Valerie Schmalz, writing in this week's Catholic San Francisco reports on San Francisco's "40 Days for Life" vigil, and the March 18 closing of the Golden Gate Health Center (formerly Planned Parenthood Golden Gate). The story is on page 10 of the PDF version of the paper.
She shares the good news that Salesian priest Fr. Jose Lucero, of Corpus Christi Church, will lead his parishioners at Planned Parenthood's new location:
"On March 19, the San Francisco 40 Days for Life vigil will move to 1650 Valencia St. in the Mission District, where Planned Parenthood Shasta Pacific opened a clinic in January. That
clinic is within a 10-minute walk of Corpus Christi Church and school, said Corpus Christi
Associate Pastor Salesian Father Jose Lucero, who began praying with parishioners outside
the clinic on Ash Wednesday.
'It is clear that there should not be abortions allowed – period,' said Father Lucero, who began recruiting parishioners at all the Masses on the weekend of March 5-6. 'They should
not be happening. Anyone Catholic needs to uphold that.'”
God bless this Son of Don Bosco! May other priests follow his example!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
A Letter From the Salesian Sisters in Japan
Here is a report from our Salesian Sisters on the ground in Japan. This was forwarded to us by Sister Ann Cassidy, FMA. If there is one group you can be sure will be working day and night as long as they can draw breath it is the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. God bless them!
"As we see in the news, the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan has created a situation of crisis in the country. We have 15 mission sites in Japan. Our sisters run 9 schools, various youth centers, social ministries, immigrant outreach, etc. In one of our schools all students got stranded and the sisters are taking care of all their needs since the roads and accesses were destroyed.
Sr. Marisa Gambato, provincial secretary of the Japanese province wrote telling us how they are living these days and what the general situation is like.
«The earthquakes continue and are fairly serious. Many people are still isolated, and a stronger quake is feared (or foreseen?) here in Tokyo . At this very moment in which I am writing to you I feel a tremor. It is the second in just fifteen minutes.
We are living these hours in the fear that something else will happen. For this reason we are praying that if it must happen, it may not be while the pupils are in school.
We are living in fear. Television transmissions continue to show and talk about the numbers of victims, injured, homeless, people who are isolated, the danger of nuclear reactors and many other things.
One of our Sisters had no news of her parents and so did not know what had happened to them. However, just half an hour ago she was able to communicate with them and know that they, too, are out of danger.
It is the same for relations of other Sisters, past pupils and friends. The Bishop of the diocese of Sendai cannot be reached.
Here in Tokyo , the situation has returned to normal. The day of the first the
earthquake, all public transport stopped and the city and its surroundings were paralysed. Even trains between different cities had stopped.
One of our Sisters was out of the house in the afternoon, when the earthquake took place. She had to walk home and arrived at 1:30am. She was not the only one walking and so was not afraid. Many people had to do the same thing.
The situation of our pupils and their families is not a cause for worry, but we are thinking of the many children and old people in emergency shelter, in gyms or halls, all together: men, women, children and the elderly, etc., lacking everything. Water and food is being distributed, but it seems that, at times, they have to wait for hours before what they need arrives.
We are organising ourselves to collect money. We have been asked by Caritas Japan and other government and non government organisations to collect funds. It is the best way to help for the moment. As for volunteering, it is still impossible to think of anything. For now the military and specialist groups who are coming from other countries are what is needed. Many areas can only be reached by helicopter, and some not even by that means. One of the ways of collaborating is the sense of bearing things of the people in difficulty.
At the airport of Sendai 1,300 people are still waiting for help. The State is moving, but roads are interrupted in various places. Whole villages have disappeared.
The government is not asking for anything from the citizens except to remain calm and avoid exposing themselves to danger. Since it is possible that there may be further earthquakes they should be ready to escape to safe places. I do not know if Japan is different from other countries, but the people have a great ability to bear things and so do not get discouraged easily. I tell all those who ask about Japan to continue to pray».
«The earthquakes continue and are fairly serious. Many people are still isolated, and a stronger quake is feared (or foreseen?) here in Tokyo . At this very moment in which I am writing to you I feel a tremor. It is the second in just fifteen minutes.
We are living these hours in the fear that something else will happen. For this reason we are praying that if it must happen, it may not be while the pupils are in school.
We are living in fear. Television transmissions continue to show and talk about the numbers of victims, injured, homeless, people who are isolated, the danger of nuclear reactors and many other things.
One of our Sisters had no news of her parents and so did not know what had happened to them. However, just half an hour ago she was able to communicate with them and know that they, too, are out of danger.
It is the same for relations of other Sisters, past pupils and friends. The Bishop of the diocese of Sendai cannot be reached.
Here in Tokyo , the situation has returned to normal. The day of the first the
earthquake, all public transport stopped and the city and its surroundings were paralysed. Even trains between different cities had stopped.
One of our Sisters was out of the house in the afternoon, when the earthquake took place. She had to walk home and arrived at 1:30am. She was not the only one walking and so was not afraid. Many people had to do the same thing.
The situation of our pupils and their families is not a cause for worry, but we are thinking of the many children and old people in emergency shelter, in gyms or halls, all together: men, women, children and the elderly, etc., lacking everything. Water and food is being distributed, but it seems that, at times, they have to wait for hours before what they need arrives.
We are organising ourselves to collect money. We have been asked by Caritas Japan and other government and non government organisations to collect funds. It is the best way to help for the moment. As for volunteering, it is still impossible to think of anything. For now the military and specialist groups who are coming from other countries are what is needed. Many areas can only be reached by helicopter, and some not even by that means. One of the ways of collaborating is the sense of bearing things of the people in difficulty.
At the airport of Sendai 1,300 people are still waiting for help. The State is moving, but roads are interrupted in various places. Whole villages have disappeared.
The government is not asking for anything from the citizens except to remain calm and avoid exposing themselves to danger. Since it is possible that there may be further earthquakes they should be ready to escape to safe places. I do not know if Japan is different from other countries, but the people have a great ability to bear things and so do not get discouraged easily. I tell all those who ask about Japan to continue to pray».
More Public Sector Union Abuse, this time from San Francisco
From today's San Francisco Chronicle:
"San Francisco's biggest pension earners receive hefty checks not only from the city's pension fund, but also additional money from the cash-strapped departments in which they worked.
The system allows the retirees, all top brass from the police and fire department, to receive annual payments far above the $195,000 pension cap allowed by the Internal Revenue Service.
The city's retirement fund cannot pay more than that, but it's fairly common for cities and other employers to legally get around the provision. San Francisco does it by passing the extra tab on to the employees' former departments....
For example, the city's No. 1 pension earner, former Police Chief Heather Fong, last year received $195,000 from the regular pension fund plus $69,246.85 from the police department.
The department - which is so broke, it can't afford police academy classes this year or next - will be on the hook for that payment, plus cost-of-living hikes, every year for the rest of Fong's life."
"San Francisco's biggest pension earners receive hefty checks not only from the city's pension fund, but also additional money from the cash-strapped departments in which they worked.
The system allows the retirees, all top brass from the police and fire department, to receive annual payments far above the $195,000 pension cap allowed by the Internal Revenue Service.
The city's retirement fund cannot pay more than that, but it's fairly common for cities and other employers to legally get around the provision. San Francisco does it by passing the extra tab on to the employees' former departments....
For example, the city's No. 1 pension earner, former Police Chief Heather Fong, last year received $195,000 from the regular pension fund plus $69,246.85 from the police department.
The department - which is so broke, it can't afford police academy classes this year or next - will be on the hook for that payment, plus cost-of-living hikes, every year for the rest of Fong's life."
Baby Joseph Rescued From Canadian Hospital!
From LifeSiteNews:
"After weeks of legal battles and searching for a hospital willing to take over his care, Baby Joseph Maraachli was airlifted Sunday night to a children’s hospital in St. Louis, Missouri.
Joseph and his father, Moe Maraachli, were joined on the specially-equipped air ambulance by Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of the U.S.-based Priests for Life. The organization paid for the flight, and will foot Joseph’s U.S. medical bills and the cost of his family’s accommodations."
Way to go Father Frank!
Amazingly, the staff of London Health Services Center complained:
"Joseph’s previous hospital, London Health Sciences Centre, which refused to perform the tracheostomy and had sought to remove his ventilator against his parents’ wishes, defended their care of Joseph again in a press release Monday. They insisted he was taken from the hospital 'despite the strongest possible medical advice.'
The hospital complained that their doctors and staff 'were targeted by well-organized social media feeds and directly via email with personal threats, threats to their families, innuendoes and falsehoods.'”
The article also had some very interesting commentary from Dr. Paul Byrne, a fifty-year veteran in the field of neonatology.
Dr. Byrne said that the "... issue shouldn’t be turned into a debate about the American health care system versus the Canadian system. Instead, he said it highlights the need for 'medicine that’s based on the Creator and the specialness of the person.'
“It’s medicine that is in accord with the Hippocratic oath, which very few doctors take any more, versus medicine that is not true medicine, but is actually part of the culture of death,” he explained. “It’s medicine that’s with God versus medicine that’s without God.”
'They make the person be like a machine, like an automobile that has parts,' he said. 'That’s not what the person is. When the automobile gets too much wrong with it, it goes to a junk yard.'
'They decided that baby Joseph was not worthwhile and to do a tracheostomy was futile, and therefore they weren’t going to do it,' he added."
Now thanks be to God, and to the efforts of many people, baby Joseph is in a hospital that will at least cooperate with his parents. Let us pray that he lives, and if it be God's will that he dies, at least it will be in a place where he is loved and valued.
"After weeks of legal battles and searching for a hospital willing to take over his care, Baby Joseph Maraachli was airlifted Sunday night to a children’s hospital in St. Louis, Missouri.
Joseph and his father, Moe Maraachli, were joined on the specially-equipped air ambulance by Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of the U.S.-based Priests for Life. The organization paid for the flight, and will foot Joseph’s U.S. medical bills and the cost of his family’s accommodations."
Way to go Father Frank!
Amazingly, the staff of London Health Services Center complained:
"Joseph’s previous hospital, London Health Sciences Centre, which refused to perform the tracheostomy and had sought to remove his ventilator against his parents’ wishes, defended their care of Joseph again in a press release Monday. They insisted he was taken from the hospital 'despite the strongest possible medical advice.'
The hospital complained that their doctors and staff 'were targeted by well-organized social media feeds and directly via email with personal threats, threats to their families, innuendoes and falsehoods.'”
The article also had some very interesting commentary from Dr. Paul Byrne, a fifty-year veteran in the field of neonatology.
Dr. Byrne said that the "... issue shouldn’t be turned into a debate about the American health care system versus the Canadian system. Instead, he said it highlights the need for 'medicine that’s based on the Creator and the specialness of the person.'
“It’s medicine that is in accord with the Hippocratic oath, which very few doctors take any more, versus medicine that is not true medicine, but is actually part of the culture of death,” he explained. “It’s medicine that’s with God versus medicine that’s without God.”
'They make the person be like a machine, like an automobile that has parts,' he said. 'That’s not what the person is. When the automobile gets too much wrong with it, it goes to a junk yard.'
'They decided that baby Joseph was not worthwhile and to do a tracheostomy was futile, and therefore they weren’t going to do it,' he added."
Now thanks be to God, and to the efforts of many people, baby Joseph is in a hospital that will at least cooperate with his parents. Let us pray that he lives, and if it be God's will that he dies, at least it will be in a place where he is loved and valued.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Wisconsin Unions Indoctrinate Kids
What's next, child soldiers? Maybe! Disturbing video taken in the rotunda of the Wisconsin capitol today. Taxpayer funded teachers training students to reject democratic government. Via Ann Althouse:
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
CCCYO Ex-Director Comes Clean, Supports Counterfeit Marriage
Brian Cahill, immediate past Executive Director of Catholic Charities of San Francisco published an op-ed in last Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle, declaring his support for counterfeit marriage, and reavealing that he had donated financially to the opponents of Proposiition 8.
Of course, to the readers of "A Shepherd's Voice" this is no surprise--we revealed it back in October of 2008.
For new readers, Mr. Cahill is the guy who thought it would be a good idea for Catholic Charities CYO to provide staffing to an organization that advertised for adoptive "dads" on the s/m page of the Bay Area Reporter and the "Porn" page of the San Francisco Bay Times, two homosexualist publications. That action outraged even the city government of San Francisco--which is not easy to do.
Thankfully, Mr. Cahill's tenure at Catholic Charities ended in 2009, along with CCCYO's partnership with Family Builders by Adoption. But as this post about his CCCYO going away party shows, much more needs to be done.
For an in-depth report on the how this situation arose, visit our sister website "Homosexual Activism in the Archdiocese of San Francisco."
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
Of course, to the readers of "A Shepherd's Voice" this is no surprise--we revealed it back in October of 2008.
For new readers, Mr. Cahill is the guy who thought it would be a good idea for Catholic Charities CYO to provide staffing to an organization that advertised for adoptive "dads" on the s/m page of the Bay Area Reporter and the "Porn" page of the San Francisco Bay Times, two homosexualist publications. That action outraged even the city government of San Francisco--which is not easy to do.
Thankfully, Mr. Cahill's tenure at Catholic Charities ended in 2009, along with CCCYO's partnership with Family Builders by Adoption. But as this post about his CCCYO going away party shows, much more needs to be done.
For an in-depth report on the how this situation arose, visit our sister website "Homosexual Activism in the Archdiocese of San Francisco."
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Chutzpah, Red Chinese Style
It's the classical definition of chutzpah: A guy murders his parents, then asks the court for mercy on the grounds he's an orphan.
From the New Zealand Herald:
"The Chinese Embassy has asked the Government to give special compensation to Chinese families who lost children in last month's Christchurch earthquake....
Because of China's one child policy New Zealand should make special arrangements for added economic assistance, on top of provisions like ACC, Chinese Embassy disaster relief head Cheng Lei said."
The minister of the Communist government is utterly shameless:
'You can expect how lonely, how desperate they are... not only from losing loved ones, but losing almost entirely the major source of economic assistance after retirement,' he told Radio New Zealand."
Meanwhile, just over a week ago, on March 5, the Catholic News Agency reported:
"A Chinese woman who protested the country's strict one-child policy was re-arrested and taken to an unknown labor camp after she was initially released from a different facility one day earlier on medical parole."
From the New Zealand Herald:
"The Chinese Embassy has asked the Government to give special compensation to Chinese families who lost children in last month's Christchurch earthquake....
Because of China's one child policy New Zealand should make special arrangements for added economic assistance, on top of provisions like ACC, Chinese Embassy disaster relief head Cheng Lei said."
The minister of the Communist government is utterly shameless:
'You can expect how lonely, how desperate they are... not only from losing loved ones, but losing almost entirely the major source of economic assistance after retirement,' he told Radio New Zealand."
Meanwhile, just over a week ago, on March 5, the Catholic News Agency reported:
"A Chinese woman who protested the country's strict one-child policy was re-arrested and taken to an unknown labor camp after she was initially released from a different facility one day earlier on medical parole."
Pray for the People of Japan! Help is on the Way!
What an unimaginable tragedy. The Church is still formulating its disaster response through Catholic Relief Services and Caritas Japan. Our bishops should have clear instructions on how we should help very soon.
Charity Navigator, an organization that monitors charitable groups (and unfortunately, bogus groups) understands our desire to do something right now but counsels us:
"Wait and see: While we all feel an urgent need to help immediately following a massive disaster, some donors may want to wait a few days before donating. By then, charities should have a more clear plan of how they’ll provide aid."
Japanese Red Cross is already on the scene. If you feel you must donate right away, Bay Area Red Cross has a webpage where you can send a donation specifically for the Japanese disaster.
Charity Navigator, an organization that monitors charitable groups (and unfortunately, bogus groups) understands our desire to do something right now but counsels us:
"Wait and see: While we all feel an urgent need to help immediately following a massive disaster, some donors may want to wait a few days before donating. By then, charities should have a more clear plan of how they’ll provide aid."
Japanese Red Cross is already on the scene. If you feel you must donate right away, Bay Area Red Cross has a webpage where you can send a donation specifically for the Japanese disaster.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Dr. Ed Peters on Canon Law/Pastoral Practice
The great canon lawyer, who has singlehandedly been whipping Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese, the Diocese of Albany, National Catholic Reporter Michael Sean Winters, and Dan Collins of the Huffington Post over the Andrew Cuomo communion controversy continues his work:
Communion, Canon Law, and Pastoral Practice
There is a line of thought emerging in regard to the Cuomo-Communion controversy that runs as follows: “Okay, maybe Peters has a point about the canon law of this case, but c’mon, questions about individual reception of holy Communion are really matters of pastoral practice....”
Read the whole thing .
He adds Cardinal Mahoney to his list of victims, too.
h/t Fr. Z.
Communion, Canon Law, and Pastoral Practice
There is a line of thought emerging in regard to the Cuomo-Communion controversy that runs as follows: “Okay, maybe Peters has a point about the canon law of this case, but c’mon, questions about individual reception of holy Communion are really matters of pastoral practice....”
Read the whole thing .
He adds Cardinal Mahoney to his list of victims, too.
h/t Fr. Z.
Strange comments from Fr. Rosica about Fr. Gravel and Life Site News
We had posted about Fr. Rayond Gravel's lawsuit against LifeSiteNews back when news of the lawsuit was first made public. Go here to donate to LSN's legal costs.
On Thursday, LifeSiteNews reported that Fr. Thomas Rosica, CEO of Canada's Salt and Light TV, weighed in on the issue. Fr. Rosica does not much care for LifeSiteNews. It's my opinion that he is sore at LifeSiteNews, particularily because of their scoop on the Development and Peace scandal .
His comments in the National Post did not seem to make much sense--of course, some of that may be the fault of the author rather than of Father. Here is the author describing Fr. Rosica's attitude towards Fr. Gravel
"Fr. Rosica said he is no fan of Fr. Gravel and disagrees strongly with his political activism and activity."
Repeat: Fr. Rosica is CEO of Salt and Light TV. A search of the Salt and Light website turns up no results for "Raymond Gravel." A google search of "Raymond Gravel" + Rosica turned up 387 results, but I did not find one that included Fr. Rosica "disagreeing strongly" (or at all) with Fr. Gravel. Fr. Rosica does not disagree strongly enough with Fr. Gravel to even write about it. Continuing the citation from above:
But he still seriously questions LifeSite’s treatment of the priest. 'No matter how ambiguous, deplorable, scandalous and improper Fr. Raymond Gravel’s behavior is purported to have been in Quebec and in Canada ...."
Emphasis added. Purported to have been? Fr. Gravel was elected to public office in Canada as a member of a political party that supports abortion and counterfeit marriage. We won't even bother adressing the liberal's insincere cry of "incivility"--we merely invite readers to go here for an example of Fr. Rosica's civility.
The article further stated:
"Fr. Rosica expressed concern that by highlighting two extreme positions on the abortion issue, LifeSiteNews and Fr. Gravel have repelled Catholics who might otherwise have rallied to the pro-life cause."
That's an odd statement. What are the "two extremes" Fr. Rosica refers to? The position of the Roman Catholic Church that abortion is wrong and should not be committed? That's certainly the position of LifeSiteNews. Does Fr. Rosica consider that an "extreme"?
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
On Thursday, LifeSiteNews reported that Fr. Thomas Rosica, CEO of Canada's Salt and Light TV, weighed in on the issue. Fr. Rosica does not much care for LifeSiteNews. It's my opinion that he is sore at LifeSiteNews, particularily because of their scoop on the Development and Peace scandal .
His comments in the National Post did not seem to make much sense--of course, some of that may be the fault of the author rather than of Father. Here is the author describing Fr. Rosica's attitude towards Fr. Gravel
"Fr. Rosica said he is no fan of Fr. Gravel and disagrees strongly with his political activism and activity."
Repeat: Fr. Rosica is CEO of Salt and Light TV. A search of the Salt and Light website turns up no results for "Raymond Gravel." A google search of "Raymond Gravel" + Rosica turned up 387 results, but I did not find one that included Fr. Rosica "disagreeing strongly" (or at all) with Fr. Gravel. Fr. Rosica does not disagree strongly enough with Fr. Gravel to even write about it. Continuing the citation from above:
But he still seriously questions LifeSite’s treatment of the priest. 'No matter how ambiguous, deplorable, scandalous and improper Fr. Raymond Gravel’s behavior is purported to have been in Quebec and in Canada ...."
Emphasis added. Purported to have been? Fr. Gravel was elected to public office in Canada as a member of a political party that supports abortion and counterfeit marriage. We won't even bother adressing the liberal's insincere cry of "incivility"--we merely invite readers to go here for an example of Fr. Rosica's civility.
The article further stated:
"Fr. Rosica expressed concern that by highlighting two extreme positions on the abortion issue, LifeSiteNews and Fr. Gravel have repelled Catholics who might otherwise have rallied to the pro-life cause."
That's an odd statement. What are the "two extremes" Fr. Rosica refers to? The position of the Roman Catholic Church that abortion is wrong and should not be committed? That's certainly the position of LifeSiteNews. Does Fr. Rosica consider that an "extreme"?
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
Friday, March 11, 2011
On Wisconsin (again)
Michael Walsh in the New York Post writing about the deep meaning of the events of the past few weeks in Wisconsin:
"But this fight is no longer simply about Walker's attempt to balance Wisconsin's wobbly budget, or even about whether public-employee unions ought to have the right to collective bargaining -- they shouldn't, and in fact they shouldn't even exist, as FDR himself warned.
It's now about whether we are to have an orderly democracy or legislative and executive anarchy, whether elections can be delegitimized and even overturned by the daily plebiscites of the polls, by the flouting of sacred oaths of office and by the trampling on the laws of the state.
It must stop. As President Obama liked to remind the GOP during the first two years of his administration, elections have consequences. From the Republican point of view, there was plenty not to like about Obama's program, including the stimulus and the health-care bill, but they voted anyway and took their lumps like grownups.
What the Democrats are doing in Wisconsin is more than just a disgrace. It's a danger to our republican form of government, a formula for permanent, no-holds-barred combat long after the polls have closed and the people have spoken."
"But this fight is no longer simply about Walker's attempt to balance Wisconsin's wobbly budget, or even about whether public-employee unions ought to have the right to collective bargaining -- they shouldn't, and in fact they shouldn't even exist, as FDR himself warned.
It's now about whether we are to have an orderly democracy or legislative and executive anarchy, whether elections can be delegitimized and even overturned by the daily plebiscites of the polls, by the flouting of sacred oaths of office and by the trampling on the laws of the state.
It must stop. As President Obama liked to remind the GOP during the first two years of his administration, elections have consequences. From the Republican point of view, there was plenty not to like about Obama's program, including the stimulus and the health-care bill, but they voted anyway and took their lumps like grownups.
What the Democrats are doing in Wisconsin is more than just a disgrace. It's a danger to our republican form of government, a formula for permanent, no-holds-barred combat long after the polls have closed and the people have spoken."
In Maryland, People Speak, Legislators Listen & Abandon Counterfeit Marriage
Good news from Maryland on the "Civil Marriage Protection Act." It is especially heartening since Maryland is a deeply Democratic state--like California!
The New York Times reports
"For weeks, the bill’s passage was thought to be assured. Maryland’s House is overwhelmingly Democrat — 98 out of 141 members, more than enough to pass the bill over Republican opposition. But the closer it got to a final vote, the bumpier its path became, with a number of Democrats from districts with strong religious constituencies saying they would vote against it.
Two of its co-sponsors, Tiffany Alston of Prince George’s County and Melvin Stukes of Baltimore County, withdrew their support at the last minute, under pressure from their constituencies, which both have powerful religious communities.
Ultimately, about a third of the Democrats in the House opposed it."
Brian Burch of the National Organization for Marriage said:
I am happily surprised by this victory. I had thought, (as the NYT writer said) the bill would pass, and then the people would repeal it in 2012, in the manner of Maine's "Question 1." But it looks like the people of Maryland, and especially their religious leaders, really stood up for marriage.
The New York Times reports
"For weeks, the bill’s passage was thought to be assured. Maryland’s House is overwhelmingly Democrat — 98 out of 141 members, more than enough to pass the bill over Republican opposition. But the closer it got to a final vote, the bumpier its path became, with a number of Democrats from districts with strong religious constituencies saying they would vote against it.
Two of its co-sponsors, Tiffany Alston of Prince George’s County and Melvin Stukes of Baltimore County, withdrew their support at the last minute, under pressure from their constituencies, which both have powerful religious communities.
Ultimately, about a third of the Democrats in the House opposed it."
Brian Burch of the National Organization for Marriage said:
"Kudos to those brave Maryland delegates who defied the arm-twisting and political pressures to do the right thing: listen to your constituents,” said Brian Brown, president of NOM. “We pledge to be there over the long haul to help all pro-marriage Democrats, many of whom have been subject to reprehensible attacks for standing up for marriage. This victory comes from the people of Maryland whose quiet, under-reported, but extraordinary outpouring of opposition to redefining marriage is the reason for this victory. Not only did marriage win, but democracy won today."
I am happily surprised by this victory. I had thought, (as the NYT writer said) the bill would pass, and then the people would repeal it in 2012, in the manner of Maine's "Question 1." But it looks like the people of Maryland, and especially their religious leaders, really stood up for marriage.
God Bless them!
Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney
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