Adjutorium Nostrum in Nomine Domini

A direct attack against the very “soul” of the Catholic Church in the United States has been mounted by the ACLU. On July 1, 2010 the ACLU sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid saying

We write to inform you about potential violations of the Emergency
Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), 42 U.S.C. § 1395dd,
and the Conditions of Participation of Medicare and Medicaid (COP), 42
C.F.R. § 482.13, by religious hospitals that refuse to provide emergency
reproductive health care.  Religiously affiliated hospitals are not exempt
from complying with these laws, and cannot invoke their religious status to
jeopardize the health and lives of pregnant women seeking medical care.  To
the contrary, the federal laws mentioned above protect patients’ right to
receive emergency reproductive health care.  The government
unquestionably has a significant interest in ensuring that these laws are
enforced in order to protect women’s lives and their health.  We therefore
ask you to not only investigate the matters discussed herein and take
appropriate action under the above-mentioned laws, but that you also clarify
in the appropriate CMS program manual, and issue a transmittal, that
denying emergency reproductive health care violates federal law. 

Religiously affiliated hospitals across the country inappropriately and
unlawfully deny pregnant women emergency medical care.
 

(Read the entire letter)

As I read the letter it became obvious that the only hospitals in America that the ACLU have a problem with are “Catholic-owned” hospitals. Now I will agree that anyone who reads the ACLU letter will be horrified at the examples given –  there are 3. Three patients out of millions that more than 500 Catholic hospitals around the country provide medical care to. The ACLU wants to shut down these hospitals or force them to perform abortions. My guess is the ACLU would much prefer the hospitals be closed –  another Catholic institution out of the way. This is extremely dangerous and is the direct result of Catholics in our Congress and Catholics in our population who do not believe that what the Church teaches is true and who refuse to stand up for their faith over the immediate rewards offered by the satanic forces who are at work in these matters.

What is in peril here is not simply the Catholic Hospital but in point of fact Freedom of Religion. Catholic hospitals are Catholic for a reason and one of those reasons has to do with the sanctity of all life and the belief that the killing of an unborn child is an intrinsic evil that cannot be condoned. The ends do not justify the means –  one may not commit an evil in order that a good may be the outcome. This is a religious belief the Church has taught consistently. If the ACLU has its way this is the death knell for freedom of religion in the United States, but more specifically the destruction of the Catholic Church as an authoritative moral voice in the public square.

Let me get something off my chest — I don’t believe for a moment that the ACLU has the best interests of our Republic in mind, never mind our Constitution.  I believe, in fact, that they are interested in just the opposite –  the tearing down of the Republic, the United States of America, and the literal shredding of our Constitution. As a part of that agenda the eradication of religious freedom seems to be high on their task list. My sense of the ACLU and its members is that they are virtually all part of or associated closely with the Progressive movement and the Progressive twin, the Socialist/Marxist/Communist whatever you wanna call ‘em folks. The ACLU a danger to America and to the Catholic Church. What the ACLU is doing is also what most, if not all, the Obama administration officials are looking to accomplish –  the transformation of our country into something you won’t recognize as America.

Mary, Mother of God, pray for us!

(H/T RealCatholicTv.com)

Have You Forgotten

The Magnificat of America

America, our America!
Hold to the Vision of Mary,
Mary Immaculate.
Her glory fills the earth,
She is of our race,
Its “solitary boast.”
She, alone without sin,
Keeps the doom of wrath from thee,
who are defending Her glory.
She, Conqueror of evil,
Conquers evil for thee,
Who are resisting evil.

America, our America!
Pray always to Mary,
Mary Immaculate.
She, the Mother to nations -
She, the Mother of Christ,
the Lord of all nations.
She guards them and guides,
Subduing their hates,
Inspiring their spirits.
She mourns for the prodigals,
As childless mothers mourn,
torn by their treasons.

America, our America!
Give thy heart to Mary,
Mary Immaculate.
Join Her prayer of praise,
All Heaven attending,
For our land that is free.
Sing thou Her song of joy,
All nations listening,
Giving thanks to God.
Sing thou the song of souls,
The Magnifcat of Mary,
The Magnificat of America.
(Cardinal Francis Joseph Spellman (+1967)
was the sixth archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York)

(Courtesy Magnificat Magazine July 2010

today I believe it is appropriate to say thank you to our Holy Father who thought to establish this year in celebration of our priests and their vocations. It may be obvious to most but not to all –  if you prayed especially for your pastor and other priests and for new vocations during this year, don’t stop now! Keep praying.

Perhaps a nice practice is one in which a “spiritual bouquet” is offered to the priest for whom you are offering prayers. It’s easy –  decide what form your prayer will take, write a nice note to your priest in a card or letter and send it or give it to them personally. The prayers you offer may take many different forms from the traditional: Rosary, Mass intentions, Holy Hours, Holy Communions to other non-traditional forms such as offering an hour of volunteer work in a rescue mission, food pantry, nursing home (especially those run by county or state agencies for the poor) etc..

Let the Holy Spirit inspire you in your prayer and may our prayers bear much fruit!

Holy Mary, Mother of God, gather them to your Son!

While some  criticize the Holy Father for the sexual abuse scandal (and I must admit I won’t give even Pope Benedict XVI a complete “pass”) he has consistently given evidence that the patience of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church has worn thin. This past weekend, in his homily to priests at a Mass celebrating the end of the Year for Priests, Pope Benedict XVI made certain to encourage priests in the reality of their vocations and he also had some words of caution that many would do well to hear. It is possibly the most beautiful homily I have read. Read it in it’s entirety, it’s good. I’ve highlighted one paragraph that caught my attention (and apparently others as well):

Dear Brothers in the Priestly Ministry,

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Year for Priests which we have celebrated on the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the death of the holy Curè of Ars, the model of priestly ministry in our world, is now coming to an end. We have let the Curé of Ars guide us to a renewed appreciation of the grandeur and beauty of the priestly ministry. The priest is not a mere office-holder, like those which every society needs in order to carry out certain functions. Instead, he does something which no human being can do of his own power: in Christ’s name he speaks the words which absolve us of our sins and in this way he changes, starting with God, our entire life. Over the offerings of bread and wine he speaks Christ’s words of thanksgiving, which are words of transubstantiation – words which make Christ himself present, the Risen One, his Body and Blood – words which thus transform the elements of the world, which open the world to God and unite it to him.

The priesthood, then, is not simply “office” but sacrament: God makes use of us poor men in order to be, through us, present to all men and women, and to act on their behalf. This audacity of God who entrusts himself to human beings – who, conscious of our weaknesses, nonetheless considers men capable of acting and being present in his stead – this audacity of God is the true grandeur concealed in the word “priesthood”. [Read more →]

Today, Hearst News Service officially confirmed that Helen Thomas, their White House correspondent, is “retiring”.

Ms. Thomas, though a respected journalist for decades, managed to bring her reputation crashing down around her ears when she responded to a request for “any comments on Israel”. Helen responded “Tell ‘em to get the hell out of Palestine”. When asked where they should go she said they should go back to Poland, Germany, and the United States (in other words the old “go back where you came from” line).

I remember as a boy living in North Carolina –  not the deep South nonetheless I recall hearing adults say within my hearing that those “_______s should go back to Africa where they came from”. My parents both born and raised in the South did their best to counteract what their children heard about race and about religion. We Catholics weren’t well liked and were definitely a minority — John Kennedy’s bid for president really brought out the worst in folks regarding their anti-Catholicism down there. I remember kids I didn’t even know (and how did they know I was Catholic?) coming up to me in the lunchroom to say their parents were worried that if Kennedy was elected he’d bring the Pope over to run the country or that we’d all be forced to worship idols. Nevertheless, I was astonished at the cold heartedness many of my fellow school students reflected (no doubt learned from their parents and others in their families).

Despite the lessons of history ignorance still abounds. Kennedy was elected and my fellow Americans weren’t forced to convert, worship idols, or swear an oath of fealty to the Pope in Rome. So too, the Civil Rights act was passed without causing the country to fall into the trauma predicted by the nay sayer’s.

The history of the Jewish people in the Middle East is as old as any other people there. To deny that you may as well also be a holocaust denier!  The Israelis have every right to defend themselves and to maintain security for their country. How can we expect mutual respect and tolerance from Israel’s neighbors who have NEVER afforded the Israelis that respect and tolerance. For decades the Israelis had no objection to Arabs living, working, and prospering in Israel. Somehow though this wasn’t enough. The anti-Semitic voices never quieted, never stopped and the Israelis have done their best to defend themselves against almost constant threats and attacks.

Yes, Helen Thomas apologized but read the apology

“I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians, they do not reflect my heart-felt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance. May that day come soon.”

Can that day come when ignorance and racism are steadfast bedfellows throughout most of the planet? Can respect and tolerance ever come to the fore when there are people willing to believe and speak aloud what Helen Thomas couldn’t keep herself from blurting out in public? Perhaps there should be a U.N. sponsored nation created for bigots and racists and they should be forced to get the hell out and move there.

God help us.

(1 Corinthians 13:13) And now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity.

How to be charitable toward Ms. Pelosi is becoming more of a dilemma. By now the news has made the rounds of the usual blogs and internet spots that Madam Speaker is, once more, laying out her faith for all to see and hear. I will say that her latest statement is simply nonsense.

CNS News: At a May 6 Catholic Community Conference on Capitol Hill, the speaker said: “They ask me all the time, ‘What is your favorite this? What is your favorite that? What is your favorite that?’ And one time, ‘What is your favorite word?’ And I said, ‘My favorite word? That is really easy. My favorite word is the Word, is the Word. And that is everything. It says it all for us. And you know the biblical reference, you know the Gospel reference of the Word.”

“And that Word,” Pelosi said, “is, we have to give voice to what that means in terms of public policy that would be in keeping with the values of the Word. The Word. Isn’t it a beautiful word when you think of it? It just covers everything. The Word.

“Fill it in with anything you want. But, of course, we know it means: ‘The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us.’ And that’s the great mystery of our faith. He will come again. He will come again. So, we have to make sure we’re prepared to answer in this life, or otherwise, as to how we have measured up.”

“Fill it in with anything you want”? For a charitable point of view you can always read what The Anchoress has to say (and she says it well).

Pelosi simply defies explanation. On the one hand she’s a devout Catholic but on the other hand believes that women “have the right to choose” (that choice of course is to kill an unborn child by procuring its abortion). Nowhere to my recollection does Catholic teaching allow for this and it doesn’t make a difference how devout your faith! The closest thing I can find in Church teaching is:

[Read more →]

In the United States this is a long holiday weekend –  it’s Memorial Day. We tend to fill the weekend with activities including picnics, beach (or lake) trips, shopping . . . well, you get the picture. One thing many of us tend to forget is why we have this holiday at all — indeed, forgetting that is exactly why more emphasis needs to be put on remembering it! We’re not honoring Veterans today –  that comes in November, it isn’t Armed Forces Day — that was last weekend (third Sat in May). No, this holiday was created to remember those men and women of our Armed Forces who died in service to our country. In an effort to counteract the “3 day weekend” mentality that has watered down Memorial Day and turned it into nothing more than a beginning of summer spending spree weekend.

In 2000, the White House Commission on Remembrance was established as “ an independent, non-partisan government agency, established by Congress in 2000, that encourages Americans to honor the sacrifices of our fallen and their families.  The < ?xml:namespace prefix =”" st1 />Commission asks each of us to Live Honoring America’s Fallen everyday by giving back to the Nation and to unite in the National Moment of Remembrance at 3 p.m. each Memorial Day.”

So as we Americans enjoy this weekend retreat from our normal lives, stop and remember just why we are able to enjoy the liberties we do enjoy in this country that, by all rights, should never have come to be but for the selfless bravery of a few good men and women. Yes, many of us claim these liberties, but we must never forget that they were won and have been preserved for us so far by a minority — the few who have chosen to serve and offer themselves for their country.

May God bless America and may America choose to give God His rightful place in our country.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Written by Lt-Colonel John McRae (1915)

I don’t believe we have any planes that can actually do that without stopping at least once for refueling. This discounts in-air refueling of course. But imagine boarding a plane in New York and flying directly to Pakistan, no stops, no refueling, no nuttin’. My guess is that you’re not experiencing any surprise or feeling of awe or wonder at the notion.

Now image a bird doing it. Evidently we haven’t discovered until just recently that some migratory birds are actually making their migrations non-stop! Yes, a little bird flapping its wings and flying without stopping for food or water for thousands of miles. Wow!

Migrating Thousands of Miles With Nary a Stop

Bar-tailed_Godwit

No matter how many children she may have each mother who faithfully loves and cares for her children the best she is able is a candidate for canonization in my book. Included in this category of mothers are those who are mothers twice –  they raise their own children and then, for whatever reason, end up raising their grandchildren too. All around the planet we can find mothers and grandmothers, hard at work caring for homes and families and so many of them are doing it alone. Some, I’m sure, are operating solely on the grace of God, wondering how bills will be paid or food will be obtained. All around us, mostly “invisible” to us there are women who sacrifice their lives willingly for their families, who do anything for their families to ensure their well-being and to see that they grow up knowing a proper sense of “values”. For the most part these mothers have “a tough row to hoe” (as my great-grandmother would have said). The “civilized” world is pressing hard on the family these days — the cost of living is largely beyond the means of one income and those who need assistance in one form or another find the red tape and bureaucracy almost more than a human can bear. The devil is doing his best to tear the family apart and in the USA it seems as though he’s getting more than his fair share of cooperation.

One such mother, Kristin Luscia, is blogging about this at “11 On My Own” and the story she tells is nothing short of incredible. I could never begin to put up with what she’s put up with or persevere and she is persevering and against odds I cannot fathom. It would seem, reading her blog posts, that there is nothing going her way, nothing working in her favor, yet she continues to hang on — the photo in this post shows why. What a beautiful group of children.

I first got wind of this mother and her dilemma when she applied to have her blog listed on the Saint Blog’s Parish Directory, which I maintain. Normally I make a quick check of a new blog to ensure that it is what the applicant purports it to be — Catholic. I rarely have the time to spend much time on any one blog but I recall being mesmerized by the posts this woman wrote detailing the trials and tribulations of her and her children’s lives. I listed her blog and soon the memory was very faint. Then on the Tuesday, May 11th edition of Catholic Exchange I saw a book review entitled “11 On My Own” –  the recall was instantaneous –  this was a book written by the mother of 11 who blogged at the site by the same name! She had written a book! I immediately contacted her and asked if it would be okay to use the photo from her site in a blog post. She kindly said yes and here I am finally getting to it a few days later. In only 3 days time though her ex (she refers to him as “tbj”) has managed to threaten her publisher with a lawsuit and caused them to pull her book from sales. Incredible. Wherever this man is getting his money from it is clear that he’s willing to use his money to cause this mother as much trouble and heartache as he possibly can and is unwilling to use any of it in support of his family. This guy epitomizes the term “Deadbeat Dad”.

Kristin and many, many mothers like her need our prayers and support.

and may God bless each and every Mother who, by whatever means they have and with God’s grace, stick by their children and care for them as best they are able.

Here, in Central New York, this Mother’s Day morning it’s snowing. This is the 2^nd time in the 20 years I’ve lived here that I’ve seen snow on Mother’s Day!