Vaccinate your children -- not against HPV, but against anti-Catholic teachers and profs!

We must all strongly oppose the totalitarian, evil and insane impulse of politicians, bureaucrats and government school functionaries to disregard parents' God-given authority and force little grade school girls to submit to faddish anti-venereal disease shots.

But that latest instance of liberal-totalitarian culture-of-death mania brings to mind some truly essential vaccinations that we really can use to help our children through life, even to the extent of helping to save their immortal souls.

Those indispensable inoculations are the ones in which wise Catholic parents teach their children the genuine Faith -- and in which these wise Catholic parents warn their children, before they enter grade school, high school and college, and all during those years, that:

• Other people, including teachers and professors, do not always believe as we do;
• More than a few teachers and profs are anti-Catholic and try to undermine kids' faith;
• More than a few teachers in Catholic schools are dissenters and try to subvert kids' faith;
• Some in schools belong to the sects and love to get Catholic students to apostasize;
• Students owe teachers and profs courtesy, but not automatic credence;
• That a student can't refute an anti-Catholic argument does not mean there is no answer;
• Students can find the answers from their parents, pastors or Catholic apologetics experts;
• Students should always give the Church, not any teacher or prof, the benefit of the doubt;
• None of us should ever let anyone separate us from the love of Christ and His Church.

Do these things and you will arm your children forever in defense of their Faith and their immortal souls. My beloved parents did. Deo gratias.

Diocese of San Diego offers $95 million

News outlets reported today (click on this post's title) that Chapter 11 bankruptcy lawyers for the Diocese of San Diego have proposed a plan that would pay $95 million to settle about 150 claims of clergy sexual abuse.

This whole story is ugly reading, and it is only the latest chapter in a sordid saga with no end yet in sight.

Why do we have the problems we do in the Church? What do you say?

Why do we have the problems we do in the Church -- around the United States and here in our Archdiocese of Los Angeles?

Why do not enough Catholics go to Confession, understand and believe in the Real Presence, love the Mass, know their Faith and defend it and spread it?

Why do so many Catholics fall away or apostasize?

Why do so many Catholics adopt and live by the values and ways of the world, of dissent and heresy and of sick liberal ideology?

Why do vocations to the priesthood and the religious life flourish in some dioceses and congregations but not in so many others?

My firm belief is that these problems and more are rooted, mystically and practically, in three overall major areas:

1. We effectively disallow the Tridentine Latin Mass and its holy, powerful and grace-filled prayers of contrition and reparation and of warring against the powers of hell.

2. We ordain homosexuals and consecrate some as bishops.

3. We sit by idly, do nothing, and congratulate ourselves on being loving -- and in the process lose our Christian worth, our manhood, our holiness and countless graces God has for us -- in the face of the greatest moral wrongs of our times, as pornographers seduce us, fornicators and contraceptionists defile our womanhood and abortionists murder our little babies.

We cannot get anywhere until we start dealing with these problems.

What do you say are our problems, and what do you say we can do about them?

This Sat., Mar. 31, is the 2nd anniversary of Terri Schiavo's killing

We should remind everyone we can that it was two years ago this week that Catholic housewife Terri Schiavo was put to death by judicial execution and cruel and unusual punishment.

Terri succumbed to 13 days of deliberate, court-ordered, police-guarded, media-applauded dehydration and starvation on Thursday, March 31, 2005.

Her only crime to warrant that death penalty was to have suffered brain-damage.

Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, in his Palm Sunday sermon shortly after Terri's lengthy execution ordeal began, said she should receive food and water. His spokesman Tod Tamberg called Terri "someone in desperate need of help."

But after Terri died, the Cardinal complicated things by issuing a bizarre statement that same day. The statement did not decry dehydrating and starving her to death; it seemingly endorsed it or acquiesced in it, and criticized the battle to save her life.

His Eminence said:

"It seems to me that the dignity and graces of a natural death have been violated through this endless process, and that what should be a time of quiet and peaceful prayer with a loved one has somehow become the platform for many groups with various agendas."

Was Cardinal Mahony calling it "a natural death" to dehydrate and starve a Catholic lady to death? Terri was in no danger of death! Her situation was not "end of life" but "middle of life!"

And by saying, "what should be a time of quiet and peaceful prayer with a loved one," was our Cardinal saying we should pray while we dehydrate and starve someone to death?

How could he first say Terri should be nourished and then issue that statement?

Fast forward: The "advanced health care directive" now on the Archdiocesan website starts off well by condemning euthanasia, and it notes that withholding food and water is always wrong. But then it leaves a mile-wide loose-language loophole by saying:

"However, situations can arise where the provision of nutrition and hydration no longer provides substantial benefits and is actually burdensome to a patient. In such cases, the provision of food and water, by artificial means or otherwise, may no longer be appropriate, even if the dying process is incidentally hastened."

Um, dehydration and starvation are burdensome, you know.

And don't look now, but starving and dehydrating people does not incidentally hasten their death, it materially hastens it!

For solid pro-life perspective, you can go to the:

* American Life League at www.all.org and read their Loving Will, and to the
* International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force at www.iaetf.org and read their similar document.

Part 3 of the S.F. St. Brigid story

Today's San Francisco Chronicle carries Part 3 (click on this post's title) of its three-part series on the long effort by the parishioners of St. Brigid Church (above) in downtown San Francisco to save their 144-year-old parish and their beautiful 106-year-old church from the Archdiocese of San Francisco and from the "arts" entity to which the Archdiocese has sold the church.

Again, the story does not make pretty reading, but it is must reading for all church-preservers who want to have their blinders off in knowing how archdiocesan officials operate.

Of course, we have to figure that the Chronicle has run this story partly because of its scandal aspect. The Archdiocese does not come off well, and two leaders of the parishioners' efforts have problems: One got mad and stopped going to Mass regularly, and the other, now deceased, was an open homosexual. Further, the parish's ex-pastor praised the latter leader's Catholicism.

None of that, however, could ever detract from or invalidate the righteous Catholic cause of the parishioners of St. Brigid Parish.

Click on this link to read a letter that longtime St. Brigid parishioner Bruno Morelli wrote to Archbishop George Niederauer on February 8, 2006. Mr. Morelli's heartfelt letter conveys not only the history of the parishioners' effort to save St. Brigid Church but also their great sadness at the actions and attitude of the Archdiocese toward St. Brigid Church and toward themselves.

St. Brigid of Ireland, pray for your parishioners in San Francisco and for all of us, your spiritual children! Amen.

Part 2 of the San Francisco St. Brigid Parish story -- and important lessons for us

Today's (Monday) San Francisco Chronicle carries Part 2 (click on this post's title) of its three-part series on parishioners' attempt to save beautiful, historic St. Brigid Church in downtown San Francisco since the Archdiocese of San Francisco shut it down in 1994.

The story's portrayal of the actions of the Archdiocese of San Francisco is not exactly edifying. But it is essential reading for everyone who wants to know what to expect if they are ever involved in a battle to save their own church from being closed, sold out, vandalized and torn down.

Based on what has happened in San Francisco and elsewhere in our country, here is a word to the wise:

If your bishop, archbishop or cardinal has a bias against beautiful, historic, normal Catholic churches, and if he is facing huge payoffs in legal judgments for facilitating and covering up for clergy homosexual molesters, then your historic, venerable church is in big trouble.

Here in Los Angeles, our cardinal has said he will not have to close churches.

But he also said a few years ago that the beautiful cathedrals of Spain were just what he did NOT want his new cathedral to be; he has wreckovated some churches; and he is facing having to pay off more than 400 lawsuits. So we will see about our venerable churches.

In the meantime, parishioners everywhere in the USA could line up a team ahead of time to defend their historic churches, and they could raise money to have on hand.

Parishioners could also notify anyone, or the estate of anyone, who has willed, donated or paid for altar rails, stained glass windows, statues, etc., in a historic church to instruct their bishop, archbishop or cardinal ahead of time not to ever destroy, throw out, give away, sell or otherwise transfer or dispose of those items.

Parishioners could also hire Catholic professional videographers to make comprehensive, detailed film history records of every bit of their historic churches' interiors and exteriors NOW, before their diocese locks the doors and sends in the wreckers to obliterate their memory.

In-depth story on the losing fight to save S.F.'s St. Brigid Church

Today's (Sunday) San Francisco Chronicle carries the first installment (click on this post's title) of "the Lost Parish," a big three-part series on the heartbreaking and so-far futile efforts of Fr. Cyril O'Sullivan and the Committee to Save St. Brigid since 1994 to save beautiful, historic St. Brigid Church in downtown San Francisco from Archbishop John Quinn, then-Archbishop William Levada and the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

See also the Committee's website: http://www.st-brigid.org/

Separately, go to http://www.savestbrigid.com/ to read more heartbreaking news about New York City parishioners' efforts to save their St. Brigid Church from Cardinal Egan and the Archdiocese of New York.

How many pro-abortion politicians at Cardinal Mahony's Mass for "immigrants" today?

Just wondering: How many pro-abortion poltiicians do you suppose were at Cardinal Mahony's Mass for "immigrants" today at the cathedral, and how many of them received Communion?

Cardinal's "Cesar Chavez Mass" for "immigrants" forgets Chavez's UFW ratted on illegals to La Migra

The Archdiocese says (click on this post's title) Cardinal Mahony will celebrate a "Cesar Chavez Mass" at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow (Sunday) in the cathedral. The intentions include recognition of the contributions of "immigrants" and "civic action for real political and social change."

Chavez would have celebrated his 80th birthday this March 31.

But Cardinal Mahony seems not to know what columnist Ruben Navarrette Jr. wrote about Chavez and his United Farm Workers in SignOnSanDiego.com on March 30, 2005:

"Worried that the hiring of illegal immigrants drove down wages, Chávez – according to numerous historical accounts – instructed union members to call the Immigration and Naturalization Service to report the presence of illegal immigrants in the fields and demand that the agency deport them. UFW officials were even known to picket INS offices to demand a crackdown on illegal immigrants.

"And in 1973, in one of the most disgraceful chapters in UFW history, the union set up a 'wet line' to prevent Mexican immigrants from entering the United States. Under the guidance of Chávez 's cousin, Manuel, UFW members tried at first to convince the immigrants not to cross. When that didn't work, they physically attacked the immigrants and left some bloody in the process. It happened in the same place that the Minutemen are now planning to gather: the Arizona-Mexico border."

By the way, at http://www.pww.org/article/articleprint/3164/ you can read a glowing tribute to Chavez from Evelina Alarcon of the Cesar E. Chavez National Holiday Campaign that ran in the Communist Party USA's newspaper, the People's Weekly World, on March 29, 2003.

Bishops rap Daniel Maguire -- finally

Today's New York Times reports (click on this post's title) that the U.S. bishops' Committee on Doctrine has condemned as "false teaching" the contentions of ex-priest Daniel C. Maguire, 75, in two of his pro-abortion, pro-contraception, pro-homosexual "marriage" pamphlets.

The bishops point out that Maguire is wrong to claim that the Pope is but one voice of many among Catholics and that Catholic teaching on killing babies, etc., is "pluralistic."

Go to http://www.usccb.org and click on "Latest News" to find the bishops' press release and statement against Maguire.

The New York Times says Marquette University, where Maguire teaches "religious ethics," issued a statement that agrees with the bishops that Maguire's views in his pamphlets contradict Catholic teachings. Maguire has tenure at Marquette, though.

As we might expect, Maguire is persisting in his errors. He says about the bishops' statement against him, "They're simply uninformed."

Catholic dissenters such as Maguire agitate for a while, gain some followers and then cite those followers as supposed "proof" of a "lack of consensus" in the Church. The U.S. bishops should have come down harder on him many years ago.

Now, if only the U.S. bishops would take a look at the teachings of some of the speakers who get invited to the Religious Education Congress of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Fr. Fessio is back at Ave Maria U.

Tom Monaghan's Ave Maria University suddenly has announced (click on this post's title) that Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J., has agreed to come back.

This time he will be a theologian in residence. He will teach AMU students in the spring semester and teach AMU's summer high school program students, too.

He will also explore study abroad programs for AMU -- which means, says AMU, "It is expected that in developing plans for study abroad programs Father Fessio will be spending a significant amount of time in Europe."

How about parish sanctuaries for expecting moms and babies?

The Los Angeles Times reports today (sorry, I do not have a link) that downtown's historic La Placita Church, Nuestra Senora Reina de los Angeles, or Our Lady Queen of Angels, will take part in a sanctuary-for-illegals movement and is converting a room into housing for illegals.

The parish website http://www.laplacita.org/ also has a link to an Immigration Workshop pdf file created by the far-left Industrial Areas Foundation (One LA-IAF).

Now, whatever anyone thinks about illegals, there is another point altogether here:

If parishes are willing to create havens for illegals, why have they NOT been willing, for the past 40 years, to create havens for unwed moms -- a crisis pregnancy center and home in each parish?

Just imagine the number of preborn babies who could have been rescued, moms helped -- and souls saved -- if every one of our 200 or more parishes in the Southland had set up a residence and a counseling center for unwed moms during the past four decades!

Our parishes could set up pro-life centers and homes and still be helping lots of illegals, by the way. That is because the abortuaries among us prey on unwed moms who are illegal aliens.

So why not get together with friends in your parish and talk to your pastor about starting a parish pro-life sanctuary for moms and babies?

Hans Kung slams the Pope

Last Monday, LifeSiteNews.com reported (click on this post's title) that aging dissenter Hans Kung is bashing Pope Benedict XVI even though the Holy Father kindly had him to a four-hour private dinner meeting in 2005.

Kung told the Ottawa Citizen newspaper on March 15 that the Pope "is frightened" and has a "medieval" idea of the Church. Kung also whined, “What would Jesus do if he were Pope? I can't believe He would forbid the (birth control) pill today, or the ordination of women."

This should be a lesson us here in Los Angeles. No matter how nice you are to dissenters, they are going to bash the Church and they are going to bash you if you defend the Church.

So stop inviting them to the Religious Education Congress.

Here is a clue for Archbishop Niederauer, if he will take it

Remember when, back on February 4, San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer, formerly of our St. John's Seminary, said this about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi being pro-abortion:

“I don’t believe that I am in a position to say what I understand her stand to be, if I haven’t had a chance to talk to her about it...”

Well, an item in last Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle might help clear things up for the Archbishop about Mrs. Pelosi's "stand" on dismembering preborn babies alive.

The "Invitation of the Week" in Catherine Bigelow's "Benefits" feature in the May 18 Chronicle, page F7, was to the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights [sic] Action League Pro-Choice [sic] America's "Power of Choice" Luncheon at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, March 21 -- and the honorary chairwoman was, um, Nancy Pelosi.

Do you think this news will help Archbishop George Niederauer finally "understand" that Nancy Pelosi is totally and unremittingly and always for aborting babies?

Archdiocese disputes L.A. Times story

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles yesterday released a statement (click on this post's title) that disputes the Tuesday L.A. Times story on Cardinal Mahony's role in the Caffoe case.

The statement says the Archdiocese's "legal team," not the Cardinal, wrote the document that the court saw; the lawyers worked from a memo that described the videotape; and from that memo, the lawyers "understood" the tape to involve no touching.

Yesterday's Archdiocesan statement admits that the lawyers described the boys in the videotape as "fully clothed" even though some had their shirts off.

The Archdiocese says Cardinal Mahony's letter to "the Vatican" was for a purpose different from that of the document the lawyers wrote for the court: "...to explain why the Pope should revoke Lynn Caffoe's priesthood," according to the requirements of the Church's law.

The statement says that is why the Cardinal described the same tape "more aggressively" than the lawyers' document to the court did. The Archdiocese also says the Cardinal used the word "'criminal' (a 'delict') in the context of Church law."

The Archdiocese also says:

"Sixteen years ago, Cardinal Mahony swiftly removed Caffoe from ministry after receiving credible reports of misconduct. He sent Caffoe to a psychologist for an initial assessment. The psychologist filed a Suspected Child Abuse Report, thus notifying law enforcement. Cardinal Mahony barred Caffoe from further ministry. A short time later, Caffoe disappeared from the Archdiocese without notice."

Fr. Fessio is out at Ave Maria U.

The blogspot Whispers in the Loggia (click on this post's title) is reporting that Tom Monaghan today (Wednesday) fired Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J., from Ave Maria U.

No doubt Fr. Fessio will land on his feet, and we wish him well as he continues his priestly labors for the Church and pro-life.

Despite all its evident troubles, may Ave Maria U. turn out to be a great resource for all Catholics, too.

Letter-writers slam Cardinal

Did you see the letters to the editor about Cardinal Mahony's role in the Caffoe case (click on this post's title) in today's Los Angeles Times? They are not exactly flattering.

Also, Times columnist Steve Lopez slams the Cardinal in his column today.

Observers say the Cardinal or someone else in the Archdiocese should have contacted the police about the evident criminal acts that were on the videotape.

She chose the secular gospel

Did you see the article (click on this post's title) in the Los Angeles Times the other day about Lupe Anguiano of Oxnard?

She pretty much epitomizes left-wing, big-government Catholics and their ideology. Here is the story, as the Times tells it.

Now 78, she has spent decades as a leftist political activist. But she used to be, for 15 years, Sister Mary Consuelo of the Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters.

Then, back in 1964, she defied an order from Cardinal James Francis McIntyre of Los Angeles to stop agitating against a ballot initiative. Finally, she says, her mother superior said to her, "Sister, you are not obeying the rules. You are not obeying the Cardinal. Why are you staying?"

So she wrote Pope Paul VI, asking him to release her from her perpetual vows, and after a year she was able to leave in good standing. She was in the LBJ admin., advised the Nixon admin. on Latino and "women's" issues and advised the Reagan admin. on private sector initiatives.

Despite her advice to those GOP admins., she was a liberal. In the 1970s, she met feminist abortion-lover Gloria Steinem and with her, Bella Abzug and others founded the National Women's Political Caucus. In that pro-abortion group she worked on welfare "reform."

Today she says, "Nancy Pelosi, she's doing such a good job, isn't she?" She adds, "If Hillary Clinton is elected president, it will be the highlight of my life."

Those last two remarks illustrate the poverty of the left-wing religious ideology, don't they?

When I think of highlights of my life, and I will bet the same is true of you, somehow Hillary Clinton just does not enter in.

The Caffoe case is in the news again

An article (click on this post's title) in today's L.A. Times says that Cardinal Roger Mahony told the public in October 2005 that a videotape found in Fr. Lynn Caffoe's room in 1992 showed no [homo]sexual criminal activity with boys -- but that Cardinal Mahony had told the Vatican, at least six months before that, that the videotape did show such "criminal behavior."

The article says the Cardinal's lawyer, J. Michael Hennigan, sees no contradiction in the accounts, because at the time Cardinal Mahony spoke to the public, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles was under court order not to disclose contents of Fr. Caffoe's personnel file.

Hennigan also says that he thinks Cardinal Mahony has not seen the videotape and that the tape is not in Fr. Caffoe's personnel file and might never have been there.

A lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles by four accusers of Fr. Caffoe, 61, is set to begin in August.

Complaints were first lodged against Fr. Caffoe back in 1975. The Times says he left this area in 1994 and the plaintiff's lawyer says she has not been able to find him. Donald Steier is his lawyer.

The Rosary Bowl

The press release of last December 12 (click on this post's title) for the May 19 Rosary Bowl in the Rose Bowl mentions worthy intentions such as world peace, strengthening our prayer lives and fostering unity and peace in our homes and communities.

But shouldn't it also mention reparation for our sins and the sins of the whole world?

And as long as peace is an intention, how about mentioning peace in the womb, an end to the very real war on our preborn babies?

We can each make those suggestions to: info@rosarybowl.org
and to Bishop Oscar Solis, the Archdiocesan director of the event.

Is the Motu Proprio really coming soon?

The Rorate-Coeli blogspot yesterday quoted the newspaper La Stampa, from Turin, as saying that Pope Benedict's long-rumored Motu Proprio on the Tridentine Latin Mass is a done deal and might be issued sometime betwen the Feast of the Annunciation and Easter Sunday.

Let's keep our prayers going about this, and they should include the intention that if the Motu Proprio does happen, our U.S. bishops, including our Cardinal Mahony here in Los Angeles, will obey it fully, immediately and without any reservation or hindrance whatsoever.

Are they really "on the same page?"

A clearly sincere anonymous commenter on a recent post here believes that Cardinal Mahony, Cardinal Rigali and Pope Benedict XVI "are on the same page" about placement of tabernacles.

He or she says that because in his new Apostolic Exhortation the Pope allows for Blessed Sacrament chapels.

But the Holy Father also says, "...in churches which do not have a Blessed Sacrament chapel, and where the high altar with its tabernacle is still in place, it is appropriate to continue to use this structure for the reservation and adoration of the Eucharist, taking care not to place the celebrant's chair in front of it."

That blows the "being on the same page" argument out of the water, because, as we know to our regret, Cardinal Mahony and other U.S. bishops have been wreckovating such churches to blast the tabernacle out and away to somewhere else and to destroy the sanctuary altogether.

Many bishops have even demolished such churches entirely and have practically sown salt in the ground, with no regard whatsoever for their architectural and historical significance, let alone the tremendous sacrifices of the Catholic laity whose long years of toil paid for them.

We also know that Canon 938, section 2, says, "The tabernacle in which the Most Holy Eucharist is reserved should be placed in a part of the church that is prominent, conspicuous, beautifully decorated, and suitable for prayer."

Wreckovation does not square with that. Nor does the destruction of churches.

So much for "being on the same page," unfortunately.

The Sisters of Life

A pro-lifer from back East has sent around the following announcement from New York City, which I'm reproducing in full.

Sure would be nice if our Archdiocese of Los Angeles would encourage the Sisters of Life to open up a place out here. There is a crying need for them, and I mean "crying" literally: The aborted babies' silent screams, and their mothers' lamentations.

Here is the Sisters' announcement (and notice the tremendous quote from Cardinal O'Connor, who encouraged the founding of the Sisters' order):

------------------------------------------------------------
The Sisters of Life
invite you to join us in a
Prayerful Witness
for Life
In honor of the
Feast of the Annunciation

On the vigil of the celebration of God's incarnation, we will gather to stand with Our Lady at the Foot of the Cross, by praying in front of an abortion clinic in the Bronx. There we will give witness to our gratitude for the gift of life and prayerfully intercede that all may come to know the Sacredness of all Human Life.

Saturday March 24th
8:45-10:45 A.M. at
Dr. Emily's Woman's Health Clinic
560 Southern Blvd
Bronx, NY
(at the intersection of 149th St. and Southern Blvd)
By Subway: take the 6 train to East 149th Street

The sisters will be arriving at 8:45 a.m.
but you are welcome to gather there as early as 8:00 a.m.

"When we come to know Christ...When our heart beats with Christ's heart, we see every human life differently. We look into the womb of every mother, and see the image of the Son of God."
-- John Cardinal O'Connor

Cardinal Roger Mahony, Father Richard Rohr and responsibility

Did you see the March 15 online California Catholic Daily article (click on this post's title) about the Mass that Franciscan Father Richard Rohr celebrated on Saturday night, March 3, at Cardinal Roger Mahony's 2007 Religious Education Congress?

The article is unsigned and cites no sources, but seems to be by an eyewitness and no doubt is a trustworthy account.

The article mentions a bunch of problems with the liturgy, including liturgical dancers, bongo drums, wicker baskets for the Hosts, glass and plastic pitchers for the Precious Blood, and changes to the prayers of the Mass, including Father Rohr once saying, "Father and Mother God" and then saying, "Father-Mother God" right before the Our Father.

At least Father Rohr did not quite begin the Our Father by saying, "Our Father-Mother."

Why am I recounting all this? The point is, Father Rohr said the Mass but Cardinal Mahony bears much of the responsibility.

After all, Cardinal Mahony and his associates keep inviting Father Rohr to the wRECk or he wouldn't be there in the first place.

And most likely the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, not Father Rohr, supplied or arranged for the wicker baskets, the glass and plastic pitchers, the bongo drums and the liturgical dancers.

So Father Rohr is not the only one at fault.

There is ANOTHER reason to deny Communion to pro-abortion politicians

No one ever talks about it, but there is another reason, besides all the tens of millions of aborted babies, that Catholic bishops should deny Holy Communion to pro-abortion Catholic politicians.

That other reason is that the pro-abortion Catholic politicians have voted, at the federal, state and local levels, for laws that PERSECUTE THEIR FELLOW CATHOLICS and other pro-lifers, including our beloved pro-life Catholic priests.

E.g., the pro-abortion group People for the American [sic] Way lists Catholic pro-aborts Joseph Biden, Thomas Dodd, Tom Harkin, Teddy Kennedy, John Kerry, Patrick Leahy and Barbara Mikulski as being among the U.S. senators in 1994 who voted for the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE), which prescribes draconian punishments for pro-life activists.

If you are a Catholic pro-lifer who kneels and reads the Bible and prays the Rosary and reads U.S. bishops' pro-life statements in an abortion business driveway, your pro-abortion politician fellow Catholics have made sure that you will go to FEDERAL PRISON and be sued besides.

How can our bishops give Communion to turncoats -- Catholic Quislings -- who are persecuting their fellow Catholics?

If persecuting fellow Catholics is not a mortal sin, what is? If persecuting fellow Catholics and simultaneously receiving Communion is not public scandal, what is?

Would St. Peter and St. Paul say "I am not a gatekeeper" and give Communion to Catholics in ancient Rome who turned on their fellow Catholics and helped Nero persecute them?

Cardinal Mahony, Archbishop Niederauer and Archbishop Wuerl, what have you to say about this?

Cardinal Rigali: Tabernacles belong in the center

Making the rounds on the Net are an article, "Keeping Christ in the center of our lives and our churches" (click on this post's title), and the above photo, from the March 8, 2007, Catholic Standard and Times Archdiocesan newspaper in Philadelphia.

The photo is from the Mass on March 4 at Philadelphia's Cathedral of Ss. Peter and Paul at which the cathedral's new tabernacle, in the center of the sanctuary, was blessed.

The previous tabernacle placement was on a side altar.

Cardinal Justin Rigali, who hails from our Archdiocese, was "clearly moved" to have Jesus back in the sanctuary. In his first pastoral letter, in 2004, he urged exactly that, and he fosters Forty Hours, Adoration, Benediction and frequent Confession aimed at worthiness to receive.

The new tabernacle is on a small ledge upon a new Pietrasanta marble reredos that is a freestanding "screen" right behind the altar and that replicates the cathedral's 50-year-old altar remarkably well.

A freestanding reredos would be a great way to place the tabernacle centrally in many a theologically challenged wreckified or recently built church - and a certain cathedral we can think of.

Be sure to read this article.

Will the Pope's new Apostolic Exhortation be a dead letter here in L.A.?

The Holy Father has issued his new Apostolic Exhortation today (click on this post's title). Let us hope that the long-rumored Motu Proprio will not be far behind.

But anyway, the Pope calls (in #62) for seminaries to teach future priests Latin so they can celebrate Mass in Latin and sing Gregorian Chant. The Pope also says the laity can learn to say common prayers in Latin and to sing Gregorian Chant. (He does not specifically mention the Tridentine Latin Mass, but he does not rule it out, either.)

Given Cardinal Roger Mahony's Religious Education Congress chatroom comment the other day that he can't be concerned with the "1%" of Catholics who want the Tridentine Latin Mass, what will he say, and do, now that everyone knows the "1%" seems to include the Vicar of Christ?

The stained-glass window above, from St. Ignatius Loyola Church in Cincinnati, is of the Keys of the Kingdom, which, as we know, Jesus gave to St. Peter and his successors. As we also know, all Catholics must obey the Pope, and that includes Cardinals.

So how soon will all graduates of what is left of St. John's Seminary be fluent in Latin?

The Pope also calls for more Confession; for more Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament; for correct positioning of the Tabernacle; and, in the context of Catholic politicians and the Eucharist, for bishops to constantly reaffirm the "not negotiable" (the Pope's words) Catholic values that say legislators must introduce and support pro-life measures.

How soon will all that happen here in L.A.?

These are legitimate questions, even if they are also pretty much rhetorical.

Fight AB 374 -- Join the rally in Pershing Square on Wednesday, March 21

If you can be free on Wednesday, March 21, please join your fellow pro-lifers downtown for a rally, march and picket against Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez's AB 374, the so-called physician-assisted suicide bill that will let doctors give murder pills to vulnerable patients.

On Wednesday, March 21, rally at 9 a.m. by the fountain in Pershing Square in downtown L.A.
(Pershing Square is bounded by 5th, 6th, Hill, and Olive Streets.)

After the rally and a briefing, march at 10 a.m. to outside Fabian Nunez's local office at 320 West 4th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013 for an informational picket until noon.

Parking is available in the parking structure beneath the intersection of Olive and 5th Streets. The cost is $8.50 for all day, if you arrive before 11 a.m.

Big crowds are best, so be sure to bring your family, your pastor and assistant priests, your fellow parishioners and your friends with you!

If you have any questions, please call: 714-964-1284.

Some signs will be on hand, but you can make your own. Get poster board and use big black or red marking pens to write your short slogan in block letters big enough for everyone to see.

Here are some short, effective signs you can make:

No on AB374

Don't let docs kill

Care, don't kill

Killing isn't mercy

Nunez is a sellout

Nunez, repent!

Give pain relief, not murder pills

AB374 endangers you and me

Pray to defeat AB374

You can't have it both ways, L.A. Times!

The L.A. Times wants it both ways -- to eat its cake and have it, too.

As we know, the Times, in editorials, columns and news coverage, rightly rips Cardinal Mahony and other bishops for having sent priests to "treatment" and then restored them to duty.

But then today, the Times turns around and runs a sick, and sickening, op-ed piece (click on this post's title) that calls for, guess what, sending sex criminals to "treatment!"

The op-ed, entitled "The new American witch hunt," carries the subhead, "Demonizing sex offenders by passing tough, mindless laws rather than treating them makes little sense."

The Times says the writer, Richard B. Krueger, "is a psychiatrist and an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons."

Here is how Krueger ends his op-ed:

"What is happening now with individuals who have committed sexual crimes is the modern-day equivalent of a witch hunt...It is time to reexamine our approaches and develop empirically based, scientifically sound measures and treatments to bring rationality back to this discussion."

Obviously, Cardinal Mahony and other U.S. bishops deserve criticism for having returned "treated" priests to priestly ministry.

But by running this sick op-ed piece, the L.A. Times forfeits its credibility to make such criticism -- and lends credence to the impression that anti-Catholicism is a part of its motivation, along with the rest of the "news" media, in criticizing the Church on this and other matters.

Cardinals, newspapers and everyone else need to admit that "treatment" does not work.

And the L.A. Times has to learn that it can't have things both ways anymore.

Cardinal Mahony's 2007 wRECk chat

Have you been to the website of Cardinal Mahony's Religious Education Congress (click on this post's title) and seen the transcript of his 2007 nationwide chat?

Asked what are the two or three most important issues facing the Church today, he mentions "helping our immigrant peoples" but says ZERO about all the BABIES who are being aborted in his vast Archdiocese every day, day after day, year in and year out, with no letup in sight.

And what about the worsening anti-Catholicism, contraception, sterilization, pornography, the homosexual assault on our values and institutions, etc.?

Asked if he will support more Latin in the liturgy, including use of the Tridentine Latin Mass, if the Pope encourages it, the Cardinal replies, "[O]f our 5 million Catholics, only a handful are interested in the Latin Mass. I must focus upon the 99% who need a vibrant Mass that includes them in its celebration." So much for what the Vicar of Christ might encourage!

They take away the Mass of the ages for two generations, and they badmouth it and falsely characterize it, and then they have the nerve to say nobody's interested in it!

Oye -- listen: With the Tridentine Latin Mass, our churches were PACKED and NO ONE whined, "I don't get anything out of it"; but with the "New Mass," we've seen tidal waves of Catholics stop attending Mass and then even apostasizing to Protestantism, cults, etc.

So which Mass is "vibrant" and which Mass includes the congregation? Yes, the Tridentine Latin Mass. Find an indult Mass and you will love it and your spiritual life will deepen.

By the way, in last year's chat, the Cardinal said the Tridentine Latin Mass was the Church's Mass for only a slice of Her history. That is demonstrably inaccurate, any way you "slice" it.

Back to this year: Asked why only men can become priests, Cardinal Mahony does not answer! Instead he replies, "The moderator has better answers than I do to that question!!!"

Reporter buttonholes Cardinal Mahony

Click on this post's title to see the interview that a California Catholic Daily reporter got with Cardinal Mahony at this year's wRECk.

His response was really funny when he found out where the reporter was from: "Oh."

wRECk spokesmen in the past have said the Cardinal vets every wRECk speaker; but in this interview, the Cardinal disclaims responsibility for what his wRECk speakers say.

Kind of like Algore, who claimed to have invented the Internet but later, when caught with his hand in the cookie jar about some scandal involving e-mail or something, said, "I don't know much about computers."

Can't have it both ways, Your Eminence.

Courtroom gambit by Michael S. Baker

An article in the California section of today's Los Angeles Times (click on this post's title) describes a courtroom gambit by defrocked Archdiocese of Los Angeles priest Michael S. Baker, 59.

Baker's trial on charges of molesting two boys, one unconscious, is pending.

Baker said in court Wednesday that California state law discriminates against homosexuals because it mandates no time limits for prosecuting forcible heterosexual intercourse -- but does the same for not only forcible but also [supposedly] consensual homosexual intercourse.

The Times says Baker's lawyer, Donald H. Steier, "suggested that Baker's victims consented to the contacts..."

Court papers filed by the County D.A.'s office say this:

"To characterize sexual contact between a priest and a student as consensual, let alone as 'consensual, mutual, gentle, homosexual contact' or a 'romantic relationship' as the defense does, is not only profoundly inappropriate, but odious and offensive."

Doesn't everyone know that youngsters are incapable of giving consent?

Footage from the closing Mass at the Cardinal's 2007 wRECk

Here is a link to footage of the closing Mass at Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony's wRECk (Religious Education Congress) of 2007:

http://romancatholicblog.typepad.com/roman_catholic_blog/2007/03/mahonyfest_2007_1.html

You will need a strong stomach to watch it.

Other film, photos or written accounts no doubt will appear.

Why doesn't Cardinal Mahony talk this way?

Bishop Robert Vasa (pictured above) of Baker, Oregon, in his March 1 column (click on this post's title) in his diocesan newspaper, the Catholic Sentinel, has told the truth: Politicians may not call themselves faithful Catholics if they support aborting babies.

His column was about how the Rite of Election for prospective converts is a decision that changes how they will live, and how our belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist must affect the way we live our lives.

Without naming her, Bishop Vasa quoted Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's January disgraceful regurgitation of the tired pro-abortion cliche, if you are against abortion, don't have one, but don't tell somebody else what she may not do.

To that, Bishop Vasa answered:

"...to choose to terminate the life of another human being...is an unjust choice which is diametrically opposed to the clear and consistent teaching of the Catholic Church as well as to the clear and consistent teaching of God Himself in the Ten Commandments. The direct, intentional taking of the life of an innocent human being is inhumane and unjust. It is not just a choice!

"It is categorically impossible for the same person to state that he or she believes simultaneously both what the Catholic Church teaches and that abortion is just a choice. What we believe must inform what we do."

Some Californians lately have been moving to Bend, Oregon, which is in the Diocese of Baker, or building homes for retirement there. They will hear the truth about abortion from their Catholic bishop. That is a luxury these days, at least in some dioceses.

Why won't our Cardinal say it: "You can't be Catholic and pro-abortion!"

More from Amy Berg

In yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle "Datebook" section, Hugh Hart's "Industry Buzz" column (sorry, I do not have the link) interviews Amy Berg, the maker of the documentary film "Deliver Us from Evil," which is about the O'Grady case.

Miss Berg says Cardinal Roger Mahony "has gotten a total pass." Hart quotes her further:

"He never responded to any allegations in this film himself. He's still a guest at the Easter parade, standing next to the mayor. He's very empowered politicially, and that makes you wonder if he is reachable...

"However, I do know Mahony is vulnerable in a case right now and that the district attorney in Los Angeles was very enthusiastic about some of the information in the film."

None of this is really new, but it is what is out there currently.

The best Mass I've attended; how about you?

As promised a few days ago, I will tell you the best Mass I have attended in the Southland.

Every Mass, of course, is the best! Thank You, Dear Jesus, for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

But the best Mass of all for me is the Tridentine Latin Mass at several places. One that stands out is the 1:30 p.m. Sunday Mass at Mission San Buenaventura, up in Ventura.

Another wonderful Mass is any Mass at a chapel in a Monastery of the Poor Clares. The sisters are off to the side, out of sight, but their singing voices are like those of angels.

What is the happiest I have ever been at Mass? My First Communion. Also, serving early morning Mass as an altar boy.

How about you?

The leafleting of "Congress" was a success

Today's (Saturday, March 3) leafleting of Cardinal Mahony's annual Religious Education Congress was a big success.

On a very windy day, Concerned Roman Catholics of America and their friends for hours and hours gave out stack after stack of leaflets that warned thousands of attendees, including priests and sisters, about the REC's many problematic speakers.

Many attendees thanked and congratulated CRCOA volunteers and friends for being there, and many gave thumbs-up signs of approval.

We all owe a debt of gratitude to hard-working, devoted Kenneth Fisher and his fellow CRCOAns, and their friends, for manning the front lines to promote Catholic truth.

Please help out at Anaheim today (Sat., March 3)

Have you been wishing you could alert your fellow Catholics, and a lot of them, to all the problems going on in our Archdiocese?

Here's a golden opportunity for you to do just that: Come over to the Anaheim Convention Center today (Saturday, March 3) anytime between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.

That way, you can help the great folks of Concerned Roman Catholics of America hold picket signs and hand out leaflets to the many attendees of Cardinal Mahony's Religious Education Congress, to warn them that many of the speakers they will hear are dissenters, pro-homosexual and pro-abortion.

Yes, if you've never picketed or leafleted before, it can feel a little daunting at first. But remember, you are demonstrating not against our Church but for Her. Some attendees will give you a little static, but others will thank you for being courageous enough to tell the truth.

So please come and help warn your fellow Catholics about the spiritual danger they will face from many of the speakers. You will be doing a great spiritual work of mercy, you will meet some fine Catholic friends and you will even discover that it feels good to help in a good cause.

Thank you in advance, and God bless!

Who are the real "Chumash spiritual leaders?"

In last week's issue of Cardinal Mahony's The Tidings, did you see the article (click on this post's title) about the rededication of Mision Santa Ines in Solvang on February 18?

The article says, "Santa Barbara Regional Bishop Thomas Curry presided at the ecumenical service[,] which included civic leaders, pastors from other religions and spiritual leaders of the Chumash Indian nation."

The photo with the Tidings story about the rededication of this Catholic mission, online at least, is not of the newly restored interior of the church, as anyone would rightly expect, nor of Bishop Curry or any other Catholic priests, which would also be fitting.

No, the Tidings photo for covering the rededication of the Mission is of an evident lay lady who is not identified but who conceivably might be what The Tidings would consider "a Chumash spiritual leader."

Now, as we know, back in the Mission period most Chumash embraced Christ and His Church -- and today, nine and 10 generations later, many of them remain gratefully Catholic.

So who really deserves to be called a "spiritual leader of the Chumash nation?" I say, Pope Benedict XVI; he leads all us Catholics.

To call anyone else who is not ordained or a consecrated religious "a spiritual leader" of a historically and present-day largely Catholic group is to usurp the rightful place of the Pope and the Church and to replace them with people who might well be devotees of a current trendy mix of paganism, New Age and sometimes anti-Catholicism.

Dear Tidings, in such stories from now on please acknowledge the Pope and the Church as the real spiritual leaders of all of us. We L.A. Catholics will really appreciate it.