Listen to Bishop Vasa!

Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker, Oregon has recently offered an excellent synopsys of the medicinal remedy of excommunication.  He did so in a column in his diocese's official newspaper, the Catholic Sentinel.  He states two reasons for excommunication: "It is intended primarily as a means of getting the person who is in grave error to recognize the depth of his error and repent. A second reason, while somewhat secondary but no less important, is to assure the faithful who truly are faithful that what they believe to be the teaching of the Church is true and correct." Furthermore, he states, "Allowing their faith to be shaken or allowing them to be confused when Catholics publicly affirm something contrary to faith or morals, seemingly without consequences, scandalizes and confuses the faithful." 

Take a close look at that last sentence.  He isn't so much saying that dissident Catholics are causing scandal as much as he's saying that the refusal to discipline dissident Catholics is itself a cause for scandal.

I urge all to study it closely.  Moreover, I urge all bishops to heed Bishop Vasa's wise words.  I urge them strongly to put aside all considerations of politics, money and power that are only temporal and to do their duties as Shepherds.

After Signing Their CPC Hate Bill, Baltimore's Mayor Compelled to Resign!

Remember last month, when I speculated why Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon was in such a rush to sign their cpc strangulation bill?  Refresh your memories here.  I stated the very real possibility at that time that Her Honor (?) might be removed from office and/or imprisoned for stealing. 

Read this update that just came out today.  It appears that some deals have been cut.  While she's not going to prison, she is leaving office.  There are more conditions, listed in that article.  I needn't re-elaborate them here.  However, I will point out that pro-abortion sympathies, that is, callousness towards unborn babies lead to immorality in other facets of life.  I believe in this instance the mayor was misappropriating money meant for needy children.  Makes sense, doesn't it?  If she'll turn her back on the unborn, why not on those who are just a few years older?

We certainly see this sort of scenario being played out in Washington, don't we?  With this pregnancy center strangulation attempt, who knows what corruption lurks in Rockville?  I think we've already seen evidence of that.

Lawyers Testify at Montgomery County Council Hearings

We will listen to the testimony of Kim Fiorentino, an attorney who highlights some violations of the US Constitution First Amendment that are inherent in the Council's attempt to suppress the pro-life pregnancy centers.  She points out that the Constituion prohibits viewpoint-coerced speech.  She then goes on to state that there is no compelling interest to enact this legislation, as no harmful activity on the part of the pregnancy centers has been demonstrated.  I suppose the Councilmembers/"Partners of Choice" have different perspectives, as the pregnancy centers, every time they snatch a mother and child from the clutches of the abortionists, put pains in the purses of the abortionists, and thus in the coffers of NARAL, who undoubtedly receives many a blood-money donation from these abortionists.  Please listen to Ms. Fiorentino's testimony here.

We now hear from Ann O'Connor.  A little bit earlier, Councilwoman Duchy Trachtenberg, the primary sponsor of this bill (and a former NOW official) made the claim that Rockville Pregnancy Center would be exempt from this regulation, due to its retention of trained medical volunteers.  Ms. O'Connor makes plain in her testimony that the language of this regulation still renders RPC vulnerable.   Did Ms. O'Connor expose a bit of double-talk?  Please form your own opinion as you listen to her testimony here.

Another Musical Moment to Brainwash Our Kiddies!

Ok, all you governmental trolls who search our blogs for "fishy things"!  Here's a gem to take back to the National Education Assinine - uh, I mean - Association so that they can properly enlighten our children as to the wonders of Big Brother!



You can find more of Tim Hawkins's videos on his website.

Real Catholicism Arises in Diocese of Evreux - Despite Its Bishop

My colleague at the Fratres blog have made known a very interesting situation in the above-named diocese in France.  Please read the article.

The local pastor, Fr. Francis Michel, in my humble opinion, is a hero - a pastor in the true sense of the word.  He is simply being faithful to the dictates of Pope Benedict's Motu Proprio.  It is the local bishop, in his attempt to quash the Traditional Mass, who is at odds with the Magisterium.  The priests owe their obedience to the local bishop as the bishop is in union with Rome.  If the bishp is opposing Rome, the priest may diverge from the bishop, lest that priest find himself at odds with Rome.  I'm no theologian nor canon lawyer, but what I just said seems to be only logical.  At any rate I congratulate Father Michel and his parishioners.

CCHD Shenanigans Again!

A press release from the American Life League reveals that the Archdiocese of San Francisco's CCHD has "investigated" the San Francisco Organizing Project (a PICO affilate) and thinks it's worthy to receive the hard-earned money of local Catholics.  They want to expand children's access to "health care".  In other words they want to make available to children contraception and abortion.

Perhaps they are thinking that because our attention is focused on the Obama Hell Bill, that they can resume their profligate funding of leftist organizations?  I thank the Good Lord that ALL is alert to them.

County Council Hearings - Sometimes the Truth Hurts!

Please study this photo carefully.  The man testifying is Bob Nelson, with whom I have worked in the past.  He makes a number of excellent points; you can listen to him HERE.

Of particular note, though, is the woman sitting behind him, wearing the striped shirt and glasses.  She is wearing a NOW sticker so you can guess what her perspective is.  My camcorder was already full, and I didn't have my other camera ready at the time, but at one point she was so displeased with what Bob had to say that her fingers were literally in her ears!  I truly regret that I was not prepared to capture that telling scene!  Even here you can see that she is quite disconcerted, maybe on the verge of a migraine.  Perhaps it's because Bob 1) questioned the Council's fixation on pro-life centers while ignoring real health problems 2) pointed out that the pro-life centers provide real service to women while not charging Montgomery County one red cent.

One thing that Bob pointed out is that the Washington Post, a generally pro-abortion publication, took the Council to task for its obviously one-sided approach to the matter in their November 23rd editiorial.  Perhaps, though, that could only be expected when over half of the Council members are "partners of choice" according to NARAL.

A Freudian Slip at the County Council Hearing?

In one of my first reports, I showed the clip of Roger Manno having great difficulty admitting the truth that a pregnany woman is pregnant with a baby.  So we see how pro-abortion folks can have difficulty vocalizing simple truth.

On the flip side of that strange coin, we will now see how sometimes they inadvertently blurt out the truth that they are assiduously trying to deny.  We wonder if that might have been the case when Fran Porter, presidient of Montgomery County NOW testified.  Once again I point out that I took my recordings in the cafeteria, where the bulk of that audience was pro-life.  You'll hear us chuckle when Ms. Porter refers to young women as "valuable", then quickly correct herself to say "vulnerable".  Might she be admitting (albeit inadvertently) what we knew all along - that they see young women merely as cash cows?  I leave you to form your own opinion as you listen to THIS.

Continuation of Reports on Montgomery Council Hearing Regarding CPC Sabatogue Attempt

I hope that everyone has had a happy new year celebration.  With that, it's time to turn our attention to pro-life battles that face us, particularly in Montgomery County.  I've written before on the open County Council hearing that occurred on December 1st.  By no means did I have time to report and comment on all the proceedings.  However, the votes on the Obama Hell Bill occupied our attention. 

Now we must refocus on the protection of Maryland pregnancy centers.  The Health and Human Services Committee, chaired by George Leventhal (D-at large) is scheduled to revisit the matter on January 25th.  We need to make the council aware of our displeasure at this bill, and remind them all that their jobs are vulnerable in the upcoming 2010 elections this autumn.

The Dec 1st hearing was quite lengthy, so much so that my camcorder could not hold all of it.  When the disk filled up, I resorted to my digital voice recorder and my cell phone camera.  From these I'll be presenting clips, and not necessarily in chronological order.  In fact, what I present now is the very last testimony, and some rather troubling behavior by the chair of the HHS committee, George Leventhal.  The lady whom you'll hear first is Ms Linn (not sure of the spelling), a peer counselor at the Rockville Pregnancy Center.  She relates how her clients told her of being exploited at Planned Parenthood.  One woman told Ms Linn that PP staff held her down and forced her to abort.  Leventhal questioned her - no, not questioned her.  He tried to twist the counselor's words around to make it seem that Ms Linn was telling the client that Planned Parenthood would abuse her.  As you listen to the testimony (and I'd advise you to play it as many times as you need), you'll hear that Ms Linn is simply relating what she heard from her client, not what she told her client.  Leventhal tries to twist it to make it appear that Ms Linn told this to the client.  (Does a member of the Montgomery County Council not know the difference between "heard" and "told"?)  Also notice that Leventhal doesn't direct this challenge directly to Ms Linn; he directs his question to the pro-life attorney (Ann O'Connor) who testified immediately before Ms Linn; he wouldn't even let Ms Linn speak for herself.  I regret that when they both did eventually reply, that their replies were way too reticent and demure.  (Also Ms O'Connor was barely audible)  They should have directly challenged Leventhal on what could charitably be called his "selective listening" problem.

And now, please click on THIS to hear the exchange.

Do you notice how Leventhal kept repeating that he was "sincerely trying to get an answer"?   I've learned over the years to assume that when someone protests how "sincere" they are, that I should take such assertions with copious grains of salt.  By the way - I've pointed out in earlier postings that most of the Montgomery County Council members were listed as sponsors on NARAL's "Evening of Chocolate" fundraiser program.  Notice that Leventhal is a "Partner of Choice".  That brings up another point.  Did you notice how in the beginning of his tirade, Leventhal said he wouldn't bother to visit a crisis pregnancy center because he didn't trust that he would get a truthful sense of their actual operations?  With all that's been revealed, I think we can most likely say that even if Leventhal did visit a pregnancy center, that perhaps his report would be negatively biased, since he clearly demonstrated his refusal to even echo back properly and truthfully what all plainly heard.  Perhaps Mr Leventhal is too much a "Partner of Choice".

Liberation Theology = Sophistry for Libertines

My colleague at "A Washington DC Catholic" (see "my blog list" at the right) linked to a good article at Catholic Exchange on the so-called "Liberation Theology".  I urge its study.  I too am hopeful that this poisonous mindset is in its demise, but its death throes are still strong.  Witness Fr Michael Pleager, the Obama lackey of Chicago who stumped for the Messiah Most Miserable and who paraded around in Jeremiah Wright's excuse for a church.

Every now and then, these "liberation theology" priests poke their heads out of the woodwork.  It's getting to be that I can almost smell them coming; it truly is something in their swagger.  At any rate, the damage that they have wrecked is considerable, and will take some time to clean up.

I too have much hope for the younger priests.  Pray for them, though.  I've seen more than one attempt by their higher-ups to quash them under thumb.  To protect those priests, I can go no further into detail.   If they can hold firm, they will eventually replace the liberation theology hacks.