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Cosmos-Liturgy-Sex

September 30, 2007

suck it up

Filed under: Abortion, Odds and Ends — shelray @ 9:23 PM

The first week of Forty Days For Life has past it’s midpoint and as we head into our first Monday we’ve come to the realization that we do not have nearly enough volunteers to fill our many open time slots. We are blessed with some modern day saints who have agreed to cover the 1am – 5am for the entire 40 days as well as a few others who have adopted an hour. So far, in the 7th largest city in the United States, which has a growing number of abortion clinics to feed it’s demand- there are about a dozen or so individuals who have committed to making this thing work.

While I’m in no way a seasoned expert in the pro-life movement, my initial reaction is somewhat of disillusionment and disappointment towards what I sense to be a disinterested attitude towards taking an active role in the pro-life movement. I mean, I believe most Catholics are pro-life but am wondering if there is an underlying issue to why a majority of parishes and individual parishoners do not wish to support this initiative. In mean time, I know it’s an opportunity for me to suck it up and do more.

I made a poll to fill my own curiosity only. Also, we are open to any ideas or suggestions and of course prayers.

Protesting abortion in front of abortion clinics:

View Results

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September 29, 2007

Now 7 Deaths Associated with Gardasil

Filed under: Medical Ethics — shelray @ 7:52 AM

US Government’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database indicates that there have now been 7 deaths associated with administration of Gardasil with ages listed for four of the girls: 11, 12, 15 and 19. The general public can access vaccine related side effects on-line including Gardasil (ENTER HPV4 in the scroll down menu). Gardasil’s effectiveness beyond 4 years has yet to be established.

Gardasil offers protection from a subset type of cancer which currently accounts for less than 0.007 % of the new cancer cases and less than 0.006 % of cancer deaths that occur annually in the U.S.

H/T LifeSite

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September 28, 2007

Firemen Establishing State Religion

Filed under: Culture — shelray @ 9:14 AM

Americans United for Separation Between Church and State claim that firemen who transported a statue of the Virgin Mary “conveyed an unmistakable message of religious endorsement generally, and endorsement of the Catholic faith in particular.” The firefighters transported “Our Lady of America, the Immaculate Virgin” in department vehicles while wearing their uniforms. The AU were apparently alarmed that citizens of the general public were exposed to firefighters carrying a statue into a church where they installed into it’s sanctuary. It was also noted the firemen smiled and posed for photographs after completion of their deed.

Conclusion: Business must be extremely slow for Americans United and there are some fine catholic men in the Jackson Mills Fire Department.

UPDATE: H/T LCB

A great website for Our Lady of America is www.oltiv.org It’s a blog about the location of the apparitions in Rome City, IN. The Rome City location is becoming quite the little pilgrimage site, with a variety of spectacular events being reported (Miracle of the Sun, healings, etc.)

Another great website is www.OurLadyOfAmerica.com

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September 27, 2007

Suicidal Hotline

Filed under: Medical Ethics — shelray @ 9:48 PM

Now 1-800 End of Life Consultation service offers free counseling advice for suicide instructional sessions for terminally ill patients. The recent change in tactics by frustrated pro-suicide activists who have failed five times to legalize physician-assisted suicide through the California Legislature is to employ a “counseling” service in which “patients” can obtain information on such suicide methods as the use of plastic bags and stockpiling drugs. In my opinion, an assisted suicide public service based upon one’s own weaknesses and fear is  worthy of criminal prosecution.

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NY Catholics Request Extraordinary Form for Midnight Mass

Filed under: Culture, Liturgy & Sacraments — David @ 8:23 AM

Patrick McGrath, representing Joyful Catholics, sends along a news release describing their on-line petition to Cardinal Egan for the Extraordinary form of the Latin Rite to be used for this Christmas’ televised midnight Mass. Here is the news release:

27 September 2007

WITH JOY AND HOPE, CATHOLICS FROM ACROSS THE U.S. AND BEYOND RESPECTFULLY REQUEST CARDINAL EGAN: ‘MAKE THIS YEAR’S CHRISTMAS MIDNIGHT MASS A TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS!”

URGE OTHERS TO ADD THEIR NAMES TO THE GROWING LIST

TO: Catholic news agencies, media outlets, and bloggers

FROM: Patrick McGrath, Stony Point, NY

FOR INFORMATION CONTACT: patrick.anteyka@gmail.com

STONY POINT, NY, USA (26 September 2006) – With three months to go before celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior this Christmas, hundreds of Catholics have signed an on-line petition to Edward, Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York. Their simple, respectful request: Please celebrate Christmas Midnight Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral this year in the Traditional Latin form – what’s now called the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite.

The petition, which is on-line only, can be reached at this URL:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/latin-midnight-mass-stpats

Said petition organizer Patrick McGrath: “What pleases and surprises me is that not only native New Yorkers support the petition, but so do transplanted New Yorkers, visitors to New York, and overseas friends—even if they’ve never been to New York. They understand the importance of our great Cathedral, particularly in this bicentennial year of our Diocese.”

“My hope is that many many others will join us in this prayerful request to our Cardinal-Archbishop,” McGrath continued. “Again, here’s why such an event will have world-class impact: First, it will be on television in the media capital of the world. That means it will not only shape souls, it will change minds. Second, St. Patrick’s is architecturally suited for the Traditional Latin Mass: a Gothic-style edifice with a high altar, a baldachino, and a communion rail–’good to go for the motu proprio,’ as I like to say. Third, our eminent Cardinal-Archbishop speaks Latin fluently, and has told his flock that there is “room for all” in our Church’s liturgical life, both the ordinary and extraordinary forms of the Holy Mass..”

“Cardinal Egan knows that the Extraordinary Rite holds ‘a very special place in the heart’ of many New Yorkers — and others beyond our city who ‘feel a strong attachment to the Mass before the Council.’ McGrath said. “All of us who signed the petition heartily agree with the Cardinal’s thoughts, and prayerfully request that he bring back the Traditional Latin version of one of New York’s Great Events—Christmas Midnight Mass at St. Patrick’s.”

Here is a sample of some of the comments left by our petition signers (home town of the signers for identification only):

Nashua NH: “Your Excellency, I would drive 4 hours from [here} to attend the traditional Mass in the most beautiful Church in NYC. Please grant this petition.”

Virginia Beach, VA: “This is a wonderful opportunity to re-introduce the Latin Mass to modern America. I love the reverence and solemnity of the Latin Mass. This is the Mass that I assisted at with my grandfather as a child. It was his Mass and his father’s Mass and his father’s all the way back to who knows when..”

New Haven, CT: “It’s hard to think of a better gesture of support for the Holy Father’s latest initiative to rehabilitate an essential part of our liturgical heritage. Thank you, Cardinal Egan, for your openness to this sincere petition!”

Oregonia, OH: “Having visited you city for the first time last year, I can’t think of a better place to have our Latin Mass offered than at St. Patrick’s. It would be a fine example to the whole of the United States.”

Lewis Center, OH: “My grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great-granparents all attended Holy Mass at St. Patrick’s according to the Tridentine Rite. I pray for its return to America’s Cathedral.”

Littleton, CO: “As I Knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem I enthusiastically and respectfully add my name to this petition.”

Las Vegas, NV: “The very first Mass I ever attended was at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1983. It is such a beautiful church, and to see the Mass of all time celebrated there once again on Christmas Eve would be glorious indeed. Since the beginning of this year I have assisted at the Traditional Latin Mass exclusively and the graces that flow from it so freely and naturally are truly transforming.”

New York, NY: “Your Excellency, may infinite graces pour into Your Heart and to the entire church when you publically celebrate this awsome and extra-ordinary ritual: The Sacrifice of the Mass according to the Tridentine Rite on the Night that the Logos becomes Flesh.”

Lititz, PA: “For years I lectored at the Thursday noon Mass at St. Patrick’s. My wife is from NY. We now attend the Extraordinary Form exclusively. Were it celebrated at Christmas, either for Midnight Mass or Christmas Eve, I and my family would be there.”

In his explanatory letter accompanying his decree Summorum Pontificum, Pope Benedict XVI wrote, “… it has clearly been demonstrated that young persons too have discovered this liturgical form, felt its attraction and found in it a form of encounter with the Mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist, particularly suited to them. Let us generously open our hearts and make room for everything that the faith itself allows. … There is no contradiction between the two editions of the Roman Missal. In the history of the liturgy there is growth and progress, but no rupture. What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful. It behooves all of us to preserve the riches which have developed in the Church’s faith and prayer, and to give them their proper place.”

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Kicking Off

Filed under: Abortion — shelray @ 8:22 AM

Travis at Catholic Tube will, as part of the 40 Days for Life Initiative, be running videos about abortion and pro life issues. Here is the kick off video for 40 days for life.

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September 26, 2007

No intention “to be particularly pro-religion or anti-religion with this poster”

Filed under: SSA Disorder — shelray @ 8:53 AM

Sure, who would’ve guessed “some extreme members of the global community” would be angered by the Last Supper being portrayed by cast of village people wanna be’s. Allegedly, a committe which took the idea to promote an upcoming “gay” event using well-known paintings, album covers, movie posters or other iconic images just so happened to select a Christian iconic image which was also well known to draw controversy through misinterpretations and secret codes. In this case, one of the promoters said it was actually somewhat of a tradition of this fair to offend someone. This illustrates the mentality of a certain selected subgroup of people who have yet to progress to an emotionally mature level of a responsible adult and are apparently incapable of growing beyond the years of a typically egocentric adolescent. It helps to remember that these individuals act out in this way because they are emotionally wounded children and should be treated as such with patience and correction to protect both them and society from themselves.

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September 25, 2007

Planned Parenthood Recruits “Super Heros” to Counter 40 Days For Life “Anti-choice Extremist Protesters”

Filed under: Abortion — shelray @ 11:05 AM

In response for the 40 DaysFor Life, what else would you expect from Planned Parenthood? When one needs to depend solely on slanderous rhetoric to attack an opponent, you can be assured there is a lack of credibility and/or confidence in the mission. As evident by Planned Parenthood’s telling tactics, I believe there’s a huge chasm in what separates the Pro-life movement from abortion activists; whereas, many of the pro-abortionists/choicers are moved to action primarily through a motivation of raw emotions, namely anger and fear, most pro-lifers have the internal peace which comes from the fact that they play an integral part in saving ONE HUMAN LIFE AT A TIME. Pro-Life is taking a stand in solidarity for the very small and totally innocent person who has no voice and who may not survive his next hour of life. When one is able to meditate on the value of that one little individual person who is loved so much by his Creator and how He will eternally love and forgive all of his executioners, being labeled an anti-choice extremist doesn’t quite seem that bad a name to be called.

An upcoming 40-day prayer vigil targeting Planned Parenthood clinics in Lufkin and around the country has sparked volunteer drives on both sides of the fence a week ahead of what may be the largest simultaneous anti-abortion protest in American history. Calling it “harassment” and “intimidation tactics,” Michelle Green, Lufkin’s Planned Parenthood health center director, said the vigil was no match for Planned Parenthood’s 30 years of health care to East Texas families.

“Planned Parenthood does more to prevent unintended pregnancies and the need for abortion than any anti-choice organization or so-called crisis pregnancy center,” Green said. “…As a community, we should be working together to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies.”

The claim of doing more to prevent unintended pregnancies and the need for abortions wouldn’t appear to be so outlandishly hypocritical and misleading if Planned Parenthood would actually adopt a very simple and humane policy of reporting sex crimes committed against minors. Ironically, the very core of abortion advocacy for incidents of rape and incest may actually be perpetuated by Planned Parenthood’s culture of secrecy and criminal cover up, and smells suspiciously of a sordid conflict of interest.

During the next 40 days, if unable to participate in a respectful and prayerful vigil, I would ask for your prayers and what ever level of fasting you would be willing to make which could go a long way towards needed miracles in our battle against abortion. Also, VERY IMPORTANT, let’s not forget to pray for all the women contemplating or who have already undergone abortion.

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September 24, 2007

German Politician Opposes UnRealistic Ideal of Marriage – Proposes 7 Year Expiration Date

Filed under: Marriage & Family — shelray @ 9:23 PM

Twice divorced politician Gabriele Pauli proposed that marriages be allowed to expire after seven years if the couple choose to call it quits. She told reporters that setting an expiration date of seven years would lend to a more realistic ideal of marriage and prevent couples from staying together soley for the purpose of feeling safe. She has already caused some ripples in a male-dominated, mainly Catholic party which has dominated Bavarian politics since World War II.

I kept trying to figure out why Gabriele would possibly submit such an asinine proposal which has no possible chance of passing. I thought the possibilities could include that she has some sort of delusional disorder, or maybe she is just a publicity hound, or that she just loves the reactions she gets from her male conservative peers; so I deducted that it’s most likely a combination of the three.

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Abortion is a demonic force and we have an obligation not to remain silent in the face of evil

Filed under: Abortion — shelray @ 11:40 AM

Congratulations to Father Thomas Euteneuer, an ex-marine with 12 years experience in diocesan work and president of the largest pro-life missionary group called Human Life International, for being chosen as the recipient of the Framingham Knights of Columbus pro-life priest-of-the-year award. Father Euteneuer believes that if we will only return to a Catholic orthodoxy with a zealous missionary spirit, the Catholic Church will ultimately transform our society. (more)

As the 4o Days For Life quickly approach, I would hope that all of us who support the pro-life movement will take some time to pray, fast and participate in the silent vigils outside of a designated Planned Parenthood clinic in one of the 89 cities nation wide.

UPDATE : Father Pavone to participate in 40 Days For Life rallies and silent vigils held outside of Planned Parenthood clinics.

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September 23, 2007

Third Episcopalian Bishop Converts to Catholicism

Filed under: Soteriology, Truth & Revelation — shelray @ 6:05 PM

As quoted by the Living Church Foundation:

Regarding his move to the Roman Catholic Church, Bishop Steenson said, “I believe that the Lord now calls me in this direction. It amazes me, after all of these years, what a radical journey of faith this must necessarily be. To some it seems foolish; to others disloyal; to others an abandonment.”

Bishop Steenson will be the third bishop to convert to the Catholic faith in 2007. Bishop Dan Herzog of Albany converted shortly after his retirement and retired Bishop Clarence C. Pope returned to the Church in August.

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September 20, 2007

Controversial Attorney Vows to Continue his Fight to Humiliate and Embarrass the Catholic Church

Filed under: Anti-Catholic — shelray @ 6:05 AM

Attorney John Aretakis’ tactics of exploiting sex abuse victims as a means of inflicting damage to the Church has been fined $10,000 by a federal judge for what was deemed a frivolous lawsuit, using the case to advance his own agenda. Aretakis was representing a woman in a pro bono lawsuit against the Church when he was found guilty for misconduct, an act for which he’s been previously sanctioned, for having no basis for any of the causes of action that are alleged in his false complaints. His common practice (eerily similar to those of SNAP) between the filing of a complaint and publicized press conferences support the inference that Mr. Aretakis’s intention is to injure.

The judge said that Aretakis’ complaint was “sloppy and filled with mistakes, for example, it names a dead man as a defendant”.

That intent is confirmed by Mr. Aretakis’s statements in which he describes himself as an activist for clergy sexual abuse victims and is quoted as intending to “continue to humiliate and embarrass the Church” by bringing incidents of sexual abuse to light, even if he cannot bring them in court.

This intent to humiliate and embarrass is further manifested in the amended complaint which is littered with wholly irrelevant, inflammatory, and embarrassing facts concerning defendants and non-defendants alike that have no bearing on the actions brought, such as ‘it was widely known that he [one of the defendants] was an alcoholic.’ Accordingly, the Court finds that sanctions are necessary in this case”. The $8,000 fine represents $2,000 to be paid to each of the four law firms representing the defendants.

Sadly, this circus which surrounds the sex abuse crisis is merely a mirage of justice and has allowed those with the likes of Aretakis to steal from individuals in the Church who are no more culpable of the crimes than the victims themselves as well as providing a public forum on which to inflict unjust harm to the Church. To think that this is an isolated incident among Catholic antagonists is naive and unfortunately will continue to occur until someone in the position of authority stands up to the bullies and says no more.

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September 19, 2007

Good News From Some Our Favorite Blogs

Filed under: Odds and Ends, Uncategorized — shelray @ 5:47 AM

Some happy news from some of our blogging friends on the side bar! Here’s a list in no particular order.

A new baby (#14) on the way with a bonus video track of Paul Anka.

A “retired” blogger mom who is sharing brand new pictures of her brand new baby.

Someone just got ranked as the 7th most influential political blog in the state of Wisconsin.

I’m looking forward to seeing this blogging Padre on “The Journey Home”, on October 15th.

Finally, someone survived the surgery and fast and is now down 18 lbs.  Try 12 days of a water only diet.

As is often the case, for every joyful heart there are also broken hearts that need mending,  so I ask that you please keep Tara, Jim and their daughter in your prayers.

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September 18, 2007

Catholic Priest says Everything Confiscated by Russian Orthodox Must be Given Back

Filed under: Anti-Catholic — shelray @ 11:54 AM

In Transylvania and throughout Romania, Catholics who lost more than 2,000 churches to the Russian Orthodox church after the Second World War when the Russians banned Catholicism now want their churches back.  In most cases, the Orthodox church had said no, so Catholics have had to set up chapels in local villages, using borrowed rooms, basements, schools and even open fields to hold Mass.  The Orthodox Church is a powerful force in today’s Romania and as a result, a total of 2,200 Catholic properties remained in Orthodox hands and court actions by Catholics to recover the properies, including houses and land, has been met with very limited success.

In January, Romania was admitted to the European Union after promising to respect the rule of law and consequently some properties have been returned to Catholics which now have the Orthodox up in arms, resisting with anger towards the Catholics and vice-versa.

Apparently, Catholics are not the only ones to complain against the strong arm of the Orthodox as reported by the United States’ state department of the church’s campaigning against other Christian faiths. Allegedly, there have been cases of Orthodox priests inciting the local population against Seventh Day Adventist Church, the Baptist Church, the Greek Catholic Church and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Meanwhile, the Orthodox church have their hands full of battling accusations that it collaborated with the former Communists.

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A Nicer and More Gentle Type of Suicide

Filed under: Medical Ethics — shelray @ 10:17 AM

With physician assisted suicide proving to be pretty much impossible to pass through the California state legislature, suicide assistance advocates are now switching their tactics by putting on a happy face through an “aid in dying” ministry. The bill would allow terminally ill California adults to have an option to attain a lethal prescription if they had a prognosis of less than three months to live.

Representatives of the new End of Life Consultation Service say they will advise the terminally ill on how to better access pain treatment and end-of-life care. Clergy and trained volunteer counselors also will advise the terminally ill against violent suicide, instead helping to identify a path to what they describe as a peaceful death.

A counselor will remain present to comfort a terminally ill person taking their own life, however, if that person wishes, program representatives said.

“Volunteers will neither provide nor administer the means for aid in dying,” said The Rev. John Brooke, a United Church of Christ minister from Cotati. “Clients will obtain and self-administer these means. We will not break or defy the law.”

Putting all the manipulative jargon aside, this bill actually has the potential to be more sinister in it’s nature than physician assisted suicide, as it lends itself to opportunistic targeting of undesireable, terminally ill individuals. Countering the assisted suicide mentality, clinical studies have shown that some suicidal cancer patients who were treated for depression actually resulted in significantly decreased suicidal thoughts or totally alleviated their desire to die. Lastly, I’ve always wondered if people who fight for the right to take their own lives ever invested in something commonly called life insurance? My intention is not to judge the individual person choosing to take their own lives but the vanity and self-love that often goes along with suicide, and maybe it would be nice to leave those left behind a little more than just nice memories of a dignified patient who chose to do things their way.

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September 17, 2007

Blame it on the Pope

Filed under: Anti-Catholic, Culture — shelray @ 3:18 PM

For the Mccanns, in their darkest hours of wondering the fate of their 4 year old daughter, it was their faith that kept them going…..that was until the Pope yanked his support and pulled their images from the Vatican website. Get the story here.

In their dark hours, it was faith that kept them going. They had nowhere else to go.

They took their torment to the very seat of their faith – to the Vatican, where the Pope held their hands and told them he would pray for them. They seemed to gain great strength from that.

But now, in their hour of need, like Pontius Pilate, he has washed his hands of them. A whiff of guilt, and the Catholic hierarchy distance themselves. And this from an organization built on guilt and hypocrisy.

Ouch! Whether or not this obviously bigoted author believes her ill written tripe about the Pope isn’t the point of my post. What I found most glaring was the common thread (of which some of us are guilty of from time to time) of her prideful and self righteous hypocrisy. In this case, her condemnation of the media (and Pope) was for the exact same sin of which she, herself, is guilty. As judge and jury, her unfounded mindset of guilt and judgment blindly and without cause – condemns the Pope, than proceeds to criticize the press for simply duplicating her deeds of prejudging others. In fact, she says it best in her own words, like a self fulfilling prophecy, when she writes, “there is a condemnation mindset creeping in that is sickening to watch.”

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Gardasil Vaccination for Teen Girls – Politics vs. Evidence Based Medicine.

Filed under: Medical Ethics — shelray @ 11:54 AM

For parents who buy into the hype of the drug companies (Merck) and school administrators who are pushing the drug Gardasil really need to stop and take the responsibility upon themselves to do what is in the best interest of their children. Whatever the reason behind the parents consenting of the HPV vaccine, there are some relatively significant and dangerous side effects that they nor the child is aware, and the overall benefits of this injection may fall well short of their original expectations.

Just to put the massive but deceptive marketing of Gardasil into perspective, an inoculated child may be protected from 4 (70% of cancer causing) out of the possible 200 strains of the virus for a yet to be determined amount of time (4 years?) from a type of cancer which make up about 0.007 % of new cancer cases and 0.006 % of cancer deaths that occur annually in the U.S. In return for these modest benefits of Gardasil in 2007, there have been (1) 5 deaths, (2) 31 life-threatening adverse events, (3) 1,385 required visits to the emergency room with (4) 451 of the girls not having recovered as of July 2007 , (5) with 51 of the girls resulting with a disability(source). To boot, a new analysis has provided statistically significant evidence for a previously denied association between Gardasil and Guillain-Barre Syndrome (OOPS! Permanent disability. There is no known cure!!!) when co-administered with other vaccines. What else don’t we know!? Convince me that any other non-sex, agenda driven pharmaceutical would get such a pass from the media or pharmaceutical watch dog organizations. Not that Gardasil is a bad drug onto itself (for married couples), but the means of it’s deceptive marketing nuances and dirty secret side effects marketed towards young teens is despicable.

In Canada, the Bishops are fighting the Ontario Liberal Government which has mandated that the vaccine be administered in all catholic schools. Their resolution proposes that the school board will not support the administration of the vaccine nor will it be permitted to be administered on the property.

Watch the Merck commercial – political or evidence based medicine?

Sources:

National Vaccine Information Center

The Real Ilena Rosenthal

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September 14, 2007

The Concept of an Electronic Offertory to Improve Church Support

Filed under: Uncategorized — shelray @ 3:33 PM

Given that the national statistics show that nearly half of all types of payments are made electronically, Scot Landry of The Pilot builds a good case on the viability of an electronic offertory option which could benefit both parishes and parishioners alike. The concept of electronic offertory integrates Church support into the way many of us manage our finances and allocation of resources — “with a piece reserved to share with others and give back to God” and parishioners are still able to place a card or envelope in the offertory basket that indicates your electronic donation. Sounds like a great idea to me.

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September 13, 2007

Rising Popularity of the Legalization of Polygamy

Filed under: Culture, Marriage & Family — shelray @ 9:57 AM

In Canada, polygamy is oozing onto the public square as a result of same-sex marriage lending legitimacy to some of it’s argument. What’s different in this case is that a majority of the anti-polygamy lobby is being fueled by opressive feminists who, because of their ideology, find polygamy repugnant. Now that Pandora’s box has been opened, on what grounds can the Canadian government “fairly” prevent voluntary plural marriage?

Western Catholic Reporter

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Culture of Death Advocates and Catholic Universities

Filed under: Culture, Dissent, Faith & Reason — David @ 1:19 AM

In the news lately, has been the resurgence of speakers who variously advocate for the culture of death speaking at Catholic universities. Thomas, our American Papist, gives a rundown on an ongoing issue with Creighton University’s invitation of Ann Lamott; LifeSiteNews gives an update.

Apparently, the US Bishop’s Catholic University of America, one of my alma maters, has, after initial refusal, decided to allow John Kerry to speak at CUA. John Kerry says that he opposes abortion as an article of his Catholic faith but he does not think that he can “impose” his articles of faith on the rest of society. Thus, he gained a 100% pro-abortion rating from NARAL Pro-choice America.

LifeSite reports the justification for allowing someone with Kerry’s record, given by the CUA student leader who invited the former presidential candidate:

Mark Arnone, chairman of the College Democrats who invited Kerry to speak at CUA, defended the decision saying Kerry “expresses remarkable dedication to the doctrine and principles of Catholic social teaching established in Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical ‘Rerum Novarum’” Arnone cited Kerry advocacy “for affordable and accessible health care…minimum wage reform” and the environment. John Paul II and Pope Benedict have strongly emphasized that the life issues are of much higher priority than these other issues.

The sloppy thinking of both Kerry, Arnone, and apparently those at CUA who allowed Kerry to come, is quite evident. Kerry’s claim that abortion is murder is dogmatically certain as he suggests. However, what he fails to admit is that it is also a certainty which can be achieved through reason alone–we call this natural law. It is likewise dogmatically certain that putting innocent people to death in Nazi Germany is morally reprehensible. By Kerry’s logic, since it was legal in Nazi Germany, if he had been a German politician at the time he would have been obligated to support the “Final Solution” else he would have been guilty of “imposing” his religious faith on the rest of Germany.

One can see the fallacy of Arnone’s argument in a similar way. While it is far from given that Kerry “expresses a remarkable dedication” to Catholic social teaching, for the sake of argument let’s grant this. One still must ask what this has to do with the price of tea in China. The issue is that Kerry has unwaveringly voted for legislation which promotes the killing of the innocent unborn. Arnone’s argument is akin to defending Adolf Hitler by pointing out his remarkably effective programs which brought Germany out of a long economic depression into industrial and economic flourishing. Neither Kerry’s arguable and coincidental support of policies that accord with Rerum novarum nor Hitler’s leadership acumen excuse the formal participation, of either of them, in homicide.

LifeSite reports on a recent statement by Archbishop Burke as to the need for bishops to make it clear that personalities of Kerry’s ilk need to be publicly dealt with:

To remain silent is to permit serious confusion regarding a fundamental truth of the moral law. Confusion, of course, is one of the most insidious fruits of scandalous behavior

This situation fits this concern exactly. I do not know if Fr. David O’Connell, CUA’s president, or Archbishop Wuerl, the chancelor of CUA, will intervene but they should. It is clear that a Catholic university that represents all US Catholic bishops has the duty to uphold Catholic teaching and to avoid any actions that would scandalize the faithful. The average Catholic in the US is already confused as to the legitimacy of ignoring the Church’s teaching on abortion and events such as this do nothing to ameliorate this confusion. Unfortunately, experience has shown that if either the CUA President of Chancellor try to cancel the invitation, they will face a major revolt by the University faculty as happened in 2004 when O’Connell barred actor and abortion activist Stanley Tucci from speaking on campus. I suspect that unless the outside public pressure is sufficiently strong that Kerry will be allowed to speak.

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