Tuesday, August 31, 2010

15,000 Complaints Later, Pro-Abort/Homosexual Links Remain on Catholic College Site

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin, August 31, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Alverno College, a Catholic college in Milwaukee founded by the School Sisters of St. Francis, has continued to host links to several pro-aborton and pro-homosexuality groups on its website, despite over 15,000 students and parents petitioning the school to remove the links.

After the conservative group TFP Student Action started its peaceful protest in June, Alverno College removed some of the objectionable links on the “resource” pagefor the school's Research Center for Women and Girls. They also posted a disclaimer stating: "The views expressed in these weblinks do not necessarily reflect the views of the Alverno College Research Center for Women and Girls."

However, the site still includes links to pro-abortion groups such as the Center for Reproductive Rights, National Organization for Women (NOW), EMILY's List, among many others. One of the groups linked, called Radical Women, lists among its causes communist ideology, homosexuality, and even the brutal abortion procedure known as partial birth abortion.

The page also includes a category dedicated to "Women in the LGBT Community," which includes links to top homosexualist groups and initiatives including the Gay/Straight Alliance Network, GLSEN, PFLAG, and the Day of Silence campaign.

TFP Student Action criticized the school for failing to remove the controversial links. "You can't be a true Catholic and at the same time favor abortion," said TFP Student Action director John Ritchie. "It betrays the very mission of a Catholic institution. So, we've decided to intensify our prayers and protest until all the pro-abortion links are gone."

Ritchie called the disclaimer tacked on to the resource page "window dressing."

Two Catholic institutions, Rosemont College and the University of Detroit Mercy, recently took down links to pro-abortion groups that were listed on their websites.

TFP Student Action is asking its members to "speak out against this scandal" and sign an online protest addressed to Dr. Mary Meehan, president of Alverno College.

Alverno College has not responded to a request for comment from LifeSiteNews.com as of press time.

TFP Student Action petition.

Alverno College
Mrs. Mary Meehan, PhD, President
414-382-6064
president.ac@alverno.edu

Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee
email form

Saint Damien: A Hero Who Died on the Battlefield of Honor

by Norman Fulkerson

St_Damien_1868_500px.jpg

A portrait of young Father Damien in 1868. Born Joseph de Veuster in Tremelo, Belgium, he took the religious name of Damien when he joined the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

There are few places on Earth more beautiful than Hawaii. While this idyllic paradise may be the destination spot for tourists and honeymooners, Joseph de Veuster was eager to go there for a completely different reason.

It was Joseph’s missionary zeal that attracted him to Hawaii where he volunteered to care for those stricken with leprosy. He eventually contracted the disease and died a painful death. The world would come to know him simply as Father Damien the Leper priest. On October 11, 2009, he was canonized a saint by the Catholic Church and will be remembered throughout history as a heroic example of Christian compassion.

Full story here:

http://www.tfp.org/tfp-home/articles/saint-damien-a-hero-who-died-on-the-battlefield-of-honor.html

Join America Needs Fatima on Facebook

Join the America Needs Fatima Facebook at www.facebook.com/AmericaNeedsFatima.ANF.

The night before August 15th, the feast of the Assumption, ANF volunteers published the America Needs Fatima Facebook Page. Before the end of the week the page collected 300 fans and over 1,000 fans before the end of the month.

Facebook, which is an internet based social network, has 500 million users world-wide and the volunteers felt the need to spread the promise of Our Lady of Fatima by this means.

The page allows users to discover free devotionals, prayers, miracles stories, view photos of the October 16th Public Square Rosary Rallies, and follow current ANF campaigns as they unfold.

See the America Needs Fatima Facebook page for yourself at www.facebook.com/AmericaNeedsFatima.ANF.

Monday, August 30, 2010

VIDEO – FREE 2011 Fatima Calendar

This woman was ‘too good’ to pray the Rosary

Whatever you do, do not be like a certain pious but self-willed lady in Rome, so often referred to by speakers on the Rosary. She was so devout and fervent that she put to shame by her holy life even the strictest religious in the church.

Having decided to ask St. Dominic's advice about her spiritual life, she made her confession to him. For penance he gave her one Rosary to say and advised her to say it every day. She excused herself, saying that she had her regular exercises, that she made the Stations of Rome every day, that she wore sackcloth as well as a hair-shirt, that she gave herself the discipline several times a week, that she often fasted and did other penances.

Saint Dominic urged her over and over again to take his advice and say the Rosary, but she would not hear of it. She left the confessional, horrified at the methods of this new spiritual director who had tried so hard to persuade her to take up a devotion for which she had no taste.

Later on, when she was at prayer she fell into ecstasy and had a vision of her soul appearing before the Supreme Judge. Saint Michael put all her penances and to her prayers on one side of the scale and all her sins and imperfections on the other. The tray of her good works were greatly outweighed by that of her sins and imperfections.

Filled with alarm, she cried out for mercy, imploring the help of the Blessed Virgin, her gracious advocate, who took the one and only Rosary she had said for her penance and dropped it on the tray of her good works. This one Rosary was so heavy that it weighed more than all her sins as well as her good works. Our Lady then reproved her for having refused to follow the counsel of her servant Dominic and for not saying the Rosary every day.

As soon as she came to herself she rushed and threw herself at the feet of Saint Dominic and told him all that had happened, begged his forgiveness and promised to say the Rosary faithfully every day. By this means she rose to Christian perfection and finally to the glory of everlasting life.

You who are people of prayer, learn from this the power, the value and importance of this devotion of the holy Rosary when it is said with meditation on the mysteries.

Few saints have reached the same heights of prayer as Saint Mary Magdalen, who was lifted up to heaven by angels each day, and who had the privilege of learning at the feet of Jesus and his holy Mother. Yet one day, when she asked God to show her a sure way of advancing in his love and arriving at the heights of perfect, he sent the archangel St. Michael to tell her, on his behalf, that there was no other way to reach perfection than to meditate on our Lord's passion. So he placed a cross in the front of her cave and told her to pray before it, contemplating the sorrowful mysteries which she had seen take place with her own eyes.

The example of Saint Francis de Sales, the great spiritual director of his time, should spur you on to join the holy confraternity of the Rosary, since, great saint though he was, he bound himself by vow to say the whole Rosary every day as long as he lived.

Saint Charles Borromeo also said it every day and strongly recommended this devotion to his priests and clerics in seminaries and to all his people.

Blessed Pius V, one of the greatest popes who have ever ruled the Church, used to say the Rosary every day. Saint Thomas of Villanova, Archbishop of Valencia, Saint Ignatius, Saint Francis Xavier, Saint Francis Borgia, Saint Teresa, and Saint Philip Neri, as well as many other great men whom I do not mention, were greatly devoted to the Rosary.

Follow their example; your spiritual directors will be very pleased, and if they are aware of the benefits which you can derive from this devotion, they will be the first to urge you to adopt it.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Why I Love Nobility

Objections to Nobility Come From the Egalitarian Spirit of the French Revolution 

Nobility, elites.

Why does this book only deal with them?

Such will be, no doubt, the objection raised by egalitarian readers, who are ipso facto hostile to the nobility.

PURCHASE NOBILITY HERE

Contemporary society is saturated with radically egalitarian prejudices. Sometimes these are consciously or unconsciously harbored even by people belonging to sectors of opinion where one would expect to find unanimity in the opposite vein.

Such is the case with members of the clergy who are enthusiasts of the revolutionary trilogy, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, heedless of the fact that it was originally interpreted in a sense frontally opposed to Catholic doctrine.[8]

If such egalitarian dissonance is found in clerical circles, one should not be surprised that it also occurs among nobles and members of other traditional elites. With the recent bicentennial of the French Revolution fresh in our memories, these reflections readily recall the revolutionary noble par excellence, Philippe Egalité, Duke of Orleans.

To this day, his example has not ceased to inspire emulators in more than one illustrious lineage.

In 1891, when Leo XIII published his famous encyclical Rerum novarum on the condition of the working class, certain capitalist circles objected that relations between capital and labor, being a specifically economic matter, were no concern of the Roman Pontiff. They suggested that his encyclical encroached on their domain.

Today, some readers might wonder why a Pope should concern himself with the nobility and elites, traditional or otherwise. Their mere survival in our changed times might seem to these readers an archaic and useless outgrowth of the feudal era. From this perspective, the nobility and contemporary elites are nothing more than the embodiment of certain ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that man can no longer appreciate or even comprehend.

These readers deem that the few who still value elites are inspired by empty aesthetic or romantic sentiments, and that the people who pride themselves on being part of the elites have succumbed to arrogance and vanity.

These readers, convinced that nothing will prevent the inevitable march of history from eradicating such obsolete malignancies from the face of the earth, conclude that if Pius XII would not foster the march of history thus understood, at least he ought not put obstacles in its way.

Why, then, did Pius XII address this subject so extensively and in a way so agreeable to Counter-revolutionary minds, such as that of this author, who has assembled these teachings, annotated them, and now offers them to the public? Would it not have been better for the Pontiff to have remained silent?

The answer to such egalitarian objections imbued with the spirit of 1789 is simple. People who wish to know the answer can do no better than to hear it from the authoritative lips of Pius XII himself. In his allocutions to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility, Pius XII points out, with an extraordinary gift for synthesis, the profound moral significance of his intervention in the matter, as we shall see.[9] He also highlights the legitimate role of the nobility according to social doctrine inspired by Natural Law and Revelation.

At the same time, he describes the richness of soul that became their hallmark in the Christian past. Confirming their continued guardianship of that treasure, the Pontiff proclaims their lofty mission of affirming and radiating this rich legacy throughout the contemporary world. This remains the case despite the devastating effects of the ideological revolutions, world wars, and socioeconomic crises that have reduced many nobles to modest circumstances. Repeatedly the Pontiff reminds them that, much to their honor, their situation is similar to that of Saint Joseph, at once a Prince of the House of David, a simple carpenter, and, above all, the legal father of the Word Incarnate and chaste spouse of the Queen of all Angels and Saints.[10]

By Plinio Correa de Oliveira

Not saying the Hail Mary: good indication they will probably go to Hell

Blessed Alan de la Roche, who was so deeply devoted to the Blessed Virgin, had many revelations from her, and we know that he confirmed the truth of these revelations by a solemn oath.

Three of them stand out with special emphasis: the first, that if people fail to say the Hail Mary, which has saved the world, out of carelessness, or because they are lukewarm, or because they hate it, this is an indication that they will probably be condemned to eternal punishment.

The second truth is that those who love this divine salutation bear the very special stamp of predestination.

The third is that those to whom God has given this favor of loving our Lady and of serving her out of love must take very great care to continue to love and serve her until the time when she shall have had them placed in heaven by her Son in the degree of glory which they have earned (Blessed Alan)

Heretics, all of whom are children of the devil and who clearly bear the sign of God's reprobation, have a horror of the Hail Mary. They still say the Our Father, but never the Hail Mary; they would rather carry a poisonous snake about them than a rosary.

Among Catholics, those who bear the mark of God's reprobation think but little of the Rosary. They either neglect to say it or only say it quickly and in a lukewarm manner.

Even if I did not believe what was revealed to Blessed Alan de la Roche, even then my own experience would be enough to convince me of this terrible but consoling truth. I do not know, nor do I see clearly, how it can be that a devotion which seems to be so small can be the infallible sign of eternal salvation, and how its absence can be the sign of God's eternal displeasure; nevertheless, nothing could be more true.

In our own day we see that people who hold new doctrines that have been condemned by the Church, with all their would-be piety, ignore the devotion to the Rosary and often dissuade their acquaintances from saying it with all sorts of fine pretexts. They are very careful not to condemn the Rosary and the Scapular, as the Calvinists do, but the way they set about attacking them is all the more deadly because it is the more cunning. I shall refer to it again later on.

 

The Hail Mary, the Rosary, is the prayer and the infallible touchstone by which I can tell those who are led by the Spirit of God from those who are deceived by the devil. I have known souls who seemed to soar like eagles to the heights by their sublime contemplation and yet were pitifully led astray by the devil. I only found out how wrong they were when I learned that they scorned the Hail Mary and the Rosary, which they considered as being far beneath them.

The Hail Mary is a blessed dew that falls from heaven upon the souls of the predestinate. It gives them a marvelous spiritual fertility so that they can grow in all virtues. The more the garden of the soul is watered by this prayer, the more enlightened in mind we become, the more zealous in heart, the stronger against all our enemies.

The Hail Mary is a sharp and flaming shaft which, joined to the Word of God, gives the preacher the strength to pierce, move, and convert the most hardened hearts, even if he has little or no natural gift for preaching.

As I have already said, this was the great secret that our Lady taught St. Dominic and Blessed Alan for the conversion of heretics and sinners. Saint Antoninus tells us that that is why many priests acquired the habit of saying a Hail Mary at the beginning of their sermons.

(Secret of the Rosary, by Saint Louis de Montfort)

Friday, August 27, 2010

Fatima Visits on the Last Frontier

by Richard Lyon

Our_Lady_of_the_Snows_225px.jpg

Our Lady of the Snows

This July, America Needs Fatima sent a volunteer to the 49th State. As the Alaskan motto fittingly states, it was also our “Last Frontier,” the only state where we had not conducted home visits with the statue of Our Lady of Fatima.


On previous personal trips, I spent most of my time visiting relatives and the principal natural beauties, with which Alaska abounds. This trip, since I was traveling on my own and visiting a few homes that were only accessible via dirt roads, I was struck by the frontiersman character of the people.

This aspect was further driven home when, during the first week of my stay, I went out from the motel where I was staying (located about a half hour outside of Anchorage) to pray a rosary one morning around 11:00, when a neighbor warned me that a rogue brown bear had been seen just a few minutes before down the same road.

According to available data—which is scarce—Alaska is one of the least religious states of the union (along with Washington and Oregon), with fewer than 40% of the population (700,000) attending church regularly.

It is unclear if the research upon which this data is based takes into consideration that not everyone lives within driving distance of a church. Whatever the case, Catholicism is still the largest single denomination, as it is in our country as a whole.

Fatima_Visits_Alaska_02.JPG

One of the many groups who received a visit of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima in their Alaskan home.

Most of the visits were scheduled in the Anchorage area. There were anywhere between one (the first visit) and seventy-five people in attendance, with the largest attendance being at a church and a convent, both of which featured perpetual adoration chapels. Visits were also held in Fairbanks, where we had a particularly warm reception; many people came to more than one visit, with one lady attending four!

It was touching to see that almost every single host had provided a beautiful floral arrangement for Our Lady, particularly roses.

Fatima_Visits_Alaska_01.JPG

It was touching to see that almost every single host had provided a beautiful floral arrangement for Our Lady.

Since it had been years since I had participated in this particular activity, I was surprised that the overwhelming majority of attendees, while familiar with the Fatima message in general, did not know the content of the third part of the Fatima secret, revealed in 2000.

In fact, I only recall a handful of people who had heard of it prior to our presentation.

Unfortunately, the weather was predominantly overcast during my stay. I stopped by Denali National Park on the ways to and from Fairbanks, but I was not able to see “the high one” as Mt. McKinley is known in the native language.

While the cooler weather was quite a reprieve from the successive heat waves that swept the “lower 48” during that month, most locals pointed out that attendance would probably have been higher any other season. Alaskans like to get out during the summer months, with the abundance of daylight.

Others also pointed out that they knew of others who would have liked to host Our Lady, if they had had more advance notice. Hence, while pleased to have served Our Blessed Mother by bringing Her Fatima message to hundreds of Alaskans, we are already making plans for another expedition to the Last Frontier.

Catholic Leadership Resources

Visit: http://nobility.org/

An Appeal to Today’s Elites

The Common Good Needs Your Sacrifices

There is no doubt that elites directly derived from the natural order—the result of inevitable inequalities—have a task to fulfill on behalf of the common good.

Their very existence dictates they should be willing to sacrifice as this task demands and to improve as its perfect fulfillment requires.

For it would be absurd to imagine that God created the natural order solely to benefit pleasure-seeking people, who appropriate solely for their benefit, goods whose deprivation creates unhappiness and misery for all.

On the other hand, if progress and “evolution” are ascensional marches, they can only occur with the sacrifices ascensions demand—whether of the goods of the soul or of the body.

To move mankind in an ascensional way requires a painful effort to which a great part—indeed the greater part — of humanity is more or less adverse.

This vast ascensional effort must be accomplished, nationally, regionally, and even among families and individuals, by individuals or small groups especially endowed in nature and grace who desire to improve themselves and their environment so intensely that they become the driving forces of individual improvement and social progress.

In a word, they are the yeast, the others the dough.

To imagine that yeast is the enemy of dough because it is distinct, because it rises more quickly, because it raises that in which it acts, in sum, because it is a driving force and stimulus; to imagine that the dough suffers by seeing itself thus elevated and increased is to combat progress, eviscerate evolution, paralyze life and impose on all people the torments of boredom, idleness, and uselessness.

These reflections are supported on the teaching of the Divine Master, Who, in explicating the predominant ecclesiastical mission, said: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its savor, with what shall it be salted? It is good for nothing anymore but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men. You are the light of the world.

A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:13-16).

Visit: http://nobility.org/

Thursday, August 26, 2010

His Rosary Saddened Our Lady

In order to pray well, it is not enough to give expression to our petitions by means of that most excellent of all prayers, the Rosary, but we must also pray with great attention, for God listens more to the voice of the heart than that of the mouth. To be guilty of willful distractions during prayer would show a great lack of respect and reverence; it would make our Rosaries unfruitful and make us guilty of sin.

How can we expect God to listen to us if we ourselves do not pay attention to what we are saying? How can we expect him to be pleased if, while in the presence of his tremendous majesty, we give in to distractions, like a child running after a butterfly? People who do that forfeit God's blessing, which is changed into a curse for having treated the things of God disrespectfully: "Cursed be the one who does God's work negligently." Jer. 48:10.

 

Of course, you cannot say your Rosary without having a few involuntary distractions; it is even difficult to say a Hail Mary without your imagination troubling you a little, for it is never still; but you can say it without voluntary distractions, and you must take all sorts of precautions to lessen involuntary distractions and to control your imagination.

To do this, put yourself in the presence of God and imagine that God and his Blessed Mother are watching you, and that your guardian angel is at your right hand, taking your Hail Marys, if they are well said, and using them like roses to make crowns for Jesus and Mary. But remember that at your left hand is the devil, ready to pounce on every Hail Mary that comes his way and to write it down in his book of death, if they are not said with attention, devotion, and reverence. Above all, do not fail to offer up each decade in honor of one of the mysteries, and try to form a picture in your mind of Jesus and Mary in connection with that mystery.

 

We read in the life of Blessed Hermann of the Order of the Premonstratensians, that at one time when he used to say the Rosary attentively and devoutly while meditating on the mysteries, our Lady used to appear to him resplendent in breathtaking majesty and beauty.

But, as time went on, his fervor cooled and he fell into the way of saying his Rosary hurriedly and without giving it his full attention.

Then one day our Lady appeared to him again, but this time she was far from beautiful, and her face was furrowed and drawn with sadness. Blessed Hermann was appalled at the change in her, and our Lady explained, "This is how I look to you, Hermann, because this is how you are treating me; as a woman to be despised and of no importance. Why do you no longer greet me with respect and attention while meditating on my mysteries and praising my privileges?"

Saint Louis de Montfort, Secret of the Rosary

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Texans Reject Socialism -- VIDEO

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God Bless!

Rosary saved him from Hell

Our Lady blesses not only those who preach her Rosary, but she highly rewards all those who get others to say it by their example.

Alphonsus, King of Leon and Galicia, very much wanted all his servants to honor the Blessed Virgin by saying the Rosary. So he used to hang a large rosary on his belt and always wore it, but unfortunately never said it himself. Nevertheless his wearing it encouraged his courtiers to say the Rosary very devoutly.

One day the King fell seriously ill and when he was given up for dead he found himself, in a vision, before the judgement seat of Our Lord. Many devils were there accusing him of all the sins he had committed and Our Lord as Sovereign Judge was just about to condemn him to hell when Our Lady appeared to intercede for him. She called for a pair of scales and had his sins placed in one of the balances whereas she put the rosary that he had always worn on the other scale, together with all the Rosaries that had been said because of his example. It was found that the Rosaries weighed more than his sins.

Looking at him with great kindness Our Lady said: "As a reward for this little honor that you paid me in wearing my Rosary, I have obtained a great grace for you from my Son. Your life will be spared for a few more years. See that you spend these years wisely, and do penance."

When the King regained consciousness he cried out: "Blessed be the Rosary of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, by which I have been delivered from eternal damnation!"

After he had recovered his health he spent the rest of his life in spreading devotion to the Holy Rosary and said it faithfully every day.

People who love the Blessed Virgin out to follow the example of King Alphonsus and that of the saints whom I have mentioned so that they too may win other souls for the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary. They will then receive great graces on earth and eternal life later on. "They that explain me shall have life everlasting life." [1] Ecclus. 24:31

(Saint Louis de Montfort, Secret of the Rosary)

Back to school prayer


O Mary, Seat of Wisdom, so many persons of common intellect have made through thy intercession admirable progress in their studies. I hereby choose thee as guardian and patron of my studies. I humbly ask thee to obtain for me the grace of the Holy Spirit, so that from now on I could

  • Understand more quickly,
    • Retain more readily, and
    • Express myself more fluently.

    May the example of my life serve to honor thee and thy Son, Jesus.

    Amen.

    Our Lady Seat of Wisdom, pray for us!

    Tuesday, August 24, 2010

    How Our Lady Defends Her Devotees Especially At The Hour of Death

    Saint Bonaventure claims that, to defend her dying clients, Mary sends the Archangel Saint Michael, together with his host of angels. Moreover, she commands Saint Michael to receive the souls of all who had constantly recommended themselves to her.

    Addressing Our Blessed Lady, the saint says:

    "Michael, the leader and prince of the heavenly army, with all his ministering angels, obeys your commands, O Virgin, and defends and receives the souls of the faithful departed who day and night have particularly recommended themselves to you."

    The prophet Isaiah tells us that when a man is about to die, hell is opened and sends out its worst devils, both to tempt the soul before it leaves the body and to accuse it when it is presented before the tribunal of Jesus Christ for judgment.

    The prophet says: "Hell below was in an uproar to meet you at thy coming; it stirred up the giants for you" (Isa 14:9). But Richard of Saint Lawrence says that when Mary defends a soul, the devils dare not even accuse it. They know the supreme judge never has condemned, nor ever will condemn, such a soul.

    Saint Jerome wrote to Eustochius that Mary not only helps her servants at the hour of death; she even comes to meet them on their way to eternity, so that she can encourage them and accompany them to the divine tribunal.

    This is in line with what Saint Bridget heard from the Blessed Virgin. Speaking of the death of those who are devoted to her, Mary said: "Then will I, their lady and mother, fly swiftly to them to console and refresh them."

    Saint Vincent Ferrer writes:

    "This loving queen takes the souls of the dying under her protection and presents them to the judge, her son, and most certainly obtains their salvation." This was verified in the case of Charles, the son of Saint Bridget, who died on the field of battle, far from his mother.

    The Blessed Virgin revealed to Saint Bridget that Charles was saved because of his love for Mary, and that she herself had aided him at death and suggested to him the acts of faith, hope, love, and contrition that should be made at that hour. In the same vision, the saint saw Jesus seated on his throne as the devil lodged two accusations against the Blessed Mother.

    The first was that Mary had prevented the devil from tempting Charles at the moment of death; the second, that without giving any reason for claiming him as her son, she herself presented Charles to be judged and thus saved him. Saint Bridget saw the judge drive the devil away in confusion and Charles's soul carried away to heaven.

    By Saint Alphonsus of Ligouri

    Rosary Saves Struggling Family

    Your web site is amazing.

    My daughter - in- law's sister gave birth on Tuesday, had what seemed to be a stroke on Wednesday.  She struggled with an autoimmune blood disorder, and had lots of tests and treatments.

    The new baby could not be nursed.  A distraught husband. A frantic family. 

    The rosary saved her.  So many people were saying the rosary for her and her baby.

    Thank you for spreading this message.  She is recovering and is home with her new son.

    Blessed be God and His angels and saints, especially His Mother. 
    MM

    The Ground Zero Mosque

    by Gary Isbell

    If on December 7, 1944, three years after “a date which will live in infamy,” local government officials in Hawaii had allowed a group of Japanese to erect a Shinto shrine at Pearl Harbor, how would Americans nationwide have reacted?

    Yet are we not seeing in Lower Manhattan an analogous situation, with government officials approving the building of a $100 million mega-mosque at the hallowed site of Ground Zero?

    In a way, the September 11, 2001 destruction of the Twin Towers was a new Pearl Harbor, and the American nation was faced with a choice: either vigorously wage a defensive and punishing war against the nation’s new enemy (Islamist terrorism) or suffer the loss of honor and freedom.

    No one denies that the terrorists who used two jumbo jets and their passengers as flying bombs to destroy Manhattan’s tallest buildings saw themselves as Muslims engaged in jihad against America.

    However, it is claimed that these 19 terrorists were not representative of Islam, that they were “crazed rogues” who acted on their own. As Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer points out this is deliberate obtuseness.1

    These 19 killers were the Islamist spear thrust at the heart of America, and while many of the world’s billion plus Muslims did not cheer the deed, an estimated 7% of them did—and wildly so. That gave the terrorists 80,000,000 fans, a not so paltry number.

    These are figures that many good Americans may not know. However, they sense the reach, ability and hatred of this new and cruel enemy. Their instinctive awareness of danger is not bias or bigotry.

    Rather, it is an expression of love of country, faith, and family, and the natural law right to self-preservation. It does not derail perceptions, it sharpens them.

    Americans from Maine to Hawaii are showing this intuitive knowledge in their concern over plans to build this mega-mosque at Ground Zero. Their instincts tell them that those who favor the building of this mosque—even those doing so for the best of intentions—are plain wrong.

    For these Americans the notions of patriotism, sacrifice, heroism and sacredness are being violated with this attempt to build this 13-story mosque close to where 2,967 innocent fellow-Americans were killed in the terrorist attack. Moreover, these Americans become uneasy as they read that the construction of this mosque is supported by the notorious terrorist group Hamas.2

    Their discomfort increases when they hear ABC News report that a spokesman for the Ground Zero mosque, Oz Sultan, has refused to rule out funding from Iran or Saudi Arabia to build the $100 million structure.3

    Their misgivings grow further when they read how the conciliatory overtures of New York governor David Paterson and Archbishop Timothy Dolan trying to persuade the Cordoba Initiative to build the mosque somewhere else were turned down.4

    They are perplexed seeing that other politicians seem to spare no effort to push the project through, while those hoping to rebuild St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church—which was destroyed during the 9/11 attack—are still mired in bureaucratic red tape nine years after its demolition.5

    On the other hand, they rejoice and clap hearing the news that New York’s construction workers pledge faith that if the Ground Zero mega-mosque is approved they will not build it.6

    Yet these Americans are browbeaten by the mosque-backers’ party: “You must set aside your perceptions, misgivings and feelings. The First Amendment guarantees the Muslims of the Cordoba Initiative the right to build this mega-mosque at Ground Zero.”—“Does it really” the concerned Americans ask? “Is the First Amendment indeed so absolute as to trump every other consideration?”

    “Yes!” says the first party. “Not so fast.” says the other.

    And thus, a loud local debate became regional, then national, and is now reverberating beyond our borders, being followed around the world. In a recent CNN poll, nearly 70 percent of all Americans oppose building a mosque at Ground Zero, even in light of First Amendment rights.

    Adding a curious twist to the debate, the ACLU applauded the decision of government officials to approve the mosque’s building.7 However, the ACLU is well known for driving Christmas manger scenes out of the public square.8

    And so the debate rages on with individuals and groups picking their side, not always for the same motives or adducing the same arguments. Why has this debate so galvanized the nation?

    It is because Ground Zero is a symbol seared into the soul of America. A symbol helping Americans grasp better the essence of what happened on 9/11 and the new reality confronting the nation.

    A symbol that evoked a cry from the bottom of our souls: “We will never forget!” A symbol that steels the nation’s resolve to defeat the Islamist threat to freedom worldwide.

    And it is because Ground Zero is this symbol for the nation they live and die for that concerned Americans know how wrong it is for Muslims to build a mosque there.

    They sense it would desecrate our national symbol. They sense that the “Bin Ladens,” the “Zawahiris” and the “Ahmadinejads” of the world—with however many millions of radical Islamists who cheer them on in their hatred of America—will see a Muslim mosque at Ground Zero as their symbol over ours, a symbol of their conquest and our defeat. They sense the mega-mosque will be an Al-Qaeda triumph in its psywar against America.

    Concerned Americans sense this clash of symbols at play and that is why they are determined to do everything they can—legally and peacefully—to prevent the mosque’s building on the hallowed ground of Ground Zero.


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    Footnotes
    1. Charles Krauthammer, “Myopia at Ground Zero” The Washington Post, Aug. 20, 2010, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
    article/2010/08/19/AR2010081904769.html?nav=hcmoduletmv
    [back]
    2. Cf. S.A. MILLER in Washington and TOM TOPOUSIS in New York, Hamas nod for Ground Zero mosque Terror group's leader: 'Have to build it', Last Updated: 12:03 PM, August 16, 2010, Posted: 1:49 AM, August 16, 2010, http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan
    /hamas_nod_for_gz_mosque_cSohH9eha8sNZMTDz0VVPI#ixzz0xBdwkDPX
    . [back]
    3. Cf. http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=11429998. [back]
    4. Cf. Javier C. Hernandez, Archbishop Offers Mediation for Islamic Center, Published: August 18, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/nyregion/19dolan.html?ref=nyregion [back]
    5. FoxNews.com, Decision Not to Rebuild Church Destroyed on 9/11 Surprises Greek Orthodox Leaders, Published August 18, 2010, at http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/18/leaders-disappointed-
    government-declares-deal-rebuild-ground-zero-church-dead/
    [back]
    6. Samuel Goldsmith, “They won’t build it! Hardhats vow not to work on controversial mosque near Ground Zero” Aug. 20, 2010, at http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/08/20/2010-08-20
    _we_wont_build_it_hardhats_say_no_way_they_will_work_on_wtc_mosque.html
    [back]
    7. “NYCLU And ACLU Applaud Approval Of NYC Islamic Cultural Center For Upholding Values Of Freedom And Tolerance” Aug. 3, 2010, at http://www.aclu.org/religion-belief/nyclu-and-aclu-applaud-approval-nyc-islamic-cultural-center-upholding-values-freedom [back]
    8. http://www.timesleader.com/news/
    ACLU_axes_nativity__menorah_12-17-2009.html?showAll=Y
    [back]

    Rosary Rally Planned for Austin Texas

    Here’s the contact information for the October 16th rosary rally event in Austin, Texas.   Saturday, noon:

    Mr. Kenneth Mora

    Austin, TX

    (512) 282-8537

    Monday, August 23, 2010

    Saturday, October 16, noon - 2 at Leesburg Virginia County Court House Grounds

    Stan and I are hosting a 2010 Public Square Rosary Rally Campaign on October 16.

    image

    That's a Saturday, from 12 noon until 2 p.m.  We will provide rosaries if you don't have one, and a copy of the prayers to be said.

    This is in honor of Our Lady of Fatima and the miracle of the sun on Oct. 13, 1917. This is being held nationwide.  We hope to have the largest turnout.


    It will be held, are you ready, at the Leesburg County Court House Grounds. More to follow.


    Our rally is in honor of Our Lady of Fatima . We have invited Bishop Loverde, the supreme court justices, other dignitaries, and, of course, all of you.

    OLOH Youth group is aiding us, the Knights of Columbus are helping out.  Rosaries are being made, we have a volunteer for publicity, so please join us that day in public prayer and if you can volunteer to help -- call me.

    Rain or shine - the rally will be held!  Be prepared.  Who knows. We may even have a miracle or two!  We want the largest turnout in history!

    Love to see you all there.  God bless.

    Mary Theriault

    Email: marytheriault2002@yahoo.com

    Mobile Phone: 1 703.483.1754

    Other Phone: 1 703.430.9288

    url: http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1033046652&ref=ts

    Destroying the Notion of Good and Evil: the Core of the Homosexual Offensive and Justice Walker’s Prop 8 Ruling

    by Luiz Sérgio Solimeo

    Justice Vaughn Walker’s ruling that California’s Prop 8 amendment — declaring marriage to be between a man and a woman — is unconstitutional is a serious challenge to the results of victorious referenda in 31 American states and an important step in the ongoing Cultural War against Christianity.

    Consequently, its analysis is important for all who stand for traditional marriage and the natural moral law.


    Same-Sex “Marriage” is Not the Ultimate Goal of the Homosexual Lobby


    First of all, we should take note how Judge Walker’s ruling reveals how wrong we are to believe that the homosexual movement will be content and disband, once it imposes same-sex “marriage” on the nation.


    The movement will neither stop nor be content, just as it was not satisfied in those states where it secured legalization of “domestic partnerships” and “civil unions.” Once the notion of the ultimate purpose of the sexual act and marriage is destroyed, a breach is opened through which all the demands of the so-called “sexual minorities” come charging through.


    LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) is the movement’s most common acronym. Pressure has been growing over the years for the inclusion of new categories (Q, U, C, I, P, O, A, TS, Z), and everything indicates the acronym will expand.


    But if we consider the acronym as it stands today, homosexual “marriage” satisfies (at least temporarily) only two of those categories, the “L” and the “G”. Two others still seek societal acceptance as far as “marriage” is concerned: the “B” (bisexual) and the “T” (transgender).

    Having struck down Prop 8 for lack of a “rational basis” in restricting marriage to the union of one man and one woman, on what basis does Judge Walker restrict it to “a couple?”

    For if marriage is independent of the sex of the parties, and if — as stated in Judge Walker’s ruling — its decisive elements are (a) “choice,” (b) being “committed to one another,” and, (c) “form[ing] a household based on their own feelings about one another,”1 why can a bisexual woman not have a polyamorous group marriage with a man (“husband”) and another bisexual woman (“wife”), as happened in Holland in 2005?2

    And what will the “marriage” of “transgenders” look like?3

    Overthrowing the Most Obvious Barrier...

    I insist on the crucial point: the difference between sexes as it exists in marriage the way it has always been understood, is the most obvious barrier to changing the concept of marriage. A mere look at the anatomy and physiology of the human body suffices to ascertain that men and women are sexually complementary and the difference in sex perfectly fulfills the end of the sexual act, which is human reproduction.


    Once this obvious barrier is overthrown, how can anyone prevent other barriers from also falling, such as age (which prevents pedophilia), consanguinity (which preempts the practice of incest), or even the barrier of species (bestiality-zoophilia), a sexual aberration which is already being advocated?4


    Someone will say that those extremes will never be attained because the opinion of experts is decisive in the courts today and they evidently need to maintain a modicum of scientific basis in their findings.


    Activist “Experts”


    This is precisely where Judge Walker’s ruling helps clarify matters: he quoted the opinion of experts from the homosexual side who acted much more like ideological activists for the homosexual cause than scientists.5
    This is how Judge Walker presents some statements by these experts:

    a) “children raised by gay or lesbian parents are just as likely to be well-adjusted as children raised by heterosexual parents and that the gender of a parent is immaterialhaving parents of different genders is irrelevant to child outcome.”6


    b) “Other stereotypes imagine gay men and lesbians as disease vectors or as child molesters who recruit young children into homosexuality. No evidence supports these stereotypes.”7

    What is scientific about this peremptory affirmation that the gender of a parent is “immaterial” and “irrelevant” to child formation? The absolutism of this statement shows its lack of scientific character. Science is made of nuances and distinctions, taking circumstances into account.

    It is the longstanding consensus of all peoples, confirmed by studies guided by science rather than ideology, that it is ideal for a child’s formation to have a father (man) and a mother (woman).8

    Likewise, it is unscientific to brand as a mere stereotype without scientific basis, the showing of concern over diseases that are sexually transmitted and that are common among homosexuals, particularly today, when the HIV-AIDS epidemic still ravages society. Health agencies and even some homosexual activists recognize that reality.

    The latest study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, of August 2010, titled Projecting Possible Future Courses of the HIV Epidemic in the United States, presents the following picture:

    Nearly 30 years into the HIV epidemic, HIV continues to take a heavy toll in the United States. More than 1.1 million people are currently living with HIV, nearly 18,000 people with AIDS still die each year, and lifetime medical care for those who become infected with HIV each year is estimated to cost $20 billion. Gay and bisexual men of all races, African-Americans, Latinos, and injection drug users are most affected.9

    Matt Foreman, at the time Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, stated at the 20th National Conference on LGBT, in Detroit, Mich., on Feb. 8, 2008: “Folks, with 70 percent of the people in this country living with HIV being gay or bi, we cannot deny that HIV is a gay disease. We have to own that and face up to that.”10

    Equally unscientific is to label as a stereotype the fact that children of lesbians and homosexuals tend to imitate their behavior. The very psychology of learning shows how a child tends to imitate those who raise them, particularly parents.11

    Studies abound, some of which even use research by pro-homosexual authors, that show that the children of homosexuals tend to follow in the footsteps of their parents.12

    Therefore, one cannot expect that “experts” who are ideological activists for homosexual causes — and who did not behave scientifically when it came to demolishing the gender barrier — will remain scientifically neutral when it comes to overthrowing other barriers such as age, consanguinity or species.

    Is it Forbidden to Speak of Sin?

    The anti-religious and anti-Catholic bias of Judge Walker and his activist experts is patent.

    In Finding of Fact no. 77, he concludes: “Religious beliefs that gay and lesbian relationships are sinful or inferior to heterosexual relationships harm gays and lesbians.”13

    Among the “evidence” he presents is the document by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith titled, Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons, of June 3, 2003, which reiterates Catholic doctrine in this regard. Judge Walker also cites documents from other religions.

    Now then, does following the norms of Catholic morals and defining such relationships as “sinful” harm a sinner? What exactly is this harm? Is it physical, psychological? Will the State now declare Catholic morals to be the cause of neuroses and that it therefore has a duty to suppress them in furtherance of public health?

    This is all the more so since Judge Walker appears to consider Christian morals as irrational, saying in his ruling that restricting marriage to the union of a man and a woman, “creates an irrational classification on the basis of sexual orientation,”14 and does not have any rational basis,”15 but is a fruit of “a fear or unarticulated dislike of same-sex couples.”16

    At Stake: the Very Notion of Good and Evil

    The ongoing homosexual offensive — and Judge Walker’s ruling is its spearhead today — is the latest development of a centuries-long process which has been destroying Christian civilization; a process which Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira called the Revolution. Not a revolution in the military sense of the word, but in a broader sense of the destruction of a legitimate religious and cultural order and its replacement with an illegitimate state of things.

    Over the centuries, the focal point of this subversive process was increasingly to destroy the notion of good and evil, sin and virtue.17

    In his ruling, Judge Walker defended equality between homosexual and heterosexual marriage and thus between the homosexual and heterosexual act.18 At the same time, he branded criticism of homosexuality as groundless “stereotypes.”19 Going even further, he concluded that a moral classification based on a person’s sexual orientation is “irrational.”20 Hence the conclusion is that he considers the practice of the homosexual act as something good. But that conclusion destroys the very foundation of the natural Law, and thus of the practical reason, based on which, man makes judgments on the uprightness or perversity of an act.21

    Religious Persecution

    The State thus becomes the guarantor of “homosexual morality” in opposition to Christian morality and the Natural Moral Law; and those who abide by traditional Christian morals and the natural moral law, thereby acquire the status of a persecuted class oppressed by the law.

    Indeed, the moral law is not something accidental to Religion, particularly Catholicism. It is as important as dogma; for it is the practical norm of how to act according to the Faith.22 Therefore, a negation of the principles of morals is at least an implicit negation of the Faith; for if one is not obliged to obey God in one’s actions, neither is one obliged to obey Him in one’s beliefs. Thus, a Catholic cannot abandon the practice of traditional morals without apostasy from the Faith.

    Now then, if the law imposes acceptance of “homosexual morality” it will punish those who, following the dictates of natural Law, continue to affirm that the homosexual act is a grave moral fault and therefore refuse to equate a relationship based on that act (the so-called homosexual “marriage”) with true marriage, that is, a union between a man and a woman.

    As a matter of fact, already there are known examples of this persecution both here and in Europe.23

    At this critical juncture, instead of taking a passive and conformist attitude, everyone who believes that without true morals life is not worth living must fight with every peaceful and legal means to reverse this situation.

    There’s much talk about “persecuted minorities” today. What we are witnessing with the homosexual agenda is the emergence of ultra-organized minorities with powerful allies in the media, the courts and the other two branches of government, who are thus becoming “persecuting minorities.”

    God Will Not be Mocked

    The last decade has seen great advances by the homosexual movement in its efforts to force societal acceptance of the homosexual act. The apostle Saint Paul reminds us though that “God will not be mocked” (Gal. 6:7). Sooner or later, His glory will require that He intervene, righting so many wrongs and putting an end to the public and official exaltation of sin.

    In Fatima, Our Lady warned mankind of an impending chastisement if it did not turn back to God.

    By engaging energetically and effectively, peacefully and legally in this struggle, we can heed the Blessed Mother’s maternal warning, recognize and correct our failings, and rightly be “one nation under God.”

    The choice is ours.

    We have no intention to defame or disparage anyone. We are not moved by personal hatred against any individual. In intellectually opposing individuals or organizations promoting the homosexual agenda, our only intent is the defense of traditional marriage, the family, and the precious remnants of Christian civilization.


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    Footnotes
    1. Judge Walker defines marriage as follows: “[M]arriage is ‘a couple’s choice to live with each other, to remain committed to one another, and to form a household based on their own feelings about one another, and their agreement to join in an economic partnership and support one another in terms of the material needs of life.’” Aug. 4, 2010 ruling on Perry v. SchwarneggerI, p. 13 # 9-13, at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cand/09cv2292/files/09cv2292-ORDER.pdf. [back]
    2. Paul Belien, “First Trio ‘Married’ in The Netherlands,” on Tue, 2005-09-27 00:08, http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/301; Alexander Colen, “The War against Marriage and Men” on Mon, 2005-12-19 22:07 http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/585. [back]
    3. In the article “Transgender Marriage,” at etransgender.com we read: “Some people are aware that transgender individuals are often able to enter into a heterosexual marriage after undergoing sex-reassignment. What may be less well-known, however, is that a transgender person may also be married to a person of the same sex.” http://etransgender.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=74#ixzz0waWfJMx3. [back]
    4. “[T]hird grade students in Cordoba, located in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia, are using course material stating that “nature has given us sex so we can use it with another girl, with a boy or with an animal.” (http://www.speroforum.com/site/print.asp?idarticle=26760); cf. Jesse Bering, Animal Lovers: Zoophiles Make Scientists Rethink Human Sexuality, Mar 24, 2010 05:23 PM, in Mind & Brain | 124 comments, at http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=animal-lovers-zoophiles-make-scient-2010-03-24. [back]
    5. According to Ed Whelan, a specialist in constitutional law, “nearly all of plaintiffs’ ‘experts’ are political activists for gay causes and that many or most are in same-sex relationships”; Ed Whelan, , Aug. 4, 2010 6:15 PM, http://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/242523/judge-walker-s-opinion-ed-whelan. [back]
    6. Ruling, p. 17, # 16-19; # 27-28. (Our emphases.) [back]
    7. Ruling, Finding of Fact no. 76, p. 98. (Our emphases.) [back]
    8. Cf. For example, Trayce Hansen, Ph.D., “Same-Sex Marriage: Not in the Best Interest of Children” (May/June 2009 issue of The Therapist, a publication of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists — CAMFT) at http://www.drtraycehansen.com/Pages/writings_notinthebest.html; A. Dean Byrd, Ph.D. MBA, MPH, Gender Complementarity and Child-rearing: Where Tradition and Science Agree, http://www.narth.com/docs/gendercomplementarity.html; Ed Whelan, Walker’s Gender Follies, Aug. 13, 2010 2:14 PM, http://www.nationalreview.com/blogs/print/243690. [back]
    9. http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/us-epi-future-courses.htm (Our emphases.) [back]
    10. http://www.thetaskforce.org/press/releases/prcc08_mfspeech_020808. (Our emphases.) [back]
    11. “[I]mitation occurs naturally without outside stimulus or reward. In a child’s early years, an enormous amount of learning is done through imitation of parents, peers, and modeling based on other stimuli, such as television.” (Imitation, Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2nd ed. Gale Group, 2001) http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2699/is_0001/ai_2699000174/. [back]
    12. Cf. Trayce Hansen, Ph.D., “Pro-Homosexual Researchers Conceal Findings:
    Children Raised by Openly Homosexual Parents More Likely to Engage in Homosexuality,” http://www.drtraycehansen.com/Pages/writings_prohomo.html. [back]
    13. Ruling, p. 101, # 8-10. (Our emphases.) [back]
    14. Ruling, p. 109, # 16-17. (Our emphases.) [back]
    15. Ruling, p. 135, #15. (Our emphases.) [back]
    16. Ruling, p. 132, # 5-7. (Our emphases.) [back]
    17. Revolution and Counter-Revolution, at http://www.tfp.org/tfp-home/books/revolution-and-counter-revolution.html. [back]
    18. “Plaintiffs’ experts [opposed to Prop. 8] testified that no meaningful differences exist between same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples.” Ruling, p. 16, # 3-5 (Our emphasis). “Same-sex couples receive the same tangible and intangible benefits from marriage that opposite-sex couples receive.” Ruling, Finding of Fact no. 50, p. 79. [back]
    19. Cf. Ruling, pp. 98-101. [back]
    20. Cf. Ruling, p. 109, # 16-17. [back]
    21. “Hence this is the first precept of law, that ‘good is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be avoided.’ All other precepts of the natural law are based upon this: so that whatever the practical reason naturally apprehends as man’s good (or evil) belongs to the precepts of the natural law as something to be done or avoided.” (St. Thomas, Summa Theologica, I-II, Q. 94, Art. 1). [back]
    22. “Dogmatic and morals are nothing but parts of a sole theological science.... While dogmatic theology considers the truths of a speculative nature and is ordered toward their contemplation, moral theology considers the truths of a practical nature and is ordered to action.” Antonio Lanza-Pietro Palazzini, Principios de Teologia Moral (Madrid: Ediciones Rialp, 1958), Vol. I, p. 19. [back]
    23. Cf. “ADF to Appeal Ruling that Allows Eastern Michigan U. to Expel Julea Ward for Believing Homosexuality Is Wrong” http://americansfortruth.com/news/adf-to-appeal-julea-ward-ruling.html; Marc D. Stern, “Will gay rights trample religious freedom?” http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jun/17/opinion/oe-stern17/2; Hilary White and, John Jalsevac, “UK Man Convicted after Trying to Stop Homosexual Sex in Public with Video Camera” http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jun/09060303.html. “Massachusetts Man Fired for Telling Colleague that Homosexual Behavior Is Wrong” http://americaneedsfatima.blogspot.com/2009/11/massachusetts-man-fired-for-telling.html. [back]

    Have a story related to the Public Square Rosary Crusade?

    If you have a story, grace, or mini miracle connected to the rosary rallies to report, please send them to anf@anf.org in my name: Robert Ritchie.

    Thank you.

    Send a Red Rose to Fatima by Becoming a Rally Captain on October 16th

    Now’s the time to sign up as a Rally Captain in the October 16,
    2010 Public Square Rosary Crusade and get a complimentary
    red rose sent to Fatima in your name.

    All you need is a banner and a few friends to hold the banner in a public place.  It’s that simple.

    Our coordination center in Rossville, Kansas, is there to help you
    through each step of the process.

    Please call 866-584-6012 today or sign up online:

    Become a 2010 Rosary Rally Captain

    But the sooner you start organizing your rally, the better it will be. 

    Our goal with this year’s rallies is to counter the advance of the
    destructive secular agenda—abortion, homosexuality, immorality
    and so forth—and ask God to guide every aspect of our society.

    “As human efforts fail to solve America’s key problems, we turn to God, through His Holy Mother, asking His urgent help,” is the message on banners currently being shipped to Rosary Rally Captains.

    God will hear our prayers, especially if we pray the Rosary of His Blessed Mother.

    Without prayer, and specifically the Rosary, we will not find
    solutions to our nation’s many problems.

    Last year, America Needs Fatima organized over 4,000 Rosary Rallies.

    In 2010, we are planning 5,000 Rosary Rallies for October 16, which is the Saturday closest to October 13, the day God worked the miracle of the sun at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917.  America needs a monumental miracle of conversion and with your help it can happen!

    Sunday, August 22, 2010

    3,575 Rosary Rallies Planned for October 16th

    Current 2010 Rosary Rally Captain Count:3,575

    GOAL:  5,000


    Become a 2010 Rosary Rally Captain

    Sign up to become a Rosary Rally Captain in 2010. A red rose
    will be sent to Fatima in your name.

    Support the Rosary Rally Crusade for 2010

    Send one or more White Roses to Fatima in your name and help
    spread the Rosary in America.

    Why is a Rosary Crusade Needed?

    Find out why tens of thousands of people will pray the
    Public Rosary on October 16, 2010.

    FREE Downloadable Supplies

    Banners, signs, prayer program, intention sheets – everything
    you need to have a great rally for Our Lady.

    List of Rosary Rallies by State

    Rallies listed by city and state. Find the rosary rallies nearest you.
    Join us!

    Report on the 2009 Rosary Rallies

    Testimonials, stories and description of the 4,337 rallies
    held across America in 2009.

    What they are saying about the Rallies

    Bishops, priests and lay people say beautiful and
    encouraging things about the rosary rallies.

    Appeals Court: Utah Highway Memorial Crosses Suggest Discrimination against Non-Christians

    By Kathleen Gilbert

    SALT LAKE CITY, August 20, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of an atheist group that complained roadside crosses commemorating fallen state troopers amounted to state endorsement of the Christian religion.

    According to a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals opinion issued Wednesday, the 14 crosses erected would appear to "a reasonable observer" as an endorsement of the Christian religion, and would lead to "fear" that the group that erected the crosses would discriminate against non-Christians, both in highway patrols and the employment process.

    The case against the crosses was launched by the non-profit group American Atheists.

    The crosses, which the Utah Highway Patrol Association (UHPA) began erecting in 1998, are 12 feet high and emblazoned with a fallen trooper's name, rank, and badge number. The purpose of the memorials, according to the group, is to "stand as a lasting reminder" to colleagues and citizens that a trooper "gave his life in service to this state," to encourage safe driving, and to "honor the trooper and the sacrifice he and his family made for the state of Utah."

    The cross symbol was chosen in order to "convey the simultaneous messages of death, honor, remembrance, gratitude, sacrifice, and safety." They were erected with the consent of each fallen trooper's family, none of which took advantage of the offer to erect a different symbol.

    Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff defended the crosses as traditional and broadly-accepted symbols of death and remembrance. "When someone driving sees that white cross, what goes through their mind? Someone died here, and not Jesus Christ. The context of the cross on the side of the road, means death," Shurtleff told the Associated Press. "What else would you put up?"

    The state attorneys general of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma issued amicus curiae briefs in Utah's defense.

    But the 3-panel court rejected the defendants' argument that the crosses constituted constitutionally-protected private free speech. Although the Utah government had stated it "neither approves or disapproves" of the memorials, the Court said that because they were erected on public property, they should be considered in light of the constitutional prohibition against state endorsement of a religion. 

    "We conclude that the cross memorials would convey to a reasonable observer that the state of Utah is endorsing Christianity," stated the Court opinion.

    Because all the memorials are in the form of crosses, wrote the judges, "This may lead the reasonable observer to fear that Christians are likely to receive preferential treatment from the UHP - both in their hiring practices and, more generally, in the treatment that people may expect to receive on Utah's highways."

    While defendants argued that fallen U.S. soldiers' graves are routinely marked with a cross, the Court responded that, because fallen Jewish soldiers are marked with the Star of David, "there is no evidence that [the cross] is widely accepted as a secular symbol."

    Addressing the fact that crosses are frequently used by families to commemorate those who have died in automotive accidents, the Court argued that "the mere fact that the cross is a common symbol used in roadside memorials does not mean it is a secular symbol. There is no evidence that non-Christians have embraced the use of crosses as roadside memorials." In addition, they wrote, the "massive size" of the crosses "conveys a message of endorsement, proselytization, and aggrandizement of religion that is far different from the more humble spirit of small roadside crosses."

    Utah attorney General Shurtleff has said he has not yet decided whether to appeal the decision.

    Contact:

    Governor Gary Herbert
    email form http://governor.utah.gov/goca/form_governor.html
    Utah State Capitol Complex
    350 North State Street, Suite 200
    PO Box 142220
    Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-2220
    801-538-1000
    800-705-2464
    Fax 801-538-1528

    Socialism mocks religion

    According to Karl Marx, religion is "the opium of the people."  Lenin, founder of the Soviet Union, agreed: "Religion is opium for the people.  Religion is a sort of spiritual booze in which the slaves of capital drown their human image, their demand for a life more or less worthy of man."

    May God protect America from socialism.

    For a PDF version of a great anti-socialist resource:

    10 Reasons to Reject Socialism: Click Here

    Download and distribute

    Friday, August 20, 2010

    The Five First Saturdays devotion – a big part of the Fatima message

    History

    During the third apparition on July 13, 1917, Our Lady revealed that she would come to ask for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart and for the Communion of Reparation of the Five First Saturdayss. Consequently, she asked for the devotion in 1925 and the consecration in 1929.

    While staying at the House of the Dorothean Sister in Pontevedra, Portugal, Sister Lucia received a vision on December 10, 1925 where the Blessed Mother appeared alongside a Boy who stood over a luminous cloud. Our Lady rested one hand on the Boy’s shoulder while she held on the other hand a heart pierced with thorns around it.

    Order your free copy of the First Saturdays devotion card.

    Sister Lucia heard the Boy say, "Have pity on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother which is covered with thorns with which ingrate men pierce it at every moment with no one to make an act of reparation to pull them out."

    Our Lady expressed her request in the following words,

    "See, my daughter, My Heart surrounded with thorns with which ingrates pierce me at every moment with blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, make sure to console me and announce that all those who for five months, on the first Saturdays, go to confession, receive Communion, say five decades of the Rosary and keep me company for 15 minutes meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the purpose of making reparation to Me, I promise to assist them at the hour of death with all the graces necessary for the salvation of their souls."

    A few days afterward, Sister Lucia detailed this vision in a letter addressed to Monsignor Manuel Pereira Lopes, her confessor when she resided in the Asylum of Vilar in the city of Oporto, Portugal.

    Why Five Saturdays?

    Sister Lucia’s confessor questioned her about the reason for the five Saturdayss asking why not seven or nine. She answered him in a letter dated June 12, 1930. In it she related about a vision she had of Our Lord while staying in the convent chapel part of the night of the twenty-ninth to the thirtieth of the month of May, 1930. The reasons Our Lord gave were as follows:

    The five first Saturdayss correspond to the five kinds of offenses and blasphemies committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. They are:

    a.    Blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception
    b.    Blasphemies against her virginity
    c.    Blasphemies against her divine maternity, at the same time the refusal to accept her as the Mother of all men
    d.    Instilling , indifference, scorn and even hatred towards this Immaculate Mother in the hearts of children
    e.    Direct insults against Her sacred images

    Let us keep the above reasons firmly in our minds. Devotions have intentions attached to them and knowing them adds merit and weight to the practice.

    Modifications to the Five First Saturdays Devotion to facilitate its observation.

    The original request of Our Lady asks one to confess and receive Communion on five consecutive first Saturdayss; to say five decades of the Rosary; to meditate during 15 minutes on the mysteries of the Rosary for the purpose of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in reparation for the sins of men.

    In subsequent private visions and apparitions however, Sister Lucia presented to Our Lord the difficulties that devotees encountered in fulfilling some conditions. With loving condescension and solicitude, Our Lord deigned to relax the rules to make this devotion easy to observe:

    A.    Confession may be done on other days other than the First Saturdays so long as one receives Our Lord worthily and has the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
    B.    Even if one forgets to make the intention, it may be done on the next confession, taking advantage of the first occasion to go to confession.
    C.    Sister Lucia also clarified that it is not necessary to meditate on ALL mysteries of the Rosary on each First Saturdays. One or several suffice.

    With much latitude granted by Our Lord Himself, there is no reason for the faithful to hesitate or delay this pious practice in the spirit of reparation which the Immaculate Heart of Mary urgently asks.

    This devotion is so necessary in our days

    The culture of vice and sin remains unabated even as one reads this. Abortion, blasphemy, drug abuse, pornography, divorce and bad marriages, religious indifference, the advances of the homosexual agenda and others are just some of society’s many plagues that cut deeply into the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

    We must console Our Lady amidst all these insults and injuries to her and her Divine Son. She asks for reparation, she pleads for our prayers, she hopes for our amendment of life. Let us listen to her maternal pleas and atone for the ingratitude of men.

    The First Five Saturdays devotion stimulates the spirit of reparation; it instills a tender love for the Holy Sacraments of Confession and the Blessed Eucharist. It nurtures a holy affection for the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Rosary. Above all, it is an excellent means to maintain one in the state of grace while immersed in the daily spiritual battles and prosaic existence in the neo-pagan world that we live in.

    Let us not delay in observing this devotion for it too gives us hope for eternal salvation.

    Order your free copy of the First Saturdays devotion card.

    Everything between the extremes poles of Catholicism and Communism is nothing but a transitory position…

    The French Revolution caused a large number of people, disgruntled with the concessionist policies of Louis XVI and the violence of the republicans, to emigrate to other countries.  When the Bourbons were restored in 1814, these émigrés returned to their country with exactly the same mentality they had left 25 years earlier.

    Talleyrand said of them: “They learned nothing and forgot nothing.” This thought came to mind because of a not-so-small number of our compatriots who judge today's events with exactly the same criteria as those in vogue 25 years ago. One could also say of them, “Nothing learned, nothing forgotten” (N-L-N-F).

    What are the symptoms of someone who belongs to the morose class of the N-L-N-F? I’ll give an example.

    Someone who is shocked with this statement: today, the two poles of the thought and action of men are, on one hand, the Catholic Religion (understood without smatterings of or mixtures with progressivism or leftism), and on the other, communism.

    Everything else is nothing but a middle, ephemeral, transitory position.

    Now, two immense ideological crises — and not without mutual affinities — labor inside each of these poles. As a consequence, there is nothing that can influence the course of current events as deeply as the unfolding of these crises. It is above all in this point, that is, in the internal battles between Catholics on one hand and communists on the other, that the future of the world will be decided.

    This double crisis will decide, among other things, if there really should be a fight between Catholics and communists.

    This perspective will either persuade a man who is up-to-date, or it won’t. In either case, it won’t shock him that someone thinks this way. But it is shocking to a N-L-N-F, who sees the issue through the prism of 25 years ago and who considers the breach between Catholics a sacristy quarrel, and the breach between communists some petty political quarrel.

    A N-L-N-F will, a fortiori, not understand if I state that the internal crisis of the Church is incomparably more important than that in the communist camp. Nevertheless, this is how it is.
    The health and light of the world is in the Church. All the forces of evil are conquerable as long as the Church is in full vigor. But on the contrary, to the degree that errors, corruption and infidelity undermine the ranks of the Church, the forces of evil grow strong, advance and drag the world toward an apocalyptic catastrophe. Now, this has corollaries.

    If both the Church and communism are blossoming, the latter is necessarily already defeated. It is just a matter of time.
    If both the Church and communism are weak, communism will become powerful, or the human race will generate some new monster that will turn on it. The N-L-N-F denies all this.
    How do we demonstrate that the N-L-N-F is wrong?

    Ignatius_of_Loyola_01.jpg

    Saint Ignatius of Loyola.
    The health and light of the world is in the Church. All the forces of evil are conquerable as long as the Church is in full vigor.

    The perfect code of human conduct is in the Ten Commandments of the Law of God. If all men were to follow this Law fully, all of man’s ideological and moral problems would be resolved. If, on the contrary, all men fully violate this Law, humanity will not be long in destroying itself.

    These principles have a powerful effect on the technical plane. A man who fully observes the Law of God employs, ipso facto, all of its aid in the work he accomplishes. And if this man is a technician, the more faithful he is to the Law of God, the more he will produce in his field.

    From this follows that fidelity to this Law brings a plenitude of success in the technical field, as well as in all the other fields of human endeavor. Be he a genius or not, the more faithful he is to the Law of God, the more any man will reap from his abilities. There is much more reason to fear than hope in geniuses who depart from the Law of God.

    Now, a word about grace and the Church.

    According to Catholic doctrine, man is not able to stably practice all the Commandments with merely his own strength. To do this a created and supernatural gift of God is necessary: grace. It is through his union with the Church that man should receive this gift.

    Because of its misery, humanity is not capable, merely with its own strength, of always interpreting and applying to concrete cases the Law of God. For this reason Jesus Christ instituted an infallible Mistress to teach this to humanity. The source of sanctification through grace and infallible Mistress, the Church is also a Shepherd. It is for Her to govern and direct men in the fulfilling of the Law in order for them to win eternal life.

    Thus, it is in the degree that the Church is faithful to Herself, and accomplishes more perfectly or less perfectly Her mission, that humanity ascends or descends in the practice of the Commandments and men ascend or descend in everything they do, and in any field. The decisive ground of what happens in the world is therefore the internal life of the Church.

    A N-L-N-F is someone who, reading this article, disagrees with it because he takes part in the laicism that has been in vogue for the last 25 years and which has systematically attributed only secondary importance to religious matters.


    This article was originally published in the Folha de S.Paulo, on April 5, 1970. 

    The original  title was Nthing Learned, Nothing Forgotten.