La Principessa Catolica

Princess Alessandra Borghese, I didn't recognize her name as I avoid tabloids like the plague, however, now that she's a committed Catholic and has reformed her formerly wild lifestyle, I don't mind knowing that I contributed to her fortune by drinking San Pellegrino mineral water.
" In 1999, she recalls, looking me straight in the eye, she had a meeting. 'Catholicism is not a philosophy, neither is it a theology, but it is a meeting with a person.
So the moment you meet Jesus Christ, your life can change radically. That is when I started to look at everything differently.' Borghese has since that meeting, become Italy's best-known born-again Catholic.
Her 2004 book, With New Eyes, the story of her return to the fold, was a bestseller in her home country and over much of Catholic Europe. She has followed it with four other equally successful, equally personal, devotional works, including In The Footsteps of Joseph Ratzinger, her first outing in English, published this month. "
Read the entire story here.
HT New Oxford Review

ACLU Talking points on legalizing homosexual marriage

from the Family Research Council
You need to read this document because in order to battle the attack on marriage effectively, you must know the enemy's strategy. And our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities. We love our misguided neighbors in the gay rights movement, we just want their corruption of the culture to stop, as we know who is behind all this.

Homosexual Activists Draw Battle Lines
A how-to manual for forcing same-sex "marriage" on all 50 states was just unleashed on the ACLU's website. The strategy, which was outlined in a succinct six-page memo called "Make Change, Not Lawsuits," urges couples who marry in California next week to proceed with caution. Homosexuals recognize that their movement to marry does not have the broad support of the American people. Instead of bringing lawsuits in every corner of the country, groups like the Human Rights Campaign, GLADD, Lambda Legal and others, ask homosexuals to wait for state legislatures to tackle the issue. To the question of whether couples should sue their home states and employers to recognize their unions, the memo says no. "[It] unnecessarily angers a public whose support we ultimately want to have... Bad rulings will make it much more difficult for us to win marriage, and it will certainly make it take much longer." Like us, this coalition recognizes that everything is riding on the California marriage amendment. This is one battle that both sides cannot afford to lose. Get involved in preserving marriage. Additional Resources ACLU Memo forcing counterfeit marriage on all 50 states [PDF]

Tell John McCain to Oppose Homosexual Marriage

From the American Family Association
As you know, the California Supreme Court has legalized homosexual marriage. This happened despite the fact that voters in California passed Proposition 22 with 61.4 percent of the vote. Proposition 22 defined marriage as only between one man and one woman.
The recent 4-3 ruling, if allowed to stand, would destroy marriage as it has been known for thousands of years.
It would lead to the logical conclusion of the following:
* Legalization of polygamous and other aberrant unions as "marriages"
* Legalization of marriage between an adult parent and adult child
* Legalization of group marriage
* Overturn all the marriage laws in the other 49 states

ACTION STEP:
1. Send a message to Sen. John McCain asking him to strongly support a federal marriage amendment making marriage legal only between one man and one woman. Sen. McCain has said in the past he supports marriage only between one man and one woman. But he voted against the federal amendment when it was voted on in the Senate.

Such an amendment would override the legalization of homosexual marriage by the liberal California Supreme Court.
It is time for Sen. McCain to take a stand for marriage!

Tim Gill is buying the America he wants: against the will of voters

Wasn't California enough of a wake-up call?
How about Colorado?
Dr. James Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, Action, has said Tim Gill and two billionaires have essentially ‘bought’ the Colorado Legislature and are responsible for the recent passage of SB 200.
This article first appeared in the December issue of Citizen magazine.
Tim Gill's tactics of working below the radar, giving large donations to candidates on the state level explains why such a tiny minority as the radical gay community has has such a huge impact, changing laws about marriage against the will of the people. If we don't learn about our opponent, it will be too late, and Christians will be hamstrung like this Canadian pastor.
"These homosexual donors are interested in state races in order to stop “antigay” politicians before they reach the level of Rick Santorum–enemy #1. “Operating at that level,” Green writes, “gave them a chance to ‘punish the wicked,’ as Gill puts it–to snuff out rising politicians who were building their careers on antigay policies, before they could achieve national influence.” They fancy themselves the Hammer of God to crush dissenters to the homosexual cause of full acceptance.
This is not–or at least was not–an open attack. It’s all about stealth. “Revealing targets only after an election makes it impossible to fight back and sends a message to other politicians that attacking gays could put them in the crosshairs.” Shut up or we will silence you. "
Read the rest of this sobering post in Balaam's Ass.

Read the entire story about SB 200 in Colorado at Citizen Link here.

HT Citizen Link

Bravo, El Salvador!

The land of my husband's birth has just rejected abortion unequivocably.

Every one of the 84 lawmakers in the El Salvador Congress have signed a petition called the Book for Life, displaying their commitment to defend unborn children and people from abortion and euthanasia from conception until natural death.
"Every human being should be protected and respected from the moment of conception…until his natural death," the petition reads. "Our primary responsibility as legislators is to unconditionally defend life. We condemn abortion as an abominable crime."

Take that, Planed Parenthood!

Read the entire story here.

HT Life News

My review of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"

is up at Catholic Exchange.

The Next Terrorist Attack: an interview with Rick Santorum

Former Senator Rick Santorum, in an interview with the Westchester Institute's Fr. Berg, describes his new book, "The Gathering Storm".
"Berg: Is it an exaggeration in any way to continue to believe that the US is in a state of war with world-wide Jihadism? Do most Americans believe this? What about the millions of Americans who simply reject this outright? Where does that leave us in terms of preparedness?
Santorum: It is not an exaggeration. It is a simple fact of life in the 21st century. The Islamists have declared war on us and defend their attacks on the West with appeals to Koran and other classic canonical Islamic texts and with Sharia reasoning. This is not to say that all Muslims are terrorists or that all Muslims agree with the arguments and justifications of the Islamists. But it is important to recognize that the jihadists are making a claim to represent authentic Islam and that they have a great many sympathizers and supporters throughout the Islamic world. "

I agree with Mr. Santorum that we must define who our opponent is to wage an effective campaign to stop him, and the Bush Admistration has not done this, and thus the Democrats have too many of us believing that world wide jihad is merely a figment of our imgination. Remember they said that about the Cold War too. It took Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul to save us from that terrible threat.
What would happen if we elect a leader like Barack Obama who caters to Islamist dictators?
What terrible risk are we about to take because we are enthralled by making history by electing an African American president, while forgetting that our freedom and our lives are at stake?

Vatican launches website in Latin

Good news for those of you who have been brushing up on your Latin since Summorum Pontificum, a new webite with papal texts in Latin has been launched by the Vatican.
Read entire story here.
"Father Reginald Foster, an American priest who is the Pope's official Latinist, praises the virtues and the clarity of the Latin language.
"You have to say something and move on," he says.
"It's not like French and some of these philosophical languages where you can write a whole page and say nothing - in Latin you can't do that!''
Fr Foster has a weekly programme on Vatican Radio called The Latin Lover, in which he explains the historical and contemporary uses of the language. "
HT BBC News

No school choice for DC's poor children

from the Family Research Council
Forbidding the Poor from Choosing Good Schools
Congressional Democrats, in a foretaste of their likely education agenda for 2009, have signaled to poor families in the District of Columbia that their school choice vouchers aren't going to be renewed this fall. The news comes as a bitter blow to nearly 2,000 such families in the District, where Congress instituted a pilot school voucher program using federal funds in 2004.
District of Columbia Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), who supports axing the program, says she met with families receiving the choice funds and "they look completely befuddled." It's no wonder why. The average yearly income for the families that participate in the program is just $22,736. Children enrolled in the program can use their vouchers, or scholarships, to attend a private school, a religious school, or one of the city's charter schools, as an alternative to the public system.
One affected mother, Patricia Williams, credited the program with changing her son Fransoir's life. At the District's Sacred Heart Catholic School, she said, Fransoir has "been developed in so many ways, intellectually, emotionally and in his values. I couldn't ask for anything better." Soon, thanks to Congressional Democrats and their singular devotion to just one form of education, Mrs. Williams and others in the District will lose their choice to ask.

Where is Barack Obama? Jesse Jackson? Al Sharpton?
These poor children are being denied a private education to escape DC's failing public school system. Or has the NEA and the UFT (United Federation of Teachers) bought their silence on this issue?
McCain should step into the gap and champion this cause, it's a true solution to poverty.

Pastor fined $7,000 for comments on homosexuals

This Candian pastor is being fined for stating the Gospel truth that homosexuality is a sin. And his rights to free speech are being taken away. Is this a harbinger for things to come in the US?


Most disturbingly, says Boissoin, is that the ruling calls for him to "cease publishing in newspapers, by email, on the radio, in public speeches, or on the internet, in future, disparaging remarks about gays and homosexuals."


Boissoin wondered to what extent the right to freedom of expression in Canada will be deteriorated, stating, "I am not allowed to hold on to my views."
The pastor also maintained that his beliefs are founded not on hate or malice, but derive from a personal concern for the family and society rooted not only in faith, but also in science.
"I am not allowed to hold my views, but the Lunds of the world are allowed to bring gay ministers into schools, they are allowed to present scientifically baseless teachings to kids that people are born gay."


HT Life Site News

Oregon to cancer patient: no more treatment, but we'll pay for suicide

"The state apparently considers suicide part of end-of-life 'comfort care.'
Barbara Wagner is dying of lung cancer, and Oregon won't pay for any more treatment.
But it will cover a fatal dosage of drugs so she can kill herself."

Didn't pro-lifers predict this when Oregonians approved assisted suicide? Pretty soon, both Grandma AND junior will be killed to save money in our national health care system for the taxpayers needed to support it.
Read entire article here.
HT Citizen Link

Tornado in East Moriches, NY

We were enjoying a barbecue at the home of some friends on the East End of Long Island. when a terrible thunderstorm struck. The rain was torrential, the thunder loud, and the wind, the wind was bending the trees in way which made me afraid. B

We were told about flash floods in Greenport, but nothing had happened in Southold. We just don't get dangerous weather out of nowhere on Long Island, we get hurricanes which work their way slowly up the coast, with plenty of warnings. Until now.

As we entered East Moriches at dusk, we noticed the traffic light was out, and the blue spruce on the corner which is covered with lights at Christmas, had snapped in half like a matchstick.

But that couldn't begin to prepare us for the devastation which met our eyes in our own driveway, a few houses down from the corner. . .we are still counting, but we currently estimate that we lost 10 trees on our 3/4 acres property. It seems that a small tornado sliced through the block, in everyones' backyards, wreaking unbelievable havoc in it's path.

When you first confront this sort of damage, you are speechless, except to say "wow" at the sheer power of the winds that were in your yard. When you are faced with such utter destruction, yet your family is safe and no major damage occured on your property, your heart overflows with gratitude to God.

Our swing set and two sections of fence are crushed, however, the pool deck and the girls' dollhouse are perfect.

Several of our neighbors had their cars crushed, one had their lovely porch smashed, but once, again, no one was harmed.

Amazing.

Thank you Lord, for protecting us.

Today is Protest the Pill Day

The devil and the politician

Chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabried Amorth said, “Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan” and that “the devil loves to take over those who hold political office.”
You must be watching CNN, Father!
HT CNA

The President and the Pope are very close

Some say George Bush is the second Catholic President. He certainly has given a better moral example than womanizer JFK, who, in case you have forgotten. was the president who started sending troops to Vietnam, yet is nearly worshipped by some Catholics who can't resist re-electing his brother Teddy, and various other Kennedys who have all but abandoned the faith.

My friend at Vive Christus Rex says he thinks that President Bush will convert to Catholicism after he leaves office. I have suspected this for some time. He'd be most welcome, his record on life issues is far superior than my Catholic Congressman Tim Bishop. THAT's why, in the 2004 campaign, I hobbled on my broken toe and handed out thousands of National Right to Life pamphlets on Bush's pro-life stance. He hasn't let me down on life issues, even though I consider Iraq a mistake.
Read this article from Religion News Service on to see just how close the Pope and the President are.

He's been speaking with Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, himself a convert, who may be guiding him into the Church. Will President Bush do as Tony Blair did and convert after his term is up? I'm expecting it.

I welcome you home to Rome, President Bush.

UPDATE:

The following comment was left after the article:

During the 2004 presidential campaign, Air Force One arrived at Pittsburgh and a Catholic priest had the honor of greeting the president. At that moment, the president knelt on the tarmac and asked for a blessing. The priest then entered the building and 12 of us prayed that if it is God’s will, may the president be re-elected. I suspect that George W will eventually become Catholic.
God Bless+++

Gerard Beer

Pittsburgh

HT Spirit Daily

Atheist Billboard

Good thing they are not alone, they are going to need a friend when they appear before the thone of God and He says "I don't know you".

The Smoke of Satan

A Catholic Perspective has a fascinating interview with Fr. Gabriel Amorth, the chief exorcist of Rome on how sadly, many bishops in the Church feel we no longer need exorcism and why he knows that we do now, more than ever.
Fr. Amorth: "The smoke of Satan has entered everywhere. Everywhere! Perhaps we were excluded from the audience with the Pope because they were afraid that such a large number of exorcists might succeed in chasing out the legions of demons that have installed themselves in the Vatican."
I have read his book, "An Exorcist Tells His Story" and highly recommend it. Fr. Amorth's testimonies of demonic posession are credible and will convince you to pray for the Church to restore the Old Rite of Exorcism. This world has certainly given itself over to Satan's power.
Here is another outstanding article by Fr. Amorth about the power of the rosary against Satan. Read it and you'll never miss your daily prayers with Our Lady again.
"The Hail Mary - The Value of the Rosary. Father Gabriel Amorth, chief exorcist of the Vatican writes:
One day a colleague of mine heard the devil say during an exorcism: "EveryHail Mary is like a blow on my head. If Christians knew how powerful the Rosary was, it would be my end." The secret that makes this prayer soeffective is that the Rosary is both prayer and meditation. It is addressed to the Father, to the Blessed Virgin, and to the Holy Trinity, and is a meditation centred on Christ. "
HT A Catholic Life

Tabernacle at St. Teresa of Avila near Boston

The Insidious Effect of Abortion on Culture

It's not a fantasy; abortion coursens a culture. I felt it yesterday, as a well-dressed woman in Toys R Us sneered at Christina, and then was cruel to us as we attempted to pay for a candy bar. I told the girls to forgive her as she may have suffered from an abortion, she certainly had little respect for children with disabilities. But you can certainly feel the coarsening of culture here on Long Island, which has one of the highest abortion rates in the world.
Human life isn't what's important; money and comfort matter.
Read this article by Fr. Euteneuer about a culture which has rejected abortion.

Maternal Deaths Down In Nicaragua Once Abortion Is Eliminated
Unsuspecting pro-life cultures are regularly assaulted by the "logic" of the international abortion promoters who push their anti-life agenda into every culture that will cave in to the pressure. Their main argument goes roughly like this: "When abortion is not legal, women have abortions anyway but in unsafe conditions and back-alley clinics with untrained people who injure and kill them. All this death and injury is totally unnecessary and we could just solve the problem overnight by legalizing abortion to make it safe and keep all these poor women from dying."
That's the main argument which, in one form or another, is repeated ad nauseam by the abortion lobby to sympathetic healthcare providers, social workers, government leaders and the media. It can be an effective argument for legalized abortion because people are generally more willing to sacrifice the rights of the unseen child for the immediate perceived needs of the suffering woman.
However, that argument is a ruse. Abortion doesn't work the way they say it does. In reality, legalized abortion, besides killing babies, creates a climate of disrespect for women's health that leads to a greater number of maternal deaths. Let's take another look at the most fascinating and heroic case study in the abortion wars that our modern age has seen: Nicaragua.
That marvelous little pro-life country in Central America is a good example of what happens when a country chooses a culture of life. Remember that Nicaragua made abortion completely illegal in 2006 and then reaffirmed that prohibition in 2007. The overall positive results for Nicaraguan women have been just amazing. The abortion promoters screamed that making abortion illegal would cause women to die in droves because of more back-alley abortions, but that didn't happen. In fact, the opposite is true - fewer women are dying now! A recent publication by Nicaragua's Ministry of Health noted that the overall maternal mortality rate decreased by 58% in the year that abortion has been made totally illegal. There were 21 maternal deaths for 2007 compared to 50 maternal deaths the year before. This is a stunning reversal!
The lie that women will die from back-alley, "unsafe," abortions is nothing but a scare tactic to coerce pro-life cultures into compliance with abortion. The truth is that abortion-free cultures have a greater respect for women and babies and are not subject to that degrading pall of killing that lies over the medical profession. In the case of Nicaragua, their rejection of abortion in 2006/2007 coincided - not surprisingly - with a greater provision of basic pre-natal services for pregnant women and accompaniment in childbirth which is what led to the surprising turn-around in the maternal death rate. Even aside from legal protection of babies, pro-life cultures just protect women better, it's that simple.
We don't have to listen to the liars who tell us that legalized abortion is "safe." Women are much safer in countries where abortion is not legal. Abortion enthusiasts were never able to use the maternal death argument in abortion-free Ireland which has the lowest rate of maternal deaths in the world. They are also confounded by pro-life cultures like Poland that restricted abortion in 1993 and has seen a phenomenal increase in maternal wellbeing ever since.
The abortion promoters tell us that certain abortions are unsafe. They're half right. Actually, all abortions are unsafe. The numbers don't lie.
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,
President, Human Life International

Holy Shamelessness

A spiritually “disinterested” person is not swayed by “human respect” (also termed “respect of persons.” St. Josemaria Escriva calls this attribute of not being unduly swayed by the people in our lives “holy shamlessness.”
“How clearly I see now that 'holy shamelessness' is rooted, very deeply, in the Gospel. Fulfill the Will of God, mindful of Jesus falsely accused, Jesus spat upon and buffeted, Jesus brought before the shabby courts of men ...”
The Furrow, #35

St. Josemaria Escriva also tells us strongly not to spend time with the worry of:
What will they say?
“When the defence of truth is at stake, how can one desire neither to displease God nor to clash with one's surroundings? These two things are opposed: it is either the one or the other! The sacrifice has to be a holocaust where everything is burned up, even the thought: “what will they say?”, even what we call our reputation.”
HT Mary Vitamin
This blog is an attempt at 'holy shamelessness', to stand up for the truth in a world which is often hostile to it, especially with regard to moral issues, and if someday there are consequences, such as political persecution, may God give me the strength to endure it.