PADDY GOWER'S ISSUES WITH EXORCISMS A BEAT-UP

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From the exorcism movie 'Nefarious', rated by Cardinal Raymond Burke

Tv3's Paddy Gower 'has issues'. He has them regularly, like the rest of us might have headaches or bowel movements, but we don't inflict them on the nation.

Paddy's latest 'issue' is with the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer, a monastic community in Christchurch. Last Wednesday's episode was a classic media beat-up which predictably has a few Catholics, perhaps glad for the chance to take issue with a traditional Latin Mass congregation, whistled up by the modernists at Cathnews.

Known also as the Transalpine Redemptorists or the Sons (FSSR), the  congregation denies a raft of allegations made on Gower's 'Issues', the most serious being that they performed exorcisms without permission from the bishop, which Father Michael Mary, the Redemptorists' Superior, categorically refutes. https://youtu.be/vPy_SiL_ULk

Oratory of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Christchurch 

Bear in mind that the Redemptorists celebrate Mass according to the Latin Rite. Satan hates the Latin Mass and summons all his demons and fellow travellers to attack what Father Faber famously called "the most beautiful thing this side of Heaven" with every ungodly means at his disposal. And Paddy Gower, with his 'Issues' is ultra-worldly. It belongs to his raison d'etre to find fault with an institution of the Church so closely aligned to God.

Gower's other concerns:

• The Redemptorists allegedly performed exorcisms on children
• One child was allegedly told he was possessed by the devil
• Holy water was sprinkled around a child (oh my goodness!)
• The Redemptorists conducted exorcisms allegedly on seven individuals, with one person undergoing multiple lengthy sessions, some lasting for several hours, and one exorcism purportedly spanning three consecutive days
• Individuals were restrained
• A novice was stepped over
• A novice was made to lick the floor.
  
  
  
  

Misunderstandings abound. One has to take into account that although Gower was raised a Catholic he appears to have forgotten his R E (Religious Education) or more likely, given its  post-conciliar quality, he never received it. He obviously - in common with neo-Catholics everywhere - does not believe in the devil. Or in souls falling into to hell, whom Our Lady at Fatima showed to three little children, terrifying them to the extent that never again did the world see them smiling.

Gower was scornful of the NZ Bishops' permission for 12 exorcisms in the last 5 years. "The devil had shown up in a believer twelve times and needed to be gotten rid of!" Does he believe that official permission for 12 exorcisms is an overstatement of demonic invasion, when apostate Catholics have left their souls wide open, as it were - when they're positively asking for it?

The facts are as follows:

• 'Minor exorcisms' (like sprinkling holy water) which are very common and performed for places or things rather than on persons, were used for the children in question
• The rite of exorcism may be performed on anyone, even a non-Catholic who requests it
• The rite of baptism and the RCIA include a minor exorcism. "Exorcism in this connection is a symbolical anticipation of one of the chief effects of the sacrament of regeneration; and since it was used in the case of children who had no personal sins, St. Augustine could appeal to it against the Pelagians as implying clearly the doctrine of original sin" (https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/exorcism)
• The possibility of demonic possession of children is signalled by exorcism at baptism: "before baptism everyone, child or adult carries the sign of sin and of the influence of Satan"(https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19750626_fede-cristiana-demonologia_en.html)
• Holy water is a sacramental with blessings for all who use it in faith. Catholics are sometimes sprinkled with holy water by the priest at Mass
• Exorcisms are not done in a hurry. An exorcism may take days, months or even more than a year. Such exorcisms are exhausting for the priest - and also, one would think, for his subject
• It's advisable, and common practice, to restrain people during exorcism. The opinion of Auckland's Bishop Steve Lowe (the Snickers Bars bishop), that restraints during exorcism are "cinematic" might be prompted by cinema-going (exorcism movies are all the go); it is not the opinion of the Church. Satan's strength far exceeds that of his human hosts or the exorcist's; Father Michael Mary explains that it would be "great temerity" to take on the devil without the written authority of the bishop. He "would not be so foolish; it is dangerous enough without it"
• Making the Sign of the Cross with the tongue on the floor is an old penitential custom of the congregation 
• Lying on the floor to be stepped over by your brother monks on their way to Mass is also a penitential custom of the order.
  
  
    
  
  

  

  The exorcist movie currently in vogue: 'Nefarious'

  
  
  
  

Given the devil's fear and loathing of the traditional Latin Mass, one might be forgiven for suspecting that Paddy Gower, with the coaxing of his ever-so-empathetic interviewer Michael Morrah and his line-up of earnest interviewees - especially the ubiquitous Peter Lineham (New Zealand's talking head on religion) - were unknowingly wheeled out for demonic ends. 

All the visual clichés came into play: the roofline of the Redemptorists' Christchurch Oratory (implying that the viewer is forbidden entry); a rosary; the nice woman in a proper Christchurch lady's hat, on a park bench and viewed only from the rear, who was 'sickened' by the priest's "deep personal questions" about her sex life in confession. In confessing any sin, it's only reasonable to anticipate questions.

"God gave you a mind to question!" asserted the woman in a hat (do they wear hats to Mass in Christchurch? It would be nice to think so). She'd viewed Father Michael Mary's hour of rebuttal of Gower's aspersions but she hadn't had enough: "Read between the lines! Listen to what he's not saying!" And, "there were children in that congregation!" True; we could hear them. Such a novelty for a Novus Ordo Massgoer. 

Ironically, a clip of the Redemptorists at the Parliamentary protest warning of the effects of the Covid v*cc*ne, obviously intended as presenting the priests in a damaging light, proved them to be prophetic. It was not the priests who were mistaken, but the woke Gower himself. 

Papa Stronsay, the tiny island in Orkney which is home for the Sons

Last Friday's Cathnews asserted that "Upon their arrival, Bishop Barry Jones cautioned Catholics that the group’s services lacked authorisation and weren’t in communion with the Pope." 

But on August 4 2014, NZ Catholic reported that "Bishop Jones said the religious society came to Christchurch “in irregular and divisive circumstances” in 2007, without canonical invitation and not being in communion with the Holy See. Since then ... the group has been reconciled with Rome and been given canonical recognition by the Bishop of Aberdeen, where they are based. 

“Bishop Barry’s canonical welcome of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer really goes back to 2007 when, as intruders as we were then in his diocese, he kindly agreed to meet us and then and thereafter encouraged us to be reconciled with the Holy See and the Church. He was a quiet shepherd and instrument of grace for us,” (Fr Michael Mary) said.

What a model for bishops was Bishop Barry Jones. How fortunate was Christchurch to have him.  

The traditionalist group was reconciled in June 2008, and while it was a joyous day for them, Fr Michael Mary said they knew the road ahead would be difficult.

“The quiet shepherd’s one-liner emails from time to time were a great support, he kept an eye on us .... We would most certainly have quickly left the diocese if Bishop Barry told us he did not want us. But that never happened,” Fr Michael Mary said. 

“The priests and brothers of the congregation give an excellent witness of religious life lived with joy and generosity. They are present at diocesan occasions and events and their presence and witness is made clear by the religious habit which they wear,” said Bishop Jones.

How glad are faithful Catholics - and even, often, non-Catholics - to recognise the clerical collar in public. What beacons of hope were the SSPX and the Sons at the March for Life and the Parliamentary protest! 

 

Mt St Joseph's monastery, South Canterbury 

One can see by the video of his responses at Mass to Gower's allegations that Father Michael Mary is a powerful personality, whom persons of a susceptible nature might find intimidating, And persistently, "safeguarding issues are reported" from reliable sources. The elaborate safeguarding protocols positively invite 'issues' but still, Catholics deserve an assurance of the proper medical examinations of exorcism subjects and consultation with psychologists to ensure that they are indeed possessed by a demon and not mentally ill. 

So if there's an 'issue' here, it's with the then-Bishop Paul Martin (now Archbishop of Wellington) who says merely, in response to concerns raised by Morrah's interviewees, that the "issues are being managed". And indeed, Archbishop Martin very likely has far more serious concerns on his plate than these nebulous accusations from Christchurch. We could wait for a statement from the bishops on this subject, as we have awaited others with breathless expectation, but the bishops are not famous for statements en pointe.

The issue could also be with Cathnews for their tail-ender to the Gower story (below).  

Upon their (the FSSR's) arrival, Bishop Barry Jones cautioned Catholics that the group’s services lacked authorisation and weren’t in communion with the Pope.

In 2012, Pope Benedict granted his approval and the group continues to be responsible in the diocese for the Latin Mass chaplaincy.

However, in an expression of lex orandi, lex credendi – how we pray reflects what we believe – Pope Francis is not disposed to the belief behind the old Latin Rite.

In February 2023, Francis admonished bishops who permitted the Latin Mass in their dioceses without Vatican consent, urging them to obtain retrospective authorisation.

Following up on correspondence from a reader, CathNews sought clarification from the Catholic Bishops Conference on the practice of the traditional Latin Rite Mass and whether the required authorisations had been applied for.

In this conclusion to the piece - https://cathnews.co.nz/2023/07/27/christchurch-exorcisms/ - and their assiduous furnishing of criticisms of the FSSR - “Tying up people, stabbing them with a crucifix is extreme" - Cathnews confirms that last Wednesday's Gower episode is sub rosa an attack on the Latin Mass. Cathnews is seen to be me-tooing and that's only to be expected: Pope Francis is, after all, commonly accepted as the pope, and so must be accepted as pope, in much the same way as the covid v*cc*ne was commonly accepted.

However, Cathnews' statement that 'Pope Francis is not disposed to the belief behind the old Latin Rite' is, on the face of it, bizarre. 

So the pope is not disposed to the belief expressed in the liturgical rite of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church for well over two thousand years. One rubs one's eyes in disbelief. Lex orandi, lex credendi, indeed. Attend a Mass celebrated by the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer and you will witness, we would expect, all the reverence and regard for the Divinity that attests to genuine belief in the Real Presence, in marked contrast to the casual attitude to Almighty God evident in the modernist (i.e. heretical) behaviours of the Novus Ordo. 

How can belief held by the One, True Church to be true for 2000+years now be different? What beliefs is the pope disposed to? 

We must resign ourselves to more airborne interviews with reporters to discover those beliefs. But not to expect statements from our bishops either to confirm them or deny. 

St Michael, Archangel, Defeater of Demons

Be of one mind, having the same charity, being of one accord, agreeing in sentiment. Let nothing be done through contention, neither by vain glory: but in humility, let each esteem others better than themselves:  Each one not considering the things that are his own, but those that are other men's

 -Phil 2, 3, 4

ARDERN GETS HARVARD JOB 'MITIGATING HARM'

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With apologies to readers who might want to spew

Jacinda Ardern, who arguably did more damage to New Zealand than any other individual in history, has landed a prestigious fellowhip at Harvard University as 'an expert on mitigating harm'. 

What a sick joke. NZ's 'single source of truth' has been rewarded for her blatant lies, her maimings, murders and general mayhem with Harvard's 'Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society's first Knight Tech Governance Leadership Fellowship'. 

In Ardern's opinion, emerging technologies such as AI present "huge opportunities to address online harms … and violent extremism". Huge opportunities, she means, to suppress and subdue all opposition to the evil agenda of Herr Schwab & Co at the WEF. (And for her to make more filthy lucre.)

Harvard, a liberal-leftard stronghold, is part of the problem. After she did the harm here, they call her in to fix it here, there and everywhere, man.  Internationally. It's like hiring the guy who burgled your house to instal an intruder detection system for the whole neighbourhood. 

According to the Berkman Klein Center (the Centre), whose past scholars have worked with Matt Taibbi on The Twitter Files, Ardern will be at the forefront of the fight against a new threat – “algorithmic harms.”

She will additionally work closely with BKC leadership to explore emerging challenges of governance to protect against algorithmic harms during a critical moment of the explosive proliferation of generative AI tools.

Her appointment comes months after the publication of a major study into the international coordination of online censorship and surveillance. Dubbed the “Censorship-Industrial Complex,” this ever expanding network of state-sanctioned “fact-checkers” has been explained in detail by Matt Taibbi’s extensive report.  

This is the context in which Ardern’s appointment takes place – that of a coordinated and vast effort of surveillance and suppression which. to quote Michael Shellenberger, “Combines established methods of psychological manipulation… with highly sophisticated tools from computer science, including artificial intelligence.

The complex’s leaders are driven by the fear that the Internet and social media platforms empower populist, alternative, and fringe personalities and views, which they regard as destabilizing.

As Taibbi expounds:

In pursuit of that first goal, organized loosely around a thing we’ve been calling ‘The List,’ Racket (News) welcomed people like Lowenthal and Geneve Campbell, (formerly of the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard). With their experience in the “anti-disinformation” space, Andrew and Geneve helped a team of journalists and researchers put together what we hope will be an accessible starter kit for everyday readers hoping to acquaint themselves with the biggest organizational names in the ‘CIC.’ 

 

Blunderwoman

 The Censorship-Industrial Complex has found a new champion in Ardern, who infamously asserted that “we will continue to be your single source of truth” on the subject of COVID-19 when she was prime minister of New Zealand in 2020.

https://youtu.be/ENEUktOrQV8

Evidence-based qualifications 

Ardern’s monopoly on veracity was cited in the announcement of her appointment as a major qualification for her new role. 

Ardern is also noted for the exceptional results of her data-driven, evidence-based public health policy during her nation’s grappling with the COVID crisis.

Her “evidence-based” policies led to bitter divisions in New Zealand, notably between the vaccinated and unvaccinated.  

As the New York Times reported on her resignation in January 2023, this “tarnished Liberal icon” led an extreme “Zero COVID” approach, including the implementation of a “lockdown so severe that even retrieving a lost cricket ball from a neighbor’s yard was banned.”

The vaccine mandates she introduced excluded the unvaccinated from ordinary social life. Dr. Simon Thornley was one constant  – and well credentialed – critic of Ardern’s “evidence based public health policy.”

An epidemiologist at the University of Auckland, he was an often outspoken critic of Ardern’s stringent measures, which were among the most severe in the world. 

“The disillusionment around the vaccine mandates was important,” he stated.

“The creation of a two-class society and that predictions didn’t come out as they were meant to be, or as they were forecast to be in terms of elimination — that was a turning point.”

Ardern’s policies created a systematic regime of discrimination, suspicion, paranoia and hatred whose scope far exceeds that of any “algorithmic harms.” The resulting stigma attached to the unvaccinated was described in a study published in Nature in December, 2022.  

We quantify discriminatory attitudes between vaccinated and unvaccinated citizens in 21 countries, covering a diverse set of cultures across the world. Across three conjoined experimental studies (n = 15,233), we demonstrate that vaccinated people express discriminatory attitudes towards unvaccinated individuals at a level as high as discriminatory attitudes that are commonly aimed at immigrant and minority populations3,4,—5. By contrast, there is an absence of evidence that unvaccinated individuals display discriminatory attitudes towards vaccinated people, except for the presence of negative affectivity in Germany and the USA.

This study found that prejudice against the unvaccinated was established worldwide, and had been promoted by the very type of government mandates for which Ardern is celebrated. 

That Ardern is cited as an expert on mitigating harm is surprising, as the social polarization resulting from her policies is said to lead to the “entrenchment of conflict” in society.  

Furthermore, the damage is likely to endure, as the prejudice created by measures such as Ardern’s “evidence based public health policies” leaves a legacy of division. 

In the long run, it may mean that societies leave the pandemic more divided than they entered it.

This is the reason that the authors of the study conclude that politicians like Ardern should take steps to avoid divisive and stigmatizing policies which permanently degrade the fabric of society.

 

To effectively manage such crises, the authorities should seek to avoid fueling deep animosity between citizens.

This common sense approach – to avoid deliberately sowing hatred among the population – is one which is uncommon in the leadership caste of the liberal consensus.  

Ardern became something of a totemic figure in this class, not despite – but because – of the measures she undertook. These policies knowingly dehumanized people whose prudence and independence of mind designated them as her political and social enemies. The punishment was severe, and it was meted out to those who insisted on thinking for themselves. 

Politics of harm 

More generally, the designation of the people as the enemy of power is a feature, and not a bug, of the current operating system. 

This report from Nature is careful to point out the grave harm done to social cohesion by the stringent measures typical of the Ardern government. 

…experiences of prejudice and discrimination may have negative long-term effects, hurting well-being, eroding identification with majority society and driving mistrust of the state, including health authorities.

If the consequences of prejudice towards unvaccinated individuals resemble the consequences of prejudice against minority groups, they may exacerbate the mistrust and alienation that led to vaccine refusal in the first place…

The description above corresponds closely to the COVID response of the Ardern administration. This is the evidence of her public health initiatives. Where is that for her capability in combating “algorithmic harms” – whatever they might be? 

It is clear from recent measures in the U.K., Ireland and the European Union that our international political class is illiterate in matters of computing.  

READ: Tech companies may pull out of UK market if gov’t passes ‘authoritarian’ bill to scan encrypted messages

This ignorance is combined with a breathless enthusiasm to weaponize fear of the freedom of information. The goal is to frighten people into accepting the “need” to be protected from unpasteurized thoughts. 

Ardern’s new appointment is not an academic sinecure. A loyal servant of divisive repression, she has been drafted into an information war against the common people of the West. The Berkman Klein Center’s funding page reveals a familiar roster of names – Facebook, Google, Bill Gates, George Soros’ Open Society Foundations – and the World Economic Forum.

Together with the Deep State, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and news aggregator Reuters, the Center is sponsored by a consortium of online and offline agents of harm whose activities are to be obscured or even valorized by informational gatekeepers such as the former New Zealand prime minister. 

Her new role is best understood as that of a component in a vast machine. It is a trans-nationally coordinated attempt to permanently destroy privacy under a system of total surveillance. For this she seems eminently well-qualified. 

You can read more about the Censorship Industrial Complex here

 https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/new-zealands-former-covid-tyrant-jacinda-ardern-appointed-to-censorship-role-at-harvard/?utm_source=daily-usa-2023-07-26&utm_medium=email&fbclid=IwAR1p2f7h44fDudb-1yZ0jq3OWj6ZqGCelt-3GTBHp7GBxXQEDCOomPibz3k

 

Angels collecting Blood from the Body of Christ
Lorenzo Lotto

We adore Thee O Christ, and we praise Thee

For by Thy Precious Blood Thou hast redeemed the world 

TE TIRITI'S RISIBLE, DISASTROUS EFFECT ON EDUCATION

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The world is going mad. Bonkers. Berserk. And New Zealand, always a world leader, is leading the way to La La Land. It is simply astonishing how gullible we have become without God. 

We believed that an untested pharmaceutical would save us from a dreaded disease which was no more than a flu bug. That Maori beat the Pakeha to Antarctica. That something called 'Mauri' binds us all together. That everything on the periodic table has 'whakapapa'. That Maori had books which were hidden by the evil colonialists.

This madness is concealed by fear, just as fear made New Zealand fall for Ardern and her lies about Covid. And educationalists who are still sane are now afraid to speak up for fear of being branded as racist and losing their jobs. 

But not these guys. Not Peter Schwerdtfeger, John Raine and David Lillis, who state that New Zealand’s education system is in steep decline. They say we can't afford another generation getting a second-rate education. They discuss (below) the causes and suggest the remedies for this damaging long-term slide.

The transition of twenty years ago to the NCEA schools qualification system, with its lack of rigour in the delivery of core knowledge and skills, most markedly in mathematics and the sciences, heralded a decline in education standards in New Zealand.

In 2000, New Zealand was one of the world's top performers. Our results were above the average of the world’s most developed countries and we were placed third in mathematics and fourth for reading in a group of 41 countries. When the latest PISA results were published in 2018, the decline had progressed so much that in science and reading New Zealand was only marginally above the OECD average. In mathematics we are now below average. Of the larger group of 78 participating countries, New Zealand ranked low, at 27th (Hartwich, 2022).

Reading is similarly in trouble. For example, the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) shows that the reading skills of New Zealand students continue to decline. In 2021, New Zealand recorded its lowest score since the inception of PIRLS in 2001 (e.g. Scoop, 2023).

Further, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a survey of 15-year-old students conducted every three years, shows even more worrying declines. New Zealand's performance in mathematics reflects one of the largest drops within participating countries (OECD, 2018).

 

New Zealand's mean performance has been declining steadily in reading (2000-18), mathematics (2003-18) and science (2006-18) from earlier high levels of performance. In reading, more rapid declines were observed amongst the country’s lowest-achieving students. In mathematics and science, performance declined to a similar extent at the top and the bottom of the performance distribution, as well as on average.

The decline has now been exacerbated by moves to centre the school curriculum on the Treaty of Waitangi, and universities declaring themselves Te Tiriti-led and prioritising the inclusion of matauranga Māori in degree courses.

 

Left-wing ideologies, combined with post-modern ideas and a dangerous mix of Critical Social Justice theory and Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity (DEI) policies, now appear to be more important to decision-makers than teaching basic skills and knowledge (P. Raine, 2023), and will exacerbate the observed steady deterioration. A more holistic approach in teaching and research is now favoured or even mandated, and merit-based assessment used internationally for many decades has been called into question on the basis that it inherently disadvantages minorities and indigenous people (Abbot et al., 2023).

We share major concerns with many others about the current refresh of the New Zealand Curriculum (Lillis, 2023; J. Raine, 2023). We fear that a poor curriculum will result in even poorer outcomes and wealthy families discarding NCEA and guaranteeing a better education for their children by sending them to independent schools that are not driven by ideologies.

 

Post-Modernism and Social Justice

Unfortunately, post-modernism is on a steep rise internationally (Sokal and Bricmont, 1999). Post-modernism favours subjectivism and relativism (the belief that truth and knowledge exist in relation to the self and society, and are not absolute) ...

This is the inevitable result of modern society's rejcction and denial of God and His Son, Jesus Christ, Who is truth Itself 

... over objectivism and realism, and is critical of, or even denies, the many great scientific advances of the Enlightenment movement (Age of Reason!), which began in 17th century Europe.

And we see also the tragic result of the divorce of reason from faith. 

In a post-modern world any theory may be embraced without necessarily having sound evidence as a basis.

Post-modernism thrives on current DEI policies and gender activism. It even places subjective labels on science, claims new disciplines such as feminist science and traditional or indigenous astronomy, and labels science as sexist and racist. It implies that the outcomes of scientific exploration and scientific ideas very much depend on the identity of the observer, without clear distinction between fact and fiction. It puts holistic notions before everything else, condemning the very ideas of reductionism which are so important for understanding the natural world.

The philosopher, Mario Bunge, sounded a clear warning, already nearly thirty years ago (Bunge, 1996):

Over the past three decades or so very many universities have been infiltrated, though not yet seized, by the enemies of learning, rigor, and empirical evidence: those who proclaim that there is no objective truth, whence ‘anything goes,’ those who pass off political opinion as science and engage in bogus scholarship.

 

How can we explain the wonders of quantum physics to our students without involving reductionism for the concept of elementary particles, atoms or molecules? There are situations where the observer markedly influences the outcome of a measurement, such as in the famous Heisenberg microscope experiment in quantum theory, taught to every physics graduate student in New Zealand, but this interaction between the macroscopic (observer) and microscopic world is well described by the laws of quantum theory and in no way depends on sex or race.

 

Unfortunately, publishing houses such as Nature, Science, the American Physical or Chemical Society, now welcome non-evidence-based claims of questionable quality on the basis of their current DEI policies. Recent examples include an article in Physical Review Physics Education Research (APS) on “Observing whiteness in introductory physics: A case study” by Robertson and Hairston (2022), or in Chemical Education (ACS) on “Decolonizing the Undergraduate Chemistry Curriculum”, by Dessent et al. (2021).

Post-modern ideas are alien to modern evidence-based science such as chemistry, physics or mathematics (Dawkins, 1998), and to the laws that cover the analytic work of engineers. To put it bluntly: Einstein’s famous equation E=mc2 is set in stone and does not depend on either sex or race or on the identity of the scientist exploring it.

And so too are the Ten Commandments of God set in stone, originally literally. 

Nor do the Laws of Thermodynamics. Nature is described to an astonishingly high degree of accuracy through the fundamental laws of quantum physics. As Richard Dawkins put it:

Science is science is science, and it doesn’t matter who does it, or where, or what tradition they may have been brought up in. True science is evidence-based, not tradition-based; it incorporates safeguards such as peer review, repeated experimental testing of hypotheses, double-blind trials, instruments to supplement and validate fallible senses.

The world's abandonment of science was dramatically and tragically demonstrated by the Global Elite, who capitalised on it by weaponising Covid, anticipating correctly that billions worldwide would meekly roll up their sleeves for a 'v-cc---' which had not undergone the safeguards erected around such medical interventions in the past.   

Today, using microscopic theory, we have a basic understanding of how a snowflake takes shape and grows, without appeal to holistic or race-based ideas; of the causes of earthquakes and tsunamis; the risk of landslides, and how the elements in the Periodic Table were formed in stars and neutron star mergers.

Ah, but today and for some time now, the Author of all such awesome wonders has been forgotten and omitted from education. Even Catholic education - beginning in the home, where religion has been dumbed-down by Vatican II and the Novus Ordo, and completed in so-called Catholic universities with gender confusion and promotion of babykilling, and in seminaries where once Thomistic philosophy was taught and understood - sights God through a variety of subjective lenses.  

The search for a more complete picture and understanding of nature welcomes all ethnicities. Our students should not be deprived of this most fascinating activity of contemporary science.

Examples of Post-Modernism

The many anti-science statements coming from the post-modern corner are best illustrated by a few examples:

-Māori May Have Reached Antarctica 1,000 Years Before Europeans (Wehi et al, 2022). This statement made it into the headlines, such as the New Zealand Herald, the Guardian and even the New York Times. It was debunked shortly after (Anderson et al. 2022).

Demonstrating how gullible we become without God. 

-From the beginning of creation, to the children of Ranginui and Papatūānuku, and descending to our ancestors, all aspects of creation have whakapapa ... This allows us to consider whakapapa for each of the elements on the periodic table (NZASE resource). While this is nice storytelling that favours creationism, it does not belong in a science class. The abundance of the elements in our universe and on our planet Earth is well understood from basic nuclear physics.

-Mauri is an energy which binds and animates all things in the physical world. Without mauri, mana cannot flow into a person or object (Te Ara, The Encyclopedia of New Zealand).

 

This leads to the claim that Everything has a Mauri. A life force. When we are ill, our life force has been compromised (Māori Healers) and The Mauri is the power that allows these living things to exist within their domain. It is also known as a spark of life, the active component that gives life. A critical discussion on the Mauri concept proposed by the government’s NCEA panel for chemistry teaching in our schools has been provided recently by Professor Paul Kilmartin of The University of Auckland (Kilmartin, 2021). Among other issues, Professor Kilmartin has objected to the inclusion of Mauri (a life force) in our Chemistry curriculum, because it conflicts directly with science.

-A recent article in the Guardian (Graham-McLay, 2023) on celebrating Matiriki, stated that Māori books only survived because old people hid them from the colonists, who it is implied wished to suppress or destroy them. No evidence for this claim was given and, in any case, like all other Polynesian languages (except for the Easter Island), Māori had no written form or books until the introduction of writing by missionaries (Harlow, 2007).

Missionaries. Nota bene. It was their love of God that motivated the missionaries who introduced Maori to reading, writing - and religion. Those missionaries evangelised. They converted pagans to Christ and His truth. But now 'Pope Francis' and his heterodox hierarchy, embracing the world and its madness, have forgotten God to the extent that they neglect what Francis calls 'proselytism', believing that pagans are better left to their own devices and eventually to their own hell.  

-And - at a very basic level, in March 2023 a New Zealand child came home from school and told their parents that they had learned two important facts in science that day, namely that water has a spirit and memory - another introduction of animist confusion into what should have been a science lesson.

All modern tools that we use daily to live our lives in comfort have emerged in some way from basic science and technology. How can we combat global warming with a mix of science and non-evidence-based and animist beliefs? How can we solve the big problems in science without a basic understanding of mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology? How can we learn from history if ideology dictates that unpleasant aspects of some of our histories are omitted or corrupted? How can we teach logical thinking to our students when we present mythological notions as truth?

Here you are, you good atheists and agnostics! Here's your opportunity. You will say that God and the Catholic religion are mythological notions which are presented as truth. However, God is truth. Period. And the Catholic religion is the only true religion, outside of which there is no salvation. Obviously you need faith to accept that. Fortunately for you, faith is a gift God gives to everyone who asks.  

 

Fighting for Education and Science

Unfortunately, the acceptance of postmodern ideas by our media, who are amplifying a global post-modern movement, will result in our schools and universities becoming an anti-science breeding ground for the next generation should we fail to teach them critical and logical thinking.

Moreover, the denial of New Zealand as a democratic multicultural society, in favour of race-based bi-culturalism and Treatyism, diverts us from the actions that are needed if we are to address poverty, health disparities and a steadily declining education system. Unfortunately, many schoolteachers and university lecturers are too afraid to speak out for fear of being labelled racist by a cancel-culture mob or of losing their jobs.

So, what needs to be done to secure a bright future for our education system?

-The march of post-modern relativist views through our educational institutions (and the Church - ed) creates a huge risk of their losing their international reputation and relevance, losing their international students, and of New Zealand becoming an inward-looking country. Schools and universities must not foster damaging ideologies and should move back from the politicisation that has occurred.

-International scholars, such as Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss and Jerry Coyne, have given wise advice. If New Zealand ignores them, then our education system is at risk of being seen as an international laughing stock. We do not need to indigenise or decolonise our education system for all to succeed, and Māori will continue to succeed in our universities, as they have done in the past, without ideological intervention from universities themselves or the State.

-New Zealand must again become a society where freedom of thought and speech are strongly upheld and not supressed by our politicians, university leaders, or the media, rejecting ill-conceived ideologies such as equality of traditional knowledge and world science.

-Universities should again become the critic and conscience of our society, where all perspectives can be discussed and debated openly, and where academics are protected from being ”cancelled” if they present views that do not align with the mainstream narrative.

-Science teaching should be based on testable hypotheses (Popper’s Principle of Falsification) and established truth, but not on a muddle of observations of the natural world, myth and legend. Established mathematics and science must be taught rigorously, without descent into vague relativism, where subjective views are presented as facts. The histories of all New Zealand’s many ethnicities should be taught without revision or sanitation.

-Governments must play an important role in providing strong leadership,

... This country's Prime Minister doesn't know what a woman is and his Government totally lacks opposition with any moral force, with any recognition or acknowledgment of truth and so lacks real leadership ... 

without encouraging the indoctrination of our society with damaging ideologies that do not stand up to critical scrutiny or analysis.

-Matauranga Māori, as the Māori knowledge system, needs to be treasured but not protected from criticism, nor taken as an alternative to modern world science.

-The Treaty of Waitangi should be seen as an historic document but, silent as it is on education, not interpreted to enable the infusion of a postmodern version of matauranga Māori widely across taught curricula to the disadvantage of education in the basics for our young people.

New Zealand is a great democratic country with a population of many backgrounds. Neither racism nor inverse racism from the political left or right have any place in our society. We can do far better.

By hiding the challenging truth of Christ and His Gospels and trying instead to blend with the world, the Church in New Zealand has completely lost her moral force. She no longer has the conviction of faith needed to proclaim the truth, that God has no regard for ethnicity or the colour of your skin. 

All New Zealanders are children of God.  

The Meeting of Joachim and Anne outside the Golden Gate, Jerusalem

Fra FiIippino Lippi

Saints Joachim and Anne, grandparents of Jesus Christ, please pray for New Zealand

The opinions expressed here are those of the writers, and not of the universities with which they are or were formerly affiliated. We welcome any feedback and apologize in advance if we have offended some of our post-modernist colleagues.

Peter Schwerdtfeger is a distinguished professor in theoretical chemistry and physics and Head of the New Zealand Institute for Advanced Study at Massey University. His research is concerned with fundamental aspects of science.

John Raine is an Emeritus Professor of Engineering and held Deputy and Pro Vice Chancellor roles across three New Zealand Universities. His responsibilities have included research, research commercialisation and internationalisation.

David Lillis is a retired researcher who holds degrees in physics and mathematics, worked as a statistician in education, in research evaluation for the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, and for several years as an academic manager.

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