The Vagrant Catholic Blog

There are times when God calls the most unlikely of us to perform His Will that we marvel at how nigh impossible it is for us to do things on our own. Look no further than one of the most improbable cases in history, a gentleman named Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini.

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Something that has been on my mind and heart lately has been what it means to serve others. The concept of having a “servant’s heart” is easily found in Scripture, and it’s something that is occasionally talked about in Christian circles. The mindset and desire to selflessly, sacrificially, serve others regardless of how you feel about them and what it may or may not cost you. To do so without any form of bitterness or resentment, with no anger. You live to serve anyone you come across with words, actions, and resources – without any hesitation.

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In an earlier post I talked about my journey back towards Catholicism. What people sometimes don’t talk about is the journey that takes place after you make that fateful decision to follow Christ, and the difficulties one can face while they move forward. At some point you will be tested, at some point you will need to start considering more than just the experience you had not long ago.

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Ontario’s currently sitting Liberal government announced a bit ago that they were moving forward with a controversial new physical education and sex education curriculum, and there’s a few people not happy about it.

Some parents are concerned that some things are going to be taught too soon for their liking. Some parents want to be the first to talk to their children about these things. Some parents feel that enough isn’t going to be taught (where’s the discussion points on examining a woman’s natural fertility cycle and fertility awareness)? Morality-wise, obviously some parents don’t like how the content is going to be presented (in what may surprise some, a lot of the content they would be fine with being taught, but they may not like how it is approached).

Speaking of morality, there’s others who are taking this as a flagrant attack against Catholicism, for obvious reasons. Yes, Catholic schools are publicly funded, but what’s the point of having a Catholic school board if you’re going to transform it into Public Schools 2.0? Well, unless the point of it is to attempt to subvert and transform Catholicism into a bastardized version of itself, since Catholicism is the biggest threat to rampant sexual relativity.

On a personal level, something that bothers me is I fail to see why the idea there are six genders is being taught in grade school, while mental illness is officially being taught in Grade 11/12. Inexcusable. This is in the same document as everything else. Anal sex is more important than mental illness, at least until the next time a large corporation makes a day of things (#BellLetsTalk).

There’s all sorts of articles, blogs, and websites out there that highlight the above. And it’s been all over social media, with lots of people chiming in with their opinion. And make no mistake, I’m glad people are talking about this, as it never hurts to have a discussion. Which is actually one of parents’ big concerns; many felt they weren’t consulted. This perception was augmented when the announcement of this thing happened a few months before originally expected, conveniently leaked/announced early to distract people from fraud charges.

Which ties into perhaps the most under-discussed and under-reported element of this curriculum, is the political component. The political motives as to why this curriculum is coming down the pipes rapidly, the “whys”. As a political junkie, it’s hilarious to see the Wynne government pretend to say that they’re actually trying to put kid’s interests first, when the reality is she’s out for exactly two things:

1) Political survival.
2) Political legacy.

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The last six weeks have been memorable, culminating in four days where Stephanie and mine lives have changed forever. As a part of processing what happened, I’ve decided to write down the events here.

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The concept of “doctrinal corruption” – that is, the notion that Christianity fell into a state of apostasy or has drifted from the Truth, has been around for some time.  Although throughout the history of Christianity groups have said that this has happened, the most well-known example (at least in North America) is the Reformation, spearheaded by Martin Luther.  More recently, since then we’ve seen other groups make the same claims and gain an impressive following, namely the Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) and Jehovah Witnesses (JW’s).
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It’s February 22nd 2015 as I start writing this, and we finished running a retreat for high school kids that weekend. A lot of things happened during the retreat, but none more personally powerful than seeing someone being in the exact same position I was in eighteen years ago. It brought me back to that fateful Saturday night in 1997 where I began a journey that has not yet ended, that will never end. In a life with many struggles, one remains the constant – the struggle to forgive. And in my case, to forgive one man for abuse. To forgive the man who should have protected me, should have guided me, but instead acted in physical and emotional betrayal.

The man I am speaking of is my father. Abuser of children, rapist of women. And now the time has come for me to share the start of my journey, my walk moving on from the weight of hatred. My journey towards living.

My name is Richard Morin, some people call me Rickard. And this is the story of the beginning of my journey “home”, the beginning of the Vagrant Catholic.

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The Supreme Court of Canada has struck down euthanasia laws, paving way for euthanasia and assisted suicide laws to be established by Canada’s Federal government. They have a year to do this, which is hardly what I would consider enough time to establish a loophole free framework for the deliberate ending of someone’s life. I’ve been trying to express my thoughts and opinions on this, but it’s been hard. I mean, it should come as little surprise that I am against euthanasia and assisted suicide, however my reasons are for very personal reasons, so personal that for once in my life I am having difficulties expressing myself. Some of these reasons and feelings are encapsulated by the photo you will see next:

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On the surface, this post may seem slightly antiquated at some point in the future, since I’ll be referring to a movie that will soon be released. But the themes and content of the movie, and the books that comprise the source material, are things that will likely stick around until the end of time. Things like anger, violence, trying to fix someone, and broken persons lashing out.

The movie being released is called “50 Shades of Grey”, a dramatic film based on a book. At this point most know the bare plot; naive young woman meets older man who has issues, they begin a sexually charged relationship with some violent sex thrown in. What some don’t know is that the book itself is actually based on a Twilight fan-fic, meaning that the entire plot of 50 Shades could be viewed through the lens of a teenaged romance novel. Ordinarily not quite disturbing, except that this fan-fic with said characters in a story designed for younger readers was highly sexually charged, with overt sexual violence.

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The outrage towards child abuse is understandable and just, because abuse is simply an evil act and a betrayal of trust. There is no way that these acts should be condoned, and this post is the opposite of being a defense of any abusive actions, physical, sexual, verbal. What this post is going to talk about though, is one thing I can’t stand. It’s the immediate reaction of “the majority of priests are pedophiles” and the reflexive statements about sexual and physical abuse, as if those are the norm. Especially when the crimes that some priests committed are being committed by others in positions of authority and trust, yet they receive little to no media attention.

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