captured the Catholic Church decades ago, with enough force to bring about the Second Vatican Counsel.  The changes wrought to the Mass were enough to twist it away from what it should be, and towards what the Marxists want it to be - completely removed from the spirituality of the church.

Second, for decades the Church has happily handed over it's responsibilities to the governments whenever it could:  Feeding the poor, sheltering the homeless, helping the suffering.  It was just so much EASIER to let the government take over, don't you know, until Catholic charities are but a shadow of their former selves.  Still potent, still able to function to some degree, but still a shadow of their former selves.  This is a direct result of the Marxists inserting themselves into Church leadership and allowing their political ideologies to direct the Church's actions.

Third, they have allowed all the modern Marxist heresies to permeate the Church's branches to the point where a Catholic priest tweets out support of same-sex marriage, and when he gets fired for it, other Catholics react in shock.  Have they not even bothered to learn their own Church's teachings?  Why don't they start with the Sacrament of Marriage?

Once again, and I hate to sound like I'm beating out the same beat on the same drum over and over, if you are Catholic, you owe it to yourself to find a Latin Mass somewhere close to where you are, and start attending it.  Come see the Church as it should be.

If you are Catholic

Then you need to distance yourself from this heretic who calls himself the Pope.

Find a traditional Latin Mass (which Francis is opposed to, by the way).  There's a Latin Mass directory here.  This is the Mass that the Catholic church offered up until the schism known as "Vatican Two", which removed the spirituality from the Mass and turned it into nothing but performance art, created by people who hated the Church.

Satan couldn't defeat the church from the outside, so he attacked it from the inside.  Vatican Two is the result.  And if you are Catholic and you think I'm nuts for saying that, let me ask you something personal:

How often do you pray the Rosary?

When did you last read the Catechism of the church?

Do you know where the Tabernacle of your church is?  Do you understand why it's considered important?

Trust me on this.  As a man raised up under the Second Vatican council who then discovered the Latin Mass (aka the Tridentine Rite), the Vatican Two mass bears little resemblance to what it's supposed to be, and even worse, the people going to the mass don't even understand the wheres and whys of what the Mass is supposed to be, and why it's so important.

The largest religious denomination in America is ex-Catholics.  And Vatican Two is a huge reason for that.  If you'd like to go to a Catholic Mass where people actually believe in God, find Latin Mass.

And whatever you do, don't be fooled by Pope Frank.  He's the end result of decades of anti-Catholic teaching, culminating in the enemy of the Church being placed in charge of the Church.  Kind of like the anti-American communist Obama being voted in as President of the country he hates, loathes, and wishes to destroy.

Pass me the smelling salts!

I think I'm going to need them!

San Francisco Archbishop Savatore Cordileone has stunned his archdiocese by revealing he is, in fact, Catholic.

The Archbishop is demanding that teachers in Catholic schools actually adhere to Catholic teachings.

Holy.  Moly.  What's next?  Will Bergolio actually revere the Mass?

Burning the midnight oil

Vox Day quotes John C. Wright regarding the evil that Leftists do, and then opines:

It is only when attention is drawn to their own particular sin, to OUR own sin, that the human mind goes haywire, because it is hard to look at yourself in the mirror and say: "I am a sinner. I am corrupt. I am fallen short of the glory of God." 

And yet, whether we admit it or not, we have.

And here is where I take a right turn, as it were.

As many of you know, I'm Catholic.  Catholics have the Sacrament of Confession, where we enter a booth, pour out our sins, and receive penance and absolution.

Now, there's whole boatloads of Protestants who want to point and tell me that this amounts to nothing but a blank check to do evil again, because we can just go into a booth and be forgiven.

But it's not that easy.

True penance and absolution require that we, the sinners asking for forgiveness, resolve to do our best not to sin again.  That's point number one.  It's not a blank check to do what you want.

Point number two is this:  The very act of walking into a booth and telling a priest about your sins first requires that you sit down and admit "I screwed up.  I sinned.  I have harmed people.  My actions were evil, and this is why."

That's not easy to do, especially in this day and age where modern people are taught that evil is relative, and intentions matter more than effects of your actions.  This is why modernists try to devalue the Church.  This is why the Novus Ordo church does it's best to reassure people that God loves them even if they don't go to confession and everything is alright.  Because looking at your actions in the harsh light of God's truth does not leave you feeling good.  It doesn't leave you feeling like you're on top of the world.  It makes you feel very, very small.  Understanding how your actions, your sins have hurt other people is the first step in confession.  Absolution and forgiveness only come after you deal with that unpleasant reality.

And dealing with that unpleasant reality is not something that the Left does well.  Hell, it's not something that they do at all.

But it's something that Catholics are called to do every day.  Or at least, it's something we are supposed to do every day.  Stepping into that confession booth on Sunday isn't a pleasant experience at the onset, because it requires me to first look at what I've done, and then admit that I am a sinner.  I am not perfect.  I have done things that have harmed other people and my own soul.

Do you think either of the Clintons go to confession?  Hell no.  It's much easier to ignore it.  It's much easier to rationalize it.  Going back to Vox:

We are all potential Leftists. We are all capable of rationalizing away our own particular sins. How good I am, because I am not a glutton, says the slender whore. How good I am, because I am not a slut, says the obese woman as she stuffs her face. How good I am, because I am not a murderer, says the homosexual. How good I am, because I am not a thief, says the killer.

"Well, sure I sinned but..."  That doesn't work when you truly confess your sins.  And that's why so many of the Left hate the Church, even those who are inside the Church (Looking at you there, Francis!)  So I'll go to confession a bit later in the day today, and I'll look at what I've done and what I've failed to do.  It's not really pleasant, but it is cathartic.

The Confiteor is said three times throughout the traditional Latin Mass - once by the servers, once by the Priest, and once again by the servers prior to communion.

Confiteor Deo omnipotenti, beatae Mariae semper Virgini, beato Michaeli Archangelo, beato Joanni Baptistae, sanctis Apostolis Petro et Paulo, omnibus Sanctis, et vobis, fratres (et tibi pater), quia peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo et opere: mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Ideo precor beatam Mariam semper Virginem, beatum Michaelem Archangelum, beatum Joannem Baptistam, sanctos Apostolos Petrum et Paulum, omnes Sanctos, et vos, fratres (et te, pater), orare pro me ad Dominum Deum nostrum. Amen.

I confess to Almighty God,
to Blessed Mary ever Virgin,
to Blessed Michael the Archangel,
to Blessed John the Baptist,
to the holy Apostles Peter and Paul and to all the Saints,
(and to you, Father)that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word and deed;
(strike your breast thrice)
through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault.
Therefore I beseech Blessed Mary ever Virgin,
Blessed Michael the Archangel,
Blessed John the Baptist,
the holy Apostles Peter and Paul and all the Saints,
and you, Father,to pray for me to the Lord our God for me.
Amen.

Try it sometime.

Catholicism 101, Part 1

OK, since Erin asked, I'll try to answer.  I can't say that I'm the best person to explain Catholicism, but here we go.

First, for those who don't really know much about the Catholic Church, let's start with the fact that the modern Catholic Church as most people today know it is fairly new.  The modern church follows the rules laid out by the Second Vatican Council in 1965, or Vatican II as it's popularly known.  Prior to Vatican II, the Mass offered by Catholic churches world wide was the Tridentine Mass.  That's the Latin Mass.  The modern Catholic church service is known as the Novus Ordo.

I was raised in a Novus Ordo church.  I also walked away from it once I left my parent's house and started living on my own.  My return to the church started when I started thinking about marriage, and has to this point brought me back to the Tridentine Rite.

In my opinion, the Novus Ordo mass is the Catholic Mass with the spirituality and beauty removed.

Let's talk about a few of the fundamentals of Catholic faith, shall we?  First and foremost, we believe that Christ is present on the alter at Mass.  A priest doesn't "say" mass, he offers the sacrifice of the Mass.  We believe that Christ is present in the Tabernacle, which is why Catholics are supposed to genuflect before they sit in a pew.  Christ is our God and Savior.  We treat him as higher than any king who lived on the Earth.  I won't bow or kneel for any man or woman on this planet; I kneel before God and God alone.

When the priest consecrates the Eucharist, God is present in the Host.  That little wafer of bread?  Yep.  Trans-substantiation.  In effect, the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ.  In the traditional Mass, when you take Communion (receiving the Eucharist), you kneel as you receive the body of Christ.  There is an alter server or deacon holding a plate under your chin just in case the priest drops the Eucharist, or you fail to keep it in your mouth.  Why?  Because you do not drop Christ on the floor,  period.

I suppose that there are a lot of folks out there wondering just why the hell Catholics are so darn caught up in the Body and Blood thing.  Well, because Christ himself commanded it.  "Take this, all of you, and eat it.  This is my body, which will be given up for you and for many."  The Mass is the bloodless recreation of God's sacrifice for us, and he has commanded us to perform that sacrifice.  So we do.

For those who wonder about the whole "Sit, stand, kneel, stand, sit, kneel, Sunday Calisthenics!" that Catholics do, it's pretty simple.  You stand for the entrance/exit of the Priest, and you stand for the word of God in the Gospels.  You kneel as you pray, and you sit for everything else.

I think that's about all I can write for today - my scattered thought patterns are pretty darn evident in my writing at this point.  In Part 2 I'll go over the Virgin Mary, who is an important person in the Catholic and Orthodox churches.