Catholic Health Association denies endorsement of health care bill

In a statement released last Friday, the Catholic Health Association (CHA) clarified that it has not thrown its institutional support behind the current health care bill, while also reiterating its commitment to protect life from conception to natural death.

The Catholic Health Association “has long been committed to a goal of health coverage for all people in the United States. CHA has not, however, endorsed any of the bills currently under consideration,” the statement said.

Sr. Carol Keehan, DC, president and chief executive officer of CHA, said that “our message has always been clear: health care must respect and protect human dignity from conception to natural death. In that spirit, coverage for everyone is a moral imperative and a matter of social justice.”

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Pope accepts resignations of both bishops from Diocese of Scranton

Last week, I blogged that Bishop Martino is retiring. It now appears that Scranton will need both a Bishop and an Auxiliary Bishop.

At a press conference in Scranton this morning, Bishop Joseph Martino announced that he and auxiliary bishop John Dougherty are stepping down from their posts. Bishop Martino explained that he is resigning because of "crippling physical fatigue," while Bishop Dougherty is retiring upon having reached the age limit.

Last week, CNA reported that Bishop Martino, 63, would be resigning from his post in Scranton. The Vatican announced today that Pope Benedict has accepted the resignation of Martino in accordance with canon 401 § 2 of the Code of Canon Law which says: a diocesan Bishop who, because of illness or some other grave reason, has become unsuited for the fulfillment of his office, is earnestly requested to offer his resignation from office.”

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Cherie Blair: Change Catholic teaching on contraception

Cherie continues her delusion of running the Catholic Church and determining Church doctrine.

Addressing the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Cherie Blair has again called upon the Church to change her perennial teaching on contraception. “If you look at what progress women have made in the world, one of the reasons they have been able to make progress is because they have been able to control their fertility,” said the wife of the former British prime minister. “I personally don't think there is anything wrong with that, and indeed without being able to control that I wouldn't have been able to achieve the things that I've been able to do. Oh yeah, Cherie would never have been able to get her law degree or marry the Prime Minister without birth control, right? I think it's a really important issue and I would prefer it if the Catholic Church took a more positive attitude towards contraception because I think there's a lot of difference between preventing a life coming about and actually extinguishing a life when it has come about.”

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Kennedy to Pope: "I've never failed to believe and respect the fundamental teachings" of Catholic Faith

I've heard enough.
I have refrained from criticising Kennedy during his funeral, but if they are going to continue trying to make him into a hero and a model Catholic, I am compelled to speak up.
Not only did Kennedy allow Mary Jo Kopechne to die at Chappaquiddick, but he had rejected Catholic teachings for decades by virtue of his divorce, and even worse, he supported the murder of over 50 million babies by abortion for the sake of his political career. He was a CINO who cannot in any way be considered a faithful Catholic.

The contents of the letter from Senator Ted Kennedy delivered to Pope Benedict XVI by President Barack Obama in July were made public at Kennedy's burial today. Former Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick read excerpts from the letter and a response from the Vatican during the burial service.

Despite his advocacy for abortion and homosexual 'marriage', Kennedy told the Pope: ""I have always tried to be a faithful Catholic, Your Holiness, and though I have fallen short through human failings, I have never failed to believe and respect the fundamental teachings." He's kidding, right?

Kennedy also wrote that he opposed the death penalty and also that he supported conscience rights in the healthcare bill which would permit Catholic doctors to refuse to participate in abortion without sanction. "I believe in a conscience protection for Catholics in the health care field and will continue to advocate for it as my colleagues in the Senate and I work to develop an overall national health policy that guarantees health care for everyone," he wrote. What a farce. This ObamaCare will dramatically increase abortion and result in many deaths by rationing healthcare.

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Pro-Abort, Homosexual, Human Stem-Cell Groups Mourn Loss of "Greatest Champion" Kennedy

St. Raymund Nonnatus, confessor

The Saint of the Day for August 31 is St. Raymund Nonnatus

Peter Nolasco, a native of Languedoc, founded in the early thirteenth century a society known as the Mercedarians, devoted to ransoming Christians captured by the Moors.

Amongst those he received into the society was a Catalonian named Raymond. This Raymond's mother had died giving birth to her son, and he was delivered by a caesarian section — hence his nickname Nonnatus, which is Latin for 'not born'. So determined was Saint Raymond Nonnatus that when Peter Nolasco retired as chief ransomer, the saint succeeded him in this office. He set off for Algiers with a great sum of money, and there ransomed many.

When his money ran out, Saint Raymond Nonnatus could have made his own escape. But this would have involved leaving several slaves behind. He gave himself up in exchange for their liberty.

His own life was now in great danger. The Moors of Algiers were enraged that he had managed to convert some of their number. The governor would have put him to death by impaling the saint on a stake. What saved him were others who realized that a rich ransom would be paid for this particular Christian. Even so, he was still whipped publicly in the streets — partly to discourage those who might be tempted to learn from him the Christian faith. Reports of his tortures probably exaggerated the cruelty of his Moorish captors but after eight months of torture, Peter Nolasco arrived with Raymond Nonnatus's ransom. Even then he wanted to stay behind, hoping to convert still more men and women to Christianity; but Peter Nolasco forbade it.

On his return, Pope Gregory IX made him a cardinal. The pope wished to see Raymond Nonnatus in Rome, but on his way there in the year 1240 he reached only Cardona near Barcelona, where he died at the age of thirty-six.

Robert Schindler, Sr. passes away

Mr. Schindler not only fought to save his daughter, but he also worked, through the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation, to protect others from the same death. Please join me in praying for him and his family.

The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the nation’s largest pro-life group, today joined with pro-lifers nationwide in mourning the passing of our dear friend Robert Schindler, Sr., the father of Terri Schindler Schiavo. Mr. Schindler died this morning in St. Petersburg, Florida.

“Bob Schindler was an extraordinary father, husband and friend,” said Wanda Franz, Ph.D., National Right to Life President. “His death is a profound loss for all of us in the pro-life movement. Today, our thoughts and prayers are with his loving wife, Mary and their children, Bobby and Suzanne.”

Despite facing legal setbacks at virtually every turn, the Schindlers, with their children at their side, fought unceasingly to defend the right of their daughter, Terri Schindler Schiavo, to receive food and fluids. Their brave struggle ended on March 31, 2005, when Terri died from a court-ordered withdrawal of nutrition and hydration.

Following Terri’s death, the family began advocating for other medically dependent and disabled patients facing similar circumstances through the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation.

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Priorities?

For this one, I am ignoring one of my own rules. I am posting an article, in its entirety, as it appeared in the local paper. As I read it, I couldn't help but think about how many human babies are aborted because they may be imperfect or have a disability of some type. I have no idea if the people in this story are pro-life or pro-abort, I just wish that more people felt this way about human babies. If these people feel this way about a dog, why couldn't we do as much for a human baby?


As far as homeless dogs go, Jasper has a couple of things going for him: He's a baby and he's purebred -- qualities craved by people in the market for a puppy.

But there's something about the spunky schnauzer that might be a deal breaker for the typical buyer.

His hind legs don't work.

Now, a Holly Springs group is taking up the task of finding the right home for Jasper.

After all, that's what North Carolina Schnauzer Rescue does. The group was founded here five years ago with a mission to find owners for abandoned schnauzers.

But it probably hasn't had to find a home for a puppy like Jasper. "It's like having a newborn," says Michelle Weerasuriya, Jasper's foster mom. She's been caring for him the last two months in Charlotte while her group searches for a permanent home for Jasper. "Knock on wood; I've got him potty trained," she said.

Jasper was born to schnauzer breeders in a harrowing three-hour delivery that involved humans pulling him out of his mother. He came out not breathing. The breeders performed CPR to jump-start his first gasps. And then there was the thing with the legs.

The breeders decided to surrender him to the rescue group when they realized the extent of his disability.

Jasper landed in Weerasuriya's home. They quickly formed a routine: She takes him out every three hours on the dot. He sleeps in her daughter's bed, on a special blanket. Sometimes he wears a diaper. And he's getting used to his $260 canine wheelchair, a chariot that holds up his rear end so he can get around without dragging his bottom half.

What exactly is wrong with Jasper still puzzles veterinarians at N.C. State University, where he has been taken for evaluations. Their working diagnosis involves a combination of neurological and orthopedic concerns, apparently caused during Jasper's birth. Both femoral heads, the tops of the leg bones that fit into Jasper's hip joints, are malformed or almost missing. He is able to do his business on his own, even if he sometimes has an accident that requires a wet nap and diaper rash ointment.

The doctors suspect nerve damage, although the fact he can wag his tail is also an oddity, since the same nerves control the back legs.

"He has no idea that he has a limitation, which is really kind of neat," said Regina Kaiser, another volunteer. "That's what he thinks is normal."

The group recently raised $600 for Jasper at a dog wash in a pet store in Raleigh.

It helped pay for the chair and some of the medical costs. The organization hopes to have another fundraiser soon.

Meanwhile, Jasper is in training. Weerasuriya puts him in the chair an hour at a time. He recently had a breakthrough: She put a pillow in front of him and he rested his body on it, wheels in the air.

Even though he can't move his hind legs, he's somehow found a way to let everyone know not to give up on him: that thwacking tail, which defies medical explanation.

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Memorial of the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist

Today we honor the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist.


In addition to the feast of the nativity of St. John the Baptist (June 24), the Church, since the fourth century, commemorates the martyrdom of Christ's precursor. According to the Roman Martyrology, this day marks "the second finding of his most venerable head." The body of the saint was buried in Samaria. In the year 362 pagans desecrated the grave and burned his remains. Only a small portion of his relics were able to be saved by monks and sent to St. Athanasius at Alexandria. The head of the saint is venerated at various places. That in the Church of St. Sylvester in Rome belongs to a martyr-priest John. Also in the Dominican church at Breslau the Baptist's head is honored.

Bishop Martino Stepping down

Sorry to hear that one of my favorite Bishops is stepping down. Bishop Martino is one of the few Bishops who are not afraid to speak true Church teachings.

Most Rev. Joseph F. Martino, Bishop of Scranton, will resign as head of the Diocese of Scranton next week, sources within the diocese confirmed to the local press today.

The sources did not explain the reason for the 62-year-old bishop’s decision. The sources also did not specify if the Bishop’s resignation was going to be presented or if it had been already submitted and accepted by the Vatican.

When asked by CNA to confirm Bishop Martino's resignation, diocesan spokesman William Genello said that the diocese will hold a press conference next Monday for media members only.

According to Canon law, a Bishop can present his resignation to the Holy Father for reasons other than the age limit (75), but he remains the head of the diocese until his resignation is accepted.

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h/t American Papist

After Kennedy's Death: Silence from the Pope

An appropriate response.
Although Kennedy publicly defied Church teachings for decades, it is not appropriate to condemn someone, especially at his funeral. On the other hand, I do not agree with the media coverage that is trying to make him a 'hero'. I heard Fr. Euteneuer of Human Life International on EWTN this morning, and he was also unclear as to how or why Kennedy is receiving a Catholic funeral.

There was a poignant footnote to President Obama's historic July 10 meeting with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. Behind closed doors in the papal library, Obama handed Benedict a letter that Senator Edward Kennedy had asked him to personally deliver to the pontiff. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs later told reporters that nobody - not even the President - knew the contents of the sealed missive. Obama himself asked Benedict to pray for Kennedy, and called the ailing Senator afterward to fill him in on his encounter with the 82-year-old Pope.


The letter, most likely already re-sealed and tucked away in the Vatican archives, was probably just a dying Catholic's request for a papal blessing. In the eyes of the traditionalist wing of the Church, however, Kennedy should have been asking the Pope for forgiveness. The Vatican's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano reported Kennedy's death, praising his work on civil rights and fighting poverty, but noted that his record was marred by his stance on abortion. As of yet, unlike some other world leaders, Pope Benedict has not commented or issued an official communique in response to Kennedy's death.

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Ted Kennedy Death Used to Build Support for Pro-Abortion Health Care Bills

A warning: the libs are going to make 'ObamaCare' into 'KennedyCare' to try to sell Socialized (rationed) Healthcare.

With polling numbers showing decreasing support for the pro-abortion government-run health care plans in Congress, supporters of the measures are using the death of pro-abortion Sen. Ted Kennedy to rebuild support. They are going as far as saying they may rename the bill in his honor to get votes.

Vice President Joe Biden led the way in exploiting Kennedy's deaths to regain momentum for the legislation that Americans are strongly opposing.

"God willing, maybe his loss and all about him will be the catalyst to make people come around and begin to [support the bill]," he said Thursday morning on NBC's "Today" show.

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Memorial of St. Augustine

The Saint of the Day for August 28 St. Augustine

Augustine Aurelius was born on November 13, 354, in Tagaste, North Africa. His father was a pagan, his mother, St. Monica. Still unbaptized and burning for knowledge, he came under the influence of the Manicheans, which caused his mother intense sorrow. He left Africa for Rome, deceiving his mother, who was ever anxious to be near him. She prayed and wept. A bishop consoled her by observing that a son of so many tears would never be lost. Yet the evil spirit drove him constantly deeper into moral degeneracy, capitalizing on his leaning toward pride and stubbornness. Grace was playing a waiting game; there still was time, and the greater the depths into which the evil spirit plunged its fledgling, the stronger would be the reaction.
Augustine recognized this vacuum; he saw how the human heart is created with a great abyss; the earthly satisfactions that can be thrown into it are no more than a handful of stones that hardly cover the bottom. And in that moment grace was able to break through: Restless is the heart until it rests in God. The tears of his mother, the sanctity of Milan's Bishop Ambrose, the book of St. Anthony the hermit, and the sacred Scriptures wrought his conversion, which was sealed by baptism on Easter night 387. Augustine's mother went to Milan with joy and witnessed her son's baptism. It was what it should have been, the greatest event of his life, his conversion — metanoia. Grace had conquered. Augustine accompanied his mother to Ostia, where she died. She was eager to die, for now she had given birth to her son for the second time.

In 388 he returned to Tagaste, where he lived a common life with his friends. In 391 he was ordained priest at Hippo, in 394 made coadjutor to bishop Valerius, and then from 396 to 430 bishop of Hippo.

Augustine, numbered among the four great Doctors of the Western Church, possessed one of the most penetrating minds of ancient Christendom. He was the most important Platonist of patristic times, the Church's most influential theologian, especially with regard to clarifying the dogmas of the Trinity, grace, and the Church. He was a great speaker, a prolific writer, a saint with an inexhaustible spirituality. His Confessions, a book appreciated in every age, describes a notable portion of his life (until 400), his errors, his battles, his profound religious observations. Famous too is his work The City of God, a worthy memorial to his genius, a philosophy of history. Most edifying are his homilies, especially those on the psalms and on the Gospel of St. John.

Augustine's episcopal life was filled with mighty battles against heretics, over all of whom he triumphed. His most illustrious victory was that over Pelagius, who denied the necessity of grace; from this encounter he earned the surname "Doctor of grace." As an emblem Christian art accords him a burning heart to symbolize the ardent love of God which permeates all his writings. He is the founder of canonical life in common; therefore Augustinian monks and the Hermits of St. Augustine honor him as their spiritual father.

St. Louis Archbishop Reminds Troubled Saint Louis University of His Authority on Moral Issues

The Good Archbishop Carlson sets an example for the rest of the USCCB, and all Bishops.

In an interview with the online newspaper of the Jesuit-run Saint Louis University (SLU), which has had a history of conflict with Church moral teaching, Archbishop Carlson has reminded the school that he will follow his pastoral obligation to guide the school on matters of faith and morals.

"For good or for bad, as archbishop, I am responsible for addressing morality in our time," Carlson told The University Times last week. "For me not to speak would be as violent to faith as you could be…"

The prelate also stressed the importance of fruitful dialogue when disagreement arises.

"If you said, 'I don't agree with you,' I'd say let's talk about it. And then we're building bridges," he said. "The young people who go to SLU are blessed with people who can extend those bridges. That's why I think the university setting can be so stimulating."

Archbishop Carlson has a strong reputation as a defender of the Church's teaching on the sacredness of life: it was he who famously ordered former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle in 2003 to cease calling himself Catholic because of his pro-abortion views.

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Requiem Mass for Sen. Kennedy to be held at Mission Church

Sen. Edward Kennedy’s funeral Mass will be celebrated on Saturday at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston. The senator, who died on Tuesday after a battle with brain cancer, had sought solace at the church during his illness and the illnesses of other family members.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help, commonly known as Mission Church, was founded by the Redemptorists in 1871 and is under the care of the Baltimore Province of the Redemptorist order. Like all Redemptorist churches, a copy of the ancient icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help hangs in Mission Church.

“People come here because they don’t feel alone,” Redemptorist Father Philip Dabney, associate pastor of Mission Church, remarked. “There’s a certain presence here; some people call it the umbrella of comfort.”

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After Kennedy's Death: Silence from the Pope



Given Kennedy's ardent and public support for abortion, it wouldn't seem likely for him to receive a Catholic funeral. I found the following at American Papist:

[while] notorius pro-aborts seem to be "manifest sinners who cannot be granted ecclesiastical funerals without public scandal of the faithful."

[it can happen when] "they gave some sign of repentance before death." And there is at least some evidence that Ted Kennedy did just that. more here

Opus Dei on the Screen: Film on Saint Jose Maria Escriva

"The film director Roland Joffé, who has yet to regain the acclaim he won a generation ago for “The Killing Fields” and “The Mission,” is shooting a movie in Argentina focused on the founder of Opus Dei, an elite and powerful organization within the Roman Catholic Church.

"The film, “There Be Dragons,” set during the Spanish Civil War, weaves fictional characters created by Mr. Joffé with the story of St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, the Spaniard who founded Opus Dei and was canonized by the church.

"The project was initiated by a member of Opus Dei, is partly produced and financed by the group’s members and has enlisted an Opus Dei priest to consult on the set. News of the project has set off criticism among some former Opus Dei members that the movie will be little more than propaganda for the organization.

"But Mr. Joffé, in the first interview he has given about the film, said that he had been given complete creative control and that Opus Dei never had any influence on the project.

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Recovery Defined

Ann Arbor sisters can't build fast enough to house new members

A very encouraging update on my earlier post on the younger, more faithful men and women who are following their vocation. These are truly beautiful nuns.


Though the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Arbor are celebrating the completion of the construction of their Motherhouse, they are already near capacity, with 17 new sisters entering at the end of this week. The community has grown from four sisters to 99 in less than 13 years and shows no signs of slowing down.

The community of sisters, which has an average age of 26, was founded in 1997 by four Dominican sisters responding to John Paul II’s call for a new evangelization.

Though their primary apostolate is Christian education, they are open to other areas of evangelization as well, a fact evidenced by their new catechetical show on EWTN called “Truth in the Heart,” the multiple summer catechesis camps they host each year and their frequent vocation talks.

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Memorial of St. Monica

The Saint of the Day for August 27 is St. Monica.

St. Monica is an example of those holy matrons of the ancient Church who proved very influential in their own quiet way. Through prayer and tears she gave the great Augustine to the Church of God, and thereby earned for herself a place of honor in the history of God's kingdom on earth.
The Confessions of St. Augustine provide certain biographical details. Born of Christian parents about the year 331 at Tagaste in Africa, Monica was reared under the strict supervision of an elderly nurse who had likewise reared her father. In the course of time she was given in marriage to a pagan named Patricius. Besides other faults, he possessed a very irascible nature; it was in this school of suffering that Monica learned patience. It was her custom to wait until his anger had cooled; only then did she give a kindly remonstrance. Evil-minded servants had prejudiced her mother-in-law against her, but Monica mastered the situation by kindness and sympathy.

Her marriage was blessed with three children: Navigius, Perpetua, who later became a nun, and Augustine, her problem child. According to the custom of the day, baptism was not administered to infants soon after birth. It was as an adolescent that Augustine became a catechumen, but possibly through a premonition of his future sinful life, Monica postponed his baptism even when her son desired it during a severe illness.

When Augustine was nineteen years old, his father Patricius died; by patience and prayer Monica had obtained the conversion of her husband.

The youthful Augustine caused his mother untold worry by indulging in every type of sin and dissipation. As a last resort after all her tears and entreaties had proved fruitless, she forbade him entrance to her home; but after a vision she received him back again. In her sorrow a certain bishop consoled her: "Don't worry, it is impossible that a son of so many tears should be lost."

When Augustine was planning his journey to Rome, Monica wished to accompany him. He outwitted her, however, and had already embarked when she arrived at the docks. Later she followed him to Milan, ever growing in her attachment to God. St. Ambrose held her in high esteem, and congratulated Augustine on having such a mother. At Milan she prepared the way for her son's conversion. Finally the moment came when her tears of sorrow changed to tears of joy. Augustine was baptized. And her lifework was completed. She died in her fifty-sixth year, as she was returning to Africa. The description of her death is one of the most beautiful passages in her son's famous "Confessions.

Infamous Hollywood Screenwriter to Pen Film on Our Lady of Guadalupe

I've posted about Joe's conversion before.

Infamous Hollywood screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, 64, known for such sordid films as Basic Instinct and Showgirls, has undergone a conversion and now will be writing a new film on Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Eszterhas has been one of Hollywood's most influential screenwriters, writing lucrative blockbuster films, such as Flashdance, Jagged Edge, and Basic Instinct, and raking in million-dollar paychecks. Known for living the full 'Hollywood lifestyle', Eszterhas gave it up to move home to Ohio with his wife and children in the late 1990s.

In 2001, faced with throat cancer resulting from his smoking and alcohol addictions, which threatened to kill him, Eszterhas turned to God in desperation.


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Pro-Life Convictions Worth Risking Career For: Jim Caviezel

Jim Caviezel, the actor who took the film world by surprise with his moving depiction of Christ in 2004, said this week that abortion has nothing to do with helping women and that he is willing to risk his career to say so.

Caviezel gave an interview with the US magazine Catholic Digest, in which he spoke about the challenge he received from a colleague to adopt a disabled child as a demonstration of his well-publicized pro-life stand. Earlier this year Caviezel adopted his second child - a five-year-old girl with a brain tumour from the Guangzhou region of China.

Reflecting on the 51.5 million surgical abortions to date in the US since Roe v. Wade, Caviezel began by saying, "I was listening to Johnny Mathis the other day and I said, 'What an amazing voice'. I have yet to hear another person sound like Johnny Mathis.

"Look, I am for helping women. I just don't see abortion as helping women. And I don't love my career that much to say, 'I'm going to remain silent on this'. I'm defending every single baby who has never been born. And every voice that would have been unique like Johnny Mathis's. How do we know that we didn't kill the very child who could have created a particular type of medicine that saves other lives?"

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ObamaCare for Seniors

Senator Edward Kennedy dies at age 77

After decades of ignoring Catholic teachings, I truly hope he was able to make his peace with God.

U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, a towering figure in the Democratic Party who took the helm of one of America's most fabled political families after two older brothers were assassinated, died at age 77, his family said.

"Edward M. Kennedy, the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply, died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port (Massachusetts)," the Kennedy family said in a statement early on Wednesday.

One of the most influential and longest-serving senators in U.S. history -- a liberal standard-bearer who was also known as a consummate congressional dealmaker -- Kennedy had been battling brain cancer, which was diagnosed in May 2008.

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St. Jeanne Elizabeth des Bichier des anges

The Saint of the Day for August 26 is St. Jeanne Elizabeth des Bichier des anges.

Born to nobility, and educated in a convent school, Jeanne Elizabeth witnessed closely and was personally affected by the events of the French Revolution which rocked France when she was 16 years old.

On her father’s death she moved to La Guimetiere with her mother, and in 1796, realizing that she needed to do something to defend the Church and keep the faith alive amidst the attacks of the revolutionaries, she decided to begin a ministry of teaching and serving the poor.

She gathered groups of faithful in the town – which was at this point without a priest or community of religious – and organized meetings of prayer and Scripture study.

The town still suffered the effects of the French Revolution; it didn't even have a priest, much less religious communities. Jeanne Elizabeth gathered the remaining faithful together to pray, read Scripture, and sing hymns.

She entered a Carmelite convent on her mother’s death in 1804 and later the Society of Providence, on the advice of Saint Andrew Fournet, an underground priest who was forced to remain clandestine because he refused to make a pledge of allegiance to the government of the new republic.

He realized that she was the one God had called to lead a community of women he had gathered, and she cofounded the Daughters of the Cross with him in 1807 to care for the sick and poor and teach the faith.

By the time of her death in 1838, the community had more than 60 houses all over France.

ABC Bans Television Commercial Opposing Pro-Abortion Govt Health Care Plan

Anyone surprised? After all, this is the network that did broadcast an infomercial, from the White House, trying to sell ObamaCare.

ABC is coming under fire for prohibiting a commercial that urges opposition to the pro-abortion government-run health care plan in Congress. The League of American Voters had planned to air the commercial that is already airing on other networks in 12 states.

Bob Adams, the director of the group, told LifeNews.com he was "stunned" when he heard the news from his media buyer.

"ABC television has banned our TV ad from airing on its network," he said. "With our success, we were planning to go national, so we sent the ad to the major networks."

Adams says the ad, crafted by Dick Morris, the Fox News contributor and political strategist, "simply tells the truth about Obamacare."

The commercial features a respected medical doctor, a neurosurgeon, who warns that the Obama-backed health care plan will decimate health care for seniors and others in need of life-saving medical procedures.

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ABC, NBC Won't Air Ad Critical of Obama's Health Care Plan

Washington Times Confirms Abortion Funding, Coverage Mandates in Health Care

Don't believe Barry and the Dems when they say abortion is not covered in the proposed socialized healthcare. Abortion IS covered.

Add the Washington Times to the list of media outlets that is confirming what pro-life organizations have said for weeks -- taxpayer-funding of abortion and insurance coverage mandates appear in the government-run health care bills Congress is considering.

The Times joins the Associated Press, Time magazine, and the nonpartisan FactCheck.org watchdog in confirming abortion funding exists.

"President Obama isn't being straight when he says current health care proposals don't provide government funding for abortion. They do," the Times newspaper says in a Monday editorial. "If Democratic plans are passed, your taxes will pay for abortions."

"House and Senate sponsors defeated a total of seven different attempts, in four committees, to restrict the use of federal funds for abortions," the newspaper continues.

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Mickey Rourke thanks God and Catholic faith for 'second chance'

Famed Hollywood actor Mickey Rourke, who was at the Sarajevo Film Festival last week, told a Bosnian newspaper that he thanks God and his Catholic faith for giving him a “second chance” in life to overcome his addictions, which almost led him to commit suicide.

Speaking to the Bosnian daily “Avaz,” Rourke said, “God gave me a second chance in life and I thank Him.”

Rourke achieved fame in the 80s with action films and erotic thrillers. At the beginning of the 90s he left film for boxing and fell into heavy drug and alcohol addiction.

According to the newspaper, during the most difficult moments of his life, his psychiatrist and his priest were his best friends.

“When you fall people push you down even more. The world is full of materialism and envy. When you are famous and you fall, people don’t want you to come back. It is almost impossible to come back. It’s hard enough the first time, but the second time it’s like you don’t even exist …God gave me a second chance, the guy upstairs helped me out,” he said.

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State AG Tells Wisconsin: Find Someone Else to Defend "Unconstitutional" Domestic Partnership Law

"As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live." Pope John Paul II

I certainly hope that Mr. Van Hollen runs for higher office someday. It's not often that you see someone in public office refuse to do something that opposes their morals.



Armed with sound legal principles and plenty of chutzpah, the Wisconsin Attorney General has told state lawmakers that he will not defend the state's domestic partnership law for homosexual couples against a legal challenge, because the law violates the Constitution and the voters' intent to preserve the natural institution of marriage.

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen issued a statement last week saying he would not represent the government over the Domestic Partnership Registry, because the people amended the Wisconsin Constitution in 2006 to prohibit lawmakers from creating institutions for unmarried couples that are "identical or substantially similar to that of marriage."

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Obama Administration Promotes "Death Book" for Veterans

Here's a disturbing preview of what ObamaCare would be like...starting with our own veterans.

Americans worried about President Barack Obama's health care reforms turning into "death panels" have a new cause for concern: the Obama Administration has mandated that government-run Veterans Affairs hospitals give their patients a handbook on advanced directives including "end-of-life counseling" created by advocates for legal euthanasia.

Last week, LifeSiteNews.com reported that Compassion & Choices, formerly known as the Hemlock Society, is aggressively promoting a measure (sec. 1233) in the "American Affordable Choices Act of 2009" (HR 3200) as the "centerpiece" of health care reform. (see coverage here) The proposal is to incentivize doctors and medical professionals to offer "end-of-life" consultations every five years with elderly and infirm patients, and offer them more frequently as a patient's health condition deteriorates ever closer toward death.

Senator Wants Hearings on Obama Admin Veterans Guide Promoting Euthanasia


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Optional Memorial of St. Louis of France

The Saint of the Day for August 25 is St. Louis of France

Reigning from 1226 to 1270, Louis IX showed how a saint would act on the throne of France. He was a lovable personality, a kind husband, a father of eleven children, and at the same time a strict ascetic.
To an energetic and prudent rule Louis added love and zeal for the practice of piety and the reception of the holy sacraments. He was brave in battle, polished at feasts, and addicted to fasting and mortification. His politics were grounded upon strict justice, unshatterable fidelity, and untiring effort toward peace. Nevertheless, his was not a weakly rule but one that left its impress upon following generations. He was a great friend of religious Orders, a generous benefactor of the Church.

The Breviary says of him: "He had already been king for twenty years when he fell victim to a severe illness. That afforded the occasion for making a vow to undertake a crusade for the liberation of the Holy Land. Immediately upon recovery he received the crusader's cross from the hand of the bishop of Paris, and, followed by an immense army, he crossed the sea in 1248. On the field of battle Louis routed the Saracens; yet when the plague had taken large numbers of his soldiery, he was attacked and taken captive (1250). The king was forced to make peace with the Saracens; upon the payment of a huge ransom, he and his army were again set at liberty." While on a second crusade he died of the plague, with these words from the psalm upon his lips: "I will enter Thy house; I will worship in Thy holy temple and sing praises to Thy Name!" (Ps. 5).

Lutheran gay clergy vote tests mainline churches

Let's see if this decision causes the same division in the Lutheran church that it has caused in the Episcopal church.

In its vote on Friday to allow open homosexual clergy, the nation's largest Lutheran denomination has laid down a new marker in a debate over the direction of mainline Protestant Christianity, a tradition that once dominated American religious life.

By voting to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy, the 4.7-million member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will either show how a church can stand together amid differences, or become another casualty of division over sexual morality and the Bible, observers say.

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Women in SD Must be Told Unborn Child is a Human Being: Federal Judge

A Federal Court has upheld the constitutionality of a South Dakota law requiring doctors to inform patients that abortion kills a human being. U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier handed down the ruling on Thursday in a lawsuit against the state filed by Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota objecting to the 2005 law requiring that full information be given to women seeking abortions. Why wouldn't they want women to have all information? Aren't they supposed to be "for women"?

Judge Schreier said that although doctors must use the term 'human being,' it can be used in a "biological sense" and not an "ideological" one. The law specifies that a woman must be told that abortion "will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being."

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Catholics Against ObamaCare

A few blogger friends have started a new blog, Catholics Against ObamaCare . Please stop by to keep up-to-date on this important issue.

Pro-life groups organize prayer and protest in response to 'abortion mandate'

It seems that Barry's appeal to religious groups to support abortion may have backfired.


Responding to President Barack Obama’s efforts to rally sympathetic religious groups to back his proposed health care legislation, pro-life groups have organized prayer campaigns and issued protests of the proposal’s “abortion mandate.”

During a Wednesday teleconference sponsored by the left-leaning religious organizations Catholics United, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Faith in Public Life (dissenter groups) , both White House Director of Domestic Policy Melody Barnes and President Obama denied that the health care bill would allow for federally funded abortions. They are lying. Yes, it WILL fund abortion.

Nonpartisan FactCheck Web Site: Obama Wrong, Abortion Funding in Health Care

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http://stoptheabortionmandate.com/

Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle

The Saint of the Day for August 24 is St. Bartholomew.

In St. John's Gospel, Bartholomew is known by the name Nathaniel (the liturgy does not always seem aware of this identity). He hailed from Cana in Galilee, was one of the first disciples called by the Lord. On that initial meeting Jesus uttered the glorious compliment: "Behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile!" After the Resurrection he was favored by becoming one of the few apostles who witnessed the appearance of the risen Savior on the sea of Galilee (John 21:2). Following the Ascension he is said to have preached in Greater Armenia and to have been martyred there. While still alive, his skin was torn from his body. The Armenians honor him as the apostle of their nation. Concerning the fate of his relics, the Martyrology says: "His holy body was first taken to the island of Lipari (north of Sicily), then to Benevento, and finally to Rome on an island in the Tiber where it is honored by the faithful with pious devotion."
The Church of Armenia has a national tradition that St. Jude Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew visited the Armenians early in the first century and introduced Christianity among the worshippers of the god Ahura Mazda. The new faith spread throughout the land, and in 302 A.D., St. Gregory the Illuminator baptized the king of Armenia, Dertad the Great, along with many of his followers. Since Dertad was probably the first ruler to embrace Christianity for his nation, the Armenians proudly claim they were the first Christian State.

Movie Review: The Time Traveler's Wife - PG13

Warning: Potential spoilers


In a way, Clare has known, and loved, Henry her whole life. The main theme, of course, is their love story. The other prevalent themes are acceptance (she accepts the fact that he disappears at any time, without warning, and he accepts his condition as well) and trust; there is definitely trust between them, and they later have to cope with 2 miscarriages. I was disappointed that he got a vasectomy when he thought his genetics might have caused them, but hint: it IS a movie about time travel :) The story is very well-done, told in an entertaining and plausible fashion.

Content warning: Every time Henry time travels, he does so without clothes; he leaves without them, and shows up wherever he is going naked. However, there is no nudity shown.

A very good movie. See it. You'll be glad you did!

http://www.thetimetravelerswifemovie.com/

Partners?

http://acatholicview.blogspot.com/2009/08/obama-we-are-gods-partners-in-matters.html

Catholic Medical Association Opposes Health Care Bill Over End-of-Life Section

The Catholic Medical Association has announced that it opposes the government-run health care bills in Congress because the House version contains a section that could promote assisted suicide and rationing. The end-of-life counseling portion of the bill has proven extremely controversial.

At issue for pro-life advocates is Section 1233 of HR 3200, the health care plan the House will consider when it returns from its August recess.

The measure would pay physicians to give Medicare patients end-of-life counseling every five years or sooner if the patient has a terminal diagnosis. Pro-life advocates say the section opens the door to physicians pushing assisted suicide, withdrawal of lifesaving medical treatment, or even basic food and water.

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Texas Gov Perry Better on Abortion, Bioethics Reublican Pro-Life Group Says

Texas Republicans will have a chance to vote in what could wind up as one of the most bitter and hard-fought primary elections outside of the presidential election. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has announced her candidacy to take on sitting pro-life Gov. Rick Perry, who has been in office for two terms.

The rub on Perry is that he has been the state's governor for two full terms and the two final years of the term of President George W. Bush, who left Texas to become the president.

Interestingly, Hutchison won her Senate seat in 1993 and has spent the last 16 years in the position.

Yet, during his long tenure as the Texas governor, Perry has compiled a sterling pro-life record and, as Texas Alliance for Life points out, “has signed more pro-life bills into law than any governor in Texas.”

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Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

August 22 is the feast of the Queenship of Mary

With the certainty of faith we know that Jesus Christ is king in the full, literal, and absolute sense of the word; for He is true God and man. This does not, however, prevent Mary from sharing His royal prerogatives, though in a limited and analogous manner; for she was the Mother of Christ, and Christ is God; and she shared in the work of the divine Redeemer, in His struggles against enemies and in the triumph He won over them all. From this union with Christ the King she assuredly obtains so eminent a status that she stands high above all created things; and upon this same union with Christ is based that royal privilege enabling her to distribute the treasures of the kingdom of the divine Redeemer. And lastly, this same union with Christ is the fountain of the inexhaustible efficacy of her motherly intercession in the presence of the Son and of the Father.
Without doubt, then, does our holy Virgin possess a dignity that far transcends all other creatures. In the eyes of her Son she takes precedence over everyone else. In order to help us understand the preeminence that the Mother of God enjoys over all creation, it would help to remember that from the first moment of her conception the holy Virgin was filled with such a plenitude of grace as to surpass the graces enhancing all the saints. Recall what our predecessor Pius IX, of blessed memory, wrote in his Bull Ineflabilis Deus: "More than all the angels and all the saints has God ineffable freely endowed Mary with the fullness of the heavenly gifts that abound in the divine treasury; and she, preserving herself ever immaculately clean from the slightest taint of sin, attained a fullness of innocence and holiness so great as to be unthinkable apart from God Himself, a fullness that no one other than God will ever possess."

Spurred on by piety and faith, may we glory in being subject to the rule of the Virgin Mother of God; she bears the royal sceptre in her hand, while her heart is ever aflame with motherlove.

U.S. bishops launch website on new Mass translation

After years in the making, the English translation of the new Roman Missal is nearing its completion and is now awaiting the final approval of the bishops and the Vatican. In an effort to begin educating the faithful and clergy on the new translation, the U.S. bishops have launched a website.

The new website, which was launched on August 21, includes background material on the process of the development of liturgical texts, sample texts from the Missal, a glossary of terms and answers to frequently asked questions.

A press release from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) says that content will be added to the website on a regular basis over the next several months.

Bishop Arthur Serratelli, who chairs the bishops' Committee on Divine Worship, welcomes the faithful to the new site in a video, saying, "In the years since Vatican II we have learned a lot about the use of the vernacular in the liturgy and the new texts reflect this new understanding."

Describing the translation, Bishop Serratelli says, "The new texts are understandable, dignified and accurate. … They not only strive to make the meaning of the text accessible for the listener, but they also strive to unearth the biblical and theological richness of the Latin text."

The process of translating the new Missal began in 2003 and has been ongoing since then.

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The Death of 'Me-Church'

No wonder the American nuns are having a fit about the Vatican visitations.

An excellent article by Steve Skojec describing what appears to be a couple of post Vatican II feminists (could be nuns) who are clearly quite out-of-place in a truly Catholic Church.

This past Sunday, as I attempted to get my wriggling, squeaking, squirming children settled in our pew for what usually amounts to a liturgical rodeo -- see if you can keep them on their best behavior for eight seconds without getting thrown out of the church -- I noticed the arrival of two women in their sixties who clearly looked like they did not belong. Processing up the aisle in search of a seat, they were dressed very casually, with the short-cropped, boyish, almost intentionally unattractive hairstyles that seem to be de rigeur for the aging members of America's post-feminism movement. They stood out in a sea of suits, ties, dresses, and chapel veils.

Far be it from me to judge based solely on appearances, of course: I may be a Trad, but when I know I'm going to be wrestling with toddlers for the duration of an hour-and-a-quarter-long Mass in the heat of the summer, I'm the first to arrive in a polo shirt instead of an oxford. Even so, sometimes it's just true: "By their fashions you will know them."

This daring duo of anti-patriarchalism might have been guests in from out of town and staying in the hotel across the street, unaware that the 9 a.m. Mass at this particular parish is, in fact, a throwback to the glory days of Catholicism, before the option existed to replace all the masculine pronouns for God in the liturgy with gender-inclusive ones. Might have been, I say, but for the fact that they gave themselves away with their refusal to kneel during such unimportant moments of the Mass as, say, the consecration. They stood like Amazon warrior priestesses at attention, forming a phalanx to defend the rear guard of fruit-loopy Catholicism's last hoorah.

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Memorial of St. Pius X, pope

The Saint of the Day for August 21 is St. Pius X.

The future Pope-Saint of the twentieth century was born at Riese in Venetia on June 2, 1835, his name, Joseph Sarto. After ordination at the age of twenty-three (by special dispensation), he labored for 17 years as a parish priest, then as bishop of Mantua, and in 1892 was advanced to the metropolitan see of Venice with the honorary title of patriarch. On August 4, 1903, he was elected Pope, "a man of God who knew the unhappiness of the world and the hardships of life, and in the greatness of his heart wanted to comfort everybody."
The primary aim of his pontificate Pius X announced in his first encyclical letter, viz., "to renew all things in Christ." Here we need but allude to his decree on early and frequent reception of holy Communion; his Motu Proprio on church music; his encouragement of daily Bible reading and the establishment of various Biblical institutes; his reorganization of the Roman ecclesiastical offices; his work on the codification of Canon Law; his incisive stand against Modernism, that "synthesis of all heresies." All these were means toward the realization of his main objective of renewing all things in Christ.

The outbreak of the first World War, practically on the date of the eleventh anniversary of his election to the See of Peter, was the blow that occasioned his death. Bronchitis developed within a few days, and on August 20, 1914, Pius X succumbed to "the last affliction that the Lord will visit on me." He had said in his will, "I was born poor, I have lived poor, I wish to die poor" — and no one questioned the truth of his words. His sanctity and his power to work miracles had already been recognized. Pius X was the first Pope canonized since St. Pius V in 1672.

"He was one of those chosen few men whose personality is irresistible. Everyone was moved by his simplicity and his angelic kindness. Yet it was something more that carried him into all hearts: and that `something' is best defined by saying that all who were ever admitted to his presence had a deep conviction of being face to face with a saint" (Baron von Pastor).

Students of Belmont Abbey criticize contraceptive discrimination ruling

A couple of my fellow bloggers have addressed this. Apparently, the EEOC doesn't feel that Belmont Abby, a private Catholic College, has the right to operate according to Catholic teachings. The EEOC wants to force everyone to fund contraception.

Students at Catholic universities, citing religious freedom concerns, have voiced their opposition to a federal ruling that Belmont Abbey College engaged in unlawful discrimination by refusing to fund contraceptives in its health care plan. After a faculty member discovered that contraception, abortion and voluntary sterilization were covered by the North Carolina college’s health care policy, the drugs and procedures were removed from the plan in December 2007.

Some faculty opposed the move and appealed to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Though the EEOC ruled in the college administration’s favor in March, it reversed its decision on August 5.

On that day Reuben Daniels Jr., Director of the EEOC Charlotte District Office, ruled that the health care policy change was discriminatory because only women take oral contraceptives.

Last week Belmont Abbey College president Dr. William Thierfelder told LifeSiteNews.com that he understood that the reversal came after the case had gone to Washington, D.C. However, he did not know whether complainants themselves brought the case to that higher level or the EEOC had revisited the issue on its own initiative.

Thierfelder has stated that Belmont Abbey College would close rather than provide contraceptive coverage. Are you listening Fr. Jenkins? Could be an example for Notre Dame.

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Reality TV Star Kourtney Kardashian Chooses Life

The coolest part of this story is that although she was "pro-choice", it only took some researching of the facts for her to realize what abortion truly is, and what it does to women. The pro-aborts rely on this deception to advance abortion. If we get the facts out, we can, and will, end abortion.

Kourtney Kardashian, the famous socialite and model, told People magazine in a recent interview that she considered having her unborn child aborted but changed her mind after reading about the traumatizing effects of abortion online.

"I looked online, and I was sitting on the bed hysterically crying, reading these stories of people who felt so guilty from having an abortion," Kourtney told David Caplan of People.

Kardashian, who is most famous for her role in the reality TV show Keeping Up with the Kardashians on E!, announced last week that she was pregnant.

Though Kardashian openly supports abortion as a legitimate choice in her interview, she says that she wrestled with the decision, something she thinks not many people do.

"I do think every woman should have the right to do what they want, but I don't think it's talked through enough."

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Obama: 'We are God's partners in matters of life and death'

Sorry Barry, as much as you may think you're the messiah, you really aren't. Let's leave life and death to the real God.

A reader points out that President Obama's call with the rabbis today — as recorded in Rabbi Jack Moline's and other clerics' Twitter feeds — freights health care reform with a great deal of religious meaning, and veers into the blend of policy and faith that outraged liberals in the last administration.

"We are God's partners in matters of life and death," Obama said, according to Moline (paging Sarah Palin...), quoting from the Rosh Hashanah prayer that says that in the holiday period, it is decided "who shall live and who shall die."

And he's still lying:

Obama Calls Abortion Funding in Healthcare Legislation a "Fabrication"

But people are seeing through that:

Poll: Majority of Americans Believe Obama Health Care Would Cover Abortion

Innovative Healthcare

Oklahoma Pro-Life Abortion Ultrasound Law Overturned

Just shaking my head a this one. A classic example of pro-abort deception. Why wouldn't they want women to have this information? Don't they claim to be "for women"?

The Oklahoma pro-life law that requires abortion doctors to tell a woman she has a right to a free ultrasound exam and an explanation of the development of her unborn child, has been struck down by a district court judge.

Oklahoma County District Judge Vicki Robertson ruled that the 2008 law, which included a number of pro-life initiatives and expanded on anti-abortion legislation passed in 2006, violated a state constitutional provision that requires laws to address only one subject.

The notable pro-life measures in the legislation include the creation of the Freedom of Conscience Act, which protects the rights of healthcare providers to refuse to take part in the destruction of human life; ensuring the chemical abortion pill, RU 486, is used in accordance with FDA guidelines; ensuring the mother's consent to abort is not coerced and truly voluntary; providing a woman with an ultrasound of her unborn child which she can view prior to undergoing the abortion; and cultivating respect for disabled children by banning the wrongful-life lawsuits that claim a baby would have been better off aborted.

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Oklahoma Officials Will Appeal Judge's Overturning Abortion-Ultrasound Law

Installation of Archbishop Aymon

Today, Archbishop Gregory Aymon will be installed as the Archbishop of New Orleans at 3:00 PM EST.

You can watch online at:


http://www.arch-no.org/

http://www.ewtn.com/

http://www.thedailymass.com/
You can also follow on Twitter

http://twitter.com/archdioceseofno

Memorial of St. Bernard, abbot and doctor

The Saint of the Day for August 20 is St. Bernard.

Bernard, the second founder of the Cistercians, the Mellifluous Doctor, the apostle of the Crusades, the miracle-worker, the reconciler of kings, the leader of peoples, the counselor of popes! His sermons, from which there are many excerpts in the Breviary, are conspicuous for genuine emotion and spiritual unction. The celebrated Memorare is ascribed to him.
Bernard was born in 1090, the third son of an illustrious Burgundian family. At the age of twenty-two he entered the monastery of Citeaux (where the Cistercian Order had its beginning) and persuaded thirty other youths of noble rank to follow his example. Made abbot of Clairvaux (1115), he erected numerous abbeys where his spirit flourished. To his disciple, Bernard of Pisa, who later became Pope Eugene III, he dedicated his work De Consideratione. Bernard's influence upon the princes, the clergy, and the people of his age was most remarkable. By penitential practices he so exhausted his body that it could hardly sustain his soul, ever eager to praise and honor God.

A Pro-Life Message about HealthCare

PLANNED PARENTHOOD RIPS BISHOPS

It's amazing that she can say this with a straight face, but keep in mind how much pro-aborts need to lie to defend killing babies and injuring women.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments today on remarks made yesterday by Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood:

Planned Parenthood is getting restless knowing that its abortion-happy health care reforms are on the skids. Cecile Richards is now accusing the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops of seeking to make “American women second-class citizens.” And that’s just the danger they are doing at home. Abroad, “their hard-line opposition to women’s rights also endangers millions of women around the globe.” Why they haven’t been locked up, she does not say. That's beause abortion does the real injury to women.

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