Church Militant TV: Catholics Are To Blame

The Duty Of Catholics To Vote

Catholic VP Versus Catholic VP

This article is from Bill Donohue of the Catholic League :

In many respects, the Catholic community today is divided into pro-life and social justice camps. That is unfortunate, and while this division can be overstated, it remains true that most Catholic activists sit in either one camp or the other; cross-over Catholics are a rare breed.

Paul Ryan represents the pro-life wing, and Joe Biden represents the social justice wing. Indeed, both exemplify the differences, and not just on the issue of abortion. For example, Ryan’s idea of freedom of choice commits him to supporting school vouchers; Biden’s notion of choice commits him to abortion rights. Ryan is opposed to reinventing the institution of marriage; Biden wants to expand marriage to include two people of the same sex.

The Catholic Church opposes abortion and gay marriage. On both of these issues, Biden disagrees with the Church. Biden’s defenders, e.g., Catholics who identify with social justice concerns, argue that Ryan’s budgetary prescriptions make him the dissident Catholic; his ideas are said to hurt the poor. This assumes, however, that there is a clear Catholic teaching on what constitutes the bestmeans to conquer poverty. There isn’t. For instance, fidelity to the Church’s preferential option for the poor can be realized by making a serious case to raise taxes, or to lower them. In effect, both Biden and Ryan can plausibly maintain that he is a champion of the poor. But only one, Ryan, can be identified as the champion of the unborn.

Not all policy issues are equal. Abortion is regarded by the Catholic Church as “intrinsically evil.” Moreover, the bishops’ conference has explicitly endorsed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. This puts Biden at a decisive disadvantage in making the case that he better represents Catholic teachings.

I am really looking forward to seeing the VP debate in October.  

Peter Kreeft: How To Win The Culture War

This a marvelous speech, which I recommend to all the faithful.

Kreeft gives 7 basic reasons as to how we could be losing the culture war.

He gave this acronym to remember the reasons.

P - Politicization
H- Happy Talk
O- Organization
N- Neoworship
E- Egalitarianism
Y- Yuppidom
S- Spirituality



After that he goes over reasons on how to win the culture war.

Dr. Mark Miravalle Discusses Catholics Obligation To Obey The Magisterium

Ohio Catholic School Cancels Ramadan Dinner: Right Thing To Do or Not?

As Catholics we are called to both ecumenism and interfaith dialogue. It is important that we share our faith with others and vice versa.  When I was in grade school I had the privilege of taking part in a Seder Meal.  It was a wonderful experience for me. In Cincinnati, Mother of Mercy Catholic School was going to share an Iftar, an evening meal, with the local chapter of the Council On American Islamic Relations but there is one problem, CAIR was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas Jihad Terror funding case. Due to numerous complaints from both parents and citizens who follow the activities of CAIR's national office Archbishop Dennis Schnurr requested that Mother of Mercy School cancel the Ramadan dinner.  Now the Iftar will be held in a Catholic Center, which isn't a school.

Was it right for the school to associate with a terrorist linked organization - CAIR?  Do you think that it was right for the Catholic school to share an Iftar meal with Muslims? Do you think it was right for the Archbishop and school to cave under pressure and cancel the dinner, or move it to a place that isn't a school?

My inclination is that to associate with CAIR is a big mistake.  I am sure that there are plenty of other Muslims who don't have questionable ties and are peaceful that the school could have shared an Iftar meal with.  In general I have no problem with the students in the school sharing in interfaith dialogue with Muslims but their needs to be prudence with which Muslim organizations we associate with and whether the specific organization has ties to terrorism or not. In Today's times we just need to be extra careful who we trust.

This Article Hits the Nail On The Head

This article hits the nail on the head with regards to how hard it is for faithful Catholics to deal with the cross of infertility.  My heart aches so that someday my husband and I may be blessed with a child.  We pray and leave it in God's hands but it is so hard for us...

This week is Infertility Awareness Week. According to the CDC, over 2 million married women in America are currently experiencing infertility. This is a deeply painful experience for any couple, but faithful Catholics face unique challenges in this department—yet in all the discussions about Natural Family Planning and how and when to avoid pregnancy, the struggles of our brothers and sisters in Christ who are not able to achieve pregnancy often get overlooked. So this week I spent some time chatting with friends who are facing infertility, including a woman whom I’ll call “A.,” who chronicles her journey online at This Cross I Embrace. They shared some of the challenges unique to being Catholic and infertile:

Temptation to Use Illicit Treatments: In modern culture, the words “infertility” and “in-vitro fertilization” go hand-in-hand. Even though IVF doesn’t always succeed, and often costs tens of thousands of dollars when it does, the success rates are high enough that it’s widely touted as a solution that is likely to give couples the children they so desperately desire. This is a source of temptation for the women I talked to, even though they understand and agree with Church teaching against IVF on an intellectual level. “I would never do it, but it’s like a punch in the gut when other women go to the IVF clinic and are then planning baby showers seven months later,” one friend said. Added to this, there can also be tremendous pressure from family members who don’t understand Church teaching and see IVF as a path to having grandchildren or nieces and nephews.

Loneliness: Catholics who face infertility often find themselves in a social no-man’s land. In terms of day-to-day lifestyle, they have little in common with fellow Catholics who have kids, and often find that friends with children are so busy that it’s hard to make plans with them. Sometimes it’s possible to find community among fellow Christians who are infertile, but tensions inevitably arise over differing views about IVF and other reproductive technology. Other childless couples tend to be much younger. “The main people you can really relate to are other infertile Catholics who are faithful to Church teaching, and they are few and far between,” one friend told me.

CONTINUED  

Hating On Catholics

Here is the AP article on Catholic bloggers:

Pressure is on to change the Roman Catholic Church in America, but it's not coming from the usual liberal suspects. A new breed of theological conservatives has taken to blogs and YouTube to say the church isn't Catholic enough.



Enraged by dissent that they believe has gone unchecked for decades, and unafraid to say so in the starkest language, these activists are naming names and unsettling the church.


•In the Archdiocese of Boston, parishioners are dissecting the work of a top adviser to the cardinal for any hint of Marxist influence.


•Bloggers are combing through campaign finance records to expose staff of Catholic agencies who donate to politicians who support abortion rights.


•RealCatholicTV.com, working from studios in suburban Detroit, is hunting for "traitorous" nuns, priests or bishops throughout the American church.


.."We're no more engaged in a witch hunt than a doctor excising a cancer is engaged in a witch hunt," said Michael Voris of RealCatholicTV.com and St. Michael's Media. "We're just shining a spotlight on people who are Catholics who do not live the faith."


John Allen, Vatican analyst for the National Catholic Reporter, has dubbed this trend "Taliban Catholicism." But he says it's not a strictly conservative phenomenon — liberals can fit the mindset, too, Allen says. Some left-leaning Catholics are outraged by any exercise of church authority.


Yet on the Internet and in the church, conservatives are having the bigger impact.


Among Voris' many media ventures is the CIA — the Catholic Investigative Agency — a program from RealCatholicTV to "bring to light the dark deeds of evil Catholics-in-name-only, who are hijacking the Church for their own ends, not the ends of Christ." CONTINUED

This is a pretty fair and accurate article on conservative Catholic bloggers.

Marriage: Unique for a Reason

The USCCB Ad Hoc Committee has just launched a new initiative called Marriage: Unique For a Reason. Here is the first video in a series helping to catechize and educate Catholics as to the uniqueness of marriage and why it is meant to be shared between a man and a woman.

The launch comes with the release of the first of five videos. The first video is called Made for Each Other and includes a Viewer’s Guide and Resource Booklet. It explores sexual difference and the complementarity between man and woman as husband and wife in marriage. Later videos will treat the good of children, the good of society and what constitutes discrimination, religious liberty, and issues particular to a Latino/a audience.

“The Committee’s efforts are grounded in the recognition that marriage, as the union of one man and one woman, is at the heart of a flourishing society and culture,” said Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, chairman of the Committee. “The truth of marriage lies at the very core of a true concern for justice and the common good. Promoting marriage is crucial to the New Evangelization. These initial materials seek to provide a key starting point, a compass, for assisting Catholics and all people of good will in understanding why marriage is and can only be the union of one man and one woman.”

Archbishop Kurtz points out a couple of passages from the bible which support that marriage belongs between a man and a woman. Heterosexual marriage is both sacred and a necessity. "Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh."



Matthew 19:4-6; cf. Genesis 2:23-24

A group of about a dozen evangelical Twin Cities pastors support this Catholic anti-gay marriage initiative.


"A strong and documented case can be made for society being harmed by too much same-sex marriage. No such case can be made for natural marriage. Natural marriage poses no danger to society, no matter how pervasive," said Pastor Jim Anderson.

Cleveland Catholics Defy Bishop and Risk Excommunication

 
Bishop Richard Lennon of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese wants to meet with the priest and lay leaders of a breakaway congregation to try to bring them back into the fold, a spokesman for the diocese said Monday.
 
The diocese was reacting to an unauthorized Mass celebrated Sunday by the Rev. Robert Marrone and about 350 communicants in leased commercial space they set up as a church, independent of the diocese.


 Diocese spokesman Robert Tayek said Lennon "has an obligation, as shepherd of the diocese, to try and reach out to these folks in the hopes of keeping them in communion with the church."

Leaders of the new Community of St. Peter, facing possible excommunication for disobeying the bishop, have stressed that they still consider themselves practicing Roman Catholics, but disagree with the diocese over the closing of their church, St. Peter, in downtown Cleveland.

When Lennon, carrying out a diocese-wide downsizing plan, announced in March 2009 that he was mothballing the 151-year-old building on the corner of Superior Avenue and East 17th Street, members of the congregation began considering other options to stay together.  CONTINUED

This is bizarre. Is ensuring that parish members are able to stay and worship together by starting a new parish without the permission of the Cleveland Diocese and the Bishop worth risking being excommunicated from the Church?  Do they deserve to be excommunicated? Should the Rev. Robert Marrone be held more responsible for spreading scandal than the parishoners? These parishoners seem misguided IMO.  The priest and the parishoners are causing scandal and it must be stopped.

The Vortex: The Horse You Back

Only Catholics in Heaven!

Catholic News Roundup 7-6-10

This program is from RealCatholicTV.com