More on William Peter Blatty's Lawsuit Against Georgetown

Joseph Fromm, over at "Good Jesuit Bad Jesuit" is closely following Mr. Blatty's canon lawsuit against Georgetown University. Blatty's high profile gives him considerable leverage. Let's hope the Archdiocese of Washington DC finally realizes the need for action. From Mr. Fromm's latest post on the subject:

"William Peter Blatty and other concerned alumni have created an online petition -www.gupetition.org - on which he asks donors to curb their contributions to Georgetown for one year. It also states that the rights of Catholics to a Christian education have been violated by Georgetown's "21-year refusal to comply fully with the law of the Church." Because of this, he is initiating the canon lawsuit against Georgetown. Among the remedies the petition seeks is that there be a "declaration by the appropriate ecclesiastical authority that Georgetown University is no longer entitled to call itself a Catholic or Jesuit University."


There is precedent for this, said Father Michael Orsi, the Chaplain and Research Fellow in Law & Religion at the Ave Maria School of Law, a Catholic law school in Naples, Fla. "Catholic theologians are given a mandatum by the bishops of the dioceses that they are qualified to teach Catholic theology," he said. The rulebook for this is theEx corde Ecclesiae, an order issued by Pope John Paul II in 1990. It defined what Catholicism means for Catholic universities. All educational facilities must have the endorsement of the local bishop. "The other side of it is the bishop can remove a Catholic theologian," Orsi said. He mentioned two instances where this was done. One was the case of Father Charles Curran, a theologian at the Catholic University of America. He taught about subjects that were considered antipodal to Catholic teachings. He was determined by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to be ineligible to be a professor of Catholic theology and was fired from his teaching position in 1986. The Congregation was run by then-Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. The other cited by Orsi was more recent. St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix was stripped of its"Catholic" appellation in December 2010. Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted issued a decree dissolving the hospital's affiliation with the Catholic Church. He wrote in his decree that he could not confirm the hospital was providing its services in line with Catholic precepts. "It is not done enough," Orsi said.

 
If Blatty's lawsuit moves forward, a brief will be presented to the Archbishop of Washington, D.C. He must make the determination that Georgetown no longer conducts itself as a Catholic university should...."

Defend Marriage; DUMP STARBUCKS!

On January 24th, 2012, Starbucks issued a memorandum declaring that same-sex marriage 'is core to who we are and what we value as a company.

Starbucks also used its resources to participate in a legal case seeking to overturn a federal law declaring marriage as the union of one man and one woman...

In taking these actions, Starbucks has declared a culture war on all people of faith (and millions of others) who believe that the institution of marriage as one man and one woman is worth preserving.
A portion of every cup of coffee purchased at a Starbucks anywhere in the world goes to fund this corporate assault on marriage.

We urge consumers across the globe to join the 'Dump Starbucks' campaign.

Sign the DUMP STARBUCKS petition here.

Lila Rose Nails PP Again: "Every Woman a Planned and Wanted Woman"

LIVE ACTIONer: "I was worried that I would get judgement for terminating because of gender..."

PLANNED PARENTHOODer: "Oh, no"

Once again Lila Rose's group nails Planned Parenthood on tape, this time facilitating sex-selective abortion. After all, possible grounds could they have for objection? As a commenter on Jeff Miller's blog said some time back, they're just making sure that "Every woman is a planned and wanted woman."

Check out the video.

Bibles at Walter Reed Medical Center!

The below is self explanatory. What will be next??

The soldiers who wake up in Walter Reed Medical Center are in Maryland -- not communist China. But under the Navy's new rules, they may not know the difference! After months of peeling away the military's core values, Obama's army is on the move. And this time, it has a high-value target: the Bible. In a memo obtained by FRC, Navy officials have announced that "no religious items (including Bibles, reading material, and/or artifacts) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit." The new orders are buried in a four-page document about patient care, which an Army officer forwarded to us in disbelief. Effective immediately, families, friends, and even

pastors will have to check their beliefs at the door to visit one of the largest military hospitals in the United States. Last night, after we circulated the memo to leaders on the Hill, an outraged Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) took to the House floor and blasted the policy. "Mr. Speaker, these military men and women who are recovering at Walter Reed and Bethesda have given their all for America... They've defended and taken an oath to the Constitution, and here they are. The people that come to visit them can't bring a religious artifact? They can't bring a Bible? ... A priest can't walk in with the Eucharist and offer communion to a patient who might be on their deathbed because it's prohibited in this memo from the Department of the Navy?"

This is Obama's military. After three years of ideological warfare, the administration's intent is clear: to disarm the military of its biggest weapon.

Faith. Regardless of President Obama's agenda, there is absolutely nothing in the Constitution that empowers the government to stop family members from giving Bibles or crosses to their loved ones. And from a PR standpoint, I'm not sure the best way to boost approval ratings is by denying comfort to wounded warriors. Unfortunately for our troops, who have endured so much turmoil under the Obama administration, this is another blow. Hopefully, with the help of Congressman King and others, it's only a temporary one.

Denis McNamara on Sacred Architecture

A wonderful, funny, and very learned talk. Long, but worth it:

Record Low Number of Americans Consider Themselves "Pro-Choice"

And some idiot politicians still think this is not a "winning issue." Governor Romney better think twice about holding anymore fundraisers with abortion supporters.

The detailed Gallup results are here.

Archbishop Broglio Corrects Nancy Pelosi

We certainly have some great, fearless, and knowledgeable shepherds!

His Excellency Timothy Broglio, Archbishop for the Military Services showed that Congressman Nancy Pelosi was completely off-base (not for the first time). From CNSNews:

"Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who oversees all Catholic priests who serve as chaplains in the U.S. military, says House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi defies logic in opposing a provision to the House Defense Authorization bill that protects military chaplains from being forced to violate their religious beliefs.

In an interview with CNSNews.com last Friday, Broglio challenged Pelosi, who on Thursday had called the provision “a fraud.”

“I am a little bit perplexed, because if, according to her, there’s no danger to ministers being forced to act against their conscience, what logical objection could there possibly be to putting that in a law?” the archbishop asked."

Pelosi, and the White House, object to section 536 of the Defense Appropriations bill, which states "that no member of the armed forces may 'direct, order, or require a chaplain to perform any duty, rite, ritual, ceremony, service, or function that is contrary to the conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs of the chaplain, or contrary to the moral principles and religious beliefs of the endorsing faith group of the chaplain.'”

The article continued:

“Nobody is ordering them to do that,” Pelosi said. “I’ve never seen any suggestion that we’re ordering chaplains to perform same-sex—where is that? I haven’t seen it and I’ve been around this issue for a long time.”

But Broglio, the head of the Archdiocese of the Military Services, respectfully but firmly took issue with Pelosi.

“I would suggest that perhaps she’s not very familiar with how the military works,” Broglio said. “While no one might be constrained to act against his or her conscience, you can also have a situation where someone in command makes it very, very difficult for that person, if the command wants him or her to act in a certain way. And I think that the law, the provision in the draft, the provision in the bill, would protect the chaplain from that kind of situation."

And CNSNews pointed out that this has already happened:

"Even the archbishop himself has been subject to interference from the Pentagon – in this case, over another issue on which the administration and the Catholic Church are at odds.

In February, Broglio wrote a letter he wrote for Catholic chaplains to read from the pulpit on a Health and Human Services Department requirement under Obamacare which mandates that all health insurance plans cover sterilizations and all FDA-approved contraceptives, including those that cause abortions– free of charge.

The Office of the Chief of Chaplains, at first barred the letter from being read.

'That is exactly the kind of situation that should be avoided, because strictly speaking, anything that a Catholic priest does in the context of Catholic worship is not governed by the military, but is governed actually by the Archdiocese for the Military Services, of which I am the archbishop,' Broglio told CNSNews.com. 'So the fact that someone from the Chief of Chaplains office would presume that he could intervene in that situation is actually a violation of the First Amendment.'”

Bravo, Excellency! He then cited chapter and verse, so to speak:

"He added: "And not to be speaking off the top of my head, there was actually a court case in 1999, Perry vs. Rigden, in which the Court agreed with exactly what I just said."

Bless him!

William Peter Blatty Leading Canon Lawsuit Against Georgetown

The author of "The Exorcist" has had enough, apparently. From the Cardinal Newman Society: 

"Georgetown University alumni, students and others are preparing a canon law suit to be filed with the Archdiocese of Washington and the Vatican, seeking remedies “up to and including the possible removal or suspension of top-ranked Georgetown’s right to call itself Catholic or Jesuit in its fundraising and representations to applicants.”

The effort is being led by the distinguished Georgetown alumnus William Peter Blatty, who won an Academy Award for his screenplay and book The Exorcist and has been honored by Georgetown with its John Carroll Medal for alumni achievement."

h/t to Joseph at Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit, who includes the cool picture from the movie.

What an Odd President We Have

Earlier today, as pretty much everybody knows, Breitbart.com reported that in 1991 the literary agent for President Obama produced a promotional booklet for its authors. The President's bio read:

"Barack Obama, the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii. The son of an American anthropologist and a Kenyan finance minister, he attended Columbia University and worked as a financial journalist and editor for Business International Corporation. He served as project coordinator in Harlem for the New York Public Interest Research Group, and was Executive Director of the Developing Communities Project in Chicago’s South Side. His commitment to social and racial issues will be evident in his first book, Journeys in Black and White."

ABC News then reported on the story, and spoke with Miriam Goderich:

"Miriam Goderich edited the text of the bio; she is now a partner at the Dystel & Goderich agency, which lists Obama as one of its current clients.

'This was nothing more than a fact checking error by me--an agency assistant at the time,' Goderich wrote in an emailed statement to Yahoo News. 'There was never any information given to us by Obama in any of his correspondence or other communications suggesting in any way that he was born in Kenya and not Hawaii. I hope you can communicate to your readers that this was a simple mistake and nothing more.'"

That's fair enough, but it begs the question: where did the facts that needed to be checked come from? Did Goderich just make them up? It is difficult to believe that a junior staffer would do so. And why did it take 16 years to rectify the mistake?--the ABC article closes with the paragraph:

"In a follow-up post, Breitbart.com noted that Obama was listed as being born in Kenya on the Dyster & Goderich website until April 2007, "just two months after then-Senator Obama declared his campaign for the presidency."

What an odd situation. As a writer in the UK Telegraph said, this isn't "birtherism," it's the opposite of "birtherism". It's not somebody saying President Obama was born somewhere else and pretended to be born in America, it's somebody saying President Obama wasn't born in America and pretending that he was born somewhere else! And its not his enemies, but his friends, or at least business associates who are saying this.

I personally think that the people Obama hangs out with thought that his being born in Kenya (instead of the boring old U. S. of A.) gives him extra cachet. I think they thought this would help them sell Obama to their audience. What a crew.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Dangers of the Contraceptive Pill

Offered freely to millions of women, the pill now points to disastrous effects.
America beware!

Rebecca Oas, Ph.D., is a Fellow of HLI America, an educational initiative of Human Life International. She writes for HLI America's Truth and Charity Forum:

...Even as the popularity of oral contraceptives remains high, the drugs themselves have been evolving in response to further discoveries about the human reproductive system, as well as efforts to reduce the Pill’s negative side effects. As with any major technological or medical development, particularly one embraced very quickly by a large sector of the population, it can take years, and even decades, for the full range of effects to become evident. And as demonstrated by several recent studies, many questions remain unanswered regarding the long-term and environmental effects of the hormones used in oral contraceptives, as well as other medical treatments.

When a new synthetic substance is created, or a naturally occurring substance is generated at greatly increased levels, the effects can be far longer-lasting and wider-reaching than its manufacturers predict or intend. Some well-known examples of this include asbestos, a popular insulation and flame retardant in the late 19th century, which was later discovered to be carcinogenic; and polystyrene foams like Styrofoam, which is frequently used in disposable packaging, yet takes hundreds of years to break down once discarded. In the case of oral contraceptives, the key ingredients are synthetic hormones known as progestins, which mimic progesterone, either alone or combined with estrogen.

When used therapeutically in contraceptive pills or in hormone replacement treatments for menopause, these synthetic hormones make their way into the water supply after being excreted in the patients’ urine. As environmental contaminants, these are referred to as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), due to the fact that they interfere with the endocrine systems of humans and animals alike following exposure.

....While its impact is still being widely studied, there is no doubt that the exposure is occurring: multiple international studies have documented elevated levels of natural and synthetic hormones in drinking water, and one such study conducted in France noted that progestins in particular were more resistant to removal by water treatment methods, compared with other types of pharmaceuticals.

The Holy Father, Cardinal Sarah and Reform at Catholic Charities

Brick by Brick, as Fr. Z would say.

Last week, at the Ad Limina visit of the Bishops of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming, His Holiness Pope Benedict discussed the role of the Catholic University, and specifically problems "in such basic areas as compliance with the mandate laid down in Canon 812 for those who teach theological disciplines." Are you listening USF? Reverend Pizzuto?

On May 2 His Eminence Robert Cardinal Sarah, under the Holy Father, issued the "Theological Inspiration of the New Juridical Framework of Caritas Internationalis." The document may be read here.  It is the result of years of work, and reflects the Holy Father's concern that "Catholic" organizations be faithful to the teaching of the Church.

On May 12, the Tablet, UK reported on a commentary Cardinal Sarah gave May 3 in L'Osservatore Romano.

Cor Unum chief suggests further local Caritas reforms
Robert Mickens - 12 May 2012

Cardinal Robert Sarah, whose Vatican office recently gained sweeping powers over the operations of Caritas Internationalis (CI), has suggested that bishops around the world impose similar controls over their own local and national Caritas agencies. This would include Cafod, the aid organisation of the Church in England and Wales.

The cardinal, who heads the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, implied that the 2 May implementation of new Vatican-imposed statutes for the Rome-based CI office might be a first step in a wider reform of the Caritas confederation at national level.

“This juridical corpus [for CI] does not per se concern the national Caritas organisations, which maintain their autonomy and depend on their respective ordinaries. But it could inspire the bishops and the episcopal conferences eventually to revise the statutes of their diocesan or national Caritas agencies,” the cardinal wrote in a commentary published in the 3 May issue of L’Osservatore Romano.

In the case of Caritas Internationalis, the new statutes and a fresh set of internal regu­lations stipulate that Cor Unum must approve its statements, its budget and expenditure, contracts with other non-governmental ­organisations and its hiring of personnel. In a similar way, the more than 160 national members of the Caritas confederation, such as Cafod and Catholic Charities USA, could face analogous regulations if their bishops’ conferences adopt the cardinal’s suggestion.

Since Pope Benedict XVI took office in 2005, the Vatican has increasingly exerted pressure on church organisations, such as CI, to strengthen their Catholic identity and to help them become more explicit instruments of evangelisation.

One way the new CI statutes will ensure this is through a more careful selection of employees who profess and faithfully live out the Vatican’s teachings on faith and morals. Such scrutiny, if applied at local and national levels, could have repercussions for current hiring practices"


"Repercussions for current hiring practices."

That is something sorely needed, (Brian Cahill comes to mind) and God bless and guide the Holy Father and Cardinal Sarah as they put this into practice.

Diocese of Davenport Caves to Homoactivists; Michael Voris Calls Them Out

Let's let New Ways Ministry; the anti-Catholic homosexual activists, tell us what it means:

"The Diocese of Davenport has reached an agreement with the Eychaner Foundation about the presentation of a $40, 000 college scholarship to a gay student graduating from a Catholic high school in Clinton, Iowa. News erupted last week about the dispute because Davenport’s Bishop Martin Amos originally would not permit a Foundation representative to present the scholarship to graduate Keaton Fuller at Prince of Peace High School’s commencement exercises because of the organization’s support for marriage equality.


The earlier decision, it had been stated, was based on a diocesan policy does not allow speakers whose views conflict with Catholic teaching to make addresses in Catholic institutions. In a Des Moines Register news story, the diocesan spokesperson offered the following explanation:


“But upon further review, diocesan spokesperson David Montgomery said there has been no alteration of policy and that the issue became what did ‘presenting’ an award really means.


‘We meant to say “speaking”,’ Montgomery said.”


Quite frankly, that explanation is weak."

For once we agree with New Ways Ministry. What an idiotic and craven cop-out.

And here's someone with whom we quite often agree, telling us what this cop-out really means: the abandonment of souls. Watch it all. Michael Voris at his best.

 

ANOTHER Study Shows Induced Abortions/Increased Risk For Breast Cancer Link

Until quite recently  we were still more or less agnostic on the purported abortion/breast cancer link, but study after study, from all over the world, seem to indicate that there is indeed such a link. Today,  Steve Ertelt, writing at LifeNews brings news of ANOTHER study by reputable scientists asserting a link between breast cancer and induced abortions. 

"A new study published in the Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention in February reported a very statistically significant increased risk of breast cancer for women with previous abortions as opposed to women who have never had one.

The study, consisting of 1,351 women and led by researcher Ai-Ren Jiang, reported a statistically significant 1.52-fold elevation in risk for women with induced abortions and a “significant dose-response relationship between (the risk) for breast cancer and number of induced abortions,” meaning the risk climbed with a higher number of previous abortions."

In 2010, we reported on four recent independent studies in Turkey, China, Sri Lanka, and Seattle. All four concluded that there is indeed an increased risk for breast cancer in post-abortive women. All four studies were published in significant professional medical journals. We re-post the part of our article describing the four studies:

"The Chinese study “A case-control study of reproductive factors associated with subtypes of breast cancer in Northeast China,” was published in the Journal of Medical Oncology on September 23, 2009. The study’s abstract concluded: “Breastfeeding protected parous women from any subtype of breast cancer. Postmenopause and spontaneous abortion were inversely associated with the risk of luminal tumors. By contrast, multiparity, family history of breast cancer and induced abortion increased the risk of breast cancer.”

The Turkish study “Breast cancer risk factors in Turkish women – a University Hospital based nested case control study” was published on April 8, 2009 in the World Journal of Surgical Oncology. It concluded: “These findings suggest that age and induced abortion were found to be significantly associated with increased breast cancer risk whereas oral contraceptive use was observed to be associated with decreased breast cancer risk among Turkish women in Istanbul.”

The Sri Lankan study “Prolonged breastfeeding reduces risk of breast cancer in Sri Lankan women: a case-control study” was published in Cancer Epidemiology in June 2010. It concluded, in part: “The significant factors associated with increased risk of breast cancer were: post-menopausal women (OR=1.74; 95%CI=1.01, 3.01); having an abortion in the past (OR=3.42; 95%CI=1.75, 6.66) and exposure to passive smoking (OR=2.96, 95%CI=1.53, 5.75).”In other words, as the Daily Mail UK reported, although the study was focused on the association between the duration of breastfeeding and the risk of breast cancer, other risk factors were discovered, and “the highest of the reported risk factors was abortion.”

The Seattle study “Risk Factors for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer in Women Under Age 45” was published in April 2009 in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention. The study concluded, in part: “In analyses of all 897 breast cancer cases (subtypes combined), the multivariate-adjusted odds ratios for examined risk factors were consistent with the effects observed in prior studies of younger women . Specifically, older age, family history of breast cancer, earlier menarche age, induced abortion, and OC (oral contraceptive) use were associated with an increased risk of breast cancer.”

The Seattle study was remarkable not just for its conclusion, but because of the identity of one of the authors, Dr. Louise A. Brinton, MPH, Ph. D. It so happens that Dr. Brinton works for the National Cancer Institute and was one of the organizers of the NCI’s 2003 workshop that produced the study that NARAL cites as the sole authority for their sweeping claim of no abortion/breast cancer link. Unfortunately for NARAL, while Dr. Brinton may have held that opinion in 2003, she no longer does. From the Daily Mail UK 'Earlier this year, Dr Louise Brinton, a senior researcher with the U.S. National Cancer Institute who did not accept the link, reversed her position to say she was now convinced abortion increased the risk of breast cancer by about 40 per cent.'”

Host Of “The Daily Show” Blasphemes Mary’s Purity

(Please read with caution. This is very disturbing.)

As you celebrate May, the month of Mary, others are blaspheming Her in the mostrepugnant and vulgar ways imaginable.In fact, according to press reports, late last week on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show”, Jon Stewart explained how Christianity began with a “convenient alibi” of a teenage girl (sic, The Virgin Mary) to her parents…

“You can easily say that Christianity was created by a knocked up teenage girl who told her parents an angel had come down and…Stewart was then interrupted with laughter, but not before they showed a huge picture of a pregnant Virgin Mary on the screen.”

John Horvat
Tradition Family Property

Send your e-protest message to Comedy Central and Viacom

Change of Pace -- Two Stories BOTH TRUE

STORY NUMBER ONE
Many years ago, Al Capone virtually owned Chicago . Capone wasn't famous for anything heroic. He was notorious for enmeshing the windy city in everything from bootlegged booze and prostitution to murder. Capone had a lawyer nicknamed "Easy Eddie." He was Capone's lawyer for a good reason. Eddie was very good! In fact, Eddie's skill at legal maneuvering kept Big Al out of jail for a long time. To show his appreciation, Capone paid him very well. Not only was the money big, but Eddie got special dividends, as well. For instance, he and his family occupied a fenced-in mansion with live-in help and all of the conveniences of the day. The estate was so large that it filled an entire Chicago Cityblock.

Eddie lived the high life of the Chicago mob and gave little consideration to the atrocity that went on around him. Eddie did have one soft spot, however. He had a son that he loved dearly. Eddie saw to it that his young son had clothes, cars, and a good education. Nothing was withheld. Price was no object. And, despite his involvement with organized crime, Eddie even tried to teach him right from wrong. Eddie wanted his son to be a better man than he was. Yet, with all his wealth and influence, there were two things he couldn't give his son; he couldn't pass on a good name or a good example.

One day, Easy Eddie reached a difficult decision. Easy Eddie wanted to rectify wrongs he had done. He decided he would go to the authorities and tell the truth about Al "Scarface" Capone, clean up his tarnished name, and offer his son some semblance of integrity. To do this, he would have to testify against The Mob, and he knew that the cost would be great. So, he testified. Within the year, Easy Eddie's life ended in a blaze of gunfire on a lonely Chicago Street .

But in his eyes, he had given his son the greatest gift he had to offer, at the greatest price he could ever pay. Police removed from his pockets a rosary, a crucifix, a religious medallion, and a poem clipped from a magazine. The poem read: "The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power to tell just when the hands will stop, at late or early hour. Now is the only time you own. Live, love, toil with a will. Place no faith in time. For the clock may soon be still."

STORY NUMBER TWO
World War II produced many heroes. One such man was Lieutenant Commander Butch O'Hare. He was a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrierLexington in the South Pacific. One day his entire squadron was sent on a mission. After he was airborne, he looked at his fuel gauge and realized that someone had forgotten to top off his fuel tank. He would not have enough fuel to complete his mission and get back to his ship.

His flight leader told him to return to the carrier. Reluctantly, he dropped out of formation and headed back to the fleet. As he was returning to the mother ship, he saw something that turned his blood cold; a squadron of Japanese aircraft was speeding its way toward the American fleet. The American fighters were gone on a sortie, and the fleet was all but defenseless. He couldn't reach his squadron and bring them back in time to save the fleet. Nor could he warn the fleet of the approaching danger. There was only one thing to do. He must somehow divert them from the fleet.

Laying aside all thoughts of personal safety, he dove into the formation of Japanese planes. Wing-mounted 50 caliber's blazed as he charged in, attacking one surprised enemy plane and then another. Butch wove in and out of the now broken formation and fired at as many planes as possible until all his ammunition was finally spent. Undaunted, he continued the assault. He dove at the planes, trying to clip a wing or tail in hopes of damaging as many enemy planes as possible, rendering them unfit to fly. Finally, the exasperated Japanese squadron took off in another direction. Deeply relieved, Butch O'Hare and his tattered fighter limped back to the carrier.

Upon arrival, he reported in and related the event surrounding his return. The film from the gun-camera mounted on his plane told the tale. It showed the extent of Butch's daring attempt to protect his fleet. He had, in fact, destroyed five enemy aircraft. This took place on February 20, 1942, and for that action Butch became the Navy's first Ace of W.W.II, and the first Naval Aviator to win the Medal of Honor. A year later Butch was killed in aerial combat at the age of 29. His home town would not allow the memory of this WW II hero to fade, and today, O'Hare Airport in Chicago is named in tribute to the courage of this great man. So, the next time you find yourself at O'Hare International, give some thought to visiting Butch's memorial displaying his statue and his Medal of Honor. It's located between Terminals 1 and 2.

SO WHAT DO THESE TWO STORIES HAVE TO DO WITH EACH OTHER?
Butch O'Hare was "Easy Eddie's" son. Say's a lot about integrity, doesn't it?!
. ==============================================================================

Why We Have Gone to Court against the Obama Mandate

By WILLIAM ARMSTRONG, KEN SMITH, AND JOE AGUILLARD

We are presidents of three private, evangelical colleges throughout the country. Our colleges enrich each of our communities. We educate young men and women for virtuous and productive roles in society. We engage in service and charitable outreach. We provide jobs to many hundreds of citizens and provide their families generous health insurance.

But the Obama administration has passed a rule that will penalize our colleges with faith-based fines merely because we center our beliefs about the sanctity of human life on the Bible, not on the demands of federal bureaucrats. The administration's mandate that religious employers provide coverage of abortion-inducing drugs for their faculty, staff, and students is a bridge too far in America.

This "conscience tax" is a blatant violation of the freedoms of religion and speech guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and affirmed by federal laws such as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. This mandate would be unjust even if it applied only to those who accept government funding, but it does much more than that. It applies to private, religious employers just because they exist in American society, regardless of whether they receive government funding.

That is why our colleges have each filed suit in federal court to stop this illegal overreach.
Our suits are not directed at "contraception," although some would like you to believe that. Rather, they are about the government forcing us and other religious organizations to provide access to drugs and services that violate our deepest religious convictions. Specifically, we would be forced to offer abortion-inducing drugs as a part of our insurance benefits, and that is a line we cannot cross....
Wall Street Journal

I couldn't agree more!

Marriage Wins BIG in North Carolina

Good news.

Once again, the people have defended natural marriage, and the common good of society that flows from from that basic institution.  You can see the results from the North Carolina Department of Elections here:

http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/NC/36596/80390/en/vts.html?cid=425000010

Right now (6:20 PM PST) it is over 60% voting to defend natural marriage.

"Sickening glimpse into the worldview of feminist Catholic nuns"

Laura Wood, writing over at "The Thinking Housewife":

"HERE IS a sickening glimpse into the worldview of feminist Catholic nuns. It’s an interview in the Minneapolis Post with Sister Brigid McDonald of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. This is a woman seething with resentment and bitterness toward male authority. The Vatican’s recent disciplinary action against American nuns stems from a fear of powerful women, she contends in the interview:

'Because [before] we were just school teachers and we just had nice little kids in front of us, you know, and we just emptied bed pans in the nursing homes and in the hospitals. But now they are right, we are out there in the different movements. We help with the Occupy movement and the right-to-choice movements.

It is giving us more credibility in the public. Lots of times people will call and seek out our opinions about certain issues, where it never was that way when I entered the convent. After we taught school, we went home, and said our prayers and ate supper and did our lesson plans and went to bed. Now we are out there.'

Mrs. Wood observes: "Notice her contemptuous view of the work of nuns of the past, whose care for the sick and the young she considers demeaning, menial labor."


Yes. It is indeed sickening, and it is obvious the Holy Father's action is long overdue.


Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

"Given the choice between the Eucharist and abortion rights, she chose the latter."

Stephen White at CatholicVote.org comments on Kathleen Sebelius' commencement speeach at the (Jesuit) Georgetown University. We disagree with him about one thing. He writes:

"Last year, Sebelius delivered the keynote addressat a NARAL fundraiser in Chicago. 'We are in a war,' she told the abortion boosters in the crown....

If we are in a war, as Sebelius says, at least she is clear about which side she’s fighting for. Would that we could say the same for Georgetown."


There's no doubt at all about whose side Georgetown is fighting on.

Adult Stem Cell Update: More Amazing News

Check out this amazing video from ABC--well, amazing to people who have not been following the progress of adult stem-cells (or as our long time source for stem-cell news, Don Margolis, refers to them "repair stem-cells"). It's so amazing it's even a little creepy.

While the Obama Administration and the and the abortion-loving Democratic party are chasing the will-o-the-wisp of embryonic stem-cells, hoping for some amazing cure that will, in their minds, justify the 40 million+ murders they have supported since Roe v. Wade, adult stem-cells are continuing their absolutely unprecedented progress.

From the article:


"There's an 80% chance that in five months Bill Weir will be the first person ever to see his cardiac tissue beating outside his body.


Last week Bill visited Dr. Tim Nelson at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota to report on a revolutionary new stem cell treatment that would have sounded like science fiction even five years ago.


Different from the controversial embryonic (Yes, it's morally acceptable and it works-ASP) stem cell treatment, Dr. Nelson's team took a biopsy from Bill's Bicep and are in the process of turning those cells into his own beating cardiac tissue; tissue that will beat at the same rate as the heart in his chest.


And this isn't just for the heart. After the biopsy is taken, doctors are able to wipe the hard drive of the cells and use them to create brain and lung tissue as well.


What this means is that in the future you may be able to go to your doctor and deposit a batch of cells, and if you have a stroke or heart attack later in life they'll be able to use those cells to repair the damage."

Let's hope the government does not get involved and screw things up.


Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Holy Father Calls Out Catholic Universities at Ad Limina Visit

As USF hosts the atrocious anti-Catholics Goodwin Liu and Lynn Woolsey, as Georgetown hosts the atrocious anti-Catholic Kathleen Sebelius, the Holy Father tells Catholic Universities what they should be doing, what their mandate is:


"On the level of higher education, many of you have pointed to a growing recognition on the part of Catholic colleges and universities of the need to reaffirm their distinctive identity in fidelity to their founding ideals and the Church’s mission in service of the Gospel. Yet much remains to be done, especially in such basic areas as compliance with the mandate laid down in Canon 812 for those who teach theological disciplines. The importance of this canonical norm as a tangible expression of ecclesial communion and solidarity in the Church’s educational apostolate becomes all the more evident when we consider the confusion created by instances of apparent dissidence between some representatives of Catholic institutions and the Church’s pastoral leadership: such discord harms the Church’s witness and, as experience has shown, can easily be exploited to compromise her authority and her freedom....


During my Pastoral Visit to the United States, I spoke of the need for the Church in America to cultivate "a mindset, an intellectual culture which is genuinely Catholic" (cf. Homily at Nationals Stadium, Washington, 17 April 2008). Taking up this task certainly involves a renewal of apologetics and an emphasis on Catholic distinctiveness; ultimately however it must be aimed at proclaiming the liberating truth of Christ and stimulating greater dialogue and cooperation in building a society ever more solidly grounded in an authentic humanism inspired by the Gospel and faithful to the highest values of America’s civic and cultural heritage. At the present moment of your nation’s history, this is the challenge and opportunity awaiting the entire Catholic community, and it is one which the Church’s educational institutions should be the first to acknowledge and embrace."


USF, Georgetown, and other institutions have become the enemies of the Church, rather than her defenders.

Esat Bay Catholic Calls Out De La Salle High

This article was published in yesterday's California Catholic Daily. We commend Mr. Arata for his concern.

"No Secrets
Catholic high school in Concord exposed

The following are excerpts of an April 27 email received from Mike Arata, a reader in the East Bay area, Oakland diocese.

Brother Robert Wickman, who returned as principal at Concord's De La Salle High School (known far and wide for its football program) has promoted at least two homosexualist programs at the school this year, most recently last week:

1. The Laramie Project - Brother Wickman wrote favorably about this homosexualist play in the school newspaper Spartan Spotlight’s October 2011 edition. The play was shown in November. Brother Wickman misrepresented (through omission) the Church's relevant positions on homosexuality in the newspaper story.

2. Day of Silence — On Wednesday of last week (April 18), Brother Wickman announced his support for the school’s Friday (April 20) participation in this [GLSEN-driven] day of activism.

The announcement was quickly removed from the school’s web site. But I found a cached copy of the page — and have pasted it further below in case the link becomes inactive. I have also attached an MS Word-stitched screen shot -- color highlights remaining from the search -- and the MS Word copy is clearer at this end.

17 years ago (during Brother Wickman’s earlier stint as principal at De La Salle), my wife and I protested a co-ed St. Valentine’s Day presentation of Secrets, a salacious, condom-promoting live performance by Kaiser Permanente’s Educational Theatre group, to De La Salle and Carondelet High School students.

We detailed/previewed the performance’s grossly inappropriate content in a meeting with Brother Wickman — content which promoted teenage behavior that is immoral, unhealthy, and illegal (not to mention diametrically opposed to Church teaching) — and requested that Brother Wickman cancel the event, which had apparently been coordinated / scheduled by Brother Jack Henderson.

[Brother Henderson collaborated later the same year with the notorious, self-outed homosexual Father James Schexnayder in a presentation at a conference of the Bay Area Network of Gay and Lesbian Educators, conducted at Holy Names College.]

Brother Wickman permitted the Secrets performance to proceed despite our objections and those of other parents. The performance, presented to a co-ed assembly of high school boys, girls, and faculty members in the Carondelet gym, was followed by an extraordinarily perverse question-and-answer session involving students and the twenty-something Kaiser performers. Wickman later apologized to us — but the harm we predicted had been done.

I have transmitted to Wickman copies of our protest letters from 1995, and now a list of 20 questions regarding his homomosexualist promotions (the two we know about, that is) during this current school year."

Among the comments to the story, some of which are informative, Br. Wickman sent this response. It was broken into two sections in CalCatholic's comments section because of the character limit. We have combined the two into a single response:

"As I was not contacted by the California Catholic Daily for a comment on Mr. Arata’s piece, I here supply you with my response to him. April 30, 2012 Dear Mr. Arata, I am in receipt of your correspondence of April 26, 2012. I remember well our interactions in 1995 and am disappointed to see from your April 26 message, both its tone and content, that you still carry an adversarial mindset and a disposition to characterize the views, intentions, and actions of others in a most unfair and uncharitable manner. You also have a less than accurate recollection of our interactions, including your notion that I somehow apologized to you in the aftermath of the Kaiser assembly. I recall quite well that I commented to you and others that I would have scripted the show differently in parts. I have been known to say that about a wide range of theatrical presentations. I also take exception to your characterization that I “misled readers” in my letter in the October issue of Spartan Spotlight. Insofar as you seem poised to write an article that will cast De La Salle High School in an unfavorable light of your own making, I will not be providing you with answers to your list of 20 questions. I will, however, comment in a more general fashion. De La Salle High School is a recognized and revered ministry of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. It operates with the approval of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland. De La Salle’s program of studies, environment of the school, and extracurricular activities are all designed to advance our mission to provide the best in contemporary, Catholic, college preparatory education for young men. Indeed, our Catholic identity and Lasallian character serve as anchor and horizon for us in all we do. Our programs are created, developed, and refined under the guidance of the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and the prescriptions of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. Our students are taught well what the Church proclaims. Our Catholic students are given the tools to become better Catholics.

Those who do not share the Catholic faith are provided opportunities to know and appreciate what we propose as they mature in their beliefs. We consider in an ongoing manner how best to communicate the Roman Catholic tradition in ways that make it understandable and compelling for young people. In a time when the message of the Christian Gospel is not received well among some, we work to build bridges, cast light, and always promote charity, justice, and the love we have been given by our triune God. We are faithful to our Roman Catholic beliefs and share the truth of Jesus Christ with all whom we encounter. Finally, De La Salle High School does not endorse, identify with, or align itself with any organizations whose purposes or messages are incompatible with the Roman Catholic faith. God Bless! Brother Robert J. Wickman, F.S.C. Principal"

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Billy Graham: "Marriage is the Foundation of our Society and Must Be Protected"

The Reverend Billy Graham has taken out full-page ads in 14 North Carolina Newspapers endorsing North Carolina's Amendment One. From CNN:

The Rev. Billy Graham, the world's best-known evangelist, has endorsed a ballot initiative to constitutionally ban gay marriage in his home state of North Carolina, a rare move for a preacher who has typically avoided political fights.

North Carolinians will vote on the state's Marriage Amendment Act before North Carolina voters next Tuesday....

'Watching the moral decline of our country causes me great concern,' the 93-year-old pastor, who has prayed with every president since Dwight Eisenhower, said in a statement on the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association website. 'I believe the home and marriage is the foundation of our society and must be protected.'

The statement continued to say that Graham 'never thought we would have to debate the definition of marriage.'"

Bless the good old preacher! If you would like to support North Carolinians as they stand up for the common good of society, click on the VoteforMarriageNC button in the right-hand panel.

Exciting! New Salesian Sisters Movie!

This year, our beloved Salesian Sisters (properly known as the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians) celebrate the 140th Anniversary of their founding. They are the largest order of women religious in the world. There is a new movie coming out about the formation of the daughters, and their founder, St. Mary Mazzarello. It's called, in English, "Main, the House of Happiness." ("Main," pronounced "my-ain", was the nickname of Mary Mozzarello). You can watch the trailer below--it looks great. It's in Italian, but it will be subtitled into many laguages when it is released. It needs to be--after all the Sisters serve in 94 countries!

"Marriage is the only institution that unites kids with their moms and dads"

In a culture as dysfunctonal as contemporary California, it becomes neccesary to remind people of the obvious, such as the title of this post.

Our friend Bill May, of Catholics for the Common Good, is profiled in today's Catholic News Agency. Bill is warning people of the latest attempt by same-sex "marriage" activists to destroy marriage by redefinition. May is talking about SB 1140. All you need to know is that the bill was introduced by San Francisco's State Senator Mark Leno, and is supported by Equality California. Bill says:

“At a time when marriage is in crisis, when 41 percent of children are born outside of marriage, when 44 percent of young adults believe that marriage is obsolete, we need to be promoting the positive reality of marriage, not redefining it out of existence.”

What is happening,” he explained, “is a redefinition of what marriage is, turning it into nothing more than the public recognition of a committed relationship between adults. It removes from the law any connection between marriage, children, mothers, and fathers....”

“Marriage is the only institution that unites kids with their moms and dads,” May observed. “If marriage is redefined to accommodate same-sex couples, there will be no institution in the law that does that.”

You can read the full article here.

Tennessee Pols Protect Christians, Take On Vanderbilt U

David French, over at The Corner, has been following the Vanderbilt University/Christian campus organizations story, which now includes the Tennesseee legislature.

In a nutshell, Vanderbilt's administration does not like Christianity, so they refused to allow Christian organizations to use Christianity as a criteria for belonging to said Christian organizations. Got that?

On April 19, French wrote: "Unfolding in Nashville is a local encounter with national implications — where Christians, beginning first at the grassroots and now moving up to the legislature, have decided they will not quietly acquiesce to the intolerance and exclusion of the academic elite."

But Vanderbilt may have bitten off more than they can chew. Today French reports that the Tennessee legislature has indeed stepped up to the plate. He also gives some background on Vanderbilt:

Last year, Vanderbilt was caught unlawfully requiring applicants to a nursing residency program to sign a pledge that they’d participate in abortions. Vanderbilt’s initial reaction was to deny wrongdoing, but one day later the university reversed course and changed its blatantly unlawful policy."

He then moves on to the action of the legislature:

"Faced with this pattern of behavior, last night the Tennessee legislature came through, passing by overwhelming margins a bill that would force Vanderbilt either to apply the alleged all-comers policy to fraternities and sororities or grant Christian groups the right to choose leaders that share the group’s faith. The bill (which also protects religious liberty at state public universities) now goes to Governor Haslam for his signature. While many Tennessee legislators deserve credit for standing firm in the face of Vanderbilt’s threats and deception, Representative Bill Dunn and Senator Mae Beavers played critical roles."

Democrats are asking Governor Haslam to veto the bill. We will see.

Today is Victims of Communism Day

Ilya Somin, at the Volokh Conspiracy law blog writes:

"Today is May Day. Since 2007, I have been commemorating this day here at the Volokh Conspiracy as Victims of Communism Day. Various other websites and blogs have promoted the same concept. In time, we hope to make this a worldwide commemoration similar to Holocaust Memorial Day. I explained the rationale for this idea in my very first post on the subject:

May Day began as a holiday for socialists and labor union activists, not just communists. But over time, the date was taken over by the Soviet Union and other communist regimes and used as a propaganda tool to prop up their regimes. I suggest that we instead use it as a day to commemorate those regimes’ millions of victims. The authoritative Black Book of Communism estimates the total at 80 to 100 million dead, greater than that caused by all other twentieth century tyrannies combined. We appropriately have a Holocaust Memorial Day. It is equally appropriate to commemorate the victims of the twentieth century’s other great totalitarian tyranny."

A single work of art can do more to convey the nightmarish horror of the Gulag than page upon page of scholarly writing.

The picture above is by a man named Danzig Baldaev. He died in 2005. He was conscripted to be guard in the Gulag after WWII. He was commissioned by the NKVD to document the tattoos of criminals. While doing that he also drew absolutely horrific pictures of the nightmarish existence that he had witnessed.