Iowa AG Miller Under Ethics Investigation

I don't know how I missed this a couple weeks ago, but it still is good news. The fact that Miller allowed the picture of him with Jill June to be used by PP for PR makes it clear that his actions that served to foil any investigations of PPH were intentional.

The fact that the Disciplinary Board has started a formal investigation means that there is enough evidence to raise questions about his behavior. It will be interesting to see how Miller answers the charges. The AG office copped out & twisted things when I wrote to them in support of Operation Rescue's efforts. They thought I was too dumb to understand the law. However, the Board won't be so easy to try & fool.

Ethics Investigation Launched Into Iowa Attorney General’s Conduct In Telemed Abortion Scandal

Des Moines, Iowa – Operation Rescue has received confirmation that a formal ethics investigation has been launched by the Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board into conduct by Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller concerning the request for a criminal investigation of telemed webcam abortions conducted by Planned Parenthood of the Heartland.
“It is clear to us that Tom Miller placed the interests of his friends and political allies at Planned Parenthood above the laws of the State of Iowa and the health and safety of women,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman, who filed the ethics complaint against Miller.
Miller will now be required to provide an answer to the Iowa Supreme Court Disciplinary Board for the allegations against him.
Troy Newman filed the complaint on November 29, 2010, alleging three causes of action:
1. Conflict of interest, due to Miller’s close professional and personal associations with PPH staff members.

2. Hindering or impeding efforts to obtain independent criminal investigations

3. Corruption, for putting his political associates and personal friends ahead of his vow to enforce the laws of the State of Iowa.
Operation Rescue conducted an investigation earlier this year of the so-called telemed abortions and discovered information that gave Newman reason to believe that PPH’s telemed abortion pill scheme not only violates standards of care, but also violates the law.
Operation Rescue filed a formal complaint with the Iowa Board of Medicine in April, 2010, asking for an investigation. That investigation is on-going.
Since clinics in several Iowa counties were involved, a complaint demanding a criminal investigation of PPH’s remote-controlled abortion pill scheme was filed on June 24, 2010, with the Iowa Attorney General’s office, which has jurisdiction in all Iowa counties. Almost immediately, Attorney General Tom Miller began making excuses for why he could not proceed with an investigation, telling reporters that the county attorneys had jurisdiction.
Realizing that Miller would not act, Operation Rescue sent complaints to county attorneys in ten Iowa Counties known to have telemed abortion facilities. Responses were received indicating that Miller had previously alerted the county attorneys and indicated to them that investigations should be left to the Iowa Board of Medicine. This virtually shut down any hope of gaining an investigation that Miller’s office could not control.
“It is unethical for the laws of Iowa to be disregarded due to political cronyism, especially when it places the health and safety of citizens in jeopardy, as is the case with Planned Parenthood’s telemed abortion pill scheme,” said Newman. “It was my duty to file this complaint, and pray that it will halt the subversion of justice by politics and corruption.”
Read the ethics complaint narrative for additional information

Read the letters from the Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board

Catholic Medical Association: Bishop Olmsted Did the Right Thing

It looks like Catholic HealthCare West & the Catholic Health Association could take a lesson from the Catholic Medical Association about genuine Catholic health care. As well as being faithful to the teaching of the Magesterium & the Bishop when he exercises his role to ensure that faithfulness.

Catholic Medical Association Supports Bishop Olmsted

Catholic Medical Association (CMA) (www.cathmed.org/)
a momentous moment in the history of the Catholic health care ministry in the United States.
The decree by Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted that St. Joseph's Hospital can no longer be considered authentically Catholic is a momentous moment in the history of the Catholic health care ministry in the United States. It represents a significant step by a bishop to exercise his legitimate role as teacher and defender of the faith in his diocese as well as an unfortunate refusal of hospital officials to respect the bishop's role as a teacher and pastor.

ALA CYNMYD, PA. (Catholic Medical Association) - In response to Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted's declaration about St. Joseph Hospital in Phoenix on December 21, 2010, CMA President Leonard P. Rybak, M.D., Ph.D., issued the following statement:
The decree by Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted that St. Joseph's Hospital can no longer be considered authentically Catholic is a momentous moment in the history of the Catholic health care ministry in the United States. It represents a significant step by a bishop to exercise his legitimate role as teacher and defender of the faith in his diocese as well as an unfortunate refusal of hospital officials to respect the bishop's role as a teacher and pastor.
While the case involving an abortion performed at St. Joseph's was complex both clinically and ethically, there should be little doubt now that it involved the direct taking of an innocent human life. Moreover, the responsibility of the local bishop to ensure the integrity of Catholic ministries in his diocese and to interpret the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services (ERDs) are not matters of dispute. The CMA recognizes the essential role that bishops play in exercising their teaching office for the benefit of the Church and commends Bishop Olmsted for his diligence in fulfilling his episcopal responsibilities.
In this regard, the CMA objects to the Catholic Health Association's recent statement that those at St. Joseph's Hospital "correctly applied" the ERDs in this case. In fact, the ERDs recognize the bishop's essential responsibility to act as a teacher and "ensure the moral and religious identity of the health care ministry in whatever setting it is carried out in the diocese." An interpretation of the ERDs expressly contradicting the formal teaching of the local bishop is per se not a correct application of the ERDs.
Catholic health care providers are entering a period of unprecedented challenges driven by technological developments, an aggressively secular culture, and upheaval in health care law and financing. It is critically important for Catholic providers to present a clear, consistent, and compelling witness in the face of these challenges. This will only be possible if Catholic health care providers are unified and in union with Christ and his Church. Again, we are saddened that Saint Joseph's has chosen a path of disunity and pray that they will seek to reestablish communion with their bishop.
Founded in 1932, the Catholic Medical Association is the largest association of Catholic physicians in North America. For more information, go to http://www.cathmed.org.

- - -

Catholic Medical Association upholds the principles of the Catholic faith in the science and practice of medicine.

A New Year's Resolution Every Pro-Lifer Can Get Behind

Although I am willing to bet the abortion industry may not be too happy if it goes through. But then, so what? I am sick & tired of my money helping Planned Parenthood & other abortion providers murder the unborn. & given how PP covers up rape, incest etc using my tax money as well as their obscene promotion of promioscuity under the guise of sex ed, you have many more reasons why PP does NOT deserve a single cent.

Granted, this will not completely shut down PP, but it will put a huge crimp in their budget that most states won't want to make up. & that will mean many a PP will close down. & that is definitely A GOOD THING!!!!!!

Pro-Life New Year’s Resolution: De-Fund Abortion, Planned Parenthood
by Steven Ertelt Washington, DC LifeNews.com

When it comes to making New Year’s resolutions, pro-life organization have one they definitely intend to keep: pressing for bills in Congress to de-fund abortion and Planned Parenthood.
“This is the time of year when we look forward to a new year with hope and anticipation. It’s the perfect time for making a list of resolutions to achieve greater life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” says Americans United for Life president Charmaine Yoest.
Saying the new pro-life controlled House of Representatives presents “opportunities opening up for the mission of defending life,” Yoest says her group has “very specific plans to work toward advancing our resolutions.”
“Number one on our list? Defund abortion HQ: Planned Parenthood,” she said. “Congress could give taxpayers a gift by defunding Planned Parenthood. Eliminating their yearly federal subsidy of over $300 million should be one of Congress’ top priorities.”
She says the abortion business has “a fundamental disconnect with the heart of most Americans, where the majority of us embrace unborn children in the womb as a gift, wrapped and hidden until the birth-day of celebration. Nothing compares to the joy a mother feels when she meets her child for the first time.”
Jordan Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice, says the outlook for moving the bills through the House and forcing the Senate to consider them is good, explaining that “there is significant pro-life legislation with a real chance of passing the pro-life House of Representatives in the 112th Congress.”
Congressman Chris Smith, the New Jersey Republican who is the co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, is set to introduce the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.” The bill would make several pro-life laws restricting taxpayer funding of abortions permanent instead of them coming up every year and having to be renewed by a Congress that is not pro-life every session.
“This bill would make the Hyde amendment (no federal funds from Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations Act used to pay for elective abortions), Helms amendment (no international abortion funding), Smith FEHBP amendment (no payment for federal employee’s elective abortion), the Dornan amendment (no funds for abortion in DC) and the conscience clause permanent,” ACLJ’s Sekulow explains. “Converting annually renewable amendments to statutory law would be a momentous victory for the pro-life movement.”
The need for the Smith bill is seen in the machinations of the Democratic-controlled Congress over the last two years as Democrats implemented President Barack Obama’s budget reversing the ban on taxpayer funding of abortions in the nation’s capital.
The legislation is so crucial for the pro-life movement that Congressman Dan Lipinski, a pro-life Democrat from Illinois who has co-sponsored it, says, “When the Dornan amendment was overturned in the omnibus spending bill last year, it served as a reminder of the need for permanent bans on federal funding of abortion.”
The pro-life movement is also, as Sekulow says, “not rolling over” when it comes to addressing the problems with ObamaCare.
Congressman Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania, the new head of a key subcommittee that will tackle repealing or de-funding ObamaCare, has introduced legislation that ensures no abortions will be funded with taxpayer dollars under the health care law. The passage of the Pitts bill would codify the executive order Obama issued that pro-life groups panned because it did not properly stop abortion funding.
Leading pro-life groups are also pressing for passage of a bill sponsored by Rep, Mike Pence of Indiana that would ensure Title X family planning funds don’t go to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion business.
“The momentum is on the “right” side of the abortion debate,” Sekulow concludes. “Young people, the next generation of social conservative activists, are increasingly pro-life. Social conservatives will never give up fighting for the unborn. Americans should not be forced to pay for what many of us believe to be tantamount to murder.”
“In the 112th Congress, we expect both of these bills to immediately pass the House and then face an uphill battle in the pro-abortion rights, Democrat-controlled US Senate,” he said.
Forcing the Senate and, potentially, Obama to consider the legislation is one resolution pro-life groups intend to keep.

We're (More Than) A Couple of Misfits

Life imitating art? A stellar version of Rudolph & Hermie? If you remember, they didn't fit in up in the cold region of the North Pole:




Then we have the following stellar misfits. You decide if life is imitating art.

Coldest Known Failed Stars Found
By Denise Chow

Astronomers have discovered what appear to be the coldest failed stars yet found in the universe – but they're a group of stellar misfits, according to a new study.
Scientists located the 14 cosmic oddities, called brown dwarfs, using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. These stars are so cold and faint that they would be impossible to see with visible-light telescopes, but Spitzer's infrared camera eye was able to detect their feeble glow, NASA officials said in a Thursday announcement.
The brown dwarfs are located hundreds of light-years from Earth – too far away and faint for ground-based telescopes to see and confirm, using a method called spectroscopy. Only a handful of the cosmic oddballs have been previously discovered.

The temperatures of the newly-discovered failed stars range from 350 to 620 degrees Fahrenheit (177 to 327 degrees Celsius), which may seem hot, but for a star is actually bitter cold. In fact, those temperatures are comparable, in some cases, to planets that orbit other stars, researchers said.
Our sun, for comparison, averages a temperature of about 10,000 degrees F (5,500 degrees C), NASA has said.
The research is detailed in the Astronomical Journal.
Hunting brown dwarfs
While brown dwarfs have been hard to find in the past, but should soon be coming out of the dark in droves, NASA scientists said.
NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) space observatory, which is currently scanning the entire sky in infrared wavelengths, is expected to turn up hundreds of similar cold objects, if not even colder. [WISE telescope's first photos]
"WISE is looking everywhere, so the coolest brown dwarfs are going to pop up all around us," said Peter Eisenhardt, the WISE project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., and lead author of Spitzer telescope study. "We might even find a cool brown dwarf that is closer to us than Proxima Centauri, the closest known star."
WISE is searching a volume of space that is 40 times larger than that sampled in the recent Spitzer study, which only concentrated on a region in the cosmos in the constellation Bootes. The Spitzer mission is designed to stare at targeted patches of the sky in great detail, whereas WISE is charged with inspecting the whole sky.
Truth about brown dwarfs
Brown dwarfs, like stars, form from collapsing balls of gas and dust, except they are much smaller in comparison, never collecting enough mass to trigger nuclear fusion and shine with starlight.
The smallest known brown dwarfs are about five to 10 times the mass of Jupiter – which is as massive as some known gas giant planets around other stars. Brown dwarfs start out with some internal heat left behind from their formation, but as they age, they cool down. The first confirmed brown dwarf was announced in 1995.
"Brown dwarfs are like planets in some ways but they are in isolation," said astronomer Daniel Stern, co-author of the Spitzer paper at JPL. "This makes them exciting for astronomers – they are the perfect laboratories to study bodies with planetary masses."
Most of Spitzer's newly-discovered brown dwarfs are thought to be part of the coolest known class of brown dwarfs, called T dwarfs, which are approximately less than 2,240 degrees Fahrenheit (1,220 degrees Celsius).
One of the objects appears to be so cold that astronomers think it may even be an elusive Y dwarf – a proposed class of even colder stars. The T and Y classes are part of a larger system that categorizes stars; for example, the hottest, most massive stars are O stars; our sun is a G star.
"Models indicate that there may be an entirely new class of stars out there, the Y dwarfs, that we haven't found yet," said Davy Kirkpatrick, a co-author of the study and a member of the WISE science team at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif. "If these elusive objects do exist, WISE will find them."
The search for Nemesis
Kirkpatrick is considered an expert on brown dwarfs, and himself came up with the L, T and Y classifications for the cooler stars.
He believes that it is possible for WISE to detect an icy, Neptune-sized or bigger object in the far reaches of our own solar system – thousands of times farther from the sun than Earth. Yet, there is some speculation among scientists that such a cold body, if it even exists, could be a brown dwarf companion to our sun.
Researchers have nicknamed this hypothetical object "Nemesis."
"We are now calling the hypothetical brown dwarf Tyche instead, after the benevolent counterpart to Nemesis," Kirkpatrick said. "Although there is only limited evidence to suggest a large body in a wide, stable orbit around the sun, WISE should be able to find it, or rule it out altogether."
The existence of the brown dwarfs found by Spitzer implies that there could be a hundred or more similar objects within only 25 light-years of our sun. And, since WISE casts its eyes everywhere, it is likely that the space telescope will find these missing orbs, which will be close enough to confirm with spectroscopy.
In fact, it is possible that WISE will even find more brown dwarfs within 25 light-years of the sun than the number of stars known to exist in this area of space.
"WISE is going to transform our view of the solar neighborhood," Eisenhardt said. "We'll be studying these new neighbors in minute detail – they may contain the nearest planetary system to our own."

Nebraska Legislator Looking to Stop PP From Importing Telemed Abortions from Iowa

Nebraska is fast becoming a leader in stopping the "culture of death" & protecting the rights of the unborn. The more I read about how PPH operates this scheme in Iowa, the more disgusted I get. As I read this story I had to ask myself why does PP want the women to lie about using RU 486 if they have to go to an ER for complications? When you are in the ER they need to know all the pertanent facts. & that RU 486 is behind the complications is definitely a pertanent fact the ER physician needs to know.

Of course PP has to put their spin on it. & despite mounting evidence to the contrary, they try & make it sound like they do care about women, not the money. Notice how he twists what the pro-life concern is to make it sound like an attack on telemdicine rather than the fact that telemed abortions using RU 486 GO AGAINST THE PROTOCOLS FOR THE USE OF THE DRUG. (See my post The DM Register Admits Telemed Abortions Illegal But. . . . for more)

So to go back to my question, why are they telling women to lie at the ER? Why are they trying to keep their involvement out of it if telemed abortions are as safe as they claim? Maybe because they know it isn't telemedicine we are attacking. Rather it is because abusing telemedicine in this way by PPH is where the real danger to women is & if it gets out it will cut PPH's bottom line. (Planned Parenthood Continues to Lie About Safety of Telemed Abortions)

Given the history of lies, coverups etc that PP affiliates have racked up, I honestly wonder if PP is even ablt to tell the truth unless forced to.

Nebraska Bill Bans Telemed Abortions Using RU 486 Drug
by Steven Ertelt Lincoln, NE LifeNews.com

A proposed law in Nebraska would stop the telemed abortion process currently employed at Planned Parenthood centers in neighboring Iowa from expanding there.
Telemed abortions are those where women visit an abortion center and don’t meet in person with a physician before taking the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug, as the FDA suggests. Instead, they are only given access to a doctor over a Skype computer connection before being prescribed the drug that has killed potentially dozens worldwide and injured more than 1,100 in the United States alone as of 2006, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
The legislative proposal would prohibit Nebraska physicians from prescribing and dispensing the abortion drug via the Internet, which Planned Parenthood of the Heartland has done in Iowa in more than 2,000 cases since mid-2008.
Julie Schmit-Albin, executive director of Nebraska Right to Life, talked with LifeNews.com about the legislation, which would follow a successful abortion ban prohibiting abortions after 20 weeks because unborn children can experience excruciating pain during the abortion. That law drove out late-term abortion practitioner LeRoy Carhart and legislators in other states are using it as a model to promote similar legislation.
Schmit-Albin says women who get the abortion drug without an in-person exam and visit with a physician are left to deal with any consequences alone and she pointed to stories of “young girls being sent home to hemorrhage and deliver their babies at home not knowing what to expect.”
“This isn’t about women’s access to “healthcare” but more about Planned Parenthood reaching its tentacles across the vast expanse of our state into rural areas where they have not been and inflicting a dangerous drug cocktail on women and young girls who might end up in their local emergency rooms hours away from the abortionist who started the abortion,” she said.
She said women visiting Planned Parenthood for the telemed abortions “are told by Planned Parenthood to act like they are having a miscarriage if they go into an ER after having problems at home. So the local ER doctor doesn’t even know that her problem is due to a chemical abortion.”
“How is this about improving women’s health?” Schmit-Albin asked. “It’s all about the bottom line for Planned Parenthood: money.:
In comments to the Omaha World-Herald newspaper, Kyle Carlson, legal director for Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, said restrictions would hurt the overall cause of telemedicine and using the Internet to help people in rural areas get care. Carlson confirmed the abortion giant would fight the bill.
Iowa lawmakers are also looking at legislation to stop or limit the use of what Schmit-Albin calls “web cam abortions.”
“To make an argument that telemedicine is unsafe because the physician is not present is not an attack on abortion, it’s an attack on telemedicine,” he said.
Planned Parenthood is also expected to oppose other pro-life measures Nebraska lawmakers are planning to introduce, including a bill sponsored by Sens. Annette Dubas of Fullerton and Beau McCoy of Omaha that would prohibit health care plans under the new ObamaCare law from funding abortions with taxpayer dollars.

Linda Gibbons Sends

This letter came out from Linda Gibbons last week. As I have shared before, this is the 3rd year in a row I have posted about her being in jail unjustly.

Christmas letter from jailed pro-life hero Linda Gibbons

Note: The following is the complete text of Linda Gibbons’ Christmas letter to supporters.

Dear Friends of the unborn child:
“He looked for judgment…but behold a cry.” - Isaiah 5:7
Greetings in the Blessed Christ Child, wishing you a most holy Christmas.
My mail was six months in answering last year, so this year in order to reply more promptly, I’m sending a Christmas letter sharing some thoughts on the nativity.
It’s Christmas when we celebrate the infant Christ child laid in a manger. Sadly it’s also a time we recall Rachel with empty arms weeping for her children because they are not – great joy faces great sorrow!
History’s canvas pictures this dichotomy of events, time and again. To the observer it’s like a beautiful original painting done over by a fraudulent demented hand.
Eve’s perfect garden is translated into a murder scene, a basket cradling a Hebrew son becomes a sea of small forsaken corpses, the holy family safe in Egypt is turned into crowds of wailing mothers of Bethlehem. Great joy - great sorrow!
In old paintings the paint here and there becomes transparent with age, often revealing dissimilar original scenes painted beneath.
Looking back, time has aged the scene. Behold, the manger reappears from beneath the horrid slaughter of innocents, the sea of corpses with its dark shadows lifts and a sturdy basket remains buoyed atop the waters, Eden’s flowers bloom – gone the images of blood-soaked soil.
In the contemporary scene the vista changes, the streets darken and behold a cry! The imposter paints anew!
The 20th century portrait of gentle hands that rock life’s cradle is disfigured by dark and violent strokes. The cradle topples while radical feminists’ angry blood-clenched hands are shaking against the sky.
This cruel caricature of life will also thin and fade, revealing first things.
Here is not a case of so-called ‘pentimento,’ where we see through the overlay to a scene the artist “repented” of, and did over-abandoning his first design. No, this is the Master’s original that remains, His conception – Life, His design – Justice never to be repented of.
Let us ‘re-see’ the masterpiece, restore the picture, reclaim the original. Let us pay homage to the Great Master’s art. Behold, the picture grows bright with promise!
Glorious now behold Him arise,

King and God and sacrifice.

Alleluia! Alleluia!

Earth to the heav’ns replies.
Thanks friends for your loyal love, prayers and service on behalf of our unborn friends.
All God’s blessings in 2011.
Love in the Christ King,

Linda

Mary Wagner Back In Jail for Trying to Save Lives of Unborn Babies

I can't think of a better way to get the message across at this time of year than what Mary Wagner did last week that got her arrested. Hopefully they will find out who the officer was who deleted the the videos & will be able to press charges. Given that it sounds like the police had nothing to hide, I have to ask why did he do what he did? & would he have done the same thing to a news reporter? I suspect he might have done so, although I may be wrong.

I also wonder if the officer has a connection with the Clinic & was helping them to cover something up. Again, I may be wrong, but whatever the reason, there is more to this than meets theeye.

Toronto pro-lifer arrested, reporter’s camera seized
by Patrick B. Craine

Mary Wagner prepares gifts for pregnant women today, in the only surviving photograph from this morning's events. (Photo: Alissa Golob)

TORONTO, Ontario, December 23, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Pro-life witness Mary Wagner was arrested again by Toronto police this morning as she spoke to women waiting to obtain abortions. One of the officers seized a reporter’s video camera, deleted its contents, and refused to identify himself.
When Wagner arrived at the Bloor West Village Women’s Clinic at 8:30 this morning, she entered the facility’s waiting room and began encouraging women to keep their babies.
She handed out crystal angel ornaments with a card reading, “When you take off the wrapping, you will see a little gift…when you give birth to your child, you will see a priceless treasure.”
The police arrived shortly and escorted her downstairs, but let her off with a warning. Once they had left, Wagner went back to the abortion facility upstairs to speak with more women.
The police came back with three cars and took her away at 11:30 a.m.
Alissa Golob, head of Campaign Life Coalition’s youth division, did sidewalk counseling outside the building and videotaped the events for LifeSiteNews.
Golob explained that she tried to convince the officers not to follow through with the arrest. “I stressed to the cop that he had freedom of conscience - and that he did not need to arrest Mary if it went against his intrinsic moral values,” she said.
She also said that at one point she was able to explain to onlookers in a room where she was ordered to go by the police, what Mary was doing. “One man even told me that the reason he was there was because his friend was in the abortuary, and I told him to go and tell her she had another choice,” said Golob. “So he left the lobby and went to talk to her.”
After Wagner had been dragged to the police car, a male officer seized Golob’s camera.
“He grabbed the camera out of my hands and proceeded to delete all my videos,” she said. “Becoming immensely infuriated I demanded to know what his badge number was, to which he replied by storming away without acknowledging my existence, other than to hand me back my empty camera.”
The British Columbia native was just let out of jail a few weeks ago after an arrest in Toronto on November 21. She spent four months in the Milton Vanier Centre for Women earlier this year after another arrest in April, but was acquitted in July.
Golob described Wagner as a “modern-day pro-life hero.” “As I watched the cop car pull away, ... I couldn’t help but think how symbolic this event really was,” said Golob. “Just as our Mother Mary said ‘yes’ in answering His call to give birth to our Lord, Mary Wagner also said ‘yes’ to His command to uphold and affirm the culture of life.”
LifeSiteNews.com did not hear back from the Toronto police by press time.

Related Stories
Young Canadian pro-lifer arrested outside Toronto abortion facility
Former Postulant in French Convent Arrested after Entering

A Voice Is Heard In Ramah

'Massacre of the Innocents', Matteo di Giovanni, 1482, Sant'Agostino, Siena, Italy

"A voice is heard in Ramah, lamenting and weeping bitterly: it is Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are no more." Jeremiah 31:15

Today is the feast of the Holy Innocents. In the Pro-life movement they have come to symbolize all the modern innocents slaughtered by abortion. Today's gospel at Mass, Matthew 2:13-18, references the prophecy of Jeremiah & how it was fulfilled in what Herod did. This sermon from St, Quodvultdeus talks about Herod's reaction to Jesus' birth. Yet, in some ways it also desribes the cruel rage against the unborn today by those promoting abortion. I selected the above painting by di Giovanni because of the look on Herod's face of pure evil that captures what is said by St. Quodvaltus.

Even before they learn to speak, they proclaim Christ

A sermon of St Quodvultdeus
A tiny child is born, who is a great king. Wise men are led to him from afar. They come to adore one who lies in a manger and yet reigns in heaven and on earth. When they tell of one who is born a king, Herod is disturbed. To save his kingdom he resolves to kill him, though if he would have faith in the child, he himself would reign in peace in this life and for ever in the life to come.
Why are you afraid, Herod, when you hear of the birth of a king? He does not come to drive you out, but to conquer the devil. But because you do not understand this you are disturbed and in a rage, and to destroy one child whom you seek, you show your cruelty in the death of so many children.
You are not restrained by the love of weeping mothers or fathers mourning the deaths of their sons, nor by the cries and sobs of the children. You destroy those who are tiny in body because fear is destroying your heart. You imagine that if you accomplish your desire you can prolong your own life, though you are seeking to kill Life himself.
Yet your throne is threatened by the source of grace, so small, yet so great, who is lying in the manger. He is using you, all unaware of it, to work out his own purposes freeing souls from captivity to the devil. He has taken up the sons of the enemy into the ranks of God’s adopted children.
The children die for Christ, though they do not know it. The parents mourn for the death of martyrs. The child makes of those as yet unable to speak fit witnesses to himself. See the kind of kingdom that is his, coming as he did in order to be this kind of king. See how the deliverer is already working deliverance, the saviour already working salvation.
But you, Herod, do not know this and are disturbed and furious. While you vent your fury against the child, you are already paying him homage, and do not know it.
How great a gift of grace is here! To what merits of their own do the children owe this kind of victory? They cannot speak, yet they bear witness to Christ. They cannot use their limbs to engage in battle, yet already they bear off the palm of victory.

This prophecy of Jeremiah has also been the inspiration for the Project Rachel post-abortion healing program: www.hopeafterabortion.com & Rachel’s Vineyard Retreats. They are only 2 of the many groups that help with post abortion healing. Fr. Peter West of Priests for Life, in his Homily for the Feast of the Holy Innocents mentions them. This homily which I post below was the basis for the homily Fr. Barry gave at Mass at St. Mary's in E DBQ today.

We are facing huge danger in the direction that our society is taking in surrendering itself to the agenda of the "culture of death". But there is hope. As Fr. West says at the end of the homily "Ask the Holy Innocents to intercede for us that we may bring about a renewed respect for human life in our society, to build a culture of life, protect the innocents in our day and comfort those who mourn."

Homily for the Feast of the Holy Innocents

St. Matthew’s Gospel (Mat. 2: 1-18) describes the events that took place in Bethlehem at the time of Christ’s birth and King Herod’s order that all male infants, two years old and younger, then living in and around Bethlehem be killed. He ordered this in an attempt to kill the new born King who he saw as a threat to his own power. The Book of Micah in the Bible predicted that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem: “But you, Bethlehem out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.” (Micah 5: 2)
We call these Holy Innocents martyrs because they died in the place of Christ. How many infants there were in Bethlehem and the surrounding area is hard to say. It may have been up to 100. In Jesus' day human life was cheap. St. Matthew is the only writer to record this event for history.
With the coming of Christ new value is placed on human life. Christ reveals man to himself. In Christ we are made aware that each and every human being is made in the image and likeness of God; that each and every human being is unique, precious and unrepeatable. Each and every human being has an eternal destiny to be with God in Heaven.
But a decline in the practice of the Christian faith has led to increasing attacks on human life in our society today. In their document “Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American Catholics” in 1998 the American Bishops wrote:
"We are now witnessing the gradual restructuring of American culture according to ideals of utility, productivity and cost-effectiveness. It is a culture where moral questions are submerged by a river of goods and services and where the misuse of marketing and public relations subverts public life."
The losers in this ethical sea change will be those who are elderly, poor, disabled and politically marginalized. None of these pass the utility test; and yet, they at least have a presence. They at least have the possibility of organizing to be heard. Those who are unborn, infirm and terminally ill have no such advantage. They have no "utility," and worse, they have no voice. As we tinker with the beginning, the end and even the intimate cell structure of life, we tinker with our own identity as a free nation dedicated to the dignity of the human person. When American political life becomes an experiment on people rather than for and by them, it will no longer be worth conducting. We are arguably moving closer to that day. Today, when the inviolable rights of the human person are proclaimed and the value of life publicly affirmed, the most basic human right, "the right to life, is being denied or trampled upon, especially at the more significant moments of existence: the moment of birth and the moment of death" (Pope John Paul II, The Gospel of Life [Evangelium Vitae], 18).
When Christ is valued before self, human life is given its proper respect. When self is valued above Christ human life is endangered.
Below is a passage from “Pope John Paul II from his Letter to Families in 1994”:
Birth and Danger
21. It is significant that the brief account of the infancy of Jesus mentions, practically at the same time, his birth and the danger which he immediately had to confront. Luke records the prophetic words uttered by the aged Simeon when the Child was presented to the Lord in the Temple forty days after his birth. Simeon speaks of "light" and of a "sign of contradiction". He goes on to predict of Mary: "And a sword will pierce through your own soul also" (cf. Lk 2:32-35). Matthew, for his part, tells of the plot of Herod against Jesus. Informed by the Magi who came from the East to see the new king who was to be born (cf. Mt 2:2), Herod senses a threat to his power, and after their departure he orders the death of all male children aged two years or under in Bethlehem and the surrounding towns. Jesus escapes from the hands of Herod thanks to a special divine intervention and the fatherly care of Joseph, who takes him with his mother into Egypt, where they remain until Herod's death. The Holy Family then returns to Nazareth, their home town, and begins what for many years would be a hidden life, marked by the carrying out of daily tasks with fidelity and generosity (cf. Mt 2:1-23; Lk 2:39-52).
The fact that Jesus, from his very birth, had to face threats and dangers has a certain prophetic eloquence. Even as a Child, Jesus is a "sign of contradiction". Prophetically eloquent also is the tragedy of the innocent children of Bethlehem, slaughtered at Herod's command. According to the Church's ancient liturgy, they shared in the birth and saving passion of Christ. Through their own "passion", they complete "what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church" (Col 1:24).
In the infancy Gospel, the proclamation of life, which comes about in a wondrous way in the birth of the Redeemer, is thus put in sharp contrast with the threat to life, a life which embraces the mystery of the Incarnation and of the divine-human reality of Christ in its entirety. The Word was made flesh (cf. Jn 1:14): God became man. The Fathers of the Church frequently call attention to this sublime mystery: "God became man, so that we might become gods". This truth of faith is likewise the truth about the human being. It clearly indicates the gravity of all attempts on the life of a child in the womb of its mother. Precisely in this situation we encounter everything which is diametrically opposed to "fairest love". If an individual is exclusively concerned with "use", he can reach the point of killing love by killing the fruit of love. For the culture of use, the "blessed fruit of your womb" (Lk 1:42) becomes in a certain sense an "accursed fruit".
How can we not recall, in this regard, the aberrations that the so-called constitutional State has tolerated in so many countries? The law of God is univocal and categorical with respect to human life. God commands: "You shall not kill" (Ex 20:13). No human lawgiver can therefore assert: it is permissible for you to kill, you have the right to kill, or you should kill. Tragically, in the history of our century, this has actually occurred when certain political forces have come to power, even by democratic means, and have passed laws contrary to the right to life of every human being, in the name of eugenic, ethnic or other reasons, as unfounded as they are mistaken. A no less serious phenomenon, also because it meets with widespread acquiescence or consensus in public opinion, is that of laws which fail to respect the right to life from the moment of conception. How can one morally accept laws that permit the killing of a human being not yet born, but already alive in the mother's womb? The right to life becomes an exclusive prerogative of adults who even manipulate legislatures in order to carry out their own plans and pursue their own interests.
We are facing an immense threat to life: not only to the life of individuals but also to that of civilization itself. The statement that civilization has become, in some areas, a "civilization of death" is being confirmed in disturbing ways. Was it not a prophetic event that the birth of Christ was accompanied by danger to his life? Yes, even the life of the One who is at the same time Son of Man and Son of God was threatened. It was endangered from the very beginning, and only by a miracle did he escape death.
Nevertheless, in the last few decades some consoling signs of a reawakening of conscience have appeared: both among intellectuals and in public opinion itself. There is a new and growing sense of respect for life from the first moment of conception, especially among young people. "Pro- life" movements are beginning to spread. This is a leaven of hope for the future of the family and of all humanity.
(Click here for the entire document)
Pope John Paul II recognized that respect for life is an integral part of the Gospel that we are called to believe and proclaim. Every Christian is called to be unconditionally pro-life, and to proclaim this Gospel by word and deed. Every Christian is also called to proclaim God’s mercy and love, helping to reconcile sinners to God and the Church.
In the slaughter of the Holy Innocents we see Jeremiah’s prophecy fulfilled: “A Voice is heard in Ramah, weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” (Jer. 31:15)
This passage of the Bible was the inspiration for the Project Rachel post-abortion healing program: www.hopeafterabortion.com and Rachel’s Vineyard Retreats. If you know someone who has had an abortion or a man or woman was in any way responsible for a decision to have an abortion, please encourage them to seek and accept God's forgiveness and to make this retreat. Catholics should also be encouraged to return to the Sacrament of Penance.
In his Encyclical Letter “the Gospel of Life” Pope John Paul II writes:
99. ...I would now like to say a special word to women who have had an abortion. The Church is aware of the many factors which may have influenced your decision, and she does not doubt that in many cases it was a painful and even shattering decision. The wound in your heart may not yet have healed. Certainly what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so, give yourselves over with humility and trust to repentance. The Father of mercies is ready to give you his forgiveness and his peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. You will come to understand that nothing is definitively lost and you will also be able to ask forgiveness from your child, who is now living in the Lord. With the friendly and expert help and advice of other people, and as a result of your own painful experience, you can be among the most eloquent defenders of everyone's right to life. Through your commitment to life, whether by accepting the birth of other children or by welcoming and caring for those most in need of someone to be close to them, you will become promoters of a new way of looking at human life. (Click here for entire document)
Jesus took on our human flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was born for us at Bethlehem and died for us in Jerusalem so that our sins would be forgiven and we might have everlasting life. There is no sin to big that God is unable or unwilling to forgive if we repent and turn back to Him.
Ask the Holy Innocents to intercede for us that we may bring about a renewed respect for human life in our society, to build a culture of life, protect the innocents in our day and comfort those who mourn.

Like I Said the Other Day. . . .

The other day in my post about Bishop Olmsted declaring that St. Joseph’s Medical Center could no longer call itself Catholic I made the following comment: "It will be interesting to see the reaction from Sr. Carol Keehan & the Catholic Health Association. I have a feeling that they aren't too happy over there & are busy working on a way to support CHW while making it sound like they uphold Catholic teaching. You can be sure it will be similar to their justification in supporting ObamaCare in tone & style."

Well, I hate to say it, but I was right. It came down just as I expected.

On 22 December . Carol Keehan, DC, president & CEO of the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA) issued the following statement:
"Catholic Healthcare West and its system hospitals are valued members of the Catholic Health Association. Their long and stellar history in the protection of life at all stages is well known.
St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix has many programs that reach out to protect life. They had been confronted with a heartbreaking situation. They carefully evaluated the patient's situation and correctly applied the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services to it, saving the only life that was possible to save."

In short, CHA said that CHW & St. Joseph's were right to allow the abortion & Bishop Olmsted is wrong. Just like their claim that the Bishops were wrong to oppose ObamaCare because it allowed for abortions.
So, once again the CHA justifies & gives support to abortion. In doing so, they go against Catholic teaching while making it sound like they are more in line with what the Catholic Church teaches than the Bishops who are authenticly upholding what the Catholic Church teaches. I don't know who the Bishop or Bishops are that have the authority, but maybe it is time to tell CHA they are no longer Catholic either & that Sr. Carol Keehan has been excommunicated.

Rabbi Yosef: Abortion Kills the Living

Rabbi Yosef: Doctors kill the living
In weekly sermon, Shas' spiritual leader recalls how mothers he convinced not to have abortions gave birth to healthy babies

In his weekly sermon Saturday night, Shas' spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef addressed the abortion issue, saying that "there are reckless doctors....Who see that a child will be blind or without arms or legs...They do not understand that today there is equipment that brings the dead back to life, but they kill the living."

Rabbi Yosef's sermon focused on Parashat Shemot, which mentions Pharaoh's decree that all first born sons of the Israelites must be killed and the attempts of Hebrew midwives to thwart it.

The rabbi, who is Shas' spiritual leader, recalled how he had convinced a woman not to have an abortion and promised her that her son would be healthy. "She gave birth to a sweet child, and today is his wedding," the rabbi said, adding that he had convinced other parents to do the same and they ended up having healthy children as well.
During the sermon Rabbi Yosef praised the pro-life organization EFRAT, calling its employees "righteous."
Earlier this week, Israel's Chief Rabbis Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar called on all Israeli rabbis to fight the "abortion epidemic in our country."
The chief rabbis instructed them to "bring up the Exodus Torah reading during their sermon on Saturday regarding the "biblical prohibition to kill fetuses in their mothers' intestines."

H/T: Jill Stanek (Jivin J’s Life Links 12-27-10)

(Added @ 8:15 pm) See also: Chief Rabbis in Israel Oppose “Abortion Epidemic”

Rev. John F. Harvey, OSFS - RIP

Father John Harvey OSFS, 92, Founding Director of Courage Apostolate, passed away yesterday, 27 December 2010 (feast day of St. John the Beloved Disciple) at 3:00 p.m. at Union Hospital in Elkton, Maryland.

Courage Apostalate was founded in 1980 by Fr. Harvey with the help of Fr. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R at the behest of Terence Cardinal Cooke of New York. Courage is a spiritual support system to assist men & women with same-sex attractions in living chaste lives in fellowship, truth & love. Courage has the endorsement of the Holy See. They have been endorsed by the Pontifical Council for the Family. Pope John Paul II said of this ministry, "COURAGE is doing the work of God!" They also have an outreach called Encourage which ministers to relatives & friends of persons with same-sex attractions.

You can read Fr Harvey's memorial on the website of the Oblates of St. Francis De Sales (Wilmington-Philadelphia Province).

The Courage website has received the Triple Excellency Gold Award for Excellence in Fidelity, Resources, & Usability from CatholicCulture.org

Obama & Herod - 2 Peas in a Pod

& don't forget what happenned with Herod mentioned in Matthew 2:26 that parallel's Obama's promotion of abortion.

H/T: Jill Stanek (Sunday funnies 12-26-10)

Some of the Things That Made Baby Jesus Cry During 2010

The idea for this post came to me before Mass yesterday morning. The list obviously is not inclusive as there are way too many things to put into 1 post. Some of the things I could mention are obvious, like the fact that over 3200 babies (more likely 4000 or more) are murdered in the USA each day via abortion. But what I have decided to focus on those things that have a Catholic connection. Some are national or international, others more Iowa based. & I am sure many of you have your own to add to the list I am not aware of. (Note: These are in no particular order, just as they came to me.)

1. Nancy Pelosi's claim to be an "ardent Catholic" while promoting abortion, supporting Planned Parenthood (Cecile Richards was Pelosi's deputy chief of staff), ObamaCare & way too many other things to list here. (Although some will be listed below)

2. Catholics in Congress who voted for ObamaCare even though the USCCB made it clear it was pro-abort. Includes Iowa's Sen. Tom Harkin (D), Pelosi, Kucinich (D), Patrick Kennedy (D), John Kerry (D) & way to many to list.

3. Ditto those who voted to end "Don't ask, don't tell".

4. Faux Catholic groups aka Catholycs like Catholics United, Catholics for Choice, Call to Action Chicago Women-Choice, DignityUSA, FOSIL, National Coalition of American Nuns, New Ways Ministry, Roman Catholic Womenpriests—USA, Take Back Our Church, Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual, & Women's Ordination Conference, that supported ObamaCare, worked to undermine Catholic teaching & overall were anything but Catholic. Rainbow Sash Movement gets dishonorable mention for its disruption of Pentecost Masses.

5. Sr. Carol Keehan & the Catholic Health Association for their endorsement of ObamaCare that gave some Catholics cover to vote for it.

6. Ditto the 60 nuns who signed a letter endorsing ObamaCare (Such as head of Sinsinawa Dominicans).

7. Catholic VP Joe Biden ('nuf said)

8. Those women who claim they were ordained as Catholic priests & blasphemeously pretent to say Mass.

9. Iowa Speaker of the House Pat Murphy (Democrat) who claims to be a good Catholic but refused to allow a vote in House on Marriage amendment to Iowa Constitution.

10. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller - Democrat (who was a Catholic, but according to some sources has left the Church) who refused to investigate illegal "telemed scheme" operated by Planned Parenthood.

11. Christie Vilsack (wife of Catholic former Democratic Iowa Governor & current US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack) promoting Avoid the Stork, a program of The Iowa Initiative To Reduce Unintended Pregnancies that pushes birth control & Planned Parenthood. (& while there are a few pro-abort Catholic Republicans have you noticed almost all the pro-abort Catholic politicians listed are Democrats?)

12. St. Joseph’s Hospital, Phoenix, for allowing an abortion & its parent corporation Catholic Health Care West that has been show to promote abortion, Birth control & totally undermine Catholic teachings on the life issues.

13. Media treatment of Pope's comment on condoms in recent book interview trying to make it sound like he was changing Catholic teaching. Ditto those "catholycs" that aided & abetted them.

14. Ongoing scandals at Catholic Campaign for Human Development (USCCB) & Development & Peace (CCCB) where they fund pro-abort groups & others opposed to Catholic teaching.

15. All the various events too numerous to list at all those colleges claiming to be Catholic that support abortion, gay marriage etc (In other words, about every Catholic college not on the Cardinal Newman Society faithful college list. See CNS website for a sampling of examples of anti-Catholic teaching events.) Dishonorable mention to Notre Dame for their ongoing treatment of the Notre Dame 88.

16. All those Catholics who were awarded Human Life International's Millstone Award in 2010.

17. Habitless Hussies like Joanie Chittister, O.S.B. & way too many others to mention at the LCWR.

18. Fr. Ron Rolheiser, Bishop Gumbleton, Archbishop Weakland & (sadly) way too many other priests, Bishops & deacons who preach & teach heresy & work to undermine authentic Catholic teaching.

19. So called Catholic newspapers & magazines that promote abortion, gay marriage, women's ordination etc. such as US Catholic, National Catholic Reporter, America, Commonweal, The Tablet (UK), Western Catholic Reporter (Canada)

20. Missalette companies that include songs that promote heresie like Pelagianism (Ashes), self-worship & agrandizement (We have come to tell our story) or rewrite hymns to make them PC, like changing "pleased as man with man to dwell" to "with us to dwell" & include many other songs like Sing a New Church that are anything but Catholic in the doctrine they promote.

21. Untold number of liturgical abuses like changing words in the prayers, lack of reverance towards the Eucharistic presence etc.

I could go on & on but I think you get the gist. Of course whenever any of us sin we also make Baby Jesus unhappy & sometimes cry.

& remember, whenever Baby Jesus cries it makes the Blessed Virgin Mary & St. Joseph unhappy & cry as well.

Then Again, It Could Be a Lot of Places in the USA As Well

Reaganite's Sunday Funnies~

"Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me." (Luke 7:23)

A Merry Christmas To All!

A Christmas Story - 2010 Version

"Hey, wait a minute, this isn't an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!"

H/T; Dad29 (Updated 'Christmas Story' )

Note: the gun is an AR-15 (ArmaLite Model 15)

This Day In History - What Really Happenned When Washington Crossed the Deleware

Sorry Kids, Santa is No Longer Welcome In California

Did You Ever Wonder What St. Joseph Thought When He 1st Held Jesus?

This is 1 of the few Christmas tunes that actually focuses on San Giuseppe. In this case the song looks at what might have been going through his mind as he held Jesus in his arms & meditated on the awesome responsibility God gave him to raise the Son of God as his own son.



How could it be this baby in my arms
Sleeping now, so peacefully
The Son of God, the angel said
How could it be
Lord I know He's not my own
Not of my flesh, not of my bone
Still Father let this baby be
The son of my love

Father show me where I fit
into this plan of yours
How can a man be father to the Son of God
Lord for all my life I've
been a simple carpenter
How can I raise a king, How
can I raise a king

He looks so small, His face
and hands so fair
And when He cries the sun
just seems to disappear
But when He laughs it shines again
How could it be

O Christmas Tree

The 12 Days Of Christmas, Italiano Style

Unfortunately the 1st few seconds of the song were cut out, but you'll get the gist of it. This is the only video version i could find. & iffa you no like it then all I have to add is "Shaddap You Face "!

& Naturally We Must End Up Back in Italia on Buon Natale

It's Christmas at Our House as only Italiano-Americanos would celebrate:



Lou Monte - All Because It's Christmas



Lou Monte - Dominick the Donkey (& you thought Santa only used reindeer:



& I am sure you are dreaming of a Bianco Natale





Astro del ciel I'm sure you'll recognize it.



& another version Notte Santa by Zecchino d'Oro



Even Nat King Cole knew that Buon Natale (Means Merry Christmas To You)



& of corse we can't end up our stay in Italia without 1 more rendition of Tu scendi dalle Stelle

Auguri di Buon Natale Amici!!!!

Next Stop for Christmas: Chaldea

Christ Is Born - Hwelih Isho'



Hayyo Ya Mhuyumne, or O Come All Ye Faithful, sung in Chaldean

Christmas Gregorian Chant

This next is from the Dominican Rite Liturgy:

Byzantine Hymn of the Nativity

Tu scendi dalle stelle

Once again it is Christmas, & once again I fully intend to keep a tradition going that I started 3 years ago. Tu scendi dalle stelle was written by by Saint Alfonsus Maria de' Liguori. & while I am sure he never envisioned it quite this way, I am sure he would see it in light of what Jesus said about becoming like little children:



Once again, we go from the lighthearted to a little more serious rendition. This year I present Andrea Bocelli's version. I opted for his version based on the story that came out a few months ago about how the dottori wanted his mother to abort him.



& now that you have got it, let's all sing along (& no, that is not the Wicked Witch of the West, it is La Befana. I think there had to be a better version of her out there but since I didn't have anything to do with making the video, I have to live with it):

Tu scendi dalle stelle,

O Re del Cielo,

e vieni in una grotta,

al freddo al gelo.

O Bambino mio Divino

Io ti vedo qui a tremar,

O Dio Beato

Ahi, quanto ti costò

l'averci amato!

A te, che sei del mondo

il Creatore,

mancano panni e fuoco;

O mio Signore!

Caro eletto Pargoletto,

Quanto questa povertà

più mi innamora!

Giacché ti fece amor

povero ancora!

Auguri di Buon Natale

A Reminder of What Christmas Is Really About

The Real Story of the 1st Christmas, According to Mr. Bean That Is

FYI: Yes, that is the famous Harrods that Mr. Bean visits.

St. Charbel

St. Charbel

Mystic and Maronite hermit. He was born in 1828 in Lebanon and became a Maronite monk at Annaya Abbey at the age of twenty. As a hermit, Charbel was famous for his spiritual gifts, even among his Islamic neighbors. He spent almost a quarter century displaying many miraculous abilities and was noted for his love of the Holy Eucharist. Charbel died in 1898. He was beatified in 1965 and canonized in 1977 by Pope Paul VI. (Taken from Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints)

Born - Youssef Antoun Makhlouf on 8 May 1828 in Bkaakafra (North Lebanon)

1851 - Entered Lady of Mayfouk monastery

1 Nov 1853 - 1st vows, St. Maroun’s monastery, Annaya

23 July 1859 - His priestly ordination

24 Dec 1898 - Death

Don't Try This At Home

Fr. Corapi - Christmas Greetings

Christmas Greetings
An excerpt from Father Corapi's book, "Letters"

In the course of a life's journey there are often stretches of bad road. It seems that some people have an easier time than others, but it is a rare individual that never encounters a rough stretch. In recent years, perhaps that's why I have found an increasing number of people that liken themselves to old cars. One poor woman said she felt very old. When I reminded her that she was only 39, she responded that she's like a three year old car - not that old, but with over 500,000 miles - most of it over bad roads.
It is a rather well known fact that the Christmas holidays are the most difficult period many people face all year. Many of my pastor friends tell me that more people die during the week before Christmas than any other time.
With the erosion of family unity has come sadness, all at a time that should be joyful. Sometimes we can only be happy by willing it, often not merely by feeling it. Reality demands that at Christmas we will to be happy, after all "A Child has been born to us!"
As I look out my window the snow is falling and the pine trees are clothed in Christmas white. It is very silent, perhaps a prelude to a silent night not far off. At a time when the forces of evil are relentless in their attempts to not only take Christ out of Christmas, but to suppress Christmas altogether, we must be just as relentless in our efforts to give glory to God through his Son, Jesus Christ.
This year approach Christmas as you would approach the Christ Child himself - with reverence and with thanksgiving. Allow nothing to rob your joy at this precious time. Sadness has no place in reality, true reality, for the Word has become flesh and dwelt among us. Humanity and divinity have been joined in Jesus, now come to us as an infant. In the cold winter of human hearts there is often no room at the Inn for the Holy Family. Make room in the warmth of your heart for the infant King the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Often the greatest joy is experienced by giving something to others: A smile, forgiveness, perhaps the gift of faith itself.
Have a most blessed and merry Christmas, and may God give you the Gift who contains all gifts: the Holy Spirit.
God bless you,
Fr. John Corapi

Christmas Bells - Perry Como

Christmas bells in the steeple,
Ringing out on Christmas morn,
But where are all the people,
Where has everybody gone ?

They're all busy with their presents,
Snug an' warm behind their doors,
Thinkin' no one was forgotten,
Empty shelves in all the stores!

Doesn't anyone remember,
As they wake up Christmas morn,
The 25th day of December,
Little baby Jesus was born?

Christmas bells in the steeple,
How their ringing seems to say,
O come all ye faithful,
Get down on your knees and pray,
Don't you know it's Christmas Day?


Perry Como released this song in 1967. It was written by Ray Stevens. & as much as the message was true back then, it is even more so 43 years later. Given his deep Catholic faith, I am faiorly sure that he would not be happy with the way things have become so PC so that you can't wish people "Merry Christmas". He even objected to the use of Xmas in place of Christmas. In a production meeting he scolding someone for using the term. He told the person "You should never do that. Christ is not an 'X'."

1 of my favorite Perry Como songs (of the many) is 1 of his songs that celebrates families gathering for Christmas. When he 1st recorded it in 1954 "holidays" didn't have the avoid using Christmas PC baggage attached to it. In 1959 he rerecorded it is stereo. & despite the current PC abuse of the term, the real message still shines through.



Oh, there’s no place like home for the holidays,
‘Cause no matter how far away you roam,
When you pine for the sunshine of a friendly gaze,
For the holidays, you can’t beat home, sweet home.

I met a man who lives in Tennessee,
He was headin’ for,
Pennsylvania, and some home made pumpkin pie.
From Pennsylvania, folks are travelin’
Down to Dixie’s sunny shore,
From Atlantic to Pacific,
Gee, the traffic is terrific.

Oh there's no place like home for the holidays,
‘Cause no matter how far away you roam,
If you want to be happy in a million ways,
For the holidays,
You can’t beat home, sweet home.

Take a bus, take a train
Go and hop an aeroplane
Put the wife and kiddies in the family car
For the pleasure that you bring
When you make that doorbell ring
No trip could be too far

I met a man who lives in Tennessee,
He was headin’ for,
Pennsylvania, and some home made pumpkin pie.
From Pennsylvania, folks are travelin’
Down to Dixie’s sunny shore,
From Atlantic to Pacific,
Gee, the traffic is terrific.

Oh there's no place like home for the holidays,
‘Cause no matter how far away you roam,
If you want to be happy in a million ways,
For the holidays,
You can’t beat home, sweet home.
For the holidays,
You can’t beat home, sweet home.

Festivus 2010

Happy Festivus, Everyone!