Yoo-Hoo! Cardinal Gregory! What Are You Going To Do About This?

My blogging colleague at A Washington DC Catholic discovered that St Thomas More Catholic Church in Washington DC is openly campaigning for Kamala Harris.  They were quite blatant about it this past Sunday, for during the announcements after the 10am Mass, a woman announced that Kamala Harris shirts were available.  Here is the video.  It will start at the 1:29:00 mark.  Note that she is speaking from the ambo, with the fully-vested priest looking on.

Cardinal Gregory, will you discipline these people, or will you just look the other way?  Is your zeal for the Church's 501c3 status simply dependent on the person or cause that is being promoted?   You and the other Maryland bishops were quite zealous about keeping out of the Maryland parishes a local grass-roots group that is doing much work against Maryland's "Reproductive Freedom Amendment" that is on Maryland's ballot.  And yes, we have proof of that, and we post it below.

Yes, it's from the Maryland Catholic Conference.  However, the Board of Directors of the MCC are the three MD bishops and their auxiliaries.  They knew about this before this memo was sent, and it's very likely that they ordered this to be sent.

The shilling that the MD bishops for the various sexual perversions of the LGBT cabal is beyond shameful.  They are exposed.  Rather, they have exposed themselves.

Maryland Catholic Conference Sabotages Other Pro-Life Efforts Against Reproductive Freedom Act Amendment

If anyone has gone to the website HealthNotHarmMD.org, they will undoubtedly have come to appreciate the research and work that has gone into their efforts to defeat the "Reproductive Freedom" amendment that is on the Maryland ballot this election as Question 1.  Their handouts, both in English and Spanish, have been superb.

Their volunteers, too, have done yeoman's work in educating the Maryland public about the various harms that the amendment will inflict upon all Maryland citizens, particularly the children.  They have been distributing flyers at parades and other civic gatherings.  They have gone door to door to distribute the door hangers.  They are manning phone banks all citizens, not just pro-life citizens, of the effect that this bill will have on parents' abilities to safeguard their children from harmful drugs and/or surgeries in vain attempts to "change genders".

We were happy, too, to see the Maryland Catholic Conference launch their own efforts.  We only wish they didn't limit their focus to abortion (harmful though it is), and that they had joined the battle sooner.  In legislative battles such as this, the more allies, the better.  Sadly, that doesn't appear to be the attitude of the Maryland Catholic Conference.

We have come into possession of communication that betrays the Maryland Catholic Conference's bizarre animosity towards Health Not Harm.  To be honest, we were aware of their dislike of HNH, as several Catholic churches refused to support its efforts over the past several months.  The MCC has basically ordered its priests to treat HNH as personae non grata. 

Ms. Kraska gives no reason for her direction to the diocesan priests to avoid Health Not Harm.  I can only state, though, that this action is consistent with actions taken by the Maryland Catholic hierarchy with regard to grassroots efforts in the past that were undertaken to combat attacks against human life and sexual morality.  There have been several instances whereby we sought to have petition drives in the churches to combat pro-death or pro-gay legislation in Annapolis, only to be denied access to the churches.  In at least one case, the margin was so thin that we know we could have prevailed, had not the Maryland Catholic Conference and its partners not stymied our efforts.

So many of these cause one to believe that the delays were calculated to cause us to lose, especially with the pro-gay measures.

Now this is pure speculation, but can it be that some elements in the Catholic hierarchy actually want abortion to be enshrined in the state constitution?  I can see how they might reason that if such happens, they won't have to be bothered with fighting abortion legislatively.  Then the progressives in the hierarchy can concentrate on the "social justice warrior" trivium:

1. Climate change (bcause,,Laudato Si!)
2. Gun confiscation control
3. Allowance for uncontrolled immigration (good for Catholic Charities dollars!)
4. Some other attempts at income redistribution

We cannot help but notice that the material that the MCC produced in their current efforts make no mention of the potential for children being exposed to gender manipulation.  See for yourselves.  Why is that?  While I could hope the cause is just a simplistic take on the issue, I fear it may be more insidious.  My apprehensions are based on the actions of the prelates of Baltimore and DC.  Six weeks ago at Georgetown University, Father James Martin held a gay-enabling conference.  One might have thought a God-fearing bishop would have quashed that occasion of sin.  Not Cardinal Gregory!  He actually offered a Mass there, facilitating the proceedings at that meeting.  This past April in Baltimore, the Archdiocese of Baltimore hosted its "Social Ministry Convocation".  There was plenty of shilling for the gay agenda.  I was in attendance, and subjected myself to a workshop about gays, conducted by a gay guy who considers himself "married" to another guy.

I mention these to give the readers an idea regarding what Lori and Gregory will allow, if not applaud.  I also mention these to hypothesize on why they don't want to stand in the way of the gay advancement in our culture, and that includes the efforts of Health Not Harm.  Why should we not believe that is the reason why the MCC literature is devoid of any mention of the harmful gay facilitation of this amendment?

All this indicates that this stance of the MCC is, at best, childish.  In a struggle such as this fight against the "Reproductive Freedom Amendment", we must be willing to work with each other.  At least, let's work alongside each other and not undermine each other.

Please contact the Maryland Catholic Conference and demand that they cease their snobbish behavior towards Health Not Harm and any other pro-life organization working to preserve life and Godly morals.  Should this amendment make it to the state constitution, the MCC may well be culpable for the resultant loss of human life and damage to vulnerable women and children.

Maryland Catholic Crybabies Don't Like Getting Called Out

On Monday, I shined the light on how the Maryland Catholic Conference absolutely stonewalled our efforts to petition a dangerous abortion bill to referendum in Maryland.  A few days later I was examining their facebook page and noticed them suggesting that we contact our legislatures to reduce gun violence - in other words, they wanted to stir up a gun-grab.

As a comment to that post, I rebuked them for their duplicity and linked to that blog post.  Well, lo and behold, I received this gem from Facebook (broken into three pieces).

If you compare my post with their "standards on spam", you'll see that there is no way an honest person could construe my post as "spam".  Frankly, I don't think Facebook would have picked this up on their own.  Whoever manages the social media pages at MCC probably had a snit (or maybe his/her boss had the snit) and reported my comment as "spam", knowing that they acted in rank dishonesty.  

MCC, here's a suggestion - If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.  Understand that your complete dereliction of duty in regards to the petition drive WILL have consequences.  Now we're not like Chuck Schumer who gins up thugs to assassinate Supreme Court justices.  We will simply do things like shame you for your indifference to the babies and urge area Catholics not to contribute to any statewide or nationwide collection efforts.  

The Maryland Catholic Conference is just a state-level version of the larger USCCB.  I suggest that both be dismantled immediately.

Maryland Catholic Conference And Its Bishops Smear Shame On Themselves Once Again

For the past few weeks, pro-life Maryland citizens have been conducting a petition drive to get HB937, the "Abortion Access Act" on the November ballot for general vote.  We needed 25,000 valid signatures by May 31st.  Sadly, we did not get that number, but failed by only a very thin margin.

Sadder and even infuriating is one key reason why we didn't make that threshold.  When approached for their assistance, the Maryland Catholic Conference decided that the referendum couldn't be won, so they refused to contribute to the effort.  The three area bishops likewise refused to cooperate.  Consequently the bulk of the pastors would not allow petition signatures to be collected in their churches.

The organizers of the petition drive believe that had all the churches been available for signature collection, that we would have succeeded in meeting that threshold and would have been well on our way to obtaining the total of 75,000 signatures.

While the signatures were being collected, I checked the MCC website a few times.  Sure enough, there was not one mention of the petition-collection drive.  The MCC's dismal dereliction of duty was in fact a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Let's rehearse some of the provisions built within HB937.  First, it will allow non-physicians to perform abortions.  It will force insurance companies to fund abortions, without any co-pay or deductible limitations; that would impact health policies that the Church and MCC provide their employees, wouldn't it?

Now that HB937 cannot be challenged, it will pave the way for more butchery of babies and their mothers.  For their inexcusable refusal to allow good people to combat this, the leaders of the Maryland Catholic Conference, the three bishops included, may well have blood on their hands in the coming months.

Why Did Maryland Catholic Conference Side With NARAL Against Maryland Right To Life?

In the lead article of the latest edition for Defend Life's newsletter (in which I regularly write a column), one is led to ask that question as the MCC supported a bill in the Maryland State Legislature that would allow Planned Parenthood into schools for easy access to school-aged kids.

I needn't rehash the excellent Defend Life piece but rather, I'd suggest you read it yourselves.  Some things need to be highlighted about the MCC's support for HB 401.  First, two local pro-life groups opposed it.  Didn't Molly Sheahan think it might have been wise to inquire why the other two groups opposed it?  I would think it should have been a part of some "due-diligence" research on her part.  Second, NARAL, existing only to promote abortion, favored it.  I might have thought  that might raise a red flag or two as to whether or not HB 401 was really beneficial.  Defend Life staff questioned Sheahan about these matters, only to receive an evasive response.

So now the question must be asked.  What, or maybe, who urged Sheahan to disregard the voices of others in the pro-life community and stand side by side with rabid pro-aborts in support of HB 401?  I would not be surprised if those directives came from chanceries.  Recall that all three Maryland prelates sit on the Board of Directors of the MCC.

The Archdiocese of Washington has displayed some strange behavior towards pro-life activists.  I touched a bit on it three years ago.  Might our prelates have been willing to support HB 401 in exchange for some other favor?  We don't know.  Suffice it to say that Sheahan most likely would not have supported that bill without obtaining at least the permission of the MCC board of directors - that is, the area bishops.  I regret this episode might be more than just an error of judgment.

No Wonder I Don't Go Out At Night!!

I live in that liberal loony-bin called Montgomery County MD.  For various reasons, I cannot leave the place.  The Dem-dopes who run this place have declared Montgomery County to be a sanctuary for border-crashers.  That is to say that they won't cooperate with ICE to enforce our nations' immigration laws.  Of course they have the backing of the equally nefarious Maryland Catholic Conference.

From Fox News we hear that since July 25, seven of these border-crashers have been accused of rape.  Folks, that's one ever week!  Again, we don't have only the Democrat-ridden Montgomery County Council to thank for this, but also the area bishops.

Maryland Catholic Conference's 2018 Voters' Guide

In the June 14th issue of the Catholic Standard appears Maryland Catholic Conference's 2018 Voters's Guide for the Maryland primaries that will occur on June 26th.  It isn't on the Standard's site (yet) but it is on the MCC site.  When you get to that site, click on the "2018 Elections" menu.  If you need a reminder of your legislative district, click on the "general assembly" link to the left to be taken to a tool to learn your district number.

The usefulness of this site is, at best, limited.  Take, for example, the governor race.  You'll notice that most of the candidates did not respond.  Either they disdain the Catholic vote; Hogan is running unopposed in the Republican primary so this questionnaire is moot for him.  I hope and pray that he does answer the questionnaire that pertains to the general election this coming November.

If you look at the responses from Madaleno and Vignarajah, they appear to be identical.  So if one just uses this MCC guide for voter information, they won't understand that Madaleno is morally unqualified to be Maryland's chief executive and in fact most of the Democrats are, owing to their pro-abortion support and shilling for sodomy.  But you wouldn't know that if you just relied solely on the MCC guide.

I did some research on some candidates two weeks ago.  By no stretch of the imagination is this a comprehensive treatment of the various candidates.  I urge you to do your own homework before the elections.  You might start by googling their names and looking at their own websites.

As you do your research, please pray that God's will be done.  Encourage others to do the same.  Get out and vote on June 26.

More From The Et Tu Brute Department: Maryland Catholic Conference

Regarding the topic of yesterday's post, I believe we suffered betrayal from another supposedly Catholic organization: the Maryland Catholic Conference.  I'm on the MCC's email-blast list.  While that piece of legislation was being discussed and voted upon, I don't recall hearing a peep from the MCC asking us to lobby our representatives to promote the Catholic teachings regarding both homosexuality and the role of parents in their children's lives.  If in fact the MCC did speak out, please advise and point to the evidence in the comments box, and I'll be happy to stand corrected.

I don't think that will happen.  I see no mention of this bill on the MCC site.  Now you can bet your bottom dollar that had the subject matter of the legislation been 1) some "charitable" handout program, 2) death penalty, 3) gun control, 4) coddling of border-crashers, then the clarion cries of the MCC would have been incessant - for the support of progressive positions, of course.  But when it comes to the fomenting of mortally sinful perversions and the undermining of parents, we hear crickets from the MCC.  Do those initials really stand for "Maryland Communist Cabal"?

Maryland Catholic Conference Botches Immigration Again

In today's parish bulletin is the thing to the right.  It most likely appeared (or will appear soon) in the bulletins of all Catholic parishes in Maryland.  On the surface, it sounds nice and lovely, doesn't it?  However, what is not said is just as important as what is said.

In its treatment of immigration, the Maryland Catholic Conference continues to obfuscate the immense differences between those immigrants who come to this country by following the established legal procedures for so doing, versus those who enter the country by deliberately flouting those very same procedures.  In other words, the latter group sneaks in, dodging legal authorities.  They are here illegally.  By definition, they become criminals by breaking our laws.  If I were to rob a store or commit an act of vandalism, I too would become a criminal.  One class of crimes does not exempt a perpetrator from the label "criminal".

The Maryland Catholic Conference, along with its USCCB puppet-masters, have long been "front and center" in promoting the progressive agenda of amnesty for illegal immigrants.  Of course these illegal immigrants would both serve to bolster Democrat party votes and undermine traditional American culture, owing to the refusal of many of them to assimilate into American society.  I've written about this many times before, but one little fact deserves special attention.  Catholic Charities received millions in Federal grants to "assist in refuge resettlement".  The Maryland bishops most likely have some financial skin in facilitating the crime of illegal immigration.  I link now to a post in which Michael Hichborn deals with systemic corruption at the USCCB - much of it swirling around immigration.

For those of you who think that Trump's orders are "mean-spirited", bear in mind that illegal immigrants are by definition criminals.  More than a few of them are guilty of other heinous crimes as well, as detailed here.  There are other examples that I may dig out later.  Suffice it to say that this MCC flyer may not be what it purports to be.

Why Catholic Conferences May Be Mum Regarding Planned Parenthood Funding

Yesterday the US Senate voted to pass H.J. Resolution 43, undoing Obama's executive order that forced states to fund Planned Parenthood.  It was a split vote, with the Vice President breaking the tie.  Last month it passed the House by a 230-188 vote split.  It now heads to President Trump's desk.  This bill does not cut Planned Parenthood funding in and of itself; rather, it allows states to do so.  A number of them have already passed such defunding measures.

A little "aside" for my #nevertrump friends.  You do realize that if you had your way, states would still be forced to fund Planned Parenthood, don't you?  Deep down in your hearts, aren't you glad you didn't have your way?  Let this be a lesson to you.  As additional examples arise, I will be pointing these out to you!

Getting back to the main point of this post, state governments now take back control of their Title X funds and they now have the option of denying funding to the largest baby-killing racket in the nation, if not the world.  I hope many states seize that opportunity.  Alas, other states are infested with anti-life liberals and progressives.  My home state of Maryland is one of them.  I wrote last Saturday of the effort underway by pro-baby-murder politicians to fund Planned Parenthood.  In that piece I also wrote of the de facto cooperation with these progressives that the Maryland Catholic Conference intends to give them.  I speculated as to the cause(s) of the MCC's despicable stance, wondering if funding for some of their pet "social justice" goals hung in the balance.  The video released by Michael Hichborn now causes me to fear that the reasons for MCC's lack of actions may be even more perfidious.

Deal Hudson had an article published today in Newsmax entitled "Catholic Bishops Caught In Conflict Of Interest Over Immigration".  In the fifth paragraph down, we see that Catholic Relief Services received over $400 million from the Obama administration in 2016.  In Obama's first year, he increased CRS funding by over $120 million.  Hudson also mentioned that Planned Parenthood received approximately the same amount from the feds; he mentions it as a coincidence but maybe it's more than a mere coincidence.

So what does Catholic Relief Services have to do with Maryland Catholic Conference?  Well, they're both headquartered in Maryland.  CRS is directly controlled by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the MCC takes many leads from the USCCB.  Six years ago, the USCCB did lobby for the defunding of Planned Parenthood.  This month it was utterly silent regarding H.J. Resolution 43.  Why the change?

The video below is that of Michael Hichborn giving a talk at the "Bringing America Back To Life" summit held in Cleveland earlier this month.  The title of his talk is "Catholic Charities And The Culture Of Death".  He details how Catholic "social justice" groups (under control by the US hierarchy) have compromised their missions to the point of participating actively in the Culture of Death.  He focuses heavily on Catholic Relief Services.  Pay very close attention to the 15:55 mark, when he reveals how CRS actually partnered with Planned Parenthood.  Just how close have the tentacles of Planned Parenthood gotten into the inner sanctums of the US Catholic establishment?  Can this be some explanation of the inaction of both the USCCB and MCC regarding the various battles over Planned Parenthood funding?  To my readers: what, if anything, have your state Catholic Conferences been doing about your states' funding of Planned Parenthood?  Please advise via the comments box.

If you have one of those lenten rice bowl things and have been dropping change into it, please empty it and give that money to an organization that is fighting for the Culture of Life.

Maryland Catholic Conference Sides With Annapolis Democrats For State Funding Of Planned Parenthood

President Trump has promised to defund Planned Parenthood.  That will happen whenever the GOP can find the spinal fortitude to defang Obamacare in its entirety.  Trump had offered to retain funding of Planned Parenthood if the latter ceased abortions.  Showing their claim of abortions being only 3% of their business to be a lie, the national office of PP balked at that offer.  So now PP will be defunded; that is, our tax dollars will not go to that murderous cabal.

The progressives who crawl through the halls of the Maryland state legislature are determined to come to the rescue of the Planned Parenthood operations in Maryland.  From the Baltimore Sun we read the sordid tale. The senate bill sponsor is Richard Madaleno from Montgomery County, openly gay despite (or maybe because of) his Jesuit high school education.   Knowing the state of Maryland politics and the progressive slant of much of the population in Montgomery County, Prince George's County and Baltimore City, none of this is a surprise.  Indeed it is quite typical.

If you scroll down to the bottom of the Sun article, you will notice an unconscionable dereliction of duty on the part of the Maryland Catholic Conference.  They pretend that because "abortion isn't being funded" then they need not oppose this funding measure.  By their silence and refusal to join decent people in opposition, they are in fact supporting the funding of Planned Parenthood, be that support ever so tacit.

Karen Nelson, President of Planned Parenthood of Maryland, is quoted as saying  "that under federal law, the money used to provide abortions is kept strictly separate from the money that pays to provide other health care."  Mary Ellen Russell, Executive Director for the Maryland Catholic Conference, repeated that falsehood by saying of the proposed bill that "its requirements are the same as those under the federal law barring the use of money for abortion."

Both of those women know better than that.  They both have experience in working with not-for-profits (as do I) and know full well how various funds within a non-profit interrelate with each other.  It involves a concept known as fungibility - a concept of which both Nelson and Russell are quite aware.  Several years ago, Michael Hichborn produced a video that explains the concept quite aptly.  Please watch it; this post continues below the video.



We know what motivates Nelson to lie through her teeth; but what motivates Russell to do the same?  Whom do they think they're deceiving?  What is driving MCC to acquiesce to the pro-aborts on this?  Who or what is causing them to play the moral cowards?  Are they being told that funding for some pet "social justice" project will be curtailed?  Are some of their perks in Annapolis being threatened with discontinuance?  Do they not care that Planned Parenthood's baby-killing apparatus in Maryland stands to be funded with our tax dollars?  We can only guess and those guesses might well be very accurate.  Whatever the answers might be, it is no wonder why faithful Catholics do not take them (nor their national counterpart, the USCCB) seriously.

Maryland Catholic Conference Implicated In "Catholic Spring" Scandal?

A friend of mine sent to me this link from the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.  He was rightly intrigued by the direct reference to the Maryland Catholic Conference (along with individuals skulking the corridors of the Archdioceses of Washington and Baltimore), named on this WikiLeak-provided email from Christopher Hale (with John Podesta receiving a copy).

I decided to do some net-surfing regarding leadership at the MCC, starting with the Administrative Board.  From the Archdiocese of Baltimore we have Steve Kearney.  He's also on the Board of Directors of Maryvale, a Catholic girls' school in Lutherville MD,  On that list he is identified as being owner of Kearney O'Doherty Public Affairs, LLC.  Looking on the FEC website, we see some rather telling political contributions from this owner of Kearney O'Doherty.  Every one of them is for a pro-abortion candidate.  Consider the Kratovil ones.  In those races, Kratovil was running against the Catholic pro-life Andy Harris; in other words, Kearney was contributing towards the defeat of a pro-life Catholic.  In this link we see that Kearney is identified as a "spokesman for the Archdiocese of Baltimore".  So the Archdiocese of Baltimore had as a spokesman someone who donated to supporters of baby-murder!  Isn't that...special?  The MCC repeats that error by retaining Kearney as an advisor.

In the Archdiocese of Washington section, we see one Vincent Burke, an attorney in Bethesda.  He's contributed to Connie Morella.  Below him is an all-too-familiar name: Msgr Enzler.  He's been featured earlier in this blog.  James Soltesz' contributions, with a few exceptions, are towards pro-abortion candidates: Obama, Wyn, Shriver, Hoyer, Morella.

Bonnie Phipps is by herself in a section called "Catholic Hospitals Serving Maryland".  Phipps has contributed to Elijah Cummings, Frank Kratovil, Mikulski, Cardin.

Now I've written quite a bit about the Maryland Catholic Conference over the years.  Notwithstanding some token efforts of theirs regarding abortion, they spend inordinate amounts of time, energy and money promoting the progressive positions on:

• amnesty and benefits for border-crashing scofflaws 
• gun control
• capital punishment
• Running interference for the state legislature when they want to tax us to the whazoo.

So who are Christopher Hale's contacts within the MCC who are ready to do his bidding?  As we can see, there are several possibilities: of which we know.  We do know that as faithful Catholics, we must take anything coming from the MCC with copious grains of salt.

MCC Congress Candidate Survey For Maryland

The survey results that you see to the right were included in today's parish bulletin.  The Maryland Catholic Conference continues its abominable habit of combining issues of widely varying moral weight into one ambiguous list - ambiguous because it makes the issues appear to have equal moral weight.  They don't.  Moreover, notice that there is no mention whatsoever about abortion, even though Maryland harbors a late-term baby-killer: Leroy Carhart.

However, the first issue regards an assisted suicide ban.  That of course does deal with a non-negotiable issue for one can never be involved in the deliberate taking of innocent human life.  That constitutes murder.  The second issue is also of immense concern, for that involves our right to practice our Holy Faith.  Such practice entails speaking out on moral issues of the day.  Those first two columns are key to understanding which candidates would be acceptable.  Indeed, between the contenders for each race, the choice is literally between night and daylight.

We see, for instance, that Kathy Szeliga would deserve the votes of faithful Catholics for US Senate whereas Chris Van Hollen would be completely unacceptable.  Please don't be fooled by that fourth column, for the MCC, like its national USCCB counterpart, has bought into the progressive lie that open borders is somehow Catholic teaching.  It is not.  In fact, CatholicVote has a handy list of what does not constitute binding teaching, progressive deceptions notwithstanding.

Note that five of them did not submit a response to the MCC survey.  All of these are Democrats - surprise!  They are all flaming pro-aborts and one of them, Steny Hoyer, is the current Minority Whip in the House.  Please cast your votes for their GOP opponents.  Elijah Cummings is another odious incumbent, implicated in several scandals (see here and here).

The list looks rather clear - the GOP candidates by and large are the ones whose positions align with Church teaching regarding the non-negotiable issues.  The only race that appears to have candidates of similar viewpoints is that of the First Congressional District (eastern shore).  I would have to recommend Andy Harris; he has proven himself as pro-life in the House and we do not want leadership in the House to fall to Democrat hands; we've had enough of Nancy "pope" Pelosi.

November 8 is Election Day.  Get out and vote.  Past readers understand why I urge a vote for Trump/Pence.  These local races are also crucial.  Trump can nominate Supreme Court justices but we need a decent Senate to confirm them.

Corrupt, Weak-Minded And Weak-Willed Lechers Occupy High Offices In Maryland

So many pro-lifers in Maryland are at a loss to understand how sloppy and murderous abortionists like Leroy Carhart are given a free pass to ply their grisly affairs.  The answer to these dilemmas is both disgusting and simple.  Watch how Maryland Deputy AG Thiruvendran Vignarajah tries to seduce an undercover reporter.  In the process, he discloses how he'd like to strip law-abiding citizens of their Second Amendment rights and give the Messiah Most Miserable assistance in growing an ever-encroaching governmental behemoth.  He repeatedly states how these are top-secret affairs.  Well bust my britches!  Isn't the AG's office supposed to be about public business?  If so, by what logical contortion do these demagogues justify shielding their doings from public scrutiny?  And guess what?  The AG is married, so he's obviously of a mind to commit adultery.

If this isn't a clear indication of the correlation between "big-government progressivsm" and "sexual immorality", I don't know what is.  It is an indication of why the Church establishment (that means you, Maryland Catholic Conference!), should stop cozying up to these depraved individuals, for "if you sleep with dogs, you will get fleas".

At any rate, please share and make this go viral.  Hopefully Maryland citizens will recall this the next time Annapolis comes up for a vote.  Meanwhile, Maryland Conservative Action Network suggests that we call the AG office (Brian Frosh) and demand that he discipline his deputy: (410) 576-6300 or 1 (888) 743-0023.  Kudos to Project Veritas for their important work.

Physician Assisted Suicide Before Maryland Legislature

In the Maryland House and Senate, a "physican-assisted suicide" bill is in the hearing process.  Note: I will now cease usage of that lovely-sounding language and call it what it is - murder by doctor.  The bill numbers are:

• House - HB 1021, being heard by the Judiciary and by the Health and Government Operations Committees.
• Senate - SB 676, being heard by the Judicial Proceedings Committee

I linked to the bills so that you can study them.  I also linked to the memberships of the pertinent committees so that you can lobby these members for opposition to "murder by doctor".  Make no mistake about it - it's murder, pure and simple.  We cannot allow this bill to be passed - at least not without a valiant effort to prevent even more legalized murder in Maryland.

I was given the information above by an email alert from the Maryland Catholic Conference.  For that I am grateful, but the delivery of the information causes me great concern.  I'll post the relevant section of the email below.

Do you see the problem?  Two bills are being put forth for action as though they have equal weight in importance.  Clearly they do not.  One, the "murder by doctor" bill, involves the legalization of actions that are always intrinsically evil.  Of course Catholics and all good people must oppose this.  The other involves issues that are subject to prudential judgment by individuals.  Because the Maryland Education Tax Credit does not touch upon matters of inherent morality or immorality, good people can disagree when it comes to support of this bill.  The MCC has always had an unfortunate "laundry list" approach to various issues, treating all issues as though they had the same importance.  For this reason I do not participate in their Lobby Nights in February; I believe we must focus all energies and efforts to driving intrinsic evil from our laws.  Other matters can wait.

Pope's Erroneous Call For End To Death Penalty AND Life Imprisonment

As most Marylanders know, the State of Maryland last year abolished capital punishment of deadly criminals (the execution of innocent babies goes unabated, however).  I wrote two pieces that both excoriated the Maryland Catholic Conference and demonstrated why they actually violated Church teaching in their effort to abolish capital punishment.

In their efforts to abolish capital punishment, both on their website and during testimonies in Annapolis, the MCC stated that Maryland would be able to protect its citizens through the use of life imprisonment without parole in lieu of the death penalty.  I've saved screen shots of two of these and will post them after the jump break so as not to take up too much space in the main screen.

However, Pope Francis today made clear his opposition not only to the death penalty, but to life imprisonment.  He said "life imprisonment is a hidden death penalty".  So he just contradicted Archbishop Lori and the Maryland Catholic Conference.  He made the latter appear to be a bastion of conservative common sense - that's quite an accomplishment!

More seriously, though, he spoke in disregard to Evangelium Vitae and the hundreds of years of Church teaching.  He seems to impute motives of "violence and revenge" to governments who employ these means.  I've no doubt that some corrupt regimes do precisely that; however, to issue a blanket denouncement of life imprisonment - and the death penalty for that matter - is simply irresponsible.

What also seems to be disregarded is that governments have a solemn duty to protect their citizens from unjust aggression - including that which arises from other citizens.  That is an overriding concern, and in fact one that must rise above the "redemption" of one criminal.  So without at least life imprisonment, just what does His Holiness think should be done with those violent criminals who simply won't be "redeemed"?  Do I hear crickets?

Ladies and gentlemen, sometimes we must disagree vociferously with our Church leaders in matters of "prudential judgment".  Clearly this is one of them.  I link now to excellent points by Vox Cantoris.

Again, the MCC writings are below this jump break.

Maryland Bishops And Catholic Conference Join The Chorus Of Illegal Immigrant Panderers

Here's the garbage action alert that I received from the Maryland Catholic Conference a few days ago.


 Take Action 
Instead of going to school, playing with friends, and enjoying time with family, tens of thousands of children from Central America flee their homes embarking on a dangerous trek north to the United States.  At the same time, nearly 40,000 young mothers with children have also entered the U.S. and are being placed in detention centers. 
Many unaccompanied youth suffer a lack of educational and economic opportunities, and ultimately flee due to violence from organized criminal networks in their countries, which has increasingly stained and strained the fabric of their societies.  The breakdown of the family unit, caused by the absence of physical and economic security, has also caused children to find safe haven with family members in the United States.

Please raise your voice with this action alert to help protect these vulnerable children and mothers by contacting your U.S. senators and representative. For some background on the issue, read the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop's  testimony before Congress. 

My blogging colleague A Washington DC Catholic must be on the same list.  Read the commentary on his piece.  These progressives do like to omit that teensy detail about the flagrant violation of our borders.

Naturally this week's Catholic Standard joined in the propaganda campaign.  It featured an article about the opening Mass (celebrated by Cardinal Wuerl) for the (so-called) National Migration Conference.  He made it a point to mention that most of us are descended from immigrants; what he decided to omit was that our immigrant ancestors obeyed the laws of their host country, complying with all requirement for immigrants at the time.  That is a far cry from what is happening now, and to try to draw some parallel between then and now is ridiculous, if not downright dishonest.

As expected, progressive CINO MD governor Martin O'Malley opined that any deportation of the kids would send them to "certain death"  (like the 90+ that are aborted every day in Maryland, Marty??).  However, several hours later, he told the Obama cartel that it should not send any of these kids to a former Army Reserve Center in Westminster MD.  The citizens in that conservative area of Maryland rallied and (with the assistance of Andy Harris) made plain to the governor that this would not be in the best interests of the citizens and their families.  For once, O'Malley saw the light of day.

That refusal of O'Malley's (a rumored presidential hopeful) must not only have been galling to the Obamanistas, but must have been most embarrassing to the left-wing-leaning Maryland bishops and the Maryland Catholic Conference.  Oh, to have been a fly on the wall at the MCC when they heard that news!  And to think that this kind of common sense was displayed in the liberal loony-bin known as Maryland!  Will miracles ever cease?

By the way - not all of these "kids" are kids.  Many of them are gang members and other adults posing as children.  Do our bishops care, or have all those HHS and DHS grants caused them to turn blind eyes to that fact?

MD's "Bathroom Bill" - Where, Oh Where, Is The Maryland Catholic Conference On This?

I've been getting email alerts from MD-Petitions, Help Save Maryland and others (politicians and individuals) who are tracking the process of Maryland's SB212/HB1265.  It has been dubbed the "bathroom bill" and is a statewide version of the bill that passed the Montgomery County Council several years ago.  I'm a woman and I believe this is an affront to my safety, which is being sacrificed on the altar of political correctness.  I'm glad that all these folks are alert and speaking out.  However, one organization's silence is deafening - an organization that ostensibly exists to promote the Catholic voice in legislative venues, particularly in Annapolis.  Which is that??  Why, it's...

The Maryland Catholic Conference

Look at their webpage.  Why isn't the Bathroom Bill smack-dab in the middle of their main page??  We see all sorts of advocacy for progressive positions such as minimum wage, "immigration reform", ya-da-ya-da.  I find their silence on the Bathroom Bill to be rather deafening.  Could it be that they just don't care?  Might it be that their silence is coerced or bought?  Why - oh why - hear we not one peep regarding this moral disaster that's about to be thrust on us?

And the Maryland Catholic Conference wonders why faithful Catholics don't take them seriously!

Catholic Social Justice Branches - Accomplices In Destruction Of Families

I'm sure for many working in the various social justice offices in the US Catholic Church (state conferences, diocesan offices), their cooperation with this evil is unwitting.  They are dupes and puppets, honestly believing that they are "serving the poor".  Nevertheless, the damage they do is real.  They fail - and many refuse to consider - basic economic principles.  They forgot (or perhaps were never taught) that "no one can be at the same time a sincere Catholic and a true socialist." (This quote is from Quadragesimo Anno, released May 15, 1931 by Pope Pius XI).

Six years ago, Maryland Governor O'Malley signed into law some of the biggest tax hikes (as of that date) in Maryland history.  Just before that happened (such a coincidence!), the Maryland Catholic Conference released a statement that in effect tried to stifle opposition to the tax hikes by trying to con us into thinking that these same hikes were part and parcel of Catholic social teaching.  That was before I operated this blog and was using the older website.  It's still up and running so I link to it now.  Please note that the piece in turn links to the MCC statement in all its dubious splendor.

The Independent Journal Review posted a video of US Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) saying outright that the government has a right to our money.  These progressives aren't bothering to couch their language anymore.  They're announcing their socialism and are "out and proud" about it.  With lapdogs such as the MCC chiming right in, why not?

Below is a Vortex episode.  Michael Voris explains (albeit a bit simplistically) how taxation cripples families (Is anyone from the MCC reading this?)  Note at 5:25 when he asks, "how come you never hear this story from the social justice squawkers in Catholic circles?  Isn't the dignity of man as worker a foundational concept?"

Maryland Catholic Conference Errs (Again) With Death Penalty

In today's Catholic Standard, page 3 in print and online here, the Maryland Catholic Conference is beating its chest over its faux-victoire regarding the abolition of the death penalty in Maryland.  I stated my case clearly how the abolition of the death penalty actually runs counter to Church teaching and Evangelium Vitae in particular.  I needn't rehash all that here.

I also stated in that post that there is an effort underway to petition this abolition to the next Maryland referendum.  I signed that petition, no doubt to the consternation of Mary Ellen Russell.  In the Standard article, read that little insert of hers that's designed to cajole faithful Catholics into eschewing the referendum petition.  She talks of the repeal of the death penalty as "an integral part of our pro-life efforts to uphold the sanctity of all human life."  No, it is not!  I'd strongly suggest that she study Evangelium Vitae and notice that there is a world of difference between the inherent evil of taking the most innocent human life - that is, murder and the exercise of legitimate authority a charge laid upon it by God Himself.

She then takes a direct pot-shot at the referendum effort itself, saying "the referendum will only divide the prolife community and drain scarce time and resources from other more important prolife goals".  Well, guess what, Ms Russell?  On both counts here, it's the Maryland Catholic Conference (under your less-than-stellar leadership) that stands guilty as charged!