Some are insisting that the USCCB's unfortunate love affair with collectivism is an example of Bishops being incapable of talking outside of spiritual affairs. If they actually referred to Church teachings on subsidiarity and considered the cancerous relationship they maintain as lapdogs of collectivism and the price to integrity they pay when they align themselves with liberal platforms, no doubt, they'd be well within the bounds of their spiritual and temporal authority. No doubt, many of the Bishops do appeal to a kind of backwater, Jim Jones style spirituality when they support Democratic National Committee talking points.
It's fair to say that the USCCB is in many respects politically liberal and that they've always failed to maintain an independent voice with respect to economics and politics, as when they drafted a letter against Nuclear Armament with the now disgraced perjuring embezzler Archbishop Rembert Weakland and Cardinal Bernardin or when earlier in the century, the liberal Archbishop Ireland supported American Imperialism in the Spanish American War and the temperance movement. This demonstrates a clear history [George Weigel, Wanderer] of the Catholic hierarchy in the United States historical committment to liberalism in opposition to actual Church teaching in this regard.
The opposition of the Bishops to so-called Health care Reform has hinged primarily upon the issue Abortion, and now, with some last minute concessions by their Democratic masters, many of them will acquiesce and endorse the rest of the bill. Of course, the concessions will be ineffective in the long run and will no-doubt include concerns about the health and welfare of the mother and cases of rape or incest.
The American Catholic leadership, which has always had a subservient role to American Government, have a long way to go before they cut the purse strings that make them little more than puppets of an increasingly national Catholic Church.
See Bishops Back Abortion Compromise...
According to Lifesite News, Archbishop Rigali has only praised the Stupchak amendment to the Bill, disincluding abortion coverage and supporting the unborn. However, the Secretary of the USCCB for pro-life secretariat says he still insists that they are for "Healthcare Reform".
Link here...
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Arms merchant's wife, Nancy Lugosi-Pelosi wants access to your Children
Most people wouldn't trust this woman to watch their children. Don't allow the government to turn your community into a medical petri dish.
During the 90s, Harvard Medical School was using the Austian National Health Service as a source of medical experiments for proceedures as part of a study to get them approved in the United States; some patients lived, others died.
This is the kind of high-handed contempt that awaits us at the hands of mad scientists looking to patent new proceedures and make some lucre.
Link to Catholic Family News...
Increasing numbers of Traditionalist Clergy point to Restoration underway in France [Pastor in Valle]
This article on Pastor in Valle cites some of the stats for the declining number of priests in France and the increasing number of Traditional priests. He speculates that the number of Traditional seminarians would be greater if they had the benefit of Diocesan structures.
Asphyxia on its way
1. The number of French diocesan priests working in France is fewer than 9000. For a number of dioceses, (Digne, 25 priests, Nevers, 38, Auch, Saint-Claude, Gap, Digne, Viviers, Verdun, Pamiers, Langres, etc) in ten years time the number of priests in active ministry will be ten at the most. In Bishop Gueneley’s diocese of Langres, the most liberal of French dioceses, one frequently finds one sole priest for 60 churches.
2. The number of seminarians has now fallen below the mark of 750 (740 in 2008, and this number includes a good hundred seminarians from non-diocesan communities). Pamiers, Belfort, Agen, Perpignan, &c, have no seminarians.
3. The number of ordinations remains fewer than 100 (90 in 2009—Paris, which is one of the best situated, had 10, 2 for the Emmanuel Community; 7 are predicted for 2010, and 4 for 2011)
4. 120 vocations have been declared for the class beginning in 2009.
The conclusion is dramatic: a third of French dioceses will cease to exist but will have to regroup within the coming 15 years.
Yet the majority of bishops, above all Archbishop Vingt-Trois, do not despair. Despite everything, the Church remains visible; she remains alive despite appearences. Archbishop Vingt-Trois has given a marvellous example of ‘visibility’ which was heard on Radio Notre-Dame (interview of 5th November): in a parish without a priest, the laity got themselves together to say the Rosary in a village hall: there they also had the idea of cleaning the church to recite the rosary in; so, nothing is lost; this church will live again…
Entire article...
Asphyxia on its way
1. The number of French diocesan priests working in France is fewer than 9000. For a number of dioceses, (Digne, 25 priests, Nevers, 38, Auch, Saint-Claude, Gap, Digne, Viviers, Verdun, Pamiers, Langres, etc) in ten years time the number of priests in active ministry will be ten at the most. In Bishop Gueneley’s diocese of Langres, the most liberal of French dioceses, one frequently finds one sole priest for 60 churches.
2. The number of seminarians has now fallen below the mark of 750 (740 in 2008, and this number includes a good hundred seminarians from non-diocesan communities). Pamiers, Belfort, Agen, Perpignan, &c, have no seminarians.
3. The number of ordinations remains fewer than 100 (90 in 2009—Paris, which is one of the best situated, had 10, 2 for the Emmanuel Community; 7 are predicted for 2010, and 4 for 2011)
4. 120 vocations have been declared for the class beginning in 2009.
The conclusion is dramatic: a third of French dioceses will cease to exist but will have to regroup within the coming 15 years.
Yet the majority of bishops, above all Archbishop Vingt-Trois, do not despair. Despite everything, the Church remains visible; she remains alive despite appearences. Archbishop Vingt-Trois has given a marvellous example of ‘visibility’ which was heard on Radio Notre-Dame (interview of 5th November): in a parish without a priest, the laity got themselves together to say the Rosary in a village hall: there they also had the idea of cleaning the church to recite the rosary in; so, nothing is lost; this church will live again…
Entire article...
Editor of Remnant defends Homeschooling at Argument of the Month
Our debaters for this month’s Debate will be Michael Matt and Dr. Kevin Ferdinandt
Mr. Matt’s central claim is that the Homeschool movement is “fighting back” in terms of serving both as an important alternate option to Catholic School education and as a safe-guard for depositing Catholic tradition and identity. Dr. Ferdinandt, though sympathetic toward homeschooling, provides a voice of opposition to Mr. Matt’s claim; Dr. Ferdinandt highlights the benefits of Catholic School education, and points out key liabilities of the homeschooling movement.
Link here...
Mr. Matt’s central claim is that the Homeschool movement is “fighting back” in terms of serving both as an important alternate option to Catholic School education and as a safe-guard for depositing Catholic tradition and identity. Dr. Ferdinandt, though sympathetic toward homeschooling, provides a voice of opposition to Mr. Matt’s claim; Dr. Ferdinandt highlights the benefits of Catholic School education, and points out key liabilities of the homeschooling movement.
Link here...
Archbishop Dolan tries to get Youth involved with Indifferentism
Two of New York’s most respected spiritual leaders joined hands on Nov. 5 at Fordham University, calling for an active intra-religious agenda to combat the world’s ills and to strengthen young adults’ engagement with their faiths.
Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, the leader of Archdiocese of New York City, and Arnold M. Eisen, Ph.D., seventh chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, acknowledged a secular crisis that sees generations of faithful teenagers and young adults in America drifting away from the religions of their birth.
Quoting from a United States survey released last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, Archbishop Dolan said the Catholic Church is retaining about 68 percent of its members, while the Jewish faith is retaining 76 percent.
Read more...
Friday, November 6, 2009
Tom Monaghan doesn't want people to know about his Pro-Abortion Benefactor
Things just keep getting deeper and deeper for him. First he fires Father Fessio SJ, from his position at Ave Maria as Chaplain, then Pizza Magnate Tom Monaghan bans Wanderer reporter from covering a $4 Million investment by pro-abortion "fiscal conservative" Tom Golisano.
See Avewatch here...
Another article by Roman Catholic World...
See Avewatch here...
Another article by Roman Catholic World...
Episcopalian Bishop Smith of Arizona talks about Pope's offer.
This response by Episcopalian Bishop Smith with commentary from Virtue On Line indicates that Bishop Smith has no leg to stand on when it comes to orthodoxy and is really banking on getting converts to his church based on the moral and doctrinal equivalency he shares with prevailing and declining mores of modern society. The salt has truly lost its savour.
Of all the commentary appearing on blogs and in Anglican cyberspace regarding the Pope's recent offer of a safe harbor to traditionalist Anglicans, none has appeared more inane, muddled and downright inaccurate than that of the Rt. Rev. Kirk S. Smith, the Episcopal Bishop of Arizona.
Here is what he said:
SMITH: I've been waiting a few days to make any comment on the recent invitation from Pope Benedict XVI to disgruntled Anglicans to become Roman Catholics.
VOL: First of all, these Anglicans are hardly "disgruntled". What they are wanting is to be faithful to Scripture, tradition and reason at a time when the Episcopal Church is unfaithful to Scripture, has virtually wiped out all tradition, and is being totally unreasonable over property issues.
SMITH: This current invitation is a bit different in that those going to Rome have been promised that they can maintain their Anglican ways (Prayer book, etc) and even have oversight by former Anglican bishops. Still those priests and bishops will be ruled by the Vatican.
VOL: That's precisely why the Pope set it up this way rather than giving them a Personal Prelature as he did Opus Dei. Anglicans would retain their Anglican identity rather than simply being absorbed like the Borg. It is exactly why they wanted their own bishops and at least one group - the Traditional Anglican Communion - has accepted the offer.
SMITH: The reason dissenting Episcopalians left our church is because they don't like control.
VOL: Nonsense. It has nothing to do with control. Episcopalians left to to go to Rome, the AC-NA and countless other Anglican jurisdictions because they no longer believe TEC upholds the faith once for all delivered to the saints. It has nothing to do with control. And speaking of control, there is no bigger control freak than Katharine Jefferts Schori who has assumed papal like powers in deposing bishops and controlling what bishops do over orthodox parishes that want to leave with their properties. She has said she would sooner sell them to saloon keepers than to faithful Anglicans. Who's controlling who here?
SMITH: I doubt many of them would be anxious to trade in their current relative independence for orders from the Chair of St Peter.
VOL: You have just contradicted yourself, Bishop. You just said that conservatives left because they didn't like control? Now you're saying that they will be trading in their "relative independence" to take "orders from the Chair of St. Peter." Which is it Bishop Smith? You can't have it both ways.
Read further...
Pernicious Maoist influence in Nepal
More news about the usual ineptitude in countries affected by communist governments or influence. The Maoists in Nepal are bent on destroying the country and we can't think of any other way of seeing it than that powers outside of the country wish to erase the national history of a people as an experiment and an imperialistic motivation.
Those who burn the country by fire but talk of New Nepal are traitors. The country can run only on the bases of causes and effects. Politics without ideology has no meaning. In Nepal, so called parties Congress, UML and Maoists have no idea how to run the Nepal. Unless and until we are honest, the country would not get anything whatever you talk on idealistic and improved constitution. None of the parities or leaders was honest to nationality and democracy since 1990 (2047 BS). They thought the movement for democracy was just to rise in power, earn money, loot the country and get more personal facilities. Globally, the state has been constructed in two ways, either by dictating the people or by self motivated participation of people. In the world, some wonderful jobs have been done even by dictating the people. However the time has passed for dictators. Nothing can be obtained by imposition in national politics. The popular movement of 2005 (2063 BS) has been converted to a betrayal. In the name of construction of constitution, Congress, UML, Maoists and Madheshis are committed to demolish all established symbols, identities and beliefs of the nation. Apart to mandate of popular movement, Nepal's existence has been made endangered.
Read further...
Archbishop Nienstedt on the new Translations of the Roman Missal
The new translations will emphasize the role of the priest in persona christi and rather than muting the prophetic, priestly and royal imperatives in the prayers which the current 1985 translation does, it will be more close to the original translations of the prayers and the mind of the Church. Rather than watering down, it becomes more declarative, forceful and instructive. Prayers accomplish what they ask, and if they're asking for vague, subjective statements, they lose their significance and power.
One of the principal goals of the Second Vatican Council was to initiate a reform of the Sacred Liturgy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archbishop John C. Nienstedt
The goal of this reform was not a matter of simply revising texts. Even less was it a matter of abandoning the treasured traditions of the past. Rather, at its heart, the liturgical reform of the council was a divinely inspired desire to foster within us, the People of God, a renewed love of the liturgy, the source and summit of our Catholic way of life.
Praying the liturgy
The goal of “active and conscious participation of the faithful” in the liturgy, so central to authentic liturgical reform, is not so much a matter of merely doing more things, but rather of actively internalizing and, in short, praying the liturgy.
Tremendous successes have been made in realizing this crucial goal, while much work remains. The church continues to invite all of her members to make her own liturgical life the source and summit of their lives, as she prays with Christ, in Christ, and through Christ in this service of love that is the liturgy.
In a matter of a few short years to come, the English-speaking church will receive a historic text that marks a special moment in the continuing implementation of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. This text is a new English Roman Missal, more commonly known as the Sacramentary.
Read further...
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Jihadist Gunman kills American Troops in Fort Hood
Ever eager to be fair minded and get all sides of the story, the New York Times is eager to deflect speculation that this is related to the man's religion and superior loyalties to Islam over those of the country which is his home. There were two interesting and incredible comments in the New York Times article covering this tragedy. Feeling bullied about one's religion is an everyday occurance for a Catholic:
"There is no evidence, however, to suggest the attack was linked to terrorism, he said."
"The New York Times reports that Hasan felt he was harassed because he was a Muslim. CNN said he was being tracked by the federal government because of inflammatory views about suicide bombings expressed on the Internet."
Link to the rest of the New York Times article.
October 1974 Scita Et Scienda: The Dwarfing of Modern Man
This timely essay on Scientism addresses the inabillity of specialists to really think outside of their disciplines and highlights on of the critical tragedies of our education system that most people are for all intents and purposes uneducated and therefore, predisposed to be irreligious.
Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn was educated at the Theresianic Academy in Vienna and received his Ph.D. from the University of Budapest. He has taught history at Beaumont College (England), Georgetown University and Chestnut Hill College, was head of the department of history and sociology at St. Peter's College, and taught Japanese at Fordham University. Since 1947 he has devoted himself to writing, traveling, and further studies.
Imprimis Article here...
Ernst Junger: Anarch und Katholik
Alle wegen fuhrt nach Rom. bei Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn was educated at the Theresianic Academy in Vienna and received his Ph.D. from the University of Budapest. He has taught history at Beaumont College (England), Georgetown University and Chestnut Hill College, was head of the department of history and sociology at St. Peter's College, and taught Japanese at Fordham University. Since 1947 he has devoted himself to writing, traveling, and further studies.
Imprimis Article here...
Ernst Junger: Anarch und Katholik
Alle wegen fuhrt nach Rom. bei Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
Egyptian Security Arrests Several Christians for Praying At Home
Egypt (AINA) -- On October 24, 2009 Egyptian State Security arrested a Christian Copt in the village of Deir Samalout, Samalout, Minia province, for praying "without a license." He was held in prison for two days before being released on "compassionate grounds." Maurice Salama Sharkawy, 37 years old, had invited Pastor Elia Shafik, to conduct the sacrament of the 'Anointing of the Sick' for his sick father, who had suffered a stroke. State Security broke into his house while the prayers were ongoing, handcuffed Maurice, put him into a police car and took him to a police station for interrogation.
Read more...
Read more...
This offer was 400 years in the making
A brief overview of English History and the Relations of the English Church with Rome with surprising and accurate conclusions by Cardinal Kasper. The prayer for Christian Unity Week was actually begun in 1908.
Fr Michael Rear says that new provisions for the reception of Anglicans should not surprise those who are familiar with English history
Cardinal Kasper addressed the Anglican bishops at Lambeth, pointing out the difficulty this presents. " In several contexts, bishops are not in communion with other bishops; in some instances, Anglican provinces are no longer in full communion with each other." How can the Catholic Church maintain a dialogue for organic unity with an Anglican Communion so divided in itself? The ARCIC conversations were inevitably downgraded to cooperation and friendship, but are still most important for all that, and more so now when relations are under strain.
For there are very large numbers of Anglicans, like the allegedly 400,000 Anglicans of the Traditional Anglican Communion, and others no longer in communion with their diocesan bishops, who have separate "episcopal visitors". Many of these have earnestly requested Rome to complete the ARCIC process with them. This put Rome on the spot. Cardinal Kasper referred to the dilemma at the Lambeth Conference in 2008.
Read entire article...
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor has strongly defended Pope Benedict XVI's decision to extend a hand to Anglicans wishing to enter communion with Rome but maintain their identity.
Read more...
Uganda Witch Doctors Banned from Advertising on Radio in Uganda
Ugandan witch-doctors have used radio up to now to advertise their healing powers. However, this could soon be a thing of the past. The government's ethics minister, James Buturo, has said that radio stations are contravening the 1957 Witchcraft Act and "...are promoting witchcraft-related activities to the detriment of Uganda's integrity".
Witchcraft remains a major problem in Uganda and the government is keen to stamp out its promotion in the country. Radio, with its huge audiences, is key to its plans.
Link...
Witchcraft remains a major problem in Uganda and the government is keen to stamp out its promotion in the country. Radio, with its huge audiences, is key to its plans.
Link...
Scotish Gay Rights Activists Sentenced for Pederasty
EDINBURGH, Scotland, November 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An influential gay rights activist and youth group leader, and another homosexualist activist, have been jailed for life for their involvement in the largest pedophile ring ever uncovered in Scotland.
James Rennie, one time co-coordinator of the homosexual rights group LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) Youth Scotland and a former teacher, and Neil Strachan, the former secretary of a Celtic boys club and campaigner on homosexual issues, were convicted in May on charges including sex attacks on children, conspiring to abuse children, and possessing and distributing child pornography.
Rennie and Strachan were the ringleaders of the pedophile network which was uncovered in 2007 after an intensive police investigation, codenamed Operation Algebra.
The investigation led to the arrest of six other men besides Rennie and Strachan, and to the seizure of over 125,000 images and videos of child abuse.
Rennie, 38, was convicted of 14 offenses, including molesting a young boy who was left occasionally under his care by friends over a period of more than four years, beginning when the child was three months old. Rennie was sentenced to life with a minimum of 13 years behind bars.
Read further...
James Rennie, one time co-coordinator of the homosexual rights group LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) Youth Scotland and a former teacher, and Neil Strachan, the former secretary of a Celtic boys club and campaigner on homosexual issues, were convicted in May on charges including sex attacks on children, conspiring to abuse children, and possessing and distributing child pornography.
Rennie and Strachan were the ringleaders of the pedophile network which was uncovered in 2007 after an intensive police investigation, codenamed Operation Algebra.
The investigation led to the arrest of six other men besides Rennie and Strachan, and to the seizure of over 125,000 images and videos of child abuse.
Rennie, 38, was convicted of 14 offenses, including molesting a young boy who was left occasionally under his care by friends over a period of more than four years, beginning when the child was three months old. Rennie was sentenced to life with a minimum of 13 years behind bars.
Read further...
Grow up Canada keep the Monarchy
[Toronto Star] It has been argued that Canada will only grow up when it gets rid of the monarchy. I would turn his edict around: accepting the existing constitutional arrangements with respect to our head of state is a mark of growing up.
Even if you believe, as I do not, that a non-monarchical republican head of state would serve Canada better, think of the constitutional turmoil the country would have to go through to make this change.
Read further...
Even if you believe, as I do not, that a non-monarchical republican head of state would serve Canada better, think of the constitutional turmoil the country would have to go through to make this change.
Read further...
Former Bishop Fernando Lugo dismisses Commanders admid Coup fears
CNN) -- Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo on Wednesday ordered the replacement of top military commanders, a day after publicly dismissing rumors circulating the capital about a military coup.
The announcement came from the armed forces themselves, not the president's office.
In his capacity as commander-in-chief, Lugo named replacements for the heads of the army, air force and navy, according to a statement from the armed forces.
Read further...
The announcement came from the armed forces themselves, not the president's office.
In his capacity as commander-in-chief, Lugo named replacements for the heads of the army, air force and navy, according to a statement from the armed forces.
Read further...
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Sympathetic Film of Opus Dei's Founder: "He who Loves is Free"
British film director, Joffe, who makes claims to be politically neutral in his portrayal of Opus Dei will nevertheless make a sympathetic portrayal of the founder and organization of Opus Dei. The director is not known for historical accuracy or political neutrality in "The Mission" which was decidedly a kind of homage to liberation theology at the time it was made when Communists in Central America were attempting to wrest control of the government of El Salvador and successfully took control of Nicaragua which became a source of oppression for the Miskito Indians and openly attempted to destabilize other countries in the region as well.
Although his depiction of a selfish liberal journalist in "The Killing Fields" was interesting, it might be hard to watch this film as it will portray St. Josemaria Escriva's controversial relationship with a young Jewish girl whom he advises not to become Catholic so as not to upset her parents.
Yet the subtitle is interesting, "who loves is free", might indicate a more promising and truthful portrayal than we might have expected. It will be ready for release next fall.
LONDON (Reuters) – If Opus Dei had a rough ride in the blockbuster movie based on Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code," it looks set for an altogether more sympathetic portrayal in another film that deals with the Catholic organization
British director Roland Joffe, renowned for Oscar-nominated "The Killing Fields" and "The Mission," is making "There Be Dragons," a film set during the Spanish Civil War that focuses in part on the life of Opus Dei founder Jose Maria Escriva.
Principal photography is complete, and Joffe is now in the editing room aiming to have the movie, which stars Bond girl Olga Kurylenko, ready for theatres by autumn next year.
Joffe originally intended to turn down a project which, owing to its religious theme and Opus Dei's controversial profile, promises to draw closer scrutiny than the average film.
In The Da Vinci Code, Opus Dei was cast as a secretive cult that resorted to murder to defend a fictional, 2,000-year-old Catholic cover-up. It has also been criticized by church liberals suspicious of its power and reach and by estranged members telling of coercion and corporal mortification.
But when he saw a video of Escriva addressing a large crowd, Joffe changed his mind.
The priest, who was made a saint in 2002, was asked by a Jewish girl if she should convert to Catholicism. Knowing it would upset her parents, Escriva told her that she should not.
Read further...
Although his depiction of a selfish liberal journalist in "The Killing Fields" was interesting, it might be hard to watch this film as it will portray St. Josemaria Escriva's controversial relationship with a young Jewish girl whom he advises not to become Catholic so as not to upset her parents.
Yet the subtitle is interesting, "who loves is free", might indicate a more promising and truthful portrayal than we might have expected. It will be ready for release next fall.
LONDON (Reuters) – If Opus Dei had a rough ride in the blockbuster movie based on Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code," it looks set for an altogether more sympathetic portrayal in another film that deals with the Catholic organization
British director Roland Joffe, renowned for Oscar-nominated "The Killing Fields" and "The Mission," is making "There Be Dragons," a film set during the Spanish Civil War that focuses in part on the life of Opus Dei founder Jose Maria Escriva.
Principal photography is complete, and Joffe is now in the editing room aiming to have the movie, which stars Bond girl Olga Kurylenko, ready for theatres by autumn next year.
Joffe originally intended to turn down a project which, owing to its religious theme and Opus Dei's controversial profile, promises to draw closer scrutiny than the average film.
In The Da Vinci Code, Opus Dei was cast as a secretive cult that resorted to murder to defend a fictional, 2,000-year-old Catholic cover-up. It has also been criticized by church liberals suspicious of its power and reach and by estranged members telling of coercion and corporal mortification.
But when he saw a video of Escriva addressing a large crowd, Joffe changed his mind.
The priest, who was made a saint in 2002, was asked by a Jewish girl if she should convert to Catholicism. Knowing it would upset her parents, Escriva told her that she should not.
Read further...
Undaunted Dominican Communist Nun Ceases Her "Minisrty"
Nun decides to suspend activism for abortion rights after a rebuke by her order
Wed 04 Nov 2009 By Manya A. Brachear Tribune reporter
For decades, Sister Donna Quinn has championed [sic] the rights of women to use contraception, seek ordination and end unwanted pregnancies. The Dominican nun has picketed for abortion rights in Washington, petitioned the pope for a female archbishop and escorted women into abortion clinics.But as the Vatican turns up scrutiny of the nation's nuns and U.S. Roman Catholic bishops refuse to support universal health care if it covers abortion, Quinn has put her crusade on hold. "I want to be clear that this is my decision," she said in a statement Tuesday, saying she would suspend her role as a peacekeeper outside the ACU Health Clinic in Hinsdale. "Respect for women's moral agency is of critical importance to me, and I look forward to continuing to dialogue with our congregation on these matters as a way of informing my actions as well as educating the community."On Tuesday, the Wisconsin-based Sinsinawa Dominican order announced that Quinn had been reprimanded for escorting patients into a Hinsdale clinic that provides abortions."After investigating the allegation, congregation leaders have informed Sister Donna that her actions are in violation of her profession," Sister Patricia Mulcahey, head of the Sinsinawa Dominicans, said in a statement. "They regret that her actions have created controversy."Quinn said the order's announcement only served to stir more controversy. A private meeting to discuss her position had been set for later this month, she said. "I am disappointed that the process agreed upon was circumvented," she said. "As a peacekeeper, my goal is to enable women to enter a reproductive health clinic in dignity and without fear of being physically assaulted. ... I am very worried that the publicity around my presence will lead to violations of every woman's right to privacy and expose them to further violence." [Crocodile tears]The sudden rebuke highlights the tension in America's women's religious communities, now targeted by two sweeping Vatican investigations. Quinn's activism was no secret. But in years past, Dominican leaders have come to her defense.The primary example was in 1984 when the Vatican instructed religious orders to dismiss nuns who refused to retract their claim that Catholics held a range of opinions on abortion rights. Instead, the leaders talked to Vatican officials and resolved the issue with no ousters of nuns. But that was a different era, said Sister Beth Rindler, co-coordinator of the National Coalition of American Nuns, a group of nuns who push for women's ordination, gay rights, abortion rights and an end to war. [Like one of those Japanese Marines found still fighting WW2 on a desert island, she's still fighting those old battles from the 60s. She probably hasn't received real orders from her KGB handlers in years] "We're standing with her very much. We consider her one of our prophets," said Rindler, a Franciscan Sister of the Poor. "She's standing with women who she believes can make good moral decisions."But Mary-Louise Kurey, director of the Chicago archdiocese's Respect Life Office, said Quinn's efforts to shield women from abortion opponents at clinics pose harm. "I feel really sad because these are individuals who are trying to help women and those actions are profoundly misguided," Kurey said.Quinn showed no signs of changing her ways Tuesday."I take this opportunity to urge those demonstrating against women who are patients at the Hinsdale Clinic, whom I have seen emotionally as well as physically threaten women, to cease those activities," she said. "I would never have had to serve as a peacekeeper had not they created a war against women.". mbrachear@tribune.com
Wed 04 Nov 2009 By Manya A. Brachear Tribune reporter
For decades, Sister Donna Quinn has championed [sic] the rights of women to use contraception, seek ordination and end unwanted pregnancies. The Dominican nun has picketed for abortion rights in Washington, petitioned the pope for a female archbishop and escorted women into abortion clinics.But as the Vatican turns up scrutiny of the nation's nuns and U.S. Roman Catholic bishops refuse to support universal health care if it covers abortion, Quinn has put her crusade on hold. "I want to be clear that this is my decision," she said in a statement Tuesday, saying she would suspend her role as a peacekeeper outside the ACU Health Clinic in Hinsdale. "Respect for women's moral agency is of critical importance to me, and I look forward to continuing to dialogue with our congregation on these matters as a way of informing my actions as well as educating the community."On Tuesday, the Wisconsin-based Sinsinawa Dominican order announced that Quinn had been reprimanded for escorting patients into a Hinsdale clinic that provides abortions."After investigating the allegation, congregation leaders have informed Sister Donna that her actions are in violation of her profession," Sister Patricia Mulcahey, head of the Sinsinawa Dominicans, said in a statement. "They regret that her actions have created controversy."Quinn said the order's announcement only served to stir more controversy. A private meeting to discuss her position had been set for later this month, she said. "I am disappointed that the process agreed upon was circumvented," she said. "As a peacekeeper, my goal is to enable women to enter a reproductive health clinic in dignity and without fear of being physically assaulted. ... I am very worried that the publicity around my presence will lead to violations of every woman's right to privacy and expose them to further violence." [Crocodile tears]The sudden rebuke highlights the tension in America's women's religious communities, now targeted by two sweeping Vatican investigations. Quinn's activism was no secret. But in years past, Dominican leaders have come to her defense.The primary example was in 1984 when the Vatican instructed religious orders to dismiss nuns who refused to retract their claim that Catholics held a range of opinions on abortion rights. Instead, the leaders talked to Vatican officials and resolved the issue with no ousters of nuns. But that was a different era, said Sister Beth Rindler, co-coordinator of the National Coalition of American Nuns, a group of nuns who push for women's ordination, gay rights, abortion rights and an end to war. [Like one of those Japanese Marines found still fighting WW2 on a desert island, she's still fighting those old battles from the 60s. She probably hasn't received real orders from her KGB handlers in years] "We're standing with her very much. We consider her one of our prophets," said Rindler, a Franciscan Sister of the Poor. "She's standing with women who she believes can make good moral decisions."But Mary-Louise Kurey, director of the Chicago archdiocese's Respect Life Office, said Quinn's efforts to shield women from abortion opponents at clinics pose harm. "I feel really sad because these are individuals who are trying to help women and those actions are profoundly misguided," Kurey said.Quinn showed no signs of changing her ways Tuesday."I take this opportunity to urge those demonstrating against women who are patients at the Hinsdale Clinic, whom I have seen emotionally as well as physically threaten women, to cease those activities," she said. "I would never have had to serve as a peacekeeper had not they created a war against women.". mbrachear@tribune.com
Diogenes Sounds off on Highly Placed Clerical Homosexuals
Diogenes sounds off again about the issue of homosexuals in the priesthood and in this case, the episcopate. He notes the way one of Bishop of Antigonish Raymond Lahey's defenders, Archbishop James Weisgerber, who objects that Bishop Lahey shouldn't be tried in the court of "public opinion", is not being honest with us. This dodge sounds suspiciously familiar. It is an attempt to appeal to good-natured fair play all around. Bishop Weisberger thinks it's just about a man's sexual "preference", one which he doesn't seem to think will produce an "affective maturity" contrary to canon law.
We'll try to add to what Diogenes has suggested by saying that one might detect a heterodox and dangerous (depending on his place in the hierarchy) individual when he attempts to drag out platitudinous emotional appeals to fair conduct, which don't stand well in the face of existing canon law. A canon law which they disingenuously attempt to sidestep and ignore with the predictable results we've seen thus far that go hand in hand with heterodoxy, declining parish enrollments, embarrassing criminal cases, divestment and a "vocations crisis".
Diogenes also points out that Homosexuals are not to be put in positions of authority as rectors of Seminaries. It's a good rule because no one normal will want to deal with an emotionally immature and obsessive man with an "affective" disorder. Is it any wonder that the crop of clerical homosexuals has procured for us such a ramshackle Church in America?
We'll try to add to what Diogenes has suggested by saying that one might detect a heterodox and dangerous (depending on his place in the hierarchy) individual when he attempts to drag out platitudinous emotional appeals to fair conduct, which don't stand well in the face of existing canon law. A canon law which they disingenuously attempt to sidestep and ignore with the predictable results we've seen thus far that go hand in hand with heterodoxy, declining parish enrollments, embarrassing criminal cases, divestment and a "vocations crisis".
Diogenes also points out that Homosexuals are not to be put in positions of authority as rectors of Seminaries. It's a good rule because no one normal will want to deal with an emotionally immature and obsessive man with an "affective" disorder. Is it any wonder that the crop of clerical homosexuals has procured for us such a ramshackle Church in America?
Anglicans Snub Lesbian Bishop’s Ordination :: EDGE Boston
Anglicans Snub Lesbian Bishop’s Ordination :: EDGE Boston
English and Irish Anglican bishops are refusing to attend the ordination of one of a Lutheran fellow cleric in Stockholm--because she is a lesbian.
Eva Brunne is slated to be ordained as the Church of Sweden’s new Stockholm bishop, reported English language Swedish news site The Local on Nov. 4
Relations between the Church of Sweden and the Anglican church have been strained since the Church of Sweden approved new church policy that officially grants gay and lesbian couples the right to enjoy church blessings.
The new policy originated in June with a petition from the governing board of the Church of Sweden, and was approved by the Lutheran Synod on Oct. 22, with a majority 176 votes out of the 249 voting members. The vote took place just three days after the thirtieth anniversary of the removal of homosexuality from the list of pathologies in Sweden.
The decision also follows in the wake of marriage equality being granted to gay and lesbian Swedish families by the Swedish government. The new law took effect last May.
Swedish GLBT leader Åsa Regnér, who heads the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education, said of the vote, "The Synod’s decision takes a stance in favor of an inclusive view of people. Regardless of whether one is religious or not, this affects the entire social climate and the view of people’s equal value."
Pastors opposed to performing marriages for same-sex couples may opt out of performing the blessing.
The Lutheran church had come under pressure by the Church of England not to approve the measure, with a letter from two Church of England bishops warning that granting equal marriage status to faithful gay and lesbian families might lead to "an impairment of the relationships between the churches."
The Local quoted Bishop Alan Harper of Armagh, Northern Ireland, as saying, "The Anglican Church has a moratorium right now concerning the ordination of bishops who live together with someone of the same sex."
The article noted that the ordination was announced less than a month after marriage equality became legal in Sweden last May. Brunne’s lfie partner is also a cleric; Gunilla Lindén is a pastor in the Church of Sweden.
The article noted that other churches had declined to send clerics to the ordination, set to take place Nov. 8, including the churches of Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, and Lithuania, but that the event would be attended by clerics from the churches of Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, South Africa, and the Phillippines.
Kilian Melloy reviews media, conducts interviews, and writes commentary for EDGEBoston, where he also serves as Assistant Arts Editor.
English and Irish Anglican bishops are refusing to attend the ordination of one of a Lutheran fellow cleric in Stockholm--because she is a lesbian.
Eva Brunne is slated to be ordained as the Church of Sweden’s new Stockholm bishop, reported English language Swedish news site The Local on Nov. 4
Relations between the Church of Sweden and the Anglican church have been strained since the Church of Sweden approved new church policy that officially grants gay and lesbian couples the right to enjoy church blessings.
The new policy originated in June with a petition from the governing board of the Church of Sweden, and was approved by the Lutheran Synod on Oct. 22, with a majority 176 votes out of the 249 voting members. The vote took place just three days after the thirtieth anniversary of the removal of homosexuality from the list of pathologies in Sweden.
The decision also follows in the wake of marriage equality being granted to gay and lesbian Swedish families by the Swedish government. The new law took effect last May.
Swedish GLBT leader Åsa Regnér, who heads the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education, said of the vote, "The Synod’s decision takes a stance in favor of an inclusive view of people. Regardless of whether one is religious or not, this affects the entire social climate and the view of people’s equal value."
Pastors opposed to performing marriages for same-sex couples may opt out of performing the blessing.
The Lutheran church had come under pressure by the Church of England not to approve the measure, with a letter from two Church of England bishops warning that granting equal marriage status to faithful gay and lesbian families might lead to "an impairment of the relationships between the churches."
The Local quoted Bishop Alan Harper of Armagh, Northern Ireland, as saying, "The Anglican Church has a moratorium right now concerning the ordination of bishops who live together with someone of the same sex."
The article noted that the ordination was announced less than a month after marriage equality became legal in Sweden last May. Brunne’s lfie partner is also a cleric; Gunilla Lindén is a pastor in the Church of Sweden.
The article noted that other churches had declined to send clerics to the ordination, set to take place Nov. 8, including the churches of Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, and Lithuania, but that the event would be attended by clerics from the churches of Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, South Africa, and the Phillippines.
Kilian Melloy reviews media, conducts interviews, and writes commentary for EDGEBoston, where he also serves as Assistant Arts Editor.
The Monarchy is still Revered in Canada: relevance of Mainstream Journalists questioned.
Not a small number of Journalists are questioning the relevance of the Monarchy during Prince Charles' visit attempting to incite a "national dialogue" about something they've already concluded.
The following article from Reuters here says that the relevance of the Monarchy should be questioned, but it seems more obvious from the actual polls that, a few journalists notwithstanding, that the majority of Canadians revere their Queen and the Institution of the Monarchy as much as Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The thing that should be questioned here is the quality of the news services offered to Canadians.
The article did manage to correctly quote the Prime Minister:
Article here...
The following article from Reuters here says that the relevance of the Monarchy should be questioned, but it seems more obvious from the actual polls that, a few journalists notwithstanding, that the majority of Canadians revere their Queen and the Institution of the Monarchy as much as Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The thing that should be questioned here is the quality of the news services offered to Canadians.
The article did manage to correctly quote the Prime Minister:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the St. John's ceremony that Canada's association with the monarchy was a "defining symbol of our unique Canadian identity."
This is Prince Charles's 15th visit to Canada, but his first since 2001. Queen Elizabeth is expected to visit the country next year.
Article here...
Vatican denounces European ruling against crucifixes in schools
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican said it experienced “surprise and sorrow” when a European court ruled that the crucifixes hanging in Italian public schools violate religious freedom.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled Nov. 3 that the crucifixes hanging in every public classroom in Italy were “a violation of the freedom of parents to educate their children according to their own convictions and of the religious freedom of the students.”
Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, reacted to the decision saying, “The crucifix has always been a sign of God's offer of love and a sign of union and welcome for all humanity. It is sad that it is being considered a sign of division, exclusion or limitation of freedom. That is not what it is and that is not the common feeling of our people.”
In his statement Nov. 3, Father Lombardi said, “It also is surprising that a European court is intervening so heavily in a matter that is deeply tied to the historic, cultural and spiritual identity of the Italian people.”
Read more...
The case in question bears all the hallmarks of ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) style legal activism which is pointed to by the plaintif's suspicious Finnish heritage and the tactics employed. Finnland has a long tradition of Communism and thanks to just government persecution of Communists there, many Finns have spread to other parts of the world bringing their poisonous political beliefs with them.
More here...
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican said it experienced “surprise and sorrow” when a European court ruled that the crucifixes hanging in Italian public schools violate religious freedom.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled Nov. 3 that the crucifixes hanging in every public classroom in Italy were “a violation of the freedom of parents to educate their children according to their own convictions and of the religious freedom of the students.”
Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, reacted to the decision saying, “The crucifix has always been a sign of God's offer of love and a sign of union and welcome for all humanity. It is sad that it is being considered a sign of division, exclusion or limitation of freedom. That is not what it is and that is not the common feeling of our people.”
In his statement Nov. 3, Father Lombardi said, “It also is surprising that a European court is intervening so heavily in a matter that is deeply tied to the historic, cultural and spiritual identity of the Italian people.”
Read more...
The case in question bears all the hallmarks of ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) style legal activism which is pointed to by the plaintif's suspicious Finnish heritage and the tactics employed. Finnland has a long tradition of Communism and thanks to just government persecution of Communists there, many Finns have spread to other parts of the world bringing their poisonous political beliefs with them.
More here...
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Gay Marriage Opponents are Claiming Victory in Maine
PORTLAND, Maine – Gay-marriage opponents are claiming victory in a closely watched referendum in Maine on a new state law that would have allowed same-sex couples to wed.
The law in question was passed by the Legislature in May but never took effect because of a petition drive by conservatives.
With more than 84 percent of precincts reporting Tuesday, the side seeking to repeal the law had 53 percent of the vote. Their campaign organizer, Frank Schubert, claimed victory and declared that Maine voters had helped preserve the institution of marriage.
Article here...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091104/ap_on_el_st_lo/us_gay_marriage_maine
The law in question was passed by the Legislature in May but never took effect because of a petition drive by conservatives.
With more than 84 percent of precincts reporting Tuesday, the side seeking to repeal the law had 53 percent of the vote. Their campaign organizer, Frank Schubert, claimed victory and declared that Maine voters had helped preserve the institution of marriage.
Article here...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091104/ap_on_el_st_lo/us_gay_marriage_maine
7th Anniversary Of Guimond Disappearance Next Week
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. (AP) ― It's been nearly seven years since St. John's University student Josh Guimond disappeared after leaving a small card party about midnight.
His friends and family will return to Collegeville next week to mark the Nov. 9 anniversary. There will be public events to remember Guimond, and to demand answers.
On Saturday the inaugural "Justice for Josh" march will be at noon near St. John's. There will also be a march at the Stearns County Sheriff's office at 2:00 p.m.
The family maintains that Guimond was taken against his will, and they're asking the sheriff's office to release all the information it has on the case.
Sheriff John Sanner says his office has spent thousands of hours on the case and he's just as frustrated as the family that it hasn't been solved.
___
Information from: WJON-AM, http://www.wjon.com
http://wcco.com/wireapnewsmn/7th.anniversary.of.2.1289916.html
His friends and family will return to Collegeville next week to mark the Nov. 9 anniversary. There will be public events to remember Guimond, and to demand answers.
On Saturday the inaugural "Justice for Josh" march will be at noon near St. John's. There will also be a march at the Stearns County Sheriff's office at 2:00 p.m.
The family maintains that Guimond was taken against his will, and they're asking the sheriff's office to release all the information it has on the case.
Sheriff John Sanner says his office has spent thousands of hours on the case and he's just as frustrated as the family that it hasn't been solved.
___
Information from: WJON-AM, http://www.wjon.com
http://wcco.com/wireapnewsmn/7th.anniversary.of.2.1289916.html
Priestly Subordinate Insults his Boss: Mad about Same-Sex Marriage
Father Farrow is getting tough (doesn't he look tough?) and demanding that the laity hold back their contributions. We have a better idea. Why don't they become Episcopalians? He is simply beside himself that Maine's Bishop Malone is "campaigning" against same-sex marriage. He correctly indicates that clerics may not hold public office, but he is quite wrong about any prescription against campaigning against Abortion, Homosexuality or any other attempts to legitimize or approve corporately any immoral behavior. Seems to us that this issue of Church-State relations becomes a whole lot more crucial when one's personal sexual proclivities are at stake. It's not really our interest to go into the question of the seperation of the Church and State, although it is clear from Magisterial teaching that the Seperation of Church and State are condemned. (Testem Benevolentiae)
This blogging priest/social worker is interesting for other reasons, namely, that Bishop Malone is actually taking action against supporters of perversion in his ranks and removing them from their jobs. Father Farrow complains in an especially bitter and simpering tone here,
The scandal in that article is that a Catholic wrote a letter to the editor of her local newspaper. Because, her political opinion was contrary to that of her bishop she was summarily removed from parish assignments regardless of how you feel about the particular issue, consider the implications of this for Catholics. It means that the clergy will now monitor and become the final arbiters of political opinions of the faithful.
Actually, it's not that you have a mere political opinion different from the Bishop, like questions about school zoning or fire hydrant placement, or the hours the dog catcher should keep, it's actually about a central tenet of the Church's teachings which are being threatened once again by further legitimization of immorality. We know it's hard to understand, but perhaps it's not the best thing to disagree with your boss about core philosophies of how the organization is run. It's a bit like stealing.
This story is also interesting for another reason. It means that Bishops are cracking down on dissenters. We've been tired of hypocritical priests and employees of Dioceses for years who don't agree with the Church's teachings yet draw a paycheck. It's about time.
And one more thing to Father Farrow. Perhaps instead of trying to defend Homosexuality, he should actually read about the Inquisition and the question of Church and State. But once again, he should do himself, his integrity and everyone else a favor and find employment in a different communion.
P.S. Father Farrow actually has been forced out of the Church and has no faculties to say Mass or present himself in this fashion. In Italy he'd be arrested for impersonating a priest. It's not surprising that he was at a Newman Center. Back in the 70s-90s, Newman Centers were great places where people who dissented from Church teachings (particularly on sexuality) could go to express themselves. According to Per Christum Catholic Blog, Father Jeff was suspended a divinis for supporting Prop-8.
Busybody Red Finn and Activist EU Judges attack God and Italian Sovereignty
In another effort to further obsolesce national sovereignty, the EU Parliament, dominated as it is by sympathetes for sodomy and immorality, vampires that they are, want Crucifixes taken down from all Italian Schools.
No doubt, the woman who filed the complaint against the court, a woman of Finnish and likely communist origins. It remains to be seen what a foreign court, or a Red Finn, should have any say about what Italians do in their lands.
Rome - Italian state-run schools are fully entitled to hang crucifixes in their classrooms, an Italian high court ruled on Wednesday, thus rejecting a legal challenge raised by a non-Christian.
Soile Lautsi, an Italian citizen of Finnish origins whose two children frequent a school in the Veneto region, had argued that the crucifix on display there violates the principle that the state should be neutral when it comes to religious matters.
Read more...
No doubt, the woman who filed the complaint against the court, a woman of Finnish and likely communist origins. It remains to be seen what a foreign court, or a Red Finn, should have any say about what Italians do in their lands.
Rome - Italian state-run schools are fully entitled to hang crucifixes in their classrooms, an Italian high court ruled on Wednesday, thus rejecting a legal challenge raised by a non-Christian.
Soile Lautsi, an Italian citizen of Finnish origins whose two children frequent a school in the Veneto region, had argued that the crucifix on display there violates the principle that the state should be neutral when it comes to religious matters.
Read more...
FBI investigates Nun's Halloween Murder on Navajo Nation
By Debra Mayeux The Daily Times
Posted: 11/03/2009 12:00:00 AM MST
NAVAJO — Authorities believe a Roman Catholic nun was murdered on Halloween in her home at St. Bernard Convent in Navajo.
Sister Marguerite Bartz, 64, failed to show up for church Sunday morning, so a colleague went to look for her and found her body.
"Everyone is in shock in that area," said Lee Lamb, spokesman for the Diocese of Gallup, which encompasses the entire Navajo Nation.
Navajo is located on the New Mexico-Arizona state line northwest of Gallup and inside the Navajo Reservation, where federal authorities investigate crimes such as murder.
Bartz was a 40-year member of the order of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. She served since 1999 in Navajo, and prior to that at the Guadalupe Indian Mission in Peña Blanca, Saint Joseph in Laguna and Saint Catherine Indian School in Santa Fe.
"She was always passionate for justice and peace," Lamb said. Lamb learned of Bartz from her superior, Patricia Suchalski, president of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, based in Bensalem, Pa.
Read more...
http://www.daily-times.com/ci_13699845
Posted: 11/03/2009 12:00:00 AM MST
NAVAJO — Authorities believe a Roman Catholic nun was murdered on Halloween in her home at St. Bernard Convent in Navajo.
Sister Marguerite Bartz, 64, failed to show up for church Sunday morning, so a colleague went to look for her and found her body.
"Everyone is in shock in that area," said Lee Lamb, spokesman for the Diocese of Gallup, which encompasses the entire Navajo Nation.
Navajo is located on the New Mexico-Arizona state line northwest of Gallup and inside the Navajo Reservation, where federal authorities investigate crimes such as murder.
Bartz was a 40-year member of the order of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. She served since 1999 in Navajo, and prior to that at the Guadalupe Indian Mission in Peña Blanca, Saint Joseph in Laguna and Saint Catherine Indian School in Santa Fe.
"She was always passionate for justice and peace," Lamb said. Lamb learned of Bartz from her superior, Patricia Suchalski, president of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, based in Bensalem, Pa.
Read more...
http://www.daily-times.com/ci_13699845
Monday, November 2, 2009
Are Catholic Colleges Poisonous to Women? Or is it Just Certain Ones?
I haven't enjoyed going to church so much in ages and I mean no disrespect and I mean that most sin-cerely, [giggles] that's really what I think. Dad said he was glad that was over with, but all I could think about was that this was the beginning of the rest of my new life. After graduation, me and John were going to Europe for a month. Amsterdam here we come! Then I was going to start my new job working for Google in New York where we got this cool apartment. [stares fixedly at passing car]
I guess I'm pretty religious, but after some soul searching, I decided that I didn't get anything out of this and I actually stopped going to church in my sophomore year. Fr. X was nice and everything...
I guess the nuns were alright, but it was hard to understand why they were there.
Catholic Italian Actor says: "divorce and abortion has destroyed the family"
The famous actor Bud Spencer became 80 this last Saturday -- he identifies himself as a "conservative and active" Catholic, who has been married for 48 years -- He finds the hysteria around Obama strange, "The man is not Jesus".
Only a few know, that the Italian born Neapolitan, Carlo Pedersoli, is Catholic. He states, "today divorce and abortion has destroyed the family," he informed the Italian media.
For 48 years he has been married to Maria Amago. According to the Hamburg Morning News Spencer said in the past week, "I was married 48 years and have ever confessed to my wife, if I have ever betrayed her. She has always forgiven me. That is true love, that stands above things. Lust and suffering are really only inanities.
He otherwise describes himself as "an animal with a human face", who would like to thank God, that he has been allowed to lead such a many faceted life.
The brilliant actor, jurist and swimmer has played in many films, notably as the Praetorian in the 1967 film, "Quo Vadis" and more famously in the spaghetti western, Trinity.
Link.
Wikipedia article...
Florida Elected Official Takes Steps to Protect Public Health and is Heckled by Homosexuals
From today’s Florida Sun-Sentinel Newspaper:
Fort Lauderdale mayor issues apology, but not to gay community
FORT LAUDERDALE — Mayor Jim Naugle issued a public apology on the steps of City Hall Tuesday afternoon, but it wasn’t the apology the gay community was looking for.
Naugle apologized for underestimating the problem of men having sex with each other in public restrooms, and urged people to call police to complain when they come upon it. He also said Broward County leads the nation in the incidence of new AIDS cases involving men having sex with men, and questioned whether the county tourism office should be welcoming them here.
Naugle alerted the media that he was holding a news conference that would include “an apology.”
Gay activists and others have been calling for a public apology form the mayor, and for his resignation, since the South Florida Sun-Sentinel published Naugle’s comments earlier this month about gays. In article about a proposed self-cleaning, automatic toilet the city was going to buy for the beach, Naugle said an added benefit would be that it would deter men from using it for “homosexual activity,” which he said was a problem in public restrooms.
Press conference video...
Source: http://americansfortruth.com/
Fort Lauderdale mayor issues apology, but not to gay community
FORT LAUDERDALE — Mayor Jim Naugle issued a public apology on the steps of City Hall Tuesday afternoon, but it wasn’t the apology the gay community was looking for.
Naugle apologized for underestimating the problem of men having sex with each other in public restrooms, and urged people to call police to complain when they come upon it. He also said Broward County leads the nation in the incidence of new AIDS cases involving men having sex with men, and questioned whether the county tourism office should be welcoming them here.
Naugle alerted the media that he was holding a news conference that would include “an apology.”
Gay activists and others have been calling for a public apology form the mayor, and for his resignation, since the South Florida Sun-Sentinel published Naugle’s comments earlier this month about gays. In article about a proposed self-cleaning, automatic toilet the city was going to buy for the beach, Naugle said an added benefit would be that it would deter men from using it for “homosexual activity,” which he said was a problem in public restrooms.
Press conference video...
Source: http://americansfortruth.com/
Shocking Halloween Display at Blackfen England
When will the liturgical aberrations stop? This just in from Mulier Fortis Blog, depicting the most indescribable Halloween Liturgy ever seen.
Click Here...
Bishop DiMarzio's strange Alliance in Brooklyn
In a tit for tat arrangement the Bishop of Brooklyn, Nicholas DiMarzio, gives support to a NARAL endorsed, pro-abort, same-sex marriage candidate in a close election in return for his ruling on the statute of limmitations in clerical abuse cases.
Original article here...
Original article here...
Sunday, November 1, 2009
The Time Has Come to End Lula's Monarchy in Brazil
Written by Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Monday, 02 November 2009 05:37
The downpour of odd government decisions, apparently meaningless presidential phrases and so much propaganda perhaps will lead people with common-sense to ask themselves: After all, where are we going? I use the adverb "perhaps" because some are in such a way intoxicated with "the biggest show on earth," of easy money that benefits a few, that I have my doubts.
It seems more comfortable to pretend that everything is going well and forget about the everyday transgressions, the discretionarism of the decisions, the disrespect, if not of the law, of the good moral values. It's become customary to say that the Lula government gave continuity to the good things that were achieved by the preceding government and in addition improved many things. So, why and what for question the little conduct deviations or small scratches in the law?
It happens that each small transgression, each deviation keeps on accumulating until it disfigures the original. As the renowned deranged prince used to say, there is no method to this madness. Method that probably does not come from our prince, only a victim, who knows, of verbal apotheosis. But everything that surrounds him has a DNA that, even without any conspiracy, can lead the country, nice and slowly, almost without one realizing it, to mould itself to a politics style and to a relationship manner between state, economy and society that keeps little resemblance to our democratic ideals.
It is possible to choose at random the examples of "small murders." Why make Congress swallow, without time to breathe, an ill-explained, scruffy change to the oil legislation? A change that can't even be presented as a "nationalistic" banner, because, if the current system, of concessions were a "sell out," it should have been banished, and it wasn't. It only had added to it the share system, subject to three or four political-bureaucratic instances to complicate businessmen's life and to fatten business facilitators from the public machine.
Why announce who won the competition to purchase military planes, if the selection process hasn't finished yet? Why so much noise and so much government interference in a company (Vale) that, if not totally private, has mixed capital and is governed by the statute of private companies? Why anticipate the electoral campaign and, without any embarrassment, stroll throughout Brazil at the expense of the Treasury (taking money from your, my, our pocket...) parading a claudicating candidate? Why, in foreign policy, forget that there are democratic forces in Iran, even Muslim ones, who fight against Ahmadinejad and instead bow to those who are not concerned with peace or human rights?
Little by little, behind what can seem isolated and not-so-serious gestures, the DNA of the "popular authoritarianism" keeps undermining the spirit of the constitutional democracy. This supposes rules, information, participation, representation and conscious deliberation. In the countercurrent of all this, we are getting back to political forms from the military authoritarianism time, when the "impact projects" (some of which became "skeletons", which were put on tick in the Treasury unpayable debts) livened up contractors and inflated the hearts of those deceived: "Brazil, love it or leave it."
At issue we have the Transnordestina (Transnortheastern road), the bullet train, the North-South, the San Francisco river's transposition and the hundreds of PAC's (Growth Acceleration Program) small projects, which, some good, others not so much, gush out in the budget and dwindle away for lack of operational capacity or for misappropriations barred by the Union's Audit Court. It doesn't matter, in the advertising outcry, it is as if the people were already enjoying the benefits: "My House, My Life"; castor bean biodiesel, family agriculture redemption; ethanol for the world and, in the new slogans maelstrom, pre-salt for all.
Unlike what occurred with the military authoritarianism, the current one does not send anyone to jail. But from the presidential mouth itself we can hear insults to morally kill businessmen, politicians, journalists or whoever dares to disagree with the "Brazil power" style.
Even the atomic bomb defense as instrument for us to get to the UN's Security Council - against the clear text of the Constitution - once in a while is supported by top executives, without asking the citizenry what is the best course for Brazil. And we should be reminded that the president has already declared that when it comes to strategic objective matters (as the fighter planes' purchase) he decides all by himself. It's a shame that he forgot to add: "L'État c'est moi." But he didn't forget to mention the reasons that led him to such strategic decision: he saw there were pirates in Somalia and, therefore, we need fighter planes to defend "our pre-salt". That's OK, everything's pretty logical.
It can be serious, but, realists will say, time goes by and what is left are the results. Among these, however, there are some worrisome ones. If there is logic in the foolishnesses, it's only one: the one of power without limits. Presidential power with popular applause, as in all good authoritarian situation, and bureaucratic-corporative power, that's not funny it all for the people. This last one has method. State and unions, State and social movements are more and more smelted in the Treasury's high-temperature ovens.
The parties are demoralized. It was by the "dedaço" (big finger) that Lula chose the PT candidate to succeed him, as the Mexican presidents used to do when the PRI controlled. With the parties devastated, if Dilma wins the elections will be left only a subPeronism (Lulism) infecting the docile party fragments, a union bureaucracy nested in the State and, as foundation for the block of power, the might of the pension funds. These are "nova stars," They came up in the firmament, changed their trajectory and our voracious, but naive capitalists get from them the death embrace. With a little help from the BNDES (National Bank of Economic and Social Development) everything becomes perfect: we have the alliance between state, the unions, the pension funds and the lucky fellows from big companies that join them.
Now, they will say (since I've talked about stars), the pension funds represent the spur of the modern economy. That's right. It happens that our funds belong to public companies' workers. Now, in these places, the PT, that was already controlling the employees' representation, now also controls the employers' one (the government). With that the funds have become instruments of political power, not exactly of a party, but of the union-corporative segment that controls it.
In Brazil the pension funds are not only stockholders - with the freedom of selling and buying in the stock markets -, but managers: they take part in the oversight blocks or in the private or "privatized companies" committees. Weak parties, strong unions, pension funds converging with the interests of a party in the government and drawing to them privileged private partners, there is the block from which the Lulist subPeronism will get its sustenance in the future, if it wins the elections. I started with where are we going? I will close saying that time is ripe to put a brake to perpetuation in power, before it's too late.
Fernando Henrique Cardoso, sociologist, was President of Brazil from January 1st, 1995 to January 1st, 2003.
Translated from the Portuguese by Arlindo Silva.
Monday, 02 November 2009 05:37
The downpour of odd government decisions, apparently meaningless presidential phrases and so much propaganda perhaps will lead people with common-sense to ask themselves: After all, where are we going? I use the adverb "perhaps" because some are in such a way intoxicated with "the biggest show on earth," of easy money that benefits a few, that I have my doubts.
It seems more comfortable to pretend that everything is going well and forget about the everyday transgressions, the discretionarism of the decisions, the disrespect, if not of the law, of the good moral values. It's become customary to say that the Lula government gave continuity to the good things that were achieved by the preceding government and in addition improved many things. So, why and what for question the little conduct deviations or small scratches in the law?
It happens that each small transgression, each deviation keeps on accumulating until it disfigures the original. As the renowned deranged prince used to say, there is no method to this madness. Method that probably does not come from our prince, only a victim, who knows, of verbal apotheosis. But everything that surrounds him has a DNA that, even without any conspiracy, can lead the country, nice and slowly, almost without one realizing it, to mould itself to a politics style and to a relationship manner between state, economy and society that keeps little resemblance to our democratic ideals.
It is possible to choose at random the examples of "small murders." Why make Congress swallow, without time to breathe, an ill-explained, scruffy change to the oil legislation? A change that can't even be presented as a "nationalistic" banner, because, if the current system, of concessions were a "sell out," it should have been banished, and it wasn't. It only had added to it the share system, subject to three or four political-bureaucratic instances to complicate businessmen's life and to fatten business facilitators from the public machine.
Why announce who won the competition to purchase military planes, if the selection process hasn't finished yet? Why so much noise and so much government interference in a company (Vale) that, if not totally private, has mixed capital and is governed by the statute of private companies? Why anticipate the electoral campaign and, without any embarrassment, stroll throughout Brazil at the expense of the Treasury (taking money from your, my, our pocket...) parading a claudicating candidate? Why, in foreign policy, forget that there are democratic forces in Iran, even Muslim ones, who fight against Ahmadinejad and instead bow to those who are not concerned with peace or human rights?
Little by little, behind what can seem isolated and not-so-serious gestures, the DNA of the "popular authoritarianism" keeps undermining the spirit of the constitutional democracy. This supposes rules, information, participation, representation and conscious deliberation. In the countercurrent of all this, we are getting back to political forms from the military authoritarianism time, when the "impact projects" (some of which became "skeletons", which were put on tick in the Treasury unpayable debts) livened up contractors and inflated the hearts of those deceived: "Brazil, love it or leave it."
At issue we have the Transnordestina (Transnortheastern road), the bullet train, the North-South, the San Francisco river's transposition and the hundreds of PAC's (Growth Acceleration Program) small projects, which, some good, others not so much, gush out in the budget and dwindle away for lack of operational capacity or for misappropriations barred by the Union's Audit Court. It doesn't matter, in the advertising outcry, it is as if the people were already enjoying the benefits: "My House, My Life"; castor bean biodiesel, family agriculture redemption; ethanol for the world and, in the new slogans maelstrom, pre-salt for all.
Unlike what occurred with the military authoritarianism, the current one does not send anyone to jail. But from the presidential mouth itself we can hear insults to morally kill businessmen, politicians, journalists or whoever dares to disagree with the "Brazil power" style.
Even the atomic bomb defense as instrument for us to get to the UN's Security Council - against the clear text of the Constitution - once in a while is supported by top executives, without asking the citizenry what is the best course for Brazil. And we should be reminded that the president has already declared that when it comes to strategic objective matters (as the fighter planes' purchase) he decides all by himself. It's a shame that he forgot to add: "L'État c'est moi." But he didn't forget to mention the reasons that led him to such strategic decision: he saw there were pirates in Somalia and, therefore, we need fighter planes to defend "our pre-salt". That's OK, everything's pretty logical.
It can be serious, but, realists will say, time goes by and what is left are the results. Among these, however, there are some worrisome ones. If there is logic in the foolishnesses, it's only one: the one of power without limits. Presidential power with popular applause, as in all good authoritarian situation, and bureaucratic-corporative power, that's not funny it all for the people. This last one has method. State and unions, State and social movements are more and more smelted in the Treasury's high-temperature ovens.
The parties are demoralized. It was by the "dedaço" (big finger) that Lula chose the PT candidate to succeed him, as the Mexican presidents used to do when the PRI controlled. With the parties devastated, if Dilma wins the elections will be left only a subPeronism (Lulism) infecting the docile party fragments, a union bureaucracy nested in the State and, as foundation for the block of power, the might of the pension funds. These are "nova stars," They came up in the firmament, changed their trajectory and our voracious, but naive capitalists get from them the death embrace. With a little help from the BNDES (National Bank of Economic and Social Development) everything becomes perfect: we have the alliance between state, the unions, the pension funds and the lucky fellows from big companies that join them.
Now, they will say (since I've talked about stars), the pension funds represent the spur of the modern economy. That's right. It happens that our funds belong to public companies' workers. Now, in these places, the PT, that was already controlling the employees' representation, now also controls the employers' one (the government). With that the funds have become instruments of political power, not exactly of a party, but of the union-corporative segment that controls it.
In Brazil the pension funds are not only stockholders - with the freedom of selling and buying in the stock markets -, but managers: they take part in the oversight blocks or in the private or "privatized companies" committees. Weak parties, strong unions, pension funds converging with the interests of a party in the government and drawing to them privileged private partners, there is the block from which the Lulist subPeronism will get its sustenance in the future, if it wins the elections. I started with where are we going? I will close saying that time is ripe to put a brake to perpetuation in power, before it's too late.
Fernando Henrique Cardoso, sociologist, was President of Brazil from January 1st, 1995 to January 1st, 2003.
Translated from the Portuguese by Arlindo Silva.
The Queen is as Popular as Ever in Canada despite Media Distortions
Significant increase in popularity for the Queen in Canada in New Zealand at BBC which they say is even up from 2001, but this Wikipedia poll says 78% favor the Monarchy.
But there are others, pre-emptively predicting the abolition of the Monarchy in Canada, primarily from strange outlets like ths politically dubious report from Yahoo.
The Queen generally stays out of political frays, but it's hard not to imagine that the leftists want to belittle her importance to Canada prior to her visit in 2010 for political advantage, so no doubt, there will be those wanting to "dialogue" about her irrelavence to Canada when it's clear from the massive jiggerng of the polls that the majority of Canadians actually do favor the Monarchy and look forward to welcoming her Majesty next year.
Politicizing Prelates and New York
The last few days have gotten us to thinking about politicising prelates and here we have a case of one who uses his mitre and authority to prop up his leftist political causes. Generally abortion isn't negotiable, most of the time, but sometimes (most of the time) you support the DNC talking points and candidates when your Diocese's schools, hospitals or "charitable" organizations or the semnary where conservative candidates get weeded out, need support.
A bishop’s flexibility
November 1, 2009, 5:11 pm Posted by Paul Moses
As chairman of the bishops’ committee that drafted the statement “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” Brooklyn’s Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio has had an important role in interpreting what it actually means. In the heat of the 2008 presidential campaign, he wrote in a letter to The New York Times that the newspaper had erred in a story on Joseph Biden and the Catholic vote in reporting the statement would “explicitly allow Catholics to vote for a candidate who supports abortion rights if they do so for other reasons.”
Read more...
A bishop’s flexibility
November 1, 2009, 5:11 pm Posted by Paul Moses
As chairman of the bishops’ committee that drafted the statement “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” Brooklyn’s Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio has had an important role in interpreting what it actually means. In the heat of the 2008 presidential campaign, he wrote in a letter to The New York Times that the newspaper had erred in a story on Joseph Biden and the Catholic vote in reporting the statement would “explicitly allow Catholics to vote for a candidate who supports abortion rights if they do so for other reasons.”
Read more...
Cardinal Pell Welcomes Gay Ban in Australia
CHARITIES and religious groups could discriminate against gay people or anyone else who might offend their values after a landmark decision quashed a finding in favour of a gay couple who wanted to become foster parents.
Both the Catholic and Anglican churches have praised the ruling and Cardinal George Pell said anti-discrimination cases threatened churches' ability to do charity work
Read more...
Both the Catholic and Anglican churches have praised the ruling and Cardinal George Pell said anti-discrimination cases threatened churches' ability to do charity work
Read more...
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Pope Benedict asks Iran for More Freedom for Iranian Catholics
Pope Benedict asks Iranian Government for more freedoms for Iranian Catholics.
Remember that it was previously reported in this month that three Iranian Monarchists were under threat of a death setnence, and a fourth Iranian Monarchist are under a death sentence in Iran.
Death and the Connivance of Cremation
It's time for autumn and time to reflect on the last things, heaven, judgement, purgatory and hell. We have many obligations, but above all we need to obey the commandments as we prepare for death. One meditation might be to take some time and think about your funeral arrangements. Don't let Father Flapdoodle get involved and mess things up, and don't let your relatives send you to a crematorium where your body, which has received many benedictions and graces in itself, will be tossed into an enormous blender. It's one of those situations where you have to hold your nose and pretend that no one has said it's ok to be cremated. It's never been a Christian custom to be cremated, it is for pagans to do that, and more important, it's not all that expensive if you avoid the state-mandated vault or get put in a family crypt, or better yet, get buried inside the church itself. This article, by a secular journalist in the Philippines, asks his countrymen what they think. Thank God that the Philippines is still Catholic.
Belonging to a Christian nation, Filipinos have been accustomed to burying their deceased loved ones the traditional way because of the belief that the soul of the departed will continue to be with them even after death.
Aside from this, Filipinos believe that the burial site is a corporeal link between the departed loved one and the family members left behind.
That's why many Filipinos still prefer traditional burial since a buried body means the physical presence of the person they would love to cherish and remember.
However, over the years, traditional burial has been overshadowed by the growing number of people preferring to cremate their loved ones as a way of honoring their dead because of financial consideration. For them, cremation is also “more economical” in the long run.
We Respond:
Cremation was once forbidden by canon law, and like a lot of things that have changed in the last 40 years for arbitrary and unreasonable reasons, we don't understand it, and it doesn't seem that anyone is going to explain it to us either. We do believe that those in charge have done a poor job of explaining things. But we like how the journalist tries to give significance to the rite of burial by referring to local and presume ably pre-christian attitudes about burial.
For your perusal, here's the old canon law of 1917:
Canon 1203: "The bodies of the faithful must be buried, and cremation is reprobated. If anyone has in any manner ordered his body to be cremated, it shall be unlawful to execute his wish."
But, in line with the proper feeling of a Catholic conscience and the previous canons and customs of the ancient Church, the best answer is given by this interviewee,
Stephany Andem, 22, of Quezon City, said she wants her body to be buried the traditional way also because of her Catholic faith.
The rest of the article is here...
Of course, Gary North gives good advice, he's recommending that you buy an inexpensive coffin and do whatever you can to make your funeral inexpensive so as not to provide too large a burden on your heirs. The average American funeral runs at an exorbitant price, around $14,000 and that's if you don't want to fly people out to come and be part of it.
One cost-cutting gesture, in addition to not embalming if it's legally permissible, is to find a cheap coffin which you can get here at Trappist Coffins.
Hoax - Pope Condemns Halloween - Updated
Hoax - Pope Condemns Halloween - Updated
Wooo, a hoax. Catholic Key Blog says it's a hoax, but the general idea is still there about concerns with Halloween as legitimately voiced by the Spanish Bishop's conference out of concerns for a further invasion of spiritually debillitating American customs which need to be cauterized of their violent, occultic and materialist associations.
I thought the Spanish Bishop's Conference was sounding rather, well, protestantic, but if this "story" shows anything, it's the undependabillity of the Osservatore Romano.
Here's another article.
Wooo, a hoax. Catholic Key Blog says it's a hoax, but the general idea is still there about concerns with Halloween as legitimately voiced by the Spanish Bishop's conference out of concerns for a further invasion of spiritually debillitating American customs which need to be cauterized of their violent, occultic and materialist associations.
I thought the Spanish Bishop's Conference was sounding rather, well, protestantic, but if this "story" shows anything, it's the undependabillity of the Osservatore Romano.
Here's another article.
Friday, October 30, 2009
A Day without a Mexican (A New Film?)
Day without a Mexican shot in 2004 is a film with the premise of how terrible life would be without illegal aliens around. I can see Cardinal Mahoney watching the film approvingly and scowling disapprovingly at those who might find the intrusion of a group of people that systematically abuses social services and breaks laws with rabid frequency a little much, forgetting of course, his own mistreatment of his largely immigrant Mexican (and presumably legal) workforce.
It strikes us as odd that people, like Catholic Bishops, would want this situation to prevail, especially since Illegals engage disproportionately in organized crime, have high incarceration rates, abuse of social services, lowering of the cost of labor and raise the expense of health care when they receive treatments for procedures they aren't insured for or intend to pay.
Illegals kill!
It's at this point when we wonder what life would be like without a Mexican and you could imagine a film with a similiar premise, but contradictory conclusion. Life without Mexicans wouldn't be too bad. You could start by asking the recently murdered New Jersey priest, Fr Ed Hinds, (white like the ghost of Jacob Marley) who confronted a man named Jose Feliciano because of his history of fake identities, and for previous to his employment, indecent assault and corrupting a minor. Father Hinds was just firing him, nothing to lose your life over. Sure, it's not clear whether or not the murderer was an Illegal Alien, but since he had a few fake identities, it's entirely possible that he had a fake SSN and ID, a common practice among Illegals.
The Catholic Council of Bishops is very eager to defend the rights of these people who break the laws of the country they find themselves. It's strange that they're willing to lend their spiritual capital, as depleted and devalued as it is to this date, to a cause that is so clearly aligned to Marxist front groups like La Rasa or the Southern Poverty Law Center who love, with sickening predictability, to take on cases like these for the "poor and downtrodden" like a latter day Lillian Helman.
It's really little different than other liberals who favor attitudes and legislation promoting the degradation of the society and increasing disrespect for the rule of law, and as it so happens, disrespect for the lives of others.
You might also ask any number of other Americans what they think life without a Mexican would be like. Just ask the liberal writer Adrian Shelly, who wrote and appeared in the film Waitress in 2004 and was herself murdered by an Illegal. Heck, while we're at it, we might ask any one of the 9,000 Americans murdered every year by Illegals what they think.
Since the beginning of the War on Terror, more Americans have been killed by Illegals than by Insurgents. Perhaps they are one in the same? It's not as if La Rasa identifies itself with the USA, they detest it.
Cardinal Kasper denies Rumours of a Pending Retirement.
Cardinal Kasper denies rumours of his retirement next month and wonders who in the world would have said it. Of course, he quips, no one would be more pleased to retire than I.
He is responding, of course, to rumours last week on Bavarian radio that he would be replaced at the end of this November by Regensburg Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller. The Cardinal is, after all, 77 years old.
Link to original.
He is responding, of course, to rumours last week on Bavarian radio that he would be replaced at the end of this November by Regensburg Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller. The Cardinal is, after all, 77 years old.
Link to original.
Christians Uphold Long and Sacred Heritage in Syria
SYRIA, Damascus — [Fox News] The Syrian Ministry of Tourism invited journalists from Tehran to Tunis to check out its top attractions during a trip to the normally reclusive country. Fox News hopped a caravan and went along for the ride.
Syrians are proud of the fact that Christians and Muslims have traditionally lived together in harmony in Syria. The historical monuments alone tell the story of the intertwining of faiths.
Just to mention a few things that the article left out in reference to the Melkites in Syria, unified to the Universal Church in Rome:
The current Greek Catholic (Melkite) presence in union with the Catholic Church is in Syria a strong and a not insignficant part of the 10% of the Syrian-Christian Population, although most reside now in Iraq, which unfortunately is also dwindling due to increasing persecution.
It has a beautiful Cathedral in the old city of Damascus.
Syrians are proud of the fact that Christians and Muslims have traditionally lived together in harmony in Syria. The historical monuments alone tell the story of the intertwining of faiths.
Just to mention a few things that the article left out in reference to the Melkites in Syria, unified to the Universal Church in Rome:
The current Greek Catholic (Melkite) presence in union with the Catholic Church is in Syria a strong and a not insignficant part of the 10% of the Syrian-Christian Population, although most reside now in Iraq, which unfortunately is also dwindling due to increasing persecution.
It has a beautiful Cathedral in the old city of Damascus.
Anniversary for Abducted Student throws Long Shadows on Dying Benedictine Monastery
The fading Monastery, Saint John's Abbey in Collegeville has been the home of many revolutionaries both political and cultural. Its numbers have been, predictably, declining steadily over the years, perhaps owing to this singular but all-too-common fact that Catholic religious orders, in so far as they have departed from the vision of their founders, are dying. It shouldn't take a sociological study to know that the students who matriculate from the college know nothing of the School's proclaimed religious affiliation when they leave, and if they were Catholic to begin with, many are not by the time they do depart with a diploma in their hand on the way to success and family.
In the mechanics of espionage there is no better cover than a monastery or a pastorage. There have been many suspicious figures in St. John's history, who've either been involved supporting insurgencies against American interests in Central America, putting on disgracefully vulgar plays like Vagina Monolouges at the neighboring women's college, St. Benedict, or featuring irreligious works by Bauhaus architects at great expense and atheistic calligraphers for 30 pieces of silver. From Vatican Peritus, Father Godfrey Diekman (Reformer, Revolutionary), Br. Frank Kacmarcik (artist), Fr. Virgil Michel (Social Reformer, Philosopher, Liturgist), late Senator Eugene McCarthy (Liberal opponent of Vietnam War), reclusive artist Fr. Jerome Tupa there are an entire host of suspicious and curious individuals both past and present working toward the emasculation of American Civilization and Religion.
It's not surprising then that one of the students should go missing and given the Abbey's difficulties with regard to orthodoxy and continence, it's not surprising that events like this sadly take place, leaving a bereaved family and an increasingly sceptical surrounding community.
"Justice for Josh"
October 29, 2009
PRESS RELEASE
* Joshua Guimond disappeared while at St. John's University in Collegeville, MN in 2002.
* November 7, 2009 is the inaugural "Justice for Josh" march and will take place at noon.
* St. John's recently denied a request by the Guimond family to mark the anniversary with an on-campus walk to raise awareness, claiming such an event "would not be productive".
* The seven year anniversary of Joshua's disappearance is November 10th.
* Supporters will meet near St. John's University at noon, followed by a march at the Stearns County Sheriff's office at 2pm.
* Several facts and new information regarding Joshua's disappearance will be made public during the event.
Background
In 2002, 20 year old Joshua Guimond left a small card party at a friend's apartment on the St. John's University campus in Collegeville, MN around midnight on November 9, 2002. His friends believed he was just making a trip to the bathroom, but when he did not come back after 15 minutes, they assumed he had just walked back to his dorm room. He has not been seen since. Joshua did not have his glasses or contact lenses, his car, credit cards, or even a coat that was appropriate for the weather. Nothing was missing from his dorm room. His parents remain convinced that he was taken against his will.
Justice for Josh March
Joshua Guimond's family along with supporters, advocates and other victims of campus crime are flying in from around the country and uniting to remember Joshua. A petition will be presented to the Sheriff demanding accountability.
St. John's University recently denied a request by the family to begin the Justice for Josh march on campus, at the site where Joshua was last seen. According to University representative Shawn Vierzba, such a march, "would not be productive, and that the speculation and conjecture likely generated by such a march could in the end be more harmful to the efforts to find Josh".
According to Joshua's father, Brian Guimond, "One of several new facts regarding Joshua's disappearance that we need to explore involves 11 known sex offenders who resided on campus when Joshua disappeared. If that is the case, we may never know the truth. The University and Abbey have a long history of withholding information from the public and law enforcement authorities." The actual
number of sexual victims would appear to be 100 plus. The public needs to be aware of this..
The march will continue at the Stearns County Sheriffs office, where organizers will demand that law enforcement agencies release all information regarding Joshua's disappearance and that St. John's immediately release the names of all personnel who have had credible assault allegations made against them. A dinner and prayer service will follow. Copies of the full schedule and applicable documents will be made available online and on the day of the march.
Bob Guimond
bobg1123@yahoo.com
507-530-4399
More information: http://www.findjoshua.com
In the mechanics of espionage there is no better cover than a monastery or a pastorage. There have been many suspicious figures in St. John's history, who've either been involved supporting insurgencies against American interests in Central America, putting on disgracefully vulgar plays like Vagina Monolouges at the neighboring women's college, St. Benedict, or featuring irreligious works by Bauhaus architects at great expense and atheistic calligraphers for 30 pieces of silver. From Vatican Peritus, Father Godfrey Diekman (Reformer, Revolutionary), Br. Frank Kacmarcik (artist), Fr. Virgil Michel (Social Reformer, Philosopher, Liturgist), late Senator Eugene McCarthy (Liberal opponent of Vietnam War), reclusive artist Fr. Jerome Tupa there are an entire host of suspicious and curious individuals both past and present working toward the emasculation of American Civilization and Religion.
It's not surprising then that one of the students should go missing and given the Abbey's difficulties with regard to orthodoxy and continence, it's not surprising that events like this sadly take place, leaving a bereaved family and an increasingly sceptical surrounding community.
"Justice for Josh"
October 29, 2009
PRESS RELEASE
* Joshua Guimond disappeared while at St. John's University in Collegeville, MN in 2002.
* November 7, 2009 is the inaugural "Justice for Josh" march and will take place at noon.
* St. John's recently denied a request by the Guimond family to mark the anniversary with an on-campus walk to raise awareness, claiming such an event "would not be productive".
* The seven year anniversary of Joshua's disappearance is November 10th.
* Supporters will meet near St. John's University at noon, followed by a march at the Stearns County Sheriff's office at 2pm.
* Several facts and new information regarding Joshua's disappearance will be made public during the event.
Background
In 2002, 20 year old Joshua Guimond left a small card party at a friend's apartment on the St. John's University campus in Collegeville, MN around midnight on November 9, 2002. His friends believed he was just making a trip to the bathroom, but when he did not come back after 15 minutes, they assumed he had just walked back to his dorm room. He has not been seen since. Joshua did not have his glasses or contact lenses, his car, credit cards, or even a coat that was appropriate for the weather. Nothing was missing from his dorm room. His parents remain convinced that he was taken against his will.
Justice for Josh March
Joshua Guimond's family along with supporters, advocates and other victims of campus crime are flying in from around the country and uniting to remember Joshua. A petition will be presented to the Sheriff demanding accountability.
St. John's University recently denied a request by the family to begin the Justice for Josh march on campus, at the site where Joshua was last seen. According to University representative Shawn Vierzba, such a march, "would not be productive, and that the speculation and conjecture likely generated by such a march could in the end be more harmful to the efforts to find Josh".
According to Joshua's father, Brian Guimond, "One of several new facts regarding Joshua's disappearance that we need to explore involves 11 known sex offenders who resided on campus when Joshua disappeared. If that is the case, we may never know the truth. The University and Abbey have a long history of withholding information from the public and law enforcement authorities." The actual
number of sexual victims would appear to be 100 plus. The public needs to be aware of this..
The march will continue at the Stearns County Sheriffs office, where organizers will demand that law enforcement agencies release all information regarding Joshua's disappearance and that St. John's immediately release the names of all personnel who have had credible assault allegations made against them. A dinner and prayer service will follow. Copies of the full schedule and applicable documents will be made available online and on the day of the march.
Bob Guimond
bobg1123@yahoo.com
507-530-4399
More information: http://www.findjoshua.com
Pope Condemns Halloween
[Mail Online UK] The Vatican today slammed Halloween as 'anti-Christian' and 'dangerous' for its links to the occult.
The October 31st ritual falls before the deeply significant Roman Catholic holy day of All Saints this Sunday.
The Pope's condemnation follows on from similar criticism from Catholic bishops in Spain who earlier this week urged parents not to let their children dress up as ghosts and goblins.
Read more
And a related story here by Mathew Hay Brown.
The October 31st ritual falls before the deeply significant Roman Catholic holy day of All Saints this Sunday.
The Pope's condemnation follows on from similar criticism from Catholic bishops in Spain who earlier this week urged parents not to let their children dress up as ghosts and goblins.
Read more
And a related story here by Mathew Hay Brown.
Pope Benedict to Meet with Archbishop Rowan Williams in November
VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI will meet with the Archbishop of Canterbury next month in the leaders' first encounter since the Catholic church moved to make it easier for disenchanted Anglicans to convert to Catholicism, a Vatican spokesman said Friday.
Archbishop Rowan Williams, the Anglican leader, was already due to visit Rome in November for ceremonies at a pontifical university to honor a late cardinal who worked for Christian unity, said the spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi. Taking advantage of the archbishop's presence in Rome, Benedict will receive Williams on Nov. 21 at the Vatican, Lombardi said in a telephone interview.
Read Further...
Archbishop Rowan Williams, the Anglican leader, was already due to visit Rome in November for ceremonies at a pontifical university to honor a late cardinal who worked for Christian unity, said the spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi. Taking advantage of the archbishop's presence in Rome, Benedict will receive Williams on Nov. 21 at the Vatican, Lombardi said in a telephone interview.
Read Further...
Thursday, October 29, 2009
New York Times Refuses Archbishop Dolan's Editorial Reply
It's alright for Jews to trash the Catholic Church, vandalize Catholic holy sites like they did in the Russian Revolution or in the Spanish Civil War, or more recently when Larry David urinated on a kitchy painting of Jesus Christ, unbelievably hung in someone's bathroom.
It's ok to run newstories by the minute and comment on clerical Catholic pederasts, who are, after all, a relatively small number of allegedly Catholic homosexuals who hypocritically draw a paycheck from an institution most of them don't really believe in anyway, but no one, at least not where there's all the news that's fit to print, does anyone seem to care if pederasty is rampant in Orthodox Jewish communities in New York.
At least leftist editor, Arthur "Pinchy" Sulzberger of the New York Times refused to post his Lordship's article, we've decided to post it here for the few who might find it illuminating:
October 29, 2009
The following article was submitted in a slightly shorter form to the New York Times as an op-ed article. The Times declined to publish it. I thought you might be interested in reading it.
FOUL BALL!
By Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan
Archbishop of New York
October is the month we relish the highpoint of our national pastime, especially when one of our own New York teams is in the World Series!
Sadly, America has another national pastime, this one not pleasant at all: anti-catholicism.
It is not hyperbole to call prejudice against the Catholic Church a national pastime. Scholars such as Arthur Schlesinger Sr. referred to it as “the deepest bias in the history of the American people,” while John Higham described it as “the most luxuriant, tenacious tradition of paranoiac agitation in American history.” “The anti-semitism of the left,” is how Paul Viereck reads it, and Professor Philip Jenkins sub-titles his book on the topic “the last acceptable prejudice.”
If you want recent evidence of this unfairness against the Catholic Church, look no further than a few of these following examples of occurrences over the last couple weeks:
On October 14, in the pages of the New York Times, reporter Paul Vitello exposed the sad extent of child sexual abuse in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community. According to the article, there were forty cases of such abuse in this tiny community last year alone. Yet the Times did not demand what it has called for incessantly when addressing the same kind of abuse by a tiny minority of priests: release of names of abusers, rollback of statute of limitations, external investigations, release of all records, and total transparency. Instead, an attorney is quoted urging law enforcement officials to recognize “religious sensitivities,” and no criticism was offered of the DA’s office for allowing Orthodox rabbis to settle these cases “internally.” Given the Catholic Church’s own recent horrible experience, I am hardly in any position to criticize our Orthodox Jewish neighbors, and have no wish to do so . . . but I can criticize this kind of “selective outrage.”
Of course, this selective outrage probably should not surprise us at all, as we have seen many other examples of the phenomenon in recent years when it comes to the issue of sexual abuse. To cite but two: In 2004, Professor Carol Shakeshaft documented the wide-spread problem of sexual abuse of minors in our nation’s public schools (the study can be found here). In 2007, the Associated Press issued a series of investigative reports that also showed the numerous examples of sexual abuse by educators against public school students. Both the Shakeshaft study and the AP reports were essentially ignored, as papers such as the New York Times only seem to have priests in their crosshairs.
On October 16, Laurie Goodstein of the Times offered a front page, above-the-fold story on the sad episode of a Franciscan priest who had fathered a child. Even taking into account that the relationship with the mother was consensual and between two adults, and that the Franciscans have attempted to deal justly with the errant priest’s responsibilities to his son, this action is still sinful, scandalous, and indefensible. However, one still has to wonder why a quarter-century old story of a sin by a priest is now suddenly more pressing and newsworthy than the war in Afghanistan, health care, and starvation–genocide in Sudan. No other cleric from religions other than Catholic ever seems to merit such attention.
Five days later, October 21, the Times gave its major headline to the decision by the Vatican to welcome Anglicans who had requested union with Rome. Fair enough. Unfair, though, was the article’s observation that the Holy See lured and bid for the Anglicans. Of course, the reality is simply that for years thousands of Anglicans have been asking Rome to be accepted into the Catholic Church with a special sensitivity for their own tradition. As Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican’s chief ecumenist, observed, “We are not fishing in the Anglican pond.” Not enough for the Times; for them, this was another case of the conniving Vatican luring and bidding unsuspecting, good people, greedily capitalizing on the current internal tensions in Anglicanism.
Finally, the most combustible example of all came Sunday with an intemperate and scurrilous piece by Maureen Dowd on the opinion pages of the Times. In a diatribe that rightly never would have passed muster with the editors had it so criticized an Islamic, Jewish, or African-American religious issue, she digs deep into the nativist handbook to use every anti-Catholic caricature possible, from the Inquisition to the Holocaust, condoms, obsession with sex, pedophile priests, and oppression of women, all the while slashing Pope Benedict XVI for his shoes, his forced conscription -- along with every other German teenage boy -- into the German army, his outreach to former Catholics, and his recent welcome to Anglicans.
True enough, the matter that triggered her spasm -- the current visitation of women religious by Vatican representatives -- is well-worth discussing, and hardly exempt from legitimate questioning. But her prejudice, while maybe appropriate for the Know-Nothing newspaper of the 1850’s, the Menace, has no place in a major publication today.
I do not mean to suggest that anti-catholicism is confined to the pages New York Times. Unfortunately, abundant examples can be found in many different venues. I will not even begin to try and list the many cases of anti-catholicism in the so-called entertainment media, as they are so prevalent they sometimes seem almost routine and obligatory. Elsewhere, last week, Representative Patrick Kennedy made some incredibly inaccurate and uncalled-for remarks concerning the Catholic bishops, as mentioned in this blog on Monday. Also, the New York State Legislature has levied a special payroll tax to help the Metropolitan Transportation Authority fund its deficit. This legislation calls for the public schools to be reimbursed the cost of the tax; Catholic schools, and other private schools, will not receive the reimbursement, costing each of the schools thousands – in some cases tens of thousands – of dollars, money that the parents and schools can hardly afford. (Nor can the archdiocese, which already underwrites the schools by $30 million annually.) Is it not an issue of basic fairness for ALL school-children and their parents to be treated equally?
The Catholic Church is not above criticism. We Catholics do a fair amount of it ourselves. We welcome and expect it. All we ask is that such critique be fair, rational, and accurate, what we would expect for anybody. The suspicion and bias against the Church is a national pastime that should be “rained out” for good.
I guess my own background in American history should caution me not to hold my breath.
Then again, yesterday was the Feast of Saint Jude, the patron saint of impossible causes.
Archbishop's Blog.
Canada is getting new Nuncio
Father Raymond J. de Souza: The Vatican's man in Canada
Posted: October 29, 2009, 8:38 AM by NP Editor
Filed under: Father Raymond J. De Souza
This week, the diplomatic corps is bidding farewell to Archbishop Luigi Ventura, the apostolic nuncio to Canada for the past eight years and the most influential Catholic in Canada this young century.
The apostolic nuncio is generally thought of as ambassador of one state to another, but that is not quite right. The Vatican City State does not have diplomatic relations with any country. Diplomatic relations are with the Holy See.
What's the difference? The Holy See is the legal expression of the pope's role as universal pastor of the Church. States maintain diplomatic relations with the supreme authority of the Catholic Church, which is recognized as a sovereign power in international law.
Read more...
According to the Office of the Apostolic Nuncio, we do not know who the new Nuncio for Canada is as of yet as the former Nuncio, Archbishop Ventura, goes to Paris.
And from his farewell address, he writes some fairly amazing words, particularly the following quoting Spanish writer, J.M. Prada
Full article here...
Posted: October 29, 2009, 8:38 AM by NP Editor
Filed under: Father Raymond J. De Souza
This week, the diplomatic corps is bidding farewell to Archbishop Luigi Ventura, the apostolic nuncio to Canada for the past eight years and the most influential Catholic in Canada this young century.
The apostolic nuncio is generally thought of as ambassador of one state to another, but that is not quite right. The Vatican City State does not have diplomatic relations with any country. Diplomatic relations are with the Holy See.
What's the difference? The Holy See is the legal expression of the pope's role as universal pastor of the Church. States maintain diplomatic relations with the supreme authority of the Catholic Church, which is recognized as a sovereign power in international law.
Read more...
According to the Office of the Apostolic Nuncio, we do not know who the new Nuncio for Canada is as of yet as the former Nuncio, Archbishop Ventura, goes to Paris.
And from his farewell address, he writes some fairly amazing words, particularly the following quoting Spanish writer, J.M. Prada
We are not without our challenges even today, and we know that they are not small. The principal challenge of our age seems to me to be anthropological, a hegemonic vision of the world that transforms the human person into a socially engineered object. A new anthropology imposes cultural paradigms that are unattackable and indisputable. One offers, according to the inspired expression of a young Spanish philosopher, "the opportunity to transform one’s interest and one’s desires into liberties and rights. However these are not more inherent to nature but they become gracious concessions of a power that legally consecrates them" (J. M. de Prada).
Full article here...
Gonzaga or Seattle U, for better or worse.
There are all kinds of snide comments that could have been put in between the lines here. It's hard to imagine that the Pope's stormtroopers could have founded institutions that were as Catholic as these, but we're hoping for a counter-revolution to take all of the "responsible" academics who run these "Catholic" institutions out from behind desks and put them in a hot field on a sunny day, being watched suspiciously by 16 year olds with Kalishnivoks.
We spoke recently to a man whose daughter returned home from such an institution, and after 4 years the pretty flower no longer believed in God and had a boyfriend with more heavy metal in his face than a nuclear reactor.
The Jesuits "keep cranking out the hits" as Mark Shea once put it on his "Catholic and Enjoying it" blog, however, and you can even vote on a poll. Please vote in the poll. We did, several times. It was like the last election.
In related news, we still haven't heard or received anything about Cormac Brissett, a very talented writer and journalist currently in the Jesuit Novitiate.
That this is the case isn't at all surprising, we've just been informed, perhaps you already know, that Jesuit run Georgetown University has its own GLBT Department. We can't imagine that St. Ignatius ever thought he'd see that at one of his Universities, but there it is.
Comparing two Catholic colleges: Gonzaga and Seattle U
By Seamus McKeon
Share this article Published: Wednesday, October 28, 2009
What do you think of Seattle U's Catholic nature? [We're tired of people who ought to know better telling us things that aren't true. Aren't you?]
Be it location, athletics or campus culture, the differences and similarities between Gonzaga University and Seattle U are common knowledge for students and collegiate professionals alike. However, one of the most defining contrasts between the Northwest’s two Jesuit Catholic institutions is just that—Catholicism. [Really?]
While both schools maintain a strong reputation as Jesuit Catholic [Sic] universities, the expression and focus of the faith at the two institutions take somewhat different routes, both in the administrative approach to this fundamental characteristic and the culture that surrounds it.
Read more... if you must.
We spoke recently to a man whose daughter returned home from such an institution, and after 4 years the pretty flower no longer believed in God and had a boyfriend with more heavy metal in his face than a nuclear reactor.
The Jesuits "keep cranking out the hits" as Mark Shea once put it on his "Catholic and Enjoying it" blog, however, and you can even vote on a poll. Please vote in the poll. We did, several times. It was like the last election.
In related news, we still haven't heard or received anything about Cormac Brissett, a very talented writer and journalist currently in the Jesuit Novitiate.
That this is the case isn't at all surprising, we've just been informed, perhaps you already know, that Jesuit run Georgetown University has its own GLBT Department. We can't imagine that St. Ignatius ever thought he'd see that at one of his Universities, but there it is.
Comparing two Catholic colleges: Gonzaga and Seattle U
By Seamus McKeon
Share this article Published: Wednesday, October 28, 2009
What do you think of Seattle U's Catholic nature? [We're tired of people who ought to know better telling us things that aren't true. Aren't you?]
Be it location, athletics or campus culture, the differences and similarities between Gonzaga University and Seattle U are common knowledge for students and collegiate professionals alike. However, one of the most defining contrasts between the Northwest’s two Jesuit Catholic institutions is just that—Catholicism. [Really?]
While both schools maintain a strong reputation as Jesuit Catholic [Sic] universities, the expression and focus of the faith at the two institutions take somewhat different routes, both in the administrative approach to this fundamental characteristic and the culture that surrounds it.
Read more... if you must.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Anglican churches in Waltham Forest could move en masse to the Catholic Church after a decree issued by Pope Benedict XVI [The Guardian]
St Margaret's, in Woodhouse Road, Leytonstone, St Michael's, in Palmerston Road, Walthamstow, and St Saviour's, in Markhouse Road, Walthamstow, all look set to take the Pope up on his offer.
But some Anglicans believe the Catholic Church’s opposition to the ordination of women and gay rights will be a stumbling block.
Read More...
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