At USCCB Meeting, Archbishop Cordileone Reminds Catholics: Abortion IS a Social Justice Issue

From LifeSiteNews:

"San Francisco’s new archbishop lamented the false distinction between 'social justice' and 'moral values'  issues at the U.S. Bishops’ annual meeting on Monday as he reflected on the results of last Tuesday’s presidential election.

If Catholics reflected on the Gospel in the light of Catholic social teaching, they would 'see the consistency' between issues such as immigration reform and the right to life for the unborn, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said at a press conference, where he was joined by Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore and Cardinal Seán O’Malley.

'They would not make the separation between so-called social justice issues and so-called moral value issues,' said Cordileone. 'They would see that they all have to do with social justice, with the common good, and a healthy thriving society...

At the press conference, Cordileone bemoaned the fact that many Catholics 'view these issues politically rather than through the lens of the Gospel and through the lens of the common good based on our Catholic social teaching.'

'The challenge for us as bishops, as clergy, is to educate our people in that, form them in seeing through the lens of the Gospel as interpreted through Catholic social teaching so they’ll see the consistency of the Church’s position on these issues,' he said."

Obama Administration Benghazi Resignations

CIA Director General Petraeus--resigned. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton--an aide says she will resign.

The Democrat-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee said General Petraeus will not be testifying about the deaths of Ambassador Stevens and 3 other Americans in the administration's Benghazi disaster.

Congressman Trey Gowdy is not accepting that. Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein seems to agree.

As for Secretary Clinton, she says she is too busy to testify before congress about the deaths of Ambassador Stevens and 3 other Americans in the administration's Benghazi disaster.

As usual, there is a deafening silence from the mainstream media on the first murder of an American Ambassador in 30 years. Patrick Cadell, the former Democratic poll wizard, is "appalled" by the mainstream media's non-coverage of Benghazi, and described them as "an enemy of the American people."

Meanwhile, Attorney General Eric Holder, of "Operation Fast and Furious" fame, is "undecided" on whether to remain. "Only" four Americans were killed in the Benghazi disaster, whereas "Operation Fast and Furious" has been called "The Biggest, Bloodiest Scandal in U.S. Presidential History."   And who covered it? Univision, the Spanish language network.

"The Catholic Church. Outlasting Oppressive Governments Since 33 AD"

 

That's the cool motto on a product line at Cafe Press by IamCatholic.

Caution: DON'T buy the doggie sweater--it says it is made by American Apparel, which is a Culture of Death promoter. See here and here.

Hemlock Society Essay Contest

“Compassion and Choices” Essay Contest Promoted by at Least One Catholic School

For the fourth year, Compassion and Choices of Northern California (and its other chapters around the country) has invited has invited high school students to submit essays on the subject “Matters of Life and Death.” The winning essayist receives a college scholarship in the amount of $1,000. The second-place winner receives $500. Under the name “Compassion and Choices”  the organization may not be familiar to many people. But it is quite well known under its previous name—the Hemlock Society.

An August, 2011 press release from the "Compassion and Choices" of the state of Washington announced that year’s essay contest winners.

The title of the essay of the first prize winner, perhaps unintentionally, provides food for thought. It was written by 18-year old Megan Brennan, and was titled “Thinking About Death Is Just for Old People, Right?”  Whether or not thinking about death is just for old people, encouraging young people to reflect on suicide as a solution to life’s difficulties is unquestionably a bad idea. According to suicide.org, drawing on statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, while suicide as a whole has dropped from 13.2 per 100,000 persons in 1950 to 10.8 in 2003, suicide among those aged 5-14 has tripled from 0.2 to 0.6 per 100,000. In the same time period suicide among those aged 15-19 has more than tripled, rising from 2.7 per 100,000 to 7.3 per 100,000. In 2007, the CDC reported that suicide is the fourth leading cause of death for Americans age 10-14, the third leading cause of death for Americans aged 15-24, and the second leading cause of death for Americans aged 25-34.

The press release also mentioned the second place winner from Washington, a young man named Davis Kennedy from Gig Harbor. “Compassion and Choices” made their attitude to suicide quite clear, writing that Mr. Davis “…earned $500 for his second-place essay which was opposed to the option of Death With Dignity titled ‘Where There Is Life, There Is Hope.’”

Catholic High Schools have been targeted as well, and at least one is playing ball with the Hemlock Society.   In its February2010, February 2011, March 2011, and May 2011 “College and Career Center” webpage, Carondelet High School of Concord, founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondolet included a blurb for the scholarship, as well as a link to the “Compassion and Choices” website.

Counterfeit "Marriage" Wins in Three States

The fantasy continues--on many levels.

Only  a people who would re-elect a manifestly unqualified Barack Obama to a second term as President would also believe that one man can "marry" another man, or that simply voting on something makes it so.

Rush Limbaugh Nails It

Here's what Mr. Limbaugh said today:

"Now, everybody is jumping on Romney's chain today, getting in his chili. Look, he may have not been the most optimal candidate, but he's a fine man. He would have been great for this country. Mitt Romney and his family would have been the essence of exactly what this country needs. But what was Romney's recipe? Romney's recipe was the old standby: American route to success, hard work. That gets sneered at. I'm sorry. In a country of children where the option is Santa Claus or work, what wins? And say what you want, but Romney did offer a vision of traditional America. In his way, he put forth a great vision of traditional America, and it was rejected. It was rejected in favor of a guy who thinks that those who are working aren't doing enough to help those who aren't. And that resonated."

Here's what I was writing this just before I checked his page out:

"The Democrats convince people because they compete on the level of myth while conservatives have nothing to offer but reality.

Their myth is of a golden age that is only being prevented from coming in to being by the actions of the rich or reactionaries. This is always enticing because the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. This myth appears over and over again throughout history, of course. Barack Obama’s promise to 'fundamentally transform' America is one example. All conservatives have to offer in exchange are old truths: get married, have kids, go to church, work hard. While that is true, and the only effective way to build a good life and a healthy society, it’s not very romantic, and cannot compete with the myth."

It is obvious.

An Odd Election, an Odd Electorate

What an odd election.

Back on September 28, I predicted a Romney victory. I was wrong but I can't really blame myself. As the AP Reported this morning:

 

"Obama won even though exit polls showed that only about 4 in 10 voters thought the economy is getting better, just one-quarter thought they're better off financially than four years ago and a little more than half think the country is on the wrong track."

Yet they elected him. One remarkable fact is that Obama has received 10 million fewer votes than he did in 2008. Of course votes are still being counted, but he will not make up that 10 million deficit, or even close to it.  And Romney, as of now, has received fewer votes than McCain did in 2008.

 

The situation is equally odd in California. The state is in the worst shape ever, yet the voters have rewarded the Democrats, who controlled the Governership and both the state senate and assembly, with total one-party supermajorities:

"California Democrats picked up a supermajority in both houses of the state Legislature Tuesday night, a surprise outcome that gives the party the ability to unilaterally raise taxes and leaves Republicans essentially irrelevant in Sacramento.

Democrats were long expected to gain a two-thirds advantage in the Senate, but Assembly Speaker John Pérez had downplayed expectations that the party could win a supermajority in the lower house. The party's apparent capture of at least 54 seats in the Assembly and 27 in the Senate would mark the first time in nearly 80 years that one party controlled two-thirds of both houses, according to Senate President pro tem Darrell Steinberg."

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Judge Orders PA Democrats to stop Ejecting Republican Election Officials

The Democrats are utterly lawless and unAmerican. From Fox News:

"A Pennsylvania judge is issuing an order to reinstate Republican election officials across Philadelphia who allegedly were ejected or refused entry by on-site Democratic voting chief judges, GOP officials tell Fox News.

One Republican official claimed that "just under 70" Republican election officials were blocked from Philadelphia polling sites Tuesday morning by Democrats on site. One of them, the official claimed, "was shoved out of the polling place." 

"For this many inspectors to be ejected from polling places is rare, even for Philadelphia," the official told FoxNews.com.

Elsewhere in the city, a representative from the New Black Panther Party was also spotted outside a polling site. The New Black Panthers stirred controversy in 2008 when members appeared outside a polling site, one of them holding a billy club. The representative seen Tuesday morning was not armed. 

The flap over the election judges, though, was widespread. Republicans claim they are obtaining a series of court orders to seat the so-called election "inspectors," and sheriff's deputies will be available to escort them..."

MORE:

Chicago Election Judge Wearing Obama Cap

 
"This photo, taken by a voter this morning at the Ward 4, Precinct 37 polling place (1212 South Plymouth Court, Chicago), shows an election judge checking in voters while wearing an Obama hat," a source writes. "Chicago's 4th ward is home to President Barack Obama."

The voter who took the photo says: "Woman in front of me also given an extra ballot."

And the voter adds that she has in the past been an election observer abroad. "I had greater confidence votes mattered [in a foreign election in a transitioning country] than I did about my own vote today," says the voter.

MORE (Philadelphia):

Obama mural in Philadelphia Polling Place:

"Pennsylvania election law states "no person within a polling place may electioneer or solicit votes for any political party, political body, or candidate, nor may any unauthorized written or printed materials be posted within the polling place." 

MORE: Same-Sex "Marriage" Supporter Steals Yard Sign In Minnesota:



MORE: In Oregon, A Poll Worker Cheats for Republicans

"An elections worker in Oregon was fired after she was accused of tampering with ballots, in a case that has since been referred to the state's Department of Justice for investigation.

Fox 12 in Oregon reports that Deanna Swenson, who was working part-time in Clackamas County, allegedly voted for Republican candidates on two ballots where voters had left sections blank. County commissioners reportedly claimed they saw her fill in the blanks on Oct. 31."


MORE: In Minnesota, Propaganda Photo of Obama in Polling Place

"Photos obtained by The Daily Caller show that students at Saint John’s University in Minnesota voted Tuesday at a polling place where a wall-sized enlargement of a photo from the Obama White House situation room was displayed prominently."

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney

Bishop Jenky Teaches: "This Assault on our Religious Freedom is Simply Without Precedent"

As the election looms, Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria, Illinois instructed his priests to read a pastoral letter at Sunday's Masses. Excerpts from the letter, via LifeSiteNews:

"He singled out the Obama Administration’s controversial HHS birth control mandate, which would force Catholic employers to fund coverage of contraception, sterilization and abortion-causing pills for women workers, free of charge. 'This assault upon our religious freedom is simply without precedent,' he wrote. 'I do not think there has ever been a time more threatening to our religious liberty.'

He compared Catholic politicians and voters who support legalized abortion to the mob that cheered as Jesus Christ was tortured and killed. 

'Nearly two thousand years ago,' he wrote, 'after our Savior had been bound, beaten, scourged, mocked, and crowned with thorns, a pagan Roman Procurator displayed Jesus to a hostile crowd by sarcastically declaring: ‘Behold your King.’ The mob roared back: 'We have no king but Caesar.'” 

“'Today,' he wrote, 'Catholic politicians, bureaucrats, and their electoral supporters who callously enable the destruction of innocent human life in the womb also thereby reject Jesus as their Lord.'”

Nevada’s Biggest Paper: Obama 'Unworthy Commander-in-Chief' After Benghazi

  http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/obama-benghazi-attacks-security/2012/11/01/id/462368

The Art of Speaking Catholic Nonsese

 'The question is whether you can make words mean so many different things.'
SWith Election Day upon uis, it's no surprise that Obama's Catholics are engaging in the art of speaking Catholic nonsense.

Lewis Carroll, the British author of the "Alice" stories, was a trained logician in addition to being a gifted writer. His Alice in Wonderland is filled with characters who speak nonsense, a habit which Carroll repeatedly underscores with lines like this:

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less."

More from "Alice" later, because we should pause to mention just which Obama Catholics are sounding like Humpty Dumpty lately. First, and most notably, our nation's first Catholic Vice President, Joe Biden, who rather pathetically, yesterday, had to release a video reminding voters that he is a "practicing Catholic."

The script read by Biden into the camera is classic Humpty Dumpty, containing words that Biden delivered as if they meant he was a "believing Catholic," that is, one who believes and accepts the teachings of the Church. As everyone knows, or should know, Biden rejects an entire list of moral and social teachings that protect persons and society from the destruction of innocent human life, the family, and our natural right to obey God without interference from the State.

As Alice replies to Humpty Dumpty, "The question is whether you can make words mean so many different things."

Biden, however, only receives our B+ grade for the audacity of his dishonesty, while the A+ goes to the president of "Catholics for Choice". In an article from the Oct. 30 Chicago Sun-Times, which looks like it belongs in the Style section rather than the news, Jon O'Brien calls himself a "real traditionalist."
O'Brien, for any who may not know, replaced Frances Kissling at the helm of a "Catholic" group that promotes abortion and contraception to a mainstream media who lap it up. (The US Catholic Bishops have formally declared, several times, that O'Brien's group is NOT a Catholic organization.)

O'Brien speaks with the firm conviction of a Humpty Dumpty without shame: "I believe in the totality of Catholic teaching, and that includes the right to dissent and freedom of conscience."

You have to admire, so to speak, a man who can say that to a newspaper reporter on the same day he received a Personal PAC. When O'Brien, and Catholics like him, start talking about "conscience," it's time either to lift your sword and shield or leave the field because anything can, and will, happen.

The reporter, to her credit, did ask O'Brien the obvious question: whether he was a "cafeteria Catholic?" "No," O'Brien answered,

"What makes you a Catholic," he said, "is your Baptism."
Whatever happened to the life-is-a-journey sort of thing that Catholics like O'Brien used to wax poetical about? All of a sudden we are in a world of once-and-for-alls and theological finality: "What makes you Catholic is your Baptism." Really? Is that all there is to it, nothing else is required? Perhaps O'Brien should watch the Biden video where he equates being a "practicing Catholic" with helping those less fortunate.
Humpty Dumpty didn't allow Alice the last word, Humpty Dumpties never do:
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master -- that's all."
Yes, to be the "master" is all that matters to the Catholics who speak nonsense. Nov. 6 will reveal whether their gibberish will prevail with Catholic voters.

By Deal W Hudson and Keith A Fournier Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

- - -

Ten Myths About Premarital Sex

 - Conversant Life
From a  recently picked up a copy of Premarital Sex in America by Mark Regnerus and Jeremy Uecker and was pleasantly surprised at some of the insights

This blog is adapted from the last chapter in the book entitled, “The Power of Stories and Ten Myths about Sex in Emerging Adulthood.” The empirical data suggests that these are not true most of the time. There are exceptions, of course.

MYTH 1: Long-term relationships are a thing of the past
Many emerging adults (ages 18-23) tend to hold two views in tension—that sexual experimentation is valuable and yet one should not cheat on a monogamous partner. Indeed, many consider it stupid and unhealthy notto be sexually active in various relational settings. And yet most desire a lasting exclusive relationship. According to the research of Regnerus and Uecker, at least 50 percent of marriages last a lifetime, despite what most emerging adults tend to think.
MYTH 2: Sex is necessary to maintain a struggling relationship
The reality is that most relationships fail and the sooner one introduces sex into the relationship the greater chance it will fail.
MYTH 3: The sexual double standard between men and women is wrong and should be resisted
The authors of Premarital Sex in America argue that there are genuine differences in how men and women approach and experience sex that are deeply engrained. They conclude, “Unfortunately, many well-meaning adults and educators want so badly to dismantle the double standard that they work to normalize any and all consensual sexual relationships, rather than considering whether common experiences of sexual regret are in fact telling us something” (244).
MYTH 4: Boys are sexual beings and cannot be expected to follow sexual norms
This myth is both false and harmful. Young men can make wise sexual decisions if they are taught how to and the standard is set high.
MYTH 5: You are entirely in charge of your own sexuality; others’ decisions don’t matter.
Despite the individualistic mindset that dominates how emerging adults think about sexuality our choices are deeply influenced by other people’s sexual decisions. The choices of other people affect us financially, emotionally, relationally, and in terms of our expectations of sexual behavior.
MYTH 6: Porn will not affect your relationships
I have written on this elsewhere, so I won’t go into detail. The reality is that porn use has a significant negative impact on relationships.
MYTH 7: Others are having more sex than you
Most emerging adults significantly overestimate how much sex is really going on around them. Most think that other people are having more sex than they actually are. As a result, emerging adults act on this falseperception rather than reality.
MYTH 8: Sex doesn’t need to mean much
In reality sex is a very significant matter. There is nothing humans do that involves more of our minds, hearts, emotions, memories, self-image, and bodies. Sexual decisions stay with us for a lifetime.
MYTH 9: Marriage can wait for later
Despite common perceptions, the majority of emerging adults want to get married. But most want to wait awhile before doing so. The reality is that this is easier said than done. Life plans don’t always progress as young people envision.
MYTH 10: Living together is a positive step towards marriage
Between 50 and 70 percent of couples cohabit today. But only about 1 in 5 such relationships result in marriage.
I would highly recommend Premarital Sex in America for those who work with either emerging adults or younger students. It provides a deeply researched and balanced insight into the sexual lives of 18-23 year-olds.
Premarital Sex in America: How Young Americans Meet, Mate, and Think about Marrying

Mark Regnerus

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(Author), Jeremy Uecker

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