I Don't Think You Have the Right Group of Knights

Washington D.C., Jul 24, 2019 / 04:15 pm (CNA).- The Senate on Wednesday voted to confirm Brian Buescher, a judicial nominee grilled by two senators last year over his membership in the Knights of Columbus. Buescher will now become a U.S. District Judge in Nebraska.

“I can’t believe I need to repeat it here in the U.S. Capitol, but there is nothing about living out one’s faith that is disqualifying for public service. To the contrary, what the Constitution does forbid is imposing any kind of religious test for public office,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kent.) stated on the Senate Floor on Wednesday before the vote.

The Senate on Wednesday voted 51-40 to confirm Buescher, with nine senators not voting. The vote fell along party lines, with Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) voting No.

Several presidential candidates, Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) did not vote.

During his confirmation hearings, Buescher faced pointed questions over his membership in the Knights of Columbus, and over the organization’s “extreme” opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage, by U.S. Senators Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Kamala Harris.

Brian Buescher (left) at a Knights of Columbus Meeting

A series of written questions sent by Sen. Hirono to Buescher in December stated that the Knights taken “extreme” positions including supporting California’s Proposition 8 in 2008, a successful ballot initiative to overturn same-sex marriage.

Sen. Hirono asked Buescher if he would end his membership in the Knights “to avoid any appearance of bias,” and if he would “recuse” himself “from all cases in which the Knights of Columbus has taken a position”.

Sen. Harris said the Knights opposed a woman’s “right to choose” and asked Buescher if he knew about that stance when he joined, calling the Knights “an all-male society comprised primarily of Catholic men.” She also asked the nominee if he agreed with Supreme Knight Carl Anderson’s previous statements that abortion is “the killing of the innocent on a massive scale” which has “resulted in more than 40 million deaths”.

Cocaine Mitch gets the last laugh:

 In the Senate on Wednesday, Sen. McConnell noted, tongue-in-cheek, that the “negative bombshell” on the nominee was that he “is a practicing Catholic.”
“My goodness. Imagine that, in the United States of America: a person of faith, serving in government,” McConnell said.

Heaven Help Us All

Consider political affiliation and social views. According to Pew, 37 percent of Catholics are Republican and 37 percent conservative. 48 percent think abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Seventy percent think homosexuality should be accepted, and 57 percent strongly favor or favor gay marriage.

Then, there are deeper matters. Just 64 percent of Catholics say they believe in God with absolute certainty. Fifty-eight percent say religion is very important in their lives. 39 percent attend church weekly. Thirty percent look to their religion for guidance on right or wrong, and 30 percent believe that there are clear standards of right and wrong.

They keep using that word, Catholic. I don't think it means what they think it means.

Baptized a Catholic,"Married" to a Guy and Now Just Down Right Evil

 What a horrible person. And stupid. Ignoring science?

Washington D.C., May 20, 2019 / 01:30 pm (CNA).- Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg called abortion a “national freedom” on Sunday, and defended the practice of late term abortion.
The mayor of South Bend, In., made the comments during a “town hall” broadcast for Fox on May 19. In defending unrestricted abortion, Buttigieg appeared to put himself at odds with the majority of voters both in his own party and nationwide.
Asked if he believed there should be any limit on access to abortion, at any time during pregnancy, Buttigieg responded “I trust women to draw the line.”

Mayor Pete, as his campaign prefers him to be styled, was asked specifically about recent legislation at the state level to either expand or restrict abortion access.
In a tweet sent in response to the passage of a law to outlaw abortion in Alabama, Buttigieg said legislators were “ignoring science” in efforts to protect unborn life. Responding to the example of the New York Reproductive Health Act passed earlier this year, which effectively removed all limitations on abortion, Buttigieg said there is no place for the government in discussing limits on abortion.
Characterizing the decision to terminate a pregnancy during the final weeks before term as “an impossible, unthinkable choice,” he repeated that he believed there was no place for the law to intervene.

The Formerly Catholic University of Notre Dame Gave President Obama an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2009

 What a great story!


Minneapolis, Minn., May 11, 2019 / 12:00 am (CNA).- Not everyone who goes to high school will go to college, the founders of a new Minnesota high school say, but everyone should be prepared for leadership, service, and virtuous lives.
Preparation for a good life, no matter what comes after graduation, is the goal of Unity High School, set to open this fall in Burnsville, Minnesota.
Matt Birk, a retired football player who played with the Minnesota Vikings and Baltimore Ravens, and Tom Bengtson, the owner of a small publishing company, are the founders of the school.
 

MATT BIRK

“At Unity, we are sure a lot of kids will go into college, some will go into the workforce, some will go into the military, some will discern religious vocations, and we think there is equal dignity in all of those things,” Birk told CNA.

“We are college prep but we are not only college prep. Not everybody is a candidate for college, people choose different paths and we believe that there is equal dignity in any of these paths. We are happy to prepare kids for post high school life regardless of what it looks like,” Bengtson added.


 If you go to an Ivy League schools is that a guarantee to a great life? No, no it’s not. I would say the most important thing to me … is that they would have a firm foundation in their Catholic faith, that would be number one, and then, number two, I would say to be equipped with some skills to be able to help them with whatever path they choose.” Birk added that digital technology has been detrimental to some areas of ingenuity - communication, teamwork, and social and emotional intelligence. As a result of increased technology and media influence, he said students are suffering more narcissism and depression, while developing less empathy and abilities to handle anxiety.

Unity will aim to address those issues when it opens this fall at Mary, Mother of the Church Parish in Burnsville. To start out, the school will only teach high school freshmen, but it plans to add a new grade each year, until the first incoming class graduate as seniors.

The best part...

The former NFL center's own faith is central to his life, he said. He is especially active in pro-life work. In 2013, after Birk's team won Super Bowl XLVII, he declined to attend a reception at the White House.
"I have great respect for the office of the presidency, but about five or six weeks ago, our president made a comment in a speech and he said, 'God bless Planned Parenthood.' Planned Parenthood performs about 330,000 abortions a year. I am Catholic, I am active in the pro-life movement and I just felt like I couldn't deal with that. I couldn't endorse that in any way," Birk said.

Cardinal Dolan and the Democrats

Cardinal Timothy Dolan in the Wall Street Journal (behind a paywall, so you can check it out on Fox News):

...the dignity and sanctity of human life, the importance of Catholic schools, the defense of a baby’s civil rights—were, and still are, widely embraced by Catholics. This often led Catholics to become loyal Democrats. I remember my own grandmother whispering to me, “We Catholics don’t trust those Republicans.”
Such is no longer the case, a cause of sadness to many Catholics, me included. … the needs of poor and middle-class children in Catholic schools, and the right to life of the baby in the womb—largely have been rejected by the party of our youth. An esteemed pro-life Democrat in Illinois, Rep. Dan Lipinski, effectively was blacklisted by his own party. Last year, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez insisted that pro-life candidates have no place in the modern Democratic Party.

Talking about New York, he noted:
what is already the most radical abortion license in the country may soon be even more morbidly expanded. For instance, under the proposed Reproductive Health Act, doctors would not be required to care for a baby who survives an abortion. The newborn simply would be allowed to die without any legal implications. And abortions would be legal up to the moment of birth.
The “big tent” of the Democratic Party now seems a pup tent….
I’m a pastor, not a politician, and I’ve certainly had spats and disappointments with politicians from both of America’s leading parties. But it saddens me, and weakens the democracy millions of Americans cherish, when the party that once embraced Catholics now slams the door on us.

 Last year, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez insisted that pro-life candidates have no place in the modern Democratic Party.

Noted Catholic, Democrat and Noted Theolgian Nancy Pelosi was Unavailable For Comment

The Hypocrisy of "Catholic" Democrats

The party that represents these radicalized brunch-goers has no room for those who believe life begins at conception. They’ve expelled nearly all of its representatives who believe life begins at conception and vote accordingly. In Congress, only two Democrats belong to the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus. That’s right, two. And the party is not running a single pro-life Democrat in any of the 91 districts they hope to win over this November. Both of these things are startling given that in 2009, 64 Democrats opposed the Affordable Care Act because they thought it didn’t come with enough restrictions on abortion.

Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.), one of these Democratic congressmen who broke rank in 2009, has represented the Third District of Illinois since 2005. His seat is in jeopardy now that he's being challenged in the upcoming primary by Marie Newman, the darling of NARAL Pro-Choice America, EMILY’s List, Gloria Steinem, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

Wait a Second...Unitarians BELIEVE in Something?

Washington D.C., Jan 23, 2018 / 02:13 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A recent Pew study shows that support for legal abortion varies widely among religious groups, with Catholics falling somewhere in the middle when it comes to beliefs about legal abortion.

Among Catholics in the United States surveyed in the study, 48 percent said they were in favor of legal abortion, while 47 percent said they were opposed to it and 5 percent said they didn’t know.
Unitarian Universalists are the most likely religious group to support legal abortion at 90 percent, while Jehovah’s Witnesses were the least likely to support, it at 18 percent, according to the study.

Among both atheists and agnostics, 87 percent support legal abortion; as do 83 percent of Jews; 82 percent of Buddhists; 68 percent of Hindus; 55 percent of Muslims; and 27 percent of Mormons. Among Orthodox Christians, 53 percent support legal abortion.

However, a closer look at other available data for Catholics helps to explain some of this discrepancy.
Overall, “the more frequently you go to Mass the more likely you are to oppose to oppose abortion,” Mark Gray, a senior research associate with the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) out of Georgetown University, told CNA. (Ed. Since a majority of Catholics voted for Obama, I figured this out already.)

However, responses vary significantly depending on the frequency of Mass attendance of the respondent as well as on the phrasing of poll questions about abortion, according to data from the General Social Survey analyzed by CARA.

When asked if they would support abortion if a woman wants it for any reason, 85 percent of frequent Mass attendees (those who go weekly) said they would not support abortion, while 56 percent of Catholics who attend Mass less than monthly said they would oppose abortion if a woman wants it for any reason.

Time for Catholic/Democrats to Choose One or the Other

I guess this means all those Catholic Democrats who claim to be personally against abortion will have to change parties, right Dick Durban, Andrew Cuomo, and noted theologian Nancy Pelosi?

Washington D.C., Apr 26, 2017 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- When the leader of the Democratic party pulled an about-face this week, claiming that support for abortion was a non-negotiable part of the platform, pro-life Democrats were utterly dismayed.  

“It was just stunning to see,” Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life of America, told CNA.

Day was referring to DNC chair Tom Perez supporting a Democratic mayoral candidate in Nebraska who had in the past embraced pro-life positions – and then the next day saying there was no room in the Democratic party for pro-life politicians.

“Pro-life Democrats are deeply concerned about this extreme position that the Democratic Party has taken and this non-negotiable position,” she said.

Speaking of Democrats

Kevin Williamson has this to say:

Tim Kaine apparently is blissfully unaware of the fact, but it is a long part of the Christian tradition, and especially prominent in the Catholic tradition, that the basic facts of the universe — physical and moral — can be discerned through the light of human reason, independent of religious revelation.

Intellectually, Tim Kaine’s argument about abortion is incoherent and indefensible; it is, in fact, illiterate. He argues that while his own Catholic devotion points him in a pro-life direction, the fact that we are a pluralistic society with a constitutional guarantee of religious freedom precludes him from supporting initiatives that would enshrine certain Catholic preferences in law. That did not stop him from campaigning against capital punishment and from using his gubernatorial powers to that end (the Catholic position on the death penalty is not absolute and, given the history of the church, hardly could be; its prohibition of abortion is absolute) any more than the First Amendment has stopped any cookie-cutter progressive with an Italian or Irish surname from citing the example of Jesus when arguing for this or that social-welfare program. (Never mind, for the moment, that this misconstrues that example.) Back in the ancient days when he was running for president, Barack Obama cited his faith in explaining his opposition to homosexual marriage.

Thinking About Voting For A Democrat?

Think (really think) again.

The Formerly Catholic University of Notre Dame

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia didn’t hold back in criticizing the University of Notre Dame’s honor of abortion and same-sex marriage advocate Vice President Joe Biden with the Laetare Medal earlier this year. He called the honor “a contradiction of Notre Dame’s identity” and “a baffling error of judgment” during a recent address on campus. “What the Church needs now is a university that radiates the glory of God in an age that no longer knows what it means to be human,” he added. “What the people of God need now is a university that fuses the joy of Francis with the brilliance of Benedict and the courage, fidelity and humanity of the great John Paul.”

I Thought He was Just Stupid....

 ...but then I saw who educated him.

Philly mayor Jim Kenney thinks Pope Francis is ‘freaking awesome’ — but disagrees with his positions on marriage, abortion, and the Eucharist. Last week, Philadelphia mayor Jim Kenney accused Philadelphia archbishop Charles Chaput of being “not Christian” after the local Catholic archdiocese released guidelines reiterating longstanding Catholic teaching on divorce and re-marriage.

The diocesan document — “Pastoral Guidelines for Implementing Amoris Laetitia” — was approved by Chaput in order to contextualize parts of Pope Francis’s recent apostolic exhortation. Among the guidelines offered was one stating that divorced, civilly remarried, and cohabiting couples must “refrain from sexual intimacy,” as well as “sacramentally confess all serious sins of which he or she is aware, with a firm purpose to change, before receiving the Eucharist.” In response to someone’s Twitter question about the guidelines, Kenney stated: “Jesus gave us gift of Holy Communion because he so loved us. All of us. Chaput’s actions are not Christian.” Kenney’s response might make sense for someone with a superficial understanding of Christianity and, in particular, Catholic teaching. But Kenney was raised in a large Irish-Catholic family, and he has touted his Jesuit education at Philadelphia’s St. Joseph’s Prep and La Salle University.

Comedy GOLD!

Proof that God is alive and loves (to make us laugh) very much!

(RNS) Disturbed by the language of exclusion that has characterized much of the 2016 electoral campaign, Sister Simone Campbell and a band of Catholic nuns will again board her bus to promote a vision of a more inclusive America.

Today we're gonna party like it's 1968!

 
The activist nun and 18 other sisters will begin their trip on July 11 in Janesville, Wis., hometown of House Speaker and Republican leader Paul Ryan, a fellow Catholic whose conservative policies Campbell has regularly criticized.

Here's their schedule. The closest they come to Cobden is St. Louis.

The Trouble With Jesuits, Part 51

 From the Cardinal Newman Society:


Although the U.S. bishops rightfully called it "shocking" the Obama administration’s refusal last week to enforce federal law against California’s abortion mandate was calculated and predictable. California accomplished what the Obama administration could not with the HHS mandate: full coverage of abortions in employee health plans, even at Catholic churches and institutions.
Even more shocking is the ensuing silence by many leaders and faculty members at California’s Jesuit universities. They should be vigorously fighting this attack on their religious freedom and Catholic integrity.

But their public silence, too, is calculated. It is a capitulation not only to the tyranny of the state but also to the moral depravity of many of their professors. For years, many faculty members at Loyola Marymount University and Santa Clara University have lobbied for abortion coverage in their health care plans, without apparent moral qualms about facilitating a heinous act of evil.

More than any hidden fault line beneath California’s surface, these professors are at fault for crumbling the foundations of their Jesuit universities. Their denial of life for even the tiniest, innocent children — and now the silent acquiescence of their leaders — further undermines the Catholic identity of universities that already have all but abandoned the pretense of affirming the Catholic faith.

Read the whole, sordid thing.

Help One, Kill One

San Francisco, Calif., Jun 30, 2016 / 12:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholics and other groups that receive grants to care for immigrants are in the sights of the American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services.

The legal group’s recent lawsuit says that social agencies that get federal money to care for refugees and undocumented migrants from Central America should be required to offer contraception and abortion, even if they have religious objections.

Among the lawsuit’s claims: the federal government’s accommodation of religious beliefs violates the First Amendment’s prohibition on establishment of religion. It also claims a 1997 court settlement and later federal regulations oblige agencies with federal contracts to provide the coverage.

Douglas Laycock, a University of Virginia law professor, told the New York Times that he thought the ACLU’s claim is weak due to precedents of federal agencies granting exemptions in their spending programs.

Funniest...and saddest quote of the article:

The ACLU said it knows of about two dozen cases in the last five years in which pregnant girls, many of whom said they had been raped, requested abortions. About one-third of the unaccompanied minors are girls. Many were the victims of sexual abuse at home or during their travel to the U.S.

In several cases, when the girls wanted abortions, they were transferred to different agencies to obtain them.

ACLU lawyer Brigitte Amiri said placement decisions should be based on “what is in the best interest of the child.”

 Well, they ARE mostly women of color....

 

You Get What You Vote For

 Please remember that Catholics voted by 50% to 47% Obama over Romney...


Churches in California are officially subject to an onerous state regulation that requires them to pay for abortions, thanks to a ruling by the Obama administration.

The troubling situation began in 2014 when the California Department of Managed Health Care reclassified abortion as a “basic health service” under the Affordable Care Act and ordered all insurance plans in the state to begin covering surgical abortions immediately. Even churches are not exempt from funding abortions.

The churches filed a lawsuit against the regulation last October, and it has been moving through the courts.
They also asked the Obama administration to uphold the Weldon Amendment — federal law that protects conscience rights. But, today, the HHS Office of Civil Rights released the results of its investigation into the California abortion mandate, stating it found no violation and is closing its investigation of the complaints without further action.

The Nation Is Going to Hell, But Hey! Transgender Bathrooms!

(CNSNews.com) -- "In your nation, God is being eroded, eclipsed, liquidated," Cardinal Robert Sarah, who was appointed as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments by Pope Francis in 2014, told hundreds of prominent Catholic clergy and lay people attending the 12^th annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast Tuesday in Washington.
In what he called "portentous times" for the Catholic Church and for the world, Cardinal Sarah condemned same-sex marriage, transgender bathroom laws, and attacks on the family as "demonic".
“All manner of immorality is not only accepted and tolerated today in advanced societies, it is even promoted as a social good,” the African cardinal said. “The result is hostility to Christians and increasingly, religious persecution.”

Sri Sr Ravi Shankari For President!

Unlike the current administration, at least he has a policy!

AGARTALA: Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said on Thursday that he tried to open a dialogue with the Islamic State group but it rebuffed him by sending him a photograph of a beheaded man.
“I tried to initiate peace talks with the ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) recently but they sent me a photograph of a beheaded body of a man. Thus, my effort for a peace dialogue with the ISIS ended,” he said.
“I think the ISIS does not want any peace talks,” he told the media in Agartala. “Hence, they should be dealt with militarily.”…

Choosing the Correct Fight

The president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said that “a Catholic voter commits a grave sin in voting for candidates who oppose the Lord’s teachings on the sacredness of human life from conception to natural death.”
Archbishop Socrates Villegas made this statement in a pastoral letter to his flock in the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan.

Archbishop Villegas

 As the May 9 elections approach, the prelate examined voting in light of each of the Ten Commandments. Commenting on the First Commandment, he said, “Do not vote for an atheist or for someone who makes fun of the name of God. A Catholic cannot support a candidate who vows to wipe out religion from public life.”
“You are called to be authentic Catholic voters who decide from prayer and conscience,” he continued. “Be free from the tyranny and pressure of trends and herds. Do it right! Choose what is right according to the Ten Commandments.”

 Meanwhile, our bishops go after global warming deniers and people who think the government should enforce the laws....

Little Sisters of the Poor Versus Barak Obama

On March 23, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the Little Sisters of the Poor’s legal challenge to the Obama administration’s so-called religious “accommodation” to its contraceptive mandate. The Sisters are a group of nuns who’ve dedicated themselves to serving the elderly poor. They — along with numerous other religious organizations — are challenging their required role in facilitating their employees’ access to free contraceptives, including contraceptives that can function as abortifacients. The stakes of the case extend far beyond access to contraceptives. The Court’s holding could reaffirm America’s historic commitment to religious liberty or restrict its free exercise for decades to come.

Read the whole thing by David French in National Review.