Books, CD's, and worms (not bookworms!)

My family came back from a library sale last week with a couple items for me. One was a book The Accidental Pope by Ray Flynn (Catholic, former mayor of Boston and ex-Ambassador to the Holy See.) The other was a book on CD for my long commutes entitled The Third Secret.

 

Both books have similarities: the prominence of the apparitions at Fatima; a Vatican secretary of state who has papal aspirations and is rigid; the promise of "big" changes in the Church, and the issue of priestly celibacy plays strongly in both.

 

I haven't finished The Accidental Pope, so I don't know what "big" changes might be in store. So far it simply a good-natured, but unlikely tale. But I have finished The Third Secret and have a few things to say about it.

 

First, The Third Secret gets some information about the Church very wrong. First the author continually confuses doctrine, dogma, Tradition, and Church discipline. For example, priestly celibacy is presented repeatedly as dogma. Papal infallibility is constantly presented to go much further than reality (at one point the fictional pope remarks that anything he says is infallible.)

 

Even with these faults, the book goes along as a thriller without too much doctrinal controversy for at least the first 3/4's or even more-although towards the climax there are hints that I won't be pleased when all is said and done-what an understatement.

 

The plot is that part of the Third Secret of Fatima was stolen out of the Papal reserva by an aid of Paul VI, who is now the Vatican secretary of state. The book centers around what the secret is. Finally at the very end we find out and also discover that the 10th secret of Medjugorje is identical to the missing part of the Third Secret of Fatima. And what is this secret?

 

The missing "Third Secret" is that it is God's wish, expressed directly by the Blessed Virgin Mary (I hesitate to write this as it is so scandalous) that priestly celibacy is wrong, papal infallibility is not true, that abortion is okay and the choice only of a woman, and that homosexual marriage and relations are pleasing to God ("any kind of love is good if it makes you happy").

 

I can't believe I wasted my time with such rubbish!

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Now to the worms. I was asked below how I worm my pigs. Here is the brief tale. I try to worm my pigs as naturally as possible. This consists of putting garlic powder in their food every few months unless I see a real lack of weight gain, and then I do it more often. In the fall I give them every raw pumpkin seed I am not saving for replanting. Both garlic powder and raw pumpkin seeds are great natural wormers. If I see a real problem after worming naturally, I will use some fenbendazole in the form of pellets mixed with their feed. Since starting with natural wormers a few years ago, I don't think I have chemically wormed more than once or twice.

So now you know.

Oremus pro invicem!