Yankee Bishop confused about the South

Someone needs to educate Bishop Taylor on the real history of Martin Luther King and the South. The War of Northern Aggression was not about slavery, which was on the way out, it was about States' Rights. I can't imagine how anyone could be so culturally insensitive to people who didn't grow up Yankee. Here is the pro-life talk he gave this week.

Here is a story which might help illuminate how Catholic Priests could resonate with the prevailing culture south of the Mason Dixon Line. It's the story of Father Bliemel, a German priest of Annunciation Parish in Nashville Tennessee, who ministered to the Conderate troops, indeed, ministered to both sides, during the war but was still a loyal son of the Confederacy. (it's in pdf)

By Bishop Anthony B. Taylor

Can you imagine my astonishment upon learning that here in Arkansas we celebrate Robert E. Lee's birthday this weekend, in addition to that of Dr. Martin Luther King's? Why in the world would we ever want to do that? Can you imagine how many lives were lost because he took up arms against the United States in a Civil War on the side of those who sought to keep millions of people in bondage?


Part of Dr. King's true greatness lies in the fact that he used non-violent means to confront the very evils that General Lee had fought so hard to preserve! His only weapons were faith, hope and love -- in the form of marches, boycotts, civil disobedience and eloquent speeches. General Lee may have had many good qualities and can only be judged in the context of the world he lived in, but the bottom line is that his efforts served to promote the culture of death while Dr. King promoted the culture of life -- which is what we are gathered here to do today, especially regarding the evil of abortion which was still illegal when I was in high school and so that's what I'd like to talk about today.

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City Doing Work on Mayor Daley's Parish: Chicago Corruption

(POSTED: 1/23/10) A high-ranking Daley administration official who was described at the Robert Sorich trial as a cog in the city's patronage hiring operation should be fired, a government watchdog is recommending.

But being part of a scheme to hire and promote politically connected employees wasn't Deputy Water Management Commissioner Tommie Talley's only alleged transgression.

Talley also dispatched city water department crews to work at private sites -- including Nativity of Our Lord Roman Catholic Church, the mayor's ancestral parish in Bridgeport, Chicago's inspector general found, according to city government sources.

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Pope's Address to Doctrine Congregation

"Natural Moral Law Is Neither Exclusively Nor Mainly Confessional"

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 22, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Here is a Vatican translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered Jan. 15 upon receiving in audience members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the end of the dicastery's four-day plenary assembly.

* * *

Your Eminences,

Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,
Dear Faithful Collaborators,

It gives me great joy to meet you on the occasion of the Plenary Session and to express to you my sentiments of deep gratitude and cordial appreciation of the work you carry out at the service of the Successor of Peter in his ministry of strengthening his brethren in the faith (cf. Luke 22: 32).

I thank Cardinal William Joseph Levada for his greeting in which he recalled the topics that the Congregation is occupied at this time. He also recalled the new responsibilities that the Motu Proprio Ecclesiae Unitatem has entrusted to the Dicastery by closely joining with it the Ecclesia Dei Commission.

I would now like to reflect briefly on certain aspects that you, Your Eminence, have mentioned.

First of all I wish to emphasize that your Congregation participates in the ministry of unity that is entrusted to the Roman Pontiff in a special way, through his commitment to doctrinal fidelity. This unity, in fact, is primarily a unity of faith, supported by the sacred deposit whose main custodian and defender is the Successor of Peter.

Strengthening brothers and sisters in the faith, keeping them united in the confession of the Crucified and Risen Christ, is the first and fundamental task that Jesus conferred upon the one seated on the Chair of Peter. It is a binding service on which depends the effectiveness of the Church's evangelizing action to the end of time.

The Bishop of Rome, in whose "potestas docendi" your Congregation participates, is bound to proclaim ceaselessly: "Dominus Iesus" "Jesus is Lord". The "potestas docendi," in fact, entails obedience to the faith so that the Truth which is Christ may continue to shine out in its grandeur and resonate in its integrity and purity for all humankind, and thus that there may be one flock gathered round the one Pastor.

The achievement of the common witness to faith of all Christians therefore constitutes the priority of the Church of all time, in order to lead all people to the encounter with God. In this spirit I trust in particular in the Dicastery's commitment to overcome doctrinal problems that are still an obstacle to the achievement of full communion with the Church on the part of the Society of St Pius X.

I would also like to congratulate you on your commitment to fully integrating formerly Anglican groups and individual members of the faithful into the Church's life, in accordance with what is stipulated in the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus. The faithful adherence of these groups to the truth received from Christ and presented by the Magisterium of the Church is in no way contrary to the ecumenical movement but rather shows its ultimate purpose, which consists in the achievement of the full and visible communion of the Lord's disciples.

In recalling your invaluable service to the Vicar of Christ, I must also mention that in September 2008 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published the Instruction "Dignitas Personae" on Certain Bioethical Questions.

Following the Encyclical "Evangelium Vitae" by the Servant of God John Paul ii in March 1995 this doctrinal document, centered on the theme of the dignity of the person created in Christ and for Christ, is a new landmark in the proclamation of the Gospel in full continuity with the Instruction "Donum Vitae," published by this Dicastery in February 1987.

Concerning delicate and timely topics such as procreation and the new forms of treatment that involve the manipulation of embryos and the human genetic patrimony, the Instruction recalls that "the ethical value of biomedical science is gauged in reference to both the unconditional respect owed to every human being at every moment of his or her existence, and the defense of the specific character of the personal act which transmits life" ("Instruction Dignitas Personae," No. 10).

In this way the Magisterium of the Church wishes to make its own contribution to the formation of consciences, not only of believers but also of all who seek the truth and want to listen to arguments stemming not only from faith but also from reason. In fact the Church, in proposing moral evaluations for biomedical research on human life, draws on the light of both reason and faith (cf. ibid., No. 3), since she is convinced that "what is human is not only received and respected by faith, but is also purified, elevated and perfected" (ibid., No. 7).

In this context a response is likewise given to the widespread mentality that presents faith as an obstacle to scientific freedom and research, because it presumes that faith is made up of a pattern of prejudices that hinder the objective understanding of reality.

Faced with this attitude that strives to replace truth with a consensus that is fragile and easy to manipulate, the Christian faith, instead, makes a real contribution in the ethical and philosophical context. It does not provide pre-constituted solutions to concrete problems like bio-medical research and experimentation, but rather proposes reliable moral perspectives within which human reason can seek and find valid solutions.

There are in fact specific contents of Christian revelation that cast light on bioethical problems: the value of human life, the relational and social dimension of the person, the connection between the unitive and the procreative aspects of sexuality, and the centrality of the family founded on the marriage of a man and a woman. These matters engraved in the human heart are also rationally understandable as an element of natural moral law and can be accepted also by those who do not identify with the Christian faith.

The natural moral law is neither exclusively nor mainly confessional, even if the Christian Revelation and the fulfillment of Man in the mystery of Christ fully illumines and develops its doctrine. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, it "states the first and essential precepts which govern the moral life" (No. 1955).

Established in human nature itself and accessible to every rational creature, the natural moral law thus determines the basis for initiating dialogue with all who seek the truth and, more generally, with civil and secular society. This law, engraved in every human being's heart, touches on one of the essential problems of reflection on law and likewise challenges the conscience and responsibility of legislators.

As I encourage you to persevere in your demanding and important service, I would also like on this occasion to express my spiritual closeness to you, as a pledge of my affection and gratitude, as I warmly impart the Apostolic Blessing to you all.

© Copyright 2010 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana

A's prospect leaving baseball for call of the priesthood

Incredible, he's going to be studying at the Cardinal Mahony's Seminary. Now that he's retiring and being replaced by a more conservative Bishop, and what with the Seminary faculty threatening to leave if this is the case, perhaps the baseball pro will stand a good chance of actually getting a priestly formation.

By 'Duk

Well, here's a story you don't see every day.

Grant Desme, a 23-year-old minor league outfielder in Oakland's system, is retiring from baseball to follow a calling into the Catholic priesthood.

The story was first reported by Fox Sports' Jon Paul Morosi — perhaps appropriately with that first name of his — and this isn't a case of a struggling player going through an early-life crisis. Desme was ranked the A's eighth-best prospect by Baseball America after hitting .288 with 31 home runs and 89 RBIs in A ball in 2009 and he was just named MVP of the Arizona Fall League.

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It's Open Season on RINOs in Arizona

PHOENIX – Former Arizona Congressman J.D. Hayworth says he's planning to run against John McCain for his U.S. Senate seat.

Hayworth told The Associated Press late Friday that he stepped down as host of his radio program on KFYI-AM, a conservative radio talk show in Phoenix. Legally, he wouldn't be able to host the program and be an active candidate.

Hayworth was ousted from his Congressional seat in 2007 after 12 years in office by Democrat Harry Mitchell, and has hosted the radio show for the past few years.

Hayworth says he's not formally announcing a run for the Senate seat, but that "we're moving forward to challenge John McCain."

He added that he's had a wonderful time at KFYI, but "it's time to enter public life again."

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Revolt in Thiberville with English Subtitles

"While some priests labor to fill their churches, others labor to empty them."

Part I

If you can't see the subtitles, hit the up arrow in the lower part of your screen for closed captioning.



Part II



h/t: james mary evans

How to Paint a Homily by the Rules of Art

The terrible quality of many Sunday homilies damages the Church's message all over the world. An alternative way is that of explaining the Gospel with the masterpieces of Christian art. In three magnificent volumes, Timothy Verdon shows how

Chiesa

by Sandro Magister

ROME, January 21, 2010 – A stir was made recently by Bishop Mariano Crociata's criticism of the shoddy quality of many Sunday homilies.

Crociata is the secretary general of the Italian bishops' conference. Speaking at a conference on the liturgy at the end of the year, he called many of the homilies given from the pulpit every Sunday insipid "mush," almost an "inedible dish," and in any case "hardly nourishing."

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Copts Rally in Washington D.C.

In January 21, 2010 on a winter afternoon, over 2000 Coptic Christians rallied, chanted, sang, prayed, and marched outside the White House to get the attention of U.S. President Barack Obama and the American public on the continuing human rights violations of the Copts in Egypt. They came from Maryland, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, and other parts of America to protest the recent terrorist attack on Copts in Egypt on January 6 (Coptic Christmas Eve), with terrorists killing Copts as they left their religious services in Nag Hammadi (near Luxor). The latest attacks were part of a continuing history of oppression, rape, murder, and forced conversion from Christianity to Islam of the Coptic people and women in Egypt.

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Discontent with Pope's Visit to England from "many" Anglicans

Surely, Scotland's Bishops aren't too happy about hosting Benedict. They're too busy doing everything but ensuring that their sheep know the Catholic Faith. Just what is it that they are enthused about besides banal liturgy and uninspiring leadership? Even the Anglicans aren't that hostile and Sky News is at a loss to drum up the kind of hostility John Paul II experienced from the Church of Scotland in 1982.

Are there really Anglicans who have taken the time out of their days being discontented with the Pope's visit? We don't think so.

There is discontent in some parts [Please name them] of the Anglican Church about Pope Benedict XVI’s visit later this year.

Many see the Pope as exploiting the invitation as an opportunity to sleight the history of the Church of England, which split from Rome in the 16th century.

Perhaps this would be the most sensible action of the Pope, at a time when the Church of England seems to be in difficulty. Last year, Benedict coaxed discontented Anglicans to quit and come over to his Roman Catholic denomination, which was regarded by some to be rude, at worse, and impolite, at best.

[chop]

In 1982 some members of the Church of Scotland’s General Assembly railed against John Paul as the “Anti-Christ”. Will there be demonstrations at the gates of Balmoral in September?

Probably not.

Nor is there likely to be much protest from Anglicans, who will probably be prayerful; just as the Archbishop of Canterbury always seems to be – no matter what happens.

Read the entire article...

Bishop of Nis is Serbian Patriarch Now

The bishop of Niš, Irinej Gavrilovic, 80, was elected on January 22 to succeed Patriarch Pavle as the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Belgrade-based radio station B92 said.

Gavrilovic, metropolitan Amfilohije and bishop Irinej of Bačka won most votes from the 37 bishops that make up the electoral synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Gavrilovic's name was drawn randomly in what is known as the apostolic vote, B92 said. "Such election procedure was introduced simply to protect the Church against external political influences of the state," B92 quoted local journalist and Church expert Milenko Pešić as saying.

The election procedure has been criticised in the past, since the Serbian Orthodox Church is the only one to employ it, B92 said. There were other controversies surrounding the election of the patriarch, concerning the influence of different lobbies within the Serbian Orthodox Church, but also the role of the state and politics, B92 said.

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Benedict XVI is truly the Pope of Christian Unity - Catholic Herald Online

Benedict XVI is truly the Pope of Christian Unity - Catholic Herald Online

When Jesus prayed that his followers may be one, He was praying for the unity of the Church whose leadership he entrusted to St Peter and his successors. He was not prophesying that this unity would be achieved by a particular model of ecumenism. In the 20th century, the Church mapped out a route towards unity which focused on ever closer links with other Christian communities, such as the Anglican Communion; the aim was to achieve a corporate reunion. Thus, the purpose of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, so far as the Church was concerned, was an agreement in which the Archbishop of Canterbury would once again become bishop of a historic see of the Church that Anglicans describe as "Roman Catholic". Unfortunately, participants on both sides of ARCIC glossed over the fact that doctrines of transubstantiation and infallibility are unchangeable: one can do no more than tinker with the language in which they are defined.

Vocations-Promoting Bishop Made Primate of Belgium

New Archbishop Reveals 3 Pastoral Priorities

By Jesús Colina

BRUSSELS, Belgium, JAN. 21, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Vocations, liturgy and a genuine concern for social issues are the three priorities announced by the new archbishop of Brussels.

Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard spoke of these goals Monday, the day his appointment as the primate of Belgium was made public. The archbishop was accompanied at the press conference by his predecessor, 76-year-old Cardinal Godfried Danneels.

The new archbishop noted that he will soon be 70; the age for retirement according to canon law is 75.

"This means that, on the condition that I maintain the good health I have today, I'll have no more than five years to serve this Archdiocese of Malines-Brussels," said this philosopher and theologian, who was bishop of Namur for almost 20 years.

"You can see, therefore, that I must establish priorities to use the years that in principle I have before me as effectively as possible," he stated.

In virtue of his new office, according to the tradition in Belgium, Archbishop Léonard also becomes president of the episcopal conference and bishop of the dioceses of the Armed Forces.

Worthy of God

The prelate announced first of all that he intends to carry out a systematic visit of the archdiocese to get to know the reality firsthand.

He said he hoped to promote one of the key ideas expressed in Cardinal Danneels' homilies and addresses in the last few weeks: "the importance of an elegant liturgy, faithful to the great tradition of the Church, worthy of God and worthy of the men and women who take part in it."

In his farewells, recalled Archbishop Léonard, his predecessor expressed his hopes "that our Church will be ever more a 'praying' and 'adoring' Church, also explicitly inviting to foster the practice of Eucharistic adoration."

"I would like to commit myself decidedly in this direction," the prelate confirmed.

The other pastoral priority that Archbishop Léonard will promote, following in the footsteps of Cardinal Danneels, is "social concern, especially in the matter of housing. I would like to follow his steps as best I can in this area, as in many others."

Archbishop Leonard then pointed out as a priority "concern for vocations, for all vocations."

"The commitment of so many Christians, men and women, in society and in our parishes and movements is a blessing," stressed the polyglot archbishop, who speaks seven languages.

"But we also need consecrated men and women, as well as priests and deacons," he affirmed.

Archbishop Léonard as bishop of Namur was known for the growth of his seminary: There, 35 of the 71 Belgian seminarians study.

"It is clear that I do not have recipes to awaken or attract vocations to consecrated life or to the priesthood, but I know that the Lord wants to give them to us and I promise to do everything I can to respond to his will," he said.

The archbishop announced on his Web page that, because of his appointment, he has changed his second name, Mutien (which he had adopted when he was appointed bishop of Namur), to Joseph, holy patron of Belgium. Archbishop André-Mutien Léonard will now be called André-Joseph Léonard.

He will take possession of the Primate See on Feb. 28.

[Anita S. Bourdin contributed to this report]


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Pope Without Illusions about the Dialogue with the SSPX

More stick than carrot, it's impossible to say anything more than that a Paris based paper wants to say something about the Holy Father's intentions, and cast doubt on the possibility of reconciliation. There are quite a few liberal churchmen, and secular types who don't want to see this happen, so it's understandable that they might fabricate reports out of whole cloth. They've done this before, as with Cardinal Schoborn's supposed endorsement for the Medjugorje apparition site.

Paris (kath.net/KNA)

Allegedly, Pope Benedict has no illusions about the reconciliation with he traditional Society of Pius X. This was reported by the French Catholic Weekly "La Vie" and quotes a Cardinal, who is [allegedly] close to Benedict XVI. "The Pope told me, he wants to grasp one last chance to end the Schism, but he doesn't have any illusions," the article in "La Vie" citing the Cardinal was published this Thursday.

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Thank you, Holy Father, thank you

"Thank you, Holy Father, thank you"

Feast of Ste Agnes, aD MMXX (kreutz.net)

The German District Superior of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X sent the Pope a video message to commemorate the anniversary of the withdrawal of the excommunication decree against the four bishops.

"Thank you, Holy Father, thank you," said the German District Superior of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X in a video speech today on the anniversary of the withdrawal of the excommunication decree against the four SSPX bishops.

The move showed the Pope's "great apostolic spirit" and also his "pastoralship".

Through the "unfortunate media spectacle" of a statement by one of the four bishops, the theological, ecclesiological and pastoral concerns of the Pope were not properly acknowledged, and even have been eclipsed, and "[w]e deeply regret this," said Father Schmidberger.

Father Schmidberger then cited two passages from the letter from the Pope to the bishops around the world from March 2009.

From this we can see more clearly the motivation of Benedict XVI:

"In our time, in which the Faith is threatened to be extinguished in many parts of the world like a flame, starved of fuel, the very first priority is to make God present in this world and show people's access to God. Not to just any god but the God who has spoken at Sinai, the God whose face we see in love until the end - in the Crucified and Risen Jesus Christ.

"Can we be a community no matter what, in which there are 491 priests, 215 seminarians, 6 Seminars, 88 schools, 2 university institutes, 117 brothers and 164 sisters?"

"I think, for example, of the 491 priests. The basis of their motivations, we can not know.

But I think that they would not have opted for the priesthood, if they did not want to minister to the multitudes of the destitute and sick, with the Love of Christ, proclaiming in Him and with Him, the living God."

The Fraternity must first make their Objections

The District Superior mentions the theological discussions between the representatives of the Holy See and the SSPX.

The dialogue has taken a "very good turn in the beginning to clear the inconsistancies of the discussion."

For the first time the Brotherhood had the opportunity to present their concerns about certain statements of the Second Vatican Council and the post-conciliar developments "at peace and in discussion," to the appropriate authorities.

Only in this way could the talks lead to success.

The aim was to the recovery of the Mystical Body of Christ, the Holy Church, "which today is bleeding from a thousand wounds," for the eternal salvation of countless people and the glory of the Triune God.

"The church must again speak with one voice as the living witness to the one true Triune God, for our Lord Jesus Christ as the only Savior of mankind and for his Church, founded by him as the only institution of Salvation."

"We want the dictatorship of relativism and the de-Christianization of society to stop."

An instrument of evangelization

Father Schmidberger repeated the call by Pope John Paul II for a new evangelization of the world.

The SSPX has created over the past forty years in more than sixty countries around the world - "despite unspeakable opposition on the part of the destructive forces within the Church and society" - an infrastructure that could make an "important contribution to such an undertaking", "And is with us despite all the existing faults, weaknesses and shortcomings."

In addition, Father Schmidberger said that about thrity religious communities stand by the side of the SSPX.

The conclusion of the District Superior's address: "If any part of the bishops support our work, and assist in increasing and strengthening the faithful, the Church's head and arms may be restored, and then Christians will be formed as the Church has always desired."

Christendom must be restored: "May Germany be returned under the Reign of Christ the King and His spotless Bride, the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church."

True Environmentalists Are Pro-Life, Says Pope

Affirms Ecology Issue Should Be Set in Larger Framework

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 11, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI says efforts to protect the environment cannot be opposed to human life and safeguarding the dignity of the person.

The Pope took up this theme today when he delivered his traditional New Year address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See.

The Holy Father's address for 2010 centered on the issue of respect for creation and the environment, the same theme he highlighted in his Jan. 1 World Day of Peace message.

He noted not humanity in this new year "continues to be marked by the dramatic crisis of the global economy and consequently a serious and widespread social instability."

The "deeper causes" of this situation, the Pontiff contended, "are to be found in a current self-centered and materialistic way of thinking which fails to acknowledge the limitations inherent in every creature."

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The Tablet Cites Schönborn's fake Interview at Medjugorje

As if the Tablet couldn't be any less credible, they comit this act of untruth.

The Tablet promotes Medjugorism by quoting a Fake interview: Quote: A cardinal close to Benedict XVI has signalled his support for the controversial Marian shrine of Medjugorje. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna indicated that Pope Benedict himself might one day visit the spot where the Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared to a group of local children. Speaking on his return from a three-day visit to the shrine in Bosnia at the turn of the year, he told journalists in Vienna that the time had come to integrate the "Medjugorje phenomenon" into the Church's ordinary pastoral work. Asked in an interview with the Bologna-based daily Il Resto di Carlino what he would tell Pope Benedict XVI about the trip, he said: "The Pope does not need my advice. He knows very well how important the Virgin Mary is for the Catholic Church and he is a fervent devotee. He has visited many Marian shrines and I think one day he might even come here." He added that Medjugorje could "become something very important and profound". But that interview on Il Resto del Carlino (that's the real name) does not exist! It is "a fantasy" according to Erich Leitenberger, Card. Schönborn's speaker. Please go to Papa Ratzinger blog, January 9, 2010. Thanks and God bless U all!

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=29836

In other news about the triumph of International Communism over the Ancient Superstition

In other news about the triumph of International Communism over the Ancient Superstition

We just couldn't help but be reminded of this novel by Bryusov, The Republic of the Souther Cross, which depicts a dystopic and technological civilization in Antarctica and its collapse.

Liberal Bishop of Scandaldiocese Linz Blows His Top

Father Wagner attacks Linz pseudo-clerical elite and Bishop hits back

Catholic Church Conservation

Father Wagner attacks Linz pseudo-clerical elite and Bishop hits back

More to come!

Feast of St. Agnes, Requiems for Louis XVI, IBP in Rome

Feast of St. Agnes, Requiems for Louis XVI, IBP in Rome

Catholic Bishops in Paper: Iraq War Caused Extremism; Christians Are Victims

[Memri/Al Zaman, Iraq] According to a preparatory document for the Synod of the Catholic Bishops in the Middle East, to be held later this year, the relationship between Muslims and Christians in the entire regime are going through difficult times because of what it called the growth of "political Islam" and the mingling of religion and politics.

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Illegal Haitian Immigrants Can Start Applying Thursday to Stay in U.S. - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

Illegal Haitian Immigrants Can Start Applying Thursday to Stay in U.S. - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com


h/t: pewsitter

Defacto Schism in Scotland

Clerical Whispers and the Scottish Bishops talk about there being a lack of interest in the Immemorial Rite of the Mass in Scotland, but others are seeing a lack of enthusiasm in the Scottish Episcopacy for everything up to and including orthodoxy.

The Clerical Whispers blog entitles its most recent entry about the Pope's visit is misleadingly, "Just a fraction of catholics wants a Traditional Latin Mass." The mistaken view is supplemented by some suspiciously unannotated and unscientific "data:"

But the Archdiocese of Glasgow says there is little appetite for traditional Tridentine mass in Latin among worshippers, with only 0.05% in favour.

Some statements by a few liberal geezers of the clerical type:

Father Tom Boyle, treasurer of the Archdiocese of Paisley, said: “There has never been a great demand for it as far as I am aware.

“Unlike other parts of the world, the church in Scotland has never been polarised on this.”

Canon Donald MacKay, of St Columba’s Cathedral in Oban, said there was more support for a Gaelic mass than a Latin mass among parishioners.

Canon Edward Glackin, of the Diocese of Motherwell, said he conducted one weekday Latin mass, which had an attendance of 25 to 30, compared to the 1000 who attend mass on Sunday.

On the other hand, James MacMillan was concerned about the issue, and too mildly proceeded in defense of the Mass, saying:

“The low numbers mentioned by the Archdiocese would indicate that they don’t know what the issues are.

“They don’t know what they are missing or what the higher standards of liturgy can be. It would be a shame if Scottish Catholics were denied it through a basic disobedience of The Vatican.”

He said Latin mass had the ability to reduce the “slovenliness and banality” found in some services, stressing the issue was not a division between Latin or new mass, but the need to “make liturgy better”.

But there were other voices, indeed another view brought out by the Scotland Herald, whose article entitled, "Depth of Rift amongst Catholics over church worship", stands in stark contrast to the article by Clerical Whispers. The Scotland Herald article itself challenged the erroneous view of the Scottish Bishops on the matter of whether or not there's much demand for the Traditional Mass, or whether or not they are enthused about anything, much less the upcoming Papal visit. It dutifully cites Damian Thompson's critique of the Scottish Bishops, which was challenged by the spokesman of the Archdiocese of Glasgow, whose view was ultimately, and finally challenged by Patricia McKreever, the authoress of the Catholic Truth blog. The exchange and the contrast between the renditions of the issue points to a unfolding development of greater control of information on the part of conservative (or Traditionalist) laity and control of the perceptions and who controls them. Once again, we're seeing that the new medium of the internet is making it difficult for episcopal liberals to control how they're perceived, and more importantly, it is increasingly difficult for them to distort the facts for their agendas, in this case, ignoring Vatican commands as far as the Immemorial Mass and Summorum Pontificum is concerned.

According to Damian Thompson, a commentator on the UK Catholic Church, many Scottish bishops were close to retirement and set in their ways, with some preferring that the Pope did not come to Scotland.

But Ronnie Convery, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Glasgow, describes such claims as imaginative and uninformed.

In a separate letter to The Herald, he writes it was “spectacularly wide of the mark” to state that Scottish bishops did not want the Papal visit “because they are too old and can’t be bothered; too trendy and can’t cope with the Pope’s liturgical preferences or too sensitive and don’t want to upset the ecumenical or interfaith applecart”.

However, Patricia McKeever, editor of The Catholic Truth, claims apathy amongst Catholic bishops extends beyond the visit. She writes: “What informed, orthodox Catholics want now is a complete clear-out of the Episcopal palaces because the current crop are apathetic about a great deal more than just the Pope’s forthcoming visit to Scotland.

“The Scots bishops, without exception, ignore important directives from the Vatican. The Scottish bishops operate independently of Rome. We will continue to press for that Episcopal clear-out, before, during and after the Papal visit.”

Making Sense of Benedict’s Jewish Policy – Forward.com

Making Sense of Benedict’s Jewish Policy – Forward.com

John Allen

By this stage, outsiders trying to make sense of Pope Benedict XVI’s approach to Jewish-Catholic relations might be forgiven for wondering if the pontiff suffers from an undiagnosed case of schizophrenia.

After all, this is the pope who made a point of visiting a Cologne synagogue in 2005 on his first foreign trip, and Auschwitz on his second, only later to revive a controversial Good Friday prayer for the conversion of Jews. More recently, this is the pope who rehabilitated a Holocaust-denying traditionalist bishop and who announced that Pope Pius XII (whose alleged “silence” during the Holocaust remains a bone of contention between Jews and Catholics) is a step closer to sainthood, only to visit Rome’s Great Synagogue on January 17 to express his “esteem and affection” for Judaism, and to pledge that the “faces, names, tears and desperation” of Holocaust victims must never be forgotten.

We see that John Allen is as slavishly devoted as ever to the party line, but he is right after all considering Holy Father's ultimate concern in his policy that, "Benedict’s top priority is internal, directed at the inner life of the Catholic Church. His aim is to restore a strong sense of traditional Catholic identity, in order to inoculate the church against infection by radical secularism." However, there are others, in Israel, who view things a little bit differently, like this Jewish paper which views Benedict's maneuvers as essentially hostile. We've seen a lot of negative reaction to Benedict's various changes and some of his public acts which don't bode well for an integralist Catholic viewpoint, like changinig the Good Friday prayers to make the Jews and the traditionalists happy at the same time. The prayer actually called for the conversion of the Jews, and a loud minority were, not suprisingly, unhappy with the prayer and their views were reported far and wide. Fact is, most Jews don't care about Benedict's activities, they don't go to services either. Why don't we spend more time talking to those Jews and get them to come to Mass, permanently!

Vatican Blames Israel for Driving Christians Out of the Area

January 20, 2010

A Vatican synod being convened by Monsignor Nikola Eterovic will address an internal document addressing the plight of the dwindling Christian minority in the rapidly growing Islamic population in the Mideast. 150 bishops are expected to attend the synod which will be held on October 10-24.

The internal Vatican documents pertaining to the meeting place the ongoing Israel-PA (Palestinian Authority) conflict at the heart of regional instability and conflict, adding “radical terrorism” over recent years exploited the conflict towards advancing political Islam in countries including Egypt.

Israel’s “ongoing occupation” is blamed for restricted access to houses of worship in those areas, hampering religious life. In Iraq, the report states all Iraqis became victims but the small and weak Christian population was among the principal victims.

The Vatican believes the solution remains in the hands of “the stronger countries, to settle the conflict between Israel and the PA.

A Vatican statement added “Violence is in the hands of the strong and weak alike, the latter resorting to whatever violence is within reach in order to be free.”

When asked if the Vatican document was referring to yishuvim throughout Yehuda and Shomron and ongoing construction in the eastern capital, Eterovic explained that while the Vatican was not making policy decisions, it does adhere to and accept the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, which in this case, support the Roadmap Plan and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

The bishop added that while many of the 17 million Christians living between Iran and Egypt have fled, the numbers of Christians in the region has grown due to the influx of manual laborers, Christians, in a number of Arab countries, some that had a minimal or no Christian presence prior to their arrival.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)

Bishop Pfeifer at the Abortion Clinic in San Angelo

Bishop Michael Pfeifer of the Catholic Diocese of San Angelo led a rosary Wednesday to protest abortion outside Abilene’s Planned Parenthood clinic.

Approximately 75 people turned out, some with anti-abortion signs, and formed a prayer semicircle around the facility on North 10th St.

“We’re here to remind people, especially those that come here to Planned Parenthood, about the evil that they perform in the killing of a precious unborn — the taking of human life,” Pfeifer said.

Read further...

New Corpus Christi Bishop is Into Focolare Cult

We were over whispering at the Loggia and people thought we were crazy, we were whispering to ourselves whispering these words like a curse, "the new ordinary of Corpus Christi is into Focolare?" But what Rocco won't tell you, because he can't tell you, is that there is a problematic aspect to the Focolare movement. Most of you who are self-described Traditionalists probably know that Focolare is a movement of masonic proportions rooted in the heretical Sillonist Movement condemned by Notre Charge Apostolique. But this site isn't just for you, we're trying to inform other people, we hope, things that we pick up that the ordinary person in the pew won't see and doesn't realize, actually teaches some things that are contradictory to what the Church teaches. Now before you go on accusing us of setting up a parallel magisterium of our own creation, take the time to find out what Focolare stands for. You don't have to be a fire breathing traditionalist to be upset about a cultic, pentecostal group like Focolare. I wouldn't want my children participating in it and you shouldn't either.


And don't be participating in ad hominem attacks, y'all.

Reference works dealing with the phenomenon of Focolare:

The Pope's Armadas...

Christian Order...

Pope convenes Irish bishops for talks on priestly sex abuse

By Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has convened Ireland's bishops for a two-day meeting at the Vatican to discuss the ongoing fallout from the priestly sex abuse scandal in the country.

Link to original...

Bishop attacks morals of monks who brew Scotland’s (15%) tipple of choice - Times Online

Bishop attacks morals of monks who brew Scotland’s (15%) tipple of choice - Times Online

A bishop has condemned Buckfast, the fortified wine made by monks and regarded by some as the scourge of Scotland. The Right Rev Bob Gillies, Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney in the Scottish Episcopal Church, accused the Devon-based Benedictine monks of betraying Christian values.

Russia's Health Minister Called for Reduction in Abortions: Population Growth Too Low

By Patrick B. Craine

MOSCOW, Russia, January 18, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Russia's Health Minister has called for a reduction of abortions in the country as a way of improving its meagre population growth.

"The topic of reducing abortions is definitely on today's agenda,” stated Health Minister Tatyana Golikova on Monday. “This won't solve the birthrate problem 100 percent, but around 20 to 30 percent."

In 2006, then-President Vladimir Putin identified the country's low birth rate as its greatest problem, though he did not draw the connection with the country's abortion rate, which is among the highest in the world. In 2005, in fact, there were more abortions than births in the country. On Monday, Golikova noted that in 2008 there were 1.714 million births and 1.234 million abortions.

Read further....

Mosul Welcomes New Archbishop, Mourns Murders

MOSUL, Iraq, JAN. 19, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Sunday was bittersweet for Mosul Catholics, who celebrated the arrival of their new archbishop while also mourning the murder of one of the faithful.


Archbishop Emil Shimoun Nona, whose election as the archbishop of Mosul of the Chaldeans was confirmed Nov. 13 by Benedict XVI, was officially installed in the archeparchy Sunday.

AsiaNews reported that the same day, Saadallah Youssif Jorjis, a 52-year-old Syrian Catholic, a husband and father of two daughters, was shot dead.

The news source, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the "persecution continues in the midst of general indifference."

He asserted that this "ethnic cleansing" currently taking place in Mosul is "very similar to what happened in 2008."

"They want to push Christians to the plain of Nineveh, and the community has lost confidence in the future," the source added.

Jorjis owned a produce shop near his home, and was married to a woman who worked as a nurse.

A few days earlier, on Jan. 12, another grocer, Hikmat Sleiman, 75, was killed by an armed group.

Archbishop Rahho

The 2008 wave of violence claimed the life of the former archbishop of Mosul of the Chaldeans, Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho.

He was kidnapped in February of that year outside of a church where he had led the Way of the Cross on a Lenten Friday. During the kidnapping, his three companions were killed.

For days there was no news from the archbishop or his kidnappers. Finally, after a phone call from the assailants, the prelate's body was found March 13 in a shallow grave. He was 65.

The election of Archbishop Nona took place according to the tradition in the Eastern-rite Churches. The synod of bishops of the Chaldean Church made the decision, which was then approved by the Pope.

Sunday's ceremony for Archbishop Nona was attended by several political and Muslim leaders.

Link to original...

Training Anglican Priests in the Immemorial Rite

Yet another one of the benefits of the Anglican Reunion is that these incoming Anglicans are serious about Tradition.

EXTRAORDINARY TRAINING

A couple of Anglican priests have suggested the possibility of a teach-in for Anglican priests in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite; probably in Oxford. I recall one or two enquiries some time ago about this; but I don't recall from whom.

I have done no research on where, how, or when in Oxford this could happen; and so I have no idea what the cost might be. Before I do that, I would like to know if there is any wider interest.

It has been suggested that, properly packaged, it might be able to claim CME grants!

Fr P; will you take this as an acknowledgement of your very interesting email?
Posted by Fr John Hunwicke SSC, at 10:46

Liverpool Bishop's Ad Limina Visit Might be Interesting

An ad limina visit (Bishops are required to visit the Pope every 5 years) is coming off here pretty soon for UK Bishops and there's some complaining about their performance, something about not doing their jobs. Archbishop Kelly sure has an ugly Cathedral. They paid money for that. Ok, we know that Liverpool has an ugly Cathedral that's really not something you'd expect a church to be. The locals call it the Wigwam. The Clergy is as ugly as the Cathedral and they routinely beat up local priests and laity who ask for the Traditional Latin Mass and Sacraments. If you want the Catholic Faith, forget it, you should pack up your bags and head for Brompton. Damian Thompson's article on the subject is awesome and we hope that someone Romeside reads the despairing testimony from one of Damian's commenters:

That’s an irony, isn’t it? There was a time when traditional Catholic priests were unwelcome in Protestant areas of Liverpool. Now they’re treated like pariahs by their priestly colleagues, who screamed blue murder when there was a proposal to found one – just one – community celebrating the old liturgy. So it didn’t happen.

America Magazine Gives Campion Award to Archbishop Rowan

Uncle Di has levelled his verbal weapons at the Jesuit publication America to great effect, yet he congratulates America's choice, you might be suprised to find.

"You must go to the place from whence you came, there to remain until ye shall be drawn through the open City of London upon hurdles to the place of execution, be hanged and let down alive, and your privy parts cut off, and your entrails taken out and burnt in your sight; then your head to be cut off and your body divided into four parts, to be disposed of at her Majesty's pleasure."

With those words Queen Elizabeth's Lord Chief Justice dispatched the English Jesuit priest Edmund Campion to his death at Tyburn. The year was 1581. The charge was treason. Campion himself was unruffled by the verdict: "It was not our death that we ever feared. … The only thing we have now to say is, that if our religion do make us traitors, we are worthy to be condemned; but otherwise are, and have been, as good subjects as the Queen ever had."

St. Edmund Campion, martyr, lives on as a model of cheerful, gutsy, devout intelligence disciplined toward the single goal of recovering and rebuilding Catholic churchmanship where it had lain in ruins. I was amused and delighted, therefore, to learn that the Jesuit magazine America announced that it will give its 2009 Campion Award to none other than Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The choice is a chancy one. Many will take offense at the sly malice of the Jesuits in pretending to congratulate the man who, by his elegant unfitness for the job, has done more than any living Christian to bolster the esteem of the Roman Catholic Church in the eyes of his co-religionists.

I emphatically applaud the editors' decision.

Minimal Background Investigations for Perspective UK Catholic School Teachers

The Bishop, once known as a favorite to be the next occupant of Westminster, who favors married priests as well, is all in favor of not invesitigating the backgrounds of those who come into his service. We could think of many reasons for doing this, not least of which is protecting the children in his care.

By Hilary White

LONDON, January 19, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A member of the English Catholic Bishops conference, and the head of the Catholic Education Service, has denied that there is any Catholic objection to homosexual civil unions. Speaking to The Tablet, Britain’s leading left-liberal Catholic paper, Bishop Malcolm McMahon, the chairman of the Catholic Education Service, said that he had no objection to homosexuals in civil partnerships working in Catholic schools.

And George Soros is interested in keeping quiet claims regarding Obama's new NAMBLA friendly "safe schools" Czar:

A major left-wing propaganda attack group funded by billionaire George Soros has begun aggressively targeting MassResistance because of our exposure of Kevin Jennings, Obama's "safe-schools" czar and his activities pushing homosexuality on schoolchildren.

Media Matters is headed by David Brock, an ex-conservative writer (and "out" homosexual) who now professes his hatred for conservatism and conservatives. Media Matters has a large staff and millions of dollars per year in funding.

Catholic Relief Services Get Money from Bill Gates

We'd also like to note that Bill Gates Foundation is closely related to Lucis Trust. His charity is part of a subgrouped under an organization formerly known as "Lucifer Trust".

AMGD


On Thursday, January 7, 2010, the following e-mail concerning the "partnership" of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation was sent by the U.S. Coalition for Life to the Most Rev. Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of CRS, and Thomas Price, CRS Senior Communications Manager: Can you tell me why Catholic Relief Services is in a partnership with two of the world's greatest promoters of abortion and population control? Why the glowing promotion of two of the world's most anti-life foundations? Randy Engel, Director, USCL

The next day, the USCL received a response from Mr. Price which reads in part:
Thank you for your letter of concern on the Gates Foundation and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. As an official agency of the Catholic Church, Catholic Relief Services strictly adheres to the teaching of the Catholic Church and the policies of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Our first Guiding Principle states that "all human life is sacred and possesses a dignity that comes directly from our creation and not from any action of our own, …" The Catholic Church often participates in humanitarian initiatives that include a large range of partners — and we do not always agree with everything they stand for. However, the work that is undertaken directly with any of our partners always strictly adheres to Church teaching. We do not provide or promote artificial birth control and would never accept funding from any donor that would compromise the agency's adherence to Catholic teaching. …" Sincerely, Tom Price

THE SIN OF COMISSION AND OF OMISSION

According to the CRS official website (www.crs.org), the Gates Foundation is "guided by the belief that every life has equal value." CRS praises the foundation's work "to help all people lead healthy, productive lives," and "to ensure that all people… have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. …"

In exchange for perpetuating this glorious deception and maintaining a silence on the Gates/Buffett world-wide killing machine, CRS has received in excess of $40 million for global and agricultural development and financial services for the poor from 2003 to 2009. Compared to the billions Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett and his family spend on their true passion – baby killing and. population control – it's a drop in the bucket, of course, but I'm sure they consider their money well spent.

In reviewing the anti-life record of the Gateses and Buffetts, one they have successfully keep out of the public eye, thanks to organizations like CRS, it's difficult to avoid the conclusion that "they never met an anti-life, anti-family enterprise that they did not love (and eventually fund)."

A PROFILE OF THE DEATH PEDDLERS

Starting with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation directed by the Gateses and fellow billionaire Warren Buffett, father of Howard G. Buffett., here is a sampling of the anti-life organizations and activities it has supported, with a brief commentary on each:

· International Planned Parenthood Federation – $41,876,150 since 1998. Supports a total anti-life agenda world-wide. Organizes massive anti-life initiatives the world over.

· Planned Parenthood Federation of America – $12,984,000 since 1998. Does not include millions for PP abortion centers in Gates' home state of Washington and elsewhere. Performs over 200,000 surgical abortions per year and supports a full anti-life agenda including contraception, sterilization, abortifacients, live human embryo and fetal experimentation, sex education, divorce, fornication, infanticide, homosexuality, eugenics, infanticide, pornography, in vitro fertilization.

· U.N. Fund for Population Activities and Americans for UNFPA – $56,681,272 in 2000. An indirect grant to UNFPA of $2,200,000,000 for "reproductive health" and mass population control programs.

· Pathfinder International – $1,585,000 in 1999, 2009. Among top deadliest abortion providers, trains abortionists, procures abortion and sterilization equipment. Promotes "reproductive options" among adolescents.

· International Projects Assistance Services – Promotes "sexual and reproductive rights."

· Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Urban Reproductive Health Initiative – Pushes population control in Africa and South Asia .

· Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health – $9,864,398 (2009-2011). Sponsors world-class population control conferences which push modern fertility control techniques, abortion and sterilization including female condoms, injectable abortifacients, and "menstrual regulation" kits.

· Population Communications International – $3,775,000. Specializes in population control propaganda for mass media.

· Family Health International – Specializes in mass sterilization and abortifacients and "menstrual regulation" kits.

· Family Care International – $14,643,712. Seeks to promote and defend "abortion rights" and mass population control projects.

· Stem Cell and Cloning Research – $400,000 donation for California campaign in favor of state supported programs of human embryonic stem cell research and cloning projects

· EPF: The Inter-European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development – $1,598,245. To promote "reproductive health care" around the world. According to the EPF, "in February 2002 it signed up to the "See Change" campaign; an initiative started by Catholics For Free Choice with the objective of changing the status of the Vatican at the United Nations. Following this, the parliamentary groups in Sweden and Spain both held parliamentary hearings on the role of the Vatican City in UN decision-making and its obstruction of progress on reproductive health and rights issues."

As a member of the elite Club of Rome, Bill Gates is dedicated to the war against the proliferation of people, but he has other side interests as well include the promotion of the vice of homosexuality.

In 1989, Microsoft was one of the first companies in the world to offer employee benefits to same-sex domestic partners and to include sexual orientation in its corporate nondiscrimination policy. The company has supported and sponsored pro-gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues activities and programs including GLEAM, an organized employee resource group for homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender employees. As part of its Diversity Initiatives Program, GLEAM partners with Microsoft's executive leadership teams to define and implement corporate diversity initiatives companywide, such as the company's GLBT Pride Month celebration and GLBT-specific diversity training.

In July 2007, Bill Gates used part of his Microsoft fortune to purchase 56.3% of PlanetOut, a homosexual activist publishing company that runs a number of "gay" publications and services and is a major provider of hard core homosexual pornography.

Now, let's turn our attention to the anti-life organization, services and research funded with the Warren Buffett billions:

· Buffett money has funded important clinical trials for RU-486, (Mifepristone/Mifeprex), the so-called "abortion pill," putting the lethal drug on the fast track in the U.S. and abroad.

· Two million dollars to Family Health International helped finance mass experimental sterilization programs in third world countries using the dangerous chemical quinacrine hydrochloride. The drug is banned in the U.S. and Canada .

· Population Communications International – Specializes in population control propaganda for mass media.

German Foundation for World Population – Population control programs directed at youth "as agents of change."
International Projects Assistance Services – Promotes sexual and reproductive rights. Buffett gave IPAS $20,000,000 for the manufacturer and distribution of manual abortion suction pumps for use in poor countries.
· Population Council – $3,500,000. One of the oldest population control and abortion research agencies in the United States .

· Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice – $700,000. Recruits and engages churches and clergy in supporting abortion rights.

· NARAL – $1,500,000. A promoter of abortion rights in the United States .

· Catholics for a Free Choice – $485,000. Money used to challenge and undermine Catholic opposition to abortion.

· Center for Reproductive Rights – $737,000. Carries out pro-abortion litigation. Helped strike down Nebraska 's ban on partial-birth abortion/infanticide.

· National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy – $250,000. A pro-abortion group that targets teens.

· Family Health International – $20,000,000. Specializes in mass sterilization and abortifacients and "menstrual regulation" kits and abortion vacuum aspirators.

· Family Care International – Promotes abortion and mass population control projects.

· Pathfinder International – $582,000. Promotes abortion rights and services.

· Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation – Provides millions of dollars for abortion rights groups including many of the above groups.

· Access Project – $496,000. Promotes abortion rights and services.

· GIRE – $485,000. Promotes abortion rights and services in Mexico .

The record is clear – the hands of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett are soaked with the innocent blood of millions of unborn children. The only question that remains is "Is the body count high enough for CRS to dump the death peddlers as donors?"

THE TRAGEDY OF CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES

The objective of this mailing is to persuade the American Bishops, especially those who serve on the Board of Directors of CRS, to publicly reject any and all donations from the Gates and Buffett Foundations and any other corporation or government entity that funds and promotes anti-life, anti-family and anti-God programs, services, and research in the United States and abroad. The message is simple - "Just say no"…. to the death peddlers.

As with the scandal-ridden Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Catholics should withhold all funding of Catholic Relief Services until this blatant injustice is publicly corrected. The CRS National Diocesan Campaign is usually held on the 4th Sunday of Lent. This will give CRS officials time to take action.

Unlike the CCHD, which should be disbanded, CRS, founded in 1943, has a long history of legitimate service to the Church especially in regard to refugee settlement and emergency disaster relief programs. The tragedy is that it has become just another compromised entity of the American Bishops' national bureaucracy which systematically poisons everything it touches. The removal of the Bill and Melinda Gates and Buffett Foundations from the roster of CRS partners/donors list is important, but the problems with CRS run much deeper and are unlikely to be resolved by the liberal, leftist establishment and staff that runs and controls the USCCB.

As things stands now, faithful Catholics need to look elsewhere for legitimate Catholic charities and missions to support.



USCL Action Alert



Please send your letters, e-mails, and faxes asking Archbishop Timothy Dolan to take the lead in severing all CRS, and other USCCB agency ties with the Gates and Buffett Foundations. They are not the only anti-life partners that CRS has teamed up with, but they are the worst.



A list of bishops who serve on the Board of Directors of CRS is provided below. If your bishop is on that list, please make him your top priority. If not, please send your communication to Archbishop Dolan, 1011 First Avenue, New York , NY 10022.



Phone: 212-371-1000.

CRS Board of Directors
Most Rev. Timothy Dolan - Chairman
Archbishop of New York

Most Rev. J. Kevin Boland
Bishop of Savannah

Most Rev. Timothy Broglio
Archbishop of Military Services

Most Rev. Patrick R. Cooney
Bishop of Gaylord

Most Rev. Daniel Flores
Aux. Bishop of Detroit

Most Rev. Martin D. Holley
Aux. Bishop of Washington , D.C.

Most Rev. Joseph E. Kurtz
Archbishop of Louisville , KY

Most Rev. Denis J. Madden
Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore

Theodore Cardinal McCarrick
Archbishop Emeritus of Washington , DC

Most Rev. Michael J. Sheehan
Archbishop of Santa Fe

Most Rev. George L. Thomas
Bishop of Helena

Most Rev. John Charles Wester
Bishop of Salt Lake City




*The USCL wishes to express its appreciation to LifeSiteNews for their August 1, 2003 article "Buffett Foundation donations, 2001-02."

** For additional information contact Randy Engel, Director, US CL at 724-327-7379 or rvte61@comcast.net.

###
End of Email

Archbishops Wuerl and Burke are favorites for Cardinal: Ying and Yang!

This just in from pewsitter: Surely, we all remember Bishop Wuerl from back in the day, and when he refused to deny Nancy "Lugosi" Pelosi Holy Communion?

[Washington Times]The lingo of horse racing, with words like "handicapping" and "top runners," is being applied to two men: Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl and Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican's highest court.

Other than the papal throne, the cardinalate is the highest position in the Catholic Church; it is this group of 120 men younger than 80 that elects a new pope.

Cardinals receive the red galero — the distinctive wide-brimmed hat for this office — in a consistory, the gathering in Rome specifically for the purpose of naming these new princes of the Catholic Church. Consistories typically are held every three years on a major Catholic holiday, which is why Vatican watchers are scouring the 2010 calendar for prospective dates.

Archbishop Wuerl, 69, was promoted to the Washington see in 2006. His predecessor, Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired as archbishop of Washington shortly after his 75th birthday, according to custom.

But Cardinal McCarrick retains voting rights in the college until his 80th birthday, on July 7. That date will open the way for Archbishop Wuerl to receive a red hat, because the Vatican hardly ever allows two active cardinals from the same archdiocese.

"If there are two American cardinals appointed, I think it'd be Wuerl and Burke," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, senior research fellow at Georgetown University's Woodstock Theological Center. "If there is only one, the race is between Burke and Wuerl.

"The odds are in favor of Wuerl, but the biggest problem is the 120-cardinal limit that [Pope] Benedict [XVI] is keeping to. If the consistory is towards the end of the year," and after July 7, "Wuerl will be a shoo-in. If it's in June, it'll be a close race."

A nod for Archbishops Wuerl and Burke would fit the pope's pattern of naming to the cardinalate a sitting diocesan archbishop along with one of several American archbishops based in Rome.

At the March 24, 2006, consistory, Boston Archbishop Sean O'Malley and Archbishop William Levada, prefect for the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, were elevated. At the Nov. 24, 2007, consistory, Galveston-Houston Archbishop Daniel DiNardo and Archbishop John P. Foley, pro-grand master of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher, were named.

Eight cardinalates have opened since 2007, and 11 more seats are slated to be vacated as a result of retirements in 2010. Retired Detroit Cardinal Joseph Maida, who turns 80 on March 18, and Cardinal McCarrick will be the two Americans leaving the college during 2010.

Washington isn't the only traditional "cardinal see." Other cities whose archbishops are customarily named cardinals, with sitting bishops who are not a members of the college, are New York, Detroit, Baltimore and Philadelphia.

But the fastest-growing Catholic areas in the U.S. are in the South and Southwest, which could encourage Benedict to give a red hat to a bishop from one of these regions. He did so in 2007, when Archbishop DiNardo was named to the college. The DiNardo appointment marked the first time a city had joined the list of cardinal sees since Washington was added in 1967.

"The pope has a good grasp of the demographic shifts within the United States," said Peter Casarella, Catholic studies professor and director of the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology at DePaul University. "There has been a signal that the Hispanics count. The pope could choose a Hispanic archbishop [as cardinal]."

Although Archbishop Burke, 61, is the second-ranking American at the Vatican after Cardinal Levada, one observer rates his chances at a red hat as very slim.

"I cannot imagine the next consistory not doing Wuerl and [New York Archbishop Timothy] Dolan," said Bill Ditewig, a deacon with the Washington Archdiocese who teaches theology at St. Leo University near Tampa, Fla. "Those two jump off the page."

However, retired New York Cardinal Edward M. Egan turns 78 this year, meaning a Dolan appointment is unlikely until Cardinal Egan turns 80 in 2012. Mr. Ditewig predicts that Atlanta will be another Southern city that the pope will make a cardinal see.

"I certainly think Atlanta Archbishop [Wilton D.] Gregory will make it in at some point," he added. "He has a reputation nationally and internationally as being a very effective bishop." [According to whom?]

The number of American cardinals is 13 — about one-tenth of the College of Cardinals — which may work against more American candidates, Father Reese said.

"There are other parts of the world besides the United States, which is the problem Wuerl faces," he said. "Thirteen U.S. cardinals is an all-time high, and Burke has a job in the Vatican that has traditionally gone to a cardinal. I am rooting for Wuerl. But because Benedict is keeping the number to 120, Wuerl is not necessarily a shoo-in."

The Lion of Belgium Meets the Jackals

Today, there has been increased criticism of Archbishop Léonard from the Belgian State, rather like the criticism levelled against Fr. Wagner in Linz and one of Holy Father's other appointments in Basque Country Bishop Blasquez in 1995, and more recently in December of 2009.

Sure enough, he's being also criticized by the faculty of Louvain, criticized rather accurately through the years as a center of dissent:

Léonard has beene a controversial figure in Belgium for his critical stands on homosexuality, same-sex marriage and condom use. He has been an outspoken opponent of abortion and euthanasia, both of which are legal in Belgium, and criticised the Catholic universities of Leuven and Louvain for their research into assisted reproduction and embryonic stem cells.

Of course, their allies in the Socialist party were also eager to put in their conerns as well:

The Socialist Party said it “insists that Archbishop Léonard respects democratic decisions taken by the institutions of our country. For the Socialist Party, the rights and duties that people take on democratically take precedence over religious traditions and commandments, without any exception.”

Catholic Culture says this about the demographics of Belgium. We predict the current languishing of the vocations under the leadership of outgoing Cardinal Daneels will become a thing of the past under the new Archbishop's administration.

The nation of 7.8 million is 73% Catholic. It has 3,928 parishes, 6,489 priests, 11,771 sisters, and 201 seminarians. The ratio of seminarians to Catholics makes Belgium one of the world's most "vocation-poor" nations.

Related Articles:

Red Basques Attack Episcopal Pick

Progressive Priests Reject Pope's Pick in Spain

A New Film About Archbishop Lefebvre

English languages site for the upcoming release of the Archbishop Lefebvre film, "A Bishop for the Church."

French Trailer

Communist Government Denies Blowing Up Crucifix in Vietnam, Blocks News Sites

Hanoi, Vietnam, Jan 19, 2010 / 03:59 am (CNA).- Following reports that it destroyed a crucifix and brutalized parishioners, the Vietnamese government has blocked various Catholic news sites from its citizens and claimed that it dismantled the crucifix, rather than blowing it up.

On Jan. 6, an estimated 600-1,000 armed police officers entered the Dong Chiem parish cemetery to protect an engineering unit assigned to destroy the stone crucifix under the pretense that the fixture violated a state mandate that all religious symbols be inside a religious premise. Parishioners begged the police to stop the destruction of the crucifix but were met with tear gas and batons.

Read further...

Movie Legion that Mocks the Faith and Leads to Despair

It's a familiar theme brought to us by the perennial adolescents of hollywood, rebel bad-boy saves the human race inspite of the efforts of all the people with hang-ups who really bring everyone down with morals.

The movie itself is poorly done, and is practically a caricature of the idea that evil can be good. Ayn Rand in one of her rare moments of insight explained that evil is in the world because it can be portrayed as a good. It's along those lines that Hollywood media types have been working for as long as films have been made, to present the outsider, Prometheus, as the savior of mankind. It's a captivating and persuasive theme, but I can't imagine many people seeing this movie, which is really only a remake of flop Prophesy.

Tradition Family and Private Property

Sony offended millions of Americans with its blasphemous film, The Da Vinci Code. Now it is set to do the same with the movie, Legion and that’s why The American TFP is asking its members to protest this latest blasphemy.

Online Petition, here.

Linz Bishop Reacts to Father Wagner's Critique

[Linz kathnet]What is by now a familiar approach to situations like this, the Bishop of Linz, who opposed Father Gerhard's appointment in the first place to become the Auxillary Bishop of the Diocese had this to say about his ecclesiastical subject's remarks about there being an undeclared schism in the Austrian church:

Bishop Ludwig Schwarz refused to become "emotionally inflamed" by Father Wagner: "Onesided incriminations and lump sum suspicions do not help to strengthen unity."

He essentially ignores Father Wagner's criticisms and accuses Father of being opposed to unity, of being unfair and so on, while not actually giving him the benefit of an intelligent response. Clearly, this battle has been brewing beneath the surface since long before Father Wagner was appointed to become Auxilliary Bishop, and Bishop Ludwig is desperately trying to discredit Father Wagner and his all-too-true criticisms of the Austrian Church.

DC Judge Rules against Same Sex Marriage Initiative

Courthouse News Service


(CN) - A judge in Washington, D.C., has rejected same-sex marriage opponents' bid to place an initiative on the ballot that would define marriage as a commitment between a man and a woman.
D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith Macaluso ruled that the proposed ballot initiative violates D.C.'s Human Rights Act, which bars discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Bishop Pates puts the Smackdown on Iowa Newman Center

Bishop Pates has been a gay friendly Bishop in the past, so we're suprised to see him take such a principled stand at this. It's unfortnate that there has to be such a public disagreement on the issue. Perhaps the 100 people objecting to this would be more comfortable in the Episcopalian or Lutheran Church where these sorts of things are celebrated. Perhaps a better policy would be to simply ban the Paulists from the Diocese, close the Newman Center and give it to the SSPX?

[Catholic Culture] Nearly 100 laity are boycotting Mass at an Iowa Newman center after Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines fired a transgendered housekeeper who had quietly offered counseling services and formed a transgendered support group there. Bishop Pates told Susan McIntyre, who was born as Jim Ford, that “your unauthorized representation indicating that you are employed by and operating on behalf of the Newman Center as a counselor or social worker” led to the housekeeper’s firing.

The bishop intervened after Father Joel McNeil, recently assigned to St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Student Center at Drake University, “noticed a piece of paper on a copy machine in the parish office,” according to the Des Moines Register. “On it was a counselor's authorization of hormone therapy for a transgendered person about to undergo a sex change. On a letterhead that included the center's name and address.”

The Register added:

There's a sign out front of the church that identifies it as Catholic, McNeil noted. It's a matter of truth in advertising, he said: Would the parish stick by Catholic teachings or have a set of beliefs that went outside the Catholic tent?

"For a person who sees Christianity as fidelity to what Christ began 2,000 years ago, we can't change that teaching," he said.

Is Everyone at the New York Times a Moron? Celebrating the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter.

Hmm, perhaps, but you probably become one if you subscribe to the New York Times. We're going to celebrate today's feast of the Chair of St. Peter, and also the teaching authority of the Church and the Magisterium, by ridiculing the Pinchy Sulzberger's artless, unabashedly pro-depravity rag, the New York Times. We also know that the New York Times has an air of infallibility, but how often have they got it wrong, and for good money too? People keep lining up! Extra! Extra! Reading all about it! Step right this way folks! Get your liberalism here, it grows you new stem cells and frees you from the guilt of doing bad to your neighbor! Go away son, you bother me.

When Pope Benedict XVI approved a decree last month that nudged nearer to sainthood his controversial wartime predecessor, Pius XII, he sparked another round of the sort of Jewish-Catholic disputations that have marked his papacy, and even cast doubt on whether his trip to Rome’s main synagogue, set for Sunday, would go on.

This whole bruhaha has all of the earmarkings of a "spontaneous" demonstration in the Soviet Union to celebrate Misha's Birthday in 1979 as part of the Olympic Games being held at Moscow during their ill-fated Afghanistan Invasion.. For those of you who don't know, Misha was the big bear maskot that was part of an attempt to improve the Soviet Union's image in the face of its anti-Jewish pogroms, gulags and invasion of sovereign nations.

Here's what the Catholic Encyclopedia says about the Holy Chair, tracing it back closer to Apostolic times than might be comfortable for most protestant apologists, atheists and other non-believers:

From the earliest times the Church at Rome celebrated on 18 January the memory of the day when the Apostle held his first service with the faithful of the Eternal City. According to Duchesne and de Rossi, the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum" (Weissenburg manuscript) reads as follows: "XV KL. FEBO. Dedicatio cathedræ sci petri apostoli qua primo Rome petrus apostolus sedit" (fifteenth day before the calends of February, the dedication of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle in which Peter the Apostle first sat at Rome). The Epternach manuscript (Codex Epternacensis) of the same work, says briefly: "cath. petri in roma" (the Chair of Peter in Rome).

Saint Martin Luther King

Lewrockwell.com

A young friend has just sent me the program for the celebration of Martin Luther King’s birthday that will take place next week at Kenyon College. The unifying theme is "Martin Luther King, Was He a Twentieth-Century Jesus," a key question that one is led to believe should be answered in the affirmative. The featured speaker for this sacral event is the Black Nationalist professor of law at New York University and "a pioneer in the Critical Race Theory Movement," Derrick Bell, who in all probability will tell the audience what he has been invited to say. What my young disciple did not know when he sent me the announcement is that our college is sponsoring a similar celebration, albeit one without Bell. Our students and faculty are expected to spend all of next Monday attending carefully selected panels dealing with the self-sacrificing goodness of Dr. King and the abjectly racist society he came to redeem. While our chaplain at a recent "holiday luncheon" could not bring herself to mention the Christian savior in a Christmas prayer, lest she offend some unidentified Kwanza celebrant, she and her onetime Christian colleagues are exhausting themselves in preparation for next Monday’s events.

Read furhter...

Rabbi Schneier of New York Says Tridentine Mass a Liabillity

The famous Rabbi made the following statement to "Radio Vatican" concerning the visit of Pope Benedict to the Synagogue: "I personally don't have to read any books about the Holocaust: I am the evidence."

[Kathnet] Rabbi Arthur Schneier stood in his East Park Synagogue in New York and welcomed Pope Benedict there in 2008 during his USA trip. Upon the coming visit of the Pope he is contacted and participates in an interview with Radio Vatican about some problematic issues of the catholic-roman Dialogue:

"The Tridentine Mass is a real liability. [It's amazing how insensitive the Rabbi is to the beliefs of others] We live today in a global world and must co-exist as religions -- therefore one needs respect for another. And Jesus was finally, a Jew. That was and is still ever a liability. And that is the question in tandem with Pope Pius XII. I believe, the best solution would here be, once again to basically go through the archives. The the Church is eternal, would it make any difference to wait a few more years!" [He's referring to the desire of Israeli Authorities to have access to Vatican archives, here.]

He goes on to take exception with the reconciliation with the SSPX and Bishop Williamson who he falsely accuses of denying the Holocaust, and says he doesn't need to read any books on it, because he lived it and then goes on to praise Pope Benedict for his historic, first ever for a Pope, visit to a Synagogue in the United States.

There's no way the world media would tolerate these kinds of impertinent prescriptions, inaccuracies and mendacities if the Shoa were on the other foot. Surely, if the Rabbi is evidence of the "Shoa", perhaps there is truth in what Bishop Williamson said after all.