Pray for Diane Derzis who Thinks She's God's Abortionist

Owner of last abortion clinic in Mississippi: ‘I feel like God wants me to do this job’
Talk about using God's name in vain! What will happen to Diane Derzis if she dies unrepentant for this blasphemy against the God of LIFE? Let's join the Rev. Flip Benham (who played a major role in the conversion of Norman Jane McCorvey, Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade) in praying this woman into God's arms with a little fasting added (Some demons are only driven out through fasting).

I'm praying the rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for Diane Derzis today and urge readers to make their own prayer pledge for the conversion of an abortionist. Imagine a world where no person trained to heal was willing to kill a patient instead. Diane Derzis is NOT out of reach of God's grace. Our Lady, refuge of sinners, intercede for Diane that she comes to her senses.

(Hat tip to Roger. Thanks for the link.)

Thinking about Joy

Reading Evangelii Gaudium has me thinking about joy. And thinking about joy always sets me thinking about the theme of joy in classical music. Mozart, particularly, puts a smile on my face with his compositions of joy. Exultate Jubilate is one of my favorites.

Russian coloratura soparano Julia Lezhneva gives us an idea of what the angels in heaven must sound like as they sing praise to our wonderful God!

Exultate! Rejoice! Jubilate! Be glad!

Victims of "Gay" Hate

Christian couple faces uncertain future for living their faith!

Too bad they just didn't post a sign saying they would donate the proceeds from renting to fornicators and sodomites to a group defending traditional marriage. The U.K. is even worse than the U.S. when it comes to politically correct hatred of Christians who dare to try to live their values.

Evangelii Gaudium, the Introduction: Quotes and Thoughts

Evangelii Gaudium I: A Joy Ever New, A Joy which is Shared

Well, I'm moving slowly into Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation on Evangelization and find the introduction comfortingly familiar. The pope's words reinforce what I have often said when I was sidewalk counseling outside abortion mills. There is nothing too big for Jesus. He is always there with outstretched arms, but He never forces our free will. If we walk away from Him He will not drag us kicking and screaming back. He simply waits, like the father of the prodigal son, for us to "come to our senses."

"[W]henever we take a step towards Jesus, we come to realize that he is already there, waiting for us with open arms....Time and time again he bears us on his shoulders. No one can strip us of the dignity bestowed upon us by this boundless and unfailing love." 3

Why I Need This Holiday

By Alice Doyle

Last week I was sitting in my stylist’s chair, struggling to make small talk while she worked her magic on my hair. Thanksgiving was an obvious choice of topic, and I asked her what she would be doing. She told me she usually cooks for her extended family, but this year she had decided they would eat out so that she could start shopping when the stores opened at 5 PM. She elaborated, telling me that Black Friday is a tradition for her and her girlfriends who literally “shop ‘till they drop” from Thursday afternoon until Friday evening. 26 glorious hours of filling bags, trekking to the car and going back for more, more, more. More what? “You should see my girls’ lists! What don’t they want?”

The check-out clerk at Walmart told me she was working 2pm-11pm Thanksgiving Day. They don’t close lest the people arrive in droves and inadvertently trample someone on the way to the greatest buy. I asked her when she would celebrate Thanksgiving. She shrugged and said she wouldn’t but that her mother and brother would be celebrating. At the grocery store, I overheard a manager tell a customer, “We’re only open until 5pm on Thanksgiving. I’ll be out of here by 5:30 and maybe get a few leftovers.”

My fellow Americans—WHAT IS GOING ON? 

I have two concerns about all of this.

First, it is extremely un-American. Thanksgiving is our holiday, rooted in our nation’s infancy. It is an important part of our history. We should embrace it. One day of the year, set aside to give thanks and celebrate our tremendous blessings as a nation is, in the balance, the very least we can do. And yet, we aren’t doing it. Instead, we are rushing through and past the gratitude to the “more, more, more” that marks the celebration of Christmas.

Which is my second point. If you were the devil trying to distract the world from focusing on the poor, newborn babe in the manger, how would you do it? Rampant materialism might be a good place to start. The central message of Christmas is that God gave the world His best gift. His son, Jesus, is literally all we need. We do not need “door busters” regardless of the price. And yet, how many people will rush away from the good things in life today like good friends, family and the comforts of home in search of deals that will someday be so much junk in a landfill?

I saw an interesting sign recently: “If you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday, what would you have?” My honest answer? Not much. Which is why I need this holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving: It All Started with the Grateful Catholic Explorers

The Catholic Origins of Thanksgiving

What better way to begin the day than go to Mass and thank the giver of the gift. Eucharist means "thanksgiving." And today, the best way to say thank you is to join at Mass to offer to God His own Son, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His love is everlasting!

     Happy Thanksgiving!

Pope Francis: The Joy of the Gospel #1

I've just started reading Pope Francis' apostolic exhortaton Evangelii Gaudium and I had to laugh and shake my head when I read this line:

The great danger in today’s world, pervaded as it is by consumerism, is the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience.

Uh...sounds like a warning for Black Friday. Talk about "consumerism!" I wonder how many folks tomorrow will stuff themselves into a coma, take a nap, and then get up a few hours later to go out and shop on "Black Friday" eve. So many stores are advertising their Thanksgiving hours. It is absolutely pathetic.

Well, I will be where I am every Thanksgiving and Black Friday -- at home enjoying family and playing games with grandkids thanking God for all the blessings in my life which are too numerous to count! Shopping is NOT on my agenda! How about you?

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Conservatism and the Catholic Bishops

Establishment Republicans are good at jumping on the bandwagon blowing all the politically correct whistles. The issue that will ultimately kill conservatism and the Republican Party in this country, one that will destroy the reason people have so long tried to enter America (legally or illegally) is immigration. We need reform yes, but we also need a sensible policy that preserves the Constitutional principles on which the country was founded and allows assimilation of the multi-millions already here.

Phyllis Schlafly explains why our current immigration policies signal the death knell for the Republican party unless they put the skids on immigration. Ironically, our bishops are big boosters for killing conservatism while they pay lip service to certain fundamental moral principles like the right to life. Their policies will hasten America's death and our conversion to socialism. Once we're there (all the way there; we're well on the way) big government will be entrenched and you can forget about any defense for the unborn, the elderly, the middle class, etc. We will all be virtual wage slaves, cogs in big government's machine. Every liberal nightmare policy you can imagine from legalizing polygamy, drugs, active euthanasia, and pederasty (yes, eliminating the age of consent is on the horizon) to criminalizing Christian speech as a hate crime and confiscating guns will pass. You think the government is a monster now, just wait! Oh, and note to the bishops, do you really think the Church will be overlooked? Remember other Catholic countries like Spain and Mexico where the Church experienced bloody martyrdom under socialism!

Thanks, country club Republicans. Thanks, U.S. bishops. Once liberals destroy America we'll never have to worry about immigration again. No one will want to come here! We'll have no jobs, long lines for basic commodities (Remember the Soviet Union?), and anyone who dares to speak out will be an enemy of the state. Can't happen here? Open your eyes; it already is happening.

Hang on to your rosaries and fight -- for yourself and for your children. And please...don't give your liberal diocese any money. If you have a Catholic conference that is supporting liberal legislation or any legislation that is a matter of prudential judgment vs. fundamental Catholic morality, cut them off. What the heck are the Virginia bishops doing taking a position opposing uranium mining? For crying out loud! Pray for your bishop always and everywhere, but if he's involved in nonsense, don't give him a penny! Sadly, most of them are. You have an obligation to support the Church. You can do that in many ways other than filling the coffers in liberal dioceses.

Does the Republican Party Have a Future?

Conning America: The Obama Games...

...come right out of Alinsky's Rules for Radicals. As a senior administration rep boasted during the government shutdown, “We are winning. … It doesn’t really matter to us [how long the government shutdown lasts] because what matters is the end result.” Exactly! Power to the community organizer! Make it as painful as possible for the American people and pretend it's someone else's fault. Obama and his minions play the American people like a puppet master plays with his stringed puppets. They can only do it because of the complicity of the despicable mainstream media. Read more here....

On my Christmas Wish List..Flannery O'Connor's Prayer Journal

Flannery O'Connor's A Prayer Journal

From the New York Times book review:

While O’Connor was a student at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop she was also a daily communicant at St. Mary’s Catholic Church at the edge of campus. Her journal reflects a conflict, in her mind at least, between a skeptical intellectual environment and the faith she sometimes anxiously sustains. She says: “I dread, Oh Lord, losing my faith. My mind is not strong. It is a prey to all sorts of intellectual quackery. I do not want it to be fear which keeps me in the church.” She knows all the arguments against religion. They seem to have changed little over the last 70 years, so there is no need to rehearse them here. Considering the threat she feels them to be, it is striking that atheism, in an apparently Southern, vernacular incarnation with nothing intellectual about it, is at the center of “Wise Blood,” the novel she had already begun to write and submit to be read in workshop. This is a tale in which pathos tips into pathology and violence, answered by a penance of self-mutilation and suffering. Yet the prose is absolutely brilliant, sentence by sentence, simile by simile, and so relentlessly inventive it feels comic. The young writer prays, “Please let Christian principles permeate my writing and please let there be enough of my writing (published) for Christian principles to permeate.”

Feast of Christ the King: How the Liturgical Year Ends

I love that the liturgical year ends with the Feast of Christ the King! The feast has only been in the Church calendar since 1925 when Pope Pius XI created it as a response to the rising tide of secularism. What a gift to the Church! Just think, we begin the liturgical year with preparation for the baby King's arrival in poverty and weakness and end with the celebration of Christ in all His glory and majesty. This year is especially poignant as the feast comes the day after the feast of Blessed Miguel Pro, martyr of Mexico, who died with arms outstretched like Jesus on the cross, proclaiming "Viva Cristo Rey!" Long live Christ the King! As this liturgical year ends, so does the year of faith. What fruits have come from this amazing year? Many firsts: the first pope named Francis, the first pope from the "new world," the first Jesuit pope. Did you have any firsts in your life this year?

And you think you have challenges? Praise God for Life!

I love Nick -- what an attitude. People like him make you believe anything is possible. And have you seen him in The Butterfly Circus? Watch it here. What a movie of hope and gratitude. Yes, God can transform us! Thank you, God, for everything in my life. The joys that look beautiful and the joys that are hidden inside challenges and tragedies. I think for Thanksgiving I'll make a list of a dozen things for which I'm thankful. I'll include the hard things, like having cancer at 39, which taught me so much about trusting God in the midst of difficulties. Praise you, Lord, in both the sun and the storm.

It's All About Dumbing Down the Kids!

IL 4th grade book says white voters rejected Obama because of race

See the book and a few dozen reviews here. How would you feel about your child being subjected to this leftist propaganda as part of Common Core? The mantra continues to be that anyone who opposes Obama's policies is a racist. What nonsense! And why does the accusation not work both ways? After all, blacks voted overwhelmingly for Obama. If you vote AGAINST someone because of his race, that's racism. What if you vote FOR someone because of his race. Isn't that racism too?

The irony of Barack Obama is that, while promising to bring America together, he has used his Alinsky community organizing strategies to divide. Fundamental to Alinsky's principles was to define opponents as "enemies" and "freeze" them. If you read Rules for Radicals

Americans Angry? They need this Antidote!

New York News

The best way to deal with anger and agitation in my opinion? Prayer! And a great prayer for soothing the agitated spirit is the rosary. The repetitive prayer is like background music for the mystery meditations.Research shows the impact on the brain which switches from the analytical centers to the area that experiences deep feelings. Much of the research has been done with Eastern meditation practices, but the danger with them is they aim at emptying out. The rosary (and all Christian prayer) aims at emptying (purification from sin and selfishness) only to create a space to fill up -- with the Holy Spirit. Who would start on a journey with a deliberately empty gas tank? The journey of life requires a tank continuously filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit!

The practice of Eastern meditation is fraught with danger as the Holy See warned in a 1989 Letter to the Bishops of the World:

With the present diffusion of eastern methods of meditation in the Christian world and in ecclesial communities, we find ourselves faced with a pointed renewal of an attempt, which is not free from dangers and errors, to fuse Christian meditation with that which is non-Christian.

Wondering What to Make for Dinner?

Spaghetti dogs, anyone?  I thought this was too cool - a great dish for the grandkids. Let's see, how can we spiritualize this? Seven spaghetti noodles poked into the frank to represent the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. As they poke the noodles through they can recite: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.

Hold on to Your Wallet: CCHD Collection This Weekend

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) collection is being taken up this weekend in many dioceses including Arlington. The campaign continues to be serious problematic giving millions to Alinsky community organizing groups that fund projects diametrically opposed to Catholic teaching. Check out these sources below and give to an organization that is trustworthy and doesn't support moral evils. Please pass this on. Friends don't let friends give to CCHD.

Reform CCHD NOW!

"Throughout this investigation, RCN has witnessed a rising trend in granting money to organizations that support abortion, birth control, homosexuality, and/or Marxism either directly or through coalitions. Despite repeated claims by CCHD representatives that CCHD does not fund such groups, the report this year indicates that 37% of the organizations receiving CCHD funds are in violation of CCHD guidelines. In this year's report, RCN found that $2.8 million of the total $7.6 million (38%) in CCHD grants went to organizations undermining the Church's efforts to protect human life and dignity."

American Life League acknowledges that some progress has been made in the 2013 grant season, but still urge Catholics to avoid the collection. You can read their press release by going to All.org and click on the newsroom link where you will find the November 21st press release.

Al Qaeda in Kentucky? Yikes!

  More World News from ABC


U.S. May Have Let Dozens of Terrorists into the Country

More on St. Faustina and the Divine Mercy Devotion

Well, I generated a lot of discussion on my Facebook page with the post about the Divine Mercy and Sr. Faustina. (Much more than here.) One friend sent me a link from Catholic Culture about the dangers of the Tradition in Action website. I trust Catholic Culture's reviews. I also did more research and came across a good rebuttal of the points made by Fr. Perez which were attributed to an unnamed priest, Fr. S. (Yes, I should have done more research first, mea culpa.)

The rebuttal by Dr. Robert Stackpole is respectful and convincing. I hope visitors here will take the time to read it, but I'll summarize a few points:

• Translations of Sr. Faustina's work was originally smuggled out from behind the iron curtain.
• The Italian translation of the work was faulty and the original documents couldn't be reviewed as long as the Communists ruled Poland. This lack of the original documents and mistranslations led to the condemnation and ban prior to Poland opening up.
• Once the original documents were available and analyzed, the ban was lifted by the same Congregation that imposed the ban.
• Criticism of the Divine Mercy image for not showing the Sacred Heart of Jesus ignores all the sacred images that do not show Christ's heart including the crucifix, images of the Resurrection, icons of Christ, etc.
• Devotion to the Sacred Heart and the Divine Mercy devotion are complementary.

The website where I found Dr. Stackpole's article is a wealth of information on the Divine Mercy devotion and I plan to spend some time there. (Catholic Culture gives them a good rating.) 

I could just take the original post down, but I think in our confusing times people need to know the reasons something is wrong. If you can address the errors in an argument, you have a much better chance of protecting others who might be influenced by it. 

Reasons to Question the Divine Mercy Devotion

After reading the article below, I looked up some of the references in Sr. Faustina's Diary. The problems this priest points out in the text are clear. Oh dear..... Some of the quotes are troubling indeed. And what are we to make of the fact that two popes, Pius XII and John XXIII condemned the devotion?

Church Reasons to Condemn the Divine Mercy Devotion

Update here.

What If Middle Earth Were Real?

I've just finished a fascinating novel called Toward the Gleam which gives me confidence that Catholic fiction is alive and well. Author T.M. Doran creates a "what if" world based on the proposition that Middle Earth actually existed as a real, ancient civilization. The protagonist, John Hill, is an Oxford professor and veteran of W.W. I, who discovers by accident (during a terrifying night in a dark cave where he's taken shelter from a storm) an artifact from said civilization. It is a gleaming metal box of unknown material containing an ancient manuscript describing a time filled with strange creatures and dangerous adventures. It becomes Hill's lifetime passion to translate the unknown language and discover whether the work is fact or fiction. But there is someone else interested in the book as a key to unleashing power over men and he will go to any lengths to discover Hill's secret and plummet the depths of his research.

Those with a passion for Tolkien will enjoy this creative story where famous people from the past mingle in cameo scenes with Doran's fictional characters to help unlock the mysteries of the ancient world. On a few occasions I felt another real person was introduced just for the author's amusement. A brief discussion of "Dorothy's" fantastic murder scheme takes place among John, Jack, and Owen in the (Inklings') pub, the Bird and Baby which is a clear allusion to mystery writer Dorothy Sayers. I won't identify the others. As I read, half the fun was seeing these celebrities, identified only by first names, pop up with words of wisdom (and clues) for our hero.

If you want a thoroughly entertaining romp through a real/imaginary world of mystery and menace, pick up Toward the Gleam.It's great fun. And if you figure out the riddle of the locked room it contains, you're smarter than I am.  Here's the book trailer. Enjoy!

Aida's Grand March by Flash Mob!

I love the opera flash mobs. And here's one playing one of my favorite pieces of music!

Viral Video of Twins Being Bathed

Too lovely not to share. But consider that just a few days or weeks before this video was taken, these little ones could have been legally killed in utero in most countries of the world.

I wonder how many of the million oohing and ahhing over the pictures, will still defend the right to kill babies as long as they aren't yet born.

Profits Soar For Incompetent Obamacare Website Developer

Obamacare Website Developer Sees Profits Soar

Not really a surprise. After all, the company that secured the no-competition contract has a senior official who's a friend of Michelle's. And hasn't this been the M.O. for the Obamas. Their friends, like business mogul and crook Tony Rezko, grease the Obamas' palms and they return the favor.

The Apocalyptic Vision of John Paul II

For the past few weeks I've been pondering a quote in the Magnificat missalette from the feast of Blessed John Paul II on October 22nd..

“We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has ever experienced. I do not think the wide circle of the American Society, or the wide circle of the christian Community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-church, between the Gospel and the anti-gospel, between Christ and the antichrist. This confrontation lies within the plans of Divine Providence. It is therefore, in God’s Plan, and it must be a trial which the Church must take up, and face courageously.... 

"We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ … With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed. How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary."   Blessed John Paul II

The first part of this statement was reported in the Wall Street Journal of November 9, 1976 from an address to the U.S. bishops before Cardinal Karol Wojtyla became pope. The second part is from an interview with Catholics of Fulda in 1980 when he had been pope for several years. I can't help feeling as I read this piece that John Paul actually heard these warnings from the Blessed Mother herself. Did she appear and tell  him the tribulation could no longer be averted? His words sound like statements Mary's made in apparitions around the world. And the pope certainly had an intimate relationship with Our Lady. Reading this makes me want to be more faithful and more devout in praying the rosary. Our world is in such desperate need of Mary's intercession.

Democrats Sure Have a Low Opinion of Women

They're nothing but promiscuous sluts.

SOROS-LINKED GROUP PUSHES SEX TO SELL OBAMACARE

Do you think anyone will tell these young women that birth control pills increase their risk of getting breast cancer, especially more virulent types? But hey, girls, the guy's hot; you just want to get him in bed? A future happy marriage isn't part of your dreams is it? Just ask Bill Clinton, the Democrats' icon. 

A Funny Real-Life Story from My Sister: Gotta Laugh!

I had a "Carol Burnett" ten minutes yesterday that I have to share for a good chuckle--even a rip-roaring laugh AT MY EXPENSE. I am still chuckling-I am easily amused.

I was grocery shopping yesterday at our local store and they had a big special on sodas-12 packs for 4 for ten dollars. So along with many other groceries, I figured I would stock up for two holiday parties with my twelve grandchildren. (Sodas are a treat so I try to get them for big celebrations.)

I purchased 16 cartons and then had to stack then high in my overly full of "stuff" Honda accord. So picture 16 -12 packs of soda in back seat....I have a back door that is not working well (14 year old car) but I had to fit sodas in so I used it and then shut the door.

I pulled out to the roadway (a four lane highway) and saw on my left a ways away an 18 wheeler, so I made the right turn swiftly and "lo and behold" my left rear door flew open and soda cases went bouncing out on the street.

 I pulled over and hopped out and sodas were rolling everywhere.  The 18 wheeler had stopped a few car lengths out and several folks (maybe 6 to 8) came running to scurry and retrieve 40 plus cans of sodas rolling all over the street and my brother's carton of cigarettes.

The retrievers placed the sodas on the side of the street in the recovery and one lovely young African American woman stayed to help me place all the sodas back in my car -cans by cans. I thanked her and asked her  her name . I thought she said Inka. So I told Inka for going the extra mile she was in my prayers all day. She even took the leaking can that was hosing out soda everywhere to the trash can for me.

So for all your "Carol Burnett, Red Skelton and Lucille Ball , keystone cop" moments...say a prayer and give thanks...all of my soda were returned. I only lost two or so in the incident from breakage and went on my merry way laughing at myself all the way home.

I am certain the driver of the truck was laughing out loud with this not so little white-haired lady and her 8 or so "Good Samaritans" scurrying around the roadway to retrieve cans. Now if only someone got a video of this I could send it to America's funniest home video and make a cool $10000 if I won.

BTW I told this story to a number of staff and residents at the nursing home and Hal, one of the residents at the Hebrew Home suggested if it had been cans of Sclitz maybe not so many of them would have been returned. I laughed and so did he.

So give thanks even for the stupid and ridiculous moments in your lives....you may even meet an Inka and see the goodness of the Lord. I ,also, want to mention no one honked with impatience nor was their any unkindness in the moment.

 So many people out there are good and generous. Remember that in your daily walk. Many people will rise to the occasion and the moment. So my FLASH mob was a great one !!! I wish I had everyone's names to pray for so I will just pray for all Good Samaritans out there.
Peace and Prayers,

The Real Agenda of the Affordable Care Act? Crucify the Middle Class!

Another accurate assessment from my friend, Fr. Tom!

The truth of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is that it was designed as a part of a systematic Democratic agenda to facilitate and implement THE CRUCIFIXION OF THE MIDDLE CLASS by:

 1) forcing employers to cut employees to under 30 hours/week; 

 2) forcing insurers to raise rates and deductibles to a point where such insurance is unaffordable for both employers and  employees; 

 3) forcing those already coping with life-threatening illnesses to lose their insurance coverage;
     
4) forcing those unemployed for years by the Obama "recovery" to apply for SSI Disability, Medicaid, and Food Stamps; 

5) promoting sexual promiscuity and the spread of STD's among our youth, so as to discourage their appreciation of the virtues required to maintain a free and just society;
     
6) implementing fiscal policies of waste, fraud and abuse, which ensure that our posterity will be condemned to the debt slavery, which will be required to deal with the ever-growing astronomical burden of debt and unfunded mandates; 

7) illegally giving tax breaks and exemptions (Note that SCOTUS [Supreme Court] has determined that all fees and fines of the ACA are taxes) only to the political cronies of the Democratic Party; 

8) training DHS and military personnel to view veterans and Christian groups as potential terrorists, due to their support of moral truths and the Constitution; 

9) encouraging our children in our public schools to view Islam as "the religion of peace" and the foundation of civilization, while denigrating Christianity as a threat to world peace;
    
10) undermining the integrity of marriage and the family by giving preference in the law and the tax code to those who embrace "alternate lifestyles".  

God save us!

   Fr. Tom

Wasn't the Affordable Care Act Supposed to Give Everybody Insurance?

Californians Lose Insurance

Instead millions are losing their insurance, like the over a million in California! Forcing everyone into the exchanges is step one in reaching a single payer system, i.e. socialized medicine. It's a mess and it was planned. The president and his cohorts lied and they knew they were lying. And the mess goes on.

As I see our own children and my nieces and nephews affected by the bad economy and shrinking opportunities, I realize that some of them will not be able to maintain the same standard of living that we had no matter how hard they work. Many of them, despite college degrees, are working at blue collar jobs because that's all they could find.

And I'm afraid our grandchildren will grow up in a divided country with increasing ethnic and racial violence and a growing division between rich and poor with a shrinking middle class. It's not a pretty picture.

At the same time, I take heart from the reality that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord and serve according to His purpose. St. Ignatius in the Spiritual Exercises encourages retreatants to pray not only for spiritual poverty but physical poverty if they Lord wills it. Well, Obama certainly wills it and with close to 50% of the country on welfare, the other half will soon be driven to the poor house. Meanwhile, the Obamas, Pelosis, Reids, McAuliffes, etc. grow richer fattening on their taxpayer slaves.

Let us strive to grow rich by growing in the virtues of faith, hope, and charity.

HHS Mandate Takes Another Hit!

Well, at least there are a few sensible judges left in the country!

HHS Mandate Loses Again

Loose Lips Sink Ships - and Same Sex "Marriage" Advances

And who are we to judge? Oi vay!

Illinois lawmakers approve gay marriage in historic vote

As Illinois House approves gay marriage, speaker cites Pope Francis

Words Have Consequences

Quick Facts on Common Core

The entire idea of common core flies in the face of the Catholic teaching on subsidiarity. The federal government has no place in regulating the educational system in every small town in America. And as more information comes out about common core, it's apparent it's one more federal disaster. Take a look at some quick facts on common core.

Take the Pledge: Make Sure Just 5% of What You Buy is Made in the USA

Remember! Consumers have power. You can improve the U.S. economy with one simple step. Buy at least 5% more of your consumer goods from companies stamping their goods "made in the USA."

Good News Out West: Parental Consent for Abortion Passes!

Montana’s parental notification for under 16 years-old is now parental consent for under 18

When Alaska passed a similar bill, abortions among minors declined 23%. Parental involvement saves lives. Parents protect their daughters and their grandchildren. Pray a rosary of thanksgiving for the new law in Montana and work for life. Have you contributed to a crisis pregnancy center lately? The center I work at put in an ultrasound machine several months ago and we are now getting referrals from the health department because we do free sonograms. Every abortion minded woman so far has chosen life for her baby. When moms see their little ones in the womb, the lie about that "blob of tissue" goes flying out the window. And babies live. Support your local CPC. They save lives and you really want to be a part of that!

Politics of Perversion: ENDA's Goal is Criminalizing Christianity

Gays admit ENDA game: Outlaw Christian morality

Homosexual activists have long desired to force the entire world to accept and applaud their perversion. With ENDA (Employment Non-Descrimination Act) they're well on their way to the goal helped by a morally corrupt senate that voted 64-32 assisted by ten RINOs. ENDA isn't really about protecting "gays" from discrimination. It's about discrimination against any opposition to perversion, forcing businesses, and ultimately churches as well, to shut up and put up.

While the current bill has mild protection for religious organizations,

It's Not John Kennedy's Democratic Party

Now that the smoke has cleared from the election maybe it's time to start revealing to Democrats what their party stands for. Remember at the national convention delegates shouted down God, although the chair ignored them for political reasons. Think also how they constantly demonize Republicans as people who don't care about the poor (I got this from the dems at our local polling place when I showed them a model of a 12-week developing baby.), want to keep people from having health care, etc. ad nauseum.

Well, check out the video ad a group of democrats made during the 2012 elections. If you go to their FB page, the video is private. Even if it never aired and was a "joke", it shows the mindset of these people.

I don't really recommend watching the video below. It's graphic and extremely violent as the left's "heroes" bludgeon, chain saw, and machine gun down the "Republican zombies."

Have You Kissed A "Leper" Today?

The Pope did....

THE SIMPLE THING POPE FRANCIS DID TO A SEVERELY DISFIGURED MAN THAT HAS CAPTIVATED THE WORLD

Homosexuals in the Catholic Priesthood and Religious Life

Is it really a "ticking time bomb" for the Church?

Government 101 by George Will

Topic: The Political Argument Today

This talk is worth every minute of the 45. Watch it once, then watch it again. George Will is brilliant and this lecture will give you great insight into our current problems.

My Friend, Fr. Tom's Interesting Observations on Yesterday's Election Results

Mary Ann -

Yesterday's vote in Virginia was strangely reminiscent of the vote that took place at the preatorium of Pilate in Jerusalem 2000 years ago. 

• The expediency of complacency was chosen, and the integrity of truth was rejected. 
• The one who praises the anti-virginity and anti-maternity agenda of Sandra Fluke was preferred to the one who honors Mary as both virgin and mother. 
• The one who wants to downgrade sanitation standards at abortion clinics was preferred to the one that sought to ensure that a mother does not die or get surgically butchered, even when she has authorized the killing of her pre-born child. 
• The one who wants to limit parents' right to choose a good education for their children was chosen over the one who believes that education is more than just career training. 
• And the one who wants to expand the "family life" curricula of our schools so as to promote in our children attitudes and behaviors conducive to sexual experimentation and exploitation is preferred over the one who upholds the virtues of modesty, chastity and marital fidelity. 

Compounding this tragedy is the fact that the de facto application of current Church discipline regarding Holy Communion seems to indicate that it is permissible to go so far as to abuse our Eucharistic Lord, in such
a way as to indicate that He is ratifying this agenda by offering His very Self as a living sacramental ratification of the one pro-actively promoting the desecration and destruction of human life, of family life and of human sexuality.

 
May God grant all of us life-saving repentance!

In Christ,

Fr. Tom Collins

I agree, Father. Now isn't it time to ban these manifest public sinners masquerading as Catholics from approaching the altar to crucify our Lord once again? Certainly, Terry McAuliffe should be corrected by our two Virginia bishops. But I'm not holding my breath.

Will Medjugorje Finally Be Resolved?

Medjugorje Bombshell

"A Nation of Fools is Surely Doomed"

Very sad. But it explains yesterday's election debacle. Are we doomed or will the fools wake up?

The Post Election Spin is On!

Well, it's over...for now. With the help of Planned Parenthood, Bloomberg, and the National Democrats gushing money into Virginia for negative ads, Cuccinelli lost. And with further help from the RINO establishment and stalking horse Robert Sarvis, the so-called Libertarian funded by leftists to peal off conservative votes, Terry McAuliffe, schmoozer and boozer (and liar) extraordinaire, stole the governor's mansion.

Mark Levin and Rush Limbaugh both pointed out how the Brutus GOP establishment helped sink Cuccinelli's chances, one more reason to NEVER EVER vote for a RINO or give to the state or national Republican committees.

Meanwhile, the left spin is on shown in headlines like these:

The Toll of Obamacare on Real People

Promises, promises....you can keep your health care plan, you can keep your doctor. They were lies and they knew they were lies. But they were just political lies, Obama's supporters tell us, and that's okay. After all, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. So a 4th stage cancer victim loses her insurance? Collateral damage on the way to saving the planet. And they keep on lying. With individual disaster stories all over the country, the lying Democrats continue to insist that everybody is just going to love Obamacare when all the glitches are worked out. Right. And there's a great bridge across San Francisco Bay that's for sale cheap. Any takers?

You Also Can't Keep Your Doctor

Too True to Be Funny! Vote Conservative Tomorrow!

We can take our nation back one statesman at a time. Vote for Ken Cuccinelli and the Republican ticket tomorrow. The Republican establishment may not be happy and, as Rush theorized, they may even want our Virginia ticket to lose so they can blame conservatism for their losing policies. Give them all a swift kick. Pray and vote tomorrow and get all your friends to go to the polls too and vote for Cuccinelli-Jackson-Obenshain.

Remember Rube Goldberg?

Amazing what animal trainers can do. And note the border collie. They are among the smartest animals on the planet. Our border collie of happy memory was adept at tricks. She could jump over a broom, through a hoop, she wouldn't eat Army grub, but loved Navy chow, and she loved to herd the grandkids. She would have been the perfect actress for this video!



And here's the man who started it all:

Obsessing Over the Ridiculous

We all know our culture is sick! I've come to the conclusion that obsessive-compulsive disorder is part of it. How else can one explain the ridiculous attack on the Redskins for their supposedly insensitive and "bigoted" name? We call blacks blacks and whites whites, so what is the big deal about redskins? Would it be offensive to call blacks blackskins and whites whiteskins? I certainly wouldn't be offended. It is simply a description of skin color. One can make a case that the Redskins honor the redskinned warriors who fought tenaciously against an encroaching leviathan.

But a culture that murders "unwanted" babies of any color and starves and dehydrates to death the "unwanted" sick and elderly of all colors needs silly distractions so why not obsess over the name of Washington's team? After all, if you start to think about the real bigotry, black genocide, for example, it might challenge your liberal viewpoint. You might have to fight a real battle instead of a silly, artificial one like the name of a football team, global warming, and protecting the snail darter. 

No doubt liberals will posit that I only feel this way because I'm a white-skinned, racist bigot who has no compassion for the feelings of red-skinned indigenous peoples (or Mother Earth). So be it.

Terry McAuliffe: Champion of Late-Term Child Killing

Terry McAuliffe: I Will Be a “Brick Wall” Against Any Limits on Late-Term Abortions

Hey, why stop at late-term abortions? McAuliffe no doubt stands with his killer president who supports letting babies die who manage to survive abortions. No treatment for you, little unwanted scum! You were meant to die in the abortion and the fact you survived won't keep us from seeing your murder through to the end. 

McAuliffe is cut from the same mold as Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Mau Tse Tung, and Pol Pot. Anything for your political ends including murder of the innocent. And to think he gets away with calling himself a Catholic! Oh, he has a dogma all right, but it sure isn't Catholic dogma. McAuliffe follows the faith according to Planned Parenthood and their dogma of abortion, perversion, and blood rituals. And that translates to defending their high sacrament of abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. McAuliffe hasn't run just a vicious anti-Cuccinelli campgaing. He's run against the faith he professes to hold. Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center describes McAuliffe's lying anti-Catholic campaign here. 

May God preserve Virginia from this man. We don't deserve that kind of abuse.

Democrat Fascists and the Boozing, Schmoozing Candidate, Terry McAuliffe

Virginia Democrat Kathleen Murphy running for State Delegate against Barbara Comstock wants to force doctors to take Medicaid/Medicare patients. Fact is, doctors are dropping these patients because the government refunds not only don't cover their costs, but getting reimbursement is often an exercise in frustration. Doctors have to pay their bills without being able to borrow from China and just raise their debt ceiling. Democrats don't seem to have the least notion about economic reality! And anyone who disagrees with them is a greedy, racist, homophobic, radical!

The fact is there is a serious shortage of primary care doctors which is about to get worse under Obamacare. So is the answer to drive even more doctors to retire and convince young people considering medical school that its not worth the time and money invested which they'll never be able to recoup? Driving the best and brightest out of medicine is no way to improve health care.

And then there's Terry McAuliffe. He's promised to bring the same bullying Obama-implemented shutdown to Virginia. Working toward consensus isn't his style. “I will not sign a budget in Virginia unless it includes the Medicaid expansion” is what he told AARP.

He's a big proponent of Obamacare and also promises expansion of a raft of programs from college tuition credits to state programs for K-12. If you want to bankrupt Virginia, Terry's your man.

Vote on Tuesday for Ken Cuccinelli, E.W. Jackson, and Mark Obenshain. Send McAuliffe back to his Democrat fundraising job where he can exercise his limited talents: boozing and schmoozing.

Birth Control Mandate Takes a Hit!

Appeals Court Rejects Obamacare Contraception Mandate

Pray that the challenges continue!

I Love All Saints Day!

And not just for the saints in heaven, but all the little saints at Mass this morning. I saw a tiny angel in the Communion line with her mom and met St. Dominic (barefoot) in the parking lot. At a little reception after Mass we all joined with St. Benedict, St. Rita, several sister saints, one of the shepherd children of Fatima, and many others. So much better than the goblins, ghouls, zombies, and monsters of last night!

I especially love getting to know the more obscure saints whom we don't hear about so much. Blessed Karl of Austria is my latest discovery along with his wife Zita who is a Venerable Servant of God. Right now I'm exploring some of the lesser known November saints. Was St. Vigor vigorous? Do you know the English martyr, Blessed Hugh Green, one of the priests put to death by Queen Elizabeth? What a long line of courageous priests met that same fate bringing the Mass to the faithful Catholic recusants. And then there are the female saints. St. Gebetrude was an abbess in 7th century France. When people say the Church ignores and degrades women remind them of all the women saints who headed monasteries (St. Teresa of Avila, St. Fine, Hilda of Whitby) and founded hospitals, schools and orphanages (St. Frances Cabrini, St. Elizabeth Seton, St. Theodore Guerin). Their number is legion!