Fair and Balanced Coverage of the March For Life?

     Hey guys!  I know it's relatively soon for me to be putting out a new blog, but this is for a media project which I thought would be something y'all might want to read as well.

     As we all know, the annual March for Life in Washington D.C. will take place on January 22nd as it does every year.  One thing that we can safely assume will be constant is the media coverage on the event.  Most years, EWTN will be all over the place covering masses, interviewing participants (*cough* like me last year *cough* link here), and just going above and beyond to make sure the world knows about this huge event.

     On the other hand, you have the major media.  Several local stations pick it up every year, true. However, if I recall correctly (this was a few years back), even Fox News, which tends to be more on the conservative side of the ball, only briefly brought up the topic and then moved on.  Even when it does get a bit more than a mention on places like CNN, the people covering it seem to have an obvious bias opinion in favor of abortion which effects their coverage of the subject greatly.

     Obviously, this is wrong on its face, but how exactly would it be considered wrong from a journalist perspective?  Well, one thing that may be an argument brought up is that the media needs to be objective to both sides.  That is, to ensure that they strictly cover the news in its entirety and leave out any biased
opinions towards either side.  The problem is that if you were to argue this, you'd be diving into a debate which has already been hashed over for the past few years.  What is often pointed out is that to REALLY have a news presentation COMPLETELY devoid of ANY biased opinion is near to impossible.  Thus, the more adopted form has become "To be fair and balanced".  This means that even though you agree with one side, you present both sides fairly with an equal defense for both sides.  You also must be true to the facts of what both sides really are.  Now, does that mean it's game over, the media wins, and they get to do whatever they want?  Not so fast.  You see, even in the "fair and balanced" scheme, the major media has still failed to comply to the rules of good journalism.  For instance, a few months ago, my local "Fox" station did a segment on a pro-life protest in front of the State Senator's office. However, when the segment came up, they showed only five quick seconds of the person opposed to abortion, with the other 40 seconds as a pre-recorded tape from a Planned Parenthood Representative.  To make it worse, the station allowed Planned Parenthood to squeeze in lies regarding who they are and what they do without having another voice in opposition.  As we can see, the whole concept of "Fair and Balanced" has been totally abandoned here.  The unfortunate thing is that this isn't just my local station's problem.  Rather, this seems to be a constant occurrence among larger media outlets across the country.  Many journalists have been taking the best arguments for abortion (which even at best, aren't very special), and the weakest arguments for life, pinning them against each other, and saying,"Oh, well this one is obviously better, so our biased opinion is right!"  If you want to claim to be "Fair and Balanced", then you need to actually do it right.

     One might also compare the right way to do this to a well researched YouTube video (you had to see this coming).  A YouTuber decides that there is so much controversy regarding a certain biblical text, he is going to do a ton of research and find EVERY scripture passage he can regarding the subject, put it in context, and make a video on it.  Did the YouTuber have a biased opinion going in? Sure.  However, if he has all his facts straight and is presenting both arguments in their strength to the best of his abilities, is he not being "Fair and Balanced"?

     In short, you have an opinion, and it's okay if you are bias about it.  However, whether it be morally wrong, professionally wrong, or both, you MUST be TRULY "fair and balanced" and not just use it as an excuse show that you favor one side to the other by using your opponent's weakest argument.

Alright, thanks for reading guys, and please be sure to check out my Facebook page and YouTube channel.  Take care, get out there, and be amazing!

God bless,
TheCatholicApologist

A Walk With God

    Hello again blog-o-sphere!  It certainty has been a while!  Unfortunately, I can't promise that that will be changing anytime soon seeing that I am now a college student.  Nevertheless,  I really would like to share with you a cool little reflection I had recently.

    Let's start off by going to Genesis chapter three.  If you've read the beginning of this book, you know that the main theme is the sin of Adam and Eve.  What you may also recall is the knowledge of Adam being able to "Walk with God in the cool of the day".  Now, have you ever looked at that and thought to yourself," How awesome would that be if I could do the same?  What if I could be in Adam's shoes?". Or feet.....the shoe thing didn't come until later.  Anyway, I know for sure that I've thought of this many times.  Isn't it just the coolest thought to entertain?  If only we could actually do such a thing!  

Hang on a minute, what if we actually can do that.  What if we LITERALLY can take a walk with God?  Stop giving me that funny look and just hear me out.

    As you should now, when you go to receive Holy Communion, you are NOT consuming a mere wafer.  Rather, you are taking into your heart the Body Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ Himself.  Now, if I was to ask you what happens after that, you'd probably say something like," I go back to the pew and pray."   Well....at least, I should hope you'd say that as opposed to," I walk right out the door because mass is pretty much over anyway." In that case, I may just have to pull a St. Nicholas on you if you know what I mean.....(kidding). Anyway, before I get on another day's topic, let's move on. 

    The only problem with the answer you should respond with is the fact that it's not quite complete.  You see, instead of the words "I go back..", what should replace it is," I take a walk with God....".  Think about it, if we have Jesus Christ Himself right there in our mouths as we walk, then aren't we, in a manner of speaking, "taking a walk with God"?  Furthermore, the first time man could walk with God was in the Garden of Eden which at the time, could be represented as a sort of heaven at least compared to the rest of the world.  Now that this is made possible again, is it not fitting that we can not only go on that priceless walk, but also, be able to do so in what is "heaven on earth" (A.K.A. The Holy Sacrifice of the mass) as did Adam all those many years ago?

  Yes, kneeling is the most respectful posture to be in when praying (in the Roman Rite), but while you are in the process of getting there, what's to stop you from praying on the way? After all, prayer is like "talking to God" so why not treasure the moment and talk with Him while you walk with Him?  He is the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-merciful God who has humbled Himself to the point of taking on the appearance of bread and wine just so He can be with you in the deepest physical way possible to man.  Don't waste even a moment of that.

    It's not like you are committing a sin if you don't, but I'd definitely recommend taking advantage of the opportunity.  I know I have since I first thought of it a couple weeks back and it has honestly been such a beautiful addition to my mass experience.  I challenge you to do the same!

Thanks for reading everyone and please be sure to check out my YouTube channel and Facebook page! Viva Cristo Rey!

-TheCatholicApologist

The Cross is NOT Brown

    So, I tried making a blog movie review of "The Hobbit, The Battle of the Five Armies", but that sort of flopped.....then I tried to make something about the March for Life...that too failed.  Now let's hope the third time will indeed be a charm, cue the intro!............oh wait, this is a blog, not a vlog......*sigh* well let's just get to today's topic before I screw something else up.

    Throughout most of our lives, we've seen hundreds, maybe even thousands of crucifixes.  However, one thing that most of them have in common is that the cross itself is a regular brown color.  Now, although this is in no way sinful, it has replaced a very significant detail that we should not be ignoring.  What is that detail? It is the fact that when Jesus died, he did not do so on a brown cross, but on a red one.

   No, that's not a typo in case you were wondering.  With that being said, there are two questions you might have.  First, what is my reasoning behind this, and second, even if it is true, why does it matter?

   Well, starting with the first question, let me just start by saying that ORIGINALLY, the cross was indeed brown.  "Well then are you saying that someone randomly decided to go and paint the cross red before Our Lord went to carry it?" No, hold your horses buddy.   As I said, in and of itself, a cross is indeed brown.  However, let's keep in mind that the passion of Our Lord was not nearly as sanitized as many have made it out to be.  Instead, it was more like what you will see if you watch "The Passion of the Christ" by Mel Gibson.  Even this though could not FULLY show us all that Jesus suffered for us.  Furthermore, if you've already seen the movie, then you know that it is near impossible to comprehend that even more blood could have been spilt from the Sacred Body of Our Lord.

  Anyway, keeping in mind that Jesus was covered with blood, literally from head to toe, then wouldn't that mean that the cross would then be stained red when Our Lord, carried, laid upon, and hung from it?  Maybe not the ENTIRE thing, but in all likeliness, enough of the cross was stained to still make the form of a red cross on the brown cross. 

    Now comes the second question, "What does it matter?"  Well, let's think about it.  When you are extremely ill to the point where, if you don't get help, you'll die, where will you go?  The hospital.  Now, when we watch movies and such and there happens to be a hospital involved, what is one of the most common symbols that accompanies it?  A red cross.  Do you see the connection?   When you see a red cross, you know where you need to go for help.  A plain red cross shows you where to go for physical help, and the red cross with a man on it (to be specific.....GOD), shows where you need to go to help your soul be cured from sin.

    In conclusion, by itself and simply brown, the cross was merely a place for criminals to go and die.  After being made red by the blood of Christ though, it is still a place for criminals (referring to us who have sinned), however, it is now a place where we find life and healing for the soul as we find physical healing in a hospital. We must constantly remind ourselves of this and I truly believe that one of the ways to start is to show a bit more of what Our Lord went through on our crucifixes.  The more we can see of what He did for us, the better we will be able to see how much He loves us. 

 Thanks for reading and please be sure to check out my YouTube Channel and Facebook page.

God bless,

TheCatholicApologist

A Mind Set to Help You Conquer Sin

  If you are like me, you have a hard time keeping your soul perfectly clean. Sure, you don't commit any mortal sins, but you just can't seem to get away from those venial sins. They come when you least expect them and then you feel like kicking yourself after it's all over.   What are you supposed to do about it?  Well, maybe this little thought might help you.

 

Last night, after praying the St. Michael Chaplet, I had an idea.  Let's say that there are these two master swordsmen.  In their culture, it is tradition for the two first borns of each family to meet at a certain age and fight to the death.  The first swordsman is already in the room. He sits and waits for his opponent.  Then, after a couple minutes, his rival comes in the door.  Now, what do you imagine the human reaction of the first swordsman was?  Well, his heart would start beating really hard, he'd stand up, draw his sword, look at his opponent and focus intensely on how to best defend himself and win the match.  What he would NOT do, is act carelessly about the whole thing and treat the match like it was no big deal.  If your life is on the line, you're going to be as prepared as possible for whatever comes your way. Period.

  The conclusion I came to last night is this: In order to help ourselves fight venial sin better, we must be aware of the presence of demons.  Now, this does NOT mean that we should fear them. For if you are in line with the will of God, you can accomplish all things. Also, with your guardian angel there with you at ALL times, the fallen angels only have as much power over you as you give them.  However, that's exactly what we are trying to fix: the fact that we allow them power to convince us to do what is wrong even if only in small matters.  The way I have found to help do that is to be aware that it is very possible AND HIGHLY PROBABLE that there is a demon in the room right now just waiting, watching, and hoping for you to open even the tiniest crack for him to go through.  Even if you are in a holy place such as mass, the demons will sometimes go through terrible pain just to be there to try and tempt you.  However, we must be like the swordsman and be aware that our enemy is near and means to harm our souls. By keeping this in mind as often as we can, we are far less likely to fall into sin because we are aware that what we are tempted to do is opening the door to something we have now thought about (because of this mindset), and have concluded it is not right.

  In conclusion, I challenge you to constantly remind yourself of the presence of the demons and why you must be careful not to fall into their traps.  That way, the next time you are tempted to do something you shouldn't, this mindset will make you think twice about it.  Thanks for reading and please be sure to check out my YouTube Channel and Facebook Page.  God bless you all, and have a grace filled day. Viva Cristo Rey!

-TheCatholicApologist

Praying for the Conversion of Sinners

  Many times, especially in apparitions of Our Lady, we hear her ask us to pray for the conversion of sinners.  Sometimes, I think that after hearing it over and over and over again, we tend to loose sight of exactly what we are praying for. The truth is, whether we realize it or not, when we pray for the conversion of sinners, we are really praying for the whole world to come to know Christ to the fullest. How did I come up with that? Well, that's what this blog is about.

 
  When we pray for the conversion of sinners, we are not only praying for people that live every other second of their life committing a sin, but also, we are praying that everyone, including ourselves, have a conversion experience. Remember, converting isn't a one time thing were you just switch religions. You could have thousands of conversion experiences and remain Catholic the entire time!  Rather, conversion is like a stair case. Every step is a "conversion" and we have to go through many of them in our lives.  In a way, Our Lord, through the Blessed Mother, asks us to eat a little humble pie and acknowledge that we are sinners in need of taking the next step of conversion.  So when you pray for the conversion of sinners, don't only be praying for God to draw others closer to Himself, but also that He will make you holy as well.  None of us are perfect and we are all in need of mercy. As our Lord tells us in the gospels, taking the log out of our own eye is the first step in helping our brother take out the thorn in his.

 
  Another very important thing we pray for when praying for the conversion of sinners is what we usually think of when we hear someone say "convert (conversion, converting etc.)". That is, converts from other religions to Catholicism.  Now, I'm not saying that all Catholics are holier than non-Catholics simply because I referred to non-Catholics as sinners. A matter a fact, there are atheists who are far better morally than many Catholics. But no matter who you are or what you believe, we've all sinned. So really, when I refer to "sinners" I am basically talking about all humans currently living on this earth.  Now that we have that out of the way, let's continue.  I think we've all seen what Catholic converts like Scott Hahn and Stephen Ray have done in spreading the truth of the Catholic Church. Actually, you may notice that most converts to Catholicism are more enthused about their faith than many cradle Catholics! I would even go so far to say that it is because of converts to Catholicism that many cradle Catholics have come to love their faith more!  In that case, when we pray for the conversion of sinners, one of the things we pray for is more converts that will not only be strong in what they believe, but also, to strengthen the faith of those around them!  Then, the more Catholics you have actually living their faith, the fewer misunderstandings people have about the Catholic Church which then brings in more converts by the simple example of others. Imagine what an impact it would make on the world if we had all 1.2 billion Catholics actually living out their faith as opposed to just saying they're Catholic, but going against the teachings of the Church!

 
  Now, take a step back and look at the big picture.  When you do, you will find that when we pray for the conversion of sinners, we are praying for what the world says is impossible.  We are praying for the world to change pretty drastically.  I'm talking the end of abortion, contraception, homosexuality, porn, etc.  If this is so impossible, why do pray for it? Because if the God of the universe, through His Holy Mother, is asking us to do it, then why wouldn't we? Did He not promise that all things are possible with Him?  I truly believe that in order to change the world (for good), what needs to be done is that everyone who calls themselves Catholic must truly live their faith. With that, the things destroying man's relationship with God will drastically shrink if not, disappear entirely. Will it be easy to do this? No. But God never promised easy did he?  What He did say was that all things are possible with Him.  We can make a difference and we can show the world that there is truly a God who loves them, but it all starts with praying for the conversion of all sinners, including ourselves.

Thanks for reading and please check out my YouTube channel and Facebook page.

All for..,
TheCatholicApologist

Intoduction blog

  Hey there!  This is basically going to be the story of why I am starting this blog and what I plan to do with it.  In October of 2012, I made my first (Catholic) video on YouTube.  At the time, I had no idea that people would even watch my videos, but I did them anyway because even if I made a difference in one person's life, it would be worth it.  However, a few months later, I heard about this thing called "New Catholic Generation" and ended up becoming a part of it.  This not only made my stats go up, but more importantly, I have learned more about my faith and formed new friendships for which I am truly thankful.

  Being a "vlogger" on YouTube for the past year and eight months has been fantastic. I've had fun: Creating new characters like "Baby Bob" and "Tolerant Tim" to help make my points, having friends help me out in order to bring some more humor into my videos, and even meeting two other Catholic vloggers in person.  Now, from watching my very first video, there is one thing you could be absolutely sure of. That is my stance on abortion.  I am completely pro-life and accept the Church's teaching that life begins at the very moment of conception.  Not only do I have about six or seven videos devoted to talking about the abortion issue, but you'll often here me refer to "the evils of abortion" in other videos when I am trying to make a point. Anyway, long story short, these videos gave me the opportunity to give prolife presentations to two Youth Groups and a Woman's group in my diocese along with a friend of mine. I basically talked about why you need to be pro-life and why you should do something to try and end abortion, then my friend talked about what you could do to help.

 

  So now, I have a YouTube channel, I'm giving pro-life presentations and that's good enough right? Wrong!  You see, God doesn't want us to stay in one place.  He wants us to keep going, keep reaching out to others and keep growing closer to Him.  So, back towards the beginning of April, Shawn Carney, the co-founder of 40 Days for life, came to the midpoint rally of the 40 Days for Life campaign we had going on. I was fortunate enough not only get a picture with him, but also to have a conversation with him.  During this conversation, I naturally brought up the topic of my vlog. He then gave me some advice on how to promote my channel and one of the things he mentioned was to create a blog. 

Now, my first thought when he said this was," Nope, can't do that one because with school, videos, and presentations, I really don't have the time".  So I dismissed that idea and moved on. So two months passed by in which I finished my Junior year of high school and continued making videos. It was around the first week of June that the idea of a blog came to mind again. "Nope" I said to myself," you won't have time once school starts up again". But as the summer went on, I found myself with less and less to do even with weekly videos. Now, when I told myself that I wouldn't have time, I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't have to promise a blog a month as I have for videos, I could just do it when I had time. Of course me being incredibly stubborn and thickheaded, I came up with the excuse that I didn't even know what I could talk about that wouldn't be better in a video. But then, a few days later, I found some notes that had topics which would fit in a blog much better than in a video.

 

  Now I am at the point where I am seriously considering, but seriously avoiding the idea of starting a blog.  So I ended up saying a little prayer which basically told God that I didn't think I could do this. Well, apparently, He didn't buy that because up until now, every time I would so much as think of the word "blog" someone would bring it up.  With this happening almost every single day and after talking to a few friends, I finally decided to go ahead and give it a shot.

 

  So that's the story, but now what am I going to do with it?  Well, I am mostly going to be talking about specifically Catholic things. But every now and then, there may be a something related to Catholic stuff such as movies, books etc.  I may also do some blogs that cover different things that teens go through in their everyday life. Now, as I have already made clear, I will not be blogging nearly as much once school starts again. However, if you ever need to contact me whether you are looking for answers to questions about the faith, advice, or just need someone to talk to, email me at youngapologetic16@gmail.com I can't promise to be perfect, but I can promise to do my best. Lastly, please check out my YouTube Channel here.

Thanks for reading this and may God bless you!

-TheCatholicApologist