Atheists target Catholics for good reason

Greg Craven, Vice Chancellor of the Catholic University takes aim at atheists with a bit of humor and salty language; Aussie style.

"The second wearying thing about the new atheism is that it is not new at all. It is so banally derivative of every piece of hate mail ever sent to God that I am amazed Satan has yet to sue for copyright infringement. No old chestnut is too ripe, rotten or sodden, especially when it comes to the Catholics as accredited suppliers of what apparently is the Christian equivalent of methamphetamine."

Catholics are targeted precisely because we stand for the truth which atheists work so hard to ignore. If they really believed in nothing they would casually ignore the Church. But they can't, our faith grates on them, and they must attack, obeying the voice of Screwtape.

Notice how many nasty atheists left comments on the article.

Read the entire article at the Sydney Morning Herald.

Queen of England relates to Pope Benedict, not CofE

"According to informants quoted in The Catholic Herald, the Queen has "grown increasingly sympathetic" to the Catholic Church over the years while being "appalled", along with the Prince of Wales, at developments in the Church of England.

The usually well-informed newspaper adds that the Queen, who is the Supreme Governor of the C of E, is "also said to have an affinity with the Holy Father, who is of her generation".

Considering the long, bloody history of the Catholic Church in England since King Henry the Eighth apostatized and formed the Church of England, the news that Queen Elizabeth has warm feelings toward Pope Benedict and the Catholic Church is on it's face, shocking.
Reading further, however, one discovers that recent changes in the Anglican Church, like the allowing of homosexually active clergy, might just make a woman of her generation appalled at the Church of which, by her birthright, the Supreme Head. Morality in the UK is at an all time low, and so is attendance in the Anglican Church. Could it be that Queen Elizabeth sees some of the morality of the world of her youth preserved in the Catholic Church? She would not be the first to think so.
Could this be the start of another Anglican, and a VERY prominent one, returning to the fold?

It should be very interesting to see what transpires when Pope Benedict visits the United Kingdom sometime next fall.
Read the entire article here in the UK Telegraph.

Notre Dame finds its pro-life voice; better late than never?

John Francis Borra quoted Law Professor Dr Charles Rice, a lifetime pro-lifer's letter to President Jenkins who suddenly feels the urge to attend the March for Life after 36 years, as charges are still pending against pro-lifers who protested the abortionist in chief's triumphant ride into Notre Dame where he received ovations and honors.


This is not an ordinary case of trespass to land such as would occur if a commuter walks across your lawn and flower bed as a short-cut to the train station. Notre Dame is ordinarily an open campus. Those 88 persons, 82 of whom are represented by Tom Dixon, ND ’84, ND Law School ’93, were arrested not because they were there, but because of who they were, why they were there and what they were saying. Other persons with pro-Obama signs were there but were not arrested and not disturbed. Serious legal and constitutional questions are involved, arising especially from the symbiotic relationship between the Notre Dame Security Police, who made the arrests, and the County Police.
This letter is not a legal brief. Rather I merely note that it is disingenuous for Notre Dame to pretend that this is merely a routine trespass case.Elsewhere in his letter, Dr. Rice alludes to Jenkins' pride, hypocrisy and contempt for the faithful:Please permit me to speak bluntly about your announced purpose to participate in the March for Life and to “invite other members of the Notre Dame Family to join me.” Notre Dame should have had an official presence at every March for Life since 1973. But until now it never has.
Notre Dame students, with the encouragement of Campus Ministry, participate in the March but the University, as such, has not done so. To put it candidly, it would be a mockery for you to present yourself now at the March, even at the invitation of Notre Dame students, as a pro-life advocate while, in practical effect, you continue to be the jailer, as common criminals, of those persons who were authentic pro-life witnesses at Notre Dame. When the pictures of Fr. Weslin’s humiliation and arrest by your campus police was flashed around the world it did an incalculable damage to Notre Dame that can be partially undone only by your public and insistent request, as President of Notre Dame, that the charges be dropped. In my opinion your attachment to the March for Life, including your offering of a Mass for Life, could give scandal in the absence, at least, of such an insistent request to dismiss those charges. Your decision to present an official Notre Dame presence at the March could be beneficial, but not in the context of an unrelenting criminalization by Notre Dame of sincere and peaceful friends of Notre Dame whose offense was their desire to pray, on the campus, for the University and all concerned including yourself. If you appear at the March as the continuing criminalizer of those pro-life witnesses, you predictably will earn not approbation but scorn—a scorn which will surely be directed toward Notre Dame as well.
As long as you pursue the criminalization of those pro-life witnesses, your newest pro-life statements will be regarded reasonably as a cosmetic covering of the institutional anatomy in the wake of the continuing backlash arising from your conferral of Notre Dame’s highest honor on the most relentlessly pro-abortion public official in the world.It goes without saying that Jenkins has effectively abandoned his vocation, forfeiting any moral authority he might once have possessed. The proof is in the pudding: When a lone pro-lifer called out to Barack Obama, "Stop killing our children," Jenkins' graduates shouted him down with "Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can..."The full text of Dr. Rice's letter is a must-read for anyone concerned with anti-Catholic, anti-life dissent within the Church. It's available at http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2009/09/open-letter-from-dr-charles-e-rice-to-fr-john-i-jenkins.html


Read the entire story at Veritatis.

Obama needs Catholics on board with health care plan

The Obama Adminstration knows what we know; in order to pass health care reform, Catholics must be on board.US News states,
"That antiabortion, pro-universal healthcare stance—and the fact that a full quarter of the U.S. population is Catholic—make the bishops and the wider Catholic community a key swing constituency in the escalating healthcare reform battle. If they can allay Catholic concerns on abortion, Obama and the Democrats stand to enlist the church as a powerful ally in the fight. But if the bishops and other Catholic institutions wind up opposing the Democrats' healthcare plan because of its abortion provisions, they can help bring down the whole effort. Says Doerflinger: "People on both sides of the issue want us to join their coalition."However, the problem is, there is a divide among Catholics, we are split nearly down the middle, between those who favor the Obama plan and those, like this group, who do not trust Obama to exclude abortion funding and death panels for the disabled and elderly in the legislation."

On Fox News today Fr Jonathan Morris made an important clarification. He corrected the host who said that the USCCB wants universal healthcare. He said the US bishops want universal access to health care, not necessarily this bill. There are many ways to improve access to health care, for example health care savings accounts, tax deductions for premiums, a group plan for the uninsured to buy into, etc.
Fr Morris assured the viewers of Fox News that the bishops are not sold on the current health care plan because of the threat of abortion funding. Obama will be working hard to seal the deal, and courting Catholics in various ways (Kennedy funeral, Notre Dame, Georgetown, visiting the Pope, etc). Don't be used by an administration who is expert at manipulation.Catholics are a necessary part of Obamacare. Let's remember that and use our power unilaterally instead of cancelling one another's votes!

Senator Kennedy dies of brain cancer

I believe it is entirely appropriate that the day before St Monica's feast day, that Senator Edward Kennedy has gone to meet his Maker. Mother Rose Kennedy was a devout Catholic and no doubt spent many an hour before the Lord praying for a son who had, like St Augustine of Hippo, lost his way. If Ed Kennedy had confessed his sin of supporting abortion when he reformed from his alcoholism after the William Kennedy Smith rape trial, he could easily have become another St Augustine, who went from ribald youth to bishop and doctor of the Church, thanks to St Monica's 28 years of faithful prayers and tears before Our Lord.
We don't know the state of his soul. We can only hope that he had the grace of a thorough confession before his death. I sent him an email begging him to do so.
Here's what we do know.
Few have been given the privileges of the Kennedy family; financially, socially and politically, and as we know to whom much is given, much is expected. How did Edward who has been a US Senator since his twenties, nearly 47 years use the talents given him by the Lord?
He began his career as a pro-life Senator from Massachusetts. In 1971, he affirmed that one can be a pro-life Catholic politician and a good senator in a letter written to the father of a friend of mine in which he stated, "When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family, and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception."
Somewhere, Senator Kennedy sold out to the left wing and became the most vociferous anti-life voice of the Senate, attacking excellent Supreme Court nominess Samuel Alito and John Roberts for being faithful Catholics.The Wall Street Journal has an article on how the Kennedy family abandoned their pro-life principles. He is called a 'good friend to the LBQT community'. If he was the Lion of the Senate, he had lost his roar when he abandoned his Catholic morality. Such a tragic misuse of power on the part of a fellow Catholic is maddening, and it is a a grave scandal that the Catholics in Massachusetts kept him in office.
There is however, one area in which the Senator deserves praise. His sister Rosemary Kennedy was mentally challenged, and like their sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Kennedy whose work founding Special Olympics, the Senator did much for the disability community. With Republican Senator Sam Brownback, he co-sponsored the "Prenatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act" which provides funds to educate health care professionals and parents whose children are prenatally diagnosed with children who have conditions such as Down syndrome and Spina Bifida. Such children are normally aborted at a heartbreaking rate of 90%, so this was pro-life legislation which was passed unanimously in both houses of Congress, as I described in this article in the National Catholic Register. For this I am grateful to Senator Kennedy and pray that he had the grace of a good confession before dying last night and is on his way to heaven.
Eternal Rest grant to him, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him, may he and all the souls of the faithful departed, rest in peace.
Here is a very moving post from my friend whose father received the 1971 letter from Senator Kennedy.

Read the entire story at WSJ news online.

Divorce is lethal to more than children's hearts

We know that God hates divorce. It says so in Scripture. We know also that the Catholic Church for that reason has forbidden divorce. Isn't that enough for us?
When Judith Wasserstein wrote "The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce" she was surprised to find in her longitudinal study that the long term affect of divorce was grown children who had never recovered.
Still the divorce rates of Catholics failed to differ significantly from the rest of the population. Now a study of 8,000 subjects from the Journal of Health and Behavior says that divorce kills us sooner.
"Losing a marriage or becoming widowed or divorced is extremely stressful," Waite said. "It's financially, sometimes, ruinous. It's socially extremely difficult. What's interesting is if people have done this and remarried, we still see, in their health, the scars or marks -- the damage that was done by this event."

I wonder if anyone is listening out there.

Read the entire article at CNN.com

Responsibilities first, before rights says Pope Benedict

Besides not being born in the USA, (since when has that been an obstacle!) the Holy Father has little chance of being elected president of the USA, because of his insistence that we had better focus on our responsibilities before we start clamoring for our rights. You will rarely catch an American politician talking like that!
If I had a nickel for every shot of an Obama voter who radiantly described the material wealth he'd gain for voting for him. . . Republicans are not much better, or they wouldn't have spent like Democrats in the past decade.
No, Pope Benedict answers to a higher authority. . and thus we can trust him to tell us the inconvenient truth. Social justice begins in our own lives and hearts. How we look at our fellow man, and how we treat him, not whether we have the right political party or purchased green grocery bags or carbon credits.
Deal Hudson says,
"In describing the importance of duty, Benedict uses this stunning line, which will go a long way toward unravelling some of the confusion about rights language: "The sharing of reciprocal duties is a more powerful incentive to action than the mere assertion of rights." Here the Holy Father is arguing that we should first think about our social teaching in terms of what we should do for others, rather than a set of demands of what we are ourselves owed."

Read the entire column at Inside Catholic

Bill Donohue and the Battle for the soul of New Hampshire

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch said he would not sign a recent bill ordering same-sex marriage unless it strengthened religious liberty provisions. Led by advocates of gay marriage, the vote yesterday was 188-186 against amending the bill to insure religious liberty protections.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue addressed what happened:

Leading the fight for gay marriage in New Hampshire is Rep. Steve Vaillancourt. He proves, beyond any shadow of a doubt, why champions of religious liberty must resist gay marriage: he worked to kill the bill because it insulated religious institutions from its reach.
In other words, it was not good enough for Vaillancourt to secure a win on gay marriage—he had to have it all. And having it all means denying the right of religious institutions not to sanction homosexual marriage. Indeed, he said the religious liberty amendment would “enshrine homophobia into the statutes of the New Hampshire legislature.”

So this is what we’ve come to in America: religious objections to homosexuality, rooted in the Bible, natural law and the teachings of most religions, is nothing more than a pernicious phobia. Not too long ago, such objections simply constituted common sense. Looks like we need a college course, “Common Sense 101.” The problem is, only the students would be capable of teaching it.

Radical gays, and their straight allies, have gotten so bold that they are prepared to assault First Amendment religious-liberty rights. Two years ago, a lesbian couple in New Jersey sought to have their civil union ceremony in a hall owned by a Methodist church, but was denied on religious grounds. The government sided with the lesbians: the Methodist establishment had its property tax exemption pulled.

We hope Gov. Lynch sticks to his guns.
In CT we got the escape clause for religious institutions but fear it will not hold up under pressure. This situation is dire, and is coming your way.

Welcome home to Rome, Newt Gingrich!

Newt Gingrich was just received into the Catholic Church last Sunday.

I never tire of hearing how the joy of Catholics attracts people to the Church.
"Joy is a net with which you catch souls".
Mother Teresa.
I pray you are always a credit to the Church, Newt, welcome!
Read the entire story at Fr Z's blog.

Pro-family rally in Hartford to oppose homosexual teaching in schools

from the Family Institute of Connecticut
FIC Action Rally/Lobby Day on April 7th!

The Lawlor-and-McDonald-controlled Judiciary Committee has approved the most extreme bill possible to codify the court's same-sex "marriage" ruling. It makes almost no provision for religious liberty, takes away the conscience rights of justices of the peace and will likely lead to a state mandate to teach homosexuality in our schools!

We need your help to stop this awful bill and the transgendered special rights bill which may soon be voted out of this same Committee! (On transgender bill, see the link at the bottom of this message.)

On Tuesday, April 7th at 10:00 a.m. the Family Institute of Connecticut Action will hold a Pro-Family Rally and Lobby Day on the steps of the state Capitol in Hartford. We need as many pro-family state residents as possible to attend our rally and then meet with their own legislators afterwards to ask them to vote to protect faith and family.

After the Rally, all of those interested will make their way over to room 1C of the Legislative Office Building where we will receive packets of pro-family information. From there we will go to meet with our individual legislators to ask them to vote pro-family. Don't worry if you have never "lobbied" before! We will have materials available to help you.

The most effective approach to lobbying for faith and family is to bring as many people as possible to Hartford on a weekday to meet directly with their state representative and state senator. We know it is a sacrifice to take a day off from work and we appreciate what so many of you are willing to do to help protect society's most precious institutions. But our opposition regularly appears at the state Capitol in large numbers. Having legislators see with their own eyes that the pro-family side enjoys greater public support is the only way to reverse the anti-family stranglehold over our state Capitol.

And FIC Action will be there on April 7th to help guide you. Following our 10 a.m. rally we will march together into the Legislative Office Building where our volunteers will help direct you to where you need to go to meet with your own state representative and state senator. We will also provide brief talking points on why pro-family bills should be supported and anti-family bills should be opposed.

In fact, there is information we can provide to you right now to help you get a jumpstart on making your April 7th lobbying day as effective as possible.

First, call your state representative and state senator and make an appointment to meet with them. House Democrats can be reached at 800-842-8267 and House Republicans can be reached at 800-842-1423. Senate Democrats can be reached at 800-842-1420 and Senate Republicans can be reached at 860-240-8800.

Tell them that you are their constituent and you would like them to be at the state capitol on April 7th to meet with you. Set a time. Do not settle for meeting with a legislative aide-tell the aide that you want just 5 minutes of your legislator's time.

If when you arrive for your appointment your legislator is in session, give a note to a "runner" from his office to inform him or her that you have arrived. Most legislators will take time out of the session to meet with their constituents.

If your legislator(s) are not available on April 7th, pick another day to meet with him or her. We need as many people as possible to attend our April 7th Rally and Lobby Day. But the most important thing is that you have face-to-face time with your legislators to ask them to vote pro-family.

Protecting faith and family in 2009 depends on you. Please forward this message to every pro-family state voter you know and encourage them to join the fight. Tell your churches to come to FIC Action's April 7th Rally and Lobby Day and help us fight for the family!

We hope to see as many of you as possible at the state capitol at 10:00 a.m. on April 7th. Thank you and God bless you for all that you do to fight for faith, family and freedom.

We need your support to hold rallies, lobby days, press conferences and other pro-family public education events! Click here to help FIC Action convince legislators to vote pro-family!

Please get the word out to your churches, friends, and family!

Amy Welborn praises the Canon 915 enforcers

Those strong bishops who took a stand and enforced Bishop Nauman's ban on Gov Kathleen Sebelius' receiving communion in Kansas AND Washington.
Do you hear that Obama Catholics, her own bishops repudiate her. You should too.
And pray for her conversion back to the faith.
Read the entire story on Via Media.

New Fightin' Irish Fight Song for the Obamanation

Why Obama's speech is an outrage at Notre Dame

AirMaria live feed from Cathholic rally in Hartford CT

Click here to watch today's rally against RB 1098 on AirMaria.com.Coverage begins at 11AM and finishes whenever the action is over.

The origin of the attack on the Church in Connecticut

Friar Roderick posted a reminder on the Curt Jestor that this recent attack on the Catholic Church is simply part of the plan to marginalize and weaken those who would defend the Traditonal Family.
Brian Brown, head of the Connecticut Family Institute is a true warrior for the family, and speaks eloquently to this point in this video.
HT AirMaria

Deacon Fournier on the "Battle of Bridgeport"

Deacon Fournier describes this as the proverbial "shot accross the bow". A priest I spoke with today said that it's an attempt to flush out the enemies of aetheism and communism, so that the hostile adminstration can deal with us. one by one. No doubt this legislation will not succeed. Yet. But this may be the beginning of the end of religious freedom in America.


This bill violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. It forces a radical reorganization of the legal, financial, and administrative structure of our parishes.

This is contrary to the Apostolic nature of the Catholic Church because it disconnects parishes from their Pastors and their Bishop. Parishes would be run by boards from which Pastors and the Bishop would be effectively excluded.

This bill, moreover, is a thinly-veiled attempt to silence the Catholic Church on the important issues of the day, such as same-sex marriage.

The State has no right to interfere in the internal affairs and structure of the Catholic Church. This bill is directed only at the Catholic Church but could someday be forced on other denominations. The State has no business controlling religion.

Read the entire column on Catholic Online.

Pewsitter petition to deny Communion to pro-abort Catholic politicians

According to a Pewsitter.com release, "While the Catholic faithful understand and support the behind-the-scenes dialogue and diplomacy that goes on with prominent Catholics, by the Bishops, to reconcile them with the Church, when such dissent continues for years and in some cases decades … then it becomes necessary for a Bishop to take a formal public stand to prevent further scandal.
"Unfortunately," continues the Pewsitter release, "what has happened is that prominent, dissenting Catholics, in public life have continued to receive communion with impunity-and this has led to the false impression that the Church condones or at least tolerates such dissenting opinions on serious moral issues such as abortion, euthanasia, and embryonic stem cell research to name a few.
"Not only do these prominent Catholics disregard the Church's teachings, but in many cases they actively and publicly promote policies and legislation that undermines, opposes and contradicts the Church's teachings. Examples of such Catholics include Speaker of the House - Nancy Pelosi, Vice President - Joseph Biden, Senator Ted Kennedy, and Senator John Kerry, to name a few."
(For more information or to complete the petition go to http://www.pewsitter.com/petition/)

RIP: Fr. Richard John Neuhaus

I have been an admirer of Fr. Neuhaus for years, in fact he helped inspire me to get involved in writing in what he calls the "Naked Public Square". It was my great honor to tell him so in person at the Society of Catholic Social Scientists Gathering at St John's University in October of 2007.
As a world class intellectual and apologist, he has done so much good for the public image of the Church, so you should not be surprised to learn he was a convert, having been a Lutheran minister. He knew and appreciated the great deposit of faith we have in Catholicism, as anyone who has read his journal, "First Things" will attest. Here is his meditation on his conversion from which I take this quotation,
"As for now, I end where I began—as in my life’s course I began where I have ended—by saying again: “To those of you with whom I have traveled in the past, know that we travel together still. In the mystery of Christ and his Church nothing is lost, and the broken will be mended. If, as I am persuaded, my communion with Christ’s Church is now the fuller, then it follows that my unity with all who are in Christ is now the stronger. We travel together still.”
We still travel with you, Fr. Neuhaus, in the Mystical Body, and ask for your prayers as we, the Church Militant, try to uphold your legacy here in the Vale of Tears.
May the angels lead you into Paradise, Fr. Neuhaus!
Related post: Acton Institue Blog
Brownback Mourns the Passing of Father Neuhaus
Contact: Brian Hart, Becky Ogilvie; both with Sam Brownback, United States Senator - Kansas, 202-224-6521
WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 /Standard Newswire/ -- U.S. Senator Sam Brownback yesterday offered his condolences on the passing of Father Richard John Neuhaus.
"I offer my condolences to the family and friends of Fr. Richard John Neuhaus. For several decades, he has been a critical voice in our national discussion of religion and public life. He taught us that our public conversation must always be about the 'first things' of how we ought to order our lives together. He wrote more persuasively than perhaps anyone today of the need for democracy and free markets to always be sustained by a vibrant moral culture. We are a grateful nation because of the witness of Father Richard John Neuhaus. May he rest in peace."
Father Neuhaus founded the popular journal First Things and was credited with bringing together Evangelicals and Catholics into an effective coalition. He was a prolific and influential writer focusing on religion and public policy and he argued that faith should not be excluded from the public square. Father Neuhaus died due to complications with cancer. He is survived by four brothers and two sisters."
Senator Sam Browback
Read the entire article here.

A Century of Martyrs

The Twentieth Century had more Christian martyrs than all 20 previous centuries.

The secular West has been looking the other way for a very long time. Even the average church-going Christian is not likely to know that 45.5 million of the estimated 70 million Christians who have died for Christ did so in the last century. For this reason, scholars such as Robert Royal, president of the Faith and Reason Institute in Washington, D.C., and author of The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century, refer to the past century as one of the darkest periods of martyrdom since the birth of Christianity.
But they won't make TIME magazine's list of heroes, so I'm linking to the Catholic Online story about them here. This century is off to a brutal start for Christians, especially in Asia.
If the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church, we are due for a huge revival. Just in time, we've never needed one more.
HT A Catholic Mom in Hawaii

Spaniards celebrate the family

On the Feast of the Holy Family yesterday, hundreds of thousands of Spanish families gathered in Madrid. Let's follow their example here in the US.
Hundreds of thousands of people attended a Mass in central Madrid on Sunday designed to promote traditional family values in a predominantly Roman Catholic country that has legalized gay marriage and made it easier for people to divorce.
The service started with a message from Pope Benedict XVI, who urged Spanish Catholics to keep their families strong.
"Dear families, do not let love, openness to life and the incomparable links that join your homes weaken," the pope said in a message read out in Madrid. "The pope is by your side," the pontiff added.

Read the entire story here.

HT Associated Press