An Open Letter to a Leader of VOTF

Trouble is coming Father Robert J. Carr

You do realize our goal has not been to bring down VOTF, nor has it been to protect anyone in the Church engaged in sinful behavior. Our goal has been to wake people up, trouble's coming.

An Open Letter to a Leader of VOTF !

It was wonderful to meet you the other day, so coincidental. Yet, I have decided, after giving it some thought and listening to others, that I will not speak to VOTF after all. I have come to realize that your group is not ready to hear what we have to say.

You mentioned that you were all working to build a Church where everyone can feel comfortable. It is a laudable idea, but not for our Church. Unfortunately, a Church where everyone feels comfortable is not the Roman Catholic Church and it is not supposed to be so.

It is because we are a pilgrim Church and pilgrims on the road to a greater glory are usually not comfortable. Remember the words of Dorothy Day? "A good homily will comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." Indeed, Dorothy Day also said, "To convert the poor you must be like them, to convert the rich you must be unlike them."

However, maybe it is time that I clear something up. I have come to realize that there are certain things that you may misunderstand. You do realize our goal has not been to bring down VOTF, nor has it been to protect anyone in the Church engaged in sinful behavior. Our goal has been to wake people up, trouble's coming.

What have we been trying to wake you up about? Simple, you are going the wrong way and the way you are going will lead you into disaster. You do not listen. (I hate to tell you this, but VOTF is not the listening organization that y'all say it is.)

I suspect as well that what I have to say here, you and all your associates will reject and so you will remain at square one.

It all comes down to one question: What if you are wrong? I am not just talking about VOTF, but also about everything else that is out there.

Do you know why the Church exists? It really does not exist to create cozy communities. It exists to keep people focused on realities that they cannot perceive. That is because the Church points to realities that are outside the material realm. You and I can only perceive those things that exist within the material realm. The Church reminds us of those things outside that realm. Understanding that the Church shows us the road to salvation, it is our choice whether or not we are going to walk it.

Are you ready for this? During a class on goals, a student responded to an assignment with a wild idea for a fictitious project. When I first heard it, I thought it was a little "out there," but this was just an exercise in dreaming of new ideas. However, I realized that she came up with the project of the century. She thought it would be interesting to design a camera that could see if ghosts existed.

How does one do that? Simple, one discovers the properties of ghosts, if they do exist, and designs a camera that can see those properties and translate those properties to some that we can perceive. A similar type structure can be found in the camera firefighters use that can see bodies (hopefully still alive) in smoke filled rooms. These bodies are invisible to the naked eye.

If ghosts exist and they are not made of atoms and their properties, one needs a camera that can see beyond the realm of atoms and their properties. One needs a camera that can see those elements of our universe that cannot be summed up in the material. One needs a camera that can see another substance called spirit. One of the first things that the Church points to is that there are elements in our universe that are not made of matter nor energy.

Ready for step two? Did you know that there is an idea out that the world changes radically every five hundred years? I suppose we can test that by looking at when was the last major change in our world? Son of a gun, it was five hundred years ago. Remember the Copernican Revolution, The Protestant Reformation, Rene DesCartes, The Council of Trent, etc., etc., etc.,

Copernicus discovered something radically simple but it revolutionized our very existence. Many people believed that the sun revolved around the earth. They believed this for millennia. Copernicus discovered that the opposite was true. Our perception deceived us; in fact, Copernicus discovered our world's biggest optical illusion. It is not the sun that moves, we do.

That is more radical an idea than we may think today. Remember, high school algebra, Pythagoras' Theorum, Archimedes principle? How about history, Alexander the Great, the Ceasars; even philosophy Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, etc.? You do realize that all those great minds lived in cultures that believed that the sun revolved around the Earth, all of them. They were wrong. Every one of their students over the millennia were wrong as well. Copernicus discovered what to us is kindergarten science. Yet, it was a radical change to our self understanding as a species. Virtually, Earth shattering. Indeed, you do know that he realized his statements would be so revolutionary, he did not proclaim them until he was on his deathbed. Otherwise, he was afraid, well, he would be on his deathbed.

The world's greatest minds were wrong. Imagine that! Our species' greatest minds stumped by an optical illusion for millennia. Yet, it really happened.

Where would we be today if Copernicus stayed quiet or, yet, he and no one after him had not discovered that principle? Who knows?

Well, this is what we are all about.

What's more, it has happened again. (Hah, you thought we were part of the Flat Earth Society didn't you.)

We have been trying to tell you for these years that you are going the wrong way. You still do not listen. You have brilliant minds, indeed that is my greatest lament with VOTF. If only these brilliant minds could understand their faith to a deeper level, what great work they would do for our Lord. But alas they don't and so I cannot speak to them.

Are you ready?

Here goes.

Copernicus discovered a minor difference in perception. He simply discovered that everyone had it backwards, including brilliant minds like Archimedes and Pythagoras.

Well, the brilliant minds have it backwards again. They have been told this for decades, but they have not listened. So we are telling them again. Well actually, we are telling you and hopefully you will figure this out and tell them.

When Charles Darwin discovered the process of evolution many jumped on the bandwagon and showed that this disproved Christianity. Indeed, they said it disproved Adam and Eve, we had evolved. They have it backwards, actually, evolution proves Christianity. Indeed, using evolution I can give you a solid demonstration of why Jesus died on the cross on why his death was so gruesome and, yes, not only that, he really did resurrect, but also why. Also I can show you something else: Also I can show you something else: We have evolved to the point that we can disobey God. Go back and read Genesis and you will see that is the point of the Adam and Eve story. In fact, some of the most profound truths of our existence are in the first three chapters of Genesis. Indeed, I tell people if you can understand those three chapters, you can understand the whole bible.

Let's go back to the camera. Can you prove or disprove the existence of ghosts beyond a shadow of a doubt? You actually can't because your powers of perception do not extend beyond the material realm.

You see the process of evolution teaches us one thing, all our abilities and perceptions are based on adaptation for survival. Therefore, they are limited by that adaptation. There are elements of our world and our universe that are just simply beyond our perception, because physically we never needed to perceive them to survive. That is one of the laws of the sciences of evolution. (Prove me wrong! You'd better hide the dog whistles.) Indeed, look back to Copernicus, his calculations were based on discoveries that were beyond the perception of the great minds at the time. They got lost in an optical illusion. This same problem comes back to haunt us. Perception tells us somethings that at times can be wrong. Yet, we never needed to know which moved, the Sun or the Earth, to survive.

If there are realities beyond the material and we only work with the perception that there is nothing beyond the material, well son of a gun, we are falling for another optical illusion now aren't we?

However, again go back to my question: What if what I say is right? (It is by the way.) And you base all your policy decisions on the fact that we are wrong. Everything you do will eventually crumble like a house of cards, because it is built on the wrong foundation.

You know what the goals of VOTF are, but do you know what you are creating? China. Not plates and cups type China, Chinese culture, an above ground Church and an underground Church. Why? Because China, just one of many communist countries, builds its ideology on a system that believes that evolution proves that God does not exist. It is wrong and China cannot silence those who know it is wrong. It just can't be done. So those who cannot be silenced take their faith underground and it spreads there like wildfire. Have you read the article in Christianity Today about that simple fact?

Ask the Chinese how many priests have been in their jails in an attempt to silence them. Indeed, ask how many priests were sentenced to Soviet Prisons in an attempt to silence them there. How have been in Cuba, North Korea, etc. By the way, who are you trying to silence today, Priests and Bishops? (Well, I know except for "priests of integrity", you say. (Who also just happened to be pro-gay marriage, women's ordination, etc. I have noticed.) Yes I do know you VOTF people believe that the Bishops have lost their moral voice. Of course that does not mean that you are actually trying to silence priests and bishops or does it?)

Meanwhile, through programs like TAT you promote ideas that are based on the modern day equivalent of a flat earth society. Ideas that are just plain incorrect and are designed to undermine our faith, but more importantly will do great damage. Finally, many associated with you are seeking to promote gay marriage, stem cell research, embryonic research, cloning all technologies based on one simple fact, evolution proves that God does not exist. It is wrong. Evolution proves the existence of God, sorry.

I will be happy to explain it to anyone who chooses to discuss it with me. However, I think I have given you enough information for researchers to make their own discoveries. (They will probably not do well at this because again like the ghost camera, they do not have the right tools.)

Meanwhile, I need to pass on to you something else. Do you know that I once held a radio broadcast license? It is true, with 3rd class broadcast endorsement no less. I passed the test and received it in 1976. One of the first principles taught in the course for that license is one of the first principles of communications and it is one on which the FCC is built. It does not matter what people say, it matters what people hear. Indeed, Viacom is looking at a huge fine for not understanding that simple principle. When we had our conversation, what did I hear? When representatives of VOTF speak, what do we hear? When representatives selling TAT or putting TAT into place speak, what do we hear? etc., etc., etc.

Well, as you said, the Holy Spirit probably led us together to have that meeting outside of the NCEA convention. (You do realize that your statement is heresy in the academic communities.) The product of that meeting is right here.

Finally, may I add this exercise for your group to consider. It is simply this.

1. Take any issue you want.

2. Discuss it in the following manner

a). How would someone who only thought in terms of reason see this issue.

b). How would someone who only thought in terms of faith see this issue

c). How would someone who thought in terms of reason and faith see this issue.

Then discuss this question. This is a true story. I once had a license plate number that was 490NOT. A friend said it reminded him of Socrates. Why?

May God bless you,

Father Robert J. Carr

frbobcarr@earthlink.net