Leon Redbone - three songs

I am a huge fan of Leon Redbone, and came across this three song clip. Mr. Redbone still tours, and I see him whenever he is in reasonable driving distance. Enjoy the great music!

God love you!
*************

Pope Benedict: Catholic Politicians and Excommunication

This very, very interesting article, from a very, very interesting papal statement, came out on the news-service this morning. I am sure it will drum up a lot of discussion in the blog-o-sphere and news programs. Or, perhaps, it will be ignored and not mentioned in the hope it will just go away. However, the pope says, "this excommunication," which seems to say that, ipso facto, excommunication has taken place. It truly isn't complicated.

Again, the question isn't personal sin, but public scandal. Excommunication is not a draconian penalty, but an action that one brings upon themselves, and the Church in love points out in the hope of reconciliation.
Questions and comments are again, welcomed and appreciated! If you haven't subscribed yet, please do. I am nearing the 500 subscriber milestone, and every last person helps. Spread the word!

God love you!
************

Pope warns Catholic politicians who back abortion
Wed May 9, 2007 8:46AM EDT
By Philip Pullella

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Wednesday warned Catholic politicians they risked excommunication from the Church and should not receive communion if they support abortion.

It was the first time that the Pope, speaking to reporters aboard the plane taking him on a trip to Brazil, dealt in depth with a controversial topic that has come up in many countries, including the United States, Mexico, and Italy.

The Pope was asked whether he supported Mexican Church leaders threatening to excommunicate leftist parliamentarians who last month voted to legalize abortion in Mexico City.

"Yes, this excommunication was not an arbitrary one but is allowed by Canon (church) law which says that the killing of an innocent child is incompatible with receiving communion, which is receiving the body of Christ," he said.

"They (Mexican Church leaders) did nothing new, surprising or arbitrary. They simply announced publicly what is contained in the law of the Church... which expresses our appreciation for life and that human individuality, human personality is present from the first moment (of life)".

Under Church law, someone who knowingly does or backs something which the Church considers a grave sin, such as abortion, inflicts what is known as "automatic excommunication" on themselves.

The Pope said parliamentarians who vote in favor of abortion have "doubts about the value of life and the beauty of life and even a doubt about the future".

"Selfishness and fear are at the root of (pro-abortion) legislation," he said. "We in the Church have a great struggle to defend life...life is a gift not a threat."


"ALWAYS A GIFT"


The Pope's comments appear to raise the stakes in the debate over whether Catholic politicians can support abortion or gay marriage and still consider themselves proper Catholics.
In recent months, the Vatican has been accused of interference in Italy for telling Catholic lawmakers to oppose a draft law that would grant some rights to unwed and gay couples.
During the 2004 presidential election, the U.S. Catholic community was split over whether to support Democratic candidate John Kerry, himself a Catholic who backed abortion rights.

Some Catholics say they personally would not have an abortion but feel obliged to support a woman's right to choose.

But the Church, which teaches that life begins at the moment of conception and that abortion is murder, says Catholics cannot have it both ways.

"The Church says life is beautiful, it is not something to doubt but it is a gift even when it is lived in difficult circumstances. It is always a gift," the Pope said.

Only Cuba, Guyana and U.S. commonwealth Puerto Rico allow abortion on demand in Latin America. Many other countries in the region permit it in special cases, such as if the fetus has defects or if the mother's life is at risk.

Brazil, the world's most populous Catholic country, is mulling bringing the debate to a referendum.


© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Reuters journalists are subject to the Reuters Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.

A Brief Reflection on the Eucharist

My pastor took a well needed and deserved vacation last week, so it fell to yours truly to write the bulletin column. Our second graders are making their First Communions next weekend, so I took the opportunity to write about the Eucharist. This reflection is very brief (the bulletin is only so long, after all!) but I thought you might enjoy it.

Questions and comments are welcome, as always!

God love you!
************

Next weekend we celebrate the first Holy Communion of our parish 2nd graders. Our children have made their first confessions, and have prepared their souls to welcome Jesus Christ in a singular and extraordinary way into their very beings. This day is a most wonderful, most important day in the life of faith. The first communion of our young people is also a good opportunity for us to reflect upon, and remind ourselves, of not only what we receive in Holy Communion, but also what happens to us in Holy Communion.

In this reception of the Eucharist, the most blessed of sacraments, we receive nothing other than Jesus Himself. The Council of Trent teaches, “As sacrament, the Holy Eucharist is the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ who is truly, really and substantially present.” The Eucharist is not a symbol, but a reality: Christ really, truly, substantially among us. Because of this, the Mass itself is not something that we do for God, but something that God does for us. In the Mass, God allows us to truly be at, and receive the fruits of, Calvary where death was defeated and our salvation was won.

What happens to us in Holy Communion? We are transformed! He gives Himself to us in this way that we might be transformed and become more like Him. In becoming more like Him, we don’t become less who we are, but more as we are meant to be. We become more fully human, and in becoming such, we grow in true joy and happiness. We are transformed so that what God the Father sees and loves in Jesus, He may see and love in us.

The Eucharist is the foretaste and promise of eternal life, and we are told so by Jesus Himself, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” (John 6:54-56) As we receive Jesus our Eucharistic Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, this Sunday and every Sunday, let us ask Jesus deepen our faith, our understanding, and our love for this greatest of gifts that He gives us.

God love you!

The Work of Pius XII

I have a very strong devotion to Pius XII, and being a student of history, I have focused a great deal on the history of his papacy and his actions during World War II. Attacks on Pius have always bothered me tremendously, because it doesn't take a whole lot to see through them. The attacks originally were perpetrated by the Communist government of the USSR, who wanted to discredit the papacy for its own, obvious reasons.

Those who attack him now, Catholics included, usually fall into one of three groups. The first group has no use for the papacy and want to see it destroyed. They believe that an attack on the Pope discredits the office and take every opportunity that can be found to do this. The second group is comprised of liberal secularists who want to re-write history and find this a convenient place to do so as they believe it helps to of discredit the moral authority of the Church, which stands in the way of western secularism. The third group are those of no ill will, who hear the attacks in the western media and believe, as did Virginia about Santa Claus, that "if you see it in the Sun (newspaper), it's so."

A cursory look at the history of the time and situation speaks the truth. Below are a couple of quotes that speak volumes. This first quote is from Albert Einstein:

Being a lover of freedom, when the Nazi revolution came in Germany, I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but, no, the universities immediately were silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers, whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom: but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks. Only the Catholic Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing the truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced thus to confess that what I once despised, I now praise unreservedly.

Rabbi Isaac Herzog, the Chief Rabbi of Israel, sent this to the Vatican in 1945:

The people of Israel," wrote Rabbi Herzog, "will never forget what His Holiness and his illustrious delegates, inspired by the eternal principles of religion, which form the foundation of true civilization, are doing for our unfortunate brothers and sisters in the most tragic hour of our history, which is living proof of Divine Providence in this world.

Golda Meir, Israel's Foreign Minister at the time, spoke of Pius on the occasion of his death in 1958:

We share in the grief of humanity…When fearful martyrdom came to our people in the decade of Nazi terror, the voice of the Pope was raised for the victims. The life of our times was enriched by a voice speaking out on the great moral truths above the tumult of daily conflict. We mourn a great servant of peace.

Some would say, and have said, that these quotes (a small portion of the extraordinary number of testimonies) don't really prove that the Pope Pius actually knew what his priests and religious were doing during the war. They may have been acting without his expressed consent. However, new research and testimonies prove otherwise, which is the point of this blog. Did the Pope do enough? I don't know, and truly no one can. This is not the question, though. The question is what did he do? I believe that the answer to that is 'an extraordinary amount' for which he was lauded and praised for extensively.

Below is a story from the Zenit, a great Catholic news agency about Pius' involvement.

God love you!
************

More Testimonies Defend Pius XII
Corroborate Cardinal Bertone's Citation of '43 Letter

ROME, APRIL 25, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Many past testimonies support Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone's announcement that Pope Pius XII signed a letter in 1943 asking religious institutes to open their doors to persecuted Jews.

That wartime letter undercuts the theory that bishops, religious and many Catholics who risked their lives to save Jews from extermination did so without the Pope's knowledge.

Even before Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Bertone's statement, many testimonies had been published corroborating the information.

According to these testimonies, some of which ZENIT is summarizing here, the assistance project organized by the Catholic Church to save persecuted Jews was directly ordered by Pius XII.

Get organized

Monsignor Aldo Brunacci, the canon of Assisi, said in various interviews that "on the third Thursday of September 1943, after the usual monthly reunion of the clergy that had taken up residence in the diocesan seminary, the bishop called me aside to the room in front of the chapel and showed me a letter from the secretary of state and told me: 'We must get organized to come to the aid of all the persecuted people and especially the Jews. This is the will of the Holy Father Pius XII. This all must be done with the greatest caution and prudence. Nobody, not even the priests, must know about this.'"

Monsignor Brunacci added that he saw the letter sent by the Vatican Secretariat of State.

The monsignor and Bishop Giuseppe Placido Nicolini of Assisi were recognized as "Righteous Among the Nations" by the Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial to Holocaust victims.

Available for you

The testimony of Emilio Viterbi of the University of Padua, a Jewish refugee in Assisi, was released on Jan. 6, 1947. It confirms Pius XII's involvement in the rescue of Jews by religious institutes.

In the 1990s, on the occasion of Bishop Nicolini's 70th birthday, Viterbi said that many episodes "could be mentioned to illustrate the tireless and holy humanitarian actions that the Assisi clergy did for the persecuted Jews under the noble guidance of Bishop Placido Nicolini, who with the greatest love and highest zeal had thus followed the philanthropic will of the Holy Father."

Viterbi added: "During the last period of German occupation, his diocese had become an asylum for many refugees and persecuted persons. Nonetheless when I went to him to ask him, in a case of extreme need, if they could welcome me with my family, he -- with great simplicity and a loving smile -- answered: 'Only my bedroom and my study are free, however, I can sleep in the latter. The bedroom is available for you.'"

The dear refugees A similar story is told by Sister Ferdinanda Corsetti of the Institute of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambéry in Rome. The religious revealed that "it was the Holy Father, Pius XII, who ordered us to open our doors to all the persecuted. If we hadn't received the order from the Pope, it would have been impossible to save so many people."

On March 17, 1998, Sister Ferdinanda was recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by the Israeli Embassy in Rome, for having contributed in saving so many Jews during the Nazi occupation of Rome.

On that occasion, to confirm Pius XII's intentions, Sister Ferdinanda displayed a letter from the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Luigi Maglione, sent to the Mother Superior on Jan. 17, 1944.

In the letter, the secretary of state, on behalf of Pius XII and in reference to the many Jews hidden at the institute, wrote that he wished for "these chosen sons and daughters such ineffable recompense from divine mercy, so that, shortening the days of such great suffering, the Lord may grant them a serene, tranquil and prosperous future."

The letter continued: "In the meantime, as a particular sign of benevolence, His Holiness, grateful to those beloved sisters of St. Joseph of Chambéry for the work of mercy they do with such Christian understanding, sends them and the dear refugees the comforting apostolic blessing."

Direct contact

Sister Maria Piromalli, of the Institute Pius X in Rome, told how the Vatican secretary of state was in direct contact with the convents hiding the Jews.



Her institute, managed by the Daughters of St. Mary of Providence, hid 44 Jewish men and women.

Sister Maria recalled that Pius XII "sent an appeal to all the religious institutes in Rome to help the Jews" and added that Don Emilio Rossi alerted her institute. In the Vatican secret archives published in 2004 -- "Inter Arma Caritas. The Vatican Information Office on Prisoners of War, Instituted by Pius XII (1939-1947)" -- Don Emilio Rossi is listed as the secretary of the Information Office for Prisoners of War, under the Secretariat of State, that is, the office that dealt with matters related to helping the Jews.

Left Alive?

I am aware that my last couple of blogs have been rather upsetting in content, and I fear that this one is no better. However, I was so startled to see this article from a secular newspaper I thought it had to be shared (as mainstream media will not pick it up.) I encourage all to forward it, re-post it, or direct people to it. It tells a hard truth that all should hear. This article has been taken from the London Evening Standards, "This is London" website.

From 22 weeks, the tablets should be preceded by a lethal injection into the baby's heart to ensure the baby is dead before the procedure goes any further. If these babies are born alive, it suggests they weren't given the heart-stopping injection - perhaps because the doctor thought it would have been too traumatic for the mother. The figures follow several studies which show that babies born at 23 and 24 weeks are capable of surviving.

The problem is that the infants were not given a heart stopping injection for fear it would be "too traumatic for the mother." Ah, now I see. If it is traumatic for the mother, and I have no doubt that it would be, imagine how much more so for the child. Even the title of the article, "Left Alive," speaks volumes. It seems to me that if one is left alive, one was alive to begin with. Anyone who bothers to be informed knows what abortion is, no matter where on the spectrum of life vs. abortion one happens to fall. Some of us are just comfortable with it. It's the principle of evil all over again.

Our Lady, conceived without sin, pray for us who have come to love our sin.

God love you,

Father V.

************

One baby in 30 left alive after medical termination

20.04.07

Gianna Jessen: Born after a failed abortion
************

One in 30 babies aborted for medical reasons is born alive, a study has found.

They lived for an average of 80 minutes - although in some cases foetuses survived for over six hours.

Most of the babies were born between 20 and 24 weeks of pregnancy, but some had been in the womb for as little as 17 weeks.

The figures, based on a study of West Midlands hospitals, has reignited the abortion debate, with pro-life campaigners demanding the time limit for terminations be cut.

Researchers looked at the outcome of 3,189 abortions performed on seriously handicapped foetuses at 20 hospitals between 1995 and 2004.

It showed that 102 - or around one in 30 - aborted for reasons such as Down's Syndrome and heart defects, were born alive.

Abortions are allowed to be carried out if the pregnancy is shown to have an adverse effect on the mental health and wellbeing of the mother up until the 24th week of pregnancy.
Beyond this point, the procedure is only sanctioned if the baby has a severe disability or if the mother's life is at risk.

The latest study, carried out by experts from the West Midlands Perinatal Institute and published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, showed that three per cent of aborted disabled babies were born alive.

Most of the abortions studied were medical abortions. These involve a women being given a series of pills, taken in two doses two days apart.

The first dose, a single tablet of mifepristone, blocks the pregnancy hormones that normally ensure the womb's lining holds on to the fertilised egg. The second dose, of four tablets containing hormone-like prostaglandins, triggers contractions and a miscarriage.

The death of the baby is a result of the trauma of the early birth, rather than the tablets itself, meaning, in rare occasions, some babies may survive the process.

From 22 weeks, the tablets should be preceded by a lethal injection into the baby's heart to ensure the baby is dead before the procedure goes any further.

If these babies are born alive, it suggests they weren't given the heart-stopping injection - perhaps because the doctor thought it would have been too traumatic for the mother. The figures follow several studies which show that babies born at 23 and 24 weeks are capable of surviving.

While there is no suggestion that any of the babies documented in the West Midlands study lived for more than a few hours, doctors in Norwich are currently treating a toddler born at 24 weeks after three botched terminations.

He was born three years ago and is still alive.

Campaigners said it was likely the Midlands figures were just the tip of the iceberg as the region only accounts for around a tenth of the babies born in the country each year.

In addition, the study only looked at babies whose lives were ended because of disability.
However, most abortions are carried out on 'healthy' babies for social reasons. Julia Millington of the pro-life group Alive and Kicking said: "This can't just be happening in the West Midlands.
"It begs the question of how many healthy babies must be surviving? It would suggest the true figure must be much higher.

"With live births after abortion occurring in 18 out of the 20 maternity units in the West Midlands alone, it is difficult to comprehend the numbers of babies around the country left fighting for their lives."

Babies born alive after abortion are entitled to medical care. However, anti-abortion campaigners claim that some are so unwanted, they are simply left to die.

The Department of Health said that key medical associations agreed that the time limit for abortion did not need to be changed.

• Thirty years ago, Gianna Jessen's mother had an abortion when seven-and-a-half months pregnant.

The abortion failed and, 18 hours later, Gianna (pictured) was born alive.
She suffered cerebral palsy as a result of the botched abortion, yet has defied doctors' predictions that she would never walk.

In fact she has run a marathon, is an accomplished singer and writer and travels the world to campaign against abortion.

Her mother was 17 when she decided to have the abortion. Weighing 2lbs when she was born, she spent several months in hospital fighting for her life, before being placed in a foster home.
Her cerebral palsy, which was caused by her brain being starved of oxygen during the abortion, was diagnosed at 17 months old. Doctors said she would never be able to crawl or even sit-up unaided, much less stand or walk.

Now, after several operations and years of physiotherapy she has proved them wrong. Gianna does not know why her natural mother chose to abort her.

She said: "If abortion is about women's rights, then what were my rights?

"No decision is solely yours to make. All decisions affect another human being - whether it is for good or for ill.

"If people are going to talk about abortion, then it's important for them to know that these babies can be born alive and survive."

The Principle of Evil

This is another fine article by Peggy Noonan, a woman who is, in my opinion, one of the finest journalists in the United States. Ms. Noonan speaks of our "therapy culture" in the western world, and what this leads to, which is a lack of true concern and a paralysis of action. We are more concerned with "feelings", and "being accepted" than with right or wrong, good or evil, action or inaction. The therapy culture causes people to deflect responsibility and serve only to serve ourselves and our own ego.

What is the solution to this sort of crisis? Nothing but the cross. Until we acknowledge that we are in need of healing, we cannot be healed. Until we acknowledge that we are sinners and in need of forgiveness, we cannot be forgiven. Until we acknowledge that we are in need of a savior, we cannot be saved. Until we acknowledge that man is not a god unto himself, we have no need of the God who has revealed Himself. Pray for the innocent victims of the terrible Virginia Tech massacre. Pray for Cho Seung-hui, who obviously was "infested with evil." Pray for the victim's families and Seung-hui's family, as all have lost a child. And pray for a world that has grown familiar with the principle of evil and sees no need to combat it, but to simply explain why nothing could be done.



God love you!

*************

Cold Standard
Virginia Tech and the heartlessness of our media and therapy culture.
PEGGY NOONAN

Friday, April 20, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT

I saw an old friend on the Acela on the way to Washington, and he told me of the glum, grim faces at the station he'd left, all the commuters with newspapers in their hands and under their arms. This was the day after Virginia Tech. We talked about what was different this time, in this tragedy. I told him I felt people were stricken because they weren't stricken. When Columbine happened, it was weird and terrible, and now there have been some incidents since, and now it's not weird anymore. And that is what's so terrible. It's the difference between "That doesn't happen!" and "That happens."

Actually I thought of Thoreau. He said he didn't have to read newspapers because if you're familiar with a principle you don't have to be familiar with its numerous applications. If you know lightning hits trees, you don't have to know every time a tree is struck by lightning.
In terms of school shootings, we are now familiar with the principle.

Dennis Miller the other night said something compassionate and sensible on TV. Invited to criticize some famous person's stupid response to a past tragedy, he said he sort of applied a 48 hour grace period after a tragedy and didn't hold anyone to the things they'd said. People get rattled and say things that are extreme.

But more than 48 hours have passed. So: some impressions.

There seems to me a sort of broad national diminution of common sense in our country that we don't notice in the day-to-day but that become obvious after a story like this. Common sense says a person like Cho Seung-hui, who was obviously dangerous and unstable, should have been separated from the college population. Common sense says someone should have stepped in like an adult, like a person in authority, and taken him away. It is only common sense that if a person like Cho leaves a self-aggrandizing, self-celebrating, self-pitying video diary of himself to be played by the mass media, the mass media should not play it and not publicize it, not make it famous. Common sense says that won't help.

And all those big cops, scores of them, hundreds, with the latest, heaviest, most sophisticated gear, all the weapons and helmets and safety vests and belts. It looked like the brute force of the state coming up against uncontrollable human will.

But it also looked muscle bound. And the schools themselves more and more look muscle bound, weighed down with laws and legal assumptions and strange prohibitions.

The school officials I saw, especially the head of the campus psychological services, seemed to me endearing losers. But endearing is too strong. I mean "not obviously and vividly offensive."

The school officials who gave all the highly competent, almost smooth and practiced news conferences seemed to me like white, bearded people who were educated in softness. Cho was "troubled"; he clearly had "issues"; it would have been good if someone had "reached out"; it's too bad America doesn't have better "support services." They don't use direct, clear words, because if they're blunt, they're implicated.

The literally white-bearded academic who was head of the campus counseling center was on Paula Zahn Wednesday night suggesting the utter incompetence of officials to stop a man who had stalked two women, set a fire in his room, written morbid and violent plays and poems, been expelled from one class, and been declared by a judge to be "mentally ill" was due to the lack of a government "safety net." In a news conference, he decried inadequate "funding for mental health services in the United States." Way to take responsibility. Way to show the kids how to dodge.

The anxiety of our politicians that there may be an issue that goes unexploited was almost--almost--comic. They mean to seem sensitive, and yet wind up only stroking their supporters. I believe Rep. Jim Moran was first out of the gate with the charge that what Cho did was President Bush's fault. I believe Sen. Barack Obama was second, equating the literal killing of humans with verbal coarseness. Wednesday there was Sen. Barbara Boxer equating the violence of the shootings with the "global warming challenge" and "today's Supreme Court decision" upholding a ban on partial-birth abortion.

One watches all of this and wonders: Where are the grown-ups?

I wondered about the emptiness of the phrases used by the media and by political figures, and how pro forma and lifeless and cold they are. The formalized language of loss hasn't kept up with the number of tragedies. "A nation mourns." "Our prayers are with you." The latter is both self-complimenting and of dubious believability. Did you really pray? Or is it just a phrase?

And this as opposed to the honest things normal people say: "Oh no." "I am so sorry." "I'm sad." "It's horrible."

With all the therapy in our great therapized nation, with all our devotion to emotions and feelings, one senses we are becoming a colder culture, and a colder country. We purport to be compassionate--we must respect Mr. Cho's privacy rights and personal autonomy--but of course it is cold not to have protected others from him. It is cold not to have protected him from himself.

The last testament Cho sent to NBC seemed more clear evidence of mental illness--posing with his pistols, big tough gangsta gonna take you out. What is it evidence of when NBC News, a great pillar of the mainstream media, runs the videos and pictures on the nightly news? Brian Williams introduced the Cho collection as "what can only be described as a multi-media manifesto." But it can be described in other ways. "The self-serving meanderings of a crazy, self-indulgent narcissist" is one. But if you called it that, you couldn't lead with it. You couldn't rationalize the decision.

Such pictures are inspiring to the unstable. The minute you saw them, you probably thought what I did: We'll be seeing more of that.

The most common-sensical thing I heard said came Thursday morning, in a hospital interview with a student who'd been shot and was recovering. Garrett Evans said of the man who'd shot him, "An evil spirit was going through that boy, I could feel it." It was one of the few things I heard the past few days that sounded completely true. Whatever else Cho was, he was also a walking infestation of evil. Too bad nobody stopped him. Too bad nobody moved.

Ms. Noonan is a contributing editor of The Wall Street Journal and author of "John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father" (Penguin, 2005), which you can order from the OpinionJournal bookstore. Her column appears Fridays on OpinionJournal.com.

Applause from Hell

Father Frank Pavone is the president of the organization, "Priests for Life." His work in the pro-life field is second to none, really, and his passion in defense of life comes through in all he says, does, and writes. This short article, taken from the Catholic Education Resource Center, is one more example of his work in defense of Life.

Some may argue that graphic depictions of what occurs in an abortion are not effective means of combating the scourge of infanticide, some argue that they are most effective. I am not sure myself. I do know that many good people in the pro-life movement fall on both sides of the argument. I think the answer is somewhere in between, and there is a place for both in the dialogue, depending on circumstances and audience.

Questions and comments are welcome.

God love you.
************

Applause from Hell

FR. FRANK PAVONE

If we think of hell, we might imagine screams coming out of the flames, or the sinister laughter of the devil. But the sound I recently heard coming from there was that of applause.

What I heard was an audiotape of Dr. Martin Haskell giving a presentation at the 16th Annual Meeting of the National Abortion Federation Conference in 1992 in San Diego. It was a gathering of abortionists — men and women who make their living by killing babies. Haskell was describing to his audience how to do a partial-birth abortion. Listen to his words about how this procedure takes place:

"The surgeon then introduces large grasping forceps ... through the vaginal and
cervical canal ... He moves the tip of the instrument carefully towards the
fetal lower extremities — and pulls the extremity into the vagina ... The
surgeon then uses his fingers to deliver the opposite lower extremity, then the
torso, the shoulders, and the upper extremities. The skull lodges in the
internal os. The fetus is oriented ... spine up ... The surgeon then takes a
pair of blunt curved Metzenbaum scissors in the right hand. ... the surgeon then
forces the scissors into the base of the skull — spreads the scissors to enlarge
the opening. The surgeon then introduces a suction catheter into this hole and
evacuates the skull contents."

It is also true, however, to say that hell is very cold. It is the absence of all conscience, of all pity, of all love. That kind of hell is reflected on earth when a group of human beings can sit around a video machine, watch someone deliberately kill a baby, and then applaud. That's the heart and soul of the abortion industry.

Haskell, having described these brutal details, shows his audience a video of himself doing one of these procedures. And at the end of the video, after the sound of the suction machine taking the brains out of the baby's head, the audience applauds.

That, my friends, is applause from hell.

We often speak about "the fires of hell." It is also true, however, to say that hell is very cold. It is the absence of all conscience, of all pity, of all love. That kind of hell is reflected on earth when a group of human beings can sit around a video machine, watch someone deliberately kill a baby, and then applaud. That's the heart and soul of the abortion industry. That's the heart and soul of "pro-choice."

It's the same chilling attitude of which Dr. Bernard Nathanson repented. He writes about how he felt after he killed his own child by abortion. "I swear to you that I had no feelings aside from the sense of accomplishment, the pride of expertise. On inspecting the contents of the bag I felt only the satisfaction of knowing that I had done a thorough job" (The Hand of God, p.60).

I am convinced that the first and overall most effective way to fight abortion is to expose it. People need to hear descriptions of the procedure, see what it looks like, and get a glimpse into the utter corruption of the abortion industry. Saint Paul tells the Ephesians, "Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them" (Eph. 5:11). Let's put Paul's words into practice and spread the information in this column!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Fr. Frank Pavone. "Applause from Hell." Priests for Life (April, 2007).
This article is courtesy of the Priests for Life newsletter. You may contact Priests for Life at PO Box 141172, Staten Island, NY 10314; call 1-888-PFL-3448 or 718-980-4400; fax 718-980-6515; mail@priestsforlife.org; www.priestsforlife.org.

THE AUTHOR
Fr. Frank Pavone was born in Port Chester, New York and has been active in the pro-life movement since 1976. He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of New York by Cardinal John O'Connor in 1988. In 1999, the Daily Catholic named Fr. Pavone among the Top 100 Catholics of the Century. He is the recipient, for the year 2001, of the Proudly Pro-life Award of the National Right to Life Committee. In 2002, in recognition of his pro-life work, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Franciscan University of Steubenville. In 2003, Fr. Pavone was elected to be the President of the National Pro-life Religious Council, a coalition of groups from many different denominations working to end abortion.

Copyright © 2007 Priests for Life

Surprised? Where have you been?

This article was from Couric and Company was linked to by Ignatius Insight. It speaks of the surprise of one CBS newsman at hiring by the John Edwards Campaign of two women who had published online hateful and bigoted screeds against the Church, Our Lord and Lady, and the Pope. Haven't heard much about this? The media didn't deem it very news-worthy. In an age when an editorial cartoon depicting Muhammad as a homicide bomber sets off international crisis, one would thing that an attack on the worlds largest Church that makes the cartoon incident pale in comparison would at least be of interest to the press.

Not so, however, for this attack is deemed acceptable. Why? The Church stands against western modernism, liberalism and secularism, (adherence to which is the very creed of the western press, and western thought for that matter.) I don't believe that the Edwards Camp didn't vett these two women properly. I believe their views and writings were known, and simply dismissed as unimportant. Why? When this all "came to light," these two women were not fired, but simply resigned. Edwards didn't offer as much as a weak reprimand. If they had written anti-Semitic tracts, or had even given the appearance of attacking Islam, would the reaction had been the same? Of course not. (All hateful attacks should be condemned loudly.) Only the Church may be attacked safely and without reprisal.

The Church will though ride out the waves of this latest storm. Why? Christ has told us as much. The gates of hell, and any attack the devil may launch against the Barque of Peter, will not bring her down. She will ride out the storm. Battered and bruised as she may be at the other side of this latest squall, we have divine assurance that she will not at the end simply be the last one standing, but the only one standing.

Questions and comments are welcome.

God love you,
Father V.
************

The Last Acceptable Prejudice
Posted by Greg Kandra

Well, it looks like the kerfuffle over John Edwards’ bloggers has blown over. They’ve both quit. But he certainly didn’t help matters. Edwards evidently hired people whose previously published comments in the blogosphere were, to put it mildly, distasteful. In fact, I’ll go one step further. They were offensive – especially to Catholics, some of whom were unstinting in their condemnation of Edwards and his employees.

It goes without saying that Edwards should have vetted these people better and displayed a little curiosity about what they had written, and what they believed. (Or, perhaps, he did vet them, did read what they had written, and didn’t see a problem with it – which opens a whole other can of worms and calls into question Edwards’ judgment.)

But the episode has drawn attention to an issue that strikes close to my own life – and the lives of about 60 million other Americans. It involves a particularly insidious form of bigotry, and the nagging suspicion that there is one remaining permissible prejudice in America. It is anti-Catholicism.

I say this as a person who has spent a quarter of a century working in network news, and as a man who, in three months, will become an ordained member of the Catholic clergy. (On May 19th I’ll be ordained a permanent deacon.) Straddling these two worlds, I’ve seen my share of controversies, scandals and public outcries over the Church and how it is treated by both the public and the media. But the Edwards debacle is something I never quite anticipated.

I would not have believed that a candidate for President (and a previous candidate for Vice President) would have hired a writer, Melissa McEwan, who had described President Bush’s supporters as a “wingnut Christofacist base.” I did not think a person of Edwards seriousness and experience would condone welcoming onto his payroll a second writer, Amanda Marcotte, who wrote on her blog “the Catholic church is not about to let something like compassion for girls get in the way of using the state as an instrument to force women to bear more tithing Catholics.” This is also the writer who wrote: “What if Mary had taken Plan B after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit? You’d have to justify your misogyny with another ancient mythology.” (And then there’s this pearl of wisdom: One thing I vow here and now–you motherf*** who want to ban birth control will never sleep. I will f*** without making children day in and out and you will know it and you won’t be able to stop it. Toss and turn, you mean, jealous motherf****. I’m not going to be “punished” with babies. Which makes all your efforts a failure. Some non-procreating women escaped. So give up now. You’ll never catch all of us. Give up now.”)

I certainly would not have imagined that a serious candidate for President would have kept on his payroll people who write things so blatantly, outrageously hateful towards a particular religion.

Which begs the question: would he have been so sanguine if they had written demeaning and insulting tirades about Jews? Or Muslims? How about Mormons?

But we live in an age when the culture defends artists who place a crucifix in urine, display it in a museum, and call it art. (Do that with the Koran, of course, and it’s an act of war.) We live in a time when an artist can cover an image of the Virgin Mary with dung and be celebrated. But if you merely show a cartoon of Mohammed, you provoke an international incident.

I don’t know if Edwards is a bigot. I suspect not. I suspect he’s probably just a product of his age, and that he suffers from what moral theologians would call invincible ignorance.

In other words, he’s just too ignorant to know better.

And he’s just doing what so many others have done, and continue to do: tolerating the last acceptable prejudice.

Funny Video!

I saw this video a long time ago, and just stumbled across it again. I offer it for your enjoyment!

God love you,
Father V.
************

Gifts in Unexpected Places

As I sit in my office snowed in due to our first Nor'Easter of the season, I came across this truly wonderful story that I thought my readers might like. It will definitely bring a smile to your faces. God gives us gifts in the most unexpected places, and people.

This article is from Catholic Online.

God love you,
Father V.
************

Handicapped ‘master’ missionary rosary maker gives back to God

By Jennifer Willems2/12/2007
The Catholic Post

GENESEO, Ill. (The Catholic Post) – Eddie DePauw will never cure cancer. He won’t lead the stock market to a record-breaking rally and he will never be elected to office. Born with Down syndrome, his gift is much simpler but it still has the potential to change lives around the world.
DePauw, 44, is a "master missionary rosary maker." As a member of the Rosary Makers of St. Malachy Church here, he has been responsible for helping the group send approximately 3,200 missionary rosaries to people in hospitals, nursing homes and adoration chapels in the United States as well as missions in Africa, the Philippines, Brazil and India over the last seven years.

"I think we formed the group for Eddie and for the blessed mother, so he could give something back," said Jolene Thompson, a member of the Rosary Makers. "His rosaries are definitely blessed."

Part of a national organization known as Our Lady’s Rosary Makers, which is based in Louisville, Ky., the Rosary Makers of St. Malachy’s Church create two kinds of rosaries.

The first are chained rosaries, which are sold to help the group buy materials and ship what they have made to the missions. Thompson noted that these rosaries require some practice and skill to make.

The second kind of rosaries the group makes is cord rosaries, which are knotted. These are the rosaries at which Eddie is a master.

"The missionary rosary is fairly simple," Thompson told The Catholic Post. "There’s a knot you have to learn between the decades but that’s not very complicated."

Jeanette DePauw, Eddie’s mother, said the repetition is what makes it possible for Eddie to make the rosaries so easily and with such grace. "Once you get it, you’ve got it," she explained.
Thompson provides the supplies and then lets Eddie make the rosaries in whatever colors he chooses. When asked what his favorite colors are for the rosaries, Eddie lists red, blue, white and green.

Many of those colors can be found in the World Mission Rosary, which was developed and promoted by Archbishop Fulton Sheen, whose cause for sainthood the Diocese of Peoria is promoting. The decades, made of clear, red, yellow, blue and green beads, represent different continents, according to Thompson.

Eddie received a World Mission Rosary kit for his birthday and works on them, along with all of the other rosaries he makes for the missions, at a table in his bedroom that is piled with beads and plastic crosses. Spools of white, black and brown cord rest on the television stand behind the desk, within easy reach.

Meticulous in counting and placing the beads just so, Eddie ties the knots as he moves from one decade of the rosary to the next. Having a visitor taking pictures and being bombarded by conversation all around him might have distracted another person, but Eddie – a man of action but few words – focused his full attention on what he was doing until he had a rosary made to his satisfaction.

"We’re just so amazed to see him be able to do this," Thompson told The Catholic Post. "What’s interesting for me to watch is his dexterity in working with the small beads."

Commitment is what makes Eddie such a valuable member of the Rosary Makers of St. Malachy’s Church, according to Thompson.

"He is very committed to it – he keeps us going," she said, noting that he also contributes joy and a simple faith to whatever he does.

In addition to making rosaries, Eddie bags them and puts labels on the bags to let the recipients know who has provided the prayer aids for them. He even has a say in where they’ll go.

"We give Eddie a list and say, ‘Where shall we send them?’" Thompson explained.

"We have gotten some beautiful letters back with blessings for Eddie," she said. "I always include a paragraph about Eddie and his work when we ship the rosaries out to the missions."

"Blessing" is a word that Jeanette also uses about her son, who lives with her and her husband, Julian, a retired farmer.

"He’s no different from any other handicapped person," she told The Catholic Post, "but maybe he’s more blessed because of the people who have been put into his life."

Among those special people are their neighbors in Geneseo and Port Byron, Ill., where the DePauws farmed; the Rosary Makers; and the people at Abilities Plus, Inc. in Kewanee, Ill., which provides services to children and adults with disabilities in Henry, Stark and Bureau counties. Eddie goes there three days a week.

One of Eddie’s gifts is his ability to connect with and remember the people he has met, she said, noting that when he was in school they used to say, "the superintendent is as good as the custodian to Eddie."

"When we go to church we sit in the back pew because he makes Mass a social event," according to Jeanette, who brought Eddie to the Special Persons Encounter Christ program at St. Malachy’s even when they lived in Port Byron. She taught in the program for several years.

What’s important to the DePauws, however, is that they just try to live life each day as the Lord wants them to.

"Bloom where you’re planted," Jeanette said. "That’s the same whether you’re handicapped or not."