What the Popes Have to Say About Socialism
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Written by Gustavo Solimeo, The American TFP, 24 February 2010
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After examining the ideology of socialism, the contrast between the socialist doctrine and the doctrine of the Church becomes clear and consistent.
All the same, it is not out of place to review the condemnation of the popes starting with Pius IX and ending with Benedict XVI. Thus, we present what the popes have to say about socialism as they condemn the socialist doctrine thoroughly and entirely. This is not a comprehensive compilation, but just some samples.
PIUS IX (1846-1878):
“Overthrow [of] the entire order of human affairs”
“You are aware indeed, that the goal of this most iniquitous plot is to drive people to overthrow the entire order of human affairs and to draw them over to the wicked theories of this Socialism and Communism, by confusing them with perverted teachings.” (Encyclical Nostis et Nobiscum, December 8, 1849) LEO XIII (1878-1903):
Hideous monster
“…communism, socialism, nihilism, hideous deformities of the civil society of men and almost its ruin.” (Encyclical Diuturnum, June 29, 1881) Ruin of all institutions
“…We speak of that sect of men who, under various and almost barbarous names, are called socialists, communists, or nihilists, and who, spread over all the world, and bound together by the closest ties in a wicked confederacy, no longer seek the shelter of secret meetings, but, openly and boldly marching forth in the light of day, strive to bring to a head what they have long been planning – the overthrow of all civil society whatsoever. Surely, these are they who, as the sacred Scriptures testify, ‘Defile the flesh, despise dominion and blaspheme majesty.’ (Jud. 8).” (Encyclical Quod Apostolici Muneris, December 28, 1878, n. 1) Socialists debase the natural union of man and woman and assail the right of property “They [socialists, communists, or nihilists] debase the natural union of man and woman, which is held sacred even among barbarous peoples; and its bond, by which the family is chiefly held together, they weaken, or even deliver up to lust. Lured, in fine, by the greed of present goods, which is ‘the root of all evils, which some coveting have erred from the faith’ (1 Tim. 6:10.3), they assail the right of property sanctioned by natural law; and by a scheme of horrible wickedness, while they seem desirous of caring for the needs and satisfying the desires of all men, they strive to seize and hold in common whatever has been acquired either by title of lawful inheritance, or by labor of brain and hands, or by thrift in one’s mode of life.” (Encyclical Quod Apostolici Muneris, December 28, 1878, n. 1) Destructive sect “…socialists and members of other seditious societies, who labor unceasingly to destroy the State even to its foundations.” (Encyclical Libertas Praestantissimum, June 20, 1888) Enemy of society and of Religion
should deem it a sacred duty to preserve and guard both in the honor which is their due.” (Encyclical Graves de Communi Re, January 18, 1901, n. 21)
SAINT PIUS X (1903-1914):
The dream of re-shaping society will bring socialism
“But stranger still, alarming and saddening at the same time, are the audacity and frivolity of men who call themselves Catholics and dream of re-shaping society under such conditions, and of establishing on earth, over and beyond the pale of the Catholic Church, ‘the reign of love and justice’ … What are they going to produce? … A mere verbal and chimerical construction in which we shall see, glowing in a jumble, and in seductive confusion, the words Liberty, Justice, Fraternity, Love, Equality, and human exultation, all resting upon an ill-understood human dignity. It will be a tumultuous agitation, sterile for the end proposed, but which will benefit the less Utopian exploiters of the people. Yes, we can truly say that the Sillon, its eyes fixed on a chimera, brings Socialism in its train.” (Apostolic Letter Notre Charge Apostolique ["Our Apostolic Mandate"] to the French Bishops, August 15, 1910, condemning the movement Le Sillon)
BENEDICT XV (1914-1922): The condemnation of socialism should never be forgotten
“It is not our intention here to repeat the arguments which clearly expose the errors of Socialism and of similar doctrines. Our predecessor, Leo XIII, most wisely did so in truly memorable Encyclicals; and you, Venerable Brethren, will take the greatest care that those grave precepts are never forgotten, but that whenever circumstances call for it, they should be clearly expounded and inculcated in Catholic associations and congresses, in sermons and in the Catholic press.” (Encyclical Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum, November 1, 1914, n. 13) PIUS XI (1922-1939):
Socialism, fundamentally contrary to Christian truth
“… For Socialism, which could then be termed almost a single system and which maintained definite teachings reduced into one body of doctrine, has since then split chiefly into two sections, often opposing each other and even bitterly hostile, without either one however abandoning a position fundamentally contrary to Christian truth that was characteristic of Socialism.” (Encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, May 15, 1931, n. 111) Socialism cannot be reconciled with Catholic Doctrine
“But what if Socialism has really been so tempered and modified as to the class struggle and private ownership that there is in it no longer anything to be censured on these points? Has it thereby renounced its contradictory nature to the Christian religion? This is the question that holds many minds in suspense. And numerous are the Catholics who, although they clearly understand that Christian principles can never be abandoned or diminished seem to turn their eyes to the Holy See and earnestly beseech Us to decide whether this form of Socialism has so far recovered from false doctrines that it can be accepted without the sacrifice of any Christian principle and in a certain sense be baptized. That We, in keeping with Our fatherly solicitude, may answer their petitions, We make this pronouncement: Whether considered as a doctrine, or an historical fact, or a movement, Socialism, if it remains truly Socialism, even after it has yielded to truth and justice on the points which we have mentioned, cannot be reconciled with the teachings of the Catholic Church because its concept of society itself is utterly foreign to Christian truth.” (Ibid. n. 117) Catholic Socialism, a contradiction
“[Socialism] is based nevertheless on a theory of human society peculiar to itself and irreconcilable with true Christianity. Religious socialism, Christian socialism, are contradictory terms; no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist.” (Ibid. n. 120)
PIUS XII (1939-1958):
The state can not be regarded as being above all
“To consider the State as something ultimate to which everything else should be subordinated and directed, cannot fail to harm the true and lasting prosperity of nations.” (Encyclical Summi Pontificatus, October 20, 1939, n. 60)
JOHN XXIII (1958-1963):“No Catholic could subscribe even to moderate socialism”
“Pope Pius XI further emphasized the fundamental opposition between Communism and Christianity, and made it clear that no Catholic could subscribe even to moderate Socialism. The reason is that Socialism is founded on a doctrine of human society which is bounded by time and takes no account of any objective other than that of material well-being. Since, therefore, it proposes a form of social organization which aims solely at production, it places too severe a restraint on human liberty, at the same time flouting the true notion of social authority.” (Encyclical Mater et Magistra, May 15, 1961, n. 34)
PAUL VI (1963-1978):
Too often Christians tend to idealize socialism
“Too often Christians attracted by socialism tend to idealize it in terms which, apart from anything else, are very general: a will for justice, solidarity and equality. They refuse to recognize the limitations of the historical socialist movements, which remain conditioned by the ideologies from which they originated.” (Apostolic Letter Octogesima Adveniens, May 14, 1971, n. 31)
JOHN PAUL II (1978-2005):
Socialism: Danger of a “simple and radical solution”
“It may seem surprising that ‘socialism’ appeared at the beginning of the Pope’s critique of solutions to the ‘question of the working class’ at a time when ‘socialism’ was not yet in the form of a strong and powerful State, with all the resources which that implies, as was later to happen. However, he correctly judged the danger posed to the masses by the attractive presentation of this simple and radical solution to the ‘question of the working class.’” (Encyclical Centesimus Annus − On the 100th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum, May 1, 1991, n. 12) Fundamental error of socialism: A mistaken conception of the person
BENEDICT XVI (2005 – present):
“We do not need a State which regulates and controls everything”
“The State which would provide everything, absorbing everything into itself, would ultimately become a mere bureaucracy incapable of guaranteeing the very thing which the suffering person − every person − needs: namely, loving personal concern. We do not need a State which regulates and controls everything, but a State which, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, generously acknowledges and supports initiatives arising from the different social forces and combines spontaneity with closeness to those in need. … In the end, the claim that just social structures would make works of charity superfluous masks a materialist conception of man: the mistaken notion that man can live ‘by bread alone’ (Mt 4:4; cf. Dt 8:3) − a conviction that demeans man and ultimately disregards all that is specifically human.” (Encyclical Deus Caritas Est, December 25, 2005, n. 28) |
http://www.tfp.org/slideshow/slideshow/what-the-popes-have-to-say-about-socialism.html
AMERICA, WAKE UP! OBAMACARE’S LETHAL THIRD RAIL SHOCK TO COME
By: Elizabeth Lee Vliet, M.D., Published 02/22/2010
Subway riders know the adage – The third rail is deadly –it carries the current that can kill you. Avoid the third rail.
We are about to get that “third rail” for government-controlled healthcare. Then comes the death blow to your medical privacy, your freedom to choose medical treatment options, and your ability to control the cost of any private health insurance you may want to buy.
Democrats, working in the shadows away from public view and using devious “divide and conquer” strategies, have already laid two tracks for a complete government control of your healthcare. They only have one more rail to go.
The first two rails were craftily hidden in the Stimulus Bill of February 2009. While the public thinks healthcare bills are still “out there” and not yet passed, the Democrats have been celebrating the anniversary of the Stimulus Bill, knowing that their “Stimulus” stealth tactics already laid those first two healthcare tracks for government control.
Populist rhetoric hides the lethal third rail. It is called “insurance reform.”
It’s brilliantly deceptive and diabolical in its 3-step simplicity:
1. Control medical records and private health information of every person in the United States, and penalize health professionals who refuse to release your personal information. ALREADY PASSED into law February 2009. Come 2014, YOU no longer control YOUR medical records.
2. Control delivery of all health services under the guise of “comparative effectiveness research” and the “complete lives system” that decides a person’s value based on age. The federal health czar’s panel of bureaucrats and computers will decide whether or not you are “worth” the cost of treatment, and what treatment you will be approved to obtain. ALREADY PASSED into law February 2009.
3. The Missing Third Rail: Insurance “Reform.” Control of all private insurers in the country. The rhetoric goes this way: These “bad” insurance companies must be reined in. Government must protect people. Government will dictate what insurance plans must cover, what they cannot exclude. Government dictates mean dramatic prices increases if companies are forced to give up using their risk-based approach to underwriting, which helps keep premium costs down. Then the private insurance market collapses. We lose our freedom to choose our plan.
Once this third rail is in place, you will have lost all control of your healthcare. Done deal.
This third rail will kill private healthcare as we know it. This is the only remaining part of the massive Senate and House healthcare bills that the Democrats know is critical to get passed in order to achieve their goal on government control of your healthcare.
I think this is the next stealth strategy for the Obama-Pelosi-Reid team: seduce you into thinking that insurance “reform” is actually going to protect you, and that’s “all” they really need to pass now. The protectionist subterfuge hides the dangers of the third rail shock until it is too late.
Charles Krauthammer wrote on January 15, 2010: “Then… the federal government will regulate in crushing detail one-sixth of the U.S. economy. By essentially abolishing medical underwriting (actuarially based risk assessment) and replacing it with government fiat, ObamaCare turns the health insurance companies into utilities, their every significant move dictated by government regulators.” Federal bureaucrats will make decisions about your treatment, not your doctor or other health professional.
Members of the House and Senate who voted for the massive Stimulus Bill, without reading it, already put the federal government in control of your personal medical information. The Stimulus Bill already sold out your medical privacy. The Stimulus Bill already put the federal health czar in control of what treatment options you will be allowed to have.
The third rail, euphemistically called “insurance reform,” (really insurance controls) will deal the lethal blow to private health insurance. Laying the third rail trap, the politicians will rob you of your privacy, your medical treatment options, and now, your choice of how to pay for care.
This “third rail” must be stopped before the best medical care in the world is destroyed.
The problems we face in healthcare today are not caused by doctors, insurance companies, drug companies, or medical device makers. The problems we face are caused by politicians creating more and more big government regulation, more and more government intrusion into the patient-doctor relationship. Their solution is a political one, but it is not in patients’ best interests. We must get the politicians OUT of healthcare.
Ronald Reagan warned in 1961: “Socialism begins with government control of medicine.” Reagan also said, “Socialized medicine is always presented as a great emergency, and if you challenge it, you are attacked with accusations that you lack compassion.” This is exactly what we are hearing from progressive Democrats today.
Insurance controls become the third rail, a lethal assault on your Constitutionally guaranteed unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This third rail is the final shock that can kill you. Politicians cannot save you.
Doctors and patients across the country must join to stop this third rail. Then we have to start ripping up traps from the other two healthcare tracks they have laid.
DISCLAIMER: Dr. Vliet speaks as an independent physician, not as an official spokesperson for any organization. Dr. Vliet has no financial ties to any health care system, pharmaceutical company, or health insurance plan. Her allegiance and advocacy is to and for patients.
Sources:
1. Health Information Technology (HIT) “Strategic Plan” was set out in Part 3 of subsection ( c ) of the Stimulus Bill (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009). See pages 442-446 of H.R. 1 EH pdf version online. Most in Congress did not read it before they voted to pass it.
2. The February 2009 Stimulus Bill set up the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research (see pages 190-192 of H.R. 1 EH pdf version online).
3. Ronald Reagan in his own words discusses risks of socialized medicine: http://cassandra2004.blogspot.com/2009/02/ronald-reagan-1961-socialized-medicine.html)
SOURCE: http://www.thecypresstimes.com/printFriendly.cfm?articleID=27933
Chastity Tip
By Dr. Jeff Mirus, Catholic Culture, February 24, 2010
Here is some spiritual dynamite for all of us, as explained by Fr. Frederick L. Miller in his fine new book for priests from Ignatius Press, The Grace of Ars:
I recently heard a group of young married men speaking about how they deal with sexual temptations in their lives. Although I did not question them, I am certain they were referring to temptations such as impure thoughts, inappropriate glances, perhaps looking at pornography, or flirting with their co-workers. They explained that whenever they are tempted in any way, they seek, through grace, to reject the temptation, and they offer the mortification involved in overcoming their desires as an act of love for their wives and as a prayer for the chastity of their sons and daughters. What a wonderful application of Saint Paul’s spiritual principle: I die to myself, so that others may have life in Christ!
Priests and future priests would be well advised to embrace this practice. Whenever a celibate is tempted to violate his promise of celibacy in any way, he should consciously reject the temptation, offering the victory over self to God for those parishioners who are struggling with chastity. This is what Saint Paul means, I believe, when he says, “Death is at work in us, but life in you.”
Catholic Medical Association: Flaws in Health Care Bills Require New Beginning
| 24-February-2010 — Catholic News Agency |
Washington D.C., Feb 24, 2010 (CNA).- The Catholic Medical Association has called for the legislative process on health care reform to “begin anew,” citing “substantial flaws” in existing proposals. The group especially called for protections for the right to life. Writing in a Feb. 23 open letter, the Catholic Medical Association (CMA) called on Congress and President Obama to respect “fundamental human and constitutional rights” in health care legislation.
“[T]here is no right more basic than the right to life, and no right more central to American constitutional order than the right to freedom of conscience and religion,” the CMA wrote. “Legislation must not compel any public funding of, or provider participation in, abortion.
“Moreover, the rights to conscience and religious liberty of health-care providers must be more comprehensively protected as the power of governmental regulation grows.”
The Association said that the House and Senate bills will increase health care costs and total federal health care spending, reporting “near unanimity” of opinion among analysts that the current legislation would do “little or nothing” to improve quality.
The health care legislation should be truly “bipartisan” and should ensure that efforts to assist the poor and uninsured are “effective and economically sustainable.” The CMA cited reports that Medicaid enrollees already face unacceptable access problems which would be exacerbated by the provisions of health care bill H.R. 3962.
Additionally, the CMA advised, the physician-patient relationship should also be respected. It warned of “excessive levels” of government regulation in both the House and Senate Bills that would be detrimental to effective medical practice.
Citing polling shows that a slight majority of Americans oppose the present health care legislation, the CMA expressed its belief that Americans will rally behind “sound legislation.”
“We face real challenges, and the status quo is not acceptable,” the letter concluded. “However, we can make progress only if we respond responsibly to the current impasse and move forward in a constructive manner. We ask all of you to engage in a good-faith effort that respects the principles and the process required for authentic health-care reform. We look forward to the opportunity to contribute to this effort.”
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=100670
Hannity Exclusive: ‘Generation Zero’ Documentary Examines Financial Meltdown.
“The financial crisis was actually a culture crisis.”
Filmmakers of groundbreaking documentary examine root of economic crisis
Founder’s Quote Daily
“War is not the best engine for us to resort to; nature has given us one in our commerce, which if properly managed, will be a better instrument for obliging the interested nations of Europe to treat us with justice.”
–Thomas Jefferson, letter to Thomas Pickney, 1797
http://patriotpost.us/
SEIU Boss Open to Serving on Obama Deficit Reduction Commission, Supports More Deficit Spending
By Christopher Neefus, CNSNews.com,
Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, speaks with the Associated Press during an interview in his Washington office, Friday, Oct. 9, 2009. (AP photo)
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Andy Stern said he was open to serving on President Barack Obama’s proposed deficit reduction commission, after it was reported the White House was considering him for the post. He was on Capitol Hill on Tuesday advocating for additional deficit spending to stimulate job creation.
“I’d be honored, if I was asked,” Stern told CNSNews.com, “but I don’t know anything more than you’ve been able to read.”
Stern, who runs one of the largest unions in the nation, has come under scrutiny for being a close ally of the Obama White House.
When the White House released its visitor logs last October, Stern was found to be the most frequent guest, stopping by 22 times—more than advisor John Podesta or former Majority Leader Tom Daschle—to visit Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, budget chief Pete Orszag, and seven times, President Obama.
As CNSNews.com previously reported, the group Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) has requested that the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Channing D. Phillips, investigate Stern for the visits. ATR President Grover Norquist said in a letter that he was concerned the visits could constitute lobbying, in violation of the Lobbying Disclosure Act.
Stern said Tuesday he expected he would be able to remain in charge of the SEIU while serving on the commission. “Yeah,” he said, “I think it’s—the members of Congress are serving. I assume they’re not giving up their positions. I have no intentions of giving up mine.”
While Stern may be headed for the deficit commission, which President Obama has said he plans to create by executive order, he was on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to advocate for more stimulus spending before the House Financial Services Committee. Continue reading
Cardinal George Urges Catholics and Mormons to Defend Religious Freedom
Cardinal Francis George speaks to a packed Marriot Center at BYU on Tuesday.
Salt Lake City, Utah - On Tuesday, Cardinal Francis George, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, gave a talk to nearly 12,000 students and faculty at Brigham Young University in Utah. The cardinal dedicated his speech to exhorting the two faiths to defend religious freedom and their place in the public square.
“In recent years, Catholics and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have stood more frequently side by side in the public square to defend human life and dignity,” said Cardinal George on Tuesday morning.
The cardinal gave his presentation, “Catholics and Latter-day Saints: Partners in the Defense of Religious Freedom,” at a BYU forum on Feb. 23, at the school’s Marriott Center. Receiving a standing ovation at the end of his address, Cardinal George is believed to be the highest ranking Catholic official to ever speak at the Mormon university.
“I’m personally grateful that after 180 years of living mostly apart from one another, Catholics and Latter-day Saints have begun to see each other as trustworthy partners in defense of shared moral principles,” noted the prelate.
Cardinal George lauded LDS members for their commitment to serving the poor, defending traditional marriage, fighting pornography and opposing abortion.
He also praised the work of Catholics and the LDS Church in their collective fight in supporting religious freedom. This freedom, he stressed, should not be limited to the private sphere alone but should also be thriving and present in the public square.
“Any attempt to reduce that fuller sense of religious freedom, which has been part of our history in this country for more than two centuries, to a private reality of worship and individual conscience so long as you don’t make anyone else unhappy, is not in our tradition,” said Cardinal George, who added, “It was the tradition of the Soviet Union.”
Cardinal George also addressed the opposition that Catholics and Mormons have faced for their joint advocacy of human rights and dignity, citing the response from Proposition 8 opponents in California as an example.
“What I most regret is not the opposition, that is understandable … And those of us who have gay people in their family as I have, know the anxieties and the conflicts in their own life. And we have to be there for them and love them and support them.”
But when Prop. 8 opponents “respond by thuggery, by quasi-fascist tactics, then the common good, our whole society, stands in great jeopardy,” Cardinal George said.
Opposition to the efforts of Catholics and LDS members should be expected, he added. “But despite that, if we stay together and go forward, … if we simply continue to talk together, (it) will in the end bear much fruit.”
“When government fails to protect the consciences of its citizens, it falls to religious bodies, especially those formed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to become the defenders of human freedom,” the Chicago cardinal said.
Never Stop Seeking Holiness
Father Alex Yeung, LC - Matthew 7:7-12
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread, or a snake when he asks for a fish? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him. Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets.”
Introductory Prayer: Heavenly Father, I take these moments to adore you and to enter into your loving presence. I dare to tell you I believe in you, although you know how weak my faith is. You are the reason for all my hope in life. Lord, I count on you as I strive to love you more totally and to attain the holiness of life to which you have called me. Amen.
Petition: Lord, teach me how to pray.
1. The Shortcut to Holiness As Pope John Paul II reminds us, “The royal and indispensable wayto advance on the path of holiness is prayer:being with the Lord, we become friends of the Lord, his attitude gradually becomes our attitude and his heart our heart” (Address to the Priests of the Diocese of Rome, March 6, 2003). Again we are confronted with that fundamental principle of our sanctification: “He must increase, and I must decrease” (Cf. John 3:30). Christ must become more and more in us. That’s what genuine prayer accomplishes, if that prayer consists of a one-on-one conversation with the Savior that engages heart, mind and will. Could it be the case that I am seeking holiness without having firmly decided to anchor each day, indeed my entire life, in prayer?
2. Trust Like Little Children Why is it that the prospect of our personal holiness seems so outlandish to us? Why are we so inwardly reluctant to believe that God, the almighty, the all-powerful, who created us from nothing, can also sanctify us? Maybe the part that discourages us is our unwillingness to jump headlong into that part of our sanctification that depends on us. But even here, Christ urges us to pray with confidence: “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11). Is it too much to believe and trust that God will strengthen our will in the pursuit of holiness? Will his grace fail us if we ask for holiness with complete trust and childlike confidence?
3. What a Combination! Prayer, holiness and apostolic fruitfullness are intrinsically linked. If we, as lay apostles, wish to see fruit in all our apostolic endeavors, we know it will depend in large part on our degree of holiness: our degree of real union with God, the degree to which his divine life flows through us. That divine life, given to us in baptism and increased through our sacramental life, can be enhanced every day in personal prayer where our thirst for God is not quenched, but rather greatly increased. We should pray always, so that prayer will be the secret of our holiness and apostolic fruitfulness. Prayer continues to be the greatest power on earth. It must be at the very center of our quest for holiness.
Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus, thank you for this time of prayer. Thank you for teaching me interiorly, little by little every day, how to pray more perfectly. For the sake of those men and women, my brothers and sisters, whose own salvation is somehow mysteriously linked to my life and to my fidelity to you, give me holiness! Amen.
Resolution: I will renew my determination to make a daily prayer time, and make sure that this becomes, or continues to be, a part of my daily routine.
http://www.regnumchristi.org/english/articulos/articulo.phtml?se=363&ca=975&te=735&id=20302
BLESSED MARIA ADEODATA PISANI
CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY, FEBRUARY 25, 2010
Blessed Maria Adeodata Pisani lived a serene and quiet life of faith after a tumultuous youth. She was born in Naples, Italy, Dec. 29, 1806, and was baptized Maria Teresa.
Her father was an alcoholic and her mother abandoned the marriage, leaving Maria Teresa with her husband’s mother. After her grandmother’s death the 10-year-old was sent to a boarding school until she was 17. In 1821, due to his involvement in the uprising in Naples, her father was deported to Malta where he held the title Baron of Frigenuini.
In 1825, Maria Teresa and her mother moved to Rabat, where her father was living, but they never lived together. Maria Teresa declined several marriage proposals, preferring to lead a quiet life of prayer. She joined the Benedictine Community in St. Peter’s Monastery in 1828, and took the name Maria Adeodata. She made solemn profession two years later.
Her fellow nuns and many people outside the cloister benefited from her acts of charity and saintly life. She looked after the chapel and was a porter, which kept her close to the poor who came seeking help. She wrote various works. The most famous is “The mystical garden of the soul that loves Jesus and Mary”, which is a collection of her personal reflections written between 1835 and 1843.
Maria Adeodata suffered from heart trouble. On Feb. 25, 1855, at the age of 48 and in bad health, she dragged herself to the chapel for mass, against her nurse’s advice. After receiving Communion she had to be carried back to bed, where she died soon afterwards. She had a simple funeral and was buried in the monastery’s crypt the following day.
Obama & Dems in 2005: 51 Vote ‘Nuclear Option’ Is ‘Arrogant’ Power Grab Against the Founder’s Intent
Oh, When the Tables Are Turned!
Biden: “I pray God when the Democrats take back control we don’t make the kind of naked power grab you are doing.”
Republicans to ‘Crash the Party’ at Health Summit
….McConnell said of the daylong summit. “It seems to me the president’s already made up his mind.”….
FOXNews.com, February 24, 2010
Speaking ahead of President Obama’s televised health summit, House Minority Leader John Boehner told fellow Republicans in a closed-door event Tuesday: “We need to show up and crash the party.”
AP- Feb. 18: House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.
Democratic leaders confronted the reality Wednesday that they may not be able to pass the comprehensive health care overhaul sought by President Obama, while Republican leaders prepared to do everything in their power to make sure they can’t.
House Republican Whip Eric Cantor declared in a memo that if the Senate goes ahead with plans to use a controversial legislative tactic known as reconciliation to pass the bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “will not be able to muster the votes” to pass it in the House.
Speaking ahead of Obama’s upcoming televised health summit, House Minority Leader John Boehner also told fellow Republicans in a closed-door event Tuesday: “We need to show up and crash the party,” an aide told Reuters.
“We shouldn’t let the White House have a six-hour taxpayer-funded infomercial on ObamaCare,” Boehner said, suggesting the meeting was no more than a White House publicity stunt.
Both parties saw the president’s revised, far-reaching proposal, released Monday, as a chance for Democrats to try to pass the legislation on their own under Senate rules that would bar Republican delaying tactics.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the Obama administration appears determined “to try to jam it through under a seldom-used process,” or budget reconciliation. The process would allow Democrats in the Senate to pass part of the bill with a simple, 51-vote majority.
But Cantor, in his memo, ran through the numbers in the House and estimated that Pelosi would only be able to hold together 203 votes at best — far fewer than she needs. The bill originally passed the House last year by a narrow 220-215 vote. Continue reading
Climate Change Debate Over? It’s Just Begun!
But now comes the pushback. Just before the World Summit on Climate Change at Copenhagen last December, several hundred emails from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia were leaked. It appeared that Dr. Phil Jones had urged colleagues, including some at Penn State University, to “hide the decline” in world temperatures and encouraged others to do some of their usual “tricks” to get the right result from ambiguous data. A huge scandal erupted, instantly dubbed “ClimateGate.”
Jones stepped down as director of CRU and even went so far, he confessed to the Times of London, as to contemplate suicide. God forbid. Truly, these are serious questions and we have serious objections to what Dr. Jones and his colleagues were caught doing, but we want no one involved in this affair to become so despondent as to take his own life. Dr. Jones says his hope for his five-year old granddaughter is what helped him to banish thoughts of self-destruction. “I wanted to see her grow up.” Dr. Jones, I pray you will.
If Al Gore has not become any humbler, it’s at least good to see Dr. Jones somewhat chastened by the revelations that some of his data may not be as reliable as we have been led to believe. And it is not only the reading public that may have been misled. Dr. Jones’ CRU is one of the primary institutions responsible for feeding data to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It was this IPCC that shared with Al Gore the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. (Note: They did not win the Nobel Prize for Science.) Continue reading
Obama’s Terrorist-Shielding Envoy to the Muslim World
On Sept. 5, 2004, law student Rashad Hussain spoke at a Muslim Student Association (MSA) conference. The MSA is in and of itself a troublesome organization, which has been repeatedly linked to terror — but that wasn’t the main problem. The main problem was Hussain’s speech, in which he explicitly defended Al-Arian, calling his prosecution “a sad commentary on our legal system … a travesty of justice … [one incident in a] common pattern … of politically-motivated prosecutions.”
On Feb. 28, 2006, Sami Al-Arian pled guilty to conspiracy to help Islamic Jihad.
And on Feb. 14, 2010, President Barack Obama appointed Rashad Hussain to his Special Envoy to the Organization of Islamic Conference.
When news broke of Hussain’s 2004 statements, Hussain immediately called reports mistaken, explaining that he had not uttered those words. Unfortunately for Hussain, Politico.com quickly recovered a tape of the MSA conference. Hussain then backtracked, stating, “I made clear at the time that I was not commenting on the allegations themselves. The judicial process has now concluded, and I have full faith in its outcome.” Very reassuring.
Unsurprisingly, the Obama administration is standing by its man, the same way they originally stood by communism-friendly Green Czar Van Jones. This is troubling not only because Obama consistently elevates those who champion anti-American causes, including Jones and Hussain, but also because of his original selection of these people for powerful posts.
The simple fact is that Hussain is not a problem merely because of his 2004 comments. He is a problem because of what he believes about the Muslim world in general.
His views are laid out in a report he did for the Brookings Institution, entitled “Reformulating the Battle of Ideas: Understanding the Role of Islam in Counterterrorism Policy.” First, he states that those in the United States ought to drop the term “Islamic terrorism.” “The terms ‘Islamic terrorism’ and ‘Islamic extremism’ validate the terrorist claim that their ideology is, in fact, rooted in Islam,” Hussain writes. For the same reason, he wants to end the use of the terms “jihadist” and “Islamofascist.” This is pure bunkum, implying as it does that the Muslim world takes its cues on how to interpret Islam from Christians in the United States. But Hussain knows that. His intent isn’t to protect the United States — it’s to protect Muslims globally (including radical Muslims) from having to face additional scrutiny at the airports or in the press. Continue reading
WISDOM, COMMON SENSE
The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if the nation doesn’t want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.
– Cicero
Consistency Requires You to Be As Ignorant Today As You Were a Year Ago!
How Bad is Canada’s Health Care System?
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….’My heart, my choice,’ Williams says, defending decision for U.S. heart surgery . . . “I did not sign away my right to get the best possible health care for myself when I entered politics.”….
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| Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams speaks to members of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce in Calgary, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009. |
An unapologetic Danny Williams says he was aware his trip to the United States for heart surgery earlier this month would spark outcry, but he concluded his personal health trumped any public fallout over the controversial decision.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Williams said he went to Miami to have a “minimally invasive” surgery for an ailment first detected nearly a year ago, based on the advice of his doctors.
“This was my heart, my choice and my health,” Williams said late Monday from his condominium in Sarasota, Fla.
“I did not sign away my right to get the best possible health care for myself when I entered politics.”
The 60-year-old Williams said doctors detected a heart murmur last spring and told him that one of his heart valves wasn’t closing properly, creating a leakage.
He said he was told at the time that the problem was “moderate” and that he should come back for a checkup in six months.
Eight months later, in December, his doctors told him the problem had become severe and urged him to get his valve repaired immediately or risk heart failure, he said.
His doctors in Canada presented him with two options – a full or partial sternotomy, both of which would’ve required breaking bones, he said. Continue reading
Words of St. Francis of Assisi and Scripture
We are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken.
- Hebrews 12:28
“Riches prick us with a thousand troubles in getting them, as many cares in preserving them, and yet more anxiety in spending them, and with grief in losing them.”
- St. Francis of Assisi
We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God.
- 1 Corinthians 2:12
“My office of governing the brothers is spiritual in that I must overcome and correct vices. If I cannot do this by my preaching and example, then I surely do not want to do it like a taskmaster…”
- St. Francis of Assisi
http://www.padrepiodevotions.org/wordsoffrancis.asp
What Is Beauty?
The Illusion of Glamour
…..An undeniable indication of beauty’s immense popularity and desirability is our national obsession with the “beautiful” people of Hollywood. Yet, what often passes for beauty in Tinsel Town is nothing more than glamour. We may define glamour as a substitute for beauty that moves in a direction away from wisdom. It is a contrived, synthetic kind of beauty that does not go beneath the surface. It does not flow out from a center. Glamour is more glitter than light, more glitz than depth, more glisten than glory.
True beauty has depth and flows out from the depth of that which is beautiful. A person may adorn himself with expensive jewelry or take a stylistically attractive photograph. But this is glamour and not beauty.
Beauty is a divine name. God is beauty in a preeminent way. As St. Thomas points out, ex divina pulchritudine esse omnia derivatur—”the divine beauty is that from which all being is derived.” Therefore, God seals each being He creates with its own secret mark of beauty. Love helps us to discern the beauty—and the dignity—that God has placed in each soul….
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Donald DeMarco. “Can Beauty Save the World?” Lay Witness (November/December, 2009): 16-17. TAKEN FROM: CATHOLIC EDUCATION RESOURCE CENTER
ENTIRE ARTICLE FOUND:
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/apologetics/ap0319.htm
ENTIRE ARTICLE FOUND:
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/apologetics/ap0319.htm
FATHER JOHN A. HARDON, S.J.: Brief History of Lent
It seems certain that a Lenten season preceding Easter goes back to the time of the Apostles.
FATHER JOHN A. HARDON, S.J., CATHOLIC EDUCATION RESOURCE CENTER
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The length of time varied. But by the Council of Nicea (325 A.D.), which was the first general council of the Church, Lent is to be observed for forty days.
The number forty has a long biblical history: The forty days’ fasts of Moses, Elijah and especially Our Lord in the desert.
During the early days of the Church, the observance of fast was very strict. One meal was allowed per day and, even in that meal, meat and fish were forbidden. By the fifteenth century, the one meal was taken at noon.
Gradually an extra collation was allowed in the evening.
The present legislation of Canon Law is as follows:
All Fridays through the year and the time of Lent are penitential days and times throughout the universal Church (Canon 1250).
Abstinence from eating meat or another food according to the prescriptions of the conference of bishops is to be observed on Fridays throughout the year unless they are solemnities; abstinence and fast are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on the Friday of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Canon 1251).
According to the apostolic constitution of Pope Paul VI (1966), “the law of abstinence forbids the use of meat, but not of eggs, the products of milk or condiments made of animal fat. The law of fasting allows only one full meal a day, but does not prohibit taking some food in the morning and evening.”
Although not strictly obligatory, the observance of fasting on all weekdays of Lent is strongly recommended by the Church. This recommendation applies to the Marian Catechists.
One statement that is new in the Code of Canon Law declares that “pastors and parents are to see to it that minors who are not bound by the law of fast (eighteenth year completed) and abstinence (fourteenth year completed) are educated in an authentic sense of penance” (Canon 1252). This provision certainly applies to Marian Catechists who are in a position to educate young people “in an authentic sense of penance.”
Spirit of the Lenten Season
There are two guiding principles for the observance of Lent. During this season, the faithful are to grow in their love of Jesus Crucified, and they are to practice extra penance for their own and other people’s sins. Both aspects of Lent deserve some explanation.
Love of Jesus Crucified. The spirit of Lent is the spirit of Christ Crucified. Therefore, whatever enables us to better understand Christ’s Passion and Death, and deepens our responsive love for His great love toward us should be fostered during the Lenten season. Some recommendations:
- Meditation on the Gospel narratives of Christ’s Passion.
- Spiritual reading of books like Goodier’s Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Abbot Marmion’s The Way of the Cross, Edward Leen’s Why the Cross?, Fulton Sheen’s Seven Words on the Cross.
- Recitation of prayers like Soul of Christ Sanctify Me.
- Besides making the daily Way of the Cross, encouraging others to make the Stations at least on Fridays during Lent.
- Having some symbol of Christ’s Passion, like the crucifix or picture of the crucifix within easy eye vision to remind us of the Passion at odd moments of the day.
- Having some short aspiration which is recited (at least mentally) a few times during the day, like, “My Jesus Crucified,” or “Heart of Jesus, obedient unto death, have mercy on us.”
- Occasionally reciting the Litany of the Precious Blood.
- Spending some extra time before the Blessed Sacrament, asking Our Lord to grow in the understanding of His continued Passion now in the Church, which is His Mystical Body on earth!
- Making an occasional entry into one’s spiritual journal about, “How much the Passion of Christ means to me.”
 On the first level, our penance should be the practice of a deeper and more generous love for God.
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Reparation for Sin. In practicing penance, we should keep in mind that there are two levels of reparation we are to practice, for our own and other people’s sins. We are to expiate the guilt incurred by failing in one’s love for God. And we are to repair the harm done by disobeying the will of God.
On the first level, our penance should be the practice of a deeper and more generous love for God.
- By making acts of divine love.
- By doing our ordinary work with more selfless love for God.
- By putting our heart more sincerely into whatever we are doing, and periodically telling our Lord we are doing it out of love for Him.
- By deciding before Lent, what form(s) of charity I will practice towards those with whom I live or work. There is no more pleasing love of God, as expiation, than the selfless love of others whom God puts into my daily life.
- By going through the spiritual and corporal works or mercy, and selecting one or more on which I wish to concentrate during Lent, as my form of penance-as-love, offered to the loving but offended God.
On the second level, our penance should strive to endure some pain in order to expiate the sinful pleasure that is always the substance of sin. This can take on a variety of forms, and no two people are the same in this matter. The following are merely examples.
- More frequent reception of the Sacrament of Penance during Lent.
- More frequent attendance at Mass.
- Less time spent in eating, or eating less food, or getting up earlier than usual.
- Sacrifice of some hours per week that would otherwise have been spent in watching television, listening to the radio, reading secular newspapers, magazines, or fiction.
- Walking, instead of driving, and walking upstairs instead of using an elevator.
- Doing without some delicacy at table, or not eating between meals.
- Getting up promptly in the morning, and retiring in good time at night.
- Answering letters or writing to persons who would appreciate hearing from us.
- Gauging one’s time in telephone conversation or conversation in general.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Father John A. Hardon. “Brief History of Lent .” Inter Mirifica (2003).
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0976.htm
Looking at Health Care Through Lila Rose Colored Glasses
Officials who raided a Philadelphia abortion clinic made a horrifying discovery this week when they opened the center’s freezer and found more than two dozen dead babies. Investigators were paying a visit to Dr. Kermit Gosnell’s office after they learned that a woman had died following an abortion at his clinic in November. More shocking than the corpses is the fact that some of the bodies dated back to the 1980s. The babies are being tested to see if they were victims of illegal late-term abortions.
Meanwhile, the parade of scandal continues for Planned Parenthood, whose Milwaukee clinic is the subject of Lila Rose’s latest undercover video. In it, a clinic worker coaches Lila (posing as a 14-year-old girl) to hide her relationship with a 31-year-old man. “If you disclose that information, it’s up to them to see if they report it…it depends on the person that you’re disclosing the information to.” Of course, that’s a lie. Under Minnesota law–as it is in Alabama where a clinic is on probation for a similar violation–failure to report statutory rape is a felony. Both of these centers are a snapshot of the health care system under President Obama. If his latest “reforms” pass, Planned Parenthood will be rewarded with billions of taxpayer dollars for covering up child sex abuse. As for the frozen graveyard in Philadelphia? It, too, could qualify for federal funds under the $11 billion auspices of “community health clinics.”
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WU10B16&f=PG07J01
DOJ, WHAT RULE OF LAW? Sleeping With the Enemy?
Few pockets of the Obama administration have been a greater liability to this President than the current Justice Department. With Attorney General Eric Holder at the helm, this DOJ is responsible for more controversies in 12 months than most administrations face in an entire term. Last year, the Department kicked off a new era by announcing its relaxed policy on obscenity cases, followed by a statement on its casual enforcement of America’s drug laws. For an encore, Holder botched the NYC terror trials, mishandled Christmas bomber Umar Abdulmutallab, and now admits to employing at least nine terror sympathizers. At a hearing last year, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) raised the concern that some of the DOJ’s attorneys had legally represented U.S. detainees. “This… creates a conflict of interest problem for these individuals,” Grassley said. He asked Holder to follow up with the names of any Justice Department employees who have a history of advocating for terror suspects.
That was three months ago. Attorney General Holder only recently got back to Sen. Grassley, shrugging off the GOP’s concerns. “[A]ll department appointees understand that their client is the United States,” he claims. In all, Holder said that nine department officials had previously worked on terror cases for detainees but admitted that he only surveyed a select group. Obviously, as private attorneys, these individuals are free to advocate on the cases of their choosing. In most instances, it’s entirely ethical. What bothers Republicans is that these Justice officials agreed to work for people who are committing or plotting acts of war on America. In their current capacity, the country depends on them to represent the United States’ best interests–a role complicated by their past ties. What makes this situation unique is that it involves a conflict of interest with national security, not, say, the financial district. Most of us would agree that it seems counterproductive to send our soldiers to fight the enemies while our own Justice attorneys defend them.
For a Department with its share of black eyes, these lapses are only fueling the distrust Americans feel toward their government. And this isn’t the only area where Holder has credibility issues. Americans for Limited Government (ALG) submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the DOJ in response to reports that Dawn Johnsen, a radical Justice nominee, has been working for the Department without Senate approval. So far, the DOJ has ignored ALG’s request. Back in October, National Review Online warned that Johnsen may have been “involving herself in OLC’s decisions on hiring junior lawyers. If those reports are accurate, Johnsen’s actions would seem a serious violation of the Senate’s understanding of pre-confirmation etiquette.” Although people like Johnsen can serve as contractors to the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), there are limits to what they can and cannot do. In the midst of this inquiry, Johnsen’s nomination is scheduled for a Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Thursday. If you need motivation on why you should contact your Senators to oppose her appointment, visit FRC’s new webpage, which highlights why Johnsen is unfit to serve.
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WU10B16&f=PG07J01
The Fifth Commandment
….We modern westerners wonder how it could be possible the Germans were capable of exterminating 11 million people in their mad zeal for racial hygiene. But the reality is that they gave exactly the same rationales we give for our extermination of four times as many people since 1973 in the US alone: by re-defining the victim so as to exempt ourselves from guilt for violating the commandment….
It’s a simple-sounding proposition: “You shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13). And some people, such as pacifists, are absolutists in understanding it to mean that all killing forbidden. But, in fact, that is not what the commandment means.
In Hebrew, the Fifth Commandment forbids the taking of innocent human life. Both war and the death penalty have always been permissible (under certain circumstances) throughout Jewish and Christian history. So the command is more accurately rendered, “You shall not murder.”
That small clarification made, it may nonetheless be asked whether the proposition “Murder is bad” really required all the smoke and thunder of Sinai. Everybody knows murder is wrong. So why command something that everybody already knows and accepts?
Because we only know it sporadically, and the same faculty we use for making legitimate distinctions (as in the first paragraph above) can, under the influence of sin, 
also be used to make excuses for ignoring this basic principle of natural law. Situations arise in which we have to be reminded that what we know to be true and right in happy moments continues to be true and right even when the temptation to murder can be very strong indeed.
Our culture is chockablock with examples of this. We modern westerners wonder how it could be possible the Germans were capable of exterminating 11 million people in their mad zeal for racial hygiene. But the reality is that they gave exactly the same rationales we give for our extermination of four times as many people since 1973 in the US alone: by re-defining the victim so as to exempt ourselves from guilt for violating the commandment. Jews, Poles and Gypsies were re-classified as untermenschen or even “bacteria” (it was all very scientifically worded) and their deaths were treated like the death of cattle—“no innocent human beings were harmed in the making of this Holocaust”. We do the same trick: reclassifying babies as “fetal material” (another tidy scientific-sounding euphemism).
Why do we do labor to justify murder? For the same reason the Nazis did it: because we regard it as a matter of us vs. them self-preservation. They believed anything was justified to preserve the Volk from their own delusional fears of racial impurity. A culture of death is a culture of fear and the Germans whipped themselves into a frenzy of fearful hatred of six million innocent men, women, and children and killed them as enemies of the state and the Volk. We have whipped ourselves into a frenzy of fear of responsibility for our choices and believe anything is justified to preserve ourselves from the burden of raising a “parasite” (as the pro-choice rhetoric so delicately puts it). Ends justify means: the usual excuses.
Another trick we often use to justify the taking of innocent human life is the Minimum Daily Adult Requirement approach to Catholic moral teaching. This involves that notion that the Ten Commandments describe the uppermost limits of human achievement. So, for instance, when a nation is in the grip of war fever (as ours was in 2003), Just War requirements (which are intended to make it extremely difficult to go to war), get treated as a sort of imprimatur and blessing on war instead of that they are: a set of hard-to-satisfy requirements that aim to fill us with very grave doubts about the wisdom of ever taking this horrible step. Continue reading
Did You Miss This One? Andrew Breitbart Says the Main Stream Media Has Contempt For the American People
Conservative publisher Andrew Breitbart had some harsh words for media members Saturday saying, “It’s not your business model that sucks, it’s you that sucks.”
Addressing the National Tea Party convention in Nashville, Tennessee, Breitbart accused the press of “contempt for the American people.” . . . . .
“When I watched Contessa Brewer on MSNBC raise the question whether or not a protest was racist in which she showed a man have his gun around his chest and his holster. MSNBC did an entire discussion on are these protests, these gun-wielding freaks, are they racist. Does everybody here know what happened with that photo where they cut the head off? That was an African-American gentleman. That my friends is not media bias. That is contempt for the American people.
In order to create the perception that the minority is the majority and the majority is not just the minority, but a bad, racist, homophobic, all those buzzwords that they learned in the freshman orientation class at Wesleyan, are used as weapons to try to destroy you and intimidate you to not speak up and to speak your mind. And your days of doing this are over. It’s not your business model that sucks, it’s you that sucks.”
According to Jim Hoft, Breitbart finished his address with one further threat to the media: “If you don’t start reporting the truth I will organize a protest in New York City on Madison Avenue and you won’t be able to escape to the Hamptons for the weekend.”
Bravo!
—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.
Two Dozen Frozen Fetuses Found in Grisly Abortuary Police Raid
PHILADELPHIA – State police investigating a Philadelphia abortuary stumbled upon a gruesome discovery last week: over two dozen fetuses in jars preserved in a freezer in the abortionist’s office, according to local reports. Authorities temporarily suspended the abortionist’s license soon after the raid, after discovering clinic conditions they called “deplorable and unsanitary” – including bloodstains on the floor.
State drug agents, as well as FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration agents, commenced the investigation last week at West Philadelphia’s Women’s Medical Society. Various sources are reporting various reasons for why the investigation was launched.
According to FBI spokesman J.J. Klaver, as cited by UPI, officials were acting on a tip that Gosnell was performing illegal late-term abortions. However, law enforcement sources cited by the Philadelphia Inquirer stated that officials were investigating the abortionist on suspicion of illegal distribution of prescription painkillers. While CBS 3, which broke the story, said the investigation was launched in response to a woman’s death during a botched abortion there on November 20.
While the investigation began last Thursday, a subsequent investigation stumbled upon the fetal corpses, some of them killed as long as 30 years ago, displayed in the office of abortionist Kermit Goznell. Those fetuses are being analyzed to determine whether they were killed at a point beyond the legal gestational age for abortion.
Following the investigation, officials issued a suspension order, saying the conditions of the clinic were “deplorable and unsanitary,” reports the Inquirer.
“There was blood on the floor, and parts of aborted fetuses were displayed in jars,” states the order, which called Gosnell’s continued practice of medicine “an immediate and clear danger to the public health and safety.”
Records indicate that Goznell was publicly reprimanded by the state licensing board in 1995 for employing an uncertified assistant who treated at least one patient.
Sources cited by CBS 3 say that in the November abortion death, an unlicensed assistant allegedly administered drugs to a woman who later died during an abortion procedure. The woman’s corpse reportedly contained high levels of a painkilling drug.
LifeSiteNews.com: Gentle Tebow Ad Has Big Impact
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Weeks have now passed since the pro-life Tim Tebow ad was aired during the Super Bowl, and since then the controversy has died down and the world has moved on. Now the question begs to be asked: Was the Tebow ad a coup for the pro-life movement as it was hoped to be, or was all of the pro-abortion outrage against the ad simply misplaced? What was accomplished by the $2.5 million TV spot?
Well, if a new study on the Tebow ad is any indication, a lot was accomplished. |
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Approximately 4% of those who support abortion were lead to “personally reconsider [their] opinion about abortion” after watching the pro-life Super Bowl ad featuring Tim Tebow and his mother Pam, according to a new Barna study.
Approximately 92.6 million Americans watched the ad when it aired February 7, during what is normally the most-viewed broadcast in America each year. Because slightly less than half of repondents in the poll self-identified as pro-abortion, the data suggests that about 1.7 million pro-abortion viewers may have reconsidered their position after watching the spot. In addition, a majority of respondents saw the ad as both positive and suitable for the Super Bowl slot. Only 8% of respondents found it offensive. Yet this was not the ad’s only effect. The ad, featuring a short message in which Pam speaks of how Tim almost failed to make it into the world, directs viewers to a longer video on the Focus on the Family website. “Our [website] traffic jumped to 40 times its normal volume [during the game],” Focus on the Family spokeswoman Monica Schleicher said, according to the Denver Post. “In the hour during the pre-game [broadcast], when the other ad aired twice, our Web traffic was 20 times our normal volume.” In the powerful, ten-minute interview with Tim Tebow’s parents on the Focus on the Family website, Pam and Bob Tebow describe how they had prayed for Tim to be born. During the following very difficult pregnancy, Pam said that she thought she would lose Tim nearly daily; nevertheless, she continued to experience peace in resignation to God’s will. When Jim Daly asked what advice the Tebows would give to a young lady with an unplanned pregnancy, they were ready with an answer. “I would say that baby’s not a mistake, though it might seem that way to her,” said Pam, “and that God will enable her to do the right thing and to give her the encouragement that she needs, but that there’s also help for her.” “And girls have those options. They have a choice. And God really has his hand on the situation. There’s so many people out there willing to help if they give them the chance.” Bob Tebow had a similarly simple message. “The first thing I would say to you if you have a surprise pregnancy is: God loves you. God loves you, and he loves your baby,” he said. “There are lots of people; they’ll help you. Don’t kill your baby.” In a recent editorial, Focus on the Family President Jim Daly mentioned that “The criticism we’ve received from this ad has been curious.” “Many who consider themselves ‘pro-choice’ have found fault with us for celebrating Pam Tebow’s choice,” he continued. “Those who hold to such a radical position clearly appear to be more pro-abortion than pro-choice.” See related stories on LifeSiteNews.com: |
Practical Schism 02-23
With “Practical Catholics”, you get a “Practical Schism”, automatically.
AG Eric Holder: At Least 9 Justice Department Officials Have Previously Represented Terror Detainees
February 23, 2010 at 12:58 pm – Fox News
Dateline: Washington DC
NY Post: The Justice Department’s disclosure that nine of President Obama’s appointees had either represented or advocated for Guantanamo detainees has touched off a firestorm of criticism. The surprising admission came three months after Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa asked Attorney General Eric Holder for a list of names of Obama DOJ appointees who had been involved in legal work for Gitmo prisoners. Holder, in a letter to Grassley, admitted that nine of the agency’s appointees had done some kind of work on behalf of terror suspects.
WATCH VIDEO: http://www.breitbart.tv/holder-at-least-9-justice-department-officials-have-represented-terror-detainees-in-past/
Words of St. Francis of Assisi
- John 17:11,17
- St. Bonaventure
http://www.padrepiodevotions.org/wordsoffrancis.asp