About Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM, L.Th. Expertise I am a Catholic apologist, catechist, spiritual director, and spiritual warfare/deliverance counselor holding a degree of Licentiate in Theology. Questions dealing with the Catholic Faith will be answered according to official Church teachings, where such official teachings exist, and according to solid principles taught by the Church and the saints on areas where there is no specific Church teaching. I am a one-hundred-percent loyal and obedient to the Pope and Magisterium of the Church. If you want to know the TRUE SCOOP of Church teaching, here is the place to get it.
2) Apologetics and Catechesis primarily offered through a Catholic Q&A (plus volunteering on expert.com); and
3) Deliverance and Spiritual Warfare: involving many things ranging from investigating "haunted houses," to counseling with demonized people, to dealing with spiritual warfare issues in our society.
Experience I was a Baptist preacher, Bible teacher, and evangelist for 15 years before converting to the Catholic Church in 1992.
As a Catholic I have been teaching Bible, Catechetics, apologetics, and evangelism for 14 years. I also have 24 years of pastoral counseling experience and 14 years experience as a Catholic Spiritual Director.
I have been in deliverance ministry since 1986 as a Baptist. After converting to the Catholic Church I continued the spiritual warfare work including counseling, writing, consulting, and teaching workshops, and training Deliverance Counsellors.
In 2002 we began a new apostolate called the St. Padre Pio Center for Deliverance Counseling. This agency offers counseling to those persons who are demonized, and offers training for people who feel called by God to become Deliverance Counsellors. As director of the St. Padre Pio Center I was featured in a series of interviews on Spirtual Warfare on Ave Maria Radio.
Award: Recipient of the prestigious Kaltenborn Foundation Grant.
Organizations In Religion: Catholic Society of Evangelists, Institute on Religious Life, Adoremus: Society for the Renewal of the Sacred Liturgy, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, Coming Home Network, The Blue Army of our Lady of Fatima, Apostleship of Prayer, Confraternity of Mary, Queen of All Hearts (Montfort Fathers), Confraternity of the Brown Scapular
BR> In Counseling: American Counseling Association, Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling, the International Society for Mental Health Online, and the former National Psychiatric Association. Brother is also currently working with two other counselors to form a new association called the American Nouthethic Association of Catholic Counselors. This association is not yet operational.
In Website Design: HTML Writers Guild, the International Webmasters Association, and the Good News Web Designers Association.
In Creative Writing: Academy of American Poets, the Association of Authors and Publishers, and is listed as Editor and Publisher of St. Michael House Press and Writers House Press in the International Directory of Small Presses and Little Magazines and the WritersNet Online Directory
Publications Religious Book Publications include: +"Regula Sanctus Michaelis" (The Rule of St. Michael) +"Three Secret Strategies of Satan and Other Essays" +"St. Michael's Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog" +"Hope, Help, Victory: A Spiritual Warfare Workshop" +"St. Michael’s Deliverance Counseling Manual" +If God Wants This of Me: The Story of a Baptist Minister Turn Catholic Friar" (forthcoming)
Poetry Publications and Credits: Book: "Only Silence is Shame" Magazines & Readings: published in various magazines and conducted numerous readings
Listed: "Who's Who is U.S. Editors, Writers, and Poets" and the "International Authors and Poets Who's Who" out of London in the 1980s
Other Publications: Book: "The Wilder Letters" (book of essays)
Book: "The Falling Torch: Our Democracy in Crisis"
Question Hi Bro.Ignatius
i would like to know the official Catholic Church position about cosmetic surgery especially cosmetic breast enhancement procedure for women who do it to enhance their beauty or because of a poor self image to be more confident with her husband. Jaks
Answer Dear Jack:
The Church does not offer a specific teaching on cosmetic breast enhancement. The issue is not the surgery as it is the reason for the surgery.
Reasons such reconstructive surgery due to injury or cancel or deformity or other medical reasons is not a problem. Elective surgery purely for alleged enhancement of beauty, for enhancing self-image and confidence, or pleasing a husband is a problem.
Plus, there are medical problems that can develop with women who have this surgery.
To begin with the idea that breast enlargement makes a woman more beautiful is false notion created by the perverted Playboy philosophy and the equally perverted fashion industry and other societal nonsense that promotes such things -- which is a form of abuse of women.
Breast enlargement never really makes the woman more beautiful and sometimes makes the woman less beautiful. Breast enlargement for enhancing self-image and confidence does not address the real reasons for the lack of self-esteem and self-confidence. Those real reasons will still be present after the surgery. Breast enlargement to please a boyfriend or husband also does not work as any man who would want his woman to do this does not love her and he needs to be thrown out with the garbage.
As of moral issues, the elective surgery is not in itself immoral. As mentioned it is the reason for the surgery that matters.
However, I cannot think is a single legitimate reason for a woman to elect, without a medical reason, the enlargement of her breasts. In most cases this is an issue of psychological issues or that of vanity.
Vanity can be a sin. Vanity is the issue behind not only most breast enhancement, but also male enhancement, products to enhance sexual experience, products for balding men, tattoos, excessive jewelry, excessive make-up, excessive focus on one's hair, obsessive exercise, bodybuilding beyond what is needed for strength and muscle tone, excessive interest in what car one drives or what house one owns, and a host of other things in our worldly society.
We are to be moderate and temperant in our interest in such things and modest.
The bottomline on the moral issue of breast enhancement is the motivation to have it. Elective breast enhancement surgery is almost always a issue of vanity.
