Category Archives: Politics

First they came…

26 Thursday Apr 2012

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While reading my fellow classmate Chris’s blog post, Applied History Lessons or Self-Serving Propaganda, I was reminded of the old poem, First they came…  This relates in a big way to this current attack on religious liberty and the family that we are all dealing with right now.  Before I continue with my thoughts on this subject, allow me to reprint the poem here for you.

First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me.  Anti-Catholicism is the only biogtry left in the United States that is still acceptable for the majority of the population.  If you want to attack religion, you don’t attack the religion, you attack the Catholics and call it an attack on religion.

This is what the government is doing right now, only, they are attacking more than religion.  Yes, they are attacking religious liberty.  However, they are attacking something much greater than religious liberty.  The Church considers the family the “Domestic Church.”  This Church is being attacked in the same way that religious liberty is being attacked.  By forcing Catholic institutions to close rather than violate their consciences, the government is attacking families as well.  For it is these institutions which protect the rights of the family.  These institutions will help anyone in need, no questions asked.  They will do it with as much love and care as you can expect from a family member.  They are a family in their own way, and care for you like you always have been, and always will be a member of their family.

They came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me.  We must all stand together and defend our Religious Institutions and families.  We must defend these truths that we all know, and hold them as close to our hearts as we hold our family members.

They came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me.  I pray that this will never be the case.  I pray that we not only speak up for others, but that others will come to the defense of the Church and the Family, as She has faithfully done for 2 millenia.  May this day never come, but when she is silenced, there will truly be no one left to speak for me or for you.

“What kind of Catholics do they think we are?”

21 Saturday Apr 2012

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It was with these words that, at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, of the Knights of Columbus, got a rousing round of appluase in the middle of his speech.  Carl Anderson, rewording that famous line from Winston Churchill’s famous speech to a Joint Session of Congress, “What kind of people do they think we are?”, posed that question to the government trying to take away our religious libertyl; trying to take away our first ammendment right, which clearly states that we have a Freedom of Religion, and not a Freedom of Worship.  It is with these short words that I hope to answer this question that the Supreme Knight posed.

What kind of Catholic am I?  Well, I am pretty sure the government thinks that I am the kind of Catholic willing to violate my conscience, willing to violate the solemn truths that I profess willingly and loudly. 

However, they are wrong.

I am not this kind of Catholic.  I am the kind of Catholic willing to stand up to the Government in all of her misleadings.  I am the kind of Catholic who will not violate my conscience in order for “healthcare” for all.  I am the kind of Catholic who will not tolerate these attacks on the family.  This very family that is the future of our once great country, which can be great again.  I am the kind of Catholic willing to stand up and profess my beliefs every chance I get!  I believe in One God.  I believe in Jesus Christ.  I believe in, and will adamently defend the sanctity of all human life from the unborn baby in it’s mother’s womb, to the elderly man who is dying in bed and deemed to “have no life.” 

But most of all, I am the kind of Catholic who will not stand idly by watching Catholic instutions make plans for closure.  Why must they close, you ask?  They must close because they are Catholic.  They will close, rather than violate their own consciences, contributing to this unfortunate culture of death.  This was relayed to those in attendance at the end of the breakfast by Mother Agnes Mary Donovan, S.V., Superior General of the Sisters of Life.

In their 151-year history, this congregation has, with the help of God, survived a Civil War on their doorstep, deadly epidemics, devastating floods, economic depression and tumultuous social upheaval. Today, however, they face a new, more insidious threat — their own government. Should HHS persist in implementing the [Interim Rule and its contraceptive] mandate without major modifications, the Congregation will be forced to curtail its mission. What war and disease could not do to the Congregation, the government of the United States will do. It will shut them down.

We cannot.  Nay, we MUST not stand around and watch this happen.  Wars, floods. and disease, just to name a few things, did not close down the Dominican Sisters of the Congregation of St. Cecilia.  But the government will.  For following their first ammendment right of freedom of religion.  For being Catholic.  For fighting for families and the unborn child.  For refusing to acknowledge the so-called “validity” of homosexual unions.  For refusing to accept and embrace the unfortunate state of our society in which sexuality rules all, and, God-forbid one wasn’t having sex 24/7.

And so, in following the words of the Supreme Knight, this is the kind of Catholic that I am.  The kind of Catholic that they think I am might be different, but it does not matter.  I am going to stand up and profess the truths of the Catholic faith wherever I am, even if it means dying the death of a martyr, or in prison.  We must all take these words to heart.  We must all listen to them, and, once more, as Mother Agnes Mary, in quoting Tolkein,

Hold your ground! … A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. … This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you, stand!

 

And so, we must. 

A Sermon on HHS

29 Wednesday Feb 2012

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So, as I was walking out of class today, I was talking to my professor, asking her how many posts we are supposed to have class related, and when I received the answer, I commented that when I sit down to write a class related post, I usually end up ranting about something else.  Well, today is no different.  As I was sitting down to write a post on the aristocratic marriage practices, specifically the Marriage of Giovanni and Lusanna, I instead starting listening to a youtube video of a Sermon about the attack on Religious Liberty.  Well, as you can see, that posts on Giovanni and Lusanna didn’t happen (though I promise it will soon Dr. S!)   Below is the video of the sermon.  It is well worth 10 minutes of your time.

 

 

P.S.- I will get back to my Lenten Series soon!   I have had to take a break due to midterms, though I am sorta keeping up with Matins!  

The Family and The State

15 Wednesday Feb 2012

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In my history class today, we were discussing Calvinism, and, in part, how it led to the growth of not only the State, but also the State’s involvement in Family life.  As I was contemplating this idea, I jotted down on an extra sheet of paper the following:

Calvinism leads to the Consistory in Geneva
Consistory in Geneva leads to State Intervention in the Family Life
State Intervention in the Family in Calvinism relates to The Obama Administration
One of the many atrocities of the Obama Administration is the HHS Mandate
 

So, before I can get all the way through this, I guess that I had better start at the beginning.  While in the midst of starting a new religion, John Calvin fled to Geneva, Switzerland.  After a number of years, began to reform the city.  This led to the creation of the Consistory.  The Consistory was the judicial body in Geneva, and, due to the strict order that Calvin wanted in his city, chances are that one would be called before them for one reason or another within a ten year span.  

Due to the fact that most people were called before the consistory for one thing or another, the Consistory not only slowly began to get more involved in family life.  Because of this, punishments became much more harsher.  There were small penalties for things like not knowing your prayers in French (God help the poor woman who goes and recites Ave Maria, gratia plena… in Latin) to death for repeated adultery.  I get that it’s the 16th century and there were different beliefs about punishment, but really?  Death because someone couldn’t keep their damn pants on???   

I continue, lest I begin digressing about this.  So we see that the Consistory led to state intervention in family life, especially since the Consistory was certainly running the show in Geneva.  How does this connect to today, you may be asking.

Well, in November of 2008, a very confused American People, and in that group, the majority of Catholic voters, elected a man named Barack Obama to the White House.  Since day one, he has been doing all he can to interfere with the private life of families in America.  Fast forward to January 20, 2012.  Kathleen Sullivan, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, a “Catholic”, [For the record, due to her clear public stance on Abortion, I fully support the Prelates of the Church that have told her not to receive Holy Communion, but I digress yet again.] decreed that the Obama administrations original mandate requiring all institutions to provide birth control at no cost.  This isn’t the state intervening in family life, per-say, but it is intervening instead on RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.  One of the founding principles of this country.  We see history repeating itself.  The state interfering in things it really has no right to interfere on.  Religious Liberty is why we are fighting the Obama administration on this.  Yes, being forced to provide birth control is horrible, but it is not the heart of the issue at stake here. Religious Liberty is.  

So, history always seems to repeat itself.  500 years ago, we had the consistory of Geneva interfering in people’s lives and killing them for not being able to keep their pants on.  Now, we have the Obama administration interfering in people’s lives, and ultimately, Religious Liberty, forcing those who object to artifical birth control to pay for it so their employees don’t.  Ironically, this also leads to people’s deaths, yet again because people can’t keep their pants on.  There is no need to be providing birth control, let alone free birth control.  But, yet again, I start digressing… This is a topic for another post.

P.S.  The only good kind of Consistory will happen this Saturday.  That is the Elevation of new Cardinals to the Sacred College of the Holy Roman Church.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us!

“Catholics for Choice”

11 Saturday Feb 2012

Posted by in Catholicism, Family, Politics, The Kitchen Sink

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As I was reading blogs and reflecting on the excellent lecture that His Eminence, Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, D.C., I got thinking about why I haven’t posted on the debacle that is the Health and Human Services announcement like The American Papist, Thomas Peters, Rocco Palmo, and smaller bloggers, like my friend here, who took the time to examine specific statistics which have been thrown around a lot these past few days.  I, however, won’t be posting links to official statements, like Rocco or Thomas, or examining specific statistics that have been thrown around these past few days.  I will be talking about something else.  Something, while related, has a little following of itself.

There is a group that calls themselves “Catholics for Choice”.  This “choice” that they are talking about is not a good choice at all, for they claim that it is necessary to be able to not only have birth control, but abortions as well.  These Catholics, who say that they are for choice, do not understand that there is only one logical choice that they can be for.  That choice is that of life, and not using contraceptives and abortifacients, which is what this group pushes for.

Today, in the inaugural lecture on Faithful Citizenship, hosted by The Catholic University of America Knights of Columbus, in conjunction with the Catholic Apostolate Center and The Catholic University of America, His Eminence mentioned many things that stuck with me, and a few of them apply to this topic that I am speaking of here.

First off, His Eminence mentioned that “one cannot be authentically Catholic and not be pro-life at the same time.”  He then went on to say that not only are out consciences freeing things, even though it may not seem that way, and that being pro-life is not enough, it’s about the dignity of every human person.  These three statements really bring out that points about why Catholics cannot be for choice in the areas that these so called “Catholics for Choice” are calling for.

Number one, they have consciences.  While we may think that their consciences are poorly formed, they still have them.  Number two, we need to approach these people on the streets.  We need to talk to them.  With love.  None of this I’m right and you’re wrong.  Yes, we may be right in some respects, but we need to dialogue with them about these issues.  We need to sit down with them face to face, find out why they believe that it is right to have a choice in these issues,  and then, using nothing but love and care, explain why they hold the wrong positions.  This isn’t accomplished by yelling and screaming, or by denying communion.  For, how do we know that these “Catholics for Choice” didn’t go to confession 15 minutes ago, or have a change of heart 20 minutes ago before entering the Church for Mass?  There are issues that we need to turn to Rome to, and I believe that the one of invoking Canon 915 is one of them.  For, we, as Catholics follow the lead and example of His Holiness.  The fact that not only has he not denied anyone communion, but he has not said that it should be done either is a pretty clear sign that we shouldn’t either.

So, as Catholics, can we chose?  Well, to use contraceptives, abortifacients, and to have abortions- the answer is no.  These were spelled out very clearly in the encyclical letter of Pope Paul VI, Humanae Vitae.  He states very clearly the Church’s position on the issues regarding human life.  However, I come bearing great news!  There are things that you can choose!  You, as a Catholic can choose whether to go to a Mass that is sung or said.  You can choose to go to a Mass with incense or no incense.  You can choose to pray the rosary or the divine office, charisimatic or quiet prayer.  However, we cannot choose to use these evil contraceptives, abortifacients, or to have abortions.  That is clear.

Our Lady of Lourdes, Pray for us.

N.B. I refuse to link to the group Catholics for Choice.  They get enough traffic as it is, and I have no need or desire to increase that traffic.