The story of Fr Michael Fay

Bettnett has a great post about Fr Fay the priest who spent 1.5 million dollars supporting a lavish homosexual lifestyle in New York City while pastor in Darien, and whose embezzlement was uncovered in 2006, by Fr Madden who was punished for playing the whistleblower. This is allegedly the origin of the move by parishoners to demand laymen run church funds. Clericalism is a serious problem in the Church, which must be dealt with, however, getting the anti-Catholic government involved is hardly the answer. We hope.
Tragically, the priestly sex abuse scandals were never handled in the Church until the frustrated laymen went to the media. In most cases dioceses are still in denial that there is a serious homosexual problem in the Church, which according to the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, was responsible for 80% of the child abuse. I attended sessions of diocesan VIRTUS training which denied this independent study. No reform can take place until the truth is acknowleged and justice is served.

The state of CT has closed public hearing on 1098

Thank you for your email regarding Senate Bill 1098, An Act Modifying Corporate Laws Relating to Certain Religious Corporations. I appreciate you taking the time to express your concerns to me.

As you may know, this bill was proposed at the request of someparishioners in the state who were pressing for parishioners (Voice of the Faithless) to play a greater role in church governance following two cases of financial impropriety(good ask the government to handle church finances, they are SO squeaky-clean!!) One case was Fr Michael Fay from Darien who spent 1.5 million on a lavish lifestyle for himself and his male lover. Getting the government involved will only help more money go missing.
at Fairfield County churches. The chairmen of the Judiciary Committee had not yet decided whether or not they were supportive of the measure but were willing to hold a public hearing to information from all interested parties. Since the announcement of the public hearing, many constituents have written(they are jamming the phone lines and overflowing our junk mail boxes) and called and many questions about constitutionality have been raised.

Below is a statement from the chairmen of the Judiciary Committee regarding this proposed legislation: "For reasons that are unclear, Connecticut has had generations-old lawson the books singling out particular religions and treating themdifferently from other religions in our statutes.(it's called anti-Catholicism) That doesn't seem right. (So you were going to fix it by punishing the Catholic Church)
In fact, many of our existing corporate laws dealing with particular religious groups appear to us to be unconstitutional under the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. If that is correct, any changes to that law would likely also be unconstitutional.

With that in mind, it would serve no useful purpose to have a conversation about changing the laws that govern existing Roman Catholicc orporations until we know if any of these existing laws are constitutional. (translation: we thought we could sneak it in but Bishop Lori blew the whistle).

At the request of the proponents who are advocating this legislation, we have decided to cancel the public hearing for tomorrow, table any further consideration of this bill for the duration of this session, and ask the Attorney General his opinion regarding the constitutionality of the existing law that sets different rules for five named separate religions.(translation: we're running scared)

We think it would be more appropriate to invite representatives from all religious denominations around the state together with legal scholars onthis topic to participate in a forum regarding the current law. Such a conversation would be more appropriate to have when the legislature is not in session and other more important issues, such as the current fiscal crisis, are resolved. (you decided it wasn't worth the trouble to put your hand in the Church's till)We intend to do that once we have the benefit of the Attorney General's opinion.

In the meantime, we think it would be most beneficial if the proponents who requested these changes and church officials meet together privately to see if they can come to a resolution on their own. Open and honest communication between these two groups could only help. (so why are you closing the public hearing?)
For our part,we intend to reach out to (protect ourselves) representatives of the Catholic Conference and continue the discussion that began in 2008 on this issue. We hope they will agree to meet with us."(don't worry, they're coming anyway). As you will see from that statement, the Judiciary Committee will no longer be pursuing this bill and will be working to address the many questions that have been raised as a result of its introduction. (so why did you think Catholics would take this lying down? We may play dead when it comes to the Morning After Pill in our hospitals, but leave our money alone!)
In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me again if I can be of assistance with any other matters.

Sincerely,
Senator Donald E. Williams, Jr.
President Pro Tempore2
9th District

A saint for today's problems; St John of God

My friend Anita Moore at V for Victory has discovered that St John of God suffered from heavy indebtedness which he incurred while serving the needs of the poor. What a comfort to know that a saint can intercede for those of us who were plunged into financial difficulties by the vagaries of Wall Street.
St John of God, pray for us.

What have we come to?

A 34 year old store employee was trampled to death by the crowds in a Valley Stream store this morning. I am appalled.
The 34-year-old male employee was pronounced dead an hour after shoppers breached the doors to the shopping center in Valley Stream, Long Island, about 5 a.m. Friday and knocked him down, police said.
Click here for photos.
"He was bum-rushed by 200 people," Jimmy Overby, the man's 43-year-old co-worker, told the New York Daily News. "They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too ... I literally had to fight people off my back."

Materialism is the culprit; on the part of Walmart execs who keep upping the ante by offering earlier and more dramatic "door buster" sales, and a crowd too bent on saving a few bucks to care if they killed a man, and nearly overran a pregnant woman. Even when rescue workers were trying to work on the man, they fought crowds.

Up in the tranquil stores in rural Connecticut, my mother, my daughter and I were in several stores this evening, with no trouble. I miss New York less every week.

Read the entire story here at Fox News.

The economic news frightened a lot of people today

Especially me, and I at last remembered after a few hours tossing and turning in my bed, to seek out Mother Angelica's favorite novena for financial need: Our Lady of Good Remedy.
Our Lady holds a money bag. Mother Angelica said that Our Lady of Good Remedy saved EWTN from financial ruin countless times, and Mother Teresa always trusted completely in Divine Providence, saying, "don't worry, God has all the money".

Let's offer this novena together for our nation, and besides rescuing us from financial disaster, Our Lady might convert a few of us back to the faith of our childhood.

O QUEEN OF HEAVEN AND EARTH,

Most Holy Virgin, we venerate thee.
Thou art the beloved Daughter of the Most High God,
the chosen Mother of the Incarnate Word,
the Immaculate Spouse of the Holy Spirit,
the Sacred Vessel of the Most Holy Trinity.

O Mother of the Divine Redeemer,
who under the title of Our Lady of Good Remedy
comes to the aid of all who call upon thee,
extend thy maternal protection to us.
We depend on thee, Dear Mother,
as helpless and needy children depend on a tender and caring mother.

Hail, Mary....

O LADY OF GOOD REMEDY, source of unfailing help,
grant that we may draw from thy treasury of graces in our time of need.
Touch the hearts of sinners,
that they may seek reconciliation and forgiveness.
Bring comfort to the afflicted and the lonely;
help the poor and the hopeless;
aid the sick and the suffering.
May they be healed in body and strengthened in spirit to endure their sufferings with patient resignation and Christian fortitude.

Hail, Mary....

DEAR LADY OF GOOD REMEDY, source of unfailing help,
thy compassionate heart knows a remedy for every affliction
and misery we encounter in life.
Help me with thy prayers and intercession to find a remedy for my problems and needs, especially for... (Indicate your special intentions here).

On my part, O loving Mother,
I pledge myself to a more intensely Christian lifestyle,
to a more careful observance of the laws of God,
to be more conscientious in fulfilling the obligations of my state in life,
and to strive to be a source of healing in this broken world of ours.

Dear Lady of Good Remedy, be ever present to me,
and through thy intercession, may I enjoy health of body and peace of mind,
and grow stronger in the faith
and in the love of thy Son, Jesus.

Hail, Mary.....

V. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of Good Remedy,
R. That we may deepen our dedication to thy Son, and make the world alive with His Spirit.

Warren Buffet is a major abortion funder

Can you be in business and remain true to your Catholic morals?
YES. However, most Catholics don't realize the extent to which companies they patronize like McDonalds and Proctor and Gamble contribute huge sums of money to anti-family, Culture of Death agendas. There are some businesses based on the premise that Catholics are called to be salt and light in the marketplace. Some are successful, some aren't.
BOGO wines a wine importer who dedicated his business to raising awareness of Adult Stem Cells, has to close his business.
Catholic Home Loan donates a percentage of it's profit to the good pro-life or Catholic charity of the homebuyers' choice.
Sienna Group which provides wireless communications does the same.
So why would anyone want to participate in mutual funds like that of Warren Buffet whose Berkshire Hathaway contributes millions to the abortion industry. His stockholders met members of Operation Rescue at their latest meeting who explained this and several decided to dump their stock at the earliest opportunity.
Let you dollars work for the Catholic morality you believe in. Support good Catholic-run businesses, and let scoundrels like Buffet feel the pinch. It may lead to conversions.

Some grant money for pro-abortion relgious groups

If you are working to forward the Culture of Death, then this is your golden opportunity.
NEW YORK — A two-year old report has come to light that encourages foundations to fund religious organizations who agree to push the abortion agenda around the world.
The report which was funded by the wealthy MacArthur and Ford Foundations, catalogues hundreds of religiously affiliated non-government organizations that are likely to include “sexual and reproductive health and rights” as part of their work
To read the rest, click on C-FAM

For the Catholic investor

Have you ever been scandalized to find out your retirement fund supports the Sudanese government? Check out this financial website with a Catholic conscience, so you can invest your money where your faith is. Let your money build up the Kingdom of God.

Tax Cuts and Children

Why are tax cuts pro-family? Ask any young family who believes that the mother belongs at home with her children, and are struggling against mounting tax burden to do so. I have read that Norway actually pays some women to stay at home raising their children, as they recognize the societal benefits of well-raised children. They are more independent, law-abiding, hard-working, and less inclined to get tangled up in the vices which tear society apart; crime, drugs, alcoholism, violence, illegitimacy, etc. Funny, the liberals want to imitate Scandanavian health care systems, and marriage laws, yet not this policy.

Faith based movies garnering bigger audiences

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