Today is the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, Corpus Christi.
Catholic Culture has more information.
"While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and said, 'Take it; this is my body.' Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, 'This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.'"
Where the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ is not observed as a holy day, it is assigned to the Sunday after Trinity Sunday, which is then considered its proper day in the calendar.
Corpus Christi (Body and Blood of Christ) is a Eucharistic solemnity, or better, the solemn commemoration of the institution of that sacrament. It is, moreover, the Church's official act of homage and gratitude to Christ, who by instituting the Holy Eucharist gave to the Church her greatest treasure. Holy Thursday, assuredly, marks the anniversary of the institution, but the commemoration of the Lord's passion that very night suppresses the rejoicing proper to the occasion. Today's observance, therefore, accents the joyous aspect of Holy Thursday.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Corpus Christi
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Habitat for Humanity Accused of Helping Planned Parenthood Abortion Center
It's really difficult to support a charitable organization when you have to be concerned about who they are supporting. One example is the Komen Foundation (identified with a pink ribbon); it seems great to support finding a cure for breast cancer, but they give money to Planned Parenthood. Another example is this:
The Christian non-profit housing ministry Habitat for Humanity stands accused of helping a Florida-based Planned Parenthood overcome a hurdle to building a new abortion business. A pro-life advocate says Planned Parenthood would have been stymied in building the new center without the group's help.
Planned Parenthood has been looking to build a new abortion facility in the Rosemary District north of downtown Sarasota.
However, according to local zoning rules, the abortion business can't build the new center unless a multi-family housing unit is built on the back of the lot. I can't help but wonder what the purpose of that rule is. It's pretty ironic to insist on a mult-family dwelling next to an abortion business.
According to Jim Sedlak of STOPP International, a Planned Parenthood watchdog group, the pro-abortion group approached the local planning board and asked for a five-year extension since it is not a builder and couldn't find a buyer for the lot.
The board denied the request and insisted Planned Parenthood obtain a building permit for the residential building.
Planned Parenthood came up with a creative solution and sold the lot to Habitat for Humanity for $10.
"So, Habitat for Humanity, an organization that claims to be a Christian ministry, is now working with Planned Parenthood," Sedlak told LifeNews.com.
story here
UPDATE:
Christian Ministry ‘Habitat for Humanity’ Agrees to Work with Abortion Giant Planned Parenthood
Habitat for Humanity has verbally agreed to an arrangement that would help Planned Parenthood open an abortion facility in Sarasota, Florida. The agreement, which reportedly has not been finalized, would fulfill a city requirement that would allow Planned Parenthood to acquire the occupancy permit it needs to open.
“According to zoning regulations, Planned Parenthood cannot build their abortion facility in the planned location without the presence of a multifamily liner building,” said Jim Sedlak, vice-president of American Life League. “Unfortunately, Planned Parenthood found a creative solution to its problem and is using Habitat for Humanity to achieve its objective. Planned Parenthood plans to sell land to Habitat for $10 so it can meet city requirements.”
Rev. Thomas Euteneuer: Senator Ted Kennedy is The "Last Lion" of Abortion
As usual, Fr. Euteneuer, one of my pro-life heros, tells it like it is.
Sen. John McCain responded to the news of Sen. Edward Kennedy's brain tumor saying that Ted Kennedy was the "last lion of the Senate." Nice words, but hollow.
Clearly Kennedy has been a forty-year force to reckon with in the US Senate, but lionizing him for his headstrong political partisanship over four decades is a little like saying that sticking around for a long time and being opinionated qualifies as a "legacy."
That very record of anti-life advocacy is the measure by which his soul will be judged.
While I pray for Sen. Kennedy's recovery from a brain tumor, I pray more for his recovery from the cancerous metastasis of abortion ideology in his soul. Ironically, in the same years in which abortion has become less and less acceptable to the American public, it has become more and more of an obsession for Sen. Kennedy.
Prior to Roe v. Wade, Sen. Kennedy had actually held a pro-life view of the sanctity of life. In a letter to a constituent he said,
"While the deep concern of a woman bearing an unwanted child merits consideration and sympathy, it is my personal feeling that the legalization of abortion on demand is not in accordance with the value which our civilization places on human life. Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized - the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old." (See http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=31615)
However, post-Roe, Kennedy's record of recognizing the "value which our civilization places on life" has been, shall we say, less than stellar.
In fact, he has a 0% record of voting in favor of life, and there is not one life-related issue in which his vote reflects a concern for the weakest members of our society, let alone the concern that his supposed Catholic faith places on them.
And let's not forget the King and Queen of pro-aborts:
Friday, May 23, 2008
President Bush Signs Genetic Nondiscrimination Act Protecting Both Born and Unborn
If Hillary (gag!) or Obama(shudder!) become President, you can count on them to overturn this law. Both of them are obsessed with aborting as many babies as possible.
I personally think Bush has done a very poor job. However, supporting life with legislation like this has consistently been his strong point.
In an important blow to the eugenics movement, President George Bush yesterday signed into law a bill preventing health insurance companies and employers from discriminating against born or unborn individuals on the basis of genetic information.
"It protects our citizens from having genetic information misused, and this bill does so without undermining the basic premise of the insurance industry," said Bush of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA).
Proponents of the GINA have expressed fears that healthy individuals with genetic dispositions toward certain diseases could end up paying more for insurance. They also fear that employers would only hire or retain individuals without genetic dispositions towards disease in order to avoid future instances of an unhealthy workforce.
The version of the GINA signed yesterday included important language protecting families from discrimination based upon genetic abnormalities found in their unborn children or in those they were about to adopt.
story here
UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Sending 220,000 Condoms to Myanmar Survivors
Yet another example of how useless the UN is. The rest of us have been sending food and medical supplies, but the UN seems to think the first thing cyclone survivors will want and/or need will be condoms. I guess this shows what their agenda really is.
They also include contraceptives in their "health" kits.
"The United Nations will send nearly a quarter of a million condoms into cyclone-hit Myanmar to help needy survivors with no access to contraceptives," a UN official says.
UNFPA aid advisor Chaiyos Kunanusont said 72,800 condoms had so far been delivered to "survivors struggling to maintain their family planning after the storm hit in early May."
"We don't want regular use of contraception disrupted. An emergency usually damages the health system, so people don't have access to condoms and contraceptives," said Chaiyos.
"Reproductive Health Kits" developed for "the initial acute phase of an emergency," are also high on the UN's list of priority relief supplies. These kits include condoms, oral and injectable contraceptives (including the abortifacient morning-after pill) and IUD's, as well as supplies and equipment such as razor blades and clean sheets to help in the safe delivery of babies.
story here
Vatican daily derides package of anti-life measures passed in Great Britain
What a radical, anti-life, pro-death legislation this was/is:
Catholic MPs disappointed over Human Fertilization and Embryology vote
The L’Osservatore Romano published an article this week slamming an anti-life package passed this week by Britain’s House of Commons that includes measures allowing the creation of human-animal embryos, in vitro fertilization, and artificial insemination for lesbians who want to have a child.
LOR reporter Assuntina Morresi explained in her article that the most controversial measure in the package is the approval of human-animal hybrids. “There is no demand for these embryos in the scientific community, despite reports in the media. So far only two British groups have requested permission to create the hybrids, using egg cells from cows and adult human cells,” Morressi said.
She called the proposed research “outdated and useless,” noting that last December Ian Wilmut, the creator of the sheep Dolly, publicly announced his refusal to continue harvesting embryonic stem cells from therapeutic cloning, saying “the technique is inefficient and has never worked in humans and has done nothing but harm to animals.” Where are the animal rights nuts when you need them? :)
Oh yeah...here they are:
Animal rights advocates are appealing to the European Court of Human Rights to declare a 26-year-old chimpanzee named Matthew to be a legal person. How about declaring an unborn HUMAN baby a person? And giving them the right to live?
British teacher Paula Stibbe and activists with the Vienna-based Association Against Animal Factories want to declare Matthew a person so that Stibbe may be appointed his legal guardian if the bankrupt animal sanctuary where Matthew lives in Vienna shuts down, the Evening Standard says.
Matthew lives with another chimpanzee and a crocodile in an animal shelter. The shelter requires about $8,000 each month in expenses. While donors have sought to support Matthew, under Austrian law only humans may receive personal gifts.
HAGEE PULLS McCAIN ENDORSEMENT
The liberal media is really distorting this story.
Here's the real story.
Maybe Obama and 'Reverend Wright' could learn something from McCain and Hagee.
Pastor John Hagee has pulled his endorsement of Republican presidential candidate John McCain; McCain subsequently renounced Hagee’s endorsement. Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented on this development today:
“One week ago today, I met with Pastor Hagee in my office. I found him to be sincere, apologetic and friendly. I also found him to be the strongest Christian defender of Israel I have ever met, and that is why attempts to portray him as anything but a genuine friend to Jews—one for whom the Holocaust is the horror of horrors—is despicable.
“Hagee’s decision to sever all ties to McCain is noble: He knows he has become a liability to McCain, even after he has made amends to Catholics. What this proves is that Hagee, unlike Rev. Jeremiah Wright, is not an egocentric man. He is also not like the partisans at the Interfaith Alliance which today called on McCain to reject Hagee: when it was founded, the Interfaith Alliance received $25,000 in seed money from none other than the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
“Pastor Hagee can now move in the religious circles he has become accustomed to, and continue his ministry without distraction.”
story here
Thursday, May 22, 2008
McCain on 'DeGeneres Show': Marriage Between Man, Woman
I give both John McCain and Ellen credit for being willing to discuss this issue, each knowing the other has a differing viewpoint.
Presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, long opposed to gay marriage and even civil unions, appeared on Thursday's "The Ellen DeGeneres Show,' saying that he disagrees with the California decision, but wishes her all the best as she makes plans to walk down the aisle with girlfriend, actress Portia de Rossi.
DeGeneres tried to sway McCain's opinion by explaining to the senator that she views the issue in the same way as when blacks and women didn't have the right to vote.
'Women just got the right to vote in 1920, and blacks didn't have the right to vote until 1870,' she noted, adding, 'It just feels like there's this old way of thinking that we are not all the same. We are all the same . . . You're no different than I am.' Sorry Ellen... all people are equal, but a homosexual relationship is NOT the same as marriage.
'I've heard you articulate that position in a very eloquent fashion,' McCain countered. 'I just believe in the unique status of marriage between man and woman, and I know that we have a respectful disagreement on that issue; and I along with many, many others wish you every happiness.'
At times looking uncomfortable, McCain acknowledged the necessity of partnerships for legal agreements: 'I think people should be able to enter into legal agreements. And I think that it is something we should encourage, particularly in the case of insurance and other areas where decisions have to be made.'
'So, you'll walk me down the aisle?' DeGeneres said to laughter and applause from the audience. 'Is that what you're saying?'
'Touche,' was the senator's response to loud applause.
story here
Dem Senators Divided on Obama's Call for Repealing Defense of Marriage Act
Here's a preview of what an Obama Presidency would be like. There are two main issues he will fight for: homosexuality and abortion.
A sampling of Senate Democrats expressed sharply divergent views yesterday on whether they would support Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) call to "fully repeal" the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which in the wake of this week's California Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage as well as a similar 2003 decision by the high court of Massachusetts, would have the effect of legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.
Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) said she would support Obama's position, while Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Thomas Carper (D-Del.) said they would not. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) expressed surprise that Obama had taken a position in favor of full repeal of DOMA.
The Defense of Marriage Act, signed into law by President Clinton in 1996, protects states from having to recognize same-sex marriages contracted in other states. Ordinarily, under the "Full Faith and Credit Clause" of the Constitution, states are required to recognize "the public Acts, Records and judicial Proceedings of every other State."
story here
Pro-Life Movement Offers Sen. Kennedy Prayers and Forgiveness as He Faces Potentially Fatal Brain Tumor
Ted Kennedy went home from the hospital yesterday. His malignant brain tumor will more than likely be fatal.
Because of Chappaquiddick, and his opposition to Church teachings on abortion, same-sex marriage, etc, he has received much criticism, and although much of that criticism was well-justified, I would like to suggest that we pray for his change of heart and repentence, and that he does reconcile with God and be a faithful Catholic.
In light of Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy's recent discovery of a malignant brain tumor, pro-life leaders have invited the outspoken Catholic supporter of abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and same-sex "marriage" to repent of his opposition to his Church's stance on life and family issues and experience forgiveness before his imminent death.
"We're all praying for him," Joe Scheidler, head of the Pro-Life Action League, told LifeSiteNews.com.
"We hope his ailment will bring conversion. We can't wish anyone eternal punishment."
"Christ forgave the very people who crucified Him. The least we can do is to forgive the enemies of our cause."
"I try not to make anything personal in the fight for life. If they have a change of heart, we'll forgive them in a second," said Scheidler of opponents of life and family such as Kennedy.
Scheidler noted that, through his conversion, Kennedy "at the very end could help other Catholics" who are opposed to the Church's moral teachings.
"I hope he will denounce publicly his support for abortion."
Scheidler added that he would consider a day of prayer for the Massachusetts senator as a reminder of the mercy and forgiveness available to even the most hardened proponents of the culture of death.
story here
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Christian Culture Isn't "Outdated," Says Pope
And it never will be.
Christ is eternal, and eternal truths never change
The beauty of the Christian cultural inheritance is not something that is "outdated," but rather something that will remain alive and current in the measure of a lively faith, says Benedict XVI.
The Pope said this today upon delivering his weekly catechesis today in Paul VI Hall in which he commented on the Christian poetry of Romanus the Melodist, a theologian, poet and composer was born in Syria at the end of the fifth century.
The Holy Father explained that Romanus was an ordained deacon who dedicated himself to an original form of catechesis.
It is said that the Virgin Mary appeared to Romanus in a dream, explained the Pontiff, and gave him the gift of poetic charism. From that moment on he began preaching in the form of "chanted metrical hymns known as 'kontakia,' consisting of an introduction and a series of stanzas punctuated by a refrain."
"Faith is love," commented Benedict XVI, "and so it creates poetry and music. Faith is joy, and so it creates beauty."
story here
British MPs Defeat all Pro-Life Provisions in the HFE Bill
Wow...the UK Parliament is really on an anti-life frenzy.
British MPs voted to retain the 24 week gestational age limit for legal abortion after a three hour debate in the House of Commons last night. This week, a whirlwind of votes and debates on the most controversial aspects of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) Bill culminated in a series of votes retaining all of the bill's anti-life and anti-family proposals.
On Monday, MPs voted down amendments that would have banned the creation of human/animal hybrids and so-called "saviour siblings", those embryos created and implanted to provide replacement tissues for seriously ill siblings.
Tuesday night amendments that might have supported the current law's insistence on the necessity of fatherhood for children born of in vitro fertilisation treatments were also voted down. So the homosexuals must be as happy as the pro-aborts. The bill's provision will be retained that requires doctors only to consider the child's need for "supportive parenting" in providing IVF treatments.
Four different amendments to lower the age limit were proposed, ranging from 12 to 22 weeks, with the number of MPs voting with the pro-abortion lobby exceeding 390 of a total of 646 members.
Anthony Ozimic, the political secretary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said that the moral ambiguities of the bill were now removed and that it must be defeated in its entirety. This bill was absolutely rammed through the legislature by pro-aborts.
Here's a hint about the direction the UK is headed:
story here
Michelle Obama Under Fire for 2004 Letter Defending Partial-Birth Abortions
Warning: potentially offensive content
Our possible future first lady is as pro-death as her husband.
I think I'll call her 'Angry' Michelle.
Angry Michelle Obama, the attorney wife of pro-abortion Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, is coming under fire for a letter she wrote defending partial-birth abortions. The 2004 letter, written to help Obama in his campaign for his U.S. Senate seat, opposes the ban on the abortion procedure.
In February 2004, Angry Michelle Obama penned a fundraising letter to help her husband Barack raise funds for his Illinois-based Senate seat.
The letter contends the federal ban on partial-birth abortions "is clearly unconstitutional" and "a flawed law." A ban on killing fully-developed babies is flawed? I think there is a much bigger flaw in those that support partial-birth abortion and infanticide.
Though the three-day-long partial-birth abortion procedure involves the partial birth of a baby during the middle trimester of pregnancy and the jamming of scissors into the back of her head to kill her, Obama's wife describes it as "legitimate" medicine.
"The fact remains, with no provision to protect the heath of the mother, this ban on a legitimate medical procedure is clearly unconditional and must be overturned," Angry Michelle Obama writes in the letter.
She also said the Bush administration should not encourage the abortion practitioners who sued to reverse the ban to drop their lawsuit to make it unconditional. The Supreme Court later sided with Bush and Congress in saying the ban is legitimate.
In closing, Obama told prospective donors that they could "count on" Barack to "keep the Bush team from appointing the Supreme Court justice that will vote against Roe v. Wade."
Noted pro-life advocate Jill Stanek highlighted the letter on her blog and said Michelle was "leeching off the partial birth abortion ban" to raise funds for her husband. Jill is right...Anyone that can approve killing babies will stoop to anything.
story here
Since Michelle thinks it is so wonderful, let's review the steps:
1) Guided by ultrasound, the abortionist grabs the baby's legs with forceps.
2) The baby's leg is pulled out into the birth canal.
3) The abortionist delivers the baby's entire body, except for the head
4) The abortionist jams scissors into the baby's skull. The scissors are then opened to enlarge the skull.
5) The scissors are removed and a suction catheter is inserted. The child's brains are sucked out, causing the skull to collapse. The dead baby is then removed.
Pro-Gay, Anti-Christianity
A good discussion of the danger of accepting homosexuality as just another lifestyle, when it is anything but....
A learned friend of mine recently wrote an op-ed piece for a newspaper in which she argued that the drive for same-sex marriage is not simply about same-sex marriage; it is also about winning moral approval for homosexuality. If society, acting through the state, tells us that homosexuals can marry one another, then it is by the same token telling us that there is nothing morally objectionable about homosexual conduct. Homosexual "marriage" only threatens and weakens the family unit.
My friend is, of course, correct. But I'll add to this that the drive for same-sex marriage is not simply about same-sex marriage or the moral legitimization of homosexual behavior; it is also about the de-legitimizing of Christian morality. More, it is about the de-legitimizing of Christianity itself. What homosexuals desire more than anything else is affirmation of their "lifestyle".
The taboo on homosexual conduct is as old as Christianity itself (pace the late gay historian John Boswell, who argued -- absurdly -- that the taboo didn't appear until many centuries after the foundation of Christianity and is therefore not an essential part of Christian morality). And it is older even than that. It clearly goes back to Old Testament times. And if there is such a thing as natural law, the taboo is rooted in natural law; for nature (or God as author of nature) seems to have designed the anatomy and physiology of human beings in such a way that sex between men and women is sex "according to nature." Sex between men and men or between women and women, though it can be accomplished in an unnatural manner, doesn't seem to be what nature/God had in mind.
From the Catechism:
2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
story here
Judges stance bolsters McCain
Yet another reason to support McCain...
Our best hope to overturn Roe v. Wade and to reign in activist judges like the California Supreme Court is to have good judges on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Prominent conservatives and activists are indicating they will put aside their differences with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain and rally their supporters to his side because of one issue: federal judgeships.
In big gatherings and small, in e-mails and one-on-one conversations, conservative opinion leaders fear a Democratic president, especially Sen. Barack Obama, will use the presidential power to appoint federal judges who will remove references to God and religious symbols from public places.
They predict the incoming president likely will fill more vacancies on the federal bench over the next four years than at any time in recent memory, giving a Democratic administration the power to shape the courts to reflect a liberal worldview.
The American Civil Liberties Union "has been on a national rampage to remove God from every public place: the Pledge of Allegiance, the Ten Commandments, plaques in courthouses, the Boys Scouts when they meet on public property," said Phyllis Schlafly, head of the Eagle Forum, a pro-family group that held a private meeting for conservatives yesterday in a Washington hotel.
"These subjects should get out on the table so people understand what's going on in the courts," she said.
ACLU general counsel Peter J. Ferrara, a former Reagan White House aide, said, "McCain said he'd appoint people like [Supreme Court Chief Justice John] Roberts and [Justice Samuel] Alito. Obama is saying he'd name people like [Justices Ruth Bader] Ginsberg and [David] Souter."
story here
And here's the best reason of all:
