40 years later, The Tidings on Humanae Vitae

Happy 40th Anniversary, Humanae Vitae!

Yes, it was 40 years ago today that Pope Paul VI issued his remarkably beautiful and remarkably prophetic encyclical letter Humanae Vitae (On Human Life) and drove liberals everywhere crazy.

How is the Archdiocese of Los Angeles celebrating this major anniversary? Well, the Archdiocesan website -- www.la-archdiocese.org -- carries yet another statement by Cardinal Roger Mahony about ... the sex abuse and coverup crisis.

The July 25 issue of The Tidings (click on this post's title) carries a Catholic News Service article about Humanae Vitae, with the headline, "After 40 years, 'Humanae Vitae' starts to gain more attention."

The story does extensively quote the anti-contraception pro-lifers Dr. Janet Smith, Father Tad Pacholczyk, Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, the U.S. bishops' Theresa Notare and Cleveland archdiocese NFP expert Bill Boomer.

Unfortunately, the same CNS article also digs up and quotes an enemy of Humanae Vitae, Father Charles Curran, now of Southern Methodist -- yes, Methodist -- U., who, the article admits, was barred from teaching Catholic moral theology at the Catholic U. of America for opposing Catholic moral teaching.

Even more unfortunately, this issue of The Tidings goes on to carry a column by, you guessed it, Father Richard McBrien, who dredges up quotes of his from 1968 that cast doubt on the legitimacy of Humanae Vitae.

Father McBrien also quotes "a column" -- he doesn't say it's by himself, if it is -- from 1983 that partly sounds less hostile to the encyclical, but he concludes his current column with old quotes critical of Humanae Vitae by not one but three liberal Church luminaries.

Obviously, it was far too much for The Tidings to run its own defense of Humanae Vitae or to find a pro-life scholar who would.

Especially one who would point out two key facts that neither the CNS article nor the Father McBrien column admits:

That the pill and other contraceptives often act to abort babies and that use of contraceptives increases, not decreases, the number of babies aborted.

Cardinal Mahony should guide his flock about the use of contraceptives being a mortal sin. Anyone hear him saying this?

A hero of the Faith who defended Humanae Vitae: Patrick Cardinal O'Boyle

The above detail of a mural in St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington, D.C., depicts Patrick Cardinal O'Boyle (1896-1987), the first resident archbishop of D.C.; and yes, that is his ceremonial red hat, or galero, hanging in the foreground.

For July 25, the 40th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's tremendous and truth-filled pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-women, pro-baby, pro-family encyclical letter Humanae Vitae (On Human Life), let's remember, and salute, Cardinal O'Boyle for defending the Church's teaching against contraception.

You can click on this post's title to see what George Weigel wrote in his book, The Courage to be Catholic: Crisis, Reform, and the Future of the Church, about what happened after Cardinal O'Boyle disciplined some of his priests for rejecting the encyclical.

Some of those priests appealed to Rome; and in April 1971, the Congregation for the Clergy, headed by Cardinal John Wright, ruled, urging Cardinal O'Boyle to lift his sanctions and not requiring the priests to repudiate their disobedience or declare their assent to the encyclical.

Weigel speculates that Pope Paul VI let this happen because he was afraid of provoking a formal schism in the Church. Weigel also says that the ruling from Rome created the "culture of dissent" in the U.S. Church by showing dissenters they could get away with disobedience.

Weigel says the ruling from Rome also showed U.S. bishops that Rome would not back sanctions against dissent if a public outcry would ensue. He also says the ruling showed U.S. bishops that it was possible for them to encourage dissent if they wished to.

Cardinal O'Boyle had taken much abuse for being faithful to the Pope and the Magisterium, but he obeyed the ruling from Rome that undercut him. He lifted the sanctions against the priests.

Cardinal O'Boyle was a hero of the Faith. CARDINAL O'BOYLE WAS RIGHT!

Not so the many priests and bishops in the last four decades who have dissented outright or have played footsie with dissent. They have presided over the destruction of the faith of millions of Catholics in two generations (or three, depending on how you count).

These clerics have also presided over the physical depletion of the Church. By telling Catholics they can decide to contracept despite what the Popes say, they have caused the Church the loss of millions of members contracepted and aborted out of existence -- the pill and other contraceptives sometimes do cause abortions, you know.

Think of how all those now-missing Catholics would have strengthened the Church!

But the clerical dissenters like this disaster. What else can explain why they tell us, over and over, "Oh, the pews are empty in our beautiful old traditionally designed Catholic churches, the collections are down, so we're closing your church and bulldozing it, too bad for you."

One liberal actually said, years ago now, that it was good that so many Catholics have left the Church. He said, "Now, we have a thinking Church left."

I repeat: Patrick Cardinal O'Boyle, God rest him, was a HERO OF THE FAITH for defending Humanae Vitae and its Catholic truth. CARDINAL O'BOYLE WAS RIGHT!

Catholic mom exults: "I get to have a baby"

Are you looking for a good way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's July 25, 1968, pro-life, anti-contraception encyclical letter Humanae Vitae (On Human Life)?

Then just click on this post's title -- to read the most beautiful essay that ole Q has ever read on the joy of expecting a baby.

The essay is a new one, and it's by Elizabeth Foss, a Catholic homeschooling mom of eight. It's full of love, holiness, beauty and Catholic truth. It's a keeper, and be sure to let all your family, friends and relatives see it!

Happy Anniversary, Humanae Vitae!

Ahh, Mass in Latin!

It was really nice tonight to hear Archbishop Athanasius Schneider of Kazakhstan say Mass in Latin on EWTN.

May every parish in the world -- and "the world" includes the Archdiocese of Los Angeles -- have the Latin Mass, as Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos has said recently should happen.

May all stubborn bishops start obeying Pope Benedict in this regard and stop putting up roadblocks to Summorum Pontificum, as Archbishop Ranjith has said.

And may every bishop start encouraging the celebration of the Latin Mass by training all seminarians in Latin, as Pope Benedict has requested, and by fostering appreciation for the Latin Mass among seminarians, clergy, religious and laity alike.

Amen.

It sure is interesting that when Mass in the vernacular came in, many in the congregation went out -- all the way out of the Church. Coincidence? Nope.

Liberal bishops disobey the Pope but expect the laity to obey them. What gives?

"Always...add some kind words."

St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787), portrayed above, once wrote or said these words, which ole Q found in a Catholic quotations site tonight:

"If, on a rare occasion, it is necessary to speak with some severity in order to make a grievous crime felt, we should always, at the conclusion of the rebuke, add some kind words. We must heal wounds, as the Samaritan did, with wine and oil. But as oil floats above all other liquors, so meekness should predominate in all our actions."

Well, that's one thing ole Q does from time to time -- "speak with some severity in order to make a grievous crime felt."

Many people just do not care about babies being aborted, or even are for it, so to try to awaken them to that "unspeakable crime" (Declaration on Procured Abortion, 1965 or so) and "unutterable violence" (Pope Benedict XVI in Sydney) we need to speak bluntly and forcefully -- "with some severity," if you will.

But to all those admonitions now and in the future, may I add these kind words: Ole Q is never trying to be self-righteous or holier than thou, and is never trying to harbor any ill will, when he says it's wrong to, for example, vote for pro-abortion politicians or otherwise help them.

In fact, I always welcome with humility, open arms, a big smile, and a happy heart, every convert to the cause of saving babies and helping moms, and so do all pro-lifers. It's never too late to turn around, for any of us, and it takes a big person and God's help to do that.

So there are my kind words, and they come with sincerity and prayers.

All bishops' and priests' (and deacons') July 26-27 homilies should be against contraception, for Humanae Vitae's 40th birthday

As we know only too well, many disobedient members of the hierarchy and clergy publicly rejected Pope Paul VI's encyclical letter of July 25, 1968, Humanae Vitae (On Human Life). Some of today's clergy and perhaps even bishops reject it today.

They could make partial restitution this next weekend by devoting their homilies to explaining and praising that wonderful Catholic, pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-women document.

They (and the rest of us) can find the complete text of Humanae Vitae at sites such as: www.vatican.va and www.humanaevitaepriests.org and www.ewtn.com

Every priest and bishop should join the pro-life, anti-contraception, pro-Latin Mass, Confraternity of Catholic Clergy at http://www.catholic-clergy.org/

You can find extremely useful and workable pro-NFP and pro-life info at the must-see site of the great, internationally effective Family of the Americas Foundation (FAF), at: www.familyplanning.net (their site is the source of the nice photo above).

You should also visit another beautiful pro-life site, One More Soul, at: http://www.omsoul.com/

God bless!

Pro-Obama Catholics, I dare you to listen to your candidate pledge allegiance to abortion

If you are a "your eminence," a "your excellency," a reverend clergyman, a lay Catholic or a religious, and you can't wait to vote for Barack Hussein Obama on November 4, I have a dare for you:

Click on this post's title.

That's all you have to do. Click on this post's title.

You'll see and hear your candidate, Obama, pledge eternal fealty to the abortion giant Planned Parenthood, and to aborting babies, at PP's national convention -- one year ago today.

You'll also hear your candidate promise to sign into law the Freedom [sic] of Choice [sic] Act (FOCA), which will nullify all the hundreds of state pro-life laws and grease the skids for millions more American babies to perish.

If you can do this -- if you can hear your candidate express his allegiance to these people, whose abortion chambers did in 289,000+ of God's precious babies in their most recent reporting year -- and you still don't plan to change your vote...

...then you have lost your moral compass, lost your conscience.

Psychiatrists say empathy is one of the pillars of a healthy personality. How can you have no empathy for the little babies who are being torn apart alive?

How can you as a member of the hierarchy or the clergy, especially, plan to vote for the pro-abortion candidate and thus abandon the babies?

Planned Parenthood's "action fund" has now endorsed your candidate, too.

A guest essay in The Tidings ignores the abortion-threatened babies, once again

In the current issue of our archdiocesan newspaper The Tidings, California Catholic Conference Director of Advocacy and Education Steve Pehanich writes an essay, "A major disservice to California, again" (click on this post's title), about the current state budget stalemate.

Pehanich's essay is "a major disservice" itself -- to every single preborn baby in L.A. and all California whom the abortionists target. That's because he urges us to tell our state legislators to break the stalemate and get the budget passed, yet he fails to tell us that the budget he wants passed contains millions of our tax dollars to pay abortionists for the babies they kill.

Why couldn't Pehanich have added a few words to his essay to tell us to instruct our legislators that we want them to remove all abortion money from the budget?

Shouldn't Catholic lobbyists defend our preborn babies every single chance they get?

Earth to the California Catholic Conference, Earth to the California Catholic Conference: We Catholics do not want the state budget passed -- not as long as it contains money to kill babies.

A new commenter here, a very devoted and effective pro-lifer, Mrs. Wynette Sills of the Coalition to Eliminate Abortion Funding from our California state budget, writes:

"See www.california4life.org for more information. Each year, $33 million of our tax dollars go to pay for 95,000 'free" abortions. We must not be complicit in this life destroying act! Also, the nation-wide time of prayer and fasting, '40 Days for Life' is starting registration for the fall 2008 vigil, to bring about the end of abortion and a conversion for our nation. See www.40daysforlife.com for more information. Very gratefully, Wynette Sills"

Ole Quintero is back after solving big computer woes

Hi and hola! What's up -- que tal? Ole Q is back after solving some big computer woes. You never know what's going to hit you on any particular day as you ride the ole Chisholm Trail.

Anyway, thanks for checking in here and not giving up on me! Now, on to more posts and your comments!