Monday, April 29, 2013

Vive la France II: Counterfeit "Marriage" Has Real Consequences

On April 21, we reported on the statement of 15,000 French Mayors that they will not perform same-sex "marriages." It looks like that is just the beginning.

Here is video (embedding disabled) of a demonstration on April 19 of French young people standing for the family and protest the imposition of counterfeit "marriage" in Paris. I love them singing Le Marseillaise.

And here is a video from April 23:

 

And go here for a video of "Frigide Bardot," the best known of the French defenders of marriage, as she is heckled and attacked by same-sex "marriage" supporters while attempting to speak to the press.


Live Action Videos Show "Gosnell Not an Aberration"

Live Action has released two new videos, showing that Philadelphia's Dr. Kermit Gosnell is far from an aberration. The first exposed an abortion business in the Bronx, the second an abortion business in Washington DC. Here are the videos, followed by the stories, via Life News:




In a new undercover, investigative video, a staffer at an abortion clinic in Bronx, New York is shown on film telling a customer to flush the body of a baby born alive following a failed abortion down the toilet.

The video shows how the kinds of gruesome late-term and live-birth abortions done at abortion practitioner Kermit Gosnell‘s “House of Horrors” abortion clinic are not limited to his abortion facility alone.

The pro-life group Live Action today released an undercover video of an abortion counselor at a clinic describing, in gruesome details, what is done with a baby that survives an abortion attempt. This is the first in a series of videos Live Action will release videos, found at www.liveaction.org/inhuman, that will show a number of late-term abortion clinics engaging in illegal and inhuman practices, as well as explaining in explicit detail what happens to the victims of late-term abortion.

“Dr. Kermit Gosnell is not an aberration, ” said Lila Rose, Founder and President of Live Action. “The gruesome and brutal practices exposed in Gosnell’s ‘House of Horrors’ are business as usual for the abortion industry in America. Nationwide, it’s just another day at the office.”

The second expose took place in Washington DC:





Abortion Doctor: I Would Leave Babies to Die Born Alive After Abortion

In a second undercover video Live Action has released in two days, another abortion clinic staffer acknowledge leaving babies to die following failed abortions. The videos show there are other abortion clinics, abortion practitioners and staff who, like Kermit Gosnell, would leave babies to die after failed abortions....The video is the second in a series of undercover videos, found at www.liveaction.org/inhuman, involving a number of late-term abortion clinics engaging in illegal and inhuman practices, as well as explaining in graphic terms what happens to the victims of late-term abortion.

“Hopefully we’ll get this pregnancy out intact, but it doesn’t always happen that way,” Washington, D.C. abortion doctor Cesare Santangelo tells an undercover Live Action investigator who is 24 weeks pregnant. “I try and sever the umbilical cord first, and we wait for that to stop pulsing, and this way the fetus is expired first.”

When asked by the undercover investigator what would happen if the baby were to survive the abortion, Doctor Santangelo responds:

“Technically – you know, legally we would be obligated to help it, you know, to survive. But, you know, it probably wouldn’t. It’s all in how vigorously you do things to help a fetus survive at this point. Let’s say you went into labor, the membranes ruptured, and you delivered before we got to the termination part of the procedure here, you know? Then we would do things – we would – we would not help it. We wouldn’t intubate. It would be, you know, uh, a person, a terminal person in the hospital, let’s say, that had cancer, you know? You wouldn’t do any extra procedures to help that person survive. Like ‘do not resuscitate’ orders. We would do the same things here.”

One difference of course being that the Doctor and mother are the ones who caused the terminal condition. 


Friday, April 26, 2013

SF “Gay Pride” Electoral College Picks Traitor as Grand Marshal

Board President Walks Honor Back After Furor 

On April 24, the homosexualist Bay Area Reporter announced the list of “Grand Marshals” for San Francisco’s 2013 “Gay Pride Parade.” Among those named was California Attorney General Kamala Harris. She was joined by imprisoned U.S. Army Private First Class Bradley Manning. Manning has already pled guilty to a number of charges related to releasing classified information. He has not yet entered a plea to the charge of “aiding the enemy.” That charge carries the death penalty, although prosecutors have said they will decline to pursue it. Manning will be liable to life imprisonment. Manning’s activities were made known to the FBI by a “hacker” named Adrian Lamo. In a December 19, 2010 article in the Sunday Times, writer Ed Caesar quoted Lamo “I knew that, unless stopped, he was going to continue to leak, and continue to endanger lives.”

During his brief military career Manning also punched a female intelligence officer in the face, and was considered sufficiently unstable for his Master Sergeant to remove the bolt from his rifle.

None of this was considered disqualifying by the “Pride” parade. But the choice quickly provoked outrage amongst members of the armed services. Within 24 hours of the announcement, the “Pride” committee was walking back the “honor.” On April 25, Lisa L. Williams, President of the SF Pride Board issued a somewhat contradictory press release, which began by blaming one person for the fiasco: 

“Bradley Manning will not be a grand marshal in this year’s San Francisco Pride celebration. His nomination was a mistake and should never have been allowed to happen. A staff person at SF Pride, acting under his own initiative, prematurely contacted Bradley Manning based on internal conversations within the SF Pride organization. That was an error and that person has been disciplined. He does not now, nor did he at that time, speak for SF Pride.”

But the final paragraph of the release enlarged the web of blame in a significant way:

“Specifically, what these events have revealed is a system whereby a less-than-handful of people may decide who represents the LGBT community’s highest aspirations as grand marshals for SF Pride. This is a systemic failure that now has become apparent and will be rectified. In point of fact, less than 15 people actually cast votes for Bradley Manning. These 15 people are part of what is called the SF Pride Electoral College, comprised of former SF Pride Grand Marshals. However, as an organization with a responsibility to serve the broader community, SF Pride repudiates this vote.”

So: the “less-than-a-handful of people” who chose to honor Manning are none other than members of the “SF Pride Electoral College, comprised of former SF Pride Grand Marshals.” In other words, those who have been held up as shining examples by the “Gay Pride” parade, chose to hold up a traitor as another shining example.

The choice of someone as defective as Manning as a “Pride” Grand Marshal is not unprecedented. In 2003, the parade named Larry Brinkin, “San Francisco Gay Rights Icon” and a staff member of San Francisco’s Human’s Rights Commission, as a Grand Marshal. In January of 2012, Brinkin was arrested on charges of child pornography. The SF Bay Citizen reported at the time: 

“One photo shows a child about 2 to 3 years old being sexually abused, according to the search warrant. Another shows an adult male attempting to receive oral sex from a small child….Brinkin’s account was linked to several Yahoo discussion groups on the sexual exploitation of children, according to the search warrant. Emails from Brinkin’s account to other users contained stories police suspect were fictional accounts written by Brinkin. The stories describe the rape and torture of African American children, according to the search warrant. One of the emails contained the words ‘White Power! White Supremacy!’”

In 1999 the parade’s grand marshal was Harry Hay, who had defended NAMBLA, the National Man Boy Love Association. In a 1983 New York University forum, Hay had said “”[I]f the parents and friends of gays are truly friends of gays, they would know from their gay kids that the relationship with an older man is precisely what thirteen-, fourteen-, and fifteen-year-old kids need more than anything else in the world.”

Obama Addresses Murder., Inc, Worries About Return to Horrible 1950's

On Friday, Obama became the first sitting president to ever address Planned Parenthood--as Mark Shea aptly titled them "Murder, Inc." That the evil President Obama should address such a group is not particularly notable, except for his statement "The fact is, after decades of progress, there's still those who want to turn back the clock to policies more suited to the 1950s than the 21st century." Any President who could restore the social capital of America in the 1950's would be equal Washington, Lincoln, FDR and Reagan rolled into one:

Yeah, the horrible 1950's. They were so bad that when murder rates drop, writers measure progress by noting that we are getting close to the rate of the 50's: 

"According to FBI analysis, the homicide drop would mean that nearly 280 fewer Americans were murdered last year, which would be the lowest homicide death toll since the mid-1950s."

Yeah, the horrible 1950's, when over 90% of children were born to married parents. Today the rate is moving towards 50%:


Yeah, the horrible 1950's (well, 1965), when Daniel Patrick Moynihan predicted the destruction of the black family because the out-of wedlock birth rate was 25%. As of 2010 it was 72.5%.

Yeah, the horrible 1950's. Here's a chart from the Bureau of Justice Statistics showing the percentage of Americans behind bars. It speaks for itself:



Yeah, the horrible 1950's when diseases like syphilis were nearly eradicated. Here's an August 25, 2012 report from Digital Journal:

"The resurgence of syphilis has risen dramatically over the past 20 years in the United States and Canada --- from 177 cases in 1993 to 1,750 cases in 2010. It is temporarily shutting down the porn industry in Southern California."

Not to mention HIV, which may not even have existed then. And did we even have a "porn industry" in those horrible 1950's?

I guess Obama's audience are young people who, just by the laws of nature, can't understand much. As I get older one of my saddest experiences (and this is just one example) is encountering young people who will never even realize that it was once possible to walk around San Francisco without encountering the homeless, drug addicts, drunks, and mentally ill people as an everyday occurrence. That there was a time when people did not always defecate and urinate on the street is not something within their experience.In 1948, Richard Weaver wrote:

"We approach a condition in which we shall be amoral without the capacity to perceive it and degraded without means to measure our descent."



Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Obama to Skip Planned Parenthood Keynote Event--but will speak Friday

The Washington Times reports:

"President Obama has canceled plans to deliver a keynote address at Planned Parenthood’s annual fundraising dinner Thursday night, citing a desire to spend more time with family of the victims of the fertilizer plant explosion in Texas.

White House spokesman Jay Carney announced the decision to cancel the keynote speech at the gala during his daily press briefing with reporters Wednesday. He said Mr. Obama will still address Planned Parenthood and its supporters Friday morning.


Pro-life advocates had been harshly critical of Mr. Obama’s decision to appear at the fundraiser, particularly with the ongoing high-profile trial in Philadelphia of an abortion provider, but Mr. Carney said the schedule chance was made 'in order to allow him to spend more time with those injured and the loved ones of those lost in the deadly explosion in West, Texas'.”


One would hope that the President would be ashamed of appearing at Planned Parenthood, particularly in light of their failure to report the Kermit Gosnell atrocities to authorities. As Dr. Tim Stanley wrote in the Telegraph:

"It’s an extraordinary move, not just because the issue is so controversial but because Planned Parenthood has recently disgraced itself over the Gosnell trial. To recap, Kermit Gosnell is the “doctor” is accused of killing hundreds of babies during late-term abortions by removing them screaming from the womb and then severing their heads from their bodies with a pair of scissors. He also operated a filthy clinic covered in cat feces and used untrained employees to carry out medical procedures. A question that has repeatedly been asked is “Who knew about this?” and “What did they do about it?” Last week, Planned Parenthood answered with “We did” and “As little as possible.”

The cat got out the bag at the Planned Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania's annual Spring Gathering. A report from Philly.com quotes Dayle Steinberg, the organisation’s president and chief executive saying,
"The Gosnell trial has shifted the focus off the high-quality services we provide … These are criminal, horrendous . . . acts and should be appropriately punished."
Steinberg said that when Gosnell was in practice, women would sometimes come to Planned Parenthood for services after first visiting Gosnell's West Philadelphia clinic, and would complain to staff about the conditions there.
"We would always encourage them to report it to the Department of Health," Steinberg said.
So women came to Planned Parenthood, spoke of filthy conditions and potential malpractice and Planned Parenthood’s response was to urge them to report it to the Department of Health?! That’s an astonishing admission: rather than rushing to help the traumatised women in their care by contacting the police, they advised them to go home and pen a letter of complaint.

But, then again, Planned Parenthood’s callousness is hardly a surprise. During a legislative committee meeting in Florida, one of their lobbyists was asked this question: “If a baby is born on a table as a result of a botched abortion, what would Planned Parenthood want to have happen to that child that is struggling for life?” He reply is staggering in its amorality: “We believe that any decision that's made should be left up to the woman, her family, and the physician.”


Cardinal Burke: Individual Bishops, not "Conferences" Bear Responsibility


Important observation by Cardinal Burke, via LifeSiteNews:

 "The bishops of the world must, as individuals, take the lead in combating the Culture of Death, and not wait for the national conferences, Cardinal Raymond Burke told LifeSiteNews.com in an interview yesterday.

“It should be emphasized that the individual bishop has a responsibility in this matter. Sometimes what happens is the individual bishops are unwilling to do anything because they wait for the national bishops’ conference to take the lead.”


Our bishops are human, and as we all know from personal experience, putting something in a committee is a way to get it not done.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Traditional Latin Mass Assigned to SF's Star of the Sea Parish


Great news for San Franciscan's who love the TLM, and a great opportunity for first timers to appreciate the Mass of the Ages!

"At the request of Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite will begin to be celebrated at Star of the Sea Parish, 4420 Geary Boulevard (at 8th Avenue) in San Francisco on May 26th, Trin­ity Sunday, at 11:00 A.M. and will continue each Sunday and Holy Day on a regular basis. There is ample park­ing behind the church with entrance through the gates on 8th Avenue. The Roman Missal of 1962, published by Blessed John XXIII and slightly amended by Pope Benedict XVI, will be used according to the Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum and the Instruction Universae Ecclesiae. The rubrics and customs in use in 1962 will be observed. To learn more about the Extraordinary Form Latin Mass you are invited to Star of the Sea School Auditorium for meetings on Tuesdays, May 7th, May 14th, and May 21st at 7:00 P.M. For further information please contact the pastor of Star of the Sea Parish, Father Mark G. Mazza, at 415-751-0450, extension 16."
 
 


Sunday, April 21, 2013

Vive la France! 15,000 French Mayors Refuse to Perform Counterfeit "Marriages"

From Catholic News Agency:

"A group of at least 14,900 French mayors has said it will not perform 'gay marriages,' even if the government moves ahead with plans to legalize the practice.

The administration of French President Francois Hollande has put forth a measure that would legalize 'gay marriage,' allow gay couples to receive medical treatment for artificial procreation and to adopt children.

'It is foolish to think that the mobilization of the elected mayors would stop if the law is passed,' said Franck Meyer, spokesman for the association Mayors for Children.

'As citizens, we elected officials will not give up,' he emphasized in statements to the media
."

And how come (some of) their homosexuals are so much smarter than (some of) our homosexuals?

"Nathalie de Williencourt, a French lesbian and founder of one of the largest homosexual associations in France, said in January that most homosexual individuals in the country do not want 'gay marriage' or the right to adopt children.

'I am French, I am homosexual. The majority of homosexuals do not want either marriage or adoption, and we especially don’t want to be treated the same as heterosexuals because we are different,' she said. 'We don’t want equality but we do want justice.'"


That's good--the understanding that inequality does not automatically mean injustice. We need more of that.

SF NARAL ally Malia Cohen complains SF does not have enough children

On Saturday, April 21, Heather Knight, writing in the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors have declared 2013 to be the "Year of the Child."

Knight commented "It seemed a bit ironic considering San Francisco is plagued by family flight and counts just 13.5 percent of its residents as younger than 18, the smallest percentage of children of any city in the country, according to the 2010 census. Wouldn’t that be like Miami proclaiming it Year of the Snowman?"

Irony is not the right word. What we are seeing is the pathological refusal to face reality (latest example here) which is a hallmark of "progressives." Even more bizarre is that one of the resolution's co-sponsors was supervisor Malia Cohen. It was Cohen who sponsored the legislation hampering the work of crisis pregnancy centers like First Resort and the Alpha Preganancy Center--organizations that will help mothers give birth to children.. A June 7, 2011 press release from the Women's Health Policy Report stated:

"Supervisor Malia Cohen is working with NARAL Pro-Choice California on legislation that would mirror laws in Austin, Texas and New York City, where centers are required to post signs that disclose whether they have medical professionals on staff and provide abortion care, contraception, or offer referrals for such services."

So: Malia Cohen, a card-carrying member of the abortion establishment, is complaining about the lack of children!

In our August 2, 2011 post on Cohen's legislation we called her "...one of those black politicians (like Barack Obama) who service the abortion industry while that industry exterminates black America." San Francisco has already been ethnically cleansed of black people (when I was a child, SF was  13.4% black, now it is down to about 6%). Surprise, surprise: SF's Planned Parenthood used to be on Eddy Street in the Western Addition (about three blocks from the projects), a largely black area. With so few black people left, that location closed, and Planned Parenthood opened a new abortion business in the Mission, which is heavily Hispanic. 

Friday, April 19, 2013

SF Supervisors "Debate" Free Speech for Pro-Lifers

Yesterday the San Francisco Board of Supervisors began "debating" whether to restrict the freedom of speech of pro-lifers. It is certain that the BOS will pass this law. It is equally certain that the Life Legal Defense Foundation will bring suit to have it declared unconstitutional. You can donate to the LLDF here. NBC's local affiliate covered the story yesterday. One of our great 40 Days for Life members, Jamie Blinn, makes some great points. Check it out!


 
View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

"Read the Catechism" entry for today

I've signed on to that "Read the Catechism in the Year" website, which send a catechetical entry and commentary each day. I like it. This was the commentary for today's entry "What happens in the Church when she celebrates the eucharist?":

"Again and again we grumble about the Church, as though she were just an association of more or less good people. In reality the Church is what happens daily in a mysterious way at the altar. God gives himself to each one of us individually, and he wants to transform us through communion with him. Once we are transformed, we are supposed to transform the world. Everything else that the Church is besides that is secondary."

Monday, April 15, 2013

Openly Homosexual SEIU Boss to Address Most Holy Redeemer on “Being Catholic”

On April 20, Mary Kay Henry, International President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), will address the parishioners of San Francisco’s notorious Most Holy Redeemer Church. According to the MHR bulletin, Henry’s subject will be “How Being Catholic Informs my Leadership.” Unsurprisingly for a speaker at Most Holy Redeemer, Ms. Henry is openly homosexual.

Ms. Henry’s “Catholicism” bears the same relation to Catholicism as “same-sex marriage” does to marriage, and in fact, Henry admits as much. On May 29, 2012, Henry told the Denver Post "I think of my church as the church of the people and not as the institutional hierarchy that has doctrines that are not connected to my faith." In other words, her faith is something other than Catholicism.

That the doctrines “not connected to Henry’s faith” include the doctrine that homosexual acts are sinful and the doctrine that marriage is between one man and a woman goes without saying. But they are not unique. In an April 12, 2011 SEIU press release, opposing a congressional attempt to defund Planned Parenthood, Henry wrote:

"Planned Parenthood is an essential part of our nation's healthcare system, yet a handful of ideologically-driven Members of Congress want to prevent millions of American women from receiving life-saving healthcare. Since its formation, Planned Parenthood has been a leader in providing access to services such as cancer screenings, annual exams and other important preventive services. Every dollar in federal funding goes toward preventive care. Simply put, Planned Parenthood saves lives.”

“Simply put, Planned Parenthood saves lives.” Obviously, another Catholic “doctrine not connected to Henry’s faith” includes the doctrine that human life is to be protected from conception until natural death.

Less than a year later, on February 13, 2012, writing as President of the SEIU, Henry urged Senator Barbara Boxer to vote against the Blunt Amendment. The Blunt amendment, written in response to the HHS contraception mandate, would have allowed employers to refuse to include contraception in health care coverage if it violated their religious or moral beliefs. It was defeated in the senate. Every Catholic bishop in the United States supported, and still supports, such a conscience exemption. As a result of the rejection of the Blunt Amendment, a number of Catholic Universities and other institutions and persons were forced into suing the government in an effort to simply exercise their first amendment right to religious freedom, to be faithful to the Church. Yet Ms. Henry, who claims the name "Catholic", used the considerable power of her union to oppose this.

Ms. Henry’s invitation is a particular slap at San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage. On March 26 of this year, the day the Supreme Court heard arguments on the Proposition 8 case, the Archbishop, joined by thousands of others, was speaking in front of the court against the redefinition of marriage. A scant two hours before, Ms. Henry, in the exact same spot, had been addressing a crowd in support of the redefinition of marriage--precisely the opposite message (see photo above, courtesy of SEIU Facebook page)..

Given her leadership role in opposing non-negotiable teachings of the Catholic Church it seems contradictory that Henry would title her talk “How Being Catholic Informs my Leadership.” It compels the obvious questions: 1) where she could have arrived at such a definition of what “Catholic” means, and 2) in what sort of “Catholic” environment could she have been practicing, that such a definition went unchallenged.

But when one learns that Henry has been a parishioner of Most Holy Redeemer since 2007, was indeed listed as a lector in the church at that time, the contradiction resolves itself, and the root of her understanding of “Catholicism” crystallizes. In the past we have referred to Most Holy Redeemer as “the counter-cathedral in the Castro.” We meant, and still mean that, quite seriously. As we have demonstrated (and Ms. Henry's appearance is one more piece of evidence), the real lived religion at Most Holy Redeemer is not Catholicism, but the celebration of homosexuality. The word “Catholicism” is used, but the reality symbolized by the word is abandoned, and a new self-created thing is shoved into its place. The corruption is identical to the phrase “same-sex marriage”: the word “marriage” is used, but is emptied of its content and demonically assigned a diametrically opposed meaning.

As the inverted image of San Francisco’s St. Mary’s Cathedral, the counter-cathedral becomes the source of inverted teaching. On November 23, 2009, we noted an article in the publication Metro Active San Jose, called “Gay Catholics Come Out.” The article profiled San Jose’s St. Julie Billiart church. The Metro wrote “(Fr. Jon) Pedigo said that as he started to notice the growing LGBT Catholic community that was coming to St. Julie's, he decided to consult the established gay Catholic community at the Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in San Francisco's Castro District.” We wrote at that time “Instead of seeking advice from his bishop, Fr. Pedigo chose to consult MHR. This is our point: MHR has become a de facto teaching authority--that’s why Fr. Pedigo consulted them, that’s why a Notre Dame student is writing a paper on their ‘theology.’ The Church hierarchy may deny that MHR has any actual authority, but Fr. Pedigo and others think they do, and are basing their actions on MHR‘s example.”

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Sisters of Life to Honor Walk for Life West Coast Co-chairs

Dolores Meehan, Eva Muntean to receive Cardinal O’Connor Award in NYC April 19 

On April 19, the Sisters of Life will present the John Cardinal O’Connor award to Dolores Meehan and Eva Muntean, the co-chairs and co-founders of San Francisco’s Walk for Life West Coast. The Sisters write of the recipients:

“As women of faith in the forefront of a transformative movement, their commitment and vision have inspired new voices in the public square to proclaim that every human life is a sacred gift; and that the dignity and vocation of woman can only be realized without violence – when brothers and sisters step forth in the solidarity of love and communion.”

The two were leaders in the group which founded the Walk for Life West Coast in 2005. Despite ongoing opposition from San Francisco’s political establishment, and unethical negligence on the part of San Francisco’s media establishment, the Walk has grown every year. It is the second largest annual pro-life event in the United States, and in 2012 counted over 50,000 in attendance. Ms. Meehan and Ms. Muntean join previous honorees who include Timothy Cardinal Dolan (2012); Maria Marchetti, Gene D’Agostino, and Tom Kolenberg , pro-life parishioners of the Basilica of St. John the Evangelist in Stamford, CT (2011); Mary Ann Glendon J.D., LL. M., United States Ambassador to the Holy See, and the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard University (2010); Supreme Knight of Columbus Mr. & Mrs. Carl Anderson, Knight of Columbus, (2009); and Professor Robert George (2007).

Another co-founder of the Walk for Life West Coast, Lisa Hamrick, who serves as the Walk’s liason with the Sisters, said: “We had long known of the Sisters and their work, yet we wanted to have this more personal connection to them in and through the Walk for Life. So, at the Third Annual Walk for Life in 2007, the WFL committee members used their airline miles to fly six of the Sisters of Life out from New York. The Little Sisters of the Poor and the Carmelite Nuns graciously offered to lodge the Sisters for us, and we are very grateful to them… Just as the Walk for Life has continued to grow and expand through the years, so has the presence of the Sisters of Life. In 2009, Mother Agnes Donovan, the Superior General of the Sisters was one of our speakers. At the last Walk for Life on January 26, 2013 we had eleven Sisters of Life participate with us -- they took up the Gifts at the Offertory at the WFL Mass, they host a table at the WFL Info Faire, and of course marched with us. The WFL participants love to see the Sisters and they have even had some vocations to their Order as a result of their participation. And this year the Sisters established a new tradition: the night before the Walk, they hosted "A Vigil for Life." It consisted of talks, time for quiet prayer and adoration, reflective music, confessions, and Mass celebrated by Bishop Daly of the San Jose Diocese.”

Eva Muntean said “While I am humbled and honored beyond belief to receive this award, I accept it only on the behalf of all my brothers and sisters at the Walk for Life West Coast. We are anything but a two-woman operation. The Walk was founded by a group of us and it is continued by that same group and others too. This honor is for us all!”

The evening begins with a 5:15 PM Mass of Thanksgiving at the Church of Our Savior at 38th Street and Park Avenue. Cocktails will follow at 6:30 PM and dinner at 7:30 PM at the Union League Club, 38 E. 37th Street, New York City. For further information or tickets, please contact Carol Stockley at 732.530.8799. RSVp’s due by April 5. All proceeds benefit the work of the Sisters of Life. The Sisters were founded by John Cardinal O’Connor in 1991, for the protection and enhancement of the sacredness of human life. 

Donation information may be found by going to: www.sistersoflife.org/donations or by mail to Friends of the Sisters, 100 Leedsville Drive, Lincroft, NJ 17738.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Washington Florist Stands for Marriage, Gets Hammered

This story is interesting, because it highlights the lies supporters of counterfeit marriage need to tell.

Ms. Baronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene's Flowers and Gifts in Richland, WA is being sued by the state of Washington because she refused, on religious grounds, to provide flowers to a same-sex "wedding." The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports:

“As Attorney General, it is my job to enforce the laws of the state of Washington,” said (Attorney General Bob) Ferguson. “Under the Consumer Protection Act, it is unlawful to discriminate against customers based on sexual orientation. If a business provides a product or service to opposite-sex couples for their weddings, then it must provide same sex couples the same product or service.”

But wait: according to the article, the florist, Ms. Stutznman and the customers did business for 10 years. The Post-Intelligencer reports:

"(Robert) Ingersoll and his partner, Curt Freed, were decade-long customers of Arlene’s Flowers & Gifts."

This refutes the Washington Attorney General's statement that this has anything to do with "discrimination against customers based on their sexual orientation."  Presumably, Ingersoll and Freed's sexual orientation was the same in the previous 10 years as it was on the day they announced to Ms. Stutzman they wanted her to do their "wedding." She is not against same-sex attracted people, (if that is indeed what Ingersoll and Freed are; maybe they are heterosexual men who wish to "marry" each other for some reason) she is for marriage.

Ms. Stutzman is fighting this in court. I sent her a small donation today.

"Infant beheadings. Severed baby feet in jars. A child screaming after it was delivered." Not newsworthy?

The  quoted words are from a column in today's USA Today by Kristin Powers about the "house of horrors"abortion business run by Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell. Ms. Powers writes:

"Infant beheadings. Severed baby feet in jars. A child screaming after it was delivered alive during an abortion procedure. Haven't heard about these sickening accusations?

It's not your fault. Since the murder trial of Pennsylvania abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell began March 18, there has been precious little coverage of the case that should be on every news show and front page. The revolting revelations of Gosnell's former staff, who have been testifying to what they witnessed and did during late-term abortions, should shock anyone with a heart.

NBC-10 Philadelphia reported that, Stephen Massof, a former Gosnell worker, 'described how he snipped the spinal cords of babies, calling it, 'literally a beheading. It is separating the brain from the body.' One former worker, Adrienne Moton, testified that Gosnell taught her his "snipping" technique to use on infants born alive..."

Powers then notes the unconscionable silence by the mainstream media:

"A Lexis-Nexis search shows none of the news shows on the three major national television networks has mentioned the Gosnell trial in the last three months. The exception is when Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan hijacked a segment on Meet the Press meant to foment outrage over an anti-abortion rights law in some backward red state.

The Washington Post has not published original reporting on this during the trial and The New York Times saw fit to run one original story on A-17 on the trial's first day. They've been silent ever since, despite headline-worthy testimony.

Let me state the obvious. This should be front page news. When Rush Limbaugh attacked Sandra Fluke, there was non-stop media hysteria. The venerable NBC Nightly News' Brian Williams intoned, "A firestorm of outrage from women after a crude tirade from Rush Limbaugh," as he teased a segment on the brouhaha. Yet, accusations of babies having their heads severed — a major human rights story if there ever was one — doesn't make the cut."

They can't allow themselves to report on this, to confront this, to even think about this. That is how sick our "pro-choice" culture is--and not just the evil of legalized abortion, but the denial of reality it entails, which in man is a moral failing, a sin.

Monday, April 8, 2013

More Common Sense: Ab. Vigneron: Counterfeit marriage supporters should not receive Communion

Detroit's good Archbishop Allen Vigneron  teaches it. From the Detroit Free Press, via Fr. Z:

Catholics who push same-sex "marriage" should not receive Communion

“For a Catholic to receive holy Communion and still deny the revelation Christ entrusted to the church is to try to say two contradictory things at once: ‘I believe the church offers the saving truth of Jesus, and I reject what the church teaches.’ In effect, they would contradict themselves. This sort of behavior would result in publicly renouncing one’s integrity and logically bring shame for a double-dealing that is not unlike perjury.”
Vigneron said the church wants to help Catholics “avoid this personal disaster.”


Amen!

Back in 2008, Archbishop Vigneron was one of the California Bishops who spoke out against counterfeit marriage in the Marriage Matters to Kids video's. You can watch His Excellency's video here.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Catholic Common Sense from Fr. Greg Coiro, O.F.M Cap.

Fr. Greg is the rector over at the Shrine of St. Francis in San Francisco. He is marvelous homilist, as well as a wonderful example of Franciscan humility. This is from his Easter Sunday pastor's message:


"I received phone calls and e-mails from friends who know that I am a stickler about observing the liturgical rubrics that say that, during the Rite of Washing of Feet during the Holy Thursday Mass, the feet of twelve men are washed. I omit the rite rather than violate this rubric by including women in the ceremony.

My friends gleefully pointed out that Pope Francis washed the feet of three women at his Holy Thursday Mass at juvenile detention center in Rome. What they did not seem to know is the old adage, 'The lawgiver is above the law.' The rubric which binds me does not oblige the pope.

At St. Mary’s Cathedral, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone correctly followed the liturgical directives and washed the feet of twelve men. Now that Pope Francis has set an example of including women, are Archbishop Cordileone and I free to follow suit? Not unless the liturgical directives are formally changed.

Is the pope’s act a signal that the Church may be considering a change in its teaching that only men can be ordained priests? No. In the case of liturgical directives, the pope is the lawgiver and, hence is above the law. In matters of faith and morals, that is, in those things pertaining to divine law and natural law, the pope is not the law giver, so he is not above the law.

The teaching of the Church will remain that Christ did not empower the Church to confer the priesthood on women and that this is part of the Deposit of Faith, not a mere disciplinary teaching, regardless of who may get their feet washed on Holy Thursday."

AP Religion Writers Keep up the Good Work

Today, Rachel Zoll, Religion Writer for the AP, has this scoop:

Francis has chosen a papal coat of arms featuring the Jesuit seal: a sunburst containing a red cross and the "HIS" abbreviation for Jesus Christ."

Where do they find these people?

Friday, April 5, 2013

Fr. Malloy's Funeral

We celebrated Fr. Malloy's funeral on Monday, April 1 at Saints Peter and Paul Church in San Francisco, where Father had served as pastor from 2001 to 2007. Fr. Tim Ploch, SDB, the provincial of the Salesian Province of St. Andrew the Aposotle (Western U.S. and Canada) was the principal celebrant. He was joined by 22 Salesian priests, as well as Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ, editor of Ignatius Press, and Fr. Michael Strange, parochial vicar at St. Vincent de Paul Church in San Francisco. Fr. John Itzaina, SDB, current pastor of Ss. Peter and Paul read the Gospel, and Fr. Nick Reina, SDB gave the homily. Fr. John's nephew Don and I both gave eulogies.

The funeral was magnificent--dozens of family, hundreds of parishioners, and a who's who of the pro-life community in the bay area were there to bid a fond arrivederci to Father, including Bill May, president of Catholics for the Common Good, Ron Konopaski and Cathleen Gilllies of San Francisco's 40 Days for Life, Vicki Evans, Pro-Life Coordinator for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, and of course many of Father's sons and daughters from the Walk for Life West Coast. Both Eva and Dolores led a decade of the Rosary before the Mass for their beloved chaplain. Our good Archbishop Cordileone would have celebrated, but he had a previous commitment to celebrate a baptism. Any number of people said they had never been at a more beautiful funeral.

Father's funeral instructions were simple:

"Follow the rubrics!"

We have not found too many photos of the funeral (we were all praying or crying, or both) but here are a few. If more turn up I will post them. Please click on the image for a larger version.









I will continue to post on Father's blog.

Your brother/son in Christ,

Gibbons J. Cooney