God Is Not A Disinterested Spectator

Commentary by Fr. John Corapi



Flash point: The point at which something is ready to blow up. That has been my perception of Western society in general for some time now. Perhaps, a train wreck waiting to happen would be another way to put it. All evil can claim its ultimate origin in moral evil. Those that deny objective standards of morality merely facilitate the demise of their society. When it happens they will be nowhere to be found.

That apparently large numbers of people seem to be intellectually and morally numb is not news, but the near light-speed evaporation of our way of life is. Actions have consequences, and sometimes the consequences can't be seen this side of eternity. That does not mean they aren't real. You will be seeing some of the consequences very soon, however, not the worst, but the most immediate.

Personal liberty has already begun to be compromised. Various governments, including the United States, now own car companies like General Motors and Chrysler, mega insurance companies, soon perhaps health care and energy. Injustice is beginning to be seen from the smallest of individuals to the largest of corporations. The only problem with that is that governments have never been able to operate anything profitably, efficiently, or equitably. The little guy and the large corporation will all be equal opportunity recipients of heavy-handed injustice very soon.

The government is about to dictate what car you can drive, how you insure it, what your bank can pay you or not, what kind of heating you have in your home, if you can have air conditioning or not. And, oh, if you eat a Twinkie your health insurance premium is going up. If you get sick, perhaps the Twinkie did it, and you aren't covered.

You might say that the government needs to control things to keep us safe, etc. That might work if the people in government could be trusted. They can't, but we elected them. We get what we deserve, and many chickens are about to come home to roost.
One of the inherent difficulties with a democratic republic is that it is only as good as the people in it. When a people lose their moral equilibrium, live in sin, and suffer the consequent loss of wisdom, then that nation's days are numbered.

Why? How have we come to this? It can be traced to the most compelling moral issue of our times, and we can't escape from it, no matter how uncomfortable it is - abortion and other life issues.

No matter what other rosy picture is painted by those that would have you believe all is well, God is not a disinterested spectator. Regardless of the high sounding rhetoric of the day, seeming progress in this or that area, it is an illusion.

Nothing will ultimately go well for the United States or any other country until the injustice of all injustices is remedied. Until every human being is respected and reverenced, from the moment of conception to the last moment of natural life, no one will be safe and secure.

Whether it is the helpless infant in the womb or the misguided and/or evil abortionist on the wrong end of a bullet, all deserve the safety and security of the law. Only God can in justice and wisdom decide when life begins and when life ends. When we attempt to usurp God's job description we always come up short.

This is republished from the most recent newsletter from SOLT http://www.fathercorapi.com/

Fr. Pavone Challenges Graduates to "Stop Counting the Cost" in Defending Cause of Life

By Kathleen Gilbert
FRONT ROYAL, Virginia, May 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com)

Two days before leading in prayer a handful of University of Notre Dame graduates protesting President Obama's commencement speech, Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life delivered a rousing pro-life homily at the baccalaureate Mass of Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia. Fr. Pavone remarked on the nature of abortion, which he called "the opposite of love," and President Obama, whom he said has dishonored the presidency by supporting abortion.

Fr. Pavone introduced the question of the meaning of love with a meditation on Christ's statements, "Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends," and "I have power to lay it [my life] down, and I have power to take it up again."

The "power to lay down one's life," said Pavone, is "the power of love, the power to be able to give yourself away purposely, deliberately, knowing what you're going to lose ... because you're not focused anymore on what you're losing, you're focused on what you're giving to the other."

"This is the heart and core of the civilization of love, of the culture of life, of the meaning of being pro-life, of the meaning of social justice, and of the very meaning of service, all summed up in this power to lay our lives down for the other," he said.

"In the culture of death, we see exactly the opposite dynamic."

Pavone continued: "Love says I sacrifice myself for the good of the other person. Abortion says I sacrifice the other person for the good of myself. ...

"Right here in the Eucharist, in the center of love, where love is understood at its deepest level ... we find four words that Jesus uses to express this truth, and the same four words have been hijacked, twisted inside out and upside down by the culture of death, and those words are: 'This is my body.'

"'It's my body,' some say, 'I'll do what I want, even if it means taking the life within me. This is my body," said Pavone. "The Lord says to us today, ' ... given up for you,' and you have the power to do the same."

Fr. Pavone told the congregation that building a culture of life does not require more people, but only "people ready to take a whole lot more risk." Of those who ask him how to help stop abortion, Fr. Pavone said: "They're not asking, 'What is it that I should do?' They're asking, 'How do I find the courage to do it? Because I know that if I do it, I'm going to lose something. ...

"When we talk about abortion in the churches, what do people say? 'Oh, it's too political.' What happens when we talk about it in the political arena? 'Oh, it's too religious.' Talk about it in the world of business? 'It's bad for business.' Talk about it out in the public arena? 'It's going to harm children.'

"If abortion is so bad, where do we go to say so? And the answer is, we say so in all of those arenas, and we stop counting the cost!"

Fr. Pavone praised the example of Mary Ann Glendon, the former ambassador to the Vatican who refused Notre Dame's prestigious Laetare Award this year, in protest of President Obama's appearance at the same ceremony. Obama gave the commencement speech and received an honorary law degree.

The University of Notre Dame itself, said Fr. Pavone, failed a similar challenge to sacrifice. "They aren't taking the challenge, are they?" he asked. "The challenge is, if 'greater love than this no one has, than to be willing to lay down his own life' - well then, maybe you can lay down some prestige and disinvite the president! 'Oh, but if we do that, what will happen to us?'"

Referring to the uproar of over 80 U.S. bishops and 360,000 petitioners against the Obama honor at Notre Dame, Fr. Pavone noted: "Some people say that all of this stuff going on dishonors the office of the President of the United States.

"I have news for them. It is the president who is dishonoring the office of President of the United States by taking a pro-abortion position.

"Every elected official on any level of government who takes a position in which they fail to recognize and work for the protection of the right to life dishonors the very meaning of their office," said Pavone, "because you can't be a public servant if you fail to tell the difference between serving the public and killing the public."

Christendom president Dr. Timothy O'Donnell told LifeSiteNews.com Sunday that it was "a great grace and a great honor" to host Fr. Pavone. The school presented Fr. Pavone with its Pro Deo et Patria award at its commencement Saturday.

"His message fills us with hope and renews our zeal," O'Donnell continued, "and despite the fact that in so many ways it seems we've lost - in the government, and there's been a real assault upon the academic citadels of our Church - the fact of the matter remains there is so much good going on, and remembering always that the darkest hour is just before the dawn."

Archbishop Burke calls Notre Dame Honor of Obama "Greatest Scandal"

WASHINGTON, DC, May 8, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) -

Archbishop Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Vatican's highest court, the Apostolic Signatura, called on Catholics to "give an uncompromising witness" to the dignity of life and sharply criticized the University of Notre Dame for its planned honor for pro-abortion President Barack Obama during an address this morning to the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast.

The archbishop began his address by noting that he has "the deepest concern for our nation," and later implored Catholics to be aware of the "godless secularism and relativism" that underlie the Culture of Death. He noted that "we would be right to be discouraged if this were just up to us," and talked about the importance of Eucharistic Adoration and praying the Rosary.

Commenting on the ongoing scandal of Notre Dame's planned honor for President Obama, Archbishop Burke received a standing ovation from the crowd of more than 1,200 when he called it "rightly the source of the greatest scandal." He said that Catholic universities and schools "must be beacons of truth and right conduct."

He went on to note that if our Catholic universities are not willing to accept the suffering that is necessary to the witness of the faith "then they are not worthy of the name Catholic."

Patrick J. Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society, which has been spearheading a petition effort against Notre Dame's decision, commented on Burke's remarks, saying, "The faithful in the Church and especially Catholics in America are blessed to have a shepherd such as Archbishop Burke reminding us of our responsibilities as disciples of Christ to always and everywhere proclaim the Truth."

Cardinal Rigali Says Notre Dame Obama Honor "Evades Common Sense"

By Kathleen Gilbert
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, April 28, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) -

Philadelphia's Cardinal Justin Rigali, Chairman of the U.S. Catholic bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, weighed in on the Notre Dame scandal in an exclusive interview with LifeSiteNews.com today. Rigali called the school's decision to honor President Obama a "most unfortunate" decision that "must not happen again," and criticized the school's defense of the decision as one that "evades common sense."


"My reaction is that it is most unfortunate," said Rigali. "It's most unfortunate because of the confusion it causes; it's most unfortunate because of the message that it gives with regard to the importance of human life; it's most unfortunate in regard to the confusion that it causes also in the ordinary people - the students, the graduates, the families ... but above all, it is most unfortunate because the value that is attributed to life through the recognition of an honorary degree in this regard is just not acceptable."

Asked to give his opinion on the unprecedented backlash from U.S. bishops and thousands of Catholic laity over Notre Dame's decision, Rigali said he believes that "something very positive is going on in our country along with all the negative things - that there is a greater and evolving understanding of the value of human life in many, many people."

"The backlash is due to a great extent the reaction of people who through their intuition, through their common sense, they know that this is just not an acceptable way to take a position on something that is so important," he said.

The cardinal referred to a speech by Pope John Paul II during his visit to St. Louis, MO in 1999, when the pope compared the legalization of abortion to St. Louis' Dred Scott case. In that case the U.S. Supreme Court "declared an entire class of human beings, people of African descent, outside the boundaries of the national community and the Constitution's protection," in the pope's words.

"How can we tolerate that today?" Rigali challenged. "This whole other category of human beings, the unborn - and the attitude of certain people permitting this, and saying that, for example, abortion should be safe, legal, and rare - or that it simply should be permitted at all times - to take this as a position, this is simply not acceptable in our day and age." Thus a Catholic university, said Rigali, "has to be in the forefront of the defense of human life."

"This is a stand in regard to something that is so vital, it is so important for the civilization of today ... that we simply cannot be ambiguous," he said. "To honor somebody [who is pro-abortion] ... whatever his or her merits may be, whatever splendid things this person may do, whatever position he or she occupies ... makes no sense whatsoever."

The Philadelphia cardinal also addressed the U.S. Bishops Conference (USCCB) 2004 document "Catholics in Political Life", which states: "The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions."

The majority of U.S. bishops condemning the Obama invitation have said the move directly violates the document. However, Notre Dame president Fr. John Jenkins claimed the directive only applies to the invitation of politicians who are Catholic. (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/apr/09040808.html)

In response, Cardinal Rigali said that while the document "may have well been in the context of Catholics," the statement itself "says something quite clear which is a principle in itself."

"It would make no sense whatsoever to say, 'Well, we shouldn't honor Catholics who present the antithesis of our Catholic doctrine, but ... there's really no problem whatsoever provided the person's not a Catholic,'" he said. "That evades common sense."

When asked whether he felt the invitation to Obama ought to be revoked, Rigali referred the question to Notre Dame's own Bishop John D'Arcy. "I don't think that everybody can come up with an answer to a specific problem in another diocese," he said.

However, he continued: "It is evident that the invitation should not have been extended. It goes against the values that we hold. And it must not happen again."

The bishop praised former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican Mary Ann Glendon for turning down Notre Dame's Laetare Medal at the same ceremony in protest of the scandal.

Rigali said that "there has to be some form of explanation - explanation to all those who have been given this poor testimony of the value of life ... on the part of the university, on the part of the president of the University, on the value of life."

"He [Notre Dame president Fr. Jenkins] has to, because he has given an invitation that shows that this is not that important an issue," said the cardinal. "And now, the whole world has to see that it is such an important issue: that, yes, it is a sign of contradiction ... it is a division between life and death, and we cannot treat it as one issue among many."

Doctor Suggests The Use of Aborted Babies For "Transplant Parts"

By Hilary White
LONDON, March 12, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) -

An Oxford University stem cell expert has urged the use of aborted children in organ transplants as a solution to the shortage of available organs. Sir Richard Gardner has called for a feasibility study on the possibility of obtaining organs from the bodies of aborted babies.

He said, "It is probably a more realistic technique in dealing with the shortage of kidney donors than others."

The Daily Mail reports that pro-life and Christian groups have called the proposal "morally abhorrent," and said it will result in abortions being timed to suit transplant patients.

Dr Peter Saunders, of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said the transplants would be immoral as every human being, even the unborn, deserved "protection, respect, wonder and empathy."

Fears that this suggestion will create a trade in aborted children have their justification in the work of US pro-life groups who have in the past uncovered the relationship between the abortion industry and the trade in aborted body parts for medical research and the creation of vaccines.

In 2005, the trade in aborted fetuses made headlines after reports came from Ukraine that newborn babies were disappearing from maternity wards to fuel the increasing demand for body parts. One Ukrainian research institute was advertising fetal body parts, such as "Foetus spleen cells," and "fragments of foetus spine," for sale in medical research.

"Very Bad Period of Catechesis" in Church "Bearing Bad Fruit in Our Time"

By Steve Jalsevac
TORONTO, Canada, March 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) -

During a LifeSiteNews interview last week, Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput stressed that "not nearly enough" US Catholic bishops have been speaking out strongly on the current state of the culture. He also noted that the poor instruction of Catholics over the past 40 years has to a large degree been responsible for many of today's serious problems within US Catholicism, especially the lack of "understanding of the horror of abortion."

Chaput, a prominent US bishop and recent author of "Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life.", was interviewed following his breakfast lecture to Toronto businessmen on February 24. The archbishop, who is usually upbeat and gentle mannered, nevertheless, and true to his frankness in Render Unto Caesar, did not beat around the bush on the abortion issue and the responsibilities of Catholics and Catholic leaders in the culture wars.

Asked what could be done to get Catholic pro-abortion politicians to comprehend their faith obligations on the abortion issue, Chaput did not give a reassuring response. He stated, "Apparently, very little can be done because so little seems to have been accomplished."

He conjectured a likely reason for the current situation has been negligence on the part of the Church leadership in the U.S. "I don't know if it's because we've let it go on for such a long time and haven't challenged it before now, but this attitude of being comfortable with being pro-choice and Catholic at the same time seems to be deeply set in the lives of these folks."

Chaput expanded, "It seems like there has been a very bad period of catechesis of people in the Church, not only catechesis of the laity but also catechesis of the clergy and it's bearing bad fruit in our time."

"We need to reinvigorate the Church's understanding of the horror of abortion," Chaput continued. "It seems that we have become deadened to the horror of abortion."

To the archbishop, clergy have a crucial role related to pro-abortion Catholic politicians. He stated, "I think it's very important for clergy to advise political leaders of the great scandal that they might be part of because this can lead not only to the death of the unborn but it can also lead to the spiritual death of the political leaders who vote that way."

The fact that some prominent pro-choice Catholics are even lectors or have other visible roles in parishes, Chaput calls "another sign of accommodation with the reality of abortion." He went on that, "We don't understand this horror so we can put up with people who are pro-choice or pro-abortion and not challenge their Catholic identity."

Once again, as he has recently said many times, Archbishop Chaput told LifeSiteNews that "anyone who is pro-choice or pro-abortion shouldn't receive communion as they are not in communion with the Church's teaching."

The Denver archbishop has been warning Catholics and all Americans about the dangers of the path our culture is upon, but his warnings are often not heeded. Asked about this, he replied that just as in the time of Noah and the Flood, "I think it is true about our time, that we are not taking the situation concerning the Church and the world seriously now."

Although he did not "know what we can do about it," Chaput encouraged faithful Catholics "to be persistent in our preaching and in our continuing to give the warning and that God bring fruit from that if He chooses. We shouldn't give up."

It was mentioned that many bishops spoke out strongly during the last election. However, he was clearly not impressed himself and said, there were "not nearly enough".

By Kathleen Gilbert
SCRANTON, Pennsylvania, February 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) -

Bishop Joseph F. Martino of Scranton issued yet another rebuke this week against "pro-life" Catholic Senator Bob Casey, who persisted in his decision to vote against restoring the abortion-reducing Mexico City Policy. The bishop simultaneously reminded ministers in the Scranton diocese that public figures in a persistent and objective denial of the Church's teaching on life must be denied Communion.

Bishop Martino had condemned Casey on February 5 for the vote, which permitted taxpayer funds to abortion providers overseas, saying that in so doing Casey "persist(s) formally in cooperating with the evil." Casey, who bills himself as pro-life, issued a statement suggesting that the Hyde amendment suffices by forbidding the direct funding of overseas abortion procedures - a notion the bishop firmly rejected.

"It is a matter of deep concern that your recent vote against the Mexico City Policy is continually misrepresented by your staff as a pro-life vote intended to promote 'contraception and other family planning that avoid unintended pregnancies,'" said the Bishop in a an open letter to the senator dated February 26.

Martino pointed out that the Policy did not forbid funding for other family planning services, but ensured funds would not benefit major abortion organizations that work aggressively to promote abortion and tear down legal protections for the unborn.

"Contrary to the claims of your staff, the absence of 'Mexico City' regulations insures (1) that money is taken away from family planning, (2) that abortion is promoted as a method of family planning, and (3) that countries that have moral and cultural objections to abortion are encouraged to abandon their policies against it," he wrote.

Finally, Martino added: "it is never permissible to use immoral means such as artificial contraception to achieve a good end, namely, the reduction of unplanned pregnancies.

"In fact, the mistaken view that artificial contraception may be used to regulate population growth and the size of families has led to countless evils in America and abroad, including the attitude that having and raising children is a burden to be avoided. This attitude has contributed mightily to the acceptability of abortion as a means of contraception both at home and abroad."

In closing, the bishop warned Casey: "It is also imperative that there be utter clarity when it comes to the teaching of the Church on matters that pertain to the taking of innocent life and the special responsibilities that fall to you, Senator, as a lawmaker to oppose abortion and other clear evils."

At the same time the letter was publsihed, Bishop Martino issued a detailed reminder to Eucharistic ministers that, when faced with a person's "public and persistent actions in opposition to the moral law as taught by the Church," Communion must be forbidden.

"The Holy See has declared that those who are unworthy to receive Holy Communion ... include persons directly involved in lawmaking bodies," wrote Martino. "These have a grave and clear obligation to oppose any law that attacks human life."

The bishop quoted Joseph Ratzinger who, as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in 2004 confirmed that "when a person's formal cooperation becomes manifest (understood, in the case of a Catholic politician, as his consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws)," his pastor should meet with him, "informing him that he is not to present himself for Holy Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of sin, and warning him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist."

Ratzinger continued that this denial "is not a sanction or a penalty. Nor is the minister of Holy of Communion passing judgment on the person's subjective guilt, but rather is reacting to the person's public unworthiness to receive Holy Communion due to an objective situation of sin."

Therefore, Martino formally ordered all ministers of Holy Communion: "Those whose unworthiness to receive Holy Communion is known publicly to the Church must be refused Holy Communion in order to prevent sacrilege and to prevent the Catholic in question from committing further grave sin through unworthy reception."

Obama to Revoke Bush Abortion Rule Protecting Conscience Rights

By Tim Waggoner
WASHINGTON, February 27th, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) -

President Barack Obama is poised to rescind a policy that protects the conscience rights of American health care workers.

The controversial rule was put into place as one of the last acts of the Bush administration and came into effect on January 20 of this year, the same day as President Obama's inauguration. The rule was universally condemned by the pro-abortion lobby who argued that allowing physicians to opt out of controversial services or procedures would endanger women's health.

The policy protects health care workers from being forced to perform and provide controversial services that conflict with their personal, moral and religious beliefs. Without the policy, doctors, nurses and others could be forced to participate in abortions or to dispense the abortifacient morning after pill, even if to do so would violate their core beliefs.

The proposal to rescind the Bush rule was quietly put forward by the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department today.

An anonymous official from the HHS announced the measure this morning, saying, "We've been concerned that the way the Bush rule is written it could make it harder for women to get the care they need."

The decision was welcomed by pro-abortion leaders.

Nancy Keenan of the pro-abortion group NARAL said, "We have a long way to go before we fully undo Bush's anti-choice legacy, but President Obama's action today is a giant step forward."

"Today's action by the Obama administration demonstrates that this president is not going to stand by and let women's health be placed in jeopardy," said Cecile Richards, head of the Planned Parenthood Federation.

Proponents of the rule, however, say its removal will violate the legitimate reservations of millions of American health workers and have condemned Obama for beginning his presidency by pursuing a radically anti-life agenda.

Father Thomas J. Euteneuer, president of Human Life International (HLI), today lambasted President Obama for his decision to reverse the Bush administration policy.

"Any pretense of 'moderation' on life issues was long ago dispensed with," said Fr. Euteneuer. "With the rescinding of the Mexico City Policy, the appointment of dozens of radical anti-life cabinet members and staff, the enormous increase in funding for contraception and irresponsible sex advocacy, and now these grave insults to human life and dignity … one shudders to think what could be next."

"It's as if the president and Congress are trying to outdo each other for the dishonor of who can forward the most extreme anti-life agenda," said Father Euteneuer.

"Like everyone who believes in human dignity, I am tired of these cowards in Congress trying to sneak these destructive, anti-life measures into bills that are supposed to be helping our country emerge from this recession," said Fr. Euteneuer. "And I'm tired of President Obama's 'Choice for me, but not for thee' hypocrisy. His audacity is not of hope, but of the destruction of freedom and human life."

Archbishop Chaput Speaks on Abortion, Obama, and Catholic Responsibility

By Steve Jalsevac
TORONTO, Ontario, February, 25, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) -

On a bitter cold February 23rd night at St. Basils Church on the campus St. Michael's College, the University of Toronto, Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput delivered to a near capacity audience what was likely the most forthright and challenging talk on Catholic political responsibility ever given in Canada by a bishop.

The Archbishop had been invited to address the themes from his book, "Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life." He presented some background and thoughts on the book and then discussed the US election and the meaning of true hope.

Chaput began by noting the powerful negative effect of today's culture on the public's ability to think clearly about political implications and responsibilities. He stated, "American consumer culture is a very powerful narcotic. Moral reasoning can be hard, and TV is a great painkiller. This has political implications. Real freedom demands an ability to think, and a great deal of modern life…seems deliberately designed to discourage that."

The Denver prelate emphasized the importance of forming "a strong and genuinely Catholic conscience" and following that conscience when voting.

However, Catholics with such consciences are often intimidated for doing so. Chaput explained that was one of the reasons he wrote his book: "Frankly, I just got tired of hearing outsiders and insiders tell Catholics to keep quiet about our religious and moral views in the big public debates that involve all of us as a society. That's a kind of bullying. I don't think Catholics should accept it."

Catholic participation in politics concerns our obligation to "the pursuit of justice and the common good in the public square" and "is part of the history of salvation", the Denver bishop proclaimed. He indicated that few are exempt since "Tolerating grave evil within a society is itself a form of serious evil."

He expanded, "we have a duty to be politically engaged. Why? Because politics is the exercise of power, and the use of power always has moral content and human consequences." Chaput challenged, "if we claim to be 'Catholic,' we need to prove it by our behaviour. And serving other people by working for justice, charity and truth in our nation's political life is one of the very important ways we do that."

As for those who separate their faith from their political actions, the author of "Render Unto Caesar" called it a denial of Christ. "That kind of separation would require Christians to deny who we are; to repudiate Jesus."

The archbishop revealed that he was previously a long time Democrat who worked on political campaigns, including that of Jimmy Carter, but he no longer belongs to any political party. He warned, "The sooner Catholics feel at home in any political party, the sooner that party takes them for granted and then ignores their concerns." Many Christians have complained of this in recent decades.

Driving the point home forcefully Chaput added, "Party loyalty for the sake of habit, or family tradition, or ethnic or class interest is a form of tribalism. It's a lethal kind of moral laziness. Issues matter. Character matters. Acting on principle matters. But party loyalty for the sake of party loyalty is a dead end."

Pro-life, pro-family leaders have often been dismayed by their Christian leaders' lack of courage on the issues that matter. Chaput addressed this, again with his unusual frankness for a bishop: "modern life, including life in the Church, suffers from a phony unwillingness to offend that poses as prudence and good manners, but too often turns out to be cowardice."

Some of the Archbishops harshest words, yet still delivered in his calm, friendly speaking manner, were for those Catholics who supported the election of President Obama.

"A spirit of adulation bordering on servility already exists among some of the same Democratic-friendly Catholic writers, scholars, editors and activists who once accused prolifers of being too cozy with Republicans."

Chaput explained, "all political leaders draw their authority from God. We owe no leader any submission or cooperation in the pursuit of grave evil."

He continued that Catholics must witness to their faith and moral convictions, "without excuses or apologies" and that "in democracies, we elect public servants, not messiahs" as so many have referred to Obama.

Barack Obama was elected "to fix an economic crisis", Chaput stated, and not "to retool American culture on the issues of marriage and the family, sexuality, bioethics, religion in public life and abortion." He warned, however that this "could easily happen" and "will happen" - "but only if Catholics and other religious believers allow it."

The archbishop's frank admission of the Church's culpability for the current situation was likely something few in the audience had ever heard from a Catholic bishop. Chaput confessed, "The Church in the United States has done a poor job of forming the faith and conscience of Catholics for more than 40 years. And now we're harvesting the results -- in the public square, in our families and in the confusion of our personal lives."

On abortion, Archbishop Chaput, was as direct and blunt as any pro-life leader could dream to finally hear from a Catholic bishop. He insisted that for Catholics, abortion should be a litmus test. "One of the defining things that set early Christians apart from the pagan culture around them was their respect for human life; and specifically their rejection of abortion and infanticide. We can't be Catholic and be evasive or indulgent about the killing of unborn life. We can't claim to be "Catholic" and "pro-choice" at the same time without owning the responsibility for where the choice leads - to a dead unborn child."

Addressing the recent increase in pro-life spokesmen stating that efforts to change laws are futile and we should instead attempt to lessen the numbers of abortions, Chaput stated, "We can't talk piously about programs to reduce the abortion body count without also working vigorously to change the laws that make the killing possible."

Chaput challenged the hypocrisy of Catholics calling themselves Catholic and then voting like pagans, He stated, "if we don't really believe in the humanity of the unborn child from the moment life begins, then we should stop lying to ourselves and others, and even to God, by claiming we're something we're not."

Although it was admitted that Catholics need to "do a much better job of helping women who face problem pregnancies", Chaput added the crucial perspective that, "we don't "help" anyone by allowing or funding an intimate, lethal act of violence. We can't build a just society with the blood of unborn children."

On the issue of hope, proclaimed incessantly by the Obama campaign, the archbishop taught that real hope "has nothing to do with the cheesy optimism of election campaigns. Hope assumes and demands a spine in believers" and "for a Christian -- hope sustains us when the real answer to the problems or hard choices in life is "no, we can't," instead of "yes, we can."

"The word "hope" on a campaign poster may give us a little thrill of righteousness," said the Denver Archbishop, "but the world will still be a wreck when the drug wears off. We can only attain hope through truth. And what that means is this: From the moment Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life," the most important political statement anyone can make is "Jesus Christ is Lord."

During the question and answer session following the lecture, a question was asked about the sometimes unmet responsibility of bishops to prevent pro-abortion speakers from addressing Catholic college functions.

Archbishop Chaput stated that bishops "welcome the input of the laity" and added, "If they disagree with us (bishops) it's really important that we hear that. We need your support, but we also need to hear your concerns if you think we make decisions that are contrary to the good of the Church." That was a surpringly refreshing response to some listeners who have experienced very different results from contacting their bishops on such matters.

In response to a question on the serious problems with the Catholicity of Catholic schools, Chaput emphasized the importance of "working on the principals and the people who manage the schools" as the best way to improve the Catholicity of the teachers.

On the abortion issue again, the archbishop said he was "astonished at the number of Catholics in my diocese who are pro-choice and who come to Mass every day." He repeated, "I am astonished."

In response to a question on ecumenical relations, he stated that Catholics now "have very little in common with the mainline protestant churches because we separate on the issues of life and marriage and embryonic stem cell research". Chaput noted that the Church has recently developed a deeper relationship with Evaneglicals "because we share a passion for the foundational issue of life and for the in some ways equally foundational issue of the meaning of marriage.

In response to a question about the possible excommunication of pro-choice Catholics, the archbishop was emphatic that he saw it as being completely ineffective and counterproductive. He stated it would be "percived as random use of his POWER to hurt people rather than to deal with issues of the truth." The archbishop further derided that use of a bishop's authority and concluded, " I don't think it works and that is why I don't do it. I don't think there are bishops who think it does work. We just don't go about that business these days."

Florida House of Reps Calls For Criminal Charges Against Abortionists

The Florida House of Representatives has issued a letter to State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle calling for criminal charges to be filed against all involved in the death of a viable baby that was born alive at a Hialeah abortion clinic in 2007.

The baby, Shanice Denise Osbourne, was delivered by unlicensed abortion worker Belkis Gonzalez, who cut the baby's umbilical cord with a pair of office scissors, then, while she was moving and struggling to breathe, shoved her into a plastic bag and tossed her in the trash. Gonzalez later stashed the baby's body on the abortion clinic roof to hide it from authorities.

Abortionist Pierre Renelique did not show up for the scheduled abortion and arrived only after the baby had been delivered and killed. Last week, the Florida Medical Board revoked his medical license based on his negligence in this case. A civil suit was filed against those responsible for Shanice's death earlier this month.

The letter, dated February 17, 2009 and signed by at least 40 members of the Florida House of Representatives, says to Rundle, "The undersigned Members of the Florida Legislature from both sides of the debate on this issue strongly urge you to take appropriate action against the individuals involved in these morally reprehensible acts."

Operation Rescue President Troy Newman commented on the recent development in the case, saying, "We know every detail of how this living baby was killed and we know who did the killing. There's nothing left to investigate. It's time to bring those responsible for his heinous crime to justice."

The Obama adnministration nor Nancy Pelosi, both pro-abortion, have issued any comments in this clinic's defense.

North Dakota Has Life Right!!

By Kathleen Gilbert
BISMARCK, North Dakota, February 19, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) -

The rights of unborn children gained a victory in North Dakota on Tuesday, as the state House of Representatives voted to recognize the personhood of all human beings, from conception.

"For purposes of interpretation of the constitution and laws of North Dakota, it is the intent of the legislative assembly that an individual, a person, when the context indicates that a reference to an individual is intended, or a human being includes any organism with the genome of homo sapiens," reads part of The Personhood of Children Act (House Resolution 1572).

Led by American Life League Associate group North Dakota Life League, North Dakota's Personhood Movement celebrated the passage of the bill, introduced by State Rep. Dan Ruby, in a 51-41 vote. A grassroots personhood campaign had spurred the outcome, with thousands of calls asking legislators to support the bill in its unaltered form.

"We are very excited about the personhood movement in North Dakota - which has the chance to become the first state to protect the rights of all its citizens from their biological beginning," said Jim Sedlak, vice president of American Life League.

"North Dakotans have gotten used to cold temperatures like -44 degrees, but they haven't gotten used to child-killing," said Cal Zastrow, a North Dakotan who took part in the grassroots personhood campaign along with his family. "We applaud and support their efforts to protect every baby by love and by law."

Fifteen other states are currently pursuing personhood legislation.

The Senate vote is expected in the next two to three weeks. North Dakota will become the first state in the Union with personhood legislation if the measure passes the Senate.

On Monday the state House of Representatives also approved an informed consent law requiring any woman seeking an abortion to be informed that the procedure kills a "whole, separate, unique, living human being." HR 1445 passed in a 61-31 vote.

"The North Dakota House did the right thing by strengthening the informed consent law," stated Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life. "The state's last abortion mill will not, of course, be happy. Their business depends upon covering the truth, not conveying it."

Pope Rebukes Pelosi, Tells Her Catholic Legislators Obligated to Protect Life

By Hilary White, Rome Correspondent
VATICAN CITY, February 18, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) -

The Vatican Press Office released a note this morning detailing part of the conversation which Pope Benedict XVI had with Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The note reads: "His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church's consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death which enjoin all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in cooperation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development."

Vatican insiders stressed to LifeSiteNews.com that such releases are always phrased in diplomatic language and thus the correction of the Speaker who describes herself as a "faithful Catholic," despite her abortion advocacy, should be taken as a firm rebuke.

LifeSiteNews.com also learned that concerns about Pelosi were presented to Vatican officials a day prior to the meeting.

Such encounters with the Pope are treasured by politicians for the photo opportunity they provide. Pelosi, however, was not afforded that customary photo by the Vatican. The AP reports that the Vatican said it was not issuing a photo of the meeting -- as it usually does when the pope meets world leaders -- saying the encounter was private.

For her part, Pelosi issued a press release on the 15-minute meeting with the Pope. "It is with great joy that my husband, Paul, and I met with his Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI today," she said. "In our conversation, I had the opportunity to praise the Church's leadership in fighting poverty, hunger, and global warming, as well as the Holy Father's dedication to religious freedom and his upcoming trip and message to Israel."

The release from the Vatican, however, made no mention of the comments that Pelosi stressed in her release.

Pelosi's positive spin on the meeting is not being swallowed even by left-leaning Papal watchers. Vatican correspondent John Allen, who writes for the National Catholic Reporter, noted that "routine Vatican declarations after diplomatic meetings also generally sum up the range of issues discussed rather than concentrating on a particular point. In that sense, the statement can only be read as a rejection of Pelosi's statements last summer, and, in general, of her argument that it's acceptable for Catholics in public life to take a pro-choice position."

Allen also noted that "by issuing an unusual public statement after the session with Pelosi -- which insisted that all Catholics, including legislators, are obliged to work for the defense of human life from conception to natural death -- the pope also made clear there will no let-up in the pressure on pro-choice Catholic politicians to change their ways."

Many pro-life organizations from the US and Canada expressed their serious concerns to the Holy See that Mrs. Pelosi was going to be received by the Holy Father. Some of these organizations sent to different Vatican authorities comprehensive memoranda in which they showed in a detailed and precise way the anti-life statements and the pro-death voting record of Mrs. Pelosi.

Catholic sources in Rome, who asked to remain anonymous, said they were "very much encouraged by this statement," saying that it shows that the "Holy Father is ready to stand up with courage to politicians that claim they are Catholics but their voting record denies those hypocritical assertions."

Pelosi Looks For Photo Op With Pope But Gets Stiff Rebuke Instead

Pelosi Gets Taken To School by Pontiff
By John-Henry Westen
VATICAN CITY, February 18, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) -

The Vatican Press Office released a note this morning detailing part of the conversation which Pope Benedict XVI had with Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Vatican insiders inform LifeSiteNews.com that such releases are always phrased in diplomatic language and thus the correction of the Speaker who fancies herself a faithful Catholic despite her abortion advocacy can be taken as a rebuke.
The text of the note reads: "His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church's consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death which enjoin all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in cooperation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development."

The Time Has Come...to Excommunicate Nancy Pelosi. Biden next?

By Kathleen Gilbert
WASHINGTON, D.C, February 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) -

Reports have surfaced that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a self-avowed "Catholic" adamant abortion supporter, intends to head a delegation to Euope that will meet with Pope Benedict XVI.
Today the Drudge Report headlined a report by Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) on Houston's KSEV radio that Pelosi hopes to pass the federal economic stimulus bill in time for her join the group, which reportedly leaves Friday evening.
According to Il Tempo, Pelosi will arrive in Rome Sunday afternoon, her first visit to the city since becoming Speaker of the House. It has not been determined when Ms. Pelosi plans to meet the Pope.
Speaker Pelosi has drawn severe criticism from Catholic leaders for her misrepresentation of Catholic doctrine in light of her extreme pro-abortion position.
In a Meet the Press appearance last August, Pelosi justified her support for abortion despite professing Catholicism by saying that "the doctors of the Church haven't been able to make that definition" on whether life begins at conception.
"The point is, is that it shouldn't have an impact on the woman's right to choose," she continued. "This isn't about abortion on demand, it's about a careful, careful consideration of all factors and - to - that a woman has to make with her doctor and her god."
In September Pelosi's bishop, Archbishop Niederauer of San Francisco, invited her to discuss witih him the abortion issue. Pelosi stated she would "welcome the opportunity," but there is no report of Pelosi having yet scheduled a meeting with the archbishop.
Fr. Tom Euteneuer, president of Human Life International (HLI), told LifeSiteNews.com that HLI will be briefing the Vatican "so they are aware of her dismal record on life issues.
"It is our hope that the Holy Father will not grant the floundering Speaker of the House what she surely wants and expects, a quick and valuable photo-op, but will rather give her a stern lecture on contraception and abortion and let her know that her eternal salvation is in danger," said Fr. Euteneuer.
"Further, this would be the perfect opportunity to formally excommunicate the Speaker, as she has done everything a public official possibly can to declare her lack of communion with the Holy Father and the Roman Catholic Church on every conceivable issue."

Obama's Scheme To Steal a Pro-Life Vote in Senate Fails

by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com Editor

Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire has withdrawn his name from consideration for the Commerce Secretary post. The move is good news for pro-life advocates who worried about losing another pro-life vote in the Senate when every vote is needed to stop President Barack Obama's pro-abortion agenda.
Some pro-life advocates accused Obama of playing politics with the Gregg nomination because he knew it would remove a strong pro-life vote from the Senate.
Gregg said he would only accept the nomination if he could have an assurance that a Republican would be appointed by pro-abortion Democratic Gov. John Lynch to keep his seat with the GOP.
Lynch picked Republican Bonnie Newman to replace Gregg upon his confirmation, but Newman takes a pro-abortion position and would have cost the pro-life side another vote on key provisions.
Gregg said on Thursday that he couldn't continue on with the confirmation process for the Cabinet post because he disagrees too strongly with Obama's economic plans.
"It has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census there are irresolvable conflicts for me," Gregg said about quitting the nomination process.
"Obviously the President requires a team that is fully supportive of all his initiatives," he said.
As a result of his decision, ""I will continue to represent the people of New Hampshire in the United States Senate," Gregg said.
To illustrate the importance of Gregg's vote, the Senate voted last month in an attempt to reverse the decision Obama made to rescind the Mexico City Policy. Obama issued an executive order to restore taxpayer funding to groups that promote and perform abortions in other nations.
The Senate defeated the amendment to bring back the pro-life policy on a 60-37 vote, with Gregg voting in the pro-life minority. With Newman in place, abortion advocates would have been closer to a 2-1 advantage.

Obama Leads Black Politicians to Ignore Rate of Black Abortions in USA...OVER 1450 Black Babies Put To Death Each Day in USA

Commentary by Pastor Stephen E. Broden, Senior Pastor, Fair Park Bible Fellowship
DALLAS, TX, February 10, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) -

I was struck by the noticeable absence of black elected officials at the January 22nd March for Life in Washington DC. Not one leader from the black congressional caucus was present. This was especially curious to me in light of the fact that the rate of pre-natal murder among black babies is higher than any other group in America.
Statistics about the numbers of abortions in the black community are now commonly reported on in major media throughout the nation. We have all heard and read of staggering numbers of pre-natal murders performed by Planned Parenthood and other abortionists; these numbers are appalling and frightening to all decent minded men and women in our community.
Over 1,450 black babies are murdered in their mother's womb daily, and three out of every four black pregnancies end in what might be termed a "womb-lynching." These facts are frightening and indicate that black women and their babies are the target of the 1.8 billion dollar abortion industry in America. These statistics demonstrate that there is a holocaust of epic proportions happening in our community. Why haven't our black elected officials responded to this malady? Black Americans elect politicians/legislators to protect their interest. Our interest includes a wide range of social, political, educational, and health related needs. However, our children should be first on the list of those who most need our protection and certainly the protection of our political leaders. The practice of pre-natal murder is without question having a deleterious impact on the very existence of our community. It has been reported by population demographers that 2 to 2.5 children per household are required in order for a population to replace itself. The number of children being born in black households across America is less than 1 child per family. The black community is not replacing itself and no doubt pre-natal murder is a major contributing factor. The silence of the Black Congressional Caucus is unthinkable when the community they serve is at the door of extinction. Pre-natal murder is the 900-pound gorilla in the community. Its impact is far more devastating than AIDS, heart disease, diabetes, and drug abuse. Needless to say the combination of all of these pathologies will wipe us off the face of the American map if we don't do something about them now, starting with pre-natal murder. So, the absence of black elected officials at this extraordinary event, which was designed to bring national attention to a practice that is murdering countless numbers of babies annually, is more than just a curiosity, it's a down right rotten dirty shame! The community is starting to take notice of those who tacitly watch the destruction of our babies and our women. You who deliberately withhold power and influence to stop the insanity of pre-natal murder will be held accountable come Election Day!

Black Students for Life to Obama: “What About Equality for All?”

Commentary by Lawson Lipford-Cruz, President, Black Students for Life
WASHINGTON, February 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) -

This is Black History Month and the air is just beginning to settle on the fact that the United States of America finally has a black President.
The inauguration of the first African-American president fell in conjunction with Martin Luther King Day, and because of this, we were able to reflect upon the journey, the struggles and our achievements as Americans and most importantly as human beings.
It is truly difficult to fathom what must have been going through the minds of those from the Civil Rights era. They faced brutality and death and for a time it must have seemed that there was no light at the end of the tunnel in the quest for equality. Black people simply wanted to be known and treated as equals after being relegated to second class citizen status for literally hundreds of years.
Although I am a child of the eighties and nineties, and therefore removed from the horrific lynchings and battle to defeat Jim Crow laws, I still feel a sense of catharsis.
As a child, I remember when someone who looked like me was not even allowed to be the main character in a Hollywood movie (without being a stereotype). I remember white kids in the playground telling me that it was wrong for me to "like" a girl unless she was black, which would have posed a problem since there were very few black kids at the private Christian school I attended.
Sadly, I recall an ignorant peewee football coach called me a nigger during practice. I was only 11 years old!
The point is, we have all experienced racism and it is true that the election and swearing in of a black president seems to drop a hammer on those things that we have struggled against. I must reiterate, however, that it is cathartic in that sense, because there are still some big problems here. How do we not see history repeating itself?
Babies are the new second class citizens. We are still being lynched, but instead of being hung in a tree, we are lynched in the womb. How is it that a helpless baby can be brutally killed, then tossed aside so easily and without consequence?
I wish President Obama the best of luck, and I think he is an intelligent man with basically good intentions for our country, but what good are those intentions if he refuses to see value in all Americans? I still don't understand how he can call a baby a punishment. I don't see how he can live with himself, believing that a harmless baby who survives abortion should be ruthlessly killed anyway.
How is it that black people who lived through the long struggle for equality and experienced racism and violent hate crimes can now not want to fight this fight against the slaughter of the innocent? I strongly feel that status, size and the abilities of a human being are not proportional to the degree in which they are deemed important.
My hope is that President Barack Obama and all of our political leaders will fight for all human beings. I hope and pray that the underdog - in this case, small children - will someday soon have a chance at life.
I didn't cast my vote for our new president, I couldn't. Many of my friends didn't understand why - many were very angry with me. But I had to stand firm. I told them: I'm pro-life and I cannot be "cool" with a president who does not stand for the things that I stand for no matter what. Abortion is wrong - dead wrong!

Just How "Catholic" is the Catholic News Service?

By Ronald J. Rychlak, University of Mississippi School of Law

The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), a bill proposed in the 110th U.S. Congress, declared that “it is the policy of the United States that every woman has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child; terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability; or terminate a pregnancy after viability when necessary to protect her life or her health.” If passed and signed into law, it would overturn virtually every legal restriction on abortion, including limits on partial-birth abortion and parental notification. While on the campaign trial, President Obama said: “The first thing I’d do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act.” In fact, he was one of 19 senators who co-sponsored the legislation.The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has strongly opposed the Freedom of Choice Act. In a statement entitled The Freedom of Choice Act: Most Radical Abortion Legislation in U.S. History, the USCCB’s Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities argued that FOCA would go “far beyond even Roe.” Among other things, “FOCA will bar laws protecting a right of conscientious objection to abortion.” In other words, Catholic hospitals could be forced to perform abortions.
Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance, said at the November bishops’ meeting that passage of FOCA “could mean discontinuing obstetrics in our hospitals, and we may need to consider taking the drastic step of closing our Catholic hospitals entirely…. I do not think I’m being alarmist in considering such drastic steps.”
Imagine, then, my surprise to open our diocesan newspaper only to read in a Catholic News Service story written by CNS reporter Nancy Frazier O’Brien: “no Catholic hospital in the United States is in danger of closing because of the Freedom of Choice Act…. [T]he Freedom of Choice Act died with the 110th Congress and, a week after the inauguration of President Barack Obama, has not been reintroduced.”
O’Brien referenced the Catholic Health Association’s president, Sister Carol Keehan, in order to explain that FOCA “poses no threat to Catholic hospitals or to the conscience rights of those who work there.” She went on to quote Bishop Robert N. Lynch of St. Petersburg, Fla., a member of the CHA’s board of trustees, saying: “there is no plan to shut down any hospital if [FOCA] passes.… There’s no sense of ominous danger threatening health care institutions.” O’Brien blamed concerns and “confusion over FOCA” on “misleading e-mails,” “false Internet rumors,” “blogs and Web sites,” and “anti-FOCA groups” on Facebook.
A close and very generous reading of the quotes in O’Brien’s article leaves some room for interpretation about what the people were saying. Sister Keehan seemed to be suggesting that Catholic hospitals could oppose the law in a passive way without compromising their ideals, the way people fought for civil rights in the 1960s. The same might arguably be said of Bishop Lynch, especially since quotations might be taken in different contexts. O’Brien, however, left herself no such wiggle room.
This piece is clearly intended to soften up Catholic opposition to FOCA and to the Obama administration. O’Brien tries to assure readers that FOCA poses no threat to Catholic sensibilities; there is no danger. She actually argues that the new administration has had a whole week, and it has not yet reintroduced the legislation. In fact, she explains, FOCA is dead.
The USCCB does not see things that way. It is currently conducting a postcard campaign to “Fight FOCA.” The related USCCB web page explains that “many pro-life laws and policies are subject to attack and reversal. The new Congress includes the largest number of pro-abortion members since 1993.” The bishops go on to explain that “63 pro-abortion groups have publicly submitted a comprehensive 55-page blueprint for their agenda to the incoming Administration. Passing FOCA is a priority….”
The author of a piece like O’Brien’s, of course, is primarily responsible for its content, but there are others. Those who were quoted in the article, if taken out of context, need to clarify their positions. The Catholic News Service decided to publish and distribute the article despite the clear position of the USCCB. Frankly, the article is so out of line with everything we know, even those diocesan newspapers that ran it should have known better.
Our bishops have taken a strong leadership position on FOCA. Other Catholic leaders and entities should follow their example. Unfortunately, the CNS article by Nancy Frazier O’Brien seeks to undercut them.

Vatican Official: Bishops Have no Choice But to Refuse Communion to Pro-Abort Politicians

By Hilary White
ROME, January 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com)

Archbishop Raymond Burke, in an exclusive interview last week, told LifeSiteNews.com that the issue of pro-abortion politicians continuing to receive Holy Communion is still one of major concern and that it is the duty of bishops to ensure that they are refused.
He told LifeSiteNews.com, "I don't understand the continual debate that goes on about it. There's not a question that a Catholic who publicly, and after admonition, supports pro-abortion legislation is not to receive Holy Communion and is not to be given Holy Communion."
"The Church's law is very clear," said Archbishop Burke, who was appointed last year by Pope Benedict XVI as the head of the Church's highest court, the Apostolic Signatura. "The person who persists publicly in grave sin is to be denied Holy Communion, and it [Canon Law] doesn't say that the bishop shall decide this. It's an absolute."
Among the US bishops directly to address the issue, Archbishop Burke was one of around a dozen who vigorously supported a directive of the Vatican that said pro-abortion Catholic politicians "must be refused" Holy Communion if they attempt to receive at Mass. Others have refused to abide by the Vatican instruction and the Church's own Code of Canon Law, saying they would rather focus on "education" of such politicians.
Archbishop Burke called "nonsense" the accusation, regularly made by some bishops, that refusing Holy Communion "makes the Communion rail a [political] battle ground". In fact, he said, the precise opposite is true. The politician who insists on being seen receiving Holy Communion, despite his opposition to the Church's central teachings, is using that reception for political leverage.
In 2004, when self-proclaimed Catholic and candidate for the Democrat party, Sen. John Kerry, was frequently photographed receiving Holy Communion despite his vigorous support of abortion, the US Bishops Conference issued a document which said only that it is up to individual bishops whether to implement the Church's code of Canon Law and refuse Communion. The issue has remained prominent with the appointment of Joe Biden, another pro-abortion Catholic politician, as Vice President of the United States of America.
Archbishop Burke recalled previous experiences with Kerry, pointing to the several occasions when the senator was pictured in Time magazine receiving Communion from Papal representatives at various public events. Burke said that it is clear that Kerry was using his reception of Holy Communion to send a message.
"He wants to not only receive Holy Communion from a bishop but from the papal representative. I think that's what his point was. Get it in Time magazine, so people read it and say to themselves, 'He must be in good standing'."
"What are they doing? They're using the Eucharist as a political tool."
In refusing, far from politicising the Eucharist, the Church is returning the matter to its religious reality. The most important reasons to refuse, he said, are pastoral and religious in nature.
"The Holy Eucharist, the most sacred reality of our life in the Church, has to be protected against sacrilege. At the same time, individuals have to be protected for the sake of their own salvation from committing one of the gravest sins, namely to receive Holy Communion unworthily."
Archbishop Burke also dismissed the commonly proffered excuse that such politicians need more "education". Speaking from his own direct experience, he said that Catholic politicians who are informed by their pastors or bishops that their positions in support of pro-abortion legislation makes it impossible for them to receive Holy Communion, "I've always found that they don't come forward."
"When you talk to these people, they know," he said. "They know what they're doing is very wrong. They have to answer to God for that, but why through our pastoral negligence add on to that, that they have to answer to God for who knows how many unworthy receptions of Holy Communion?"
Archbishop Burke said that the issue had been debated enough. He rejected the idea that the matter should be left to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, saying the Conference has no authority in the matter. "This is a law of the universal Church and it should be applied."
"I think this argument too is being used by people who don't want to confront the issue, this whole 'wait 'til the Conference decides'...well the Conference has been discussing this since at least 2004. And nothing happens."
When asked what the solution was, he responded, "Individual bishops and priests simply have to do their duty. They have to confront politicians, Catholic politicians, who are sinning gravely and publicly in this regard. And that's their duty.
"And if they carry it out, not only can they not be reproached for that, but they should be praised for confronting this situation."

Star Trek Actor Who Paid for Three Abortions Now Condemns Woman's "Right to Choose...to Kill Her Baby"

By Kathleen Gilbert
LOS ANGELES, February 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com)

Actor Gary Graham knew that by writing about his personal experience and rejection of abortion, he would be incurring the ire of not a few among the Hollywood elite.

Yet a blog column posted last Tuesday by the seasoned actor, known most recently for his roles as Ambassador Soval in the TV series "Star Trek: Enterprise" and Capt. Ingles on "J.A.G.", took an unflinching look at truths almost entirely ignored by those in the Hollywood establishment.

"I’m going to say what millions know in the front of their brains, and many, many more millions know in the depths of their hearts … but won’t allow themselves to think it, much less feel it," wrote Graham. "And believe me, I know I’ll be hated for saying it, I’ll be hated by people who don’t know me, have never worked with me, have never golfed with me, had a drink with me.
"I’m going to say it anyway: Abortion is murder."

Graham described the irresponsibility of his youth that made abortion the convenient option for a drug-fueled, “free-love” lifestyle. He confessed to having paid for multiple abortions for girlfriends, observing that abortion “sure took the pressure off of me, a guy, interested in sex who had been raised in the era of, ‘Hey, you get a girl pregnant, you marry her!’” But then, he says, a "spiritual awakening" brought him to a "tearful epiphany of what it meant for a man to be with a woman, what sex was really designed for by our Creator and … what abortion is.

"I truly wish that I had had this conviction way back when…when I was only concerned about my selfish convenience of the day," wrote Graham. "But I didn’t want to know, I didn’t want to think about it. It was inconvenient to think about it."

He noted that the widespread acceptance of abortion "says volumes of how our entire culture has been coarsened," and "How life itself has been cheapened.”

"We are told to have sex any time we feel the urge. Condoms are handed out in grade schools. Promiscuity is not only condoned, it’s tacitly encouraged ... But if you should get pregnant and it’s just not a ‘convenient’ time for you, don’t worry, there are Family Planning Services. ... That inconvenient fetus can be surgically ripped from its uterine moorings, ground up and tossed into the trash like so much garbage.

"Problem solved, and the mother can resume her egocentric lifestyle. But the scars on that woman’s soul will never quite heal. I’m a man, but I’ve got them on mine."

Responding to those who call for abortion to be "legal but rare," Graham asked, "Why rare?
"What’s wrong with abortion, that you think it should be a rare occurrence? I’ve had moles removed from my skin. Doctors don’t tell us that a mole removal should be rare. So what’s with this ‘rare’ business? Or is it a tacit agreement that abortion … is plain wrong?

"Try this exercise: Every time you hear someone use the phrase '…a woman’s right to choose…' mentally complete the phrase with the following words – '…to kill her baby.' That’s what the argument’s about. A woman’s right to kill her baby."

Pro-Life People Must Not Lose Heart with Obama Election Says Vatican Archbishop

Says the movement must never stop trying to overturn Roe v Wade

By Hilary White - Rome Correspondent

VATICAN CITY, January 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) –
In an exclusive interview with LifeSiteNews.com earlier this week, Archbishop Raymond Burke sent a message of support from Rome to those in the U.S. who defend human life and the traditional family, telling them not to give up the fight, even though things may seem dire with the election of Barack Obama. The Archbishop particularly urged pro-life people to continue the political and legal battle against the 1973 US Supreme Court decision, Roe vs. Wade, that legalised abortion.

“We are in a very dark period for the pro-life movement, which means that now we have really to re-double all of our efforts,” he said.

The new president, Archbishop Burke said, must hear from the American people “who I believe are, in the end, pro-life, above all else.” But the time has come, with the election of the man who is being called by pro-life advocates the “most pro-abortion president” in US history, to announce clearly and firmly the message of the sanctity of life and family more than at any other time.

“There can never be any let-up on the effort to overturn Roe versus Wade,” he said, “because there is, at its deepest core, our most unjust judicial decision. It has to be overturned.”
He agreed that people of good will could work with the Obama administration to provide improved services to women in crisis pregnancies and pointed out that the Catholic Church has “above all, been in the forefront of that.” But, he said, “that can never exempt us from the duty” to overturn Roe vs. Wade.

Despite the difficulties ahead, he urged the pro-life people to be the “tough who get going when the going gets tough.”

“It’s going to depend upon the pro-life movement to make that voice heard, and to get people to express to the president their dismay with what he’s doing, so that he understands that the people of the United States are not for the murder of infants in the womb.”

LifeSiteNews.com spoke to Archbishop Burke, who is regarded as a hero by many in the pro-life and family movement, at his offices in Rome, where he was recently appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as head of the Catholic Church’s highest tribunal, the Apostolic Signatura. The office of Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura is normally regarded as a “red hat” position that brings with it appointment as a Cardinal. It is widely expected among Vatican watchers that Pope Benedict will name Archbishop Burke a Cardinal at the next consistory.

He told LifeSiteNews.com that he is becoming “very concerned” at the number of people who have written to him to say that the election of Obama is a sign that the pro-life movement has definitively failed to overturn Roe vs. Wade. He particularly denounced the idea, put forward by some in the pro-life movement in the US, that the time has come to abandon the fight against Roe and turn exclusively to “education” and to cooperate with the new administration in “reducing abortions” by improving welfare and health services for women.

Archbishop Burke responded, saying, “To me this is a form of self-deception because the law itself is one of the principle teachers in any culture, and you have a law, a decision of the Supreme Court of your country, which says, in effect, that an infant in the womb can be destroyed right up to the time of birth and even in the act of birth.”

Until Roe vs. Wade is overturned, he said, “that law remains a teacher in the culture” and “represents a direction given to the life of the society, of the nation.

“So I’m very concerned that some of the dedicated pro-life people don’t fall prey to this false reasoning, and then not continue their work for the repeal of this Supreme Court decision.”
Archbishop Burke is known in the US as one of the most outspoken members of the US hierarchy on the Church’s teachings on the sanctity of life. He was the first among a very small number of US Bishops who enforced can. 915 of the Code of Canon Law, saying that pro-abortion Catholic politicians are not to be given Holy Communion. His position was confirmed by a letter of then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in June of 2004.Upon the announcement of his transfer to Rome, Judie Brown, the president of the American Life League, said, “Archbishop Burke's contributions to the Church go beyond anybody's imagination. He is among the most courageous bishops that I have known in my entire life.”

The archbishop said, “I have been for years very much in the heart of the pro-life movement as I believe that I should be as a bishop.”

“It was painful for me to leave the United States because of my strong conviction about the importance of strong leadership, a prophetic leadership on the part of the bishops in the whole work of promoting the respect for human life.”

He particularly urged pro-life and family people to be on guard against becoming discouraged. “Discouragement is itself a prime temptation that Satan uses to get people to stop working for the good,” he said. “But the minute you give into discouragement he can get you to do whatever he wants. But if we are people of life, if we are people who honour the dignity of every human life, then we also are necessarily people of hope.

“I understand, from a human point of view, why people are discouraged and why they want to give up or try some radically different approach, but as people of hope we don’t have any choice in this matter. We have to continue the battle.”

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Leading Vatican Prelate Says Document of US Bishops Partly to Blame for Election of “Most Pro-Abortion President”

Also says Bishops’ Catholic News Service needs to be given "some new direction"

By Hilary White, Rome Correspondent ROME, January 28, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com)

A document of the US Catholic Bishops is partly to blame for the abandonment of pro-life teachings by voting Catholics and the election of the “most pro-abortion president” in US history, one of the Vatican’s highest officials said in an interview with LifeSiteNews.com.

Archbishop Raymond Burke, the prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, named a document on the election produced by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops that he said “led to confusion” among the faithful and led ultimately to massive support among Catholics for Barack Obama.

The US bishops’ document, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” stated that, under certain circumstances, a Catholic could in good conscience vote for a candidate who supports abortion because of "other grave reasons," as long as they do not intend to support that pro-abortion position.

Archbishop Burke, the former Archbishop of St. Louis Mo. and recently appointed head of the highest ecclesiastical court in the Catholic Church, told LifeSiteNews.com that although “there were a greater number of bishops who spoke up very clearly and firmly ... there was also a number who did not.”

But most damaging, he said, was the document “Faithful Citizenship” that “led to confusion” among the voting Catholic population.

“While it stated that the issue of life was the first and most important issue, it went on in some specific areas to say ‘but there are other issues’ that are of comparable importance without making necessary distinctions.” Archbishop Burke, citing an article by a priest and ethics expert of St. Louis archdiocese, Msgr. Kevin McMahon, who analysed how the bishops’ document actually contributed to the election of Obama, called its proposal “a kind of false thinking, that says, ‘there’s the evil of taking an innocent and defenceless human life but there are other evils and they’re worthy of equal consideration.’

“But they’re not. The economic situation, or opposition to the war in Iraq, or whatever it may be, those things don’t rise to the same level as something that is always and everywhere evil, namely the killing of innocent and defenceless human life.”

Archbishop Burke also cited the work of the official news service of the US Catholic Bishops’ Conference, that many pro-life observers complained soft-pedalled the newly elected president’s opposition to traditional morality.

“The bishops need to look also at our Catholic News Service, CNS, they need to review their coverage of the whole thing and give some new direction, in my judgement,” he said.

The Politics of Dancing

Turn up the music. Obama and Pelosi are dancing around the abortion issue!


The Obama White House on Monday backed away from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s support for increased federal funding of contraception in the $825-billion stimulus bill now under consideration by Congress.

That was not President Obama’s idea, a White House spokesman told CNSNews.com.

“The principles of what he thought should be in the package--that wasn’t part of that,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton told CNSNews.com. “They’re working on what the final bill should look like.”

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) was among the first to criticize the Democratic plan, specifically the provisions funding contraception.

The provision in the draft legislation would expand federal funding for contraception through Medicaid, allowing those not poor enough to be currently eligible for Medicaid to nonetheless qualify for the contraception aid.

A program created during the Clinton administration allows states to seek a waiver to offer Medicaid “family planning” services to those who are otherwise not qualified for Medicaid. When states get a waiver, the federal government matches state Medicaid family planning funds with $9 in federal money for every $1 the state spends.

Under the provision in the stimulus package supported by Speaker Pelosi, states would no longer need to apply for a waiver. All 50 states would be given 9-1 federal matching funds for their Medicaid-funded contraceptives.

Pelosi defended the funding during an interview Sunday on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”

“We also heard from Congressman Boehner coming out of the meeting today that again a lot of that spending doesn’t even meet the same test you just talked about right now,” Stephanopoulos said. “Hundreds of millions of dollars to expand family planning services. How is that stimulus?”

“Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost,” Pelosi responded. “The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for children’s health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those--one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.”

“So no apologies for that?” Stephanopoulos asked.

“No apologies. No,” the speaker responded. “We have to deal with the consequences of the downturn in our economy. Food stamps, unemployment insurance, some of the initiatives you just mentioned. What the economists have told us from right to left. There is more bang for the buck, a term they use, by investing in food stamps and in unemployment insurance than in any tax cut.”

Obama will be meeting with House and Senate Republican leaders on Capitol Hill Tuesday at noon, in what White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said is a serious attempt to get ideas from the opposing party.

Obama has consistently said he wants his stimulus bill to pass with bi-partisan support. However, many Republicans--including his rival in the presidential race, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), said they would vote against the bill in its current form.

Vatican Official Calls Obama "Arrogant"

A senior Vatican official on Saturday attacked US President Barack Obama for "arrogance" for overturning a ban on state funding for family-planning groups that carry out or facilitate abortions overseas.

It is "the arrogance of someone who believes they are right, in signing a decree which will open the door to abortion and thus to the destruction of human life," Archbishop Rino Fisichella was quoted as saying by the Corriere della Sera daily.

Fisichella is president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, one of a number of so-called pontifical academies which are formed by or under the direction of the Holy See.

"What is important is to know how to listen... without locking oneself into ideological visions with the arrogance of a person who, having the power, thinks they can decide on life and death," he added.

Obama signed the executive order cancelling the eight-year-old restrictions on Friday, the third full day of his presidency.

The so-called "global gag rule" cut off US funding to overseas family planning clinics which provide any abortion services whatsoever, from the operation itself to counselling, referrals or post-abortion services.

"If this is one of the first acts of President Obama, with all due respect, it seems to me that the path towards disappointment will have been very short," Fisichella said.

"I do not believe that those who voted for him took into consideration ethical themes, which were astutely left aside during the election debate. The majority of the American population does not take the same position as the president and his team," he added.

The order won Obama praise from Democratic lawmakers, family planning and women's rights groups but drew angry condemnation from pro-life organisations and Republicans.

More than 250 health and human rights organisations from around the world sent Obama a letter, thanking him for ending a policy "which has contributed to the deaths and injuries of countless women and girls."

A Letter From Fr. Tom Euteneuer

Dear Friends of Life,

The pro-life movement is going through a great deal of self-examination at this time. I am not a pessimist, but my sense of realism tells me that the election of extreme abortion advocate, Barack Obama, and the nearly 7,000 political appointments of his administration will usher in a new decade of war on decency and the sanctity of life. Despite the ferocious optimism of his inauguration, the dark clouds of the culture of death are gathering over Washington as we speak, ready to cast their darkness everywhere.

In this time of preparation for the upcoming total war on life, I offer this modest list of Dos and Don'ts for the generous and valiant pro-lifers who gather for the March for Life in Washington, DC on January 22nd. May all men and women of good will take these recommendations to heart for a fruitful pro-life 2009!
DON'TS
1. Above all, do not grow despondent: there is much to fear for the situation of life around the world, but we are not permitted by our Christian faith to give up our efforts or zeal for life. In fact, we need to redouble it!

2. Do not become absorbed in the quest for a political solution to abortion: after 36 years of working for a political solution to abortion, we may soon see the wiping out of most, if not all, of the pro-life movement's gains with the stroke of a pen. Politics has failed. Or rather, we have failed at politics. Either way, politics now offers us little chance of anything other than just trying to slow the massive momentum of the culture of death.

3. Do not waste any more energy on overturning Roe: two Supreme Court seats are assured during an Obama administration, and they will undoubtedly be filled with extreme pro-abortion activist judges. A third appointment will leave us with no hope of overturning Roe in anyone's lifetime reading this. For that matter, the chance that a good pro-life President will succeed Obama in four years and nullify the leftward lurch of the high court is, shall we say, unlikely. Let's get hopes of undoing Roe out of our system and focus on more productive things.

DOS
1. Pray every day for God to end abortion with our help (in that order): abortion is such a great spiritual and social evil that only the divine power of God Himself can end it. "The Lord hears the cry of the poor," but God will not do it alone. He needs us to humbly recognize the basic fact that it is humanly impossible to end this evil. We need to get on our knees and beg His Mercy on the unborn and the conversion of all those who commit these evils.

2. Commit to fasting every week to end the evils of abortion and contraception: "Some demons can only be driven out by prayer and fasting," said the Lord, and we have to take that admonition seriously if we are to effect any change in the hearts of our people or of our society. Fasting makes us more spiritual and gives greater efficacy to all our works and prayers.

3. Take back the culture: Even if the anti-lifers hold the reins of political power, we must not sit back and allow moral anarchists to define all the terms of the cultural or social agenda. Whether it is through social activism for life (crisis pregnancy centers, pickets and prayer marches) or through touching hearts and minds one soul at a time (persuasion, formation, teaching, media), we cannot be neutral about the direction our American culture is heading. It is leading us to certain spiritual death, and no one can afford that. We need to fight for it and never give up the battle.
I promise you that Human Life International will be in the struggle for lives and souls continuously. It is our calling and mission. We will never give one inch to uphold the truth that the whole world needs to hear more than ever: namely, that human life is sacred from the first moment of natural fertilization to the moment of natural death - and we will defend it whether Obama likes it or not.Sincerely Yours in Christ,

Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, President, Human Life International