LES FEMMES - THE TRUTH

Faithful Catholic Subculture Needs to Evangelize

2012-01-31T14:15:00.000-05:00

Russell Shaw is warning faithful Catholics not to withdraw from the culture but to participate in the "new evangelization." He sees signs of the orthodox pulling out with a "ghetto" mentality. Don't do it, Catholics, he warns. And I shout a loud AMEN! We need to engage the culture. The pro-life movement shows how. Take the battle to the market place even if we're ultimately driven to the catacombs. But the ghetto? Never! Here's a selection from Shaw's piece:

In recent years, however, a reaction has set in. Disgusted with the secular culture, growing numbers of individuals and families, both Catholic and non-Catholic, have begun taking steps to withdraw from what they judge to be a morally destructive environment.

Some home-school their children to avoid the sex education imposed in schools. Some have given up on television and take great pains to police internet use. Still others have made the radical move of quitting big cities and their suburbs in favor of smaller, more tradition-minded and culturally homogeneous communities making fewer assaults on their eyes, ears, and morals. (Thomas Monaghan’s Ave Maria, Florida is a high-profile prototype of this.) Meanwhile, the infrastructure of a new Catholic subculture has begun to emerge. It can be seen in a handful of proudly orthodox Catholic colleges and universities, media ventures like the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) and rapidly expanding Catholic radio stations, a growing number of websites and periodicals and a few publishing houses, and organizations and movements dedicated to promoting Catholic spirituality—especially, a spirituality of the laity. In other cases, older Catholic institutions and programs have begun taking steps to reaffirm their Catholic idenity. Often, these things happen with encouragement from a new generation of bishops and priests who have gotten the message and taken it to heart. This is all to the good—up to a point. But note that when I speak of the desirability of a new Catholic subculture, I do not mean a self-regarding, inward-looking ghetto. Unfortunately, signs of such a thing already can be glimpsed here and there. They seem likely to spread if steps are not taken to discourage that from happening. Here is where the new evangelization comes in. It provides rationale and motivation for Catholics to set their sights on something far better than a Catholic ghetto—the creation of a new, dynamic American Catholic subculture specifically designed to be a source of creative energy for preaching the gospel far and wide, with particular attention to former Catholics and nominal Catholics who are teetering on the brink. This is asking a great deal—a subculture able to nurture and sustain a strong sense of Catholic identity without turning in on itself. Can it be done? No one really knows because up to now it hasn’t been attempted. Evangelization is the key. Meanwhile, one thing does seem certain: If it cannot be done, or if no attempt is made to do it, the situation of the Catholic Church in the United States is likely to become increasingly troubled in the years ahead.

Tough Love from St. Francis and Michael Voris

2012-01-30T21:16:00.001-05:00

And You Thought Ireland Was Safe from the Madness?

2012-01-30T20:41:00.000-05:00

If you thought "Catholic" Ireland was safe from the madness of the gathering storm, just check this out. Pretty soon Catholics won't be allowed to open their mouths about anything without being accused of "hate."

Bishop accused of incitement to hatred in homily

Some Common Sense from an Uncommon Priest

2012-01-30T16:19:00.000-05:00

My friend, Fr. Tom Collins, always has a direct and no-nonsense way of looking at things. His article below makes it obvious, I think, how much damage has been done by the failure of our shepherds to speak clearly and unequivocally about the evils drowning our culture. It's long past time for the bishops to implement Canon Law 915 and deny Communion to pro-abortion and pro-contraceptive politicians who scandalize (up to now) without consequence. The rock of persecution has started its dangerous roll down the mountain and we better act now because the avalanche is coming.

The Auschwitz Option

It seems that with the latest HHS directives, which were issued with the authority given to it by the Obama "Health Care Act",are requiring Catholic institutions to provide free contraceptive, abortifacient and sterilization services Such a directive directly violates the Church's teaching on the sacredness of all human life. Sadly, we have been so seriously degraded by years of dialogue with the Culture of Death that we are now at a point of pulling back on our unequivocal support for the sanctity of all human life. Instead, we seem ready to concede that it is OK for secular hospitals to provide these services, just so long as we are dispensed" by our most benevolent government from the requirement to violate our own consciences. This is analogous to German Catholics in 1943 conceding the "right" of the Reich to operate Auschwitz, provided that Catholics not be required to run the trains that brought new "residents" to that camp. Or it may be likened to high priests in Jn 18:28, who wanted to be exempted from going into the praetorium lest they defile themselves.

The issue is further complicated by Church leaders continuing to give a "free pass" to those "Catholics" who seek to abuse the Eucharistic Christ by receiving Holy Communion as a tacit endorsement of their pro-actively pro-abortion efforts. If the incarnate teaching of the Church (i.e., actual Church praxis, in contrast to the formal doctrinal teaching of the Magisterium) continues to give legitimacy to the idea that
Jesus Himself, as the Holy Eucharist, is giving an approving "thumbs up" to the barbaric practice of promoting the butchery of millions of of innocent children, how can we deceive ourselves into thinking that the Church is giving credible witness to the sacredness of all human life? Lip service to the Gospel ("This people honors Me with their lips . . .") is not adequate. Decisive convictions require decisive actions, not the perpetuation of dialogue with the demons of depravity and death.

As long as Church leaders give a "free pass" to such ongoing desecration of the Blessed Sacrament (and tell their priests and deacons to follow in the tradition of Judas by handing over the Eucharistic Christ for desecration in the hands of those committed to killing the innocent), our witness to life will be continue to be an object of scorn and ridicule.

Although my personal convictions are not in accord with the current practice of the universal Church, I believe that such practice is decisively legitimatizing, and even perversely "sacramentalizing" abortion by the continuing widespread abuse of "the source and summit of the sacramental life of the Church". Such
abuse is sacrilegious. Thus it is no wonder that we, as Church leaders, by preferring to suppress the truth in order not to "violate" sin-seared consciences, have come to see millions of souls hemorrhaging from the Church into perversity and even eternal damnation at such a high rate over the past half a century. We need major fasting, reparation and prayer - and not the kind that is followed by cocktails at 6PM.
God have mercy on us!

Sometimes the Pressure Gets Results

2012-01-30T15:34:00.000-05:00

You can count on the mainstream media to illustrate press bias with their coverage of the March for Life. I've attended about 34 of the the 39 marches and I've rarely seen a fair story. The photos almost always show close ups for the marchers to hide the size of the crowd and then the tiny group of counter protesters gets all the coverage with long quotes, etc. My biggest laugh was the year they reported that there were 10,000 pro-lifers and a "smaller crowd" of protesters. Yeah, the smaller crowd was about two dozen. Well, this year was no different, but CBS got deluged in negative comments and relented with a few long shots of the crowd. I guess hundreds of negative posts calling you blatantly biased is embarrassing. I'm surprised. I didn't think they had the capacity to be embarrassed by their dishonesty. Surprise!

It's this type of bias that has misled so many Americans into believing the leftist rhetoric about "choice." Those of us who know and love the truth need to keep the pressure on dressed in the armor of God and holding our ground. So suit up, Church Militant, and never give up an inch to the liars who believe their job isn't to report the news but make it up.

Under hail of criticism CBS relents, adds some photos of pro-lifers to March for Life album

Nearly a Cool Million in Back Taxes Owed by Obama Staff

2012-01-29T17:02:00.000-05:00

When Obama supports the Occupy Movement do you think he includes his staff in the 1% of greedy schmucks? He should. Think he'll put them on notice to pay their taxes or else? Don't hold your breath.

36 Obama aides owe $833,000 in back taxes

Rebel Against the Culture: Value Virginity

2012-01-28T13:29:00.000-05:00

We've reached a point in moral degradation where the only counter-cultural rebellion is to practice moral virtue. Nowhere is this more true than in sexual relationships. Women these days are, to many men (little boys really), nothing more than a board with a hole in it....or is that "broad." The term "hook-up" says it all where, on the morning after, one may not even remember the name or sex (in modern parlance "gender") or number of last night's "partners." Sadly, virginity has become a virtue of ridicule.

Yes, in the brave new world of sexual orgy, there's only way to rebel. Stay a virgin until marriage. Respect all the people you meet enough to focus on getting to know them intimately without touching. The "meeting of minds" is the beginning of true love, whether it's eros (sexual love) or filial (friendship) or the highest love, agape (love between God and man). We can only truly love the other who is known intimately. The lover who is not first a friend of the mind and heart is unlikely to be the true love.

The only way that true intimacy comes about is for minds and spirits, not bodies, to communicate intimately. Deep friendships are possible without sex and, in fact, sex can get in the way of developing deep friendships. When that happens sex becomes a danger because it can fool a person into establishing a permanent relationship, i.e., marriage (well, it used to be permanent) to the wrong person. The false intimacy of sex without true love goes a long way toward explaining the reluctance of young couples to marry and the breakdown of so many marriages after a short time. I know of too many marriages that don't last as long as the wedding planning. What does that say about the quality of those relationships?

Virginity protected by modesty is the greatest insurance against marital unhappiness. The idea that one can try marriage out by shacking up is an illusion borne out by the higher divorce rate among those who cohabit. So all you teenage rebels out there, fight against the prevailing culture by embracing virginity. It not only offers the best promise of marital happiness later, but it preserves you from sexually transmitted diseases and premarital pregnancy with its consequent temptation to abortion. Nothing illustrates the false love of fornication and adultery more than the eagerness to murder the "love" child conceived as a result of it.

Catholics United Shills for Contraception

2012-01-28T09:47:00.000-05:00

In the interests of truth in advertising, Catholics United (CU) should be called Heretical Catholics United or Hypocritcal Catholics United or Cafeteria Catholics United or perhaps all three. One thing they surely are not is a group of faithful Catholics united. CU's latest foray into la-la land is a press release saying there is a "silver lining" in Obama's mandate forcing religious institutions to provide contraceptive coverage to their employees. Here's what the faux Catholics say:

Today's ruling requires Catholic institutions to provide their employees with access to contraceptive services. Despite the Catholic Church's teaching that contraception should not be used to prevent pregnancy, 98% of sexually active Catholic women use some form of birth control.

CU's spokesman then states:

“Increased access to contraceptive services will dramatically reduce the abortion rate in America. Reducing abortion should be a goal recognized by both sides of this highly polarized debate. “Furthermore, we look forward to working with the administration in finding a win-win solution that will both meet the medical needs of women while protecting the religious liberty of Catholic institutions.”

One big question for CU. If 98% of "sexually active Catholic women" are already using birth control and, according to the Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood's research arm, 89% of all sexually active women who don't want to be pregnant are already using birth control...........please explain how more plugs and drugs are going to "dramatically reduce the abortion rate."

The fact is that contraception leads to abortion either directly or indirectly. If the so-called contraceptive isn't abortifacient in itself like the drugs that operate to prevent implantation of the new baby, it creates in the mind of the woman the idea that she has a right not to be pregnant. It's not her fault if her contraceptive fails so she should be able to be not pregnant by any means possible. Contraception leads to abortion as many sociologists have stated since abortion became legal. More contraception leads to more, not fewer, abortions.

But this is all beside the point with regard to Catholics United. These wolves in sheep's clothing pretend to oppose abortion while they were founded to give a religious veneer to their support for the most pro-abortion president in history. When Kathleen Sebelius, a radical abortion supporter, was named to head the Department of Health and Human Services, they leaped to her defense. And, while accusing others of partisanship, they unabashedly shill for the radical left. And they are so useful to politicians who want to point to a Church divided on the issue. After all, just see all these "Catholics" who support their immoral legislation. CU has absolutely no credibility, of course, they are simply a front group, along with another faux Catholic group, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, of socialist billionaire George Soros.

The Catholic bishops would do well to demand that Catholics United and its fellow traveler, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, cease their false advertising by removing the word Catholic from their names. They were founded to oppose Catholic teaching and they do it with zeal. The only "silver lining" in the HHS mandate is the metaphor it represents for those who betray Jesus Christ and Soros-funded Catholics United are experts at that.

Next Doctor of the Church: St. John of Avila

2012-01-27T10:18:00.002-05:00

He was born in 1500 and influenced both St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. He re-evangelized the Andalusia section of southern Spain which had suffered so long under the Moors. In Spain, St. John is honored as the patron of priests. Read more here....

Auschwitz in Orlando

2012-01-27T08:26:00.000-05:00

Returning to Pray at the Abortion Clinic Where My Babies Died

They call them "clinics." That's like calling the chamber of horrors where Josef Mengele performed his gruesome experiments a laboratory. No, the places where babies are deliberately murdered should be identified as what they truly are - extermination camps. As for Dr. Mengele, he may have continued his pursuit of the master race in Brazil creating "twin town."

Easy on the Ears and Easy on the Eyes!

2012-01-26T12:12:00.000-05:00

My favorite composer played impeccably by Natalia Kartashova from the true, the good, and the beautiful department. What a gift this young woman has been given.

Remember the Plagues in Egypt

2012-01-26T11:41:00.000-05:00

They've found bedbugs in furniture at the U.N. Now, you may think that is just the normal infestation in New York where they are popping up everywhere including the Empire State Building and Bloomingdale's. But in a city filled with God-mocking pharoahs (i.e., Kings and Queens of the entertainment and fashion industries), I think they are likely just the first plague. Watch for others to follow. Meanwhile, you may want to reconsider that trip to New York unless you take along a bedbug sniffing dog. They are more necessary these days in the cities than watchdogs.

From the Trenches of the Church Militant

2012-01-25T20:34:00.001-05:00

A friend of mine who shall remain anonymous for reasons known to both of us sent me the following e-mail about my blog post on Mike Voris' talk about the end of western civilization. I thought her comments were worth sharing. We should never despair but we need to live in the real world as Fr. John Hardon often urged. We need to raise our children not to be soft little marshmallows used to comfort and ease, but to be little warriors for good.

I’ve been thinking a great deal about your comments [about the Mike Voris talk] and your recent blog posting on the topic of the clear end of our civilization. I have seen the writing on the wall for the last couple of years, or rather, since Obama was elected. I see no way out of our current, depressing situation. I believe that my generation was so poorly catechized and educated that we ourselves have raised the Barbarians (meaning, I don’t think the Barbarians have to come from outside our borders, they are among us…and they number more than we can count). In addition, it appears that none of the current Republican candidates are capable of beating Obama. With Obama’s total lack of respect for the laws of our nation, I can’t even begin to imagine what he will do as a lame duck president.

Still, God is Mercy. I know there is a remnant among us…an imperfect remnant, but one that seeks Truth, has a desire to grow in Faith and seeks God’s Will.

I don’t mean to pontificate, but I did want to communicate to you that I am not ready to throw up my hands and admit that defeat is inevitable. While I agree that the moral and economic future of this nation is clearly doomed, I wonder if there is any other possibility for hope. The number of alternatives are slim: hunker down here or find another place that might not collapse, or at least a place in which our children might have true liberty in the years to come.

It seems to me that while we still have the liberty to do so, we, the remnant should develop a cohesive, prayerful plan for our future, a plan to do exactly what you said: to enable us and our Catholic Faith to survive during the dark ages to come. I don’t have any more than that, but I think it worthwhile for us and those of like mind to begin to prayerfully beg for Divine guidance on the subject…and beg for HOPE for our children. And, if our prayers so lead us, perhaps some of the remnant could come together now to begin to execute a plan for the future.

Feel no need to respond…but let me know if ever hear about a planning meeting for members of “The Remnant.”

Our Lady of Hope, Pray for us.

Why It's So Hard to Admit We've Sinned

2012-01-25T17:03:00.000-05:00

Today is the feast of St. Paul. He is certainly a saint for our times. He persecuted the early Church as a true believer and even approved the murder of St. Stephen. Yes, in the days before his conversion Saul could easily have been numbered among the members of P-FFAB: parents, family, and friends against blasphemers. He no doubt justified killing Christians as an act of love for Yahweh. The Christians had to be stopped by any means possible. He saw his sin as virtue and it took an act of God for him to change direction.

How many today don't recognize sin as sin because they have such a big stake in it and see it as a positive good? Fulton Sheen recognized that. If someone had a problem with a particular teaching of the Church, he urged them to look to their sin. Every dissenter I've ever known personally whether the issue was abortion, contraception, remarriage after divorce, etc. hated the teaching that identified what they wanted to do as a sin.

Rationalization is the human response to unrepented sin. Some married couples who contracept have serious reasons for doing so and justify it on that basis. Couples who long for a child can't see in vitro fertilization as a sin when the desire for a baby is so good. And, of course, women who abort often face serious problems that make their sin such a "necessary" solution. They all choose what they see as a good; they rarely look at the offense that that thrust the spear into the side of Christ.

No one chooses sin, as St. Thomas Aquinas says; they choose the good they see and blind themselves to the sinfulness of the choice. The lustful choose the pleasure which in a sacramental marriage is a good. The greedy choose all the things that money can by which are not sinful in themselves but become idols. The slothful skip Mass to sleep in; a needed rest after an exhausting work week. It is likely, I think, that most people sin, even commit serious sin, out of ignorance and laziness rather than malice. And no one knows the depths of their culpability except God. Which is why we need, like the shepherd children of Fatima, to pray so hard for "poor sinners."

St. Paul, before his conversion, is the icon for spiritual blindness. He literally had scales covering his eyes and it was only when Ananias came and prayed over him that the scales fell away and he began to see. I say "began to see" because he was like the blind man Jesus cured who gained sight only gradually. Paul studied the faith for several years before he went out and began his missionary journeys. He did not immediately become the Apostle to the Gentiles.

Every one of us is a sinner and St. Paul's feast day is a good time to reflect on it. How many of us will be so grateful to God for his forgiveness that we will have the zeal to imitate Paul? We are more likely to say thanks at Mass and go home, turn on the computer, and play solitaire or World of Warcraft or immerse ourselves in the inanity of Facebook.

I recognize myself too much in that picture so I'm praying today for the zeal of St. Paul. I'm also praying that God will remove the scales from my eyes so I can see the state of my own soul and be convicted to change. I have no doubt that if I were not so spiritually blind I would love and serve God more faithfully than I do today. May he give me the grace to do it.

Who's to Blame for the Dismal State of the Union?

2012-01-25T12:31:00.000-05:00

CURL: The truly dismal state of the union

There is one person — one American among the 300 million of us — who is not to blame for the state of the union. Everyone else, each of you, in some small or large way, bears some share of the blame, but not this guy. Not one little bit.

This guy is Barack Obama. He is not the least bit to blame for the dismal state of the U.S. economy.George W. Bush is, for sure, and that evil Dick Cheney, oh, no doubt. House Speaker John A. Boehner — evil, too — is, of course, to blame. But guess what? So is Senate Majority LeaderHarry Reid, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, and every Democrat in the House and Senate. (Read more....)

George Soros, Funder of the Occupy Movement, Predicts Violence

2012-01-25T11:04:00.000-05:00

Soros: Occupy to Turn Violent

Isn't it interesting to see someone who is funding the Occupy Movement predict, almost gleefully, that it will become violent? No doubt the overthrow of the U.S. economy will benefit him as he has benefited from other economic collapses around the world. The reality is, however, his money won't protect him from judgment in the end and he has a lot to answer for including his support for assisted suicide. (He volunteered to help his mother kill herself although, in the end, she decided not to.) Pray that the man repents. He'll be 82 in August so he is fast approaching the four last things: death, judgment, heaven or hell. He can't take any of his billions with him and his status as one of the most powerful men in the world sure won't impress God!

Of Liars and Politicians

2012-01-25T08:23:00.000-05:00

Hat tip to Political Brambles for this video. Now how can Obama blame all these results on George Bush?

Good News for Notre Dame, Bad News for Georgetown

2012-01-24T22:45:00.000-05:00

A respected government professor is leaving Georgetown for Notre Dame primarily because of Georgetown's abandonment of its Catholic identity. Well, we all know what Georgetown has become: a politically correct secular institution. This is just one more indication. Sad, but good news for Notre Dame.

Why I Am Leaving Georgetown

The Next Barrier in the Sexual Revolution: Normalize Pedophilia

2012-01-23T14:43:00.000-05:00

It's coming. The pedophiles want the American Psychiatric Association to remove pedophilia from its list of mental defects in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. That exactly the same strategy that was used to normalize same sex sodomy. In England, there's a move to promote the adoption of children by convicted sex criminals. To deny them would be to breach their human rights. Think it can't happen? Who would have believed in 1950 that "gay pride" parades would one day take place featuring nudity and public masturbation. If you don't believe that the sex professional are pushing these perverted plans go here and read about it.

The Homosexual Underpinnings of the Nazis

2012-01-23T11:37:00.000-05:00

Hitler giving Mussolini a tour of the House

of German Art including an obviously

homosexual sculpture of two muscular

nude men holding hands.

Homosexuals like to portray themselves among the Holocaust victims of Nazi Germany. But the reality is that the Nazi party was riddled from top to bottom with butch homosexuals who preyed on young men and boys. Dr. Judith Reisman who has researched the Kinsey fraud for years, also has an impressive article on the revisionist history of homosexuality in Hitler's Third Reich. You can read the article here and I particularly endorse her recommendation of the book, The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party. Homosexuality is a movement linked to violence. And you can see it in their opposition to traditional marriage. A government run by homosexuals is a government that will oppress and persecute and brutalize those who disagree.

For Sunday: A Beautiful Conversion Story

2012-01-22T12:33:00.000-05:00

From Planned Parenthood to Catholicism

Planned Parenthood doesn't just exploit women who get abortions at their facilities. They teach women to be bogus "counselors," to lie to other women in order to sell them abortion. But there's a way out and more and more women are seeking the truth. Pray and fast to end abortion and to save the souls of couples duped into murdering their children by the liar and murderer from hell. And may parents of women in problem situations recognize and love their little grandchildren waiting to be born and welcomed into loving arms.

Wanted: Real Men as Husbands and Fathers

2012-01-21T22:58:00.001-05:00

I met an interesting gentleman at Mike Voris' talk, Carlos Caso-Rosendi. He sent me a great article today using the cruise ship tragedy at Giglio Island as a metaphor for our disintegrating culture. The article is great and I urge you to read the whole thing here. But the excerpt below had me saying, "Right on, Carlos!"

In my view the disdain for human life begotten by the perfecting of preconception since the late 60's has created this Priapos mentality: man as a sexual predator and a Nimrod of sorts. It is appalling to see how many women these days seem to admire that "dangerous guy," the alpha male lately personified in Brad Pitt and others like him. How far we have wandered from the likes of Cincinnatus, the strong farmer, decisive warrior, cautious man of state, capable to serve, impervious to adulation, incapable of theft. The serene strong masculinity of Cincinnatus is hard even to imagine today. Only George Washington comes to mind when those virtues are enumerated. Virtue: a little word that comes from the Latin vir meaning a man.

This absence of natural manly virtue, this general lack of true manhood has created a vacuum, a silent crave for the image of that real man that can be trusted to lead and preserve the family in times of trial and in the daily fight for survival.
If there is a failure of manhood, there is an epic failure of fatherhood. I am sure I am not the first to define Modernism as a rebellion against fatherhood. The last assault started in the heady days of 1968. Those days saw the end of the old model, the good American father who returned form the hell of World War II to continue serving as the world's most productive male. Robert Young in Father Knows Best evolved to be the androgynous Brady of The Brady Bunch, where two butchy females run the house with him remaining in a feminoid passive role. From there is downhill all the way to Homer, the father-as-village-idiot of The Simpsons. People feed on those images and then it is impossible to surmount the expectation that fatherhood is rooted in failure. Thus we arrive to the final stages of the androgynous society. Gone are the Beatles' sideburns and mustaches, or Sinatra's womanizing ethos... now the model is Justin Bieber, a girly kid who would look like a 60's female teenager if he could only grow breasts.

Is Western Culture in its Death Throes?

2012-01-21T12:21:00.000-05:00

Yes, according to Mike Voris of Real Catholic TV who spoke last night in Front Royal addressing the topic R.I.P. Western Civilization. Voris, with a background in history, described how the disintegration of a civilization comes about. First the culture collapses morally, then economically, and then the government is overthrown. It was chillingly obvious that we are well on the way and that the demise of the Roman Empire has much to teach us. St. Augustine wrote the City of God as Rome imploded and the barbarians ushered in the dark ages. Christians, Voris said, need to reflect on what's coming next and be about the business of saving souls.

The talk was not a survivalist manifesto. Rather, Voris emphasized the need to evangelize and save souls. He described the deliberate destruction of the institutions: media, entertainment, schools, government, and the churches. The corrupters openly publicized their intentions from communist Antonio Gramsky who created the Frankford school in the 1920s to achieve a bloodless revolution in the U.S., to secularists who wrote The Humanist Manifesto outlining the death of religion, to gay activists who in After the Ball laid out a blueprint for sodomite approval. These and others openly described how to infiltrate and corrupt and they have succeeded perhaps even beyond their expectations.

While several generations were perverted parents were mostly clueless bystanders unaware of the revolution in their own homes where MTV and movies preached the siren song of hedonism. Meanwhile science created the pill and the Christian churches (beginning with the Lambeth Conference of 1930) approved contraception severing the pleasure of sexual relations from life-giving potential. Contraception, Voris said, is the root of abortion, but how many clerics preached about it? Silence of the clergy contributed mightily to the perversion and breakdown of the culture.

Voris' thesis was no surprise to me. A friend and I have often discussed how the March for Life should be held on the anniversary of the 1965 landmark Supreme Court ruling Griswold vs. Connecticut (June 7) that overthrew laws banning contraception and enshrining a "right to privacy." My friend said, "The Lord never planned for us to march in the snow. We should be marching in June." But the response to Griswold from the churches was absolute silence. And that silence, except for a few outposts where courageous clergy preach the truth, continues.

Prophets have been warning about the collapse of western civilization for years. Certainly, G.K. Chesterton saw it coming in the early decades of the 20th century. Archbishop Fulton Sheen who died in 1979 often said the clock was nearing midnight. John Paul II and Mother Teresa warned that abortion was the preluded to nuclear war.

We are clearly on the brink and the culture is dying -- literally. Few children are born today except among serious believers. But unless those children are raised in the faith "to be martyrs" as Fr. John Hardon often advised home schoolers, they will likely become casualties of the culture. I remember Father's chilling prophecy that only "heroic Catholic families will survive." We are called as families to imitate the monks who preserved western values during those years when the barbarians burned books for fuel. Ora et labora was the motto of the monks. It must become ours too as we struggle to keep the vision of the true, the good, and the beautiful alive. And we must not be afraid. God never abandons his people. With our little family boats secured to the pillars of the Eucharist and the rosary our spiritual survival, the only one that counts in the end, is guaranteed. So work and pray with confidence. Above all strive to know, love, and serve God who wishes us to be happy with Him in heaven. And influence as many people as you can to do the same.

Catholic Response to "Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus"

2012-01-20T15:15:00.000-05:00

The guy who made the original video is very appealing and 15 million have viewed his YouTube poem. No doubt he means well and there are certainly hypocrites in the Church. So what? Jesus didn't say the synagogues were evil, he preached there. When he was accused at His trial he pointed out that He was in the temple every day. He did not separate Himself from the Church; he fulfilled the Old Covenant and started something new, the Catholic Church.

How much worse would many people be if they weren't practicing their religious faith through an established Church? Everybody I worked with at crisis pregnancy centers and on the sidewalk trying to save babies was a Christian, mostly Catholic Christians. I know many church-goers who are foster parents, adoptive parents, missionaries to the poorest of the poor, etc. And most of the charity in the world is done by believers. The Catholic Church founded universities, orphanages, hospitals, and all kinds of services for the poor. It was the monasteries during the Middle Ages that welcomed the poor at the gates and fed them. In England the destruction of the monasteries and the persecution of Catholics created the poor houses and debtors prisons. This young man is clearly ignorant of history You cannot claim to truly love Jesus and cut yourself off from His Church.

What does this young man, who is so hostile to the Church, do to make the world better (besides videotape himself onYouTube? You can't love Jesus completely if you hate the Church because Jesus Himself said to Simon Peter, "You are rock and on this rock I will build my church." And even more important is what follows: "The gates of hell will not prevail against it." Anyone who separates himself from the Church, and the Church founded by Christ is the Catholic Church whose pope is the successor of Peter, faces Satan standing on a sand dune. We need the Church and the Church needs us.

Occupy the Womb!

2012-01-20T10:20:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking about the mainstream media's hypocrisy. I could pick plenty of examples to describe, but the one that struck me this morning was the double standard shown in the press treatment of the Occupy movement vs. the Pro-life movement. The occupiers can camp out illegally for months in parks and plazas, urinate and defecate in public, threaten neighborhoods, and defy police, but how does the media respond? Defend and excuse. They are the 99% percent. With their smart phones, ipads, and other signs of affluence, that claim rings a little hollow. But if they are, the culture is in deep doo-doo, just like the occupiers' campsites. The media excuses their excesses and portrays them as the new freedom riders defending the rights of the little guy (except for the littlest of all -- babies in the womb waiting to be born). They ignore Occupy's connections to George Soros, communist and socialist groups and front groups, and wax eloquent about their commitment to their cause. When they surround a building and prevent those attending a conservative dinner from exiting and persecute a women in wheelchair, the media doesn't bat an eyelash. Some disabled, after all, are more equal than others. But, perhaps it's understandable, there is only so much venom to go around and the mainstream media needs to preserve it for the real threat -- the pro-life movement.

How does the media treat the real freedom riders...those who defend the new "slaves" who are the chattel of their mothers? We are domestic terrorists, violent, a threat to society, opponents of the "reproductive rights" of women, i.e., the right to rut and kill at will. And how dare pro-lifers go after that great defender of women, Planned Parenthood that offers "health care" to women, over 90% of it abortion? "Investigative" reporters yawn and repeat the lie when PP's head claims women will be denied mammograms if funding is cut. It takes an independent group to expose the lie; PP doesn't offer mammograms at all. But the truth doesn't matter to these modern-day Pilates. What is truth after all except to choose whatever I want to do?

So the most peaceful protest group in history, a group that has worked for almost half a century defending those declared unfit by an immoral society, is maligned by the fourth estate which has become a shill for moral relativism and political correctness. Someone suggested the slogan "Occupy the Womb" for pro-lifers. It's an idea with merit. If nothing else, it points up the blatant hypocrisy of a mainstream media that has abandoned its obligation to present the news in an unbiased way. News is no longer news. Every item is an editorial statement. And, sadly, they all dance to the same tune. Which is why an alternative press is so necessary. Thank God for the internet that allows the voices of reason, if not to prevail in an insane culture, at least to be heard.

On Monday, when tens of thousands march on Washington, they will mostly be ignored by the mainstream media. They ignore the silent voices of the little ones in the womb and will try to suppress the voices of those who speak for them, the voices of a modern abolition movement who have nothing to gain from their efforts except derision and calumny. May God forgive the media for their hypocritical betrayal, not only of the babies, but of their own duty as journalists.

Bronco Quarterback Tim Tebow's Youngest Fan!

2012-01-19T16:27:00.000-05:00

Pope Benedict's Address to the American Bishops

2012-01-19T13:41:00.000-05:00

A group of American bishops is meeting this week on their ad limina visit to meet with Pope Benedict. In his address today he made it clear that Catholics have an obligation to involve themselves in the market place, including politics. He also stressed that radical secularism (and the Obama presidency is the epitome of radical secualrism) destroys Christian culture. Here is a segment of the pope's address with my comments in red:

The Church’s witness, then, is of its nature public [Catholics, don't just sit behind locked doors in the Church praying, but evangelize and act in the market place]: she seeks to convince by proposing rational arguments in the public square [Note the word "rational." Catholic truth is based on reason and appeals to those seeking truth. Those who don't care about truth will not listen, but truth-seekers will.] The legitimate separation of Church and State cannot be taken to mean that the Church must be silent on certain issues, nor that the State may choose not to engage, or be engaged by, the voices of committed believers in determining the values which will shape the future of the nation. [Don't let the State cow you into silence with the false separation argument. Fight it as the bigotry it is.]

In the light of these considerations, it is imperative that the entire Catholic community in the United States come to realize the grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres. [The greatest threat to the Church in America today is the Obama administration. He wants to suppress the rights of Catholics and Christians to practice their faith in the public square. Fight despite the growing persecution.] The seriousness of these threats needs to be clearly appreciated at every level of ecclesial life. Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion. Many of you have pointed out that concerted efforts have been made to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices. Others have spoken to me of a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience. [Catholics are being squeezed out of many occupations, especially health care. Even wedding photographers and caterers face the hobnailed boot of the Obama/Clinton/Sebelius tyranny.]

Here once more we see the need for an engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity endowed with a strong critical sense vis-à-vis the dominant culture and with the courage to counter a reductive secularism which would delegitimize the Church’s participation in public debate about the issues which are determining the future of American society. [Orthodox Catholic bloggers, take heart. You are part of the "articulate and well-formed Catholic laity" countering the "reductive secularism."] The preparation of committed lay leaders and the presentation of a convincing articulation of the Christian vision of man and society remain a primary task of the Church in your country; as essential components of the new evangelization, these concerns must shape the vision and goals of catechetical programs at every level. [Get rid of the marshmallow fluff and teach doctrine!]

In this regard, I would mention with appreciation your efforts to maintain contacts with Catholics involved in political life and to help them understand their personal responsibility to offer public witness to their faith, especially with regard to the great moral issues of our time: respect for God’s gift of life, the protection of human dignity and the promotion of authentic human rights. [Keep the pressure on those pro-abort Catholics!] As the Council noted, and I wished to reiterate during my Pastoral Visit, respect for the just autonomy of the secular sphere must also take into consideration the truth that there is no realm of worldly affairs which can be withdrawn from the Creator and his dominion (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 36). [Obey God over man.] There can be no doubt that a more consistent witness on the part of America’s Catholics to their deepest convictions would make a major contribution to the renewal of society as a whole. [So all you dissident Catholics get with the program. Are you listening, Doug Kmiec et al?]

Hilarious! And So True....Just Look at Nancy Pelosi

2012-01-19T11:29:00.000-05:00

Hat tip to my friend Larry on Facebook for posting this!

Mike Voris Is Coming to Town for the March for Life

2012-01-18T20:59:00.000-05:00

Anyone in town for the March for Life this weekend has two opportunities to meet and listen to Mike Voris of Real Catholic TV.

Save the Date and Spread the Word!

Michael Voris, founder and president of St. Michael's Media, and host of The Vortex, RealCatholicTV's daily news show, is coming to Front Royal and St. Mary Mother of God Church, Washington DC!

Michael will give the same talk at two different locations: R.I.P. Western Civilization (Front Royal, VA and Washington D.C.). See details below and the attached flyers. Please tell your friends, relatives, clergy, and religious! Feel free to distribute the flyers and this email.

In Front Royal, VA:
Where: Warren County Community Center (formerly Samuels Library)
538 Villa Avenue, Front Royal, VA 22630
Date: Friday, January 20, 2012
Time: 7:00 p.m.

Topic: R.I.P. Western Civilization

Suggested donations of:
$10 per person
$25 per family (teenagers and up.)
$5 student or senior

+Free admission to clergy and religious+

In Washington, DC:
Where: St. Mary Mother of God Church (downstairs coffee hall)
5th & H Streets, NW
Date: Sunday, January 22, 2012
Time: 10:30 a.m. (following the TLM)

Topic: R.I.P. Western Civilization
Free-will Offering

Looking for a Good Leisure Read?

2012-01-18T13:15:00.000-05:00

Check out Paul Gallico. What a great author!

More from the Just Say No to Girl Scouts Department

2012-01-17T21:34:00.000-05:00

Don't want to support the perversion of little girls? Then boycott the Girl Scouts starting with the cookie sales. There is an alternative cookie for every box offered. For Samoas try Keebler's Coconut Dreams. For the Girl Scout TriFoils you can find a better and cheaper shortbread alternative in Nabisco's Lorna Doones. Love Thin Mints? Try Keebler's Grasshoppers or Milk Chocolate Mint Oreos. (This is making me hungry.) I could go on, but you get the picture. You don't have to give up the tasty treats, just the perverted promoters who take most of the profits from the cuties at the door and use them to advance deviant and promiscuous lifestyles. Do your daughters really need that?

Ripping Babies Limb from Limb is Sexy?

2012-01-17T21:10:00.001-05:00

Planned Parenthood uses foolish Hollywood actresses to promote their no-choice-for-babies campaign. If anything shows a brain in hibernation, it's the position that killing children is "health care for women" and "sexy" to boot. As the grandmom of two darlings conceived in less than perfect circumstances, I know there are better alternatives than parents helping their daughters kill their grandchildren. Every abortion murders a real little person, someone who could have grown up to be president (like Barack Obama, son of a single mom) or a professional football player (like Tim Tebow whose mom refused abortion for "medical reasons") or a famous tenor (like Andrea Bocelli whose mom was also advised to abort for medical reasons) or the founder of a computer revolution (like Steve Jobs developer of the Apple empire, conceived out of wedlock and adopted) or maybe the mom next door who makes hot chocolate and popcorn for all the neighbor kids.

If abortion is "sexy" so is cutting the legs off a kitten or training dogs to rip each other apart until one kills the other or poking the eyes out of a puppy or clubbing baby seals. Isn't it interesting that doing any of those things will land you in court charged with cruelty but ripping up a baby or stabbing him in the head with a scissors, or burning her to death with a corrosive salt solution or injecting his heart with poison is a "sexy choice."

Fight to defund Planned Parenthood and work to defeat the most pro-abortion president in history.

Good for the Vatican: Police Remove Occupiers

2012-01-17T17:22:00.000-05:00

The Occupy Movement shows itself more and more to be aimless and idiotic. Exactly why did they want to set up tents in St. Peter's Square?

The Fruit of Abortion

2012-01-16T17:44:00.000-05:00

A newborn infant found on a D.C. doorstep dies of exposure.

And why not leave a baby alone on a frigid night to die in the cold? After all, she was only about a week old and could have been legally murdered only days ago. This is the fruit of abortion. Hey, if I could kill the baby last week, what's to stop me killing her this week? So she's born already, so what? It's my body that she making demands on. It's my life she's interfering with. So good-bye baby. Too bad for you. This is America in the 21st century thanks to organizations like the National Organization for Women, Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Rights Action League, and other groups of their ilk. They are making this country a cruel and ugly place for the young.

Fr. James Haley: Will He Break His Silence?

2012-01-16T12:09:00.000-05:00

I've posted the latest news on Fr. James Haley at my Bishop Loverde, Where is Fr. James Haley blog. For ten years Father has been silent on the details of diocesan efforts to shut him up. Will he speak up now?

The Feud in the Church

2012-01-16T11:16:00.000-05:00

This is a must viewing! Mike Voris pegs it again. If you don't understand what's happening in the Church, listen to this. Here's a preview:

"There are huge chasms of differences among the leaders themselves....The scourge of the Church...is not in the office of the bishop...the scourge is the differences among the bishops themselves....There are bishops who do not agree with the authentic teaching of the Church."

Will GSUSA Condemn the Bullying?

2012-01-16T10:48:00.000-05:00

A girl scout who faced vicious bullying for posting a YouTube video protesting allowing a boy who feels like a girl join scouts has set her video to private. Isn't it interesting that the kind, compassionate, and tolerant leftists are out en masse driving traditional kids off the web. Earlier, a 12-year-old boy who posted a video against same-sex marriage received a deluge of hate that caused internet crime specialists in Texas to track the boy down and urged withdrawal of the video and counseling for the boy. But who really needs counseling? Isn't it the brainwashed kids who have been taught to hate anybody who disagrees with politically correct immorality? When someone labels you a "fool" for standing up for conservative principles who is the bully? But that is what the anti-bullying programs aim to do. Anyone who dares to call the sodomite lifestyle "disordered" is a hate-monger, a homophobe, and a bully. Anyone who dares to oppose the destruction of the institution of marriage by "gay" activists equating it with sodomy deserves crucifixion.

Labeling Christians as intolerant bullies, the real bullies unleash vitriolic and vicious semantic target practice against their victims. They even have a name for it -- "jamming" and it is a-okay with the hypocritical anti-bully crowd. In other words, they practice the "newspeak" of the brave new world where words mean the opposite. Young Taylor, the girl scout, is their latest victim, but she won't be the last. I read on the Facebook page of a "friend" (My definition of friend is not Facebook's.) about "dirtbags" who are "judgmental." And who are these "judgmental dirtbags?" Anyone who stands up for traditional values and fights against special rights for homosexuals. How is the common good of women protected when men who pretend to be women are allowed to use women's rest rooms and locker rooms with open showers? How are young boys protected from homosexual predators when the gay/straight alliance clubs teach that "gay" practices are fine and dandy.

This country is on the brink of disaster. Students of history know that sexual immorality always precedes collapse. It ushers in violent upheaval that results in bloody persecution. The writing is on the wall and many institutions like the Girl Scouts are hastening the dissolution. As for the kids being bullied by those who say they are against bullying -- they are the victims of today's pharisees, the white-washed sepulchers full of dead bones.

Showdown in Minnestoa: Pray for Archbishop John Nienstedt

2012-01-16T08:23:00.000-05:00

Orthodox Catholics would do well to keep their eyes on Minnesota where Archbishop John Nienstedt obviously intends to do whatever he can to protect the integrity of marriage. (See here.) With support for traditional marriage on the ballot next November, he's instructed his pastors to read a marriage prayer in every parish and set up committees to encourage support. He is also sending a married couple and priest to every Catholic high school to instruct on the Church's teaching and is attempting to reign in his dissenting clergy. (One can't help but wonder how many of the dissenters are homosexual.) God bless him for his courage!

One priest, Fr. Michael Tegeder, is publicly opposing the bishop (as are others anonymously). The Bishop sent Fr. Tegeder a letter in November asking him to remember the vows of his ordination and consider seriously whether he can continue to serve as a Catholic priest when he rejects Church teachings. Tegeder is no stranger to Les Femmes. We awarded him a millstone in 2010 and gave the bishop a lamplighter in the same issue. Please pray for Bishop Nienstedt. With wolves in sheep's clothing for spiritual sons, he is fighting an uphill battle.

Tebow-Brady Match Tonight: Even the Witches are Taking Sides

2012-01-14T15:24:00.000-05:00

Late night news last night featured a story about witches who are channeling (or whatever they do) energy for Tom Brady. But they assured the reporter they weren't casting spells or hexing Tim Tebow. (What a relief!) R. Emmet Tyrell, Editor of the American Spectator, on the other hand, is thanking God for Tebow who's made him rescind his personal NFL boycott. He predicts that Tebow is in for some serious controversy, however, not because he's a druggie or assaults women or acts like a hoodlum but because he's pious and essentially a Christian. Here's how he put it:

Some have uttered insults at him over his religion and in fact over his general good-guy deportment. Why should this be? One can strut and perform the most lurid dances on the field. One can demonstrate on behalf of various controversial causes. Nary an eye is batted. Yet, a show of piety to one's creator is deemed an offense.... I predict that Tebow is in for some serious controversy in the weeks and years ahead. Some say he does not deserve his fame. That he is an unorthodox passer and a terrible ball handler. I do not know what they think they know. He is as strong as a bull and his running and passing wins games. Yet his real problem is the religious angle.

Yup, many wish they could bring out the lions during the game to put an end to this embarrassing Christian upstart who, after great plays, often falls to one knee in thanksgiving to a God they either don't believe in or hate. Tim is a continuous reminder of what abortion does to destroy potential because his mom was encouraged to kill him in the womb. You may have seen the Tebow's story, but it's worth repeating in a context that shows exactly how it's influenced the son. Pray that this young man, dedicated to God before his birth, will always be faithful to his maker. His dad offered him to God as a preacher and he illustrates St. Francis' admonition to "Preach always, and when necessary, use words." God bless Tim Tebow and his family!

I'm rooting for the Broncos tonight. Win or lose, their quarterback is a champ!

Kansas City - St. Joseph Archdiocese Sued

2012-01-13T11:08:00.000-05:00

Has the homosexual priest problem been solved? If you think it has, go here for a reality check.

How Many Dead People Voted in New Hampshire? How Many Will Vote in the General?

2012-01-12T12:14:00.000-05:00

Jim DeMint: says Republicans need to listen to Ron Paul!

2012-01-12T12:05:00.001-05:00

For those who couldn't see the video, check out this article. The story is gaining a lot of traction. DeMint is warning that the party either incorporate the fiscal responsibility and constitutional governing being called for by Ron Paul or it's going to disappear like the Whigs. Are the country club Republicans listening?

California: Where Virtual Reality Rules

2012-01-12T11:57:00.000-05:00

Go here for the latest California dreamin' stupidity.

So...you feel like a girl in a boy's body and want everybody to join in your neurosis? California's your playground. Recently the state passed a bill mandating the teaching of "gay" history, whatever that is. Now a Democrat assemblyman from San Francisco (surprise!) who's also a comedian (Aren't they all?) has introduced a bill (AB266) to allow boys who feel like girls to play on girls' sports teams and use girls' facilities, presumably including restrooms and locker rooms. No joke! The San Francisco rep is serious. Just think, women have spent years trying to increase their visibility in sports and now a boy who feels like a girl can compete for the girls' basketball team. How many 5'6" girls can outplay a 5'10" guy on the court? Ever notice how many minorities play on the men's college and professional basketball teams? How long before all the girls' disappear from California teams replaced by girly guys? After all, winning isn't everything; it's the only thing. This is just one more injustice coming down the pike under "gay" insanity rules. But hey, no doubt the girls will win the right to play on the guys' teams. Just how many girls do you think will be able to compete on a level playing field when trying out for the men's football, basketball, and soccer teams.

I'd say, "Let's get real," but apparently there is no "real" in today's world. As a modern Pilate would say today, "What is real?"

Can You Teach an Old Dog?

2012-01-11T13:45:00.001-05:00

They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Well, I'm proof that you can, because I've never taken a computer course, but I've picked up enough skills to do my blog, add hyperlinks in the comments section, crop photos, publish a newsletter using Windows technology, etc. But I'm on the verge of ulcers today as I work with two computers side by side. My techie son-in-law advised me to get a more up-to-date machine and he's been so helpful setting it up, transferring data, etc. However, I'm still very dependent on my old computer because the new system is so different it's exasperating. I can't find my email address book. (Really, why isn't it listed on the left with the inbox, outbox, sent items, etc.?) I can't figure out how to easily delete e-mails so my inbox is growing by the minute. I haven't figured out how to open a tab so I can work on a page and do research on another. All this is making me pull my hair out and I have none to spare.

My son-in-law assures me that once I learn how to use it, I'll be delighted. It will be faster, I'll have more storage, etc., but at present I'm praying for patience and getting plenty of opportunity to practice it. My guardian angel is keeping his wings over my mouth. I suspect my husband is downstairs chuckling. He does very little on the computer and is probably the better for it. But since writing is my apostolate, I'm just offering this up and hoping it will get me a little time off in Purgatory. What a terrible prospect to think it might result in added bench time in the steam room. Please pray that this old dog can be a quick learner and things will be back to normal soon!

Tim Tebow and John 3:16

2012-01-10T10:39:00.001-05:00

Tim Tebow is the sensation of the NFL season. He adds an excitement that is...well...supernatural? In Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Bronco's quarterback threw an 80 yard pass for a touchdown in overtime. It was one of the most watched playoff games ever.

During his college career Tebow gained attention (and criticism) for wearing an abbreviated scripture sign for John, chapter 3, verse 16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that those who believe in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting." After Tebow's games Google often received millions of hits on John 3:16. The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) put an end to quiet evangelization in 2010 when they passed what's come to be called the "Tebow Rule" banning messages in eye paint.

Well, there's more than one way for the Lord to get his message out and on Sunday, Tim Tebow was working with St. John at his side. He had 316 passing yards in the game and that accomplishment is all over the internet with headlines like Tim Tebow drives search for John 3 16. I particularly enjoyed this paragraph from a Washington Post article:

Tebow’s line in the Broncos’ 29-23 overtime victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers — an eerie 316 yards passing on 10 completions for a 31.6-yard average — means, once again, that supernatural significance is being assigned to a mere football game, with the Good Book trouncing the playbook.

Yes indeed, the Good Book should always trounce the playbook.

I'm not generally a football fan, but I will definitely be watching Saturday's playoff contest between the Broncos and the Patriots. What will happen when an all-American Christian quarterback faces the Tom Brady, the quarterback with the playboy rep. (Hopefully marriage has settled him down.) Tim and Tom squared off earlier this season with the Patriot quarterback leading his team to victory. But the real victory isn't on the football field and, win or lose, Tim Tebow is a champion at the only game that really matters, LIFE. Go, Tim!

Without Grandma's Yes to Life, this Astronaut Wouldn't Have Been Born!

2012-01-09T15:59:00.000-05:00

When Barack Obama championed abortion saying he wouldn't want his daughters "punished" with a baby, he was essentially willing the death of his grandchildren if they had the misfortune of being conceived at the "wrong" time in their mothers' lives. But he also willed the non-existence of everyone who might be descended from that line. One can only wish that he would be given the vision of what could have been -- the reverse of George Bailey's experience in It's a Wonderful Life. George got to see what the world would have been like had he never lived. Those who kill their children never get to see what life would have been like had their children survived.

But sometimes real life provides the "what could have been" scenario. A story published in the news recently (I blogged about it yesterday.) told of an elderly woman who was raped as a young teen in 1929 and released her child for adoption after spending a month loving and cuddling her. She prayed to meet her daughter again before she died and recently that prayer was answered. The daughter she met was a mother of six one of whom is Mark Lee, a U.S. Air Force Academy graduate and former astronaut who participated in four space shuttle missions spending 33 days in orbit, circling the globe 517 times, and traveling over 13 million miles.

Can you imagine a movie about the family dynasty of this woman whose decision had such an impact on so many? Her story is the story of every woman who chooses life for her child: a rich future filled with unlimited potential. And then there's the flip side, the world without the millions of little ones murdered before birth. We'll never know how different the world would be had they lived?

George Bailey's guardian angel, Clarence, shows him what his world would look like if he never lived saying, "You really had a wonderful life; don't you see what a mistake it would be to throw it all away?" And Pottersville is, indeed, an ugly and dark place. But is it an unfamiliar one? Isn't our own country becoming Pottersville on a grand scale as we sink into economic disaster and moral depravity? It makes me wonder. What could have been had the mothers of the millions of aborted children let them live? What would our world like with all those individuals made in the image and likeness of God survived? We'll never know. Instead we are condemned to live in the Pottersville of destroyed lives.

More on the Girl Scouts

2012-01-08T15:53:00.001-05:00

A reader commented on my Girl Scout post earlier today that her local troop is pro-life and does all kinds of good stuff. That's great, but it doesn't solve the problem because every troop in the country supports the national girl scout garbage through the sale of the cookies, patches, uniforms, pins, and other GS paraphernalia. It's also interesting to note that the Girl Scouts let little Bobby Montoya join a troop because he feels like a girl, but recently booted a little autistic brownie. Cross dressing little boys are more equal than autistic little girls. I hear Girl Scouts are creating a new cookie in honor of the national group. It's full of fruits and nuts. Below is what I included in the Twilight Zone section of the Fall issue of the Les Femmes newsletter.

FROM THE TRUTH Vol. 16 #3 The Twilight Zone

***Don’t Eat Those Cookies!
Girl Scouts USA is in the news after a Colorado troop was forced to enroll a 7-year-old boy, Bobby Montoya, who believes he’s a little girl trapped in a boy’s body. And what sonny wants, Mommy insists he gets. So the leader who rejected the child in the first place because he “doesn’t have the right [body] parts” is being sent for sensitivity training and GSUSA gushes that they are gender neutral. Any little boy who wants to make believe he’s a little girl is welcome. Whew! What relief. Mums everywhere can rejoice that their sexually confused little boys can dress up in brown or green, say, “Look! I’m a girl,” and sashay around as they sell Thin Mints and Samoas.

Actually, disintegration of the Girl Scouts began decades ago. In 1970 feminist Betty Friedan, author of The Feminist Mystique, joined the national board where she helped transform the Girl Scouts into a radical feminist propaganda machine. In more recent years, GSUSA has become more and more open in their perversion. Here’s one example from the GS Timeline at www.honestgirlscouts.com: “1995: The Great Rivers Girl Scout Council in Ohio is caught using explicit sex education curriculum, ‘Sexuality and You’ at a weekend overnight event. When a troop leader disclosed to parents that their girls had been instructed to pass around a lifesize phallus and…exposed to a game where the words ‘zoophilia,’ ‘nymphomania,’ ‘sado-masochism’ and more were placed on their backs, she was kicked out of Girl Scouts. Twenty-six fellow volunteers resigned in solidarity. One of the twenty-six, Patti Garibay, went on to found American Heritage Girls as a result.”

Happily, Girl Scouts are having financial troubles. Despite selling about 198 million boxes of cookies in 2010 at $3.50 a pop to the tune of $714 million, some councils are having to sell off property to make ends meet. Let’s hope their latest exercise in “gender sensitivity” compels many parents to pull their girls out of Girl Scouts. There is an alternative, American Heritage Girls. There is also a secondary alternative for Scout Councils that want to remain in the group, but minimize support for its evil agenda. A troop can sell one box of cookies to donate to the military in order to remain in good standing. Troops in good standing may run their own separate fundraisers. So a Catholic troop could ditch the cookie sales in favor of an alternative after purchasing ONLY ONE BOX of cookies for the entire troop. And girls can be in uniform if they wear the Girl Scout pin – no need to spend a cent on those ugly green outfits. Personally, Les Femmes advocates pulling girls out of GSUSA, but, short of that, second best is to minimize funding for their evil. Let National Girl Scouts and the state councils starve.

A Heartwarming Story for Sunday: Get Your Hankie Ready

2012-01-08T14:06:00.000-05:00

After a 1929 rape, a reunion of mom and daughter

Rape is a horrible crime, but the baby is as much an innocent victim as the mother. This wonderful mom loved her baby and gave her up for adoption but never gave up on meeting her again even when she was nearly 100 years old. What a reunion that must have been.

My husband and I offered a shelter home for about 15 unwed mothers over the years when we were raising our family. Two were rape victims, one of a vicious anonymous attack, the other a date rape. The girl who'd been attacked used to have nightmares and I would wake her up in the middle of them to assure her she was safe. She never blamed her baby, but unfortunately she miscarried as a result of her injuries. The other young woman gave birth and kept her little one who is now a beautiful adult, married and the mother of a lovely family.

Some of the girls who lived with us kept their babies. Others released them for adoption. None regretted not killing their children. All of them held and cuddled their little ones. Think if this mother had killed her baby how many lives would never have come into existence. Praise God for the women who, like the Blessed Mother, say yes to God's will and give life to their babies.

I'm sure someone reading this will be horrified at my including Mary in the same sentence with young women who commit the sin of fornication. But all of us sinners can hold the spotless virgin's hand and be led directly to kneel at the foot of God in repentence and then see Him bring great good out of our sins. The young woman in this story was an innocent virgin, violated by the rapist -- but see what God did for her and her daughter. What a legacy! Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever. I'm sure this is one family that is pro-life to the hilt. Adoption is a beautiful option.

The Girl Scouts Are Pro-Abortion

2012-01-08T11:47:00.000-05:00

Don't kid yourselves; the Girl Scouts are pro-abortion and they work to turn little girls into radical pro-abortion feminists. In the video below Jehmu Greene, former president of Women's Media Center, uses the buzz phrase, "comprehensive sex educattion." Watch her bob and weave when they try to pin her down on abortion. Comprehensive sex ed means teaching all methods of preventing pregnancy, abortion as an option, and teaching about other sexual "orientations" including details of what homosexuals do. Wise moms steer their girls to American Heritage Girls and other options rather than allow them to be poisoned by the Girl Scout pro-abortion network. And when they come selling their cookies this spring, just say no.

Who's Influenced Your Life?

2012-01-07T12:14:00.000-05:00

Do you ever think about the people who have influenced your life even though you've never met? Our family and friends impact us in obvious ways. But what about others: our ancestors, the authors of the books we read, the postman, the truck drivers who deliver the food we buy to the store?

Today I was thinking about the authors of the books I love. These are authors who write books that you read twice. They make you think; they entertain you, they enrich your life. While I was thinking about it, I made a list of some of my favorite writers (linked on the right). But I failed to add one special author -- Myles Connolly who wrote one of my favorite books of all time -- Mr. Blue.

Mr. Blue came to life in 1928 and was not an immediate sensation as Connolly writes in the introduction to a later edition. Somehow, he never died and has been in constant print ever since. I first heard of Mr. Blue in high school -- from Sr. Joanna. She read Mr. Blue's scenario for a movie about the end of the world. It captivated me although it took me another ten years to recall his name and go searching for his book. I just ordered ten copies to share with my book club and others. Mr. Blue is a philosopher with the heart of a child. The Lord could have had Mr. Blue in mind when he said "Unless you become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven."

Do yourself a favor in 2012 and meet Mr. Blue. If you know him already, invite him back for a visit. He's an unobtrusive guest. His story takes up fewer than 115 pages. But he's a friend I can never quite forget and am always glad to meet again.

One More Nightmare from the "Gay" World

2012-01-06T17:34:00.000-05:00

They can call it "gay" all they want, but it's a nightmare for the poor kids. This story is from bizarro world.

Biological Mom Kept From Child in Lesbian Legal Case

Did Santorum Really Win Iowa?

2012-01-06T16:58:00.000-05:00

An Iowa caucaus participant who supported Ron Paul said his county's 53 vote report was wrong giving Mitt Romney 22 votes instead of the 2 he actually received. To read more go here.

One Big New Year's Resolution: Pray for Priests!

2012-01-05T17:26:00.000-05:00

While browsing the Catholic news sites I came across an interesting bit of news. Fr. Corapi has disappeared from the internet. His Black Sheepdog website is gone and he no longer has a presence on Facebook. Patrick Madrid posted a short comment hoping that Father has reconciled with his religious order, S.O.L.T. I echo that hope.

Thinking about Fr. Corapi brought to mind all the priests who have touched my life over the years: the priests who gave me the sacraments, heard my confessions, counseled me during crises, etc. I also thought about the priests who failed: those who preach heresy and dissent, the pastor who left to marry and the associate who left to immerse himself in the Dupont Circle lifestyle, the one who fled to the Episcopal priesthood, and the one who stole another man's wife and family before he went out the door.

Priests are every bit as susceptible to the temptations of the flesh as the rest of us. And, in fact, I once read that Satan has a special corps of shock troops to go after priests because a fallen priest often brings down others with him. As Jesus said, when the shepherd is struck, the sheep scatter.

So, all you concerned Catholics and others of good will, let us make one of our resolutions to pray and make sacrifices for priests. Many of them live lonely lives. They often are castigated by parishioners for their flaws and condemned for preaching the truth. A former pastor of mine carried a thank-you note around in his missal from a parishioner who had the wisdom and courtesy to be grateful. Wouldn't it be wonderful to write one note a month to a priest or minister who has made a difference in your life. That would truly make 2012 a year of favor from the Lord. Gratitude is one of those virtues (along with obedience, humility, and fear of the Lord) that provide the rockbed foundation of the spiritual life.

Excuse me, gotta go write a thank-you note to a priest.

Prayer for Priests
O Almighty Eternal God, look upon the face of Thy Son, and for the love of Him Who is the Eternal High-priest, have mercy on Thy priests. Remember, O most compassionate God, that they are but weak and frail human beings. Stir up in them the grace of their vocation which is in them by the imposition of the Bishop's hands. Keep them close to Thee, lest the enemy prevail against them, so that they may never do anything in the slightest degree unworthy of their sublime vocation.

O Jesus, I pray Thee for Thy faithful and fervent priests; for Thy unfaithful and tepid priests; for Thy priests laboring at home or abroad in distant mission fields; for Thy tempted priests; for Thy lonely and desolate priests; for Thy young priests; for Thy dying priests; for the souls of Thy priests in purgatory.

But above all I commend to Thee the priests dearest to me; the priest who baptized me; the priests who absolved me from my sins; the priests at whose Masses I assisted and who gave me Thy Body and Blood in Holy Communion; the priests who taught and instructed me or helped me and encouraged me; all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way, particularly (mention name). O Jesus, keep them abundantly in time and in eternity. Amen.

Another Case of Misdiagnosed Brain Death

2012-01-04T13:36:00.000-05:00

Family Of Toddler Hurt In Shooting Receives Miracle

Doctors declared Kaylen Torres dead on December 27th. Then on December 28th they declared her alive. What's going on here? Doctors weren't in such a hurry to declare Gabrielle Giffords brain dead -- but she is a VIP, a member of the U.S. aristocracy, and saving her was great PR for the hospital and docs. Not so with a Medicaid tot whose organs are nice and fresh for selling.

And if you believe the statement in the article that, "I don't know a doctor in the world who would make a decision on this little girl's life based on finances," you never stood outside an abortion mill watching the abortionist pull in driving his Cadillac or Mercedes or fought for the life of a brain-damaged person like Hugh Finn or Terry Schiavo.

The poor have always been chaff for the rich which is one reason Jesus said it's so hard for the rich to get into heaven. Love the poor and unwanted, the small and the helpless; one day you may be among their number.

Check Out the Republican Candidates' Positions

2012-01-04T11:53:00.001-05:00

The Family Research Council posted a voter guide on the current crop of GOP wannabees for the Iowa caucuses. Check it out here. Even though the Iowa caucuses are over, the data in this guide is helpful for analyzing the candidates who remain in the running. Since Bachmann and Perry have dropped out, we are left with four: Romney, Santorum, Paul, and Gingrich (in order of their vote tallies.) An eight vote lead isn't exactly a landslide so Romney had a pretty shaky win. And as far as I'm concerned, McCain's endorsement of Romney is one more black mark on his scorecard. So, what do you think, readers? There's some talk of a Santorum/Gingrich coalition against Romney. What do you see as the best bet to beat Obama?

Resolve to Evangelize the Authentic Catholic Faith

2012-01-03T15:41:00.000-05:00

And realize that many who need evangelization are INSIDE THE CHURCH.

Pat Buchanan: Always Pithy and Generally Right

2012-01-03T15:21:00.000-05:00

Is America Losing Control?

Our policies in Iraq reveal the danger of unintended consequences. As Buchanan points out:

Our one-man, one-vote democratists who would remake the world in our image and whose ideology has guided foreign policy for the Bush-Obama decade failed to understand what our Founding Fathers taught:

A democracy, which they detested, empowers majorities to tyrannize minorities. “In questions of power,” Jefferson admonished, “let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the constitution.”

Democratize the Middle East along one-man, one-vote majority-rule principles, without guarantees of minority rights, and majority tribes and sects will use their democratically won power to crush those minorities.
Is that not what is happening there today to the Christians of the Middle East?

2012 better be a year of prayer and penance because we are balanced precariously on the brink.

Voter ID Protects the Integrity of the Vote

2012-01-02T17:25:00.000-05:00

Unless you favor dead people and Mickey Mouse voting in elections, you should be support voter ID. Anybody with a passport or driver's license has an ID and anyone can get a non-driver's photo ID at the DMV. There's even a website where you can click on a map for the information in your state. So why do the Democrats resist voter ID so aggressively? Because...they favor dead people and Mickey Mouse and friends voting perhaps? Obama's Justice Department is after states to halt voter ID because, let's face it, they need all those dead voters to stuff the ballot box. And consider that every illegally cast vote knocks out a legal vote. How would you feel if that vote were yours?

KNIGHT: Voter ID terrifies Democrats
Justice Department seeks to undermine our elections

Thought for the Day from Walker Percy: On Parents and Children

2012-01-02T10:22:00.000-05:00

A friend sent me a segment of an interview with Walker Percy about his Catholic faith which sent me searching for other interviews with this wonderful Catholic writer (who, by the way, did not consider himself a very good Catholic even though he was a believer). Here is how he answered the question, "How much do children owe their parents, and vice versa?"

WP: Don't know, beyond a certain decent respect. Love's fine, but so is toleration. Thus, parents should recognize that most children, especially the most talented, have to rebel to become themselves. Young people should recognize that their parents are not necessarily the cretins they appear to be. Each should try to put up with the other, difficult as that may be.

So...all you parents having trouble with their children, keep this in mind and keep loving them as best you can while gritting your teeth. And...all you children with "cretins" for parents, grit your teeth and love them as best you can too. Maybe the old man and old woman will learn a few things during 2012 and beyond and even come to be friends.

Toleration (i.e., "putting up with each other") is a great watchword for the new year...never silent tolerance of evil which must be opposed (although if you've already made the point with someone you love, don't beat it into the ground), but tolerance of conscience. Prayer and penance will go much further to change hearts than browbeating.

NB: I'm obviously not talking about tolerance in the politically correct, homosexual activism context. Some things must be opposed always and everywhere in terms of policy and law. On the other hand, relationships with individuals require unconditional and patient love that calls forth the best in the other. The true, the good, and the beautiful appeal to the human heart and image the goodness of God. Advance these everywhere and you will be doing much to bring about the Kingdom of God on earth.

Have You Considered Your New Year's Resolution?

2011-12-31T08:51:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again. Will you make a resolution today and mess up tomorrow? If you really want to make progress in the spiritual life, follow the philosophy of St. Ignatius. Pick something very specific and keep a notebook where you record twice a day how you're doing -- at midday and bedtime. Then keep at it. If you have a problem with speaking uncharitably about a specific person, make eliminating that your goal. And when you've eliminated that sin or fault, move on to another. Picking broad goals like, "I'm going to be more charitable in 2012," will immediately be forgotten. Deciding to say nothing mean about your mother-in-law may be more challenging. As for me, I've decided I'm not buying any new clothes in 2012. I have enough to last me the rest of my life already and it will give us more disposable income to spend on replacing the roof and charity. Now...what will I do in my spiritual life? That's a little harder and requires more thought and prayer.

Newt the Crybaby for President

2011-12-29T12:55:00.000-05:00

No more Mr. Nice Guy for Newt Gingrich. He has his limits. For example, he could NEVER vote for Ron Paul. Principled Newt, however, had no problemo endorsing a radical pro-abort Republican, Dede Scozzafava in New York. Remember her? She was running against a pro-lifer who won the nomination and Dede threw her support to the Democrat. That made sense, actually, since she is a liberal Democrat in philosophy and voted like one. But that didn't keep Newt from going to bat for her and act like the party hack he is -- support the Republican no matter how morally bankrupt or unprinicpled. No wonder columnist Joe Sobran always called Republicans the "stupid party." Not ony that, many, like Newt, seem incapable of learning.

But, as I said, Newt does have his limits and he absolutely would not vote for Ron Paul. Paul is just too...too... whatever...for him. (Personally, I don't agree with Ron Paul on a number of issues, but it would be refreshing to have a decent man in the White House for a change. Just think of it, somebody one who has been married to the same woman for over fifty years without a hint of scandal, delivered thousands of babies, believes in limited government, doesn't support the U.S. war machine, and refuses his government pension.)

Who has more integrity? Newt or Ron? Hmmm....is that a trick question or a no-brainer?

Mr. Newt sounds to me like a cry baby who has a tantrum when he doesn't get his way. How dare the Virginia Republican Party keep him off the state ballot? Why should his campaign be organized enough to meet the qualifications by getting 10,000 signatures on a petition? (I got a robo-call at the last minute with locations to sign the ballot petition.)

Look...everybody should just recognize that Newt is THE candidate and let him get on with the business of beating Obama. He realized it while he was on that cruise around the Greek islands. And how dare his home state expect him to meet their unreasonable requirements to make the ballot. Don't they know who he is?

All I can say is, "Get over it, Newt!" (And you too, Perry.) Do you really think whining is an attractive qualification for president?

The Obama Dinner Lottery

2011-12-28T13:45:00.000-05:00

It never ceases to amaze me how low presidents or presidential candidates can stoop to make a buck. It shows that they have absolutely no class. Bob Dole illustrated it with his disgusting ads for...well, you know. Then there were Bill and Hillary selling nights in the Lincoln bedrooom (seances included?) for high roller donors. And now the Obamas, who plan to spend a cool billion on Barack's reelection campaign, offer lottery tickets for a "casual meal" with them. Don't believe it? I'm on his mailing list and see what I got below (second or third invite to enter actually). I removed the weblink because I have no intention of advertising for them. And if you believe all that nonsense about accepting no money from lobbyists and PACs, I have a nice covered bridge for sale in Shenandoah County. Check out this link for data on the union PAC money, over $7 million of it that Obama sucked in during his 2008 campaign. Anyway, here's the email complete with the info that no contribution is needed to enter. As for me, in view of the Obamas enthusiasm for killing little babies, I think eating with them would give me a severe case of indigestion.

Friend --
It's not all that often that Michelle and I get to host a casual meal with friends. That's one of the reasons we're both excited about the upcoming dinner with three supporters and your guests. It's the first one we've ever done like this together, and we'd love to have you and whoever you choose to join us. Chip in $3 or whatever you can today -- and you'll automatically be entered to be one of our dinner guests. I enjoy these dinners not just because they're a way to connect with supporters across the country.

They also say a lot about what kind of campaign we're running.

We don't take a dime from D.C. lobbyists or special-interest PACs -- never have and never will. Instead, we believe in the kind of politics that gives everyone a seat at the table -- so we're literally offering these seats at dinner to folks who are willing to step forward and be a part of it. There are just a few days left to add your name for a chance to be one of our guests at the next dinner, and help build this campaign before 2012 finally arrives.
Make a donation of $3 or whatever you can today -- and automatically enter to be there:

Thanks,

Barack

No purchase, payment, or contribution necessary to enter or win. Contributing will not improve chances of winning. Void where prohibited. Entries must be received by midnight on December 31st, 2011. You may enter by contributing to Sponsor here or click here to enter without contributing. Three winners will each receive the following prize package: up to $1200 towards round-trip tickets for winner and a guest from within the fifty U.S. States, DC, or Puerto Rico to a destination to be determined by the Sponsor; hotel accommodations; and dinner with President Obama on a date to be determined by the Sponsor (approximate retail value of all prizes $4,800). Odds of winning depend on number of entries received. Promotion open only to U.S. citizens, or lawful permanent U.S. residents who are legal residents of 50 United States, District of Columbia and Puerto Rico and 18 or older (or of majority under applicable law). Promotion subject to Official Rules and additional restrictions on eligibility. Sponsor: Obama for America, 130 E. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60601.

Made in the USA

2011-12-27T16:16:00.001-05:00

Check out the story here!

Responding to the Grinch Squad: Virginia Congressman Scott Rigell Says "Merry Christmas!"

2011-12-27T11:18:00.001-05:00

Virginia is really the birthplace of liberty despite all the attention given to those Boston yankees. It was two Virginians, George Mason and Thomas Jefferson, who were primarily responsible for our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. Jefferson borrowed a lot from Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights in drafting the documents. And among those rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution are freedom of religion and freedom of speech. What gives a politically correct Congressional committee the chutzpah to think they can ban Congressmen from wishin their constituents Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah? Here's my opinion -- they're the Grinch Squad, the descendencts of Scrooge before his conversion.

As for Congressman Rigell, I don't think you will be surprised to learn that he is a completely pro-life conservative who recognizes that the family is the basic building block of society and who wants to strengthn marriage by offering tax credits to parents who stay together. He also opposes tax funding of abortion and wants to cut off funding to the killers at Planned Parenthood.

Let's hear it one more time for the great state of Virginia and all the good leaders raised up here. (This is where I give a plug for state delegate Bob Marshall, state senator Dick Black, and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Go, guys! Now if we could just get rid of those pro-death, politically correct drones like Jim Moran in northern Virginia.)

Wish I'd Seen These Before Christmas!

2011-12-27T10:47:00.000-05:00

Denver school creates action figures of saints for kids

What a great idea! When I saw these action toys, I immediately thought of the meditations of St. Ignatius Loyola and his spiritual exercise of the two standards. On the one hand, you have Jesus on the plains around Jerusalem gathering the saints to battle for souls. On the other hand, you have Satan and his minions gathered on a high place around Babylon, the wicked city, making their plans to seduce and destroy. May this company soon have figures of many of the saints to take the place of the Ninja Turtles and super heroes. The real superheroes children can look up to battle for souls in the Church Militant. You can order St. Michael here. St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. Therese of Lisieux are coming soon.

Wreaths Across America: Remembering the Fallen

2011-12-26T17:02:00.000-05:00

What a lovely tradition: to honor those who have given their lives for their country. Whether you agree with our involvement in any particular war, honoring the dead is a corporal work of mercy which can also be a spiritual work if prayer is added. Think how much it must comfort the families left behind to know their loved ones are not forgotten.

And here's how Wreaths Across America all began:

St. Stephen the Martyr: A Reminder that it's not all About the Feast

2011-12-26T13:08:00.000-05:00

The Christmas season is filled with joy and celebration, but the Church in her wisdom also gives us a sober reminder. Today is the feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr. What is particularly interesting to me about its placement on the day after Christmas is the fact that St. Stephen suffered death as he experienced a vision of heaven, "the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God." (Acts 7:55)

So even as Stephen suffered a painful death by stoning, he was on the threshhold of the greatest party mankind will ever experience, the banquet of the Lamb. And it may very well have been Stephen's prayers and sacrifice that led to the conversion of St. Paul who "was consenting to his death." (Acts 7:59)

While we enjoy all the delights of the twelve days of Christmas, visiting with family and friends, reminiscing about Christmases past and looking forward to a new year with hope, let's remember the thorn upon the rose. This life will never be without suffering even in the midst of celebration. What a blessing if we all accept that suffering as Stephen did, particularly when it involves persecution, and call on Jesus saying, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge."

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

2011-12-25T00:29:00.001-05:00

A friend sent me this as an email Christmas card and I pass it on to you. Be sure to curl up with Jesus sometime Christmas day. After all, He's the reason for the season.

A Nativity Scene was erected in a church yard. During the night, someone came across this. An abandoned dog was looking for a comfortable, protected place to sleep. He chose baby Jesus as his comfort. No one had the heart to send him away so he was there all night.

We should all have the good sense of this dog and curl up in Jesus' lap from time to time. This is too sweet not to share.

No one mentioned that the dog breed is a "shepherd!"

Does the Archdiocese of Detroit have Jurisdiction over RealCatholicTV?

2011-12-24T13:55:00.001-05:00

The Archdiocese of Detroit has instructed Mike Voris of RealCatholicTV to stop using the word "Catholic" in the title of the organization. Problem is -- the group is not actually owned or incorporated in the Archdiocese of Detroit. The owner is Marc Brammer who hires Voris to do his programming. He lives in the Diocese of South Bend under Bishop Kevin Rhoades who has NOT instructed RealCatholicTV to desist.

What's particularly ironic is that diocesan officials will apparently not meet with Voris and representatives of RealCatholicTV to discuss the matter. (Voris says he's requested a meeting seven times without response.) On the other hand, the archbishop has met with a group of dissenting priests in his diocese who openly advocate for women's ordination. Voris says the problem is not the archbishop, but staffers at the chancery. And that is certainly plausible since many chanceries across the country are staffed by "professional" Catholics who are often liberals first and Catholics second.

As for whether the Archdiocese of Detroit has the competence to demand anything from RealCatholicTV, time will tell. It's interesting to ponder that we've heard nothing about bishops demanding dissent groups like Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good or Catholics United or the heretics' mouthpiece, the National CATHOLIC Reporter, to stop using the word "Catholic" in their titles. But perhaps the bishops know they won't obey so they don't bother. It's easier to beat up on the orthodox who are more oriented toward obeying authority -- if it's lawful.

This will be an interesting battle to watch. It's clear that the liberals in AmChurch hate orthodox speakers like Voris. That means he's effective. So they will do whatever they can to muzzle him. Which means it's a good time to pray for RealCatholicTV and perhaps support them with a donation.

Archdiocese of Detroit asks Michael Voris to stop using the name ‘Catholic’

A Bit of Christmas Trivia for Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T11:48:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite Christmas specials is A Charlie Brown Christmas. It was the first of the peanuts animations and Charles Schulz was instrumental in its production. Here are several trivia questions to test your Charlie Brown knowledge:

1) What company was instrumental in advertising the special and even had a sign with its name on it in the original version?

2) What did Charles Schulz refuse to allow in the cartoon even though it was considered mandatory in comedy shows of the day?

3) Where did Schulz get the voices for most of his characters?

4) What mistake did the animators make that is readily seen?

5) Why did Snoopy get most of the action scenes?

6) What "controversial" element of the program made the producers think the show would only be shown once instead of becoming the annual hit it is?

7) And last -- What Christmas special always puts poor Charlie Brown in second place?

Check out the anwers at 10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’

Obama's Gifts to America

2011-12-23T13:44:00.000-05:00

Makes you wonder what he can possibly do next year to outdo what he's already done. Maybe he'll give us the mine to go along with the shaft.

The Pro-Life Movement is Winning the Battle

2011-12-23T11:33:00.000-05:00

It's interesting to have a three-decade history in the pro-life movement. I remember when the pro-aborts predicted that the battle was over after Roe v. Wade. They were convinced they could dust their hands off and get on with their grisly business of ripping babies apart with no unpleasant controversy. Those doing the devil's work never recognize the tenacity of the Church Militant. Soldiers of Christ filled with the Holy Spirit don't leave the field until the victory.

And so today, the pro-life movement is winning the battle for the hearts and minds of America as they continue their life-saving work -- in front of abortion mills and on college campuses. The baby in the womb is no longer invisible, but recognizable as a little person. And the survivor generation recognizes that they only live because they managed to run the gauntlet of nine months before birth.

With the anniversary of the birth of our little unborn Lord only days away, let us give thanks for the greatest gift --LIFE. We only celebrate with gifts under the tree because we were born. Praise God!

Tide is Turning on Abortion, Pro-Life Movement is Winning

Christmas Traditions

2011-12-22T19:18:00.000-05:00

I love Christmas traditions. My favorite is the creche. It is always the first decoration to go up and the last to come down. The creche our children grew up with was a resin one that was impervious to being loved to death by children. Baby Jesus survived being dropped many times during our Christmas eve procession to place him in the manger and sing happy birthday. Somebody always carried the cake as we processed around the house singing carols. Mary and Joseph and all the other figures enjoyed many side-trips when little ones decided they needed adventures.

After my mom died in 2002 I passed our crib set on to our oldest child and replaced it with the one that had graced my parents' home for years. It too was not the original one I remembered from childhood. Perhaps it was my grandparents. At any rate, I'm sure my dad made the stable because he had rigged it up with artificial greens that attached to the back in an elaborate scheme with every branch coded to fit into its spot. Putting it together always reminds me of Daddy and his creative genius. He would not waste anything. (E.g, Old indvidual serving cans of juice were painted and crimped on one end to make building toys for the grandkids.)

One intermittent Christmas tradition at our house is making fruitcake. (Please spare me all the jokes about there being only one fruitcake in the world that just keeps getting passed around.) Larry and I think fruitcake is a real treat. I grew up with it. My mother always bought at least one Jane Parker cake from A &P and it didn't last long at our house. Larrry and I used to order ours from the famous Collin Street Bakery in Texas (A & P being long defunct) until I began making my own from a recipe in the Joy of Cooking cookbook. No citron in my fruitcake (yuck), but plenty of brown and gold raisins, candied pineapple and cherries, orange peel that I candy myself, dates, and lots and lots of pecans and walnuts. Sometimes I include dried apricots, but I forgot to buy them this year so I just added extra of the others. After the baking and cooling I warm up cream sherry, poke the cake with a skewer, and drizzle it on drop by drop until the cake is saturated. The last step is decorating with cherries and nuts to make it as appealing to the eye as to the taste. It is truly delicious and fit for the Christmas feast. One can forget the modern Scrooges for awhile and bask in the warmth of the Spirit of Christmas Present.

What are your favorite Christmas traditions?

Technology to Create Shroud Image Not Available to Science

2011-12-21T09:59:00.000-05:00

To see this on the liberal Huffington Post is interesting. The more science learns, the more it can't explain. How do atheists like Richard Dawkins explain the creation of the image on the shroud? They can't, so they mostly ignore it. Twenty years ago (at least) when DNA findings indicated we all descended from an original set of parents, the fact was pretty much buried and disappeared into oblivian. The tactic of those with faith in their god Chance is to ignore and ridicule what points to biblical reality. They would rather hypothesize that life began on the back of a crystal (perhaps a giant turtle named Crystal?) or that aliens brought it, than admit even the possibility of intelligent design. The game they play reminds me of something a wise friend of mine said once. You can wake up a sleeping man, but you can't wake up a man pretending to be asleep. There are many pretenders today who are so dedicated to their fundamental disbelief they would rather believe something ridiculous than even consider a truth that dethrones them as tinpot gods.

Miracles Still Happen!

2011-12-20T22:02:00.000-05:00

Ferndale-area boy's recovery from flesh-eating bacteria linked to Blessed Kateri's sainthood

Who's Looking at all that Information on Facebook?

2011-12-20T17:08:00.000-05:00

I received the e-mail below and share some of the same concerns as the writer. I get nervous when someone wants to know who and how I'm related to people. Why do they want that information? Why do they want to know every little nitty gritty detail of my life? And why would I want to tell them? We live in a culture where privacy is considered a weird concept. Why wouldn't you want everybody to know everything about you -- and then the zinger -- UNLESS YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO HIDE.

Frankly, I have lots to hide. I don't want people to know all my personal sins. Some things are between me and God. I don't want people to know every one of my physical, mental, and emotional flaws. Some things are between me and my husband and he doesn't know all of them. I don't want people to know every injury I've inflicted on others or the injuries they've inflicted on me. Some things are between me and my family and my real friends, the people I have REAL relationships with instead of the superficial "friendships" of Facebook.

Currently, I'm off Facebook although I haven't deleted my account permanently -- yet. But the more I think about it, the more prudent it seems. There are a lot of things that are nobody's business -- much less the business of millions of people I don't even know including the administrators of Facebook.

Besides, I have this little nagging knowledge from history. One of the reasons it was so easy for the Nazis to round up the Dutch Jews, was the extensive records Holland had started keeping on all their citizens. If that makes me sound like a conspiracy nut, so be it. History has some warnings to teach us and volunteering too much information about ourselves is one of them.

Subject: I have written this to protect the people I care about. Please read, and share.
Dear Friend,

I AM LEAVING FACEBOOK. YOU SHOULD CONSIDER DOING THE SAME: READ ON.
After three years of active use, I am calling it quits. I find myself disappointed by Facebook's lack of commitment to making features that enhance how a real, healthy social life functions. In addition to bleeding the once unequivocal word "friend" of its meaning, and making it into an umbrella term for any contact whatsoever, Facebook has frustrated users like myself with their disregard for privacy. They have missed opportunities to craft their product into a useful tool for managing human contact in its various contexts and natural complexity. Instead, they seem guided by a bias toward exhibitionism. Their default mode is indiscriminate broadcasting, with little in the way of structure, boundaries, or selectivity. It has always been more difficult than it should be to moderate the proliferation of your own information on Facebook. Perhaps that appeals to a segment of the population, but in view of 800 million users, it seems highly manipulative.

As if having to re-calibrate your privacy settings with each "upgrade" was not pain enough, we now have the mandatory "timeline" feature to contend with. Timeline IS the new profile, NOT part of it. I previewed it, only to discover there is no option to turn it off or opt out. It starts with your "Born" point, and publishes everything you've shared, in chronological order. It beckons you to fill in the blanks with more content, even from before you used Facebook. In a few minutes, any viewer can find out your movements, life events, when you met people, where you have lived, all in perfect, day-by-day, hour-by hour order. Who is THAT for? Anyone close enough to me (or you) to merit knowledge of that information certainly does not need the help of Facebook. Perhaps it’s for narcissists (or the little narcissist in all of us), stalkers, or people who might enjoy creating false personas by altering or inserting events into their past. This ability happens to be a feature! Figuring out who sees what promises to be a nightmare. The default visibility is public, secondary is “just friends”. After that, you have to retro-actively set the status of each post. I don't know about you, but I don't want to spend a month wading through the visibility settings of thousands of individual posts, after figuring out who—among hundreds of friends and contacts—should have access to what. That’s a pain and they know it.

If you are a parent, you should now seriously consider disallowing Facebook use among your kids. I am sure most of you had social lives that were just fine at their age, and likely didn’t even have cell phones or e-mail! Trying to figure out—within Facebook—how to avoid a general broadcast of your child’s information is tricky or perhaps impossible. Nor is it difficult to imagine anyone creating a false profile with a picture of some bubbly smiling face, just to "friend" your kid for a few minutes and discover virtually every move they make, and have made, for years. Facebook made it theoretically possible, timeline now makes it incredibly easy. There is even software available that can download and save information on a person's profile immediately once access is gained, no scrolling, no searching.

Refined and tweaked as it could be, timeline still promises to be a shallow, inauthentic and potentially dangerous reflection of people's lives. More than just privacy is at hand. Timeline is problematic in principle: Knowing years of another person's life events in chronological order ought to be the privilege of really knowing a person, offline, in the real world. It should be something learned, and earned, interactively, with mutual trust. Would you trade the knowledge of three years of your life's activity to someone for three minutes of their "friendship"? Such knowledge should not be a passively consumable, instantly downloadable “perk” of "friending" someone with a single click. Perhaps more control will come along later... or perhaps not. That's not really the point. The point is: whose life should be reduced to this?

Granted, FB is only using information that you have chosen to share. But does that exonerate them? Would that exonerate your bank or e-mail provider, if they packaged all your activity into a neat online page, ready to be viewed or hacked into by anyone? What if Google or Bing created a nice, artfully designed page that published all your searches in chronological order and sent a link to everyone in your contact list? Moreover, they are using the information you chose to share in a way they did not when you chose to share it—and they’re not even asking your permission.

Technology works well when there is proper discretion. Mark Zuckerberg appears deficient in it. If you watched "The Social Network", then you know he got his start by hacking into university databases and publishing people's personal information for his own sordid amusement. Perhaps old habits die hard. Neither is it insignificant that another founding member of Facebook, Sean Parker, also got his start by creating a program that illegally distributed copyrighted information, namely, Napster. It would seem that a casual disregard for others’ rights and information is hardwired into Facebook’s corporate DNA.

So what is timeline really for? Facebook is primarily a business. I shudder to think how timeline has been programmed on their end to package information for marketing companies, or even governments. I am sure that many institutions would be interested in knowing, through a single database, your major life events, thoughts, movements, tastes, and travels, all perfectly cross-referenced in real time. Time is a pivitol factor in economics. That, along with its blatant appeal for your voluntary additions, makes the timeline scheme far more powerful and insidious than anything that has gone before. Sophisticated algorithms will analyze the data, predict movements, purchases, and ultimately put more information about you into the hands of more people, and in more countries, than ever before. Where search providers alone could tell anyone “what” you are looking for, Facebook will be able to tell them “why” and “when”. The new "add life event" feature asks you to fill in things such as when you moved, how you fixed your house, if and when you quit smoking or drinking, when you started seeing someone, when you broke up, even the date of your "first kiss"! There is even more... They want to know about your voting in elections, your health information, how much weight you have lost, whether you wear glasses or contacts, your eating habits, your illnesses, your types of tattoos, and when your loved ones have died! Facebook now asks that you volunteer all of this. Don't believe me? Take a look. It would be utterly naive to think that what we will see as the "timeline" is not simply the public facade of a profitable venture on the back-end. If someone asks Facebook how many blue-eyed 26 year old left-voting women drive Toyotas in a particular zip code, they will answer, "fat or thin?" "smoking or non?" Feel free to add events to your past, with willful abandon! They are counting on you to fill in the blanks and make their product even more valuable. They are also counting on you to be stupid.

I am not against social networking. I love to share photos, events, and jokes with friends, family and acquaintances. I find it useful to publish a thought now and then, as this letter aptly demonstrates. I understand that the convenience of sharing information online incorporates exposure and risk. I know that these services must be profitable for them to exist at all. I can live with all of that. But this a step too far. It is immoderate. It is absurd. With Facebook’s changes in particular, an inherent pitfall of social media has now become mandatory with admission: Social media can condition us to share our intimate selves thoughtlessly, outside of the structure of real, healthy relationships built carefully upon mutual trust. Is it any surprise that Facebook's model of socialization was born out of the hookup culture of the college dorm? There has never been better evidence of this than timeline. It would have us accept a lack of prudent boundaries and outright voyeurism as the norm in human relations. Some ways of relating to others are destructive. It is regrettable to learn them at a formative age, and sadder still when they are reinforced long into adulthood. Unfortunately, this ominous conditioning and reinforcement now appears integral to Facebook's business model.

I will stay on Facebook until Christmas. Feel free to message me until then. After that, I may consider coming back if the platform matures beyond its present absurdities. I will retain my Google+ account for now, in view of its lack of a timeline and rather good, “up front” controls for selective sharing. Look me up there if you choose. Thanks for reading. If you would like someone else to read this, please feel free to share. Perhaps it will make a difference.
– Milo Persic
December, 2011

They Can't Kill them Fast Eough in the Netherlands!

2011-12-20T14:56:00.000-05:00

Killing the Sick in their Beds: Europe's progress in euthanasia

I'm never surprised at the advanced culture of death in Holland. Why? Because that's one of the places the faith collapsed early on undermined by the evil and false "spirit of Vatican II." The Dutch catechism, published in 1966, (which I have on my bookshelf for reference with a stern warning in the front about its heretical nature) was used to undermine the faith after the council. The Catholic Church in Holland, which had one of the highest rates of vocations in the world, collapsed quickly as small discussion groups formed to spread the catechetical dissent and destroy the faith of the people. Vocations dried up and so did the authentic faith. The catechism wasn't the only reason, but it played a significant role in spreading heretical ideas and promoting indifferentism. Deadly ideas quickly took root and grew into the poisonous culture that kills so many of the helpless sick and elderly today. Ideas have consequences. Sin is first conceived in the mind before it is acted on by the will.

It's hard to remember the courage of Dutch Christians seen during World War II. Their acts of heroism are unimaginable in the country's current death-dealing climate. When the Nazis occupied the country it was Catholics who supported Anne Frank, her family, and the other jews hiding in the attic with them. How many would be willing to risk their lives today for a handful of "useless eaters?"

The imprimatur was removed from the English edition of the Dutch catechism and no wonder. The faith is entirely muddled throughout, lost in a mish-mash of ecumenical doublespeak, religious indifferentism, and misleading emphasis on the primacy of conscience. You can read about the failed "Dutch experiment" here.

And so today, Holland is the capitol of killing for the helpless sick and elderly. The Dutch who enable the murders are more like the Nazis they resisted during the occupation than the defenders of freedom who risked their own lives to save their Jewish neighbors. Reading the history of the collapse of faith in Holland is a warning. When the faith disappears the spirit of the age runs rampant through a culture. And the spirit of our age is a spirit of murder.

The picture is grim, but we must never lose hope. Remember God's promise: resist the devil and he will flee. Satan especially hates the rosary and the Eucharist. If we all pray the rosary daily as Mary asked at Fatima we can help bring about the conversion of the world Mary promised. What a blessed resolution it would be to commit to the daily rosary in 2012, attend daily Mass as often as possible, and frequent the confessional. What a hope for the world that would be.

Why Would a Parent Pay to Send a Kid to a Jesuit College?

2011-12-20T12:03:00.000-05:00

The Jesuits can be relied on for one thing -- to undermine the faith and scandalize their students. They champion all things weird and wicked. And here's an "art" show at Santa Clara University that demonstrates just that (e.g., Latina sex workers who embrace belief in a pagan goddess?).

Mothers, don't let your children grow up to go to Jesuit institutions. They are the schools Fulton Sheen warned parents against, saying not to send their children to Catholic schools where their faith would be taken from them. God forgive them.

“A study of otherness”

Homosexual Public School Teacher Engages in Psychological Abuse of Student

2011-12-19T08:36:00.000-05:00

How would you feel if your teenage son or daughter was held up to ridicule and psychological abuse for defending his Catholic faith? That's what happened to a student in Howell, Michigan school district. What's even more outrageous than the teacher's behavior is the school district backing him up. Public schools are now so corrupt that while they discriminate against all things religious, they celebrate a lifestyle that leads to drug and alcohol abuse, life-threatening illness, and an increased likelihood of suicide. More and more frequently Christian students are being attacked in the classroom as "bigots" and "hatemongers" for having the courage to defend moral standards recognized for thousands of years. Sodomy isn't a lifestyle; it's a deathstyle.

BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS
Catholic student 'bullied, humiliated' by teacher: Instructor 'promoted' homosexuality rather than economics class material

An Advent Baptism

2011-12-18T18:11:00.000-05:00

Our 20th grandchild was baptized today. What a glorious celebration on the 4th Sunday of Advent when we turn our thoughts to Our Lady and her important role in salvation history. A mother, Mary, brought her Son into the world to save mankind from sin. Another mother, our daughter, brought her baby to the Church today to save her little soul from the doom inflicted on the the human race by Adam's sin.

Little Bianca cried through most of her baptism. She didn't like her christening hat and cried almost as soon as it was on her head. We took it off. She cried while her godmother held her as Father began the service. She cried when Father anointed her on the chest and she wailed when he poured the water over her head. Then all afternoon she was happy as a lark -- full of smiles and cooing up a storm. We all laughed and said the devil had been driven out of her.

but is that so fantastical a statement? Is it possible that being "full of grace" can have a real physical impact on someone?

Priests I know have related stories about the anointing of the sick, where an immediate change takes place in the injured or ill person. One priest described a doctor running down the hall to ask him what he did after he anointed an accident victim on his big toe, the only part of the man's body he could reach as the emergency room team worked on him. The physical improvement was immediate.

A sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace. But sometimes it gives other gifts as well. Today, I like to think it gave us an afternoon of baby smiles and happy little noises. Not too surprising, I think, for one who is surrounded by angels and filled with supernatural grace.

No One Can Sing it Like Judy Collins: Send in the Clowns

2011-12-17T14:56:00.001-05:00

My brother posted a version of Send in the Clowns on his Political Brambles Blog and it reminded me that Judy Collins did it as well. I've heard it sung by Barbra Streisand and Frank Sinatra. Bernadette Peters did it in the original Broadway production of A Little Night Music. But nobody sings it like Judy and I love this version where she invites the audience to join in. Very sweet. She may be a political liberal, but God gifted her with an angelic voice. So I'm praying for her today and hoping that she one day sings in the heavenly choir.