Same-sex "Marriage": Who Sounded the Retreat?

by John Horvat

In the history of war, we can observe many cases of battles where someone mistakenly sounds the retreat when victory was in sight.

This seems to be the case against same-sex “marriage.” Traditional marriage has never been defeated. Thirty-one times it has been taken to the polls and thirty-one times it has won. Even in the bluest of blue states—California—it won against all expectations. In Maine, pro-family activists overturned the decision of the legislature. In New York, a same-sex “marriage” measure was defeated despite every effort by the Democratic majority in both houses to force it through...

Continued here.

Another bishop speaks out on Prop. 8 ruling, says decision puts culture’s sanity at risk

(CNA/EWTN News) -- Weighing in on what he called the “misguided” ruling by a federal judge who struck down California's Proposition 8 last week, Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of the Diocese of Phoenix, Arizona, declared on Tuesday evening that what “is at stake here is cultural sanity and viability.”...

In a statement released on the Diocese of Phoenix's website on Tuesday, Bishop Olmsted wrote that the “misguided decision of Judge Vaughn Walker, striking down as unconstitutional the California Marriage Law called Proposition 8, cannot be passed over in silence.”

“Labeling homosexual 'marriage' as 'a right' is not an enlightened idea of the 21st century,” the bishop asserted. “It is a novel form of a resurrected falsehood from more than 2000 years ago. It will not stand the test of time, just as it cannot withstand popular opinion now....

Read more here.

Battling for America’s Soul: How Homosexual "Marriage" Threatens Our Nation and Faith

Time to revisit this article by The American TFP:

Battling for America’s Soul

How Homosexual “Marriage” Threatens Our Nation and Faith — the TFP Urges Lawful and Conscientious Resistance

Within the perspective of the nation’s Cultural War, Americans felt the full force of two actions favoring the homosexual movement in May 2008. Same-sex “marriage” is now being imposed upon the nation by government fiat.

On May 15, 2008, California’s Supreme Court declared the unconstitutionality of Proposition 22—ignoring the voices of 61% of California voters who approved the measure in 2000—and all other California statutes restricting marriage to the union of one man and one woman and imposed homosexual “marriage” on the Golden State.

Concomitantly, New York Governor David Patterson unilaterally ordered all government agencies to revamp their rules, procedures, and regulations so as to show legal recognition to same-sex “marriages” contracted outside the state.
* * *

A. The Acceptance of Same-Sex “Marriage” Is Incompatible with Christianity...

B. The Catholic Church’s Perennial and Immutable Moral Doctrine Condemns Homosexual Practice...

C. Same-Sex “Marriage” Harms the Common Good...

D. TFP Calls for Lawful, Conscientious Resistance to Same-Sex “Marriage” and the Homosexual Movement...

E. We Are Opposing the Homosexual “Moral Revolution”...

Complete article can be read here.

Young Florida woman chooses baby's life over her own

Miami, Fla., Jun 15, 2010 / 07:17 am (CNA).- The story of Benny Abreu, a young woman from the Dominican Republic, has moved Floridians because of her testimony to motherly love. The Florida woman suffered from serious heart problems and preferred to die rather than abort the baby she was carrying....

Continued here

Reflections on the Sacrament of Marriage by Bishop Michael Sheridan, S.T.D.

Spring is a time when the sacramental life of the church is particularly evident. These are the days when we celebrate First Holy Communions, confirmations, ordinations and marriages. It is to the last of these sacraments that I devote my thoughts today.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) gives us this beautiful definition of marriage, based on the Second Vatican Council’s teaching on the sacrament of matrimony:

"The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament" (no. 1601). Phrase by phrase, this definition gives us a little "catechism" on marriage.

The matrimonial covenant. The 1917 Code of Canon Law referred to the "marriage contract." Although a contract does not differ significantly from a covenant, the Second Vatican Council chose to call marriage a covenant rather than a contract because of the sacred nature of a covenant. Scripture uses "covenant" to speak of the solemn agreements entered into between God and his creatures. Jesus established a "new and eternal covenant" through his sacrificial death and resurrection. More than simply a legal agreement (contract), marriage is a profound and deeply spiritual agreement that stems from a solemn oath (vows). For this reason, marriage establishes a lifelong bond that ends only with death.

A partnership of the whole life. The sacred covenant that is marriage is not simply an agreement to exchange certain rights and duties. In marriage, "the partners mutually surrender themselves to each other (cf. "The Constitution on the Church in the Modern World," Vatican II, no. 48). This mutual giving of two persons reflects Christ’s gift of himself to us in love even to the shedding of his blood. The marriage partnership is one of total self-giving. This helps us to understand why contraception is sinful. When a married couple uses contraception, they are saying to each other, "I give you myself completely — except for my fertility. Contraception contradicts the very nature of marriage.

The good of the spouses. There are two ends or purposes to marriage. The first is the good of the spouses. Here we are speaking of spousal — or conjugal — love. There are few words that are more misused and misunderstood in our contemporary culture than "love." Popular media would have us believe that love is little other than an emotion — and a fleeting one at that — or simply physical attraction. In fact, genuine spousal love is far more.

Again, from the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "By its very nature conjugal love requires the inviolable fidelity of the spouses. This is the consequence of the gift of themselves that they make to each other. Love seeks to be definitive; it cannot be an arrangement ‘until further notice.’ The ‘intimate union of marriage, as a mutual giving of two persons, and the good of children demand total fidelity from the spouses and require an unbreakable union between them’" (1646).

But there is more. Marriage was not created by God only for the good of the spouses. There is a second — and equally important — purpose of marriage.

The procreation and education of offspring. By its very nature, marriage is ordered to the procreation of children. While not every act of marital intercourse will result in the conception of a child, every act of intercourse must be open to the gift of a child. Here, again, we see why every act of contraception is a gravely sinful. Contraception literally truncates the meaning of marriage. It eliminates one of the intrinsic purposes of marriage. "Fecundity is a gift, an end of marriage, for conjugal love naturally tends to be fruitful. A child does not come from outside as something added on to the mutual love of the spouses, but springs from the very heart of that mutual giving, as its fruit and fulfillment. So the Church, which is ‘on the side of life,’ teaches that ‘it is necessary that each and every marriage act remain ordered per se to the procreation of human life.’" (CCC 2366).

Raised to the dignity of a sacrament. Marriage as a natural institution comes from the creation as recorded in the Book of Genesis. The marriage of two baptized Christians, however, is different from marriage as a purely natural union. "The grace of the sacrament perfects the love of husband and wife, binds them together in fidelity, and helps them welcome and care for children. Christ is the source of this grace and he dwells with the spouses to strengthen their covenant promises, to bear each other’s burdens with forgiveness and kindness, and to experience ahead of time the ‘wedding feast of the lamb’" (United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, 285).

Although not in the definition of marriage, there is another point of church discipline that needs to be made. Catholics are bound most seriously to have their marriages witnessed by a priest or deacon. Dispensation from this law is possible; but, if a Catholic attempts marriage before anyone other than a priest of deacon without dispensation, that marriage is invalid, and the Catholic party(ies) to the marriage may not receive the sacraments of the church until the union can be regularized.

The apostle Paul teaches us that marriage is "a great foreshadowing; I mean that it refers to Christ and the church. In any case, each one should love his wife as he loves himself, the wife for her part showing respect for her husband" (Eph 5:32).

May this be true of every Christian marriage!

Source: This column originally appeared in the June 4, 2010 issue of The Colorado Catholic Herald

ACTION: Executive Order is Unacceptable

From the Susan B. Anthony List:

Nancy Pelosi and her allies are currently negotiating with key pro-life Democrats to try and secure their vote for their pro-abortion health care plan.

What's on the negotiating table?

A proposed executive order from President Obama that would allegedly bar abortion funding in the health care bill.

An executive order is an ineffective maneuver and completely unacceptable.

Here's why:

1. An executive order can be rescinded any time. President Obama could reverse it next week, next month, or next year. Should another pro-abortion president be elected in the future, it could be rescinded on inauguration day.

2. An executive order will not prevent insurance companies that provide abortion from participating in the exchanges.

3. Abortion funding in the health care legislation can be only be removed using the legislative process. An executive order not only doesn't fix the problem, it isn't needed to fix the problem, and could not stand a legal challenge. If Democrats are serious about protecting taxpayers from funding abortion in the health care bill, they must use the legislative process to fix the problem.

ACTION:

Call the following members of Congress immediately and tell them that an executive order by the president on abortion is unacceptable and urge them to vote NO on the pro-abortion health care bill.

Marion Berry (AR) 202-225-4076
Kathy Dahlkemper (PA) 202 225-3103
Daniel Lipinski (IL) 202-225-5701
Earl Pomeroy (ND) 202-225-2611
Nick Rahall (WV) 202-225-3452
Bart Stupak (MI) 202-225-4744
Steve Driehaus (OH) 202-225-2216
Joe Donnelly (IN) 202-225-3915
Jerry Costello (IL) 202-225-5661
Marcy Kaptur (OH) 202-225-4146
Paul Kanjorski (PA) 202-225-6511
Alan Mollohan (WV) 202-225-4172

Please call now, only a few short hours remain to make your voice heard!

For Life,

Marjorie Dannenfelser
President, Susan B. Anthony List
www.sba-list.org

Why I Refuse to Support the Girl Scouts or Buy the Cookies

Girl Scouts Distribute Planned Parenthood Sex Guide at UN Meeting
By Terrence McKeegan, J.D.

(NEW YORK - C-FAM) The World Association of Girl Scouts and Girl Guides hosted a no-adults-welcome panel at the United Nations this week where Planned Parenthood was allowed to distribute a brochure entitled “Healthy, Happy and Hot.” The event was part of the annual United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) which concludes this week. The brochure, aimed at young people living with HIV, contains explicit and graphic details on sex, as well as the promotion of casual sex in many forms....

Read more

An 87-Year-Old's Economic Survival Guide

Excerpted from Human Events:

...I turn to a recent conversation I had with my mother. I asked her, "How would you encourage the average American to weather the economic storms of today?"

Here's her advice, in her words:

-- "Lean upon God for help and strength. We didn't just have each other to lean on, but we had God, too. We all attended church and belonged to a faith community. Church was the hub of society, the community core and rallying point. Today people turn to government the way we used to turn to churches. It's been that way ever since Herbert Hoover's alleged promise of a 'chicken in every pot' and President Roosevelt's New Deal. Too many have abandoned faith and community. We trust in money more than God. And maybe that's a reason why we're in this economic pickle."

-- "Get back to the basics. Simplify your life. Live within your means. People have got to be willing to downsize and be OK with it. We must quit borrowing and cut spending. Be grateful for what you have, especially your health and loved ones. Be content with what you have, and remember the stuff will never make you happy. Never. Back then, we didn't have one-hundredth of what people do today, and yet we seemed happier than most today, even during the Great Depression.

-- "Be humble and willing to work. Back then, any work was good work. We picked cotton, picked up cans, scrap metal, whatever it took to get by. Where's that work ethic today? If someone's not being paid $10 an hour today, they're whining and unwilling to work, even if they don't have a job. The message from yesteryear is don't be too proud to do whatever it takes to meet the financial needs of your family.

-- "Be rich in love. We didn't have much. In fact, we had nothing at all, compared to people today, but we had each other. We were poor, but rich in love. We've lost the value of family and friends today, and we've got to gain it back if we're ever to get back on track. If we lose all our stuff and still have one another and our health, what have we really lost?

-- "Be a part of a community. Today people are much more alone, much more isolated. We used to be close with our neighbors. If one person had a bigger or better garden or orchard, they shared the vegetables and fruits with others in need. Society has shifted from caring for one another to being dependent upon government aid and welfare. That is why so many today trust in government to deliver them. They've forgotten an America that used to rally around one another in smaller clusters, called neighborhoods and communities. We must rekindle those local communal fires and relearn the power of that age-old commandment, 'Love thy neighbor.'

-- "Help someone else. We never quit helping others back then. Today too many people are consumed with their own problems and only helping themselves. 'What's in it for me?' is the question most are asking. But back then, it was, 'What can I do to help my neighbor, too?'...

Now that's conventional wisdom that should be shouted and posted in every corridor of government, every community across America, and every blog on the Internet.

Call me overly pragmatic, but I think a little practical wisdom and encouragement is what we all need about now. Mom always was good for that. She still is.

Dr Edward Peters: The Pewsitter Petition on Canon 915

Pewsitter.com has published an on-line petition by which Catholics may call upon bishops to withhold holy Communion from Catholic political figures who gravely disregard Church teaching on certain fundamental life issues. The petition invokes canon law in support of some of its propositions. I know nothing about the organization behind the petition, but I feel confident in commenting on its canonical aspects.

Dr Peters' analysis can be read here.

Shutting Detroit Down-by John Rich

Having been out of work since last August, I can appreciate this...America has been sold out and the Constitution is being shredded every day. The moral fabric of our country seems to have been overtaken by decadence, hedonism, cheating, lying and greed. I'm not much of a CW fan (Bluegrass-yes) but there are some that I enjoy.

From what I understand, John Rich was supposed to have been in Detroit for a concert for 2 days. An acquaintance says that

He was so freaked out by what he saw, he stayed for 4 days. One night in his hotel, in 30 minutes he hammered this out.

For the 4 days he was here, he was a guest in-studio at WYCD and all he could talk about was how America was being destroyed - and the hard working people who made this country had a noose around their neck and the government was putting it there by forcing everyone to bailout all these [criminals who caused the mess].....and he called it what it is: FRAUD!

He said those people who are responsible for the destruction of America's strength, its ability to produce something that everyone wanted, it's hard-working people - are now the very people that those hard-working people are being forced to bailout - he said, 'Why should hard-working Americans bailout these criminals?!'

We've just witnessed the largest generational theft in our history with the passage of the Obama/Pelosi/Reid Pork package.

Anyway the song and video.


"My daddy taught me in this country everyone's the same.
You work hard for your dollar and you never pass the blame,
When it don't go your way.
Now I see all these big shots whining on my evening news,
About how their losing billions and it's up to me and you
To come running to the rescue.

Well pardon me if I don't shed a tear.
There selling make believe and we don't buy that here...."

Keep praying for our Lord's mercy and forgiveness. Hardworking families are being "conscripted" to bear the load for criminals, thieves, and politicians who have been bought and paid for to advance what seems to be a socialist takeover of the USA.

Jan 20, 2009-Death of the Constitution?

There will be clowns, morons, idiots, mental defectives and untold other ignorant rubes celebrating an impostor who will attempt to usurp powers to which he has no rights having fought several efforts at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars to gain proof of his eligibility to be President under Article 2, Section 1, of the US Constition.

If a Supreme Court Justice swears in this fraudulent Barry Sotero, AKA B. Hussein Obama, we can kiss our Constitution goodbye, because that simple act well be the end of the Constitutional Republic, abrogated to allow an affirmative action liar and thug to ascend to the presidency in order to perpetuate political correctness and avoid 'riots' by ignoramuses.

This deceit has been perpetrated by the Democratic party which is now the party of death, the party of Satan and his minions. They have empowered themselves by the offering of human sacrifices for over 3 decades at the altar of the evil one. They have emboldened genocidal maniacs to slaughter millions upon millions of the innocent unborn and they have succeeded in bringing to power a pathetic excuse of a man who is so wicked and evil that he wishes to protect and further even more infanticide.

Thankfully, even ConstitutionWatch.org has finally addressed the "Obama Eligibility Issue" and the Constitutional Crisis which looms before us here.

Is this nation being punished for its crimes against God and against humanity? Some believe this is so. How long will it be before the deception of so many of American citizens is exposed and the fraud and all of his accomplices are led away in handcuffs? May God have mercy on this country for its complete and utter rejection of all that is good and true.

I pray for my children and grandchildren that they might be spared the well deserved punishment and justice this nation might endure for its sins. I pray that someday this nation might be blessed with true patriots and righteous men and women who are not afraid to defend life and liberty and our Constitution - a wonderful gift from God - for our well-being and survival as a nation, one nation under God. May God have mercy on us all.

To get up to speed on the looming crisis, check out ConstitutionWatch.org here.

Catholics in St. Louis Asked to Participate in Campaign against FOCA

The Archdiocese of St. Louis is joining a nationwide effort to fight passage of the Freedom of Choice Act.

Parishes here will participate in the "Fight FOCA Postcard Campaign" after Masses the weekend of Jan. 24-25. In signing their postcards, Catholics will be asking legislators to oppose the pro-abortion act....

Let's call it what it really is - government sponsored infanticide and genocide...It's a treasonous crime that any politician would sponsor or support such anti-life, anti-family, anti-society, anti-human, anti-liberty act. It's worse than criminal - it's diabolical and comes directly from the devil himself!

"FOCA is the most radical pro-abortion legislation that has ever been promoted, and therefore, it is very important that every Catholic inform their public representatives that we cannot tolerate legislation that will intensify the destruction of our children," archdiocesan administrator Bishop Robert J. Hermann told the Review.

Missouri Right to Life: Prepare To Fight FOCA

From MO Right to Life:

Dear Pro-Life Missourian,

I'm writing to let you know that we plan to intensify our battle over a terrible piece of federal legislation called "The Freedom of Choice Act" (FOCA).

FOCA would establish the right to abortion as a fundamental right (like the right to free speech) and wipe away every restriction on abortion nationwide.

It will eradicate all pro-life laws in Missouri that we have worked so hard to pass in the last 35 years. It will also eradicate all federal abortion laws that the majority of Americans support.

For more information on FOCA,visit http://www.nrlc.org/FOCA/index.html.

Join us in our battle and sign the petition to stop FOCA

Thank you!
Pam Fichter
President
=======================

More information on FOCA:
If FOCA becomes law...

It would eliminate all of the federal and state laws passed in the past 35 years that restrict abortion and protect women and unborn babies.

You, as a taxpayer, will be forced to pay for abortions.

Partial-birth abortion will be legal again.

There will be secret abortions for our minor daughters with no parental involvement.

No mandatory information or waiting periods for women seeking abortions will be required.

Medical professionals and facilities will be forced to perform abortions.

The number of abortions will skyrocket!

Three ways you can help Stop FOCA:

1. Sign the FOCA Petition: http://www.missourilife.org/mrl_pac/foca.html
2. Call your Congressman, Senator Bond and Senator McCaskill and let them know that you oppose FOCA. For Federal Legislators, the telephone switchboards are:
U.S. Senate: (202) 225-3121
U.S. House : (202) 224-3121

3. Forward this email to your family, friends, church members and associates and ask them to sign the petition and contact their U.S. Legislators.

Bishop Hermann: It would be a "privilege to die tomorrow to bring about an end to abortion."

From the St Louis review:

Last week at the annual fall assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, archdiocesan administrator Bishop Robert J. Hermann stated that for any bishop, it would be a "privilege to die tomorrow to bring about an end to abortion."

His comments were picked up by media outlets across the country and have been touted in the blogosphere as a courageous statement in the defense of unborn human life.

Review staff writer Jennifer Brinker recently met with Bishop Hermann, where he reflected on his statement and also answered several other questions relating to the issue of abortion, the bishops’ meeting and the recent presidential election.

Let’s delve right into the issue at hand. At the recent bishops’ meeting in Baltimore, you said this:

"We have lost 50 times as many children in the last 35 years as we have lost soldiers in all the wars since the Revolution.

"I think any bishop here would consider it a privilege to die tomorrow to bring about an end to abortion.

"If we are willing to die tomorrow, then we should be willing to, until the end of our lives, to take all kinds of criticism for opposing this horrible infanticide."...

Kudos to Bishop Hermann to speak so boldly in a culture infatuated with self and which denies the most innocent the inalienable right to life. The fact that some "shepherds" are unwilling to speak the truth of this evil of abortion, to say nothing of them willing to lay down their lives for the sake of Christ and His littles ones, speaks volumes about the state of the Church in Amerika today.

Read more of Bishop Hermann's interview here.

Vermont Country Stores Lowers Standards, Begins Selling Sex Toys, Aids

Some may be familiar with "The Vermont Country Store" (VCS)from its catalog or one of its stores. It's been understood by mmost that VCS has been a source of quality, hard-to-find, and unique items such as toys, apparel, food & candy, etc. Some see it as a business geared to satisfying traditional family-oriented needs.

The website for the business states:

In 1945, Vrest and Ellen Orton printed their first catalogue—just 12 pages and 36 products—and mailed it to the folks on their Christmas card list. Vrest, a frugal Yankee at heart, insisted that the merchandise be durable and above all practical. His wife Ellen, who grew up on the Wilcox dairy farm in nearby Manchester, Vermont, made certain the new business was as practical as the products it sold....

The Family Tradition Continues
Third and fourth generation storekeepers and still going strong

The Vermont Country Store is owned by Lyman Orton and sons Cabot, Gardner, and Eliot, 7th & 8th generation Vermonters, and 3rd & 4th generation storekeepers, who still adhere to the old-fashioned values set forth by Vrest and take pride in being The Purveyors of the Practical and Hard-to-Find...

"We still go to great lengths to find products that aren't sold anywhere else," said Eliot Orton.

Now, it seems, that the business has decided to sell "Adult" items that many people find offensive. Apparently, management feels the need to cash in on the nation's widespread immorality and wrap the packages up in "Family Tradition" - this looks better, I suppose, than the plain brown wrappers that the "Adults only" sex/perversion shops use for shipping.

It looks as if America has suffered another casualty in the culture war now that owner, Lyman Orton, has decided to include these "hard-to-find" items in the Christmas catalog and on the web site. Unfortunately, family values and morality takes another hit. It should come as no surprise that Orton's decision will result in negative consequences. We can understand why families and individuals, who still believe in virtue and morality and who are prepared to spend their hard earned money with like-minded businesses, will abandon VCS for other suppliers. I would certainly support such an effort. Any business that wraps itself in in a veneer of family values and tradition while promoting products geared to sexual immorality is unworthy of my business.

Some have already scratched "The Vermont Country Store" from their Christmas shopping lists. More, no doubt, will follow.

HT to Mark S. for the info.

Vote Wisely-The Future of Our Country & Our State Is at Stake

Sharing this this note, from Missourians Against Human Cloning:

Tomorrow could be the most important election of our time. I urge you to arm
yourselves with the facts regarding candidates and ballot issues and share those
facts with your friends and family. A few online resources for information on
candidates, judges and statewide ballot issues are:

MAHC Candidate Survey Results (updated)

Family Research Council Presidential Survey

Missouri Family Network

MetroVoice (provides links to other endorsements and
recommendations as well)

While a great deal of information regarding the Presidential candidates has been aired, published and emailed, one significant fact has NOT been widely publicized. You may well know Senator Obama supports human cloning and embryonic stem cell research and advocates using our tax dollars to fund this unethical research but did you realize he does NOT support funding adult stem cell research? He would deny funding to the broad arena of ethical stem cell research which is producing real cures and treatments and waste our tax dollars on destructive and unproductive human cloning (FRC Presidential Survey above).

I realize the Presidential campaign is critically important and garners most of our attention. However, we will also be electing five of our six statewide officials tomorrow. Every one of these offices provides a stark contrast between candidates who oppose human cloning and those who champion unethical human experimentation. The MAHC survey provides a clear key to those who support a true ban on human cloning and those who do not.

Lastly, thanks to all of you who have rolled up your sleeves and joined me in making a difference these last 40 days. We are down to the wire now.

Please make a few more phone calls.
Please send a few more emails.
Please help volunteer to help a campaign tomorrow.

Please, please, please VOTE WISELY!

Bishop Robert Hermann: We live in hope!

We live in hope. This time immediately preceding a national election can be a time of turmoil, or it can also be a time of great transformation. If we live on the horizontal and cyclical plane only, we will find ourselves frustrated....

We live in hope. God could very well be saying to us today: "You shall not molest or destroy the child in the womb. Remember that when you were in the womb you were protected and given a chance to live!" We may say to ourselves: "I am against abortion, but I will still vote for a candidate who is pro-abortion, because I am voting for a better economy, and that will reduce abortions." If that is the case, then why were there not millions of abortions in the Great Depression of the 1930s? Instead, parents often had large families, because they lived in a faith society that supported life, and not death....

We live in hope....Yet we may say to ourselves: "I believe in God, and yet I will vote for a candidate who promotes abortion." How can we say that we believe in God but act as if God did not exist? Jesus told us: "Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father." Again He tells us: "By their fruits you shall know them." If we promote abortion by our vote, we participate in society’s great lie.

We live in hope. How can I say that I believe in God and yet vote for candidates who promote the Freedom of Choice Act which would, in effect, nullify every limitation put on abortion during the past 30 years? How can I say I believe in God but vote for candidates who would support legislation that would permit the destruction of a child who survived a botched abortion? In other words, with my vote I can continue to drench this land with the blood of millions of our children, or with my vote I can take a stand to help end this senseless slaughter of the innocent children....

We live in hope. Finally, I encourage everyone, once again, to pray the Rosary daily for the sake of our country. Pray to Our Lady of Guadalupe....

We live in hope. Remember that eight years ago the outcome of the national election was not made known until Dec. 12, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe! We live in hope!

An excellent article by Bishop Hermann!

Fatima group has election Masses

The St. Louis Division of the World Apostolate of Fatima will sponsor a vigil of Masses on election day, Nov. 4, at St. George Church in Affton. All are welcome and encouraged to attend.

The effort was organized in response to the Missouri bishops’ request for prayers for the elections and for the United States, said Mary Broome, president of the St. Louis Division of the World Apostolate of Fatima.

Masses will be offered by a different priest each hour from 6 a.m. until the closing Mass at 7 p.m. at St. George, 4980 Heege Road in the Gardenville neighborhood of Affton. The recitation of the Rosary will follow each Mass.

Bishop Robert Hermann, archdiocesan administrator, will celebrate 10 a.m. Mass.

At each hour, there will be a personal consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, patroness of the United States.

A complete schedule of Masses and celebrants is as follows:
6 a.m. — Msgr. Charles Forst;
7 a.m. — Father David Novak;
8 a.m. — Father Thomas Robertson;
9 a.m. — Father Edwin Albers, OFM;
10 a.m. — Bishop Robert Hermann;
11 a.m. — Msgr. Eugene Morris;
noon — Father Dennis Doyle;
1 p.m. — Father Bernadine Hahn, OFM;
2 p.m. — Msgr. Timothy Cronin;
3 p.m. — Father Timothy Henderson;
4 p.m. — Father Jack Siefert;
5 p.m. — Father Jibran Bou Merhi (Maronite);
6 p.m. — Father Thomas Grady;
7 p.m. — Father Thomas Hogan, SJ.

For more information, call (314) 352-0229.

Government Socialism & Family Control

From Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII:

The contention, then, that the civil government should at its option intrude into and exercise intimate control over the family and the household is a great and pernicious error.

Paternal authority can be neither abolished nor absorbed by the State; for it has the same source as human life itself. "The child belongs to the father," and is, as it were, the continuation of the father's personality; and speaking strictly, the child takes its place in civil society, not of its own right, but in its quality as member of the family in which it is born. And for the very reason that "the child belongs to the father" it is, as St. Thomas Aquinas says, "before it attains the use of free will, under the power and the charge of its parents."(4)

The socialists, therefore, in setting aside the parent and setting up a State supervision, act against natural justice, and destroy the structure of the home.

And in addition to injustice, it is only too evident what an upset and disturbance there would be in all classes, and to how intolerable and hateful a slavery citizens would be subjected.

The door would be thrown open to envy, to mutual invective, and to discord; the sources of wealth themselves would run dry, for no one would have any interest in exerting his talents or his industry; and that ideal equality about which they entertain pleasant dreams would be in reality the levelling down of all to a like condition of misery and degradation.

Hence, it is clear that the main tenet of socialism, community of goods, must be utterly rejected,

since it only injures those whom it would seem meant to benefit,

is directly contrary to the natural rights of mankind, and

would introduce confusion and disorder into the commonweal.

GLBT Minneapolis Basilica YouTube Video's

Views on Same sex marriage

Endorsing Same Sex Marriage

Someone having a little fun with the Basilica of Saint Mary

HT to Peter Cansius for the links...