Footprints in the Sand

Leona  Lewis

Leona Lewis has a beautiful voice, and sings a beautiful message for us all.

Dear Satan

A Letter to the Evil One from Blair

This young lady has got it pretty well.  Take the time to listen to her poetic letter to old slewfoot. 

Take a boo at the site of Passion for Christ Movement.

You Gotta Be Old to Remember - The Streak

Ray Stevens Once Again

I remember my Dad almost falling off his chair laughing at this one.  This it the first Ray Stevens song I remember.  Go visit his web site.  Tell him I sent you.

Favourite Catholic Bible Passages

Protestant "Verses" Catholic

Leon Suprenant over at Catholic Hour, wrote this thoughtful piece about favourite bible passages for Catholics.

A Catholic school teacher once posed this question to me: “Protestants always have signs, t-shirts, and the like with John 3:16, so it seems that for them that is the one definitive verse of the Bible. If you had to sum up the Catholic faith in one Bible verse or passage, what would it be?”

Obviously our faith isn’t reducible to individual verses or passages or “sound bites,” but I still thought this was--and is--a most interesting question.

I began by acknowledging that Protestants and Catholics alike rightly emphasize John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

It’s a beautiful verse that succinctly captures much of the Gospel message or, in more technical terms, the Gospel kerygma.  It shows God’s love for the world, the shared divinity of Father and Son, Our Lord’s saving mission, the necessity of faith, and the goal of eternal life—not bad for just one verse!  Catholics do well to proclaim that verse in season and out.

Nonetheless, I came up with five other verses or passages that I think are especially significant for Catholics and indeed for all who believe in Christ:

(1a) 1 John 3:1—See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.

(1b) Galatians 4:4-7—But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an heir.

Okay, I cheated by pairing up those two passages. What has always struck me about these passages and others like them are the fact that the “eternal life” spoken of in John 3:16 is to be experienced as truly sons and daughters of God, as what St. Peter describes as being “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4). Our “sonship” is a present reality, which among other things makes us “heirs” of the fullness of eternal life in heaven. I think these verses also help us to understand the problem with a “once saved, always saved” theology that implicitly denies the freedom we have as children of God to turn away from Him through mortal sin.

(2) Acts 2:42—And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

These four activities are described as the pillars of the first Christians, and they continue to be the pillars of the Christian life today and in fact are expressed in the four pillars of the Catechism, which is the basic structure of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Namely, “apostles’ teaching” refers to the Creed; “breaking of the bread” refers specifically to the Eucharist and more generally to the Sacraments; “fellowship” refers to Christian morality and a Christian understanding of the Ten Commandments; and “the prayers” refers to Prayer, typically summarized by the Our Father.

(3) Philippians 2:5-11—Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

I have always been especially moved by this passage. Also, scholars generally believe that this passage from St. Paul was quoting an ancient Christian hymn, which also demonstrates the role of Tradition and the function of the liturgy as the Church’s “memory” of what God has done for us through His Son.

(4) Matthew 5-7—Christ’s Sermon on the Mount

This is a little longer (okay, a lot longer!), but it is truly the “Magna Charta” of the life Christ calls us to lead. Here we see Christ as the New Moses giving us a New Law. While Moses brought the Old Law down to us from Mt. Sinai, Our Lord takes the crowd (and us) up on the mountain to give us His blueprint for our eternal happiness or “beatitude.”

(5) Matthew 28:18-20—And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”

These are the instructions of Christ to His Church before His Ascension. He instructs His Church to go out and make disciples–baptizing and teaching with His authority, and also promising His continual presence in His Church.

Obviously many other passages or verses can be cited. Perhaps John 1:14 and Matthew 16:18 deserve "honorable mention." Let me know if you think of any others that should have cracked my top five!

Good choices definitely.

Among my favourites are of course John 3:16.  It pretty much sums up a lot of Christian belief.

I have always been partial to Isaish 40:31

They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles' wings; They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint. 

Some translations say "wait upon" the Lord, but the gist is the same.  It is the patience verse that speaks to me in my own impatience, and desire to get God to see things my way, when His plans are higher than mine.  By setting our hearts to prayer and trust, we can be strengthened by seeing how God moves sovereignly in the lives of those we love, in the problems that we encounter, in our day to day living.

Another favourite of mine is Romans 8:17

(we are children of God), and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

This verse challenges me to accept whatever comes my way, such as the continuing effects of the auto accident I was in many years ago, and my wife's illness, and to join our small suffering to His massive sacrifice on the Cross, redemptively to His Glory, for the benefits of those He uses it for, and that we may one day share eternity with Him in heaven.

Not far along is my other favourite verse Romans 8:28

We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

This verse reminds me again that trusting in Him is the only way to go.  I might not have a clue how it will turn out, but I do know that it will turn out for good, whatever comes my way.

Pentecost in the Year of the Priest

Spirit of Truth, Wisdom, and Understanding

Colonel Lovelace wrote a poem called "To Althea from Prison".  Its final verse is as follows:

Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for an hermitage;
If I have freedom in my love
And in my soul am free,
Angels alone, that soar above,
Enjoy such liberty. 

 I thought of this poem as I read the words of Father Gordon MacRae on his blog These Stone Walls.  It is a type of tragedy that Father MacRae sits in prison for crimes that he undoubtedly did not commit, as the true evidence indicates, and as I hope will one day get a chance to see the light of day.  

It remains a tragedy that children were in fact sexually abused by priests and religious, even if it is in smaller proportions than in the general population.  We should be able to expect a higher calling from those we are taught to trust as alter Christi.  Scapegoating a priest who could not have been where he was claimed to be when he was claimed to be there is unlikely to have a salutary effect.

Yet, Father MacRae has found a ministry and it is a blessing that he is able to write from prison, though it is no easy task for him.  I have copied his entire posting with links for you to read here, though I urge you to go to his own blog and read more about his situation, and his ministering in spite of his incarceration.

As the Year of the Priest comes to a close, Pentecost recalls a time when all divisions ceased, and the hearts of believers were laid bare.

These Stone Walls has some newer readers who might not know that I have never actually even seen my own blog. For the uninitiated, prisoners here have no computer access at all. I type my weekly posts on an old Smith-Corona typewriter while sitting on a five-gallon plastic bucket in a prison cell in Concord, New Hampshire. I don’t even have any “white-out” to correct my mistakes – and yes, I do make some!

I don’t think there’s another blog in existence that has the same challenges we face to publish. I wrote awhile back “To the Readers of These Stone Walls” that I snail-mail my typed posts to Charlene in Indianapolis. She scans and e-mails them to Suzanne in Australia who posts them on TSW each Wednesday. Comments are then read to me by telephone or printed and mailed to me which is why I usually can’t respond right away.

It’s a lot to go to go through for a weekly post, and sometimes I sit on my bucket – ummm, the plastic one – wondering what to write. There’s a lot that goes on in prison day to day that would sound bleak and dismal to most of you. I try not to write too much about prison life, but there is a side of it you have seen on TSW, and it’s a hopeful side.

Amid the chaos and calamity of broken lives and criminal dispositions are some real moments of grace. You read of some of those moments in posts like “In the Land of Nod, East of Eden,” and “Fifty-Seven Times Around the Sun.” My post a few weeks ago, “In Honor of Saint Maximilian Kolbe,” described a conversion that seems miraculous – a sort of prelude to Pentecost.

A prisoner asked me this week why Catholic feast days like Easter and Pentecost are on different dates each year. I let him read a printed copy of my post, “February Tales” which explained how many of the Church’s feasts are linked to Jewish feasts which were tied to life in an agrarian culture. Sowing and reaping are central terms in both the Torah and the Gospel.

The prisoner was surprised to learn that since the Council of Nicea in 325 AD – the source of the Nicean Creed which we pray at Mass – the date of Easter has been calculated to fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. I explained that the term “equinox” means “equal night” in Latin, and is one of two times in the year when the Sun crosses the celestial equator marking spring (sowing) and fall (reaping). I demonstrated it with a racquetball.

“Wow,” the prisoner said; “I thought Easter was just forty days after Ash Wednesday.” I explained that Ash Wednesday is then calculated by counting backwards forty days, excluding Sundays, from the date of Easter. The Orthodox Churches of the East celebrate a different date for Easter, but only because they use the Julian Calendar instead of the Gregorian Calendar, and it presents a different date for the vernal equinox.
Pentecost – meaning “fifty days” – is fifty days forward from Easter. Thus the period from Ash Wednesday to Pentecost is three full moons. The Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar tied to the cycles of the Moon which is understood as a symbol of both nature’s renewal and Israel’s redemption. Catholics inherited the Moon’s influence on our feasts from our spiritual ancestors, the Jews.

The Jewish Pentecost is fifty days after Passover, and is also known as Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks. It’s one of three “pilgrimage” festivals described in Deuteronomy 16:16. They are the Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot, the Feast of Booths which is the Jewish festival marking the harvest of wheat. Sukkot was the setting for the Gospel account of the Transfiguration of Christ (e.g., see Mark 9:2-13).

Shavuot, fifty days after Passover, originally marked the end of barley season and the beginning of wheat season. The first-fruits of barley were brought to Jerusalem to be offered as described in Deuteronomy 26:1-11. In Rabbinic times, Pentecost also marked the date of the Sinai Covenant, the Torah given to Moses at Mount Sinai in Deuteronomy 5:6-27.

WHEN ALL DIVISIONS CEASED

This coming Sunday, the Church celebrates Pentecost which in the Christian tradition is fifty days after Easter. It is very much linked to the Jewish festival of Shavuot which was the reason the Apostles were in Jerusalem. In Acts of the Apostles, (Chapter two) the city was filled with pilgrims speaking multiple languages when:

“suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, 
and it filled the house where [the Apostles] were sitting. There appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit …”  (Acts 2:2-4)

It was here that the Church began because “men of every race and tongue, of every people and nation” could at that very moment understand one another and understand the witness of the Apostles. For that moment in human history, God made His Spirit known, and all divisions ceased.

It was a year ago this week that Suzanne Sadler first asked me to write a guest post at Pentecost for her blog, Priests in Crisis. Up to that point, I had no idea of a blog’s potential. They didn’t exist when I came to prison nearly sixteen years ago. I read about them, and heard them mentioned on the news, but I had no idea how blogs worked.

I remember sitting in my cell last May, knowing that I made a commitment with a deadline, but I had no idea what to write.  I thought of my first night in prison, of that maddening, foot stomping chant that went on for hours.  So I wrote “Kill the Priest,” my first venture into cyberspace.  As I typed “Kill the Priest“, I also relived the experience of hearing that chant. I wondered then how I would ever survive in such a hostile, alien place.

It’s an awful thing to go to prison. It’s an awful thing to go to prison for something claimed to have happened a long, long time ago. But to go to prison for something that never happened at all is a nightmare – an indescribable nightmare that has a beginning, a long middle, but no end in sight.

I wrote “Kill the Priest‘” in an hour and wondered if I would dare to send it. I had some misgivings about venturing into the public square. I’ve been there before, after all, and things got rough. I became a stranger and alien in my Church, a nightmare described in my Ash Wednesday post, “Forty Days and Forty Nights.” I was living what Father Richard John Neuhaus called “The Long Lent.” (see “Scandal Time“)

If you’ve read the TSW “About” page, and my January post, “First Things,” then you know TSW is dedicated to the memory of Cardinal Avery Dulles and Father Neuhaus who became my friends and frequent correspondents. Cardinal Dulles, especially, wanted me to write, but Father Neuhaus had misgivings at first.

SILENT IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE

I began corresponding with Father Neuhaus in late 1997 after reading a commentary by him entitled “Sin and Risk Aversion” (First Things, The Public Square, November 1997). Father Neuhaus responded to my first letter right away, and his response was chilling:

“Being accused and in prison – however unjustly – for the very same issues in the current debate makes you ineligible to comment publicly on them. I know that seems unfair, and it is, but the point of view of a priest in prison could be dismissed as self-serving.”

I responded to that letter, and Father Neuhaus decided to go ahead and published my response in the February, 1998 issue of First Things. My response was entitled “A Catholic Rush to Judgment,” and what follows is an excerpt:

“Fr. Neuhaus’ article presupposed that some would view the correspondence he has received as self-serving. Perhaps, at some level, it is. I stand to gain nothing, however, from writing of my experience in the justice system and the Church. I will not gain freedom. I will not be believed by most, and I will not regain respect, acceptance, trust, support, or even a letter or prison visit from my brother priests or diocesan authorities. The Corporal Works of Mercy should not, in any case, be exercised because an institution has been embarrassed into doing so. I know that anything I write leaves me open to further ridicule, judgment, and a presumption of guilt. Writing about this feels much more frightening to me than it does self-serving.”

There was a great blessing that came with the letter. Father Clarence Murphy, whose death was described in my post two weeks ago, came to see me and began a decade of friendship. But I was also attacked repeatedly by priests and prominent lay Catholics alike. I was in the role of the condemned, and there was much resistance to my stepping out of it.

So when Suzanne asked me to write last year, I didn’t embrace the chance to be heard again. I also had no idea at the time that “Kill the Priest” would lead to the creation of These Stone Walls. I could never have envisioned this, but here we are, and it’s a bit scary.

What makes TSW scary is this: I think most of you have concluded from reading my posts that there is a building effort to revisit my trial and criminal conviction. You might certainly be expecting this based on Ryan A. MacDonald’s recent essay published on TSW, “Should the Case Against Father Gordon MacRae be Reviewed?“  You can correctly infer from that essay that there is in fact a legal review underway and we are actively seeking resources to further it along.

PENTECOST AND JUSTICE

The bottom line is this: If I remain silent and hide in the shadows of prison, I’m really just left alone. There’s no more foot-stomping and chanting from prisoners. None of them still want to kill me, and the few who still hate me hate me because I’m a Catholic priest, not because of anything I’m suspected to have done thirty years ago. The irony is, they would hate me a lot less if I abandoned the Church and priesthood. Some insist that I am a fool for my loyalty.

I have made a lot of mistakes in life that were foolish, but loyalty isn’t one of them. Still, it isn’t prisoners who are chanting for my demise these days. It is Catholics with an agenda who insist I must be prevented from stemming the tide that has raged against priests and the priesthood. “Keep the Faith – Change the Church” is a mantra that could reflect true Spirit-driven reform, but it doesn’t. It reflects an anti-clericalism that has driven the sex abuse scandal and driven many in the Church to deny basic due process to accused priests. It is driven by a spirit of division and disloyalty, and a disdain for magisterial authority.

Some of my detractors present themselves as devoted Catholics. Even as I write this, I received a letter from a prominent Catholic in the public square who has openly supported my effort for justice. Here’s part of the letter:

“This won’t surprise you, but I was recently contacted by a respectable Catholic of some stature seeking to turn me against you. I thanked him for his concerns but let it be known that I am persuaded by reason, logic and evidence.”

It troubles me that the writer has heard from this detractor while I have not. Yes, it is a fact that there is evidence that has emerged, and it is being carefully examined. Some of the evidence is shocking, but I won’t be goaded into revealing it prematurely and having it undermined or destroyed. One woman who was recently interviewed described being physically threatened with harm if she told the truth.

It is the oddest thing that if I was in fact guilty of abuse, and said so, I would be left in peace. But by insisting I am not guilty, I come under constant attack. What angers me – and I hope it also angers you – is that there are people out there who won’t wait for even the possibility of evidence of fraud in this case. They demand transparency from the Church while keeping their own motives hidden in shadow. They go to back doors, make phone calls in secret, erode support and suppress the truth. They manipulate information to keep a certain momentum going in the attack on priests because of their own agenda. And believe me, that agenda has no lofty motive.

My recent post, “Breaking News:  I Got Stoned with the Pope!” detailed a similar attempt to undermine support and dissuade anyone from digging deeper. What are people so afraid of?  As Ryan MacDonald asked, “Why is the effort to revisit this case such an affront?”

Pentecost does not reflect a spirit of division, of the erosion of trust, of character assassination by furtive conversations, secret phone calls, and stoning by innuendo.

A month after Pentecost, the Church will conclude the Year of the Priest. I assume you’ve all noticed that the attacks on priests and the priesthood have been relentless as this Church year comes to a close.

Pentecost reflects a time when all hearts and souls and motives became transparent, when all divisions ceased. The Church was called into being by the Spirit of Truth, of wisdom and Understanding, a Spirit of Justice. The Year of the Priest must not conclude with a betrayal of basic due process for priests.

“For the Spirit of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the divisions of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before Him, no creature is hidden, but all are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” (Hebrews 4:12-13)

Same Cafe - Denver Colorado

So All May Eat

Here is a good story of people doing good, because good is good to do.  They pay it forward.

You can also find them on the web here.

Do not cease to pray and offer sacrifice for souls; in this way you will draw many into the lifeboats…

From Janet at Pelianito Blog

A woman, Janet, who is a Catholic Christian since birth had a profound experience of the Lord in the Eucharist.  This led to her receiving messages that she has shared.

Many people who walk the earth are hearing from God, in messages like this sometimes, in other prophetic words, or in urgings to go here or there to do this or that, or just to sit quietly with Him.  The messages are taking on an urgency, and they are coming from so many different believers, and they are all consistent with scripture, and Church teaching, and pretty much consistent with each other.  We would do well to to examine them for ourselves and to heed them.

Here is what she has to say about herself and the messages she receives:

 I am a cradle-Catholic, a middle-aged married woman with grown children. In 1997 I had a very profound experience of the Lord in the Eucharist. Since then I have felt the Lord speaking to my heart and especially opening Scripture to me as he did to the disciples on the road to Emmaus. As you can see in the messages this poor sinner had and still has much to learn. Like St. Paul I can only boast of my weakness, for without it I would not have this treasure to share.

From the beginning I always felt that the messages in my journal were not for me alone. My heart burned to share these words with others but I had no real outlet. This caused me great anxiety until I was able in 2003 to start an online mailout, which eventually lead to a blog. Being able to share my journal was a great relief. I believe it is God’s will that I post these messages and I leave it to the Lord to lead his beloved little souls to them according to his perfect timing.

Here is the latest message.

Hebrews 9:27-28 Just as it is appointed that human beings die once, and after this the judgment, so also Christ, offered once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to take away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.

“My child, do you now see why the hour of mercy is drawing to to close?* There is little—very little—time left for my children to accept the free and incalculable gift of salvation. Once the lines are drawn, there will be no turning back. Those who accept the free and incalculable gift of salvation, I will protect from the eternal flame. Those who reject me, choose their own tragic and everlasting fate—the fires of hell. I have given you many graces in the time that is left. Do not cease to pray and offer sacrifice for souls; in this way you will draw many into the lifeboats. O my child! What sadness awaits humanity! But the greater sadness by far is the loss of so many souls. Pray!”

Jesus, merciful and just, give us grace and strength to pray unceasingly for souls. In the Divine Will alone is this possible. Then in the Divine Will, take our every breath and heartbeat and link them to the Cross. Let our every word and deed be a cry of, “Souls!” In your Divine Mercy let the little that we give be magnified in the Immaculate Heart so that many more will accept the priceless gift of salvation when their souls are illuminated. St. Michael we release your protection over all souls. Jesus we trust in you! Amen.

(*I take this to mean it is end of an era. From the time of the first coming of Christ to the second coming is the day of mercy. Before the illumination, we are still in a time when our knowledge of God is based on faith. As Hebrews 1: 1 puts it: “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” The illumination of conscience will remove all doubt. When the illumination occurs, people will have undeniable evidence of God and will have to choose once and for all whose side they are on. Those who even then reject Jesus will be like the angels who rejected him with full knowledge–-no second chances. The day of mercy will have come to an end. To reject the love of God with full knowledge is a sin against the Holy Spirit—the only unforgivable sin. As the Catechism puts it in #1854: “There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.” Jesus we trust in you!)

Where the Road of Abortion Leads

Baby Almost Cremated Alive - Jennifer Hartline

from Catholic Online

Sometimes there just isn’t an adequate adjective.

 
What is the word to describe a baby, aborted at 7 months, being placed in a box with cotton wool stuffed in his mouth and sent to the furnace of a crematory -- alive?

Horrifying?  Not even close.  Shocking?  A paltry description.  What is the word?

Evil.  Depraved.  Malevolent.  Wicked.  Those words are a good fit.  This unspeakable evil took place in China’s Guangdong Province.  Just as this baby was about to be thrown into the fire, the mortuary worker heard him cry.  The worker was startled by the sound and stopped to open the box and discovered the baby moving, choking on the cotton stuffed in his mouth.  The worker cleared his mouth and the baby breathed peacefully.

The child was rushed back to the hospital from whence he’d come earlier that day labeled as medical waste.  But doctors there refused to treat him.  They left him in the lobby.  They confirmed hours later that he was dead (they made sure this time) and sent him right back to the funeral home to be cremated.

Those who champion abortion will say that narratives like mine here are full of hyperbole, inflammatory language and highly-charged, emotional terms.  But tell me, please, how can we adequately describe the nefarious act of discarding a human being like garbage sent to the furnace?

How is it inflammatory to describe the medical “procedure” whereby a baby is stabbed at the base of the skull, her brains literally sucked out of her head, her skull crushed and then removed from the birth canal?  Or the process by which she is burned with chemicals, dismembered with forceps, stabbed in the heart with a lethal injection, or forcefully sucked out of the womb?

Those are simply the facts.  It sounds inflammatory only to those who are liars and killers.

The language of liars and killers is far more ambiguous.  Words like “choice”, “rights”, and “reproductive health” have an empowering and clinical ring to them, while they hypnotize a self-centered, hedonistic culture.  “Fetus” is uttered callously as though it means something less than a human being.  To the liars and killers, this is their vernacular, and it is persuasive and deceiving.

The heartless destruction of our children is monstrous, and those who accomplish it forfeit their humanity piece by piece.  A human being has an innate instinct toward compassion, toward basic kindness unless that instinct is smothered by hate.  No one kills babies out of love.  A person only ignores a helpless, dying baby, as the doctors in China ignored that beloved child, because he has surrendered his heart to hate and death.  A person rips a baby out of the womb and inflicts death only because he himself has surrendered to the spirit of death.

There are no other ends on the road of abortion; only hate, death and the utter loss of the soul.

To the advocates and administers of abortion in America, I dare you – defend the death of this Chinese baby.  Explain the correctness of his murder; justify his torture.  You must.  It cannot matter at all to you where, when or how this baby died.  All that matters is that he is dead, finally.  The means to the end are irrelevant, if “choice” is sacrosanct.  You already demand the right to dismember, burn, stab, suction and decapitate “it.”  You must now go the next step and demand the right to use whatever means necessary to achieve the objective of death, whether in or out of the womb.

The time has come to admit what you’re really saying, what you’re really demanding – the right to violently extinguish another human being simply because you wish it.  Your rhetoric may sound clever to you, with all its vague and generic descriptions of the baby in the womb, but the truth is never disguised, and every human heart not already atrophied by hate and death knows the truth.  Abortion does not terminate a pregnancy.  Abortion terminates the baby.

You are not heroes of choice or bodily autonomy or freedom or women’s rights.  You are cheerleaders for and distributors of death.  You are pirates who plunder the womb and profit from the killing of children.

Basic human decency and compassion demanded that those Chinese doctors help to save that poor baby’s life.  But to the abortion militia, compassion and decency are smote by their mythical yet inviolate “right to choose.”

America, listen up.  What happened in China is the only and inevitable destination of our country as long as we embrace the evil of abortion.  In fact, we know for certain that we are already arriving at that destination.  Babies who have the audacity to survive their abortion in this country are left alone on instrument tables to die, or thrown away like trash.  Our Born Alive Infant Protection Act (how can such an act of legislation even be needed?!?) is ignored and unenforced.  Don’t think it doesn’t happen in America.

It is inevitable that more and more babies will be thrown away, having survived their murder attempt, and left to die, or put in boxes and shoved into the furnace.  There is only one objective to the cause of abortion: death.  Once a taste for death has been acquired, it is never satisfied.  It demands more blood, and more blood, and it is never enough.  There is always another restriction to be lifted, another speed bump to level so that the road of “choice” is fast, unobstructed and easily traveled.

We are living in our own age of ongoing death camps, complete with furnaces where the unwanted, the imperfect, the diseased, the powerless, the silent ones go to be eliminated.

There is only one cure and His name is Jesus.  His innocent blood was shed to forgive the sins of every soul, even the depraved sin of abortion.  There is mercy for us, America, if we will choose life.  There is prosperity and healing and happiness and abundant grace for us if we will turn away from our sin and seek His face.

 
If we do not summon the courage to admit what we have done, what we continue to do, if we do not beg God’s mercy, the road we are on will surely lead to destruction.  The only question is, what will it take to change our course?

Drive By Shooting at the K of C - Knights of Columbus

There is a new media culture for bloggers, that is not much different than the MSM, of hiding behind our keyboards and firing self righteous slings and arrows at those who seem to have transgressed our belief system.  Sometimes we research our thoughts before we write, but oft times we take the example of some other writer and sally forth into uncharted waters, adding a little gusto as we go.  Mea culpa.  I have been guilty of what I am charging.

I don't like it, and when I come across it and it conflicts with my own personal knowledge, I try to figure out what is what.  Sometimes it is easy, but not always.  And the fact is, that some of those who have written their opinions are people I regard highly for their faith and desire to promote Catholic faith ideals.  Oh, and usually there is somewhere between a grain and freight car of truth in what they are saying.

Last week, CatholicCulture.org, under their banner Catholic World News headlined the following: "Knights of Columbus refuse to allow suspension of members who promote abortion, gay marriage".  The lead paragraphs were:

The leadership of the Knights of Columbus (K of C) has forbidden local councils to take any action against members of the Catholic fraternal organization who support legalized abortion or same-sex marriage.

A Massachusetts K of C member had proposed a resolution, to be taken up by the group's state convention, calling for the suspension of membership of any politician who gave public support to abortion and same-sex marriage. That resolution was declared inappropriate by the Supreme Advocate of the K of C, John Marrella.

In a letter to the Massachusetts K of C leadership, Marrella declared that "a subordinate council may not impose fraternal discipline with respect to a public figure's official actions on matters pertaining to faith and morals. Rather, any such discipline must be made by or at the direction of the Supreme Board of Directors."

The article explained that The Knights of Columbus, as an organisation, had no plans to usurp the fundamental authority of the local bishop.  Simply, if the bishop does not excommunicate or refuse communion to a Brother Knight, who has taken a stand against Church teaching, with emphasis on abortion and same sex marriage, the Knights will not remove from membership that Brother.  By the way, this is the same stand they took when this motion was being brought forward and was reported in 2008 at Lifesitenews. 

This did not mollify Catholic Action League of Massachusetts where in a press release, its Executive Director, C.J. Doyle called the letter from the Supreme Advocate and General Counsel John A. Marrella "a shocking abdication of responsibility, and a shameful surrender to the culture of death."  I can't figure out from Doyle's web site if he said anything about it in 2008, since the only web page starts in the summer of 2008.  That might give you a clue.

Mr. Doyle further stated:

"This letter effectively kills any grassroots initiative within the Knights to address the scandal of pro-abortion pols in the Order. It is now clear that the Knights of Columbus, for the foreseeable future, will continue to harbor in its ranks public officials who oppose Catholic morality, and who believe that the killing of 1.3 million pre-born children each year ought to remain legal in the United States."

"Apparently, for the national leadership of the Knights of Columbus, the protection of its insurance business, tax exempt status, and its ratings from Standard and Poors is more important than defending the right to life. Despite its pretensions to the contrary, the Knights of Columbus has now made its peace with legal abortion in America."

But, here is the crux for me of the issue, because everything else that I have heard and read is pure conjecture and what if, and therefor not really worthy of a lot of print.

Who or what is this high sounding Catholic Action League of Massachusetts?  Well, it seems that C.J. Doyle, appears to be grand high mucky muck, the janitor, and chief correspondent of CALM, since it appears to have no address, no funding in reported financial statements as of a couple of years ago, and no real presence, other than missives from Mr. D.  This by the way, does not mean he does not deserve to have a voice, and does not in any way mean that I think he is wrong here.

He stated further in the release:

In the thirty-seven years since Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Board of Directors has never, to public knowledge, removed a single pro-abortion political figure from the Knights of Columbus. In Massachusetts, a majority of Knights serving in the Legislature voted in 2007 against a constitutional amendment restoring traditional marriage, and voted in 2005 for a law which compels Catholic hospitals to distribute the so-called morning after pill to rape victims.

Now, we are on the verge of the possibility that somewhere in this whole thing is a fact or two that we can jump on board with.

Of course, I am interested in a little more detail, like how many Knights served in the Massachusetts Legislature in 2005 and 2007, what were their names and how did they vote on the two amendments referred to.

Anybody out there have any idea how many Knights of Columbus are serving in the political world in the US/State Houses or Senates, or for that matter in the Canadian House of Parliament?   From what I can gather in my own research - not too many.

But, this story is principally about the most politically active region in North America, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and there's the rub.

One highly respected Canadian Catholic blog site headed its article "U.S. Knights of Columbus starting to rot from the top."

If you are not a member of the Knights of Columbus, you really have no dog in this fight, if in fact there is a meaningful fight.  In my youth, I was a Columbian Squire, sort of the junior Knights, and my father was a fourth Degree member.  I am a member of one of the local counsels here in London, Ontario, and regard the work done by the K of C as meaningful, and supportive of the faith.  I do not think of the K of C as a perfect organisation, but I believe it to be faithful to the teachings of the Church to the best of the human abilities of its members and leaders.

If you are a Knight and believe from the links above that there is something here, I suggest that you do some grass roots work at your next Counsel meeting, and see if there is support for your thoughts.  Do it properly, and work for the change you believe should be happening.

If you are not a Knight, and have no real knowledge of the K of C, and how it functions, then stop drive by shooting at an institution that does a lot of very good work, just because some mickey mouse organisation of a guy in his basement has given himself a high sounding name, and beaten his drum.  Do the work to figure out what the Knights stand for, and if you feel inclined write to them.  But don't pontificate based on somebody else's opinion.

I brought this up this morning with my prayer partners.  My 3 prayer partners are all members of the Knights of Columbus.  Deacon George Sebok summed it up pretty well for us.

"Pray."

And since there is not enough information on which to form a specific prayer, and because it is good practice to trust in the Divine Mercy, I suggest praying like this:

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in your love for the Knights of Columbus.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in your love for all those who would judge the Knights of Columbus.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, fill me with your blood.

What Faith Can Do

Kutless

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