Friday, December 31, 2010

To Be Used

I've always been attracted to people on fire.  Missionaries who charge at their goals with fire and zeal. Attraction to the fire can get you into a boatload of trouble and it has (and still does) for me from time to time.

Thankfully, the great teacher experience refined the attraction along my way.   Just the right blend of formation in authentic Catholic teaching and experiencing that unless the fire was (and is) ignited from zeal for God, its egotistical, empty and unattractive.

I came across this poem a few weeks ago that captures the fire perfectly:

To Be of Use (by Marge Piercy)

The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who stand in the line and haul in their places,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.

Fire can be a fata morgana when it's lit by a phonies to attract people unto themselves, to use them for one purpose or another.   When you make bad choices with fire, instead of using it for the mission, you can get disoriented and then burned.  I've seen people get consumed.     I've seen the mission blow up.

Voris used a citation from scripture yesterday that is really at the heart of the right fires in his request for prayer.  As the mission and battles wage, Moses is at the top of the mountain draining the strength from God by holding his arms up and reflecting it into the warriors. (Exodus 17.)  The theme is repeated throughout Scripture numerous times.  Like when the Ark of the Covenant is paraded around the the wall of Jericho by seven priests and in the New Testament when Christ is in a crowd of people who are touching Him but when one woman touches His cloak with faith for the purpose of drinking in gifts from His Divinity to heal her, He feels it and stops to find out who it was in the crowd.

The same citation from Scripture is used in this uplifting story about General Patton about the Third Army Prayer.    General Patton has always been a hero of mine.  He used the fire lit by God to preserve freedom for the citizens of the country he loved and freeing our brothers and sisters imprisoned in Europe.  When the weather was holding up victory, he summoned the power he later said he knew would work.  He had the prayer written asking God to intervene with the weather and he had it distributed to his Third Army.


Patton then discussed his belief in the power of prayer with Monsignor O'Neill:
I wish you would put out a Training Letter on this subject of Prayer to all the chaplains; write about nothing else, just the importance of prayer. Let me see it before you send it. We've got to get not only the chaplains but every man in the Third Army to pray. We must ask God to stop these rains. These rains are that margin that hold defeat or victory. If we all pray . . . [i]t will be like plugging in on a current whose source is in Heaven. I believe that prayer completes that circuit. It is power.

Do yourself a favor and enjoy the rest of this article.

 Our prayer people rock. All of our efforts would be futile without them.  (I found my glasses btw -thanks!).

  People with fire need a lot of seasoning before they wise up and use their fire correctly.   We have to be careful to avoid the firefighters who come along with all sorts of agendas, some of them well-meaning, but nevertheless, they can muck up the mission God has you on.  Like people who suffer from an affliction described by St. John of the Cross --they believe their spirituality and gifts are for everyone to follow. I don't see it much in people with the fire.   I see it in the people who want to emulate Mother Teresa or believe that prayer is the only action ever necessary.   They're blinded to the communion of saints and gifts and can only see their own patron saint or hero.   They've found the way for them but they go on a crusade to tell everyone else they are missing their calling if they don't follow them.   Every time I come across them, I bump into several of my own afflictions generated from these people annoying me ad nauseum.

I remember once about a year ago when we were engaged in the Caritas battle, being invited to dinner to talk about the situation by an individual I had been acquainted with for years.   I really did not know him all that well but always eager for savvy advice when engaged in a battle, I accepted the invitation.   In the middle of dinner when he started banging his drum that I had my calling from God all wrong, I started to eat a lot faster as I was trying to process how I missed the signals that his spirituality was myopic. "Ugh, not this again" I said to myself as I felt the weight of all the chores I put aside while sitting there getting advice I needed like I needed a hole in the head.

Somebody said once (and sadly I don't remember who) that at the hour of death when they meet God, they want every drop of blood to be spent, to meet Him in the same condition He met with God the Father.  To be able to say, have mercy on this sinner.  I gave it all.  Surrendered everything because I love You more than myself, more than everyone and everything you blessed my life with, more than life itself.  Those are people of the fire.

Fiery people are a handful.   I sometimes don't envy those who know us and love us because they understand  the fire and the Kingdom of God.      Thanks to all who were generous with your love, your support, kindness, friendship and prayer in 2010.

Happy and Blessed New Year to all Freedom Fighters.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Golden Parachutes in the Archdiocese of Boston?

If you haven't read the latest post and comments over at Boston Catholic Insider, you've simply got to get over there and check out the latest post and comments.     As the diocese spits out press releases claiming there is no money to fund pensions, insiders are predicting the latest round of megasalaried employees added to the payroll could signal golden parachutes for the Chancellor, among others.

I found this comment to be most interesting:

- Carol “the lefty” Gustavson is losing the most important of her several hats, and she is one of the few “direct reports” remaining for McDonough in the Secretariat;
- Straub is taking on the “direct reports” that, up until McDonough’s time, were the core of the Chancellor’s position;
- McDonough’s “direct reports” now amount to someone with oversight of the floorplan of the Pastoral Center and of the telephone system, and “Director of Parish Services” (whatever that might be!)
- McDonough’s email ends with a self-serving litany of how hard he’s worked to achieve the Cardinal’s goals, and a stated “hope” that Straub will “continue to build on” the foundation that he, McDonough, has laid.
It seems pretty apparent, in corporation-speak, that Gustavson has annoyed a lot of people (maybe the continuous portrayal of her on this blog as “proudly ex-Catholic” has had a part in it, too) and is on her way out – and soon.
It also seems pretty apparent that McDonough is being positioned for an upcoming email that thanks him for his generous service to the Archdiocese and at the same time welcomes Straub as the next Chancellor.
It may be just wishful thinking, but if you can decipher corporation-speak, I’m just saying….

Also of note is the Chancellor's focus on reducing the body count rather than a budgeted salary comparison that includes funds being siphoned off to vendors being 1099'd that coincidently have a history of previous business dealings with McDonough and Jack Connors.

2011 is going to be a very interesting year so stay tuned to Boston's Church Militant.  

Speaking of which,  today's Vortex is another must see...




Tuesday, December 28, 2010

The Pope's Prophetic Cliffhanger...


Michael (as usual) has a superb round-up.   



It isn't very often that a Pope will venture out into these kinds of prophetic messages

Yowza.

Two Things...

1.  I can't find my glasses.



2..  I'm two weeks behind in everything, including answering email.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

If you are still dreaming about a white Christmas, please stop.

The Grinches at Catholics United

Hope your Christmas day was filled with joy, laughter, love and the presence of our newborn King.    We had a great day here at Camp McKinley.      I don't know about you, but I'm not psyched up for this 'blizzard'.   I don't know how to operate my snowblower.  :O)    Guess today's the day I'm going to learn!

Meanwhile, here's something to warm the cockles of your heart...

I somehow missed this, but apparently Chris Korzen and James Salt of Katholycs United responded to Bishop Olmsted's stripping of Catholic status and excommunication over the abortion at St. Joseph's Hospital by asking him to reverse his decision and saying he's too much of a hardliner and out of touch with many Catholics.

In a nutshell, they do a convoluted jig around the 'moral analysis' relied upon to perform the abortion.   The teaching of the Church is that it is never permissible to perform an abortion no matter what the circumstances, even when the abortion would improve the health of the mother.   If a pregnant woman is in a health crisis, medications, operations, procedures that will improve her health are permissible, even if those procedures risk the life of her unborn child, but never an abortion.

It's a tough teaching in the circumstances these individuals were in, but it is the teaching.     The administrator of the Catholic Hospital was there to uphold the teaching.  You tell her we'll do what we can to stabilize the situation until the baby can survive outside of the womb, give her the best medical care available, get the prayers and novena's going.  If the pregnant mother of four made the choice to pursue an abortion, we don't chain people to their hospital beds and she has the option of arranging a transfer to a non-Catholic hospital.

This is why you see a dance around calling the procedure an abortion in their 'moral analysis', as in this Condomweal piece here.

 “ “The procedure performed at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center on November 5, 2009, cannot properly be described as an abortion. The act, per its moral object, must accurately be described as saving the life of the mother. The death of the fetus was, at maximum, nondirect and praeter intentionem. More likely, the fetus was already dying due to the pathological situation prior to the intervention; as such, it is inaccurate to understand the death of the fetus as an accessory consequence to the intervention.”
There are numerous flaws in this analysis.  The procedure was an abortion with the direct intention of killing the child.   The child in utero was not dying and saying 'more likely' that it was is 100% conjecture.  But the most compelling observance of their moral poverty was their description of the 'death of the fetus as an accessory consequence to the intervention".

When dilating the woman's cervix, inserting the vacuum to the living child within her womb and tearing the child into small enough pieces to go through the tubes and into the jar, they approached the procedure with the intention of permitting the child to live.  In the course of this medical intervention, the dead child was an unintended accessory consequence and therefore, it is 'bogus' (as Korzen calls it) to describe the procedure as an abortion.

The hospital has the support of the Catholic Health Association, the U.S. Catholic community foremost healthcare authority, Catholics United says. Gotta love that.    (They also have the support of the reliable contradictors of Catholic teaching .  The crew at the National Catholic Reporter.   James Martin conveniently gathers the links of the people adrift from One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church at Condomweal here.  Vox Nova here.)


Taking a quick glimpse at other press releases at "Catholics United", it's quite a peculiar focus for a Catholic group.  In fact, I couldn't find anything that actually defended Catholic teaching.  When they "unite", they "unite" behind people people who procure and legislate abortion or pour ants over the Catholic Crucifix to blame Catholic teaching for the HIV caused by irresponsible sex.

I doubt they were edified with Bishop Olmsted's response --


The Phoenix Diocese issued the following statement: "Unfortunately, St. Joseph's hospital and 'Catholic's United are not in union with Bishop Olmsted and have no claim to being considered authentically Catholic, nor do they speak for the church in any way."

Why don't they just use the take away the right of "Catholics United", the "National Catholic Reporter" and the "Catholic Health Association" to use the name "Catholic" to set up an alternate 'magisterium'?  

Take the ax to the root.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Wishing All of You a Blessed and Merry Christmas



No matter what the circumstances were in my life, the day our Savoir was born has always been a joyful.  Sometimes, it has been a refuge and others, a celebration of the bounty of gifts I was experiencing in the ebbs and flows of life.

I thought the Christmas message in 2000 from John Paul II was a good one to share with all of you in blogosphere evangelizing the captives of the culture of death. Thank you to all of you who are working to bring light into the darkness, for your prayers, support, friendship and love and I wish you a very blessed Christmas.


From the manger, our gaze takes in all humanity, called to receive the grace of the "second Adam", yet still heir to the sin of the "first Adam". Is it not this first "No" to God, repeated in every human sin, which continues to mar the face of humanity? Children subjected to violence, humiliated and abandoned, women raped and exploited, young people, adults and the elderly marginalised, endless streams of exiles and refugees, violence and conflict in so many parts of the world.

We cannot but recall that shadows of death threaten people's lives at every stage of life, and are especially menacing at its earliest beginning and its natural end. The temptation is becoming ever stronger to take possession of death by anticipating its arrival, as though we were masters of our own lives or the lives of others. We are faced by alarming signs of the "culture of death", which pose a serious threat for the future.

Yet however dense the darkness may appear, our hope for the triumph of the Light which appeared on that Holy Night at Bethlehem is stronger still. So much good is being done, silently, by men and women who daily live their faith, their work, their dedication to their families and to the good of society.

Encouraging too are the efforts of all those, including men and women in public life, striving to foster respect for the human rights of every person, and the growth of solidarity between peoples of different cultures, so that the debt of the poorest countries will be condoned and honourable peace agreements reached between nations engaged in tragic conflicts.

Message of Christmas

To peoples in all parts of the world who are moving with courage towards the values of democracy, freedom, respect and mutual acceptance, and to all persons of good will, whatever their culture, the joyful message of Christmas is addressed: "Peace on earth to those on whom God's favour rests" (cf Lk 2:14).

Amen to all that!


Wednesday, December 22, 2010

A Lump of Coal for Mass Citizens for Life Stocking

Anne Fox responded to the Catholic Action League's Press Release.

There's good news and bad news.

I'll give you the bad news first.

Anne says the kind things Howie says about the Montrose School is getting lost in all the hoopla from Catholics offended by Carr's "political acumen" against Our Eucharistic Lord, the Holy Spirit, the Catholic Church and Her Sacraments and the suggestion that St. Joseph sodomized animals.

 After all, MCFL is 'non-sectarian' and "assiduous" people could make a list of positive things he's said about people at his parish.

MCFL may officially be 'non-sectarian', but its membership and supporters are almost exclusively Catholic. Anyway, how does MCFL being 'non-sectarian' abjure Carr's offensive remarks and make him an acceptable cheerleader for the sanctity of life? As CJ reveals below, Carr has actually referred to children born out of wedlock as 'little bastards'.  What kind of a message does that send to single mothers about MCFL?   Doesn't it undermine our entire mission in the pro-life community?

It isn't just that his remarks about Our Lord are vulgar, his remarks persuade his audience against the Church which ultimately keeps people away from the Sacraments and unity with Christ.   I am baffled that the consequences to the salvation of souls from Carr's smearing of the Catholic Church are given license by calling MCFL 'non-sectarian'. 

Fox also is under the impression that Howie Carr is "anti-choice".

 I'm not sure what the word "anti-choice" means, but here's why the wordsymthing is coming across as more of the same intellectual dishonesty we've all grown accustomed to from MCFL: If Carr were 'anti-choice' he wouldn't have the history he has promoting proabortion politicians who then go on to make laws that support abortion rights.  That's what you call counterproductive.

If Carr said he was against antisemetism but he had a long history of promoting antisemitic politicians, this is an indication that he's not committed enough to the cause to lead the annual Jewish anti-defamation assembly.

Carr doesn't have 'pro-life' credentials and his 'political acumen' about the Catholic religion, our Pope, teachings, priests and Sacraments disqualify him to lead an MCFL-sponsored event.

MCFL is creating further divisions in the pro-life community by holding onto her story and invitation to Howie Carr.

The good news is, the Catholic Action League has issued a spectacular response:

CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE REJECTS MCFL EXCUSES
FOR INVITATION TO HOWIE CARR

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today rejected excuses offered by Anne Fox, President of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, for that organization's invitation to the anti-Catholic, Hispanic-bashing radio shock jock Howie Carr, to be the featured speaker at MCFL's Annual Assembly for Life on January 16th.

In a late breaking development, the League has learned that the Chairman of the MCFL Board of Directors, long time pro-life activist Henry Luthin, resigned over the weekend.

The following is the reply of Anne Fox to the League's letter of December 17th:

Dear C. J.,

As I prepared to respond to your email, which requested that we withdraw our invitation to Howie Carr to speak at the Massachusetts Citizens for Life Assembly for Life, I realized that you had sent to your entire list what I assumed was a private email. It surprises me greatly that you would do that without contacting me first. If your goal was to have us withdraw our invitation, it would have been prudent to have contacted me...

You cite examples of statements from the last dozen years which are definitely out of order. I had not been aware of them. I have heard Howie praise the people and the school in his parish as well as The Montrose School. If someone as assiduous as you had been monitoring for the same dozen years, I suspect he would also have a dossier of positive statements.

Massachusetts Citizens for Life is nonsectarian. We, of course, join all pro-life people in admiration and gratitude for the leadership of the Catholic Church which has and is working so hard to restore the Culture of Life and would do nothing to embarrass her.

Howie is anti-abortion. He has been very helpful to us in our work over the past year and a half to publicize the anti-life aspects of Obamacare. We have not asked him to speak as an "entertainer". We have asked him to speak, because of his political acumen, about the unacknowledged power of the pro-life vote. The general public, politicians, and our own people need to hear that.

C. J., I trust that you will share this email with the people to whom you sent your original email.

Best,
Anne


The Catholic Action League characterized Fox's remarks as "a bizarre attempt to defend the indefensible."

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle made the following comment: "Evidently, Anne Fox never heard of the old saying that when you are already in a hole, you should stop digging. She actually makes the insipid argument that blasphemy and sacrilege --- insulting the Body of Christ and making obscene references about the Foster Father of Our Lord --- can be overlooked if there are countervailing considerations. The notion that the vile things Howie Carr has said about the Blessed Sacrament and Saint Joseph are somehow counterbalanced by the financial support he has provided to his daughters' parochial school is manifestly absurd and intellectually dishonest, as is the pathetic attempt to hide behind the non-sectarian status of MCFL. Serious organizations do not invoke their non-sectarian character to excuse bigotry and hate speech."

"As for the preposterous assertion that we have somehow neglected to mention the allegedly good things Howie Carr has said about the Church, here, Anne Fox descends from argument to comedy. The only things which we have omitted are the new revelations about Howie Carr which we are learning of every day as more people contact us with evidence of his Catholic bashing. If anyone believes that they can bring success to their organization by showcasing someone who has mocked the Second Person of the Holy Trinity and defamed the Head of the Holy Family, then their thinking is that of an atheist rather than a Christian."

"For the record, Howie Carr supports sterilization and contraception, and has a long history of promoting pro-abortion candidates for public office. Where the pro-life movement demonstrates compassion for women in difficult circumstances, the caustic Howie Carr demeans the children born out of wedlock to mothers on public assistance as 'little bastards'. Do we really wish to project the surly and mean-spirited countenance of Howie Carr as the image of the Massachusetts pro-life movement? Those who rail against immigrants, minorities, and welfare recipients, far from building a culture of life, usually promote sympathy for population control."

"Liberal Catholics malign the pro-life movement by unjustly accusing it of being a political front for the Republican Party. In this case, Anne Fox seems determined to vindicate that claim, even if it means embracing enemies of the Faith as repulsive as Howie Carr. From tailoring candidate questionnaires to make pro-abortion Republicans look 100% pro-life, to providing a platform to a Republican attack dog, it appears that Anne Fox is seeking to reduce the once proud Massachusetts Citizens for Life to an auxiliary of the Massachusetts Republican Party. For the credibility of their own organization, the officers, directors and members of MCFL ought to restrain her from doing so."

"Meanwhile, the Catholic Action League will begin to call local and national attention to the scandal of having an anti-Catholic, anti-Hispanic, anti-immigrant, anti-life speaker at a pro-life event."

*********

Please add this to your list of  prayers in your Christmas worship.  It is more than an 'incident'.  The trajectory of Mass Citizens for Life has been sucking the oxygen out of the pro-life community for about ten years.  This event has the potential to bring on a formal divorce which could get very ugly.  We have all been trying to avoid it for the sake of 'peace'.   But like everything else the Hound of Heaven does when we are abdicating our duties, He is making it impossible for us to be at peace with it.

n.b. Please also pray for the Walshes who lost their daughter over the last few months, and a sister in Christ who lost her job and is facing eviction.

Bishop Olmsted Strips Hospitals of "Catholic" Name

Bishop Olmsted is a Bishop who sure makes it hard to live up to the 23rd Psalm. I want this Bishop here!

After trying to shepherd the flock at Catholic Hospitals, as promised, he stripped the hospitals of the right to use the Name "Catholic".

That's what you call 'pastoral'.

I can't help comparing it to what Boston Catholics were served up with -- contracts with abortionists with promises to give pregnant women free rides to get them.

Enjoy our friend Michael Voris giving the delicious kudos:





Oh, and speaking of things that need to have the Name Catholic Canonically removed, the Katholic Health Association has issued a statement on the katholycity of the hospitals from Lady MacBeth.

NB - Sister McBride, the administrator who 'approved' of the abortion, was also excommunicated by Bishop Olmsted.

I would still be conflicted with Church teaching about contraception and robbed of the state of grace, if the people who told me I was separated from God had not had the courage to do so.

Priests and lay people have got to stop believing they are being 'pastoral' by letting their flock come and sit in the pews every week without telling them what we know to be the truth. The kind of 'pastors' who will let you march towards your death in conflict with Christ are not pastoring your soul to its salvation.

Here's something you won't see at Condomweal Magazine, Vox Nova and America Magazine

The Vatican has issued a clarification on the mess made out of the Pope's statements on condom use.

It is comprehensive in addressing every inanity by theorists proposing this was the green light for people having irresponsible sex. The focus of Christendom, society and the State is liberating people chained to immoral and sinful practices.


The response of the entire Christian tradition – and indeed not only of the Christian tradition – to the practice of prostitution can be summed up in the words of St. Paul: "Flee from fornication" (1 Cor 6:18).

The statement also affirmed that the Pope was not separating the unitive and procreative meaning of human sexuality.

So much for irresponsible priests like Fr. James Martin who claimed the Pope's statements are a "game changer".

My favorite part was addressed to the luminaries who were frantically asserting the teaching of abstinence was now trumped with the 'pastoral approach' of the "the lesser of two evils":


S
ome commentators have interpreted the words of Benedict XVI according to the so-called theory of the "lesser evil". This theory is, however, susceptible to proportionalistic misinterpretation (cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Veritatis splendor, n. 75-77).

An action which is objectively evil, even if a lesser evil, can never be licitly willed...


In conclusion, in the battle against AIDS, the Catholic faithful and the agencies of the Catholic Church should be close to those affected, should care for the sick and should encourage all people to live abstinence before and fidelity within marriage.

I'm very relieved the Holy See responded to the pandemonium so thoroughly.

Boston Archdiocese Blogging and Governance Suggestion Box - Part 2

The Blogging and Governance Suggestions, Part 2 is up at Boston Catholic Insider.

If the ten suggestions were humbly and prayerfully given the serious consideration they deserve, it would go a long way to making straight the crooked path of the pastoral buffoonery at 66 Brooks Drive.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Does Cardinal Sean's Blog Reflect What He is Doing With His Time?

BCI has top ten suggestions to improve Cardinal Sean's Blog.

Purportedly, Cardinal Sean's Blog is dictated by the Cardinal and put together by an affable and faithful Catholic, Antonio Enrique, editor of The Boston Pilot.

A PR disaster among the many in the Boston archdiocese, BCI pretty accurately describes the impression left by the entries with respect to what the Cardinal is doing with his time as the foundation of the structure of the diocese is crumbling.

In the Cardinal’s most recent post it took digging through 53 pictures and photographs and 35 page-downs to learn what Cardinal Sean did in Paraguay: he stopped in Buenos Aires en route, celebrated a number of Masses, visited the nuncio and his menagerie of animals, received an honorary doctorate degree and medallion, gave a talk on Catholic education, met with some Paraguay bishops, had a service at a Capuchin church, flew on a small prop jet to the City of San Pedro, received a key to the city from the mayor (in appreciation for benefactors in Boston who supported initiatives to feed local-area poor families and children), and met with the U.S. ambassador to Paraguay and President of Paraguay.

A lot of activity and photos in one trip, but one might ask, how did any of this help the Archdiocese of Boston, or even Paraguay for that matter? We cannot tell from the post.....

We recognize we are not exactly Shakespeare ourselves so are not exactly in a position to criticize the writing style of others. Still, in the wording of these posts and in others as well, it is no doubt unintentional on the part of the Cardinal or his writer, but the wording causes the Cardinal to come across sounding somewhat awestruck by the trappings of wealth and fame he is exposed to....

Let us for purposes of this post give the benefit of the doubt that maybe the Cardinal or the people who photograph his every move and/or help him write the blog just do not realize how the blog is making him appear: increasingly detached from the day-to-day needs and governance of the Boston archdiocese and increasingly associated with the rich and famous.

It is a must read. The suggestions for improvement are excellent, including a suggestion by a commenter to institute a "Cardinal Come Home" Program. Go ahead and laugh, but I'm afraid it couldn't be any closer to the fix that's needed in this diocese.

There is more coming tomorrow.

Check it out.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Open Letter to Anne Fox and Mass Citizens for Life Asking Them to Withdraw Howie Carr Invitation

-----Original Message-----
From: cmmckinley@aol.com
To: Anne Fox, Officers & Directors of MCFL
Sent: Sun, Dec 19, 2010 11:20 am
Subject: Please Withdraw Invitation to Howie Carr


+
IHS

Dear Anne,

I'm writing to request the invitation to Howie Carr as a featured speaker at the Assembly for Life be withdrawn.

Howie Carr is a political media personality that can be entertaining but he is not a pro-lifer. Whatever positions he holds that seem to be common ground are not common ground with a Catholic pro-life organization. His opposition to Obamacare is not grounded in the sanctity of life, it is fiscal and big government related opposition. Though we can chum around with him at the Harvard Club and laugh at his moonbat jokes, he does not belong as the featured speaker at the Assembly of Life.

More importantly, Howie Carr is vulgar and vile critic of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord. The Sacrament and price of our the salvation of our souls is regularly cheapened and spat upon. I was told that as recently as the past few weeks, he proclaimed that "90% of of Catholic priests are pedophiles".

I vehemently object to and am outraged by this invitation and will be taking an active role in lobbying others to request that you withdraw this invitation. If you fail to immediately do so, I will be lobbying our Catholic priests, high-ranking leaders to boycott the event.

The mission of Mass Citizens for Life is a "pro-life" organization whose members and supporters are Catholics who politically organize to have their convictions represented in the various processes of defining civil and constitutional law.

Somewhere along the way, it capitulated to a political organization that identifies with and endorses pro-choice politicians. It tumbled from the primary mission of getting candidates who oppose Roe v. Wade on the ballot and getting out the ground troops to get them elected, to finding common ground with prochoice candidates on ancillary issues and re-characterizing their support of Roe v. Wade as acceptable enough to get a pro-life endorsement from the major Catholic pro-life political machine in Massachusetts.

I am sorry to say, this Howie Carr invitation is adding fuel to the overall impression that MCFL's trajectory is furthering itself as a Catholic political organization and becoming a political shill for fiscal conservatives who wish to use it as a tool.

St. Joseph, chaste guardian of the Virgin, protector of The Holy Church, pray for us.

Carol McKinley



-----Original Message-----
From: calmdoyle@aol.com
Sent: Fri, Dec 17, 2010 2:12 pm
Subject: CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE LETTER TO MCFL




December 17, 2010

Anne Fox, President
Massachusetts Citizens For Life
The Schrafft Center
529 Main Street
Charlestown, MA 02129


Dear Anne,

We were astonished to learn that Howie Carr will be featured at MCFL's Annual Assembly For Life on January 16th. Carr is a notorious Catholic-basher with a long record of vicious and gratuitous attacks on the Catholic Religion.

On April 8, 1998 --- Wednesday in Holy Week --- in response to a decision by the Red Sox to forgo alcohol sales in Fenway Park because Opening Day would fall on Good Friday, Carr hosted a segment on his program in which he invited listeners to comment on selling "Catholic Eucharists for $3.49 a bag" as a substitute for beer. The result was a half hour of offensive slurs profaning the Blessed Sacrament.

In one particularly vile episode later in 1998, in a conversation between Carr and his producer Doug Goudie evidently intended to disparage Arabs, it was asserted that shepherds in the Middle East had unnatural relations with the animals in their flocks. Into this depraved subject the name of Saint Joseph --- the Virgin Spouse of the Virgin Mother of God --- was introduced. Saint Joseph was then misidentified as a shepherd.

In an interview with Malachy McCourt, Carr laughed and snickered over McCourt's assertion that the late Francis Cardinal Spellman was not only a homosexual but a pedophile. Carr went on to recount a story alleging that an episcopal ring was found by police in a homosexual brothel, implying that the ring belonged to Spellman.

In January, 2002, Carr hosted a segment in which he asked his listeners " Are you ashamed to be a Catholic?", during which he boasted that he never went to Mass. All throughout the molestation crisis of 2002, Carr contemptuously referred to the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston as "Bernie Law", and on November 29th of that year the Boston Herald published a column by Carr in which he described the Cardinal as "a Bulger bum kisser."

Hispanic Catholics, with their large families and culture of life, are the future of the Church and the Pro-Life movement in America. Howie Carr however, is not only an anti-Catholic but a crude nativist. One of the recurring themes of his program is the attempt to link illegal immigrants to crime. A particularly offensive gimmick is his habit of playing Mexican music while reading the names of criminal suspects with Hispanic surnames. This hostility to Hispanics and immigrants places Cardinal O'Malley, or whoever represents him from the Archdiocese of Boston, in the embarrassing position of sharing a stage with someone who boorishly castigates some of the neediest members of his flock.

In a Catholic community which has a significant number of Eastern Rite Catholics of Lebanese and Syrian descent (the Melkite Cathedral is in West Roxbury) it is unimaginable that MCFL would actually provide a platform to a rabble rousing shock jock who has described Arabs in the past as "towelheads".

Inviting Howie Carr to address the Assembly for Life is an act of monumental ingratitude to elected officials who defended the right to life and came to the aid of MCFL in difficult times. Men such as William Bulger, Ray Flynn, Thomas Finneran, and the late Jim Craven have been the victims of vulgar insults, venomous denunciations, and malevolent diatribes by this spiteful demagogue.

A larger issue here is why an organization with a predominantly Christian membership would want to showcase a public figure whose life and career embody such a cynical negation of Christian values. Howie Carr is infamous for his uncharitableness of speech, his lack of compassion, and his sneering contempt for the objects of his scorn. He preys upon the vulnerable, exploits the misfortunes of others, incites rancor and envy, and has grown rich by his indifference to the Eighth Commandment. He mocks the Church, derides the poor, maligns men who have more integrity than he does, and has ridiculed the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

Inviting such a miserable creature to address an organization dedicated to the sanctity and dignity of human life is an affront to the Christian religion and everything the Pro-Life movement professes to uphold.

We urge you to reconsider this improvident decision and cancel the invitation to this inappropriate choice for a speaker.

Sincerely,

Daniel T. Flatley C. J. Doyle
Chairman Emeritus Executive Director

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Boston Catholic Prolife Community Asks MCFL to Dis-invite Howie Carr

I called CJ Doyle one day about ten years ago to talk to him about something disconcerting in the Archdiocese and asked him to help unravel it. We've been sharing information and encouraging each other since that time in our activist roles.

I spoke to CJ yesterday and frankly, I have never seen him so mad.

Anne Fox of MCFL has invited Howie Carr to be a guest speaker at the Assembly for Life gathering here in Boston.

For starters, Howie Carr is NOT a pro-lifer and has actively ridiculed and worked against pro-life candidates on his radio show. But more importantly, Howie has been articulating anti-Catholic venom for many years. As recently as this week, he has characterized "90% of all Roman Catholic priests" as "pedophiles".

In the letter below, CJ has a sampling of Howie's anti-Catholic venom, scandalous to Our Lord, the Eucharist, Christ's Church, the Holy Family. My response (which will be going out to Boston prolifers with an appeal to contact Anne Fox and ask her to disinvite Howie shortly).

For readers who want to contact her -

kdfox@comcast.net

MCFL - 617-242-4199


Catholic Action League Letter:



December 17, 2010

Anne Fox, President
Massachusetts Citizens For Life
The Schrafft Center
529 Main Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Dear Anne,

We were astonished to learn that Howie Carr will be featured at MCFL's Annual Assembly For Life on January 16th. Carr is a notorious Catholic-basher with a long record of vicious and gratuitous attacks on the Catholic Religion.

On April 8, 1998 --- Wednesday in Holy Week --- in response to a decision by the Red Sox to forgo alcohol sales in Fenway Park because Opening Day would fall on Good Friday, Carr hosted a segment on his program in which he invited listeners to comment on selling "Catholic Eucharists for $3.49 a bag" as a substitute for beer. The result was a half hour of offensive slurs profaning the Blessed Sacrament.

In one particularly vile episode later in 1998, in a conversation between Carr and his producer Doug Goudie evidently intended to disparage Arabs, it was asserted that shepherds in the Middle East had unnatural relations with the animals in their flocks. Into this depraved subject the name of Saint Joseph --- the Virgin Spouse of the Virgin Mother of God --- was introduced. Saint Joseph was then misidentified as a shepherd.

In an interview with Malachy McCourt, Carr laughed and snickered over McCourt's assertion that the late Francis Cardinal Spellman was not only a homosexual but a pedophile. Carr went on to recount a story alleging that an episcopal ring was found by police in a homosexual brothel, implying that the ring belonged to Spellman.

In January, 2002, Carr hosted a segment in which he asked his listeners " Are you ashamed to be a Catholic?", during which he boasted that he never went to Mass. All throughout the molestation crisis of 2002, Carr contemptuously referred to the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston as "Bernie Law", and on November 29th of that year the Boston Herald published a column by Carr in which he described the Cardinal as "a Bulger bum kisser."

Hispanic Catholics, with their large families and culture of life, are the future of the Church and the Pro-Life movement in America. Howie Carr however, is not only an anti-Catholic but a crude nativist. One of the recurring themes of his program is the attempt to link illegal immigrants to crime. A particularly offensive gimmick is his habit of playing Mexican music while reading the names of criminal suspects with Hispanic surnames. This hostility to Hispanics and immigrants places Cardinal O'Malley, or whoever represents him from the Archdiocese of Boston, in the embarrassing position of sharing a stage with someone who boorishly castigates some of the neediest members of his flock.

In a Catholic community which has a significant number of Eastern Rite Catholics of Lebanese and Syrian descent (the Melkite Cathedral is in West Roxbury) it is unimaginable that MCFL would actually provide a platform to a rabble rousing shock jock who has described Arabs in the past as "towelheads".

Inviting Howie Carr to address the Assembly for Life is an act of monumental ingratitude to elected officials who defended the right to life and came to the aid of MCFL in difficult times. Men such as William Bulger, Ray Flynn, Thomas Finneran, and the late Jim Craven have been the victims of vulgar insults, venomous denunciations, and malevolent diatribes by this spiteful demagogue.

A larger issue here is why an organization with a predominantly Christian membership would want to showcase a public figure whose life and career embody such a cynical negation of Christian values. Howie Carr is infamous for his uncharitableness of speech, his lack of compassion, and his sneering contempt for the objects of his scorn. He preys upon the vulnerable, exploits the misfortunes of others, incites rancor and envy, and has grown rich by his indifference to the Eighth Commandment. He mocks the Church, derides the poor, maligns men who have more integrity than he does, and has ridiculed the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

Inviting such a miserable creature to address an organization dedicated to the sanctity and dignity of human life is an affront to the Christian religion and everything the Pro-Life movement professes to uphold.

We urge you to reconsider this improvident decision and cancel the invitation to this inappropriate choice for a speaker.

Sincerely,

Daniel T. Flatley C. J. Doyle
Chairman Emeritus Executive Director

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts

my reply:



CJ, Dan and XXXX,

Thank you for your willingness to stand up and say what needs to be said about the ongoing problems at MCFL. I remain convinced that the way to reclaim the political machine is through a concerted effort to approach the board of directors pointing out the consequences of their poor judgment and errors, ask them to make the changes we all know need to be made and if they refuse, a concerted effort should be made by all of us to call for prolifers to de-fund them.

The serious activists who are still holding on have dwindled down to a handful. Worse than ignoring them, we are put in the position of having to publicly address the scandals. It is affecting the ability to elect real prolifers. We have all been laying low hoping the turnover would bring effective leaders with good judgment into the stream slowly. This is a bust because effective leaders are undermined and eventually tossed out on their fannies. This has left our major political machine a lame duck for years. I do not think this is serving the unborn well and I firmly believe we need to take it on.

I stand behind and support CJ and Dan's request for MCFL to withdraw this ridiculous invitation to Howie Carr. God bless him, for he is a victim of the poor catechesis and cowardice of the shepherds, but the invitation is a scandal that should be acted upon.
God Bless, Carol

Following the Money in the Archdiocese of Boston

The latest focus at Boston Catholic Insider has been the salvos from the Archdiocese of Boston (I no longer say the Archbishop because in practice, Boston does no longer has an Archbishop) the Chancellor's claim that there simply is no money to pay out in pensions. They're too broke. This of course conflicts with the mega-salaries offered to cronies of Jack Connors who, in place of the absence of the role of the archbishop, is building his own fiefdom (carrying out the plans of the Boston College National Roundtable of Leadership on Church Management).

BCI revealed yesterday, that in addition to six superintendants of schools underneath Mary Grassa O'Neil, Connors has brought in six more mega-salaried employees to 66 Brooks Drive.

There's more mismanagement of money where this came from, but our experts are estimating that 30 pastoral employees in the Connors fiefdom are draining 4 million dollars a year from the coffers of the Archdiocese - 1/4 of the Annual Appeal.

In our weekly conference call, I spoke about our de-funding the Appeal initiative that lay people will be launching in 2011. I am now convinced that in addition to de-funding the Cardinal's Appeal (since, among other things, it is more accurate to call it the Jack Connor's Appeal) we need to disconnect the 18% siphoning from our parishes. I realize the magnitude of accomplishing this, but if we can convince a large percentage of pastors that we have stopped giving at the parish level because we don't want to fund the Jack Connors regime at 66 Brooks Drive and that we will tithe at the parish level if they cut the 18% going to the Jack Connors regime loose, we'll all be much better off.

The question of what will they or what can they do about it if we can enlighten foot soldiers in strategic parishes about what is going on at 66 Brooks Drive and can convince a large number of parishes not to give the 18% has already been answered.

They will do the same thing they did when lay people took over parishes and have been squatting in them for close to ten years. They don't have the spinal fortitude to do anything about it. We need to start using the cowardice to our advantage.

We have already been fractured from Rome here in Boston. The coups d'état is complete. The structure where the Archbishop heads the diocese has been dismantled. Lay people are in control of the money, they are busy writing "policies", they have built a hierarchy independent from Rome. We've got to stop funding it.

Stay tuned for more details in the next week about the first 'policy' that is stripping the Catholic identity from our Catholic schools.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

A Bishop Who Takes Canon 216 Seriously

Bishop Olmsted stripping institution scandalizing souls of Catholic Name.

Dear Mr. Dean,

I received your letter dated 27 October 2010 accompanied by the moral analysis from M. Therese Lysaught, Ph.D. [here’s who she is—ja]Undoubtedly, the assessment from Dr. Lysaught is extensive and I appreciate the diligence with which it was drafted. At the same time, however, I disagree with her conclusion. In point of fact, throughout our dialogue and cooperative efforts during these last few months, it is more than apparent that the position of CHW is that discerning minds can disagree. Specifically, you stated in a letter to me dated 6 July 2010, “As you know, many knowledgeable moral theologians have reviewed this case, and reached a range of conclusions. If we may assume that these individuals are motivated by their faith and desire and for justice, one must at least acknowledge that this is a very complex matter, on which the best minds disagree.” Thus, it would appear that your intention is to resolve our disagreement by asserting that there is no single “correct” answer to the question of whether the procedure that led to an abortion at St. Joseph’s hospital was morally permissible under the Ethical and Religious Directives of the USCCB [Bishop Olmsted will later refer to these as the “ERD’s”—ja]. In effect, you would have me believe that we will merely have to agree to disagree. But this resolution is unacceptable because it disregards my authority and responsibility to interpret the moral law and to teach the Catholic faith as a Successor of the Apostles.

The decisions regarding life and death, morality and immorality as they relate to medical ethics are at the forefront of the Church’s mission today. As a result, the Church and her bishops have a heightened moral responsibility to remain actively engaged in these discussions and debates. I have attempted to do my part in calling CHW and your hospitals to uphold the dignity of human life, and to embrace the fullness of what the Catholic Church teaches on the immorality of those actions that are an affront to the gift or human life and its inherent goodness from God. The irony of our present state of affairs is that an organization that identifies itself as “Catholic” (CHW) is operating a hospital in my Diocese that does not abide by the ERD’s, and in the case of St. Joseph’s Hospital, has actively engaged in an abortive procedure that is immoral. Thus far, you (CHW) have insisted that you are not doing anything wrong, but that your interpretation of the ERD’s simply differs with my own. According to Catholic teaching though, there cannot be a “tie” so to speak in this debate. Rather, it is my duty as the chief shepherd in the diocese to interpret whether the actions at St. Joseph’s and other hospitals meet the criteria or fulfilling the parameters or the moral law as seen in the ERD’s.

Until this point in time, you have not acknowledged my authority to settle this question but have only provided opinions of ethicists that agree with your own opinion and disagree with mine. As the diocesan bishop, it is my duty and obligation to authoritatively teach and interpret the moral law for Catholics in the Diocese of Phoenix. Because of this, the moral analyses of theologians are important elements that should assist and inform a bishop in the exercise of his teaching authority. However, it is ultimately the authority of the bishop as teacher and pastor that is determinative, something you yourself have rightly recognized. While the issues discussed in the moral analysis you provided are certainly technical and deeply philosophical, they are also foundationally “theological.” And the theology of the Catholic Faith, as concretized in the Code of Canon Law, dispels any doubt whose opinion on matters of faith and morals is decisive for institutions in the Diocese of Phoenix.

It is now my position that our deliberations regarding the tragic abortion at St. Joseph’s Hospital have gone on for far too long, and I believe that there is little hope that you intend to conclude that this case constitutes a violation of the ERD’s. Similarly, as you are aware, since my arrival in the Diocese of Phoenix, I have sought to engage you and the officials at CHW on the topic of my absolute objection to CHW operating hospitals without following the ERD’s; namely my objections to your administration of Chandler Regional Hospital, where as an organization calling itself “Catholic,” CHW authorizes sterilizations and I know not what other immoral acts. I continue to find this particular arrangement deeply troubling. I see no basis to conclude other than that there is no intention on the part of CHW to modify or change its operations at Chandler Regional.
However, in keeping with my moral authority as Bishop of Phoenix and my interpretation of the ERD’s based on that authority, I have determined after review of the facts and circumstances that an abortion did occur at St. Joseph’s. Additionally, my efforts to convince you of the impossibility of a “Catholic” organization to operate in such a way as to not adhere to the ERD’s, has fallen on deaf ears with no apparent progress in more than six years. If actions speak louder than words, your actions communicate to me that you do not respect my authority to authentically teach and interpret the moral law in this diocese. Moreover, your actions imply that you have no intention to acknowledge that what happened at St. Joseph’s hospital was morally wrong according to the ERD’s. Subsequently, this would entail that you will not change your mode of operation in assessing future cases in which similar circumstances are present.

In sum, my interpretation of where we stand at this point is that you would have me accept that: A) while tragic, what happened at St. Joseph’s Hospital was unfortunate, but an acceptable occurrence in line with the ERD’s. Further, if the same scenario would present itself again, your administration would likely carry out the same measures with the same result. B) Chandler Regional Hospital does not have to explicitly abide by the ERD’s since it is not a “Catholic” hospital, even though operated by “Catholic” Healthcare West.

The conclusion I take away from this analysis is that you do not intend to change anything. While my objections and our correspondence have garnered your undivided attention, you have discounted my legitimate authority. Because of this I must now act. I do so not only to assure that no further such violations of the ERD’s occur, but also to repair the grave scandal to the Christian faithful that has resulted from the procedure that look place at St. Joseph’s and the subsequent public response of CHW.
Accordingly, I now ask that CHW agree to the following requirements by Friday, December 17, 2010. Only if all of these items are agreed to, will I postpone any action against CHW and St. Joseph’s Hospital. Specifically, I require the following in order for me to postpone any further canonical action directed against St. Joseph’s Hospital:

1. CHW must acknowledge in writing that the medical procedure that resulted in the abortion at St. Josephs’ hospital was a violation of ERD 47, and so will never occur again at St. Joseph’s Hospital.

2. CHW must agree to a review and certification process conducted by the Medical Ethics Board of the Diocese of Phoenix to ensure full compliance with the Ethical and Religious Directives of the USCCB. The Bishop and his representative from the Medical Ethics Board must have appropriate access to their facilities and protocols for review. (As hospitals and health care organizations submit to similar kinds of certifications from the government or from medical oversight organizations, it should not be unusual to have a group from the Catholic Diocese to certify that hospitals run by CHW are in full compliance with Catholic moral teaching).
3. CHW must agree to provide for the medical staff at St. Joseph’s Hospital ongoing formation on the ERD’s, as overseen by either the National Catholic Bioethics Center or the Medical Ethics Board of the Diocese of Phoenix.

Failure to fulfill these three requirements will lead me to decree the suspension of my endorsement of St. Joseph’s Hospital, forcing me to notify the Catholic faithful that St. Joseph’s Hospital no longer qualifies as a “Catholic” hospital because of its failure to acknowledge the Bishop’s right and duty to judge whether the ERD’s are interpreted and implemented correctly. This is a decision that will be immensely difficult for me, but one that I can and must make. I intend to publicly revoke my endorsement of St. Joseph’s Hospital as a “Catholic” hospital unless I hear from you by Friday, December 17, 2010. Only when you agree to all three terms as described above, will I agree to refrain from my public announcement regarding the status of your Catholic identity. A revocation of my endorsement of St. Joseph’s Hospital would necessitate the following actions:

• Removal of the Blessed Sacrament from all Chapels and Tabernacles at St. Joseph’s Medical Center.

• Prohibition of all Masses celebrated in Chapels within St. Joseph’s Medical Center.

• Public advisory from the Bishop’s Office issued through the Catholic Sun Newspaper and website that St. Joseph’s no longer qualifies as a “Catholic” hospital.

• Priestly ministry and other ministry to the sick will most certainly continue within St. Joseph’s Hospital, as it does in any hospital when the sacraments or pastoral care are requested by patients.

As for Chandler Regional, I simply invite you to put into motion a process for chancing your modus operandi with respect to the implementation of the ERD’s at Chandler Regional. While my decision regarding Catholic identity does not affect Chandler Regional in the same way, the issues about which we disagree are also related to the authentic identity or CHW as a whole. I recognize that my objections to how Chandler Regional operates are more involved, but I would foresee us needing to address those directly in the near future.

As the chief shepherd of the Diocese of Phoenix, I sincerely hope that you will respect my authority to be vigilant over all entities wishing to represent themselves as Catholic organizations. For the sake of the salvation of souls and in the interest of justice for the scandal that this present arrangement has created amongst the Catholic community, I ask you to reconsider your position and adhere to my requests.

Sincerely yours in Christ,
Thomas J. Olmsted
Bishop of Phoenix


WOW.

That's all. Just Wow.

Romney Agrees Forcing People to Purchase Insurance is Unconstitutional

How 'bout Judge Henry Hudson?

I hate to say it, but I hope this is just the beginning of using the courts to gum it all up and unravel the agenda.

This gal exhaled with a nice, long "Touche!"

Hudson, a George W. Bush appointee, stated, “The present procedural posture of this case is best summarized by the penultimate paragraph of this court’s memorandum opinion denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss:
“While this case raises a host of complex constitutional issues, all seem to distill to the single question of whether or not Congress has the power to regulate-and tax-a citizen's decision not to participate in interstate commerce. Neither the U.S. Supreme Court nor any circuit court of appeals has squarely addressed this issue. No reported case from any federal appellate court has extended the Commerce Clause or Tax Clause to include the regulation of a person's decision not to purchase a product, notwithstanding its effect on interstate commerce.”

The Commonwealth’s challenge argued the MEC and affiliated penalty are beyond the outer limits of the Commerce Clause and associated Necessary and Proper Clause, as measured by U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

In other words, the Commonwealth asserted, “requiring an otherwise unwilling individual to purchase a good or service from a private vendor is beyond the boundaries of congressional Commerce Clause power.”

Failure or refusal of its citizens to elect to purchase health insurance “is not economic activity historically subject to federal regulation under the Commerce Clause,” argued the Commonwealth.

I wish we had a few lawyers in Massachusetts with a spine who are in the position to challenge Romneycare, which has the same flawed and unconstitutional attributes.

I'd like to pretend I wasn't shocked when Mitt Romney pulled this humdinger but every time Romney's intellectual dishonesty hits a new low, the duplicity takes my breath away.

One of Romney's signature achievements as governor was a sweeping health care overhaul that also included an "individual mandate" to buy insurance. But with polls showing widespread anxiety over Obama's agenda, Romney has sought to make a distinction between his home state's plan and the law passed by Congress. He argues that there's a legal difference between what he did on a state level and what Obama did nationally.

However, as the law continues to wind its way through the courts, Romney is likely to keep facing questions about his own record.

UUuum, yeah...Like the reason the ruling determined Obamacare was unconstitutional was that it mandates people purchase insurance and imposes a penalty, exactly like Romneycare?

Check this out:

Mitt was for the mandate before he was against it.



Dear Mittens: Everyone in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a beneficiary of all the privileges and immunities in the United States Constitution (at least on paper).

Fat Kids are a National Security Risk

Another intellectual jewel from the First Family. Add fat kids to prolifers, police and our own military to the Obama list of national security risks.

From Creative Minority Report


Do you think they'll start issuing Amber Alerts?

What's next on the list of national security risks?

Well-endowed women?

Go ahead and laugh, but I betcha $20 we're going to find a secret stash of tin foil hats at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue on January 20, 2013.

Theological Bankruptcy

This really captures the essence of why clever marketing schemes by Archdiocescan bureaucrats are not harvesting Catholics.

If you're not leading people into a state of grace and keeping them there, the local parish is reduced to just another competitor for time. The average age in parishes here in Boston is more like 65. When you see what the Archbishop is doing to Catholic education with the help of the presbyteral and archdiocesan council you will see that he,they really are dismantling Catholic education as they did Catholic healthcare. The cowardice is breathtaking.

They literally contemplated making the new school policy mandate pastors give no preference to Catholic applicants in Catholic schools.

These pastors have long abandoned offending the people in the pews with the tools that supply Sacramental Grace. The world has reaping their harvest.



Sunday, December 12, 2010

Boston Archdiocese Freezes Pensions of Laity

How on the one hand can the Archdiocese spend tens of millions of dollars bringing in high salaried people to operate Jack Connor's pet project (unraveling at Boston Catholic Insider) and on the other hand say they can't afford to pay people the pensions they have worked for?

Though it was fully funded as recently as 2007, the fund was badly damaged in the financial meltdown of 2008, the archdiocese said. The church plans to continue contributing to the fund until it is fully solvent.

The benefits of employees who are already retired will not be affected, church officials said. Lay employees who are already vested, or become vested, in the plan will receive all the money that have earned when they retire. But they will not accrue additional benefits after Dec. 31, 2011.

How does the Archdiocese then justify the fiefdom being built under Mary Grassa O'Neil and the compensation packages being given to wealthy cronies of Jack Connors?

Is the cozy relationship with the Attorney General in Massachusetts and the Donilon ties to the Obama Administration protecting derelictions of fidicuiary duty?

People are living longer than they'd like them to and it's draining the coffers. Frankly, I don't think that's it at all. They have plenty of money to pour into salaries and Jack Connor's pet project.

Not to worry though, though people will be albeit losing money, they're not looking to reduce anyone's compensation, they say.





I don’t think we are looking to reduce our total compensation dollars at all through this,’’ he said.

The church is offering employees who are 55 and older as of the end of next year two options for cashing out of the lay pension fund early — albeit at a financial loss...
But pension experts say both deals are poor ones for employees, unless they have a terminal illness, because it guarantees that they will receive a smaller amount of money than they have earned.

“It’s really ugly, trying to get people to make bad financial decisions to save the Catholic Church some funding,’’ said Norman P. Stein, an authority on pension law and a professor at the Earle Mack School of Law at Drexel University.

He said corporations, unlike religious organizations, are prevented by law from discounting lump-sum payments to reflect a pension fund’s underfunded status. He said the payouts can be tempting, particularly for the unemployed, but financially unwise. “People sometimes have a hard time looking very far into the future.’’

Let's cut to the chase: What they are looking to do is to bait people who are having financial difficulty into waiving their rights to have a paycheck coming in at retirement.

Isn't it ironic that in a country nearly bankrupt from paying for things for people who don't want to work for them, Cardinal O'Malley is out advocating for benefits for illegal immigrants and people home watching Oprah? He cuts his own priests of from benefits, tells them if they get sick and can't work, their money will be cut to $200, but is parading about telling everyone how terrible it is that sick people can't pay for healthcare.

The duplicity is breathtaking.

Losing Thy Cell Phone

My cell phone has been missing since Friday. I lost it somewhere between leaving work and running to catch the train at South Station. I'm going to check out lost and found on Monday but I don't have a good feeling about it. I threw it in my bag hastily and had to run the 20 minutes to catch the train. When I tried to call it, though it had a full battery, it went right to voicemail like it dropped hard enough for the battery to be knocked out of place.

You don't realize how connected the cell phones have made us until it's among the missing.

I don't know how mother's survived without having that instant connection to their children. Every time I'm out doing something, I feel like I've wandered into some strange world where they can get in touch with me.


"You didn't pick up your phone!" - "I was worried" = "Where were you?" - "What if something happened to me?" - "I had plans and needed the car!"- "I needed you to pick up this or that".

Every time I leave the house, it feels a bit like I'm going AWOL.

:O)

I don't know anyone's number (except for my family).

I'm out of touch with what's going on at 66 Brooks Drive! There are some kind of super sleuths crawling all over the place. You don't think it's possible they've wasted money they don't have thinking going to get to the source of the sickileaks, do you?

Do we have rubber balls at the ends of our noses?

If you're looking for the leaks at the locus of 66 Brooks Drive, knock yourselves out. The leaks aren't coming from where you think they're coming from.


There's a symbiotic relationship between arrogance and je ne sais pas. It'll keep you occupied chasing your own tail until the missionaries complete the work God has asked them to do.

In the interests of the poor, when you exhaust the resources you allocated for a wild goose chase and you're standing there empty-handed, perhaps it is charity to tell you that what you've bought is an epiphany: You can't be corrupt for years and years and not lose the confidence of most of the people underneath you. There are too many who know, too many who see (and saw), too many who are concerned that the next generation is going to be handed off a counterfeit religion and structure.

Meanwhile, look forward to the next couple of installments of Advent specials - the 'non-discrimination policy' and the character assassinations of the Barbara Thorpe and Dumbledorf kangaroo court.

On the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, remember that She crushed the head as you strike at her heel so it all works out for the best.

Most Influential Catholic in 2010 Voting

Important cyber election at Acts of the Apostasy!

Check out who's been nominated in the two categories and vote on who you think has been the most influential in lifting up the mission of the Church and who has been most influential leading souls to temptation.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Dems Defect From Yes We Can to Just Say No

Truth is stranger than fiction.


Angry Democrats in the House of Representatives on Thursday rejected President Barack Obama's plan to extend low tax rates, as the Senate scheduled a vote on the measure, which has significant Republican support.

The House Democrats' rebellion gives Obama another political headache just over a month after he took a beating in congressional elections, although it will not necessarily derail the tax plan...in a raucous, closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill, mutinous Democrats chanted: "Just say no!

This would cause virtually every paycheck in America to be smaller on January 1.

If they were trying to sabotage electing a Democrat in 2012, they couldn't do a better job.

Obama Replaces Christ in Christmas Play in Roxbury

From my friendKelly Thatcher

I wish I could take a picture of the display at Warren Street and Walnut Avenue in Roxbury, Massachusetts...but I can't. At least at night, and that's when it counts, because the Christmas display is all lit up then. The star? Not Jesus. Not even Santa. Nope. In letters a gillion feet high blaze the words:

OBAMA IN THE HOUSE

No kidding.

I mean, there's a small creche, the words "Peace on Earth," a few reindeer, you know, the usual. But OBAMA IN THE HOUSE trumps the whole display. Why? What the bleep does the president have to do with Christmas?

Go tell it on the mountain, Obama in the house.

Is Pelosi sitting in for the Virgin Mary?

You've got to wonder how much crazier it could get.

Wikileak on (Secret) UK Meeting about 66 Brooks Drive



h/t to Michael W!

Woosies Wilt When Words Wetblanket Windbags

Michael on fire.


"...bastardizations of Sacred Scripture, twisted and tortured understandings of history and denials of Catholic dogma"

Ouch!


Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Oh Mary, Conceived Without Sin, Pray for Us

Hope you all had a superb Solemnity of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

If you didn't do the Novena, it's something I would recommend next year. Very powerful and a lot of fruit.

To the holy prayer warriors also praying for intentions and petitions I've asked you to help with, you have one big IOU. To those of you who asked me to pray for your intentions, I remembered you in those prayers and will keep those prayers going.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

7 Priests in Residence and they can't handle 3 Masses on a Sunday

And among the lot of them, they can't juggle a daily Mass, two Masses on Saturday and three on Sunday at St. Elizabeth's in Milton?


Scroll down in the bulletin, you'll see the pastor saying with the 'shortage' of priests in the parish, they're simply too busy among the seven of them to work out 10 Masses in a week.

When this priest was in Duxbury, he three times pooh-poohed and undermined the Sacrament of Confession when my two youngest children were lined up to receive it. He would never sit in the Confessional at the scheduled time. You had to go hunt him down. I was able to recover their confidence in the Sacrament the first time he did it. The second time was a little tougher but I was able to recover it with time. The third time he did it, I lost them.

He is the single cause of destroying the Sacrament of Penance for my two youngest, perhaps their belief in all of the Sacraments, so I would say I'm a bit jaded, but readers are reporting problems with what is being taught about Sacraments so I wasn't surprised when I saw the name.

Lots of luck to the people bringing their children there. If you know anyone in Milton, I'd raise their level of consciousness.

Madoff, O'Malley and the Three Headed Dog Cerebus

Ray Neary has written an article on the situation inside of the Boston Chancery under Cardinal O'Malley's leadership that is posted at Renew America:

A Pact with the Devil

Ray Neary is a gentleman, a man of integrity and valor. What he says in this article very much needs to be said in the public square. There is a problem with honesty in the regime at 66 Brooks Drive that is manifesting itself in many ways. The diocese is in the hands of the corrupt as the Cardinal is off taking pictures of himself to post on his blog in every corner of the earth.

There is much weakness at 66 Brooks Drive and there needs to be a coup of the coup. This is not the time to be faint of heart or weak in character.

Elizabeth Edwards R.I.P

I was sorry to hear her health had deteriorated and shocked to read Elizabeth died this morning

In addition to her courageous fight with cancer, she carried the weight of much sorrow in her heart with dignity and strength. She lost a child to a car accident at 16, the man she married turned out to be a jerk, etc.

My Jesus Mercy.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Driehaus Weenie Whiner Wimp Watch



Driehaus filed a civil suit against Susan B. Anthony List claiming Obamacare doesn't fund abortions and he is being "deprived of his livelihood".

Oh come on. The reason why the Democrats wouldn't adopt Hyde Amendment language into Obamacare was because they know the funding for abortions is back-doored.

How would Democrats save the country without enticing poor women to kill their own child and providing funds to pay for it?   The children of the poor drain their wallets.  They don't want to feed them or educate them.   They're living the dream, training women to be promiscuous and then shuffling them to abortion clinics.

The game has always been the primary care physician sends the women who want abortion to doctors who 'diagnose' that women are 'at risk' for mental disease, they will absolutely spiral into irreversible depression and become suicidal if the sex they had with some irresponsible and immature man brings another human being into their life. They come up with some pre-existing condition like 'situational anxiety' and abortions are covered.

This has always been the game.

The people in this country made it known they did not want the best healthcare system in the world  to be dismantled and replaced with a minimum standard of the care of socialized medicine. Our healthcare system has been bought and paid for by people who study hard in school and bust their tails so they can have a decent life and enough money to provide for their families.    All things are not equal.   You don't rob the elderly of the medicines they need and paid for in years of putting money into the insurance system and give it to someone who has been irresponsible with their lives.

Everyone warned them there would be a price.

Everyone told them that turning our country from a place where its people work for their achievements to robbing more of working people's paychecks to give to people sitting home watching Oprah with their booze & crack pipes as their children reap the consequences generation after generation would cost them.  It is not helpful to the poor nor can the rest of us who are working for our achievements survive if they keep on putting us into debt.

And, sure enough, poverty has increased under Barack Hussein and his regime.

Why can't Driehaus just be a man and pay the price?

He should at least have the decency to name the right party in his lawsuit.

Nancy Pelosi arrogantly announced if everyone paid a political price for ramming Obamacare through, it would be worth it.   She's the defendant.

There are some days that I just can't believe how a nation, a few years after 911, could elect a man named Barack Hussein who sees our own police and military as the boogeymen, who releases terrorists from prisons to kill again and backs a muslim victory shrine a few feet from the holes in the ground where muslim terrorissts nearly destroyed our country, a man who ignores a missile fired off of the coast of California and doesn't want to pay closer attention to muslims flying even when they are on a no fly list, but is reaching into our underpants at every airport, radiating our bodies and taking our wrinkle cream, lipstick and hand sanitizer away from us.

Driehaus is a poster boy for Washington weenies who have refused to own up to the consequences of their actions and inactions.   It's always about 'who can we blame'.

Really.  It's old.

By the way, the picture in this thread was something I came across on public transportation here in Boston.   The line runs through the most poverty stricken areas of Boston.   A picture of this woman's 'punishment' for 'having sex' sure is worth a thousand words isn't it?

The people in this country are choosing life.

Man up.

More Deadbeats Challenging Banks For Mortgages

New legal challenges against banks declining mortgages to people with credit scores lower than 580.

The complaint alleges it's "discrimination" and "insidious" not to fund mortgages to blacks and latinos who can't pay their bills because the banks have insurance policies when they default.



The complaints allege that the higher FICO requirements disproportionately discriminate against African-American and Latino borrowers, many of whom have credit scores above the 580 threshold set by FHA but below the 620 to 660 minimums frequently imposed by private lenders. FICO scores run from 300 to 850, with higher scores correlated with lower future risk of default.

Since FHA insures lenders against losses from serious delinquency or foreclosure, there is “no legitimate business justification” for rejecting applicants solely on the basis of FICO scores that are acceptable to FHA, the complaints contend.


How curious, since lawyers know insurance companies aren't just printing off money and there are Whites, Asians, Mexicans and other races who also can't get mortgages when they can't pay their bills.

Banks being forced into giving people mortgages who can't pay their bills have nearly destroyed our country.

I looked at my paycheck a few weeks ago and figured out between Federal, State and Social Security taxes, health insurance and other deductions, a little over 40% of my paycheck was being siphoned.

We're all set with that. Thanks anyway.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Blind Wanton Stupidity

Where's Your Money Going in the Boston Archdiocese?

My colleagues at Boston Catholic Insider continue to do a superb job getting the corruption inside of the Chancery out into the sunshine.

Did you know that close to twenty percent of the annual Cardinal's Appeal goes to pay the annual salaries of 14 overcompensated cronies Jack Connors, Bryan Hehir, Jim McDonough and John Kaneb have stacked at the Chancery so their policies will be carried out without resistance?

Coming soon to The Tenth Crusade is an Advent update to the Sacred Heart situation, the governance crisis at 66 Brooks Drive and the 'non-discrimination" policy. And, we are hoping the crusade to put this out of its misery is going to be the largest campaign we have ginned up yet so stay tuned.

There really are not enough hours in the day to let everyone know what's happening under the radar but there are a lot of pans on the fire.