The Mind Meanderings of a Millenial Catholic

By Oliver J Olinger

The Mind Meanderings of a Millenial Catholic is a collections of essays and social media posts and comments from author Oliver J. Olinger. In today's atmosphere of political turmoil, social unrest, and secular chaos, many a sublime answer and solution can be found in the timeless teachings and traditions of the Catholic Church. In this book, Oliver tackles issues ranging from marriage to education, to politics and elections, to the crisis taking place within the Church, and much more... including the occasional, humorous interlude. The majority of the content of The Mind Meanderings of a Millenial Catholic has been taken from online forum discussions and debates, mostly on Facebook. The author backs up his claims and ideas with a thorough knowledge of the history of the Catholic Church traditions and teachings, Vatican decrees, Papal pronouncements and encyclicals, Councils and Synods, and more to the tune of 15+ years of intensive self-study, and authoritative, ecclesiastical instruction. Throughout every entry you, the reader, will find a general theme of Faith, Hope, and Charity... the three theological virtues which lead to salvation. These virtues often get lost in a sea of technicalities and overly-scrupulous interpretations. In this book, you will see that these three, simple virtues are actually the foremost tenets of the Catholic religion... and when they are applied to the problems of the world, sensible answers tend to present themselves where previously only confusion and strife could be seen.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Oliver J Olinger
• Release date: May 8, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310040115

Oliver J Olinger

Oliver J Olinger brings to his writing a wide range of personal experiences as well as a full-bodied, professional education in numerous fields. He began his adult life as a Signals Intelligence Arabic Linguist in the Marine Corps. He has worked a variety of odd jobs from driving a taxi cab (night shift) to bartending, to managing inventory and warehouse operations, purchasing scrap precious metals, and working in the tax debt consolidation industry. Oliver has written several feature-length screenplays, two of which were optioned by established and well-known production companies. He has also written for a series of online blogs and e-zines. Oliver is proficient in the Dramatica theory of storytelling, Campbell's Journey, and several other storytelling methods. He hopes to use his eclectic personal history, training, and vast, general knowledge to bring a unique voice to his work.

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The Mind Meanderings of a Millenial Catholic

Copyright 2016 Oliver J. Olinger

Published by Oliver J. Olinger at Smashwords

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Table of Contents

Preface

Part One- Marriage and Relationships

Making Money Before You're Married

The Rape Accusation Cup Overfloweth

How to Scare Potential Converts Away in One, Quick Move

Go to the Wedding, but Don't Bring Scandal

The Quagmire of Infidelity in the Modern World

Are you Getting Divorced, or Do you Reject the Disney Fairy Tale?

No, Jesus is not OK with you Beating your Wife

Part Two- Children

Destroy Planets Rather than Wake a Sleeping Child, a Humorous Interlude

Having Kids Gets in the Way of My Barhopping

The Pros and Cons of Spanking Unruly Children

Stolen Children Make the Future Look Bleak

Stand Between Me and My Kid… Go Ahead, I Dare You!

First Communion for a Transgendered Child?

The Best Age for Confirmation

My Conversion has Upset My Dad

Part Three- Art and Media

X-Men and the Pros and Cons of Fiction

The Sky is Blue and Lord of the Rings is Catholic

The Discord of Melkor and Mary the Mother of God

Catholic-Friendly Movies

Catholicism in Art

Reversing the Trend in Media

Reaction to Zeitgeist

I Can't Wait for the Zombie Apocalypse

Halloween Fun isn't as Bad as All That

Our Lady of Guadeloupe and Mexican Fashion

Part Four- Education

A Tiny, Little Rant About Education

Logic in Modern Education

Latest and Greatest Historical Account?

I Should Stop Using Big Words

Fun with Conjunctions and Prepositions

Mann in Olde English

Definition of Economy from a High School History Teacher

Bookshelf Profiling

Some Opinions About Toilet Paper

A Common Core Tutorial

Part Five- Science

I Don't Believe in Time

My Two Cents on Evolution

Science Vs. Faith- The Eternal Struggle?

Ad Hominem Fallacies and the Hypocrites Who Love Them

Circle, Circle, Dot, Dot, the Cooties Vaccine is a Conspiracy to Control The Masses

Correcting a Very Deserving Hippie

A Little Fun with Publish-or-Die Science

The Half-Glass of Water- Final Answer!

Don't Use that Dirty Hand Sanitizer

Part Six- Politics

Celebrating the Diverse Things in God's Creation

Who's Worse? The Prostitute or the John?

The Coming Out of a Homosexual Priest

The Other Aspects of Euthanasia

The Death Penalty and the Jackal

Just What Exactly is a Left-Wing Catholic?

Lesser of Two Evils and Playing God

Distributism in Practice

Voter Ballot Health Warnings

Part Seven- Religion(s)

Acceptance of All Religions?

All Religion is the Same and Man-Made

The God-Needs-Man Mistake

The Issue of Statues Vs. Graven Images

How I Feel About the Desecration of Evil Bodies

Self-Flagellation and Discipline

Islam has No Word for Peace.

The Palestinian School of Spinning the Media in Your Favor

The Vain Use of the Lord's Name

Those Silly Satanists are At It Again

Part Eight- Catholicism

Does a Bad Practitioner = a Bad Religion?

But All I Have to Do is be a Good and Loving Person

Scrupulousness and a Train Sent from Hell

Neither in Nor of the World

At What Point does a Sin Become a Mortal Sin?

Mortal Sins and the Invincibly Ignorant

Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus

Sola Scriptura and Marian Theology

Once You Go Latin, You'll Never Go Back

Novus Ordo Vs. Traditional Latin Mass

Where Have all the Good Men Gone?

All the Heresies Around Us

Attachments

Anthropophaginian Rights

The Boy Who Cried Water in the Desert

Body Language and Apologetics… A Teaser!

About the Author

Preface

I've put this book together mostly out of Facebook posts and comments. Several friends of mine have suggested on many occasions that I compile all of my comments into a book, so here goes nothing:

My name is Oliver J. Olinger, and I am a 37 y/o, Traditional-leaning Roman Catholic. I attend Latin Mass and I am well read on Church history, theology, and philosophy (of both Catholic and secular philosophers). Contrary to the general consensus in the Traditionalist community, I do not believe that we are currently experiencing some sort of end times. On the contrary, I believe that the Catholic Church is destined to rise again from the ashes of this dismal failure of an experiment in modernism. I believe this because the Church has managed to weather every storm that has come its way for the past 2,000+ years, so there's absolutely no reason to believe that recent events will play out any differently. If we made it through the Arian Heresy, when nearly the entire Church was lost in the early days of Christianity, then this current crisis should not present any serious threat at all, in the long run. I know that there are some who believe that modernist infiltrators have taken over the Vatican, and are attempting to erode the Church from within. Some of these take it so far as to completely write off the Vatican as lost forever to the enemy. And there are still others who maintain that there is nothing wrong with the Church at all, and that She is simply adapting Herself to modern times. While I tend to lean heavily towards the former, I am not yet prepared to abandon all hope for those who have chosen to stick by the Vatican through all of the changes which have taken place over the past six decades.

For those of you who are unaware of the rift taking place these days in the Catholic Church, I shall briefly explain: There are two streams of thought driving an intensely volatile debate: On one side, you have the Traditionalists, most of whom attend only the Traditional Latin Mass (or Tridentine Latin Mass), abbreviated TLM. These Traditionalists believe that the Second Vatican Council which took place in the early 1960's was an heretical event which has been attempting to alter or negate many of the traditional, age-old doctrines, dogmas, and practices of the Roman Catholic Church as they have existed since the days of the first Pope, Peter. Some in this group have termed themselves sedevacantists (Latin for empty chair), and they hold that there is currently no valid pope sitting in the Chair of Peter in Rome. They view all of the popes since Pius XII as heretical pretenders to the Papal Throne. (There are some variations on this position, but the general gist of their position is clear.) On the other side of this rift, you'll find the Novus Ordo (Latin for New Order) Catholics, abbreviated N.O. (Sometimes, this is referred to as the post-conciliar church.) Those who align themselves with this side feel that the Second Vatican Council was a valid, ecumenical council and that the changes which have taken place in the Church since the council were necessary in order for the Church to stay relevant in a changing world. Some Novus Ordo Catholics are very opposed to many of these changes in their minds, but are still not willing to question the recent decrees of the Vatican.

Mark 3:25 reads, And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. With this in mind, it's obvious that a rift like the one which is now taking place in Rome can and will bring an organization to its knees. Instead of a solid, cohesive unit of religious authority, we now find in the Church inter-organizational rivalries, disputes, arguments, and the like… all taking attention away from those things which truly require the attention and assistance of the Catholic Church. It's a shame that as we continue to go back and forth over issues such as the validity of the current Pope, the true enemy, Satan, continues to sew confusion and chaos all round us. I'm not saying that these issues aren't important, but if one side is right and the other is wrong (which is unavoidably true) then the side which is in the wrong is destined to fizzle out eventually. Satan can never win, as all of his works will eventually diffuse or collapse on themselves and God will prevail. The Church (the true Church) will never fall no matter how desperate things may seem at times. I see too many Catholics spending their whole day, every day, pointing out and scoffing at the most recent Novus Ordo travesty (like rock bands at mass, or a pope attending a service at a Muslim mosque, for example), attempting to garner nods of equal disgust from their fellows. In my opinion, spending all of one's time pointing accusingly at the other side is tantamount to taking a break from being Catholic. How many hungry are being fed, naked are being clothed, orphans are being adopted, etc. while you're boohooing the opposing team?

For myself, I attempt to live my life according to the precepts and teachings of the Church as they've endured for nearly 2,000 years. If something comes from the Vatican that seems to be contrary to the ancient, traditional teachings, I will simply resist that particular item, favoring the older teaching over the newer one until the situation resolves itself officially and forever (via a correctly accomplished synod of ecclesiastics). It's true that many of these discrepancies continue to not be resolved after years and years of back and forth debate going in circles, but as I stated above I have faith that the true Church will prevail in the end, in its entirety, along with all of its original, timeless doctrines. What I refuse to do is point fingers, assign blame, or accuse anyone of heresy and/or pass judgment upon Catholic clergy. I am a laymen, which means that my authority in Church affairs is of the utmost lowest ranking. The Church is not a democracy. It is a monarchy under the Social Kingship of Christ, and therefore a hierarchy of authority exists and should be respected (for better or worse). Even if you have to swallow your pride, pick your battles, and stand down in the face of a potential error, maintaining the Church's authoritative hierarchy will be vastly important in the future, when Satan fails in his task. When the True Church prevails and rises from the rubble of the current crisis, it will need to take back its position in the world, and that position is one that places a high value on proper authority, correctly administered education, humility, and order.

The approach I take in this book (and subsequently on most of my social media posts and comments) is one of cautious optimism. When I look at the world around me, I see much cause for hope. In John 18:37 we read, Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Religion, of late, has been downgraded (in the eyes of most Western nations) to the level of weekend hobby; just another in a long list of potential religious options, all of which are presented as more or less equal in worth. In our country, especially, we are supposed to believe that each person's individual religious practices don't really matter, because we're all Americans, first and foremost. (It's interesting that once upon a time, many a pope stated that national allegiances and cultural practices didn't really matter, because we were all Catholics, first and foremost) Choosing a religion nowadays, for most people, is like picking a card from a Magic the Gathering deck. If you draw the Scientology card, you're now a Scientologist. If you draw the Traditional Catholicism card, you're now a Traditional Catholic. Are we supposed to assume that practically everyone is hell-bound because they picked the wrong choice from a list of hundreds (if not thousands) of potential religious affiliations without any real guidance whatsoever? When I read that passage in John, I hear Christ telling us that He, the Truth, will exist forever, whether we see it or not, everywhere that Truth can be seen, heard, or otherwise understood. If an atheist dives into a swamp to rescue a drowning child, thereby sacrificing his own life to a hungry alligator (I live in Florida, so this is a real concern), he has followed a Universal Truth in determining this course of action, and has therefore done a very Catholic thing in his final moments, whether he knows it or not. I cannot make God's judgment for him, and I can't determine with any degree of certainty whether or not this last, selfless deed was enough to save our hypothetical atheist from Hell.

In this regard, I see in the world around us much call for maintaining Hope. I see the Truth popping up everywhere, in places where one might least expect to find it, no less. I see it in movies and on TV, shining through even some of the most vehemently anti-Catholic, Hollywood rhetoric. I hear it in conversations between atheists, Protestants, liberals, and conservatives in social media and in the real world. It's almost as if the Truth itself refuses to be kept down. It forces its way up into the foreground, and when it does it has an amazing, almost subconscious impact on everything around it. I ask myself from time to time, "If demons can exert influence on human affairs, and interject subtle error into interactions that otherwise appear to be morally and theologically sound, then why can't Angels exert a similar, subtle influence on things which appear to be fundamentally evil or even directly opposed to Catholic teaching?" Consider the film The Devil's Advocate with Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves. In his wrap-up speech, Al Pacino (as the Devil) remarks on how he used the 20th Century to convince the entire world that each person is his or her own, personal god, and that they need only to look into themselves, to their wants and desires, for all of their decision making, thereby using their passions and whims as their guide. This, of course, is presented as the position of Satan, and is almost identical to the many warnings about Satan's creed that have been delivered by many, many popes throughout the centuries. In this example, the Truth of Christ is implied by Pacino's character's speech and is soundly Catholic, in that it is inarguably true. The remaining content in the film might remain questionable, theologically inaccurate (as when Keanu Reeves defeats the Devil by committing suicide), or even downright anti-Catholic... yet the Truth shines through regardless: There is a real Devil, and he wants you to think that you are your own god. This has been true since the serpent in the Garden.

The essential point I am trying to make with this book is that there are two ways a Catholic can view the world around