Time for Me to Step Up to the Plate
Dear Friends:
While up to now a good and generous friend in California has been producing, duplicating, printing, and then shipping to us the CDs we offer here at Biblical Foundations International (BFI), recent events have led us to reluctantly conclude that the time has come for me to take over the recording and production of our CDs (both our existing titles as well as new titles), here "in house" (literally) in Scranton. (BFI's offices are located in the basement of my home.)
If I digitally record the talks myself, edit the recording, burn the master CD, and duplicate and print the CDs right here at home, this will take a load off my friend's shoulders while nevertheless maintaining a steady stream of new "Recusant Recordings for the 21st Century," which as you know are designed to equip you to understand and tackle some of the most challenging questions facing faithful Catholics today.
I am eager to begin production on my next several CD projects, as soon as we can obtain the needed equipment. First up: my long-overdue 25-CD apologetics course entitled "Riding the Train of Truth All the Way to the End of the Line" (hereafter abbreviated RTT, for "Riding the Train of Truth").
Riding the Train of Truth
This advanced course starts from absolute scratch and teaches you how to demonstrate to someone who doesn't believe in anything that there must be such a thing as objective truth and that it is knowable, and that all the current varieties of skepticism, agnosticism, relativism, etc., are not only refutable but actually refute themselves.
RTT then systematically proceeds to equip you to prove that each human being possesses an immortal, immaterial (spiritual) soul, and that such a soul could only have come from a personal, spiritual Supreme Being.
In addition, RTT teaches you how to make all the other classic theistic arguments -- cosmological, ontological, teleological. (If any of these terms are unfamiliar, fear not: everything is set forth in simple, straightforward, non-technical terms.) A thorough refutation of the so-called "new atheism" of Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and others is included.
And all that's just "Day One," the first 5 CDs of this 25-CD, 5-day full-time course in apologetics!
On Day Two (discs 6-10) RTT coaches you how to make the case for Christianity being the only coherent theism, giving all the positive arguments for the historical reliability of the NT gospels, then proceeding to the evidence for Jesus's deity and resurrection. You'll also learn how to refute the alternatives to Christian theism: other theistic religions such as Talmudic Judaism and Islam, pseudo-Christian cults such as Mormonism and the Jehovah's Witnesses, as well as the skeptics at the Jesus Seminar and the New Age, neo-Gnostic devotees of other "gospels" such as the so-called "Gospel of Thomas," the "Gospel of Judas," and other contrived forgeries.
Having established the case for theism on Day One and proceeded to the case for Christianity as the only coherent theism on Day Two, on Day Three (discs 11-15) RTT then shows you how to make the case for Catholicism as the only complete and coherent Christianity. Positively you'll be able to demonstrate the solid scriptural support for every element of the Catholic Faith, and negatively you'll learn how to disarm all the standard Protestant objections. An entire CD also shows why "Eastern Orthodoxy" is in fact not orthodox Christianity, and therefore is no more a coherent alternative to Catholicism than is Protestantism.
Having now proven that Catholicism is true, on Day Four (discs 16-20) RTT trains you how to make the case that "Vatican II Catholicism" is not the real deal, due to its heretical doctrines, doubtful sacraments, and immoral morality and canonical legislation. (Day Four's 5 discs will also constitute a new, improved, third edition of my set on "Counterfeit Catholicism.")
Finally, on Day Five (discs 21-25) RTT enables you to make the case that the authentic alternative to Vatican II Catholicism is NOT the unauthorized, illicit, anarchic, and sacrilegious scene at the chapels served by the illicitly ordained (i.e., in the post-Vatican II era) "traditionalist" priests and bishops, whether of the SSPX, SSPV, CMRI, or independent variety.
The lack of the necessary mission and jurisdiction (and in some cases, even the lack of validity) characteristic of these pseudo-traditionalist sects (all of which ironically trample upon tradition in the very name of tradition!) -- and the dire spiritual consequences of this lack -- are fully explained from Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, from the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, from magisterial teaching, and from canon law. And RTT enables you to positively set forth the true position for those wishing to be law-abiding, faithful Catholics during the current crisis.
(I don't question either the intelligence, the sincerity, or the spirituality of those who attend such chapels; I attended them myself, for years, before I researched this matter more carefully. I am quite sure that, for the most part, those who attend such chapels do so precisely because they want to be "law-abiding, faithful Catholics during the current crisis." Nevertheless, I believe that, objectively speaking, they ought not to be attending them, and that once they are shown the relevant information, those who are of good will -- not without an anguished struggle, I'm sure -- will realize they can no longer do so.)
I also have several other multi-CD sets that I've been researching and writing over recent months, such as chapter-by-chapter courses on various books of the Bible -- courses on Genesis, Daniel, the Book of Ruth, the Gospel of Mark, and the Apocalypse of St. John will be the first to be released -- as well as several single CDs on such hot topics as baptism of desire/baptism of blood -- that I'm also eager to release this year, along with Parts 5 and 6 of "The Plot Against the Church," completing that series.
Needed: a multi-CD duplicator/printer
But all this is dependent on my acquiring a multi-CD duplicator/printer similar to what my friend was using. (Thanks be to God, I already have all the digital recording equipment needed.) My friend's machine could take up to 200 CDs at a time and cost $5000 new. (He had acquired a used model and expertly tweaked and tinkered with it himself.) After consultation with my friend I have found that I can acquire a 100-CD-capacity duplicator/printer (more than sufficient: I don't need a 200-capacity unit) for $3300, saving nearly $2000. In addition, I will need to purchase several hundred blank CDs to start copying and printing on.
Can you help? As a result of my having doggedly persevered in the work of BFI without sufficient financial support, I now find myself absolutely broke, with no money in the bank and no space on my credit cards to purchase this needed equipment.
For years now our family has willingly scrimped and sacrificed, even to the point of selling off most of our possessions -- and we will continue to do so, in order to do our part to spread the truth of the authentic Catholic Faith to souls who cannot be saved without it. But we have now reached the absolute end of our own always-meagre resources. (Though we have always lived extremely frugally -- and with no savings account and no health insurance -- this Christmas was so sparse that my wife and I gave no presents at all to each other or to our nine children: the children put their names in a hat and each drew out a name and bought, with their own money, one small present for the sibling whose name they drew, and that was it.)
I am therefore hoping that you, my donors and customers, can help us acquire the equipment to begin in-house production of these vitally important CDs. I'm hoping that many of you reading this can donate at least $100. If you can, I'll send you $100 worth of new CDs as soon as the first ones start rolling off the presses.
I frankly don't know how long (if at all) it might take to accumulate enough $100 donations to secure the needed equipment and blank CDs, so I'm willing to make a special offer to anyone who might be in a position to offer more, so that I might reach my goal faster.
Therefore, if you can donate as much as $500, I will send a free copy of every single CD and multi-CD set that I produce this year of 2013, which I will guarantee will total more than $500's worth. And if you can sacrificially send as much as $1000, I will send you a free copy of every single CD and multi-CD set that I produce from this point forward, through the years to come. You'll never have to purchase any CD from the online store ever again: it will be sent to you automatically, as each one is produced.
I realize that some of you may be as poor as we are, and may not be able to afford to donate even $100 at this time. Whatever amount you can send will be deeply appreciated, and I will certainly send you an amount of CDs proportionate to what you do donate, to show my appreciation.
Three ways to extend a helping hand
A) The fastest and simplest way to donate is to click on the orange-colored "Make a Donation" button in the upper right area of any page right here on my website and use PayPal to electronically send me whatever you can afford to contribute to our acquiring the needed duplicator/printer so that we might resume production of cutting-edge CDs.
(If you still don't have a PayPal account -- which is positively the easiest, fastest, and most secure way to transfer funds via the Internet -- just go to www.paypal.com and click on the blue "Sign Up" button at the upper right hand corner of their website. It's fast -- takes two minutes! -- free, and super easy, and you'll never have to supply credit card information again when donating, or when purchasing items online, either from my online store or any other online store that accepts PayPal, as nearly all websites do.)
B) If for some reason you choose not to open up a free PayPal account, a second option is to call me at (570) 969-1724 and leave on my voicemail your MasterCard, Visa, or Discover Card's 16-digit number, expiration date, 3-digit security code from the back of the card, your name exactly as it appears on the card (including any middle initial), your credit card's billing address, and the amount you wish to donate (without all of which I cannot charge your card). Please leave a phone number where I can reach you if any part of your message is unclear or unintentionally incomplete.
C) A third option is to mail a check or money order to: Gerry Matatics, PO Box 569, Dunmore PA 18512. Please make the check payable to either "Gerry Matatics" or "Biblical Foundations International."
Thank you for whatever assistance you can offer. It will be our privilege as a family to offer up our daily rosaries and other prayers for the intentions of you and your loved ones, both living and deceased -- and to provide you with a steady stream of informative (and hopefully inspiring as well) CDs. And we pray that Almighty God has been granting you and yours a grace-filled new year.
Your servant in Christ our King and Mary our magnanimous Queen Mother,
Gerry Matatics