Infanticide: Obamacare Italian Style

Shades of Barack Obama. Horrifying story out of Italy, via LifeNews:

Baby Boy Survived Abortion, Lived Two Days After Doctors Left Him to Die

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 28, 2010

"Florence, Italy. A 22-week old disabled boy survived an abortion attempt in southern Italy, but doctors left him to die afterwards and he survived for two days before passing away. The boy's mother was pregnant for the first time but decided to have an abortion after prenatal scans suggested the unborn child was disabled.

The London Telegraph says the abortion was done at the Rossano Calabria hospital but the baby survived the procedure.

Father Antonio Martello, the hospital chaplain, discovered the baby alive the next day -- about 20 hours after the abortion was reportedly completed.

Martello had wanted to pray over the baby but the newspaper indicates he found the child wrapped in a sheet with his umbilical cord still attached and he was moving and breathing.

After the Catholic priest notified doctors, they moved the baby to a specialist neonatal unit at another hospital for treatment -- but the child eventually died on Monday morning."

This is just about identical to what Jill Stanek discovered when working at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn Illinois:"

"It is not uncommon for a live aborted baby to linger for an hour or two or even longer. At Christ Hospital one of these babies lived for almost an entire eight-hour shift. Some of the babies aborted are healthy, because Christ Hospital will also abort for life or "health" of the mother, and also for rape or incest.

In the event that an aborted baby is born alive, she or he receives "comfort care," defined as keeping the baby warm in a blanket until s/he dies."

Stanek's testimony was instrumental in the passage of the Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act. But that soul-shattering testimony left at least one member of the Illinois legislature completely unmoved:

"Thrice in the Illinois legislature, Obama helped block a bill that was designed solely to protect the life of infants already born, and outside the womb, who had miraculously survived the attempt to kill them during an abortion. Thrice, Obama voted to let doctors and nurses allow these tiny human beings die of neglect and be tossed out with the medical waste."

It is horribly ironic that President Obama, who claims it is a moral imperative to extend health isurance to every person, actually voted against mandating the provision of medical treatment to a dying baby. How any American, let alone any Catholic, could vote for such a man is beyond me.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Brick by brick...Choose Life!

Good news from Italy:

"Nearly 70 percent of Italian gynecologists now refuse to perform abortions on moral grounds and the number is increasing, a report by the country's ministry of health said Tuesday.
Abortion was legalised in 1978 in Italy but pressure from the Vatican -- which is strongly opposed to abortion -- enabled doctors to claim a "conscientious objection" clause and refuse to carry out terminations.

Between 2003 and 2007 the number of gynecologists claiming the conscience clause to avoid carrying out abortions rose from 58.7 percent to 69.2 percent, according to the report"

H/t "We the People"

Posted by Gibbons

"Human Rights" Court Forces Church to Hire Adulterer

They are trying, anyway. From Catholic Culture:

"A European court has ruled that a German Catholic diocese cannot terminate the employment of a church musician who left his wife to live with another woman.

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg upheld the complaint of Bernhard Schueth, a music director at a parish in the Essen diocese. The European court ruled that German courts had erred in their findings that the diocese was justified in dismissing Schueth. Diocesan officials pointed to an employment contract under which Schueth, like other parish employees, had made a commitment to uphold the teachings of the Catholic Church."

Catholic Culture links to Ekklesia, which provides more information. The adulterous musician lost his job in 1997, and has been suing the Church for 13 years, each time rebuffed by a German court:

"ENInews reports that the European court ruled on 23 September 2010 in favour of a church musician from the diocese of Essen, in western Germany, who lost his job in 1997 after separating from his wife and forming another relationship.

In the last 13 years, church organist and choirmaster Bernhard Schueth has fought a protracted legal battle in his country. Time and again, Germany's courts have ruled in favour of the parish of Sankt Lambertus because Schueth, like all employees of Catholic Church institutions, had to sign a pledge to uphold the values of the church.

In separating from his wife and in forming a relationship with another woman, German courts ruled that Schueth was in breach of contract with the church even though he is not divorced.

The court found that the German labour courts had "failed to weigh Schueth's rights against those of the church employer in a compatible manner [with the European Convention on Human Rights]."

What with having to pay off the debts of their less thrifty neighbors, I hope the Germans will soon have had enough of the EU. This case reminds me of the 2009 case in Italy, where the EU ordered Italy to remove crucifixes from the classroom, caused the Italians to say "CHI VI CREDETE DI ESSERE!" (I know a more apt phrase in Italian, but Fr. Malloy would excommunicate me.) That case is currently under appeal.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Italians to European Union: "CHI VI CREDETE DI ESSERE!"

Or: Who do you think you are?


The decision by a court of the European Union to order Italian schools to remove the crucifix from classrooms is producing some happy results. How our Lord turns all things to good! On November 10, Antonio Gaspari published an article in Zenit.org called "In Defense of the Crucifix, Italy Awakens!" Signor Gaspari reports on the response that is sweeping Italy, with just a few examples (translating from Italian):

• In Montecchio Maggiore in the province of Vicenza, Mayor Milena Cecchetto and the council bought and installed a one-meter high crucifix in city hall.

• In Cittadella in the province of Padua, Mayor Massimo Bitonci placed an ancient wooden cross in city hall.

• In Florence, city councilwoman Mark Cordone visited a clssroom with "a flashy crucifix" around her neck and a t-shirt saying "do not touch the crucifix!"

• In Leonessa in the province of Rieti, Mayor Paolo Trancassini signed an order forcing all classrooms to display the crucifix.

• In Piacenza, Mayor Fabio Callori did the same.

• In Gavirate, a businessman named Giorgio Feraboli got together with his employees and they spent $1,200 Euros to build and install a twenty foot high cross in the factory courtyard. They also added lighting so it could be seen at night.

• In Tuscany, a students organization contructed 100 crucifixes and placed them in every classroom.

• The Archbishop of Bologna said to remove the crucifix is to remove "the chance to marvel at man's dignity and a sure sign the barbarians have returned."

These insane actions of the EU will end up forcing Europeans to start thinking about Christianity again. Lovely to see the devil's tools being used against him!

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Spe Salvi

The Holy Father has issued today his promised letter SPE SALVI - SAVED BY HOPE
It’s a wonderful document and here is a beautiful example he gives in the introduction:

The example of a saint of our time can to some degree help us understand what it means to have a real encounter with this God for the first time. I am thinking of the African Josephine Bakhita, canonized by Pope John Paul II. She was born around 1869-she herself did not know the precise date-in Darfur in Sudan.

At the age of nine, she was kidnapped by slave-traders, beaten till she bled, and sold five times in the slave-markets of Sudan. Eventually she found herself working as a slave for the mother and the wife of a general, and there she was flogged every day till she bled; as a result of this she bore 144 scars throughout her life.

Finally, in 1882, she was bought by an Italian merchant for the Italian consul Callisto Legnani, who returned to Italy as the Mahdists advanced. Here, after the terrifying "masters" who had owned her up to that point, Bakhita came to know a totally different kind of "master"-in Venetian dialect, which she was now learning, she used the name "paron" for the living God, the God of Jesus Christ. Up to that time she had known only masters who despised and maltreated her, or at best considered her a useful slave.

Now, however, she heard that there is a "paron" above all masters, the Lord of all lords, and that this Lord is good, goodness in person. She came to know that this Lord even knew her, that he had created her-that he actually loved her. She too was loved, and by none other than the supreme "Paron", before whom all other masters are themselves no more than lowly servants. She was known and loved and she was awaited. What is more, this master had himself accepted the destiny of being flogged and now he was waiting for her "at the Father's right hand".

Now she had "hope" -no longer simply the modest hope of finding masters who would be less cruel, but the great hope: "I am definitively loved and whatever happens to me-I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is good." Through the knowledge of this hope she was "redeemed", no longer a slave, but a free child of God.

She understood what Paul meant when he reminded the Ephesians that previously they were without hope and without God in the world-without hope because without God. Hence, when she was about to be taken back to Sudan, Bakhita refused; she did not wish to be separated again from her "Paron". On 9 January 1890, she was baptized and confirmed and received her first Holy Communion from the hands of the Patriarch of Venice.

On 8 December 1896, in Verona, she took her vows in the Congregation of the Canossian Sisters and from that time onwards, besides her work in the sacristy and in the porter's lodge at the convent, she made several journeys round Italy in order to promote the missions: the liberation that she had received through her encounter with the God of Jesus Christ, she felt she had to extend, it had to be handed on to others, to the greatest possible number of people. The hope born in her which had "redeemed" her she could not keep to herself; this hope had to reach many, to reach everybody.

Climate Change?

VERONA, Italy, JAN. 10, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The 2010 edition of the traditional Papal message for the World Day of Peace, presented [Dec. 15] by Cardinal Renato Martino, was much anticipated.

In the countries of north-central Europe, and especially in Germany, Benedict XVI's encyclical "Caritas in Veritate" was the object of severe criticism, precisely in regard to the question of the environment, and particularly with regard to climate change.

So it was logical to look forward to the message for this year's World Day of Peace dedicated to the theme "If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation."Benedict XVI did not miss the opportunity to restate his teaching and, thus, probably upsetting once again all those who tend to weigh down ideological themes with excessive ideological burdens.

The central point of the message is, in my opinion, a passage from paragraph 13, where the Pope says that "a correct understanding of the relationship between man and the environment will not end by absolutizing nature or by considering it more important than the human person.

"The Church, he continues, expresses misgivings "about notions of the environment inspired by ecocentrism and biocentrism," because it eliminates the difference between man and other living things, favoring an "egalitarian vision of the 'dignity' of all living creatures.

"This thus gives rise to a new pantheism with neo-pagan accents which "would see the source of man's salvation in nature alone, understood in purely naturalistic terms." According to the Church, man has "the role of a steward and administrator," a role which he must not abuse nor abdicate. "In the same way, the opposite position, which would absolutize technology and human power, results in a grave assault not only on nature, but also on human dignity itself.

"Benedict XVI does not deny that environmental questions have an impact on poverty, nor that they demand a profound rethinking of the model of development, nor that they imply a consideration of the importance of a greater moderation, but he re-proposes the conviction that if there is not a rethinking of humanity about itself, and if it does not return to see in nature a discourse about us (it is precisely "creation" and not a pile of stones) it will not succeed in acquiring a new moral responsibility even before it works out a new politics.Both those who do not value material nature and those who respect it more than man as if it were something divine in itself, in the end do not read the message and do not gain wisdom. Fundamentally, both are narrowly technical attitudes.
By Archbishop Giampaolo Crepaldi

Maria Goretti in North Beach?

I just finished reading read a short novel, manuscript edition, entitled "Lilies Also Grow in America" The auther is Tom Layton of Simi Valley, California

The setting is North Beach all the way. The time period is 1984 to 2006 with SS Peter & Paul’s pastor and a former pastor in minor roles.

The story, in the words of the author, is a fictional account of the true story of St. Maria Goretti and her murderer, set in 1984 San Francisco. The factional characters and essential elements of the historical event are presented. The American Maria Goretti of 1984 is the Italian Maria Goretti of 1902. The Italian Serenelli of 1902 is the American Serenelli of 1984.

Why did the author choose North Beach as the setting for the tale? For two reasons (1) Maria was baptized in the Church of San Francisco in Corinaldo, Italy, where she was born and (2) because of the Italian influence found in San Francisco’s North Beach area.

The novel is an easy read. The martyrdom of Maria Goretti and her heroic virtue present a compelling story, with a powerful lesson for young people of today. St. Maria Goretti is a saint for our times and devotion to her strongly promotes an appreciation for purity of heart and body, in a world which needs repair from the sexual revolution which has done so much damage to our city and country.

What can we do?

That's what many of you have asked after seeing the scandalous newspaper stories, photos, and video, about the goings on in our Archdiocese. Well, let the Archbishop and his fellow prelates hear you!

Forward the Where are we Going? and "How did we get Here?!" posts to Archbishop Niederauer.

Download the videos of the parades from Quamdiu Domine and forward them. Please make sure to include a caution as to their obscenity.

Forward them to his Assistant Bishop, Ignatius Wang.

Forward them to Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Papal Nuncio to the USA

Forward them to George Wesolek, Director of the "Public Policy and Social Concerns" department of the Archdiocese of San Franciaco.

Forward them to the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith

To write: download this PDF (8 megs), and mail it to:

US Nunciature Archbishop Pietro Sambi
3339 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W,
Washington, DC 20008
Telephone: (202) 333-7121Fax: (202) 337-4036

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Piazza del S. Uffizio,
11, 00193 Roma, Italy
Telephone: 06.69.88.33.57 or 06.69.88.34.13
Fax: 06.69.88.34.09

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco
One Peter Yorke Way
San Francisco, CA 94109
Telephone: (415) 614-5500

Remember "Victory Comes to those who fight!"

Who Are the Poor?

Robert Rector of The Heritage Foundation is a national authority on poverty and the U.S. welfare system. Specializing in welfare reform and family breakdown, Rector has done extensive research on the economic and social costs of welfare.

This post reflects some of his comments on this burning issue:

John Edwards and others lament that 37 million Americans struggle with incredible poverty every day.When such a statement is made the average citizen is led to believe that one in eight do not have enough money for adequate, food or shelter or clothing.

With presidential candidates of a certain hue decrying the suffering of the 37 million Americans who have been officially classified as poor by the U.S. Census Bureau, Rector was asked if these poor people are really as poverty-stricken as we have been led to believe:

Q: You say it is not so simple or accurate to think of them as truly poor. What do you mean?

A, When you look at the people John Edwards and others insist are poor, what you find is that the overwhelming majority of them have cable television, have air conditioning, have microwaves, have two color TVs; 45 percent of them own their own homes, which are typically three-bedroom homes with 1{1/2} baths in very good recondition. On average, poor people who live in either apartments or in houses are not crowded and actually have more living space than the average person living in European countries, such as France, Italy or England.

Also, a lot of people believe that poor people are malnourished. But in fact when you look at the average nutriment intake of poor children, it is virtually indistinguishable from upper-middle-class children. In fact, poor kids by the time they reach age 18 or 19 are taller and heavier than the average middle-class teenagers in the 1950s at the time of Elvis. And the boys, when they reach 18, are a full one inch taller and 10 pounds heavier than the GIs storming the beaches of Normandy. It’s pretty hard to accomplish that if you are facing chronic food shortages throughout your life.

If you are looking at people who do not have adequate warm, dry apartments that are in good repair, and don’t have enough food to feed their kids, you’re probably looking at one family in 100, not one family in eight.

Since the beginning of the War on Poverty we have now spent over 11 trillion dollars.

Q: Where did that money go -- and who got it?

A: Basically, we have spent a lot of money but we spent money in such a way that we displaced the work effort of the poor, so that we did not get very much net increase in income. Rather than bringing people’s incomes up, what we’ve done is supplanted work with welfare. What you need to do in order to truly get improvements is to create a welfare system that requires work and encourages marriage so that the recipient is moving toward self-sufficiency while receiving aid, rather than receiving aid in lieu of his own work efforts.

Q: Who are these “truly poor” and where do they live?

A: Generally, they will be families that have a whole lot of behavioral issues in addition to mere economic issues -- possibly drug problems, mental problems, certainly very low work effort, probably unmarried mothers and so forth. They would be spread around the country. Very few of them are elderly. Even though the elderly appear to have low incomes, they are not likely to lack food or to have a hole in their roof or things like that.

Q: Is there any single reason why the “official poor” are poor?

A: If you look at the official poor, particularly at children who are officially in poverty, there are two main reasons for that. One is that their parents don’t work much. Typically in a year, poor families with children will have about 16 hours of adult work per week in the household. If you raised that so that you had just one adult working full time, 75 percent of those kids would immediately be raised out of poverty.

The second major reason that children are poor is a single parenthood in the absence of marriage. Close to two-thirds of all poor children live in single-parent families. What we find is that if a never-married mother married the father of her children, again, about 70 percent of them would immediately be raised out of poverty. Most of these men who are fathers without being married in fact have jobs and have a fairly good capacity to support a family.

Rest In Peace!

Cardinal Alfons Maria Stickler, Salesian, died yesterday in the Vatican.
He was 97, and was made a bishop in 1983. He was Vatican Librarian.

I had the good fortune to have him as my professor of Canon Law when he taught at the Salesian University in Turin, Italy, which takes us back to 1946-50, before he moved to the Vatican.

He was chosen as a Cardinal in 1985.

I considered him a beloved professor and good friend and visited him several times at the Vatican, and accompanied him on one of his California trips, when he brought some art from the Vatican library for a local exhibition.

Pray for his happy repose.

Don Bosco Is Here!

The relics of the Salesian Founder, St. John Bosco, arrived at Saints Peter and Paul at about 2:00 AM on Sunday morning. We had anticipated an 11:30 PM arrival, but a tie-up in customs at the U.S./Mexican border caused the delay.

Over 100 people joyfully waited in and in front of the Church. Inside we prayed the rosary and listened as our elderly Salesians shared stories of how they were first attracted to the priesthood and the Salesians. The children of the Salesian Boys' and Girls' club, who were having a sleep-over, led us in the Glorious Mysteries of the rosary. When we found out about the delay in the relics' arrival, Brother Thien set up a screen and played part of the "Don Bosco: Mission to Love" movie.

Outside the church was just as much fun. We had searchlights playing around the facade and crosses on the steeples, which generated a lot of interest. Those familiar with North Beach on a Saturday night will understand that we attracted a diverse crowd! But they were all respectful, if not all completely sober, and it gave us a chance to share the story of the Salesians and our founder with new people. One guy loved one of the Knights of Columbus, in full regalia, and inststed on getting his picture taken with him. He took one with me, too. A girl from Italy asked what was going on, and we told her it was for Don Bosco, she said "Don Bosco!" and before you know it she was inside praying for Divine Mercy. I met three young men--students at the Academy of Art, an illustrator, and architecture student, and a film student. Great young men--interesting and interested.

The delay at customs was not the only hitch. The heght of the stairs at Saints Peter and Paul proved to be too great for the wheel ramps from the truck. They would only reach to about the fifth step below the level of the church. The reliquary weighs 1800 pounds. What to do? Strong men who were awaiting the relic gathered around:

"One two three DON BOSCO...one two three DON BOSCO...one two three DON BOSCO..." and we got it up the final stairs. Somehow the physical effort combined with the waiting made the moment even more precious.

___________________________________________________________

Sunday Masses were phenomenal. Each Mass was packed as if it was Easter. Catholics from all over, from every ethnic group and walk of life came to honor the good Saint. His Excellency Bishop Ignatius Wang celebrated the 10:15 Cantonese Mass, assisted by Fr. Mario Rosso, Director of SS. Peter and Paul's Chinese Apostolate.


Bishop Wang has been right with us in the trenches at the Walk for Life West Coast from the very beginning, and pro-lifers will never forget it. Fr. Mario went to China when he was only about 15 years old, which would have been in about 1938, and he served there for many years, through the second world war, and the Communist takeover. He loves the Chinese people and they adore him. He speaks beautiful Cantonese and Mandarin, and those who know say his calligraphy is excellent.

__________________________________________________________

The 12:00 PM Mass was celebrated by our school. It also was packed. From 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM, people gathered in the church to venerate the relic and pray the rosary. The Missionaries of Charity were there kneeling in front of the relic as they prayed.


____________________________________________________________

The 5:00 PM Mass, "Don Bosco: Model of Holiness" honored our Salesian Jubilarians--true sons of Don Bosco. Fr. Malloy celebrated 70 years of religious profession , and 60 years as a priest! Confratulations, and thank you, Fr. Malloy!

He was joined by Fr. Armand Oliveri, below, (70 years of profession, 60 years as priest), Fr. Salvatore Giacomini (70 years of profession), and Fr. Mario Rosso (70 years of profession), all from Saints Peter and Paul. All are true sons of Don Bosco, rock solid and full of love.

Right now, Monday morning at 1:00 AM, there are a few people in the church, which is open all night. They are praying and meditating, keeping Don Bosco company. The quietness is nice after all the excitement. Tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM, there will be a Mass for our schoolchioldren and those from other parishes. Then Don Bosco visits our sister Salesian parish, Corpus Christi.

All photos this page courtesy of Monarch Media and Design. To see more pictures of the Relics Celebration, go here.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Where are the Aces?

I read with great disappointment the letter that 7 Bishops’ Conferences sent to the G8 Leaders on May 31st. The letter was signed by the leaders of conferences in Germany, France, England, Japan, the Russian Federation, Canada, and United States. (Italy did not sign.)

The thousand word letter touched on many important issues, all politically correct, with a careful avoidance, it seemed to me, of anything that might be controversial:. “As you prepare to attend the G8 Summit in Germany, we write on behalf of the Bishops’ Conferences of our respective countries to urge you to take bold action on global poverty, health care, climate change and peace and security. We also urge you to work towards greater access to quality education for all.”

A fine beginning as a first statement!

More than one fourth of the letter went on to speak of Africa: education, HIV/AIDS prevention; and healthcare. Proper reference was made, of course, to global climate change and our concern thereof. Then special mention followed concerning Darfur and Sudan; the need to control arms dealing; the illegal exploitation of natural resources.

But as the cards were dealt, where were the Aces: life, marriage, family, and religious liberty?

No mention was made of abortion, same-sex marriages, and immigration problems.

“We urge you to take bold action on healthcare, global poverty, climate change…” say these bishops. Should they not have been more specific?

Peace and justice will come into our world when we all stand up for it in word and action, but it has to begin with respect for life and family.

I quote from John Henry Weston’s article in LifeSite of June 5th:

“What is not said to the G8, what our religious leaders need to stand up and tell them, is that the smallest, weakest, and most discriminated class of humanity - pre-born children - are being slaughtered in your countries and this crime against humanity must stop!

“When people speak out on the environment, poverty, health care, peace and security they are applauded and highly regarded. Raise the spectre of rights of the unborn and protection for the traditional family and you are regarded as a pariah and a simpleton.”

Nice! Italians offer Reparation for Celebration of Sodomy

Church Militant has the story:

Larger turnout than expected

A procession meant to offer reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the offenses of the local gay pride parade was a success. Organized by Committee Bl. Giovanna Scopelli in Reggio Emilia, a lay initiative aimed at repairing the scandal caused by the public celebration of sodomy, about 350 people from all over Italy attended the procession, including dozens of priests, with a notable presence of the young.

The priest leading the procession, Fr. Luigi Moncalero, once again had to explain to the press that they weren't there to hold a counter-protest. "This isn't a protest against the Gay Pride Parade, but a prayer to repair public sin: from the moral point of view, homosexuality is a disorder strongly reprimanded by the Holy Scriptures. To glorify homosexuality means not only to contradict the Bible ... but to invert Nature's natural order."

Read the whole thing.

Will the Holy Father be called a bigot? You bet.

By the disordered standards of this day and time, the Holy Father is a bigot. Why? Because he thinks it best that a child be raised by a mother and a father:

"Pope Francis also spoke about the importance of defending children's right 'to grow in a family with a mother and father able to create a healthy environment for their growth and affective maturity,' which includes 'maturing in relationship to the masculinity and femininity of a father and a mother.'"

It's called reality. His Holiness also took aim at the indoctrination of children in government run (and, scandalously "Catholic") schools:

"Parents have a right to determine the appropriate 'moral and religious education' of their children, he said, and should not be subject to school curriculums that are thinly veiled courses of indoctrination into whatever ideology is strongest at the moment.

The pope said he wonders sometimes whether parents are 'sending a child to school or to a re-education camp' like those run by dictatorial governments."

I don't think he really "wonders" if that's the case. He knows it is, he's just choosing a nice way to say it.

He also reiterated Catholic/Natural Law teaching on abortion, calling it an unspeakable crime:

"Pope Francis on Friday reiterated human life is sacred and inviolable during a meeting with Italy’s Pro-Life Movement (Movimento per la Vita), adding every civil right is based on the 'first and most fundamental right,' the right to life: which is not subordinate to any condition, neither qualitative, nor economic, much less ideological.

The Holy Father said one of the most serious risks of the present age is the divorce between economics and morality, so that as the market gives us every technical innovation, it neglects more and more elementary ethical standards.

'It is must be therefore reiterated the strongest opposition to any direct attack on life, especially innocent and defenseless life, and the unborn child in the womb is the most concrete example of innocence,' said Pope Francis. 'Let us remember the words of the Second Vatican Council: From the moment of its conception, life must be guarded with the greatest care while abortion and infanticide are unspeakable crimes.' ( Gaudium et Spes, 51).

"The Church's Worst Enemies"

From Fr. James Schall, S.J., writing at The Catholic Thing:

The Church's Worst Enemies 

Somewhere back in the 1930s, during the Spanish Civil War, and facing other issues in Germany and Italy, Pius XI asked this very question: 'Who are the Church's most dangerous enemies?' His answer was as follows: 

'The Church's worst persecutors have been her own unfaithful bishops, priests, and religious. Opposition from outside is terrible; it gives us many martyrs. But the Church's worst enemy is her own traitors.' 

Why is this, we wonder? The mission of the Church ad extra has much to do with the witness to the truth by Christians themselves, especially those in high places, both clergy and laity. 

In an analogous manner, John Paul II remarked to European bishops in 1982 that 'the crises of European man and of Europe are crises and temptations of Christianity and of the Church in Europe.' We are wont to think that the drama of the world takes place outside of the redemptive plan of God. It doesn't. 

C. S. Lewis remarked, in Mere Christianity, I think, that the greatest evil we can do is to call what is evil good and what is good evil. It does not matter whether this calling is shrouded in the form of relativism, diversity theory, or the will to power. The effect is the same. 

In the end, we now call, by various sophisticated names, what is evil good. We make laws to justify this reversal of good and evil, which, as such, do not change. We penalize those who hold that the 'thou shalt not's' are correct. ... 

But the key point remains: the "enablers" who justify and make evil possible by their own disordered souls. Repentance remains the only way to stop this reversal, repentance and, as Benedict says, judgment. ... 

When asked why he entered the Church, Chesterton, in a famous passage, replied: 'To get rid of my sins.' 

The New Testament also makes it clear that this riddance of sins is the central purpose of redemption. Christ did not come so much to define what sins were — we have to be pretty obtuse not to have an inkling of what they are — but to forgive them."


FATHER JAMES V. SCHALL, S.J.

Children in Crisis

A report card on the well-being of children, released in February by the UNICEF Innocenti Research Center, sparked off a round of soul-searching, as reported by Fr. John Flynn in a Zenit article. The "Innocenti Report Card 7" is the latest in a series of reports from the United Nations Children's Fund designed to monitor and compare the performance of developed countries in securing the rights of their children.

A UNICEF press release explained that small northern European countries dominated the top rankings. Nevertheless, there wasn't a consistent relationship between the wealth of a country and the child's well-being. Then US and Britain placed low in the rankings.

Christopher Caldwell, writing in Financial Times, observed that the report's section on poverty was misleading. According to the tables, countries such as the United States and Britain suffer more from child poverty than nations such as Greece. In fact, what the report measured was inequality, and not poverty, with results favoring countries with more generous welfare systems and lower levels of immigration. Other commentaries soon argued that if British children are badly off, one of the main causes is the disintegration of family life, something not remedied by more government spending. Both Britain and the United States have in common a higher level of family breakdown than the other countries surveyed, according to Philip Johnston in London's Telegraph newspaper. Johnston observed that the study found substantial evidence that children in single-parent and stepfamilies tend to be worse off than those living with both biological parents. In an accompanying article, Lesley Garner opined that improving child welfare in Britain doesn't mean spending more money, but rather putting children first. This means that parents should spend more time with their kids and build stronger family relationships.

Other measures, ranging from more family meals together, teaching good manners and encouraging more sporting activities are also needed, argued Garner. One critic mentioned one weak link:"policies that encouraged more parents of young children to enter the workplace and put the demands of their careers before the needs of their children." Minette Marrin, writing in the Sunday Times, London, recommended a cultural change, and called for "moral disapprobation" toward single parents and men who abandon their children. Instead of being afraid of being "judgmental," she said, society should disapprove such actions, due to the social problems they cause. The recommendation could also be applied to the USA.

The need to defend the family is also a hot topic in Italy. Earlier this year, the government unveiled a bill that would give legal recognition, and a series of benefits, to cohabiting couples, including those of the same sex. The move sparked off a fierce debate with many Catholic bishops and organizations arguing that the proposed law will undermine family life. Carlo Casini, director of the Italian pro-life group Movimento per la Vita, wrote a book on issues related to family life just prior to the presentation of the current proposal. Casini observes in his book how many people seek legal recognition of same-sex relationships on the grounds of a need to avoid unjust discrimination against homosexuals. Others argue that a man and a woman living in a de facto relationship, and who love each other, are no different from a married couple. Casini comments that answering this challenge to the traditional status of marriage and the family means reflecting on the nature of these institutions. When the Catholic Church, Christians, or political groups defend marriage between a man and a woman, and the resulting family they form, it is not discrimination, or the imposition of religious principles on a modern secular society, according to the pro-life leader. Casini points out that the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights defends the family: "The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the state" (Article 16). In addition, the constitutions of a number of European states specifically mention the family as playing a vital role in society. Protecting marriage and the family falls within the role of the state in promoting the general public good of society, Casini also maintains. If family life fails, then in turn this has a detrimental effect on society and the state.

The Pope has also spoken out repeatedly to defend marriage and the family. Marriage has a truth of its own, based on the "the sexually different reality of the man and of the woman with their profound needs for complementarity, definitive self-giving and exclusivity." "We are well aware that the family founded on marriage is the natural environment in which to bear and raise children and thereby guarantee the future of all of humanity," stated Benedict XVI in an Angelus message. The Pontiff noted that the institution of marriage is in crisis, and that it faces many challenges. "It is consequently necessary to defend, help, safeguard and value it in its unrepeatable uniqueness."

On Feb. 12, addressing the participants in the International Congress on Natural Law sponsored by the Pontifical Lateran University, the Pope spoke even more clearly about the need to reject legislative moves that weaken marriage and the family. If a human law goes against what is written in our hearts and nature regarding marriage, Benedict XVI stated, then this will "dramatically wound" what should be the very foundation of society. Unfortunately, he noted, the legal status of the family is under attack from many pressure groups.

Adult Stem-Cell UPDATE: The Blind can Now See With Their Own Stem-Cells!

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! From LifeSiteNews:

"For individuals blinded by chemical burns, the ever advancing field of adult stem-cell research has provided yet another astonishing cure – giving them sight through their own stem cells.

Italian researchers have reported developing a very successful therapy to cure those who were either blinded, or whose vision was severely impaired, thanks to chemical burns to their corneas. Such burns can come about through handling everything from toxic cleaning substances at home to heavy-duty chemicals at work....

In a study published by the New England Journal of Medicine, scientists treated 107 eyes of 106 patients with stem cells derived from the limbus, the rim around the cornea, where stem cells are naturally produced by the body to do repairs on the cornea.

The researchers derived the stem cells from a patient’s healthy eye, and then encouraged them to multiply. Once they had enough stem cells, they removed the scar tissue over the bad eye, and then grafted the stem cells on over the site of the cornea, which then began to generate new corneal tissues.

After 12-24 months had passed, these grafts were then followed up by corrective surgeries.

One patient had severe alkali burns on both his eyes from 1948. Researchers, however, were able to adapt and derive limbal stem-cell cultures with biopsied tissue taken from the patient’s left eye. The therapy managed to successfully restore both corneal surfaces, transitioning the man from blindness to having an almost normal, combined vision of close to 20/30. Follow-ups after two and five years showed that both eyes were stable after the treatment.

In all, the treatment had a 76.6 percent success rate, sustained over the past decade. The researchers note that all their failure cases occurred within the first year of treatment. In all 82 of 107 eyes had successful cures, with partial success in 14 others.

"They were incredibly happy. Some said it was a miracle," one of the study leaders, Graziella Pellegrini of the University of Modena's Center for Regenerative Medicine in Italy, told the Associated Press. "It was not a miracle. It was simply a technique."

The Family Research Council blog has more, including ABC News video about the case. We also repeat what has become one of our mantras at "A Shepherd's Voice" ever since Prop 71 in California passed:

"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?"

We must point out it was idiots in the press (like ABC News) that were foursquare behind ESCR, and painted those of us opposed to it as anti-science bigots.

Our friend Don Margolis has been beating the adult stem-cell drum (he refers to them as "repair stem-cells") for years, calling them the greatest medicine ever known to mankind, and it looks like he is right. Visit his website: http://donmargolis.com/blog/ and check out the list of diseases and conditions being treated with adult stem-cells.

First Question

Here is a Vatican translation of the transcript from Benedict XVI's appearance on a television program titled "A Sua Immagine" [In His Image] of the Italian channel RAI. The Pontiff answered seven questions from individuals, including a Muslim woman from the Ivory Coast and Christians from Italy seeking deeper understanding of Christ's resurrection and Mary's role in our lives.

The first question comes from a seven-year-old Japanese child who says: "My name is Elena. I am Japanese and I am seven years old. I am very frightened because the house where I felt safe really shook a lot and many children my age have died. I cannot go to play at the park. I want to know: why do I have to be so afraid? Why do children have to be so sad? I'm asking the Pope, who speaks with God, to explain it to me".

A. Dear Elena, I send you my heartfelt greetings. I also have the same questions: why is it this way? Why do you have to suffer so much while others live in ease? And we do not have the answers but we know that Jesus suffered as you do, an innocent, and that the true God who is revealed in Jesus is by your side. This seems very important to me, even if we do not have answers, even if we are still sad; God is by your side and you can be certain that this will help you. One day we will even understand why it was so.

At this moment it seems important to me that you know "God loves me" even if it seems like He doesn't know me. No, He loves me, He is by my side, and you can be sure that in the world, in the universe, there are many who are with you, thinking of you, doing what they can for you, to help you. And be aware that, one day, I will understand that this suffering was not empty, it wasn't in vain, but behind it was a good plan, a plan of love. It is not chance. Be assured, we are with you, with all the Japanese children who are suffering. We want to help you with our prayers, with our actions, and you can be sure that God will help you. In this sense we pray together so that light may come to you as soon as possible.
VATICAN CITY, APRIL 22, 2011 (Zenit.org).

Pelosi: "Like a Vegetarian who Frequents Steakhouses"

Ouch!

Excellent essay by Matthew Hanley in "The Catholic Thing." Excerpt:

Graham Greene, the great twentieth-century novelist and convert to the Catholic faith, was intimately familiar with the powerful inclinations of the flesh. He led a deeply conflicted life replete with extramarital romantic liaisons. The soul in turmoil, at once given over to passion and afflicted with remorse, is the theme that dominates his greatest works.

Greene recognized that his persistent involvement in a series of affairs severed him from the Church. He knew he could not have it both ways; that would be to arrogate to himself the content of the faith handed down from the beginning.

In the end, he opted for the affairs. In a 1990 letter to Newsweek’s Kenneth Woodward, Greene tells of his experience travelling to Padre Pio’s village in Italy with girlfriend Catherine Walston. He was moved by the Mass they attended early one morning, but also reveals: “I was invited to go see him that night in the monastery, but I made excuses not to go as neither of us wanted our lives changed!”

In spite of his failings, he displayed a certain integrity by choosing not to present himself for Holy Communion – an issue of striking contemporary relevance. “I've broken the rules”, he writes. “They are rules I respect, so I haven't been to communion for nearly thirty years. . . .In my private life, my situation is not regular. If I went to communion, I would have to confess and make promises. I prefer to excommunicate myself." If this is not exactly an act of faith, but it is an acknowledgment of the Catholic faith’s coherence.

Such a stance seems almost quaint today. The stark contrast with Nancy Pelosi and other Catholic politicians who do approach Communion – despite acting in flagrant, public defiance of Catholic teaching – springs immediately to mind. Here we glimpse what it is like when not even the spirit is willing; how dreadful indeed it is when the mind, unlike Peter in the garden, does not even intend to be present to the Truth.

Nancy Pelosi’s support of abortion policies hardly needs to be detailed here. Although Catholicism cannot be reduced to the issue of abortion – or indeed to a mere code of ethics – any Catholic who actively supports it acts as antithetically as (and more destructively than) the vegetarian who frequents steakhouses, or the Muslim who promotes pilgrimage to Panama. It simply makes no sense; and it is not that hard to grasp....

Pelosi is not the everyman (everyperson?) “hypocrite” who recognizes goodness yet fails to conform perfectly to it, but the intellectually dishonest one who misrepresents truth and fails even to aspire to it – all while claiming to advance it. It’s far worse to champion falsity in the name of truth, than to recognize and respect truth – but crash land in its pursuit."

Plus, another nice video from Michael Voris:

The issue is Sodomite and Sodomy-supporting Priests and Bishops

Be sure to read the full article excerpted below "Francis and the Journalists" by Irish journalist John Waters, writing in First Things. Via Rod Dreher. Bold emphasis added.

"The pope’s exchange with journalists on the plane back to Italy must rank as one of the strangest episodes of mutual avoidance in the history of journalism. An issue that journalists have prosecuted with extreme vigor for a quarter-century had finally arrived at the door of a pope: a direct and concrete accusation that, in a specific instance, he had protected a serial sexual abuser. Yet the omertà of the day continued into the early exchanges of the press conference, with several questions from Irish journalists making no reference to the matter. Then Anna Matanga of CBS—the first mainstream platform to cover the Viganò story on Sunday—asked: “This morning, very early, a document by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò came out. In it, he says that in 2013 he had a personal talk with you at the Vatican, and that in that talk, he spoke to you explicitly of the behavior of and the sexual abuse by former–Cardinal McCarrick. I wanted to ask you if this was true. I also wanted to ask something else: The archbishop also said that Pope Benedict sanctioned McCarrick, that he had forbidden him to live in a seminary, to celebrate Mass in public, he couldn’t travel, he was sanctioned by the Church.  May I ask you whether these two things are true?”

The pope replied: “I will respond to your question, but I would prefer last—first we speak about the trip, and then other topics. … I read the statement this morning, and I must tell you sincerely that, I must say this, to you and all those who are interested. Read the statement carefully and make your own judgment. I will not say a single word about this. I believe the statement speaks for itself. And you have the journalistic capacity to draw your own conclusions. It’s an act of faith. When some time passes and you have drawn your conclusions, I may speak. But, I would like your professional maturity to do the work for you. It will be good for you. That’s good.”

And when you read the pope’s response again in light of what has happened—or not happened—in the several days since, it acquires an ominous tenor, inviting a stab at a new translation. Here is mine:

“Read the statement in the knowledge of the relationship you and I share: We are men and women of the world and like-minded on what is important. We know where we stand on matters like homosexuality and homosexual priests. But be careful how you handle this Viganò business—a wrong word could undo all we have achieved. I have faith in you to figure out who this man is. Do your work well and there will be no need for me to risk my position. Once you have defused the situation, I will deal with Viganò for the record. We are all adults here. I know I can count on you. I need your help on this, but we have an understanding that has worked well so far. Trust me.”"

Again, be sure to read the full article "Francis and the Journalists"