Catholic Standard Watch - Progressive Catholics Diss Trump's Appearance At March For Life

Here is the article in question.  Please note that it is a Catholic News Service piece; thus it is most likely published at the unction of the USCCB.  First, we see quoted one John Gehring, Catholic program director of Faith in Public Life.  One would never know from this puff piece that FPL is funded by George Soros.  John Gehring is not fit to be quoted in any Catholic publication.  His complaints about the President are no doubt guided by his own progressive leanings (not to mention Soros and the USCCB).

Next to whine is Father Dauses, pastor of St Andrew by the Bay in Annapolis.  He is quoted as saying he was "really, really conflicted attending" the March.  Were the babies a high priority for him?  That is a fair question, in light of the "social justice" page from his parish's website.  This group, in working with other nearby "faith communities", identified "6 priorities".  Notice what is not a priority.

These two progressives are simply using the president's presence as a feeble excuse for their own disregard of unborn children.  At least the article quoted Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, who made plain that the murder of thousands of babies daily trumps all other issues in scope and importance.  As long as our clergy remain on the dole from progressive sugar daddies, they will be morally compromised and will likely have difficulty at their particular judgments.

From The Francis-Effect Department: John Gehring Carries On At NCR

"NCR" in my title stands for Not-At-All Catholic Reporter.  In his latest plop in the online edition of that rag, John Gehring had the hypocritical gall to call a pro-life governor a "cafeteria Catholic".  There are so many errors here one scarcely knows where to begin - but I'll give it my heroic effort.

Before I begin, have you ever noticed something odd about Gehring and other progressive "katholyc" authors?  They often chide Catholics who champion pro-life causes for not adhering to the (discredited) seamless-garment ideology.  Never have I ever read of them rebuking pro-abortion politicians for anything, let alone their shilling for baby-murder.  I find that to be rather telling regarding their own convictions about the lives of the unborn.  And get a load of Gehring's Twitter page!  But I digress!

The backdrop for Gehring's dribble is the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast.  Right in the second paragraph is one whopper.  He claims that capital punishment, war and "other moral issues" clash with traditional Catholic teaching.  No, they don't.  There are conditions that must be met before capital punishment or war are engaged, but they are not the intrinsic evils that abortion and contraception are.  I'll link now to a very pertinent article written by Father C. John McCloskey, showing the place capital punishment has in the realm of Catholic moral theology.  And there is this, from the Catechism of Pope St Pius X: "It is lawful to kill when fighting in a just war; when carrying out by order of the Supreme Authority a sentence of death in punishment of a crime; and, finally, in cases of necessary and lawful defense of one’s own life against an unjust aggressor.”

Further down Gehring whines, "But when a national Catholic event that attracts leading Republican politicians and Catholic bishops consistently sends a message that being pro-life or pro-family can be reduced to a narrow agenda that aligns with one political party, that is a problem."  If he believes that is a "problem", did he bother to ask how that "problem" came into being?  Which of the two main political parties has abortion rights and "gay" rights ensconced within its official party platform?  It's simply fact that the pro-life position is more closely aligned with the GOP platform - but that's only because the Democrats formally reject all things having to do with protecting innocent babies in their wombs!  Why does Gehring ignore that?  I believe there is a deliberated reason for that!

At the bottom of the article we read that Gehring is Catholic Program Director at Faith in Public Life.  My Catholic Media Coalition colleage Stephanie Block did several exposes of FPL (see here and here) several years ago, exposing its rather squalid alliances with dissident organizations such as Dignity and Call to Action and their own nefarious activities.

Three years ago The Blaze ran an article that revealed the funding that FPL received from George Soros.  It also detailed a "behind the scenes" media campaign that Gehring undertook to undermine the bishops' efforts to combat the Obamacare contraception mandate.  A prior position Gehring held was Communications Director for Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.  I've written about them and their undermining of Catholic teaching and the funding they've received from (guess!) George Soros!  Are we sensing a pattern here?

At the Not-At-All Catholic Reporter, John Gehring is quite at home, for many (if not most) there, when it comes to matters Catholic, don't know apple butter from cow pie.

Michael Hichborn Responds To Faith(less) In Public Life

I've written in the past about Faith in Public Life.  My latest post on them had to do with their attempt to discredit Michael Hichborn of American Life League and the Reform CCHD Now Coalition (of which this blog is a proud member).

Today Mr. Hichborn released his rebuttal of FIPL, calling them out on some, uh, "inaccuracies" (to put it delicately) in their "damage control" attempt.  I link to it here and suggest its study and promulgation.

How Can One Tell When It's CCHD Collection Time?

One answer to that question is "when the CCHD and their supporters start their preemptive screeds against faithful Catholics concerned about their left-wing leanings".  For example, David Gibson of Religion News Service starts his piece by claiming that "conservative activists are threatening the social mission of the Catholic Church... by attacking the Church's flagship anti-poverty program with 21st-century style Catholic McCarthyism."  

Of course he refers to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.  Obviously Mr. Gibson is unaware that the CCHD, by policy, gives no money to organizations that directly perform the Corporal Works of Mercy.  Perhaps Mr. Gibson knows that and he doesn't give a hoot.  At any rate, CCHD has traditionally given grants - collected from Catholics during the in-pew collections - to organizations that seek to "change social structures and policies".  That quote is taken from one of their flyers.  More often than not, these organizations are socialist in nature, along the lines of Saul Alinsky.  Indeed, the CCHD was originated by Msgr Jack Egan, an associate (and disciple) of Saul Alinsky for the express purpose of syphoning Catholic resources to fund these community-organizing endeavors (Barack Obama cut his political teeth while working with the Gamaliel Foundation, one such group).  But this blog's previous posts have delved in detail into CCHD's sordid past - no need to rehash that here.

Gibson cites as his main source Faith in Public Life - you know, the progressive outfit funded by George Soros.  Here is the link to the 24-page report that snivels about the "growing threat".  If anything's a "growing threat", it's the tentacles of progressives that infest the bowels of the USCCB offices.  I count it as a high compliment to be among those they perceive as a "threat" to them siphoning Catholic money to their causes, but I digress.  

A perusal of page 2 of their report will give you quite a number of progressives and Obama supporters; many of these individuals and entities can be entered into this blog's search box for more information: Pax Christi,   Thomas Chabolla, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, Catholics United, LCWR, the disgraced Bishop Gumbleton, Stephen Schenk.  The rest of that report will need to be studied in greater detail.  

Getting back to Gibson's article, I must mention one line that is so silly as to be downright amusing.  He complains about the "well-financed network" that we are, in his third paragraph.  I think I can speak for many of my compatriots when I say that none of that "finance" has greased our palms!  On the other hand, when multi-billionaire George Soros has his paw-prints all over Faith in Public Life and its endeavors, it's not too hard to see where the cold cash really flows.

Lest anyone think that this Gibson piece is just a flash in the pan, I now link to an article in the Chicago Sun-Times by Mark Brown.  Recall that recently, a "gay marriage" bill was defeated in Illinois.  Now Brown is waxing ominous about the Church "playing hardball" with groups that supported perversion of marriage.  He's complaining that the CCHD there might cut off their funding.  Imagine that!  The Catholic Church expects those receiving Catholic money to honor Catholic principles!  Here's hoping they hold firm.  Anyway, we can see how the mainstream media is marching lockstep behind the progressives who are trying to leech money from Catholics to undermine Christian principles.

There will be more on this.  For now, I (and I'm sure my friends) take it as a high compliment that the CCHD apologists feel they have to do this preemptive "damage-control" to restore what at one time was an easy source of cash from unsuspecting Catholics.  We're "unsuspecting" no longer.  The truth is coming out.  Please read the FPL report, and also study the report put out by the Reform CCHD Now Coalition.

Catholic Morality And Right To Self Defense

Thanks to Pewsitter today, I found an excellent treatise on the right to self-defense as found in Catholic tradition.  The author refers both to Summa Theologica (click here and go to Article 7) and the Catholic Catechism, summarizing the conditions under which the use of lethal force may be allowed and even mandated.

I suggest that all read it.  One interesting point he makes is why so many abortion proponents seem keen on depriving us of the means of self-defense - and he makes perfect sense.  The progressives who push for abortion and the destruction of the traditional family wish to make the state into a de facto deity.  The right to self defense comes from God - a source outside the state.  Thus they perceive this right as a supreme threat to their state-idol. Their puppets in the USCCB and various chanceries are merely doing their bidding to make people more dependent upon, and subservient to the state-idol.  Why are these preceding sentences italicized?  You'll see below!

A perfect "case-in-point" occurred yesterday in the online edition of the Not-So Catholic Reporter.  The bloviations typical for that rag run rampant throughout the article, calling for disarming the citizen (What?  Do you  think crooks are going to obey gun laws and surrender their arms?)  One source of the whining is John Gehring of Faith in Public Life.  My Catholic Media Coalition colleague, Stephanie Block, exposed Faith in Public Life for the left-wing front organization that it is.  Here's another piece that she did.  Faith in Public Life has taken money from George Soros.  So much for their credibility when it comes to things Catholic.

Another key whiner is none other than the USCCB.  They issued a statement that says in a footnote (tucked away so we nasty right-wing bloggers don't notice!), "However, we believe that in the long run and with few exceptions -- i.e., police officers, military use -- handguns should be eliminated from our society."  Now compare this statement to the italicized sentences two paragraphs prior to this one.  The USCCB is indeed spouting the talking points of their progressive puppet-masters.  They are doing so even to the point of dissenting from Catholic moral teaching in regards to the right to self defense.  To me, that means that the push to disarm that may come from "social justice" arms of chanceries and conferences must be opposed and resisted as the departures from morality that they are.

John Carr Retiring From USCCB, Will Eventually Be At CUA

After more than 20 years at the helm of the USCCB's Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development, John Carr is retiring from that position.  I have written extensively on Carr and the mischief wrought (please read that link and all the posts included therein for a full picture of Carr).  Probably the most scandalous of harm done by Carr and the USCCB minions that he supervised (most notably the Catholic Campaign for Human Development) is the funneling of millions of Catholic donations to Alinskyan organizations over the past few decades, including the now-disgraced ACORN.

USCCB Responds To Soros-Funded Critics

On June 7, the USCCB issued an Advisory Memo to Journalists to respond to silly criticisms lobbed against the Fortnight for Freedom effort.  The USCCB reveals some background of the sources of the criticisms - and the funding behind them.  My!  It does seem that George Soros is under compulsion to stick his fingers into all sorts of Church matters!  He's such a busy little atheist.  After outlining all the squalid background of the criticisms, the USCCB correctly points out,  "these do not seem like eminent qualifications for telling bishops how to guide the Church."   That statement might win an "Understatement of the Year" award.

Anyway, read it for yourselves to see how the progressive yarn is so easily unraveled.