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Wednesday, February 29, 2012
St. Oswald
The Saint of the Day for February 29 is St. Oswald.
St. Oswald was born into a military family in 10th-century England. He was the nephew of the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop raised him and fostered his early education.
He traveled to France to study and became a Benedictine monk.
Oswald was appointed bishop of Worcester in 962 and began working hard to promote monastic reform.
He continued his monastic reformation when he was appointed archbishop of York in 972.
Oswald also founded numerous monasteries, which improved the scholarship and morals of his clergy. He invited great thinkers in such fields as mathematics and astronomy to share the monastery's learning.
He was widely known for his sanctity, especially his love for the poor.
At the start of Lent in 992, Oswald resumed his usual practice of washing the feet of 12 poor men each day. On Leap Year Day, February 29, he died after kissing the feet of the twelfth man.
He is remembered as one of three saints who revived English monasticism.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Cardinal George: All Catholic hospitals will close in two years under HHS mandate
And that's exactly what Barry wants. This is an unprecedented attack on religious freedom, and a complete disregard of the first amendment.
Chicago’s Francis Cardinal George is warning the HHS contraception/abortifacient mandate will close Catholic hospitals and universities or force them to secularize, a process he calls “a form of theft.”
If the regulation is not rescinded, the Catholic Church will be “despoiled of her institutions,” he said in a column printed on CatholicNewWorld, likening the proposed policies to the restrictive “freedom of worship” allowed in the Soviet Union.
“What will happen if the HHS regulations are not rescinded?” he asked. A faithful ministry must choose between selling itself to a non-Catholic group, paying “exorbitant annual fines” until going bankrupt, breaking its ties to the Church’s “moral and social teachings and the oversight of its ministry by the local bishop,” or closing down.
He urged people to purchase a copy of the Archdiocesan directory “as a souvenir,” pointing to the page containing a list of Catholic hospitals and health care institutions.
“Two Lents from now, unless something changes, that page will be blank.”
Blessed Villana de’Botti
The Saint of the Day for February 28 is Blessed Villana de’Botti.
Villana de’Botti was a wife and a Third Order Dominican. She was born in Florence in 1332. She was a very pious child, and at age 13 she ran away from home to join a convent. She was refused and returned home. Soon after, her family married her to Rosso di Piero.
The rejection at the convent and the marriage seemed to change Villana. She became lazy and worldly, concerned only with pleasure. One day, as she was getting dressed, her reflection in her mirrors suddenly changed to a demon. Villana understood this to be a reflection of her sinful soul. She tore off her clothes, put on something poor and simple, and ran to the Dominican Fathers for help.
She became a Dominican tertiary, concentrated on her vocation of married life, and spent her free time praying and reading Scripture and the lives of the saints. She was given to religious ecstasies at Mass, visions of Our Lady and the saints, and had the gift of prophecy. She became the object of much ridicule and slander, but even her fiercest opponents eventually came to see her as a living saint.
She died in 1361 of natural causes at the age of 30. Her body was taken to the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, which was under the care of the Dominican Fathers. The priests were unable to bury her for a month due to the constant crowd of mourners. She was beatified by Pope Leo XII in 1824.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Rush: Obama’s infanticide vote ‘most shocking, underreported, significant story I can ever remember’
Rush is right on this. Not only does the mainstream media play down Barry's enthusiasm for abortion, they never mention his vote to leave babies who survive an abortion to die.
The nation’s number one talk show host drew attention to Barack Obama’s history of supporting infanticide on Friday’s show.
Discussing this week’s CNN debate in Mesa, Arizona, Rush Limbaugh told his listeners said the president’s vote against the Illinois version of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act in 2001, 2002, and 2003 amounted to “the most shocking and underreported significant story I can ever remember.”
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich raised the issue of Obama’s support for infanticide after CNN debate moderator John King asked the presidential hopefuls a question about birth control.
The question met with loud audience disapproval, as it was widely interpreted as intended to embarrass Rick Santorum.
Gingrich, who replied first, objected that in 2008, “not once did anybody in the elite media ask why Barack Obama voted in favor of legalizing infanticide.”
“If we’re going to have a debate about who the extremist is on these issues, it is President Obama who, as a state senator, voted to protect doctors who killed babies who survived the abortion,” Gingrich said. “It is not the Republicans.”
As a state senator, Barack Obama voted against a bill that would require abortionists to provide care to an infant who is born alive during the course of a failed abortion. The legislation was brought forward after Jill Stanek, a nurse at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, exposed abortionists’ practice of abandoning babies born alive after failed abortions, leaving them to die in a hospital utility room.
President George W. Bush signed the federal version of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act in 2002. The federal bill passed the U.S. House in an overwhelming 380-15 vote, with a majority of outspokenly pro-abortion representatives supporting the legislation. Even after NARAL withdrew its opposition to the federal version of the bill, Obama had continued to oppose the state version.
“We talked about it during the 2008 campaign,” Limbaugh told an audience of millions. “Nobody wanted to hear it. The hopey-change thing was just too big of a theme.”
Newt “had the courage to use the word ‘infanticide,’” he said. “It’s exactly what was being defended. And unbelievable as this may sound to those of you who never heard about this, every word of it is true.”
Blessed Maria Caridad Brader
The Saint of the Day for February 27 is Blessed Maria Caridad Brader.
Mother Maria Caridad Brader was born into a pious family in Kaltburn, Switzerland, in 1860. Maria was unusually intelligent and her mother, a widow, went through great pains to give her a good education.
Despite her mother's opinion, Maria entered a Franciscan convent in 1880. She made her final vows two years later and began teaching at the convent school.
At the end of the 19th century, it became permissible for cloistered nuns to work as missionaries. Maria volunteered to be one of the first of six sisters to work in Ecuador.
Maria served as a teacher and catechist in Ecuador.
In 1893, she was transferred to Colombia.
In response to an urgent need for missionaries, Maria founded the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary Immaculate in 1893 in Colombia. Maria served as the congregation's superior general until 1919 and again from 1928 to 1940.
Maria urged her sisters to combine contemplation and action with great care. Her congregation also emphasized good education for both the sisters and their students.
“Do not forget that the better educated, the greater the skills the educator possesses, the more she will be able to do for our holy religion and the glory of God,” Maria told her sisters. “The more intense and visible her external activity, the deeper and more fervent her interior life must be.”
Maria died in 1943 in Colombia and her grave immediately became a popular pilgrimage site.
She was beatified by Blessed John Paul II in 2003.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Blessed Maria Adeodata Pisani
The Saint of the Day for February 25 is Blessed Maria Adeodata Pisani.
Blessed Maria Adeodata Pisani was born into a noble family in Naples, Italy in 1806. Her father was an alcoholic and was exiled after being involved in a revolt. Maria's grandmother raised her. When her grandmother died, the 10 year-old was sent to a boarding school until she was 17.
During these years, Maria declined several marriage proposals because she preferred to lead a quiet life of prayer.
When she turned 21, she entered the Benedictine Community in St. Peter's Monastery and took the name Maria Adeodata. She made her solemn profession two years later.
In the cloister, Maria was a seamstress, sacristan, porter, teacher and novice mistress. Her fellow nuns and many people outside the cloister benefited from her charity.
Maria Adeodata wrote various works, the most well-known of these is a collection of her personal reflections between the years 1835 and 1843 titled “The mystical garden of the soul that loves Jesus and Mary”.
She was an abbess from 1851 to 1853 but had to retire from her duties because she suffered from heart problems.
On Feb. 25, 1855, at the age of 48 and in poor health, she dragged herself to the chapel for Mass, against her nurse’s advice. After receiving Communion, she had to be carried back to bed where she died soon afterward.
She had a simple funeral and was buried in the monastery’s crypt the following day.
Maria was remembered for her sanctity, love of the poor, self-imposed sacrifices, and ecstasies so complete that she was seen levitating.
She was beatified by Blessed John Paul II in 2001.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Pope’s Twitter followers jump 400 percent in a day
The number of people following Pope Benedict XVI on Twitter has increased 400 percent over the last 24 hours.
On Feb. 23 his account had 2,500 subscribers, but today that figure is at more than 12,500 and is rising.
“It is quite incredible,” said Monsignor Paul Tighe, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, to CNA on Feb. 24.
“And not just the numbers who are now following the Pope’s Tweets but also the number who are then re-Tweeting his message to others. It’s great.”
The dramatic upsurge in interest in the Pope’s Twitter presence coincided with the beginning of Lent on Feb. 22.
On that day, Vatican officials began Tweeting part of the Pope’s Lenten message, an innovation they will continue every day until Easter.
Twitter is an online social networking site that enables users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters. Anyone can sign up to follow the Pope, whose messages are tweeted in English, Italian, Spanish, German and French, via @Pope2YouVatican. Soon they will also be available in Portuguese.
Seven states sue Obama administration over ObamaCare mandate
Seven states filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration today (Thursday) seeking to overturn the mandate that religious employers provide contraception, sterilization, and abortifacients to their employees as part of their health care plans.
The state attorneys general of Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas filed suit today in U.S. District Court, arguing that the mandate violates both the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. All seven plaintiffs are Republicans.
“Religious liberty is America’s first freedom,” said Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette in a statement e-mailed to LifeSiteNews.com. “Constitutional rights cannot be finessed. Religious liberty cannot be compromised. Any rule, regulation or law that forces faith-based institutions to provide for services that violate their free exercise of religion, or that penalizes them for failing to kneel at the altar of government, is a flat-out violation of the First Amendment.”
Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning said the requirement that religious employers subsidize products that violate their deeply held beliefs – with zero co-pay – “is a threat to every American, regardless of religious faith.”
St. Victorinus
The Saint of the Day for February 24 is St. Victorinus.
Not much is known about the life and history St. Victorinus, but we do know that he died in 284 A.D. as a martyr with companions. He was a citizen of Corinth, Greece, and was exiled with a group of fellow Christians to Egypt during the persecutions under Emperor Numerian. Victorinus and the others had been exiled in 249 and had been living in Egypt. They were arrested again under Governor Sabinus, and were brutally tortured, and finally executed at Diospolis.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Federal court: forcing pharmacists to distribute abortifacient drugs ‘unconstitutional’
What a coincidence...Barry's HHS Mandate is also unconstitutional.
In a decision that could impact the unfolding debate over the HHS mandate, today a federal court in Washington state upheld the First Amendment rights of pharmacists to refuse to distribute potentially abortifacient contraception and abortion-inducing drugs, such as Plan B and Ella, if doing so would violate their religious beliefs. The decision overturns Washington Board of Pharmacy rules approved in 2007 by pro-abortion governor Christine Gregoire, which lacked the exemption.
“The Board of Pharmacy’s 2007 rules are not neutral, and they are not generally applicable,” the court ruled in its decision. “They were designed instead to force religious objectors to dispense Plan B, and they sought to do so despite the fact that refusals to deliver for all sorts of secular reasons were permitted.” The court found the rules “unconstitutional” on First and Fourteenth Amendment grounds.
US clergy declare 'state of emergency' over contraception mandate
Barry is really uniting those who believe in religious freedom.
A group of ministers from numerous religious backgrounds sent a message to the White House declaring a “state of emergency” over a health insurance mandate that may force religious employers to violate their consciences.
“Protestants are beginning to close ranks and join our Catholic friends on this issue,” said Lutheran minister Dr. Norman Lund.
Lund told CNA on Feb. 21 that he considers the issue to be part of his Christian identity and “an issue worth fighting and dying for.” He explained that the core problem “is not birth control” but “the freedom of churches to determine their own policies and positions on issues like birth control.”
“In other words,” he said, “this is an issue of religious liberty and freedom of conscience.”
Lund is a member of the National Clergy Council, a group that represents Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical and Orthodox leaders.
After deliberating with pastors and theologians across the country, the council has declared a state of emergency for the Churches in response to the Obama administration’s contraception mandate.
The mandate will require employers to provide health insurance plans that cover contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs, even if doing so violates their consciences and religious beliefs.
St. Polycarp
The Saint of the Day for February 23 is St. Polycarp.
Polycarp had known those who had known Jesus, and was a disciple of St. John the Apostle, who had converted him around the year 80 AD. He taught, says his own pupil Irenaeus of Lyons, the things that he learned from the Apostles, which the Church hands down, which are true. Irenaeus, who as a young boy knew Polycarp, praised his gravity, holiness, and majesty of countenance. He had lived near Jerusalem and was proud of his early associations with the Apostles.
Polycarp became bishop of Smyrna and held the see for about 70 years. He was a staunch defender of orthodoxy and an energetic opponent of heresy, especially Marcionism and Valentinianism (the most influential of the Gnostic sects). Toward the end of his life he visited Pope St. Anicetus in Rome and, when they could not agree on a date for Easter, decided each would observe his own date. To testify his respect and ensure that the bonds of charity were unbroken, Anicetus invited Polycarp to celebrate the Eucharist in the papal chapel on this occasion. Polycarp suffered martyrdom with 12 others of his flock around the year 156.
Excerpted from St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr by Fr. Paul Haffner (Inside the Vatican, February 2004)
Among the select few from apostolic times about whom we have some historical information is Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna and one of the most glorious martyrs of Christian antiquity. His life and death are attested by the authentic "Acts" of his martyrdom (no similar account is older), as well as by other contemporary writings. It moves us deeply when, for example, we find in St. Irenaeus, a disciple of Polycarp, the passage in which he reminisces:
"The memory of that time when as a youth I was with Polycarp in Asia Minor is as fresh in my mind as the present. Even now I could point to the place where he sat and taught, and describe his coming and going, his every action, his outward appearance, and his manner of discourse to the people. It seems as though I still heard him tell of his association with the apostle John and with others who saw the Lord, and as though he were still relating to me their words and what he heard from them about the Lord and His miracles. . . ."
On the day of his death (February 23) the Martyrology recounts with deep reverence:
"At Smyrna, the death of St. Polycarp. He was a disciple of the holy apostle John, who consecrated him bishop of that city; and there he acted as the primate of all Asia Minor. Later, under Marcus Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus, he was brought before the tribunal of the proconsul; and when all the people in the amphitheater cried out against him, he was handed over to be burned to death. But since the fire caused him no harm, he was put to death by the sword. Thus he gained the crown of martyrdom. With him, twelve other Christians, who came from Philadelphia, met death by martyrdom in the same city."
Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Santorum's Satan Warning
As you can see at the top of the sidebar, although I was leaning Newt earlier, 'A Catholic View' is officially endorsing Rick Santorum for President in 2012.
The "mainstream" media has dug back to 2008 to find a speech by Santorum which they are trying to use to paint him as radical or extreme. But the ironic part? He's not wrong!
"Satan has his sights on the United States of America!" Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum has declared.
"Satan is attacking the great institutions of America, using those great vices of pride, vanity, and sensuality as the root to attack all of the strong plants that has so deeply rooted in the American tradition."
MORE
The former senator from Pennsylvania warned in 2008 how politics and government are falling to Satan.
"This is a spiritual war. And the Father of Lies has his sights on what you would think the Father of Lies would have his sights on: a good, decent, powerful, influential country - the United States of America. If you were Satan, who would you attack in this day and age?"
"He attacks all of us and he attacks all of our institutions."
Santorum made the provocative comments to students at Ave Maria University in Florida.
MORE
The White House contender described how Satan is even taking hold of some religions.
"We look at the shape of mainline Protestantism in this country and it is in shambles, it is gone from the world of Christianity as I see it."
Ash Wednesday
At the beginning of Lent, on Ash Wednesday, ashes are blessed during Mass, after the homily. The blessed ashes are then "imposed" on the faithful as a sign of conversion, penance, fasting and human mortality. The ashes are blessed at least during the first Mass of the day, but they may also be imposed during all the Masses of the day, after the homily, and even outside the time of Mass to meet the needs of the faithful. Priests or deacons normally impart this sacramental, but instituted acolytes, other extraordinary ministers or designated lay people may be delegated to impart ashes, if the bishop judges that this is necessary. The ashes are made from the palms used at the previous Passion Sunday ceremonies. — Ceremonies of the Liturgical Year, Msgr. Peter J. Elliott
The act of putting on ashes symbolizes fragility and mortality, and the need to be redeemed by the mercy of God. Far from being a merely external act, the Church has retained the use of ashes to symbolize that attitude of internal penance to which all the baptized are called during Lent. — Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy
From the very early times the commemoration of the approach of Christ's passion and death was observed by a period of self-denial. St. Athanasius in the year 339 enjoined upon the people of Alexandria the 40 days' fast he saw practiced in Rome and elsewhere, "to the end that while all the world is fasting, we who are in Egypt should not become a laughing stock as the only people who do not fast but take our pleasure in those days." On Ash Wednesday in the early days, the Pope went barefoot to St. Sabina's in Rome "to begin with holy fasts the exercises of Christian warfare, that as we do battle with the spirits of evil, we may be protected by the help of self-denial."
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
2,500 religious leaders, every U.S. bishop oppose Obama mandate
The Family Research Council has released a letter signed by over 2,500 pastors and evangelical leaders protesting the Obama administration’s birth control insurance mandate. They join every Catholic bishop that heads a diocese in the United States in opposition to the mandate.
“This is not a Catholic issue,” Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins said in unveiling the letter at a press conference today. “We will not tolerate any denomination having their religious freedom infringed upon by the government.”
Perkins was accompanied Bishop Harry Jackson, Dr. Richard Land, Pastor Gary Simons, and Star Parker.
Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council
In the letter released by the FRC, the leaders cited the words of Thomas Jefferson in the 1779 Virginia Act for Establishing Religious Freedom, a forerunner to the First Amendment, which states: “to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical.”
“The vast majority of religious organizations will be required to choose either to violate their consciences or drop their health coverage for employees,” stated the leaders, noting that the mandate is “all the more egregious” for including drugs known to cause abortions such as the “week-after pill” Ella.
“No church should be forced to concede their faith to kneel at the altar of government. And until the administration rights this wrong, we unite with our allies in diverse faith traditions in demanding what George Washington called ‘the invaluable rights of free citizens,’” said Perkins.
Biggest 40 Days for Life Pro-Life Campaign Starts Wednesday
The biggest 40 Days for Life campaign in the history of the prayerful pro-life event starts Wednesday, as pro-life advocates in hundreds of cities across the U.S. and around the world take prayer and peaceful signs to abortion centers.
“Are you ready to be part of something big?” asks Shawn Carney, the director of the campaign. “Are you ready to pray and fast, stand in peaceful vigil, change hearts and minds — and save lives? If so, it will require sacrifice … but it will be worth it.”
“Tomorrow, you have the opportunity to join the largest spring 40 Days for Life campaign in history, as it kicks off in 258 cities across America and around the world,” Carney said.
Carney says he is still surprised by the success of the pro-life event.
“When we conducted the first 40 Days for Life campaign in College Station, Texas, back in 2004, if you had told me that 40 Days for Life would spread around the globe … I wouldn’t have believed it,” he said. “We thought there would be one — and only one — 40 Days for Life campaign. Ever. Thankfully, God’s plans were bigger than ours … and 40 Days for Life has now been conducted in hundreds of cities and towns across all 50 American states — and thirteen other countries.”
Carney said Great Britain is one of the foreign locations where the pro-life event is making an impact.
St. Peter Damian
The Saint of the Day for February 21 is St. Peter Damian.
St. Peter Damian must be numbered among the greatest of the Church's reformers in the Middle Ages, yes, even among the truly extraordinary persons of all times. In Damian the scholar, men admire wealth of wisdom: in Damian the preacher of God's word, apostolic zeal; in Damian the monk, austerity and self-denial; in Damian the priest, piety and zeal for souls; in Damian the cardinal, loyalty and submission to the Holy See together with generous enthusiasm and devotion for the good of Mother Church. He was a personal friend of Pope Gregory VII. He died in 1072 at the age of 65.
On one occasion he wrote to a young nephew, "If I may speak figuratively, drive out the roaring beasts from your domain; do not cease from protecting yourself daily by receiving the Flesh and Blood of the Lord. Let your secret foe see your lips reddened with the Blood of Christ. He will shudder, cower back, and flee to his dark, dank retreat."
In his poem, the Divine Comedy, Dante places Damian in the "seventh heaven." That was his place for holy people who loved to think about or contemplate God.
— Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch
Monday, February 20, 2012
Alabama Supreme Court in landmark ruling: ‘each person has a God-given right to life’
Now if only the U.S. Supreme Court would acknowledge the rights of an unborn baby.
In a landmark legal case that established the right of a mother to sue if her unborn child wrongfully dies before viability, today the Alabama State Supreme Court unanimously ruled that “each person has a God-given right to life.”
A concurring opinion issued by four judges specifically stated that Roe v. Wade‘s viability standard “should be rejected by other states until the day it is overruled by the United States Supreme Court.”
The Alabama Supreme Court
Amy Hamilton sued after doctors repeatedly failed to administer ultrasounds. When an eventual ultrasound showed her child was unusually small and had developed a small fold at the back of his neck – a possible sign of severe anemia and hydrops, which can cause congestive heart failure – she requested to be referred to a perinatologist at another clinic but was refused.
On March 10, 2005, her son was stillborn.
A lower court had ruled that, since the child had not yet reached the stage that it could survive outside the womb, she could not pursue a wrongful death claim “for the death of [her] non-viable fetus.”
Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto
The Saints of the Day for February 20 are Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto.
Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, three children, Portuguese shepherds from Aljustrel, received apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria, near Fatima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon. At that time, Europe was involved in an extremely bloody war. Portugal itself was in political turmoil, having overthrown its monarchy in 1910; the government disbanded religious organizations soon after.
At the first appearance, Mary asked the children to return to that spot on the thirteenth of each month for the next six months. She also asked them to learn to read and write and to pray the rosary “to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war.” They were to pray for sinners and for the conversion of Russia, which had recently overthrown Czar Nicholas II and was soon to fall under communism. Up to 90,000 people gathered for Mary’s final apparition on October 13, 1917.
Less than two years later, Francisco died of influenza in his family home. He was buried in the parish cemetery and then re-buried in the Fatima basilica in 1952. Jacinta died of influenza in Lisbon, offering her suffering for the conversion of sinners, peace in the world and the Holy Father. She was re-buried in the Fatima basilica in 1951. Their cousin, Lucia dos Santos, became a Carmelite nun and was still living when Jacinta and Francisco were beatified in 2000. Sister Lucia died five years later. The shrine of Our Lady of Fatima is visited by up to 20 million people a year.
— Excerpted from Saint of the Day: Lives, Lessons and Feast by Leonard Foley, O.F.M.; revised by Pat McCloskey, O.F.M.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
St.Simon
The Saint of the Day for February 18 is St.Simon.
A relative of Jesus', possibly a first cousin. He is in the Gospel of Matthew, and is one of the brethren of Christ mentioned in Acts who was present at the birth of the Church on the first Pentecost.
Reported to have been at the martyrdom of Saint James the Lesser, he was chosen to succeed James as bishop of Jerusalem. In 66, before the city fell to the Romans, the Christians received a divine warning, and evacuated to nearby Pella, with Simon as their leader.
In the aftermath of the destruction of Jerusalem, Simon led the Christians back to the city where they flourished, performed miracles, and converted many.
Simon was eventually arrested, tortured and martyred for the twin crimes of being Jewish and Christian.
His death was that of crucifixion.
Friday, February 17, 2012
EVERY Catholic Bishop Opposes Obama Mandate, Lutherans Too
While the mandate is appalling, it is very encouraging to see our Bishops speaking out about it.
Every one of the 181 Catholic bishops in the United States have now issued individual comments, statements or opinion columns condemning the new mandate pro-abortion President Barack Obama put in place forcing religious employers to pay for birth control and abortion-causing drugs.
Thomas Peters, who runs the American Papist blog, has been compiling the statements from each bishop since Obama first put the mandate in place last month.
“From Portland, Maine to San Diego, California; From Miami, Florida to Seattle, Washington,” Peters writes. “Every single Roman Catholic bishop in the United States has condemned in public the Obamacare HHS mandate — all 181 bishops who lead dioceses in the U.S. have spoken.”
“This is a simply incredible, unified, universal Catholic witness on this critical issue of religious freedom,” peters adds. “I am no longer able to find a single Roman Catholic bishop who has NOT spoken out against the mandate publicly. It is also my presumption that this conclusion applies to all Eastern Rite and Sui Iuris bishops in the U.S. It’s a complimentary sign of Catholic solidarity that so many Catholics across the country proudly helped me add their bishop’s name to this list.”
Peters has also compiled a listing of Catholic institutions that have spoken out against the mandate and that number is now at 30 and continues to grow.
But Catholics are not the only pro-life Americans upset by Obama’s attack on religious freedom by having them violate their conscience on pro-life issues.
Reverend Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, President of The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, told members of Congress at a hearing on the mandate yesterday that Baptists are strongly opposed.
Documentary about actress turned nun nominated for Oscar
An amazing story...I'll be pulling for her during the Oscars :)
Mother Dolores Hart, O.S.B., a former actress turned cloistered nun, will attend her first Academy Awards show since 1959 to show support for “God is the Bigger Elvis,” an Oscar-nominated documentary about her and her abbey.
Mother Dolores, 73, was an award-winning actress who performed in two Elvis Presley movies. In 1963, she was about to sign a seven-figure contract and was engaged to a Los Angeles businessman when she decided to join the Benedictine Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Conn, where she is now prioress.
The 37-minute documentary talks about Mother Dolores’ story and about life at the abbey. It is an Oscar nominee for best documentary short category and will premiere April 5 on HBO.
“I adored Hollywood. I didn't leave because it was a place of sin,” she told USA Today.
"I left Hollywood at the urging of a mysterious thing called vocation. It's a call that comes from another place that we call God because we don't have any other way to say it. It's a call of love. Why do you climb a mountain?"
The nun said she allowed cameras to access the abbey to help those who are soul-searching.
“We wanted to invite the world into another order of life that might give some hope,” she said.
The documentary interviews Mother Dolores and other nuns like Sister John Mary, 44, a former Oxford-educated advertising executive who came to the abbey after a period of addiction.
It also covers the last meeting of Mother Dolores and her ex-fiancé Don Robinson, who never married. He continued to visit and help the abbey until his death in December 2011.
Seven Founders of the Order of Servites
February 17 is the Feast of the Seven Founders of the Order of Servites .
These seven men were the founders of the Servite Order, a community instituted for the special purpose of cultivating the spirit of penance and contemplating the passion of Christ and Mary's Seven Sorrows. Due to the spirit of humility cherished by the members of the Order, their accomplishments are not too widely known. But in the field of home missions great things are to their credit, and certainly they have benefited millions by arousing devotion to the Mother of Sorrows.
The Breviary tells us that in the midst of the party strife during the thirteenth century, God called seven men from the nobility of Florence. In the year 1233 they met and prayed together most fervently. The Blessed Mother appeared to each of them individually and urged them to begin a more perfect life. Disregarding birth and wealth, in sackcloth under shabby and well-worn clothing they withdrew to a small building in the country. It was September 8, selected so that they might begin to live a more holy life on the very day when the Mother of God began to live her holy life.
Soon after, when the seven were begging alms from door to door in the streets of Florence, they suddenly heard children's voices calling to them, "Servants of holy Mary." Among these children was St. Philip Benizi, then just five months old. Hereafter they were known by this name, first heard from the lips of children. In the course of time they retired into solitude on Monte Senario and gave themselves wholly to contemplation and penance. Leo XIII canonized the Holy Founders and introduced today's feast in 1888.
— Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Baptist Gov. Mike Huckabee on Obama mandate: ‘We are all Catholics now’
Barry's determination to force everyone to pay for contraception and abortion is really uniting Catholics, pro-lifers and everyone who believes in freedom of religion.
Many observers have been buoyed by the stunning display of unity between Catholics and Evangelicals against President Obama’s effort to force religious institutions to cover sterilizations, contraceptives, and abortion-inducing drugs.
The sentiment was on full display at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday, when former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee declared: “We are all Catholics now.”
Before an enthusiastic crowd, the Southern Baptist pastor opened by thanking President Obama: “You have done more than any person in the entire GOP field, any candidate has done, to bring this party to unity, and energize this party, as a result of your attack on religious liberty and the attack on the personhood of every human being in America.”
“I remember very vividly when John F. Kennedy said that ‘we are all Berliners’. Well in many ways, thanks to president Obama, we are all Catholics now,” Huckabee said.
Now famed radio host Glenn Beck, a Mormon, has turned Huckabee’s phrase into a lobbying movement, urging his fans to lobby their senators to support Sen. Roy Blunt’s conscience protection measure.
St. Onesimus
The Saint of the Day for February 16 is St. Onesimus.
St. Onesimus was a slave to Philemon, an influential man who had been converted by St. Paul. Onesimus offended Philemon and fled in order to escape any sort of retribution. He then met St. Paul while Paul was in a Roman prison. Shortly after, Onesimus was baptized.
Paul then sent a letter to Philemon asking for Onesimus' freedom, so Onesimus could become one of his own assistants. This letter is the Epistle to Philemon and entreats Philemon to accept Onesimus “no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a brother, beloved especially to me.”
Philemon pardoned Onesimus and he returned to faithfully serve St. Paul. We know that St. Paul made him, with Tychicus, the bearer of his Epistle to the Colossians. (Col. 4:7-9)
Later, as St. Jerome and other fathers testify, he became an ardent preacher of the Gospel and succeeded St. Timothy as bishop of Ephesus.
He was cruelly tortured in Rome, for 18 days, by a governor who was infuriated by his preaching on the merit of celibacy. Onesimus' legs and thighs were broken with bludgeons before he was stoned to death.
His martyrdom occurred under Domitian in the year 90.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
video: Is Catholicism Superior?
The universal nature of the Truth established by Christ while he was on earth--The Catholic Faith--needs to be proclaimed as the only True Religion.
Miss Delaware: ‘Life is beautiful, and life begins at conception’
What an excellent role model Maria is!
Maria Cahill is not your typical Miss Delaware. Underneath the glittery dresses, and dazzling smile is a girl who is down-to- earth, motivated, and courageous.
She is determined to redefine the “pageant girl image” by proving that your favorite meal can be a Big Mac from McDonald’s (don’t forget the large fry!), and you don’t have to think twice before playing video games with your brothers.
She couldn’t care less if she broke a nail; but most importantly she couldn’t care less about what people think of the principles she lives by and the causes she is adamant about. Where is the golden rule that if you are a beautiful and confident young woman in the spotlight you must either conceal your conservative values or pump your fist high for “women’s rights”? Well, it’s her body, her choice, and she has chosen to stand for life.
Maria Cahill with a young fan.
Maria is the second oldest of seven children, and has always been passionate about the pro-life movement:
“It came from growing up in a household where the value of life was respected no matter what the case. I became even more involved when I met women that were contemplating abortion. Seeing the pain in their eyes and hearing them talk about the fact that they believed that there was no other way out was heart wrenching; and honestly made me want to make a difference”.
Standing firm amidst today’s opposition is not an easy task, though. Shocking right? No, but one would hope that in a society that promotes the “liberation of women”, a young woman would be free to speak her mind on one of the biggest controversies that has enveloped her generation. “Thinking of the lives that will be lost, and how these children have not had the opportunity to make a name for themselves”, only compels her even more to be their voice. She continues to spread her message regardless of the harsh criticism she sometimes receives along the way. “One of my mottos is, “it is better to be hated for who you are than to be loved for who you are not”. I love that :)
Four days after returning home from the Miss America competition, Maria was back on the road again; only, this time to a less flashy destination. The 2012 March for Life in Washington, D.C. couldn’t have been a more perfect opportunity for Miss Delaware to be a public witness for this powerful movement.
In an interview with EWTN’s Teresa Tomeo during the march, Maria stated “it doesn’t matter whether I’m a Miss Delaware or just Maria Cahill walking the streets. My message is still the same, and that is that life is beautiful and life begins at conception”. The Truth!
go to 1:12 in the video
Former lingerie model abandons Victoria Secret career, vows to honor husband and God
Kylie Bisutti beat 10,000 contenders to become a Victoria Secret model, but now she’s walking away from her dream job, vowing to reserve her body for her husband.
Bisutti credited her Christian faith with helping her to come to her decision in an interview this week on Good Morning America.
Kylie Bisutti
“Growing in my relationship with the Lord, and my faith, I’m a strong believing Christian, I just became so convicted about wanting to honor my husband with my body and wanting to be a role model for other women out there who look up to me,” she said.
The California native was newly married to her husband, Mike, when she entered a Victoria Secret model search in 2009, determined to win.
“I want this, and I’ll do what it takes to get it,” she had vowed. But after two years working for the notorious lingerie company, a comment from her eight-year-old cousin sparked a dramatic turn-around.
“I was doing my make-up in the mirror one day, and she was watching me,” Bisutti recalled. “She just looked at me and she was like, ‘I think I want to stop eating so I can look like you. And it just broke my heart, because she looks up to me.”
Now, Bisutti is using the unexpected flood of media attention to encourage young women to reject some of the false messages that she fears she was sending in her previous line of work. Beauty is “a heart issue,” rather than an “outer issue,” she says.
St. Claude de la Colombiere
The Saint of the Day for February 15 is St. Claude de la Colombiere.
Claude de la Colombiere was born to an extremely devout family in 1641 in a small town in the diocese of Grenoble, France.
In 1650 Claude went to Lyon to attend a junior college run by Jesuits. When he was 17, Claude felt a call to religious life and entered the Jesuit novitiate house in Avignon. He made his first vows in 1660.
Claude made his final vows in 1675 and was appointed superior at Paray-le-Monial, a remote convent. While many people wondered why he was sent there, it was so he could be the spiritual director of St. Margaret Mary. The Lord had promised to send her a “faithful servant and perfect friend” to help her realize His mission for her.
Claude became St. Margaret Mary's spiritual director and encouraged her to spread the devotion to the Sacred Heart.
He was then sent to England to be court preacher for the duchess of York, wife of the future James II.
Many people reconciled with the Church during his time in London because of his exuberant sermons and spiritual direction.
After a year in London, he wrote: “I could write a book about the mercy of God I've seen Him exercise since I arrived here!”
Claude was then accused of participating in the alleged “popish plot” to assassinate King Charles II and imprisoned. He was released, through the intervention of Louis XIV of France, but banished from the country. He spent his last years at Paray-le-Monial.
He died on in 1682. Claude de la Colombiere was beatified in 1929 and canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1992.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Catholic Health Association collaboration with Obama admin on mandate a ‘scandal’: Catholic leader
"Sister" Keehan strikes again.
Nothing says 'dissent' quite like an abortion-supporting nun.
She is a disgrace.
She is a disgrace.
Almost immediately after President Obama announced the details of his “accommodation” on Friday morning, Catholic Health Association (CHA) President Sr. Carol Keehan registered her support, long before any other Catholic organizations had the opportunity to analyze the White House’s statement, let alone to issue a statement for or against. Some in the Catholic Church are calling Keehan’s close working relationship with the administration in drafting a measure that still violates their common religious beliefs a “scandal.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that the president called three people before delivering his speech on the birth control mandate Friday morning: Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB); Sr. Keehan; and Cecile Richards, the president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Sr. Carol Keehan
Richards and Sr. Keehan issued statements supporting the accommodation almost immediately after the speech. The White House had seen Keehan’s endorsement before delivering the speech, which would require health insurance companies to provide contraceptives, abortifacients, and sterilization to employees or religious institutions “free of charge.”
John Brehany, executive director of the Catholic Medical Association, told LifeSiteNews.com, “I think it’s a scandal that [CHA’s] statement mirrored that of Planned Parenthood so closely in tone and timing. Christian prudence demands a much higher threshold of scrutiny before jumping on the bandwagon, especially given the clear attack on religious freedom and the clear attack on the Catholic Church inherent in this decision.”
Sr. Keehan said the CHA was “pleased and grateful that the religious liberty and conscience protection needs of so many ministries that serve our country were appreciated enough that an early resolution of this issue was accomplished.” Several news outlets balanced CHA’s statement against Planned Parenthood’s, leaving the impression the accommodation has satisfied leaders on both sides.
It would not represent the nun’s first collaboration with the Obama administration on a policy her bishops opposed. Last June, Francis Cardinal George said, “Sr. Carol and her colleagues are to blame” for the passage of the president’s health care bill. “The Catholic Health Association and other so-called Catholic groups provided cover for those on the fence to support Obama and the administration,” he wrote. Such groups, Cardinal George said, had “weakened the moral voice of the bishops in the U.S.” and caused “confusion and a wound to Catholic unity.”
story
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