Have you seen the icons exhibit at the Getty Museum yet?

Have you gone to the Getty Museum's Los Angeles site to see the exhibition of icons from the Monastery of St. Catherine in Egypt? The exhibition runs through March 4.

I have not seen it yet, but no doubt The Tidings and the California Catholic Daily are right to say we should get to the Getty to see it.

The Getty's Website has good information (click on this post's title) on the exhibit.

Ifyou have seen the exhibit, what did you think of it? Want to tell the rest of us?

The image above is from www.touregypt.net and I do not know if it is in the exhibit.

New pro-life student publication at UCLA!

A new pro-life student publication (click on this post's title) has debuted at UCLA today.

It has good, informative stuff, and it has an eye-opening expose of UCLA counselors giving out solely the pro-abortion line to a student (secretly one of the publication's staffers) who came in last November and told the counselor she was unexpectedly pregnant.

These kids look like they sure deserve our support, and everyone's.

Cardinal Egan announces parish closings. Does L.A. have a list of potential closings here?

In the New York Times photo above, Cardinal Edward Egan of New York and Bishop Dennis Sullivan announce the 10 parishes they are closing and the 11 they are merging.

The Times article about this (click on this post's title) says the Cardinal has given a reprieve to nine other parishes and six missions.

Does Cardinal Mahony have a list of parishes to potentially close?

Catholic teachers in L.A. and everywhere must defend the babies

Yesterday Ole Q quoted Alexandra Pelosi, daughter of Nancy Pelosi, about her obviously modernist education in, said the San Francisco Chronicle yesterday, "progressive Catholic schools." Here is her statement again:

"We were taught just to accept people, that was just a given. I don't ever remember being told at Convent of the Sacred Heart that gay was wrong. They never even told us there was anything wrong with abortion. They were just choices. That's why it was weird when I'd go to these [evangelical Protestant] places and...people would say, 'It's in the Bible.' And they fall back on the Bible for everything."

If Alexandra Pelosi is telling the truth about, or recalling accurately, what she was taught, then her teachers at "progressive Catholic schools" failed in their duty as Catholic teachers.

Is this just Ole Q's opinion? No, it is what our U.S. bishops say in their 1998 document, Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American Catholics. Listen:

"30. Priests, religious, catechists, Catholic school teachers, family life ministers and theologians all share, each in their appropriate way, in the Church's task of forming the Catholic faithful in a reverence for the sanctity of life. We call them to a renewed commitment to that task. In their words and example, they should witness loyally and joyfully to the truth that every human life, at every stage of development, is a gift from God."

Now, if our U.S. bishops, including Cardinal Mahony, would just start enforcing their words, we might actually get somewhere in turning American Catholics into pro-life baby-savers.

"Dogs that do not bark." "Paid servants who run away before the wolf."

With January 22, the 34th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, coming up, now would be a great time for Cardinal Roger Mahony to send a powerful Respect Life open letter of admonition to each of the many pro-abortion Catholic politicians who flourish in our Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., who says there is "no reason" for him to say anything about Nancy Pelosi, is another bishop who needs to write his politicians.

I will wait a moment for your peals of laughter to subside -- or your tears. That is because neither the Cardinal nor the Archbishop is likely, to say the least, to write such a letter.

But they should, because of the babies whose lives are at stake. They should also do it just to live up to what they and the rest of our U.S. Bishops say they should do, in their 1998 document Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American Catholics (click on this post's title):

"29....Nonetheless, some Catholic officials may exclude themselves from the truth by refusing to open their minds to the Church's witness. In all cases, bishops have the duty and pastoral responsibility to continue to challenge those officials on the issue in question and persistently call them to a change of heart. [emphasis added] As bishops we reflect particularly on the words of the Office of Readings:

"Let us be neither dogs that do not bark nor silent onlookers nor paid servants who run away before the wolf. Instead, let us be careful shepherds watching over Christ's flock. [emphasis added] Let us preach the whole of God's plan to the powerful and the humble, to rich and to poor, to men of every rank and age, as far as God gives us the strength, in season and out of season, as St. Gregory writes in his book of Pastoral Instruction. -- 10 Boniface, Ep. 78: MGH, Epistolae, 3, 352, 354; from Liturgy of the Hours According to the Roman Rite (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co. 1975)."

"Dogs that do not bark." "Silent onlookers." "Paid servants who run away before the wolf." Note that Ole Q, here, did not write those words. Our bishops themselves quoted them.

May you and I and our bishops take those words to heart and do our duty to speak out in defense of the babies. In season and out of season -- in other words, now and always.

Another failure of modernist Catholic "education"

For a look at just how messed up you can get when modernist Catholics are your teachers, see today's San Francisco Chronicle story (click on this post's title) on Alexandra Pelosi.

Yes, she's a daughter of pro-abortion ideologue politician Nancy Pelosi. She makes film "documentaries" -- or "propaganda," depending on your view.

Alexandra, 36, has made a "documentary" for HBO. That she would have anything to do with those pornography-pushers tells us something about her, right there.

Her topic is evangelical Protestants; she says she wants to tell -- warn, would be more like it -- blue-staters who have a "small world-view" that these people, who are not like them, exist.

Anyway, according to the story, Alexandra had "12 years of Catholic education in San Francisco and four more at a Jesuit university" but says Catholicism "didn't stick...I believe in God, but I don't believe in church."

The article says Alexandra "spent her childhood in progressive Catholic schools." She says:

"We were taught just to accept people, that was just a given. I don't ever remember being told at Convent of the Sacred Heart that gay was wrong. They never even told us there was anything wrong with abortion. They were just choices. That's why it was weird when I'd go to these places and...people would say, 'It's in the Bible.' And they fall back on the Bible for everything."

Alexandra also says:

"My mother, throughout her entire life, has been faithful to the church, even though the church has not been that faithful to her because of her [abortion-pushing] politics. And I think that takes a lot of perseverance. And still, people protest her right to go to her own church."

Despite all this, Alexandra has a new baby boy and is planning to have him baptized. She says, "You have to give your children something that they can reject if they want to." [!!!]

So, there -- that is how messed up you can get if modernist Catholics are your teachers.

P.S. The article mentions that pro-life picketers during Nancy Pelosi's recent triumphal Mass tour in Washington and Baltimore had signs that read, "Pelosi Preys on Children." Well said.

Archbishop Wuerl admits he'll let pro-abortion Nancy Lugosi run wild

Brave and indefatigable pro-family reporter and researcher Allyson Smith, now writing for the California Catholic Daily, has pinned down (click on this post's title) Archbishop Donald Wuerl on flamingly pro-abortion Catholic Speaker of the House Nancy "Lugosi."

Here is their exchange, with Ole Q's helpful editorial comments in brackets:

Smith: “Did you make any statement last week about Nancy Pelosi going to Mass at Trinity University?”

Wuerl: “That was a matter between the university and Nancy. They were offering their location, and the Mass was celebrated by a priest with faculties, and there was no reason to make any comment.” [Naturally, I, as an archbishop, am on a first-name basis with this mega-abortion-enabling, filthy rich politician. And there was no reason for me to comment on her attending that Mass; 50 million aborted babies over the last 34 years are no reason.]

Smith: “Do you intend to discipline her at all for being persistent and obstinate about her support for abortion and same-sex marriage?”

Wuerl: “I will not be using the faculty in the manner you have described.” [I, as an archbishop, would never use my faculty against pro-abortion Democrat politicians. So what if they keep aborting babies legal? They give our U.S. Church billions of taxpayer dollars for our projects.]

Smith: “Will you make a statement to your priests and deacons to warn her not to allow her to receive if she presents herself for Communion?”

Wuerl: “You’re talking about a whole different style of pastoral ministry. No.” [Why would I, as an archbishop, ever enforce Canon Law against a pro-abortion politician? "Pastoral ministry" does not include actually doing anything about all the little babies who are being aborted every day. But you uppity pro-lifers had better watch your step and stop rocking the boat.]
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Comment: See, I told you ole Q's editorial comments in brackets would be helpful. Feel free to add your own comments and interpretations about Archbishop Wuerl's betraying the babies.

More on Cardinal Mahony's REC 2006 keynote speaker

The December issue of the New Oxford Review has even more (click on this post's title) on Father Timothy Radcliffe, O.P., than we have reported previously.

Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee was another Religious Education Congress keynote speaker of Cardinal Mahony's.

Not the best picks, obviously.

Do you have any suggestions for future keynote speakers? Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska, springs to mind, of course. So does Father Frank Pavone, founder of the Missionaries of the Gospel of Life and of Priests for Life.

Father Norman Weslin, the heroic rescue priest who has suffered torture and imprisonment for repeatedly placing himself between abortionists and the little babies they intend to kill, would be a tremendous keynote speaker.

No "Brokeback"-recommenders there, that is for sure.

Ideas for the Pro-Life Mass, 6 p.m., Saturday, January 20

Here are excerpts from three current paragraphs from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles's website (you can also click on this post's title):

"Cardinal Roger Mahony extends a special invitation to join with him, the Auxiliary Bishops, Priests, Deacons and Faithful of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for our Annual Respect Life Mass [at 6 p.m.] on January 20, 2007 [at the Cathedral on Temple Street downtown]. From the first notes of the Shantigarh Requiem for the Unborn through the concluding candle lighting service, this joyful [???] and moving liturgy is our opportunity to celebrate our respect for life...

"...we are united in a common goal: to proclaim the inherent dignity of human life from the moment of conception to natural death...

"Before the close of the Mass, there is an extraordinary candle lighting ceremony during which members of the assembly bring forward candles – one candle for each life lost to abortion that day in the County of Los Angeles. Honoring these brief lives is a particularly moving and beautiful [???] moment in this liturgy."
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Comment: Incidentally, the "Shantigarh Requiem for the Unborn" is a composition by local Catholic music director John Bonaduce, who founded a youth choir he named Shantigarh.

Certainly it is good, and not only that, indispensable, to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for "the dignity of human life." However...

One Mass once a year in the largest Archdiocese in the USA is not enough. I say "one Mass once a year" because there is one other pro-life Mass, on the Respect Life Sunday in October, but many pastors ignore it and are utterly silent about the babies that Sunday (and all Sundays).

We -- and more to the point, the babies -- need a pro-life Mass in every parish every week, a life-saving pro-life Mass. That is a Mass whose homily would include an action plan for the clergy and laity of the parish to fight abortions, and help moms, in their neighborhood.

The annual Archdiocesan "Respect Life" Mass needs such an action plan. It is not enough to light a candle for each of the 160 babies killed on an average day in Los Angeles County. What about saving the babies' lives, instead of letting them be killed and then saying, "How sad."

By the way, what about the babies being aborted in the Archdiocese's other counties -- Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo?

The "Respect Life" Mass should also include an apology from Cardinal Mahony for promoting the election of Catholic pro-abortion politicians by making public appearances with them and sponsoring events for them, even in the Cathedral where the once-a-year pro-life Mass is said.

The Cardinal should also pledge his firm purpose of amendment to stop helping pro-aborts.

Disclaimer: No, I am not expecting these things to happen. But they sure ought to.

Another online resource for us

Visit www.calcatholic.com It is the website of California Catholic Daily, which is the successor to Jim Holman's four monthly print newspapers: San Diego News Notes, Los Angeles Catholic Mission, San Francisco Faith and the Spanish-language La Cruz de California.

Said the press release:

Those monthly print editions ceased publication at the end of November, and were merged into a single daily digital newspaper, which published its first issue online on Jan. 1, 2007.

Editorial content of the new digital paper will be updated every day, 365 days a year. The California Catholic Daily website also features free classified ads, a free calendar section, a blog entitled "Notes from a Cultural Madhouse," and a regular column on day-to-day pro-life activities called "News from the Trenches."

The digital newspaper also has a section in Spanish, "Noticias en Espanol," and offers display advertising with links to the advertiser's website address.
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Comment: We will miss the four print-edition newspapers, and we hope their staffers are landing on their feet, but we welcome this new online Catholic, pro-life resource.

Rainbow logo

Have you seen the logo above, on the Ministry with Lesbian and Gay Catholics page (click on this post's title) of the website of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles?

Part of the text on the page says:

"Early Christians recognized each other by the sign of the fish"

"See in the fish pin a sign of recognition of our lesbian and gay sisters and brothers. The pin signals solidarity with all people of faith who promote justice and inclusivity for every person in their faith communities.

"In 2006 we celebrated our 20th anniversary of this ministry. The Ministry with Lesbian and Gay Catholics was founded by Cardinal Roger Mahony on February 4, 1986 and is supported throughout the Archdiocese at parish level an active outreach ministry with gay and lesbian Catholics, their parents, families and friends.

"Mission"

"The Ministry With Lesbian and Gay Catholics (MLGC) recognizes that all persons with a homosexual orientation are capable of living a full Catholic life in union with all the members of the Church..."

Comment: For some reason, the page does not explain the fish symbol and its origin. Ever since the early Church, Catholics (and, later, Protestants) have used the fish as a symbol for Jesus, because in Greek, the word for fish, icthys, is an acronym for: Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.

Ole Q believes that appropriating or taking over any symbol for Jesus is, um, not a good idea.

More Catholic support for pro-abortion pols

The two politicians above are both pro-abortion Catholics -- Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (Democrat-Kansas) and Speaker of the (U.S.) House Nancy Pelosi (Democrat-California).

The photo is from the website (click on this post's title) of Trinity University in Washington, D.C., which is bragging that it is the alma mater of both these politicians.

Do a web search on "Sebelius" and "George Tiller" and you will come up with, for one, the site of the Kansans for Life Political Action Committee: http://www.voteprolife.net/kathleen.html

There you can read about political contributions to Kathleen Sebelius by Tiller, who is the notorious high-volume abortionist of late-term babies in Wichita. Tiller has spread money all around in Kansas politics and has much influence in that state.

Nancy Pelosi is spearheading a drive by House Democrats to pass a bill this very Thursday to massively increase federal taxpayer funding for experiments on stem cells obtained by killing little girls and boys who are at the embryonic stage of their lives, the same stage you and I passed through and everyone does. Baby Jesus Himself was an Embryo, too.

Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., has issued a statement that says he can't do anything about Trinity University because it is run by the Sisters of Notre Dame. As if a powerful cardinalabile could not have leaned on these sisters ahead of time!

We all know what Archbishop Wuerl could do if only he wanted to, and what Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco could do, and Gov. Sebelius's bishop, too: Announce the excommunication of these facilitators of the mass killings of God's precious babies in the womb.

That the members of our hierarchy do no such thing is a scandal and disgrace.

Brave S.F. priest blasts Nancy Pelosi

Today's (Tuesday) San Francisco Chronicle letters to the editor (click on this post's title) include a blockbuster by Father John Malloy of SS Peter & Paul Church in San Francisco.

Father Malloy writes:

"If Nancy wants to reclaim her Catholicity, she had best start by reviewing Catholic teaching. She said that she considered herself a conservative Catholic, but nothing is further from the truth. She supports too many positions the church is against, beginning with pro-life issues...She is not a Catholic in good standing with her church."

Thank you, Father Malloy, for speaking Catholic truth in heathen Frisco.

What do you bet the Archdiocese issues a disclaimer that undercuts what Father has said and that the Archbishop takes him to the woodshed?

P.S. The two letters right below Father's are pretty funny -- good ones.

Clergy support for pro-abortion Nancy Pelosi

The University of San Francisco's website has a news item (click on this post's title) about its president, Father Stephen Privett, S.J., giving the invocation at last Thursday's opening of the pro-abortion-Democrat-controlled 110th U.S. Congress and the swearing-in of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House. The photo above, from the USF item, is of those two individuals.

Excerpts from the USF news item:

"'We pray that the new leadership of this Congress and all of its members will write into law the story of a country that measures its success by God's standards,' Fr. Privett said...Fr. Privett ended his prayer by encouraging lawmakers to focus their time on 'those who need us the most.'

"During a five-minute interview on KTVU-TV's Mornings on Two, Fr. Privett said the mood in Washington Thursday morning could be characterized by anticipation, excitement, and hope. When asked how Pelosi's Catholic faith relates to her politics, he returned to the theme of his prayer, saying 'both religion and politics are about bringing hope to despair.'"

Comment: Well, "God's standards" certainly include NOT ABORTING BABIES. And "those who need us the most" of all certainly are the destined-for-death, abortion-targeted babies in the womb. Finally, "bringing hope to despair" certainly describes the Culture of Life, not the abortion-centered Democrat agenda.

No one who cares about the lives of the millions of God's innocent preborn babies sees the rabidly pro-abortion Democrats' taking control of Congress as reason for, in Father Privett's words, "anticipation, excitement and hope."

Time for the bishops of California, including Cardinal Mahony and Archbishop Niederauer, to speak up for the babies and the right to life, and against Nancy Pelosi and her fellow pro-aborts and their baby-death-dealing agenda. (No, I am not waiting for this to happen.)

And surely Cardinal William Levada, recently of San Francisco, should do something about Mrs. Pelosi's relentless defense of aborting babies. (No, I am not waiting for that to happen, either.)

Catholic members of America's Abortion Establishment include some priests and bishops

Catholic members of America's Abortion Establishment include all the Catholic pro-abortion politicians who vote repeatedly to keep abortion legal and to use our taxpayer dollars to pay abortionists for dismembering thousands of babies every day.

The adulation and honors bestowed upon Catholic pro-abortion politician Nancy Pelosi in the last few days make it sadly clear that Catholic members of America's Abortion Establishment also include some priests and bishops and lots of lay Catholics.

Here is from an AP story about Georgetown U. beating the U. of Notre Dame in men's basketball, 66-48, today (January 6) at Georgetown: "Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who this week became the first female speaker of the House of Representatives, was treated to a standing ovation and received a 'We Are Georgetown' T-shirt from the school's mascot during a second-half timeout. Pelosi received an honorary degree from the school in 2002."

"Standing ovation." We have a "Teachable Moment" here, U.S. Catholic Bishops and specifically Archbishop Donald Wuerl and Cardinals William Keeler and Theodore McCarrick! WHEN are you going to do your DUTY to fight abortion by announcing forcefully, "Our babies MATTER! We CANNOT be Catholic and pro-abortion," and by excommunicating Catholic pro-aborts?

One Catholic priest involved in the past week in honoring pro-abortion Nancy Pelosi was whoever said the Mass for her at Trinity U. in D.C. last Wednesday. Some say it was Jesuit Father Robert Drinan, a longtime fellow traveler of the pro-abortion politicians. Another would be whoever presided over the prayer service for her at St. Peter's Church on Thursday.

Another such priest was our fellow Californian Father Stephen Privett, S.J., president of the U. of San Francisco. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Leah Garchik reported last Thursday that Father Privett, who presided over the ruining of the Ignatius Institute at USF, was to deliver the invocation before the swearing in that day of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House.

Also, Whispers in the Loggia reports that Cardinal Edward Egan of New York City said in an interview with WNBC that pro-abortion presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Rudolph Giuliani, and pro-abortion ex-governor of New York George Pataki, are friends of his and he wishes them the best. Here is Cardinal Egan:

"I think I'm a good friend of all three of these people, whom you've mentioned or whom I've mentioned. And I wish them all the best, and they've been very good to us. And I will vote, I assure you, right here in the New York, and that will be one vote. I won't ask you to vote the way I think you ought to vote."

So is it "extreme" or inaccurate to say some Catholic priests and bishops are part of America's Abortion Establishment?

These priests and bishops count major Abortion Establishment politicians as their friends. They provide Abortion Establishment politicians with invaluable political cover by ignoring abortion or downplaying it as "just one issue." And, like Cardinal Mahony here in Los Angeles, they host public events in cathedrals for Abortion Establishment politicians and they march alongside them in public processions and events (e.g., the Villaraigosa mayoral coronation in 2005).

No doubt, many of these priests and bishops can say they are pro-life by pointing to their once-a-year pro-life events and their statements in favor of occasional pro-life initiatives. That is all well and good. But actions speak louder than words.

When people see Cardinals, bishops and priests helping pro-abortion politicians, will they take that as a pro-life message or a pro-abortion message?

Our bishops and priests need to sever ties with their buddies in the Abortion Establishment -- and the bishops need to excommunicate the Catholic pro-aborts, not mingle with them!

Study: 85% of Catholic dioceses victims of embezzlers

The New York Times today reports (click on this post's title) that researchers at Villanova University say 85% of Catholic dioceses say they have detected embezzlers in the last five years, and 11% say the amount stolen is $500,000 or more.

If anyone thinks some of the embezzlers are not homosexuals, think again.

Pro-abortion Nancy Pelosi's doing it "for all America's children"

Today's San Francisco Chronicle reports (click on this post's title) this about pro-abortion zealot Nancy Pelosi's first speech as Speaker of the House:

"Pelosi, joined on the floor by her six grandchildren, including a 2-month-old boy, wasted no time bringing a woman's touch to the office. As she concluded her remarks, the new speaker invited the children gathered in the historic chamber to join her on the rostrum and touch the speaker's gavel.

"Dozens of children, dressed in their Sunday best, trooped down the aisles to climb the speaker's rostrum. 'For these children, for all America's children, the House will come to order,' Pelosi intoned rhythmically, pounding the gavel."

Hey, Nancy, what do you mean, "all America's children?" You are forgetting the one-third of America's children whom you and your fellow pro-aborts are complicit in aborting.

Being such a rabid pro-abort, Nancy, you should have been truthful and said, when all the children gathered around you, "Of course, you kids are merely survivors of the abortions I promote so zealously. You are lucky to be alive. Your parents had every right to kill you before you were born. And no doubt they've aborted brothers and sisters of yours! Isn't that great?"

And Nancy, being such a fan of aborting babies, you should also have told the kids, "I'm for killing you if your parents had wanted to! And my bishops let me go to Communion anyway! Isn't that great?"

Oh, well, Nancy, surely America's Catholic bishops will step forward now and correct you. Surely they will set the record straight, speaking out in memory of the 50 million dead babies and defending the millions more babies targeted even now by abortionists. Surely the bishops will defend the Holy Eucharist and will announce to American Catholics and all the American people, "You cannot be Catholic and pro-abortion." (Disclaimer: This is sarcasm.)

Nancy Lugosi, liturgist

Okay, I do know her name is Pelosi, not Lugosi as in Bela Lugosi, the old monster movie star.

Whatever her name is, it is sickening that, according to news reports, Nancy Pelosi was allowed to design the liturgy "down to the music" for that Mass at Trinity University in D.C. on Wednesday. With her hands stained with aborted babies' blood!

The rabidly pro-abortion Mrs. Pelosi probably did not think to specify that at her Mass the priest's vestments should be RED, for the blood of the 50 million American babies over whose abortion-executions she and her fellow pro-abortion politicians have presided.

Well, never mind; no doubt her ordinary, Archbishop Niederauer, late of Salt Lake City and previously of our own St. John's Seminary, will soon take her to the woodshed for being an old reprobate abortion-facilitator. (Disclaimer: This last part is sarcasm.)

Mrs. Lugosi -- oh, I mean, "Mrs. Pelosi"

Flaming pro-abortion extremist fanatic ideologue zealot Nancy Pelosi (D-California) is now the Speaker of the House, and second in line for the Presidency after Veep Dick Cheney.

This ardent supporter of during-birth abortion ("partial-birth abortion") calls herself Catholic and is flaunting the Faith this week even as she flouts it.

Like pro-abortion Bill "Slick Willie" Clinton conspicuously toting that gigantic Bible to church on Sundays in between his Oval Office assignations with intern Monica Lewinsky, Nancy Pelosi attended Holy Mass both Wednesday and Thursday.

On Wednesday she went to her alma mater, Trinity University in Washington, D.C., for a Mass ostensibly being said "for the children of Darfur and Katrina." Not a peep from her about "the children of Roe vs. Wade" -- the 50 million babies aborted with the collusion of, yes, Nancy Pelosi. "Pelosi approved details down to the music for the Mass," said the L.A. Times.

Well, there was one mention of those dear babies -- from pro-life picketers outside. Two mentions, in fact; the second was the American Life League's full-page newspaper ad

On Thursday the abortion fanatic Mrs. Pelosi went to St. Peter's Church near the Capitol.

Attention, members of the hierarchy and the clergy in the D.C. area -- it is your duty to say it loudly to Mrs. Pelosi: "You cannot be Catholic and pro-abortion." Or do you not believe that?

New charges against Baker

The January 4 Los Angeles Times has an article (sorry, I do not have the link) about Michael S. Baker, 59, "Prosecutors file new molestation charges against former priest."

Baker was to be arraigned today, so look for another news story on him on Friday.

The new charges stem from about 1995 and 1996, when Baker was at St. Columbkille in Los Angeles and a then-"youth" says Baker molested him. The "youth" came forward in October.

Baker has been in custody for two years; he was arrested at LAX in January 2005 as he returned from a trip to Thailand.

The Times notes that Cardinal Mahony has "said publicly that his handling of Baker's case is the one that 'troubles' him most."

The rest of us find the Cardinal's handling of the case troubling, too, of course. Come to think of it, there are 560 or so other cases that bother us, too.

New ad petitions hierarchy about pro-abort Mrs. Pelosi

Click on this post's title to find the American Life League's latest blockbuster pro-life ad, which ran in today's Washington Times.

The ad pictures the pro-abortion fanatic Cong. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who is showing off her Catholic faith by appearing at Masses and Catholic venues as she takes control of the House of Representatives this week.

The A.L.L. queries Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore, Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., and Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco, "Will you speak for the House of God?" It points out Mrs. Pelosi's 100% pro-abortion voting record in the House and it asks their excellencies to stop admitting her to Holy Communion.

The ad concludes, "Proclaim the Truth in the House of God: You Can't be Catholic and Pro-Abortion."

Pro-lifers are picketing Mrs. Pelosi at her appearances; no doubt we will hear more about them soon.

Once again, I ask, "Is Archbishop Wuerl an East Coast Mahony in his treatment of pro-abortion politicians?" What do you think?