Friday, October 24, 2008
Fr. Tom Euteneuer: The Catholic Vote - Spirit & Life
Volume 03, Number 39 Friday, October 24, 2008
With respect to the abortion issue, the principle in question is the moral impossibility for a Catholic to cooperate in an act or an institution that is "intrinsically evil." Now, something that is "intrinsically evil" is not just a bad thing - it is a heinous thing, trumping all other moral considerations, and we can never legitimately commit the act ourselves or approve of it in anyone else. Casting a vote for a candidate who forcefully advocates the killing of innocent unborn babies shows approval or unacceptable toleration of that heinous crime against humanity, and Catholics can never do it in good conscience. The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls such an attitude and action "formal cooperation" in evil (#2272). This does not mean that I commit the evil myself. It means that I agree with it and have made it possible for a person in public office to continue and/or advance that evil in my society.
Formal cooperation in the evil act of another is a sin, and depending on the gravity of the person's evil act, formal cooperation in it can be a mortal sin. Since procured abortion is an intrinsically evil act, and all promotion of it fits into the same moral category, voting for a person who forcefully advocates it must be a mortal sin. Add to the sin of formal cooperation in evil the sin of disobedience to legitimate Church authority. To date the USCCB and more than a dozen US bishops and state bishops' conferences have clarified these principles for Catholics, and their teachings couldn't be clearer.
Further, add the sin of scandal that a regrettable number of priests and religious are giving by their appalling disingenuousness about Church teachings both in and out of the pulpit. Catholic parents and teachers equally give scandal when they do not teach their children the principles that undergird moral behavior or properly form their consciences according to the Truth that is in Christ.
Some ask if a Catholic may vote for someone whose policies would advance an agenda that is mostly in line with the Catholic Church's teaching? Also, what if the Catholic disagrees with the candidate's position on abortion but still wants to vote for this candidate for other reasons consistent with our values? Here the Church uses the term "proportionate reason" to indicate that there must be some kind of balance in the candidate's position that indicates it is likely that a greater good would be accomplished for society despite the evil he or she advocates. Proportionate reasoning usually has to do with positions that are not intrinsically evil in themselves or that, if they are, would constitute such a minimal part of the platform that they would be "outweighed" somehow in the grand scheme of the candidate's public service. According to the above principle, however, the degree to which the candidate would promote something as heinous as abortion can literally nullify all the other "good" that he or she would do for humanity! When the fundamental right to life is denied in society, all other rights and goods are therefore threatened. The very moral foundation of a people is eroded. So the answer has to be no, it is not legitimate to disagree on abortion and still vote for a radical abortion candidate.
May a Catholic vote for an "imperfect" candidate if the radical abortion candidate is worse? The Church says yes, but only if the vote is not expressed as an agreement with the "imperfect" elements of the candidate's policies and only if the vote is intended to limit the evil that other candidate would inevitably do.
It is truly regretful that we have gotten to the point where we might have to surrender some of our basic values in the voting booth because we have not successfully insisted on the very best candidates for public office to serve the common good. That is a discussion for another day, but I anticipate that if Catholics do not assert Catholic values forcefully in elections and public policy from here on out, we may be faced in future elections with no choice whatsoever that can morally satisfy the Catholic conscience. Heaven help and guide us all on November 4th.
SL Action Items
Bishop Robert W. Finn: Freedom of Choice Act Would Remove All Limitations on Abortions
Bishop Vasa: Pro-Abortion Candidates are "Disqualified" - Clarifies "Faithful Citizenship"
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,
President, Human Life International
I have been asked by many people to help clarify Catholic teaching on exercising one's voting rights, especially with respect to the abortion issue. There are many candidates across the nation running on many issues, and Catholics are trying to sort through them all, so I will state the Church's position as unequivocally as possible for the education of the faithful and not as an endorsement of any particular candidate or candidates: true Catholics are not "single-issue" voters - we are principled voters. That determines which candidates we give our vote to and it determines the state of our souls after we vote.
With respect to the abortion issue, the principle in question is the moral impossibility for a Catholic to cooperate in an act or an institution that is "intrinsically evil." Now, something that is "intrinsically evil" is not just a bad thing - it is a heinous thing, trumping all other moral considerations, and we can never legitimately commit the act ourselves or approve of it in anyone else. Casting a vote for a candidate who forcefully advocates the killing of innocent unborn babies shows approval or unacceptable toleration of that heinous crime against humanity, and Catholics can never do it in good conscience. The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls such an attitude and action "formal cooperation" in evil (#2272). This does not mean that I commit the evil myself. It means that I agree with it and have made it possible for a person in public office to continue and/or advance that evil in my society.
Formal cooperation in the evil act of another is a sin, and depending on the gravity of the person's evil act, formal cooperation in it can be a mortal sin. Since procured abortion is an intrinsically evil act, and all promotion of it fits into the same moral category, voting for a person who forcefully advocates it must be a mortal sin. Add to the sin of formal cooperation in evil the sin of disobedience to legitimate Church authority. To date the USCCB and more than a dozen US bishops and state bishops' conferences have clarified these principles for Catholics, and their teachings couldn't be clearer.
Further, add the sin of scandal that a regrettable number of priests and religious are giving by their appalling disingenuousness about Church teachings both in and out of the pulpit. Catholic parents and teachers equally give scandal when they do not teach their children the principles that undergird moral behavior or properly form their consciences according to the Truth that is in Christ.
Some ask if a Catholic may vote for someone whose policies would advance an agenda that is mostly in line with the Catholic Church's teaching? Also, what if the Catholic disagrees with the candidate's position on abortion but still wants to vote for this candidate for other reasons consistent with our values? Here the Church uses the term "proportionate reason" to indicate that there must be some kind of balance in the candidate's position that indicates it is likely that a greater good would be accomplished for society despite the evil he or she advocates. Proportionate reasoning usually has to do with positions that are not intrinsically evil in themselves or that, if they are, would constitute such a minimal part of the platform that they would be "outweighed" somehow in the grand scheme of the candidate's public service. According to the above principle, however, the degree to which the candidate would promote something as heinous as abortion can literally nullify all the other "good" that he or she would do for humanity! When the fundamental right to life is denied in society, all other rights and goods are therefore threatened. The very moral foundation of a people is eroded. So the answer has to be no, it is not legitimate to disagree on abortion and still vote for a radical abortion candidate.
May a Catholic vote for an "imperfect" candidate if the radical abortion candidate is worse? The Church says yes, but only if the vote is not expressed as an agreement with the "imperfect" elements of the candidate's policies and only if the vote is intended to limit the evil that other candidate would inevitably do.
It is truly regretful that we have gotten to the point where we might have to surrender some of our basic values in the voting booth because we have not successfully insisted on the very best candidates for public office to serve the common good. That is a discussion for another day, but I anticipate that if Catholics do not assert Catholic values forcefully in elections and public policy from here on out, we may be faced in future elections with no choice whatsoever that can morally satisfy the Catholic conscience. Heaven help and guide us all on November 4th.
SL Action Items
Bishop Robert W. Finn: Freedom of Choice Act Would Remove All Limitations on Abortions
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,
President, Human Life International
Fr. Corapi:"DEATH WISH!"
THE IMPENDING SUICIDE OF A ONCE GREAT NATION
©2008 REV. JOHN A. CORAPI, SOLT, STD
www.fathercorapi.com
A large number of endangered, unwanted, and unborn children held a town hall meeting on the 4th of July--alarmed at the brutal and untimely killing of millions of their brothers and sisters in recent years. That the murderous war waged on them had the full force and respectability of the law made their plight all the more terrifying.
Their complaint was humble and it was simple. They were not distressed by rising gas prices, or the deteriorating economy in general. They were not even frightened by the exponential increase of natural disasters. The threat of global warming or global terrorism did not greatly disturb them.
They had become an endangered species, and little had been done to answer their terrified and silent screams from the womb. They decided that the barbaric treatment that they and their fellow unwanted unborn human beings have had to endure for perilous decades was unconscionable and unbearable. They cried out to their Creator for inspiration and protection, and then unanimously they put forth a declaration. It began as follows:
“When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the
political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF-EVIDENT, THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL, THAT THEY ARE ENDOWED BY THEIR CREATOR WITH CERTAIN UNALIENABLE RIGHTS, THAT AMONG THESE ARE LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS….”THAT AMONG THESE IS LIFE; THAT AMONG THESE IS LIFE; THAT AMONG THESE IS LIFE!
The first and pre-eminent right is the right to life. This truth the Founding Fathers were sure of, and anyone with any common sense at all is equally sure of it. 232 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed the amount of common sense that seems to be operative in many spheres of influence—most notably the courts and the political arena-- can easily be poured into a very small thimble.
The United States of America seems to have a death wish, and we have traveled far down the road to having that wish realized.
When law divorces itself from common sense and spawns the illegitimate offspring of distortions of law, resulting in illegal laws—based neither on the natural law nor divine law--this undermines law itself, generating disdain for the law. Erosion of trust in the courts, or the system in general, is inevitable.
The genesis of the death wish is rooted in the fall of man that we see in the Book of Genesis. The substance of the fall is wrapped up in Lucifer’s pride, transferred to Adam and Eve—“You can be like gods, knowing good and evil.” The unholy, yet inevitable, consequence of that pride is disobedience—eating the forbidden fruit. The ultimate end is death, as God said it would be. That’s the way it was in the beginning. That’s the way it is now. That’s the way it will be until time breathes forth it’s last moment.
The prototypical sin is pride, the pride that seeks to exalt the creature above the Creator: “I can be like God.” Then, subjectively and arbitrarily, man tries to assert himself, imagining that he knows what’s good and evil for himself without reference to God and God’s law. This was the fall of the angels and the fall of man. The attempt by creatures to usurp what is only the province of God. Only God knows what is good for His creation.
In recent years it took the form of a self-inflicted heart wound when some dissident Catholics rejected the teaching of the Church, a teaching that clearly held that artificial contraception is intrinsically evil. Then, as Pope Paul VI had warned, it metastasized into abortion. From abortion it degenerated even further into partial-birth abortion. It was then a short and easy step to infanticide.
The exclamation point at the end of the death wish is that now there is yet another candidate for the office of president of the United States who has in an extraordinary way done everything possible to breathe life into all of the barbaric elements of the death wish. He and his party make no apologies for their support of abortion, partial-birth abortion, and even infanticide. It’s hard to believe that we have degenerated to the point that we’ll murder a helpless baby should it escape the violence of an abortion and be born alive. Can a Catholic vote for such persons? We are told, “yes” for a “proportionate reason.” What, I might ask, is the proportionate reason so weighty as to excuse supporting those responsible for what is tantamount to genocide?
The judges and politicians that support such barbaric practices are truly guilty of genocide: genocide—the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic, racial, religious, national, or social group. “What is the group so targeted?” you might ask. The group is unwanted, unborn children--tens of millions of them.
The Supreme Court justices that gave us Roe v. Wade will have to plead temporary insanity in the court of history. There will be no defense in the highest Court that is the judgment seat of almighty God if they do not repent of the incalculable evil they have wrought.
Yet, despite the life and death importance of this travesty of authentic law, there will be no serious discussion among political candidates, or anyone else. It is as if society has been bewitched, blind to the splendor of truth, deaf to the cries of the most innocent, most vulnerable, and most utterly helpless.
From artificial contraception to abortion to partial-birth abortion, then on to infanticide we march toward the abyss of oblivion, a society marked for death. Is it any wonder we can rationalize the killing of the elderly or the sick through euthanasia? The tragic murder of Terri Schiavo is a logical extension of a morally numb society’s mad march toward its own suicidal death. She wasn’t sick. She wasn’t dying. They murdered her, starved her to death--one of the cruelest forms of death. She was innocent, yet subjected to a most cruel and unusual punishment. Why? Because she was helpless? Because she was too much trouble, too hard to look at?
As Abraham Lincoln asserted, “If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.” We are dying by suicide, moral and spiritual suicide, and the moral demise of a nation almost always precedes the ultimate demise of a nation.
Many of our leaders, political and legal, are reminiscent of the horrid witches in Act 1 Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” chanting shrilly to a morally sick public all too eager to be confirmed in their sins,
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air.”
Good is evil, and evil is good. The truth is a lie and lies are the truth, hover through the fog of moral relativism and the filthy air of a world gone mad with the madness of sin.
The words of the prophet thunder through the ages, “ Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness” (Isaiah 5:20).
We have inverted the poles of the moral power grid. We have begun to call the negative pole the positive, and the positive the negative. This inversion of reality begets disaster: The power fails, the lights go out, darkness falls—and indeed, if your light is darkness, how deep, how very deep will the darkness be! (cf. Mt 6:23).
This death wish has marched toward its logical and inexorable conclusion with little opposition from leaders--political, legal, or religious. The world knows the Catholic Church and any self-respecting and faithful Christian roundly reject abortion and all of the other nails in the coffin of contemporary society, but the defense of life has been weak. Weak leadership, whether in society in general, or in the Church in particular, is punishment for sin. The Old Covenant has examples enough of the Chosen People being turned over to exile and their enemies because of infidelity. They lamented, “We have no priest, prophet, or king.” These were taken away because of infidelity. In recent times large numbers of Catholics and other Christians rejected Pope Paul VI’s landmark and prophetic encyclical Humanae Vitae, on Human Life. A majority of the bishops of Canada did so publicly, formally, and in writing with their infamous Winnipeg Statement.
The great Archbishop Fulton Sheen lamented bitterly in the 1970s that the prophetic spirit of Christ had all but been extinguished in the contemporary Church. Today there are many CEOs, all too few Apostles. Are we afraid of a fight? Do we fear rejection, misunderstanding, or derision? Are we cowed and intimidated by fallacious notions of the separation of Church and state? Could we be afraid of persecution? Could we be afraid of losing our tax-exempt status? Have we declared détente with evil?
The clock is ticking. Midnight is approaching. Time is running out for our nation, a nation that once was great, and could be great again if enough of us wake up and renounce this curse of a death wish. Will God turn his friends over to His enemies as He has done multiple times in the past? Will radical Islam overrun us? Will the planet cook? Will one too many natural disasters grind us into dust? Will we collapse economically? All of the above? Perhaps these are all merely effects of the underlying cause—a death wish that chokes the life out of us.
In the end it is likely that President Abraham Lincoln had it right: “Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.” Thus forgetting that we are one nation under God, we become a nation gone under (President Ronald Reagan).
And, indeed, “If destruction be our lot we ourselves will be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”
May God grant us the grace to awake from this deadly moral slumber, renounce the death wish, and live like truly free men and women—in the glorious freedom of the children of God.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
A Call for a Rosary Novena
Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (dateof feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forcesagainst the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.
Today we have a similar spiritual battle in progress—a battle between the forces of good and evil, light and darkness, truth and lies, life and death. If we do not soon stop the genocide of abortion in the United States, we shall run the course of all those that prove by their actions that they are enemies of God—total collapse, economic, social, and national. The moral demise of a nation results in the ultimate demise of a nation. God is not a disinterested spectator to the affairs of man. Life begins at conception.
This is an unalterable formal teaching of the Catholic Church. If you do not accept this you are a heretic in plain English. A single abortion is homicide. The more than 48,000,000 abortions since Roe v. Wade in the United States constitute genocide by definition. The group singled out for death—unwanted, unborn children.
No other issue, not all other issues taken together, can constitute a proportionate reason for voting for candidates that intend to preserve and defend this holocaust of innocent human life that is abortion.
I strongly urge every one of you to make a Novena and pray the Rosary to Our Lady of Victory between October 27th and Election Day, November 4th. Pray that God’s will be done and the most innocent and utterly vulnerable of our brothers and sisters will be protected from this barbaric and grossly sinful blight on society that is abortion. No woman, and no man, has the right to choose to murder an innocent human being.
May God grant us the wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and counsel to form our conscience in accordance with authentic Catholic teaching, and then vote that well‐formed Catholic conscience.
Please copy, email, link and distribute this article freely.
God Bless You,
Fr. John Corapi
www.fathercorapi.com
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Re: Where's Mr. Obama's Birthplace?
I'm getting alot of traffic off this particular post. Interesting.
The question remains....Where's Mr. Obama's Birthplace? 'They' made such a big deal about Joe Biden returning to Scranton - his birthplace, why don't 'they' do the same for the Presidential candidate? And what about all those historic places that will want their claim to fame? No one has jumped up and said--"Hey we're gonna build a museum in honor of this historic moment U.S. history." Will a city in Hawaii or Ill. start implementing some kind of plan?
Interesting.
The question remains....Where's Mr. Obama's Birthplace? 'They' made such a big deal about Joe Biden returning to Scranton - his birthplace, why don't 'they' do the same for the Presidential candidate? And what about all those historic places that will want their claim to fame? No one has jumped up and said--"Hey we're gonna build a museum in honor of this historic moment U.S. history." Will a city in Hawaii or Ill. start implementing some kind of plan?
Interesting.
GET OUT AND VOTE! VOTE FOR THE BABIES! VOTE LIFE!
Early voting starts in 31 states; E-voting snag in W. Va. fixed
We ask in this month of: Our Lady of the Holy Rosary,month of the angels, 40 days for life- that all truth be revealed and that our country be protected from all harm!
Our Lady of the Holy Rosary PRAY FOR US!
We ask in this month of: Our Lady of the Holy Rosary,month of the angels, 40 days for life- that all truth be revealed and that our country be protected from all harm!
Our Lady of the Holy Rosary PRAY FOR US!
SF - Catholic Charities & Adoptions
Another update by Fr. Malloy/Gibbons-Catholic Charities of San Francisco Adoptions (Conclusion)
Updates on CA Defend Marriage Vote Yes on Prop. 8
Check out Fr. Malloy's/Gibbons update - Proposition 8 and Schools (update)
and PLEASE pray the rosary daily.
and PLEASE pray the rosary daily.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Update: API Tapes
Go over to Jeff's site America's Right: African Press International Insists Michelle Obama Tapes to be Released Within 24 Hours (read the comments)
I think I'd listen to Sean Hannity's radio program today/afternoon....and keep praying!
Pray hard and PRAY BIG!
I think I'd listen to Sean Hannity's radio program today/afternoon....and keep praying!
Pray hard and PRAY BIG!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
"Save our children!"
Bishop Hermann: ‘I thought you should know’
Thank you Bishop Herman, you are in my prayers.
Save our children! More than anything else, this election is about saving our children or killing our children. This life issue is the overriding issue facing each of us in this coming election. All other issues, including the economy, have to take second place to the issue of life.
Save our children! Many people in Germany supported Hitler for economic reasons even though, as his programs advanced, he put to death millions of Jewish people. He ended up wrecking the economy together with the country of Germany. How are we different if we vote for proabortion candidates for office? How can we help change our political and legal situation to protect innocent children and support a culture of life?
Save our children! When I speak to some socalled good Catholics, I am shocked that they are quite ready to vote for a pro-abortion candidate under almost any circumstance. I find this hard to understand. We have heard the word "abortion" so often that perhaps we no longer associate procured abortion with the killing of children, yet that is what it is. The term itself can be misleading. The dictionary tells us that it comes from a Latin word that means "to disappear or to miscarry." Sometimes abortions simply happen because of natural causes. That is why this word abortion, for many people, apparently does not really connote the destruction of children. When a human agent induces an abortion, that human agent is taking the life of one of our children.
Save our children! How can a so-called good Catholic vote for a candidate that supports laws that take the life of innocent children, when there is an alternative? If there were two candidates who supported abortion, but not equally, we would have the obligation to mitigate the evil by voting for the less-permissive candidate.
Save our children! How can a so-called good Catholic vote for a candidate that supports laws that justify the killing of a child that survived a botched abortion? How can such a so-called good Catholic receive the Holy Eucharist? In Chapter 10 of St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he states: "The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the Blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? ... You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons."
Save our children! Have some of our so-called good Catholics become so hardened against the Gospel of Life that they believe that other issues outweigh the Gospel of Life? Have some of our so-called good Catholics put politics ahead of the Fifth Commandment, in which God states: "Thou shalt not kill"? Do some of our so-called good Catholics, who may go to Mass every Sunday and receive the Holy Eucharist, really believe that voting for a pro-abortion candidate, when there is a clear alternative and therefore no justifiable reason for so doing, is really not voting to have children killed? This election is all about saving our children!
Save our children! I have no doubt that there may be some so-called good Catholics who are reading this column and who may be really angry about now. I ask the question "Why would such a person be angry?" If we do good deeds, then our conscience is at peace. If we do evil deeds, then our conscience bothers us. It is my hope that this column will lead some of our so-called good Catholics to study the Catholic Catechism.
Save our children! Some of our so-called good Catholics may have hardened their hearts against the real understanding of induced abortions, that they can no longer see that this involves the destruction of our children. "If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts!"
Save our children! Supporting induced abortions is not the greatest sin in the world. A greater sin is the refusal to repent of such a serious crime or the denial that this involves the killing of innocent children. Save our children! I have used this terminology again and again penetrate the defenses of anyone who in the past may have put personal, economic or political interests above the issue of saving our children. The right to life is our most fundamental right, and to defend this right on behalf of the most vulnerable is a great privilege and is worth giving one’s life for. Policemen and firemen always risk their lives to save human life. Why should we not risk our own reputation to save our children?
Save our children!You can see by now that I do not believe that this column by itself will change hearts. The issue of abortion involves serious sin, and to overcome serious patterns of sin requires grace. If you are still with me, may I suggest that you join me and many others in praying the daily Rosary from now until election day for the sake of life. Why not pray the family Rosary every night between now and the general election. The Rosary brought down the Iron Curtain. It can also help us turn around the culture of death to a culture of life.
Save our so-called good Catholics who ignore Catholic moral principles when applied to our political life. Pray the family Rosary daily. Pray the family Rosary for our so-called good Catholics who could use your love and your charity. Pray for our so-called good Catholics who ignore serious Catholic moral teachings and still receive Holy Communion. Love them by praying the family Rosary for them. Don’t debate with them. Intercede for them. Praying for them is more fun than fighting with them.
Save our children and save our so-called good Catholics who have abandoned Church teachings in favor of personal gain. Pray the Rosary. Pray it every day. Get the whole family to pray the Rosary daily. Prayer is more powerful than contentious arguments. Spread the word to other families. In praying the Rosary, children’s votes count as much as adult votes. Sometimes they pray with purer hearts than we do. If you are disgusted with the TV news, then turn it off and turn on the prayer Internet. What we hear in prayer leaves us in peace. When we pray for our country and for our fellow citizens, we are filled with peace. St. Paul tells us that our warfare is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers and the spirits of darkness.
Prayer is our protection. Let it also be a protection for our country. If you want to make Satan angry, pray the Rosary for the sake of Life. Pray that as a nation we will choose leaders that will say ‘no’ to the culture of death and say ‘yes’ to the culture of life. Save our children! Pray the Rosary!
Thank you Bishop Herman, you are in my prayers.
Thank you Deal!
What Are We Doing?
Thank you Deal for speaking up. I spent the better part of yesterday looking around the net trying to find out if I was the only one with this response: Sick to the core of my stomach.
It was more than something is wrong!
I don't care who was sitting next to whom. And I don't care that they were enjoying themselves while making jokes-poking 'fun at each other'.
The fact of the matter is that 48 MILLION BABIES have died....doesn't anybody get that? And while they are pallin' around, this is going to continue. And yes, JESUS went among the sinners--to convict them---preach the gospel. Their behavior at this event spoke volumes.
Ephesians 6:12-20
1 Timothy 5:20
2 Timothy 4:1-5
All the holy souls of aborted babies cry from heaven! Do they hear them?
PRAY! OFFER all things up! Prayer & sacrifice are our weapons!
Thank you Mary Ann for this too: Pray and Fast for Our Poor Country
Thank you Deal for speaking up. I spent the better part of yesterday looking around the net trying to find out if I was the only one with this response: Sick to the core of my stomach.
It was more than something is wrong!
I don't care who was sitting next to whom. And I don't care that they were enjoying themselves while making jokes-poking 'fun at each other'.
The fact of the matter is that 48 MILLION BABIES have died....doesn't anybody get that? And while they are pallin' around, this is going to continue. And yes, JESUS went among the sinners--to convict them---preach the gospel. Their behavior at this event spoke volumes.
Ephesians 6:12-20
1 Timothy 5:20
2 Timothy 4:1-5
All the holy souls of aborted babies cry from heaven! Do they hear them?
PRAY! OFFER all things up! Prayer & sacrifice are our weapons!
Thank you Mary Ann for this too: Pray and Fast for Our Poor Country
Friday, October 17, 2008
Life Issues
A Catholic Brief for Obama (see the comments too)
Little Murders
WE continue to PRAY!
"Place yourself in Mary's hands; she will think of everything and provide for the needs of soul and body. Therefore, be at peace, be at complete peace,with unlimited confidence in her!" St. Maximilian Kolbe 1894-1941
Mr. Weigel predicts that the emergence of serious pro-life Catholics supporting Obama in this election portends "a new hardening of the battle lines. Not on our part. To us, endorsing Barack Obama was not only about who would make the best president, but also about erasing many of these old battle lines, which, frankly, have been drawn on the wrong battlefield and have served no one well—especially women and the unborn, to say nothing of our political discourse.
Little Murders
WE continue to PRAY!
"Place yourself in Mary's hands; she will think of everything and provide for the needs of soul and body. Therefore, be at peace, be at complete peace,with unlimited confidence in her!" St. Maximilian Kolbe 1894-1941
Update: CCHD & ACORN: Good news?
Could This Be A Step in the Right Direction?
Defunding ACORN is laudable but insufficient
By Stephanie Block
Yesterday, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) announced that it is suspending further funding to ACORN after learning that Dale Rathke, the brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke, embezzled nearly $1 million from the organization between 1999 and 2000. Thanks to a whistle-blower, the incident became public this summer, as the organization had been handling the matter “in-house”, according to Maud Hurd, ACORN’s president.
CCHD, which claims to give grants to groups “fighting poverty”, has finally had to distance itself. Having given more than $7.3 million to ACORN projects over the last 10 years and $1.13 million just this year, this latest disclosure among a slew of convictions, indictments, investigations, and lawsuits against ACORN for voter fraud has tipped the scale.
It’s about time. After decades of warnings, Ralph McCloud, executive director of CCHD, told a reporter from Catholic News Service, “The whole idea is making sure that the efforts of the groups we fund are working in nonpartisan efforts and focusing on the kind of work that we would like for them to do”.
Good! Now it’s time to take the next step of distancing itself from Alinsky’s Industrial Areas Foundation and its affiliates who in 1996, set its membership to work in a get-out-the-vote drive called Active Citizenship Campaign. The effort included working with individuals from the Democrat Party to “streamline” the naturalization process and fraudulently put an IAF-backed candidate, favorable to legalized abortion, into Congress rather than her pro-life opponent. Though Active Citizenship Campaign was found guilty of abusing the naturalization process and a congressional investigation concurred that the seat they had supported was not honestly obtained, the CCHD continues to pour money into this network.
We’ve been telling you for decades…
CCHD has been collecting money from generous Catholics annually since the early 1970s, ostensibly “to help the poor.” There has always been a group of people, however, complaining that the money has little to do with “the poor” and everything to do with left-wing politics.
In the first years, to take an example, there was CCHD’s $157,900 to Alianza Federal de Pueblos Libres, awarded in the 1972-3 grant period. It wasn’t as though the CCHD didn’t know what they were funding. The Alianza had made New Mexico news five years earlier in an incident that involved an armed raid on a courthouse, a standoff between the National Guard and the “activists”, and two wounded law officers.
Twelve years after the Campaign began, the complaints were growing more strident. One Catholic periodical, The Wanderer, called CCHD funding “a scandal” and fired, “In little more than ten years, the Bishops have received almost $60 million from the Catholic people to ‘help break the hellish circle [sic – the actual word used by the Campaign was “cycle”] of poverty’….and instead directed the funds to groups which seek to ‘empower the poor’ and ‘change sinful institutions’.”
In 1989, researcher Laurene Conner wrote, “While the average Catholic assumes his contribution is for charitable causes, CHD’s objectives suggest an entirely different set of priorities. Its present executive director, Fr. Alfred P LoPinto, has been quoted as saying, ‘We’re not really involved in charity…it’s considered funding for justice.”
Conner goes on to explain that the principle recipients of CCHD grants are “community organizing projects in the Saul Alinsky radical left-wing tradition: the Industrial Areas Foundation he founded; Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN); the Youth Project; and the Citizen Action groups.”
Ten years further down the road and the Bishops were each sent a 4” binder that detailed the continuing problem of funding radical Alinskyian organizations and the progressives with whom they network.
The binder provided source materials from ACORN and the other Alinskyian networks that receive millions of Catholic dollars every year. It demonstrated their socialist ambitions and their political activism – including serious, proven incidents of voter fraud.
It demonstrated the CCHD’s funding pro-abortion networks – such as the Justice, Economic Dignity, and Independence for Women (JEDI Women) grants in $20,000 in 1994 and $20,000 in 1995 –a group that worked in coalition with Planned Parenthood, Utahans for Choice, and Utah NOW.
The CCHD put the word “Catholic” in its name and improved its guidelines to disqualify openly pro-abortion groups but has continued to fund the Alinskyian organization that are politically networked to the pro-abortionists.
The CCHD can be applauded for finally acknowledging that illegal activity must not be rewarded with Catholic money, but it must take the next step toward authentic human development funded – one that respects life.
Defunding ACORN is laudable but insufficient
By Stephanie Block
Yesterday, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) announced that it is suspending further funding to ACORN after learning that Dale Rathke, the brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke, embezzled nearly $1 million from the organization between 1999 and 2000. Thanks to a whistle-blower, the incident became public this summer, as the organization had been handling the matter “in-house”, according to Maud Hurd, ACORN’s president.
CCHD, which claims to give grants to groups “fighting poverty”, has finally had to distance itself. Having given more than $7.3 million to ACORN projects over the last 10 years and $1.13 million just this year, this latest disclosure among a slew of convictions, indictments, investigations, and lawsuits against ACORN for voter fraud has tipped the scale.
It’s about time. After decades of warnings, Ralph McCloud, executive director of CCHD, told a reporter from Catholic News Service, “The whole idea is making sure that the efforts of the groups we fund are working in nonpartisan efforts and focusing on the kind of work that we would like for them to do”.
Good! Now it’s time to take the next step of distancing itself from Alinsky’s Industrial Areas Foundation and its affiliates who in 1996, set its membership to work in a get-out-the-vote drive called Active Citizenship Campaign. The effort included working with individuals from the Democrat Party to “streamline” the naturalization process and fraudulently put an IAF-backed candidate, favorable to legalized abortion, into Congress rather than her pro-life opponent. Though Active Citizenship Campaign was found guilty of abusing the naturalization process and a congressional investigation concurred that the seat they had supported was not honestly obtained, the CCHD continues to pour money into this network.
We’ve been telling you for decades…
CCHD has been collecting money from generous Catholics annually since the early 1970s, ostensibly “to help the poor.” There has always been a group of people, however, complaining that the money has little to do with “the poor” and everything to do with left-wing politics.
In the first years, to take an example, there was CCHD’s $157,900 to Alianza Federal de Pueblos Libres, awarded in the 1972-3 grant period. It wasn’t as though the CCHD didn’t know what they were funding. The Alianza had made New Mexico news five years earlier in an incident that involved an armed raid on a courthouse, a standoff between the National Guard and the “activists”, and two wounded law officers.
Twelve years after the Campaign began, the complaints were growing more strident. One Catholic periodical, The Wanderer, called CCHD funding “a scandal” and fired, “In little more than ten years, the Bishops have received almost $60 million from the Catholic people to ‘help break the hellish circle [sic – the actual word used by the Campaign was “cycle”] of poverty’….and instead directed the funds to groups which seek to ‘empower the poor’ and ‘change sinful institutions’.”
In 1989, researcher Laurene Conner wrote, “While the average Catholic assumes his contribution is for charitable causes, CHD’s objectives suggest an entirely different set of priorities. Its present executive director, Fr. Alfred P LoPinto, has been quoted as saying, ‘We’re not really involved in charity…it’s considered funding for justice.”
Conner goes on to explain that the principle recipients of CCHD grants are “community organizing projects in the Saul Alinsky radical left-wing tradition: the Industrial Areas Foundation he founded; Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN); the Youth Project; and the Citizen Action groups.”
Ten years further down the road and the Bishops were each sent a 4” binder that detailed the continuing problem of funding radical Alinskyian organizations and the progressives with whom they network.
The binder provided source materials from ACORN and the other Alinskyian networks that receive millions of Catholic dollars every year. It demonstrated their socialist ambitions and their political activism – including serious, proven incidents of voter fraud.
It demonstrated the CCHD’s funding pro-abortion networks – such as the Justice, Economic Dignity, and Independence for Women (JEDI Women) grants in $20,000 in 1994 and $20,000 in 1995 –a group that worked in coalition with Planned Parenthood, Utahans for Choice, and Utah NOW.
The CCHD put the word “Catholic” in its name and improved its guidelines to disqualify openly pro-abortion groups but has continued to fund the Alinskyian organization that are politically networked to the pro-abortionists.
The CCHD can be applauded for finally acknowledging that illegal activity must not be rewarded with Catholic money, but it must take the next step toward authentic human development funded – one that respects life.
National Anthem Scratched
Obama: 'You cannot let up'
Bencal, who sings the anthem for a number of school events and is actively involved in local community theatre, had been contacted by the Obama campaign to sing the anthem. He agreed to do so, then was told later in the evening the anthem had been scratched from the program. Bencal said he was told by the campaign the decision was a simple programming change to make room for another speaker.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Update: API & M. Obama
Recordings and information leading to recent API story on Michelle Obama’s telephone call is now being cleared for release
[...]The only thing API may have done wrong is not informing Mrs Obama that the conversation was being recorded. This is why it is taking time to release the recording while consulting a legal team because API wants to be legally safe from any Obama camp law suit.
The delay to make public the recordings is expected to give time to Mrs Obama to come clean and tell the American people that her comments were not meant to harm anyone but that she was reacting to the media pressure on her husband. She should also come out and tell the American people that she will not discriminate those who are not Obama fanatics if she becomes the first lady.
Half-way Mark: 40 Days for Life: News
40 Days for Life at Halfway Point: 268 Lives Saved, Hearts Changed, and Planned Parenthood Irritated
Fighting Planned Parenthood's intimidation tactics
After Two Weeks of 40 Days for Life - 114 Babies Saved from Abortion
Planned Parenthood Calls 40 Days of Life Participants "Harassing Extremists"
GOD is touching hearts!
Keep praying and offering up all obstacles, disappointments, hardships, trials, joys, -EVERYTHING! Reminder: we've got BIG back up too...think of all the angels and babies (those unborn and aborted) in heaven protecting and working with us! YEA GOD!
Fighting Planned Parenthood's intimidation tactics
After Two Weeks of 40 Days for Life - 114 Babies Saved from Abortion
Planned Parenthood Calls 40 Days of Life Participants "Harassing Extremists"
GOD is touching hearts!
Keep praying and offering up all obstacles, disappointments, hardships, trials, joys, -EVERYTHING! Reminder: we've got BIG back up too...think of all the angels and babies (those unborn and aborted) in heaven protecting and working with us! YEA GOD!
Bulletin - SJA
We continue to pray for all concerned parties...that HIS truth be revealed!
(I was able to download the pdf. before it was replaced)
Sorry, for the repost, as this bulletin - Volume: VIII - No. 39 . October 5, 2008 was replaced with the current one.
This commentary demonstrates that 'things' are probably 'changin' in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis:
Pastors 2 Cents: From: Fr. Jim DeBruycker
I hate to point fingers at any one person but I think Karl Rove has gone from being a person to being an icon of a certain point of view – divide and conquer. As a society in the body politic, it’s hard to come to consensus. We have learned to vilify, demonize, degrade the other’s position and then stomp on them when they are down. Truth is secondary, weakness or defeat is synonymous with being wrong. Despite the severity of the economic issues, it is almost fun watching the political parties being forced to sit down and try to find a solution that is bipartisan.
I wish we had this kind of issue in the Church, where we actually had to sit down and work together. Since I have come to St. Joan’s I have certainly seen the ‘Karl Roving’ of the Church. If you ever want to be disgusted, google St. Joan of Arc, but don’t go to our website, read the blogs about us. Julie Madden (Peace & Justice Ministries-my edit) is the only person I know with the stomach to do it on a regular basis. We are, in the world of ultra-conservative Catholicism, the evil incarnate. If a bad motive can be ascribed to anything we do, it is ascribed to us.
Of course we cannot live reacting only to this hatred—there is too much to do. However, our detractors are smart enough to make sure this info is packaged and sent directly to Rome so that the local hierarchy is pressured from above and the haters can’t be ignored. Rule by internet
innuendo—it works.
Why bring this up? Oh poor me, oh poor us? No! The Gospel tells us of a mythical society where the stewards of the land become so convinced they actually own the land that they kill the real owner’s son in a misguided attempt to usurp the power of the real owner.
Jesus message is pretty obvious. The religious powers of his time have so identified with their power and have such a sense of entitlement that they have exchanged their message for God’s. God sending his son is not enough to change their minds or sense of entitlement so they even kill the son.
In a world of hatred and hyperbole, it is good for all sides to step back and look at what message they are presenting or killing.
“Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit."
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Crazy developments....keep praying for HIS TRUTH TO BE REVEALED!
The African Press International blog published an article October 15, 2008 stating that Michelle Obama called them and said: “African press International is supposed to support Africans and African-American view,”
API then posted the following: The Michelle Obama story sparks outcry in the US - The Americans demand that API makes public the Audio recording
No one knows where this is going....we'll wait to hear and see all the facts. API vehemently states that they have proof/evidence of such conversation. We shall see.
API then posted the following: The Michelle Obama story sparks outcry in the US - The Americans demand that API makes public the Audio recording
No one knows where this is going....we'll wait to hear and see all the facts. API vehemently states that they have proof/evidence of such conversation. We shall see.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
FutureChurch in Rome - Synod on the Word
Catholic group calls for more women in Mass texts
[...]Monsignor Anthony Sherman, of the Secretariat for Divine Worship at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said FutureChurch is not alone in questioning the Mass readings.
Schenk said most bishops have responded positively. Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, Ariz., met with FutureChurch women, she said, and other bishops say they are interested. None, however, have committed to bringing the topic to the synod.
Obama & Odinga
Hear the inside story on Obama and Kenya
I'm Barack Obama's cousin says Raila Odinga
Obama's Kenyan links exposed!
HYMAN: Obama's Kenya ghosts
"Kenya's killing fields"
Kenya turmoil a test for Obama
Odinga says Obama is his cousin
Obama and Odinga Campaign in Kenya
Senator Barack Obama in Kenya > Obama and Odinga: The True Story
Obama's Oginga Odinga Humdinger
Odinga and Participatory Democracy
Codel Obama
I'm Barack Obama's cousin says Raila Odinga
Obama's Kenyan links exposed!
HYMAN: Obama's Kenya ghosts
"Kenya's killing fields"
Kenya turmoil a test for Obama
Odinga says Obama is his cousin
Obama and Odinga Campaign in Kenya
Senator Barack Obama in Kenya > Obama and Odinga: The True Story
Obama's Oginga Odinga Humdinger
Odinga and Participatory Democracy
Codel Obama
Monday, October 13, 2008
Where's Mr. Obama's birthplace?
Clintons rally behind Obama
The Clintons joined vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden in his birthplace, the town of Scranton, Pennsylvania, to call on voters to make Mr. Obama president.
NO! There's no middle ground!
Finding a middle ground
WHAT?!In Catholic teaching, abortion can never be justified. Yet the Church has never said there is only one way to promote respect for human life.
It recognizes that a total ban may not be presently possible.
'Control Issues' - The EU
EU tells music lovers to turn down MP3 players
Can these people come to my house and tell my teenager to "TURN IT DOWN"?
She said regulators would look next year at lowering the EU legal limit of 100 decibels for MP3 players.
Can these people come to my house and tell my teenager to "TURN IT DOWN"?
Updated: Mass. Court Case: David Parker
High court turns away 'indoctrination' case
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to rule in a case in which a Massachusetts man was jailed for trying to protect his child from exposure to the homosexual lifestyle in elementary school.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Shock & Awe?! October Surprise?! Nah...relief - it's finally moving!
NOW, GET THIS OUT THERE!
COPY & PASTE THE URL - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA6_k3NtXZs and place it on websites- comment sections - Food, repair -appliance sites, garden & home, etc. everywhere where there's non-partisan viewership!
Send to news outlets- papers, bloggers, other internet outlets. Also, send emails to friends and relatives!
Pray, hope, & don't worry! Padre Pio
Places Posted:
RedState: Conservative News & Community
Friday, October 10, 2008
CA Prop. 8 - CA Catholic Bishops - Marriage Videos
CA Bishops put out marriage videos -Marriage Matters to Kids. (AWESOME!)
Get the word out on this one!
YEA GOD!
Get the word out on this one!
YEA GOD!
WE the people....
Here's some info on the current situation and what "We the people..." can do.
Proof Obama backed ruthless, foreign thug
Petition our leaders here.
STAY INFORMED - here, here, & here. (check the comments sections - helpful info there too!)
"The world is rapidly being divided into two camps, the comradeship of anti-Christ and the brotherhood of Christ. The lines between these two are being drawn. How long the battle will be we know not; whether swords will have to be unsheathed we know not; whether blood will have to be shed we know not; whether it will be an armed conflict we know not. But in a conflict between truth and darkness, truth cannot lose." Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
Proof Obama backed ruthless, foreign thug
Petition our leaders here.
STAY INFORMED - here, here, & here. (check the comments sections - helpful info there too!)
More News:
Bribes paid for Corsi to escape from Kenya - Insider reports thousands given to 'various officials'
"You are the instruments that God is going to use to bring about universal change, and that is why Barack has captured the youth. And he has involved young people in a political process that they didn't care anything about. That's a sign. When the Messiah speaks, the youth will hear, and the Messiah is absolutely speaking."
Philippians
Chapter 2:9-11
Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
PRAY HARD & WORK FOR HIS GLORY!!
"The world is rapidly being divided into two camps, the comradeship of anti-Christ and the brotherhood of Christ. The lines between these two are being drawn. How long the battle will be we know not; whether swords will have to be unsheathed we know not; whether blood will have to be shed we know not; whether it will be an armed conflict we know not. But in a conflict between truth and darkness, truth cannot lose." Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary/Our Lady of Victory
Our Lady of the Rosary/Our Lady of Victory
Battle of Lepanto
On-Line Tour of the Our Lady of Victory Basilica
Litany
7 October, Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Rosary
The Rosary in the Desert
"Place yourself in Mary's hands; she will think of everything and provide for the needs of soul and body. Therefore, be at peace, be at complete peace,with unlimited confidence in her!" St. Maximilian Kolbe
We have our weapon lets USE IT!
Please pray the rosary for: an end to the culture of death, our country, and the Presidential Election.
Uncle Ralph and the Rosary
The Rosary Revives the Soul
"The world is rapidly being divided into two camps, the comradeship of anti-Christ and the brotherhood of Christ. The lines between these two are being drawn. How long the battle will be we know not; whether swords will have to be unsheathed we know not; whether blood will have to be shed we know not; whether it will be an armed conflict we know not. But in a conflict between truth and darkness, truth cannot lose." Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
Monday, October 06, 2008
Update: Berg v. Obama 10-06-08
'V/t to America's Right - Berg Files Motion for Leave to File an Amended Complaint
I'm still keepin an eye on this situation....
This morning, prominent Philadelphia attorney and former Deputy Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Philip Berg filed a Motion for Leave to File an Amended Complaint in his ongoing case against Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and others, arguing that Obama is in fact not a natural born United States citizen and, pursuant to Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution is ineligible to serve as president of the United States of America.
I'm still keepin an eye on this situation....
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Scranton, Pa - Respect Life Sunday
A Fight Among Catholics Over Which Party Best Reflects Church Teachings
Its going to get bumpy now...but that's ok...we know who WON!
Its going to get bumpy now...but that's ok...we know who WON!
Friday, October 03, 2008
I feel better because HE's in CHARGE!
Fr. Euteneuer: 2 Items - Spirit & Life
St. Michael Prayer Campaign and Ecuador
The Rosary Batters the Gates of Hell
The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary was established by Pope Pius V on October 7th, 1572 to commemorate the great sea victory of the Christian forces over the Turks at Lepanto the previous year. It's ironic that the most inspiring devotional prayer to our sweet Lady is also, well, a weapon. A spiritual weapon to be sure, and always effective in our battle for minds, hearts and souls. While the Rosary defies strict classification by any one image, it is nonetheless a spiritual resource of immense power if only we will deepen our appreciation of it and use it for the work of the Kingdom.
Militant imagery to describe the Rosary is not just due to its deployment during the Battle of Lepanto but also to the example of some of the greatest saints who used it for spiritual warfare. St. Dominic, who is credited with inventing the devotion in the 12th century (actually it existed in some form much earlier and he popularized it), used the Rosary to combat a pernicious heresy of his day and bring people back to the Catholic Faith. St. Maximilian Kolbe led his companions in the Nazi starvation bunker by singing hymns and reciting the Rosary to keep them from losing hope in such cruel circumstances. Padre Pio, no stranger to spiritual warfare, always told the people, "The Rosary is the weapon!" That saint was known to pray as many as ninety Rosaries a day in a shortened form for which he received ecclesiastical permission. He knew what was needed to fight the devil!
Mary's Rosary is a powerful spiritual weapon for three main reasons: it is biblical, humble and repetitive. As St. Louis Marie de Montfort noted, the Rosary is not just a devotion to Mary - rather, it is a prayer through Mary directly to the Heart of Christ! That is the way Catholics pray it. Protestants, who reject Catholic prayers as being too Mary-centered, need to be shown that the Rosary consists of purely biblical prayers (the Our Father and the Hail Mary)! We also need to educate them that the goal of the prayer is meditation on the Mystery of Christ revealed to us in Scripture and Tradition. With the addition of the Luminous Mysteries by Pope John Paul II in 2002, the biblical reflection on the Life and Ministry of Christ is complete.
The Christian virtue of humility inevitably shatters the devil's pride, and to that end, the Rosary is not a glorious sacrament but a humble devotion. The Rosary can be prayed communally but it can never really be prayed ostentatiously. The meditation of the Rosary is not on one's self, it is on God. The Rosary teaches the most important lessons of faith with simple images, not esoteric learning. It also teaches the fundamental Christian virtues which St. John Vianney says are bound together by humility like the chain of a Rosary binds together all the beads! There is nothing about the Rosary which inspires arrogance, and that is why the devil hates it with a passion. He just can't break its humility.
Finally, its repetitive intercession gives the Rosary a transformative strength that can only be likened to the slow force of the ancient streams that cut the Grand Canyon out of solid rock over thousands of years. It is an unstoppable force of good if only the people who pray it will not cease to pray for their intentions! This prayer is meaningful, meditative and pregnant with Our Lady's presence which is always the most sure way to send any prayer to heaven. After all, She is the one who, we are told, will crush the head of the serpent; She reverses the ancient curse of Eve; She batters the gates of hell with a weapon in the form of a chain.
Pray the Rosary assiduously each day, and Mary will battle with you. Whatever gates of hell you are fighting...they shall not prevail!
SL Action Items
The Power of the Rosary
Gang members drop knives and pick up rosaries
St. Michael Prayer Campaign
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Rev. Tom Euteneuer
The Rosary Batters the Gates of Hell
The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary was established by Pope Pius V on October 7th, 1572 to commemorate the great sea victory of the Christian forces over the Turks at Lepanto the previous year. It's ironic that the most inspiring devotional prayer to our sweet Lady is also, well, a weapon. A spiritual weapon to be sure, and always effective in our battle for minds, hearts and souls. While the Rosary defies strict classification by any one image, it is nonetheless a spiritual resource of immense power if only we will deepen our appreciation of it and use it for the work of the Kingdom.
Militant imagery to describe the Rosary is not just due to its deployment during the Battle of Lepanto but also to the example of some of the greatest saints who used it for spiritual warfare. St. Dominic, who is credited with inventing the devotion in the 12th century (actually it existed in some form much earlier and he popularized it), used the Rosary to combat a pernicious heresy of his day and bring people back to the Catholic Faith. St. Maximilian Kolbe led his companions in the Nazi starvation bunker by singing hymns and reciting the Rosary to keep them from losing hope in such cruel circumstances. Padre Pio, no stranger to spiritual warfare, always told the people, "The Rosary is the weapon!" That saint was known to pray as many as ninety Rosaries a day in a shortened form for which he received ecclesiastical permission. He knew what was needed to fight the devil!
Mary's Rosary is a powerful spiritual weapon for three main reasons: it is biblical, humble and repetitive. As St. Louis Marie de Montfort noted, the Rosary is not just a devotion to Mary - rather, it is a prayer through Mary directly to the Heart of Christ! That is the way Catholics pray it. Protestants, who reject Catholic prayers as being too Mary-centered, need to be shown that the Rosary consists of purely biblical prayers (the Our Father and the Hail Mary)! We also need to educate them that the goal of the prayer is meditation on the Mystery of Christ revealed to us in Scripture and Tradition. With the addition of the Luminous Mysteries by Pope John Paul II in 2002, the biblical reflection on the Life and Ministry of Christ is complete.
The Christian virtue of humility inevitably shatters the devil's pride, and to that end, the Rosary is not a glorious sacrament but a humble devotion. The Rosary can be prayed communally but it can never really be prayed ostentatiously. The meditation of the Rosary is not on one's self, it is on God. The Rosary teaches the most important lessons of faith with simple images, not esoteric learning. It also teaches the fundamental Christian virtues which St. John Vianney says are bound together by humility like the chain of a Rosary binds together all the beads! There is nothing about the Rosary which inspires arrogance, and that is why the devil hates it with a passion. He just can't break its humility.
Finally, its repetitive intercession gives the Rosary a transformative strength that can only be likened to the slow force of the ancient streams that cut the Grand Canyon out of solid rock over thousands of years. It is an unstoppable force of good if only the people who pray it will not cease to pray for their intentions! This prayer is meaningful, meditative and pregnant with Our Lady's presence which is always the most sure way to send any prayer to heaven. After all, She is the one who, we are told, will crush the head of the serpent; She reverses the ancient curse of Eve; She batters the gates of hell with a weapon in the form of a chain.
Pray the Rosary assiduously each day, and Mary will battle with you. Whatever gates of hell you are fighting...they shall not prevail!
SL Action Items
The Power of the Rosary
Gang members drop knives and pick up rosaries
St. Michael Prayer Campaign
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Rev. Tom Euteneuer
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Feast of the Guardian Angels
See Fr. Mark's Post: My Friend
On this day-feast of the Guardian Angels, let us ask that all our Guardian Angels assist this nation in hearing HIS TRUTH and...we ask that Sarah's Guardian Angel -be at her side, to light and guard, rule and guide her in all she says and does most especially this night and always and forever.
What comfort today to know that the debates will be on tv and that all the world will see Sarah and her faith. What is her faith? SHE PLACES ALL HER TRUST IN HIM!
How awesome this will be for all the world to see.
Let us also pray, that in this revelation, that all minds, ears, hearts will be open to HIS truth and that they accept, internalize, and utilize HIS truth to do the WILL of THE FATHER.
May HIS MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD POUR DOWN on Sarah Palin, her family, The McCains, and this country.
I want to thank my Guardian Angel, my husband's Guardian Angel, and my children's Guardian Angels! Thank you ALL for all that you have done and will continue to do for me and my family.
Thank YOU GOD for all our Guardian Angels!
PRAYER NEED: Prayers of Reparation: You Tube: Host Desecration Videos
Many were/are outraged over the You Tube Host Desecration videos so much so that a petition campaign to You Tube was initiated and all videos (by fsmdude) were supposedly removed from You Tube earlier this week, but, it appears they've been re-posted or were never removed.
Prayer of Reparation
O Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore thee profoundly. I offer thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences
Eucharistic Prayer
Most Holy Trinity, I adore you! My God, my god, I love you in the Most Blessed Sacrament!
Prayer of Reparation
O Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore thee profoundly. I offer thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences
by which He is offended. By the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of thee the conversion of poor sinners.
Eucharistic Prayer
Most Holy Trinity, I adore you! My God, my god, I love you in the Most Blessed Sacrament!
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
PRAYER NEED! OH Vote TODAY!
ST. THÉRÈSE OF THE CHILD JESUS
Please pray today...offer up ALL trials & joys! www.savior.org
Early voting begins in crucial OhioThe Fight For Ohio
We live in such an AWESOME TIME! And what graces and opportunities HE is giving us in this moment. St. Therese longed to be a missionary and could not.
How awesome is it that WE CAN be missionaries from the comforts of our homes and within our own families?
We're all apart of this battle and we need to continue onward and upward no matter the outcome....as LONG as we can breathe and pray we can and shall do ALL THINGS THROUGH HIM THAT GIVES US STRENGTH! Philippians 3 & Philippians 4:13
MAY HIS MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD POUR DOWN UPON THE STATE OF OHIO AND ALL THOSE THAT ARE VOTING THIS DAY!
LORD rescue US!
St. Therese intercede for us!
All the Archangels, angels, saints, and Holy Souls in purgatory, please intercede for our country in a supernatural way!
GO Holy Spirit!
Our Lady of Fatima assist us!
Our Lady of Guadalupe please assist us!
Please alert your families and friends for the need of prayer most especially today and for the Election.
Please pray today...offer up ALL trials & joys! www.savior.org
Early voting begins in crucial OhioThe Fight For Ohio
We live in such an AWESOME TIME! And what graces and opportunities HE is giving us in this moment. St. Therese longed to be a missionary and could not.
How awesome is it that WE CAN be missionaries from the comforts of our homes and within our own families?
We're all apart of this battle and we need to continue onward and upward no matter the outcome....as LONG as we can breathe and pray we can and shall do ALL THINGS THROUGH HIM THAT GIVES US STRENGTH! Philippians 3 & Philippians 4:13
MAY HIS MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD POUR DOWN UPON THE STATE OF OHIO AND ALL THOSE THAT ARE VOTING THIS DAY!
LORD rescue US!
St. Therese intercede for us!
All the Archangels, angels, saints, and Holy Souls in purgatory, please intercede for our country in a supernatural way!
GO Holy Spirit!
Our Lady of Fatima assist us!
Our Lady of Guadalupe please assist us!
Please alert your families and friends for the need of prayer most especially today and for the Election.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Common Sense Questions
Why isn't someone reporting on these situations?
Obama & DNC Hide Behind Legal Issues - Country Headed to a Constitutional Crisis
Senator Obama and the DNC file for dismissal of Berg vs. Obama
Berg to File Opposition to Obama's Motion to Dismiss Today
Philip J Berg lawsuit, Response to Obama motion to dismiss, update, September 30, 2008, Berg has standing, Obama vault birth certificate, Oath of allegiance
Using fear to get the US citizens to give up all their GOD-GIVEN FREEDOMS! NOT!
Barack Obama and the Strategy of Manufactured Crisis
And I'm in agreement with 'The Donald' (on Fox News yesterday) .
Obama & DNC Hide Behind Legal Issues - Country Headed to a Constitutional Crisis
Senator Obama and the DNC file for dismissal of Berg vs. Obama
Berg to File Opposition to Obama's Motion to Dismiss Today
Philip J Berg lawsuit, Response to Obama motion to dismiss, update, September 30, 2008, Berg has standing, Obama vault birth certificate, Oath of allegiance
Using fear to get the US citizens to give up all their GOD-GIVEN FREEDOMS! NOT!
Barack Obama and the Strategy of Manufactured Crisis
Bailout marks Karl Marx's comeback
And I'm in agreement with 'The Donald' (on Fox News yesterday) .
Monday, September 29, 2008
More on the Financial 'Crisis'
(Btw...the original was removed by You Tube and this is the newest video.)
Burning Down the House: What Caused Our Economic Crisis?
Burning Down the House: What Caused Our Economic Crisis?
Sunday, September 28, 2008
'The Bailout' News
Dems Want to Reward Scandal-Tarnished "Community Organizing" Group in Economic Rescue Bill
Gingrich: Bush doesn’t understand fiscal crisis, and treasury secretary should resign
Improving the inevitable big bailout
House GOP rejects latest bailout proposal; Update: Pelosi wants deal in principle by tonight
THE CREDIT CRUNCH THAT NEVER WAS, IS OVER
Shocking Video Unearthed Democrats in their own words Covering up the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Scam that caused our Economic Crisis
Gingrich: Bush doesn’t understand fiscal crisis, and treasury secretary should resign
Improving the inevitable big bailout
House GOP rejects latest bailout proposal; Update: Pelosi wants deal in principle by tonight
THE CREDIT CRUNCH THAT NEVER WAS, IS OVER
Shocking Video Unearthed Democrats in their own words Covering up the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Scam that caused our Economic Crisis
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Update: On Tony Blair LA Questions/Event & New Initiative
Listen/watch Tony's 'explanation' of Faith Foundation & goals (See Google video).
Tony Blair Launches Search For Thirty Young Ambassadors For The Millennium Development Goals
Tony Blair: Studying other religions strengthened Catholic faith
Faith Act Fellows
Faiths Act Fellows Projects
Tony Blair Visits SoCal For Faith And Poverty Talk
Tony Blair Launches Search For Thirty Young Ambassadors For The Millennium Development Goals
Tony Blair: Studying other religions strengthened Catholic faith
The former British leader, who spoke before a multi-faith crowd of around 100 mostly young people, used the event to announce his foundation's drive to recruit an international team of "inter-religious ambassadors" to help fight malaria in Africa.
Thirty 18 to 25-year-old activists will be selected from the UK, US and Canada for the Faith Act Fellowship programme and take part in "a 10-month journey of interfaith service" including working with health teams combating malaria.
Faith Act Fellows
Faiths Act Fellows Projects
Tony Blair Visits SoCal For Faith And Poverty Talk
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Globalization - New World Order & New Religion
Tony Blair takes questions TODAY! & Watch LIVE online.
Tony Blair on Faith & Globalization
Tony Blair starts teaching 'Faith and Globalisation' course at Yale
Blair’s First Yale Lecture/Seminar on Faith & Globalization
Introduction to Yale's Faith & Globalisation Initiative
Tony Blair 'Faith and Globalisation' lecture
'Faith Tour' - Obama
Religion today
Obama Faith Tour Draws...15
Obama's Faith, Family and Variable Values Tour
Obama campaign pitches faith tour to journalists
On Tuesday night on the University of Colorado's campus in Colorado Springs, the Obama campaign kicked off its latest "faith tour," talks meant to convey that Obama shares the values of believers the campaign hopes can be persuaded: moderate mainline Protestants, centrist Catholics and younger evangelicals.
Barack Obama Camp Starts "Faith Tour" to Mislead Pro-Life Voters on Abortion
My Advice for Obama’s ‘Faith Tour’Obama Faith Tour Draws...15
Obama's Faith, Family and Variable Values Tour
Obama campaign pitches faith tour to journalists
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
GOD IS THE CREATOR!
Stephanie Block's 'stack-a-stuff'
Obama, ACORN, and the churches By Stephanie Block
The Chickens Have Come Home to Roost
Is the misuse of annual Catholic Campaign for Human Development funds behind Obama?
Tone Deaf - scroll down
What Joe and Mary Catholic Should Know Before They Vote: Justice in Pieces - Faith in Public Life by Stephanie Block
The Chickens Have Come Home to Roost
Is the misuse of annual Catholic Campaign for Human Development funds behind Obama?
Tone Deaf - scroll down
What Joe and Mary Catholic Should Know Before They Vote: Justice in Pieces - Faith in Public Life by Stephanie Block
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