Monday, March 31, 2014

Legal expert calls for Mozilla boycott after CEO apologizes for backing true marriage

by Thaddeus Baklinski

PRINCETON, NJ, March 31, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A noted Catholic academic and leading marriage defender is calling for a boycott of tech company Mozilla after homosexualist pressure from inside and outside the company led newly-appointed CEO Brendan Eich to apologize for previously supporting true marriage and pledge his “active commitment to equality.”

Eich had contributed $1,000 in 2008 to support California’s Proposition 8, a ballot initiative that opposed same-sex “marriage.”

"The employees of Mozilla evidently think that people like me, and perhaps you, are not morally fit to be employees of their company," wrote Dr. Robert P. George, a Princeton University professor of jurisprudence, whom the NY Times called America’s “most influential conservative Christian thinker."

"They are attempting to force out their CEO because he made a financial contribution in support of the ballot initiative to uphold marriage in California as the union of husband and wife," Dr. George wrote on his Facebook page.

"The CEO isn't out yet, but he has already caved to the pressure, apologizing for ‘causing pain’ by supporting marriage. That won't be enough. His ‘sin’ is unforgivable under the new morality. He'll soon be gone," posited the world-renowned lecturer on constitutional interpretation, civil liberties and the philosophy of law.

Mozilla announced on March 24 that Eich, who had served as Chief Technology Officer for almost a decade and was a co-founder of the company, had been appointed as CEO.

Following the outcry from homosexualists when it became known that Eich had supported Proposition 8, the new CEO wrote a blog post pledging his “active commitment to equality” and expressing “sorrow at having caused pain” through the Prop 8 donation.

Despite the post, social media has erupted in calls for his resignation.

"So I have just deleted Mozilla Firefox from my computer," wrote Dr. George. "If I'm not morally fit to be their employee, I'm not morally fit to use their products.”

George urged pro-family citizens of all faiths and none to join him.

"Why contribute to the prosperity of those who would exclude you? Cancel Firefox or any other Mozilla product,” he said.

Dr. George pointed out that while competitors in the web browser market may not be any better at respecting the opinions of those who don't subscribe to the homosexualist agenda, a boycott of Mozilla can be an effective statement to those who would silence opposition.

"Sure, its competitors are probably ‘just as bad,’ but we have an opportunity here to send a message to all of them," Dr. George wrote.  "Let everyone in your church or house of worship know what Mozilla thinks of us---and what we think of them.”

Contact Mozilla via their website.

The Virgin Mary And The Jealous Wife

Mary Is The Hope Of All

St. Alphonsus Ligouri relates how the confident prayer of a husband to Mary resolved the deadly consequence of his wife’s uncalled for and precipitate suspicion and jealousy.

But Mary, of whom “the devout Lanspergius represents the Lord thus speaking to the world:

I have created such that no one can fear her, or be unwilling to have recourse to her, for I have created her with so benign and compassionate a nature, that she will not despise any who seek her protection, and she will deny no favor to any who ask it. She spreads the mantle of her compassion over all, and never permits any one to go from her feet without consolation.”

here’s the story (Mary and the Jealous Wife: a 5 minute read)

                                        ***

On the weeks that you don’t get “Stories of Mary – Stories of the Rosary”, you might like to get “The Voice of Jesus…Voice of the Disciple” every alternating week.

Read a sample.

Homosexual activists hurl feces at German parents protesting pro-gay school curriculum: report

by Thaddeus Baklinski

GERMANY, March 28, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – As parents in Germany have protested a new pro-homosexual “sexual diversity” curriculum in their schools, homosexual activists have attacked them by hurling feces and destroying their property, according to the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians, which documents anti-Christian incidents in Europe.

"Protesters were physically attacked and it was felt that the police failed to protect the parents’ basic right of assembly," said a statement from the Observatory describing incidents at recent rallies in Baden-Württemberg and Cologne.

According to eyewitnesses, says the Observatory, "Christian parents were shouted at with obscenities.”

"They were spit at, eggs were thrown, and little bags with feces or color. Cables of loud speakers were torn out,” the organization says. “Pages were ripped out of the bible and used to wipe backsides, then formed into a ball and thrown at the parents.”

"Christians were deeply hurt in this process. At least one banner was snatched and destroyed in front of the eyes of the parents. Marshals were target[ed] with pepper sprays. Shouting by counter-demonstrator[s] made the planned public speaking partly impossible."

The Observatory reports that many parents were "shocked at the amount of the hatred and at the inactivity of the police, and that their religious feelings were severely hurt."

A demonstration by parents that was to take place in February in Stuttgart was disrupted and had to end early due to a counter demonstration by homosexualists, the Observatory reported.

"Up to 1000 parents, many with their children, came to express their irritation regarding early sexualization of school children," the report said.

The registered protest by parents against the new sex-ed plan, promoted by the Green and Socialist government parties in Baden-Württemberg, was to have taken place on Stuttgart’s Schlossplatz.

"The rally was then to move through Stuttgart on an authorized route, but an aggressive mob of young left wing groups and ANTIFA formed a counter-demonstration, insulting the parents, throwing color bombs and physically attacking the peaceful group of parents," the Observatory reported.

Eyewitnesses said many of the parents with children and supporters quickly left the area, since they no longer felt safe.

"Police urged the organizers to dissolve the rally, in order 'to avoid escalation.' The organizers of the demonstrations expressed their disappointment of the missing support by the police and that a basic right - the right of assembly, was not protected," the Observatory report said.

"Apparently, they did not expect such a violent counter-demonstration, even though we expressed our concerns in this regard beforehand" said one of the parents.

According to a report by German news service The Local, supporters of the new sex-ed program, initiated by Baden-Württemberg’s ruling regional Green/SPD coalition, say it “will promote tolerance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual and intersexual people.”

However, according to critics it will "go beyond the aim of preventing discrimination" and will advocate "the ideology of the rainbow.”

A petition, launched by parents and teachers opposed to teaching children about homosexuality in school, has collected almost 200,000 signatures.

The petition, which The Local reported was begun by a teacher, says the homosexuality-promoting curriculum would see an "educational, moral and ideological re-education of the general school system."

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Video: Hobby Lobby vs. Obamacare at Supreme Court. Pro-life Rally in the Snow.

Share this video with your pro-life friends.

On March 25, amid a constant snowfall, TFP Student Action volunteers attended a rally at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. to support Hobby Lobby, a craft store with 13,000 employees.

The Green family, the owners of the business, were faced with two options:  To violate their consciences by providing abortion-inducing drugs to their employees, as demanded by the HHS mandate under Obamacare, or refuse to comply and pay exorbitant fines to the government.  The Greens filed a lawsuit instead.

And today, as their case was heard at the Supreme Court, pro-lifers and conservative leaders and activists prayed and rallied to support the Green family for upholding their moral principles. TFP Student Action volunteers played bagpipes and held a banner, “God’s Law Comes First – Repeal Socialist Obamacare,” as well as signs such as “Real Americans Support Hobby Lobby!”

Pro-life leaders attending the rally included Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, Eric Scheidler of Pro-Life Action League, Lila Rose of Live Action, Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America, Jeanne Monahan of March for Life, Charmaine Yoest of Americans United for Life.

While pro-life leaders delivered speeches, another crowd, only an earshot away, yelled for broader so-called abortion and pro-homosexual "rights."  Planned Parenthood signs were most visible.  The contrast between the two groups was unmistakable. 

One pro-abortion/pro-contraception “women’s rights” speaker, for example, loudly celebrated her abortion.  The crowd screamed in raucous support, chanting "this is what democracy looks like." Pink Planned Parenthood hats and pro-abortion signs coalesced with pro-homosexual rainbow flags and signage.

A few of the TFP volunteers conducted interviews of pro-lifers, and many happily answered questions and commented about the blatant persecution unleashed by socialist Obamacare.  However, the opposing side was tight lipped.  One man, for instance, simply responded that he did not know why he was at the rally: “I don’t really know about this Hobby Lobby thing, all I know is that I am pro-choice.”

As the Green family descended the stairs of the Supreme Court, they were cheered and applauded by the pro-lifers awaiting them outside.  Many chanted, “Hobby Lobby! Hobby Lobby!”
After the rally, pro-lifers remarked how the rally was “more than worth attending,” even though they “arrived at 5:30 AM!”

Although we should pray for a positive ruling of the case, this rally was an episode in a larger moral battle that we must continue to peacefully fight, asking God to protect America from the grip of socialism and atheism.  As Catholics we must stand up for God’s Law to defend His Honor. It may seem difficult, but the truth triumphs in the end.

In the meantime let us render unto to God what is God's, and to Caesar what is Caesar's. 

Subscribe to TFP's weekly updates.
Join the fight for moral values.

By James Donlon

Peru March for Life draws estimated 250,000

by Fabiola Torres

Credit: MarchaporlaVidaLima.org

LIMA, Peru, March 28, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) - “We all have a child within us,” was the slogan for this year’s March for Life in Peru on March 22, which summoned 250,000 people in Lima alone, according to organizers. The turnout more than doubled that from last year and broke the record in Latin-American as the biggest pro-life demonstration ever.

With thousands more participating in five cities, including 50,000 in Piura, Peruvians from all over the country got out to the streets to demonstrate their support for the pro-life cause.

The mainstream media barely covered the event, however, and some outlets even stated that “hundreds” of people showed up, showing pictures of small groups of people or even pictures from last year’s march.

With 2,500 young volunteers helping with the organization, the march was a peaceful “party” to call everyone to defend life from conception until natural death.

Artists, sportsman, TV personalities, politicians, clergymen and musicians endorsed the march by posing for pictures with the March’s logo for the official Facebook page.

Peru’s March for Life is celebrated to highlight their officially recognized Day of the Unborn Child, approved by nation’s Congress in 2002.

Although abortion is legal in Peru under certain circumstances, in practice, the conditions to perform an abortion legally are never met.  The current government is pushing for a “technical guide” that will regulate “therapeutic” abortions.  Pro-life organizations have denounced this effort as a trick to introduce abortion-on-demand since it is not a procedure that, in reality, is ever necessary to save the mother’s life.

Credit: MarchaporlaVidaLima.org/

How the Blessed Mother loves you -- live in the shadow of Mary and never forget Her unfailing good will towards you

By Plinio Correa de Oliveira

To glimpse Our Lady’s love for us, we must understand that her love differs from all other human love.  Our Lady’s affection for us cannot be compared, for example, to that of a mother who tickles her child under the chin saying, “You little cutie,” as the little one gurgles with delight.

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On the other hand, when the child makes too much noise, or breaks something, the mother storms, “Johnny be quiet and watch what you are doing!”

This mode of acting, capriciously alternating between caress and outburst, leaves the child disoriented, and confused, as he registers the inconsistency.

Our Lady’s love has no semblance to the above example.  Her love is rooted in the fact that God loves us, and that we are made in the image and likeness of this same God.

For this reason, she loves us like God loves us with a love that is
focused, stable, deep, complete, a love that participates in the same love she has for God.

On the other hand, she sees in us the incomparable grace of baptism, which raises us from mere creatures of God to children of
God.   Thus, she loves us as children, and foresees all that each of us can become if we correspond to the magnificent designs of grace for us.

She loves this design, and fondly considers the sketch, the blueprint of the ultimate marvel that God plans to accomplish in us.

Our human failings have no power to fatigue or diminish her love. And no matter how good she is to us, she always wants to do more for us.  No matter how much we walk toward her, she covers much more ground toward us, because alas, we love her much less than she loves us.

No matter how much we try to please her, she hastens to give us more than we gave her, until we cannot believe how much she has done for us.

This is how our heavenly mother is.  To live in the shadow of Mary is to never lose sight of her unfailing good will towards us.  We will thus lead a calm, joyful spiritual life, even when tossed by great temptations for she is truly the constant star of the serene or stormy see of our lives.

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Humility Is Compatible with the Rich Dress of One’s Office

Saint Francis de Sales, the bishop of Geneva, while on a journey during Lent, went to the church attached to a monastery of Capuchin friars. He arrived at sermon time; the preacher had taken ostentation in dress as his sermon’s theme and was inveighing vehemently against prelates and ecclesiastical dignitaries who, instead of setting an example of humility, wore splendid garments.

When the sermon ended, the bishop went into the sacristy and summoned the preacher. Once they were alone, Saint Francis said, “Reverend Father, your discourse was edifying. It may also be true that we who are in authority in the Church are guilty of sins from which the inmates of the cloister are exempt. Nevertheless, I consider it highly unwise to say such things as you did on this subject from the pulpit, to the common people. Moreover, I wish to call your attention that for many reasons it is a matter of necessity that the princes of the Church should keep up an appearance befitting their rank. Besides, one never knows what may be hidden beneath a silken robe.” 

Saint Francis unbuttoned the upper part of his purple cassock, and let the monk see that he wore a ragged hair shirt next to his skin. “I show you this,” Saint Francis added, “so that you may learn that humility is quite compatible with the rich dress of one’s office.

From henceforth see that you are less harsh in your judgments and more prudent in your speech.” If the dignitaries of the Church were wretchedly dressed, they would lose the respect due to themselves and to their office. Therefore it is not only permissible, but obligatory upon them, to dress in accordance with the official rank they hold.

* Adapted from Father Francis Spirago’s Anecdotes and Examples Illustrating the Catholic Catechism (New York: Benziger Brothers, 1904), 187–188.

Reversing the West’s cowering before Putin’s Crimea Grab

by Raymond Drake

The strength of evil lies in the weakness of the good. This statement sums up Russia’s aggression in the recent invasion of Crimea and the West’s cowardly and apathetic response. To our great shame, as Putin tests the mettle of our political leaders with another totalitarian aggression, he finds little serious reaction and thus feels free to do as he wishes.

Blocking travel visas for some individuals of the nomenklatura and freezing their assets in the U.S. was not a bad idea, but it is way too little, and too late as well. Media reports affirm that Russia has moved the bulk of its U.S. treasury bonds valued at $132 billion, out of America’s reach.

But apart from a limp promise to Kiev of a $1 billion loan, and some military clothing and Meals-Ready-to-Eat, the travel bans and asset-freezing were pretty much the extent of American help for the Ukraine’s Western-leaning government. One can only wonder if Haiti, Indonesia, and other countries who suffered natural disasters in recent years did not receive greater largesse than this….

Certainly the frugal assistance is not for the lack of ideas, which are being suggested in the media by commentators and analysts: the immediate reversal of the downsizing of the U.S. Armed Forces; an immediate and sizeable boost in the Pentagon’s budget; the immediate deployment of U.S. military trainers to the Ukraine; the immediate deployment to Kiev of a NATO rapid deployment combat brigade; the opening up to Kiev of anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry from existing arsenals in Europe; the immediate approval of the Keystone pipeline and the fast-tracked and facilitated approval of the export of U.S. natural gas to Europe; the immediate implementation of the scuttled plans for a European missile shield; the immediate holding of NATO joint maneuvers with the Ukraine and Georgia; the immediate admission of Georgia and the Ukraine as NATO members, etc.

However, these and other measures would represent the abandonment of a wrongheaded and failed foreign policy that apologizes for American strength and undermines its benevolent global leadership. It would be the return to something akin to the “decisive action” central to President Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy, so well summarized in his “Speak softly, and carry a big stick!”

Vigorous actions like these would not just garner Putin’s immediate and devoted attention, but the world’s too. Most importantly, they would convey the unmistakable message to our allies around the world, that American friendship means something, and can always be relied on.

But the United States should do much more than this.

To be true to its past and the American people, we should sidestep the quadriplegic paralysis of the United Nations and the European Union, and forge a new “Coalition of the Willing” with the nations of Eastern Europe for whom the Gulag and other Communist atrocities are all too vivid. The March 14, 2014 signing of a pact between the countries of the 1991 Visegrád alliance (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia), which creates a joint military body, is a public affirmation that these former Warsaw Pact countries are indeed willing. Lithuania too is willing, as evidenced by its 2009 consent to the formation of a Lithuanian-Polish-Ukranian brigade. And, of course, Georgia has been willing for years. Moldova will be willing. Romania, Bulgaria, and Armenia might be also.

This stout and coherent American leadership would undo much of the harm caused by our foreign policy failures of recent years. It would begin to wipe away the blemish to our honor when President Franklin Roosevelt tacitly acquiesced to Communist dominion of Eastern Europe in the 1945 Yalta Conference. It would undo the dishonor we showed by not aiding Hungary in its heroic 1956 uprising, and the people of Czechoslovakia in 1968, when these countries tried to extricate themselves from under the Soviet boot. It would undo our abandonment of the Cuban and Vietnamese peoples.

It would affirm to the world, that America is sorry for much of its past and ready to lead again.

Opponents of California transgender bill sue state officials over tossed petition signatures

by Kirsten Andersen

SACRAMENTO, CA, March 28, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The backers of a failed statewide petition to place California’s controversial new transgender law on the ballot for a public vote have sued the secretary of state and a number of county officials demanding an explanation as to why more than 131,000 signatures were thrown out as “invalid” – including the signature of one of the petition’s sponsors.

The law in question allows students at California’s public schools to use the bathroom, changing room and other gender-based facilities of their choice, regardless of physical sex.  It also allows boys to participate in girls’ sports and other activities and vice versa, as long as the student says he or she “identifies” as the opposite sex.

Privacy for All Students (PFAS), a group based in Chino, collected more than 600,000 signatures on a petition to force the law on the ballot for a chance at repeal by voters.  Only 504,760 were required to force a referendum, but state officials threw out more than 131,000 signatures, claiming they were “invalid.” They threw out 14,000 in San Diego County and 13,000 in San Bernardino County alone.  As a result, the petition fell roughly 22,000 signatures short of the required goal – a loss so narrow that it triggered a mandatory recount, which narrowed the margin to roughly 17,000, but still below the required number.

The petition’s backers are now demanding documentation of what they say is the “abuse of discretion” county and state officials displayed in rejecting such a large number of signatures.

“We have served the Secretary of State with another legal action asking her to qualify the referendum and we have served county officials across the state with a demand for the documents to prove the abuse of discretion in rejecting more than 131,000 signatures,” wrote PFAS spokeswoman Gina Gleason in a statement.

One of the signatures rejected by officials in Sacramento County belonged to attorney Matthew Reynolds of the Pacific Justice Institute, another PFAS member who was instrumental in organizing the attempted referendum.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Reynolds wrote: “You read that correctly -- a petition from one of the key backers of the referendum, more familiar than most with the rules, was not good enough to satisfy elections workers here in Sacramento County. So what did I do wrong? The explanation was that my signature didn’t look exactly like it had on my registration card.”

Reynolds explained that his signature has undoubtedly changed a little bit in the few years since the card was issued, due to having lost his eyesight during that time.   But Reynolds argued that “my disability shouldn’t prevent me from participating in such a core function of democracy as signing a referendum petition.”

“What’s really scary,” wrote Reynolds, “is that I only found out I had been disenfranchised because I am very involved in the massive effort by the Privacy for All Students coalition to examine the signatures that were invalidated.”

PFAS organizer Danielle Cullum reassured supporters that “the battle is far from over.” 

“After months of waiting, we now get to see why so many signatures were thrown out,” Cullum wrote on the group’s website. She urged supporters not to abandon hope.

“While we prepare for the legal battle ahead to have invalid signatures deemed valid, we should not lose sight of what we are fighting for,” Cullum wrote.  “Across the country, activists are intent on sexually integrating our children’s bathrooms and locker rooms.  We are told that this is necessary to relieve the discomfort of a few that are uncomfortable in traditional sex separate facilities.  But the much greater number that would have their privacy and safety compromised by this radical change are regarded as irrational or irrelevant.  And those that are fighting to keep bathrooms separate are labeled as hateful.”

Cullum wrote, “We are told that gender identity is more important than gender reality.  We are told that feelings trump anatomy.  While so many of us want to be compassionate to those that feel that biology has betrayed them, we can’t help but notice that we are living the modern equivalent of the Emperor’s New Clothes.”

Cullum said PFAS isn’t conceding defeat just yet.  “Privacy For All Students will keep fighting to see this referendum qualified for the November ballot.”

Friday, March 28, 2014

Parents outraged after Arizona school allows boys and girls to use whichever bathroom they choose

by Thaddeus Baklinski

TUCSON, AZ, March 27, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Parents with children attending a school in the Tucson Unified School District are outraged after school officials decided that transgender students could use whichever bathroom they "identify" with rather than be restricted by their biological sex.

According to KVOA TV, the Tucson Unified School District voted on March 25 to update its non-discrimination policy to include "gender identity and expression."

Parents with children at Anna Henry Elementary School in Tucson voiced their concern at a meeting on Wednesday night where they related incidents that made their kids very uncomfortable.

John Bellisario, principal of Henry Elementary, when asked which bathrooms transgender students are encouraged to use, replied, "We have multiple restrooms, we have boys restrooms, we have girls restrooms, we have unisex restrooms, and the children can use the restroom they identify with. That's based on case law all over the country."

Susan Wright related an incident where her 10-year old son was using the urinal in the boys' bathroom when a student he identified as a female walked in on him, according to a Tucson News Now report.

"My son won't even let me go in the bathroom with him, he won't let a female teacher go in with him, this did not make him comfortable," said Wright.

"My child's privacy was infringed upon. If he doesn't want his own mother in the bathroom with him, he's certainly not going to want one of his peers," Wright stated.

Another parent, Danya Ayers, said she knew of an incident where a boy was very uncomfortable after a child he knew as a girl removed her underpants in front of him.

"It's a privacy issue," concurred concerned parent Sharah Gray. "It's not a gay or a lesbian issue. If that were the case, I would despise my cousin, my uncle. That has absolutely nothing to do with it."

School officials told the parents at the meeting that they had temporarily addressed the issue by blocking off all the male urinals in the boys' bathrooms, telling students to use the stalls instead.

While some parents thought simply requiring kids to use stalls was an answer to the concerns of privacy for the children, others said the issues involved in pandering to transgender students were more complex.

"I mean, what's next?" asked Danya Ayers. "The next thing you know it's not just bathrooms, it's locker rooms, it's showers. Having two boys, I would not feel comfortable with them showering next to a fully developed female."

"It's a privacy issue, it's a safety issue. Some students are just not comfortable with it," said Ayers. 

Contact:

Tucson Unified School District
Dr. H. T. Sánchez, Superintendent
1010 E. Tenth St. Tucson, AZ  85719
Phone: 520-225-6060
Fax: 520-225-6174
Heliodoro.Sanchez@tusd1.org

Is Putin Really Against The Homosexual Lobby?

One cannot but suspect that Putin’s conservative statements are nothing but “psychological tricks” he learned from his KGB masters.

In an interview with the European media during the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, Putin nuanced his position on the homosexual lifestyle:

“If you want my personal attitude, I would tell you that I don't care about a person’s sexual orientation,” Mr. Putin told BBC reporter Andrew Marr in Sochi.

“Famous gay people like the British singer Elton John were popular in Russia, he said.

‘I've honoured several members of the gay community in this country but for their personal achievements, regardless of their sexual orientation,’ he added.”

Can Putin Be Trusted? Is He Christendom’s New “Champion”?

by Luiz Sérgio Solimeo


Man needs hope as much as the air he breathes. Lacking air, he feels asphyxiated; without hope, he falls into discouragement and despair.

The upshot is that, when beset by life’s trials or in times of crises that affect countries, peoples and civilizations, he strives to find reasons for hope.

A Russian “Charlemagne”?

No one, with the possible exception of a die-hard minority of optimists, is unaware that the Christian world is going through one of its most serious civilizational crises.

Thus (and most often subconsciously) a desire arises to find some paladin or great historical figure, like Charlemagne, to counter the new “barbarians” that are corroding nations through immorality and the increasing spread of socialism.
Looking at world leaders, many see hope in a former KGB colonel (the former Soviet political police) as a possible savior.

And yes, he is no other than Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.

Are His Beautiful Words Sincere?

We see him denouncing the West’s moral decadence, the imposition of pro-homosexuality laws, euthanasia, and the loss of moral values.

We see him declaiming in the Duma (the Lower House of the Russian Parliament) last December 12 on “the need to defend the traditional values ​​that have formed the foundation of every civilized nation for thousands of years.”

We see him decry the West’s “recognition of equivalence between good and evil,” and we see him state that Russia, on the contrary, “has a conservative point of view” which “prevents it from falling backward into chaotic darkness and the state of primitive man.”

The Savior of Ukraine from a “Corrupt Europe”?

Some have gone so far as to see Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea as a way of saving them from the moral corruption that the European Union imposes on its member countries.

For such people it would seem there is no alternative to the false dilemma of falling prey either to the claws of organized moral corruption in the European Union (which Ukraine seeks to join to defend itself from Russia) or those of political and economic corruption in a dictatorial regime like Putin’s.

Putin is adept at exploiting the religious sentiments of his people and their aversion to the anti-natural vice the West exalts so much. He also knows how to spark the admiration of many outside Russia who remain faithful to the principles of natural and revealed morals.

Alexandr Dugin's The Fourth Political Theory, which states that what is needed now is a mixture of liberal democracy, Fascism and Marxism.

KGB’s Psychological Tricks

But how hard is it for the KGB—one of the most sinister and efficient institutions ever created by human wickedness—to have one of its agents, well-trained in so many arts, including the clever use of psychology, to say beautiful words?
In his well-documented book, The New Cold War – Putin’s Russia and the Threat to the West, after showing how the KGB prepared Putin’s political career, Edward Lucas thus describes that organization:

A KGB career was a red-hot sign of distinction in the Soviet Union. Apart from the Communist leadership itself, the KGB had been the country’s most knowledgeable, efficient, and privileged organization. It not only attracted the brightest people; it gave them a formidable training and an unbeatable network of contacts. They harbored a sense of great superiority.… For many, that sense was stoked by special training in psychological tricks—how to manipulate strangers, to gain their trust or break their resistance. In a perverse sense, KGB officers felt themselves to be almost a lay priesthood: omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent.[1]

One cannot but suspect that Putin’s conservative statements are nothing but “psychological tricks” he learned from his KGB masters.

In an interview with the European media during the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, Putin nuanced his position on the homosexual lifestyle:

“If you want my personal attitude, I would tell you that I don't care about a person’s sexual orientation,” Mr. Putin told BBC reporter Andrew Marr in Sochi.

“Famous gay people like the British singer Elton John were popular in Russia, he said.

‘I've honoured several members of the gay community in this country but for their personal achievements, regardless of their sexual orientation,’ he added.”

The symbol of the Eurasian movement.

A Confusing, Anti-American Ideology

Putin is not restrained by any moral principles when he needs to carry out his plan for Russian expansionism. He invaded Georgia without sufficient reason and is now slicing off pieces of Ukraine, beginning with Crimea.

Though he does not present a clear and consistent ideology, his policies appear to be influenced by the theories of Aleksandr Dugin. In his book, The Fourth Political Theory, Dugin is presented as “an advisor to Vladimir Putin and others in the Kremlin on geopolitical matters, being a vocal advocate of a return of Russian power to the global stage, to act as a counterweight to American domination.”

Dugin’s theories posit that liberal democracy, Fascism and Marxism, have all failed. According to Dugin, what is needed now is “[to] sift through the debris of the first three to look for elements that might be useful, but that remains innovative and unique in itself.” Therefore, this new and confusing ideology would have bits and pieces of liberalism, Fascism and Marxism, in the pursuit of its goal: the destruction of American influence.

Dugin advocates a union of Russia with Asian countries forming a so-called Eurasia.

Eurasia v. United States

Dugin advocates a union of Russia with Asian countries forming a so-called Eurasia. Timothy Snyder, Professor of History at Yale University summarizes this theory:

The Eurasian ideology draws an entirely different lesson from the twentieth century. Founded around 2001 by the Russian political scientist Aleksandr Dugin, it proposes the realization of National Bolshevism. Rather than rejecting totalitarian ideologies, Eurasianism calls upon politicians of the twenty-first century to draw what is useful from both fascism and Stalinism.

Dugin’s major work, The Foundations of Geopolitics, published in 1997, follows closely the ideas of Carl Schmitt, the leading Nazi political theorist. Eurasianism is not only the ideological source of the Eurasian Union, it is also the creed of a number of people in the Putin administration, and the moving force of a rather active far-right Russian youth movement. For years Dugin has openly supported the division and colonization of Ukraine.

On March 9 of this year, commenting on the successful annexation of part of Ukraine, Dugin further clarified his anti-Americanism:

A new great Continental Association is formed, as a confederation of Europe and Eurasia, the European Union and the Eurasian Union. Russian, Ukrainians and Europeans are on one side of the barricades, the Americans on the other. American hegemony and dominance of the dollar as well as domination of Atlanticism, liberalism and the financial oligarchy is ended. A new page in world history begins. The Slavs are reunited not against Europe, but with Europe in the framework of a multipolar polycentric world. From Lisbon to Vladivostok.

Mussolini, the son of an anticlerical socialist, was a socialist leader and editor of the party’s newspaper until he adopted a new and confusing position, anticommunist but also authoritarian and interventionist.

Putin and Mussolini

Putin recalls another sad figure who also presented himself as a new savior of the values of Christendom: Benito Mussolini.
Mussolini, the son of an anticlerical socialist, was a socialist leader and editor of the party’s newspaper until he adopted a new and confusing position, anticommunist but also authoritarian and interventionist. Seizing power in 1922, he served as model for various totalitarian parties around the world, including Germany’s. Deposed in 1943, he made a comeback with a clearly socialist sham republic in north Italy, the so-called Republic of Salo.

But is there no alternative other than Putin’s dictatorship or the secularist dictatorship of the European Union, which imposes same-sex “marriage,” abortion and euthanasia?

Natural Hope and Supernatural Virtue
To answer this question we need once more to speak about hope. True hope is not one that places its confidence in men, but in God. It is the theological virtue which, along with faith and charity, unites us with God in supernatural life.
In 1917, during the cataclysm of the First World War, Our Lady appeared in Fatima and explained that war is a punishment for the sins of men. And she asked for a conversion of the world, the devotion to her Immaculate Heart, and the consecration of Russia in order to avoid an even worse war.

Men’s response was to wallow in the sins of the so-called Roaring Twenties, marked by an unbridled enjoyment of life, abandonment of traditional morality, and madness in fashion and modern art.

The end result was the chaos which overtook Europe, the Communist Revolution in Russia, and the huge growth of socialist parties in the West. Endless strikes marked European life, and agitation ruled the streets.

It was at that point that various types of Fascism appeared, catering to human hopes with a false solution that shunned the organic order created by God: state intervention imposed with an iron fist. After a while, it led to the terrible catastrophe of the Second World War.
History repeats itself. Once again, men are rejecting the only hope that does not deceive because it comes from God, Mary’s call for conversion at Fatima, and are creating a false dilemma between two equally damnable evils.
Let us turn our eyes to God, implore His mercy, and fearlessly fight the errors of our time without gullibly swallowing any false solutions proposed by His enemies.
In the chapel of Rome’s Lateran Seminary is a beautiful painting of Mary Most Holy titled Mater Mea, Fiducia Mea (My Mother, my Confidence!). Let us turn to her, asking for help in this calamitous situation. She will not disappoint us.

1.

(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), pp. 19-20.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Why It’s Crucial to Protest Sin -- World Vision reverses decision to hire people in same-sex ‘marriages’

by Patrick B. Craine

SEATTLE, WA, March 26, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The U.S. branch of international evangelical charity World Vision has backed off a highly-contentious decision announced two days ago that they would begin hiring staff who have contracted same-sex “marriages.”

The decision had sparked intense backlash, including calls for a boycott, from evangelical leaders, who accused World Vision of reneging on its commitment to Biblical morality.

The organization’s board of directors held a meeting Wednesday and then issued a letter saying they “acknowledged they made a mistake and chose to revert to our longstanding conduct policy requiring sexual abstinence for all single employees and faithfulness within the Biblical covenant of marriage between a man and a woman.”

The letter, penned by World Vision president Richard Stearns and U.S. board chairman Jim Beré, states that the decision came in response to Christian leaders who had expressed their dismay “in the spirit of Matthew 18.”

“We have listened to you and want to say thank you and to humbly ask for your forgiveness,” it reads.

“We are brokenhearted over the pain and confusion we have caused many of our friends, who saw this decision as a reversal of our strong commitment to Biblical authority,” the letter continues. “We ask that you understand that this was never the board's intent. We are asking for your continued support. We commit to you that we will continue to listen to the wise counsel of Christian brothers and sisters, and we will reach out to key partners in the weeks ahead.”

“While World Vision U.S. stands firmly on the biblical view of marriage, we strongly affirm that all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, are created by God and are to be loved and treated with dignity and respect,” the letter adds.

The organization said on Monday that they chose to make the change because some of the Christian denominations with which they partner had begun offering same-sex “marriages.” The purpose, they said, was to create “unity” by avoiding what they deemed a non-essential issue.

Before this recent situation, World Vision had come under fire from pro-life and pro-family leaders over its commitment to promoting “family planning” as part of its development model.

The organization’s Pragati project in India, for example, taught volunteers how to demonstrate and encourage the use of oral contraceptives and condoms. In a report on its health strategy, World Vision says the project led to an increase in usage of modern contraceptives from 12% to 27%.

Contact:

World Vision, Inc.
34834 Weyerhaeuser Way South
Federal Way, WA 98001
1-888-511.6443
1-253-815-1000
info@worldvision.org

America Needs Fatima rallies for traditional marriage nationwide

by Andrea F. Phillips

In response to an appeal from America Needs Fatima’s director, Robert E. Ritchie, some 250 plus America Needs Fatima members and friends signed up to join the St. Joseph Crusade for Traditional Marriage. This meant to organize rallies across our nation on Saturday, March 22, the Saturday closest to St. Joseph’s feast day, March 19.

In the rallying email Robert Ritchie stated:

“Because our political and church leaders are proving themselves unable or unwilling to stop the stunning advances of the homosexual revolution:

• Same-sex “marriage” is already legal in 21 states.

• Young children are forced to learn about homosexuality in public schools.

• Clergy almost never preach against the sin of homosexuality from the pulpit.

• Homosexuals serve openly in the military.

The legalization of same-sex “marriage” in 21 states is a wake-up call for every American who cherishes God’s marriage as that of one man and one woman. In several instances the American people have voiced their rejection of homosexual “marriage”, only to be undemocratically ignored by court rulings.

Under the protection of St. Joseph, patron of families, once more America Needs Fatima took to the streets, signs and Rosaries in hand, making a public stand for the holiness of marriage before God and before men.

Those who signed up as Rally Captains in response to Mr. Ritchie’s email received a free banner that read: “God’s marriage = 1 Man & 1 Woman”. People were also encouraged to make signs that read, “HONK for traditional marriage!”

Several groups reported that while there was some unsavory opposition, the honks and thumbs-up in favor were far more abundant.

May Our Lady of Fatima protect our country and may she bless all those fighting to keep America Christian.


Above -- Middletown, PA


Above: York Springs, PA, and a Roadside Crusade in Maryland

Related Article:

10 Reasons why Homosexual "Marriage" is harmful

How The Virtue of Fortitude Helps Us Do What Is Right – Even If We Become Unpopular

by Dom Prosper Gueranger

A Commentary on Fortitude

There are times, when the Holy Spirit requires from a Christian something beyond interior resistance of the enemies of his soul: he must make an outward protestation against error and evil, as often as position or duty demands it.

On such occasions, he must bear to become unpopular, and console himself with the words of the apostle: “If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” (Gal. 1:10) But the Holy Ghost will be on his side; and finding him resolute in using His gift of fortitude, not only will He give him a final triumph, but He generally blesses that soul with a sweet and courageous peace, which is the result and recompense of a duty fulfilled.

Thus does the Holy Ghost apply the gift of fortitude, when there is a question of a Christian’s making resistance. But, as we have already said, He imparts also the energy necessary for bearing up against the trials, which all must go through who would save their souls. There are certain fears, which damp our courage, and expose us to defeat. The gift of fortitude dispels them, and braces us with such a peaceful confidence, that we ourselves are surprised at the change.

Look at the martyrs: not merely at such an one as Saint Mauritius, the leader of the Theban legion, who was accustomed to face danger on the battlefield; but at Felicitas, a mother of seven children; at Perpetua, a high-born lady with everything this world could give her; at Agnes, a girl of thirteen; and at thousands of others like them; and say, if the gift of fortitude is not a prompter of heroism.

Where is the fear of death — that death the very thought of which is sometimes more than we can bear? And what are we to say of all those lives spent in self-abnegation and privation with a view to make Jesus their only treasure and to be more closely united with Him?

What are we to say of those hundreds and thousands of our fellow-creatures who shun the sight of a distracted and vain world, and make sacrifice their rule?

Whose peacefulness is proof against every trial, and whose acceptance of the cross is as untiring as the cross itself is in its visit? What trophies are these of the Spirit of fortitude! and how magnificent is the devotedness He creates for every possible duty! Oh! truly man of himself is of little worth/ but how grand when under influence of the Holy Ghost! …

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Both candidates for dean position at Jesuit-run university have ties to Planned Parenthood

by Catherine Briggs

LOS ANGELES, CA, March 26, 2014, (LifeSiteNews.com) – The two finalists for the dean position at one of the colleges of Catholic, Jesuit-run Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles both have recorded ties to Planned Parenthood.

The candidates for the position of dean of the Bellarmine College of the Liberal Arts are Dr. Ramón Gutiérrez, a history professor at the University of Chicago, and Dr. Robbin Crabtree, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Fairfield University, another Jesuit-run school.

According to the LMU alumni group RenewLMU, which identifies itself as “an alliance to strengthen LMU’s Catholic identity,” these two candidates have each been involved with Planned Parenthood, an organization directly opposed to Catholic morals and teaching involving abortion, contraception, and sexual ethics.

Dr. Crabtree’s curriculum vitae (begins page 43) states that she served on the advisory board and media relations committee for Planned Parenthood of Putnam County in Indiana from 1991-1993.  According to his curriculum vitae, Dr. Gutiérrez served as a consultant to Planned Parenthood of New York concerning “Hispanic attitudes toward sexuality.”

According to the National Catholic Register, Crabtree omitted her affiliation with Planned Parenthood when she applied for the LMU position.  However, Gutiérrez did not make any such omission in his application.

In addition to his work with Planned Parenthood, Gutiérrez is also a member of the Organization of American Historians’ Committee of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Historians and Histories, an organization that was vocally supportive of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Proposition 8, which defined marriage as being between one man and one woman in California.

Because the Bellarmine School of Liberal Arts oversees the topics of theology, bioethics, philosophy and Catholic studies, these candidates are “very problematic,” according to LMU philosophy professor Chris Kaczor.

“It seems to me,” Kaczor told Catholic News Agency, “that the person who oversees these parts of the university needs to be someone very much committed to the Jesuit understanding of faith and justice, which includes defense of the unborn.”

RenewLMU has started a petition asking LMU President David W. Burcham to restart the selection process in order to hire a dean who is stronger in their support of Catholic morals and teaching.  The alumni group states that “the search committee was either insufficiently diligent in checking facts or it lacked sensitivity to Catholic values in qualifying applicants for this most important position.”

The alumni group quotes Pope Francis’ message to representatives of the University of Notre Dame concerning the importance of Catholic schools’ adherence to Church teaching:

In my Exhortation on the Joy of the Gospel, I stressed the missionary dimension of Christian discipleship, which needs to be evident in the lives of individuals and in the workings of each of the Church’s institutions. … Essential in this regard is the uncompromising witness of Catholic universities to the Church’s moral teaching, and the defense of her freedom, precisely in and through her institutions, to uphold that teaching as authoritatively proclaimed by the magisterium of her pastors.

In a comment to LifeSiteNews, Patrick J. Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society, warned against the loose hiring standards displayed by LMU.

“This demonstrates the inherent danger in hiring for a Catholic institution without prior established standards and qualifications rooted in Catholic identity,” he said. “It invites scandal and assumes the good intentions of the search committee, which at a place like LMU assumes too much."

LifeSiteNews contacted the Office of the President of Loyola Marymount University for a statement, but the office declined to comment, stating that this is “an on-going personnel matter” that they are “not ready to debate in public.”

“Of course … integration of our mission and identity is always … something that we are considering in our search process, especially for senior positions at our university,” they stated.

LifeSiteNews also contacted the Archdiocese of Los Angeles but received no response by press time.

This is not the first time Loyola Marymount University has acted in a way that may seem incongruous with Catholic teaching.

Last year, the university formulated a compromise to allow their employees to maintain abortion coverage in their insurance plans.  While claiming to end elective abortion coverage, the university took measures to facilitate abortion coverage for employees who pay for it through third-party providers.

In 2010, LMU launched an LGBT office dedicated to the service of homosexual students.  At that point, the office’s role was described as promoting "equality, visibility and inclusion of LGBT students within the LMU community" as well as "advocacy and support for the LGBT student community."

That same year, the university invited two abortion and same-sex “marriage” supporters to be the speakers at the school’s commencement exercises.

Contact:

David W. Burcham, President
Loyola Marymount University
david.burcham@lmu.edu

Office of the President
University Hall
1 LMU Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90045-2659
310.338.2775 (voice)
310.338.2766 (fax)

St. Catherine of Sweden --Patroness against abortion and miscarriage.

A deer guarded this noble saint from the unwanted advances of men

St. Catherine of Sweden. Photo by Smas.

St. Catherine of Sweden. Photo by Smas.

The fourth child of Saint Bridget and her husband, Ulf Gudmarsson, born 1331 or 1332; died 24 March, 1381. At the time of her death Saint Catherine was head of the convent of Wadstena, founded by her mother; hence the name, Catherine Vastanensis, by which she is occasionally called.

At the age of seven she was sent to the abbess of the convent of Riseberg to be educated and soon showed, like her mother, a desire for a life of self-mortification and devotion to spiritual things. At the command of her father, when about thirteen or fourteen years, she married a noble of German descent, Eggart von Kürnen. She at once persuaded her husband, who was a very religious man, to join her in a vow of chastity.

Both lived in a state of virginity and devoted themselves to the exercise of Christian perfection and active charity. In spite of her deep love for her husband, Catherine accompanied her mother to Rome, where Saint Bridget went in 1349. Soon after her arrival in that city Catherine received news of the death of her husband in Sweden. She now lived constantly with her mother, took an active part in Saint Bridget’s fruitful labours, and zealously imitated her mother’s ascetic life. Although the distinguished and beautiful young widow was surrounded by suitors, she steadily refused all offers of marriage. In 1372 Saint Catherine and her brother, Birger, accompanied their mother on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land; after their return to Rome Saint Catherine was with her mother in the latter’s last illness and death.

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In 1374, in obedience to Saint Bridget’s wish, Catherine brought back her mother’s body to Sweden for burial at Wadstena, of which foundation she now became the head. It was the motherhouse of the Brigittine Order, also called the Order of Saint Saviour. Catherine managed the convent with great skill and made the life there one in harmony with the principles laid down by its founder. The following year she went again to Rome in order to promote the canonization of Saint Bridget, and to obtain a new papal confirmation of the order. She secured another confirmation both from Gregory XI (1377) and from Urban VI (1379) but was unable to gain time in the canonization of her mother, as the confusion caused by the Schism delayed the process.

When this sorrowful division appeared she showed herself, like Saint Catherine of Siena, a steadfast adherent of the part of the Roman Pope, Urban VI, in whose favor she testified before a judicial commission. Catherine stayed five years in Italy and then returned home, bearing a special letter of commendation from the pope. Not long after her arrival in Sweden she was taken ill and died. In 1484 Innocent VIII gave permission for her veneration as a saint and her feast was assigned to 22 March in the Roman Martyrology. Catherine wrote a devotional work entitled “Consolation of the Soul” (Sielinna Troëst), largely composed of citations from the Scriptures and from early religious books; no copy is known to exist. Generally she is represented with a hind at her side, which is said to have come to her aid when unchaste youths sought to ensnare her.

J. P. Kirsch (Catholic Encyclopedia)

Outcry against Cardinal Kasper’s ‘two-tier marriage’ proposal continues

by Hilary White, Rome Correspondent

ROME, March 24, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The backlash continues among Catholic thinkers against a Vatican cardinal’s proposal to allow divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive Holy Communion after a “period of penance” without altering their lifestyles.

A columnist, a philosophy professor and a cardinal archbishop add more fuel to the fight against the recommendation by Cardinal Walter Kasper, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

Author and columnist Francesco Agnoli, in a lengthy editorial in the Catholic newspaper Il Foglio, calls Kasper’s proposal, given to the consistory of cardinals on February 20, “incomprehensible” and a clear attack on the precepts of scripture.

“Do you really believe, Cardinal, that a proposal to undermine marriage, in the West where everything is already falling apart, may serve to make anyone happy?” Agnoli asked Kasper.

“Do you really think that those who have broken communion with the man or woman in their life (and the children who are born), can regain full communion with God if only a priest gives him the Eucharist?”

“Can you really think that we can save the sick of this large ‘field hospital’ that is the sick West … only by saying that the patient is comfortable? That loyalty is no longer an absolute value?”

Critics have said that the proposal would create a kind of ecclesiastical equivalent to “civil unions” in which a second marriage could be “tolerated” but not sacramentally validated.

The Church bases its teaching on the words of Christ in the Gospels who said in Matthew, 19:8, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for fornication, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

But Kasper, who many consider the leader of the “liberal” wing of the Church’s episcopate, said, “The question is therefore how the Church can reflect this indivisible pairing of the fidelity and mercy of God in its pastoral action.” It is this “mercy,” Cardinal Kasper said, that compels the creation of a “new paradigm” for “pastoral practice.”

“After the shipwreck of sin, the shipwrecked person should not have a second boat at his or her disposal, but rather a life raft,” he said. 

Agnoli has become the latest in a string of outraged responses to this proposal from those Catholics who say that this would make instead a shipwreck of the Church and force priests to act against their conscience and Catholic teaching by knowingly desecrating the Eucharist. Agnoli said Kasper’s proposal comes not from Catholic sources but from Protestant theology.

Professor Danilo Castellano, a political philosopher at the University of Udine, told Il Foglio that Kasper’s suggestion is simply contrary to the Church’s understanding of God’s forgiveness. For “the so-called divorced and ‘remarried’ to invoke and obtain mercy,” Castellano wrote, “they must acknowledge their guilt (as David did) and ask for forgiveness. The sine qua non of this is the abandonment of the state of sin. In fact, God gives not only ‘a second chance,’ but an infinite number of possibilities of forgiveness. He could not forgive, however, those who intend to remain stubbornly in sin.”

While most are warning that Kasper’s suggestion will result in a “watering down” of Catholic teaching on the indissolubility of marriage, Castellano goes further, saying it is rather an “abandonment” of it, that would render it unnecessary to the magisterium and, ultimately, unnecessary to a synodal discussion on the same issue.

Castellano also identifies Kasper’s theology with Protestantism, particularly with the doctrine of Martin Luther who did not believe that God eradicates a person’s sin, but only ignores it when He forgives. Kasper’s version of “mercy,” he said, is really “Lutheran mercy: a mercy that does not imply the preliminary and necessary abandonment of sin, but only the confidence that God does not take it into account.”

But “if mercy was to be understood as indifference to God for sin, the incarnation, passion and death of Christ on the cross it would be absurd really incomprehensible,” he said.

Also published by Il Foglio is a lengthy analysis of the proposal by Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, the archbishop of Bologna, who said that it is not only in direct contradiction to scripture and the unchangeable teachings of the Church, but of the explanation and development of these by Blessed – and soon to be Saint – John Paul II. The late pope’s 1980 Apostolic Exhortation, Familiaris Consortio, is “directly in the crossfire” said Caffarra, who was one of the consultors of the Synod on the Family in 1980.

Caffarra said that at that time, the issue of divorced and civilly remarried Catholics was discussed at length and that Kasper’s claim, and those of his supporters, that the “cultural context” of Familiaris Consortio was “completely different” is not true. On the contrary, he said, the document offers an insight into how to approach the problem that is timeless and not affected by changing historical trends and currents.

When Christ was asked about divorce, Caffarra said His response was to offer an unchanging principle: “You have to get out of this logical casuistry and look in another direction. … That is, you have to look at where man and woman come into existence, who, in the full truth of their being man and woman are called to become one flesh.”

As to Kasper’s reference to supposed changes to the “sensus fidelium” or general sense and understanding of all the faithful, this is also a misdirection. Caffarra said, “Familiaris Consortio states that the Church has a supernatural sense of the faith, which does not consist solely or necessarily in the consensus of the faithful.”

“The Church, following Christ, seeks the truth, which does not always coincide with the opinion of the majority. She listens to conscience and not power. And in this way she defends the poor and the downtrodden.”

Kasper’s reference was likely to the results of a global survey issued by the Vatican department in charge of preparing for October’s Extraordinary Synod on the Family, which found that the vast majority of those calling themselves Catholic do not either know or adhere to the Church’s teaching on sexuality. But Caffarra said that surveys and statistical analysis, while “valued by the Church” are not “to be considered an expression of the sense of faith.”

The Church, Caffarra said, does not propose a kind of “ideal” of marriage to “strive for,” but a definition, a description of an objective reality which it is powerless to change. This is the context given by Familiaris Consortio, which “identifies the deepest sense of the indissolubility of marriage.”

“Familiaris Consortio, then, has been a great doctrinal development, made ​​possible by the cycle of catechesis of Pope John Paul II on human love.”

That document, he added, “did not ignore the real problems. It also spoke of divorce, of free cohabitation, of the admission of divorced-and-remarried to the Eucharist.” To characterize it as belonging to the past, he said, with no longer anything to say to us “is a caricature. Or is it a consideration made ​​by people who have not read it.”

Something similar, Caffarra added, could be said about the attempt to sideline Pope Paul VI’s encyclical, Humanae Vitae, which was described by the German bishops’ conference as creating only “confusion.”

“After almost forty-six years,” he said, “we see briefly what happened to the institution of marriage and we realize how prophetic that document was. By denying the inseparable connection between conjugal sexuality and procreation, that is denying the teaching of Humanae Vitae, it has opened the way for mutual disconnect between procreation and the conjugal sexuality: from sex without babies to babies without sex.”

The denial, in and out of the Church, of Humanae Vitae’s doctrine, he said, has “progressively darkened the foundation of human procreation … and has gradually built the ideology that anyone can have a child. The single man or woman and gays maybe by surrogate motherhood.”

“So we moved in line with the idea of the expected child as a gift to the son planned as a right: it is said that there is a right to have a child.” He cited a recent court decision in Milan that asserted the “right to be a parent.”

“How can one say there is a right to have a person. This is amazing. I have the right to have things, not people,” Caffarra said.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

‘Pro-life is genocide!’: Skeleton-painted Femen activists attack pro-life march in Spain

by Thaddeus Baklinski

MADRID, March 25, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Topless Femen activists, with their faces painted to look like skeletons and the slogan "your morals, my death" written on their upper bodies, attacked a pro-life rally in Spain on Sunday.

The self-styled ‘femo-terrorists’ shouted "Pro-vida genocida!" (Pro-life is genocide) as they interrupted the pro-life march in Madrid's famous Puerta del Sol square on Sunday morning, according to a report by The Local.

Organizers of the "Sí a la vida" (Yes to Life) pro-life demonstration claimed as many as 100,000 people took part in the march.

"We can't allow 300 children to die on a daily basis," Lorena Díaz, spokesperson for Spain's Right to Life organization, told the Spanish news agency Europa Press.

"We need 280,000 children that are the victims of abortion to live as part of our generational replacement," said Díaz.

The Local reported that bystanders vented their anger towards the grotesquely painted women as police officers arrested the topless offenders for public indecency.

According to the Femen website, the attack by the "dead sextremists" was meant to "personify the revenge of all women raped by Gallardon's law," referring to the Spanish government’s bill seeking to restrict the liberalized abortion law passed in 2010 by the previous socialist government.

The group also directed their opprobrium at "Fascists groups like HazteOir [a Spanish pro-family, pro-life organization], or catholic groups from Europe and Spain, youth organizations neo-nazis."

Last month the topless activists attacked the Archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela, as he arrived at church on Sunday.

The feminists threw underwear at the cardinal while pushing their bare breasts onto him and shouting “abortion is sacred” and other vulgarities, as a way of voicing their disapproval of the Church’s and the government’s opposition to abortion.

Following the incident, Alberto Ruíz-Gallardón, Spain’s justice minister and main promoter of the abortion reform bill, said to the press that the attack on the cardinal was “shameful.”

Earlier in February he declared, “No insult, yelling or scorning can make this minister abdicate in fulfilling the commitment of … regulating women’s rights but also the rights of the conceived and the unborn.”

Record Number of Rallies for 1 Man + 1 Woman Marriage Nationwide

Hundreds of rally captains stepped forward and -- with the help of God -- pulled off what some people thought would be totally impossible: more than 250 grass-roots rallies for true marriage in the public square.

I really think you will love this short report…

Record Number of Rallies for 1 Man + 1 Woman Marriage Nationwide

I'd also like to warmly thank you -- because your prayers, dedication and generous support made this effort a tremendous success.

I've also included a few photos in the report here for you to see.

One more thing: A team of TFP Student Action volunteers are at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. today for a hearing on the Hobby Lobby case. Our team will be demonstrating against the Obamacare HHS mandate that forces companies like Hobby Lobby to pay for abortion-inducing drugs.

Please pray for us.

Thousands of aborted babies incinerated to heat UK hospitals

by Hilary White

LONDON, March 24, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Thousands of bodies of aborted babies have been incinerated, along with other “medical waste” in a process that was used to help heat British hospitals, UK media has revealed. The Daily Telegraph reports that more than 15,500 babies have been incinerated as “clinical waste” some of which have been used in “waste to energy” schemes to generate power for the hospitals.

The practice was discovered by Channel 4’s Dispatches investigative news program, which found at least 10 NHS Trust hospitals have been using the remains of aborted and naturally miscarried children along with hospital rubbish. The Department of Health has issued an immediate halt to the practice and Health Minister Dr. Dan Poulter has called it “totally unacceptable.”

NHS’ medical director has written to all NHS trusts to tell them the practice must stop and Chief Medical Officer Sally Davies, has written to the Human Tissue Authority to “ask them make sure that guidance is clear,” the Telegraph reports.

Paul Tully, general secretary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, told LifeSiteNews that the issue of the disposal of the bodies of aborted babies in hospitals “has been a concern for some time.”

Tully said that while there are guidelines for disposing of fetal remains, usually laid out mainly by hospital administrations, there is no specific law covering it. But he said that because of the need of abortion supporters to continue to deny the reality of the unborn child, there is a “huge burden” placed on hospital staff, who are given the remains for disposal just like any other hospital medical waste, and it creates “a horrendous strain” for them.

“The combining of the remains of aborted babies with other material in hospital incinerators is not supposed to happen, but there is no legal restriction on how the remains are disposed of, beyond those required for hygienic reasons,” Tully said.

But he added that it “comes as no surprise to us that babies’ bodies are being disposed of in this way, horrifying as it is.”

“I think, psychologically, to ask staff who are in charge of hospital incinerators to make this distinction is putting an appalling psychological burden on them, and is quite wrong. It’s involving them [remotely] in the abortion process.”

5,000 attend funeral of 'underground' Chinese bishop; auxiliary, under house arrest, not in attendance

CWN - March 24, 2014

An estimated 5,000 Chinese Catholics gathered in Shanghai for the funeral of Bishop Joseph Fan Zhonliang, the leader of the “underground” Church, the AsiaNews service report.

Although Bishop Fan was not recognized by the Chinese government, local officials allowed a public funeral for the prelate, and the presiding celebrant—Father Zhu Yude, a priest of the “underground” Church—referred to the deceased of “Bishop” Fan, ignoring the government’s prohibition on the use of that title.

See more here:

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=20879

Monday, March 24, 2014

There They Shall Never Behold My Face

Whoever does not willingly serve My goodness in
time, shall unwillingly serve My justice in eternity.

Photo of Sacred Heart of Jesus Statue

No one goes to the torments of hell against his will:
all the reprobate rush thither of their own free choice;
therefore, they complain of no one, except themselves.

1.) The Voice of Jesus
My Child, so long as men live, I do, in some manner, love them all; the good I cherish with a divine affection; the wicked I tolerate, because I await their conversion; and I go in search of those that are straying.

My Heart, wherein I bear them all written, devises and uses a thousand ways and means to save all. …hear His voice here

6.) The Voice of the Disciple
Whatever, then, I may have been, this most O sweet Jesus, this I owe, first of all, to Thee, that I am not now in hell, that I am still able to gain heaven. Thou hast freed me from destruction: Thou hast freed me, according to the multitude and greatness of the goodness of Thy Heart, from the depth of hell, from the hands of them that lay in wait for my soul. hear His voice here

(a 6 minute read…enjoy!)

May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be our hearts’ desire!

VIDEIO -- More than 250,000 at Peruvian March for Life

VIDEO – More than 250,000 people participate in Peru’s March for Life in the city of Lima.  Take a look at this footage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=nWwDVQlxE4o

Sunday, March 23, 2014

‘Their viewpoint kills people’: Stanford revokes funding for pro-marriage conference after backlash

by Kirsten Andersen

PALO ALTO, CA, March 21, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A group of about 100 homosexual activists at Stanford University have successfully intimidated the Graduate Student Council (GSC) into withdrawing $600 in previously-approved funding for a pro-marriage conference to be held on campus in April.

The university administration also tried to charge the organizers $5,000 for security costs, but backed down amidst public pressure after the organizers accused them of “impos[ing] a tax on free speech.”

The Stanford Anscombe Society (SAS) is sponsoring the event, called “Communicating Values: Marriage, Family and the Media.”  Featuring prominent pro-family speakers, the event’s goal is “to help university students and young adults to promote the values of marriage, family, and sexual integrity to the broader popular culture.”

The GSC voted 10-2 to withdraw funding for the marriage conference.  Still, the conference will go on as planned, using funding from private donors.

The SAS is clear on its website that it “respects the dignity of all persons, irrespective of sexual orientation, and denounces all attempts to use the debate surrounding this conference to promote demeaning and derogatory attitudes toward members of the Stanford LGBT community.”  The group states explicitly that anyone who speaks in a disrespectful way about homosexuals during the event will be asked to leave.

At a recent GSC meeting, SAS co-president Judy Romea reminded student leaders that not only is the SAS not “anti-gay,” it stood “in solidarity” with homosexual groups against the controversial Westboro Baptist Church when it held a protest on campus.

But that wasn’t enough for campus gay activist groups, who turned out en masse for the same GSC meeting to demand that funding for the event be pulled.

“Their viewpoint kills people,” Jeffrey Cohen, vice president of GradQ, a homosexual advocacy group for graduate students, told the GSC.  “There’s a lot of research published in top psychology journals that have looked at university environments, both positive and negative. An event such as this would be a negative event, [and] in schools that have negative events there is a statistically significant increase in suicide.”  He said the last time a pro-marriage speaker visited the campus, someone told him “they wanted to kill themselves.”

Cohen said he was especially “bothered by the idea that their conference is trying to create better ways to deliver [the pro-marriage] message. ... The idea that they are learning how to deliver their message scares [me].”  Cohen suggested SAS cancel its conference and instead hold a joint event with GradQ in which gay activists would have a chance to promote their message too.

Ben Holston, chair of the undergraduate senate, also threw his weight behind the gay groups. “This is an event that hurts the Stanford community,” Holston said. “To express a belief that, for some reason this event is not discriminatory, is completely off-base. This event as it stands, given the speakers, and given that they have said the event is supposed to ‘promote one-man one-woman [marriage],’ which promotes stripping away rights of people in this room, is unacceptable on Stanford’s campus.”  He urged the GSC to withdraw its funding for the conference.

But not everyone was comfortable with the idea of stripping student funding for the event based solely on the group’s beliefs.  Steven, a second year law student with no connection to SAS, told the GSC he was disturbed by what he saw as the institutional ostracizing of traditional viewpoints.

“It’s worrying that even in an environment like Stanford, holders holding a majority viewpoint [are] running a minority viewpoint out of town,” Steven said.  “If people are wrong, bring them to the table, explain to them how they have gone astray; don’t hold them from talking. … You have to be able to tolerate dissent. [It’s] troubling when people cannot tolerate dissent.”

Ben, a graduate student in neuroscience, told the GSC that even though he is homosexual, he believes the SAS should be able to access the same student funding as any other group.  

“What bothers [me] the most is that in the name of tolerance, we are silencing and taking away support from a view that we don’t agree with,” Ben said. “These views are out there, we should listen to them. I totally disagree with these people, but we need to hear what they have to say.  We need to hear SAS.”

But regardless of students’ concerns about censorship, GSC members came down largely on the side of the gay activists.

Eduardo Gonzalez-Maldonado, who represents the medical school on the GSC, said, “By SAS’s own admission, they are organizing [the] event to promote their values. One value is to promote ‘marriage and sexual integrity.’ When they say marriage between one man and one woman, and if promoting this, does it not imply that whatever formula that does not fit your definition does not have integrity? It does.” Gonzalez-Maldonado added, “This event is not only discriminatory, but badly organized for the purpose it’s serving. It’s supposedly serving to teach people on campus that people who hold anti-marriage-equality views can hold these views and be okay.”

GSC Secretary David Hsu said that regardless of how many assurances SAS gives that they aren’t a hate group, he feels they aren’t being honest with themselves or others.  “A lot of times, you may not think the viewpoint you hold is discriminatory, but if that viewpoint spreads, it can have a lot of unintended consequences,” Hsu said.  “I would consider this discrimination, I’m really sorry.  I do think this is discrimination, and if SAS doesn’t see that, it makes me worried about the tone and nature of this conference.”

To contact the Stanford Graduate Student Council, click here.

PHOTOS --Hundreds of rallies for God’s marriage yesterday at busy intersections and town squares all across America

 

(Selinsgrove, PA)

Wow.  The 250+ rallies for real marriage today were fantastic. Honking for 1 man, 1 woman marriage was heard in every direction in cities across the country.

Some of the first photos are starting to come in from yesterday’s rallies for Traditional Marriage.

20140322_130920

(Lancaster, PA)

More than 200 rally captains coordinated a tremendous joint effort to proclaim the unchanging truth: God created marriage as an institution firmly rooted in natural law and no earthly power has the authority to tamper or change it. Immoral... laws might be passed and corrupt judges may act against the common good of society -- however, at the end of the day, reality is what it is: it takes a mother and a father to create a family. And God blesses that union with children.

For example, the little group in York, PA got 460 honks in two hours, including 5 semi-trucks.

105_7003

(York, PA)

TMC Route 15

(Route 15, South of Gettysburg, PA)

(Littlestown, PA)

God bless America. Thank you -- everyone -- who helped make this event such a powerful success, a heroic public witness to the truth. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!

May God save the American family from the homosexual revolution!