This is a step in the right direction. From LifeSiteNews:
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said at a press conference Monday that House Republicans would take action to protect the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) against recent legal challenges.
The Majority Leader’s statement came less than a week after the Obama Administration announced that it believes DOMA, which prohibits federal recognition of same-sex unions, is unconstitutional....
“Again I do believe that this is a case that is distinguishable on its merits and to have the administration take the position, the president take the position, that he’s not defending the law of the land, is something very troubling I think to most members of the House,” Cantor said.
Cantor’s comments echo those of Speaker John Boehner, who told the Christian Broadcasting Network in an interview over the weekend that the House of Representatives was “researching all the options available to us.”
Neither Cantor nor Boehner revealed any details about the specific course of action that the House planned to take, but both Representatives indicated that a plan of action would be formulated by Friday.
Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum called on the House last week to appoint counsel to argue the case in court, a course of action which, Boehner told CNS, “is being considered.”
I should hope so. Good for Rick Santorum!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
Lesbian "Roman Catholic Woman Priest" Invited to Speak at SF Catholic High School
Note: An abbreviated version of this story appeared in this morning's California Catholic Daily.
The February 17 issue of “The Broadview,” the student newspaper of the Convent of the Sacred Heart /Stuart Hall High Schools in San Francisco reported:
“Tomorrow, during Principal’s Meeting students are scheduled to watch portions of the documentary “Pink Smoke Over the Vatican” and participate in a presentation about women attempting to become ordained by the Catholic Church. The Rev. Victoria Rue will be interviewed by Women’s Studies students about her own ordination experience.”
Pink Smoke Over the Vatican is a 2010 film produced and directed by Jules Hart and distributed by Eyegoddess Films. From the Eyegoddess Films web page:
“Pink Smoke Over the Vatican is a documentary film about the controversial movement of women seeking to be ordained as priests in the Roman Catholic Church. On June 3, 2008, The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is the modern name for The Holy Office of the Inquisition, issued a sweeping order of excommunication for ‘the crime of attempting sacred ordination of a woman.’ Pink Smoke Over the Vatican chronicles the events that led up to this severe punishment and tells the stories of the determined women and men who, through the forbidden and illicit path of female ordination, are working to end the underlying misogyny and outdated feudal governance that is slowly destroying the Roman Catholic Church.”
While the screening of such a blatantly anti-Catholic movie to Catholic High School students should raise questions about the motivations and judgment of the school authorities, their choice of speaker is even more outrageous. Despite what the Broadview reported, the speaker scheduled to address the students, Victoria Rue, is not exactly a “Reverend.” She describes herself on her website as a “Roman Catholic Woman Priest,” and relates how she made that happen: “In 1997 I co-founded and con-celebrated a feminist, inclusive Eucharist with 12 other women and hundreds of witnesses on the former site of the Oakland cathedral in California. With this act, we claimed that we are all priests.” In point of fact, Ms. Rue has excommunicated herself from the Catholic Church. She also happens to be one of the women profiled in "Pink Smoke."
According to her webpage, Ms. Rue offers the following “Services and Sacraments”: Baptisms, Marriages, Funerals, The Celebration of the Eucharist, Spiritual Guidance and ministry to LGBT people. She also says she celebrates “Bi-monthly Feminist Masses at the chapel of Trinity Episcopal Church” in San Francisco.
(A little excursus: this last would seem to demand some high-level Catholic/Episcopal ecumenical dialogue. Why is an Episcopal Church allowing an excommunicated Catholic to celebrate "Masses" there? Are they being advertised as genuine Catholic Masses? The Trinity Episcopal website's "Services" page says:
10:30 A.M. Sophia in Trinity (2nd & 4th Saturdays of the month) Sophia in Trinity is an inclusive community welcoming everyone including all those on the margins and especially those marginalized by the Roman Catholic Church: LGBT people, as well as those who are divorced, remarried, those who witness to reproductive rights, and all those seeking justice, equality and the integrity of creation. Find out more on our Sophia at Trinity page.
Well, Trinity Episcopal's "Sophia in Trinity" webpage directs one to http://www.sophiaintrinity.org/, which says :
"Bi-monthly Feminist Masses at the chapel of Trinity Episcopal Church. Click here to learn more." and "Presider: Victoria Rue, M.Div., Ph.D, Roman Catholic Woman Priest.")
Ms. Rue is also an open lesbian and homosexualist activist:
“In 1990 my partner Kathryn Poethig and I celebrated a ceremony of commitment with our families and friends. … Through the years we have worked for a more body positive theology, as well as the inclusion and ordination of lesbian and gay people in both the Protestant and Catholic churches.”
She has an affiliation with Dignity USA dating back to at least 1998. In June, 2009 California Catholic Daily reported that Ms. Rue gave a seminar at the Dignity USA convention in San Francisco. The title was Valid but Illicit: Being a Roman Catholic Lesbian Priest (“Dignity USA Catholics to Explore Leather Spirituality”).
In a number of ways, the screening of Pink Cloud is eerily reminiscent of the March 2009 performance of the homosexualist play “Be Still and Know” by students of Sacred Heart High School of Atherton, just south of San Francisco. San Francisco’s notorious Most Holy Redeemer parish had scheduled the students to perform the play in their church, but when the event became widely known, Archbishop George Niederauer forced the performance to be cancelled. (The Jesuit University of San Francisco, in defiance of His Excellency's wishes, allowed the play to be performed there). At the time, one of the questions raised was why the school chose MHR as a venue. Investigation revealed that the Principal of Sacred Heart of Atherton, Mr. Jim Everitt, was also serving as a lector at Most Holy Redeemer. Now investigation has revealed that the Department Chair of Religion/Theology at Stuart Hall, the Convent of the Sacred Heart’s sister school, Mr. Ray O’Connor, is a member of the seven-person Worship Committee at MHR. He is the coordinator of lectors for the church. The Winter, 2010 issue of the Convent of the Sacred Heart’s Broadview newspaper reported that Mr. O’Connor led a group of Convent students to Most Holy Redeemer.
On February 18, following the screening and Ms. Rue’s scheduled appearance, an email uninformative to the point of deception was sent to the parents of CSH students. The email was signed by Paul Pryor Lorentz, Chair of the Theology/Philosophy Department at CSH, and Andrea Shurley, CSH’s Head of School. They wrote, in part:
“Today we had a guest speaker who shared her views on the role of women in the Catholic Church. Her viewpoint was carefully and intelligently shared, and our Women’s Studies students led a question and answer session. Unfortunately, given our time constraints, we did not have the opportunity to allow exploration of contrasting viewpoints.”
Unless another woman substituted for Ms. Rue, between the time the advertisement appeared in the Broadview on February 17 but before the email was sent on February 18, that email refers to her. Significantly, nowhere in the email are the parents informed of the identity of the speaker. That suggests the possibility that it was Ms. Rue, that the school was quite aware of Ms. Rue’s background and that the school wished to keep that background from the parents. Nowhere are the parents informed that the “careful and intelligent” Ms. Rue considers herself a Roman Catholic Woman Priest. Nowhere are they informed that she is excommunicated from the Church. Nowhere are they informed that she is an open lesbian and homosexualist activist. Faced with an issue where souls are at stake, not the least being that of Ms. Rue, those responsible at the Convent of the Sacred Heart did not even bother to find a spokesperson for a "contrasting" non-excommunicated, non-lesbian viewpoint—that of the Catholic Church.
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
The February 17 issue of “The Broadview,” the student newspaper of the Convent of the Sacred Heart /Stuart Hall High Schools in San Francisco reported:
“Tomorrow, during Principal’s Meeting students are scheduled to watch portions of the documentary “Pink Smoke Over the Vatican” and participate in a presentation about women attempting to become ordained by the Catholic Church. The Rev. Victoria Rue will be interviewed by Women’s Studies students about her own ordination experience.”
Pink Smoke Over the Vatican is a 2010 film produced and directed by Jules Hart and distributed by Eyegoddess Films. From the Eyegoddess Films web page:
“Pink Smoke Over the Vatican is a documentary film about the controversial movement of women seeking to be ordained as priests in the Roman Catholic Church. On June 3, 2008, The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is the modern name for The Holy Office of the Inquisition, issued a sweeping order of excommunication for ‘the crime of attempting sacred ordination of a woman.’ Pink Smoke Over the Vatican chronicles the events that led up to this severe punishment and tells the stories of the determined women and men who, through the forbidden and illicit path of female ordination, are working to end the underlying misogyny and outdated feudal governance that is slowly destroying the Roman Catholic Church.”
While the screening of such a blatantly anti-Catholic movie to Catholic High School students should raise questions about the motivations and judgment of the school authorities, their choice of speaker is even more outrageous. Despite what the Broadview reported, the speaker scheduled to address the students, Victoria Rue, is not exactly a “Reverend.” She describes herself on her website as a “Roman Catholic Woman Priest,” and relates how she made that happen: “In 1997 I co-founded and con-celebrated a feminist, inclusive Eucharist with 12 other women and hundreds of witnesses on the former site of the Oakland cathedral in California. With this act, we claimed that we are all priests.” In point of fact, Ms. Rue has excommunicated herself from the Catholic Church. She also happens to be one of the women profiled in "Pink Smoke."
According to her webpage, Ms. Rue offers the following “Services and Sacraments”: Baptisms, Marriages, Funerals, The Celebration of the Eucharist, Spiritual Guidance and ministry to LGBT people. She also says she celebrates “Bi-monthly Feminist Masses at the chapel of Trinity Episcopal Church” in San Francisco.
(A little excursus: this last would seem to demand some high-level Catholic/Episcopal ecumenical dialogue. Why is an Episcopal Church allowing an excommunicated Catholic to celebrate "Masses" there? Are they being advertised as genuine Catholic Masses? The Trinity Episcopal website's "Services" page says:
10:30 A.M. Sophia in Trinity (2nd & 4th Saturdays of the month) Sophia in Trinity is an inclusive community welcoming everyone including all those on the margins and especially those marginalized by the Roman Catholic Church: LGBT people, as well as those who are divorced, remarried, those who witness to reproductive rights, and all those seeking justice, equality and the integrity of creation. Find out more on our Sophia at Trinity page.
Well, Trinity Episcopal's "Sophia in Trinity" webpage directs one to http://www.sophiaintrinity.org/, which says :
"Bi-monthly Feminist Masses at the chapel of Trinity Episcopal Church. Click here to learn more." and "Presider: Victoria Rue, M.Div., Ph.D, Roman Catholic Woman Priest.")
Ms. Rue is also an open lesbian and homosexualist activist:
“In 1990 my partner Kathryn Poethig and I celebrated a ceremony of commitment with our families and friends. … Through the years we have worked for a more body positive theology, as well as the inclusion and ordination of lesbian and gay people in both the Protestant and Catholic churches.”
She has an affiliation with Dignity USA dating back to at least 1998. In June, 2009 California Catholic Daily reported that Ms. Rue gave a seminar at the Dignity USA convention in San Francisco. The title was Valid but Illicit: Being a Roman Catholic Lesbian Priest (“Dignity USA Catholics to Explore Leather Spirituality”).
In a number of ways, the screening of Pink Cloud is eerily reminiscent of the March 2009 performance of the homosexualist play “Be Still and Know” by students of Sacred Heart High School of Atherton, just south of San Francisco. San Francisco’s notorious Most Holy Redeemer parish had scheduled the students to perform the play in their church, but when the event became widely known, Archbishop George Niederauer forced the performance to be cancelled. (The Jesuit University of San Francisco, in defiance of His Excellency's wishes, allowed the play to be performed there). At the time, one of the questions raised was why the school chose MHR as a venue. Investigation revealed that the Principal of Sacred Heart of Atherton, Mr. Jim Everitt, was also serving as a lector at Most Holy Redeemer. Now investigation has revealed that the Department Chair of Religion/Theology at Stuart Hall, the Convent of the Sacred Heart’s sister school, Mr. Ray O’Connor, is a member of the seven-person Worship Committee at MHR. He is the coordinator of lectors for the church. The Winter, 2010 issue of the Convent of the Sacred Heart’s Broadview newspaper reported that Mr. O’Connor led a group of Convent students to Most Holy Redeemer.
On February 18, following the screening and Ms. Rue’s scheduled appearance, an email uninformative to the point of deception was sent to the parents of CSH students. The email was signed by Paul Pryor Lorentz, Chair of the Theology/Philosophy Department at CSH, and Andrea Shurley, CSH’s Head of School. They wrote, in part:
“Today we had a guest speaker who shared her views on the role of women in the Catholic Church. Her viewpoint was carefully and intelligently shared, and our Women’s Studies students led a question and answer session. Unfortunately, given our time constraints, we did not have the opportunity to allow exploration of contrasting viewpoints.”
Unless another woman substituted for Ms. Rue, between the time the advertisement appeared in the Broadview on February 17 but before the email was sent on February 18, that email refers to her. Significantly, nowhere in the email are the parents informed of the identity of the speaker. That suggests the possibility that it was Ms. Rue, that the school was quite aware of Ms. Rue’s background and that the school wished to keep that background from the parents. Nowhere are the parents informed that the “careful and intelligent” Ms. Rue considers herself a Roman Catholic Woman Priest. Nowhere are they informed that she is excommunicated from the Church. Nowhere are they informed that she is an open lesbian and homosexualist activist. Faced with an issue where souls are at stake, not the least being that of Ms. Rue, those responsible at the Convent of the Sacred Heart did not even bother to find a spokesperson for a "contrasting" non-excommunicated, non-lesbian viewpoint—that of the Catholic Church.
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
Must See! Pro-Life Flash Mob
h/t Catholic Vote.
Our young people are so amazing! They surprise a bunch of Planned Parenthood supporters in Chicago, who can only respond with ancient chants. The Lord of the Rings music is a nice touch!
Our young people are so amazing! They surprise a bunch of Planned Parenthood supporters in Chicago, who can only respond with ancient chants. The Lord of the Rings music is a nice touch!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Second Annual Walk for India's Missing Girls
50 million girls have been eliminated from India's population in the last century.10 million girls have been killed by their parents, either before or immediately
after birth in the last two decades.
In 2010, to combat and raise awareness of this horrific injustice, Indian women and their supports worldwide founded the "Walk for India's Missing Girls." Seven cities across four countries participated in the Walk.
This year the movement has grown and the Global Walk will take place in over 15 cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Agra, Kolkata, Chennai, Jamshedpur, Goa, Sri Ganganagar, Dubai, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington D.C and San Francisco.
The San Francisco Walk will begin at 11AM on Saturday, March 5 at San Francisco's City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlet Place, San Francisco and ends at Union Square.
To learn more visit the Walk's Facebook page, or visit http://www.petalsinthedust.com/
FDR Was Right: Why Public Sector Unions Must Go
Last week we quoted President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on public sector unions. Here are two writers making the same point well.
Ruben Navarette in the Fresno Bee:
"One reason could be that more Americans are figuring out that there is a difference between private- and public-sector unions. In the private sector, what keeps everyone honest is that companies can only be pushed so far or they'll go bankrupt. If this happens, then everyone loses. In the public sector, cities and states don't go bankrupt all that easily and so unions can push and push, and take and take, until a system becomes insolvent."
Professor Thomas J. Lorenzo expands on this:
"When the employees of a grocery store, for example, go on strike and shut down the store, consumers can simply shop elsewhere, and the grocery-store management is perfectly free to hire replacement workers. In contrast, when a city teachers' or garbage-truck drivers' union goes on strike, there is no school and no garbage collection as long as the strike goes on. In addition, teachers' tenure (typically after two or three years in government schools) and civil-service regulations make it extremely costly if not virtually impossible to hire replacement workers.
Thus, when government bureaucrats go on strike they have the ability to completely shut down the entire 'industry' they 'work' in indefinitely. The taxpayers will complain bitterly about the absence of schools and garbage collection, forcing the mayor, governor, or city councillors to quickly cave in to the union's demands to avoid risking the loss of their own jobs due to voter dissatisfaction....
The enormous power of government-employee unions effectively transfers the power to tax from voters to the unions. Because government-employee unions can so easily force elected officials to raise taxes to meet their 'demands,' it is they, not the voters, who control the rate of taxation within a political jurisdiction....
Politicians are caught in a political bind by government-employee unions: if they cave in to their wage demands and raise taxes to finance them, then they increase the chances of being kicked out of office themselves in the next election. The 'solution' to this dilemma has been to offer government-employee unions moderate wage increases but spectacular pension promises. This allows politicians to pander to the unions but defer the costs to the future, long after the panderers are retired from politics.
As taxpayers in California, Wisconsin, Indiana, and many other states are realizing, the future has arrived."
Emphasis added.
UPDATE: Even David Brooks in the New York Times is willing to acknowledge the problem:
"Even if you acknowledge the importance of unions in representing middle-class interests, there are strong arguments on Walker’s side. In Wisconsin and elsewhere, state-union relations are structurally out of whack.
That’s because public sector unions and private sector unions are very different creatures. Private sector unions push against the interests of shareholders and management; public sector unions push against the interests of taxpayers. Private sector union members know that their employers could go out of business, so they have an incentive to mitigate their demands; public sector union members work for state monopolies and have no such interest. Private sector unions confront managers who have an incentive to push back against their demands. Public sector unions face managers who have an incentive to give into them for the sake of their own survival. Most important, public sector unions help choose those they negotiate with. Through gigantic campaign contributions and overall clout, they have enormous influence over who gets elected to bargain with them, especially in state and local races.
As a result of these imbalanced incentive structures, states with public sector unions tend to run into fiscal crises."
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
Ruben Navarette in the Fresno Bee:
"One reason could be that more Americans are figuring out that there is a difference between private- and public-sector unions. In the private sector, what keeps everyone honest is that companies can only be pushed so far or they'll go bankrupt. If this happens, then everyone loses. In the public sector, cities and states don't go bankrupt all that easily and so unions can push and push, and take and take, until a system becomes insolvent."
Professor Thomas J. Lorenzo expands on this:
"When the employees of a grocery store, for example, go on strike and shut down the store, consumers can simply shop elsewhere, and the grocery-store management is perfectly free to hire replacement workers. In contrast, when a city teachers' or garbage-truck drivers' union goes on strike, there is no school and no garbage collection as long as the strike goes on. In addition, teachers' tenure (typically after two or three years in government schools) and civil-service regulations make it extremely costly if not virtually impossible to hire replacement workers.
Thus, when government bureaucrats go on strike they have the ability to completely shut down the entire 'industry' they 'work' in indefinitely. The taxpayers will complain bitterly about the absence of schools and garbage collection, forcing the mayor, governor, or city councillors to quickly cave in to the union's demands to avoid risking the loss of their own jobs due to voter dissatisfaction....
The enormous power of government-employee unions effectively transfers the power to tax from voters to the unions. Because government-employee unions can so easily force elected officials to raise taxes to meet their 'demands,' it is they, not the voters, who control the rate of taxation within a political jurisdiction....
Politicians are caught in a political bind by government-employee unions: if they cave in to their wage demands and raise taxes to finance them, then they increase the chances of being kicked out of office themselves in the next election. The 'solution' to this dilemma has been to offer government-employee unions moderate wage increases but spectacular pension promises. This allows politicians to pander to the unions but defer the costs to the future, long after the panderers are retired from politics.
As taxpayers in California, Wisconsin, Indiana, and many other states are realizing, the future has arrived."
Emphasis added.
UPDATE: Even David Brooks in the New York Times is willing to acknowledge the problem:
"Even if you acknowledge the importance of unions in representing middle-class interests, there are strong arguments on Walker’s side. In Wisconsin and elsewhere, state-union relations are structurally out of whack.
That’s because public sector unions and private sector unions are very different creatures. Private sector unions push against the interests of shareholders and management; public sector unions push against the interests of taxpayers. Private sector union members know that their employers could go out of business, so they have an incentive to mitigate their demands; public sector union members work for state monopolies and have no such interest. Private sector unions confront managers who have an incentive to push back against their demands. Public sector unions face managers who have an incentive to give into them for the sake of their own survival. Most important, public sector unions help choose those they negotiate with. Through gigantic campaign contributions and overall clout, they have enormous influence over who gets elected to bargain with them, especially in state and local races.
As a result of these imbalanced incentive structures, states with public sector unions tend to run into fiscal crises."
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
Friday, February 25, 2011
That's What Happens: If You're Pro-Choice, the Truth Threatens You
One of the hallmarks of a being invested in a lie is that you have to construct an entire alternate reality to support it. Example: the pro-life billboard in New York with the simple, verifiable, one sentence statement of fact "The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb."
That simple statement of fact so threatened pro-abortion New Yorkers that they pressured the billboard company to remove it, which the company did.
So that problem has gone away.
Visit www.TooManyAborted.com to learn more about abortion in the African American community.
That simple statement of fact so threatened pro-abortion New Yorkers that they pressured the billboard company to remove it, which the company did. So that problem has gone away.
Visit www.TooManyAborted.com to learn more about abortion in the African American community.
Support California Catholic Daily!
California Catholic Daily, to which we contribute from time to time, needs YOUR help.
CalCatholic keeps the fire burning on issues that many Dioceses in California would prefer just not to see.
Unless they can develop a base of monthly contributors, they will no longer be able to publish. You can contribute by going here.
Here are a few recent CalCatholic stories about the Church in San Francisco and Northern California not found anywhere else:
Ties to the homosexual power structure
Honorary committee for Catholic Charities of San Francisco annual fundraiser includes politicians well known for their opposition to Church teachings
On March 4, Catholic Charities of San Francisco (CCCYO) will host its annual Loaves and Fishes Fundraising dinner at the upscale St. Regis hotel in San Francisco. As is the case every year, the honorary committee includes a number of local politicians. And, as usual these politicians are completely and without exception actively opposed to the Church’s teaching on issues of life or the family.
Read the whole thing.
_______________________________________________________
“Extreme agenda”
‘Catholic’ Pelosi vows all-out attack on pro-life measures introduced in Congress
U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the San Francisco Democrat and former House Speaker who describes herself as “an ardent, practicing Catholic,” has vowed to rally the public against a series of anti-abortion measures now pending in Congress.
“Pelosi described the GOP push as the ‘most radical assault’ on women's reproductive rights ‘in our lifetimes,’” the Washington Post reported, based on a Feb. 10 conference call Pelosi made to supporters. “And she was equally blunt in her assessment of right-wing assaults on family planning. ‘They are at a different philosophical place,’ she said, characterizing their view as: ‘all engagement has to result in a child.’ Pelosi noted that contraception and family planning is ‘not consistent with their belief that it's all about procreation.’
Read the whole thing.
___________________________________________________________
“We can help you get the abortion you need”
Catholic Healthcare West grant goes to organization whose members include abortion providers
On Jan. 6, Catholic Healthcare West awarded nearly $1.2 million in grants to various nonprofit organizations in Sacramento, Placer, Yolo and Nevada counties – including one “network of community clinics” that includes Planned Parenthood and Women’s Health Specialists, both abortion providers.
Read the whole thing.
CalCatholic keeps the fire burning on issues that many Dioceses in California would prefer just not to see.
Unless they can develop a base of monthly contributors, they will no longer be able to publish. You can contribute by going here.
Here are a few recent CalCatholic stories about the Church in San Francisco and Northern California not found anywhere else:
Ties to the homosexual power structure
Honorary committee for Catholic Charities of San Francisco annual fundraiser includes politicians well known for their opposition to Church teachings
On March 4, Catholic Charities of San Francisco (CCCYO) will host its annual Loaves and Fishes Fundraising dinner at the upscale St. Regis hotel in San Francisco. As is the case every year, the honorary committee includes a number of local politicians. And, as usual these politicians are completely and without exception actively opposed to the Church’s teaching on issues of life or the family.
Read the whole thing.
_______________________________________________________
“Extreme agenda”
‘Catholic’ Pelosi vows all-out attack on pro-life measures introduced in Congress
U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the San Francisco Democrat and former House Speaker who describes herself as “an ardent, practicing Catholic,” has vowed to rally the public against a series of anti-abortion measures now pending in Congress.
“Pelosi described the GOP push as the ‘most radical assault’ on women's reproductive rights ‘in our lifetimes,’” the Washington Post reported, based on a Feb. 10 conference call Pelosi made to supporters. “And she was equally blunt in her assessment of right-wing assaults on family planning. ‘They are at a different philosophical place,’ she said, characterizing their view as: ‘all engagement has to result in a child.’ Pelosi noted that contraception and family planning is ‘not consistent with their belief that it's all about procreation.’
Read the whole thing.
___________________________________________________________
“We can help you get the abortion you need”
Catholic Healthcare West grant goes to organization whose members include abortion providers
On Jan. 6, Catholic Healthcare West awarded nearly $1.2 million in grants to various nonprofit organizations in Sacramento, Placer, Yolo and Nevada counties – including one “network of community clinics” that includes Planned Parenthood and Women’s Health Specialists, both abortion providers.
Read the whole thing.
"There are any number of anti-abortion politicians in Kansas and none of them are hated with the vehemence directed at Phill Kline"
Jack Smith at "The Catholic Key" offers his take on why that would be.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Great News! Said Musa Alive, Free
Said Musa, the Afghani Christian who had been sentenced to death becuase he converted to Christianity has been freed. We posted about Mr. Musa back on February 15.
Christian Post has details of his release.
Praise God!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
"97.6% of Pregnant Women Going to Planned Parenthood Are Sold Abortions"
Over at Life News Steve Ertelt has some remarkable statistics from the abortion giant's most recent report.
"A new report the Planned Parenthood national abortion business recently released shows the embattled agency did more abortions in 2009 than it has done in any prior year. The report also shows it providing fewer pregnant women with non-abortion services.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America recently posted on its website what it calls its service numbers for 2009. This document, dated February 2011, shows Planned Parenthood affiliates nationwide did 332,278 surgical abortions or abortions using the dangerous RU 486 abortion during in 2009."
Nothing too surprising there, but the following numbers are striking:
"A new report the Planned Parenthood national abortion business recently released shows the embattled agency did more abortions in 2009 than it has done in any prior year. The report also shows it providing fewer pregnant women with non-abortion services.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America recently posted on its website what it calls its service numbers for 2009. This document, dated February 2011, shows Planned Parenthood affiliates nationwide did 332,278 surgical abortions or abortions using the dangerous RU 486 abortion during in 2009."
Nothing too surprising there, but the following numbers are striking:
"The new document the abortion organization posted shows Planned Parenthood provided prenatal services to merely 7,021 women and referred only 977 women for adoption services. These numbers were a 25 percent drop in prenatal care clients and a whopping 59 percent decline in adoption referrals from the 2,405 adoption referrals in 2008. The abortion business helped only 9,433 prenatal clients in 2008, down substantially from the 11,000 women it provided prenatal care to in 2007 — showing health care given to pregnant woman has fallen substantially over the years.
As a result, 97.6 percent of pregnant women going to Planned Parenthood are sold abortions while less than 2.4 percent of pregnant women received non-abortion services including adoption and prenatal care. That’s up from 96.5 percent of pregnant women going to Planned Parenthood getting abortions in 2008.
The Life News article also cited Jim Sedlak, vice-president of the American Life League, who noted:
"...Planned Parenthood now does 340 abortions for every one adoption referral and 47 abortions for every one prenatal care client."Good and Better: Obama Refuses to Defend Marriage
It's good because he never was going to anyway. It's better because hopefully now someone really will.
It was obvious from the beginning that President Obama was lying about his support for counterfeit "marriage," and that his justice department was not going to defend marriage. So it is just as well that he has come clean.
Andy McCarthy, writing today in "The Corner" agrees with this:
"On balance, I far prefer that Obama’s Justice Department openly advocates for the outcome desired by Obama’s base, as it is finally doing with DOMA. This way, the court can appoint lawyers who will truly defend the statute with the best legal arguments available.
Obama's action further shows that he, and counterfeit "marriage" supporters know that they are losing. They cannot allow the issue to have a fair hearing--and this is not only true of marriage but of other issues as well.
It is instructive to reflect on how the supporters of counterfeit "marriage" show time and again they have no concern for the right to self government nor for the common good of society.
William C. Duncan, noted this today, writing in The Corner:
"There is something about the marriage issue that provokes an “any means necessary” approach from its proponents (among whom I believe we can count the president, notwithstanding campaign rhetoric to the contrary)."
That's been the case right from the start, when Mayor Gavin Newsom unilaterally and in violation of the law decided to start issuing counterfeit "marriage" licenses.
It continued when opponents of Prop8 filed suit to have the measure removed from the ballot. Prop 8 went to the voters anyway.
It continued when then-Attorney General Jerry Brown changed the title of Proposition 8, in order to weaken support for it. Prop 8 won big despite the change.
It continued when Attorney General Brown refused to do his duty and defend Prop 8, passed by a significant majority of Californians.
It continued in Massachusetts when the state legislature refused to allow the people of the state to vote on a constitutional amendment defending marriage, despite the record number (170+000) of signatures.
This is self-interest denying the common good, and the right of the people to self-government.
I said above that this uncivil attitude of the Left is evident in other issues as well. It is all of a piece of what we are seeing in Wisconsin. In Wisconsin, Governer Walker and the Republicans ran on a platform promising to address the budget crisis and reform the state's government. They won big. What happens? Do their opponents say "This is America. We are a democracy. The people made a choice. We have to abide by it if we are to remain a democracy. We don't like it, but there are other elections, and if we make our case to the people we can win, and then offer our own solutions." Not on your life.
The Democratic legislators try to prevent government by functioning by leaving the state. Teachers Union members walk off their jobs (illegally) and occupy the capitol. Sympathetic doctors violate their professional ethics, and probably the law as well, by writing phony excuses so the teachers can say they were sick, thus defrauding the taxpayers.
President Obama, Congressman Pelosi et al. side with those in Wisconsin, just as they side with those who support counterfeit "marriage." On the other side are the American people.
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
It was obvious from the beginning that President Obama was lying about his support for counterfeit "marriage," and that his justice department was not going to defend marriage. So it is just as well that he has come clean.
Andy McCarthy, writing today in "The Corner" agrees with this:
"On balance, I far prefer that Obama’s Justice Department openly advocates for the outcome desired by Obama’s base, as it is finally doing with DOMA. This way, the court can appoint lawyers who will truly defend the statute with the best legal arguments available.
Obama's action further shows that he, and counterfeit "marriage" supporters know that they are losing. They cannot allow the issue to have a fair hearing--and this is not only true of marriage but of other issues as well.
It is instructive to reflect on how the supporters of counterfeit "marriage" show time and again they have no concern for the right to self government nor for the common good of society.
William C. Duncan, noted this today, writing in The Corner:
"There is something about the marriage issue that provokes an “any means necessary” approach from its proponents (among whom I believe we can count the president, notwithstanding campaign rhetoric to the contrary)."
That's been the case right from the start, when Mayor Gavin Newsom unilaterally and in violation of the law decided to start issuing counterfeit "marriage" licenses.
It continued when opponents of Prop8 filed suit to have the measure removed from the ballot. Prop 8 went to the voters anyway.
It continued when then-Attorney General Jerry Brown changed the title of Proposition 8, in order to weaken support for it. Prop 8 won big despite the change.
It continued when Attorney General Brown refused to do his duty and defend Prop 8, passed by a significant majority of Californians.
It continued in Massachusetts when the state legislature refused to allow the people of the state to vote on a constitutional amendment defending marriage, despite the record number (170+000) of signatures.
This is self-interest denying the common good, and the right of the people to self-government.
I said above that this uncivil attitude of the Left is evident in other issues as well. It is all of a piece of what we are seeing in Wisconsin. In Wisconsin, Governer Walker and the Republicans ran on a platform promising to address the budget crisis and reform the state's government. They won big. What happens? Do their opponents say "This is America. We are a democracy. The people made a choice. We have to abide by it if we are to remain a democracy. We don't like it, but there are other elections, and if we make our case to the people we can win, and then offer our own solutions." Not on your life.
The Democratic legislators try to prevent government by functioning by leaving the state. Teachers Union members walk off their jobs (illegally) and occupy the capitol. Sympathetic doctors violate their professional ethics, and probably the law as well, by writing phony excuses so the teachers can say they were sick, thus defrauding the taxpayers.
President Obama, Congressman Pelosi et al. side with those in Wisconsin, just as they side with those who support counterfeit "marriage." On the other side are the American people.
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Archbishop Dolan to Celebrate Dr. Nathanson's Funeral Mass
Tom Peters reports that Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York will celebrate a funeral Mass for pro-life hero Dr. Bernard Nathanson.
Most people know the story of Dr. Nathanson, a one-time abortionist and one of the founders of NARAL Pro-Choice America. By his own count Dr. Nathanson partcipated in the deaths of 75,000 unborn babies. But, after witnessing a sonogram, the Doctor had a change of heart, a conversion, and became one of the most important voices for life in the United States. Think how hard it is to admit we are wrong, even in small things, and then reflect on what moral courage Dr. Nathanson's acceptance and conversion must have required! And his example must surely have encouraged others like Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe) and Abby Johnson, not to mention many whose names we will never know. Tom writes:
"Today it was made known that Archbishop Timothy Dolan will celebrate Dr. Nathanson’s funeral Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.
Imagine, someone who brought about the deaths of 75,000 human beings and who was instrumental in ushering in the era of legalized abortion being granted a Catholic burial.
But thus is the infinite mercy of Christ.
Tom then quotes his father, canon lawyer Dr. Ed Peters:
My father writes movingly about this:
'Nathanson’s baptism at the hands of Cdl. John O’Connor in 1996 completely forgave him all his sins up to that point (all of his 75,000 supervised or directly-performed abortions, including one of his own children, his multiple divorces, and God knows what else) and totally paid all of the punishments due for such sins. CCC 1263. Everything, everything, Nathanson did up to the day of his baptism is buried forever in Christ.'
Tom continues:
This is an extraordinary point to reflect upon.
After all, the Church, in the debate over abortion, is often portrayed as unfeeling, harsh, unforgiving. I think critics of the Church who say such things should take note of Dr. Nathanson’s Catholic burial.
In truth, nothing is more forgiving than the Church because the Church forgives through the power of Christ – He who IS forgiveness for sin. The Church can be no less forgiving of sin as He is, and the same is true for us. If Dr. Nathanson can be saved, we all can. And we can pray for everyone including the Dr. Nathansons of this world to experience conversion.
The example of Dr. Nathanson, his baptism and funeral brings this one thing to mind: conversion.
As we pray for the repose of Dr. Nathanson’s soul – and petition God to show all His mercy to him – we should also pray for the conversion of those who continue to believe in the lie of abortion.
Lord, harden not their hearts. Lord, show them your mercy!"
Mary Help of Christians, pray for us!
Most people know the story of Dr. Nathanson, a one-time abortionist and one of the founders of NARAL Pro-Choice America. By his own count Dr. Nathanson partcipated in the deaths of 75,000 unborn babies. But, after witnessing a sonogram, the Doctor had a change of heart, a conversion, and became one of the most important voices for life in the United States. Think how hard it is to admit we are wrong, even in small things, and then reflect on what moral courage Dr. Nathanson's acceptance and conversion must have required! And his example must surely have encouraged others like Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe) and Abby Johnson, not to mention many whose names we will never know. Tom writes:
"Today it was made known that Archbishop Timothy Dolan will celebrate Dr. Nathanson’s funeral Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.
Imagine, someone who brought about the deaths of 75,000 human beings and who was instrumental in ushering in the era of legalized abortion being granted a Catholic burial.
But thus is the infinite mercy of Christ.
Tom then quotes his father, canon lawyer Dr. Ed Peters:
My father writes movingly about this:
'Nathanson’s baptism at the hands of Cdl. John O’Connor in 1996 completely forgave him all his sins up to that point (all of his 75,000 supervised or directly-performed abortions, including one of his own children, his multiple divorces, and God knows what else) and totally paid all of the punishments due for such sins. CCC 1263. Everything, everything, Nathanson did up to the day of his baptism is buried forever in Christ.'
Tom continues:
This is an extraordinary point to reflect upon.
After all, the Church, in the debate over abortion, is often portrayed as unfeeling, harsh, unforgiving. I think critics of the Church who say such things should take note of Dr. Nathanson’s Catholic burial.
In truth, nothing is more forgiving than the Church because the Church forgives through the power of Christ – He who IS forgiveness for sin. The Church can be no less forgiving of sin as He is, and the same is true for us. If Dr. Nathanson can be saved, we all can. And we can pray for everyone including the Dr. Nathansons of this world to experience conversion.
The example of Dr. Nathanson, his baptism and funeral brings this one thing to mind: conversion.
As we pray for the repose of Dr. Nathanson’s soul – and petition God to show all His mercy to him – we should also pray for the conversion of those who continue to believe in the lie of abortion.
Lord, harden not their hearts. Lord, show them your mercy!"
Mary Help of Christians, pray for us!
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