ISSUES
Return to Platform
Catholic Voting
Related Press
Democratic negotiators acceded to union demands for a scaled-back tax on high-end health-insurance plans, exempting union contracts from the tax until 2018, five years beyond the start date for other workers. The deal helped Democrats clear a key hurdle, but the break for organized labor added to the pressure to find new revenue to pay for their health bill, which is designed to give coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans. Negotiators were considering increasing the financial hit on drug makers, nursing homes and medical-device makers, according to people familiar with the discussions. The tax on high-value insurance plans was included in the Senate's version of the bill but not the House's, and has been one of the main unresolved issues as Democrats work to combine measures passed by the two chambers late last year.
Read more...
Dictatorship in a one-party state indeed seems to loom for us. As one prominent commentator has pointed out, the normal order of the human condition is tyranny, subjugation, and dictatorship, with only a couple of respite periods throughout history, including our time in the West over the past two centuries or so. It just took that long for the totalitarian types to gain near-total power in our country, which they are now consolidating over the coming year. What are the betting odds that they will ever let it go voluntarily? No wonder the national Democrats aren't concerned about having to face the electorate again. Pity the naïve, hapless Republicans who actually imagine they have a fair chance later this year and in '12!
Read more...
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele today called for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to resign his leadership position after it was revealed he had made racially insensitive remarks about then-candidate Barack Obama, saying that an apology was not enough. Steele, speaking on Fox News Sunday and NBC's Meet the Press, said the same standard should apply to Reid as was applied to former Majority Leader Trent Lott in 2002 when Republicans controlled the Senate. Lott lost his job after praising former Strom Thurmond's segregationist campaign for President in 1948, saying if he had won, "we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years." Lott made the remarks at a 100th birthday party for the late senator.
Read more...
As Democrat leaders commence their final round of negotiations on the health care bill in secret meetings following the Christmas holiday, C-SPAN has issued a letter to the president and lawmakers challenging them to live up to their promises of transparency and allow the network to cover the proceedings. "President Obama, Senate and House leaders, many of your rank-and-file members, and the nation's editorial pages have all talked about the value of transparent discussions on reforming the nation's health care system," wrote C-SPAN's Brian Lamb to congressional leaders in a letter dated December 30. "Now that the process moves to the critical stage of reconciliation between the Chambers, we respectfully request that you allow the public full access, through television, to legislation that will affect the lives of every single American."
Read more...
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seems to be planning a second career as a theologian. Unfortunately, she never gets one Catholic fact right. Interviewed by Eleanor Clift for Newsweek's year-end issue, Pelosi capped an 18-month succession of clamorously incorrect public statements about what Catholics believe with her own take on the meaning of freedom. Asked about her "brushes" with church hierarchy, Pelosi responded, "I have some concerns about the church's position respecting a woman's right to choose. I have some concerns about the church's position on gay rights. I am a practicing Catholic, although they're probably not too happy about that. But it is my faith. I practically mourn this difference of opinion because I feel what I was raised to believe is consistent with what I profess, and that is that we are all endowed with a free will and a responsibility to answer for our actions. And that women should have that opportunity to exercise their free will."
Read more...
Legislation purporting to reform health care in the United States has passed the House of Representatives. However, it did so only after it was amended by way of the "Stupak/Pitts Amendment" which was forced to a floor vote by the heroic perseverance of the US Bishops and the hard work of faithful Catholics in the Democratic Party like Bart Stupak and faithful Catholics in the Republican Party like Chris Smith. My purpose in this article is not to discuss whether that legislation will ever make it through the Senate, how it may be amended in the process or whether the effort to federalize the delivery of health care services is even prudent at all. I, and many others, have addressed - and will continue to address - the ongoing serious moral concerns raised by this legislation as it relates to the authentic application of Catholic Social Teaching and the principles of authentic social justice.
Read more...
House leaders have won the backing of the nation's Catholic bishops for a last-minute abortion compromise, a critical boost that could give the health reform bill enough momentum - and enough votes - for passage as early as Saturday. As they awaited President Barack Obama's visit before noon, House Democrats held out hopes they could rally the 218 votes to pass a sweeping $1.2 trillion health reform bill, even if it took until late Saturday night. But they clearly weren't there yet. During the day's first round of votes to corral support for the bill, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer made a rare appearance in the Speaker's Lobby, just off the House floor, to look for colleagues. He told a group of reporters, "I'm always gun-shy...At this moment, I'm counting."
Read more...
In a chance meeting with conservative blogger Anne Leary, Bill Ayers makes a stunning claim that he wrote--not just edited--President Barack Obama's autobiography, Dreams from my Father." Wow. He makes this claim to a stranger who approaches him in Reagan National Airport. Can you believe anything this man says? Or, should I say, either man? This is no small matter. We have been lead to believe that Obama's eloquence is his strength, his trump card. Is it possible that all of this is a charade? A gigantic lie? Does this suggest an answer to the question: Did Obama himself write his keynote speech to the 2004 Democratic convention that shot him into orbit as The One? Does Obama think so much like Ayers that what we've seen coming out of the White House during the first months of the Obama administration is a reflection of Ayers' point of view?
Read more...
The independence of American charities has steadily eroded in recent years as more philanthropic institutions have come to see their mission as one of partnership or collaboration with the government. That's a nice way of saying, "seeking government dough." Now, in the throes of a severe economic crisis and budget cutbacks at state and local levels, many charities are in a panic about reduced levels of funding. Anyone with eyes to see could have seen this coming. A recent report in The Chronicle of Philanthropy spoke of a California budget crisis where "charities there are braced for steep cuts to social services and health care." In Chicago, one manager of a children's home said, "We've never seen the likes of this." The growing dependence of many charities on government support has been accelerated by the federal government's funding, over several recent administrations, of charitable organizations for managing various social service programs. This funding, its supporters argue, gives private initiative the resources it needs to accomplish good works -- with a little extra help from the government. But at what cost?
Read more...
On Tuesday, former president Jimmy Carter told NBC Nightly News, "I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he's African-American." I have some questions for Carter: On what grounds do you label thousands of people as racists? Where is your evidence? Did you consider the Eighth Commandment -- thou shalt not bear false witness against your neighbor -- when you made that accusation? The same questions should be asked of the growing chorus of Obama supporters who are playing the race card. Calling someone a racist is a serious matter, and anyone making the accusation should have substantial evidence to back it up. Otherwise, they are merely slandering an opponent for political purposes and should be ashamed of themselves.
Read more...
In the wake of the controversy Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) sparked by shouting "You lie!" during President Barack Obama's address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, a Republican source said the Congressman had raised about $700,000 by Friday afternoon.
Read more...
With all due respect to Bishop Morlino the true seamless garment is Christ's teaching, transmitted through the Gospel and tradition, about the inherent worth of human creation. What lasting good does a politician offer to society if he cares for the material needs of the poor while also purveying abortion to them at the same time?Bishop Morlino also references the "false catechesis" provided to Kennedy by priests and theologians such as Charles Curran, Rev. Robert Drinan and Rev. Richard McCormick. Again, I would take issue with the word "catechesis" here. In his book, The Birth of Bioethics (Oxford, 2003), ex-Jesuit, Albert Jonsen, does not describe the meetings between Joseph Fuchs, Curran, McCormick and others as catechetical in nature, but as strategic. Kennedy was looking for a way to rationalize and redefine his view on abortion, so the powerful pro-abortion lobby, which included NARAL and NOW, could be counted on for monetary support of the Democratic party. His "theological advisors" were trying to muddy the waters for Catholics and they did. We are now reaping what they have sewn in the Church today. To suggest that Kennedy was somehow looking for catechetical guidance is naive given the public positions on life issues and artificial contraception such advisors openly advocate. Second, I do not believe Ted Kennedy was "confused" or challenged by moral "ambiguity" because of the "theological advice" he was given. Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI have been unequivocal on the right to life and the protections which a just society is required to afford the unborn, the sick and the elderly. No average church going Catholic I know has any doubt about what the Church really teaches beyond the ambivalence of some of their pastors. Moreover, his sister Eunice Shriver, who fully embraced Catholic pro-life teaching, was a clear and abiding example in his life. Surely, Bishop Morlino does not really believe that Ted Kennedy was "confused" about what the Church taught.
Read more...
Kennedy's death also brings the Church face-to-face once again with the fact that there is a massive problem of basic Catholic education - catechesis - among the faithful. So many Catholics - even some clergy - make an absolute out of prudential issues such as economic policy, while relativizing absolutes, such as abortion, euthanasia, and marriage. This is done in the face of clear, binding teachings from John Paul II, who said that no other right is safe unless the right to life is protected, or, as Pope Benedict wrote recently in Caritas in Veritate, that life issues must be central to Catholic social teaching. This also marks the passing of a certain type of cultural Catholicism - Northeast, Irish and increasingly Italian, concerned with obtaining political power while maintaining an identification with the Church, yet happy to relinquish the substance of the faith if it gets in the way. Indeed, today such cultural Catholics have dispensed even with the identity aspect and are often outright hostile to the Church of their baptism.
Read more...
Cute little girl time! The optics couldn't be any more starkly different from the devastating-for-Obama-and-his-lapdog-Dems-and-RINOs optics of millions of older Americans fearful of being put to sleep by the state just to save money, and of terrified parents with children in wheelchairs demanding proof that their beloved will not be left behind to suffer whilst the lucky chosen are taken care of. This is obviously a show... What did you expect the Obama Regime to do, allow ordinary, non-partisan Americans to ask him real questions, as opposed to giving him a pre-written opportunity to spew defamatory propaganda against them? Yeah, right, suuure. Obama's handlers already saw what happens when ordinary Americans are allowed to ask real, legitimate questions of their very own at townhalls, so...
Read more...
Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao, (R-New Orleans), the first Vietnamese-American congressman and a Catholic, announced this past weekend that, because of the "stealth mandate" for abortion still present in the Health Care bill, he prefers to "save his soul" rather than vote in favor of it. Cao, the only member of the Louisiana House delegation who had not weighed in on where he stands on the health reform bill, told the Times-Picayune on Saturday that he cannot support any bill that permits public money to be spent on abortion. "At the end of the day if the health care reform bill does not have strong language prohibiting the use of federal funding for abortion, then the bill is really a no-go for me," said Cao, who spent time in formation to be a Jesuit priest.
Read more...
This is apology aversion in everyday life. Refusal to admit mistakes in matters of public significance is more sinister and equally common. Consider all those journalists and think tank talking heads who helped sell America on the need for the war in Iraq and then, without so much as a word of apology, turned on George Bush for getting it wrong. Think of all those members of Congress -- of both parties -- who were looking the other way while the economic bubble expanded and now are busy demagoguing the bubble's collapse at somebody else's expense. And on and on and on. In a special way these days I'm reminded of those Catholic sources--periodicals like the National Catholic Reporter and Commonweal as well as some individuals claiming special wisdom--who raised their voices often and loudly last year to declare that even if Barack Obama and the Catholic Church didn't quite see eye-to-eye on everything, the candidate was moderate man, committed to reducing the frequency of abortions and to much else congenial to the Church.
Read more...
A voter registration drive last year illegally required canvassers to meet quotas to keep their jobs and resulted in thousands of garbage registrations gumming up Clark County voter rolls, officials said Monday as they released a criminal complaint against the drives organizers. The complaint names the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, as well as Chris Edwards, the groups former Las Vegas field director, and Amy Busefink, who was regional director for voter registration. In all, there are 26 charges of compensation for registration of voters and 13 charges of being a principal in the incident. An initial hearing has been set for 7:30 a.m. June 3 in Las Vegas Justice Court. (CCI NOTES: ACORN has received millions of dollars in funding from the so-called Catholic Campaign for Human Development fleeced from Catholics in "second collections" that were alledgedly going to help the poor. Instead, these donations have been diverted to hundreds of left wing political groups like ACORN.)
Read more...
In the California presidential primary of 1964, a newly-divorced and remarried Nelson Rockefeller...who had just broken up another family as well as his own to marry a mother of four young children, a woman who lost custody of her children but who married Rockefeller anyhow...was running for president. He was opposed by Barry Goldwater. In the campaign, Francis Cardinal McIntyre, the prelate of Los Angeles, announced Catholics loyal to the tenets of their faith should not vote for Rockefeller because of his willingness to break his marriage vows. By today's standard this would be an astounding thing for a Catholic archbishop to say. But McIntyre said a Catholic's duty is to do all he can to ensure that the moral stricture of the country is observed-not only by Catholics but by people Catholics elect to high office...
Read more...
A Catholic governor whose archbishop has told her not to receive Communion until she changes her stand on abortion is President Barack Obama's latest choice for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. The nomination of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as HHS secretary was announced March 2 at a White House news conference. The 60-year-old Sebelius has been governor of Kansas since 2003. "Health care reform that reduces costs while expanding coverage is no longer just a dream we hope to achieve -- it's a necessity we have to achieve," Obama said in announcing his selection of Sebelius as HHS secretary and Nancy-Ann DeParle, a health care expert in the Clinton administration, as director of the White House Office for Health Reform.
Read more...
If a pro-abortion politician is honored in Scranton's St. Patrick's Day parade, St. Peter's Cathedral doors will close to the event, said the city's bishop Joseph Martino in a letter to parade participants. St. Patrick's Day occurs on March 17. The bishop's precautionary message, in a letter penned by Auxiliary Bishop John M. Dougherty, said the Catholic Church would have to distance itself if pro-abortion politicians were given speaking opportunities or other honors in the parade honoring the Catholic saint. "The Bishop is specifically concerned because doing so in conjunction with the feast day of a Catholic saint would be cause for scandal in view of the Church's clear teaching that abortion is an intrinsic evil," stated a Scranton diocese release.
Read more...
The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has pledged that he and his fellow prelates will work with the incoming administration of Barack Obama and the 111th Congress to "advance the common good and defend the life and dignity of all, especially the vulnerable and poor." In a Jan. 13 letter to the president-elect, Chicago Cardinal Francis E. George offered a broad outline of policy priorities that concern the U.S. bishops, ranging from economic recovery that covers all segments of society to protecting the lives of the "most vulnerable and voiceless members of the human family," especially unborn children.
Read more...
The number of Catholic members of Congress is slowing creeping higher, but the Catholic contingent, like the full Congress itself, has taken a decided turn toward the Democratic Party. When the 111th Congress is sworn in Jan. 6, more than a quarter of its members will be Catholics, roughly matching the percentage of Catholics in the U.S. population and consistent with the statistical trends of the past decade. Four years ago when the 109th Congress convened, it included 153 Catholics. Two years later there were 155 Catholics in the 110th Congress. But the new group of senators and representatives has 162 members who identify themselves as Catholics.
Read more...
The Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, STL, president of Human Life International (HLI), today challenged Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA to reconsider his participation in the upcoming inaugural ceremonies for President-elect Barack Obama. "We applaud Pastor Warren's support of pro-life causes as well as his defense of traditional marriage," said Father Euteneuer. "This is why we are concerned that his high-profile and explicitly Christian prayerful invocation at President-elect Obama's inauguration may be perceived as an endorsement, even a blessing, of what will likely be the most anti-life administration in the history of this country."
Read more...
As the standard bearer for American conservatism for two decades, Ronald Reagan effortlessly embodied fusionism by uniting Mont Pelerin style libertarians, populist Christians, Burkean conservatives, and national security voters into a devastatingly successful electoral bloc. Today, it is nearly impossible to imagine a candidate winning both New York and Texas, but Reagan and that group of fellow travelers did. In the meantime, the coalition has begun to show strain as the forces pushing outward exceed those holding it together. The Soviet Union, once so great a threat that Whittaker Chambers felt certain he was switching to the losing side when he began to inform on fellow Communist agents working within the United States, evaporated in what seemed like a period of days in the early 1990s. Suddenly, the ultimate threat of despotic big government eased and companions in arms had the occasion to re-assess their relationship. The review of competing priorities has left former friends moving apart. Perhaps nowhere is the tension greater and more consequential than between the socially conservative elements of the group and devotees of libertarianism.
Read more...
The Legion of Christ priest who defended Sean Hannity's dissent on birth control on Fox News last year was bad enough, but the editorial in the National Catholic Register after the election shows that the Legionaries have allowed another misguided agent to speak in their name and on their watch. They are now officially part of the problem, not part of the solution. Editor Tom Hoopes is a layman, but he does the Legion's bidding and should be fired immediately for his absurd editorial in support of Barack Obama. Even were it not for Hoopes' personal glowing support of the most radical abortion President in American history, certain other points of his editorial are just naïve...
Read more...
Two of today's LifeSiteNews reports provide more evidence of the severe need for a renewal of Catholicism in the United States. Pro-abortion, pro-homosexual former Senator Tom Dachle and California First Lady Maria Shriver both call themselves Catholic and yet don't appear to have a clue what that really means. Is this mostly or entirely their own fault? That is doubtful. Rather, they are likely just two of the millions of North American and European Catholics who are the products of decades of extremely neglectful, corrupt Catholic institutions and leaders who have not taught and defended the authentic Catholic/Christian faith. This series of articles is about an issue that affects everyone - Catholic and non-Catholic, Christian and non-Christian. A healthy, faithful Catholic Church in the US, Canada and Europe would produce many practical social, cultural and even economic benefits for all citizens.
Read more...
The more incredible the claim, the greater the number of column inches the liberal media devotes to making it. That's why The Washington Post, on November 18th, gave over such a large swath of its front page to religion writer Jacqueline Salmon, who fantasizes at length about the "growing number of anti-abortion pastors, conservative academics and activists [who] are setting aside efforts to outlaw abortion and instead are focusing on building social programs and developing other assistance for pregnant women to reduce the number of abortions." This, she would have us believe, is the future of the pro-life movement. The rest of us have given up, or are about to.
Read more...
There is, however, great hope for the future because the battle has already been engaged: new Catholic colleges are springing up to replace the old decrepit houses of heresy, new religious orders with abundant vocations and orthodoxy have arisen, home schooling families and strong lay movements are abundant now. Only when we take back our beloved Church from the false Catholics and clerics will our Church be able to stand up and rebuke the storm winds of paganism that are building faster than we care to admit. This project is not without its price, however. The cost of being a true believer will undoubtedly be much higher than ever before in our lifetime. Starting now and into the next generation we as Catholics will have to show the world not only what we believe but that we are willing to lay down our lives for it as a witness to the truth.
Read more...
His Eminence James Francis Cardinal Stafford criticized President-elect Barack Obama as "aggressive, disruptive and apocalyptic," and said he campaigned on an "extremist anti-life platform," Thursday night in Keane Auditorium during his lecture "Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II: Being True in Body and Soul." "Because man is a sacred element of secular life," Stafford remarked, "man should not be held to a supreme power of state, and a person's life cannot ultimately be controlled by government." "For the next few years, Gethsemane will not be marginal. We will know that garden," Stafford said, comparing America's future with Obama as president to Jesus' agony in the garden. "On November 4, 2008, America suffered a cultural earthquake."
Read more...
Now that the election is over, we can separate the real Catholics from those who just act the part. Those still reeling from the results of the election can rest assured that they are in good company with the saints Those who have drawn a line in blood and made a decision to stand with the culture of death need a serious examination of conscience. Now look at what we've done to ourselves. America has made her "choice" for maximum leader and it is not pretty. In fact, it is one of the most devastating blows to American civilization that we have ever undergone, and I do not speak in hyperbole. Even such a saintly figure as Mother Theresa said that "a nation that kills its children has no future;" likewise, an authority like Fr. Benedict Groeschel recently commented that we have entered into "the beginning of the twilight" of our country - dire words that touch on the reality of electing the most extreme, pro-abortion candidate America has ever had the misfortune of occupying the highest office of our land.
Read more...
Going out of the gate, with the unpopularity of the Iraq War and President Bush, the Republicans had no right whatever to imagine they could win in 2008... but McCain started to. Why? The country was center-right and Barack Obama was not. All the way along until mid-September even with the adulatory pro-Obama media working against McCain, it seemed to work--John McCain clocked at 2, 3, 4 or even 5 points ahead of Obama despite all the national media hype that inculcated the man from Chicago as destiny's savior. With mid-September came the economic meltdown. Since that time, McCain ran 4,5, 6 or 7 points behind depending on the poll you read. Realclearpolitics.com, was right on the button: Obama won with plus 6.5% of the electorate. In electoral votes of course it was greater-365 to 162 (270 needed to elect). So we should stop muttering if-if-if. The meltdown did it.
Read more...
A Roman Catholic diocese in South Carolina officially repudiated a priest Friday after he told his parishioners that people who voted for Barack Obama had supported the "intrinsic evil" of abortion and should not seek Communion. Father Jay Scott Newman, writing in the weekly bulletin of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville, S.C., called Obama "the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president."
Read more...
Changing times call for changing strategies. And the election of 2008 should persuade freedom-loving people that times have changed. Business as usual will not be enough to preserve the last vestiges of liberty in America. It will certainly not be enough to expand liberty, morality and justice in America - and that should be our goal. Conservatism is a purely defensive political movement for a more innocent time, a time when our most basic constitutionally protected liberties were not being stripped from us - a time when government was not greatly exceeding its authority at the expense of personal freedom, social justice and the Judeo-Christian values necessary to self-governance. As we prepare inevitably for an onslaught of legislation and government action designed to attack our national independence and sovereignty, redistribute wealth not only domestically but internationally, strangle dissent and freedom of speech, take away our right to bear arms and fundamentally pervert the Constitution through legislation, executive action and judicial activism, it's time for freedom-loving Americans to go on the offense. It's time not for timidity and civility and conservatism. It's time for a much more radical, bold and courageous approach to taking America back.
Read more...
Father Frank Pavone: "Americans have made a grave mistake in electing Barack Obama to the presidency. Yet America herself remains great and is not a mistake, which is why so many of her citizens will continue, with even greater energy and determination, to defend her founding principles. The man elected to the Presidency said during the campaign that he does not know when a human being starts to have human rights. How can one govern from that starting point of ignorance? Governing is about protecting human rights; to do it successfully, you have to know where they come from, and when they begin. The President-elect has already failed that test miserably...."
Read more...
Though the economy clearly was the defining issue of the election, Barack Obama forged a new coalition by luring millions of religious voters who had avoided Democrats in recent years. Here's what Sen. Obama did: He narrowed the God Gap. President George W. Bush beat Sen. John Kerry among weekly churchgoers by 61%-39% four years ago. Election night, Republican Sen. John McCain was ahead of Sen. Obama among the same group 54%-44%. Most of that gain appears to have come from Protestants rather than Catholics. He won Catholics back. Early exit polls indicate he won 54% of the Catholic vote compared with 45% for Sen. McCain. Mr. Bush won the Catholic vote 52%-46%. Most of those gains came from Catholics who don't attend Mass weekly.
Read more...
Archbishop Raymond Burke, the former St. Louis Catholic leader who was recently given a special retirement position in the Vatican, expanded on comments he made early saying the Democratic Party has become too pro-abortion. He also said abortion is more important than the war in voting. In a new interview with Inside the Vatican, the Catholic official condemns the party's pro-abortion views, says abortion is a more important political issue than war and defends single-issue pro-life voting. Archbishop Burke said he wasn't engaging in partisan politics in his earlier comments and said he wished both Republicans and Democrats were pro-life. "The Democratic Party, however has, over the years, put forth and defended a political agenda which is grievously anti-life," he said.
Read more...
The Washington Times didn't mess around in a Sunday editorial talking about Barack Obama and his position on abortion. The newspaper called the presidential candidate a "liar" for misleading voters about his votes against an anti-infanticide bill when he served in the Illinois legislature. The issue concerns the various version of the born alive bill that Obama voted against as a state lawmaker. The measure came up after Chicago-area nurse Jill Stanek exposed the practice of "life-birth abortions" where babies born alive after a failed abortion or purposefully birthed prematurely were left to die at her hospital. The bill mandated appropriate medical care for the newborns, but Obama voted against it. He claimed the bill would run afoul of Roe v. Wade -- yet legislative documents show he voted against the bill even after voting for an amendment to make the legislation Roe neutral.
Read more...
On the final Sunday before Election Day, volunteers for both presidential candidates fanned out to churches in competitive states, congregations bused worshippers to polls to vote early and a battle of wills erupted in church parking lots over the distribution of political literature. Taking political messages to places of worship carries risks. Churches can lose their tax-exempt status if they take positions for or against a candidate directly or indirectly. Officials with both the John McCain and Barack Obama campaigns said their efforts are careful to keep churches out of trouble, but it's hard to know whether lines are crossed in such large-scale operations.
Read more...
CCI NOTES: Catholic Answers and the Kansas Catholic Bishops have each produced excellent Voter Guides for Catholics that clearly articulate the moral responsibilties of Roman Catholics. For Catholic Answers Voting Guide for Serious Catholics, CLICK HERE. For the Kansas Catholic Bishops guide, CLICK HERE. For a commentary by Pope Benedict regarding the non-negotiable elements of Catholic citizenship CLICK HERE. Stay away from bogus voter guides produced by dissenter or agenda driven organizations like Faith in Public Life and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.
Read more...
The priests of CallforherSOS.org have delivered what may be the most blunt directive yet to Catholic voters in the upcoming presidential election. In three short videos, Fr. Tom Celso and Fr. Don Eder embellish little upon a simple, strict manifesto of Catholic moral teaching. "It is the mission of the Catholic Church to pass moral judgements in matters related to politics, whenever the fundamental rights of man require it," say the priests. "The Democratic party and Barack Obama have brought shame and horror to this nation. Mr. Obama has promised to legalize partial-birth abortion, the savage murder of babies during birth. We are outraged."
Read more...
What all this suggests is that, in this and coming election cycles, we may see a new model for the Catholic vote, one whose participation more closely resembles that of Jews, 75% of whom are overwhelmingly pro-Democratic, while a devout minority, the Orthodox, tends more strongly Republican. If you break the Catholic vote down in roughly the same pattern, you get something that looks like the current national spread. According to most reliable data, slightly less than one in four Catholics now assist at weekly Mass and are more open to GOP policies, while the overwhelming majority of their co-religionists ** have cast their lot with the Democrats' domestic and foreign policies. (CCI NOTES: These are overwhelmingly NON-Mass attending, self described "Catholics", which makes us wonder how Catholic the so-called "Catholic" vote really is...)
Read more...
Looking for a bellwether group to focus on in the final week of the presidential race? Look no further than white Catholics, who have gone for the winner in every single presidential election for which exit polling exists. That means that since 1972, the candidate for whom the majority of white Catholics cast their votes has -- like clockwork -- claimed the presidency. For the non-math majors out there, that's EIGHT straight elections. (Looking for the exact numbers? Check after the jump.) For months, the Washington Post/ABC News poll, has shown John McCain holding a wide lead over Barack Obama among this key swing group, which in the past eight elections has comprised between 20 and 25 percent of the electorate as a whole. Back in mid-June, McCain was at 60 percent, with 34 percent for Obama -- a margin that fluctuated somewhat as the summer wore on but by the end of the Republican National Convention had returned to a 19-point McCain edge.
Read more...
In his interview with The News Journal published Oct. 19, Sen. Joe Biden presents a seriously erroneous picture of Catholic teaching on abortion. He said, "I know that my church has wrestled with this for 2,000 years," and claimed repeatedly that the Church has a nuanced view of the subject that leaves a great deal of room for uncertainty and debate. This is simply incorrect. The teaching of the Church is clear and not open to debate. Abortion is a grave sin because it is the wrongful taking of an innocent human life. The Church received the tradition opposing abortion from Judaism. In the Greco-Roman world, early Christians were identifiable by their rejection of the common practices of abortion and infanticide.
Read more...
PRAVDA UPATE: The American President has long been viewed as the most powerful job in the world. The American people and our allies deserve full disclosure from any candidate who aspires to the President. So just how much DON'T we know about Obama, and why has the left wing media been so uninterested in asking about withheld information? The list will shock you...
Read more...
We post the following to display the sharp differences on "homosexual" issues between the McCain and Obama camps. An Obama win, alongside a Democratic majority in the House and the Senate, threatens to reshape the United States in a radical manner - against the laws of Christ and the natural law. The following was recently sent to CFN from a "gay" website, explaining why homosexuals despise Sarah Palin. During her 2006 run for Governor, Sarah Palin filled out an Alaska Eagle Forum questionnaire that reveals her stance. Palin was asked what her top three priorities would be while Governor. Palin answered, "#2 - Preserving the definition of 'marriage' as defined in our constitution."
Read more...
The Catholic Bishops' "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship" document emphasizes that the top "intrinsically evil" moral issues that must be considered when voting are: abortion, euthanasia, human cloning and embryonic stem-cell research. The document clearly states that "intrinsically evil" actions always must be rejected and must never be supported or condoned. There is no doubt what "always" and "never" mean. Barack Obama has voted for and supported all four "intrinsically evil" moral issues. When you see a candidate who votes anti-life four times out of four possible votes, you should not vote for this candidate.
Read more...
ACORN is a multi-million-dollar multinational conglomerate. ACORN claims to be a community assistance group, but its political agenda is driven by a relative handful of anti-corporate activists. ACORN spends millions of dollars to enact economic policies (such as raising the minimum wage), but has admitted that it doesn't want to abide by them. ACORN advocates for workers rights and runs two unions, but busts unions of its own employees. ACORN fights for "good government," but misuses government grants. For the details, CLICK HERE
Read more...
Join us in the Rosary Novena and in the daily recitation of a special approved prayer against "revolutionary men". In June, Obama sent a letter to the Alice B. Toklas Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Democratic Club saying he supports repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" US military policy. In 2004, Obama sent a letter to a "gay" newspaper in Chicago in which he called the Defense of Marriage Act "abhorrent" and said, "We must vigorously expand hate-crime legislation and be vigilant about how these laws are enacted." Such pro-homosexual hate crimes legislation is being used around the world to persecute Christians. Last year, a Columbia bishop was jailed for refusing to allow a homosexual into his seminary. "Hate crimes" could also be used against churches that refuse to perform homosexual marriages; and used against schools that teach homosexuality is a sin.
Read more...
Archbishop Charles Chaput says Catholic legal scholar Douglas Kmiec "couldn't be more mistaken" in comparing his own moral reasoning regarding the 2008 presidential election to that of the archbishop. Archbishop Chaput said this tonight at a dinner sponsored by ENDOW (Educating on the Nature and Dignity of Women). The talk, which he said reflects his own opinion as a private citizen, is titled "Little Murders." The prelate spoke at length of Douglas Kmiec's book "Can a Catholic Support Him? Asking the Big Question about Barack Obama," in which the Pepperdine law professor argues why Catholics should cast their vote in November's presidential election for Senator Barack Obama.
Read more...
In his book Things It Took Me 50 Years to Learn, Dave Berry once noted: "When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very often, that person is crazy." [1] History is replete with examples of false and dangerous leaders who arose during difficult times. America is currently in such a juncture of history. The economy is in a tailspin. Terrorists are on the march. Illegal immigrants are crossing the border by the millions. Government corruption is rampant. Lawlessness fills the streets. The combination of these circumstances makes the nation ripe for a deceptive leader. The Bible warns about the rise of false leaders during challenging times, giving telltale signs of their identity.
Read more...
An "Open Letter to American Bishops" by Randall Terry has been sent by certified mail to all U.S. Bishops. (See complete Open Letter at www.humbleplea.com. The following is the complete response from Bishop Gracida concerning the Open Letter and Faithful Catholic Citizenship. Faithful Catholic Citizenship proves -- using the words of John Paul II -- that a Catholic cannot in good conscience vote for Back Obama. Bishop Gracida granted his permission to use his entire quote. Thank God for his courage and clarity.
Read more...
John McCain and Barack Obama swapped self-deprecating jokes instead of campaign jabs Thursday night, the Republican saying he had replaced his team of senior advisers with "Joe the Plumber" while the Democrat claimed his own "greatest strength would be my humility." Said Obama: "Contrary to the rumors you have heard, I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father, Jor-el, to save the planet Earth," a reference to Superman. McCain joked that Democrats had already begun attacking Joe the Plumber, the Ohio man whom he referred to in Wednesday night's debate, and claimed "that this honest, hardworking small businessman could not possibly have enough income to face a tax increase under the Obama plan."
Read more...
In recent elections when a high-profile Roman Catholic Democrat seeks high, or higher office, the issue of abortion surfaces. As the pro-choice, non-Catholic Barack Obama makes a play for evangelical voters, conservative Catholics are asking their fellow believers to take seriously the church's teaching on abortion and not cast their vote for Obama and Catholic Joe Biden. The split in Democratic ranks is along political as well as theological lines. Liberal Catholics claim that government programs advocated by Democrats more accurately reflect the teachings of Jesus about the poor and the weak. More "observant" Catholics, some of whom support anti-poverty government programs, point out that no program can help someone who is not given the right to live. Liberals want Catholics to look beyond abortion. Would they have been comfortable 50 years ago with appeals for Catholics to look beyond the racism of Southern Democratic senators? Probably not.
Read more...
A new poll of Americans ages 18-34 has surveyed the faith, politics, and issue positions of young adults before the 2008 election. The poll claims about 60 percent of younger self-identified Catholics say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 44 percent reportedly support same-sex marriage, a number which rises to 64 percent when religious liberty protections are emphasized. The claims come from the Faith in Public Life's "The Faith and American Politics Survey," which was conducted by Public Religion Research between August 28 and September 19. Polling 2,000 American adults and an over sample of 1,250 younger adults, its methods included both land line and cell phone interviews. Overall, 44 percent of Catholics said abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, while 54 percent said it should not. About 61 percent of young Catholics reported it was not a very important voting issue, compared to 56 percent of Catholics 35 years and older.
Read more...
The Knights of Columbus will release the results of a nationwide survey of Catholic voters at a news conference at the National Press Club on Tuesday, October 14, 2008. The survey of 1,733 adults was conducted between September 24 and October 3 by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. An oversample of American Catholics was done to provide statistically significant data on Catholic attitudes during this election year.
Read more...
A retired Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice says that she is "not confident we can get a fair election" in the state come November. Justice Sandra Newman, accompanied by Dauphin County District Attorney Edward Marsico and Pennsylvania Republican State Chairman Robert Gleason, expressed her concerns at a Harrisburg press conference this morning. A thick document replete with photo copies of phony registrations and aerial shots of vacant lots used as "addresses" for "voters" was handed out to journalists. Gleason was even more explicit. "Between March 23rd and October 1st, various groups, including ACORN, submitted over 252,595 registrations to the Philadelphia County Election Board" with 57, 435 rejected for faulty information. "Most of these registrations were submitted by ACORN, and rejected due to fake social security numbers, incorrect dates of birth, clearly fraudulent signatures, addresses that do not exist, and duplicate registrations. In one case, a man was registered to vote more than 15 times since the Primary election."
Read more...
Terrence Scanlon, President and Chairman of the Board of the Capital Research Center, is a graduate in economics from Villanova University in Pennsylvania. He served as Vice President for corporate relations at The Heritage Foundation and in the Reagan Administration as chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. He is a frequent contributor for various newspapers, cable news networks and radio stations. The Capital Research Center was established in 1984 to study non-profit organizations, with a special focus on reviving the American traditions of charity, philanthropy and voluntarism. The subject: "Have Government Monies Helped or Hindered Catholic Charities and Other Faith Based Groups?"
Read more...
The Catholic Campaign for Human Development gave $1.1 million to ACORN in 2007. You can find this fact on the CCHD Website. If you add up all the groups called ACORN or Association Of Community Organization For Reform Now, you get a total of $1,111,000 in 2007. With all the new scandals about ACORN, this funding may become more problematic for the CCHD than it already is. Take a look at the clips below from ACORN's 2008 National Convention and ask yourself whether you are comfortable with $1,000,000 of your Catholic money being given to them. I've never seen such an egregious flouting of 501(c)(3) not-for-profit status in my life. This clip alone provides sufficient grounds for the CCHD to defund ACORN...
Read more...
The Catholic vote is a bit like an apparition of the Virgin Mary. It is a clear article of faith to some, a murky delusion to others. Nevertheless, this block of 67 million Americans is crucial to electoral victory and a prime target for both political parties this season. Pity that they don't really understand what motivates these voters or how the messages they send out are being interpreted by Catholics. Admittedly they are a mysterious lot, a group that is neither monolithic nor partisan. At present 49 percent of Catholics are Democrats while 40 percent are registered Republicans. A portion of these voters are known to swing wildly in presidential elections.
Read more...
During the past several presidential elections, Catholics have been highly sought-after swing voters. Both Democrats and Republicans have built coalition efforts targeting them. And in 2000, the Bush-Cheney campaign went one step further, reaching out specifically to Mass-attending Catholics who, because of the depth of their faith, feared moral decline in America. George W. Bush arguably won the 2004 election because of this group. In Ohio and Iowa, the increase in the number of Mass-attending Catholics who voted for Bush in 2004 versus 2000 was greater than his overall margin of victory. And in Florida and Colorado, the increase in the number of Mass-attending Catholics who voted for him was equal to half of his overall margin of victory. Nationwide, Bush captured a record 57% of Mass-attending Catholic voters, though he won the overall Catholic vote by only 4% in a 52%/48% split with the Democrats. With the financial markets grabbing the headlines, is 2008 different?
Read more...
A prominent article by the New York Times this weekend purporting to investigate the connections between Sen. Barack Obama and former Weathermen radical Bill Ayers omits key associations between the two and in some cases seems to minimize their relationship. One law professor and blogger who was interviewed for the Times says he provided the newspaper with key documentation showing Ayers was directly involved in the formation of the board of an education organization on which Obama served as chairman. But the Times did not present that information and instead made the claim Ayers was not involved in the selection of Obama as chairman of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, or CAC, which was founded by Ayers.
Read more...
Officials at the Franciscan University of Steubenville are responding to criticism over Catholic law professor Nicholas Cafardi endorsing pro-abortion candidate Barack Obama. The endorsement has caused waves within pro-life Catholic circles, party because Cafardi is a Steubenville trustee. Cafardi, the former Duquesne University School of Law dean, wrote an editorial appearing in the National Catholic Reporter saying he believes abortion is an "unspeakable evil" yet he supports Obama, who has pledged to keep abortion legal another 35 years. Cafardi bases his endorsement on two points -- claiming the pro-life movement has "permanently" lost the abortion battle and saying voting for Obama can be justified on other political issues.
Read more...
Pastors and church leaders do not need to violate IRS regulations on political activity in order to impact the 2008 elections. There are a wide variety of permissible activities that will activate voters and encourage them to vote according to biblical values. While churches may not endorse or oppose candidates for elective office, pastors can preach on biblical and moral issues, such as abortion and traditional marriage, can urge the congregation to register and vote, and can overview the positions of the candidates. Churches may distribute nonpartisan voter guides, register voters, provide transportation to the polls, hold candidate forums, and introduce visiting candidates. Since 1954, when the political endorsement/opposition prohibition was added to the Internal Revenue Code ("IRC"), only one church has ever lost its IRS letter ruling, but even that church did not lose its tax-exempt status. Churches, unlike other nonprofit organizations, do not need an IRS letter ruling to be tax-exempt.
Read more...
American Life League Thursday called on Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl to enforce Canon 915 at the annual Red Mass at St. Matthew the Apostle Cathedral on Oct. 5. The Catholic Code of Canon Law requires that all those who persist in "manifestly grave sin" are not to be permitted to receive the Holy Eucharist. "We implore Archbishop Wuerl to exercise his duty to protect the Holy Eucharist from the sacrilege of pro-abortion politicians receiving the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ," said Judie Brown, president of American Life League. The Red Mass has been notoriously attended by politicians who actively support abortion and contraception - a position that is unequivocally opposed by the Catholic Church.
Read more...
A new web site by the Matthew 25 Network, a Democratic political action committee supporting Barack Obama, falsely calls Barack Obama pro-life. The "Pro-Life, Pro-Obama" web site features a list of what Obama would do as president and almost completely ignorEs abortion. "An Obama administration will do more than a McCain administration for the cause of life, by drastically reducing abortions through giving women and families the support and the tools they need to choose life," the web site claims. The web site features a host of votes Obama cast and initiatives the pro-abortion candidate supports to help pregnant women.
Read more...
The Democratic Party in the United States "risks transforming itself definitively into a 'party of death,'" said U.S. Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, prefect of the Vatican's highest court. An interview with the former archbishop of St. Louis was published in the Sept. 27 edition of Avvenire, a daily Catholic newspaper sponsored by the Italian bishops' conference. The newspaper asked the archbishop, the new head of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature, for his reaction to reports that his Vatican job was designed to get him away from St. Louis.
Read more...
The Blessing of Animals will begin at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Irenaeus Catholic Church, Orchard Street and Indianwood Boulevard, Park Forest. If it rains, the event will be held inside the church lobby. For more information, call (708) 748-6891. Information about other Blessing of the Animal ceremonies scheduled at Southland churches can be found in the Religion Briefs listing at the Southtown Economist website. "Born Giovanni Francesco Bernardone in Italy, Francis inaugurated the popular Christmas devotion of the Nativity creche, or manger. Because of his love for nature, he has been called the first environmentalist. But the friend and protector of animals may be more renown for his compassion for all God's creatures, which has been recognized for centuries during the annual Blessing of Animals scheduled on or around his Oct. 4 feast day."
Read more...
Following legal threats by Missouri state law-enforcement officials supporting Barack Obama against presidential campaign ads that appeared to be false or misleading, Gov. Matt Blunt today likened the intimidation to "police state tactics." "St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch, St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer, and Obama and the leader of his Missouri campaign Senator Claire McCaskill have attached the stench of police state tactics to the Obama-Biden campaign," said Blunt in a statement released today. "What Senator Obama and his helpers are doing is scandalous beyond words, the party that claims to be the party of Thomas Jefferson is abusing the justice system and offices of public trust to silence political criticism with threats of prosecution and criminal punishment."
Read more...
Biden's latest contribution is to cast paying taxes (never mind how much) as both a patriotic duty and a theological imperative. His argument isn't helped by his own example of negligible charitable contributions, none of which went to the support of his own local parish. It's precisely these kinds of remarks that prompted the bishops' modest appeal for greater truth in advertising: "If we claim to be Catholic, then American Catholics, including public officials who describe themselves as Catholics, need to act accordingly." In plainer and more religious terms, that means renewed commitment to personal integrity.
Read more...
One of the main founders of the Weathermen terrorist organization is a signatory to an independent organization acting to ensure the election of Sen. Barack Obama, WND has learned. The group in question, Progressives for Obama, also includes among its ranks many former members of the 1960s radical organization Students for a Democratic Society, from which the Weathermen splintered, as well as current and former members of other radical organizations, such as the Communist Party USA and the Black Radical Congress. In its creed, first published in March in the Nation magazine, the Progressives for Obama founders state their organization descended from the "proud tradition of independent social movements that have made America a more just and democratic country."
Read more...
U.S. Catholic leaders continue to chide Catholic abortion rights politicians for what the church representatives say is the scandalous example some of them set for their fellow Catholics. The most recent criticism came from Carl A. Anderson, supreme knight of the influential Knights of Columbus men's group. Anderson wants to meet with Sen. Joe Biden, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, to discuss Biden's stance on abortion and his unwillingness to bring his Catholic beliefs into the public square. Anderson requested the meeting in an open letter to the Delaware senator that appeared as an advertisement in several newspapers Sept. 19. The ad was placed in response to Biden's comment on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sept. 7, when Biden said he accepts Catholic teaching that life begins at conception but that he could not impose his beliefs in the public policy arena.
Read more...
Catholic Digest has posted its telephone interviews with Senators John McCain and Barack Obama. Both are questioned about faith and politics, negative campaigning, poverty, oil prices, and economics. Catholic Digest does ask McCain about embryonic stem-cell research; his answer suggests confusion on the issue. Obama is asked about his "pro-choice" stand-- the magazine uses that term-- and replies that he realizes "I recognize is a moral issue."
Read more...
One of the leading myths about the 2004 election is that George W. Bush won mostly because of massive support from evangelicals. Support of evangelicals wouldn't have been nearly enough without his big victory among conservative Catholics and mainline Protestants. In the last few elections, we've seen the birth of a "Religious Conservative Alliance" that spanned different denominations, with Catholic conservatives behaving similarly to Protestant conservatives. That may be changing. A series of new polls show that while Barack Obama has made very little headway among evangelicals - even moderate evangelicals - practicing Catholics are now distinguishing themselves from their evangelical allies.
Read more...
The Catholic bloc is the key swing vote in this year's election that will decide the next president of the United States - and shape our destiny in this watershed moment in history. Catholics must support Sen. John McCain. Both campaigns are courting Catholics vigorously. Catholics constitute America's largest single religious denomination. The church has 47 million adherents - nearly one-quarter of all registered voters. In pivotal battleground states, such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Missouri, they form almost a third of the electorate. Moreover, 41 percent of Catholics are independents. Polls reveal many Catholics remain undecided. They are also evenly divided: Catholic conservatives back Mr. McCain; Catholic progressives champion Sen. Barack Obama. "Social justice" Catholics believe Mr. Obama is their man...
Read more...
Nailing down the relationship between "mad bomber" William Ayers and Barack Obama has been the greatest challenge of the 2008 presidential campaign. The second biggest challenge of 2008 has been deciphering and understanding Barack Obama's campaign structure. His campaign is unlike any other presidential campaign in U. S. history. Obama's operation is authoritarian, disciplined and centralized in Chicago. Obama's reliance on a nationwide network of local "offices" and mailing lists points inexorably to a political latticework straight out of William Ayers' revolutionary playbook. The bottom line: After an exhaustive investigation ContrarianCommentary.com can confirm that Barack Obama appears to be William Ayers' "front" for a national, ongoing Maoist-style revolutionary campaign structure which will endure past November 4th.
Read more...
A new poll shows Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain leading his Democratic counterpart Sen. Barack Obama by a 16 percent margin among Catholics who attend church weekly. Some of McCain's new strength is being attributed to his selection of running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. The results of the Pew Research Center's survey of 2,307 likely voters were released on Thursday. The survey claims a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percent. The survey shows McCain leading Obama among Catholics who attend church weekly 52 to 36 percent, differing from August results which showed the group slightly preferring McCain by 45 to 42 percent.
Read more...
A new poll shows Barack Obama's attempt to reach out to Christian voters, despite his radical pro-abortion position, is failing. The survey, which shows Catholic and evangelical voters backing McCain, explains why Obama launched a new effort to reach out to evangelicals. John Green of the University of Akron conducted the study just as he did surveys of Christian voters in the 2004 elections. Presented today at the Religion Newswriters Association conference, the survey finds evangelicals favor McCain over Obama 57.2 percent to 19.9 percent. That's similar to the 60.4% to 19.6% edge President Bush had over John Kerry at the same point four years ago.
Read more...
Catholic attorney Douglas Kmiec, who claims to be pro-life, is continuing his defense of presidential candidate Barack Obama's pro-abortion position. In a new piece, Kmiec says he would have voted for a bill to protect newborns who survive botched abortions, but he can understand why Obama didn't. The debate comes on the heels of a new television ad running in battleground states that features a woman who survived a late-term abortion criticizing Obama for opposing the bill for medical care for infants who survive like her. In the article, Kmiec says he would have voted for the Illinois bill to protect born-alive infants had he been in the legislature, but he does not fault Obama for voting against it.
Read more...
The Obama campaign, in its 40-page "Unfit for Publication" commentary, alleged my book, "The Obama Nation," contains lies, but as I documented in a rebuttal published on WorldNetDaily on Sept. 7, there is no substance to the allegations. Now the campaign has failed to respond to my rejoinder, and except for some minor changes that will be made in the next printing of the book, I assume the Obama campaign agrees that my rejoinder arguments were convincing. Moreover, I assume the Obama campaign took its best shot with "Unfit for Publication," refuting every point in "The Obama Nation" that the Obama campaign considered false. The result here is the chapter-by-chapter arguments from "The Obama Nation" that were not disputed in "Unfit for Publication." Because the Obama campaign did not even attempt to refute these substantive arguments, I now assume the Obama campaign is conceding their truth.
Read more...
Barack Obama is an impressive speaker who presents himself as a "bridge builder" that will unite Americans of all political persuasions. Obama also speaks openly about his faith and his respect for pro-life and pro-family voters in a way not seen in many recent Democratic candidates for President. Because of these things, many Christians have been considering voting for Obama. What Christians and other people of faith need to be understand is that in spite of Obama's rhetoric about being a "uniter" who will work for common ground, Obama's policies could not possibly be more opposed to the views of social conservatives. Indeed, it is not an exaggeration to state that an Obama presidency could undo every single gain that has been made in recent years by pro-life and pro-family Americans. Furthermore, an Obama presidency could usher in a new era of difficulty-or, dare we say, even a persecution-for Christians in the United States the likes of which we have never seen.
Read more...
During the opening day of the Catholic Leadership Conference yesterday, Baker Oregon Bishop Robert Vasa clarified the teaching of the US Bishops Conference regarding voting in favor of pro-abortion politicians. The question of whether Catholics may remain in good standing with the Church while voting for pro-abortion politicians was raised. Bishop Vasa responded referencing the document of the United States Catholic Conference titled "Faithful Citizenship", noting a pro-abortion stance disqualifies candidates from consideration by faithful Catholics. LifeSiteNews.com spoke with Bishop Vasa after the session. Describing the deliberation among US bishops over the "Faithful Citizenship" document, he said: "When we were working on the document 'Faithful Citizenship', and the issue of whether or not a person's adamant pro-abortion position was a disqualifying condition, the general sense was 'yes that is a disqualifying condition'."
Read more...
There is a secret group in the Obama-Biden campaign tasked with shutting off any leaks from the record that links Barack Obama to his longtime adviser and mentor Bill Ayers, professor of education at the University of Illinois and unrepentant Weatherman terrorist and fugitive from the 1970s. This surprising fact has been developed by Chicago-born and Ralph Nader-supporting Professor Steve Diamond of Santa Clara University Law School, who maintains the Global Labor and Politics blog and has pieced together over many months the unusual surreptitious activity around the public records of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC) grant now housed at the University of Illinois and Brown University. Since the spring, Diamond has led the investigation into the intimate working relationship between Obama and Ayers that dates back at least to the beginning of 1995 and the Chicago Annenberg Challenge Grants.
Read more...
"At times visibly nervous . . . Ms. Palin most visibly stumbled when she was asked by Mr. Gibson if she agreed with the Bush doctrine. Ms. Palin did not seem to know what he was talking about. Mr. Gibson, sounding like an impatient teacher, informed her that it meant the right of 'anticipatory self-defense.' " Informed her? Rubbish. The New York Times got it wrong. And Charlie Gibson got it wrong. There is no single meaning of the Bush doctrine. In fact, there have been four distinct meanings, each one succeeding another over the eight years of this administration -- and the one Charlie Gibson cited is not the one in common usage today. It is utterly different.
Read more...
In the midst of a lengthy political campaign, matters of public policy that are also moral issues sometimes are misrepresented or are presented in a partial or manipulative fashion. While everyone could be expected to know the Church's position on the immorality of abortion and the role of law in protecting unborn children, it seems some profess not to know it and others, even in the Church, dispute it. Since this teaching has recently been falsely presented, the following clarification may be helpful.
Read more...
Fidelis (Latin for faithful) is the universal name for a group of Catholic-based political, legal, research and educational organizations whose collective mission it is to formulate, promote, and defend public policies that uphold religious freedom, human life from conception to natural death, and the traditional institutions of marriage and family. Our structure and approach is designed to coordinate the efforts of four related organizations under a comprehensive structure and unifying vision in order to effectively shape public debate, influence public policy, and defend critical freedoms in areas consistent with its mission. In this objective, Fidelis is unique in combining political, legal, policy and educational components at the service of one mission.
Read more...
New polling data shows if Catholic voters knew Barack Obama voted against a measure to offer medical protection for unborn children they would be more likely to vote against him. The same poll also showed Catholics who are active churchgoers are more likely to oppose abortion and support pro-life candidates. The survey found that, if pro-life groups continue to drive home the point that Obama voted against a bill in the Illinois legislature to protect infants, they could make a dent in his support between now and the elections. The poll, conducted by the National Scientific Survey Center asked both Catholic and Evangelical voters if a presidential candidate voted against a law to protect babies "born alive and unharmed" after an abortion, would they still support the candidate.
Read more...
At 67 million strong and packed into must-win states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida, U.S. Catholics are the ultimate electoral prize for any candidate seeking the White House. Since 1976, winning the Catholic vote has meant winning the Oval Office -- except for Al Gore, who narrowly carried Catholics by two points but nonetheless lost 2000's disputed election to George W. Bush. Catholics are, to put it simply, the ultimate swing vote. Yet with their size and diversity -- think Ted Kennedy and Mel Gibson, Catholics both -- they are notoriously hard to fit into one partisan profile. Which is why John McCain and the GOP aren't willing to lose the Catholics to Barack Obama -- at least not without a fight.
Read more...
A Wisconsin-based pro-life group is urging Republican presidential nominee John McCain to counter an ad being aired by the Barack Obama campaign that warns voters McCain will overturn Roe v. Wade. The campaign for the Democratic presidential candidate is airing an ad in key states such as Florida, Virginia, Iowa, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Colorado, telling female voters that John McCain "will make abortion illegal." A nurse-practitioner who narrates the ad says: "Let me tell you -- if Roe v. Wade is overturned, the lives and health of women will be put at risk. That's why this election is so important."
Read more...
While watching those speaking at the Republican Party's National Convention on Wednesday and Thursday night, I realized there was a steady theme from those addressing the GOP faithful. There were many opportunities to slap down the mainstream media and I'm happy to say those opportunities were taken advantage of. In fact, a nice swat should be taken at the mainstream press whenever possible. Indeed, media swatting should become a part of the Republican platform. Let me see...lower taxes, smaller government, pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, etc. and anti-media, but not necessarily in that order. It's about time Republicans start calling it like it is, when it comes to the liberal media's love affair with the Democratic Party in general and specifically Barack Obama. Spiro Agnew did it very well back in 1971 when he referred to the media as "nattering nabobs of negativism."
Read more...
Based purely on his organizing background, one would have expected Obama to become a bread-and-butter politician, a spokesman for his constituents' immediate needs. Instead, Obama became a politician of vision, not issues--one who appealed to voters' values rather than their immediate self-interest. As a state senator in Illinois, he was best known for his advocacy of government reform. Asked in September 1999 to explain why someone should vote for him for Congress against incumbent Bobby Rush, Obama told the Hyde Park Citizen that, unlike Rush, he had "a vision." And, as a Democratic presidential candidate, he has run on an abstract platform of "change" that appeals to many young and upscale voters, but has fallen flat among the white working-class voters whom Alinsky once courted.
Read more...
Barack Obama says the promise of America is that "each of us has the freedom to make of our own lives what we will" - but in the same breath, as he states "the market should reward drive and innovation and generate growth," he in not-so-veiled nuances purposes to have government dictate how businesses "create jobs, look out for workers and play by the rules." The Obamas are attempting to redefine honest success in order to prove the benefit of a flawed philosophy of "punish the perceived rich" for daring to be successful. This is not new. The enlightened elites of the early 19th century advocated the same. It took Karl Marx and Josef Stalin to show the world just how unsuccessful said philosophy could be. And it appears it will take the Obamas to reinforce their failings.
Read more...
From its very beginning with the revolt of Luther, Liberty has always been about keeping the Catholics down. Should the Catholic hierarchy in this country decide that it will no longer be kept down, should it even attempt to break those Lilliputian strings of Liberty, there will be outright governmental oppression of the sort we are already witnessing in Canada and the EU. In short, God help us all if Barack Obama ascends to the White House, the very throne of what Jefferson, that great hater of Catholicism, liked to call the Empire of Liberty. And so I am voting Republican in this election. Because this time the Republicans, by adding Sarah Palin to their ticket, have done just enough to present voters with a clear moral choice. But more important, because under no circumstances can Catholics sit back and allow a veritable forerunner of the Antichrist to become President of the United States.
Read more...
Record of bipartisan achievement -- Obama: Speaks movingly of the bipartisanship needed to end the destructive politics of "Red America" and "Blue America", but votes in the Senate as a down-the-line Democrat, with one of the most liberal voting records in congress. Palin: Ridiculed by liberals such as John Kerry as a crazed, barely human, Dick Cheney-type conservative but worked wit Democrats in the state legislature to secure landmark anti-corruption legislation. Former state Rep. Ethan Berkowitz - a Democrat - said. "Gov. Palin has made her name fighting corruption within her own party, and I was honored when she stepped across party lines and asked me to co-author her ethics white paper."
Read more...
Obama's pro-choice-but-against-abortion formulation has been taken up by the Party, and is reflected in the Democratic platform. This apparent softening on the abortion issue, however rhetorical, has allowed for a resurgence of the "consistent ethic of life" construct, now being aggressively proposed by Catholic liberals as the proper Catholic approach to issues. John McCain's religious-outreach effort has been attenuated at best, perhaps reflecting the candidate's pronounced ambivalence toward the religious right, and the insistent agenda of cultural conservatives in general. McCain admitted as much in July, when George Stephanopoulos, of ABC, asked him about his position on gay adoption. He doesn't support it, McCain said, but he added, "It's not the reason why I'm running for President of the United States."
Read more...
Fr. John De Celles, STL, is an associate pastor at Old St. Mary's Church in Alexandria, Va. This is his homily for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Aug. 31, 2008), as prepared for delivery. "...some things leave no room for debate. One of these is that it is always gravely evil to enslave human beings as if they were animals. And another is that it is always gravely evil to kill an innocent human life being - particularly the unborn. So, as Cardinal Ratzinger wrote to the American bishops just 10 months before he became Pope Benedict XVI: There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion...."
Read more...
John McCain's decision to pick a pro-family and pro-life running mate will make the McCain-Palin ticket a 'natural' for Catholic voters, said Brian Burch, President of Fidelis Political Action. "A presidential candidate's first major executive decision is selecting a running mate and John McCain's unexpected choice of Sarah Palin inspires real confidence that a McCain Administration will be a strong ally in the pro-life and pro-family cause," said Burch. "Governor Palin is the most pro-life vice presidential candidate ever to run. We are thrilled with this choice." "John McCain and Sarah Palin have matched their public defense of life with their own personal commitment to life," said Burch. Burch noted that earlier this year Palin made news with the birth of her fifth child, whom she welcomed into life despite a pre-natal diagnosis that revealed the child had Down Syndrome.
Read more...
An independent watchdog that checks the facts on statements and political ads from candidates and campaigns says Barack Obama is misleading people abortion. The FactCheck web site of the University of Pennsylvania reviewed the debate over the Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act. At issue is the bill that Obama opposed that would provide medical care for newborn infants who survive abortions. Obama says he voted against the bill because it didn't mirror a national version that had language making it neutral on Roe v. Wade -- even though Obama voted for language in committee to make the state legislation conform. The National Right to Life Committee released documents exposing Obama's misrepresentation and the pro-abortion presidential candidate later accused the group of "lying" in a terse interview. "We find that, as the NRLC said in a recent statement, Obama voted in committee against the 2003 state bill that was nearly identical to the federal act he says he would have supported," FactCheck indicated after reviewing the documents. "Both contained identical clauses saying that nothing in the bills could be construed to affect legal rights of an unborn fetus, according to an undisputed summary written immediately after the committee's 2003 mark-up session," it continued.
Read more...
You are unlikely to ever come upon a group called Mohammedans for Polytheism or Environmentalists for Seal Slaughter. A Muslim who espouses a multiplicity of deities has, ipso facto, placed himself outside the Muslim confession. Polytheism is not an Islamic thing. An environmentalist who patronizes anti-ecological activities is not an environmentalist at all, but a subversive. This is because the monikers "Muslim" and "environmentalist" mean something; they carry with them a series of necessary consequences. Certain terms - like "Muslim" and "polytheism" - simply can't be squared, and combining them is nonsensical. The recent ecclesiastical backlash to Nancy Pelosi's unfortunate remarks on Meet the Press should have surprised no one, least of all Speaker Pelosi herself. Her attempts to squeeze abortion rights into Catholic moral teaching were no more credible than trying to pass apartheid off as a legitimate goal of the civil rights movement.
Read more...
Over in the Frumistan province of the NR caliphate, our pal David is not happy about the Palin pick. I am - for several reasons. First, Governor Palin is not merely, as Jay describes her, "all-American", but hyper-American. What other country in the developed world produces beauty queens who hunt caribou and serve up a terrific moose stew? As an immigrant, I'm not saying I came to the United States purely to meet chicks like that, but it was certainly high on my list of priorities. And for the gun-totin' Miss Wasilla then to go on to become Governor while having five kids makes it an even more uniquely American story. Next to her resume, a guy who's done nothing but serve in the phony-baloney job of "community organizer" and write multiple autobiographies looks like just another creepily self-absorbed lifelong member of the full-time political class that infests every advanced democracy.
Read more...
The selection of Sen. Joseph Biden as Barack Obama's running mate underscores, once again, the challenges faced by these candidates among evangelical Christians and Catholics. In the case of Obama, the concern is that his faith is not the sort of Christianity that most evangelicals or Catholics would profess. Far from solving this problem, the selection of Biden brings to the ticket a man at odds with the highest levels of his own Catholic faith. The result is that these candidates seem unlikely to be able to reassure the evangelical and Catholic voters -- whom they need to win the election -- that the Obama-Biden ticket shares their core values. Obama's troubles with Catholics and evangelicals can be traced to his many years of attendance at the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ, a church that professes a belief in "liberation theology." According to "talking points" listed on Trinity Church's Web site, "The vision statement of Trinity United Church of Christ is based upon the systematized liberation theology that started in 1969 with the publication of Dr. James Cone's book, Black Power and Black Theology."
Read more...
Replacing manufactured myths with enlightening research, Goldberg begins by showing how the Italian fascism, German Nazism and American Progressivism (forebear of modern liberalism) all drew from the same intellectual foundations the idea that the state can create a kind of social utopia for its citizens. He then traces fascism's history in the U.S. -- from Woodrow Wilson's war socialism and FDR's New Deal to today's liberal push for a greater alliance between big business and government. Finally, Goldberg reveals the striking resemblances between the opinions advanced by Hitler and Mussolini and the current views of the left on such diverse issues as government's role in the economy, campaign finance reform, campus "speech codes," education, environmentalism, gun control, abortion, and euthanasia.
Read more...
Given Obama's 20-year involvement with Chicago's Trinity mega-church, and with his close association with the highly-controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and in light of his White grandparent's non-involvement with any religion at all, one might say Obama's religious commitment appears somewhat cloudy. Was it politics which led Obama to join Rev. Wright's mega-church-and then being led to Christ-or what? Could political motivation have been a factor in seeking association with South Chicago's predominately Black churches? Or was Obama, like St. Paul on the road to Damascus, supernaturally led to Jesus? We hope it is the latter case. Virtually abandoned by his bi-racial parents, Obama was mostly raised by his White grandparents in Hawaii. Obama has said that his grandparents had "little money" while he was schooled in Hawaii. One might ask, with "little money" how was Obama propelled to Los Angeles and then on to exclusive Eastern U.S. Ivy league schools, 4,500 miles from Hawaii? Since Pell Grants, Affirmative Action grants, and student loans appear inadequate to meet the enormous tuition and living expenses in exclusive "Ivy" schools, it would seem probable that hidden educational mentors in Hawaii, partisan financial patrons, and political agents were involved in pushing this favored student in an amazing climb up the ladder. Could Obama supply the facts?
Read more...
CCI Advisory Board member Deacon Keith Fournier writes for Catholic Online at www.catholic.org. Amid the speculation building today regarding McCain's VP selection, we note with interest that Keith has suggested for several weeks that Palin was a advantageous choice. "She rose to prominence through her courageous willingness to expose ethics violations within her own State Party. She is pro-life, pro-marriage and family, and she is a happily married wife and mother of five children. She is beautiful, well liked in her home State, articulate and from all I have heard, a genuinely good person." For more of Deacon Fournier's columns, go to www.catholic.org.
Read more...
Is it Sarah Palin for Vice President? It is beginning to look like the Alaskan Governor has re-emerged as a serious candidate to be John McCain's running mate. If this is the case, there are some risks involved of course, but there is a big upside to this pick. Conservative Base: Palin will thrill the base. She is a conservative reformer. She is pro-life and with five kids, has cred on this issue. She is pro energy production. She is not a big government type. She is the one pick who can excite the base with no collateral damage to other potential voters.
Read more...
The reasons why leaders fall are as complex as human nature. Shakespeare was known for writing about tragic heroes that succumbed to the enemy within. Othello was a victim of his jealousy. Lear was a prey of his own irrationality and misdirected suspicions. Hamlet was a casualty of his indecisiveness. The sinful nature of mankind may be an antiquated concept in the mind of many today, but the relevance of the Bible's truth is constantly demonstrated among the great and the small: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9) For this reason leaders must be especially careful and zealous to guard their roles. God, in his sovereignty, graciously grants leadership for the sake of service. Unfortunately, however, those blessed with it often follow their lower natures -- listening to the wrong voices and valuing the wrong things.
Read more...
A prominent Philadelphia attorney and Hillary Clinton supporter filed suit this afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic National Committee and the Federal Election Commission. The action seeks an injunction preventing the senator from continuing his candidacy and a court order enjoining the DNC from nominating him next week, all on grounds that Sen. Obama is constitutionally ineligible to run for and hold the office of President of the United States. Philip Berg, the filing attorney, is a former gubernatorial and senatorial candidate, former chair of the Democratic Party in Montgomery (PA) County, former member of the Democratic State Committee, and former Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania. According to Berg, he filed the suit--just days before the DNC is to hold its nominating convention in Denver--for the health of the Democratic Party.
Read more...
CCI NOTES: A brief overview of Joe Biden's voting record in the Senate demonstrates the levels of depravity that exist within the American Catholic Church, as well as the total lack of discipline and willingness to address grave public scandal that has become the operating mode for the US Bishops. Absent any effective leadership from Archbishop Chaput in Denver or the USCCB regarding the duties of Catholic voters, Americans can prepare for more pro-homosexual and anti-religious initiatives than any time in our history.
Read more...
Barack Obama has some harsh words for a leading pro-life group that has exposed his misrepresentations about his votes against two bills that would have stopped infanticides. Obama goes as far as saying the National Right to Life Committee is lying about his record. At issue are votes Obama cast during his tenure in the Illinois legislature. He voted repeatedly against a bill that would have made sure babies who survive botched abortions get adequate medical care. He did so, he maintains, because it contained a provision that could have gone against Roe v. Wade.
Read more...
Smarting from ridicule about the way John Edwards' sexual mischief was covered up or ignored for months, the mainstream media have decided to avoid similar charges that they are protecting Barack Obama. Hence the unprecedented New York Times Page One treatment of Jerome Corsi's latest best-seller, "The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality." Corsi's book, copiously footnoted, assembles thousands of facts to present a newsworthy picture of the personality and character of the presumptive Democratic nominee. After all, that's what Obama's supporters say is of primary importance. His political strategist, David Axelrod, is known for projecting personality as the principal factor in electing a candidate. Paul Waldman, the Media Matters spokesman chosen by "Larry King Live" and C-Span to rebut Corsi, claims that it's not specifics or issues but character that counts the most.
Read more...
Perhaps the simplest way to describe community organizing is to say it is the practice of identifying a specific aggrieved population, say unemployed steelworkers, or itinerant fruit-pickers, or residents of a particularly bad neighborhood, and agitating them until they become so upset about their condition that they take collective action to put pressure on local, state, or federal officials to fix the problem, often by giving the affected group money. Organizers like to call that "direct action." Community organizing is most identified with the left-wing Chicago activist Saul Alinsky (1909-72), who pretty much defined the profession. In his classic book, Rules for Radicals, Alinsky wrote that a successful organizer should be "an abrasive agent to rub raw the resentments of the people of the community; to fan latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expressions."
Read more...
With the U.S. presidential race heating up and both John McCain and Barack Obama close to announcing their vice presidential nominees, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City says he hopes his warning of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for her support of abortion, has "alerted" Obama that she is not a good advisor on the Catholic Church. While he was in Quebec City, Canada for the Knights of Columbus' annual conference, Archbishop Naumann took time to explain to CNA the intricacies of his decision to ask the Kansas governor to refrain from receiving Communion. Writing in the May 9 issue of The Leaven, the Archdiocese of Kansas City's newspaper, Archbishop Naumann said that because of the governor's support for legalized abortion, he had asked her to refrain from receiving Holy Communion until she makes a worthy confession and publicly repudiates her stand on abortion.
Read more...
If anyone had any doubt about the influence of Rick Warren, last night provided a remarkable demonstration of his pull -- Barack Obama and John McCain both agreed to submit, one after the other, to televised questions from the evangelical pastor at his church in Orange County, California. Warren, of course, is the author of "The Purpose Driven Life," which, after selling 25 million copies, is now reportedly the best-selling hardback book ever. Saddleback Church, which Warren founded in 1980 with one family, now has 22,000 people at worship each week. Warren has become ubiquitous -- even in Boston, he has spoken at Harvard and was this year's commencement speaker at Gordon College -- and his words have been printed on Starbucks cups. And he has become the best-known advocate of a new set of public policy priorities for evangelicals in the public square -- yes, he opposes same-sex marriage and abortion, but his public focus has been on AIDS in Africa, and he has devoted considerable energy to training pastors in the developing world.
Read more...
Not long before he was elected pope (overwhelmingly), Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger sent a public rebuke to the U.S. bishops. He reminded them that the question of abortion must be judged in a far different category from war and capital punishment. War is a question of practical wisdom, he observed, about which prudent Catholics may form opposing practical judgments. Same with capital punishment, which for centuries was rated by the church as just and sometimes necessary. By contrast abortion, Ratzinger wrote, is "intrinsically evil" and "always and everywhere" to be opposed. Many Catholics on the left wing of the Democratic party have never accepted this rebuke. The most some of them will concede is that abortion is a "profound moral question." Cardinal Ratzinger's point is that that question was long ago answered: Abortion is intrinsically evil. Never to be cooperated with.
Read more...
"If you are Catholic, you should behave like a Catholic. Otherwise you are not what you profess." This was stressed by Pampanga Archbishop Paciano Aniceto, chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Philippines (ECFL-CBCP), when asked what he wants to say to proponents of artificial methods of family planning. He said that if the proponents of the reproductive health (RH) bill in the Congress are Catholics, they "should behave like Catholics". "We are not pre-judging anybody here but this is the stand of the church," the archbishop said.
Read more...
Catholic Answers has produced and excellent alternative to the USCCB's November 2007 release, which is ambiguous and partisan. Visit the CA website with a CLICK HERE.
Read more...
The Colorado Catholic Conference (CCC) has launched its Get Out the Vote campaign in which it uses a web site and DVDs to examine and promote "faithful citizenship," the correct formation of conscience, and voting participation among Catholics. Featuring reflections from all the bishops of Colorado, its web site also contains information about voter registration, bulletin announcements and inserts, testimonials from Colorado Catholics, homily notes, and live streaming of the campaign's DVD presentation. "We hope that Catholics around the state will recognize the moral and civic duty they have as Catholics and citizens to vote and to do so with a properly formed conscience," a statement from the campaign.
Read more...
Voters Guide for Serious Catholics
Read more...
We, as parents, are well aware of the importance of our teachers who teach and program our children. We also know how important it is for our children to play with good-thinking children growing up. Sen. Barack Obama has grown up with the teaching of very angry, militant white and black people: the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan, William Ayers and Rev. Michael Pfleger. We cannot say we are not affected by teachers who are militant and angry. We know too well that we become like them, and Mr. Obama will run this country in their mindset. The Democratic Party, in its quest for power, has managed a propaganda campaign with subliminal messages, creating a God-like figure in a man who falls short in every way. It seems to me that if Mr. Obama wins the presidential election, then Messrs. Farrakhan, Wright, Ayers and Pfleger will gain power for their need to demoralize this country and help create a socialist America.
Read more...
Thirty local activists who want to mobilize Catholic voters around the full range of Catholic social issues met yesterday to raise awareness. "We are trying to influence the Catholic vote for the common good," said Lois Campbell, the local field organizer for Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, which sponsored the meeting. The group plans to run phone banks to urge Catholics to vote with many issues in mind. The alliance believes that Catholics have been frustrated by partisan politics, with the Republican Party claiming opposition to abortion and the Democratic Party claiming support for a social safety net. The group says it is trying to get Catholics to base their electoral decisions on all of these issues.
Read more...
A few weeks ago, the Rev. Jesse Jackson made something of a fool of himself. There he was -- a historical figure in his own right -- threatening the castration of Barack Obama. It was sad to see. If I have often criticized Mr. Jackson, I have also, reservedly, admired him. He is a late 20th century outcropping of a profoundly American archetype: the self-invented man who comes from nothing and, out of sheer force of personality, imposes himself on the American consciousness. If he never reached the greatness to which he aspired, he nevertheless did honor to the enduring American tradition of bold and unapologetic opportunism. But now -- not looking old so much as a bit lost within the new Obama aura -- it is clear that Jesse Jackson has come to a kind of denouement. Some force that once buoyed him up now seems spent.
Read more...
When Ann Coulter endorsed Mitt Romney she called the former Massachusetts governor "manifestly our best candidate" -- though the paper for which she is "chief legal correspondent," Human Events, ranked Romney the #8 RINO (Republican In Name Only) in the nation in 2005. GOP establishment pom pom girl Laura Ingraham and water boy Sean Hannity evangelize Romney on their radio shows as the second coming of Ronald Reagan. Curiouser and curiouser! Romney the wallflower bats his eyelashes and coyly pretends not to notice the increasing speculation of a McCain-Romney ticket--even as he criss-crosses the country campaigning and fundraising for McCain--the same John McCain who Romney said during the primaries was "almost indistinguishable" from Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.
Read more...
CCI NOTES: Just to demonstrate how rudderless the American Catholic Church has become, the misguided, mis-named and incredibly ignorant 'Catholics for Obama' have excitedly launched themselves into heretical cyberspace. You can order your Obama 2008 t-shirts on-line, or you can get your candidate clothes at St. Sabina's, where Father Pfleger continues to function as a leading operative of the local Democratic Party.
Read more...
John McCain is preparing to ramp up his efforts to reach out to Catholic voters with a "very, very aggressive" campaign, spearheaded by the newly created Catholic Outreach Coalition. Frank Donatelli, the Deputy Chairman of the Republican National Committee, spoke to reporters and Catholic media on a conference call this morning about the efforts that the McCain campaign is planning to reach Catholic voters. Donatelli described the Catholic Outreach Coalition, chaired by Sen. Sam Brownback and Frank Keating, as "first-rate" and said that it will be "very well-funded."
Read more...
The Catholic church doesn't claim to have the expertise to answer the largely technical question of how best to achieve such ends as remediating poverty and providing health care. But judging by the moral standards articulated in Pope John Paul II's social teaching encyclical Centesimus Annus, one could make the case that McCain's proposals are more consistent than Obama's with the Catholic social ideals of subsidiarity, solidarity, and human dignity. Of course, Catholic teaching and Catholic voting do not always go hand in hand. Conservative Catholics will continue to attack Obama on abortion, embryo destruction, cloning, same-sex marriage, and the judiciary--while liberal Catholics will continue to attack McCain on the war, torture, immigration, and climate change. Against such attacks, McCain appears to have a defense. Does Obama?
Read more...
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence? Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, & tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army & another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, & their sacred honor. What kind of men were they? 24 were lawyers and jurists, 11 were merchants, 9 were farmers & large plantation owners; men of means, well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
Read more...
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley has chosen to make the gun issue personal. Okay, I'll bite. Daley's reaction to the Supreme Court's ruling last week (D.C. v. Heller) overturning the Washington, D.C. ban on gun ownership was as predictable as it was incoherent. In one of his signature assaults on logic, Daley, a known enemy of modern contrivances like "facts", deftly managed to completely mischaracterize the Court's holding at the same time as embarrassing the faculty at DePaul University School of Law where he somehow obtained a law degree.
Read more...
A new TIME poll of Catholic voters reveals that Kmiec is part of a broader pattern. Although Obama was thought to have a "Catholic problem" during the Democratic primaries, in which Hillary Clinton won a majority of Catholic votes, he has pulled even with John McCain among that constituency - Obama now polls 44% to his G.O.P. opponent's 45%. There are 47 million Catholic voters, and while they are too numerous and varied to speak of as a monolithic Catholic bloc, they have long been a kind of holy grail for presidential candidates. The winner of eight out of the past nine elections has captured a majority of Catholic votes (they voted for Al Gore in 2000), and there are large Catholic concentrations in key states like Florida, Ohio and New Mexico.
Read more...
CCI NOTES: Do you know the preamble to your state's Constitution? This was accumulated by a friend and forwarded to CCI. After reviewing acknowledgments of God from all 50 state constitutions, one is faced with the very real prospect that the ACLU and the out-of-control federal courts are dead wrong in their efforts to remove God from all public life. As Willima Penn said, "Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants." Indeed!
Read more...
CCI NOTES: We are posting two recent speeches by Obama and McCain to illustate the differences in their views on the economy. Senator Barack Obama's speech on the economy was delivered Monday, June 9, 2008, before an Obama campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina. Sen. John McCain's Speech on the Economy was delivered on Tuesday, June 10, 2008, before the National Federation of Independent Business in Washington, D.C.
Read more...
As Cybercast News Service has reported, huge basins of untapped oil can be found on federal lands throughout the United States, according to the federal government. But much of that domestic oil supply cannot -- and may never be -- recovered, because it lies under national parks and national monuments, or it is subject to environmental laws and restrictions that make drilling prohibitive. The report, which was produced at the request of Congress by the U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management, said there are 279 million acres under federal management where oil and gas potentially could be extracted. Republicans insist that the solution lies in boosting the U.S. oil supply -- by drilling right here.
Read more...
In spite of the so-called "agreement" between Cardinal George and Rev. Pfleger, stating that the embattled pastor of St. Sabina's would refrain from all political activism, the web site for St. Sabina's continues to be engaged in politics. A long time opponent of the Second Amendment to the Constitution, Rev. Pfleger attracted national attention last year (which was his goal) when he and Jesse Jackson were arrested after invading a gun shop and refusing to leave. Pfleger's political campaign to criminalize the ownership of guns by law abiding citizens continues at the St. Sabina's website. So much for his "agreement" with the Cardinal...
Read more...
Listen carefully to the candidates for every office, and reject those who campaign for more government programs and more government control. Identify those in the city council, county commission and in the state legislatures who vote for expanded government control - and vote for their opponents (if they advocate more freedom). Look at the list of cosponsors of H.R. 2421, and tell them to vote against this socialist bill. Read the bill yourself, and don't let your representative tell you that it doesn't expand government power over all "activities affecting these waters." This bill is expected to see floor action within the next several weeks. If it is enacted, it will not likely ever be undone. Once government gets its hands on new power, it is never relinquished.
Read more...
While Archimedes-in-a-pantsuit tries to rewrite the laws of mathematics, the rest of the nation has properly begun to weigh the Presidential contest between Sens. McCain and Obama. Obama has, however, learned a valuable Clinton trick from this protracted primary--how to obliquely reference the "vast, right-wing conspiracy" to misdirect people's attention away from glaring, personal deficiencies. During his victory speech in North Carolina on Tuesday night Obama said, "We know what's coming...the same names and labels they (Republicans) pin on everyone who doesn't agree with all of their ideas." Actually, we have some new names and labels thanks to Mr. & Mrs. Obama's own words and ideas, as well as the Senator's cozy relationships with corrupt influence peddlers, domestic terrorists, and a hateful, bile-spewing spiritual advisor.
Read more...
The archbishop of Washington, D.C., said the decision of whether or not to give Communion to pro-abortion politicians rests on the shoulders of local bishops. In an column today in My Catholic Standard, a newspaper of the Archdiocese of Washington, Archbishop Donald Wuerl said he "thought it would be helpful once again to highlight a number of issues" regarding pro-abortion politicians and the Eucharist. The issue brought national attention recently after several pro-abortion politicians received Communion during Benedict XVI's visit to the United States.
Read more...
If turnabout is fair play, then John McCain critics believe his association with controversial pastors should be held to the same scrutiny as Barack Obama's ties to Rev. Jeremiah Wright. After all, they point out, one of McCain's religious supporters, John Hagee, called the Roman Catholic Church "the great whore." Another, Rod Parsley, referred to Islam as a "false religion" that America was called on to destroy. Still, when McCain's link to both men came to light, the backlash was negligible compared with the furor Obama has faced for nearly two months over his relationship with Wright, his former pastor.
Read more...
Barack Obama was waiting in the wings when the priest began to bless his rally last week in this conservative, middle-class Indiana town. "God of power and light open our hearts and minds to the needs of people all over the world," intoned the Rev. Clement Davis as 2,500 heads bowed reverentially in the local high school gym. Davis said he had come at the request of a parishioner - not the campaign's behest - but the appearance of the priest came during a week when the Illinois senator intensified his efforts to win over Catholics, a constituency that has proved widely resistant to Obama's candidacy. Catholics are among the most powerful swing voting blocs in American politics; they backed the winner in seven of the last eight presidential elections.
Read more...
In the end, the best thing Church leaders can do for the social order is teach, consistently, clearly, and forcibly, the fullness of the Church's social teaching, condemning every idea, policy, and cultural habit that opposes the God-given dignity of man. The Catholic witness has to be fully catholic, not tied to any political party or ideological faction that does not express the Church's universality. Finally, the Church is not partisan but the place where our partial truths find their fulfillment. In both her teaching and her witness, the Church has to be the sacrament of salvation for all men, in whatever way they need salvation.
Read more...
This is a prayer breakfast. And this is a perfect place for me to say how much I appreciate the prayers of the people for me and Laura. I can't thank our fellow citizens enough for taking time out of their lives to lift us up for prayer. I have finally begun to understand the story of the calm and the rough seas -- (laughter) -- and I believe -- I believe in my heart of hearts that it's because of the prayers of my fellow citizens. And today with the trust in the Lord's wisdom and goodness, I offer prayers of my own: for each gathered in the room, for the safety and success of the Holy Father's visit, and for God's continued blessings on our great land. Thank you.
Read more...
It was said behind closed doors to the Chablis-and-brie set of San Francisco, in response to a question as to why he was not doing better in that benighted and barbarous land they call Pennsylvania. Like Dr. Schweitzer, home from Africa to address the Royal Society on the customs of the upper Zambezi, Barack described Pennsylvanians in their native habitats of Atloona, Alquippa, Johnstown and McKeesport. "You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and ... the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. "And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
Read more...
Shortly after Pope Benedict XVI's election in 2005, President Bush met with a small circle of advisers in the Oval Office. As some mentioned their own religious backgrounds, the president remarked that he had read one of the new pontiff's books about faith and culture in Western Europe. Save for one other soul, Bush was the only non-Catholic in the room. But his interest in the pope's writings was no surprise to those around him. As the White House prepares to welcome Benedict on Tuesday, many in Bush's inner circle expect the pontiff to find a kindred spirit in the president. Because if Bill Clinton can be called America's first black president, some say, then George W. Bush could well be the nation's first Catholic president.
Read more...
Today Senator Barack Obama announced his national Catholic advisory committee. The names are a fascinating mix of, well, Catholics--and include some regular and recent America contributors (to America Magazine), like Mary Jo Bane, Lisa Cahill, Richard Gaillardetz, Cathy Kaveny and David O'Brien. And congratulations to Grant Gallicho, associate editor at our sister (brother?) publication, Commonweal. But what, no Jesuits? Maybe I should reconsider my possible vote. (By the way, if anyone wants to contribute to us Senator Clinton's or Senator McCain's list, we'd be happy to include it.) (CCI NOTES: America is the Jesuit national magazine. Please direct all comments about this article to America by CLICKING HERE)
Read more...
Here is a transcription of the interview held by EWTN anchor Raymond Arroyo with U.S. President George Bush on Friday. Arroyo spoke with the president leading up to Benedict XVI's April 15-20 visit to the United States. The interview can be viewed at EWTN's Web site. ARROYO: "Mr. President, this is the first head of state, Pope Benedict the XVI, you will ever greet on a tarmac. I was stunned to learn this. Why are you going and greeting him at an airstrip? Usually the heads of states come here." BUSH: "Because he is a really important figure in a lot of ways. One, he speaks for millions. Two, he doesn't come as a politician; he comes as a man of faith. And, three, that I so subscribe to his notion that there are -- there's right and wrong in life, that moral relativism has a danger of undermining the capacity to have more hopeful and free societies, that I want to honor his convictions, as well."
Read more...
How would he pull it off? I wondered. How would Barack explain to his press groupies why he sat silent in a pew for 20 years as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright delivered racist rants against white America for our maligning of Fidel and Gadhafi, and inventing AIDS to infect and kill black people? How would he justify not walking out as Wright spewed his venom about "the U.S. of K.K.K. America," and howled, "God damn America!" My hunch was right. Barack would turn the tables. Yes, Barack agreed, Wright's statements were "controversial," and "divisive," and "racially charged," reflecting a "distorted view of America." But we must understand the man in full and the black experience out of which the Rev. Wright came: 350 years of slavery and segregation...
Read more...
When Sen. John McCain stood with Texas televangelist John Hagee last month and said he was "proud" to receive the megachurch pastor's endorsement, a collective shudder ran through the country's Catholic leaders. Their agitation and anger-Hagee, after all, had a history of making virulent anti-Catholic statements, such as calling the religion a "false cult" and a contributor to Hitler's anti-Semitism-finally forced the presumed GOP presidential nominee to take a step back. He repudiated Hagee's anti-Catholic comments and this week launched a national effort to bring Catholics into his fold. And today, his spokeswoman said that the campaign was confident that the senator had resolved the issue by distancing himself from Hagee's anti-Catholic comments. But some in the Catholic community still believe that damage was done and that McCain's judgment remains open to question.
Read more...
Catholic Citizens of Illinois invites you to join us March 14 for a timely and informative debate on Immigration. John Powers, a graduate of the University of Illinois and Purdue University, is President of the Bricks & Mortar Foundation, a Charitable Trust dedicated to preserving and restoring traditional churches in the Chicago area. He was previously CEO of an electronic banking corporation which provides transaction services in 190 countries worldwide. Roseanna Pulido works with FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (Correction: Prior email incorrectly listed her employer as the Minuteman Project.) She is proud of her Mexican heritage and has committed herself to fight for immigrants who came here legally to live the American Dream.
Read more...
Hillary Clinton's hopes for saving her candidacy by winning in Tuesday's crucial primaries in Rhode Island, Vermont, Ohio, and Texas may hinge on a specific voting bloc - Catholics. According to CNN's Anderson Cooper show on Monday night, Catholics vote for Democratic candidates by substantial margins, and this year exit polls showed that Hillary has won the Catholic vote in every Democratic primary but that in Connecticut. In general elections, Catholics vote Democratic over Republican by 44 percent to 41 percent, and have favored Hillary over Obama in this year's prinaries.
Read more...
Investing is sometimes seen as a passive activity, but as a shareholder one is promoting and profiting from whatever that company does. If a company sells porn, the investor is encouraging and profiting from sin. On this point, the Catechism says, "we have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate in them: by not disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so" (#1868). The bishops clearly aren't doing much to hinder sin when they own companies whose profits are dependent on porn sales. Keep in mind, porn sales, with their low production costs, are exceedingly profitable. To these companies, their profits from porn are most "significant." Actual companies recently owned by the Christian Brothers, as reported on their website, include: Cablevision Systems, Charter Communications, Comcast, DirecTV Group, Echostar, News Corp, Rogers Communications, Time Warner, and Viacom -- all of which entice the public with pornography via either cable or satellite television. In addition, they own Choice Hotels, Hilton Hotels, Host Hotels & Resorts, Las Vegas Sands, and Marriott International -- which all profit by offering in-room porn movies to their guests.
Read more...
"We who know his real record celebrate the news that the media's favorite fake "conservative," Mitt Romney, has abandoned his GOP presidential bid. Congratulations to Mass Resistance's Brian Camenker and all those who worked so hard to expose the truth about this man who, frankly, deceived many. Camenker's report, "The Mitt Romney Deception," was the linchpin of our campaign to expose Romney's incredible string of flip-flops, anti-family sellouts and conveniently-timed conversions to the pro-family cause" Peter LaBarbera
Read more...
Huckabee, a fiscal conservative, pushed through the Arkansas Legislature the first major, broad-based tax cuts in state history - a $90 million tax relief package for Arkansas families. He led efforts to establish a Property Taxpayers' Bill of Rights and created a welfare reform program that reduced the welfare rolls in the state by almost 50 percent. He also doubled the standard deduction to $2,000 for single taxpayers and $4,000 for those who are married. He proposed The Property Taxpayers' Bill of Rights which established a uniform notice and due process procedure to guarantee that all Arkansans will be treated fairly in property tax assessment. A significant part of his adult life was spent as a pastor and denominational leader. He became the youngest president ever of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, the largest denomination in Arkansas.CLICK HERE for Huckabee Website
Read more...
Are you a conservative? Have you been paying attention during this primary season? Are you aware that after this Tuesday, your voice, if not totally silenced, may be willingly, and even gleefully, disregarded in a calculated strategy to appeal to liberal, Democrat, independent, and Hispanic voters? Do you care? If so, you have until Tuesday evening to make your principled and patriotic voice heard. For after Tuesday, if Mike Huckabee succeeds in his self-serving quest to deny Mitt Romney the nomination, then it will be conservatives who will be placed at the back of the line...for years to come.
Read more...
John McCain has a remarkable record of leadership and experience that embodies his unwavering lifetime commitment to service. First elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona in 1982, John has led the fight for reforming Washington, eliminating wasteful government spending, and strengthening our nation's armed forces. John McCain's reform agenda to reduce federal spending and lower taxes quickly elevated him to statewide office and he was elected to the United States Senate in 1986, after serving two terms in the U.S. House. CLICK HERE FOR MCCAIN WEBSITE
Read more...
CCI NOTES: The McCain-Feingold bill on campaign finance reform is the most hostile assault on the right of Catholics to state their view in public that was ever passed. To this day, Roman Catholics, regardless of politics, need to be aware of just how insideous this bill is. Below is a letter from Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) to Roman Catholic Bishops and Letter of Response from National Right to Life Committee. What follows is the text of a letter sent to Roman Catholic bishops in the U.S. by Senator John McCain (R-Az.) on February 25, 1998. NRLC's response to this letter appears below McCain's letter. It's hard for us to reconcile how a self-described pro-lifer can implement public policy that is so damaging to the pro-life cause.
Read more...
Unlike McCain and (other candidates), Romney says. "I have worked in the world of employers and employees for all of my career. I understand what makes us more competitive as a nation, what makes us less competitive. I know why jobs grow and why they're eliminated." Romney said he is "very concerned about the America that my grandkids will enjoy, and your grandkids will enjoy. It can be a stronger, more vibrant nation, or it can become the France of the 21st century - starting off as the economic superpower, military superpower, ending still a great nation, but not the world's superpower. The choices we make today will determine whether America is a more prosperous and secure place for our grandchildren. I can help do that." CLICK HERE for Romney Website
Read more...
Due to an unusual amount of confusion over the pro-life position of Governor Mitt Romney, MassResistance (www.massresistance.org) has issued this report. Much of this confusion is caused not only by the Governor's ever changing positions, but also by the endorsement of Romney by a few pro-family leaders who have apparently failed to do their due diligence before endorsing him. Moreover, this confusion is further compounded by some conservative publications that for reasons unbeknownst to us have refused to report the full and complete story on Romney's pro-life views. Such obfuscation by conservative leaders and publications does a disservice to the conservative movement and to the pro-life movement in particular. We hope that this report will shed some light on where Governor Romney stands on this culture-defining issue.
Read more...
Congressman Ron Paul is the leading advocate for freedom in our nation's capital. As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Dr. Paul tirelessly works for limited constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, and a return to sound monetary policies. He is known among his congressional colleagues and his constituents for his consistent voting record. Dr. Paul never votes for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution.In the words of former Treasury Secretary William Simon, Dr. Paul is the "one exception to the Gang of 535" on Capitol Hill. CLICK HERE FOR RON PAUL WESITE
Read more...
Historically, religion always represented a threat to government because it competes for the loyalties of the people. In modern America, however, most religious institutions abandoned their independence long ago, and now serve as cheerleaders for state policies like social services, faith-based welfare, and military aggression in the name of democracy. Few American churches challenge state actions at all, provided their tax-exempt status is maintained. This is why Washington politicians ostensibly celebrate religion - it no longer threatens their supremacy. Government has co-opted religion and family as the primary organizing principle of our society. The federal government is boss, and everybody knows it. But no politician will ever produce even a tiny fraction of the legacy left by Pope John Paul II.
Read more...
Hillary was raised in a middle-class family in the middle of America. From that classic suburban childhood in Park Ridge, Illinois, Hillary went on to become one of America's foremost advocates for children and families; an attorney twice voted one of the most influential in America; a First Lady of Arkansas who helped transform the schools; a bestselling author; a First Lady for America who helped transform that role, becoming a champion for health care and families at home and a champion of women's rights and human rights around the world. CLICK HERE FOR CLINTON WEBSITE
Read more...
Whether it's the poverty exposed by Katrina, the genocide in Darfur, or the role of faith in our politics, Barack Obama continues to speak out on the issues that will define America in the 21st century. But above all his accomplishments and experiences, he is most proud and grateful for his family. His wife, Michelle, and his two daughters, Malia, 9, and Sasha, 6, live on Chicago's South Side where they attend Trinity United Church of Christ. CLICK HERE FOR OBAMA WEBSITE
Read more...
To win the White House in 2008, the Democrats have to win back the Catholic voters they lost to the GOP in 2000 and 2004. A previous Window forecast that if the Democrats nominated Hillary Clinton, she would win the Catholic vote. However, with his commanding victory in the Iowa caucus, Barack Obama may be well on his way to upsetting the presumptive nominee. But what will his prospects be for winning the necessary Catholic vote? Recent polling and expert analyses suggest that Obama will actually have a difficult time connecting with Catholic voters.
Read more...
Mass Resistance ( www.massresistance.org) and Republicans for Family Values (www.RFFV.org) will be holding two major press conferences today and tomorrow in Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's home state of Michigan to warn voters about the "real Mitt Romney," whose liberal, pro-homosexual record is a far cry from his pro-family campaign image.Massachusetts pro-family leaders Brian Camenker and Amy Contrada, who co-authored the online report, "The Mitt Romney Deception" ( www.massresistance.org), will speak at the news conferences, joined by former homosexual Stephen Bennett and pro-natural-family advocate and RFFV founder Peter LaBarbera.* LaBarbera notes that Romney recently endorsed homosexual special rights ("sexual orientation") laws for other states -- even though the array of "sexual orientation" laws in his own state of Massachusetts led to the imposition of homosexual "marriage" and "gay adoption."
Read more...
Tom Monaghan, the Catholic philanthropist who made his fortune in Domino's Pizza, has endorsed former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in his campaign to become the Republican candidate for president. "It is an honor for me to endorse Governor Mitt Romney for President," Monaghan said. "He is a proven leader and has demonstrated his effectiveness in multiple arenas - in his successful business ventures, the running of the Olympics and in politics. I had first hand experience of Mitt's effectiveness and expertise during the sale of Domino's Pizza to Bain Capital."
Read more...
We begin by recalling the profound words of Ronald Reagan at the Conservative Political Action Conference Feb. 15, 1975: "A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency or simply to swell its numbers." We believed that then, and we believe it now. The issue for us -- and for the conservative community -- boils down to which of the candidates is most representative of the fundamental conservative principles we believe in. The answer is Fred Thompson. To reach that conclusion, we looked closely at the former Tennessee senator and his opponents to judge whether they measure up to conservative standards. Some come close, and others clearly do not.
Read more...
To the secularists, this was John Paul II's unforgivable sin-- he placed service to God above service to the state. Most politicians view the state, not God, as the supreme ruler on earth. They simply cannot abide a theology that does not comport with their vision of unlimited state power. This is precisely why both conservatives and liberals savaged John Paul II when his theological pronouncements did not fit their goals. But perhaps their goals simply were not godly. Unlike most political leaders, the Pope understood that both personal and economic liberties are necessary for human virtue to flourish. Virtue, after all, involves choices. Politics and government operate to deny people the freedom to make their own choices.
Read more...
With a sense of new energy and empowerment, the nation's Roman Catholic bishops issued instructions to Catholic voters that their eternal salvation could be at stake when they cast ballots. The bishops revealed the guidelines when the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops met late last year. Bishops emphasized that voters must consider the church's teachings on abortion and other moral issues when they select a candidate for the White House or any other office. If they don't, bishops said, it's not clergy who will judge them but God.
Read more...
We are so used to the idea of an activist judiciary in Britain that talking to a senior judge who shudders at the thought of judges rewriting the law comes as something of a shock. Antonin Scalia, 71, is the second most senior Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court, ranking third after the Chief Justice. Married with nine children, he was appointed by President Reagan in 1986. Justice Scalia thinks judges are no better at resolving moral questions than the rest of us...
Read more...
"A man of integrity and a lifelong pro-life advocate" is how the former governor of Oklahoma, Frank Keating, describes presidential contender John McCain. In a conference call that took place this afternoon with Catholic leaders from around the country, McCain explained to CNA where he stands on issues of concern to Catholics. Pro-life issues were front and center as Fr. Frank Pavone, the president of Priests for Life, began the discussion by thanking Sen. McCain for his "clear and convincing pro-life voting record." Fr. Pavone took issue with politicians who regard their beliefs on abortion as personal beliefs without public ramifications and asked Sen. McCain what approach he will take to speaking about abortion. Even more specifically, Fr. Pavone wanted to know if Sen. McCain would raise the issue of abortion as a matter of social justice rather than a matter of private beliefs.
Read more...
Ron Paul, a ten-term Congressman from Texas, has been considered a long shot ever since he entered the U.S. presidential race early in 2007. His rigidly principled stands in favor of limited government and against the war in Iraq seemed to make him a sure loser among pro-war Republicans, and Paul's libertarian ideology places him well outside the mainstream of his own political party. But Paul defied all expectations on November 5th when he had the biggest fundraising day in Republican Party history, taking in over $4.3 million in the space of twenty-four hours. Suddenly, a dismissive media began to take Paul's candidacy more seriously, speculating on the possibility of an eventual third party run that could divide conservative voters and ensure a victory for the Democratic Party in the 2008 elections.
Read more...
The reaction from the pro-life community to Pat Robertson's endorsement of pro-abortion ex-New York mayor Rudy Giuliani for the GOP nomination for president has been strong. Several pro-life groups and leaders issued statements Wednesday and Thursday saying Robertson has "sold out" the pro-life movement. The evangelical leader said he backed Giuliani because of other political issues -- most particularly his leadership after the terrorist attacks and against Islamic extremism. But pro-life advocates say Giuliani's position in favor of legalized abortion and his long record opposing any limits on the practice outweighs any other political considerations.
Read more...
Bobby Jindal, a conservative Republican congressman from the New Orleans suburbs and the son of immigrants from India, was elected Louisiana's governor Saturday, inheriting a state that was suffering well before Hurricane Katrina left lingering scars two years ago. Mr. Jindal, 36, defeated three main challengers in an open primary, becoming this state's first nonwhite governor since a Reconstruction-era figure briefly held the office 130 years ago. With more than 90 percent of the vote counted, Mr. Jindal received 53 percent, above the 50 percent-plus-one threshold needed to avoid a runoff in November. He will be the nation's first Indian-American governor when he takes office in January.
Read more...
The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, a national association of 600 priests and deacons, has issued a statement endorsing Archbishop Raymond Burke's position that clergy must deny Holy Communion to public figures who openly support abortion or euthanasia. Part of the statement reads: "Archbishop Burke equally addresses politicians on both sides of the aisle. Whether Democrat, Republican or independent; executive, legislative or judicial branches; all public officials who publicly support, promote or give assistance to others to commit evil are cooperators in that evil."
Read more...
Fidelis, a national Catholic advocacy group, applauded the courageous decision by St. Louis' Archbishop Raymond Burke to deny Holy Communion to Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, and all pro-abortion politicians running for president, regardless of their political party. The Associated Press is reporting that Archbishop Raymond Burke would deny Holy Communion to Rudy Giuliani and any pro-abortion Catholic running for president. Four Catholic Democrats running for president also support abortion, include: Senator Christopher Dodd, Senator Joe Biden, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Rep. Dennis Kucinich.
Read more...
Writing in the latest edition of the Canon Law journal, Periodica De Re Canonica, Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, bishop of St. Louis, Missouri, has called his brother bishops to task for their silence on the problem of Catholic politicians who support abortion, euthanasia, cloning, embryo research, the homosexual political agenda or other legislation "contrary to the natural moral law." Burke's lengthy article addresses the scandal during the 2004 presidential election campaign when Senator John Kerry insisted that he could be militantly pro-abortion, ignore "Vatican" teachings on the sanctity of human life and marriage, and remain a good Catholic and a good Catholic politician. To read the archbishop's article CLICK HERE
Read more...
The three-nation summit at Montebello, Quebec, was held behind closed doors, well guarded behind an intimidating fence and plenty of police, but the news conference that followed on August 21 revealed more than the three heads of state had planned. President George W. Bush, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Mexican President Felipe Calderon all refused to deny that the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) is a stepping stone toward a North American Union. The $64,000 question was posed by a Fox News reporter, Bret Baier. He asked all three heads of state, "Can you say today that this is not a prelude to a North American Union, similar to a European Union?"
Read more...
Mitt Romney won the Ames straw poll on Saturday in what was a preview of the strength of some of the candidates seeking the Republican nomination for president. With Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Fred Thompson not participating, Romney won the non-binding vote with the support of 31 percent of Republicans. Mike Huckabee came in a surprising second with 18 percent and Sam Brownback placed third with 15 percent. In an interview after the straw poll, Romney told reporters that the event was a success even though three of the other top contenders didn't compete.
Read more...
A recent article in New York's Village Voice claims that Rudy Giuliani is using his Catholicity to gain political advantage in his current campaign for Republican presidential candidate. "Giuliani has only struck a public Catholic pose when it has suited him politically," the article claims. The article offers an analysis of Giuliani's about-face regarding his Catholic faith in relation to his current campaign, pointing out the contradictions between his current campaign and his track record as New York City mayor. For example, Giuliani is currently saying that he hates abortion and is committed to decreasing the number of abortions. He has even said that it would be "okay to repeal" Roe v. Wade. However, while mayor of New York, he hosted three anniversary celebrations at City Hall for the landmark decision that legalized abortion in the United States.
Read more...
A new national poll on the Republican nomination for president shows Fred Thompson leading the way. This is the first time a national poll has shown anyone other than pro-abortion former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani leading the race. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds pro-life former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson with the support of 28% of likely Republican primary voters. Giuliani is second with 27 percent. Rasmussen says it is the first time Giuliani has not led the race.
Read more...
With some candidates at the top of the polls for the Republican primary for president who aren't exciting the pro-life community, the likely entry of former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson into the race is a positive one. He has a strong pro-life record and his aides rebutted one of the only criticisms against him. Thompson's tenure in the Senate included votes on various abortion issues from stopping taxpayer funding to uphold parental involvement laws and he accumulated a 100% pro-life voting record during that time. The former attorney even voted twice against a Senate resolution endorsing Roe v. Wade.
Read more...
Rudy's defection from the Catholic Faith on this moral issue is not unique, of course. Catholic politicians of both parties, nationwide, have followed a similar path in abandoning the Faith for the sake of political expediency: Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Pat Leahy, Nancy Pelosi, and Joe Biden come quickly to mind. And on a local level, of course, Congressman Patrick Kennedy and Senator Jack Reed. How these intelligent men and women will someday stand before the judgment seat of God and explain why they legitimized the death of countless innocent children in the sin of abortion is beyond me. ("But God, really, I was personally opposed to it, but just couldn't do anything about it.")
Read more...
In what is being perceived as an eerie instance of coincidence, a series of lightning strikes caused audio disruption at the exact moments when pro-abortion presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani attempted to defend his support for abortion despite his supposed Roman Catholic faith. The lightning storm occured during a New Hampshire debate. The first bolt hit just as the former New York mayor took the mic to answer a question about the sharp criticism his position on abortion garnered him from Rhode Island Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, who publicly condemned Giuliani for his abortion stance earlier this week. Bishop Tobin compared Giuliani's refusal to oppose abortion to Pontius Pilate's role in the crucifixion of Christ.
Read more...
A reporter aboard the Alitalia plane chartered to transport the Pope to Brazil Wednesday asked Pope Benedict XVI if he supported the Mexican bishops in their warning to politicians who supported legalizing abortion that they would face excommunication. The Pope responded saying, "Yes, this excommunication was not an arbitrary one but is allowed by Canon law which says that the killing of an innocent child is incompatible with receiving communion, which is receiving the body of Christ." Referring to the Mexican bishops, Reuters reports the Pope added, "They did nothing new, surprising or arbitrary. They simply announced publicly what is contained in the law of the Church . . . which expresses our appreciation for life and that human individuality, human personality is present from the first moment".
Read more...
There's good news at the Catholic colleges and universities across the nation, according to the Cardinal Newman Society. Unlike in previous years, the number of pro-abortion commencement speakers and honorees is on the decline. For the past nine years CNS research has identified invited commencement speakers or honorees at Catholic colleges who have taken public positions contrary to Catholic values or teaching, such as abortion. In 2006, CNS reported problems at 24 colleges with speakers or honorees who publicly advocated abortion, embryonic stem cell research, or assisted suicide.
Read more...
Today, Pope Benedict XVI released the long-awaited document on Holy Communion, called "Sacramentum Caritatis" or the Sacrament of Love. It is a follow-up document reflecting on the 2005 meeting of bishops on the Eucharist. In the 110+ page document, the Pope gives Catholic politicians a biblical warning against receiving Communion unworthily. In a section on "Eucharistic consistency", the Pope says that politicians must adhere to "non negotiable" values "such as respect for human life, its defence from conception to natural death, the family built upon marriage between a man and a woman, the freedom to educate one's children and the promotion of the common good in all its forms." He added, "Consequently, Catholic politicians and legislators, conscious of their grave responsibility before society, must feel particularly bound, on the basis of a properly formed conscience, to introduce and support laws inspired by values grounded in human nature."
Read more...
Jesus tells us to "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." That means we have a serious duty to respect and appropriately serve public authority. But Jesus doesn't tell us how much actually belongs to Caesar - and in fact, all of the important things about our lives belong not to Caesar, but to God. God should always come first. When we seek first to be "faithful citizens" of our real and ultimate home - heaven - then we naturally become better citizens of this world, because we become sources of virtue and character and justice for the people around us, even when our message is unpopular. The more truly and faithfully we live as Catholics, the more truly and faithfully we serve our nation's best ideals and deepest needs.
Read more...
Without question, the midterm elections on November 7 will determine the fate of a number of social policies. According to one Baptist Press article, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, says, "This election will most certainly decide if we will spend the next couple of years with a Congress that defends marriage and life, or one that attacks it." Dr. Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, says, "Elections have consequences, and people have different visions for where America should go .... When people go to the polls on November 7, they'll be making some very basic decisions about how they want to be governed."
Read more...
To make the right decision when deciding on the candidates whom you will support, it is essential that you look carefully at the positions of the candidates in the race. This step in the process is critical in fulfilling your responsibilities as a faithful citizen, as you must participate in the political process with a fully informed conscience. This includes knowing the positions of the candidates. You can find this information in several places, such as newspapers, television news, voter guides, and on the internet. If these sources fail, you can always contact the candidate's campaign to make an inquiry about his or her position. If possible, this should be done well in advance of the election and should include a request for a response in writing. The reason for this is that, especially in local campaigns, phones can be answered by people who think they know more about the candidate than they actually do. Once you find sources of this information, be sure to review them carefully.
Read more...
Miserable wretches! the authors of scandal must suffer in Hell the punishment of all the sins they have made others commit. Cesarius relates that, after the death of a certain person who had given scandal, a holy man witnessed his judgement and condemnation, and saw, that, at his arrival at the gates of Hell, all the souls whom he had scandalized, came to meet him, and said to him: "Come, accursed wretch, and atone for all the sins which you have made us commit." They then rushed in upon him, and like so many wild beasts, began to tear him in pieces. Behold, then, the miserable state of those who give scandal by their bad example, who utter immodest words before their companions, in the presence of young females, and even of innocent children, who, in consequence of hearing those words, commit a thousand sins.
Read more...
Whether intentional or not, the concealing of the Ratzinger document and the downplaying of seemingly clear statements from the Vatican has produced an atmosphere of controversy. Faithful Catholics voiced their concerns over what they saw as outright deception. And from his remarks to the Canadian bishops, it seems Cardinal McCarrick is still smarting from the responses he received to this day. The "Communion issue," Cardinal McCarrick told the Canadian bishops last Tuesday, "became ground zero in the struggle to identify 'the real Catholic Church' in the United States." A significant portion of his speech was devoted to the "attacks" bishops on either side of the debate received.
Read more...
Madison Bishop Robert Morlino fired back Wednesday at critics of the Catholic Diocese's support of a Nov. 7 referendum to ban gay marriage and civil unions. Morlino said seeking to fine the church for its activities backing the proposed amendment to the state constitution was akin to intimidation and persecution. The nonpartisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign has asked the state Elections Board to take enforcement action against the diocese for failing to register its activities, which included preparing a flier that was distributed outside a Catholic church in Madison.
Read more...
The U.S. bishops will vote on a proposed document, "Happy Are Those Who Are Called To His Supper: On Preparing To Receive Christ Worthily in the Eucharist" during their annual November meeting in Baltimore, Nov. 13-16. The document, addressed to all the faithful, points out that Catholics may not receive communion if they are do not accept Church teaching on matters such as abortion and homosexuality. Catholics should refrain from Holy Communion, says the document, "when they lack adherence to what the Church authoritatively teaches on matters of faith and morals."
Read more...
Neither Republican Party values nor Catholic Church theology is to blame for Mr. Foley. Dan Rather and Mary Mapes don't work at CBS News anymore. Yet CBS News is still promoting the Democrat agenda assiduously and trying to convince traditional value people that Republican leaders have been making fools of them and abandoning the Republican Party instead of working to purify it is the right thing to do. It is a transparent attempt to depress the traditional value vote that traditional values voters must frustrate, for America's sake.
Read more...
Arguing that "a renewed 'Catholic vote' could become a political force for justice", bishops from the US state of Illinois say that Catholics must exercise their duty to vote in accord with Catholic social principles beginning with human dignity and the right to life. Catholic Online reports that in a newly released document, "Elections, Conscience and the Responsibility to Vote", the 12 bishops of the Catholic Conference of Illinois stress the importance of voting for Catholics who make up almost one-third of the US citizenry.
Read more...
More than five years after President Bush created the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, the former second-in-command of that office is going public with an insider's tell-all account that portrays an office used almost exclusively to win political points with both evangelical Christians and traditionally Democratic minorities. The office's primary mission, providing financial support to charities that serve the poor, never got the presidential support it needed to succeed, according to the book. Entitled "Tempting Faith," the book is not scheduled for release until Oct. 16, but MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" has obtained a copy.
Read more...
With midterm elections less than two months away, voter registration drives were under way the weekend of Sept. 23-24 around the seven-county diocese. According to Linda Sobotka, a voter registrar and parishioner at Holy Trinity Parish in Westmont, a person's right to vote is a sacred trust that must be employed at every opportunity. "It's so easy and it only takes about a minute," she added.
Read more...
An attempt to recapture the Catholic vote has been launched by Democratic supporters. A new 2006 Voter Guide has been put out by "Catholic in Alliance for the Common Good" (CACG) a group headed up by Alexia Kelley who in 2004 worked as a religion advisor to John Kerry in the closing weeks of his campaign. An initial printing of one million copies of "Voting for the Common Good: A Practical Guide for Conscientious Catholics" will be distributed nationwide through on-the-ground organizers and partner networks in all 50 states, says CACG. The groups admits in a press release that the new voter guide is a response to the original "Catholic Voters Guide" issued by Catholic Answers last year.
Read more...
When a handful of bishops broke ranks during the 2004 presidential campaign to say they would not give Communion to John Kerry and other pro-abortion politicians, most of the bishops were silent. Cardinal McCarrick,, who received a letter on the issue from then-prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), Cardinal Josef Ratzinger (Now Pope Benedict XVI), actively misled his brother bishops about its contents at their annual June meeting. He summarized Ratzinger's message saying, "It is up to us as bishops in the United States to discern and act on our responsibilities as teachers, pastors and leaders in our nation." That is true. Individual bishops have the ultimate authority in their dioceses and are responsible to teach and govern according to the mind of Holy Mother Church. However, one would think input from CDF is helpful to say the least. McCarrick's deliberate distortion of the memo deprived the conference of crucial information.
Read more...
Given our inclination as Catholics to see politics as our founding fathers did, in moral and political terms, it is especially difficult in the post Roe vs. Wade era to sort out how to respond to the onslaught of secular mandates coming from all corners of government. Fortunately, the Holy See and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) issued the Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Regarding the participation of Catholics in Public Life. This is an extraordinarily document and is vital to Catholic participation in political life. Mr. Weigel pointed our four reasons why this is so...
Read more...
CCI NOTES: Bringing crass and value-free politics to a new low, even for the "anything goes" Democratic National Party, a new web site has been announced called "faithfuldemocrats.org." According the Chicago Tribune, the site's founders said "the seed was planted after 2004 when there was a lot of hand-wringing going on and a lot of people were wondering how on Earth Democrats failed to convey a sense of faith and values in that election." Are they really that stupid? CCI readers, along with most other Christians, may wonder how the Democrats will gain any credibility, given the DNC's support for abortion on demand, homosexual rights, a government monopoly on education funding, and general hostility to families. Perhaps the new site's board members - Clinton apologist Mike McCurry, who was Clinton's press secretary, and Minyon Moore, who advised Clinton and Jesse Jackson Sr. - will add the necessary rhetorical flim-flam to fool Christian voters this Fall.
Read more...
The United States of America has an election coming up in November. Openly discussed hot topics include rights for women and doctors to kill babies in the womb, laws to silence us who speak against the practice of homogenital sex, teaching perverted sex practices in our schools, rights to marry for those with gender confusion issues, how to defend our nation, how to spend public money, illegal entry into the U.S., as well as a host of other important issues of which we will hear nothing until politicians have already imposed laws upon us that we do not want.
Read more...
I want to touch on this matter before we get too close to the November madness. As human beings, as citizens of a "first world country," as Americans, and as Catholics, most importantly, we have to take count of the circumstances in which we live. We know that the only creatures of God that outlast time are those created having intellect and will. All other things, with the passage of time, break up or break down.
Read more...
FRONT ROYAL, VA, May 19, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Australia's Cardinal George Pell, was in Front Royal, Virginia over the weekend celebrating Mass and giving the Commencement address at Christendom College. LifeSiteNews.com interviewed the Australian Church leader at the college last Friday. This is the second part of that three-part interview.
Read more...
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Roman Catholic bishops' special task force on the problem of politicians who disagree with their church on issues like abortion will confer with Democratic and Republican lawmakers here this week. Washington's Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the panel's chairman, said the meetings, to take place Thursday or Friday, will be private and participants and particulars won't be released.
Read more...
"President Bush has an excellent record of appointing judges who recognize the proper role of the courts, which is to interpret the law according to its actual text, and not to legislate from the bench. We believe that Harriet Miers is another nominee who will abide by the text and history of the Constitution."
Read more...
The House, in an emotionally and politically charged debate six weeks before the election, voted yesterday to protect the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance from further court challenges. The legislation, promoted by GOP conservatives, would prevent federal courts, including the Supreme Court, from hearing cases challenging the words "under God," a part of the pledge for 50 years. Democrats said majority Republicans were debasing the Constitution to force a vote that could hurt Democrats at the ballot box.
Read more...
God Bless our flag! Long may it wave, from sea to shining sea, over the prairies and crops, and everywhere our children be, over the mountain tops, the rivers and forests, over the wealthy and the poorest hospitals and schools, in the land where, we the people, make the rules.
Read more...
Polling data continues to show that people committed to their faith are abandoning the Democratic Party in historic numbers. The shift has become so significant that according to a report from the Pew Research Center, church attendance is a greater indicator of how one voted in the 2004 presidential election than "such demographic characteristics as gender, age, income and region" and is "just as important as race." The Pew study, "Religion & Public Life: A Faith-Based Partisan Divide," reports that in the last election people who attend church more than once a week, such as Catholics who go to daily Mass or Evangelicals who attend Wednesday night services, supported President Bush over Sen. John Kerry 64 percent to 39 percent. Such voters made up 16 percent of the electorate.
Read more...
After a brief flirtation with compassionate conservatism, Hillary Rodham Clinton has returned to her neo-Marxist ways. On April 19 Senator Clinton introduced the so-called Paycheck Fairness Act, a law that would pressure employers to fatten women's paychecks, regardless of the number of hours worked or job qualifications. The former Soviet Union once tried to divorce job productivity from wages. Of course, that removed persons' incentive for hard work, and economic mayhem was the result. But Hillary is a lawyer, not a historian.
Read more...
Separation of church and state means churches do not dictate state policy and the state does not dictate church teaching. It does not mean rulers have immunity from condemnation or praise. As Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs argues, Catholic priests have a duty to declare "moral principles, including those pertaining to the social order, and to make judgments on human affairs to the extent that they are required by the fundamental rights of the human person or the salvation of souls." If Congress cannot set free the houses of God, the obstructionists, whoever they are, should get a hiding - from every pulpit in America.
Read more...
Addressing a national gathering of about 100 diocesan social action leaders, a religion researcher said Feb. 19 that the divisive polarization long felt in the U.S. Catholic community reached a new peak in the 2004 election season. A "more ominous" element of the election-year divisions, said William A. Dinges, a professor of religious studies at The Catholic University of America and a member of the university's Life Cycle Institute, was the "vitriolic and escalating" rhetoric and "uncivil behavior, characterized by confrontation, harassment and attempts at intimidation."
Read more...
The pro-abortion Catholic politicians should have basic knowledge of Church morals and teachings, and they should be accountable for their acts and deeds of secular humanism. This inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual must be protected from the moment of conception, and this is essentially a vital part of a civilized nation. These politicians are delving , participating and deliberating in the arena of the triple-crown, whereupon the committed condition of a grave matter, full knowledge and complete consent exists.
Read more...
Peggy Noonan's curious complaint President George H. W. Bush's second inaugural address was "God drenched" puts President Bush in the best company: George Washington. ashington would have told Ms. Noonan that homage to God was a presidential duty. President Bush has fulfilled this presidential duty with eloquence and enthusiasm.
Read more...
Marc Balestrieri, JCL is the canon lawyer and director of the non-profit organization De Fide based in Los Angeles. In an unprecedented class-action ecclesiastical lawsuit filed last summer, he filed a Dual-Denunciation for Heresy and Complaint for Reparation of Harm against Senator John F. Kerry for his support of the civil right to choose abortion. Under Roman Catholic Church law, support of abortion rights constitutes the "Right-to-Murder" Heresy condemned by Pope John Paul II in the Encyclical Evangelium Vitae of 1995. Automatic Excommunication is the penalty incurred for this offense.
Read more...
Having bought a ticket, Michael Newdow thought he was entitled to have prayer barred from President Bush's second inauguration. But Newdow failed to stop prayer there. Secular extremism could not accomplish that. Even United States Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens declined Newdow's invitation to "protect him" from prayer at the inauguration. And today President Bush is at the National Cathedral for an interdenominational service. Having given a stirring inaugural address reflecting his religious devotion. Newdow must have been disappointed, but...Peggy Noonan?
Read more...
While Democrats fight a contentious battle over whether or not to approve a pro-life advocate as the next party chairman, Republicans are set to begin a battle of their own over approving an abortion advocate as the co-chairman of the national party. Ken Mehlman, incoming chairman of the Republican National Committee, has asked abortion advocate and party activist, Joann Davidson of Ohio to become the next co-chairman of the party.
Read more...
In the anti-climactic culmination of the competition to replace outgoing Illinois Republican Party State Chairman Judy Baar Topinka that began after the November 2004 election, Glenview businessman and 2004 Republican U.S. Senate candidate Andy McKenna, Jr. got the nod from the GOP's State Central Committee in a meeting today in Springfield. McKenna, 47, was chosen party chairman over Metro East state central committeeman Steve McGlynn, former Republican congressional candidate Jim Nalepa, dairy magnate Jim Oberweis and businessman and Cook County GOP board member John Cox.
Read more...
Former Rep. Tim Roemer said Sunday that he's joining the race to lead the Democratic National Committee -- a move certain to spark a heated debate about the abortion issue. Roemer, a Catholic who opposes abortion, wants to lead a party whose platform supports abortion rights. The former Indiana congressman said he respects the position of the many Democrats who favor abortion choice. ''But I think we should not only be more inclusive on this issue, especially in the Midwest and the South,'' Roemer said on ABC's ''This Week.''
Read more...
#1 - Be it resolved that the American Civil Liberties Union be destroyed. It might sound harsh to some people. One interviewer on a Christian radio station felt the need to tell listeners that I wasn't really a mean and hateful guy for talking about destruction. But, as I wrote repeatedly in 2004, the ACLU is an evil organization set on a course of repressing our God-given human rights, not preserving them. Will you join me in 2005 to attack this organization at the roots before it hurts one more Boy Scout doing his duty, before it hurts one more innocent child praying before eating his school lunch, before it hurts one more graduate who wants to acknowledge God in a commencement address?
Read more...
"By the way, Benjamin Rush was once asked a question that has long interested this Senator from Georgia in particular. Dr. Rush was asked, are you a democrat or an aristocrat? And the good doctor answered, 'I am neither '. 'I am a Christocrat. I believe He, alone, who created and redeemed man is qualified to govern him.' That reply of Benjamin Rush is just as true today in the year of our Lord 2004 as it was in the year of our Lord 1776.
Read more...
NewsMax.com's Fr. Michael Reilly details the critical role played by Catholics in President Bush's election victory. Exit polls are showing that President Bush has won the Catholic vote 51-48 percent, which was decisive in states that were the key to Bush's victory, especially Ohio and Florida. "We trimmed 5 percent off of what Kerry needed in Youngstown, Ohio," according to Kevin Collins of Catholics Against Kerry. "Kerry needed 65 percent and got only 60 percent," Collins told NewsMax.
Read more...
"No bishop has ever asked Kerry 'to write every doctrine into law,' and he knows it. By suggesting that the bishops have pressed his back to the wall, Kerry is playing off the fears of anti-Catholics, setting himself up as the brave Christian soldier who won't buckle before those tyrannical bishops. And what are we to make of Kerry's admission that when it comes to issues like taxes, it's okay to reach for biblical support, but when it comes to the more fundamental life issues, the only choice he has is to check his religion at the government door?
Read more...
We're citizens of God's kingdom first. That's our homeland. That's the citizenship we need to be faithful to, because if we serve God well then we serve our nation well. If we live as faithful Catholics, we live as faithful Americans. But if we try to separate our Catholic convictions from the political and other decisions we make, then we're no better than thieves-because we steal from American public life the most important gift we have to offer: The truth of Jesus Christ and the wisdom of His Church. St. Thomas More, who knew exactly what he did and didn't owe Caesar, said, "I am the king's good servant, but God's first." He had his priorities right. We should follow his lead.
Read more...
The Catholic Church possesses the fullness of truth, the complete moral teachings of our age. We thank God for the Magisterium of the Church, for the solemn teaching office of our Pope John Paul II and the Popes before him, and the 'ordinary magisterium' or the Bishops in communion with him. Yet, attempts by Church leaders are made every day to sabotage these teachings. Let us look at a number of recent damages...
Read more...
"God bless you. Win, will you?" With those six words, the furor over the Rev. Lawrence Hummer's comments on Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry during his visit here two weeks ago were stoked. The local tumult has included letters to the editor condemning Hummer's actions, countless e-mails to Hummer from parishioners and even some threats of leaving the parish. But, parishioners feel Hummer's actions are not indicative of one bad mistake, but the final blow after months of politicizing from the pulpit.
Read more...
It is not too late for Catholic clergy to heed the splendid admonishment by William McGurn of The Wall Street Journal in 2001, "Go ahead, preach to the choir." As for political leadership, I am looking for individuals whose actions derive from an informed conscience and who are willing to make public policy decisions that will honor the dignity of the human person and the family as the foundation of our society. Sadly, I do not see that scenario emanating from today's most prominent "Catholic" candidates.
Read more...
Why is there a conflict of theologies between the Magisterium and the laity? Has the Catholic Church changed her 2,000 year-old infallible teachings? No, the Church has not changed its teachings, so let us look closer at this important issue. The majority of the confusion can be pinpointed toward the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' [USCCB] sub-committee document "Faithful Citizenship" as well as toward other 'Catholic' copycat guides that are distributed by various diocesan offices nationwide.
Read more...
The Illinois Family Life Coalition has produced a voters guide comparing candidates for US President (Bush and Kerry) and for Illinois US Senate candidates (Keyes and Obama.) For a copy of this guide, see CWA VOTER GUIDE(click here.)
Read more...
The fact that Catholic voters are invisible feels wrong to me, somehow--a theological error, a philosophical mistake. The uniqueness of the Catholic vote wants to be true, if only because American history and intellectual consistency alike seem to demand that being Catholic make a difference in how one behaves in the public square. But accurate political analysis, like well-directed pastoral teaching, needs to begin with the truth: The Catholic voter is, alas, a myth.
Read more...
Al Gore couldn't carry Tennessee. But will John Kerry lose his home faith? Among Catholic voters in this state, a recent poll done by Ohio University showed Kerry trailing Bush 50 percent to 44 percent, while the race among Protestants was closer, with 50 percent backing Kerry and 49 percent behind Bush. (Though both results are within the margin of error.) The question isn't just a matter of trivia: In Sunday's New York Times, Adam Nagourney raised the question of whether a Kerry defeat would "make it more difficult for another Catholic to capture the Democratic nomination any time soon." Kerry's opposition to Church teaching on abortion (at least in public policy) led to several controversies, including the one where some bishops announced they would not give Kerry Communion if he were in their congregations. Losing a bishop or two is one thing; if Kerry can't carry the Catholic vote comfortably in swing states, electability-driven primary voters may look more skeptically at future Catholic candidates.
Read more...
Responding to to Pope John Paul II's call for Catholic men and women to become engaged in the public defense of the faith, Catholic Citizens of Illinois, Inc. has announced a radio ad campaign to be aired during October highlighting Catholic teaching as it relates to faithful citizenship and voting. Thirty second radio spots (link) have been created and will run not only in Illinois but in several Midwestern states where there are large Catholic populations. The not-for-profit group is seeking support from Catholics to expand the reach of these ads.
Read more...
According to Father Counglin: "The present absence of agreement among the bishops" could lead a dissenting politician to conclude that the law in question is a "lex dubia," or doubtful law, and there is a longstanding canonical principle that a doubtful law does not bind. What Father Coughlin really argued is that bishops and priests who have been disobeying the Holy Father and canon law should be allowed to continue to help pro-abortion, nominally Catholic politicians who want to receive sacrilegious Communion by continuing to disobey the Holy Father and canon law by giving it to them and thereby causing scandal.
Read more...
Sen. John Kerry urged Catholic voters Monday to look at his entire record in public office, and not just his position on abortion rights, before deciding whom to vote for on Election Day. To bolster his case, the Democratic presidential nominee pointed to a recent letter received by the U.S. bishops from Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's arbiter of matters of faith and doctrine, who said it is not necessarily sinful for Catholics to consider all aspects of a public official's record, and not just his or her stance on abortion, before casting their votes.
Read more...
An official at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said a California canon lawyer seeking a formal decree of heresy against Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, Democratic presidential nominee, has misrepresented his contact with the Vatican office. "The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has had no contact with Mr. (Marc) Balestrieri," said Dominican Father Augustine DiNoia, undersecretary of the congregation.
Read more...
War is horrible, but it can be necessary and just. Popes and pastors can offer opinions on the morality of a war but such are neither binding on the conscience of the Faithful nor protected from error by the Holy Spirit. Unlike war, abortion, embryonic destruction, and homosexual marriage are intrinsically evil. Abortion kills 4400 of our kids daily, more than the Sept. 11 victims and the servicemen lost in the Iraq war combined.
Read more...
On Sunday, October 17, residents in all of Oregon's major cities could read full-page ads that claim it is not enough that Catholic politicians simply have the Faith, but they must also affirm it publicly. The statement, "Catholics Must Affirm Their Faith in Their Public Lives" appeared in Portland's Oregonian as well as five other papers in Bend, Eugene, Medford, Pendleton and Salem. The declaration by the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) focuses on the controversy around receiving the Eucharist by politicians publicly at odds with the Catholic Church's teaching on abortion, homosexuality, same-sex "marriage" and other issues.
Read more...
A Los Angeles based expert in Canon Law, the legal code used by the Roman Catholic Church, announced Friday on EWTN's the World Over Live with Raymond Arroyo that an important Vatican congregation has given an unprecedented boost to his case for heresy against presidential candidate John Kerry. Marc Balestrieri, JCL who has filed a formal case for Heresy against Kerry for his support of the right to abortion, revealed that he has received a written response prompted by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, affirming that Catholic politicians who persist in supporting the right to abortion are "automatically excommunicated."
Read more...
Sixty million U.S. Catholic laity is scandalized and confused by the refusal of most Bishops to dutifully govern and correct pro-abortion candidates. The Democrat Presidential candidate, John Kerry, proclaimed recently to all Americans that he is a 'faithful Catholic' in good standing, yet promised that if elected: "I will not overturn Roe v Wade; I will not appoint judges hostile to 'choice;' I will allow poor women to have free abortions; I will never outlaw abortion; I will increase American taxpayer's dollars on population control efforts around the world."
Read more...
In American political parlance, we've come to speak of "red states" and "blue states," meaning states that lean to the Republicans or to the Democrats. Inside the Holy See, one can in a similar way speak of "red dicasteries" and "blue dicasteries," meaning Vatican departments that lean to Bush and those that tend to favor Kerry.
Read more...
It was only logical for the Republicans to view the church as a "natural ally" on cultural issues, the archbishop said. He said that would end if a Republican candidate supported abortion rights. "We are not with the Republican Party," he said. "They are with us." Mr. Kerry's Catholicism is a special issue for the church, Archbishop Chaput said. To remain silent while a President Kerry supported stem cell research would seem cowardly, he said. The Rev. Andrew Kemberling, pastor of St. Thomas More Church near here, said he agreed with the archbishop, but he acknowledged that parishioners sometimes accused him of telling them how to vote. He said his reply was: "We are not telling them how to vote. We are telling them how to take Communion in good conscience."
Read more...
"Last evening a group of seminarians dressed in clerical attire and the sweatshirts you see to the left, and laity gathered to offer a pro-life witness at the Kerry/Edwards Debate Watch Party and Rally held at the America's Center downtown St. Louis." Guess how the freedom loving Democrats responded?
Read more...
Colorado Springs Catholic Bishop Michael Sheridan is making clear that despite some views to the contrary, a recent Vatican correspondence on politics does not give Catholics an easy justification for supporting abortion- rights candidates. In a column in today's diocesan newspaper, Sheridan weighs in on the latest front to develop in a debate over Catholic political responsibility.
Read more...
The Catholic League has filed two formal complaints with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) alleging illegal pulpit politics. The first complaint was made against a Miami Baptist church for allowing the church to become the venue of a political rally. On August 29, Bishop Victor T. Curry of Miami's New Birth Baptist Church welcomed Rev. Al Sharpton, who ran against Sen. John Kerry for the Democratic nomination, and Terry McAuliffe, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Jamie Malernee of the Sun-Sentinel reported that Curry "made no apologies for turning his Sunday service into a political rally."
Read more...
...until the Catholic Church in the USA gets its house in order, dissident "Catholic" politicians do not have to worry about a large "Catholic vote" that will go against them and defeat them. But if most Catholics embraced Church teaching-and voted accordingly, they would be the largest, most powerful block in the country-and politicians would have to take them seriously.
Read more...
On June 14, 2004, Mr. Balestrieri filed with the Boston Archdiocese a sworn document described as "a Denunciation for the Public Ecclesiastical Crime of Heresy, Diabolical Scandal Leading to Heresy, Immediate Formal Cooperation in Heresy, Abjection of the Sacred Species, Diabolical Scandal Leading to Murder, and Grave Harm to Public Morals and Contempt for the Faith and Ecclesiastical Authority" and "a Criminal Complaint for Reparation of Harm" resulting from the crimes listed. Mr. Balestrieri denounced Senator Kerry's "deliberate, manifest, and pertinacious adherence to the proposition that one has a right to choose abortive murder."
Read more...
The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte said his desire to deny communion to pro-choice politicians is a matter of church doctrine and discipline, not politics. Bishop Peter Jugis was one of three Southeastern bishops who issued a two-page statement in August saying that Catholic politicians who support abortion rights should be barred from receiving communion unless they publicly renounce their views.
Read more...
Catholics need to vote but should do so in accordance with the moral teachings of the Church, Archbishop Raymond Burke stated in a pastoral letter published this week. In "On Our Civic Responsibility for the Common Good," Archbishop Burke outlined what he said were the Church's teachings on an individual's civic responsibility to choose governmental leaders. The entire text is published on pages 4-6 in today's Review. Archbishop Burke said the pastoral letter affirmed and further clarified what he said earlier this summer about the sinfulness of a Catholic voting deliberately for a politician advocating abortion, as well as euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, cloning and same-sex marriage.
Read more...
Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life and president of the National Pro-life Religious Council, unveiled an extensive million dollar multi-media campaign aimed at church-goers. "We intend to conduct an all-out campaign in the final weeks before the election," said Fr. Pavone, and "deliver a clear message to all citizens: Abortion is not simply one issue in this election; it is the most fundamental human rights issue of our time."
Read more...
As Mother Teresa reminded us on all of her visits to the U.S., abortion tears at our national soul. It is a betrayal of our nation's founding principle that recognizes all human beings as "created equal" and "endowed with unalienable rights." What evil could be so grave and widespread as to constitute a "proportionate reason" to support candidates who would preserve and protect the abortion license and even extend it to publicly funded embryo-killing in our nation's labs?
Read more...
Chicago area Catholics are expressing shock over the recent Voter Guide endorsement by the Diocese of Joliet. In an email sent throughout the Joliet Diocese claiming to cover "The Fall 2004 Election Campaign & Catholic Social Teaching" the Diocese recommends the following: "For an outstanding 9-page easy-to-read and ready-to-duplicate "2004 Voter Guide for People of Faith," click on the website of the Catholic Action Network for Social Justice in St. Louis at www.catholicactionnetwork.org." But "the (Catholic Action Network) voter guide is inaccurate and clearly very biased toward support for John Kerry," responds IL Right to Life Director Bill Beckman.
Read more...
A Catholic apologetics group whose guide for Catholic voters was criticized by the US bishops' conference's lawyers is now preparing to put the guide before over one million voters in eight major metropolitan areas. The group Catholic Answers is taking out a full-page ad in USA Today on Tuesday, August 31, which will provide a synopsis of the five key issues they've identified for Catholic voters to consider when they go to the polls: abortion, same-sex unions, embryonic stem-cell research, human cloning, and euthanasia.
Read more...
Kudos to Catholic Answers! The California-based Catholic apologetics organization will, on August 31, be taking out a full page ad in USA Today to tell Catholics "how to vote according to Catholic moral teachings on five key issues when they go to the polls," according to a news release. Those five issues, which Catholics should never vote in favor of, are abortion, homosexual marriage, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, and euthanasia.
Read more...
How I love the campaigning, cyclonic Alan Keyes! Let me count the ways. To appreciate the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, you must consider his two ingredients. First, an Old Testament prophet. ''Thus says the Lord,'' the prophets declared. So does Keyes, who announced the other day that Illinois politics is corrupt. He's right: I love it!
Read more...
"...the election of Kerry, an aggressively pro-abortion, secularized Catholic who openly calls attention to his dissent on important Church teachings, would be a disaster for the Church. Indeed, Kerry proudly proclaims his faith would not help guide his public policy - that, in fact, it would be wrong to do so. If his beliefs do not guide his public policy, what would?"
Read more...
Maryland conservative commentator Alan Keyes told voters to expect a series of verbal showdowns against Democratic nominee Barack Obama after accepting Illinois Republicans' U.S. Senate nomination at a rally Sunday in Arlington Heights. Keyes promised a battle of principles dedicated to God.
Read more...
Three of four candidates on the presidential ticket are United Methodists. But that denomination isn't bickering over whether they are "good Methodists" in the way that conservative Catholics are sniping about John Kerry. They've denounced Mr. Kerry's support of public policies contrary to Catholic teaching, such as abortion rights. They've also criticized his first marriage, his subsequent church annulment, and even the casual way he sometimes dresses for Mass.
Read more...
There are only three pro-life, anti-sodomy justices on the Supreme Court and each one was nominated by a Republican president. Justice Rehnquist was named to the Supreme Court by President Nixon in 1972 and appointed Chief Justice by President Reagan in 1986. Also in 1986, President Reagan named Justice Scalia to the Supreme Court. In 1987, President Reagan nominated and fought for another pro-life Justice: Robert Bork (who has recently converted to Catholicism) but the Democrats infamously refused to confirm Bork, principally because he opposed the Roe v. Wade ruling which legalized the killing of unborn human babies.
Read more...
The fact that the competitors are both African American ensures that race will be taken off the table. The issue will be the cultural swamp that threatens to infest us all. And if the national GOP were astute (about which there is considerable doubt), it would invite Keyes to address its convention to match the keynote speech Obama gave to the Democrats.
Read more...
The anti-abortion group Wisconsin Right to Life is airing a TV spot and radio ads about blocked judicial nominees aimed at Wisconsin Democratic Sens. Russ Feingold and Herbert Kohl. But come this weekend, the ad campaign will be illegal because of whom it's targeting. Under the provisions of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, special interest groups are prohibited from running corporate-funded radio and TV ads that mention a candidate's name within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election. Feingold is on the ballot Sept. 14.
Read more...
1996 and 2000, and American ambassador to the U.N., accepted the Republican invitation to run for U.S. Senate for the state of Illinois Sunday. Keyes faces Barack Obama in the bid to replace retiring Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald in November's election. Keyes, an ardently pro-life Catholic, began his acceptance speech with "Praise God!" Keyes described the many policy differences between himself and opponent Obama, including such things as taxation, gun control and school choice. "What finally caught my eye, however," he said, ". . . was when I learned that [Obama] had actually, in April, 2002, apparently cast a vote that would continue to allow live birth abortions in the state of Illinois."
Read more...
An issues questionnaire sent to the presidential candidates by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is being criticized as a partisan misrepresentation of church teachings for emphasizing immigration and broadcast regulation over abortion and stem-cell research. "These questions reflect the legislative priorities of the lay staff," said Austin Ruse, president of the Culture of Life Foundation. "A good portion of the questionnaire is partisan in nature."
Read more...
The Gallup Organization poses it as a conundrum: Churchgoers are much more likely to support George W. Bush, while those who don't attend church regularly are more likely to favor John F. Kerry. Men are also more likely to favor Bush, while women back Kerry. Yet, more women than men can be found in the pews any Sunday morning. So how is it that Bush does better than Kerry among both church attendees and men? The answer, according to Jeffrey M. Jones and Joseph Carroll, who analyzed the Gallup data, is that white men who attend services weekly so overwhelmingly support Bush that they tip the scales.
Read more...
Now that Alan Keyes is officially the Illinois GOP's nominee for U.S. Senate, I can't help but wonder if and when priest-activist Father Michael Pfleger will voice his support for the pro-life, pro-family, African-American former ambassador. Oh, that's right. Pfleger supports only pro-abortion Democrats like Jesse Jackson, Kweisi Mfume, and Al Sharpton. How silly of me to think otherwise.
Read more...
Though he faces an uphill battle by entering the race late in the game and facing an opponent fresh from the national stage and flush with $10 million in campaign cash, Alan Keyes, over the weekend, entered the race for Illinois' open Senate seat. Keyes, a longtime pro-life champion and former presidential candidate, will face Democratic nominee Barack Obama, a pro-abortion state Senator.
Read more...
Hoping to loosen President Bush's hold on voters who regularly attend church, Sen. John F. Kerry's campaign has launched what many observers say is the most ambitious Democratic effort in recent times to reach people of faith. Through values-laden language, grass-roots organizing and Kerry's increased discussion of his faith, the Democrats are trying to show that the party's presidential ticket reflects religious principles, pointing to their platform on healthcare, poverty and the environment.
Read more...
At Catholics Against Kerry we ask all Catholics to consider these questions: 1) Are Senator Kerry's political positions, campaign themes, and voting records Catholic positions, themes, and records? 2) Do you support a candidate who voted to allow minors to be transported across state lines for an abortion in order to avoid having to notify their parents they were getting an abortion?
Read more...
"Senator Kerry recently said that he believes life begins at conception. Accordingly, Peter Jennings asked, why isn't 'even a first-trimester abortion not murder?' Kerry replied, 'No, because it's not the form of life that takes personhood in the terms that we have judged it to be in the past. It's the beginning of life.' Thus did Kerry distinguish between human life and personhood..."
Read more...
Scores of leading Roman Catholic politicians across the country appear undaunted by election-year warnings from bishops that those who support abortion rights may be unworthy to receive Holy Communion. In Associated Press interviews with more than 75 such politicians, none said that they are abstaining from the sacrament over the issue, and many said they believed voting for legalized abortion did not jeopardize their standing with the church. AP reporters spoke to governors, state legislators, congressional representatives, U.S. senators and other public officials, who all said they were at peace with their political and religious practices.
Read more...
Recently pro-abortion Roman Catholic politicians have been challenged by their Church. Some bishops have excluded them from communion; others are threatening to do so. And so forty-eight pro-choice Catholic members of the House wrote to Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick defending themselves and their records. George Weigel, director of the Catholic Studies program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center here in Washington, D.C., decided it was time to clarify some issues for the members and the public with an article titled "Catholic Confusions in the Congress."
Read more...
Dear friends, as you know, the week of June 13th the United States Bishops gathered in Denver for some time of fraternal communion and spiritual reflection together, to consider the future auditing processes with regard to the Charter For the Protection of Youth to which we are committed, the review of which will begin in the near future, and to formulate a policy on the proper Eucharistic behavior of Catholic politicians who appear to be publicly and chronically pro-choice, that is their political activity consistently and publicly supports the availability of abortion on demand...
Read more...
Some Democrats in Illinois may have been tickled pink at the prospect of throwing the U.S. Senate race into utter confusion two weeks ago, but those same Democrats have now likely opened up vulnerability at the top of the ticket. And with what is already publicly known about the tortured marriage between Sen. John Kerry and his first wife Julia Stimson Thorne, there is reason to believe that where there's smoke, there's fire.
Read more...
Diocese of Winona Bishop Bernard Harrington said in a statement that any Roman Catholic who supports abortion rights defies church teachings and should not receive Holy Communion. ``It is time we recognize that morality and ethics - not our political parties - determine what we believe,'' Harrington wrote in the July edition of The Courier, the diocese's official newspaper. Harrington's statement came weeks after a national bishops' task force he served on said bishops have the authority to deny Communion to politicians who support abortion rights.
Read more...
Kerry's support for "international family planning programs" -- a standard euphemism for "abortion" -- is an issue he's advocated for some time. If Kerry is telling the truth about being "personally opposed" to abortion, why is he trying to spread it worldwide? But perhaps the most outrageous quote comes from the 1994 Congressional record: "The right thing to do is to treat abortions as exactly what they are -- a medical procedure that any doctor is free to provide and any pregnant woman free to obtain..."
Read more...
But in 2000, Democrat Al Gore - another pro-choice candidate - narrowly won among Catholics nationwide, 50 percent to 47 percent for Mr. Bush. According to exit polls, Catholics made up 26 percent of the voting public. The only difference between the Gore campaign and the Kerry campaign is that four years ago abortion was not an issue. Because people's opinions on the subject are generally deeply held and seldom changed, the highlighting of Mr. Kerry's stance on the question could sear a long-lasting impression into the minds of Catholics. It was not that many years ago that conservatives feared the abortion issue would harm them at the ballot box in national elections. Polls show times have changed.
Read more...
A Catholic Canon lawyer has filed heresy charges against Sen. John Kerry with the Archdiocese of Boston, accusing the Democratic presidential candidate of bringing "most serious scandal to the American public" by receiving Holy Communion as a pro-choice Catholic. Kerry has dissented with Catholic Doctrine not only in his embracing the killing of unborn children, but also in his embracement of embryonic stem research, euthanasia and his catering to homosexuals -- he is against a Constitutional Amendment banning homosexual marriages.
Read more...
Catholic lawyer has filed heresy charges against Sen. John Kerry with the Archdiocese of Boston, accusing the Democratic presidential candidate of bringing "most serious scandal to the American public" by receiving Holy Communion as a pro-choice Catholic. The 18-page document was sent to the rchdiocese June 14, but released to the public only yesterday by Marc alestrieri, a Los Angeles-based canon lawyer and an assistant judge with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles' tribunal, an cclesiastical court.
Read more...
Cardinal Avery Dulles is encouraging U.S. bishops to dialogue with dissenting Catholic politicians about their moral responsibilities before advising them to not receive Communion. Cardinal Dulles, the Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society at Fordham University, shared with ZENIT what important steps need to be taken to defend human life, protect the sacraments, uphold the teachings of the Church and respond to pro-abortion politicians.
Read more...
In the wake of Republican Jack Ryan's abrupt withdrawl from the Illinois senatorial candidacy, the Illinois Leader has announced its intention to file suit to unseal the divorce records of John Kerry's first marriage. Dan Proft, the President of Leader Media and a paid staffer for the Ryan campaign, made the annoucement on Friday. "The Chicago Tribune and a Los Angeles Family Court judge have established a new standard for the release of marital and custodial documents," proft said, referring to the decision to release Jack Ryan's divorce documents. "Okay, then everyone in the public arena needs to be held to that standard. John Kerry is the start but there will be others we will seek to hold to this new standard."
Read more...
CHICAGO-Recognized by many as probably the most influential U. S. House member after the Speaker, Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Il), reflecting for The Wanderer readers on his 30-year congressional career, cited as a major disappointment the failure of most Catholic bishops to enforce sanctions on pro-abortion Catholic lawmakers. His stinging indictment of them is likely to jolt a hierarchy that is frightened of making waves, seeks to pacify liberals, is tremulous at making enemies and eagerly wants to court political dissidents.
Read more...
By this conclusion the bishops have promoted sin and damned souls to hell. Many Catholic women will have their unborn child killed and Catholics will continue to vote for pro-abortion candidates as a direct result of this vote. How can they not? After all, if Catholic politicians are allowed to receive Communion by their aiding and abetting the destruction of human lives, then why can't the entire flock do the same?
Read more...
There are some confusing media reports about this morning reporting a possible intervention by Cardinal Ratzinger into the controversial matter of Communion for US Catholic politicians. It may though be mischief-making by a conservative Catholic news agency. (NOTE: Prior post was directly from CWN site. This post is commentary of SD)
Read more...
"Why couldn't the United States Supreme Court simply hold that it's constitutional for school children to say the Pledge of Allegiance with the words, 'one nation under God?''' asked Allan Carlson, president of The Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society. The high court vacated a ruling of the 9th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court, that God in the Pledge violates the First Amendment's establishment clause. The court held the atheist father who brought the suit on behalf of his 8-year-old daughter lacked legal authority to speak in her behalf, because he doesn't have custody.
Read more...
We leave you with the words of the Holy Father, John Paul II, from his encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia: "However, in cases of outward conduct which is seriously, clearly and steadfastly contrary to the moral norm, the Church, in her pastoral concern for the good order of the community and out of respect for the sacrament, cannot fail to feel directly involved. The Code of Canon Law refers to this situation of a manifest lack of proper moral disposition when it states that those who 'obstinately persist in manifest grave sin' are not to be admitted to Eucharistic Communion."
Read more...
American Life League's Crusade for the Defense of Our Catholic Church today published a full-page ad that once again encourages Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop of Washington, D.C., to enforce Church teaching and avoid turning the protection of the Eucharist into just another political quagmire. Cardinal McCarrick indicated that he would not withhold the Holy Eucharist from known pro-abortion Catholics, saying, "I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to ask my priests to do it. ... When you begin to do that, you go on a slippery slope. ...We should have no confrontation at the altar." Judie Brown, president of American Life League, issued the following statement in response...
Read more...
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry votes more in line with Catholic teachings than his Catholic colleagues, says a survey of votes by one Democratic senator... Mr. Kerry had an overall score of 60.9 percent when rated on domestic issues, international issues and pro-life issues. That was tops among the 24 Catholic senators. Overall, Mr. Durbin's report found Catholic Senate Democrats scored 54 percent, and their Catholic Republican colleagues scored 43 percent.
Read more...
There are an increasing number of news stories about Catholic clergy considering denying the sacraments to Catholic officials who stray from church doctrine. This election season involves many issues of particular sensitivity to Catholics: abortion, stem cell research and gay marriage. With President Bush scheduled to make a papal visit on Friday while in Europe for the G-8 conference and to mark the 60th anniversary of D-Day, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), a Catholic, is saying the church should call off the threats.
Read more...
The name "George W. Bush" or "Dick Cheney" may not appear at the top of Illinois' November 2 General Election ballot. As the Illinois General Assembly went home on Tuesday warned they could receive a 24 hour notice to return if a budget agreement was made, there was no agreement to modify the state's election law to allow President Bush and Vice-President Cheney on the fall ballot.
Read more...
It must stop. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton of California declared unconstitutional the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act passed overwhelmingly by Congress and signed scant months ago by the president, while being supported by 75 percent of the public. As a consequence of Judge Hamilton's injunction, the appalling partial-birth abortion procedure will continue to be practiced across the land. Because of her order, living infants will continue to be killed in a most cruel manner. It abrogates the clear will of the majority of American people on the matter, as expressed both in public-opinion polls and the votes of their elected representatives.
Read more...
It's a matter of honesty: to receive Communion, we need to be in communion. If we claim to be Catholic, we need to act like it - all the way, all the time, without excuses. Relationships have consequences. They shape the way we act. That's true in our friendships and business dealings. It's even more deeply true in marriage.
Read more...
"Arnold Toynbee who wrote the acclaimed 12 volume A Study of History, once declared, 'Of the 22 civilizations that have appeared in history, 19 of them collapsed when they reached the moral state America is in today.' Toynbee died in 1975, before seeing the worst that was yet to come. Yes, Arnold Toynbee saw the famine. The 'famine of hearing the words of the Lord'."
Read more...
Two men in American presidential history have faced the "Roman Catholic issue." Both had the same initials embroidered on their shirt cuffs. JFK. John Kennedy afforded Americans their first experience with the Catholic issue when he won the presidency in 1960. Kennedy's candidacy provoked concern about whether a Catholic president would answer first to the pope instead of the American people. This year, John Kerry is providing the nation with its second taste of the Roman Catholic issue. Kerry's candidacy has prompted questions about whether politicians who don't toe the Catholic line should be considered in good standing with their church. Here's the truth: John Kennedy was and John Kerry is a creature known as the "cafeteria Catholic."
Read more...
Despite the Catholic baptisms and Catholic college educations of many Democratic politicians, those who run the Democratic party and their most ardent supporters by and large answer the toughest questions humanity faces with secular answers. They do not believe in a created order-or if they do, they have no sense of the logical implications of such beliefs. They seem to believe that evil is only a structural phenomenon, not a personal one as well. They have embraced the state as the source of human rights rather than their administrator. Joe Lieberman's failed candidacy makes clear that there is virtually no place today for people with a consistent Jewish or Christian faith in the Democratic party. The old Democratic-Catholic alliance has totally broken down, because Democrats have committed themselves to godless philosophical models.
Read more...
...there's no excuse for those who don't take the trouble to vote. But to vote, you have to register. That's why, in answer to MTV's Rock the Vote, a group of Christian musicians are endorsing an effort called Redeem the Vote. At Christian rock concerts and festivals throughout the summer groups like Verbs and Joshua 33 will be encouraging Christian young people to register by visiting the Redeem the Vote booth at the concert or to register online at www.redeemthevote.com.
Read more...
Any Catholic on this side of Judgment Day can call himself a "practicing Catholic". After all, our earthy pilgrimage in this "valley of tears" is our one time opportunity to "practice" Catholicism until we get it right. But "getting it right" for a practicing Catholic means conforming oneself to the will of God as revealed to us through Scripture and Tradition and as definitely set forth by the teaching authority of the Church. A practicing Catholic cannot invoke "conscience" to defy or disregard what the Church definitely holds as true - for a practicing Catholic doesn't create his own truth but forms his conscience according to the Truth.
Read more...
Any Catholic on this side of Judgment Day can call himself a "practicing Catholic." After all, our earthy pilgrimage in this "valley of tears" is our one-time opportunity to "practice" Catholicism until we get it right. But "getting it right" for a practicing Catholic means conforming oneself to the will of God as revealed to us through scripture and tradition and as definitely set forth by the teaching authority of the church. A practicing Catholic cannot invoke "conscience" to defy or disregard what the church definitely holds as true -- for a practicing Catholic doesn't create his own truth but forms his conscience according to the truth.
Read more...
As the scandal of U.S. Catholic pro-abortion politicians defying Catholic teaching and receiving Communion becomes a matter of growing public interest, it is also, ironically, putting in sharp focus the growing divisions among the U.S. bishops. Most recently, in Michigan, Lansing's Bishop Carl Mengeling - who has been under attack for not disciplining the pro-abortion Catholic Gov. Jennifer Granholm - said he would not deny Communion to pro-abortion politicians, saying Catholics are "adults" now and must examine themselves to determine if they are worthy. In New York, Albany's Bishop Howard Hubbard said he would not ask his priests to withhold Communion from pro-abortion politicians.
Read more...
The Republican National Committee has reached out to Catholics nationally in an effort to pull voters interested in protecting the sanctity of life, traditional marriage, and parental choice in education into GOP ranks. Headed at the national level by Martin Gillespie, the Catholic Team Leader Outreach program is working with the Catholic community to ensure that priorities important to Catholics become a reality, including the President's faith-based initiative and his efforts to build a more compassionate America by helping people in need."
Read more...
A surprising turn of events recently took place on the political scene. It may have gone unnoticed by most of the top analysts, politicos and pundits, but it has given many faithful Catholics a sign of hope. The man, Governor James E. McGreevey of New Jersey, deserves a little more of our attention. Here's why. Catholics have suffered from a 30 year old scandal of hundreds of pro-abortion 'Catholic' politicians, both in the U.S. Congress and in State and local legislatures, who defiantly rejected clearly defined Church teachings, some which are 2,000 years old, warning members not to receive the Eucharist unworthily or with mortal sin.
Read more...
Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) attended Mother's Day Mass on Sunday and took communion although some Roman Catholic leaders say he should not receive it because his abortion-rights stance violates church teachings. Kerry and his wife, Teresa, took communion from Father Robert G. Duch at St. Scholastica Catholic Church in suburban Pittsburgh, where the presidential candidate often worships when staying here. "The homily was perfect," Kerry told Duch as he left the church.
Read more...
Leaving Kerry's misrepresentation unclarified and unchallenged will put Catholic judicial nominees of both parties in jeopardy. It was precisely the spurious charge of sectarianism that Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) tried to hang on pro-life Alabama attorney general Bill Pryor last year in order to stall Pryor's nomination to the federal appellate bench. Unless the bishops publicly correct Kerry's misrepresentations, more of this sort of Catholic-bashing is inevitable.
Read more...
Americans do not presume to equate God's purposes with any purpose of our own. God's will is greater than any man, or any nation built by men. He works His will. He finds His children within every culture and every tribe. And while every human enterprise must end, His kingdom will have no end. Our part, our calling is to align our hearts and action with God's plan, in so far as we can know it. A humble heart is not an indifferent heart. We cannot be neutral in the face of injustice or cruelty or evil. God is not on the side of any nation, yet we know He is on the side of justice. And it is the deepest strength of America that from the hour of our founding, we have chosen justice as our goal.
Read more...
"It is always wrong when leaders from either major party pander to the homosexual lobby, which is on the verge of destroying the sanctity of marriage in the United States," LaBarbera said. "These unprincipled politicians are out of step with the people they are supposed to represent, and with their own professions of faith." Durbin is a professing Catholic. The Roman Catholic Church warns against any government recognition of homosexual unions, especially "gay marriage."
Read more...
"Your Eminence, Having organized hundreds of thousands of pro-life Republicans into a force sufficient to repel attacks on our principled pro-life plank by the abortion industry and its allies in the media, I can assure you that every single one of our people has a heart and soul full of unselfish commitment to the cause of life. While some wealthy and prominent individuals and groups in our Party are anti-life, the big majority of grassroots Republicans and Republican public officials are pro-life. We work hard to hold all Republican officials accountable to the Republican Party's pro-life principles, and we rejoice that every Republican Platform since Roe vs. Wade has taken a strong pro-life stand." And furthermore...
Read more...
It's not only a matter of being brazen so as to desecrate the Blessed Sacrament. It's also a soul matter of being absolutely "dishonest" before God and the church. Further, it's a tale gone on too long, giving a sin witness to the world. Catholic News Service reports: "'Receiving the Eucharist ... means that one is in fact in full communion with Christ and his church,' the archbishop said in a pastoral statement published May 5 in The Catholic Advocate, his archdiocesan newspaper. 'To receive Communion when one has, through public or private action, separated oneself from unity with Christ and his church, is objectively dishonest.'"
Read more...
When John L. Allen, Jr. of Rome reported for the National Catholic Reporter, he stated verbatim an interview he had with Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Allen asked McCarrick why the hesitancy in not confronting US Senator John F. Kerry and other Catholic politicians regarding their misuse of Communion. The media has focused particularly on Kerry due to his running for US President. But there are plenty of others, especially in the US Congress, who blaspheme the Blessed Sacrament by receiving the holy elements while defending tenaciously immoral positions such as abortion, euthanasia, stem cell research and the practicing homosexual lifestyle.
Read more...
Governor James E. McGreevey, a divorced Catholic who supports abortion, will be refused communion when he approaches the altar at Mass on Sunday according to his bishop, the newly installed Joseph Galante. The bishop cited a number of reasons for his decision, his first public act as bishop of Camden New Jersey. First noted was that the governor is divorced and has remarried without receiving an annulment from the Church. The bishop also said that the governor supports abortion and embryonic stem cell research, the latter item being a major part of the research industry in New Jersey. +
Read more...
The first National Catholic Prayer Breakfast drew an overflow crowd of more than 1,000 yesterday, including several members of Congress who used the occasion to reinforce the denomination's stance on hot-button political issues. However, a few politicians who spoke at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel admitted to some inner turmoil. "I'm a publicly elected official who's a Catholic and a Democrat," said Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan. "It seems that in recent weeks that we've been confused as to which comes first: a Catholic Democrat or a Democrat who's a Catholic. Depending on how you look at it, it can be both a blessing or a curse."
Read more...
Sen. John Kerry is deliberately misrepresenting the doctrine of the Catholic Church, of which he claims to be a faithful member, says author George Weigel. Weigel is a prominent Roman Catholic theologian and one of America's leading commentators on issues of religion and public life. He is the acclaimed biographer of Pope John Paul II and a Senior Fellow at Washington's Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he is the director of the Catholic Studies program.
Read more...
The real title of this column, if we want to get rough (and we do) might be "Dumbed down Catholics voting for dumbed down Kerry." Or, "Welcome to Kerry's party for dummies." Allow me to explain why the dumbing down of U.S. Catholic laity is likely to win the 2004 Presidential Race for John Kerry.
Read more...
The pastor of Blessed Sacrament Church, the parish that includes the Springfield home of U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, says he would not give Holy Communion to Durbin, who is Catholic but supports abortion rights. durbin, who also has a condominium in Chicago, says he has been a regular attendee at a Chicago Catholic church, Old St. Patrick's, for about seven years and takes communion there. "I respect Senator Durbin," said Monsignor Kevin Vann, Blessed Sacrament's pastor. "I've known him for many years. I know he works hard in many fields.
Read more...
When one desecrates the sacred, what next? Why, go to a member of the same mindset. That is, thinking he may be of the same mindset. Time will tell. US Senator John F. Kerry persists in desecrating the Blessed Sacrament by receiving the elements of Communion while brazenly endorsing moral issues that the Church considers sinful - abortion, active homosexual lifestyle, stem cell research and euthanasia.
Read more...
Kerry, as an American citizen and politician, is free to hold and express any views he so chooses, but you simply cannot claim to be a faithful Catholic and support pro-abortion laws or a political candidate or Party that supports pro-abortion policies. Nor should you receive, or be allowed to receive, Holy Communion if you do. There is no wiggle room.
Read more...
House Democrats are preparing a "Catholic Voting Scorecard" in an effort to show that Catholic Democratic lawmakers have adhered more closely to the position of the U.S. Catholic hierarchy on key issues than their Catholic Republican counterparts.
Read more...
The humorist James Thurber once wrote that "you can fool too many of the people too much of the time." Our job as Catholics this election year - if we're serious about our faith - is to not get fooled. Candidates who claim to be "Catholic" but who publicly ignore Catholic teaching about the sanctity of human life are offering a dishonest public witness. They may try to look Catholic and sound Catholic, but unless they act Catholic in their public service and political choices, they're really a very different kind of creature. And real Catholics should vote accordingly.
Read more...
"My oath privately between me and God was defined in the Catholic Church by Pius XXIII and Pope Paul VI in the Vatican II, which allows for freedom of conscience for Catholics with respect to these choices .." Thus did John Kerry rebuke fellow Catholics who are demanding that the bishops sanction him for supporting abortions and homosexual unions.
Read more...
On April 6, 2004, Bishop Fabian W. Bruskewitz, D.D., S.T.D., of the Lincoln, Ne. diocese, stated through his office to this writer that his diocese would deny Holy Communion to any manifest, persistent, obstinate sinner. Referring to canon 915, Bruskewitz said, "We agree completely with Archbishop Raymond Burke in the action he has taken and we would take the same action in the diocese of Lincoln with regard to manifest, persistent, obstinate sinners, including politicians, regardless of which diocese they are from." (NOTE: Cardinal George in Chicago recently implied that he would NOT deny pro-abortion politicians the Eucharist.)
Read more...
Catholic League president William Donohue commented today on Senator John Kerry's inability to dodge the issue of his Catholicism: "In today's newspapers, all the buzz is over John Kerry's voting record on abortion and whether this should disqualify him from receiving Holy Communion. But this is not Kerry's biggest problem with the Catholic Church. The question of his status as a married Catholic is: there is no evidence that John Kerry and Teresa Heinz were ever married in the Catholic Church."
Read more...
Roman Catholic Cardinal Francis George of Chicago stated that there is a "great scandal" within the Democratic Party. He went on to say that "there's no pro-life caucus" within that particular party. There is no strong advocacy for the unborn child. There is a painful vacuum because of the Democratic Party having gone so far politically left that it has discarded its moral base to history's dust. "A party that historically has been concerned about the weakest among us. . .doesn't permit any freedom of speech around the question of abortion," Cardinal George said. "One can say, as I have, that the Democratic Party has lost its soul."
Read more...
Illinois' senior senator says he answers to constituents, even if that occasionally puts him in conflict with Roman Catholic Church teachings. Last week in Washington, Sen. Dick Durbin once again found himself at odds with the Roman Catholic Church. After an emotional debate on the Senate floor, the Illinois Democrat voted against a bill that made harming an unborn child a federal crime. He then flew to Chicago, where despite a packed schedule he made it to Sunday mass at Old St. Patrick's Church in the West Loop.
Read more...
"People in Rome are becoming more and more aware there's a problem with John Kerry," a Vatican official - an American - told Time Magazine this week, "and a potential scandal with his apparent profession of his Catholic faith and some of his stances, particularly abortion." When John Kerry attended Mass during his skiing-snowboarding-upbraiding-the secret-service-agent-falling-down-repeatedly vacation, and then jetted off to make a rare appearance in the United States Senate to vote against a bill defining an unborn child as, well, an unborn child, devout Catholics across the country noticed...
Read more...
The American Life League has requested that Archbishop Sean O'Malley of Boston "consider further action" against Senator John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) after the senator was reported to have attended mass last Sunday, while on a ski trip in Idaho, only as a media opportunity. According to an article in American Spectator, the pro-abortion senator showed "blatant disregard" for the Mass by "arriving very late, dressed in a ski suit and making a great deal of noise."
Read more...
The last time a major political party put forward a Roman Catholic candidate for President, he had to confront bigotry and suspicion that he would be taking orders from Rome. Forty-four years later, the Democrats are poised to nominate another Catholic-another Senator from Massachusetts whose initials happen to be J.F.K.-and this time, the controversy over his religion may develop within the Catholic Church itself. Kerry's positions on some hot-button issues aren't sitting well with members of the church elite. Just listen to a Vatican official, who is an American: "People in Rome are becoming more and more aware that there's a problem with John Kerry, and a potential scandal with his apparent profession of his Catholic faith and some of his stances, particularly abortion."
Read more...
US Senator John F. Kerry is making tremors in the Vatican. Officials there are not pleased with his Catholic profession of faith. Karen Tumulty and Perry Bacon, Jr., report for TIME the following: "'People in Rome are becoming more and more aware that there's a problem with John Kerry, and a potential scandal with his apparent profession of his Catholic faith and some of his stances, particularly abortion.'" That is a direct quote from a Vatican official who is also an American.
Read more...
Although there are some traditional Catholics who downplay the importance of the heresy of Americanism as one of the manifestations of the Modernist spirit that has been responsible for the building of the "great facade" that has devastated the Church in the past forty years, I will go to my grave trying to help people to accept the simple fact that the false foundations of the United States of America are inimical to the good of the Catholic Faith. I believe that the antithetical nature of the American founding to the Social Reign of Christ the King is self-evident, and that all that we are witnessing culturally at present in this country is nothing other than the inherent degeneracy of false ideas.
Read more...
After the Mass had ended, and as people were filing out of the chapel, Margie confronted a woman who was wearing a sticker in support of pro-abortion Illinois Comptroller and Democratic senatorial candidate Dan Hynes. "Dan Hynes? Do you know that he's 'pro-choice'," Margie asked the woman, who then became angry and defensive. "Oh, I don't care," the woman retorted while turning away from Margie. Margie went on to say that one should vote one's (properly-formed) conscience, charitably and clearly indicating that Catholics should never vote for a pro-abortion candidate....
Read more...
'He reached up to shake a hand in the back and his eyes went up to my sign. He read it and then he looked into the crowd to see who was holding it - and he looked me directly in the eyes. "'I hope he saw my pain. I was not angry, just pleading with him to understand. You could see the shock and surprise on his face.'" However, as in a flash, a Kerry staffer grabbed Rebecca's sign. "'You can't have that sign here!'" The poster ripped as Rebecca let go of it. The Kerry supporter "'tore it to pieces.'" Then he walked away - triumphant.
Read more...
Last month Daley said he would have "no problem" with Cook County Clerk David Orr issuing marriage licenses for gay couples. Unlike the mayor of San Francisco, who has been presiding over gay unions since Feb. 12, Daley is not empowered to issue such licenses himself. Orr declined to give license applications to gay couples who presented themselves at the Cook County Marriage License Bureau on Thursday. Gay rights activists plan another protest this Thursday.
Read more...
Just how much committed is USCCB Bishop Wilton Gregory to Catholic teachings on human sexuality, and dealing with pro-abortion Catholic polticians? Well, let's look at Ono Ekeh, the administrator of the "Catholics For Kerry" internet newsgroup. When Ekeh is not working to get pro-abortion, gay rights supporting 'Catholic' Democrat John Kerry elected president, he can be found at his other job: program coordinator for the Secretariat for African-American Catholics at the USCCB.
Read more...
Chicago -- How do Catholics vote? That's the question of this political season, according to political consultant John McLaughlin, who spoke at the February 13 monthly Catholic Citizens of Illinois lunch forum in Chicago. McLaughlin, who has worked for 20 years as a pollster, strategist, and consultant on a multitude of winning Republican and conservative campaigns, has made a study of Catholic voting habits. He is currently working for Andy McKenna in his bid for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. McKenna and competitor Jim Obeweis both attended the luncheon. (For the full story, see Catholic Vote.)
Read more...
Nationally known, highly regarding political consultant John McLaughlin will be our guest at the February 13 CCI lunch forum to discuss the Catholic vote, and the impact Catholics will have in the 2004 elections. After attending Fordham, McLaughlin went on to found his consulting practice, and has helped dozens of high profile conservative Christians win elections in Europe, Canada and the United States. $20 for a full course lunch is bargain, and fully Catholic forum. Parking is available right across the street at Grant Park North Garage. Join us for the best sermon/salmon combo in Chicago! For reservations, call 708 352 5834 by the Weds. evening prior to the second Friday. The public is welcome.
Read more...
"Though the activists will never say it, the true purpose is to gain "sanctity" for immoral sexual behavior. There is a guilty conscience among people who participate in homosexual activities. In America, there is a collective guilty conscience nationwide about the amount of such behavior that continues to be encouraged... John Kerry said yesterday, 'I believe and have fought for the principle that we should protect the fundamental rights of gay and lesbian couples'."
Read more...
"H.R. 1997 will enable the federal government to recognize that when a pregnant woman is assaulted or killed within its jurisdiction, and her unborn child is harmed or killed as a result, the crime has two victims-the woman and her child. This is a common-sense and compassionate approach, consistent with government's responsibility to protect human life, born as well as unborn."
Read more...
If Sen. John Kerry were to stand in Archbishop Raymond L. Burke's Communion line Sunday, Burke would bless him without giving him Communion. Kerry, a Catholic, has voted to support abortion rights, contrary to the Catholic Church's long-held teaching of opposing abortion. "I would have to admonish him not to present himself for Communion," said Burke. "I might give him a blessing or something," he said. "If his archbishop has told him he should not present himself for Communion, he shouldn't. I agree with Archbishop O'Malley."
Read more...
"If the church were a brand of cereal, we could find our grandchildren eating Unitarian Krispies as they get older." Unlike Iowa, Zogby can't predict who will "win" -- the accountability seekers and theological liberals, the church traditionalists or theological conservatives. What can be said with certainty is that something -- church governance, commitment to the faith, ideas of what constitutes core beliefs -- has got to give. The status quo will not hold.
Read more...
I raise the question first of all because we are in an election year. Campaign 2004 is everywhere in the news, and it is only going to get more intense with every passing week. And if Priests for Life has anything to say about it, it is also going to get more intense in the Churches and in the pulpits. The reason is simple: there can be no democracy without virtue, and there can be no human activity divorced from the moral law. And in matters of the moral law, the Church does not have the right to be silent.
Read more...
"Whatever other faults one may find with Dubya and the Republican Party - and the Republican pro-life record is far from perfect - there is still room under the Republican tent to argue the pro-life case. This is not the case with the Democrats who, in the interest of short-term political expediency, chose to abort their traditional Catholic constituency. Having subsequently lost the White House, the Senate, the House of Representatives and several key Governor's mansions, their post-electoral-abortion syndrome is the consequence of this decision." (For more information on how apostate Catholics are skipping to Hell with Dean, see "Catholics for Dean")
Read more...
Bishop Robert Morlino of Madison says he is in "complete agreement" with La Crosse Bishop Raymond Burke's position to deny Communion to Catholic politicians who support abortion and euthanasia... Bishop Morlino suggested that even though he agrees with Bishop Burke's assessment of Catholic teaching, he might not decide on the same course of action for the Madison Diocese, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. Bishop Molino has been head of the Madison since August.
Read more...
"The 2004 American Presidential campaign really begins with the first caucus in Iowa. I believe that this current campaign is one of the most important in my lifetime. I also believe that Catholic citizens, known to often be "swing voters", could not only decide this current Presidential election, but help lay the groundwork for a new movement for authentic social and political change in America, one that moves us beyond the tired old labels and toward a more just society, a movement that serves the common good."
Read more...
The Catholic Media Coalition (CMC), a national group of pro-life Catholic communicators, applauds Bishop Raymond Burke of La Crosse, WI for his courage and leadership in making the clearest statement to date enforcing Church law defending the sanctity and dignity of human life against pro-abortion politicians. Bishop Burke, who will soon be installed as Bishop of St. Louis, has come under fire for issuing a formal decree barring Catholic politicians who promote abortion and euthanasia from receiving Holy Communion... "If others imitate Bishop Burke's action," CMC President Mary Ann Kreitzer stated, "once and for all abortion and euthanasia will be known for the mortal sins and destroyers of the family that they are. The Catholic faith requires fraternal correction be given to those in error and to stop those errors from being spread. We extend our heartfelt thanks to Bishop Burke."
Read more...
"A recent Vatican document, "A Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life," offers valuable guidance in the above issues for public figures. This document does not propose a Catholic agenda, but clarifies for Catholics those truths that are rooted in nature. The Louisiana bishops are sending a copy of this document to each of our elected Catholic public officials in Baton Rouge and Washington. When Catholic officials openly support the taking of human life in abortion, euthanasia or the destruction of human embryos, they are no longer faithful members in the Church and should not partake of Holy Communion. Moreover, citizens who promote this unjust taking of human life by their vote or support of such candidates share in responsibility for this grave evil."
Read more...
Uttering the standard liberal cliche a few years ago, Richard Reeves described "representatives of the new South" as "Republicans of old puritan definition, righteous folk afraid that someone, somewhere, is having fun." (I'll skip the context of Reeves' insight, except to note that apparently aging liberals view sodomy with a chubby intern in the back office as "having fun.") Like all beliefs universally held by liberals, Reeves' aphorism is the precise opposite of the truth. (for more stories by Ann Coulter, see www.worldnet.daily)
Read more...
While Howard Dean is a Northeastern liberal, he's no Michael Dukakis. So says William Kristol of the Weekly Standard, writing in the Washington Post about Dean's chances to win in 2004. In 1988, the former Massachusetts governor lost to George H.W. Bush after being branded a dreaded "Massachusetts liberal." By contrast, the media have labeled Dean a "conservative" or "centrist" on some issues. But the truth about Dean's embrace of the radical homosexual agenda could put the former Vermont governor on the far, far left side of the political spectrum, even beyond the liberalism of Dukakis.
Read more...
MADRID, Spain, DEC. 12, 2003 (Zenit.org).- Two ideas that fail to convince Jewish professor Joseph H.H. Weiler are that religion threatens democracy, and that laicism and neutrality are equivalent concepts. Weiler, who holds the Joseph Strauss Chair of Law and the Jean Monnet Chair on the European Union at New York University's School of Law, expressed that view when presenting his book "A Christian Europe" to journalists here.
Read more...
"You can't peg him according to a certain theology or philosophy, and that can drive religious people crazy who are looking for a consistent theological line," said Stephen Mansfield, author of The Faith of George W. Bush. Mansfield continued, "There's no clear blueprint. There are underlying principles and guiding truths, but no clear blueprint. So he's feeling his way down the pathway of religiously responsible politics, and he's getting hammered by both sides."
Read more...
"La Crosse Bishop Raymond L. Burke sent letters to the lawmakers as the first step in efforts to get them to change their pattern of voting, which Burke said contradicts the church's teachings on abortion and other issues related to human life. On Tuesday, Pope John Paul II appointed Burke to serve as the archbishop of St. Louis."
Read more...
"Aside from the Declaration, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, it is difficult to argue that there is any single work that has had a greater or more far-reaching impact on four centuries of American life, law, and culture than the Decalogue. For this reason alone, the Decalogue merits display."
Read more...
The U.S. bishops have begun work on a set of guidelines for themselves on how to handle relationships with Catholics whose actions in public life are not in accord with church teaching. The goal for the guidelines is to help bishops make distinctions between "respect for the office and approval of the officeholder ... to distinguish between fundamental moral principles and prudential judgments on the application of those principles, between essential substance and tactics," said Bishop John H. Ricard of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Fla., chairman of a new task force charged with addressing the issue.
Read more...
Responding to the Holy Father's clear teaching on the scandal created by so-called pro-abortion Catholic politicians, the Diocese of Rockford this week has said that they are implementing a new policy that bans pro-abortion speakers from all Catholic institutions. Responding to inquiries from Sen. Patrick O'Malley, Patricia Pitkus Bainbridge, M.A., of the Rockford Diocese Respect Life Office provided the following policy, which was developed this week.
Read more...
Whatever the history of Church-State separation in this country, the freedom of the Church here is more at risk now than it was just a few short years ago. In the past year, the attorney general of the State of Massachusetts suggested his office should pass judgement on which seminarians should be ordained priests, and dioceses in Arizona and New Hampshire signed agreements giving civil officials control of areas of Church life that had previously been none of their business. These developments are, in part, the result of bishops’ failure to supervise priests who had abused minors sexually. They are part of an understandable reaction to a failure of Church government. But if they are also part of a permanent institutionalized interference of the State in the freedom of the Church to govern herself, then we are in a new pattern of Church-State “separation.”
Read more...
"Some men find it simply unimaginable that other men would act upon the basis of anything other than self-interest. They might acknowledge that a few young men, idealistic and naïve, would go off to some place like West Point and buy into that moral code which Douglas MacArthur so eloquently articulated in his Farewell Address to the U. S. Military Academy - "Duty, Honor, Country" - but certainly no grown man would. It is one of life's great joys to enjoy the company and friendship of men who don't become so jaded and sullied by living in this world. Chief Justice Moore is a man who has not become so jaded. One can only pity the man whose circle of friends and acquaintances only affirms the view of the cynic, the mocker, and the scoffer."
Read more...
As you walk up the steps to the United States Capitol Building and look across to the United States Supreme Court you can see near the top of the building a row of the world's law givers and each one is facing one in the middle who is facing forward with a full frontal view----it is Moses and the Ten Commandments!
Read more...
Liberal-left hostility to Justice Brown is based on the very opposite of what they claim. Much of the liberal agenda can only be imposed by judges because elected officials cannot keep bucking public opinion. A judge who opposes judicial policy-making is a serious danger to their agenda and they will try to stop such nominees at all costs. Hence the lynch-mob atmosphere and the filibuster threat.
Read more...
"Many of our faithful and many of our priests are troubled and confused by the positions contrary to Catholic teaching sometimes taken by men and women in political office in every level of government and on both sides of the aisle," Cardinal McCarrick said. Bishops lined up at the microphones to comment, some of them stressing that any policy on Catholic politicians must include sanctions on those who err. Bishop Sylvester Ryan of the Diocese of Monterey, Calif., said any sanctions would have to take political party structure into account.
Read more...
WASHINGTON (Oct. 14) - The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will decide whether the Pledge of Allegiance recited by generations of American schoolchildren is an unconstitutional blending of church and state.The case sets up an emotional showdown over God in the public schools and in public life. It will settle whether the phrase ''one nation under God'' will remain a part of the patriotic oath as it is recited in most classrooms.
Read more...
Catholics need to take the demands of their faith seriously when they vote in elections, says a new document from the U.S. bishops. In an appeal to Catholics before the presidential election year, the bishops call for "a new kind of politics -- focused on moral principles not on the latest polls, on the needs of the poor and vulnerable not the contributions of the rich and powerful, and on the pursuit of the common good not the demands of special interests." Read the Bishop's document and share it with your pastor.
Read more...
This homily was delivered by Father Ignacio Barreiro on September 20, 2003, at the Church of Corpus Domini in Rome. A native of Uruguay, Fr. Barreiro was ordained in the Archdiocese of New York in 1987 and is currently Director of the Rome Office of Human Life International. To save Europe, Father Barreiro says, "we have to promote a society that is based on the values that come from the natural law and Christian revelation as it has been taught through the centuries by the Magisterium of the Church, a model of society that became real and life-giving under great Christian emperors and kings of the past."
Read more...
A Sept. 29 fundraiser held by US Senate candidate Dan Hynes drew not only dozens of pro-life protestors, but identified several ethical lapses. A self-described 'pro-choice' Catholic, Hynes' event was picketed by several dozen pro-life Catholics, who labeled Hynes a hypocrite. Hynes was further criticized for unfairly exploiting the St. Ignatius College Prep alumni, faculty and staff who sponsored the event. St. Ignatius was founded in 1870 and is run by the Jesuits. The day after the event, the Hynes campaign was forced to make a public apology for listing several St. Ignatius faculty and staff as donors and co-chairs, including the principal, without their authorization or approval. Cardinal George called the President of St. Ignatius on Tuesday. Later that day, a new policy banning "political endorsements" by the prep school's faculty and staff was on the website.
Read more...
Archbishop Sean O'Malley made the following statement on July 29, 2003, from his Archdiocese's Public Release Office, "a Catholic politician who holds a public, pro-choice position should not be receiving Communion...." However, he added (incredibly!): "The Church presumes that each person is receiving in good faith. It is not our policy to deny Communion. It is up to the individual."Canon Law is law; it's not a suggestion. Canon Law 915 states: "those who...obstinately persist in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Communion." For a Catholic to vote for pro-abortion legislation is a "manifest grave sin," and it is something Kerry and Kennedy have been doing for years, unabashedly. If the U.S. Catholic bishops won't enforce Catholic Canon Law, who will?
Read more...
"Anyone who stands up to the federal government in a good cause deserves praise and respect, and even in crude political terms it is useful for conservative Christians to be reminded that their government hates them. It is important, however, to distinguish between the defiant action taken by Judge Roy Moore-the only law west of the Chattahoochee-and some of the arguments that are being advanced to defend his cause."
Read more...
When crafting the Bill of Rights, the founders did not flip coins to determine the first amendment, which says, "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Roy Moore has bravely decided to test whether that amendment is still applicable after 200 years of progessively pagan judicial distortion. "No judge or man can dictate what we believe or in whom we believe. The Ninth and 10th Amendments are not a part of the Constitution simply to make the Bill of Rights a round number. The Ninth Amendment secured our right as a people. The 10th guaranteed our right as a sovereign state. Those are the rules of law." God bless Roy Moore.
Read more...
As the ACLU crusades against Christian values, they ignore the facts that, "Your rights cannot be taken away by the government if they come from a power "higher" than the government, i.e., God; There are no second-class citizens if each person is equal because each is made in the image of God; You can live in freedom with few laws if the people keep internal laws because they are conscious of their accountability to God. Government cannot be religion "neutral." It will always have thoughts underlying its actions. It will always have a belief system - a religion. The choice is whose belief system will be the basis for the government's actions."
Read more...
"As true-blue fans of Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-Ill.) face the upcoming senatorial contest without their favorite in the running, they divide the Republican hopefuls into two categories: those who wanted to run against Fitz in the primary and those who wouldn't. Among the wouldn't group are John Cox, the CPA and entrepreneur; Jim Oberweis, the dairy and brokerage magnate, and state Sen. Steve Rauschenberger. Those who signaled a willingness to run against Fitzgerald are Jack Ryan, the wealthy investment banker, and Andy McKenna of Glenview. For a time it appeared that it would be Fitzgerald vs. McKenna, with McKenna the Republican "establishment" candidate."
Read more...
"New federal regulations designed to keep patients' health-care information private are having the unintended consequence of keeping clergy from visiting some hospitalized parishioners. Nearly four months after the health-care privacy regulations went into effect, clergy members said they have received complaints from people wondering why they were not visited in the hospital." The government has indirectly banned them, that's why.
Read more...
"If nothing else, the Senate Democrats are consistent. Yesterday they successfully stonewalled President Bush's nomination of Alabama Atty. Gen. William Pryor to the federal appeals court as the Senate Republicans and pro-family groups across the country alleged anti-Catholic bias against Pryor due to his Roman Catholic views on abortion. Pryor expressed these views unapologetically during his confirmation hearings earlier this year."
Read more...
"The Equal Rights Amendment has absolutely nothing to do with women. Those who promote it as such are deceiving the lawmakers and citizens of Illinois. Newspapers and radio talk shows pose questions to readers and listeners who are asked in such a way as to ensure an outcome that is favorable to the ERA being ratified."
Read more...
"Some things change, and some things don't. The bias against "papism" is alive and well in America. It just has a different address. But at least some people in Alabama now know where the local Catholic church is -- and where she stands -- even if some people in Washington apparently don't." (CCI Editor's Note: There was a time when popes and bishops had no hesitation toward excommunicating a heretical king or prince who demonstrated a determination to lead souls to hell. Now-a-days, you can find these princes at the front row at Mass, like Kerry and Kennedy at Bishop O'Malley's installation Thursday. Some things change, indeed.)
Read more...
Manuel Miranda, counsel to majority leader Bill Frist, says Republicans are beginning to wonder if there's a deliberate plot to keep people of deep Christian faith like Pryor and Judge Priscilla Owen off the federal bench. "The opposition to Attorney General Bill Pryor of Alabama is really about religion. When people say that they're concerned about his pro-life views, what they're really saying is that they're concerned about the fact that he's a devout Catholic," Miranda says.
Read more...
His parish pastor in Illinois hasn't seen him at Mass in years, but that doesn't stop abortion rights, gay rights Senator Durbin (D-IL) from claiming to be a practicing Catholic. And what does his Bishop have to say about this? Nothing at all! As long as heretics like Durbin continue to mislead the Catholic voters and the bishops say nothing in response, the fortunes of the Catholic Church will continue to fade from bad to worse. Dick Durbin is not a practicing Catholic, and he needs your prayers...
Read more...
"When I was Mayor of Boston, Sean Hughes of West Roxbury, MA, my good friend from the Irish peace and justice movement, came into my office at Boston City Hall and presented me a sign to remind me of a not so enlightened time in Boston's history. Not too many years ago, signs like the one he gave me appeared in downtown store windows reading, "Help Wanted, no Irish or Catholics need apply."
Read more...
"There's quite a list of pro-abortion Catholics in Washington who could use instruction in "the duty to be morally coherent." The time has come to banish both the phrase "pro-choice Catholic" and the Cuomoism of "personally opposed" from the lexicon of American politics. Public figures who aren't going to oppose abortion shouldn't call themselves Catholic anymore."
Read more...
When the dust settled in Illinois after the 2002 election, many social conservatives threw up their hands. The state had gone almost completely Democratic, electing a Democratic governor and attorney general and re-electing a Democratic secretary of state and comptroller. Only the Republican state treasurer survived, and Judy Baar Topinka is a social liberal. Worst of all, the bastion of conservatism, the state Senate, went Democratic 32 to 26 (plus one independent) to join the Democratic House (66 to 52). Pundits forecast a dreary season. Almost certain was legislation clamping down on demonstrations outside abortion clinics, which could include peaceful prayer vigils as ''intimidation.''
Read more...
Despite starting the spring session with a nearly $5 billion budget gap threatening human needs and other Catholic concerns, and the unknown impact of the new Democratic leadership in the state, various Catholic interests more or less held their own, said Bob Gilligan, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois.
Read more...
Responding to a report that he had directed Senator Tom Daschle to remove references to being a Catholic from his congressional biography and campaign literature because of his continued public support for abortion, a South Dakota bishop has issued a public statement indicating that his discussions with the Democratic lawmaker are confidential.
Read more...
Illinois Catholics will recall that in 2000, the Illinois General Assembly passed a bill that would have required Catholic hospitals to dispense the so-called "morning after" abortion pill. When Cardinal George responded by announcing that the entire Catholic hospital system would be shut down, the politicians backed off. In his message to the sick, Pope John Paul encourages Catholics to remain caring AND Catholic.
Read more...
Helpful steps toward the restoration of a Catholic — or even Christian — social order lie beyond the bounds of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's new "Doctrinal Note" on Catholics in political life, but traditional Catholics should nevertheless welcome it, and use it where possible for the advancement of Catholic political goals.
Read more...
It has become a truism that on issues like abortion, self-identified Catholics do not move in lock step with the hierarchy and in fact hold views similar to those of non-Catholics, just as many stalwarts of the anti-abortion movement are not Catholics but conservative evangelical Protestants. Catholic conservatives dispute those polls, saying they reflect the views only of nominal, not observant, Catholics.
Read more...
St. Sabina's (Michael Pfleger, Pastor) was packed, including Illinois' new attorney general, Chicago Latin School alum Lisa Madigan, probably the state's most outspoken elected-official abortion proponent, as the pulpit was handed over to rabble-rouser Harry Belafonte last Sunday (1/20/03.)
Read more...
The Vatican issued guidelines for Roman Catholic politicians Thursday that underlined the church's opposition to abortion, euthanasia and same-sex marriages and told Catholics not to promote laws that favor those practices.
Read more...
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, having received the opinion of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, has decided that it would be appropriate to publish the present Doctrinal Note on some questions regarding the participation of Catholics in political life. This Note is directed to the Bishops of the Catholic Church and, in a particular way, to Catholic politicians and all lay members of the faithful called to participate in the political life of democratic societies.
Read more...
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia complained Sunday that courts have gone overboard in keeping God out of government.
Read more...
The Vatican has prepared guidelines for Catholic politicians dealing with issues that clash with the Roman Catholic Church's moral teaching.
Read more...
While overwhelmingly Chicago-area Catholic priests vote Democrat, almost 7 out of 10 do not vote at all...
Read more...
"Yes, there is such a thing as Catholic politics and it comes not from party headquarters but from Christ the King."
Read more...
Here we are in the 21st Century proclaiming by our policy of non-involvement that we owe everything to Caesar - and that if we just maintain our silence about a lot of things, Caesar will let us keep our money. And shouldn't we be grateful for that! We will withhold the most important tribute to God - in order to give to Caesar...
Read more...
We encourage all citizens, particularly Catholics, to embrace their citizenship not merely as a duty and privilege, but as an opportunity meaningfully to participate in building the culture of life.
Read more...
Return to Platform
|
