New book says Gorbachev among signers of Soviet politburo "death sentence" against Pope John Paul II

The April 30 online New Oxford Review bulletin linked to a story (click on this post's title) about a new book by John O. Koehler and published by Znak -- find it at www.znak.com/pl

The article says the book reports that a Kremlin document from 1979, signed by the Politburo members including Gorbachev, told the KGB, “Use all available possibilities to prevent a new political trend, initiated by the Polish pope, and if necessary - reach to means beyond disinformation and discreditation.”

Koehler says that formulation was a death sentence.

This is "strike three" against Gorbachev, or more like "strike gazillion." He presided over the USSR and its vast gulag slave labor camp network, delayed warnings about the seriousness of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and, contrary to liberal propaganda, acceded to the dissolution of the Soviet Evil Empire only kicking and screaming and remaining attached to Communism.

So tell any liberals you know that this proves Gorbachev is no environmentalist, New Age, warm, fuzzy teddy bear.

L.A. Times issues correction to its recent story about archdiocesan loans

Here is a correction from the L.A. Times:

"For the record, April 26, 2008
Archdiocese:
An April 19 column by Tim Rutten said the Archdiocese of Los Angeles took out a $50-million bank loan to fund a global settlement of clerical abuse cases. In fact, the archdiocese borrowed $175 million. As noted in the column, the total liability in all such cases is $720 million, but the column failed to note that a substantial portion of that is covered by insurance."

Communion for the pro-abortion politicians during the Pope's visit

LifeSiteNews.com's daily bulletin today links to yesterday's Robert Novak column (click on this post's title) about the pro-abortion politicians receiving Communion during the Pope's visit to Washington, D.C., and New York City.

Novak points out that Archbishop Wuerl and Cardinal Egan invited trouble by inviting the pro-aborts to the Pope's Masses. He also says the pro-aborts' reception of Communion "...reflected disobedience to Benedict by the archbishops of New York and Washington."

Novak adds this:

"Vatican sources say the pope has not retreated from his long-held position that pro-choice politicians should be deprived of Communion, but the decisions in Washington and New York were not his. The effect was to dull the pope's messages of faith, obligation and compassion. In his Yankee Stadium homily, he talked of 'authority' and 'obedience' -- acknowledging that 'these are not easy words to speak nowadays.' They surely are not[,] for four former presidential candidates and two princes of the church, representing Catholics who defy their faith's doctrine on abortion.

"Benedict's position was unequivocal when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Asked in 2004 whether Kerry, as the Democratic presidential nominee, should be allowed to take Communion, he replied, "The minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it.'"

"Ratzinger's demeanor necessarily has changed with his elevation from doctrinal enforcer to global pastor, but he has not altered his position. When the pope arrived in Brazil a year ago, he declared: 'The killing of an innocent human child is incompatible with going into Communion in the body of Christ.'"

About Giuliani, don't praise Cardinal Egan just yet

Query: When will Cardinal Mahony excommunicate the Catholic pro-abortion politicians who receive Communion in our Archdiocese of Los Angeles, or when will he order all priests and other ministers of the Eucharist to refuse them Communion?

Answer: Never. (I sure would be happy to be wrong about this.)

Query: What is Cardinal Edward Egan doing about the thrice-married, pro-abortion GOP politician Rudolph Giuliani receiving Communion when Pope Benedict XVI was in New York City?

Answer: Reports (click on this post's title) are that Cardinal Egan says he deeply regrets what Giuliani did and will seek a meeting with him to insist he abide by a years-previous agreement that Giuliani would not receive.

Comment: Some pro-lifers are praising Cardinal Egan. And it is good that he is making a public issue of this matter. But in the end, won't Cardinal Egan merely keep relying on Giuliani's evidently nonexistent good will, instead of ordering ministers of the Eucharist to refuse him Communion?

We need our U.S. hierarchy, including Cardinal Mahony, Cardinal Egan and Archbishop Wuerl, to start heeding Cardinal Arinze's comments that even a child can see pro-abortion politicians should be refused Communion.

Before anyone says the Pope should order this done, let's remember that Pope Benedict did make his feelings clear in his airplane remarks on the Brazil trip, and that Popes throughout history have rarely disciplined or removed Cardinals.

May Cardinal Mahony and all bishops finally protect the babies by stopping the Catholic pro-abortion politicians from receiving Communion. Amen.

Cardinal Mahony's reaction to the Pope's visit

Here you can see what Cardinal Mahony wrote in The Tidings of April 25 about the Pope's visit to the USA:

http://www.the-tidings.com/2008/042508/popecm_text.htm

Juan Diego House and the "Virtus" program

The April 18 Tidings article (click on this post's title) on Juan Diego House (in Gardena), the Archdiocesan House of Formation for College Seminarians, says:

"In keeping with the fifth edition of the Program for Priestly Formation (PPF) of the U.S. Catholic Bishops, the life at Juan Diego House encompasses the four pillars of formation that are found in the PPF, as originally documented in Pastores Dabo Vobis, Pope John Paul II's 1992 apostolic exhortation...:

"Spiritual Formation: Juan Diego House has a life of daily Eucharist, Liturgy of the Hours, personal prayer, devotional prayer and Eucharistic adoration. Each seminarian has an approved personal spiritual director, with whom he contracts to meet on a regular basis.

"Human Formation: Sessions are conducted on self understanding, celibacy, interpersonal relationships, social skills, cultural diversity and community building. Students complete VIRTUS training and other activities to enhance their personal development. Field trips and membership at the YMCA are also part of the formation curriculum.

"Academic Formation: With an academic focus to assist them to be ready to enter St. John's Seminary, all students are required to successfully negotiate 15-unit semesters at the local colleges and universities. Most of the students complete their major work at Cal State Dominguez Hills with a philosophy major. They complete the pre-theology requirements at St. John's in a program specially designed with seminary professors. Some students double major in order to broaden their academic careers.

"Pastoral Formation: All students return home every weekend for participation at their home parishes. Working side by side with the priests and people of their parish, they develop collaboration skills. In the month of January, all students are required to volunteer at various places, such as at the L.A. Metro Project (LAMP), the Little Sisters of the Poor, and local schools."

For what it's worth, you can see a 2004 analysis of VIRTUS here: http://www.catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?recnum=7047

The author, Jeffrey Schwehm, attended a VIRTUS three-hour session. Among other things, he says it identified the molestation problem wrongly as pedophilia [instead of homosexuality] and said "no one was any more likely to abuse than anyone else."

Mr. Schwehm adds, "...there was no mention of anything Catholic in the entire presentation. We were not encouraged to learn the teachings of the Church on human sexuality or chastity. We were not encouraged to attend Mass regularly or to pray. If I had seen this presentation in any other place besides a Church basement I would have thought it to be a secular production and program."

Let's hope Juan Diego House presents VIRTUS better than the program Mr. Schwehm attended, and supplements it with specifically Catholic material, too.

The beautiful Latin Mass

The Tridentine Latin Mass, as shown above, will again be celebrated in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, once the sickness of the Sixties leaves us for good.

The photo above is of Latin Mass at historic Assumption Church in Windsor, Ontario. For more info about the Latin Mass, click on this post's title.

As I've said before and will say again, it is not valid for Cardinal Mahony or anyone else to say, Well, there's no demand for the Latin Mass, only 1% want it, and I've got to tend to the 99% who want the vernacular.

Why is it not valid for the liberals to say that? Because our hierarchy have created the relative lack of demand for the Latin Mass. They have criticized that Mass as if it was bad; and, for the past 40 years, they have suppressed first its celebration and then even any knowledge of it among the faithful.

It isn't right for any prelate or priest now to act as if by shunning the Latin Mass he is merely doing what the faithful want. If the hierarchy and the clergy always did what the faithful want, then 40 years ago they would have kept the Latin Mass, which the people most certainly did want, alongside the "New Mass."

The Holy Father is so wise to let us have both rites. Time for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to come around on this and promote the Latin Mass as being fully legitimate alongside the "New Rite."

If they don't, they need to explain themselves. Do they think something is wrong with the Tridentine Latin Mass, the Mass celebrated at Vatican II? If so, exactly what is wrong with it, and what is their authority for claiming so?

What do you think about the Latin Mass? Our Church celebrated it for more than a millennium, so why shouldn't we have access to it today? Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

+ In Memoriam: Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, pro-lifer +

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord.

Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo died yesterday at age 72, God rest his noble soul. He was born in 1935 in Villahermosa, Colombia, ordained a priest in 1960, ordained a bishop in 1971 and proclaimed a cardinal in 1983.

As president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Cardinal Lopez T. was a beacon and a leader in the worldwide cause of the right to life. Eloquent and fearless, he challenged the anti-lifers with profound pro-life and Catholic truth.

Cardinal Alfonso Lopez T. was a model of the priestly pro-lifer that every member of the hierarchy and of the clergy should be and needs to be.

Listen to the following excerpt from an address the Cardinal gave (click on this post's title) in London in 1996 on the first anniversary of Pope John Paul II's great encyclical letter, Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life):

"Many fine young people are involved in the pro-life movement. More young people need to be involved, with their energies, their enthusiasm and their imagination. Pro-life education for children and young people must become a priority, as the Holy Father stresses in Evangelium Vitae, 97.

"Young people and their energies lead me to conclude with a reflection about a brave young man. Outside my study, in the offices of the Pontifical Council for the Family in the Vatican, I have set up a bronze statuette of the shepherd boy who became King David. He is putting the sword back into its sheath having cut off the head of Goliath the Philistine. The head rests beneath his feet. I deliberately chose that statue to be a sign to all who work in and with our pontifical Council for the Family. The message is clear. In fighting for life, for the family, we face a giant Goliath, that Philistine culture of death, with all its wealthy foundations, its powerful political and business connections and its propaganda agents.

"Like David, we have a few small stones and a slingshot, or so our limited resources often seem to us when we face such powerful forces. But we have God with us, the same God who guided David's smooth stone to its mark. Like David the shepherd boy, we are not afraid, because we know that the Lord of Life is with us. We know that we can bring down that evil Goliath! We must bring him down and we will!

"What is most important for the pro-life movements is to work for a civilization of life—in the family, in the schools, in the Parliaments. Life, the precious gift of God is a Gospel, good news! There is a unity between the Gospel of Life and the Gospel of the Family.

"We must—love life, defend life, proclaim life!

"At the heart of this proclamation is the Lord of Life, who died and who now lives and reigns for ever!"

Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, we loved you in life and we will always remember you and your great-hearted good example of a priest and pro-lifer. In Heaven, please intercede for babies, families, the pro-life cause and Holy Mother Church! May your soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen!

Pope Benedict XVI blasts pornography, but is porn-capital L.A.'s cardinal listening?

You probably heard that Pope Benedict XVI said the other day, “What does it mean to speak of child protection when pornography and violence can be viewed in so many homes through media widely available today?”

What with L.A. being the pornography-production capital of the world, we have to wonder if His Holiness was directing that remark toward L.A.'s Cardinal Roger Mahony, who certainly could fight pornography if he only would.

Will Cardinal Mahony take the Vicar of Christ's comment to heart and now head up a difference-making anti-pornography campaign? Will His Eminence write a pastoral letter about the demonic evil of pornography and about every Catholic's duty to avoid it and to fight it?

We have to wonder, given the Cardinal's 23-year record of virtual silence and inaction when it comes to Hollywood mainstream filth and the overt pornography kingpins.

How can it be that the world's entertainment media capital has a Cardinal who is not an outspoken champion of decency and a fearless crusader against the filth that wounds and kills so many souls?

L.A. Times: Cardinal Mahony has put high schools in hock, wants $$ from parishes

L.A. Times columnist Tim Rutten says in today's paper (click on this post's title) that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles took out a loan of $50 million with the Allied Irish Bank to cover part of the huge clergy sex abuse settlement.

Rutten also says Cardinal Roger Mahony wrote the pastors of 101 of the archdiocese's 288 parishes in February to ask them to consider ways of helping the archdiocese with grants or loans of as much as $400,000 apiece. His Eminence gave the pastors until the end of May to decide what to do.

To get the $50 million loan, the archdiocese "put up six Catholic high school facilities as collateral -- Daniel Murphy (slated to close this June), St. Bernard, Bishop Montgomery, Bishop Amat, Damien, Bishop Conaty-Loretto and St. Bonaventure." Cardinal Mahony spokesman Tod Tamberg syas, "the archdiocese has no intention whatsoever of selling any of these high schools."

Rutten adds, "Over the past weeks, he [the Cardinal] has personally appeared at 20 regional meetings to apologize for his own role in the crisis, to urge further understanding of the victims' injury and to appeal for financial help."

"Extraordinary," you say?

As we know, the party line in the U.S. hierarchy and much of the clergy is that Pope Benedict XVI might have freed up and called for the Latin Mass, but so what, because, they say, "There's no demand for it," "Only 1% want it and we have to deal with the 99%," and anyway, "It's the extraordinary form."

Well, look at it this way: "Extraordinary" Ministers of the Eucharist are omnipresent at every Mass, especially on Sundays.

So, either we make the Extraordinary Form of the Mass as omnipresent as Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist, or we make Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist as rare as the liberals want to keep the Extraordinary Form of the Mass.

Can't have it both ways. Except, unfortunately, the liberals always want things both ways, and they get their way, too.

Ironic remarks, coming from Cardinal Mahony

It turns out (click on this post's title) that our Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles spoke to reporters yesterday before Pope Benedict XVI met with Boston clergy sex abuse victims at the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C.

Cardinal Mahony said, "We've got to face it [the clergy sex abuse issue] head on and deal with it. He's [the Pope] spoken of reconciliation and healing, and asked us to set a better tone in the [C]hurch."

Facing clergy sex abuse head on and dealing with it was not exactly Cardinal Mahony's forte in recent decades.

As for a better tone in the Church, how about heartfelt apologies, followed by mass resignations, from those in the hierarchy who mishandled, to say the least, the clergy sex abuse situation over the past four decades or so?

See what happens when you have liberalism in the Church?

Okay, I know we get a lot of bad news from everywhere, and it's no fun for me or for you. But we need to stay informed so we can pray and work for the Faith.

In dealing with bad news, we can follow the example of St. Francis Xavier when he and his flock were threatened with attack from enemies of the Faith in India. He wrote, "Bad news pours in from all sides. Thanks be to God!"

So here's another item of crummy news.

It's an AP news story (click on this post's title) from last Sunday's International Herald Tribune. It's about how only about 5% of the French attend Mass now, versus 27% just 50 years ago -- and now, parishes and dioceses can't afford to maintain all of their tens of thousands of French churches, especially the rural ones, so they're contemplating destroying or selling some or many of them.

So, what happened in the Church in the past 50 years to cut Mass attendance in France so drastically? Well, a lot of things; but abandoning the Latin Mass, and Communion in the hand, and "the spirit-but-not-the-letter-of-Vatican II," and liberal bishops, and artificial contraception are certainly amongst 'em. Also, perhaps, a rise of homosexuals in the clergy, although I have no stats on that.

Good thing nothing like those things could ever happen here in the USA, right? (I'm being sarcastic in saying this.)

To preserve our Church and our churches, we need to pray and work against the liberals and against liberalism's bad fruits.

(Saw this story thanks to the online New Oxford Review bulletin.)

The L.A. Times tells the Vicar of Christ what to say

Once again the liberal editorializers at the L.A. Times take it upon themselves (click on this post's title) to tell the Holy Father what to say.

They want Pope Benedict XVI to "address the role of religious differences in conflicts from Darfur to the Middle East to Tibet." Don't look now, but those are all different situations, and many factors are at play in each.

They want the Pope to "acknowledge...that Christians too have wielded the sword in defense of their faith." Wait a minute; so Christians should have surrendered at Vienna in 1683 and not defended their Faith, families and homes from invaders who had promised massacres and enslavement?

They want the Pope to "apologize for sexual abuse of young people by a minority of priests without further demoralizing clergy who have been faithful to their vows." They ignore that the Popes have already apologized; and since when do liberals worry about "demoralizing clergy?"

The Times wants Pope Benedict to avoid "taking sides in the debate among American bishops about whether pro-choice [sic] Catholic politicians should be denied Holy Communion..." Sure, they do. But, um, it's not a matter of the Pope "taking sides"; he is ABOVE the U.S. bishops.

They also want the Pope to avoid "seeming to insinuate himself into a presidential election in which a pro-life Republican will oppose a pro-choice [sic] Democrat." Sure, they do; they're all about partisan politics.

And for good measure, the L.A. Times liberals want the Holy Father to "resist suggestions that he censure Catholic colleges that encourage robust debate even about such issues as abortion, homosexuality and women's rights." As we know, such colleges don't encourage debate, they often stifle pro-lifers and pro-family activists and favor anti-lifers and the pro-homosexual-agenda side.

We ruefully expect the Times to say such things; what's bad is when liberal Catholics say them and worse.

See what happens when we let liberals do the "catechizing?"

An AP story (click on this post's title) today tells about a poll of U.S. Catholics that the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University conducted in February for our U.S. bishops.

Lots of bad news in the poll, according to the AP article:

"...the study found that only 36 percent of the younger Catholics attend Mass at least once a month, compared with 64 percent of the older generation.

"Sixty-eight percent of all Catholics surveyed said they agreed that they believed they could be in good standing with the church without going to weekly Mass.

"The poll, 'Sacraments Today: Belief and Practice Among U.S. Catholics,' found that nearly one-third of the nation's 64 million Catholics attend Mass in any given week. That figure has remained the same in the last five years, according to the report.

"Thirty percent of the respondents said they go to confession less than once a year and 45 percent said they never go."

The AP article also says:

"San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer, head of the bishops' communications committee, was encouraged by the openness to faith in the survey but said it highlighted the need for better religious instruction.

"'The challenge for [C]hurch leaders," he said, "is to help them [Catholics] see what Catholicism really means.'"

Duh.

It is stupefying: How could a situation arise in which many in a whole generation of U.S. Catholics do not know "what Catholicism really means" and so do not even go to Mass and Confession?

This is what happens when we let "spirit, not letter, of Vatican II" Catholics run things, especially our catechesis.

Dump all the heterodox and dumbed-down catechisms. Bring back the Baltimore Catechism, immerse everyone in it and then teach high school and college-age kids, and adults, the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

And dump the bishops responsible for not teaching Catholics the Faith.

Aborted babies are the Lazaruses at the door in S.F. tonight

As we know, tonight Archbishop George H. Niederauer of San Francisco was slated to give the annual Catholic Charities CYO "Loaves and Fishes" philanthropy award to George Marcus, a wealthy donor to the abortion giant Planned Parenthood and to anti-pro-life causes and political candidates.

Planned Parenthood admits aborting more than 289,000 American babies at its many abortion chambers in its most recent reporting year.

So when we think of all the San Francisco swells and nabobs banqueting and congratulating each other on "helping the children," we will also be thinking of all the dead children who are figuratively lying at the doorstep of the posh hotel, just as poor Lazarus lay outside Dives' doorstep in Jesus' parable (St. Luke 16).

True Lazaruses are the aborted babies, abandoned, unclothed, covered with wounds, helpless -- and despised and ignored by the rich and powerful.

Can't an archbishop do better than to give awards to pro-aborts?

Another mess in San Francisco

Congrats to the online California Catholic Daily for another good story (click on this post's title).

The Daily reports today that at the San Francisco Catholic Charities CYO annual awards dinner tomorrow night (April 11), one of the three honorees to whom Archbishop George Niederauer will present a Loaves and Fishes Award for philanthropy is George Marcus.

The Daily notes -- but the awards dinner article in the San Francisco Archdiocesan newspaper Catholic San Francisco does not -- that Marcus, who heads a real estate investment firm, gave $25,000 to help defeat Prop 73, a pro-life parental notification ballot measure, gave $100,000 to help defeat another such measure, Prop 85 and gave $50,000 for the Prop 71 ballot measure to fund fatal-to-embryonic-babies stem cell experimentation, among other donations.

The San Francisco Archdiocesan newspaper story about the awards dinner is in its current issue http://www.catholic-sf.org/FPArticle213.htm

As the California Catholic Daily reminds us:

"In 2004, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement, saying 'the Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.'"

Why can't our bishops obey their own instructions?

Catholic liberals love not only the pro-abortion politicians but also the pro-abortion rich people.

Don't look now, but what if Archbishop Niederauer is appointed to replace Cardinal Mahony here in Los Angeles in 2011? After all, his good friend Cardinal William Levada occupies the #2 post in the Vatican.

[Note added on April 11: In writing the last paragraph of this post, I somehow managed to completely forget that, of course, Archbishop Niederauer will be 75 in 2011 and so will have to submit his resignation then. Thanks to an anonymous commenter for jogging my memory on this.]

Ay, yi yi.

Pope Benedict's pre-visit video

The Catholic News Agency reports today that Pope Benedict XVI has sent a video message to the American people in advance of his visit to the USA.

The Vicar of Christ asks us to prepare for his visit by praying, Amd he says, "It is God who saves us, He saves the world, and all of history. He is the Shepherd of His people. I am coming, sent by Jesus Christ, to bring you His word of life."

The Pope continues with these words:

"I want you to know that, even if my itinerary is short, with just a few engagements, my heart is close to all of you, especially to the sick, the weak, and the lonely. I thank you once again for your prayerful support of my mission. I reach out to every one of you with affection, and I invoke upon you the maternal protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary."

To watch the Holy Father's video message, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me8whJa4p9g

So there's no "gay" agenda, eh?

Next time some liberal tells you there's no such thing as a homosexual agenda, tell him about Uncle Bobby's Wedding.

That's a book -- a picture book from Putnam, by Sarah S. Brannen, for children ages 4-8 -- glowingly reviewed in today's San Francisco Chronicle.

Reviewer Regan McMahon writes, "...gay weddings happen...Cute guinea pigs stand in for humans in this sensitive story in which Chloe is not concerned that her favorite uncle is marrying another male..."

The reviewer also writes this: "...when Chloe asks her mother, 'How can Uncle Bobby get married?' Mama answers, 'When grown-up people love each other that much, they want to be married.'"

Mmm, boy, a literary classic right up there with Heather Has Two Mommies, no?

Cardinal Mahony, Very Reverend Bishops and Reverend Clergy of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles: Don't look now, but if you care about the children and families in your flock, you need to start publicly and in no uncertain terms warning everyone about the existence of homosexual propaganda such as this.

You need to start warning parents that their children are in danger, that the homosexual lobby is targeting the little ones.

If you do not do this, why not?

Will Pope Benedict dress traditionally on his visit to the USA?

Today's Los Angeles Times has an essay (click on this post's title), "Papal dress code," by Michael McGough, its senior editorial writer.

The author wants us all to note whether the Pope continues his recent practice of donning traditional Roman-style vestments, including tall miters and short chasubles, or whether he will wear "Gothic"-style ones, including short miters and full chasubles, that the liberals have favored in the post-Vatican II years.

Go, Roman! Beat Gothic!

Let's all pray for the Pope, that his U.S. visit be happy and safe for him and will be very, very fruitful for our U.S. Church and for the right to life cause.

By the way, author McGough seems pretty well-informed, but he does write that he was an "alter" boy in the early 1960s.

How Catholic is April 22 Catholic "Lobby Day?"

This week's issue of the L.A. Archdiocesan newspaper The Tidings has a story http://www.the-tidings.com/2008/040408/lobbyday_text.htm on the California Catholic Conference's 10th annual Lobby Day set for this April 22.

The Conference's website says (click on this post's title) that after Mass and a rally on the steps of the state capitol building, "hundreds of Catholics will meet their legislators to lobby [sic] bills and discuss state budget priorities."

The CCC says it will lobby about four priorities. You guessed it -- not one of them is about cutting abortion funding and otherwise fighting abortions.

What message does it give the politicians -- the pro-lifers as well as the pro-aborts -- when Catholics do not make fighting abortions a priority?

Oh, well, I forgot -- abortions have been "legal" in California for only 40 years. It must be too early for our California bishops to get up to speed on doing something about the millions of babies aborted in the Golden State.

Maybe in another 40 years our bishops will do something. Or maybe not.

Archdiocese of L.A. video welcomes His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to USA

Go to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles website (click on this post's title) to see the video the Archdiocese has prepared to welcome Pope Benedict XVI to the USA.

The video is pretty much only about a blessing of animals. I love our little animal friends, and blessing them is wonderful -- but...

Judging by all the babies aborted here every day without significant opposition from the Archdiocese, and judging by all the souls who apostasize to the sects here, too, also without significant opposition from the Archdiocese...

...maybe the video does depict all that the Archdiocese does.

Okay, I'm exaggerating for effect here, and I know the Archdiocese does many wonderful things for the Faith.

But wouldn't it be nice if the Archdiocese could have sent the Holy Father a video about all the babies the Archdiocese had saved in rescues led by our bishops and priests, and about the all the members of the sects our bishops and priests and laity had brought back to the Faith?

Maybe our bishops and priests could start leading us in such efforts. Is that too much to ask?

Do you have any suggestions or comments for what an ideal L.A. video to the Vicar of Christ should be like?