Tyrant State? Nelson - Hatch - Casey Pro-Life Amendment Rejected in U.S. Senate

An excerpt from Catholic Online:

What is called the “Nelson-Hatch-Casey Amendment” to the Senate Health Care Reform Bill was defeated Tuesday by a vote of 54 to 45. The Senate voted to table it, effectively ending the effort. If passed, it would have protected against the coerced use of taxpayer dollars to fund abortion. It was similar to the Pro-Life “Stupak Amendment” which was included in the House Version of the Health Reform Bill.

The Senate has now opened the door to the killing of children in the womb with Federal Tax Dollars. The late Pope warned of such tyranny noting that “When this happens, the process leading to the breakdown of a genuinely human co-existence and the disintegration of the State itself has already begun. To claim the right to abortion, infanticide and euthanasia, and to recognize that right in law, means to attribute to human freedom a perverse and evil significance: that of an absolute power over others and against others. This is the death of true freedom.” (See, Evangelium Vitae, Paragraphs #19,20)

The United States Catholic Bishops tried to protect our youngest neighbors in the first home of the whole human race, their mother’s womb. They insisted that the Senate pass the “Nelson-Hatch-Casey Amendment” to the Senate Health Care Reform Bill and lobbied for it. They asked all Catholics to help do everything possible to ensure that the amendment was passed. Sadly, the proponents of abortion on demand appear to have succeeded. The use of Federal Tax dollars to fund the taking of innocent human life through surgical strikes and chemical weapons in a continuing war on the womb may soon become "law". As the Bishops said when they began their courageous campaign “Abortion is not Health care because Killing is not healing." A majority of Senators do not seem to care.

See the entire article here.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops reports:

The Senate vote to table the Nelson-Hatch-Casey amendment is a grave mistake and a serious blow to genuine health care reform,” said Cardinal Francis George, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. “The Senate is ignoring the promise made by President Obama and the will of the American people in failing to incorporate longstanding prohibitions on federal funding for abortion and plans that include abortion....

Cardinal George concluded: “While we deplore the Senate’s refusal to adopt the Nelson-Hatch-Casey amendment, we remain hopeful that the protections overwhelmingly passed by the House will be incorporated into needed reform legislation. Failure to exclude abortion funding will turn allies into adversaries and require us and others to oppose this bill because it abandons both principle and precedent.

See the entire article here.

The Catholic Knight posts:

The U.S. Senate has just sealed the fate of the healthcare reform bill by refusing to attach pro-life protections to the legislation. As a result, the U.S. Catholic Bishops now have no choice but to oppose this legislation outright if some king of pro-life protection is not put back into the bill. This is the doing of the United States Senate. They brought the demise of healthcare reform upon themselves with their crazed pro-abortion zeal.

It is now the DUTY of every Catholic in the United States to call their U.S. Senators and tell them to vote AGAINST the healthcare reform bill. Failure to do this is to indicrectly cooperate with procuring abortions! Furthermore, it is now the duty of every U.S. Catholic bishop to formerly excommunicate every Catholic Senator who votes in favor of this legislation. Failure to do this is to neglect their duties as bishops and effectively a cooperation with procuring abortions.

We are now in crunch time! This is it! The faith and morality of every Catholic is tested, and there is no reason to believe that God himself is not keeping score. GOD IS WATCHING YOU. Will you live up to your Catholic faith today? Contact your U.S. Senator by clicking here, and forward this message to every Catholic you know.

RIP Liam Clancy

H/T View from the Choir

Wonder

“Each year, God asks us to shed one more coat of awareness, one more dream state and come alive to the vision of God’s plan for each of us and the world-at-large.

“The older we get, the harder this is to do. As children we had a sense of wonder. Our eyes were wide open and drinking in the fascinating gifts we beheld…Our thirsty souls could not have enough of the wonders of creation.

“Then, somehow, we grew too old to dream. We tired of the abundance of the world, or at least grew weary of keeping up with the feast of life, and stepped away from the banquet of life.

“The natural gift of wonder God gave us as children was meant to be kept alive.…Instead we let wonder go to sleep. We entered the typical dream state of most humans.

“Why else does Jesus tell us today, ‘Stay awake!’…Advent says, ‘Wake up and realize the gifts of love you have received.’

“…Psychology says, ‘Let go.’ Spirituality says, ‘Wake up.’ In both cases there is a withdrawal from the busyness of daily life (our dream state) and a waking up to the subconscious and spiritual depths of ourselves.”

–Rev. Alfred McBride, O. Praem

H/T The Anchoress

Saint Nicholas

Ran across this short article on Saint Nicholas and thought I would share it.

Posted using ShareThis

St. Cyprian - The Lord's Prayer

Yesterday's Office of Readings has a sermon on mortality by St. Cyprian. Not too familiar with St. Cyprian I did a Google search and found his work on the Lord's Prayer which I found interesting and rewarding. I thought I would share it, so I converted it into a Microsoft Word document.

St. Cyprian is an early Church Father, Bishop and Martyr, 200-258.

You can download it here.

The Economy of Life

Caritas et Veritas has a good post entitled The Economy of Life. It starts:

The economy is in the spotlight daily. It is discussed frequently on the news, on blogs, and around water coolers. There is a sense of anxiety and worry among many. We have tightened our wallets, reexamined our budgets, and many have had to look for new jobs. On a national level we have bailed out banks and companies at unprecedented levels. Perhaps one of the areas that has not been discussed is the impact the economy is having on life issues and is there a type of economy that protects life over another.

First, according to the Associated Press, there is an increase in abortions due to lack of money to pay for an abortion. Stephanie Poggi of the National Network of Abortion Funds, which helps women in need pay for abortions, said calls to the network’s national helpline have nearly quadrupled from a year ago. “A lot of women who never thought they’d need help are turning to us,” Poggi said. “They’re telling us, ‘I’ve already put off paying my rent, my electric bill. I’m cutting back on my food.’ They’ve run through all the options.”

Babies are viewed as too expensive and too big a burden on the women, and thus the reasoning goes their best option is abortion. Planned Parenthood and other such groups prey on the anxieties and fears that these women and couples are experiencing. Instead of trying to help the couple get on their feet financially, they instead fund the abortion.

Read the rest here.

Happy Thanksgiving

Now Thank We All Our God - Performance Artist

H/T The Deacon's Bench

10 Reasons Why Modernist Christianity Will Die

Fr. Longenecker has a great article. It starts:

Modernist Christianity must eventually die or cease to be Christian. At this time modernism still wears Christian clothes in the mainstream Protestant churches and in parts of the Catholic Church. This cannot last much longer for some very simple reasons:

1. Modernists deny supernaturalism and therefore they are not really religious. Now by 'religion' I mean a transacton with the supernatural. Religion (whether it is primitive people jumping around a campfire or a Solemn High Mass in a Catholic Cathedral) is about an interchange with the other world. It is about salvation of souls, redemption of sin, heaven, hell damnation, the afterlife, angels and demons and all that stuff.

Modernists don't deal in all that. For them religion is a matter of fighting for equal rights, making the world a better place, being kind to everyone and 'spirituality'. It doesn't take very long for people to realize that you don't have to go to church for all that. So people stop going, and that eventually means the death of modernist Christianity. The first generation of modernist Christians will attend church regularly. The second will attend church sometimes. The third almost never. The fourth and fifth will not see any need for worship. They will conclude that if religion is no more than good works, then the religious ritual is redundant.

See the rest here:

10 Reasons Why Modernist Christianity Will Die

Posted using ShareThis

Bill O'Reilly Interviews Rhode Island Bishop Thomas J. Tobin

Rescuing baby ducks from a pool

H/T JillStanek.com