Interview with Fr Gary Thomas of "The Rite"

Interview with Fr Gary Thomas, the priest on whose experience the film “The Rite” was based.

Leticia Velasquez

Catholic Media Review

Velasquez: I’d like to ask my first few questions about the book.

What did you first believe about Satan? How long had you been a priest and what was your belief?

Fr Gary: I was a priest for 27 years; I never doubted the existence of Satan. However, I don’t think I’d ever seen Satan until I became an exorcist. Like they say in the Creed. “All that is seen and unseen”. I had no reason to doubt Satan.

Velasquez: No doubt in your years as a priest you’ve seen his work, you just didn’t meet him. After you took the course in exorcism at the Regina Apostolorum, you had more of a change of experience than a change of belief then?

Fr Gary: Oh, I’d say so, absolutely, sure, because my belief in Satan and the existence of Satan, I just assumed there was a Satan, because the Church teaches about Satan and I thought it was true. Taking the course was very informative, but it wasn’t to much taking the course as being able to apprentice under an exorcist in Rome for three months, that was far more profound.

Velasquez: So that left you convinced that this was an important ministry within the Church?

Fr Gary: Absolutely. It’s a healing ministry, I think that should be underscored; it’s really a healing ministry. When you think of it that way then there isn’t so much of a provocation that somehow one has to think of it and A. be afraid, that B. think it is all smoke and mirrors. It’s a healing ministry.

Velasquez: What made you coordinate with Matt Baglio on the book?

Fr. Gary: Well, Matt was just taking the course in Rome like I was; I didn’t know him till we were in the course together. He was an American and we were the only two Americans in the class.

Velasquez: Were you helping each other with Italian?

Fr Gary: I wasn’t helping him with his Italian, because he’s very good with Italian, he’s married to an Italian. He was helping me with my Italian. He was so kind to translate the presentations for me. He would translate the presentations for me because the Regina Apostolorum didn’t always offer translator, however, I didn’t know that till I got there.

Matt and I would talk a lot, when I told him I was going to be there for a long time and I was looking to find an exorcist, and he asked me “would mind if I wrote a book about your experiences of your training?” I just kind of shrugged my shoulders and said, “OK, That’s fine if you want to.” I had no idea where this was going to lead, but I knew he was a journalist by profession. He spent hours interviewing me, especially when I was working with a priest in Rome.

Velasquez: And that Roman Capuchin exorcist is portrayed by Anthony Hopkins in the film as Fr Lucas?

Fr Gary: Yes. My character is played by Colin O’Donohue.

Velasquez: And he’s a seminarian rather than an experienced priest?

Fr Gary: That’s correct. The filmmaker did take a bit of license with that.

Velasquez: Did he play an Irish priest? He’s Irish, right?

Fr Gary: He is, but in the movie, you will not hear his brogue. He’s playing the role of a deacon, he’s been ordained already. He’s had a faith crisis, and he’s been having a faith crisis during every summer of his seminary formation, he realizes this after he is ordained a deacon. I think he just realizes that he’s made a mistake.

Velasquez: Do you think that the differences in the portrayal of the story affect the message?

Fr Gary: No, I don’t think so. I mean I watched the movie with Anthony Hopkins two weeks ago, I thought it was very riveting. It was very emotional for me, yes, they took some license, but the core message in that movie, and I think this is a movie about faith.

Velasquez: Its good to hear that because the book was very moving.

Fr Gary: The book is all true. There’s nothing in that book that’s not true.

Velasquez: So you think the movie is realistic. Unfortunately, the trailers are a bit sensationalistic.

Fr Gary: I know, the trailers don’t do the movie justice. I’ve had lots of my parishioners say, “Oh my Gosh, they look so scary”, but I tell them it’s not as scary as it looks.

Velasquez: Perhaps they chose the scary parts to attract an audience which might not be initially interested in the deeper message. I hope they do come and it works to get them in to see the film. What is the takeaway message of the film?

Fr Gary: I think the takeaway message is that its very important to have a faith life. And if you have that faith life, it will only lead to good. That evil does exist in the world and its bigger than just the force of a power. Its an intelligence. And in the same breath, Christ has come to be with us and get us through this life to the next.

Velasquez: Matt Baglio gave me the impression that you two were very devoted to spreading this message in the American Church.

Fr Gary: Oh yes.

Velasquez: You sent copies to all the bishops.
Fr Gary: When Doubleday published the book, the religion editor called me and said, “Do you have any suggestions for us?” I said, “Yes, send this book to every bishop in the United States, and every rector of every major seminary”.

Velasquez: What kind of reaction did you get from the bishops and rectors?

Fr Gary: I got some very nice thank you notes and some letters acknowledging that they got the book, I know the religion editor got probably more than I did, but I got about a dozen. They were all very positive. Now I will tell you in the same breath, that there are bishops who don’t believe. I’ve had rector generals tell me they don’t believe.

Velasquez: What percentage of diocese have exorcists?

Fr Gary: There are 185 dioceses in the country I know there are at least 25 public exorcists, I know there’s a few more. I’d say there’s probably under 50. So probably maybe a quarter of US dioceses have one.

Velasquez: Yet, isn’t that something the Church recommends for every diocese?
Fr Gary: The Church mandates it in the Code of Canon Law.
Velasquez: So we’re actually in violation of the Code. There was a meeting about exorcism before the USCCB general meeting in November. Do you think that sending the bishops a copy of “The Rite” had anything to do with it?

Fr Gary: I wouldn’t say in a profound way, but I would say Bishop Leprocki who is the head of the Canonical Affairs Committee of the USCCB, he had been to one of our conferences. We have a conference every year back in Chicago and its for exorcists and priests involved in the healing ministry and some lay people come too. He went to one of them. I don’t know if he got a copy of the book, although he should have, it came out in 2009 and he was already an ordinary. But he said he doesn’t remember receiving it. But he has since read it. I can’t say it didn’t have anything to do with it. I think the very fact that I wrote a cover letter to 185 bishops may have had an effect.  I hope it did.  But I do think that calling a conference and calling the bishops together should have been a wake up call for a lot of them. There were 65 bishops who signed up for that conference and 55 priests. I thought it was a very well done presentation myself.

Velasquez: Do you know Fr Thomas Euteneuer?

Fr Gary: I’ve met him, I don’t know him.
Velasquez: Have you read his book, “Exorcism and the Church Militant”?

Fr Gary: I’ve read parts of it.

Velasquez: Is it consonant with your experience?

Fr Gary: Yes, it is.

Velasquez: Do you have any stories to tell of exorcisms?

Fr Gary:  There was a situation in Rome once with a young woman who walked in speaking Italian to me, my exorcist trainer walked in and blessed her with holy water and she literally began screaming and picked up the chair, and was going to throw it at him. Now, they’re not all like that.

There’s the man I pray over and have been exorcising for two years, there’s huge manifestations, he’s improved dramatically, but, nonetheless, he opened himself up for a bunch of reasons. I can’t detail them on the phone, it would take too long. 

Velasquez: In general, what do you recommend people avoid if they don’t want to become involved with demonic activity?

Fr Gary: I think they should just stay away from everything that is pagan in the sense of ritual, so I recommend that people should stay away from dabbling in the occult; from dabbling in things that are idolatrous, from getting involved in things that are simply about self, and I don’t mean by that going to a club and doing physical exercise. Where people are into Wicca, earth worship of other kinds, witchcraft and spells, crystals, using metaphysical means to try and find answers to questions.

Velasquez: So stay away from New Age practices?

Fr Gary: Yes, those are all the New Age practices.

Velasquez:  I appreciate your influence upon the USCCB.

Fr Gary: I hope it has some enduring influence.

Velasquez: Is there any evidence that they are sending any more priests in for exorcism training?

Fr Gary: Well, we don’t have any training programs. I hope that is something which comes from the meeting in Baltimore, we have no training programs.  I was lucky to get the training I got in Rome, but as I said to the bishops, you can’t expect the exorcists in Rome to train all our exorcists. I have already oriented two guys in the last year; They’ve spent a few days with me. But it requires much more than that.

Velasquez: Do you think there’s a greater need now in the Church than in previous times?

Fr Gary: I do, because there’s more Catholics involved in more paganism and idolatry.

Velasquez: Fr Gabriel Amorth agrees with you, according to his books. Why do you think that there’s not enough of this ministry?

Fr Gary: I think for a long time we just relied so much on the social sciences, Psychiatry and Psychology as sort of a new religion to figure out the mysteries of human behavior. I think we felt we could just depend on science, and I certainly am a proponent of using Psychiatry and Psychology, but in the same breath, I think that there’s a limit to science and there’s the realm of the spiritual we know far less about. And because of our scientific mind and orientation as a Western society, I think we put these other kinds of things we can’t figure out on the shelf.

Velasquez: So its our prejudice against a spiritual explanation for things?

Fr Gary: I think so.
Velasquez: Thank you Father Gary.

KIDS to meet Congresswoman McMorris Rogers and Jerome Lejeune Foundation at National Right to Life Headquarters

Agenda for National Right to Life Committee Headquarters at 512 10th Street, Washington DC

• 10:45 - Melissa and Neil Sloan will be at NRLC by 10:45 to greet KIDS families.
• 11:00  KIDS families may start arriving. at 512 10th St, NW Washington, DC
• 11:00-11:30 - Leticia is meeting EWTN for an interview behind the stage of the March for Life at the Mall and 4th Street. 
• ALL KIDS members are welcome to join us and hold signs for the interview. 
•  Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers will arrive at 12:15  for a brief update on her work on behalf of our children
• Madame Valerie Guilloux of the Jerome Lejeune Foundation will address the group and present Congresswoman McMorris Rogers with a copy of "Life is a Blessing".
• After a brief brunch, KIDS families will march!

Dr Brian Skotko on new pre-natal test for Down syndrome

Fellow at Children's Hospital of Boston, Dr Skotko is more than a pediatrician, he is an advocate for those who have Trisomy 21, or Down syndrome. He has given countless workshops on Down syndrome, and has a special point of view as the sibling of a sister with Ds. He has written several books including Common Threads, and  Fasten Your Seatbelt; A Crash Course  on Down Syndrome for brothers and sisters.
My daughters and I enjoyed his sibling workshop and found it very helpful to discuss the issues which arise in families with children like my Christina. I wrote about our experience here.
His thoughtful  and sensitive article about the strong possibility that all pregnant women will now use a new blood test for Down syndrome is excellent, as he raises the point that few medical students receive training about patients with special needs, and thus are ill prepared to give a mother with a positive test for Down syndrome. Yet, that is exactly what they will be doing. Dr Skotko says,

Currently, 92% of all women worldwide who receive a definitive prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome choose to terminate their pregnancy. Based on those numbers, what does the future hold for the Down syndrome population once the new prenatal tests are available? The answer lies nestled in profoundly personal decisions, but still raises an important question, one that will be asked more and more frequently as other forms of prenatal testing come to the market: which forms of human genetic variation are valuable, and which are nott?

Its up to parents like me and professionals like Dr Skotko to spread the word that children with Down syndrome are a source of joy to a family which far suprasses the challenges in their lives. That is something no blood test will ever tell you!

My guest column is up at Patheos

My guest column "No More 'Mental Retardation', so?" is up at Patheos.

We're getting ready for the March for Life; are you?

Attention Christina Velasquez fans; she is about to make her debut on EWTN this Monday January 24 between 11 and 11:30 EST. We will be representing KIDS Keep Infants with Down Syndrome. a group Eileen Haupt and I began three years ago to call attention to the fact that babies with Down syndrome are targeted by what future saint, and the Father of Modern Genetics, 

 Dr Jerome Lejeune called "chromosomal racism". They are aborted at a rate of 90% when they are discovered by pre-natal diagnosis.
Until now this has been done largely by amnio, however, a new blood test threatens to dramatically increase the number of our lovely and special children aborted. This non-invasive blood test is being touted in the media as a life-saver, yet whose lives are worth saving and whose are not?

We at KIDS say ALL life is precious! 

Come join us for our EWTN interview behind the speakers platform at the March for Life, hold up a sign to say that you are for ALL KIDS. 

God made them as they are and finds them precious in His sight. 

Pro-life Weekend in Connecticut

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This Saturday, January 22, 2011

Marks the 38th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade



On SATURDAY - 1-22-11, please come to

the RALLY for LIFE in HARTFORD



PLEASE COME show your support and then go to DC on Monday...
The Connecticut March for Life / Rally for LIFE
is sponsored by Helper's of God's Precious Infants, with support of CT Coalition for Life, Family Institute of CT, CT Right to LIFE and the St. Gerard's Center for LIFE.

Saturday, Jan. 22 we will begin at 9:00am with Holy Mass celebrated by Archbishop Henry J. Mansell
at St. Joseph's Cathedral, 140 Farmington Ave, Hartford CT

Following the Mass in the Cathedral, join us in praying the Most Holy Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet
OR
Pray the Rosary together while marching to the State Capital to take a stand against abortion and listen to Pro-Life speakers, rosary beginning at 11:30 a.m. at the State Capitol.
Since Roe vs Wade in 1973 more than 50 million unborn children have been denied the right to life through abortion. This figure continues to rise by more than 4000 babies every day.
Given the passage of a health care reform that will require public underwriting of abortion, we need now more than ever to make our voice heard. This Saturday marks one of the few days of the year where your voice and your support can have an impact on this crucial issue.

As Edmund Burke said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
Please be on the South Lawn of the state Capitol at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, January 22nd for a pro-life prayer march (participants will be from a wide variety of Christian denominations and each are invited to pray as they see fit). Afterwards, at 12:30 p.m., we will meet in Room 310 in the Capitol to hear local pro-life speakers including FIC executive director Peter Wolfgang, CT Right to Life's Bill O'Brien, Theresa Kranowski of St. Gerard's Center, Nicole Peck of Silent No More, Dr. Judith Mascola and Bob Judd of the Helpers of God's Precious Infants.
Also, on Saturday, Jan 22nd 2011, there is a pro life Mass at 7PM on Saturday January 22nd at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Norwich. It will be celebrated by Msgr Brown and will be to acknowledge the 38th anniversary of the Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion throughout the US.

The theme will be "The Measure of Love is to Love without Measure."

Tuscon v Ft Hood: why the disparity?

I have a little girl named Christina who is six months older than the one who was shot in Tuscon. Believe me, I grieve for her loss and that of the other innocent victims, and like the rest of America, I pray for Rep Gabrielle Giffords full recovery. FULL RECOVERY. You see, she had one serious impairment before she was shot. She did not value human life in the womb. I hope and pray that this brush with death has taught her to love life ALL life. Then she will be truly healed in body and soul. Only God can to this, and I am praying for her.

Our president sounded very good tonight, very compassionate to the victims and above the fray politically. He had moving words to say about heroes and victims and national healing. He was not finger pointing, as his friends on the left were proud to point out. And compare him to Sarah Palin, who somehow, had the entire weight of this tragedy laid on her shoulders by the left. But Obama left the name calling to his minions, and looked very presidential today, and had the crowd in the palm of his hand. No doubt his failing ratings soared today, as they were meant to.
 This is his moment to step away from the partisanship which marked his first two years in office, when he would tout, like an adolescent, I WON! Now he's a grown up. Hmmm this awakens my cynical side.

I couldn't help feeling resentful about Ft Hood, which also occurred on his watch. What did Obama do for those victims? It was former President Bush who visited the victims. Obama kept to his schedule, sounding lighthearted and ininvolved according to Robert George

Anyone at home aware of the major news story of the previous hours had to have been stunned. An incident like this requires a scrapping of the early light banter. The president should apologize for the tone of his remarks, explain what has happened, express sympathy for those slain and appeal for calm and patience until all the facts are in. That's the least that should occur. 

I noticed a completely different tone in Obama's speech tonight. And I can't help suspecting that he's using these victims to win re-election and avoid a dismantling of his agenda. 
Don't fall for it!
Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/politics/A-Disconnected-President.html#ixzz1AtgFxUsb
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Santo Subito

According to Rocco Palmo over at Whispers in the Loggia, the way is clear for Pope John Paul II to be beatified. The miraculous cure of a French nun from Parkinson's disease has been proven inexplicable from a medical standpoint and thus miraculous. I find it particularly poignant that it was Parkinson's Disease which was cured, since the Holy Father suffered much from the same disease himself, yet God chose not to cure him. His death. coming on the heels of the dehydration death of Terri Schiavo was a lesson on how to treat the disabled in their vulnterability.
All that remains for the beatification process to continue is for Pope Benedict to approve it on Friday.
Does anyone out there see an obstacle there?
Santo Subito!

Now it's my turn to brag; I've seen two Blesseds in person: Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa,  and my family are distant relatives to Padre Pio (his great grandmother was Maddalena Crafa, from Pietrelcina where my grandfather,  Vincenzo Crafa immigrated at the turn of the 19th century, since its a tiny town its safe to assume we have family in common). This will not get me to heaven, I know, however, in the realm of Catholicism, its hero worship.I also had the honor of visiting St Frances Cabrini's tomb in NYC and hearing a talk from the daughter of St Gianna Berretta Molla. Whatever you say about the evil of the 20th century which was given to be tested by Satan, according to Pope Leo XIII, it certainly produced a bumper crop of saints.Where evil abounds, goodness abounds more so.
Aren't we fortunate to have been born at a time so greatly in need of saints? God must have great confidence in us! With Him, we can be the next saints the world so desperately needs.
Speaking of saints, another Servant of God, Dr Jerome Lejeune's cause for beatification was opened on June 28, 2007 and his daughter Clara Lejeune-Gaymard will be speaking on the intersection of his farith and science this Saturday at the New York Encounter in . I wlll try to record her talk and share it here, and have tried to ask EWTN to cover it.
We are surrounded by saints!

Dr Jerome Lejeune's daughter to speak on her father

For those of you who love someone with Trisomy 21 (also known as Down syndrome), and are alarmed by the 90% abortion rate of these precious children, here is a not to be missed pro-life event;
Jérôme Lejeune: A True Scientist


The life and work of the great geneticist and doctor through the eyes of his daughter, Clara LEJEUNE-GAYMARD
Saturday, January 15, 2011 3:15 PM
CONFERENCE ROOM of the MANHATTAN CENTER
311 West 34th Street at 8th Avenue
New York, NY 10001
A unique, eye-witness presentation by Dr. Lejeune’s daughter telling how he lived the unity between his faith and his passion for science, what it meant for him to witness his faith in a challenging, sometimes hostile, environment, and how his friendship with Pope John Paul II was born.

Protect The Kids: Stop the Exploitation

Fruit of the 2010 election sweep; Good Governor Brownback

I saw it as a social worker and teacher in minority communities, single women abandoned by their 'baby's daddy' who surive on welfare checks that encourage this shameful and harmful trend which has destroyed milliions of lives. Not one of the teens I worked with in inner city GED programs even knew anyone who had ever been married. It was not part of their worldview, thanks to three or four generations of welfare.
Welfare programs have supported women and children ONLY IF the man has fled. These type of programs encourage immorality and child abandonment, according to a famous Democrat;

Sociologist (and later U.S. Senator from New York) Daniel Patrick Moynihan warned in the 1965 Moynihan Report that the welfare rules created by the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program were breaking down low-income black families.
Such programs had stipulations that welfare payments would be made to women with dependent children, only if the “Man [was] out of the house” – a clear discouragement for poor dependent women to get married to their partners. Moynihan stated that the breakdown of husband-wife-led families in the black community was blocking their upward economic and social mobility, keeping them in poverty.

Former Senator and now Governor Sam Brownback is aware of this trend and wants to fight this family destroying trend.
“Studies show a healthy, loving family unit benefits not only the parents but, more importantly, the children,” Brownback said. “We will work to remove disincentives to marriage, so more couples can marry without the fear of losing crucial state support during difficult financial times.”

Conservatives like Governor Brownback and Former Senator Santorum who wrote "It Takes a Family" know the Catholicteaching of the sanctity of the family and how a nannny state will only create problems, like juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, gang membership and incarceration. This is borne out by statistics yet it takes a good pro-life governor to have the courage to change the system which beats down families. We need to take care of abandoned women, of course, but we need to stop men from abandoning them first.

Read the entire article at Life Site News.

Breaking news: Republicans prepare two page repeal of Obamacare

Called the end to the "overturning of the job killing health care bill", it is the overturn of Obamacare.
Sen Schumer is already screaming that seniors will be abandoned. Horsefeathers, this is typical Democrat posturing to drum up opposition. It may not have enough votes to overcome Obama's veto, but its something that must be done. NOW.
Nice work, a good sign that the House is listening.
Plus the new governors, like Scott Walker of WI is authoring his AG to sue to say that the bill will go to the Supreme Court.
The battle has been joined. I wish them Godspeed.

Clarifying what "Death Panels" are

Both Lisa Graas and I are fans of conservative pundit, Cal Thomas, but she felt, as I do, that his description of what Sarah Palin meant as "Death Panels" required clarification. It is not hairsplitting to distinguish between discussion of last wishes and denial of care as Lisa explains over at her site.

That is a reference to rationing by the IPAB. Note her reference to Ezekiel Emanuel who proposed a utilitarian system of rationing, which is what the IPAB has the potential to be…with or without end-of-life counseling. For example, if a Down Syndrome child has RSV, a system of rationing wouldn’t require any end-of-life counseling to result in the deteriorating health or death of the child. The only thing necessary for that would be a rationing board (IPAB) saying “no treatment for Down Syndrome children”. The child, then, never even gets to SEE a doctor, let alone any kind of ‘counseling’ coming into play. Understand? (That is, of course, a hypothetical scenario.)

The President, after Palin’s initial note, then came out and mentioned the end-of-life-counseling which she then responded to.

By the way when you find yourself in this situation as you most surely will someday, the National Catholic Biotethics Center has a 24 hour hotline to help counsel you and some general guidelines here
The most important point in discussing end of life care is WHOM you are discussing it with, your faithful pastor, or an agent of death like Judge Greer, who presided over Terri Schiavo's dehydration murder (and is mercifully retiring now).
This is why overturning Obamacare has to be the new Congress' first priority.
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Read Lisa Graas's post here.

Rosa's law is a ruse

Fr Raymond J De Souza commented on Rosa's Law on ALL President Judie Brown's blog, which I referred to in this post ;

In October, Barack Obama signed a new law that prohibits the U.S. government from referring to the “mentally retarded” in any of its laws and regulations. The term to be used instead is “intellectual disability.” Given the harshness with which it strikes the ear, the word “retarded” has long since dropped out of common usage, but it still survives in official policies.

The law is called Rosa’s Law, after a nine-year-old Maryland girl with Down’s syndrome. Her official classification at school was “mentally retarded,” which struck her mother as hurtful. The U.S. Congress passed the law in response to Rosa’s case, but also in response to a long campaign by the Special Olympics to end the use of the “R-Word,” as their campaign puts it.

I told you in my post, I had no objection to the term "mentally retarded" as a classification, as I understood its history, but I did bristle at my daughter being called a 'retard' in a pejorative fashion however, I'd rather she be called that horrible name than for this to be the cruel reality in our society;

We insist that harsh words are not used in regard to the mentally disabled, but the most lethal words today in medicine are those that announce Down’s syndrome. It is far better to be diagnosed with terminal cancer as an adult than to be diagnosed with Down’s syndrome as an unborn baby. No cancer has a 90% death rate within a month.

In 1962, there were live children and fake obituaries. In 2010, there are dead children and no obituaries. The late Ms. Shriver did not consider that an improvement. (Neither does this mother of a child with Down syndrome).

If Rosa is like almost all Down’s syndrome children, she is probably preternaturally gifted at showing love and transmitting joy. Those who know such children would be horrified to speak of them in anything but the gentlest language.

If, that is, they get a chance to speak of them at all.

Powerfully stated, Fr DeSouza! Eunice Kennedy Shriver is one of my heroes, and her legacy is poorly represented by her family members who let President Obama off the hook for his pejorative remarks about the Special Olympics and the fact that he is the ONLY politician who voted against the BORN ALIVE INFANT PROTECTION ACT. See his voting record here. while he was in the Illinois Legislature. Even NARAL let this law pass both houses of Congress, for it didn't want to appear too extreme. Barack Obama had no such qualms.Babies born alive during abortion attempts were to be abandoned to die under his leadership. This was a common method of aborting babies with Down syndrome, along with the horrific partial birth abortion, which was also outlawed. It has to do with the fact that amnio often offers a diagnosis of Down syndrome late in the pregnancy when other methods of abortion are impossible. But it is terrifying.

Christ Hospital nurse Jill Stanek happened upon an infant with Down syndrome who had been deliberately delivered before the age of viability, alone in a storage room, gasping for air. She held the tiny baby boy for forty five minutes until his little heart stopped beating (he was so tiny she could see it beating through the wall of his chest). At least this child knew 45 minutes of love in his life. Read her testimony here. 
If he had been born in the year of my birth, 1962, he might have been condemned to an institution, where he might have been loved, or he might have been neglected, but at least he would have had a chance to love, be loved, and live the life God gave him. Many of these institutionalized babies of the sixties, now adults,  lived in group homes near me on Eastern Long Island. They were busy, happy adults, limited in their abilities because of educational neglect, but alive.

How dare Obama claim to champion our children with Down syndrome with Rosa's Law when he repeatedly moved to defeat the Born Alive Infant Protection Act which would have prevented the death of this little boy and thousands like him? If he is born now, he has to be given life saving treatment, regardless of his mother's intentions. And his president's.
Did you know there are 600 approved families waiting to adopt babies with Down syndrome? Find out more here. 
Meanwhile, don't be fooled by a President, a prominent family, or an organization which claims to honor people with disabilities while remaining silent about their genocide.
(Photo is of our eight year old pride and joy, Christina, with Down syndrome, enjoying Daddy time! See what those who abort their children are missing?)

Read the entire post here. 

Feast of the Holy Innocents

This feast day has always touched me with the power of its relevance for us today. So many innocents are slaughtered in our abortion mills, by modern day Herods. But God's power will save them IF we are obedient to His call, as St Joseph was.
Read the rest at my guest post over at The Integrated Catholic Life.

Pope Benedict's Christmas Poem

He has written a prayer for the Church in China in its search for union and communion, he has written one for the Catholics of Ireland on their journey of penitence and renewal in the wake of the sex abuse scandal. Now he has also written one for all nascent human life read for the first time during a global vigil Saturday evening. Below we publish a draft Vatican Radio translation from the Italian original of Pope Benedict XVI’s Prayer for Life:

Lord Jesus,

You who faithfully visit and fulfil with your Presence

the Church and the history of men;

You who in the miraculous Sacrament of your Body and Blood

render us participants in divine Life

and allow us a foretaste of the joy of eternal Life;

We adore and bless you.

Prostrated before You, source and lover of Life,

truly present and alive among us, we beg you.
Reawaken in us respect for every unborn life,

make us capable of seeing in the fruit of the maternal womb

the miraculous work of the Creator,

open our hearts to generously welcoming every child

that comes into life.
Bless all families,

sanctify the union of spouses,

render fruitful their love.


Accompany the choices of legislative assemblies

with the light of your Spirit,

so that peoples and nations may recognise and respect

the sacred nature of life, of ever human life.
Guide the work of scientists and doctors,

so that all progress contributes to the integral well-being of the person,

and no-one endures suppression or injustice.

Gift creative charity to administrators and economists,

so they may realise and promote sufficient conditions

so that young families can serenely embrace

the birth of new children

Console the married couples who suffer

because they are unable to have children

and in Your goodness provide for them.
Teach us all to care for orphaned or abandoned children,

so they may experience the warmth of your Charity,

the consolation of your divine Heart.

Together with Mary, Your Mother, the great believer,

in whose womb you took on our human nature,

we wait to receive from You, our Only True Good and Saviour,

the strength to love and serve life,

in anticipation of living forever in You,

in communion with the Blessed Trinity

The faith of the Virgin Mary

On this blog I discuss a lot of social problems and suggest solutions in the practical realm, however, at Christmas, we are reminded that the only solution to the sinfulness which plagues this culture is the helpless Babe in the manger.
. Our Lady knew this, and we must follow her to the manger to find the source of our hope. The victory was won two thousand years ago, we are merely here to proclaim it to the world.

 "She is the mother of faith: 'I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope."(Ecclesiastes 24:24)

St. Alphonsus di Liguori, The Glories of Mary, (Tan Books), 480.

 "Father Suarez says, that the most holy Virgin had more faith than all men and angels. 

She saw her Son in the crib of Bethlehem , and believed him the creator of the world.

 She saw Him fly from Herod, and yet believed Him the King of kings.

 She saw Him born and believed Him eternal

. She saw Him poor and in need of food, and believed Him the Lord of the universe.

 She saw Him lying on straw, and believed him omnipotent. She observed that He did not speak, and she believed him infinite wisdom.

 She heard Him weep, and believed Him the joy of  Paradise .

 Finally, she saw him in death, despised and crucified, and, although, faith wavered in others, Mary remained firm in the belief that He was God."

Source: Mary Vitamin 

St. Alphonsus di Liguori, The Glories of Mary, (Tan Books), 48

Three Ex-Catholics on "The View" criticized Bishop Olmstead

DELIRIUM OVERCOMES "THE VIEW" GIRLS  

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on today's episode of "The View" which featured a discussion about the Catholic Church and abortion:

 

It is an ugly site: grown women sitting around bashing a religion that none belong to. Though at one time three did: Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg and Elisabeth Hasselbeck are all ex-Catholics. They went bonkers today—the crosstalk makes them look downright delirious—ripping away about the Catholic Church because a nun was excommunicated for allowing an abortion at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix. What they didn't say was that the nun gave her formal consent to the killing of an innocent child. More important, since none of the panelists are Catholic, it is none of their business anyway.

 

The fact is (though one would never know it by watching this extended diatribe) the parent organization to this hospital, Catholic Healthcare West, has a long record of flagrantly violating the teachings of the Catholic Church. In other words, the San Francisco-based organization is a serial offender.

 

Had the non-Catholics focused only on this issue, that would be one thing. But, no, they trotted out miscreant priests, painted the Catholic Church as anti-women, etc. That's what happens when the bigotry is deeply embedded—one issue is enough to set off an explosion.

 

Behar is no stranger to Catholic bashing, so it was expected she would join in while the others piled on. Hasselbeck poses as a conservative, but her pathological hatred of Catholicism reveals who she really is. Sherri Shepherd, who usually keeps her mouth shut during these harangues, unwisely spoke up. As for Whoopi, who reportedly has had at least a half-dozen abortions—beginning at age 14 [click here]—it is no wonder she looked the most delirious.

 

Contact producer Bill Geddie: bill.geddie@abc.com

Rorate Caeli

Holy Father tells Catholics to be patient

On Gaudete Sunday, the Holy Father blessed statues of Baby Jesus.to be put in Italian creches.

 

  Quoting a passage from St. James - "Be patient therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord" - the Holy Father said: "I believe it is important, in our time, to underline the value of constancy and patience, virtues which were part of the everyday baggage of our forebears, but which seem less popular today in a world which exalts change and the capacity to adapt to new and diverse situations. Without detracting from these aspects, which are also human qualities, Advent calls us to strengthen that inner tenacity, that resistance of heart which enables us not to lose hope as we wait for a good that is late in coming, but to await it - indeed, to prepare for its arrival - with confidence".

 

  Continuing his commentary on the Letter, in which the Apostle proposes the example of the patience of farmers as they await their crop, Benedict XVI said: "Farmers are not fatalists but the model of a mentality which harmoniously unites faith and reason. On the one hand they know the laws of nature and skilfully carry out their work while, on the other, they trust in Providence because certain fundamental things are not in their hands but in the hands of God. Patience and constancy are, indeed, a blend of human commitment and trust in God.

 

  "'Strengthen your hearts' says the Scripture. How can we do this?" the Pope asked. "How can we strengthen our hearts which, in themselves, are somewhat fragile and become even more instable in the culture which surrounds us? Help is not wanting: we have the Word of God. For indeed, while everything else passes and changes, the Word of the Lord does not pass. If the events of life make us feel lost and all our certainties seem to crumble, we have a compass to find our way, we have an anchor so as not to drift with the current".

 

  In this context, the Holy Father recalled "the model of the prophets; that is, of the people whom God has call to speak in His name. The prophet finds his joy and strength in the Word of the Lord and, while men and women often seek happiness by following ways which turn out to be mistaken, he announces the true hope, the hope that does not delude because it is founded on the faithfulness of God. All Christians, by virtue of their Baptism, have received prophetic dignity. May each of us rediscover this and nourish it by listening assiduously to the divine Word".

 

  After praying the Angelus the Pope addressed some words to the children of Rome. "Dear young friends", he said, "when you place the statuette of the Baby Jesus in the grotto or the manger, say a prayer for the Pope and for his intentions. Thank you!"

Ireland under fire from EU for pro-life constitution

Its a completely specious argument that these women are making; that the fact that Ireland protects unborn babies from slaughter adversely affected their health. They had to travel to the UK to obtain abortions, and claimed that this threatened their health. It doesn't matter how flimsy the excuse, the European Court of Human Rights may use this to strike down Ireland's constitutional ban on abortion as a "violation of human rights". Imagine, protecting unborn children violates human rights! This is so illogical, but the point of view of the courts has changed, from protecting human life to insuring that sinners have an easy time disposing of the results of their sin, under the guise of 'women's health'. This is an effort to circumvent the will of Irish people who voted to protect the unborn in a nationwide referendum in 1983.

The ABC case was orchestrated by the Irish Family Planning Association, a leading abortion lobbyist group, in an effort to overturn Ireland’s pro-life laws, which were put in place by a 1983 referendum. The abortion lobby, Buckley said, has turned to the unelected courts, and finally a European court, “because it has failed to persuade the people of Ireland to legalize abortion.”

Buckley warned that should the ECHR rule against the Irish law, it would be a step towards establishing an internationally recognized “human right” to abortion.

Once this is established, it will be very difficult  to protect babies anywhere.
Read the entire story at Life Site News.

A Song for my Aunt Teresa

My Aunt Teresa is preparing to meet Our Lord today, she has been anointed, her family is with her, and we are praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Will you pray a Hail Mary for her and join me in this tender song about the Infant Jesus coming down from the stars to earth?

She was the matriarch of our family and will be greatly missed. 

Here are the lyrics to Tu scendi dalle stelle from Italy, in Italian and with an English translation…

Tu scendi dalle stelle
(Italian)
Tu scendi dalle stelle
O Re del Cielo
E vieni in una grotta
Al freddo al gelo.

E vieni in una grotta
Al freddo al gelo.
O Bambino mio Divino
Io ti vedo qui a tremar,
O Dio Beato
Ah, quanto ti costò
L’avermi amato.
Ah, quanto ti costò

L’avermi amato.

A te che sei del mondo,
Il creatore
Mancano panni e fuoco,
O mio Signore.
Mancano panni e fuoco,
O mio Signore.

Caro eletto, Pargoletto,
Quanto questa povertà,
Piu m’innamora
Giacche ti fece amor
Povero ancora.
Giacche ti fece amor
Povero ancora.
Here’s a rough English translation of Tu scendi dalle stelle by Monique Palomares…

You Come Down from the Stars

(English)
You come down from the stars
Oh King of Heavens,
And you come in a cave
In the cold, in the frost.
And you come in a cave
In the cold, in the frost.

Oh my Divine Baby
I see you trembling here,
Oh Blessed God,
Ah, how much it cost you,
Your loving me.
Ah, how much it cost you,
Your loving me.

For you, who are of all the world
The creator,
No robes and fire,
Oh my Lord.
No robes and fire,
Oh my Lord.
Dear chosen one. 

Review of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Life is dreary for Lucy (Georgie Henley) — and Edmund (Skandar Keynes) at the home of their Uncle Scrubb in Cambridge. The rest of their family is in the United States where their father is working on behalf of the war effort. Meanwhile, they are tormented by their spoiled cousin Eustace (Will Poulter) who is not happy that there are there, and mocks them for their talk of Narnia, which they miss more each day. Imagine Eustace’s astonishment, when a painting of a ship in the bedroom begins to leak seawater. Soon the room is flooded and all three children are swimming up towards the ship in the painting, the Dawn Treader. Lucy and Edmund are delighted to resume their lives in Narnia, which they left only three years ago in Narnian years. They are joyfully welcomed by King Caspian (Ben Barnes) and the indomitable Reepicheep (voice by Simon Pegs).

 Eustace is still adjusting to the fact that he is aboard a ship in a magical land, and treats Reepicheep as his nemesis. The cheeky little mouse cheerfully accepts the challenge of teaching the little monster how to behave like a proper Narnian knight while Lucy and Edmund learn why Caspian has taken the Dawn Treader out to sea.

Caspian is seeking the seven Lost Lords who disappeared during the reign of his Uncle Miraz. He has heard they fled for the Far Islands and wants to ask them to return now that he has brought peace to Narnia. What they find on the first island is most unsettling; the inhabitants are being sold into slavery to a malevolent dark mist from the Dark Isle. This mist threatens the Dawn Treader’s crew by unlocking their areas of temptation, and threatening their lives. It doesn’t take much temptation to waylay cantankerous Eustace, who easily succumbs to greed and finds himself transformed into a miserable, fire-breathing dragon. Will supercilious Eustace be able to accept help from Aslan? Will Lucy and Edmund allow their weaknesses to overcome their mission to reunite the seven swords of the Lost Lords? The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will be their greatest trial to date.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader continues the theme we encountered in Prince Caspian where Aslan is an omniscient guiding presence, like the Holy Spirit who counsels, convicts and heals the sinner overtaken by temptation. Yet Voyage of the Dawn Treader does so with more conviction than Prince Caspian, and this will delight not only Lewis fans, but the Christian audience who are experiencing the stories for the first time on screen. Lewis himself considered this to be the most spiritual of his books, and Walden Media has leaned the lesson of downplaying the spiritual underpinning of Prince Caspian which was far less popular than the smashingly successful The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. This film remains true to the idea that fortitude of Lewis’ characters lies not in their own moral perfection but their reliance on the guidance of Aslan. The Narnia series has regained its spiritual heart, and audiences will be moved by the transformation of even the scaly Eustace into a young man of courage.

This is a film which will resonate deeply with Catholic sensibilities as deeply as The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. The main complaint which Catholics had with Prince Caspian was the downplaying of Aslan’s role, cutting out much of his role, as Lucy is the only one who is guided by him.  In Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the themes of individuals capitulating to their temptations will be familiar to Catholics, as well as the image of the royal meal (another reference to the Mass?), and the heavenly lady in blue who guides Narnians to victory over evil. Could this be a reference to the Blessed Virgin? Certainly the theme of chivalry throughout the series is drawn from medieval romances of Christendom.  The final scene in which Reepacheep's views heaven as the culmination of his service for Aslan is something which will inspire Catholic audiences. The spiritual content is what lifts a pure fantasy based on Homer’s Odyessy into the realm of allegory of the Christian life.

Fantasy involves extremes of good and evil, heroes and villains. In our politically correct society, where you cannot label anyone an enemy with the possible exception of drug dealers. fantasy provides a vehicle to express the battle between good and evil in all its violent glory. Children have dire need of true heroes, and the behavior of sports figures, actors and singers are blatantly immoral, so they fail to inspire the best in children's imaginations. Children need to live out their fantasies of what they will achieve in adulthood in an imaginary perfect world, where goodness triumphs and evil meets its just end. Good literary fantasy provides this vehicle. 

An attempt to modernize the concept of womanhood in Prince Caspian was not appreciated by book fans. Lewis was aware of the masculine tendencies of modern feminism and roundly rejected them.  Narnians did not consider Lucy and Susan any less valiant than their brothers who did the lions share of the fighting. After all, they had the courage to accompany Aslan throughout his torture and death, and were rewarded by being present at his resurrection. In Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Lucy is tempted by the desire to be as beautiful as she sees her sister Susan, and Aslan tenderly reminds her that she is beautiful as herself. This is an important lesson for girls today who are bombarded with images of artificially created beauty. Voyage of the Dawn Treader will rival The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for the role of favorite film in the Narnia series. Perhaps this rivalry will be settled when The Silver Chair is released, as the success I predict for this film will certainly encourage a sequel. Walden has made a good match with 20^th Century Fox and Lewis’ nephew Doug Gresham, an advisor to The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe, roundly approves of this film and assures us that Lewis would as well.

This film is available in 3D and would be very frightening for younger children; there is a vivid sea monster and frightening, dark images. No suggestive scenes or bad language. Highly recommended for audiences seven and up. 

Sordid story of Sequenom the merchant of death

They started by spamming my blog Cause of Our Joy, telling my readers that there was "good news". Now Sequenom was coming up with a non-invasive test to diagnose Down syndrome even earlier in pregnancy than amniocentisis. You could have your less-than-perfect child killed before you had to buy pregnancy clothes, and before you had to make excuses to the world about why you were no longer pregnant if you chose to abort the baby. Such a corrupt concept on its face can come to no good. Investors didn't care about the morality of their investments, just the outcome. They lost big time.
 Many investors thought this was a no-lose proposition and invested their money in Sequenom. No test materialized, and now the underlying scandal  has come to light . The test was delayed last April but investors were not notified. Only insiders knew(see quote below). Such are the tactics of the merchants of the Culture of Death. Deal with them and you will get what you deserve.

A Baltimore business consultant and his uncle pleaded guilty to trading on inside information that Sequenom Inc. was delaying the start of a genetic test for Down’s syndrome in April of last year.

Read the entire story at Bloomberg Business Week.

Practicing this for our Midnight Mass

I volunteered to help out with the alto part. Now I'm regretting it.
Soprano parts are SO much easier!

Apple and Borders attack family values

Heres a reason to avoid Borders Bookstore for your Christmas shopping; they support the corruption of children. And if you have an IPhone, let Apple know how you feel about the outrage of boycotting the Manhattan Declaration.
from Peter Wolfgang at the Family Institute of Conncecticut:

Bearing Witness to a Hostile Culture Two events this week demonstrate what the pro-family movement is up against in the fight fortraditional values. The first event was the decision by Apple to pull the Manhattan Declaration's app from its iPhone andiTunes app store because a small group of protesters deemed it anti-gay. The Manhattan Declarationis a non-partisan statement of conscience in defense of human life, traditional marriage and religious freedom issued by Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant leaders and signed by almost half a million people. The Declaration is a model of respectful dialogue, devoid of name-calling. But Apple is allowing "one side [to] shut down the opposing side in a debate by slandering their opponents with prejudicial labels such as 'bigot' or 'homophobe.'" The very people who claim to champion tolerance are ejecting from public life anyone who disagrees with their agendas. The second event occurred here in Connecticut. True Colors, the gay advocacy group that "mentors" children by teaching them that the Bible approves of homosexual activity, has announced a new partnership with Borders Bookstore. In five Connecticut towns on seven dates in December, True Colors will wrap shoppers' gifts and the tips from those shoppers will go to support True Colors. Apple's action against the Manhattan Declaration and Borders' support of True Colors is a case study in how the culture seeks to punish those who adhere to traditional values while rewarding those who oppose values. Worse, the culture is discouraging rational statements rooted in faithful biblical witness while encouraging a group that teaches a revisionist view of Christianity to Connecticut's children. This is not just religion being pushed out of the public square, "Happy Holidays" replacing "Merry Christmas." This is a culture that is seeking to replace one religion with another. The Family Institute of Connecticut is engaging that culture here in our home-state. Peter Wolfgang's Hartford Courant op-ed is still being talked up and generating letters to the editor two weeks after it was published. We appear frequently on talk radio and other public speaking venues around the state--and we are having an impact! Even our opponents think they are seeing us everywhere: check outthe comments thread in this article (particularly Tessa Marquis)!

Why eliminating the r-word is not enough

Is the subject of my latest piece at MercatorNet.
Also in MercatorNet see my description of how my daughter Christina fares in an inclusive educational setting and how she socializes with limited verbal skills.

And a child shall lead us

This toddler knows he is welcome at the altar, yet he goes on his knees. So much to learn from in this beautifully simple gesture. Let us follow suit this Advent.

The Holy Father called, we responded

In the diocese of Norwich, CT, Bishop Michael Cote held a Holy Hour and Benediction for Nascent Human Life. It was well attended, and the Benediction hymns were enthusiastically sung in Latin. Some of the petitions were particularly touching, especially,
"You love those who are afflicted,
Help parents of unborn children with disabilities to cherish the baby you have entrusted to their care".
Your Son, Jesus, healed the sick,
Guide all doctors to be guardians of life, especially the lives of unborn children with serious health conditions."
I don't know whether those petitions were written by the bishop or sent from the Vatican, but I appreciated them and they gave me great comfort that the Church Militant was praying as one with the Church Suffering and the Church Triumphant for the people closest to my heart.Imagine the power we unleashed last night! These are the people for whom we prayed are those I have dedicated my work on this blog and elsewhere.
Here is the prayer from Pope John Paul's  encyclical Evangelium Vitae which we prayed.

O Mary, bright dawn of the new world, Mother of the living,
To yo do we entrust the cause of life. Look down, O Mother, upon the vast numbers of babies not allowed to be born, of the poor whose lives are made difficult, of men and women who are victims of brutal violence, of the elderly and the sick killed by indifference or out of misguided mercy.
Grant that all who believe in your Son may proclaim the Gospel as a gift ever new, the joy of celebrating it with gratitude throughout their lives and the courage to bear witness to it resolutely, in order to build, with all people of good will, the civilization of truth and love, to the praise and glory of God, the Creator and lover of life.
Read the entire article at CNS.

The condom conumdrum is a moot point

Dr Gerard Nadal is not an armchair theologian like some of my commenters on the previous post. He is a microbiologist, and sticks to his area of expertise; HIV transmission. According to the good doctor, condoms are not enough to prevent the spread of HIV:

So the truth of the matter is that condoms have a much, much, higher failure rate than 15% during typical use. In dealing with the transmissibility of HIV, this is catastrophic.

IF you really love someone; you abstain. Period.

Will anyone hear his rational point of view amidst the cacaphony of voices unleased by the Holy Father's comments? Pope Benedict was not recommending condoms, he was merely saying any act towards protecting another is moving towards morality, it shows an awakening of the moral sensibility. No one said it overrides the immoratliy of homosexual acts, or contraceptive acts.
It was meant to make a hypothetical point, which is importnt to understand particularly if condoms are as ineffective as Dr Nadal maintains.
Read  his entire post here.