Vive la France! 15,000 French Mayors Refuse to Perform Counterfeit "Marriages"

From Catholic News Agency:

"A group of at least 14,900 French mayors has said it will not perform 'gay marriages,' even if the government moves ahead with plans to legalize the practice.

The administration of French President Francois Hollande has put forth a measure that would legalize 'gay marriage,' allow gay couples to receive medical treatment for artificial procreation and to adopt children.

'It is foolish to think that the mobilization of the elected mayors would stop if the law is passed,' said Franck Meyer, spokesman for the association Mayors for Children.

'As citizens, we elected officials will not give up,' he emphasized in statements to the media."

And how come (some of) their homosexuals are so much smarter than (some of) our homosexuals?

"Nathalie de Williencourt, a French lesbian and founder of one of the largest homosexual associations in France, said in January that most homosexual individuals in the country do not want 'gay marriage' or the right to adopt children.

'I am French, I am homosexual. The majority of homosexuals do not want either marriage or adoption, and we especially don’t want to be treated the same as heterosexuals because we are different,' she said. 'We don’t want equality but we do want justice.'"

That's good--the understanding that inequality does not automatically mean injustice. We need more of that.

SF NARAL ally Malia Cohen complains SF does not have enough children

On Saturday, April 21, Heather Knight, writing in the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors have declared 2013 to be the "Year of the Child."

Knight commented "It seemed a bit ironic considering San Francisco is plagued by family flight and counts just 13.5 percent of its residents as younger than 18, the smallest percentage of children of any city in the country, according to the 2010 census. Wouldn’t that be like Miami proclaiming it Year of the Snowman?"

Irony is not the right word. What we are seeing is the pathological refusal to face reality (latest example here) which is a hallmark of "progressives." Even more bizarre is that one of the resolution's co-sponsors was supervisor Malia Cohen. It was Cohen who sponsored the legislation hampering the work of crisis pregnancy centers like First Resort and the Alpha Preganancy Center--organizations that will help mothers give birth to children.. A June 7, 2011 press release from the Women's Health Policy Report stated:

"Supervisor Malia Cohen is working with NARAL Pro-Choice California on legislation that would mirror laws in Austin, Texas and New York City, where centers are required to post signs that disclose whether they have medical professionals on staff and provide abortion care, contraception, or offer referrals for such services."

So: Malia Cohen, a card-carrying member of the abortion establishment, is complaining about the lack of children!

In our August 2, 2011 post on Cohen's legislation we called her "...one of those black politicians (like Barack Obama) who service the abortion industry while that industry exterminates black America." San Francisco has already been ethnically cleansed of black people (when I was a child, SF was  13.4% black, now it is down to about 6%). Surprise, surprise: SF's Planned Parenthood used to be on Eddy Street in the Western Addition (about three blocks from the projects), a largely black area. With so few black people left, that location closed, and Planned Parenthood opened a new abortion business in the Mission, which is heavily Hispanic. 

SF Supervisors "Debate" Free Speech for Pro-Lifers

Yesterday the San Francisco Board of Supervisors began "debating" whether to restrict the freedom of speech of pro-lifers. It is certain that the BOS will pass this law. It is equally certain that the Life Legal Defense Foundation will bring suit to have it declared unconstitutional. You can donate to the LLDF here. NBC's local affiliate covered the story yesterday. One of our great 40 Days for Life members, Jamie Blinn, makes some great points. Check it out!


 

View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com.

"Read the Catechism" entry for today

I've signed on to that "Read the Catechism in the Year" website, which send a catechetical entry and commentary each day. I like it. This was the commentary for today's entry "What happens in the Church when she celebrates the eucharist?":

"Again and again we grumble about the Church, as though she were just an association of more or less good people. In reality the Church is what happens daily in a mysterious way at the altar. God gives himself to each one of us individually, and he wants to transform us through communion with him. Once we are transformed, we are supposed to transform the world. Everything else that the Church is besides that is secondary."

Openly Homosexual SEIU Boss to Address Most Holy Redeemer on “Being Catholic”

On April 20, Mary Kay Henry, International President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), will address the parishioners of San Francisco’s notorious Most Holy Redeemer Church. According to the MHR bulletin, Henry’s subject will be “How Being Catholic Informs my Leadership.” Unsurprisingly for a speaker at Most Holy Redeemer, Ms. Henry is openly homosexual.

Ms. Henry’s “Catholicism” bears the same relation to Catholicism as “same-sex marriage” does to marriage, and in fact, Henry admits as much. On May 29, 2012, Henry told the Denver Post "I think of my church as the church of the people and not as the institutional hierarchy that has doctrines that are not connected to my faith." In other words, her faith is something other than Catholicism.

That the doctrines “not connected to Henry’s faith” include the doctrine that homosexual acts are sinful and the doctrine that marriage is between one man and a woman goes without saying. But they are not unique. In an April 12, 2011 SEIU press release, opposing a congressional attempt to defund Planned Parenthood, Henry wrote:

"Planned Parenthood is an essential part of our nation's healthcare system, yet a handful of ideologically-driven Members of Congress want to prevent millions of American women from receiving life-saving healthcare. Since its formation, Planned Parenthood has been a leader in providing access to services such as cancer screenings, annual exams and other important preventive services. Every dollar in federal funding goes toward preventive care. Simply put, Planned Parenthood saves lives.”

“Simply put, Planned Parenthood saves lives.” Obviously, another Catholic “doctrine not connected to Henry’s faith” includes the doctrine that human life is to be protected from conception until natural death.

Less than a year later, on February 13, 2012, writing as President of the SEIU, Henry urged Senator Barbara Boxer to vote against the Blunt Amendment. The Blunt amendment, written in response to the HHS contraception mandate, would have allowed employers to refuse to include contraception in health care coverage if it violated their religious or moral beliefs. It was defeated in the senate. Every Catholic bishop in the United States supported, and still supports, such a conscience exemption. As a result of the rejection of the Blunt Amendment, a number of Catholic Universities and other institutions and persons were forced into suing the government in an effort to simply exercise their first amendment right to religious freedom, to be faithful to the Church. Yet Ms. Henry, who claims the name "Catholic", used the considerable power of her union to oppose this.

Ms. Henry’s invitation is a particular slap at San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage. On March 26 of this year, the day the Supreme Court heard arguments on the Proposition 8 case, the Archbishop, joined by thousands of others, was speaking in front of the court against the redefinition of marriage. A scant two hours before, Ms. Henry, in the exact same spot, had been addressing a crowd in support of the redefinition of marriage--precisely the opposite message (see photo above, courtesy of SEIU Facebook page)..

Given her leadership role in opposing non-negotiable teachings of the Catholic Church it seems contradictory that Henry would title her talk “How Being Catholic Informs my Leadership.” It compels the obvious questions: 1) where she could have arrived at such a definition of what “Catholic” means, and 2) in what sort of “Catholic” environment could she have been practicing, that such a definition went unchallenged.

But when one learns that Henry has been a parishioner of Most Holy Redeemer since 2007, was indeed listed as a lector in the church at that time, the contradiction resolves itself, and the root of her understanding of “Catholicism” crystallizes. In the past we have referred to Most Holy Redeemer as “the counter-cathedral in the Castro.” We meant, and still mean that, quite seriously. As we have demonstrated (and Ms. Henry's appearance is one more piece of evidence), the real lived religion at Most Holy Redeemer is not Catholicism, but the celebration of homosexuality. The word “Catholicism” is used, but the reality symbolized by the word is abandoned, and a new self-created thing is shoved into its place. The corruption is identical to the phrase “same-sex marriage”: the word “marriage” is used, but is emptied of its content and demonically assigned a diametrically opposed meaning.

As the inverted image of San Francisco’s St. Mary’s Cathedral, the counter-cathedral becomes the source of inverted teaching. On November 23, 2009, we noted an article in the publication Metro Active San Jose, called “Gay Catholics Come Out.” The article profiled San Jose’s St. Julie Billiart church. The Metro wrote “(Fr. Jon) Pedigo said that as he started to notice the growing LGBT Catholic community that was coming to St. Julie's, he decided to consult the established gay Catholic community at the Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in San Francisco's Castro District.” We wrote at that time “Instead of seeking advice from his bishop, Fr. Pedigo chose to consult MHR. This is our point: MHR has become a de facto teaching authority--that’s why Fr. Pedigo consulted them, that’s why a Notre Dame student is writing a paper on their ‘theology.’ The Church hierarchy may deny that MHR has any actual authority, but Fr. Pedigo and others think they do, and are basing their actions on MHR‘s example.”

Sisters of Life to Honor Walk for Life West Coast Co-chairs

Dolores Meehan, Eva Muntean to receive Cardinal O’Connor Award in NYC April 19 

On April 19, the Sisters of Life will present the John Cardinal O’Connor award to Dolores Meehan and Eva Muntean, the co-chairs and co-founders of San Francisco’s Walk for Life West Coast. The Sisters write of the recipients:

“As women of faith in the forefront of a transformative movement, their commitment and vision have inspired new voices in the public square to proclaim that every human life is a sacred gift; and that the dignity and vocation of woman can only be realized without violence – when brothers and sisters step forth in the solidarity of love and communion.”

The two were leaders in the group which founded the Walk for Life West Coast in 2005. Despite ongoing opposition from San Francisco’s political establishment, and unethical negligence on the part of San Francisco’s media establishment, the Walk has grown every year. It is the second largest annual pro-life event in the United States, and in 2012 counted over 50,000 in attendance. Ms. Meehan and Ms. Muntean join previous honorees who include Timothy Cardinal Dolan (2012); Maria Marchetti, Gene D’Agostino, and Tom Kolenberg , pro-life parishioners of the Basilica of St. John the Evangelist in Stamford, CT (2011); Mary Ann Glendon J.D., LL. M., United States Ambassador to the Holy See, and the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard University (2010); Supreme Knight of Columbus Mr. & Mrs. Carl Anderson, Knight of Columbus, (2009); and Professor Robert George (2007).

Another co-founder of the Walk for Life West Coast, Lisa Hamrick, who serves as the Walk’s liason with the Sisters, said: “We had long known of the Sisters and their work, yet we wanted to have this more personal connection to them in and through the Walk for Life. So, at the Third Annual Walk for Life in 2007, the WFL committee members used their airline miles to fly six of the Sisters of Life out from New York. The Little Sisters of the Poor and the Carmelite Nuns graciously offered to lodge the Sisters for us, and we are very grateful to them… Just as the Walk for Life has continued to grow and expand through the years, so has the presence of the Sisters of Life. In 2009, Mother Agnes Donovan, the Superior General of the Sisters was one of our speakers. At the last Walk for Life on January 26, 2013 we had eleven Sisters of Life participate with us -- they took up the Gifts at the Offertory at the WFL Mass, they host a table at the WFL Info Faire, and of course marched with us. The WFL participants love to see the Sisters and they have even had some vocations to their Order as a result of their participation. And this year the Sisters established a new tradition: the night before the Walk, they hosted "A Vigil for Life." It consisted of talks, time for quiet prayer and adoration, reflective music, confessions, and Mass celebrated by Bishop Daly of the San Jose Diocese.”

Eva Muntean said “While I am humbled and honored beyond belief to receive this award, I accept it only on the behalf of all my brothers and sisters at the Walk for Life West Coast. We are anything but a two-woman operation. The Walk was founded by a group of us and it is continued by that same group and others too. This honor is for us all!”

The evening begins with a 5:15 PM Mass of Thanksgiving at the Church of Our Savior at 38th Street and Park Avenue. Cocktails will follow at 6:30 PM and dinner at 7:30 PM at the Union League Club, 38 E. 37th Street, New York City. For further information or tickets, please contact Carol Stockley at 732.530.8799. RSVp’s due by April 5. All proceeds benefit the work of the Sisters of Life. The Sisters were founded by John Cardinal O’Connor in 1991, for the protection and enhancement of the sacredness of human life. 

Donation information may be found by going to: www.sistersoflife.org/donations or by mail to Friends of the Sisters, 100 Leedsville Drive, Lincroft, NJ 17738.

Washington Florist Stands for Marriage, Gets Hammered

This story is interesting, because it highlights the lies supporters of counterfeit marriage need to tell.

Ms. Baronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene's Flowers and Gifts in Richland, WA is being sued by the state of Washington because she refused, on religious grounds, to provide flowers to a same-sex "wedding." The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports:

“As Attorney General, it is my job to enforce the laws of the state of Washington,” said (Attorney General Bob) Ferguson. “Under the Consumer Protection Act, it is unlawful to discriminate against customers based on sexual orientation. If a business provides a product or service to opposite-sex couples for their weddings, then it must provide same sex couples the same product or service.”

But wait: according to the article, the florist, Ms. Stutznman and the customers did business for 10 years. The Post-Intelligencer reports:

"(Robert) Ingersoll and his partner, Curt Freed, were decade-long customers of Arlene’s Flowers & Gifts."

This refutes the Washington Attorney General's statement that this has anything to do with "discrimination against customers based on their sexual orientation."  Presumably, Ingersoll and Freed's sexual orientation was the same in the previous 10 years as it was on the day they announced to Ms. Stutzman they wanted her to do their "wedding." She is not against same-sex attracted people, (if that is indeed what Ingersoll and Freed are; maybe they are heterosexual men who wish to "marry" each other for some reason) she is for marriage.

Ms. Stutzman is fighting this in court. I sent her a small donation today.

"Infant beheadings. Severed baby feet in jars. A child screaming after it was delivered." Not newsworthy?

The  quoted words are from a column in today's USA Today by Kristin Powers about the "house of horrors"abortion business run by Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell. Ms. Powers writes:

"Infant beheadings. Severed baby feet in jars. A child screaming after it was delivered alive during an abortion procedure. Haven't heard about these sickening accusations?

It's not your fault. Since the murder trial of Pennsylvania abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell began March 18, there has been precious little coverage of the case that should be on every news show and front page. The revolting revelations of Gosnell's former staff, who have been testifying to what they witnessed and did during late-term abortions, should shock anyone with a heart.

NBC-10 Philadelphia reported that, Stephen Massof, a former Gosnell worker, 'described how he snipped the spinal cords of babies, calling it, 'literally a beheading. It is separating the brain from the body.' One former worker, Adrienne Moton, testified that Gosnell taught her his "snipping" technique to use on infants born alive..."

Powers then notes the unconscionable silence by the mainstream media:

"A Lexis-Nexis search shows none of the news shows on the three major national television networks has mentioned the Gosnell trial in the last three months. The exception is when Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan hijacked a segment on Meet the Press meant to foment outrage over an anti-abortion rights law in some backward red state.

The Washington Post has not published original reporting on this during the trial and The New York Times saw fit to run one original story on A-17 on the trial's first day. They've been silent ever since, despite headline-worthy testimony.

Let me state the obvious. This should be front page news. When Rush Limbaugh attacked Sandra Fluke, there was non-stop media hysteria. The venerable NBC Nightly News' Brian Williams intoned, "A firestorm of outrage from women after a crude tirade from Rush Limbaugh," as he teased a segment on the brouhaha. Yet, accusations of babies having their heads severed — a major human rights story if there ever was one — doesn't make the cut."

They can't allow themselves to report on this, to confront this, to even think about this. That is how sick our "pro-choice" culture is--and not just the evil of legalized abortion, but the denial of reality it entails, which in man is a moral failing, a sin.

More Common Sense: Ab. Vigneron: Counterfeit marriage supporters should not receive Communion

Detroit's good Archbishop Allen Vigneron  teaches it. From the Detroit Free Press, via Fr. Z:

Catholics who push same-sex "marriage" should not receive Communion

“For a Catholic to receive holy Communion and still deny the revelation Christ entrusted to the church is to try to say two contradictory things at once: ‘I believe the church offers the saving truth of Jesus, and I reject what the church teaches.’ In effect, they would contradict themselves. This sort of behavior would result in publicly renouncing one’s integrity and logically bring shame for a double-dealing that is not unlike perjury.”
Vigneron said the church wants to help Catholics “avoid this personal disaster.”

Amen!

Back in 2008, Archbishop Vigneron was one of the California Bishops who spoke out against counterfeit marriage in the Marriage Matters to Kids video's. You can watch His Excellency's video here.

Catholic Common Sense from Fr. Greg Coiro, O.F.M Cap.

Fr. Greg is the rector over at the Shrine of St. Francis in San Francisco. He is marvelous homilist, as well as a wonderful example of Franciscan humility. This is from his Easter Sunday pastor's message:


"I received phone calls and e-mails from friends who know that I am a stickler about observing the liturgical rubrics that say that, during the Rite of Washing of Feet during the Holy Thursday Mass, the feet of twelve men are washed. I omit the rite rather than violate this rubric by including women in the ceremony.

My friends gleefully pointed out that Pope Francis washed the feet of three women at his Holy Thursday Mass at juvenile detention center in Rome. What they did not seem to know is the old adage, 'The lawgiver is above the law.' The rubric which binds me does not oblige the pope.

At St. Mary’s Cathedral, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone correctly followed the liturgical directives and washed the feet of twelve men. Now that Pope Francis has set an example of including women, are Archbishop Cordileone and I free to follow suit? Not unless the liturgical directives are formally changed.

Is the pope’s act a signal that the Church may be considering a change in its teaching that only men can be ordained priests? No. In the case of liturgical directives, the pope is the lawgiver and, hence is above the law. In matters of faith and morals, that is, in those things pertaining to divine law and natural law, the pope is not the law giver, so he is not above the law.

The teaching of the Church will remain that Christ did not empower the Church to confer the priesthood on women and that this is part of the Deposit of Faith, not a mere disciplinary teaching, regardless of who may get their feet washed on Holy Thursday."

AP Religion Writers Keep up the Good Work

Today, Rachel Zoll, Religion Writer for the AP, has this scoop:

Francis has chosen a papal coat of arms featuring the Jesuit seal: a sunburst containing a red cross and the "HIS" abbreviation for Jesus Christ."

Where do they find these people?

Fr. Malloy's Funeral

We celebrated Fr. Malloy's funeral on Monday, April 1 at Saints Peter and Paul Church in San Francisco, where Father had served as pastor from 2001 to 2007. Fr. Tim Ploch, SDB, the provincial of the Salesian Province of St. Andrew the Aposotle (Western U.S. and Canada) was the principal celebrant. He was joined by 22 Salesian priests, as well as Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ, editor of Ignatius Press, and Fr. Michael Strange, parochial vicar at St. Vincent de Paul Church in San Francisco. Fr. John Itzaina, SDB, current pastor of Ss. Peter and Paul read the Gospel, and Fr. Nick Reina, SDB gave the homily. Fr. John's nephew Don and I both gave eulogies.

The funeral was magnificent--dozens of family, hundreds of parishioners, and a who's who of the pro-life community in the bay area were there to bid a fond arrivederci to Father, including Bill May, president of Catholics for the Common Good, Ron Konopaski and Cathleen Gilllies of San Francisco's 40 Days for Life, Vicki Evans, Pro-Life Coordinator for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, and of course many of Father's sons and daughters from the Walk for Life West Coast. Both Eva and Dolores led a decade of the Rosary before the Mass for their beloved chaplain. Our good Archbishop Cordileone would have celebrated, but he had a previous commitment to celebrate a baptism. Any number of people said they had never been at a more beautiful funeral.

Father's funeral instructions were simple:

"Follow the rubrics!"

We have not found too many photos of the funeral (we were all praying or crying, or both) but here are a few. If more turn up I will post them. Please click on the image for a larger version.

I will continue to post on Father's blog.

Your brother/son in Christ,

Gibbons J. Cooney