Covering All Bases

Just when you think it can't possibly get any more sacrilegious and downright crazy, the Vatican II sect is ready to prove you wrong. According to a report in the Washington Post:

"Fans who stream into the Navy Yard district before Nats (a professional baseball team--Introibo) games are now greeted with increasingly varied entertainment choices, from Yards Park for fresh air and views of the Anacostia River to the Fairgrounds for frat-rock music and adult refreshments to a variety of neighborhood restaurants and taverns, with more to come.

On Sunday afternoons this summer, they've had another option: a Catholic church service. Or, as the local St. Vincent de Paul church calls it, “Nats Mass.”

“For me, it was kind of a no-brainer,” said Rev. Andrew Royals, 34, a Montgomery County native who became the pastor at the South Capitol Street church about two years ago. “On game days we had thousands of people walking right in front of our church. I was like, ‘Well, I’m sure some of these people would like to go to church.’…And we thought there’s no reason people can’t do both.”


And thus, Nats Mass (sic) was launched in May, a noon service that runs about 40 or 45 minutes, getting attendees out the door in plenty of time for a 1:35 first pitch."

 According to the August 24th article, the church is breaking records, with fans attending in their teams baseball attire. "There are other things that make Nats Mass unique. Royals tries to keep the service a tad briefer than normal, so anxious fans don’t get distracted by the approaching gametime. And he will include references to baseball or to the Washington nine in his homilies – 'it makes it easy when you know that everyone has something in common even beyond our religion,' he said. Baseball 'kind of gives you an extra set of things that we can all relate to.'"

 To put things in perspective, the Vatican II sect feels that something more than the True Faith is necessary to have in common; the cult of idolizing overpaid and (in most cases) steroid-using athletes, whose only contribution to society is their own self-aggrandizement.  Moreover, they no longer have the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass--the Unbloody Sacrifice of the Cross---but have replaced it with a Modernist worship service that is so banal, that they need to get people to attend by dressing like slobs and having "theological discussions" regarding a profane sport to keep their attention.

 There is nothing wrong with playing in sports or watching them. (I do neither, but I'm a jiu-jitsu expert with 28 years professional training and an avid runner putting in approx. 100 miles a month. This I do for self-defense--which I also teach one night a week-- and for personal health). However, the CULT of sports is pervasive in our culture, and the Vatican II sect panders to it.

 The First Commandment does not say, "Thou shalt not be an atheist," but rather, "Thou shalt not have false gods before Me." Humanity is incurably God-centered. Whatever you put ahead of God, be it money, fame, drugs/alcohol, power, sex, your career, sports, or anything else, that becomes the false god to whom you pay homage. Ironically, the word "fan" is short for "fanatic," a word typically reserved for the religious, for whom the term is used pejoratively. For sports, the world sees the label as a badge of honor.

 Equally ironic, I think, is that Mr. Royals and his fellow Vatican II sect members are not getting their people to be fans of the only One Whom matters: Jesus Christ. Instead of having them come dressed up with jerseys of their false sports idols, why not have them dress reverently for Christ? Have them wear a Crucifix, and a medal of a saint; a real hero. They are sacramentals that can bring graces to their souls.

Adult and children’s minds are occupied, from early morning to late at night, as to what team is going to win. Their interest for these sports far exceeds their interest for their eternal soul's welfare. It is their daily subject, ask the teenager. With very few exceptions, they are better acquainted with the names of the various players than with the basic Truths of Faith. How about "homilies" (the former sermon) dedicated to preaching on Church Teaching?

People have been in riots when their team loses a big game. Fist fights break out if someone slights a player from the favorite team of another person. Why not encourage people to get outraged over abortuaries that murder innocent children, and fight over the blasphemies that the media turns out on a daily basis against Christ and basic Christian values?

 This will not happen because the Vatican II sect is NOT the Roman Catholic Church. It is up to us-- Traditionalists-- to become "fanatics" for what's left of Christ's One True Church and fight the good fight of the True Faith. St. Paul does make one sports analogy when under Divine Inspiration, he writes, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize."      (See 1 Corinthians 9:24).

 For the Vatican II sect, it's the bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, and the mighty Francis and his team of Modernists have struck out. Don't be stuck with these losers when Christ has had enough and tells them, "Game over."