I suppose I should introduce myself.
I was born into the shadow of the pontificate of Pius XII; now to divide my history into eras.
The First 15 years of my life were spent in sheepleville, that is to say, American suburbia. But I had contact with the decaying Catholic ghetto (in the true sense of the word- an enclave of a culture in another society) in Lancaster. I attended a Novus Ordo Parish and Novus Ordo High School. The issue of the day was contraception. I was against contraception not simply because the pope said it was wrong but because I could see how it was evil. That was the door to more paganism... Even though I was lost in Novus Ordo land, thankfully my mother gave me a Baltimore catechism and I took to it like a duck to water. I also read some excellent books in eschatology so that, when I was a teen, I lambasted the congregation after I led the rosary because bedlam had ensued after the first "Mass" through the second decade. I told those people they could take their conversations into the parking lot rather than the middle of the church. I was later chewed out by the priest when I went to confession. (Many times I have been fortunate to be told by the priest what my sins are. :P)
The next 10 years of my life were devoted to studying math on my way to teaching at the high school level. I went through logic that would do a Vulcan proud. I've seen calculus problems that make engineers tremble. Simultaneously I was acquainted with the restaurant industry. There, I learned that following stupid orders by authority led to catastrophic results. Like Scotty, I couldn't change the laws of physics. That was good training for my move to Tradition.
Then came the paradigm shift. I read some books on the "New Age" and started to see this stuff all over the place, especially in the Novus Ordo church. Slowly I started to Understand this was something other than what I was taught in the catechism. Then I started to read books by Archbishop Lefebvre. For over a month I had argument after argument with a good Catholic friend. I pointed out that the archbishop might have violated the letter, but not the spirit, of canon law. I argued that he was not really excommunicated nor were the SSPX bishops. I officially jumped ship from the Novus Ordo on Low Sunday 1991. My first Traditional Mass was at St Jude's in Eddystone with Fr Gregory Post the priest. What struck me most about the Traditional Mass was the silence, just as what was most annoying about the Novus Ordo was the noise.
The next era of my life was the '90's in Kansas City, well, mostly in Kansas City, but also, Ohio, Florida, California (the land of fruits and nuts), Texas (both ends), Arizona, Colorado... you get the idea. I had so many adventures it would take a tome to relate all of them. Suffice it to say that I've forgotten more about the SSPX than a lot of people will ever know. But I did a lot of work in the day... set a toilet in every state along I-70 and I-40 except for Georgia, same for wiring at least one outlet... The PVC pipe I glued, if it was all laid in a line, could probably be seen from space. Then there was my work with Angelus Press, especially from '95 to '99. I shipped packages to all 50 states, every island of note in the Pacific, every country in Europe, and even Asia. Anyplace I did not ship a package is probably not worth finding on a map.
The next era of my life was when my parents moved back to PA. I alternated between tours of duty in the SSPX and helping my parents. That was when I witnessed the decline and fall of the SSPX. Then came the great collapse of '08. Since then I have been counting down to the "annihilation of nations" part in the message of Fatima, and saying rosaries for reparation.
Our Lady of Fatima, Pray for us, you are our only hope.
Topic: Introduce yourself! (Read 342740 times)