UCLA pro-life students' sting exposes Planned Parenthood racism

Congratulations to the UCLA pro-life student group Live Action for their latest caper. Maybe you've heard about it.

They arranged for an actor to call Planned Parenthood "development centers" in seven states and pretend to be a donor asking that his donation go specifically to aborting black babies to reduce the black population.

Sure enough, the Planned Parenthood staffers didn't bat an eye at the caller's sickening, overt racism; they were happy to process his donation. One PP staffer in Idaho even called a racist statement "understandable."

This all makes perfect sense to anyone who knows that Planned Parenthood plants most of its abortion chambers in minority neighborhoods. PP thinks the way to get rid of poverty is to get rid of poor babies. They aborted more than 264,000 babies in their most recent reported year.

Just click on this post's title to visit the site of Live Action's online and print edition magazine, The Advocate.

The pro-lifers distributed thousands of copies of their new issue, with the PP expose, on the UCLA campus last Monday. Now, some UCLA students are petitioning to ban PP from campus.

Live Action also wants "to get more child pregnancy services at UCLA."

Be sure to see Live Action's videos and their previous two magazine issues, which detail past exposes of theirs. These courageous pro-life student journalists deserve our thanks, donations and encouragement.

Come to the Religious Education Congress on Saturday, March 1 -- to picket and leaflet, naturally

Want to perform a big spiritual work of mercy for Lent?

Then please come to the Anaheim Convention Center tomorrow, March 1 (Saturday), any time from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., to picket and leaflet for whatever time you can -- an hour, a half-hour, a morning or an afternoon.

Meet the good folks of Concerned Roman Catholics of America and join them in warning attendees about the quite a few speakers inside the REC who have track records of dissenting from basic tenets of the Faith.

YOU are needed to help. More people are always needed. Picketing and leafleting still seem radical to some people -- but once you try it, you'll find that you like it, because you're doing good.

The picket is not a big confrontational thing, just prayerful and informative.

The Congress takes place at the Anaheim Convention Center, 800 West Katella Ave., Anaheim, CA on the south side of Katella between Katella and Euclid.

For more info, call CRCOA at: 714-491-2284 or go to the Website at: crcoa.org.

Bring your Rosary and get in some good prayers, of course!

Come to the L.A. March for Life, Saturday, March 15, in Encino

Washington, D.C., and San Francisco can move over -- we here in ole L.A. have our own March for Life, too!

Be sure to set aside Saturday morning, March 15, to head to St. Cyril of Jerusalem Church in Encino for the Fifth Annual L.A. March for Life. See if you can bring family and friends with you!

And invite your pastor, deacons and religious -- and your bishop.

Pro-lifers will walk two miles along Ventura Boulevard to spread the right to life message. There's a nominal $5 registration fee, and it goes to the Pregnancy Counseling Center of Mission Hills and other excellent local pro-life causes.

Registration starts at 8 a.m., the opening ceremony is at 9 a.m., and the march sets out at 9:20 a.m. Click on this post's title for all the details.

Speakers this year are Fr. Peter West of Priests for Life, Kortney Blythe of the youth group Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust, Patti Flores of 40 Days for Life, Janet Morana of Silent No More and Jo Tolck of Human Life Alliance.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem Church is at 4601 Firmament Avenue, Encino 91436.

Knights of Columbus Van Nuys Council 3148 founded this event and runs it, but the March is for all Catholics, Knights or not, and for everyone of all faiths.

Says John Costello of the Van Nuys Council, "California leads the nation in abortions, with about 200,000 a year. One in every five abortions occurs in California..." Let's each do our part to speak up publicly for the babies!

(Thanks to the online California Catholic Daily for the heads-up about this great pro-life event.)

How could the Catholic Mass of the Ages be so bad that it had to be shunned, silenced and lied about?

I hope you feel the same as me: I'll prefer the Mass as celebrated above (photo from http://www.sanctamissa.org/), and in such a church, any day over the Masses and wreckovated churches the liberals have foisted upon us the last 40 years.

Yes, the "New Mass" is valid; and yes, we are stuck with some wreckovated churches for now. But we do not have to like the liturgical-abuse-filled "Masses as liberal priests' playthings" of recent decades; and we can pray and plan to restore every gutted, wreckovated church to its Catholic fullness.

These thoughts are a preamble to a question that keeps bothering me, and most likely you, too: How could the Mass that the Church celebrated universally and for a millennium and more be found bad and deserving to be stamped out, suppressed, silenced, mocked, reviled and lied about in the late 20th century?

The answer is that it could not be -- yet it was. We have to turn things around, and we are. Pope Benedict XVI tells us to make room for the Tridentine Latin Mass once again, so we are going to, Deo gratias...and Katy, bar the door.

Have you seen the EWTN page (click on this post's title) of "Motu Proprio Resources" links? It's a good place to start!

And let's not let any liberals tell us we've got "a pre-conciliar mindset," either.

Barack Hussein Obama: Sworn enemy of preborn babies

All you members of the Catholic hierarchy, clergy, religious and laity here in ole L.A. who can hardly wait to vote for Democrat presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama (shown above NOT holding his hand over his heart during our National Anthem; photo was in Time, Oct. 1, 2007) ought to ponder the following statement of his and then reflect on a stark truth.

That truth is this: If Obama or H. Rodham Clinton wins in November, the real losers will not be the GOP but all the preborn babies who will be aborted for decades longer because of their pro-abortion misrule.

Obama issued this statement on January 22, the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade:

"Thirty-five years after the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, it’s never been more important to protect a woman’s right to choose. Last year, the Supreme Court decided by a vote of 5-4 to uphold the Federal Abortion Ban, and in doing so undermined an important principle of Roe v. Wade: that we must always protect women’s health.

"With one more vacancy on the Supreme Court, we could be looking at a majority hostile to a women’s fundamental right to choose for the first time since Roe v. Wade. The next president may be asked to nominate that Supreme Court justice. That is what is at stake in this election.

"Throughout my career, I’ve been a consistent and strong supporter of reproductive justice, and have consistently had a 100% pro-choice rating with Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America.

"When South Dakota passed a law banning all abortions in a direct effort to have Roe overruled, I was the only candidate for President to raise money to help the citizens of South Dakota repeal that law. When anti-choice protesters blocked the opening of an Illinois Planned Parenthood clinic in a community where affordable health care is in short supply, I was the only candidate for President who spoke out against it. And I will continue to defend this right by passing the Freedom of Choice Act as president."

Aren't you proud of your candidate Obama?

In the Illinois state legislature, Obama even opposed a bill to mandate medical care for the dear little babies who survive being aborted.

So if you pro-Obama or pro-H. Rodham Catholics here in L.A. get a chance to gloat this November, just remember that you are gloating at the expense not of the GOP but of millions of poor little babies, the innocent, defenseless victims of the heartless abortion-loving politicians whom you love and support.

Shame on you.

Say what? (About the Latin Mass)

We owe a deep debt of gratitude to Pope St. Pius V (above) for standardizing the Missale Romanum and the Breviary in the late 16th century, even as we realize that that Mass of the Ages (the "Tridentine" Mass) dates back, in many of its elements, more than a thousand years.

The ancient patrimony of this Mass, and its universality for centuries, mean nothing to the shortsighted liberals, though, and to them are even reasons to shun it.

These thoughts came to mind when I read "Ite, Missa Est," an article (click on this post's title) by Valerie Schmalz in the February 17, 2008, issue of the National Catholic Register. This news story is about the Latin Mass catching on at Notre Dame and other Catholic colleges and universities.

One paragraph in the article jumped out because of a quote in it. Here is the paragraph:

"On the East Coast, at Fordham, Jesuit Father Joseph Currie, director of campus ministry, said the university offers the Mass once a month in deference to the Pope and the desire of students who formed a Facebook group to request it. 'We are giving it a chance to catch on,' Father Currie said. 'If it is of God, it will last. If it is not of God, it will go on its way.'"

Now, presumably the "If it is not of God" part of the quote is accurate. But probably Father Currie did not mean that the way it sounds, and probably he wishes he could retract and restate those words. And after all, he is allowing the Latin Mass, as the Holy Father has asked.

By his words he might well mean that permitting the Mass of the Ages on a Catholic campus is "of God" and will "catch on." But still, it would have been nice if he had just left out the confusing "If it is not of God" part.

"Sacred Then and Sacred Now"

The latest book from historian Thomas E. Woods (pictured) is Sacred Then and Sacred Now: The Return of the Old Latin Mass. Father Kenneth Baker, S.J., says this about it:

"An excellent introduction to the traditional Latin Mass for Priests and lay persons who want to know more about the Extraordinary Form of the Mass which is now an official part of the liturgy of the Catholic Church....It is obvious from what Woods says and quotes that the old Mass has made a dramatic comeback in the liturgical life of the Catholic Church and is the wave of the future." --Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J., Editor, Homiletic & Pastoral Review

Just thought you'd like to know.

"Don't you dare call a politician or a party 'anti-life!'"

At http://www.cacatholic.org/ you can scrutinize "Guidelines for Pastors and Parishes on Advocacy and Political Action," a January 2008 document from the California Conference of Catholic Bishops.

(I first saw mention of this guide in a cover story about it in the Febrero 2008 issue of VidaNueva, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles's Spanish-language free monthly newspaper.)

You can learn a lot about this document, and the mindset of those who wrote it, and perhaps their political persuasion, too, when you see that it instructs us that Catholic pastors and parishes may not engage in "Labeling a candidate or party as 'pro school aid' or 'anti-life.'" [emphasis added]

Why did they just happen to pick "anti-life" as an example when they could have picked any one of a host of other issues?

Are they by any chance trying to protect the rabidly pro-abortion Democrat politicians our bishops hang out with so much?

Please check out the following links for legal experts' analysis of what our pastors and parishes may legally do in this critical election year:

The James Madison Center for Free Speech
http://www.jamesmadisoncenter.org/

"The Church and Politics: Are We as Restricted as We Think?"
http://www.priestsforlife.org/elections/symposium.htm

P.S. Sorry, California Catholic Conference, but the Democrat Party is anti-life -- it's in their platform, after all -- and B. Hussein Obama and Hillary Rodham C. are anti-life, too, as they each serially brag about on the campaign trail.

"Let your own conscience decide"

Ever since the 1960s, as we know, Catholic liberals have been saying, "Leave it up to your own conscience" about using artificial contraception.

But why is artificial contraception the only thing the liberals say that about?

Why don't they say "Leave it up to your own conscience" about...

...kneeling to receive Communion
...kneeling after Communion
...opposing church wreckovations and closures
...requesting Tridentine Latin Masses

...leafleting church parking lots with pro-life voters' guides
...opposing feminist-inspired Ms.-translations of Sacred Scripture
...requesting a return to the Stations on Fridays during Lent
...requesting a return to Benediction and Adoration

...requesting that priests, deacons or religious give Communion at Mass
...opposing pastorettes / priestettes
...requesting anti-abortion sermons
...requesting anti-contraception sermons

...having pro-Magisterium speakers at the REC
...having pro-life speakers at the REC
...opposing Magisterium-questioner speakers at the REC
...opposing liturgical abuses at REC Masses (and parish Masses, too)

...and lastly, protesting AmChurch-ism by switching your Sunday donations to parish restricted funds instead of the general parish collection fund, a portion of which goes "downtown."

Why not leave all that up to our own consciences, eh, liberals?

BULLETIN: Cardinal McCarrick "excommunicates" pro-lifers!

Today's edition of the online California Catholic Daily -- you can subscribe to their free daily bulletin at http://calcatholic.com/emailsubscription.aspx -- reports that Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop emeritus of Washington, D.C., addressed the annual meeting of the San Bernardino diocese’s six vicariates on Feb. 13.

The California Catholic Daily says this:

"According to a Feb. 14 Riverside Press Enterprise article covering the vicariate meeting, McCarrick told his audience that the bishops’ document does not tell Catholics how to vote but urges them to vote for the candidates who best support Church teaching. 'The first and most essential right has to be the right to life,' said the cardinal; still, 'we are not a single-issue church. You start with the right to life. You have to. But you have to go beyond it. You cannot be authentically Catholic unless you go beyond it.'" [emphasis added]

So, if your main cause is pro-life activism, a Prince of the Church says you are not Catholic. I knew the liberals hate us pro-lifers; I knew they shun us and lie about us; now I find out a Cardinal, no less, has "excommunicated" us.

Cardinal McCarrick has argued in favor of giving Communion to the reprobate politicians who facilitate and defend aborting babies. Will he now deny Communion to pro-lifers for not being "authentically Catholic?"

Among the many comments at the California Catholic Daily on Cardinal McCarrick's sickening claim, I like the following one best:

"Notice how the pro-abortion-politician-lovers in the hierarchy and clergy NEVER put it the other way by telling their fellow lefties, 'It's not enough for you to oppose the death penalty and nukes and be for saving whales, etc.; you cannot be authentically Catholic unless you go beyond that and also actively fight abortion and save the babies.'

"The ONLY group EVER told it has to take on causes besides its own is pro-life / anti-abortion. Imagine! We're NOT CATHOLIC if we 'only' want to save the babies!

"Who has the time, energy and money to take on more than one cause and still be effective? What Cardinal McCarrick really means is, 'Go away and stop bothering the rest of us, you stubborn pro-lifers.'

"That'll be the day, Your Excellency; that'll be the day."

What a good comment! As the old saying goes, "Amen, Brother Ben!"

Who do you think is "authentically Catholic?"

Help California's teens and families -- by helping the Sarah's Law campaign

Do you think teachers and other strangers should be able to sneak teenage girls to abortion mills without their parents knowing about it?

That's the shocking, sickening state of things here in California now.

But you can change that by circulating petitions and taking other steps to help get the pro-life Sarah's Law initiative on the California ballot this Nov. 8.

(Maybe you're already doing this. Congratulations, if you are!)

Sarah's Law is a state constitutional amendment to require an abortionist to notify a parent, or, in case of parental abuse, another adult family member, of an unemancipated minor at least 48 hours before aborting her baby.

Sarah's Law also requires an abortionist to obtain the personal consent of a minor before committing the abortion, and it allows for court intervention if someone is coercing a minor to abort her baby.

Click on this post's title to find out about Sarah's Law, including who Sarah was -- yes, I said "was" -- and how the pro-abortion objections to Sarah's Law don't hold water.

Sarah's Law flyers are available in English, Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese.

Get your family members, relatives, friends, parishioners and others to sign Sarah's Law petitions to get this vital pro-life measure on the Nov. ballot.

Thanks for listening, and let's all get busy!

A Catholic journalist's experience at the Religious Education Congress

The excellent Catholic journalist and author Donna Steichen attended Cardinal Mahony's Religious Education Congress in 2006, and you can click on this post's title to see what she had to say about it.

After doing that, please resolve to set aside a little of your time on Saturday, March 1, to help perform a spiritual work of mercy outside the REC. From 9 a.m. to about 6 p.m. that day, Concerned Roman Catholics of America (CRCOA) will hand out flyers that warn attendees, many of them uninformed or misinformed, about problematic speakers inside.

But CRCOA is not a giant group, and they need your help. It will be a good Lenten practice for you to be there -- and for an hour or two, or more if you can. The more leafleters who show up, the more souls can be reached.

You'll meet good people, and you might be surprised by the number of priests and even a bishop or two who will thank you for being there.

The Congress is at the Anaheim Convention Center, 800 West Katella Ave., Anaheim, CA on the south side of Katella between Katella and Euclid.

CRCOA says:

"Please let us know if you or anyone you know are planning to join us, because this will help us to determine how many flyers we need to have printed. We very much need a volunteer who speaks fluent Spanish!

"We will meet outside the main ticket entrance. If we are chased from there, we will be on Katella Blvd. where all passing cars will be able to see us!

"For further information, call CRCOA at: 714-491-2284, E-mail us at: crcoa@earthlink.net, fax us at: 714-772-5075, or go to our Website at: crcoa.org
"God bless, Yours in Their Hearts, Kenneth Fisher, Founder & Director, Concerned Roman Catholics of America."

Schwarzenegger threatens Mision La Purisima Concepcion de Maria Santisima

As this week's issue of The Tidings notes (click on this post's title), RINO (Republican in Name Only) California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed state government spending cuts that would include shutting down La Purisima Mission State Historic Park (above) near Lompoc.

The park's web site is: http://www.lapurisimamission.org/

Let's pray that the Catholics of California will rise up in defense of this beautiful mission.

The mission, the 11th of Alta California's 21 founded by the holy Franciscan missionaries, is maintained by the state government and is not a parish.

Until now, the state government has done a good job of restoring and caring for the mission church, the outlying buildings and the mission grounds.

But, wait! What if liberal Catholics had control of the mission? They might close it and bulldoze it and call that "a positive development."

Or the liberals might "re-image" the church and wreckovate it, jackhammering the sanctuary and altar, and shunting the tabernacle out of sight, in the name of "full and active participation" and of "gathering faithfully together."

So, saints preserve us from liberal governors -- and liberal Catholics!

The Litany of Penance, by Cardinal Newman

O Jesus, Who fasted for us 40 days and nights, we adore Thee and we bless Thee. May we repent, and be obedient to You, and thus show our love. Amen.

LITANY OF PENANCE
by Cardinal Newman
(From Quinquagesima down to end of Second Week in Lent)

LORD have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us.

God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.

God the Holy Ghost, Have mercy on us.

Holy Trinity, one God, Have mercy on us.

Incarnate Lord, Have mercy on us.

Lover of souls, Have mercy on us.

Saviour of sinners, Have mercy on us.

Who didst come to seek those that were lost, Have mercy on us.

Who didst fast for them forty days and nights, Have mercy on us.

By Thy tenderness towards Adam when he fell, Have mercy on us.

By Thy faithfulness to Noe in the ark, Have mercy on us.

By Thy remembrance of Lot in the midst of sinners, Have mercy on us.

By Thy mercy on the Israelites in the desert, Have mercy on us.

By Thy forgiveness of David after his confession, Have mercy on us.

By Thy patience with wicked Achab on his humiliation, Have mercy on us.

By Thy restoration of the penitent Manasses, Have mercy on us.

By Thy long suffering towards the Ninevites, when they went in sackcloth and ashes, Have mercy on us.
By Thy blessing on the Maccabees, who fasted before the battle, Have mercy on us.

By Thy choice of John to go before Thee as the preacher of penance, Have mercy on us.

By Thy testimony to the Publican, who hung his head and smote his breast, Have mercy on us.

By Thy welcome given to the returning Prodigal, Have mercy on us.

By Thy gentleness with the woman of Samaria, Have mercy on us.

By Thy condescension towards Zacchaeus, persuading him to restitution, Have mercy on us.

By Thy pity upon the woman taken in adultery, Have mercy on us.

By Thy love of Magdalen, who loved much, Have mercy on us.

By Thy converting look, at which Peter wept, Have mercy on us.

By Thy gracious words to the thief upon the cross, Have mercy on us.

We sinners, beseech Thee, hear us.

That we may judge ourselves, and so escape Thy judgment, We beseech Thee, hear us.

That we may bring forth worthy fruits of penance, We beseech Thee, hear us.

That sin may not reign in our mortal bodies, We beseech Thee, hear us.

That we may work out our salvation with fear and trembling, We beseech Thee, hear us.

Son of God, We beseech Thee, hear us.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.

Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
O Lord, hear our prayer. And let our cry come unto Thee.
Let us pray.
Grant, we beseech Thee, O Lord, to Thy faithful, pardon and peace, that they may be cleansed from all their offences, and also serve Thee with a quiet mind, through Christ our Lord. --Amen.

The Catholic Information Network is the source (click on this post's title) for this litany. EWTN is the source for the painting above; I am sorry not to know the artist.

God bless you and keep you this Lent and always.

"Positive developments" in Diocese of Syracuse

Today's New York Times has an article (click on this post's title) about the Diocese of Syracuse using armed deputy sheriffs to haul out the last of 100 parishioners who for 217 days had been sitting in 'round the clock inside their closed 108-year-old St. Mary's Church (pictured above) in Jamesville.

The parishioners have an appeal under consideration in Rome, but the Diocese wanted to shut down the church anyway. A diocesan spokeswoman says they acted, according to the article, after "officials heard that a nonpriest had taken [C]ommunion wafers to the church." (Hope no one really did that.)

But listen to this quote from the news story:

"For many of St. Mary’s parishioners here in Jamesville, the closing has been confounding. The church — built by Irish immigrants in 1899 and enlarged 32 years later to make room for the Poles, Italians and Ukrainians who came to work at a local quarry — had a solid congregation and a healthy endowment that financed a food pantry for 1,200 people and a popular religious education program, said Ciarrai Eaton, president of the parish council."

Take a good look at that bright yellow "sheriff's line do not cross" tape around St. Mary's. This is what too many U.S. Catholic bishops today call "being pastoral" toward faithful Catholics.

And meanwhile, just remember the liberal mantra that "God accepts us just as we are" -- and realize that it applies to everyone except faithful Catholics whose parish church is beautiful, older, traditional and recognizably Catholic and therefore must be shut down.

Cardinal Mahony called his closing of St. John's Seminary College "a positive development," so we can only conclude that other bishops consider all their church closings "positive developments," too.

Dear Lord, please deliver us from such "positive developments."

These bishops are taking action against those who defy Catholic teaching

LifeSitenews.com has linked to a South Bend Tribune February 7 story (click on this post's title) reporting that Catholic bishops have moved a scheduled seminar of theirs off the campus of the University of Notre Dame because the school's administration again this year is allowing the holding of the obscene feminist diatribe "The V----- Monologues" on campus.

Bishop John M. D'Arcy of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend made the announcement of the move. Notre Dame has been defying his request that it not allow the diatribe, which he and others point out defies Catholic moral teaching and is offensive to the dignity of woman.

Fortunately, fewer Catholic colleges are allowing the diatribe this year -- 19, down from a peak of 32 in 2003. You can read about the situation at:
www.cardinalnewmansociety.org

Sure is nice, isn't it, to see some Catholic bishops taking action against a presentation that opposes Catholic doctrine?

Hmmm...now, if only a certain prelate out here in ole L.A. would do the same and bounce the speakers from his "Religious Education" Congress who have compiled sordid track records of subverting Catholic doctrine.

Too much to hope for, I guess. So I hope you will take an hour or two or more and join the devoted members of Concerned Roman Catholics of America, Inc., in leafleting and picketing the "congress" again this year to let attendees know about the bad apples inside. Thank you.

Press release says: "Hollywood's Cardinal Must Go"

The following press release circulated on the Net today, and the Catholic News Agency did a story about it (sorry, I don't have a link ). What do you think of it?

And what do you think: Should we as an Archdiocese be fighting the pornography profiteers -- and if so, how?

Hollywood's Cardinal Must Go
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 7 /Christian Newswire/ -- Roger Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles has spent three-quarters of a billion dollars in payouts to victims of sex crimes, many of which he stands accused of tolerating. Dr. Dennis Jarrard, former head of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, says, "Cardinal Mahony must go" before Pope Benedict XVI arrives in the United States in April.

Jarrard submits the following for publication and is available for comment:

Hollywood's Cardinal Must Go
By Dennis Jarrard

When Sen. Larry Craig was arrested in an airport restroom, I marveled at how easy it was to bust someone for lewd conduct simply by interpreting the movements of his hands and feet. Yet I knew that his reputation was ruined and that he'd be convicted, no matter how ambiguous the evidence.

This arrest got me thinking back, oddly enough, to when I was Chairman of Roger Cardinal Mahony's now-defunct Commission on Obscenity and Pornography. What does Sen. Craig's arrest have to do with Cardinal Mahony and pornography? Plenty.

His Archdiocese includes the Los Angeles area, which is the world capital of pornography. Every year, Southland pornographers pour out billions of dollars worth of DVDs, videos, magazines and other items filled with this mental poison. Ads, catalogs and more than one million Internet sites then spew these products at millions of children and adults throughout his Archdiocese and at billions more around the world.

This pornography hard-wires inflammatory images of rapes, perversions, sexual tortures and other sociopathic acts into countless minds. It has a huge influence on our sex-crime and sex-disease statistics.

More than 900,000 women were raped in the last decade (police say pornography use is all but universal among rapists, often just before the crime). Last year, some 19 million Americans got VD, including 8 to 10 million of our teenagers, who are major consumers of pornography. Twenty-five percent of our teens contract VD before they get their high school diplomas. (Less than one percent did so in 1950, when the authorities enforced our obscenity laws.) One of every five children over 12 now tests positive for genital herpes.

A pornography "star" who wrote an autobiography found pre-teen girls flocking to her book signings; she was a positive role model, they told her. Newsweek reports a 70 percent increase in teens from middle- to upper-class homes choosing to become prostitutes, just to make extra money.

What's astonishing is that it's easy to prosecute a U.S. senator, but almost impossible to get an obscenity conviction against the people who flood the world with images that trigger rapes and fan the flames of VD, AIDS and prostitution. What a mockery of justice.

The leader in the fight against this illegal industry should be the head of the largest church in Los Angeles. But that won't happen as long as the discredited Roger Mahony stays in office. His repeated shielding of clerical sex criminals makes it impossible for him to preach against sexual evils. And he can hardly be a moral leader after spending three-quarters of a billion dollars to whitewash his own wrongdoing and keep his job.

Under Pope John Paul II, Alfonso Cardinal Lopez Trujillo, head of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family, sent me a letter that encouraged the Archdiocese to fight pornography and said we should reinstate the Hollywood decency code (as updated in 1956) to clean up movies, videos and TV shows. Mahony ignored the letter.

For the good of children and society, Mahony must step down and let Pope Benedict XVI appoint a strong archbishop who's not mired in a sexual mess of his own making--an archbishop who'll influence politicians, prosecutors and judges to do their duty.

I pray that when the Pontiff makes his first visit as Pope to the United States in April, a new and much different archbishop of Los Angeles will be in place to welcome him. Millions who love their children and their country would give joyful thanks to God.

Dr. Dennis Jarrard has taught in the University of California and California State College and University systems, and served as an advisor to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' Commission on Obscenity and Pornography.

Christian Newswire
To: National & International Desks
Contact: Dennis Jarrard, EdD, 805-683-0190

Listen up, liberals (and conservatives, too): The Pope says "everyone's DUTY" is to protect preborn babies

Pope Benedict XVI (above, on his election day in 2005) said this at the Angelus gathering this past Sunday:

"It is, in fact, everyone's duty to welcome human life as a gift to be respected, protected and promoted, even more so when it is fragile and in need of attention and care, either before birth or when it is in its final stages."

Liberal Catholics here in L.A. should note that His Holiness did not add this:

"Except, of course, if you are a liberal in L.A. and concerned about more pressing matters such as 'reimaging the Church,' wreckovating beautiful historic churches, pushing everybody to run parishes except priests, ignoring the Latin Mass motu proprio, marginalizing pro-life activists, 'accepting' unrepentant homosexuals 'just as they are,' and above all, doing everything you can to register new Democrats to vote for pro-abortion politicians."

Nope, the Vicar of Christ did not say that. Liberals, take note.

And we conservatives should examine our consciences to see how much we are doing to protect preborn babies, and we should see if we cannot do more than we are doing.

Pro-life film festival in San Francisco, March 7

Go here http://www.ignatius.com/cinemavita/ to find out all about the first annual Cinema Vita Film Festival, up in San Francisco this March 7 -- the events, tickets, sponsorships and submission guidelines.

The featured film is After the Truth, a 1990s German "what-if" film that portrays a fictional trial in which the Nazi doctor monster Mengele -- he was an abortionist, by the way -- is not only unapologetic about his crimes against humanity, he tries to justify them.

The festival will be at the Delancey Street Theater, 600 Embarcadero, S.F.

Spread the word about this new pro-life effort in the arts. Help it be successful this year and be a springboard to a bright future.

(Thanks to friend Gibbons Cooney for jogging me to promote this fine event.)