Bounce 'em?

Public excommunication. not just quiet automatic excommunication, might be in store for politicians and scientists who kill people who are at the embryonic stage.

That is what it sounded as if Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo was saying this week.

Here is an excerpt from one report (click on this post's title): "Scientists who carry out embryonic stem cell research and politicians who pass laws permitting the practice will be excommunicated, the Vatican said yesterday. 'Destroying human embryos is equivalent to an abortion. It is the same thing,' said Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, head of the Pontifical Council for the Family. 'Excommunication will be applied to the women, doctors and researchers who eliminate embryos [and to the] politicians that approve the law,' he said in an interview with Famiglia Christiana, an official Vatican magazine."

Will Cardinal Mahony back him up? Will Cardinal McCarrick? Archbishop Wuerl?

Let us see if the rubber hits the road soon and some U.S. politicians get excommunicated before the November elections. That might be unlikely; but as they say in baseball, you never know.

Our Archdiocese could do this

Did you read in LifeSiteNews.com last Monday, the 26th, about pro-life action in Communist-held Vietnam?

It turns out that since 1992, Catholic pro-lifers (who must remain anonymous, to evade persecution) have run a large cemetry for aborted babies in Hue. Pro-lifers are opening similar cemeteries in Pleiku and Saigon ("Ho Chi Minh City") -- and, says LifeSiteNews, even some Communist officials have called them "a sacred work of love."

LifeSiteNews provides this link: http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=6532

Running such a "sacred work of love" right here in L.A. would be a way for the Archdiocese to show public opposition to abortions, to build up the Culture of Life and to save babies and souls by fostering conversion of heart in many people. (Yes, I know about the memorial statues sponsored by the K of C; this project would be bigger.)

Imagine if the Archdiocese asked abortionists for the bodies of aborted babies, just as Joseph of Arimathea asked for the Body of Jesus. Yes, various laws would present obstacles -- but the Archdiocese's lawyers could take time out from their clergy abuse work to fight them.

Yes, I know about the 16,000 aborted babies who were found in a container and who eventually received decent Christian burial in Southern California back in the early 1980's despite pro-aborts' opposition. All aborted babies deserve baptism and Christian burial.

If Catholics can perform "a sacred work of love" in Vietnam, we can do it, or something similar, here. (No, I do not expect this to happen -- but it ought to.)

L.A.P.S., a beautiful apostolate

Do you know about the "zone of death" downtown -- seven abortion businesses in a tiny area? Would you like to help poverty-stricken moms there and help save their babies? Now you can.

Thank God, some good and loving people are saving babies and helping moms in that area: Los Angeles Pregnancy Services (L.A.P.S.), the only crisis pregnancy help center in the City of Los Angeles -- in the poverty-ridden Pico-Union district. Their contact information:

Los Angeles Pregnancy Services
2524 W. 7th Street, L.A., CA 90057
213-382-5643 ~ 213-382-5645 (f)
www.lapsforlife.org

From the 10 Freeway - Take the Hoover exit and go north to West 7th Street, turn right and go two blocks to 2524 W. 7th Street. Located closest to the corner of Coronado and 7th. From the 110 South – Take the 8th Street exit, turn right on Coronado and right on 7th. From the 101 South – Take the Benton Street Exit, continue straight onto London and turn right on Rampart. From Rampart turn left onto W. 7th Street.

Your donations to L.A.P.S. will go a long way and do so much good. You can also contact them about possibly volunteering your time and energy. Think of the poor moms and babies your gifts will help in their hour of need, and the joy you will feel at doing your part for them.

Please tell them ole Quintero sent you! Mil gracias.

Emotional reception for new film

Amy Berg's new clergy-abuse documentary film "Deliver Us," about Oliver O'Grady, the then-Stockton priest and, quoting the L.A. New Times, "a known, admitted molester" whom then-Bishop Roger Mahony promoted to pastor, made an impression at the Los Angeles Film Festival, reports the L.A. Times (click on this post's title).


"Sobs, groans and uncomfortable laughter punctuated the screening," says the Times, which adds, "Videotaped depositions by officials of the Roman Catholic Church, including Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles, drew the strongest response as derisive snickering rippled through the hall."

This sad report is one more indication, as if we didn't know it already, that our prayers and sacrifices are needed more than ever in the wake of the abuse and cover-up scandals.

Our Lady, Queen of the Angels, pray for us! St. Vibiana, pray for us! Padre Serra, pray for us!

What would they refuse Communion for?

If Cardinals McCarrick, Mahony et al. do not find enabling the abortions of millions of babies a sufficient reason to deny Holy Communion, what offense would they refuse Communion for?

Reading Michael Rose books? Listening to Rush Limbaugh? Telling Teddy Kennedy jokes?

How about the offense of petitioning for the Tridentine Latin Mass? Kneeling to receive Communion? Hmm, we're getting warm. Kneeling after the Agnus Dei? Well, now...

How about the offense of homeschooling your innocent little children instead of sending them to a parochial school that has diocesan-mandated offensive sex education? Actually, that has already happened in some places, hasn't it -- refusing First Communion to the innocent children of conscientious Catholic parents.

Our Lady, Mother of the Eucharist, pray for us and our Church! Amen.

Shield of Roses: A beautiful apostolate

Do you know about one of the very best apostolates in all of Los Angeles and, as far as ole Quintero is concerned, anywhere in the world -- Shield of Roses, Our Lady of Refuge Chapter?

They do very effective sidewalk counseling in Glendale, save many babies and help many families. Their quarterly newsletter will touch your heart and move you to tears; they fill it with photos of the beautiful babies they have saved, and with moving stories of all the help they give the babies' moms and dads and of how happy the parents are with their dear babies.

Shield of Roses is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and they will put your donations right to work, and right away, on the baby-saving front lines. You can reach them today at:

Shield of Roses
Our Lady of Refuge Chapter
P.O. Box 9053
Glendale CA 91226
phone: 818-242-3912

And please tell them ole Quintero at onelacatholic.blogspot.com sent you. Gracias!

P.S. In addition to our making much-needed donations, Shield of Roses asks us to, if we want, promise to be pro-life "Prayer Warriors" who every Saturday say at least one decade of the Rosary "for the perseverance of our sidewalk counselors."

"A nuanced world" = Dead Babies

Once and for all: The bishops who give Holy Communion to their pro-abortion politician pals are the ones engaging in partisan politics, not the bishops who warn the anti-lifers to repent.

The Washington Post has reported that at the Mass of installation of Donald Wuerl as the new Archbishop of Washington, D.C., last week, the flaming pro-abortion, Church-baiting once and perhaps future presidential candidate John Kerry was given Holy Communion.

The giving of Communion to the brazen enemies of God's precious babies, the Culture of Life and the Magisterium of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Jesus Christ leads directly to the killings of more babies by lending aid and comfort to the pro-aborts and by giving the impression that aborting babies is okay. So does Cardinal Theodore McCarrick's recent false allegation of "polarization" and "partisan politics" against the pro-life bishops.

See the quotes from Cardinal McCarrick in arch-liberal Peter Steinfels' "Beliefs" column in the June 24 New York Times (click on this post's title). The cardinal urges "respectful relationships between a bishop and Catholic public officials" [as meanwhile the aborted babies' mangled bodies keep piling up day after day in our sewers, incinerators and landfills].

Cardinal McCarrick also recommends that bishops concentrate on "teaching, informing and dialogue." He says, "It's a nuanced position, but we're living in a nuanced world."

No, Cardinal McCarrick. No! What you ought to be saying is the truth: That God's precious preborn babies are DYING in a nuanced world. You and your pro-abortion politician pals are nuancing the babies to death -- by the thousands daily and the millions yearly.

Maybe Cardinal Mahony will help Cardinal McCarrick see the light. Just kidding -- sadly.

They really hate pro-lifers

A sickening characteristic of virtually every "liberal" Catholic, guaranteed, is that they never, ever criticize anti-lifers but they sure do rip into pro-lifers all they want.

Exhibit A in the "sickening characteristic" department is, you guessed it, Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony's Archdiocesan newspaper The Tidings for letting Father Richard McBrien vent his spleen against pro-lifers in many an issue.

Father McBrien's and The Tidings's latest attack on pro-lifers is "Pro-Birth vs. Pro-Life," his column (click on this post's title) in the current issue. He mentions "some measure of resentment [his own included, obviously] regarding the co-opting of the term 'pro-life' by religious conservatives closely identified with the anti-abortion movement."

He is completely wrong about this. It is the "liberals" who co-opted the term. The name "pro-life" was in use many years BEFORE Cardinal Bernardin and others invented their "seamless [seamy] garment" / "broad range of issues" dodge to co-opt it.

Father McBrien writes that "we might consider referring henceforth to the self-described pro-life contingent within the U.S. Christian community as 'pro-birth' rather than as 'pro-life.'" And he admits that he first heard this notion from the dissenter Sister Joan Chittister.

Among the issues to which Father McBrien claims we have to subscribe in order to be truly "pro-life" is "non-discrimination based on race, religion, ethnicity and sexual orientation."

We need to tell Father McBrien, the board of The Tidings and Cardinal Mahony to turn the equation around: "You cannot be 'pro-life' unless you are anti-abortion and actively so. Stop criticizing pro-lifers and start criticizing anti-lifers -- as often, as severely and as long, decades long, as you have criticized the pro-life activists whose baby-saving you should emulate."

Pope Pius XI on priests and truth

Happy Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus!

In his powerful encyclical letter (click on this post's title) Mit Brennender Sorge ("With burning sorrow"; literally, "With deep anxiety"), issued on Passion Sunday, March 14, 1937, Pope Pius XI wrote these words to the priests of the Nazi-persecuted Church in Germany:

"The priest's first loving gift to his neighbors is to serve truth and refute error in any of its forms. Failure on this score would be not only a betrayal of God and your vocation, but also an offense against the real welfare of your people and country. To all those who have kept their promised fidelity to their Bishops on the day of their ordination; to all those who in the exercise of their priestly function are called upon to suffer persecution; to all those imprisoned in jail and concentration camps, the Father of the Christian world sends his words of gratitude and commendation." (par. 36)

On this Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, what gift can we give Him to gladden His Heart?

How about this? Let us pray for each and every priest of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Diocese of Orange -- for all their needs and for every grace and blessing. And let our prayer for our priests ask that they will always give the gift of truth to their neighbors. Let us pray that first and foremost they will always put into practice Jesus' command:

"...go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to carry out everything I have commanded you. And know that I am with you always, until the end of the world."

Fingerprinting everyone but illegals

Remember the Archdiocese's order the priests, religious, employees and volunteers who work with children have to be fingerprinted for background checks?

It turns out, says the L.A. Times today (click on this post's title), that since last year the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Diocese of Orange quietly have not been applying that order to parish volunteers who are illegal aliens. Officials of the dioceses say they let the "undocumented" work with children, but only under supervision.

The Times says that from anyone who cannot supply a U.S. government photo ID, the Archdiocese of L.A. asks only for an affidavit that they have not been convicted of any crime, and the Diocese of Orange asks for an affidavit plus two character reference letters.

The Times says that the two dioceses together have fingerprinted more than 70,000 priests, employees and volunteers. Not illegal alien parish volunteers, though.

The Times quotes Rita Mills of SNAP: "If someone can't prove who they are, they shouldn't be volunteering."

Where are L.A. pro-life Democrat office-holders?

Lousiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, a Democrat, has signed a bill into law that, once the U.S. Supreme Court nullifies Roe vs. Wade, will protect all babies from being aborted except those whose mother's life is claimed to be in danger from pregnancy. (I say "claimed" not, obviously, out of disrespect for mothers' health but because money-grubbing abortionists have been known, to say the least, to cite phony reasons for committing abortions.)

The new law had bipartisan support in both houses of the Louisiana legislature. It would give abortionists up to 10 years in prison and would fine them up to $100,000. Similar measures are pending in several other states. The Planned Parenthoods are furious.

Wonder if the Louisiana lawmakers know they are following the advice of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta? In 1988 she told the 200th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, USA, "If I had power, I would open a jail and put every single doctor in jail for killing life."

But the point is, Governor Blanco is a Democrat. Today in Los Angeles, 38 years after aborting babies was legalized here in California, how come there are no, or virtually no, pro-life Democrat office-holders anywhere in the Los Angeles Archdiocese?

Have Cardinal Mahony, our auxiliary bishops and our clergy been working to foster the right to life among Democrats, and to encourage pro-life Dems to seek office? If they have been, they need to do better. If they have not been, when will they begin this good work?

Leaving it up to the individual bishop

A Corpus Christi meditation --

Our U.S. bishops at their spring meeting in L.A. have left it up to the individual bishop in each diocese whether to give Holy Communion to abortion-enabling, Church-defying politicians. The bishops know that most of their number will not penalize the pro-aborts.

It is ironic, to say the least, that the bishops did this with the Feast of Corpus Christi upon us.

Think of the Eucharistic miracles. Think of Christ Crucified, rent and torn and bloodied. And then think of the millions of dear little babies, rent and torn and bloodied.

Is every abortion not a Passion and a Way of the Cross and a Crucifixion? Should the Feast of Corpus Christi not bring to mind the bodies of the babies?

Every bishop could lead Eucharistic processions to the abortion mills in his diocese or archdiocese, as did the late Bishop James Sullivan. Every bishop could also withhold Holy Communion from the pro-abortion politicians. Let us ask Christ Crucified to change the minds and touch the hearts of the bishops, not to mention the hard-hearted politicians. Amen.

Holy Communion for pro-abortion politicians

Reports are saying (thank you, commenter Jack Clough) that our U.S. bishops have agreed to leave it up to each local bishop to decide about giving Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians or refusing to. That is what has been going on already, essentially.

For a politician to provide political and legal protection, rhetorical support and moral justification to abortionists and the abortion lobby, and thus to betray God's precious BABIES to painful, grisly deaths by the thousands daily and millions yearly, either is a mortal sin or it is not. Protection of the Blessed Sacrament cannot vary from diocese to diocese!

We await further and more complete information on this development. But for right now, we can say that this week it appears far better for Angelenos to be outside the Millennium Biltmore luxury hotel and the Rog Mahal with the faithful few pro-life picketers in the stifling heat than to be inside and making air-conditioned compromises in favor of pro-abortion politicians. Can it be that our bishops once again have let God's little babies down?

"Fratricidal arguments"

"Will the real Vatican II please stand up?" is the title of Cardinal Francis George's column (click on this post's title) in the June 11 issue of his Chicago Archdiocesan newspaper.

Leaving aside everything else the Cardinal says, I can note that he writes, "Much that is positive and helpful in the Church today comes from the instructions of the Council. Much that is negative and destructive in the Church today comes, it seems to me, from fratricidal arguments about elements of the Church’s life and teachings, conflicts that distract Catholics from attending to the reason the Council was called: the conversion of the world."

As for "fratricidal arguments," we should note, just for the record, that all Catholics have a duty to defend Catholic truth when it is attacked, misrepresented, mocked, flouted or subverted. Defending the Faith is in no way engaging in "fratricidal conflict," contrary to what many "liberal" Catholics claim. Let us hope Cardinal George would acknowledge that.

As for conversion of the world, I can attest, and no doubt you can too, and so can countless L.A. Catholics all the way back to the 1960's, that many "liberal" priests spend less time in bringing people into Holy Mother Church than in criticizing everything orthodox and traditional about Her and thus driving people away from , not to mention out of, the Church. Why would anyone want to join or stay in a Church whose own priests are disloyal -- who act as if She was wrong about everything for 2,000 years and needs to be reinvented now?

A.L.L. to bishops: Refuse Communion to pro-aborts

Wonder how many U.S. bishops and their clergy and lay aides who were in, or on their way to, L.A. and the Millennium Biltmore hotel yesterday, June 14, happened to browse through USA Today? If they turned to page 11 in section A, they found some salutary reading material.

Page 11, you see, was a full-page ad (click on this post's title) from the American Life League. Headlined "The Divinity Code," it featured an illustration of the Sacred Head of Christ bleeding from the Crown of Thorns, and a text that quoted Canon 915 -- "Those who... obstinately persist in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Communion" -- and that urged readers to ask their bishop "to instruct his priests, deacons and Eucharistic ministers that they may not give Holy Communion to those public figures who publicly reject the Church's teaching."

Cardinal Francis Arinze would agree. Last year, I believe it was, in response to a reporter's question he asked why anyone would have to query a Cardinal about this matter, and he said that even a child would know pro-abortion politicians shouldn't be given Holy Communion. (I don't have the exact quote at hand, but that was the substance.)

Odds are that in this election year the bishops (a) will not discipline the Catholic politicians who keep defying the Church and supporting the slayings of thousands of BABIES and (b) will not tell Catholic voters to not vote for pro-aborts. Wish I would be wrong about this.

A legal maneuver

Did you see the L.A. Times report last week about the Archbishop of Los Angeles intervening quietly this past March in a molestation civil suit against the LAPD? Only now am I getting around to mentioning it, and via a June 9 AP article about it (click on this post's title).

The AP story reports that in the case, a California appeals court on February 24 dropped the LAPD from a lawsuit about alleged molestations of then-Explorer Scouts in the late 1970's by "openly gay" LAPD Deputy Chief David Kalish. The court decreed that according to state law, the ex-Explorer Scouts would have to, said the AP, "show specific sexual misconduct before the LAPD could be forced to open its files."

Now, here comes the Archbishop's part.

Says the AP story, "Mahony's lawyer on March 3 asked the court to publish the decision, which would make it apply to other cases and not just the suit against Kalish, the [L.A. Times] reported. The court did so four days later."

The AP story continues, "Now Raymond P. Boucher, an attorney for many of the church's accusers, has asked the California Supreme Court to depublish the ruling on the grounds that it would deny victims their day in court, the Times reported."

The AP report adds, "Boucher criticized Mahony for intervening in the Kalish case without the plaintiffs' knowledge. 'I thought it was underhanded for the archdiocese to surreptitiously send that letter and never give us an opportunity to respond,' Boucher told the newspaper. J. Michael Hennigan, the cardinal's lawyer, and Tod Tamburg [sic], Mahony's spokesman, declined to comment Thursday to the Times."

As Rush Limbaugh says, "Well, folks, there you have it." We will see what comes of the Cardinal's legal maneuver, eventually.

On the eve of the bishops' arrival

Our U.S. bishops will be arriving now for their annual spring meeting here in L.A., June 14-17.

Let us hope and pray that good will come out of the meeting. But let us also hope and pray that, starting Wednesday and continuing through Saturday, enough Catholics in L.A. will join Concerned Roman Catholics of America outside the Millennium Biltmore luxury hotel at 506 South Grand, downtown, to picket in enough numbers that the bishops and the public will get the message: We want a faithful translation of the Mass, we want more Latin Tridentine Masses, we want the Lavender Mafia put out of business and we want an end to a free ride in the Church for pro-abortion politicians.

That is not too much to ask for. And if you agree, please come downtown and say so, out loud and in public, with Concerned Roman Catholics of America. For information, e-mail crcoa@earthlink.net or visit www.crcoa.com or see CRCOA's comments at recent posts here.

Devastation of churches -- and of the Church

I can hardly bring myself to write this post. If you want to see a heartbreaking news article, go to today's New York Times (click on this post's title) and read about the devastation and loss of the Church's patrimony that parish closings and wreckovations are wreaking nationwide.

The article, from the AP, details the often irreparable loss and destruction of tabernacles (God forbid!), altars (God forbid!), confessionals (God forbid!), altarpieces, altar rails, stained glass windows, statues, candlesticks and other holy objects from closed and wreckovated Catholic churches, most of them architectural treasures, around our country.

The news story attributes all this to parish closings caused by "population shift." The reporter does not seem to know about the hideous ideological animus that many "spirit of Vatican II" bishops and pastors have toward traditional Catholic churches and holy Catholic objects.

True, this phenomenon is not exactly new news. But it always hurts to read about it.

The article does contain some good news. A few priests and lay people are trying to save and reclaim holy objects for use in other churches. Father Pat Butler from the Diocese of Albany wishes there was a national clearinghouse for the holy items; now, there is a great and holy cause for an enterprising or wealthy Catholic (why not from L.A.?) to begin!

One heartbreaking photo and caption pretty much sum up the whole article. The photo is of a wreckage-strewn sanctuary of a magnificent Catholic church of the 19th century, with beautiful frescoes above and behind it, literally appearing as if it has been sacked or been hit in a war or by earthquake. The caption reads, "The altar area of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Albany, built 150 years ago by immigrants and recently sold for $1, sits abandoned."

"Sold for $1." St. Joseph's is by no means the only beautiful Catholic church around our country that has been sold for such a price. I am speaking generally here, about America as a whole, and I acknowledge that I do not know the circumstances of the selling of St. Joseph's Church in Albany, nor do I impute bad motives to anyone in the Diocese of Albany.

Let us hope that this $1 sale was a deal with preservationists or the city to save the church.

But it cannot be denied that $1 is about all the value that "progressives" around the USA place on holy Catholic churches. They profess to be strapped for cash to pay sex abuse claims, yet they are so anxious to get rid of traditional churches that they give them away.

Of course, the physical devastation of churches is but a mirror of the spiritual devastation that "progressives" wreak by causing people to lose their Faith. Let us keep praying that God will restore everyone's Faith and that He will restore our churches -- and our Church. Amen.

+ Bishop James Sullivan + Requiescat in pace

The Grand Forks Herald reports today (click on this post's title) that retired Bishop James Sullivan of Fargo has entered eternal life. He was a Catholic priest for 51 years. May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

From the article in the Herald:

"'Bishop Sullivan was a man of deep faith in God and commitment to the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist,' his successor, Bishop Samuel J. Aquila, said in a statement. 'His devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, inspired much of his work both inside and outside of the Diocese of Fargo,' Aquila said. 'He was a strong spiritual leader for the Catholic faithful and a loving father figure to the men who served as priests of the Diocese.'"

In addition, Bishop James Sullivan was a public pro-lifer. God rest his soul.

We must pray for Bishop Sullivan

Bishop James Sullivan, the outstanding pro-Fatima and pro-life bishop, now retired, of Fargo, North Dakota, needs our prayers right now. His successor, Bishop Samuel Aquila, reports that Bishop Sullivan might be just weeks or days from entering eternal life (click on this title's post).

Bishop Aquila asks that we seek the intercession of the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph for Bishop Sullivan.

Bishop Sullivan led Eucharistic processions to the abortion site in Fargo. He also led the Blue Army and championed Our Lady of Fatima's message of prayer, penance and reparation. He also held orthodox, pro-life conferences in his diocese.

God bless you, Bishop Sullivan! May Los Angeles and every diocese have bishops like you! You are in our prayers.

More on the June 9 "Tidings"

Fr. Richard McBrien's column in the June 9 issue of Cardinal Roger Mahony's Archdiocesan newspaper, The Tidings, is not the only one in that edition that indulges in the "liberal" sport of name-calling against "conservatives."

"The New Puritans," a column by Tom Ehrich, whom The Tidings identifies as "an Episcopal priest" in North Carolina, does the same thing. Ehrich whines about "an eerie New Puritanism that picked up steam with President Reagan...and now...is pushing hard a political and moralistic agenda that shows an astonishing disregard for American history and heritage."

(Ehrich is wrong, of course. America's history and heritage are pro-life and pro-family.)

Ehrich then sees "hyper-moralizing, sectarian suspicions, and church-state blurring," and he claims that "Intolerance dominates the religious landscape." He intimates that some blame this on conservatives seeing themselves as victims, "...as if science victimized faith, 'free love' victimized the straitlaced, homosexuality victimized families, immigrants victimized true Americans, and Hollywood victimized children."

Ehrich's solution is "communities where people know each other and get beyond their fear of diversity, where we let go of any need to control how other people live their lives and worship their God" -- where "we meet in the middle and work together." This is code-speak for not opposing abortion, the homosexual agenda, relativism and religious indifferentism.

Cardinal Mahony's newspaper printed this invidious and worthless column. Does he agree with it? If he does not, then why would he subject his flock to it? What value does he see in it? He and his editors can always hide behind their Op-ed Pages disclaimer that some "opinions may not always agree with the viewpoints of The Tidings' Editorial Council."

Instead of publishing schismatics' "opinions," Cardinal Mahony's newspaper ought to use its valuable space for Catholic truth -- quoting the pro-life, pro-family papal encyclicals and the documents from the Pontifical Council for the Family and the other pontifical councils.

Here they go again (The Tidings, that is)

The June 9 issue of Cardinal Mahony's Archdiocesan newspaper, The Tidings, indulges in one of "liberal" Catholics' favorite sports, criticizing orthodox and pro-life Catholics.

The online version (click on this post's title) carries a column, "Sources of Demoralization," by Fr. Richard McBrien (the print edition helpfully directs the reader to the column in the online version). No, his column's title is not autobiographical, although it ought to be, given all the vitriol he has hurled against Catholic truth and morality and pro-lifers through the years.

As you can imagine, Fr. McBrien does lots of hurling in this latest column of his. He is mad at, in order, "hard-line conservatives," "ultra-conservatives," "Catholics of the far right," "the self-righteousness of ultra-conservative Catholics and...their harshly judgmental attitudes" and "ultra-conservatives...[with a] passion to judge and to punish." And that is just for starters.

Fr. McBrien also whines that the history of the Church would have been different if Pope Paul VI had "modified the official teaching on contraception." He whines again that Pope John Paul I might have appointed different bishops, had he lived, and that we might not be at war in Iraq had Algore beaten Bush in 2000. (Okay, Fr. McBrien did not say "Algore," I did.)

There is more. Fr. McBrien also hurls at "Catholics of the far right [again], and bishops who share and enforce their ecclesiology"; you see, they actually "insist that obedience is one of Catholicism's primary virtues and that the teaching of the hierarchy, and especially the [P]ope's, is the only sure guide to saving truth."

All right, to be fair: Fr. McBrien does not quite come out and say such obedience is wrong, he is insinuating that orthodox Bishop Robert Finn is flouting it by "dismantling" many programs begun by his immediate three predecessors in Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri.

In that connection, Fr. McBrien uncorks this one: "...how is a Catholic to know when any bishop is to be respected and obeyed, and when he is not?" The only time he shows concern for obedience, it would seem, is when orthodox Catholics contradict "liberals!"

Next, the print edition of The Tidings, but not, evidently, the online one, runs a column, "The New Puritans," by an Episcopalian clergyman. I'll comment on that in another post.

Exonerating yourself

Technical difficulties kept me from posting yesterday. But here goes today's post...

(1) USCCB President William Skylstad, bishop of Spokane, accused by a woman of sexually abusing her four decades ago, announced Thursday that (a) his lawyer had hired a private eye to investigate the woman and (b) the private eye had found no evidence to corroborate her story. So says the Seattle Times (click on this post's title).

(2) U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman of Portland decreed Wednesday that under Oregon law Fr. Andrew Ronan, who died in 1970, could be considered an employee of the Holy See, so the Holy See can continue to be the target of a sex abuse lawsuit that claims Fr. Ronan was transferred from parish to parish even though, says the AP, "he was known to be a molester." Judge Mosman also decreed that there are exceptions to the Foreign Sovereignty Immunity Act, which exempts foreign governments from U.S. jurisdiction.

More tomorrow.

"It is necessary to save man."

"It is necessary to save man." This sentence from the Pontifical Council for the Family's new document, Family and Human Procreation, should give us pause. So should the statement just before that sentence: "...we deviate towards a post-human world."

These warnings are marching orders for everyone to become pro-family activists. (There goes Quintero again, on his pro-life hobby horse. But it should be getting harder and harder for people not to admit that it is not just Quintero and other pro-lifers, it is the Vicars of Christ, the councils and synods, and the Pontifical Councils who are stressing the defense of human life.)

We are in the midst of a cataclysmic crisis for the human race. Few people can see that, and few will admit it. Let us take up our crosses now. "It is necessary to save man."

Will the new document spur Cardinal Mahony, his bishops and his clergy into action to save babies -- and to save man? If only it would!

Holy See's new pro-family document

More later, but Family and Human Procreation, the document that the Pontifical Council for the Family issued today, clearly contains profound ideas and major warnings. A partial summary, but not yet the text, is on the Vatican Information Service site (click the title of this post).

What warnings? The document, signed by Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, says, according to LifeSiteNews.com, "...we deviate towards a 'post-human' world. It is necessary to save man."

Years ago, in the pontificate of Pope Paul VI, the Declaration on Procured Abortion called abortion "an unspeakable crime." The new document calls abortion "an abominable crime" and adds, "It is not acceptable that a crime should remain unpunished."

The document also rips contraception.

Let us all stay tuned for more news and developments.

Homosexuals' sacrilege in St. Paul, Minn.

We all need to pray and sacrifice in reparation for the sacrilege committed on Pentecost Sunday during the Rainbow Sash homosexual pressure group's annual invasion of the Cathedral of St. Paul.

The Washington Post today reports (click on this post's title) that after "more than 50" of the sash-wearing homosexuals were denied Communion, a man not wearing one of the sashes "received" a Host [no doubt this was Communion in the hand] and then broke It up and gave the Fragments to sash-wearing avowed homosexuals who consumed Them.

A Cathedral employee burst into tears upon seeing this desecration and sacrilege. But the perpetrator got off scot-free. Said Archdiocesan spokesman Dennis McGrath, "It was confrontational, but we decided not to try to arrest the guy."

Comments:

In order to protect Eucharistic Jesus, the congregation and the Cathedral, now and in the future, Archbishop Harry Flynn should have had the perpetrator arrested and fully prosecuted!

But in the first place, at all Masses, Flynn should have had the police, with Knights of Columbus and ushers as backup, ringing the Cathedral inside and out to keep out everyone from the Rainbow Sash group; that would have protected Jesus from the desecrators.

Flynn needs to immediately EXCOMMUNICATE all those who helped commit the sacrilege against the Host. He should urge them to see the gravity of their crime and to repent, amend their lives and make reparation.

Flynn individually, and then the U.S. bishops as a whole, should each hold a news conference to denounce the sacrilege and the Rainbow Sash group. They should also have a Mass of Reparation, and a night of Adoration, at the Cathedral of St. Paul and at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

This crime against the Blessed Sacrament exposes yet again the grave dangers that both Communion in the hand, and the use of lay extraordinary ministers at Mass (by desensitizing many in the congregation to the sacredness of the Host), make possible.

Cardinal Mahony should view this sacrilege as reason to make sure the Rainbow Sashers in Los Angeles never again enter Mass as a group, anywhere in the Archdiocese.

"We currently do not have permission"

"Progressive" Catholics disobey, get around or seek loopholes in the Holy See's orders whenever they want to, but they turn around and demand that we obey their own orders 100% -- as with kneeling.

In the days before the okay came for girl altar boys, various parishes in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles used them anyway; and Cardinal Mahony not only did not stop that, he allowed it, saying, "We currently do not have permission [but we are going to continue with this.]" [Translation: We are forbidden to, but..."]

"We currently do not have permission." Imagine if orthodox Catholics tried to get away with that one versus their bishop! They might even be accused of committing mortal sin!

L.A. Archdiocese, 2003: "No one will object" to kneeling

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles allows people to kneel after the Agnus Dei. Bishop Tod Brown of Orange ought to consult with Cardinal Mahony about this, or vice versa.

In the Los Angeles Times of Saturday, Nov. 22, 2003, a Larry Stammer story, "Catholics Will See Changes in Observance of Mass," quotes Sandra Dooley, director of the Office of Worship of the Archdiocese of L.A.: "if people...feel the need to pray as they always have [i.e., kneeling and making thanksgiving right after returning to their pews], no one will object. The only mandatory action among all the changes is bowing the head before receiving the Sacraments."

Orange Diocese's Retraction

Good news: The official site of the Diocese of Orange is carrying a statement (click on this post's title; note that the page is a pdf file) entitled, "Kneeling or Standing Are Not 'Mortal Sins'" and subtitled, "Father Martin Tran's Retraction."

The key sentences say, "Fr. Tran regrets any concern or hurt caused by the misuse of the term 'mortal sin' in this context. The Diocese concurs with Fr. Tran's retraction."

Obviously, this statement is a retraction by the Diocese; after all, a spokesman had said only a week ago that the Diocese stood by Fr. Tran's "mortal sin" judgment.

The Diocese's statement mentions the L.A. Times front-page article of May 28 about the situation at St. Mary's by the Sea Parish in Huntington Beach; so that unwelcome (from their standpoint) publicity no doubt figured in the decision to make the retraction. But no one can deny that the parishioners' defense of their rights and of the Church has not played a part, too.

St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, pray for us!

Today, June 3, is the Feast Day of St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, whom the pagan homosexual predator King Mwanga in Uganda martyred by fire, spear and knife in 1886.

According to "Catholic Online > Saints and Angels" (click on this post's title), these chaste young men, ages 13-25, went joyously to their deaths rather than betray Jesus. St. Charles had protected the pages of the court from the king.

Today there are those who would call St. Charles and his companions "intolerant," "narrow," "rigid," "self-righteous," "fundamentalist," "the religious right" and, natch, "homophobic."

Every Archdiocese and Diocese in the USA should have a St. Charles Lwanga Parish. Our Archdiocese of Los Angeles has none, but it does have several cases of two parishes with the same saint's name. Wonder if any of them would take St. Charles's name and patronage? If not, the next new parish in the Archdiocese could and should receive his name.

St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, pray for us sinners and for our children, our grandchildren, our Archdiocese and our whole Church! Amen.

Scripture verse for picketers; and picketing how-to

Catholics who were around in the 1960's will tell you that in the heady post-Vatican II days, two of the biggest cliches were "the emerging layman" and "dialogue." The laity was going to be heard from! They were going to dialogue! It soon became clear, though, that you could only "emerge" and "dialogue" if you were a "liberal." You were out of luck if you were a "conservative"; then you were supposed to submerge, not emerge.

But maybe it is not too late for "conservatives" to do some "emerging." One good way to emerge, and be heard from, and make your concerns known, is to picket.

So if you have been feeling lately that you would like to do some emerging and dialoguing, a good way to start would be to attend Concerned Roman Catholics of America's picket during the U.S.C.C.B.'s Spring meeting, June 15-17, here in L.A. at the Millennium Biltmore. For contact information, check the website www.crcoa.com

Remember, Canon Law tells us we have a right to make our concerns known to our shepherds.

A word on picket signs: Most are USELESS, because the lettering is so small and illegible that no one more than a few feet away can read them, and thus they COMMUNICATE NOTHING. It is essential that your signs be readable by hotel-goers AND by drivers out in the street.

So make your picket signs with big black felt tip pens on white, yellow or fluorescent lemon-green, solid, large poster boards sold in drugstores and art stores. Make your letters in block print (no curlicues, etc.), all in capitals five inches or more high, and nice and thick. Make the outlines of the letters first, and then fill them in .

This is also vital: Keep your slogans to no more than FOUR OR FIVE WORDS, or they will be too long and complicated for instant communication. You will be surprised at how much you can say in so few words. At the recent picket of the REC, for example, effective signs included "Warning: Dissent Inside" and "Question Mahony, Not the Faith."

No doubt you can think of many good signs with which emerging laity can dialogue with our bishops. Here are some suggestions:
Wanted: Faithful Mass Translation
No Dumbed-Down Translation!
No Communion for Pro-Abort Pols
Can't Be Catholic and Pro-Abortion
More Latin Masses
Credo, Non Dubito
Stop Wreckovating Our Churches
Inclusive Language Falsifies Scripture [added, June 3]

In closing: Here is a partial Scripture verse that picketers can use as their inspiration:
...et in nomine Dei nostri extollamus vexilla...
...and in the name of our God we will set up our banners...
-- Psalm 19 (20):6.

Ask the peace and justice folks...

Ask the peace and justice folks in your parish, college, REC buses, rectories, chancery office, etc., if they are against racism and classism, and they will say, "Yes, of course."

Then ask them who they voted for in 1992 and 1996, and they will say, "Clinton," except for those who voted Peace and Freedom or worse.

Then ask them if they know how extremely racist and classist the Clintonites' abortion and contraception motivations and policies were, and they will say, "That couldn't be; everyone knows that only right-wing fundamentalist Neanderthals can be racist and classist."

Then tell them to read the letter (click on this post's title; the file is a pdf, though, so they will need Adobe Acrobat Reader) that anti-lifer Ron Weddington, husband of Roe vs. Wade lawyer Sarah Weddington, wrote to President-elect Slick Willie in January 1993.

There they will read Weddington's policy proposals to Clinton -- shockingly heartless proposals that Clinton and his cronies largely implemented, even as they were lyingly claiming to want to make aborting babies "rare."

Ron Weddington told Clinton to use abortion as a method of "eliminating" the "barely educated, unhealthy, and poor" so as to be "developing a population where everyone contributes." Weddington also urged Clinton to "counteract the propaganda spread by church officials seeking more parishioners," because "We don't need more babies."

Weddington added, "It's what we all know is true but we only whisper it..."

Now challenge your peace and justice folks -- all over ole L.A., okay? -- to say these words out loud: "The Clintonites wanted to eliminate poor people -- literally eliminate them." Then watch them stammer and refuse. Then ask them who they will vote for this November; but do not expect an answer that involves true peace and justice for poor people and their babies.