Table of Contents
Chapter 1 The Church: What It Says about Itself, the World, and What Will Happen to You When You Die 1
Freak of Nature or Piece of Supernature? 4
It Started with Sin 8
Remnant of Israel, People of God 12
The Mystical Body of Christ 17
A Conversation You're Not Supposed to Have: Why Should We Believe Any of This Stuff? 22
Chapter 2 The Pope, the Other Bishops, and When and Why Catholics Have to Believe What They Say-and When and Why We Don't 27
Why Popes? Because the Buck Has to Stop Somewhere 29
The Magisteriuin: A Backstop against Creeping Unitarianism 33
The Law Written on the Human Heart 35
There Is No "Catholic" Ideology That We Have to Believe In 38
Does God Pick the Popes and Put Words in Their Mouths? 42
Cafeteria Catholics…and Feeding Tube Catholics 49
A Conversation You're Not Supposed to Have: The Pope Is Not an Oracle 52
Chapter 3 One, Holy, Catholic, and Thoroughly Splintered Church 57
Vatican II: Pope John XXIII's Fragmentation Bomb 59
The "Spirit of Vatican II" vs. the Texts of the Council 65
Chapter 4 How Birth Control Tore the Church Apart 69
The Church and the Pill 79
Chapter 5 Progressive Catholics and Their Permanent Revolution 85
Everybody's a (Biblical) Critic! 86
Camel Finding It Really Difficult to Get through the Eye of That Needle 87
The Priest (and Nun, and Lay Catholic) Shortage 88
Progressive Politics as a Substitute Religion 94
Chapter 6 They Kept the Faith: The "Orthodox" and Traditionalist Response to Post-Vatican II Chaos and Dissent 103
The Catholic Folk Resistance: The "Orthodox Catholic" Subculture 107
Tradition, Tradition! 112
How the Catholic Church Became a Subculture 116
The Rest of Us 119
Chapter 7 The Church and the Free Market 121
Catholicism or Socialism: Pick One 122
Money Is Not the Root of All Evil 125
Economics for Catholics Who Are Bad at Math 131
The Just Price Is the Market Price-as Thomas Aquinas Taught 132
Subsidiarity: The Catholic Church's Tea Party Principle 134
Solidarity: More than an Anti-Communist Labor Union 137
Solidarity Perverted 140
But What about Dorothy Day? 143
"God Bless Castro" 147
Chapter 8 Amnesty Equals Abortion 151
The Church's Teaching, Distorted by Our Shepherds 151
What the Church Actually Teaches on Immigration 158
"To the Extent They Are Able" 160
"Immigrants Are Obliged to Respect with Gratitude the Material and Spiritual Heritage of the Country That Receives Them" 165
"To Obey Its Laws and to Assist in Carrying Civic Burdens" 165
Mass Immigration as a Mode of Conquest and Plunder 169
Visible and Invisible 174
Cash Cows and Canon Fodder 176
Chapter 9 Is the Catholic Church a Global Gun-Free Zone? 181
Don't Try to Compete with Jesus 183
Gun Rights Are Human Rights 187
Eternal Vigilance Is the Price of Liberty 191
The Death Penalty: Confusing Mercy with Mushiness 194
Why Some Christians Oppose the Death Penalty-but Shouldn't 197
The God of the Happy Moments 200
St. John Paul II on Capital Punishment 202
The Church's Timeless Teaching on Self-Defense Assailed by Peaceniks at the Vatican 205
But What about the Crusades? 211
A Conversation You're Not Supposed to Have: Why Not Use Violence against Abortionists? 216
Chapter 10 Is the Church Anti-Science? 219
Did the Church Quash Education, Scientific Research, and Technological Development? 224
Galileo: Self-Aggrandizing Jackass 235
Will the Vatican Start an Infallible Weather Channel? 239
The Climate Changes-That's One of the Things It Does 243
Limiting Carbon Emissions: A Preferential Option for the Rich? 246
The Real Threat to Science Is Not the Catholic Church, but a Competing Religion: Scientism 249
Chapter 11 Sex, Sanity, and the Catholic Church 255
Abortion: The American Gulag, Holocaust, and Ukrainian Famine All Rolled Up in One 262
Replacing the Sexual Gold Standard with Monopoly Money 267
The Least Binding Contract You'll Ever Sign-How Marriage Became Much Less Sacred (and Eternal) than Student Loans 269
The Catholic Church's Alternative to the Chaos: Same as It Ever Was 274
Chapter 12 Temptations and Opportunities for the Church 285
Putative Pro-Lifers and Verbal Pacifism 293
"Celibate" Gay Catholic Wedding Ceremonies, in Church? 300
The "Benedict Option": Hiding Our Light under a Bushel in the Vain Hope the World Will Leave Us Alone 304
When Christians Give Up on Freedom 310
The Stench of Corruption: Child Abuse 316
Signs of Hope and Opportunity for Catholics 321
Core Principles We Can Cling To 325
Acknowledgments 327
Notes 329
Index 359
