JP 2 on the Right to Life

"Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights - for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture - is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination." (On the Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful, no. 38)

Another Tiber Jumper

Aubrey found my blog today and when I went to hers,it turns out, she is poised to "Jump" the Tiber River soon. Go on over to her blog and give her the Old Catholic Blogger's welcome.
God bless you Aubrey on your journey of faith. We will keep you in our prayers.

Can't Be Any Clearer Than This:

Bishop Gracida of Corpus Christi Texas has a 30 second radio spot that he just put out.



"This is Bishop Rene H. Gracida, reminding all Catholics that they must vote in this election with an informed conscience. A Catholic cannot be said to have voted in this election with a good conscience if they have voted for a pro-abortion candidate. Barack Hussein Obama is a pro-abortion candidate."

Father Corapi Teaches Catholics About Voting With A Well-Formed Conscience

Catholic Church is Anti-Abortion. Always Was. Always Will Be

Recent headlines tell us folks like Biden and Pelosi claim the Church has never really settled the question of when life begins and that the morality of abortion has never been definitively decided. Is it possible to be a Catholic and not know what the Church teaches about the issues of life? I guess so, sad to say.
At our Respect Life meeting last night, we discussed how some in the Catholic Church are misconstruing bishops' statements to justify voting for a pro-abortion candidate. A non-Catholic who has been coming to our group said that she also hears many evangelicals who also don't seem to "get it" about the evil of abortion and voting with formed conscience. As Father Corapi has just said on a recent 11th Hour video alert, "this is not rocket science."

The history of the Church's position on abortion is stated nicely in this article by Fr. Saunders. He points out the respect for life as sacred is rooted in the Jewish people from the beginning and he shows how this theme reverberates throughout scripture and the Church. The Catholic view of the sacredness of life is something that has to give even the most ardent anti-Catholic pause. I asked an evangelical friend a few years ago why it was usually the Catholics praying outside the abortuaries as we passed by a clinic. There were several people quietly praying the rosary and holding up signs. He said "Well, they got one thing right." Well, yes at least one very important thing: the sanctity of life.

If you get the time, check out Father Corapi's new videos here.

From Father Pavone

This is your FINAL CHANCE to impact the outcome of the 2008 election.

Click here and follow the instructions before it’s too late!

It is literally DO OR DIE in the political arena for the unborn ... for our nation ... and for our entire pro-life movement.

It will be too late for you to make a difference politically for God’s unborn innocents the day after Election Day

If you want to save the babies, you must ACT NOW!!!

Just click here if you want to come to their rescue.

Your immediate action is especially critical because just as we were set to launch our 11^th hour “Plan of Action” – the one I told you about in my note from DC – donations to Priests for Life dried up. It was the economy. It’s still reeling.

Making matters worse, the enemy is flush with cash. Planned Parenthood – the nation’s #1 provider of abortions – reported that donations have quintupled since Labor Day.

Your immediate financial help is needed if we are to preserve our pro-life momentum ... end abortion ... and save God’s unborn children!

Please click here and follow the instructions right now!

If abortion zealots win at the polls, they will seek to undo every single pro-life victory we have won over the past twenty years. And I mean everything: The ban on partial birth abortion ... the “Born-Alive Infants Protection Act” ... the “Unborn Victims of Violence Act” ... parental consent laws ... informed consent laws ... and more!

Abortion extremists vow they will pass the diabolical Freedom of Choice Act the moment they take power. That one law will undo all your hard work and set back our movement’s entire legislative progress

To make matters worse, they will pack the Supreme Court with like-minded abortion judges who will cement Roe v Wade and keep legalized abortion-on-demand the law of the land for generations to come.

This is why the 2008 Election is a DO OR DIE moment for the babies!

I am convinced that all this is the work of the devil. At this precise moment in time – when our entire pro-life movement is engaged in a struggle to the death – we’re scrambling for funds while the enemies of life have tens of millions of dollars to spend.

But BE NOT AFRAID!!!

In spite of our lack of cash, Priests for Life is going forward in faith. Nothing is going to deter us. We are all that stand between the unborn and certain death. Here’s what Priests for Life is doing:

• Supporting last-minute nationwide “Get Out the Vote” drives
• Making sure that in those states that allow citizens to register and vote on the same day, the people of life go to the polls, register, and vote!
• Printing and distributing thousands of our Voter Guides.
• Driving people to the “Political Responsible Center” page on our Priests for Life website: www.priestsforlife.org.
• Energizing clergy – both Catholic and Protestant – to preach on the life issues in the days left before the election.
• Providing church leaders with the legal documents that will assure them of all they can do within IRS boundaries.
• Holding a nationwide teleconference on October 27 from 9 to 10pm ET to give information and inspiration to pro-life activists coast to coast.

As you can see, Priests for Life is pulling out all the stops to implement every single element of our 11th hour “Plan of Action”.

The cost will be enormous. Minimum of $250,000 ... probably more.

I need you to click here and make the largest donation you can to Priests for Life ... and I need you to do this RIGHT NOW ... before you move on to your next email!

Remember. This is a DO OR DIE moment in our nation’s history.

And Priests for Life cannot do anything to influence the election outcome after the votes are counted.

NOW is the moment for ACTION! Tomorrow will be too late!

Hold nothing back. This is your FINAL CHANCE to make a difference. So click here and follow the instructions! Thank you. And I pray that God richly bless you for the sacrifices I know you are making to help Priests for Life save His innocent unborn babies.

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life

PS – And please join us Monday night, October 27, for the teleconference from 9 to 10pm ET. See www.priestsforlife.org/conferencecall/index.aspx for details.

Note: You may always send us a check, made out to “Priests for Life” at PO Box 141172, Staten Island, NY 10314.

The Word of God IS NOT Locked Away In Writing

From the recent Vatican Synod on the Word of God:

In view of the Word of God who is the Son-Incarnate, the Father spoke in times past through the prophets (cf. Heb 1:1). Through the power of the Spirit, the Apostles continue to proclaim Jesus and his Gospel. Thus, the Word of God is expressed in human words in the proclamation of the prophets and Apostles.

e. Sacred Scripture is the message of revelation written down under divine inspiration. As such, it can truly be said to be the Word of God (cf. DV 24) which is entirely focused on Jesus, because "it is they [the Scriptures] that bear witness to me" (Jn 5:39). Through the charism of divine inspiration, the Books of Sacred Scripture have a direct, concrete power of appeal not possessed by other texts or human discourses.

f. But the Word of God is not locked away in writing. Even though Revelation ended with the death of the last apostle(cf. DV 4), the Word-Revealed continues to be proclaimed and heeded throughout Church history. The Church has the responsibility to proclaim the Word to the whole world as a response to its need of salvation. In this way, the Word continues its course through vibrant preaching and its many forms of evangelization, where proclamation, catechesis, liturgical celebrations and the service of charity hold a high place. Preaching, in this sense, under the power of the Holy Spirit, is the Word of the living God communicated to living persons.

g. Like fruit coming forth from its roots, the truths of the Church’s faith, in the fields of dogma and morality, fall within the sphere of the Word of God.

From this vantage point, when God’s Revelation is proclaimed in faith, it becomes a real moment of Revelation, which can truly be called the "Word of God" in the Church.

Catholic Christians are not "people of the book" but people of the Word of God which encompasses more than the Bible as the sole source of revelation. If the Word of God was limited to what was written in the pages of Scripture canonized in 393 AD, then did the Church flounder for almost 4 centuries without the official Bible? Then, what about the next 1100 years after that until the printing press was invented and Scripture became more readily available to the minority of the population who were literate? Did those other Christians live without the Word of God? Obviously not! They lived by the Word of God found in preaching, teaching and the liturgy of the Catholic Church, where the proclamation of the Word of God continues to this day.

If you get a chance, the Bishop's Synod writing of Instrumentum Laboris on the Word of God in the life and mission of the Church makes for some interesting reading.

50 Million Abortions Since 1973

As part of the 40 Days For Life Campaign, our parish pro-life group placed 100 white crosses on the grounds of the school. Each cross represents 1/2 a million for a total of 50 million souls.
Today after Mass, about 50 people gathered from our parish, as well as others, to pray for an end to abortion.

The crosses were displayed in a way so that any one that had to get into the developments near the parish would see the sign. They would also see the numerous "Vote Pro-Life" signs all over the Church property.

More News On The Eucharistic Desecration Video

Fmsdude just pulled his 40 U Tube videos of Eucharistic desecration. Apparently someone tracked him down and found his address and wrote a letter to his father suggesting he encourage his son to remove the videos. There apparently is a law in Canada against desecrating religious objects and the letter mentioned this.
Continue to pray for the soul of the desecrator and all those who encouraged him by their vile comments on the u tube site.

God have mercy.

Freedom of Choice Act and Obama

If Obama becomes president, the first item on his agenda is to promote the passage of the FOCA.

"On April 18, 2007, in Gonzales v. Carhart, The Supreme Court upheldthe Partial-Birth Abortion Ban. The very next day prominent Democratic members of Congress reintroduced the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). The bill is misleadingly packaged as a freedom bill. It is not! It is a clear act of unreasoned bias to end abruptly and brutally the debate on the pressing and fundamental moral issue of the right to life."

A bishop of the Paterson diocese in NJ ( my old diocese when I was a little Catholic kid)makes an interesting point comparing Obama to King Herod. Check it out here.

"There IS No New Messiah"

In Mass on Sunday, our deacon preached the homily. He reminded us that as Catholic Christians, we can not compartmentalize our lives into work/leisure/church/citizenship/etc. He said our faith has to infuse every part of our lives. Every compartment, so to speak. He explained that our privilege of voting also needs to be informed by our faith as well. He mentioned no names or political parties but when he said, "There are no new messiahs" we got the message.
Our Church is plastered with posters saying "Vote Pro-life" and on Sunday we are having a memorial service to remember the 50 million lives taken by abortion. We will display 100 white crosses, each representing 500,000 babies "punished" by abortion. The Blessing of the Crosses is a service that all Christians can be a part of regardless of denomination.

Darwin's Black Box

Tonite, we are having Dr. Michael Behe, author of Darwin's Black Box and nationally recognized proponent of Intelligent Design speak to our Truth In Religion Group. He is a Catholic Christian and professor of Biochemistry at Lehigh University.
His name became a household word a few years ago when he was a star defense witness in the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, lawsuit in York County, PA. The judge ruled that: "it is unconstitutional to teach ID as an alternative to evolution in a public school science classroom."
As a biology major in college and medical student, I stubbornly held to the 6 day creation scenario because of my early fundamentalist-influenced reading of Scripture. As a Catholic Christian, I have found that good science never contradicts faith and faith will never go against good science. Faith and reason always go hand in hand. I no longer have to go into "denial mode" when I read about a new fossil discovery that dates to 10 million years old.
The Catechism states:

"Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth."³⁷ "Consequently, methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God. The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are.

Feast Of Saint Luke

Today the Church celebrates the Feast Of Saint Luke. St. Luke was the beloved Greek physician and traveling companion of St. Paul who wrote the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts- almost a third of the New Testament! He was also a painter and sculpture and was known for the way he "painted" with his words in his inspired writings. As a physician with a keen eye for detail and accuracy his gospel contains 6 miracles of Jesus that the other gospels don't contain.
Today the local chapter of the Catholic Medical Association had a Mass at our parish in honor of St Luke which was followed by a brief reception to discuss our plans for next year.

Dear St Luke: we ask your intercession for all physicians who desire to practice medicine with Christian medical- ethics guided by the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Saint Ignatius of Antioch

Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch who was martyred in Circus Maximus around 110 AD for his faith. He is one of my favorite heroes of the early Church because of his writings that helped me see that the early Christians were indeed Catholics! On his way to martyrdom by the teeth of lions, he wrote 7 letters to the Churches he was presiding over.
Sure, these letter are not canonical as is Scripture, but that doesn't invalidate the historical perspective we gain from reading them. These letters are the equivalence of "little ancient webcams" that give us glimpses of what the early Christians believed and how they practiced their faith.

"Let no one do anything of concern to the Church without the bishop. Let that be considered a valid Eucharist which is celebrated by the bishop or by one whom he ordains [i.e., a presbyter]. Wherever the bishop appears, let the people be there; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church" (Letter to the Smyrneans 8:2 [A.D. 110]).

When I first read this, I just about fell off my chair.( Well, actually I was sitting on my bed reading Steve Ray's Crossing The Tiber) I couldn't believe these early Christians had a hierarchical authority as seen in this statement about the Eucharist and ordination. Furthermore, it became clear to me that the Early Church was referring to itself as the universal=Catholic Church as early as the start of the second century! I had thought and been taught that the Eeeevil Catholic Church was a creation of the emperor Constantine to paganize the True Faith. (straight out of a Chick tract I must now sadly admit) And finally, the fact that Ignatius was talking about a "valid Eucharist" showed me just how important the sacrifice of the altar was to the early Christians, and still is to the Universal Church.

My favorite fact about Ignatius is that he was a disciple of the apostle John. Therefore, it would be hard to imagine that he misunderstood and misconstrued the teachings of Jesus. He was discipled by the favorite disciple of Jesus and thus he would do everything to preserve the truth and accuracy of the teachings passed on to him. I wrote a little story "The Heart Beat of God" last year to underscore the relationship of John and Ignatius and Eucharistic belief of the early Christians.

St. Teresa of Avila

St. Teresa of Avila is celebrated today by the Catholic Church. She was a reformer of the Carmelites, a mystic, and later recognized as a Doctor of the Church. Very much like us, she struggled with sin and yet never gave up her pursuit of holiness.
Her writings in "The Interior Castle" were a favorite among some of the charismatic protestants I had known and a former pastor had spoken of her from time to time. I am not quite sure how her acceptance of illness and suffering would have jived with modern-day charismatic healing theology, but obviously something in her writings rang true for some of us.

"Oh, my Lord! How true it is that whoever works for you is paid in troubles! And what a precious price to those who love you if we understand its value."

Desecration of the Eucharist Again

Ever since I heard of the U Tube Desecration videos, I have been reflecting on how we perceive the Eucharist. When a person receives the Eucharist with no belief that it is the Eucharist, or is in a state of mortal sin, is not this also desecrating the Eucharist? When Paul admonished the Corinthians because they were not rightly discerning the body of the Lord, they were "guilty of the body and blood of the Lord" and some even died as a result.
Is what St. Paul talks about in Corinthians the same thing as desecration? I don't know. As much as we are all making a fuss, and rightly so about these U Tube desecrations, should we also not be grieving and making reparation for millions of times weekly that many of us receive the body and blood of Christ with no disposition towards Him or even a belief that He is in the Blessed Sacrament? I have at times felt my mind wander at Mass and halfway through the Eucharistic prayer get called back to reality of the moment. Thankfully the Church in her wisdom has us pray this before we go to the Altar to receive Him. "Lord I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed."

On this feast day of St Mary Margaret, who reminded us of Jesus tremendous love and passion for us symbolized by the Sacred Heart, let us pray for all those, ourselves included, who have grown cold and indifferent to God's sublime ineffable gift of the Eucharist.

"If It's Just A Symbol, To Hell With It"

Recently U Tube, a Google-owned enterprise, has been allowing the posting of videos of individuals desecrating the Eucharist. This has created a major flurry of letters , e-mails and appeals to U Tube to remove these offensive videos. Initially they claimed they would and the videos were removed for one day, 10/1, then re-appeared. This fueled even more vitriol and others chimed-in and starting posting their rants against the Eucharist.

As appalling as this is, it reinforces to me that at some level, these poor souls recognize the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. At some level they must believe this. Otherwise they wouldn't go to such lengths to offend the God of the Universe. What better way to take out your long-nursed grudge against God for not answering your prayers, or taking away a loved one or_________... (fill in the blank) You can't get any closer to God on this side of the veil than through the Eucharist! Also a satisfaction apparently is gained from the desecrator in realizing what an offense this will be to Catholics.

Yes, I am appalled and outraged, but at the same time encouraged by the fact that Satan doesn't waste his time on desecrating mere symbols, or even a bible which contains the Word of God. When the attacks come from the dark side, they aim for the source and summit of our faith, the Eucharist, the perfect sacrifice re-presented on all the altars of the world residing in all the tabernacles in every Church until the end of time.

Oh, now back to the title of this blog post, I almost forgot! Catholic writer Flannery O'Connor wrote in a letter in 1955:

"Well, toward morning the conversation turned on the Eucharist, which I, being the Catholic, was obviously supposed to defend. Mrs. Broadwater said when she was a child and received the host, she thought of it as the Holy Ghost, He being the most portable person of the Trinity; now she thought of it as a symbol and implied that it was a pretty good one. I then said, in a very shaky voice, Well, if it's a symbol, to hell with it.

That was all the defense I was capable of but I realize now that this is all I will ever be able to say about it, outside of a story, except that it is the center of existence for me; all the rest of life is expendable."

I can't say Amen enough to that!
Let's all pray for the poor souls desecrating the Eucharist with this prayer of Reparation:

O Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore thee profoundly. I offer thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which He is offended. By the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of thee the conversion of poor sinners.

Sign an On-line Petition to remove these Desecrations here.

Catholic Answer's Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics On U Tube

Love To Be Catholic Hosts Priest's For Life

Check out Fr. Frank Pavone's Priest's for Life Video Channel on Love To Be Catholic, a premier site hosting Catholic-themed videos of preaching, teaching and music. During this election season, it's extremely important to know the issues as Election Day approaches. Father Pavone tells it like it is. The message in these videos is useful for Christians of all denominations. So spread the word!

Remember folks, Senator Obama- if elected, promised to make the Freedom of Choice Act his first priority, which if passed will reverse all the gains of the past 25 years of the pro-life movement. If passed this Act will make it illegal to ban partial-birth abortions. Notice how the media isn't mentioning this?

Also, check out Catholic Answer's Voter Guide for Serious Catholics(which is applicable to all serious Christians)

Another Convert From Independent Bible Church

Andrew Preslar has taken the road from fundamentalist to reformed to anglican to Rome. Check out his apologia of miscellanies.
Congrats Andrew!
Give him the old Catholic blogger's welcome home!
H/t Tim at Army of Martyrs (God Fearin' Fiddler)

Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

Today the Church honors the Lord's mom (and ours too) with this feast focusing on the rosary. Tradition has it that the rosary was given to St Dominic by Mary in the 12th century. Before that time, the devotion of praying 150 Psalms or Our Fathers on a string of beads was practiced by many of the religious in the Church. Could you imagine how long those prayer meetings went?

The Hail Mary prayer is mostly scripture and comes from the Gospel of Luke. In the 16th century, the phrase, "Holy Mary mother of God pray for us now and at the hour of our death" was added and then later ratified at the Council of Trent.

What is it that freaks out non-Catholics about the Hail Mary prayer? Besides the obvious that we are asking Mary to pray for us instead of going straight to Jesus, (though it never seems bad for them to ask others to pray for them rather than going straight to Jesus)

I propose this as the real reason why the rosary and the Hail Mary prayer are so maligned:
I think the Hail part is what really gets people steamed. They think we are hailing Mary the way the crowds hailed Caesar in Roman times! They think it is a term of worship. Well, for the 100th time on this blog, Catholics don't worship anyone but God alone . When the Scripture was written in the original koinonia Greek, (which I studied for a total of 1 year in college, which makes me an expert) the term was translated as rejoice, or be glad. So the angel Gabriel was saying "rejoice or be glad Mary, you who are full of grace!"

I suspect angels are pretty theologically orthodox considering they spend a fair amount of their time worshiping God in Heaven. So they know better than to worship Mary, and so do we. Therefore, considering the real meaning of the word hail, we conclude that the Hail Mary prayer is a wonderful devotional prayer of intercession asking the Lord's mother to go to bat for us in prayer. The rosary consists of this prayer repeated in decades while meditating on the events of Jesus life. The rosary is not vain repetition for two reasons. First, we don't pray it thinking we will get God's attention because of the many words, because we already know he hears our prayers. Secondly, its not vain, its efficacious and has a long track record of being a powerful way of intercession.

Pope Pius the fifth in 1571 attributed the Christians' victory over the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto to all of Christendom praying the rosary. This day used to be called the Feast of Our Lady of Victory, now called the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Pope Benedict Re-defines "Realist"

In light of the collapsing world financial markets the Holy Father reminds us of the folly of placing our hope in the riches of the world and he gives a new definition for a realist.


"at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord speaks of two ways of building the house of one's life: on sand or on rock. Those who build on sand do so only on visible and tangible things: on success, career and money", he said.

"These seem to true reality, but one day they will pass away", he added. "We see this now with the fall of the great banks. Money disappears, it becomes nothing. And thus all these things which seem to be real and upon which we can rely, are in fact of secondary importance. ... Only the Word of God is the foundation of all reality, stable like heaven. Therefore we must change our concept of reality. A realist is one who recognises that the Word of God - this reality that appears so weak - is in fact the foundation of everything".

Feast of St. Francis of Assisi and Rich Mullins

Today the Church celebrates the life and heroic faith of the beloved St. Francis of Assisi. What a banner week of saint's feasts we have had! St. Therese Wednesday and today dear St Francis.
Many people have been drawn to the simple message of poverty, simplicity and love for the poor, even non-Catholics. Rich Mullins, contemporary Christian musican (author of Our God is An Awesome God) was captivated by St. Francis and his order of Friars minor. So much so, that Rich started his own "order" called Kid Brothers of St. Frank. He gathered around himself a few friends who chose to eschew worldliness and live in gospel poverty. At the height of his national success in the Christian music industry, he was asked how much money he was making. He replied he didn't know and didn't want to know. His accountant gave him a small stipend to live on and buy an occasional stringed instrument. He donated the rest to his church and to missions.
Rich died in 1997 on the way to a gig. A Catholic priest in the mid-west is on record as saying that Rich was taking instruction from him to enter the Church and was preparing to be received the upcoming week. His last few albums were heavily influenced by the Liturgy and Eucharistic themes were obvious in his writing. When I e-mailed his brother a few years ago, he said Rich had no intention of ever being Catholic. Well, either way, today Rich and St. Francis are praying for us.

St Francis, pray for us that we would put Christ above all things in our lives.

PS:
Brother Rich, Could you pray for me that I could be a better songwriter and bring glory to God with my music, and get my hammer dulcimer to stay in tune? Thanks, Amen

Justification and Luther and Where Was The Church For 1500 Years?

Dr. Judisch has done it again on another thought provoking post. It's exciting to see a philosopher discuss these issues that I had gone back and forth with early on in the history of this blog. But he does it so much better. Thank God for these guys.

Feast Of the Guardian Angels

"See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father." Matt 18


In Mass this morning, our priest reminded us that though they are invisible, we can be assured that angels are crowding around the altar as Jesus becomes present in the Mass as well as adoring Him in the tabernacle. How cool is that?

Here is Upsy Daisy Angel, a song about angels I wrote in 1975. Check out the full story from my July 2007 blog post. Someday, I hope it ends up on a my much-procrastinated new CD.

The Little Way of St. Therese of Lisieux

"Be not afraid to tell Jesus that you love Him; even though it be without feeling, this is the way to oblige Him to help you, and carry you like a little child too feeble to walk."