Roman Catholic Blog

True Brothers In Christ!

(Greek Patriarch Bartholomew)

Greek Orthodox Church opposes

EU crucifix ban

by Jenna Lyle, www.Christiantoday.com

Posted: Saturday, November 14, 2009, 8:30 (GMT)

"The Greek Orthodox Church has come out in opposition to a ban on crucifixes in classrooms in Italy.

It wants to see Christians across Europe unite in opposition to the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights last week which stated that the presence of crucifixes in the classroom violates religious and educational freedoms.

The head of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Ieronymos, echoed the outcry from the Catholic Church in Italy when he said that the EHCR had ignored the role of Christianity in Europe’s history and development, reports the BBC. He argued that majorities, not only minorities, had rights.

According to the BBC, the Orthodox Church is to hold an emergency Holy Synod to hash out a plan of action against the ban, which it fears could trigger similar rulings concerning the public display of Christian symbols in other European countries.

Human rights group Helsinki Monitor is already seeking the removal of icons of Jesus Christ from Greek courts and an end to swearing Christian oaths in the witness box. It also wants to see the removal of Christian symbols from Greek schools.

According to the ECHR, the display of crucifixes in Italian public schools is in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, particularly in relation to the right to education and the freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

The Strasbourg-based court said the presence of the crucifix "could easily be interpreted by pupils of all ages as a religious sign and they would feel that they were being educated in a school environment bearing the stamp of a given religion".

“This could be encouraging for religious pupils, but also disturbing for pupils who practised other religions or were atheists, particularly if they belonged to religious minorities,” it added.

Italy is to appeal the ruling, arguing that the cross has become much more than a symbol of the Church to the Italian people and is a symbol of Italian and European history and tradition."

See: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/greek.orthodox.church.opposes.eu.crucifix.ban/24623.htm

Lift high the cross,

the love of Christ proclaim

till all the world adore

His sacred Name!

 

 

Ut Unum Sint

I think it glorious news that any part of the “Dowry of Mary” may be returning to Holy Mother Church!

 

Pope establishes structure for Anglicans uniting with Rome

By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has established a special structure for Anglicans who want to be in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church while preserving aspects of their Anglican spiritual and liturgical heritage, said U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada.

The cardinal, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said a new apostolic constitution would establish "personal ordinariates" -- similar to dioceses -- to oversee the pastoral care of those who want to bring elements of their Anglican identity into the Catholic Church with them.

Anglican priests who are married may be ordained Catholic priests, but married Anglican bishops will not be able to function as Catholic bishops in keeping with the long-standing Catholic and Orthodox tradition of ordaining only unmarried clergy as bishops, Cardinal Levada said.

See the full story at http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0904673.htm

The usual “attack dogs” of the media are, not surprisingly, trying spin this positive story into an assault on the Church on two distinct fronts:

1.)             This move solidifies the Church as “homophobic” and anti-women.

"Ecclesiastical kindergarten games

By: John Shelby Spong

Former Bishop, Episcopal Diocese oF Newark

Washington Post On-Line

In the recent communication between the Pope, Benedict XVI, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, which will allow Anglicans to become Roman Catholics with an "Anglican Twist," we have a sad picture of how out-of-date and irrelevant institutional Christianity has become. Here we have two unimpressive Christian leaders, rooted deeply in yesterday, jockeying publicly to see who can be the most prejudiced about the role of women and the place of homosexual people in the life of the Christian Church. It would be amusing if it were not so ludicrous."

See the full story at: http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/john_shelby_spong/2009/10/ecclesiastical_kindergarten_games.html

 2.)             This move is incongruous as it will allow married Anglican priests to become “Catholic” priests.

"Catholic Church Makes 'Stunning' Move

By JAMES GRAFF, World Editor

AOL News

 

(Oct. 20) -- The number of married Catholic priests could grow sharply as the result of the Vatican's epochal decision to welcome thousands of disaffected Anglicans and Episcopalians into the Catholic Church.

 

"It's a stunning turn of events," says Lawrence Cunningham, theology professor at Notre dame University. "This decision will allow for many more married clergy in Western churches, and that's going to raise anew the question, 'If they can do it, why can't the priests of Rome ?,'" says Cunningham."

See the full story at: http://news.aol.com/article/vatican-creates-new-structure-to-ease/728295?icid=main|main|dl2|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Fvatican-creates-new-structure-to-ease%2F728295#

Despite this obfuscation on the part

of most of the media, this is truly

good news.

Saint Thomas More, pray for your countrymen!

Martyrs of England & Wales pray for us.

Luigi Garlaschelli “shrouds” his motives…

 {Hat Tip to Judge Sam}

 

There’s a buzz on the Net about a new report by Luigi Garlaschelli (pic above), professor of organic chemistry at the University of Pavia in Italy. In brevis, he claims that because he has been able in 2009 to create a facsimile of the Shroud of Turin using materials available in the Middle Ages, that the actual shroud is a fake made in the Middle Ages.

Clearly the forgery of relics was prevalent in the Middle Ages. Even the Canterbury Tales has the Pardoner quip:

“And stir men to devotion, marveling.

Then show I forth my hollow crystal-stones,

Which are crammed full of rags, aye, and of bones;

Relics are these, as they think, every one.

Then I've in latten box a shoulder bone

Which came out of a holy Hebrew's sheep.”

Nonetheless, Garlaschelli's logic is unbelievably flawed. His ability to produce a facsimile of the Shroud using medieval materials does not mean that the Shroud itself was so produced.

 

What I question is – what it Garlaschelli's motive?

 

“Garlaschelli received funding for his work by an Italian association of atheists and agnostics but said it had no effect on his results.”

 

Well, perhaps we could look to his PAST actions to ferret out his motivations?

 

Here he is “creating” a stigmata, unbelievably for National Geographic Magazine.

 

 

 

 

And here he is “creating” his own version of the annual Miracle of San Gennaro.

 

 

 

And here is his version of a statue that “cries” blood.

 

 

 

 

So he is funded by agnostics and atheists, and regularly “questions” supernatural phenomena that are associated with the Catholic Church in Italy.

Why?

All Saturday Night Live kidding aside, I don't know if the particular phenomena Prof. Garlaschelli has "gone after" are true. (Personally - I do believe that the Shroud of Turin is the burial cloth of Christ).

What I can tell you categorically is not true, what is false, is the notion that "science" can be dispositive on everything.

G*d Himself understood that inherent in the power to name or classify is the power to control. G*d had Adam name the animals for this reason,

and most explicitly He responded to Moses' question with "I am who am," for this same reason.

Your Thoughts?

The Heretic Luther & the Council of Trent

 

 

A couple of posts back I received some detailed questions that I have just had time to respond to. They appear to be directed at my assertion that:

 

“There is no more systematic refutation of the vast errors of Lutheranism than the Canons & Decrees of the Council of Trent.”

 

 

I thought I’d take them in order, so here you go….

 

“I would be most appreciative of any summary you could provide of the vast errors of Lutheranism from "Canons & Decrees of the Council of Trent" or if you could point me to a good introductory manuscript on the subject.”

Posted by: JT | Monday, September 28, 2009 at 12:27 PM

 

Answer: JT – it would seem that even a cursory reading of the “Canons & Decrees of the Council of Trent” would point to their position as refuting Lutheranism, and additional Protestant heresies that arose after him.

 

First, the Council of Trent was itself interested in getting the Lutheran heretics into the Council!

 

“SAFE-CONDUCT GRANTED TO PROTESTANTS

“The sacred and holy, general Synod of Trent,….to all and each one throughout the whole of Germany, whether ecclesiastics or Seculars, of whatsoever degree, estate, condition, quality they be, who may wish to repair to this ecumenical and general Council, the public faith and full security, which they call a safe-conduct,…. as also to withdraw whensoever they shall think fit. It hath furthermore seemed good to the holy Synod, that if, for their greater liberty and security, they desire that certain judges be deputed on their behalf, in regard of crimes whether committed, or that may be committed, by them, they shall themselves nominate those who are favorable towards them, even though the said crimes should be ever so enormous and should savor of heresy.”

Specific decrees aimed at the Lutherans are:

 

Decrees of the Fourth Session

DECREE CONCERNING THE CANONICAL SCRIPTURES which partially reads:

 

“But if any one receive not, as sacred and canonical, the said books entire with all their parts, as they have been used to be read in the Catholic Church, and as they are contained in the old Latin vulgate edition; and knowingly and deliberately contemn the traditions aforesaid; let him be anathema.”

 

DECREE CONCERNING THE EDITION, AND THE USE, OF THE SACRED BOOKS which partially reads:

 

“Furthermore, in order to restrain petulant spirits, It decrees, that no one, relying on his own skill, shall,--in matters of faith, and of morals pertaining to the edification of Christian doctrine, --wresting the sacred Scripture to his own senses, presume to interpret the said sacred Scripture contrary to that sense which holy mother Church,--whose it is to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the holy Scriptures,--hath held and doth hold;”

 

 

Decrees of the Sixth Session

One should read Canons 1 thru 33 “On Justification.” These refute the Lutherans and others.

 

Specifically, the notion that one is justified by “faith alone” is particularly condemned. These canons partially read:

 

“CANON XXXIII.-If any one saith, that, by the Catholic doctrine touching Justification, by this holy Synod inset forth in this present decree, the glory of God, or the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ are in any way derogated from, and not rather that the truth of our faith, and the glory in fine of God and of Jesus Christ are rendered (more) illustrious; let him be anathema.”

 

 

Decrees of the Seventh Session

ON THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL, which in part reads:

“CANON I.-If any one saith, that the sacraments of the New Law were not all instituted by Jesus Christ, our Lord; or, that they are more, or less, than seven, to wit, Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Order, and Matrimony; or even that any one of these seven is not truly and properly a sacrament; let him be anathema.”

“CANON VI.-If any one saith, that the sacraments of the New Law do not contain the grace which they signify; or, that they do not confer that grace on those who do not place an obstacle thereunto; as though they were merely outward signs of grace or justice received through faith, and certain marks of the Christian profession, whereby believers are distinguished amongst men from unbelievers; let him be anathema.”

“CANON VII.-If any one saith, that grace, as far as God's part is concerned, is not given through the said sacraments, always, and to all men, even though they receive them rightly, but (only) sometimes, and to some persons; let him be anathema.”

“CANON VIII.-If any one saith, that by the said sacraments of the New Law grace is not conferred through the act performed, but that faith alone in the divine promise suffices for the obtaining of grace; let him be anathema.”

 

 

Decrees of the Fourteenth Session

ON THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT OF PENANCE – Canons 1 thru 15.

 

 

Decrees of the Eighteenth Session

SAFE-CONDUCT GRANTED TO THE GERMAN NATION

 

 

Decrees of the Twenty-First Session

DECREE ON COMMUNION UNDER BOTH SPECIES, AND THE COMMUNION OF INFANTS

 

 

Decrees of the Twenty-second Session

DOCTRINE ON THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

 

 

Decrees of the Twenty-Third Session

THE TRUE AND CATHOLIC DOCTRINE, TOUCHING THE SACRAMENT OF (HOLY) ORDER(S)

 

 

 

Decrees of the Twenty-Fifth Session

DECREE CONCERNING PURGATORY

(DECREE) ON THE INVOCATION, VENERATION, AND RELICS, OF SAINTS, AND ON SACRED IMAGES

 

 

I would finally exort you to read over the decrees themselves, they are in excruciatingly clear language.

 

I use the website:

 

http://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent.html

 

 

“I was just checking to see if JT would get an answer. I was curious myself. Perhaps LL98 overstated his case. Trent, after all, did fix a myriad of Roman abuses that should be mentioned.

And what's wrong with a Catholic bishop admonishing people to live "God centered" lives?”

Posted by: Constantine| Thursday, October 01, 2009 at 03:04 AM

Answer:

Constantine– WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.

The Council of Trent did not “fix a myriad of Roman abuses.” The Council of Trent was "Rome," in the  person of the Bishop of Rome, the Holy Father, the Vicar of Christ on Earth, and a Council which he called, fixing the abuses of the Church in Europe, many of which sprung up IN THE ABSENCE OF STRONG PAPAL AUTHORITY.

 

Bishop Bodes admonition to live “God centered” lives is of little value when mixed with egregious error, e.g., with a fundamentally flawed understanding of the heresies of Luther.

 

 

In the words of the crass maxim: “I can take a quart of the finest ice cream, mix it with a quart of manure, and I’ll give you one guess what it will taste like!” You want to focus on the quality of the ice-cream, I on the “essence” of the fertilizer.

____________________________________________________________________

 

“I've been checking back, too. In light of the exposure of the ELCA's historical critical nonsense, I'm in a mood to learn if the Lutheran ideas were doomed from the start, or if the modern issues are of their own creation.”

Posted by: JT | Friday, October 02, 2009 at 12:40 PM

 

 

Answer: Lutheranism, like all the Protestant heresies, was doomed from the start.

 

Luther was doomed from the start - he a priest who renounced his vows, (who married a nun who renounced her vows), he who denied the Real Presence, he who denied the Seven Sacraments, he who denied the totality of the canonical Scriptures, he who denied the veneration of icons and relics, he who denied the existence of Purgatory, he who denied the authority of the successor of St. Peter, he who denied the necessity of good works…AND ON HIS OWN AUTHORITY.

 

I have no idea if you and/or Constantine are Protestant? From the perspective of the Roman Catholic Church, the true Church, Luther was (and his followers are) in gross error.

"And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven." -  Matthew 16:18

Put your trust in Holy Mother Church.

"Father" Roman Polanski would be crucified!

Two wholly correct articles, one from a usually wrong source, on acclaimed child rapist Roman Polanski.

First David Gibson(pic above) at Politics Daily (See: http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/09/29/roman-polanski-what-if-he-were-father-roman/) has a great piece about the double standard between the public attitude towards pedophile director Roman Polanski and towards pedophile priests.

Here are a few salient quotes:

"There is the obvious parallel to the cases in the Catholic Church, which have rightly scandalized the public and the media. Prosecutors and plaintiffs' attorneys have been dogged in pursuing these cases -- whether out of concern for their careers or for justice -- and the outrage was so widespread that the State of California created a one-year window in 2003 during which the statute of limitations on abuse crimes by Catholic priests (and others) was lifted. That meant the victims of men who were often long dead could finally get their day in court, or find some sense of justice and closure -- and for cases that were no more egregious than Polanski's abuse of Geimer. Polanski is alive, at least."

"Comparisons are by their nature invidious. But what if Roman Polanksi were wearing a Roman collar? Would "Monsignor Polanksi" receive the same considerations?"

Especially spot on is Gibson's citing of the egregious slack the entertainment media has/is cutting Polanski.

The Applebaum he refers to below is Anne Applebaum of the Washington Post, pic above.

"Applebaum also protests that the crime was committed so long ago, and that there is evidence of judicial misconduct in the original case, and that Polanski "panicked" and fled out of an "understandable fear of irrational punishment" due to his past traumas. Besides, the guy has suffered enough, no?

"He did commit a crime, but he has paid for the crime in many, many ways: In notoriety, in lawyers' fees, in professional stigma. He could not return to Los Angeles to receive his recent Oscar. He cannot visit Hollywood to direct or cast a film.:"

"If he weren't famous, I bet no one would bother with him at all," Applebaum concludes."

 

The gross depravity of Polanski is clearly demonsrated in the now released grand jury testimony from 1977. I have hyperlinkled a site that republishes it below. (CAUTION - IT IS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC IN CONTENT.)

 

See: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/polanskicover1.html

Finally, the normally wrong source that has gotten it right on this story Is Fr. Thomas Reeese, resident Jesuit modernist at the Washington Post. While he is normally purveying the heresy du jour, on this case he is right.

  

His money quote:

"Imagine if the Knight of Columbus decided to give an award to a pedophile priest who had fled the country to avoid prison. The outcry would be universal. Victim groups would demand the award be withdrawn and that the organization apologize. Religion reporters would be on the case with the encouragement of their editors. Editorial writers and columnist would denounce the knights as another example of the insensitivity of the Catholic Church to sexual abuse.

And they would all be correct. And I would join them.

But why is there not similar outrage directed at the film industry for giving an award to Roman Polanski, who not only confessed to statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl but fled the country prior to sentencing? Why have film critics and the rest of the media ignored this case for 31 years? He even received an Academy award in 2003. Are the high priests of the entertainment industry immune to criticism?"

 

I hope that Polanski is brought to justice, that he is extradited to the United States, and that he is made to serve prison time for the foul act he perpetrated on a very young girl in 1977. The rigour with which some elements of the left are springing up to defend him shows their complete lack of any objective moral standard.

_____________

PS - David Gibson's personal website, http://www.dgibson.com/, which recounts the story of his conversion to Roman Catholicism, is worth a visit.

The Smoking Gun?

See:http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jA-HURgaE8BFz76KPUhO1w-A2EAQD9AQ4KCO0

 

 

 

Cardinal (Mahoney) allegedly

 

delayed report of abuse claim

By GILLIAN FLACCUS (AP) – 19SEP09

LOS ANGELES — A former high-ranking official with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles testified that Cardinal Roger Mahony ordered a subordinate to delay reporting clergy abuse claims to the police until the priest in question could be defrocked, according to court papers filed Friday.

He also decided not to tell parishioners about the allegations, according to the papers.

The claims were contained in a motion filed by plaintiff attorneys in Los Angeles County Superior Court and were based on the recent deposition of former vicar for clergy Monsignor Richard Loomis (Pic above). A transcript of the deposition was attached.

The testimony centers around now-defrocked priest Rev. Michael Baker and a lawsuit filed in 2000 by two Arizona men who alleged sexual molestation by Baker in the mid- to late-1990s.

The archdiocese eventually settled the case for $1.2 million. Baker, who was defrocked later in 2000, was convicted in 2007 of molestation based on the claims of the two men and one other victim and is serving a 10-year prison sentence.

Baker was called earlier this year to testify before a federal grand jury investigating possible criminal wrongdoing by the archdiocese in its handling of clergy abuse cases.

Calls after business hours to two archdiocese attorneys and archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg were not immediately returned. However, in the deposition transcript, archdiocese attorney Don Woods said that because the two alleged victims were adults when they filed their claim, Mahony was not obligated to report it to the police and did no wrong.

In his testimony, Loomis said he told Mahony in a memo that he was going to report the new allegations against Baker to police. Loomis said Mahony initially supported the idea, but later told him — through a secretary — not to do so until the Vatican approved Baker's defrocking.

Plaintiff attorney John Manly said the archdiocese did not report abuse claims to the police until 2002, although Baker was defrocked in December 2000.

Loomis later testified that he wanted to report the new allegations to parishioners who worshipped in parishes where Baker had worked, but was told by Mahony not to do so — an apparent breach of normal church policy. Loomis said the order upset him deeply and he would have resigned if his term wasn't about to end.

"I wanted to follow our regular policy and inform the parishes where Father Baker had been assigned. And I was instructed that we were not going to do that because the lawsuit was still under the process of settlement," Loomis said, according to the transcript.

"I was very upset that we were not going to follow through with our ordinary way of doing it."

Loomis said when he was appointed vicar, his predecessor told him that Baker was treated differently than other priests accused of sexual molestation because he had "self-disclosed."

Baker first told Mahony in 1986 at a priests' retreat that he had molested two young boys from 1978 to 1985, according to church documents. Mahony did not notify police but sent Baker to a residential facility that treated priests for sexual abuse problems.

In the years that followed, Baker was assigned to nine parishes but barred from having one-on-one contact with minors. He violated those restrictions three times, according to church personnel file summaries released by the archdiocese.

Mahony removed Baker from the ministry in 2000 after the Arizona lawsuit.

Baker was charged two years later with 34 counts of molestation involving six victims, but those charges were dismissed in 2003 after the U.S. Supreme Court voided a California law that allowed the prosecution of cases involving acts that occurred before 1988.

However, the allegations by the Arizona men and one other victim allowed prosecutors to file new charges against Baker that fell within the statute of limitations.

In January 2006, the former priest was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport as he returned from a vacation in Thailand and prosecuted.

German nonsense

See: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/10214

Catholic bishop welcomes the challenge of Luther

By Ecumenical News International

13 Sep 2009

The Roman Catholic bishop of Osnabrück in northern Germany has said that the 16th-century Protestant reformer, Martin Luther, offers a "positive challenge" to Protestant and Catholic churches.

"It's fascinating just how radically he puts God at the centre," Bishop Franz-Josef Bode said in an interview with the German Protestant news agency epd, in connection with a service at Osnabrück's Lutherkirche earlier this month, during which he preached on Luther.

Luther, said Bode, had rightly denounced failures in the Church and he had recalled the roots of faith.

Bode described Luther as a "fascinating personality for both churches", noting that the reformer had not intended to divide the Church through the dissemination of his 95 Theses of 1517, but that his teaching had later been exploited by others for their own purposes.

Luther had been more concerned in dealing with the fundamental question of how God turns towards human beings.

In the Church of that era there had been tendencies that contributed to "misunderstandings", said Bode, citing grace and the forgiveness of sins as things that certainly cannot be bought, in a reference to the contemporary practice of the Catholic Church of selling indulgences.

"The focus on Christ, the Bible and the authentic Word - are things that we as the Catholic Church today can only underline," said Bode. He noted that especially with the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church has been able to understand and address in a new way Luther's thought and his esteem for the Word of God.

The Second Vatican Council met from 1962 to 1965 and it led to the Catholic Church accepting for the first time that there could be coexistence of different forms of faith in Christ, said the bishop.

The 50th anniversary of the council in 2015 takes place in the decade preparing for the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation of 2017. Bode said he would work within the German (Catholic) Bishops' Conference to ensure that the ecumenical aspects of the Second Vatican Council are underlined.

Still, said Bode, there remain elements of division between the Catholic Church and Luther. These divisions centre on the understanding that Luther developed from his own experience of the Church, the priesthood and the sacraments.

The Catholic Church would, however, "today deal with such a provocation in a different and a better way," said the bishop.

[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Conference of European Churches.]

____________________

Leaving aside that the source of this story is a news oranization started by European Protestants, a Roman Catholic Bishop in Germany is defending Luther? Ouch!

Bishop Bode may wish to ignore Pope Leo X and his two bulls:

 

 

Exsurge Domine in 1520; and,

 

 

Contra errores Martini Lutheri of 1521.

 

But how can Bishop Bode ignore ?

 

 

There is no more systematic refutation of the vast errors of Lutheranism than the Canons & Decrees of the Council of Trent.

 

And if Bishop Bode were to say, as I think he might from his reported words, that the Second Vatican Council modified or changed any of the doctrinal teachings of Trent, then he is guilty of the same sin as Luther.

 

“for the union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it, for in the past they have unhappily left it. To the one true Church of Christ, we say, which is visible to all, and which is to remain, according to the will of its Author, exactly the same as He instituted it.”

 Pope Pius XI – “Mortalium Animos”

Viewing Mankind as the Problem.

From www.telegraph.co.uk

'Contraception cheapest way to

combat climate change'

Contraception is almost five times cheaper as a means of preventing climate change than conventional green technologies, according to research by the London School of Economics.

By Richard Pindar

Published: 12:05PM BST 09 Sep 2009

"Every £4 spent on family planning over the next four decades would reduce global CO2 emissions by more than a ton, whereas a minimum of £19 would have to be spent on low-carbon technologies to achieve the same result, the research says.

The report, Fewer Emitter, Lower Emissions, Less Cost, concludes that family planning should be seen as one of the primary methods of emissions reduction. The UN estimates that 40 per cent of all pregnancies worldwide are unintended.

If these basic family planning needs were met, 34 gigatons (billion tonnes) of CO2 would be saved – equivalent to nearly 6 times the annual emissions of the US and almost 60 times the UK's annual total.

Roger Martin, chairman of the Optimum Population Trust at the LSE, said: “It’s always been obviously that total emissions depend on the number of emitters as well as their individual emissions – the carbon tonnage can’t shoot down as we want, while the population keeps shooting up.”

UN data suggests that meeting unmet need for family planning would reduce unintended births by 72 per cent, reducing projected world population in 2050 by half a billion to 8.64 million.

The research is published on the day that the Government’s climate change advisers, the Climate Change Committee, warned households and industry that a planned 80 per cent reduction in emissions are likely to prove insufficient."

________

From Thomas Malthus in 1798 to Paul Ehlrich in 1968 to the enviro-wackos of today, human beings are the problem. The 1960's and 1970's cry that the earth's resources would not support population growth, now proven false, is being replaced by an "anti-human" carbon argument.

What will they think of next?

Jeer Jeer at Ol' Notre Dame

 

{Hat tip to Fr. Z - see http://wdtprs.com/blog/2009/09/nds-mcbrien-eucharistic-adoration-is-a-doctrinal-theological-and-spiritual-step-backward/}

Father Richard McBrien, the Crowley-O'Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, priest of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford, paid consultant for the film "The DaVinci Code," and writer for for theNational Catholic Reporter and for The Tidings in Los Angeles, states in a recent essay:

"Eucharistic adoration, perpetual or not, is a doctrinal, theological, and spiritual step backward, not forward."

The full text of his latest heretical bombast may be found at:

http://ncronline.org/blogs/essays-theology/perpetual-eucharistic-adoration

One wonders, how? How can a "priest," a professor of theology at a "Catholic" university, a man vowed to "obedience" to some bishop, publicly attack Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar?

Well first, Fr. Mc Brien teaches theology at a "Catholic" University run by this guy...

 

Our old friend Notre Dame President Fr. John L. Jenkins, CSC with his new friend.

It would seem to me that the one person who can begin to set this right is this man....

The Most Reverend Henry J. Mansell, D.D.
Fourth Archbishop of Hartford

• Ordained December 19, 1962, in Rome
• Appointed Auxiliary Bishop of New York November 1992
• Ordained Bishop by Pope John Paul II in Rome January 6, 1993
• Installed as the twelfth Bishop of Buffalo June 12, 1995
• Appointed Archbishop of Hartford October 20, 2003
• Installed as the fourth Archbishop of Hartford December 18, 2003

I, for my part, am going to write him a letter.

Most Rev. Henry J. Mansell

Archdiocese of Hartford

134 Farmington Avenue

Hartford, CT 06105-3784

and I'm going to pray for Fr. McBrien at my scheduled holy hour (Thursday mornings at 1:00 am) at my local parish where I am proud to say there has been perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for the last 8 years!

Daily Reminders of the Inverted Moral Order

Making the buzz on the internet is a video of purported cruelty at a plant that processes newly born baby chicks.

If you want to see the video it may be viewed at:

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/09/03/warning-baby-boy-chicks-ground-alive-so-you-can-eat-eggs/?icid=main%7cmain%7cdl3%7clink3%7chttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.dailyfinance.com%252F2009%252F09%252F03%252Fwarning-baby-boy-chicks-ground-alive-so-you-can-eat-eggs

Clearly some of the practices shown are not humane. While I do believe in the supremacy of human beings in the natural order (I guess that makes me a speciest in PETA terms) - I also believe that we are "stewards" of this planet which is in actuality the creation and property of Almighty G*d.

If you watch the video, at about 3:05 hear the narrator, in a horrified voice, intone "and here sick, injured, and deformed chicks are removed for destruction..." Is this not precisely what is being done to hundreds of thousands of unborn children in thousands of hospitals and clinics across the United States?

Margaret Sanger must be smiling in whatever pit of Hell she now resides over this fact, her eugenic heart beaming at how all the unwanted and undesirables are being weeded from our gene pool.

Whenever you here President Obama prattle on about liberating "science" from the constraints of Judeo-Christian morality, he's spewing the same vile poison that Sanger was 75+ years ago.

 

What struck me most in watching the video, however, was the knowledge, absolute knowledge, that what is being done to ABORTED CHILDREN so outweighs the inhumane treatment of animals.

I wonder if the making of a video clinically describing what occurs during an abortion process, or perhaps actually filming an abortion, would wake our fellow citizens up?

Undoubtedly such films exist, and are being given no notice by our hedonist media culture.

Relatedly, GE Healthcare is trumpeting the fact that their research using human stem cells will negate the neccessity of experimenting on animals.

See: http://rockstanding.com/2009/07/09/save-rats-kill-people-ge-looking-for-ways-to-further-research/

Finally - "PETA sees the research (human stem cell research) as having the potential to end the vast majority of animal testing."

At times like these, I think of that old Polish saying

-"The Devil has the world by the throat."

Reform of the Reform, Delayed?

 

LITURGY-REFORM Aug-25-2009 (460 words) xxxi

Vatican official downplays report of planned liturgical reforms

By John Thavis
Catholic News Service

"VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A Vatican spokesman downplayed a report that major liturgical reforms are being considered by Pope Benedict XVI.

"At the moment, there are no institutional proposals for a modification of the liturgical books currently in use," the spokesman, Father Ciro Benedettini, said Aug. 24.

He was responding to a report that a document with proposed liturgical modifications, including a curb on the practice of receiving Communion in the hand, had been sent to the pope last April by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments.

The article, published by the newspaper Il Giornale, said the document was a first concrete step toward the "reform of the reform" in liturgy planned by Pope Benedict. It said the congregation proposed to promote a greater sense of the sacred in liturgy, recover the use of the Latin language in celebrations, and reformulate introductive parts of the Roman Missal to end abuses and experimentation.

The article said the worship congregation had voted on and approved the recommendations almost unanimously during its plenary session last March.

The article in Il Giornale said one idea being studied by the worship congregation was a return to celebrating Mass with the priest facing the same direction as the people, known as "ad orientem.""

See the full story at: http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0903816.htm

 

Can true worship be anything but vertical?

Bishop Brown's Bad Boys At It Again...

Knowing that many Orangensis read this blog.........

taken from "California Catholic Daily."

See: http://calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=fb91774c-4941-4da5-93ed-aea80bf03a9e

Published: August 25, 2009

Loretta Sanchez Back

in the Churches

To Promote Obamacare

"The following August 20 email came to California Catholic offices telling of the following appearance by pro-abortion Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez speaking at a parish in the diocese of Orange.

This was listed as a prayer vigil in the St. Callistus Parish Bulletin and as a training on the OCCCO (Orange County Congregation Community Organization) website.

This event occurred at St. Callistus Catholic Church, Garden Grove on Sunday, Aug 2, 2009.

The YouTube videos below show Rep. Loretta Sanchez trashing President Bush while promoting Obama and his universal healthcare and stimulus package. The auxiliary bishop for the Orange diocese, Bishop Dominic Luong, is sitting on at the table right next to Rep. Sanchez. This event occurred at the St. Callistus parish church hall.

The OCCCO is the new ACORN - plastering themselves all over the immigrant neighborhoods of Southern California, inviting Loretta Sanchez to speak, holding their community events in Catholic parishes (with the full knowledge and participation of the Catholic priests and bishops.

From the USCCB document - Catholics in Political Life:
"The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions."

What's the concern?

OCCCO:
Financially supported by the Diocese of Orange (your donations) and the USCCB (your Catholic Campaign for Human Development donations).

Financially supported by the Committee to Re-Elect (pro-abortion) Rep. Loretta Sanchez, diocese of Orange Catholic parishes (your Sunday donations), Georgeanne Lovett (Peace/Justice "pro-life" director for Bishop Brown), Msgr. Urell, and the St. Joseph (Catholic) Hospital.

For a list of Donors, click here.(from their website)

Ten parishes in the Diocese of Orange are "member congregations" who lend their names to this organization, click here.

From their own website: Their Mission and Accomplishments

YouTube videos of the event:
Click here and here.

Please reconsider your donations - and contact Bishop Luong and Bishop Brown (714-282-3000), Fr. Tuyen Nguyen (pastor of St. Callistus - 714- 971-2141 who personally approved this event with Loretta) and your own parishes about this abuse of the Church."

Obama is God's Partner?

From: http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0809/We_are_Gods_partners_in_matters_of_life_and_death.html?showall August 19, 2009 Categories: Healthcare 'We are God's partners in matters of life and death' A reader points out that President Obama's call with the rabbis today  — as recorded in Rabbi Jack Moline’s and other clerics’ Twitter feeds  freights health care reform with a great deal of religious meaning, and veers into the blend of policy and faith that outraged liberals in the last administration. "We are God's partners in matters of life and death," Obama said, according to Moline (paging Sarah Paline), quoting from the Rosh Hashanah prayer that says that in the holiday period, it is decided "who shall live and who shall die." The president ended the call by wishing the rabbis "shanah tovah," or happy new year  — in reference to the High Holidays a month from now. By Ben Smith 04:25 PM

Lawyer Priest Fights Foreclosures

Priest aims to save flock from foreclosure

He prays for parishioners — and negotiates with lenders on their behalf

AP, Wed., Aug 5, 2009

LOS ANGELES - A priest's typical mission is saving souls, but the Rev. John Lasseigne has a more down-to-earth goal — saving homes.

That's like trying to work a miracle in Lasseigne's Roman Catholic parish of Pacoima, a blue-collar corner of the San Fernando Valley where bank sale signs sprout faster than weeds. One in nine homes is in default, making it one of the nation's hardest hit towns in the foreclosure crisis.

"We're talking thousands of foreclosures," said the 44-year-old priest at Mary Immaculate Church. "I was stunned."

Lasseigne has gone from praying for parishioners to lobbying politicians and negotiating with lenders on their behalf. His daily discourse is as likely to include talk of balloon payments and negative amortization as Hail Marys and The Lord's Prayer. Meetings with banks rather than bishops fill his agenda.

Churches of many faiths have responded to the recession by offering credit counseling and job training alongside Sunday school and soup kitchens, and people of the cloth have a long tradition of social activism on many issues.

Graduated from law school

Still, delving into the fine print of mortgage finance may seem highly unusual for someone who will probably never have to worry about buying his own house. Lasseigne, however, is well qualified. Before entering the seminary, he graduated from law school and knew how to read contracts.

That knowledge, a passion for social justice and a priest's role — in a parish so devout that two Masses are said daily and nine on Sunday, all but one in Spanish — have made him the foreclosure-fighting father.

"Works of justice are an integral part of the priesthood," the lanky priest said. "We have to take stands in aiding the needy and denouncing the injustices of society. The financial entrapment that was part of this was unbelievable."

Lasseigne arrived a year ago in Pacoima, a gritty Los Angeles community where 90 percent of the 60,000 residents are Latino. Several families squeeze into shoebox bungalows, gangs roam the streets, and roosters crow in backyards.

Lasseigne learned Spanish in San Antonio, Texas, where he joined the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate who work worldwide with the poor. He had debating joining the priesthood through college and law school.

See the full story at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32307616/ns/us_news-faith/

Shame on the Diocese of Bridgeport!

Diocese takes documents case

to Supreme Court

By Tom Roberts, NCR

"In a last-ditch effort to keep sealed thousands of pages of records dealing with 23 clergy sex abuse lawsuits, the Bridgeport, Conn., diocese is taking its case to the Supreme Court.

Most legal experts say the possibility that the high court, which annually chooses to hear only a tiny fraction of potential cases, would select the Bridgeport case is extremely slim. The court, currently in recess, will not consider the request until it begins its next term in October.

Even so, the move, which follows patterns of extended legal resistance in other key dioceses, highlights the lengths to which the church is willing to go to avoid public disclosure. The documents include letters and testimony indicating how its officials handled the sex abuse crisis.

The move also highlights anew the clash of First Amendment claims between those who contend that the community has a fundamental right to know in cases involving alleged criminal activity, and those who fear that courts, by demanding that the church reveal the documents, are intruding on the guarantee of religious freedom.

At the center of the dispute are more than 12,600 pages of depositions, exhibits and legal arguments relating to some 23 lawsuits involving seven priests. The records were sealed in 2001 when the cases were settled for undisclosed amounts.

Following the settlements, four newspapers -- the Hartford Courant, The Boston Globe, The New York Times and The Washington Post -- petitioned to have the documents released. The documents would presumably reveal details of how Cardinal Edward Egan, recently retired as archbishop of New York, handled the sex abuse crisis during his tenure as bishop of Bridgeport from 1988 to 2000.

Bishop William E. Lori succeeded Egan in Bridgeport in 2001. Egan, testifying in an abuse trial, once famously explained that the diocese could not be held responsible for the activities of clerics because priests were independent contractors.

Interest in documents surrounding the sex abuse crisis is keen, especially among newspapers and abuse victims, because such documentation in the past has often established that bishops were more aware of the nature of the crisis and the danger of sexually abusive priests than they had originally professed.

That was the case in Boston in 2002 when a judge there ordered the release of thousands of pages of documentation regarding the crisis in that archdiocese. Information contained in the published documents enraged Catholics and the wider general public and led to the removal of Cardinal Bernard Law as head of the archdiocese.

A similar furor erupted in Philadelphia after the release of a grand jury report that quoted extensively from volumes of documentation that the archdiocese had kept regarding accused priests who escaped criminal prosecution because the statute of limitations had run out.

In Los Angeles, the church has fought the release of documents for years, even though a settlement in 2002 involving more than 500 abuse cases stipulated that the material would be made public.

In the Connecticut case, the church has failed in its attempts in the state court. The Connecticut Supreme Court, in a 4-1 decision in May, upheld a lower court ruling calling for the release of the files.

The church appealed that decision and asked the state Supreme Court to reconsider, but the diocese was turned down again in July and later that month announced it would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a statement announcing the appeal to the land’s highest court, the diocese said, “The case and the settlement were exhaustively reported on by the media. The attorneys and victims had access to the sealed documents at issue.”

Joseph McAleer, a spokesman for the diocese, had earlier told The New York Times, “Sadly, the history of this case has been about access by the secular media to internal church documents of cases more than 30 years ago to suggest, unfairly, that nothing has changed.”

Marci Hamilton, a church-state specialist who teaches at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in New York, says the church has no First Amendment protection in this case. “There is no First Amendment right of religious organizations to keep such documents secret,” she said in an e-mail response to a question from NCR. “The bishops have repeatedly argued in clergy abuse cases around the country that they should not have to produce records in response to discovery requests because of such an alleged First Amendment right. The courts have routinely rejected such far-reaching claims. The First Amendment was not intended to be a refuge for illegal or licentious behavior.”

Charles Haynes, senior scholar at the First Amendment Center in Washington, is less certain and is concerned that a decision requiring the church to release documents could cross into the area of state entanglement in religion.

In an interview with NCR, he said there are “real questions that have to be raised” in this case regarding both the establishment and the free exercise clauses having to do with religion in the First Amendment. “Under the establishment clause, the government shouldn’t be entangling itself with the church and its internal affairs. Under the free exercise clause, is this interfering with the church’s right to practice its faith the way it chooses without governmental interference? Internal documents are part of what the church is doing as part of its mission. There are serious questions under both clauses.”

He concedes, however, that the church has not done well in the courts with the First Amendment argument when it comes to keeping such records concealed.

The argument from the other side of the First Amendment, that made by newspapers and other groups interested in disclosure, is that “the public has a right to know, and that there’s a high public interest to know what went on -- what role the leadership of the church played given the significance of the cases and how many people were affected by this.”

Haynes said he thinks the possibility that the Supreme Court will consider the case is “very remote.”

“I could be mistaken, but the court takes very few cases to begin with, especially one that has fared so poorly in lower courts. ... I think in the end the church will be forced to release the documents.”

SEE: http://ncronline.org/print/14268

____________________

I don't know much about Bishop Lori of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn. This is him below.

 

Here's part of his write up from the diocesan web page:

"Bishop Lori is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT, and past Chairman of The Catholic University of America.

In 2005, Bishop Lori was appointed Supreme Chaplain of the Knights of Columbus.

Bishop Lori serves as Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine, and is a member of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities and the ad-hoc Committee for the Defense of Marriage."

He sounds like an educated man, pro-life and pro-traditional marriage, but in this instance he is dead wrong.

The Church has to "Come Clean," so to speak.

All of this posturing, legal and otherwise, to protect the corporate wealth and property of the Church further undermines an already shaky public image. 

We can have a Church without buildings, without chancellories, without neo-modernist Cathedral "warehouses" ala Oakland, without corporate helicopters ala Cardinal Mahoney - but we cannot have a Church without good and holy priests to confect the sacraments!

Is this Progress?

Archbishop hails Russian school move, though it excludes Catholicism

By Cindy Wooden, Jul-23-2009
Catholic News Service

" VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Even though the Catholic faith is not included in the project, the Moscow-based Catholic archbishop hailed the Russian government's plan to reintroduce religious education in public schools.

The plan, announced July 21 by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, demonstrates that the anti-religious sentiment that marked Soviet communism no longer dominates society, said Archbishop Paolo Pezzi, head of the Catholic Archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow.

"In my opinion today there is a very strong yearning, a desire to find the meaning of life, including through religion," the archbishop told Vatican Radio July 23. 

Medvedev's pilot program would give the parents of students at 12,000 middle schools in 18 regions of Russia a choice between having their children study Russian Orthodoxy or secular ethics at school. Schools that have a significant number of Muslim, Jewish or Buddhist students would offer courses in those faiths as well.

"As a minority, we are not part of the official plan" for offering religious instruction in schools, Archbishop Pezzi said. "If in some schools the presence of Catholic students was large enough to justify forming a group, we would evaluate the situation and consider asking for this possibility."

Still, he said, even a limited pilot project demonstrates that the government realizes that a full education includes more than reading, writing and arithmetic.

"Even if we are not directly involved," he said, the Catholic Church can assist school administrators and the Orthodox officials designing the curriculum because the church has experience in offering religious instruction in public schools in many European countries.

"Today there is not a generally prejudicial position against the Catholic Church," so the new education project can be an opportunity for Catholics to share their expertise and demonstrate their desire to contribute to the good of Russian society, he said."

END

________________________

Muslin education OK, Jewish education OK, Buddhist education OK, but not Roman Catholic?

The Fall of Capitalism and the Rise of Islam?

Islamic Supremacist Group

Holds First U.S. Conference

Friday , July 17, 2009

Diane Macedo - Fox News

"A group committed to establishing an international Islamic empire and reportedly linked to Al Qaeda is stepping up its Western recruitment efforts by holding its first official conference in the U.S.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is a global Sunni network with reported ties to confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Al Qaeda in Iraq's onetime leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It has operated discreetly in the U.S. for decades.

Now, it is coming out of the shadows and openly hosting a July 19 conference entitled, "The Fall of Capitalism and the Rise of Islam," at a posh Hilton hotel in a suburb of Chicago.

Hizb ut-Tahrir insists that it does not engage in terrorism, and it is not recognized by the State Department as a known terror group.

But some terrorism experts say it may be even more dangerous than many groups that are on the terror list.

"Hizb ut-Tahrir is one of the oldest, largest indoctrinating organizations for the ideology known as jihadism," Walid Phares, director of the Future of Terrorism Project at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told FOXNews.com.

Phares said that Hizb ut-Tahrir, rather than training members to carry out terrorist acts like Al Qaeda, focuses instead on indoctrinating youths between ages of 9 and 18 to absorb the ideology that calls for the formation of an empire — or "khilafah" — that will rule according to Islamic law and condones any means to achieve it, including militant jihad.

Hizb ut-Tahrir often says that its indoctrination "prepares the infantry" that groups like Al Qaeda take into battle, Phares said.

"It's like a middle school that prepares them to be recruited by the high school, which is Al Qaeda," he said. "One would compare them to Hitler youth. ... It's an extremely dangerous organization."

Phares said Hizb ut-Tahrir has strongholds in Western countries, including Britain, France and Spain, and clearly is looking to strengthen its base in the U.S.

"The aim of this conference is to recruit within the Muslim community in America," he said. "The Middle East governments go after them, but in the U.S. they are protected, so having a base here is going to help their cells around the world."

Representatives of Hizb ut-Tahrir declined to comment when contacted by FOXNews.com.

Oren Segal, director of Islamic Affairs for the Anti-Defamation League, said the conference is cause for concern.

"While they're not, for the most part, engaging in violent activities, and they publicly say that they're against violence, there have been examples around the world where people who have spun off of this group have engaged in violent activity," Segal told FOXNews.com. "That's why they're banned in several Arab and Central Asian countries, as well as Germany and Russia."

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is one of the group's most famous alumni, New Statesman journalist Shiv Malik reported, citing intelligence sources. In addition to plotting the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he also is implicated in the World Trade Center bombing of 1993, the Bali nightclub bombings and the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

Malik's report, the public policy institute the Nixon Center and the counter-extremism think tank the Quilliam Foundation agree that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq until he was killed in June 2006, also was once a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir.

They say other former members include Asif Muhammad Hanif, a British man who blew himself up outside a bar in Tel Aviv, killing four people (including himself) and wounding more than 50; and Omar Bakri Mohammed, a radical cleric currently banned from Britain who praised the 9/11 attacks, raised funds for Hezbollah and Hamas and called for attacks on the Dublin airport because U.S. troops transfered there on their way to Iraq.

Segal said Hizb ut-Tahrir is becoming more active online in the U.S. — particularly on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace — and now it may be able to add a significant number of Americans to its ranks."

_________________________________________________________

For the full story see:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,533525,00.html

 

O tempora, O Mores!

"Catholic" surgeon general nominee supports Obama abortion stance, White House says

Washington D.C., Jul 15, 2009 / 07:09 pm (CNA).

"Speculation about whether President Barack Obama’s new nominee for surgeon general is a pro-life Catholic has been circulating in the press and on the internet. On Wednesday, a White House spokesman touched on the matter but only said Dr. Regina Benjamin supports the president on “reproductive health issues.”

 

Dr. Benjamin, a rural Catholic doctor from Alabama, has served on the board of the Catholic Health Association. She  has also received the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice award from the Pope because of her example in her Catholic faith and in her medical profession, Monsignor Michael L. Farmer told CNA on Monday.

 

Msgr. Farmer, rector at the cathedral in Mobile, Alabama. Benjamin had served as a lector there. Acknowledging that he did not “explicitly” know the nominee’s position on abortion and other life issues, he said that to his knowledge she has been “in conformity with the Catholic Church.”

 

The monsignor also expressed hope she would adhere to Catholic moral teaching in a position with the Obama administration.

 

However, White House spokesman Reid Cherlin told McClatchy Newspapers on Wednesday that Dr. Benjamin “supports the president’s position on reproductive health issues.”

President Obama supports legalized abortion, public funding of contraception and “comprehensive” sex education.

 

“Like him she believes that this is an issue where it is important to try and seek common ground and come together to try and reduce the number of unintended pregnancies,” Cherlin continued, according to McClatchy. “As a physician, she is deeply committed to the philosophy of putting her patients' needs first when it comes to providing care.”

 

Dr. Benjamin founded and operated the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic, which does not perform abortions. An unidentified clinic employee told McClatchy that patients seeking information about abortions would be referred to providers in the state.

The surgeon general nominee was also a board member between 1996 and 2000 of Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), an international group that has advocated access to “safe” abortions in its investigations of conditions in some countries.

 

A PHR associate of Benjamin's said that during her time on the board abortion “was never a focus of her advocacy work.”

 

Dr. Benjamin is President Obama’s second proposed candidate for surgeon general. He had previously considered CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who withdrew himself from consideration in March."

 

see: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=16572

________________________________

Let's see if I have read this article correctly? The Diocese of Mobile nominates Dr. Benjamin for the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Award. She is granted the award by the Holy Father. Nonetheless the Rector of the Cathedral in Mobile can state:

"he did not “explicitly” know the nominee’s position on abortion and other life issues..."

Poles protest holy day concert by "Madonna."

July 7, 2009

12:12PM US/Eastern - AFP, worldwide news agency

"A Polish ultra-religious movement Tuesday said it planned prayer sessions to protest a concert by US superstar in Warsaw on August 15, which is when Roman Catholics honour the Virgin Mary.

"We're going to continue our crusade with daily prayer sessions outside Warsaw city hall from August 1," said Marian Brudzynsk, head of the Committee for the Defence of the Faith and Tradition.

"We'll start with a group of a few hundred people, but I'm convinced that the square in front of city hall will end up filled with pious Poles," he said.

Brudzynski, an independent local councillor who previously represented the far-right and ardently Catholic League of Polish Families, has been pushing Warsaw city hall to ban Madonna's first-ever show in Poland.

Concert organisers said the 70,000-ticket event was already all but sold out.

Madonna has often angered faithful Christians in the past not only with her racy shows but also with on-stage antics such as a mock crucifixion scene.

Even though her real first name is Madonna, that also offends some Christians because it is an alternative term for the mother of Jesus, the Virgin Mary.

The Virgin Mary holds a special place for Roman Catholics, who every August 15 mark the Assumption, celebrating her being taken bodily to heaven after her death.

The Virgin Mary is particularly important in Poland, where more than 90 percent of the population of 38 million people are professed Roman Catholics.

Her shrines have long been a symbol of the country's survival in the face of centuries of foreign invasion, and she was even declared queen of Poland 350 years ago. "

________________________________

The choice of the Feast of the Assumption for this concert is no coincidence.

Maryjo, Krolowo Polski,

Jestem przy Tobie, pamietam,

Jestem przy Tobie, czuwam, czuwam

Mary, Queen of Poland,

I am by your side, I remember,

I am by your side, I keep vigil for you,

I keep vigil for you.

"They have no regard for life.."

 

 

Bomb blast near south Philippine cathedral kills 5

By JIM GOMEZ, Associated Press, 05JUL09

"MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Suspected Muslim guerrillas detonated a bomb near a Roman Catholic cathedral in the southern Philippines on Sunday, killing at least five people and wounding 46.

Pope Benedict XVI condemned the attack.

The bomb exploded outside the Immaculate Conception cathedral in Cotabato city as churchgoers were attending Mass. Two people were killed instantly in the attack and three others, including a militiaman, later died in hospitals, military officials said.

Among the wounded were six soldiers and militiamen who were in an army van that passed by the cathedral when the device, fashioned from a mortar round, exploded, Cotabato city Mayor Muslimin Sema said.

The improvised explosive, which was set off remotely by mobile phone, was hidden near a row of food stalls selling roasted pig, Maj. Gen. Alfredo Cayton said. Police arrested one man seen using a phone during the explosion. He was carrying three identification cards with different names, Sema said.

Cathedral guard Nestor Luna said shrapnel flew in all directions, inflicting wounds on his head, arms and feet.

"I wanted to help the wounded, but I felt dizzy and saw my white uniform soaked in blood. Somebody helped me walk away," Luna told The Associated Press by telephone from the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center."

"Whoever did this should know that they hit so many innocent civilians," he said.

At the Vatican,  Pope Benedict XVI deplored the bomb attack.

"While I pray to God for the victims of this ignoble gesture, I raise my voice to condemn yet again the recourse to violence, which is never a worthwhile way to solve existing problems," Benedict told pilgrims in St. Peter's Square.

Chief nurse Norma Reyes said at least seven of the wounded were in critical condition and needed surgery.

TV footage showed four wounded soldiers sitting dazed on the sidewalk and a militiaman lying unconscious, face down on the seat of the shrapnel-damaged van.

Two bodies lay sprawled near the sidewalk while a stunned woman limped out of a food stall, blood dripping from her foot. Soldiers helped the wounded into ambulances with sirens wailing.

Army troops with assault rifles surrounded the cathedral and cordoned off nearby streets, footage showed.

Cayton immediately blamed the 11,500-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has been targeted by a monthslong military offensive in nearby Maguindanao province and outlying regions.

"Nobody has the motive, the capability and the track record to carry out this terrorist attack except" the group, Cayton told The AP.

Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu denied his group was involved and condemned the bombing. He said the rebels would not do anything to foment a religious war.

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Romero Brawner said investigators were trying to determine if the attackers targeted the military van.

"They will hit any place where civilians congregate. They have no regard for life," Brawner said.

A similar bomb went off on a roadside in Datu Piang township in nearby Maguindanao late Saturday, wounding three people in an attack believed to have also been staged by the rebels, Brawner said.

The rebels have waged a decades-long battle for self-rule in the southern Mindanao region, homeland of Muslims in this predominantly Roman Catholic nation.

Malaysian-brokered peace talks between the government and the rebels collapsed last year when a preliminary deal on an expanded Muslim autonomous region fell apart, sparking new deadly clashes that have displaced large numbers of villagers.

Cotabato city, about 545 miles (880 kilometers) south of manila, has  been hit previously by deadly bombings blamed on Muslim rebels and extortion gangs.

A bomb exploded at a Cotabato city bus terminal in February, wounding two people. A 2007 bomb blast at another terminal killed a child and wounded 36 people."

Prima Facie Heresy in Fresno.

hat tip to California Catholic Daily

SEE: http://calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=21446f75-b6f2-4199-b2b3-46d95fd4802e

 

Renegade Catholic Advises

Priests on How to

Fight the Church

Knight of Columbus Targeted

Published: July 1, 2009, California Catholic Daily

"Suspended Fresno priest turned gay activist Father Geoffrey Farrow has called for Catholic priests to retaliate against the Knights of Columbus for their support of Proposition 8.

Farrow was removed as pastor from the St. Paul Newman Center at Cal State Fresno in October 2008 for his outspoken defiance of church teaching over Proposition 8 and the issue of homosexuality.

In a post on his personal blog dated June 4, 2009 “Boycott the Knights of Columbus,” Farrow wrote:

“Many priests have E-mailed me and expressed their rage and anger over the hypocrisy of the Catholic hierarchy in supporting anti-marriage equality legislation…One of the organizations, which the bishops have effectively employed to do their dirty work, has been the Knights of Columbus.”

Farrow then asked “So, what can priests do to fight the anti-gay agenda of the bishops and the K of C?” His first suggestion:

“Borrow the full amount against your Knights of Columbus life insurance policy immediately. Take the check and invest the funds with an LGBT friendly fund. Do not pay back the loan.”

Father Farrow recommends that faithful parishioners be denied the proper use of parish facilities. He reminded pastors that they control the content of the weekly parish bulletin. He urged: “Do not let the K of C publish or announce.“ He encouraged pastors not to allow Knights of Columbus events to be held on church property--even if that would mean “creating” a “program” to occupy available time slots at parish facilities:

“Pastors may grant or withhold permission for organizations to use church facilities for their meetings. Most parishes have very tight facility scheduling. Create a program and tell the K of C they need to meet elsewhere.”

After Farrow was removed from his parish and suspended without pay, he complained that he was not being supported by his bishop. This prompted the “Catechism on Call” blog to write:

“Why would anyone who is faithful to the Gospel and Jesus Christ, actively support a priest who publicly promotes the homosexual lifestyle, which the Catechism of the Catholic Church calls ‘intrinsically disordered?’”

Father Farrow is the scheduled homilist for the “Eucharistic Celebration” at the 2009 Dignity USA Convention which will be held July 2-5 in San Francisco. Other attendees are keynote speaker Richard Rodriguez, a parishioner of Most Holy Redeemer Church in San Francisco, and Fr. Donal Godfrey, SJ, the executive director of campus ministry at the University of San Francisco, who will be conducting an unspecified “workshop.”
_______________________

As a resident of Fresno and a member of the KnIghts of Columbus I am waiting to see Bishop Steinbock's response to this.

If you want to read Farrow's babblings they can be found at:

http://fathergeofffarrow.blogspot.com/

 

Rule Brittannia?

Britain is no longer

a Christian nation,

claims Church of England

Bishop

Britain is no longer a Christian nation and the Church of England could die out within a generation, an Anglican bishop has warned.

By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent
Published: 9:00PM BST 27 Jun 2009

"The Rt Rev Paul Richardson said declining church attendance and the rise in multiculturalism meant that "Christian Britain is dead".

He criticised his fellow bishops for failing to appreciate the scale of the crisis and warned that their inaction could seal the Church's fate.

As one of the Church's longest-serving bishops, the comments by the assistant Bishop of Newcastle are set to fuel the debate over its future.

The General Synod, the Church's parliament, will next month consider proposals to cut the number of bishops and senior clergy amid fears over the Church's finances.

Writing for The Sunday Telegraph, Bishop Richardson said: "Many bishops prefer to turn their heads, to carry on as if nothing has changed, rather than face the reality that Britain is no longer a Christian nation.

"Many of them think that we are still living in the 1950s – a period described by historians as representing a hey day for the established church."

He said that the Church had lost more than one in ten of its regular worshippers between 1996 and 2006, with a fall from more than one million to 880,000.

"At this rate it is hard to see the church surviving for more than 30 years though few of its leaders are prepared to face that possibility," said Bishop Richardson.

Nearly half of the population in England regard themselves as belonging to the Church of England, while seven in ten described themselves as Christian in the last census.

However, the Bishop said that the fall in church marriages and baptisms revealed that Britain was no longer a Christian nation.

The number of babies being baptised has fallen from 609 in every 1,000 at the turn of the twentieth century to only 128 in 2006/7 and church marriages have also dropped.

Bishop Richardson said: "The church is being hit by a double whammy: on the one hand it confronts the challenge of institutional decline but on the other hand it has to face the rise of cultural and religious pluralism in Britain."

He says that the way the Church responds to this will be "crucial in determining whether it will be able to survive as a viable organisation and make a contribution to national life".

"At present church leaders show little signs of understanding the situation. They don't understand the culture we now live in."

The bishop believed it is inevitable that disestablishment will happen and suggests that the Church should take a lead on the issue rather than being dictated to by Parliament.

"Rather than try to cling on to their places in the House of Lords, they should take the initiative by withdrawing, which shows that they appreciate Christian Britain is dead."

Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury has also delivered a bleak assessment of the future of Christianity in this country, claiming previously that Britain's Churches are in such serious decline that if they were shops they would have been declared bankrupt long ago."

See the full story at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/5662294/Britain-is-no-longer-a-Christian-nation.html

___________________________________

This all started long long ago........

 

and there is only one antidote.......

Our Lady of Walsingham, intercede for your English sons & daughters!

Learn from the Poles! - Again

 

Why the Catholic Univ. of Lublin (KUL)

Won't Award an Honorary Degree

to President Barroso

By Paweł P. Reszka

2009-06-19, ostatnia aktualizacja 2009-06-19 07:52

The president of the European Commission will not receive an honorary doctorate from the Catholic University of Lublin. Is the academy afraid the EU wants to force Poland to accept same-sex marriages?

On the 440th anniversary of the Union of Lublin, the KUL was to honour Mr Barroso as well as leaders of the countries that once made part of the

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - the presidents of Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, and an ex-Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus.

Gazeta was the first to report about the plans back in March. KUL spokesperson Barbara Górka confirmed them for Gazeta: 'The award for Mr Barroso is related to the official slogan of the celebrations, "From the Union of Lublin to the European Union."'

In the spring, preparations began at the KUL's Faculty of Law, Canonical Law and Administration for the awarding of the doctorate. Gazeta's sources suggested that the academy had already named internal reviewers. The process was being handled by the Faculty of Law, because Mr Barroso is a lawyer by education.

The faculty was to draw up an official recommendation, which was then to be reviewed by the Senate, which decides on honorary doctorates.

A special Senate meeting during which the decisions were made took place on 4 June. The guests are to receive their honorary degrees on 1 July. But not Mr Barroso. Why?

Father Prof Antoni Dębiński, dean of the Faculty of Law: 'I was informed by the KUL president, Father Prof Stanisław Wilk, that this doctorate wouldn't be awarded. We dropped the matter at that point. I didn't analyse the reasons.'

Ms Górka explains, 'We had received no official confirmation that Mr Barroso would be present on 1 July. Hence the change of the decision.'

Ms Górka adds that in charge of inviting the heads of state and diplomats was the Presidential Chancellery.

But, according to what Gazeta has learned, the president of the Commission hasn't been invited for different reasons. A KUL professor said, 'I think it was behind-the-scenes discussions among the academy's top brass. It was probably about the Lisbon Treaty and certain issues related thereto.'

What issues? Political scientist Prof Marek Pietraś notes that the Polish Episcopate has criticised certain provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, an integral part of the Lisbon Treaty, which Mr Barroso deems his personal success.

'The Church, just like President Leh Kaczynski, criticised the fact that the Charter, a collection of man's fundamental rights, lacks a reference to God,' says Mr Pietraś. 'Other controversial issues included the lack of a clear-cut ban on human cloning and of a precise provision that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman. This could have opened the way to same-sex marriages.'

A year ago, the alleged prospect of poalnd being potentially forced to accept same-sex marriages was mentioned by President Kaczyński in his famous address on the Treaty of Lisbon.

translated by Marcin Wawrzyńczak

See: http://wyborcza.pl/0,86871,4728582.html

_________________________________

God Bless KUL for demonstrating the "intestinal fortitude," or in plain English "guts," to do with President Barroso what Notre Dame University should have done with president Obama.

The crucial difference is that the administrators at KUL love the Church, whereas the Holy Cross Fathers in Indiana view Notre Dame from the standpoint of wealth and corporate power, and how that wealth and power can be used to subvert the Church.

Poland was once historically referred to as "alte murale Christianibus," or the "outer wall of Christendom." Today she may "be" Christendom in its entirety, at least in Europe.

Sign of the Times

PBS Blesses Old Religious

Shows, But Bans the New

By Paul Farhi, Washington Post Staff

Writer
Wednesday, June 17, 2009

"The Public Broadcasting Service agreed yesterday to ban its member stations from airing new religious TV programs, but permitted the handful of stations that already carry "sectarian" shows to continue doing so.

The vote by PBS's board was a compromise from a proposed ban on all religious programming. Such a ban would have forced a few stations around the country to give up their PBS affiliation if they continued to broadcast local church services and religious lectures.

Until now, PBS stations have been required to present programming that is noncommercial, nonpartisan and nonsectarian. But the definition of "nonsectarian" programming was always loosely interpreted, and the rule had never been strictly enforced. PBS began reviewing the definition and application of those rules last year in light of the transition to digital TV and with many stations streaming programs over their Web sites. The definition doesn't cover journalistic programs about religion or discussion programs that don't favor a particular religious point of view.

The vote also means that WHUT, operated by Howard University in the District, won't be required to drop its telecasts of "Mass for Shut-Ins," a weekly Catholic Mass that has aired on the station since 1996 and locally in Washington for more than 50 years.

But, warned by PBS of the upcoming review, WHUT put the program's producer, the Archdiocese of Washington, on notice that it would drop the program if the PBS board voted to ban religious programs. The archdiocese then made alternative arrangements, negotiating a contract with WDCW (Channel 50) to pick up the half-hour program on Sunday mornings."

See the full story at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/16/AR2009061603201.html

____________________________________

I would call your attention to this line in the story:

"The vote by PBS's board was a compromise from a proposed ban on all religious programming."

This is a classic tactic of the Left, to assuage a bad decision by claiming it was a compromise negating a worse decision.

Or as Lenin said:

Two steps forward, one step back. 

Saint of the Gallows

Feast (New Calendar) June 17

Feast (Old Calendar) June 23 (the anniversary of his death)

 

 

 

St. Joseph Cafasso

(1811-1860)

 "Perhaps the most noted part of his public life were the entire days that he spent in the prisons-----preaching, comforting, instructing the unfortunates detained there, and hearing their confessions.

He had gone to the prison in order to prepare the prisoners for the celebration of a feast in honor of Our Lady, and had spent a whole week instructing them and exhorting them. This he did in a large room in which there were forty-five of the most noted criminals. Almost all had promised to go to Confession on the vigil of the feast. But when the day came, none of them could make up his mind to go to Confession. He renewed his invitation, recapitulated what he had said during the week, and reminded them of the promise that they had made. But whether it was through human respect, or the temptation of the devil, or some other vain pretext, none of them would consent to go to Confession. What was Don Cafasso to do?

His ingenious charity and courage found a way out of the difficulty. With a smile on his face he went over to the man who appeared to be the biggest and strongest and most robust among the prisoners, and without saying a word, he caught hold of his luxurious long beard. The man, thinking that Don Cafasso had acted through jest, said to him as courteously as could be expected from such people, "Take anything else from me you like but leave me my beard!"

"I will not let you go until you go to Confession," replied Don Cafasso. "But I don't want to go to Confession," said the prisoner. "You may say what you like, but you will not escape from me; I will not let you go until you have made your Confession," said Cafasso. "I am not prepared," said the prisoner. "I will prepare you," said Cafasso.

Certainly, if the prisoner had wished, he could have freed himself from Don Cafasso's hands with the slightest effort; but whether it was respect for the holy man's person, or rather the fruit of the grace of God, the fact is that the man surrendered and allowed himself to be led to a corner of the room. Don Cafasso sat down on a bundle of straw and prepared his friend for Confession. But lo! In a short time there was commotion; the strong man was so moved by Don Cafasso's exhortation that his sighs and tears almost prevented him from telling his sins.

Then appeared the great marvel; he who had been most vehement in his refusal to make his Confession went to his companions after it was finished and told them that he had never been so happy in his life. He became so eloquent in exhorting them that he succeeded in persuading them all to go to Confession.

This example, merely one out of thousands of its kind, whether we consider it as a miracle of grace on the part of God, or a miracle of charity on the part of Don Cafasso, forces us to recognize in it the intervention of the hand of God. "

(Found at www.catholictradition.org)

Born with a sever deficiency of the spine (for which many babies are today aborted), St. Joseph Cafasso although usually "hunched" over became one of the greatest preachers and teachers of his day.

Near the main prison in Turin where he worked there is a main traffic circle, or rondo, where Pius XII dedicated a statue to him.

 

Creeping Protestantism

 

Finding the “right” mass to go to in the Diocese of Fresno can prove an interesting task. Think Phileas Fogg and you may get some idea of the plethora of mass “types” that can be found in our diocese. Leaving aside the inherent contradiction in the One Holy Roman Catholic Church having a diversity of mass “types,” good solid masses are to be found, both Novus Ordo and Tridentine.

.

Added to this basement layer of liturgical innovation is the true cultural and linguistic diversity o f Fresno. The response has been to have mass in whatever languagess are desirable. This policy means that normally, in the Fresno metro area, that if you want to go to a solid Novus Ordo mass, you better get up early!

 

I don’t know if it’s a Fresno-only phenomenon, but many of the 12 noon masses in town are in Spanish.

In the past I have driven over to Our Lady of Victory Church (pic above) whose 12 noon mass is in English. The youth choir makes up with exuberance anything they are lacking in tonality. The old Monsignor, who is the only priest I’ve ever heard say mass there, can at times be quite eloquent in his sermons.

.

Nonetheless, I’ve noticed two disturbing trends at OLV that I have termed “Creeping Protestantism.”

1.)    Prior to the mass readings, all of the young children in the Church are escorted out of the Church for Bible study. As they leave, the congregants sing a blessing song, with each raising his or her arm ala a Caesarian salute.

2.)    Young people too young to have made their First Communion come up with the communicants, but crossing their arms over their breast indicate to the priest, or Eucharistic Minister, that they want a blessing.

.

 

Without wanting to sound to “vertical” in my ecclesial language –

 WE AS LAY PEOPLE HAVE NO POWER TO BLESS.

.

The one notable exception would be the power a parent has to bless their own child.

.

Priests have the power to bless, abbesses have the power to bless their nuns, superiors have the power to bless the members of their order, but a standard lay person has no such authority.

.

In 1997, the Vatican came up with an instruction entitled "On Certain Questions Regarding the Collaboration of the Non-Ordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of the Priest.” It reads in part:

"Article 6 -- Liturgical Celebrations”

"§ 1. Liturgical actions must always clearly manifest the unity of the People of God as a structured communion. Thus there exists a close link between the ordered exercise of liturgical action and the reflection in the liturgy of the Church's structured nature. This happens when all participants, with faith and devotion, discharge those roles proper to them.”

"§ 2. To promote the proper identity (of various roles) in this area, those abuses which are contrary to the provisions of canon 907 are to be eradicated. In Eucharistic celebrations deacons and non-ordained members of the faithful may not pronounce prayers -- e.g., especially the Eucharistic prayer, with its concluding doxology -- or any other parts of the liturgy reserved to the celebrant priest. Neither may deacons or non-ordained members of the faithful use gestures or actions which are proper to the same priest celebrant."

This is in sync with the Code of Canon Law where it reads:

“Can. 907 In the celebration of the Eucharist, deacons and lay persons are not permitted to say the prayers, especially the Eucharistic prayer, nor to perform the actions which are proper to the celebrating priest.”

I have noticed more and more, with the hand holding during the Our Father, and the wanton word-smithing with the Agnus Dei – a spirit of frivolous and extemporaneous innovation.

 

 

How many of us have seen other worshippers beginning to mimic the priest in hand gestures, and the actual words of the mass? I know I have with alarming regularity.

 

__________________

Oh for the good old days of pre-conciliar clericalism – where priests were priests, nuns were nuns, and heretics were scared!

Hostility of the Perverse

I recently bought a copy of the Navarre Bible - Gospel & Acts. It is wonderful! Its commentary is edited by Opus Dei Fathers of the University of Navarre, its approach to Sacred Scripture is so markedly different from the USCCB version I had used previously, that I'm at a loss to synopsize it.

Simply put - THE NAVARRE FATHERS VIEW SACRED SCRIPTURE AS SACRED.

Recently while meditating I came upon the text of John 15:19 which reads:

"If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."

.

They offer the following commentary from Pope Saint Gregory the Great (pic above):

“The hostility of the perverse sounds like praise for our life because it shows that we are an annoyance to those who do not love God; no one can be pleasing to God and to God’s enemies at the same time. He who seeks to please those who oppose God is no friend of God; and he who submits himself to the truth will fight against those who strive against the truth.”

In Ezechielem homiliae, 9.

_____________

This was true in the time of Pope St. Gregory the Great,

and exponentially so now!

Wilbur, Wilbur, Wilbur!

The Diocese of Orange just can't stay out of the news.

Over at Patrick Madrid's Blog (http://patrickmadrid.blogspot.com/) old Monsignor Wilbur Davis (pic above) has made it into the news again.

"You Call This "Maturity"? - May 26, 2009

I respond here to a letter-to-the-editor from a Catholic priest which appeared in the Daily Pilot. The letter's headline is: "Mature Catholics Welcome Obama," referring to the recent controversy over the University of Notre Dame's decision to confer an honorary doctorate on the President of the United States, who just  happens to be an implacable foe of the Catholic Church's teaching that abortion is a grave moral evil.

The obvious implication of the headline [most likely chosen by the Pilot editors] is that Catholics who did not approve of this stunt are "immature." That would include, of course, the 70+ U.S. Bishops and 350,000+ other Catholics who publicly denounced the Notre Dame debacle. According to the Pilot and, presumably, the priest who wrote the following letter, they are the immature ones, and those who laud Notre Dame's actions are the ones exhibiting "maturity."

The author of the letter to the editor is a Monsignor Wilbur Davis, a priest in Southern California. "

 ________________

A few years ago old Wilbur was in the news when some of his e-mails were leaked.

 

In his brilliant article, The roots of the Catholics' scandal, Orange County Register commentator, Steven Greenhut wrote:

"A 1998 letter from the diocese's current vocations director, Fr. Wilbur Davis, to Director of Communications Msgr. Lawrence Baird, also deals with topics in the Bulletin. Fr. Davis depicted Catholic Family Radio as extremist. He called Mother Angelica, the TV nun who offers kind-hearted but traditional Catholic opinions, an apostle of 'religious intolerance and arrogance.' He criticized one of the nation's well-respected traditional Catholic colleges [Franciscan University of Steubenville] as 'the home of Catholics United for the Faith, a pathetic organization of bitter people.' (The roots of the Catholics' scandal, by Steven Greenhut, Orange County Register, June 9, 2002)"

 _____________________

Back in 1988, Davis locked horns with then Orange Bishop Norman McFarland.

 

"MAY ALL BISHOPS BE SO BOLD: In late March, Bishop Norman McFarland of the diocese of Orange sent a letter to Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-46th District), who is running for re-election, telling her she could not continue to address Catholics from the pulpit. The bishop's letter warned Sanchez, a staunch pro-abortionist, that it is "incumbent upon you to give witness to the consistent ethic of life that should animate all conduct, but most especially political conduct." The bishop said he was "becoming increasingly alarmed by your visits, I want to share with you my inquietudes in this matter before more public gestures on my part become necessary."

"Beginning in early March, Sanchez made the rounds of parishes, including at least four in the Orange Diocese. According to parishioners at St. Boniface in Anaheim, Sanchez was introduced from the pulpit by the pastor, Monsignor Wilbur Davis. He introduced her as a fellow Catholic but made no reference to her pro-abortion stance or her support of President Clinton's veto of the partial-birth abortion ban. Sanchez appeared at St. Callistus church in Garden Grove on Respect Life Sunday. According to one parishioner, when she confronted the pastor, Father Rudolph Preciado, with Sanchez' pro-abortion stance the next day, he told her that most priests are too busy to keep up with current events."

(See: http://www.sdnewsnotes.com/ed/notes/0698note.htm)

 

___________________________

 

And this guy was the vocations director in

Orange for eight (-8-) years?!

Who is Sonia Sotomayor?

Winston Churchill once described the Soviet Union as a "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." I thought of this quote as I began to preliminarily read about President Obama's pick to replace Justice Souter at the SCOTUS - namely Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

Over at www.Beliefnet.com, Steven Waldman wrote this:

Get Ready For: "Is Sonia Sotomayor A Bad Catholic?"

Tuesday May 26, 2009

First published May 5, 2009
From a raw political point of view, it's hard to top Sonia Sotomayor to be Obama's appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. She's Hispanic, a key group that Obama won over and must keep. She's a woman and, though liberal, was appointed by a Republican.

I haven't been able to determine whether she's Catholic, but she's Puerto Rican (most of whom are Catholic) and went to Catholic schools as a child.There already are five Catholics on the court but they're all conservative so they haven't been attacked for being bad Catholics (i.e. being pro-choice despite the church's teaching).

But pro-choice Catholics face a different obstacle course. As John Kerry and Kathleen Sebelius can attest, if you're a pro-choice Catholic, you will be challenged not only on whether you're a good public official but also whether you're a good Catholic.

If Sonia Sotomayor is Catholic, and pro-choice, we may get a wave of discussion about whether the Supreme Court justice should be denied communion.

 

At www.acandidworld.net you'll find this:

"Those scrutinizing potential nominee Sonia Sotomayor, though, will discover a dearth of real evidence on the subject (though that hasn’t stopped some of her detractors). Judge Sotomayor appears to have participated in only two cases seriously implicating the right to choose, with neither giving a strong sense of Judge Sotomayor’s position:

• Center for Reproductive Law & Policy v. Bush, 304 F.3d 183 (2d Cir. 2002). Plaintiff public interest organization challenged the “Mexico City Policy,” a.k.a. the “global gag rule” and its provisions stripping U.S. aid to foreign NGOs advocating for or performing abortions. In an opinion by Sotomayor, the court dismissed the case for lack of standing, rightly so.
• Port Washington Teachers’ Association v. Board of Education, 478 F.3d 494 (2d Cir. 2007). Plaintiff teachers challenged a school district policy, which suggested teachers should report student pregnancies to the student’s parents. In an opinion which Sotomayor joined, the court dismissed the case for lack of standing, noting that, because the policy was not mandatory, objecting teachers wouldn’t be fired for “violating it.” Again, the court is strictly correct. "

___________________

While we don't yet know who Judge Sotomayor is (on the issue of abortion) WE DO KNOW WHO PRESIDENT OBAMA IS AND WHAT HIS POSITION IS AS REGARDS UNBORN LIFE!

There is no way on G*d's green earth that this President is going to nominate anybody to the Supreme Court who does not embrace, fully embrace, the cult of death on the issue of abortion.

If Judge Sotomayor's position(s) are unknown, this is a purposeful tactical choice on the part of the President to get her through the confirmation process.

G*d Save Our Republic!

Abortion Conversations In Wonderland with Fr. Kenneth Himes, O.F.M.

Fr. Kenneth Himes, O.F.M. is the “Chairperson” of the Theology Department at Boston College.  [Side comment: Chairperson?  That's a word now?  Political correctness and inclusive language definitely beautify and improve the English language, don’t you think?  My favorite sort of inclusive language involves avoiding the use of the pronoun “He” in reference to God, as in: “God knows what God is doing”.  Yes, He does know, but people who talk like that don’t know how intellectually challenged they sound when they trip all over themselves to avoid masculine pronouns by saying things like that.]

Back to Fr. Himes...

Some readers may remember Fr. Kenneth Himes' brother, Fr. Michael Himes, from an article in the December 2000 issue of the Los Angeles Lay Catholic Mission (now California Catholic Daily) titled: Theology In Wonderland – Teacher Training In Orange Diocese

The article describes the use of a video titled “Tradition” narrated by Fr. Himes.  The video is essentially an excursion into the “hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture" that has plagued Catholicism since the Second Vatican Council.

Well, now Fr. Kenneth Himes is in the spotlight, undermining Tradition, just like his brother, but this time, Fr. Kenneth Himes is doing it by criticizing Catholics who opposed the invitation to Barack Obama to deliver the commencement address and receive an honorary degree from Notre Dame.

I found these quoted excerpts at Ann Coulter.com in the "Quotations From Chairman Ann" section:

Expert On Demonization Condemns Demonization - From James Taranto in the WSJ (Under "It Takes One To Know One")

The [Boston] Globe notes that not all Catholics are unhappy with Notre Dame's plan to give the president an honorary degree:

"There are some well-meaning people who think Notre Dame has given away its Catholic identity, because they have been caught up in the gamesmanship of American higher education, bringing in a star commencement speaker even if that means sacrificing their values, and that accounts for some of this," said the Rev. Kenneth Himes, chairman of theology department at Boston College.

"But one also has to say that there is a political game going on here, and part of that is that you demonize the people who disagree with you, you question their integrity, you challenge their character, and you brand these people as moral poison. Some people have simply reduced Catholicism to the abortion issue, and, consequently, they have simply launched a crusade to bar anything from Catholic institutions that smacks of any sort of open conversation."

Now read this 2006 Associated Press dispatch: Nearly 100 faculty members at Boston College have signed a letter objecting to the college's decision to award Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice an honorary degree. The letter entitled "Condoleezza Rice Does Not Deserve a Boston College Honorary Degree," was written by the Rev. Kenneth Himes. . . .

"On the levels of both moral principle and practical moral judgment, Secretary Rice's approach to international affairs is in fundamental conflict with Boston College's commitment to the values of the Catholic and Jesuit traditions and is inconsistent with the humanistic values that inspire the university's work," the letter said.

Himes, it seems, is an expert on demonization.

My thoughts:

Although it would be easy to focus on Fr. Kenneth Himes' apparent blatant partisan hypocrisy, that wasn't my primary concern.  I couldn't help but wonder what sort of "open conversation" with people who actively promote and defend the "right" to legal, elective abortion Fr. Himes envisions?

I suspect Fr. Himes isn't fond of this passage from St. Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians:

Do not be yoked with those who are different, with unbelievers. For what partnership do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?  What accord has Christ with Beliar? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?  What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said: "I will live with them and move among them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people.  Therefore, come forth from them and be separate," says the Lord, "and touch nothing unclean; then I will receive you and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty." (2 Corinthians 6:14-18)

Now that's a conversation killer!

For decades, heterodox priests and Catholic "educators" like Fr. Himes have been abusing their positions within the Church by undermining Catholic doctrine and leading countless souls into the theological wonderland that is easily discovered after entering through the wide gate and following the broad, well-trodden path of laxity, self-indulgence, and rationalization.

Please include Fr. Himes in your prayers.