psalm123

Here is a short article from a Bishop that I have come to respect as a great leader in the church. The angry profanity filled email he quotes in his column is similar to many discussions I have had with those that call themselves "new atheists".




A reality check from the discipleship front

What the hell don’t you understand about the term separatin [sic] of Church and State. Keep your evil hands off of our Health Care Bill. Mind your own business. We don’t care about your beliefs, and if you want to meddle in our affairs, we will be coming for you. If that’s how you want to play, we will come for your pedophile priests, your ill-gotten money you stole for decades. The Catholic church is just another organized crime syndicate that should be put out of business. Get the f--k away from Congress, or you will regret it … .


That’s a real e-mail from a real person. The man who sent it last week was either very candid or very foolish about his anger: he added his real name and e-mail address. I’ve withheld them here because I like to hope that most people, or at least many of them, are better than the poisonous things they sometimes write. But this e-mail does teach a useful lesson, because it’s not just a case of a random bigot getting in touch with his inner bully. Instead, it’s a snapshot of the anti-Catholic bitterness that drives some of the loudest voices in the current health-care debate.

Let’s remember that the Founders encouraged an active role for religion in the nation’s public life. Let’s recall that freedom of speech for Catholics, their leaders and their Church is constitutionally protected, just as it is for all citizens. Let’s also finally remember that Catholic-baiting is one of America’s oldest and most favored forms of hatred. The irony is that some of today’s ugliest bigots posture themselves as socially “progressive” and work in politics or the mass media, or both.

( Read more... )

This is a story that broke a few months ago. This Sunday a second collection of money will take place at mass. This second collection is for the Catholic Campaign For Human Development to supposedly help alleviate poverty. It would seem that this organization is involved in promoting a radical social agenda which includes abortion and homosexuality. So, it appears at this point that money donated by Catholics each year has been helping to support groups that are anti-Catholic in their agenda. It's time to smoke out the liberal Bishops and laity in leadership positions who have been involved in this. The Church has a lot of internal cleaning to do in order to become what it is supposed to be, the mystical body of Christ on earth. Much damage has been done to the Church over the past 40 years by anti-Catholics within the church from Cardinals and Bishops on down.

As for me, there remain too many questions. I will not be donating to the CCHD this year.

One of our callings as Christians is to assist the poor and weak among us. Here is a good chance to help out some very needy families during the upcoming Christmas season. The link takes you to the Archdiocese Of Detroit website where there are many more examples of families who could use some help. You can donate online.
http://www.aodonline.org/AODOnline/Giving%20Opportunities%202259/Adopt%20A%20Family%2012207/Families.htm


Families in Need in 2009
20th Annual Adopt a Family Program

Donate Online
While many local families in need receive gifts of clothing or toys from a parish giving tree, many still need help to meet more direct financial needs, such as food, prescription costs, rent and utilities. Your generosity is deeply appreciated.

1. 34 year old mother, pregnant with her fourth child has been diagnosed with cancer. She has lost her job and her healthcare. Family picks up food twice a month from the food pantry and is receiving help with gas cards and financial help from the parish.

2. Husband had surgery 3 days ago. His wife has heart problems and is unable to work. They are surviving on donations from neighbors and food from the parish

3. Parents are very ill. They are in need of assistance to help cover the cost of their many medications.

4. Father of four children currently does not have beds, a table, or chairs. The house is almost empty.

5. Active parishioner has suffered from Lupus for several years. She is on disability but the medication costs more than the money she receives. She is also behind on her utility bills.

6. Single mother of 5 children under 9 years old has moved from one rental to another due to foreclosure. She is now working in a low paying job but needs help with car repair bills, clothing for winter, a mattress for a bunk bed and school supplies for the children.

7. Mother of eight children who was homeless for a period of time is still working with Social Services to regain custody of all of her children. She needs a job, help with rent, transportation, and utility bills. This Christmas will be very glum for her family.

8. Mother of three children has been abandoned by her abusive husband. Her infant child suffers from frequent seizures. Medical expenses have drained all available finances and ability to care for the children. A helping father died.

9. Grandmother lost her husband recently. Both had struggled with poverty for years. She is raising two grandchildren whose parents are both deceased. She tries to work but is hampered by an on-going illness, making a permanent job unlikely.

10. A veteran and victim of traumatic shock from military action was diagnosed unemployable because of his trauma. He has suffered a stroke and is physically and emotionally debilitated. He survives on a very small pension and lives in near to slum living conditions.

Images like this always disturb me. It's not that I don't know there are people like this out there, rather it's more of an astonished feeling that so many people are utterly blind and deceived on the issue of abortion. I know that the pro-abortion crowd represents a minority view in this country but there is still a lot of work to do. Don't people realize that the signs they boldly carry which read "ABORTION IS A RIGHT!" means in reality "I HAVE A RIGHT TO KILL MY CHILD"? "My Choice" in this context has no more validity than a parents "choice" to kill their unwanted 2 year old.

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Angry and upset that the House-approved health care bill contains the Stupak amendment to ban virtually all abortion funding, pro-abortion activists have mobilized for a protest day on December 2 at Congress that could see tens of thousands of people attend. That has pro-life advocates worried. As LifeNews.com reported last week, the main pro-abortion organizations Planned Parenthood and NARAL have recruited their friends in the labor union and gay rights movements to help turn out participants.
They are following the tried-and-true game plan of the pro-life community that uses buses to bring in thousands of people to the March for Life and they are working overtime to bring in massive amounts of donations for their efforts.
Last week, pro-abortion leaders from 20 different organizations met for a strategy summit at Planned Parenthood's office to talk about next month's "National Day of Action" and map out lobbying tactics.
In new comments to Roll Call magazine, the heads of pro-abortion groups say their members are furious at the prospects of a health care bill that stops the government from forcing taxpayers to fund hundreds of thousands of abortions.
Terry O’Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, outlined the anger and frustration her members feel.
“We're not out there enough. We have to demonstrate this is huge. I have been getting calls from people who are just beside themselves," she said.
( Read more... )

While "the Church cannot judge their subjectivity," he added, those who "directly collaborate" in or promote abortion incur excommunication.

Nancy Pelosi and other 'pro-abortion' Catholics really should pay attention to their Bishops (assuming their Bishops have done their jobs). Receiving Holy Communion while in the state of serious sin is itself a grave sin. I don't suppose a pro-abortion Catholic would follow that teaching either.

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
MADRID, November 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The secretary general of the Spanish bishops' conference, Auxiliary Bishop Juan Antonio Martinez Camino of Madrid, warned that Spanish Catholic legislators who vote in favor of a bill to liberalize abortion which is currently before parliament would publicly place themselves in an "objective state of sin" and therefore may not receive Communion.
"Excommunication is provided in the Code of Canon Law for those who cooperate actively in the practice of abortion," Bishop Martinez Camino stated in an AFP report.
He said Catholics cannot support the legalization of abortion and if they do "they will objectively find themselves in a public state of sin and may not be admitted to Holy Communion."
While "the Church cannot judge their subjectivity," he added, those who "directly collaborate" in or promote abortion incur excommunication.
At the same time, Bishop Martinez Camino said the Church reaches out to women who have had an abortion or who are tempted to abort.
Encouraging those who have aborted to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, he said, "Those who have not gone to confession are encouraged to do so because God wants to offer them a solution and deep peace."
The Church "is not merciless towards those who fall into sin," he continued, and while she "defends the rights of the innocents," she is "conscious of the problem that [abortion] entails."
The bishop then praised doctors and health care workers who promote the cause of life and conscientiously object "with civic and moral courage" to participate in abortion. Warning against the "grave manipulation" of portraying abortion as a medical procedure, he said "abortion is never a cure because pregnancy is not a disease."

"Perhaps the Chicago law professor forgot about Rev. Martin Luther King, the minister who took to the pulpit and lobbied for civil rights in the name of free speech and religious liberty. Should King have been muzzled as well? Or just today’s bishops?"


CHURCH’S CRITICS WANT GAG RULE

November 13, 2009

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

Getting Nancy Pelosi to accept a health care bill that bans federal funds for abortion was the greatest victory scored by U.S. bishops in a generation. It also unleashed an unprecedented attempt to censor them. Their latest enemy is Geoffrey Stone writing in the Huffington Post.

Stone finds it troubling that the bishops are so vocal. He yearns for a time when JFK was president, a time when separation of church and state met his approval. Perhaps the Chicago law professor forgot about Rev. Martin Luther King, the minister who took to the pulpit and lobbied for civil rights in the name of free speech and religious liberty. Should King have been muzzled as well? Or just today’s bishops?

As the following list discloses, Stone is hardly alone in trying to censor the bishops: Rep. Lynn Woolsey, Rep. Diana DeGette, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, Frances Kissling, Planned Parenthood, Feminist Majority, Catholics for Choice, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the National Organization for Women, and many others favor a gag rule. On Nov. 12, Nancy Snyderman of MSNBC spoke for many when she said that “This is going to be a Pollyannaish statement. The Catholic bishops appearing and having a political voice seems to be a most fundamental violation of church and state.” Brilliant.

The following is a partial list of religious groups that want abortion coverage in the health care bill: Rabbinical Assembly, Women’s League for Conservative Judaism, Episcopal Church, Society for Humanistic Judaism, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, Union for Reform Judaism, Central Conference of American Rabbis, North American Federation of Temple Youth, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, Unitarian Universalist, Presbyterian Church (USA), Women of Reform Judaism, Society for Humanistic Judaism, Church of the Brethren Women’s Caucus, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, Lutheran Women’s Caucus, Christian Lesbians Out, YWCA.

So why don’t Stone and company want to gag these groups as well? Let’s face it: they don’t have a principled bone in their collective bodies.

This is worth a double post.

I heard about this little fella through my Church. My 8th grade catechism students made Noah some great Christmas cards.

Noah is 5 yrs. old and is in the last stages of a 2 1/2 year battle with Neuroblastoma cancer. His family is celebrating Christmas early this year (next week), and Noah's wish is to get LOTS of Christmas cards. Please help out and send one!!!! His address is Noah Biorkman, 1141 Fountain View Circle, South Lyon, MI, 48178 Thanks!

I like her approach much more than the militant atheists. It's such shame to see Europe slowly separate themselves from their Christian heritage.




Rome, Italy, Nov 13, 2009 / 02:37 pm (CNA).- A young Muslim writer named Randa Ghazy has written an article entitled, “I, a Muslim, Defend the Crucifix,” in which she expresses her opposition to a ruling by the EU Human Rights Court that ordered all crucifixes be taken down in classrooms across Italy. The article will appear in the December edition of the magazine Mondo e Missione, a publication of the Pontifical Institute Missioni Estere.

“One of the most beautiful memories of my childhood and adolescence was of Father Bruno,” she writes. “I would often go to the oratory with my little brother and the sisters would treat us with great kindness and care.”

Ghazy recalls as well that “Father Bruno made us truly laugh. When it was time for Mass, my brother and I would run off to play ping pong and eat candy. Every day Father Bruno would ask us to stay with the other kids who were there in the church, which we embarrassingly declined to do.”

“One day, Father said to us, ‘Why don’t you come and say your prayers?’ And so we did. During Mass my brother and I slowly recited prayers from the Koran. So the crucifix, all the different kinds that I remember (from grade school to college) was always a symbol of security for me, a projection of the greatness of the heart of Christ, and in some way, of Father Bruno.”

For this reason, Ghazy says, “I support and encourage every possible debate between Muslim and Christian citizens, all discussion about the secularity of the State, but with respect for the great models of humility that each one can find in his past and his experiences.”

“I turn off the television so I don’t see the continuous verbal assaults, I remember Father Bruno and I smile, thinking about those two little Muslims who looked at each other in that beautiful church. I almost feel nostalgia for the 90s,” she writes.

The young Muslim writer was born in 1987 in the Italian region of Lombardy to Egyptian parents. She has written three books, the first when she was only 15, entitled, “Dreaming of Palestine.” The book is about the friendship shared by a group of young people in the occupied territories.

Her second book, “Bloody Trial,” was published in 2005. In 2007 she wrote, “Today I'm Not Going to Kill Anyone: Short Stories of a Young Muslim Who is Not a Terrorist.”

It will be interesting to see how this is handled. The unborn child was a victim of this crime as well.

Fort Hood, TX (LifeNews.com) -- The military has charged Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan with 13 counts of premeditated murder in the terrible shooting that recently took place at the Fort Hood military base. The initial charges do not include one for the death of an unborn child, who was the little-talked-about fourteenth victim.

U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command spokesman Chris Grey told a news conference Thursday that additional charges may be filed, which pro-life advocates hope would include one for the baby's death.

Hasan is suspected of killing 12 soldiers and one civilian in last Thursday's shooting and he was shot and wounded by two police officers at the base.

He is currently in recovery at an Army hospital in San Antonio, where his attorneys read him the charges.

Americans United for Life attorney Mailee Smith is disappointed that the death of soldier Francheska Velez’s unborn baby is rarely mentioned. Velez was on maternity leave when she stopped at Ft. Hood, where she and the child she carried in her womb fell victim to Hasan’s bullet.

"There are, of course, many unnamed victims of the attack at Fort Hood. Spouses, parents, children, siblings, friends. Each left to suffer and question why, on American soil, their loved one’s life was violently ended," she said.

"When Hasan took Velez’s life, he took the life of her unborn baby as well," she said. "As the country looks for justice to be served in this horrendous tragedy, we cannot forget that Hasan can and should be charged with the death of Baby Velez as well."

The Uniform Code of Military Justice was modified when President George W. Bush signed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act in 2004, Smith explains.

( Read more... )

Here is the entire letter written by Bishop Tobin to Congressman Patrick Kennedy.

"What does it mean to be a Catholic?"

"In your letter you say that you “embrace your faith.” Terrific. But if you don’t fulfill the basic requirements of membership, what is it exactly that makes you a Catholic?"

Dear Congressman Kennedy

BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN

Since our recent correspondence has been rather public, I hope you don’t mind if I share a few reflections about your practice of the faith in this public forum. I usually wouldn’t do that – that is speak about someone’s faith in a public setting – but in our well-documented exchange of letters about health care and abortion, it has emerged as an issue. I also share these words publicly with the thought that they might be instructive to other Catholics, including those in prominent positions of leadership.

For the moment I’d like to set aside the discussion of health care reform, as important and relevant as it is, and focus on one statement contained in your letter of October 29, 2009, in which you write, “The fact that I disagree with the hierarchy on some issues does not make me any less of a Catholic.” That sentence certainly caught my attention and deserves a public response, lest it go unchallenged and lead others to believe it’s true. And it raises an important question: What does it mean to be a Catholic?

"The fact that I disagree with the hierarchy on some issues does not make me any less of a Catholic.”

Well, in fact, Congressman, in a way it does. Although I wouldn’t choose those particular words, when someone rejects the teachings of the Church, especially on a grave matter, a life-and-death issue like abortion, it certainly does diminish their ecclesial communion, their unity with the Church. This principle is based on the Sacred Scripture and Tradition of the Church and is made more explicit in recent documents.

For example, the “Code of Canon Law” says, “Lay persons are bound by an obligation and possess the right to acquire a knowledge of Christian doctrine adapted to their capacity and condition so that they can live in accord with that doctrine.” (Canon 229, #1)

I copied this from http://americanpapist.com/blog.html  as I share Mr. Peter's enthusiasm in promoting Dr. Janet Smith. She is a gift to the church and locally here at Sacred Heart Major Seminary. Her talks on contraception and bioethics are excellent.

AmP Speaker of the Month: Janet Smith

This is my contribution to Fallible Blogma's Support a Catholic Speaker initiative.

“The fact that I disagree with the hierarchy on some issues does not make me any less of a Catholic.” (Congressman Patrick Kennedy)

We hear different versions of this statement among Catholics worldwide from high ranking politicians to the regular pew-sitters like you and me. Statements like this admit to a perceived detachment between what the Church teaches officially and what the faithful are obliged to follow. Nobody is saying that you can't intellectually disagree with some teaching of the church. Although most disagreements toward church teachings seem to be emotionally or morally based rather than intellectual. People don't want to change the way they live their lives. Nobody is saying to follow blindly. What is important is that you follow official teachings. You may disagree with Church teaching on contraception for example. Well, you are still expected to follow what the church says. In the meantime you need to explore the reasoning behind the teaching so that you can come to understand better why the church teaches what it does. Put in the time and do the research. This is the part that many Catholics refuse to do. The result is a cafeteria approach to the faith where people pick and choose what they want to believe. Usually they do so with an ignorance of the reasoning and full understanding of church teaching. Personal beliefs then trump what the Church founded by Christ Himself teaches. Yeah, you can see the problem.

This is a Bishop doing what he is supposed to do. As the local leader of his flock, it is his job to call attention to and correct the scandalous public behavior of this wayward "catholic" politician. Politicians who call themselves Catholic and yet publicly dissent from official teachings of the church such as with abortion need to be corrected.  This will go a long way in at least sparking discussion among Catholics who feel it's perfectly acceptable to pick and choose which Church teachings they want to agree with while still remaining "faithful" or " in good standing with the church". It doesn't work that way. There is no room for 'cafeteria catholicism'.  People need to explore why the pick and choose approach to the faith is false. The Catholic Church is the Church given the task of proclaiming the truth of Christ. If you disagree with the church on doctrinal issues, ultimately you disagree with Christ.  That's a hard pill for some people to swallow but it's the truth.  Here we see the Bishop pointing out error with love and genuine compassion.

http://americanpapist.com/blog.html

Fireworks: Bishop Tobin escalates episcopal correction of Rep. Kennedy

 

Congressman Kennedy picked the wrong Bishop to mess with.

The back-and-forth between Congressman Patrick Kennedy and Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, RI has been interesting to watch, especially because Kennedy has attempted to defend himself with every old, tired argument in the liberal playbook.Because I'm a spoiler, I'm going to quote the last part of Bishop Tobin's public letter to Kennedy - but you should take the time and read the whole thing:Next step: official censure or excommunication. Rep. Kennedy has now been publicly rebuked and invited to convert and offer repentance.Unfortunately, at this point, Mr. Kennedy has broken off his planned meeting with Bishop Tobin. Whatever Kennedy may be thinking, that's not the right way to set things right.

A fellow student incorporated this quote into a presentation he gave on the Church and its role in mission and evangelization.

Great quote. It spoke to me on several levels.
  
"If you give to the people a broken Christ, a lame Christ, a crooked Christ-deformed by you, that is all they will have, If you want them to love Him, they must know Him first. Therefore, give the whole Christ - to the Sisters, first, then to the people in the slums. Do I give the Christ who is full of zeal, love, joy and sunshine? Do I come up to the mark? Or am I a dim light, a false light, a bulb without connection, having no current and therefore shedding no radiance? Put your heart into being a bright light...let the poor seeing you be drawn to Christ...Draw them to God but never, never to yourself."

   -Mother Teresa

"Am I killing?" Boyd said. "Yes, I am. I know that."

At least he's honest and there is no ridiculous denial of the obvious. The question remains why do we allow this in our country?  I have yet to hear a convincing argument. There is no argument that can justify the killing of innocent children. Notice the twisted 'religion' the abortionist subscribes to. He said he prays often "I'll ask that the spirit of this pregnancy be returned to God with love and understanding,"  Here ya go God, I murdered another of your innocent children, please accept them into your kingdom with love and understanding. Yikes. Pray for this mans conversion of heart and mind. 

Dallas, Texas, Nov 8, 2009 / 07:12 pm (CNA).- An abortionist who says he know he is “killing” has opened a late-term abortion clinic in North Texas, prompting local pro-lifers to express their dismay that such a clinic was absent for only 14 months. However, they also affirmed their resolve to peacefully end the “grave evil” in their community. Dr. Curtis Boyd, who opened the first abortion clinic in Texas in 1973, is the only doctor in North Texas who will perform abortions on women up to six months pregnant.

"We see patients from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and across Texas," he said, according to WFAA TV.

"Am I killing?" Boyd said. "Yes, I am. I know that."

Boyd reported that he was ordained a Baptist minister and is now Unitarian. He said he prays often.

"I'll ask that the spirit of this pregnancy be returned to God with love and understanding," he said.

A group called the Catholic Pro-Life Committee gathers outside his office to try to persuade women away from abortion.

"Well, we're certainly disappointed to hear any unborn child will be killed by abortion,” said Karen Garnett of the Catholic Pro-Life Committee. “But, to hear it's a late-term abortion in Dallas, once again, it's particularly devastating."

Boyd opened the Southwestern Women’s Surgery Center last week. By law, he must have a surgery center in order to abort an unborn child more than 16 weeks after conception.

He told WFAA TV that he has been troubled because of the torment he says drives patients to seek his services.

"The hardest ones are the young girls," he said, reporting that girls as young as nine and ten have come to his clinic.

( Read more... )

I had a little debate a few weeks ago on this topic. There are those who believe that the natural world is all there is and that we should only believe what can be scientifically proven. Can a person with this type of worldview bear the necessary burden of proof to validate their beliefs? Is this a coherent worldview? Here is a debate I found from 1998-99 with Christian philosopher and apologist, Dr. William Lane Craig. I have heard various clips from the debate but not the whole thing.

I'm getting so tired of this topic but I know the fight is long from being over. People consistently vote 'gay marriage' down while politicians and activist judges bring it back to life again and again. When engaging in discussions with 'gay marriage' activists it's a lot of the same rhetoric I hear when engaging those who support abortion. That's not very productive.

http://americanpapist.com/blog.html

Alert: Gov. Patterson plans to push gay marriage in NY next tuesday

No less than one week after the American people, for the 31st time, clearly rejected homosexual marriage when given a chance to vote on the issue, the highly-unpopular governor of New York is attempting to force it on his state before he leaves office:I'm trying to figure out a clear action item in response to this story, so papists can get involved, and when I find it, I'll post it.

Here is a look back at a video RealCatholicTV produced six months ago about Obama and the Catholic Church that has reportedly gotten a million hits on youtube.  I remember hearing something during the election about Obama being one to unite the country. Really? I don't see it.  Pushing radical social agendas on the American people is his way of uniting?

Copied from  http://americanpapist.com/blog.html

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Action: Stop PelosiCare before it gets voted on this Saturday

The latest in the increasingly confusing health care reform package. One side says taxpayer funded abortion is not part of the deal while the other side says it is part of the deal. Seems to me that killing babies is extremely important for some. They duck and dodge and try to implement abortion into the plan by stealth and deception.  That's my perception.

Washington D.C., Nov 5, 2009 / 09:17 pm (CNA).- House Republican Leader John Boehner said today the House health care bill, which was backed today by the AARP and the American Medical Association, includes a monthly abortion premium that all subscribers in the government-run plan would have to pay.

In a blog post on Thursday, Boehner says that “Speaker Pelosi’s 2,032-page government takeover of health care” is using “federal funds to pay for elective abortions.”

The House Republican Leader explains that on line 17, p. 110, section 222 under the title “Abortions for which Public Funding is Allowed,” the Health and Human Services Secretary “is given the authority to determine when abortion is allowed under the government-run plan.” 

“The Speaker’s plan also requires that at least one insurance plan offered in the Exchange covers abortions,” he adds.

According to Boehner, “what is even more alarming is that a monthly abortion premium will be charged of all enrollees in the government-run plan.  It’s right there on line 16, page 96, section 213, under ‘Insurance Rating Rules.’  The premium will be paid into a U.S. Treasury account - and these federal funds will be used to pay for the abortion services.”

Section 213, in fact, describes the process by which the Health Benefits Commissioner is to assess the monthly premiums that will be used to pay for elective abortions under the government-run plan.  The Commissioner must charge at a minimum $1 per enrollee per month.

“A majority of Americans believe that health care plans should not be mandated to provide elective abortion coverage, and a majority of Americans do not believe government health care plans should include abortion coverage,” Boehner writes.

“Speaker Pelosi’s 2,032-page health care monstrosity is an affront to the American people and drastically moves away from current policy.  The American people deserve more from their government than being forced to pay for abortion.”

“Health reform should be an opportunity to protect human life - not end it,” Boehner says.

Read House Republican Leader’s post: http://republicanleader.house.gov/blog/?p=666