Human Life International's Statement on the Passing of Senator Edward Kennedy
We must, as a matter of precept, pray for the salvation of heretical Catholics like Senator Edward Kennedy, but we do not have to praise him let alone extol him with the full honors of a public Catholic funeral and all the adulation that attends such an event. There was very little about Ted Kennedy's life that deserves admiration from a spiritual or moral point of view. He was probably the worst example of a Catholic statesman that one can think of. When all is said and done, he has distorted the concept of what it means to be a Catholic in public life more than anyone else in leadership today.
Obviously we don't know the state of Senator Edward Kennedy's soul upon death. We don't pretend to. We are told by the family that he had the opportunity to confess his sins before a priest, and his priest has said publicly he was "at peace" when he died. For that we are grateful. But it is one thing to confess one's sins and for these matters to be kept, rightfully, private. It is another thing entirely for one who so consistently and publicly advocated for the destruction of unborn human beings to depart the stage without a public repudiation of these views, a public confession, as it were.
It is up to God to judge Senator Kennedy's soul. We, as rational persons, must judge his actions, and his actions were not at all in line with one who values and carefully applies Church teaching on weighty matters. Ted Kennedy's positions on a variety of issues have been a grave scandal for decades, and to honor this "catholic" champion of the culture of death with a Catholic funeral is unjust to those who have actually paid the price of fidelity. We now find out that President Obama will eulogize the Senator at his funeral, an indignity which, following on the heels of the Notre Dame fiasco, leaves faithful Catholics feeling sullied, desecrated and dehumanized by men who seem to look for opportunities to slap the Church in the face and do so with impunity simply because they have positions of power.
It is not enough for Kennedy to have been a "great guy behind the scenes" as we have seen him referred to even by his political opponents. It is also not praiseworthy to put a Catholic rhetorical veneer on his leftist politics that did nothing to advance true justice as the Church sees it or to advance the peace of Christ in this world. Every indication of Senator Kennedy's career, every public appearance, every sound bite showed an acerbic, divisive and partisan political hack for whom party politics were much more infallible than Church doctrines. Whatever one's political affiliation, if one is only "Catholic" to the extent that his faith rhymes with his party line, then his Catholicism is a fraud.
As the Scriptures remind us, there is a time for everything under the sun. This, now, is the time for honesty about our Faith and about those who are called to express it in the public forum. If we do not remind ourselves of the necessity of public confession for public sins such as Senator Kennedy was guilty of, then we are negligent in our embrace of the Faith and we are part of the problem. As Pope Benedict has reminded us recently, charity without truth can easily become mere sentimentality, and we must not fall into that error. A Catholic show of charity for the family must not eclipse the truth that is required of all with eyes to see and ears to hear.
Senator Kennedy needs to be sent to the afterlife with a private, family-only funeral and the prayers of the Church for the salvation of his immortal soul. He will not be missed by the unborn who he betrayed time and time again, nor by the rest of us who are laboring to undo the scandalous example of Catholicism that he gave to three generations of Americans.
Showing posts with label HLI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HLI. Show all posts
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Friday, December 19, 2008
Letter to Pastor Rick Warren from HLI's - Pres. Rev. Tom Euteuneuer
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Stephen Phelan, 602-380-3464
December 19, 2008
StephenPhelan@hotmail.com
HLI Challenges Pastor’s Participation
In Obama Inauguration
FRONT ROYAL, VA — 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.”
President-elect Obama has promised to sign into law the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), a massive assault on the dignity of life. He is also widely expected to reverse President George W. Bush’s executive order reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which prevents funding of international groups and programs that advocate abortion, as well as funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which, among other assaults on life, has been demonstrated to support coercive “family planning” measures in China, including forced abortions and sterilizations.
“President-elect Obama has given every indication that he has no respect for the lives of the unborn, and whenever given the opportunity, has promised to enforce the most extreme demands of anti-life groups,” said Father Euteneuer. “This extremist agenda should not be seen to have the endorsement of pro-life leaders such as Pastor Warren.”
“I respect the personal relationship that Pastor Warren has with Mr. Obama,” said Father Euteneuer. “But such a public and explicitly Christian endorsement as this invocation is certainly confusing to those who know Mr. Obama’s record on life issues. We respectfully ask Pastor Warren to reconsider his participation in the inaugural ceremonies, given Mr. Obama’s extremist anti-life views.”
###
CONTACT: Stephen Phelan, 602-380-3464
December 19, 2008
StephenPhelan@hotmail.com
HLI Challenges Pastor’s Participation
In Obama Inauguration
FRONT ROYAL, VA — 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.”
President-elect Obama has promised to sign into law the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), a massive assault on the dignity of life. He is also widely expected to reverse President George W. Bush’s executive order reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which prevents funding of international groups and programs that advocate abortion, as well as funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which, among other assaults on life, has been demonstrated to support coercive “family planning” measures in China, including forced abortions and sterilizations.
“President-elect Obama has given every indication that he has no respect for the lives of the unborn, and whenever given the opportunity, has promised to enforce the most extreme demands of anti-life groups,” said Father Euteneuer. “This extremist agenda should not be seen to have the endorsement of pro-life leaders such as Pastor Warren.”
“I respect the personal relationship that Pastor Warren has with Mr. Obama,” said Father Euteneuer. “But such a public and explicitly Christian endorsement as this invocation is certainly confusing to those who know Mr. Obama’s record on life issues. We respectfully ask Pastor Warren to reconsider his participation in the inaugural ceremonies, given Mr. Obama’s extremist anti-life views.”
###
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
PR -HLI - Fr. Euteneuer - HRH Henri de Luxembourg
HLI Lauds Grand Duke for Refusing to sign Death Bill
FRONT ROYAL, VA — The Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, STL, president of Human Life International (HLI), today lauded His Royal Highness Henri de Luxembourg for refusing to sign legislation legalizing euthanasia in Luxemburg. The Grand Duke said that for him this issue is a “question of conscience.” Euteneuer expressed his appreciation in a letter faxed on December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
The move represents considerable political risk for the Grand Duke, as Reuters reported December 4, “Luxembourg's parliament looks ready to strip the Grand Duke of his last lawmaking power as a controversy over euthanasia comes to a head. One of Europe's last royals with political sway may lose his formal veto by taking a stand against a law legalizing euthanasia.”
The stand is historical. Reuters reported, “His position tipped the tiny nation into the worst constitutional crisis in its history. The Luxembourg royal house has tried to block a decision by parliament only once before, when the Grand Duchess Marie-Adelaide refused to sign an education bill in 1912.”
The sovereign dropped his traditional political neutrality by announcing he would refuse to sign a bill adopted by parliament to legalize euthanasia. Since then, Minister of State Jean-Claude Juncker announced that a Constitutional Amendment would be proposed, whereby the signature of the Monarch would no longer be needed for a law to take effect. This would remove one of the legislative roles of the Grand Duke, namely approving new legislation. The Grand Duke’s strong Catholic beliefs have been cited in his bold stand that bucks the pro-death trends of the European Union.
Euteneuer’s letter said, in part, “Please accept on behalf of all the associated member organizations of Human Life International in eighty countries our greatest admiration for your courage in refusing to sign the legislation legalizing euthanasia in Luxembourg.
“Your well-formed Catholic conscience is a precious gift that honors the Royal Family of Luxembourg, as one of the greatest responsibilities of the monarchy is the duty to resist demagoguery and all attacks on public morality.
“Human Life International, which has offices in eighty countries, exists to defend the right to life from the moment of conception to natural death as well as the sanctity of marriage. You have our deepest admiration and support in this battle to respect life. Thank you for the magnificent example that you have given to all the heads of state in this difficult period of history.”
Thursday, April 17, 2008
From Fr. Euteneuer: "My Hopes For Pope Benedict's Speech To The Intelligentsia"
***REMINDER: Fr. Euteneuer will be on the Fox News Channel Your World with Neil Cavuto today at 4:00 pm east. 3:00 pm cent. GO HOLY SPIRIT!
Spirit & Life®
"The words I spoke to you are spirit and life." (Jn 6:63)
Human Life International e-Newsletter
Volume 03, Number 16 Friday, April 17, 2008
Pope Benedict has put on his schedule a meeting with presidents and other top personnel of Catholic universities in the United States. The former university professor himself is well aware of the impact academia can have on impressionable young souls, for good or bad, and he knows that the U.S. is home to the largest single concentration of Catholic universities in the world, so there is a lot at stake in this talk. My hope is that he will set them straight about a few items that these most intelligent people in higher education seem to be confused about. I would think that a few of the following issues would be of highest importance, as regards both theory and discipline.
Let's start at the beginning: I think he should demand that Catholic colleges and universities go back to actually teaching the fullness of the Catholic Faith to young people. What would be unreasonable about that? The fact that a handful of newer, unabashedly traditional, Catholic colleges have sprung up in recent years to defend and teach Catholic orthodoxy is in itself an indication that most of the other ones are not doing their job. I am not talking about presenting a façade of Catholic teaching to the kids. I am talking about immersing the youth of these schools in the Catholic intellectual tradition and forming their minds and souls to offer our dynamic Faith as a gift to our nation so desperately afloat in a sea of relativism and intellectual degradation.
Secondly, in order to do that, universities would basically need professors who are steeped in the Catholic intellectual tradition themselves and capable of applying that to modern times. Not only is the percentage of Catholic faculty declining in some major Catholic universities around the nation, but the quotient of orthodoxy of those who call themselves Catholic is highly questionable. Right now, it is virtually impossible even for Catholic university presidents to know which of their theology professors have actually signed the "Mandatum" (a statement that a professor can and will teach the Catholic Faith) required by the document Ex Corde Ecclesiae. If a Catholic professor at a Catholic university or college is not willing to formally be recognized as a teacher of the orthodox Faith, why is he or she on the faculty?
Thirdly, the Holy Father should just tell these elite members of higher education to get the secular, dissenting and hedonistic garbage off Catholic campuses and to do it immediately. Certain things are totally inconsistent with Catholic faith and practice. For starters, he can ask them to get over their obsession with the V-Monologues and eradicate every vestige of that wretched play from Catholic campus life. They should then decommission and remove all gay and lesbian groups from their lists of approved organizations on campus, and then uproot all radical, leftist causes and courses that both give scandal and cause a distortion of Catholic thinking on social issues. Presumably parents send their kids to these places to be fed with solid food for their souls; the intellectual junk food of our society should be taken off the menu at every institution that calls itself Catholic.
The most important part of his approach to these issues, however, has to be discipline, something that can only come from the top. University presidents who refuse to clean up their acts should just be removed, no matter how popular they are or respected in the communities. Their first responsibility is to God and the young people entrusted to their care, and the official church hierarchy has to ensure that. Tenured radicals should be gently set out to pasture so that they can no longer contaminate young souls - and vibrant, orthodox, faithful and intellectually honest Catholics should be given positions of authority at the institutions forming the next generation of Catholics. Remember that this is the generation that will uproot the culture of death from our land and transform it into a culture of life - but only if they are truly Catholic. Who else can set them straight on that except the Vicar of Christ?
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,
President, Human Life International
Spirit & Life®
"The words I spoke to you are spirit and life." (Jn 6:63)
Human Life International e-Newsletter
Volume 03, Number 16 Friday, April 17, 2008
My Hopes For Pope Benedict's Speech To The Intelligentsia
Pope Benedict has put on his schedule a meeting with presidents and other top personnel of Catholic universities in the United States. The former university professor himself is well aware of the impact academia can have on impressionable young souls, for good or bad, and he knows that the U.S. is home to the largest single concentration of Catholic universities in the world, so there is a lot at stake in this talk. My hope is that he will set them straight about a few items that these most intelligent people in higher education seem to be confused about. I would think that a few of the following issues would be of highest importance, as regards both theory and discipline.
Let's start at the beginning: I think he should demand that Catholic colleges and universities go back to actually teaching the fullness of the Catholic Faith to young people. What would be unreasonable about that? The fact that a handful of newer, unabashedly traditional, Catholic colleges have sprung up in recent years to defend and teach Catholic orthodoxy is in itself an indication that most of the other ones are not doing their job. I am not talking about presenting a façade of Catholic teaching to the kids. I am talking about immersing the youth of these schools in the Catholic intellectual tradition and forming their minds and souls to offer our dynamic Faith as a gift to our nation so desperately afloat in a sea of relativism and intellectual degradation.
Secondly, in order to do that, universities would basically need professors who are steeped in the Catholic intellectual tradition themselves and capable of applying that to modern times. Not only is the percentage of Catholic faculty declining in some major Catholic universities around the nation, but the quotient of orthodoxy of those who call themselves Catholic is highly questionable. Right now, it is virtually impossible even for Catholic university presidents to know which of their theology professors have actually signed the "Mandatum" (a statement that a professor can and will teach the Catholic Faith) required by the document Ex Corde Ecclesiae. If a Catholic professor at a Catholic university or college is not willing to formally be recognized as a teacher of the orthodox Faith, why is he or she on the faculty?
Thirdly, the Holy Father should just tell these elite members of higher education to get the secular, dissenting and hedonistic garbage off Catholic campuses and to do it immediately. Certain things are totally inconsistent with Catholic faith and practice. For starters, he can ask them to get over their obsession with the V-Monologues and eradicate every vestige of that wretched play from Catholic campus life. They should then decommission and remove all gay and lesbian groups from their lists of approved organizations on campus, and then uproot all radical, leftist causes and courses that both give scandal and cause a distortion of Catholic thinking on social issues. Presumably parents send their kids to these places to be fed with solid food for their souls; the intellectual junk food of our society should be taken off the menu at every institution that calls itself Catholic.
The most important part of his approach to these issues, however, has to be discipline, something that can only come from the top. University presidents who refuse to clean up their acts should just be removed, no matter how popular they are or respected in the communities. Their first responsibility is to God and the young people entrusted to their care, and the official church hierarchy has to ensure that. Tenured radicals should be gently set out to pasture so that they can no longer contaminate young souls - and vibrant, orthodox, faithful and intellectually honest Catholics should be given positions of authority at the institutions forming the next generation of Catholics. Remember that this is the generation that will uproot the culture of death from our land and transform it into a culture of life - but only if they are truly Catholic. Who else can set them straight on that except the Vicar of Christ?
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,
President, Human Life International
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