Upcoming PBS board vote could disaffiliate stations with Mass for shut-ins

from CNA

Arlington, Va., May 21 (CNA).-The network board of PBS in June will vote on whether to pull affiliate status from stations that broadcast "sectarian" programming, a decision which could affect broadcasts of Mass for shut-ins and other religious programming.

Jennifer Lawson, general manager of WHUT, heads the panel that recommended a board vote on religious programming. She told the Washington Post that the intent of the action is to demonstrate editorial independence.

PBS bylaws call for non-commercial, non-partisan, and non-sectarian programming. However, the network's editorial policy also calls for "integrity, quality, diversity and local station autonomy," the Television Broadcast Newsletter reports.

"PBS believes that public broadcasting's greatest potential is realized when it serves the unique needs of the local community, and that there are wide variations in local needs and tastes," the policy reads. "No one is better qualified to determine and respond to those local needs than the public television station licensed to that community."

Many PBS member stations have carried religious services and Mass for shut-ins for years. Denver's KBDI-TV has broadcast Mass for Shut-ins since 1966 every Sunday morning. The Archdiocese of Denver estimates 20,000 households tune in to the Mass each week.
WHUT-TV, the PBS affiliate at Howard University in Washington, D.C., has carried a Mass for 13 years. Losing its PBS affiliation would take away its programming lineup of standard PBS shows. WHUT-TV has already told the Archdiocese of Washington the telecast would be cancelled.

WLAE-TV in New Orleans, partly owned by the local Catholic organization Willwoods Community, has carried a Mass for 25 years without any complaints.

"We've built an identity around this. People know us for this," WLAE vice president and general manager Ron Yager told the Washington Post. "I'm really not totally sure of their reasoning for doing this."

Obama and the ‘Real’ Catholics

The president inserts himself into a religious debate.


By George Weigel

Passionate debates over doctrine, identity, and the boundaries of “communion” have been a staple of the American religious landscape for centuries: Trinitarians vs. Unitarians in 19th-century New England; Modernists vs. Fundamentalists in early-20th-century Presbyterianism; Missouri Synod Lutherans vs. Wisconsin Synod Lutherans vs. Other Sorts of Lutherans down to today. Yet never in our history has a president of the United States, in the exercise of his public office, intervened in such disputes in order to secure a political advantage.

Until yesterday, at the University of Notre Dame.

The principal themes of President Obama’s Notre Dame commencement address were entirely predictable; indeed, in some offices I know, betting pools were forming last week on how many of the Catholic Left hot buttons Obama would hit. In the event, he hit for the cycle several times over, mentioning “common ground”; tolerance and reconciliation amid diversity; Father Hesburgh; respect for those with whose moral judgments we disagree; problem-solving over ideology; Father Hesburgh; saving God’s creation from climate change; pulling together; Father Hesburgh; open hearts; open minds; fair-minded words; Father Hesburgh. None of this was surprising, and most of it was said with the president’s usual smooth eloquence.  (Full story at Narional Review Online)

You Might Be A 'Radicalized Right-Wing Extremist' If...

I am a little late on this one, but it is still valid. This is so critical in pointing out what we are up against, I have published this article from GOPUSA.com in full. As Michelle says: "WELCOME TO THE CLUB!"

By Michelle Malkin

April 15, 2009




What and who exactly are President Obama's homeland security officials afraid of these days? If you are a member of an active conservative group that opposes abortion, favors strict immigration enforcement, lobbies to protect Second Amendment rights, protests big government, advocates federalism or represents veterans who believe in any of the above, the answer is: You.

Department of Homeland Security Sec. Janet Napolitano has turned her attention away from acts of Islamic jihad on American soil (which she now refers to as "man-caused disasters"). Instead, her department is sounding the alarm over an unquantified "resurgence" in "right-wing extremism activity." On April 7, DHS sent a nine-page warning memo to law enforcement offices across the country titled "Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment."

The report includes a sweeping definition of the threat:

"Right-wing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration."

You cannot ignore the context or the timing of this DHS report. It's no small coincidence that Napolitano's agency disseminated the assessment just a week before the nationwide April 15 Tax Day Tea Party protests. The grassroots events organized by fiscal conservatives, independents, Libertarians and, yes, even some Blue Dog Democrats were fueled by the "current economic and political climate" of bipartisan profligate spending and endless taxpayer-funded bailouts. The growing success of the loose-knit movement has invited scorn, ridicule and fear-mongering from Obama's supporters. Liberal bloggers have likened the Tea Party movement to neo-Nazis, militias and even Weather Underground terrorists.

These attempts to demonize the Tea Party movement come on the heels of widespread conservative-bashing over the recent shooting sprees in Pittsburgh and Binghamton, N.Y. Taking Hillary Clinton's advice to "never waste a good crisis," left-wing pundits and analysts have blamed the tragedies on everyone from Rush Limbaugh to Fox News to the NRA.

The DHS spokespeople I talked to on Monday insisted that the report was not a politicized document and that DHS had done similar assessments on "left-wing extremism" in the past. But past domestic terrorism reports have always been very specific in identifying security threats -- such as the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front -- and very specific in identifying their methods and targets, including repeated physical harassment, arson and vandalism against pharmaceutical companies, farms, labs and university researchers.

By contrast, the Obama DHS report is an overarching indictment of conservatives. "Right-wing extremist chatter on the Internet continues to focus on the economy, the perceived loss of U.S. jobs in the manufacturing and construction sectors, and home foreclosures," the assessment warns. When I asked DHS spokeswoman Sara Kuban to explain who was responsible for this "extremist chatter," she could not and would not name names.

Moreover, the report relies on the work of the left-leaning Southern Poverty Law Center to stir anxiety over "disgruntled military veterans" -- a citation that gives us valuable insight into how DHS will define "hate-oriented" groups. The SPLC, you see, has designated the venerable American Legion a "hate group" for its stance on immigration enforcement. The report offers zero data, but states with an almost resentful attitude toward protected free speech: "Debates over appropriate immigration levels and enforcement policy generally fall within the realm of protected political speech under the First Amendment, but in some cases, anti-immigration or strident pro-enforcement fervor has been directed against specific groups and has the potential to turn violent."

"Potential to turn violent"? So did the hysterical fervor whipped up by Capitol Hill over the AIG bonuses, which prompted ugly death threats from across the country. No mention here, though. Not "right wing" enough. Nor will you see Obama DHS warnings to police and sheriff's departments about self-proclaimed bank terrorists such as Bruce Marks of the aggressive Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America or the mob activists of ACORN who have committed burglary, stormed corporate executives' homes and vowed to conduct "civil disobedience" by "any means necessary" in response to the "current economic and political climate."

If you can redefine dissenting opinion as "hate," you can brand your political opponents as "extremists" -- and you can marginalize electoral threats. "Antigovernment"? "Pro-enforcement"? "Disgruntled"? Feeling taxed enough already and "recruiting" and "radicalizing" your friends and neighbors through "chatter on the Internet"?

We are all right-wing extremists now. Welcome to the club.

Biden Reveals Location of Secret 'Undisclosed Location'

from Newsmax.com

Sunday, May 17, 2009 7:29 PM


Vice President Joe Biden has done it again.

Biden, who has a history of verbal blunders, has revealed the existence of a secret bunker intended to house the vice president in case of a national emergency or attack.

According to Newsweek magazine's Eleanor Clift, Biden let the secret slip at the recent Gridiron Club dinner, and annual event attended by media members and high-power politicians. Clift reports that Biden admitted to those at his table that the bunker is located beneath the vice president's official residence, located at the U.S. Naval Observatory near Washington, D.C.

It is likely that former Vice President Dick Cheney was hidden in the bunker - referred to as an "undisclosed location" - in the confusing aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

Newsweek's story asserts that Biden "said a young naval officer giving him a tour of the residence showed him the hideaway, which is behind a massive steel door secured by an elaborate lock with a narrow connecting hallway lined with shelves filled with communications equipment.

"The officer explained that when Cheney was in lock down, this was where his most trusted aides were stationed, an image that Biden conveyed in a way that suggested we shouldn't be surprised that the policies that emerged were off the wall."
This is hardly the first time Biden has raised eyebrows with an off-the-cuff remark. Most recently, he was criticized for encouraging Americans to avoid airline travel during the swine flu scare.

Obama's Words and the Moral Equivalency That Doesn't Exist

 Posted by Bobby Eberle
May 18, 2009 at 7:46 am 
 

When I was deciding on which college to attend to begin my undergraduate education, there were only a few on the radar screen. I was conflicted between wanting to further explore my faith and my desire to stay closer to home. I knew that I would be studying aerospace engineering, and in the end, I eventually chose Texas A&M (with Rice University for graduate school). However, had I not attended Texas A&M, my choice of university was clear: Notre Dame.

So, it was with great interest and dread that I followed the events of this past weekend when Barack Obama gave the commencement speech to graduates at Norte Dame. The fact that Obama was invited in the first place speaks quite lowly of Notre Dame officials. The fact that he was presented with an honorary degree is insulting. But, as usual, it's Obama's words that are the most appalling as he tries to use his teleprompter-aided eloquence to cut down the pro-life movement.   (Full story at GOPUSA.com)

Gallup Poll: Majority of Americans Pro-Life on Abortion, Highest Levels in 15 Years

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 15, 2009

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new Gallup poll shows that the majority of Americans self-identify as pro-life on the issue of abortion for the first time in 15 years. The Gallup survey shows the percentage of Americans saying they are pro-life at its highest point since 1995 and those saying they are "pro-choice" at its lowest.
The Gallup survey, conducted May 7-10, finds 51% of Americans calling themselves pro-life and just 42 percent saying they are "pro-choice" and supporting legal abortions.
The poll finds a plurality of women say they are pro-life -- with 49 percent saying so and just 44 percent saying they are "pro-choice." Men favor the pro-life position on a 54 to 39 percent margin. Both numbers are record highs for the pro-life position.
The 9 percent pro-life majority is a stark change from last year, when the Gallup survey showed a 6 percent majority in favor of abortion. Before the current poll Gallup had the pro-life percentage at its highest at 46 percent in both August 2001 and May 2002. (Full story at Lifenews.com)

Democrat Dictionary

Doublespeak is alive as Democrats pull the strings in the White House and Congress 24 years after 1984. What do they mean when they engage in Democrat-speak?
I know I'm not worthy, but I've got an assignment, so I shall borrow a page from Ambrose Bierce, not with a Devil's Dictionary, but a Democrats' Dictionary. The easy part: There's no dif.
Academic freedom: Full license to espouse liberal thought to unformed minds.
Bailout: Billions upon billions -- trillions really -- of government aid doled out to financial institutions to remind voters of the need for strong regulation.
Biden, Joe: Running-at-the-mouth politician, but, hey, he was elected vice president.
Bipartisanship: 40 Republicans and 60 Democrats.
Bush, George W.: sh, Big-spending, war-waging Republican.
Cheney, Dick: Satan.
Clean coal: What Santa Claus puts in Democrats' stockings so they don't have to admit that their global-warming agenda is anti-coal.
Climate change: Global warming during a blizzard.
CNN: Unbiased news network whose reporters battle "right-wing" media.
Deficits: Overspending before 2009, or spending practices that President Obama inherited. For current usage, see: Investment.
Extremists: Abortion opponents.
Fox News: Unlike CNN, biased news network.
Global warming: An apocalyptic theory that every scientist believes in -- except dissenting scientists who don't count -- best bemoaned
from one's Gulf Stream jet en route to an international conference on the environment.
God: What people in small towns clung to before Obama won the White House. See: guns, anti-immigrant or anti-trade beliefs.
Health care costs: A spiraling chunk of the U.S. economy that can be reduced by providing health care to all Americans. Really.
Homeland security: Gun control.
Iraq: An immoral war, once the focus of numerous anti-war demonstrations, which Democratic leaders vowed to end immediately upon winning the White House -- until Obama won the 2008 election.
Liberal: The L-word, a term unfairly hurled by name-calling right-wing kooks.
Lieberman, Joe: Former Democrat turned Independent senator from Connecticut. Sellout.
McCain, John: Former GOP maverick who -- the nerve -- turned out to actually be a Republican.
Middle class: Families that earn less than $250,000 -- until Washington decides it might be a good idea to pay for all the new Obama-era programs.
Nuance: Homeland Security Janet Napolitano's decision to refer to terrorist attacks as "man-caused disasters." Formerly known as Doublespeak.
Obama, Barack. God, at least in Detroit.
Oil: A crude substance used to fuel other people's cars.
One hundred days: The first in a series of holy days during which dutiful media preside over national thanksgiving.
Palin, Sarah: White-trashy grandmother utterly unqualified and too dim-witted to be vice president.
Pandemic: CNN-speak for flu.
Pelosi, Nancy: Grandmotherly House speaker who could not be expected to understand that when Bushies authorized waterboarding of high-value detainees, it actually might happen.
Progressive: Liberal.
Public transportation: What other people should take to work.
Regulation: The threat of a salary cap for executives with firms receiving federal funds.
Republican Party: The party of the rich -- if the California inland empire and Central Valley are rich, and Beverly Hills, Marin County and Malibu are not.
Sacrifice: Something Bush never asked for during time of war. Now a tax hike for 95 percent of working families while U.S. troops fight in two wars abroad.
Specter, Arlen: Republican turned Democratic senator from Pennsylvania. Free thinker.
Stimulus: A rush in the nether regions at the prospect of spending trillions of dollars you don't have. Not to be confused with: Banking.
Surge: A tactic involving troop increases that could never work in Iraq, but always made sense for Afghanistan.
Tobacco: Toxic substance that should be overtaxed or banned -- unless it is marijuana. Then see: Medicine.
Tolerance: An essential element to civil societies; individuals deemed insufficiently tolerant must be re-educated.
War on terror: The fairness doctrine, the only weapon that can harm America's true enemy, Rush Limbaugh.
Waterboarding: Torture -- unless a plane piloted by terrorists hits a reservoir.

The Dynamics of Celibacy

May 18th, 2009 by Fr. Thomas Euteneuer

Some recent high-profile priest scandals have put celibacy back in the limelight as a topic for the pagan world to rage about, but rarely will you hear what the Catholic Church actually teaches about it. I hope that the following insights will be a short course in the dynamics of a marvelous life of grace: namely, celibate chastity. The world needs to hear “the other side” of the story.
Number One: Celibacy is a gift to the world, not a rule imposed by the Church on a few seemingly-abnormal men. Celibacy initiates men into a life of spiritual fatherhood in a strikingly positive way for others. We are called “father” for a reason: we bring spiritual life to our people through the sacred mysteries which we handle, and they are drawn into a spiritual family thereby. A truly dedicated priest has thousands of spiritual children who sometimes make immense demands on him — I often wish I had only seven children like my father! In an age where men have massively renounced their sacred duty to generate, protect and nurture families, there are myriads of selfless, celibate men sacrificing themselves in a truly manly way for the sake of God’s family and, indeed, even for the sake of many individual families. The fact that some priests fail at it does not make the gift of celibacy anything less than a true blessing; in fact, its failures force us to reflect more deeply on its quiet successes. It’s hypocritical to think that we should throw away the gift of celibacy (i.e., make it “optional”) based upon a minuscule percentage of failures of its practitioners. We don’t say the same thing about the much higher percentage of failures in marriage. Should we allow polygamy just because some married men can’t stick to one woman? This is the time to reaffirm the genuine beauty and value of celibacy, not change this immense gift to us.

(Full story at Catholic Exchange)

Gorby In, Garbage Out

If this doesn't open your eyes up to what is going on, Nothing will!!

By JAMES TARANTO on WSJ.com

Mention the name Mikhail Gorbachev to anyone under 35 or so, and you'll likely draw a blank look. Even those old enough to remember Gorbachev may be astonished to learn that he is still alive. Yet although history's second and subsequent drafts have relegated him to a supporting role, the first draft--that is, the journalism of the 1980s--mistook him for the lead character. In 1989 Time magazine named Gorbachev, not Ronald Reagan (or Margaret Thatcher or Lech Walesa or Pope John Paul II), "man of the decade."
But Gorbachev's name came up earlier this week in an odd context, an Associated Press "analysis" by Steven R. Hurst of President Obama's foreign policy:

President Barack Obama has gone abroad and gored an ox--the deeply held belief that the United States does not make mistakes in dealings with either friends or foes.

And in the process, he's taking a huge gamble both at home and abroad, for a payoff that could be a long time coming, if ever. . . .

While historic analogies are never perfect, Obama's stark efforts to change the U.S. image abroad are reminiscent of the stunning realignments sought by former Soviet leader Michael Gorbachev. During his short--by Soviet standards--tenure, he scrambled incessantly to shed the ideological entanglements that were leading the communist empire toward ruin.

There are lots of problems with Hurst's analysis, one of which is that the "belief that the United States does not make mistakes" is not an ox but a straw man, as Hurst himself implicitly acknowledges:

Critics, especially those deeply attached to the foreign policy course of the past 50-plus years, see a president whose lofty ideals expose the country to a dangerous probing of U.S. weakness, of an unseemly readiness to admit past mistakes, of a willingness to talk with unpleasant opponents.

In other words, the people who supposedly believe that the U.S. does not make mistakes are arguing that the U.S., right now, is making a big mistake!

The Obama-Gorbachev comparison is what really got our attention, though. There is a striking parallel between the two men, in that both have drawn adoring coverage from the media. But what makes Gorbachev an interesting figure is also what makes him a relatively minor one: He was consequential because he was passive.

Gorbachev did not succeed in bringing down the Soviet empire. He failed at saving it. History is replete with circumstances in which evil triumphed because well-intentioned statesmen failed to act effectively. In this case, freedom triumphed because an ill-intentioned statesman failed to act effectively.

Gorbachev was a communist who presided over the disintegration of the country he had been chosen to lead. There are those who say the same thing about Obama, but most of them are right-wing nuts.

DHS Chief Napolitano: Illegal Immigration Is Not a Crime

from Newsmax.com

By: Jim Meyers

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano stunned many listeners during an appearance on CNN when she asserted that illegal immigration is really not a crime.


In an interview with CNN’s John King last week, Napolitano discussed Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., a strict enforcer of immigration laws who says he wants illegal aliens to be prosecuted and jailed.


King said: “A lot of Democrats in Congress want you to investigate him. They think he is over the line. He says he is just enforcing the law and the problem is the federal government.”


Napolitano responded: “Sheriff Joe … knows that there aren’t enough law enforcement officers, courtrooms or jail cells in the world to do what he is saying.


“What we have to do is target the real evil-doers in this business, the employers who consistently hire illegal labor, the human traffickers who are exploiting human misery.


“And yes, when we find illegal workers, yes, appropriate action, some of which is criminal, most of that is civil, because crossing the border is not a crime per se. It is civil. But anyway, going after those as well.”


The fact is, crossing the border without authorization is a crime. The statute reads: “Any alien who enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers . . . shall, for the first commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both.”

CIA Confirms: Waterboarding 9/11 Mastermind Led to Info that Aborted 9/11-Style Attack on Los Angeles

Tuesday, April 21, 2009
By Terence P. Jeffrey, Editor-in-Chief

(CNSNews.com) - The Central Intelligence Agency told CNSNews.com today that it stands by the assertion made in a May 30, 2005 Justice Department memo that the use of “enhanced techniques” of interrogation on al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM) -- including the use of waterboarding -- caused KSM to reveal information that allowed the U.S. government to thwart a planned attack on Los Angeles.


Before he was waterboarded, when KSM was asked about planned attacks on the United States, he ominously told his CIA interrogators, “Soon, you will know.”

According to the previously classified May 30, 2005 Justice Department memo that was released by President Barack Obama last week, the thwarted attack -- which KSM called the “Second Wave”-- planned “ ‘to use East Asian operatives to crash a hijacked airliner into’ a building in Los Angeles.” (Full Story at CNSNews.com)

No wheeling or dealing when it comes to killing

Kudos to Carl Olson at Ignatius Insight

The New York Times ponders the fight and focus of the President:

Mr. Obama has not conceded on any major priority. His advisers argue that the concessions to date — on budget items, for instance — are intended to help win the bigger policy fights ahead. But his early willingness to deal or fold has left commentators, and some loyal Democrats, wondering: where’s the fight?

“The thing we still don’t know about him is what he is willing to fight for,” said Leonard Burman, an economist at the Urban Institute and a Treasury Department official in the Clinton administration. “The thing I worry about is that he likes giving good speeches, he likes the adulation and he likes to make people happy.”

So far, he said, “It’s hard to think of a place where he’s taken a really hard position.”

It's not hard at all. Here's a clue: it begins with an "a" and end with murder. It just happens to be the one issue on which Obama has always taken a really hard position. But perhaps that is simply a given for Mr. Burman...

Senate Committee Approves Pro-Abortion Kathleen Sebelius For Health Secretary

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A Senate panel today approved the nomination of pro-abortion Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to become President Barack Obama's health secretary. The Senate Finance Committee voted 15-8 for her nomination and now it heads to the full Senate for a debate and vote. There is no timetable on when the Senate will vote to confirm Sebelius, but political observers expect the Democratic-controlled chamber to approve her. The vote could take place as early as later today or later this week. Republicans on the committee who voted against Sebelius cited their concerns about her lengthy pro-abortion record. That includes vetoing several pro-life bills and a close relationship with late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller who has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to support her political campaigns and those of her close allies. "I don't think we'll ever get a pro-life person appointed to that position with this president, but we want to make sure we don't get somebody that has got radical views on abortion," Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa said. Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, another GOP member, added that he initially thought Sebelius "seemed to be a qualified candidate for the job." "However, after learning about her inexplicable omission of donations from the late-term abortion doctor George Tiller, I have to reevaluate my support for her nomination," Hatch said. All of the Democrats on the panel backed Sebelius' nomination along with two Republicans, pro-abortion Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine and Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, who normally votes pro-life but supported the Obama nominee from home state. Full News Story at LifeNews.com

The Gathering Marriage Storm

Posted by Tom McFeely

Wednesday, April 22, 2009 8:48 AM 

This video is part of the National Organization for Marriage’s new "Gathering Storm" media ad.

It’s especially timely today, as state legislators in Connecticut may vote today on legislation to codify same-sex “marriage” in that state.

Last weekend, as CNS reports here, Connecticut’s bishops used weekend Masses to urge parishioners to fight the proposed legislation.

Pulpit announcements read in churches statewide April 18 and 19 called on Catholics to help defeat a Senate bill that seeks to codify the Connecticut Supreme Court’s ruling last October legalizing same-sex marriage. TheConnecticut bishops warned the bill “fails to protect the First Amendment rights of individuals, religious organizations and related societies,” CNS reported.

(Full story at NCRegister.com)

Obamas Spending vs Obamas Spending Cuts - in Pictures

from Heritage Foundation:

According to reports, President Barack Obama plans to convene his Cabinet for the first time today, where he will order members to identify a combined $100 million in budget cuts over the next 90 days. Just how laughable is Obama’s latest stunt to try to maintain his “fiscal responsibility” credentials? This graphic from Heritage’s John Fleming might help:

 

Harvard University economics professor Greg Mankiw’s comments:
To put those numbers in perspective, imagine that the head of a household with annual spending of $100,000 called everyone in the family together to deal with a $34,000 budget shortfall. How much would he or she announce that spending had to be cut? By $3 over the course of the year–approximately the cost of one latte at Starbucks. The other $33,997? We can put that on the family credit card and worry about it next year.”

Bishop R. Walker Nickless 'Sadness at Notre Dame'

And then there were 9.

Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

This is in violation of the U.S. Bishops teaching that no honors ever be given by our Catholic institutions to those who support and promote the killing of innocent human beings through abortion. This is truly a sad day for the famous university dedicated to our Blessed Mother. 

 

SIOUX CITY, IA (Catholic Online) - As a part of a larger article written for the "Catholic Globe", the Most Reverend R. Walker Nickless added his voice to the growing crescendo of voices opposing the invitation by the University of Notre Dame to President Barack Obama to address their 2009 graduates and receive an honorary Doctor of Law Degree. The Bishop wrote:  

SADNESS AT NOTRE DAME 

 

"I know many of you join me in surprise and anger that the University of Notre Dame - which for many is “the” example of a Catholic University - through its president, Father John Jenkins, has invited the most pro-abortion president of the United States not only to give the commencement address this year, but also to receive an Honorary Law Degree.

"This is in violation of the U.S. Bishops teaching that no honors ever be given by our Catholic institutions to those who support and promote the killing of innocent human beings through abortion. This is truly a sad day for the famous university dedicated to our Blessed Mother.

"I encourage those who care to write to Father Jenkins and express their displeasure with this invitation. May Father Jenkins have the courage to rescind this invitation and not be afraid of the possible embarrassment by admitting that he has made a bad decision.

"Catholic institutions of higher learning must always be places where the Catholic values we hold so dearly will always be supported and promoted - not where the culture of death is allowed to be honored or valued. Let us pray for those who work so hard to keep our Catholic institutions truly Catholic in all they do to promote the gospel of life.

"May this Lent bring us to accept the need for a renewal of our entire faith, and the desire to live only in and through our Lord Jesus Christ, in His Church and in all His holy sacraments! Pray for me, and know that I continue daily to pray for all of you.

Your brother in Christ,

Most Reverend R. Walker Nickless, Bishop of Sioux City 

 

Our Problem is Immorality

Great article by Walter E. Williams. 

My friend David has this great commentary about the article an d has graciously allowed me to include it here in my post:

'This is an interesting column. It essentially reflects the "philosophy of the human person" taught by the Catholic Church. Each person is possessed of a dignity endowed by God and thus is sancrosanct; he or she can not be transgressed upon or acted upon without consent or genuine "due process". There is more to this view of the human person, but Dr. Williams is on the right "trajectory". . . and it is indeed the source of our manifold societal and governmental problems.' 

 
  by Walter E. Williams


Most of our nation's great problems, including our economic problems, have as their root decaying moral values. Whether we have the stomach to own up to it or not, we have become an immoral people left with little more than the pretense of morality. You say, "That's a pretty heavy charge, Williams. You'd better be prepared to back it up with evidence!" I'll try with a few questions for you to answer.


Do you believe that it is moral and just for one person to be forcibly used to serve the purposes of another? And, if that person does not peaceably submit to being so used, do you believe that there should be the initiation of some kind of force against him? Neither question is complex and can be answered by either a yes or no. For me the answer is no to both questions but I bet that your average college professor, politician or minister would not give a simple yes or no response. They would be evasive and probably say that it all depends.  (Full story at Townhall.com)

Sebelius Communion ban to apply in Washington

Washington D.C., Mar 30, 2009 / 05:26 pm (CNA).- According to the Washington Times, Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington plans to maintain the pastoral request Kathleen Sebelius’ bishop made in 2007 asking her not to receive Communion.
Governor of Kansas Kathleen Sebelius is looking to move to Washington D.C. to become the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Sebelius is President Obama’s second nominee to the post after Tom Daschle withdrew from consideration after it was revealed he failed to pay $140,000 in taxes.
Gov. Sebelius has both political and religious controversy surrounding her, with her local bishop, Archbishop Joseph Naumann asking her to refrain from Holy Communion for her "30-year history of advocating and acting in support of legalized abortion." The archbishop told CNA that he came to the point of asking the governor to refrain from Communion after speaking with her over a two-year period at various levels.

Upon hearing that she was nominated by President Obama, Archbishop Naumann wrote in his weekly column in The Leaven that "her appointment to HHS is particularly troubling."


(Full story at CNA)

Rebellious Australian priest plans to set up new church

Having finally been forced to relinquish control of St. Mary's parish in South Brisbane, Father Peter Kennedy plans to set up a rival church at a nearby union headquarters. After the parish council negotiated an agreement that the pastor would step down after Easter, Father Kennedy told reporters that he would establish a "Catholic community in exile" at the Trades and Labour Council Building-- which he jokingly referred to as the "Totally Lapsed Catholics Building." Father Kennedy said that he hoped 95% of his regular parishioners would join the new assembly.

Months ago, when the rebel priest first threatened to establish a rival congregation if he was ousted, Archbishop John Bathersby warned that the new group "will not be in communion with the Roman Catholic Church or the Archdiocese of Brisbane." The archbishop had already said that the St. Mary's community was already jeopardizing its connection with the Catholic Church by routinely violating liturgical and doctrinal norms.



Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Rebel priest to form 'church in exile' in hall down the road (The Australian)
• Rebel priest Peter Kennedy expects congregation to follow him (Courier Mail)
• Rebel priest to lead Catholic 'community in exile (ABC)

Dogs and Cats Living Together... Mass Hysteria

Posted by Bobby Eberle

In the classic movie "Ghostbusters" from 1984, Bill Murrary and company warn the mayor that the city is under such chaos and turmoil that the strangest of things will begin to happen. On the economic and political front, we are now living in those times.


It appears that the "good old days" of making fun of countries like France and Germany is over, because they about to be.... how can I say this... They appear to be taking the lead on the global economic debate. That's right. With Obama's America prepared to spend its way to oblivion, France and Germany are starting to say, "Enough is enough." Is this the end of the world as we know it?


It is indeed a strange world we live in when France and Germany take America to task for being too far to the left. It reminds me of Bill Murray's famous rant in "Ghostbusters":

(Full story at GOPUSA)

Patrick J. Buchanan: Is Notre Dame Still Catholic?

by Patrick J. Buchanan



By inviting Barack Obama to deliver the commencement address and receive an honorary degree at Notre Dame, the Rev. John Jenkins has polarized the Catholic community nationwide -- and raised a question. What does it mean to be a Catholic university in post-Christian America?

Are there truths about faith and morality that are closed to debate at Notre Dame? Or is Notre Dame like London's Hyde Park, where all ideas and all advocates get a hearing? 

To Catholics, abortion is the killing of an unborn child, a premeditated breach of God's Commandment "Thou Shalt Not Kill." The case is closed for all time. Any who participate in an abortion are excommunicated. Catholic politicians from Nancy Pelosi to Joe Biden who support a "woman's right to choose" have been denounced from pulpits and denied Communion.  (Full story at Townhall.com)

Hillary (Hearts) Margaret Sanger

On Friday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received Planned Parenthood's highest honor: the Margaret Sanger Award.

She told guests at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America's annual conference in Houston that women's reproductive and health rights is "an important part of U.S. efforts to develop democracy around the world and defeat extremism." And she praised the work of Margaret Sanger:

Now, I have to tell you that it was a great privilege when I was told that I would receive this award. I admire Margaret Sanger enormously, her courage, her tenacity, her vision. Another of my great friends, Ellen Chesler, is here, who wrote a magnificent biography of Margaret Sanger called Woman of Valor. And when I think about what she did all those years ago in Brooklyn, taking on archetypes, taking on attitudes and accusations flowing from all directions, I am really in awe of her.

(Full story at InsideCatholic.com)

Al ‘Bear’s Gore-Spiller’ spurns Earth Hour

I have another word for AlGore: HYPOCRITE

rom www.redstate.com: Front Page by Moe Lane (Profile)

Via Hot Air, I see that notorious, bloodthirsty polar bear-murderer Al Gore is up to his usual environmental violations - take that any way you like - in the pursuit of his destructive lifestyle:

Drew Johnson, president of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research —the same organization that also found Gore’s home consumes 20 times more electricity than the average household — told Yeas & Nays that Gore’s Belle Meade-section mansion did not go dark during the global campaign’s designated hour between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
Johnson did admit that although it wasn’t as bright as can be, Gore did have on “a dozen or so” floodlights on his trees, a light shining on his address number, and a noticeable “bluish glow” from his powered-on televisions and computers coming from inside his house.

That bluish glow was probably actually Cerenkov radiation: Gore’s just the sort of Gaia-denying hypocrite to have a secret nuclear reactor in his basement. After all, a man who’d have a kill rating of four millibears a year from his personal lifestyle alone can’t be trusted at all.  Besides, as the photo to the side shows, he’s not even willing to turn off the light that shows his street address.  As if any one in the area could miss it, what with the unholy glow of his profligate energy potlach obscuring the clean, night-time Tennessee sky.
Of course, the Gores sent out one of their minions to deny the evidence of Gore’s blatant energy waste, but you can see the picture above for yourself, so ask yourself this: why, oh why, must we be subjected to this man’s abiding contempt for our green, beautiful Earth-parent? What horrible in the past twisted Al Gore, and made him such a ruthless scourge of the gaiasphere? Why does he look upon this beautiful, innocent photo…

…and feel only a black, oily rage?
Why, Al Gore?
Why?
Moe Lane
Crossposted to Moe Lane.

Telling CO2 Lies to Destroy America

My friend, the internationally famed climatologist Dr. S. Fred Singer, calls them “the CO2 wars.” It is the last ditch attempt by the Greens, under the aegis of the Obama administration, to declare carbon dioxide a pollutant and thus open the door to its regulation.

Singer says such regulation “would be the equivalent of an atomic bomb directed at the U.S. economy—all without any scientific justification.”

I am increasingly of the opinion that the main goal of the Obama administration through CO2 regulation, exploding deficits, punishing taxation, and any other means at their disposal is the destruction of the economy and the complete control of impoverished Americans.

(full story at CNSNews.com)

Acquitting the Killers

Abortionist George Tiller’s trial is over and the jury has rendered a verdict of “not guilty.”

It’s what we mean by a culture of death…The way we operate, at every level of society, favors death. The poison of abortion permeates the electoral process (resulting in public officials who support the killing); it permeates the educational institutions (who then invite and honor pro-abortion public officials); and the courts (putting people like Pastor Walter Hoye in jail and acquitting killers like George Tiller.)

Tiller belongs in jail. We have to understand once and for all that abortionists care nothing about pesky provisions of the law like Kansas has to introduce some slight measure of restraint (if we can even call it that) into the process of late-term abortion.

After all, if these abortionists can kill late-term babies and throw their bodies in incinerators in the back room after sometimes having the parents take locks of hair from these children after they are dressed up in post-abortion baptismal garments – well, then, their consciences are dead.

In reality, Mr. Tiller, you are not acquitted at all. You’re killing babies, and the verdict of the court of heaven is against you.

Time still permits you to repent. We will work and pray for that, and at the same time we will continue to persuade your “clients” not to let you near their children.

–Fr. Frank

Obama fires Government Motors CEO

The socialization of our country has begun. I am sure Obama's teleprompter will shortly have a press conference stating we are now the USSA (United Socialist States of America) to more fully align with our agenda 


from American Thinker


Rick Moran
The CEO of GM (Government Motors) was fired by the president of the United States. For those old fuddy duddies out there who may think this a danger to free market capitalism, American liberty, and common sense (not to mention those of us who love nice looking automobiles), I say relax and get with the program.

As this report clearly shows, if the government is in for a penny, it is in for a billion - or several billion as this case may be:

The administration's auto team announced the departure of Mr. Wagoner on Sunday. In a summary of its findings, the task force added that it doesn't believe Chrysler is viable as a stand-alone company, and suggested that the best chance for success for both GM and Chrysler "may well require utilizing the bankruptcy code in a quick and surgical way."
The move also indicates that the Treasury Department intends to wade more deeply than most observers expected into the affairs of the country's largest and oldest car company.

After spending billions of dollars to prop up these dying giants, now the government gets ambitious and may seek to assist them through the bankruptcy process. And apparently, the government is going to shower more money on GM and Chrysler to "tide them over:"

The administration said it would provide the company sufficient working capital for 60 more days, during which a revamped GM board and top management has to put forward a much more rigorous restructuring plan than it submitted last month.
"The administration is prepared to stand by GM throughout this process to ensure that GM emerges with a fresh start and a promising future," according to term sheets released by the White House Monday morning.
Administration officials made it clear that an expedited and heavily supervised bankruptcy reorganization was still very much a possibility for both companies. One official, speaking of GM, compared such a proceeding to a "quick rinse" that could rid the company of much of its debt and contractual obligations.

Any bankruptcy proceeding would stick it to debt and bond holders of GM but no word on making the unions pay a price for their part in this debacle. Since the forecast for hell calls for steady temperatures above the boiling point of water, it is not likely a quick freeze will come to the nether regions anytime soon thus making it an impossibility for hell to freeze over before unions get the same treatment as GM bond holders.

Meanwhile, we better get used to Obama being the final arbiter in hiring and firing of CEO's. And this gives me an idea. Since the government needs revenue - a lot of revenue - maybe Obama could set up an employment agency for CEO's at the White House. Sort of like a Monster.com for executives he throws under the bus. 


The franchise rights alone could retire the national debt.

Closing Ranks on Canon 915: Bishops Confirm that Sebelius Should Not Receive Communion

Commentary by Deal W. Hudson    

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius received some good news last week when abortionist Dr. George Tiller was found not guilty of breaking state laws regulating late-term abortion. The relationship between Tiller and Sebelius would surely have played a role in her upcoming confirmation hearings had he been found guilty.

But Governor Sebelius got some bad news as well -- something not noticed much in Catholic media or the secular press. The bishops of Washington, D.C., and Arlington, Virginia, confirmed publicly they would uphold the declaration of her ordinary, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, stating that Governor Sebelius should not present herself for communion.

A spokeswoman for the Washington Archdiocese, Susan Gibbs, said Archbishop Donald Wuerl would expect Sebelius to follow Bishop Naumann's request while in Washington. Joelle Santolla, spokeswoman for the Arlington Diocese, announced that Bishop Paul Loverde would expect the same while she was in Northern Virginia.

That Archbishop Wuerl and Bishop Loverde would back up Bishop Naumann in regard to the future Secretary of Health and Human Services is a significant development in the effort of some bishops to enforce Canon 915: "Those upon whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to holy communion."

(Full story at LifeSiteNews.com)

Obama: 100 Days of Abortion

As his April 29 100-day mark nears, the Register is compiling an editorial about president Obama’s abortion record, starting with his days as an Illinois state senator. Let me know if it’s missing anything.

March 28, 2001: Voted “No” to the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act in the Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee.

March 6, 2002: Voted “No” to the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act in the Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee.

April 4, 2002: Voted “No” to the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act on the Illinois Senate floor.

March 13-14, 2003: Voted “No” to the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act in the Illinois Senate after voting for an amendment that made it identical to the federal law of the same name.

2005-2008: 100% pro-abortion record in U.S. Senate.

(Full story at NCRegister.com)

Touchdown Obama

By George Neumayr on 3.27.09 @ 6:08AM

The Catholic Church in America has bred her own destroyers, graduating from doctrinally corrupt catechetical programs, schools and colleges two generations of pro-abortion politicians. Barack Obama, in his effortless Alinskyite style, has exploited this phenomenon to the hilt, seeking out Catholics such as Joe Biden and Kathleen Sebelius to serve as his agents of destruction.


The controversy this week at Notre Dame is one more snapshot of this self-implosion. Here we have the American bishops' most prominent university planning to confer an honorary degree upon Obama even as he accelerates the destruction of its moral teachings.


Were Saul Alinsky alive today, he would have to smile at the ease of it all. Obama can not only thwart the Church at every crucial turn and still retain the Catholic vote; he can even expect over the next few years prizes and pats on the back from Catholic colleges for doing so. (Full story at American Spectator)

Hillary: 'Who Painted' Guadalupe apparition?

from American Thinker

Rick Moran
In one respect, Hillary Clinton can be forgiven if she didn't know the story of how the apparition of the Virgin Mary appeared on a peasant's coat back in 1531. It's a "Catholic thing" and most American protestants aren't familiar with Catholic teaching.

The story of how the apparition appeared on the coat can be found here. But it isn't that Hillary Clinton didn't know Catholic myths but rather her total ignorance of Mexican culture that is the problem. John Hinderaker at Powerline explains:

The Catholic News Agency says that after viewing the cloak, Clinton turned to the priest who was showing her the Basilica and asked, "Who painted it?"
This is one of those stories that seem like it can't possibly be true. Could America's Secretary of State really be ignorant of a central cultural symbol of a country next door? It is as though a foreign minister came to Washington, was shown Stuart's portrait of George Washington, and asked, "Who was he?" It is hard to imagine how Clinton's staff could have prepared her for her visit without making sure she knew the story. So for now, I'm reserving judgment. It will be interesting to see whether CNS's story is confirmed and whether the State Department has any comment.

The priest she asked who painted the relic reportedly replied "God!" which may have flustered our "smart" Secretary of State. Indeed, Hillary's entire tenure so far has been marked by one blunder after another.
Ed Morrissey:

Some “smart diplomacy,” huh?  First Hillary doesn’t understand multiparty democracy, then she fumbles a snarky “reset button” by mistranslating it and putting it in Latin rather than Cyrillic script.  She can’t even get names straight, let alone sound intelligent when visiting national shrines.  A few more of these and we may have a new feature here at Hot Air.

(Cartoon) - Notre Dame 2, Alumni vs Students

from www.redstate.com: Front Page by TobyToons (Profile)

Thanks to RedStater jessejames for pointing out the real disparity is between the alumni and the students on the issue of having “The One” be the speaker at Notre Dame’s graduation cermenoy.
70% of ALUMNI disagree with the university while 73% of STUDENTS agree with the university.
This cartoon better illustrates the situation.

Hillary's Mexico Visit Blunders Ignored by Old Media

from NewsBusters.org - Exposing Liberal Media Bias by Warner Todd Huston

Thus far, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made two diplomatic blunders during her visit to Mexico that the U.S. Old Media are shockingly uninterested in highlighting. One was a policy blunder and the other a cultural/religious one.

Clinton's first mistake was in imagining she is still a Senator that can make pronouncements on pending laws and policy plans instead of a mere envoy of the president, a mouth piece that hasn't the same freedom to invent policy prescriptions and laws that a Senator does. Last week, Clinton told Mexican officials that "we" -- as in the U.S. government -- are considering re-upping the so-called assault rifle ban because Mexico's drug violence is "our" fault.

When asked on March 27 about plans to return to the 1994 law banning "assault weapons" (a vague and illegitimate term at best), Obama's press secretary replied that he was unaware of "any plans" to reinstitute the ban.

Clinton obviously spoke out of turn making promises to Mexican officials that she was not authorized to make.

"Who painted it?"

The second Clinton gaffe concerned her abstruse question at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Thursday, March 26. Her question showed that Clinton was woefully uninformed about the most important feature of the church, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe enshrined there since 1531.
Catholic tradition holds that the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was miraculously imprinted by Mary on a cloak belonging to Saint Juan Diego in 1531. As Monsignor Diego Monroy brought Clinton before the shrine, Clinton asked her blundering question.

After observing it for a while, Mrs. Clinton asked “who painted it?” to which Msgr. Monroy responded “God!”

Now, perhaps Clinton being so woefully ignorant of anything religious isn't such a surprise, but for a Secretary of State to be visiting one of the most famous and important churches in the region, one holding a much beloved religious relic, without even finding her staff informing her "who painted" the image reveals a shocking lack by professionalism of both the Secretary of State and her staff.

Add this to the "button gaffe" of March 7 where Clinton's staff failed to find out how to spell a simple word in Russian and we are seeing a Secretary of State failing in the simplest of tasks making a mockery of our "diplomatic" outreach.
Sadly, the Old Media is letting her off the hook with aplomb.

(Photo credit: Estrella/Getty - New York Daily News)

South African bishops: We don’t discourage condoms

Can you imagine the Pandora's box that would be opened if the Vatican were to follow their suggestion?


From Catholic Culture:


Reacting to Pope Benedict’s March 17 comments on AIDS and condoms, Father Chris Townsend, information officer of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC), told the Johannesburg-based Mail & Guardian that "in South Africa it's our approach that we will teach people about condoms. We don't encourage them but we don't discourage them." Father Townsend added that the bishops’ conference has asked the Vatican to rule on the morality of condom use, “particularly in situations where one person in a marriage is HIV-positive, and the other is HIV-negative.”

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Catholics, condoms and confusion (Mail & Guardian)

Inactive Catholics flock to Phoenix churches

from OSV Daily Take by Mary DeTurris Poust

When the Diocese of Phoenix became a test case of sorts for the Catholics Come Home TV ad campaign, no one could have predicted the incredible success that would result in 92,000 inactive Catholics returning to the Church. Quite an impressive number, but if you watch any of the ads, which you can do by going directly to Catholics Come Home, it's easy to see why this campaign had such an impact. The "movie" ad alone is enough to bring even the most hardened fallen away Catholic back to the pews. Take a few minutes now and watch it by clicking HERE.

The ads have been running in the Phoenix Diocese during Lent, and, according to a CNS story, more than 500,000 visitors from 50 states and 80 countries have visited the Catholics Come Home website since the spots began airing. All this just goes to prove that there are thousands upon thousands of Catholics just waiting to be invited back to the Church of their birth. In Phoenix, Mass attendance was up 22 percent at nine sample parishes since the ad campaign began. Do we need more proof than that?

Other dioceses, not surprisingly, want in on this phenomenon. More than a dozen other dioceses in the United States will begin airing the ads later this year, and by Advent of 2010, the campaign will be on the national networks, CNS reported.

Notre Dame student coalition opposes Obama appearance

Notre Dame Right to Life, Notre Dame College Republicans, and nine other student organizations have created Notre Dame Response, a student coalition that opposes the university’s decision to award President Barack Obama an honorary degree in May. “In defense of the unborn, we wish to express our deepest opposition to Reverend John I. Jenkins, CSC’s invitation of President Barack Obama to be the University of Notre Dame’s principal commencement speaker and the recipient of an honorary degree,” the coalition said in a statement. “Our objection is not a matter of political partisanship, but of President Obama’s hostility to the Catholic Church’s teachings on the sanctity of human life at its earliest stages. His recent dedication of federal funds to overseas abortions and to embryonic stem cell research will directly result in the deaths of thousands of innocent human beings. We cannot sit by idly while the University honors someone who believes that an entire class of human beings is undeserving of the most basic of all legal rights, the right to live.” The coalition’s statement continues:

(Full story at Catholic Culture)

Third Bishop Condemns Notre Dame Scandal: "It is Very Clear ND Does Not Live Up to Catholic Identity"

By Kathleen Gilbert

AUSTIN, Texas, March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A third bishop has publicly condemned an invitation to President Barack Obama by the Catholic University of Notre Dame to receive an honorary law degree and offer the commencement address on May 17.

In the latest issue of the Austin diocese's "E-pistle," Bishop Gregory Aymond states, regarding the scandal: "I, along with many other Catholics, express great disappointment and sadness that a Catholic university would honor someone who is pro-choice and who holds many values contrary to our Catholic belief.

"In the midst of such a sad situation, as Catholics we must continue to be pro-life and to proclaim with even greater strength the values of Christ and the teachings of the Catholic Church.

"In my opinion, it is very clear that in this case the University of Notre Dame does not live up to its Catholic identity in giving this award and their leadership needs our prayerful support," said Bishop Aymond.

Bishop Aymond's words follow a Wednesday letter by Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix to University president Fr. John Jenkins, in which Olmsted decried the honor as a "public act of disobedience to the Bishops of the United States."  Prior to that, Notre Dame's Bishop D'Arcy issued his own criticism of the invitation and stated he would not attend the ceremony.

An online petition launched by the Cardinal Newman Society immediately after the invitation was revealed last Friday has topped 185,000 signatures (to sign the petition, go to: http://www.notredamescandal.com).

Fr. Jenkins and University spokesmen have said they do not plan to rescind the invitation despite the wave of protests.
For a list of contact information regarding the Notre Dame scandal, go to: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09032706.html
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Bishop Olmsted: Notre Dame's Obama Honor "Public Act of Disobedience to U.S. Bishops"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09032605.html

Notre Dame's Bishop Will Not Attend Obama-Honoring Graduation, Criticizes University's Decision
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09032408.html

Petition against Obama's Notre Dame Honor Skyrockets Past 103,000 Signatures in Four Days
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09032410.html

Notre Dame Faces Groundswell of Outrage after Announcing Plan to Honor Obama
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09032312.html

Notre Dame President: School "Honored" by Obama's Acceptance to Speak and Receive Honorary Degree
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09032306.html

Catholic Notre Dame University to Give Obama Honorary Degree on May 17, Against USCCB Policy
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09032005.html

Bishop Olmsted: Notre Dame, 'Public Act of Disobedience to U.S. Bishops'

By Kathleen Gilbert
3/27/2009

LifeSiteNews (www.lifesitenews.com)

'It is a public act of disobedience to the Bishops of the United States'said the bishop.

Saddened and heavy of heart about your decision to invite President Obama to speak at Notre Dame University and even to receive an honorary degree.

PHOENIX, Arizona (LifeSiteNews.com) - Bishop Thomas Olmsted has written a letter to University of Notre Dame president Fr. John Jenkins condemning the invitation to President Obama to offer the school's commencement address and receive an honorary law degree on May 17.

Olmsted's letter follows a statement earlier this week by Notre Dame's own Bishop John D'Arcy, in which the bishop criticized the decision and announced his intent to boycott the ceremony.

American Papist blogger Thomas Peters broke the news of the letter from Bishop Olmsted, dated yesterday, in which Olmsted told Jenkins he was "saddened and heavy of heart about your decision to invite President Obama to speak at Notre Dame University and even to receive an honorary degree" (See: http://www.americanpapist.com/blog).

"It is a public act of disobedience to the Bishops of the United States," said the bishop, who cited the U.S. bishops' 2004 directive that pro-abortion politicians "should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions."

"I pray that you come to see the grave mistake of your decision, and the way that it undercuts the Church's proclamation of the Gospel of Life in our day," Olmsted concluded.

Since news broke of the invitation to Obama late last Friday, Catholic leaders and Notre Dame alumni have unleashed a steady stream of protest and calls to reconsider the move.

A fast-moving online petition launched by the Cardinal Newman Society on a website formed immediately after the Friday announcement (http://www.notredamescandal.com/) has gathered over 165,000 signatures as of early Thursday afternoon.

Fr. Jenkins has said he would not rescind the offer despite protests.

Vatican Offical Says Catholics Who Voted for Obama Cooperated With Evil

(CNSNews.com) – In an interview in Rome with Catholic activist Randall Terry, Archbishop Raymond Burke said that Catholics who voted for President Barack Obama engaged in “a form of cooperation” with evil because of Obama’s pro-abortion policies.

If a Catholic knew that abortion was gravely sinful and that Obama wanted to make abortion more available and voted for him, that Catholic “cooperated” and bears a responsibility for the consequences, said Burke.  (Full story at CNSNews.com)

Sebelius to be barred from Communion in Washington?

from Catholic Culture

Kathleen Sebelius, the Kansas governor who has been chosen by President Barack Obama to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, may be instructed to refrain from receiving Communion in the nation's capital, the Washington Times reports. Sebelius, a Catholic who has been a staunch supporter of legal abortion, was told by Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City that she should not present herself for Communion. The Times reports that Archbishop Wuerl has conferred with Archbishop Naumann and would "act in accordance with the admonition from Kansas City." It was not clear whether Archbishop Wuerl would instruct his priests to refuse to administer Communion to Sebelius if she challenges the policy.



Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Sebelius in trouble with Catholic Church (Washington Times)
• Kansas City archbishop explains request that Sebelius not receive Communion (CWN, Mar 16)

La. Gov. Jindal urges GOP to stand up to Obama

from GOPUSA

By BEN EVANS
Associated Press
March 25, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal again found himself carrying the Republican mantle opposite a primetime appearance from President Barack Obama on Tuesday, saying Republicans must be ready to defy the president when they disagree with his policies. He also joked about his widely panned response to Obama's address to Congress last month.

"We are now in the position of being the loyal opposition," Jindal said at a Republican congressional fundraising dinner that only by coincidence fell on the same night as Obama's news conference. "The right question to ask is not if we want the president to fail or succeed, but whether we want America to succeed."

Saying "the time for talking about the past is over," Jindal said Republicans have begun to find their voice after back-to-back elections losses -- motivated by what he called historic Democratic spending excess.

Jindal is widely considered a potential 2012 GOP presidential candidate, but his televised response to Obama's speech at the Capitol last month was widely panned. Some compared his delivery to the late children's television host Mister Rogers and said the address could hurt Jindal's national potential.

At Tuesday's $2,500-per-plate dinner -- which President George W. Bush headlined last year -- Jindal opened his speech by poking fun of himself. He threatened to deliver a reprise of the earlier performance and then jokingly compared it to torture.

"They're not allowed to show my speech at Gitmo anymore," he said. "They've banned that."

The National Republican Congressional Committee, which works to get Republicans elected to Congress, said it raised more than $6 million at the event.

The Obama Press Conference... A Cornucopia of !%&&%#*

Posted by Bobby Eberle

President Obama went before the American people (again) in order to pitch his brand of socialist policies. His budget has come under attack, as I reported yesterday, and on Tuesday night, Obama tried to clarify why massive government spending and saddling America with unprecedented levels of debt are justified.

A number of statements and comments really caught my attention. From Obama saying that his administration needs to make some "tough budgetary choices" to a his comment that there will be "zero growth" if his agenda is not passed, there were plenty of sound bites to make the American people shudder. Please Republicans... step forward and lead... we can't let Obama take us down the path to socialism.

(Full story at GOPUSA)

Vatican Offical Says Catholics Who Voted for Obama Cooperated With Evil

(CNSNews.com) – In an interview in Rome with Catholic activist Randall Terry, Archbishop Raymond Burke said that Catholics who voted for President Barack Obama engaged in “a form of cooperation” with evil because of Obama’s pro-abortion policies.

If a Catholic knew that abortion was gravely sinful and that Obama wanted to make abortion more available and voted for him, that Catholic “cooperated” and bears a responsibility for the consequences, said Burke. (Full story at CNSNews.com)

Bishop D’Arcy will not attend Notre Dame commencement featuring Obama

Fort Wayne, Ind., Mar 24, 2009 / 12:52 pm (CNA).- Bishop John M. D'Arcy has issued a statement saying that he won't be attending Notre Dame's commencement exercises, which will feature President Obama as the keynote speaker and honor him with a doctor of laws degree.
The Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend, said that he was not informed of the decision to allow Obama to speak and be awarded a degree until just before the White House announced the news.

Of particular concern to the bishop is the fact that "President Obama has recently reaffirmed, and has now placed in public policy, his long-stated unwillingness to hold human life as sacred.

"While claiming to separate politics from science," said D'Arcy, "he has in fact separated science from ethics and has brought the American government, for the first time in history, into supporting direct destruction of innocent human life."

Pointing to a 2004 U.S. Bishops' statement that calls on Catholic institutions not to honor those who thwart Church beliefs, Bishop D'Arcy said that "the measure of any Catholic institution is not only what it stands for, but also what it will not stand for."

(Full story at CNA)

Organizing For America…AKA Obama’s Civilian Security Force

Remember during the Presidential campaign when Barack Obama said that America needs a domestic security force “just as strong and just as well funded as our military?”

For you students of history, does that bring anything from the past to mind?

As much as the implications of that statement chilled me at the time, I was under the belief that such a thing would never come to pass.
Seems like I was wrong about that one.

And for those of who may have missed it, here is what President Obama had to say:  (Full story at Freedomedia.com)

Obama's Culture of Death Accomplishments

from Bioethics Defense Fund

Culture of Death Accomplishments
From attacking conscience protections, to funding abortion and unrestricted human embryo research, the President takes aim at pro-life protections.

March 23, 2009 After only 2 months in office, President Barack Obama is clearly the most pro-culture of death President in history. Here's why:

1. President Obama reversed the Mexico City Policy four days after taking office. Instead of restricting foreign aid to organizations who directly support abortion, American taxpayers will be funding abortions overseas, all while trying to make ends meet in the midst of a recession.

2. The new omnibus budget increases money spent on the abortion industry, including an increase of $7.5 million to $307.5 million for Title X Domestic Family Planning and a 19% increase of $88 million to $545 million for International Family Planning.

3. President Obama signed an executive order forcing American taxpayers to fund unrestricted embryonic stem cell research. As pointed in a column by Charles Krauthammer, President Obama “pointedly left open the creation of cloned -- and noncloned sperm-and-egg-derived -- human embryos solely for the purpose of dismemberment and use for parts.”

4. President Obama has started the proceedings to rescind the “conscience clause” regulations put in place by President Bush, which protects healthcare professionals and medical students who refuse to perform abortions for moral reasons. (To speak out, go to www.Freedom2Care.com)

5. President Obama nominated one of the most pro-abortion governors in the country, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, to be Secretary of HHS, which oversees millions spent on the abortion industry. Sebelius hosted infamous late-term abortionist Dr. George Tiller and his staff at the governor's mansion.

6. On March 17, 2009, for the first time in eight years, the Obama State Department released $50 million to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), an organization linked to China's one-child policy and coerced abortions. Unsatisfied by the $50 million mark, House members, led by pro-abortion Rep. Louise Slaughter, are asking for even more money in the next budget Congress will consider.

7. Under Obama’s proposed healthcare plan, the same advocates that are pushing for taxpayer-funded abortions and wiping out parental consent laws, were front and center at the Healthcare Summit in Washington, DC to present their solutions.

*** CLICK HERE to tell Notre Dame what you think of their decision to honor President Obama at the May 17 Commencement***.

Catholic Notre Dame Will Award Pro-Abortion Obama an Honorary Law Degree

(CNSNews.com) - The University of Notre Dame announced on Friday that it will award President Barack Obama an honorary law degree and that Obama will give the principal address at the university’s May 17th commencement ceremony.

Obama supports abortion on demand, government funding of abortion, government funding of stem cell research that kills human embryos, legally granting same-sex unions all the rights and privileges of marriage, and repealing the federal Defense of Marriage Act that protects states from being forced to recognize same-sex marriages contracted in other states as they otherwise might be compelled to under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution.

The Catholic Church holds that abortion and same-sex unions are immoral and must be opposed.

White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs announced during his regular press briefing on Friday that Obama would be giving commencement addresses at Notre Dame, Arizona State and the U.S. Naval Academy.

“In terms of commencement, excuse me, on May the 13th, the president will give the commencement address at Arizona State University,” said Gibbs. “On May 17th, the president will give the commencement address at Notre Dame. And on May 22nd, he will speak to graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy.”

Also on Friday afternoon, Notre Dame posted a statement on its website announcing that President Obama would be granted an honorary law degree from the school and that he would be the main speaker at the school’s graduation ceremony.

“President Barack Obama will be the principal speaker and the recipient of an honorary doctor of laws degree at the University of Notre Dame’s 164th University Commencement Ceremony at 2 p.m. May 17 (Sunday) in the Joyce Center on campus,” said the statement.

The statement also noted that Obama will become the ninth U.S. president to be awarded an honorary degree from Notre Dame and the sixth to give the commencement address.

The five presidents who have so far delivered commencement addresses at Notre Dame include Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush.  Kennedy delivered his speech at Notre Dame’s 1950 “winter commencement” when Kennedy was a U.S. senator.

Notre Dame alumnus Joe Scheidler, national director of the Pro-Life Action League, quickly responded to Notre Dame’s announcement that Obama would deliver its commencement speech by issuing a statement calling on Father John Jenkins, the president of Notre Dame, to withdraw the invitation to Obama..

“Over the first two months of his administration, Barack Obama has established himself as the most pro-abortion president in U.S. history,” said Scheidler. “My alma mater should not be providing a platform for this president.”

“Starting from his first week in office, President Obama has enacted a string of executive orders, appointments and policy decisions that contradict Catholic teaching on the sanctity of life--a teaching that Notre Dame is supposed to uphold,” said Scheidler.

“Father Jenkins cannot expect pro-life Catholics to stand back and allow the most pro-abortion president in U.S. history to make a mockery of Notre Dame's Catholic identity,” Scheidler said.

The Destruction of Notre Dame

By James M. Thunder on 3.23.09 @ 6:08AM

On Friday, March 20, it was announced that President Obama had accepted an invitation by the president of the University of Notre Dame, Father John Jenkins, to give the commencement address on May 19 and receive an honorary degree. What fire could not do, Father Jenkins and his Academic Council may succeed in doing -- destroying a major Catholic institution.

In April 1879, the Main Building of the University was destroyed by fire. It was "the Main Building" because it housed classrooms, student sleeping quarters, kitchen, library, offices. The man who had left France and founded Notre Dame 37 years earlier, in 1842, Father Edward Sorin, was 65 and saw his life's work destroyed. Nonetheless, with fiery determination, he exclaimed: "If it were all gone, I should not give up. Tomorrow, we will build again, and build it bigger." That summer, with help from Chicagoans who had suffered their own fire eight years before, 300 laborers, using mud from the campus lake, made bricks and rebuilt it. It was sufficiently complete for the return of students in September. It is this building that TV viewers see during Notre Dame home football games. (Full story at The American Spectator)