Action Needed In Maryland And DC

The first item is the stopping, or at least protesting, a planned "drag queen story hour" at an Anne Arundel County library in a few weeks.  Details are in the email blast that I received and copied below.l

The Crofton Library will be hosting Drag Queen Story Times on Saturday, October 26 at 1pm and at 3pm.

   Please CALL the Crofton Library at 410-222-7915 to ask them to drop the program and to explain why you object to it. (Call during operating hours, which are Monday through Thursday: 9 am to 9 pm; Friday and Saturday: 9 am to 5 pm; Sundays from 1 to 5pm. Let's inundate the library with calls to drop the program!)

  You can use the following simple talking points when you call:

• I don't want Drag Queen Story Times in our Maryland libraries. Please cancel the event.
• Drag is adult entertainment, so it’s not age or developmentally appropriate for young children, even when it’s modified or toned down for the library setting.
• Both the Drag Queen Story Hour website and key leaders in the movement explicitly state that that one of the goals of the Drag Queen Story Hour is to encourage ‘gender fluidity’ and to encourage children to question their gender.  But all the scientific studies show that gender confusion harms children (physically, psychologically, and socially) and that the medical interventions involved in trying to ‘transition’ from one gender to another are seriously harmful! (So do the heartbreaking personal testimonies of individuals who went through the process of medical transition and then regretted it.)
• Drag Queen Story Hours put children at risk for sexual abuse. Several sex offenders have performed at Drag Queen Story Times, including one who had molested an 8-year old boy and one who had abused four children, ages 4, 5, 6, and 8! There have been numerous other reports about Drag Queen Story Hours which show them to be unsafe, including at least two reports of inappropriate physical contact between a drag performer and young children, a performer teaching children a sexually suggestive dance, and other problematic activities and concerning ‘red flags’. This is simply NOT ACCEPTABLE.
• Yes, I agree with you that our libraries should be safe, inclusive, welcoming spaces for  all, that we should teach children to treat everyone (especially people who are different from themselves) with respect, and that the library should host programs representative of all members of our diverse communities. But, for the reasons I have stated, Drag Queen Story Times are not the way to go to accomplish these goals!

    After you have called the Crofton Library, please contact the Anne Arundel County Public Library in writing to note your objections to Drag Queen Story Times and to ask them to stop offering these harmful programs. (You can copy and paste the talking points listed above, when your write, if you like).

Ways to write to the library: 

• Email key library administrators including the following: Hampton "Skip" Auld (Chief Executive Officer) - sauld@aacpl.net; Rebecca Hass (Programming and Outreach Librarian) - rhass@aacpl.net; Catherine Hollerbach (Chief, Public Services & Branch Management) - chollerbach@aacpl.net ; Ruby Jaby (Branch Manager, Crofton Library) - rjaby@aacpl.net
• Contact the library Board of Trustees using this form: https://www.aacpl.net/form/contact-library-board-trustees
• Fill out the library’s Tell Us What You Think form here: https://www.aacpl.net/tell-us   (Check the box for ‘Library Program or Event,’ then you’ll see the space where you can write your comment.)
• Submit your comments on these programs to the library’s Ask Us service: Go here  http://askus.aacpl.net/ , then click ‘Email Your Question’. (Write your feedback in the ‘More Detail/Explanation’ box.)

  Lastly, since this issue is so important to the safety and well-being of our children, we need to have a prayerful, peaceful, law-abiding presence near and/or at the Crofton Library on the afternoon of October 26.   All are welcome and encouraged to attend, and persons from the Crofton/Bowie area are especially needed. The Crofton Library is located at 1681 Riedel Road, Crofton, MD 21114.

Thus ends my friend's email blast.  Already these wastes of MD taxpayers' dollars are happening.  See here.  Let's raise our voices in protest.

The second item regards a fundraiser being conducted by Support Our Aging Religious (SOAR).  At that fundraiser, Carolyn Woo is being honored.  For long-time blog readers, her name should be all-too-familiar.  She was the president of Catholic Relief Services during some of its most spectacular and anti-Catholic scandals.  These include the distribution of abortifacients and the harboring of a Vice President who was a sodomite in a "gay marriage".  See here for details, as time prevents a rehash of the same. 

A word regarding SOAR.  Before they occupied their current location, they were located at 1400 Spring Street, either directly above or below the Planned Parenthood abortuary where we were present for several years until the PP closed that location.  When we learned of SOAR's presence, we thought we had an ally in the struggle.  Such was not to be.  They refused to utter a peep regarding the child-murder center so close to them.  Of the thousands of babies killed there, we can surmise that at least a few of them might have had religious vocations and might have helped care for the elderly priests and religious.  By their refusal to speak up for life, SOAR helped put the elderly religious in their current predicaments.

On the SOAR site are numbers and email addresses at which you can lodge your protests.  Please do so.

Catholic Standard Follies - Fawning Over Female Catholic Dissidents

In today's edition of the Catholic Standard we read of a panel discussion by three so-called Catholic women "leaders", moderated by John Car, that occurred at Georgetown University.  They were offering advice on leadership.  Given who these women are, one would do well to listen to their advice and do the exact opposite.

Now one might wonder why I'm pointing fingers at the Catholic Standard since it was Georgetown University that hosted this gab-fest.  It's quite simple.  The article is written by Mark Zimmerman, editor of the Standard, and he disingenuously omits key details about these women - details that would make plain to everyone that these gals aren't qualified to advise children in tying their shoelaces much less Catholic leaders in how to lead.  But not to worry!  I and others have already supplied many of these details.  I'll recap below:

• Sister Carol Keehan - Without her shilling for Obamacare in 2010, that deadly piece of legislation might never have been passed.  As a result, religious sisters are compelled to fund contraception and thousands (if not millions) of babies will have Keehan to thank for their murders.  Besides that, she's got quite a rap sheet.  FYI, when Keehan gave the commencement address at Gonzaga's commencement in June 2010, we were there!
• Carolyn Woo - She is president of the scandal-ridden Catholic Relief Services.  The Lepanto Institute has exposed much corruption within the organization, such as their direct involvement in the distribution of abortifacients and of retaining as one of their vice presidents a man who is in a same-sex marriage (and quite unabashed about it).  No truly Catholic organization wants to emulate this woman's habits.
• Sister Donna Markham - See this.  She too jumped on the Obamacare bandwagon in 2010.  She also did a stint as president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.  When the Vatican launched its investigation into the LCWR, well, let's just say she had a lapse in memory when it came to her religious vows.
• John Carr - He comes with his most unimpressive baggage pertaining to his promotion of progressivism while occupying positions within the USCCB.

See, Mark?  This information was not that hard to find; and I think you know that!  Now the million-dollar questions are, "Why did you not report that?  What is the agenda?  Who is dictating the contents of these articles?"

Much of what was uttered at that meeting was pure drivel and a good bit of that was a feeble attempt at "damage control" to try to dismiss the evidence of their malfeasances as reported by this blog and discovered by Lepanto, Church Militant and other organizations.

I will focus on one key admission by Markham as she pouted over the chastisement that Catholic Charities received for accepting government funding.  She mentioned that they receive approximately 64% of their budget from government grants.  Now what are the sources of these "government grants"?  Hint - stare into the mirror and you'll see one source, albeit an unwilling one.  It comes from our tax dollars.  Ladies and gentlemen, when they accept these tax dollars, they accept money that has been extorted from each and every one of us.  The feds have no authority under the US Constitution to engage in this de facto wealth redistribution; they also have no basis in morality to do so, either.  In accepting such funds, Catholic Charities benefits from such extortion and can be said to be contributing to the wrong-doing of the feds.

It can also be said that Catholic Charities is accepting bribes from the feds.  Might this be why they are so quick to jump on board with every progressive effort in which the feds engage?  In the past, Catholic Charities has been known to: allow an employee to take a client for an abortion appointment, conduct "needle exchange programs", take millions of dollars to facilitate illegal immigration, smooching up to pro-aborts in high places, etc.

The Baltimore Catechism teaches us that Jesus Christ founded the Church to help people get to heaven.  Therefore the chief purpose of every endeavor of the Church must be oriented to that end.  Not once in that article did I see the word "heaven" mentioned.  Other words that I failed to notice include "soul", "hell", "sacrament", "eternal life".  You get the drift.

This panel presented a picture on how NOT to lead any Church endeavor.

More On The Leaked Encyclical And Silly Damage Control

There are further details about the release of the encyclical Laudato Sii that is set for this coming Thursday.  It appears that four individuals are slated to help roll this thing out.  One of them is Professor Joachim Schnellnhuber.  I wrote about him this past Saturday; he's the charming individual who thinks "global warming" is the result of too many people on this planet - 6 billion too many, to be precise.   Now we learn that the fourth individual is (drum roll!) Carolyn Woo, president of Catholic Relief Services.  The hyperlink on the CRS name will take you to posts detailing the myriad of ways in which CRS is acting in deliberate and direct violation of Catholic teaching on life, marriage and sexuality.  Given that CRS has been distributing abortifacients and contraceptives in third-world countries, Woo and Schnellnhuber seem to be of like mind when it comes to eliminating people from this planet.  In a saner time, these individuals would not be assisting in the roll-out of a papal encyclical.

On another related matter, we know that the encyclical was leaked, with all sorts of details released that further illustrate the thinking of progressives that skulk in the corridors of the Vatican.  Besides what I cited yesterday, there are calls for "wealth redistribution" (by whom, one might ask!) to combat global warming, quotes by Teilhard de Chardin and Muslim leaders, etc.  The Pollyanna Damage Control Squad immediately jumped into full alert.  They blame these statements on the fact that what was released was a draft, not the final version.  Well, be that as it may, one might ask "how on earth did this rank heresy get so far as to be committed to a Vatican draft?"  The heresies - and heretics - should have been immediately jettisoned, not put to paper.  But of course we remember the relatio from October's sin-nod, so we know that heresy can well find its way to church documents these days.

Here are further details from GloriaTV.

Does Caritas Control The Catholic Relief Services?

Many of you recall that I have blogged about Caritas, the faux-katholyc "social justice" racket honchoed by Cardinal Maradiaga.  I won't rehash all its deadly and anti-God activities; the link to the anthology is here for your review.

When I posted yessterday's article about Carolyn Woo's statement as released by Zenit, one tiny detail caught my eye.  I repost it here.  Notice - in the very first sentence - that Catholic Relief Services is being billed as "the US branch of Caritas".  Am I the only one who did not know this?  Here I thought all along that CRS was an arm of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and wholely controlled by them.

This fact raises a whole bevy of questions:

• Are all donations and grants raised from US sources staying with CRS, or is a percentage of them making its way to the international organization?  How much of Catholic's donations to the CRS in-pew collection are being funneled to Cordaid and the World Social Forum?
• How much control do US bishops have over the doings of CRS as opposed to Caritas leadership?
• Does Caritas exert any control over other areas and outreaches commonly believed to be controlled by the USCCB?
• When and how did Caritas become insinuated as a controller of CRS?
• If Caritas is controlling CRS and proiding leadership to the World Social Forum (see the first link for a treatmetn of World Social Forum), would that not mean that CRS and the World Social Forum are sister organizations?  It is reasonable to believe that CRS and Cordaid are sister organizations since Cordaid is the Netherlands branch of Caritas.

By the way - if any overzealous CRS employee is reading this and is thinking of asking Zenit to pull this article down in "knee-jerk damage-control fashion", don't bother!  It's been archived!  Why make yourselves look sillier than you already do?

This is just the latest reason why not one red cent should be given to any outreach run by the USCCB.  We don't know where that money is going.

CRS Pouts After Its Well-Deserved Spankings

As announced a few days ago, Rick Estridge, the sodomite who occupied a high place at the Catholic Relief Services, has resigned.  He apparently was given quite a "consolation prize" - all from your dollars, be it through governmental grants (your tax dollars at work!) or the in-pew collections.

Zenit has published a statement by Carolyn Woo, president of CRS, on the Estridge debacle.  Read it.  Nowhere does she accept responsibility for harboring someone guilty of flagrant immorality.  Rather, she voices "strong objections" to Lepanto, Church Militant and us bloggers who merely expose their misdeeds.

Today's Vortex takes Woo to task.  I'll also post a link to Church Militant, for today Voris confronted Woo in person; you'll see her scurry away to avoid him in the video on that post.

Donate not one more penny to them.  That beast must be starved to death.

Catholic Relief Services Arrogantly Defends Its Disregard For Jesus' Moral Teachings

The Lepanto Institute reports on an interview between John Burger of Aleteia and Carolyn Woo, president of Catholic Relief Services.  Burger asked her about the many instances where CRS was caught partnering with organizations dealing in abortion, sterilization and contraceptives.  He also touched upon Richard Estridge, the CRS vice president who was exposed as being in a "gay marriage" for two years - and who still retains his position.

In typical progressive fashion, Woo describes as "attacks" our discovery and exposure of CRS derelictions of Catholic duty.  When queried about CRS's squalid association with anti-life organizations, she replie (with my comments in red):

"The type of attacks come in three forms. The first is: Why do we work with other organizations which don’t follow Catholic Church teaching?… So when we have responsibilities for these types of activities, for the scope of these activities, if we don’t reach out to other partners who have coverage of those territories, we are basically leaving a big swath of population unattended. … If we don’t collaborate with other agencies, we are leaving those people without any hospitals or clinics or access to those medications"  Our first concern as Catholics is to save souls.  Any other concern, while important, is secondary and ancillary to the overriding concern for eternal salvation.  There is no indication of any such concern in Woo's remarks.  The activities of CRS, in legitimizing contraception and abortion, may well be leading souls to eternal damnation.

In dealing with the CRS vice president who is in a "same-sex marriage", Woo trips over herself during her verbal tap-dance.  "CRS has a senior person who is in a civil gay marriage, and the question is, Is that a violation of Church teaching?  I just want to say we are working through this."  As I said in a previous post, if the person was found to be a member of the Ku Klux Klan, there would be no "question", no "working through this".  He would have been out on his ear in a heartbeat.  If Woo really has to ask if it's a violation of Church teaching, she should be handed her pink slip as well.

Catholic Relief Services is showing itself to be a thinly-disguised front group for all sorts of progressives.  It can be argued that CRS is merely the international version of Catholic Campaign for Human Development.  Both are under the direct control of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.  The whole apparatus is showing itself to be quite the devil's liar and should be unceremoniously scuttled at once.

Leadership Woes At Catholic Relief Services

In the June 30th issue of the Catholic Standard, we read that Carolyn Y Woo has been named president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services.  Currently, she is dean of the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame.

Bishop Gerald Kicanas, CRS board chairman, states that "Dr. Woo is a woman of deep faith with a strong commitment to the mission of the Church."  I'm inclined to take that with just a pinch of salt.  Often, a person's political contributions are indicative of their beliefs - or at least the consistency of those beliefs.  Newsmeat.com shows that in October 2008, she contributed to something called the Asian American Action Fund.  What is that?  Well, take a look.  It's just another front group for Democrats.  What were they doing in October 2008?  Trying to elect the Messiah Most Miserable, of course!  Look at some of the AAAF's sponsors.  You'll notice some from the "usual gang of suspects": AFL-CIO, SEIU, etc.  They have appeared on this blog many times.

By no means, however, is Dr Woo the only problematic member of the CRS leadership group.  In fact, she may well be a lesser problem than at least one other person who is on the board of directors: Sister Carol Keehan.  She, too has been in the limelight, particularly after she sold her Church and countless unborn children and other vulnerable people by her support for the Obama Hell Bill.

As I've said before, I believe that these "charitable pass-through" organizations are worthless, at best.  Pass up their in-pew collections and donate directly to honorable and useful charities.