New religious order Sisters of the Gospel of Life

Just as many religious owed their vocations to their experience at World Youth Day in the USA in 1992, the Holy Father's visit to the United Kingdom is bearing much fruit. Here is the first new order of sisters in Scotland in 150 years, dedicated to healing the Culture of Death brought about by contraception and abortion.
They are called "Sisters of the Gospel of Life" and have three members so far.

She (Founding Sister Roseann) said that the foundation of her religious community stemmed “from a need of the times” to address the damage done to women and society by abortion and the contraceptive mentality.

“When we didn’t have the education system that we have now, the great teaching orders evolved. When we didn’t have the social services we have now, all the groups like the Daughters of Charity (of St. Vincent de Paul) all came. When we didn’t have the medical system, that’s when the nursing orders came.

“So that’s where our order stems from. From a need of the times. For us, the greatest need was to uphold and defend human life from the moment of conception, to attack this ‘culture of death’.

This is a wonderful development for the Catholics of Scotland, I know how much New Yorkers have been enriched by the wonderful Sisters of Life. 

Read the rest of the story at Life Site News.

The Cross in the Dirt

As a teenager, I read "The Passing of the Night" by Colonel Robinson Reisner, and was profoundly affected by the moral stength of the men in the Hanoi Hilton. Particularly moving was the story of how one of the POWs provided a church service by whistling the "Ave Maria" while the guards were away one day.
So, imagine my outrage when John McCain's story about drawing a cross in the dirt with a Christian Vietcong prison guard is questioned by the Obama camp.It's the tactic of a campaign which fears it's in decline.
Creative Minority Report has the story.

Catholics don't let faith influence political belief

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life came up with a depressing statistic. Catholics don't make political decisions informed by their faith. Of all the faith groups surveyed, the study found that Muslims were among the most devout, with 82 percent saying they pray at least weekly, and 86 percent view the Koran as the word of God.
Researchers also found that about one in four evangelicals, and less than one-tenth of Catholics, said their religious beliefs strongly influence their political opinions.
This explains Catholics for Obama.
HT Spirit Daily

The Religion of Abortion

While 225,000 marched for life on Washington, getting ignored by the media, coverage was given to the travesty of three Protestant ministers and a rabbi 'blessing' a brand new abortion mill in upstate New York. Read the entire article here.
I remember marching with my diocese to a Planned Barrenhood killing center with our Bishop years ago, and feeling sick at heart to be greeted, from the other side of the forbidding black iron cemetery-like gates, by a female minister, and a Franciscan Friar(he was an Episcopalian from the Little Portion Friary). The abortionists know the power of the clergy, and how to harness it for their evil purposes. Fr Frank Pavone once said that while he was praying outside an abortion mill, someone ran out and yelled at him, "Stop interfering with our SACRAMENT!". The sacrifice of children was part of many pagan and satanic rituals, and we must be aware that abortion is a continuation of this evil ancient tradition. That is why Our Lady of Guadalupe, who overcame the Aztec religion's human sacrifice in Mexico is the perfect patroness of the unborn. This photo of the image of Our Lady was taken the day abortion was legalized in Mexico City and a baby-like light mysteriously appeared which cannot be explained.
UPDATE: Fr Tom Euteneuer(being greeted by a marcher as he awaits an interview with EWTN) has something powerful to say in this essay about the travesty in Schenectady, the March for Life and the death of Heath Ledger.
What I have always said about abortion as a demonic religion was on graphic display in NY as we were marching for life in DC. Two "ministers" came to do the blessing from a "reformed" church — their view of "reform" is obviously different than ours. The (male) reverend used the occasion to proudly announce a new doctrine to the three dozen devotees of sacred abortion: the right to privacy is endowed by God, he said. Now, we cannot even find the "right to privacy" in the US Constitution and yet this fellow makes a new religious right out of whole cloth. Don't ask the demonic religion for a good grounding in history or logic. The other abortion clergyman was a rabbi who blew the shofar as a way to show support for reproductive rights. Our friend Rabbi Yehuda Levin who blows the shofar most years at the March for Life will have a field day with that one.
The most absurd aspect of the blessing ceremony, however, was when the Rev. Larry Phillips of Schenectady's Emmanuel-Friedens Church led the congregation outside to lay hands on the brick and mortar and to declare that the killing center was "sacred ground." Ugh. The hierarchy (Planned Parenthood), the acolytes (clinic workers), the congregation (supporters) and the ministers were all at the abortion temple that day worshipping the god of abortion. And the demons were so pleased.
HT Catholic Exchange

A Few Words on the Election from a True Shepherd

Archbishop Chaput concludes in his discussion of the media's treatment of religion,
Religious faith, religious believers and religious leaders have always played a major role in informing American public debate, to the betterment of the whole community.
Ultimately, every voter has the duty to follow his or her own properly formed conscience. And we all have an obligation to respect the dignity of others. But the best way to be "faithful citizens" is to put our beliefs about God, moral character and common sense before every other loyalty. We have nothing to offer our political party or our nation if we agree to downplay our religious and moral convictions when we come to society's toughest issues. Today and always, we pursue our vocation as American citizens best by living our Catholic faith authentically first.
HT Catholic Exchange

Religion and Politics

Many of you think I am completely informed on current events. I am ashamed to admit, I missed Mitt Romney's speech on religion. Partly due to my distaste for his attitude, which strikes me as insincere,partly because I still have to get my mind around this whole complicated concept of how to express one's faith when one is a presidential candidate. Why worry so much, I'll never be a candidate? I don't know, I just like to have these things resolved in my mind, and I hate to admit that a sincere Catholic can't be president, but a sneaking suspicion tells me this may be true, at least nowadays.
So, while I write my nomination acceptance speech, read this column by Colleen Carroll Campbell, on the subject;
"John F. Kennedy's speech on how his Catholic faith wouldn't influence his presidency.Kennedy said a President's religious views are "his own private affair" and reminded the crowd that he was not the Catholic candidate for President, but the Democratic candidate who happened to be Catholic. He explained the relationship between his faith and his political decisions this way:
'I do not speak for my Church on public matters – and the Church does not speak for me. Whatever issue may come before me as President – on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling, or any other subject – I will make my decision in accordance with these views, in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be in the national interest, and without regard to outside religious pressures or dictates. And no power or threat of punishment could cause me to decide otherwise.'"

Search for the Truth brings famous atheist to Faith in God

"One was my growing empathy with the insight of Einstein and other noted scientists that there had to be an Intelligence behind the integrated complexity of the physical Universe. The second was my own insight that the integrated complexity of life itself - which is far more complex than the physical Universe - can only be explained in terms of an Intelligent Source."
Flew described the deity he believes in as "the god of Aristotle," not quite the personal God of Christianity and Judaism, "a person but not the sort of person with whom you can have a talk. It is the ultimate being, the Creator of the Universe." He said he does not "accept any claim of divine revelation" but is continuing to study them, particularly those of Christianity.
HT Religion and Spirituality.com
This is a classic case of seeing a design in the universe which points to a designer. HBO just aired a documentary which mocks this viewpoint, and refers to the Discovery Institute which advances this discussion as a dangerous agent of manipulation of our faith in Darwin. How medieval of them to fear an honest discussion on a 150 year old theory which is getting so rickety, that it no longer works without strict adherence!
I have heard it said that it takes more faith t0 believe in Darwinism than to believe that God created the universe. Michael Behe, a Professor of Biophysics at Lehigh University, in his book "Darwin's Black Box" debunks the theory in one simple example; the flagellum of a microorganism. This propelling tail will not work until every single cell is perfectly in line. Without it the organism can't find food, and wouldn't survive. According to the theory of evolution, this organism developed by trial and error into what it is, which means that for thousands of years, it would have to survive and reproduce without the tail. This is clearly impossible. This theory of irreducable complexity proposed by "Darwin's Black Box", has been described as, "the straw that broke the camel's back" or the end to the theory of evolution, IF evolutionists will stop hiding from it.
A true scientist would not fear entering into a debate like this, but according to the HBO special, evolutionary scientists are 'bad communicators who don't want to be bothered debating this issue with laymen who propose the theory of Intelligent Design. Especially not when they see what happens when scientists like Anthony Flew are open to the truth.

Faith based movies garnering bigger audiences

If Indians are the world's most religious people, and Swedes the least religious,then we are a nation of Indians ruled by Swedes. Whether this applies to government remains to be seen, however no one can deny it defines Hollywood.
Christians, however, are bucking that trend as seen in this article.

Need money? Write an Atheistic Book

"That a teaching is sublime and sustaining does not make it true. But that, along with its service in laying the moral foundations in the Western world for the belief in the dignity of all men and women--a belief that our new new atheists take for granted and for which they provide no compelling alternative foundation--is reason enough to give the variety of religions a fair hearing. And it is reason enough to respect believers as decent human beings struggling to make sense of a mysterious world."

Opinion Journal. com


This is an allusion to the Natural Law, a Catholic belief that the laws of God are written into the souls of men, for example, the belief in the dignity of man.

America the Beautiful!

Fr. Bill Kuchinsky
It is fitting we celebrate Independence Day; the Birthday of our Nation!

We give thanks to Almighty God who in His Loving Providence raised up a Country which has long shone as a light of hope to the World.
The greatness of our republic stems from the sound foundation on which She was built: in accord with the “laws of nature and of Nature’s God.” The Declaration of Independence proclaims the key truths upon which our nation was established and by which it might long prosper: “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.”
Thomas Jefferson questioned: "Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath?"
Another signer of the Declaration, Charles Carroll, recognized: “Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure . . . are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments.”
As grateful Americans let us secure the survival of our Nation by being faithful to the Commandments and the Eternal Word. We must also ensure that Godly men and women in public office govern in accord with the “laws of nature and of Nature’s God.”
I share with you some words of a man who deeply admired the people of our beloved homeland and saw in us hope for the good of the entire World.
John Paul II on a visit to the U.S. said: “America, you are beautiful and blessed in so many ways ... But your best beauty and your richest blessing is found in the human person: in each man, woman and child, in every immigrant, in every native-born son and daughter… This is the dignity of America, the reason She exists, the condition for Her survival. Yes, the ultimate test of your greatness is the way you treat every human being, but especially the weakest and most defenseless ones. The best traditions of your land presume respect for those who cannot defend themselves. It you want equal justice for all, and true freedom and lasting peace, then, America, defend life! All the great causes that are yours today will have meaning ONLY to the extent that you guarantee the right to life and protect the human person.”
Please remember the freedom God has granted to us is not a freedom to do as we want, but to do as we ought. Let us choose to serve the Lord, and in His Strength, we can hope to keep America the Beautiful.

Barbara Kralis Jesus Through Mary Foundation Avemaria@earthlink.net

Review of Evan Almighty

My girls have been after me to see this film, but I found myself dragging my heels, because of my negative impression of Bruce Almighty. I evern passed up an opportunity to go to a preview for pastors and youth ministers because I hated to go to a preview of a film I expected to dislike. Burce Almighty had several moral lapses( the fact that he was living with his girlfriend, and the sexual content made me wary of a sequel, but, after seeing the ad with a positive review by EWTN, I thought I'd give Evan Almighty a chance.
Steve Carrell is funny as Evan the news anchor who had the job coveted by Jim Carrey in Bruce Almighty, wins a seat in Congress, and his upgrading his life as he moves his wife and 3 sons to Virginia. The first day of life as a Congressman introduces Evan to internal politics, as he is asked to sponsor new legislation, making him miss a family outing. His wife wisely advises Evan to ask God for help in his new position, since his campaign slogan was "change the world", and Evan complies, displaying his ignorance of things spiritual in his inept prayer.
God, however, is quick to respond, as Evan finds to his dismay, and make demands of him. He is to build an ark, fill it with animals, and warn the world of a flood at noon on September 22nd. Will Evan be willing to put his new job, and even his marriage in jeopardy to do God's will?
Evan Almighty may be a bit predictable, but it has plenty of laughs (about 6 unnecessarily rude jokes ) but no profanity, or disrespect of God. There are references to Scripture, including the Ten Commandments which weren't present in the more New Age God presented in Bruce Almighty.
Aside from the predictable Hollywood values ( the highest virtue is seen as conservation of the environment, and the disclaimer that the original Flood wasn't about punishment for sin) Evan Almighty had some good clean fun, amazing special effects, and a great soundtrack (thanks to the Passion's John Debney). The girls ages 5, 10, and 14 enjoyed the movie, and so did their mother.
My favorite line was a surprisingly Catholic bit of wisdom which God (Morgan Freeman) imparts in a chat Evan's wife(Lauren Graham), who is upset that her husband has been acting strangely. He reminds her of her prayer for family unity by saying, "if you prayed for patience, I wouldn't just give you patience, I'd give you an opportunity to learn patience. . . "
I recommend Evan Almighty for family viewing with slight reservations for fleeting inappropriate humor. View trailer here.