"You are not getting it right, Mr. President...let us strive even harder, as a people, to get it right."

A powerful pastor's message on the slaughter of innocents from Fr. Greg Coiro, O.F.M.Cap, rector of the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi in San Francisco.

I am writing this on Friday, December 28, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs. It is difficult to recount King Herod’s slaughter of all the baby boys under the age of two in Bethlehem and its environs without remembering that it was only days ago that 20 innocent little children, as well as six devoted adults, were massacred in the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

We know why Herod murdered the Holy Innocents—he wanted to destroy the newborn King of the Jews who posed a threat to his continued reign. Herod was mad…mad with power. But we have no idea what caused that madman to gun down those innocent first-graders in an idyllic New England town.

The shock of Newtown plunged an entire nation into grief and a debate on how we can prevent such heinous crimes in the future. I suggest that the answer does not so much lie in a change in the legislation regulating firearms as it does in transforming minds and hearts about the sanctity of all human life from the moment of conception until the moment of natural death.

Our President went before the people of Newtown and the nation proclaiming that we need to protect our children and that if we do not get that right, we get nothing right. Yet, the President himself supports the continued daily slaughter of children under the convenient euphemism of "freedom of choice."

You are not getting it right, Mr. President, and your words ring hollow in the face of your own com-plicity in the failure to protect children.

Just as Herod was mad for power, today’s "Herods"—Planned Parenthood and other abortion pro-viders—are also mad, not for power as much as for money. Never forget that abortion is a multi-billion dollar industry.

As long as our society fails to protect the lives of the most vulnerable members of our human family, we will continue to reap the fruits of the culture of death as Blessed John Paul II called it. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta warned us that a society that sanctions the crime of abortion can never have peace.

Let us continue to work and pray for a change of minds and hearts in our people and among our public officials, especially members of the judiciary, so that the right to life will be protected for all human beings regardless of their stage of development or ability to exercise "personhood." As we approach the fortieth anniversary on January 22, 2013 of the disastrous Supreme Court decisions that established abortion as a "constitutional right," let us strive even harder, as a people, to get it right.

Papal Nuncio to Attend Walk for Life West Coast!!!

Great news from the Walk for Life West Coast blog!

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the Apostolic Nuncio (better known as Papal Nuncio) to the United States will honor the Ninth Annual Walk for Life West Coast on January 26, 2013, organizers have announced. Archbishop Viganò is the 14th Papal representative to the U.S. The post was established in 1893. The appointment of Archbishop Viganò as Apostolic Nuncio to the United States was announced on October 19, 2011, a date chosen by the Archbishop himself, because it is the Feast of the North American Martyrs.

“What an honor! I am so excited—this is the next best thing to having the Holy Father himself with us!” said Eva Muntean a co-founder of the Walk. That is in fact true—Archbishop Viganò is the Holy Father’s diplomatic Ambassador to the United States, and as with any other Ambassador, his presence would appear to indicate his boss’s endorsement of the event. The nuncio will join an expected 14 Catholic bishops at the Walk for Life West Coast, led by San Francisco’s new Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone—the largest number ever.

The photo is of His Excellency (left) with His other Excellency, our new Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, at Archbishop Cordileone's installation earlier this year.

Merry Christmas!

May you have a blessed Christmas, and may Mary, Help of Christians be your guide throughout the New Year!

USF Jesuits Send Out a "Holiday" E-Card

I guess they don't want to offend anybody. Except Christians.



Personhood Under Attack

NARAL Pro-Choice America, a pro-abortion super group has written a scathing fundraising email seeking to scare women and dismantle this organization. The email is touting a wealthy donor, who is pledging to match all donations made to oppose us!

In the email, PersonhoodUSA is labeled as "extreme" and NARAL warns that we will "move this country backwards." Well, they are right about a few things: we DO want to give full legal protection to the unborn, and we DO want to stop their group from promoting the murder of preborn babies.

The pro-abortion left is pulling out all the stops, and bringing out their big guns. WE WILL NOT BACK DOWN! .

Friends, this is the biggest challenge we have faced in a long time, and who knows how much they will raise from their mysterious mega donor. We must be ready and prepared to continue moving forward with our fight for life regardless of what they throw at us!

Democrats Continue Outrageous, Unconscionable Benghazi Coverup

On September 11, Islamic terrorists attcked the United States diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. Four Americans, Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, Foreign Service Information Mamnager Scott Smith, and Embassy Security men Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods were murdered. Ambassador Stevens was the first U. S. Ambassador killed in 39 years. American forces were not sent to defend the mission.

The Obama administration immediately attempted to blame the attack on an absurd video, and kept running with that coverup, trying to hide the facts, for reasons yet to be made clear, for more than a week

Since then, of those involved in the unconscionable Benghazi debacle and coverup:

1) General Petraeus has resigned;

2) U. N. Ambassador Susan Rice, because of her part in the debacle, withdrew from consideration for the post of Secretary of State;

3) Now Secretary of State Clinton, who is resigning, can't testify, because she suffered a "concussion." If she's that incapacitated why is she still serving as secretary of state? Wikipedia's timeline of the attack an its aftermath says:

"December 7: The House Committee on Foreign afairs announced that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify, as early as next week, at an open hearing on the Benghazi attack.[262] "

"December 15 Hillary Clinton faints and suffers a concussion. As a result, her aides announce that they no longer expect her to testify at the hearing on the Benghazi attack.[263]"

The American mainstream media is complicit in this coverup.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Same-Sex "Marriage" = Child Sacrifice

A great article by Anthony McCarthy at Taki's Magazine.

"Child Sacrifice

What do the government’s Equal Marriage Consultation 2012, the article “Same-sex marriage is a true Tory principle,” and the letter signed by 19 senior Tories launching their Freedom to Marry campaign have in common?

Answer: Not once in any of these documents are the words “child” or “children” mentioned. The “conservative” website also manages to neglect to mention the terms “father,” “mother,” “parent,” and “family” (here resembling the current French draft legislation for same-sex marriage where the terms “pere” and “mere” are consigned to oblivion).

One of the letter’s signatories, Matthew Parris, called earlier this year for the deletion of word “marriage” from legal language. (He has apparently come around to the view that marriage is so sacred it must not be abolished, but open to all.)

Redefining fundamental terms such as marriage and excluding from consideration vulnerable persons designated by other words (e.g., “child”) in the name of “equality” or “choice” is usually associated with totalitarians, revolutionaries, and abortionists...."

Read the whole thing.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

The Difference?

I received the following from my fellow Salesian, Fr. Larry Lorenzoni, who quotes a letter from Austraiia:

I am shocked, shocked to hear about the  terrible news from Newtown, Connecticut, USA.

This morning at Mass in the Cathedral the priest prayed for the victims and survivors of this unbelievable tragedy. 

My mind asks - what is the difference between the murders of these innocents and abortion? 

Wake Up Call

The  silence is overpowering ! When will the good people wake up and demand their rights to a hearing?  I believe that good people are too good for their own good and for the good of life.

Are we too  polite to disagree with the people who are disagreeable?  Maybe we are too lazy to discuss what we consider  “political” issues, such as the right to life, to marriage between man and woman, to the celebration of Christmas...  Or maybe we hide behind our principal of agreeability with all. The result is that the majority of citizens is being run over roughshod by the anti-God, anti life, anti Christian minority. Wake up. good people and stand up for your rights-God given blessings.

Should it begin from our leaders: pastors. Bishops, Catholic politicians? I suggest it begin from each of us. Speak out, speak up.

I have a suggestion for our Bishops—that they use their authority to announce to dissident Catholic celebrities their excommunication and their heresy which is incurred automatically when they  support abortion. Bishops, please make it public. Here’s start of horrific examples:   Pelosi, Biden and now Carolyn Kennedy! Publicly excommunicate them if they don’t repent from their grave sin.

We congratulate the large number of Christian leaders and pastors who speak out fearlessly  in support   of  Christian principles

If our bishops had the courage to declare the excommunication  publically, it would certainly support the large number of Catholics who would speak with a louder voice against the abuse of Christian principals including abortion. 

Let us review Canon Law and Church Teaching ;
Canon 1398: “A person who procures a completed abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication.”
Canon 751: “Heresy is the obstinate denial or obstinate doubt after the reception of baptism of some truth which is to be believed by divine and Catholic faith; apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith; schism is the refusal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.”
Canon 1364 §1: “an apostate from the faith, a heretic, or a schismatic incurs a latae sententiae excommunication.”

The phrase “latae sententiae” means a judgment or sentence which is 'wide' (latae) or widely applied; it refers to a type of excommunication which is automatic.

"Celebrating the torture and murder of the innocent is barbaric and absolutely evil"

 

That was the comment of a man named Mike after reading the following story on California Catholic Daily, about the despicable celebration of the murder of the unborn by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The supervisors real aim, as the story makes clear, is to try and generate opposition to the Walk for Life West Coast.

San Francisco Supervisors declare January 26 celebration of Roe v. Wade
Date coincides with ninth annual Walk For Life

On December 11, 2012 the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 10-0 (with 1 supervisor absent) to pass resolution #121172, declaring January 26 to be a celebration of the Roe v. Wade decision, and expressing support for a “Celebration of Women, Life and Liberty” rally to be held at Justin Herman Plaza. Since the anniversary of Roe v. Wade is actually on January 22, and January 26 happens to be the date of the city’s Ninth Annual Walk for Life West Coast, the resolution seems targeted more at the Walk for Life than a commemoration of Roe v. Wade.

Eva Muntean, co-founder of the Walk for Life West Coast, noted the disconnect: “Although the mainstream media virtually ignores the Walk for Life West Coast and the 40,000 + people we have brought to the streets of San Francisco, it appears the San Francisco Board of Supervisors does not. Why else would they choose January 26, the day of the Walk for Life, to commemorate 40 years of Roe v. Wade when the actual anniversary is January 22?”

The move is eerily similar to 2005 actions by then-mayor Gavin Newsom and the board of supervisors, which they took in response to the First Annual Walk for Life West Coast. Those proclamations backfired, encouraging behavior on the part of San Francisco pro-abortion activists of such a nature that even the San Francisco Chronicle was forced to take notice. The behavior was so bad that none of the mainstream pro-abortion groups, such as NARAL or Planned Parenthood, chose to associate themselves with the protestors in the following years.

Each year since 2005 the Walk for Life has grown, from 5,000 in 2005 to an estimated 40-50,000 in 2012. The same growth has not been apparent among the protestors: in 2010 San Francisco’s well known photojournalist “Zombie,” (who calls himself pro-choice) estimated a crowd of 80 counter demonstrators. In 2012, another San Francisco photojournalist “Protestshooter” documented the protest of the Walk for Life West Coast at Justin Herman Plaza. He also counted 80 attendees.

On December 12, 2012, one day after the unanimous passage of the resolution, the Walk for Life West Coast issued a response. The response included this quote from Dr. Alveda King, SNMA, niece of slain civil rights hero Dr. Martin Luther King, and a speaker at the 2008 Walk for Life West Coast:

“To ignore the pain of millions of women and their dead babies who commiserate 40 years of abortions under the yoke of Roe v. Wade is an admission by the Supervisors that they devalue women who don’t count in their books. Their sense of injustice is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Ms. Georgette Forney, president of Anglicans for Life and a co-founder of the Silent No More Awareness campaign, which supports women who have suffered the pain of abortion, also responded, and she invited the supervisors to join the Silent No More event on January 26 at San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza:

“The hypocrisy of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to endorse the Trust Women group while ignoring the voices of women who have been hurt and exploited by abortion is sad and reprehensible. I challenge the Supervisors to attend the Silent No More Awareness Campaign event that will occur at the same time as the Celebration of Women, Life and Liberty and hear the reality of abortion instead of pro-choice rhetoric.”

This year’s Walk for Life West Coast is expected to draw over a dozen Catholic bishops. Guest speakers include Lacey Buchanan, a young mother whose YouTube video about her blind son went viral and has touched over 11 million viewers; Elaine Riddick, a woman who was forcibly sterilized at age 14 under orders from North Carolina’s Eugenics Board; the Rev. Clenard Childress, founder and director of www.BlackGenocide.org; and Kelly and Matthew Clinger, a post-abortive couple who share their story about the heartache and pain caused by life in the music industry, divorce, addiction, and abortion

Walk for Life West Coast: January 26!

Check out the new video from the Walk For Life West Coast:



Be there! www.walkforlifewc.com

March For Life in Denver

It's on Sunday, January 20 in the Mile High City!

The March begins with Mass at 10:30 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, followed by a rally with speakers (our friend Walter Hoye will be speaking!) then the March for Life.

God bless our brothers and sisters in Colorado!

You can learn more by visiting www.mfldenver.org

Marriage: "The Only Institution that Unites Children with their Mothers and Fathers Together"

His Excellency Salvarore Cordileone stands up for marriage, the family, and the civilization:


“The US Supreme Court's decision to hear these cases is a significant moment for our nation,” said Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, chairman of the US bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage. “I pray the Court will affirm the fact that the institution of marriage, which is as old as humanity and written in our very nature, is the union of one man and one woman.”

“Marriage is the foundation of a just society, as it protects the most vulnerable among us, children,” he continued. “It is the only institution that unites children with their mothers and fathers together. We pray for the Court, that its deliberations may be guided by truth and justice so as to uphold marriage's true meaning and purpose.”

God bless our new Archbishop!

Finally an Adult Court to Hear Prop 8 Case

The Supremes have decided to hear the appeal of the Proposition 8 case. Right from the beginning we knew that's where the case was going, and we can't wait to see them smack down Vaughn Walker's ludicrous ruling, as well as overturning appeals judge Judge Stephen Reinhardt, "the most overturned judge on the most overturned court in the land."

This should be fun!

Needless to say, the side of truth and natural marriage will be outspent by the foes of marriage (in their recent four victories they outspent us by at least 6-1) so you can help by donating to the Proposition 8 Legal Defense Fund here:

http://protectmarriage.com/proposition-8-legal-defense-fund

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Walk for Life West Coast: January 26 in San Francisco

It's next month: the largest annual gathering of Catholics (and other pro-lifers) in the city of San Francisco!

This year's Walk has more events than ever: 

On January 25:

Walter Hoye leading the Stand Up 4Life March in Oakland!
A special Mass with the Sisters of Life celebrated by San Jose's Auxiliary Bishop Tom Daly
(followed by adoration) at San Francisco's Star of the Sea.
All night adoration on January 25 at Saints Peter and Paul,
closing with the Unborn Jesus Holy Hour at 6:00 AM on January 26.

On January 26:

9:30 AM Mass at the St Mary's Cathedral
celebrated by Archbishop Cordileone and many of his brother bishops!
11:00 AM Info Faire at San Francisco's Civic Center Plaza!

12:30 PM Rally for Life at Civic Center Plaza.

1:30 PM Walk for Life from the Plaza down Market Street
 Catholic Underground youth event at St. Mary Magdalene in Berkeley in the evening!

For all details visit www.walkforlifewc.com

The Holy Father Teaches It: Catholic Charities Must be Catholic!

God Bless our good Pope Benedict! He is asserting control over the out of control "Catholic" charitable organizations, many of which are really government organizations with "Catholic" in their names.

This is very important to us, because one of the original aims of this website was to call attention to, and to change, the horrific situation at Catholic Charities of San Francisco, where children were being given to adoptive homosexual couples.Newcomers can read about that at the Catholic Charities CYO page of our sister website Homosexual Activism in the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

LifeSiteNews has the story:

Pro-life leaders praise Pope for ‘huge move’ of ordering Catholic Church charities to be Catholic

By John Henry Westen

WASHINGTON, December 4, 2012  “I’m elated beyond words.” “An early Christmas present.” “Deo gratsias!” “It is a welcome and huge move…” “One of the most important papal directives in the last half-century”. These were some of the reactions of pro-life leaders to Pope Benedict XVI’s directive called ‘On the service of charity’ released Saturday which mandated (ordered) that charitable activities undertaken by the Catholic Church never offend Catholic teaching.Kathleen Gilbert/LifeSitenews

In the directive, the Pope stated: “I order that everything I have laid down in this Apostolic Letter issued Motu Proprio be fully observed, notwithstanding anything to the contrary....”

And God bless the good folks at LifeSiteNews, who have been fighting this battle for years (particularly in regards to the Canadian "Development and Peace" group) in the face of ecclesiastical opposition.

More Jesuits and "Womenpriests"

Speaking of Jesuits concelebrating "Mass" with "Womanpriests" here's the famous John Baumann, SJ, (founder of the Obamite/Alinskyite group PICO) apparently celebrating a "Mass" with "womanpriest" Juanita Cordero at the February, 2006 retreat of the West Coast Companeros. The Companeros are a group of Jesuits from the California and Oregon provinces.

According to the Roman Catholic Womanpriests website, Cordero was "ordained" a deacon and thus excommunicated in 2006, and was "ordained" a "priest" in 2007.

So, instead of bringing her back into the church as she is falling away, Fr. Baumann is instead abetting her excommunication. And there is no doubt where she stood--earlier in the same retreat website there is a photo of her flashing a copy of the National Catholic Reporter with a cover story on  "Women Priests." On the website the photo is captioned "Juanita spreads the news".

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

"Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit" On Fire!

Joseph Fromm, over at "Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit" is on fire this week, exposing anti-Catholic machinations at various Jesuit institutions around the country:

Georgetown University Pays Homosexual Protestant Bishop to Speak to Students

(The absurd Gene Robinson visits Georgetown. You know they wish he was their Bishop!)

Wisconsin Jesuit Celebrates Mass With Woman His Priestly Faculties Suspended

(Guy in Milwaukee suspended at Bishop Listecki's request after celebrating "Mass" with womanpriest. Way to go, Excellency!)

Georgetown Jesuit Community hosts Catholic Anti-Catholic

(Same-sex attracted guy objects to Catholic teaching on same-sex attractedness).

And there's more. Check it out.

Totalitarian Homosexualism and Feminism

It is not a new observation but bears repeating: totalitarianism arises when groups attempt to impose an unreal understanding of reality on society. Because assertions such as that same-sex persons can "marry" or that there is a complete equality between the sexes are in fact lies, anything that offers a true understanding of the issues must be suppressed. And since truth is the understanding of reality, and reality is always here, the suppression must be unending. We've discussed this over and over again, particularly in regard to the efforts of homosexualists to impose a false view of reality through legislation. A recent example is the attempted ban in California on therapies for persons desiring to overcome same-sex attraction--something now being pushed in Congress by Congresswoman Jackie Speier. So much for being "pro-choice" and tolerant, huh?

James Taranto, at the Wall Street Journal, for one, has also been noting the totalitarian nature of today's "diversity" crusaders. We have posted on one of Taranto's insights before.

On Friday, Mr. Taranto, commenting on an article by Professor Robert Deaner that boys (surprise surprise) just naturally have more interest in playing sports than do girls. Taranto then asked:

 "So why are the female participation rates in high school and intercollegiate sports so much closer to the male ones? Because the federal government, in the name of 'equal opportunity,' has made a priority of increasing female participation at those institutions under 1972 legislation commonly known as Title IX."

Taranto then noted:

"Probably without meaning to, Deaner illustrates another theme this column has struck in recent months--that of totalitarian feminism.'We certainly don't dispute the need for Title IX or its tremendous benefits,' he ritualistically declares at the end of the press release. You must love Big Brother."

Of course, as the fall of Communism showed us, reality always wins in the end over the totalitarian dream world, but terrible damage is done while the totalitarians are in power.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

"When Work is Punished" "It Does Not Pay To Work" "Why work? You're Better Off Collecting Welfare"

Those are some of the headline responses to a recent presentation given by Gary Alexander, Secretary of Public Welfare for the State of Pennsylvania. Mr Alexander shows at what point a single mother with two children would be financially better off working less and collecting various welfare benefits or working not at all and collecting various welfare benefits.

I first saw this chart from Mr. Alexander's report in an article by Tim Shaughnessy at catholicvote.org.

Click the image for a larger version. Mr. Shaughnessy wrote:

"(the chart) shows the after-tax wages (bottom blue bars) and welfare benefits (upper multicolored bars) available for a hypothetical single mom with two children at various income levels. The glass-half-full observation is that the family is able to maintain a standard of living of at least $40,000, even if the mother earns no income at all at a job. The glass-half-empty observation is reflected in the text box:

'The single mom is better off earning gross income of $29,000 with $57,327 in net income & benefits than to earn gross income of $69,000 with net income & benefits of $57,045.'

If you can spot it, there’s even an odd range between wages of $44,000 and $50,000 where, even after receiving CHIP, the mother takes home less than if she didn’t earn any income at all. A single mom who simply worked and didn’t want to receive any assistance from the state would be worse off working at a job of $54,000 than if she didn’t work at all."

 John Hinderaker (along with many others) notes the moral dimension of the issue: "Let’s start by cutting welfare, and cutting it deeply. (I agree, but with proper discrimination.) Not only because it is wasteful, but because by devaluing work it threatens to cripple not merely our economy, but our culture. An America where you are better off cashing welfare checks than working is an America that cannot long survive."

Mr. Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com notes the same thing. And he calls it a tragedy:

"Exactly two years ago, some of the more politically biased progressive media outlets (who are quite adept at creating and taking down their own strawmen arguments, if not quite as adept at using an abacus, let alone a calculator) took offense at our article "In Entitlement America, The Head Of A Household Of Four Making Minimum Wage Has More Disposable Income Than A Family Making $60,000 A Year." In it we merely explained what has become the painful reality in America: for increasingly more it is now more lucrative - in the form of actual disposable income - to sit, do nothing, and collect various welfare entitlements, than to work. This is graphically, and very painfully confirmed, in the below chart from Gary Alexander, Secretary of Public Welfare, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (a state best known for its broke capital Harrisburg). As quantitied, and explained by Alexander, 'the single mom is better off earnings gross income of $29,000 with $57,327 in net income & benefits than to earn gross income of $69,000 with net income and benefits of $57,045.'"

Mr. Durden also links to another page from Mr. Alexander's study, showing the ratio of private sector employees to welfare recipients and public sector employees (again, click image for a larger version). This is not sustainable:

Supremes to Decide Tomorrow Whether to Hear Prop 8 Appeal?

Maybe.

Will the court allow the people of the state of California to have their voices heard? Or will they back the outrageous Judge Vaughn Walker and the Ninth Circuit, the most overturned court in the land?

We've always said the case would go to the Supreme Court, so we think they will decide to hear the appeal.

What the Marriage Debate is Really About

The Public Interest has an important article by R.J. Snell  on the real issue in the fight over same-sex "marriage." This is why we, at A Shepherd's Voice always distinguish between real man/woman marriage and counterfeit "marriage."

Reason and Compassion in the Marriage Debate

Discourse about marriage is often short on reason and compassion. Arguments and objections can be mercilessly logical, forgetful of persons behind the positions; at other times reason seems to have taken a holiday, replaced with a kind of shrill indignation.

Perhaps failure is inevitable when marriage means too many things. Interlocutors cannot avoid speaking at cross-purposes when terms are in flux, and positions cannot but appear arbitrary if marriage is formless and mutable.

Given the confusion, it is understandable why the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy article “What Is Marriage?” by Sherif Girgis, Robert P. George, and Ryan T. Anderson drew so much attention, because they asked the marriage debate’s vital question. Definitions clear away weeds, clarity fosters productive disagreement, and subsequent rejoinders to the essay were numerous and pointed—a good sign that tackling the definition was needed.

Given the conversation stirred by the article, this winter’s release of What Is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense by Girgis, George, and Anderson is welcome (eBooks go on sale today; hard copies in early December). Augmenting and developing their earlier arguments, the book responds to objections, while tackling an impressive range of philosophical, legal, and social-scientific issues in a relatively slim volume.

The authors explain why debates over gay marriage are only indirectly about homosexuality; the real issue is “not about whom to let marry, but about what marriage is.”

Read the full article here.

"What Is Marriage: Man and Woman: A Defense" is available here.

Our friend Bill May, of Catholics for the Common Good, has just released a book on the same subject, called "Getting the Marriage Conversation Right." You can find that book here.

BLACK FRIDAY---MURDER

The day after Thanksgiving, known to many as "Black Friday", is the unofficial start to the Christmas shopping season and a day to take advantage of some of the best deals of the season. But for one South Florida Planned Parenthood, it is means a chance to offer cheap abortions to frightened women.

In a an email message to supporters, Planned Parenthood offered "$10.00 off" for a visit on Friday, November 23, between the hours of 10 am and 2pm, in addition to offering $5.00 off for "emergency contraception".

Planned Parenthood is trying to cheapen life to a disgusting degree! This letter makes it sound like they are selling haircuts, but instead they are selling the destruction of a human life!

As the largest Personhood group in the United States, it is on us to stand up against this horrific dehumanizing attempt by Planned Parenthood. For too long, this organization has been ending innocent human life by preying on young women and telling them that they have their best interests in mind. It's a lie!,
Keith Mason
Founder
Personhood USA

When a letter of congratulations contains a warning

The Metropolitan of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations for the Russian Orthodox Church, and a permanent member of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow, Bishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, has written a letter of congratulations to Right Reverend Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham and nominee as Archbishop of Canterbury.

+Hilarion
Metropolitan of Volokolamsk

Dear Brother and Lord Bishop,

 I would like to extend to you wholehearted congratulations on your election as Head of one of the oldest episcopal chairs founded by St. Augustine of Canterbury in the 7th century.

You have been entrusted with the spiritual guidance of the entire Anglican Communion, a unique union of like-minded people, which, however diverse the forms of its existence in the world may be, needs one ‘steward of God’ (Tit. 1:7) the guardian of the faith and witness to the Truth (cf. Jn. 18:37).

The Russian Orthodox Church and the Churches of the Anglican Communion are bonded by age-old friendly relations initiated in the 15th century. For centuries, our Churches would preserve good and truly brotherly relations encouraged both by frequent mutual visits and established theological dialogue and certainly by a spirit of respect and love which used to accompany the meetings of our hierarchs, clergy and ordinary believers.

Regrettably, the late 20th century and the beginning of the third millennium have brought tangible difficulties in relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Churches of the Anglican Communion. The introduction female priesthood and now episcopate, the blessing of same-sex ‘unions’ and ‘marriages’, the ordination of homosexuals as pastors and bishops – all these innovations are seen by the Orthodox as deviations from the tradition of the Early Church, which increasingly estrange Anglicanism from the Orthodox Church and contribute to a further division of Christendom as a whole.

We hope that the voice of the Orthodox Church will be heard by the Church of England and Churches of the Anglican Communion, and good fraternal relationships between us will revive.

I wish you God’s help in your important work.

“May the God of love and peace be with you” (2 Cor. 13:11).

+Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk

Obama's Soviet Mistake

Putin in 2009 outlined his strategy for economic success. Alas, poor Obama did the opposite but nevertheless was re-elected. Bye, bye Miss American Pie. The Communists have won in America with Obama but failed miserably in Russia with Zyuganov who only received 17% of the vote. Vladimir Putin was re-elected as President keeping the NWO order out of Russia while America continues to repeat the Soviet mistake.

After Obama was elected in his first term as president the then Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin gave a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January of 2009. Ignored by the West as usual, Putin gave insightful and helpful advice to help the world economy and saying the world should avoid the Soviet mistake.

Recently, Obama has been re-elected for a 2nd term by an illiterate society and he is ready to continue his lies of less taxes while he raises them. He gives speeches of peace and love in the world while he promotes wars as he did in Egypt, Libya and Syria. He plans his next war is with Iran as he fires or demotes his generals who get in the way.

Putin said regarding the military,

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"...instead of solving the problem, militarization pushes it to a deeper level. It draws away from the economy immense financial and material resources, which could have been used much more efficiently elsewhere."

Well, any normal individual understands that as true but liberalism is a psychosis . O'bomber even keeps the war going along the Mexican border with projects like "fast and furious" and there is still no sign of ending it. He is a Communist without question promoting the Communist Manifesto without calling it so. How shrewd he is in America. His cult of personality mesmerizes those who cannot go beyond their ignorance. They will continue to follow him like those fools who still praise Lenin and Stalin in Russia. Obama's fools and Stalin's fools share the same drink of illusion.

Reading Putin's speech without knowing the author, one would think it was written by Reagan or another conservative in America. The speech promotes smaller government and less taxes. It comes as no surprise to those who know Putin as a conservative. Vladimir Putin went on to say:

"...we are reducing taxes on production, investing money in the economy. We are optimizing state expenses.

The second possible mistake would be excessive interference into the economic life of the country and the absolute faith into the all-mightiness of the state.

There are no grounds to suggest that by putting the responsibility over to the state, one can achieve better results.

Unreasonable expansion of the budget deficit, accumulation of the national debt - are as destructive as an adventurous stock market game.

During the time of the Soviet Union the role of the state in economy was made absolute, which eventually lead to the total non-competitiveness of the economy. That lesson cost us very dearly. I am sure no one would want history to repeat itself."

President Vladimir Putin could never have imagined anyone so ignorant or so willing to destroy their people like Obama much less seeing millions vote for someone like Obama. They read history in America don't they? Alas, the schools in the U.S. were conquered by the Communists long ago and history was revised thus paving the way for their Communist presidents. Obama has bailed out those businesses that voted for him and increased the debt to over 16 trillion with an ever increasing unemployment rate especially among blacks and other minorities. All the while promoting his agenda.

"We must seek support in the moral values that have ensured the progress of our civilization. Honesty and hard work, responsibility and faith in our strength are bound to bring us success."- Vladimir Putin

The red, white and blue still flies happily but only in Russia. Russia still has St George defeating the Dragon with the symbol of the cross on its' flag. The ACLU and other atheist groups in America would never allow the US flag with such religious symbols. Lawsuits a plenty against religious freedom and expression in the land of the free. Christianity in the U.S. is under attack as it was during the early period of the Soviet Union when religious symbols were against the law.

Let's give American voters the benefit of the doubt and say it was all voter fraud and not ignorance or stupidity in electing a man who does not even know what to do and refuses help from Russia when there was an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Instead we'll say it's true that the Communists usage of electronic voting was just a plan to manipulate the vote. Soros and his ownership of the company that counts the US votes in Spain helped put their puppet in power in the White House. According to the Huffington Post, residents in all 50 states have filed petitions to secede from the Unites States. We'll say that these Americans are hostages to the Communists in power. How long will their government reign tyranny upon them?

Russia lost its' civil war with the Reds and millions suffered torture and death for almost 75 years under the tyranny of the United Soviet Socialist Republic. Russians survived with a new and stronger faith in God and ever growing Christian Church. The question is how long will the once "Land of the Free" remain the United Socialist States of America? Their suffering has only begun. Bye bye Miss American Pie! You know the song you hippies. Sing it! Don't you remember? The 1971 hit song by American song writer Don McLean:

"And, as I watched him on the stage my hands were clenched in fists of rage.

No angel born in Hell could break that Satan's spell

And, as the flames climbed high into the night to light the sacrificial rite, I saw...

Satan laughing with delight the day the music died

He was singing, bye bye Miss American Pie

Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry

Them good ol' boys were drinking whiskey and rye, singing...

This'll be the day that I die

This'll be the day that I die

So, the question remains:

How long will America suffer and to what depths?

Xavier Lerma

Contact Xavier Lerma at xlermanov@swissmail.org

His popular articles can be seen at http://xlerma.wordpress.com/

Hyperlink to Pravda is mandatory if you republish this article

Open Season

It’s open season on Catholicism. In Ireland and in Australia, public opinion is being whipped into frenzy in crusades against Church teachings. In both cases the arguments are thoroughly irrational.

• In Ireland, Savita Halappanavar died a horrible, painful, needless death. But rather than mourning her death, and demanding a full accounting of where the doctors went wrong, pundits are blaming the tragedy on teachings of the Catholic Church. We really don’t know, at this point, what caused her death. But one thing is quite clear already: it was not due to Catholic teaching, nor to Catholic influence on Ireland's laws.
• In Australia, there are angry demands for Catholic priests to break the confessional seal. This campaign is fueled by the notion that the seal has protected perpetrators of sexual abuse. There is zero evidence—zero—to support that notion. And there is ample evidence that the campaign against the Catholic Church is tinged by political motives..

CatholicCulure.org

Catholic Crisis--USA

President Obama's re-election and the prospect of a second Obama administration, freed from the constraints imposed by the necessity of running for re-election, have created a crisis for the Catholic Church in the United States.
In the thought-world and vocabulary of the Bible, "crisis" has two meanings: the conventional sense (a grave threat) and a deeper sense (a great moment of opportunity). Both are applicable to the Church in America these next four years.

The immediate threat, of course, is the HHS (Health and Human Services) mandate requiring Catholic institutions and Catholic employers to include coverage of contraceptives, sterilizations, and abortifacient drugs in the health insurance offered to their employees. The legal challenges mounted against this obvious violation of the first freedom, religious freedom, may well be vindicated. But with Obamacare now seemingly set in concrete, the Church will face a host of such implementing "mandates" and it will be imperative to contest those that are morally unacceptable, time and time again. Authentically Catholic health care in America is now in mortal danger, and it is going to take a concerted effort to save it for future generations.

A further threat comes from the gay insurgency, which will press the administration to find some way to federalize the marriage issue and to compel acceptance of the chimera of "gay marriage." Thus it seems important to accelerate a serious debate within American Catholicism on whether the Church ought not pre-emptively withdraw from the civil marriage business, its clergy declining to act as agents of government in witnessing marriages for purposes of state law.

If the Church were to take this dramatic step now, it would be acting prophetically: it would be challenging the state (and the culture) by underscoring that what the state means by "marriage" and what Catholics mean by "marriage" are radically different, and that what the state means by " marriage" is wrong. If, however, the Church is forced to take this step after "gay marriage" is the law of the land, Catholics will be pilloried as bad losers who've picked up their marbles and fled the game — and any witness-value to the Church's withdrawal from the civil marriage business will be lost. Many thoughtful young priests are discussing this dramatic option among themselves; it's time for the rest of the Church to join the conversation.   ...     

GEORGE WEIGEL

 

Life in the Kingdom of Whatever

 Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., looks at where we are as a culture and how we got here. His Grace explains:

"In the United States, our political tensions flow from our cultural problems.  Exceptions clearly exist, but today our culture routinely places rights over duties, individual fulfillment over community, and doubt over belief.  In effect, the glue that now holds us together is our right to go mall-crawling and buy more junk.  It's hard to live a life of virtue when all around us, in the mass media and even in the lives of colleagues and neighbors, discipline, restraint, and self-sacrifice seem irrelevant."

But Chaput's article is not another lament.  He quickly veers off productively, digging back to the historical sources of our cultural and spiritual malaise in order to arrive at a fresh vision.  Summarizing a book by Notre Dame historian Brad Gregory, Chaput explains:

"...today's relativism and cult of the consumer — what he (Brad Gregory) ironically calls "the goods life" — have roots that run centuries deep.  He wastes no time on nostalgia for a golden age that never existed.  But he does show with riveting clarity that in the sixteenth century, Protestant Reformers unintentionally set in motion certain ideas that eventually enabled today's radical self-centeredness."

Shameful: Obama Administration Hid Benghazi Al Qaeda Connection for Political Gain

Lying about the deaths of four Americans--including their own Ambassador.  Why did they do it? Because Obama's crowning achievement was the killing of Usama Bin Laden, and by extension, the crippling of Al Qaeda. But Al Qaeda's participation in the Benghazi disaster proved that "narrative" to be false. So they came up with the fantasy of that stupid video being responsible--and continued to assert that long after the absurdity of that explanation became obvious.

From Fox News earlier today:

"Former CIA Director David Petraeus stoked the controversy over the Obama administration's handling of the Libya terror attack, testifying Friday that references to "Al Qaeda involvement" were stripped from his agency's original talking points -- while other intelligence officials were unable to say who changed the memo, according to a top lawmaker who was briefed. 
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., told Fox News that intelligence officials who testified in a closed-door hearing a day earlier, including Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Acting CIA Director Mike Morell, said they did not know who changed the talking points. He said they went out to multiple departments, including the State Department, National Security Council, Justice Department and White House. 

"To me the question right now is who changed those talking points and why. ... I'd say it was somebody in the administration had to have taken it out," King told Fox News. "That, to me, has to be pursued."

Lying about the deaths of four Americans--including their own Ambassador.  We repeat Congressman King's sentence: "To me the question right now is who changed those talking points and why." Let's apply the old "Cui Bono?" Who benefits?

The Obama administration thought it would benefit them for the reasons given in our first paragraph.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

San Francisco to Offer Taxpayer-Funded "Sex-Change" Operations

From the Associated Press:

"San Francisco has approved a measure that utilizes taxpayer funds to pay for the sex-change operations of the uninsured, becoming the first city in the nation to do so."

The city's Public Health Director Barbara Garcia  "...described the move as 'a symbolic process' for now because the city currently does not have the expertise, capacity or protocols in place to provide the surgeries through its clinics and public hospital.'The community felt the exclusion on Healthy San Francisco was discriminatory and we wanted to change that as the first step,' she said.

Instead of expanding the existing plan, the Health Commission approved the establishment of a separate program that covers all aspects of transgender health, including gender transition. Garcia hopes to have it running by late next year, but said her department first needs to study how many people it would serve, how much it would cost, who would perform the surgeries and where they would be performed."

In addition to enabling those living in a fantasy world, the move comes as city officials are trying everything to retain existing services. Christian News reports:

"It was approved despite Mayor Ed Lee’s slashing of other city services and increased taxes due to record budget needs of $7 billion dollars....'Taxpayers cannot afford this, as there are unintended costs and unintended consequences unrelated to the actual surgery, such as their longer-term hormone treatment, psychology needs and other longer term health issues,' said resident Thomas Moyer.

According to reports, male to female surgeries cost approximately $37,000 and female to male surgeries cost $77,000."

The move coincides with newly released Census Bureau statistics that show California has the highest poverty rate in the nation.

Archbishop: "A major political party that has intrinsic evils among its basic principles"

That would be the Papal Nuncio, His Excellency Carlo Maria Vignano, who also notes that influential "Catholics" and  professors at ostensibly Catholic universities are among the guilty. From Catholic News Agency:

"Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano has told the University of Notre Dame that there is a concrete 'menace' to religious liberty in the U.S. that is advancing in part because some influential Catholic public figures and university professors are allied with those opposed to Church teaching.

'Evidence is emerging which demonstrates that the threat to religious freedom is not solely a concern for non-democratic and totalitarian regimes,' he said. 'Unfortunately it is surfacing with greater regularity in what many consider the great democracies of the world.'

The apostolic nuncio, who serves as the Pope’s diplomatic representative to the U.S., said this is a 'tragedy' for both the believer and for democratic society.

Archbishop Vigano’s Nov. 4 speech keynoted the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Church Life conference. He discussed martyrdom, persecution, and religious freedom, with a particular focus on the United States.

 He cited Catholics’ duties to be disciples of Christ, not elements of a political or secular ideology. He lamented the fact that many Catholics are publicly supporting 'a major political party' that has 'intrinsic evils among its basic principles.'"

His Excellency is not talking about the Whigs. Or the Republicans. He's talking about the Democrats, and their allies within Catholic institutions.

 “There is a divisive strategy at work here, an intentional dividing of the Church; through this strategy, the body of the Church is weakened, and thus the Church can be more easily persecuted,” the nuncio said."
 Archbishop Vigano observed that some influential Catholic public officials and university professors are allied with forces opposed to the Church’s fundamental moral teachings on 'critical issues' like abortion, population control, the redefinition of marriage, embryonic stem cell research and 'problematic adoptions.'”

Exposing and combatting this is one of the reasons this blog was created.

At USCCB Meeting, Archbishop Cordileone Reminds Catholics: Abortion IS a Social Justice Issue

From LifeSiteNews:

"San Francisco’s new archbishop lamented the false distinction between 'social justice' and 'moral values'  issues at the U.S. Bishops’ annual meeting on Monday as he reflected on the results of last Tuesday’s presidential election.

If Catholics reflected on the Gospel in the light of Catholic social teaching, they would 'see the consistency' between issues such as immigration reform and the right to life for the unborn, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said at a press conference, where he was joined by Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore and Cardinal Seán O’Malley.

'They would not make the separation between so-called social justice issues and so-called moral value issues,' said Cordileone. 'They would see that they all have to do with social justice, with the common good, and a healthy thriving society...

At the press conference, Cordileone bemoaned the fact that many Catholics 'view these issues politically rather than through the lens of the Gospel and through the lens of the common good based on our Catholic social teaching.'

'The challenge for us as bishops, as clergy, is to educate our people in that, form them in seeing through the lens of the Gospel as interpreted through Catholic social teaching so they’ll see the consistency of the Church’s position on these issues,' he said."

Obama Administration Benghazi Resignations

CIA Director General Petraeus--resigned. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton--an aide says she will resign.

The Democrat-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee said General Petraeus will not be testifying about the deaths of Ambassador Stevens and 3 other Americans in the administration's Benghazi disaster.

Congressman Trey Gowdy is not accepting that. Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein seems to agree.

As for Secretary Clinton, she says she is too busy to testify before congress about the deaths of Ambassador Stevens and 3 other Americans in the administration's Benghazi disaster.

As usual, there is a deafening silence from the mainstream media on the first murder of an American Ambassador in 30 years. Patrick Cadell, the former Democratic poll wizard, is "appalled" by the mainstream media's non-coverage of Benghazi, and described them as "an enemy of the American people."

Meanwhile, Attorney General Eric Holder, of "Operation Fast and Furious" fame, is "undecided" on whether to remain. "Only" four Americans were killed in the Benghazi disaster, whereas "Operation Fast and Furious" has been called "The Biggest, Bloodiest Scandal in U.S. Presidential History."   And who covered it? Univision, the Spanish language network.

"The Catholic Church. Outlasting Oppressive Governments Since 33 AD"

 

That's the cool motto on a product line at Cafe Press by IamCatholic.

Caution: DON'T buy the doggie sweater--it says it is made by American Apparel, which is a Culture of Death promoter. See here and here.

Hemlock Society Essay Contest

“Compassion and Choices” Essay Contest Promoted by at Least One Catholic School

For the fourth year, Compassion and Choices of Northern California (and its other chapters around the country) has invited has invited high school students to submit essays on the subject “Matters of Life and Death.” The winning essayist receives a college scholarship in the amount of $1,000. The second-place winner receives $500. Under the name “Compassion and Choices”  the organization may not be familiar to many people. But it is quite well known under its previous name—the Hemlock Society.

An August, 2011 press release from the "Compassion and Choices" of the state of Washington announced that year’s essay contest winners.

The title of the essay of the first prize winner, perhaps unintentionally, provides food for thought. It was written by 18-year old Megan Brennan, and was titled “Thinking About Death Is Just for Old People, Right?”  Whether or not thinking about death is just for old people, encouraging young people to reflect on suicide as a solution to life’s difficulties is unquestionably a bad idea. According to suicide.org, drawing on statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, while suicide as a whole has dropped from 13.2 per 100,000 persons in 1950 to 10.8 in 2003, suicide among those aged 5-14 has tripled from 0.2 to 0.6 per 100,000. In the same time period suicide among those aged 15-19 has more than tripled, rising from 2.7 per 100,000 to 7.3 per 100,000. In 2007, the CDC reported that suicide is the fourth leading cause of death for Americans age 10-14, the third leading cause of death for Americans aged 15-24, and the second leading cause of death for Americans aged 25-34.

The press release also mentioned the second place winner from Washington, a young man named Davis Kennedy from Gig Harbor. “Compassion and Choices” made their attitude to suicide quite clear, writing that Mr. Davis “…earned $500 for his second-place essay which was opposed to the option of Death With Dignity titled ‘Where There Is Life, There Is Hope.’”

Catholic High Schools have been targeted as well, and at least one is playing ball with the Hemlock Society.   In its February2010, February 2011, March 2011, and May 2011 “College and Career Center” webpage, Carondelet High School of Concord, founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondolet included a blurb for the scholarship, as well as a link to the “Compassion and Choices” website.

Counterfeit "Marriage" Wins in Three States

The fantasy continues--on many levels.

Only  a people who would re-elect a manifestly unqualified Barack Obama to a second term as President would also believe that one man can "marry" another man, or that simply voting on something makes it so.

Rush Limbaugh Nails It

Here's what Mr. Limbaugh said today:

"Now, everybody is jumping on Romney's chain today, getting in his chili. Look, he may have not been the most optimal candidate, but he's a fine man. He would have been great for this country. Mitt Romney and his family would have been the essence of exactly what this country needs. But what was Romney's recipe? Romney's recipe was the old standby: American route to success, hard work. That gets sneered at. I'm sorry. In a country of children where the option is Santa Claus or work, what wins? And say what you want, but Romney did offer a vision of traditional America. In his way, he put forth a great vision of traditional America, and it was rejected. It was rejected in favor of a guy who thinks that those who are working aren't doing enough to help those who aren't. And that resonated."

Here's what I was writing this just before I checked his page out:

"The Democrats convince people because they compete on the level of myth while conservatives have nothing to offer but reality.

Their myth is of a golden age that is only being prevented from coming in to being by the actions of the rich or reactionaries. This is always enticing because the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. This myth appears over and over again throughout history, of course. Barack Obama’s promise to 'fundamentally transform' America is one example. All conservatives have to offer in exchange are old truths: get married, have kids, go to church, work hard. While that is true, and the only effective way to build a good life and a healthy society, it’s not very romantic, and cannot compete with the myth."

It is obvious.