A Shepherd's Voice

Lila Rose Looking a Little Bit Like Joan of Arc

2012-01-31T18:31:00.000-08:00

Komen cuts off funding to Planned Parenthood. Why? Congressional investigations. Why were there Congressional investigations? Lila Rose.

From the Washington Post:

"The Associated Press reports that Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the nation’s leading breast-cancer charity, will cut off its funding to Planned Parenthood affiliates, where the foundation has traditionally paid for preventive screening services.

According to the AP, the move will mean “a cutoff of hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants, mainly for breast exams.”Planned Parenthood confirms that Komen is the first, and only, organization to cut off funding since the Congress began debating the issue in earnest last winter.

Komen said it could not continue to fund Planned Parenthood because it has adopted new guidelines that bar it from funding organizations under congressional investigation. The House oversight and investigations subcommittee announced in the fall an investigation into Planned Parenthood’s funding...."

We love Lila and her young associates. That's why we have a permanent link to Live Action in the right sidebar.

"The Gravest Threat to Freedom in American Life Today"

2012-01-31T18:14:00.000-08:00

Yuval Levin, writing in National Review, has an excellent column about the Obama Admisinstration's HHS mandate. He begins by observing the across-the-board outrage to the mandate:

"When even E.J. Dionne can’t quite bring himself to defend the Obama administration’s assault on religious liberty, you know the president must have a real problem...."

Mr. Levin then explains why the Catholic Church is especially vulnerable, given the United States' particular tradition of religious toleration:

"The English common law tradition of religious toleration, which we inherited, has always had a problem with religious institutions that are not houses of worship—i.e. that are geared to ends other than the practice of religion itself. To (vastly) oversimplify for a moment, that tradition began (in the 16th century, and in some respects even earlier) with the aim of protecting Protestant dissenters and Jews but (very intentionally) not protecting Catholics. And the way it took shape over the centuries in an effort to sustain that distinction was by drawing a line between individual religious practice (in which the government could not interfere) and an institutional religious presence (which was given far less protection). Because Catholicism is a uniquely institutional religion—with large numbers of massive institutions for providing social services, educating children and adults, and the like, all of which are more or less parts of a single hierarchy—this meant Catholics were simply not granted the same protection as others. Obviously the intent to treat Catholics differently has for the most part fallen away since then, but the evolved legal tradition is very much with us, and it is not a coincidence that it always seems to be the Catholic Church that gets caught up in these situations when the government overreaches...."

Finally, he observes the totalitarian nature of Obama's approach--the attempt to remove all intermediate institutions between the government and the people, and notes that the HHS mandate is just one incident in this takeover:

"In this sense, what is at issue in the controversy over the administration’s rule is not just the question of religious liberty but the question of non-governmental institutions in a free society. Does civil society consist of a set of institutions that help the government achieve its purposes as it defines them when their doing so might be more efficient or convenient than the state’s doing so itself, or does civil society consist of an assortment of efforts by citizens to band together in pursuit of mutual aims and goods as they understand them? Is it an extension of the state or of the community? In this arena, as in a great many others, the administration is clearly determined to see civil society as merely an extension of the state, and to clear out civil society—clearing out the mediating layers between the individual and the state—when it seems to stand in the way of achieving the president’s agenda..."

The Church has always been the champion of those "mediating layers"--subsidiarity. Mr. Levin concludes:

"This approach is especially noxious and pernicious when it is directed at religiously affiliated institutions—both because they deserve special standing and because they do some of the hardest and most needful work of charity and care in our society. We should use every available means to protect those institutions from this mortal danger, and that certainly includes resorting to the language of conscience and exemption. But as we do so, we should not forget that we are dealing with an instance of a larger and deeper danger, and we should do what we can to combat that danger in its own terms. It is perhaps the gravest threat to freedom in American life today."

ABORTIFACIENT MANDATE

2012-01-31T10:44:00.000-08:00

The Obama administration's abortifacient and contraception mandate is appalling, but I cannot claim to be surprised by it. In fact, I would have been surprised---indeed stunned---had the administration done anything significant to honor or protect the rights of Catholics and others on whose consciences the mandate will impose.

In every area touching the sanctity of human life and issues of sexual morality, the Obama administration is aggressively prosecuting the agenda its critics predicted and its most ardent left-wing supporters hoped for. Those who are driving the train, including key administration officials who self-identify as members of the Catholic Church, have no regard for the ethical beliefs of Catholics and others when they are in conflict with left-liberal orthodoxy.

Their task, as they perceive it, is to fortify and expand the "right to abortion" and "sexual freedom" wherever they can. They pursue this agenda with a religious zeal because, in fact, the ideology in which abortion is a "right" and "sexual freedom" is a core value is their religion. These beliefs are integral to their worldview. If, like Kathleen Sebelius, they happen to be Catholics, you can be assured that it won't be Catholic teaching, or the Judaeo-Christian ethic, that shapes their policies on issues of life and death and marriage and sexual morality; it will be liberal ideology---pure and simple---that does the shaping....

Pro-life citizens, including many Catholics, who in 2008 allowed themselves to be persuaded that Obama wouldn't, as his critics warned, push abortion hard and run roughshod over the religious liberty and rights of conscience of Catholics and other pro-life citizens and their institutions, have now gotten a rude awakening. ... In 2012, it is no longer possible to sustain illusions about what Obama and his people mean to do to us. They are already doing it. "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."...
Posted by Robert George on MIRROR OF JUSTICE BLOG

Iraqi War Vets Honored in St. Louis

2012-01-30T06:27:00.001-08:00

God Bless them! The people of St. Louis hosted the first ever "Welcome Home" parade for returning veterans from the Iraq war and it brought out an estimated 100,000 people!

Just give the people a chance to honor our troops and they pour onto the streets. Wonderful!

Full story in the Kansas City Star. Photo: Jeff Roberson.

Statue of Our Lady of Lepanto Resurfaces!

2012-01-26T20:48:00.000-08:00

This is surely providential! Our Lady of Lepanto, Our Lady of Victory!

Fr. Z has the story:

"An alert reader sent me to an interesting article in Spanish at ABC about the original statue of Our Lady given by Venice to don Juan de Austria that was on the quarterdeck of his flagship (more properly “lantern galley”) at Lepanto.

Apparently it had been lost for years but was recently rediscovered and is undergoing restoration at the Spanish Navy Museum:

AB. Nienstedt: This is the Change We Have Been Waiting For!

2012-01-25T19:31:00.000-08:00

Not only does the great Archbishop defend the common good of society, he makes clear it is the solemn duty of his priests and deacons to do the same.

WE support Marriage in Minnesota and everywhere! If you'd like to help defend marriage in Minnesota, visit http://www.minnesotaformarriage.com/ and click on the "Contribute" link.

Here's his Excellency's letter (emphasis added, but one could just as well emphasize the whole thing):

Dear Fathers and Deacons,

At our recent Clergy Study Day on October 19, I gave the following talk. I offer it here again for those who were not in attendance.

My dear brothers, I do not believe it is an exaggeration to say that in this movement to protect and defend the definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman we are faced with one of the greatest challenges of our times. None of us can deny that the institution of marriage and family life are unraveling before our very eyes due to no-fault divorce, wide-spread cohabitation and promiscuous sexual activity. The end game of those who oppose the marriage amendment that we support is not just to secure certain benefits for a particular minority, but, I believe, to eliminate the need for marriage altogether. This can only lead to continued destabilizing the family unit itself. Both those realities will happen if marriage is redefined or, perhaps better put, “undefined.” Today we can say with clarity what the natural reality of marriage is. That may not be possible in years to come if we fail to be successful now. As I see it, we have this one chance as Minnesotans to make things right. The stakes could not be higher.

We did not choose this challenge nor do any of us relish the confrontation it will bring, but neither can we remain silent in order to get along. We must witness to the truth so as to realize the common good of our society. While the greatest good is surely life with God in heaven, we must, in truth, seek to foster the good here on earth. And we are not the first to confront this task, our brothers in California, Maine, Hawaii among others, have all taken up this defense and have been successful in doing so.

In doing so, we must never vilify or caricaturize those who argue otherwise. Indeed, we must acknowledge that all men and women are God’s sons and daughters. But it is this very truth and the fact that the truth is one and bears no contradiction that the Church and her ministers must witness here and now.

It is my expectation that all the priests and deacons in this Archdiocese will support this venture and cooperate with us in the important efforts that lie ahead. The gravity of this struggle, and the radical consequences of inaction propels me to place a solemn charge upon you all — on your ordination day, you made a promise to promote and defend all that the Church teaches. I call upon that promise in this effort to defend marriage. There ought not be open dissension on this issue. If any have personal reservations, I do not wish that they be shared publicly. If anyone believes in conscience that he cannot cooperate, I want him to contact me directly and I will plan to respond personally.

I see our united effort as a part of the New Evangelization, that of building a new culture for marriage. You know, this effort to pass a constitutional amendment is not an end in itself. We began a year ago to host 25 seminars across the Archdiocese to explain why marriage is what it is and why we believe in it.

Presently, I have appointed teams of a priest and a married couple to go into each of our Catholic high schools to address the topic of marriage.

I want the focus here to be a positive one — let’s celebrate the reality of what God designed from the beginning as affirmed in the first chapter of Genesis and that Jesus reaffirmed in the 19th chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel.

I am actively raising funds to assist in this educational endeavor. And if you and your parish wish to benefit from these programs, please let me know.

I thank you for your support. I count on your prayer. Be assured you have the same from me. Together, let us turn to our Blessed Mother — mother of all families, Mother of the Church and patroness of the new evangelization. Through her maternal intercession, our Lady will secure for us that which is needed most in these days — protection, wisdom and peace through the grace of her Son and Savior, Jesus Christ.

May God bless us all.
With every good wish, I remain
Fraternally yours in Christ,
The Most Reverend John C. Nienstedt

“A truth of biology, not theology; a truth of science, not religion.”

2012-01-24T09:07:00.000-08:00

Archbishopl Gomez of Los Angeles tells it like it is. From California Catholic Daily:

Writing in the Jan. 20 edition of the archdiocesan newspaper The Tidings, Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez says abortion can never play second fiddle to ‘social justice’ as a moral issue for Catholics.
The archbishop said he often hears the questions, “Why does the Church still bother trying to change people’s hearts and minds on abortion? Wouldn’t our time and resources be better spent on pressing issues such as poverty, social justice and peace?”

And he replies: “These are good and sincere questions. For me, the answer is a matter of truth and first principles. The truth is true whether our society acknowledges it or not. And we always want to make sure we are living in the truth and not living a lie or a delusion.”

Read the whole thing at CalCatholic, and you can read His Excellency's full statement here.

This Catholic institution plans to host a notorious pro-abortion promoter

2012-01-23T11:00:00.001-08:00

While pro-life Americans attended the March for Life in Washington, D.C. today, the Catholic Jesuit University of Scranton, Pennsylvania, is preparing for something unimaginable. In fact, they have invited an avowed abortion advocate and former Congresswoman Marjorie Margolies to give the keynote speech at the University on January 28.

The bishop of Scranton, most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, asked that the invitation be withdrawn. Unfortunately, his request was rebuffed by university officials. Yes, his request was denied…It’s unbelievable, but I still think that you and I can make a real difference if we peacefully protest and CALL the university today. You can pick up the phone and dial 570-941-7500 right now. Ask for Fr. Kevin Quinn, president of the University of Scranton and politely urge him to cancel the appearance of pro-abortion advocate Marjorie Margolies.

You see, after Ms. Margolies’ congressional career ended, her pro-abortion record only got worse, culminating in her position as Executive Director of the Women’s Campaign Fund, a pro-abortion organization dedicated to “dramatically increasing the number of women in elected office who support reproductive choices and options, from all parties and at all levels of government.

How can a woman with such a pro-abortion record be invited to give not only a lecture, but a keynote address at a Catholic University, an institution that should be a cornerstone in the defense of innocent life?

You are invited to pick up the phone and dial 570-941-7500. Ask for Fr. Kevin Quinn, president of the University of Scranton. And politely urge him to cancel the appearance of pro-abortion advocate Marjorie Margolies.

Great Walk for Life West Coast Video

2012-01-23T05:43:00.001-08:00

By "Nukecry":

Support Marriage in Minnesota

2012-01-22T20:23:00.000-08:00

This year, Minnesotans will vote on an amendment enshrining the true defintion of marriage--the union of one man and one woman--in their constitution. This is supported by every Catholic bishop in the state. Of course, the enemies of marriage will have tons of money. Let's do our part!

You can support marriage by giving to Minnesota for Marriage: http://www.minnesotaformarriage.com/ and clicking the contribute button.

Breaking: Catholic Healthcare West Ending Affiliation with Catholic Church

2012-01-22T18:49:00.000-08:00

At the exact time the Obama administration is stripping away conscience protections, Catholic Healthcare West may be stripping away what's left of its Catholicism.

There is a Sacramento Bee web listing on google to this story, but it goes to a dead link. However there is a cached version of the Sacramento Bee story here. The Bee story says they plan to make an announcement Monday. Maybe the Bee released the story early by mistake. Anyway here is a segment, and you can read the whole thing at the link above.

In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system breaks from church

Kaiser Health News
Published Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012

"WASHINGTON -- Catholic Healthcare West, one of the nation's largest hospital systems, is ending its affiliation with the Catholic Church and changing its name, two steps intended to help the system expand throughout the states in which it operates - California, Arizona and Nevada - and beyond.

The changes, which executives plan to announce Monday, underscore the challenges facing Catholic hospitals in the marketplace, where there are tremendous financial pressures for hospitals to merge or form alliances with other health-care providers to survive and thrive.

The change will have no effect on any patients or the medical care provided at the 25 Catholic and 15 secular hospitals in the system. But executives hope it will make it easier to merge or affiliate with other hospitals, doctors' practices and other health-care providers.

In the past few years, proposed mergers between Catholic and secular hospitals in Louisville, Ky., and Sierra Vista, Ariz., have collapsed in part because of concerns about the church's bans on abortion, in vitro fertilization and sterilization.

Other mergers have succeeded only with unusual contortions, such as in Troy, N.Y., where a separately licensed maternity ward free from Catholic doctrine was created on the second floor of a secular hospital taken over by a Catholic system. In Seattle, Swedish Medical Center last fall agreed to fund a Planned Parenthood office next door to quell objections about its planned affiliation with a Catholic system.

Lloyd Dean, the president and CEO of Catholic Healthcare West, said the concerns about his system's Catholic affiliation have hampered some potential deals.

You remember Lloyd Dean--Obamacare supporter honored by the (Jesuit) University of San Francisco in 2010--another institution stripping away its Catholic identity.

"I have been contacted over the last couple of years by many, many different constituencies who have an interest in Catholic Healthcare West and what we have accomplished," Dean said. "But one of the things when we get down to what I'll call the real discussions as they confer with their boards is, 'What does the future mean if we're a non-Catholic entity? Will we have to become Catholic? What will be the Catholic influence?...."

Not much worry of that, I'd say.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Father Malloy Specially Honored At Walk for Life West Coast

2012-01-22T11:23:00.000-08:00

Well deserved, and God bless the old priest!

At yesterday's Walk for Life West Coast, Eva Muntean thanked all those who make the Walk for Life West Coast possible. She began by thanking "all of our spiritual leaders, and especially our dear 90 year-old chaplain, Fr. John Malloy who has been with us from the beginning...he is our chaplain, he is our everything."

Father could not make it to the Walk this year, but he made it to the dinner afterward, along with Bishop Salvatore Cordileone, Fr. Joseph Fessio, Fr. Frank Pavone, Fr. Mark from EWTN, Reverends Childress and Hoye, and other clergy. All of his Father's flock at the Walk were delighted, as always, to see him.

We were starving after the hard days work, so he blessed the food at our table quick! The picture shows Dolores & Eva presenting Father with the Gianna Molla Award for Pro-Life heroism at the First Annual Walk for Life back in 2005.

Posted by Gibbons

Playing With Fire: From 'Clown Masses' to Excommunicated Parishioners

2012-01-18T07:11:00.000-08:00

On December 27, 2011 in the article “Far From Rome” California Catholic Daily reported that Ms. Christine Fahrenbach, former co-director of the Lesbian and Gay Ministry at Holy Cross parish in Santa Cruz, was “ordained” a deacon in the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement on Sept. 18, 2011. The event took place in Santa Barbara. Fahrenbach was one of six women “ordained” on that day, an act that incurs immediate excommunication from the Catholic Church. One of the others was, or is, an RCIA instructor at Christ the King parish in Pleasant Hill, California named Maureen Mancuso. Ms. Mancuso's bio on the Roman Catholic Womenpriests "ordained" page may be found here.

In previous articles, published on May 16 and July 20, 2011 California Catholic Daily had documented the close ties between an East Bay group called “Women of Magdala,” which works for the ordination of women, and Christ the King parish.

The May 16 article reported that “Roman Catholic Woman Priest” Victoria Rue:

"celebrates a ‘Eucharistic Gathering’ in a ‘house church’ in San Francisco’s East Bay. The event is organized by a group called ‘The Women of Magdala.’ The Women of Magdala was organized in 2004 by parishioners from Christ the King Catholic Church in Pleasant Hill, whose pastor, Fr. Brian Joyce, celebrated a now infamous ‘clown Mass’ in 2002.

The July 18, 2010 parish bulletin of Christ the King carried this blurb for the group: ‘The Women of Magdala is a name adopted by a group of women and men here in our own neighborhood, including parishioners from St. Stephen’s, Santa Maria and Christ the King parishes. Welcoming both men and women to join, they meet at Christ the King at 7:15 pm on the second Monday of each month. The group’s mission is to promote an equal role for women in the Catholic Church through liturgy, education and example. This Thursday at the 8:00 am Mass they will help us celebrate Modern Women Prophets whom they also feature and quote on the flap of today’s bulletin.’”

The July 20 California Catholic Daily article “New High Holy Day” reported:

“A parish in the Diocese of Oakland plans a celebration this Friday of the ‘Feast of Mary Magdala’ sponsored by a group that, among other things, says its members are ‘deeply concerned about the exclusion of women from the priesthood.’

In a July 17 message of the bulletin of Christ the King Church in Pleasant Hill (also posted on the parish’s homepage), the pastor, Fr. Brian Joyce wrote: ‘On Friday of this week we celebrate what is fast becoming a ‘high holyday’: the feast of St. Mary Magdalen. We’ll have a special observance and homilist at the 8:00 am mass with reception after and then at 7:00 pm in the evening, here in church, Fr. Tom Bonacci will give a presentation on Mary Magdalen and the Gospel.’

The group behind the event calls itself the Women of Magdala, and its calendar of events confirms the group is hosting a ‘Feast of Mary Magdala Liturgy followed by a breakfast reception’ on July 22 at Christ the King parish.’ The Christ the King website directory still offers a direct link to the Women of Magdala’s homepage.”

The July 20 article further showed that all four women listed as contacts on the Women of Magdala webpage were or are prominent parishioners at Christ the King. Ms. Mancuso, the newly excommunicated “deacon” is also the webmaster for the Women of Magdala. Other examples of encouragement by Fr. Joyce for the Women of Magdala, and tolerance, to say the least, for the idea of women’s ordination include:

• The CTK bulletin’s pastor’s message of October 25, 2009, written by Father Joyce, dealt with the investigation of American nuns by the Vatican then underway. Fr. Joyce urged parishioners to “…read over the statement of appreciation and support in today’s fold-out and consider signing it at one of the tables hosted by our Women of Magdala…”

• The CTK Bulletin of December 5, 2010 invited parishioners to attend a December 8 talk given in the Church by Dr. Gary Macy, author of The Hidden History of Women’s Ordination, Female Clergy in the Medieval West. The bulletin blurb was headlined “Do Women get Included?” and described Dr. Macy’s credentials: “During his years in (the University of) San Diego, Dr. Macy published several books and over twenty articles on the theology and history of the Eucharist and on women’s ordination.”

• The CTK bulletin for December 26, 2010 publicized a three-session reading of The Hidden History of Women’s Ordination in CTK’s Ministry Chapel.

• The CTK Bulletin of August 28, 2011 publicized a three-part study session of Miriam Therese Winter’s “Out of the Depths, the Story of Ludmila Javorova.” Javarova was a Czech woman “ordained” in 1970.

This encouragement of the Women of Magdala has now led to an entirely predictable result. Three weeks after the August 28, 2011 bulletin announcement, Ms. Mancuso was “ordained,” and thus automatically excommunicated from the Catholic Church. But, as if one excommunicated parishioner was not enough, the Christ the King parish bulletin of last Sunday, January 15, 2012 carried this blurb for an event to be held this Friday:

"Book discussion with Author Gary Macy & Dinner, San Damiano, 4pm, $35/person, contact Maureen Mancuso ....(sponsored by CTK Women’s Book Study.)"

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Pro Abortion Banners in SF Nailed by Life Legal Defense Foundation

2012-01-16T18:42:00.000-08:00

On January 11, California Catholic Daily had a story about the pro-abortion banners recently hung on lamposts on San Francisco's Market Street. The great Katie Short of the Life Legal Defense Foundation filed an objection to the banners:

“It goes without saying that ‘politics happen’ – but they should not happen on what appears to be the taxpayer dime on lampposts along Market Street in San Francisco,” LLDF said in a news release issued yesterday. “The Life Legal Defense Foundation has challenged the city of San Francisco with a blatant violation of its own city code.”

Beginning earlier this month, according to LLDF, “inflammatory political statements promoting a Ms. Magazine initiated pro-abortion campaign now waft over foot and auto traffic, as this municipal local marketing tool is abused, allowing feminist rhetoric to take the place intended for promotion of farmers’ markets and neighborhood festivals.”

Today, even the liberal San Francisco Chronicle noticed a few, shall we say, inconsistencies, with the city code:

"But the Life Legal Defense Foundation has complained to the Department of Public Works that the banners are illegal because they’re not promoting a particular event, as required by city code. The code states that banners can be hung in conjunction with an “event or series of events of interest to a significant portion of the residents of San Francisco” and that organizers must “reasonably expect an in-person attendance of 500 or more people for a single event or 1,000 or more people for a series of events.”

"A spokeswoman for DPW told us the department issued a banner permit on Dec. 20 for the “Walk for Trust Women/Silver Ribbon Campaign” event, a “parade/walk on a portion of Market Street from 6-8 p.m. on Friday January 20, 2012.” The group also applied for and received a parade/walk permit from the police department in November. The police permit, according to DPW, also includes an event at Justin Herman Plaza on Saturday from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. called “Celebration to Trust Women.”

Turns out, none of that’s quite right.

The Silver Ribbon Campaign to Trust Women’s website has long said to come back for more information about an upcoming event. Today, it released the specifics: Its Walk for Choice SF – billed as “an event to commemorate and admire the pro-choice banners on Market Street” will be held Sunday at 1 p.m. in Justin Herman Plaza. So the banners are promoting an event to admire the banners. And they’re not for the day or time listed on the event permits. Oh, and the campaign is expecting “a couple hundred people,” at the event, according to Ellen Shaffer, co-founder of the campaign."

Other than that, perfect compliance with the law. Let's see how the city responds.

Walk For Life West Coast Speakers to Join Reverend Hoye in Oakland!

2012-01-15T10:06:00.000-08:00

The Catholic News Agency reports that some of the Walk for Life West Coast speakers will be joining the great Reverend Walter Hoye at the Fifth Annual Standing Up 4Life Walk in Oakland on Friday, January 20. Standing Up 4Life begins at 12 noon in the Frank Ogawa Plaza, in front of Oakland's City Hall. After the Walk, there will be a discussion in the parish hall of Oakland's Christ the Light Cathedral, followed by an ecumenical prayer service in the Cathedral. Participants will include their Excellencies Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland and Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento.

Pro-life ecumenism takes root in Oakland, Calif.

"Oakland, Calif., Jan 14, 2012 (CNA) - The Rev. Walter Hoye is preparing for his fifth annual Standing Up 4Life Walk in Oakland, Calif. The rally will begin at noon Jan. 20 in front of Oakland City Hall at 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza.

'The speakers want to come to Oakland,' said the Rev. Hoye, who thanked West Coast Walk for Life founders Eva Muntean and Dolores Meehan for their assistance.

'Eva and Dolores work together to get communities of color involved,' he said. The focus of the Oakland event is the impact of abortion on the minority community.

The Rev. Hoye is one of the nation’s leaders in framing the abortion debate as a matter of genocide...

An ecumenical prayer service will follow from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland. The public is invited to attend the service. The Most Rev. Salvatore J. Cordileone, bishop of Oakland, and the Most Rev. Jaime Soto, bishop of Sacramento, Calif. will be among the speakers."Read the whole thing.

The Reverend Clenard Childress, Dr. Vansen Wong, Mrs. Lori Hoye, and Abby Johnson will be joining Walter. Full details of the Standing Up 4Life Walk can be found here.

Judge Kramer Confirms Earlier Ruling in Favor of Archdiocese Against City of San Francisco

2012-01-10T18:36:00.000-08:00

Gosh, I hope the Archdiocese sues the city to recover their legal costs. From U.S. Catholic:

SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) -- A Superior Court judge made final his earlier tentative decision to throw out a multimillion-dollar "delinquent" tax bill imposed on the Archdiocese of San Francisco by the San Francisco assessor-recorder.

Judge Richard A. Kramer Jan. 9 confirmed a 43-page "Tentative Statement of Decision" he issued in favor of the archdiocese Nov. 18.

For more than three years, the archdiocese fought an attempt by Phil Ting, head of the Office of the Assessor-Recorder, to impose transfer taxes totaling more than $20 million on more than 200 parish and school properties involved in an internal reorganization by the archdiocese.

The archdiocese maintained that the effort came despite the fact that the city's "documentary transfer tax" ordinance, as it is called, applies only to property "sold" in San Francisco and specifically exempts internal reorganizations of this kind.

The church also countered that state and federal law have long recognized that intra-church reorganizations are not transfers and are not subject to such taxes.

"This has been a very frustrating experience," said Jack Hammel, general counsel for the archdiocese.

He said Ting's and his chief assistant's refusal "to recognize well-established law on this subject" and the "repeated delaying tactics" church officials encountered for three and a half years have "caused a considerable disruption to the charitable activities of the archdiocese."

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

CYO Coaches Offer Prayer, Atheists Object, Priest Conflicted

2012-01-08T14:09:00.000-08:00

This is a good sign from CYO, which is part of San Francisco's Catholic Charities.

Yesterday's Marin Independent Journal reports:

Call for prayer at games irks some San Geronimo Valley residents

"A decision by Catholic Youth Organization leaders to ask young athletes to pray before basketball games has touched a nerve among residents of the San Geronimo Valley.

'I understand that if we rent to one religious group, we have to rent to them all. But I still don't like it,' said Richard Sloan, a trustee of the Lagunitas School District, which co-owns the San Geronimo Valley Gym. 'I'm going to put up a sign in front of the gym: 'If you don't pray in my school, I won't think in your church.'

Officials from the San Francisco-based Catholic Charities CYO — which oversees athletic programs in Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties — insist children won't be forced to pray against their will, and that the organization has attempted to be as sensitive as possible in creating a prayer for its athletes. Hundreds of Marin students in the third through eighth grades participate in the group's boys' and girls' basketball games at venues throughout the county, including Marin Academy, the Pickleweed Park Community Center in San Rafael and Sir Francis Drake High School in San Anselmo.

The decision to pray, Johnson Clendinen said, came not from the organization itself but from its association of athletic directors, who voted on the proposal in January 2011...."

The article claimed that some parents were unaware of CYO's relgious affiliation--unaware that the "C" in "CYO" stood for Catholic. That's NOT a good sign--people should have no doubt that "Catholic" organizations are Catholic--but now they do know. If he is being quoted accurately, one of the local pastors certainly did not express any support for the coaches:

"Even the Rev. Cyril O'Sullivan, pastor at St. Cecilia's Church, is worried about the consequences of the organization's decision.'"

I'm told that the prayer is not being pushed on any families, that people have a choice,' said O'Sullivan, who added that he had only learned of the CYO's decision on Friday. 'But I don't like anything that causes division. Prayer, if it becomes divisive, would be a very poor form of prayer.'"

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Holy Father Names 22 New Cardinals

2012-01-06T21:17:00.000-08:00

They include Archbishop Dolan of New York, as well as Archbishop Edwin O'Brien, Pro Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. 18 of the 22 will be able to vote in Conclave.

Vatican Radio has the story, and here is the full list, courtesy of Caltholic Culture:

1.Archbishop Santos Abril Y Castellò, the Archpriest of the Roman basilica of St. Mary Major;

2.Major Archbishop George Alencherry of Ernakulam-Angamaly, the leader of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church;

3.Father Karl Becker, SJ, a former professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University and consultant to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith;

4.Archbishop Giuseppe Bertelli, President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and President of the Governorate of the same State;

5.Archbishop Giuseppe Betori of Florence;

6.Archbishop João Braz de Aviz, prefect of the Congregation for Religious;

7.Archbishop Domenico Calcagno, president of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See;

8.Archbishop Francesco Coccopalmerio, president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts;

9.Archbishop Thomas Christopher Collins of Toronto;

10.Archbishop Timothy Michael Dolan of New York;

11.Archbishop Dominik Duka of Prague;

12.Archbishop Willem Jacobus Eijk of Utrecht;

13.Archbishop Fernando Filoni, the prefect of the Congregation for Evangelization;

14.Father Prospero Grech, OSA, a theology professor and to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith;

15.Archbishop Manuel Monteiro de Castro, was named only yesterday as head of the Apostolic Penitentiary;

16.Major Archbishop Lucian Muresan of Fagaras and Alba Julia, the leader of the Romanian Catholic Church;

17.Archbishop Edwin O'Brien, Grand Master Knights of the Holy Sepulchre;

18.Father Julien Ries, for years a professor at the Catholic University of Louvain;

19.Archbishop John Tong Hon, Bishop of Hong Kong;

20.Archbishop Antonio Maria Veglio, the president of the Pontifical Council for Migrants;

21.Archbishop Giuseppe Versaldi, president of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See; and

22.Archbishop Rainer Maria Woelk of Berlin.

Lord, be with them!

Honoring a Jesuit Giant!

2012-01-04T11:03:00.000-08:00

The great Fr. Cornelius Buckley, SJ, priest, author, teacher, and head chaplain at Thomas Aquinas College, will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of his Ordination to the priesthood in March of this year. God bless him! Here is a little video TAC put together of the good old priest:

The school has also established a scholarship fund in his honor, which you can learn about here.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Catholic Charities: "We get government funds, so we are not Catholic."

2012-01-01T09:30:00.000-08:00

In the Winter, 2000 issue of City Journal, Brian C. Anderson, analyzed the corruption of Catholic Charities following its ever-increasing acceptance of government funding. The article began:

"As advanced social thinkers rediscover the power of faith-based institutions to rescue the down-and-out by transforming the dysfunctional worldview that often lies at the root of their difficulties, you would think that Catholic Charities USA would be a perfect model to emulate, getting the poor into the mainstream by emphasizing moral values and ethical conduct. But no: rather than trying to promote traditional values and God-fearing behavior, Catholic Charities—and the same could be said about the Association of Jewish Family and Children's Agencies or the Lutheran Services in America—has become over the last three decades an arm of the welfare state, with 65 percent of its $2.3 billion annual budget now flowing from government sources and little that is explicitly religious, or even values-laden, about most of the services its 1,400 member agencies and 46,000 paid employees provide."

We at A Shepherd's Voice have been discussing for some time, too. See here and here.

Mr. Anderson continues:

"For wayward kids, for welfare moms trying to break free of dependency, for heroin addicts or drunks trying to kick the habit, faith-based programs work best. Psychologist David Larson at the National Institute for Healthcare Research cites many studies that show a strong correlation between religious participation and rejecting crime and substance abuse; criminologist Byron Johnson of Lamar University has shown big drops in recidivism for prisoners who go through Charles Colson's faith-based Prison Fellowship Program."

And he gives this example:

"Catholic Charities would have found none of this surprising 70 years ago, but many of today's Catholic Charities agencies pay little attention to the power of faith to transform lives. Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum sparked a fierce controversy in 1996 when he rebuked Catholic Charities for drifting away from the faith under the pressure of government funding. Santorum told of a priest he knows who began a psychology internship at a Catholic Charities clinic. The clinic supervisor tested him on three hypothetical counselling situations: a depressed pregnant woman who wants to abort her child, two homosexuals seeking advice on their relationship, and a divorcing couple asking for counselling. In keeping with Catholic teachings, the priest advised against the abortion, refused to endorse homosexual unions, and encouraged the divorcing couple to save their marriage. He failed the test. His supervisor explained: 'We get government funds, so we are not Catholic.'"

The link to Mr. Anderson's article came from a December 21 article in Philanthropy Daily by Scott Walter called "Conquering the Private Sector", which extensively quotes the late Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Senator Moynihan, who grew up in a tough neighborhood in New York, and knew something about the causes of poverty, expressed great fear at the government's ongoing takeover of private charitable institutuions.

WE ARE FORCED TO PAY!

2011-12-27T14:03:00.000-08:00

A new TV ad from CatholicVote.org features a little girl. "Dear President Obama," she says. "Can I ask you a question? Why are you trying to force my church and my school to pay for things that we don't even believe in?"

It's a good question. Apparently it's not enough that contraception be legal, cheap and available. As The Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius illustrates, modern American liberalism cannot rest until those who object are forced to underwrite it.

Keep Christ in Christmas

2011-12-24T11:14:00.000-08:00

Richard Dawkins may want to take God out of public life, but don’t try to take the Christ out of his Christmas carols.

In the Christmas issue of the New Statesman, published this week, the eminent zoologist and author of “The God Delusion” began an open letter to Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain by heartily wishing him “Merry Christmas!,” adding that he will accept no substitutes.
“All that ‘Happy Holiday Season’ stuff, with ‘holiday’ cards and ‘holiday’ presents,” is a tiresome import from the United States, where it has long been fostered more by rival religions than atheists,” Mr. Dawkins wrote.
As a “cultural Anglican,” Mr. Dawkins continued, “I recoil from such secular carols as ‘White Christmas,’ ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and the loathsome ‘Jingle Bells,’ but I’m happy to sing real carols, and in the unlikely event that anyone wants me to read a lesson I’ll gladly oblige — only from the King James Version, of course.”
,,, “A depressingly large number of of intelligent and educated people, despite having outgrown religious faith, still vaguely presume without thinking about it that religious faith is somehow good for other people, good for society, good for public order, good for instilling morals, good for common people even if we chaps don’t need it,” Mr. Dawkins writes. “...
NEW YORK TIMESs by JENNIFER SCHUESSLER

Pro-Life Group Worth Supporting at Christmas!

2011-12-23T15:35:00.001-08:00

We published this list a couple of weeks ago, but want to offer it again. We also want to include the National Organization for Marriage. A generous donor has offered to match every gift NOM receives through the end of the year dollar-for-dollar, up to $1 million!

To donate, go here.

Here are some great Catholic and Pro-Life organizations that surely deserve consideration when you make your Christmas donations:

California Catholic Daily. California's only independent Catholic news provider. Not a "company newspaper."

LifeSiteNews. Fearless in defense of life and the family.

First Resort and Alpha Pregnancy Center, both in San Francisco. The city of San Francisco is going after these two crisis pregnancy centers; they must be doing something right.

Catholics for the Common Good. Bill May quietly and relentlessly goes about the business of promoting the Culture of Life.

The Issues4Life Foundation. That's the Reverend Walter Hoye....need we say more?

Immaculate Heart Radio. Broadcasting the faith, everyday.

The Cardinal Newman Society. Tirelessly exposing how major Catholic Universities have been turned from bastions of the faith into enemies of the faith.

Finally, the Salvation Army. Under fire from "gay" groups, they deserve your support.

There are MANY other groups equally deserving of your support, of course, but we wanted to mention these.

Big Victory for Pro-Life New Jersey Nurses!

2011-12-23T10:11:00.000-08:00

The great Steve Ertelt at LifeNews has the story:

"A federal court late Thursday gave pro-life advocates a huge victory in the case of 12 nurses being forced to assist with abortions at a New Jersey hospital.

The court held a hearing concerning a motion filed by Alliance Defense Fund attorneys on behalf of the nurses that asks the court to issue a preliminary injunction that would halt any efforts by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey to coerce the nurses in violation of federal law while their lawsuit moves forward."

Speaking of great, New Jersey's great Republican congressman Chris Smith said:

“Due to the brave voices of these 12 nurses and the diligent work of their attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund, the hospital has finally agreed to respect their rights. The nurses may continue to provide compassionate life-affirming care without being complicit in the destruction of innocent human life...”

LifeNews is wonderful! Please consider donating to support their great work this Christmas. You can donate by going here.

The Most Important Liberty Case in the Past Thirty Years

2011-12-22T14:17:00.000-08:00

Freedom of religion means the right of religious persons, groups, and ideas to participate fully and equally in the life of the community and in the marketplace of ideas.

Thirty years ago today, on December 8, 1981, the Supreme Court decided the case of Widmar v. Vincent—probably the most important pro-religious-liberty judicial decision of the modern era. The question at issue was whether the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), a state university, could bar a Christian student group named “Cornerstone” from using university facilities because the students wished to engage in religious worship and expression. While UMKC allowed other student groups to use its facilities, the university excluded Cornerstone from doing so under a regulation forbidding the use of its buildings “for purposes of religious worship or religious teaching.”

By a vote of 8–1, the Court held that the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause protects religious speech and association by private speakers and groups, just as it protects speech by any other speakers on any other subject, and that the Establishment Clause does not authorize discriminatory exclusion of religious speech....Widmar marked a decisive turning point. Of course, the disposition to suppress private religious expression—to exclude, to hamper, to discriminate—persists even today. But Widmar (with its many successor cases) stands firmly in the way of the view that such suppression is in any way justified, let alone required, by the onstitution. Widmar repudiated such First Amendment ignorance.

Here is what the Court held in Widmar: Freedom of speech forbids government from prohibiting, punishing, or penalizing speech based on its content. This was already an oft-stated principle. The Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment thus forbids government from excluding religiousspeakers and groups from forums for expression—or from any other benefit—on account of the religious content of their expression or the religious nature of their views or association.

...Widmar’s free-speech holding is thus fundamental to the freedom of religion. It is the basis for the right of evangelism: Freedom of religious expression, and the equal status of religious ideas, keep government from suppressing religious discourse and debate. And Widmar’s free-speech principle is closely allied with the freedom to exercise one’s religious convictions in society generally: It is the principle that proclaims the equal status of religious views, religious arguments, religiously motivated actions, religious associations, and religious identity in American public life. Freedom of religion means, at bedrock, the right of religious persons, groups, and ideas to participate fully and equally in the life of the community and in the marketplace of ideas....
Michael Stokes Paulsen is University Chair and Professor of Law at the University of St. Thomas, in Minneapolis, and co-director of its Pro-Life Advocacy Center ).

The Third Heaven

2011-12-22T13:08:00.000-08:00

At the Winter Solstice, there are cultists who would turn the celebration of Christmas into some sort of light worship, replacing the Son with the Sun

That myopia venerates only what can be seen. In ancient cosmology, the "first heaven" was the easily visible part of the universe, and the "second heaven" was the stellar complex beyond that. But St. Paul said: "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven â€“ whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into Paradise â€“ whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows â€“ and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter" (2 Corinthians 12:2-4).
It is likely that he was speaking of the third heaven in the third person about himself. He encountered directly the "glory" that God allowed Moses to approach by indirection: "When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen" (Exodus 33:22-23). Peter, James and John bowed before this radiance at the Transfiguration, and the crowd saw it at the Ascension when they "returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the Temple praising God" (Luke 24:52-53).

A reflection of that joy was on the face of the Lady who appeared at Lourdes. In 1863 the sculptor Joseph-Hugues Fabisch interviewed St. Bernadette and made his famous statue from her description, but the saint was deeply saddened by how poorly it matched what she had seen. Our Lord guides us cautiously to glory so that we might not become blinded or made speechless by it. With splendid subtlety, the stars on the robe of Our Lady of Guadalupe are exactly as the constellation was in the Mexican sky when the image appeared on the tilma of St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin on December 12, 1531. Those stars show the lesser heavens, but are hints of the "third heaven" from which the Light of the World came to shine in our darkness first as a baby and then as a man.

At His birth "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy" (Job 38:7). The night before His death, Christ "looked toward heaven" and prayed: "Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you" (John 17:1). Until then, the heavenly song had been hushed, for as Chesterton wrote: "There was some one thing that was too great for God to show us when He walked upon our earth; and I have sometimes fancied that it was His mirth."
FATHER GEORGE WILLIAM RUTLER

Archbishop Nixes MHR's Homosexualist Advent Speakers

2011-12-15T06:30:00.000-08:00

Today's Bay Area Reporter reports that Archbishop George Niederauer has caused San Francisco's Most Holy Redeemer to dis-invite three of their scheduled Advent Vespers speakers:

"At least three gay and lesbian clergy members were disinvited from participating in Advent services at Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in the Castro, the Bay Area Reporter has learned.

The call for the gay clergy not to attend came from the Archdiocese of San Francisco, sources said."

The three were retired same-sex "married" Episcopal Bishop Otis Charles; the openly homosexual Presbyterian Reverend Jane Spahr, and the Reverend Roland Stringfellow, the Director of Ministerial Outreach at the Center for Lesbian & Gay Studies in Spirituality and Ministry in Berkeley. The BAR article continued:

"George Wesolek, spokesman for the archdiocese, confirmed that Archbishop George Niederauer made the decision."

The article then includes this statement, which I find confusing:

"'The basic reason is that Archbishop Niederauer felt the themes for vespers should better reflect the themes of Advent,'" Wesolek told the B.A.R."

But if the objection is not to the speakers, only to the "themes," the implication is that if Bishop Charles and the Reverends Spahr and Stringfellow had come up with better, more Advent suitable themes, they would have been welcome. That can't be right.

I'd say the objection is that Bishop Charles and Reverends Spahr & Stringfellow are engaging in and promoting behaviors that are sinful and wrong.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Why Go To Church?

2011-12-14T16:51:00.001-08:00

A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday... "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 203,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:

"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this... They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!" When you are DOWN to nothing... God is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible! Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!

Health Issues?

2011-12-14T12:06:00.000-08:00

The Wall Street Journal has an article “The Church of Kathleen Sebelius” by William McGurun which should be read by all believers in life issues and the politics of Obama verus the Catholic Church.

In the church of Kathleen Sebelius, there is little room for dissent. "We are in a war," the Health and Human Services Secretary declared to cheers at a recent NARAL Pro-Choice America fund-raiser. Give the lady her due: Her actions mostly match her words.

Mrs. Sebelius's militancy explains the shock her allies are now feeling after last Wednesday's decision to overrule the Food and Drug Administration on Plan B, a morning-after pill. The FDA had proposed allowing over-the-counter sales, which would give girls as young as 11 or 12 access without either a prescription or a parent. Now the secretary's allies are howling about her "caving in" to the Catholic bishops.
Let’s hear it for Kathleen! But read on:

On this score they needn't worry. Notwithstanding the unexpected burst of common sense on Plan B, the great untold story remains the intolerance so beloved of self-styled progressives. In this Mrs. Sebelius has proved herself one of the administration's most faithful practitioners: here watering down conscience protections for nurses and doctors who don't want to participate in abortions; there yanking funding for a top-rated program for victims of sexual trafficking run by the Catholic bishops, because they will not sign on to the NARAL agenda; soon to impose a new HHS mandate that will require health-insurance plans to cover contraception, sterilization and drugs known to induce abortion.

Alas for her president, her zeal for this agenda has yielded two unintended consequences. Within her party, it is creating a rift between the Planned Parenthood wing and the president's Catholic and religious supporters. Outside her party, it is illuminating the danger of equating bigger government with a more just society.
Thus far, attention has mostly focused on the politics. One reason is that even Catholics who supported President Obama on his signature health bill recognize the contraceptive mandate as a bridge too far. These include the Catholic Health Association's Sr. Carol Keehan, whose well-publicized embrace of the Affordable Care Act gave the president critical cover when he needed it. Others simply question whether forcing Catholic hospitals to drop health insurance for their employees rather than submit to Madam Sebelius's bull is really the image the president wants during a tough re-election year.

Then there are the Catholic bishops. Just two years ago, many seemed to regard ObamaCare as a compassionate piece of legislation if only a few provisions (e.g., conscience rights and abortion funding) could be tweaked. Now they are learning the real problem is the whole thing is built on force—from the individual mandate and doctors' fees to the panels deciding what treatment grandma is entitled to. The awakening has led to a new bishops' committee on religious liberty, and tough, unprecedented criticism.

Pro-Life Groups Worth Supporting at Christmas

2011-12-13T19:02:00.000-08:00

Here are some great Catholic and Pro-Life organizations that surely deserve consideration when you make your Christmas donations:

California Catholic Daily. California's only independent Catholic news provider. Not a "company newspaper."

LifeSiteNews. Fearless in defense of life and the family.

First Resort and Alpha Pregnancy Center, both in San Francisco. The city of San Francisco is going after these two crisis pregnancy centers; they must be doing something right.

Catholics for the Common Good. Bill May quietly and relentlessly goes about the business of promoting the Culture of Life.

The Issues4Life Foundation. That's the Reverend Walter Hoye....need we say more?

Immaculate Heart Radio. Broadcasting the faith, everyday.

The Cardinal Newman Society. Tirelessly exposing how major Catholic Universities have been turned from bastions of the faith into enemies of the faith.

Finally, the Salvation Army. Under fire from "gay" groups, they deserve your support.

There are MANY other groups equally deserving of your support, of course, but we wanted to mention these.

Strange Defense of Marriage

2011-12-09T13:25:00.000-08:00

Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster has made statements opposed to natural law and Catholic doctrine on several occasions. It seems to me the Archbishop needs to review what he was taught in classes of Moral Theology.

Read his statement: “We would want to emphasize that civil partnerships actually provide a structure in which people of the same sex who want a lifelong relationship [and] a lifelong partnership can find their place and protection and legal provision,” the archbishop said. “As a Church we are very committed to the notion of equality so that people are treated the same across all the activities of life.”

However, the archbishop also explained that the same equality that permits a “partnership” does not allow homosexual “marriage”. It is not clear why the same logic would not apply.

Asked about his statements by the Catholic News Agency (CNA), Archbishop Nichols replied that he was defending marriage but also avoiding “being accused of being homophobic.” Asked whether he was not going against Vatican guidelines, the prelate answered that the bishops have tried “to recognize the reality of the legal provision in our country of an agreement, a partnership, with many of the same legal safeguards as in marriage.”Surprisingly, he also affirmed — as if to justify himself — that unlike marriages, homosexual. partnerships “have no root in a sexual relationship!” Such a statement makes it difficult to determine on what planet the Archbishop of Westminster lives!

This is not the first time Archbishop Nichols has made absurd statements opposed to natural law and Catholic doctrine. In 2010, during a debate on the BBC, answering a homosexual’s accusation that the Church opposes the agenda of the homosexual movement, he said, “That’s not true. In this country, we were very nuanced. We did not oppose gay civil partnerships.”6His answer to the question, “Should the Church one day accept the reality of gay partnerships?” was, “I don’t know.”7 Asked if the Church would one day accept the ordination of women and homosexual unions, he likewise said, “I don’t know. Who knows what’s down the road.”

Thanks for input from Luiz Sérgio Solimeo &The American TFP [tfp@tfp.org]

“

Stephen White on the "Rainbow Sashers"

2011-12-08T11:04:00.000-08:00

Stephen White, writing over at the Catholic Vote gets it completely:

"Without rehearsing the arguments about the impossibility of same-sex “marriage,” or the Church’s teachings on the nature of homosexual acts, and without rehearsing the Church’s teaching on the worthy reception of the Holy Eucharist, I simply want to ask: If Mr. (Joe) Murray and the rest of the Rainbow Sashers really wanted to receive communion, why not simply take off their sashes and receive anonymously, like the rest of us?

The answer, of course, is that they refuse to compromise their most fundamental belief. If it’s a choice between The Eucharist and The Sash (and all that it stands for) they choose the latter."

Exactly right, and what we have been arguing for years. From the "Most Holy Redeemer and Ecumenism" page over at our sister site "Homosexual Activism in the Archdiocese of San Francisco":

"At MHR, one's religious affiliation is irrelevant--what matters is one's attitude towards the celebration of homosexuality. That is the issue on which compromises will not be made, where differences will not be tolerated--because that is the real lived religion, not Catholicism."

Do We Have a Pro-Life ‘Good War’ and an Anti-SSM ‘Bad War’?

2011-12-08T08:57:00.000-08:00

My friend Tim Dalrymple asks just this question over at Patheos. He shared his observation with Fred Barnes, who put it this way:
Foes of gay rights are now seen by the press as fighting the bad war, roughly analogous to Vietnam. Pro-lifers are waging the good war, like World War II. “You get much less grief fighting against abortion than you do fighting to preserve traditional marriage,” says Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List.

I’ve seen this reality on college campuses. Speak to conservative college students and you’ll generally find enthusiastic pro-life support and deep ambivalence about — if not outright hostility to — preserving traditional marriage. Younger conservatives want to talk about life. They don’t want to talk about sexuality. In the larger culture, support for life is growing, with the percentage of Americans identifying as pro-life now in rough parity (and sometimes exceeding) the percentage of Americans calling themselves pro-choice. And while there’s no question that the media has long exaggerated public support for same-sex marriage (marriage amendments keep winning in state after state), there’s also no question that general polling trends are decidedly negative.

In explaining this phenomenon, Tim sees a number of factors at work. First, the life argument is simply easier to make. You don’t have to appeal to scripture or other holy texts to argue that a child should not be dismembered in his or her mother’s womb. By contrast, marriage arguments tend to be more abstract, especially since there’s no readily identifiable “victim” of gay marriage. Second, the media and liberal establishment relentlessly stigmatize supporters of traditional marriage, often labeling its advocates as no better than the white supremacists of the bygone South. This campaign has had a profound effect. As Tim notes:
Consider this little bit of anecdotal information. As an editor and director for a large religion website now, I can tell you: It’s substantially easier to find Christians and evangelicals to write on the abortion issue than it is to find ones who will write on same-sex marriage. Academics in particular are terrified that anything critical of homosexuality or same-sex marriage will come up before hiring or tenure committees. One of the first subjects we addressed in our “Public Square” at Patheos was the same-sex marriage debate, and nearly every person I approached to write on the topic had to ask himself or herself: “Am I willing to give up the next job, the next promotion, the next award, because of my views on this topic?”

I agree with Tim’s explanations, but I’d like to add another. After more than a generation of no-fault divorce, the very concept of “traditional marriage” is seeping out of our cultural DNA, replaced, sadly, by the core conviction that marriage is no longer a covenant, but a contract — specifically a contract for the fulfillment and enjoyment of adults. Our churches not only acquiesced in this cultural change, many of them continue to facilitate it even as they argue against same-sex marriage. There are many taboos in the modern evangelical church, and one of them is “judging” anyone’s divorce. Even wayward and unfaithful spouses will rationalize their betrayals through long lists of real and imagined slights, and church discipline for adultery and divorce is largely a thing of the past.

What kind of message does this send? Imagine the incredulity of a Christian college student — themselves too often the product of a broken home, where they had a front-row seat to their parents’ contentious festival of self-love — watching a thrice-married fellow congregant rail against gay marriage. It just doesn’t add up.

The battle over marriage, frankly, needs to broaden. We shouldn’t necessarily speak of “defending traditional marriage” when traditional marriage has already been mortally wounded by no-fault divorce. Perhaps we should instead emphasize marriage restoration over marriage defense. What do social conservatives want? To restore marriage to its rightful place and definition in our culture (which includes defining it as a covenant, not a contract) and to repair what is broken. To be sure, making and winning such an argument is an immense cultural challenge, but as the pro-life movement has demonstrated, courage, persistence, and truth can turn the tide.
Fred Barnes - Weekly standard

Cardinal O’Malley, Resisting Gay Pressure, Stands by His Editor

2011-12-06T12:23:00.000-08:00

Something is very wrong when priests join forces with gay activists in any cause whatsoever. The presumption must be that the priests in question are sympathetic to gay activism, and this constitutes scandal. That’s why I was glad to see Cardinal Sean O’Malley stand by the editor of his diocesan newspaper when some priests joined gay activists in demanding his dismissal.

You may recall the incident that occasioned the outcry. The editor, Antonio Enrique, failed to catch problems with a column by Daniel Avila which attributed same-sex attraction to Satan. Avila repudiated his column and, unfortunately, ultimately lost his job with the USCCB. I already explained the relevant theological issue in the fourth part of a recent In Depth Analysis, Parsing Beleaguered Words: The Perils of Getting Things Wrong. I also expressed the hope, unfulfilled in the event, that nothing more would be required of Avila than the retraction. Although he did not get things quite right, he was really making a needed effort to refute the common claim that same-sex attraction is given to some by God and so God must intend that they act upon it.

But now, apparently, it is not enough to crucify Daniel Avila for a theological error in treating a difficult question in a hostile culture. Now those who will brook no criticism of the gay lifestyle at all think that Antonio Enrique must go for having failed to prevent the column from being published in the first place. Now it so happens that Enrique has eleven children. One inevitably wonders if this alone is not sufficient to incur the wrath of the sterility lobby.
Look, I tried to be fair-minded. I pointed out that Avila had made a theological mistake in attributing same-sex attraction directly to the Devil when it is more properly discussed as one of a great many disordered inclinations characterizing the state of Original Sin. I pointed out that the issue is so sensitive nowadays that it is difficult to survive this sort of mistake, and that Avila should have had the good sense to realize he was in over his head in the first place.

But please note: It is not as if Satan is not involved at all. Satan tempted Adam and Eve in the events that led up to Original Sin; he tempts all of us—including those of us with same-sex attraction—to act on our disordered inclinations instead of seeing them for what they are and resisting them; and he certainly tempts contemporary apologists for the gay lifestyle to confuse God’s active will with his permissive will so that they can assert something that is always false and damaging to assert—namely, that because God permits us to suffer both disorder and temptation, it must be true that disorder and temptation are really not disorder and temptation at all.

That argument, you see, has all the marks of a Clever Mind. I grant that it is not so clever that we absolutely must designate its author with capital letters. But then I'm not writing in a diocesan newspaper, am I? I answer to my readers, who are smart enough to make distinctions and charitable enough to make allowances.

This is precisely the error which Daniel Avila was attempting to refute. In doing so, he sought to show that the author of same-sex attraction was not God but Satan, an over-simplification with unfortunate theological consequences, and one which needed to be corrected. But to call for the editor to be fired because he permitted a poor theological argument to run in his newspaper is outrageous, especially when it comes from a party of activists who more or less deliberately distort Catholic doctrine and theology at every turn, not in an effort to defend the truth but in an effort to make white black and black white.

Moreover, if anyone suddenly thinks that editors in the Catholic press must be summarily removed for permitting any sort of theological misstatement, I can only say that such a person is very late to the party indeed. Such a one must surely have slept through the Modernist revolution of the 1960’s and 1970’s which put actual heretics in charge of much of the Catholic press throughout the Western world. We might welcome, within due limits of course, such admirable zeal. But I wonder what we have seen in the last fifty years that would lead us to think that these particular zealots are truly solicitous for the truth, or that they would make any effort to be even-handed in their punishment for editorial errors across the board.

Happily and rightly, Cardinal O’Malley has indicated that he intends to stand firm. This is a blessing. One can imagine—no, one can remember—a time when this would not have been the case. So let us all permit Antonio Enrique to do his job in peace. The man seems, at the very least, to understand rather thoroughly how God in fact actually did design sexual expression, and for what purpose. Can his critics say as much?

Jeffrey Mirus - President of CatholicCulture.org

Abortion Survivor Movie "October Baby"

2011-12-05T16:27:00.000-08:00

The Blaze is reporting on the new movie "October Baby" about a woman who survived a failed abortion. The film was inspired by the story of Gianna Jensen, a real life abortion survivor, and the filmmakers, brothers Andrew & Jon Erwin, may have been further inspired by her testimony at the 2008 Walk for Life West Coast. From The Blaze:

"Hannah (played by Rachel Hendrix), the central character, is a beautiful 19-year-old college freshman. Despite her youth and her good looks, she has always had a sense that something was missing — a sense that she doesn’t really have a right to exist.

Her world is turned upside down when she finds out that she was adopted. While shocking enough on its own, this is the only beginning of her personal tale. In addition to grappling with this new-found knowledge, she also learns that she was the survivor of a failed abortion — a startling fact for the young girl to process. So, she decides to embark on a road trip with her friends in an epic journey to find her birth mother. This, of course, is the premise of 'October Baby.'”

You can watch the trailer for October Baby below, and the film's website is here.

And here is Ms. Jensen's testimony at the 2008 Walk for Life West Coast:

CatholicVote Reports on HHS Hearings

2011-12-03T06:48:00.000-08:00

Tom Peters attended last week's congessional hearing on HHS's decision on not to fund the US Bishop's programs to help the victims of human trafficking. From Peters' report:

"Apart from the religious liberty and conscience questions, there remains underlying all of these issues a fundamental disagreement between Democrats + HHS, and Republicans + US Bishops about what sort of care victims of human trafficking deserve, and who is best suited to give them that care.

One thing that became clear during the course of the morning was that, in the eyes of the Democrats and those who made the final decision at HHS, it is more important that a victim of human trafficking (often girls as young as 12-14 years old), it’s more important that they be offered abortion, sterilization and contraception than that they be cared for by a faith-based organization such as the Catholic Church.

Steve Wagner’s National Catholic Register column points out how denying young women who have been victims of sex trafficking the unique care and human-dignity-affirming compassion of the Catholic Church is unconscionable. I couldn’t agree more."

Pelosi Bashes Catholics: “They Have This Conscience Thing”

2011-11-29T17:42:00.000-08:00

Our NancyPelosi dislikes Catholics who live their beliefs. While taking Communion she raising money for abortions. The church teaches that we should help our neighbors and those in need. Pelosi creates taxes that make people poor. The bible teaches to save lives, Nan voted for Obama death panels that have already voted to keep life saving drugs from some breast cancer victims.

“This time, Pelosi is upset that the nation’s Catholic bishops are protesting a potential Obama administration decision forcing insurance companies to cover birth control, contraception and drugs that could cause abortions. They say certain religious groups may not be exempt from providing the insurance, which would violate their moral and religious views.

Pelosi says the position is akin to having hospitals “say to a woman, ‘I’m sorry you could die’ if you don’t get an abortion,” she told the Washington Post.
“Those who dispute that characterization “may not like the language,’’ she said, “but the truth is what I said. I’m a devout Catholic and I honor my faith and love it . . . but they have this conscience thing” that the Post said Pelosi “insists put women at physical risk, although Catholic providers strongly disagree.”

San Fran Nan is a liar–a devout Catholic who supports the killing of the unborn. She is as devout a Catholic as an Atheist.

Be sure to check Steve Frank's California News & Views http://www.capoliticalnews.com/!

SF Columnist Contrasts Rev. Walter Hoye With "Occupy Oakland"

2011-11-27T18:36:00.000-08:00

Debra Saunders writes in today's San Francisco Chronicle:

Inside Oakland bubble, all free speech isn't equal

For all their whining about the "police state" and the city's failure to respect their "First Amendment rights," Occupy Oakland activists have managed to flout the law with regular impunity. Somehow demonstrators have managed to turn Frank Ogawa Plaza into a tent stew and shut down parts of the city in a so-called general strike Nov. 2, and still they think they're victims who have been deprived of their free speech rights.

But if they want to see what it's really like to fight City Hall, they should talk to Walter Hoye. Hoye's offense was to walk up to people with a sign that said, "Jesus loves you and your baby. Let us help." For that he was arrested twice in 2008 and sentenced to 30 days in jail.

Read the whole thing, but we have to quote the Reverend's final sentences, because it captures the man's kindness and humility in a nutshell:

"I asked Hoye how he feels when Occupy Oakland protesters complain that they are victims whose free expression has been suppressed.

'I don't think they really know what being treated unfairly is,' he answered. 'I didn't see any of the kind of leniency that they received.'

And: 'Thank you for thinking of me. People have asked me about that.'"

The picture shows Reverend Hoye with Zack Goodman, a 12 year-old pro-life activist from Colorado, and Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs.

MHR UPDATE: Second Non-Catholic Minister who Advocates Same-Sex "Marriage" to Speak at Vespers Services

2011-11-27T14:27:00.000-08:00

On November 22, California Catholic Daily reported on the scheduled appearance of retired Episcopal Bishop Otis Charles at San Francisco's Most Holy Redeemer Church. Bishop Charles is the invited speaker for the church’s November 30 Advent Vespers service. The Episcopal Church severed ties with the Bishop when he “married” another man in 2004.

Bishop Charles is not the only 2011 Vespers speaker invited to Most Holy Redeemer who is a same-sex “marriage” supporter, nor the only one who has been disciplined by his church. According to the November 27 Most Holy Redeemer bulletin, the scheduled speaker at the December 14 Vespers service is a “Ms. Jane Spahr.” Unless there are two Jane Spahr’s knocking around San Francisco, she’s not “Ms.” Jane Spahr; her correct title is the Rev. Dr. Jane Adams Spahr. From her biographical page at the Lesbian, Gay Bisexual, & Transgender Religious Archives Network: “The Rev. Dr. Jane Adams Spahr, Janie, as she prefers to be called, describes herself as a lesbian, feminist, Presbyterian minister committed to justice issues for the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender community, pursuing connections for wholeness with other oppressed communities claiming their freedom.” Other “queer” religious websites refer to her simply as a “lesbyterian.”

In August of 2010 a regional court of the Presbyterian Church meeting in Napa, California “rebuked” Reverend Spahr for celebrating 16 same-sex “marriages.” The “marriages” took place in 2008, during the time when such things were legal in the state. The Christian Post reported: “In a 4-2 vote by the Redwood Presbytery Judicial Commission, the Rev. Jane Adams Spahr was found guilty of representing the ceremonies as marriages, persistently disobeying church law, and violating her ordination vows.” Rev. Spahr had received a previous censure from the Presbyterian Church for performing two such “marriages” in 2004.

While there has been no public response from the Archdiocese of San Francisco on Most Holy Redeemer’s hosting of Bishop Charles and the Reverend Spahr, others have taken note. One group which is watching carefully, and who say they are encouraged by Archbishop Niederauer’s silence, is the homosexual activist Rainbow Sash Movement. On November 23, Bob Anderson wrote at the Rainbow Sash blog: : "The Rainbow Sash Movement is encouraged by Archbishop Niederauer lack of action on this matter, and believes he is taking a role in responding to the rampant homophobia that is alive and well in the Church."

Mr. Anderson should be encouraged. It is precisely due to 30+ years of inaction on the part of the Archdiocese that these two speakers were invited to MHR at all. Even if the Archbishop prevents Bishop Charles and Reverend Spahr from speaking, that does not address the underlying issue. The problem is that the community-forming experience and the real lived religion at MHR is not Catholicism, it is the celebration of homosexuality. That’s why ministers, even non-Catholic, even non-Christian, are welcome speakers at vespers. They are welcome even though they oppose the Church on non-negotiable issues. They are welcome because they oppose the Church on non-negotiable issues. Faced with a choice between Catholic truth and the celebration of homosexuality, the parishioners at MHR will, quite rationally from their point of view, choose the celebration of homosexuality every time. If Catholic truth on sexuality is ever preached MHR, I think it quite likely that most parishioners would leave. That does not mean the Archdiocese is excused from preaching it.

Is the Church falling apart?

2011-11-27T07:24:00.000-08:00

According to the annual "Status of global mission" report produced in 2011, the Catholic Church has one billion and 160 million faithful around the world, with 34,000 new people joining every day. The figures from the study, released by the agency Analisis Digirtal, say that there are two billion people in the world today, out of a total of approximately seven billion, who have never received the Gospel’s message. Another two billion and 680 million listen to it sometimes, or are vaguely aware of it, but they are not Christians.

"Despite the fact that Jesus Christ only founded one Church, and shortly before his death he prayed ‘that all would be one’ today there are many separate Christian denominations: at the beginning of the Twentieth century there were 1600; in 2011 there are 42,000," according to the study. The number of charismatic Protestants reaches 612 million. There are 426 million “classic” Protestants and this number is growing at a rate of 20,000 a day.

The Orthodox Churches count 271 million baptized believers and are joined by an additional five thousand a day. Anglicans, concentrated mainly in Africa and Asia, amount to 87 million, with three thousand more joining each day. Those which the study defines as "marginal Christians" (Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, those who do not recognize the divinity of Jesus or the Trinity) amount to 35 million and are growing at a rate of two thousand a day."The most common form of growth is to have many children and make them adhere to their religious tradition. Conversion is more uncommon, however there are millions of cases of this every year. The most common example, is one spouse converting to the faith of the other.” In 2011, Christians of all denominations will have spread more than 71 million Bibles around the world (there are already one billion and 741 million, some of which are clandestine). Each year, 409 thousand Christians set off to evangelize a country that is not their own, organized in 4800 different missionary organizations.
Marco Tosatti -- Rome

Pelosi and "that conscience thing": Dead Silence From One Peter Yorke Way

2011-11-22T21:14:00.000-08:00

Nancy Pelosi's latest attack on faithful Catholics has been widely reported. From LifeNews:

"Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is at it again, bashing Catholics for their pro-life position when she has promoted abortion in defiance of Catholic Church teaching at every turn.

This time, Pelosi is upset that the nation’s Catholic bishops are protesting a potential Obama administration decision forcing insurance companies to cover birth control, contraception and drugs that could cause abortions. They say certain religious groups may not be exempt from providing the insurance, which would violate their moral and religious views.

Pelosi says the position is akin to having hospitals “say to a woman, ‘I’m sorry you could die’ if you don’t get an abortion,” she told the Washington Post.

“Those who dispute that characterization “may not like the language,’’ she said, “but the truth is what I said. I’m a devout Catholic and I honor my faith and love it . . . but they have this conscience thing”...

That is the position of "devout Catholic" Pelosi at the exact time faithful Catholics nurses are threatened with losing their jobs for refusing to participate in the killing of unborn children. There has been no reponse from Archbishop George Niederauer.

We point out that nearly five years ago, in his pastor's message of January 14, 2007, Fr. Malloy had no trouble responding to Pelosi, in the clearest possible English:

"Yes, Nancy, we would all like it if you were not so vocally pro-choice , i.e. pro-death. Until your choice is in line with Catholic doctrine, please, Nancy, do not receive the Eucharist when you attend Mass."

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Judge Rules for SF Archdiocese in Transfer Tax Case

2011-11-22T11:25:00.000-08:00

From today's Catholic San Francisco:

"A Superior Court judge on Nov. 18 issued an opinion that would throw out an attempted multi-million-dollar “delinquent” tax bill imposed on the Archdiocese of San Francisco by the San Francisco assessor/recorder, Phil Ting, after a more than three-year legal fight.

Judge Richard A. Kramer issued a 43-page “Tentative Statement of Decision” in favor of the archdiocese, Catholic San Francisco, the newspaper of the archdiocese, reported Nov. 22. A case management conference is scheduled Jan. 9, 2012....Kramer agreed with the archdiocese’s central arguments: The transfers were not “realty sold,” and the transfers were a change in the form of ownership that did not make them subject to transfer tax.

“The Archdiocese of San Francisco is delighted that the Superior Court has vindicated the position the archdiocese has taken all along,” said George Wesolek, director of communications for the archdiocese.... “It would have chilled the missions of this and all churches, religions and non-profit organizations in the city, and would have sent ripples through the for-profit community as well... Fortunately, the court saw through this attempt.”

Mr. Wesolek then notes that this is another case of San Francisco Democratic Party politicians using the legal system to harass good people at public expense, just like they are doing right now with First Resort:

“The Assessor/Recorder apparently expected the archdiocese to roll over in the face of this attack but underestimated the resolve of the church. It is unfortunate that the miscalculation forced the archdiocese to spend more than three years and hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorneys’ fees to defeat this illegal action, but the archdiocese is hopeful that the Assessor/Recorder’s office will now be dissuaded from taking similar measures in the future.”

Don't hold your breath, George.

You can read our previous posts on the issue here.

What are we teaching our teens?

2011-11-22T10:30:00.001-08:00

If you put stock in the media hype, the hit TV show, “Glee,” is breaking new ground this week.

The game-changer in the controversial episode consists of two parallel sexual initiations - one a heterosexual teen couple and the other a homosexual teen couple. This may be new in the sense of it being even more corrupting than previous episodes or containing even more indecent material shoved in our faces, but it’s certainly not a positive new development. Such media promotion of early sexual activity - not to mention the promotion of gay behavior - flies in the face of what is best for teenagers and bucks the current, more positive trends that show teen sexual activity, teen abortions and teen births declining.

Anyone familiar with social-science research knows that abstinence is healthiest for teenagers. Teenage sexual activity routinely leads to emotional turmoil and psychological distress. Rather than increasing a teen’s self-confidence, engaging in sexual activity leads to empty relationships, feelings of self-contempt and a sense of worthlessness - typical precursors to depression. In fact, sexually active teens are more likely than those who are abstinent to attempt suicide (15 percent to 5 percent for girls, 6 percent to 1 percent for boys). Only 1/3 of girls who had early sexual activity describe themselves as “happy” as compared with more than half of those who waited. But the most telling fact is that the majority of teenagers who have engaged in sexual activity express regret over experimenting sexually and wish they had waited longer to have sex - 72 percent of girls and 55 percent of boys.

The bottom line is that more than two-thirds of teens who become sexually active admit they wish they could go back to sexual innocence again and wish they had waited.
Concerned Women for America released a major study on sexually transmitted diseases in July that describes some 49 types of STDs, some curable, others not. Twenty percent of all AIDS cases are among college-aged young people. Having three or more sexual partners in a lifetime multiplies by 15 a woman’s odds of contracting cervical cancer. The shocking facts about the extent of STDs among young people are documented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - 19 million new cases a year, with half of those cases among 15- to 24-year-olds. These STDs are hidden by the glossy advertisements in the media that make them appear to be an insignificant health threat and suggest that all are cured or controlled without difficulty or complications (as anyone who has seen the TV ads for herpes medications can attest). Sadly, most of the young people with STDs will be dealing with the symptoms and consequences for the rest of their lives. In the United States, new cases of STDs are triple what they were just six years ago. Many of the STDs are incurable and others have persistent, significant symptoms requiring bothersome, expensive, lifelong treatment.

We have begun making headway with teen births. The latest birth data for 2009 show that the teenage birth rate fell 6 percent to 39.1 per 1000 women. In addition, the number and rate of births to unmarried women declined, but the percentage of nonmarital births increased to 41 percent. These numbers indicate a glimmer of hope that some truths about sexual realities are breaking through in contemporary culture. The bottom line is this: The radical rhetoric of the past 40 years is not quite as in vogue as it used to be, but its ethic of sexual experimentation is widespread and firmly rooted in the popular culture - as evidenced by “Glee.”

The media have saturated our culture with the myth of sexual freedom and public schools, along with Planned Parenthood and theSexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, have implicitly condoned, if not actually promoted, sexual permissiveness via “comprehensive” sex education which sells the idea that casual, recreational sex is acceptable for singles as long as the persons involved are “responsible,” defined as using a condom.

But that isn’t true, particularly for teens. Early sexual activity means more sexual partners. If a girl begins sexual activity in her early teens, she is, on average, likely to have more than a dozen partners over her lifetime, and the “turnover” rate of partners is more than four times as high among those who begin sexual activity in their early 20s. Such girls are also more than twice as likely to become infected with STDs. And about 40 percent of teens who are sexually active eventually become pregnant out-of-wedlock.

The vast majority of young people - 92 percent - think marriage would make them happy and want to be married some day; most also want to have kids. The assault on teens - telling them casual sex is “no big deal” and has “no consequences” - will not be neutralized until those who know better find their voices and convince today’s “Glee” generation that only discipline and restraint will open the gateway to achieving dreams and ambitions. Our culture must change to cultivate the attitude that says, “I won’t mess up my tomorrows by fooling around today.”

Janice Shaw Crouse, author of “Children at Risk” (Transaction, 2010), is director of Concerned Women for America’s Beverly LaHaye Institute.
© Copyright 2011 The Washington Times, LLC.

BREAKING: CA Supremes: Prop 8 Backers CAN Defend Measure

2011-11-17T10:19:00.000-08:00

UPDATE II:

New Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye makes a powerful statement about the lawless behavior of the Governor and Attorney General:

"It is essential to the integrity of the initiative process ... that there be someone to assert the state's interest in an initiative's validity on behalf of the people when the public officials who normally assert that interest decline to do so," Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye said in her first significant opinion since taking office in January.

"Neither the governor, the attorney general, nor any other executive or legislative official has the authority to veto or invalidate an initiative measure that has been approved by the voters," Cantil-Sakauye said.

UPDATE: The court ruled unanimously. The great Ed Whelan has this short excerpt from the ruling:

"In a postelection challenge to a voter-approved initiative measure, the official proponents of the initiative are authorized under California law to appear and assert the state’s interest in the initiative’s validity and to appeal a judgment invalidating the measure when the public officials who ordinarily defend the measure or appeal such a judgment decline to do so."

Very big news on the Defense of Marriage front. We were sure the court would vote this way, it's a no-brainer, but you never know. Eventually the case will wind up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

From the LA Times legal blog:

"The California Supreme Court decided Thursday that the sponsors of Proposition 8 and other ballot measures are entitled to defend them in court when the state refuses to do so, a ruling likely to spur federal courts to decide the constitutionality of same-sex marriage bans.

The state high court’s decision, a defeat for gay rights groups, sets the stage for a federal ruling -- which could go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court -- that would affect marriage bans outside California.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is considering an appeal of a trial judge’s ruling that overturned Proposition 8, had asked the California court to clarify whether state law gives initiative sponsors standing, or legal authority, to defend their measures.

State officials are entitled to champion ballot measures in court, but the governor and the attorney general have refused to defend Proposition 8.

Although the 9th Circuit is not bound by Thursday’s ruling, the decision makes it less likely that the appeals court would decide Proposition 8’s future on narrow, standing grounds.

The 9th Circuit panel considering the gay-marriage dispute indicated in a hearing last December that it was leaning toward overturning Proposition 8 if the standing question could be resolved. Former U.S. Chief District Judge Vaughn R. Walker, who has since retired, overturned the marriage ban after a two-week trial that focused on the nature of sexual orientation and the history of marriage.

Gay rights groups argued that ProtectMarriage did not have standing to appeal Walker’s ruling. But they also contended they could win the case in federal courts on constitutional grounds."

California's Fiscal Disaster: Two Stories That Should be Read Together

2011-11-17T09:15:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle reported:

State fiscal nightmare: deep cuts on horizon

"California faces deep midyear cuts to its universities, community colleges, social service programs and public schools - which may have their year shortened - because the state will collect billions of dollars less in revenue than expected, according to a report released Wednesday."

Then read this article by Steven Malanga, at City Journal:

Cali to Business: Get Out!
Firms are fleeing the state’s senseless regulations and confiscatory taxes.

Excerpt:

"As California has transformed into a relentlessly antibusiness state, those redeeming characteristics haven’t been enough to keep firms from leaving. Relocation experts say that the number of companies exiting the state for greener pastures has exploded. In surveys, executives regularly call California one of the country’s most toxic business environments and one of the least likely places to open or expand a new company. Many firms still headquartered in California have forsaken expansion there."

Diocese of Orange Hosts Conference Linking Immigration/Homosexual Activism

2011-11-16T16:20:00.000-08:00

An edited version of this article appeared in this morning's California Catholic Daily.

On Saturday, September 19, the Diocese of Orange and Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Santa Ana will host a forum called the “Orange County Assembly on Immigration.” The forum will be held at Immaculate Heart of Mary. According to the online invitation, local organizations co-hosting the event include the ACLU of Southern California; CIPC (California Immigration Policy Center) CLUE (Clergy & Laity for Economic Justice) the Diocese of Orange, El Centro Cultural de México en Santa Ana, Immáculate Heart at Mary and Father Ed, OCCCO (Orange County Congregation Community Organization), The Center of OC, and the SEIU.

An agenda of issues to be addressed at the forum is published on the invitation. While most of the items are general, and would seem to be of immediate interest to illegal immigrants, one is astonishing in both its remoteness and incongruous specificity. The agenda is reprinted below, exactly as it appears in the online invitation:

Come and learn about/Venga y aprenda sobre :

• Education/Educación

•The intersectionality between the LGBTQ and Undocumented communities/La interseccionalidad entre las comunidades indocumentada y homosexual

• Know Your Rights/Conoce Tus Derechos

• E-Verify

• Issues that affect our local immigrant communities/Problemas que afectan a nuestra comunidad inmigrante local.

• And much more!/Y mucho más!

The intrusion of the homosexualist agenda into a forum on immigration may seem inexplicable, but the application of the concept of “intersectionality” is a growing tactic of co-option among homosexualist activists. Examples can be easily found online. As recently as November 7, 2011, the LGBT Resource Center of the University of California at Riverside sponsored a lecture called “LGBTIQ & Undocumented Struggle: The Parallels and Intersectionality of Two Movements.” On October 5, 2010, we reported in California Catholic Daily on this trend: ‘Communities of color’ targeted; Homosexual activists to spend $350,000 in attempt to change minority attitudes on natural marriage.” The article documented how “the Horizons Foundation, the nation’s oldest LGBT foundation, is opening up a new front in California’s battle over the definition of marriage. In 2010, Horizons is awarding $350,000 in grants to organizations throughout California to ‘help build bridges and support for same-sex marriage in communities of color.’”

The “Orange County Assembly on Immigration” invitation does not indicate who requested that “The intersectionality between the LGBTQ and Undocumented communities” be included in the agenda. But the presence of the co-host “The Center of OC” is suggestive. The only group with such a name affiliated with the other co-hosts is “The Center Orange County” or “The Center OC.” Those names are accepted shorthand, as its webpage says, for the “Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center of Orange County (The Center Orange County).”

The Center Orange County’s “About Us” page gives a the organization’s mission statement and history:

“The mission of The Center Orange County is to advocate on behalf of the Orange County LGBT community, and to provide services that ensure its wellbeing and positive identity…. The Center Orange County (The Center OC) was established as a volunteer organization in 1971 and incorporated in 1975 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit community based organization. We are one of the oldest gay and lesbian community centers in the United States.”

Affirming the “positive identity” of the LGBT community for The Center OC includes a long-time partnership with leather s/m organizations. A December 2007 calendar page from The Center OC’s website advertises a “BDSM Sampler” offered by a group called the OCLA (Orange Coast Leather Assembly). The page describes the event (partial):

“Created in 1991, Sampler is a weekend event for experts and novices alike, where you can 'sample' BDSM related play and concepts 1-on-1 with noted BDSM authorities.”

The page also stresses the long and close relationship between the OCLA and The Center OC:

“OCLA (Orange County Leather Assembly) is an educational organization and information source for the leather, S/M and fetish community in the Orange County and surrounding area of Southern California. The group is open to adults over 18 years old, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. OCLA has been an outreach program at the Center Orange County for last 15 years.”

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

First Resort Sues City of San Francisco

2011-11-16T16:00:00.000-08:00

No surprise at all. Our posts on First Resort and the City and County of San Francisco are here.

From First Resort's release:

"Today, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, First Resort filed suit against the City and County of San Francisco, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The City adopted an ordinance set to go into effect in early December which, if left unchallenged, would significantly infringe upon our constitutionally protected right of free expression.

This law was enacted to hinder First Resort's ability to communicate effectively and truthfully with women who are or may be considering abortion. We cannot allow the government to control how and when we tell Bay Area women about our services.

This is a first for First Resort. We participated fully in the legislative process trying to defeat the ordinance. Both publicly and privately, we described its unconstitutionality; but we did not prevail in a politically charged election season against NARAL and other pro-abortion groups who continue their assault on us and similar organizations across the country."

Similar "laws" have been struck down in Baltimore, and suspended by injunction in New York, and just this week, in Austin, Texas. But the Culture of Death and their minions in the Democratic Party don't care. Why should they? Legal costs and settlements will be paid by you, the taxpayer.

You can support First Resort by going here.

An unspeakable blasphemy!

2011-11-15T13:27:00.000-08:00

Warrner Brothers distributes highly blasphemous and anti-Catholic film called “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas”

In the new movie, “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas,” there are such disgusting scenes as:

Lesbian activity among nuns
Obscenities hurled at Our Lord Jesus Christ
Priests running after an altar boy
The trashing of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Small children high on cocaine

It shows that Catholics cannot become complacent when the Faith is attacked. Otherwise, the promoters of blasphemy keep on pushing the envelope with new and more outrageous insults to the Catholic Church.

Yet they don’t attack Muhammad in this same way!

For too long, Catholics have remained silent and done nothing while the Faith was attacked. Now, we must peacefully and prayerfully protest and speak out against these mockeries of our Faith.

And please do an act of reparation for this most terrible blasphemy against Our Lord, Our Lady and the Catholic Faith.

John HorvatTradition Family Property

See, We told You So: Catholic Charities UPDATE

2011-11-15T07:54:00.000-08:00

Bishop Thomas Paprocki, of Springfield Illinois gets it.

Us, writing on August 19, 2011:

"Catholic Charities can be true to their name by forgoing government contracts. Then they will have no worries about being Catholic, and they will be forced to once again become a charity."

Bishop Parocki, writing yesterday:

“The silver lining of this decision is that our Catholic Charities going forward will be able to focus on being more Catholic and more charitable, while less dependent on government funding and less encumbered by intrusive state policies,” said Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield."

Adult Stem-Cell UPDATE: "This could be the biggest revolution in cardiovascular medicine in my lifetime.''

2011-11-14T21:46:00.000-08:00

More great adult stem-cell news. This story is from the Telegraph:

'''The results are striking,' said Professor Roberto Bolli, one of the research leaders from the University of Louisville in the US. ''While we do not yet know why the improvement occurs, we have no doubt now that ejection fraction increased and scarring decreased.'

''If these results hold up in future studies, I believe this could be the biggest revolution in cardiovascular medicine in my lifetime.''

The ground-breaking new treatment involved extracting cardiac stem cells (CSCs) - self-renewing cells that rebuild hearts and arteries - from patients during bypass surgery.
The cells were purified and grown in the laboratory before being injected back into damaged regions of the patients' hearts four months later.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports more good news. Geron is abandoning the field of embryonic stem-cell research:

"The company doing the first government-approved test of embryonic stem cell therapy is discontinuing further stem cell work..."

UPDATE: Hah! The great Wesley Smith on Geron's pullout:

"This is an atom bomb of a story that will have a serious effect on the entire regenerative medical sector. And it should embarrass the critics of President Bush; the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which bragged about its part in funding a scientist involved in the research; and, perhaps most of all, the fawning media that have acted as press agent for both the field generally, and Geron specifically."

And we repeat one of our mantras here at A Shepherd's Voice: "Are California voters having second thoughts yet about shelling out $3 billion + for immoral & unproven embryonic stem cell research, which has yet to show a single cure, while adult stem cells are curing people left and right?"

You can read all our adult stem-cell posts here.

Catholic Charities of Southern Illinois Decides: We're the Government

2011-11-11T08:01:00.000-08:00

On August 19, we asked "Can Catholic Charities Remain "Catholic" and "Charitable" While Accepting Government Contracts?" We showed that Catholic Charities are not really charities--in San Francisco 73% and in Chicago 86% of their revenue comes from the taxpayers. We showed that push was coming to shove in Illinois, and indicated that the deciding factor could be the institutional self-interest of Catholic Charities. We concluded:

"Catholic Charities can be true to their name by forgoing government contracts. Then they will have no worries about being Catholic, and they will be forced to once again become a charity. But in disentangling themselves from the government the biggest hitch will be what to do with all their staff: according to GuideStar, Catholic Charities of Chicago has 1,452 full-time and 1,221 part-time employees."

Well, this is from yesterday's Belleville, IL News: (emphasis added)

"The Belleville-based Catholic Social Services of Southern Illinois is getting a new name and is splitting with the Catholic church in an attempt to maintain its state contracts to provide foster and adoption services.

The new organization will be called Christian Social Services of Illinois and will be ending its relationship with the Catholic Diocese of Belleville, according to a joint announcement from the Diocese and Social Services."

The story also included a confusing excerpt from a press release of the Belleville Diocese:

"Unable to remain faithful to the moral teaching of the Catholic Church while adhering to the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act, the 64-year-old social service agency chose to dissociate from the Diocese," the Belleville Diocese said in a prepared statement. 'It is hoped that this new entity will experience no interruption in its services and programs.'"

A group that was sponsored by the Church for 64 years, left because it was "unable to remain faithful to the moral teaching of the Catholic Church," and the Diocese hopes it will "experience no interruption in services or programs?" Hell, I hope they go out of business--but there's no fear of that. The article continued with a statement from Gary Huelsmann, Executive Director of the (former) Catholic Charities:

"'We had to make a choice,' Huelsmann said. 'It was a very difficult choice.'

The new Social Services will allow placements to civil unions, Huelsmann said. The agency also withdrew earlier this week from a lawsuit filed by Catholic Charities in response to the state's decision.

Huelsmann said his organization is currently negotiating with the state to maintain foster care and adoption contracts that were to end Nov. 30 and to start receiving new cases. Catholic Charities had not had any foster care cases transferred to new agencies since the department's decision to terminate the contracts but it hadn't received any new cases either.

The article's final paragraph gets to the pivotal issue, even (as we predicted) mentioning the number of employees who would have had to have been laid off:

"Losing the state contracts for foster care and adoption services would be a huge financial blow to Social Services, considering they account for 72 percent of the organization's annual revenue of $13.1 million, according to Huelsmann. He had said the loss of that state revenue could have forced the organization to lay off three-quarters of its 187 employees."

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

USF Update: Jesuit School Undermines Church Teaching, Honors Enemy of Marriage

2011-11-09T19:41:00.000-08:00

Our last post spoke of activists undermining the Church from within ostensibly Catholic institutions. Here's Monday's story from California Catholic Daily, a story to which we contributed:

See a pattern here?
USF law school honors enemy of marriage (again)

On Friday, Nov. 4, the Public Interest Law Foundation of the Jesuit-run University of San Francisco honored San Francisco Assistant District Attorney Victor Hwang with a Public Interest Excellence Award at its 8th Annual Gala Awards Ceremony. Since its inception, the student-led foundation at USF’s Law School has made a nearly annual practice of bestowing the award on supporters of the homosexual agenda -- and Hwang was no exception.

Assistant District Attorney Hwang’s list of accomplishments on USF’s Public Interest Law Foundation “2011 Honoree” webpage notes: “His work includes authoring and coordinating the filing of an amicus brief on behalf of the Asian American community in support of marriage equality (Woo v. Lockyer)…”

The story then gave a rundown on past winners of USF's Public Interest Law Foundation Excellence award:

"At the first PILF Gala in 2004, then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom was honored. At the time, Newsom had been in office barely 10 months. His sole 'accomplishment' consisted in directing the County Clerk of the City and County of San Francisco to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

In 2006, USF chose to honor Kate Kendall, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

In 2007, USF honored Elizabeth Cabraser of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein. Cabraser was the lead attorney for a series of friend-of-the-court briefs filed on behalf of 40 legal institutions with the California Supreme Court. The brief recommended the Supreme Court overturn Proposition 8. Cabraser also donated $30,000 to the “No on Proposition 8” campaign.

In 2008, USF honored Shannon Price Minter, Legal Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and SF Chief Deputy City Attorney Therese Stewart. The USF website said they were honoring the two because '…Minter and Stewart successfully argued before the California Supreme Court this year that same-sex couples have the right to marry.'

In 2009, USF honored now-retired California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno -- the sole California justice who voted to invalidate the votes of a majority of Californians by overturning Proposition 8."

"Shadow Churches:" Tom Peters Gets It

2011-11-09T16:28:00.000-08:00

There'a a very good post by Tom Peters over at Catholic Vote called "Why We Must Stop Liberal Catholics From Handing The Church Over To the State." Tom writes:

"I now realize that looking at the current Catholic controversies through a purely academic lens is totally insufficient to the gravity of the moment.

Here’s why, to put it simply: because liberal and orthodox Catholics aren’t actually debating theology per se anymore. We’re debating the very identity of the Church vis-a-vis the State, and our competing views of loyalty to the State and the Church — to God and Caesar.

For orthodox Catholics, the Church (founded on Christ) is the ultimate moral and personal authority, it supersedes the State in every area where the Church has primacy, namely, faith and morals.

For liberal Catholics, however, I see only increasing evidence that the State and the liberal view of the State are their ultimate authority."

That is a drum we have been beating here at "A Shepherd's Voice" for a while. You can read a couple of our posts on this issue: "Shadow 'Churches,'"

We discussed how activists enter the Church, then work with government agancies: "...the activists--in conjunction with likeminded persons both inside and outside the Church--will try to intimidate the Church from without and undermine it from within."

We are always tempted, charitably, to think people are acting in good faith. That is foolish. Earlier this year, Joseph Cardinal Zen, the heroic Archbishop of Hong Kong, visited Saints Peter and Paul Church. He attended a dinner reception hosted by our good Chinese Apostolate, and followed this up with a little talk and a short q & a. The subject was the difficulties facing the Church in Communist China, and the creation, by the Communists, of a shadow church to usurp the role of the Church of God. During his talk, the Cardinal related the story of a very intelligent and able young man who had joined the seminary. This young man studied for years and was well on his way to ordination before he confessed to his superiors that he was actually a Communist mole, sent to infiltrate the Church. The grace of God had obviously touched the young man, causing at least some level of conversion.

But it would be irresponsible to think he was the only mole sent to infiltrate the church. And what possible reason is there for considering such an action to be unique to China?

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

The Clock and the Crescent

2011-11-09T06:28:00.000-08:00

As Muslims gather to undertake the hajj pilgrimage, the city of Mecca itself is experiencing a major transformation which seems to mirror larger upheavals in the Islamic world. A massive hotel complex featuring the world’s second tallest building has opened literally across the street from the mosque which forms the heart of the holy city. But more interesting than the intrusion of this gigantic tower is what caps off the building: the world’s largest clock face. Such a contrast of sacred and secular imagery is striking, for the clock actually represents an intrusion of modernity into a timeless place. It has also become the focal point of a movement which seeks to replace Greenwich Mean Time with “Mecca Time,” a movement partially explained by a rejection of colonialism, but one which also relies, as Salman Hameed at Religion Dispatches points out, on a growing consciousness of the need for Islam to establish its own place in the contemporary world rather than shun it.

Right now, the “Mecca Time” movement relies heavily on easily-disprovable scientific claims, which purport to demonstrate that the city of Mecca is world’s magnetic pole, among other things. But there is also a deeper change occurring here:

The urge on the part of some to show Mecca’s specialness in a scientific idiom has nothing to do with actual science. There is a whole genre in the Muslim world of claims that modern science is already in the Qur’an (such as modern embryology, the expanding universe, etc.), thus “verifying” the holy text’s truth. The claim that Mecca is the center of the world falls in this same unfortunate category. What is interesting here is the desire to use science (indeed, really bad science) as an instrument to verify religion...
Matthew Cantirino
FIRST THINGS

Parasites of "Occupy Wall Street" and their Allies

2011-11-05T11:14:00.000-07:00

From Mark Steyn:

"Way back in 1968, after the riots at the Democratic Convention in Chicago, Mayor Daley declared that his forces were there to 'preserve disorder.' I believe that was one of Hizzoner’s famous malapropisms. Forty-three years later Jean Quan, mayor of Oakland, and the Oakland city council have made 'preserving disorder' the official municipal policy. On Wednesday, the 'Occupy Oaklan' occupiers rampaged through the city, shutting down the nation’s fifth-busiest port, forcing stores to close, terrorizing those residents foolish enough to commit the reactionary crime of 'shopping,' destroying ATMs, spraying the Christ the Light Cathedral with the insightful observation “F***,” etc. And how did the Oakland city council react? The following day they considered a resolution to express their support for “Occupy Oakland” and to call on the city administration to 'collaborate with protesters'.”

And Creative Minority Report, via Fr. Z, has this useful graphic:

Freedom?

2011-11-05T06:42:00.000-07:00

The sense of religious liberty is being lost in America, warned Archbishop José H. Gomez in a recent article.

Writing in the On the Square section of the Web site of the magazine First Things, his Oct. 25 piece noted that both courts and government agencies are increasingly overriding conscience rights when other rights or liberties are considered to be more important.

Bishop Gomez cited the denial a week before of a grant request made by the U.S. bishops' Migration and Refugee Services agency. The agency has received funding for a number of years, in order to help the victims of human trafficking.
Not long ago the government requested the agency to provide abortions, contraception and sterilization services for the women in their care. Bishop Gomez said he hoped the grant application was not denied because the agency refused to provide such services.

This and many other similar cases motivated the United States bishops to set up a committee for religious liberty.
Announcing the move last Sept. 30, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Archbishop Timothy Dolan, explained that religious freedom "in its many and varied applications for Christians and people of faith, is now increasingly and in unprecedented ways under assault in America."

Liberty problems

In his letter, dated Sept. 29, Archbishop Dolan listed six major problems regarding religious liberty in the period since June.
-- Federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regulations that oblige all private health insurance plans to cover contraception and sterilization. This will oblige church employers to sponsor and pay for services they oppose.
-- The HHS request regarding refugees that Archbishop Gomez referred to.
-- The U.S. Agency for International Development is increasingly requiring condom distribution in HIV prevention programs, as well as requiring contraception within international relief and development programs.
-- The Justice Department's attack on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). In July, the Department started filing briefs actively attacking DOMA's constitutionality, claiming that supporters of the law could only have been motivated by bias and prejudice.
-- The Justice Department recently attacked what is known as "ministerial exception," a constitutional doctrine long accepted by courts that allows churches to make employment decisions concerning persons working in a ministerial capacity.
-- A new law in New York State allowing same-sex marriage with only a very narrow religious exemption.
Concern over the present federal administration's position on conscience rights has been building for some time.

Rescinded

Earlier this year a 2008 rule that granted conscience protection to health care providers who opposed participating in abortion and sterilization was mostly rescinded.

Sister Carol Keehan, president of the Catholic Health Association, told the New York Times in a Feb. 28 article that in recent years "we have seen a variety of efforts to force Catholic and other health care providers to perform or refer for abortions and sterilizations."

In past months representatives of the Catholic Church have made repeated appeals to federal legislators on the topic of religious freedom.
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, wrote to members of Congress on the issue of the new HHS rules regarding private health insurers. His July 22 letter decried the failure to adequately allow freedom of conscience based on religious beliefs.An omission, he added, all the more notable given that the regulations allow people the right of objection if they wish to cure illness solely by prayer or for those on Indian reservations who prefer to use traditional tribal healing practices.

On Aug. 31 the Office of Counsel of the USCCB submitted a final statement to the HHS regarding the rule changes. Contraceptives, it pointed out, don't cure any health problem; rather they disrupt the normal functioning of the reproductive system, while also introducing health risks.

On the matter of conscience objection the submission said that the only ones protected are a small subset of religious employers, with no protection for individuals or insurers. "The exemption is narrower than any conscience clause ever enacted in federal law, and narrower than the vast majority of religious exemptions from state contraceptive mandates," the statement declared.
The changes will violate the religion and free speech clauses of the First Amendment of the Constitution and amounts to a specific targeting of Catholics by not allowing them to follow their consciences, the statement added.
Effectively, what will happen is that church organizations will be forbidden to practice what they preach. Such action is "an unprecedented intrusion by the federal government into the precincts of religion that, if unchecked here, will support ever more expansive and corrosive intrusions in the future," the submission warned.
Subsequently, leaders of 20 national Catholic organizations signed a joint statement to protest the HHS rule changes. They also called for a reform of health care law to protect conscience rights, the Oct. 12 press release from the USCCB explained.

The signatories included heads of Catholic universities, health care associations, domestic and international agencies.

Most recently, Cardinal DiNardo returned to the fray, with a Nov. 1 letter to a Congress committee. Referring to health care reforms in general and not just the controversy over the HHS rules, he urged that any changes to the laws on health care "must not become a vehicle for abandoning or weakening longstanding federal policies that respect unborn human life and rights of conscience."
He lamented the fact that "a failure to respect conscience rights poses a serious threat to the goal we share of expanding access to health care."

Adoption

Problems aren't limited to health care. Earlier this year Illinois's Department of Children and Family Services told the state's four Catholic dioceses that it would not renew their contracts for foster care and adoption services because they were not prepared to include same-sex couples among their clients.
The changed situation is a result of the ironically-named Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act, that came into force on July 1.
The new law legalized civil unions for homosexual couples without protecting religious organizations, the Chicago Tribune reported, July 5.
In a later development Catholic organizations in the dioceses of Joliet, Springfield, and Belleville, have requested that a state appellate court halt the transition of their foster care cases to other agencies, the Chicago Tribune reported Oct. 7. They have also appealed to the court to examine the state's decision to terminate the foster care contracts with the Catholic agencies, saying that this violates their religious freedom.
The court refused, however, to stay the handover of the cases. In an Oct. 27 statement Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of Springfield criticized the state government's exclusion of Catholic agencies. He said that it has created an unnecessary crisis for the children and families who could have been helped.
The court has still to rule on the merits of the case regarding religious freedom.
Pressure on the Catholic Church is not confined to state actions. The Washington, D.C., Office of Human Rights is now investigating a complaint that the city's Catholic University of America is violating the human rights of Muslim students.
In his complaint John Banzhaf, a law professor at George Washington University Law School, alleged that by not providing them with rooms without Christian symbols the university is offending Muslim students.

John Garvey, president of the university, said in a statement issued Oct. 28 that the charges are completely without foundation.
In fact, no Muslim student at Catholic University has registered a complaint about being able to practice their religion on campus, he said. Moreover, Banzhaf himself admitted that he has not received any complaints.

It seems that in an increasingly secularized society tolerance is to be extended to all, except churches and believers who want to live by their beliefs.

Freedom of Conscience Faces Increased Conflict in America
By Father John Flynn, LC
ROME, NOV. 4, 2011 (Zenit.org).-

"DOMA advances the common good in a manner consistent with the human dignity of all persons."

2011-11-04T07:53:00.000-07:00

Here is the full text of the testimony provided by Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland, urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to uphold the Defense of Marriage Amendment:

November 2, 2011

Dear Member of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee:

As Chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, I urge you to uphold the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) by opposing the Respect for Marriage Act (S. 598) and any other measure seeking DOMA’s repeal.

DOMA recognizes for federal purposes that marriage is defined as the union of one man and one woman. It also prevents the redefinition of marriage in any one state from forcing other states to follow suit. DOMA’s codified definition of marriage reflects a deeply rooted and enduring consensus, based on truths about the human person discernible by reason and accessible to people of all faiths or none at all. Millions of citizens have gone to the ballot in thirty states to ratify similar DOMA proposals by substantial majorities. Forty one states in all have enacted their own DOMAs. Popularity alone does not determine what is right. But in the face of such broad support in the present day, not to mention a legacy of lived experience and reasoned reflection measured in millennia in every society and civilization throughout all of human history, repealing a measure that merely recognizes the truth of marriage is all the more improvident.

I raise for your consideration two points: DOMA is rational, and its repeal would be unjust.

A. DOMA is grounded in reason and experience. It takes into account the distinguishing properties of unity and procreation that mark the relationship of husband and wife.

Marriage is a comprehensive union of man and woman, a total, permanent, faithful, and fruitful sharing of lives between husband and wife. This union is a great and unique good in itself, and is critical for the common good. There are fundamental reasons why sexual difference and the complementarity between man and woman have always been considered essential to the meaning of marriage.

The connection between sexual difference and procreation is obvious and unique. The public status of marriage owes its origin and existence to the natural capacity of man and woman to bring children into the world. Research substantiates that children thrive best when reared by both a mom and a dad married to each other. Marriage has been and should remain a child-centered institution.

Even when a marriage is not blessed with children, all husbands and wives can model for society the possibilities and potential for mutual collaboration between the sexes. They can teach children generally by their witness and exemplify for other men and women what it means to be husband and wife. They also can provide an essential service to society through adopting children, who need the care of a mother and a father.

The unitive and procreative realities at stake cannot be ignored. They are not mere cultural constructs that can be discarded at will, with little or no social cost. Instead, they flow directly from the immutable nature of the human person, and so our society ignores them at great peril. By contrast, where these human realities are respected, the benefits to society are unparalleled. This explains why Congress, nearly all of the states, and millions of voters affirm marriage as an institution founded on sexual difference. DOMA furthers the common good by preserving in federal law the essential connection between marriage, sexual difference, the good of children, and public policy.

B. Redefining marriage to mean simply an arrangement of consenting adults violates justice because it interferes with basic human rights.

First, changing the institution of marriage by making it indifferent to the absence of one sex or the other denies that children have the fundamental human right to be cared by both their mother and father. Such revision transforms marriage from a child-centered to an adult-centered status to the detriment of children. DOMA maintains marriage’s proper focus on reinforcing the interests of children.

Second, redefining marriage also threatens the fundamental human right of religious freedom. Those who refuse on moral and religious grounds to accept or accommodate the redefinition of legal marriage are already being wrongly accused of bigotry and hatred, bias and prejudice. They are being stigmatized and marginalized precisely because they are exercising their religious freedom to teach and practice their values.

In places where marriage’s core meaning has been altered through legal action, officials are beginning to target for punishment those believers and churches that refuse to adapt. Any non-conforming conduct and even expressions of disagreement, based simply on support for marriage as understood since time immemorial, are wrongly being treated as if they harmed society, and somehow constituted a form of evil equal to racism. DOMA represents an essential protection against such threats to faith and conscience.

All persons have a rightful claim to our utmost respect. There is no corresponding duty, however, for society to disregard the meaning of sexual difference and its practical consequences for the common good; to override fundamental rights, such as religious liberty; and to re-define our most basic social institution. DOMA advances the common good in a manner consistent with the human dignity of all persons.

For all of the above-stated reasons, I strongly urge you to uphold DOMA and to reject any bill, including S. 598, that would repeal it.

Sincerely,
Most Reverend Salvatore J. Cordileone
Roman Catholic Bishop of Oakland
Chairman, USCCB Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage

Court Prevents NJ Hospital From Forcing Nurses to help Abort Children

2011-11-03T18:19:00.000-07:00

A court has stepped in to prevent New Jersey nurses from being forced to participate in abortions against their will and conscience. The attempt to force them to do so is illegal.

Today, from the great Andy McCarthy, writing at The Corner:

"I am informed that a federal judge in Newark today issued a temporary restraining order protecting nurses from being coerced by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey to assist in the performance of abortions. As noted here yesterday, the state hospital has been attempting to force nurses to participate in abortions despite federal and state law which holds that those who conscientiously object may refrain from participation.

The TRO extends only for two weeks — until November 18. That is, even though the TRO really does nothing other than require the state hospital to obey the law, UMDNJ did not agree to obey the law permanently — in order to promote abortion, it apparently intends to fight against the laws that safeguard freedom of conscience.

NEW YOUNG MARTYR

2011-11-01T19:38:00.000-07:00

Egypt: Christian student murdered for refusing to remove crucifix

Ayman Nabil Labib, a 17-year-old Coptic Christian student, was murdered by Muslim classmates after refusing to remove a crucifix he was wearing, the Assyrian International News Agency is reporting.

The murder, which took place on October 16 in the central Egyptian town of Mallawi, took place after a teacher asked Labib to cover up a tattooed cross on his wrist. Labib refused, instead uncovering a cross necklace.
“The teacher nearly choked my son, and some Muslim students joined in the beating,” said Labib’s father.

“They beat my son so much in the classroom that he fled to the lavatory on the ground floor, but they followed him and continued their assault,” the victim’s mother added. “When one of the supervisors took him to his room, Ayman was still breathing. The ambulance transported him from there dead, one hour later.”

From CatholicCulture.org, a chief provider and curator of Catholic content on the web

St Ayman, pray for young people especialy those entrusted to the care of the Salesian Family.

"Walter is a Still, Small Voice in the Turmoil of the Abortion Debate"

2011-10-28T09:36:00.000-07:00

His voice may be quiet, but the effects of his witness, faith, and courage are momentous and ongoing. What a shepherd!

Our good friend, the Reverend Walter Hoye, has received the Life Issues Institute's "Hero at Heart" award. Reverend Hoye joins such past recipients as Senator Henry Hyde and Abby Johnson.

WASHINGTON, DC, October 27, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "An African-American pastor who spent 18 days in jail for peacefully picketing in front of a California abortion clinic has been awarded the Life Issues Institute’s 2011 Hero at Heart award.

Rev. Walter Hoye, accompanied by his wife, Lori, accepted the award before a gathering of pro-life leaders in Washington, DC.

'Walter is a still, small voice in the verbal turmoil of the abortion debate. Yet his humble and loving actions are turning the hearts and minds of women against abortion. Life Issues Institute is honored to give him this award,' Life Issues Institute Executive Director Bradley Mattes commented, after presenting Hoye with the award.

Past recipients of the Hero at Heart award include Congressman Henry Hyde, Ambassador Mary Ann Glendon, former Kansas state Attorney General Phill Kline, Abby Johnson and Olympian medal winner Tasha Danvers-Smith."

Congratulations, Reverend Hoye, on this well-deserved honor!

Betrayed

2011-10-26T06:17:00.000-07:00

We put him in office--promises broken.
Here's part of a brilliant article from the St Louis Dispatch.

...Among Catholics, the most egregious example of Obama's broken promise of religious tolerance is the one dominating diocesan headlines now: His administration's push for a mandate that would require Catholic institutions to violate the teachings of their church by covering contraceptives in their health care plans – including sterilization and drugs that induce abortions.

The mandate would be controversial even if accompanied by the standard religious exemption that allows faith-based organizations to opt out of government regulations that violate their religious beliefs. But the Obama administration has gone a step further, by crafting a religious exemption for the mandate so narrow that it excludes nearly all Catholic hospitals, elementary and secondary schools, colleges and universities and charitable organizations – virtually everyone, it seems, except Catholic parishes and religious orders. The upshot: Catholic colleges that teach abortion is evil must pay for abortifacient drugs for their students and Catholic hospitals that refuse to sterilize patients must subsidize sterilization for their employees.

The mandate and its lack of conscience protection is a blatant attack on religious freedom and a far cry from the promise Obama made at the University of Notre Dame in 2009. Back then, when the president was peddling his health care plan and pledging to seek "common ground" with pro-life Catholics, he vowed to "honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause." Now that Obamacare has passed, the president and his surrogates are singing a different tune.

Sebelius followed her martial rhetoric with a sarcastic swipe at pro-lifers who fail to see church-funded contraception as a cure-all for America's astronomical abortion rates. Apparently, the secretary has not read the 2011 Guttmacher Institute report that found a majority of women who abort their babies were using contraception the month they conceived.

Obama displays a similarly dismissive attitude toward his pro-life and Catholic critics. At a fundraiser here in St. Louis last week, he offered a flippant "darn tooting" rejoinder to an audience member who called out support for his unyielding enforcement of the contraceptive mandate. He answered a recent invitation to dialogue from U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops President and New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan with stony silence. And he has ignored pleas for compromise from the likes of Notre Dame President Rev. John Jenkins and Catholic Health Association President Sr. Carol Keehan, two former Obama cheerleaders who now look like Obama's dupes.

The president's hard-line, anti-freedom stance threatens to alienate millions of Catholics, including many who disagree with their church's teachings but resent the prospect of government officials dictating which doctrines Catholic institutions may follow and which ones they must violate. For these voters and millions of their fellow travelers of other faiths, Obama's election in 2008 is looking more and more like a mistake – one they do not intend to repeat in 2012.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Colleen Carroll Campbell. "Obama is alienating Catholic voters." St. Louis Post-Dispatch (October 13, 2011).

Bl. Luigi Guanella Canonized!

2011-10-23T15:35:00.000-07:00

Wonderful news about a wonderful saint! Blessed Luigi Guanella, who worked closely with and was influenced by St. John Bosco, the founder of the Salesians, was canonized today by the Holy Father. Of his years with Don Bosco, Don Luigi said "Being with Don Bosco was to me like being in heaven."

His Holiness also canonized Archbishop Guido Maria Conforti, founded the St. Francis Xavier Foreign Missions Society, and Sr. Bonifacia Rodriguez De Castro who co-founded the Congregation of the Siervas de San Jose, which helped poor women in Spain in the 19th century

Here is a short video about Saint Luigi Guanella:

Saints Luigi, Bonifacia, and Guido Maria, pray for us!

San Francisco Rosary Rally Video--Great!

2011-10-22T11:31:00.000-07:00

What a blessed day it was! Here is the official video of San Francisco's Family Rosary Crusade 2011, by Gino & Nyna Caputi:

Gino & Nyna are also the producers of "Petals in the Dust," a film about India's missing girls--millions of whom have been murdered through abortion and infanticide. You can learn more about their work here:

http://www.petalsinthedust.com/

We have posted about their efforts. Our past posts are here.

SF's Catholic Supervisor Mark Farrell on His Crisis Pregnancy Center Vote

2011-10-21T11:02:00.000-07:00

The greatest issue facing “a Catholic in elected public office” in the United States is legalized abortion. On October 18, the Catholic Supervisor Mark Farrell was one of 11 San Francisco Supervisors to vote on legislation restricting the message of crisis pregnancy centers. His vote, and his statement about his vote, are interesting because on Tuesday, November 15, he will address the Young Adults Group of St. Vincent de Paul Church in San Francisco. The Young Adult’s calendar of events states: “Supervisor Mark Farrell will be joining the group to share some of his personal stories and reflections as a Catholic in elected public office.”

Here is his statement, taken verbatim from the caption notes to the video of the meeting and vote. Typography in the original; interpolations in brackets added:

"Supervisor farrell: “this has been a tough one for me and I will be supporting the legislation. First, this is not about first resort."

(Who, then, is it about? The only other crisis pregnancy center in San Francisco is the Alpha Pregnancy Center, a much smaller organization).

"I know lot of people have insinuated that. I have a lot of friends involved with the organization and I have great things to say about it. Second, this is a cautionary warning."

(Who is being cautioned? Read on.)

"At the end of the day, I don' t have a problem or regulating advertising and saying false or misleading advertising is wrong. I have no problem doing that and why I will be supporting this today. I have seen a lot of evidence in e-mail change going around looking at google search results and algorithms. All lot of that stuff is not controlled by people to advertise. A clear warning -- I think you could go down a very slippery slope."

(Who is the “you” that Supervisor Farrell is addressing? It can only be his fellow board members--and himself. What is the slippery slope? As Farrell’s colleague, Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, the only Supervisor to vote against the ordinance, pointed out: “Four cities have passed ordinances like this. Three of those cities have seen those tossed out. The fourth is in the middle of litigation right now. I do not believe the record is sufficient to beat that threshold.”)

"Google has a provision against false or misleading advertising. To say that by buying certain key words you are doing false or misleading advertising, you' re going after google itself, and we need to take a hard look at the ways we' re going to enforce this law going forward, but I will be supporting it today.”

So, according to Supervisor Farrell:

1) First Resort is a great organization.

2) Google already “has a provision against false or misleading advertising.” Supervisor Farrell’s clear implication is that if First Resort or Alpha Pregnancy were engaged in “false or misleading advertising”, Google, a far more capable organization than the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, would have nailed them already.

3) Supervisor Farrell offers his colleagues (and himself): “A clear warning -- I think you could go down a very slippery slope.”

4) Supervisor Farrell then proceeds to vote for the legislation.

Supervisor Farrell’s statement is hardly a model of clear thinking or a profile in courage. After listing all the problems with the legislation, he then proceeds to vote for it. Hardly a good message for the Catholic Young Adults.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Thanks, But No Thanks--High Schoolers Walk Out of Homosexual Propaganda Play

2011-10-19T08:57:00.001-07:00

A good sign! From LifeSiteNews:

"HARTFORD, October 18, 2011 - Several students at a Hartford high school expressed horror and left the auditorium when two male members of a city-funded school play shared a passionate kiss onstage on Friday. School officials said they opted against informing parents about the event ahead of time, saying that the students needed exposure to homosexuality, and hailed the “chaotic” reaction as a victory for raising the gay issue."

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

"Pro-Life Aristotle"

2011-10-19T08:47:00.000-07:00

In the Corner, Katherine Jean Lopez interviews professor Christopher Kaczor of Loyola Marymont University. They discuss his new book, The Ethics of Abortion: Women’s Rights, Human Life, and the Question of Justice.

"I know that many women face unbelievably difficult circumstances in their pregnancy. For this reason, I think that all people of good will have an obligation to help them, to celebrate their heroism when they choose life, and to love them even when they do not. I can think of one case in particular: a young student, not yet finished with her education, who found herself pregnant with a man she did not know well. With so many responsibilities, both to her extended family and to her studies, she felt desperate, alone, and trapped. It was truly an act of heroism for that woman to decide to place that child for adoption. I know the woman in the story very well. She is my birth mother."

Read the whole thing.

Obama alienates Catholics

2011-10-19T08:39:00.000-07:00

Catholics make up about a quarter of the American electorate and have backed the popular-vote winner in every presidential election since 1972.
That track record continued through 2008: While weekly churchgoing Catholics slightly favored Sen. John McCain, Catholics as a whole backed President Barack Obama by a margin of 54 to 45 percent.
Given the role Catholics played in Obama's 2008 victory and their habit of picking presidential winners, you might think that an embattled president with a 40-percent approval rating would be working overtime to solidify his support among this crucial voting bloc. Instead, Obama seems intent on convincing Catholics that their faith in him was unwarranted.
While other voters have been disappointed by Obama's economic failures and arrogant, ham-handed approach to everything from health care reform to the Solyndra scandal, swing-voting Catholics have special reason to feel betrayed. A candidate who won their support by pledging to respect the religiously grounded views of those with whom he disagrees has morphed into a president whose administration relentlessly attacks religious liberty.
In the past year, Obama's Justice Department has argued in court that defenders of traditional marriage – the most visible segment of which are observant Catholics and bishops – should be regarded in law as the equivalent of racists. His National Labor Relations Board has issued rulings against two Catholic schools, St. Xavier University in Chicago and Manhattan College in New York, saying that they are not sufficiently Catholic to warrant religious exemptions from federal labor law – a stunning breach of the precedent in which religious bodies, not government officials, decide who qualifies as a member of a particular church. Those rulings followed on the heels of a highly publicized crusade by Obama's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to punish North Carolina's Belmont Abbey College for removing contraception coverage from its employee health plans, a move the Catholic school made to conform to church doctrine.
And just last week, Obama's Justice Department argued before the Supreme Court for the effective gutting of the longstanding "ministerial exception" that allows religious bodies to hire and fire employees without government interference. The administration's extreme position has drawn criticism from nearly every major religious organization in the country, from the liberal National Council of Churches to the conservative National Association of Evangelicals, all of whom fear that their churches could be the next targets of an overzealous, First-Amendment-trampling Uncle Sam.
Among Catholics, the most egregious example of Obama's broken promise of religious tolerance is the one dominating diocesan headlines now: His administration's push for a mandate that would require Catholic institutions to violate the teachings of their church by covering contraceptives in their health care plans – including sterilization and drugs that induce abortions.
The mandate would be controversial even if accompanied by the standard religious exemption that allows faith-based organizations to opt out of government regulations that violate their religious beliefs. But the Obama administration has gone a step further, by crafting a religious exemption for the mandate so narrow that it excludes nearly all Catholic hospitals, elementary and secondary schools, colleges and universities and charitable organizations – virtually everyone, it seems, except Catholic parishes and religious orders. The upshot: Catholic colleges that teach abortion is evil must pay for abortifacient drugs for their students and Catholic hospitals that refuse to sterilize patients must subsidize sterilization for their employees.
The mandate and its lack of conscience protection is a blatant attack on religious freedom and a far cry from the promise Obama made at the University of Notre Dame in 2009. Back then, when the president was peddling his health care plan and pledging to seek "common ground" with pro-life Catholics, he vowed to "honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause." Now that Obamacare has passed, the president and his surrogates are singing a different tune. "We are in a war," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told a NARAL Pro-Choice America crowd in Chicago last week.
Sebelius followed her martial rhetoric with a sarcastic swipe at pro-lifers who fail to see church-funded contraception as a cure-all for America's astronomical abortion rates. Apparently, the secretary has not read the 2011 Guttmacher Institute report that found a majority of women who abort their babies were using contraception the month they conceived.
Obama displays a similarly dismissive attitude toward his pro-life and Catholic critics. At a fundraiser here in St. Louis last week, he offered a flippant "darn tooting" rejoinder to an audience member who called out support for his unyielding enforcement of the contraceptive mandate. He answered a recent invitation to dialogue from U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops President and New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan with stony silence. And he has ignored pleas for compromise from the likes of Notre Dame President Rev. John Jenkins and Catholic Health Association President Sr. Carol Keehan, two former Obama cheerleaders who now look like Obama's dupes.
The president's hard-line, anti-freedom stance threatens to alienate millions of Catholics, including many who disagree with their church's teachings but resent the prospect of government officials dictating which doctrines Catholic institutions may follow and which ones they must violate. For these voters and millions of their fellow travelers of other faiths, Obama's election in 2008 is looking more and more like a mistake – one they do not intend to repeat in 2012.
Catholic Education Resouce Center: COLLEEN CARROLL CAMPBELL

SF Supes Approves Ordinance against Pregnancy Centers: "A Solution in Search of A Problem"

2011-10-18T16:57:00.000-07:00

"A solution in search of a problem" is how San Francisco supervisor Sean Elsbernd referred to today's “false advertising” ordinance against San Francisco pregnancy centers. The ordinance was passed by the Board of Supervisors by a 10-1 vote. Elsbernd was the only dissenter.

Albert Lee, of First Resort, one of the centers affected by the ruling, said "It is a sad and regrettable thing to see the board pass this legislation despite no evidence whatsoever of false and misleading advertising by San Francisco’s two pregnancy centers. It is, as Sean Elsbernd said as the sole dissenting supervisor, 'a solution in search of a problem.'”

Sad and regrettable, yes; surprising, no. That the Board of Supervisors of the City and Couty of San Francisco would waste time and money on a non-existent issue is not news. But the Board has left the taxpayers of San Francisco on the hook for a costly legal battle that is very likely to be won by the pregnancy centers. Similar laws in Baltimore and New York have already been overturned/put on hold by judges, on First Amendment grounds. As we wrote back on August 2, the real purpose of this is law is to harass crisis pregnancy centers at taxpayer expense, and thus to service the Democrat's sacred cow, Planned Parenthood.

But this will certainly end up in court. And the already stretched taxpayers of San Francisco will get screwed again. As Mr. Lee said, stay tuned.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Wonderful San Francisco Rosary Rally!

2011-10-17T08:25:00.000-07:00

From this morning's California Catholic Daily. All photos courtesy Darwin Sayo.

“If God is for us, who can be against us?”
California Catholics honor Blessed Mother at San Francisco Family Rosary Crusade

"Under 70-degree weather and soft breezes, the San Francisco Family Rosary Crusade was prayed on Saturday, Oct. 15, in the city’s Civic Center Plaza. The crowd, numbering in the low thousands, included the faithful from every diocese in the Bay Area, as well as the dioceses of Stockton, Sacramento, and Fresno.

Too many parishes to count were represented. One of the largest groups, around 50, came from Immaculate Heart of Brentwood, and had special T-shirts printed for the occasion. The pilgrims were led by their pastor, Fr. Jerry Brown, and parochial vicar, Fr. Carl Arcosa.The rally also attracted visitors from as far away as Idaho, Ireland, Eastern Europe, and Africa, who had one way or another learned about the rally, and who joined in the opportunity to honor Our Lady.

Religious were very well represented. Many Dominicans, Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist, and the Missionaries of Charity had large contingents. Franciscans, Jesuits, Holy Cross Fathers, and the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians were present as well, as were large numbers of seminarians.

The event began with a procession from the rear of the Plaza toward the stage. The crowd filling the central portion of the Plaza parted, like the Red Sea, to allow the procession of dignitaries, rally leaders, and the families chosen to recite the rosary. The procession was led by two boys carrying the banner of the Legion of Mary, followed by the Knights of Columbus Honor Guard.

The Master of Ceremonies was Fr. Lawrence Goode, chaplain of the Legion of Mary. Fr. Goode began by asking for a show of hands from those who had attended the 1961 Rally. A surprising number went up. He then asked for a response from those who came from the diocese of Oakland. A cheer went up. Then San Jose. Another cheer. Then Santa Rosa. Another cheer. Then Stockton. Another cheer. Then Sacramento. Another cheer. Then Fresno. Another cheer. Then the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Another big cheer.

Fr. Goode then introduced the bishops in attendance: Auxiliary Bishop William Justice of San Francisco, retired Bishop Ignatius Wang of San Francisco, and retired Bishop Daniel Walsh of Santa Rosa.Bishop Justice then spoke. He sent greetings from Archbishop George Niederauer, whose health prevented him from attending. Bishop Justice then read from Romans, Chapter 8, reminding the faithful that it is through Jesus that we have life, that God works all things to good, and that “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Fr. Goode then introduced the rosary as a prayer for all peoples and all times. “It is pre-Vatican II and it is post Vatican II,” he said. “It was the prayer of Nobel Prize winning scientist Louis Pasteur. It was the prayer of ‘people power’ that peacefully overturned the corrupt government in the Philippines. It was the prayer of both Italy and Poland following the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II. And it is the prayer of Chinese Catholics today, imprisoned for their faith, and who make rosaries out of yarn and paper!”

As silence descended on the plaza, the rosary began. Each decade was recited by a family from one of the Bay Area dioceses. The decades were accompanied by a scriptural reading by a seminarian, and a reflection by either a Dominican Brother or a Holy Cross Father.One of the Holy Cross Fathers reflected on Mary as one who listens: “When others speak, she ponders their words in her heart. But when she does speak, she sings!”

The rosary was followed by the keynote address by Fr. Andrew Apostoli, CFR; the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, led by Bishop Ignatius Wang, and the prayer for the Beatification of the Servant of God, Fr. Patrick Peyton, led by Fr. David Marcham, vice-postulator for Fr. Peyton’s cause. In a notable coincidence, Fr. Apostoli is also currently serving as a vice-postulator for the cause of canonization of Archbishop Fulton Sheen.

“The Rosary Rally will be one day that we can be forever proud to have been part of,” said David Marten, one of the rally organizers. “The hard work and planning produced a flawless presentation. The Blessed Mother was watching over us and many graces were present.”

Many attendees expressed the hope that the San Francisco Rosary Rally will become an annual event in the city of St. Francis.

“Our blessings are beyond count,” said Eva Muntean, co-chair of the Walk for Life West Coast, who helped organizers. “Today has been a wonderful opportunity for all of us to give thanks, publicly, for the graces we have received.”

“What a beautiful witness to Our Lady and what great faith it shows,” said Vicki Evans, Respect Life Coordinator for the Archdiocese of San Francisco. “I see this as a sign of our faith that Mary will save San Francisco and our country from the dangers that threaten us.”

Despite generous contributions, organizers were still about $10,000 in debt as the day began. When the rally closed, they requested donations from the faithful. That evening, when they tabulated the donations, they received a final gift from Our Lady: the donations were almost exactly the amount needed -- and even a little more."

California Bishops "Puzzled"?

2011-10-14T09:56:00.000-07:00

No. They are disengenuous.

Following Governor Jerry Brown's signing of AB 499, the bill that would allow minors to be vaccinated against sexually transmitted diseases without the permission of their parents, Ned Djolessi, speaking for the California Catholic Bishops sent out an email regretting the Governor's signature and professing to be puzzled by his action:

“We are puzzled and disappointed by Gov. Brown’s signature on AB 499, a bill opposed by the California Catholic Conference and literally thousands of people and community groups who support parental involvement and decry the continuing efforts of government officials and others to interfere with a parent’s right to raise their children."

There is not the slightest reason to be puzzled. Brown is a Democrat. He is the leader of the Party of Death in California. The Bishops' email continued:

“We are puzzled because on the same day he signed AB 499, the governor also signed SB 746, a ‘first-in-the-nation’ law to prevent children under 18 years of age from using tanning beds, and, just a month earlier, he vetoed SB 105, a bill to mandate ski helmets on underage youth, citing his concern with the ‘seemingly inexorable transfer of authority from parents to the state,’ saying ‘I believe parents have the ability and responsibility to make good choices for their children.’ “We recognize that it is a challenge to create good public policy, but we believe that if long-standing and generally accepted principles are upheld, the common good is served. In this case, it appears that by signing AB 499, the Governor abandoned the principle of parental responsibility he so eloquently stated earlier. We find his action both regrettable and inexplicable.”

It's not inexplicable at all: Repeat: Brown is a Democrat, the leader of California's Party of Death, and he is a liar. AB 499, introduced by open homosexual and same -sex "married" Assmblyman Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) is part of the LGBT movement and Democratic Party's ongoing war against the family. AB 499 is one of a trio of bills intoduced or sponsored this year by homosexual activists and California Democrats, all of which undercut family authority.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Party of Life, Party of Death

2011-10-14T07:13:00.000-07:00

From yesterday's Life News:

"The House approved legislation, the Protect Life Act, to stop abortion funding in Obamacare. Senate Democrats are not expected to approve the bill and, pro-abortion President Barack Obama is expected to veto the measure if it reaches his desk.

Members voted 251-172 for the pro-life legislation, with 236 Republicans and 15 Democrats supporting the bill and 170 Democrats and two Republicans voting against it. (See how your member voted here)."

"Let's Call a Spade a Spade"

2011-10-11T21:53:00.000-07:00

In his bulletin message of last Sunday, Father Gregory Coiro, O.F.M.Cap., the rector of the National Shrine of St. Francis in San Francisco, shared his thoughts on the upcoming San Francisco Rosary Rally. Fr. Coiro also had some powerful words about politicians who claim to be "ardent Catholics," yet ignore the Church's clear teaching about the rights of the unborn.

"Like many others in San Francisco, I am very excited about the Rosary Rally in the Civic Center Plaza this coming Saturday, October 15, at 12 noon. What makes the event even more exciting for the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi is that the rally’s keynote speaker, Father Andrew Apostoli of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, will celebrate Mass at 9 a.m. that day here in our church.

(When the Rosary Rally organizers contacted me to see if Father Andrew could celebrate Mass here, I thought they had in mind a private Mass—after all the church does not open to the public until 10 a.m. The next thing you know, the Mass was being announced on the Eternal Word Television Network, as well as on the Rosary Rally website. So, it will be anything but private!)

Father Andrew, like Father Benedict Joseph Groeschel and the other founding members of the Friars of the Renewal, was a Capuchin Franciscan friar before establishing their new community that seeks to live the Rule of St. Francis even more austerely but in the Capuchin spirit and tradition.

A noted author and preacher, Father Andrew is frequently seen on EWTN. Something very special about him is that he was ordained to the priesthood by the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen and now serves as the vice-postulator of his cause for beatification and canonization.

The Rosary Rally marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Family Rosary Crusade led by the late
Holy Cross Father Patrick Peyton—another candidate for beatification and canonization—in Golden Gate Park with over a half-million Catholics in attendance.

Father Peyton was famous for, among other things, coining the slogan, “The family that prays together, stays together.”

I have had 5,000 holy cards featuring the image of the Shrine’s statue of Our Lady and the Hail Mary printed up to mark this special occasion and I will ask the people who attend the Mass that morning to distribute them to others at the Rally.

Of course, I hope there will be many more than 5,000 people in attendance at Civic Center Plaza, but I do have budget constraints!

October is the month of the Holy Rosary and it is also Respect Life Month. We pray the Rosary every afternoon at 4:30 (except Mondays) in the Shrine’s Lady Chapel, La Nuova Porzoincola, for the intention that all Catholic public officials might be or might become authentic ally prolife.

We all know that there are elected public officials who claim to be “ardent” Catholics yet do nothing to stop the legal slaughter of 4000 innocent human beings every single day in this country. These people are liars.

They are not “ardent” Catholics at all and they do not really believe the Church’s teaching that killing unborn babies is tantamount to murder. If they did believe it, how could they possibly expect us to vote for them when they refuse to use their power and influence to stop the legal butchering of innocents? Do they really expect us to take them seriously when they, in effect, say, “I truly believe that abortion is murder but I feel no obligation to stop the murderers.”?

Let’s call a spade a spade. These public office holders are intellectually dishonest and we need to call them out for their lies. But we also need to pray that they will have a change of heart and that’s what we do in the Heart of San Francisco.

Pax et Bonum,
Fr. Gregory Coiro, O.F.M.Cap."

Will Obama Destroy Franciscan University of Steubenville?

2011-10-08T07:36:00.000-07:00

Daniel Webster was the most famous lawyer of his day. In 1819, the "Godlike Daniel" stood before the U.S. Supreme Court and argued passionately for the right of Dartmouth College to govern itself, and not to be brought under the rule of the New Hampshire legislature. Webster appealed to the Constitution, arguing that New Hampshire's actions would violate that provision that forbade states to "impair the obligations of contract." But the emotional power of his argument caught the attention of Chief Justice John Marshall, Justice Joseph Story, and in truth, captured the hearts of the country.

Richard N. Current gives us a gripping description of Daniel Webster's defense of Dartmouth College in a 1963 American Heritage article.
"Sir, you may destroy this little institution. It is weak. It is in your hands! I know it is one of the lesser lights in the literary horizon of the country. You may put it out. But if you do so, you must carry through your work. You must extinguish, one after another, all those great lights of science which, for more than a century, have thrown their radiance over our land. It is, Sir, as I have said, a small college, and yet, there are those who love it. ..."

The Dartmouth College case became one of the pillars of American jurisprudence. And Webster's powerful appeal propelled him to a brilliant career in the U.S. Senate.
The Supreme Court that year ruled in favor of Dartmouth College. It recognized not only the supremacy of the Constitution, but it showed that it valued the signal role played by colleges and universities in American life.

The Obama administration is showing it values that role not at all. It is attempting to crush The Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio. Mr. Obama's HHS Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, is trying to force Steubenville to dispense abortion-producing drugs and pay for sterilizations. This is a Roman Catholic institution. Such things are strictly proscribed by the Catholic faith.
Sec. Sebelius may be aware that Catholic institutions are required by faith and fidelity to their mission to uphold these principles. It is an indispensable part of their mission and their reason for being. To force a Catholic institution to violate the consciences of its faculty, students and alumni in this fashion is like forcing a Yeshiva to serve pork to Orthodox Jewish students.
This attempt to crush The Franciscan University of Steubenville is, tragically, not an isolated example. From the first days of the Obama administration, there has been a kulturkampf (culture clash) against Catholic institutions not seen since the days of the Iron Chancellor of Germany, Otto von Bismarck. It was Bismarck who attempted to put all churches and universities in Prussia under his hobnailed boot.

Writer Charlotte Allen wrote of the "Persecution of Belmont Abbey" by the Obama administration in 2009. There, too, liberal zealots were demanding that the Catholic school, founded in 1876, provide contraception, abortifacients, and sterilizations or face federal sanctions. This, according to the institution's president, could lead to closing down the historic little college.

Chai Feldblum is a tenured professor at Georgetown University Law School. This is the oldest Catholic university in the country. Ironically, Feldblum, is also a homosexual legal activist. She was Barack Obama's choice for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She told a panel at Family Research Council that if it came to a clash between what she calls gay rights and religious liberty, religious liberty must give way. In other words: "Be Amish, or be quiet."
We have already seen this as the most anti-Israel administration in U.S. history. Never before has an American president and secretary of state stooped to counting Jews in Jerusalem.
The Obama administration is also the most anti-Catholic administration in American history. Never before have tens of millions of Catholic Americans been forced to subsidize the killing of unborn children with their taxes -- as they are under ObamaCare. But now they are also forcing Catholic institutions to take part in the destruction of innocent human lives and the maiming of others by paying for abortifacients and sterilizations. As Americans, we must defend our religious liberties -- while we still have them. Steubenville is a little college, but there are those who love it!
By Ken Blackwell (Archive) · The Patriot Post

"Our Shepherd Came!"

2011-10-05T11:47:00.000-07:00

Good Bishop Vasa of Santa Rosa Visits Flock at 40 Days for Life

More and more Bishops are marching with, and ahead of, their flocks in the battle for the Culture of Life. On July 22, 2011 California Catholic Daily reported that on July 16 Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento led a Rosary Procession to the city’s main Planned Parenthood abortion business at 29th and B Streets. The procession followed a Mass celebrated at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Sacramento.

The new Bishop of the Diocese of Santa Rosa, the Most Reverend Robert Vasa can be added to this list. On September 28, Bishop Vasa led the opening prayer at the beginning of the 40 Days for Life fall vigil outside of the Women’s Health Specialists abortion business at 4415 Sonoma Highway in Santa Rosa.

40 Days for Life Santa Rosa co-Captain Judy Parcher said: “Our chapter is small… we were praying, and my husband said to me ‘Oh my gosh, isn’t that the bishop behind you?’ I turned and it was! I can’t tell you the joy that raced in my heart, and I felt how much love God had bestowed on us with this visit! I thought: he’s so busy…that he would take this time to be with us … our shepherd came!”

Bishop Vasa’s presence at a pro-life vigil should come as no surprise. He has been an outspoken proponent of the Church’s teaching on life issues. In 2010, as Bishop of the Diocese of Baker, Oregon, Vasa withdrew the Church’s official sponsorship of Oregon’s St. Charles Medical Center because the hospital performed sterilizations. In 2007, the Bishop had asked that the hospital to verify its compliance with the U.S. Bishops' Catholic Ethical and Religious Directives for Health Care Services. After discovering the church performed tubal ligations, the Bishop removed the sponsorship. On February 16, 2010, LifeSiteNews quoted the bishop: “It would be misleading for me to allow St. Charles Bend to be acknowledged as Catholic in name while I am certain that some important tenets of the Ethical and Religious Directives are no longer being observed.”

The Santa Rosa vigil is bearing fruit. Mrs. Parcher said “Less than 24 hours after the bishop joined us, a young woman, accompanied by a man drove into the abortion business. They headed down the driveway, but a little while later she came out. She came up to us and was crying, and said ‘I don’t want to have an abortion. Can you help me?’ We carry lots of information for crisis pregnancy centers and we directed her to one that could help her out.”

Great News From England: Catholic Procession in Manchester!

2011-10-03T18:53:00.000-07:00

From Catholic News Agency:

Marian procession in Manchester ends 20 year drought
By Estefania Aguirre

"After a 20 year absence, the first official Catholic procession returned to the English city of Manchester on Oct. 2.

'I had tears in my eyes when they lifted Our Lady and it all began,' 75-year-old Mary Patricia Fehily said. 'I was walking in the love of Jesus and Mary.'

Fehily, from the city of Hale, is one of the many who were reminded of processions from her childhood years.

'It brings back so many memories of my youth because in Ireland we used to process three times a year. Hopefully this will make people think of our Creator.'

The crowd of Catholics was estimated at 1,000 people, who took to the streets of Manchester’s predominantly Muslim neighbourhood of Rusholme. Security was provided by Catholic police personnel who volunteered their services....The Marian Community of Reconciliation and the Christian Life Movement, organizers of the event, said they had expected half the turnout.

Inspector Damian O' Reilly of Greater Manchester Police said: 'It's been fantastic. I remember the old days and it's nice to get something going again and show that we're proud of our faith.

'This is just going to get bigger and bigger. This year we've had 1,000 participants, but next year we'll have 5,000,' he said."

Very nice!

Suspended

2011-10-01T07:10:00.000-07:00

A 14 year old boy was suspended from Western Hills High School in Texas for saying he thought that “being a homosexual is wrong.”

Can you believe this?
The boy’s name is Dakota Ary, and here is his story:
According to news reports, during a German class, Dakota’s teacher started talking about religion and homosexuality in Germany, and even posted a picture on the wall of two men kissing.

Dakota turned to a friend and said he was a Christian and that “being a homosexual is wrong.”
The teacher reportedly overheard his comment and sent him to the principal's office.
Then, the assistant principal at Fort Worth’s Western Hills High School called Dakota’s mother and said her son was given an “in-school suspension,” plus two-days of full suspension for what he had said in class against homosexuality.

After several protests, the school agreed to revoke the suspension so that Dakota could play in an upcoming football game.

God fearing Americans must speak out NOW, while theirs is still freedom to do so. Otherwise, soon, everyone who disagrees with homosexuality may be forced into silence. And perhaps even punished. Or jailed.

People in Canada and Sweden have already been arrested and jailed for speaking out against homosexuality. We must not let that happen here.

Baby Joseph Goes Home to the Lord

2011-09-30T09:09:00.000-07:00

Little baby Joseph Maraachli has passed away.

Earlier this year, we had followed his family's battles against the Canadian Healthcare system. The family was seeking the right to have the little fellow come home, so that he could die surrounded by those who loved him. Many people helped the family in that battle, formeost of whom was probably Fr. Frank Pavone.

Play with the Lord, little guy!

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Catholic Voters Get New App

2011-09-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

SOUTH BEND, Indiana, SEPT. 28, 2011 (Zenit.org).

The company that put confession preparation on the iPhone now has a tool for Catholic voters: CatholicVote Mobile, aimed to mobilize and unify those who want to get the Church's view to Congress.

Little i Apps, LLC, makers of Confession: A Roman Catholic App, collaborated with CatholicVote.org in the development of the new app.
The service provides a method to contact members of Congress, as well as offering mobile access to CatholicVote.org's blogs and news.

A one-touch method allows Catholic voters to more easily participate in the political forum. Based on a user's GPS location or zip code, the app generates the contact information for their representative and senators. Users can select to automatically add this information to their contact lists or simply tap to connect."It was an incredible opportunity for Little i Apps to be a part of this project. We are excited about the potential impact an app like this could have on American politics," said Patrick Leinen, co-founder of Little i Apps. "Imagine what could happen if every Catholic voter used the Contact My Representative option to contact their congressional representative or senator before a critical vote. With the launch of this app, CatholicVote.org has given voters an incredible tool. We can’t wait to see how they use it!"

CatholicVote Mobile is free and is available on the Android Market and the iTunes Store.

Even Jesus Wouldn’t Qualify as ‘Religious’

2011-09-28T17:00:00.000-07:00

Catholic Bishops on Obamacare Reg: ‘Unprecedented Attack on Religious Liberty,’ by Stephen Frank on 09/27/2011

Barack Obama has made sure that Catholics will be embarrassed and forced to either close hospitals or allow the killing of babies in their facilities–if the government is to allow them to keep their hospitals open.

” In an “urgent” call to action distributed as a bulletin insert at Catholic churches across the country on Sunday, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said that a new federal regulation proposed under President Barack Obama’s health-care law “poses an unprecedented threat to individual and institutional religious freedom.”

The proposed regulation would require all private health-care plans to cover sterilizations and “all FDA-approved contraceptives”–which include “emergency” contraceptives such as ulipristal (or “Ella”) that can cause an abortion both before and after an embryo implants in the mother’s womb.”

We already know the answer, the Catholic church will close the hospitals, making health care even more difficult. it also shows that BO has no shame when he is trying to kill religious freedom, like any other run of the mill totalitarian.
Obama believes dead babies are more important than religious rights and freedom. This is the change he is bringing to our nation–a nation without religious freedom.

This is what Nancy Pelosi, herself a Catholic did not want you to know–San Fran Nan and Barack have conspired to kill the Catholic church in America.

SF Crisis Pregnancy Centers: "False & Misleading Advertising" Not Demonstrated

2011-09-27T18:56:00.000-07:00

Today the City Operations and Neighborhood Services Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors heard testimony about the proposed law that would "prohibit pregnancy centers from engaging in false or misleading advertising practices."

The legislation was introduced by Supervsor Malia Cohen and City Attorney Dennis Herrera. We had posted on this story back on August 2 & 3, where we wrote:

"The real purpose of the proposed ordinance is twofold: first, to harass the crisis pregnancy centers at public expense. That's because they threaten the Democrats' sacred cow, Planned Parenthood. It's just a fact that every baby born represents a financial loss for Planned Parenthood, and centers such as First Resort and Alpha Pregnancy help babies to be born and raised. Secondly, Dennis Herrera is running for mayor, and he thinks this will help his campaign."

Today, the San Francisco Chronicle reports:

"Two San Francisco supervisors, concerned over First Amendment issues, were hesitant about moving forward with a proposed law that would prohibit pregnancy centers from engaging in false or misleading advertising practices.

Centers that break the the law could face civil action by the city and fines up to $500 per violation.

The legislation takes aim at pregnancy centers that oppose abortion. The concern is that women with unplanned pregnancies are tricked into thinking that certain pregnancy centers will give them information on all of their options, including abortion, when that’s not the case.
“This legislation has been carefully crafted to ensure a balance between protecting the most vulnerable members of our communities and protecting the constitutional rights of everyone,” said Supervisor Malia Cohen, chief sponsor of the legislation, which has the backing of pro-choice advocates.

But opponents said if the legislation is approved, it would put the city at legal risk of trampling on the First Amendment.

“This law attacks one group of pregnancy resource providers, but not another group with a competing message,” said Shari Plunkett, CEO of First Resort, a pregnancy counseling center and women’s health clinic that will not perform abortions, nor tell clients where they can get the procedure done....

Supervisors, after being briefed by the city attorney, said that in order to mount a strong defense against a likely legal challenge, the city would have to produce a record of false and misleading advertising.

Imagine that--the city should have to prove what it says. But as we said, this is a "nuisance lawsuit" designed to harass crisis pregnancy centers at public expense. But as both Supervisor Avalos and Elsbernd, noted you gotta have at least some kind of a case.

But both Supervisors John Avalos and Sean Elsbernd, who serve on the committee, said such a record wasn’t demonstrated. The best legislative backers could come up with were reviews on Yelp and a search on Google when people plugged in the phrase “abortions in San Francisco” and Plunkett’s First Resort organization popped up as the second link.

“This legislative record here, to me, is empty,” Elsbernd said.

Avalos expressed a similar concern. The committee sent the legislation on to the full board without recommendation for consideration next week, with Avalos suggesting that evidence of false advertising be collected before that vote.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Crisis of faith

2011-09-26T06:21:00.000-07:00

Published: September 26, 2011 by Caliifornia Daily Catholic

Freiburg, Germany (CNA/EWTN News) -- “The real crisis facing the Church in the Western world is a crisis of faith,” Pope Benedict XVI told a gathering of lay Catholics on Sept. 24.

“We see that in our affluent Western world much is lacking. Many people lack experience of God’s goodness,” the pope said to the Central Committee of German Catholics on the third day of his state visit to Germany. “They no longer find any point of contact with the mainstream churches and their traditional structures.”...

Using Catholicism in Germany as an example, the pope said that, while the German Church was “superbly organized,” it was perhaps lacking in a “corresponding spiritual strength, the strength of faith in a living God.”

“We must honestly admit that we have more than enough by way of structure but not enough by way of Spirit,” the pope said. “I would add: the real crisis facing the Church in the Western world is a crisis of faith.”...

This is observed, said the pope, “in the inconstancy and fragmentation of many people’s lives and in an exaggerated individualism,” such that many people “no longer seem capable of any form of self-denial or of making a sacrifice for others.”

Meanwhile others “are now quite incapable of committing themselves unreservedly to a single partner,” he said....

Hence the need for new places where those who lack experience of God’s goodness can encounter it, said the pope. He suggested that small communities could be one such path where “friendships are lived and deepened in regular communal adoration before God.” There, said the pope, “we find people who speak of these small faith experiences at their workplace and within their circle of family and friends, and in so doing bear witness to a new closeness between Church and society.”...

He concluded by praying that God “always point out to us how together we can be lights in the world and can show our fellow men the path to the source at which they can quench their profound thirst for life.”

Unspeakable Propaganda at "Catholic" University

2011-09-25T07:02:00.003-07:00

The unspeakable is about to happen...
On October 29, a nun who blasphemed Our Lord Jesus Christ and Saint John by referring to them as homosexuals will lecture students at Catholic Fairfield University!!!

Her name is Sister Gramick. And she referred to the holy friendship between Our Lord and Saint John, saying it was “for lesbian and gay people a hope for a blessing for same-sex relationships…”

Canadian Priest Removed for Teaching the Faith

2011-09-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

This past week, Micheal Voris has posted a series of videos about the infiltration of the Church by homosexual activists. Note the title of out last post, which is a line taken from Mr. Voris video: "The Problem only Surfaces when Chuch Doctrine is Preached."

As if on cue, comes the story of Father Donat Gionet. From LifeSiteNews:

"The Catholic Diocese of Bathurst, New Brunswick has removed an elderly priest from active ministry after he caused a storm of controversy by denouncing homosexuality, cohabitation, and abortion in an August homily."

So! He's preaching Church Doctrine--and the problem surfaces. God bless the old Priest!

"85-year-old Fr. Donat Gionet had retired to his home town of Caraquet in June to serve palliative care patients, and now laments that in his declining years he is being forced to celebrate Mass 'in secret.'"

(85! He's a kid. Start a blog, Father! This is interesting. At Saints Peter and Paul we have three priests over 92 and five over 88--and they ain't retired, any more than Fr. Gionet will be. Every last one of them has no problem with Church doctrine. Fr. Armand was about 88 when he appeared in the Marriage Matters to Kids video. Old-style priests, for whom the collar is not a job, live just about forever).

"Fr. Wesley Wade, the diocese’s vicar general, told Radio-Canada that Fr. Gionet’s comments were consistent with Church teaching, but lacked the proper 'pastoral' sensitivity."

Yeah, right. Voris also had some words about the misuse of the word "pastoral." The episode reminds me of Fr. Malloy's going-away bulletin message at SSPP, before he was transferred:

"I am sorry if my remarks have offended anyone. My purpose has been to teach the truth and support our faith. I was ordained for that purpose."

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

"The Problem Only Surfaces When Church Doctrine is Preached"

2011-09-21T15:50:00.000-07:00

Michael Voris has a series of videos this week highlighting the infiltration of parishes by homosexual activists, something that we have been documenting in our sister website "Homosexual Activism in the Archdiocese of San Francisco": http://www.sanfrancisco-catholic.com/

Here's his latest:

SF Rosary Rally: October 15!

2011-09-20T21:20:00.000-07:00

From today's Catholic San Francisco:

Civic Center prayer rally to recreate spirit of Father Peyton’s 1961 Rosary Crusade

By Valerie Schmalz

Organizers of the 2011 Family Rosary Crusade on Oct. 15 at San Francisco’s Civic Center hope to recreate the greatest outpouring of prayer that anyone has ever seen here – the rosary rally led in 1961 by Father Patrick Peyton, who coined the phrase, “The family that prays together, stays together.”

Read the whole thing, and check out this Life Magazine photo of the 1961 rally. Go here to see larger version:

To learn more about the October 15 Rosary Rally, visit http://www.familyrosarycrusade2011.com/

Jewish Boycott

2011-09-19T09:03:00.000-07:00

A short time ago, Iran's Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Ali urged the Muslim World to boycott anything and everything that originates with the Jewish people.

In response, Meyer M. Treinkman, a pharmacist, out of the kindness of his heart, offered to assist them in their boycott as follows:

"Any Muslim who has Syphilis must not be cured by Salvarsan discovered by a Jew, Dr. Ehrlich. He should not even try to find out whether he has Syphilis, because the Wasserman Test is the discovery of a Jew. If a Muslim suspects that he has Gonorrhea, he must not seek diagnosis, because he will be using the method of a Jew named Neissner.

"A Muslim who has heart disease must not use Digitalis, a discovery by a Jew, Ludwig Traube.

Should he suffer with a toothache, he must not use Novocaine, a discovery of the Jews, Widal and Weil.

If a Muslim has Diabetes, he must not use Insulin, the result of research by Minkowsky, a Jew. If one has a headache, he must shun Pyramidon and Antypyrin, due to the Jews, Spiro and Ellege.

Muslims with convulsions must put up with them because it was a Jew, Oscar Leibreich, who proposed the use of Chloral Hydrate.

Arabs must do likewise with their psychic ailments because Freud, father of psychoanalysis, was a Jew.

Should a Muslim child get Diphtheria, he must refrain from the "Schick" reaction which was invented by the Jew, Bella Schick.

"Muslims should be ready to die in great numbers and must not permit treatment of ear and brain damage, work of Nobel Prize winner, Robert Baram.

They should continue to die or remain crippled by Infantile Paralysis because the discoverer of the anti-polio vaccine is a Jew, Jonas Salk.

"Muslims must refuse to use Streptomycin and continue to die of Tuberculosis because a Jew, Zalman Waxman, invented the wonder drug against this killing disease.

Muslim doctors must discard all discoveries and improvements by dermatologist Judas Sehn Benedict, or the lung specialist, Frawnkel, and of many other world renowned Jewish scientists and medical experts.

"In short, good and loyal Muslims properly and fittingly should remain afflicted with Syphilis, Gonorrhea, Heart Disease, Headaches, Typhus, Diabetes, Mental Disorders, Polio, Convulsions and Tuberculosis and be proud to obey the Islamic boycott."

Meanwhile I ask, what medical contributions to the world have the muslims made??

USF’s Privett to discuss “The Role of the Catholic University in the Church” at Most Holy Redeemer

2011-09-17T07:51:00.000-07:00

On September 17, Fr. Stephen A. Privett, SJ, President of the (Jesuit) University of San Francisco, will be speaking at San Francisco’s Most Holy Redeemer Church. Fr. Privett’s subject will be “The Role of the Catholic University in the Church.” Exactly what qualifies Fr. Privett to speak authoritatively about a “Catholic” University is not immediately apparent. The ostensible qualification would be Privett’s presidency of USF, but Catholicness is not a defining trait of the University of San Francisco--and there is no sign that it is desired to be. Under Fr. Privett’s tenure, USF has moved to relegate Catholicism to just another among an aggregate of beliefs, theories, or values.

The very word Catholic no longer appears on the University’s homepage. Wiccan/Pagan holidays appear next to Christian holidays on the “Holy Days” calendar of the University’s Campus Ministry. The Director of the Catholic Studies Minor is the Reverend Vincent Pizzuto, who abandoned his Catholic faith and had himself ordained a priest in the Celtic Catholic Church. The attitude toward Catholicism was crystallized with the 2008 removal of confessionals from the university’s church, St. Ignatius. The confessionals were replaced with an art gallery. Fr. Privett himself removed any doubt on how USF views itself while discussing USF’s new logo and tagline on August 18: “We want the University of San Francisco to be the heart and soul of the city: to serve as a voice of reason tempered by compassion and driven by values.”

Pope Benedict himself could not ask for a clearer expression of the dictatorship of relativism. The statement is empty: whatever content it acquires will be “driven by values.” But what are “values”?

“Values” or “value judgments” as professor Eric Voegelin pointed out in 1947, “…were not part of the philosophical vocabulary before the second half of the nineteenth century. The notion of a value-judgment is meaningless in itself; it gains its meaning from a situation in which it is opposed to judgments concerning facts.” That opposition was created through the belief “..that only propositions concerning facts of the phenomenal world were ‘objective,’ while judgments concerning the right order of soul and society were ‘subjective’…incapable of critical verification and therefore devoid of objective validity.” But such a classification, according to Voegelin “…could be accepted only by thinkers who did not master the classic and Christian science of man. For neither classic nor Christian ethics and politics contain ‘value-judgments’ but elaborate, empirically and critically, the problems of order which derive from philosophical anthropology as part of a general ontology.”

If we accept Voegelin's judgement, Privett’s replacement of truth with “values” indicates either an inability, or more likely, an unwillingness to “master the classic and Christian science of man.” Not because it is difficult—Privett is surely a superbly educated man—but because that science actually gives answers, some of which may be hard to accept.

But the puzzle of why it is Fr. Privett, of all people, who should be discussing “the role of the Catholic University in the Church” is solved once one remembers where, of all places, the lecture is being held: San Francisco’s Most Holy Redeemer. There are of course a number of ties between the two institutions, which we have documented thoroughly on our sister website "Homosexual Activism in the Archdiocese of San Francisco."

In 2006, MHR hosted the university’s “Queer Perspectives: Is it Ethical to Be Catholic?” seminar, featuring the aforementioned Reverend Vincent Pizzuto. In 2009, MHR was scheduled to host the homosexualist propaganda play “Be Still and Know” performed by the students of Sacred Heart of Atherton. When Archbishop Niederauer was made aware of this, he caused the play to be cancelled. When MHR could not host the play, USF, against the Archbishop’s wishes, allowed the play to be performed at their Presentation Theater. Fr. Donal Godfrey, SJ, author of “Gays and Grays: the Story of the Gay Community at Most Holy Redeemer Parish” served for a time as USF’s Executive Director of University Ministry until last year.

The common denominator at both USF and MHR seems to be that neither is, at bottom, oriented by Catholicism—they see the Church as one part of a larger reality, admirable in some things, useful in some things, but not an authoritative or truth-possessing institution. In fact the Church’s claim to possess truth is seen as itself a problem. Based on the actions of USF combined with the hosting of the event at MHR, we conclude that “The role of the ‘Catholic’ University in the Church ” is seen as: a) to cease being Catholic, and b) to develop theoretical arguments for the undermining of the Church.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Doubts About Brain Death?

2011-09-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

The Catholic Church has long acknowledged the role of the medical professional in declaring death.

It is the proper competency of medicine, not theology, to identify reliable signs that death has occurred. The hardening of the body known as rigor mortis, for example, is a reliable medical indicator that death has occurred. When the heart permanently stops beating and the lungs permanently stop functioning (cessation of cardio-pulmonary function), medical professionals recognize these signs as another reliable way to assess that death has occurred. The complete and irreversible loss of all brain function (commonly known as "brain death,") is yet another reliable way medical professionals determine that a patient has died.

In an August 2000 address, Pope John Paul II took up the particular question of brain death and concluded: "The criterion adopted in more recent times for ascertaining the fact of death, namely the complete and irreversible cessation of all brain activity, if rigorously applied, does not seem to conflict with the essential elements of a sound anthropology." ...

Nevertheless, a certain number of Catholics today insist that brain death is not really death. One moral theologian, for example, recently expressed doubts "that ventilator-sustained brain dead bodies are corpses." Several Catholic physicians have raised similar concerns. As long as thorough and accurate medical testing is performed, however, the Church continues to support the determination of death based on neurological criteria. In addition to Pope John Paul II's address mentioned earlier, a number of other Church documents and declarations affirm this. These include statements from the Pontifical Academy of Life, the Pontifical Council for Healthcare Workers, and the Pontifical Academy for Sciences, among others. In a recent article on the Catholic News Agency website, Dr. John Haas argues that the number and common thread of these ecclesiastical statements in recent years indicates that the teaching authority of the Church has "generally resolved" the question of the acceptability of relying on neurological criteria as a means for ascertaining death.

The fact remains that the Catholic Church to date has expressed no official doubts about brain death, emphasizing instead that a health care worker can use neurological criteria as the basis for arriving at "moral certainty" that death has occurred.

In the face of clear church teaching on this issue, Dr. Haas further observes how it is not responsible for Catholics to generate uncertainty by openly and publicly disputing the suitability of neurological criteria for determining death....

Meanwhile, the Church continues to recognize the generous nature of freely-chosen organ donation, an act Pope John Paul II once called "particularly praiseworthy" and an act which can offer "a chance of health and even of life itself to the sick who sometimes have no other hope."

by FATHER TAD PACHOLCZYK, Director of Education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk is a member of the advisory board of the Catholic Education Resource Center. (CERC)

SF October 15 Rosary Rally: "The Family that Prays Together, Stays Together."

2011-09-12T14:43:00.000-07:00

Here's our story, published in last week's California Catholic Daily, about the October 15 Family Rosary Crusade Rally. The rally will be held in the city's Civic Center Plaza, at 12 noon.

What is really exciting now is how young people are getting involved and how old people are sharing their memories from the 1961 Rally. Check out the Rosary Rally's webpage, and Facebook page.

“Family, family, family”
Excitement builds for Rosary Rally in San Francisco

As the San Francisco Rosary Rally approaches, it is providing a unique opportunity for an intergenerational dialogue to take place among Catholics. The event is provoking a sense of shared Catholic history: a remembrance of history made by the old, and a chance to make history by the young.

The “Family Rosary Crusade 2011,” which will be celebrated on Oct. 15 at 12 noon in San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza, commemorates the 50th Anniversary of Father Patrick Peyton’s 1961 Rosary Rally. The 1961 event, which was held in Golden Gate Park, drew an estimated 550,000 people. It remains the largest gathering in the history of San Francisco, and, for five straight days, made the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle.

As young people look forward to the Rosary Rally with excitement, older Catholics remember their experience at the original rally 50 years ago with fondness. On Sept. 1, EWTN’s “Life on the Rock” provided a full hour of programming on the Rosary Rally. The show included interviews with two high school girls who will be attending the rally, along with Ray Frost, one of the organizers from the Legion of Mary who attended Fr. Payton’s 1961 event, and Eva Muntean, co-founder of the Walk for Life West Coast, who is helping to plan the event. Between interviews, “Life on the Rock” hosts Fr. Mark and Doug Barry showed video clips of Father Peyton at the original 1961 rally.

The two young women who were interviewed, Colleen and Kendall Scullion, are sisters who attend the Convent of the Sacred Heart High School in San Francisco. The hosts asked what attracted them to the event. Colleen said that their father had attended the 1961 rally. He told her that one day in 1961, he answered the door, and there was someone from the Legion of Mary on the stoop who had been going door-to-door inviting people to attend the event. So he and his sisters ended up attending. Colleen said her father could not remember much (he was only 6 at the time) but that the experience of that number of people in one place was overwhelming: chaotic, but a lot of fun.

Kendall Scullion observed how central the family was for Father Peyton. “In doing some research on Fr. Peyton, I found that early on, he had had to leave his family in Ireland to follow his vocation. And then I found that everywhere throughout his ministry the common theme was ‘family, family, family.’ It seems like, with the rosary rally, he was able to find his family again.”

Both young women indicated that they would like to see more outreach toward young people for the event, especially via social media such as Twitter and Facebook. They had not heard of the Rosary Rally until informed by their theology teacher, who was attending World Youth Day. And they noted getting teens to participate requires overcoming some obstacles.

“We feel that kids are shy, they don’t want to be too bold about their faith,” Colleen said. “There is a lot of peer pressure among teens.” But Kendall noted that “if you can get the kids, the parents will follow.”

Ray Frost was 9 years old at the time of the 1961 rally. Frost remembered: “It was easy for us -- we only lived about a mile away from the Polo Fields, so it was an easy walk. The Rosary Rally was a peaceful, wonderful experience, and one that I want to continue. For over 50 years I have looked back on that day, and I want to live it again.”

When asked what he hoped to see from the Family Rosary Crusade 2011, Frost said: “The Crusade is a joint effort of the Legion of Mary, the Knights of Columbus, and Immaculate Heart Radio. The first thing we did was to get the blessing of Archbishop Niederauer for the event, which he gave. As we know, our archbishop has some health issues now -- let us all pray for him! We are not sure if he will be able to attend the rally, but we hope he can. We all know that Our Blessed Mother has asked us, quite directly, to pray the rosary every day. She promises us that if we do that peace and tranquility will come. My personal hope is that the rosary rally will generate a new and fresh love for the rosary. In 1961 it produced a great spirit. If we go to Our Lady, she will help us! The Legion of Mary is delivering pledge cards to all the parishes in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, asking families to pledge to say the rosary together as many times a week as they can. As Father Peyton said ‘The family that prays together, stays together.’”

"What does family mean to these children?" Sperm Donor Keeps Track of His Children "on an Excel spreadsheet"

2011-09-08T20:43:00.000-07:00

So reports the New York Times in a story published on Tuesday. It's more insanity brought to us courtesy of the culture of death:

"One Sperm Donor, 150 Sons and Daughters"

Cynthia Daily and her partner used a sperm donor to conceive a baby seven years ago, and they hoped that one day their son would get to know some of his half siblings — an extended family of sorts for modern times.

So Ms. Daily searched a Web-based registry for other children fathered by the same donor and helped to create an online group to track them. Over the years, she watched the number of children in her son’s group grow.

And grow.

Today there are 150 children, all conceived with sperm from one donor, in this group of half siblings, and more are on the way.... "

The article then highlights the genetic dangers of having, unknowingly so many brothers and sisters. It continues:

"Ms. Kramer, the registry’s founder, said that one sperm donor on her site learned that he had 70 children. He now keeps track of them all on an Excel spreadsheet. 'Every once in a while he gets a new kid or twins,' she said. 'It’s overwhelming, and not what he signed up for. He was promised low numbers of children.'"

The Times then considers the effects this has on the children, and asks "What does family mean to these children?"

"Experts are not certain what it means to a child to discover that he or she is but one of 50 children — or even more. 'Experts don’t talk about this when they counsel people dealing with infertility,' Ms. Kramer said. 'How do you make connections with so many siblings? What does family mean to these children?'”

George Washington statue is hidden at the MLK rally

2011-09-07T11:00:00.000-07:00

The annual MLK observance at the state house in Columbia SC had an interesting
twist this year. The event is held on the north side steps of the statehouse.
Prominent at that location is a large bronze statue of George Washington.
This year, the NAACP constructed a "box" to conceal the father of our country
from view so that participants would not be 'offended' by his presence.
I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw this picture of the MLK Day rally in Columbia, South Carolina.

This rally was sponsored by the NAACP and they said that they covered the statue because they "didn't want to offend anyone". Really? George Washington is the father of this nation. How is he offensive to anyone?

Can you imagine what would happen if we covered the statue of Dr. Martin L. King on President's Day? or is only the statue of a 'white guy' offensive ??
Of course, this display of anti-Americanism wasn't covered at all by the
national media (surprise, surprise !!), and the local paper in Columbia only
ran a short piece on it. It has been covered a little by the blog-world but
I think the word needs to get out to the general public that this is what the
NAACP is all about...militant and (most definitely) racist.

Breaking: SF Chronicle Says CA Supreme Court Will Support Prop 8 Plaintiffs Standing

2011-09-06T16:54:00.000-07:00

It seems like a no-brainer, but as California more and more resembles a one-party banana republic state, you never know. Here's the story from the San Francisco Chronicle:

09-06) 15:41 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- The California Supreme Court signaled today that it won't stand in the way of a showdown in federal court over the state's ban on same-sex marriage.

At a hearing in San Francisco, all seven justices, including newly confirmed Justice Goodwin Liu, appeared to agree with sponsors of the voter-approved Proposition 8 that they had the right to appeal a federal judge's decision declaring the 2008 ballot measure unconstitutional.

When Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled in August 2010 that Prop. 8 violated the rights of gays and lesbians to marry their chosen partners, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown declined to appeal. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals then asked the state's highest court whether the initiative's sponsors, a conservative religious coalition called Protect Marriage, had the right to represent the state's interests in an appeal.

If the California court, the highest authority on the meaning of state law, concluded that only state officials could appeal Walker's ruling, the federal court probably would dismiss the appeal and allow same-sex couples to marry, at least until a county clerk or someone else affected by the change filed a new suit.

But the court left little doubt about its intentions at today's one-hour hearing.

"Is there any authority for the governor and attorney general to second-guess the majority of Californians?" asked Justice Ming Chin....

Read the whole thing.

The Proposition 8 legal team is totally outfunded by the oppostion. Give 'em some money!

You can donate here: http://www.protectmarriage.com/

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Update on Archbishop Niederauer's Condition

2011-09-06T16:31:00.000-07:00

From the September 9 edition of Catholic San Francisco:

Archbishop Niederauer released from hospital; recovery progressing
By George Raine

San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer, who underwent cardiac double bypass surgery Aug. 29 at a hospital in Long Beach, was released over the weekend.

He is recuperating in Southern California, and the recuperation is on schedule and in line with the expectations of his physicians, according to the archdiocese.

“The archbishop has expressed his deep appreciation for the prayers of the priests, deacons, religious and laity of the archdiocese,” the archdiocese said in a statement.

After experiencing some chest discomfort during the Aug. 27-28 weekend, Archbishop Niederauer, 75, was taken to the emergency room of a Long Beach hospital on Aug. 28 by Cardinal William Levada, the archdiocese said. They had been in the final days of their vacation in Southern California. The archbishop was given an angiogram and his doctors recommended he stay overnight at the hospital for observation.

On Aug. 29, at the recommendation of his cardiologists, the archbishop underwent successful cardiac double bypass surgery.

On Sept. 1 employees of the archdiocesan Pastoral Center attended a special Mass, organized and celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop William J. Justice, to pray for Archbishop Niederauer’s quick recovery.

Archbishop Niederauer was ordained to the priesthood April 30, 1962, for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He was appointed eighth bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City Nov. 3, 1994, by Pope John Paul II and ordained to the episcopate Jan. 25, 1995. Archbishop Niederauer was named eighth archbishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco by Pope Benedict XVI Dec. 15, 2005.

Archbishop George Niederauer celebrated his 75th birthday June 14. The same day, he sent a letter to Pope Benedict XVI in accordance with Canon Law 401, Sec. 1, which states, “A diocesan bishop who has completed the 75th year of age is requested to present his resignation from office to the Supreme Pontiff, who will make provision after he has examined all the circumstances.”

We are heartened to hear of His Excellencies good progess and will continue to pray for him!

Wise Words on Being an American

2011-09-05T16:54:00.000-07:00

This short speech on what is special about being an American, by Professor Robert George at the Princeton Forum earler today, is superb.

One of the innumerable diasters caused by legalized abortion is how it denies, legally, the right to life, and thus undercuts the basic political agreement that created America.

SF Archdiocesan Respect Life Conference to Address End-of-Life Issues

2011-09-05T12:09:00.000-07:00

Conference Highlights Dangers of Some Advanced Healthcare Directives

On September 10, 2011, the Archdiocese of San Francisco will host its annual Archdiocesan Respect Life Conference & Public Policy Breakfast in St. Francis Hall at St. Mary’s Cathedral. Speakers will include well-known pro-life advocates such as Dr. Wesley Smith, who will tell attendees “What’s New in the World of Euthanasia?” Msgr. James Tarantino, vicar for administration for the Archdiocese of San Francisco will open the conference in prayer.

In addition to Dr. Smith, Canonist, nurse and scholar Marie Hilliard of the National Catholic Bioethics Center will speak on “Today’s End of Life Issues: Choices and Dangers.” Finally, Ms. Dana Cody, an attorney with the Life Legal Defense Foundation and Ms. Vicki Evans, Respect Life coordinator for the Archdiocese of San Francisco will facilitate a workshop titled “Are All Medical Directives Created Equal?” Ms. Evans (pictured above at the 2011 "Walk for Life West Coast") spoke with "A Shepherd's Voice" about the conference:

“The conference will address the decisions that individuals and families have to make when faced with end-of-life issues. These come up when a person or family member is elderly, and is reaching the end of his or her natural life, but they can also come up, tragically, when an accident or some other unforeseen event occurs. I get a good number of calls from Catholics who are unsure as to what Catholic teaching on end-of- life issues really is. People want to know what the Church teaches about assisted nutrition and hydration, about the use of ventilators, and about ‘do not resuscitate’ orders. Most are not clear about what Catholic teaching about aid in dying really is, what compassion toward the dying really is, and how it differs from widespread secular ideas on the subject.”

“Wesley Smith will be our keynote speaker. He will speak during breakfast. He’s so entertaining and yet so wise and conversant with end-of life issues. He will appropriately scare us with the latest developments around this subject.”

“The heart of the conference will be the address by Dr. Marie Hilliard: ‘Today’s End of Life Issues: Choices and Dangers.’ Dr. Hilliard holds graduate degrees in Maternal-Child Health Nursing, Religious Studies, Canon Law and Professional Higher Education Administration. She also has years of practical experience as registered nurse.”

“We will end with an important session on the uses and dangers of advanced directives: ‘Are All Medical Directives Created Equal?,’ led by attorney Dana Cody and me. It is very important that people know how to properly fill them out and also what the dangers are. There is an excellent Advance Healthcare Directive that has been prepared by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. It incorporates Catholic teaching, and I highly recommend it. It can be downloaded from our website.”

“A very real danger today these days is the POLST document. That’s an acronym for ‘Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment.’ That’s a very dangerous document because it is binding on both the patient and the physician. Once executed, it becomes a permanent part of the patient’s electronic medical record. It is definitely something to avoid.”

The conference begins at 9AM on Saturday, September 10.

To learn more, to register or to download the Advance Healthcare Directive recommended by Ms. Evans, go to http://www.sflifeandjustice.org/end_of_life_issues

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

AB 499 "One of the most egregious violations of parental rights" Passes Senate

2011-09-02T11:59:00.000-07:00

The insanity of California's government continues.

On August 31, Assembly Bill 499, passed the California Senate. AB 499 was introduced by Assemblywoman Toni Atkins (D-SD). Ms. Atkins is a same-sex "married" open homosexual. AB 499 would allow children 12 years and older to be vaccinated for contagious and specifically venereal diseases without the consent of their parents.

Here is a message and action alert from Bill May, Chariman of Catholics for the Common Good:

SACRAMENTO, CA, September 1, 2011--AB 499, the bill that permits 12 year old children to give consent without their parents' knowledge for vaccines or other medication to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, passed the CA Senate yesterday on a 22-17 vote. The Governor could take action on the bill any time between September 9 and October 9. Ask the governor to veto AB 499.

ACTION

Flood the governor's office with phone calls and letters.

Please veto AB 499. It is bad healthcare policy, and an attack on the rights of parents and the rights of children to have the protection and guidance of their parents.

Besides, the state cannot afford expenditures for a new healthcare program, particularly one that is not needed and not wanted.

•Governor Jerry Brown
c/o State Capitol, Suite 1173
Sacramento, CA 95814

Phone: (916) 445-2841
Fax: (916) 558-3160

•Visit CCG's Facebook page and share the posting about this bill with your Facebook friends.

•And, most importantly, pray.

This bill is one of the most egregious violations of parental rights, next to the right to provide abortions for minors without parent knowledge. If it passes, parents will have no right to decide whether or not their child will receive vaccinations that could jeopardize their health. Additionally, children will be approached by Planned Parenthood and other adults encouraging them to be vaccinated to prepare them to become sexually active.

AB 499 is an outrage that must be stopped, but it will take a massive public outcry to do it.

Please ask the governor to veto AB 499 today. It is critical to get others to call as well.

This bill is an end run by the pharmaceutical giant Merck to push their vaccine, Gardasil, on California children at taxpayer's expense. A major public outcry in 2007 killed an effort to make the vaccinations mandatory when Merck proposed it then.

Now, if AB 499 becomes law, children as young as 12 years old will face coercion from adults motivated by profit or other agendas to receive vaccines that they don't need and could be harmful.

•The Center for Disease Control has reported deaths of 51 girls and 2 boys after being administered Gardasil, just one of the vaccines covered by this bill. There are many more reports of children maimed for life from the drug. (See http://truthaboutgardasil.org/.) Children are not equipped to evaluate risks and stand up to pressure from adults without the support of their parents.

•Former Merck researcher, Dr. Diane Harper says, “It is silly to mandate vaccination of 11- to 12-year-old girls... There also is not enough evidence gathered on side effects to know that safety is not an issue."

It is time for parents and anyone who cares about the welfare of California’s children to mobilize," said CCG Chair William B. May. "Let’s flood the governor's office with phone calls and letters. Governor Jerry Brown to veto AB 499. It is bad healthcare policy, and an attack on the rights of parents and the rights of children to have the protection and guidance of their parents."

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Archbishop Niederauer Recovering Well

2011-09-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

An update on His Excellency's condition from George Wesolek of the Archdiocese of San Francisco:

"Archbishop George Niederauer is making good progress after undergoing cardiac double by-pass surgery last Monday, August 29, according to a report relayed by Auxiliary Bishop Justice. The Archbishop continues his recovery where he was hospitalized in Long Beach. All signs are positive, according to his doctors.

The Archbishop has expressed his deep appreciation for the prayers of the Priests, Deacons, Religious and Laity of the Archdiocese."

Bishop Justice adds that the Archbishop "...is not able to accept calls or visits, and there froe he has asked that I convey for him his deep appreciation for your prayers."

Pray for Archbishop Niederauer!

2011-08-29T17:51:00.000-07:00

His Excellency had to have double-bypass surgery this morning. He was vacationing in Southern California with his long-time friend Cardinal William Levada.

From Catholic San Francisco:

Archbishop Niederauer recovering from heart surgery
August 29th, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 29 -- After experiencing some chest discomfort over the weekend, San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer was taken to the emergency room at Long Beach Memorial Hospital Aug. 28 by Cardinal William Levada, the archdiocese announced. They had been in the final days of their vacation in Southern California. The archbishop was given an angiogram and his doctors recommended he stay overnight at the hospital for observation.

This morning, at the recommendation of his cardiologists, the archbishop underwent successful cardiac double bypass surgery. Cardinal Levada has relayed the doctors’ report that Archbishop Niederauer is doing well and is in good condition in the intensive care unit at Long Beach Memorial. "We are encouraged by this initial report," the archdiocese said in a statement. "However, the doctors have informed us that the next 24 hours are critical. Prayers are requested from the priests, deacons, religious and laity of the archdiocese."

Dear Lord, be with His Excellency and may he recover soon!

Support Prop 8: Go To www.protectmarriage.com

2011-08-22T20:45:00.000-07:00

On September 6, the California Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on whether anybody has standing to defend Proposition 8, passed by you, the voters, in 2008.

At last years trial, both the Governor and Attorney General of the state refused to do their jobs and defend the majority-passed initiative. They left the citizens of California in the lurch and so the citizens stepped up.

But behold: the enemies of marriage said the citizens did not have a right to defend their own case. That's what the CA Supreme Court will decide: whether the people have a right to defend their own laws or whether a special interest can override self-government in the state of California.

Of course, the special interest has the money--that's what makes them special.

But YOU can help. Go to http://www.protectmarriage.com/ and make a donation to help preserve marriage in the state of California!

Florida Teacher Supports Marriage; School Suspends Him

2011-08-22T17:29:00.001-07:00

"A central Florida teacher faces disciplinary action following reports that he posted comments blasting same-sex marriage on his personal Facebook page."--Washington Post.

Nobody should be surprised. When you embrace non-reality, as supporters of counterfeit "marriage" do, you have to do things like this. The embracing of non-reality engenders totalitarianism, because once you embrace non-reality you can never let truth, which challenges the non-reality, have a hearing. And since truth is everywhere, you end up having to censor or lie about everything.

A perfect example is given in an article in the Orlando Sentinel by a woman named Lauren Ritchie, which is subheaded "Jerry Buell, Mount Dora teacher of the year, posted on Facebook that homosexuals make him want to vomit."

Now, as a simple matter of fact Mr. Buell never said anything like that. It is a flat-out lie. It's good to see a number of the commentors on Ms. Ritchie's column called her on it. But, as we say, nobody should be surprised.

There is a Facebook page supporting Mr. Buell here.