Red, White, and Blue in the Face!

Direct Attack on the Catholic Church

john — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 20:16:35 +0000

A direct attack against the very “soul” of the Catholic Church in the United States has been mounted by the ACLU. On July 1, 2010 the ACLU sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid saying

We write to inform you about potential violations of the Emergency
Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), 42 U.S.C. § 1395dd,
and the Conditions of Participation of Medicare and Medicaid (COP), 42
C.F.R. § 482.13, by religious hospitals that refuse to provide emergency
reproductive health care. Religiously affiliated hospitals are not exempt
from complying with these laws, and cannot invoke their religious status to
jeopardize the health and lives of pregnant women seeking medical care. To
the contrary, the federal laws mentioned above protect patients’ right to
receive emergency reproductive health care. The government
unquestionably has a significant interest in ensuring that these laws are
enforced in order to protect women’s lives and their health. We therefore
ask you to not only investigate the matters discussed herein and take
appropriate action under the above-mentioned laws, but that you also clarify
in the appropriate CMS program manual, and issue a transmittal, that
denying emergency reproductive health care violates federal law.

Religiously affiliated hospitals across the country inappropriately and
unlawfully deny pregnant women emergency medical care.

(Read the entire letter)

As I read the letter it became obvious that the only hospitals in America that the ACLU have a problem with are “Catholic-owned” hospitals. Now I will agree that anyone who reads the ACLU letter will be horrified at the examples given – there are 3. Three patients out of millions that more than 500 Catholic hospitals around the country provide medical care to. The ACLU wants to shut down these hospitals or force them to perform abortions. My guess is the ACLU would much prefer the hospitals be closed – another Catholic institution out of the way. This is extremely dangerous and is the direct result of Catholics in our Congress and Catholics in our population who do not believe that what the Church teaches is true and who refuse to stand up for their faith over the immediate rewards offered by the satanic forces who are at work in these matters.

What is in peril here is not simply the Catholic Hospital but in point of fact Freedom of Religion. Catholic hospitals are Catholic for a reason and one of those reasons has to do with the sanctity of all life and the belief that the killing of an unborn child is an intrinsic evil that cannot be condoned. The ends do not justify the means – one may not commit an evil in order that a good may be the outcome. This is a religious belief the Church has taught consistently. If the ACLU has its way this is the death knell for freedom of religion in the United States, but more specifically the destruction of the Catholic Church as an authoritative moral voice in the public square.

Let me get something off my chest — I don’t believe for a moment that the ACLU has the best interests of our Republic in mind, never mind our Constitution. I believe, in fact, that they are interested in just the opposite – the tearing down of the Republic, the United States of America, and the literal shredding of our Constitution. As a part of that agenda the eradication of religious freedom seems to be high on their task list. My sense of the ACLU and its members is that they are virtually all part of or associated closely with the Progressive movement and the Progressive twin, the Socialist/Marxist/Communist whatever you wanna call ‘em folks. The ACLU a danger to America and to the Catholic Church. What the ACLU is doing is also what most, if not all, the Obama administration officials are looking to accomplish – the transformation of our country into something you won’t recognize as America.

Mary, Mother of God, pray for us!

(H/T RealCatholicTv.com)

It’s clear – Progressives are running scared

john — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:32:10 +0000

and are in such fear of losing their opportunity to “transform America” that the Democrat leadership in the House and Senate have managed to pull yet more legislative coup d’etats.

Campaign Finance Disclosure – The Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act, otherwise known as H.R. 5175 was passed late Thursday afternoon. What can I say about this one! The Progressives in the administration have been salivating at the prospect of putting a muzzle on their political opponents. The Supreme Court decision that corporations have a right to give money to election campaigns definitely put a burr under the progressive donkey’s saddle and had to be dealt with. In fear of losing their political majority and thus endangering the progressive agenda, Dems have voted to apply pressure on political opponents by requiring them to disclose all of their campaign contributors. In order to get the bill passed some conservative Dems had to be placated by amending the bill to eliminate disclosure requirements for organizations that have more than 1 million members, have been in existence for more than 10 years, have members in all 50 states and raise 15 percent or less of their funds from corporations.

Then, while the rest of America slept (many of us fitfully)

Finance reform – the House and Senate Democrats worked through the night to reach agreement on Finance Reform legislation (loving called the Dodd-Frank bill). Given the progressive bent of Obama’s administration and it’s tight-fisted control over the Democratic members of our legislative branch this bodes no good for the United States.

In a quote reminiscent of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s comments on the TARP bill, Rep. Chris Dodd said

“No one will know until this is actually in place how it works. But we believe we’ve done something that has been needed for a long time. It took a crisis to bring us to the point where we could actually get this job done.”

So now the Progressive movement in America has their finger firmly on the pulse of the economy and if this Progressive movement remains true to the Progressive principles we are in for an economic gutting. As they ram “redistribution of wealth” down our throats Obama’s administration and his minions in the Democratic party are effectively putting a knife to our economic throat and saying “you’ll do it our way”. It’s difficult to believe but the Democratic Party has been completely and effectively hijacked by the Progressive minority (yes, I still believe that the majority of Dems are liberal but not progressive, they’ve just proven themselves to be primarily spineless).

Get the hell out . . .

john — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 23:46:26 +0000

Today, Hearst News Service officially confirmed that Helen Thomas, their White House correspondent, is “retiring”.

Ms. Thomas, though a respected journalist for decades, managed to bring her reputation crashing down around her ears when she responded to a request for “any comments on Israel”. Helen responded “Tell ‘em to get the hell out of Palestine”. When asked where they should go she said they should go back to Poland, Germany, and the United States (in other words the old “go back where you came from” line).

I remember as a boy living in North Carolina – not the deep South nonetheless I recall hearing adults say within my hearing that those “_______s should go back to Africa where they came from”. My parents both born and raised in the South did their best to counteract what their children heard about race and about religion. We Catholics weren’t well liked and were definitely a minority — John Kennedy’s bid for president really brought out the worst in folks regarding their anti-Catholicism down there. I remember kids I didn’t even know (and how did they know I was Catholic?) coming up to me in the lunchroom to say their parents were worried that if Kennedy was elected he’d bring the Pope over to run the country or that we’d all be forced to worship idols. Nevertheless, I was astonished at the coldhearted behavior many of my fellow school students reflected (no doubt learned from their parents and others in their families).

Despite the lessons of history ignorance still abounds. Kennedy was elected and my fellow Americans weren’t forced to convert, worship idols, or swear an oath of fealty to the Pope in Rome. So too, the Civil Rights act was passed without causing the country to fall into the trauma predicted by the nay sayer’s.

The history of the Jewish people in the Middle East is as old as any other people there. To deny that you may as well also be a holocaust denier! The Israelis have every right to defend themselves and to maintain security for their country. How can we expect mutual respect and tolerance from Israel’s neighbors who have NEVER afforded the Israelis that respect and tolerance. For decades the Israelis had no objection to Arabs living, working, and prospering in Israel. Somehow though this wasn’t enough. The anti-Semitic voices never quieted, never stopped and the Israelis have done their best to defend themselves against almost constant threats and attacks.

Yes, Helen Thomas apologized but read the apology

“I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians, they do not reflect my heart-felt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance. May that day come soon.”

Can that day come when ignorance and racism are steadfast bedfellows throughout most of the planet? Can respect and tolerance ever come to the fore when there are people willing to believe and speak aloud what Helen Thomas couldn’t keep herself from blurting out in public? Perhaps there should be a U.N. sponsored nation created for bigots and racists and they should be forced to get the hell out and move there.

God help us.

In all things charity . . . sigh

john — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:19:28 +0000

(1 Corinthians 13:13) And now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity.

How to be charitable toward Ms. Pelosi is becoming more of a dilemma. By now the news has made the rounds of the usual blogs and internet spots that Madam Speaker is, once more, laying out her faith for all to see and hear. I will say that her latest statement is simply nonsense.

CNS News: At a May 6 Catholic Community Conference on Capitol Hill, the speaker said: “They ask me all the time, ‘What is your favorite this? What is your favorite that? What is your favorite that?’ And one time, ‘What is your favorite word?’ And I said, ‘My favorite word? That is really easy. My favorite word is the Word, is the Word. And that is everything. It says it all for us. And you know the biblical reference, you know the Gospel reference of the Word.”

“And that Word,” Pelosi said, “is, we have to give voice to what that means in terms of public policy that would be in keeping with the values of the Word. The Word. Isn’t it a beautiful word when you think of it? It just covers everything. The Word.

“Fill it in with anything you want. But, of course, we know it means: ‘The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us.’ And that’s the great mystery of our faith. He will come again. He will come again. So, we have to make sure we’re prepared to answer in this life, or otherwise, as to how we have measured up.”

“Fill it in with anything you want”? For a charitable point of view you can always read what The Anchoress has to say (and she says it well).

Pelosi simply defies explanation. On the one hand she’s a devout Catholic but on the other hand believes that women “have the right to choose” (that choice of course is to kill an unborn child by procuring its abortion). Nowhere to my recollection does Catholic teaching allow for this and it doesn’t make a difference how devout your faith! The closest thing I can find in Church teaching is:

Assuming that the guilty party’s identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.

If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people’s safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.

Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm – without definitely taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself – the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity “are very rare, if not practically non-existent.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2267)

This paragraph of course addresses the death penalty – not abortion. Abortion is dealt with in a different tone:

Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law:

You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish.

God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes. (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2271)

and

Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. “A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae,” “by the very commission of the offense,” and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law. The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society.(Catechism of the Catholic Church 2272)

and

From its conception, the child has the right to life. Direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, is a “criminal” practice (GS 27 § 3), gravely contrary to the moral law. The Church imposes the canonical penalty of excommunication for this crime against human life. (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2322)

Oh, there was a small nugget of sense in what Speaker Pelosi said . . . “So, we have to make sure we’re prepared to answer in this life, or otherwise, as to how we have measured up.”

In all things charity except towards the unborn child I guess.

Don’t forget to remember!

john — Mon, 31 May 2010 20:56:57 +0000

In the United States this is a long holiday weekend – it’s Memorial Day. We tend to fill the weekend with activities including picnics, beach (or lake) trips, shopping . . . well, you get the picture. One thing many of us tend to forget is why we have this holiday at all — indeed, forgetting that is exactly why more emphasis needs to be put on remembering it! We’re not honoring Veterans today – that comes in November, it isn’t Armed Forces Day — that was last weekend (third Sat in May). No, this holiday was created to remember those men and women of our Armed Forces who died in service to our country. In an effort to counteract the “3 day weekend” mentality that has watered down Memorial Day and turned it into nothing more than a beginning of summer spending spree weekend.

In 2000, the White House Commission on Remembrance was established as “ an independent, non-partisan government agency, established by Congress in 2000, that encourages Americans to honor the sacrifices of our fallen and their families. The < ?xml:namespace prefix =”” st1 />Commission asks each of us to Live Honoring America’s Fallen everyday by giving back to the Nation and to unite in the National Moment of Remembrance at 3 p.m. each Memorial Day.”

So as we Americans enjoy this weekend retreat from our normal lives, stop and remember just why we are able to enjoy the liberties we do enjoy in this country that, by all rights, should never have come to be but for the selfless bravery of a few good men and women. Yes, many of us claim these liberties, but we must never forget that they were won and have been preserved for us so far by a minority — the few who have chosen to serve and offer themselves for their country.

May God bless America and may America choose to give God His rightful place in our country.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Written by Lt-Colonel John McRae (1915)

Every faithful mother is a saint

john — Fri, 14 May 2010 19:00:08 +0000

No matter how many children she may have each mother who faithfully loves and cares for her children the best she is able is a candidate for canonization in my book. Included in this category of mothers are those who are mothers twice – they raise their own children and then, for whatever reason, end up raising their grandchildren too. All around the planet we can find mothers and grandmothers, hard at work caring for homes and families and so many of them are doing it alone. Some, I’m sure, are operating solely on the grace of God, wondering how bills will be paid or food will be obtained. All around us, mostly “invisible” to us there are women who sacrifice their lives willingly for their families, who do anything for their families to ensure their well-being and to see that they grow up knowing a proper sense of “values”. For the most part these mothers have “a tough row to hoe” (as my great-grandmother would have said). The “civilized” world is pressing hard on the family these days — the cost of living is largely beyond the means of one income and those who need assistance in one form or another find the red tape and bureaucracy almost more than a human can bear. The devil is doing his best to tear the family apart and in the USA it seems as though he’s getting more than his fair share of cooperation.

One such mother, Kristin Luscia, is blogging about this at “11 On My Own” and the story she tells is nothing short of incredible. I could never begin to put up with what she’s put up with or persevere and she is persevering and against odds I cannot fathom. It would seem, reading her blog posts, that there is nothing going her way, nothing working in her favor, yet she continues to hang on — the photo in this post shows why. What a beautiful group of children.

I first got wind of this mother and her dilemma when she applied to have her blog listed on the Saint Blog’s Parish Directory, which I maintain. Normally I make a quick check of a new blog to ensure that it is what the applicant purports it to be — Catholic. I rarely have the time to spend much time on any one blog but I recall being mesmerized by the posts this woman wrote detailing the trials and tribulations of her and her children’s lives. I listed her blog and soon the memory was very faint. Then on the Tuesday, May 11th edition of Catholic Exchange I saw a book review entitled “11 On My Own” – the recall was instantaneous – this was a book written by the mother of 11 who blogged at the site by the same name! She had written a book! I immediately contacted her and asked if it would be okay to use the photo from her site in a blog post. She kindly said yes and here I am finally getting to it a few days later. In only 3 days time though her ex (she refers to him as “tbj”) has managed to threaten her publisher with a lawsuit and caused them to pull her book from sales. Incredible. Wherever this man is getting his money from it is clear that he’s willing to use his money to cause this mother as much trouble and heartache as he possibly can and is unwilling to use any of it in support of his family. This guy epitomizes the term “Deadbeat Dad”.

Kristin and many, many mothers like her need our prayers and support.

Happy Mother’s Day

john — Sun, 09 May 2010 12:35:16 +0000

and may God bless each and every Mother who, by whatever means they have and with God’s grace, stick by their children and care for them as best they are able.

Here, in Central New York, this Mother’s Day morning it’s snowing. This is the 2^nd time in the 20 years I’ve lived here that I’ve seen snow on Mother’s Day!

Let us pray . . .

john — Thu, 06 May 2010 12:32:30 +0000

In the United States it is a National Day of Prayer. I recently posted this prayer and felt it was appropriate to re-post.

Blessed be God, blessed be His Holy Name!

Almighty God, Father of all nations and peoples these are days of shame for us and for our nation. Hear our pleas and prayers for the United States of America. Our nation grand and glorious sustained through generations past by the lifeblood of those whose faith in You never flagged is sorely tried now by its faithlesness. We who profess belief in God as Creator and Guardian of all that is good have not turned our backs but certainly have turned our faces while Your Holy Name has been mocked, spat upon, and dragged through the mire of the public square. How we have allowed ourselves such shameless, faithless cowardice we cannot rightly expalin, nevertheless we turn to you O God and beg your mercy on us and on our people. There is nowhere we can turn but to You and no one who can truly bring good from our sin but You. In times past men have raised their hands and hearts to heaven seeking Your aid, Your strength, and Your guidance and hearing them you responded in the Fullness of Your Love. We pray in thanksgiving for all the sustenance You have given to make this nation great among all nations in times past and we thank You for keeping it in Your Loving Hands. If we but remain faithful to You, to Your Word, to Your commandments we will remain in Your care but it is painfully true that only You can give us the fortitude and right judgement even for the smallest acts of faith and Christian love. In thanksgiving we bow low to You, sovereign Lord, and beg Your help for us, for our nation, for the world who look to us in many ways as we look to You. Help us, strengthen the faith of those who have even the slightest of faiths; with Your Love soften the hardened hearts of those who demean Your Name; with Your Love open the eyes of those who do not see Your gift in the unborn child; with Your Love help us to heal the wounds that we ourselves have rendered, bring us together in Your Name and for Your purpose. Help America and all who truly believe that it is only in Your Holy and Blessed Name that true freedom and justice will prevail. Give us Your strength and courage, Your wisdom and fortitude, Your counsel and mercy and help us stand for You that we may not, for the sake of our own false pride, fall from You.

Our prayers rise to you O God with the souls of those little ones we have abandoned to die at the hands of the merciless who deceive the frightened, the desperate, the unloved, the injured and who convince them that death will bring them life. Change every heart, send Your Holy Spirit to convert the faithful to greater faith and the faithless to begin a faith.

Lord God hear us as we beg Your Love, Your Justice, Your Mercy upon us and our nation. Hear us as we pray in the Name of God the Son, the Name above all Names, the Name of Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior to all mankind.

How is defending the Church

john — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 01:18:16 +0000

defending child abusers?

Over the past week I’ve had two occasions where I was accused of defending child abusers when what I was doing was defending the Holy Father and the Church.

What did I say? I simply told the truth — the Church always has been, is, and always will be a target for anyone and everyone who wants to do what is right in their own eyes and not what the Church teaches is right. Freedom for them is freedom to do as they please not to do what is right. The awful fact is that many of those who rail against the Church and repeat false and scandalous charges are passing themselves off as Catholic.

Facts are facts and the facts are that despite the likelihood that Catholic priests are actually in the minority of abusers the media reports and the hue and cry make it appear as if Catholic priests are the ONLY abusers! I’m not going to rehash the stats — anyone with an internet connection can get all the stats they need — but I will say this. The fact is that the Church is an easy target and is being heavily targeted by forces that actually believe they can take her down and out. It ain’t gonna happen folks. Those who would have the Church in ruins (whether they pretend to be Catholic or not) are obviously not believers otherwise they’d know the simple truth.

What’s the simple truth? That the Church is the work of Jesus Christ who is its head and who has promised that His Church will prevail until the end of time. And so it will. Popes, Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, Religious, lay, theologians, the good, the bad, the ugly, the saintly, the satanic will all pass away with time but the Church that Christ founded and to whom He willed His Body and Blood will outlast us all.

Shame on us who are so quick to believe the worst — at the first hint of reporting against Pope Benedict most of us never even read the story, just gasped at the headlines and immediately declared the Holy Father’s conviction a done deal. Shame on us for falling victim to and then joining in on the slander and calumny.

Shame on us. Pray, pray that we may not undergo the trial. Pray for the Holy Father for he *is* undergoing the trial.

Purification, Healing, Irony

john — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 23:23:27 +0000

The Church is beginning a process of purification and healing. The beginnings of the purification are slowly but surely being seen in Europe and Ireland — Bishops who failed to protect their flocks have resigned, some I’m sure unwillingly, but the evidence has left them no choice. In the United States we’ve seen nothing to indicate the same has happened here but I am praying that before long we will see the resignations of clergy, be they Cardinal or Bishop, who failed to properly shepherd their flocks and, for whatever reason, allowed the wolves to have their way. Pray that anyone responsible for permitting the continued abuse of children who were in the trust or custody of the Church will, if appropriate, be dealt with in the justice system, at the least be made to resign if they do not do so willingly. I fail to find sympathy in the “we were told they could be cured” story. There were those who believed that but there were also those who knew better. Why were the voices of common sense ignored? Why were men allowed to prey and hurt time and time again without being punished, without being removed? I pray the purification will continue and will spread around the world because this is not simply isolated to the U.S., Germany, and Ireland – I am certain more will be revealed and will show that these people were everywhere. But only with a purification will we have healing. When one person wrongs another and the wrong is as serious as these abuses have been the response must be to say you are sorry and to make amends in any way possible. The only way the leadership of the Catholic Church in the United States is going to protect the credibility of the Church is to respond in a way they may well abhor — admit they did wrong and, if their culpability is great enough, resign their positions and retire. Only then will we begin to heal the many wounds the sexual abuse scandal has caused in the Body of Christ, His Church.

The irony in my title concerns an anniversary– the 50th anniversary of “The Pill”. Under normal circumstances I probably wouldn’t even have been aware of this “anniversary” but it happened that I saw an op-ed piece in today’s NY Times online (and for the life of me can’t remember why I was even looking at the NY Times in the first place) titled “Promises the Pill Could Never Keep”. The title intrigued me – could this actually be a piece proclaiming the truth about contraception and in the NY Times to boot? Nope, not a chance. Sadly, the woman who wrote the piece hasn’t a clue what “The Pill” has done, the damage it has wrought. Even more, she doesn’t understand that the damage its done and the promises it didn’t keep are merely symptoms of a larger problem. Ironically, the author of this piece celebrates “The Pill” because

In spite of all the missed predictions, there were at least two people who understood the pill’s revolutionary potential from the beginning: Margaret Sanger, who had first imagined a contraceptive pill in 1912, and Katharine McCormick, a wealthy feminist — both elderly women who had been advocates for women’s rights since the early 20th century, and who teamed up in the 1950s to bring the pill project to fruition. Sanger and McCormick financed the research and found the scientists to conduct it. (emphasis mine)

The irony is that the author completely misses the connection between what’s happening now in the Church and in the world and the results of the release of the “The Pill” onto an unsuspecting world.

May God have mercy on us.