Catholic News Roundup 09-30

ACLU: Deny North Carolina Women Ultrasounds of Their Babies

Why would Planned Parenthood and the ACLU want to deny providing women more information to make an informed decision?   

Answer:  the abortion industry is built on lies, so the last thing they want people to hear is the truth.

A top pro-abortion law firm has filed suit to stop the implementation of a new law in North Carolina allowing women a chance to see an ultrasound of their unborn children before an abortion.

The American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion groups banded together to file a lawsuit today in federal court challenging the Women’s Right To Know Act, which also provides for a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion. The lawsuit, filed in the Middle District of North Carolina, claims the new law violates the rights of women and abortion facilities.

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St. Jerome

The Saint of the Day for September 30 is St. Jerome.

One of the greatest Biblical scholars of Christendom, Saint Jerome was born of Christian parents at Stridon in Dalmatia around the year 345. Educated at the local school, he then studied rhetoric in Rome for eight years, before returning to Aquilea to set up a community of ascetics. When that community broke up after three years Jerome went to the east. He met an old hermit named Malchus, who inspired the saint to live in a bare cell, dressed in sackcloth, studying the Scriptures.

He learned Hebrew from a rabbi. Then he returned to Antioch and was reluctantly ordained priest. With his bishop he visited Constantinople and became friendly with Saints Gregory Nazianzen and Gregory of Nyssa. And then in 382 he went again to Rome, to become the personal secretary of Pope Damasus. Here he met his dearest friends, a wealthy woman called Paula, her daughter Eustochium and another wealthy woman named Marcella.

Here too he began his finest work. Commissioned by the pope, he began to revise the Latin version of the psalms and the New Testament, with immense care and scholarship. Jerome eventually translated the whole of the Bible into the Latin version which is known as the Vulgate. But when Damasus died, his enemies forced the saint to leave Rome.

Accompanied by Paula and Eustochium, Jerome went to Bethlehem. There he lived for thirty-four years till his death in 420, building a monastery over which he presided and a convent headed first by Paula and after her death by Eustochium. The saint set up a hospice for the countless pilgrims to that place. His scholarship, his polemics, his treatises and letters often provoked anger and always stimulated those who read them. 'Plato located the soul of man in the head,' he wrote, 'Christ located it in the heart.'

Excerpted from A Calendar of Saints by James Bentley

Catholic News Roundup 09-29

Notre Dame prez to Obama on contraception mandate: what happened to the ‘sensible approach’?

Is Jenkins serious?  Duh!  He invites the most pro-abort president in history to speak at  a "supposed to be" Catholic university, gives him an honorary degree, and now he's surprised that the same president is forcing contraceptive and abortion coverage on everyone?

As the Obama administration prepares to force all Catholic employers in the United States to cover contraception, including abortifacient drugs like Plan B and Ella, the president of the University of Notre Dame is asking what happened to the “cooperation and understanding” between ideological opponents that Obama urged during his commencement speech at the university two years ago. 

 The new regulations announced by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on August 1, which are part of the new health law, will mandate that private insurers cover sterilizations and FDA-approved birth control, including drugs that function by causing early abortions, without co-pay.

The regulations include a “conscience clause” that defines religious employers as those that “primarily serve persons who share its religious tenets,” a definition that excludes nearly all major Catholic organizations, including universities. Comment from the public on the new regulations is being accepted until tomorrow.

Obama had told Notre Dame graduates in May 2009: “Let’s honor the conscience (did you really believe that Jenkins?)  of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded in clear ethics and sound science, as well as respect for the equality of women.” What about the damage abortion does to women?

Notre Dame president Fr. John Jenkins, the enthusiastic host of Obama’s speech and honorary law degree at the prestigious Catholic institution, has penned a letter to Sebelius dated September 28 expressing concern at the disparity in Obama’s words and the impending mandate. How come all of us knew this except Jenkins?  :)

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18 Catholic colleges appeal to Obama admin to rewrite abortifacient contraception mandate

Vatican supports two-state solution in Israel-Palestine conflict

How is a two-state solution supposed to work if one (the Palestinians) refuses to acknowledge the right of the other (Israel) to exist?

Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican’s number two State Department official, called Sept. 27 for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in remarks delivered in New York. He insisted that “if we want peace, courageous decisions have to be made.”

Archbishop Mamberti, whose official title is Secretary for Relations with States, encouraged “the realization of the right of Palestinians to have their own independent and sovereign state, and the right of Israelis to guarantee their security.” He also insisted that both states be “provided with internationally recognized borders.”

The archbishop addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York on Sept. 27. In his French-language address, he discussed Palestine’s Sept. 23 application to be recognized as a member state of the United Nations.

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Catholic News Roundup 09-28

Planned Parenthood Attacks Congressman Behind Investigation

Of course they're attacking him.  The abortion industry exists totally on lies.  

In a new fundraising email in response to his beginning a congressional investigation, the president of the Planned Parenthood abortion business is aggressively attacking the congressman who called for it.

As LifeNews first reported yesterday, Congressman Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican, said a committee he chairs will take the first steps in investigating the Planned Parenthood abortion business over abuses ranging from financial disparities to its compliance with federal regulations on taxpayer funding to concerns that it is covering up cases of sex trafficking.   And don't forget how abortion damages women and kills babies.

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Baby Joseph dies at home, surrounded by family

This was expected, but at least he was at home, and he passed away without being euthanized like the hospital wanted to do.

The dramatic story of Joseph Maraachli, popularly known as “Baby Joseph,” came to its final conclusion yesterday.

Alex Schadenberg of the Canada-based Euthanasia Prevention Coalition said Wednesday morning that Baby Joseph, who burst into international headlines earlier this year when Canadian doctors scheduled to remove him from life support against his family’s wishes, died at home 4:40 p.m. Tuesday, surrounded by his family. 

“Joseph Maraachli lived a life that changed Canada,” said Schadenburg, whose intervention was pivotal in saving Joseph’s life. “My thoughts and prayers are with the Maraachli family.”

Baby Joseph’s father, Moe Maraachli, wrote on the official family Facebook page yesterday, “Joseph pass away very comfortable and peace fully like what i ask for him.”

“I would like to thank all who contributed to the support of Joseph,” he said. “I thank you very much.”

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video: Europe & the Eucharist

The financial and cultural troubles running rampant across Europe can be traced back to a lack of belief and reverence for the True Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

Catholics obligated to defend right to life, emphasizes cardinal

KUDO's to Cardinal DiNardo.  We don't hear enough priests, bishops or cardinals actually  reinforcing Church teachings.

Respect Life Month is a time for prayer, reflection and action to advance the right to life and to resist efforts to “silence” moral truth and violate religious liberty, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston has said.

“We will voice our opposition to the injustice and cruelty of abortion on behalf of those victims whose voices have been silenced,” he said. “At the same time, we will remind the living victims of abortion—the mothers and fathers who grieve the loss of an irreplaceable child—that God’s mercy is greater than any human sin.”

“Catholics must not shrink from the obligation to assert the values and principles we hold essential to the common good, beginning with the right to life of every human being and the right of every woman and man to express and live by his or her religious beliefs and well-formed conscience,” the cardinal said in a Sept. 26 letter marking Respect Life Month.

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St. Wenceslaus

The Saint of the Day for September 28 is St. Wenceslaus.

St. Wenceslaus, duke of Bohemia, was born about the year 907 at Prague, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic). His father was killed in battle when he was young, leaving the kingdom to be ruled by his pagan mother. Wenceslaus was educated by his grandmother, Ludmilla, also a saint. She taught him to be a Christian and to be a good king. She was killed by pagan nobles before she saw him king, but she left him with a deep committment to the Christian faith.

Throughout his life he preserved his virginity unblemished. As duke he was a father to his subjects, generous toward orphans, widows, and the poor. On his own shoulders he frequently carried wood to the houses of the needy. He often attended the funerals of the poor, ransomed captives, and visited those suffering in prison. He was filled with a deep reverence toward the clergy; with his own hands he sowed the wheat for making altar breads and pressed the grapes for the wine used in the Mass. During winter he would visit the churches barefoot through snow and ice, frequently leaving behind bloody footprints.

Wenceslaus was eighteen years old when he succeeded his father to the throne. Without regard for the opposition, he worked in close cooperation with the Church to convert his pagan country. He ended the persecution of Christians, built churches and brought back exiled priests. As king he gave an example of a devout life and of great Christian charity, with his people calling him "Good King" of Bohemia.

His brother Boleslaus, however, turned to paganism. One day he invited Wenceslaus to his house for a banquet. The next morning, on September 28, 929, as Wenceslaus was on the way to Mass, Boleslaus struck him down at the door of the church. Before he died, Wenceslaus forgave his brother and asked God's mercy for his soul. Although he was killed for political reasons, he is listed as a martyr since the dispute arose over his faith. This king, martyred at the age of twenty-two, is the national hero and patron of the Czech Republic. He is the first Slav to be canonized.

Catholic News Roundup 09-27

Supreme Court Battle Over Pro-Abortion Obamacare Set for 2012

Let's hope the Supreme Court puts an end to this dangerous legislation which is being forced on society despite the fact that a majority oppose it.

The U.S. Supreme Court appears to be the location for the final battle next summer over the legality of Obamacare, the government-run health care scheme that pro-life groups opposed because it allows abortion funding and prompts rationing concerns.

Late Monday, the Obama administration said it would not ask the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to take up the case on appeal from a judge in Florida, who ruled Obamacare unconstitutional in the case involving Florida and dozens of other states that have signed on to the lawsuit. Last month, a three-judge panel issued a 2-1 ruling agreeing with the federal judge and saying Congress went too far constitutionally in passing Obamacare.

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New alliance supports those threatened for defending marriage

It's ridiculous that we even need this.  I thought the 1st amendment covers this, but there have been a few incidents recently that indicate that this is needed.

The National Organization for Marriage announced Sept. 23 that it is launching the Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance, a new project to defend the freedom to express one’s belief that marriage should be the union of a man and woman without fear of harassment or punishment.

“My sense is that there are too many of us who believe that marriage is the union of husband and wife to stigmatize or marginalize if we come together,” said Maggie Gallagher, co-founder of National Organization for Marriage.

Gallagher told CNA Sept. 26 that the alliance was created in response to “increased reports, both public and private, of people whose livelihoods are being threatened because they disagree with gay marriage.”

“Gay marriage advocates are seeking to create an America in which decent, loving, law-abiding Americans are afraid to stand up for the idea that marriage is the union of husband and wife, for fear of reprisals ranging from insults and invectives like 'hater' and 'bigot,' to practical consequences like the loss of a job,” she said.

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Observers see gay agenda threatening religious freedom

A sad commentary on how marriage is perceived today.

St. Vincent de Paul

The Saint of the Day for September 27 is St. Vincent de Paul.

St. Vincent de Paul was a great apostle of charity, and brought a great revival of the priesthood in the 17th century. He was born near Dax in the Landes (France) in 1581. As a young priest he was captured by Moorish pirates who carried him to Africa. He was sold into slavery, but freed in 1607 when he converted his owner.

Having returned to France, he became successively a parish priest and chaplain to the galley-slaves. He founded a religious Congregation under the title of Priests of the Mission or Lazarists (now known as Vincentians), and he bound them by a special way to undertake the apostolic work of charity; he sent them to preach missions, especially to the ignorant peasants of that time, and to establish seminaries.

In order to help poor girls, invalids, and the insane, sick and unemployed, he and St. Louise de Marillac founded the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity, now better known as the Sisters of St. Vincent.

St. Vincent worked tirelessly to help those in need: the impoverished, the sick, the enslaved, the abandoned, the ignored. He died in 1660 at St. Lazarus's house, Paris. His motto: "God sees you."

"Let us love God; but at the price of our hands and sweat of our face."

Catholic News Roundup 09-26

Sinead O'Connor Threatens the Pope

This comes as no surprise.  Many of you will remember Sinead ripping up a picture of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live while saying "Fight the real enemy".

 

Irish singer Sinead O'Connor is warning Pope Benedict XVI not to come to Ireland, and if he does, she wants him shot. She warned on Twitter there will be a "f***in bloodbath" if the pope visits Ireland.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on her outburst:

Sinead O'Connor has a long history of Catholic bashing, so in one sense her latest foray is not unusual. What's new, however, is her advocacy of violence. Given her precarious condition, it is not likely she could shoot straight, but her violent appeal may trigger others to act. That is the danger.

O'Connor is not doing well. The cops were recently summoned to her home after she Tweeted about suicide. She needs long-term help. In the meantime, whatever family or friends she has would do well to get her to ramp down her rhetoric and at least pretend to be normal.

Best images of pope's trip to Germany

video: The Crusade 09-26

When someone attacks the Catholic Church about the Crusades, make sure you tell them to go check their history. Chances are close to certain, they don't know what they're talking about.

Cain Wins Florida Straw Poll, Romney Wins in Michigan

In two key straw polls conducted yesterday (Saturday) in Florida and Michigan, businessmen Herman Cain and Mitt Romney came away the winners — as Rick Perry, the Texas governor, finished second in both surveys of Republicans.

The polling results are the latest blow for the Perry campaign, which many Republican political observers say has taken a hit with three straight poor debate performances and the pro-life advocate enduring aggressive attacks from his pro-life rivals on other political issues. The Perry campaign, if it wants to return the candidate to his frontrunner status he obtained after jumping the race, will have to work overtime to re-establish the traction it once had.

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Mom With Cystic Fibrosis Rejects Abortion, Has Triplets

Kandace is a real pro-life hero  :)

Louisiana resident Kandace Smith is the latest hero when it comes to putting the birth and care of her own children ahead of herself — as she, while  suffering from cystic fibrosis, rejected abortion to have triplets.

Because they didn’t believe she would survive, doctors told Smith she should have an abortion — destroying the lives of her three unborn children to save her own. because of the pressure a pregnancy puts on already-embattled lungs dealing with the medical condition, Smith’s physicians told her they worried about her own life as a result of the high-risk pregnancy situation.

But Smith refused and went ahead to give birth to her three children, in what some reports say is a medical first. Ultimately Smith carried the children for 28 weeks before her lungs began failing and doctors delivered the children at Tulane-Lakeside Hospital.

“I couldn’t believe that I was actually pregnant, and when the scan showed there were three heartbeats I nearly passed out,” Smith told the London Daily Mail newspaper in a new interview. “I didn’t actually believe it was possible – and there were three babies in my womb.”

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Sts. Cosmas and Damian

The Saints of the Day for September 26 are Sts. Cosmas and Damian.

This is one of the most ancient feasts of the Church, and these two martyrs have been honored in the East and West in many ways, including the building of churches in their honor in Rome and Constantinople. Along with St. Luke, they are the patron saints of doctors. Little is known of their true history, but the legend that has come down to us is of very early origin.

Sts. Cosmas and Damian were venerated in the East as the "moneyless ones" because they practiced medicine gratis. According to the legend, they were twin brothers, born in Arabia, who studied in Syria and became skilled physicians. They were supposed to have lived on the Bay of Alexandretta in Cilicia, in what is now Turkey.

Since they were prominent Christians, they were among the first arrested when the great persecution under Diocletian began. Lysias, the governor of Cilicia, ordered their arrest, and they were beheaded. Their bodies, it was said, were carried to Syria and buried at Cyrrhus.

What is certain is that they were venerated very early and became patrons of medicine, known for their miracles of healing. The Emperor Justinian was cured by their intercession and paid special honor to the city of Cyrrhus where their relics were enshrined. Their basilica in Rome, adorned with lovely mosaics, was dedicated in the year 530. They are named in the Roman Martyrology and in the Canon of the Mass, testifying to the antiquity of their feast day.

The great honor in which they are held and the antiquity of their veneration indicate some historical memory among the early Christians who came out of the great persecutions with a new cult of Christian heroes. Cosmas and Damian were not only ideal Christians by their practice of medicine without fee, they also symbolized God's blessing upon the art of healing and that respect for every form of science, which is an important part of Christian tradition.

Movie Review: Abduction - PG13

While working on a school project, Nathan (Taylor Lautner)  sees himself on a missing persons website and discovers that the parents he was raised by are not his real parents.   And there are several people trying to stop him from finding out more about his real parents.

There is plenty of action, mostly chase scenes and fight scenes, all driven by a very compelling and suspenseful  story.

Content warnings include some violence and a few curses.

There is one open question at the end which leads me to believe there will be a sequel.

An excellent movie!

http://www.abductionthefilm.com/

Blessed Anton Martin Slomshek

The Saint of the Day for September 24 is Blessed Anton Martin Slomshek.

Anton Martin Slomshek who was born November 26, 1800 at Ponikva, Slovenia is the first Slovenian to be beatified.

Slomshek is known as a great educator, largely responsible for the nearly 100% literacy rate among Slovenians, a remarkable turn around from the very poor state of the nation's educational levels at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

In the late 18th and early 19th century, the Slovenian education system had been crippled by the Austrian empire's suppression of their native language and culture. This left them without their own schools, texts and magazines and newspapers.

As bishop, Anton Martin Slomshek reformed the schools in Slovenia, and rebuilt the education system, giving it Catholicism and Slovene history as a foundation.  He wrote many textbooks, began a weekly review, and wrote many books and essays concerning whatever questions he considered relevant to the intellectual needs of his people.

He founded a society for the spread of Catholic literature, an organization responsible in large part for making possible the rejuvenation of the Catholic cultural base of the Slovenian nation.

He was known as a simple and humble man, possessed with a childlike purity, and was loved by his priests and his flock.

Blessed Anton once remarked, "When I was born, my mother laid me on a bed of straw, and I desire no better pallet when I die, asking only to be in the state of grace and worthy of salvation."

Blessed Anton died September 24, 1862 in Maribor, Slovenia and was beatified September 19, 1999 by Pope John Paul II.

Catholic News Roundup 09-23

New CatholicVote App Unites Catholic Pro-Life Voters in 2012

To defeat pro-abortion President Barack Obama, pro-life Catholic voters will need to turn out in larger numbers than they did in 2008, when Obama received a larger-than-expected portion of the Catholic vote.

A new smart phone application designed for a leading pro-life Catholic group may be the answer to uniting and empowering Catholic voters to support pro-life candidate next year.

Little i Apps, the maker of Confession: A Roman Catholic App, has collaborated with CatholicVote.org in the development of CatholicVote Mobile, an app that helps mobilize and unify the Catholic voting community. Features of the new App include mobile access to the CatholicVote.org blogs and videos, and a unique method for contacting federal representatives and senators.

The application maker developed a one-touch method that will, for the first time, allow Catholic voters to more easily participate in political activism. Based on a user’s GPS location or zip code, the app generates the contact information for their congressional representative and senators, including name, state and party, phone, fax, website, e-mail, office address, Facebook ID, Twitter ID, and YouTube channel. Users can select to automatically add this information to their contact lists or simply tap to connect.

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video: Fight, for God's Sake, Fight!

There is only one way that the growing acceptance of homosexuality in the Catholic Church is going to be slowed and stopped. And its the same way that all the evils and corruption are going to be stopped.

Another priest removed for explaining church teaching on homosexuality, now in Texas

This is pretty frightening, when good priests are punished for being faithful to Church teachings.

Just after news broke that a priest in Canada had been suspended from active ministry for speaking out against abortion and homosexual behavior, news has also broken that a Texas priest who stirred controversy last month by publishing essays that condemned the homosexual lifestyle is being removed from his parish, ABC-7 reports. However, unlike the situation in Canada, where the priest was removed from active ministry altogether, the Texas priest is being transferred to another parish.

Rev. Michael Rodriguez

Rev. Michael Rodriguez published four opinion pieces in the El Paso Times last month explaining the Church’s teaching on homosexuality, and exhorting Catholics to oppose efforts to legalize same-sex unions.

The Times has revealed that the essays, which were run as paid advertisements, were funded by a couple from Plano, Texas.

The advertisements were run in the midst of controversy over a local recall petition aimed at removing three El Paso officials for promoting gay rights legislation.

Critics have zeroed in on a few passages in Rodriquez’s essays that refer to the recall effort to claim that the priest was over-stepping the bounds of Church-State separation.

Texas high school student suspended for saying homosexuality is wrong

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Pro-Life Sam Brownback Endorses Rick Perry for President

Rick Perry has picked up the endorsement of a former 2008 presidential candidate who made pressing pro-life themes the hallmark of his campaign:  pro-life Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback.

The Midwestern governor endorsed his fellow Republican governor today and, tonight, Brownback is expected to attend the GOP presidential debate as Perry’s guest. Brownback’s endorsement makes him the third governor who has indicated support for Perry, following Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval.

“I have known and worked with Rick Perry for over twenty years. He is the right leader for this moment in history,” said Gov. Brownback. “Now more than ever, America needs a President who knows how to create jobs and stop Washington’s runaway spending.  Rick Perry balanced budgets in tough economic times, signed the largest tax cut in state history and helped Texas become the national leader in job creation.  On the most important issues of our time, his record of leadership serves as a blueprint for America’s renewal.”

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St. Padre Pio

The Saint of the Day7 for September 23 is St. Padre Pio.

Born to a southern Italian farm family, the son of Grazio, a shepherd. At age 15 he entered the novitiate of the Capuchin Friars in Morcone, and joined the order at age 19. He suffered several health problems, and at one point his family thought he had tuberculosis. He was ordained at age 22 on 10 August 1910.

While praying before a cross on September 20, 1918, Padre Pio received the stigmata. He is the first priest ever to be so blessed. As word spread, especially after American soldiers brought home stories of Padre Pio following WWII, the priest himself became a point of pilgrimage for both the pious and the curious. He would hear confessions by the hour, reportedly able to read the consciences of those who held back. He was reportedly able to bi-locate, levitate, and heal by touch.

In 1956 he founded the House for the Relief of Suffering, a hospital that serves 60,000 a year. Padre Pio died on September 23, 1968 at age 81.

Today there are over 400,000 members worldwide in prayer groups begun by Padre Pio in the 1920's.

His canonization miracle involved the cure of Matteo Pio Colella, age 7, the son of a doctor who works in the House for Relief of Suffering, the hospital in San Giovanni Rotondo. On the night of June 20, 2000, Matteo was admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital with meningitis. By morning doctors had lost hope for him as nine of the boy's internal organs had ceased to give signs of life. That night, during a prayer vigil attended by Matteo's mother and some Capuchin friars of Padre Pio's monastery, the child's condition improved suddenly. When he awoke from the coma, Matteo said that he had seen an elderly man with a white beard and a long, brown habit, who said to him: "Don't worry, you will soon be cured." The miracle was approved by the Congregation and Pope John Paul II on 20 December 2001. 

Catholic News Roundup 09-22

video: Allowing Evil to Flourish

Facebook, Google, social media sites ‘actively’ censor Christian content: study

A new study has found that Google and other major social media sites such as Facebook have “actively” censored Christian and conservative viewpoints.

The report, conducted by National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) and the American Center for Law and Justice, examined the policies and practices of several major Internet-interactive “new media” communications platforms and service providers, including Apple and its iTunes App Store, Facebook, Google, and others.Many of the top social media sites have been found to be "actively" censoring Christian viewpoints (this also includes PayPal).

The study found that some of the new media technology companies have outright banned Christian content, and that all social media sites, except Twitter, have speech policies more restrictive than the free speech rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution.

According to the study, seven of the major social media sites have banned “hate speech,” a term that the study authors point out “is often applied in the culture to stifle Christian communicators.”

The study authors also found that some of the media companies have been responsive to demands by pressure groups calling for censorship of conservative or Christian viewpoints. 

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Many experts describe the unfolding of a religious persecution as having five stages:

1. stigmatizing the targeted group,
2. marginalizing its role in society,
3. vilifying it for alleged crimes or misconduct,
4. criminalizing it,
5. and finally, persecuting it outright.

Some commentators see U.S. society as currently moving from the third stage of this process to the fourth.

(from Freerepublic)

SNAP campaign condemned for undermining crimes against humanity

I believe that any priest who is convicted of sexual abuse should be defrocked, excommunicated, and put in jail.

But...I also believe that it is wrong to use the actions of a small percentage (< 5%) of priests to attack the entire Catholic Church, and the Pope specifically.

Campaigners demanding that the International Criminal Court prosecute Pope Benedict XVI over clerical sex abuse are being accused of undermining human rights by a leading expert on religion and the law.

“It’s simply a publicity stunt,” said U.K.-based attorney Neil Addison in a Sept. 21 interview with CNA. He added, “what these groups are alleging - even at its very worst - does not fall within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.”

The bid to bring Pope Benedict before the International Criminal Court was launched last week by the American organization Survivors Network of those Abused by Priest (SNAP) and the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights. The groups alleged that the Pope had “direct Iand superior responsibility for the crimes against humanity of rape and other sexual violence committed around the world.”

On Sept. 20 the campaigners held a press conference in Rome asking for any Vatican employees with evidence against Pope Benedict – and three other senior Vatican officials - to come forward.

“I’d probably get sued if I answered that,” Addison said when he was asked what he thinks of the conduct of such lawyers.

But even though he calls the move by SNAP a publicity stunt, Addison maintains it is far from harmless. “I think it damages the idea of crimes against humanities because it demeans it.”

Bill Donohue comments on SNAP

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St. Maurice And Companions

The Saints of the Day for September 22 are St. Maurice And Companions.

Saint Maurice was a member of the Theban Legion, a Roman legion said to have been constituted by Christian soldiers from Africa, which was called to put down a revolt in Aaunum, located in modern day Switzerland, in the year 287.

Two legends exist about the martyrdom of St. Maurice and his companions. According to the legends, the legion's soldiers were either ordered to take part in pagan sacrifices, or ordered to harass and kill some local Christians. In either event the 6,600 men of Maurice's legion refused. In punishment for their disobedience, every tenth man in the legion was killed. When the remaining soldiers, fortified by St. Maurice, still refused other legions were called in to force them to follow their orders. Persisting in their refusal, they were all massacred.

Catholic News Roundup 09-21

video: The Gay "Question"

A very important question is demanding to be answered. Why is so little being done by Church leaders to combat the homosexual tide sweeping over so many parishes?

‘No Meat Fridays’ return to England and Wales

I think this is a very good idea.   I hope the U.S. Bishops do this too.

The practice of abstaining from eating meat on Fridays has returned to the Catholic Church in England and Wales after an absence of 27 years.

“I think it’s a very good idea,” father-of-three Dominic Schofield told CNA. He and his wife Margaret, along with their three young daughters, were about to sit down to a Friday dinner of fried fish in their London home.

“Over the past 20 to 30 years we’ve perhaps lost touch with some of the more grounded Catholic practices and that, in turn, has chipped away at belief in more fundamental things too. So the restoration of this ancient Catholic tradition can help reverse that trend,” Schofield said.

The decision to reinstate the custom was announced by the bishops of England and Wales in May. September 16 was chosen as the reintroduction date because it marks the first anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s arrival in the United Kingdom.

The practice of abstaining from meat on Fridays was traditionally a way of remembering that Jesus Christ died on that day of the week. However, the Church in England and Wales abandoned the centuries-old custom back in 1984. 

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St. Matthew

The Saint of the Day for September 21 is St. Matthew.

No one was more shunned by the Jews than a publican, who was a Jew working for the Roman enemy by robbing his own people and making a large personal profit. Publicans were not allowed to trade, eat, or even pray with others Jews.

One day, while seated at his table of books and money, Jesus looked at Matthew and said two words: "Follow me." This was all that was needed to make Matthew rise, leaving his pieces of silver to follow Christ. His original name, "Levi," in Hebrew signifies "Adhesion" while his new name in Christ, Matthew, means "Gift of God." The only other outstanding mention of Matthew in the Gospels is the dinner party for Christ and His companions to which he invited his fellow tax-collectors. The Jews were surprised to see Jesus with a publican, but Jesus explained that he had come "not to call the just, but sinners."

St. Matthew is known to us principally as an Evangelist, with his Gospel being the first in the New Testament. His Gospel was written in Aramaic, the language that our Lord Himself spoke and was written to convince the Jews that their anticipated Messiah had come in the person of Jesus.

Not much else is known about Matthew. According to tradition, he preached in Egypt and Ethiopia and further places East. Some legends say he lived until his nineties, dying a peaceful death, others say he died a martyr's death.

In the traditional symbolization of the evangelists, based on Ezech. 1:5-10 and Rev. 4:6-7, the image of the winged man is accorded to Matthew because his Gospel begins with the human genealogy of Christ.

Pat Robertson Upsets Many With Alzheimer Comments

Pat does it again. 

Hey Pat, what about "Til death do us part"?

Did you forget "in sickness and in health"?

It's unbelievable that a Christian leader would consider marriage vows disposable or make such cruel comments about a sick person.

Televangelist Pat Robertson ignited yet another firestorm this week when he suggested on his program that divorce is an acceptable solution for a husband debating whether to stay with a wife who has Alzheimer’s disease because the disease "is kind of like a death."

Robertson made the comments in response to a caller who said his friend had started seeing another woman after his wife began suffering from Alzheimer’s. But Robertson also suggested consulting an ethicist for a second opinion.

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Fr. Jonathan Morris Comments:

Rolling Stone's Yellow Journalism

Catholic League president Bill Donohue offers a brief statement about a more extended commentary he has written [click here to read it] on an article in the September 15 edition of Rolling Stone, "The Catholic Church's Secret Sex-Crime Files": 

Catholic bashers have gotten a lot of mileage out of the sexual abuse scandal, but for sheer maliciousness, it is hard to top the piece in Rolling Stone. The factual errors, the stereotypes, the grand omissions, and the melodramatic language make for an incredible read. Make no mistake about it, the author, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, has secured her place in the annals of yellow journalism. 

Ten years ago, former Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham was charged with the responsibility of investigating the sexual abuse of minors by the clergy of all religions. She chose to disregard her assignment, choosing only to go after priests; all ministers and rabbis were given a pass. Yet after all her efforts, not a single priest in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was convicted of anything. But in the court of public opinion, many priests, including the last three Philly archbishops, are guilty as sin. That's what Abraham set out to do, and now the baton has been passed to the likes of Erdely.

It does no good to simply say Erdely is wrong—she must be proven wrong. That is why I wrote a lengthy rebuttal, detailing her prejudices and falsehoods. Shame on Rolling Stone for entertaining this vile hit on the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. 

Miscreant priests should be dealt with in a just manner, and punished accordingly; that is what the courts will determine next year when three priests, one ex-priest, and a lay schoolteacher stand trial. In the meantime, everyone would do well to take a deep breath and remember that the accused are considered innocent until proven guilty. That this needs to be said, especially in cases involving priests, is an index of just how tenuous their status is these days.

Contact Jann Wenner, publisher: jann.wenner@rollingstone.com

Catholic News Roundup 09-20

Book Review: "The Queen" by Steven James

Patrick Bowers is called to investigate a double homicide in Wisconsin, and  the investigation soon leads to a much larger conspiracy, one which threatens many lives. 

As Patrick races to stop a disaster, this story reveals more of his personal life:  Patrick's brother Sean and his wife Amber  live in Wisconsin, so we get to meet them.  Patrick's stepdaughter Tessa is preparing for college,  and Patrick and Lien Hua continue their relationship.

Steven James is a Christian author, and there is more discussion of faith in this story than in earlier ones,  specifically in regard to forgiveness;  there are several characters in need of forgiveness. 

Mr. James' storytelling is captivating, and the way he weaves together multiple plots is masterful.  The suspense builds exponentially, to the point that you won't be able to put it down.

An excellent book...Mr. James' best to date!

http://stevenjames.net

video: The Gay "Church"

The push for acceptance of homosexuality is gaining momentum among many Catholics in the pews because not enough is being done to preach the truth clearly and directly by those who should.

Bishop Gries Offers Pro-Life Support for Father Pavone

As Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life awaits word from a Catholic bishop in Texas about whether he will be permitted to continue his full-time pro-life ministry for Priests for Life, a Catholic bishop in Ohio is offering support.

The Most Rev. Roger W. Gries O.S.B., Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland, has offered his ongoing support for Pavone. The pro-life movement has been abuzz with the news that Amarillo Bishop Patrick J. Zurek of the Diocese of Amarillo has asked Father Pavone to come back to serve in the diocese and has temporarily prevented him from exercising his duties as the head of Priests for Life. Zurek alleges, but provided no evidence showing, that there are financial irregularities at Priests for Life despite annual audits from one of the nation’s top accounting firms.

In a letter dated yesterday, Bishop Gries wrote, “Over my ten years as Auxiliary Bishop of Cleveland, I crossed paths many times with Father Frank Pavone. During all this time I have found him dedicated to the preservation of life for the unborn. He and I both work and pray for the day when we will eliminate this horrendous evil from the face of the earth.”

“Supporting abortion happens to be the politically correct stance to take these days,” Bishop Gries continued, adding, “God would love to restore the peace and love found in the Garden of Eden before the fall.  It is our challenge in this age to build up the Kingdom of God.  We will only achieve this goal if we let his will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Bishop Gries asked for prayers for Father Pavone as he works with his bishop in the Diocese of Amarillo. “The work he had done since founding Priests for Life must continue as we face the future. Please continue to support Priests for Life.”

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Cardinal O’Malley: initiative disguises ‘sheer brutality’ of assisted suicide

Flowery language doesn't change the fact that euthanasia is murder.  KUDO's to Cardinal Sean.

A proposed Massachusetts ballot initiative to allow terminally ill patients to take a lethal dose of prescription drugs corrupts the medical profession and undercuts efforts to prevent suicide, Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston said.

Cardinal O’Malley hoped that Massachusetts citizens will not be “seduced” by language about “dignity and compassion,” charging that these words “disguise the sheer brutality of helping people kill themselves,” the Boston Globe reports.

He said people of all faiths must reassure the sick and dying of the value of human life and must work to improve end-of-life care.

At the end of their lives, people fear “losing control” and “being abandoned,” the cardinal told a Mass for Massachusetts lawyers and jurists at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Sept. 17. He said that society will be judged on how it responds to those “who believe their lives have diminished in value.”

Regardless of their religious beliefs, he added, most people “know that suicide is a tragedy, one that a compassionate society should work to prevent.”

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley recently certified the language for the “Death With Dignity” ballot question legalizing the self-administration of a lethal dose of prescription drugs for the terminally ill. Unless there is legislative action, it will be placed on the fall 2012 ballot.

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St. Andrew Kim Taegon and St. Paul Chong Hasang and their companions

The Saints of the Day for September 20 are St. Andrew Kim Taegon and St. Paul Chong Hasang and their companions.

This first native Korean priest was the son of Korean converts. His father, Ignatius Kim, was martyred during the persecution of 1839 and was beatified in 1925. After baptism at the age of fifteen, Andrew traveled thirteen hundred miles to the seminary in Macao, China. After six years he managed to return to his country through Manchuria. That same year he crossed the Yellow Sea to Shanghai and was ordained a priest. Back home again, he was assigned to arrange for more missionaries to enter by a water route that would elude the border patrol. He was arrested, tortured and finally beheaded at the Han River near Seoul, the capital. Paul Chong Hasang was a lay apostle and a married man, aged forty-five. Christianity came to Korea during the Japanese invasion in 1592 when some Koreans were baptized, probably by Christian Japanese soldiers. Evangelization was difficult because Korea refused all contact with the outside world except for an annual journey to Beijing to pay taxes. On one of these occasions, around 1777, Christian literature obtained from Jesuits in China led educated Korean Christians to study. A home church began. When a Chinese priest managed to enter secretly a dozen years later, he found four thousand Catholics, none of whom had ever seen a priest. Seven years later there were ten thousand Catholics. Religious freedom came in 1883.

When Pope John Paul II visited Korea in 1984, he canonized Andrew, Paul, ninety-eight Koreans and three French missionaries who had been martyred between 1839 and 1867. Among them were bishops and priests, but for the most part they were laypersons: forty-seven women, forty-five men.

Among the martyrs in 1839 was Columba Kim, an unmarried woman of twenty-six. She was put in prison, pierced with hot awls and seared with burning coals. She and her sister Agnes were disrobed and kept for two days in a cell with condemned criminals, but were not molested. After Columba complained about the indignity, no more women were subjected to it. The two were beheaded. A boy of thirteen, Peter Ryou, had his flesh so badly torn that he could pull off pieces and throw them at the judges. He was killed by strangulation. Protase Chong, a forty-one-year-old noble, apostatized under torture and was freed. Later he came back, confessed his faith and was tortured to death.

Today there are approximately four million Catholics in Korea.

Catholic News Roundup 09-19

video: Something Weird

PayPal launches investigation of pro-family groups

It's pretty sad when supporting traditional marriage is considered "hate speech".  Even pro-aborts don't have to defend themselves against that.

PayPal is conducting an investigation of several pro-family organizations and individuals targeted by a homosexual campaign that accuses the groups of “hate” and “extremism,” LifeSiteNews has learned.

The inquiry launched by PayPal comes in apparent response to a campaign by the homosexual group All Out, which is asking that PayPal eliminate ten organizations from its service, including LifeSiteNews translator and pro-family blogger Julio Severo, the Catholic activist group Tradition, Family, and Property, and Peter LaBarbera’s Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH).

“We are writing to you in regards to your PayPal Account,” the company states in one of the emails, which have been sent to at least three of the groups on the All Out list so far. PayPal then claims that the organization in question is a “business” and needs “pre-approval” to use PayPal.

“PayPal appreciates that you have chosen us to accept payments for your business.  Upon periodic review,  your account was found to have been conducting as a business requiring pre-approval.  PayPal has the policy that some businesses to register for approval before operating on our system or disallows some businesses from using PayPal as a payment processor for some types of services.  Please see “PayPal Acceptable Use Policy”  under “Legal Agreements”  for more information.”

PayPal then asks several questions of the recipient.

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Peyton Manning Has Adult Stem Cell Procedure to Treat Neck

 I hope this procedure is as successful for Peyton as many have been for others.  Adult stem cells have so far been much more successful than embryonic stem cells...without destroying life.

Peyton Manning, quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts and four-time NFL MVP, apparently went to Europe to get an adult stem cell procedure on his neck, according to a report Sunday by Jay Glazer of Fox Sports.

Manning has had three surgeries on his neck in the last 19 months, Little detail was available, but the information indicates that the procedure may have used adipose (fat) derived adult stem cells from Manning’s own body; this autologous procedure (using your own adult stem cells) bypasses any problems of transplant rejection and is relatively safe.

Manning’s adult stem cells may have then been injected around the site of his problem vertebra in the neck, to assist healing and help with spinal disc fusion. In that respect, it sounds similar to the procedure that Texas Gov. Rick Perry received in Houston, Texas, for his back problem.

Glazer indicates in his report that Manning went to Europe for the adult stem cell procedure because it is not yet approved in the U.S. This may be true, since Europe is well ahead of the U.S. in current use of stem cells for actual patient treatments. ALL of those treatments involve adult stem cells, of course.

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St. Januarius

The Saint of the Day for January 19 is St. Januarius.

Together with his deacons Socius and Festus, and his lector Desiderius, Januarius, bishop of Beneventum, was subjected to most atrocious torturing during the Diocletian persecution (about 304). Nevertheless, with God's aid they were preserved unmaimed. The wild animals let loose upon them would not attack. Beheaded at Puteoli, their bodies were reverently interred in the neighboring cities. Eventually the remains of St. Januarius became the prized possession of the city of Naples.

"Even to the present time the blood of the saint that is preserved in a glass vial will become fluid shortly after it is brought close to the head of the saint; then it bubbles up in a remarkable manner, as if it had just been shed" (Breviary). Cardinal Schuster makes this statement in his Liber Sacramentorum (vol. 8, p. 233): "The author has seen the marvel of the blood liquefaction at closest range and can give witness to the fact. Taking into consideration all the scientific investigations that have been made, he would say that a natural explanation of the phenomena does not seem possible."

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch