Dreamer Advocates Are Dupes For Alinskyites And Blasphemers

From Catholic News Agency, we read that yesterday about 100 protesters - many of them religious - engaged in a "Catholic Day of Action with Dreamers" at the Russell Senate Office Building.  Approximately 40 of them engaged in civil disobedience, prompting their arrests.  According to the article, it was "an event planned by Catholic social advocacy groups".  Really?  And who might these be?  Two of them are from the "usual gang of suspects".  Reading on, we find that they are:

• PICO - They are one of several "community organizing" rackets operating under the philosophy and methodology of Saul Alinsky.  Much has been written about them; among their many harmful pet causes is - or was - the promotion of Obamacare.
• Faith in Public Life - a leftwing front organization funded by George Soros
• More progressive groups (many featured on this blog) are listed here and here.

The third is something called the DC Catholic Coalition.  Since I hadn't heard of them before reading this article, I decided a search was in order so I googled the name.  I came up with a facebook page belonging to something called "Catholic Coalition".  The memes on the page of this ostensibly "Catholic" organization leave something to be desired - like basic morality, for one.  Here is one, and I regret the offense to sensibilities.  However, we need to see the mentality behind the leaders of this "Catholic Day of Action with Dreamers".

The blasphemy is obvious.  There are more on that page, and some of those are worse than the one to the right.

That is the only link I saw to something entitled "Catholic Coalition".  If the DC Catholic Coalition is not affiliated with this facebook one, please provide proof, along with members' names.  I believe these are one and the same.  Even if they aren't, the PICO and the FPL affiliations by themselves show that the leadership of this "dreamer" sit-in do not adhere to the True Faith.  These squalid associations are typical of those who glom onto "seamless garbage" idiology.  The Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen once quipped that Judas was the "patron saint of social justice".  He was right and time again we see this played out.  We faithful Catholics will continue to expose their lunacy.

Excellent Idea For Annual Bishop/Cardinal Appeal

Most of the United States Catholics have recently been browbeaten asked to contribute to their annual chanceries' appeals.  I'm within the Archdiocese of Washington.  It's bad enough dealing with the routine progressivism that pours forth from the DC chancery.  However, with Cardinal Wuerl apparently playing a role in this Vatican financial flim-flam, the whole idea of contributing to this DC appeal is especially repugnant.  Regrettably I'm sure there are other such situations throughout the country.

Therefore I am grateful for reader/commenter "jmbutk" for his/her suggestion posted as a comment on my latest post on Bishop Paprocki.  He/she intends to divert his/her appeal dollars to the Diocese of Springfield as opposed to his/her home diocese.  I think that is an excellent example to be emulated.  Bishop Paprocki is a bishop worth supporting.

Of course he's not the only one. In this anthology of posts I've recounted the good deeds of several US bishops.  Perhaps some readers would care to donate to these bishops, too.  I haven't time or space to list all their addresses, but it would be a simple matter of googling their names to get the mailing addresses of their chanceries.

Let's support our good bishops with prayers AND with financial resources.

Father Thomas Weinandy Continues To Articulate The Truth - His Full Article Here

A few days ago, a piece by Father Thomas Weinandy was published by Sandro Magister on his blog.  Father Weinandy, who was sacked by the increasingly inimical USCCB for speaking truth, demonstrates how the so-called "pastoral" approach is in fact deadly to souls.   This piece is the keynote address that Father gave at Notre Dame University in Sydney Australia where I believe he currently teaches.

Many Catholic sites linked to the address as it appeared on Sandro Magister's blog.  However, when I went to look for it there, I found that it had been pulled.   After some searching, I found it at the Catholic World Report.  To guard against another (ahem!) "mysterious disappearance", I'll copy and paste it in its entirety.

This piece is lengthy, so I'll put the jump break here.

Call-In For Immigrant Control On February 26 Monday

A few days ago, the USCCB, lamenting that the Senate did not give more amnesty to "dreamers", announced a National Catholic Call-In Day to Protect Dreamers on Monday Feb 26.  In other words, Catholics are being asked to call their congress people to "protect dreamers".  Well, that's probably not all that the USCCB wants protected.   If the "dreamers" and other illegals continue to stream across the border, the bishops and Catholic Charities stand to receive lots and lots of Federal grant money.  Isn't it peculiar how they didn't mention that in their little press release?  Sshhh!  They don't want the sheeple to know lest they wake up and not make those phone calls to Congress!

Let's have a "call-in day" of our own!  Let's call Congress and tell them to get that wall built.  Tell them to strengthen the border-control personnel.  Tell them that when it comes to immigrant concerns, that the legitimate needs of citizens and legal immigrants take precedence.  We must call.  The progressives are very disciplined about taking these actions.  So too must we be.

Bishops - Good And Bad

Let's start with the bad first so that we can end this post on the good side.  The German Bishops' Conference, under Cardinal Reinhard Marx, has formally declared it permissible to commit sacrilege against Holy Communion.  They are allowing Protestant spouse of Catholics to receive Holy Communion "under certain conditions".   Of course sensible people understand that "under certain conditions" is a polite way of saying "allowing the camel's nose to get under the tent".  We know where that leads.  Remember that at the infamous 1930 Lambeth Conference, the Anglican church permitted the use of contraceptives under "limited" circumstances.  Now the Anglicans and many other church bodies brook baby-murder, gay clergy, etc.

No one may permit that kind of sacrilege - ever.  If Cardinal Marx retains his position of influence, we can very well glean the pope's own attitudes towards the Eucharist - and perhaps towards God Himself.

That's the bad news about bad bishops - now for some good news about good bishops.

I've lauded Bishop Thomas Paprocki before on this blog.  He is the bishop of Springfield, IL.  In his diocese resides Senator Dick Durbin, one of the most rabidly pro-abortion faux-katholycs.  Bishop Paprocki recently announced that Durbin was not to be admitted to Holy Communion until he repents of his support of baby-murder. The straw that broke the camel's back appears to be Durbin's vote against the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. 

Imagine that!  A bishop obeying Canon 915 and instructing his priests to do the same.  Let us pray that other bishops follow suit and that the wolves at the USCCB learn a thing or two from him.

Father Spadaro Points Long Knives At Raymond Arroyo - Call Him Out On It

It was almost exactly three years ago when Father Thomas Rosica, a highly-placed Vatican official, threatened to sue the blogger behind Vox Cantoris (see right side-bar).  The latter had commented on public comments made by Rosica that betrayed Rosica's dissident perspectives on matters of Catholic doctrine.  Other faithful Catholic bloggers shone the light on Rosica's despicable attempts and he was forced to stand down lest he make the Vatican appear to be a bunch of vindictive fools.

Well, maybe it isn't just a matter of appearances at the Vatican and perhaps they failed to learn their lessons.  It appears that Father Antonio Spadaro has drawn his long knives and is pointing them directly at Raymond Arroyo of EWTN.  LifeSiteNews shows where Spadaro retweeted a call for EWTN to be put under interdict if they don't fire Arroyo.

I could be wrong, but I don't believe an interdict can be placed on any group of Catholics because of some willy-nilly whim.  Certain conditions must be present, one of them being the commission of a gravely immoral act.  No one in their right minds can pretend that the discussions in which Arroyo is participating constitute gravely immoral acts.  Perhaps the dissident lay Catholic who originally tweeted that nonsense doesn't know that (and maybe doesn't care), but certainly Spadaro should know better than that.  Like Father Rosica did three years ago, Spadaro is making himself appear to be the vindictive fool, resenting the light that is being shone on his misdeeds - not to mention ignorance of canon law.  But perhaps we're not talking merely of "appearance", but "fact".

As we did for Vox Cantoris three years ago, so again must we do for Raymond Arroyo.

Kudos To Faithful Catholics Of Scranton PA

When it was announced that disgraced Cardinal Mahony was going to represent the pope at the 150th anniversary Mass for the Diocese of Scranton, faithful Catholics protested loudly to that chancery.  They threatened a protest of the event if it went through.  The chancery saw the light and later announced that Mahony was "unable to attend" the event.

Faithful Catholics, never believe the pernicious lie that your voice doesn't matter.  The above account (and others told on this blog) constitute proof that you can be heard and heeded as you raise your voice for the Faith.  Pray.  Band together with other faithful Catholics.  Strategize with one another as their is strength in numbers.  Through God's grace and your hard work, you can and must play a part in restoring our Church and culture for Christ.

Michael Matt On Church Closings And School Shootings

Distorting The Spiritual Works Of Mercy

Note: While I'm using the bulletin from my own parish as an example, I've no doubt that they published what they did due to "orders from on high".

In our parish bulletin (page2) appears what is being passed off as the Spiritual Works of Mercy.  Some of us older types might notice the problem immediately, having received solid training thanks to the Baltimore Catechism.  For comparison, here are those works as they appear in that Catechism; you'll have to scroll down to Question 813.  As you compare the two, you'll notice one major difference.

In the Baltimore Catechism version, please note that the First Spiritual Work of Mercy is "Rebuke the Sinner".  In the bulletin you'll notice that it has been rendered "encourage sinners to seek forgiveness".  The others remain essentially the same.

So why do today's Catholic leaders eschew "rebuke the sinner"?  Quite simply, they are part and parcel of what can be called the "church of nice".  You see, it's not considered "nice" to rebuke anybody, although both the Old and New Testaments are replete with godly men (and Our Lord Himself) with rebuking those in sin, particularly those who are obstinate about it.  It's not "happy-clappy smiley-face" enough for those whose spinal columns are calcium-deficient.  Perhaps they don't believe in the reality of hell.  The latter is a grim reality, and those who rebuke the sinner simply see that is where the sinner is headed if he or she doesn't repent.

That dovetails into today's Gospel reading from Mark.  The very first recorded word that Jesus uttered in Mark's Gospel is "repent".  It even comes before "believe the Gospel".  The order is important.  However, too many of our leaders want to put false "happy faces" on God's clear teachings that they distort them in the presentations: hence the distorted version of the Spiritual Works of Mercy.  Too often they won't even tell Catholics what actions constitute inherent sins for fear of pricking seared consciences.  What doctor worthy of the name would withhold a truthful diagnosis to a sick patient?  How would that patient be able to follow proper remedies, uncomfortable those these remedies might be?  But that is what the "church of nice" is doing to Catholics in their pews. 

Let us pray that our priests find the resolve and courage to preach the whole truth to Catholics so that they can come to true, soul-saving repentance this Lent.

School Shootings And The Church

The article posted below is the work of Jim Fritz, a colleague of mine in the Catholic Media Coalition.

It was February 15^th and I was driving down to the abortion clinic in Hagerstown, Maryland, where, at the request of a friend, I had started a sidewalk counseling group some 11 years ago. We have a good group now, working two days a week. Since we started, the number of women going into the clinic has been cut in half, and the clinic  business has dropped from three days to two days a week.

              While driving to Hagerstown I listened to our local Catholic radio station. The host was interviewing a Monsignor, who is the president of a Catholic college. They were talking about the school massacre the day before in Florida.  Seventeen people were killed by a mentally deranged young man. He did not have living parents and he had an interest in automatic weapons. He legally owned the weapon he used in the school shooting.

              The Monsignor did not dwell upon it, but he did discuss gun control. This has been the routine with every school shooting.  I thought this was interesting because, when I was a boy, almost everyone owned and used guns, but there were never any school shootings. We used guns to hunt as we needed the food. This was in the 1930’s. Once in a while one would hear about a single shooting during a quarrel in a business and even at a government organization, but this was very unusual.

              But what has changed? We do not have more guns per citizen -- maybe even less per citizen. The Monsignor and others become too focused upon the weapon used and not the real cause of the problem. All of these assassins appear to have mental problems and would have committed some mass killing even if they used another means such as fire, which would be even more deadly.

              Let’s look at the real problem. What has changed in the past 100 years? In my time I grew up in the depression and then World War ll.  One change has been the percentage of people receiving money from the government and providing nothing in return. During the depression people were at least required to work for the Work Project Administration (WPA), the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) or some such group to receive income. Now we have a record number on welfare, giving nothing in return for money and food stamps, and the clergy is advocating for an increase.

Another change, which the Monsignor should be aware of, has been absence of God in our culture and in our families. There has been a huge decrease in the percentage of people attending church services. He did not mention this. What has caused this decrease and what does he and other clergy suggest we do about it?

Other changes have been the TV, radio, print media, movies and communication devices/methods such as smartphones and Facebook. These have had a tremendous effect on the younger generation. An even greater change since the days of no school shootings has been the legalization of both abortion and assisted suicide. Both of these legalizations of death have had a tremendous impact on the devaluation of human life.

What else to look at? What about the fact we have taken God out of school? We do not teach or give humanity dignity by teaching we are made in the image and likeness of God and that human life is therefore precious. Kids in the public school system have been taught about abortion. They are taught it is perfectly acceptable for a female to deliberately choose to kill her own baby in her own body for any reason whatsoever. Some girls still in school have already aborted their babies and in some cases, the schools have helped them do it. They are taught euthanasia is merciful. And the list goes on and on. Our schools are a problem. NBC asked a student who was in the Florida school during the shooting if guns should be banned. He answered, ”I think it has to do with mental health though. If he’s been expelled three different times, from three different schools, I think he should (have been) helped out.”

The problem needs to be more intelligently analyzed. If we do nothing we will continue to have mass killings. Even if guns are totally banned, a different, and probably worse method will be used.

Getting back to my trip to Hagerstown, I started thinking about the past week when, coincidently, we had the same number of babies, 17, killed in the Hagerstown Abortion Facility as were killed in the school mass shooting. I thought if I were at Mass, instead of driving to the facility, I would surely hear about the mass shooting of 17 students, but I would not hear anything about the estimated 2,800 babies killed by paid abortionists on that very same day and every other day of the year. Why is this? Why do we have Catholic politicians voting to continue supporting abortion in the United States? Why do we have Catholic politicians using taxpayer money to support the abortion business? Is this lack of respect for human life a part of the cause for school massacres? It surely must be.  If our own government actually subsidizes the organizations which kill human beings which should be safe in their mother’s wombs, how can it help but reduce the respect for any human life? Some mentally challenged teenagers are going to think it is ok for them to choose to kill.

The clergy seem to be pre-occupied with justifying the vagaries of the cocaine- addicted homosexuals in the Vatican and Venezuela, fornicating in self-defense, adultery for the sake of the children, fighting a non-existent climate change, etc. rather than doing something about the disintegration of families and respect for God as our Savior. Our Church is becoming more and more irrelevant in guiding us in accordance with what Jesus Christ taught.

I challenge our clergy to do much more to teach our faith and to keep members in the Church. This includes not doing things to drive them out of the Church. We do not need to accept those unfaithful such as homosexuals, who Jesus would reject. We do not need to retain unfaithful clergy, for example, pedophiles, who should be ejected from the Church. We do not need modernist clergy to weaken Jesus’s teaching so it is easier for us to understand. We need clergy to do more and ask more of us.

Jesus did not ask us to spend an hour a week in the temple. He asked much, much more of our clergy and of us. He expects us to take on challenges even though they may be unpopular and he asked us to fight to the death for our faith.