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Psychological Healing
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Questions and Answers

I came across your website in searching for a Catholic guided imagery relaxation CD. From what I experienced, I was touched by the help yours offers. And I appreciate it.
   I tried to order it; however, I am not comfortable in ordering through PayPal. Additionally, I wanted to help you be aware that Ebay (parent company of PayPal), financially supports Planned Parenthood. It is also on a Boycott list of companies who financially support Planned Parenthood.
   Would you consider not using PayPal? I know this may be an inconvenience, but I hope you will consider it.

Outline of the Answer
• Idols
• Complication and Confusion
• The Moral Issue
• It’s More Than Abortion
• Missing the Point
• The Way of Protection

 
This is an important issue for any Christian living in a generally immoral society, and it’s as important today as it was in the past. Years ago, when I was a theology student, I remember reading about a problem that came up for the Church fathers in the early Church. A man who made pagan idols as a tinsmith wanted to convert to Christianity, but he fully intended to continue pursuing his craft—making pagan idols—as a Christian. But his Church told him that to be a Christian he had to stop making idols, regardless of the financial hardship.

Now, for the tinsmith the matter was clear, as much as he didn’t like it: it would be a sin for him to call himself a Christian and continue making idols. But consider the problem from another perspective. Would it be a sin for a Christian to buy some kitchen items from a non-Christian tinsmith if the tinsmith also made pagan idols as part of his business? Or bring the question up to date: is it a sin for a Catholic to buy medicine from a pharmacy that also sells contraceptive products?

 
Complication and Confusion

Notice that things can get very complicated if we aren’t careful to identify the psychological core of the problem: What does it mean to “support” immoral activity? Donating money is one form of support, but providing services is another form of support.

So is it a sin for you to have a checking account or credit card with a bank that provides financial services to a business that conducts abortions? Isn’t that bank aiding and abetting abortion indirectly through its financial services? Is it a sin for me to send packages through the post office if the post office also delivers mail that aids abortion services? Is it a sin for me to buy office supplies from a company that might also sell office supplies to a business that provides abortion services? Is it a sin for a Catholic to buy telephone service, or utilities, or groceries—or anything—from a company that also provides services to businesses that engage in any immoral activity?

  

Someone may take satisfaction in a boycott list, but it’s quite likely that the manufacturer of the car he drives advertises lavishly in gay advocacy and liberal political magazines. What about that?

  

Clearly, in today’s world the dirty net of immorality in business and financial interactions stretches over almost everything. So where do we draw the line of sanity in regard to not personally supporting immorality?

 
The Moral Issue

Well, the moral issue underlying all the above questions relates to a business’ primary identity. If a store’s purpose is to sell clothing, for example, it would not be a sin to do business there, even if the store sold some items of immodest clothing, because you have the personal freedom to refuse to buy the immoral articles. (If, however, the store’s primary purpose were to sell or provide erotic clothing and articles, for example, then it would be a sin to do business there, even if it sold a few legitimate items, because the primary focus of the business is on immorality.) Therefore, even if a company not primarily engaged in immoral activity were to favor political support for immoral activity, you would not be morally culpable for doing business there because you’re not personally responsible for the activity of others that you cannot control during the course of your legitimate business with them.

 
It’s More Than Abortion

This matter of personal responsibility brings us to the question of what anyone can do to avoid immorality in the world. And it brings us to the truth that resisting abortion is not the core element of Catholic identity.

  

Women have marched in the Walk for Life, and then they have gone home and posted photos of the march on Facebook. What are they thinking? Don’t they realize that the fundamental purpose of the “inclusivity” mindset of social media is to idealize the narcissistic illusions of “self”, to make social approval the holy grail of modern life, and to indoctrinate society with the pernicious belief that sexual activity is a social right? And where does that lead? To sexual perversions, to promiscuity, to a breakdown in family values, to unwanted children, and to more abortions.

  

The core element of Catholic identity is chaste love, and the core task of Catholic life is to resist the demonic temptations that would draw us away from a chaste and pure love in our personal lives. There are more things than abortion to fight because there are more things than abortion that lead us into a multitude of sins.

Many Catholics say they go to Mass on Sundays, pray the Rosary, and are pro-life. But what about the anti-Christian ideology of popular entertainment and advertising that infects their hearts? What about the idolization of celebrities that infects their hearts? What about the pride, competition, and violence of sports that infect their hearts? What about the immodesty and lust that infect their hearts? Where is their faith?

  

It’s not hard to find a priest who will speak about the evil of abortion. But it would be astonishing yet refreshing if a priest were to look out at his congregation one Sunday, point to the people, and say, “Where is your faith? Most of you are dressed like bums and prostitutes!”

  

 
Missing the Point

As grave a sin that it is, abortion is only one of many attacks by the devil on the Church today. Yet, in the average parish, this point is missed day after day.

How many priests preach about chastity as the core aspect of Catholic identity?

How many priests preach about modesty as a core virtue in Catholic identity?

  

How many priests preach about the evils of popular entertainment, social media, and competitive sports?

How many priests preach about demonic influence and the growing need for bishop-appointed exorcists to provide deliverance prayer and exorcism?

How many priests preach about the evil of divorce and remarriage?

How many priests preach about the growing crisis of falling families and fallen children?

How many priests preach about these things? Well, hardly any. It’s far easier, and safer, to preach against abortion and then head for the coffee and donuts. And that’s why we’re in the mess we’re in.

 
The Way of Protection

We’re in a mess, and it’s only going to get worse. The coming apostasy will snatch you up and sweep you away unless you remain faithful to traditional Catholic dogma and put your trust in the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Protesting PayPal is just a way to attempt to control what others do—and all the frustrations of trying to control others lead right to anxiety. If you want to avoid PayPal and Ebay privately, that’s your prerogative. But be consistent. Other things (such as social media, television, movies, competitive sports, popular magazines, popular music, video games—and even “altar girls”) cause more immediate damage because their underlying ideology of inclusivity works to corrupt your mind and heart and abort the true faith.

The real Catholic task is for Catholics to stop telling others what to do and to purify their own lives. The future of the Church depends on our resolving to let the faith cut deeply into our hearts such that in every aspect of our being, and with every breath we take, we live a true and compassionate Catholic identity in the great spiritual battle against evil.

 


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Where Catholic therapy (Catholic psychotherapy) is explained according to Catholic psychology in the tradition of the Catholic mystics.