Saturday, June 27, 2009

Welcome

Welcome to my first and what I expect to be my only blog ever. The question on everybody's mind is: who are you and what are you blogging about?

I am Joseph Smith, and that's all I'll reveal at this time. I will say I live in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Steubenville, close enough to Wheeling, West Virginia to have easy access to there.

So what am I blogging about? I will blog mostly on things that interest me, which are my religion and politics. But what kind of religion and politics?

You know I am a Catholic by now, and I consider myself a "traditionalist". I consider this to mean that I prefer the older- or, "traditional"- rites of the Church, as I believe they are very beneficial spiritually to the Church, and I would almost go as far to say they are better than the new rites, because I honestly feel that way, but that would offend people (which I feel I will be doing a lot of on this blog, because people can get offended easily), and that is only one man's opinion. By "traditional rites" I mean the Traditional Latin Mass, the Traditional Breviary, Latin in the liturgy, etc.

I also am a monarchist. This means I support monarchy as a workable form of government. I do not mind small-scale democracy, like in a city or smaller political area but I prefer a Catholic confessional state with a Catholic king as the proper form of government, and when I learn more about it, I'll probably endorse distributism in public a lot more as well.


I plan on writing a series on the Traditional Mass, what happens during it and another of my own reflections on the Mass, and another series on why I endorse monarchy, but I'll also blog about things involving these two topics as well as other things that interest me, like orthodox (Greek for "correct belief") Catholicism and liturgics in general, which interest me greatly.

So for now, welcome. Pax et bonum. Peace and the good.


P.S. I take the name of this blog from the story of St. Athanasius. I'll let the Fish Eaters website tell the story.

Athanasius contra mundum

"Athanasius against the world." This phrase refers to St. Athanasius' brave stand against the Arian heresy of the 4th c. when the vast majority of Bishops -- even Pope Liberius himself -- succumbed to heresy. St. Athanasius was even excommunicated for his orthodoxy, but was later exonerated and canonized. The full phrase is, "If the world goes against Truth, then Athanasius goes against the world." The story of St. Athanasius is a good "check" on papolatry and the errors of false obedience. His words to the faithful are good solace for traditional Catholics today who watch Novus Ordo-ites destroy church buildings, trash the liturgy, and preach lies:
"May God console you!... What saddens you ... is the fact that others [Arian heretics] 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."
So if St. Athanasius can be "against the world," I fell I should to if I feel I believe what is right, that is, with my views of Catholicism, traditionalism, conservatism, monarchy, and whatever else I believe to be true.
Hence the name.







1 comment:

  1. Nice blog Joe, I really liked the part about Athanasius. Your writing is well put together and witty as always. keep up the good work, hope to be reading more good blogs.

    -Minh Le

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