The Pill Mandate is blowing up in both of Barack Obama’s faces. The diversionary attempt to rally female voters to the president’s side just ain’t workin’. Unlike elitist law student Sandra Fluke, polls and yesterday’s primaries in AL and MS indicate the majority of American women are far more angered over the president’s disastrous economic policies than they are enraptured over his contraceptive bread & circuses.

And what moves the Pill Mandate into the really bad idea column is the energizing effect it has had on the often lethargic hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Priests are generally constrained by their Bishops from speaking extemporaneously on issues even remotely seen as political. But the mandate has clearly been the final straw.

Scores of priests are suddenly letting lose from pulpits, blogs and videos against not only the injustice of the mandate, but also on the evils and dangers of abortion and contraception.

Here Father John Hollowell, of the Diocese of Indianapolis, confronts Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards on the mandate and the destructive lies and disinformation PP perpetrates upon the young, the frightened and the ignorant.

“Young people… are no longer content to be fed the lies that your organization puts out… We have no doubt that in 20, or 50, or 100 years other societies and other civilizations will look back and lump your organization in with the slave traders, the Nazis, the communists and all those groups that have sought to oppress people”!

“You better knock us out now, you and the president in seeking to silence the Church… better knock us out right now because, Cecile, I can promise you here comes the Catholic Church”!

Come on Father, quit beating around the bush and tell Ms Richards what you really think.

This is exactly the type of outspoken leadership that the Catholic Church has been lacking for decades. But finally, like every schoolboy, America’s Bishops seem to have learned the hard way that you don’t turn back a bully by trying to reason with him.

You stick your fist in his face.

Our Christian Conservative Spectator blog has temporarily moved off of politics to run a series of posts on “Turning America To The Divine Mercy” as offered to mankind by Jesus through the Diary Of Saint Maria Faustina.

Perhaps at no time in our history has America as a country been in such dire need of God’s Mercy, and the state sanctioned genocide of 52 million helpless boys and girls in their mother’s wombs is without doubt the greatest reason.

Cloaking the dismemberment, decapitation and poisoning of our children as a “freedom” may be Satan’s greatest achievement. A woman’s freedom or “right to choose”, we are told by feminists and the billion dollar abortion industry, is a “privacy issue” which impacts no one else. But someone always suffers for each abortion.

Jesus Himself made that clear to us when Saint Faustina began to experience nightly sufferings in “reparation to God for the souls murdered in the womb”.

The following excerpts from diary entry 1276 describes Saint Faustina’s sufferings
__

“September 16, 1937. I wanted very much to make a Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament today, but God’s will was otherwise. At eight o’clock I was seized with such violent pains that I had to go to bed at once. I was convulsed with pain for three hours; that is, until eleven o’clock at night. No medicine had any effect on me, and whatever I swallowed I threw up.

At times, the pains caused me to lose consciousness. Jesus had me realize that in this way I took part in His Agony in the Garden, and that He himself allowed these sufferings in order to offer reparation to God for the souls murdered in the wombs of wicked mothers.

I have gone through these sufferings three times now. They always start at eight o’clock in the evening and last until eleven. No medicine can lessen these sufferings. When eleven o’clock comes, they cease by themselves, and I fall asleep at that moment. The following day, I feel very weak.

This happened to me for the first time when I was at the sanatorium. The doctors couldn’t get to the bottom of it, and no injection or medicine helped me at all nor did I myself have any idea of what the sufferings were about. I told the doctor that never before in my life had I experienced such sufferings, and he declared he did not know what sort of pains they are.

But now I understand the nature of these pains, because the Lord himself has made this known to me…. Yet when I think that I may perhaps suffer in this way again, I tremble. But I don’t know whether I’ll ever again suffer in this way; I leave that to God. What it pleases God to send, I will accept with submission and love. If only I could save even one soul from murder by means of these sufferings!”
__

From the day Cain murdered Abel, someone always suffers for the taking of innocent life. And so it is, so it must be, with abortion. The child torn from the safety of the womb and discarded in a garbage pail to be sure. The mother, many times. Often times the fathers and/or grandparents. Lives and souls wounded and often destroyed.

But now, after years of spurning God’s greatest and most loving gift – life itself – God’s justice is beginning to demand reparation from America as a nation. The accelerating plunge of our country into the abyss is no political or economic stutter step. Why would America escape the Divine retribution that has always been visited upon the merciless practitioners of genocide?

And we all, including the innocent such as Saint Faustina, will make those reparations to God unless America reaffirms our founding fathers’ commitment to a God given inalienable right to life for all, from conception until natural death, and we each turn to Jesus and implore His Divine Mercy.

That is the whole basis for Jesus’ message to mankind through the Diary Of Saint Maria Faustina. Jesus invites, virtually begs us, to turn to His Divine Mercy, open to even the worst of sinners, before He returns to us as the instrument of His Father’s Divine Justice.

And ultimately it is how long pro-choice Christians continue to assert their will over God’s that will decide America’s fate.

Today the Catholic Church celebrates the beatification of Pope John Paul II, the final step prior to Sainthood. On the day of John Paul II’s funeral in April 2005, Vatican Square teemed with signs reading “Santo Subito” – Sainthood Now. He was that kind of man. He had that kind of impact on the world.

Blessed John Paul II was the People’s Pope, by far the most widely traveled, popular, loved and revered Pontiff in modern history. He was also one of the most effective – instrumental in ending communist control of Eastern Europe, diminishing the schism with the Eastern Orthodox Churches, reaching out to Protestants and effecting rapprochement with Judaism and Islam.

The man’s inherent humanity renewed the Church’s beleaguered image and his innate love of Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary, coupled with an incredible energy, revitalized the faith of millions of Catholics.

And all of these accomplishments, all of the love and faith that Blessed John Paul II inspired in people around the world, can be traced to the focus of his Papacy. The Gospel of Life.

Evangelium Vitae – The Gospel of Life – was John Paul II’s most well known Encyclical. But the Gospel of Life is not just about condemning abortion as liberals would have us believe.

In summarizing and re-asserting a millennium of infallible Catholic Doctrine, Evangelium Vitae underscored that the very essence of life is God. “Man is called to a fullness of life which far exceeds the dimensions of his earthly existence, because it consists in sharing the very life of God. The loftiness of this supernatural vocation reveals the greatness and the inestimable value of human life even in its temporal phase.”

Thus, as well as being created in the image and likeness of God, from the moment of conception each human life exists as part of God’s very existence. Therefore it stands that any crime against human life – contraception, abortion, euthanasia, suicide, murder – is a crime against God.

And any crime against the dignity of life – poverty, slavery, prostitution, pornography, addiction, homosexual marriage – is likewise an affront to God, Who lives in all of us. As is communism which places the value of the state over the value of the human being. For John Paul II and Ronald Reagan, their determination to end communist control of Eastern Europe was as rooted in the Gospel of Life as their opposition to abortion.

Though Pope John Paul II showed that Gospel of Life applies to almost every aspect of human existence, the focal point of Evangelium Vitae had to be abortion. By 1995, when Evangelium Vitae was published, abortion was sweeping through the world like a pestilence. Nothing destroyed more human life than abortion. That is still the case today.

And in 1995, as is the case today, the Church was under attack from within by “progressive” Catholic theologians, politicians and educators engaged in a concerted effort to scandalize the Catholic Faithful by disputing or distorting the Catholic Church’s immutable teaching that abortion is an intrinsic “moral evil”.

True social justice for the poor and oppressed, as preached in Evangelium Vitae, has been twisted by progressives into grounds for American Catholics to justify their support of the liberal politicians who enable the dismemberment, decapitation and poisoning of over one million helpless pre-born boys and girls each year.

Nothing could be more contrary to the teachings of Blessed John Paul II. And on this day he is surely looking down upon his misguided pro-choice brothers and sisters in Christ, with that beautiful, loving smile, and asking you to come home on life, the very essence of our loving God.

The lies and deceptions of Satan on abortion are many and well woven. But God has given us the capacity to discern the truth on abortion if we truly choose to do so. Blessed John Paul II made that clear in Evangelium Vitae.

“Even in the midst of difficulties and uncertainties, every person sincerely open to truth and goodness can, by the light of reason and the hidden action of grace, come to recognize in the natural law written in the heart (cf. Rom 2:14-15) the sacred value of human life from its very beginning until its end, and can affirm the right of every human being to have this primary good respected to the highest degree. Upon the recognition of this right, every human community and the political community itself are founded.”

Amen

]]> http://radiantcross.org/Right-To-Life/2011/05/01/blessed-john-paul-ii-the-gospel-life/feed/ 0 http://radiantcross.org/Right-To-Life/2010/10/10/o-stupid-catholics-who-has-bewitched-you/ http://radiantcross.org/Right-To-Life/2010/10/10/o-stupid-catholics-who-has-bewitched-you/#comments Sun, 10 Oct 2010 04:00:53 +0000 Jerry Weyrich http://radiantcross.org/Right-To-Life/?p=1691 A parish priest's message for pro-choice Catholics We have often asked "Where is the Catholic Church" on abortion? Yes, Pope Benedict XVI speaks out adamantly and eloquently on the Church's immutable stance on abortion as an "intrinsic moral evil". But messages from the Church hierarchy in America, the US Conference Of Catholic Bishops, have often been mixed. And the words and deeds of numerous members of the Catholic "establishment" have literally been scandalous in attempting to mislead America's Catholics on their responsibilities in opposing abortion. Since the 2008 election debacle, a few bishops have asked several notable pro-abortion Catholic legislators and government officials to refrain from presenting themselves at the communion rail. But the responsibility for guiding the Catholic faithful, and protecting their souls, on the issue of life cannot just be laid on the bishops. The guidance and admonitions must come from the parish pulpit, the parish priest. One priest willing to lay it on the line for his congregation is Father Richard Perozich of Escondido, CA. Father Perozich recently wrote an article on the upcoming elections for his parish bulletin. For those of us wondering "where is the Catholic Church", Father Perozich provides a clear message that we can hope all Catholics will take to heart.]]> A parish priest’s message for pro-choice Catholics

We have often asked “Where is the Catholic Church” on abortion? Yes, Pope Benedict XVI speaks out adamantly and eloquently on the Church’s immutable stance on abortion as an “intrinsic moral evil”, as stated in #2271 of the Catechism Of The Catholic Church.

But messages from the Church hierarchy in America, in the form of the US Conference Of Catholic Bishops, have often been mixed and lacking firm resolution, especially when dealing with prominent pro-abortion Catholic legislators. And the words and deeds of numerous members of the Catholic “establishment” – university administrators, theologians, professors and healthcare workers – have literally been scandalous in attempting to mislead America’s Catholics on their responsibilities in opposing abortion.

The situation has improved somewhat since the 2008 election debacle which saw 55% of Catholic voters supporting hard core abortion zealot Barack Obama. A few bishops, after extensive attempts at counseling, have asked several notable pro-abortion Catholic legislators and government officials to refrain from presenting themselves at the communion rail.

But the responsibility for guiding the Catholic faithful, and protecting their souls, on the issue of life cannot just be laid on the bishops. How many Catholics have direct contact, let alone a pastoral relationship, with their bishops? The guidance and admonitions must come from the parish pulpit, the parish priest. The primary spiritual caregiver, so to speak. Too many priests willingly duck discussions of life and the civic responsibilities of Catholics. Most homilies focus in a general way on the scripture reading for the day and then it’s time for everyone to go home to milk and cookies.

One priest willing to lay it on the line for his congregation, and America’s Catholics in general, is Father Richard Perozich, Pastor of St Mary Catholic Church in Escondido, CA. Father Perozich recently wrote an article on the upcoming elections for his parish bulletin that has also appeared online. For those of us wondering “where is the Catholic Church” on abortion, euthanasia and homosexual marriage, Father Perozich provides a clear message that we can hope all Catholics will take to heart.

Here are some excerpts from “O Stupid Catholics Who Has Bewitched You?”. The full article can be read here

Begin Text

Catholics, even though we live in a country and are citizens of that country, have a higher calling and responsibility to God and to our neighbor to promote God’s truth even when others hate it, reject it, and hate us for proclaiming it. We are citizens in an earthly realm, but more importantly we are citizens of the new kingdom of heaven with Jesus as the Lord, His laws as our prime way of life, and called to live them and to promote them even to unbelievers.

We live in a society where many people with power, possessions, and prestige are promoting ideas that are not founded in Christ. In order to promote their ideas over ours, they tell us we must stay in our churches, keep our religion to ourselves, and that their idea of separation of the church from the state (which does not exist in our American Constitution as they say it does) trumps any ideas we might have, so we have to shut up.

And Catholics sheepishly keep quiet and vote for men and women who promote evil.

In chapter 3 of Galatians, St. Paul, frustrated with the Galatians allowing non-believers to silence the truth even to the point of the Galatians returning to pagan or evil ways chastises them saying, “O stupid Galatians. Who has bewitched you?”

It can be said of us in America in the year 2010, “O stupid Catholics, who has bewitched you?” We easily go over to pagan ideas, putting aside our faith, our truth, in order to accommodate the evil of people who will not accommodate us! To promote their ideas they attack us personally calling us the far right, ultra-conservative, bigoted, homophobic, hate mongers, holy rollers, and other epithets. This silences many Catholics. It only emboldens me, and it should embolden you also to promote your faith.

In the fights in politics, all sides cannot win. It is either going to be the way of evil or the way of truth. You must engage it as an ambassador for Christ and not as an agent of the devil. God is life. Jesus is King. Christians are citizens of the kingdom sharing in life, the mission of God to promote it constantly in every forum.

You have heard the mantra, “I’m a fiscal conservative, but a social liberal.” Nonsense. The societal responsibilities come first, and from a sound society built on biblical principles flow the economic concerns.

The people Americans put into office in 2006 and 2008 …are using the economy to tear apart the entire social fabric of society to promote abortion here in our country and abroad; to kill new life in embryos; to kill the elderly and sick; to destroy the nature of gender and marriage; to allow sexually-immature people to be predators of others to try to satisfy their lack of psychological development.

For us Catholics, the basic issues are: Life from conception to natural death, that is, protection of the unborn, those with life, and those who are sick; protection of new life in its most nascent form, the embryo; protection from cloning to farm body parts; protection from sexual deviance in the form of pederasty, homosexuality, adultery, fornication, prostitution.

An elite class has assumed power in the United States, transcending political parties. They claim to know more than the people the elites represent. They do not. Their interest is keeping their positions in which they earn upwards of $200,000 with a health plan that is not part of the new one passed for the rest of us. They plan the destruction of the military, the silence of the churches and free voices, the destruction of children, embryos. They simply cannot stay in power. I have voted for some of them despite their mixed policies.

But enough! I refuse to cast a vote for anyone who supports abortion, sexual confusion to be forced in the military [and] marriage, school curricula, or any other societal aspect, cloning, embryonic stem cell research, or euthanasia. I am a Catholic. I am a citizen of the kingdom of God and will promote that kingdom in all parts of my life.

My hope rests in Jesus Christ and His salvation exactly from the very things these politicians are promoting. Change is repentance from sin, conversion to God, and reparation of the damage by following the Commandments without relativizing them.

Hope and change did not come in 2008. I’m going to do my part to see that it does in 2010.

End Text

Millions of Catholics look to their pastors for direction in our increasingly secular times, longing (or needing) to hear the type of uncompromising fidelity to the Magisterium of the Church and inspiring words that are frequently heard from EWTN’s Father John Corapi, Father Frank Pavone and Mother Angelica.

A good dose of Pastor John Hagee style thunder and lightening on abortion from Catholic pulpits wouldn’t hurt either.

For those Catholics who feel that the messages from their pulpit on life are mixed, weak or non-existent, it may just be a matter of letting your Pulpit know how you feel. Hand him a copy of Father Perozich’s article and see what happens.

You’d be surprised how wild fire can spread.

Planned Parenthood recently honored abortion heroine Nancy Pelosi for her success in passing legislation that will dramatically expand abortion on demand in America, and provide federal funding of abortions, under the guise of “healthcare reform”.

Apparently inspired by the fact that in creating this incredible windfall for the abortion industry Speaker Pelosi lied to every citizen in America, from members of her own party to the bishops of her church, Planned Parenthood created a brand new award for “practicing Catholic” Pelosi, the Champion of Women’s Health Award. “She’s walked across hot coals for us” beamed PP President Cecile Richards.

And a windfall it will be with newly created Obamacare “high risk insurance pools” in PA, MD, and NM already accessing $5 billion dollars in federal taxpayer funds to provide coverage for elective abortions. Guess who will be preforming most of those abortions.

But Planned Parenthood has done a great disservice in not also recognizing the duplicitous efforts of a group of dedicated progressive Catholics who were instrumental in bringing home that wonderful windfall – the “Social Justice Sisters”. Last night, Abortion Incorporated rectified this ungrateful lack of recognition.

Abortion Incorporated (or Ab Inc) is our term for the coalition of clinics, doctors, referral services and interest groups that comprise the billion dollar business that is abortion in America. RadiantCross.org has inadvertently received what is purported to be a partial transcript of Ab Inc’s annual awards banquet.

Transcript Begins

Tonight it is only fitting that we begin by honoring, with a vintage Cristal toast, President Barack Obama who has provided an incredible return on Abortion Incorporated’s investment in his 2008 campaign. Mr Obama is, without doubt, the most incredible “Rainmaker” (wink, wink – crowd laughs and applauds heartily) our industry has ever known (speaker raises glass on high, crowd cheers). The president will, of course, be Ab Inc’s Man Of The Year for the third year running! (band strikes up For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow, crowd chugs Cristal)

Alright, easy folks, we don’t want things to get out of hand like last year- those blow up dolls made up to look like Henry Waxman and Bella Abzug? At Least Not This Early! Right? (sporadic yells and whistles).

Seriously friends, what inspires me most about our friend in the White House are his resilience and cunning. Despite his many successes on our behalf, the president was not able to deliver on the big enchilada, the Freedom Of Choice Act. There just weren’t the cajones in congress for that one. (sporadic boos)

So what happens? Did our guy come running to me whining “Godfather, Godfather, what can I do?” No! He acted like the man we bought and paid for. “Godfather”, he reassured me, “don’t worry. Leave everything to me. I’ll take care of everything”.

And bang! Outta’ nowhere, big Nancy, little Harry and that well preserved Health And Human Services babe smuggle a good many of the provisions of FOCA into a 2,000 page – get this – healthcare reform bill. Nancy and Harry managed to bribe and threaten the thing through congress before anyone could even read it. (standing ovation, champagne bottles pop) This one’s to us folks! (raises glass, more Cristal down the hatch) It pays to buy the best. And I ain’t talkin’ about the champagne! (riotous laughter)

But it was a close one. As you all know, our forsworn enemy the Catholic Church narrowly derailed the whole thing. Their bishops had us cold on the abortion subterfuge and sent a letter saying so to every member of congress. Anti-abortion Catholics, democrats if you can believe it, were gonna block the bill without airtight language prohibiting the use of federal funds to cover abortions. I mean where are our customers gonna get that kind of money these days without Uncle? Right?

We needed someone on the inside, inside the Catholic Church, to throw it our way. Well Nanc’, you know, “practicing Catholic” (holds up fingers in quote signs as crowd laughs) Nancy Pelosi? Big Nancy puts in the fix. Nanc’ gets a hold of a couple of big name progressive Catholic social workers, sisters not nuns, and tells them that the bishops have it all wrong. There ain’t any expansion of abortion coverage in the healthcare bill and absolutely no federal funding of abortion. “You wanna’ help the uninsured don’t you” Nancy asks – as if that actually had anything to do with it. “You’re for social justice aren’t you sisters?”

Bingo! They’re hooked. Nanc’ knows that, like her, these progressive social justice sisters have little use for the bishops and are always on the look out for an opportunity to show them up. So they’re happy to take big Nancy’s word on no abortion in the bill and come out with a statement repudiating their own bishops and encouraging Catholics to support Obamacare.

The rest is history and the money from Uncle is already starting to flow to clinics in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Mexico. So I think it behooves us tonight to honor the two most prominent social justice sisters who led the way in overcoming Catholic concerns stirred up by the US Conference Of Catholic Bishops’ warning on abortion in the healthcare reform bill. Sister Carol Keehan, of the Catholic Healthcare Association, and Sister Simone Campbell, Executive Director of NETWORK, a social justice lobby which claimed (laughing) to represent 59,000 nuns supporting Obamacare. Oh, right on sisters! (more Cristal, wild cheering, one loud burp)

We couldn’t reasonably expect the good sisters to join us tonight, so I present, in absentia, our newly created Abortion Incorporated Champion Of Social Justice At Any Cost Award to Sister Carol Keehan and Sister Simone Campbell. (scattered polite applause, two glasses drop and shatter)

Thank you sisters, (speech starting to slur) from the bottom of our, uh, greedy little hearts. (slight giggle) Tonight the many arms of Abortion Incorporated can look forward to unparalleled prosper, uh, prosper-ity in the years to come, thanks in large part to your blind, uh, commitments to social justice. Whatever that is.

At any rate business is gonna be good. We’ll probably have to stick another dumpster behind each clinic. (dead silence)

Transcript Ends

Sister Carol Keehan
Catholic Health Association
RE: The Cost Of Your Presidential Pen

Dear Sister Keehan

The fact that President Obama awarded you a Presidential Pen in recognition of your support for “healthcare reform”, would seem to indicate that your public contradiction of the US Conference Of Catholic Bishops on the abortion language in the bill played an important part in making Obamacare the law of our land.

The USCCB recently issued a statement which pointed out that your open break with the bishops “lacked an understanding of these particular issues” and “resulted in confusion and a wound to Catholic unity”.

Now, as the evils nested in those thousands of pages of healthcare legislation are beginning to leak out, it may be an appropriate time for you, Sister Keehan, to reflect upon what your actions have wrought for the American people.

It is quite evident that the bishops, along with millions of pro-life Christians, were correct about the abortion promulgating aspects of the senate healthcare bill. Various loopholes do indeed provide for taxpayer funding of abortions. Mandates require Insurance Exchanges to cover abortion services. Publicly funded Community Health Centers will offer abortion services.

State legislatures are now forced to pass legislation to exempt their states from having to fund the abortion provisions in the bill. States with democratic governors, of course, will not be able to do so. Committed pro-life taxpayers in those states will be forced to fund abortions. And abortions are very likely to increase in such states.

The president’s plan, you said, was too important for the bishops to hold up quibbling over abortion. Where, you asked, was the USCCB’s commitment to  “social justice”? The plan, you stated while standing next to VP Biden, would provide insurance coverage for 30 million uninsured Americans.

Much to the surprise of many uninsured Americans, no such coverage will be available until 2014. Healthcare taxes, however, are being levied on businesses resulting in higher healthcare costs. An estimated 14 million (Actuary Office of Health And Human Services) to 35 million (former Director of the Congressional Budget Office Douglas Holtz-Eakin) people are now expected to lose or be transitioned out of their current employer based health plan.

Socialized medicine is not social justice
All of which is inline with the true purpose of the president’s plan, the eventual transition to a single payer, government controlled healthcare system. Socialized Medicine. Unfortunately, Sister Keehan, socialized medicine has failed miserably in every country in which it has been implemented. And, as with every other government controlled healthcare system in existence, rationing of treatment for the elderly, the seriously ill and the disabled will, by economic necessity, become part and parcel of Obamacare in the future. There is no “social justice” in socialized medicine.

Sister we do not question your commitment to the sanctity of life, or your motives. The work done in the hospitals belonging to the Catholic Health Association reflect some of the highest values espoused by the Catholic Church.

But where was your judgment in ignoring the dire warnings of the Catholic bishops and relying on the word of committed pro-abortion zealots Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Kathleen Sebelius? However noble your intentions for aiding the uninsured, you instead aided and abetted in promulgating the greatest social injustice of our time, the taking of innocent children’s lives in their mothers’ wombs. And helped to initiate the dismantling of the finest healthcare system in the world.

Socialism and “social justice” are, to various degrees, interchangeable terms for many liberals and progressives. But as the country goes on from here, Sister Keehan, we ask you to reflect upon your experience with the passage of Obamacare. Please bear in mind that socialism has always viewed religion as an enemy. Unless it can be exploited.

Hopefully you have come to understand the reason you were given that pen. And the cost of that pen to the country.

OMSNBC talk show hostess Rachel Maddow and liberal columnist E J Dionne have temporarily been reborn. Long time critics of the Roman Catholic Church, Maddow and Dionne suddenly find themselves full of admiration for “nuns”. A stunning 59,000 “nuns” who, in defiance of the US Conference Of Catholic Bishops, have come out in favor of the abortion promulgating senate healthcare bill.

Maddow, at her “perkiest” best, asks “Who would you pick in a fight? Congressman Bart Stupak or 59,000 nuns?” Dionne titled his Washington Post Op-Ed column today “On Health Care, Listen To The Nuns”.

Well there are nuns, designated as such by the Catholic Church. And there are vocational sisters. And then there are “progressive Catholic” vocational sisters. Anyone care to guess which classification fits the Maddow and Dionne ideal of “nuns”?.

Though both nuns and vocational sisters are addressed as “sister”, there is a major difference between the two in regards to their official affiliations and obligations to the Roman Catholic Church. And there is no massive rally of nuns lobbying America’s Catholic Bishops to sanction Obamacare.

True nuns are members of Vatican recognized religious orders who have taken solemn vows, live in a communal environment and recite the Liturgy Of The Hours and other prayers together as a community. The Benedictines, Carmelites, Poor Clares and Dominicans are examples of orders whose members are recognized by the Catholic Church as nuns. Most orders of true nuns still dress in traditional “habits”. Few, if any, true nuns support the senate healthcare bill.

Sisters, in contrast, simply dedicate themselves to living a vocational life, usually in service of the poor or the sick. These are noble vocations and many vocational orders, but far from all, are officially recognized by the Vatican. But living a vocational life does confer the title of nun.

Since the Vatican II Council in the 60s, many nuns have discarded their habits, abandoned their convents or cloisters, and begun living vocational, secular lives while still referring to themselves as nuns. Last year the Vatican initiated an “Apostolic Visitation”, an investigation of women in Catholic religious life in America, to determine whether they are “living in fidelity” to the religious life as prescribed by the Vatican. The Apostolic Visitation will also evaluate “the soundness of doctrine held and taught” in the name of the Church.

Many lapsed nuns, and a majority of vocational sisters, are members of the “progressive Catholic” movement who stand in outright opposition to the official Magisterium of the Catholic Church and the authority of the Pope to govern Catholic life in America. Progressive Catholics consider themselves free to disregard Church teaching on “social justice issues”- women in the priesthood, homosexuality, homosexual marriage and “reproductive rights”.

Progressive they may be, but nuns they are not
Putting the P in progressive Catholic are the members of NETWORK- A National Social Justice Lobby. This is the group that purports to represent 59,000 “nuns” supporting the senate healthcare bill.

A quick look at the NETWORK website will quickly dispel any worries that the Catholic faithful might have over thousands of traditional nuns, in habits with rosaries dangling from their waists, storming the offices of the Conference Of Catholic Bishops demanding support for Obamacare.

NETWORK is a progressive voice within the Catholic community that has been influencing Congress in favor of peace and justice for more than 30 years

NETWORK Mission – a Catholic leader in the global movement for justice and peace – educates, lobbies and organizes for economic and social transformation

Sister Simone Campbell SSS (Sisters Of Social Service), Executive Director of NETWORK, and self proclaimed spokesperson for The 59,000, is described on the NETWORK website as an “attorney and poet with extensive experience in public policy and advocacy for systemic change.”

The issues that NETWORK focuses on include Economic Justice, Peacemaking, Comprehensive Immigration Reform and “Ecological Justice”. No mention of abortion, which the Catholic Church has designated as an intrinsice  “moral evil”. Not even a sentence in reference to the greatest social justice issue of our time, the slaughter of 50 million American boys and girls under the auspices of Roe v Wade.

Progressive Catholic “social justice” communities, organizations or lobbies have never been in the vanguard of the Catholic Church’s fight for the right to life of America’s unborn children. And the women following the NETWORK banner on healthcare are not true nuns who live in accordance to the governance of the Catholic Church.

Progressive, liberal or otherwise, women living vocational lives in service of the poor and the sick do reflect some of the highest values espoused by the Catholic Church. But as social workers, they are completely unqualified to advise Catholics, or anyone else for that matter, on abortion or government legislation.

Whether it was the idea of NETWORK, or the two touts for anything Obama – Maddow and Dionne – to designate The 59,000 as “nuns”, the clearly orchestrated intention here is to aid and abet progressive Catholic Nancy Pelosi in further misleading pro-life democrats in the House Of Representatives, and Catholics in general, on the Catholic Church’s position on Obamacare.

Blind faith in the faithless
The “healthcare reform” bill which NETWORK and its followers urge American Catholics  to accept, contains over 2,000 pages of far reaching legislation. Legislation that was drawn up in secrecy and passed in the senate with virtually no debate, and is now scheduled to be “deemed as passed” in the US House Of Representatives without an actual vote.

In intentionally overlooking the loopholes within loopholes on abortion funding which America’s Catholic Bishops have pointed out in the senate healthcare bill, The 59,00 are in essence asking fellow Catholics to have faith in the assurances of Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Kathleen Sebelius that there will be no federal funding or expansion of abortion as healthcare “services or benefits”.

Trust in God is one thing, but get serious sisters.

Stay tuned to OMSNBC for this weekend’s rally of 118,000 “conservative evangelicals” for Obamacare, led by Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

“I talked to the Catholic bishops about this…  There is no federal funding of abortion in this bill. …This bill that passed the Senate does not have federal funding of abortion”. Catholic Speaker Of The House Nancy Pelosi lying, again, about the abortion provisions firmly ensconced in the senate “healthcare reform” bill. Though lying directly to the US Conference Of Catholic Bishops may be taking it up a notch, misleading people over abortion is nothing new for Ms Speaker.

Actually, the only time “practicing Catholic” Pelosi, as she always seem to refer to herself when speaking publicly about abortion, even mentions the Catholic Church, is when she is blatantly distorting the Church’s Catechism on abortion in order to mislead and corrupt others.

In doing so, Nancy Pelosi is committing scandal. Per # 2284 of The Catechism Of The Catholic Church, “Scandal is an attitude or behavior that leads another to do evil. …Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is lead into a grave offense. And # 2271 of the CCC declares, in no uncertain terms, abortion to be a “moral evil” and that “This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable”.

As Speaker Of The House, Ms Pelosi’s efforts to scandalize Catholics and other pro-life Christians is considered to be especially grave due to her position of power. ”Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it…” (CCC #2285)

Perpetuating scandal on the faithful
At the height of the 2008 election, with the Catholic Church, and Christians in general, assailing Barack Obama’s record as a pro-abortion zealot and his pledge to pass the FOCA, practicing Catholic Pelosi went on Meet The Press and told Christians across America that the question of when life begins was “an issue of controversy throughout the history of the Church”… and that “The Doctors of the Church have not been able to make that definition”. A lie which was quickly refuted by the USCCB and many Catholics in congress.

In the case of the Senate healthcare bill, passed on December 24, all claims that that bill would not provide federal funding for abortion, or do anything to promote the expansion of abortion in America, were refuted by the Conference Of Catholic Bishops and numerous pro-life advocacy groups within 48 hours.

In response to Ms Pelosi’s “I talked to the bishops…” statement of February 26, Richard Doerflinger, speaking on behalf of the USCCB said “We do not know how anyone who has spoken to the bishops could conclude that the Senate health care bill does not fund abortions.”

”First, the Senate’s abortion language limits only the use of tax credits for abortion in qualified health plans, not other funding in the bill”. Second, the Senate’s language on tax credits still allows subsidies for overall health plans that cover elective abortions, against the policy of the Hyde amendment and other longstanding federal laws,”

“The bill requires each American purchasing such a plan to make a separate payment to the insurer every month, solely to pay for other people’s abortions… This is an enormous imposition on the consciences of the millions of Americans who oppose abortion.”

The National Right To Life Committee points out that President Obama’s proposed changes to the senate bill will “increase the funds that would be available to directly subsidize abortion procedures”, at some 1,200 so called Community Health Centers, “and to subsidize private health insurance that covers abortion. …These funds will not flow through the annual appropriations bill for the Department of Health and Human Services. Therefore, these funds would not be covered by the Hyde Amendment.”

Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius is empowered by the senate bill with the authority to approve how the billions of dollars directed to “Community Health Centers” can be utilized. Anyone who knows anything about Barack Obama and Ms Sebelius, and their cold hearted commitments to unrestricted abortion on demand, understands the implications here.

So much for what practicing Catholic Nancy told the bishops.

As an American citizen, Ms Pelosi is entitled to advocate openly for “abortion rights”. Free country. And the bishops, of course, were not misled in the least, by now expecting nothing less (or better) of Pelosi. No one scandalized there. As for lying to the USCCB, and supporting unrestricted abortion on demand in direct opposition to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, Nancy Pelosi’s soul is her own business.

But Nancy Pelosi has no business, whatsoever, using her position as Speaker Of The House to intentionally try to mislead pro-life House democrats, Americans in general, and Catholics in particular, about abortion legislation. That is scandal.

Bishops have been “patient enough”
And it is time for this scandal to stop. Since the November 2008 elections, when 54% of Catholic voters supported ruthless abortion zealot Obama, we have asked the question Where Is The Catholic Church? The US Conference Of Catholic Bishops has been negligent in protecting their flocks from the type of scandal perpetuated by the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden. To date, the bishops’ refutations of Speaker Pelosi’s misleading statements, or outright lies, have simply contradicted the facts of her statements. Official Church condemnation of Pelosi, personally, for attempting to scandalize the Catholic faithful has yet to be heard.

Hopefully, there are signs that the reluctance of the USCCB to speak out against such scandalizing is coming to an end. Speaking to Newsweek in December, Speaker Pelosi refuted outright the Catholic Church’s authority on matters of abortion, spouting the standard progressive Catholic position. “I am a practicing Catholic(!)… I practically mourn this difference of opinion… we are all endowed with, a free will and a responsibility to answer for our actions. And that women should have that opportunity to exercise their free will.”

In response, Bishop Ronald Gainer, of the Diocese of Lexington, KY, announced that he, for one, had had enough.

“To make these public statements is a betrayal of our Catholic faith and discipline.” Bishop Gainer cited Pelosi’s public position on abortion as a “contradiction and our Church is clear on what the teachings are regarding the sanctity of life, on the inviolability of human life. The bishops have an obligation to stand up for the Church’s teaching and when we have such a broad and public consistent denial of our Church’s moral position it would seem to indicate that we’ve been patient enough and something should be done.”

The bishop of Ms Pelosi’s diocese, Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco, concurred. “It is entirely incompatible with Catholic teaching to conclude that our freedom of will justifies choices that are radically contrary to the Gospel — racism, infidelity, abortion, theft…, Freedom of will is the capacity to act with moral responsibility; it is not the ability to determine arbitrarily what constitutes moral right.”

These public chastisements have clearly made no impression on Speaker Pelosi. Her statement that “There is no federal funding of abortion in this bill” is an easily demonstrable lie, and in saying that “I talked to the bishops” Ms Pelosi is clearly trying to imply to pro-life Catholic legislators and voters that America’s Catholic Bishops support the senate healthcare bill she hopes to force through the House.

As we stated in Is The Catholic Church Finally Taking A Stand?, the members of the USCCB give their lives to do God’s work and bring the souls entrusted to their care to heaven. They live to bring the Sacraments to the Catholic faithful, not to deny them. But all members of the Catholic clergy are duty bound to confront grave sin such as abortion and scandal, and to correct Catholics when they become corrupted by false teachings. Or false messiahs.

And the time has come when, as Bishop Gainer said, the USCCB has been “patient enough” with practicing Catholic Nancy Pelosi, and “something should be done”. For the sake of the Catholic faithful, the bishops need to take a stand here and issue a public statement prohibiting Nancy Pelosi from approaching the Communion Rail.

Catholics have prayed fervently for the redemption and repentance of all pro-abortion Catholic legislators and jurists. And we will continue to do so. In return, Speaker Of The House, “practicing Catholic” Nancy Pelosi has done her best to mislead her Catholic sisters and brothers on what the Catholic Church expects of them in regards to the “intrinsic evil” of abortion.

Nancy Pelosi’s soul is, as we said, her own business. She is perfectly free to disregard the admonitions of her bishop, and even the Pope. But as a “practicing Catholic”, Ms Pelosi might do well to reacquaint herself with the words of her Lord.

“Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to him by whom they come” Luke 17.1

Though it might not seem so considering events in Washington, 2009 was a better year for the pro-life community than it was for Abortion Incorporated, the radical hardcore abortion lobby.

President Barack Obama, backed to the hilt by a progressive democratic leadership in congress, did everything his newly acquired power permitted in making good on his campaign commitments to the abortion industry that spent heavily to place him in the White House. Beginning on his third full day in office, Mr Obama initiated an unprecedented series of executive orders and appointments clearly intended to undermine every common sense restriction on abortion made in the last 36 years. For a detailed list see the Life Site News article Obama Abortion Record.

Yet for the first time in those 36 years a majority of Americans polled consider themselves to be pro-life. America is rethinking abortion and the struggle for the rights of America’s unborn is being won in hearts and minds across the country. But Americans will not be allowed to “choose” life without a fight. Abortion Incorporated intends to confront that escalating pro-life sentiment with the full force of the federal government.

The slippery slope to genocide
The original rationale behind the “pro-choice” argument, and the way it was sold to the country, was that women whose health may be endangered by bringing a child to term, or who may be in some dire circumstance, such as being the victim of rape or incest, should have legal a legal option to terminate pregnancy. The extreme act of aborting a child’s life, it was implied, would be a rarity, performed strictly out of necessity.

The Roe v Wade decision, instead, granted a fallacious constitutional right to abortion and promptly became the slipperiest slope to genocide since the Nuremberg Laws codified another class of human beings as non-citizens, unworthy of the protection of the law. Since 1973, the lives of nearly 50 million unborn American girls and boys have been terminated by some of the most barbaric methods imaginable. And the vast majority of these abortions, have been performed strictly for convenience sake.

The innate barbarity of taking an infant’s life was cloaked by radical feminists and the abortion industry as a women’s rights issue. Carefully crafted euphemisms such a “family planning” and “reproductive rights” were incorporated into the American lexicon in order to ease the collective conscience of our country.

And as America’s conscience gradually numbed to what was happening in the nation’s abortion mills, terminating the lives of unborn children metastasized like a cancer into a billion dollar business. Planned Parenthood alone, for its last fiscal year, reported income of over $1 billion, including $349 million of tax payer funding via federal and state grants or contracts. That is nearly $1 million a day in taxpayer funding. These taxpayer funds are obtained under the guise of “counseling services”.

Getting America to rethink abortion
Undaunted by the forces of government and media aligned against them, groups such as The National Right To Life Committee, Priests For Life and Human Life International founded the pro-life movement. There were no illusions about overturning Roe in the near future. Instead the pro-life community set about changing the way America thought about abortion and began working to save One Baby At A Time.

The pro-life community grew steadily running mass media ads, conducting seminars, organizing prayer vigils, publishing newspapers and newsletters, and offering a variety of other services and resources, many free of charge. They successfully lobbied in Washington and state legislatures for common sense/decency restrictions on abortion. The end result of these tireless, often thankless, efforts are thousands of people alive today who would have otherwise been lost to the abortion mills.

Over the last three years the American people, especially America’s women, have begun to realize that they have been misled by radical feminism, the democratic party and the abortion industry about the horrible realities of what actually happens during an abortion. And America is finally beginning to hear about the often long term physical and emotional damage suffered by women who have undergone abortions.

America’s resurfacing collective conscience has come to comprehend that the wholesale destruction of millions of innocent children in the womb is the foremost humanitarian cause and civil rights issue of our time. A blight on every American’s right to life, as stated in the Declaration of Independence and a stain on the dignity of our nation.

Abortion Incorporated 2010
Opposition to abortion is mounting and the Abortion Incorporated network of clinics, doctors, referral services, politicians, political action committees and interest groups understands this only too well. 2010 will see a well funded, concerted effort to bring the full might and power of the federal  government to bear against the successful efforts of the pro-life community.

The radical abortion lobby’s bought and paid for legislators in Washington will be pushed to codify completely unrestricted abortion on demand as the law of land, one way or the other, prior to the democratic party’s implosion in the November elections. And the abortion lobby’s biggest hope in this regard is via the pending “healthcare reform” legislation currently being negotiated in complete secrecy.

Anyone who knows anything about Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and their cold hearted commitments to “abortion rights”, knows that nested somewhere in the two thousand or so pages of Obamacare will reside the means to implement every single provision of the Freedom Of Choice Act by government mandate. And no matter what misleading amendments purporting to restrict funding for abortions are pointed to secure the necessary votes, there will be ample legal loopholes designed to easily circumvent any such restrictions.

Count On It. If the only purpose of “healthcare reform” were to achieve the laudable goals of covering the uninsured and making healthcare more affordable, it could have been done quickly, cleanly and out in the open, with virtually unanimous support in congress and across the nation. Obamacare has been everything but, and a massive expansion of abortion is just one of the many evils incorporated within.

As laid out in Stopping The Abortion Mandate Means Stopping The Bill, the only hope to retain the successes achieved by the pro-life community over the last 36 years is to defeat Barack Obama’s attempt to initiate government control of America’s healthcare.

As things stand, the prospects seem daunting to say the least. But it is incumbent upon us to rain down letters, e-mails and phone calls on Capitol Hill expressing our opposition to Obamacare. Demand, as citizens and constituents, that the current boondoggle be scrapped and that the entire healthcare reform process be restarted and strictly limited to covering the uninsured and making healthcare more affordable.

Impossible? Hardly. Remember it is only necessary for one democratic or independent senator to change their vote. And remember also some friendly advice on the power of faith.

“Have faith in God. I assure you: If anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him”. Mark 11:22-23

Members of congress can be contacted through our White House And Congressional Contact page

Catholic Chris Matthews must have been a hit around the OMSNBC water cooler Monday night. The abject rudeness and sarcasm with which Matthews conducted his interview with a Catholic bishop on the issue of abortion no doubt sent tingly sensations, similar to the ones Chris says he gets when Barack Obama speaks, up the legs of all the pro-abortion gang at the least watched “news” network on television. Rambunctious hugs from Keith Olbermann and Andrea Mitchell. A sisterly kiss from Rachel Maddow. A great night to be a progressive liberal.

Never mind that all the “hits” Matthews thinks, or at least hoped others would think, he scored against Bishop Thomas Tobin, Diocese of Providence, RI, were based upon false premises and liberal claptrap. With the country steadily moving against the liberal false idol of abortion, someone had to get on the air and take the Catholic Church down a peg or two. And the obvious choice was someone who had already shred his dignity and lost all credibility as a journalist. A fool ready to rush in where true journalists tread with respect.

The basis for the interview was the recent public exchange over abortion between Bishop Tobin and Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D RI). (Is The Catholic Church Finally Taking A Stand?) In private correspondence in 2007, Bishop Tobin had asked Kennedy to refrain from presenting himself for Communion due to Kennedy’s avid support for pro-abortion legislation. Kennedy, however, took it upon himself to make the matter public with a sarcastic diatribe against the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ letter to members of congress expressing opposition to any healthcare legislation that did not specifically prohibit tax payer funding for abortions.

As Kennedy’s bishop, Bishop Tobin felt he had no choice but “to reply respond publicly and strongly whenever he attacks the Catholic Church, misrepresents the teachings of the Church, or issues inaccurate statements about my pastoral ministry….”

After clearly taking the worst of a couple of well publicized exchanges, Kennedy wisely chose to clam up and let the matter die out. At which point Matthews decided to ride in on his high horse and brow beat Bishop Tobin on the air.

The “penalty question”
There was nothing new in Matthew’s diatribe except for the embarrassing virulence. His attack on Bishop Tobin centered on two worn out pro-abortion red herrings. The “what should the penalty be…” question and the completely fallacious, especially in the case of a child’s life, “church and state” argument.

Matthews: “You’re coming down on Congressman Kennedy and other public officials. …Would you outlaw abortion?”

Tobin: “That’s the direction our nation ought to move… Keep in mind what we believe about abortion. Every time an abortion takes place, a baby dies. I don’t know how people of good conscience, especially people with a Catholic background, could take that position in good conscience.”

Matthews: “What penalty would you give for a woman getting an abortion.”

Bishop Tobin correctly responded that he could not speculate on what penalties would be imposed. Matthews persisted, rapid fire. Jail? For whom, just the woman? What about the doctor? For how long? The bishop simply reiterated there was no way a clergyman could respond to such a hypothetical legislative question.

Matthews followed the well known script culminating with the question that if pro-life advocates consider abortion to be the murder of a child, shouldn’t the woman and/or the doctor be charged with a capital crime? And when Bishop Tobin again declined to speculate one way or the other, Matthews stated that lacking penalties there would be no point in making abortion illegal. Which would be true. If Bishop Tobin had actually said that there shouldn’t be any penalties in such circumstances. He simply stated that he has no idea what they would be. And neither would Matthews.

In the likely event that Roe v Wade is overturned, the issue of abortion would return to the states, where it belongs. Any state choosing to illegalize abortion would set penalties considered appropriate. But crimes involving the death of a person, and the penalties for such crimes, vary widely according to state laws and the circumstances of each offense. First degree murder, second degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, criminal negligence, etc. Bishop Tobin’s admission of lack of experience in such matters hardly disqualifies him from saying that abortion is wrong and should be illegal.

Rendering the unborn unto Caesar
Declaring victory on the “penalty question”, Matthews then concluded by propping up the groundless church and statement argument. “I do believe that Jesus had it right when he said, ‘Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s…”.

Jesus always “had it right”. But Matthews, like all pro-abortion Catholics, twists scripture into knots scrambling for contradictions to the Magisterium of the Church. But it can be said, with all certainty, that nothing can be found in the words of Our Lord that justifies the dismembering and disposal of God’s children in the womb.

The “render to Caesar” passage, as in Luke 20:20, is often twisted by church and stators. Agents of the scribes and chief priests attempted to trick Jesus into saying that the Roman taxes levied upon Judea were unlawful. Requesting a Roman denarius, Jesus asks the agents whose image is stamped on the coin. “Caesar’s” was the reply. “Well then give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s”.

Whether translated give back or render, the passage says just the opposite of what Matthews implies. Tiberius Caesar’s image upon the denarius clearly marked the coin as property of the Roman government and therefore should be given back to Caesar. But only God creates life and, according to the “render passage”, all life belongs to God. Thus, in the case of an innocent unborn child, “Caesar” has no right to authorize the taking of that child’s life.

Throughout the interview Matthews facial expressions displayed anger and bitterness. His tone of voice dripped with contempt as he made it clear he was mocking Bishop Tobin each time he addressed the bishop as “your Excellency”. The utter rudeness of the interview drew extensive criticism in the media and on the internet. But it was obvious to anyone watching closely that Matthews knew how transparent his arguments were and that he was attempting to back a busted hand with bluff and bluster. Matthews Being Matthews.

Bishop Tobin, though definitely taken aback by the harsh rhetoric and persistent interruptions, maintained the dignified, quiet demeanor of a man who knew he was firmly grounded on the right side of the issue. His eyes and tone of voice reflected compassion and concern for both Patrick Kennedy and Chris Matthews.

Coming back home on abortion
Bishop Thomas Tobin is one of the many Catholic bishops who realize that the Catholic Church in America has been lax, if not outright negligent, on the “moral evil” of abortion. An intrinsic evil that not only claims the lives of over one million unborn children each year, but contaminates the souls of the legislators and jurists who make abortions possible, as well as the souls of the those who knowingly work to elect those who enable abortion to office.

Bishop Tobin is doing nothing more than extending a loving and welcoming hand to Patrick Kennedy, Chris Matthews and every other Catholic who has been misled, or misunderstands their duty as Catholics, on abortion. Millions of Christian faithful pray daily for their brothers and sisters who have gone astray on abortion. Praying for you to come home and stand in defense of Jesus’ little ones.

And if love and prayer just can’t quite do it, pro-abortion Christians might do well to take a moment and envision the future. God, surrounded by the souls of 50 million infants slaughtered by some of the most barbarous methods imaginable.

And you explaining about separation of church and state.

Watch Chris Matthews’ interview with Bishop Thomas Tobin