No one should say, "Oh, my G--"

The June issue of the New Earth, the monthly newspaper of the Diocese of Fargo, has a commentary (click on this post's title) by Tanya Watterud, its editor, on why people need to stop saying, "Oh, my G--," as so many do all the time.

What a much-needed commentary!

Editor Watterud asks what if your name was "Jim" and you heard people saying, "Oh, my Jim" all the time. Then she says:

"Now imagine that you are God. That scenario, where the name of God is used rather than 'Jim,' is played out in fast food restaurants and school hallways, at business meetings, baseball games and even at church dinners every day. People say God’s name, yet don’t want to talk to him. They exclaim 'Oh my God!' yet he’s no part of what they’re excited about. God is called upon and spurned within a single sentence countless times each day."

She ends her commentary this way:

“'You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain' (Exodus 20:7)."

No one should say, "Oh, my G--," and we should tell that to people who do -- but always charitably and not self-righteously or sounding condemning, and in a way that indicates we do not have a personal beef with them, we are trying to help them do the right thing.

By the way, I should note that many people in Spanish-speaking countries say, "Dios mio," but more in the sense of a prayer and not in the way people say, "Oh, my G--" here.

Poll: Hispanics returning to Democrat ranks

See today's USA Today for the results of a new poll (click on this post's title) that says U.S. Hispanics, who voted 40% for President Bush in 2004, are returning to the Democrat fold almost 3 to 1.

An H. Rodham Clinton presidency would entrench abortion, and probably euthanasia, in the USA for decades to come. She would be a disaster for preborn babies and all vulnerable persons.

Obviously, this should be a wake-up call to our bishops, who ought to tell Hispanics and all Catholics that H. Rodham Clinton is a pro-abortion zealot for whom Catholics may not vote.

But we know that, privately, many of our bishops and clergy are die-hard, rock-ribbed Democrats who rejoice in the inroads that H. Rodham and other Democrats are making.

If any bishops, here in Los Angeles, want to prove me wrong on this, I'd be happy to have them do so. But I'm not holding my breath. Are you?

So we all need to start now and find effective ways to tell our Hispanic/Latino friends and communities the truth that our bishops and clergy have not: That Hillary is pro-abortion.

60 new permanent deacons for Santa Barbara and Ventura counties

The June 22 issue of The Tidings reports on (click on this post's title) the June 16 ordination of 60 men to the permanent diaconate for our Archdiocese's Santa Barbara Pastoral region.

They come from 28 of the Region's 38 parishes. Many of the new deacons speak Spanish, so they will fill a great need as they minister to Catholics who are constantly beset by Protestant and non-Christian sects.

Let us pray for each of these men and for the fruitfulness of their efforts. Let us also pray that God will give us many new priests, sisters and brothers.

More motu proprio news

Catholic World News reports (click on this post's title) that the Vatican press office says that yesterday Cardinal Bertone did brief "representatives from various episcopal conferences" on "the content and spirit" of the new motu proprio.

CWN says that Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston and Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis were among those briefed, and that the Holy See will mail every bishop worldwide a copy of the motu proprio and the Pope's accompanying letter before their release.

The Vatican press office did not confirm the July 7 release date that Kath.net gave yesterday.

Motu proprio advance copy given to 30 bishops today

It is all over the Net. Katholische Nachrichten in Germany, citing Die Welt, reports (click on this post's title) that Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Holy See's Secretary of State, today gave 30 bishops from around the world advance copies of Pope Benedict XVI's motu proprio on the Tridentine Latin Mass, and copies of an explanatory letter from the Pope.

The reports say the motu proprio and the letter will be released to the world on July 7.

Kath.net says, "It emphasizes the unity of the Roman Rite which will consist of an ordinary and an extraordinary form which are supposed to inspire each other. The ordinary/regular form will continue to be the new rite of 1969. The extraordinary form will be the Missal of Bl. John XXIII. of 1962."

Before we get too excited about the document, we should wait to see what it says, naturally.

We should also pray that every U.S. bishop, including those in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, will accept the motu proprio in good faith and generous spirit and will not be legalistic, harsh and ungenerous by interpreting it narrowly so as to effectively suppress the Tridentine Mass.

Watch certain ordinaries -- can you guess who -- say, "Oh, this motu proprio does not take into account circumstances in the USA. The Tridentine Latin Mass will upset the faithful, so we have to protect them from it. And besides, only 1% of the people want that Mass, anyway."

INTROIBO AD ALTARE DEI.
AD DEUM QUI LAETIFICAT JUVENTUTEM MEAM.

Tidings columnist Fr. Richard McBrien writes about conversions

Father Richard McBrien's column (click on this post's title) in the current issue of Cardinal Roger Mahony's Archdiocesan newspaper, The Tidings, has some problems.

No, that is not Father McBrien pictured above, but Father C. John McCloskey, and in a minute you will see why he is there.

Father McBrien, in his column, "Converts to Catholicism," says that nowadays most people who convert to Catholicism do so for family unity, or they like Catholic worship, or someone's "strong personality" influences them.

He says that before Vatican II, people converted for theological, Biblical or historical reasons, but that after Vatican II and the ecumenical movement, "it became practically impossible to present the Catholic Church any longer as 'the one, true Church' and all other denominations as awash in error and falsehoods."

Speak for yourself, Father.

Then Father McBrien actually makes this complaint:

"In the past two-and-half decades, however, we have seen something of a reversion to the pre-Vatican II approach. Many seeking entrance into the Catholic Church today do so as an act of rejecting their Protestant past and of embracing 'the truth' found only in Catholicism."

And then he continues his complaint:

"...high-profile Protestants and even a few Jews with strongly conservative opinions about religion, politics and social values have found their way to a Rome that one would have thought no longer exists. It is an authoritarian, triumphant, polemical, anti-Protestant Rome (non-Christians weren't even considered) that flourished during the first half of the 20th century..."

Father McBrien then remarks:

"...a priest in Washington, D.C., who runs the Catholic Information Center there and is a member of Opus Dei, has been doing an impressive job of drawing fellow conservatives into the Church... Conservative Protestants and Jews who convert to Catholicism, especially of the Opus Dei kind, rarely shed the religious, social and political biases they had in their pre-Catholic life."

Nowhere in Father McBrien's column does he hint that love, grace and the Holy Spirit have anything to do with people converting, or that sorrow for sin and desire for holiness do, too. He does use the word "spirituality" once.

Father McBrien does not give the name of the priest whom he says has been doing an impressive job. That priest is Father McCloskey, pictured above.

Actually, Father McCloskey was at the Catholic Information Center in D.C. from 1998 to 2004. He was then a research fellow at the Faith & Reason Institute. I'm not sure what he is doing now; do you know?

It would not hurt Father McBrien, or any of us, to read this testimonial: "Mr. [Russell] Shaw and Fr. McCloskey have written a book [Good News, Bad News: Evangelization, Conversion and the Crisis of Faith] about repentance, recovery, conversion, and joy. I recommend it because I have experienced it through Jesus, my Savior." -- Lawrence Kudlow

And it would not hurt us to read this one, too: "This book is calling all Catholics to share the gift of faith and shows them how to do so with winsome joy." -- Rev. Richard John Neuhaus

Giuliani picket next Thursday in Tustin

Pro-family Americans will be picketing pro-abortion, pro-homosexual RINO (Republican In Name Only) presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani in Tustin, 5-7 p.m. Thursday, June 28.

The picket of Giuliani will be at the Marconi Automotive Museum, 1302 Industrial Dr., Tustin, CA 92780. There is plenty of parking on the street, and after 5:00 PM you can probably park in many industrial parking lots nearby.

Pass the word. Bring friends, bring signs. Some signs available.

Contact: Kenneth Fisher: 714-776-8855, John Rodenbour: 714-535-5612, or Bob C: 714-964-1284. Let them know you're coming and how many you're bringing. Suggestions for signs:

RUDY IS WRONG FOR GOP & USA
RUDY: DEMOCRAT IN DISGUISE
RUDY SPENDS TAXES ON ABORTIONS
RUDY - STOP DRESSING IN WOMEN'S CLOTHES
PRO-FAMILY VOTERS OPPOSE GIULIANI

Sponsoring the picket is Pro-Family Voters Against Rudy Giuliani, P.O. Box 27021, Santa Ana, CA 92799

The priestess in San Diego

Today's New York Times Magazine has an article (click on this post's title) about a priestess in San Diego, Mrs. Jane Via, 59. A ceremony was held a year ago today that she imagines "ordained" her.

She rents space from a Methodist church on Sunday nights to celebrate what she imagines is Mass. Bishop Robert Brom of San Diego advised her last Aug. 8 that she is under interdiction for the illicit "ordination" and therefore may not receive the sacraments.

The article says, "As a graduate student in the early 1970s, [Mrs.] Via was influenced by feminist theologians like Rosemary Ruether and Mary Daly." That figures.

But the article leaves out a lot: Who "ordained" her, what her husband and two grown sons think of her make-believe, do people call her "Father" or "Ma'am" or what?

The article quotes Cardinal Avery Dulles on priestesses:

“For an analogy in the secular sphere you might imagine that I could get a friend to swear me in as governor of New York. Would that make me governor?”

"Gay" priest in Alameda

Today's (June 23) issue of the San Francisco Chronicle has an article about Father Richard Danyluk, 59, of St. Joseph Basilica in Alameda, who, it says, in 2005 "told the congregation that he is gay" and who is now "leaving to get a year of rest after 31 years in the priesthood."

Father Danyluk's history, as detailed in the article, is a sad but illustrative one.

There is actually a good paragraph in the article:

"Pope Benedict XVI has called homosexuality 'objectively disordered,' the Vatican issued guidelines almost two years ago saying gay men should not enter the seminary, and Cardinal William Levada, former archbishop of San Francisco, has said that openly gay priests make it difficult for congregations to see clergy as embodying Jesus Christ. "

Fr. Malloy reports on the sickness in the Archdiocese of San Francisco

If you really want to know how deep is the sickness in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, visit the blogspot of Salesian Father John Malloy (click on this post's title) and go to his entry of June 18, 2007, entitled, "Where Are We Going?"

Your heart will break for the adoptive children in the archdiocese.

Also, Father Malloy mentions Most Holy Redeemer Parish, whose website http://www.mhr.org/ is astounding, and not in a good sense.

St. Francis and St. Clare, pray for us and for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, and especially for the adoptive children there!

Giuliani employs boyhood friend accused of molesting

The June 22, 2007, edition of Salon.com (click on this post's title) reports that pro-abortion, pro-homosexual politician Rudolph Giuliani's (photo above) company Giuliani Partners has employed, since 2002, a now-suspended priest friend of his whom a grand jury accused in 2003 of sexually abusing children and of covering up such abuse by other priests.

By the way, you can see Giuliani's political positions here:
http://www.ontheissues.org/Rudy_Giuliani.htm

The Tony Blair speculation

Good friend Kenneth Fisher, in a comment on my most recent post, is seeking input from everyone about reports in the English press that the soon-to-retire, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual British Prime Minister Tony Blair, an Anglican, wants to become Catholic and will meet with the Holy Father.

A quick check of news sources indicates that Blair is still prime minister until June 27. His visit to the Vatican tomorrow -- Saturday, June 23 -- is his third in four years. He is in Europe on official business and will meet with the Pope in his official capacity as prime minister.

We will soon see what the news reports say about that meeting. But as of right now, the Vatican has said nothing about a conversion by Blair.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor has invited Blair to visit the English College in Rome; that would be something unheard of for an English prime minster to do.

One of several priests who have known Blair in recent years said at some point in the past that Blair had "a long way to go" before converting, because he is pro-abortion and pro-homosexual.

Blair's wife Cherie is Catholic, but Net searches on her show she is feminist and all over the map. Diogenes of Catholic World News reported on Dec, 19, 2003, that she had "recently lent her support to the International Planned Parenthood Foundation's 'Lust for Life' program."

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), a British pro-life group, reports (click on this post's title) that its members are praying for Tony Blair's "repentance on life issues" and for him to publicly repudiate his anti-life positions.

Let's keep checking in with SPUC in the next several days to see what they report about Blair.

The secualr English press, as most people know, reflects Britain's anti-Catholic ethos and is notorious for wild speculations about the Catholic Church. Hope they are wrong about Blair, unless he repents and publicly says so.

So far, Tony and Cherie Blair have not been invited to the Religious Education Congress.

More words, but where are the actions?

An AP story yesterday (click on this post's title) said most of our 268 bishops had a retreat last week "in New Mexico." The article also said this:

"...[Denver Archbishop Charles] Chaput said in an interview with The Associated Press that...he thinks the time for behind-the-scenes diplomacy with politicians is over.

"'I personally think that anybody that is pro-choice as a Catholic is not being faithful to his Catholic identity, and I think that people who are Catholics, when they look at those issues, should take that into consideration when they vote,' Chaput said...

"Chaput said his more aggressive posture grew partly out of frustration from his personal meetings with politicians, who often would just 'look at you vacantly.'

"'I think being more aggressive, more assertive doesn't in any way violate the principles we have to follow' under laws governing nonprofit involvement in politics, he said.

"The most effective approach, Chaput argues, is educating Catholic voters, which in turn could influence politicians."

The archbishop is right that the time for talking to pro-abortion politicians behind the scenes is over -- even if some bishops, such as San Francisco's, say they haven't even done that.

But about 95% of the bishops, including those in Los Angeles, are "broad range of issues" types who do not want or intend to tell Catholic voters which politicians are complicit in mass abortion. By the way, if they would prove me wrong on this, I would be so happy.

Now, let's face it: The ONLY way to truly "educate" Catholic voters -- to make Catholic voters actually see what their politicians are really like -- is for each bishop to excommunicate the pols under his jurisdiction on the specific grounds that they are pro-abortion reprobates.

Earth to bishops, Earth to bishops: Abortion is THE preeminent issue, and you have said so in your own documents; so start acting that way NOW -- or you will give us a Democrat president and Congress in 2008 and tens of millions more BABIES will lose their lives for years to come.

Lawsuit over another PP client death

Today's Los Angeles Times carries a story (click on this post's title) that says Aletheia Meloncon has filed a malpractice lawsuit against the Planned Parenthood abortion center in Riverside and a Riverside hospital.

Mrs. Meloncon's daughter, Edrica Goode, 21, of Riverside, died of toxic shock syndrome on St. Valentine's Day. The lawsuit charges that Planned Parenthood inserted pre-abortion cervical dilators in Miss Goode on Jan. 31 even though she had a vaginal infection, and that PP should have done more to follow up on Miss Goode after she did not return for the abortion.

The Times article notes that this is the third reported death of a Planned Parenthood client in California since 2002.

Have you ever heard a sermon warning people to stay away from Planned Parenthood? I hope so.

We all need the spirit of St. Tarcisius today

The fanatically pro-abortion "Catholic" politician Nancy Pelosi has said, "I fully intend to receive Communion, one way or the other." But instead of popping off like that, she and the hierachy and clergy who idolize and abet her should listen to these words:

"By steadfastly choosing to be pro-choice [i.e., pro-abortion], a Catholic -- politician or not -- excludes himself or herself from communion."

So wrote Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., in his diocesan newspaper The Beacon on June 7 (click on this post's title). He preceded that sentence with this:

"...the [U.S.] bishops [have] said, “If a Catholic in his or her personal or professional life were knowingly and obstinately to reject the defined doctrines of the Church, or knowingly and obstinately to repudiate her definitive teaching on moral issues, however, he or she would seriously diminish his or her Communion with the Church. Reception of Holy Communion in such a situation would not accord with the nature of the Eucharistic celebration, so that he or she should refrain” (Happy Are Those Who Are Called to His Supper, 4).

Wow -- he says no "Catholic" pro-aborts, not just politicians, should receive Communion.

However, our U.S. bishops should do some listening of their own -- to Cardinal Arinze, head of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, who declared in 2004 that, “A pro-abortion politician is not fit to receive Communion. If they should not receive, then they should not be given.”

Our bishops need to stop giving Communion to the pro-aborts. But don't hold your breath waiting for that.

We all need the spirit of St. Tarcisius. Father John T. Zuhlsdorf last year quoted the following passage from the Martyrologium Romanum (Roman Martyrology) for August 15:

2. Romae in coemeterio Callisti via Appia, commemoratio sancti Tarcisii, martyris, qui, Christi defendens sacratissimam Eucharistiam, quam insana gentilium turba profanare conabatur, lapidibus usque ad mortem mactari maluit quam sacra prodere canibus.

At Rome in the cemetery of Callistus on the Via Appia, the commemoration of Saint Tarcisius, martyr, who while defending the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, which a raging gang of gentiles was trying to profane, preferred to be slaughtered by being stoned to death rather than that sacred things be given to dogs.
http://wdtprs.com/blog

Another court decision...

Today's Los Angeles Times has an article, "Judge allows release of clergy personnel files" (sorry, I do not have the link).


Peter D. Lichtman, a superior court judge for L.A. County, decreed on Monday that, says the Times, "confidential personnel files on Roman Catholic clergy accused of molesting children can be made public even if the clerics were never charged with a crime and legal claims against them were not proven."

The case involves 10 Franciscan friars, most of whom were at the since-closed -- and recently sold off to secular groups -- St. Anthony Seminary in Santa Barbara. Last year, the claims of 25 accusers were settled for $28 million; but the accusers want the friars' files made public.

Lawyers for the friars say that once that case was resolved, Lichtman had no authority to order the files opened. One of the lawyers also says Lichtman has misinterpreted state law. Lichtman says he is acting to protect children.

No one seems to ever mention that, in the scandals in this Archdiocese and nationwide, if vocations directors, seminary staff and other members of the hierarchy and clergy had kept candidates with tendencies to perversion out of the seminaries, let alone the priesthood, they could have PREVENTED so many crimes, saved so many young people from victimization and avoided so many of the scandals and subsequent court cases and legal consequences.

"Loose lips sink ships"

One of the slogans the American people and our Allies lived by during World War II was, "Loose lips sink ships." In other words, don't say anything, such as a secret, that an enemy spy or sympathizer could overhear and use to harm our war effort by passing it along to the enemy.

It would be lending aid and comfort to the enemy for Americans to ever let their "loose lips" harm our country.

I thought of that slogan today after seeing, for the millionth time, a so-called conservative, pro-family values columnist use the term, "same-sex marriage."

Today, with preborn babies, the family, marriage and Catholic doctrine under massive attack, our "loose lips," in the sense of using the enemy's carefully designed propaganda language, can "sink ships" by conditioning the public against our pro-life, pro-family, Catholic cause.

No American in World War II would have used the enemy's propaganda terms! That's why we should recognize the enemy's propaganda terms today and stop using them.

Let's never say, "same-sex," but the accurate term, "homosexual."

Let's never say, "homosexual rights movement," but "homosexual movement."

Let's never say "homosexual marriage." It is not marriage, and cannot be.

Let's never say, "homosexual activity, " but "homosexual acts" or "sodomy."

Let's also never say, "alternative lifestyles," "sexual minorities" or "sexual diversity."

After all, loose lips sink ships.

The road to Jericho, right here in L.A.

You have probably heard about the shocking case (click on this post's title) of the refusal of the medical staff at the King-Harbor Hospital in Willowbrook to examine and treat Mrs. Edith Isabel Rodriguez, 43, in the early morning of May 9.

They left her lying on the floor, screaming and writhing in pain, and vomiting blood -- and she soon died, of perforated colonic diverticulitis.

We all think we would never do that to someone.

But every day we pass by the abortion mills in our Archdiocese and most of us look away and leave the mothers without help and prayer and counsel, and we leave the little babies to be aborted.

Who is our neighbor?

My favorite politicians are pro-abortion? SO WHAT?

There is something worse than for Catholics to pretend they do not know their favorite pro-abortion politician is pro-abortion, and that is for them to say, "I know, and so what? I'm a social justice Catholic. Abortion is only one issue. More children are harmed by Republican policies than are aborted."

This is really heartless and despicable, and un-Catholic, as well as being wrong on the facts. Bush 43 has spent far more on social services than Slick Willie ever did.

If you think there is anything worse than 1.3 MILLION innocent little CHILDREN being dismembered every year in our country, then you are deceiving yourself very badly.

My favorite politicians are pro-abortion? REALLY?

What happens when you tell Catholic liberals that the politicians they love are pro-abortion?

They ask to see proof. Many times they profess not to know their pols are pro-abortion.

How can any Catholics not know it when their politicians are for KILLING preborn BABIES? Everybody else who is even half-aware knows. It's in the news constantly, especially during election campaigns. The pols' voting records are not hard to dig up, either.

It would take studied, strenuous effort for years and even decades for these Catholics to bury their heads in the sand and not find out. I think many of them know and do not care one bit.

How come they know enough about these politicians to know their positions on ALL THE OTHER issues?

Hint for such Catholics: Virtually EVERY Democrat politician is PRO-ABORTION. You presume that until you find out otherwise. It is their party's position. Some Republicans are pro-abortion, too, and not just a few; can you say, "Giuliani?"

It is our duty to find out about our politicians' votes, because babies' lives are at stake.

These same Catholics who claim not to know which politicians are pro-abortion sure always know which politicians are pro-life, and they savage them for being "one-issue," etc.

Here is a hint for Catholic liberals: If there is a politician whom you really hate, whom you would never consider voting for, and whom the news media always badmouth, the chances are very good that he or she is pro-life and you NEED to vote for them for the babies' sake.

Catholic liberals' position -- and, sadly, this includes many clergy, as well as laity -- ends up being that rather than ever vote for the pro-life politicians they despise, they will vote for the pro-aborts they love, pretending not to know about them, and will happily keep consigning TENS OF MILLIONS OF BABIES to be ABORTED.

What to do when Catholics consort with pro-aborts

Did you see the GREAT article by San Diego pro-life sidewalk counselor Luis Mendoza in the online California Catholic Daily of June 12 (click on this post's title)?

Mr. Mendoza tells about how on Saturday, June 2, he, his wife Tricia and five other pro-lifers, including valiant reporter-activist Allyson Smith, on just one day's notice picketed an appearance by 100% abortion-backer Rep. Bob Filner (Democrat) at an "immigration reform" meeting at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in San Diego.

The pro-lifers stood across the street from the church hall with picket signs that included "3-foot by 5-foot horrific images of aborted babies." Two of them went to the pastor, Fr. Robert Fambrini, S.J., and showed him Filner's 100% pro-abortion voting record in the House. Father said San Diego Bishop Brom complies fully with U.S. bishops' directives.

Says the article, "Allyson asked Father if, since he refused to disinvite Filner, would he please tell his congregation about Filner’s pro-abortion, pro-homosexual views and inform them that those positions directly contradict Church teaching? Father said he would."

When Mr. Mendoza and Allyson stood outside the open doors of the hall with the large photos of aborted babies, ushers with Holy Spirit vests -- the irony! -- crowded the doors to try to block out the signs. The pro-lifers then held their baby photos higher.

When Tricia Mendoza, who was inside the hall, got in line to ask the anti-life Congressman a question, she was told she could not; only picked questioners were allowed.

Mr. Mendoza's article provides this link http://www.usccb.org/bishops/catholicsinpoliticallife.shtml
to the U.S. bishops' document that says Catholic institutions should NOT -- that's N-O-T, as in, NOT!!! -- host or honor any politicians who facilitate the KILLING of preborn BABIES.

Pro-lifers should protest and picket EVERY time a Catholic institution or group hosts an anti-lifer.

Heartfelt congratulations to the Mendoza, Allyson and their friends for doing just that and for showing us the way!

Vatican hosts whirling dervishes (I am not making this up)

Zenit.org reported today that Sufi mystical whirling dervishes from Konya, Turkey, "were presented today in the Chancery Palace at the Vatican." Zenit said:

"The performance was organized by the Turkish Embassy to the Holy See and the Pontifical Council for Culture to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the birth of Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi (1207-1273), considered one the most important poets of Sufi mysticism."

According to Zenit, Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said Rumi was "above all, the founder of the famous Mawlawiyah Confraternity whose members are called Whirling Dervishes in the Western world."

Zenit said attendees included "members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, the media -- including ZENIT -- and other Vatican figures of the world of culture and interreligious dialogue."

Don't look now, Cardinal Poupard, but most people associate whirling dervishes with the occult. The dervishes whirl themselves into "an altered state." Also, Sufi mysticism and whirling dervishes are said to be some of the occult sources of the Enneagram.

Can we agree that Cardinal Poupard's event seems to have been imprudent, to say the least?

At least these "performers" have not been to the Religious Education Congress -- yet. Can't you just see them as liturgical dancers?

Stupidity = A Toll in Babies

The genius who uttered the following remark is not a pro-abortion politician from L.A., but he might as well be. He's a pro-abortion politician from Connecticut:


“Being pro-life is about more than caring for the unborn,” said Representative Christopher Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut. “It’s about caring for the living as well.” (New York Times, June 8, 2007)

So, Rep. Murphy, when your dear Mom was carrying you in her womb, you weren't living? So were you miscarried, or a stillbirth, or what?

Nunez and cronies had to pull the plug on AB 374

We can all give thanks to Almighty God, the Author of Life and Liberty, that late last week Assemblymen Patty Berg, Lloyd Levine and Fabian "I'll buck my Church" Nunez had to dump their AB 374 doctor-orchestrated "suicide" bill for this session.

They did not have the votes!

We have to stay alert in the coming months, though, because, as Life Priority Network reports:

"This makes AB 374 a 'two-year bill', meaning that next year the bill authors can bring it up for an Assembly floor vote in January. If AB 374 does not clear the Assembly by the end of January 2008, it is truly dead. Conceivably, the bill authors could continue to try to get support for AB 374 from other legislators between now and January. The situation will be monitored."

Kudos to everyone, including Cardinal Roger Mahony, who publicly opposed this sinister and dangerous anti-life bill.

Columnist George Skelton blasted the Cardinal for saying Nunez's sponsorship of the bill showed he had taken the path of the culture of death. Sorry, George, but AB374 epitomized the culture of death.

We should remember, though, that there is much more that Cardinal Mahony and the rest of us need to do if we are to be more effective in fighting the culture of death, especially as it dooms hundreds of thousands of abortion-targeted babies in our Golden State every year.

For Corpus Christi...

For Corpus Christi, here are the first two verses, in both Latin and English (translation by Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.), of the hymn "Adoro Te Devote" by St. Thomas Aquinas.

For the full hymn, click on this post's title.

ADORO TE DEVOTE
Adoro te devote, latens Deitas,
Quæ sub his figuris vere latitas;
Tibi se cor meum totum subjicit
Quia te contemplans totum deficit.

Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur,
Sed auditu solo tuto creditur.
Credo quidquid dixit Dei Filius;
Nil hoc verbo veritátis verius...
---------------------------------
Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore,
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,
See, Lord, at Thy service low lies here a heart
Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.

Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived:
How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed;
What God's Son has told me, take for truth I do;
Truth Himself speaks truly or there's nothing true...

Fresh from USF lovefest, Nancy Pelosi blasphemes

The many liberals among our Catholic hierarchy and clergy keep playing footsie, to say the least, with extremist pro-abortion Catholic politicians such as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Democrat-California (pictured above, from sourcewatch.org).

Recall the recent lovefest for Mrs. Pelosi at USF, in which USF prexy Fr. Stephen Privett, S.J., giddily gave her an outsized gavel that symbolized her control of the House.

The continuing dalliance -- nay, alliance! -- of Churchmen and anti-life politicians has FATAL consequences for the millions of preborn babies who are doomed to die in the abortions and embryonic stem cell experiments that the pro-abortion Catholic politicians and their anti-life colleagues fund and facilitate.

Last week Mrs. Pelosi rammed through a bill to hike taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell experimentation. President Bush then promised to veto it, should it reach his desk. But in the meantime, Mrs. Hellosi -- oh, I mean "Pelosi" -- uttered this blasphemy:

"Science is a gift of God to all of us, and science has taken us to a place that is biblical in its power to cure... And that is embryonic stem cell research."

Richard Doerflinger of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' pro-life office has blasted the embryonic stem cell research bill. But Archbishops George Niederauer (San Francisco) and Donald Wuerl (Washington, D.C.) need to DO something about Nancy Pelosi, and quickly.

Michael Wempe back in the news

Today's Los Angeles Times reports (sorry, I do not have the link) that:

"Demonstrators plan to picket Leisure World on Sunday to notify neighbors of the residency of Michael Wempe, a former Roman Catholic priest paroled after serving a three-year sentence for molesting a boy....Wempe...was kept in the ministry despite warnings that he might be a sexual predator -- an oversight for which the [C]hurch has publicly apologized."

Pro-abortion mayor and his wife are separating

The pro-abortion alcalde of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, 54, and his wife Corina, 49, are separating after 20 years of marriage, say local L.A. news outlets.

Antonio Villaraigosa was born Antonio Villar, and Corina was Corina Raigosa before they married in 1987 and combined their surnames.

Corina and their son, 18, and daughter, 14, will keep living in the mayoral residence, and the mayor will move to the family home. Antonio Villaraigosa also has two grown daughters "from previous relationships."

No doubt they can all use some prayers from us, including that the mayor will at some time, sooner rather than later, have a conversion to the right to life.

Fr. Coleman's pro-life, anti-JFK column

Did you see the column by Father Gerald D. Coleman, S.S., in last week's issue of The Tidings?

If not, you can find it at the California bishops' website (click on this post's title) by clicking on "What's New" and there, under "AB 374," clicking on "More Info."

Given some of Father Coleman's past writings, the column, "Religion and the Public Square," is surprising -- so pro-life and orthodox that you would think Bishop Bruskewitz wrote it.

Today the online California Catholic Daily wrote about it. All last week I had meant to do that.

Father Coleman says a politician's faith should play a role in his government decisionmaking.

He rips John F. Kennedy's infamous 1960 campaign speech promise to Protestant ministers that he would keep his Catholic Faith private and separate from his government decisionmaking.

Father Coleman says religion and faith belong in the public square. He remarks:

"A Catholic politician must uphold basic human and universal moral principles. In this way, he is not imposing religious values on others, but permitting religious values to inform the debate."

He also writes, "Willfully to dissent from a fundamental moral precept is an act of infidelity, objectively immoral, and a scandal to the faithful."

The only thing missing from Father Coleman's column is a call for our bishops and clergy to announce that they will refuse Communion to all Catholic anti-life politicians. As we all know, it is their duty to take that step in defense of the Blessed Sacrament, our Faith and the babies.

Judge orders Cardinal Mahony to testify

Today's L.A. Times reports (sorry, I do not have the link) that L.A. County Superior Court Judge Haley Fromholz yesterday ordered Cardinal Roger Mahony to testify in a lawsuit that charges he did not protect parishioners from a teacher who molested students.

The teacher, Paul Kreutzer, is now in prison for molesting students.

After ordering the Cardinal to testify, though, the judge okayed His Eminence's request for a two-month delay in the trial.

That is the up-to-the-minute news.

Lightning strikes

Have you seen the video of pro-abortion Republican presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani in last night's debate?

Click on this post's title to see the video: Lightning strikes the building and makes a buzz on the mikes as Giuliani starts to answer a question about Rhode Island Bishop Thomas Tobin's recent public rebuke of him for claiming to be both Catholic and pro-abortion.

Giuliani joked about the lightning. But do you bet he lost a little sleep thinking about it later last night?

It is past time for Cardinal Mahony to publicly rebuke every anti-life politician in our Archdiocese and the entire state of California. Heaven would be glad, and so would the rest of us.

Terminology is destiny, so please speak pro-life, not anti-life

Terminology is an essential part of our efforts to save little babies such as the dear one pictured above. We say baby, the enemy says fetus. We say pro-abortion, the enemy says pro-choice.

We must be careful to NEVER use the enemy's terms.

That includes an evil term that everybody uses and no one ever seems to recognize: "Perform."

We must stop saying, "perform abortions." Say, "COMMIT abortions."

"Perform" is a positive word. "The pianist performed the concerto brilliantly."

"Perform" is also a medical term. "The surgeon performed the appendectomy flawlessly."

Aborting BABIES is NOT medicine. We must never dignify it by using medical terms.

Dismembering a BABY is NOT a performance, it is an atrocity.

We must stop saying, "perform abortions." Say, "COMMIT abortions."

What do you think? And are there any other pro-abortion terms you've heard pro-lifers use, and do you have good pro-life substitutes for them?

Note to clergy and hierarchy: Guv Schwarzie needs spiritual help

Did you see that Arnold Schwarzenegger, our pro-abortion Catholic governor, was up in Toronto last week to promote stem cell research that kills babies in their embryonic stage? And that he proclaimed himself "a very dedicated Catholic" while doing so?

Schwarzie said, according to the Toronto Star:

"I always said that you should not have your religion interfere with government policies or with the policies of the people. I am a Catholic and a very dedicated Catholic, but that does not interfere with my decision-making because I know that stem-cell research, the way we are doing it in California...is the right way to go and will save, very quickly down the line, lives and cure a lot of these illnesses."

We have here "a teachable moment" for the Guv, if any member(s) of our California Catholic hierarchy or clergy want to fill him in on Catholic morality.

Bishop rips Republican pro-abort Giuliani

Bishp Thomas J. Tobin of the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, has written a column in his diocesan newspaper (click on this post's title) that slams Republican presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani for saying aborting babies is wrong but we have to have "choice."

Bishop Tobin rightly likens that stance to Pontius Pilate's.

Cardinal Mahony, may I humbly suggest that now it is your turn to pen a similarly tough message to each of the pro-abortion politicians, of all parties, here in our Archdiocese.

Let's pray for our new priests, today and every day

What a GREAT day this is, the day our new priests celebrate their first Masses!

To read about our five new priests in The Tidings, and to see their photos, click on this post's title.

Our new priests are Fathers Edward Benioff, Marco Antonio Durazo, Anh-Tuan Ngyuen, Rafael Venegas Raygoza and Jay Jay Wu.

We must pray for our new priests, and for all our priests, God bless them!

This website has many prayers for priests: http://prayersforpriests.homestead.com/

A PRAYER FOR PRIESTS
(by the late John J. Cardinal Carberry)

Keep them; I pray Thee, dearest Lord.
Keep them, for they are Thine
The priests whose lives burn out before
Thy consecrated shrine.

Keep them, for they are in the world,
Though from the world apart.
When earthly pleasures tempt, allure --
Shelter them in Thy heart.

Keep them and comfort them in hours
Of loneliness and pain,
When all their life of sacrifice
For souls seems but in vain.

Keep them and remember, Lord,
they have no one but Thee.
Yet, they have only human hearts,
With human frailty.

Keep them as spotless as the Host,
That daily they caress;
Their every thought and word and deed,
Deign, dearest Lord, to bless.

Liberal Catholics LOVE pro-abortion Democrats -- here's more proof, as if any is needed

Why would a Catholic Archdiocese -- guess which one (hint: its initials are "L." and "A.," and its Cardinal's initials are "R." and "M.") -- entice naive high school and college Catholic kids to get a summer internship with one of the very worst pro-abortion politicians around?

Here is the story, from today's online California Catholic Daily:

"U.S. Representative Loretta Sanchez, D-Garden Grove, seems to have a comfortable working relationship with the Los Angeles archdiocese’s Office of Justice and Peace. For the past few weeks, the office’s e-mailed 'Justice and Peace Newsblast' has advertised an internship with Sanchez, well known for her pro-abortion politics.

"According to the 'Newsblast,' the 'paid summer internship' (at $9 an hour) would provide 'great academic and professional opportunities for high school and college students.'”

Isn't that cute? Hundreds of thousands of babies die in abortions in California every year, and this office of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles is cozy with one of abortion's chief government backers. To see Loretta Sanchez's sordid pro-abortion voting record, click on this post's title.

June 3, Martyrdom of St. Charles Lwanga

On June 3, 1886, the homosexual and pedophile tribal "king" Mwanga in Uganda martyred St. Charles Lwanga by fire for his fidelity to Jesus, the Catholic Faith and purity.

St. Charles was one of 22 such martyrs in Uganda in 1886 and 1887 (click on this post's title).

They were such wonderful Catholics, you would think we would hear more sermons about them.

Do you think martyred St. Charles Lwanga and Companions consider homosexuality "giftedness?"

Do you think martyred St. Charles Lwanga and Companions would admit homosexuals to the seminaries and to ordination?

Do you think martyred St. Charles Lwanga and Companions would keep the Courage group out of their diocese?

Don't you think martyred St. Charles Lwanga and Companions would support Reparative Therapy?

Do you think martyred St. Charles Lwanga and Companions support homosexual "marriage" and "civil unions?"

Do you think martyred St. Charles Lwanga and Companions recommend seeing "Brokeback Mountain?"

Archbishop Niederauer, do you think martyred St. Charles Lwanga and Companions support turning little children over to pairs of homosexuals for adoption and foster care?

St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, pray for us and for our Church!

Another idea for His Eminence

Yes, I admit I have been spending many posts here in coming up with suggestions for Cardinal Mahony to implement.

So...here is another one:

Instead of parading, or appearing anywhere, with any more pro-abortion politicians (see my most recent post), he should lead our people in well-publicized, massive, reverent Eucharistic and Rosary processions to each and every abortion chamber in our Archdiocese.

Your Eminence, you could start with the seven abortion chambers that prey upon poor people in the poverty-stricken Pico-Union environs.

You could save many babies' lives that way, help many moms and save many souls. You would also inspire other ordinaries and clergy to do the same in their own areas.

Please?