News Updates, 11/20

Sainthood cause begins for Father Peyton
Archbishop Edwin O’Brien of Baltimore will preside today over the opening session of the sainthood cause of Father Patrick Peyton. The famed ‘Rosary priest’ was born in Ireland in 1909 and died in 1992....

Picking Pockets in the Pew—the CCHD Scandal
On November 23rd in Catholic churches around the country ushers will pass collection baskets for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). Millions of trusting Catholics will contribute “to help the poor.” What many don’t know is that their hard-earned dollars will pour into the coffers of liberal organizations promoting causes they oppose and which often hurt the poor.
TAKE ACTION: When the ushers pass the basket on November 23rd faithful Catholics should drop in a note saying why they will never put a penny in the CCHD collection until it follows Catholic social justice teachings instead of serving as a conduit for left-wing liberal extortionists. Then write a check to a local charity that truly serves the poor.

Unconstitutional amendment?
California Supreme Court agrees to hear challenges to Proposition 8

Supreme Court to review Obama's citizenship
A case that challenges President-elect Barack Obama's name on the 2008 election ballot citing questions over his citizenship has been scheduled for a "conference" at the U.S. Supreme Court...
Read more about Leo Donofrio's suit here
Scheduled for full conference Dec 5.

At the Vatican, One Newspaper Is Making Noise. For Some, Too Much (Chiesa)
It's "L'Osservatore Romano." Twice in recent months, it has prompted negative reactions from part of the hierarchy and the Catholic world, over organ transplants and euthanasia. But on other issues as well, its commentaries are raising discussion, within the Church and outside of it. For example, about Pius XII and the Jews...

The Coming "War" Between the Obama Administration and the Catholic Church
The possible signing of the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) by President-Elect Barack Obama would be "the equivalent of a war" an unnamed senior Vatican official recently told TIME magazine.

Barack Obama Picks Pro-Abortion Senator Tom Daschle as Health Secretary
In his second major decision as the president-elect, Barack Obama has chosen pro-abortion former U.S. senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota as his Health and Human Services Secretary. Daschle will replace pro-life advocate Mike Leavitt, who has been working on protecting pro-life doctors and nurses.

English CatholicEnglish Catholic Bishops have Failed to Admit “Sickness” of Dissent in the Church: Lancaster Bishop“We have all witnessed with alarm many who profess to be Catholics disavowing the Church's teaching authority ... dismissing apostolic traditions and the doctrines of the Fathers and giving the place of honour to the fashionable opinions of society.”
[Many have been shouting this FOR YEARS!]

CNN calls cardinal's Obama criticism a diatribe
Wolf Blitzer refers to comments as a 'scathing rant'
[No surprises here, is there?]

Potential Euthanasia Victim Lauren Richardson Saved, Parents Reconcile
Delaware resident Lauren Richardson nearly became a euthanasia victim this summer as her mother and father feuded over her life that reminded observers of the debate over Terri Schiavo. Richardson is a 24-year-old woman who overdosed on heroin in August 2006 while she was three months pregnant with a baby girl.

Bishops: Ending stem cell ban will alienate many
President-elect could reignite emotional national debate

New York Catholic school enrollments plunge
Trend has recently closed dozens of diocesan schools

Will the Pope and Obama clash over abortion?
Vatican official: 'There's more fear here than wrath'

Priests, nun held for Sister Abhaya murder
Arrests come more than 16 years after the death

Al-Qaeda No. 2 insults Obama with racial slur
Implies President-elect 'does bidding of whites'

Al Qaeda orders Iraqi Christians to leave country
Bishop told to depart 'immediately and permanently'

Poland's Cardinal Wyszynski proposed Wojtyla
Late Warsaw archbishop's journal reveals 1978 conclave

Murtha seeks immunity from suit
A Marine who sued U.S. Rep. John Murtha for defamation urged a federal appeals court Tuesday to order the Johnstown Democrat to testify under oath in the case.
[What a pathetic coward!]

Scalia: Foreign law isn't ours
Judges who use foreign laws to interpret the U.S. Constitution are rewriting it rather than respecting its founders, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told a roomful of judges and top lawyers in Houston on Monday night...