Tom S.F.O.

Cardinal George - "... his successor will die a martyr..."

2012-02-13T14:01:00.003-06:00

Later in 2010, [Francis Cardinal George] further outlined the degree to which he believed religious freedoms (in the United States and other Western societies) was endangered. After the passage of legislation that enabled Civil Unions in Illinois, his eminence stated, "I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square".

From Wikipedia article on Cardinal George

Archbishop Chaput Blasts Obama Administration’s ‘Insulting’ Mandate Revision

2012-02-12T17:01:00.000-06:00

Archbishop Chaput Blasts Obama Administration’s ‘Insulting’ Mandate Revision
Written by: CNA

February 12, 2012

By Benjamin Mann

Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput rejected the Obama administration’s attempt to revise its contraception mandate, saying the rule remained “insulting” and “dangerous” to believers’ rights.

“The HHS mandate, including its latest variant, are belligerent, unnecessary and deeply offensive to the content of Catholic belief,” he wrote in a Feb. 12 Philadelphia Inquirer column.

“Any such mandate would make it morally compromising for us to provide health care benefits to the staffing of our public service ministries.”

“We cannot afford to be fooled – yet again – by evasive and misleading allusions to the administration’s alleged ‘flexibility’ on such issues. The HHS mandate needs to be rescinded.”

Archbishop Chaput published his thoughts following a Feb. 10 announcement by the administration regarding religious institutions and what the government calls “preventive services” – a category including contraception, sterilization, and abortion-causing drugs.

A rule announced Jan. 20 required many faith-based organizations to provide insurance coverage of these drugs and devices despite their moral objections. After three weeks of protest led by the U.S. Catholic bishops, the administration announced a change to the rule on Friday.

Under the revised rule, insurance companies would be forced to offer the “preventive services,” without a co-pay, to employees of religious ministries. The administration maintained that under the new policy, “religious organizations will not be required to subsidize the cost of contraception.”

Several critics of the move, including Princeton Professor Robert George and Catholic University of America President John Garvey, responded by pointing out that the new rule accomplishes the same goal – forcing employers to underwrite policies covering the offensive services – by a different means.

In his column, Archbishop Chaput highlighted this “withering criticism” of the new requirement, and said the “’accommodation’ offered by the White House did not solve the problem” of the original mandate.

“Quite a few Catholics supported President Obama in the last election, so the ironies here are bitter,” he noted. “Many feel betrayed. They’re baffled that the Obama administration would seek to coerce Catholic employers, private and corporate, to violate their religious convictions.”

For Philadelphia’s archbishop, however, the administration’s move comes as no surprise.

He cited its “early shift toward the anemic language of ‘freedom of worship’ instead of the more historically-grounded and robust concept of ‘freedom of religion,’” and noted its “troubling effort to regulate religious ministers, recently rejected 9-0 by the Supreme Court in the Hosanna-Tabor case.”

These steps, together with the 2011 termination of the U.S. bishops’ human trafficking grant over a refusal to make abortion referrals, have convinced Archbishop Chaput that the Obama White House “is – to put it generously – tone deaf to people of faith.”

“It’s clear that such actions are developing into a pattern,” he observed.

In this context, the archbishop indicated, Health and Human Services’ mandate did not seem like a “gaffe” or “mistake.”

“The current administration prides itself on being measured and deliberate. The current HHS mandate needs to be understood as exactly that.”

“It’s impossible to see this regulation as some happenstance policy. It has been too long in the making. Despite all of its public apprehension about ‘culture warriors’ on the political right in the past, the current administration has created an HHS mandate that is the embodiment of culture war.”

“At its heart is a seemingly deep distrust of the formative role religious faith has on personal and social conduct, and a deep distaste for religion’s moral influence on public affairs. To say that this view is contrary to the Founders’ thinking and the record of American history would be an understatement.”

“Critics may characterize my words here as partisan or political,” the archbishop acknowledged. “But it is this administration – not Catholic ministries or institutions or bishops – that chose the timing and nature of the fight.”

The burden, he said, was on the White House, which “has the power to remove the issue from public conflict.”

Catholics, meanwhile, “should not be misled into accepting feeble compromises on issues of principle.”

OFS not SFO

2012-02-07T11:28:00.001-06:00

Important information regarding the name of our Order

February 6, 2012

As some of you are aware, the Secular Franciscan Order holds its Chapter at the International level every three years (every other time, or every six years, is an elective chapter). The International Chapter in 2011 was at the same time as our National Chapter. One of the items that came out of that chapter is a directive from our Minister General, Encarnación del Pozo, regarding the letters we use after our names to indicate our membership in the Order. That letter from Encarnita is included below.

Following some discussion with the National Executive Council and my fellow Regional Ministers, I can summarize the effect of this letter in one sentence:

Effective immediately, we are to use “OFS” rather than “SFO” after our names.

Please note that the name of the Order does not change — English is one of the four official languages, and “Secular Franciscan Order” continues to be our name in English. This, in turn, means that other places where we use “SFO” as an abbreviation for “Secular Franciscan Order” — where it is not the three letters after our names — can stay the way they are. So, our national website will continue to be nafra-sfo.org, and our regional website will continue to be ilsfo.org, to name two examples.

If we consider the efforts of CIOFS to encourage a common sense of identity within the Secular Franciscan Order (something which is probably very clear to those of you who have been using the ongoing formation dossiers), it makes sense that all Secular Franciscans throughout the world, regardless of language, will henceforth use the same set of letters after our names to indicate our status as professed members of the Order. Yes, it will take some getting used to, but please accept that small sacrifice as part of your Lenten journey this year.

Above all, as our National Minister, Tom Bello, said to us when communicating this change, “… I am absolutely certain that OFS or SFO does not make me or you … any more or less Franciscan. We are still permanently professed. Our Order is still, in English, the Secular Franciscan Order.”

Peace and blessings to you all,

Vickie Klick, OFS
Regional Minister
{Mother Cabrini Region)

- – - – -

Allegato n. 9

ORDO FRANCISCANUS SÆCULARIS
XIII. GENERAL CHAPTER
Saõ Paulo, 2011. October 22-29

THE OFFICIAL NAME OF THE ORDER

THE USE AND THE TRANSLATION OF THE NAME OF THE ORDER

1. The official name of the Order is Ordo Franciscanus Sæcularis.

2. Translations of the name of the Order
2. 1 The translation of the name of the Order is already made in the four official languages, and these are the ones to be used in these languages, namely in Italian, in English, in Spanish and in French.
2.2 The name can be translated into local languages only when the literal translation from Latin is easily understandable even by the civil society and does not change its meaning or substance.
2.3 When the translation into the national language distorts the meaning of the name, or is linguistically impossible to transfer the genuine meaning, Ordo Franciscanus Sæcularis must always be used, which can be followed by expressions to clarify and make more understandable the nature of the Secular Franciscan Order to everyone in the local language.

3. The acronym
The acronym which refers to the name Ordo Franciscanus Sæcularis is OFS and is always to be used regardless of the language. For example, when Secular Franciscans use the acronym after their name, they must use “OFS”.

Encarnación del Pozo, OFS
General Minister

Archbishop Chaput urges respect for life amid high disabled abortion rate

2012-01-28T05:20:00.002-06:00

Archbishop Chaput urges respect for life amid high disabled abortion rate

An 80 percent abortion rate of those with disabilities shows the need to restore a fundamental respect for human dignity in America, said Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia.

He underscored that the plight of disabled babies highlights "a struggle within the American soul" that will shape the future of the nation.

"These children with disabilities are not a burden; they're a priceless gift to all of us," the archbishop said. "They're a doorway to the real meaning of our humanity."

Archbishop Chaput delivered the keynote address at the thirteenth annual Cardinal O'Connor Conference on Life on Jan. 22.

The conference, which was held at Georgetown University, took place one day before the March for Life, at which hundreds of thousands of Americans annually gather in the nation's capital to protest abortion and show their support for the dignity of all human life.

"Abortion kills a child, it wounds a precious part of a woman's own dignity and identity, and it steals hope," the archbishop said. "That's why it's wrong. That's why it needs to end. That's why we march."

He warned that without a strong foundation of faith and morals, America becomes "alien and hostile" to its founding ideals. This threat is clearly demonstrated in the country's treatment of the poor and disabled, which the archbishop said "shows what we really believe about human dignity."

In his talk, Archbishop Chaput focused on children with Down syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects development, appearance and cognitive function, and can cause other health problems.

He observed that prenatal testing is now able to detect up to 95 percent of pregnancies that have a strong risk of Down syndrome, and more than 80 percent of the unborn babies who are diagnosed with the disorder are aborted.

These babies are killed because of a flaw in their chromosomes that is "neither fatal nor contagious, but merely undesirable," he said.

The archbishop lamented the growing tendency of medical professionals to emphasize the possible defects of Down syndrome, thus steering expectant mothers of children with the disorder towards abortion.

Parents and doctors should be realistic about the challenges, understanding that raising a disabled child will involve "some degree of suffering," he said. However, they should also see the potential and beauty of children with special needs, realizing that no child is perfect.

Archbishop Chaput noted that today, individuals with Down syndrome have longer life expectancies than ever before and can generally "enjoy happy, productive lives."

"The real choice in accepting or rejecting a child with special needs is between love and unlove; between courage and cowardice; between trust and fear," he said.

This is a choice that must be faced on both an individual level and as a society, he added, emphasizing that "God will demand an accounting" of how we have used our freedom.

If we really "take God seriously," we will work to uphold the sanctity of human life and dignity of sexuality in our daily lives, he said.

This means that public officials should live out their Catholic faith in the laws that they support; doctors in the procedures they perform and the drugs they prescribe; and citizens in their actions on public issues, he explained.

He praised the work of people and organizations who aid those with disabilities, recognizing in them "an invitation to learn how to love deeply and without counting the cost."

Archbishop Chaput urged those present at the conference not to be afraid as they persevere in being an apostle to those around them.

"Fear is beneath your dignity as sons and daughters of the God of life," he said. "Never give up the struggle that the March for Life embodies," he added. "Your prolife witness gives glory to God."

Although changing the culture is "a huge task," we must recognize that we are being called by God to do so, the archbishop said. "He's waiting, and now we need to answer him."

Read more here.

2012 National Prayer Vigil For Life Homilies

2012-01-25T16:44:00.002-06:00

2012 National Prayer Vigil For Life Homilies

Homily of Cardinal Daniel DiNardo
6:30 pm, Sunday, January 22, 2012
Opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

It is the Lord’s Day and Christ gathers us for his paschal sacrifice. It is the Lord’s Day but also a somber day of remembrance, January 22, the Roe versus Wade Decision of our Supreme Court thirty nine years ago. It is the Lord’s Day at Mary’s House here in Washington and we gather from every place in this land and beyond to hear and thirst for the Word of God and the Bread of Life. With Cardinal Wuerl, our local Shepherd, the Apostolic Nuncio, with my brother Cardinals and Brother bishops from this land, I welcome all of you to this celebration preparing and enlivening us for our activity in the public square tomorrow for the Annual March for Life. It is particularly wonderful to welcome anew Archbishop Vigano, our Nuncio, who is here for the first time. Thank you and please give the Holy Father our heartfelt greetings and our pledge of prayers. I thank Cardinal George and Cardinal O’Malley for being with us.

There are so many priests, deacons, both permanent and transitional, seminarians, religious sisters and brothers, postulants, novices and newly professed sisters, how magnificent your presence is for all of us. May you remain committed to the human person at every stage of his or her life.

This pro-life assembly has many veterans in the pro-life movement, many adult leaders and many families. What stands out tonight, as always at this Mass, is the vast number of children, youth and young adults who are present. You are grand and eloquent witnesses to human life, enthusiasm unmoved by sour pundits who prefer to ignore you. You remain and abide in joy, a good infection that we all want to catch from you. A thousand thank yous! The staff of the National Shrine, beginning with Msgr. Rossi, are such generous hosts and so hospitable to us each year. Thank you! EWTN Network always televises this Liturgy and we are grateful that through them this Mass can be seen throughout the world. As always, we are grateful for this service!

A few years back I came across a sign in front of a Church announcing the following Sunday’s Sermon. It read: “Don’t be so hard on Jonah!” I presume it has to do with the fact that Jonah, on one level, is not one of the most stellar prophets. He receives a call from the Lord, runs away, tries to take a transatlantic cruise, is found out for his negligence by pagan sailors during a storm who toss him overboard to calm the waves, is then swallowed by a great fish, manages a most beautiful formal liturgical prayer while in the stomach of this whale-like-creature, is spit up on the beach, and finally realizes the Lord is serious about the call to Nineveh. The narrative of the First Reading today is the preaching of Jonah and the immediate repentance of Nineveh, yes Nineveh, that most hostile pagan city, ruthless in its destruction of Israel and seemingly implacable enemy of the Lord. Yet not even Jerusalem and Israel repent like this city in the narrative parable that is the Book of Jonah. Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezechiel seemingly could not do for Israel what the Lord manages through Jonah for Nineveh. This great little book written most probably after the exile of Israel to Babylon and Israel now back home, is a gentle and perhaps slightly humorous reminder to all God’s people, now reinforcing their wondrous Jewish identity of Pentateuch and Covenant after their exile, that the Lord is full of universal mercy and wondrous surprises. Receptivity to the Covenant is also an opening out of the glory and compassion of the one true God even to those hostile and seemingly incapable of turning around to the Lord. Jonah had at first run from his call and his mission and is not bubbling with joy when it meets success as the Lord’s ways are sometimes, maybe many times, not his and not ours. Perhaps that is why we are more like Jonah than we would care to admit, especially to those hostile to us. If we are to be critical of Jonah, we must see him as our mirror. (By the way, I wonder how many days it would take to go through Washington, D.C.?)

The Reading from Jonah prepares us for the Gospel Reading from St. Mark, that short but incandescent Gospel that accompanies us most Sundays this year in the Lectionary. We hear of the opening days of Jesus’ public life, the very beginning of his ministry after his baptism in the Jordan and his Spirit driven 40 day fast in the desert with the wild beasts and temptations from Satan, a real beast in himself. Chapter One is a day in the life of Jesus in those early joy filled and heady frenetic times of the initial announcement of the Kingdom of God. But St. Mark sets us straight that this happens against the background of John the Baptist’s arrest and imprisonment and sets the shadow of the Cross already in our hearts. Jesus’ message is a call for a turn around and a swift movement to the Lord, to God who is advancing towards us. It is Good News! God Reigns! The full meaning of the message, the Kingdom of God, will only become evident gradually when the “what is it” is replaced by “who is it.” Jesus Christ is the Kingdom, God’s merciful face turned towards the world and us that we can turn to Him.

Equally stunning is the swift way Jesus begins to call associates, those who will be apostles. In abrupt fashion he calls and the first disciples respond. What urgency and authority are in Jesus’ call. Not even the claims of work, family, business or culture can intervene in order for disciples to be “in Jesus’ company.” Good Grief! There is no HR person involved, not even a mention of a pension plan or benefits as yet! Perhaps with St. Paul who speaks to the Corinthians today, the message is that the time is short. In fact, there is a word in today’s Gospel that is repeated 32 more times in the Gospel of St. Mark. The word is “immediately.” There is no time for a Jonah run around. The response to Christ is always “immediately,” the same word used to describe Jesus’ miracles. They happen immediately. The invitation of Jesus is to pass from obscurity to light—and immediately. The history of salvation has reached its fullness with Jesus. That is fact. The imperative is to come follow him. Conversion is personal but immediately involves you in a fellowship, in a community, in the Church. To be engaged in this is to be introduced to Jesus’ new way of fishing, that is, catching them alive! Immediately!

Jonah gave Nineveh forty days and they repented. We are nearing the 40th year anniversary of Roe versus Wade. 53 million children have lost their lives since then; millions of men and women have lives that will never be the same because of their tragic choices. Our embrace of life must be clear. As we mourn the loss of precious human lives, most of them without a name but always known by the Lord, we cannot let our resolve to pray and work for change be such as to use so stringent a rhetoric against those hostile to us that we foreclose change and repentance. Yes, the Lord through his Son weeps over the loss of life; His simultaneous compassion and mercy opens up forgiveness to those who have greatly sinned. The more wounded his sinful children become the more he promises mercy and invitation to conversion. And through the Church’s ministry of Project Rachel, we witness the miracle of Christ’s mercy and healing grace as hearts broken are made whole, filled with peace and hope once again. Our rightful criticisms of policies of a given Administration, our clear work with legislators, even those who oppose us, our ability to persuade the media who most frequently refuse to give the truth, --- all these approaches must be imbued with Jesus’ Face. It is not weakness to show compassion for those with whom we have fundamental disagreement on human life, a matter of the greatest importance.

But clear we must be. Disturbing news came to us Friday from HHS and the Obama Administration: it fundamentally repeated the mandate that sterilization and contraception must be included in virtually all health plans. Never before in our US History has the Federal Government forced citizens to directly purchase what violates our beliefs. At issue here as our President of the Conference stated it this past Friday, is the survival of a cornerstone constitutionally protected freedom that ensures respect for conscience and religious liberty. More on that in a few moments!

We are the people of the Gospel of Life. We are the People of Life. We first live our lives as credible witnesses. We are engaged in the truth about Faith and Charity, virtuous living in chastity, a must for all and especially for young people who are pro-life. We must be sensitive less the desire for good things becomes a huge form of acquisition for things, for gadgets and for glamour. The beauty of the human person made in the image and likeness of God gives us a different “immediately” in terms of “getting.” Our face is turned to the unborn, the elderly and very ill, the disabled and those traumatized by our economic troubles. These persons are beautiful and these “poor ones” are the most important in the Kingdom of God.

There is also good news in the pro-life arena. There are a record number of state laws that now restrict abortions. State prosecutors have begun to prosecute late term abortionists who deny life and injure and maim women. At the same time conscience protection and religious liberty for all of us who work for life has been put in jeopardy and represents a significant and troubling issue. We must be perseverant and very clear in fighting for this constitutional right and unfailing in bringing this matter to the administration and to the Congress. That can be part of your witness tomorrow.

A few weeks ago Our Holy Father, at his yearly address to the Diplomatic Corps, made young people and their life and concerns the main theme of his talk. He repeated the words of Blessed John Paul II that “the path of peace is at the same time the path of the young,” and then said that young people impel us to take seriously their demand for truth, justice and peace. Repeating words from the Annual World Day of Peace message, Pope Benedict spoke of education as a crucial theme today for it determines the healthy development of each person and the future of all society. He spoke of the primary setting of education as the family, which is not just a societal convention but the fundamental cell of every society. Openness to life in the family is a sign of openness to the future. The Holy Father then read a most clear statement: “ (…) (W)with particular reference to the West, I am convinced that legislative measures which not only permit but at times even promote abortion for reasons of convenience and for questionable medical motives compromise the education of young people and, as a result, the future of humanity.” You cannot get clearer than this. I beg and pray for the young people present and all youth and young adults not to be compromised in your dedication to the protection of life of each human person, born and unborn. Keep it before your eyes and in your hearts immediately. Threats against life and against the consciences of those who say “yes” to life must be met with timely and unwavering action, in our families and institutions, and yes, in the public square.

Just the other day the Holy Father gave another address to Region IV of the Episcopal Conference. He spoke to the bishops on religious liberty and the public nature of the Church’s witness. At one point he said: “(…) it is imperative that the entire Catholic community in the United States come to realize the grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres. The seriousness of these threats needs to be appreciated at every level of ecclesial life. Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion. Many of you have pointed out that concerted efforts have been made to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices. Others have spoken to me of a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience.” In light of last Friday’s announcement about health care mandates, it seems that the Holy Father has “nailed” the issue in advance. His calls for courage to counter a reductive secularism which would delegitimize the Church’s participation in public life and debate have targeted the issues we face in our pro-life efforts, to defend those who defend human life and to defend their religious liberty!

Advocacy on behalf of human life is an essential dimension of the prolife cause and the prolife heart. I know that the prolife youth and young adults here and beyond will continue to be a source for renewed efforts and final victory in this truth and this reality. A “Year of Faith” begins this October for the whole Catholic Church throughout the world and will last till November of 2013. It will overlap with the sad 40th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade next year; may the new evangelization, which always begins with personal conversion, be a prime vehicle for re-invigorating the Gospel of Life here in the United States, for individuals, for the Church, and for the people of the United States. Please do not underestimate your presence and conscience here: Remember Jonah! Remember religious liberty and the current attacks against it!

Prayer leads to action and action leads us back to prayer and contemplation. We are about to approach the Lord’s Altar of Sacrifice and there place our own labor and life, our prayer and sorrows, our joys and anxieties there with the gifts of bread and wine. In the Eucharistic Prayer they are lifted up and the bread and wine are transformed into Christ’s Body and Blood, nourishment and food for all of us pilgrims on the way to the final glory of the Kingdom of God. At its beginning we hear the invitations: “Lift up your hearts” and “Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.” We immediately respond to each: “We lift them up to the Lord” and “It is right and just.” Like the apostles we are called and brought into intimacy with the Lord Jesus in his free and life giving act of reconciliation to the Father for us. Activated by the Holy Spirit we enter into sacrificial contemplation. Once nourished we are sent forth: to be sent is to be apostolic. Like the four first apostles we go immediately. We are not afraid. We are gone fishing for good. Immediately.

It has been a privilege and an honor to be principal Celebrant of this Opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life these past few years. I have been more than edified. The beauty, reverence and great joy of this assembly and their letters and notes to me afterwards have been transforming. Later this year the Chair of the Bishops’ Pro-Life Committee moves to Cardinal O’Malley of Boston, an ardent apostolic witness to Life who will in turn have the honor to preside at this Mass. I want to express my deepest thanks to Tom Grenchik and to all the staff of the Bishop’s Pro-Life Committee for their knowledgeable, unflagging and beautiful commitment to the pro-life reality and all that it means to us bishops and to the Catholic Faithful of this country. The staff is dedicated and persistent, at times even relentless with the Chair and the wonderful members and consultors of the Pro-Life Committee. Were I forced to articulate all they have done and mean, I would be left altogether helpless.

We are in the House of Mary. In all pro-life work and activity and prayer, she is the great model, disciple and friend who leads us to Christ and deeper commitment. For she was privileged to bear him; she was his mother not his incubator. In a brilliant early Russian icon of the Annunciation she is pictured, standing beside, not kneeling beside, the Archangel Gabriel. Both are seemingly ten feet tall. She is the youngest Virgin Mary I have ever seen painted and she is smiling. Her right hand gestures in a “let it be” to the Angel. The infant Christ, blessing, is already outlined within her. In her left hand she is holding needle and thread, for she will indeed weave the Eternal Word Made Flesh into our everyday existence, into our humanity. What a profound image of what the Incarnation means, what excellence is the human person, what magnificence is at stake in young people. When I think of that icon of the Virgin, I think of you young people, and I am put into a genuine state of joy and assurance for you too in many, in simple, but in deeply true ways are weaving Christ into our culture. You do so with energy and joy, with a love of life and a deep friendship with Christ, our Crucified and Risen
Lord. May the Holy Spirit overshadow your efforts.

The time is short! Come with Jonah! Repent! Come follow the Lord Jesus. Come with Peter, Andrew, James and John! Be sent fishing in behalf of Life. And God bless you all. Immediately!

Homily of Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan
7:30 a.m., Monday, January 23, 2012
Closing Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

You have just spent the night in your mother’s homes!

You have “kept vigil” that cherished tradition so frequently found in the Bible, and now we commence this somber anniversary her in our Mother’s home, our National Shrine, in the best possible way, through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

I welcome all of you!
I whisper “good morning” to so many of you who have kept vigil here for the noble cause of life;
I thank you for the radiant inspiration you give all of us.

That radiant inspiration we need indeed as we persevere in this now two-score years of promoting a recovery of the culture of life gravely threatened by unlimited abortion.

Simply put, we are often tempted to give up hope that we can even turn it around.

In this morning’s Gospel, Jesus mentions some mysterious “unforgiveable sin against the Holy Spirit.” What is it?

Wise men and women, saints and scholars, tell us that Jesus is teaching that, really, the only unforgiveable sin…is to believe that there is any sin which cannot be forgiven, that God’s mercy is limited.

Nope! God’s mercy, God’s grace, God’s power is unlimited! There is no evil, no horror, no sin that is exempt from the healing rays of His grace.

Not even the horrors of the culture of death!

From a human point of view, we may be tempted to surrender;

When our government places conception, pregnancy and birth under the “Center for Disease Control”;

When chemically blocking conception or aborting the baby in the womb is considered a “right” to be subsidized by others who abhor it;

When the ability of feeding, housing, and healing the struggling of the world is curtailed and impeded if one does not also help women abort their babies;

One can hardly be faulted for being tempted to the “sin against the Holy Spirit” and just consider all as lost.

Not us! Not for thousands who have stayed up all night in prayer in this, the home of a pregnant woman;

Not for hundreds of thousands who will march today with the words of “We Shall Overcome” ringing in our ears;

Not for those of us who whisper “Thanks be to God” as we behold untold numbers of young people with passion for the Culture of Life, those of us old enough to recall thirty-nine years ago when sophisticated voices told us that the “pro-life movement” was just a momentary fad that would soon crash upon the shores of a “brave new world.” We veterans who now smile as the pro-life cause is acknowledged as today’s premiere civil rights movement still, in spite of editorial pages and chic tsk-tsk the most pivotal, burning issue on the campaign trail.

Yes, like David in our reading from God’s word this morning, the pro-life movement has been dismissed by the Goliath of the well-oiled, well-inked, glitterati-crowded pro-abortion one…. But, Goliath the Giant didn’t win, did he? Trusting, shrewd,
Faithful, confident, energetic little David did!

Thank you, David…for the radiant inspiration you give us!

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT MANDATE FOR CONTRACEPTIVE/STERILIZATION COVERAGE

2012-01-25T14:41:00.002-06:00

I received this email from CatholicVote.org. I thought it very important to share. Please also read the links below.

Dear CV Friend,

The sleeping giant has been awakened.

Right now we're witnessing an unprecedented response to the Obama administration's decision last Friday to proceed with their new mandate forcing all Americans (including the Catholic Church) to fund birth control, sterilization, and some abortion-inducing drugs.

Since Friday we have been receiving reports from individuals and parishes across the country. Catholics of all stripes, left, right, and center -- "political" categories that are not typically helpful -- are nevertheless coming together like never before.

We are united as one Church.

Bishops, priests, pastors and the laity are rising up. Many priests and bishops preached last Sunday on the threat, with numerous reports of congregations spontaneously erupting with standing ovations. Blogs, news sites, and grassroots organizations (on both left and right!) have erupted. The emails and calls to CV are pouring in.

Retired Cardinal Mahoney in Los Angeles responded to the decision saying: "This decision must be fought against with all the energies the Catholic Community can muster...there is no other fundamental issue as important as this one as we enter into the Presidential and Congressional campaigns...[i]f any candidate refuses to acknowledge and to promote those rights, then that candidate will not receive my vote."

And just this morning, New York's Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan authored a blistering editorial in the Wall Street Journal in which he concluded:

"This latest erosion of our first freedom should make all Americans pause. When the government tampers with a freedom so fundamental to the life of our nation, one shudders to think what lies ahead."

The assault on our religious freedom may not come as a surprise to many of you. For years, hostile groups and some elected officials have been working to destroy the influence of the Church in America. For years they have flaunted our social teachings, insulted our clergy and hierarchy, and mocked our Pope. The attacks are endless.

And now they want us to fund their agenda.

NO WAY.

We will not accept this new mandate, and we will not rest until it is overturned.

Our goal: Ensure that every Catholic voter in every swing state understands this decision - and what is at stake in November.

Can you chip in $10 to help power this campaign?

As Catholics, we are a diverse bunch. We argue about politics, candidates, and the issues. We disagree on how to solve our economic problems, immigration, and the role of government. There are even some Catholics who struggle with the Church on the foundational issues of life and marriage.

But on the issue of religious liberty -- our First Freedom -- there must be unity.

This is not the time for "I told you so," or finger pointing.

We must lock arms with each other. Pray. Fast. And fight back like never before.

We are united.

We are Catholic.

And we won't back down.

Sincerely,

Brian

Federal Government Mandate for Contraceptive/Sterilization Coverage - by Cardinal Roger Mahoney
http://cardinalrogermahonyblogsla.blogspot.com/2012/01/federal-government-mandate-for.html

ObamaCare and Religious Freedom - by Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203718504577178833194483196.html

Homily of Cardinal Daniel DiNardo at National Prayer Vigil for Life
http://www.usccb.org/about/media-relations/resources/2012-national-prayer-vigil-for-life-homilies.cfm

Archbishop Carlson Calls on Every Pastor to Speak Out
http://stlouisreview.com/article/2012-01-23/archbishop-carlson

Your Baby's Development Month by Month

2011-12-31T05:01:00.009-06:00

An Amazing Journey! LIFE!

At the miraculous moment of fertilization – when the egg of a woman and the sperm of a man unite, a new human life begins. From this moment on, it will take approximately nine months for the baby to develop and be ready to be born. Watch "85 Days," our TV commercial about your baby's development.

Babies come into this world one of three ways – early (premature), on time (born at the expected time), or late (after the expected due date). All babies, regardless of when they arrive, must go through the same developmental stages – usually a nine-month cycle. Let’s examine what happens before birth.

For the sake of clarity, please note that fertilization is placed at the beginning of Week 1. If you had intercourse multiple times since the end of your last menstrual period, it may be difficult to determine exactly the date of the baby’s conception and stage of fetal development.

Month One
Fertilization - the joining of the father's sperm and the mother's egg - this is when life begins. Fertilization can occur within minutes of intercourse or within two to three days afterwards. When fertilization occurs a new, unique human individual begins the journey of development. At the earliest stage, the new person is referred to as a zygote and is no larger than a single grain of sand. Cell division begins mere moments after fertilization.

Amazing Fact: At fertilization, every bit of genetic information necessary for the child's development is present. The "program" for everything is there: hair and eye color, skin tone, height - even likely giftedness as a pianist, vocalist or computer programmer.

A function called implantation happens from five to nine days after fertilization. Implantation occurs when the new human nestles him or herself in the wall of the uterus (or womb) and begins to draw nutrition. Once he/she has implanted, your baby is called a blastocyst and is about 0.1 - 0.2 mm in diameter.

This week your body will experience a hormone reaction to the presence of the developing baby. The result is that you stop menstruating. In other words, you miss your normal period.

Between weeks three and four (18 to 25 days after fertilization) the developing baby's heart begins to beat. Arm and leg buds form. The face – eyes, ears, nose and mouth - begin to take form.

Month Two
Your baby has only been developing for five weeks and is now 10,000 times larger than he/she was at fertilization. Your baby now is only about one inch long and weighs no more than one whole peanut. The lining of the placenta begins to develop but does not take over the production of hormones until about week 12. Brain waves are detected.

Amazing Fact: It's a good thing this blazingly fast growth rate slows down after the second month, otherwise the baby's birth weight would exceed 10 tons!

Your baby’s heart is bulging from the body and blood circulation is well established. Early evidence of the liver, pancreas, lungs and stomach can be seen. When you see your baby through ultrasound at week six, you'd be amazed by how much he or she has already developed.

Genitals are present but you can't distinguish boys from girls at this point. The pumping action of your baby's heart is about 20% of your own heart's capacity.

Amazing Fact: Your baby will actually go through three sets of kidneys during his or her development. By week seven, your baby is already on the second set!

By this time, the end of month two, your baby receives a new technical name to describe his/her development: fetus, a Latin word which means "young one." All organs are present - and most are functioning - although some need more time to develop. The irises of the eyes develop, fingernails are visible and your baby can curl his/her fingers around an object. He or she also hiccups, has taste buds on the tongue and tooth buds in the gums.

Amazing Fact: If your health provider uses a "Doppler," you may be able to hear your baby's heartbeat during your week 10 visit. It will sound very fast. Your risk of miscarriage is greatly reduced after you hear this sound. Just click either link to listen!

baby's heartbeat.mp3

baby's heartbeat.wav

The baby’s mother and father can also see their baby in the womb through 3D/4D ultrasound imaging. Most doctors use ultrasound to trace the baby’s development throughout pregnancy.

Month Three
Your baby can smile, make funny faces. She/he can practice “breathing” the amniotic fluid in/out of the lungs, all 20 teeth are formed and waiting to develop. Your baby is now approximately one ounce in weight, as is the placenta. The pancreas has now started to secrete insulin. This is also the time of peak movement for the baby. The movement can not be felt by the mother but the baby rarely pauses for more than five minutes at a time. He/she may change position as often as 20 times an hour even if the mother lies still. The baby also feels the mother’s motions at this time and rocks in the womb as the mother moves.

Amazing Fact: Amniotic fluid completely regenerates itself every three hours. While we know for sure that this fluid is partly made up of urine from the baby, science still has not discovered what makes up the other parts. As advanced as modern medicine is, some mysteries remain!

Amazing Fact: What was that noise? At 15 weeks, loud sounds may actually cause baby to startle. Some moms and dads find that quiet music played near mom's tummy will cause baby to relax and calm down.

Month Four
Your baby is now about eight inches tall from head to toe. Baby’s movements can now be felt by his/her mother and he/she can suck his/her thumb. The fingernails are now well-formed and often need to be trimmed at birth because they have grown so long. Baby is emptying his/her bladder every 40-45 minutes. The placenta is fully established by now. Another critical part of the baby’s growth is the umbilical cord. The umbilical cord is attached to the placenta, not the mother, and serves to provide baby with the needed nutrients for the rapid growth the baby is now experiencing. Fingerprints are now evident.

Month Five

Amazing Fact: "Why can't I sleep through the night?" Many moms find themselves asking this question. The simple answer is you have a son or daughter inside you who lives on a different sleep/wake cycle than you do. Some kids consistently wake mom at 3 a.m. every morning. Chances are, after baby is born, he or she will want to be active about this same time!

Baby’s weight will increase to approximately 15 ounces by the end of the fifth month. Hearing is very acute and activity continues to increase as the baby swims around in the amniotic fluid. The baby’s body shifts to a head-down position in preparation for birth in a few months. Eyebrows have developed. Lanugo, (fine hair) begins to appear on the baby’s body. Sometimes this lanugo remains on the body after birth. Also, a creamy white substance (named vernix) clings to the baby’s fine hair and in creases of the skin. It is believed that this “skin cream” protects the baby during the remaining weeks of pregnancy. This substance is sometimes seen after birth.

Month Six
By now your baby has gained another pound. His/her hand coordination has increased and the baby can now move the thumb in opposition to the fingers. Eyes are now open though the baby is still in the darkness in the womb. Little deposits of fat, which retain heat, begin to form. The uterus allows some light to be seen so the baby begins to distinguish between lightness and darkness.

Month Seven
Baby’s skin is wrinkled from so much time floating in water. The skin will stay this way until a few weeks after your child’s birth. Your baby’s eyelashes are developing and fat continues to be deposited beneath the skin. If you have a baby boy, his testes will probably begin descending. Now into his/her seventh month of development, a baby born at this time has a good chance of survival with the help of medical technology. Your baby also is beginning to regulate his/her body temperature. The baby’s temperature will always be warmer than the mother’s.

If you are having Braxton Hicks Contractions, they are a sign that your body is getting ready for labor. The baby notices the contractions, but is not adversely affected by them.

Your baby now weighs two to four pounds.

What are Braxton Hicks contractions?
Named for J. Braxton Hicks, who first made note of them in 1872, Braxton Hicks contractions are an occasional (and unpredictable) tightening of the uterus during the first and second trimesters of a pregnancy. Usually these contractions are not painful and do not indicate that labor has begun. Third trimester Braxton Hicks contractions may increase in frequency and may cause the mother some degree of pain. These contractions may even occur with a regular rhythm (10 to 20 minutes apart) and are sometimes called false labor pains. The only way to be absolutely certain that the contractions are indeed false labor pains is for mom to be examined by her doctor.

Month Eight
Baby’s irises can now dilate and contract in response to light; weight is now about four to six pounds. Sleep and waking become more differentiated toward the end of the eighth month. Four distinctive behavioral states become recognizable and these will continue to be characteristic in the baby’s behavior in the weeks beyond birth. These are sleep, awake, actively awake and crying. Your baby's body is now producing a chemical (called a surfactant) which helps baby breathe after birth. The surfactant is coating the alveoli in the lungs. Baby weighs about four pounds (1.8 kilograms). Babies born after this week have fewer breathing problems at birth.

Amazing Fact: Baby has put on about two pounds of weight, mostly fat and muscle tissue, since last month. Measurements to 40 cms or 15.8 inches.

Month Nine
Baby weighs about five to seven pounds, and puts on about half a pound a week now. All organ systems are completing development for birth. Baby gains his/her “fat cheeks” during the ninth month. Mother’s antibodies pass through the placenta to provide baby with immunity from measles, chicken pox, whooping cough and other illnesses.

Amazing Fact: In the days and hours prior to your baby's birth the amniotic fluid is continually replaced, even in labor, at the rate of once every three hours.

Chances are good that your baby is one of the 90% who is head down and deeply snuggled into your pelvis. The immune system is still immature and the baby receives antibodies from the placenta and after birth will receive antibodies continually from mother’s breast milk. Most of the lanugo has fallen off the baby's body, although you may still find some hidden in spots, particularly in the creases, and around the shoulders or ears.

The average baby will be about 7.5 pounds (3.4 kilograms) and 20 inches long at birth. The placenta will weigh about one eighth the size of the baby and the umbilical cord will be about the same length as the baby. The baby will be judged, at birth and five minutes later, with an Apgar score.

What is an Apgar score?
Virginia Apgar, M.D., gets the credit for developing the APGAR score in 1953. She wanted to provide moms, dads and hospital staff with a uniform method of measuring the initial health of a newborn. The test looks at five different signs of health: heart rate, respiratory rate, reflex irritability, muscle tone and color.

Happy birthday, baby!

Reprinted with permission Wisconsin Right to Life

Nazareth - Pope Paul VI

2011-12-30T07:30:00.001-06:00

I have been rather remiss in posting here; too much activity and too many distractions.

But in today's Office of Readings, the second reading touched me, which I thought I would share. It is by Pope Paul VI on his visit to Nazareth; his Pilgrimage to the Holy Land at the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, January 5, 1964

Lessons of Nazareth

Nazareth is a kind of school where we may begin to discover what Christ's life was like and even to understand his Gospel. Here we can observe and ponder the simple appeal of the way God's Son came to be known, profound yet full of hidden meaning. And gradually we may even learn to imitate him.

Here we can learn to realise who Christ really is. And here we can sense and take account of the conditions and circumstances that surrounded and affected his life on earth: the places, the tenor of the times, the culture, the language, religious customs, in brief, everything which Jesus used to make himself known to the world. Here everything speaks to us, everything has meaning. Here we can learn the importance of spiritual discipline for all who wish to follow Christ and to live by the teachings of his Gospel.

How I would like to return to my childhood and attend the simple yet profound school that is Nazareth! How wonderful to be close to Mary, learning again the lesson of the true meaning of life, learning again God's truths. But here we are only on pilgrimage. Time presses and I must set aside my desire to stay and carry on my education in the Gospel, for that education is never finished. But I cannot leave without recalling, briefly and in passing; some thoughts I take with me from Nazareth.

First, we learn from its silence. If only we could once again appreciate its great value. We need this wonderful state of mind, beset as we are by the cacophony of strident protests and conflicting claims so characteristic of these turbulent times. The silence of Nazareth should teach us how to meditate in peace and quiet, to reflect on the deeply spiritual, and to be open to the voice of God's inner wisdom and the counsel of his true teachers. Nazareth can teach us the value of study and preparation, of meditation, of a well-ordered personal spiritual life, and of silent prayer that is known only to God.

Second, we learn about family life. May Nazareth serve as a model of what the family should be. May it show us the family's holy and enduring character and exemplify its basic function in society: a community of love and sharing, beautiful for the problems it poses and the rewards it brings, in sum, the perfect setting for rearing children - and for this there is no substitute.

Finally, in Nazareth, the home of a craftsman's son, we learn about work and the discipline it entails. I would especially like to recognise its value - demanding yet redeeming - and to give it proper respect. I would remind everyone that work has its own dignity. On the other hand, it is not an end in itself. Its value and free character, however, derive not only from its place in the economic system, as they say, but rather from the purpose it serves.

In closing, may I express my deep regard for people everywhere who work for a living. To them I would point out their great model, Christ their brother, our Lord and God, who is their prophet in every cause that promotes their well being.

The Smaller Beatitudes

2011-12-06T05:53:00.001-06:00

The Smaller Beatitudes

This article appeared in my parish’s recent Sunday bulletin.

Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves: they will have no end of fun.
Blessed are those who are sane enough not to take themselves seriously: they will be valued by those about them.
Happy are you if you can appreciate a smile and forget of frown: you'll walk on the sunny side of the street.
Happy are you if you know how to hold your tongue and smile, even when people interrupt contradict you or thread on your toes: the Gospel has begun to seep into your heart.
Above all, blessed are you when you recognize the Lord in all whom you meet: the light of truth shines in your life and you have found true wisdom.

– Joseph Follett, via Rev. Taras Miles, Belfield, ND

Fact vs. Fiction

2011-10-16T11:46:00.002-05:00

A good article by Paul Greenberg in Townhall.com, October 13, 2011. I quote:

...Mere facts may prove no match for partisan passions. It hasn't been too long since I saw a letter to the editor presenting a number of left-wing talking points only thinly disguised as innocent questions asked in good faith. The question at the top of the list stuck in my mind because it's one of the more persistent smears directed against the pro-life movement, no matter how many times it's been refuted.

In this version, the myth appeared as (rhetorical) Question No. 1:

"How come pro-life folks don't care enough to adopt and/or support by taxation those children they insist be born?"

The list of questions ended with a dare: "Hard questions? Yes. Who has the guts to answer them?"

Allow me to take apart the assumptions underlying just Question No. 1. For I am allotted only so much space, not that the assertion about pro-lifers' not supporting kids after they're born is very hard to answer. Evidence to the contrary abounds. As in all the help that pro-life groups offer mothers who, despite all the pressures, decide to have their baby instead of an abortion....

See the whole article here.

Life in the Womb

2011-10-16T06:15:00.002-05:00

National Right to Life Committee's web page has a series of short audios describing life in the womb. I found them very interesting. Here is an excerpt:

LIFE IN THE WOMB, PART 5

“The five-month-old child in the womb is approximately 10” long. She is extremely active, will swim about in the amniotic sac until growth makes the space in the womb too tight for easy movement. It has been shown that newborn babies can swim reflexively when placed in water, using an efficient frog kick.”

Each stage provides marvelous illustrations of intricacy, complexity, and unfolding beauty. The interplay between mother and child is nothing short of wondrous

“Between 5 and 6 months, the mother begins to notice that her unborn child jumps in response to loud noises coming from the environment”; “babies are naturally attracted to the sound of the human voice and this process begins in the womb. Research has suggested that newborn babies react with greater interest to the voices of family members (as opposed to strangers) because they have had experience hearing these voices for so many months while being carried in the womb”; unborn babies at this age respond to the environment. They react if the mother suddenly is immersed in cold water. If the mother turns over at night, they may have to change their position in the womb to “get comfortable” again. “

The Abject Poverty of the Unborn, Unwanted Child

2011-09-24T03:24:00.002-05:00

The Abject Poverty of the Unborn, Unwanted Child
BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN
8/18/11

A few weeks ago, during the acrimonious debate over the debt limit and deficit reduction, a number of religious leaders met with President Obama to ask him not to forget the poor as our nation struggles with its financial crisis.

Commenting on the meeting, Catholic Bishop Ricardo Ramirez, said, “We’re not interested in which party wins the current political battles but we are worried about who is likely to lose – the families trying to feed their kids, the jobless looking for work, children who need healthcare, the hungry, sick and hopeless.”
The religious leaders are part of the Circle of Protection, a non-partisan movement that works to protect the poor and vulnerable in the midst of the challenges presented by a flagging economy. The Circle of Protection includes religious leaders as well as heads of community organizations and agencies.

The American Bishops have also chimed in with their own statement on behalf of the poor: “Their voices are too often missing in these debates, but they have the most compelling moral claim on our consciences and our common resources . . . A just framework for future budgets cannot rely on disproportionate cuts in essential services to poor persons.”

Most people would agree, I think, that one of the primary responsibilities of the government – federal, state and local – is to provide a safety net for the poor. While churches and non-profits, community groups and even individual families can and should do their part to assist their neighbors in need, it’s only the government that has the financial resources and political infrastructure necessary to respond in a systematic way to the enormous social needs of our time – providing food for the hungry, suitable housing for the homeless, basic healthcare for the sick, sound education for children and opportunities for productive employment. The religious leaders who met with the president were absolutely correct in reminding him of this obligation and encouraging his support. Other political leaders – on a national, state and local level – should be challenged as well.

It occurs to me, however, that if the religious leaders who met with the president to advocate for the poor didn’t use the opportunity to speak on behalf of another endangered population, unborn children – and I’ve seen no report that they did – they missed an important opportunity to instruct and challenge the president on the most substantive moral issue of our time, abortion. The religious leaders had a chance to be courageous prophets, to speak moral truth to secular power. And that opportunity was critical because President Obama is the most ardent pro-abortion advocate we’ve had. It is an evil agenda he pursues aggressively at every turn.

Obviously it’s good, essential in fact, that religious leaders speak on behalf of the poor. That advocacy is a primary obligation of faith. But I can’t think of anyone poorer or more vulnerable than an unborn, unwanted child.

We speak of homelessness – but who’s more homeless than the unborn, unwanted child about to be destroyed, not even finding warm shelter in his mother’s arms? We speak of hunger – but who’s more in need of sustenance than the unborn, unwanted child totally dependent on the compassionate care of others? We speak of welcoming immigrants and refugees – but who’s more alienated than an unborn, unwanted child who’s viewed as a burden and then exiled from the human family? And we speak of being weak and disenfranchised – but who has any less control over their own fate than an unborn, unwanted child who will never have a place at the table, whose tiny voice will never be heard?

Now, lest I’m accused of being a single-issue bishop or narrow-minded, ignoring other important social justice issues – and it’s a charge I’ve endured in the past – permit me to present this little apologia for some of the other issues in which I’ve been involved. In my earliest days in Providence I visited with and supported the “Janitors for Justice” during their labor protests. I’ve marched in our streets for affordable housing and publicly supported the bond issue for the same cause. I founded and have enthusiastically supported the “Keep the Heat On” program which has provided heating assistance for thousands of families across our state. I directed that diocesan property be used to establish Emmanuel House, a shelter for the homeless during a difficult, even dangerous winter. I’ve regularly visited our adult prison, the ACI, and have met and prayed with the inmates. I’ve toured numerous community programs and social agencies in our state to learn about their services and needs, and have sent financial grants to soup kitchens and food pantries. And I’ve provided a strong and consistent voice on behalf of the immigrant community – documented and otherwise – despite being personally vilified for presenting the position of the Church on that divisive issue.

Please understand that I mention these initiatives not to boast, nor to claim any special credentials but, simply to say that I, like the institutional church itself, am committed to many social justice issues beyond that of the unborn child. Some have accused pro-lifers of being concerned about children only until they’re born. It’s a ridiculous and scurrilous charge!

At the same time, it’s also quite reasonable to insist that the social justice agenda include concern for, and public advocacy for, the poorest, most vulnerable members of our human family – unborn, unwanted children. And at every opportunity we need to challenge our public leaders on this issue, especially those who talk a good game about social justice but actively contribute to the culture of death around us.

From: http://thericatholic.com/opinion/detail.html?sub_id=4256

Urgent - Action Urged

2011-09-22T19:08:00.004-05:00

On September 9th, the Bishops of the Catholic Conference of Illinois issued a letter to Kathleen Sebelius of the Department of Health and Human Services, expressing their opposition to the Interim Final Rules on Preventive Services. The two objectionable rules are: 1) a mandate on all private health care plans to cover prescription contraceptives approved by the FDA — including abortifacient drugs — surgical sterilizations and related patient in education and counseling; and 2) an incredibly narrow definition of religious lawyer for exemption from the mandate.

Our faith teaches that human fertility cooperates with God in the creation of new human life and ensures the extension and prosperity of our society. The government's treatment of pregnancy as a disease to be prevented or terminated on any whim undermines not only our teaching, but also the respect for human sexuality and human life intrigues that too well ordered society....

The Catholic Church's teaching on the immorality of contraception and sterilization as a rejection of God's gift life-giving will may not enjoy popular support. The church may be one of the last major structures in American society to hold this belief. For this reason, the rule seems not only to target religious freedom generally but Catholicism in particular — an egregious violation of the free exercise and establishment clauses of the First Amendment....

For these reasons, we ask that the regulation be revoked. If not, we urge modification to embrace and defend the public ministry of religious institutions. Signed by: Cardinal Francis George; Thomas G Doran, Bishop of Rockford; Daniel Jenky, Bishop of Peoria; Edward Braxton, Bishop of Belleville; Thomas John Paprocki, Bishop of Springfield-in-Illinois; and Daniel Conlon, Bishop of Joliet.

In addition, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops released a nationwide bulletin insert with an urgent plea to respond by September 30.

ACTION: Please send an e-mail message to HHS by visiting www.usccb.org/conscience. Once you send your comments to HHS, you will be automatically invited to send a message to your elected representatives in Congress, urging them to support the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act (H.R. 1179/S. 1467) to ensure that such federal mandates do not violate Americans' moral and religious convictions.

Please do this by September 30th

For the Record: Personhood

2011-09-18T05:56:00.003-05:00

H/T The Catholic Knight. Read his post here.

Archbishop Chaput's New Coat of Arms

2011-09-16T19:48:00.002-05:00

With his appointment as Archbishop of Philadelphia, Archbishop Chaput has a new coat of Arms.

You can see the explanation here.

The New Translation of the Mass

2011-09-16T11:25:00.001-05:00

H/T Crossed the Tiber

"Catholicism - Fr. Robert Barron

2011-09-06T20:34:00.003-05:00

The long awaited series hosted by Fr. Robert Barron will air this Fall on PBS, The Catholic News Agency says. So mark your calendars.

The article starts:

A high-definition series exploring the beauty and richness of Catholicism is set to air on over 80 public television stations across the U.S. this fall.

Fr. Robert Barron, head of Word on Fire media and the visionary behind the “Catholicism” series, told CNA his hope is that the films will be used “as a tool of evangelization for everybody.”

“I want the series to go out beyond the walls of the Church,” he said in an Aug. 10 interview. “That's why we're so happy it's going to be on public television.”

Set in 50 locations in over 16 countries, the series examines major themes within the Church such as the person of Christ, the mystery of God, the Virgin Mary, Saints Peter and Paul, the “missionary thrust of the Church,” the liturgy and the Eucharist, prayer and spirituality and the saints, Fr. Barron said.

See the rest of the article here.

There is also a hard cover companion book "Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith" available from Amazon.com, and there is a Kindle edition available too.

We are Catholic

2011-09-06T20:13:00.001-05:00

H/T The Anchoress

World Youth Day - 2011

2011-09-06T19:59:00.000-05:00

H/T Crossed the Tiber

Benedict Asks for Forgiveness for Catholics Who have not Shared Their Faith

2011-09-06T19:50:00.002-05:00

From the National Catholic Register, 8/31/2011

Pope Benedict XVI has asked forgiveness on behalf of generations of “cradle Catholics” who have failed to transmit the faith to others.

“We who have known God since we were young must ask forgiveness,” said Pope Benedict to a gathering of his former students at the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, on Aug. 28.

The Pope said an apology is due because “we bring people so little of the light of his face, because from us comes so little certainty that he exists, that he is there, and that he is the Great One that everyone is waiting for.”

Read the article.

Stress and God

2011-09-05T06:44:00.003-05:00

Recently, I did a little bit of reading about stress management. I’ve been feeling an extraordinary amount of stress lately due to work, I won’t get into the details, but it deals with the workload and my boss. I read that stress comes to all of us in varying degrees, it could be so bad that it affects our health, our family or work relations. But some stress is also good. If we didn’t have stress, we would never get that income tax done. The writer was suggesting different ways to deal with stress, and in our secular society I was not surprised that nothing was said about God in dealing with stress.

For a Catholic and as a Secular Franciscan, I know that the best way to deal with stress is through prayer. God will always answer our prayers, but in his own time - we expect immediate answers but as we know, God’s time is not our time, so we need be a little bit patient.

We Catholics have so many ways with our faith to deal with stress. Finding some quiet time to relate to Jesus is a stress reducer in itself. Putting it in the hands of God is a stress reducer. So is meditation, listening to Gregorian chant or some other Catholic/Christian music, the Jesus prayer, studying the Bible.

We also have a fantastic stress reducer — Confession. Why carry that guilt around, that load on our shoulders? When it is so easy to ask for forgiveness.

As Franciscans, we embrace a couple of tools that will help us manage stress. The first is simplicity. The more complex our life is, the greater the stress. Another tool is our efforts to be not materialistic. The more we have, the more we have to worry about. We are also Gospel people. Leading our life according to the Gospel, we learn about Jesus and we learn the wisdom as to how to lead our lives. For example: If there is bitterness or anger toward another, we know that we should not go to bed without addressing it. Carrying grudges and not forgetting, takes a lot of energy and adds to our stress. We are reminded that God feeds the birds of the air, that he clothes the flowers of the field, and as we are so much more valuable God most assuredly will take care of us.

We know that God helps those who help themselves. If you are feeling stress from work or interpersonal relations, or finances or whatever, ask yourself what is the one most important thing I can do to address this issue. Once you address it and act upon it. You’re on your way to reducing that stress.

St. Thomas More - Moral Integrity

2011-09-05T06:33:00.002-05:00

I ran across a posting by the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference on Thomas More. In these times of political corruption and a lack of integrity in a secular society we need to look at men like Thomas and pray for statesmen who exhibit and live as examples of moral integrity, that objective truths do exist.

The article starts:

Today we celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Apostolic Letter (Motu Proprio) of Pope John Paul II proclaiming Saint Thomas More as the patron of statesmen, politicians and lawyers. Together with the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, we call to mind the significance of this great saint of the 16th Century for us today.

St. Thomas More lived—and gave his life—for truth. He provides a powerful example that not only shows that objective truth exists, but that we have the God-given ability to discern it. He stands as an example showing all statesmen, politicians and lawyers—and indeed all of us—that we have an obligation to find and to serve the truth and to work to protect the lives and fundamental dignity of all human beings.

In 1929, the great Catholic writer, G.K. Chesterton, wrote that: “Thomas More is more important at this moment than at any moment since his death, even perhaps the great moment of his dying. But he is not quite so important as he will be in about a hundred years’ time.”....

On October 31, 2000, Pope John Paul II issued an Apostolic Letter in which he proclaimed Saint Thomas More to be the patron of statesmen, politicians and lawyers. In that letter, the Pope proclaimed:

“The life and martyrdom of Saint Thomas More have been the source of a message which spans the centuries and which speaks to people everywhere of the inalienable dignity of the human conscience, which, as the Second Vatican Council reminds us, is ‘the most intimate centre and sanctuary of a person, in which he or she is alone with God, whose voice echoes within them.’ (Gaudium et Spes, 16).

Whenever men or women heed the call of truth, their conscience then guides their actions reliably towards good. Precisely because of the witness which he bore, even at the price of his life, to the primacy of truth over power, Saint Thomas More is venerated as an imperishable example of moral integrity.”

See the entire posting here.

Homosexual Adoption and Catholic Charities

2011-08-27T05:47:00.002-05:00

From Illinois Family Institute:

Higgins Responds to Anti-Christian Op/Ed in the Daily Herald
Friday, August 26, 2011
By David E. Smith, IFI Executive Director - Illinois Family Institute

Responding to a letter-to-the-editor I sent in earlier this month in which I accuse the state of Illinois of being guilty of religious discrimination in shutting down Catholic Charities' vital and laudable foster care and adoption work, the editors of The Daily Herald opined:
When we wrote in this space that it was time for Illinois to have civil unions, we quoted Gov. Pat Quinn, who said we "need to encourage tolerance in this state." And that's just what the legislature did when it passed the law allowing for civil unions and what Quinn did when he signed it. However, with that law (effective on June 1) came another issue. Again, we side with Quinn.

Catholic Charities in five Illinois dioceses, including those covering DuPage, Kane and McHenry counties in the Daily Herald circulation area, are suing the state so the agencies would not have to accept civil union and unmarried couples as foster parents. At issue is the state money used by Catholic Charities to run their programs for about 2,000 children. Illinois now requires that foster and adoptive care agencies treat same-sex couples in civil unions the same as married couples if they want to use state dollars.

"If an organization ... decides they don't want to voluntarily participate with the state, they have that choice and we honor that choice," Quinn said last month, as quoted by the Capitol Fax Blog. "We have other entities that are involved in foster care that are willing to assume that duty."

And therein lies the crux of the debate: Faith-based agencies like Catholic Charities are not forced to accept state money and therefore are not forced to change long-held beliefs. This is not a freedom of religion issue.

We believe, however, that there are many same-sex couples who would make excellent foster or adoptive parents if given the chance. Loving families and good parenting skills are not limited to straight couples or single people.

And yet that is exactly what opponents of the civil union law believe and espouse. David E. Smith, executive director of the Illinois Family Institute in Carol Stream, said as much in a letter to the editor on this page on Monday.

" ... In upholding traditional religious teachings, and in the best interests of children, (Catholic Charities) will not place foster children in nonmarried or homosexual homes," Smith wrote. A person's sexual orientation on its own should not be a disqualifier. That's a form of discrimination the state won't and shouldn't accept.

We hope the Illinois judicial system affirms the state's point in this matter. All they need to do is look to Rockford to see that there are alternatives. About 300 foster-care cases once handled by the Rockford Diocese were transferred to the Youth Services Bureau of Illinois Valley when the diocese shut its program down. In 2007, when the Chicago Archdiocese halted its foster-care services because of insurance issues, the state also was able to transfer cases to other agencies.

"We will explore every option to prevent disruption to these children," said Ken Marlowe, spokesman for the Department of Children and Family Services. "Discrimination has no place in child welfare."
IFI's Laurie Higgins submitted a response to their editorial, which the Daily Herald declined to publish.

Here is Laurie's fantastic response:
The Daily Herald reveals a profound lack of understanding when it argues that homosexual couples should be allowed to adopt children because in the Daily Herald's view "Loving families and good parenting skills are not limited to straight couples or single people."

If those are the only criteria necessary for parental fitness, then the Daily Herald must support adoption by polyamorists or incestuous couples, for surely there are polyamorists and brother-sister couples who are capable of "loving and parenting" children.

Historically, however, criteria for adoptive fitness have included not merely the capacity of those adopting to love and parent children. Criteria for adoptive fitness included an evaluation of the moral nature of the relationship between adopting parents. Types of relationships considered inherently morally flawed would be excluded from adoptive consideration.

Of course, in a wiser, less relativistic culture, this criterion did not need to be explicitly articulated. It would go without saying that society would not place children in environments defined by inherently morally flawed relationships -- like polygamous, incestuous, or homosexual relationships -- regardless of the ability of the partners to love, parent, and provide for children.

Despite specious arguments to the contrary, subjective homosexual attraction and volitional homosexual acts do not constitute a condition analogous to race, and disapproval of homosexuality is not analogous to racism. Making judgments about the morality of homosexuality is no more unethically discriminatory than is making judgments about the morality of polyamory or adult consensual incest. Once society jettisons an evaluation of the inherent morality of the relationships between (or among) adopting parents, there is no rational reason to prohibit polyamorists or incestuous couples from adopting.

Religious -- and non-religious -- adoption agencies do have the right and should have the freedom to make distinctions about what types of relationships constitute moral relationships. The government is overstepping its bounds when it attempts to impose the subjective moral assumptions of homosexual activists and their ideological allies on all child welfare organizations.

THE RECESSION IS HITTING REALLY HARD!

2011-08-23T18:27:00.001-05:00

THE RECESSION IS HITTING REALLY HARD!

The recession has hit everybody really hard...

My neighbour got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.

CEO's are now playing miniature golf.

Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen.

A stripper was killed when her audience showered her with rolls of pennies while she danced.

I saw a Mormon with only one wife.

If the bank returns your check marked "Insufficient Funds," you call them and ask if they meant you or them.

McDonald's is selling the 1/4 ouncer.

Angelina Jolie adopted a child from America.

Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children's names.

My cousin had an exorcism but couldn't afford to pay for it, and they re-possessed her!

A truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico.

A picture is now only worth 200 words.

When Bill and Hillary travel together, they now have to share a room.

The Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas is now managed by Somali pirates.

And, finally....

I was so depressed last night thinking about the economy, wars, jobs, my savings, Social Security,
retirement funds, etc., I called the Suicide Hotline. I got a call centre in Pakistan, and when
I told them I was suicidal, they got all excited, and asked if I could drive a truck.

Don't Fear the Translation - Roman Missal

2011-08-19T21:27:00.002-05:00

H/T The Anchoress

Crappy People

2011-08-06T12:50:00.002-05:00

Crappy People

I often consider what I can do to make myself a better man, a better Catholic, a better citizen; but once again I’ve been reminded that there are a lot of crappy people out there. After doing some Saturday morning shopping I decided to treat myself to a Chinese buffet lunch. I couldn’t help but observe a “gentleman” come in after me. He loaded a plate with one of the selections, and I mean loaded, he could not have put another spoonful of food on the plate without it rolling off. He proceeded to take a few bites and then left his table and filled another plate with a different selection. This second plate was loaded as much is the first. After eating a little more he pushed the first plate aside. An attendant came and took the first plate away and obviously it was destined for the trash. He then proceeded to fill up third plate with a third selection, again loaded. I would have given him the benefit of the doubt considering perhaps he might not have liked it, but why take so much in the first place if you weren’t familiar with that food? I think rather he was of their to simply waste food.

What a waste. It bothers me if I don’t finish a loaf of bread, or a bottle of milk in time, and I find that I need to throw it away. Yet this person had no qualms about wasting all this food. If I was younger, I would have approached him and admonished him, but in this world who knows how he would’ve reacted; people are shot for less.

Some of My Favorite Quotes

2011-08-04T18:42:00.001-05:00

I am only one,
but still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
but still I can do something;
and because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.

Edward Everett Hale

A true professional is excited about his work, promotes his field, seeks responsibility, maintains integrity, strives for competence and displays initiative, creativity and mature judgment.

Unknown

"Seek first to understand" involves a very deep shift in paradigm. We typically seek first to be understood. Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply. They're either speaking or preparing to speak. They're filtering everything through their own paradigms, reading their autobiography into other people's lives. If they have a problem with someone — a son, a daughter, a spouse, and an himemployee — their attitude is, "That person just doesn't understand."

from "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People"

“Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength”

St. Francis de Sales quotes (French Roman Catholic bishop of Geneva, active in the struggle against Calvinism, 1567-1622)

Tea Party Commercial: I'm Voting for Liberty

2011-07-23T01:48:00.000-05:00

An Open Letter to NetFlix

2011-07-13T21:44:00.001-05:00

I am livid! I got home from work yesterday and checked my e-mail. One item was from Netflix, which informed me of a rate increase. I couldn't believe what I read — you, increasing my fee by 33%.

Doesn't anyone at Netflix realize the state of the Economy? It is common knowledge that when the economy is bad, the first budget line item to cut is entertainment. I wanted to comment to Netflix my reaction and feelings to this ridiculous increase, so I attempted to call, and call, and call, and call. So I next tried to send an e-mail to Netflix, to advise them my reaction and feelings. But no, it is impossible to communicate with Netflix by e-mail.

So thank you Netflix. You ruined my evening, causing me to redial and redial and redial. For three hours and 45 minutes I attempted to contact you. Finally I got through — only to be on hold for over 15 minutes. Finally, I got someone to talk to, and I urged your representative to communicate to management how ridiculous this 33% increase, at a time of economic concerns, was ridiculous.

I consider this price increase, the inability to contact you by phone, the inability to contact you by e-mail — a slap in the face. This is my thanks for the years that I have been a loyal member of the Netflix community.

In my opinion, those responsible for this price increase should be fired. I truly hope that every Netflix customer cancels; I truly hope Netflix’s stocks plummet. Any business entity which treats their customers like you do deserves to be extinct.

You now have a choice, either rescind the price increase immediately or lose me as a customer. I expect in the future you will include the ability for your customers to contact you by e-mail.

Thanks to Mostly the Democrats

2011-07-11T18:56:00.001-05:00

H/T The Catholic Knight

Book Review - Parallel Lives by Richard F. Cassady

2011-06-16T18:34:00.002-05:00

Excerpt:

By comparison, the achievement of Francis of Assisi marked a beginning rather than an end. It is true that Francis's dream of a monastic order that renounced the encumbrance and corruption of property was frustrated by the papacy and by his own successors. Mr. Cassady regards this as the destruction of Francis's work and points to the magnificent and costly double basilica at Assisi as the ultimate betrayal. But it is more complicated than that.
Although the Franciscans were obliged to accept a limited form of property holding, their founder's ideal of a group of missionaries living among the people but marked out from them by a simpler and purer way of life survived intact. The Franciscans transformed the spiritual life of 13th-century Europe, especially among the laity in the growing cities, very much as the Benedictines had transformed the spiritual life of a more rural society centuries before. Although the initial inspiration waned with the passing decades, as such inspirations always do, the Franciscans remained a significant influence on Christian spirituality until the Reformation, and their missionary work since the 16th century has been more impressive, over a longer period, than that of any other group.
Read the entire article here.

Face the Truth Tour - Chicago Area

2011-06-12T19:08:00.002-05:00

Face the Truth Tour - Summer 2011

This is such an important issue. I urge everyone to attend any of the locations listed below. I will attend Naperville on July 9, and Daley Plaza on July 12. If you are unable to attend any of these events, I humbly ask you to pray for the participants and the unborn babies.

Tom, S.F.O.

From the Face the Truth web page sponsored by Pro-Life Action League.

Across the country, babies—and their parents—are being saved from abortion by Face the Truth—a bold and effective pro-life initiative that exposes the truth about abortion:

We Need Your Help To Save Babies

Throughout the year, pro-life activists all around the country are conducting Face the Truth tours. Holding pictures of beautiful unborn babies and huge graphic signs of aborted babies, we line the roads at major intersections, to show Americans the truth about abortion.

We need you to help show people that abortion is the deliberate taking of an unborn child's life. If you believe that abortion is murder, this is your chance to stand up and be counted. Join us this summer as we line the roads at major intersections to show our fellow Americans the ugly truth about abortion.

Go Forth and Teach

Jesus told His followers to "go forth and teach." Face the Truth responds to the Gospel call by teaching the truth about abortion. The truth is that abortion kills innocent human beings, made in the image and likeness of God. That is why we must take the pro-life message to the streets of our cities.

We are living in the midst of a national atrocity. Since the 1973 Supreme Court abortion decisions, over forty million children have been destroyed before they were born. Our signs depicting prenatal life and the aborted child reveal the hidden victims of this atrocity.

While the signs are displayed along the roadways, other volunteers distribute literature to passing motorists and pedestrians to help them understand the gravity of the Culture of Death.

See the article and a video at the Pro-Life Action League page at: http://www.prolifeaction.org/truth/

2001 Summer Truth Tour

FRIDAY, JULY 8
JOLIET AREA
9:00-10:30 Joliet
W. Jefferson Street and Larkin Avenue
11:30-1:00 Shorewood
Brook Forest Avenue and Black Road
3:00-4:30 Joliet
Route 59 and Caton Farm Road

SATURDAY, JULY 9
WESTERN SUBURBS
9:00-10:30 Aurora: Planned Parenthood
Eola Road and New York Street
11:30-1:00 Naperville
Washington Street and Ogden Avenue
3:00-4:30 Aurora: Fox Valley Mall
Route 59 and New York Street

SUNDAY, JULY 10
DAY OFF

MONDAY, JULY 11
DOWNTOWN CHICAGO
Note different start and end times this day.
9:30-11:00 Chicago: Kennedy Overpasses
Madison Street and Desplaines Street
11:30-1:00 Chicago: Daley Plaza
Washington Street and Clark Street
3:30-5:30 Chicago: Union and Ogilvie Stations
Madison Street and Wacker Drive

TUESDAY, JULY 12
DOWNTOWN CHICAGO
Note different start and end times this day.
9:30-11:00 Chicago: Buckingham Fountain
Lake Shore Drive and Jackson Boulevard
11:30-1:00 Chicago: Art Institute
Michigan Avenue and Monroe Street
3:30-5:30 Chicago: Union Station
Adams Street and Wacker Drive

WEDNESDAY, JULY 13
WESTERN SUBURBS
9:00-10:30 Elmhurst
Route 83 and St. Charles Road
11:30-1:00 Westmont
Cass Avenue and Ogden Avenue
3:00-4:30 Wheaton
Butterfield Road and Naperville Road

THURSDAY, JULY 14
NORTHWEST SUBURBS
9:00-10:30 Lake Zurich
Rand Road and Main Street
11:30-1:00 Palatine
Rand Road and Dundee Road
3:00-4:30 Arlington Heights
Rand Road and Arlington Heights Road

FRIDAY, JULY 15
SOUTH SIDE
9:00-10:30 Chicago: Washington Heights
99th Street and Halsted Street
11:30-1:00 Chicago: Avalon Park
79th Street and Stony Island Avenue
3:00-4:30 Chicago: Pilsen
Cermak Road and Ashland Avenue

SATURDAY, JULY 16
NEAR NORTH SUBURBS
9:00-10:30 Niles
Milwaukee Avenue and Golf Road
11:30-1:00 Evanston
Davis Street and Ridge Avenue
3:00-4:30 Lincolnwood
Touhy Avenue and McCormick Boulevard

Jerusalem = Heaven

2011-06-12T15:08:00.003-05:00

Canterbury Tales has an interesting post entitled "14 Biblical Names for Jerusalem (and How to Read the Psalms like a Catholic)"

Excerpt:

Saint Paul identifies the communion of saints in Heaven as "Jerusalem" and as our mother: “But that Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother” (Galatians 4:26, D-R).

This is another reason why Catholics refer to the Church as the New Jerusalem and as Holy Mother Church. When Catholic priests, monks, and nuns chant the 150 Psalms of David, they often mentally apply the meaning of "Heaven" or "Church" to those passages that refer to "Jerusalem." Saint Paul's use of allegory in Galatians serves as an interpretive key to reading the Old Testament in a spiritual way.

Read the rest here.

Korea's Got Talent - Sung-bong Choi

2011-06-12T08:25:00.000-05:00

H/T Deacon's Bench

Great News - Divine Office for Android

2011-06-05T17:24:00.002-05:00

Many of us are familiar with the Divine Office Online, http://divineoffice.org/

I while ago they came up with an iPhone/iPad application.

Well I'm happy to tell you there is now an app for Android phones.

You can download it to your phone from:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.surgeworks.divineoffice&fea...

It has a one time charge of $14.99. I'm about to download it for
myself. I will review and post as soon as I can.

Fr. Barron comments on "Of Gods and Men"

2011-04-10T07:02:00.001-05:00

Our Lady, Star of the Sea

2011-04-09T14:17:00.003-05:00

Our Lady, Star of the Sea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Our Lady, Star of the Sea is an ancient title for the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ. The words Star of the Sea are a translation of the Latin title Stella Maris, first reliably used with relation to the Virgin Mary in the ninth century. The title was used to emphasize Mary's role as a sign of hope and as a guiding star for Christians. Under this title, the Virgin Mary is believed to intercede as a guide and protector of those who travel or seek their livelihoods on the sea. This aspect of the Virgin has led to Our Lady, Star of the Sea, being named as patroness of the Catholic missions to seafarers, the Apostleship of the Sea, and to many coastal churches being named Stella Maris or Mary, Star of the Sea. This devotion towards Our Lady with this ancient title is very popular throughout the Catholic world.

The title most probably has its origin in the Biblical passage 1 Kings 18:41-45, which speaks of a cloud above the sea, no bigger than a man's hand, which is seen from Mount Carmel. The tiny cloud's scriptural significance is as the sign of hope that heralds the end of a long drought.

A similar message is reflected in another title of Mary, which appears in the official Litany of the Virgin, Morning Star. Both titles refer to Mary as a symbol of hope and as a foreshadowing of the imminent coming of Jesus. A combination of the two themes produces Star of the Sea.

Around the year 400 Saint Jerome interpreted the Hebrew name of Mary, Miriam, as "stilla maris," or a drop of the sea. It has been suggested as an alternative origin for the term that this may have been miscopied as stella maris. The first reliable use of the term stella maris that is still extant is in the writings of Paschasius Radbertus in the ninth century, who wrote of Mary, Star of the Sea, as a guide to be followed on the way to Christ "lest we capsize amid the storm-tossed waves of the sea." At this time too the plainsong hymn Ave Maris Stella (Hail, Star of the Sea), became increasingly popular.

In the twelfth-century, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux wrote: "If the winds of temptation arise; If you are driven upon the rocks of tribulation look to the star, call on Mary; If you are tossed upon the waves of pride, of ambition, of envy, of rivalry, look to the star, call on Mary. Should anger, or avarice, or fleshly desire violently assail the frail vessel of your soul, look at the star, call upon Mary."

Pope Pius XII in his encyclical, Doctor Mellifluus, also quoted Bernard of Clairvaux in saying; Mary ... is interpreted to mean 'Star of the Sea.' This admirably befits the Virgin Mother.. (for) as the ray does not diminish the brightness of the star, so neither did the Child born of her tarnish the beauty of Mary's virginity.

Hail Star of the Sea
Hail, thou Star of ocean,
Portal of the sky!
Ever Virgin Mother
Of the Lord most high!

Oh! By Gabriel's Ave,
Uttered long ago,
Eva's name reversing,
Stablish peace below.

Break the captive's fetters;
Light on blindness pour;
All our ills expelling,
Every bliss implore.

Show thyself a Mother;
Offer Him our sighs,
Who for us Incarnate
Did not thee despise.

Virgin of all virgins!
To thy shelter take us:
Gentlest of the gentle!
Chaste and gentle make us.

Still, as on we journey,
Help our weak endeavor;
Till with thee and Jesus
We rejoice forever.

Through the highest heaven,
To the Almighty Three,
Father, Son, and Spirit,
One same glory be. Amen.

The Doctor Meets the Bioethicist

2011-04-06T21:11:00.001-05:00

H/T Thoughts of a Regular Guy

Cristiada Movie Trailer

2011-04-06T20:55:00.001-05:00

Can't wait.

Epic Video - Chicago "LIFE Mob" Hits the Streets Again!

2011-04-05T18:57:00.000-05:00

We've Become a Nation of Takers, Not Makers

2011-04-02T06:00:00.003-05:00

Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal posted a good article which I recommend. It starts:

We've Become a Nation of Takers, Not Makers

More Americans work for the government than in manufacturing, farming, fishing, forestry, mining and utilities combined

If you want to understand better why so many states—from New York to Wisconsin to California—are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, consider this depressing statistic: Today in America there are nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million). This is an almost exact reversal of the situation in 1960, when there were 15 million workers in manufacturing and 8.7 million collecting a paycheck from the government.

It gets worse. More Americans work for the government than work in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined. We have moved decisively from a nation of makers to a nation of takers. Nearly half of the $2.2 trillion cost of state and local governments is the $1 trillion-a-year tab for pay and benefits of state and local employees. Is it any wonder that so many states and cities cannot pay their bills?

Every state in America today except for two—Indiana and Wisconsin—has more government workers on the payroll than people manufacturing industrial goods. Consider California, which has the highest budget deficit in the history of the states. The not-so Golden State now has an incredible 2.4 million government employees—twice as many as people at work in manufacturing. New Jersey has just under two-and-a-half as many government employees as manufacturers. Florida's ratio is more than 3 to 1. So is New York's.

Even Michigan, at one time the auto capital of the world, and Pennsylvania, once the steel capital, have more government bureaucrats than people making things. The leaders in government hiring are Wyoming and New Mexico, which have hired more than six government workers for every manufacturing worker.

Now it is certainly true that many states have not typically been home to traditional manufacturing operations. Iowa and Nebraska are farm states, for example. But in those states, there are at least five times more government workers than farmers. West Virginia is the mining capital of the world, yet it has at least three times more government workers than miners. New York is the financial capital of the world—at least for now. That sector employs roughly 670,000 New Yorkers. That's less than half of the state's 1.48 million government employees.

Read the rest here.

Foundations

2011-03-27T06:12:00.002-05:00

“Foundations”
From Traits of Character, 1899
By Henry F. Kletzing

Don’t risk a life structure upon a day’s foundation. –

The government building at Chicago, a large, massive structure and apparently well built, so that it might stand for a century, was recently torn down, not because the superstructure was not firm, but because the foundation at several places was found faulty. Thus, at a great expense, the old building is removed and a new structure is erected, all because the foundation was not safe. Men fail of their best efforts because they were unwilling to prepare well in days when preparation was the one duty.

The foundation for greatness must be laid in youth. Young men frequently make a serious mistake here. They are content with following the pleasures of youth instead of improving early opportunities for preparation for life’s great work. Wellington frequently said that Waterloo was fought and won while he was a schoolboy. It was what he learned then that prepared him for that great battle. Inattention to the foundation has mined many a structure. Inattention to the intellectual and moral development and preparation has ruined many a life.

See yon building rise. While men were engaged in laying the foundation there was nothing attractive about it. Dirt and stones and mortar are not sightly objects. It is only when the superstructure is rising that the attention of the passer-by is given to it. This is why not more attention is given to foundation work. Many a youth who has attracted attention by doing work successfully thinks that his foundation is sure, and looks only to the superstructure. Many a college graduate has dreamed of greatness while delivering his final oration as the applause of friends greets his ear: but too often he is never heard of afterward. Life consists of more real and earnest things than brilliant graduating orations.

Do not mistake the applause of others as success. Avoid the idol which many worship—the love of notoriety and applause. Look to the foundations.

H/T The Art of Manliness

Abortions give rise to Asia's 'lost boy' generation

2011-03-27T04:47:00.003-05:00

Article from The Independent (a UK newspaper which has left leanings).

Sunday, 20 March 2011

Abortions of female fetuses have led to a massive surplus of young unmarried men in India and China, raising fears of an outcast group that could threaten the social fabric, a study said Monday.

The trend took root in the 1980s when ultrasound technologies made it easier for families to detect fetal sex early and to abort if it was not what the parents desired, said the analysis in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Sons have traditionally been preferred over daughters in many parts of China, India and South Korea due to social, cultural and financial motivations. Sex-selective abortion is outlawed but can be difficult to enforce.

The phenomenon was first spotted in South Korea in the early 1990s, when the sex ratio at birth (SRB) - typically 105 male births to every 100 female births - rose to 125 in some cities.

Similar rises in male births were seen in China, "complicated by the one-child policy, which has undoubtedly contributed to the steady increase in the reported SRB from 106 in 1979, to 111 in 1990, 117 in 2001 and 121 in 2005," said the study.

India has seen "sex ratios as high as 125 in Punjab, Delhi and Gujarat in the north but normal sex ratios of 105 in the southern and eastern states of Kerala and Andhra Pradesh," it added.

In parts of China where a second child is allowed, after a daughter is the first born, the SRB for the second is 143, suggesting that many choose to abort a second girl fetus in favor of trying again for a boy.

Estimates of China's actual population difference in 2005 pointed to 1.1 million excess males, with men under 20 exceeding the number of females by around 32 million, said the study led by Therese Hesketh, University College London Centre for International Health and Development.

"These men will be unable to marry, in societies where marriage is regarded as virtually universal, and where social status and acceptance depend, in large part, on being married and creating a new family," said the authors.

Referred to in China as "guang gun," meaning "bare branches," these men are presumed to be unable to bear fruit by coupling and raising a family.

"In China and parts of India the sheer numbers of unmated men are a further cause for concern," said the study.

"Because they may lack a stake in the existing social order, it is feared that they will become bound together in an outcast culture, turning to antisocial behavior and organized crime, thereby threatening societal stability and security."

Other concerns include the possibility that the surge of unmarried men will boost the sex industry, which has already expanded in India and China over the past 10 years.

However, "the part played by a high sex ratio in this expansion is impossible to isolate; there is no evidence that numbers of sex workers are greater in areas with high sex ratios," said the study.

Ninety-four percent of unmarried people aged 28-49 in China are male, and 97 percent of them have not completed high school, it said.

"Despite the grim outlook for the generation of males entering their reproductive years over the next two decades, there are encouraging signs," said the study.

A crackdown on sex-selective abortion in South Korea has resulted in a more normalized male-to-female birth rate in recent years, and China and India are both down from their peak SRBs due in part to public awareness campaigns and relaxed one-child policies.

But it will likely be several more decades before the sex ratios return to normal, the authors said.

The article was co-authored by Zhu Wei Xing of Zhejiang Normal University in China.

H/T Deacon Greg

Morality and Policy

2011-03-27T04:33:00.000-05:00

Fr. Barron comments on God, the Tsunami, and the Problem of Evil

2011-03-27T04:27:00.000-05:00

Seventy-Five Percent

2011-03-26T16:12:00.000-05:00

Catholicism's best-kept secret: Third orders

2011-03-20T17:29:00.004-05:00

Catholicism's best-kept secret: Third orders

Are you a Catholic who feels attracted to a religious order, but are married? Do you want to stay in your home and at your job, but still follow a rule of life, like that of St. Benedict, for example? Do you want to share your pilgrim journey with other like-minded people? Have I got a deal for you: Third orders!

Read the full post by Lisa, sfo of FranciscanFocus.com here.

Go the post for links to the various third orders.

H/T Franciscan Focus

Building a Culture of Life - Archbishop Chaput

2011-03-20T17:18:00.002-05:00

Another great talk by Archbishop Chaput. Here is the start of his address. I urge you to go to the link below to read the rest.

Building a Culture of Life

Feb. 25, 2011 (Fargo, ND) - Archbishop Chaput addressed laypeople of the Diocese of Fargo, with a presentation titled “Building a Culture of Life.” Archbishop offers a few “dos” and “don’ts” for building a culture of life, based on what he has seen in the American prolife experience throughout the past 38 years.

As I was gathering my thoughts for today, a line from Psalm 89 came back to me again and again: [Lord,] make us know the shortness of our life that we may gain wisdom of heart. That’s an odd way to begin a prolife discussion, isn’t it – reminding everybody in the room that we don’t have a lot of time.

But I think it’s exactly the right place to start. The time we have in this world is brief. God is good, and the life he gives us is filled not just with problems and sorrow, but with beauty and joy and love and hope and nobility – and these things are worth fighting for. What we do in the world matters. How we use our time matters. And therefore the choices we make matter – precisely because we come this way only once, and the world will be better or worse for our passing.

So our presence here together today has a meaning much larger than a nice meal and a good conversation about shared values. It’s an opportunity to remember that God put us here for a purpose. He’s asking us to turn our hearts to building the kind of world that embodies his love and honors the sanctity of the human children he created.

Our theme today is “building a culture of life.” All of us here this afternoon know that U.S. Supreme Court struck down restrictive American abortion laws in 1973. That effectively legalized abortion on demand. Since then, abortion has killed more than 50 million unborn American children. It’s also damaged the lives of millions of women and men. The sheer size of this tragedy has had a very curious effect on the American mind, because Americans have always been a religious people – and we still are by the standards of most developed countries. In practice, Americans now have a kind of schizophrenia about the abortion issue. Most of us believe abortion is wrong. But many people – many otherwise good people -- also want it to be legal under some limited circumstances.

This split in the American mind has two results. Here’s the first consequence. The United States has a large and well-funded abortion industry. The industry has very shrewd political lobbyists. It also has a public relations machine that would make George Orwell’s Ministry of Truth look like a gang of amateurs. In practice, the industry runs on an engine of persuasive-sounding lies.

You know some of the lies. I’m sure you’ve heard them a thousand times. There’s the lie that an unborn child isn’t “fully human.” The lie that abortion is a purely private decision without public consequences. The lie that we can be “pro-choice,” and yet not be implicated in where our choices lead -- to the killing of an unborn child.

Here’s the second consequence. Right alongside the abortion industry, our country also has a very vigorous prolife movement. American prolifers have had many setbacks. They never have enough money. They get treated brutally by the media. Too many of their leaders argue with each other too much of the time. But they just won’t give up or die. And so they’ve won quite a few modest but important legal victories. And meanwhile they continue to work toward the strategic goal of overturning the 1973 Supreme Court decision.

Based on what I’ve seen in the American prolife experience over the past 38 years, I’d like to offer a few “dos” and “don’ts” for building a culture of life. And perhaps we can talk about them more deeply in our question and answer session. I’ll begin with six “don’ts.”

First, don’t let yourselves be tricked into an inferiority complex.

Critics like to say that religion is divisive, or intellectually backward, or that it has no proper place in the public square. This kind of defective thinking is now so common that any religiously grounded political engagement can be portrayed as crossing the border between Church and state affairs.

But this is nonsense. Democracy depends on people of conviction carrying their beliefs into public debate -- respectfully, legally and non-violently, but vigorously and without apology. If we’re uncomfortable being Christians in a public debate, then we’ve already lost the war. In America the word “pluralism” is often conjured up like a kind of voodoo to get religious people to stop talking about right and wrong. In reality, our moral beliefs always shape social policy. Real pluralism actually demands that people with different beliefs should pursue their beliefs energetically in the public square. This is the only way a public debate can be honest and fruitful. We should never apologize for being Catholics, or for advancing our beliefs in private or in public.

Read the rest here.

We Are The Youth

2011-03-20T16:52:00.000-05:00

H/T View from the choir

Archbishop Chaput - This Lent, accept God's love, reflect it to others

2011-03-10T21:43:00.001-06:00

From the Denver Catholic Register:

This Lent, accept God's love, reflect it to others

“The first Sunday of the Lenten journey reveals our condition as human beings here on earth. The victorious battle against temptation, the starting point of Jesus’ mission, is an invitation to become aware of our own fragility in order to accept the grace that frees [us] from sin and infuses new strength in Christ—the way, the truth and the life.”

—From Pope Benedict XVI’s Lenten Message for 2011

Lent is a time when God invites all of us as Christians to enter into a deeper relationship with himself. Lent is our pilgrimage to Golgotha, and beyond that, to Easter and eternal life. Jesus came into the world to save us; to show us that our lives have meaning; that God loves us; that despite all our sins, no matter how dark, God treasures us as his sons and daughters; that suffering has meaning; that each person no matter how broken or disabled has dignity; and that death is never the end of who we are.

Each of us is born with an ache for “something more.” We all have an inherent hunger for happiness, but we can’t be happy alone. We were made for friendship with one another, and for communion with our Creator.

On the other hand, all of us are selfish. Each of us is a sinner. Again and again, despite our best intentions, we make wrong choices, do bad things and hurt those we love. And on the heels of our personal failures always comes the temptation to despair of ever really changing. We’re tempted to shrug off holiness as a “good idea” that just doesn’t work.

Catholics should know better because we have the example of the saints. The more deeply we know the stories of the saints, the better we realize that most of them were very much like us. They were ordinary people who slowly made a habit of remembering the meaning of their baptism; of making the right choices and doing good actions. Day by day, they wove extraordinary lives out of ordinary material.

With God’s help, we can do the same. The fasting, prayer, almsgiving and mortifications of the Lenten season have a very important purpose: they help us to rediscover the meaning of our own baptism and to clear our soul of debris. They cut away the selfishness that obstructs our view of God and blocks his light from us. As Scripture says, in denying ourselves we find ourselves—because we’re incomplete and restless, we’re not fully ourselves, without God.

Lent is an invitation to dethrone the distractions that keep our hearts restless and empty. If we make room for the real King, he’ll do much more than fill the space. He’ll make us what he intended us to be: saints. We need to approach this Lent not as a burden, but as a second chance, a joy, a way of refocusing ourselves on the one thing that really does matter eternally—friendship with God.

For each of us, there’s no better place to begin or renew that friendship than in the confessional. As Pope Benedict reminds us this Lent, these weeks before Easter are the ideal time “to recognize our weakness and to accept, through a sincere inventory of our life, the renewing grace of the sacrament of penance, and walk resolutely toward Christ.” God’s love for his people is the one love that does not and cannot fail. Lent is our moment to turn toward that love, to accept it, and begin by our witness to reflect it to others.

Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M., Cap. is the Archbishop of Denver.

Archbishop Chaput: Luke Warm Christianity Is A Convenient Form Of Paganism!

2011-03-08T16:01:00.002-06:00

H/T Courageous Priest

The following text by the great Archbishop Chaput was taken from the CNA. In the text, Archbishop Chaput takes a cue from Cardinal Lustiger and warns on the growing crisis of faith, and the many different forms of idolatry which have choked the life out of Christians and the Church as a whole. The Archbishop warns explicitly on the idols of sex, technology, and the state as being particularly prevalent in our day.

By Benjamin Moore, CNA

Luke Warm Christianity Is Convenient Paganism

Addressing a gathering of European church officials on March 4, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver warned that many contemporary Christians have reduced their faith to a convenient “form of paganism,” which cannot compete with the widespread “idolatry” of modern consumer culture.

Archbishop Chaput offered his observations at a conference in Paris honoring the late Cardinal Archbishop Jean-Marie Lustiger, a Jewish convert to Catholicism who was the Archbishop of Paris from 1981 to 2005.

The Denver archbishop described Cardinal Lustiger as “an unsentimental realist” who dared to speak about disturbing trends in the Church and society – including a lack of faith among professed Christians, leaving a vacuum that would be filled by other “gods” such as sex and money.

“Lustiger named lukewarm Christians and superficial Christianity for what they are: a congenial form of paganism,” said Archbishop Chaput. “The Church needs a great deal more of his medicine.”

Many Christians Have Reduced God To An Idol

He recalled Cardinal Lustiger’s prophetic warnings against “creating alibis and escaping the implications of our faith.” In a passage cited by Archbishop Chaput, the cardinal wrote that “many Christians,” through evasions and misunderstandings, had “reduced the God of the Covenant to a mere idol.”

“The main crisis of modern Christianity is not one of resources, or personnel, or marketing,” Archbishop Chaput asserted. “It is a crisis of faith. Millions of people claim to be Christian, but they don’t really believe.”

“They don’t study Scripture. They don’t love the Church as a mother and teacher. And they settle for an inoffensive, vanilla Christianity that amounts to a system of decent social ethics.”

The Worst Kind Of Phony Christianity!

“This is self-delusion,” he warned, “the worst kind of phony Christianity that has no power to create hope out of suffering, to resist persecution, or to lead anyone else to God.”

Archbishop Chaput said that these weakened forms of Christian faith would not be able to compete with the many modern cults of instant gratification and success.

Cardinal Lustiger, he recalled, had “warned that one of the deepest and oldest instincts of man is idolatry.” The Denver archbishop said he sees that instinct taking on several forms today.

“There are no real atheists in America – quite the opposite,” he said. “We have a thriving free market of little gods to worship. Sex and technology have very large congregations.”

The Modern State Is A Great Idol!

“I was especially struck,” he noted, “by Lustiger’s description of the modern state ‘as one of the strongest forms of idolatry that exists; it has become the most absolute substitute for God that men have been able to give themselves . . . and it is a tyrant god, feeding itself on its victims.’”

But the Archbishop of Denver said that these human tendencies, leading to the worship of objects and of oneself, could not be driven out by the mere exercise of authority.

To Purge Christianity Of These Great Idols Demands Total Conversion Of Individuals

“The Christian remedy to these idolatries,” he explained, “can never simply be coerced from the outside, by stronger statements from stronger bishops.” He quoted Cardinal Lustiger’s insight that these forms of idolatry “must be exorcised from the inside … To uproot them, we must be converted in depth.”

He also indicated that Cardinal Lustiger’s unique perspective was just as important for U.S. Catholics today as it was for European Catholics during his lifetime. The cardinal’s work, Archbishop Chaput noted, “continues to influence our seminary formation” at Denver’s St. John Vianney seminary.

“He is a Jew who discovers Jesus Christ … His mother is murdered at Auschwitz. He survives the most horrific war in history, but he refuses to hate and despair. Instead, he turns to God more deeply and gives himself to the priesthood.”

“Most of the young men I meet hunger for examples of manliness, confidence, courage and faith,” Archbishop Chaput noted. “Cardinal Lustiger’s personal story is itself a catechesis – an invitation to pursue God heroically.”

Pro-Life Flash Mob in Chicago Surprises "Walk for Choice"

2011-03-01T18:36:00.000-06:00

This is great! Darn, I wish I know about it - I would have been there.

Tom

Wisconsin Senators

2011-02-27T15:22:00.002-06:00

Planned Parenthood's Bunnies

2011-02-26T22:20:00.001-06:00

Organized Gay Protest Denounces Catholics as Bigots in Front of Chicago ...

2011-02-26T22:12:00.001-06:00

For Pete sake!

"Gay protesters swarm Chicago cathedral, police do nothing."

H/T What Does The Prayer Really Say?

Pope Benedict XVI: Abortion is never a solution

2011-02-26T22:04:00.000-06:00

West vs East

2011-02-26T11:10:00.000-06:00

Silence

2011-02-26T07:34:00.001-06:00

Caritas et Verias has a good post on Silence. Check it out here.

Obama's First Two Years Scorecard

2011-02-19T17:55:00.002-06:00

Ann Coulter Speech at CPAC 2011

2011-02-13T08:18:00.000-06:00

March for Life - D.C. 2011 - What the News Media Will Not Show You

2011-02-02T16:53:00.001-06:00

Invest vs. Spend

2011-01-29T07:36:00.001-06:00

Rep. James Lankford: "The Right to Life is Self-Evident"

2011-01-25T15:51:00.000-06:00

H/T Happy Catholic

The Crush Depth of Debt

2011-01-05T13:29:00.003-06:00

With a hat tip to the Anchoress for bringing this post to my attention, I urge everyone to follow the link to this post in Sense of Events on the National Debt. It starts:

What happens when a submarine reaches its crush depth? The question answers itself. World War II U-boat Capt. Hebert Werner related in his postwar book, Iron Coffins, that no one knew how deep a U-boat could dive. "Because," he said, "the only crews that found out were crushed a half-meter later."

The United States is approaching its financial crush depth. The liberal media (but I repeat myself) have proclaimed that the 111th Congress was the "most productive" in generations. One thing the Triple One did produce was debt - not merely mountains of debt but a whole Himalaya range. In fact, this Congress borrowed more money than all 110 previous Congresses combined. In the right-hand column of this site I run a widget that counts the federal debt as it winds toward the orbit of Pluto; as of today at 1.40 p.m. C. it stood at just under 14 trillion, 27 billion dollars.

Read the rest here.

R.I.P. Fr. Roch Niemier

2011-01-05T11:54:00.001-06:00

Those who had gone on pilgrimage to Assisi will remember Fr. Roch,
please remember him in your prayers.

from the Green Bay Press Gazzette:

Fr. Roch Niemier, O.F.M., a member of the Franciscan Friars of the
Assumption B.V.M. Province, died Friday afternoon, Dec. 31, 2010, at a
Milwaukee hospital.

Fr. Roch served the community in retreat and formation ministry after
ordination. In 1978, he received permission to pursue a pilgrim
lifestyle in Europe. He left in March and in April was in Florence for
studies. In June, he joined Fr. Damien Isabel, O.F.M., of the Sacred
Heart Province. In 1972, Fr. Damien initiated "The Assisi Experience"
for inviting young friars before solemn profession to visit the
Franciscan places of Italy. Fr. Roch joined the group as lecturer and
guide. In 1981, he succeeded Fr. Damien as the Director of the
Franciscan Study Pilgrimage Program.

For the next 30 years he led the Franciscan Pilgrimage Program,
developing it into a program that currently has a staff of 24 and up
to 22 pilgrimages a year, not only to Italy but to the Holy Land and
the California Missions as well. In 2004, Fr. Roch was granted an
honorary doctorate of humane letters from St. Bonaventure University
in Olean, N.Y., in recognition for his contribution to fostering the
Franciscan heritage among so many people. He stepped down as CEO of
the Pilgrimage Program in 2005. At this time he began his ministry as
Provincial Spiritual Assistant to the Secular Franciscan Order.

In addition to being heavily involved with the Pilgrimage Program, Fr.
Roch was also very involved with the friars of the Assumption
Province, serving as Guardian for two terms and Provincial Councilor
for one term. At the time of his death he was a member of the Chapter
Planning Committee.

The Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Tuesday at St. Clare
Parish, Wind Lake, Wis. Burial will take place in the Provincial
Cemetery in Pulaski in the spring. Marnocha Funeral Home, Pulaski, is
assisting the friars with local arrangements.

Feminism explained

2010-12-29T10:39:00.000-06:00

The Procedure

2010-12-24T08:18:00.000-06:00

The 12 Days of Winter - The Heidi Harris Show

2010-12-15T21:14:00.000-06:00

The Holy Father's Prayer for Life

2010-11-30T20:19:00.001-06:00

Lord Jesus, You who faithfully visit and fulfil with your Presence the Church and the history of men; You who in the miraculous Sacrament of your Body and Blood render us participants in divine Life and allow us a foretaste of the joy of eternal Life; We adore and bless you.

Prostrate before You, source and lover of Life, truly present and alive among us, we beg you:
Reawaken in us respect for every unborn life, make us capable of seeing in the fruit of the maternal womb the miraculous work of the Creator, open our hearts to generously welcoming every child that comes into life.

Bless all families, sanctify the union of spouses, render fruitful their love.
Accompany the choices of legislative assemblies with the light of your Spirit, so that peoples and nations may recognise and respect the sacred nature of life, of every human life.
Guide the work of scientists and doctors, so that all progress contributes to the integral well-being of the person, and no one endures suppression or injustice.

Gift creative charity to administrators and economists, so they may realise and promote sufficient conditions so that young families can serenely embrace the birth of new children
Console the married couples who suffer because they are unable to have children and in Your goodness provide for them.

Teach us all to care for orphaned or abandoned children, so they may experience the warmth of your Charity, the consolation of your divine Heart.

Together with Mary, Your Mother, the great believer, in whose womb you took on our human nature, we wait to receive from You, our Only True Good and Saviour, the strength to love and serve life, in anticipation of living forever in You, in communion with the Blessed Trinity.

Amen.

Pope leads vigil for life

2010-11-30T20:12:00.000-06:00

On Saturday evening, St Peter’s Basilica was the focal point for a global event, a vigil of prayer for nascent life. The first of its kind and expressly wanted by Pope Benedict XVI, the event involved the universal Church, with Catholics coming together in prayer in their homes, parishes, religious communities and cathedrals across the world.

In his homily, Pope Benedict said: “there are cultural tendencies that seek to anesthetize consciences with misleading motivations. With regard to the embryo in the womb, science itself highlights its autonomy capable of interaction with the mother, the coordination of biological processes, the continuity of development, the growing complexity of the organism. This is not an accumulation of biological material, but a new living being, dynamic and wonderfully ordered, a new unique human being”.

He also warned against the “darkening of consciences” towards the innate value of life, affirming that the unborn child “has the right not to be treated as an object of possession or something to manipulate at will, not to be reduced to a mere instrument for the benefit of others and their interests. The human person is a good in and of himself and his integral development should always be sought”.

We publish a draft Vatican Radio translation of the Holy Father’s homily for First Vespers of the first Sunday of Advent:

Dear brothers and sisters,

With this evening's celebration, the Lord gives us the grace and joy of opening the new liturgical year beginning with its first stage: Advent, the period that commemorates the coming of God among us. Every beginning brings a special grace, because it is blessed by the Lord. In this Advent period we will once again experience the closeness of the One who created the world, who guides history and cared for us to the point of becoming a man. This great and fascinating mystery of God with us, moreover of God who becomes one of us, is what we celebrate in the coming weeks journeying towards holy Christmas. During the season of Advent we feel the Church that takes us by the hand and - in the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary - expresses her motherhood allowing us to experience the joyful expectation of the coming of the Lord, who embraces us all in his love that saves and consoles.

While our hearts reach out towards the annual celebration of the birth of Christ, the Church's liturgy directs our gaze to the final goal: our encounter with the Lord in the splendour of glory. This is why we, in every Eucharist, "announce his death, proclaim his resurrection until he comes again" we hold vigil in prayer. The liturgy does not cease to encourage and support us, putting on our lips, in the days of Advent, the cry with which the whole Bible concludes, the last page of the Revelation of Saint John: "Come, Lord Jesus "(22:20).
Dear brothers and sisters, our coming together this evening to begin the Advent journey is enriched by another important reason: with the entire Church, we want to solemnly celebrate a prayer vigil for unborn life. I wish to express my thanks to all who have taken up this invitation and those who are specifically dedicated to welcoming and safeguarding human life in different situations of fragility, especially in its early days and in its early stages. The beginning of the liturgical year helps us to relive the expectation of God made flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary, God who makes himself small, He becomes a child, it speaks to us of the coming of a God who is near, who wanted to experience the life of man, from the very beginning, to save it completely, fully. And so the mystery of the Incarnation of the Lord and the beginning of human life are intimately connected and in harmony with each other within the one saving plan of God, the Lord of life of each and every one of us. The Incarnation reveals to us, with intense light and in an amazing way, that every human life has an incomparable, a most elevated dignity.

Man has an unmistakable originality compared to all other living beings that inhabit the earth. He presents himself as a unique and singular entity, endowed with intelligence and free will, as well as being composed of a material reality. He lives simultaneously and inseparably in the spiritual dimension and the corporal dimension. This is also suggested in the text of the First letter to the Thessalonians which was just proclaimed: "May the God of peace himself - St. Paul writes - make you perfectly holy and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ "(5:23). Therefore, we are spirit, soul and body. We are part of this world, tied to the possibilities and limits of our material condition, at the same time we are open to an infinite horizon, able to converse with God and to welcome Him in us. We operate in earthly realities and through them we can perceive the presence of God and seek Him, truth, goodness and absolute beauty. We savour fragments of life and happiness and we long for total fulfilment.

God loves us so deeply, totally, without distinction, He calls us to friendship with him, He makes us part of a reality beyond all imagination, thought and word; His own divine life. With emotion and gratitude we acknowledge the value of the incomparable dignity of every human person and the great responsibility we have toward all. " Christ, the final Adam, - says the Second Vatican Council - by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear.... by His incarnation the Son of God has united Himself in some fashion with every man. "(Gaudium et Spes, 22).

Believing in Jesus Christ also means having a new outlook on man, a look of trust and hope. Moreover, experience itself and reason show that the human being is a subject capable of discernment, self-conscious and free, unique and irreplaceable, the summit of all earthly things, that must be recognized in his innate value and always accepted with respect and love. He has the right not to be treated as an object of possession or something to manipulate at will, not to be reduced to a mere instrument for the benefit of others and their interests. The human person is a good in and of himself and his integral development should always be sought. Love for all, if it is sincere, naturally tends to become a preferential attention to the weakest and poorest. In this vein we find the Church's concern for the unborn, the most fragile, the most threatened by the selfishness of adults and the darkening of consciences. The Church continually reiterates what was declared by the Second Vatican Council against abortion and all violations of unborn life: "from the moment of its conception life must be guarded with the greatest care " (ibid., n. 51).

There are cultural tendencies that seek to anesthetize consciences with misleading motivations. With regard to the embryo in the womb, science itself highlights its autonomy capable of interaction with the mother, the coordination of biological processes, the continuity of development, the growing complexity of the organism. This is not an accumulation of biological material, but a new living being, dynamic and wonderfully ordered, a new unique human being. So was Jesus in Mary's womb, so it was for all of us in our mother’s womb. With the ancient Christian writer Tertullian we can say: " he who will be a man is already one" (Apologeticum IX, 8), there is no reason not to consider him a person from conception.
Unfortunately, even after birth, the lives of children continue to be exposed to abandonment, hunger, poverty, disease, abuse, violence or exploitation. The many violations of their rights that are committed in the world sorely hurt the conscience of every man of good will. Before the sad landscape of the injustices committed against human life, before and after birth, I make mine Pope John Paul II’s passionate appeal to the responsibility of each and every individual: " respect, protect, love and serve life, every human life! Only in this direction will you find justice, development, true freedom, peace and happiness!"(Encyclical Evangelium vitae, 5). I urge the protagonists of politics, economic and social communications to do everything in their power to promote a culture which respects human life, to provide favorable conditions and support networks for the reception and development of life.

To the Virgin Mary, who welcomed the Son of God made man with faith, with her maternal womb, with loving care, with nurturing support and vibrant with love, we entrust our commitment and prayer in favour of unborn life . We do in the liturgy - which is the place where we live the truth and where truth lives with us - worshiping the divine Eucharist, we contemplate Christ's body, that body who took flesh from Mary by the Holy Spirit, and from her was born in Bethlehem for our salvation. Ave, verum Corpus, natum de Maria Virgine!

H/T Vatican Radio

Pope to lead worldwide pro-life vigil

2010-11-27T07:29:00.000-06:00

Pope Benedict XVI will be celebrating a special Vespers service Saturday evening in St. Peter’s Basilica marking the beginning of Advent, in which he has called for special prayers for the protection of all human life, especially the unborn.
The Holy Father has asked that parishes, religious communities, associations and movements join him for evening prayer, in churches throughout the world.
“It’s the first time in history the Holy Father has done this,” says Joseph Meaney, the director of international coordination for Human Life International.
“It’s a wonderful time to do it,” he told Vatican Radio. It’s “the beginning of Advent, when we are thinking about the unborn Christ Child, waiting for the birth of the Christ Child – to think of all these unborn children that are also at risk around the world, because unfortunately something like a third of all pregnancies end in abortion today.” Listen to Joseph Meaney's full interview with Charles Collins:

Healthcare Waivers

2010-11-21T05:43:00.001-06:00

H/T Michele Malkin

Pope Benedict on the Bible

2010-11-14T05:08:00.003-06:00

Pope Benedict has written an apostolic exhortation on the Bible, Verbum Domini. An overview of the document can be found here.

The text of the document in plain text or MS Word can be found here.

H/T Opinionated Catholic

New Catholics Come Home Video

2010-11-08T14:35:00.000-06:00

H/T: Ordinated Catholic

"Hallelujah!" at Macy's

2010-11-04T18:55:00.001-05:00

H/T: The Deacon's Bench

Lost Moral Vocabulary - Archbishop Chaput

2010-10-24T05:13:00.001-05:00

Repentance and renewal in the mission of catechesis

Archbishop Chaput delivered the following remarks during a tri-diocesan catechetical congress in Victoria, British Columbia on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 15 and 16, 2010.

Some of you may know the short story, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. If you don’t, I need to spoil the ending to make my point. But I promise the story will still be worth reading.

“The Lottery” is set on a summer day in a small town in 1940s America. The people are assembling for a very old annual ritual. The ritual has something to do with imploring a good corn harvest -- but there’s no mention of any God, and no clergy anywhere in the picture.

Each person in the village lines up to draw a slip of paper from an old wooden box. Tessie Hutchinson, a young wife and mother, draws a slip with a black mark.

From that moment, the story moves quickly to its conclusion. The lottery official gives the word, and the villagers move in on Tessie. And they stone her to death.

“The Lottery” is one of the most widely read stories ever published in my country. And for good reason. It’s well told. The ending leaves you breathless. Teachers like it because it provokes sharp classroom discussions.

Or at least it used to.

A few years ago, a college writing professor, Kay Haugaard, wrote an essay about her experiences teaching “The Lottery” over a period of about two decades.

She said that in the early 1970s, students who read the story voiced shock and indignation. The tale led to vivid conversations on big topics -- the meaning of sacrifice and tradition; the dangers of group-think and blind allegiance to leaders; the demands of conscience and the consequences of cowardice.

Sometime in the mid-1990s, however, reactions began to change.

Haugaard described one classroom discussion that -- to me -- was more disturbing than the story itself. The students had nothing to say except that the story bored them. So Haugaard asked them what they thought about the villagers ritually sacrificing one of their own for the sake of the harvest.

One student, speaking in quite rational tones, argued that many cultures have traditions of human sacrifice. Another said that the stoning might have been part of “a religion of long standing,” and therefore acceptable and understandable.

An older student who worked as a nurse, also weighed in. She said that her hospital had made her take training in multicultural sensitivity. The lesson she learned was this: “If it’s a part of a person’s culture, we are taught not to judge.”

I thought of Haugaard’s experience with “The Lottery” as I got ready for this brief talk. Here’s where my thinking led me:

Our culture is doing catechesis every day. It works like water dripping on a stone, eroding people’s moral and religious sensibilities, and leaving a hole where their convictions used to be.

Haugaard’s experience teaches us that it took less than a generation for this catechesis to produce a group of young adults who were unable to take a moral stand against the ritual murder of a young woman. Not because they were cowards. But because they lost their moral vocabulary.

Haugaard’s students seemingly grew up in a culture shaped by practical atheism and moral relativism. In other words, they grew up in an environment that teaches, in many different ways, that God is irrelevant, and that good and evil, right and wrong, truth and falsehood can’t exist in any absolute sense.

This is the culture we live in, and the catechesis is on-going. But I don’t think this new kind of barbarism – because that’s what it is; a form of barbarism -- is an inevitable process.

It’s not easy to de-moralize and strip a society of its religious sense. Accomplishing the task requires two key factors: First, it takes the aggressive, organized efforts of individuals and groups committed to undermining faith and historic Christian values. Second, it takes the indifference of persons like you and me, Christian believers.

I want to focus on the second factor, because it involves us.

Christians in my country and yours -- and throughout the West, generally -- have done a terrible job of transmitting our faith to our own children and to the culture at large.

Evidence can be found anecdotally in stories like Kay Haugaard’s. We can also see it in polls showing that religious identity and affiliation are softening. More people are claiming that they’re “spiritual,” but they have no religion.

See the entire article here.

The Awe Factor Of God - Francis Chan

2010-10-17T05:56:00.000-05:00

We The People

2010-10-09T05:32:00.000-05:00

Christians’ Lack of Faith Prevents Cultural Renewal

2010-10-03T04:01:00.002-05:00

Archbishop Chaput delivered an address to the annual convention of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars on 9/26/2010. If starts:

LIFE IN THE LATE REPUBLIC:

THE CATHOLIC ROLE IN AMERICA AFTER VIRTUE

+Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.

Archbishop of Denver

Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, 9.26.10

Exactly 70 years ago, in 1940, Father John Courtney Murray gave a series of three

college talks. For his theme, he chose the “concept of a Christian culture.” After his

death, his Jesuit brothers fused the talks into a single essay called “The Construction of a

Christian Culture.”1 It’s a modest word change. But that title – the construction of a

Christian culture – is a good place to begin our thoughts this morning.

Most people know Murray for his work on Vatican II’s Decree on Religious Liberty. In

his 1960 book We Hold These Truths – which has never gone out of print – Murray

argued the classic Catholic case for America. Like any important thinker, his work has

friends and critics. The critics respect Murray’s character and intellect. But they also

tend to see him as a victim of his own optimism and a voice of American boosterism. I

understand why. Over the years, too many people have used Murray to justify too many

strange versions of personal conscience and the roles of Church and state.

But for me, Murray’s real genius is tucked inside his words from 1940. They’re worth

hearing again. Murray said that “a profound religious truth is at the basis of democratic

theory and practice, namely the intrinsic dignity of human nature; the spiritual freedom of

the human soul; its equality as a soul with others of its kind; and its superiority to all that

does not share its spirituality.”

He said that “the task of constructing a culture is essentially spiritual, for culture has its

home in the soul.” As a result, “all man’s cultural effort is at bottom an effort at

submission to the truth and the beauty and the good that is outside him, existing in an

ordered harmony, whose pattern he must produce within his soul by conformity with it.”

These are beautiful thoughts. They’re also true. The trouble is, they bear little likeness

to our real culture in 2010. Murray spoke at a moment when the word “gay” had more

connection to joy than to sexual identity; and when the word “truth” could be used

without ambivalence or irony. Times have changed.

Read the rest here.

Pew Poll On Religion Shows Americans Are Idiots

2010-10-03T03:31:00.002-05:00

I don't usually pull a full quote, but there is no way to otherwise pull this from Opinionated Catholic. Take the quiz, I did.

Lot of talk on how atheists know religion better than Christians in the Pew study. I don't think that is the real story. I would expert atheists that are quite vocal to know more. Example Anti Catholics know more about the Church than Catholics do etc etc.

The problem is that a lot of American are of course Christians in name only. However the real problem is that Americans on the whole would failed this religious test so badly.

Take the quiz!!

It seems by just reading the newspaper or paying attention in life most people should have scored a 14 out 15 on this.

We have huge problems in the educational system. Both secular and religious it appears.

Kids singing Gregorian Chant - Kyrie from the Missa De Angelis

2010-10-03T03:19:00.000-05:00

H/T: The Anchoress

Take The St Thomas Aquinas Pledge!

2010-10-03T03:07:00.001-05:00

Take The St Thomas Aquinas Pledge!

Cardinal Mahoney of Los Angeles has recently encouraged all US Catholics to take "The St. Francis Pledge" which basically asks us to learn about and be pro-active to combat the effects of global climate change on the less fortunate and unprotected peoples of the world. This is laudable that we as Christians do what we can to preserve and protect God's creation. BUT, in light of a recent survey showing that only 55% of American Catholics understand that the Church teaches that the Eucharist is the actual body and blood of Jesus and not a symbol, I think that the American Catholics would be better served by taking a pledge with a different priority. A pledge that we as Catholics learn what the Church teaches regarding the Eucharist, the source and summit of our faith. I call this the St. Thomas Aquinas Pledge after the saint who helped the Church to better understand the Eucharist and its importance in the lives of the faithful. Please feel free to copy, paste and post this.

I as a Catholic who has agreed to accept and obey all the teachings of the Catholic Church will commit to learning all God wishes to teach me regarding the Most Blessed Sacrament, the Holy Eucharist. As an integral aspect of this pledge, I will seek to grow in my understanding of what the Eucharist is and what place it has in my spiritual life.

I hereby pledge to make Christ in the Eucharist the source and summit of my faith and to meditate on the mystery of his Body and Blood offered to me in the appearances of bread and wine.

I hereby pledge to study the history of the early Christians and the writings of the Church Fathers to gain an appreciation for the role of the Eucharist in the life and growth of Christendom.

I hereby pledge to study the lives of the saints who have made the Eucharist the center of their lives and to ask their intercession that I too will grow in Eucharistic amazement and wonder.

I hereby pledge to never receive Christ's body and blood unless I am in a state of grace meaning; I harbor no mortal sin as I approach the altar to receive Him. As a part of this pledge, I resolve to confess my sins to a priest at least once a month in order to be fully receptive to all the grace Jesus has for me.

I hereby pledge to make extra visits to my parish when possible to worship Him in adoration/exposition and/or to spend time before the Blessed Sacrament reposed in the Tabernacle.

I hereby pledge to share my understanding and love of the Eucharist with other Catholics and non-Catholics who may be interested in hearing why we wish to live Eucharistically centered lives.

I hereby pledge to live a life pleasing to God in profound gratitude for this most ineffable gift He has left His Church.

H/T Crossed the Tiber

Taking Back The House by Toots Sweet

2010-09-26T07:02:00.000-05:00

A Lame Duck Congress meets Dale Peterson

2010-09-26T06:41:00.000-05:00

Here's Why Unborn Human Beings Are as Valuable as Adult Human Beings

2010-09-26T06:34:00.000-05:00

Archbishop Chaput - Religion, Journalism, and the New American Orthodoxy

2010-09-26T06:16:00.003-05:00

The Witherspoon Institute has the text of Archbishop Chaput's recent address before the Religion Newswriters Association. It begins:

It’s good to be with you today. Of course, most speakers say that, but I actually mean it—for two reasons. First, I’ve been a heavy reader all my life. A lot of my reading has been, and still is, newspapers and news magazines, although now I mainly read them on my Kindle. And second, I love my country. I think there’s something wrong with a man unless, somewhere in his heart, he really loves his homeland—its people, its beauties, and its best ideals and institutions.
A free press is part of the American identity, and also one of its best institutions. I respect that. I value what journalists do for the same reason I value the importance of religious faith in American life—both in the private home and in the public square. A responsible press and a faith shaped by the God of charity and justice share two things in common: a concern for human dignity, and an interest in truth. We might define that word “truth” differently, and the differences might be serious. But an honest search for it creates a kind of maturity. And that maturity allows us to make a decent future through our choices here and now.
Freedom means that our choices matter. It also means that our mistakes have consequences. That’s why lots of people really prefer unfreedom. What many people really want is a rescue from the burden of personal responsibility. They want deliverance from the drudgery of thinking critically about themselves, their mortality, their world, and the purpose of their lives. We all struggle with these temptations. Americans as a people are no exception. So I can imagine an America without a free press. And I can imagine an America with much less religious freedom. But in either case, it would be a worse America and a disappointment to the generations that built it.

See the full article here.

Steve Breen's Cartoon

2010-09-25T17:25:00.002-05:00

Why am I Catholic?

2010-09-25T17:12:00.000-05:00

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass - Rube Goldberg Machine version - Official

2010-09-21T06:55:00.000-05:00

Zachary's Thoughts on Abortion!

2010-09-19T07:28:00.001-05:00

H/T: Thoughts of a Regular Guy

Fulton Sheen

2010-09-19T06:51:00.002-05:00

"If I were not a Catholic, and were looking for the true Church in the world today, I would look for the one Church which did not get along well with the world; in other words, I would look for the Church which the world hates. My reason for doing this would be, that if Christ is in any one of the churches of the world today, He must still be hated as He was when He was on earth in the flesh. If you would find Christ today, then find the Church that does not get along with the world. Look for the Church that is hated by the world, as Christ was hated by the world. Look for the Church which is accused of being behind the times, as Our Lord was accused of being ignorant and never having learned. Look for the Church which men sneer at as socially inferior, as they sneered at Our Lord because He came from Nazareth. Look for the Church which is accused of having a devil, as Our Lord was accused of being possessed by Beelzebub, the Prince of Devils. Look for the Church which the world rejects because it claims it is infallible, as Pilate rejected Christ because he called Himself the Truth. Look for the Church which amid the confusion of conflicting opinions, its members love as they love Christ, and respect its voice as the very voice of its Founder, and the suspicion will grow, that if the Church is unpopular with the spirit of the world, then it is unworldly, and if it is unworldly, it is other-worldly. Since it is other-worldly, it is infinitely loved and infinitely hated as was Christ Himself.…”

H/T: Fr Dwight Longenecker