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.

Videos for My Liberal In-laws

If only my Quaker in-laws would watch these videos:

"Hope [and] Change Liberals Protest Obama, So Why Aren't They Called Racists Like the Tea Party?"
(Uh-oh, an Af. Am. tea party member. BTW, I'm not a tea partyer, but I have their tendencies.)

"Afterburner: The Truth Is Out There"

"Andrew Klavan: The Facts of Life for Liberals" (Where does money come from?)

Contraception Stifles Grace

In my view, the video below (from the Vortex with Michael Voris) shows the importance of the Catholic Church's teaching for chaste marital relations without contraception. Contraception stifles grace since it doesn't allow for the married couple to participate in God's Will of creation in their vocation. Stifling God's Will potentially, if not necessarily stifles His Grace.

I thought that marriage showed how Christ's love for His Church was present, but the oneness between Christ and His Church was really preeminent to marital love. In other words, if there was no fall, there would be a perfect oneness between Christ and His Church; it's just that the fall caused humanity to have to be re-grafted onto Christ through baptism, or through the remission of sin/reconciliation with God.

WARNING: the subject below may be too graphic for sensitive readers.

Finally, I thought of a few analogies that went with the use of contraption vis-a-vis receiving Holy Eucharist (stay tuned for a question for you):
(1) Condoms: putting a barrier around Holy Eucharist
(2) The Pill: taking a drug that put up a chemical barrier on the absorbing wall of stomach/intestines/esophagus so that Holy Eucharist could not become one with the Communicant
(3) Diaphragm: Putting a hollow balloon in one's mouth

What analogy do you think works for homosexual relations? Please comment below.