Ted Kennedy's Boston Tea Party

Last Saturday Senator Ted Kennedy was laid to rest from the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, with the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston presiding, although not the main celebant.

On his blog Sean Cardinal O'Malley defended his decision to preside, and thus also to NOT deny a Catholic funeral to the most consistent and vociferous proponent of abortion and homosexual marriage among Catholic politicians. The intercessory prayers, which the senator apparently wrote, suggest he had no repentance on these matters.

The Cardinal is clearly a man motivated by charity and pastoral sensitivity. Caught between the admiration of his flock for the senator and the scandal of the man's political positions and actions, he chose not to alienate that flock and the extended Kennedy family, and to extend a fatherly hand to all, including the departed senator.

Okay, he's the pastor of that dicoese and it was his decision to make. However, how did it get to this point, where the justifiable "scandal of the truth" is less important than the authentic scandal of upholding those in error. I would argue that the fault is not this Cardinal's alone, but every Archbishop, without exception, who has pastored the archdiocese over the lifetime of the Kennedy political dynasty. These archbishops, and the priests with Kennedys in their parishes, have not only tolerated the evil political positions, and example, of the Kennedy clan, but not reprimanded the theologians who counselled them from academic chairs within the archdiocese. Had pastoral authority extended the medicinal hand of a loving father to the Kennedys in the 60s, or even the 70s, the pernicious error that one can opposed Church moral teaching with impunity would not have produced the Bidens, Pelosis and the other Catholics in government, the majority of whom seem to identify a far left agenda with Catholicism. In some real sense, this failure is also the father of the dissolution of Catholic identity in the United States and political cohesion in support of authentic Catholic social and moral teaching.

So, perhaps it was understandable that this was not the time or place for the Cardinal to cause an uproar. However, Sunday was a new day and the future will tell whether he and his successors can reverse the pastoral failures of the past 40 years. Otherwise, Ted will have been the one to have successfully completed a revolution in Boston. The events of the last 10 days suggests that Ted's revolution is FAR along.

St. Thomas More pray for Boston!

SPQR

Old empires do not die, they simply wither away

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance."

- Cicero (55 BC)

The New Patriotism

Piety is the virtue of justice by which man renders to the sources of his life and existence, both natural and supernatural, the honor, respect and, within due limits, the obedience that is a mark of gratitude for their giving us life and for their provident care.

In the first place we owe piety to God, the Source of sources, without whom we would have nothing, natural or supernatural. We are grateful to God as God, and to each of the Divine Persons who have created, redeemed and sanctified us. Secondarily, we owe it those who are the instruments of His creating, redeeming and sanctifying plan.

In the order of nature, this is first of all our parents, who with God gave us life and who provide for us. Secondarily, it is our nation, which gives us many civil benefits, especially freedom. This species of piety is usually called patriotism.

In the supernatural order, we owe piety to the clergy who bring to us the Lord's many spiritual and sacramental gifts, as well as others, such as our parents, who had us baptized and raised us in the faith, as well as the many others who aided our spiritual formation and spiritual life.

Patriotism is, therefore, both a natural and Christian virtue, one that should be fostered within society. However, like all virtues it represents a mean, a moderate point between two vices, that of excess and that of deficiency. Patriotism which bears an extreme allegiance, without regard to the truth or the common good, is a vice. It goes under various names, such as jingoism or nationalism. The lack of patriotism is also vicious, an indifferentism to the good of society and the nation. Both have pride at the root, either pride in one's country as an extension of one's own ego (the vice of excess), or an egotism that admits no other allegiances, including country, except my own (the vice of defect).

There are always both with us in society, of course, but programs and plans that put the common good and the good of individuals, especially their moral good, beneath the good of the party or the support of a party prorgam, are vicious, as are all forms of political corruption.

To demand that we be "patriotic" and die when sick "for the good of the country" is particularly evil, since "life" is the greater natural right. This evil is aggravated by the fact that the money saved will be used to further political corruption and be diverted to cronies and special interests.

St. Camillus pray for us!

SPQR

Racism and Abortion - Twin Evils

Racism is endemic in America, and it's not in suburban white communities in the North or redneck towns in the South, but in African-American communities across America. There the population control industry plies its evil trade under the guise of serving the poor, but instead killing the next generation of Black Americans.

Read the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King on this subject: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/20/the-abortionists-eye-is-on-us/

SPQR

Servant of God Pierre Toussaint pray for us, pray for America!

Presidential GLBT Month

Presidential Proclamation of June as "Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Month":

Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride Month, we commemorate the events of June 1969 and commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans.

Pay attention America, if you are a protected class it is alright to operate illegal facilities (the Stonewall Inn was notoriously selling liquor without a license), it is alright to resist police when they arrive to enforce the law (as patrons and homosexuals in the neighborhood did), it is alright to rip up city property (parking meters), and to burn private property (the Stonewall Inn) and attempt murder (there were police barracaded inside). It is alright because you are a victim of injustice, somewhere, sometime, and some day a President will honor your victimhood and "civil disorbedience" with a presidential proclamation and special "victim class" status (still to come).

Holy Roman Martyrs Marcellinus and Peter pray for us, that we may be faithful as you were.

SPQR

3,446 Dead

According to Rev. Walter Hoye of Berkeley's Progressive Missionary Baptist Church, that's the number of African-Americans lynched by the Ku Klux Klan during the 31,390 days from 1882 to 1968, AND the number of blacks killed in abortion clinics in THREE days.

Given the xenophobia and the racism of Planned Parenthood's foundress, Margaret Sanger, is anyone surprised? Contraception and abortion may succeed in accomplishing what racists and segregationists failed to accomplish, the removal of blacks from American society. Pastor Hoye predicts that this could occur as early as 2100. He may be wrong on the timing of this demographic implosion, but he is certainly correct about the end result. Below-replacement levels of births in the African-American community necessarily will destroy it, just as the European nations are imploding and will be replaced by Islamic states -- though probably quicker.

Not much experience is needed in order to know human weakness, and to understand that men—especially the young, who are so vulnerable on this point—have need of encouragement to be faithful to the moral law, so that they must not be offered some easy means of eluding its observance. It is also to be feared that the man, growing used to the employment of anti-conceptive practices, may finally lose respect for the woman and, no longer caring for her physical and psychological equilibrium, may come to the point of considering her as a mere instrument of selfish enjoyment, and no longer as his respected and beloved companion.

Let it be considered also that a dangerous weapon would thus be placed in the hands of those public authorities who take no heed of moral exigencies. Who could blame a government for applying to the solution of the problems of the community those means acknowledged to be licit for married couples in the solution of a family problem? Who will stop rulers from favoring, from even imposing upon their peoples, if they were to consider it necessary, the method of contraception which they judge to be most efficacious? In such a way men, wishing to avoid individual, family, or social difficulties encountered in the observance of the divine law, would reach the point of placing at the mercy of the intervention of public authorities the most personal and most reserved sector of conjugal intimacy.

Pope Paul VI in his encyclical letter Humanae vitae accurately predicted where this new sexual frontier would go. In the First World sexual license is leading to depopulation. For the contracepting and aborting population planners in the US and at the UN, the need to impose population control on the Second and Third World grows ever more urgent. Aided and abetting by environmentalists who never met a salamander they didn't prefer to a human being, and global-warming alarmists, the push at the U.N. for universal contraception and abortion to reduce the human population of the world has begun. As Pope Paul predicted, and has already come to pass in China, government mandated and enforced population control won't be far behind.

Saruman's Speech

A reader of Fr. Zuhlsdorf blog (wdtprs.com) had this insight on beguiling rhetoric. Quoting from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, it is an explanation of the power of the wizard Saruman's speech. He applies it to President Obama and the way in which he was received at Notre Dame, though no direct analogy between Obama and Saruman is intended. However, it shows, as the Jesuits always taught, that all sin can be rationalized. Even the evil of abortion.

Those who listened unwarily to that voice could seldom report the words that they heard; and if they did, they wondered, for little power remained in them. Mostly they remembered only that it was a delight to hear the voice speaking, all that it said seemed wise and reasonable, and desire awoke in them by swift agreement to seem wise themselves. When others spoke they seemed harsh and uncouth by contrast; and if they gainsaid the voice, anger was kindled in the hearts of those under the spell. For some the spell lasted only while the voice spoke to them, and when it spake to another they smiled, as men do who see through a juggler’s trick while others gape at it. For many the sound of the voice alone was enough to hold them enthralled; but for those whom it conquered the spell endured when they were far away, and ever they heard that soft voice whispering and urging them. But none were unmoved; none rejected its pleas and its commands without an effort of mind and will, so long as its master had control of it.

Some, however, learn the right lessons from history. Here is Newt Gingrich on his ever more conservative turn, as cited on The Curt Jester:

The whole effort to create a ruthless, amoral, situational ethics culture has probably driven me toward a more overt Christianity. I'll give you an example. As a college student at Emory when the Supreme Court ruled that school prayer was unconstitutional [in 1963] after 170 years of American history, I didn't notice it. As a graduate student at Tulane I probably would have said it's a good decision.I've now had an additional 40 years to think about it. And I think about the world of my grandchildren. I don't think American children are healthier, safer, and better off today than they were in 1963. So I have actually become more conservative in response to the failure of the liberal ethos to solve problems.

Our Lord and Savior, ascended to the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us!

SPQR

Mene, Mene, Tekel and Peres

Watching the news accounts of the Miss USA pageant, after which openly homosexual judge Perez Hilton trashed a contestant for her convictions about marriage, reminded me of the scriptural passage in which Daniel interprets the "writing on the wall" (Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Peres) for the King of Bablyon (Dn 5:25-28).

The reminder came about because peres is more or less the name of the rude and crude judge who berated Miss California on his blog, and because the incident is characteristic of the intolerance of the left, which brooks no opposition to its cultural and legal onslaught, like the Babylonian regime of Daniel's time.

The interpretation that Daniel makes of the writing on the wall is that Mene (numbered) refers to God having numbered the years of the kingdom of the Babylonians and finished it, Tekel (weighed) to His having weighed it and found it wanting, and Peres (divided) to its imminent division between the Medes and the Persians.

It is clear that we are in such a battle today, with the Babylonians of our times (a term Scripture uses for any kingdom that opposes God). Like King Belshazzar, the modern Babylonians delight in taking the sacred vessels which God's people holds dear -- Christ, Christ's Church, Christ's Vicar, the vocations which make us like Christ (priesthood, religious life, Christian marriage and single life), and even the body and life itself, and showing their contempt for God by polluting them with their abominations. Like the King they think themselves invincible; thus their arrogance and scorn of God's People. However, we know that whatever their ascendancy now, ultimately this worldwide kingdom of Babylon is numbered, weighed and divided.

A question suggests itself, however. Who will be the means of Babylon's chastisement, who will be Media and Persia to divide this modern Babylon, and set God's people free, as King Cyrus of Persia did? Without reading too much into it, Iran contains within it most of ancient Media and Persia. Whomever God uses as His instrument, the victor will be Christ Himself, personally insulted in so much that the modern Belshazzars do.

St. Faustina, pray for us!

SPQR

Whither Notre Dame University?

Francis J. Beckwith, the evangelical scholar who reverted to the Catholicism of his youth, has written a thorough article on the Notre Dame controversy over at the First Things website. Included is these gems from Dr. Martin Luther King's "A Letter from a Birmingham Jail":

I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all.” Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.

And,

There was a time when the church was very powerful—in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being “disturbers of the peace” and “outside agitators.” But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were “a colony of heaven,” called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be “astronomically intimidated.” By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests. Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s silent—and often even vocal—sanction of things as they are.

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth [and twenty-first] century.

Read the full article at: http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=1355

Liberalism is a corruptio mentis

Not only do leftists on our campuses not have a sense of humor, they apparently have little sanity.

As many have maintained, liberalism is a corruptio mentis (corruption of the mind). From a Christian perspective this is easy to understand. Owing to the sin of Adam, we are conceived without the integrity of human nature which God intended, and in which our first parents were created, body and soul unified by divine grace. The consequence of original sin is that our passions, which are seated in our animal nature, are in rebellion against our intellect and will, which are seated in our soul. The result is that while we grasp material concepts well (one need only look at the advance of math and science), the acquisition of, reasonning about, and judgment among spiritual principles is accomplished with difficulty.

Through the operation of grace, however, the believer is assisted in restoring the integrity of his nature, and with it, his ability to reason CORRECTLY about spiritual principles, especially moral issues. Not surprisingly the greatest thinkers in philosophical and moral sciences tend to be those who earnestly seek God. On the other hand, the eshewing of God inevitably leads to further and further DISintegration of one's spiritual faciulties. Not surprisingly, this is often accompanied by a morally and intellectually dissolute life.

In an article on OneNewsNow.com conservative columnist Don Feder tells about his recent experience on the campus of the University of Massachusetts. Mr. Feder's article points out the reliance on passion over reason among the socialists and other liberal cabalists who disrupted a speech he was to give at this institution where the cogency of one's idea's, not one's militant ideology, ought to reign.

Read it at: http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=464908

Our Lady of the Incarnation, pray for us.

SPQR

Plan B for babies

A federal judge has thrown-out as politically motivated a FDA decision under the Bush Administration that the so-called Plan B contraceptive pill or morning-after pill may not be sold over-the-counter to minors (17 and under). The FDA allows it to be sold over-the-counter to those 18 and over. This means that the Obama administration will revisit, and likely allow, Plan B, which uses the same chemicals used in contraceptive pills requiring a prescription but at higher doses, to be sold to minors.

Naturally, the Bush administration could not have been thinking about the natural law rights of parents to oversee the medical care of their minor children, or the known risks of unsupervised use of the Plan B pill or its acknowledged abortifacient effects. And, of course, the Obama administration will not take politics, that is, its overwhelming ties to the so-called "reproductive rights" movement and abortion industry, into account in its review of Plan B rules.

It so nice to know that the federal courts and the nanny state have the best interests of families at heart.

St. Gabriel, protect us from the enemies of life, from conception to natural death!

SPQR

The Long March

This is the title given a dream by St. John Bosco in which he foresaw a time when the Church would seem to march away from Rome, then resolutely, and victoriously, march back.

It is the name given to the Chinese Communist Army's 1934 escape from encirclement, which traversed thousands of miles of rough terrain and enabled the eventual military victory of Chinese communism. Both of these marches represent heroism, spiritual in the former, material in the latter.

For me, the Long March is acquiring another significance, however, one of indecision, vacillation, temporizing and expediency. We are not even a hundred days into the new presidency and already I'm exhausted by the lack of direction, the lack of principle (except on abortion where Obama is resolute), flip-flops, testing of the political winds, Pelosoisms, Reidisms ... My God, America, Bush was wrong on Iraq, but at least the guy had principles, could make a decision, and then stick to it.

Let's see, 62 days down, 1398 days to go. Please, Lord, let it be over!

SPQR

The Pope is Wrong on Condoms. NOT!

The New York Times and other liberal media, as well as the promiscuity industry, are having a feeding frenzy attacking the Pope.

In a Q&A with reporters on the way to Cameroon, Benedict XVI dared to challenge the all-holy condom, sacrament of the gay lifestyle and fornicators the world over, as the answer to HIV/AIDS. With ruthless precision, the statistics have been trotted out which allege to show that condoms reduce the transmission of HIV and slow, and even reverse, the spread of AIDS. Never mind that as independent a group as Harvard University's "AIDS Prevention Research Project" states that no real evidence of the claimed causality has been demonstrated. Rather, the use of condoms is negated by the human phenomenon of "risk compensation", by which a user increases the frequency and riskiness of behavior since he or she is now "protected".

The media, of course, has little regard for the facts, and even less that as a Shepherd of Souls it is the duty of the Pope to encourage virtue, abstinence before marriage and monogamy within it, as the only true preventative for individuals. Human beings are not mere points on a statistician's graph, but souls whose earthly and eternal life are at stake. Look for continuing attacks on the Pope and the Church by the house organs of the culture of death.

AIDS Prevention Research Project

Kathryn Jean Lopez article

St. Joseph, example of authentic masculinity, pray for us!

SPQR

Kathleen, we know you

President Obama has concluded his search for a replacement nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services. This cabinet level department is the one perhaps closest to Catholic interests, since the Catholic Church is the largest provider of hospital services and other health and life-needs services in the United States, indeed the world. So, after the failed nomination of pro-abort Catholic Tom Daschle, it seems natural that President Obama should seek another Catholic for the position. But did the President go looking for someone professionally knowledgeable in health care? No, he sought and chose an even more extreme abortion supporter, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius - one whose extreme record in defense of unfettered abortion bears resemblance to his own. She has, as well, the dubious distinction of being the only major Catholic politician to be reprimanded by her bishop and denied Holy Communion for the manifest grave sin of supporting abortion.

See George Weigel's excellent comentary of this story on First Things.

Hillary we never knew you!

Jewish groups are lamenting Hillary Clinton's recent criticisms of Israel over its failure to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israel claims it is a conduit to resupply Hamas. Jewish leaders in the US wonder what happenned to the ardently pro-Israel Senator Clinton?

Whatever the truth of the Gaza situation, Jewish leaders should hardly be surprised about Hillary's about-face, since the singular mark of politics today, especially but not exclusively among liberals, is to be whatever is needed to get elected. Hence, First Lady Hillary, perhaps showing her true opinion, was a supporter of Palestinian rights. When she decided to run for the US Senate seat from "Manhattan", she suddenly discovered her inner Jewish child. Now that she is liberated from the unwavering support of Israel demanded of that office, and serving in what conservative Jews feared would be a Palestinian-leaning Obama administration, she is back at it again. Which Hillary is the authentic one?

In fact, it doesn't really matter. The issue is the duplicity and hypocrisy of liberal politicians, for whom truth is a maleable concept and the end fully justifies the means. While it may be possible to "admire" the clear conviction of the far left in ideas that betray mental corruption, in the same way one can admire death-defying stunt artists without the least desire to imitate them, the moderate left is far more dangerous. They are many more of them than the extreme left and they are perfectly willing to say and do anything to get elected and stay elected. Once elected they either implement or lay the ground work for the far left, which would never otherwise, govern. After all, there are only a few zip codes where Sean Penn could get elected.

So, what of Obama? During the campaign he portrayed himself as a "moderate" leftist, on the economy, on social issues such as abortion, marriage and gay rights. He did this despite a history of extreme positions on all these issues, and a Saul Alinski mentality about how to bring about political change. The vast middle of the electorate believed him, hoped in him, and loved him into the White House. Since there, he seems to have taken moderate, or at least realist, positions on most issues. But are his paybacks to the extreme left, such as the end of the Mexico City Policy and the expected reversal of the conscience rule that protects health care workers, merely political ploys or the tip of his own extreme agenda? Only time will tell, of course, but after only a month, government policy has already taken some extreme left turns.

Pope St. Hilary, pray for us.

SPQR

Will Nancy Pelosi be courageous?

Nancy Pelosi has met the Pope. According to the Holy See Press Office,

"His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church's consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death which enjoin all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in co-operation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development".

Before going to Rome, we have learned, she met with her bishop, Archbishop Niederauer of San Francisco, who had previously invited her to a conversation regarding her lack of understanding of Catholic teaching on abortion. As her spokesman noted regarding the outcome of that meeting, "She is not changing her position on abortion."

http://www.osvdailytake.com/2009/02/archbishop-niederauers-meeting-with.html

So, it is Nancy (Joe, Ted, Chris, Patrick and friends) against Christ and the Church. What can the Church do, or must she surrender to the leadership of the Culture of Death, bent on promoting abortion around the world?

Canon 1311 The Church has an innate and proper right to coerce offending members of the Christian faithful by means of penal sanction.

But what coercion could be applied? I can think of two possible ones.

1. Withholding Holy Communion for obstinately persisting in manifest grave sin: the objectively grave evils of tolerating the murder of the innocent, of propagandizing for the right to murder the innocent, for legislatively enabling the murder of the innocent by laws and public moneys, and for the scandal involved in each of the above. (N.B. Scandal is an additional sin in each case, given the public and well publicized nature of the acts of government officials, which then lead others into believing such sins are perfectly alright.)

Canon 915 Those who are excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.

2. Excommunication for persisting in heresy, Pope John Paul II having declared on apostolic authority that abortion is a grave evil.

Encyclical Letter The Gospel of Life:

5. The Extraordinary Consistory of Cardinals held in Rome on 4-7 April 1991 was devoted to the problem of the threats to human life in our day. After a thorough and detailed discussion of the problem and of the challenges it poses to the entire human family and in particular to the Christian community, the Cardinals unanimously asked me to reaffirm with the authority of the Successor of Peter the value of human life and its inviolability, in the light of present circumstances and attacks threatening it today. In response to this request, at Pentecost in 1991 I wrote a personal letter to each of my Brother Bishops asking them, in the spirit of episcopal collegiality, to offer me their cooperation in drawing up a specific document. I am deeply grateful to all the Bishops who replied and provided me with valuable facts, suggestions and proposals. In so doing they bore witness to their unanimous desire to share in the doctrinal and pastoral mission of the Church with regard to the Gospel of life.

[The Pope then shows the unanimous and unbroken tradition of the Church on abortion. Apparently Nancy Pelosi had never read the Gospel of Life before she decided to expound on Church teaching about abortion. But I digress...]

62. ... Given such unanimity in the doctrinal and disciplinary tradition of the Church, Paul VI was able to declare that this tradition is unchanged and unchangeable. Therefore, by the authority which Christ conferred upon Peter and his Successors, in communion with the Bishops—who on various occasions have condemned abortion and who in the aforementioned consultation, albeit dispersed throughout the world, have shown unanimous agreement concerning this doctrine—I declare that direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, always constitutes a grave moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being. This doctrine is based upon the natural law and upon the written Word of God, is transmitted by the Church's Tradition and taught by the ordinary and universal Magisterium. No circumstance, no purpose, no law whatsoever can ever make licit an act which is intrinsically illicit, since it is contrary to the Law of God which is written in every human heart, knowable by reason itself, and proclaimed by the Church.

The authority for excommunication would be,

Canon 750
1. Those things are to be believed by divine and catholic faith which are contained in the word of God as it has been written or handed down by tradition, that is, in the single deposit of faith entrusted to the Church, and which are at the same time proposed as divinely revealed either by the solemn Magisterium of the Church, or by its ordinary and universal Magisterium, which in fact is manifested by the common adherence of Christ's faithful under the guidance of the sacred Magisterium. All are therefore bound to avoid any contrary doctrines.

Canon 751 Heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same; apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith; schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.

Canon 1364
1. With due regard for can. 194, part 1, n. 2, an apostate from the faith, a heretic or a schismatic incurs automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication and if a cleric, he can also be punished by the penalties mentioned in can. 1336, part 1, nn. 1, 2, and 3.
2. If long lasting contumacy or the seriousness of scandal warrants it, other penalties can be added including dismissal from the clerical state.

Some may argue that the teaching on abortion is 1) not a doctrine but morality, 2) it is not infallibly taught, and finally, 3) it is not a matter of divine and catholic faith revealed by God, and therefore professing the contrary is not subject to a charge of heresy.

To the first, Catholic moral teaching is indeed doctrine, moral doctrine. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states,

2051 The infallibility of the Magisterium of the Pastors extends to all the elements of doctrine, including moral doctrine, without which the saving truths of the faith cannot be preserved, expounded, or observed.

As to the second, the teaching on abortion is infallibly taught, on two grounds. The first is the infallible exercise of the ordinary Magisterium. By this is meant that any teaching that has been taught "semper et ubique" (always and everywhere), by Fathers and Doctors of the Church, by the Popes and Councils, even if not solemnly defined as infallible, is infallibility taught. To this is added the second reason, the formal exercise of the Petrine charism by Pope John Paul II in defining abortion as a grave violation of the moral law.

Finally, as to the third, this could be a matter of some debate. However, the person who would settle the debate is already on record on the matter. In its commentary on Pope John Paul II's Ad Tuendam Fidem, which delineated what Catholics must believe by faith, or, need hold only as authoritatively taught, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's doctrinal congreagtion included among examples of teachings of divine and Catholic Faith,

11 ... the doctrine on the grave immorality of direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being. [John Paul II, Encyclical Letter , 57]

http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDFADTU.HTM

So, to the extent that Catholic politicians hold and teach that abortion is not a grave evil they would be guilty of heresy and excommunicable on those grounds. This may already have occurred automatically because of the interior disposition of individuals, even if their erroneous belief is known only to themselves and God. However, it can be recognized in the external forum for their public acts by being publicly declared by their bishop or the Pope.

To the extent that they act contrary to the teaching without formally denying it (which has been their usual practice), they would be in manifest grave sin and Communion should be withheld from them. They also could not receive, without repentance of their actions, sacramental absolution (which by its very nature requires repentance for validity), anointing of the sick (canon 1007) or a Catholic funeral (canon 1184).

They would also be no different than the German politicians who did not oppose the immoral laws of the Nazis, but facilitated them in the name of political expediency or self-preservation. Though, in the Germans' favor one can ask, when was the last time an American politician was shot or imprisoned for following his or her conscience?

Happy Birthday Abe

On this the 200th anniversary of the birth of President Lincoln, all Americans should give thanks for the many good presidents our nation has had, and pray for the current President, that he will rise to the office, and without regard to special interests provide for the common good of all Americans.

To the best of my knowledge, Bishop Malooly of Wilmington, DE, has produced the only pastoral letter ever written about a President of the United States, or any civil official not canonized. You can read it on the diocesan website.

Remembering President Lincoln

Way to go Barnie and Chuckie

Beginning in 2001 the newly inaugurated President Bush and his administration began warning about problems with Fannie and Freddie.

In the 2002 budget request to Congress the problems with these institutions were noted and warnings issued.

In 2003 the administration was calling them systemic, and Treasury Secretary Snow pushed Congress to regulate them more. Massachusetts Barnie's response was, we are not in a crisis, we should be encouraging more [unqualified] poor families into buying homes.

In 2005 Fed. Chairman Greenspan said that problems with these institutions was putting the future financial system at risk. New York Chuckie defended Fannie and Freddie and said there was not a problem.

In 2006 John McCain introduced legislation to regulate these entities, and while it passed in Committee (all Republicans for, all Democrats against), it was not brought to the floor. Meanwhile, the Democrat friends heading these agencies are pulling down huge salaries and bonuses.

Today, of course, Democrats, in particular Pelosi, Reid, Frank and Schumer, blame Bush, Snow, Greenspan and everybody but themselves, taking no responsibility at all, in some of the boldest demagoguery in Congressional history.

Eventually, however, the political chickens will come home to roost. 2010 here we come!!!

See Fox News summary of this history from September 2008

Pork along Chuck

"Most Americans don't care about pork."

Au contraire, Senator Schumer. Pork is a symptom of political corruption. Pork shows partiality for some Americans over others. At a time of national economic turmoil when the Congress should be putting tax dollars where they will help, it should not be putting them where they won't, or advancing a liberal political agenda (such as gov't controlled health care) under cover of a needed stimulus bill. Meanwhile, the President rails against those who would delay this pork bill.

Instead of being the most transparently honest government in American history, this Congress and this administration is quickly shaping up as arrogant, demagogic, and transparently corrupt.

St. Scholastica pray for us!

The God who does not condone

But no matter what we choose to believe, let us remember that there is no religion whose central tenet is hate. There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being. This much we know.

Or, so opined the President of the United States at the National Prayer Breakfast. At the 1994 event Blessed Teresa of Calcutta spoke these words which agree with the President's sentiment, but not his actions:

Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.

Many people are very, very concerned with the children of India, with the children of Africa where quite a few die of hunger, and so on. Many people are also concerned about all the violence in this great country of the United States. These concerns are very good. But often these same people are not concerned with the millions who are being killed by the deliberate decision of their own mothers. And this is what is the greatest destroyer of peace today - abortion which brings people to such blindness.

And so it would seem to be, that, on the one hand the killing of the innocent is condemned, and on the other the killing of the innocent unborn is justified and promoted. Yes, Mother Teresa, abortion brings people to moral blindness.

St. Agatha the martyr, pray for us!

SPQR

NObama on Abortion

In one of his first forays into controversy, on his 4th day in office President Obama overturned the Mexico City policy, permitting the use of US tax dollars to promote abortion overseas. A Gallup poll out today shows that appeasing the far left of his party was not popular with the great middle that elected him. While large majorities have supported many of his foreign and domestic decisions so far, a minority approves of his decision to close the terrorist prison at Guantanamo Bay (only 44%), and barely a third (35%) approve of his abortion decision.

The figure of 35% agrees well with past surveys that show that only about a third of the electorate fully subscribes to the liberal agenda of the Democrat Party. Rather, a large majority of Americans favor varying degrees of restrictions on abortion (such as parental consent and informed consent), as well as do not want to pay for abortions or promoting abortions with their taxes. We must hope, and pray, that the President gets the message. However, expect more trouble from the abortion and environmental true-believers, for whom no child left behind in the womb is an axiom.

For the complete poll, go to Gallup.com

The Social Assistance State

As the American republic's leadership in DC considers how to deal with the economic crisis of the city and of the world, many of the Catholic members of the U.S. House and Senate seem to be considering a Euro-socialist model of economic involvement for government. Catholics on the left often put it forward as Catholic social teaching, a seeming concession to a Catholic conscience in an otherwise pragmatic or ideological political program.

Since these are the terms on which the Catholic left "sells" its political plans to Catholic citizens, it is worthwhile to see just exactly what the Ecclesia Romana has said on state-economic involvement. The following is from Pope John Paul II's encyclical letter Centesimus annus (1991), commemorating the 100th anniversary of the ground-breaking social encyclical of Pope Leo XIII Rerum novarum, and cited ad rem in the Holy See's 2004 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church.

48. These general observations also apply to the role of the State in the economic sector. Economic activity, especially the activity of a market economy, cannot be conducted in an institutional, juridical or political vacuum. On the contrary, it presupposes sure guarantees of individual freedom and private property, as well as a stable currency and efficient public services. Hence the principal task of the State is to guarantee this security, so that those who work and produce can enjoy the fruits of their labors and thus feel encouraged to work efficiently and honestly. The absence of stability, together with the corruption of public officials and the spread of improper sources of growing rich and of easy profits deriving from illegal or purely speculative activities, constitutes one of the chief obstacles to development and to the economic order.

Another task of the State is that of overseeing and directing the exercise of human rights in the economic sector. However, primary responsibility in this area belongs not to the State but to individuals and to the various groups and associations which make up society. The State could not directly ensure the right to work for all its citizens unless it controlled every aspect of economic life and restricted the free initiative of individuals. This does not mean, however, that the State has no competence in this domain, as was claimed by those who argued against any rules in the economic sphere. Rather, the State has a duty to sustain business activities by creating conditions which will ensure job opportunities, by stimulating those activities where they are lacking or by supporting them in moments of crisis.

The State has the further right to intervene when particular monopolies create delays or obstacles to development. In addition to the tasks of harmonizing and guiding development, in exceptional circumstances the State can also exercise a substitute function, when social sectors or business systems are too weak or are just getting under way, and are not equal to the task at hand. Such supplementary interventions, which are justified by urgent reasons touching the common good, must be as brief as possible, so as to avoid removing permanently from society and business systems the functions which are properly theirs, and so as to avoid enlarging excessively the sphere of state intervention to the detriment of both economic and civil freedom.

In recent years the range of such intervention has vastly expanded, to the point of creating a new type of state, the so-called "Welfare State." This has happened in some countries in order to respond better to many needs and demands, by remedying forms of poverty and deprivation unworthy of the human person. However, excesses and abuses, especially in recent years, have provoked very harsh criticisms of the Welfare State, dubbed the "Social Assistance State." Malfunctions and defects in the Social Assistance State are the result of an inadequate understanding of the tasks proper to the State. Here again the principle of subsidiarity must be respected: a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to coordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good.[fn. 100: Cf. Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio (November 22, 1981), 45: AAS 74 (1982), 136f.]

By intervening directly and depriving society of its responsibility, the Social Assistance State leads to a loss of human energies and an inordinate increase of public agencies, which are dominated more by bureaucratic ways of thinking than by concern for serving their clients, and which are accompanied by an enormous increase in spending. In fact, it would appear that needs are best understood and satisfied by people who are closest to them and who act as neighbors to those in need. It should be added that certain kinds of demands often call for a response which is not simply material but which is capable of perceiving the deeper human need. One thinks of the condition of refugees, immigrants, the elderly, the sick, and all those in circumstances which call for assistance, such as drug abusers: all these people can be helped effectively only by those who offer them genuine fraternal support, in addition to the necessary care.

If the current plans to help the economy continue on course, it is fairly certain that the results will serve neither justice or the economic health "of the city and the world."

Our Lady of the Purification, pray for us.

SPQR

For the sake of His sorrowful passion...

Just received this email from a friend, written by Fred Berretta, a survivor of Flight 1549, to Vinny Flynn, the author of the book 7 Secrets of the Eucharist. Though this email is widely circulating, perhaps you haven't seen it:

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 2:08 pm

Subject: Passenger of flight 1549

Vinny, I sincerely hope this email finds its way to you. I was a passenger on flight 1549 and my name is Fred Berretta. You might have caught a glimpse of me or heard me on CNN or Fox the night of the crash. I interviewed with Lou Dobbs, Wolf Blitzer and Bill O'Reilly and discussed the crash that night.

I had been on a one day business trip to NY and sat in seat 16A just behind the left engine. My trip was a last minute decision the day before. I finished my meetings early on Thursday and realized I had time to attend the 12 noon mass at St. Patrick Cathedral. It was unusual for me to have the extra time, but that day I did. After Mass,I stopped by the gift shop just across from the cathedral and purchased your book, 7 Secrets of the Eucharist. As I waited to board flight 1549 bound for Charlotte, where I live, I began reading your book. I continued reading while we taxied until just after take off.

I think I got through about half of it and then decided to close my eyes and reflect on the incredible insights your book gave me regarding the Eucharist. We were climbing out and just a minute or so into the flight I heard the impact of the bird strikes and then the explosion in the left engine. I could see it on fire and the cabin began to smell like jet fuel. As a private pilot, once I realized the second engine was also not functioning, things became quite tense.

While I had known about and prayed the Divine Mercy chaplet years before, I had not really focused on it in quite a long time. Ironically, I had prayed the chaplet the day before at 3 pm. I had forgotten that in my briefcase I had long kept a copy of a booklet of the Divine Mercy chaplet which had excerpts from St. Faustina's diary. When I arrived in NY, I had some time at my hotel and decided to clean out my briefcase, something long overdue. I found the Divine Mercy booklet, prayed the chaplet, and read some of the words of Jesus to Faustina.

Before we hit the water, I thought about the words Jesus said, that nothing would be refused if asked for during the hour of mercy.* I really thought there was a good chance myself and others would die that day, but I asked God to be merciful to us, I prayed the Lord's prayer and a Hail Mary. I then prayed to St. Michael, and we impacted the water. The odds were not with us that day, but God clearly was. I believe it is the only jet airliner to successfully ditch in the water without fatalities in the history of aviation.

I just want you to know that your book gave me comfort as we were going down, and for that I am grateful. I know a lot of people prayed on that plane, and I believe the Miracle on the Hudson was a testament to the mercy of God, and a sign of hope.

Take care and may God continue to bless your ministry and all you do to spread the message of Divine Mercy and the wonders of Holy Communion.

Best regards,

Fred Berretta


N.B. Flight 1549 crashed into the Hudson River during the 3 o'clock hour (at about 3:30 pm), which Christ told St. Faustina is "the hour of great mercy." It was during this hour that His heart was pierced by a lance, and blood and water gushed forth as a fountain of mercy for the world. "In this hour," He told her, "I will refuse nothing to the soul that makes a request of Me in virtue of My Passion." (Diary of St. Faustina #1182, 1320.)

"Jesus, I trust in You!"

Speaking of Mexico City...

Today prolife Senators tried to make the Mexico City policy a law of the land, removing it from the whim of any one president. This would have restored dignity to America's foreign policy, made ignominious by the President's decision to allow American and foreign agencies receiving US tax dollars to promote and do abortions.

In the Senate 23 of 24 Catholics voted. Here is the Tally:

Voting consistent with a Catholic conscience (6):
Brownback (R-KS); Bunning (R-KY); Johanns (R-NE); Martinez (R-FL); Risch (R-ID) and Vitter (R-LA).

Voting contrary to a Catholic conscience and in violation of the positive obligation of Catholic policiticians (17):
Collins (R-ME) and Murkowski (R-AK); Begich (D-AK); Cantwell (D-WA); Dodd (D-CT); Durbin (D-IL); Gillibrand (D-NY); Harkin (D-IA); Kaufman (D-DE); Kerry (D-MA); Landrieu (D-LA); Leahy (D-VT); McCaskill (D-MO); Menendez (D-NJ); Mikulski (D-MD); Murray (D-WV); and Reed (D-RI).

Not present: Kennedy (D-MA).

Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et spes), Second Vatican Council, 1965:
51. ... For God, the Lord of life, has conferred on men the surpassing ministry of safeguarding life in a manner which is worthy of man. Therefore from the moment of its conception life must be guarded with the greatest care while abortion and infanticide are unspeakable crimes.

Encyclical Evangelium Vitae (Gospel of Life), Pope John Paul II, 1995:
20 ... To claim the right to abortion, infanticide and euthanasia, and to recognize that right in law, means to attribute to human freedom a perverse and evil significance: that of an absolute power over others and against others. This is the death of true freedom: "Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin" (Jn 8:34).

57. ... Therefore, by the authority which Christ conferred upon Peter and his Successors, and in communion with the Bishops of the Catholic Church, I confirm that the direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being is always gravely immoral. This doctrine, based upon that unwritten law which man, in the light of reason, finds in his own heart (cf. Rom 2:14-15), is reaffirmed by Sacred Scripture, transmitted by the Tradition of the Church and taught by the ordinary and universal Magisterium.

The deliberate decision to deprive an innocent human being of his life is always morally evil and can never be licit either as an end in itself or as a means to a good end. It is in fact a grave act of disobedience to the moral law, and indeed to God himself, the author and guarantor of that law; it contradicts the fundamental virtues of justice and charity. "Nothing and no one can in any way permit the killing of an innocent human being, whether a fetus or an embryo, an infant or an adult, an old person, or one suffering from an incurable disease, or a person who is dying. Furthermore, no one is permitted to ask for this act of killing, either for himself or herself or for another person entrusted to his or her care, nor can he or she consent to it, either explicitly or implicitly. Nor can any authority legitimately recommend or permit such an action".52

Declaration on Procured Abortion, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 1991:
22. It must in any case be clearly understood that whatever may be laid down by civil law in this matter, man can never obey a law which is in itself immoral, and such is the case of a law which would admit in principle the licitness of abortion. Nor can he take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of such a law, or vote for it.

Participation of Catholics in Political Life, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 2002:
3. ... On the level of concrete political action, there can generally be a plurality of political parties in which Catholics may exercise – especially through legislative assemblies – their right and duty to contribute to the public life of their country. This arises because of the contingent nature of certain choices regarding the ordering of society, the variety of strategies available for accomplishing or guaranteeing the same fundamental value, the possibility of different interpretations of the basic principles of political theory, and the technical complexity of many political problems. It should not be confused, however, with an ambiguous pluralism in the choice of moral principles or essential values. The legitimate plurality of temporal options is at the origin of the commitment of Catholics to politics and relates directly to Christian moral and social teaching. It is in the light of this teaching that lay Catholics must assess their participation in political life so as to be sure that it is marked by a coherent responsibility for temporal reality.

4. ... When political activity comes up against moral principles that do not admit of exception, compromise or derogation, the Catholic commitment becomes more evident and laden with responsibility. In the face of fundamental and inalienable ethical demands, Christians must recognize that what is at stake is the essence of the moral law, which concerns the integral good of the human person. This is the case with laws concerning abortion and euthanasia (not to be confused with the decision to forgo extraordinary treatments, which is morally legitimate). Such laws must defend the basic right to life from conception to natural death. In the same way, it is necessary to recall the duty to respect and protect the rights of the human embryo. Analogously, the family needs to be safeguarded and promoted, based on monogamous marriage between a man and a woman, and protected in its unity and stability in the face of modern laws on divorce: in no way can other forms of cohabitation be placed on the same level as marriage, nor can they receive legal recognition as such.

Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (2004):
5. Regarding the grave sin of abortion or euthanasia, when a person’s formal cooperation becomes manifest (understood, in the case of a Catholic politician, as his consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws), his Pastor should meet with him, instructing him about the Church’s teaching, informing him that he is not to present himself for Holy Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of sin, and warning him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist.


For more on the political responsibilities of Catholics go to: A Guide to Catholic Teaching and Voting

No tax dollars for abortion!

In the coming days we can expect pro-abortion forces to argue that the U.S. government (i.e. "We the People") must subsidize abortions for women to truly have a "right" at all, that without tax-payer funding this so-called "right to choose" is empty.

They will call for the end of the Hyde Amendment which prevents the use of tax-payer dollars for abortion and the promotion of abortion.

Keep in mind, however, these words from the 1991 Supreme Court decision in Rust v. Sullivan:

"The Government has no constitutional duty to subsidize an activity merely because it is constitutionally protected, and may validly choose to allocate public funds for medical services relating to childbirth but not to abortion."

This is only reasonable, of course. The Bill of Rights provides a right to bear arms, but who would seriously argue that it means the Treasury of the U.S. must provide a Kimber 1911 for those who want to exercise that right.

A successful March leaving hope for the future

The 2009 March for Life occured a week ago, a stupendous witness to the continuing vitality of the prolife movement.

There seemed to be more youth and more families than ever before - indeed, an abundance of strollers. What the enemies of life don't seem to realize is that this issue can never go away, any more than the civil rights movements on behalf of women or blacks could simply fade into history. This year's March, of perhaps 250,000 by some estimates, puts an exclamation point on that truth! The fact that the main stream media had to, in some cases, "balance" their coverage by showing the three anti-life protesters at the Supreme Court, only shows the desperation and hypocrisy of the culture of death.

And yes, they had a short term victory when the President reversed the Mexico City policy in the "dead of night," as it were, 5 pm Friday when the last weekday news deadline had passed. With his al-Arabiya news interview, it would seem that President Obama's respect for the sovereignty and cultures of other nations extends to the 1 billion Moslems, but not to prolife countries like Cameroon, which is fighting the pro-abortion machinery of the UN, and soon will no doubt be fighting US taxpayer-funded population imperialists. Yes, indeed, "change" and "transperancy". Lets all just get along -- unless it offends the leftwing constituencies of the Democrat party.

So, marching for life is not over. We oogedy-boogedy voters will contine to be at it for as long as it takes. We won't lose heart. The victory is already ours, as it is God's.

The end

In this sense the 2009 March for Life has reached an end. I have just walked from SCOTUS to where the March began, at the Mall and 4th. The tail was just leaving!!! Only a few minutes ago it turned up Constitution. Give it 15 or so to reach the Court, making it a 2.5 hour long March. A great day for Life! Some concluding thoughts later.

Sent from my iPhone

No end in sight

The line of marchers is no shorter. My rough estimate? Over 200,000. I am sure the main stream media won't tell this story.

Sent from my iPhone

Before the Court

We are arrived and arriving! The endless line of warriors for life continues. Hope! Supernatural hope to be sure, but temporal hope as well. Death shall not win. Laudetur Iesus Christus!

Sent from my iPhone

The sea is moving

...and moving up Constitution Avenue toward the Capital.

Sent from my iPhone

They are legion

The 7th Street legions continued to pour into the Mall for another 30-45 minutes. Behind those I could see were an equal number...a body a mile of more in length! Now the Rally is winding down the March up. The congressmen present have affirmed their oath to life, the bishops & other clergy speakers have rallied the acolytes of life!. Everything is prepared. Soon we begin!

Sent from my iPhone

From the Mall

Standing on the Mall and looking up 7th, one can see a streetful of people running for at least six blocks, curb to curb. No, it is not the March for Life! It is the sea sustained by supernatural life, coming from the Youth Mass at the Verizon Center. Soon they will join the equal, if not greater number, already gathered before the stage on the Mall - where the Rally has begun. It is already an enthusiastic crowd. In the words of John Paul Jones, "We have not yet begun to fight!"

Sent from my iPhone

The Long March

In the 1860s St. John Bosco had a prophetic dream in which he saw a period of decline in the Church, depicted as a long march away from Rome, followed by a renewal led by the Pope, shown as a long march back to Rome. Upon arrival a glorious Te Deum (hymn of praise) is sung and peace reigns. It has been a long March for Life for prolifers and some may see recent political turns as the nadir of the movement with few hopes. Indeed, a few who voted for our new pro-abortion President have declared it essentially over. But as we gather on the Mall in a few hours we should will have real hope that a new generation of leaders will emerge who can turn the culture of death around. As for our captain? Ultimately it is the One who is always victorious, and who has already foreseen the victory and ordained it.

Sent from my iPhone

Inauguration

The new President has been inaugurated, with hope. He calls people to work together, as Americans know how, across lines of ethnicity, race and religion to build a better future.

In that spirit a truly representative group of Americans will gather on the mall Thursday to work and pray for the most disenfranchised members of society, the unborn. Our first hope, I say "our" as I will be there among them, is that President Obama won't reverse the Mexico City Policy initiated by President Reagan. This policy prevents the United States from the population imperialism of promoting abortion and contraception against the wishes of a foreign nation's people. This is often done coercively, in return for financial aid. With the exception of the Clinton years, this has been the respectful foreign policy of almost three decades. It also protects the American people, who in poll after poll eschew the radical abortion agenda, from having to pay for abortions with their tax dollars.

Our second hope is that he will not encourage the re-submission of the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) in the new Congress. FOCA would essentially federalize abortion and make abortion on demand the law of the land. This would overturn state regulations that regulate clinics, require parental consent, or informed consent. Such a law he has previously promised the abortion radicals. Yet... it would not be governing from the center, and so we hope.

Our third hope is that he will not change the delicate balance forged by the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy in the military, by which homosexual service members who do not openly announce or act on their homosexual orientation may serve. This is not, as many argue, a civil rights issue. It is a unit cohesion issue, and the President should defer to the wisdom of the military leadership, and not the gay rights movement. This movement wishes to mainstream the homosexual lifestyle as morally legitimate, and to use the military as a vehicle to do so.

So, as the March begins for a new administration it also begins in the battle for life and family. Join us on the Mall, or in prayer, and watch this space for live blogging during the March for Life on Thursday 22 January.

St. Sebastian pray for us!

SPQR

Dictator non est

In ancient Rome whenever an emergency arose the Senate appointed a "Dictator" whose words (dicta) would be law for the duration of the alloted term, after which he would surrender his authority to the two Consuls who ordinarily governed the Republic.

On the eve of the Inauguration of a new President, the national economic emergency may seem like it calls for a dictator, or a savior, but fortunately for this Republic President-Elect Obama is not one. He will struggle as all presidents do to control his own party and to win over the opposition. He will do things that his countrymen will admire and others which they will disdain. We hope and pray that he will protect all human life from conception to natural death, though his legislative history and his appointments so far give us little such hope.

Yet, the office can change the man, and so as he begins his term we offer him our prayers, and our support in those things in which we can.

St. John Neumann, pray for him and for our land.

SPQR

Legions will "March for Life"

The Roman, Evangelical, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, atheist, and agnostic legions who agree on this one thing, that reason and science teach that Human Life begins at Conception, will be marching in Washington DC next Thursday in the annual March for Life.

As has occurred every year since the U.S. Supreme Court wrongly decided in Roe v. Wade that human life was subject to gradations of the right to life, prolife Americans will gather on the Mall for a Rally at Noon before the March. If you can't be there, then you can follow it on EWTN radio and television, including live streaming at ewtn.com. Since I will be there, I will be sharing my thoughts of the March in this blog throughout the day.

"Qui tacet consentire videtur" (St. Thomas More)

He who is silent is seen to consent

St. Thomas More, pray for us and for our country!