Have You Been To Calvary Lately?

This Friday, January 25, is the Annual March for Life in Washington, D.C.  This is an important event despite the fact that it will receive next to no media coverage.  It needs to be done for the same reason we observe the anniversaries of 9/11 and Pearl Harbor and remember the Holocaust victims from WWII.  We do this to honor the victims, and in the case of abortion, we also do this to give a voice to the tens of millions of babies who had no one to speak for them and to remind the rest of the world that we are in this fight and not going away until the murder of unborn babies is recognized as such and once again declared a crime against humanity.

I have gone on this march, and it is good to be surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people who are passionately pro life and not afraid to say so.  Although it is not officially a Catholic event, the overwhelming majority of people who attend this march are Catholic.  A large number of the people are also under 30, and as can always be expected when young people get together, there is a bit of a party atmosphere involved.  That does not take away from the fact that those kids are all there as survivors of  Roe v. Wade.

Anyone under the age of 40 needs to realize that your parents could have legally killed you with the blessings of the state at any time prior to your birth, and you are as much of a survivor as anyone who has lived through a war.  At least 55 million of your potential brothers, sisters, husbands, wives and best friends were murdered.   The number is probably much higher than that because abortion statistics are usually under reported, as National Review tells us:

Pro-life activists have always been disappointed that the federal government does not have stronger reporting requirements for abortion statistics. The data from the CDC are far from perfect. Some states, most notably California, do not provide any data. Other states fail to provide complete information. That having been said, the CDC is the only source for annual abortion data from the United States.

As important as the Washington, D.C. March for Life is, it is not the front line in the war against abortion.  The real front line is right in your own town, and maybe right in your neighborhood.  It is the abortion mills which we so blithely walk by with little or no thought of the horrors which are occurring on the other side of the walls.  There is no party atmosphere when you go to an abortion clinic.  You will stand there not with hundreds of thousands, but most likely with only a handful of people at a place of incredible evil and suffering, and the people you are there to help will often look at you with pure hate and say vile things to you.  You will most definitely get a taste of the cursings and persecution that our Lord suffered at Calvary.

Credit:  aleteia.org

Msgr. Philip Reilly, often referred to as the Apostle of Life, has completely dedicated his life to fighting abortion.  He has stood outside praying and counseling in front of abortion clinics day after day for over 20 years.  He started here in Brooklyn and maintains his residence here.  But he has traveled extensively to set up pro life groups around the United States and in countries around the world.  I have heard him speak and prayed with him outside of abortion clinics.  One thing he has told us that has always stuck with me is that praying in front of an abortion clinic is the same as going to Calvary.  Abortions are the murder of innocent life, and there was never a more innocent life than the One who died on Calvary for our sins.

From Msgr. Reilly's website:

The Helpers of God's Precious Infants are a group of people committed to maintaining a loving and prayerful presence outside of the abortion mills, where God's children are put to death. We unite ourselves with these victims in solidarity with their pain, as they are put to death at this modern day Calvary. We pray in reparation for the injustice being performed on their tiny bodies. Just as Mary and John lovingly stood and prayed beneath Jesus' Cross as he died, we wish to remain with these children in the hour that they were crucified.

We pray to obtain God's mercy for the abortionist and his staff who do the killing. The message of the Helpers of God's Precious Infants to the abortionist and all who help him to kill God's children is that, though we love them, we will never accept what they do.

We plead with our voices for the lives of the babies being carried in by the pregnant women who have scheduled appointments with the abortionist that day. We ask each mother to change her mind. We reach out to her with the love of Christ; we do not judge nor condemn her for what she is planning to do. We simply promise her support and assistance if she should change her mind, and prayers for her healing and conversion if she should proceed with the killing of her child.

Most of all, we love the unborn children who will be brought there that day. These children have been rejected by their parents, and are doomed to die. The only human love they may ever encounter in their short lives may be from those of us standing outside.

It's great if you are able to attend the March for Life in Washington, D.C.  But the real battle is right in your hometown.  If at all possible, that is where we need to be, offering our prayers on behalf of the innocent babies and also praying for mercy to be shown to their parents and to all who are involved in the abortions, that they will realize the gravity of their sin and come to repentance.

From a poster offered on Msgr. Reilly's website entitled, "Calvary Today!" :

-- we may not be able to save their lives, but can we not plead on their behalf? And should they die, as usually happens (God forgive us!) let us lift up our hearts to God Almighty on their behalf ... it will be the only human love they will know on this earth ...

Here is a video from Msgr. Reilly who explains what it means to stand in front of an abortuary and how it mirrors our Blessed Mother standing at the foot of the Cross:

Is This What Dr. King Died For?

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.

Martin Luther King, Jr. 

On April 4, 1968,  I was watching "The Flying Nun" on TV when the show was interrupted with a news bulletin that Martin Luther King, Jr. had been shot.  Even at my young age, I was stunned.  There was no news as to whether Dr. King was dead or alive at that time.  A short time later the show was again interrupted to report that Dr. King was dead.

Even though I was only 12 years old I, like most of the rest of America, was in complete shock.  I had just seen him on the news earlier that evening, talking about having seen the promised land and saying he might not get there with us.  I remember my mother saying he was nothing more than a trouble maker, the feeling of many people in America at that time.  Here is a video of the end of the speech Dr. King gave the night before he was shot and excerpts of which I saw on the evening news shortly before he was killed:

Martin Luther King, Jr. was only 39 years old when he was murdered.  There had been several attempts on his life up to that point, and he knew that it was only a matter of time before he paid the ultimate price in his quest for freedom and equality in America.  But that did not stop him in his crusade to bring equality for all people in America.  As he himself said, "A man who won't die for something is not fit to live."

There was tremendous inequality in America at that time.  We remember the riots that occurred when they tried to integrate schools in the South.  We remember seeing the water fountains with signs of "Whites Only" or "Colored Only."  We saw those brave young black men and women who sat at the segregated Woolworth's luncheon counter.

This kind of prejudice was not just in the South.  I was talking to a black man who grew up in New York City in the 30's and 40's, and he told me that his out-of-town relatives would always have to stay with his family because blacks were not allowed in New York City hotels.  He told me of the prejudice he encountered in the military when he, as a black man, had to keep his head down at all times and was not allowed to look white officers in the eye, and that black officers were never allowed to command white troops.  Ironically, he told me that the country in which he experienced the least amount of racial persecution was Germany.

We now celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. and honor him for being a leader in courageously helping to bring equality and justice to America.  The racial discrimination seen in America at the time of  Dr. King has truly become a part of our history.  Doors have been opened to many that at one time could not have been imagined.  One of the richest women in the world is Oprah Winfrey, who started life as a dirt poor little black girl born during the civil rights era.  Colin Powell, a black man born in New York City in the 1930's, has reached the pinnacle of success as a military general and has served in the administrations of three US Presidents, and had he chosen, would have been a formidable presidential candidate.  There is Condoleeza Rice, who was born in Birmingham, Alabama and lived through the civil rights movement as a little girl, and who has achieved ultimate success in her field, serving as Secretary of State and is a professor at Stanford University, among other prestigious positions.  She is also an accomplished pianist and dancer.  Many of our greatest and wealthiest entertainers and sports heroes are African American.  And of course, we now have an African American President of the United States.

All of this is wonderful, but what is the reality of the average African American in the United States?

The African American family has been decimated since the 1960's when Dr. King was murdered.  In 1965, 24% of black infants were born to unmarried mothers.  As of November 2010, the out of wedlock rate was 72%.  No society can survive without the family as the foundational building block, and this is exactly what we are seeing in the Black Community.

Right now according to government statistics, the unemployment rate among blacks, 14%, is almost double that of the overall unemployment rate.  The rate is much worse among young black men, at 28.6% according to another government study.

Crime is much higher in black communities than most white communities.  As the Wall Street Journal told us:

Overall, more than half the nation's homicide victims are African-American, though blacks make up only 13% of the population. Of those black murder victims, 85% were men, mostly young men.

Drug use, alcoholism, prostitution and AIDS are all dramatically higher in the Black community.  A 2006 New York Times article reported this:

In the decade since effective drug treatments for AIDS have slashed death rates across the country, black New Yorkers continue to fall ill and die at startling rates, according to new data from the city health department.

Today, one in five black men in New York City between 40 and 49 has H.I.V. or AIDS. Black women, meanwhile, account for 34 percent of new AIDS cases, up from 12 percent 20 years ago.

There is an even more evil form of racism being perpetrated in the Black Community, and that is abortion.  At the same time as we are honoring Dr. King, we are also commemorating what I consider to be the darkest day in American history, and maybe in all of world history:  the legalization of the murder of our unborn children.  I regularly pray in front of abortion clinics, and one thing I have noted is that 90% to 95% of the women going into those clinics are African American.  In New York City, there are 3 abortions for every 2 live births in the African American community.  That is a 60% abortion rate.  A website called blackgenocide.org displays the following chart showing the number of African Americans killed by abortion since it was legalized in 1973:

According to this website:

Minority women constitute only about 13% of the female population (age 15-44) in the United States, but they underwent approximately 36% of the abortions.

According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, black women are more than 5 times as likely as white women to have an abortion

On average, 1,876 black babies are aborted every day in the United States.

One African American woman I know who was born in the 1960's told me that she and every one of her  female friends and family in her community have had at least one abortion, and many have had multiple abortions.  This is a holocaust such as we have never seen before.

It is no accident that the Black community seems to be targeted.

From Blackgenocide.org:

Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in America. 78% of their clinics are in minority communities. Blacks make up 12% of the population, but 35% of the abortions in America. Are we being targeted? Isn't that genocide? We are the only minority in America that is on the decline in population. If the current trend continues, by 2038 the black vote will be insignificant. Did you know that the founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, was a devout racist who created the Negro Project designed to sterilize unknowing black women and others she deemed as undesirables of society? The founder of Planned Parenthood said, "Colored people are like human weeds and are to be exterminated." Is her vision being fulfilled today?

It pains me greatly to say this, but despite the tremendous sacrifices made by Martin Luther King, Jr. and others in the civil rights movement, racism has not disappeared from our society. The segregated water fountains and lunch counters are gone, and black people no longer have to come and go by the back door in public buildings. But a far worse racism has taken the place of these injustices, in which black people and other minorities are being specifically targeted and destroyed in numbers that not even the Ku Klux Klan could have imagined. And although the minority communities are suffering in greater numbers, this destruction has spread to all parts of society.

The Black Community, along with all the rest of our nation and world, has been sold a bill of goods. We have been told that we can live our lives any way we want to in direct defiance to the law of God, and that will lead us to greater happiness and fulfillment.

We have seen just the opposite.

"The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."―Martin Luther King, Jr.

The answer all comes down to the fact that we have pushed God out of our culture and replaced Him with hedonism, in which our greatest goal is self satisfaction.  People are willing to kill the unborn merely because their child is "inconvenient."  And we do so because not only have we been told that there is there nothing wrong with this, but it is actually a good thing because it frees us to do all the things we want and need to do to "better" ourselves.

“The end of life is not to be happy, nor to achieve pleasure and avoid pain, but to do the will of God, come what may.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. King once said, “I agree with Dante, that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a period of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality."  We are in a moral crisis in our country the likes of which we have never seen, in which we are killing our children by the millions because we have rejected God.  Dr. King also said, "The greatest purveyor of violence in the world : My own Government, I can not be Silent."  This is more true than it has ever been, with our government now using taxpayer dollars to fund the killing of our own children.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”― Martin Luther King Jr.

The greatest way in which we can honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who gave his life to achieve equality for all, is to speak out on behalf of those who have no voice and who are the most vulnerable among us, and that is first and foremost, the unborn.  We, too, must stand up to our own government, just as Dr. King did 50 years ago.

"Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

Every child lost through abortion steals a part of our souls.  No nation can survive this kind of evil.  It is our duty as children of God to fight against this greatest of evil.  Martin Luther King, Jr. did not die so that children of any color could be legally killed.

“It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one destiny, affects all indirectly.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, told us, "No greater love is this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."  We saw that love in Dr. King, and we cannot truly honor his legacy unless we too are willing to lay down our lives for what is right and just.

“You may be 38 years old, as I happen to be. And one day, some great opportunity stands before you and calls you to stand up for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause. And you refuse to do it because you are afraid…. You refuse to do it because you want to live longer…. You’re afraid that you will lose your job, or you are afraid that you will be criticized or that you will lose your popularity, or you’re afraid that somebody will stab you, or shoot at you or bomb your house; so you refuse to take the stand.

Well, you may go on and live until you are 90, but you’re just as dead at 38 as you would be at 90. And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

Credit;  globalexchange.org

Gov. Andrew Cuomo Goes Beyond Roe v. Wade

We are coming up on the 40th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that legalized the killing of our unborn children in the United States.  I will always remember reading the headline in the paper in January 1973 in total unbelief.  I was just a silly 17 year girl, but even I knew something was seriously wrong with this decision.  I just couldn't believe that we were now going to kill our children.

It is 40 years later, and despite the concerted efforts of many thousands of people to change this barbaric law, our children continue to die by the thousands everyday in the killing fields known as abortion clinics.  Tom Hoopes of CatholicVote.org recently wrote a post entitled, "Do We Seriously Not Realize That We Are Winning?"  

The Jan. 14 cover of Time Magazine states, “40 Years Ago, Abortion-rights Activists won an Epic Victory With Roe v. Wade. They’ve Been Losing Ever Since. “

Of course Time magazine is right. It is axiomatic, it is the story of our times, it is the thing every pro-lifer knows: We’re winning this battle.

I can’t understand why colleagues of mine are doubting this.

Mr. Hoopes shows as his proof the fact that 51% of Americans call themselves "pro life",  that "3 in 5 respondents [in a Gallup poll] want abortion to be illiegal in 'all' or most circumstances'", and

Seven in 10 support 24-hour waiting periods. More than 7 in 10 want parental consent. Three in 5 support partial-birth aboriton bans. Nearly 9 out of 10 want patients told the risks of abortion — and nearly 9 out of 10 want patients informed about abortion alternatives.

These are all very good things, but the fact remains that the children are continuing to die.  We have statistics for surgical abortions, which were approximately 1.2 million in the United States in 2012.  We have no statistics on the number of chemical abortions, which are no doubt in the millions.  Most women who use birth control have no idea that their birth control is not preventing pregnancy but is actually aborting fertilized eggs.

And maybe Mr.  Hoopes should take a look at this:

As long as birth control is accepted by society, abortions will continue.  And it will only get worse, as we are now seeing here in New York State.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, catholic Governor of New York, is proposing a law called the "Reproductive Health Care Act."  As Chris Slattery, a prominent pro life leader here in New York says, this law is actually worse than Roe v. Wade.  This act by Governor Cuomo seems to fly in the face of everything Tom Hoopes wrote in his post. From the National Catholic Register:

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is flexing his political muscle to give abortion advocates their biggest state victory in 40 years since Roe v. Wade: a sweeping expansion of abortion law that, if enforced, would put Catholic hospitals and many state-funded ministries out of business.

Cuomo’s approval ratings have topped 70% for six straight months, and, with just two years in office, he has already pushed through controversial same-sex “marriage” legislation and the most restrictive gun-control law in the nation.

Credit:  kevinwebb22.com

Cuomo, who is Catholic, now is setting his sights on succeeding where governors for the past six years have failed: passing the proposed Reproductive Health Care Act.

But Cuomo has included the act as part of his 10-point “women’s equality” agenda, which includes a raise in the minimum wage, tougher anti-housing discrimination laws and measures against domestic violence and sex-trafficking.

Catholic bishops in New York’s Catholic Conference and pro-life groups are raising the alarm that Cuomo’s proposals are both “radical” and “dangerous” to unborn children, women and religious freedom.

“Gov. Cuomo’s bill elevates abortion to a fundamental right and says New York state can’t discriminate on abortion in benefits or services or anything else it provides,” said Kathleen Gallagher, the conference’s director of pro-life activities.

Cuomo’s legislation, she said, would make illegal abortion restrictions, such as parental-notification laws, informed-consent laws, restrictions on taxpayer funding of abortion and abortion bans of any kind.

The law will allow licensed medical professionals other than a physician to perform first-trimester abortions.  

The Democratic governor announced in his Jan. 9 State of the State address that he would expand legal abortion as part of a comprehensive women’s-equality bill, declaring three times, “It’s her body, her choice” to thunderous applause.

“Governor Cuomo vociferously declared that women’s equality, safety and reproductive rights will be a priority for New York state in 2013,” Andrea Miller, president of NARAL Pro-Choice New York, confirmed in a press release. Miller said the last election results showed New Yorkers recognized that without a right to abortion a woman “cannot participate fully in society.”

Cuomo’s bill removes criminal penalties for third-trimester abortions after 24 weeks by adding a broad health exception. Current state law allows such late-term abortions if there is a danger to the mother’s life.

Chris Slattery, director of the Expectant Mother Care (EMC) pregnancy centers in New York City, said the new law will make New York City the late-term abortion capital of the world.

“It’s going to open up the third-trimester market,” Slattery said. “It’s going to be huge, and people all over the world, not just out of state, are going to be coming to New York to have and perform these abortions.”

Late-term abortions generally cost more than $2,000.

“It’s the fight of the pro-life movement’s life in New York,” Slattery said. “This is worse than Roe v. Wade itself, and everyone needs to focus on defeating this bill.”

The Guttmacher Institute’s New York state abortion data showed that 33% of New York pregnancies end in abortion — nearly twice the national rate of 19%. Only 53% of New York pregnancies resulted in live births, with the remaining 14% ending with miscarriage.

New York City itself has an average abortion rate of 41%, with some areas as high as 67%, according to New York Health Department data gathered by the Chiaroscuro Foundation.

A 2011 poll, conducted for the Chiaroscuro Foundation by McLaughlin and Associates, found 64% of New Yorkers — including 57% of women identifying as “pro-choice” — believe New York City’s abortion rate is too high. 74% believe the overall 60% abortion rate among minorities is too high.

The poll also found 69% of New Yorkers support informed-consent laws, 59% support mandating parental consent for minors seeking abortion, and 51% support having a 24-hour waiting period for abortion.  [Despite what Mr. Hoopes wrote in his article, the wishes of the people have no effect on the actual laws in our country.]

Cuomo’s legislation is expected to pass the Democratic-controlled Assembly, but pro-life advocates are focusing on the Senate, which Republicans control in a coalition with six independent Democrats.

Pro-life state Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., D-Bronx, predicts the abortion battle will happen in the next few weeks and not toward the end of the legislative session in June. He said pro-life prospects look grim if the Reproductive Health Care Act comes up for a vote.

“I’m the only solid pro-life vote among the Democrats,” he said. “But if the Republicans allow this to come to the floor, then it is a done deal.”

Diaz expressed doubts that Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Rockville Centre, would keep the 30-member GOP caucus in line and predicted that one or two Republicans would join 32 Democrat senators to vote for the bill — a replay of voting patterns that resulted in the legalization of same-sex “marriage” in 2011.

Under a power-sharing agreement, Skelos and state Sen. Jeff Klein, D-Bronx, alternate leadership of the Senate every week.

“The week in which Sen. Jeff Klein becomes leader of the chamber — that week he will bring the bill to the floor,” Diaz said.

Diaz said he had no hope the bill could be stopped in the Senate without personal lobbying from Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York.

In a Jan. 9 letter to Cuomo, Cardinal Dolan forcefully denounced the governor’s push for increased access to abortion.

Cardinal Dolan and Governor Cuomo

“Dolan has a very powerful voice in the state,” said Diaz. “I’m hoping he comes to Albany now and lobbies — and lobbies hard. I think he’s the only hope we have to convince people to not bring this bill to the floor.”

Gallagher warned that the state bill has no conscience protections for religious institutions and that the New York Catholic Conference’s legal analysts fear the state could use the law to shut down any Catholic institution (including Catholic hospitals, Catholic charities and schools) that gets state licensing or funding.

“State regulators, such as the state health department or state insurance department, could say, ‘We cannot give you that license to operate’ or ‘We cannot give you that funding’ because our pro-life mission means we’re discriminating against a woman’s fundamental right to an abortion,” Gallagher said.

Bishop William Murphy confirmed that the Diocese of Rockville Centre is home to six hospitals on Long Island that could be crippled if the state simply withheld Medicaid dollars. The clash would be inevitable, because Catholic hospitals will neither perform nor refer people for abortions under any circumstances.

“It is another blow against a pro-life position, making that position officially ‘unacceptable’ or ‘bigoted’ or ‘intolerant,’” Bishop Murphy said, adding that the situation was “a very strange fruit in our society, where the majority of Americans, however they define it, call themselves pro-life.”

If the bill expanding access to abortion is passed, pro-life medical professionals could also find their practices at risk.

“All the legal mechanisms are in place so that doctors are forced to abandon their practices,” said Dr. Katherine Lammers, a Catholic obstetrician-gynecologist in Rochester, who has delivered 4,000 babies in her 25-year career. Lammers’ practice does not perform or refer for abortions.

She noted that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists published an ethical memo in 2008 that directed doctors to provide abortion referrals if they are unable to perform the procedure.

“So it could happen this way: ACOG could say that this doctor is violating Ethical Bulletin 899. They could take your board certification away for ethical violations. The state board could then say, ‘This doctor is not medically licensed.’ So, theoretically, a doctor could be forced out of her business,” Lammers said.

The New York State Catholic Conference has scheduled a March 20 “Catholics at the Capitol” rally to highlight the Catholic Church’s top legislative priorities.

The Legislature has until June, the end of its session, to pass Cuomo’s legislation, but it could be brought to the floor of the legislative body before then.

Gallagher said the state’s pro-life coalition is making a push to gather support through social media. On Jan.15 pro-life advocates launched a “New Yorkers for Life” Facebook page and a Twitter account.

“We Catholic bishops will do our best to inform our people and rally Catholic and non-Catholic alike to express a preference for laws that safeguard women and children,” Bishop Murphy said. “A society can flourish only when it keeps before its eyes that God who creates and sustains it.”

Peter Jesserer Smith writes from Rochester, New York.

"Gotcha" Catholicism

Last summer I did a post about a same sex wedding announcement I saw in the New York Times, not at all unusual for that paper.  What was unusual was that it stated that "a Roman Catholic Priest assisted at the wedding, " Through Google, I figured out that there was a priest in Connecticut  by the same name as that in the announcement.  I immediately emailed both the priest and his bishop, and I also immediately posted about it on my blog without confirmation that I had the correct priest.  It turned out that I did have the correct priest, and a week or so later the bishop in that area formally reprimanded the priest who promised never to do this again.  Neither the priest nor the bishop ever answered my emails.

Even though I turned out to be correct, I should have waited until everything was confirmed and given the bishop time to act as he saw fit before I started making any kind of public accusations.  The reason I'm writing about this is because it is a prime example of how the laity should not act towards the clergy in the Catholic Church.  I have been pretty harsh at times on the clergy, and I would like to do a mea culpa right here and now in that regard.

Certainly when we see priests and bishops, or any member of the Church acting in a way that is contrary to Church teaching, we need to do something about it.  We should never stand idly by when we know someone is acting in a scandalous way and involved in serious sin.   But is the proper response to immediately take it to the Internet and announce it to the world?

The advice given to us directly by our Lord in regard to dealing with scandal can be found in Matthew 18:15-17:

If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

Our first concern should always be for the soul of the one involved in the sin, to try to bring him (or her) to repentance, and secondly to avoid scandal so as not to put other souls in danger.  As Jesus Himself told us, the matter should be kept as quiet as possible unless and until the one involved refuses to repent.  Then, and only then, should it be made public, and it should only be made public if it is necessary to mitigate public scandal, such as the priest assisting in a same sex wedding.  Even then, everything we do should be aimed at leading the person to repentance.  We should never do anything that unnecessarily humiliates or demeans in an any way.  We should never play "Gotcha!" games with people's souls as I did with the priest in Connecticut when I immediately jumped on him without knowing anything other than what I read in the Times, and not even sure that I had the correct priest.

I Corinthians 16:14 says, "Let all that you do be done in love."  Since love means wanting what is best for the other, the ideal is that everything we say and do in our interactions with others should all be with the thought of how my actions will  help them find the way to Christ and eternal life.  I fall far short of this ideal as I believe most people do.  Far too often I react to people out of a sense of injustice or hurt feelings, or thinking about "what's in it for me", and scariest of all, I react out of pride, feeling superior to others.

GK, Chesterton, one of the wisest men of the 20th Century, said this:

What embitters the world is not excess of criticism, but an absence of self-criticism.

Think about it.

Credit:  mycrazylifeasanavywife.blogspot.com

A Silver Lining In Every Cloud

New York City, where I live, has really been devastated by the flu outbreak.  Lots of people out sick at work, lots of coughing and sneezing on the subway, emergency rooms flooded by flu victims.  Not a pretty sight.

But in Boston, there is one very good consequence of the flu:

Because of the flu outbreak and the declaration of a health emergency in Boston, the Archdiocese of Boston Wednesday afternoon instructed priests that they can suspend the distribution of wine [uh, Precious Blood] during Communion from a common chalice out of “pastoral caution and prudence.”

Auxiliary Bishop Robert P. Deeley also notified priests that may encourage worshipers to exchange the “Sign of Peace” by bowing to nearby parishioners instead of shaking hands.  [No running around the church to shake everyone's hand]

Archdiocese spokesman Terrence Donilon said in an e-mail that Communion hosts will continue to be given because “it is central to the celebration’ of Mass. But priests will “use extra caution if people receive (the host) on the tongue and are to use extra caution in washing their hands before and after Mass.”  [If people kneel, it is much less likely that the priest will touch the communicant's mouth]

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Long Lost Twin

Has anyone ever noticed how much Mayor Michael  Bloomberg of my very own city, New York, looks like the Grinch:

We are told in the story that the problem with the Grinch, who tried to steal Christmas from Who-ville, was that his heart was just too small:

The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season!

Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.

It could be that his head wasn't screwed on quite right.

It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.

But I think that the most likely reason of all

May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.

Our Honorable Mayor Bloomberg has done a few things in his illegal three terms that makes me wonder about the size of his heart (we had a 2-term limit, but at the end of his second term, the City Council miraculously voted to allow our multi-billionaire mayor to run a third time).

In 2010, we were hit with a major storm with about 20 inches of snow. The City completely shut down. There were no subways, no buses, streets were completely impassable, some people couldn't even get out of their homes. Mayor Bloomberg was vacationing in his private Bermuda getaway and didn't get back on his private plane until a day after the storm. When he got back, he told all of us that we should just stop our whining about a little snow, and go ahead and take in a Broadway show.

From commentarymagazine.com:

By the time Bloomberg flew back to the city on his private plane the next day, a disaster was unfolding on the streets. He then added insult to injury by urging New Yorkers—millions of whom could not get off their own blocks in the outer boroughs—to shrug it off and take in a Broadway show. When reporters asked Bloomberg to account for his whereabouts as the storm began, he replied that this was his “private time” and thus no one’s business.

The mayor's approval rating went down to 34% after this.

The major is always looking out for us. He has supplied needles to drug addicts and free condoms to kids. He has outlawed smoking in every public building in NYC, including bars. As Wikipedia tells us:

On the major issue of abortion, Bloomberg is considered pro-choice. He supports abortion rights, stating: "Reproductive choice is a fundamental human right and we can never take it for granted, on this issue, you're either with us or against us." He has criticized pro-choice politicians who support pro-life candidates. His comments may have been directed at New York Senator Chuck Schumer, a supporter of abortion rights who supported Bob Casey, who is pro-life, in the 2006 Senate election.

Bloomberg tends to be liberal about his policies towards many social issues; for instance, Bloomberg supports governmental funding for stem cell research, calling the Republican position on the issue "insanity," while also supporting same-sex marriage with the rationale that “I think anybody should be allowed to marry anybody" 

He not only supports same sex marriage, he actually paid New York State representatives to vote for same sex marriage to ensure that the law would pass.  From the newstribune.com

Supporters of Referendum 74 to allow same-sex marriage sent out a fundraising e-mail today saying the New York City mayor will give $250,000 to their campaign if they can raise the same amount this week.

Bloomberg is famous for doing everything he can to take guns out of the hands of citizens. There is also his infamous law making 32 oz. sugar drinks illegal in the City of New York. I don't know how he is going to stop people from just buying two 16 oz. drinks, but that's just me.

Now he is passing a law that will limit the amount of pain medication that people will receive in City hospitals. From bayoubuzz.com:

Bloomberg believes his move will reduce crime because fewer people will become hooked on drugs, which leads to “a lot more hold-ups of pharmacies, people getting held up as they walk out of pharmacies….What are they all about? They’re not trying to steal your shaving cream or toothpaste at the point of a gun. They want these drugs.”

Critics are lambasting the move, noting it will hurt the poor who frequent the city’s emergency rooms for primary medical care. In response, Bloomberg claims that while people may “have to suffer a little bit,” it is necessary to combat the problem, “so…we’re going to do it and we’re urging all of the other hospitals to do,

Learn to suffer, buddy

So for all those poor people who get banged up on the streets of New York and can only afford City hospitals, get ready to "suffer a little bit" thanks to the Grinch of New York City.

Preach the Gospel with Humility, Simplicity and Love

Credit:  mudpreacher.org

Speaking about God means communicating with strength and simplicity, by one’s word and life, what is essential: the God of Jesus Christ, the God who has shown us a love so great that it became incarnate, died and rose for us; that God who asks us to follow him and to let ourselves be transformed by his immense love in order to renew our lives and our relationships; the God who has given us the Church, to walk together and, through the Word and the Sacraments, to renew the entire City of men, so that it may become the City of God.

Pope Benedict XVI

It's hard to escape the fact that, to use an old worn-out saying, the world is going to hell in a handbasket.  There are many indications of this, but in my mind one of the leading indicators is the fact that we continue to kill our unborn babies.  Last year in the United States alone, we killed over one million of our babies.  There have been 60 million babies legally killed in this country since 1973.  That's 60 million potential tax payers and job creators and all of their children and grandchildren who are not here to contribute to our society.  And we wonder why we have an economic crisis?  Hello???

Credit:  abolishhumanabortion.com

Some hold out hope that we can still salvage western civilization, such as pointing to the liberal Salon.com article entitled, "2012 Was An Unmitigated Disaster For Abortion Rights" which, from a pro abortion point of view, laments the fact that many states in the US are tightening restrictions on abortion.  As far as I'm concerned, this is throwing bones at those of us who are pro life and hoping it will keep us quiet while the babies continue to die by the thousands every day.  I live in New York City, the abortion capital of the United States, where over 40% of all pregnancies end in abortion, and in some parts of the city the rate is 60%, resulting in the murder of approximately 89,000 babies every year.  It has been 40 years since the killing of our unborn children was made legal through Roe v. Wade (abortion has been legal in New York since 1970), and in all that time there has not been one serious challenge to that law. Politician after politician promises us that they will do everything to defeat abortion, and yet last year Planned Parenthood received a record high $542 million in taxpayer money and performed 334,000 abortions.  To placate the public, Congress immediately introduced a bill to defund Planned Parenthood.  If you're interested in making a quick and sure buck, bet that this bill will never see the light of day.

Abortion is hardly the only evil in our society.  It is only a matter of time now before same sex marriage is legal throughout the United States.  Our president is actively campaigning for it, breaking his oath to uphold the law of the land by saying he will not defend the Defense of Marriage Act.  No one calls him on this, and now even the Republicans are telling us to get use to it, as per Newt Gingrich:

It is in every family. It is in every community. The momentum is clearly now in the direction in finding some way to... accommodate and deal with reality. And the reality is going to be that in a number of American states—and it will be more after 2014—gay relationships will be legal, period.

The destruction of the family - the foundation of any society - is now complete, and there is no going back on this, as Newt Gingrich forcefully told us.  God has been so completely pushed out of the public square that He is not even allowed to be a part of the celebration of His own birth.  With God out of the way, anything can and will go.  We are seeing the legalization of drugs and euthanasia, and at the same time, we are seeing the persecution of Christianity, exemplified by the HHS mandate.  We are sliding down the hill at a breathtaking pace to our own destruction.

What do we, as Christians, do in the face of the disintegration of our society?  Do we just walk away and leave people to a doomed fate?  Hardly.  Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, told us just the opposite on November 28, 2012 in another of a continuing series of talks regarding the Year of Faith.  This message is entitled "On Bearing Witness to the Christian Faith."  In this message, he discusses the reasons and methods we should use to bring the saving message of the Gospel to an anti-God world.

Credit:  Diocese of
Colorado Springs

The Holy Father starts out by asking the question of how we can reach others with the Gospel message, especially those who are so separated from God that He is not even a thought in their day:

The main question that we ask today is: how can we speak of God in our time? How can we communicate the Gospel, to open roads to his saving truth in the hearts, that are often closed, of our contemporaries and in their minds, sometimes distracted by the many lights of society? Jesus himself, the Evangelists tells us, in announcing the Kingdom of God asked himself this question. "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use?" (Mk 4:30).

Credit:  excellentquotations.com

Pope Benedict reminds us that we cannot do anything unless God speaks to us first.  God is actually calling to us at every moment, but are we listening?  Forget that sappy song that Bette Midler sang, "God is watching us from a distance."  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The reality is that our Lord is right next to us, just as He hung next to the thieves on the cross, ready and willing to offer us His Mercy and Love as soon as we ask.  Christ would have willingly offered forgiveness to both thieves, but only one opened his heart to Our Savior.  Our Lord can't do anything unless we also turn to Him, and ask Him for His Mercy, just as the good thief on the cross, St. Dismas, did.

How can we speak of God today? The first answer is that we can speak of God, because He has spoken with us. The first condition of speaking of God is therefore to listen to what God himself has said. God has spoken to us!  God is therefore not a distant hypothesis about the origin of the world, nor a mathematical intelligence far away from us. God cares for us, loves us, has personally entered into the reality of our history, he has communicated himself to the point of becoming incarnate.

It is an amazing thing that the great Creator God of the Universe, who has no need of anything or anyone, should actually come to our earth as one of us so that we can be saved and spend eternity with Him.  This is how King David expressed God's amazing love for us in Psalm 8:3-4:

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained ;

What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

Thus, God is a reality of our lives, he is so great that he even has time for us, he cares for us. In Jesus of Nazareth, we encounter the face of God, who came down from Heaven to immerse himself into the world of men, into our world, and to teach the "art of living", the road to happiness, to free us from sin and make us children of God (cf. Eph 1:5, Rom 8:14).

"Jesus came down from heaven to immerse himself in the world of men."  Think about that!  It's like an elephant taking notice of a bunch of ants and saving them from destruction.  God has even less need of us than an elephant does of an ant, yet He loves us in a way that I will never understand as long as I live.  He poured His life out in utter agony upon the Cross so that we may live.  Why do we ever doubt Him?

The next statement from the Holy Father puts in one sentence the reason why Jesus came to earth as a man and gave His life for us:

Jesus came to save us and show us the good life of the Gospel.

We've all heard this so many times that it doesn't mean that much.  But read it again and think about it. The One who created the universe and everything in it came to save us and give us to the opportunity to share eternal bliss with Him.

Foot washing is a symbol of
doing small things with great love

The Holy Father now tells us that in order to bring this saving message to our poor, sick world, we have to meet people where they live.  Give them this message in a way that they can relate to it.  And realize that just as everything that God does starts very small and humbly, so we must be humble and small.  As Mother Teresa said, "We can do no great things; only small things with great love."

Speaking of God means first of all being clear about what we must bring to the men and women of our time: the God of Jesus Christ as the answer to the fundamental question of why and how should we live. We must not fear the humility of small steps and must trust in the yeast that penetrates the dough and mysteriously causes it to grow (cf. Mt 13:33). In speaking of God, in the work of evangelization, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we need to recover simplicity, to return to the essentials of the announcement: the Good News of God-Love who comes close to us in Jesus Christ to the point of the Cross and who in the Resurrection gives us hope and opens for us a life that has no end, eternal life. (...)

Pope Benedict now gives us the example of one of the Church's greatest saints, St. Paul, who was unceasing in his efforts to bring the Gospel to the world.  St Paul gave an example of love that absolutely astounds me:  "I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." (Rom. 9:1-3).  Do we love others enough that we would give up own salvation if it would save them?  I'm glad I don't have to answer that question because I don't think it would be pretty.

The Holy Father shows us that St. Paul never pointed to himself but always to Christ and His Saving Gospel.

That exceptional communicator who was the apostle Paul gives us a lesson that goes right to the heart of faith with great simplicity.

In the First Letter to the Corinthians he writes: "When I came among you, I did not set out to announce the mystery of God with eloquent speech or wisdom.  For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified "(2:1-2).

Credit:  college-ethics.blogspot.com

Paul did not try to promote himself in any way.  His whole mission was to promote the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ.  He was not interested in becoming a celebrity, as we too often see in Christian media, even among Catholics.  He did absolutely nothing to promote any of his own ideas or himself personally, but put all his efforts into preaching only the message of Jesus Christ.

Thus, the first thing is that Paul is not talking about a philosophy that he has developed, he’s not speaking about ideas that found elsewhere or invented, but he speaks of a reality of his life, of God who came into his life, he speaks of a real God who lives, who spoke with him and will speak with us, he speaks of Christ crucified and risen.

The second thing is that Paul is not seeking himself, he does not want to create a fan base, he does not want to go down in history as the head of a school of great knowledge, he is not self-seeking. Rather, St. Paul proclaims Christ and wants to gain people for the true God. Paul speaks only with the desire to preach what has entered into his life and that is the true life that conquered him on the road to Damascus.

Credit:  photoquoto.com

St. Paul taught us to spread the Gospel through our humility, always keeping in mind that we were sinners destined for hell, and it is only the merciful grace of Jesus Christ that opens the doors of salvation to us.  As St. Paul warned us, "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall."  (I Cor. 10:12).  We must be engaged in the spiritual battle for our souls every moment of every day lest we leave space for the devil to enter in, and that means always putting Christ at the forefront of everything we do and say. There is no other successful way to reach out to others with the saving message of the Gospel.

So, to speak of God means to give space to the One who makes him known, who reveals his face of love, it means expropriating oneself offering it to Christ, knowing that we are not able to gain others to God, but we must await them from God himself, must implore them from Him. Speaking of God is thus born from listening, from our knowledge of God which is realized in familiarity with him, in the life of prayer and according to the Commandments.

Communicating the faith, for St. Paul, does not mean bearing himself, but stating openly and publicly what he has seen and heard in his encounter with Christ, what he has experienced in his life which has been transformed by that encounter: it means bringing Jesus whom he feels present within himself and who has become the true direction of his life, to make it clear to all that the world needs Him and that He is decisive for the freedom of every man.

St. Francis

We often hear a quote by St. Francis, "Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words."  I recently found out that St. Francis never actually said this, but he did say very similar things:

“It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.”

“…As for me, I desire this privilege from the Lord, that never may I have any privilege from man, except to do reverence to all, and to convert the world by obedience to the Holy Rule rather by example than by word.”

Our words have no meaning if we are not living a life that backs them up. Word alone do not change people's minds.  It is when they see the words in action that their hearts are changed.  The best way to bring people to Christ is to allow our Lord to work in our lives, to "make room for Him, in the confidence that He acts in our weakness", as Pope Benedict XVI says:

The Apostle is not content with merely proclaiming words, but involves his whole life in the great work of faith. To speak of God, we must make room for Him, in the confidence that He acts in our weakness: to make room for Him without fear, with simplicity and joy, in the profound conviction that the more we put Him at the center and not ourselves, the more our communication will be fruitful.

The Holy Father also chides Christian communities.  If they are promoting their own messages and their own gospels, and not keeping God at the center of their lives, they are doing far more harm than good:

This also applies to the Christian communities: they are called to show the transforming action of God's grace, overcoming all individualism, closure, selfishness, indifference and by living out the love of God in their everyday relations. Are our communities really like this?

Credit:  bethespark.org

The Holy Father now turns to Jesus Christ Himself, and examines the ways and methods He used in preaching the Gospel.  Pope Benedict shows us that Christ reached out to people with love and compassion, meeting them on their own level.  It is interesting that the only people our Lord ever publicly condemned were the religious leaders, the Pharisees, because they were stealing people's souls through their hypocrisy.   Think of the woman taken in adultery, or the woman at the well, or Mary Magdalene.  They were all sinners condemned by society, yet they found full acceptance from Jesus Christ who called for them to turn from their sinful lives and accept His forgiveness and love.  The first man chosen to be an apostle was Matthew, a despised tax collector who regularly cheated people.  These people were not converted because Christ told them they were lousy sinners on their way to hell.  They were converted because they experienced the saving love of Jesus Christ.  This is what we must bring to our sin sick world:

At this point we must ask ourselves how Jesus communicated. Jesus, in his uniqueness, speaks of his Father – Abbà – and of the Kingdom of God, with eyes full of compassion for the hardships and difficulties of human existence. He speaks with great realism and, I would say, that the essential feature of Jesus’ proclamation is that it makes clear that our life and the world are worthy of God.

Jesus shows that in the world and in creation there appears the face of God and this shows us how in the everyday events God is present in our lives. Both in the parables of nature, the mustard seed, the field with different seeds, or in our lives, for instance in the parable of the prodigal son, Lazarus and other parables of Jesus.

Woman at the well
Credit:  awakenedanew.com

Christ showed people that he cared for them personally.  We, too, must show people that we genuinely care about them and want what is best for them.  Often that will mean pointing out the wrong direction they are headed in.  Christ did not hesitate to tell the woman at the well that she was involved in a sinful relationship with the man with whom she was living at that time (John 14):  "You are right when you say you have no husband.  The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband."  He told her outright that he had what she needed:  "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."  We must be bold in what we tell people, but we must do it in humility and love:

From the Gospels we see how Jesus is interested in every human situation he encounters, he is immersed in the reality of the men and women of his time, with full confidence in the Father's help. And that really in this story, in a hidden way, God is present and if we are attentive we can meet him.

Even with our Lord Himself, it was not just His Words, as powerful as they were, that converted people, but His actions and the way He lived His life as well:

And the disciples, who live with Jesus, the crowds who meet him, see his reaction to different problems, they see how he speaks, how he behaves, they see in him the action of the Holy Spirit, the action of God. In Him announcement and life are intertwined: Jesus acts and teaches, always starting from an intimate relationship with God the Father.

This style becomes an essential indication for us Christians: our way of living in faith and charity becomes a speaking of God in the present time, because it shows, with a life lived in Christ, the credibility, the realism of what we say with words, which are not just words, but show the reality, the true reality. And in this we must be careful to read the signs of the times in our epoch, that is, to identify the potentials, the desires, the obstacles encountered in contemporary culture, in particular the desire for authenticity, the yearning for transcendence, the sensitivity for safeguarding creation, and to communicate without fear the response that faith in God offers.

The Year of Faith is an opportunity to discover, with our imaginations animated by the Holy Spirit, new paths on the personal and community level, so that everywhere the power of the Gospel may be wisdom of life and the orientation for existence.

To bring people to our Lord we must share His love and saving compassion that we have seen in our own lives with others.   We need to speak out against the sin in people's lives, but we must let them know of a God who loves them so much He actually came to earth and died for them:

Speaking of God, therefore, means showing through one’s words and life that God is not a competitor for our life, but rather is its true guarantor, the guarantor of the greatness of the human person. Thus, we return to where we started: speaking about God means communicating with strength and simplicity, by one’s word and life, what is essential: the God of Jesus Christ, the God who has shown us a love so great that it became incarnate, died and rose for us; that God who asks us to follow him and to let ourselves be transformed by his immense love in order to renew our lives and our relationships; the God who has given us the Church, to walk together and, through the Word and the Sacraments, to renew the entire City of men, so that it may become the City of God. Thank you.

Credit:  etsy.com