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Not all terrorists are equal. Some act alone or in connection with a small band of murderers, as did Faisal Shahzad, the would-be New York Times Square bomber. There is, however, another kind of terrorist who aims to destroy more than human lives and property. This brand of terror is intent on annihilating entire nations. And it has the support of some of the world's leading nations with access to skilled espionage networks and sophisticated weaponry -- including possibly nuclear weapons. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gave the world a look at the dynamics involved in supporting nation-killing terror. While the Russian government strikes out at terrorist groups when its interests are endangered, Moscow is also providing vital material assistance and cover to anti-American terrorism.
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A pair of local reverends announced last weekend they would be withdrawing their membership from the local Knights of Columbus Chapter 140, a Catholic fraternal benefit society, after learning that a large pro-choice organization had rented space at a function center attached to the group. During a Saturday afternoon service at St. James Church, the Rev. Michael Kerper made a brief prepared statement saying he and the parochial vicar, the Rev. Marcos Gonzalez, had chosen to resign from the local chapter in protest. Kerper is pastor of Portsmouth's combined Corpus Christi Parish, which now has two churches, St. James and Immaculate Conception. According to a statement provided to the Herald, Kerper's reasoning for leaving the Knights of Columbus was based on the group renting the Casey Function Center on Lafayette Road to a group known as the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, the nation's leading organization promoting public funding of abortion.
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An essay that Obama Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan wrote in 1980 has been unearthed and it provides some insight into her view of pro-life advocates. The article she wrote for the Daily Princetonian a week after Ronald Reagan's victory in the 1980 election has Kagan disparaging pro-life advocates. Reagan won a landslide victory over President Jimmy Carter and Kagan's essay lamented that victory and had her hoping for a "more leftist left" in the 1984 elections. "Even after the returns came in, I found it hard to conceive of the victories of these anonymous but Moral Majority-backed opponents" of certain pro-abortion candidates, Kagan wrote. She called them "avengers of 'innocent life'" who were "beneficiaries of a general turn to the right and a profound disorganization on the left."
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Dissidents in the Church are promoting Socialism as their end goal and pretending they are being faithful to Church teaching in doing so. Please take a moment to watch this video and pass it along to friends and family. To see the video CLICK HERE
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In the wake of the 2004 defeat of John Kerry, leftwing Catholics, aligned with the Democratic Party, got down to serious work. The result was a coalition of organizations, publications, writers, academics, and activists that helped convince a majority of self-identified Catholic voters to vote for the most pro-abortion presidential candidate in history, Barack Obama. That same coalition met late last week at a Washington Briefing hosted by the National Catholic Reporter. Coming on the heels of their victory in passing the abortion-funded health care bill, the standing ovation given to Sr. Carol Keehan comes as no surprise. The recipient of personal attention from the President, Keehan used her Catholic Health Association, a trade association of Catholic hospitals, to pronounce the health care legislation acceptable for Catholics. Her role was aptly rewarded when she was given one of the pens used by President Obama to sign the pro-abortion health care law.
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What is the truth regarding the present official attitude of the Catholic Church toward Freemasonry? To begin this inquiry into that which is now in effect, we should go back to what was stated in the Church's canon law before there was any doubt about where the Church stood on Masonry. The former code of Canon Law contained a canon, which definitely capped all the previous papal condemnations of it. Canon 2335 reads as follows: "Persons joining associations of the Masonic sect or any others of the same kind which plot against the Church and legitimate civil authorities contract ipso facto excommunication simply reserved to the Apostolic See." In the wake of the Second Vatican Council, however, when the revision of the Code was underway, the prevailing spirit of "ecumenical dialogue" prompted questions among various bishops as to whether or not Canon 2335 was still in force...
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Confessed terrorist Faisal Shahzad was removed from the Department of Homeland Security travel lookout list sometime after Barack Obama came into office. CBS reported: Sources tell CBS News that would-be Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad appeared on a Department of Homeland Security travel lookout list - Traveler Enforcement Compliance System (TECS) - between 1999 and 2008 because he brought approximately $80,000 cash or cash instruments into the United States.
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Notre Dame goes to astonishing lengths in its effort to justify its support of the criminal prosecution of the pro-life ND88. As we have already reported, our investigation has undermined Father Jenkins's claim that the University is simply following its established policy respecting trespassers. Thus, in 2007 the University shelved trespass charges against pro-gay and anti-military demonstrators whom ND police had arrested. When we called this to the University's attention, the University cut off communications. Now an investigatory report by the South Bend Tribune has confirmed our findings. Nevertheless, Father Jenkins has repeated the University's rationale in a statement that was published alongside the Tribune report that undercuts it.
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In a continuation of the demonstrations and prayer rallies protesting the 2009 commencement speech and subsequent honors bestowed upon President Obama, Notre Dame President Father John Jenkins has issued the following statement; "In the weeks leading up to Notre Dame's Commencement on May 17, 2009, a number of people violated University policies on campus demonstrations. They were given repeated warnings by law enforcement officials, and then, when they persisted, they were arrested and charged with Criminal Trespass."
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Mexican President Felipe Calderon has accused Arizona of opening the door "to intolerance, hate, discrimination and abuse in law enforcement." But Arizona has nothing on Mexico when it comes to cracking down on illegal aliens. While open-borders activists decry new enforcement measures signed into law in "Nazi-zona" last week, they remain deaf, dumb or willfully blind to the unapologetically restrictionist policies of our neighbors to the south. The Arizona law bans sanctuary cities that refuse to enforce immigration laws, stiffens penalties against illegal alien day laborers and their employers, makes it a misdemeanor for immigrants to fail to complete and carry an alien registration document, and allows the police to arrest immigrants unable to show documents proving they are in the U.S. legally. If those rules constitute the racist, fascist, xenophobic, inhumane regime that the National Council of La Raza, Al Sharpton, Catholic bishops and their grievance-mongering followers claim, then what about these regulations and restrictions imposed on foreigners? The Mexican government will bar foreigners if they upset "the equilibrium of the national demographics." How's that for racial and ethnic profiling?
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A few months back (Nov. 2000,) during social chit-chat which turned with predictable concern to the modern plague of clerical apostasy, a venerable member of the Society of Jesus recounted various word of mouth histories of Communist infiltration of the Jesuits. These included two men sent to join the Society in Italy and Spain by their respective national Communist Parties - the former having left to return to the Party in the early 1950s after more than a dozen years of study and actual ordination; the latter leaving the Society before ordination a decade ago. More disturbing still was the case of a prominent Jesuit seminary rector in Rome who, having been run over and killed, was allegedly found to be a member of the KGB. We pondered briefly all the imponderables of such infiltration as well as the domino effect it might have set in train, like: how many students were deformed by the seminary professor down the years; how many others, clerical and lay, they in turn, as priests, had corrupted; how many seminaries and Orders were similarly infiltrated; and, above all, how many of the infiltrators and their warped progeny had risen to the episcopate.
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Whatever one may think about the United States' immigration situation and the most reasonable way to address it, there's little question that progressive interests have organized their response. Days after Arizona signed a law giving its police and immigration forces a mandate to enforce current illegal immigration statutes, events around the country were planned in protest. These events weren't the product of the undocumented workers themselves but were, rather, the effort of progressive organizations that work among religious bodies to demand "comprehensive immigration reform," among other things (such as universal health care reform). The Church World Service, the National Council of Churches, Sojourners and the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference - two groups whose principal leaders are part of the Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships - the Christian Community Development Association, and the political-media network with which they operate, Faith in Public Life, are principal actors in this opposition on the national level. [Bob Allen, "Faith leaders protest Arizona's anti-immigration law," Associated Baptist Press, 4-27-10]
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"Physician, heal yourself," said the founder of the church in which Roger Mahony is a cardinal. He is the Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles and he should heed the founder's admonition before accusing Arizonans of intemperateness. He says Arizona's new law pertaining to illegal immigration involves "reverting to German Nazi and Russian Communist techniques whereby people are required to turn one another in to the authorities on any suspicion of documentation. Our highest priority today," he says, "is to bring calm and reasoning to discussions about our immigrant brothers and sisters." His idea of calm reasoning is to call Arizona's new law for coping with illegal immigration "the country's most retrogressive, mean-spirited, and useless anti-immigrant law." He also says it is "dreadful," "abhorrent" and a "tragedy," and its assumption is that "immigrants come to our country to rob, plunder and consume public resources."
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A new biography of a legendary member of the White House press corps will debut next week, apparently without the cooperation of his colleagues, who have blocked his participation in the largest annual event sponsored by the correspondents in cooperation with the president. "Gadfly," biography of WND White House correspondent Les Kinsolving, written by his daughter, Kathleen Kinsolving Willmann, was to debut at the White House Correspondents Dinner featuring Barack Obama Saturday, May 1. However, the association sponsoring the dinner rebuffed a request for a table at the event from WorldNetDaily.com and Kinsolving, who has covered the White House since the Nixon administration, making him among the most senior correspondents in the association. WND has filed a $10 million lawsuit and is seeking a temporary restraining order against the correspondents association, challenging its decision as discriminatory and arbitrary.
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CCI NOTES: "Fr. J. Bryan Hehir, the USCC's associate general secretary for international justice and peace, is one of the key men who constitute the inner circle's think tank at the Washington headquarters of the United States Catholic Conference. Fr. Hehir has been instrumental in the increasing politicization of the USCC and came into prominence and influence during the term of Archbishop Joseph L. Bernardin as president of the NCCB-USCC. Among the "credits" Fr. Hehir can claim are key roles in developing the "Call to Action"; persuading the Bishops to pull back from a firm anti-abortion stance during the 1976 presidential elections; recommending to the Bishops that they approve the turnover of the Panama Canal; blunting any episcopal resistance to the return of St. Stephen's crown to the Hungarian Communists." Alan Matt, the Wandererer 3/16/78.) The fact the O'Malley would heap praise on this clown speaks volumes of why the Catholic Church is imploding. For more see http://bryanhehirexposed.wordpress.com/
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A"tell" in poker is a subtle but detectable change in a player's behavior or demeanor that reveals clues about the player's assessment of his hand. Something similar has happened with regard to the insurance mandate at the core of last month's health reform legislation. Congress justified its authority to enact the mandate on the grounds that it is a regulation of commerce. But as this justification came under heavy constitutional fire, the mandate's defenders changed the argument-now claiming constitutional authority under Congress's power to tax. This switch in constitutional theories is a tell: Defenders of the bill lack confidence in their commerce power theory. The switch also comes too late. When the mandate's constitutionality comes up for review as part of the state attorneys general lawsuit, the Supreme Court will not consider the penalty enforcing the mandate to be a tax because, in the provision that actually defines and imposes the mandate and penalty, Congress did not call it a tax and did not treat it as a tax.
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A communist government notorious for human rights violations will implement curriculum in U.S. public schools despite concerns from educators who assure it will lead to the indoctrination of innocent children in the classroom. Public school districts in Washington State and California have agreed to allow China's communist regime to conduct "Confucius Classroom" programs supposedly aimed at promoting Chinese language and culture in this country. China provides the curriculum-including instructors and teaching materials-and administers it through a "nonprofit" (Hanban) that's controlled by the country's Ministry of Education.
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In a major ruling that may prove decisive for the defense of pro-lifers arrested on Notre Dame's campus last year, an Indiana Judge has lifted a stay order barring the lead defense attorney in the cases from pursuing discovery of crucial evidence from Notre Dame officials. St. Joseph County, Superior Court Chief Judge Michael P. Scopelitis has authorized Thomas More Society-allied attorney Tom Dixon to pursue testimony under oath from officials who were key decision makers in the arrest of the Notre Dame 88 (ND88). It will also allow him to subpoena documents that may shed light on the college's apparent inconsistency regarding the arrest and prosecution of other groups and individuals participating in similar on-campus events.
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While numerous pro-life protesters who were arrested for trespassing at the University of Notre Dame last year continue to face up to a year in prison and a $5,000 fine, anti-military and pro-gay demonstrators who were previously arrested on campus had their charges dropped, according to a shocking new investigation by the Sycamore Trust. Furthermore, the president of the University, Fr. John Jenkins, has reportedly refused to discuss the disparate treatment. William Dempsey, Notre Dame alumnus and president of the Sycamore Trust, notes in the organization's latest bulletin that Jenkins has responded to inquiries about the pro-lifers (who were arrested last May while peacefully protesting Obama's commencement speech and honorary degree) by saying that, "The University cannot have one set of rules for causes we oppose, and another more lenient set of rules for causes we support. We have one consistent set of rules for demonstrations on campus - no matter the cause."
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Notre Dame absolves pro-gay and anti-military trespassers but supports prosecution of pro-life demonstrators; Father Hesburgh accedes to Speaker Pelosi's request to call key Congressman about health care bill. We have learned that a few years ago the University dropped trespass charges against pro-gay and anti-military demonstrators. This contrasts sharply with the University's ongoing support of the trespass prosecutions of the pro-life Commencement Day demonstrators ("the ND88"). We describe below how this news directly undermines the University's stance respecting the ND88. We also report the startling news that, at the request of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Father Hesburgh phoned a pro-life Congressman about the health care bill. The Congressman thereafter abandoned his opposition and voted for the bill.
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A federal judge in Wisconsin says the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb issued the ruling Thursday in a lawsuit filed by the Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation. The atheists and agnostics group brought the lawsuit against former President George W. Bush's administration. It argued the day violates the separation of church and state. Congress established the day in 1952. In 1988, it set the first Thursday in May as the day for presidents to issue proclamations asking Americans to pray.
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Deal Hudson just wrote an article "Is It Time for a Catholic Tea Party?" that, in the light of revelations about the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), sounds like an awfully tempting suggestion. To refresh the reader's memory, two groups - Bellarmine Veritas Ministry and the American Life League have unveiled a series of scandalous USCCB associations. The first concerned one of its top lay officials, John Carr, head of the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development.
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"Anti-Catholicism," said writer Peter Viereck, "is the anti-Semitism of the intellectual." It is "the deepest-held bias in the history of the American people," said Arthur Schlesinger Sr. If there was any doubt that hatred of and hostility toward the Catholic Church persists, it was removed by the mob that has arisen howling "Resign!" at Pope Benedict XVI. To American Catholics, the story of pedophile priests engaged in criminal abuse of children, of pervert priests seducing boys, is unfortunately all too familiar. That some bishops covered up for pedophiles and seducers and enabled corrupt clergy to continue to prey on boys was equally disgraceful. But to American Catholics, this is an old story. The priests have been defrocked, some sent to prison, like John Geoghan, who was strangled in his cell. Bishops have been removed. "Zero tolerance" has been policy for a decade.
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Cardinal George is scheduled April 7 as "presider" at an event designated as a memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King that includes honors for Rev. Michael Pfleger. In 2008, Catholic Citizens of Illinois called on the Cardinal to remove Pfleger for, among other things, his public support for pro-abortion politicians (i.e. Obama) and inviting the pro-abortion candidates to speak from the pulpit at St. Sabina's (i.e. Al Sharpton.) For the 2008 CCI press release click here. For those interested in attending, Click here for the flyer announcing the event. To let the Cardinal know what you think about honoring the likes of Rev. Pfleger, contact FRANCIS CARDINAL GEORGE, O.M.I., Archbishop of Chicago, PO Box 1979, Chicago, IL. 60690-1979, Phone: 312-534-8230, Fax: 312-534-6379 E-Mail: archbishop@archchicago.org
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Liberal Fascism, a book by Jonah Goldberg, is a must read for all prophetic seekers of Christ's Second Coming! This book is officially endorsed by The Ignorant Fishermen blog. Liberal Fascism historically documents the outworking, mindset and strategic game plan of the ideological phenomenon of liberal socialistic fascism in both the past and present. This insight is absolutely key to understanding present moods and trends on both a national and global scale. As prophetic events are unfolding right before our eyes, we who know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior understand that greater things are at work than the ambitions of power crazed politicians. The Bible - Almighty God's Word - states: "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph 6:12)." This present spiritual war is far greater then we could ever imagine. It's far beyond what unregenerate humanity can think or know. Almighty God's Word is absolutely crucial for rightly understanding the reality of His out-working in time and eternity (Ps 119: 160, Jn 16:13-14).
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Like a Druidic emissary from Tuatha De Danaan, the mythic inhabitants of Ireland, the Archbishop of Canterbury will lob a spiritual depth charge at Pope Benedict XVI on Monday when he damns the Catholic Church in Ireland as having lost all credibility. Dr Williams also reveals on the BBC Radio 4 programme Start the Week that he is withholding his blessing from Anglicans who choose to take advantage of the Pope's offer of a special home in the Catholic Church for disaffected Anglicans. "God bless them. I don't," he says, witheringly. What a contrast with the joyful ecumenical greetings between the Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie and Pope John Paul II during the last papal visit in 1982, when they entered Canterbury Cathedral together, greeted each other with the sign of peace, knelt in prayer before the nave altar and then moved to the high altar where they kissed the Canterbury Gospels, a gift from Pope St Gregory the Great to St Augustine.
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Following the recent demonstration at the Vatican regarding, pro-life advocates from Insurrecta Nex and the Vanguard of St. Catherine of Siena will be holding a demonstration in front of St. Matthew's Cathedral calling on Archbishop Wuerl to excommunicate "Catholic" Nancy Pelosi for the scandal caused by her support of child-killing by abortion and her defiance of Church teaching. What: Demonstration calling on Archbishop Wuerl to excommunicate Nancy Pelosi. When: Sunday March 28, 2010 from 9:15 AM to 1:15 PM Where: Cathedral of St. Matthew 1725 Rhode Island Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20036
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In an address to his Baker Diocesan Newspaper, Bishop Robert Vasa explains why one cannot support the Health Care Bill, which funds abortion, even if one believes enormous good benefits would result. It appears the Bishop is indirectly answering the position of Sr. Carol Keehan, President of the Catholic Health Association, that even with the abortion issue the good outweighs the bad. The Bishop writes that not only is such a position "a serious understatement," but also a "serious error." "If they were further to claim that the plan has so many other good features that an insistence on the elimination of abortion provisions is really a demand for an unrealistic "perfection" then they are in serious error." To clarify his point he uses the example of the importance of fidelity in marriage.
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Randall Terry and six others have been protesting near the Vatican, holding signs asking that Speaker Pelosi be denied communion and that the California Democrat be excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. Pelosi is a lifelong Catholic and Randall Terry a fairly recent convert. Catholic League spokesman Jeff Field responds to the call for excommunication. "We are a conservative Catholic organization, but yet we leave the bishop's work up to the bishops," says Field. "It's not the job of Randall Terry, or anybody for that matter, to lecture the bishops on what they should or shouldn't do with politicians such as Nancy Pelosi." He points out that Terry evidently believes it is his right to do so -- "and we don't believe that it's our right or anybody's right to tell the bishops what to do," adds Field.
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Few things have ever moved me to rage as deeply as the injustice of the judicial execution of our beloved Terri Schindler Schiavo in 2005. The drama leading up to her unwarranted killing had all the barbarism of the brutal war on unborn babies with all its deceitful propaganda and murderous manipulation. Of course we expect that this is the way pagan killers operate, but we don't have to sit back and let it take over our culture. As we approach the 5th anniversary of Terri's death on March 31st, we now face a new outrage that has been perpetrated by the forces of evil that inhabit Secular City. Last Sunday's prime time cartoon "Family Guy" episode renewed a malicious defamation of Terri's dignity and suffering.
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Law and grace. Where earthly justice does not reach, the hand of God can. With his letter dated March 19, Benedict XVI has given the Catholics of Ireland an order never before given by a pope of the modern era to an entire national Church. He told them not only to bring the guilty before the canonical and civil courts, but to put themselves collectively in a state of penance and purification. And not in the privacy of their consciences, but in a public form, before the eyes of all, even of their most implacable and mocking adversaries. Fasting, prayer, reading the Bible, and works of charity on all the Fridays from now until Easter of next year. Frequent sacramental confession. Continual adoration of Jesus - " himself a victim of injustice and sin" - present in the sacred host, exposed on the altars of the churches. And for all the bishops, priests, and religious, without exception, a special period of "mission," a long and strict course of spiritual exercises for a radical review of life.
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Near the fifth anniversary of the death of Terri Schiavo, the disabled woman whose husband won a court order to take her life, the Fox program "The Family Guy" featured a satire about her. Terri's family expressed shock and sadness that Fox would allow such insensitive programming during prime time. Five years ago, Terri was a disabled woman whose family hoped to get medical and rehabilitative treatment. After a lengthy court battle, her husband Michael Schiavo won a court order to kill her by depriving her of food and water. After 13 painful days, Terri died. During the Family Guy program, a horrific sketch was titled "Terri Schiavo: The Musical," aired.
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Rep. Bart Stupak caved in on his commitment to oppose the pro-abortion health care bill today by making a special deal with the White House. In exchange for Stupak's vote and that of the others in his coalition, Obama has agreed to sign an executive order after the health care bill is passed that would supposedly prohibit public funds from paying for abortions, especially in community health clinics that are slated to receive a huge boost in tax funding. However, Obama's executive order can be rescinded at any time, and will likely expire well before the health care plan will go into effect four years from now - if he even signs the order at all. More importantly, the law as written trumps an executive order making it likely that the order would not hold up in court if challenged by the abortion lobby.
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The "Spirit of Inclusion" was the University's response in 1997 to petitions by the Faculty Senate, the Student Senate, and many students who wanted the anti-discrimination clause amended to include sexual orientation. The University denied that request and instead adopted the "Spirit of Inclusion." Then-President Edward A. Malloy, C.S.C., explained that the "Spirit of Inclusion" reflects Church teaching whereas an expanded anti-discrimination clause would be in tension with it. He wrote in part...
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A coalition of 59,000 nuns released a letter yesterday calling on Congress to approve the overhaul, defying the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which opposes the measure. The Catholic Health Association, which represents 1,200 Catholic hospitals, has endorsed the package, as have Catholics United and Catholic groups promoting social justice. That split mirrors a division among some antiabortion US representatives. In preparing to cast perhaps one of the most important votes on a domestic issue in their careers, they are wrestling with questions that strike at the core of their beliefs and that threaten to embolden voters in November. Ardently antiabortion Representative Dale Kildee, a Michigan Democrat who once studied in a Catholic seminary, said yesterday he will vote for the package despite language that some believe is not strict enough in ensuring that no federal funds are used for abortions.
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We would like to invite all of you to join us in Springfield on Wednesday, March 24th to lobby legislators on House Bill 6205. As you know, this pro-abortion bill recently passed out of committee and all hands are needed on deck to ensure that it does not pass on the House floor. At this point it looks like the 24th will be a good day to talk to legislators; however, we will know more details as the day approaches. The timeline for the trip will be as follows...
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There is international outrage in Catholic circles over a headline in The Times this morning that many people regard as utterly misleading and part of the newspaper's reliably biased coverage (reinforced by vicious cartoons) of anything to do with Pope Benedict XVI. The headline, over a story by Richard Owen, reads: "Pope knew priest was paedophile but allowed him to continue with ministry." A universally admired Catholic journalist contacted me this morning and accused The Times of (and I am toning this down for legal reasons) an extremely serious error of judgment.
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Unfortunately but not unexpectedly, House Bill 6205 was today passed by the House Human Services Committee. This means the bill is on the House floor and could come up for a vote as early as next week. We need to make sure our voice continues to be heard in Springfield. House Bill 6205 was amended in committee but serious problems remain. Most notably, the bill requires taxpayer funding of abortion, emergency contraception, and other fertility and sterilizations treatments. The bill also mandates school districts implement comprehensive sex education programs and provides broad immunity protections for those performing abortions.
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Attorneys from the Chicago-based Thomas More Society,on the eve of the trial, won a victory in Providence municipal court this week when the city prosecutor decided to dismiss criminal charges against Christopher Young. Young, a Catholic pro-lifer who is also a Democratic mayoral candidate, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after confronting Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) about his abortion views at an advertised "open forum" on health care at Brown University last November. Thomas More Society attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the charge of disorderly conduct, arguing that Young did not act in a disorderly fashion when he pressed tough questions to Rep. Kennedy and tossed a pro-life video on the desk in front of the Congressman, who quickly took and looked at the video. The video, Maafa 21, is a recently-released documentary on the history of the abortion industry and its targeting of African-Americans.
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...in spite of this monstrous legislation that forces US citizens to purchase health care under threat of legal penalty; increases the power of the IRS as health care enforcer; creates 111 new government bureaucracies; retains "death panels"; promotes "end of life" counseling; penalizes marriage, and makes provisions for Federal agents to invade our homes to "inspect" our children, all the United States Bishops objected to - in a letter to the Senate on December 22 - were three points. They want the Health Care bill to "Keep in place current federal law on abortion funding and conscious protections on abortion", "Protect the access to health care that immigrants [regardless of status] now have, and remove the barriers to access" - in other words, the bishops support government health care for illegal aliens, and "Include strong provisions for adequate affordability and coverage standards."-in other words, the bishops complain that the bill still leaves 23 million people without medical coverage. This must be corrected so the government guarantees every person in the country is given health care..."
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A renowned exorcist in Rome recently released a book of memoirs in which he declares to know of the existence of Satanic sects in the Vatican where participation reaches all the way to the College of Cardinals. A second demonologist, also residing in Rome, entered the debate this week, clarifying the origins of the information and defending the Vatican's clergy as an "edifying and virtuous" collection of prelates. In a book of memoirs released in February, the noted Italian exorcist Fr. Gabriele Amorth affirmed that "Yes, also in the Vatican there are members of Satanic sects." When asked if members of the clergy are involved or if this is within the lay community, he responded, "There are priests, monsignors and also cardinals!" The book, "Father Amorth. Memoirs of an Exorcist. My life fighting against Satan." was written by Marco Tosatti, who compiled it from interviews with the priest.
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On Monday evening, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver delivered a talk at Houston Baptist University, in which he criticized President John F. Kennedy's historic campaign speech on his faith impacting his possible presidency as "sincere, compelling, articulate - and wrong." The archbishop called on his audience to get involved in the Christian "vocation" of being engaged in public service, at a time when religion is being increasingly ignored in the political sphere. Archbishop Chaput gave his address, "The Vocation of Christians in American Public Life," on the evening of March 1 at the Houston Baptist University's Morris Cultural Art center. The lecture was presented in coordination with the Pope John Paul II Forum for the Church in the Modern World at the University of St. Thomas.
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Communism is to the social body what leprosy is to the physical body; in fact it is more serious, for Communism affects personality directly, while disease affects the mind and soul only indirectly. In moral language, Communism is intrinsically evil. It is evil because it submerges and destroys personality to the status of an ant in an anthill; free government is made impossible through its basic principle enunciated by Engels, that freedom is necessity or obedience to a dictator. His book Communism and the Conscience of the West (1948) was a protracted warning against the Soviet parody-religion of Communism, which reminded Catholics that they would have to muster a zeal equal to the Communists' own in fighting back against them. Even devotional life was affected by anti-Communism, as the Catholic historians Thomas Kselman and Steven Avella have shown. An apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to a group of children at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917, had inaugurated the Virgin's own war against Communism.
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Yes. You read that right. Keynote speaker for the National Catholic Education Association convention in Minneapolis, April 6-8, 2010, is none other than Garrison Keillor -- author, storyteller, and host of Public Radio's A Prairie Home Companion. Says Keillor, ""The Catholic church shares my deepest convictions about social justice and economic justice. This is a stronger tie that should prevail over the issue of abortion."
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We live in an age when men have turned away from God, an age when their thoughs have collected into a movement called "Modernism," which Pope St. Pius X stringently rejected as the mother of all heresies... For the video of how the church is being attached from the INSIDE CLICK HERE
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Last Valentine's day, Feb 14, Chicago's Holy Name Cathedral offered married couples a chance to celebrate their spousal fidelity by renewing their vows to each other during Mass. Yet in order to do so, couples had to pass through an angry crowd of "gay rights" protestors who marched by the steps of the cathedral, accusing Church hierarchy of hatred toward gays and telling parishioners to "stop funding the bigots!" Police refused to interrupt the demonstration, despite laws that prohibit protesting near places of worship while services are ongoing. Chicago lawyer Nora Doherty, who was present during the demonstration, recounted via Renew America's Matt Abbott how "one of the particularly angry protesters yelled at my three-year-old daughter, 'Little girl, I hope you grow up to be gay so that your mother will disown you and you can know how I feel!'"
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The University of Illinois at Chicago and the Better Government Association teamed Thursday to release a report on the "pervasive pattern of corruption" in Cook County over the last four decades and calling for a series of reforms. The 30-page report, prepared by the UIC's Department of Political Science and the BGA, documents 146 convictions on government corruption going back to 1970 and sets a series of reform measures to end the same practices in the present day. "This is historical in nature, but it's also relevant today," said BGA Executive Director Andy Shaw in presenting the report at the Cook County Building in downtown Chicago. "It is not directed at any one public official. We're not standing in front of Todd Stroger's office because we're blaming Stroger for four decades. He's just the latest in a long line of county officials who weren't minding the store properly or well enough."
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The Dutch Catholic priest who withheld Communion last week from his town's openly homosexual Carnival "prince" was faced at Mass this Sunday with a protest from homosexual activists. Saying that he feared "sins" and "sacrilege," the priest chose not to distribute Communion at all, reports Patrick B. Craine, LifeSiteNews.com. "Communion is a moment of respect and reverence, not an object of protest," stated Fr. Luc Buyens. Protesters, led by town council member Dick Boonman and Gay Krant editor Henk Krol, distributed pink triangles with the word "Homo," to be worn on the chest at Mass. The protest was held at the parish after Fr. Buyens chose to deny Communion to homosexual Gijs Vermeulen, 24, on February 13th.
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ACORN is attempting to perpetrate yet another spectacular fraud on the American people in order to keep tax dollars and foundation grants flowing into its coffers. With the fallout from the hidden camera videos last fall, congressional funding of ACORN's election fraud and racketeering business is no longer guaranteed, so ACORN is trying to pass off various state chapters as "new" groups. As part of the radical group's fraudulent rebranding scheme, ACORN has renamed its New York chapter New York Communities for Change. Unlike on the West coast where ACORN is at least pretending its renamed California chapter (Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment or ACCE) is not part of the ACORN network, New York Communities for Change shares the same Nevins Street address as ACORN's Brooklyn office.
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Whatever happened to the Catholic faith in America? I can answer that in one word: liberalism, defined as the philosophy that man can reach perfection through his own human efforts. The philosophy of liberalism is a sin against the first commandment. It puts man on a par with God as his own savior. Just give him enough time, enough money, and enough government control and he will create Utopia here on earth. God can take care of heaven in the hereafter; man will create heaven on earth today in the liberal state. And liberalism doesn't just permeate the bishops' conference, the USCCB. It has infected every institution of the Church: health services and hospitals, charities, and, perhaps most dangerous to the future, education. As all effective tyrants know, take the minds of the young and you own the future.
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Harry Knox, the former staffer of a pro-abortion organization who now serves on President Barack Obama's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, has re-affirmed his bashing of the Catholic Church in a new interview. Knox has been the subject of concern for pro-life groups since Obama named him to the panel. He is the director of the religion and faith program at Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group known for its strong abortion advocacy as well. Knox came under fire for attacking the Pope, who recently said that condoms are not the answer to the AIDS/HIV crisis in Africa. He called Pope Benedict XVI a liar and said he should "start telling the truth about condom use" and claimed the Catholic leader was "endangering people's lives" and "hurting people in the name of Jesus."
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Speak the truth and you can take it to the bank, you'll get attacked. Such is the case now with liberals fighting back against the truth of the scandal at the Bishops' Conference. Please take a moment to stay informed on this issue because they have put their heads together and come up with a campaign of misinformation, all in attempt to keep Catholic dollars flowing to groups promoting the Culture of Death. For more CLICK HERE
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"The group protesting the stamp has unjustly accused Mother Teresa of having a "dark side," and has attacked her for using her religious faith in her service to the sick and poor. Furthermore, these same groups never protested a stamp honoring Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., though he proudly understood his fight for civil rights to be rooted in his Christian faith. With love and her charity, Mother Teresa cared for tens of thousands of people regardless of need, race, sex, or religion. She cared for people because they were human, and continues to inspire millions of people even after her death."
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I think there are real problems with how the CCHD allocates its money. I must seriously question why the USCCB even needs to have such a department. There are, after all, so many excellent Catholic charities that disburse money, so I see no reason why Catholics ought to continue giving money to an organization that has now repeatedly been shown to have misused funds in the past (ACORN, for instance). And remember - these are funds that come from the pockets of Catholics in the pews.
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As president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Francis George's statement opposing New Ways Ministry is as disingenuous as New Ways Ministry's claim that it supports Catholic sexual morality. (see below). As documented in my book, The Rite of Sodomy, New Ways is only incidentally religious, i.e., it uses religion solely to advance the political ends of the Homosexual Collective within and without the Church. Yet it has never lacked for support from the American hierarchy including Bishops Gumbleton, Sullivan (Walter), Clark, Povish, McRaith, Costello (Thomas), Buswell, Symons, Untener, Weakland, Quinn (Francis), Wuerl, Mattheisen, O'Keefe, Imesch, McNamara, Hughes, Morneau, Lucker, Friend, Cummins, Murphy (Francis), Rodimer and Rosazza. New Ways could never have survived without the active support of the Salvatorians, the School Sisters of Notre Dame, and numerous other Catholic religious orders.
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A federal lawsuit has been filed against U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, challenging the constitutionality of the recently enacted federal "Hate Crimes Act." The lawsuit was filed against Holder by the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) on behalf of three Michigan pastors and the president of the American Family Association of Michigan. Robert Muise, senior trial counsel for the TMLC and the attorney handling the case, tells OneNewsNow this law, attached to a defense authorization bill that the president signed last October, is political payoff.
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A new Suffolk University poll shows Republican Scott Brown pulling ahead in the MA Senate race against Democrat Martha Coakley 50% to 46%. Boston Herald reported the shocking irony were Brown to win: "But if Brown's momentum holds, he is poised to succeed the late Sen. Edward Kennedy - and to halt health-care reform, the issue the late senator dubbed 'the cause of my life'." From the Washington Post... "The new Suffolk numbers come just as the television airwaves have reached their saturation point - one Republican tells the Fix there is almost no tv time left to buy." What that likely means is... paid media for both sides will likely cancel itself out and the final few days will be a battle for so-called earned media - aka press coverage by the state's newspapers, television channels and radio stations.
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CCI NOTES: Obama's plan to socialize America includes neutralizing the Catholic Church using the oldest play in the book: divide and conquer. By stacking his administration with so-called "pro-choice Catholics" and self-described "religious leaders" who are in lock step with his plan to eliminate religious opposition, Christians across the country, and in particular Catholics, are finally waking up to the fact that they have been duped into accepting failed and flawed socialist programs under the vague mantra of "change." For an excellent video see Michael Voris's commentary on www.realcatholictv.com by CLICKING HERE.
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Massachusetts Senate candidate Martha Coakley is coming under fire today for comments showing her attacking the conscience rights of pro-life Catholics. In a Thursday interview, Coakley is asked whether doctors and nurses working in a hospital emergency room have religious freedom. Because they oppose dispensing the morning after pill because it can sometimes cause an abortion she says Catholics should not be allowed to work in hospital emergency rooms. In an interview yesterday with radio host Ken Pittman, Coakley comments on a conscience clause to allow pro-life medical workers to opt out of engage in actions that violate their deeply-held religious or moral views. "In the emergency room you still have your religious freedom," Pittman tells Coakley.
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In all seriousness, I can't think of a single example in modern political life that has so perfectly shown the deadly hypocrisy of the liberal establishment than the way in which the insane media and those in the present power structure are handling this Racist Reid incident. Any person of values who may have made such a scurrilous set of remarks would have been lynched, if you will pardon the analogy, and his career, family and personal life utterly shredded with passionate ferocity by the sentinels of abortion. There is no mercy for men and women of traditional values, lovers of life and family. We don't worship the right god. But Racist Reid does, and of course, all is forgiven...
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"It is an outrageous insult to the victims of sexual abuse to allow former Archbishop Rembert Weakland to be honored at the Cathedral of St. John and permitted to speak at the occasion of the renovation of the Cathedral," said Mrs. Mary Anne Hackett, president of Catholic Citizens of Illinois. As part of the renovation, Weakland commissioned a bronze, which serves as a pedestal of the statue of the Blessed Mother, featuring the Archbishop, flanked by St. John the Evangelist and St. Anne, Mother of Mary, as a protector of children. That alone is a shocking distortion of the actual situation in Milwaukee under the leadership of Archbishop Weakland. "Archbishop Weakland has disgraced himself and the Church with his long history of homosexual contacts and then adding to the disgrace by publishing his memoirs, trumpeting his contempt for Catholic teaching on sexual morality and describing some of his reprehensible behavior. In the past he has even seemed to suggest that the blame for the abuse was shared by the victim," said Mr. Dan Cheely, a board member of Catholic Citizens. He continued, "In view of such a history, he should not be permitted to receive Church honors in a public setting."
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The Roman Catholic ban on women entering the priesthood will become illegal under Harriet Harman's controversial Equality Bill, according to Christian charity, CARE. A new report by the leading charity - backed by a legal opinion from a leading QC - says the Bill will make it impossible for all churches and faith-based charities to insist that their senior staff lead private lives in accordance with their religious beliefs. CARE said that, under the Bill, which will be considered by the House of Lords on Monday, it would be illegal for a Christian charity to sack a senior manager for adultery or living an openly gay lifestyle. The same rules would, it added, apply to Muslim and Jewish churches and charities.
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Brit Hume said he was "not surprised" by the media backlash over his remarks to Tiger Woods on "Fox News Sunday" this week. There is a "double-standard" when it comes to speaking publicly about Christianity versus other religions, he said. Hume, a Fox News analyst, told CNSNews.com: "There is a double standard. If I had said, for example, that what Tiger Woods needed to do was become more deeply engaged in his Buddhist faith or to adopt the ideas of Hinduism, which I think would be of great spiritual value to him, I doubt anybody would have said anything." Last Sunday, Hume suggested the golfer-- who has stated that he is Buddhist -- look to Christianity for help to makeover his personal life. In response to host Chris Wallace's question asking him to predict the biggest sports story of 2010, Hume speculated that while Woods would recover professionally from his now-public admission of adultery, the comeback of his personal life is currently a question mark.
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President Obama, in an attempt to suborn Catholics, started feeding us a line about "Common Ground". What sort of Common Ground is there really coming from the Obama Administration? What sort of response has really been coming from the Holy See? Judge for yourself whether or not there is a lot of "common ground" between the Obama Administration and the Holy See on the abortion issue. The events chosen are selected, but I think representative. Leave aside the obvious problem of appointments (e.g., Kmiec, Sebelius, etc.). We could have waited to do this for the actual anniversary of the President's inauguration, but it is better to get this out there well in advance of the the anniversary of Roe v Wade and Doe v Bolton.
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After Congress recessed, and over the Christmas holiday, I grew tired of posting on the breathless updates on who is sneezing or emitting anal oxide on which aspect of the socialized healthcare issue on any given moment. But this infuriating article has gotten me back in the game. Argh. Sen. Ben Nelson is such a major putz. From the Fremont Tribune, yesterday: ... Nelson said Tuesday it was a mistake for the Obama Administration to take on massive health care reforms in 2009, and suggested efforts would have been better spent addressing the economy....
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Some 2,500 Catholics braved freezing conditions Jan. 6 to pay their last respects to "underground" Bishop Leo Yao Liang of Xiwanzi, who had spent almost 30 years of his life behind bars. Vatican-approved Coadjutor Bishop Yao, who the government recognized only as a priest, died on Dec. 30 at the age of 86. He had been sentenced to life imprisonment in 1958 as he refused to join the independent Church movement, and released only in 1984. In 2002, he was clandestinely ordained as a bishop and had been detained several times since then. The funeral service was held in Xiwanzi town, Chongli county, in Hebei province. Bishop Yao was referred to as "shepherd" during the service, after authorities disallowed the use of the term "bishop."
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It is a sad commentary on the times in which we live when some self-described Catholics in public life, such as Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, can receive plaudits from the media for being nothing more than an arrogant woman who chooses to flaunt her pro-abortion position while claiming she is a Catholic in good standing. Eleanor Clift, columnist and contributing editor for Newsweek, recently interviewed Pelosi and commenced with this softball, "America loves you, Nancy" statement: "You are seen as this far-out liberal, when you actually are quite traditional in your lifestyle. I feel like the country doesn't really know you." Geesh! How gushy can an interviewer get? It was during this interview that Granny Nancy said...
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Now Democrats say this vote is about "history." No, it's about their history. As with past failures to federalize health care, the air in 2009 is full of static-high unemployment, Afghanistan, a terrorist prison in Illinois and a petulant White House. The Democrats' familiar problems with the politics of universal health care have turned the bill into one of the most degraded legislative exercises in congressional history. Left-wing Dems like Howard Dean are screaming "kill" the Senate bill, suggesting a progressive Jonestown over it. Public support is below 40%. This is probably the final death struggle for universal health care. They may let Harry Reid's Senate seat itself go down in the bloodbath over the 70-year obsession. Anyone remotely opposed to this idea had better step forward. History says ObamaCare isn't a done deal til the fat lady votes.
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In an editorial in the New York Times on December 8, 2009 Congressman Bart Stupak, whose amendment to the House version of the Health Care Bill prohibited federal funds from being used to kill unborn children by abortion, set the record straight. He unmasked the campaign of misinformation unleashed by those who oppose the Right to Life and seek to fund abortion with tax dollars: "...Over the past month there has been a great deal of discussion about the Stupak-Ellsworth-Pitts amendment in the House health care reform bill. Unfortunately, much of this discussion has been driven by misinformation about what our amendment does and does not do. I would like to set the record straight: Our amendment maintains current law, which says that there should be no federal financing for abortion.
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From November 2 to 4, 2009, an unusual meeting took place at Windsor Castle hosted by Prince Philip of Edinburg [husband of Queen Elizabeth], president of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), and attended by Ban Kimoon, UN Secretary General. The meeting is being called "The Windsor Event." Prince Philip and Ban Kimoon call on world religions to protect the earth. A coalition of reps processed around Windsor Castle to open the conference Also present were representatives of religious around the world, who signed "the first broad-scale international commitment to conserve the environment involving the participation of all religions. Its goal is to adjust the behavior and attitudes of the faithful in order to protect nature for future generations." This great commitment pretends to be the religious contribution to the International Conference on Climate Change promoted by the UN, which is presently taking place in Copenhagen (December 7-18, 2009).
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They led the way in confusing Catholic voters about the pro-abortion record and views of presidential candidate Barack Obama. Now the fake Catholic groups that claim to be pro-life but advance the pro-abortion agenda are back -- this time in the national debate over health care and abortion funding. Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good proved that adding "Catholic" to the name of an organization could get one media attention -- and condemnation from pro-life Catholics who knew better. The two groups went as far as passing out literature at churches that obfuscated Obama's pro-abortion views.
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"My impression is that Christian clergymen are being spat at in the Old City virtually every day. This has been constantly increasing over the last decade," said Daniel Rossing. An observant, kippa-wearing Jew, Rossing heads the Jerusalem Center for Jewish-Christian Relations and was liaison to Israel's Christian communities for the Ministry of Religious Affairs in the '70s and '80s. For Christian clergy in the Old City, being spat at by Jewish fanatics "is a part of life," said the American Jewish Committee's Rabbi David Rosen, Israel's most prominent Jewish interfaith activist.
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It's ironic - and tragic - that as the world celebrates the twentieth anniversary of Communism's defeat in Europe, the comic-opera that is Hugo Chavez's "21st century socialist" Venezuela is descending to new lows of absurdity. Beneath the buffoonery, however, there's evidence that life in Venezuela is about to take a turn for the worse. By buffoonery, I mean President Chavez's decidedly weird statements of late. These include threatening war against Columbia, advising Venezuelans that it is "more socialist" to shower for only three minutes a day, telling his fellow citizens to eat less because "there are lots of fat people" in Venezuela, eulogizing convicted murderer Carlos the Jackal as "a revolutionary fighter", defending Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe as a "brother", and wondering whether Idi Amin was so bad after all.
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Bishop Thomas Tobin of Rhode Island clarified his reasons for denying pro-abortion politicians Communion on Tuesday, noting that such politicians are not forced to be Catholic - but if they choose to, they must then "understand what the Church teaches, accept those teachings, and live that faith." "The most important commitment we can make is our faith, because that defines our relationship with God. Nothing is more important than that. And if your job, your profession, your vocation gets in the way of that, you have to quit your job and save your soul," said Tobin in an appearance on the FOX Network's "O'Reilly Factor" Tuesday night.
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Pastors David and Tim Bayly observe this may be the first time in the history of presidential Thanksgiving proclamations the President does not call men to give thanks to God. If anyone has the gumption to check it out, please let us know. First, President Barack Hussein Obama; second, President George W. Bush...
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First proposed in 1966 and named after Columbia University sociologists Richard Andrew Cloward and Frances Fox Piven, the "Cloward-Piven Strategy" seeks to hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse. Inspired by the August 1965 riots in the black district of Watts in Los Angeles (which erupted after police had used batons to subdue a black man suspected of drunk driving), Cloward and Piven published an article titled "The Weight of the Poor: A Strategy to End Poverty" in the May 2, 1966 issue of The Nation. Following its publication, The Nation sold an unprecedented 30,000 reprints. Activists were abuzz over the so-called "crisis strategy" or "Cloward-Piven Strategy," as it came to be called. Many were eager to put it into effect.
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The vast majority of U.S. women religious are not complying with a Vatican request to answer questions in a document of inquiry that is part of a three-year study of the congregations. Leaders of congregations, instead, are leaving questions unanswered or sending in letters or copies of their communities' constitutions. "There's been almost universal resistance," said one women religious familiar with the responses compiled by the congregation leaders. "We are saying 'enough!' In my 40 years in religious life I have never seen such unanimity."
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FBI issued its most recent statistics on hate crimes on Monday -- and they showed a slight uptick in hate crimes against religious groups in 2008. Last year, there were 1,519 incidents against people based on their religion, a 9% increase from the year before. While anti-Jewish attacks make up the bulk of the incidents -- one out of every six -- there was a spike in hate crimes against Catholics. There were 75 incidents against Catholics, up from 61 the year before.
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A bitter dispute over abortion that prompted Rhode Island's Roman Catholic bishop to ask Rep. Patrick Kennedy not to receive Holy Communion has revealed the depth of the divide among Catholics over how politicians should reconcile their faith with their public duties. Bishop Thomas Tobin on Sunday said he made the request because of the Democratic lawmaker's support for abortion rights. The news prompted debate among Catholics around the country and within Rhode Island, the nation's most Catholic state, about whether it was right for Tobin to publicly shame Kennedy for breaking with the church on what its leaders consider a paramount moral issue.
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In a November 8 article titled "House votes for ban on abortion subsidies," the Los Angeles Times quoted a statement from the pro-Obama group Catholics United attributing it to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The article in the LA Times covered the final vote on the House health care bill and the previous passage of the Stupak amendment. "The amendment, offered just prior to the vote on the healthcare bill, passed 240 to 194," wrote LA Times reporter Kim Geiger. Geiger then added: "The compromise won immediate support from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which urged Catholics to 'lend their full-throated support' to the Democrats' healthcare bill." "'The bishops' stamp of approval means that this bill is unambiguously pro-life and we will vigorously oppose those who suggest otherwise,' the conerence said in a statement Saturday," Geiger added in the story.
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Catholic League president Bill Donohue speaks to the way Catholics and Muslims are treated in the upcoming film, "2012": When we got word recently that the movie "2012" depicts the Vatican being blown up, along with the famous statue from Rio, Christ the Redeemer, we were unmoved. Why? Because this occurs during the end of the world in a massive destruction. This kind of sensationalism, we reasoned, is standard fare for director Roland Emmerich: he is the guru of the "blow 'em up" genre of movies. But now we've learned that while Catholics get theirs, Muslims are spared. Out of fear, of course."
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Pope Benedict XVI appointed on Saturday Bishop of Harrisburg, Penn. Kevin C. Rhoades as the ninth Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend, the diocese that includes Notre Dame University. Bishop Rhoades will replace Bishop John D'Arcy, who until Saturday was the oldest bishop governing a diocese in the US. He was prominent early this year for his strong stance against President Obama's Notre Dame invitation. Bishop D'Arcy strongly criticized Notre Dame University President John Jenkins, C.S.C. for honoring the President despite his pro-abortion stance, and made good on his pledge to stay away from the graduation. He decided at the last minute to attend what he called a "prayerful" graduation alternative organized on the campus by ND Response, a student-led pro-life group. Bishop Rhoades was born November 26, 1957, in Mahanoy City, Penn. and graduated from Lebanon Catholic High School in 1975.
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Now that the U.S. House has narrowly approved a national healthcare bill, abortion advocates are taking aim at Catholic bishops and seeking to exact political retribution on pro-life legislators who insisted on a provision banning federal abortion funding as a condition of their support. In an item published Nov. 9 by Politico.com under the heading "IRS should scrutinize bishops," Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-San Rafael, asks of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, "Who elected them to Congress?" and suggests the Church's tax-exempt status should be reviewed. Woolsey said the bishops' support of the Stupak amendment "was more than mere advocacy" and said the bishops "managed to bully members of Congress to vote for added restrictions on a perfectly legal surgical procedure."
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The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn't change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care. Under the bill, headed for a D.C. Council vote next month, religious organizations would not be required to perform or make space available for same-sex weddings. But they would have to obey city laws prohibiting discrimination against gay men and lesbians. Fearful that they could be forced, among other things, to extend employee benefits to same-sex married couples, church officials said they would have no choice but to abandon their contracts with the city.
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Even as they agreed to postpone a planned face-to-face meeting that had been set for Thursday, Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Tobin turned up the heat Monday on U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy over his "rejection" of church teaching on abortion, calling on him to enter into a process of conversion and repentance. In a letter to Kennedy posted Monday on the Web site of the Diocese of Providence's weekly newspaper, the bishop disputes Kennedy's assertion that his disagreement with the hierarchy "on some issues" including abortion did not make him any less of a Catholic. "Well, in fact, Congressman, in a way it does," the bishop said in a letter issued just two days after Kennedy was among a group of minority lawmakers who attempted to block tough new restrictions on abortion that were added Saturday to the House's health-care reform legislation.
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Where is the media outrage over "the separation of church and state?" In a story about why the U.S. Catholic Bishops have embraced Democratic-style universal health care, the Los Angeles Times noted that the Roman Catholic Church considers healthcare a basic human right, "a position the church has articulated since 1963, when it was included in a papal encyclical by Pope John XXIII." Indeed, healthcare is declared a right in the "Peace on Earth" encyclical. That is also the basis of Obamacare. The group Catholic Democrats has hailed passage of H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act of 2009, and notes that the only House Republican voting for it, Representative Joseph Cao of Louisiana, is a Catholic and former Jesuit seminarian. "The Catholic Church has been at the forefront of advocating for health care as a right for decades, including pastoral letters issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in 1981 and 1993," the group notes.
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Liberty Counsel has recently cleared the way for numerous Good News Clubs to use public school facilities for after-school programs. The Clubs, sponsored by Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF), are designed to teach good character and Christian values to children ages 5-12. Supreme Court precedent requires that schools grant CEF the same access to school facilities as is granted to secular after-school programs. Liberty Counsel litigates when schools discriminate against CEF. Below are a few recent victories...
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"Since Nostra Aetate, there is a new reality in Christian-Jewish relations. One powerful sign of the reality occurred during Pope John Paul's visit in 2000 to Holy Land when he placed his prayer in the Western Wall asking God's forgiveness for the sins of Christians against Jews down the ages. Using the metaphor of a garden, Rabbi David Rosen said Christian-Jewish relations for the 44 years following Nostra Aetate, is like a garden surrounded by high walls. This garden of history was an ugly place overrun with branches and weeds and lurking with danger. In the last 44 years, the garden was wonderfully transformed into an attractive garden. It is not yet the Garden of Eden and there are still rocky terrains, but generally, it is a good garden. Many Israelites walking outside the garden are unaware of the transformation that has taken place. They think it might still be dangerous and unpleasant. The papal visit to Israel opened the garden gates and revealed to many who had not known or believed in the new reality, a pleasant garden of Christian-Jewish relations in which the head of the Catholic Church was in fact a sincere friend of the Jewish people who sought its welfare and mutual respect."
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After the elections of 2004, Democrat political groups attributed much of their losses to an inability to connect with religious voters. Democrat pundits and politicians identified this weakness and began to make feeble attempts to apply a Christian moral equivalence to what were often clearly immoral and anti-religious policies. Today in the wake of the 2008 election, we can see how successful the Democratic strategy was to use the American Catholic "social justice" apparatus to produce Christian votes. Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good was a key element in this overall strategy. Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG) was founded in 2005. Alexia Kelly is the director and claims to be the principle founder, but many individuals have worked to build this organization. The CACG and other similar political organizations, such as Catholics United, Pax Christi, Network, Center of Concern, Just Faith, and Call to Action work closely together and share leadership. Their direction and affiliations however extend well beyond these Catholic-focused groups to Democrat party operatives and funding sources, Unions, Catholic leadership universities and charity organizations, national politicians, and now the White House.
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Every year, a debate rages among Christians: Is Halloween a satanic holiday or merely a secular one? Should Christian children dress up like ghosts and goblins? Is it good for children to be scared? Lost in the debate is the history of Halloween, which, far from being a pagan religious event, is actually a Christian celebration that's almost 1,300 years old. "Halloween" is a name that means nothing by itself. It is a contraction of "All Hallows Eve," and it designates the vigil of All Hallows Day, more commonly known as All Saints Day. ("Hallow," as a noun, is an old English word for saint. As a verb, it means to make something holy or to honor it as holy.) All Saints Day, November 1, is a Holy Day of Obligation, and both the feast and the vigil have been celebrated since the early eighth century, when they were instituted by Pope Gregory III in Rome. (A century later, they were extended to the Church at large by Pope Gregory IV.)
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When Barack Obama told Joe the Plumber he planned to "spread the wealth around," many people didn't realize he was not talking about spreading the wealth only of the super-rich. Now that Obama is elected, he is moving rapidly to expand welfare handouts for non-taxpayers, running up a tremendous national debt that will inevitably lead to higher taxes on the Middle Class. The enormity of this transfer of money away from working, taxpaying Americans to non-taxpayers (who voted overwhelmingly for Obama for President in 2008) has just been detailed in a sensational 53-page report by Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation. There are not enough superlatives in the English language to adequately describe the colossal amounts of money involved in the Obama Administration's shocking cash transfers.
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Another board member, Dr. Joseph Fahey of New York is on the State Committee of the Working Families Party. Well, go to that website. That word "progressive" is festooned all over the place there. Now from where did this WFP originate? Here it is from their site: "formed by a grassroots coalition of community organizations, neighborhood activists, and labor unions". That's somewhat nebulous, but wikipedia gives a bit more detail. Yes, indeed, ACORN is one of the founders. Of course, WFP endorsed the Messiah Most Miserable for President. I think that's enough to bring to light the questionable alliances of "Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good." They obviously are in alliance with ACORN, union thugs and pro-abortion politicians and organizations. Their protests on behalf of CCHD renders all the more important our efforts to effect not only the defunding of the CCHD, but indeed its permanent dismantling.
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CCI NOTES: In the last decade, the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB) has been dragged down by the clerical abuse scandals, CCHD contributions to political and criminal activities, garbled, pedantic, and ineffective instructions to Catholics (most recently on Catholic voting), outrageous internet reviews praising debraved movies, and an incredible ability to blunder into areas they know nothing about. RealCatholicTV.com and an increasing number of Catholics observe that the USCCB is devolving into a Keystone Cops organization that is doing more damage to the Catholic faith in America than our stated enemies. For a 5 minute video on the need to rethink the usefullness of the USCCB, which is paid for by millions of dollars in mandatory levies on every Catholic diocese, CLICK HERE
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October is the month we relish the highpoint of our national pastime, especially when one of our own New York teams is in the World Series! Sadly, America has another national pastime, this one not pleasant at all: anti-catholicism. It is not hyperbole to call prejudice against the Catholic Church a national pastime. Scholars such as Arthur Schlesinger Sr. referred to it as "the deepest bias in the history of the American people," while John Higham described it as "the most luxuriant, tenacious tradition of paranoiac agitation in American history." "The anti-semitism of the left," is how Paul Viereck reads it, and Professor Philip Jenkins sub-titles his book on the topic "the last acceptable prejudice." If you want recent evidence of this unfairness against the Catholic Church, look no further than a few of these following examples of occurrences over the last couple weeks...
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A new coalition of Catholic pro-life organizations is calling for a massive reform of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) and urging Catholics to boycott the upcoming November collection. The CCHD is the domestic social justice arm of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and focuses on supporting groups that work in community organizing. They have been accused over many years of supporting radical left-wing groups who advocate a distorted un-Catholic view of social justice. The organization primarily raises funds through an annual nationwide parish collection, this year scheduled for November 22nd. Scandal erupted in the U.S. Church last year over the CCHD's funding of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), a liberal network of local community activism groups. At least two dioceses, in fact, opted not to take up the collection last fall. The CCHD, which has given ACORN millions of dollars in the last ten years, cut their funding last year based on reports of embezzlement within the organization. In recent weeks, several ACORN offices were caught condoning child prostitution and sex trafficking in a series of videotaped sting operations conducted by veteran pro-life investigators.
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Speaking for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver has stated that a religious coalition, which recently petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to clamp down on "hate speech" by conservative talk-show hosts, has misrepresented the U.S. bishops' involvement in their initiative. The USCCB Office of Communications is listed as a member of the So We Might See Coalition, a group billing itself as a national interfaith coalition against hate speech in media led by the United Church of Christ's (UCC) Office of Communications' Executive Director, J. Bennett Guess. The USCCB drew fire from conservative and Catholic commentators after the So We Might See Coalition launched a petition to the FCC, signed by the USCCB, that called for an investigation into "hate speech" in media and that singled out conservative radio pundit Rush Limbaugh as a primary culprit.
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Last Friday on the Washington Post blog, "On Faith," English atheist Richard Dawkins said the Catholic Church was "surely up there among the leaders" as "the greatest force for evil in the world." He labeled the Eucharist a "cannibal feast," adding that "possession of testicles is an essential qualification to perform the rite." He also blamed the Church for sending missionaries "out to tell deliberate lies to AIDS-weakened Africans" regarding condoms. The Church's outreach to Anglicans, he said, makes it "a common pimp," noting that those who convert "will be joining an institution where buggering altar boys pervades the culture." ... These deranged comments-all voiced in America's premier newspapers-demonstrate that anti-Catholicism is the most virulent expression of bigotry in the U.S. It also shows why these newspapers, quite unlike the Catholic Church, are dying. As for the writers, they need to go to church. Either that or check into an asylum.
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"Under the Doctors' Microscope" -- this was the tagline for the September 20 Forum on Healthcare Reform at Ascension Parish in Oak Park, Illinois. When I first learned from an Ascension parishioner (Kathleen Masters) that this event was being planned, I was keen to help promote a forum on such a critical topic. However, when I read though the initial flier (in early September), I was stunned to read that the co-sponsorship included the following: Organizing for America (Barack Obama's grassroots advocacy group); and the Democratic Party of Oak Park. Since the flier clearly indicated that the forum would take place at Ascension's parish hall, I initially assumed there had been a mistake with the listing of the political co-sponsorship: I also assumed, rather naively, that the "mistake" would get corrected. What ensued over the subsequent two weeks was a bizarre round of communications: myself to the Archdiocesan Respect Life Office (to confirm the formal church policy on issue advocacy on church property); then to Ms. Masters, who relayed the critical information to Ascension's pastor, Father Larry McNally. The initial response from the pastor was that there had indeed been a mistake on the flier and that it would certainly be corrected. "We want the event to be nonpartisan," he stated. Everyone hoped that the issue would be quietly resolved within the parish. However, the subsequent version of the flier (one week prior to the event) still included the political co-sponsorship. Not until the Friday evening prior to the event (barely two days before the forum) did I receive a "sanitized" version of the flier (omitting the political co-sponsorship). I later learned that the Democratic Party of Oak Park had paid for nearly 1,000 fliers (clearly stating the political co-sponsorship) that were widely distributed throughout Oak Park in the weeks prior to the event.
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A sad reminder of what Catholics in public office still face: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito voiced frustration Tuesday over what he called persistent questions about the court's Roman Catholic majority. Alito aired the topic in a speech to an Italian-American law group in Philadelphia. "There has been so much talk lately about the number of Catholics serving on the Supreme Court," Alito said in a speech to the Justinian Society. "This is one of those questions that does not die." Alito complained about "respectable people who have seriously raised the questions in serious publications about whether these individuals could be trusted to do their jobs." He said he thought the Constitution settled the question long ago with its guarantee of religious freedom.
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The Board of Trustees of the University of Notre Dame has elected Fr. John I. Jenkins, CSC, to a second five-year term as university president. While Notre Dame officials praised him for his commitment to the Catholic character of the school, others have questioned the direction of the prestigious school. Fr. Jenkins' tenure has featured continued controversy over the school's Catholic identity, especially concerning the invitation to President Barack Obama to speak at the university's commencement ceremony and to receive an honorary degree. Critics had charged the action violated the U.S. Catholic bishops' 2004 instruction in "Catholics in Political Life" which held that university honors are not to be given to pro-abortion politicians.
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Both the family and the Church stand in the way of socialism's triumph, former US Senator Rick Santorum told Christians gathered for the 17th International Week of Prayer and Fasting last week. The pro-life champion warned attendees, however, that both institutions are under heavy attack from Obama-administration policies. "We are under a great assault with this President and this Congress on the issue of life. We are under a great assault, maybe even greater assault, on the foundational issue of the family," Santorum told those gathered for the October 11 dinner at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. Santorum said that the left's policies, especially those policies aggressively set forward by the Obama administration, target the family and Christian churches for "destruction," because these institutions provide local social networks and support for individuals that take away the need for total dependence on central government. To eliminate these social networks means the triumph of socialism, and that means attacking marriage and Christian churches.
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Time magazine is coming under fire for a new article from staff writer Amy Sullivan that makes the wild accusation that the nation's Catholic bishops allowed or supported language in one of the House health care bills that paves the way for government funding of abortions. As Sullivan tells the story, the U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops is guilty of an "inconsistent approach to the issue" of abortion which "created confusion that has hampered Democratic attempts to accommodate their concerns." The Time staff writer contends a letter from Cardinal Rigali on behalf of the bishops in July tells Congress to oppose "direct funding of abortion" in the health care bill.
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"Bestowing the Nobel Prize on the most rabid pro-abortion president in history is a direct slap in the face to past recipient, Mother Teresa of Calcutta who said, upon receiving her Nobel Peace Prize: "the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a direct war, a direct killing - direct murder by the mother herself. In awarding the prize to Obama, the Nobel Committee is announcing that abortion is the cornerstone of a hellish "peace" - the damning silence of 51 million aborted children in the United States alone."
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As the ruling (no longer governing) political party in the US continues to work fast and furiously to create and pass legislation designed to eliminate any remaining liberties guaranteed US citizens by the US Constitution and create a massive dependent-class of said citizens beholden only to it - and the opposition party ignores its works and sits on its collective derrière - the answer to my question "is the totalitarian conquest of the USA already a fait accompli?" has become tragically obvious. With Obama continuing to build his 'you-report-only-to-me' force of Marxist Czars (seemingly calculated to replace those positions that have traditionally had to pass Congressional scrutiny) and his already expressed disdain for the US' establishment document, it strongly appears to be so. But there are even more definitive examples. Let's take a look at a few. With regards to the ongoing attempts by US citizens to gain the truth about Obama's "natural born citizen" status, the Dictator-in-Chief has spent at least $1-1.5Millions to keep his true birth certificate and all of his college and other school records hidden from the public.
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HR 2981, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is proposed legislation "to prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity" [quoting the bill's self-description]. Some version of this has been considered by Congress almost every year since 1994 and, for the first time, it may have the support it needs to pass. Supporters are on the offensive: "[T]he religious right will be working overtime to distort ENDA, from pulling the 'sexual predators invading women's bathrooms' card to claiming that churches will be 'forced to hire flamboyant homosexuals.' Don't let them flip the script," Alvin McEwen writes. ["Bathrooms, Church Exemptions, and Lies: Five ways the religious right misrepresents ENDA," www.pamshouseblend.com, 9-22-09]
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The U.S. Forest Service has banned the name of Jesus from decorations being assembled by children in Arizona for a blue spruce from the state that will become the Capitol Christmas Tree this year, and a legal firm is challenging the censorship. "Banning Christmas from the Capitol Christmas tree is just absurd. Christian students shouldn't be discriminated against for expressing their religious beliefs," said Jonathan Scruggs, litigation staff counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund. "The First Amendment does not allow government officials to exclude schoolchildren's ornaments for the capitol's Christmas tree merely because they communicate a religious viewpoint," he said yesterday.
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Today the annual Red Mass was held at 10am at the Cathedral of St. Matthew. It is held to commemorate the start of a new session of the US Supreme Court. Many priests and bishops concelebrate this Mass. As one might imagine, all sorts of dignitaries, mostly of a political bent, attend this Mass. Unfortunately many of these politicians, while Catholic, are also rabidly pro-abortion. At 9am, approximately 20 pro-life activists gathered outside with posters showing the truth of abortion for three purposes. They were: To educate the attendees of the reality of abortion; To urge pro-abortion attendees to repent of their sin of promoting abortion; To remind the clergy of their obligation under Canon Law 915 not to admit to Holy Communion those pro-abortion supporters who refused to repent of their sin...
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This morning at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI received the letters of accreditation from the new U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, Dr. Miguel H. Diaz. The Pope took the time during their meeting to weigh-in on issues being considered in the American health care debate, namely, respect for all human life and the protection of health care workers' right to conscientious objection. As is customary, the audience began with Miguel Diaz presenting his letters of accreditation from President Obama to the Holy Father, followed by a speech by the new ambassador. In his speech, Ambassador Diaz praised Pope Benedict's humanitarian efforts, his efforts at promoting "inter-religious dialogue for the sake of peace," and his encouragement of "authentic stewardship of God's creation in order to combat climate change and ensure food security."
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Last Monday, Frances Kissling, the former president of Catholics of Free Choice, had an article in Salon.com where she criticized elements of the religious left for raising concerns about the coverage of abortion in health-care reform. Specifically, Kissling singled out Jim Wallis of Sojourners and Catholics United, arguing that their efforts were jeopardizing the enactment of health-reform legislation. Kissling's concerns are bit puzzling. Catholic Left groups have actually been very active supporters of President Obama's health-care-reform proposals. Both Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United are members of 40 Days for Health Reform, an attempt to generate more political support for health-care-reform among various religious communities.
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There's no kill switch for the Internet, no secret on-off button in an Oval Office drawer. Yet when a Senate committee was exploring ways to secure computer networks, a provision to give the president the power to shut down Internet traffic to compromised Web sites in an emergency set off alarms. Corporate leaders and privacy advocates quickly objected, saying the government must not seize control of the Internet. Lawmakers dropped it, but the debate rages on. How much control should federal authorities have over the Web in a crisis? How much should be left to the private sector? It does own and operate at least 80 percent of the Internet and argues it can do a better job. "We need to prepare for that digital disaster," said Melissa Hathaway, the former White House cybersecurity adviser. "We need a system to identify, isolate and respond to cyberattacks at the speed of light."
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Pastor Stephen Broden and I knew that we were risking arrest on the National Day of Prayer if prayed in front of the White House. This is one three places where it is illegal to pray in America - a public school classroom, on the steps of the United States Supreme Court and in front of the White House. However, we are living in a time when Christians must be bold like Daniel and let people see them praying when it becomes illegal to do so. Keep in mind that the current administration, like many California schools, have not problem with religious activities, just Christian activities and prayer. We started the day with a message to those around us that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, BHO is not. That was fine. However when we knelt to pray, that was the activity that put everything in action. Yellow tape went into place and people were ordered to leave the restricted area. We received three warnings to cease and desist. Someone in the White House ordered the water sprinklers to be turned even though there was overcast and it had rained earler. We got wet but we kept on praying. After we were handcuffed the water sprinklers were turned off. In the paddy wagon, it was revival. It was as if Jesus was sitting between us. Pastor Broden led the song "Victory is Mine!?
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Catholic League president Bill Donohue received a letter today from Patrick W. Hayes, Legal Director, City of Rockford, Illinois, saying that his office asked the owner of the Northern Illinois Women's Center to remove the offensive poster of Jesus that we complained about yesterday. Donohue thanked Hayes for his intervention, but also took issue with him about some other matters. Below is an excerpt of his letter: "Your analogy between the poster in question and pictures of aborted children fails. The pictures are a representation of real life-they are not deliberately doctored. Nor are they a bigoted portrayal. Moreover, anti-war protesters regularly show pictures of combatants and innocents killed in war, yet no one seeks to compare them to hate speech. By contrast, depicting Jesus Christ telling Christians "F--- You" is not only contrived, it is an in-your-face obscene provocation, coming dangerously close to "fighting words" ("fighting words" are not given free speech protection by the U.S. Supreme Court)." CLICK HERE TO SEE VIDEO
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In an address to InsideCatholic.com's 14th Annual Partnership Dinner Friday evening, Archbishop Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Vatican's Apostolic Signatura, said that funeral rites should not be given to pro-abortion Catholic politicians. He also defended the duty of Catholics to speak in charity against the scandal caused by such figures. The archbishop said that, while "we must speak the truth in charity," Catholics also "should have the courage to look truth in the eye and call things by their common names... It is not possible to be a practicing Catholic and to conduct oneself in this manner," he told the crowd of about 200 guests. Burke hammered home his message of the need for fidelity to Church teaching on the part of Catholics in politics in his 50-minute speech. The archbishop, known for his unwavering and vocal defense of the Church's teachings on life and family issues, was given a standing ovation at the conclusion of his address.
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While Congress is busy working on health care reform, policy-makers are reluctant to admit that many of our nation's health problems are linked to practices subsidized by taxpayers. An American diet heavily dependent on corn and corn-derivatives is linked to obesity, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, Type II-Diabetes, constipation, joint pain, and other ailments. The tragic irony is that government subsidizes the low-cost production of the corn-based, unhealthy foods that make many people sick. Now the Obama administration wants to give these same policy-makers responsibility for our health care. According to the Environmental Workers Group, corn subsidies in the United States totaled $56.2 billion from 1995-2006. This government intervention has encouraged the widespread use of corn syrup as a sweetener in many manufactured foods. Yet many of the unhealthiest foods are those with the highest levels of high-fructose corn syrup. In effect, government subsidies have made unhealthy foods extremely cheap to produce. Corn syrup is now found in an unbelievable number of products ranging from salad dressing to hot dogs.
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O'Malley said he regretted Kennedy's support for abortion rights. But O'Malley said he wanted to be at the funeral because "As archbishop of Boston, I considered it appropriate to represent the church at this liturgy out of respect for the senator, his family, those who attended the Mass and all those who were praying for the senator and his family at this difficult time. We are people of faith and we believe in a loving and forgiving God from whom we seek mercy.''
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In all of his 16 years defending the rights of Catholics, the President of the Catholic League has "never seen a more defamatory, obscene and vicious show on TV." League President Bill Donohue was referring to the August 27 edition of the CBS/Showtime program Penn & Teller. The half-hour show libeled the Catholic Church with impunity, blaming the Church for, as Donohue put it, "every evil in history." Show host Jillette said the "intolerance, greed, paranoia, hypocrisy and callous disregard for human suffering" was the hallmark of the Catholic Church. Others on the show branded the Church as an "amoral" and "power hungry" institution that is just worried about its "cash flow."
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Catholic League president Bill Donohue announced the latest strategy for dealing with Penn & Teller's Nazi-like assault on Catholicism. Go to our website at www.catholicleague.org and click on the Penn & Teller video. There you will be able to see in its entirety the vile August 27 episode of their Showtime program. The mass mailing of the DVD to religious and lay leaders across the United States begins today and will continue until completed.
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For those who are keeping tally, the Obama empire now has 32 czars. That figure includes Mark Lloyd, the Diversity Czar at the FCC - that's diversity in broadcasting. Lloyd who comes from the Center for American Progress (CAP), concluded that talk radio is far too conservative, 91 percent he says, and wants to see that changed via public policy. Truth be told, America has more czars in eight short months than the Romanovs ran through in over 300 years of rule in Imperial Russia... Lloyd is willing to silence private communications companies - it's really his goal - and make them pay homage to the CPB in the form of extortion. In his 2006 Prologue to a Farce: Communications and Democracy in America, Lloyd recommends that private broadcasters subsidize their own competition through fines, fees, and licensing requirements if their messages and programming do not conform politically to that of the federal government. So long freedom of speech!
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Yesterday, pro-life Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) offered an amendment to the budget bill that would protect the conscience clause for health care workers, which is currently under review and may be rescinded by President Obama. The Coburn amendment stated, "To protect the freedom of conscience for patients and the right of health care providers to serve patients without violating their moral and religious convictions." The amendment was rejected 41-56. Sixteen Catholic Senators failed to recognize the importance of this regulation which would guarantee the rights of conscience for all Americans. Without the protection of the conscience clause many people with religious beliefs will be forced to take part in professional duties that compromise their moral convictions.
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"Our cause was lining up the votes to defeat an anti-gay constitutional amendment that would strip same-sex couples of the right to marry. A final vote was scheduled for July 14, 2007. Our opponents needed the votes of only 25 percent of the legislature to advance a citizen-led amendment to the ballot. We had lined up two-thirds of the legislature through fieldwork, lobbying, media, literally everything we could think of. But getting those last 15 legislators-those conservative Democrats from working class Massachusetts communities and a few libertarian-leaning Republicans-was very tough. We needed all hands on deck to keep a Massachusetts version of Proposition 8 off the ballot. We needed Ted Kennedy. "Could you get me a list of your targets?" one of Kennedy's key staffers finally asked me. "Don't tell anyone I'm asking you for this," he said. He meant it, and I didn't. "
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The Rev. Michael Pfleger, the white pastor from Chicago's predominantly black Saint Sabina Catholic Church, made some incendiary statements at Philander Smith College's opening convocation on Thursday, reported the Arkansas-Democrat Gazette. The clergyman first came to the national spotlight, when he gave a sermon at President Obama's own former controversial Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago in May 2008 (see video below). Here are some of the charges made by Father Pfleger that were recently reported (subscription only): Pfleger said racial bias is "alive and well" in America and likened discrimination to terrorism.
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Unlikely to be much recalled this week is the fact that, in 1983, Senator Edward Kennedy offered advice to the USSR on how to defeat U.S. efforts to build up the Western nuclear deterrent in Europe; sought the assistance of the USSR in Democratic Party efforts to defeat Ronald Reagan in the election campaign of 1984; and proposed the staging of a public Kennedy visit with Yuri Andropov in Moscow to help attain these ends. Senator Kennedy's intermediary in his communications with the KGB and Yuri Andropov was John Tunney. An internal Soviet memorandum detailing Kennedy's offer of assistance to the USSR was unearthed by a Times of London reporter in the 1990s when, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the KGB files were opened. The memorandum was written by Victor Chebrikov, who succeeded Yuri Andropov as head of the KGB when Andropov became General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Chebrikov directed the KGB from 1982 to 1988.
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The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today decried the scandal which occurred this morning at Boston's most historic Catholic shrine --- the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, known as Mission Church --- where a Mass of Christian Burial was used to "celebrate the life" of one of America's most notorious opponents of Catholic morality, the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Senator Kennedy fought for more than three decades to keep the killing of pre-born children legal and unrestricted in the United States. Surgical abortion has claimed more than fifty-one million human lives since 1973. The Catholic religion defines abortion as an "abominable crime". President Barack Obama delivered the eulogy, in which he alluded to Kennedy's support for gay rights. One of the Prayers of the Faithful was a petition to end divisions "between gays and straights".
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We must, as a matter of precept, pray for the salvation of heretical Catholics like Senator Edward Kennedy, but we do not have to praise him let alone extol him with the full honors of a public Catholic funeral and all the adulation that attends such an event. There was very little about Ted Kennedy's life that deserves admiration from a spiritual or moral point of view. He was probably the worst example of a Catholic statesman that one can think of. When all is said and done, he has distorted the concept of what it means to be a Catholic in public life more than anyone else in leadership today. Obviously we don't know the state of Senator Edward Kennedy's soul upon death. We don't pretend to. We are told by the family that he had the opportunity to confess his sins before a priest, and his priest has said publicly he was "at peace" when he died.
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Well, there is no need to speak ill of the dead, but there is also no reason to avoid speaking honestly about his record. And there are, clearly, some serious issues with Kennedy's record when seen in the light of authentic, official Catholic social doctrine. The most obvious is that of abortion, as most readers surely know. What some people might not know is that Kennedy did not always have a 100% rating with NARAL. Back in 1971 he wrote a letter to Catholic League member Tom Dennelly stating, "Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized. When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family, and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception."
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Mrs. Linda Harvey is the founder of Mission: America, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to help in dealing with cultural issues such as feminism, homosexuality, education and New Age influences. She is the author of Not My Child-Contemporary Paganism and New Spirituality and her articles have appeared in USA Today and Whistleblower. Mrs. Harvey is a frequent guest on radio talk shows and has testified on legislation before the Ohio General Assembly on numerous occasions.
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Once, when asked his philosophy, Franklin Roosevelt answered simply, "I am a Christian and a Democrat." As always with Roosevelt, there was more to it than that. He was not just a Christian, but a Protestant, an Episcopalian, a descendant of Huguenot and Yankee New Englanders on his mother's side. And he was not just a Democrat, but a New York Democrat, whose leaders and most faithful voters were overwhelmingly Catholic, especially Irish Catholic. There was a tension, always, between this Protestant patrician and his Catholic party, a tension that this congenial country squire and shrewd politician sought to resolve, with much success, but never with finality. There remained a tension between the Democratic party he created in his own image and the Catholics who were such a large part of its constituency, until the tie between them snapped some time in the late 1960s.
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Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards is so upset that the nation's Catholic bishops are opposed to being forced to pay for abortions in the health care "reform" bills that she has written a new editorial saying so. The editorial is making its way across the pro-abortion blogosphere. In various letters to members of Congress, the Catholic bishops have made it clear that they support health care reform as long as it does not involve taxpayer-financing of abortion. Richards, whose top goal at Planned Parenthood is making sure abortion is included and that her centers get government funds from the government-run health care plan, used the tried and true approach of talking about everything other than abortion.
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John Edwards who was Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2004 and a front-runner for the party's presidential nomination in 2008 will shortly confess that... in contradiction to what he has said previously... he is indeed the father of the baby born to his mistress. The story of his adultery was widely ignored by the mainstream media at the time. In fact CBS's Bob Schieffer scoffed when the story was floated that there are always stories floating around about politicians' behavior and that he would ignore it. The National Enquirer... of all publications... finally shamed the media to cover it since there was no way for the media to flee. Edwards withdrew from the race. By any other professional standard, a person so outwardly biased as Schieffer as to allow his judgment to become converted to Enabler, would be drummed out of his work. Schieffer who is guilty of great journalistic malpractice continues. The reason: he is a liberal and Edwards is a liberal-hence the story is not of that much significant interest to the liberal media.
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The Obama Justice Department today filed court papers claiming the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act discriminates against homosexuals. In the meantime, the DOJ lawyers are seeking to dismiss a suit brought by a homosexual California couple challenging DOMA. Gary Bauer, president of American Values, says President Obama is committed to repealing DOMA -- but does not want to take the political flak that would come along with it. "What the White House wants is for a court to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act so that the White House and the president don't have to take the political damage for undermining a law that protects normal marriage," he explains. Bauer argues Obama is contradicting a campaign pledge. "President Obama ran promising he would be open and transparent, and no longer practice the usual politics of Washington, DC," he notes. "Millions of people voted for him because they thought he would be more honest and more open in the way he governed."
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Why is President Barack Obama in such a hurry to get his socialized medicine bill passed? Because he and his cunning circle realize some basic truths: The American people in their unimaginable kindness and trust voted for a pig in a poke in 2008. They wanted so much to believe Barack Obama was somehow better and different from other ultra-leftists that they simply took him on faith. They ignored his anti-white writings in his books. They ignored his quiet acceptance of hysterical anti-American diatribes by his minister, Jeremiah Wright. They ignored his refusal to explain years at a time of his life as a student. They ignored his ultra-left record as a "community organizer," Illinois state legislator, and Senator.
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America is not a Christian nation. We are, it is true, a nation founded by Christians, and according to a 2008 survey, 76 percent of us continue to identify as Christian (still, that's the lowest percentage in American history). Of course, we are not a Hindu-or Muslim, or Jewish, or Wiccan-nation, either. A million-plus Hindus live in the United States, a fraction of the billion who live on Earth. But recent poll data show that conceptually, at least, we are slowly becoming more like Hindus and less like traditional Christians in the ways we think about God, our selves, each other, and eternity. The Rig Veda, the most ancient Hindu scripture, says this: "Truth is One, but the sages speak of it by many names." A Hindu believes there are many paths to God. Jesus is one way, the Qur'an is another, yoga practice is a third. None is better than any other; all are equal. The most traditional, conservative Christians have not been taught to think like this. They learn in Sunday school that their religion is true, and others are false. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me."
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In today's New York Daily News, there is an article seeking to debunk various myths about the health care bills. Unfortunately, the two reporters were guilty of floating the myth that "None of the bills working their way through Congress provides any federal funds for abortion." Thus does the Daily News join a list of other media outlets that have disseminated this nonsense; AP had the decency to reverse itself. Abortion is in the bills. Here's the proof: Amendments to explicitly exclude abortion from the bills have been sponsored by Rep. Bart Stupak, Rep. Joe Pitts, Rep. Eric Cantor, Rep. Sam Johnson, Sen. Mike Enzi and Sen. Orrin Hatch. In every case, they lost.
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"Better ten graves than one extra birth," preaches a slogan of the one-child campaign in China. And this is also the title of the book in which Harry Wu has described and analyzed the Chinese anti-childbearing policy, made up of sterilization, forced abortion, infanticide. The book was released in the United States, where Wu lives - in exile from China - and heads the Laogai Research Foundation. And now it has also been released in Italy, just as the parliament approved, on July 15, a motion that requires the Italian government to present to the general assembly of the United Nations a resolution against abortion as a means of population control, and for the affirmation of the right of every woman not to be forced to abort. In China, the obligatory one-child policy was introduced in 1979. Wu's assessment of these thirty years is expressed well in the title of his book in its Italian version: "Slaughter of innocents."
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According to Intrefax - "China lacks social stability which may result in a forced change of the regime under religious slogans, world's best known futurologist Alvin Toffler believes." According to Mr Toffler, "local religious acts of protest shall grow into a gigantic mass revolt" in China. "It will be the major threat for the government, because the number of Chinese people affected with religion grows with a cosmic progression," Alvin Toffler said in an interview published Thursday by Argumenty Nedeli weekly. Toffler forecasts the rise of "Chairman Mao II, a charismatic leader who will use public unrest to sweep away the current Chinese government and establish a rule which the West cannot even imagine."
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As news rolls in of Americans participating in town hall meetings in record numbers, a recent Rasmussen poll shows that support for President Obama's health care plan is waning quickly. Just 42% of Americans currently support the President's plan, while 53% oppose it. "As details about abortion funding, rationing of care, higher costs and less access to health care surface, Americans are expressing their distrust of a government-run system. Average Americans who have never been politically involved before are coming out in droves. They fear that their government officials, who have spent trillions on pet projects like obscene art and luxury planes, now plan to hijack control of our health care. "The message is clear: We don't trust Obama or Congress -- especially with our health care," stated Concerned Women for America's President Wendy Wright.
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Concerned Roman Catholics of America (CRCOA) monitored the proceedings at the Knights of Columbus Supreme Convention, held this year in Phoenix, Arizona, from Aug. 4-6. The K of C, the world's largest Catholic fraternal group, are notorious for their continuing failure to expel pro-abortion and pro-homosexual politicians. CRCOA President Ken Fisher stated: "Over three days of wining and dining by Knights, cardinals, bishops and guests, 10,000 of our pre-born brothers and sisters were killed by abortion in the USA and Canada. We heard the usual empty rhetoric from Supreme Knight Carl Anderson and saw more resolutions passed for show. If the K of C ever enforces these resolutions, we will be glad to report it. In 2008, only 11% ($3.4 of $32.3 million) given by Home Office to charity went to pro-life. By contrast, $3.8 million went to the K of C museum!
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While American Catholic nuns continue to undergo scrutiny from a Vatican investigation, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) invited Cokie Roberts, a political commentator who has criticized the Church's prohibition against abortion, contraception, and homosexuality, as the keynote speaker for their annual meeting this week. Another Catholic group, Supporting Our Aging Religious (SOAR), has announced it will host a dinner in honor of Roberts and her husband Steve in November of this year. New Orleans native Cokie Roberts spoke at the LCWR summit in the same city Tuesday, according to a Times-Picayune report. Cokie Roberts, a Roman Catholic, is an ABC News political commentator and National Public Radio senior news analyst who has spoken out against laws restricting abortion. Roberts characterized the partial-birth abortion ban as "cynical game-playing" by pro-life activists, and said she found it "offensive as a woman" that the Supreme Court upheld the ban in 2007.
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This year marks the 20th anniversary of Communism's defeat in Central-East Europe. As many remember the tumbling of Communist regimes in countries such as Poland, East Germany, and Hungary, others will recall Marxism's terrible legacy: millions of dead and tortured, "reeducation" and labor camps, show-trials, unparalleled economic destruction, and the worst environmental devastation in history. As the recently deceased ex-Marxist philosopher Leszek Kolakowski concluded in his magisterial multi-volume Main Currents of Marxism, this was not accidental. It was Marxist philosophy's logical outcome. By definition, no political program built upon an explicitly materialist viewpoint can consider itself limited by the idea of an innate human dignity, or anything suggesting a more-than-flesh-and-blood dimension to human life. This is one reason why Marxist regimes are invariably hostile to religious belief.
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My sister nailed it many years ago when she said, "Your basic human is not such a hot item." Keep that filed in your head as I tell my little tale. About five or six years ago, roughly, I was solicited to write a column every two weeks for the Sunday New York Times Business Section. I was really thrilled. I have written for the Washington Post (when I was a teenager), for the Wall Street Journal edit page under the legendary Bob Bartley, for Barron's, under the really great Alan Abelson and Jim Meagher, for my beloved American Spectator, under the great Bob and Wlady, and now having a regular column at the Times was going to be great stuff. The column went well. I got lots of excellent fan mail and fine feedback from my editors, who, however, kept changing.
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They threw stones, burned homes, and pursued those fleeing, firing wildly. In the end, nine people were dead. Seven of them have the same last name, Hamid, and belong to the same family clan as Fr. Hussein Younis, a Franciscan. They include two children (in the photo by Saqib Khadim, the coffins). Their only fault is that they were Christian. It took place in Pakistan, in Gojra, in the province of Faisalabad in eastern Punjab. There are 1.3 million Catholics in all of Pakistan, and the same number of Christians of other denominations, out of a population of 160 million, almost entirely Muslim. But the intolerance against this small, poor, peaceful minority has become a fact of life, exploding at times into bloody aggression. The latest episode was sparked by an innocent marriage celebration among Christians in Koriyan, a little village near Gojra. It was July 30. Interviewed by Lorenzo Cremonesi for "Corriere della Sera" on August 3, Fr. Younis recounts...
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Yesterday attorneys from the Thomas More Society, a national public interest law firm based in Chicago, finally received an official "Determination Letter" from the Internal Revenue Service granting tax exempt status to the Coalition for Life of Iowa, a newly formed grass roots pro-life citizen group based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The IRS had long delayed approval of the Coalition's request for the exemption, pressing it for "details" about the content of its members' prayers at a Planned Parenthood abortion facility and demanding that it refrain from activities at Planned Parenthood that could be construed as protesting or picketing by police or harassing or being confrontational with abortion-bound clients. IRS also demanded that every member of the board of directors of the Coalition sign a statement, under penalty of perjury, that they will not picket or protest or organize others to picket or protest outside of Planned Parenthood.
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The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Miguel Diaz, a Catholic professor President Barack Obama nominated to become the next Vatican ambassador. However, some pro-life advocates opposed Diaz's nomination because he supported Obama and other pro-abortion politicians. Diaz is a professor of theology at the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, and St. John's University in Collegeville, both in Minnesota and is the first Hispanic named to represent the U.S. to the Holy See. He issued a statement thanking the Senate and Obama "for the confidence he has invested in me."
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Volunteers from the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property (TFP) were assaulted by pro-homosexual activists yesterday in Warwick, Rhode Island, as they peacefully held signs in support of traditional marriage. Volunteer, Rex Teodosio described the scene: "We were at a busy intersection, getting strong support for traditional marriage. Three women approached us -- one threw mayonnaise, while the other two grappled with our photographer. "Then we were sprayed with mace. Finally, a burly woman got out of a car and punched our photographer in the face. They shouted obscenities the whole time.
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The Milwaukee affiliate of Voice of the Faithful, a national Catholic reform group founded in response to the clergy sex abuse scandal, is preparing to fold in September, saying it has been unable to attract new leaders to advance the organization. The decision comes as the national organization, bolstered in recent days by an emergency infusion of cash, prepares to unveil a blueprint that will place a greater emphasis on political activism. "We've been active and vibrant; it's not for lack of interest," said Nancy Moews, who has led the local chapter since its inception in 2001-'02. "But there's no new leadership willing to take it on."
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Section 1233 of HR 3200, the healthcare reform measure under consideration, mandates "Advance Care Planning Consultation." Under the proposal, all senior citizens receiving government medical care would be required to undergo these counseling sessions every five years. Further reading of the law reveals that these sessions are nothing more than a not-so-veiled attempt to convince the elderly to forego treatment. HR 3200 calls outright for these compulsory consultations to recommend "palliative care and hospice." These are typically administered in the place of treatment intended to prolong life, and instead focus on pain relief until death. These are, of course, reasonable and beneficial options for terminally ill patients and their families.
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It was indeed a heartwarming moment. With teachers, representatives, and affiliates to the National Education Association's annual convention gathered around, the NEA's retiring General Counsel Bob Chanin took to the stage to deliver his outgoing remarks. His inspiring and uplifting message asserted the profound commitment held by the NEA to the betterment of American society: "We are not paranoid, someone really is after us. Why are these conservative and right-wing b****rds picking on NEA and its affiliates? I will tell you why: it is the price we pay for success." As one of those right-wing "fatherless lads" Mr. Chanin was referring to, I found myself moved at how open-minded and inclusive his speech sounded. But more than that, Chanin did a masterful job of demonstrating what the true priorities of the NEA are when he stated that what makes the group effective is, "not because of our creative ideas, it is not because of the merit of our positions, it is not because we care about children, and it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child. NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power."
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One must truly admire Kathleen Kennedy Townsend's frequent, determined, and overreaching efforts to be taken seriously. First it was a failed bid for elected Democratic office in the state of Maryland where no Democrats have lost an election as far back as Spiro Agnew - until Townsend came along. Now she strides fearlessly into the world of theology as she pontificates in Newsweek magazine that " Obama represents American Catholics better than the Pope does." Yes, Kathleen, there is a Pope and he represents, not American Catholics, but rather Jesus Christ.
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ACORN engaged in a scheme to use taxpayer money to support a partisan political agenda, according to a new report from Republicans on a House oversight committee. The report, to be released Thursday afternoon, accuses ACORN of fraudulent activities and widespread corruption and calls for a criminal investigation into the advocacy group. It offers the first detailed account of the allegations that have dogged the organization in recent months. ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizations for Reform, has been under constant fire from conservatives since last year for its support of Barack Obama's presidential candidacy and its planned participation in next year's 2010 census.
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Voice of the Faithful, the lay Catholic group founded during the church's clergy sex abuse scandal, has raised enough money to keep operating for now. The Massachusetts-based group sent a letter to its members last week, saying its financial situation was so dire that it might be forced to close its Needham headquarters unless it raised $60,000. On Tuesday, the group said its plea raised more than $63,000. The money will be used to pay operating costs for July and August. The group hopes to raise additional money so it can continue to operate long-term.
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This month, the House and Senate passed identical resolutions approving the engravings of the national motto ("In God We Trust") and the Pledge of Allegiance in prominent places in the Capitol Visitor Center -- a 580,000-square-foot facility under the Capitol -- where 15,500 guests visit each day. Spearheading the measures were Rep. Daniel Lungren, R-Calif., Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., and Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who are leaders who also have drawn attention to the oversight of religious heritage in the CVC. The YouTube video of Forbes addressing the House on this matter -- called "Our Judeo-Christian Nation" -- has received about 2.5 million hits to date, making it one of the most widely viewed floor speeches in YouTube history. Also, some of the 19 omissions and inaccuracies in the CVC can be seen on the YouTube posting called "War on God."
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Such is American "mainstream media's" preoccupation with fact-free labeling is that when pompous old phony Walter Cronkite died at 92 last week the canard floated freely from the news agencies that here was "the most trusted man in America." Ironically by trusting this egocentric faux sage, Americans and its president were misled to lose America's first war. True one would hope a president would be resolute enough not to be swung to and fro by someone like Cronkite... or to base the act of winning a war on public sentiment and to pursue through to the end... but such was the case with Lyndon Johnson in the late 1960s. And also with the media where in an era of no cable, no internet, no talk radio the biggest megaphones were held by CBS, ABC and NBC along with the unflaggingly liberal big urban dailies and newsmagazines.
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Readers of the NOR have no doubt followed the recent commencement dustup at the University of Notre Dame with some interest. President Barack Obama delivered the keynote commencement address last month at the nation's most resonantly Catholic university and then received an honorary law degree. Notre Dame's invitation to the nation's most pro-abortion president in history understandably kicked up a firestorm of protest from hundreds of thousands of Catholics across the U.S. Since taking office just two months prior to the commencement invitation, Obama had already lifted Bush administration restrictions on funding for abortions and embryonic stem-cell research, and allowed the spending of U.S. tax dollars to pay for abortions in other countries. Prior to his election, he told Planned Parenthood that the first thing he would do as president would be to sign the "Freedom of Choice Act," a piece of legislation that would eliminate every regulation on abortion at the state level and dismantle Catholic health care by forcing Catholic doctors to perform abortions. Further, Obama voted repeatedly against legislation that would guarantee health care for a child who survives a botched abortion. He has called an unwanted pregnancy a "punishment." We could go on, but you get the idea. The president's appalling pro-abortion record speaks for itself.
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A coalition of dissenting organizations and individuals called the American Catholic Council are calling for "discussion at every level of the Catholic Church in the United States to consider the state and future of our Church." The council plans to hold the council on June 10-11, 2011 (Pentecost), in Detroit. The group's website describes their aims: "We recall the promise of the Second Vatican Council for a renaissance through a radically inclusive understanding of the role and responsibilities of all the Baptized and an engaged relationship between the Church and the World reflecting the true meaning of the Incarnation for our times. This promise is eroding...We seek nothing short of a personal conversion of all to create a new Church, fully in tune with the authentic Gospel message, the teachings of our Church, and the American context in which we live." The website's press release page contains one item: a release from "Voice of the Faithful." The release is headlined: "Historic move for VOTF and U.S. Catholics--VOTF instrumental in launching American Catholic Council."
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Not content with working overtime to change the economy from one at least based on free enterprise to a variant of democratic socialism ala Europe, Barack Obama has pledged a revolutionary change in morals by endorsing specifically and in detail a culture at odds with traditional Judeo Christianity that has been in effect for 5,000 years. Largely skipped by the news media was his speech June 29 commemorating a date that homosexual activists have marked with solemn dedication-the 40th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots by gay activists in New York. Stonewall was a bar in Greenwich Village serving liquor without a license owned by the Mafia which was a gathering place for homosexuals. The police raided it continually but gay leaders determined that what was needed was an event to commemorate martyrdom. They were correct from a marketing point of view because there's nothing like martyrdom to spur a movement. Nobody was killed but the Stonewall raid by the police triggered a series of outbreaks in New York... and has been designated as the gays' Battle of Lexington and Concord.
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A coalition of prominent pro-life leaders has arranged a giant, Stop The Abortion Mandate live webcast for the public this coming Thursday, July 23, to alert Americans about the great dangers of the Democrat-proposed health care bill. David Bereit, a coalition member and leader of 40 Days for Life, told LifeSiteNews that he is temporarily de-emphasizing his current 40 Days for Life tasks to concentrate on this issue because of its extreme importance. He is concerned that pro-lifers are not aware of what is at stake with the health care bill. Connie Marshner, a well-known Washington pro-life political organizer, warned today that "this is the biggest issue since Roe v Wade. This is not just about funding. Everyone will be forced to have abortion coverage." Further, she warned, the effect of successful passage of the Health Care bill will dramatically change the pro-life movement as we know it "because every doctor and health care worker will be forced to be involved in abortion."
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Walter Cronkite is dead at 92 - but most Americans, many of whom considered him "the most trusted man" in the country during his reign as CBS News anchor - still don't know what motivated him and how he secured such an influential and lofty position. He was like a grandfatherly institution in the early days of TV. People believed him. Uncle Walter wouldn't lie, America believed. Thus, when he gave his opinions, they had impact. One example was his report on the Tet offensive in Vietnam, which is credited with swinging the tide of opinion against the war. Even in his death, however, nobody has addressed how and why an otherwise obscure figure at the time was elevated to become the most prominent anchorman on television.
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Late last night, the Senate voted 63-28 to attach the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act (S. 909) to the National Defense Authorization Act (S. 1390). The Defense Act addresses funding for the U.S. military, but it now includes an amendment that would give special protections to individuals based on their "perceived or actual" sexual orientation and gender identity.Wendy Wright, President of Concerned Women for America (CWA), states, "The point of the 'hate crimes' amendment is to create a special class of victims that would get preferential treatment.
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Proponents of the current "hate crimes" bill before the U.S. Senate argue that it is a lie that this bill will abridge in any way free speech protections for those who publicly express opposition to homosexual practice without causing, or attempting to cause, bodily harm. This claim is both irrelevant and inaccurate. The first step of getting "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" in federal law. It is irrelevant because, as noted in Part I, this bill does most of its damage in creating, for the first time in federal law, the special legal-protective categories of "sexual orientation" and "gender identity." The first hurdle is the biggest: getting the categories of "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" on the books. A "hate crimes" bill functions as - no double entendre intended - the Trojan horse of an aggressive gay/transgender lobby, offering to the public the "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" law least likely to meet with massive public resistance.
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"Harry Knox is an anti-Catholic bigot. He has chosen to live a lifestyle described by the Church as "disordered" and by the Bible as an "abomination." Thus, Mr. Knox has taken it upon himself to lecture an organization that has brought the Good News of salvation to the world and saved civilization for over 2000 years and to criticize the Bible because he disagrees with the scriptures on homosexuality. He has publicly referred to Pope Benedict XVI, one of the most highly respected theologians and religious leaders in the world, as a "discredited leader" and the Knights of Columbus, one of the largest charitable organizations in the world, as a "discredited army of oppression." He has accused the Pope of "harming people in the name of Jesus" because of the Pope's comments suggesting that condoms increase the spread of AIDS."
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President Barack Obama's nominee for surgeon general is a Catholic best known for founding an Alabama clinic that treats the poor, but her lesser-known support for abortion rights puts her at odds with her church and some of the groups that have praised her work. Regina Benjamin's Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic doesn't perform abortions. A clinic employee who declined to be identified said by telephone that patients seeking information about abortions would be referred to providers in the state. But White House spokesman Reid Cherlin said Benjamin "supports the president's position on reproductive health issues." Obama supports abortion rights and public funding of contraception and sex education.
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On Monday, July 6, the National Education Association finished its July 1-6 convention in San Diego. Conservative members of the National Education Association demanded a vote asking the NEA to take a neutral instead of a pro-abortion stance. The pro-abortion forces, supported by NEA leadership, were proposing amendments to the motion for neutrality, to prevent a clear up-or-down vote on the proposal. In response to these maneuvers, the following letter by Life Legal Defense Foundation's Catherine Short was hand-delivered to the NEA president, Dennis Van Roekel, threatening legal action. According to sources, after one of the NEA delegates delivered the letter, the leadership immediately backed down and let the vote take place, with no amendments from the floor.
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The editor of a Malta newspaper has commented on President Barack Obama's choice of Prof. Doug Kmiec as ambassador to Malta, describing the appointment as "somewhat of a poisoned chalice" and noting the controversies concerning Kmiec and his campaign to elect Obama to the American presidency. Noel Grima, editor of the Malta Independent Online, said that though Kmiec was a Catholic and a pro-life person he has "fallen foul" of some Catholic leaders for his public stances on abortion and other pro-life issues. Noting Kmiec's past as a law school dean, a law professor, and a member of the Reagan and George H.W. Bush presidential administrations, Grima then discussed Kmiec's transformation into a supporter of President Barack Obama, an open proponent of abortion rights.
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The newly appointed American ambassador to Malta was first touted as "the perfect candidate" for US ambassador to the Holy See, but was then reportedly refused by the Vatican due to his stance on life issues. Catholic Republican Douglas W. Kmiec created a stir last year when he endorsed Barack Obama in the US presidential elections. This week, US charge d'affaires Jason Davis announced Kmiec had been appointed ambassador to Malta. Kmiec's candidacy for the Holy See was quashed last April when the Obama administration presented him as one of three candidates. The candidatures sank due to their views on abortion. A Vatican source told the Catholic News Agency Kmiec would not become the ambassador due to his stance on life issues. According to the Corriere della Sera, papal advisers told Obama's aides privately that all three nominees failed to meet the Vatican's most basic qualification on the abortion issue.
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According to the Washington Blade, the homosexual Human Rights Campaign and, "A senior Senate Democratic aide confirmed that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid intended to pass hate crimes legislation as an amendment to the fiscal year 2010 defense authorization bill. "We understand the House has concerns, but we have yet to find another vehicle that will work," the aide said." (Hate crimes measure to ride on defense bill, July 3, 2009) House members such as Rep. Barney Frank are "concerned" because Pres. Obama has promised to veto the arms bill since it will spend too much money on F-22 fighter jets. Frank recommends, according to the Blade, that the jet funding be reduced so that he and his fellow homosexuals may have an arms/hate bill package not offensive to the President.
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Today the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was put on notice that the Thomas More Society in Chicago stands ready to defend the Coalition for Life of Iowa against the prejudicial questioning by the IRS, which has delayed granting tax exemption to the non-profit religious organization. After questioning the "educational" nature of the Coalition's materials, prayer meetings, talks and other Pro-Life activities, the IRS stated that it would not grant tax exemption until the Coalition swore to limit its "picketing" and "protesting" of Planned Parenthood. In their response, attorneys of the Thomas More Society defending the Coalition, argued that the IRS is in danger of violating the First Amendment and that the request for tax exemption should be promptly granted. The repeated questioning of the Coalition suggests that the IRS may be denying or delaying tax-exempt status to an eligible organization based solely upon its religious affiliation and speech.
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Douglas Kmiec, the Pepperdine University law professor who once served in the Reagan administration, has been named to serve as U.S. ambassador to Malta, the White House announced July 2. The Republic of Malta, with a population of slightly more than 400,000, is an archipelago of seven islands situated off the cost of Sicily. The official state religion of Malta is Roman Catholic, and about 98 percent of the country's residents identify themselves as Catholic. Kmiec, who was once law school dean at the Catholic University of America and a longtime law professor at Notre Dame University, worked in the Reagan administration and was long considered a conservative legal scholar. Kmiec also worked in the administration of President George H.W. Bush.
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President Barack Obama has named Douglas Kmiec, the Pepperdine University law professor who has become a key impediment to pro-life Catholics as the ambassador to Malta. The move is sure to spark opposition in Catholic circles given Malta's strongly pro-life stance. Kmiec became the main Catholic cheerleader for the Obama campaign during the 2008 presidential election and his ringing endorsements of the aggressive abortion advocate drew scorn nationwide. Kmiec has continued defending Obama despite his moves to force taxpayers to fund both abortions and embryonic stem cell research that destroys human life. And he has come to the defense of Office of Legal Counsel nominee Dawn Johnson, who has compared pregnancy to slavery and is a former lawyer for a pro-abortion group.
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In just a few weeks time, California hits the wall. And Americans should take a good, long look at the fiscal and social wreck of the Golden Land, because California is at a place to which all of America is heading. In May, when five fund-raising proposals were put on the ballot, Gov. Schwarzenegger pleaded with the overtaxed Californians not to make their state "the poster child for dysfunction." As The Economist writes, "On May 18th, they did exactly that." Arnold went to the White House for U.S. loan guarantees for new state bonds. But with the president's approval rating wilting because of a belief he is spending too much, the Obama-ites slammed the door.
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"Cap and Trade". The official name for the bill is the "American Clean Energy and Security Act". HR2454 passed in the U.S. House of Representatives late Friday evening, June 26th. The bill--which will be the greatest tax increase in American history--received 219 "aye" votes and 212 "nay" votes. 211 Democrats and eight Republicans voted "yes", 44 Democrats and 168 Republicans voted "no". Therefore, it can safely be said, the votes of eight Republicans may lead to a legislative disaster of the greatest proportions. The title of the bill is misleading. In reality, the legislation will not benefit the environment. HR2454 is solely designed to further redistribute American wealth, give more control to big government and put the U.S. economy on a path towards total destruction.
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The about-face on homosexual "marriage" accomplished by Thomas Suozzi, a Catholic who serves as the executive of Nassau County, New York, has drawn a strong rebuke from Bishop William Murphy. In his statement, the bishop spoke of the real meaning and a purpose of marriage "that homosexual relationships cannot fulfill." Bishop William Murphy's response came in reaction to Suozzi's announcement in The New York Times that he "now supports gay marriage." The Rockville Centre bishop reiterated Church teaching on the subject and called on all Catholics to adhere to this teaching. "The logic of Mr. Suozzi's argument is difficult to discern," Bishop Murphy said.
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Pope Benedict XVI is expected to meet with President Obama at the Vatican July 10 starting at 4 p.m., reports the Catholic News Service today. The long-expected meeting will take place after President Obama attends a G8 summit July 8-10 in the Italian town of L'Aquila. During the meeting the pope is expected to address the president on his aggressively anti-life policies, including the reintroduction of taxpayer funding for embryo-destructive research and abortion overseas. It is uncertain whether the newly-nominated U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, Miguel Diaz, will be present for the meeting, as Congress has reportedly not yet scheduled Diaz's confirmation hearing.
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President Obama is trying to put our nation on the fast track to socialized health care, and on June 24, the ABC network will help him sell this bill of goods to the American people. Next Wednesday, ABC News will transform the White House into their newsroom for what has been described as an unabashed infomercial promoting the Democrat agenda-more specifically, government-run health care. ABC News has abandoned all pretense of journalistic integrity in its bid to be the administration's official salesman for ObamaCare. ABC flatly rejected Republican National Committee Chief of Staff Ken McKay's request to add opposition views to ensure all sides of the health care debate were represented in the "town hall" forum.
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Planned Parenthood of Collier County will have volunteers handing out free condoms on Friday in the parking lot of two Publix stores in protest of the Publix at Ave Maria deciding not to carry condoms. "We're having our condom brigade handing out condoms to meet the public's need to engage in safe sex and to prevent pregancy," said Char Wendel, chief executive officer of the Planned Parenthood. The volunteers will be in the parking lots at the Publix in the Naples Shopping Plaza on U.S. 41 across from Coastland Center mall, and the Publix at Pine Ridge Crossing Center at Airport-Pulling and Pine Ridge roads. The volunteers will be handing out the condoms from 10 a.m. until noon.
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With regard to the appeal for the defense fund for Kristin Kazyak because of her arrest at St. Therese's in Alhambra, CA. on Holy Thursday and Good Friday, I wish to publicly retract my support for her efforts. Since I first sent out the appeal, I've been in touch with many people including the pastor of St. Therese's and others, whose opinions I respect, who raised a number of questions about the incident and other problems. I spoke to Kristin as well and can only say that I was seriously misled. I not only retract my support for her defense fund, but I urge people not to support Kristin's efforts and to pass on this retraction to anyone who received the first appeal.
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Sandra Davis, the "high priestess" of Crystal Cauldron group in Stockport, Greater Manchester, said she was shocked to be told that the pagan group was not considered to be compatible with the church's "ethos". Mrs Davis, 61, booked Our Lady's Social Club in Shaw Heath, Stockport, for the group's annual "Witches Ball" due to be held in October. She hoped to attract up to 150 people to the social evening offering a buffet dinner and music from an Abba tribute band and selected the hall because it had disabled access. But when she went to pay for the booking she was told by the manager that the Diocese of Shrewsbury, which owns the centre, had refused permission for the group to use it.
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Abortionist George Tiller's death brought an outpouring of national media headlines and Congressional condolences to his family by a resolution approved by the US House. Laura Hope Smith's death at the hands of an abortionist was and continues to be ignored and her mother's effort to bring it to the attention of her senator was stonewalled. "Where was the press when my daughter Laura died at the hands of an abortionist?" asks Eileen Smith, Laura's mother. A media search shows mostly news reports from nonprofit organizations, religious news and other alternative media.
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Right after abortionist George Tiller was killed a few weeks ago, a longtime friend and regular contributor on Illinois Review Jill Stanek sent me an email she'd received from an angry reader of her nationally-renowned Prolife Pulse blog. For several years, Jill's been the leading prolife blogger, and has focused at times on the immoral (sadly not illegal) activities of Tiller and another late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart. Among other things, the reader suggested to Jill's pastor and church staff that their church hold a "rifle blessing" for her in the near future.
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The members of PBS' national board have voted to ban any new religious programming from their affiliate stations, citing both concerns about "public trust" and a 25-year-old rule that has never been rigorously enforced. Anticipation of the vote already resulted in one station canceling its Mass for Shut-Ins. The 1985 rule in question requires PBS affiliates to air only non-commercial, non-partisan and non-sectarian content. Reportedly six affiliates broadcast "sectarian" programs produced by local religious groups, such as the Mass for Shut-Ins. These affiliates may retain their current shows and air programs and documentaries that cover sacred or newsworthy topics, Fox News reported.
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In the first ruling of its kind in Illinois, a state Appellate Court decided Wednesday that a Roman Catholic priest could not sue two brothers who say he molested them. Enabling Rev. Robert Stepek to sue the men who cooperated with a church investigation would infringe on religious liberties granted by the U.S. Constitution, a three-judge appeals court said in its decision to order the trial court to throw out Stepek's lawsuit. Allowing the suit would require a court to examine how the church disciplines clergy -- a move that would conflict with the "free exercise [of religion] clause of the 1st Amendment," the ruling said. In 2006, Stepek was removed from the pulpit at St. Albert the Great Church in Burbank after a review by the Chicago archdiocese determined there was reasonable cause to suspect that sexual abuse of minors occurred when he was at St. Symphorosa Parish in Chicago in the early 1980s.
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Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, today praised the Arizona Senate Committee on Public Safety and Human Services for passing SB 1206 and SB 1138. "This proposed legislation would enact protections for women, babies, and health care workers that are overwhelmingly supported by a strong majority of the public," said Fr. Pavone. "I pray that the state Senate will quickly adopt these bills and send them to Governor Brewer."
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Under the guise of urban warfare training the 26th Expeditionary Unit an elite group of U.S. Marines will conduct a martial law training exercise at 26 "surrendered" locations in central Indiana from June 4th thru the 17th. While state officials and media are doing their best to assure the public that this military takeover of civilian property is somehow a good thing, ignoring the Posse Comitatus Act which fundamentally prohibits these types of exercises. These two weeks of training are also a contradiction of military tradition against deployments among the civilian population dating back to the end of the Civil War. Why then are the citizens of Indianapolis and six other Indiana towns being made to take part in two weeks of patrols and ambushes?
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Officials from the University of California, Los Angeles, confirmed Tuesday that they will permit a Christian student's graduation statement to include a word of thanks to Jesus Christ after first saying they would not allow the sentence. Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom urged officials in a letter Friday afternoon to refrain from violating her free speech rights. The student, Christina Popa, received a voicemail from the school Friday evening informing her that her statement will be read verbatim during the June 13 commencement ceremony. "Christian students shouldn't be silenced when expressing their beliefs at public universities and are entitled to the same rights as all other students," said ADF litigation staff counsel Heather Gebelin Hacker. "We are pleased that UCLA officials understand that denying religious liberty to students is a violation of the First Amendment, not a requirement of it. A personal statement at a graduation ceremony is exactly that - personal -- and in no way signifies an endorsement of religion by the school. We commend UCLA for acting quickly to protect Ms. Popa's constitutional rights."
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Many foolish statements have been made over the past several days. What is curious is that the statements are being made by or about Catholics who have an obvious affection for misrepresentations, deceptions and assorted flagrant flirtations with all things consistently offensive to Christ and His Church. For example, the infamous Catholic Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, recently remarked to Nancy Reagan upon the unveiling of a statue of the late president, Ronald Reagan, "Your support for stem cell research has made a significant difference in the lives of many American people. It has saved lives. It has found cures. It has given hope to people." But as the facts will expose to anyone with the ability to read, human embryonic stem cell research has produced not a single positive result. The only success in the field has come about because of the work being done with non-embryonic stem cells.
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As with the Blaine amendments, the legal structure itself can be hostile toward religious faith in general and the institutional claims of Catholicism in particular. In states that have required Catholic agencies to place foster children with same-sex couples, for example, or required birth control coverage as part of insurance plans at Catholic institutions, supposedly "neutral" laws are anything but. Rather, such laws place one belief system against another, and a Catholic judge may be forced to take a stand. This development, which some have called "the new orthodoxy," has until recently been hard to identify, because these laws use the rhetoric of equality and rights that is comfortable to most Americans.
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Hundreds of Catholic school parents are fighting to save a program that helps cover bus and gas costs for their students' commute. The $12 million transportation-reimbursement program, funded by the Illinois State Board of Education, assists families who live more than 1.5 miles from their school and lack access to a free school bus. According to the state, more than 117,000 students get the reimbursement, with the majority -- 70 percent -- attending private schools. Many parents, like Isabel Guzman, use the reimbursement to cover gas costs. Guzman drives sons Julian, 6, and Joseph, 5, from their Berwyn home to St. Agnes of Bohemia Catholic School in Little Village on her way to work. She said she is reimbursed about $200 per year.
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At the very least you'd think the Vatican's unofficial newspaper (but whose views are taken as gospel about the Pope's) would not fall for the same-old, same-old stuff that MSM's are in the United States-and be fawningly infatuated with Barack Obama. Especially since about 80 U.S. bishops found the guts to stand up to him on abortion. But that's the way it is-and it would indeed be lovely if Benedict would serve up a pink slip to the paper's editor. Item: two articles...on Obama's first 100 days and his Notre Dame speech...sounded like the Mediterranean edition of the cuddly "New York Times." On April 29 the headline was "The 100 Days that Did Not Shake the World" with the copy stating that the new president is not as radical on social issues as was expected-neglecting to point out Obama's record as a state legislator in killing the Born Alive bill, thus depriving dying infants from botched abortions even the common decency of nutrition and comfort. Nor was there a solitary word about the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) that Obama promised Planned Parenthood he would sign.
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Lives there a man who actually deplores Jesus' Sermon on the Mount? Yes, there does. His name is Jacob Neusner, and he is a highly esteemed and scholarly orthodox rabbi and professor, with more than 900 books to his credit, including several that take Jesus to task for His teachings. Rabbi Neusner views the teachings of Jesus as contrary to the Torah, which he regards as the ultimate and final expression of God's will and commandments. (The Torah is God's revelation to Moses at Mt. Sinai as set forth in the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch.) Neusner considers that measuring stick fair and appropriate, given Jesus' statement that He came not to abolish the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them (Mt. 5:17-20). The culmination of Neusner's negative analyses, A Rabbi Talks With Jesus, drew the comment from Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger that it was "by far the most important book for the Jewish-Christian dialogue to have been published in the last decade." That was in 1993 -- so why bring it up now? Because Cardinal Ratzinger is now our Holy Father, and he has written his own book, Jesus of Nazareth, in which he frames his sixty-page analysis of the Sermon on the Mount ("the new Torah brought by Jesus") partially as a rebuttal to the imagined dialogues Neusner would like to have had with Jesus and His disciples, had he been alive in their time.
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Prof. Doug W. Kmiec of Pepperdine University and Prof. Robert P. George of Princeton University debated at the National Press Club on Thursday about the role of Catholics in politics and whether pro-life concerns should encourage support for or opposition to President Barack Obama. Kmiec, a law professor and prominent Catholic supporter of Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, argued that President Obama would implement policies to reduce abortions, and that he offered sound political positions on other important issues. George, a law professor and a Republican member of the President's Council on Bioethics, contended that President Obama really did not believe abortion to be a moral evil and did not believe in the human equality of the unborn. Kmiec began his remarks by praising what he saw as President Obama's ability to seek "common ground" and his exploration of whether common ground on disputed abortion policy can in fact exist.
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"In the beginning, man created God," read ads posted on 25 Chicago buses. The slogan "espouses the idea that man created God as well as all religions, and encourages public and critical examination of the merits of religious belief," according to Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign. The ads were launched in the windy city last week just after the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign had similar messages up and running in South Bend, Ind., where President Barack Obama had earlier addressed graduates of the preeminent Roman Catholic university - the University of Notre Dame.
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"Of course everyone knows the work done by very many Catholics, acting independently of their Church, to save the unborn and fight against the legalization of abortion. These Catholics wrote letters and signed petitions, begging their pastors to enforce the doctrine and discipline they were paid to teach. But to no avail. Their pleas fell on deaf ears, both from their local bishops, but especially from Rome. These independent Catholics, from Norma McCorvey and Randal Terry to Priests for Life and Lambs of Christ, deserve the heartfelt praise of all successive generations. Meanwhile, the silence and inaction from the 'official' Church was all the more damning. From his window, the man now known as Obama's Pope could have put an end to the travesty of official (express or tacit) Catholic-sanctioned culture-of-death liberalism. He chose silence."
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While Barack Obama has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. is "no longer a Christian nation," several members of Congress have taken a stand to boldly disagree. A bipartisan group of 25 members of the House of Representatives earlier this month submitted H.Res. 397, which calls on Congress to affirm "the rich spiritual and religious history of our nation's founding and subsequent history" and to designate the first week of May as America's Spiritual Heritage Week for "the appreciation of and education on America's history of religious faith." Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., specifically challenged the president's claims that America is not a Christian nation in a news conference announcing the bill immediately following last week's National Day of Prayer observance.
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Conservative politician Alan Keyes and five other protesters are spending this weekend in the St. Joseph County Jail. Keyes and 20 other people were arrested about 12:30 p.m. Friday on the University of Notre Dame campus for trespassing as they protested Sunday's commencement visit by President Barack Obama. The protesters say Obama shouldn't have been invited to the Catholic university's commencement because he is pro-choice on the issue of abortion and supports fetal stem-cell research. After the arrests, it was revealed that St. Joseph County judges on Thursday had signed an emergency order prohibiting individuals arrested on felony charges or anyone arrested for a second time on a misdemeanor charge from posting bond and being released from jail.
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Fr. Paul Petko was arrested while leading a Rosary procession of reparation this afternoon on the campus of Notre Dame. The group with Father was carrying a banner which read "Defend Her Honor" and had a picture of Our Lady. Father Petko's bail has already been provided. Footage of the arrests are available later at stopobamanotredame.com.
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For example, the implications for Catholic hospitals alone if these protections are rescinded is epic. Pate says Catholic hospitals are in real danger if this goes through. In our phone interview, Pate reiterated what he'd written in recent post at The Next Right: If these institutions' conscience rights are not protected, they could be forced to shut their doors or reduce services. Undoubtedly, poor and rural patients served by these institutions will suffer the most in such a scenario. Catholic hospitals make up an estimated 20-33 percent of major medical facilities nationwide. On top of the burden this will put on poor and rural patients, we can expect many of these hospitals to pop up for sale, representing a major shift in American medical care from nonprofit and community-oriented care to for profit institutions.
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Sociologist Alvin Schmidt, author of about 70 articles in the encyclopedia, told The New Criterion that never before in his academic life had he "run into this kind of politically correct nonsense." I am sure that from now on, we will all be seeing "this kind of politically correct nonsense" amongst publishers with greater and greater frequency. Christophobia, and by extension, hatred of Western civilization, is on the march. Can you hear the sound of pulping machines? Or is it the crackling of flames? Whatever. The stench of liberty decaying hangs heavy in the air we breathe today.
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Alien Resistance, a Christian counter-cult outreach ministry, will hold an all-Christian-speaker Symposium on aliens during the annual Roswell UFO Festival July 3-5th, 2009. The 11 participants include 4 PhDs, 2 doctorates of ministry, 2 pastors, 2 ordained ministers, and several pastoral counselors, with 12 books written between them on the UFO/Alien topic. The Symposium will educate on the UFO/alien topic from a Biblical Christian perspective, with emphasis on counter-cult evangelism, creationism, and spiritual warfare. The event is free for the public to attend, and will be held at the Best Western Sally Port Inn Ballroom. Tens of thousands of people interested in the UFO/Alien topic are expected to attend the Roswell UFO/Alien Festival this year.
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Would you celebrate New Year's Day by donating to an organization that does not want the new year to begin? How about celebrating Valentine's Day by donating to a group that does not believe in love? Maybe your fancy is celebrating Easter by donating to an atheist organization, Father's Day by donating to a radical feminist group, The Fourth of July by donating to Hugo Chavez, Labor Day by giving to your nearest unemployment office or Thanksgiving by donating to an organization that does not think there is anything to be thankful for. I guess this should not surprise anyone, since many of these very same people want to push Christ out of Christmas and Christianity out of this country's past, present and future. It makes absolutely no sense to celebrate Mother's Day by donating to Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood is the antithesis of Mother's Day.
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Archbishop Raymond Burke, delivering an address to the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. on Friday, said President Barack Obama's pro-abortion policies have damaged the family and charged that Notre Dame's invitation to the president was the source of "the greatest scandal... With unparalleled arrogance, our nation is choosing to renounce its foundation on the faithful," he said, according to Fox News. He said several decisions of the Obama administration have damaged "the fundamental society that is the family," Fox News reports. Among other actions, the archbishop cited the President's repeal of the Mexico City Policy, which permits funding for organizations that promote or perform abortions overseas; the proposed repeal of conscience protections for pro-life medical workers; and support of the United Nations Population Fund, which supports China's one-child policy.
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A columnist for the Vatican's Osservatore Romano wrote last week that, on the life issues, President Obama has not been so bad in his first 100 days after all. No matter what those pesky American bishops think, Obama has not "shaken the world." I am not sure if anyone suggested that Obama would institute a forced abortion policy in the United States, certainly not in the first 100 days of his first term. Given that the United States has the most radical abortion policy in the world, outside of China and maybe Canada, it is hard to see how Obama could institute anything that would be more radical than we have already, policies that he has said are quite fine with him. Of course, it was just a straw man that columnist Giuseppe Fiorentino expertly dispatched.
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Our own Colin Mason is back from China. His week-long undercover investigation of revealed fresh abuses in China's One-Child policy and new proof of the U.N. Population Fund's complicity in these abuses. Remember that the UNFPA has been in China since 1979(!), helping the Beijing authorities to implement their program. Colin visited three counties where the U.N. Population Fund claims to run "voluntary" family planning programs, and found that they were anything but. What struck me about his investigation, as someone who has been following the policy for three decades, was how the fines for "illegal" children have been increased in recent years.
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President Obama is distancing himself from the National Day of Prayer by nixing a formal early morning service and not attending a large Catholic prayer breakfast the next morning. All Mr. Obama will do for the National Day of Prayer, which is Thursday, is sign a proclamation honoring the day, which originated in 1952 when Congress set aside the first Thursday in May for the observance. For the past eight years, President George W. Bush invited selected Christian and Jewish leaders to the White House East Room, where he typically would give a short speech and several leaders offered prayers.
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Two weeks before the U.S. Department of Homeland Security penned its controversial report warning against "right-wing extremists" in the United States, it generated a memo defining dozens of additional groups - animal rights activists, black separatists, tax protesters, even worshippers of the Norse god Odin - as potential "threats." Though the "Domestic Extremism Lexicon" was reportedly rescinded almost immediately, Benjamin Sarlin of The Daily Beast recently obtained and published online a copy of the unclassified memo, dated March 26, 2009. While many of the groups listed in the lexicon - such as Aryan prison gangs and neo-Nazis - may indeed be widely considered extremists, others will likely take offense at being described as a potential "threat."
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In a front-page article in the April 30 issue of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, writer Giuseppe Fiorentino suggests that the first 100 days of the Obama Administration have "not shaken the world" in terms of being as negative as expected. Given the source, the article sent shock waves through the pro-life world particularly in America, which was left with the distinct impression that the Vatican writer was very out of touch with his subject material. For some answers as to why the Vatican newspaper would have taken such a stance, LifeSiteNews.com spoke with Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro, the head of the Rome office of Human Life International. "It is clearly an effort to build bridges with the current Democratic Administration in the U.S.," he said. "This one of several articles that have been published in L'Osservatore Romano with this intent. It would seem that some officers within the Secretary of State have hopes that with a moderate and positive approach towards President Obama they would be able to stop him from implementing many of the more radical elements of his political platform."
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Doug Kmiec has a disease - CCSF (Cafeteria Catholic Swine Flu). It's a problem frequently found in cafeteria Catholics. The symptoms are brain fever illustrated by inability to think clearly (effect on the brain is similar to Mad Cow Disease), frequent vomiting of heresy, and full body rashness. This is not a new disease. It was seen in the entire bench of Catholic bishops under King Henry VIII with the lone exception of St. John Fisher. He was immune, vaccinated by courage, holiness and fidelity to Catholic truth. Unfortunately, many U.S. bishops appear to be infected with the disease. How else can one explain allowing their own communication mouthpiece, Catholic News Service (CNS), to spread CCSF through airborne transmission of Kmiec's sick views? Let him be a columnist for the National "Catholic" Reporter (NCR) which promotes abortion, same-sex marriage, and every other immoral liberal position. Most NCR readers already have advanced CCSF so Kmiec's virus wouldn't infect anyone new.
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To mark President Obama's 100th day in office, I'm going to say something you might find unexpected, even shocking: President Obama's first 100 days have been spectacularly successful. President Obama is the strongest domestic Democratic President since Lyndon Johnson. His ability to get Democrats in Congress to give him things that undermine their own power is impressive. In just 100 days, President Obama has been devastatingly effective in moving forward swiftly the most radical, government-expanding agenda in American history.
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On Jan. 20, 2009, Barack Obama began his death march as the most anti-life president in U.S. history. Today marks Obama's 100th day in office. This list substantiates Obama's personnel and policies to that end. He actually started way before Day 1: Day -75: Names pro-abortion Rahm Emmanuel as chief of staff, who earned a 100 percent approval rating from NARAL while congressman. Day -59: Appoints executive director of EMILY's List, Ellen Moran, as White House communications director.
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Roman Catholics and Christians across the United States have responded with outrage since Judiciary Committee Democrats have voted that gays and drag queens should have greater protections under House Bill 1913 than molested children! The so-called "hate crimes" bill was voted out of the House Judiciary Committee last week along party lines. This utterly bizarre bill is anti-Christian to the core and is expected to be voted on by the full US House of Representatives this Wednesday, April 29th. Democrats are expected to disallow all amendments on the floor in order to limit C-SPAN covered debate. They fear that the American people will learn the radical effects of this bill.
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Nine more bishops have publicly acknowledged their disapproval of the University of Notre Dame's invitation to President Obama to speak and receive an honorary law degree at the school's commencement exercises May 17. Bishop Paul Coakley of the diocese of Salina, KS, told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) today that he has written a personal letter to Father Jenkins expressing his "deep disappointment" at the invitation. Citing his grave concern over the President's support for anti-life policies, Bishop Coakley told LSN that he reminded University president Fr. John Jenkins of the USCCB directive that forbids Catholic schools from honoring those whose positions contradict the teachings of the Church.
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Potty-mouthed homosexual activist bigot Perez Hilton's hate-filled attacks on Miss California, Carrie Prejean, gave Americans a "sneak peek into the soul of homosexual activism," writes Matt Barber. AFTAH has reposted Perez' pathetically juvenile doctored photo of Miss Prejean at the end of this article. In defending Hilton, another homosexual activist, Wayne Besen, echoed his intolerance by labeling opposition to same-sex "marriage" as "bigotry."
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The Chicago Tribune became known for its anti-Catholic bias when it frequently ran xenophobic editorials that criticized foreigners and Roman Catholics as long ago as 1853. Apparently not much has changed, as the Chicago Tribune published an editorial on April 3 attacking Cardinal Francis George as being "deeply out of line" for upholding church teaching, and ran on March 31 an opinion piece by Don Wycliff, a former Tribune editor, urging the University of Notre Dame to "stick to their resolve" in defying Catholic bishops. The twist in the Tribune's 21st Century approach seems to be to enlist dissenting Catholics to be the mouthpiece of the newspaper's attacks against the church's teaching authority, such as William Daley's column on April 3 asserting that Cardinal George's position on the Notre Dame commencement "continues a worrisome pattern in which the Catholic hierarchy in America is mixing religion with politics."
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Xavier University in New Orleans, a Catholic institution, has announced plans to honor pro-abortion political commentator and activist Donna Brazile at commencement on May 9, 2009. "Given New Orleans Archbishop Alfred Hughes' strong conemnation of Notre Dame's honor of pro-abortion President Barack Obama, it is surprising and saddening that Xavier University would honor a prominent figure opposed to Catholic moral teachings," said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society, whose petition at NotreDameScandal.com has surpassed 263,000 supporters. Most U.S. bishops speaking and writing publicly against the decision of the University of Notre Dame to honor and host President Barack Obama at commencement have cited the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' 2004 statement "Catholics in Political Life" as support for their position.
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At the request of the White House, Georgetown University covered up all the symbols in Gaston Hall, before the Great Man spoke, including IHS, the millennia-old monogram for the name of Jesus Christ. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, had adopted the monogram in his seal and it became an emblem of the Jesuit order. When it comes to rendering unto Caesar, Georgetown is not going to be outshone by Notre Dame, which stole a march by offering the nation's avatar of abortion a doctorate of laws degree, honoris causa.
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PepsiCo, one of the leading corporate promoters of the homosexual agenda, is opposing a shareholder resolution that requires it provide more information concerning its charitable contributions. The resolution will be voted on at the shareholders meeting May 6. The resolution reads: "Resolved: That the shareholders request the Company to provide a semiannual report...disclosing: the Company's standards for choosing which organizations receive the Company's assets in the form of charitable contributions; business rationale and purpose for each of the charitable contributions; personnel who participated in making the decisions to contribute; the benefits to the Company and beneficiaries produced by Company contributions; and a follow-up confirming that the organization actually used the contributions for the purpose stated."
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Georgetown University says it covered over the monogram "IHS"--symbolizing the name of Jesus Christ-because it was inscribed on a pediment on the stage where President Obama spoke at the university on Tuesday and the White House had asked Georgetown to cover up all signs and symbols there. As of Wednesday afternoon, the "IHS" monogram that had previously adorned the stage at Georgetown's Gaston Hall was still covered up--when the pediment where it had appeared was photographed by CNSNews.com.
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ReplaceJenkins.com is a national effort consisting of Notre Dame graduates and financial supporters. We feel strongly that the University should not honor President Barack Obama given his well known commitment to abortion in the broadest possible context. Father Jenkins' decision to honor President Obama directly violates the 2004 US Conference of Catholic Bishops' directive on Catholics in Political Life and is offensive to all Catholics. That decision, together with other poor decisions over the years, calls into question Father Jenkins' judgment and leadership. Although we love Notre Dame, our conscience requires that we withhold all financial support from our University until such time as Father Jenkins is replaced as Notre Dame's President with someone who will be more loyal to the teaching of the Catholic Church. ReplaceJenkins.com fully supports academic freedom at the University of Notre Dame, but we believe that the truths revealed by Christ through His Church must be taught and defended by a faithful Catholic University. ReplaceJenkins.com is a non-partisan group which is not opposed to President Obama or Father Jenkins based upon political motivation or party affiliation, but is opposed to their actions and pronouncements which run contrary to the fundamental moral principles of our Catholic faith. No part of our effort is intended to be an attack on President Obama or Father Jenkins personally; rather, our concern relates solely to the actions of both men and is intended to serve as a strong condemnation of Father Jenkins' moral leadership and President Obama's unequivocal support of abortion.
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Tony Blair has challenged the "entrenched" attitudes of the Pope on homosexuality, and argued that it is time for him to "rethink" his views. Speaking to the gay magazine Attitude, the former Prime Minister, himself now a Roman Catholic, said that he wanted to urge religious figures everywhere to reinterpret their religious texts to see them as metaphorical, not literal, and suggested that in time this would make all religious groups accept gay people as equals. Asked about the Pope's stance, Mr Blair blamed generational differences and said: "We need an attitude of mind where rethinking and the concept of evolving attitudes becomes part of the discipline with which you approach your religious faith."
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President Obama has named to his faith-based advisory council a self-professed Christian who holds that the New Testament's teaching that homosexual behavior is unnatural and wrong--which is found in St. Paul's letter to the Romans--"is not true." The appointee, Harry Knox, has also said that Obama's decision to invite the Rev. Rick Warren to say a prayer at the Inauguration "tainted" the ceremony and that Pope Benedict XVI is a "discredited leader." Harry Knox, a professed gay Christian who is director of the religion and faith program at the Human Rights Campaign, a homosexual rights group, was named to President Obama's Advisory Council on Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships on Monday. The advisory council gives federal grants to faith-based organizations.
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Easter for China's Catholics has a familiar ring this year as priests and activists say 60 years of government repression of those loyal to the Pope shows no sign of easing. "The situation is going from bad to worse," said Joseph Kung of the Cardinal Kung Foundation, a US-based Catholic activist group. Followers of the underground Church continue to be detained, he said. China has millions of Catholics who either attend mass at official churches overseen by the communist government, or who are part of illegal, "underground" congregations. The latter are loyal to the Pope, and run the risk of being questioned, beaten and even imprisoned, according to Kung and other critics.
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Vatican sources told Il Giornale that their support for abortion disqualified Ms Kennedy and other Roman Catholics President Barack Obama had been seeking to appoint. Mr Obama was reportedly seeking to reward John F Kennedy's daughter, who publicly gave her support to his election bid. She had been poised to replace Hillary Clinton as New York senator, but dropped out amid criticism that she lacked enough experience for the job. The Italian paper said that the Vatican strongly disapproved of Mr Obama's support for abortion and stem cell research. The impasse over the ambassadorial appointment threatens to cloud his meeting with the Pope during a G8 summit in Itay in July.
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Radio carbon dating carried out in 1988 was performed on an area of the relic that was repaired in the 16th century, according to Ray Rogers, who helped lead the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STRP). At the time he argued firmly that the shroud, which bears a Christlike image, was a clever forgery. But in a video made shortly before his death three years ago, he said facts had come to light that indicated the shroud could be genuine. Rogers, a chemist from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, said: "I don't believe in miracles that defy the laws of nature. After the 1988 investigation I'd given up on the shroud. "But now I am coming to the conclusion that it has a very good chance of being the piece of cloth that was used to bury the historic Jesus."
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While the Confraternity is proud that the first African-American has been elected to the highest office in the land, we also regret and disavow his persistent pro-abortion policies and appointments. It is precisely because of his efforts to undo all the progress of pro-life legislation since the notorious Roe v. Wade decision that we strongly feel he has made himself ineligible for such an invitation as commencement speaker for a Catholic school. As President of the United States of America, he deserves every honor due his office and we totally respect him as our legitimate national civil leader. Nevertheless, the Divine Positive Law and the Natural Moral Law condemn the intentional killing of innocent human lives and therefore any and all politicians, regardless of their level of authority, are ethically obligated to defend the unborn who are the most vulnerable and immanently endangered by the evil of abortion.
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Harry Knox, director of the religion and faith program at the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights organization, has been appointed by the Obama administration to serve on the Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Catholic League president Bill Donohue explains why Knox is unfit to serve: "On the home page of the Human Rights Campaign, it says that Knox was 'denied ordination because he is gay.' This is patently untrue. He was denied ordination in the United Methodist Church and the United Church of Christ because he is a sexually active homosexual. Regardless, it is his open disdain for Catholicism 20 that makes him a bad choice to serve on the Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
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When John the Baptist said to King Herod, "It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife," the price he paid was his head on a platter. He had spoken Absolute Truth to power in a time when power was absolute. It was the bravest of acts, the kind only undertaken by those very rare men for all seasons. Lying in stark contrast to this is catholic (note the small "c") Notre Dame University's genuflection before Barack Obama, a man embodying the very antithesis of Catholic teaching. As most are aware, the university extended an invitation to Obama to deliver a commencement address and, to make matters worse, will bestow upon him an honorary doctorate. This, despite the fact that Obama has distinguished himself as the most militantly anti-life president in American history. In fact, his support of abortion extends to the point of infanticide, and I speak of his, at best, indifference to the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. In opposing the Illinois version of this legislation -- thereby signaling his willingness to allow newborn babies to die in soiled store rooms -- he showed his true colors. That is to say, it's not so much that the matter of when a baby gets human rights is above his pay grade; it's that he is morally degraded.
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Yesterday, a majority of Catholic Senators rejected a conscience protection law proposed by Senator Tom Colburn that would protect health care workers who object to abortions from participating in the procedure. Conscience protection has become a topic of debate after President Obama announced that he was reviewing the law and could possible eliminate it. Colburn's amendment states, "To protect the freedom of conscience for patients and the right of health care providers to serve patients without violating their moral and religious convictions." The amendment was voted down by a margin of 41-56, in which a majority of Catholic Senators voted against the amendment 9-16. The failure to pass this legislation now leaves the door open for the Obama Administration to rescind the law by executive order and force health workers to compromise their moral convictions.
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The Catholic Church in America has bred her own destroyers, graduating from doctrinally corrupt catechetical programs, schools and colleges two generations of pro-abortion politicians. Barack Obama, in his effortless Alinskyite style, has exploited this phenomenon to the hilt, seeking out Catholics such as Joe Biden and Kathleen Sebelius to serve as his agents of destruction. The controversy this week at Notre Dame is one more snapshot of this self-implosion. Here we have the American bishops' most prominent university planning to confer an honorary degree upon Obama even as he accelerates the destruction of its moral teachings. Were Saul Alinsky alive today, he would have to smile at the ease of it all. Obama can not only thwart the Church at every crucial turn and still retain the Catholic vote; he can even expect over the next few years prizes and pats on the back from Catholic colleges for doing so.
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Adding insult to injury, the University of Notre Dame announced today the appointment of a new law school dean who made donations to pro-abortion candidates, including President Barack Obama. The Catholic college is already under intense criticism for inviting Obama to give its commencement speech. On Wednesday, Notre Dame officials announced that Nell Jessup Newton, most recently chancellor and dean of the Hastings College of the Law at the University of California, has been appointed as the new law school dean. Rev. John Jenkins, the UND president who has come under fire for inviting Obama and bestowing upon him an honorary degree, made the decision to appoint Newton.
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Sometimes one wonders what it will take to wake people up and shake people up. It can become tiresome being labeled a kook, a nutjob, a conspiracy whacko - by both Democrats and Republicans, "liberals" and "conservatives" - all for merely pointing out what is obvious and easily verifiable. Thus, there is a certain satisfying sense of vindication when the labelers finally admit that maybe you weren't really crazy after all. Maybe your warnings about the dangers of the steady transfers of power and money to an ever-proliferating international bureaucracy weren't so far out. Maybe the United Nations really is being built into an all-powerful world government. And ... maybe we should finally get concerned about all of that! Well, the G20 London Summit has pushed a few doubting Thomases into the believer (or almost-believer) camp. The brazen call by the G20 summiteers for huge new cash infusions ($1.1 Trillion!) for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as well as vast new powers for the IMF to regulate global financial markets, have made Fox TV's Sean Hannity and Dick Morris almost ready (apparently) to join the ranks of "the conspiracy people."
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What counsel would you offer to a Catholic who feels inspired to follow a career in public life today but above all wants to remain faithful to their Catholic Faith? I would say that you have to be faithful to your Catholic principles. If to be faithful means you cannot advance, then so be it. We really need principled people in both parties that are trying to move their parties to embrace a position that respects the sanctity of all human life. We need people in the Democratic Party at the grass roots level who begin to change the party's position on this fundamental human rights issue. We need people within the Republican Party who are dedicated to preserving the party's pro-life plank in the platform.
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During her recent visit to Mexico, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an unexpected stop at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and left a bouquet of white flowers "on behalf of the American people," after asking who painted the famous image. The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was miraculously imprinted by Mary on the tilma, or cloak, of St. Juan Diego in 1531. The image has numerous unexplainable phenomena, such as the appearance on Mary's eyes of those present in the room when the tilma was opened and the image's lack of decay. Mrs. Clinton was received on Thursday at 8:15 a.m. by the rector of the Basilica, Msgr. Diego Monroy.
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One speculates as to how far Marin's support for many voices being heard on college campuses goes. Does she think David Duke would be an appropriate speaker at Howard University? How about a Holocaust denier at American Jewish University? Carol knows from personal experience that the free speech notion only extends so far. A dozen years ago, Marin quit a Chicago TV news anchor job because the station hired Jerry Springer to do commentaries. The May 1, 1997 Chicago Sun-Times published an article by Marin on the subject. She wrote: This fight is not about Springer. It is about respecting the intelligence of the public we serve. It is about protecting the journalistic values to which many of us still subscribe.
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AT lunch a few weeks ago, State Senator John McKinney spotted State Representative Michael P. Lawlor approaching a bank of polished brass elevators in the Legislative Office Building, his smile widening as Mr. Lawlor drew close. "Thank you for getting me every Catholic vote in the Fourth Congressional District," teased Mr. McKinney, a Republican from Fairfield who is Episcopalian. Mr. Lawlor, a Democrat from East Haven who is Catholic, had little choice but to glumly tolerate the gibe from Mr. McKinney, the Senate minority leader. After years of deftly threading his way through a thicket of social issues as co-chairman of the General Assembly's judiciary committee, Mr. Lawlor had stumbled into a religious war. And he blamed himself.
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When a university invites a prominent personality to deliver a commencement address and accept an honorary degree, a statement is being made to graduates, students, faculty, parents, alumni and donors: "This is someone whose work is worth emulating." The invitation, in other words, is not to a debate, or to the opening of some sort of ongoing conversation. The invitation and the award of an honorary degree are a university's stamp of approval on someone's life and accomplishment. Which is precisely why the University of Notre Dame, which claims to be America's premier Catholic institution of higher learning, made an egregious error in inviting President Barack Obama to address its May commencement and accept an honorary doctorate of laws degree. Since Inauguration Day, Obama has made several judgment calls that render Notre Dame's invitation little short of incomprehensible.
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Despite President Obama's unwavering and notorious support of the pro-abortion agenda, the University has inexplicably decided to honor him by inviting him to be this year's Commencement Speaker and to receive an honorary degree. In consequence, Bishop John M. D'Arcy of Fort Wayne/South Bend, who was not told of the invitation until just before The White House press release, has announced that he will not attend the graduation. The President, the Bishop declared, "has placed in public policy his long-stated unwillingness to hold human life sacred [and] has brought the American government, for the first time in history, into supporting direct destruction of human life." Accordingly, the Bishop observed, the 2004 declaration of the United States Bishops applies: "Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support of their actions."
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CCI NOTES: It's no surprise that half-educated Catholics across the country lose their faith in self-described "Catholic" universities when we read the comments of Barbara Bellar, MD. She writes in a 3/23/09 letter to the Chicago Tribune, "President Obama is to be highly commended for his insightful and courageous action in lifting the ban in order to advance stem-cell research." To demonstrate her credentials, Bellar closes her note saying, "I am an instructor of health law at DePaul University and bioethics at Benedictine University." For anyone who thought Depaul and Benedictine were teaching, er, Catholicism, think twice before exposing young adults to the pagans in the law and bio-ethics programs at these formerly Catholic colleges.
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Judie Brown, president of American Life League, issued the following statement regarding President Barack Obama's planned address at Notre Dame University's spring commencement where he is also set to receive an honorary degree. "American Life League joins the Cardinal Newman Society and all Catholics of good will in condemning Notre Dame University's defamation of Our Lady through its unconscionable invitation to the leading symbol, hero and darling of the culture of death." Among President Obama's countless attacks on the personhood of all human beings he has sanctioned federal funds used to abort children overseas; has allowed our tax dollars to support Orwellian embryonic stem cell research; has tapped rabidly pro-abortion appointees; attacked our freedom of religion and sought to strip us of our freedom of conscience.
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President Barack Obama will be the principal speaker and the recipient of an honorary doctor of laws degree at the University of Notre Dame's 164th University Commencement Ceremony at 2 p.m. May 17 (Sunday) in the Joyce Center on campus. Mr. Obama will be the ninth U.S. president to be awarded an honorary degree by the University and the sixth to be the Commencement speaker. The University will confer degrees on approximately 2,000 undergraduates, 420 MBA students and 200 Notre Dame Law School students.
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CCI NOTES: Cardinal George doesn't pull punches in this remarkable video addressing Comrade Obama's "despotic" tactics of denying conscience protection to healthcare workers who object to abortion, birth control, and homosexuality. As the direction of the Federal government becomes increasingly Totalitarian, Americans of all religions need to be aware of the consequences. If you have not yet voiced your support for Conscience Protection, please do so today. A 30 day public comment period on the Obama administration's decision to rescind the conscience protection regulations is currently occurring. Comments may be submitted by email at proposedrescission@hhs.gov. To see Cardinal George's comments CLICK HERE
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The changing of the presidential guard was accomplished this past January with a measure of historical-political bluster and a mess of religious blather. It is interesting to note that a Catholic cleric hasn't been invited to speak at a presidential inauguration since 1985. Even George W. Bush, whom some would liken our "first Catholic president," neglected to extend an invitation to a Catholic priest. Likewise Barack Obama. Instead, we were treated to the prayer-stylings of Southern Baptist mega-pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback fame, United Methodist minister and civil-rights veteran Joseph Lowery, and Sharon Watkins, president of the Disciples of Christ. Oh yeah, Obama also invited the openly homosexual Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson to deliver the invocation at the opening ceremonies of the inauguration on Sunday, January 19.
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A new study on American religion finds that Catholicism is facing a "stunning" decline in the northeast United States as the population center of U.S. Catholics shifts towards the southwest. Secularism continues to grow in all regions, while mainline Protestant denominations face the most significant population decline. The study, titled the "American Religious Identification Survey" (ARIS), was conducted by the Program on Public Values at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. According to the ARIS report, Catholic numbers and percentages rose in many states in the South and West mainly due to immigration.
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For the first time in the American judicial system, a court has ruled that a man alleging abuse by a Roman Catholic priest can sue the Vatican for not only liability but fraud. In a 59-page decision issued Tuesday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a man who says he was sexually assaulted in the 1960s by a religious order priest can pursue civil litigation against the Holy See. Lawyers for the victim argue that in a hierarchy such as the Catholic Church, decisions come down from Rome and therefore leaders there should be held responsible for clergy sex abuse and attempts to cover it up.
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A bill is being proposed in the Illinois General Assembly that will try to implement government funding of abortion and contraception and remove any conscience clauses for government employees. It will also mandate sexual education in Illinois public schools (you don't want a 5th grader child or grandchild of yours coming home asking you "do you use protection" which happened to a friend of mine, this will mandate that sort of "education"). The bill is House Bill 2354 (use that number when contacting the representative) Right now this bill will be in front of the Human Services Committee this Wednesday, March 11. It needs to be stopped there, because it is better to treat an infection early, before it spreads.
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The Illinois High School Association is being challenged on a policy that bans Christian schools from offering a prayer or any religious message over their public address systems when they host association events on their own property. "It is blatantly unconstitutional for public school officials to come into private schools and enforce a policy prohibiting them from expressing what's central to their religious beliefs," said David Cortman, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, or ADF. The ADF wrote this week to association chief Marty Hickman after several private schools complained about the new restrictions. WND left a message with Hickman seeking comment, but the call was not returned today.
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A Vatican-backed conference on evolution is under attack from people who weren't invited to participate: those espousing creationism and intelligent design. The Discovery Institute, the main organization supporting intelligent design research, says it was shut out from presenting its views because the meeting was funded in part by the John Templeton Foundation, a major U.S. nonprofit that has criticized the intelligent design movement. Intelligent design holds that certain features of life forms are so complex that they can best be explained by an origin from an intelligent higher power, not an undirected process like natural selection.
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A Catholic pro-life group has sent a letter to the Vatican calling on Pope Benedict XVI to excommunicate House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from the Catholic Church due to her position on abortion. Front Royal, Va.-based Human Life International (HLI) had the letter delivered from its Rome office in February, according to Cybercast News Service's CNSNews Web site. The letter was sent "because so many people have called on the bishops in the jurisdictions she lives in, who could possibly do it - and they won't," HLI President Rev. Thomas Euteneur told CNSNews.
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Recently, Religious Left icon Jim Wallis preached about the virtues of Big Government to the already converted at Yale University's chapel, from which the late chaplain William Sloane Coffin had inveighed against America during the tumultuous 1960's and 1970's. "Change requires people of faith," Wallis intoned from the pulpit in the style of Coffin, whose "spirit and...legacy live on," Wallis later discerned. "If you have faith the size of a grain of mustard seed, you can move mountains." The "mustard seed" quote came from Jesus, who was referring to faith's exponential power in building the Kingdom of God. Wallis, like Coffin before him, dreams of a different, more earthly kingdom, built around an expanded welfare state, socialized medicine, confiscatory tax rates, suffocating environmental regulation, and subordination of U.S. interests to international control. For the moment, Wallis has made himself court prophet to King Obama, at least until the disillusionment sets in, when the prophet inevitably realizes that the monarch has fallen short.
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In an effort to reduce the church's political influence, Argentine atheists and feminists are spearheading a drive to get people who were baptized Roman Catholic but disagree with the church's politics to formally renounce their faith. The "Not in my Name" Internet campaign, also called Collective Apostasy, encourages people who are Catholic in name only to write to the bishops where they were baptized to officially register that they have left the church. Latin America is home to about half of the world's Roman Catholics but many people who were baptized Catholic do not practice the religion.
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A national coalition of pro- family organizations is urging parents to call their children out of school on April 17. This is the day designated for this year's Day of Silence when students and/or teachers will purposely remain silent during instructional time to protest so-called discrimination and gain sympathy for students who identify as homosexual or transgender. The Day of Silence is a yearly event sponsored by the partisan political action group, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). The implicit purpose is to undermine the belief that homosexuality is immoral. It is the belief of the sponsors of the Walkout that parents should no longer passively accept the political usurpation of taxpayer funded public school classrooms through student silence.
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The Church "marginalizes" women and keeps them "virtually invisible" in its public face, says Cherie Blair. Speaking on a BBC television program, the wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair said that "ambivalence" towards women is a "fundamental weakness" of Christianity and of Catholicism in particular. The controversial remarks were made during the final installment of a documentary, Christianity, that was aired on BBC's Channel 4 on Sunday night. During a section of the program that dealt with the Catholic Church's teaching on contraception, Blair credited her use of contraception for her personal success. Blair said that every time she didn't use contraception, "I seemed to have a baby."
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Doctors are forecasting the closure of hospitals and clinics across America and a mass migration of physicians and their assistances to other careers should the Obama administration succeed in its attempt to overrule their rights of conscience. "Thoussads of conscientious and compassionate physicians, nurses, hospitals and clinics currently serve poor women and those who live in medically underserved areas," said David Stevens, CEO of the Christian Medical Association today. "Many of these professionals and institutions are motivated and guided by longstanding Hippocratic ethics and biblical principles that preclude participation in abortion and other controversial procedures. Infringing on their right to practice medicine according to these life-affirming ethical standards will force them to leave the profession and to shut down the hospitals and clinics," he warned.
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In an interview with German news agency DPA on Saturday, Feb 28, Hans Kueng defended earlier remarks to a French newspaper in which he said that Pope Benedict had lost a great deal of credibility and that the Catholic Church was floundering under him. An emeritus professor of ecumenical theology at the University of Tuebingen in southern Germany, Kueng said he was "very sad" over the direction that the current church leadership was taking. Kueng, whose authority to teach Catholic theology was rescinded by the Vatican over his criticism of papal authority, said he was still optimistic after meeting Pope Benedict XVI four years ago. "I was hoping that he Pope Benedict would show himself as reforming, ecumenical and open for the future. But this hope has been bitterly disappointed," Swiss-born Kueng said.
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Democrats have declared war on the Catholic Church, with new laws that threaten to bankrupt Catholic schools, hospitals, charities and parishes. Thus far, the worst attacks have come in New York. "We've taken a lot of hits this year," Dennis Poust, spokesman for the New York State Catholic Conference, the policy arm of the state's Catholic bishops, tells Newsmax. "Outside the government, the Catholic Church is the largest provider of health, human services and education in [New York]. But some legislators are so driven by malice that they're willing to see our charities and schools go under." The Empire State's Democrats are attacking on three fronts...
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The Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, scheduled for February 26 - March 1, features some of the most progressive voices in the American Catholic church. Cardinal Mahony appears unmoved that a fellow bishop has excommunicated some of them. The Los Angeles Religious Education Congress is quite a fixture. Catholics have been complaining about it at least since 1993 (which is as far back as my file on the subject goes, though, from the look of the articles written in that year, I'd guess this wasn't a new issue). The most glaring fact about the Congress has been its blatant relationship with the dissident Catholic movement, Call to Action. Just which religious is being espoused here? This year's Congress is due to be held February 26 - March 1, 2009.
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The 2009 Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, organized by the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and Cardinal Roger Mahony, features a number of speakers Catholic and non-Catholic who have departed from Catholic teachings in a number of areas...
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Professor Douglas Kmiec, the scholar who provided a justification for allowing Catholics to vote for Barack Obama, despite the president's consistent pro-abortion track record, wrote last week on Time Magazine's website that Pope Benedict XVI's words to Nancy Pelosi were "intrusive" in legal matters, because they put the whole judicial system in an impossible moral dilemma. In his piece Prof. Kmiec implied that the Pope exaggerated or at least did not measure the consequences of his words when he told Nancy Pelosi that "jurists," in addition to legislators, must work "in cooperation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development."
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Sam Brownback, in a fundraising letter for a new Washington-based antiabortion group distributed under his signature, questioned whether six of his Democratic colleagues and the Speaker of the House are genuine Catholics. "Real Catholics need a new voice - not the likes of Ted Kennedy and Nancy Pelosi who have campaigned as Catholics while voting to undermine the values that we hold most dear," according to the undated Brownback letter. NCR received the letter in the mail Feb. 17...
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Barack says we need to have a conversation about race in America . Fair enough. But this time, it has to be a two-way conversation.White America needs to be heard from, not just lectured to. This time, the Silent Majority needs to have its convictions, grievances and demands heard. And among them are these: First, America has been the best country on earth for black folks.It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known. Wright ought to go down on his knees and thank God he is an American.
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Leaders of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land are condemning the "revolting attacks" against Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, broadcast by Israel's Channel 10 television. A joint communique issued Wednesday explains, "In these days, during a night show on Channel 10, a series of horrible offenses were launched against our faith and consequently against us, Christians." The communique was signed by the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem and the Franciscan custos of the Holy Land, among others. "The show directed its attacks to the holiest figures of our Christian belief in an attempt, as the director of the show himself specifically declared, to destroy Christianism," the communique stated.
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By visiting Pope Benedict and then issuing the public statement she issued after the meeting, Pelosi has made it imperative for her bishop to begin excommunication proceedings against her and distributors of Holy communion to refuse her under canon law, to avoid sin themselves. The title of that Catholic News Service (CNA) article on their meeting is "Pope Benedict strongly rebukes Pelosi over abortion," but it may as well have been "Pope Prepares for Pelosi Ex-communication, if She Won't Repent." Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi regularly claims to be an ardent Catholic while ardently supporting abortion. She has supported even taxpayer funded abortions and opposed a partial-birth abortion ban.
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In this bulletin, we return to the subject of a prior report: an organization of prominent women faculty, ND Watch, whose website contains materials flagrantly hostile to the Catholic character of the University and is linked to the University in several significant ways. In our earlier message, we noted that we had asked the University to take the steps necessary to sever these links. Here, we describe again the objectionable features of the website and then recount our exchange with the University. The net result is that the University has failed to take action despite ND Watch's violation of the University's policy respecting the use of University Internet resources. CLICK HERE to continue to the bulletin
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The University of Georgia president has apologized to the Catholic League for an STD/birth flier that used Christian imagery to explain how to use condoms properly, the Red and Black reports. The flier features the hand of God giving a condom to man. The flier was distributed in dorms by the university health service as part of Sexual Health Awareness Week, which ended last Friday.
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As most of you are certainly aware, earlier this week House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had the audacity to present herself as a "faithful Catholic" on an official state visit to the Vatican. Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro, Executive Director of HLI's Rome office, was able to compile information on her anti-life voting record and her myriad misrepresentations of her Catholic faith in a letter presented directly to the Vatican Secretary of State. We were very pleased to see that the Holy Father took the opportunity to remind the Speaker about the truth of Catholic teaching on contraception and abortion, and that her desire for a harmless and high profile visit, complete with the usual photo-ops, was thwarted.
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For the past number of weeks an extraordinarily popular, life-affirming ad by Catholicvote.com has been making the rounds on the internet, having been viewed 1.6 million times on Youtube alone. However, the makers of the ad are now reporting that CNN has refused to air the ad on its station, making it the second major network to reject the ad and its positive message. The ad shows an ultrasound of a baby in a womb, while superimposed text explains that during his life the baby's father will abandon him, and his single mother will struggle to support him. But, "despite the hardships he will endure," the ad continues. "This child will become the 1st African American President." The ad concludes with a picture of President Obama and the slogan, "Life. Imagine the Potential."
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Illinois, being a state which is essentially controlled by one-party government, may be worse than others. My experience with the state's politics does not provide me the political acumen to say this is the modus operandi of every state in the Union. Indeed, I hope there are states where the political process is honest and transparent. However, this is not the case in Illinois and with Mike Madigan's latest political payback to the homosexual lobby currently pending in the Illinois House, for once, the Speaker--who has made himself king--may have bitten off more than he can chew.
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It sounds almost unthinkable: Roman Catholic hospitals like Provena Saint Joseph in Elgin and St. Alexius in Hoffman Estates closing down their obstetrics units completely. Yet that's what Roman Catholic leaders threaten to do if the long-discussed Freedom of Choice Act is passed into law and if -- even Catholic officials admit, a big if -- courts rule that its provisions prevent a hospital OB unit or an obstetrician from refusing to allow abortions. But that's all much ado about nothing, backers of the FOCA respond. For one thing, they point out, no FOCA bill has even been introduced into the current Congress after previous efforts to pass the law in 2004 and 2007 died in committee.
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Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, a Catholic Democrat in favor of legalized abortion, is considered to be a possible nominee to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Sebelius has faced significant criticism for her promotion of abortion, including her connections to notorious Kansas late-term abortionist Dr. George Tiller. The 60-year-old governor had backed President Barack Obama in his primary race against former New York Sen. Hillary Clinton. The Associated Press reports that a Kansas Democrat close to the governor, speaking under condition of anonymity, said Sebelius had not spoken about the position in recent days but appeared to be a strong contender.
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When the play was at its peak in 2003, performances were scheduled for 32 U.S. Catholic university campuses. Performances for 2009 are scheduled for only 15 Catholic campuses, including DePaul University, the College of the Holy Cross, Fordham University, Georgetown University, the University of San Francisco and Loyola University Chicago. The play is sexually explicit and favorably describes lesbian activity, group self-abuse, and the lesbian seduction and rape of a teenage girl. CNS has often headed many protests against the play's performances, which are sometimes linked to anti-domestic violence campaigns.
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Catholic Bishop Daniel Jenky is lashing out at the news media and Illinois courts over the handling of sexual abuse allegations made against priests. In a letter dated for distribution this weekend to Catholic parishes throughout Central Illinois, Jenky expresses concern over media coverage and court rulings he thinks have been unfair to the diocese. "Amid all the tensions of our nation's culture wars and in the face of the media's intense hatred for our Catholic faith, I am increasingly concerned that our Church in effect no longer enjoys equal justice under the law," wrote Jenky.
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Co-founder of the Weather Underground terrorist group, Bill Ayers - an associate of President Barack Hussein Obama - was greeted by an angry and loud group of protesters during his Jan. 28 appearance at St. Mary's Soda Center in Moraga, California, east of San Francisco. Mr. Ayers, now a college professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, came to discuss social justice - although he did not mention his participation with the Weather Underground group bombed government buildings during the early 1970s in protest of the Vietnam War. The bombings resulted in at least four fatalities. In 2001, the New York Times reported Mr. Ayers as having said, "I don't regret setting bombs ... I feel we didn't do enough."
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For centuries, the "Tyburn Tree" near Marble Arch in London was a place of abject horror for Catholics. Between 1535 and 1679 nearly 400 Roman Catholics were executed on the triple-pillared gallows for refusing to recant their faith, as priest hunters scoured Britain looking for traitors to the post-Reformation crown. Even to this day devotees make an annual pilgrimage to the site and it is not unusual to see flowers and rosaries placed on the busy traffic island near Speaker's Corner where the gallows once stood. Since the 1950s the site has been marked simply by a stone roundel but Westminster City Council has begun looking for ideas for a more fitting memorial in honour of the hundreds of martyrs who swung from the Tyburn Tree - one that will very publicly associate one of Britain's busiest shopping areas with the persecution of Catholics.
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A recent Politico column has revealed a potentially scandalous influence of the White House on the media, in the form of a series of informal conversations between White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and ABC's Chief Washington Correspondent George Stephanopoulos. Politico writer John F. Harris described "what may count as Washington's longest-running conversation" among four old friends in the Washington political establishment: Emanuel, "This Week" host Stephanopoulos, and popular left-wing pundits James Carville and CNN's Paul Begala.
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Only 6 of the 24 Catholic Senators voted "yea" yesterday to restore the Mexico City Policy. Last week President Obama rescinded the policy of President Bush, and first instituted by Reagan, not to provide federal funds to organizations doing abortions overseas. Six of the eight Catholic Republican senators voted "YEA," to restore the policy: Martinez (FL); Brownback (KS); Bunning (KY); Vitter (LA); and two newly elected senators: Johanns (NE) and Risch (ID). Two Republican Catholic senators who frequently vote anti-life with Democrats on life issues voted against restoring the policy, thus allowing federal funds to be given to groups providing abortions overseas: Murkowski (AK) and Collins (ME).
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Africa Catholic bishops have declared February 15th "Zimbabwe Sunday" - an effort to show solidarity with the Zimbabwe people, who are in the midst of a humanitarian, political and economic crisis. The Southern African Catholic Church Has been critical of the Mugabe government, calling it "illegitimate" and describing mediation efforts as "flawed." South African Cardinal Wilfrid Napier spoke about the reasons for declaring a Zimbabwe Sunday. "One of the things we heard from the Zimbabweans some years ago was that we should keep them in mind, sending messages, and especially keeping them in our prayers. And this is a logical thing to do at this because the situation is just getting so much worse," he says.
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Ambassador Glendon: It was very gratifying for me and my staff that many Holy See officials attended and participated in our events and conferences. Particularly memorable were the speeches by Cardinal Renato Martino, President of the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace, at our October conference on "Universal Human Rights and the Challenge of Diversity"; Professor Guzman Carriquiry, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, at our May conference on "Latin America and the International Human Rights Project"; and Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, at our 25th anniversary conference on "The American Model of Religious Freedom."
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Well, the high-sheen veneer and cult-of-personality euphoria surrounding America's new oratory-endowed president looks to be dissolving rather quickly. While millions had hoped for a political "messiah," it's fast becoming evident that, instead, we've stuck ourselves with an extreme leftist ideologue whose brand of "change we can believe in" is, in fact, "change we never imagined." (Sorry to burst the Barack bandwagon bubble, but I say it like I see it.) The examples are piling up in terms of the radical pro-abortion polices he's planning to implement, the many-times-failed Marxist fiscal policies he's promised to test yet again, and - relative to his national security goals - the noxiously naive peacenik policies that have Mahmoud and Osama giggling themselves to sleep at night.
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As President Barack Obama settles down into the White House, facing an unprecedented collapse of the global economy and domestic financial institutions, wars on two fronts, rising home foreclosures and unemployment, a growing health care crisis, decaying infrastructure, deteriorating public health, the decline of the country's moral standing around the world, and unresolved conflicts in the Middle East, is there anyone to tell him the Catholic Church has solutions to all these problems?
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Pro-Obama Catholic organizations who have been promoting the idea the fight against Roe v. Wade should be abandoned by pro-lifers and replaced by a social agenda allegedly aimed at reducing abortions, have announced their presence at today's March for Life in Washington D.C. A coalition calling itself RealAbortionSolutions.org, organized by the politically progressive group Faith in Public Life, has bought ads in today's Washington Examiner and Washington Post Express and on capital-area Christian radio to promote an approach to the pro-life cause that sounds more Democratic friendly and that assumes that the 30 plus years of pro-life activism since Roe v. Wade has been just "rhetoric."
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Former Supreme Court nominee Judge Robert Bork has predicted that upcoming legal battles will have significant ramifications for religious freedom. He names as issues of major concern the continued freedom of Catholic hospitals to refuse to perform abortions and the likely "terrible conflict" resulting from the advancement of homosexual rights. Speaking in an interview published Tuesday by Cybercast News Service, Judge Bork discussed the contentious nature of modern politics. "Everything is up for debate these days. I can't think of anything that isn't," he said. "You are going to get Catholic hospitals that are going to be required as a matter of law to perform abortions," he claimed.
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One of the interesting discussions following the wake of this year's political campaign has been about Catholics and socialism. Is it OK to be a Catholic socialist? (Wonder what sparked this line of thought?) Despite Pope Pius XI saying, back in the 1930s, that "No one can be at the same time a sincere Catholic and a true Socialist", some Catholics want to argue the point. They claim the "Christian socialism" described in Acts, in which "All those who had believed were together, and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need," is the inspiration for the "scientific socialism" espoused by Marx and Engels. After all, Marx and Engels say it is.
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A federal "hate crimes" bill that officially is to enhance punishments for "violence motivated by bias that is a relic of slavery" but is feared by Christians as a potential bludgeon against basic biblical teachings has been returned to the congressional agenda by Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee of Texas. The proposal had been stymied during the Bush administration by the president's threat of a veto but President-elect Barack Obama's own website has promised an expansion of federal "hate crimes" laws. The bill, the "David Ray Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009," has been pending in Congress in one form or another since at least 2007 but never was advanced into law because of stated opposition from President Bush, who found it unneeded and probably unconstitutional.
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The former director of the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives for the governor of Ohio was arrested Wednesday for his involvement in an online prostitution ring. Eric McFadden, who has also formerly served as the president of the organization Catholics for Faithful Citizenship and spokesperson for Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, will face seven prostitution-related charges tomorrow in court. McFadden who has been a supporter of John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama described his Catholic outreach in 2007 to PBS' Religion and Ethics Newsweekly as giving "a voice to Catholics so they can stand up and say, 'I am a Catholic Democrat, and I'm proud and these are the principles that I believe in.'" (CCI NOTES: We told you so...)
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The majority of American adults pick and choose their religious beliefs to create, in essence, a "customized" religion rather than adopting the set of beliefs taught by a particular church, a new study found. By a three to one margin (71 percent to 26 percent), Americans say they are more likely to personally develop their own set of religious beliefs than accept a comprehensive set of beliefs taught by a church or denomination, a Barna study, released Monday, shows. Among those who describe themselves as Christians, for instance, nearly half believe that Satan does not exist, one-third say that Jesus sinned when He was on earth, two-fifths say they do not have a responsibility to share the Gospel with others, and one-quarter dismiss the idea that the Bible is accurate in all of its teachings - beliefs that are contrary to most church teachings.
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There is a strong tradition in Catholic moral theology that evaluates the morality of acts according to a threefold test that looks at 1) the act itself, 2) the intent of the actor; and 3) the circumstances surrounding the act. All three must be good (or at least neutral) for the act to be morally licit. Traditionally, to say that something is "intrinsically" evil is to say it is evil at the level of the act. It is "objectively" wrong, regardless of the intent of the actor or the circumstances. Such acts can never be morally licit. This does not mean, however, that such acts are always greater evils than acts that are evil by intent or circumstance. What are these Intrinsic Evils? According to the Church these are: 1) murder of unborn babies (abortion); 2) murder of the sick and disabled (euthanasia); 3) conception of human lives for the purpose of Fetal Stem Cell Research; 4) illicit and intrinsically disordered sexual licentiousness; and, 5) cloning of humans. Actions of the USCCB we will review are: The publication of the purposely defective Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship; The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD); The rejection of Canon 915; Publication of Always our Children; and Cinema reviews recommending movies with homosexual content...
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One of the little known facts to emerge from the 2008 presidential campaign was that Governor Sarah Palin was baptized a Catholic 44 years ago. After her family moved to Alaska she joined a Pentecostal church. This past summer, to the chagrin of the Catholic Church, Senator Joseph Biden chided Palin for her opposition to embryonic stem cell research. The tragic irony is that Sarah Palin is more Catholic on life issues than self-professed Catholic Joe Biden.
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Already the United Nations has put out its bid to control the Internet. Other countries say that the US should not have front seat. But within the US there is already the move to oust conservative, biblical posts and sites. Google search engine, the largest in the Internet, has now scooped out numerous sites giving forth truth about Islam, the Koran, Mohammed, and the inroad of Muslim implanting in nation after nation. Google is run by pro-liberal Democrats. Fill in the blanks. The day will come when the Anti-Christ political leader will snuff out all sane, Christian-moral based sites on the Internet.
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Earlier this week, an 18 year old man from Springfield was allowed to put up a symbol at the State Capitol Building Rotunda in recognition of a fictional holiday. Michael Tennenhouse applied for and received a permit from the office of Jesse White, Illinois' Secretary of State. White's office is responsible for issuing permits to groups who desire to participate in a public forum inside Illinois' state Capitol building. Tennenhouse claims he sought permission from White's office to honor something called "Festivus" which was a story line from an episode of the Jerry Seinfeld show. One of the Seinfeld characters came up with the idea of Festivus as a celebration of nothing, supposedly in protest of the commercialization of Christmas. Tennenhouse also said he put up the pole which sits in a Christmas tree stand in response to the controversy over a Nativity scene, Menorah and a sign that was put up by a group of atheists in the Capitol Rotunda earlier this month.
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A whole generation of Americans has come of age since the nation experienced the bad judicial appointments and foolish economic and regulatory policy of the Johnson and Carter administrations. If Mr. Obama wins we could possibly see any or all of the following: a federal constitutional right to welfare; a federal constitutional mandate of affirmative action wherever there are racial disparities, without regard to proof of discriminatory intent; a right for government-financed abortions through the third trimester of pregnancy; the abolition of capital punishment and the mass freeing of criminal defendants; ruinous shareholder suits against corporate officers and directors; and approval of huge punitive damage awards, like those imposed against tobacco companies, against many legitimate businesses such as those selling fattening food. Nothing less than the very idea of liberty and the rule of law are at stake in this election. We should not let Mr. Obama replace justice with empathy in our nation's courtrooms.
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Gay rights groups and newspaper editorials on Tuesday condemned the Vatican for its decision to oppose a proposed U.N. resolution calling on governments worldwide to de-criminalise homosexuality. The row erupted after the Vatican's permanent observer to the United Nations told a French Catholic news agency the Holy See would oppose the resolution, which France is due to propose later this month on behalf of the 27-member European Union. Archbishop Celestino Migliore said the Vatican opposed the resolution because it would "add new categories of those protected from discrimination" and could lead to reverse discrimination against traditional heterosexual marriage.
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I couldn't believe the e-mail that I recently received from a pro-life friend living in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She told me about a letter written by a nun to the archdiocese. My friend told me she was "disturbed" to read this letter. She said, "I cannot fathom how a religious sister could not only advocate abortion, but also place her pathetic, misguided ideas into print! What a disgrace! And why would our archdiocesan newspaper even print such garbage?" The Milwaukee archdiocese published this letter in its newspaper, The Catholic Herald. I also answered my pro-life friend on the EWTN web site. "GOD IS PRO-CHOICE..."
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Costco has 520 stores nationwide. But you will not find "Christmas" in a single store. That's because Costco says it will not use the term "Christmas" on its website or in its stores. Instead, Costco is telling customers it purposely chooses to use the generic "holiday" verbiage. You know, they stock holiday gifts, not Christmas gifts. Last week, a customer wrote to Costco and asked this direct question - "Does Costco use the word 'Christmas' in your store advertising or on any signs anywhere in your stores during the Christmas season? That's a pretty simple question, yes or no." Kory Rosacrans, staff manager for Costco replied, "I guess the answer would be No."
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Christopher Jamison, the Abbot of Worth in West Sussex, has accused the corporation of "exploiting spirituality" to sell its products and of turning Disneyland into a modern day pilgrimage site. He argues that it pretends to provide stories with a moral message, but has actually helped to create a more materialistic culture. In a guide to helping people find happiness, the abbot, who starred in the hit-BBC series The Monastery, warns that society is in danger of losing its soul because of growing consumerism and the decline of religion.
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Last week, Greenville, South Carolina -- the buckle of the Bible Belt -- made national headlines for the second time in two weeks. The first story involved Rev. Jay Scott Newman and his comments in his parish bulletin about Catholics who voted for Obama. The second was the announcement that the fundamentalist Bob Jones University had issued a public apology for its racist past. I happen to be connected to both stories: I'm on the staff of Father Newman's parish, and I'm a graduate of Bob Jones University. How I managed to exit the school in 1978 and return to Greenville nearly 30 years later to be ordained as a Catholic priest is a story in itself, but the coincidence of the two news items in two weeks highlighted the question of anti-Catholicism in our country: Father Newman's statement elicited vitriolic anti-Church statements in some cases, and Bob Jones University is infamous not only for its past racism but its strong anti-Catholicism.
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The Vatican has revealed that Antonio Gramsci, the founder of Italian Communism and an icon of the Left, reverted to Roman Catholicism on his deathbed. Archbishop Luigi De Magistris, former head of the Apostolic Penitentiary of the Holy See, which deals with confessions, indulgences and the forgiveness of sins, said Gramsci had "died taking the Sacraments". He had asked the nuns attending him in hospital to let him kiss an image of the infant Jesus, Monsignor De Magistris said. He said rumours that Gramsci had reverted had never until now been confirmed, and the Italian Left had also remained silent on the issue. "But that is how it was" he told Vatican Radio. "Gramsci returned to the faith of his infancy".
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As President-elect Obama builds his new administration, his list of new appointees makes it even more apparent that he is comfortable with the pro-abortion lobby. This became even more clear on Saturday when Ellen Moran, executive director of EMILY's List, was named White House communications director. Moran currently serves as executive director of EMILY's List, where she oversees the national staff and charts the overall strategic direction of the organization. EMILY's List, one of the most important Democratic constituency groups, says it is "dedicated to building a progressive America by electing Democratic pro-choice women to office."
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Congratulations, tolerance mau-mauers: Your shakedown of a Christian-targeted dating website worked. Homosexuals will no longer be denied the inalienable "right" to hook up with same-sex partners on eHarmony. What a landmark triumph for social progress, eh? New Jersey plaintiff Eric McKinley can now crown himself the new Rosa Parks -- heroically breaking down inhumane barriers to Internet matchmaking by forcing a law-abiding private company to provide services it was never created to provide. "Men seeking men" has now been enshrined with "I have a dream" as a civil rights rallying cry of the 21st century. Bully for you, Mr. McKinley. You bully.
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Recently, the American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement saying the group would not legally challenge the rights of those who intend on displaying a Nativity Scene inside Illinois' state capitol building in Springfield. In an article by Kurt Erickson of the Bloomington Pantagraph, Erickson wrote: "The American Civil Liberties Union says it won't fight a plan to erect a Christian nativity scene inside the Capitol Rotunda. After a month-long review, the Illinois chapter of the ACLU said Daniel Zanoza's proposal to erect a display inside the Statehouse depicting the birth of Jesus is a form of free speech in a public forum. Rather than oppose the Lincoln man's plan because it could violate the constitutional separation of church and state, ACLU spokesman Ed Yohnka noted in an opinion issued Wednesday that other groups could exhibit their own symbolic displays in the same area for the same number of days."
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Pepsi has given Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) a half-million dollars to help push the homosexual agenda in the workplace. PFLAG is a political advocacy group that promotes radical homosexual political causes like same-sex marriage, hate-crime laws, and gay adoption. Pepsi has a long tradition of financial support for homosexual groups. According to Jacqueline Millan, director of PepsiCo Corporate Contributions, "We are delighted to continue our partnership with PFLAG...(in) promoting the necessary message of inclusion to untapped groups...and that is a crucial step toward building a healthy working environment."
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CCI NOTES: The Jesuits in the US have devolved into a heterodox sect of academic liberals. Their magazine, America, can be counted on to provide accurate and timely left wing views that have little or nothing to do with Catholicism, but are long on tax payer funded peace and justice. Their latest article on community organizing is presented here to demonstrate how the liberals view CCHD.
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While we celebrate the transcendence of race as a dominant issue in U.S. politics - and the expiation of America's past racial sins represented by Obama's triumph -- the truth is that Obama is a far-left ideologue on abortion and homosexuality. Incredibly, McCain largely avoided the life issue and failed to raise Obama's hypocritical, confused stance on same-sex "marriage." Had he run aggressively on these and other conservative issues, McCain could have won - as demonstrated by the victories of pro-natural-marriage amendments in California, Florida and Arizona yesterday.
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It is not just that the Democrats will win a crushing victory in both houses of Congress, perhaps reaching the 60-seat Senate threshold that lets them steam-roll legislation. It is also that the incoming class of 2008 is of a new creed. Many no longer believe - or actively reject - the free trade and free market catechisms. As commentator Markos Moulitsas put it in Newsweek: "The big question is, will Democrats nationwide simply 'win' the night-or will they deliver an electoral drubbing so thorough that it signals the utter rejection of conservative ideology and kills the notion that America is a 'center-right' country?" he said.
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Priests for Life is warning that James Salt and Chris Korzen from the pro-Obama organization Catholics United sent a blast email on Thursday offering instructions on how to prevent pro-life Catholics from distributing electoral guides near Catholic parishes around the country. Fr. Frank Pavone, director of Priests for Life, has also pointed out that the Catholics United plan could have negative legal consequences. In a message sent from the email address parishprotection@catholics-united.org under the subject "Help Protect Catholic Churches from Political Manipulation," James Salt and Chris Korzen say that with less than a week to go until Election Day, things are getting ugly. "In a final act of desperation, the religious far right is calling on its activists to defy the U.S. Catholic Bishops' order to keep unapproved election materials from church property by doing a 'literature drop' at parishes across the country. The goal of this activity is to convince Catholics that it's immoral to vote for candidates who don't subscribe to the right's narrow agenda."
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On Oct. 7, 2007, Sen. Barack Obama spoke to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and promised, "The first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That's the first thing I'll do" What is the Freedom of Choice Act? It is the most sweeping pro-abortion legislation ever proposed in the United States. In a letter dated Sept. 19 to members of Congress, Philadelphia's Justin Cardinal Rigali rightly warned: "Despite its deceptive title, FOCA would deprive the American people in all 50 states of the freedom they now have to enact modest restraints and regulations on the abortion industry. FOCA would coerce all Americans into subsidizing and promoting abortion with their tax dollars. And FOCA would counteract any and all sincere efforts by government to reduce abortions in our country."
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At the end of this endless election season, we are hearing a new accusation leveled at Obama: He's a socialist. He's for big government and high taxes, just like all Democrats, but supposedly he is far worse. He's to the left of the bunch. His socialism is the real deal, bordering on Marxism. The specifics to this charge, as they concern economics, boil down to the idea that Obama is especially in favor of the "redistribution of wealth." He holds it up as an ideal. But is this some sort of surprise? He wants to be the president. The U.S. government commands a three trillion dollar budget. Every one of those dollars is stolen or counterfeited and redistributed from some people to others. The loot being shoveled right now to Wall Street and the Military Industrial Complex is redistributed wealth. Welfare for the poor is not the only threat to the freedom of the productive class to keep its money.
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Why is the Los Angeles Times sitting on a videotape of the 2003 farewell bash in Chicago at which Barack Obama lavished praise on the guest of honor, Rashid Khalidi - former mouthpiece for master terrorist Yasser Arafat? At the time Khalidi, a PLO adviser turned University of Chicago professor, was headed east to Columbia. There he would take over the University's Middle East-studies program (which he has since maintained as a bubbling cauldron of anti-Semitism) and assume the professorship endowed in honor of Edward Sayyid, another notorious terror apologist.
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PRAVDA UPDATE: It's rare that the establishment media makes any real effort to expose the radical nature of Obama's plans for this country, which are nothing more than ham fisted socialist programs that will be implemented with Marxist efficiency. Take a look at this 4 minute exchange between one gutsy TV reporter and Senator Joe Blather CLICK HERE and keep praying for the outcome of the presidential race.
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An investigation by the New York-based Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights finds that George Soros' Open Society Institute gave Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good $50,000 in 2005 and $100,000 in 2006. Catholic League president Bill Donohue suspects that Soros may also be funding the group Catholics United, an organization with which Catholics in Alliance has a formal relationship. Donahue contends both groups are "in the pocket of the Democratic Party" and are trying to sell Catholics the notion that they can be opponents of abortion and not seek to overturn Roe v. Wade if they support minimum wage and more welfare benefits. "George Soros, who's basically an anti-American, far left-wing, pro-abortion, anti-Semite, anti-Catholic, is funding the Catholic left. Now, if the Catholic League were getting money from an anti-American, far right-wing, pro-abortion, anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic source, we'd be out of business in a New York minute," Donahue says. "By the way, George Soros lavishly funds Catholics for Choice, previously called Catholics for a Free Choice."
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The following is the text of an edited letter sent by then-U.S. Senate candidate Barack Obama to the Windy City Times, one of two homosexual newspapers in Chicago. Note that WCT editors shortened the letter, apparently for publication. According to a 2007 ABC News report, "Would Obama Position Spread Same-Sex Marriage?," Obama shifted his position from one of supporting the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) to opposing it on Feb. 4, 2004 - in other words, as announced by this letter. (The U.S. Senate passed DOMA by a vote of 84-14 on Sept. 10, 1996; Obama's running-mate, Sen. Joe Biden, was among those who voted for bill.)
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Says Greeley, "McCain increasingly acts like an angry, befuddled cancer survivor and treats his rival like a field n----- who is just barely human. He does not talk to him, will not shake hands with him, will not even look at him, walks behind him when he is speaking to distract the audience. Obama's languid, legs-crossed security on the bar stool must infuriate McCain all the more. Who does he think he is? He has no right to run for president and McCain does. Has not he served his country all his life? Has not he traveled the whole world? Has not he been involved in every major event of the last four decades? Does he not know everyone who is worth knowing? And what does his rival have to offer besides intolerable arrogance?"
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Because of AFA supporters like you, McDonald's has told AFA they will remain neutral in the culture war regarding homosexual marriage. AFA is ending the boycott of McDonald's. As you know, AFA called for the boycott in May after McDonald's joined the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC). McDonald's said McDonald's Vice President Richard Ellis has resigned his position on the board of NGLCC and that his seat on the board will not be replaced. McDonald's also said that the company has no plans to renew their membership in NGLCC when it expires in December. In an e-mail to McDonald's franchised owners the company said, "It is our policy to not be involved in political and social issues. McDonald's remains neutral on same sex marriage or any 'homosexual agenda' as defined by the American Family Association."
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"I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors," Barack Obama told a crowd in Elko, Nev. "I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face." Actually, Obama supporters are doing a lot more than getting into people's faces. They seem determined to shut people up. That's what Obama supporters, alerted by campaign emails, did when conservative Stanley Kurtz appeared on Milt Rosenberg's WGN radio program in Chicago. Kurtz had been researching Obama's relationship with unrepentant Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers in Chicago Annenberg Challenge papers in the Richard J. Daley Library in Chicago -- papers that were closed off to him for some days, apparently at the behest of Obama supporters.
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A Catholic law professor who served on a high-profile panel formed to address the church's clergy sexual scandal has resigned from the board of a conservative Catholic university after writing a column supporting Democrat Barack Obama and declaring the abortion battle lost. Nicholas Cafardi, former dean of the Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh, voluntarily offered to resign from the board of trustees at Franciscan University of Steubenville, the school said in a statement. On Sept. 29, Religion News Service published a column by Cafardi in which he described backing Obama in spite of the candidate's pro-abortion rights position.
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Just like Bill Maher, "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane is discovering that atheist ridicule of Jesus Christ and Christianity draws nothing but yawns from today's media elite. If you want an angry media mob, you need merely spit out "Barack Hussein Obama" at a McCain rally and watch the Guardians of Social Taste bring out the torches and pitchforks. But mocking Jesus? Ho hum. On Oct. 5, Fox's Sunday night cartoon debuted an episode titled "I Dream of Jesus," a play on "I Dream of Jeannie." Get it? Jesus is a fairy tale, like a genie in a bottle.
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When Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination, many had high hopes that his breakthrough would move American social consciousness forward into a post-racial era. Many thought the time had come when candidates would be judged by their qualifications and dedication to our country, not by their race. To see why it is impossible for Obama to play this transcending role, read his autobiography, "Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance." His dreams are obsessed with race and race conflict. This book is an extraordinary 442 pages that appear to be written by an experienced novelist who knows how to tell a compelling story laced with minute detail about everything from clothes to odors, fictional characters and invented conversations. It is complete with the colloquialisms, ungrammatical English and four-letter words the author thinks are appropriate to the people he quotes.
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A prominent Israel rabbi who made a landmark address to Catholic bishops added his voice to Jewish opposition to the beatification of Nazi-era pope Pius XII, in remarks published Tuesday. "We oppose the beatification of Pius XII. We cannot forget his silence on the Holocaust," Shear-Yashuv Cohen, the Grand Rabbi of Haifa, told the daily La Stampa. "He should not be seen as a model and he should not be beatified because he did not raise his voice against the Holocaust. He didn't speak because he was afraid or for other personal reasons," the rabbi said.
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Catholic League director of communications Susan A. Fani attended a preview of the Bill Maher movie, "Religulous," in New York City on September 25. In her report to league president Bill Donohue, it was clear that the film is more absurd than hateful. Here is Donohue's take on the movie as informed by Fani's observations: "Maher has been on a crusade smearing Catholicism for many years, sometimes viciously so. It was therefore expected that 'Religulous' would offer more of the same. But in fairness, this did not happen. As we already knew, Maher's movie was not going to single out Catholicism for derision-Protestantism, Judaism, Islam and other religions are afforded cheap shots-but what we did not know is that he wouldn't succumb to the kind of slanderous assaults on priests, for instance, that he has made in the past. Nor did we know that he would resist making vile comments about core religious beliefs."
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If one examines the Wikipedia entry for "Bill Ayers" it is conspicuous that the name of Barack Obama is missing. See the current entry here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ayers (If you happen to hit upon the article at a moment when Obama's name appears in it, check back in a few minutes. It will be gone.) Click on the "history" button to see the editing history of the article -- it has to be one of the most heavily edited articles in all of Wikipedia. It appears that every time the article is edited to include references to Barack Obama, the Obama sanitizers descend on the article and promptly strip it of references to Obama. To see an example of an earlier version of the article (and not ancient history: October 3, 2008), look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bill_Ayers&oldid=242711351 The references to Obama are not tendentious; they are factually accurate; but a little truth is too much truth for the Obama camp.
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Last evening at Carlow University in Pittsburg, the Sisters of Mercy hosted a Catholics for Obama event. I received a call from someone who attended the event who told me the "high point was when a Catholic priest urged everyone in the crowd to report any priest to the IRS and to the diocese of Pittsburgh who preaches from the pulpit that you must vote based on one issue." There were about 15 sisters present and three priests. Here is the description of the event sent to me by those who attended. A paper was supposed to be delivered by Prof. Nicholas Cafardi, a professor of Law at Duquesne University. Dr. Cafardi cancelled his appearance at the event, but one of the Sisters of Mercy read his paper (it is not known whether Cafardi authorized his paper to be read at the event.) Cafardi is the second high-profile Catholic jurist to endorse Obama, Doug Kmiec being the first.
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Picture this: a group of conservatives standing on the steps of the City Hall of San Francisco, holding a news conference. Several homosexual couples, dressed to the hilt, are also present with relatives/friends in tow, posing for cameras, following their same-sex "marriages." We, however, are holding signs supporting traditional marriage and a huge banner that says, "Stop Public Nudity and Street Orgies." We aren't exactly given the keys to the city. Reporters are present from the San Francisco Chronicle, the Examiner, and a TV station. And somehow, homosexual activists have gotten our press releases, too, because they show up with neatly printed signs: "Say No to Anti-LGBT Bigotry" and "Equality in Marriage."
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...the Catholic Church provides the most powerful means of converting our leaders and winning elections. Every day throughout the United States, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is offered in Catholic churches. Since Catholics believe what Jesus says in John 6, let us not neglect the power of this highest prayer. Now is the time to get down our knees before the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings in the Blessed Sacrament and offer up Holy Communion for His mercy in all things: human rights, America's financial crisis and elections...
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In his illuminating yet depressing new book, The Faithful Departed: The Collapse of Boston's Catholic Culture, veteran Catholic scribe Phil Lawler opens with a vignette almost impossible to believe for faithful Catholics of the 21st century. The year was 1935. Massachusetts Gov. James Curley was trying to push through a lottery, rather than raise taxes, to ameliorate the state budget crisis. "Most legislators agreed," Lawler writes. "Debate had been perfunctory. Support for the proposal was overwhelming; passage of the enabling legislation seemed assured." But then someone upended Curley's apple cart: Cardinal William O'Connell. "I am opposed to a state lottery," the prelate and head of Boston's archdiocese said, because the state-sponsored numbers racket "would be a tremendous source of corruption and demoralization." "Within twenty-four hours," Lawler writes, "the lottery was dead," defeated 187-40.
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The October 16th Al Smith dinner, sponsored by the Archdiocese of New York, is slated to feature co-guest speakers John McCain and Barack Obama. Hosted by Cardinal Edward Egan, the dinner gives the politicians the "opportunity to show how well they speak when they aren't on a political stage" according to Catholic News Agency. The Alfred E. Smith Foundation website says the organization was "founded by His Eminence, Francis Cardinal Spellman in 1946, to honor the memory of Alfred Emanuel Smith, New York's renowned Governor and patron of the 'Little People'. The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation supports and aids the poor, sick, and underprivileged of the Archdiocese of New York, regardless of race, creed, or color." Okay, so this is clearly a Catholic organization. Now let's get this straight: a Catholic group is holding a Catholic event hosted by a prince of the Church that will give a position of honor and prominence to 1) the most pro-abortion, pro-infanticide politician ever to walk the halls of Congress and 2) a politician who supports embryonic stem cell research. Neither of these gentlemen is allowed under the bishops' own guidelines to speak at this event, particularly Obama who holds the most radically pro-abortion position of almost any politician in the country.
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Soon-to-be Bishop of Sacramento Jaime Soto is still listed as keynote speaker for opening night of this year's National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries in Long Beach. Bishop Soto is scheduled to address the group at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 18 -- just six weeks before a ceremony at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento in which Soto will take over the diocese from retiring Bishop William Weigand. The homosexual ministries conference will be held Sept. 18 - 24 aboard the Queen Mary, a decommissioned ocean liner converted into a hotel. The National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries, based in Berkeley, is a network of local ministries that has the reputation of taking, at best, an ambiguous stance on the moral character of homosexuality and homosexual acts.
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They had spent the 2004 campaign watching John Kerry pummeled by charges that he was not a good Catholic and by warnings that he could be denied communion because of his support for abortion rights. Already this year they had seen pro-choice Catholic Kathleen Sebelius knocked out of vice presidential contention after her archbishop imposed a "pastoral action" on her, demanding she no longer receive the Eucharist. Sure enough, the day after Biden's selection the archbishop of Denver declared that the Catholic senator should "refrain from presenting himself for communion." Archbishop Charles Chaput was one of the handful of Catholic leaders who had targeted Kerry in 2004, but he had become a marginalized in the bishops conference - losing key leadership elections - in part because of his extreme views about denying communion to politicians. His warning to Biden stood alone. Even the conservative Catholic League's Bill Donahue, who rarely hesitates to fire off press releases condemning Catholic Democrats, was unusually silent about Biden.
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Catholics - 47 million (according to Time Magazine) of whom could vote in US elections - tend to be "conservative" about abortion and homosexuality but "liberal" about issues of governance and social welfare. How to tap into that potential, liberal lode? The Matthew 25 Network has a good number of Catholic "endorsers" - Ron Cruz, former Director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office of Hispanic Affairs; Sharon Daly, former Vice-President of Catholic Charities; Delores Leckey, Senior Fellow, Woodstock Theological Center and Former Director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat for Family, Laity, Women and Youth; Vince Miller of Georgetown University; David O'Brien of College of the Holy Cross; and Sr. Catherine Pinkerton, who serves on the board of Faith in Public Life and works for NETWORK, a Catholic social justice lobby. A number of these people - Sr. Catherine, Ron Cruz, Sharon Daly, Vincent Miller, and David O'Brien - are on Obama's Catholic National Advisory Council.
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"It is a fact that all the religions of the world including Mahayana Buddhism acknowledge the presence of consummate evil. In Hebrew he is "Satan," in Greek "daimon" because he is a spiritual being possessed of extraordinary powers, also "diabolos," because he is a calumniator who accuses those whom he has deceived with false sin, the being whom Augustine said possesses intelligent reasons for what he urges others to do. He is what Christianity has called the devil, a force described in the first and last books of the Bible, Saint John saying that the evil spirit is permitted by God, a spirit that is the embodiment of envy starting with certain angels' resistance to God, their initial disobedience, their seduction of the first ancestors of man, their assaults on the people of Israel and their continuing opposition to the teaching of Christ, even by the most clever and subtle means."
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Like a lot of organizations, Legatus maintains a website that links to other sites that its members might find interesting. The American Life League, which opposes abortion with no exception for rape and incest, gets a link. So does e5men.org, which encourages men to live up to St. Paul's admonition in his letter to the Ephesians (it's in chapter 5, hence the site name) that husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the Church. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, an arm of the DNC, has been sending mailings to women in the district about Legatus. On the front side of one of them, a woman is pictured next to the words, "Someone's going to tell me I've got to be more submissive to my husband?" The text of the other side: Keith Fimian is an officer of an organization that promotes a group so extreme they encourage women to be more submissive.
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A pro-abortion group claiming to be Catholic is accusing the nation's Catholic bishops of playing politics by virtue of their condemnation of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's misrepresenting Catholic teaching on abortion and the beginning of human life. Catholics for Choice says the bishops were wrong to release a factsheet correcting her. Jon O'Brien, president of the pro-abortion group told LifeNews.com, that it is Catholic leaders who are wrong on abortion, not Pelosi. He accused the Catholic bishops of a "desire to place themselves at the center of the political discussion on abortion" and not representing Catholic teachings or Catholics.
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In Artful Dodger style, Barack Obama, plays down his mentorship with Communist author Saul Alinsky. But Alinsky's son, L. David Alinsky, credits Obama for "learning his lesson well" from the Communist guru. Indeed, Alinsky Jr. who credits his late father for the success of last week's Democratic National Convention, may have done something that Obama's detractors couldn't: blown the cover on the presidential hopeful's communist leanings. No one can blame Alinsky for the pretentiousness of the Ancient Greek Temple from which Obama addressed plebes, or for the tacky neon colours on display at the Pepsi Centre, but it was Alinsky who wrote Rules for Radicals, the bible of the far left.
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Barack Obama was a founding member of the board of Public Allies in 1992, resigning before his wife became executive director of the Chicago chapter of Public Allies in 1993. Obama plans to use the nonprofit group, which he features on his campaign Web site, as the model for a national service corps. He calls his Orwellian program, "Universal Voluntary Public Service." Big Brother had nothing on the Obamas. They plan to herd American youth into government-funded reeducation camps where they'll be brainwashed into thinking America is a racist, oppressive place in need of "social change." The pitch Public Allies makes on its Web site doesn't seem all that radical. It promises to place young adults (18-30) in paid one-year "community leadership" positions with nonprofit or government agencies. They'll also be required to attend weekly training workshops and three retreats.
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When news broke yesterday that Republican presidential candidate John McCain had named little-known Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate, religion writers across the country and the curious in the blogosphere scrambled to figure out her denominational affiliation. Palin was briefly touted as the first Pentecostal to run on a major party ticket. A spokesperson, however, told the Associated Press yesterday that although the 44-year-old mother of five grew up in the Assemblies of God, the largest organized Pentecostal denomination in the world with an estimated 57 million members, she does not consider herself a "Pentecostal."
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Television ads directly targeting Catholic voters in support of Sen. Barack Obama for president will soon be hitting the airwaves across the U.S., the Christian Science Monitor reports. A group calling itself "The Matthew 25 Network," made up of Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, and Pentecostal Christians who support Obama's candidacy, has announced plans for a major advertising campaign including radio, television and print media. Its purpose, reported the Monitor, "is to broaden the issues Christians pay attention to and also to counter falsehoods or smears targeting Senator Obama. The PAC is sponsoring radio and television advertisements aimed specifically at Christians, mostly on Christian radio in key swing states. There are ads in religious publications as well."
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CCI NOTES: We do not by any means agree with Kmiec's motives or logic for supporting candidates for public office who oppose Catholic moral teachings. This article is posted to inform our readers of the mindset of so-called "Catholics for Obama" with the encourgement that our readers speak out strongly against scandal-mongers like them everywhere. Note carefully that there is nothing in Kmiec's response addressing the hideous procedure of "partial birth abortion" which Obama supports. In fact, it was Obama more than any other Senator in the Illinois General Assembly in 2001 who ensured the defeat of bills to outlaw the procedure. We also point out to Catholics that when Kmiec was censured by a priest and denied the Eucharist, it was none other than Cardinal Roger Mahoney who demanded that the priest apologize to Kmiec.
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New Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden was blasted on Wednesday, in the wake of Nancy Pelosi's much derided remarks to the same effect, for claiming that his radically pro-abortion stance is "totally consistent" with the teachings of the Catholic Church. Biden made the remarks in an interview with the Christian Science Monitor (CSM) in August of last year, which has received renewed attention in the aftermath of the controversy surrounding Pelosi's remarks. While discussing his desire to attract Catholics to the Democratic Party, Sen. Biden said, "My views are totally consistent with Catholic social doctrine. "There are elements within the church who say that if you are at odds with any of the teachings of the church, you are at odds with the church. I think the church is bigger than that."
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Stanley Kurtz is poring through mounds of documents (access to which was initially blocked) in a public university's library that (a) establish a deeper link between a major party presidential nominee and a man who is proud of bombing US government buildings, and (b) shed light on said candidate's brief, unexplored executive experience. It's entirely understandable why the Obama campaign would prefer that the files remain out of the public eye until at least November 5, but Kurtz's careful research is completely within the bounds of reasonable inquiry. One might even argue it's vital that a man who may be the next leader of the free world be thoroughly vetted.
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The president of a pro-family values mutual fund company says the extreme actions of McDonald's has forced the investment firm to publicly clarify that its portfolios won't include any stock in the worldwide hamburger retailer. Timothy Plan's socially responsible investing includes screening of companies whose revenues or actions support pornography, abortion, anti-family entertainment, or promotion of non-married lifestyles. But Art Ally, president of the investment company, says his group normally does not spotlight or publish notices on businesses they screen out. In this case, however, he says the Timothy Plan could not stay silent when McDonald's went "over the edge." "McDonald's actually has been on our screen or prohibited list since 1999 -- so this is nothing new," says Ally. "What is new is the aggressive approach that they're moving to, in promoting and supporting the homosexual agenda."
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"Christianophobia" is a growing problem around the world and it must be fought with the same determination as anti-Semitism or Islamophobia, the Vatican said on Friday. Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican's foreign minister, spoke in the wake of attacks against Christians in India that have left at least 13 people dead this week. Mamberti, addressing a conference in northern Italy, said religious freedom was a vital part of international relations and human dignity. "In order to promote this dignity in an integral way, so-called 'Christianophobia' should be combated as decisively as 'Islamophobia' and anti-Semitism," he said.
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"Catholic" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's blatantly fallacious remarks on August 24 regarding the Catholic Church's teaching on abortion have triggered a tidal wave of criticisms from clergymen, congressmen and Catholics nationwide. Responding to a question from NBC's Meet the Press moderator Tom Brokaw about when human life begins, Pelsosi appealed to her extensive research on the issue as well as her "ardent" Catholic faith to claim that, "I don't think anybody can tell you when life begins." She asserted that "over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition," in attempt to support her pro-abortion and pro-contraception stance. Watch the full interview here: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwUSt7dfj5I)
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Cardinal Justin F. Rigali, chairman of the U.S. Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Bishop William E. Lori, chairman of the U.S. Bishops' Committee on Doctrine, have issued the following statement: In the course of a "Meet the Press" interview on abortion and other public issues on August 24, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi misrepresented the history and nature of the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church against abortion. In fact, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, "Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law." (No. 2271) (CCI NOTES: A rebuke of this magnitude by the US Bishops to the Speaker of the House is unprecedented and incredible! What is less surprising is the PRAVDA (i.e. the controlled US media) has blacked-out all reporting on the US Bishops statement.)
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As painters work to put the finishing touches on the newly created LGBTQ Resource Center, the center's first director, Sivagami Subbaraman, has been working to make a presence for the center as students arrive back to campus. Subbaraman arrived at Georgetown four weeks ago to begin preparing the center, located adjacent to the Women's Center on the third floor of the Leavey Center. GU Pride began pushing for the resource center last fall after two alleged hate crimes against Georgetown students, kicking off a university-wide movement led by GU Pride for increased inclusion of and education about the LGBTQ community on campus. In October, University President John J. DeGioia approved several of GU Pride's requests, including the formation of three working groups that would address reporting, resources and education. Four months later, DeGioia announced his approval and backing of a proposal created by the working group on resources for an LGBTQ resource center.
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I'm always astounded as to the extent of deception in which pro-choice Catholics indulge themselves, both inwardly and outwardly, to justify their positions. Perhaps there is no balder example of this than Nancy Pelosi attempting to spin the Catholic doctrine on human life today on Meet the Press. Pelosi argues that the Catholic position on human life only developed in the last 50 years and that it doesn't impact abortion in any case...
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Perhaps if he had faced serious journalistic scrutiny instead of media cheerleading, Barack Obama might still have won his party's nomination. But the tremendously positive coverage that the networks bestowed upon his campaign was of incalculable value. The early celebrity coverage helped make Obama a nationally-known figure with a near-perfect media image. The protectiveness that reporters showed during the early primaries made it difficult for his rivals to effectively criticize him. And when it came to controversies such as the Wright affair, network reporters acted more as defenders than as journalists in an adversarial relationship. If the media did not actually win the Democratic nomination for Barack Obama, they surely made it a whole lot easier.
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Over 120 blogs have been credentialed as members of the media for the Democratic National Convention; those who have received credentials are allowed to cover the Convention at the Pepsi Center. While most of them offer legitimate commentary, some do not. Catholic League president Bill Donohue is protesting two of the blogs: "The list of credentialed blogs include radical sites like The Daily Kos. Worse are blogs that feature anti-Catholic and obscene material. The two most offensive are Bitch Ph.D. and Towleroad. "On the home page of Bitch Ph.D. there is a picture of two children: one of them is shown flashing his middle finger. Today's lead post, which was written August 17, is called 'Jesus Christ.' It begins with, 'I'm a really crappy Catholic who hasn't been to mass in ages because most parishes around here 'will' insist on being aggressively anti-abortion....' The writer then objects to some children's toys on the grounds that they are more offensive than desecrating the Eucharist..."
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"Whether or not to produce Eve Ensler's "Vagina Monologues" - a "play" that mocks the settled teaching of the Catholic Church - has become a tedious annual ritual on many Catholic campuses. Prominent among them is Notre Dame: to the public mind, the flagship among U.S. Catholic institutions of higher education. There, the university's president, Father John Jenkins, CSC, has allowed Ensler's 'play' on campus, acquiescing to the demands of some Notre Dame faculty while rejecting the counsel of other distinguished faculty members and the arguments of the local bishop....So here's my proposal and my test-case: Let Father Jenkins send Pope Benedict XVI a copy of Ensler's 'play,' asking the Pope whether he considers this material appropriate for production or useful for discussion on a Catholic campus. The answer, I predict, will not please the spin machine."
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"Bishop Kinney has called for a Time of Reparation, asking each parish to set up a time during the month to gather, give honor to the Eucharist, and pray. I realize you are far away, but I invite you to join in on this collective movement. Let me know if you'd like to know the time my own parish is gathering so that you can join in heart and spirit from afar. I also ask that you do not make demands on the respectful Bishop. He is handling this situation the way he feels best, and I trust that his wisdom is guiding him appropriately."
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"If the Olympic Games are a history of mankind, wrestling is the prologue," we are advised. But of course the Olympic Games are not a history of mankind at all. To the contrary, the greatest pretending required at the Beijing Games will be to ignore all of the recent history right around them. The unofficial competition in Beijing will be to ignore in the most serene fashion possible that the Games are being held in a totalitarian country. Who will win that medal count? A gold medal for all those who will argue that a country which criminalizes religious worship, controls the press and Internet, regulates all child-bearing decisions including forced sterilization and abortion and permits neither free association nor freedom of internal movement, is making progress on human rights.
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"There are at least 150 groups in the Faith in Public Life network concerned with "gay rights," for instance. Besides the above-mentioned WATER, there are also at least 27 Dignity chapters and 18 Soulforce chapters. Dignity is an organization that specifically targets the Roman Catholic Church, seeking nothing less than a complete reversal of Church moral teaching about sexuality and sin. Soulforce has a broader mission and targets all organized religion. It seeks "freedom for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from religious and political oppression through the practice of relentless nonviolent resistance" and claims that it is a misuse of religion and spiritual violence "to sanction the condemnation and rejection of any of God's children."4 Both Dignity and Soulforce seek full legal protection of same-sex marriages."
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Three American Christians were arrested for a second time in Beijing, China earlier this week. Rev. Pat Mahoney, Brandi Swindell, and Michael McMonagle were arrested and forcibly dragged away as they knelt in prayer outside the Mao Tse Tung Mausoleum. The group was in Beijing speaking out against China's forced abortion policies, religious persecution, and other human rights abuses. After their first arrest the trio called a press conference in Tiananmen Square. "We have come here today to speak out against the human rights abuses of the Chinese government," said Mahoney, while Chinese security officials attempted to disband the media who had gathered for the conference.
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The PRC regularly denies rights that peoples in other countries take for granted, namely, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of association, but the controls have tightened even further in the run up to the Games. The censorship of the Internet in particular has reached dimensions of paranoia rarely seen even in one-party dictatorships. Overseas websites that are considered to be "politically sensitive" or "anti-China" are blocked, including those of CHRD mentioned above. Popular internet forums have been shut down, or even more heavily censored. It is for these reasons that I, along with many others, will be boycotting the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
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Obama knew exactly what he was doing. He knew Chicago reporters would not spend the night, nor would the crowd. He didn't want cameras around to sympathize with the Willises and badger him about the demise of Choose Life at his hand. He was right. Not many were present on March 13, 2003, when Obama and the Democrat-controlled committee voted to kill Choose Life. Obama's fanatical support of abortion extends not only to opposing legislation to save abortion survivors but also to opposing legislation to help mothers and families in need cover adoption expenses. And Obama will roll over anyone standing in the way.
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If bigotry constitutes being intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion on homosexuality, then the accusation of bigotry is applicable to conservative evangelicals like me. But the same accusation could also be legitimately laid at the feet of the homosexual lobby for its growing insistence to end all discrimination of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender behavior for all reasons and in all places. For instance, in May of this year, the Colorado legislature passed a bill designed to normalize all varieties of sexual orientation - cross dressers, men who self identify as women, women who self-identify as men, etc. - by prohibiting any discrimination in 23 separate areas of public life, including restrooms and locker rooms. Tom Minnery, senior vice president of government and public policy for Focus on the Family Action, noted the homosexual lobby made advocacy for the bill "the modern day equivalent of separate drinking fountains for whites and blacks." [3]
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We heard one officer say, "Arrest them all" and were told to get on the ground as they put 18 of us in handcuffs. For nearly an hour we were lined up along the guard rail as the police questioned us as to our names, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers while neglecting to ever inform us of our rights or just what it was we were being arrested for. I was able to get my phone and camera into the van before I had to hit the ground. We were told that the long wait was because they were waiting for two paddy wagons to take us to the Maryland State Police barracks. One officer said they could by law put only one individual at a time in the police car. I remarked that shouldn't be a problem since there were only eighteen of us and probably 25 police cars! The officers weren't amused. The girls went in one van and we in the other, excepting the two teens who went in police cars. It was a hot and steamy day, and that stainless steel box nine men were put into was like a pressure cooker, even with the little bit of cool air blowing from the driver's end. Those cuffs hurt, too, especially having to sit on them while in the paddy wagon. We decided to pray the Sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary and did so loudly but prayerfully. I would imagine it was the only time the driver ever heard a rosary prayed in that vehicle. We were in there for a while even after we arrived at the police barracks, as they proceeded to process each of us individually.
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Jack Ames, who has been leading the Face the Truth Tour in WV, MD and DC for Defend Life has been arrested in Maryland along with 17 other pro-lifers. The Face the Truth Tour is in its eighth year. They go to three cities a day for one week holding signs on busy highways so people have to face the truth about abortion. He uses hard working college kids from St. Mary's Seminary and elsewhere to lead the groups of from 20 to 60 people. According to friends of Jack Ames, he and his friends were in Bel Air, MD, Saturday August 2 and were arrested while peacefully holding pro-life signs on the side of the road. They were not told what they were being arrested for, nor were they read their rights during arrest.
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Sheila Liaugminas, a regular commentator on Relevant Radio, has had extensive experience in print and broadcast journalism. She was a reporter for the Midwest Bureau of Time Magazine for over twenty years and did a year-long series on historic Chicago for Crain's Chicago Business. Sheila was host of an award-winning feature magazine program YOU on WMAQ-TV and guest hosted a morning talk show. She hosted The Right Questions and Issues & Answers for Relevant Radio. She recently provided coverage of Pope Benedict's visit to the United States for Relevant Radio. The subject: "Media Bias." CCI's monthly luncheon forums are held on the second Friday of every month, from 11:45 AM To 01:30 PM, at a new location, the Union League Club 65 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, 60604 - (312) 427-7800. Ticket price includes for a full course meal, and are $30.00. Reservations required. Call Maureen at 708-352-5834. The public is welcome.
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The Democratic Party for years has yearned for an energetic religious wing. Seeing the power that the religious right brought the Republicans, Democratic leaders realized that if they wanted to build a majority they would need to attract people of faith. Party leaders wanted a religious left and they're beginning to get one - new grassroots organizations, vocal spokesmen, and a candidate conversant in the language of faith. They're also getting a bit of a surprise: religious Democrats aren't so easy to control...
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Jon O'Brien is president of Catholics for Choice, a group that supports the use of condoms and other forms of artificial conception. It also supports the right of a woman to choose to have an abortion. Both positions, of course, directly contradict Catholic Church teachings. In the following commentary for Religion News Service, O'Brien says "Humanae Vitae," the 1968 papal encyclical that affirmed the church's ban on contraceptives, created a "rupture between the Vatican and lay Catholics" that remains to this day. In particular, he faults the Vatican for its refusal to consider the use of condoms as a viable means to stop the spread of AIDS.
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When Gov. Alfred E. Smith ran for president in 1928, his candidacy was derailed in large part by anti-Catholic prejudice. It has been nearly 48 years since John F. Kennedy became the first (and so far only) Roman Catholic president, but experts say that anti-Catholic sentiment - much of it originating in, or as a response to, immigrants in New York - remains an enduring force in American culture... The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus - a leading conservative intellectual, a former Lutheran pastor and the editor of the leading Catholic journal First Things - offered a surprising view on the question. "To be a Catholic is not to be refused positions of influence in our society," Rev. Richard John Neuhaus said. "Indeed, one of the most acceptable things is to be a bad Catholic, and in the view of many people, the only good Catholic is a bad Catholic."
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The NEA is very generous with taxpayer money spent on illegal immigrants. The NEA not only favors amnesty for illegal-immigrant students, but also in-state college tuition and financial aid to illegal-immigrant college students. The NEA is strong for "multicultural education," which the resolution makes clear does not mean studying facts about different countries and cultures. It means "the process of incorporating the values" and influencing "behavior" toward the NEA's version of "the common good," such as "reducing homophobia." Of course, the NEA supports "global education" to teach "interdependency in sharing the world's resources." It's also no surprise that the NEA adamantly opposes any requirement that schools "schedule a moment of silence." Will parents be silent about the radical goals of their children's teachers?
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A Catholic bishop in the southern Philippines' Basilan province has received a letter from self-described "Muslim warriors" possibly linked to Abu Sayyaf who are threatening him with harm if he does not convert to Islam or pay "Islamic taxes." Further, authorities are seeking the return of three adults and two children, all Catholics, who were kidnapped in the same area this week. On July 19 Bishop Martin Jumoad of Isabela sent a copy of the threatening letter to Church-run Radio Veritas in Quezon City, UCA News reports. Bishop Jumoad told UCA News that a student at Claret College in Isabela was told to give the letter to the school secretary who could pass it along to the bishop.
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Catholic churches in Beijing will hire foreign priests to conduct masses to meet the demands of Games visitors from overseas, state media reported on Tuesday, citing church officials. Masses held in French, Italian and German would be increased at the city's major Catholic churches, Xinhua said, citing the foreign affairs office of the Beijing Catholic Diocese. "Although Chinese priests (can) speak some different languages, foreign priests (are) likely to preside over the masses in foreign languages during the Games," the agency quoted Beijing Catholic Diocese official Yu Shuqin as saying.
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University of Minnesota professor Paul Z. Myers made good on his pledge to desecrate the Eucharist today. According to his statement on the subject, "I pierced it [the Host] with a rusty nail (I hope Jesus's tetanus shots are up to date). And then I simply threw it in the trash." Saying he did not want to "single out just the cracker," Myers also tore pages from the Koran along with a few pages from Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion and nailed them to the Host. He then said, "They are just paper. Nothing must be held sacred. (His emphasis.) Question everything. God is not great, Jesus is not your lord, you are not disciples of any charismatic prophet."
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The corporate headquarters for McDonald's is hearing from store managers in California that customers are upset over the company's pro-homosexual advocacy and they aren't going to take it any longer. Yuriy Popko, one of several Christians who staged a sign-waving protest at the Golden Arches in Citrus Heights today, said the protest at that location was suspended when store officials agreed to convey protesters' objections to the corporate office. Protesters object to McDonald's homosexual advocacy at a local McDonald's franchise July 22, 2008, in Citrus Heights, Calif. "They came out and talked with us. Basically we had two requests: a notice to the public and that they e-mail our concerns to the corporate office," Popko told WND.
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Six anti-war protesters who threw fake blood on worshipers during Easter service in Holy Name parish in March pleaded guilty Monday to misdemeanor charges. Angela Haban, 21; Regan Maher, 25; Mercedes Phinaih, 19; Ephran Ramirez, 22; Donte Smith, 22; and Ryne Ziemba, 25, entered pleas of guilty to one count each of misdemeanor attempted criminal defacement of property, according to Andy Conklin, a spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office. Haban also pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor battery for coming into contact with a parishioner, he said. The six were arrested after disrupting Cardinal Francis George's homily by squirting packets of fake blood while shouting their opposition to the war in Iraq.
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"By now many of you are aware of the views expressed by a faculty member at the University of Minnesota, Morris campus concerning the Eucharist. To say the least, his views attack what we hold so dear as Catholics, the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. That is why it is so upsetting. What we love, indeed, the One whom we love, is being attacked. When our loved ones are attacked, we feel attacked. We want to do all that we can to protect them and see to it that it doesn't happen again. I do not want to give credence to his outrageous statements by repeating them. So what can we do? I believe we can do several things..."
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A former San Jose City College biology professor is suing the college after she was fired for answering a student's question on the relationship between homosexuality and heredity. On June 21, 2007, June Sheldon, an adjunct professor teaching a human heredity course, answered a question about how heredity affects homosexual behavior by citing the class textbook and a well-known German scientist. She noted that the scientist found a correlation between maternal stress and homosexual behavior in males but that the scientist's views are only one set of theories in the nature-versus-nurture debate mentioned by the textbook. Sheldon then explained that the class would learn in a later chapter of the textbook that homosexual behavior may be influenced by both genes and the environment.
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With all due respect for persons and motives, the historical record of Anglicanism's doctrinal surrender has clearly prepared the way for the problems you are now having, problems which get increasingly worse as time goes on. The Anglican Church was created by an act of rupture of unity from the Church that Christ founded and its apostolic succession in 1534. It capitulated on the fundamental question of divorce and re-marriage in 1536; presided over thousands of unconscionable martyrdoms between 1534-1729; broke the centuries-old Christian consensus on contraception in 1931; took the unprecedented step of ordaining women priests beginning in 1944; caved in on abortion in 1967; allowed women's episcopal ordination in 1989; and endorsed openly gay clergy in 2003.
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The Catholic organization, Regnum Christi, ran a workshop in Sydney over the weekend, leading up to World Youth Day, in which physician and bioethicist Father Joseph Tham predicted that, unless a dramatic change came about, in 50 years infanticide would be a normal reality. As reported by Special Broadcasting Services, Father Tham, who did his PhD thesis on bioethics, said that there is a growing belief in society that religion has no place in science. "Because of secularization, the Church is having less and less say on these debates," he said.
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University of Minnesota Morris biology professor and science blogger Dr. Paul Zachary Myers, who last week threatened to desecrate the Eucharist and to broadcast the act on the internet, says he has acquired Eucharistic Hosts consecrated at a Catholic Mass. Prof. Myers explained in an e-mail to CNA that he has received the Eucharist from several people. "So far, the crackers I have received have been given to me in person or sent to my home address." Myers has been derisively referring to the Eucharist as a "cracker." He began his desecration campaign on his scienceblogs.com blog "Pharyngula" in reaction to an incident at the University of Central Florida in which a student senator allegedly held the Eucharist hostage.
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Obama is the most pro-abortion major party Presidential nominee in history. When he served in the Illinois state legislature, he voted against legislation that would prevent abortionists from taking the life of a baby that remained alive out of the mother's womb after an attempted abortion. He has also opposed legislation prohibiting partial birth abortion, and favors government funding of abortion for lower income women. He said that if his own daughters became pregnant as teenagers, he would favor an abortion rather than "punishing them with a baby." He has promised homosexual organizations that as President he would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that pro-family organizations worked so hard to pass successfully when the Republicans controlled Congress.
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Money A Peoria, Illinois, pastor is challenging United Way's funding of Planned Parenthood. Pastor James McDonald of Providence Church and the ministry "Walk in the Word" says Planned Parenthood operates large abortion mills in Chicago and in Champaign, Illinois. "...[A]nd that troubled us greatly in the Christian community, and we wanted to encourage United Way to do what was right -- which is to stop funding completely," he explains. But abortion is not the only issue troubling McDonald. He objects to the supposed "comprehensive" sex education strategy Planned Parenthood promotes. "I am...very concerned about what [Planned Parenthood is] doing -- not only to the American family, but to the Christian family as well, and to the fabric of our society," he continues.
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A San Francisco city and county board resolution that officially labeled the Catholic church's moral teachings on homosexuality as "insulting to all San Franciscans," "hateful," "defamatory," "insensitive" and "ignorant" will be challenged tomorrow in court for violating the Constitution's prohibition of government hostility toward religion. Resolution 168-08, passed unanimously by the City and County of San Francisco Board of Supervisors two years ago, also accused the Vatican of being a "foreign country" meddling with and attempting to "negatively influence (San Francisco's) existing and established customs." It said of the church's teaching on homosexuality, "Such hateful and discriminatory rhetoric is both insulting and callous, and shows a level of insensitivity and ignorance which has seldom been encountered by this Board of Supervisors."
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Until recently, Amsterdam's Oude Kerk, or "Old Church," seemed the perfect symbol for Europe's religious situation. Founded in the 13th century, when such massive cathedrals expressed the faith of an entire continent, the Oude Kerk is today surrounded by the Dutch city's infamous red-light district. In "Old Church Square" visitors can choose from among at least a half-dozen brothels or sit down for a perfectly legal smoke in a hash bar. A bronze statue just outside the main door portrays a scantily clad woman in a provocative pose and carries the inscription, "Respect sex workers around the world." Inside the cathedral, the atmosphere is hardly any more conducive to prayer. Today the church is a museum and tourist destination...
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The Chicago Tribune columnist essentially painted liberal organizations into a political corner where action on their part was not generated by public outcry. Instead, Zorn's criticism of groups, including the NEA, AFT and others forced their hand into action which eventually resulted in the Moment of Silence law being tied up in court and some members of the Illinois House reversing their position which they held so firmly to just weeks before. Many contend this is not the role of a journalist. Zorn would have been safe in criticizing the actions of the Illinois General Assembly. But when Zorn actively took on the role as an activist, he crossed the line between journalism and something completely different.
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With the two major parties' nominees for president apparently decided and attention turning to their vice-presidential choices, an old question inevitably arises in certain circles -- how to corral the "Catholic vote" in November. But the topic is being met with increasing skepticism by some who believe American Catholics base their votes on nearly as many factors as there are American Catholics. "Politicians and media people love to think there is" a Catholic vote, said John Farina, an associate professor of religious studies at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. "And the political parties are always able to find people who will tell them there is a Catholic vote and this is how you get it."
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In a report on Monday's "The Situation Room" purporting to clarify how Barack Obama "really voted on abortion" (as the graphic on-screen at right stated), CNN correspondent Carol Costello misconstrued the Democrat's stance on legislation during his time in the Illinois state senate that would have protected infants that survived abortions. Besides the two votes specifically mentioned by Costello in the report, Obama also voted against it at the committee level, and when he was committee chair, denied a simple up or down vote on the legislation. The CNN correspondent also misrepresented the apparent pro-life stance of pro-abortion senators like "liberal Ted Kennedy" when the U.S. Senate voted on similar legislation.
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"Any church or religious agency that agrees to take federal money on the condition that it must operate in a secular fashion-in hiring and in disseminating its values-is selling out. If Orthodox Jews running a day care center are not allowed to exclusively hire Orthodox Jews, there is nothing kosher about it. If a Catholic foster care program cannot place Catholic children with Catholic parents, it is doing a disservice to the children. If an evangelical drug rehab program can't deliver a Christian message to its clients, it may as well close up shop. But that's what Obama wants-he wants to secularize the religious workplace."
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It's a cold dark day. A group of stern-looking men and women sit in a conference room and decide what their countrymen should hear and what they shouldn't. "This isn't reflective of the people's wishes," says one member of the panel. "Yes, we'll have to make room for what our leader thinks," says another without batting an eye. Now you might be thinking I'm describing an event in Iran or the former Soviet Union. Perhaps it's an historical description of a meeting of the Communist Bloc in Mao Tse Tung's China. Sadly, it is none of the above. One day this gathering may take place in Chicago, Springfield or Spokane, Washington. A meeting like this would unfold if those on the left pass something called the Fairness Doctrine. No, the so-called "Fairness" Doctrine is not a new plot to silence religious and conservative radio.
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Austin Ruse, director of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, has warned that "Europe is almost certainly dying" because of falling birth rates, radical social policies, and the decline of marriage on the continent. Its only hope for revival, he argues, is for Europeans to again proclaim the "lordship of Christ." Ruse's comments, published on the new web site "The Catholic Thing," tell of his attendance at the "Post-Christian Europe and the Resurgence of Islam" conference held earlier this month in Vienna to discuss secularism and Islam.
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Last Wednesday, the British House of Commons decided that a father is completely and totally irrelevant to a child's development. The legislation, which dealt with in vitro fertilization, or IVF, would have included a clause requiring a fertility doctor to "consider a child's need for a male role model before giving women IVF treatment," according to news site This Is London. Even though IVF already marginalizes fathers by effectively removing them from the procreative process, feminists would not allow even this bland and toothless reference to men to stand. The clause was voted down. This Is London went on to add that "the Government argued that the law as it stood discriminated against single women and lesbian couples - although both these groups can already get fertility treatment on the Health Service. From now on, doctors will have to consider only a child's need for 'supportive parenting'." Whatever that means.
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Currently, Oprah is also promoting the teaching of New Age writer Marianne Williamson who is giving a course on 'miracles' at Oprah.com. She is on record saying, 'There is no sin,' and a 'slain Christ has no meaning.' If you look at these quotes carefully, the first quote damns all those who believe it. The second quote prevents all those poor souls that were damn from the first quote from ever finding their salvation. These quotes are so well orchestrated to permanently trap souls with never a way out, they must have originated from a diabolic source. This is Oprah's gospel and it is spreading it through all her media channels into our welcoming homes.
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Apparently, the Chicago media have decided that the meme for the 2008 general election is going to be that anyone who doesn't vote for Barack Obama is a racist because this is the second editorial (that I've seen, anyway) in Chicago stating such a theory. Last week the Daily Herald voiced the assumption and this week it's the Sun-Times with the volatile Andrew Greeley taking up the cause of ridding the world of racism one Obama vote at a time. Beginning with some meaningless banter where he throws around the names of a few Greek philosophers to sound erudite, Greeley then voices the fear that if Obama loses in November it might prove we are a racist country.
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A Catholic adoption agency in Britain has ended its service of placing children in new homes because a new anti-discrimination law forbids the agency from turning away homosexual couples. A Minister of Parliament has said the new law "smacks of a secular attack on the Catholic Church." The Equality Act, which will come into effect on January 1, outlaws discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the provision of goods and services. Then-Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has since converted to Catholicism, wanted Catholic adoption agencies to be exempted from the rules.
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A string of violent attacks has the religious community around Catholic University on edge. The assaults have sent several people, including a priest to the hospital. Groups of young men assaulted five people in just two days last week. All the victims either work for Catholic institutions or were visiting them. Surveillance camera footage from one of the attacks shows a woman walking back to the Conference of U.S. Bishops from a noontime mass at the nearby National shrine. As she steps off camera, two young males, possibly teenagers, grab and pummel her.
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The Vatican on Friday reaffirmed a ban on ordaining women as priests, warning that the consequences of any such ordination would be the automatic excommunication of anyone involved. The decree was a reaction to specific episodes of "so-called ordinations in various parts of the world," according to Msgr. Angelo Amato, the secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which issued the decree. In recent years, dozens of women have been ordained by individuals acting outside of the church's authority. The document was also drafted to give bishops uniform guidelines on an increasingly contentious matter, as a growing number of Catholics contest the church's position that only men can be ordained as priests.
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Word spread like wildfire in Catholic circles: Douglas Kmiec, a staunch Republican, firm foe of abortion and veteran of the Reagan Justice Department, had been denied Communion. His sin? Kmiec, a Catholic who can cite papal pronouncements with the facility of a theological scholar, shocked old friends and adversaries alike earlier this year by endorsing Barack Obama for president. For at least one priest, Kmiec's support for a pro-choice politician made him a willing participant in a grave moral evil. Kmiec was denied Communion in April at a Mass for a group of Catholic businesspeople he later addressed at dinner. The episode has not received wide attention outside the Catholic world, yet it is the opening shot in an argument that could have a large impact on this year's presidential campaign: Is it legitimate for bishops and priests to deny Communion to those supporting candidates who favor abortion rights?
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One of the Catholic Church's most senior theologians, and former mentor to Pope Benedict XVI, has launched a stinging attack on the Vatican. Father Hans Küng, 80, a Swiss priest and professor at Tübingen university said it was a "tragedy" for the Catholic Church that Rome had failed to follow the path of liberalisation set out by the Vatican II council in 1965. In his autobiography, My Fight for Freedom, Fr Küng said he was responsible for Benedict XVI's appointment as a professor at Tübingen 1966 when he was dean of the Catholic theology faculty. Unusually, Father Küng put forward no other candidates for the post. "I called only the strongest colleague, not any mediocre ones. Mediocre professors appoint mediocre colleagues; strong professors call strong colleagues," he said, adding that their three-year relationship had been fruitful.
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People around the country and, more importantly, around campus are beginning to realize that academic freedom and diversity are here to stay at DePaul, and the Statesman is the leading voice of this movement. But there's still much to be accomplished. The conservative voice still endures constant prejudice on campus. DePaul is in the process of crafting a speech code barring "offensive speech." Speech codes are dangerous tools on a college campus, capable of silencing whichever voices the administration does not agree with. A few examples of events the DePaul administration labeled as "hate speech" includes a table offering information about illegal immigration and a forum held about affirmative action with national know speaker and author Dinesh D"Souza.
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It is nothing short of amazing to read the piece by Anthony Stevens-Arroyo (in the Washington Post.) He starts by saying, "The Catholic League is not the 'All Catholic' League. It is not official Catholicism: still less does it speak for each and every one of the nation's 60 million Catholics." That's right, the Vatican is the "All Catholic" League and we never claimed to represent "each and every one of the nation's 60 million [we're actually closer to 70 million, but never mind] Catholics." But I hasten to add that the Catholic League is listed in the Official Catholic Directory and is not, therefore, some wayward organization that goes about willy nilly slapping the name Catholic on its masthead.
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Here's the backstory on how the Rev. John Hagee got religion (the Catholic kind). When the San Antonio televangelist burst onto the national political scene in February with his endorsement of John McCain, it wasn't pretty. Instantly, the Internet was filled with snippets from sermons and provocative YouTube clips of the portly pastor calling the Catholic church "the great whore" of Revelations and suggesting the Vatican was complicit in the Holocaust. Catholics, particularly Bill Donohue of the Catholic League, howled in protest. Publicly, Mr. McCain scrambled to distance himself from the pastor, whose endorsement was aimed at winning evangelicals.
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The Rev. Otis Moss has taken over leadership of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. For those who think Moss will offer a change in philosophy to the much-maligned Rev. Jeremiah Wright, they are grossly mistaken. Moss preaches the same hate-filled philosophy as Wright, but few seem to care. "There is nothing new under the sun." And none of this deadly behavior is new to me. It will be the same underlying atrocity from within and without the black Baptist church tradition and in the world (of which those pastors also are) that I have vigorously fought to expose for the past 20 years without let up. Now, I believe I am going to let up and let go, because the people are still on their way to Hell and they are still loving the trip. The fact is they "have exchanged the truth for a lie," and they have no intention of letting God be God. Instead, they have stolen all that is true and Godly from God's house -- from the pulpit to the door -- and have taken it to use for their own secular purposes.
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So it's interesting that in Washington this week, Catholic University stepped in to squash an entire lecture series because some speakers "appear to espouse views that are contrary to the mission and values of Catholic University." What prompted such a decisive response? The speakers scheduled to appear at Catholic U. were E. Michael Jones, the editor of Culture Wars magazine, and John Sharpe, founder of IHS Press. Both are Catholics- admittedly of a controversial stripe, but Catholics nonetheless. So what was the complaint against them? The Southern Poverty Law Center- a leftist group that has often criticized Catholics- charges that Jones and Sharpe are "raging anti-Semites." A spokesman for the group claimed: "A simple Google search will show you the frightening ideology of these men." Go ahead. Try the Google search. Are you convinced? Do you see compelling evidence of anti-Semitism? Anything as clear as Hillary Clinton's voting record? The question here is not whether you and I agree with Jones and Sharpe, but whether their views are demonstrably at odds with the teachings of the Catholic Church. When you're finished with that question, ask yourself why it is that officials at Catholic universities will ignore the plaintive cries of the Catholic laity, but leap to respond to a left-wing pressure group.
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Two young men - one homosexual, one heterosexual - tell very different stories about an argument that occurred late on a Friday night (April 11) in this college town, but only one - the straight student-athlete - faces a felony "hate crime" conviction with a maximum penalty of up to three years in prison. Brett VanAsdlen faces a Class 4 felony hate crime after originally being charged with aggravated battery following an incident in which he pushed 20-year-old homosexual University of Illinois student Steven Velasquez to the ground. The critical question is: why did he push Velasquez and who was aggressor? VanAsdlen's family says it was Velasquez who - after Brett made a comment about Velasquez and his homosexual partner - first "got in Brett's face," to which Brett responded by pushing Velasquez away. Velasquez claims that Brett attacked him unprovoked because of his homosexuality.
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The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts has criticized state leaders of the Knights of Columbus for refusing to allow a vote at their annual convention on a measure that would have required suspension of the membership of politicians who support abortion or same-sex marriage. A resolution proposed at the state K of C convention would have directed the state deputy "to summarily suspend those members of the Knights of Columbus who are public officials, present or former, or candidates for public office, who through their votes, campaign literature, web sites or public statements openly support abortion or homosexual marriage." Joseph Craven, who introduced the resolution, cited the rules of the K of C, which require suspension or expulsion for members "giving scandal, scandalous conduct or practice unbecoming a member of this Order."
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On May 2, Catholic League president Bill Donohue issued a news release urging Sen. Barack Obama to dissolve his Catholic National Advisory Council. Donohue did so because not one of the 26 former and current public policy holders who constitute the group stand with the Catholic Church on all three major issues: abortion, embryonic stem cell research and school vouchers. He provided evidence that the overwhelming majority of these advisors agreed with NARAL, the most pro-abortion group in the nation, 100 percent of the time. Now the group has written to Donohue protesting his remarks...
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Ben Stein is known to many as an actor on Comedy Central. But the funniest part about his latest movie called "Expelled" is not any clever lines spoken by Stein but the hysterical way the liberals are trying to discourage people from seeing it. Stein's critics don't effectively refute anything in "Expelled"; they just use epithets to ridicule it and hope they can make it go away. However, it won't go away; even Scientific American, which labeled the movie "shameful," concedes that it cannot be ignored. The movie is about how scientists who dare to criticize Darwinism or discuss the contrary theory called Intelligent Design (ID) are expelled, fired, denied tenure, blacklisted, and bitterly denounced. Academic freedom doesn't extend to this issue.
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Dawn Eden, the US author and chastity campaigner, relates the story of her lecture tour in the Catholic high schools in Ontario where the girls "competed to wear the shortest skirts" and students defiantly told her that they "loved sex." Eden described Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School in Strathroy, as her "toughest crowd" from which some students after the talk wrote threatening and abusive messages on her weblog. Eden wrote of her shock at encountering the atmosphere in the publicly funded Ontario Catholic school system: "One school where I spoke yesterday, likewise Catholic and state-funded, had a display table on testicular cancer just inside the front door. Now, I realize it's important for young men to learn about such things-but it was disconcerting to walk into a Catholic school and be greeted with a sign shouting, 'MY LEFT NUT.'"
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When Sen. Barack Obama recently announced the formation of his Catholic National Advisory Council, he said he was "deeply honored to have the support and counsel of these committed Catholic leaders, scholars and advocates." Commenting on this group is Catholic League president Bill Donohue: "The best advice I can give Sen. Obama about his Catholic National Advisory Council is to dissolve it immediately. Of the 26 Catholic former or current public office holders he has listed as either National Co-Chairs (5), or as members of the National Leadership Committee (21), there is not one who agrees with the Catholic Church on all three major public policy issues: abortion, embryonic stem cell research and school vouchers."
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In response to Father Andrew Greeley's recent dig at the Cardinal Newman Society, the organization's president, Patrick J. Reilly, provided me with the following statement: 'There is an aging generation of activists and academics in the Catholic Church who are increasingly bitter about the failure of the experiment with moral relativism and independence from the bishops' moral authority that has dominated Catholic institutions in the United States for more than 40 years. Last week, Pope Benedict XVI presented a vision for America and Catholic educators that is rooted in fidelity to the Church and filled with the hope that comes from Christ, not secularism..."
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Remember the flap over Don Imus when he made a crude comment about the Rutgers University women's basketball team? You would have thought he had insulted the highest dignitary in the world. Of course, his remarks were totally out of line and never should have been made - on that we all agree. But at the time I thought the flap was totally disproportionate to the actual event. It was hard not to miss the uproar; the discussion of his inappropriate comments went worldwide. It took Imus a long time to recover and he's still offensive, but he hasn't got a thing on HBO's Bill Maher. Imus got worldwide exposure and a pink slip; Maher has gotten a free ride - at least so far. I am flabbergasted that the media is nearly silent when it comes to one of their own hurling hateful comments at Pope Benedict XVI just days before his arrival on American soil. One of Maher's remarks, the only one I would even quote, was this: "If you have a few hundred followers and you let some of them molest children, they call you a cult leader. If you have a billion, they call you pope."
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Bill Maher, host of the HBO political talk show "Real Time with Bill Maher," has caused a stir among some Christian circles after comments he made recently on his show. In last Friday's episode, which is also running throughout this week, the host made negative comments against the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, followed by an attack on Catholicism. Some groups, such as the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, are putting pressure on Time Warner, the parent company of HBO, to now fire Maher, much like NBC did with the shock jock Don Imus over racist remarks. "We are writing to the 14 members who sit on the board of directors of Time Warner," expressed Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, "asking each of them whether Maher's gratuitous and highly offensive attack on Jesus Christ merits the same punishment afforded Imus for his racist remark."
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In a Wall Street Journal feature opinion essay titled "The Weekend Interview: Rev. John I. Jenkins, Catholicism, Inc.," deputy editor Naomi Schaefer Riley provides an illuminating description of her interview with Father Jenkins in anticipation of the Pope's address to college and university presidents. It should be noted preliminarily that, as may be evident from the article, Ms. Riley knows a good deal about Notre Dame. She devoted an entire chapter to the University in her well-received book, God on the Quad. Ms. Riley opens with Father Jenkins's account of Father Hesburgh's offer of a teaching position to the young Father Joseph Ratzinger, but she then wonders "whether such an offer would be made today [and] more significantly, whether someone with the Pope's beliefs about Catholic higher education could accept."
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"Commentators are already saying that Obama's remarks are an attack on small town America. But they are more than that. Just as words can be taken out of context, it is equally wrong to dismiss the context in which words are spoken. The forum Obama chose to make his remarks was a crowd of wealthy, left-leaning secularists in the most left-leaning, secular city in America-San Francisco. In other words, it was a safe venue for him to speak condescendingly about those so-called small-minded Christians."
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On April 18, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," will boast the largest U.S. opening of any documentary film ever. Scheduled for release in 1,000 theatres, "Expelled" will be hotter than "Farenheit 9/11," which debuted on 868 screens, and much more convenient to see than "An Inconvenient Truth," which I was surprised to find opened on only four screens nationwide despite all the hype, peaking at 587 before its appeal melted. What's "Expelled" about? Synopsizes CNS News: "Expelled" calls attention to the plight of highly credentialed scholars who have been forced out of prestigious academic positions because they proposed Intelligent Design as a possible alternative to Charles Darwin's 150-year-old theories about the origins of life.
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Ever since former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton proclaimed that she and her husband were the victims of a "vast right-wing conspiracy," "conspiracy" has been the hot word used to ridicule your opponents. When President George W. Bush wanted to avoid answering questions about whether the Security and Prosperity Partnership is the prelude to a North American Union connected by a three-country superhighway, he accused SPP critics of believing in a conspiracy. By definition, conspiracies are usually secret. There's nothing secret about right-wingers organizing to criticize the Clintons and their goals, and there's nothing secret about plans to morph the United States into a North American Union.
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Some who follow such matters may tend to think they've heard everything regarding these shenanigans. Others, who know better, realize that when it comes to suppressing of the immemorial rite, never think you've heard everything. In a first (a first not only in anti-TLM hubris, but quite possibly a first in the history of Holy Church) the TLM community in the diocese of Portland Maine billed for their Mass. They are to be charged $72,000 per year, with an initial $18,000 down payment being due on or before July 1st, only a little over 2 1/2 months from the time this is being written. (CCI NOTE: Liturgical dance extravaganzas and ad-libbed Novus Ordo Masses are still widely available throughout the Diocese at no additional charge.)
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The Rev. John C. Hagee, who has been criticized over his views on Catholics and Jews, endorsed John McCain in February. But since then, Mr. Hagee has been on the defensive over some of his views about Catholics and Jews, and he and Mr. McCain's campaign have been silent about his endorsement. The controversial endorsement points to Mr. McCain's tenuous relationship with conservative evangelicals, a group that President Bush courted with tremendous success and that Republicans have come to view as vital to their prospects in many states. The McCain campaign sought Mr. Hagee's support, Mr. Hagee said in a recent interview. But after the two announced the endorsement at an event on Feb. 27 in San Antonio, Mr. Hagee's hometown, the campaign has stopped talking about it.
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With that in mind, I was more than stunned to receive an invitation to Notre Dame's largest fundraising event, the Fourth Annual "Celebration of Light 2008" on May 12th, honoring two alumnae whose political backgrounds totally contradict the high ideals and traditions I once had associated with a Catholic identity. Awards will be given to Maria Antonia Berrios '95, Illinois State Representative (D-39-Chicago) and Patti Solis Doyle '83, Senior Advisor to Hillary Rodham Clinton...
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CCI NOTES: For years Rev. Michael Pfleger has operated out of St. Sabina's on Chicago's south side with impunity. Having used his parish to host all manner of anti-Catholic politicians, it's no surprise that his recent outburst in defense of racists and hate-mongers came from the pulpit as well. For his latest rant CLICK HERE.
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Jay Leno apologized yesterday for asking actor Ryan Phillippe to give his "gayest look" during a recent show. The actor was quite uncomfortable with Leno's quip and the late-night host came under fire by gay rights groups for his remarks. Commenting today is Catholic League president Bill Donohue...
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Senator Barack Obama's controversial former spiritual adviser, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, made a surprise appearance at a Catholic church on the South Side of Chicago on Friday night. During the visit, the pastor of St. Sabina Catholic Church praised Wright and asked him to deliver a blessing for the church's lecture series, CBS2 Chicago reports. Wright, who was Senator Obama's mentor for twenty years, became the center of controversy after clips of his sermons condemning America were posted on the internet. Senator Obama, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the presidency, has distanced himself from Wright's remarks. Wright's visit to St. Sabina's was reportedly his first public appearance since the controversy over his remarks began.
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Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev made clear this past weekend that he is an atheist after European news agencies last week claimed that he had confirmed his Christian faith during a visit to the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi in Italy. Gorbachev, the last communist leader of the Soviet Union, confronted speculations that he had been a closeted Christian during an interview with the Russian news agency Interfax. "Over the last few days some media have been disseminating fantasies -- I can't use any other word -- about my secret Catholicism, citing my visit to the Sacro Convento friary, where the remains of St. Francis of Assisi lie," Gorbachev said, according to an Interfax article posted Friday.
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Six Iraq war protesters disrupted an Easter Mass on Sunday, shouting and squirting fake blood on themselves and parishioners in a packed auditorium. Three men and three women startled the crowd during Cardinal Francis George's homily, yelling "Even the Pope calls for peace" as they were removed from the Mass by security guards and ushers. One Mass attendee, Mike Wainscott of Chicago, yelled at the anti-war protesters. "Are you happy with yourselves?" he said. "There were kids in there. You scared little kids with your selfish act. Are you happy now?"
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In the annals of judicial imperialism, we have arrived at a strange new chapter. A California court ruled this month that parents cannot "home school" their children without government certification. No teaching credential, no teaching. Parents "do not have a constitutional right to home school their children," wrote California appellate Justice Walter Croskey. The 166,000 families in the state that now choose to educate their children at home must be stunned. But at least one political lobby likes the ruling. "We're happy," the California Teachers Association's Lloyd Porter told the San Francisco Chronicle. He says the union believes all students should be taught only by "credentialed" teachers, who will in due course belong to unions.
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The Tibetan Catholic Church in Cizhong, a Christian enclave on the threshold of the Himalayas, has seen its Easter services curbed after anti-Chinese riots in Lhasa caused the region's deadliest tensions in two decades. As a result, this tiny community of less than 1,000 souls located in amid picturesque mountains in an overwhelmingly Buddhist area has been affected by the recent unrest where it matters the most for them -- religion. Easter Sunday is the most important day for the congregation at Cizhong's nearly 100-year-old church due to the similarities between the resurrection of Christ and the reincarnation beliefs of Tibetan Buddhism, locals here said.
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Chinese Catholics in mainland China are praying for peace in the Tibet Autonomous Region after the most serious protests staged by Tibetans there in 20 years. Lu Rendi of Yanjing parish, the only Catholic parish in Tibet, told UCA News on March 19 that the 500 local Tibetan Catholics are praying for peace in the region. The Tibetan Catholic leader added that daily life continues as usual in Yanjing, 2,011 kilometers southwest of Beijing and about three days' travel by road from the Tibetan provincial capital of Lhasa. A Catholic source in Yunnan province, which neighbors Tibet to the southeast, told UCA News on March 18 that the road leading from the Yunnan border to Yanjing had been blocked recently. Religious affairs officials also went to see if the Church in Yanjing is in order, said the source, an ethnic Tibetan born outside of Tibet. He said he could do nothing but pray for the people and for China.
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This is not the first time that my conscience obliges me to publish critical - but invariably respectful and well-documented - commentaries about the diplomatic relations of high Church figures with the Communist State. They are comments made by the imperative of conscience of a faithful Catholic and Cuban political prisoner for 22 years, whose faith was vivified hearing the cries of those young people who were shot by firing squads, whose last words were expressions of faith in the Church and repudiation of a system that, to use the term of then-Card. Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is the "shame of our times."
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Hillary Clinton came to Pittsburgh this past Saturday to march in the city's giant St. Patrick's Day parade, the second largest in the US. Clinton, who is militantly pro-abortion and has vowed to be the first US President to march in a homosexual rights parade if she wins the presidency, was in town to strengthen her Catholic supporter base in Western Pennsylvania. At least one parade viewer with some of her family, however, plus one lone parade marcher, felt compelled to point out the contradiction of Clinton marching in a parade honoring a great pro-life Catholic saint, who would have abhorred Clinton's policies on moral issues.
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A group of pharmacists asked the Illinois Supreme Court on Tuesday to throw out a rule that forces them to dispense emergency contraception despite moral objections, claiming it amounts to illegal coercion. Gov. Rod Blagojevich issued the rule in 2005, prohibiting pharmacies from turning away women seeking emergency contraception. The medicine is a higher dosage of typical hormonal contraception, and if taken within three days of having sex it greatly reduces the chance of pregnancy. Pharmacists who do not want to dispense the drug say it is tantamount to abortion. The closely watched case mirrors concerns raised in other states. The druggists argued that Illinois law protects them from choosing between violating their consciences and losing their licenses, and that they shouldn't have to wait until they're out of jobs to seek justice.
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"The hate-mongers typically come out of the woods in the days leading up to Holy Week. Easter can't come and go without someone taking aim at Christianity. This has been a relatively tame Lent thus far. Until, that is, The Cavalier Daily decided to once again dip into the well of bigotry. In the Fall of 2006, we wrote to the paper requesting an apology for cartoons that mocked the crucifixion and indicated that the Virgin Mary had an 'Immaculately Transmitted' venereal disease. (This apology was originally denied, though eventually the vile cartoons were removed from the paper's website and a statement of regret was posted.) And now The Cavalier Daily has returned to its old tricks, just as we approach the holiest time of the Christian calendar."
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Fr. Liam Lawton sang "Danny Boy" (movingly, it was said) in her honor. There were readings from works by Maya Angelou, David Whyte, and John O'Donohue. Paying tribute were Cardinal Roger Mahony, Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson of St. Monica's parish in Santa Monica, and Megan McKenna, a self-described "writer, theologian, storyteller, missionary." All these and about 500 more were gathered Feb. 29 for a Religious Education Congress event, a dinner to honor Religious Sister of Charity Edith Prendergast, director of the Office of Religious Education for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles since 1987. As director, Sister Edith has overseen the archdiocese's annual Religious Education Congress, a gathering of religious educators and others from California and across the U.S. that has become notorious over the years for its presenters who dissent from Church teachings.
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Pope Benedict XVI will not change a Latin prayer which calls for the conversion of Jews because it is theologically proper, a top German cardinal said today. The Pope "will leave the prayer as it is. From our point of view, it is entirely correct from a theological point of view," Cardinal Walter Kasper told German television channel ARD. Kasper, chairman of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and a member of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, said on Tuesday a delegation of top rabbis would visit the Vatican this week for talks on the prayer which they want changed.
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Americanism is a term that appears to express nothing more than a devotion to America. In reality, however, it teaches principles and a way of life that pose, and always have posed, a threat to the Church of Rome. Indeed, the threat that it poses to Catholicism may be the most dangerous experienced by her in the past few centuries of revolution. Its harmful quality arises from its subtle and effective transformation of the United States into a new religion whose central dogma of "pluralism" cannot be investigated or questioned; a new religion whose creed is said to be purely "practical" and "pragmatic", but which actually aims at a messianic rebuilding of the entire globe; a new religion that brooks no opposition to its will.
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The following are disturbing phenomena characteristic of modern liberalism: Intolerant speech codes on college campuses (i.e., politically correct restrictions on free speech or, in a word, censorship); "hate crime" legislation (i.e., mind-control legislation that penalizes politically incorrect thoughts and feelings); the abuse of psychiatry (e.g., the unscientific elimination of homosexuality from the professionally recognized catalog of mental disorders and the ominous use of the pathologically-sounding term "homophobe" to stigmatize people who are morally opposed to homosexual activity); antagonism to free association (e.g., attempts to coerce organizations like the Boy Scouts to admit homosexuals). Like other political movements that started out with seemingly good intentions but veered into totalitarianism (e.g., Communism), it appears that modern liberalism is following the same path.
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Dear Mr. Anderson: With 49 million abortions since Roe v Wade, you must expel K of C Pro-Abortion and Pro-Homosexual politicians and members, or resign as Supreme Knight. A vow to protect the unborn children, to be renewed at yearly K of C Masses, must be a membership condition. Please investigate the K of C suspension of Pro-Life members and write to me. (CCI NOTES: It has been alleged that K of C has been quitely re-assigning or dismissing insurance sellers and other members who become too aggressive in their defense of innocent life.)
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Ten years today, on March 4, 1998, a Wisconsin priest was found brutally murdered in the hallway of his school by one of the teachers at that school. Fr. Alfred J. Kunz was devoted to the truths of Christ, the Church, and his parishioners. The murder has never been solved. We will follow up this article with an entire section of International News Analysis devoted to the words and works of Fr. Kunz and whatever progress is made in the investigation into the murder of this true servant of God. A detective assigned to the case has stated that the investigation is still open and is not considered a "cold case." There is a possibility that recent developments in the science of criminal investigation, including DNA research, may at last identify the killer(s).
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Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama has promised to use the presidency as a "bully pulpit" for homosexual activism, according to an open letter released on his campaign website. In the February 28 letter posted under the "LGBT" section of the "People" heading, Senator Obama said he would press for the passage of hate crime laws and a "fully inclusive" Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. "As your President, I will use the bully pulpit to urge states to treat same-sex couples with full equality in their family and adoption laws," Obama said.
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Bob Geldof has parachuted into the White House travel pool here in Rwanda, and will join us on the flight from Air Force One to Ghana tonight. He's going to interview President Bush for Time magazine and several European outlets, such as Liberacion, about aid to Africa for HIV/AIDS, malaria, and business development. Mr. Geldof is an Irish rock and roll singer and longtime social activist who has helped, along with U2 rocker Bono, raise awareness about need in Africa. His most well known achievement is organizing the Live Aid concert in 1985, which raised money for debt relief for poor African countries.
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The president of the Catholic League today blasted Sen. John McCain for accepting the endorsement of Texas evangelicalist John Hagee, calling the controversial pastor a bigot who has "waged an unrelenting war against the Catholic Church." Hagee, who is known for his crusading support of Israel, backed McCain's presidential bid Wednesday, standing next to the senator at a hotel in San Antonio and calling McCain "a man of principle." But Catholic League President Bill Donohue said in a statement today that Hagee has written extensively in negative ways about the Catholic Church, "calling it 'The Great Whore,' an 'apostate church,' the 'anti-Christ,' and a 'false cult system.'"
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The former director of a pro-abortion group that claims to be Catholic has endorsed Barack Obama as the most pro-abortion presidential candidate in the race. Frances Kissling, the former president of Catholics for a Free Choice, responded to a Huffington Post editorial by Ellie Smeal, Gloria Steinem and others endorsing Hillary Clinton. Kissling admitted that there is little difference between the pro-abortion policies both Democratic candidates would advance as president, and the judges they would appoint to keep abortion legal another 35 years. "I believe in the nitty gritty of a day-to-day legislative agenda, there will be little difference between Clinton and Obama," Kissling wrote.
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While Braxton rarely comments to local reporters and could not be reached for comment for this article, he did respond to Commonweal, citing a need to protect the "magisterium," or teaching authority of the Catholic Church, and wrote: "I do not wish Catholic institutions or organizations to invite speakers into the diocese who have written articles or given lectures that oppose, deny, reject, undermine or call into question the authentic teachings of the magisterium of the Catholic Church." Steven Sanders, a Carbondale insurance brokerage owner and member of the center's pastoral council that invited Johnson, said of Braxton, "I think he's stepping in where it's none of his damn business. These kids are college kids. They should be able to hear all sides." (CCI NOTES To Mr. Sanders: Next time you are cursing out your Catholic Bishop, make sure the reporter's microphone is O-F-F...)
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The Rev. Terrance McNicholas left his position as an associate pastor in the Archdiocese of Chicago more than a decade ago. Yet he continues to say Mass alone every day in his Hyde Park home. "It's part of my routine. It's who I am," said the clinical social worker with a private practice in Chicago, Arlington Heights and Palos Heights. He also conducts weddings and officiates at funerals through Rent A Priest, a service of Celibacy is the Issue Ministries. Though he no longer is involved in parish life, McNicholas is licensed by the state to perform weddings.
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Jesuits ranks have thinned from 38,000 Jesuits worldwide in 1965 to about half that number today. Their average age is rising and their seminaries are anything but full. There is a reason for that: lack of orthodoxy coupled with toleration of dissent and misconduct in the ranks. Only strong leadership and a return to discipline will restore the Jesuits to their position as the world's pre-eminent defenders of the Faith - and, like the rest of us, St. Ignatius will surely be watching.
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Last week the Catholic League criticized a bill introduced by Colorado Rep. Gwyn Green that would make it easier to sue private institutions in cases involving child sexual abuse. Our criticism centered on one objection: public institutions were given a pass. Rep. Green said at the time that she would introduce another bill that would address public institutions. She has now done so. Here is what Catholic League president Bill Donohue says about it...
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Catholic University abruptly canceled an 11-part lecture series, 'Building Catholic Communities,' on Monday, after the Southern Poverty Law Center complained that two of the scheduled lecturers are anti-Semites. The university released a statement yesterday saying the lecturers 'appear to espouse views that are contrary to the mission and values of Catholic University. In light of this development, the dean of the school decided to cancel the lecture series,' referring to Randall Ott, dean of Catholic's school of architecture. Mark Potok, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project, called the school to complain about the participation of E. Michael Jones, editor of the South Bend, Ind.-based Culture Wars magazine, and John Sharpe, founder of the Norfolk-based IHS Press and the Legion of St. Louis, an Internet-based forum.
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British athletes who want to compete in the summer Olympics will be required to sign a contract promising not to make statements critical of the communist regime's human rights record or they will not be permitted to travel to China, according to a 32-page document prepared by the British Olympic Association. "There are all sorts of organizations who would like athletes to use the Olympic Games as a vehicle to publicize their causes," Simon Clegg, BOA's chief executive, told the London Daily Mail. "I don't believe that is in the interest of the team performance. As a team we are ambassadors of the country and we have to conform to an appropriate code of conduct."
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This was not the first brush with academic freedom of inquiry at DePaul. Only after an extensive spotlight was turned on it, did DePaul refuse tenure as political science professor to one Norman Finkelstein for the 2007 -08 academic year who had questioned Jewish exploitation of the Holocaust. Then only after Alan Dershowitz entered the fray, making it a national cause celebre and even then DePaul praised Finkelstein as "a prolific scholar and outstanding teacher." Prof. Ward Churchill of the University of Colorado had been invited to speak to students on a paying basis; hje is noted for saying that the victims of 9/11 had it coming. Rebukes were ignored as the university took the side of the most virulent activists. But DePaul has not been evenhanded...
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Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented today on the Dana Jacobson episode that took place at the January 11 celebrity roast of radio personalities Mike and Mike: "On January 22, I said in a news release that 'there is no evidence that ESPN is taking this matter seriously.' I am happy to say that after speaking to two ESPN officials today, and having learned more about exactly what happened, that they are in fact taking this matter seriously. Indeed, I am convinced that what occurred at the roast will not happen again."
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ESPN and its parent company, ABC, have refused to take any action against ESPN anchorwoman Dana Jacobson for her hateful, slurring remarks against Jesus, saying "F-- -- Jesus." On January 11, Jacobson was speaking at a celebrity roast in Atlantic City, N.J., when she unleashed a profane tirade, saying, "F--- Notre Dame," "F--- Touchdown Jesus" and finally "F--- Jesus." "Touchdown Jesus" is the popular moniker for a statue of Jesus raising his arms, located on the Notre Dame campus.
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I like Father Tom Euteneuer, president of Human Life International. He's not afraid to speak out forcefully on key moral issues, unlike many of the clergy today. So I was happy that Father responded to my request for a statement on the current Rick Majerus, Archbishop Raymond Burke controversy, in particular this Jan. 23, 2008 story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Mr. Majerus, coach of the St. Louis University basketball team, voiced support for abortion "rights" at a recent rally for pro-abortion presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Archbishop Burke wants the university - a nominally Catholic one, by the way - to discipline the defiant, pro-abortion coach.
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Dr. Jack Kevorkian surprised a crowd of over 5,000 people at the University of Florida (UF) Tuesday night when he unleashed an attack on the "made up mythology of religion," and said that while in medical school he never took the Hippocratic Oath. Kevorkian, 79, spent his time in Gainesville meeting with the UF ACCENT Speakers Bureau and speaking with students at a question-and-answer session ahead of his sold-out speech at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center, Tuesday evening. Throughout the day though, Kevorkian's theme remained focused on the often overlooked 9th Amendment and the "terrible crisis" that is gripping the nation.
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Last year, "Titanic" director James Cameron and TV-director Simcha Jacobovici said that the Jesus family tomb had been found. The archaeological community dismissed their contention completely, and now Princeton's James Charlesworth has completed a Jerusalem conference that brought together over 50 scientists to discuss the issue.
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During the Wednesday, January 9th broadcast of ABC's "The View," co-host Joy Behar made the scandalous claim that mental illness, not sanctity, is what led to the canonization of Catholic saints. "I'm going to get in trouble for this, but you know what? I have a theory that you can't find any saints anymore because of psycho-tropic medication. I think that in the old days the saints were hearing voices and they didn't have any Thorazine to calm them down. Now that we have all of this medication available to us, you can't find a saint any more."
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While Weber suggests that the homily may have been somewhat "graphic" for a Sunday Mass, insofar as it touched on some of the science of NFP, he agrees that nothing in the homily was contrary to Catholic teaching. The fact that Fr. Bartolomeo was dismissed from the parish Weber calls "drastic." "I think it's rather drastic, without knowing all the facts, to come down on a man in this way."
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"Dr. Anthony Tambasco is a hazard to the faith of the people of God. Since I have outlined his heresies on numerous occasions in both the Les Femmes newsletter and in conversations with the chancellor and the catechetical office I am at a loss to understand his continued appearance in the diocese spreading his egregious errors... I beg you, Bishop Loverde, for the sake of the faith and for love of the Blessed Mother, permanently ban this heretical speaker from all the parishes in Arlington. At one time Fr. Paul deLadurantaye said the diocese was planning to assign someone to review speakers for orthodoxy. Such a review could prevent the repetition of serious scandals such as this in the future. Has that idea been abandoned?"
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The top Vatican official who deals with religious orders, Cardinal Franc Rode, addressed the 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) today. Cardinal Rode who was installed by Pope Benedict XVI as Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life spoke repeatedly about his "sorrow and anxiety" at the state of the Jesuit order in terms of infidelity to the teachings of the Church. Cardinal Rode recalled the founder of the Society of Jesus, St. Ignatius and his primary formula for the order: "To serve the Lord and his Spouse the Church under the Roman Pontiff."
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The outrage by some people over department stores using the phrase "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" is a distraction from real moral and social issues, according to a group of concerned Catholics and evangelical Christians. The group has called for a "cease-fire in the Christmas culture wars," and challenged conservative talk-show host Bill O'Reilly and others who have lashed out against a so-called secular "War on Christmas." In an "Open Letter to Christmas Culture Warriors" published as an advertisement in the New York Post, Washington Times and the National Catholic Reporter, the group says the debate about words used in greetings detracts from the Christmas message of love and good will.
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The U.S. Postal Service revealed its upcoming stamps for 2008. According to the Service's press release, "the 2008 stamp program recognizes a range of subjects as diverse as America itself, from the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrated in Chinatowns all over the country, to 20th century movie icons and literary figures, to the flags of our states and territories."
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On December 4, 2007, at the start of the Jewish feast of Hanukkah, Bishop Jerome Listecki, head of the Diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin, participated in a religious ceremony at the synagogue of his city. On the occasion he addressed the Jews present saying: "I am here with you this evening as a friend. In that friendship, I share in the confidence that together we might walk in a re-dedication to our freedom and mutual respect directed by the light that guides our path."
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Chicago newspapers have reported a new anti-gay "hate crime" that involved a homosexual man who violently assaulted and raped another homosexual man. You may be asking yourself -- as am I -- how can a homosexual man be charged with a "hate crime" against another homosexual? If a male rapist victimizes another man -- isn't the rapist a homosexual by definition? Still, the Cook County state's attorney's office has decided to press "hate crime" charges in this case.
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Moscow. Russia's one-time all-powerful Communists have confirmed they will field a candidate in next March's Presidential elections, as other opposition candidates fall by the wayside. From the highs of seven decades' of unchallenged authority, the Communists must now trawl for votes among people on the streets. Party leader and Presidential candidate Gennady Zyuganov attacked the state of Russia today, and what he called its dirty politics. "Power in Russia today is based on oil money and the media," he said. "We are offering a true partnership, but we demand proper political debate."
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The rap on DePaul that should deny it the name "Catholic" is this: In theology as in academic practice it is a psychedelic mockery of what a university is meant to be. It has gone berserk with at least two major derelictions. First, on moral, not theological grounds, it provides seduction of the innocent by serving as an incubator of sexual decadence. It offers an academic minor in Gay Studies (a/k/a gay rights, lesbian, transgender and queer studies). Masquerading as academic studies they are the ultimate in hard-core and sexual explicitness. Second, it denigrates the very idea of a university. It violates centuries of tradition of the university as a haven of academic freedom. It serves not as a colloquium of the open mind but fosters persecution of students and faculty dissenters and in more than one case has actively punished those who object to anti-Semitism.
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New representative of the Roman Catholic Church in Moscow Archbishop Paolo Pezzi has made a decision to close the Svet Evangelia (The Light of Gospel), the only Catholic weekly in Russia. "Given the fact that the structure of the information activity of the diocese is changing, a decision to close the newspaper was made. It will be replaced by other information resources, which we hope will be more relevant to the present-day state of affairs," the editor-in-chief of Svet Evangelia Viktor Khrul told Interfax-Religion on Tuesday. An editorial under the headline "We do not say farewell forever..." was published in the last issue of the newspaper on December 25. "You are holding an historic issue of the Svet Evangelia newspaper. This is the last issue. All explanations that need to be made over such things, will be made one day," the editorial reads.
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The Republican presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee, has been garnering attention in the media with his surge in political polls. However, a campaign stop this Sunday by Huckabee at a mega-church whose pastor sees Hitler as linked to the Catholic Church, could soon steal the spotlight. The controversial stop at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas took place this Sunday, December 23. He spoke at the church's two Sunday services at 8:30 and 11:00 a.m. where his speech was frequently interrupted by loud applause. The Catholic League's president, Bill Donahue, said that the pastor of the church, Rev. John Hagee, is militantly anti-Catholic. During the speech, Huckabee called Hagee "one of the great Christian leaders of our nation."
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The Halton Catholic District School Board has decided to pull the children's fantasy novel The Golden Compass from its shelves, despite a recommendation by the board's book committee that the title remain available to students in Grades 7 and up. At a meeting of the board trustees on Tuesday night, the recommendation was defeated in a majority decision, said board chair Alice Anne LeMay. Most trustees felt the book promotes values that are at odds with the Catholic ones the board aims to instill in its almost 28,500 students in communities west of Toronto. "I'm sure the book committee is a bit disappointed," Ms. LeMay said. "But at the end of the day, the board has to speak with one voice."
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Top Roman Catholic clergyman in Jerusalem slams definition of Israel as Jewish nation, says land must be shared by all religions. Latin Patriarch says Israeli-Palestinian conflict has unleashed 'forces of evil' across Middle East, conflict perpetuates because of Israel's 'unwillingness' to make peace ''If there's a state of one religion, other religions are naturally discriminated against,'' Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah told reporters at the annual press conference he holds in Jerusalem before Christmas. In his address, which he read in Arabic and English, Sabbah said Israel should abandon its Jewish character in favor of a ''political, normal state for Christians, Muslims and Jews.''
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Leaders of a Catholic group have responded in anger to news that Britney Spears is in talks to play the Virgin Mary in a satirical movie. As Entertainmentwise reported this week, a French producer has approached the troubled pop tart to take the lead role in Sweet Baby Jesus, which tells the story of a pregnant 19-year-old who goes into labour alone on Christmas Eve. We're not sure that Brit could pass for a teenager these days but still. Officials at America's Catholic League are apparently appalled that the single mother-of-two is up for the role.
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Looking at Hillary's public record would also mean taking a serious look at her very liberal Senate voting record. She has a perfect 100 pro-abortion score with NARAL. Except for "gay marriage," she's pretty much perfect with the gay Human Rights Campaign lobby. She gets an F from the National Rifle Association. On fiscal issues, she gets an F from the National Taxpayers Union, a 14-percent score from Citizens Against Government Waste, and only a 6.7 percent score from Americans for Tax Reform. Her lifetime American Conservative Union rating is nine percent. At every turn, whether it is scandalous behavior or a scandalously liberal voting record, Bill Clinton knows full well that if the press were really focusing "like a laser beam" on Hillary's past, her poll ratings would be dropping, not skyrocketing.
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The nation's largest faith- based association of physicians, the 15,000-member Christian Medical Association (www.cmda.org), today joined other leading national organizations in challenging The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) to stop its attack on the conscience rights of pro-life physicians. A letter, drafted by CMA and signed by other national organizations, blasted ACOG's Committee on Ethics position statement, " The Limits of Conscientious Refusal in Reproductive Medicine." CMA's letter noted that the statement "suggests a profound misunderstanding of the nature and exercise of conscience, an underlying bias against persons of faith and an apparent attempt to disenfranchise physicians who oppose ACOG's political activism on abortion."
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While it has been noted that the movie "tones down" the outright hostility to the Church and religious faith that is clearly expressed in the books, concerns remain. We would be deeply concerned that young people would be encouraged to follow the film with a serious reading of Pullman's books, where his clear goal is to undermine the religious faith of young people. Additionally, while the movie producers claim to have altered some of the book's contents to be less offensive in the film version, what remains is nevertheless disturbing. The identification of the evil entity that the film's heroine contends against is the "Magisterium". The use of this term is offensive. Catholics understand the magisterium as the teaching office of the Church. It is the "living teaching office of the Church", as noted by the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This office is exercised by the Holy Father and the bishops in communion with him, and is a gift of the Holy Spirit.
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"Our goal was to stop 'The Golden Compass' from meeting box office expectations, and we succeeded. The anti-Narnia flick pulled in $26.1 million in the U.S. and Canada. Now compare that to 'The Chronicles of Narnia': it took in $65.5 million its first weekend out. Indeed, the recent Disney movie, 'Enchanted,' took in $33.3 million during its first weekend. And when we consider that 'Golden Compass' cost $180 million to produce, and another $30-$40 million in advertising, the inescapable conclusion is that our boycott worked. No wonder the New York Times said today that instead of the movie giving Hollywood a much needed shot in the arm, 'It got more like a punch in the face.'
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'The Golden Compass,' a $180 million family fantasy starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, failed to direct the masses to movie theaters. The movie underperformed at the North American box office, opening at No. 1, but with weekend ticket sales of just $26.1 million, distributor New Line Cinema said on Sunday. The struggling unit of Time Warner Inc had hoped the film would pull in between $30 million and $40 million during its first three days. 'It's a little bit disappointing,' said Rolf Mittweg, president and chief operating officer of New Line's worldwide distribution and marketing operations.
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Is it possible that leaders in two North Carolina school districts -- in attempting to quash a potential legal battle -- have inadvertently removed from their schools a resource that the nation's founders argued was necessary for a proper education? "No more Bibles for the children." In an effort to appease the American Civil Liberties Union, that's what school officials in two counties in North Carolina (Cumberland and Harnett) essentially said to Gideons International recently. Before someone complained and the ACLU threatened legal action, the Gideons would simply place the Bibles on a table for students who may choose to pick one up. But not anymore! Of course, the ACLU is claiming elementary students might interpret the availability of the Bibles by an outside group as an endorsement of religion, which in their estimation would be a violation of the separation of church and state. America's Founders certainly wouldn't have agreed with that assessment.
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Halton's Catholic board has pulled The Golden Compass fantasy book - soon to be a Hollywood blockbuster starring Nicole Kidman - off school library shelves because of a complaint. Two other books in the trilogy by British author Philip Pullman have also been removed as a precaution, and principals have been ordered not to distribute December Scholastic book flyers because The Golden Compass is available to order. "(The complaint) came out of interviews that Philip Pullman had done, where he stated that he is an atheist and that he supports that," said Scott Millard, the board's manager of library services. "Since we are an educational institution, we want to be able to evaluate the material; we want to make sure we have the best material for students." Following a recent Star story about the series, an internal memo was sent to elementary principals that said "the book is apparently written by an atheist where the characters and text are anti-God, anti-Catholic and anti-religion."
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Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented today on how "The Golden Compass" is being criticized by friend and foe alike: "Poor Philip Pullman-he's getting it from all sides. In today's U.K. daily The Telegraph, it states that the movie version of Pullman's book, 'The Golden Compass,' has had 'a troubled transition to the screen.' To be specific, it says that 'The adaptation has managed to upset both Christians and atheists, the former because of the book's anti-religious themes and the latter because those very themes have been watered down and virtually excised from the film.' The article also says that the 'watering down' has been condemned by the National Secular Society-they like their bigotry naked. Say what you want about the group, they're at least honest, which is more than can be said about Pullman and his lackeys.
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According to CNSNews.com, leading atheist writers and intellectuals are engaged in a "scientific" quest to ultimately destroy organized religion, particularly Christianity. Oxford professor Richard Dawkins, author Sam Harris and journalist Christopher Hitchens are some of the big names leading this "new atheism" initiative. Evidence of their agenda is seen in efforts such as the Out Campaign and the Blasphemy Challenge. CNSNews.com defines the Out Campaign as "a movement started by Dawkins to encourage Americans to proudly display their atheism." ABC News describes the Blasphemy Challenge as a way "to challenge people to make videos of themselves denying, denouncing or blaspheming the Holy Spirit, and then post them on YouTube." ABC News also calls it "the cutting edge of a new and emboldened wave of atheism." The Blasphemy Challenge targets teens while an upcoming movie that may have a similar agenda is likely to appeal to families, especially children.
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Charging that the debate leading up to the 2008 elections "is increasingly filled with attacks on private conduct and recriminations," a group of prominent lay Catholics called for a "spirit of civility" in all political discussions and said the church must be protected "from being stained by the appearance of partisan political involvement." Signers of the "Catholic Call to Observe Civility in Political Debate," released on Election Day 2007, include 11 former U.S. ambassadors, former chairmen of both the Democratic and Republican national committees, a retired undersecretary-general of the United Nations, past and current university presidents, business executives, attorneys and former officeholders. Thomas P. Melady, former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican and president emeritus of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., said at a Nov. 6 news conference in Washington that a conscious decision was made not to solicit signers from among current Catholic officeholders.
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Pope Benedict XVI had a clear message for Catholic pharmacists on Monday saying they should avoid any involvement in abortion or euthanasia. His words provide support for pro-life groups trying to protect the conscious rights of pharmacists with laws to allow them to opt out of dispensing drugs in such cases. The leader of the Catholic Church spoke to participants at the 25th International Congress of Catholic Pharmacists. He said that their respect for the dignity of human life should compel Catholic pharmacists to avoid practices that destroy human life.
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Perhaps the biggest problem with atheists is their claim to be "rational" even though it is almost impossible to have a rational debate with them. And that is because they spend all their time using reason against the rules of reason, using science against the basis for science. Ultimately, they are spending all their time suppressing the colossal testimony that the proof of God's existence is the impossibility of the contrary. There simply is no rational justification for believing that all that is, is the result of blind chance and chaos.
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While the famously liberal city of San Francisco is known for its anti-military shenanigans, it's the anti-Christian and, in particular, anti-Catholic sentiment emanating from activist elements of the city's gay population that's been getting all the attention as of late. Most notably, it's been coming from the Fox News Channel, where "The O'Reilly Factor" host Bill O'Reilly, a practicing Catholic, is sick and tired of those who target his religion not only for ridicule, but outright hostility. The latest instance of such sentiment originated with an all too familiar source: San Francisco's notorious Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The "sisters" are a group of gay men who dress up as nuns - of the drag-queen variety - in an attempt to parody Catholicism and, in a larger sense, Christianity, for what they perceive as its intolerance towards homosexuality. Their motto is "go forth and sin some more" and members have adopted satirical names such as "Sister Chastity Boner" and "Sister Constance Craving of the Holey Desire."
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The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (CoE) has adopted a resolution to ban creationism from receiving any discussion in schools outside of religion classes. "The Parliamentary Assembly is worried about the possible ill-effects of the spread of creationist ideas within our education systems and about the consequences for our democracies," said the resolution adopted on October 4 by the Parliament made up of 626 members elected from each European Member State. "If we are not careful, creationism could become a threat to human rights which are a key concern of the Council of Europe," said the resolution.
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Last December, at a Rally for Marriage, in Worcester, MA, I was accused of "hate" because I would not allow a woman to stand in front of a podium and taunt a crowd of people, with her sign blocking their view of the speaker. She accused me of "hate" because I escorted her off the steps and back into the crowd. She tripped and fell after I left. When she noticed the attention she received for tripping over the foot of a teenager she went to the ground and started loudly chanting "that's what hate does" as she curled up into the fetal position. She wanted me arrested for assault, battery, violating her civil right to protest and a "hate" crime, because she could not have her way. The police had to prevent her from coming back on the steps and protesting. She told them that she knew her rights and that she was with the ACLU.
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Recent remarks by retired Cardinal Theodore McCarrick are a reminder of the tragic situation that exists within the Catholic Church these days. It is as though we were living in a twilight zone where there is no right or wrong, no moral absolutes of any kind, no guiding principles that apply in every situation regardless of the persons involved. In a recent statement, Cardinal McCarrick took aim at Archbishop Raymond Burke's treatise on why every person who distributes Holy Communion must be prepared to deny the sacrament to any public figure that is Catholic and is also pro-abortion. He said of Archbishop Burke, "I very much respect his position. It's not mine."
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CCI NOTES: For the last few days, several Catholic activists have received e-mails from Richard Nagle and editors at the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, including us a Catholic Citizens of Illinois. The level of immaturity, unprofessionalism, and deceit the employees of this paper have stooped to is incredible, even for an arguably left of center establishment newspaper. Nagle's emails are particularly crude, unprofessional, and mocking (i.e. what you would expect from a semi-literate gay/homosexual rights advocate.) CCI readers in the Massachusetts and everywhere else need to look at this for what it is. An opportunistic reporter at the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, under cover of is "rights" as a reporter, and in cooperation with obviously fraudulent "witnesses" to an alleged crime, jumped at the chance to "report" yet another instance of violent pro-life behavior.
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It is annoying when a moral theologian tries to act like a canon lawyer and gets it wrong. In addressing the, now notorious, October 6, 2007 distribution of Holy Communion to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (SPI) at Most Holy Redeemer (MHR), Fr. Jim Bretzke, professor of moral theology at the Jesuit University of San Francisco (USF), did just that in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. The Chronicle quotes Fr. Bretzke as saying, "The general sacramental principle is that you don't deny the sacrament to someone who requests it...The second principle is that you cannot give communion to someone who has been excommunicated." He said such people are designated "manifest public sinners" in canon law. Presumably, Fr. Bretzke referred to canon 915, but the canon says something different than what he implied.
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Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded today to the latest news regarding Miller's sponsorship of anti-Catholicism: "The Miller Brewing Company and the Board of Directors of the Folsom Street Fair have both issued press statements this week apologizing for the offensive Last Supper poster that was used to promote the event. As such, they have insulted Catholics one more time. Let me be specific. The poster was the least offensive part of this Catholic-bashing forum. What was even more offensive was the sight of Christian symbols being sold at this Miller-sponsored fair as sex toys. The obscene and blasphemous names of these vulgar sex toys are so disgusting that no mainstream newspaper would print them. Then there was the incredible sight of a stripper and a man dressed as Jesus hoisted in cages above a Catholic church on a Sunday. This was done to provoke, taunt and insult Catholics. And who greeted everyone at the street fair? Men dressed as nuns Had they been dressed like Al Jolson--with blackened faces--they would have been run out of town as racists."
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The New Hampshire Institute of Politics, a campus initiative of St. Anselm College, a Catholic college, has scheduled a lecture for tonight by pro-abortion, ex-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. The topic of the lecture is entitled: "Restoring America's Leadership: Madeleine Albright Speaks about Senator Hillary Clinton" and is part of a campaign tour that Albright is carrying out for Senator Clinton. Albright is best known as the outspoken Secretary of State during Clinton's presidency in the 1990's. She has long been a promoter of 'women's rights' and has been a very public opponent of President Bush's re-institution of the Mexico City Policy which prohibits US funding to foreign agencies that promote or provide abortion overseas. Albright argued that such pro-life policies are "fundamentally undemocratic."
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Well, the "Sisters" finally speak. After receiving Holy Communion from Roman Catholic Archbishop George H. Niederauer on October, 6, 2007 at Most Holy Redeemer Church in San Francisco, the cross-dressing Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence issued a statement on October 17, 2007. See: KNTV news story. They must have been tired of being upstaged by the fury directed at the archbishop. The highlights are as follow: "While at Mass the Sisters joined other parishioners in respectful and sincere worship and received Communion from the Archbishop." Somebody might want to inform the "Sisters" that one doesn't respect by dressing as drag queen nuns at a Catholic liturgy.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: On Sunday, October 7th, two homosexual men made a mockery of the Catholic faith and the Sacrament of Holy Communion in a San Francisco Catholic church. RFFM.org went to Mary Anne Hackett, the President of Catholic Citizens of Illinois for a response to what many are calling "The Outrage in San Francisco." Hackett lays much of the blame for the recent attacks on Christianity and Catholicism in particular in San Francisco at the feet of San Francisco's Archbishop George Niederaurer.
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I am personally in a state of more than irritation over the most recent remarks of retired Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. For the life of me, I cannot understand why the media would report the garbage I am about to tell you in the first place, but here it goes. The Catholic News Agency reports that in comments relating to Archbishop Raymond Burke's treatise on Canon Law 915, Cardinal McCarrick "has recommended that the Catholic Church forcefully preach the pro-life message to presidential candidates rather than following Archbishop Burke's suggestion of denying them Communion." This statement relegates Canon Law 915 and Archbishop Burke's brilliant analysis of it to something akin to a personal opinion. And that, my friends, is astounding to me. Archbishop Burke is a canon lawyer who is so adept at interpreting those Church laws that Pope Benedict XVI appointed him to serve on the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, a body that has been described as the Supreme Court of the Catholic Church.
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The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, asked all Christians today to join the Catholic League's national boycott of Miller Brewing Company for its despicable anti-Christian ad promoting the Folsom Street Fair, an open-air pagan sex orgy featuring homosexual depravity at its most base in San Francisco. The offending ad depicts a sadomasochistic poster mocking DaVinci's "The Last Supper." The poster features the Miller logo, half-naked homosexuals in leathers and chains seated around the table adorned with various sex toys. Internet photos of the Fair show naked men publicly performing oral sex and all kinds of sadomasochistic acts on one another. For a collection of the more mild photos, you may visit the Catholic League's website to judge for yourself. Bear in mind that these are the more mild photos.
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News that Christmas celebrations, of all things, might be banned in some Oak Lawn schools was just another example of how the core of American culture is being gutted by outside influences, according to television personalities, radio pundits, bloggers and everyday people who piled on the debate in Ridgeland District 122 last week. "For years now, it seems like the war on Christmas is only getting worse," CNN's Glenn Beck said. "First it was mangers, then it was trees. And then it was the word itself." In the media frenzy - which captured national attention on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor," the talk radio circuit and fringe anti-immigration blog sites - the thrust of the story got lost somehow.
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A senior American cardinal has asked Jews to reconsider descriptions of Jesus as a "bastard" in exchange for a softening of traditional Catholic prayers calling for Jews to be converted to Christianity. The controversial comments, by Cardinal Francis George of the Archdiocese of Chicago, concern a prayer said during Easter celebrations by the small number of parishes or priests who celebrate a particular form of Good Friday mass. Those version of Good Friday prayers calls for the congregation to pray for Jews to be converted to Christianity.
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"When Griffin roared 'Suck it, Jesus!' in front of her Tinseltown peers, she 'drew laughs,' according to the Hollywood Reporter. Does this not prove the point the Catholic League has long made about Hollywood's palpable hostility to Christians? New York magazine gave her 'kudos' for her 'joyfully blasphemous rant,' going so far as to gush, 'thank God we can always count on Kathy Griffin to inject a little energy into a boring awards show.' But the same tabloid found nothing joyful about a remark that got Imus fired, labeling it one of the 'Great Moments in Bigoted Slurs.' Different strokes for different folks?"
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"Kathy Griffin's offensive remarks will not be part of the E! telecast on Saturday night," the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences said in a September 10 statement. In her speech, Griffin said that "a lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus." She went on to hold up her Emmy, make an off-color remark about Christ and proclaim "this award is my god now!"
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Cristina Page recently wrote yet another biting article for the reproductive health conglomerate, one of a seemingly non-stop series of tirades against the people who dare to oppose promiscuity, contraception, abortion and other practices she and her cohorts see as essential to a happy life. In her latest offering, she has set forth her agenda with complete clarity-but with a total lack of common sense. The apparent agenda, quite simply, is to dismiss Christians and pro-life activists as lunatics while elevating the architects of the culture of death to the highest pedestals of secular honor.
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A New York-based production company has asked me to participate as a commentator in a forthcoming documentary titled Forsaken. The still-in-progress documentary, which already has a trailer and Web site, focuses on relatively recent events involving St. Peter Catholic Church in Geneva, Ill., whose pastor is Monsignor Joseph Jarmoluk. First, some background on the "story behind the story" (from a 2004 Daily Herald article, found on BishopAccountability.org)...
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Spain's socialist government is facing a bitter back-to-school fight this September as thousands of families boycott the pro-homosexual course "Education for Citizenship and Human Rights". The Spanish Family Forum reports that at least 15,000 "conscientious objections" out of 200,000 students have been officially registered with school authorities. However, the number is understated because whole provinces have not yet reported figures from their areas. Esperanza Aguirre, the president of the Community of Madrid (Spain's largest province), blasted the program, calling it "indoctrination" and said that her government would only teach those portions that were not objectionable to anyone.
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A professor whose views on the Holocaust irked critics plans to risk arrest by showing up on the first day of classes next week at DePaul University after officials canceled his courses, took away his office and put him on leave. The private Chicago Catholic university recently informed professor Norman Finkelstein that his three courses were canceled after a dispute over tenure that drew charges of anti-Semitism against him. Critics find issue with Finkelstein, the son of Holocaust survivors, who believes that some Jews have exploited the Holocaust. Finkelstein is the author of five books, including "The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering."
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Airport officials in France have refused to allow Catholic pilgrims to bring Lourdes holy water on board an aircraft. Inspectors at Tarbes-Lourdes airport said holy water is a security threat just like any other liquid. However the Vatican organisers of the charter flight had forseen such an eventuality. They had placed a small complimentary bottle of Lourdes water on the seat of each pilgrim to drink on board.
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Satender Singh, 26-year-old Fijian immigrant, died July 5 of head trauma. Four days earlier, he had been punched in a confrontation involving his perceived nationality and sexual orientation. Clarifying the exact details of the crime will be a task for attorneys, judges and juries; but the long-term consequences could be large and anything but clear. Singh's death has been turned into a symbol and an organizing tool for new hate-crimes legislation. Singh was partying on the shore of Lake Natoma, near Sacramento, with Fijian and Indian friends when the attack occurred, according to extensive coverage in the Sacramento Bee. The group was drinking, and Singh, according to the Bee, was hugging, kissing, and dancing with other men. Some Slavic men, also immigrants, picnicking nearby with their families, found this behavior offensive to themselves and their wives and children.
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Cable News Network (CNN) showed America once again why it cannot be trusted to provide fair and balanced reporting. Its Iranian-born chief foreign correspondent -Christiane Amanpour produced and presented a six-hour special entitled "God's Warriors." The program aired over the weekend and dealt with the intersection of religion and politics. The first evening featured Judaism, the second dealt with Islam and the last with Christianity. The overriding impression one gets from watching this six-hour program is that it is a case of pure moral relativism, presented with a secular agenda, and with a particular antipathy towards the Judeo-Christian belief system.
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A peaceful pro-life witness was violently assaulted outside an abortion site on Tuesday. Police responded late to his 911 after he was beaten by an unknown visitor to the clinic. Early on Tuesday morning August 21, three Rockford pro-lifers-Ken Plez, Pat Brady and Kevin Rilott-were praying quietly in front of the Northern Illinois Women's Center (abortuary) for an end to abortion. A large white truck pulled into the clinic parking lot, and without setting foot on the clinic property, Rilott approached and tried to talk to the people inside. In a detailed account of the event Rilott described how the pro-choice man got out of his truck and approached him, saying, "You shouldn't be here, you're upsetting my wife." He then began to hit Rilott in the chest, ribs, and stomach. Rilott did not strike back at the man, but managed to call 911. As he was being beaten, he begged for immediate police assistance.
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"There are millions of people around the world who feel that their faith is being ignored - pushed aside - and they are certain they know how to make the world right," Amanpour says. "We cannot and should not ignore them. And, with this report, we've tried to explain them." Apparently, billions of believers throughout the world need a secular humanist to explain their own monotheism to them and to the world at large. Thank God Christiana Amanpour and CNN are here to help us. We all look forward to the follow-up special, "Godless Warriors."
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"Matter cannot create itself, because matter is finite. Nothing finite could ever create itself. Therefore, simple logic demands that only something infinite has no beginning and is not subject to being created. That's not hard to understand. You're just making it hard because you don't want to accept it, and that is because you want to indulge in your sin. And since that is the case, I can't help you. Only you can repent of your sin. And if you refuse to do so, you will, indeed, spend an eternity without God and in hell. That is the Gospel. You have been forewarned. I have nothing further to say."
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Using language which has been included in their resolutions for some years now, the Knights of Columbus this week again resolved at their annual convention to forbid pro-abortion politicians from attending their events. The resolution forbids "bestowing on [dissenters] honors or privileges of our Order of any kind." "That applies to public functions of any sort, and it is enforced," Patrick Korten, the Knights' Vice President for Communications, told California Catholic Daily. "We expect that council membership committees, when considering applications from potential new members, would take a person's views on abortion and life issues into account." The Knights also issued an official declaration opposed to the legalization of same-sex marriage, titled, "In Support of Natural Marriage."
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Presidential candidate Barack Obama preaches on the campaign trail that America needs a new consensus based on faith and bipartisanship, yet he continues to attend a controversial Chicago church whose pastor routinely refers to "white arrogance" and "the United States of White America." In fact, Obama was in attendance at the church when these statements were made on July 22. Obama has spoken and written of his special relationship with that pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. The connection between the two goes back to Obama's days as a young community organizer in Chicago's South Side when he first met the charismatic Wright. Obama credited Wright with converting him, then a religious skeptic, to Christianity.
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Republican presidential hopeful Sam Brownback said rival Mike Huckabee should apologize for a supporter's "prejudiced whisper campaign" against him for being Catholic. Huckabee issued a statement Tuesday night that didn't apologize for the remarks but said they were neither approved nor condoned by his campaign. He said he was glad that the supporter had issued his own apology and clarification. The supporter, a pastor in Windsor Heights, Iowa, had sent an e-mail to Brownback supporters pointing out that Huckabee is an evangelical Protestant and Brownback is not. Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, is an ordained Baptist minister. "I know Senator Brownback converted to Roman Catholicism in 2002," Rev. Tim Rude, pastor of Walnut Creek Community Church, wrote in the e-mail. "Frankly, as a recovering Catholic myself, that is all I need to know about his discernment when compared to the governor's."
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Four priests from China's underground Roman Catholic Church have been detained by police, a U.S.-based monitoring group said Sunday. Three priests were detained Tuesday in the northern region of Inner Mongolia after fleeing their hometown to avoid arrest for refusing to join the state-sanctioned church, the Cardinal Kung Foundation announced. It said the fourth priest was detained in early July in the northern province of Hebei following a motorcycle accident. It gave no details of what charges the priests might face.
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The devil isn't a little guy with horns wearing red pajamas and carrying a pitchfork. He's a chameleon who changes clothes to match the audience he's trying to pervert. He's a liberal in Birkenstocks or a conservative in an Armani suit, a priest in sandals or wearing cassock and biretta; his forked tongue can lie with the cultured voice of a PhD drinking Perrier or with the down home slang of a beer-packing redneck. We're all the same to him - leftist liberals, right wing conservatives, or moderates of any stripe. He wants us all and will use whatever he needs to seduce us. And he's very good at it. This article will look at some of the barbarians attacking the faith on both sides of the political spectrum. It's a warning that evil always wears a mask of good and to fight it we need to be ever-vigilant, ever-prayerful, with eyes wide open and minds and hearts formed by the doctrine of the Church.
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Vision TV, Canada's non-profit "multi-faith" broadcaster, has been in the news this week after it allowed two programs to air that featured an Islamic extremist imam who called for worldwide Islamic jihad and foresaw the extermination of all Jews. The broadcaster, after initially defending the appearance of Israr Ahmad, apologised, promising to install a "task force" to ensure that such an "error" does not happen again. In an editorial headlined "Hateful Vision", the National Post accepted the explanation of a mistake, but took the broadcaster to task for what many have complained is its extreme left-liberal biases, syncretism and marked aversion to granting fair hearing to the opinions of orthodox religious believers.
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Disney president Robert Iger wrote a letter today to Rep. Edward Markey, chairman of the House Telecommunications & Internet Subcommittee, regarding smoking in its films. Here is an excerpt: "We discourage depictions of cigarette smoking in Disney, Touchstone and Miramax films. In particular, we expect depictions of cigarette smoking in future Disney branded films will be non-existent." As a result, Iger also said that Disney "will place an anti-smoking PSA [Public Service Announcement] on DVD's of any future film that does depict smoking. In addition, we will work with theater owners to encourage the exhibition of an anti-smoking PSA before the theatrical exhibition of any such film."
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Watch Low Band It's been a newsworthy week for China's Catholics and Hong Kong citizens, and Hong Kong's Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun has been in the middle of the action. Last Saturday Pope Benedict released a comprehensive letter to China's Catholics, expressing desire for unity amongst Chinese Catholics and closer ties between China's Catholics and the Vatican. In addition to expressing prayers and solidarity with the Chinese Catholics, this letter also addresses some serious challenges for the church, including appointing bishops and communicating with Rome.
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Many consider that pumping money into China's economy will automatically cause the downfall of Communism and restore freedom to the troubled nation. However, in spite of a continual increase in trade and economic ties, human rights violations and religious persecutions continue to plague innocent Chinese throughout the country. A recent case demonstrates the fact. In the small mountain town of Tianjiajing, the government is planning to dynamite a 100-year-old shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, where there is a yearly pilgrimage that draws 45-50 thousand faithful. The government has dubbed the pilgrimage an "illegal religious activity," and is going to tremendous lengths to ensure that the event does not happen.
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When Obama was urged to support the federal marriage amendment, he wrote a letter back stating, "I agree marriage should be defined as the union between one man and one woman, as it is under Illinois state law. However, while I oppose gay marriage, I am not convinced it is necessary to take the extraordinary step of amending the United States Constitution to prevent it." He concedes that the marriage debate is "important to many Illinoisans," yet FRC uncovered a letter Obama sent to Chicago's homosexual activists in 2004 stating, "I opposed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. It should be repealed... When Congress passed DOMA, they were not interested in strengthening family values... [but] perpetuating division."
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China said Saturday that frank dialogue with the Vatican was needed to resolve differences between the two sides, and acknowledged an open letter from Pope Benedict XVI to the country's faithful but did not comment on it directly. The 55-page letter - addressed to bishops, priests and lay faithful in China - was released Saturday on the Vatican's Web site in English and Chinese. It urged Beijing to restore diplomatic ties and permit religious freedom and called the state-run Catholic Church "incompatible" with Catholic doctrine. China's Foreign Ministry said it had "taken note" of the pope's letter but did not directly respond to its contents.
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A school and convent belonging to the Gaza Strip's tiny Roman Catholic community were ransacked, burned and looted during clashes around a major security headquarters, the head of the community said Monday. Crosses were broken, a statue of Jesus was damaged, and prayer books were burned at the Rosary Sisters School and nearby convent, said the Rev. Manuel Musallem, head of Gaza's Latin church. A woman walks in the burned premises of the Rosary Sisters School and nearby convent, belonging to the Gaza Strip's tiny Roman Catholic community, in Gaza City, Monday June 18, 2007. The premises were ransacked, partially burned and looted during clashes between Fatah and Hamas around a major security headquarters. Crosses were broken, a statue of Jesus was damaged, and prayer books were burnt at the school and nearby convent, said Father Manuel Musallem, head of Gaza's Latin church.
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Americanism, doubtless more virulent in our day than it was in Leo's, combines a collective sense of Christian exceptionalism (America as the "Shining City on a Hill") with the hubristic conviction that America can draw up her own moral code-or, rather, a limitless number of moral codes, arising from each individual's conscience. Acknowledging the heresy and its internal contradictions helps us understand why Americans today can insist that we are a Christian nation while indulging in all manner of public and private behavior that is decidedly not Christian, from delighting in degenerate diversions, to sanctioning the murder of children, to supporting and prosecuting an unjust war. Although the heresy began as a Catholic controversy, it is hardly less manifest in American Protestant denominations where far too many are eager to cooperate with the "spirit of the age," using "freedom of conscience" as an excuse to relax some of their own severity.
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John O'Gorman of Massachusetts reports that the 170,000 signature Initiative Petition to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman was thwarted by the Legislature, meeting in joint Constitutional Convention, on Thursday, June 14 2007. The scandalous part is it would have passed to go on the ballot in 2008 had it not been for the votes of at least twelve men who call themselves Knights of Columbus who voted against the Church they are supposed to be Knights of, and for the sodomites they support! Had the members of the Knights of Columbus in the Legislature voted as Catholics, the measure would have had 57 votes, seven MORE than what was needed to pass...
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Senator Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign has officially withdrawn a controversial photo featuring Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta with the then-First Lady from a campaign ad. The pro-life nun's order, the Missionaries of Charity, directed them to cease and desist using the copyrighted image for political purposes. Sister Nirmala, the Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity, requested the Hillary for President campaign to stop using the image that appeared scandalously to link the abortion activist candidate with the order's humble founder, who was renowned for her advocacy on behalf of the poor and helpless, especially the unborn.
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Narrow-minded bigots of the Maher variety are a dime a dozen, and HBO banks on this fact. Come on, a media outlet hiring someone like Maher as a social/cultural/political commentator is like the Julliard School hiring a music professor who thinks Mozart invented the sandwich. If HBO - the masters of "dumbed-down" entertainment - had even the least desire to maintain even the ghost of credibility, they would demand that Bill Maher eschew his pretenses to intellectualism and stick with doing what he does best - acting as water-boy for the likes of Bill Clinton and Nancy Pelosi.
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Mexico's Roman Catholic church has been cleared of accusations that its opposition to abortion violated a law banning priests from mixing in politics, but the church said Monday it will mount a campaign to change the law because it believes it is too restrictive. The church's vocal campaign to defeat a proposal to legalize abortions in Mexico City in April stepped over the line, politicians said in a complaint, after some prelates suggested voters should remember who voted for the law at election time. The law passed anyway. On Saturday, the government dismissed the complaint, saying the church had done nothing wrong. But prelates say they are tired of being challenged over their every word.
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This message comes to you today from China where I am on the pro-life mission trail. For security purposes I am not able to disclose the names of the people or places that I am visiting, but suffice it to say, HLI's mission of life finds many willing ears in this vast country so infamous for its coercive abortion policy. I can honestly say that I have never seen people so hungry or grateful for the pro-life message than the Chinese. Our network of pro-life support in this country is the Catholic Church, those who recognize the authority of the Vicar of Christ in Rome; and although they are a small flock relative to the massive population, they are tested in their faith like few others I have seen.
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China's Ministry of Public Security has issued a directive listing 43 categories of 'unwanteds' who are to be investigated and may be barred from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Falun Dafa Information Centre reports. The banned groups will include members of religious groups not sanctioned by the state, including the underground Catholic and other Christian churches; "key individuals in ideological fields," "counter-revolutionary" figures, the Dalai Lama and all affiliates, "individuals who instigate discontentment toward the Chinese Communist Party through the Internet," and certain types of "handicapped" persons.
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A former executive for the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia has been sentenced to eight years in prison after he admitted having "graphic and violent" child pornography. The guilty plea was entered in court in Virginia by Charles Rust-Tierney, where he was immediately sentenced, according to a report today from WJLA television. Rust-Tierney previously had served as the president of the Virginia chapter of the ACLU, and admitted his guilt under a plea bargain. He had been in jail since his arrest earlier this year, because two separate judges in pretrial hearings had rejected his request for freedom, describing the pornography as some of the most sickening they ever had encountered.
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It's been 43 years since student protester Mario Savi ignited the "free speech movement" at Berkeley with his famous address urging students "to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus -- and you've got to make it stop!" Today, liberals are still trying to stop "the machine," but they're not aiming at the government or university officials. The "machine" they are trying to stop is public opinion that disagrees with theirs. The American left has adopted a totalitarian mindset; they're actively working to stamp out dissent.
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Sexual abuses mixed with allegations of Church abuse make for an explosive media formula, as Italians can testify. The state-owned television broadcaster, RAI, sparked a debate after it announced that it wanted to buy the rights to transmit a BBC program, "Sex Crimes and the Vatican." Last Tuesday the RAI announced its purchase of the documentary. But owing to strong protests over the program's credibility, RAI director general Claudio Cappon stipulated that the talk show that will host the transmission, "Year Zero," also has to give time to Church representatives for a rebuttal.
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Yesterday, May 23, the 60th annual World Health Assembly (WHA) came to a close. The WHA is self-described as "the supreme decision-making body of the World Health Organization." It meets in Geneva in May each year, and is attended by delegations from the 193 Member States. Given that the new Director-General of the WHO, Dr. Margaret Chan, has explicitly stated that her emphasis as director of the powerful organization will be on "the health of women and of the people of Africa," pro-life and pro-family advocates have keenly observed the proceedings at Geneva. Africa and women's health have long been the two primary battlegrounds for life and family issues.
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Southwestern China is currently embroiled in an uproar about forced abortions as thousands of people living there have been involved in riots after a campaign by local officials that has resulted in dozens of forced abortions. But Chinese officials have an ironic solution to the problem -- more punishments. The protests began after family planning authorities began forcibly aborting women for violations of the nation's one-child population policy in April. Because of the alleged violations of the family planning policy, officials in Guangxi province recently increased fines for offenders and began seizing or destroying the property of people who cannot pay the fines.
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The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) has urged the University of San Francisco (USF)-a Jesuit, Catholic university-to cancel its invitation to pro-abortion Rep. Nancy Pelosi to deliver the university's commencement address this Saturday. CNS also is opposing a posthumous honorary degree to pro-abortion politician Leo T. McCarthy. "Even as we celebrate the fact that a growing number of Catholic colleges are choosing exemplary commencement speakers and honorees, we learn that the University of San Francisco has chosen a much different direction," wrote CNS President Patrick J. Reilly in a letter faxed to USF President Rev. Stephen Privett, S.J., today. "You are publicly allying a Catholic university with leaders of what Pope John Paul II called a 'Culture of Death.'"
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On the MAy 18, 2007 edition of "The View," a discussion on the propriety of male nannies led Rosie O'Donnell to declare that she would never hire one to care for her adopted children. Barbara Walters asked her, "Are you worried about homosexual tendencies? Is that what you are saying?" O'Donnell replied, "No, pedophilia has nothing to do with homosexual" [sic]. To which Walters said, "Oh, pedophilia." Shortly thereafter, O'Donnell asked Walters if she would have hired a male nannie for her daughter when she was growing up. Walters hesitated, and before she could speak, Joy Behar interjected with the comment, "A priest perhaps?" O'Donnell grimaced and the audience roared with laughter.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel told European religious leaders on Tuesday that there was no chance of including a mention of God or Europe's Christian roots in a redrafted European Union constitution. Merkel, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, revealed that there was little support among EU governments to reopen negotiations over whether to include a reference to Christianity in the EU charter, which was rejected by French and Dutch voters two years ago. "I would have liked to include such a reference," she said, but added that as head of the EU presidency "I have to take note of the fact that there isn't much chance of this reference being included."
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As the largest Catholic university in America with over 23,000 students, DePaul University plans to host a pro-homosexual conference on October 19-20, titled: "Out There: The Second National Conference of Scholars and Student Affairs Personnel Involved in LGBTQ Issues on Catholic Campuses." Students and parents are praying, protesting and calling for its cancellation. The first "Out There" conference was held in California at Santa Clara University, a Jesuit institution. It drew pro-homosexual activists from Georgetown, Fordham, Loyola Marymount, Gonzaga, DePaul, Boston College, College of the Holy Cross, La Salle, and others. Attendees included feminist professor Linda Garber, author of Tilting the Tower: Lesbians Teaching Queer Subjects, the Rev. Thomas Brennan, a self-proclaimed homosexual priest and professor at Saint Joseph's University, and Mark D. Jordan, author of The Silence of Sodom: Homosexuality in Modern Catholicism.
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The editorial cartoon appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer in the wake of the Supreme Court decision upholding the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. It featured the nine justices sitting on the bench. The five Catholic justices who voted to uphold the ban are depicted wearing bishops' mitres. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is Jewish, is staring at them with a horrified look. So are the three Protestant justices. The cartoon's message was clear: The Catholics had voted, not to uphold the law, but to impose their personal religious views. It's a graphic example of anti-Catholic bigotry. The Philadelphia Inquirer was hardly alone. Now, it's not surprising when irresponsible commentators like Rosie O'Donnell make bigoted remarks about Catholics-as she did. Well, at least she won't be on ABC for a while. But it is shocking when more respectable observers do so.
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Top Protestant leaders in the United States are calling for a united response from Protestants in rejecting "anti-Catholic bigotry" in the media. "Protestants have a special duty to condemn anti-Catholic bigotry...Our Catholic brethren should not have to wait to hear our voices forcefully raised against the bigotry now directed against them," wrote Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship, in a BreakPoint Commentary published April 26. Colson pointed to recent mainstream media coverage of the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision to uphold the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act as an example of blatant anti-Catholicism at work. An editorial cartoon published in the Philadelphia Inquirer portrayed the five Catholic justices who voted in favour of the ban in bishops' mitres, implying they had voted to impose their personal religious beliefs on America.
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Allan Carlson, International Secretary of the World Congress of Families, called an attack by certain members of the European Parliament (MEPs) "an act of desperation." Carlson observed, "They are afraid of ideas about the family which diverge from their own." In a recent letter [click here for letter] 19 European Parliament members urged Ellen Sauerbrey, Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, to withdraw from World Congress of Families IV, which will convene in Warsaw, May 11-13. Sauerbrey is scheduled to speak at a plenary session on Saturday, May 11 in Warsaw.
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The Ford Motor Company has again financially expressed its support for homosexual activism by donating another $10,000 to help efforts to legalize same-sex marriage. Ford has signed on as a major sponsor of the 2007 PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) National Convention. According to PFLAG's own website, "PFLAG...supports revision of federal and state statutes to extend to persons in same-gender committed relationships the right to marry with the full legal rights and benefits."
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"Christ of Faith, Gallilee [sic], Trinity, Today" is the theme for the sixth annual Theological Symposium sponsored by the San Bernardino diocese's Ministry Formation Institute. The April 28 event will feature Dr. Robert Ludwig, author of Reconstructing Catholicism for a New Generation, director of the Institute of Pastoral Studies at Chicago's Loyola University, and a noted dissenter from Church teaching. Besides helping the U.S. bishops in developing a pastoral statement on campus ministry in the 1980s, Ludwig has been connected with Call to Action, a group that calls for women's ordination, the democratization of the Church, a repeal of the birth control "ban," and recognizing homosexuality as natural. His name is on the list of recommended speakers found on the Call to Action web site. Ludwig has also addressed the Los Angeles archdiocese's Religious Education Congress.
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The Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, Ellen Sauerbrey, has long been a friend of Life and the natural family. This has made her a target for those who are not. Secretary Sauerbrey recently received a harshly worded letter signed by 19 European Union politicians, which urged her not to attend this year's World Congress on Families IV. The World Congress, to be held in Warsaw from May 11-13, is a perfectly respectable and thoroughly international coalition of pro-life leaders, organizations, and scholars headed up by Allan Carlson, who also serves as president of the Howard Center. The Population Research Institute is a co-sponsor of this year's Congress, as it has been of past Congresses.
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"If there's no limbo and we're not going to revert to St. Augustine's teaching that unbaptized infants go to hell, we're left with only one option, namely, that everyone is born in the state of grace," said the Rev. Richard McBrien, professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame. "Baptism does not exist to wipe away the "stain" of original sin, but to initiate one into the Church," he said in an e-mailed response.
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The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 (H.R. 1592) if passed is likely to have disastrous effects on the Church in the United States; on what bishops and priests may preach from the pulpits, and may even affect seminary life and the future of the priesthood in this country. Traditional Values Coalition Chairman Rev. Louis P. Sheldon warned, "The so-called 'hate crimes' bill, H.R. 1592 begins to lay a foundation for the legal framework to investigate, prosecute and then persecute people who do not agree with homosexuality, transgenderism and cross-dressing."
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I wonder --- was Cho taught to hate? Whatever he learned in his classes --- did it enable him to rage at his host country, to hate the students he envied so murderously? Was he subtly encouraged to aggrandize himself by destroying others? Was his pathology enabled by the PC university? Or to ask the question differently --- was Cho ever taught to respect others, to admire the good things about his host country, and to discipline himself to build a positive life? And that answer is readily available on the websites of Cho's English Department at Virginia Tech. This is a wonder world of PC weirdness.
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On his HBO show that aired over the last week, Bill Maher joked that last Friday, "President Bush spoke at a Catholic prayer breakfast, and you could tell this was a Catholic prayer breakfast because [Maher laughs] it was in the morning and he said 'I'm dying for a little joe' and they brought him an altar boy." The crowd laughed and applauded, and Maher said, "See, I'm not afraid!" Aside from the fact there are craven bishops who still deserve this joke, isn't this show supposed to be "topical"? Isn't this a little like cracking jokes about that wacky Senate Majority Leader, Tom Daschle?
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In what might be a backhanded tribute to the organization' |
