Tuesday, June 12, 2007
O'Reilly is hounding Killer Tiller tonight
Don't miss the O'Reilly factor tonight and tomorrow, and he tracks down and interviews notorious late term abortionist, George, the baby killer Tiller.
Operation Rescue has been on the case since the beginning, citing the injustices done in the investigation of illegal abortions performed by Tiller, and I pray that he will be brought to justice, to spare innocent lives, as well as the immortal souls of the babies' mothers.
Operation Rescue has been on the case since the beginning, citing the injustices done in the investigation of illegal abortions performed by Tiller, and I pray that he will be brought to justice, to spare innocent lives, as well as the immortal souls of the babies' mothers.
President Bush and the Holy Father meet
The Cafeteria is Closed has a post on the meeting of President Bush and Pope Benedict. Unlike President Clinton, he apparently had no trouble making eye contact. Could it be he has a cleaner conscience?
Monday, June 11, 2007
Immaculate Heart of Mary Conference
Authentic Catholic Education: The Parental Duty was the theme of this year's Conference, in Chantilly, Virginia. Speakers included: Dr. Ray Guarendi, Dr. Alice von Hildebrand, Mr. James Stenson, Fr. Paul Scalia, Dr. Mary Kay Clark, Fr. Pablo Straub, Mrs. Virginia Seuffert, and Mrs. Laura Berquist. I will be posting on the talks.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Review of I am David
Based on the novel by Anne Holm, "I am David" is the story of a boy of 12 who escapes a Communist prison camp, in post-war Europe, and begins an impossible journey to find his mother in Denmark. In his journey through Italy, however he finds much that he is not searching for. Terrified for his life, and possessing nothing other than a canvas bag with his identification papers, and a mysterious letter he must carry to Denmark, David (Ben Tibbet) cowering from the sights and sounds of ordinary life, and using only the label on a tomato can as a map, begins the impossibly long walk northward.He suffers from constant incomprehensible flashbacks about his imprisonment, and his only friend, Johannes(Jim Caviezel) who was afraid to attempt escape from the camp."They'll kill us", Johann says to David as he speaks of escape one night. "How do you know they're not going to kill us anyway?" David replied.
His spirit will serve him well, through all the hardships of the road, where he is helped by the intercession of St. Elizabeth, whose holy card he was given by a kindly baker. He shrinks from kindness, however, as the recurring memory of pain haunts him and robs him of his ability to smile. Only his warm memory of his mother's face gives him peace on his journey, until, unexpectedly, he experiences an epiphany that there were those even in the darkness of the prison camp who loved him, and that some people in this world may be trusted.
This emotionally powerful movie had me completely riveted, and the Christian imagery was critical in understanding the climax of the film. Performances by "The Passion of the Christ" stars, (Pontius Pilate, and St. Peter) add to the intensity of the sense of redemption.
You will appreciate your home and family in a new way after seeing, "I am David".
Suzanne Temple of Blessed Among Men, comments on this film here.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Is Immigration Pro-life?
The Only State Claiming Our Loyalty Ultimately is the State of Grace
By Kenneth G. Davis
The Rev. Kenneth G. Davis, O.F.M., Conv., a Conventual Franciscan and former missionary to Central America, teaches in the Department of Pastoral Studies at St. Meinrad School of Theology in St. Meinrad, Indiana.
The position of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on immigration is about as popular as the Church's teaching on abortion. Although immigration is not as important as abortion, it is equally integral to the life of the Church. Catholics of the U.S. would do well to recall our own immigrant past, because that memory echoes Scripture: "You shall treat the stranger who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you, have the same love for him as for yourself, for you too were once strangers in the land…" (Lev. 19:33-34).
Three Principles of Catholic Social Teaching Human Life as Sacred Must Be Protected From the Moment of Conception Until Natural Death The sacredness of human life is not something earned by man nor endowed by the state. All human life is sacred because it is created by the Sacred. Man is both the privileged steward of creation as well as the unique recipient of revelation, although he remains always the servant of both and never the master of either.While the roles of Church and civil governments are and should remain distinct, the Church has a duty to proclaim the Truth to all, including governments. And the actions of any government, like any individual's, must be judged by revealed Truth.The Common Good Must Be the Goal of Any Commonwealth Recalling the meaning of "Common Wealth" (i.e., the wealth or goods of the earth should benefit all people) explains the proper role of the state in Natural Law. It is not unlike the assertion that humans are "endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights."One of the erroneous arguments of pro-abortionists is that the Church is only concerned with the child's birth and not with the needs of that child after birth. This is untrue and, in fact, why prolife principles lead logically to the principle of the common good. Every individual has both the right to life as well as the right to those goods of God's earth necessary to sustain that life. One denied access to those goods necessary to sustain life has been denied the right to life. So too every individual has the secondary right to migrate when that is necessary to secure those primary rights. Blessed Pope John XXIII referred to this as the universal good or membership in the universal society.Bishop Carlos Sevilla (Origins, April 16, 1998) referred to both rights, and Pacem in Terris (#25) and Populorum Progessio (#22), when he concluded: "The right to emigrate for economic reasons is rooted in this fundamental understanding that the earth belongs primarily to God. Secondarily it belongs to the whole human family and, only in the third place, to proprietors, who are, properly speaking, only temporary stewards of God's creation."Note the parallels between Bishop Sevilla's assertion and the Church's answer to the pro-abortion allegation, "It's my body." Just as a woman has rights over her own body, so too the state has rights over its own borders. But both sets of rights are always oriented to and limited by the principles of the sacredness of human life, and its logical corollary, that human life requires access to the common goods of the earth.Those rights are not endowed by either mothers or governments, and cannot be denied by them. Rather, it is incumbent upon us to work for a world in which all children are welcomed as well as sustained, and all people find the necessary means of life either within their own country or outside it.The common good looks beyond individual bodies and national borders to universal brotherhood, what Pope John Paul II termed "solidarity."Solidarity If all human life is sacred and merits protection, then there is a fundamental solidarity among human beings, an interdependence prior to any distinction concerning gestation or migration. One cannot defend life at any level unless one defends life on all levels. John Paul II says in Evangelium Vitae: "The Gospel of Life is for the whole of human society. To be actively pro-life is to contribute to the renewal of society through the promotion of the common good" (#101).As John Paul says, such a defense must be active. Our action can help the preborn child and the undocumented immigrant. Hence, our Episcopal conference insists on concrete action to protect all the most vulnerable human life, those considered disposable either due to institutionalized abortion or policies of xenophobia.
This is part of an article re-printed from the conservative Catholic journal, the
New Oxford Review
By Kenneth G. Davis
The Rev. Kenneth G. Davis, O.F.M., Conv., a Conventual Franciscan and former missionary to Central America, teaches in the Department of Pastoral Studies at St. Meinrad School of Theology in St. Meinrad, Indiana.
The position of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on immigration is about as popular as the Church's teaching on abortion. Although immigration is not as important as abortion, it is equally integral to the life of the Church. Catholics of the U.S. would do well to recall our own immigrant past, because that memory echoes Scripture: "You shall treat the stranger who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you, have the same love for him as for yourself, for you too were once strangers in the land…" (Lev. 19:33-34).
Three Principles of Catholic Social Teaching Human Life as Sacred Must Be Protected From the Moment of Conception Until Natural Death The sacredness of human life is not something earned by man nor endowed by the state. All human life is sacred because it is created by the Sacred. Man is both the privileged steward of creation as well as the unique recipient of revelation, although he remains always the servant of both and never the master of either.While the roles of Church and civil governments are and should remain distinct, the Church has a duty to proclaim the Truth to all, including governments. And the actions of any government, like any individual's, must be judged by revealed Truth.The Common Good Must Be the Goal of Any Commonwealth Recalling the meaning of "Common Wealth" (i.e., the wealth or goods of the earth should benefit all people) explains the proper role of the state in Natural Law. It is not unlike the assertion that humans are "endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights."One of the erroneous arguments of pro-abortionists is that the Church is only concerned with the child's birth and not with the needs of that child after birth. This is untrue and, in fact, why prolife principles lead logically to the principle of the common good. Every individual has both the right to life as well as the right to those goods of God's earth necessary to sustain that life. One denied access to those goods necessary to sustain life has been denied the right to life. So too every individual has the secondary right to migrate when that is necessary to secure those primary rights. Blessed Pope John XXIII referred to this as the universal good or membership in the universal society.Bishop Carlos Sevilla (Origins, April 16, 1998) referred to both rights, and Pacem in Terris (#25) and Populorum Progessio (#22), when he concluded: "The right to emigrate for economic reasons is rooted in this fundamental understanding that the earth belongs primarily to God. Secondarily it belongs to the whole human family and, only in the third place, to proprietors, who are, properly speaking, only temporary stewards of God's creation."Note the parallels between Bishop Sevilla's assertion and the Church's answer to the pro-abortion allegation, "It's my body." Just as a woman has rights over her own body, so too the state has rights over its own borders. But both sets of rights are always oriented to and limited by the principles of the sacredness of human life, and its logical corollary, that human life requires access to the common goods of the earth.Those rights are not endowed by either mothers or governments, and cannot be denied by them. Rather, it is incumbent upon us to work for a world in which all children are welcomed as well as sustained, and all people find the necessary means of life either within their own country or outside it.The common good looks beyond individual bodies and national borders to universal brotherhood, what Pope John Paul II termed "solidarity."Solidarity If all human life is sacred and merits protection, then there is a fundamental solidarity among human beings, an interdependence prior to any distinction concerning gestation or migration. One cannot defend life at any level unless one defends life on all levels. John Paul II says in Evangelium Vitae: "The Gospel of Life is for the whole of human society. To be actively pro-life is to contribute to the renewal of society through the promotion of the common good" (#101).As John Paul says, such a defense must be active. Our action can help the preborn child and the undocumented immigrant. Hence, our Episcopal conference insists on concrete action to protect all the most vulnerable human life, those considered disposable either due to institutionalized abortion or policies of xenophobia.
This is part of an article re-printed from the conservative Catholic journal, the
New Oxford Review
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Chinese may ban Catholics from 2008 Olympics
I am tired of every administration, including this one, caving in to pressure from businesses who have outsourced their plants to China, and ignore it's blatant violation of human rights. To his credit, President Bush has eliminated grants to the UN Population Fund, because of it's support of forced abortions in China, but that is just the tip of the iceberg.
Why are we going to participate in the Olympics in China with all the dissidents, especially Catholics who are incarcerated? Fr. Tom Euteneuer is in China and has a report on the human rights violations he is observing there. We boycotted Olympics before, when Moscow was doing the same nonsense, so let's do it now!
Why are we going to participate in the Olympics in China with all the dissidents, especially Catholics who are incarcerated? Fr. Tom Euteneuer is in China and has a report on the human rights violations he is observing there. We boycotted Olympics before, when Moscow was doing the same nonsense, so let's do it now!
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Another Supreme Court Vacancy Possible in the Near Future
I remember reading that Ann Coulter or Monica Crowley or Laura Ingraham (one of those bright blonde conservative bombshells that I'm so glad we have on OUR side!) once made the point to the Republican leadership that, as far as conservatives are concerned, the President could:
destroy the economy,
send us to war,
give amnesty to illegal immigrants,
NOT find Osama Bin Laden, and
raise taxes, IF and only IF, he
GETS BACK THE SUPREME COURT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Conservatives understand that as the Court goes, so does the nation, and nothing matters to most conservatives as much as the moral decline of this country. The Supreme Court has the power to negate years of hard work of both the Congress and the President with one decision, as in Carhart v Nebraska invalidated the first Partial Birth Abortion BAN, or all the 50 state legislature's abortion bans in Roe v Wade.
So NOTHING matters compared to the Supreme Court, and it was President Bush's appointment of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito that made our recent victory over the henious practice of Partial Birth Abortion possible. This covers a multitude of sins, in our book. If Bush want s to get his base back he had BETTER appoint a solid conservative to replace liberal troglodytes Ginsburg or Stevens. Rush Limbaugh once said, "if you want to live forever, just get yourself an appontment to the Supreme Court!"
Here's the latest buzz over possible nominees.
destroy the economy,
send us to war,
give amnesty to illegal immigrants,
NOT find Osama Bin Laden, and
raise taxes, IF and only IF, he
GETS BACK THE SUPREME COURT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Conservatives understand that as the Court goes, so does the nation, and nothing matters to most conservatives as much as the moral decline of this country. The Supreme Court has the power to negate years of hard work of both the Congress and the President with one decision, as in Carhart v Nebraska invalidated the first Partial Birth Abortion BAN, or all the 50 state legislature's abortion bans in Roe v Wade.
So NOTHING matters compared to the Supreme Court, and it was President Bush's appointment of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito that made our recent victory over the henious practice of Partial Birth Abortion possible. This covers a multitude of sins, in our book. If Bush want s to get his base back he had BETTER appoint a solid conservative to replace liberal troglodytes Ginsburg or Stevens. Rush Limbaugh once said, "if you want to live forever, just get yourself an appontment to the Supreme Court!"
Here's the latest buzz over possible nominees.
Monday, June 04, 2007
An up and coming Catholic hero, Nick Hahn III
The following article, written by Tom Roeser, is reprinted (with permission) from the May 24, 2007 issue of The Wanderer.
It Can Be Done...DePaul Student Mounts Successful Orthodox Counterattack\
By THOMAS F. ROESER
CHICAGO — Last August 6, I wrote about a 19-year-old freshman student at DePaul University who came to this largest "Catholic" university in the country from out-of-town, looking forward to getting a Catholic education. Nicholas Hahn III — a ramrod-straight Ronald Reagan devotee — found just the opposite — no crucifixes on the wall, coed dorms with widespread sexual fraternization, heavy drinking, and no formal chapel for daily Mass. Then there was the "Coming Out" ball sponsored by DePaul featuring emerging gay men and lesbians giving each other high fives to celebrate their homosexuality. Forthcoming was to be Ward Churchill, the radical Colorado professor, who celebrated the terrorists who piloted planes into the Twin Towers, saying America deserved the carnage.To say he was stunned, shocked, and anguished is an understatement. Here his Mom and Dad had made him proud to be the fourth generation of his family to be educated there in the true verities of the Church. His father, uncles, grandfather, and grandmother had gone there; his great-grandfather graduated from DePaul law school. His grandfather played for the legendary Blue Demons basketball team which was coached by the man who trained George Mikan, Ray Meyer.Overwhelmed, Hahn fell to his knees when he was alone and prayed hard trying to discover what he should do. But the scenario began to brighten from its darkest point.
The bacchanalian decadence stirred the tall (6 feet 2 inches), slender (150 lbs.) Hahn to launch a counterrevolution. He waged it with such unremitting brilliance, taking on the university's left at every strategic point and winning, that he has come near to being a campus hero.For let this old former university lecturer (older than Nick Hahn's proud grandmother, a Wanderer reader, who greeted me last week) tell you that kids of all types love a counterrevolution like Nick's. It brings excitement, stirs the blood, and reaffirms intensity of conviction.Right now Nicholas Hahn is one of the best-known students on campus as a dynamic, fighting conservative. And the leftists, rubbing their scabs, know it better than anyone else does. They simply don't have anybody to rival him.
Last week as a number of us old DePaul alums sat in an auditorium proudly (with Nick's parents and grandma), Hahn's counterrevolution hit a phenomenal high at the culmination of a series of lectures by authentic Catholic scholars during a special Hahn-induced "Catholic Week." The young student raised $11,000 to bring orthodox speakers for that week on campus. DePaul's president was there. Fr. Dennis H. Holtschneider, CM, a man who was not known for standing up to the left, was my table-mate and promised to give me an interview for The Wanderer to delineate his plan to return DePaul to the Catholicity it once boasted when I went to grad school there.
How did this quiet, rangy kid — unfamiliar not just with DePaul as a freshman but with Chicago (he hails from Ohio) — begin to turn things around?It started with the Ward Churchill invitation. Immediately Hahn got busy and joined with the sparsely numbered DePaul College Republicans to try to get the university to cancel Churchill's appearance. They lost. Undaunted they designed posters advertising Churchill's most outrageous claims, such as the one that said those who died in 9/11 deserved what they got because they were part of a huge, corrupt U.S. empire of fascism. The posters went up refuting Churchill — but the DePaul administration defeated them again by citing a university "rule."The "rule" said...get this...that the posters were disseminating "propaganda and we don't approve of propaganda." Nicholas Hahn got legal advice and discovered that the "rule" was written after the posters went up ex post facto. Another battle lost. But Hahn recruited buddies who joined with him to form what they called "The DePaul Conservative Alliance." The first thing the alliance did was to plan an "Affirmative Action Bake Sale" to ridicule the precept dear to the hearts of the left that the U.S. has managed an economy so discriminatory that its citizens should pay recompense.Becoming PopularSo Hahn and the conservatives put the principle to dramatic use. They and their conservative girlfriends baked brownies and sweet cakes and charged the students varying prices depending on race and gender. White males had to pay a higher price for their brownies as a penance for "years of discrimination" waged against females and minorities. Women students paid less to make up for "years of male oppression." At first it looked like the Bake Sale got the conservatives into trouble because it spurred a university-wide probe by the Office of Student Affairs for "harassment and racial discrimination."But the ridiculousness of the issue backfired and the good sense of that student office returned. As the first shot in a victorious battle, the conservatives' case was spread campus-wide to all 15,000 students who had never heard of the conservatives before. The upshot: The charge of "harassment and discrimination" was dismissed but the conservatives were censured and put under sanction. That was a victory. Why?Because there's nothing sweeter to a conservative and authenticist Catholic counterrevolution than being comrades at war with the leftist establishment. Quickly, Hahn and his group began to capitalize on their notoriety...and the notoriety quickly turned to popularity. Hahn and his movement acted to take advantage of their popularity through political action. He was elected a student senator. Each senator is supposed to represent a certain campus department, university school, or class. Hahn represents a once all-but-dead group — now speedily revived — called "University Mission and Values." By sticking to his convictions and adroitly using the left's tendency toward overkill, Hahn rose to a leadership role in the university. He shrewdly merchandised his victory on Chicago talk radio where he gained attention blasting Ward Churchill and vowing the fight against radicalism had just started.
At the same time, the president of the now fast-growing DePaul Republicans went on the national Fox News talk show Hannity & Colmes. The left discovered it was in for a battle with colleagues who knew how to frame issues.While the university left was reeling, Hahn coolly telephoned the office of the DePaul president as a newly elected student senator and arranged a meeting. That's where Hahn's sagacious political negotiating side took over. In a series of meeting with the president, Hahn got an agreement for a series of formal university seminars featuring outstanding Catholic spokesmen and scholars. The university's agreement...that Catholicism would officially be featured at once-Catholic now secular DePaul — was the first battle won by the conservatives. Quickly Hahn scored others.He got named to a "Free Speech Task Force" at the university where a new code was drafted to permit conservative dissent over the objections of the once-dominant left.
At the same time, as a senator he pitched headlong into a controversy involving the left concerning the university's contract with Coca-Cola, which was trying to win renewal of its contract as the "official" soft drink vendor on campus.Coke was fighting a controversy on the campuses of 19 universities with left-wing student radicals after the company denied allegations of "human rights violations" in Colombia and India by running a "sweat-shop" and causing "pollution."The left wanted to keep Coke out and abrogate a contract with any competitor because it opposes the free market, declaring all corporations are fascist. As a member of the negotiating group, Hahn reached out to competitor Pepsi, which gave the university a better deal in supporting DePaul athletic programs than Coke. While the left spent its time railing at Coke, Hahn veered, executed a brilliant turn-about stratagem and pitched Pepsi to outpoint Coke. Pepsi got the contract, which won for Hahn. He not only espoused the free market but made it triumph to outmaneuver both Coke and the left to win fresh, even better-financed support for the popular athletics program.
Counterrevolutionary Speakers
Back wearing his "Catholic hat," Hahn was told the university would accept a Catholic format of seminars, but he would have to raise the money to pay outside speakers himself. So he launched a campaign to raise the needed funds to pay nationally known scholars to come. He reached out to the grassroots organization Catholic Citizens of Illinois where Mary Anne Hackett, its president, secured a significant contribution from the organization. (Disclosure: I serve as chairman). CCI leaders such as Kelly Ames Smith, Karl Maurer, and Susan Jordan pitched in. The requisite money was raised and Hahn scheduled his seminars.The list of speakers at the university-wide seminars included Michael Novak, a well-known author who spoke on "War and the Church: Asymmetrical Warfare and the Just War," which launched a robust debate with DePaul professors; Dr. Thomas E. Woods, "How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization," the title of his best-selling book; Dr. Paul Kangor, "How Reagan and Catholics Won the Cold War"; and a final address by George Weigel on the historic value of the Catholic Church to Western civilization.
As a prelude to the series, the 19-year-old arranged for Francis Cardinal George to send a message of greeting to the forthcoming Catholic seminars — a wise and prudent move that impressed the university administration.To publicize the seminars, Hahn appeared on Relevant Radio, the national Catholic radio network. He was then invited to appear on EWTN's program Life on the Rock, which he will do in the future.Never stopping to catch his breath, Hahn, while compiling sky-high grades at DePaul, spoke about his counterrevolution at the prestigious Young America's Foundation conference held in Minneapolis, receiving a standing ovation and winning its top award. This in addition to his undertaking an internship at a prestigious Chicago law firm off-hours and Saturdays. In his spare time, he signed up as a member of the Illinois Steering Committee of Sen. Sam Brownback for president.
The question on DePaul's campus now is: When does he sleep?The Young America's Foundation, composed of nationally known conservative leaders, has purchased the Reagan ranch in Santa Barbara which it operates as a historical museum. Hahn won a free trip to the Reagan Rancho del Cielo. Then he won the prestigious Phillips Foundation Ronald Reagan Scholarship of $5,000, which will pay for his being an intern at a top office in Congress next summer.The battle to return DePaul to orthodox Catholicity has just begun, but Nicholas Hahn III — one beanpole-sized kid with spiky hair and an aw-shucks Reaganesque demeanor — has shown all of us how to brilliantly orchestrate a counterattack on one of the most secular university campuses in the nation.
As we sat listening to George Weigel last week, I paid particular attention to the young DePaul president, Fr. Holtschneider. His eyes were shining and his applause for the event seemed to evoke an indication that things are on the upswing for Catholicism at DePaul. Presiding over the event that culminated what by all odds was the most authentic display of Catholic faith at a university long regarded as beyond redemption even of missionary activity, Nicholas Hahn III was smooth, cordial, generous, and eloquent. His entire family, mother, father, and grandmother — all DePaul alums — sat entranced. As was I. Fr. Holtschneider sees there is a conservative and authentic Catholic constituency, necessary if he is to provide necessary reforms.The next time you think a) our modern generation is flaccid, and b) our once Catholic university system cannot be reactivated, think of Nicholas Hahn III who has yet to observe his 20th birthday. Nor does he come off as brash, cocky, or full of boilerplate answers. He's reflective, modest, thoughtful, and could be misinterpreted as introverted — until he starts wooing backers on a project.
Never Sell Out
As we had lunch last week celebrating the first leg of his stunning victory at DePaul, I asked him what he learned from his experience. He said, "The way to be a proud conservative on campus these days is not to change minds but to have the unique ability to spark university-wide debate on issues that would otherwise go unnoticed. We are carrying the tide toward a true marketplace of ideas to make Catholicism vitally present and operative."While influential lay leaders of the Church see a full-time role for Hahn as a layman devoted 100% to Catholicism, he is noncommittal about his future. He wants a career in law. When we had lunch last week, I asked this quietly modest young fellow who's younger than my oldest grandson if a rumor I heard was true — that he was contemplating a career in politics."Well," he said, "it's occurred to me. So much of my work getting things done at DePaul has involved the art of politics. I think it would be fun."Speaking as a crotchety old surrogate grandfather to him, I said: Promise me, Nicholas...promise me you won't until and unless you do one thing first. Put off running as a candidate for a good long while.His eyes widened. "Coming from you?" he said. "You spent more than 50 years either covering politics or being a part of it yourself. You're discouraging me from getting involved in politics?"I said: No, but I want you to promise me you won't until you do one thing first.He said: "Okay. What is it?"I replied: Follow the advice of a very successful politician I knew many years ago — one who never caved in to people who tried to sway him with big contributions. One who did what he thought was right and was so independent that he couldn't be bought or rented. Who went on to become a great legislator and a great governor of his state. He never sold out.He said: "That's what I want to do, never sell out. Shouldn't be hard to do, should it?"I commented: Very hard. Problems will arise in politics that will make you go to the money well — and there'll be people who will be glad to help you, for a price. That's where you get into trouble.He frowned. "How did your friend solve that dilemma?"I said: He got into business, became an entrepreneur, and made about $50 million first. Then he was sufficiently independent so he could remain true to his ideals. He financed much of his own campaigns. He ran for the legislature, got in, made a great record and took contributions only from those who shared his ideals and who wanted nothing whatsoever from him. He became governor and after his term returned to make millions more. At his death, he was regarded not only as incorruptible but true to himself and his ideals. Promise me that you will make your financial stake first.Nicholas looked at me for a long time and then said: "Well, if you say so. Fifty million, you say?"I have no doubt this kid will make it no matter what he wants to do.(To read more articles by Thomas F. Roeser, log on to http://www.tomroeser.com/.)Related links:http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/may/07052806.htmlhttp://www.tfp.org/student_action/activities/protests/depaul_out_there_conference.htm
It Can Be Done...DePaul Student Mounts Successful Orthodox Counterattack\
By THOMAS F. ROESER
CHICAGO — Last August 6, I wrote about a 19-year-old freshman student at DePaul University who came to this largest "Catholic" university in the country from out-of-town, looking forward to getting a Catholic education. Nicholas Hahn III — a ramrod-straight Ronald Reagan devotee — found just the opposite — no crucifixes on the wall, coed dorms with widespread sexual fraternization, heavy drinking, and no formal chapel for daily Mass. Then there was the "Coming Out" ball sponsored by DePaul featuring emerging gay men and lesbians giving each other high fives to celebrate their homosexuality. Forthcoming was to be Ward Churchill, the radical Colorado professor, who celebrated the terrorists who piloted planes into the Twin Towers, saying America deserved the carnage.To say he was stunned, shocked, and anguished is an understatement. Here his Mom and Dad had made him proud to be the fourth generation of his family to be educated there in the true verities of the Church. His father, uncles, grandfather, and grandmother had gone there; his great-grandfather graduated from DePaul law school. His grandfather played for the legendary Blue Demons basketball team which was coached by the man who trained George Mikan, Ray Meyer.Overwhelmed, Hahn fell to his knees when he was alone and prayed hard trying to discover what he should do. But the scenario began to brighten from its darkest point.
The bacchanalian decadence stirred the tall (6 feet 2 inches), slender (150 lbs.) Hahn to launch a counterrevolution. He waged it with such unremitting brilliance, taking on the university's left at every strategic point and winning, that he has come near to being a campus hero.For let this old former university lecturer (older than Nick Hahn's proud grandmother, a Wanderer reader, who greeted me last week) tell you that kids of all types love a counterrevolution like Nick's. It brings excitement, stirs the blood, and reaffirms intensity of conviction.Right now Nicholas Hahn is one of the best-known students on campus as a dynamic, fighting conservative. And the leftists, rubbing their scabs, know it better than anyone else does. They simply don't have anybody to rival him.
Last week as a number of us old DePaul alums sat in an auditorium proudly (with Nick's parents and grandma), Hahn's counterrevolution hit a phenomenal high at the culmination of a series of lectures by authentic Catholic scholars during a special Hahn-induced "Catholic Week." The young student raised $11,000 to bring orthodox speakers for that week on campus. DePaul's president was there. Fr. Dennis H. Holtschneider, CM, a man who was not known for standing up to the left, was my table-mate and promised to give me an interview for The Wanderer to delineate his plan to return DePaul to the Catholicity it once boasted when I went to grad school there.
How did this quiet, rangy kid — unfamiliar not just with DePaul as a freshman but with Chicago (he hails from Ohio) — begin to turn things around?It started with the Ward Churchill invitation. Immediately Hahn got busy and joined with the sparsely numbered DePaul College Republicans to try to get the university to cancel Churchill's appearance. They lost. Undaunted they designed posters advertising Churchill's most outrageous claims, such as the one that said those who died in 9/11 deserved what they got because they were part of a huge, corrupt U.S. empire of fascism. The posters went up refuting Churchill — but the DePaul administration defeated them again by citing a university "rule."The "rule" said...get this...that the posters were disseminating "propaganda and we don't approve of propaganda." Nicholas Hahn got legal advice and discovered that the "rule" was written after the posters went up ex post facto. Another battle lost. But Hahn recruited buddies who joined with him to form what they called "The DePaul Conservative Alliance." The first thing the alliance did was to plan an "Affirmative Action Bake Sale" to ridicule the precept dear to the hearts of the left that the U.S. has managed an economy so discriminatory that its citizens should pay recompense.Becoming PopularSo Hahn and the conservatives put the principle to dramatic use. They and their conservative girlfriends baked brownies and sweet cakes and charged the students varying prices depending on race and gender. White males had to pay a higher price for their brownies as a penance for "years of discrimination" waged against females and minorities. Women students paid less to make up for "years of male oppression." At first it looked like the Bake Sale got the conservatives into trouble because it spurred a university-wide probe by the Office of Student Affairs for "harassment and racial discrimination."But the ridiculousness of the issue backfired and the good sense of that student office returned. As the first shot in a victorious battle, the conservatives' case was spread campus-wide to all 15,000 students who had never heard of the conservatives before. The upshot: The charge of "harassment and discrimination" was dismissed but the conservatives were censured and put under sanction. That was a victory. Why?Because there's nothing sweeter to a conservative and authenticist Catholic counterrevolution than being comrades at war with the leftist establishment. Quickly, Hahn and his group began to capitalize on their notoriety...and the notoriety quickly turned to popularity. Hahn and his movement acted to take advantage of their popularity through political action. He was elected a student senator. Each senator is supposed to represent a certain campus department, university school, or class. Hahn represents a once all-but-dead group — now speedily revived — called "University Mission and Values." By sticking to his convictions and adroitly using the left's tendency toward overkill, Hahn rose to a leadership role in the university. He shrewdly merchandised his victory on Chicago talk radio where he gained attention blasting Ward Churchill and vowing the fight against radicalism had just started.
At the same time, the president of the now fast-growing DePaul Republicans went on the national Fox News talk show Hannity & Colmes. The left discovered it was in for a battle with colleagues who knew how to frame issues.While the university left was reeling, Hahn coolly telephoned the office of the DePaul president as a newly elected student senator and arranged a meeting. That's where Hahn's sagacious political negotiating side took over. In a series of meeting with the president, Hahn got an agreement for a series of formal university seminars featuring outstanding Catholic spokesmen and scholars. The university's agreement...that Catholicism would officially be featured at once-Catholic now secular DePaul — was the first battle won by the conservatives. Quickly Hahn scored others.He got named to a "Free Speech Task Force" at the university where a new code was drafted to permit conservative dissent over the objections of the once-dominant left.
At the same time, as a senator he pitched headlong into a controversy involving the left concerning the university's contract with Coca-Cola, which was trying to win renewal of its contract as the "official" soft drink vendor on campus.Coke was fighting a controversy on the campuses of 19 universities with left-wing student radicals after the company denied allegations of "human rights violations" in Colombia and India by running a "sweat-shop" and causing "pollution."The left wanted to keep Coke out and abrogate a contract with any competitor because it opposes the free market, declaring all corporations are fascist. As a member of the negotiating group, Hahn reached out to competitor Pepsi, which gave the university a better deal in supporting DePaul athletic programs than Coke. While the left spent its time railing at Coke, Hahn veered, executed a brilliant turn-about stratagem and pitched Pepsi to outpoint Coke. Pepsi got the contract, which won for Hahn. He not only espoused the free market but made it triumph to outmaneuver both Coke and the left to win fresh, even better-financed support for the popular athletics program.
Counterrevolutionary Speakers
Back wearing his "Catholic hat," Hahn was told the university would accept a Catholic format of seminars, but he would have to raise the money to pay outside speakers himself. So he launched a campaign to raise the needed funds to pay nationally known scholars to come. He reached out to the grassroots organization Catholic Citizens of Illinois where Mary Anne Hackett, its president, secured a significant contribution from the organization. (Disclosure: I serve as chairman). CCI leaders such as Kelly Ames Smith, Karl Maurer, and Susan Jordan pitched in. The requisite money was raised and Hahn scheduled his seminars.The list of speakers at the university-wide seminars included Michael Novak, a well-known author who spoke on "War and the Church: Asymmetrical Warfare and the Just War," which launched a robust debate with DePaul professors; Dr. Thomas E. Woods, "How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization," the title of his best-selling book; Dr. Paul Kangor, "How Reagan and Catholics Won the Cold War"; and a final address by George Weigel on the historic value of the Catholic Church to Western civilization.
As a prelude to the series, the 19-year-old arranged for Francis Cardinal George to send a message of greeting to the forthcoming Catholic seminars — a wise and prudent move that impressed the university administration.To publicize the seminars, Hahn appeared on Relevant Radio, the national Catholic radio network. He was then invited to appear on EWTN's program Life on the Rock, which he will do in the future.Never stopping to catch his breath, Hahn, while compiling sky-high grades at DePaul, spoke about his counterrevolution at the prestigious Young America's Foundation conference held in Minneapolis, receiving a standing ovation and winning its top award. This in addition to his undertaking an internship at a prestigious Chicago law firm off-hours and Saturdays. In his spare time, he signed up as a member of the Illinois Steering Committee of Sen. Sam Brownback for president.
The question on DePaul's campus now is: When does he sleep?The Young America's Foundation, composed of nationally known conservative leaders, has purchased the Reagan ranch in Santa Barbara which it operates as a historical museum. Hahn won a free trip to the Reagan Rancho del Cielo. Then he won the prestigious Phillips Foundation Ronald Reagan Scholarship of $5,000, which will pay for his being an intern at a top office in Congress next summer.The battle to return DePaul to orthodox Catholicity has just begun, but Nicholas Hahn III — one beanpole-sized kid with spiky hair and an aw-shucks Reaganesque demeanor — has shown all of us how to brilliantly orchestrate a counterattack on one of the most secular university campuses in the nation.
As we sat listening to George Weigel last week, I paid particular attention to the young DePaul president, Fr. Holtschneider. His eyes were shining and his applause for the event seemed to evoke an indication that things are on the upswing for Catholicism at DePaul. Presiding over the event that culminated what by all odds was the most authentic display of Catholic faith at a university long regarded as beyond redemption even of missionary activity, Nicholas Hahn III was smooth, cordial, generous, and eloquent. His entire family, mother, father, and grandmother — all DePaul alums — sat entranced. As was I. Fr. Holtschneider sees there is a conservative and authentic Catholic constituency, necessary if he is to provide necessary reforms.The next time you think a) our modern generation is flaccid, and b) our once Catholic university system cannot be reactivated, think of Nicholas Hahn III who has yet to observe his 20th birthday. Nor does he come off as brash, cocky, or full of boilerplate answers. He's reflective, modest, thoughtful, and could be misinterpreted as introverted — until he starts wooing backers on a project.
Never Sell Out
As we had lunch last week celebrating the first leg of his stunning victory at DePaul, I asked him what he learned from his experience. He said, "The way to be a proud conservative on campus these days is not to change minds but to have the unique ability to spark university-wide debate on issues that would otherwise go unnoticed. We are carrying the tide toward a true marketplace of ideas to make Catholicism vitally present and operative."While influential lay leaders of the Church see a full-time role for Hahn as a layman devoted 100% to Catholicism, he is noncommittal about his future. He wants a career in law. When we had lunch last week, I asked this quietly modest young fellow who's younger than my oldest grandson if a rumor I heard was true — that he was contemplating a career in politics."Well," he said, "it's occurred to me. So much of my work getting things done at DePaul has involved the art of politics. I think it would be fun."Speaking as a crotchety old surrogate grandfather to him, I said: Promise me, Nicholas...promise me you won't until and unless you do one thing first. Put off running as a candidate for a good long while.His eyes widened. "Coming from you?" he said. "You spent more than 50 years either covering politics or being a part of it yourself. You're discouraging me from getting involved in politics?"I said: No, but I want you to promise me you won't until you do one thing first.He said: "Okay. What is it?"I replied: Follow the advice of a very successful politician I knew many years ago — one who never caved in to people who tried to sway him with big contributions. One who did what he thought was right and was so independent that he couldn't be bought or rented. Who went on to become a great legislator and a great governor of his state. He never sold out.He said: "That's what I want to do, never sell out. Shouldn't be hard to do, should it?"I commented: Very hard. Problems will arise in politics that will make you go to the money well — and there'll be people who will be glad to help you, for a price. That's where you get into trouble.He frowned. "How did your friend solve that dilemma?"I said: He got into business, became an entrepreneur, and made about $50 million first. Then he was sufficiently independent so he could remain true to his ideals. He financed much of his own campaigns. He ran for the legislature, got in, made a great record and took contributions only from those who shared his ideals and who wanted nothing whatsoever from him. He became governor and after his term returned to make millions more. At his death, he was regarded not only as incorruptible but true to himself and his ideals. Promise me that you will make your financial stake first.Nicholas looked at me for a long time and then said: "Well, if you say so. Fifty million, you say?"I have no doubt this kid will make it no matter what he wants to do.(To read more articles by Thomas F. Roeser, log on to http://www.tomroeser.com/.)Related links:http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/may/07052806.htmlhttp://www.tfp.org/student_action/activities/protests/depaul_out_there_conference.htm
Monsignor McDonald: the Priestmaker
Creative Minority Report has an excellent post about this wonderful priest whom I was fortunate enough to have as my pastor for two short years, and am happy to see as the Rector of our Seminary. Monsignor takes the salvation of souls very seriously, when I first came to his parish, he mentioned Satan in the first two homilies I heard. I told him that HE was the main reason I had moved to St. John's.He is gone seven years now, however, he comes over to surprise us when things are slow in the Seminary and gives us one of his rousing homilies, where he walks into your pew, and screams into your face, "you've got to go to confession to save your immortal soul!!!" No one has ever stayed asleep during his homilies!!
First Saturday devotions, Eucharistic Adoration, and long lines at the confessional are his enduring legacy to us. He's a St. John Vianney in the confessional, ready to put on his purple stole at the slightest mention of the sacrament. Once, on the way back to the rectory on his day off which he used to visit his parents, he 'felt guilty' for taking the day off, and stopped to hear confessions at the local hospital. For Msgr. McDonald, nothing was as refreshing as hearing souls come back into a state of grace.
His devotion to the Holy Eucharist is legendary. Once, at a Family Conference, he broke down in tears trying to explain the beauty of Christ's Real Presence. A fellow priest asked me, concerned, "is he all right?" to which I replied, "he always gets like that when he's talking about the Eucharist, that's why we love him". I heard from a friend, that in Monsignor's latest parish, St. Matthew's, an Extraordinary Minister dropped a Sacred Host on the floor during communion. Monsignor, dropped to the floor, consumed the Host, and LICKED THE FLOOR where it had been. A Jewish man observed this and decided to become a Catholic on the spot, saying, "this man REALLY believes that Jesus is in the Host".
Our Bishop, William Murphy has said of him, "he is the priest I admire most, he is like a grandfather figure to all the youth of the diocese. " "That is why he is now rector of the seminary, because Monsignor McDonald has a PhD in priesthood."
Our diocese has a bright future with Monsignor McDonald in charge of forming new priests.
What type of Catholic are you?
Results of Beliefnet's Catholic identity quiz
You Are a Daily Rosary (Very Traditional) Catholic You'd like the church to revive the time-honored devotions, liturgical practices, and strong institutional discipline that prevailed before the Second Vatican Council—and you're hoping that Pope Benedict XVI will lead the church in exactly that direction. Your favorite hymn is probably a traditional Latin composition such as the "Panis Angelicus," and your favorite pope is probably a pioneer of the Church's great liturgical tradition such as Gregory the Great. You loved "The Passion of the Christ."Read stories of interest to you: (they're right on all counts!)
How to Find a Spiritual DirectorBy Fr. John McCloskey
Faith-Based Accents for the HomeBy Jim Moore
The Gregorian Chant ComebackBy Arlene Oost-Zimmer and Jeffrey Tucker
Why This Catholic Won't Sing...Heretical HymnsBy George Weigel
We'll Take the "Quiet Mass"By Jeffrey Tuckeral Catholic.
HT Regina Caeli
You Are a Daily Rosary (Very Traditional) Catholic You'd like the church to revive the time-honored devotions, liturgical practices, and strong institutional discipline that prevailed before the Second Vatican Council—and you're hoping that Pope Benedict XVI will lead the church in exactly that direction. Your favorite hymn is probably a traditional Latin composition such as the "Panis Angelicus," and your favorite pope is probably a pioneer of the Church's great liturgical tradition such as Gregory the Great. You loved "The Passion of the Christ."Read stories of interest to you: (they're right on all counts!)
How to Find a Spiritual DirectorBy Fr. John McCloskey
Faith-Based Accents for the HomeBy Jim Moore
The Gregorian Chant ComebackBy Arlene Oost-Zimmer and Jeffrey Tucker
Why This Catholic Won't Sing...Heretical HymnsBy George Weigel
We'll Take the "Quiet Mass"By Jeffrey Tuckeral Catholic.
HT Regina Caeli
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Why does the ACLU oppose porn filters on library computers?
This article from World New Daily gives some insight.
"A former executive for the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia has been sentenced to eight years in prison after he admitted having "graphic and violent" child pornography.
Rust-Tierney previously had served as the president of the Virginia chapter of the ACLU, and admitted his guilt under a plea bargain.
It was Rust-Tierney who, nearly 10 years ago, had argued before the Loudoun County Library Board against any Internet filters on the computers at the public facility.
The library, which had been using filters on its computers, was ordered to change its policy by a federal court.
"The ACLU of Virginia urges the board to carefully consider a new Internet Use Policy that allows for maximum Internet access…," he said at the time.
He encouraged the library board to recognize "that individuals will continue to behave responsibly and appropriately while in the library," so therefore "the default should be maximum, unrestricted access to ... the Internet."
Is anyone out there suprised?
HT Spirit Daily
"A former executive for the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia has been sentenced to eight years in prison after he admitted having "graphic and violent" child pornography.
Rust-Tierney previously had served as the president of the Virginia chapter of the ACLU, and admitted his guilt under a plea bargain.
It was Rust-Tierney who, nearly 10 years ago, had argued before the Loudoun County Library Board against any Internet filters on the computers at the public facility.
The library, which had been using filters on its computers, was ordered to change its policy by a federal court.
"The ACLU of Virginia urges the board to carefully consider a new Internet Use Policy that allows for maximum Internet access…," he said at the time.
He encouraged the library board to recognize "that individuals will continue to behave responsibly and appropriately while in the library," so therefore "the default should be maximum, unrestricted access to ... the Internet."
Is anyone out there suprised?
HT Spirit Daily
What's your theological world view?
 | You scored as Roman Catholic, You are Roman Catholic. Church tradition and ecclesial authority are hugely important, and the most important part of worship for you is mass. As the Mother of God, Mary is important in your theology, and as the communion of saints includes the living and the dead, you can also ask the saints to intercede for you.
What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com |
HT Roving Medievalist
The New Springtime has a nice post on Trinity Sunday
I have just discovered a great new blog, The New Springtime, referring of course to Pope John Paul the Great's New Springtime of Evangelization. It's a husband and wife blogging team, and they have a nice reflection on Trinity Sunday. Enjoy.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Fr. Tom's mediations on the month of the Sacred Heart
One of the soldiers thrust a lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. (Jn 19:34)"June is the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Perhaps no other devotion can be said to be as central to our Christian faith as this devotion because it is rooted entirely in the central mystery of our faith, the death and resurrection of Jesus. Truly, the Sacred Heart stands at the very heart of our world and calls to all men to draw near. God did not just stand afar off in heaven to raise us out of our sins; He actually came to us and embraced the heartbreak that those sins bring into every single life. His Heart is a broken, pierced and torn heart that can console every person in his suffering.
In the apparitions of the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary Alocoque in the 1670s, Jesus promised that all who would simply go to Mass and receive Communion on the First Fridays of nine consecutive months would have the grace of “final perseverance,” that is, the grace of being faithful to the very end of life no matter what the challenges. Those who never think of the hour of death may presume that this moment will come and go with ease, but our enemy does not think so, and it is to this reality of spiritual combat in the final moments of life that the Lord directs His promise."
To read the entire article, click here.
Please join me in the Sacred Heart Novena for my Aunt Barbara who has dies, and for your family members who are ill.
Friday, June 01, 2007
New and Improved "4 new x 2"Meme
Jean at Catholic Fire has tagged me for this meme, in which I name four things that are new to me in the past four years, and four things I'd like to try in the next four years.1. Being an advocate for my daughter with Down Syndrome. Yes, Christina is 5, but it took the first year for me to adjust to her unique needs, and once I felt that we had begun to meet them, it struck me how little the world understands individuals with Down syndrome. This new activity has introduced me to some great families!
2. Blogging- this has the potential to morph into it's own post! I've been blogging since Oct 2006, and to say my life has changed is a gross understatement. I will be presenting at the Society of Catholic Social Scientists Conference this October on the social impact of blogging. Part of that presentation will include how blogging has literally exploded my world in all directions. More to come.
3. Horseback riding with the whole family-We have gone trail riding in Vermont, Ohio, Florida, and North Carolina. We want to try riding up in Canada this summer. Christina took adaptive horseback riding in pre-school, but wasn't ready to mount a horse in the Blue Ridge Mountains this April. Maybe she will this summer.
4.Camping with a trailer as a family-this is more difficult than you think, as we are more citified than we let on. We don't like bugs, and muddy feet, and emptying that yucky tube you-know-where. If you don't know what I mean, go watch RV. Those guys that come to watch and offer suggestions when you're completely clueless really are helpful. And you gotta love that campground camaraderie.
Four things I would like to try in the next four years:
1. Europe- I travelled cheaply throughout Europe when I was single. I would like to take the girls to visit the Holy Father in Rome, staying in convents. This depends on the ability of Christina to adjust to new surroundings, and new cuisine, and none of us to get terribly homesick. Then, of course, there's the airfare.
Maybe in the next 8 years!
2.Skiing as a family- I've looked into adaptive skiing schools in Vermont for Christina, but taking stock of this family's skiing experience, I think we could ALL use a special class!
3. Owning a Farm-Isabella, Francisco, and I long for this. Of course, we'd have to convince Gabbi first. (We were thinking of just moving while she's away at college, and sending her the address.) Christina would love anything with animals. Our dogs would love the freedom. Our cats would love the mice. Would we be able to cope with the black flies?
4. Working as a Freelance Writer-This is a goal I'm pursuing steadily here on the blog, and I have a couple of projects cooking. I like working from home, the hours are flexible, and you don't have to get dressed. Plus, here at the Velasquez home, there's plenty of material for humor!
I tag anyone who would like to play.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Sign the Petition to Educate Expectant Parents about Down Syndrome
Noelle proud mother of Jaden, her son with Down syndrome, and author of the blog, Jaden's Journal, asks us to sign this petition to urge action on the bill to educate parents about the true nature of Down syndrome and the reality of life with Downs. For some reason, there are forces in our Congress who oppose this, but we can unite to overcome them.
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