Adjutorium Nostrum in Nomine Domini

(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!

In the United States it is a National Day of Prayer. I recently posted this prayer and felt it was appropriate to re-post.

Blessed be God, blessed be His Holy Name!

Almighty God, Father of all nations and peoples these are days of shame for us and for our nation. Hear our pleas and prayers for the United States of America. Our nation grand and glorious sustained through generations past by the lifeblood of those whose faith in You never flagged is sorely tried now by its faithlesness. We who profess belief in God as Creator and Guardian of all that is good have not turned our backs but certainly have turned our faces while Your Holy Name has been mocked, spat upon, and dragged through the mire of the public square. How we have allowed ourselves such shameless, faithless cowardice we cannot rightly expalin, nevertheless we turn to you O God and beg your mercy on us and on our people. There is nowhere we can turn but to You and no one who can truly bring good from our sin but You. In times past men have raised their hands and hearts to heaven seeking Your aid, Your strength, and Your guidance and hearing them you responded in the Fullness of Your Love. We pray in thanksgiving for all the sustenance You have given to make this nation great among all nations in times past and we thank You for keeping it in Your Loving Hands. If we but remain faithful to You, to Your Word, to Your commandments we will remain in Your care but it is painfully true that only You can give us the fortitude and right judgement even for the smallest acts of faith and Christian love. In thanksgiving we bow low to You, sovereign Lord, and beg Your help for us, for our nation, for the world who look to us in many ways as we look to You. Help us, strengthen the faith of those who have even the slightest of faiths; with Your Love soften the hardened hearts of those who demean Your Name; with Your Love open the eyes of those who do not see Your gift in the unborn child; with Your Love help us to heal the wounds that we ourselves have rendered, bring us together in Your Name and for Your purpose. Help America and all who truly believe that it is only in Your Holy and Blessed Name that true freedom and justice will prevail. Give us Your strength and courage, Your wisdom and fortitude, Your counsel and mercy and help us stand for You that we may not, for the sake of our own false pride, fall from You.

Our prayers rise to you O God with the souls of those little ones we have abandoned to die at the hands of the merciless who deceive the frightened, the desperate, the unloved, the injured and who convince them that death will bring them life. Change every heart, send Your Holy Spirit to convert the faithful to greater faith and the faithless to begin a faith.

Lord God hear us as we beg Your Love, Your Justice, Your Mercy upon us and our nation. Hear us as we pray in the Name of God the Son, the Name above all Names, the Name of Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior to all mankind.

defending child abusers?

Over the past week I’ve had two occasions where I was accused of defending child abusers when what I was doing was defending the Holy Father and the Church.

What did I say? I simply told the truth — the Church always has been, is, and always will be a target for anyone and everyone who wants to do what is right in their own eyes and not what the Church teaches is right. Freedom for them is freedom to do as they please not to do what is right. The awful fact is that many of those who rail against the Church and repeat false and scandalous charges are passing themselves off as Catholic.

Facts are facts and the facts are that despite the likelihood that Catholic priests are actually in the minority of abusers the media reports and the hue and cry make it appear as if Catholic priests are the ONLY abusers! I’m not going to rehash the stats — anyone with an internet connection can get all the stats they need — but I will say this. The fact is that the Church is an easy target and is being heavily targeted by forces that actually believe they can take her down and out. It ain’t gonna happen folks. Those who would have the Church in ruins (whether they pretend to be Catholic or not) are obviously not believers otherwise they’d know the simple truth.

What’s the simple truth? That the Church is the work of Jesus Christ who is its head and who has promised that His Church will prevail until the end of time. And so it will. Popes, Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, Religious, lay, theologians, the good, the bad, the ugly, the saintly, the satanic will all pass away with time but the Church that Christ founded and to whom He willed His Body and Blood will outlast us all.

Shame on us who are so quick to believe the worst — at the first hint of reporting against Pope Benedict most of us never even read the story, just gasped at the headlines and immediately declared the Holy Father’s conviction a done deal. Shame on us for falling victim to and then joining in on the slander and calumny.

Shame on us. Pray, pray that we may not undergo the trial. Pray for the Holy Father for he *is* undergoing the trial.

The Church is beginning a process of purification and healing. The beginnings of  the purification are slowly but surely being seen in Europe and Ireland — Bishops who failed to protect their flocks have resigned, some I’m sure unwillingly, but the evidence has left them no choice. In the United States we’ve seen nothing to indicate the same has happened here but I am praying that before long we will see the resignations of clergy, be they Cardinal or Bishop, who failed to properly shepherd their flocks and, for whatever reason, allowed the wolves to have their way. Pray that anyone responsible for permitting the continued abuse of children who were in the trust or custody of the Church will, if appropriate, be dealt with in the justice system, at the least be made to resign if they do not do so willingly. I fail to find sympathy in the “we were told they could be cured” story. There were those who believed that but there were also those who knew better. Why were the voices of common sense ignored? Why were men allowed to prey and hurt time and time again without being punished, without being removed? I pray the purification will continue and will spread around the world because this is not simply isolated to the U.S., Germany, and Ireland – I am certain more will be revealed and will show that these people were everywhere. But only with a purification will we have healing. When one person wrongs another and the wrong is as serious as these abuses have been the response must be to say you are sorry and to make amends in any way possible. The only way the leadership of the Catholic Church in the United States is going to protect the credibility of the Church is to respond in a way they may well abhor — admit they did wrong and, if their culpability is great enough, resign their positions and retire. Only then will we begin to heal the many wounds the sexual abuse scandal has caused in the Body of Christ, His Church.

The irony in my title concerns an anniversary– the 50th anniversary of “The Pill”. Under normal circumstances I probably wouldn’t even have been aware of this “anniversary” but it happened that I saw an op-ed piece in today’s NY Times online (and for the life of me can’t remember why I was even looking at the NY Times in the first place) titled “Promises the Pill Could Never Keep”. The title intrigued me – could this actually be a piece proclaiming the truth about contraception and in the NY Times to boot? Nope, not a chance. Sadly, the woman who wrote the piece hasn’t a clue what “The Pill” has done, the damage it has wrought. Even more, she doesn’t understand that the damage its done and the promises it didn’t keep are merely symptoms of a larger problem. Ironically, the author of this piece celebrates “The Pill” because 

In spite of all the missed predictions, there were at least two people who understood the pill’s revolutionary potential from the beginning: Margaret Sanger, who had first imagined a contraceptive pill in 1912, and Katharine McCormick, a wealthy feminist — both elderly women who had been advocates for women’s rights since the early 20th century, and who teamed up in the 1950s to bring the pill project to fruition. Sanger and McCormick financed the research and found the scientists to conduct it. (emphasis mine)

The irony is that the author completely misses the connection between what’s happening now in the Church and in the world and the results of the release of the “The Pill” onto an unsuspecting world.

May God have mercy on us.

Join the Knights of Columbus in a special novena for Pope Benedict XVI, beginning Divine Mercy Sunday, April 11, and concluding Monday, April 19, the fifth anniversary of the Holy Father’s election in 2005.

Novena for Pope Benedict XVI

4/9/10: Cardinal Newman Society also offering prayers – give a Spiritual Bouquet

Blessed be God, blessed be His Holy Name!

Almighty God, Father of all nations and peoples these are days of shame for us and for our nation. Hear our pleas and prayers for the United States of America. Our nation grand and glorious sustained through generations past by the lifeblood of those whose faith in You never flagged is sorely tried now by its faithlessness. We who profess belief in God as Creator and Guardian of all that is good have not turned our backs but certainly have turned our faces while Your Holy Name has been mocked, spat upon, and dragged through the mire of the public square. How we have allowed ourselves such shameless, faithless cowardice we cannot rightly explain, nevertheless we turn to you O God and beg your mercy on us and on our people. There is nowhere we can turn but to You and no one who can truly bring good from our sin but You. In times past men have raised their hands and hearts to heaven seeking Your aid, Your strength, and Your guidance and hearing them you responded in the Fullness of Your Love. We pray in thanksgiving for all the sustenance You have given to make this nation great among all nations in times past and we thank You for keeping it in Your Loving Hands. If we but remain faithful to You, to Your Word, to Your commandments we will remain in Your care but it is painfully true that only You can give us the fortitude and right judgment even for the smallest acts of faith and Christian love. In thanksgiving we bow low to You, sovereign Lord, and beg Your help for us, for our nation, for the world who look to us in many ways as we look to You. Help us, strengthen the faith of those who have even the slightest of faiths; with Your Love soften the hardened hearts of those who demean Your Name; with Your Love open the eyes of those who do not see Your gift in the unborn child; with Your Love help us to heal the wounds that we ourselves have rendered, bring us together in Your Name and for Your purpose. Help America and all who truly believe that it is only in Your Holy and Blessed Name that true freedom and justice will prevail. Give us Your strength and courage, Your wisdom and fortitude, Your counsel and mercy and help us stand for You that we may not, for the sake of our own false pride, fall from You.

Our prayers rise to you O God with the souls of those little ones we have abandoned to die at the hands of the merciless who deceive the frightened, the desperate, the unloved, the injured and who convince them that death will bring them life. Change every heart, send Your Holy Spirit to convert the faithful to greater faith and the faithless to begin a faith.

Lord God hear us as we beg Your Love, Your Justice, Your Mercy upon us and our nation. Hear us as we pray in the Name of God the Son, the Name above all Names, the Name of Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior to all mankind.