& Where is The Main Stream Media On This????

This happenned last Saturday & I haven't seen a thing in any of the main stream media. Why? I think we know the answer. They are totally ignoring it because it doesn't fit their agenda to make it appear like Pro-lifers are the violent ones & the pro-aborts are always peaceful. Gee, media bias, something regular readers know I have personally experienced.

MAN ARRESTED AFTER TRYING TO SHOOT PRO-LIFE PEOPLE WITH GUN AT ABORTION CENTER

Albuquerque, NM (LifeNews.com) -- A man was arrested on Saturday outside a late-term abortion facility in New Mexico after he threatened to shoot two pro-life women providing alternatives to women going to the Southwestern Women's Options abortion center. The abortion center is operated by late-term abortion practitioner Curtis Boyd.
The unidentified man and his wife were escorting their daughter to the abortion center when the wife and daughter walked towards the pro-life sidewalk counselors to discuss alternatives to abortion.
The man reportedly became angry and ushered his family towards the abortion clinic.
"When we come out, I'm going to put a bullet in your head if you talk to her," the man told the pro-life women, whose identities pro-life advocates are withholding to protect their security.
Former Operation Rescue intern Bud Shaver said the man then lifted his shirt to reveal a dark object to the two pro-life women that they described as looking like a gun. The women called police who, Shaver said, "responded appropriately and took him away in handcuffs."
Shaver said the man's threat had the opposite effect of allowing abortions as a police SWAT team arrived and shut down the abortion center for two hours, preventing abortions from taking place.
"They cleared Boyd's clinic to search for the gun SWAT style. Everyone, including staff, had to come out with their hands up," Shaver, who witnessed the scene, said.
Shaver said he does not know whether police discovered the man's gun or if charges were filed against him for the threat.
Operation Rescue president Troy Newman notified LifeNews.com of the incident and said threats against pro-lifers have been viewed with greater concern in the wake of the shooting death of pro-life activist Jim Pouillon of Owosso, Michigan, who was gunned down last year as he held a pro-life sign outside a local high school. The killer admitted he murdered Pouillon because he did not agree with his public abortion protests.
Shaver told Operation Rescue he has been threatened a number of times since he has been in Albuquerque, but the police never responded in the way they did on Saturday.
"We are thankful that no one was injured and that the police took appropriate action," said Newman. "Violence against pro-lifers has become something that we have to guard against every day. Those who reach out to women in front of abortion clinics should not be afraid to continue to do so, but should always have security and an awareness of their surroundings in mind."
Related web sites:

See pictures of the incident -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/operationrescue/sets/72157624848681248

Man Arrested After Threatening To Gun Down Pro-life Activists At Late-Term Abortion Clinic

Something Is Rotten in the State of Iowa

I wish I could say that the latest move by Planned Parenthood Heartland surprizes me, but it doesn't. They do everything they can to hide the truth. Nor is it surprizing to find out that the Iowa Board of Medicine is aiding & abetting with the cover-up. This is in keeping with what I have pointed out before about how the Iowa Attorney General has connections with PP & as I pointed out in a recent post, I know of at least 1 person on the IBOM that is a shoe-in to be a PP fan & supporter.

A question I want answered is what does Dr. Haskell have to hide? What is in there that would meet the requirements that the Iowa Code sets forth in 22.8.1? Given that medical license applications are routinely allowed to be examined why wouldn't this 1 be in the public interest(reason a)? How would looking at the application substantially and irreparably injure Dr. Haskell (reason b)? I can think of nothing that meets either reason, let alone both which the Iowa Code requires.

While she may have something to hide, which I doubt (or at least hope), my suspicion is that this is just another attempt by PP to harrass those trying to get to the truth & at least slow down their getting basic information that is their right. Given PP's proclivity to keeping any light from shining on them, it may be simply PP in SOP mode.

On the other hand, given that PP likes to keep things dark so that what they have to hide is kept hidden, there may be something there that would raise alarms. & maybe even embarrass the IBOM, let alone PP. At the least, this just confirms that things are a whole lot cosier that Miller or PPH wants to admit. & makes Miller's refusal to cooperate in an investigation even more suspicious.

Like I said, this cozy, buddy buddy between PP & Iowa officials doesn't surprize me. This is SOP in way too many places. the Dems & PP or other abortion providers are in bed together. Look at HHS's Sibelius & Tiller, or the abortion mill in Rockford. (Use search upper left hand of blog for my posts on those subjects.) I could go on & on with examples across the USA.

In the end, the truth will out. Jesus said many times that what is hidden will be brought to light. & either now, or at the Last Judgment PP, Miller et al will have to answer for all the wrongs they have done.

Planned Parenthood Files To Block Public Records After Tip From Iowa Board Of Medicine

Des Moines, Iowa – An open records request for public documents has been denied by the Iowa Medical Board, which tipped off Planned Parenthood of the Heartland that the request for public records had been made. Planned Parenthood then filed a suit against a medical watchdog group to block the release of the documents.
Operation Rescue was contacted by the Citizen’s Information Center located in Boston, Massachusetts, a group that conducts research on the medical industry through public records. They sent OR a copy of a law suit filed against the CIC by Planned Parenthood of the Heartland on August 9, 2010, in Polk County, Iowa, asking the court to enjoin the release of public records to the CIC. As of this writing, no court hearing date has been set and no injunction has been issued.
Along with the petition, the CIC sent Operation Rescue a series of emails that clearly show that their public records request was forwarded to Planned Parenthood of the Heartland by an Iowa Board of Medicine staff member.
Operation Rescue has released a copy of the suit filed by Planned Parenthood against the CIC as well as a series of e-mail communications that were provided to the CIC by Amy Van Maanen, Director of Licensure & Administration at the Iowa Board of Medicine. (Links below)
On August 9, 2010, attorney for Planned Parenthood Mike Falkstrom sent an e-mail to Kent Nebel, Director of Legal Affairs for the Iowa Medical Board. Falkstrom stated:
Kent,
We’re filing to enjoin the release of records today. I apologize for the delay, there were scheduling issues with taking affidavits and I was unable to get them until last week. I appreciate your patience.
Thanks!

Mike Falkstrom
“That e-mail implies a working relationship and prior communication between Mr. Nebel and the Planned Parenthood attorney concerning the open records request. Why would the IBM work with Planned Parenthood to obstruct a citizen from accessing public records? What is the IBM helping Planned Parenthood to hide?” asked Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.
The file in question is the medical license application for Planned Parenthood abortionist Susan Haskell, an osteopath who is involved in the controversial remote-controlled dispensing of abortion drugs known as telemed abortions.
Operation Rescue confirmed with the IBM that medical license applications are in fact public records.
“We have obtained medical license applications from a number of states on our own and the usual procedure is for the medical boards to redact any personal information, such as home addresses and phone numbers. We have never seen a case where access to a medical license application was denied,” said Newman.
In a conversation with Operation Rescue on Friday, Kent Nebel indicated that he was required by law to inform Haskell that an open records request had been made for her license application in order to give her the opportunity to obtain an injunction. He cited Iowa Code Section 22.8.
OR was told that this code requires the IBM to give notice to the physicians when public records requests are made, however ‘notice’ requirement in 22.8.1 is clearly a requirement to notify the records requester that the custodian of records has filed for injunctive relief.
“It is a misreading of the statute to say that the subject of the records must be notified,” said Newman.
As for any potential “harm” claim that may come from the release of public records, any private information can be easily redacted, as is the practice in nearly every other state. Medical license applications are public record for reasons of accountability. Under Iowa law, “inconvenience or embarrassment” are not legitimate reasons to deny public records requests or to get an injunction.
“If Haskell doesn’t want her applications inspected by the public, which has a legal right to do so, maybe she shouldn’t working in the medical field where she knows certain information will be considered open record,” said Newman.
“We believe that Mr. Nebel acted improperly by forwarding the CIC open record request to Planned Parenthood and denying the CIC the records that were legally requested. This incident diminishes our confidence that the Board is capable of acting properly on complaints before them involving Planned Parenthood’s dangerous telemed abortion pill distribution scheme.”
As for the petition itself, Planned Parenthood makes numerous of unfounded assumptions about the CIC that Operation Rescue is told are completely false and border on paranoid hysteria.
“Planned Parenthood has no idea who this private watchdog group is, so they jumped to the unfounded assumption that it is a ‘anti-abortion’ group bent on engaging in illegal activity. They really have no idea why the CIC even wants the records, so they manufactured some fictional conspiracy. They worry the CIC may use the information to ’slander’ Haskell, yet they are doing worse to the CIC by attacking their reputation in this outlandish and completely baseless petition. It is the very definition of hypocrisy,” said Newman.
Operation Rescue plans to release additional documents at a later date that we believe shows a protective and apparently improper relationship between the Iowa Attorney General’s office and Planned Parenthood of the Heartland.
“There is evidence that the Iowa Attorney General may be involved in collusion and even corruption to protect Planned Parenthood of the Heartland from accountability to the laws of the State of Iowa,” said Newman. “We plan to release that additional documentation soon and allow the public to decide.”
View the petition: PPH v. CIC

View the email exchange between PPH and the IBM

Also: PLANNED PARENTHOOD BLOCKS RELEASE OF PAPERS ON TELEMED ABORTION PRACTITIONER

Glen Beck & Religion

While there are some things about Glenn Beck that I like, there are some areas that he is way off base. But just like I saw with Rush Limbaugh, some people blindly follow all he says. 1 of the problems I have had is that some of the books he has pushed virtually ignore any & all of the Catholic contributions to the USA. & I am not sure he fully realizes that. But in the end, without the Catholic Church & natural law teaching the USA's phiosophical basis would not have existed.

Given The Rockford Abortion Mill Track Record, This Is NO Surprize

Given how the police have looked the other way when pro-lifers have complained about the way they are treated & given the cozy relationship between the abortion mill & certain elected officials I will honestly be surprized if the state's attorney does anything to stop the abortion mill, even though there is now definitive proof the mill is breaking the law.

Also, as has been proven over & over again, abortion mills, esp Planned Parenthood's do not report incest, statuatory rape or any other evidence of child abuse. Silence in defiance of the law is their policy. Again we see the lies & hypocricy of the abortion industry that claims it is concerned about the safety & health of women. Covering up the fact that a pregnant girl is the victim of abuse IS DOING NOTHING TO ENSURE THEIR SAFETY & ONLY ENSURES CONTINUED HARM. The only thing they are keeping safe from harm are their profits they make from the abortions that they would not get if these incidents were reported. This is also another reason why parental notification is so important. It provides an added filter to prevent coverups.

The Truth is, Abortion Kills

Is The Rockford Abortion Mill Not Reporting Child Predators?
Rockford IL - On Saturday August 28, two men walked into Rockford's abortion mill with a young lady following. Shortly after they were inside one of the men came out and spoke with sidewalk counselors about his friend who is over 18 who is taking an under age girl in the Rockford abortion mill to have an abortion.


The man told a pro-lifer that if the girl’s mother knew this man got her daughter pregnant she would, "have him thrown in jail."

These three people drove for over four hours from Wisconsin because they found out the Rockford abortion mill does not ask the questions some of the abortion mills is Wisconsin do.

Pro-lifers immediately reported the situation to the police who spoke with the man outside of the mill and confirmed what was happening.
The police said this is a situation for the "medical board" and took a report on what happened.

A teacher who was present and who is a mandated reporter of child abuse called the abortion mill and spoke with the director. When the clinic director was told of the situation she said, "It is no concern of ours," and hung up the phone.

Even though every person on staff inside the Rockford abortion mill is a mandated reporter of sexual abuse as far as pro-lifers know in the last 25 years they have not reported even one case of a pregnant under age girl being brought to this mill by an older man.

This link provides information on the epidemic of abortion mills covering up for child predators. http://www.childpredator.com/

Below is a video report on what else happened at the mill this morning.
The Truth is That Abortion Kills

Sometimes I Really Wish I Would Get Things Wrong

Like in the case of what I wrote on 24 August 2010 after the court ruling overthrowing Obama's expanding the use of embryonic stem cells. (HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY! - Obama Handed Set Back In Courts, Judge Protects Embyos ) At the time I wrote: "While this is a step in the right dicetion, it is a very small step. & possibly a temporary one as well. I say temporary because Obama administration is sold out to the "culture of death" & won't accept this setback. They will appeal it in the hopes of getting it overthrown. Also watch what happens in Congress when they return. You can be sure they will try to change the law if they can so that they won't have to wait for an appeal." (emphasis mine)

Well, I was right. But then I only wrote what most of us in the Pro-life movement were thinking anyway. Nor am I at all surprized to see the movement already underway to change the law.

Get ready to hear the old canards of how needed embryonic stem cell research is to offer hope, the only REAL HOPE, for those suffering from a multitude of problems. & be just as sure that despite facts to the contrary, adult stem cell research successes will be ignored or downplayed. (see Do No Harm: The Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics, Stem Cell Research Facts (SCRF) for more info) & the fact that California is shifting away from embryonic to adult stem cell research funding because it is where the successes are will be buried as deep as they can do so. (So Much For the Claims About Embryonic Stem Cell Research Being Needed)

We need to remember this isn't about helping anyone, it is about advancing the demonic culture of death at all costs. It is being done under the guise of helping others. But what is really going on is that they are saying some lives are more valuable than others, when those who run things think they are of value to them.

Congressmen Seek to Undermine Embryonic Stem Cell Ruling by Changing Law

Senate aide: codifying Obama order "wouldn't do the trick"

By Kathleen Gilbert
WASHINGTON, D.C., August 30, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Members in both chambers of U.S. Congress are angling to alter federal law in order to undermine a district court judge's temporary injunction that effectively puts a stop to the onset of taxpayer-funded embryonic stem-cell research.
U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ruled last Monday that Obama's March 2009 Executive Order, which permitted public funds for the research involving the destruction of embryonic human beings, directly conflicted with federal law known as the Dickey-Wicker amendment. The amendment prevents taxpayer monies from funding research in which embryos "are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death."
The Obama administration plans to appeal the decision, which followed a decision in June declaring that pro-life researchers and a Christian adoption group had standing to contest the new funding guidelines in a court of law.
But others are looking for a more direct route: Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee aides cited by the National Journal Monday indicated that lawmakers were gearing up to alter the pro-life law cited by the judge "to get at the heart of the problem." "Simply codifying President Obama's Executive Order wouldn't do the trick," said one aide.
In the House, Democrat Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado is planning to re-introduce legislation to eliminate the ban on taxpayer funding for embryo-destructive research, according to news reports in Colorado. The Democrat had sponsored the same legislation previously, but it was vetoed by President George W. Bush.
"For most members of Congress, it's not really a political calculation as much as a realization that this research has been pretty halted by this court decision and we need to act quickly to reverse that," said DeGette, a leading pro-abortion voice in Congress.
While DeGette and other Democrats argue that experimentation on cells derived from destroyed embryos is permitted under the law, Lamberth's decision on Monday emphasized that attempting to separate the origin of such cells from research later conducted on them was misguided.
"ESC [embryonic stem-cell] research is clearly research in which an embryo is destroyed," wrote Lamberth. "The process of deriving ESCs from an embryo results in the destruction of the embryo. Thus, ESC research necessarily depends upon the destruction of a human embryo. Despite defendants' attempt to separate the derivation of ESCs from research on ESCs, the two cannot be separated."
Richard Doerflinger, a spokesperson for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, agreed in a New York Times article last week, saying that attempts to make such a distinction were "implausibly narrow."
Meanwhile, a Rasmussen Reports survey found that public opinion has shifted against taxpayer funding for embryonic stem-cell research since Obama signed the Executive Order last year.
Fifty-seven percent of U.S. voters say that embryonic stem-cell research should not involve taxpayer funds, while only 33 percent believe the research should receive public monies. The numbers are nearly flipped from when Obama signed the Order permitting public funds for embryo-destructive research in March 2009: 52 percent favored the move, and 38 percent were opposed.

See also: OBAMA ADMIN TO APPEAL EMBRYONIC STEM CELL FUNDING DECISION LATER THIS WEEK

A Rose By Any Other Name

I'm not sure if this is the type of rose St. Thérèse of Lisieux was refering to, but I am sure that since it reflects the Glory of God, she would approve.

A new image taken by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) shows the Rosette nebula located within the constellation Monoceros (the Unicorn). This flower-shaped nebula is a huge star-forming cloud of dust and gas in our Milky Way galaxy, about 4,500-5,000 light-years away. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA [Full Story]

Marty Haugen Redux

Yesterday I put up a post on why music such as that by Marty Haugen doesn't fit with real liturgy (Definitive Proof Marty Haugan & Liturgical Music Don't Go Together.). Well, God in His Divine sense of humor let me know I was on the right track.

Sunday morning I went across the river for the 10 AM Mass at St. Mary's since they are having a Parish Mission led by the Community of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. After Mass I was talking to a friend of mine who occassionally goes to Mass there. She is a member of the Anglican Church in America which has been looking into Papa Benedetto's Anglican Personal Ordinariate. Her parish in DBQ recently closed so she goes to Catholic Mass. (& to put it bluntly, she has a lot deeper reverence for the Eucharist that 90%+ of the Catholics in this area.) She started asking me a couple questions about the missalettes used at various parishes. She knew some of the hymns used that day because they were classics, not the modern garbage used in most parishes. she said her only problem is she isn't familiar with Latin which was used at the Mass for the Hosanna & Agnus Dei chanting as well as 1 hymn, O Sanctissima.

Then she began to talk about 1 composer she didn't like whose name began with an M. She finally found 1 of his in the OCP edition used there. & if you haven't figured out by now, & to no surprize on my part either, it was Marty Haugen's works she didn't like. She was struggling to define what she didn't like about his music. so I said "Puerile?" & she said that was a good word for his music.

PS. Fr. Bernard gave an excellent homily & hopefully, I will be able to get to at least 2 of the sessions later this week.

PPS Her comments are even more proof, as if needed, that Papa Benedetto is on the right track for Christian Unity.

The Hypocricy of the Abortion Industry Again Rears Its Ugly Head

As I have pointed out time & time again, despite the claims to the contrary they do not care about women's safety, just making money. & NARAL's reaction here is more proof.

Let us remember that it is the abortion industry that is demanding more regulation for crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) so that women will be protected from fraud. Yet, they don't want to be held to any standards at all when it comes to the safety of women.

In most states abortion clinics don't even have to reach the health standards bar set for ear piercing, let alone a doctor's office or an out-patient operating room. 1 of the ironies I find in this story is that these same clinics that are screaming now about not meeting hospital standards wouldn't exist if things had gone the way pro-aborts envisioned after Roe v Wade. Most pro-aborts thought that hospitals would embrace abortion as just another form of surgery. Instead, most hospitals saw abortion as antithetical to their mission of saving lives & thus clinics sprung up to take the place of doctor's offices where most "back alley" abortions took place. In conditions that had to meet higher standards that most abortion clinics do today.

What this is about is cutting into profits. abortion clinics know that if they are held to even basic standards it will raise operating costs. So they will either have to raise prices (& maybe lose some business) or settle for lower profits. You can be sure that these businesses are making a huge profit as it is from the Blood Money they are collecting. So their cry about this being an attempt to shut them down ranks right up there in veracity as do crocodile tears.

As I already pointed out, while opposing regs for them they are pushing for greater regs on CPCs. But what these regs are about is attempting to shut down CPCs so that women do not have an alternative to abortion. Remember, when women opt for an alternative, then it cuts down on the traffic at the abortion mills. & that means fewer abortions & less profits. That is why they find the attempt to shut down CPCs acceptable. So if there is any truth at all in the claim of Tarina Keene, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, that "These so-called regulations are only an attempt to shut down abortion clinics in the Commonwealth of Virginia," is true, then the irony is rich. What is happenning is that they are merely reaping what they have sown in their treatment of CPCs.

Also, do abortion advocates realize what they are admitting by saying the regs can only be met by 4 of the clinics???? They are admitting these abortion mills are unsafe. They are admitting they don't care about women's health or safety, just profits. Why are abortion mills exempt from laws that other medical facilities are required to meet if these places are there to provide for "women's reproductive health"? I remember when the DBQ Planned Parenthood openned 2 years ago, they claimed it was to provide health services, like physicals. Pap smears, etc that were not available elsewhere in DBQ for lower income people. The truth is,e xcept for access to abortions all the PP services they claim DBQ needed are available at places like Crescent Community Health Center in DBQ. Yet PP has also been 1 of the loudest voices opposing any regulations that Crescent must meet for providing the same services.

So remember, the next time you hear any abortion provider scream about being regulated that their claims are red-herrings. It is their way of avoiding the Lime-light of any scrutiny that would show how far short they fall from even the basic standards the real health care industry must meet as well as their fighting to keep up their immoral Blood Money profits.

Virginia AG: State Can Force Abortion Clinics to Follow Same Standards as Hospitals

By Peter J. Smith
RICHMOND, Virginia (LifeSiteNews.com) –Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli may be about to make abortion “safe, legal, and rare” - simply by making abortion clinics offer women the same standard of care required by other outpatient surgical facilities.
Statistically speaking abortion is the number one surgical procedure that women undergo in the United States, and most abortions are performed in the first trimester.
However in Virginia, as in many other places around the country, abortion facilities have often escaped the health and safety standards that are mandated for other medical facilities, such as hospitals, that engage in out-patient surgery.
Just recently, Louisiana corrected that problem by giving its Health Department the regulatory authority to shut down facilities that failed to live up to hospital health and safety standards.
But many abortion clinics in Virginia have operated under the law as “physician’s offices” rather than medical facilities. If the state follows Cuccinelli’s legal advice, that could soon change.
"It is my opinion that the Commonwealth has the authority to promulgate regulations for facilities in which first trimester abortions are performed as well as providers of first trimester abortions, so long as the regulations adhere to constitutional limitations," Cuccinelli wrote in a legal opinion released Friday.
The opinion was written in response to an inquiry from Delegate Bob Marshall (R-Prince William) and Senator Ralph K. Smith (R-Roanoke), who asked whether the state had the authority to regulate facilities that perform 1st trimester abortions.
Cuccinelli pointed out that under Virginia statute, the definition of “hospital” can include abortion facilities because they fall within the Code’s broad definition of a “hospital.” In Virginia, a hospital is “any facility … in which the primary function is the provision of diagnosis, treatment, and of medical and nursing services, surgical or non-surgical, for two or more nonrelated individuals including … outpatient surgical [hospitals].”
He also pointed out that the Board of Health has already classified “abortion outpatient clinics” as outpatient hospitals, under its authority to classify hospitals.
“The attorney general’s comments on this issue points out to a real problem involving abortion practice in the United States, and that simply is that abortion across the United States is the single most commonly performed procedure on American women. And yet it does remain the most unregulated, underreported, and under-investigated of any form of medical care provided to American women,” Olivia Gans, President of the Virginia Society for Human Life, told LifeSiteNews.com. “So it is quite scandalous that women’s lives are literally hanging in the balance along with their children at these abortion provider’s hands.”
Cuccinelli also pointed out that abortion clinics may not be able to hide from the Board of Health’s regulations as “physicians’ offices,” since the Board has the authority to investigate that claim. He said that the Board of Medicine has broad authority to regulate all health practitioners in the state, and can therefore regulate standards of care in first trimester abortion facilities.
Cuccinelli also said that these positions had been upheld previously in federal court.
However, abortion advocates are protesting the attorney general’s opinion, arguing that if most abortion clinics carried out the same standards of care for women that are mandated at hospitals they soon would be out of business.
According to the Washington Post, abortion advocates predict that only four out of 21 abortion clinics would be able to fulfill that standard of care if mandated by the state Board of Health. The rest would be shut down.
Tarina Keene, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, cast Cuccinelli’s opinion as “his first pitch" to make abortion inaccessible.
"These so-called regulations are only an attempt to shut down abortion clinics in the Commonwealth of Virginia," Keene told the Post.
Gans told LSN that while NARAL was often prone to “hyperbole,” “it is at time to time the case that serious and quite startling infractions of what would be normal medical practice and care are seriously violated in the practice of abortion.”
Gans added that the biggest reason that abortion facilities operate with “a cloak of invincibility” under the law is due to the confusion surrounding what states can and cannot do under current interpretations of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton.
“It does strike one as astonishing that NARAL would reject every effort to protect the lives and well-being of the women who are actually seeking abortions, as often as they reject any measure that would ultimately also protect the unborn child,” said Gans. “One has to ask who is NARAL or NOW or Planned Parenthood or any of these pro-abortion groups supportive of? And it appears too often that they are protecting the interests of the abortionists and not the children and their mothers.”
The full opinion can be read here.

See related coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:
Bobby Jindal Signs Landmark Abortion Reforms into Louisiana Law

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jul/10070709.html

LCWR Guarenteed to Continue Heretical Ways for Next Few Years

You ask me how I can be so sure?

Simple, I just found out whom the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) has as their newly selected President-elect. & I can guarentee you that her order/convent is a hotbed of New Age heresy, dissent & habitless hussies. The reason is that their new leader is Patricia Farrell of the Sisters of St. Francis of DBQ, IA. She will become head of the LCWR coven at the end of next year's meeting.

OK, before I go on, in all fairness, I have to say there are a couple of good, habit wearing Franciscans at Mt. St. Francis. 1 or 2 that protest at the local Planned Parenthood as well. But they are the exception, not the rule. On the other hand, Farrell is the norm.

So you know where they are coming from here is what it says on their homepage about their mission: "Rooted in the Gospel and in the Spirit of Francis and Clare, the Sisters of St. Francis live in right relationship with all creation."

Then there is this taken from their 2008 Chapter Commitments: "In our personal, communal and public lives,we commit to ongoing conversion as we:
Deepen our Relationshipwith Mother Earth and Sister Water...
Stand with Persons who are Poor...
Make Peace and Practice Non-Violence...

This is who we are, this is what the globalcommunity can expect from us.."

You will notice there is nothing about spreading the Gospel, evangelization, bringing people to Jesus, just all the PC liberal social "gospel" BS.

Among the places they operate is the Shalom Retreat Center. & while there are some good events there, from outside groups who rent the facility mostly, they have such upcoming events as "Yoga and Centering Prayer: A Mini-Retreat"; "Relieve Stress for Dental Health (In this program we will discuss the connection between daily stresses, dental problems, and yoga solutions.)"; A retreat lead by Michael Morwood who is apparently a priest & who is having a book investigated by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has other books praised by known heretic (& Episcopal Bishop) John Shelby Spong & who is also buddy buddy with ex-priest John Dominic Crossan (co-founder of the Jesus Project who's goal was to eliminate anything Jesus said in the Gospels they didn't like); & a Jungean based look at the soul retreat. That is only a sampling. (They are also having a book discussion on Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust by Immaculée Ilibagiza [with Steve Erwin] that I suspect will ignore the real heart of her message & they are only doing to promote their Peace & Justice agenda instead. I would almost love to go just to try & take things in the right direction.)

The Shalom Center also houses a New Age wellness center.

The DBQ Frannies were also the home of the infamous Sr. Dorothy Hennessey. She once told me"I am personally opposed to abortion but I can't impose my morality on others.' while spending the last 30+ years of her life protesting war as immoral & trying to impose her morality in that area to put an ened to war.

I could go on, but I am sure you get the point.

So as you can see, I am speaking from 1sthand knowledge. Thus I can safely guarentee that the LCWR is continuing on its direction away from being Catholic & into total schism & heresy.

Source: The Wit-less (aka the Archdiocese of DBQ rag) Dubuque Franciscan elected LCWR president

_________________

Update: (30 Aug 2010 @ 5:00am) Doing some follow up about Michael Morwood mentioned above for a friend, I found out some additional info. 1st of all he is an ex-priest, who is married, I suspect without laicization. Also, I found out 1 of his books was banned by Cardinal Pell then Archbishop of Melbourne & he was silenced by the Cardinal as well. That silencing on 28 February 1998 was his excuse for leaving the priesthood. He got married in March of 2000. Like I said, he probably never was laicized. & this is only a small part of his history of dissent, heresy & disobedience. He is the type of person they welcome there for conferences they sponsor. As I said, the LCWR is clearly putting their future in the hands of someone who will lead them further away from being authentic Catholics towards definitive schism ladden with plenty of heresy.

Definitive Proof Marty Haugan & Liturgical Music Don't Go Together

Here is "Gather Us In" in Latin which will show I am right:

(Translation by Peter Mottola)

OK, I think this was done as a joke, but it does show us how certain "songs" are definitely NOT hymns & have no place in the Liturgy, NO or TLM. & I use the word song intentionally. Because that is what it is, a song. The music is OK, barely. But as for the lyics, they leave more than a little to be desired (English or Latin). Part of the problem I have is that this focuses more in on us than it should (although there are songs much worse like "We Have Come to Tell Our Story"* or "Sing a New Church" or "Ashes") rather than in worshipping God. Another problem is the slighty faulty theology at some points that downplays or undermines the "Real Presence" in the Eucharist.

So don't forget, when it comes to deciding what to use for liturgical music:

(T-shirt H/T: TH2 - A MESSAGE FROM CLETUS: BIBLE BELT CATHLIK)

Latin lyrics here
English here
Source: the best of both forms...

* Or as I like to refer to it as, Lord, look at how great we are. Do you know how lucky You are that we are here? You should be glad we have deigned to come here & let You bask in our glory. Bow down & worship us. etc

When Humans Are Labeled Parasites:

Source: The Difference between a Parasite and a Person

Sadly, This Shows Sanger's Negro Project Is Working

1 of Margaret Sanger's eugenics goals was to eliminate undersirable races like the blacks. She knew she couldn't just come out & convince blacks to encourage their own genocide. So she came up with The Negro Project. The purpose of the project was to get black religious leaders to buy into her lies about birth control so that they would then do her dirty work for her. In a letter she wrote: " The minister's work is also important and he should be trained, perhaps by the Federation as to our ideals and the goal that we hope to reach. We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members."(emphasis mine) [Letter from Sanger to Dr. Clarence J. Gamble, 10 December 1939, see Negro Project link below]

The fact that this group is attacking Alveda King shows that to some extent the project has worked. & that it is still alive. However, despite the claims of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Alveda King & groups like Black genocide (link below) more accurately reflect the feeling of the black community than RCRC does. RCRC is attempting to "straighten out" Alveda King & other Pro-life blacks. & failing that, trying to marginalize them. Just like Margaret Sanger envisioned.

Sorry to say, the "Negro Project" is alive & well. & the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice is the guise it is going under these days.

BLACK ABORTION ADVOCATES ATTACK ALVEDA KING, SAY MARTIN LUTHER KING NOT PRO-LIFE

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A group of black abortion advocates are attacking Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., for saying her uncle is pro-life. The younger King has been a pro-life advocate for some time since coming to regret her multiple abortions but some abortion activists don't like what she has to say.
King is slated to appear at the Glenn Beck event commemorating the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic "I Have a Dream" speech.
Responding to that event and a new billboard campaign, members of the "Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice" held a press conference and issued a statement blasting Alveda King.
They said the "religious right billboard campaign claiming African American children are an 'endangered species' and Alveda King's comparison of anti-abortion activists to 'Freedom Riders' sparked outrage in the African American community."
The black RCRC members called King's claims that her uncle would be pro-life today "baseless and inflammatory assertions."
"Disparaging clinics that provide abortion, birth control and reproductive health services is harmful to communities struggling with high rates of unintended pregnancy, teen births and HIV/AIDS, insulting to the intelligence and values of African Americans, and offensive to women who make conscientious moral decisions about pregnancy," they said.
The pro-abortion black activists said Right to Life groups and "other right-wing organizations started this irresponsible and offensive campaign to make inroads into African American communities to promote their own agenda - to ultimately overturn Roe v. Wade."
"The Black community has repeatedly rejected the 'Religious Right' anti-abortion movement," they said.
In a statement to LifeNews.com, Alveda King issued her own response.
"It is absolutely ludicrous that abortion supporters would accuse a blood relative of Dr. King of hijacking the King legacy. Uncle Martin and my father, Rev. A. D. King were blood brothers," she said. "How can I hijack something that belongs to me? I am an heir to the King Family legacy."
"I have a right to stand at the Lincoln Memorial on the 47th Anniversary of my Uncle's 'I Have A Dream' speech," she continued.
"The Dream has yet to be realized. That Dream is in my genes and I carry forward in the fight for equality and justice for all blacks, including those in the womb," King said.
"My dad and my uncle gave their lives to ensure that the day would come when blacks would be judged not by the color of their skin, but the content of their character. If they were here, I know they would stand with me in this fight for the lives of those most vulnerable among us," said King.
Other black pro-life leaders joined King in defending herself and her assertions.
"It's interesting to me to hear so called religious people call us the religious right -- but that's okay because they are obviously the complete opposite... they are the religious wrong," said Day Gardner, president of the National Black Pro-Life Union.
"The travesty of abortion -- especially in the black community is the greatest civil rights battle of our time and we must overcome it," she said.
Catherine Davis, who heads up the black outreach project for Georgia Right to Life , also chimed in on the debate.
"More and more of Black Americans understand the eugenic agenda of Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers to control the black birth rate through abortion. And because we understand, we are standing with Alveda King in solidarity, continuing the fight for black life from its earliest beginnings," she said.
"I grew up understanding that the King family fought for my right to equality, even as they fought, bled and died for my right to life, free of government sanctioned lynching, restraints, and KKK threats. To believe that they would now stand for the destruction of life in the womb, screams against the legacy these great men left for us all," Davis continued.

Links for more on Sanger's "Negro Project":
Maafa 21

TooManyAborted.com esp Unwanted section

The Negro Project Margaret Sanger's Eugenic Plan for Black Americans

BlackGenocide.org

National Black Pro-Life Union

USCCB Cleaning Up CCHD?????

This story was also reported by Raymond Arroyo on The World Over Live Friday night. The question I have is this: "Is this a sincere effort at a clean up? Or an attempt by the CCHD to keep from facing the music? Part of the problem is that we don't know what the document actually says. & the article doesn't mention who wrote it. Or why the 5 drafts?

My suspicion is that this is an attempt by the CCHD to cover its backside & to keep it from having to face the music as it should. The way they are lobbying for the document makes me all the more convinced that the CCHD leadership doesn't want honest reform. & that probobly does mean ""sweeping changes" will be needed. Including some housecleaning of leadership.

Remember, it is this current leadership that allowed all the things to happen that brought about the current scandal. For example, it was the current leadership that OKed the 2010 Stations of the Cross that showed money going to groups that supported the promotion of abortion and/or same-sex marriage. & as Deal Hudson recently reported "new evidence has emerged that adds 16 new groups to the 51 originally listed as problematic by the Reform CCHD Now Coalition." (More Problems at the Catholic Campaign for Human Development )

Another question raised in that article is why is the CCHD waiting until the end of September to release the 2010 list of CCHD grants, when it is normally released at the end of August? Are they afraid that the facts would affect the vote on the current document? Are they afraid that if there is enough time to raise questions the radical reform they fear will happen?

Like I said, none of what I am seeing gives me any confidence that the CCHD leadership wants honest reform. Or wants to support authentic Catholic Social teaching as found in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. I have found it interesting that the "social gospel" gang (or as I prefer, "social sans Gospel" gang) hasn't rushed to embrace the 2004 document. But since I have a copy & have used it for research on what the Church actually teachings, I can explain that very easily. The document undermines almost everything the "social"ist gang promotes under the guise of Catholic teaching.

CCHD facing key test of support among US bishops

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) is facing a critical test of support among the US bishops this week, CWN has learned.
All members of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) have been asked to respond by Friday, August 27, to a confidential report on the CCHD. The document—“The Review and Renewal of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development”—was prepared in response to bishops’ concerns that the CCHD has strayed from its original and become too closely involved with radical political movements.
Although the “Review and Renewal” document has gone through 5 successive drafts, a number of bishops within the USCCB appear unsatisfied with the document, and supporters of the CHD are fearful that at their November meeting, the US bishops may call for sweeping changes in the program.

“CCHD is being closely examined and its mission questioned,” one ardent advocate for the program wrote in a letter to the heads of diocesan social agencies. Robert Gorman, the executive director of Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana, urged allies to contact their bishops and urge them to express their satisfaction with the “Review and Renewal” document, thus giving their support to the current direction and leadership of the CCHD.
The urgency with which CCHD supporters are lobbying the American bishops suggests that they expect a showdown with the program’s critics in coming weeks. So Catholics who hope for a fundamental change in the CCHD approach might also be inclined contact their bishops this week, to express their own concerns before the Friday deadline for comments on the “Review and Renewal” document.
The CCHD was established by the US bishops in 1970 to attack the root causes of poverty in America. For years the program has been troubled by critics who have said the CCHD has become too closely aligned with radical activist groups. Last year that criticism reached a crescendo, as lay Catholic groups exposed CCHD funding for organizations that promote causes inimical to Catholic teaching, such as legal abortion and same-sex marriage. While the CCHD leadership said that such grants accounted for only a small percentage of the organization’s funding for self-help groups, several American bishops announced that they were withdrawing their dioceses from the nationwide campaign to support the CCHD.
The “Review and Renewal” document, which is currently available only to bishops and their staff members, is an effort to reassure the USSCB members that CCHD grants will go only to organizations whose purposes and activities are compatible with Catholic social teaching.
But critics of the current CCHD approach have called for more definitive reform of the organization’s activities. Rather than forming alliances with groups that promote radical social change, they say, the CCHD should recognize the underlying causes of poverty as seen through the eyes of Church social teaching: the breakdown of marriage and family life and the lack of access to quality education.
[For a more fuller complete analysis of the effort to reform the CCHD, see Phil Lawler's essay, "The time is now for reform of the CCHD".]

Oh, If Only This Would Happen to Papa Benedetto Next Month

Government Set To Apologise To The Pope

In light of the sharp rise in teenage pregnancies in Britain this year, the Con Dem Government along with ex-Ministers from the last Labour Government will say ‘Sorry, sorry and sorry’ to the Holy Father next month. The latest statistics show that in spite of the State, Marie Stopes et al telling every child in school that, “sex is just for fun, so just do it when you feel ready, but don’t get pregnant“, the number of pregnancies have risen. (See The Good Counsel Network’s blog for July for information about contraception failure) The pregnancy rate among the under 16's was up by 6.4%, whilst pregnancy outside of marriage amongst those saving sex for marriage is almost unheard of. This clearly shows that the Church is right, again.

As sexually transmitted diseases have also increased, could someone tell me what are the odds of a couple who saved sex for marriage and then stayed faithful, catching one of these diseases? The powers-that-be will tell you that this is not possible, but I think this says more about their sexual behaviour, than anything else! Chastity is not easy, but all things are possible with God.

If the secular world was sane the above would happen.

OK, this is a fantasy, but as the author said, in a sane world this would happen. Of course in a truly sane world they would be listenning to the Catholic Church's teaching in the 1st place.

Sometimes the Truth Gets Out Accidentally

In this case with a poster that probably was meant to encourage condom use to prevent AIDS. Instead it shows the truth that AIDS is NOT prevented by the use of condoms (The Pope May Be Right, Epidemiologist: Pope Is Right About Condoms, Score One For The Pope), just like Papa Benedetto said. Instead condoms give a false sense of security that leads to taking unneccisary risks. Again, the Catholic Church teaching says, sex is reserved for a man & wife in marriage is the only truly safe sex there is.

Source: Around The Interwebs

Fr. Rutler Takes on Litergeists

Never let it be said that Fr. Rutler pulls any punches - he doesn't!!!!!

In this case (an article for 1st Things) his aim is at those who have labelled themselves "liturgical experts". & he isn't any kinder to those clergy who aid & abet in their actions. Or to some of the poorly done modern translations of Scripture. (Although I would be a little easier on the original Jerusalem Bible. But then it is mine, as well as Mother Angelica's prefered version, despite its flaws.) & given the bizarre wording of some of the “alternative opening prayers” that came in via the ICEL, his take on them is pretty right on.

I think he is right when he says that we treat lepidopterists unfairly when people call liturgists their ecclesiastical equivalent. At least lepidopterists provide a useful service, which is more than most liturgists do.

The Liturgical Experts’ Long Tassels

Under the avalanche of commentary on the new translation of the Ordinary Form of the Mass, just approved by the Vatican, I poke my head above the erudite criticisms, to speak as a man whose entire priesthood has been in parishes. I am not a liturgist and, from the parochial perspective of a pastor who has studied worship much less than he has done it, I risk the tendency of many like me who probably unfairly think that liturgists are the ecclesiastical equivalent of lepidopterists.

A pastor is too busy leading people in worship to attend workshops on how to lead people in worship, and his duties in the confessional prevent him from attending seminars on how to hear confessions. I do know that if I followed the guidelines of one liturgical commission, suggesting that I greet each penitent at the church doors with an open Gospel book and then lead a procession to a reconciliation room which looks more like an occasion of sin than a shrine for its absolution, the number of confessions in the middle of the metropolis where I serve would be severely reduced.

Publicly owned corporations are more accountable to their shareholders than tenured bureaucracies, which may explain why it took the Ford Motor Company only two years to cancel its Edsel, and not much longer for Coca Cola to restore its “classic” brand, while the Catholic Church has taken more than a generation of unstopped attrition to try to correct the mistakes of overheated liturgists. The dawning of the Age of Aquarius is now in its sunset repose and the bright young things who seem to be cropping up now all over the place with new information from Fortescue and Ratzinger, may either be the professional mourners for a lost civilization, or the sparks of a looming golden age.

One thing is certain to a pastor: the only parishioners fighting the old battles are old themselves, their felt banners frayed and their guitar strings broken, while a young battalion is rising, with no animus against the atrophied adolescence of their parents, and only eager to engage a real spiritual combat in a culture of death. They usually are ignorant, but bright, for ignorance is not stupidity.

They care little if the Liturgy is in Latin or English or Sanskrit, as long as they are told how to do it, for they were not told. Some critics of the new translations have warned that the changes are too radical, which is radioactively cynical from people who in the 1960’s wantonly dismantled old verities overnight, in their suburbanized version of China’s Cultural Revolution.

Our Lord warned enough about the experts of his day who loved long tassels, and who swore by the gold of the temple rather than the temple, to stay us from placing too much hope in ritual and texts to save lives. Neglect of the aesthetics of worship is not remedied by the worship of aesthetics. A pastor will sometimes observe an over-reaction to the corruption of the Liturgy, so that ritual becomes theatre and Andrei Rubleyev yields to Aubrey Beardsley. Any group or religious community that is too deliberate about external form sows in itself the seeds of decadence.

Liturgy should be chantable, reverent, and expressive of the highest culture we know, without self-consciousness. Ars est celare artem. In tandem with Ovid, for whom it is art to conceal art, Evelyn Waugh said that Anthony Eden was not a gentleman because he dressed too well. It is typical of some schismatic sects that the more they lapse into heresy, the more ritualistic they become. So one will see pictures of a woman claiming to be a bishop, vested like Pius X on his jubilee.

A genius of the Latin rite has been its virile precision, even bluntness. Contrast this with the unsettled grammar of “alternative opening prayers” in the original books from ICEL (the International Commission on English in the Liturgy), whose poesie sounds like Teilhard on steroids.

They were much wordier than the Latin collects or their English equivalents, and gave the impression of having been composed by fragile personalities who had not had a happy early home life. So too, the Prayers of the Faithful cloyingly pursued “themes” usually inspired by an undisciplined concern for air pollution and third world debt.

I think there should be few options in the Liturgy, and no attempt to be “creative,” for that is God’s particular talent. As Vatican II taught in Sacrosanctum Concilium, "[T]here must be no innovations unless the good of the Church genuinely and certainly requires them; and care must be taken that any new forms adopted should in some way grow organically from forms already existing.”

Unfortunately, we have not yet resolved the problem of the simply bad Lectionary texts. While the Jerusalem Bible and Revised Standard Version are licit, only the Revised New American Bible is accessible for parish use. The Jerusalem Bible is a tool for study but was translated with a tin ear.

I grew up with the King James translation and thus am stunned when Job 38:17 (“Hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?”) is given as “Have you met the janitors of Shadowland?” So Sheol becomes a theme park.

But none of this matches the torture of the trans-gendered RNAB which manages to neuter every creature except Satan who remains male. Our Lord sometimes sounds like the Prince of Wales: “What profit is there for one to gain the whole world …?” and other times like a bored anthropologist: “Two people went up to the temple to pray….” But then the inevitable pronouns kick in and we find out that even after the liturgical gelding, these were men.

The Liturgy by grace changes lives. Any pastor who is blessed with an abundance of priestly vocations in his parish knows that they come in spite of epicene worship, demotic liturgy committees, and flailing song leaders. They simply join the chorus of the Greeks: "Sir, we would see Jesus." I recall a prelate saying that even as a seminarian he hoped one day to be able to say Mass facing the people. It was a revealing statement, inasmuch as when he said Mass he seemed annoyed that the Lord was sometimes getting in the way.

While I am glad for the new and more accurate translation of the Mass, which is not perfection but closer to it than one deserves in an imperfect world, a far more important reform would be the return of the ad orientem position of the celebrant as normative. It is the antidote to the tendency of clerisy to impose itself on the people. When a celebrant at Mass stops and says, “This is not about me,” you may be sure he thinks it may be about him. It would be harder for him to harbor that suspicion were he leading the people humbly to the east and the dawn of salvation.

John Henry Newman was the greatest master of English letters in his century of brilliant English, but he gave no countenance to his vernacular replacing the sacral tongue. That is another matter for another day. But he knew the meaning of cupio dissolvi, and he taught that without such self-abnegation the gift of personality reduces the Passion to pantomime. It was because his priestcraft was also soulcraft, that he solemnly invoked the Sacred Heart at the altar in order to speak "heart to heart" with the people in the street:

“Clad in his sacerdotal vestments, [the priest] sinks what is individual in himself altogether, and is but the representative of Him from whom he derives his commission. His words, his tones, his actions, his presence, lose their personality; one bishop, one priest, is like another; they all chant the same notes, and observe the same genuflections, as they give one peace and one blessing, as they offer one and the same sacrifice.

“The Mass must not be said without a Missal under the priest’s eye; nor in any language but that in which it has come down to us from the early hierarchs of the Western Church. But, when it is over, and the celebrant has resigned the vestments proper to it, then he resumes himself, and comes to us in the gifts and associations which attach to his person.

“He knows his sheep, and they know him; and it is this direct bearing of the teacher on the taught, of his mind upon their minds, and the mutual sympathy which exists between them, which is his strength and influence when he addresses them. They hang upon his lips as they cannot hang upon the pages of his book.”

I have to add 1 of the comments for the article that was written by Fr. C. J McCloskey:
"Nothing could be clearer. The forty years in the Liturgical desert that we have passed through result in the Mass apostasy of the Church in the West. Two key points:

1. Vernacular
2. Mass not being celebrated ad orientem
resulting on loss of mystery and sacredness. Long live the Pope of the true Renewal of the Liturgy, B 16 may he live long to finish the job."

Source: Dad29 (Fr. Rutler on Liturgy )

Fr. Euteneuer Called back to Diocese by Bishop

The following letter was sent out Friday by Fr. Euteneuer on Friday 27 August 2010. He will be returning to the Diocese of Palm Beach in obedience to his Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito. He leaves Human Life International in a strong position to continue the vision that Fr. Paul Marx OSB had when he founded HLI.

Fr. Euteneuer to Return to Diocese

Dear Friends of Life,

Nearly ten years ago I answered the call of the Lord to come to Human Life International and work full-time in pro-life work with the permission of my bishop. I have been utterly privileged to serve this great mission for a decade, and now I am called back to my diocese to continue my priestly service in parish work, which was the original calling of my vocation. A priest is a soldier of Christ and the Church, and obedience is the primary virtue of his state in life, but for my part, my discernment about this decision tells me that this is the right thing for me to do and at the right time. I have great peace about the road that lies ahead and about all that has been accomplished up to this point.

Our international mission remains in good hands with my departure. HLI's Board of Directors has asked Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro of our Rome office to assume my responsibilities until such a time as a permanent replacement is named. Our tremendously competent staff and generous supporters are looking to the future with great hope despite the many challenges of the death peddlers on a global scale which are only increasing. There is more need of our mission now than ever! HLI's network of affiliates and associates is more than 100 countries strong, and our international leaders, so often highlighted in our publications, are literally the best in the world! Our dear founder, Fr. Paul Marx would be extremely proud of what we have accomplished in the past decade. I am sure he is smiling on us from where he is now.

I do not have a parish assignment in my diocese as of yet, but I hope to take some time out before I go back into full-time parish work. I expect that some time of rest and renewal will help me to make the transition. It has been 15 years since I last had any significant time for renewal, and after traveling more than 1.1 million miles, authoring two books, visiting 58 countries and making thousands of public appearances, I am ready for a break! I intend to continue to do pro-life work wherever I may be called to serve, and my bishop agrees that this is a vital charism of my priestly life. A true pro-lifer is not oriented to a job so much as to the daily task of fighting the culture of death and building the culture of life!

I ask for your kind prayers as I move forward and for your continued support of HLI and the new leadership that will come soon. I will not be a stranger to HLI's mission or life but I promise that I will remember each of you every day in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, the font of all unity and LIFE!


Blessings in Christ,
Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer
President, Human Life International

HLI Press Release

Celebrating Oelwein's Other Heritage

In this case the Railroad Heritage. Mainly Chicago Great Western but also the Rock Island line.

A few notes:

The CGW engine is an F7A that was restored several years ago to its original scheme & engine number 116A. (You can see a complete roster of equipment at the museum here.

:35 - In the back ground you can see the historic CGW shops that are being threatened with destruction

:43 - The track that curves to the West at the upper left of the screen heads toward the roundhouse that alsos till exists. (The roundhouse was about 3 blocks North of my home.)

The 3 buildings that exist north of the control tower (from N to S) are the depot (now City Hall), the Railway Express Agency (originally Wells Fargo) building & the CGW Yard Office & corporate HQ building. Yes the HQ was in Oelwein from the mid 50s until its demise in 1968. The REA & HQ building along with the tower are the Oelwein Railroad Museum complex.

The D&W Railroad Inc. (D&W) operates (service provided by Iowa Northern Railway) over 18.8 miles of former CGW track between Oelwein & Dewar. It continues into Waterloo over UP track. D&W is owned by TRANSCO Railway Products Inc & was created by TRANSCO after UP filed to abandon the tracks in order to maintain service to their Oelwein shop. The "D" and "W" stand for Dan and Woody, two former TRANSCO Railway Products employees who lost their lives in an accident in Oelwein.

Oelwein got the nickname the Hub City because of the CGW & RI tracks into town looked like spokes on a wheel. (See IDOT abandonment map, Orange CGW, pink RI & black D&W)

Historic Note: Walter Chrysler worked for a while at the Oelwein shops in 1908-9. His son, Walter Jr., was born in Oelwein. In fact Oelwein is where he 1st developed his interest in automobiles. (Chrysler’s road started in Iowa) Walter P. Chrysler Park is named in his honor. Now you know the rest of the story.

Having a Ball in Oelwein

Bocce that is!!!!!!

This picture is from the Bocce Tournament at Redgate Park in Oelwein during this year's Italian Heritage Day. (Note: This park is located about 3/4 mile West of my childhood home.)

Picture source: Oelwein celebrates its immigrant roots

Archbishop Chaput - Society Will Only Survive With Christian Values

Once again Archbishop ensures that he will NOT endear himself to liberal Catholics in Name Only. He said a lot of things in this speech that is excerpted below (with link to entire text) that they don't like or want to hear.

& he doesn't pull any punches. He calls abortion homicide. He warns us that our society is heading towards totalitarianism. he compares the treatment the Catholic Church is receiving today to that of the Nazi and Communist eras. He goes after politicials & elected officials who claim to be Catholic yet support abortion.

1 of my favorite quotes is his take on the intolerance of those promoting tolerance: "The dogma of tolerance cannot tolerate the Church's belief that some ideas and behaviors should not be tolerated because they dehumanize us. The dogma that all truths are relative cannot allow the thought that some truths might not be."

& these are only a few things he goes after in what he calls the new "inhuman humanism."

But he doesn't let the faithful off. Rather he challenges us to truly live our faith. He is reminding us that we may, like the early Church, have to face suffering & martyrdom for being counter cultural. As he says near the end of the address: "Let us preach Jesus Christ with all the energy of our lives. And let us support each other -- whatever the cost -- so that when we make our accounting to the Lord, we will be numbered among the faithful and courageous, and not the cowardly or the evasive, or those who compromised until there was nothing left of their convictions; or those who were silent when they should have spoken the right word at the right time."

Archbishop Chaput: "Systematic Discrimination Against Church Now Seems Inevitable"

SPISSKE, PODHRADIE, Slovakia, August 25, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - MUST READ Excerpts from Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput's address to the 15th symposium for the Canon Law Association of Slovakia on Tuesday:
Today's secularizers have learned from the past. They are more adroit in their bigotry; more elegant in their public relations; more intelligent in their work to exclude the Church and individual believers from influencing the moral life of society. Over the next several decades, Christianity will become a faith that can speak in the public square less and less freely. A society where faith is prevented from vigorous public expression is a society that has fashioned the state into an idol. And when the state becomes an idol, men and women become the sacrificial offering.
We face an aggressively secular political vision and a consumerist economic model that result - in practice, if not in explicit intent -- in a new kind of state-encouraged atheism.
To put it another way: The Enlightenment-derived worldview that gave rise to the great murder ideologies of the last century remains very much alive. Its language is softer, its intentions seem kinder, and its face is friendlier. But its underlying impulse hasn't changed -- i.e., the dream of building a society apart from God; a world where men and women might live wholly sufficient unto themselves, satisfying their needs and desires through their own ingenuity.
This vision presumes a frankly "post-Christian" world ruled by rationality, technology and good social engineering. Religion has a place in this worldview, but only as an individual lifestyle accessory. People are free to worship and believe whatever they want, so long as they keep their beliefs to themselves and do not presume to intrude their religious idiosyncrasies on the workings of government, the economy, or culture.
Now, at first hearing, this might sound like a reasonable way to organize a modern society that includes a wide range of ethnic, religious and cultural traditions, different philosophies of life and approaches to living.
… how does the rhetoric of enlightened, secular tolerance square with the actual experience of faithful Catholics in Europe and North America in recent years?
In the United States, a nation that is still 80 percent Christian with a high degree of religious practice, government agencies now increasingly seek to dictate how Church ministries should operate, and to force them into practices that would destroy their Catholic identity. Efforts have been made to discourage or criminalize the expression of certain Catholic beliefs as "hate speech." Our courts and legislatures now routinely take actions that undermine marriage and family life, and seek to scrub our public life of Christian symbolism and signs of influence.
In Europe, we see similar trends, although marked by a more open contempt for Christianity. Church leaders have been reviled in the media and even in the courts for simply expressing Catholic teaching.
The West is now steadily moving in the direction of that new "inhuman humanism." And if the Church is to respond faithfully, we need to draw upon the lessons that your Churches learned under totalitarianism.
A Catholicism of resistance must be based on trust in Christ's words: "The truth will make you free."
Living within the truth means living according to Jesus Christ and God's Word in Sacred Scripture. It means proclaiming the truth of the Christian Gospel, not only by our words but by our example. It means living every day and every moment from the unshakeable conviction that God lives, and that his love is the motive force of human history and the engine of every authentic human life. It means believing that the truths of the Creed are worth suffering and dying for.
Living within the truth also means telling the truth and calling things by their right names. And that means exposing the lies by which some men try to force others to live.
Our societies in the West are Christian by birth, and their survival depends on the endurance of Christian values. Our core principles and political institutions are based, in large measure, on the morality of the Gospel and the Christian vision of man and government. We are talking here not only about Christian theology or religious ideas. We are talking about the moorings of our societies -- representative government and the separation of powers; freedom of religion and conscience; and most importantly, the dignity of the human person.
…we cannot dispense with our history out of some superficial concern over offending our non-Christian neighbors. Notwithstanding the chatter of the "new atheists," there is no risk that Christianity will ever be forced upon people anywhere in the West. The only "confessional states" in the world today are those ruled by Islamist or atheist dictatorships -- regimes that have rejected the Christian West's belief in individual rights and the balance of powers.
I would argue that the defense of Western ideals is the only protection that we and our neighbors have against a descent into new forms of repression -- whether it might be at the hands of extremist Islam or secularist technocrats.
But indifference to our Christian past contributes to indifference about defending our values and institutions in the present. And this brings me to the second big lie by which we live today -- the lie that there is no unchanging truth.
Relativism is now the civil religion and public philosophy of the West. Again, the arguments made for this viewpoint can seem persuasive. Given the pluralism of the modern world, it might seem to make sense that society should want to affirm that no one individual or group has a monopoly on truth; that what one person considers to be good and desirable another may not; and that all cultures and religions should be respected as equally valid.
In practice, however, we see that without a belief in fixed moral principles and transcendent truths, our political institutions and language become instruments in the service of a new barbarism. In the name of tolerance we come to tolerate the cruelest intolerance; respect for other cultures comes to dictate disparagement of our own; the teaching of "live and let live" justifies the strong living at the expense of the weak.
This diagnosis helps us understand one of the foundational injustices in the West today -- the crime of abortion.
I realize that the abortion license is a matter of current law in almost every nation in the West. In some cases, this license reflects the will of the majority and is enforced through legal and democratic means. And I'm aware that many people, even in the Church, find it strange that we Catholics in America still make the sanctity of unborn life so central to our public witness.
Let me tell you why I believe abortion is the crucial issue of our age.
First, because abortion, too, is about living within the truth. The right to life is the foundation of every other human right. If that right is not inviolate, then no right can be guaranteed.
Or to put it more bluntly: Homicide is homicide, no matter how small the victim.
Here's another truth that many persons in the Church have not yet fully reckoned: The defense of newborn and preborn life has been a central element of Catholic identity since the Apostolic Age.
I'll say that again: From the earliest days of the Church, to be Catholic has meant refusing in any way to participate in the crime of abortion -- either by seeking an abortion, performing one, or making this crime possible through actions or inactions in the political or judicial realm. More than that, being Catholic has meant crying out against all that offends the sanctity and dignity of life as it has been revealed by Jesus Christ.
My point in mentioning abortion is this: Its widespread acceptance in the West shows us that without a grounding in God or a higher truth, our democratic institutions can very easily become weapons against our own human dignity.
Our most cherished values cannot be defended by reason alone, or simply for their own sake. They have no self-sustaining or "internal" justification.
There is no inherently logical or utilitarian reason why society should respect the rights of the human person. There is even less reason for recognizing the rights of those whose lives impose burdens on others, as is the case with the child in the womb, the terminally ill, or the physically or mentally disabled.
If human rights do not come from God, then they devolve to the arbitrary conventions of men and women. The state exists to defend the rights of man and to promote his flourishing. The state can never be the source of those rights. When the state arrogates to itself that power, even a democracy can become totalitarian.
What is legalized abortion but a form of intimate violence that clothes itself in democracy? The will to power of the strong is given the force of law to kill the weak.
That is where we are heading in the West today.
I suggested earlier that the Church's religious liberty is under assault today in ways not seen since the Nazi and Communist eras. I believe we are now in the position to better understand why.
Writing in the 1960s, Richard Weaver, an American scholar and social philosopher, said: "I am absolutely convinced that relativism must eventually lead to a regime of force."
He was right. There is a kind of "inner logic" that leads relativism to repression.
This explains the paradox of how Western societies can preach tolerance and diversity while aggressively undermining and penalizing Catholic life. The dogma of tolerance cannot tolerate the Church's belief that some ideas and behaviors should not be tolerated because they dehumanize us. The dogma that all truths are relative cannot allow the thought that some truths might not be.
The Catholic beliefs that most deeply irritate the orthodoxies of the West are those concerning abortion, sexuality and the marriage of man and woman. This is no accident. These Christian beliefs express the truth about human fertility, meaning and destiny.
These truths are subversive in a world that would have us believe that God is not necessary and that human life has no inherent nature or purpose. Thus the Church must be punished because, despite all the sins and weaknesses of her people, she is still the bride of Jesus Christ; still a source of beauty, meaning and hope that refuses to die -- and still the most compelling and dangerous heretic of the world's new order.
The full 12-page talk can be read here.

Planned Parenthood - NOT!!!!!

This captures the total disconnect between PP's name & the reality of what they actually do:

Caller: "Hello, is this Planned Parenthood?"


Clerk: "Yes, it is. How can we help you?"


Caller: "I saw you advertisement in the newspaper and I would very much like to become a parent. Could you help me plan to be a parent?"


Clerk: "I'm sorry this is Planned Parenthood, we are hear to help you end your unwanted pregnancy."


Caller: "No, I want to become pregnant and give birth to new life. Can you send me a brochure how I can plan my parenthood. That is the title of your organization. Don't you help people to Plan Parenthood?"


Clerk: "No, our main goal is to kill your baby, so you can be free to do whatever you want."


Caller: "I want to become a parent. So, even though your name is Planned Parenthood, you do not help people to become parents? Does you manager know what you are doing?"

Like I said, this really captures the disconnect between PP's name & reality. This is something I have felt for years. PP is really promoting non-parenthood. Or should I say, sexual license without the consequences, at least on this side of eternity.

OK, I suspect some of you are thinking this is another 1 of LarryD's homeruns. This time I am sorry to disappoint you. It isn't. But as Fr. Larry said when he posted it he described it as " a very amusing scenario in the style of LarryD over at Acts of Apostasy." Fr. Larry got this from Fr. Austin Murphy, of Jesus Goes To Disney World fame. (Planned Parenthood, NOT! _