Mary Full of Life: Where hope truly does spring eternal

Mary Full of Life - Pray for us...

Perfect. Beautiful. True. A sign for our sad times–Mary Full of Life–where hope truly does spring eternal. Here’s the website and the story follows…

An image of a very pregnant Mary, the mother of Jesus, looks down on Old Town from a billboard on West Burnside Street and Northwest Third Avenue. In the weeks before Christmas, she is a reminder of the approaching celebration of her son’s birth.

She’s also a testament to a Milwaukie woman’s deeply held beliefs.

“I’m not political,” says Valerie Aschbacher, who commissioned the sculpture that was photographed for the billboard. “Mary’s not political. She’s an image of the gospel of life.”

Many people would not agree. They see life — when it begins and how it ends — as a political issue. Abortion and physician-assisted suicide continue to be campaign issues for many voters.

So it’s not surprising that Aschbacher’s billboard has sparked a dispute in a time divided by life issues.

The Catholic Sentinel, the official newspaper of the Catholic Church in Oregon, reported recently that developers of the Planned Parenthood clinic in Northeast Portland had crews remove a billboard structure on their property before Aschbacher’s ad, which the Sentinel characterized as an anti-abortion ad, was scheduled to appear on it.

James Adamson, a spokesman for Beech Street Partners, the developer, said the decision had nothing to do with ad content.

“We needed the space” for the construction project, he said.

Brad Parsons, general manager of Clear Channel Outdoor, said one of his crews removed the sign and Aschbacher agreed to look for another location.

“I spent three hours driving around Portland, looking for a site,” she said. “I didn’t find one, but I did notice a beer ad in Old Town.” It didn’t seem right, she said, to advertise beer in a neighborhood where alcohol and drug addiction has damaged so many lives.

When she met with her account executive at Clear Channel, she said she hadn’t found an alternative site. She did, however, complain about the beer ad at West Burnside Street and Northwest Third. Then it dawned on her that the image she named Mary Full of Life belonged on Burnside, in the midst of Old Town.

“Mary gave birth in the lowliest of places,” she says. “Where else would she want to come but to the lowliest place in the state of Oregon…” Read the full story 

Source/The Oregonian

Fr. John Corapi Thanksgiving Message: Give Thanks to the Lord for He is Good

Editors Note: Fratres consistently recommends its readers to Fr. John Corapi. If you want a no nonsense approach to discovering the truths and beauties of the Catholic faith, and thus, the truths and beauties concerning eternal life, run-don’t-walk to this site. You will not regret your decision to do so – james mary evans

Fr. John Corapi S.O.L.T.

Every Thanksgiving we are reminded to do for at least one day what should be a constant dimension of our spiritual life: Give Thanks. The prayer of thanksgiving is one of the major forms of prayer, along with adoration, reparation, intercession, and impetration (asking for what we need) to name some of the major categories of prayer.

This year, as always, we should count our blessings whoever we are and wherever we are. In the United States of America we should carefully and clearly think of what makes this country great, the essentials that were there from the beginning and that define what we are. By the same token, we should carefully, clearly, and courageously define what is not part of the true fabric of our nation’s very essence. Things that have become an everyday part of American life threaten to destroy the real country, the one the Founding Fathers founded on Christian principles. Anti-human realities such as abortion, euthanasia, fetal stem cell research, human cloning, pornography, and homosexual sexual relations-all of these are foreign to what this country is about and always was about. We should thank God for this, for if this were not true we would have ceased to exist long ago. God has to be first in our lives, not economic prosperity. If you are right with God, the economic factor will fall into place. If not, then greed, fraud, deceit, and every vice under the sun will rule. No one will trust the government, the corporate world, the professions, etc. The moral unraveling precedes the ultimate unraveling of a nation or a world. Chaos is the inevitable result, and death follows close behind.

Immorality is un-American, and a threat to national security. I said that right after 911, and it is more true than ever. In my lifetime I have experienced the moral erosion of our national consciousness. It’s as if large segments of the population had some portion of their brain removed or their eyes blinded. We should recall that all of the “old ways” are not inferior to some of the “new ways.” We must likewise recall that “God’s ways are not our ways. God’s ways are as far above our ways as the heavens are above the earth.” God can’t indeed write straight with crooked lines. He can bring good out of the worst evil, not that the evil should be accepted or countenanced, but when we’ve done all we can do to fight the evil, know that we haven’t lost. Jesus Christ is the “Lamb of God,” and “Prince of Peace” to be sure, but don’t ever forget that He is also “the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.” The violence and power with which God himself will confront and destroy the evil that threatens us far surpasses anything we could do.

So, this Thanksgiving “thank God for God!” God is in charge! Don’t forget that. God is all-good, all-merciful, all-loving, and all-powerful. He will fight the enemies of what is true and good. “If God is for you, who can be against you!” Thank God for your faith and your family, your health and your wealth-no matter how large or small. The spirit of thanksgiving makes a heavy heart lighter. It’ll clear your head of a thousand worries and concerns. One thing alone is important: your personal relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If that is right you will be right. If that is right, the entire world can be sinking into hell under the weight of its sins and misery, you will fly above the turmoil, destined for the glory held in store for the sons and daughters of the Lord of the Universe.

Have a blessed and happy Thanksgiving!

Fr. John Corapi

Anti Prop. 8 Law Professor: “Court unlikely to overturn Proposition ‘H8’”

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It looks as if overturning the people’s will on Proposition 8 by the California Supreme Court has run into a snag or two, that is if anti Prop. 8 law professor Robert Dekoven is correct.

 

Commenting in the online mag Gay and Lesbian Times Professor Dekoven made this assessment on chances of Prop 8 being overturned:

 

“Now that the California Supreme Court has accepted review of Proposition “H8” but refused to stay its enforcement, it’s unlikely to overturn the measure. The court’s action indicates that legal arguments opposing Proposition 8 are weak. Further, we’ve probably lost our most vocal advocate, Justice Joyce Kennard – the only justice who voted not to hear legal challenges against it.”

 

Dekoven further states:

 

“The two arguments up for review include: that the measure surpasses the legal scope of a ballot initiative by permitting a majority to limit a minority group’s rights; and that it disturbs the constitutional separation of powers by restricting judicial authority. As for Justice Kennard’s stance, it shows she views the constitutionality of the measure as being so irrefutable it doesn’t merit review.”

 

So where will anti 8 supporters turn next? Professor Dekoven suggests justifying gay marriage on the grounds of how children will be effected:

 

“Consequently, at both the state and federal level we need to leverage an additional argument to support same-sex marriage: We need to emphasize the effect that prohibiting it would have on the children same-sex couples adopt. It’s an argument we haven’t used yet and one that if we don’t will guarantee we lose…”

 

Read the whole story at GLT

Apostate Watch: New Ways Ministry Prop 8 Forum – “One woman made it clear that she was not keen on the institution, and neither was her female partner.

More wind from the windy city… New Ways Ministry is at it again. Here’s a runner from the article: 

The Catholic Church faces a great deal of controversy in the wake of Pope Benedict’s stated opposition to homosexuality and his declaration that same-sex marriages are “pseudo-matrimony.” On Nov. 11, The New Ways Ministry organized “An Evening of Dialogue: Same-Sex Marriage and Catholicism.” Held at the Jewish Reconstructionist Congreation in Evanston, the event examined the theological underpinnings behind the Church’s doctrines, and the disparity between those and the lived experiences and lives of laypersons. Read the full story

CCHD Boycott Results: “Mr. Wolfe said an usher told him afterward only $10 had been collected.”

The Washington Times reported this morning on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development boycott this past Sunday. Let us hope the following was widespread and that reform is forthcoming:

Several priests and parishes in Northern Virginia’s Arlington Diocese balked Sunday at taking up a collection for the much-criticized Catholic Campaign for Human Development, whose contributions to the voter-registration group ACORN got a dose of bad publicity this fall.

“I personally haven’t given a dime to the Campaign for Human Development in years,” the Rev. John DeCelles told parishioners during his Sunday homily at St. Mary’s Church in Alexandria.

“Over the years, including last year,” he continued, “the campaign has given millions of dollars to very questionable groups, including groups that actively support and campaign for so-called ‘abortion rights.’”

Mary Beth Beasley, a law student who was at the 1 p.m. Mass where Father DeCelles spoke, said her thought was, “Wow, it was great he was being so honest about what the CCHD does, because you don’t hear that.”

“And then when the basket went around, I didn’t see any cash collected at all,” she added.

The Rev. Dennis W. Kleinmann, the pastor at St. Mary’s, also was unenthusiastic in encouraging donations to the CCHD at his Masses. According to two parishioners, he cited the recent controversies over the campaign’s grants to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) as one reason to be “cautious.”

The CCHD, whose $9.4 million budget depends on annual November collections from Catholic parishes, recently revealed it had donated more than $7.3 million to ACORN over the past decade. The community-organizing group has been accused of voter fraud in 15 states… Read the full story

Catholics and Socialism by Stephanie Block

       One of the interesting discussions following the wake of this year’s political campaign has been about Catholics and socialism. Is it OK to be a Catholic socialist? (Wonder what sparked this line of thought?)

       Despite Pope Pius XI saying, back in the 1930s, that “No one can be at the same time a sincere Catholic and a true Socialist”, some Catholics want to argue the point. They claim the “Christian socialism” described in Acts, in which “All those who had believed were together, and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need,” is the inspiration for the “scientific socialism” espoused by Marx and Engels. After all, Marx and Engels say it is.

       Well, of course Marx and Engels say their inspiration for the socialist ideal was early Christianity. It gives their theories authority and respectability. As Saul Alinsky drily exhorts young radicals, “… you do what you can with what you have and clothe it with moral garments.” [Rules for Radicals] Marx and Engels are simply clothing socialism with Christianity, the wolf in a sheepskin.

       At the blog called Catholic America: A closer look at Church, Culture and Change, which is a feature of Newsweek/Washington Post, writer Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo recognizes that the salient component of “Christian socialism” is choice. He glosses over this, however, and only a paragraph later is reminding the reader that he must also bear in mind another Christian principle, namely that “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” We see where this is going.

       And so here it is: “At stake in contemporary Catholic America is a growing awareness that the U.S. economic system has serious flaws.” OK, Mr. Stevens-Arroyo, hold on there just a minute. Yes, the U.S. economic system has serious flaws but that’s the human condition. There has never been and never will be an economic system without serious flaws. But the US economic system, for all its flaws, has been the envy of the world…and has brought prosperity to the majority of its citizens.

       Stevens-Arroyo continues: “In addressing the financial system, “socialism” is not a dirty word for Catholics.” Um…yes, it is. Re-read the Pius XI quote, above. Or, read John Paul II, who, without any illusions about its imperfections, writes, “it would appear that, on the level of individual nations and of international relations, the free market is the most efficient instrument for utilizing resources and effectively responding to needs.”

       John Paul is not so generous with socialism. “[I]n today’s world, among other rights, the right of economic initiative is often suppressed. Yet it is a right that is important not only for the individual but also for the common good. Experience shows us that the denial of this right, or its limitation in the name of an alleged ‘equality’ of everyone in society, diminishes, or in practice absolutely destroys the spirit of initiative, that is to say the creative subjectivity of the citizen.”

       Referring to Pope Leo XIII, he says: “His words deserve to be re-read attentively: ‘To remedy these wrongs (the unjust distribution of wealth and the poverty of the workers), the Socialists encourage the poor man’s envy of the rich and strive to do away with private property, contending that individual possessions should become the common property of all…; but their contentions are so clearly powerless to end the controversy that, were they carried into effect, the working man himself would be among the first to suffer. They are moreover emphatically unjust, for they would rob the lawful possessor, distort the functions of the State, and create utter confusion in the community’. The evils caused by the setting up of this type of socialism as a State system – what would later be called ‘Real Socialism’ – could not be better expressed.” [Centesimus annus]

       It gets worse. The pope continues, “Socialism considers the individual person simply as an element, a molecule within the social organism, so that the good of the individual is completely subordinated to the functioning of the socio-economic mechanism. Socialism likewise maintains that the good of the individual can be realized without reference to his free choice, to the unique and exclusive responsibility that he exercises in the face of good or evil. Man is thus reduced to a series of social relationships, and the concept of the person as the autonomous subject of moral decision disappears, the very subject whose decisions build the social order.”

       Benedict XVI has some hard words for socialism, too. “Let us recall the fact that atheism and the denial of the human person, his liberty and his rights, are at the core of the Marxist theory…Moreover, to attempt to integrate into theology an analysis whose criterion of interpretation depends on this atheistic conception is to involve oneself in terrible contradictions. What is more, this misunderstanding of the spiritual nature of the person leads to a total subordination of the person to the collectivity, and thus to the denial of the principles of a social and political life which is in keeping with human dignity.”

       Why are we even discussing this? The answer is that you have a large body of people – the Catholics living in the US – who, if they knew their Church teachings, rather than what other Catholics say they say, might rebel at incoming socialist incursion. Socialism – the unchosen, forced-onto-society, “scientific” version that has martyred hundreds of thousands – is a really dirty word to Catholics.

Ahem. Let me try that again. Socialism is a really dirty word.

The Time is Now!: Vatican Cardinal Warns of American Getheseme by Judie Brown

The time is now! Judie Brown

When the Catholic University of America’s Tower reported  that during a recent address at the university, His Eminence James Francis Cardinal Stafford criticized President-elect Barack Obama as “aggressive, disruptive and apocalyptic” and said he campaigned on an “extremist anti-life platform,” I can only imagine the cheers that must have risen from the hall. The Tower continued,

“Because man is a sacred element of secular life,” Stafford remarked, “man should not be held to a supreme power of state, and a person’s life cannot ultimately be controlled by government.”

“For the next few years, Gethsemane will not be marginal. We will know that garden,” Stafford said, comparing America’s future with Obama as president to Jesus’ agony in the garden. “On November 4, 2008, America suffered a cultural earthquake.”

Cardinal Stafford said Catholics must deal with the “hot, angry tears of betrayal’ by beginning a new sentiment where one is ‘with Jesus, sick because of love.’”

These inspired sentiments from such a beloved prelate should have been received with echoes of agreement, not only by the USCCB but the entire Church and pro-life movement. After all, this American cardinal is currently the major penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary for the Tribunal of the Holy See and has staunchly defended Catholic teaching for years.

Well, I haven’t heard much from my fellow pro-lifers, but I have seen the vitriol that has spewed forth from CNN.

On Tuesday’s Situation Room, CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer referred to a Catholic cardinal’s criticism of Barack Obama’s abortion position as a “scathing rant” and a “diatribe.” A CNN graphic also used the “scathing rant” term, and Blitzer later referred to the cardinal’s words as a “blistering rant.”
As the Media Resource Center’s Matthew Balan reported,

At the end of the segment, Blitzer misrepresented the Catholic Church’s stances on various issues. He stated that the Church and Obama “do agree on some hot button issues, including opposition to the war in Iraq, greater access to health care, and more equitable tax codes,” as a CNN graphic referred to the health care issues as “universal health care.” On the last two issues, this is an oversimplification. Paragraph 2211 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church refers to the “political community’s” duty to “honor the family, to assist it, and to ensure,” among other things, “the right to private property, to free enterprise, to obtain work and housing, and the right to emigrate” and “in keeping with the country’s institutions, the right to medical care, assistance for the aged, and family benefits.” The same Catechism, which lists the official teachings of the Catholic Church, says nothing of “more equitable tax codes.” It only states how it is “morally obligatory to pay taxes” (paragraph 2240) and that tax evasion is “morally illicit” (paragraph 2409).

On the other hand, Blitzer did correctly state that Obama and the Church “strongly disagree on embryonic stem cell research; abortion rights…and civil unions for gay couples, all of which Obama supports – the Catholic Church opposes.”

One can surmise from the above that there is more to this bashing of Cardinal Stafford than meets the eye. After all, the cardinal was not screaming, and he did make every effort to make sure his comments were understood in the proper context. But as we might have guessed, CNN is not going to attempt, even for the sake of appearances, to be objective about the president-elect.

Further, they can rely on many Catholic dissidents and alleged pro-lifers to shore up their inference that saying anything negative about Obama is always a very bad thing indeed. As the Catholic News Agency reports,

The pro-lifers reaching out to abortion rights supporters argue that legal challenges to permissive abortion laws will not be successful, especially following Barack Obama’s election to the presidency, the Washington Post reports…

The coalition of pro-lifers seeking policy change rather than legal change includes Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals; Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good; Catholics United, described as a progressive Catholic lay group; Sojourners, a progressive evangelical organization; and RealAbortionSolutions.org, a coalition of Catholics and evangelical leaders.

Rev. Thomas Reese, S.J., from Georgetown University’s Woodstock Theological Center, has also allied himself with the effort, even though he has resigned himself to only commenting on politics in the past.

So too has Nicholas Cafardi, a former dean of the Duquesne University School of Law and a Catholic canon lawyer. He resigned from the board of Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio after writing a column supporting Obama and declaring the abortion battle lost, the Washington Post says.

My, what a tragic web is being woven – a labyrinth of half-truths designed to further entangle the American public into believing the media myth that when a Catholic prelate speaks out in defense of truth, it is always a bad thing for America. I can actually see a time when the hierarchy might, by law perhaps, be silenced similarly to the way the administrator of the Charleston, South Carolina diocese has silenced Father Jay Scott Newman.

The fullness of truth could even come to be regarded as the enemy of the common good. Who is to say where all this might lead, with the media in charge of preaching and teaching Catholic dogma to the not so faithful?

Now is the time for courageous leadership, unapologetic declarations of truth and much more honesty, such as that courageously displayed by Cardinal Stafford at the Catholic University of America.

We need to hear from the bishops, now more than ever. We should expect them to provide us with clarifications on anti-life measures such as the Freedom of Choice Act  and the Prevention First Act.

These bills would lead to more social chaos than anyone can imagine. It is tragic enough that abortion is ever committed, but to become a signed, sealed and delivered government program would be anathema to the future of this once-great nation.

 Father Frank Pavone has written, “It is the role of bishops to herald the Gospel of Life by their preaching, teaching, and stirring into flame the gifts of God in the hearts of the laity.”

Let us hope that the flame ignited by Cardinal Stafford, with his stirring comments, will be carried forth and burn intensely from every pulpit in the United States, Catholic and otherwise. The time is now!

Source: Catholic Exchange

Martyrs: St. Andrew Dung-Lac and his 116 companion martyrs of Vietnam 11.24.08

Icon: martyrs undergoing torture for Christ.

Vietnam

Vietnam is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. The traditional religion of Vietnam is Buddhism, along with elements of Taoism, Confucianism and local ancestors’ cult.

First martyrs

Portuguese Dominican missionaries began to arrive in Vietnam in the early 16th century and there must have been conflict with local power groups from the very beginning. The mission had some success when the Jesuits joined the Dominicans. Among the earliest martyrs were Spanish Dominicans, Francisco Gil de Federich, who had a fruitful apostolate during nine years in prison, and Alonzo Lenziana, who as a fugitive for thirteen years, ministered faithfully but secretly to the native Christians. During the 17th and 18th centuries, it is believed that up to 100,000 Christians were martyred.

Best documented

The process of beatification and canonisation gathered 117 of the best documented cases. Of that group, 96 were Vietnamese, 11 Spaniards, and 10 French. There were 8 bishops, 50 priests, and 59 lay Catholics in the group. Of the 50 priests, 11 were Dominicans, 10 belonged to the Paris Foreign Mission Society, and the rest were diocesan priests, plus one seminarian.

Among those who came in for special mention during the canonisation by Pope John Paul II on 19th June 1988 were: Andrew Dung-Lac, a diocesan priest; Thomas Tran-Van-Thien, a seminarian; Emmanuel Le-Van-Pung, the father of a family; two Dominican bishops Jerome Hermosilla and Valentine Berrio-Ochoa; and John-Theophane Venard, a priest of the Paris Foreign Mission Society, who corresponded with St Thérèse of Lisieux.

Andrew Dung-Lac

Originally called Dung An Trân, Andrew was born about 1795 into a poor and pagan family in Bac-Ninh in North Vietnam. When he was twelve the family had to move to Hanoi so his parents could find work. There he met a catechist who gave him food and shelter, as well as education in the Christian faith for three years. He was baptised with the Christian name Andrew (Andrew Dung). After learning Chinese and Latin he himself became a catechist, and taught catechesis in the country. Chosen to study theology, he was ordained a priest on 15th March 1823. As parish priest he was tireless in his preaching. He often fasted and lived a simple and moral life that was so good an example to the people that many were baptised. In 1835 he was imprisoned under emperor Minh-Mang’s persecutions (he was called Vietnam’s emperor Nero), but his freedom was purchased by donations from members of the congregation he served. To avoid persecutions he changed his name to Lac (Andrew Lac) and moved to another prefecture to continue his work. But in 1839 he was again arrested with another Vietnamese priest Peter Thi, to whom he gone visiting so that he could go to confession. Once again the people paid money so that he and Peter could be released. However, their freedom was brief. They were soon re-arrested, taken to Hanoi, where both suffered a dreadful torture and were finally beheaded on 21st December 1839.

The Church in Vietnam today

One of the heroes of the Catholic Church in Vietnam in recent years has been Cardinal François-Xavier Nguyen van Thuan, who, after spending 13 years in prison there, came to live in Rome where he died in 2002. In 2007 Pope Benedict approved the introduction of his cause for beatification. Today there are 26 Catholic dioceses in Vietnam. There are 2228 parishes and 2668 priests. Catholics are about 7% of the 85 million population.

HT/Source Catholic Ireland

Smithsonian Sanger Tribute (Video): Affront To Humanity

Editors Note: Their is no reason that any taxpayer should have to fund the public glorification of an admitted and active genocidal racist. The wicked-fruit of Margaret Sanger’s labor was the establishment of death factories (see: Planned Parenthood) strewn throughout the poorest neighborhoods of our cities and towns–find out why. Read the stats, watch the video, and then act…          

           In America today, almost as many African-American children are aborted as are born. A black baby is three times more likely to be murdered in the womb than a white baby. Since 1973, abortion has reduced the black population by over 25 percent. Twice as many African-Americans have died from abortion than have died from AIDS, accidents, violent crimes, cancer, and heart disease combined. Every three days, more African-Americans are killed by abortion than have been killed by the Ku Klux Klan in its entire history. Planned Parenthood operates the nation’s largest chain of abortion clinics and almost 80 percent of its facilities are located in minority neighborhoods. About 13 percent of American women are black, but they submit to over 35 percent of the abortions (for more on the abortion industry’s genocidal agenda against black Americans visit: BlackGenocide.org).

CCHD BOYCOTT UPDATE: Diocese of Charleston withholds CCHD collection, Redirects to Catholic Charities

On Tuesday Fratres received word that no second collections for the Campaign for Human Development would be taken throughout Alabama until financial investigations of ACORN are complete:

Birmingham Diocese Bishop Robert J. Baker, in a letter dated Nov. 16, said ACORN will not get money from the second collection until the CCHD finishes a probe into whether ACORN used money in a way that might endanger the CCHD’s tax- exempt status.

Another diocese has joined in taking prudent action concerning CCHD funding – The Diocese of Charleston. Here’s the fax:

FAX-EMAIL MEMORANDUM

TO: Priests and Parish Life Facilitators

FROM: Rev. Msgr. Martin T. Laughlin, P.A., Administrator

DATE: November 12, 2008

In light of the recent controversy over the Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) Collection, the collection will still be taken up in the Diocese of Charleston but the funds will go directly to the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Charleston.

Proceeds from this collection formerly went to the Campaign for Human Development in the name of Catholic Charities and were distributed nationally. This time the proceeds will remain in the Diocese of Charleston.