Some Future Priests?

The National Catholic Register published an article a while back.  Embedded in the article are five clips of little boys "saying Mass".  There are many, many priests today who got started by doing precisely that.  These little guys are cute and do quite well for their ages, and even despite the fact that they may not be able to read yet.

Enjoy and pray for holy vocations!

CRS In Damage Control Mode Now That It Is Known They've Been Harboring A Sodomite

Yesterday the Lepanto Institute broke the news that a Catholic Relief Services Vice President has been in a same-sex faux-marriage for two years.  Many of us joined the effort to shine the light of truth on that squalid situation.  It seems that Rick Estridge has been with CRS for sixteen years and was promoted to his current position two years ago, during the same month that he and his accomplice in mortal sin made a mockery of marriage.

True to typical CRS fashion, their higher-ups are in full-scale damage control mode.  From the National Catholic Register we read this statement from Tom Price, CRS Senior Manager for Communications: "Rick Estridge has served CRS for 16 years and currently holds the position as our vice president of overseas finance. Rick is in a same-sex civil marriage. At this point, we are in deliberations on this matter."

The "damage control" might be backfiring for that statement itself causes red flags to fly.  To wit:

• I stated in my post yesterday that it is unreasonable to believe that CRS higher-ups, from Carolyn Woo up to the board of directors, did not know all along that Estridge was living in a state of objective mortal sin for at least two years, given his public profiles on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter.  As of yesterday, those public profiles were gone as a part of the damage control effort, but prior to that the were available for all to behold.  How can it be that Catholic Relief Services, a self-described adherent to Catholic moral teaching, harbored a sodomite in its midst let alone promoting him?
• Now they are "in deliberations!"  Just how long does it take to be "in deliberation"?  Let's put that question another way: how long would they have to be "in deliberation" if they had discovered that Estridge (or another CRS employee) was a card-carrying member of the Ku Klux Klan?  I'd bet that in that case, the "deliberation" time would have been a lot less than the time that Bishop Bootkowski et al spent in firing Patricia Jannuzzi or the time that the Archdiocese of Washington spent in kicking Father Guarnizo to the curb - and those were lightening-fast "deliberations"!  Mr. Price, why the delay?

Now it could be that they are contemplating the dismissal not only of Estridge but of his superiors who allowed the fetid stench to continue with the blessings of a CRS paycheck.  In fact, they all have betrayed the trust of the Catholic Church.  But I'm sure that's not the case and all we're seeing is a bunch of stone-walling.  The time has long since come to starve this CRS beast.

National Catholic Register And Capital Punishment

The National Catholic Register, a normally sensible publication, has linked arms with some not-so-sensible publications (America and National Catholic Reporter) and partook of their kool-aid.  They have glommed onto the push to end capital punishment.  I've blogged before about the consequences of embracing positions that are not in accordance with Catholic tradition.  In one of those posts I put forth my reasons for believing that the push to end capital punishment is a slap in the face to God Himself.

The Register article features one quote of Bishop Thomas Wenski of Miami: "The use of the death penalty devalues human life and diminishes respect for human dignity. We bishops continue to say: We cannot teach killing is wrong by killing."

We'll unpack the last sentence, for therein lies some confusion.  The Fifth Commandment prohibits murder, not killing.  Owing to poor translations from the Hebrew, we do have some confusion.  "Murder" and "killing" are not the same.  Murder is defined as "the deliberate taking of innocent human life". While all murder involves killing, the converse does not hold.   There is, for example, the killing that must sometimes happen in the course of self-defense; no sane person will call that "murder".  Therefore I'd say to Bishop Wenski that it is not "killing" that is wrong per se, but "murder".  Moreover, the "killing" done by capital punishment is done after due process of justice whereby the condemned is adjudicated not innocent, but guilty of capital crimes.

Further down into the article, Cardinal O'Malley called capital punishment "institutionalized practice of violence".  Here again we have a problem with the defining of terms.  Violence is defined by Catholic moral theology as "the unjust use of force".  In this case, "force" and "violence" are being confused by the Cardinal.  After the due process of justice as mentioned above, the use of deadly force in capital punishment is not "unjust".

A blogging colleague, Veneremurcernui at A Blog for Dallas Are Catholics has his post on this matter.  In it he had video of a homily on the topic.  I post that below.  We pray for the salvation of those condemned.  We pray also for the 3500 babies murdered each day via abortion, for whereas the condemned criminals can avail themselves of the sacraments, the innocent babies haven't that advantage.

CMR's Post On Pope Francis And SSPX

Pat Archibald of Creative Minority Report writes also for the National Catholic Register.  On the page of the latter, Archibald wrote an article expressing hope that Pope Francis will welcome the Society of St Pius X back into the ranks of mainstream Catholicism.  After posting the article, the Register saw fit to pull it down.  After reading the article myself, I think the Register's action was quite deplorable.

Archibald posted the article on Creative Minority Report.  I invite all to read it.

Sister Carol Keehan Dealing With Obamacare Reality

National Catholic Register interviewed Sister Carol Keehan.  She is grimacing a bit at the cuts to hospitals (including CHA hospitals) that are part and parcel of the ObamaHellBill.  Goodness!  She might even find herself taking a cut in salary!

Bear in mind that almost two years ago, this woman played a pivotal role in ramming this thing through Congress.  It's reasonable to opine that without her intervention with some of the Catholics in Congress, the ObamaHellBill would not have passed.  Now it appears that a glimmer of reality is breaking through the blinders that she put upon her own face.  I would say that it's rather poetic justice that's being served upon Sister, but the fact is that we all will pay for this mess.

Sister, perhaps you'd want to return your Pen of Perfidy!