Move Past Spirit of Vatican II

Fr. Barron: Evangelization is one of the three great pillars and missions of Catholicism.



Let's stop debating/meeting about settled issues in order to preach and share the Gospel with Holy-Spirit-inspired boldness.

HHS Wine Mandate

Prohibition of HHS Contraception Mandate

HHS Wine Mandate

On January twentieth of this year, Secretary Sebelius of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) revealed an interim final rule that will require many religious institutions, including Catholic hospitals and universities, to provide free Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved contraceptives and abortifacient birth control in their employees’ health plans.

This federal rule predictably angered many of the Catholic hierarchy since they teach that the use of all artificial contraception is a violation of natural and divine law. This imposition of the federal government’s power against the free exercise of religion, to be forced to provide substances that would lead them into direct material cooperation with evil, was perceived as a violation of their constitutional rights and rightly-formed consciences.

This whole episode reminded me of Ken Burns’ Prohibition that was premiered on PBS last year. In fact, in cultural debates, the historically dismal failure of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution powerfully plays into the hands of those who want to keep abortion legal, extend legal marriage rights to same-sex couples, and make all drugs legal.

We don’t want to legislate morals was the overall theme expressly portrayed throughout the documentary series. Many historical and contemporary commentators vociferously came to the same conclusion. The documented visual footage to that end was as strong as the axes and sledgehammers that destroyed all the beer barrels and wine bottles throughout the country during the prohibition of intoxicating beverages.

In one segment of Prohibition, there was a documentary on making the documentary. Burns explicitly said during this subsequent making of documentary that his Prohibition was meant to speak to those involved in contemporary issues of immigration, abortion, and a plethora of others. Again, we can’t legislate morals because it doesn’t work, just look at prohibition. So, stop.

However, doesn’t the HHS rule legislate morality? Effecting the actions of people by law de facto imposes morality. Of course, the difference between Prohibition and the HHS contraception rule is that alcoholic beverages were outlawed while birth control is proscribed. With the imposition of a contraceptive mandate on all Catholic affiliated religious employers, the U.S. government is practically sprinkling the popular culture’s worldview on them that will slowly dissolve their Catholic identity and ultimately their religious freedom.

What’s next? Will the Obama administration go after the home run of them all? Will elective abortion coverage be compulsory? “Might as well,” they might ponder if the final rule is upheld in court. The plethora of self-identified Catholics who are laissez-faire about the religious conscious rights of other Catholics probably won’t fight alongside the hierarchy against an abortion mandate. It’s also true that many self-labeled Catholic hospitals perform abortions and prescribe contraception on non-hospital script pads while hiding abortifacient drug placards behind cupboard doors.

What many commentators have missed, though, is one of the cited reasons why HHS ultimately imposed the rule. According to part of the HHS statement, “Scientists have abundant evidence that birth control has significant health benefits for women and their families”.

This clause made me think of something else that scientists have consistently found to improve health that Prohibition explicitly outlawed. Some alcoholic beverages taken in small quantities such as red wine and even beer have reportedly been beneficial for the heart and other body organs. Since health increases, health costs decrease. However, physicians still do not recommend that drinking should be undertaken in excess for various reasons, liver damage being a common one.

Just imagine if HHS issued a rule to mandate the coverage of red wine in health plans. They could say that it improved health as a justification. What would happen? A few things would predictably happen from increased access to mandated free alcohol. Many protestant groups, Mormons, Muslims, and others would protest. There would be more domestic violence. The main reason for passing the Prohibition Constitutional Amendment was to curb the beatings of married women by drunk husbands and from married men from drinking the family savings into oblivion. There would be more arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI), and car crash fatalities would skyrocket.

Bringing it back to contraception, what will happen when contraception use increases? Will it increase abortion rates? First, abortifacient birth control will certainly increase abortions. Second, non- abortifacient contraceptives may increase the abortion rate. In the January 2011 issue of Contraception, it was shown that in Spain for 2,000 women aged 15 to 49 from 1997 to 2007, contraceptive use increased from 49.1% to 79.9%. Spain’s abortion rate increased from 5.52 per 1,000 women to 11.49. How will the abortion rate of the United States change? The evidence indicates an increase in the number of elective abortions, especially if the Catholic Church in the U.S. cannot practically resist its free coverage.

Since the Catholic Church teaches that all human life is to be protected in law just like other more developed living humans (CCC 2273), the Church hierarchy and its members have the constitutional right, at minimum, to refuse compliance with any future abortion mandates and compulsory payments for contraceptives in their own institutions. This includes Catholic hospitals, universities, and any Catholic employer who refuses to provide them under guidance from their properly-formed conscience. Just because a product is purportedly beneficial to someone doesn’t mean that others must be mandated to supply it to them, especially if the use of the product-in-question and its secondary effects are morally reprehensible to the provider.

© 2012 Wondering Zygote Emeritus
Written: February 2012

A Tepid US Presidential Endorsement

The video below by Michael Voris pretty much explains it all. A faithful Catholic should, with a "tepid endorsement", vote for Romney for US President (POTUS). He explains it well.

I wonder why this is the reason more non-Catholic institutions are suing over the HHS mandate (for abortion-inducing drugs) than Catholic ones.

Year of Faith in Baltimore

Last Sunday, I went to St. Mark's in Catonsville (21228) to participate in the mass with Abp. Lori of Baltimore. I saw him before at the HHS Fortnight for Freedom mass, too, but this time my family was with me.

Abp. Lori Pointing Towards Heaven

His homily (found here) was very inspiring. It was especially inspiring since I'm trying to start an New Evangelization committee/ministry at my particular Church (plan to call it "Boot Camp of Beautiful Feet"; Romans 10: 15). It's also in the works to show Saint movies (Song of Bernadette etc.) and perhaps the Catholicism series by Fr. Barron (Jesus of Nazareth for Lent?).

The other thing I'm ecstatic about is that he included the following in the homily,

The second task for this Year of Faith and indeed for our lives together as Catholics is to become utterly convinced of the coherence, truth, beauty, and goodness of all that the Church teaches with respect to faith and morals, including those moral and social teachings that are often counter-cultural, such as the Church’s teaching on marriage and sexual morality and the sacredness of human life from the moment of conception until natural death. We are called to assent to what the Church teaches, not merely with an intellectual nod, a knowing smile, or a passing glance—but rather to become utterly convinced that these are the words of everlasting life. Our faith must not occupy merely a compartment in our minds and hearts but rather must shape the way we think, the decisions we make, the words we say, and the quality of our relationships at home, in the parish, at work, and with friends.

I've never heard anyone say this in a homily before. Wow! The rest of it was pretty terrific, too.

I hope the Lord will bless Abp. Lori and our Archdiocese of Baltimore with an increase in living faith. I wonder what else He will have in store for us.

(Here's Pope Benedict XVI's homily.)

Help Request for My Wife

My wife is in a book club of moms that sort of resembles The View, and she's the conservative Catholic one (They are formerly or currently stay-at-home moms). It also turns out that one of the book-club moms who was Catholic, goes to a non-denominational (denomination) Christian Ecclesiastic Community, and has multiple IVF children pretty much attacked my wife at a soccer practice last week about her beliefs; she just nodded. My wife was having a hard week with multiple close relatives and friends who are not doing well (to put it mildly), she told her "friend", and the "friend" still went on the war path.

Well ...

I just found this promising book that my wife can give to her friend. It's Breaking Through: Catholic Women Speak for Themselves, edited by Helen Alvaré. My wife quite often seeks good books by down-to-earth Catholic authors, and this one seems to fit the bill.

I'm wondering if you have any others to suggest? Thanks.

More Humanae Vitae Videos

Yesterday, I forgot to add the videos below to the list of "Best Humanae Vitae Videos".

The Catholic Church and Contraception Part 1 and 2

Best Humanae Vitae Videos

Yes, today is the 44th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, the reaffirmation of the constant Church teaching on contraception by Pope Paul VI in 1968 (actually, *ALL* Protestants believed it until 1930, too).

The videos below are the best that I found on Youtube that talk about Humanae Vitae and contraception from best to less-than-best, but still good and on topic:

Humanae Vitae: Catholic Teaching - Part One and Two

The Catholic Church and Contraception Part 1 and 2

Contraception & the New Dark Age :
Where we are and how we got here Part 1 of a 4 part series.
Contraception & Salvation Part 2 of a 4 part series.
Contraception and Sanctification Part 3 of a 4 part series.
Contraception and the Sexual Ethic Part 4 of a 4 part series.

Dr Janet Smith - Contraception: Why Not - Abortion

Humanae Vitae: 40 Years Later - Part 1 and 2

Debunking Birth Control Myths - Episode 37 Excerpt - Life Report

The Tale of Two Mandates

The Tale of Two Mandates

It was the best of intentions; it was the worst of intentions. The Obama horse was welcomed as a gift by many of the country’s inhabitants as a gift of reconciliation. Those who took him in were not ready for what lay inside the belly of the beast.

There were the wise who knew the history of repercussions of such a gift, but they were powerless to stop the momentum of the mass of mischief that lurched inside the walls of power.

A strange odor came from the beast as it entered the walled city, but the inhabitants naively assumed it followed in from the dank wood. For the enemy first desired to unleash a full frontal attack, but a slower, ranker deception was more likely to succeed. It was decided to let the little secret be hidden within the exterior of the beast of burden.

As the citizens of the castle pondered what could be inside the gift, they would have to wait to see what was really in it.

In the middle of the night, the moon glistened with a hollow hope that all was well. However suddenly, panels of the horse flew off and immediately flattened those who happened to be passing near the horse.

Then the men, so many angry men leapt out of the horse that a swarm of furious bees would be less densely packed and seem so humbly demure.

In what seemed to be an instant, the fortress was taken over by the red ones.

But to this day, the remaining remnants of the old city wait upon the day when their savior will come again.

---

I meant the above allegory to come out differently, but it didn’t quite turn out that way. I’ll address the two mandates (HHS & individual mandates) directly another day soon.

Fr. Barron vs. Voris?

No. Both Fr. Barron and Michael Voris of ChurchMilitant.tv believe that Vatican II was valid and good.

What is interesting is that Fr. Barron (second video at 1:51-2:17) answers Voris' question/comment (first video at 1:12-1:45).

Militant vs. Nice
"... No one in that [Spirit of Vatican II/"church of nice"] camp ever seems to be able to actually define what is meant by the spirit of Vatican II. ..."



The Meaning of Vatican II: A Commentary by Fr. Barron





Fr. Barron rightly clarifies that there is a split that developed between theologians after the council.

I wonder if that rift will ever close. I hope that it does soon, even in my Catholic parish.

On Graphic Abortion Images

                “You’re giving the prolife movement a black eye,” a male senior citizen angrily yelled out his open car window at me. It was a bright, but heated Friday afternoon at the bottom of a greatly-sloped hill on John’s Hopkins University in Baltimore City. As the loud motorist on Charles Street made the loud call, the vociferous Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) picture display of the Center for Bioethical Reform was being used to engage pedestrians — mostly students — and motorists that stopped at the red light nearby. (The GAP display used graphic pictures of various genocides, including abortion, to highlight the injustice of abortion.)

                It was the first time that I ever handed out prolife literature at a GAP display or engaged students on a college campus. It was to be expected that there would be counter-protesters and debates with many people along the prolife/proabortion spectrum, but how does the showing of abortion-killings pictures give the prolife movement a black eye? Doesn’t it open people’s eyes to the horror of abortion?

                A biology student at the display said that we shouldn’t show the gruesomely bloody pictures because young people might see the graphic abortion pictures, and it was also like displaying hard-core pornographic scenes. In a way, I always thought the same thing, but then I read about Lila Rose and others. Ms. Rose, the founder of Live Action (undercover investigations of Planned Parenthood’s racism and sex-abuse cover-ups), came to the prolife position at a young age from viewing a book in her parents’ collection that had graphic abortion pictures. From her eye-opening experience, she has become a strong advocate for showing graphic abortion pictures, especially on college campuses.

What the pictures are not is pornography. They are more akin to showing the aftermath of dehumanizing the women and men in the porn industry. If there were pictures of women with bruises, running mascara, and the like, they would more resemble the pictures of the GAP display.

                Really, abortion enables the cardinal sin of lust to run rampant which leads to the darkening of the heart and soul. What the widespread use of elective abortion does in reality is to allow the heart of the world to become lustful.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna.” (Matthew 5: 27-29)

                In my Bible commentary, Gehenna was described as the place of “an idolatrous cult” where “children were offered in sacrifice” (2 Kings 23: 10; Jeremiah 7:31). So, those who are “thrown into Gehenna” go with those who sacrificed their children. Jesus is saying that if one continues in a state of sexual sin, especially with committing abortion in the GAP context, that person is thrown into the realm of those idolaters who killed their children, too. Those who sacrifice their sons and daughters in the womb for lust through abortion may have the same fate as those who sacrificed their children already born for idols.

What I think the GAP project does is to help “tear [an eye] out” of the world so that the world is not thrown into Gehenna. The aim of the pictures is conversion of heart and mind, that is, turning towards the truth that abortion kills a child that is loved and wanted by God, made in the image and likeness of God.

                As a Catholic Christian, I love my fellow man too much to not help him in, what some translations say, gauging out his eye with a graphic picture of what the results of his decisions look like.
 

Fortnight for Freedom in Baltimore

Majority of People Participate in Mass

I just came back from the Basilica in Baltimore from where the fortnight for freedom kicked-off. It was a packed church, and it seemed like every person participated in the singing and prayers. Not since the Oratory in Pittsburgh during my undergrad days has a mass been so invigorating, even though the air itself was stifling (Archbisop Lori had to have many cups of water handed to him throughout the liturgy).

I wonder if I was on camera since my feet stood on the ground in about the sixth row in front of the Archbishop's chair (literally, the Cathedral). Cardinal O'Brien was looking directly in my direction on the other side of the alter underneath the pulpit. If you saw/see the EWTN broadcast (the camera was pretty much right in front of me), I am the tall guy with the blue shirt with white stripes and glasses.

The procession was long with many priests and deacons from the Archdiocese of Baltimore. My parish pastor was not there, but the pastor from a nearby parish was: St. Agnes.

The only thing that I did not particularly like was all the clapping for everything. There seemed to be to much horizontal pomp and clericalism for such a reverent setting. I love my Archbishop, but he doesn't need to be drowned in misplaced recognition. (Before mass, people gave a standing O for him when he passed by. Really?)

His homily had two aspects that I would like to mention.

Inherent or Inalienable?

First, he said that we have from God (our Creator) an inherent right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This is a curious change from inalienable to inherent. First Things had a very interesting take on "Rights You Can't Give Away" that analyzed the meaning of inalienable from a property point of view. Simply put, Austen's Darcy cannot just give his estate away, he has responsibilities to pass it on in the family.

However, is inherent more or less strong than inalienable? Legally, something has an inherent property if all instances of the thing or concept has that property; it simply cannot be called the thing without said property. Logically it's a necessary condition (to have a given property for that thing). So, any human inherently has a right to life, etc.

Perhaps the distinction is that inalienable rights are given by a creator, while inherent rights are defined as an integral part of the thing itself. In theory, couldn't God take away natural rights? However, if rights are inherent, the thing itself possesses rights internally which would make them not that thing if they didn't have it.

God couldn't change a human into a duck if God desired it so (or could it be?). However, God could take away rights since he endowed the rights (sort of like life can be taken or given by God according to His will).

Well, since both seem pretty indisputable (God hasn't changed a person into a duck and He can give and take life as he wills), either do seem to be equally fine. (Please let me know if I went somewhere wrong, it's late.)

Conscience Theme

Over and over he mentioned conscience as a driving principal in society. This is obviously important to a major degree since the Church's conscience is being trampled upon in it's charity toward Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

However, I wish he would have mentioned something either along the lines of developing a thrust towards "a well-formed conscience" or one formed by natural law principals (see Dr. Kings use of St. Aquinas here).

A Pelosi or Biden could easily say that they are following their conscience for pushing the HHS mandate, but a more explicit handling could have been useful.

Overall, the homily was very good, especially when he talked about St. More and Fischer. (He even plainly said that King Henry's Act of Supremacy caused St. More and Fischer to loose their lives for their conscience's sake.)

May God bless Archbishop Lori.

----

Oh yes, BTW, local channel 11 (NBC) was there besides EWTN.

HHS Mandate Demonstration in Ellicott City

I had the privilege to eat lunch with the organizer of the HHS Mandate Demonstration in Ellicott City, Maryland, Peggy Hagen. We were joined by the lead council for a religious liberty defense firm, his two children, and another woman protester.

One thing I realized is that you don't have to be a Princeton professor to set-up a demonstration. The Ellicott City organizer is currently a waitress (this is a good job too BTW).

One day, while writing against the HHS mandate on Facebook, she decided that she should do something besides write about the mandate. So, she organized both the March and June 2012 HHS mandate rallies. She also managed to get leaders from around the local area.

According to her, during the March rally:

The ministers in the first picture [below] are Fr. Terry Sweeney of St. Timothy's Episcopal in Catonsville (speaking) and Rev. Frank Revell of Cokesbury Memorial Methodist in Abingdon, who led us in our opening prayer. Also speaking were Bishop Rozanski from the Baltimore Archdiocese; myself; and Sandra Nettina, a local nurse and pro-life organizer. This is not a Catholic issue; this is not a gender struggle. This is a fight to retain our Constitutional rights, and it belongs to all Americans. Many thanks to all of those who recognized this and came out, in Ellicott City and in 140 other cities across our nation!

   I wonder how this country would be if more people decided to get out of their arm chair and stand up for Truth.

We can't leave it up to the politicians. Change starts with reviving the culture to the Way.

HHS Mandate Highlights Widespread Religious Stance

Last Friday, I went to my local Stop the HHS Mandate rally (more on that in a later post).

Many (if not most) of the people that showed up were Catholic. At least for myself, I think we realize that our Catholicism is not a hobby, but the Way (Acts 19:9) established by Christ Himself to lead the world to heaven hand in hand with Christ and other believers. Others do not see it this way.

Fr. Barron's video below explains well how this is. Below that, Archbishop Chaput of Philadelphia (my original hometown Archdiocese) gives his take vis-a-vis President Kennedy in a speech.



***Archbishop Chaput's speech is here***. (It's great!)

I spoke to a neighbor on my block one day about things.

Gerry: So, what legislation have you been following? [His hobby is to follow bills.]
Neighbor: I've been pretty disgusted with National Politics. I've been following state ones [Maryland].
G: Which ones?
N: The dream act. And I'm really glad the same-sex marriage bill passed.
G: Oh. Sorry to hear that. I'm against it. I just took a training at [the local Catholic Church] to have petitions signed to put it to the voters in November.
N: Don't you think religion should stay out of politics?
G: No. Going back through our history, people through churches have gotten much done. Before the revolutionary war, preachers' sermons up and down the country [really colonies] were given that we should separate from England. Martin Luther King, Jr. used religious rhetoric all the time and especially in Churches to get rid of Jim Crow. Did you ever read his Letter from a Birmingham Jail?
N: I see.

I think this view is wide spread, especially in the North East, from my experience. Why is it this way? Perhaps because powerful ignorance buys power?

I wonder.

My Wife Takes on the HHS Mandate

My wife just took on the HHS mandate.

One of her Quaker relatives in PA posted the picture below on Facebook (click it to enlarge), so my wife saw it. The picture and quote of Obama put her over the edge. She usually doesn't comment on things like this, but this time she felt obliged to take the plunge.
 
She wrote the comment below:

First of all the complaint of the Church is not that they are not being able to practice a belief. It is that they are being asked to provide and pay for something, which the Church holds to be a grave evil. They are not refusing to allow their employees the use of birth control they simply do not wish to be made to pay for it. And since when was birth control a basic right? As far as I know one can live with out it. One can even live with out it with out being “punished with a baby”. I would be curious to find out if those supporting this administrations stand would do so if he were attacking another religious denomination other than the Roman Catholic Church? What if people’s right to object to military service was under attack. Many religious leaders across the country not only Catholics recognize this for what it is, a flagrant attack on the religious freedoms of American Citizens. The Church will not yield on this one. And some of the repercussions will be: the closing of parochial schools that provide education to thousands of under privileged children, The closing of hundreds of hospitals and clinics that care for those below the poverty level. Nursing homes like the one I visit every week with my children will be forced to cease their ministry to the elderly poor. And the list goes on. Why? Because those organizations are not considered religious organizations even though those running them do so because that is what their faith calls them to do. They will close rather than be forced to provide something they consider morally atrocious. And they are right to do so. Would we want them to sacrifice their beliefs? It is a tragedy that they are being asked to do so. And when they are forced to close who will fill in to take their place? Who will fill the whole that is left when the Church is no longer allowed to care for the poor? The Obama administration? It will be a sad day indeed. [original emphasis]

This was great! I'm so proud.

For this post on my blog, I thought I would expand on her logic with my article below. (I submitted the article below to a magazine, but they did not accept it. Where would you have submitted it?)

In Catonsville, Baltimore County, Maryland, where I live, The Little Sisters of the Poor serve the elderly with a level of dignity well above other nursing homes. They have several levels of care in various facility wings within St. Martin’s Home on Maiden Choice Road that meet the needs of the residence.

About every week, my wife and two smallest children go visit their “friends” at St. Martin’s with the hope that they’re “making the residents happy” by the display of their youthful energy. Tragically, the new rule by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) places The Little Sisters in jeopardy of severely reducing their beautiful mission to the poor. The rule mandates that employers directly or indirectly provide contraception and abortion causing drugs to the employees “of all faiths in [their] ministry”.

As the March first statement of the Little Sisters indicates, “Because the Little Sisters of the Poor cannot in conscience directly provide or collaborate in the provision of services that conflict with Church teaching, we find ourselves in the irreconcilable situation of being forced to either stop serving and employing people of all faiths in our ministry – so that we will fall under the narrow exemption – or to stop providing health care coverage to our employees.”

Does the Obama administration through the guidance of Catholic HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius realize that the contraception mandate will cause cost effective religious institutions to function less effectively or shut down? Do they realize that practicing religion is more than going to a place of worship, especially as believed by those in the three Abrahamic religions? A clue to these questions came from a Washington, D.C. political pundit who has close ties to Maryland and the Obama administration.

On February 12, Colby King said on the program “Inside Washington, “Well, I was hospitalized recently at a Catholic hospital. There was no exercise of religion as far as I was concerned [laughter] - at any point. I just got medical care. ... The religion question never came into being. I was treated in that hospital the same way I would be treated in any other hospital.”

Others on the program tried explaining that serving others was an integral part of practicing the Christian religion, but no one laid out the facts from history or the Bible.

Going back to the early Christians in the Roman Empire, when Pagan Romans exposed their newborn children to the elements, Christians would rescue and care for many of them. In the Middle Ages and even today, convents were safe havens for newborns whose mothers could not care for them; they were the origin of the modern “Baby Moses Law”. Jesus Himself taught the Good Samaritan parable that revealed that all people should come to the aid of their neighbor in need.

Most of all, in the twenty-fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, verses thirty-one to forty-six, Jesus reveals that when anyone in the world helps the poor, they minister to Jesus. At the end of time, Jesus will say of those who served the poor themselves, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.” (vv. 35-36)

When religious institutions act positively toward people who are poor in material and ultimately spiritual ways as revealed in Matthew twenty-five, they are in fact fulfilling their religious obligations through Love within the public square. Even though the care may seem to be the same whether through secular or religious institutions, the above spiritual undergirding of the sponsoring Church, Religious Order, or Ecclesial Community is present. Also, when I personally go to the local juvenile prison facility to help with math classes inside the institution, unless they ask me, they would never know that I come to see them as a Catholic layman in response to a calling by a sister religious from the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

When a non-Catholic hospital nurse or university janitor works in their respective institution, that employee is supporting the mission of the employer to uphold its Gospel mission. The Catholic employer also has Gospel and Church Tradition in mind when it makes the decision to provide health insurance that does not include contraception and abortion inducing drug coverage to their employees. The Gospel, or Culture of Life that the Church preaches does not allow these institutions to directly or indirectly materially cooperate with the Culture of Death by providing those materials.

Of course, there is a debate whether the government may force insurance companies and/or Catholic institutions to provide contraception under the U.S. Constitution. However, the fact of the matter is that religious oases such as The Little Sisters of the Poor would rather reduce their positive contributions to the world which Jesus loves than to cooperate with the evil that the government would force upon them.

SSM / Abortion Contrast

"Obama seems to think that the right to marry (which is conditional) is unconditional, whereas the right to life (which is unconditional) is conditional, as conditioned by the mother’s choice."

This is the best sentence that connects same-sex "marriage" and abortion that I ever read/heard.

(From here: "Praising the play while ignoring the performance: Obama’s misguided support for gay ‘marriage’" Lifesitenews.com)

HHS Mandate Slogans

Here are some HHS slogans by me (HT CMR):

I'll be at the protest in Ellicott City, MD tomorrow.

1. The predictions of Pope Paul VI were not a Fluke!

2. HHS mandate prefigures a China man without a date.

3. HHS mandate is one-child-policy-light.

4. The President swore to defend the USA, not allow China's policies to weaken us.

5. Be fruitful and multiply unnatural rights and kill natural rights.

Three Catholic Priests on the HHS Mandate and Contraception

Three (UPDATE: make that four) Catholic Priests on the HHS Mandate and Contraception in my order of the very best to best:

(1) People of Life (Fr. Jonathan Raia)
Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time - 2012 (Recorded February 4, 2012)
Original Audio: http://saintwilliams.org/podcast/?p=episode&name=2012-02-05_fjr020512.mp3 (the video below was created from the original mp3 audio file from the link above in its entirety/no modifications)

(2) Religious Liberty Homily


(3) I Have a Say: Father John Hollowell


(UPDATE; added)(4) We Hold These Truths || Spoken Word

Important Komen Confession by Dem. Senators

Did you read the letter from some U.S. Senators (BTW, both of mine are in there from MD, uh again)?

Dear Ambassador Brinker,

We write to express our disappointment with Susan G. Komen for the Cure's decision to cut funding for breast cancer prevention, screening, and education at Planned Parenthood health centers. This troubling decision threatens to reduce access to necessary, life-saving services. We urge Komen to reconsider its decision.

Planned Parenthood is a trusted provider of health care for women and men. More than 90 percent of the services provided by Planned Parenthood are primary and preventative including wellness exams and cancers screenings that save lives. Each year, Planned Parenthood health clinics provide 750,000 breast exams, 770,000 pap tests and nearly 4 million tests and treatments for sexually transmitted diseases. Twenty percent of all women in the U.S. have visited a Planned Parenthood health center.

For the past five years, grants to local affiliates of Planned Parenthood have been an important part of Planned Parenthood's work to protect women from breast cancer. Komen funding for Planned Parenthood has provided nearly 170,000 clinical breast exams and resulted in 6,400 referrals for mammograms. In 2011 alone, grants from Komen provided Planned Parenthood with roughly $650,000 in funding for breast cancer prevention, screening, and education. According to a recent statement by Komen, "In some areas of the U.S., our affiliates have determined a Planned Parenthood clinic to be the best or only local place where women can receive breast health care."

It would be tragic if any woman -let alone thousands of women - lost access to these potentially life-saving screenings because of a politically motivated attack.

We earnestly hope that you will put women's health before partisan politics and reconsider this decision for the sake of the women who depend on both your organizations for access to the health care they need.

Signed:
Sens. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., Patty Murray, D-Was., Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Mark Begich, D-Alaska, Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Jon Tester, D-Mont., Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Max Baucus, D-Mont., Ben Cardin, D-Md., Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Al Franken, D-Minn, John Kerry, D-Mass., Claire McCaskill,D-MO., Debbie Stabenow, D-MI., Chris Coons, D-DE., and Jeff Bingaman D-NM.
(Underlining by me)

Two big things the letter admits/shows:

1. They only refer for mammograms.
2. The letter was signed by Democrats only (ie, partisan politicing) and independent clone (from VT, no explanation needed).

The whole thing comes down to what the founder of Komen, CEO Nancy Brinker said:

Our issue is grant excellence. [Planned Parenthood clinics] do pass-through grants with their screening grants: they send people to other facilities. We want to do more direct service grants.

Planned Parenthood (Democrat) trolls, stay off the back of Komen.

Response to Atheist

I just had to repeat this comment that I posted here. It is the Holy Spirit.
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"God has just done too good of a job of hiding for me to have any belief in him."

God came out to play when Jesus was incarnate. After He left to the Father, the Spirit was given to the Church that He established. Want evidence? Just look at the blog you're on now. God's evidence is the presence of the Mystical Body of Christ (the Church) bringing you the Good News and a Doctor for what ails you and the world. It's a place for sinners to receive absolution for their sins.

God bless you Anonymous.

Gerry

Open Letter to Susan G. Komen for the Cure

I sent the following letter to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Feel free to copy and/or modify the text to send to Komen (education programs and activities).
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Hello,

Thank you for no longer funding Planned Parenthood. They do not conduct mammograms, only manual exams. They provide oral contraceptives and abortions which increase rates of breast cancer. They operate against the beliefs of donors and breast cancer survivors and sufferers. They should remain unfunded indefinitely.

Sincerely,
[Gerry]

Open Letter to "Catholics for Equality"

Hello Catholics for Equality,

On your own FAQ page (http://www.catholicsforequality.org/page/frequently-asked-questions), it reports,

“Our message speaks of accepting yourself, your beliefs and values, your questions, and all you may be struggling with at this moment; accepting and loving your child as a gift of God; and accepting the full truth of God's revelation about the dignity of the human person and the meaning of human sexuality. Within the Catholic moral vision there is no contradiction among these levels of acceptance, for truth and love are not opposed. They are inseparably joined and rooted in one person, Jesus Christ, who reveals God to be ultimate truth and saving love.”

This is what Catholics for Equality believes and fights for.

This statement is a contradiction from the entire reference, "Always Our Children: A Pastoral Message to Parents of Homosexual Children and Suggestions for Pastoral Ministers" (http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/homosexuality/always-our-children.cfm). It goes on to say, "You can help a homosexual person in two general ways. First, encourage him or her to cooperate with God's grace to live a chaste life. Second, concentrate on the person, not on the homosexual orientation itself." And, "To live and love chastely is to understand that 'only within marriage does sexual intercourse fully symbolize the Creator's dual design, as an act of covenant love, with the potential of co-creating new human life' (United States Catholic Conference, Human Sexuality: A Catholic Perspective for Education and Lifelong Learning, 1991, p. 55). This is a fundamental teaching of our Church about sexuality, rooted in the biblical account of man and woman created in the image of God and made for union with one another (Gn 2–3)."

In light of the Pastoral Message that you cite yourself, your organization should change in its fight to support real marriage that is only between a man and a woman. Otherwise, please remove "Catholic" from your name.

May God bless you with His Truth,
[Gerry]
Baltimore, MD

Intergenerational Intimacy Abomination

At LSN, I commented the following in response to the article, "Meet the academics who are trying to redefine pedophilia as ‘intergenerational intimacy’".

This man/boy abomination ('intergenerational intimacy') is specifically condemned in 1 Corr. 6:9. The original Greek there in 1 Corr. is specific to this pagan Roman practice. There's no way that the self-identified homosexuals can get around this condemnation like they try to with same-sex "marriage".

During the homosexual Bible study that was sponsored by the Rainbow Alliance at my public university (view my reflection of the study here), we discussed the Bible verses in 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10.

Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.

These specific verses (and others; Romans 1 et al.) were used to say that same-sex "marriage" was not condemned by St. Paul. Despite the fact that the point about "marriage" may be true, sexual relations between men and boys are still condemned here.

I wonder if some Christian denominations (ecclesial communities) will have a vote to determine if "Intergenerational Intimacy" is allowed or should be celebrated, because you know, voting determines morality.

This activity may be in the next Gay Pride parade near you. May God have mercy on us all.