The Manhattan Declaration

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

40 Days For Life -- Abortionist Quits !

David Bereit, 40 Days for Life"


I wasn't planning to write to you again until after
New Year's Day, but two things changed that...

1.) Many of you asked if we had a recording from my
appearance on last Friday's Sean Hannity show.
The short answer is YES!

2.) We just got some wonderful news from the 40 Days
for Life team in Pensacola, Florida, that I knew
you'd be excited to hear about as we go into the
new year.

First things first...

You can listen to the entire 11-minute segment about
40 Days for Life from the Sean Hannity show at:

http://40daysforlife.com/blog/?p=182

After you listen, please leave a quick comment at the
bottom of that page and let me know your thoughts.

Guest host Scott Hennen did a great job. We couldn't
have asked for a more enthusiastic endorsement of 40
Days for Life!

During the radio show I discussed the abortion
industry's "insider" strategy memo which provides
marching orders for Obama during his first 100 days
in office -- including requests that he provide the
failing abortion industry with a $4.6 BILLION
taxpayer funded bailout.

You can access that report -- and leave your comments
for the Obama transition team -- at:

http://tinyurl.com/6horgl

Now the good news from Florida...

Ernie and Mary Beth Cyr, coordinators of the
Pensacola 40 Days for Life campaign, just sent out
the following message:

"Thank you to all for your prayers for those
working in the abortion industry. We have just
received word from a relative of a worker at the
9th Avenue abortion clinic (where 40 Days for
Life was held this fall) that she has quit the
abortion industry! Praise God!

Please keep this woman in your prayers that she
will find God's merciful forgiveness in this new
year of 2009.

The woman faces a possible gap in employment, and
if needed we will be taking up a collection to
help her. We want her to feel embraced by the pro
-life community in Pensacola and let her know
that her choice FOR LIFE is supported by many she
does not know, but who have been unceasingly
praying for her conversion to LIFE."

What a blessing!

This goes to show how the prayers and faithfulness of
God's people continue to have a powerful impact long
after a 40 Days for Life campaign is over.

And it also demonstrates the compassion our movement
has for everyone affected by the tragedy of abortion
-- not only unborn babies.

With that news in mind, let's look forward to the
great things God has in store for 2009.

Happy New Years!

David Bereit
National Campaign Director
40 Days for Life

P.S.- After mentioning in the last message that we'll
begin accepting applications for the spring 40 Days
for Life on January 6, a number of people asked for
more information on what is involved in conducting a
local campaign. We've prepared a comprehensive report
to help answer that question.

If you are thinking about holding a 40 Days for Life
in your town from February 25 - April 5, get all the
specifics by downloading the "40 Days for Life 2009
Campaign Overview Report" (PDF document) at:

http://www.40daysforlife.com/docs/2009report.pdf

Illinois Pharmacists Filed Suit Against Governor

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 12/30/2008
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Legal/Default.aspx?id=368086

Illinois pharmacists have been granted legal permission to challenge Governor Rod Blagojevich's executive order that forces them to dispense "emergency contraception" against their wills.

The pharmacists sued because the order violated their religious beliefs against selling certain abortifacients like the "morning-after pill." Brian Rooney of the Thomas More Law Center explains why the pharmacists filed suit.

"There is a law in Illinois that allows pharmacists and pharmacies to allow their rights to conscience to take precedence over these kinds of things," he notes.

Rooney believes the governor's executive order requiring them to dispense and sell the drugs was illegal. "When you have a duly enacted statute of law by the legislature, it always takes precedence over an executive order," he points out.

Blagojevich's executive order, according to Rooney, has already hurt the pharmacy industry in Illinois. "There were businesses going out of business," he adds. "There were pharmacists that were being let go -- all because they had deeply held religious beliefs and deeply held moral beliefs."

The state Supreme Court has ruled that pharmacists should be heard, so a trial will soon be held in a lower court.

2009 March For Life -- Special Message From Fr. Frank Pavone

Priests for Life
Gospel of Life Ministries

January-February 2009 Newsletter

December 30, 2008


As we enter a New Year, there's no doubt in my mind that there's one single force that can and will defeat the power of abortion in our world.

That is the Church, the Body of Christ, the fellowship of believers throughout the world united with the One who conquered death.

And that's why I'm glad you're part of the Priests for Life family. As the world's largest pro-life organization, we continue to focus on activating and mobilizing the Church, starting with the clergy, so that the Lord's promise, "the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church," will continue to be evident to all.

Below you'll find our January-February newsletter. Along with reading it yourself, would you be so kind as to bring it to the attention of your pastor?

Looking ahead, there are important events in January with the annual commemoration of Roe vs. Wade.

I'll be in Washington, of course, for the March for Life, and you can find details of my schedule at www.priestsforlife.org.

In particular, I urge you to join me for morning prayer with people of all denominations on the 22nd, and then at the conclusion of the march, join me in giving prayerful support to the women and men of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign who will stand in front of the US Supreme Court and give testimony to the pain and healing that followed their abortion experiences. (If you've lost a child by abortion, or want to help someone who has, please visit www.SilentNoMoreAwareness.org to join the campaign.)

On the 24th, join me for the West Coast Walk for Life to take place in San Francisco. I'll address the gathering at the conclusion of the Walk.

Let me also provide you with the upcoming schedules for our own TV shows and Radio programming:

The Priests and Pastoral Associates of Priests for Life are on 1360 AM, WWOW (Walking on Water Radio), Conneaut, OH from 8:10-8:20am every Thursday on the Pro-Life Thursday Catholic Morning Show. Listen live and find archived shows at http://home.1360wwow.com.

Hear us on EWTN radio on Catholic Connection with Teresa Tomeo. Fr. Frank Pavone is her guest every Wednesday at 9:30am ET and Janet Morana is her guest every Friday at 9:10am ET. For radio station information and to listen to the live show on the internet, go to www.avemariaradio.net.

Defending Life: Watch on EWTN every Friday at 10pm ET and Saturday at 2:30am ET. Listen on EWTN radio every Friday at 1am ET, Saturday at 6:30pm ET and Sunday at 5am ET. For more information or to listen online go to www.ewtn.com.

January 2-4: Spirituality of Being Pro-Life, Part 2. Involvement in the pro-life movement is shaped by particular virtues and characteristics. Fr. Frank describes this spirituality, in which he has trained thousands of priests, deacons, seminarians, and lay activists over the years and around the world.

Gospel of Life: The shows air on "Angel Two" Channel 102 on Sky Angel IPTV and channel 266 on Dish Network every Friday at 8:30am and Sunday at 9am. It also airs on Catholic Familyland (www.familyland.tv) - Sunday at 1am, Monday at 9am, Wednesday at 3:30am and Thursday at 11:30 pm. (All Times Eastern). Listen to Gospel of Life episodes online at www.gospeloflife.com.

Week of December 28: Theology Becomes Biography

Please tune in and spread the word! In fact, you can help us - and your whole parish - by asking your pastor to place in the parish bulletin an announcement about our TV shows. Thanks in advance!

Blessings and prayers,

Fr. Frank Pavone

National Director, Priests for Life

Sunday, December 28, 2008

National Catholic Reporter -- Undermines Your Faith

28 December 2008
National Catholic Reporter: undermining your faith yet again
CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULA — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 2:43 pm

Some years ago I attended in Chicago a meeting of the Catholic Press Association, a left-leaning organization. Card. George gave a splendid address on the vocation of a Catholic journalist.

His Eminence offered that the role of a Catholic journalist, among other things, was to report on the life of grace. He added that in order to recognize the life of grace in others the journalists had to be themselves in the state of grace.

They laughed.

It is therefore no surprise that the ultra-lefitist dissident National Catholic Reporter continues to publish rubbish that designed to undermine Catholic faith.

Here is a good example. The following prompted this brilliant response.

My emphases and comments.

‘With age, my Catholicism holds more uncertainty’

By Rose Murphy
Published:
December 26, 2008

My current, critical reading about religion and my growing disenchantment with the Catholic Church do not proceed without some pronounced unease. [Good. You should feel uneasy about this. You are closer to the end of your life than the beginning and you are allowing your feet to stray from the path Christ gave you to come to salvation.] I feel driven to question beliefs I once held with assured confidence. But am I needlessly cutting off a strong spiritual lifeline by going so rarely to my local church? Am I wallowing in intellectual smugness and neglecting an insistent Catholic tie that goes beyond logic?

It is difficult to stay loyal to a church whose members once unleashed cruel forms of the Inquisition [this old canard again?] on presumably evil non-believers and whose clergy so recently and secretly protected pedophilic priests. [Okay… the Inquisition was… how long ago?] But I am more disillusioned by dogmatic bans on birth control that afflict poor women in developing countries and that too often obscure the core message of Christ’s call for compassion. [Read: Unless the Church changes her teaching on contraception, the Church is cruel to women.]

Impossible now to recapture that ardent, unquestioning faith I had as a child, and into adulthood [I don’t think "questioning" is a problem, so long as the questioning comes from "faith seeking understanding".] : that Christ was physically present in communion, that I had a special guardian angel, that certain prayers chipped away at Purgatory time. Even after outgrowing those fantasies, [The Real Presence, angels, our connection with the Church Suffering are "fantasies".] I continued to keep a core faith in the larger Church tenets: that Jesus was the Son of God, that he died for my sins, that I was preparing for an afterlife where I would see God and presumably my parents and all those who had gone before me. Today all of that doctrine is hazy to me, not so much rejected as irrelevant. [So, she is not sure that Christ is God or that He died for our sins.] I know now that humans can never penetrate the idea of God; certainty is – and has always been—an illusion. [This is why we speak of faith.]

Intellectually, I can reject much of the Catholic Church, [Because she has a far more penetrating mind than, say, St. Augustine or St. Thomas….] but emotionally it reels me in whenever I wander from it. I am still nourished by certain Mass rituals: [which?] the Prayers of the Faithful (with touching reminders of so much pain among my neighbors), the Sign of Peace and the communal grasp of another hand, the preparations for Eucharist, [not, apparently, including the consecration] and the walk up the aisle to receive communion. Just what am I receiving? I know the act of communion matters to me, feeling the host on my tongue is significant, but I don’t know why. [This at the same time horizontal and completely self-absorbed.]

But slowly, I am becoming more comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity. [And Satan has a greater and greater grip. This is the sort of creeping incrementalism that the Enemy uses to effect.] And I find that meeting the challenge of practicing compassion in this troubled world is much more difficult than showing up for Sunday Mass. More and more, I see Christ as a rebel, an advocate for the poor, an agitator, an outsider who spoke truth to power and paid the ultimate price for it. [Setting aside the empty buzz words, this is a great example of what Pope Benedict wrote to correct in his first encyclical Deus caritas est.]

His message focused on loving one another, without reservation, not on explaining the Trinity. And whether or not he is the Son of God seems a pointless discussion. [A "pointless discussion"? Lady… if Christ is not the Son of God, then you and everyone else are probably going to hell. Also, what circuit is missing from the brains of some lefties that keeps them from understanding that we can love one another and… AND... explain the Trinity? They are not mutually exclusive. This is not a zero sum game: either love or explain… you can’t do both. This so typical of most liberals: you can’t be smart, or intellectual or make distinctions or admit authority and still be nice.]

Such realizations still do not alleviate feelings of restlessness and guilt when I choose a bike ride and coffee on Sunday morning instead of Mass. [Good.] But on those Sundays when I do slip into church, I hear a foreign language all around me, especially when it comes to the Apostles Creed. I cannot dutifully mumble it any longer. I cannot relate to ecstatic utterances about a “personal relationship” with God, because for me such a relationship is impossible. [Though I wonder what sort of parish she is going to…] It smacks too much of a cozy, privileged connection with a physical being who sits among the fluffy clouds and notes all the details of my daily life. I can imagine a spiritual force at work in the universe, something that connects all life, humanity and nature, but I cannot personify it or give it the familial name of “Father” or “Son.” [Sooo… she is what… a Buddhist? A pantheist?]

But rather than reject a lifetime spiritual path, perhaps I need to get more comfortable with the idea of metaphor in Catholic doctrine and look beyond the literal pronouncements; [Because her mind is so subtle, she’ll create her own religion to suit her own needs.] then it becomes easier to see Christ as a symbolic son of God, as a presence that helps me find the divine spark (God) within myself, and more importantly serves as a model for truly compassionate living. [Because, after all, it’s all about her.]

Receiving the spiritual nourishment of communion then becomes a reminder of so many people who lack food or the means to acquire it. [sigh]

So can I continue to call myself a Catholic? [No. Not on these terms. But we hope and pray that you will come back to your Faith.] A friend once framed the dilemma in whimsical language: “I can no more stop being a Catholic than a Navajo could stop being a Navajo.” Ultimately, I think this struggle will always be with me, and that I will come to accept, and perhaps even embrace, a natural state of discomfort. Despite all the ambiguity, I would like to think I am still welcome at the communion table.

Rose Murphy is a writer based in Sonoma, California, who explores current events and also focuses on Irish [That figures. This is the not uncommon tortured reveling in anti-intellectual victimhood we expect from the followers of McBrien and Greeley.] culture and history.

Priest says no to U.S. bishops' postcard FOCA fight -- Time for a serious sabbatical

December 23, 2008 http://www.jillstanek.com/archives/2008/12/priest_says_no.html

Priest says no to U.S. bishops' postcard FOCA fight

Most of us have spiritual hot buttons. One of mine is guarding against usurping pastoral authority. I've been through a couple of church splits in my life and am critical of bad apples complaining publicly about pastors/leaders and stirring ill will.

church of st. edward.jpgFor that reason alone, never mind thwarting a pro-life endeavor, I just can't fathom the following letter-to-the-editor published in the Star Tribune today by Fr. Michael Tegeder, pastor of St. Edwards Parish in Bloomington, MN.

(A google search of Tegeder shows he's no stranger to controversy. He's been called "insubordinate" and "challenges... authority" previously. Not surprised. Read the 4th paragraph of this May 13, 2007, Pastor's Page by a Fr. George Welzbacher about Tegeder, who apparently bad-mouthed his new bishop. Tegeder is also big on buildlng GLBT relations, which is fine, admirable, if one doesn't condone the behavior, which it appears Tegeder does. Seems to me he's a Fr. Pfleger of the north.)

I've bolded the most instructive lines of Tegeder's letter on page 2....

[HT: reader Susie A.]

When I signed up 35 years ago to be a priest, little did I realize that postcards would be an essential tool of ministry in the Catholic Church. It began a few years ago, when the Catholic bishops of MN, led by then-Bishop John Nienstedt, pushed a postcard campaign in all MN Catholic parishes that promoted a constitutional amendment to limit marriage to one man and one woman. Preprinted postcards were to be signed and sent to legislators.

We never got a report from the bishops on what was accomplished. To someone who did not see this as necessary, it seemed a waste of time and money. It also generated some unnecessary ill will.

Now the bishops of the United States are conducting a national postcard campaign to oppose the Freedom of Choice Act. This is to take place in all Catholic parishes the weekend of Jan. 24-25, which happens to be during the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and just a few days after the historic inauguration of the first African-American president, Barack Obama. This should indeed be a time to focus on what unites us.

Our nation and new president will be challenged by ongoing wars, an economy in severe recession, ballooning deficits, high unemployment and an environment and health care system in crisis. Yet at this very moment the Catholic bishops have declared that they have this more pressing need.

A national postcard campaign against FOCA is a huge undertaking. In the letter from our archdiocese to me as pastor, I was told, "Our Archdiocese is responsible for securing a point person in each parish who will be responsible for the January 2009 massive postcard campaign materials in your parish." Actually, they intend for the pastors to do this. Postcards are to be sent to our representatives in Congress.

Obviously church leaders have every right to promote their concerns in the public arena. But FOCA is a phantom threat. It is meant to limit legislation by Congress on abortion. It will not be passed. Why would Congress pass a law to limit its own power? One well-placed Catholic commentator stated, "FOCA has as much chance of passage as the [now 0-15] Detroit Lions have of winning the next Super Bowl."

A Catholic journalist, David Gibson, has a good perspective for Catholics concerned about abortion: "The problem of course is that these straw men and red herrings divert us all from the hard work to be done on this issue both within the church and in the public square. Opposition to FOCA should be part of that, to keep pressure on and pols honest. But using a phantom FOCA as a single-issue means of demonizing one's political opponents does no good to one's cause, or the wider society."

We can do many positive things. Indeed, Obama has stated that he wants to reduce the number of abortions. We should work with him on doing this.

In the Christmas spirit, may I offer this suggestion to my fellow Catholics: With your Christmas offering, include a note saying that we do not need to send FOCA postcards. During this season of goodwill, let us offer our new president some and hold back on the confrontation. And to the bishops: Your Graces, remember grace.

In other words, in your offering celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, take time to protest a pro-life protest.

"Persistent Vegetative State" By FR. JOHN T. ZUHLSDORF

http://thewandererpress.com/a4-1-2004.htm

Outlines Care Of Persons In

"Persistent Vegetative State"

By FR. JOHN T. ZUHLSDORF

ROME — "A man, even if he is gravely ill or impeded in exercising his higher functions, is and always will be a man, and he will never become a ‘vegetable’ or an ‘animal’."

When Pope John Paul II said this on March 20, he changed the grounds of bioethical debates about the value of and treatment of people in what is called a "persistent vegetative state" (PVS), and indeed the whole landscape of health care. The Successor of Peter made this lapidary statement at an audience for participants at an international congress March 17-20 on the subject at the "Augustinianum" in Rome.

The congress was sponsored by the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FIAMC) and by the Pontifical Academy for Life.

In previous statements, the Pope has never gone this far, or spoken so clearly, on this hotly debated issue. In the past, the Holy Father had said that there is a presumption in favor of giving nutrition and hydration to these people. He has gone beyond that now by stating that it is a moral obligation to provide it. The foundation of this thought is in his statement that "the sick person, in a vegetative state, awaiting recovery or his natural end, has the right to basic health care, and to the prevention of complications linked to his state."

This applies to people who are in PVS, but it must affect the care of those with similar conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease or forms of coma or dementia.

The term PVS describes people who are in a state of unconsciousness which endures for a long time. They may continue in this state permanently, but they also may emerge from it, though this is rare when they have been in this state for a long time. The very term "PVS" is seen by some to be inaccurate. It somewhat describes human beings who are "cognitively disabled," which places them more in the category of people with disabilities, than in the category of patients who have need of special medical treatments to stay alive.

The point is this: People who are in PVS can be otherwise healthy but are incapable of taking food and water on their own. Providing people with assistance in taking food and water is not special medical treatment, it is not "therapeutic." It is "care" not "therapy" or "treatment."

People who are in PVS are often not seemingly totally inert. They often react to stimuli around them. Unlike people in a persistent coma, they have sleep cycles. Those who emerge from a PVS regain higher functions. They feel pain. They can emerge from their state. They react to different people differently. Those who care for PVS people speak of the "mother factor": If a stranger enters the room they give no reaction, while when their mother or a loved one comes in they do. This could negatively impact a correct diagnosis of this condition, given that exams are conducted by strangers.

PVS people after emerging can recount that they were aware of things around them, what people did and said, and what it felt like when they were being starved to death, a common "treatment" applied to them.

PVS is being widely misdiagnosed. Many who actually have some other problem are being labeled PVS improperly and then actively killed through the withdrawal of nutrition and hydration.

Helen Gill-Thwaites of the Royal Hospital for Neurodisability in London, England, during the above-mentioned conference in Rome, presented figures on misdiagnosis: Of patients referred to them with a diagnosis of vegetative state, 43% were misdiagnosed, 33% emerged from the state they were in, and 25% remained in a vegetative state. Of the misdiagnosed patients, over 40% could write messages, over 60% could do simple math, and over 80% could make choices. Elsewhere, they might be simply misdiagnosed and then starved to death.

According to Joannes Lelkens, emeritus professor of anesthesiology and reanimation at the State University of Maastricht, in Netherlands, in 2002, the total number of deaths was estimated at 140,000. Of these deaths, 8,400 (6%) were caused by "terminal sedation"; 5,460 deaths (3.9% of the total) were caused by palliative sedation with denial of food and fluids. During the conference, Lelkens called this procedure "manslaughter."

After his talk, another Dutch doctor, J.C.M. Lavrijsen (who had delivered the paper "Letting a Patient in a Vegetative State Die in Hospital Under Direction of a Nursing Home Physician"), rose to ask if Lelkens was accusing him of "manslaughter." Lelkens responded, "There is no other definition for it."

In 1995 a woman named Kate Adamson had a terrible stroke. She was misdiagnosed as PVS, when in fact she was in what is called "locked in state" (completely awake and aware [!] but unable to communicate). Even after the doctors realized she was awake and aware, they tried to get her husband to "let her go," but he refused. Another condition developed that required surgery and they had to withhold nutrition before and for the sake of the surgery, though they kept her on a saline IV for hydration. She was entirely awake and aware and lived to recount the experience (Kate’s Journey: Triumph Over Adversity, 2002). They stopped feeding her for eight days.

Although they had given her inadequate anesthesia for the surgery for a few hours, she said that that was nothing compared to the agony of hunger and thirst that persisted for days:

"You have to endure the physical pain and on top of that you have to endure the emotional pain. Your whole body cries out, ‘Feed me. I am alive and a person, don’t let me die, for God’s sake! Somebody feed me’."

A prevailing treatment of people in PVS is to withhold food and water until they die of dehydration. Since they are disabled, they are incapable of expressing their terrible suffering as they are dying. While mild dehydration is the loss of no more than 5% of the body’s fluid, and 5-10% is considered moderate dehydration, severe dehydration — loss of 10-15% of body fluids — is a life-threatening condition that requires immediate medical care. Yet, it is precisely this intentionally necessitated therapy which is being purposely denied, with a lethal intent. They inflict the need for medical intervention by establishing the conditions leading to death by dehydration, purposely, and then they purposely deny the therapy to reverse the condition they inflict.

Put yourself in their straitjacket.

What happens to you when you die from dehydration? First, think about going for a day without a single drink of water, two days, three . . . nothing. You would find something to drink, urgently crave it, set aside every other goal to get water in any way. You would suffer. Then what?

Imagine that you are unable to move or communicate according to your wishes. Maybe you are strapped down, gagged, blindfolded, isolated. The people around you decide that, since you are not communicating with them, or demonstrating that you are a "human being" because you are not revealing use of your higher functions, you should die. They stop feeding you or giving you anything to drink. Period. How long before you are mildly hungry and thirsty? Before you are really thirsty? When doctors decide to withhold nutrition and hydration from PVS people, who are cognitively disabled, they die of thirst long before they die of starvation: The cause of death is severe dehydration.

So, as you lie there, what is going on in your body? When your body’s fluid supply is severely depleted (because you are taking none in) and down by around 15%, hypovolemic shock or "physical collapse" occurs, that is, your blood supply gets lower and lower until you don’t have enough blood volume to function.

Your skin becomes pale and clammy. Your heart starts to race and your breathing becomes rapid and shallow. Unless you get water soon, it will get harder and harder to reverse your condition. You soon desperately need medical care. Your blood pressure drops so low that sometimes it can’t be detected at all. Then your extremities become blotchy and mottled as your body starts to shut down the periphery, shunting an ever-decreasing volume of available blood to the core, the heart and vital organs.

If you are conscious, your thirst is agony. Your temperature rises and when it hits 107°F (41.7°C), it starts to damage your brain and other organs. Your lips and tongue crack. Your nose bleeds from the dryness of the mucous membranes. You are wracked with pain from the heaving and attempts to vomit. You can’t tell anyone how much you are suffering. Since those around you don’t see your suffering, they think you must not have any pain. This appears to be "merciful."

This is how they purposely kill helpless people. Let dehydration happen to a football player during practice on a hot summer day and everyone goes crazy, pointing fingers and making accusations, filing lawsuits and suing everyone in sight. But this is done daily in the USA and other countries to people who are otherwise healthy, and simply need the love and care that any person with a disability needs. Lock a horse in a stall without food and water and you will go to jail.



Normal Care, Not Therapy

Keep in mind the difference between a medical treatment and withholding of nutrition and hydration. Chemotherapy attempts to stop or reverse cancer. Antibiotics treat infections. Withholding nutrition and hydration does not treat anything.

It must be underscored, however, that there are cases in which it harms a patient to give him food. In those cases, it is legitimate to withhold it so as to not impose a disproportionate burden which will cause greater suffering than benefit. This can be the case when a dying person has stomach cancer, or another condition in a terminal stage.

Most PVS people retain reflexes. They digest food without problems and are otherwise healthy. Thus, withholding nutrition and hydration in these cases is murder, for it has no other intention than the death of the person. Being hungry and thirsty is not a disease or disorder that requires medical treatment. Hungry and thirsty people need food and water, and they have a basic human right to have it. Purposely keeping nutrition and hydration from a hungry and thirsty person until he dies is murder.

Moreover, the means of assisting PVS people in taking nutrition and hydration, even when requiring the placement of a feeding tube, has become so easy under normal circumstances in advanced countries, that it cannot be argued to be extraordinary treatment.

Furthermore, pain studies done with people in PVS indicate that their electroencephalographic responses to pain stimuli are similar to those of a conscious patient. They just can’t show you the pain.

Bishops And Dissenters

In the United States, some regional conferences of bishops have made statements relative to the issue of artificial nutrition and hydration. The best presentation has been that of the bishops of Pennsylvania (cf. Origins, January 30, 1992). Similar positions are held by the bishops of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Florida.

They say, as the Pope had said, that we must recognize a presumption in favor of the supply of nutrition and hydration, allowing its withdrawal when it is futile or creates a greater burden than benefit.

The 2001 good statement of the USCCB entitled Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Facilities (directive 58) holds to this same position. The bishops of Texas do not so far hold a presumption in favor of nutrition and hydration for PVS people (though two bishops dissented from that opinion).

Now, however, the Pope has gone beyond a presumption in favor of giving them food and water. The Supreme Pontiff has stated that people in PVS in no way lose their intrinsic dignity as human persons. As human persons we have moral obligations toward them. "Therefore," said the Pope, "the sick person, in a vegetative state, awaiting recovery or his natural end, has the right to basic health care, and to the prevention of complications linked to his state." The deliberate withholding of nutrition and hydration is "euthanasia by omission," since it has no other purpose than to cause the death of the person.

As a result of this new clarification by the Pope, Catholic theologians and medical experts who have favored the withholding of nutrition and hydration from PVS people will have to revise their positions and cease this improper practice.

For example, Fr. Kevin O’Rourke, OP, has been arguing that giving nutrition and hydration to a persistently unconscious person is of no real benefit, since it does not in itself restore the person to the use of his higher cognitive functions. Giving nutrition and hydration only preserves, in his view, biological life, rather than human life. Thus, he seems to chop the human person into pieces. They have relative worth according to the extent of the use of higher functions.

O’Rourke has argued that there is a presumption against giving nutrition and hydration to PVS people. This has stood in contrast to the Pope’s previous statement stating a presumption in favor of the same. The Pope’s newest statement goes further and doesn’t "presume," but states that they in fact have a right to nutrition and hydration. Fr. O’Rourke must now abandon his position.

O’Rourke, and others who accepted his arguments, must change their positions publicly, so as to help undo some of the damage they have done in convincing some Catholic and non-Catholic physicians that they could deliberately kill people by letting them die of thirst. This must be public because it can affect, for example, the formation of priests who will someday be called upon to give counsel and advice to families making decisions concerning care for loved ones in different states of illness or, in the case of PVS, disability.

Not all Catholic seminaries have had sound moral theology formation for candidates. One of the gurus of unacceptable moral theology, the late Fr. Richard A. McCormick, SJ, supported O’Rourke’s position. McCormick has been widely used in the past in some moral theology courses in seminaries. A public reversal of position by O’Rourke, and public adherence to John Paul II’s position, would be valuable and edifying.

There is great emotion attached to this issue and the debate has been bitter. It is to be hoped that the Pope’s words will calm the storms and bring clarity to the questions at hand.

One presenter at the conference in Rome, Fr. Norman Ford, a Catholic priest from Melbourne, Australia, and effectively in agreement with O’Rourke’s position, gave a free communication paper called, "Ethical Reasons Why Medically Assisted Nutrition & Hydration May No Longer Be Needed or Good for Patients Diagnosed as Permanently Unconscious." Ford argued that, in the past, "in history," there was no ability to feed people who were PVS and thus they died from their condition "naturally."

Maurizio Calipari, a bioethicist and a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, stood up and responded to Ford saying that a century ago many women died in childbirth. Should we therefore not help pregnant women today because in the past we couldn’t do as much to help them? In other words, what we can do for these people in PVS now is hardly to be considered unusual or extraordinary.

Creeping Incrementalism

The famous Terri Schiavo case in the United States has brought many of these issues to the fore. The courts are involved now in establishing legal precedents for withholding and withdrawing nutrition and hydration. Legislatures are working to establish laws favoring killing helpless people this way "legally." Aside from the obvious immorality of such laws, even when concerning the very small group of people who are genuinely PVS, the vagueness of the laws, and the method of what I call "creeping incrementalism" will eventually extend the same "legal" right to kill patients suffering even from Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

Basically, from an application of starving to people who are persistently cognitively disabled, who are unconscious and unable to communicate, there will be a move to do the same to people who lack "meaningful" consciousness, who are mentally less capable than an acceptable level determined by "experts." This is the path to a chilling new eugenics.

The fact is that we just don’t know what PVS people and in other states too, for that matter, are capable of. We just don’t know if they are going to emerge or not. We cannot know what they are thinking or feeling as they lie there.

As the Holy Father concluded so forcefully, people who lose expression of higher faculties are nonetheless still human beings with dignity and they have the right to proper care. Nutrition and hydration is care, not therapy for an illness or pathological condition.

It is their right and our duty as long as it is not creating a greater burden and suffering than benefit.

The conference in Rome was an important occasion and it precipitated this strong statement of John Paul II which must now completely reshape expressions of Catholic teaching on the care of patients who are PVS as well as others in similar conditions.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Pastor Rick Warren challenged to reconsider participation in inaugural ceremonies

Pastor Rick Warren challenged to reconsider participation in inaugural ceremonies

Front Royal, Va, Dec 20, 2008 / 08:41 pm (CNA).- President of Human Life International, Fr. Thomas J. Euteneuer, has challenged Pastor Rick Warren to rethink his participation in the inaugural ceremonies for President-elect Barack Obama. Rev. Warren, a strong supporter of both the pro-life movement and traditional marriage, was chosen to give the invocation at Obama’s inauguration next month.

In a statement, Fr. Euteneuer applauded Warren, the pastor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, for his pro-life leadership, but expressed concern "that his high-profile and explicitly Christian prayerful invocation at President-elect Obama’s inauguration may be perceived as an endorsement, even a blessing, of what will likely be the most anti-life administration in the history of this country."

Rev. Warren is also the author of the best-selling book "The Purpose Driven Life."

"President-elect Obama has given every indication that he has no respect for the lives of the unborn, and whenever given the opportunity, has promised to enforce the most extreme demands of anti-life groups," continued Fr. Euteneuer. "This extremist agenda should not be seen to have the endorsement of pro-life leaders such as Pastor Warren."

"I respect the personal relationship that Pastor Warren has with Mr. Obama," said Father Euteneuer. "But such a public and explicitly Christian endorsement as this invocation is certainly confusing to those who know Mr. Obama’s record on life issues.

"We respectfully ask Pastor Warren to reconsider his participation in the inaugural ceremonies, given Mr. Obama’s extremist anti-life views," the Human Life International president concluded.

Church and State Today: What belongs to Caesar, and what doesn’t – by Archbishop Chaput

Church and State Today: What belongs to Caesar, and what doesn’t – St. John’s University 2007
October 26, 2007 - By Archbishop Charles J. Chaput

St. John’s University School of Law in Queens, NY

Friday, October 26, 2007



I always enjoy being with friends like tonight because I can leave my Kevlar vest in Denver. I do a lot of speaking, and while most of the people I meet are wonderful folks, not everyone is always happy to hear what I have to say.



In fact, one of the distinguishing marks of debate both outside and within the Church over the last 40 years is how uncivil the disagreements have become. Being a faithful Catholic leader today – whether you're a layperson or clergy -- isn't easy. It requires real skill, and in that regard, I've admired the great ability and good will of Bishop Murphy for many years. So it's a special pleasure to be with him tonight. New York's Cardinal Edward Egan is another leader who's given extraordinary and sometimes difficult service to the Church.



I'm not really surprised by the environment in our country or in our Church because Msgr. George Kelly saw it coming 30 years ago. I read his great book, The Battle for the American Church, as a young Capuchin priest when it first came out in 1979. I remember being struck immediately by George's very Irish combination of candor, scrappiness, clarity, intelligence and also finally charity - because everything he wrote and said and did was always motivated by his love for the Church.



I also remember George's sense of humor, which was vivid and healthy, and which probably kept him so generous and sane. He was a man's man and a priest's priest -- and his commitment to Catholic family life, Catholic education and Catholic scholarship has remained with me as an example throughout my priesthood.. George and I became friends through our mutual friend Father Ronald Lawler, O.F.M. Cap., and after I became a bishop in South Dakota, he would often call me or write me with his advice -- and I was always happy to get it, because it was always very good. So I'm grateful for a chance to acknowledge my debt to him.



We have a full evening, so I'll be very brief. I want to quickly sketch for you the picture of an anonymous culture. But everything I'm about to tell you comes from the factual record. This society is advanced in the sciences and the arts. It has a complex economy and a strong military. It includes many different religions, although religion tends to be a private affair or a matter of civic ceremony.



This particular society also has big problems. Among them is that fertility rates remain below replacement levels. There aren't enough children being born to replenish the current adult population and to do the work needed to keep society going. The government offers incentives to encourage people to have more babies. But nothing seems to work.



Promiscuity is common and accepted. So are bisexuality and homosexuality. So is prostitution. Birth control and abortion are legal, widely practiced, and justified by society's leading intellectuals. Every now and then, a lawmaker introduces a measure to promote marriage, arguing that the Elath and future of society depend on stable families. These measures typically go nowhere.



Ok. What society am I talking about? Our own country, of course, would broadly fit this description.



But I'm not talking about us.



I've just outlined the conditions of the Mediterranean world at the time of Christ. We tend to idealize the ancients, to look back at Greece and Rome as an age of extraordinary achievements. And of course, it was. But it had another side as well.



We don't usually think of Plato and Aristotle endorsing abortion or infanticide as state policy. But they did. Hippocrates, the great medical pioneer, also famously created an abortion kit that included sharp blades for cutting up the fetus and a hook for ripping it from the womb. We rarely connect that with his Hippocratic Oath. But some years ago, archeologists discovered the remains of what appeared to be a Roman-era abortion or infanticide "clinic." It was a sewer filled with the bones of more than 100 infants.



If you haven't done so already, I'd encourage you to pick up a little book written about 10 years ago, The Rise of Christianity by the Baylor University scholar Rodney Stark. You'll find all of this history in its pages and more. But what does ancient Rome have to do with my topic tonight, the relationship of Church and state today?



Let me explain it this way: People often say we're living at a "post-Christian" moment. That's supposed to describe the fact that Western nations have abandoned or greatly downplayed their Christian heritage in recent decades. But our "post-Christian" moment actually looks a lot like the pre-Christian moment. The signs of our times in the developed nations-morally, intellectually, spiritually and even demographically-are uncomfortably similar to the signs in the world at the time of the Incarnation.

Drawing lessons from history is a subjective business. There's always the risk of oversimplifying.



But I do believe that the challenges we face as American Catholics today are very much like those faced by the first Christians. And it might help to have a little perspective on how they went about evangelizing their culture. They did such a good job that within 400 years Christianity was the world's dominant religion and the foundation of Western civilization. If we can learn from that history, the more easily God will work through us to spark a new evangelization.



I'm not a historian or a sociologist, so I'll leave it to others to fully evaluate Rodney Stark's work. But Stark does address a couple of key questions: How did Christianity succeed? How was it able to accomplish so much so fast? Stark is not only a social scientist, but also a self-described agnostic. So he has no interest in talking about God's will or the workings of the Holy Spirit. He focuses only on facts he can verify.



Stark concludes that Christian success flowed from two things: first, Christian doctrine, and second, people being faithful to that doctrine. Stark writes: "An essential factor in the [Christian] religion's success was what Christians believed. . . . And it was the way those doctrines took on actual flesh, the way they directed organizational actions and individual behavior, that led to the rise of Christianity."



Let's put it in less academic terms: The Church, through the Apostles and their successors, preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ. People believed in the Gospel. But they weren't just agreeing to a set of ideas. Believing in the Gospel meant changing their whole way of thinking and living. It was a radical transformation. So radical they couldn't go on living like the people around them anymore.



Stark shows that one of the key areas in which Christians rejected the culture around them was marriage and the family. From the start, to be a Christian meant believing that sex and marriage were sacred. From the start, to be a Christian meant rejecting abortion, infanticide, birth control, divorce, homosexual activity and marital infidelity-all those things widely practiced by their Roman neighbors.



Athenagoras, a Christian layman, told the Emperor Marcus Aurelius in the year A.D. 176 that abortion was "murder" and that those involved would have to "give an account to God." And he told the emperor the reason why: "For we regard the very fetus in the womb as a created being, and therefore an object of God's care."



As this audience already knows, Christian reverence for the unborn child is no medieval development. It comes from the very beginnings of our faith. The early Church had no debates over politicians and communion. There wasn't any need. No persons who tolerated or promoted abortion would have dared to approach the Eucharistic table, let alone dared to call themselves true Christians. And here's why: The early Christians understood that they were the offspring of a new worldwide family of God. They saw the culture around them as a culture of death, a society that was slowly extinguishing itself. In fact, when you read early Christian literature, practices like adultery and abortion are often described as part of "the way of death" or the "way of the [devil]."



There's an interesting line in a Second Century apologetic work written by Minucius Felix. He was a Roman lawyer and a convert. He's talking about a birth-control drug that works as an abortifacient. He describes its effects this way: "There are women who swallow drugs to stifle in their own womb the beginnings" of a person to be.



That's what the first Christians saw around them in their world. They believed the world was snuffing out its own future. It was stifling future generations before they could come to be. It was slowly killing itself. Since we see similar signs in our own day, we need to find the courage those first Christians had in challenging their culture. We need to believe not only what they believed. We need to believe those things with the same deep fervor. The early Christians staked their lives on the belief that God is our Father. They respected Caesar, but they didn't confuse him with God, and they put God first. They believed the Church is our mother. They believed their bishops and priests were spiritual fathers and that through the sacraments they were made children of God, or "partakers of the divine nature," as Peter said.



It's time for all of us who claim to be "Catholic" to recover our Catholic identity as disciples of Jesus Christ and missionaries of his Church. In the long run, we serve our country best by remembering that we're citizens of heaven first. We're better Americans by being more truly Catholic -- and the reason why, is that unless we live our Catholic faith authentically, with our whole heart and our whole strength, we have nothing worthwhile to bring to the public debates that will determine the course of our nation.



Pluralism in a democracy doesn't mean shutting up about inconvenient issues. It means speaking up - respectfully, in a spirit of justice and charity, but also vigorously and without apologies. Jesus said that we will know the truth, and the truth will make us free. He didn't say anything about our being popular with worldly authority once we have that freedom. In the end, if we want our lives to be fruitful, we need to know ourselves as God intends us to be known -- as his witnesses on earth, not just in our private behavior, but in our public actions, including our social, economic and political choices.



If pagan Rome could be won for Jesus Christ, surely we can do the same in our own world. What it takes is the zeal and courage to live what we claim to believe. All of us here tonight already have that desire in our hearts. So let's pray for each other, and encourage each other, and get down to the Lord's work.



Printed with permission from the Archdiocese of Denver.

Abortion Truth A Click Away

To access full information on each and every one in the list below, click on:
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/abortion.php


Abortion

* Defining "Abortion"
* An Informed Choice
* Abortion History Timeline

Abortion Alternatives

* Gabriel Project
* Several Sources Foundation
* The Nurturing Network
* Bethany Christian Services
* National Life Center
* Birthright
* OptionLine
* Crisis Pregnancy Center

Abortion Techniques

* Hysterotomy
* Partial-Birth Abortion
* Prostaglandins
* Urea
* Salt Poisoning
* Instillation Methods
* Dilatation (Dilation) and Evacuation (D&E)
* Methotrexate
* RU 486
* Dilatation (Dilation) and Curettage (D&C)
* Suction Aspiration

After an Abortion

* Post-Abortion Help Centers
* Post-Abortion Syndrome (PAS)
* How Abortion Hurts Women

Articles and Addresses

* The Sanctity of Human Life from Conception to Natural Death
* Respect Life Mass homily - 2003, Archbishop Chaput
* Archbishop Chaput’s statement on Supreme Court legalization of partial-birth abortion
* A logical argument against abortion
* An Ex-Abortionist speaks
* Rep. Chris Smith’s address to the 2008 March for Life

Catholic Teaching

* The Catholic Church and Abortion
* The Bible's Teaching Against Abortion
* Blessed Mother Teresa on Abortion

Defending Life

* Rape, Incest, Fetal Abnormality
* If abortion is made illegal women will die in back alleys
* What will we do with all the unwanted kids? (Poor babies, overpopulation, abuse, etc.)
* It's my body/ a women's choice
* It's not a baby- it's just a blob of tissue

Medical Aspects

* Physical Complications for Surgical Abortions
* Psychological Consequences
* List of Complications

Partial-Birth Abortion

* What is partial-birth abortion?
* Legislative efforts in the United States to prohibit 'partial-birth abortion'
* Actions taken by the Bishops of the United States
* Standing up for Life
* Why is it called "Partial-Birth"?
* A Diagram of the Partial Birth Abortion Procedure
* Are Partial-Birth Abortions Common?
* Partial-birth Abortion: What's next?
* Bishops' letter to President Clinton condemning Partial Birth Abortion Veto
* Life, Death, and Partial-Birth Abortion

RU - 486

* What about psychological after effects?
* Are chemical abortions safer than surgical abortions?
* What sort of medical conditions might keep a woman from being offered the chemical abortion method?
* How long does a typical RU486/PG abortion take and how many steps does it involve?
* Is this the "morning after" pill I've heard so much about?
* How does RU 486 work?
* What is RU 486?

Testimonies

* He made me feel so stupid for becoming pregnant
* I bought the Pro-Choice rhetoric
* I have a long road ahead of me
* I lived a total HELL within myself
* I was hoping the sermon would help…
* I was petrified to tell my parents
* In the basin was a red, tiny perfectly formed baby
* It was then that I realized the horrible mistake I had made
* I’ve never known a feeling so bad
* My body knew it had been robbed
* Nobody said it would hurt so much
* They didn’t want the others to hear me
* Two days I wish I could re-live

Monday, December 22, 2008

The Most Lied-About Judicial Decision in our History

National
Right to Life

Today's
News & Views

Today's News & Views
December 22, 2008

The Most Lied-About Judicial Decision in our History

Like many people, I do most of my Christmas shopping online. But in my one-time-for-the-season jaunt to the local Mall yesterday, I made a beeline for the "Books a Million" discount bookstore.

Near the entry to the coffee shop [a prime location], I spied an attractive display for a massive and fascinating, book, "The New York Times: The Complete Front Pages: 1851-2008." It is exactly what the title says: a reproduction of every Times' front page for over a century and a half.

The book happened to be opened to the page that discussed the contested 2000 presidential election. During that unprecedented recount my wife and I watched cable television for massive numbers of hours, so that front page brought back a flood of memories.

A moment later, I turned to January 23, 1973, the day where the Times covered the historic Roe v. Wade decision rendered the prior day. The lead story was the death of former president Lyndon Johnson, but almost the entirety of the remainder of the front page dealt with the decision.

In those days the Times often produced an almost unreadable page one. The paper itself was nothing like the current version; it was very tall and very wide, and jam-packed with stories that jumped all over the paper. It looked very much like something a junior high school staff would produce, assuming the advisor was out to lunch. There were something like 14 or 15 stories that began on page one.

I had never actually seen the January 23 edition before. I took a second to count and found that the newspaper started 11 stories about the Roe decision on page one. Naturally one of the subheads suggested that decision legalized abortion "in the first trimester." The Big Lie was established early and reverberates to this day.

If more objective chroniclers were handling the front page, how would some of the headlines have read? "Roe Dismantles All State Laws in Sweeping Decision Legalizing Abortion on Demand"; "Decision Extends Right to Abortion to Unprecedented Lengths"; "Religious Communities Shocked by Supreme Court Decision"; or "Planned Parenthood Welcomes 7-2 Decision, Vows to Monitor State Compliance."

But we are now nearly 36 years out, and we have witnessed the massive damage Roe hath wrought. What kinds of headlines would we write?

"Over 51 Million Unborn Babies Lost to Abortion"; "Studies Mount Showing Abortion's Negative Impact on Women"; "Young People: the New Face of the Pro-Life Movement"; "Minorities Abort in Vastly Disproportionate Numbers"; or "Pro-Life Movement Retools and Rebuilds to Thwart Obama's Abortion Agenda."

The Times likes to think of itself as the "newspaper of record." But before considering whether there was any justification for that self-aggrandizing description, the Times would have to change course and begin telling the truth about the most lied-about judicial decision in our history.

Adopted Teen And Her Thankfulness Of Adoption As Her Mother's Choice

It is my privilege....my honor...to post the following recognition of a teenager who can clearly see and express the heartfelt gratefulness she feels that her birth mother chose life. I have her permission to reprint this here. God bless you, dear girl and God bless your birth mother. And thank God for her adoptive parents who have given Carley their complete love...God bless you, dear parents.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++==


Adopted teen writes poetry to inspire others to be prolife
ADOPTION FOCUS-- December 16, 2008

"Because I can't take care of you my baby, I will let someone else love you, and I will hope that someday just maybe we'll meet again and share love too," writes Carley, a high school junior who was adopted when she was an infant. Carley says she is so very lucky because she was adopted into a loving family and because her birth mom chose to give her life.

"I want everyone to know that the Right to Life is the most important right we are granted as humans, and we must protect that right with all we have," Carley said. That is the reason she writes her poems (see Carley's poems below).

Carley was born in 1992 in **, **, and adopted a few months later. Carley says, "In that time, I stayed at a foster home with an amazing couple that cared for me until the papers were completed." She currently lives in ** ** with her mom, dad, brother and sister.

"They truly are the kind of parents that love no matter what and always support my siblings and me. Since they couldn't have kids, they decided to adopt. My brother and sister are bi-racial and are younger than me, and also adopted. My family is so much fun because we all are pretty much polar opposites. My brother likes bowling, basketball and guitar. My sister likes just about everything from dance and music to sports. I'm really quiet and love politics (kind of an oxymoron), law, forensics, and writing. Everyone in my extended family and all of my parents' friends accepted me and my siblings even though we aren't blood related which is really cool and it's what love should be. It's amazing that there are so many people that are so willing to accept someone no matter where they are from."

Carley began writing stories in the 5th grade and poems in the 8th grade. A creative writing class at school this year has increased the amount of writing she has completed. She has written 28 poems and 3 songs on varied topics. "My poems have a lot to do with life and my adoption story with some written to my birth mom whom I haven't met yet," said Carley. "I want people to read my poems and know that what I write comes from my heart. Since I'm a pretty quiet person, my poems are my way to share my feelings and my opinions. It's also nice because sometimes it's hard to tell my story to other people and when I hand them my poems, it explains everything to them."

Carley explains that she began writing about her adoption and birth family because she has a lot of questions. "I started writing a lot about this when I found out about my birth mom and a little bit of her life. I was her third child. The first ended in an abortion, the second was a little boy that she kept, and I was the third. In the little information I have, it says that she gave me life because she knew what came out of an abortion and a pregnancy and she wanted to give her baby life. I know that what she did was so very selfless and was done out of total love. If anything, I want to meet her to say thank you!"


Love at First Sight

If there's a bond between you and someone,
many consider it true love.
The bond of moms and babies is always one
and is genuine like a dove.

Separated at birth my mom and I,
it was a choice of hers you see
but when she saw me, she just cried and cried
especially when they made me leave.

"Because I can't take care of you my baby,
I will let someone else love you,
and I will hope that someday just maybe
we'll meet again and share love too."

I must have felt the teardrops from her eye.
I'm sure she said, "I love you!" too.
I have a small keepsake I won't let die,
strawberry mark I won't eschew.

After I was born and she held me tight,
my perfect mommy cuddled me
her gleaming face was incredibly bright
like the star on a Christmas tree.

"Because I can't take care of you my baby,
I will let someone else love you,
and I will hope that someday just maybe
we'll meet again and share love too."

A new, different daddy was next to come
he was taller then I would ever be
Michigan is where he was from,
first baby to sit on his knee.

"It's so hard to say goodbye to you
when I know you may not find me
All I can do is pray and love you
You'll be lifted high, and be free.

The bond that's shared between mommy and I
a bond of true love without end
my mom couldn't raise me high as the sky.
Our love is one that cannot bend.

"Because I can't take care of you my baby,
I will let someone else love you,
and I will hope that someday just maybe
we'll meet again and share love too."
True Love


Life

Nothing was the same, now that it was different.
a small choice could change your life
a big decision could alter your story.
After choosing a side,
a life could never be the same.
Make decisions today,
tomorrow make no regrets.
Regret and lose life.
lose life and
nothing will be the same,
especially now,
when everything is different.


How to Love

As a little one, my mommy couldn't take care of me.
My mommy wanted me to live a good life so she let someone else take care of me.
After I was born my mommy got to hold me for a little bit,
then the nurse took me back away from my mommy.
The nurse gave me to another mommy and daddy,
they could take care of me.
My new mommy and daddy dressed me up,
we went to court and we signed papers to finalize my new mommy and daddy.
I may not know who my first mommy and daddy are,
but I know who my new mommy and daddy are.
They are the best mommy and daddy you could have.
Because of them,
I learned to talk,
I learned to love,
I learned to walk,
I learned to be myself,
I learned love isn't just what you get through DNA,
It's what you share with others.


http://alphabetsoup.synthasite.com/publications.php
More Poems at: http://alphabetsoup.synthasite.com/poems.php

The Huffington Post Writer Geoffrey Dunn -- Wordsmithing Lies About Catholics

Below is a piece written by the Huffington Post writer, Mr. Geoffrey Dunn. As the list owner of "Catholics for Sarah" which he has cited as a member group of Team Sarah, I feel that this article deserves my response.

On behalf of Catholics for Sarah, Mr. Dunn, I can clearly see that you have mentioned my group but you have conveniently separated the name of my group, Catholics for Sarah, from the quotes you mention having found on Team Sarah. And, of course, you needed to do that for two reasons.

1) You wish to try to insinuate that people on my group, Catholics, happen to be hate filled and you hope that the reader isn't smart enough to notice that you never directly quoted anyone from my group.

2) You separated the name of my group from the quotes because YOU DID NOT FIND ANYONE ON THE CATHOLIC GROUP SPOUTING HATE OF ANY KIND.

My Catholics for Sarah group is almost 1700 strong, the largest group on Team Sarah. And yet, you could not find ONE thing said that spews hate. It would appear that your agenda was clear....to try to make people think that Catholics are racist.

If you, Mr. Dunn, sent in spies that reported back to you of ill mannered words spoken on Team Sarah, they forgot to tell you that no remarks of this type are said in my group. I will not have any type of conversation like what you have reported.

I will not have racist remarks, nor bigot remarks, nor cussing. And, I am happy to report that I have never had to ban anyone on the group. All the Catholics...all 1700...are caring, praying, charitable people.

If you were to do homework on the Catholic Church, you would discover that the Catholic Church excommunicated Catholic politicians for being racist many many years ago. Why? Because the Catholic Church is not racist nor is it a bigot Faith.

And, if you or anyone else on your staff were to have read the posts on Catholics for Sarah, you would find that we PRAY for Mr. Obama and rarely, if ever, mention his wife, Mrs. Obama. We pray for Mr. Obama to have a conversion of heart for the unborn.

As well, I might add, that whomever entered Team Sarah to dig up dirt, probably went to the chat and deliberately incited a hateful speech just to get someone to react for the purpose of giving you material to use in your article. However, I will bet my bottom dollar, it was NOT a Catholic who spoke the words you quoted. And, we ALL know that because you separated your quotes WAY away from your mention of Catholics for Sarah in your article.

I INVITE YOU, MR DUNN, TO JOIN CATHOLICS FOR SARAH SO THAT YOU CAN BE HONEST AND FORTHRIGHT ABOUT WHAT WE SAY AND DO NOT SAY. COME ON IN ! I CAN GUARANTEE YOU THAT EVEN THOUGH WE CATHOLICS KNOW WHAT YOU TRIED TO IMPLY ABOUT US, WE WILL GREET YOU WITH CHRIST'S LOVE FOR NEIGHBOR.

Now....the following for all to see is your article, Mr. Dunn, where you deliberately try to wordsmith Catholics into your intention to incite hatred.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++




'Watermelon Roll': More Racism from 'Team Sarah'
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Read More: Alaska Racist Emails, Barack Obama, Mccain Racism, Night Befo Crizzmus, Obama Racism, Palin Racist Emails, Politics News, Racial Identity, Racism, Racism In Politics, Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin Scandal, Sarah Palin Vice President, Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund Project, Politics News



There is something very ugly happening out there in the hinterlands these days--a brewing cauldron of racist anger being directed at President-elect Barack Obama as he and his family get ready to move into the White House. It's a mean-spirited bigotry that is finding its way onto the internet and right-wing blogs across the country. It makes for a troubling portrait of a significant cross-section of the American polity as Obama prepares to take the oath of office as the 44th President of these United States.

Nowhere have these tendencies been more out-front and prominent than at TeamSarah.org, a website organized by "a coalition of women dedicated to advancing the values that Sarah Palin represents in the political process." Men, according to an exclamatory notice, are welcome, too.

The web site is funded--and hosted--by the Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund Project, a national right-wing, pro-life Political Action Committee headed up by one Marjorie Dannenfelser, an ardent pro-life advocate. I know about Dannenfelser and the Susan B. Anthony group because earlier this year, the San Francisco Chronicle pitted Ms. Dannenfelser and me against each other in an op-ed page debate over the qualifications of Governor Palin to speak for families with special-needs children. Needless to say, Ms. Dannensfelser championed the activities of Governor Palin in this regard, while I did not. I have a special needs child and I find the idea of Palin speaking on my child's behalf an absolute outrage. No friend of special needs families is she.

So I was not surprised to find that the Anthony group was behind the Team Sarah web site. According to Ms. Dannenfelser "Team Sarah was formed to capitalize off the enthusiasm of the Palin Vice Presidential candidacy with the goal of reaching women voters and urging them to support John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin. Our goal was to win the Election. Several prominent women are involved with the project, including D.C. veteran Barbara Comstock, former First Lady candidate Jeri Thompson, FRC Action Vice President Connie Mackey, and actress Janine Turner, formerly (appropriately) of Northern Exposure." Now they are carrying the banner of Palin for President in 2012. (According to their website, membership is 62,639 and counting.)

Nor was I surprised when I went to the site to find all sorts pro-life and anti-abortion links, with lots of Christian hyperbole. There are also links to "Catholics for Sarah," "Christians for Sarah," and, of course, obligatory links to Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. There's also a good amount of "clinging to our guns and our religion" in rhetoric that sounds straight out of the 17th century.

You can even find out why so many people hate Sarah Palin--"Her husband is a masculine hottie ," writes Dana. "Now I'm a straight guy, but I know when a guy is hott and Todd is hott. [sic] The left usually views masculine hotties as wife beaters who oppress their woman." Okay. And you are correct to presume that spelling and grammar do not seem to be highly valued on the site. (And, because of that, all spelling from the site is left exactly as it appears.)

There's also an incessant whine about the left-wing media bashing Palin, especially on the Huffington Post. Says Ronald: "Most people (like the media) who try to make others believe that Sara is dumb and stupid or inexperienced actually fear her because of her faith and goodness." So that's it.

But what's interesting is that there are actually more blog topics about "Obama" than about "Palin." Of course, Obama's citizenship, birth certificate, and alleged Muslim upbringing are constantly questioned, along with his youthful drug use (though funny, Palin's admitted use of marijuana is not, and we won't even mention Levi Johnston's mother). There are also a lot of references to Obama being the anti-Christ: "He is the antichrist sent here to destroy America. Nobody knows who he is or where he was born."

And then there's some plain, downright nastiness and plenty of good ol' fashioned racism that, well, certainly doesn't sound Christian, if you catch my drift. When a blogger named James asks if anybody has bought the new Obama coins, SavantNoir responds: "[Y]es James, and i melted it down to see the look of agnoy on his face, made it a BB pellet and shot it into a pile of shit."

On one blog Heather describes Election Day as the "most terrible" in history and asks "how long until obama is shot??????" Josie responds: "There are plenty of people that would like to see Obama end that way."

Nice. Then there's the "Obama the Snowman" song:

Obama the Snowman

Was a very scary soul
With a marijuana pipe
And two eyes made out of skoal
Obama the Snowman
Is a Kenyan they say
He liked his white nose snow
But the Americans know
How he stole their country one day

And guess what? It sounds exactly like the kind of racist remarks that were being sent recently on State of Alaska government emails.

Under a post entitled "Police prepare for RIOTS," by one BarbaraJo, one concerned blogger named Tommygun responded:

"For people in urban/Obama areas--do this now: 1. Stock up on some basic supplies--food, health and hygiene, water, etc. 2. Keep track of where your family members are. 3. Work up meeting points in your community for your family (different spots in town where members are to go if problems occur). 4. Check and prepare any weapons you may have."

In response, a blogger named Johnny got more to the point:


"Well niggers will occasionally chimp out like this, am I right?"

While several Team Sarah members condemned that particular post, it's remnants are still up on the web site.

Then there's the probing political analysis you can find on Team Sarah:

"Funny thing, when voters are offered the chance, they always vote to ban gay marriage. What I really find hilarious though, is the gays supported Barry Obama in force. And yet, thanks to Barry's "blackness" the negroes came out in force in California to vote for him! And negroes are pretty conventional when t comes to values. Most are rather conservative, which is why I can't understand for the life of me why the vote for democrats."

There's also a lot of Michelle Obama bashing, too, where she is often referred to as "Bitchelle." Take this current thread:


GaryP: This Obama worship has got to stop! Politico is now saying that since Michelle "gave up so much", that she should get a salary as well!


Biruta: She should be paid millions of counterfeit money, just as fake as her husband and as worthless as herself.

AmericanDog: Pay her the sum of $1.oo and then tax her at the rate of 53 % to appease her husbands new tax plans. And she would still be over paid.......

Ava M: I have never actually HATED anyone in politics before now....She is stupid, mean, power hungry, manipulative, corrupt, essentially ignorant--a poster girl for Institutionalized Black Racism and Agression, a take-no-prisoners warrior for Political Correctnes aka Socialist Realism and a racially driven Communist fellow traveller. Let her go run an African country. She doesn't fit in here with the American People.

Apparently, she, like her husband, isn't one of us. Sound familiar?

Then there was the musing about the Obama Inaugural, first reported in the Alaska Dispatch by its fine reporter, Amanda Coyne:

Wendell: I just can't wait to see the Inaugeral ball... I heard the Presidential Waltz will be replaced by Barack and Michelle "Crumpin".


tami: I am sure michelle will dance like a horse

Wendell: followed by the new cabinet break dancing...

Christopher: Not trying to get too racial, but I have never met a black woman who could not dance.

tommykb3grz: the 4th of july watermellon roll on the south lawn

Wendell: a 4-inch diameter Presidential Seal in gold hanging from Obama's neck

Surely, by now, you get the point. And just when you think you've seen it all, "Team Sarah" member Jarhead comes up with this:

"Aside form Obama being an utter Moron I suppose he is a nice enough person. I personally put his happy little smile on every Terrorist face in Rainbow six [a video game], just before my cross hairs line up..."


So much for Christian charity. As for Sarah Palin herself, she has yet to officially sign up for the web site, though she did send a note to the founders of the organization. "I received the packet of letters through Team Sarah and am inspired!," she wrote. "Thank you for all you are doing for women, families, children... America!"

Friday, December 19, 2008

RIGHTS OF HEALTH CARE WORKERS GET A BOOST

RIGHTS OF HEALTH CARE WORKERS GET A BOOST

December 18, 2008

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services today issued a regulation that considerably strengthens the rights of health care workers to practice according to their conscience; it affects those who work in federally funded health care institutions.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue applauds the decision:

“This regulation builds on the conscience rights for health care workers that was first broached in the 1970s by the Church Amendments, and later enhanced in 1996 by the Congress. It gives these men and women the right to be free from discriminatory edicts invoked by those who have no respect for their conscience rights. No one in the health care field should ever be compelled by law to perform or assist in a procedure that violates his or her conscience. This should be an elementary right, yet there are those who want to trespass on it.

“It is imperative that President-elect Obama resist the appeal of pro-abortion extremists to overturn this regulation. These fanatics would literally force objecting Catholics, and others, to perform abortions and other morally objectionable procedures, if they could. Consistent with the prudence he has shown so far, Obama would be wise to ignore the zealots and allow today’s regulation to stand.”

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Recognition To All 100% Pro-Life Churches In Communion

CATHOLIC RITES AND CHURCHES

Christ, having been lifted up from the earth has drawn all men to Himself. Rising from the dead He sent His life–giving Spirit upon His disciples and through Him has established His Body which is the Church as the universal sacrament of salvation. Sitting at the right hand of the Father, He is continually active in the world that He might lead men to the Church and through it join them to Himself and that He might make them partakers of His glorious life by nourishing them with His own Body and Blood. [Vatican Council II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen gentium 48]

RITES
A Rite represents an ecclesiastical, or church, tradition about how the sacraments are to be celebrated. Each of the sacraments has at its core an essential nature which must be satisfied for the sacrament to be confected or realized. This essence – of matter, form and intention – derives from the divinely revealed nature of the particular sacrament. It cannot be changed by the Church. Scripture and Sacred Tradition, as interpreted by the Magisterium, tells us what is essential in each of the sacraments (2 Thes. 2:15).
When the apostles brought the Gospel to the major cultural centers of their day the essential elements of religious practice were inculturated into those cultures. This means that the essential elements were clothed in the symbols and trappings of the particular people, so that the rituals conveyed the desired spiritual meaning to that culture. In this way the Church becomes all things to all men that some might be saved (1 Cor. 9:22).
There are three major groupings of Rites based on this initial transmission of the faith, the Roman, the Antiochian (Syria) and the Alexandrian (Egypt). Later on the Byzantine derived as a major Rite from the Antiochian, under the influence of St. Basil and St. John Chrysostom. From these four derive the over 20 liturgical Rites present in the Church today.

CHURCHES
A Church is an assembly of the faithful, hierarchically ordered, both in the entire world – the Catholic Church, or in a certain territory – a particular Church. To be a sacrament (a sign) of the Mystical Body of Christ in the world, a Church must have both a head and members (Col. 1:18). The sacramental sign of Christ the Head is the sacred hierarchy – the bishops, priests and deacons (Eph. 2:19–22). More specifically, it is the local bishop, with his priests and deacons gathered around and assisting him in his office of teaching, sanctifying and governing (Mt. 28:19–20; Titus 1:4–9). The sacramental sign of the Mystical Body is the Christian faithful. Thus the Church of Christ is fully present sacramentally (by way of a sign) wherever there is a sign of Christ the Head, a bishop and those who assist him, and a sign of Christ's Body, Christian faithful. Each diocese is therefore a particular Church.
The Church of Christ is also present sacramentally in ritual Churches that represent an ecclesiastical tradition of celebrating the sacraments. They are generally organized under a Patriarch, who together with the bishops and other clergy of that ritual Church represent Christ the Head to the people of that tradition. In some cases a Rite is completely coincident with a Church. For example, the Maronite Church with its Patriarch has a Rite not found in any other Church. In other cases, such as the Byzantine Rite, several Churches use the same or a very similar liturgical Rite. For example, the Ukrainian Catholic Church uses the Byzantine Rite, but this Rite is also found in other Catholic Churches, as well as the Eastern Orthodox Churches not in union with Rome.
Finally, the Church of Christ is sacramentally present in the Universal or Catholic Church spread over the entire world. It is identified by the sign of Christ our Rock, the Bishop of Rome, Successor of St. Peter (Mt. 16:18). To be Catholic particular Churches and ritual Churches must be in communion with this Head, just as the other apostles, and the Churches they founded, were in communion with Peter (Gal. 1:18). Through this communion with Peter and his successors the Church becomes a universal sacrament of salvation in all times and places, even to the end of the age (Mt. 28:20).

Western Rites and Churches
Immediately subject to the Bishop of Rome, the Supreme Pontiff, who exercises his authority over the liturgy through the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

ROMAN/LATIN FAMILY OF LITURGICAL RITES
The Church of Rome is the Primatial See of the world and one of the five Patriarchal Sees of the early Church (Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem). Founded by St. Peter in 42 AD it was consecrated by the blood of Sts. Peter and Paul during the persecution of Nero (63–67 AD). It has maintained a continual existence since then and is the source of a family of Rites in the West. Considerable scholarship (such as that of Fr. Louis Boyer in Eucharist) suggests the close affinity of the Roman Rite proper with the Jewish prayers of the synagogue, which also accompanied the Temple sacrifices. While the origin of the current Rite, even in the reform of Vatican II, can be traced directly only to the 4th century, these connections point to an ancient apostolic tradition brought to that city that was decidedly Jewish in origin.
After the Council of Trent it was necessary to consolidate liturgical doctrine and practice in the face of the Reformation. Thus, Pope St. Pius V imposed the Rite of Rome on the Latin Church (that subject to him in his capacity as Patriarch of the West), allowing only smaller Western Rites with hundreds of years of history to remain. Younger Rites of particular dioceses or regions ceased to exist.
As a consequence of the Second Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Pope Paul VI undertook a reform of the Mass of the Roman Rite, promulgating a revised rite with the Missal of 1970. This Missal has since been modified twice (1975 and 2002). Mass celebrated in accordance with this missal is the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite.
At the time of the revised Missal's promulgation in 1970 almost all Catholics assumed that the previous rite, that of the Missal of 1962, had been abolished. By decision of the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI this general assumption has been declared false and the right of Latin Rite priests to celebrate Mass according to the former missal has been affirmed (Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum, 7 July 2007). Mass celebrated in accordance with the Missal of 1962 constitutes the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.
• Roman – The overwhelming majority of Latin Catholics and of Catholics in general.
– Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite. Mass celebrated in accordance with the Missale Romanum of 1970, promulgated by Pope Paul VI, currently in its third edition (2002). The vernacular editions of this Missal, as well as the rites of the other sacraments, are translated from the Latin typical editions revised after the Second Vatican Council.
– Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. Mass celebrated in accordance with the Missale Romanum of 1962, promulgated by Blessed Pope John XXIII. The other sacraments are celebrated according to the Roman Ritual in force at the time of the Second Vatican Council. The Extraordinary Form is most notable for being almost entirely in Latin. In addition to institutes which have the faculty to celebrate the Extraordinary Form routinely, such as the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter and the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, any Latin Rite priest may now offer the Mass and other sacraments in accordance with norms of Summorum Pontificum.
– Anglican Use. Since the 1980s the Holy See has granted some former Anglican and Episcopal clergy converting with their parishes the faculty of celebrating the sacramental rites according to Anglican forms, doctrinally corrected.
• Mozarabic – The Rite of the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal) known from at least the 6th century, but probably with roots to the original evangelization. Beginning in the 11th century it was generally replaced by the Roman Rite, although it has remained the Rite of the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Toledo, Spain, and six parishes which sought permission to adhere to it. Its celebration today is generally semi–private.
• Ambrosian – The Rite of the Archdiocese of Milan, Italy, thought to be of early origin and probably consolidated, but not originated, by St. Ambrose. Pope Paul VI was from this Roman Rite. It continues to be celebrated in Milan, though not by all parishes.
• Bragan – Rite of the Archdiocese of Braga, the Primatial See of Portugal, it derives from the 12th century or earlier. It continues to be of occasional use.
• Dominican – Rite of the Order of Friars Preacher (OP), founded by St. Dominic in 1215.
• Carmelite – Rite of the Order of Carmel, whose modern foundation was by St. Berthold c.1154.
• Carthusian – Rite of the Carthusian Order founded by St. Bruno in 1084.

Eastern Rites and Churches
The Eastern Catholic Churches have their own hierarchy, system of governance (synods) and general law, the Code of Canons for the Eastern Churches. The Supreme Pontiff exercises his primacy over them through the Congregation for the Eastern Churches.

ANTIOCHIAN FAMILY OF LITURGICAL RITES
The Church of Antioch in Syria (the ancient Roman Province of Syria) is considered an apostolic See by virtue of having been founded by St. Peter. It was one of the ancient centers of the Church, as the New Testament attests, and is the source of a family of similar Rites using the ancient Syriac language (the Semitic dialect used in Jesus' time and better known as Aramaic). Its Liturgy is attributed to St. James and the Church of Jerusalem.
1. WEST SYRIAC
• Maronite – Never separated from Rome. Maronite Patriarch of Antioch. The liturgical language is Aramaic. The 3 million Maronites are found in Lebanon (origin), Cyprus, Egypt, Syria, Israel, Canada, US, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Australia.
• Syriac – Syriac Catholics who returned to Rome in 1781 from the monophysite heresy. Syriac Patriarch of Antioch. The 110,000 Syriac Catholics are found in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Canada and the US.
• Malankarese – Catholics from the South of India evangelized by St. Thomas, uses the West Syriac liturgy. Reunited with Rome in 1930. Liturgical languages today are West Syriac and Malayalam. The 350,000 Malankarese Catholics are found in India and North America.
2. EAST SYRIAC
• Chaldean – Babylonian Catholics returned to Rome in 1692 from the Nestorian heresy. Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans. Liturgical languages are Syriac and Arabic. The 310,000 Chaldean Catholics are found in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey and the US.
• Syro–Malabarese – Catholics from Southern India using the East Syriac liturgy. Returned to Rome in the 16th century from the Nestorian heresy. Liturgical languages are Syriac and Malayalam. Over 3 million Syro–Malabarese Catholics can be found in the state of Kerela, in SW India.

BYZANTINE FAMILY OF LITURGICAL RITES
The Church of Constantinople became the political and religious center of the eastern Roman Empire after the Emperor Constantine built a new capital there (324–330) on the site of the ancient town of Byzantium. Constantinople developed its own liturgical rite from the Liturgy of St. James, in one form as modified by St. Basil, and in a more commonly used form, as modified by St. John Chrysostom. After 1054, except for brief periods of reunion, most Byzantine Christians have not been in communion with Rome. They make up the Orthodox Churches of the East, whose titular head is the Patriarch of Constantinople. The Orthodox Churches are mostly auto–cephalous, meaning self–headed, united to each other by communion with Constantinople, which exercises no real authority over them. They are typically divided into Churches along nation lines. Those that have returned to communion with the Holy See are represented among the Eastern Churches and Rites of the Catholic Church.
1. ARMENIAN
Considered either its own Rite or an older version of the Byzantine. Its exact form is not used by any other Byzantine Rite. It is composed of Catholics from the first people to convert as a nation, the Armenians (N.E. of Turkey), and who returned to Rome at the time of the Crusades. Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenians. The liturgical language is classical Armenian. The 350,000 Armenian Catholics are found in Armenia, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Ukraine, France, Romania, United States and Argentina. Most Armenians are Orthodox, not in union with Rome.
2. BYZANTINE
• Albanian – Albanian Christians, numbering only 1400 today, who resumed communion with Rome in 1628. Liturgical language is Albanian. Most Albanian Christians are Albanian Orthodox.
• Belarussian/Byelorussian – Unknown number of Belarussians who returned to Rome in the 17th century. The liturgical language is Old Slavonic. The faithful can be found in Belarus, as well as Europe, the Americas and Australia.
• Bulgarian – Bulgarians who returned to Rome in 1861. Liturgical language is Old Slavonic. The 20,000 faithful can be found in Bulgaria. Most Bulgarian Christians are Bulgarian Orthodox.
• Czech – Czech Catholics of Byzantine Rite organized into a jurisdiction in 1996.
• Krizevci – Croatian Catholics of Byzantine Rite who resumed communion with Rome in 1611. The liturgical language is Old Slavonic. The 50,000 faithful can be found in Croatia and the Americas. Most Croatians are Roman (Rite) Catholics.
• Greek – Greek Christians who returned to Rome in 1829. The liturgical language is Greek. Only 2500 faithful in Greece, Asia Minor (Turkey) and Europe. Greek Christians are almost all Orthodox, whose Patriarch is the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople.
• Hungarian – Descendants of Ruthenians who returned to Rome in 1646. The liturgical languages are Greek, Hungarian and English. The 300,000 faithful are found in Hungary, Europe and the Americas.
• Italo–Albanian – Never separated from Rome, these 60,000 Byzantine Rite Catholics are found in Italy, Sicily and the Americas. The liturgical languages are Greek and Italo–Albanian.
• Melkite – Catholics from among those separated from Rome in Syria and Egypt who resumed Communion with Rome at the time of the Crusades. However, definitive union only came in the 18th century. Melkite Greek Patriarch of Damascus. Liturgical languages are Greek, Arabic, English, Portuguese and Spanish. The over 1 million Melkite Catholics can be found in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Canada, US, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina and Australia.
• Romanian – Romanians who returned to Rome in 1697. The liturgical language is Romanian. There are over 1 million Romanian Catholics in Romania, Europe and the Americas. Most Romanian Christians are Romanian Orthodox.
• Russian – Russians who returned to communion with Rome in 1905. The liturgical language is Old Slavonic. An unknown number of the faithful in Russia, China, the Americas and Australia. Most Russian Christians are Russian Orthodox, whose Patriarch is the Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow.
• Ruthenian – Catholics from among those separated from Rome in Russia, Hungary and Croatia who reunited with Rome in 1596 (Brest–Litovsk) and 1646 (Uzhorod).
• Slovak – Byzantine Rite Catholics of Slovakian origin numbering 225,000 and found in Slovakia and Canada.
• Ukrainian – Catholics from among those separated from Rome by the Greek Schism and reunited about 1595. Patriarch or Metropolitan of Lviv. Liturgical languages are Old Slavonic and the vernacular. The 5.5 million Ukrainian Catholics can be found in Ukraine, Poland, England, Germany, France, Canada, US, Brazil, Argentina and Australia. During the Soviet era Ukrainian Catholics were violently forced to join the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Their hierarchy, which continued to exist outside the homeland, has since been re–established in Ukraine.

ALEXANDRIAN FAMILY OF LITURGICAL RITES
The Church of Alexandria in Egypt was one of the original centers of Christianity, since like Rome and Antioch it had a large Jewish population which was the initial object of apostolic evangelization. Its Liturgy is attributed to St. Mark the Evangelist, and shows the later influence of the Byzantine Liturgy, in addition to its unique elements.
• Coptic – Egyptian Catholics who returned to communion with Rome in 1741. The Patriarch of Alexandria leads the 200,000 faithful of this ritual Church spread throughout Egypt and the Near East. The liturgical languages are Coptic (Egyptian) and Arabic. Most Copts are not Catholics.
• Ethiopian/Abyssinian – Ethiopian Coptic Christians who returned to Rome in 1846. The liturgical language is Geez. The 200,000 faithful are found in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, and Jerusalem.

Catholics for Obama-Biden

I don't have much to say about this except that it is a contradiction in terms. One cannot be Catholic and be for such a pro-death president.

There is just no way. Oh, I can understand Catholics talking about whether they want the Latin Mass or the vernacular. I can understand almost any discussion of differences but I cannot understand how any Catholic Christian or any Christian honestly believe that abortion is ok with the Holy Trinity.

So, if anyone is in doubt...err on the side of Jesus. Don't even think for a moment that Jesus could possibly condone in any way, shape, or form the ripping off of the limbs of a baby or to burn it to death.

Catholics for Obama-Biden are not Catholic. Not in any sense, no how.

I am reminded what Jesus said about why some of them did not understand...they did not understand because they were listening to their father. And their father was satan.

Catholic Health Association Applauds Pro-Abortion Cabinet Picks Lamented by Pro-Lifers

Catholic Health Association Applauds Pro-Abortion Cabinet Picks Lamented by Pro-Lifers

By Kathleen Gilbert

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 18, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Catholic Health Association (CHA) has praised President-elect Obama's health administration picks, including Tom Daschle for Secretary of Health and Human Services, despite simultaneous dismay from the pro-life corner, which has pointed out his documented and indefatigable support for abortion on Capitol Hill.

The former Democratic Senate majority leader, an early and avid Obama supporter, gained notoriety for his liberal views on abortion when he opposed the partial-birth abortion ban, endorsed taxpayer-funded military abortions, and supported taxpayer funding to provide morning-after pills to young public school girls.

CHA, which has often been at odds with the Vatican and U.S. bishops' directives on sound Catholic health care, issued a statement last week lauding the confirmation of Tom Daschle for the position of the head of HHS. The statement included a nod of approval to Jeanne Lambrew, another abortion advocate, who was appointed deputy director of the White House Office of Health Reform.

"We applaud the President-elect for choosing these two extraordinary and capable leaders who bring an enormous understanding of health care delivery issues and the need for meaningful reform for American families and businesses," said CHA president and CEO Sister Carol Keehan in the December 11 statement.

"President-elect Obama has shown with today's announcements that he continues to understand that health care reform is a major domestic policy issue. At the same time, he remains true to his pre-election promises to achieve health care reform that provides affordable, accessible health care for all Americans while building on the existing health care system." (To see the CHA press release, go to: http://www.chausa.org/Pub/MainNav/Newsroom/NewsReleases/2008...)

Pro-life commentator Jill Stanek, who fought to expose Obama's refusal to protect infants who had survived an abortion, told the Catholic News Agency (CNA) that Daschle "is a disaster appointment, the opposite of a national protector of health and human services.

"The only reason President-elect Obama appointed Daschle was to assure Obama's radical support of the abortion industry would be extended through HHS," Stanek argued.

When news first broke of Daschle's appointment, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council lamented that pro-life advocates were given a "frightening glimpse" into the new Cabinet, as Daschle will likely spare no effort to dismantle legal protection for the unborn, and enforce the radical Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), should it become law. FOCA poses an unprecedented threat to women, the unborn, and the medical community, as it would dismantle all commonsense laws restricting abortion, including the partial-birth abortion ban, and eradicate doctors' freedom of conscientious objection to abortion.

Daschle will replace current HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, who was instrumental in clearing the path for regulations protecting doctor's constitutional freedom of conscience, including the freedom to refuse involvement in abortion.

Planned Parenthood issued a statement the same day gushing that Obama's "excellent choice" of Daschle demonstrated that the Obama administration will be "an administration committed to ensuring women’s access to affordable, high-quality health care, family planning and prevention services, and to protecting a women's right to choose." The abortion giant said they "look forward to working closely with Sen. Daschle on promoting and protecting the full range of women’s health care, including family planning and prevention services," as they have done in the past.

"Planned Parenthood is excited about the opportunity of having true partners in the White House and HHS committed to promoting and protecting women’s health," concluded the statement.

Planned Parenthood also considered the Lambrew pick a stroke in favor of the abortion lobby, calling her "one of the leading health policy experts in the country, and someone who is an advocate for women’s health issues and prevention measures."

To contact the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:

3211 4th Street, N.E.
Washington DC 20017-1194
phone: (202) 541-3000
email: prolife@usccb.org