The Manhattan Project Speaks Out Forcefully

MANHATTAN DECLARATION SUMMARY

To Sign the Declaration, Go to:
http://manhattandeclaration.org/

Christians, when they have lived up to the highest ideals of their faith, have defended the weak and vulnerable and worked tirelessly to protect and strengthen vital institutions of civil society, beginning with the family. We are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians who have united at this hour to reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the common good, and to call upon our fellow citizens, believers and non-believers alike, to join us in defending them.

These truths are (1) the sanctity of human life, (2) the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife, and (3) the rights of conscience and religious liberty.

Inasmuch as these truths are foundational to human dignity and the well-being of society, they are inviolable and non-negotiable. Because they are increasingly under assault from powerful forces in our culture, we are compelled today to speak out forcefully in their defense, and to commit ourselves to honoring them fully no matter what pressures are brought upon us and our institutions to abandon or compromise them. We make this commitment not as partisans of any political group but as followers of Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Lord, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Human Life

The lives of the unborn, the disabled, and the elderly are ever more threatened. While public opinion has moved in a pro-life direction, powerful and determined forces are working to expand abortion, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. Although the protection of the weak and vulnerable is the first obligation of government, the power of government is today often enlisted in the cause of promoting what Pope John Paul II called “the culture of death.” We pledge to work unceasingly for the equal protection of every innocent human being at every stage of development and in every condition. We will refuse to permit ourselves or our institutions to be implicated in the taking of human life and we will support in every possible way those who, in conscience, take the same stand.

Marriage

The institution of marriage, already wounded by promiscuity, infidelity and divorce, is at risk of being redefined and thus subverted. Marriage is the original and most important institution for sustaining the health, education, and welfare of all. Where marriage erodes, social pathologies rise. The impulse to redefine marriage is a symptom, rather than the cause, of the erosion of the marriage culture. It reflects a loss of understanding of the meaning of marriage as embodied in our civil law as well as our religioustraditions. Yet it is critical that the impulse be resisted, for yielding to it would mean abandoning the possibility of restoring a sound understanding of marriage and, with it, the hope of rebuilding a healthy marriage culture. It would lock into place the false and destructive belief that marriage is all about romance and other adult satisfactions, and not, in any intrinsic way, about the unique character and value of acts and relationships whose meaning is shaped by their aptness for the generation, promotion and protection of life. Marriage is not a “social construction,” but is rather an objective reality—the
covenantal union of husband and wife—that it is the duty of the law to recognize, honor, and protect.

Religious Liberty

Freedom of religion and the rights of conscience are gravely jeopardized. The threat to these fundamental principles of justice is evident in efforts to weaken or eliminate conscience protections for healthcare institutions and professionals, and in antidiscrimination statutes that are used as weapons to force religious institutions, charities, businesses, and service providers either to accept (and even facilitate) activities and relationships they judge to be immoral, or go out of business. Attacks on religious liberty are dire threats not only to individuals, but also to the institutions of civil society including families, charities, and religious communities. The health and well-being of such institutions provide an indispensable buffer against the overweening power of government and is essential to the flourishing of every other institution—including government itself—on which society depends.

Unjust Laws

As Christians, we believe in law and we respect the authority of earthly rulers. We count it as a special privilege to live in a democratic society where the moral claims of the law on us are even stronger in virtue of the rights of all citizens to participate in the political process. Yet even in a democratic regime, laws can be unjust. And from the beginning, our faith has taught that civil disobedience is required in the face of gravely unjust laws or laws that purport to require us to do what is unjust or otherwise immoral. Such laws lack the power to bind in conscience because they can claim no authority beyond that of sheer human will. Therefore, let it be known that we will not comply with any edict that compels us or the institutions we lead to participate in or facilitate abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide, euthanasia, or any other act that violates the principle of the profound,inherent, and equal dignity of every member of the human family. Further, let it be known that we will not bend to any rule forcing us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality, marriage, and the family. Further, let it be known that we will not be intimidated into silence or acquiescence or the violation of our consciences by any power on earth, be it cultural or political, regardless of the consequences to ourselves. We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God’s.

Blog: Pope Announces Vehicle for Intake of Large numbers of Anglicans

Whispers in the Loggia by Rocco Palmo

Responding to a rising tide of requests in recent years for full communion from conservative Anglicans who've sought refuge under Rome's umbrella following their Communion's global troubles, this morning the Holy See preemptively announced a forthcoming Apostolic Constitution establishing a "single canonical model" for the intake of large numbers of Anglicans, fulfilling a century-old desire to integrate disaffected Anglicans into the Catholic Church "while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony.

For more, go to:

http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com

40 Days for Life: you can participate at Over 200 locations countrywide, including San Marcos, CA

go to:

www.40daysforlife.com

www.40daysforlife.com/sanmarcos/

ABORTION IS AT THE HEART OF OBAMA'S HEALTH CARE PLAN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9CCpvj690A&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ekeepabortionoutofhealthcare%2Ecom%2F&feature=player_embedded

You may be hearing a lot more about Blackwater

A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia. The two men claim that the company's owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. The former employee also alleges that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that Prince's companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life."

Mr. Prince intentionally deployed to Iraq certain men who shared his vision of Christian supremacy, knowing and wanting these men to take every available opportunity to murder Iraqis. Many of these men used call signs based on the Knights of the Templar, the warriors who fought the Crusades.

Mr. Prince operated his companies in a manner that encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life. For example, Mr. Prince's executives would openly speak about going over to Iraq to "lay Hajiis out on cardboard." Going to Iraq to shoot and kill Iraqis was viewed as a sport or game. Mr. Prince's employees openly and consistently used racist and derogatory terms for Iraqis and other Arabs, such as "ragheads" or "hajiis."

Among the additional allegations made by Doe #1 is that "Blackwater was smuggling weapons into Iraq." He states that he personally witnessed weapons being "pulled out" from dog food bags. Doe #2 alleges that "Prince and his employees arranged for the weapons to be polywrapped and smuggled into Iraq on Mr. Prince's private planes, which operated under the name Presidential Airlines," adding that Prince "generated substantial revenues from participating in the illegal arms trade."

To read the whole article go to:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090817/scahill

Pope Benedict XVI New Encyclical: CARITAS IN VERITATE

1. Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore witness by his earthly life and especially by his death and resurrection, is the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity. Love — caritas — is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace. It is a force that has its origin in God, Eternal Love and Absolute Truth. Each person finds his good by adherence to God's plan for him, in order to realize it fully: in this plan, he finds his truth, and through adherence to this truth he becomes free (cf. Jn 8:22). To defend the truth, to articulate it with humility and conviction, and to bear witness to it in life are therefore exacting and indispensable forms of charity. Charity, in fact, “rejoices in the truth” (1 Cor 13:6). All people feel the interior impulse to love authentically: love and truth never abandon them completely, because these are the vocation planted by God in the heart and mind of every human person. The search for love and truth is purified and liberated by Jesus Christ from the impoverishment that our humanity brings to it, and he reveals to us in all its fullness the initiative of love and the plan for true life that God has prepared for us. In Christ, charity in truth becomes the Face of his Person, a vocation for us to love our brothers and sisters in the truth of his plan. Indeed, he himself is the Truth (cf. Jn 14:6).

2. Charity is at the heart of the Church's social doctrine. Every responsibility and every commitment spelt out by that doctrine is derived from charity which, according to the teaching of Jesus, is the synthesis of the entire Law (cf. Mt 22:36- 40). It gives real substance to the personal relationship with God and with neighbour; it is the principle not only of micro-relationships (with friends, with family members or within small groups) but also of macro-relationships (social, economic and political ones). For the Church, instructed by the Gospel, charity is everything because, as Saint John teaches (cf. 1 Jn 4:8, 16) and as I recalled in my first Encyclical Letter, “God is love” (Deus Caritas Est): everything has its origin in God's love, everything is shaped by it, everything is directed towards it. Love is God's greatest gift to humanity, it is his promise and our hope.

To Continue click here:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-in-veritate_en.html

28th Anniversary Message from Our Lady of Medjugorje

Happy 28th Anniversary! Today is a very special day. Today we celebrate 28 years of Our Lady appearing in Medjugorje. Thank you Blessed Mother for your messages throughout these years, for your patience, for your love, and for your help in bringing us closer to your Son Jesus. Thank you Jesus for sending us your Mother, and for all the graces you have given us through Medjugorje.

Message of June 25, 2009

"Dear children! Rejoice with me, convert in joy and give thanks to God for the gift of my presence among you. Pray that, in your hearts, God may be in the center of your life and with your life witness, little children, so that every creature may feel God’s love. Be my extended hands for every creature, so that it may draw closer to the God of love. I bless you with my motherly blessing. Thank you for having responded to my call."

http://www.medjugorje.org

California Constitutional Amendment Upheld

California Supreme Court justices upheld the California Marriage Amendment, known as Prop. 8, yesterday in a 6-1 ruling. The justices said the ruling addressed only the narrow issue of whether the state's constitution was properly amended. Here's what CatholicVote.org had to say:

The California Supreme Court yesterday rejected attempts by homosexual activists to throw out the constitutional amendment passed by 52% of California voters last November.

You may recall that we filed an amicus brief in this important case on behalf of you – and all the members of CatholicVote.org. In our brief, we argued that activists seeking to void the will of the people in California is “utterly inconsistent with the root premise of the constitution… that ‘all political power is inherent in the people ... [that] government is instituted for their protection, security, and benefit, and they have the right to alter or reform it when the public good may require.’”

Less reported is the fact that voters crossed traditional political lines to pass this amendment. For example, 53% of Hispanics supported the amendment and African Americans voted in favor of the amendment by a whopping 70-30% margin!

Unfortunately, the court also preserved thousands of ‘marriages’ between same-sex couples that were performed during the intervening period between yesterday’s decision, and a previous court ruling allowing same-sex marriage in California. These same-sex couples remain married under an illicit decision that has now been trumped by a vote of the people.

All political posturing and rhetoric aside, marriage between a man and woman remains the best environment to raise a child, and the people of every state deserve the right to uphold this time-tested institution.

Sincerely,

Brian Burch
CatholicVote.org


P.S. Our latest ad aired successfully on American Idol last week in six states. We have been deluged with responses from across the country. We pray and hope more than a few seeds have been planted. Of course once planted, these seeds will need to be watered. So yes, don’t worry, we have more coming soon.

Many have asked about the music used in our recent ad. The song “Close My Eyes” is available for download via iTunes for $.99. And if you download it now, a portion of the cost goes directly to CatholicVote.org! Download the song now at iTunes.

AUL on Sotomayor Nomination to US Supreme Court

Americns United for Life writes...

We’ve been working hard in the lead-up to the Supreme Court nomination to prepare . . . and today was the day. As you know, the President nominated Second Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor. We’ve spent the day responding to requests for a response from a pro-life perspective -- running from the Associated Press to the BBC to FOX Radio and more.

The Washington Post gave AUL credit for leading the way in researching Sotomayor’s record and being one of the first pro-life groups to comment on her nomination. We want to keep you informed as this nomination process goes forward, so please stop by AUL.org for more background on Judge Sotomayor.

So what do we think? Frankly, this is a very troubling nomination. In listing his requirements for a Supreme Court pick, President Obama highlighted “empathy” rather than loyalty to Constitutional principles. Now, we see what that means -- a judge who makes it clear she decides cases on feelings, not facts. She is a radical judicial activist who readily admits that she applies her personal political agenda when deciding cases.

In a speech at Duke Law School at 2005, Sotomayor said that her own Court of Appeals -- not the democratically elected legislature -- is “where policy is made.” Taking such “judicial action,” she said in a 2004 speech, is part of the “heroics of judges today; it may dwell in protecting our own turf and ensuring that it is we who interpret the law.”

Sotomayor’s philosophy of radical judicial activism is exactly the thinking that led to the Supreme Court turning into the “National Abortion Control Board,” denying the American people the right to be heard on this critical issue. She will further entrench the Court’s self-appointed role as the sole arbiter of abortion policy. Based on her judicial philosophy, we expect her to elevate unrestricted, unregulated, and taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand to a fundamental constitutional right by reading the sweeping Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) into the Constitution.

Pro-abortion groups are already lining up to endorse Obama’s choice. NARAL praised her “distinguished record of professional accomplishments,” while the National Organization for Women (NOW) said it would “celebrate” the nomination with a “Confirm Her” ad campaign.

That’s why it’s so important we get out the truth about Sotomayor’s radical judicial activism. Our recent polling data shows 69% of the American people believe that “some federal judges have gone too far by doing more than just interpreting the law and instead are making new law.” Mainstream America will not tolerate the choice of a Supreme Court nominee who, instead of following her duty to uphold the Constitution, chooses instead to dictate her own personal political agenda.

We need your help to make sure the next Supreme Court justice rules on facts, not feelings. Will you send a generous gift today? We want to send a loud and clear message that the American people will not tolerate a judge who believes in setting her own policy and “protecting [her] own turf.” But we need your help to keep pounding the message home during the confirmation process. Let’s show our politicians and the American people that a vote to confirm her would be a vote to strip Americans of the ability to choose for themselves how to regulate abortion. Thank you for standing with us!

For Life,

Charmaine Yoest, Ph.D.
President & CEO
Americans United for Life

http://www.aul.org

Pope Benedict Historic Holy Land Visit

Follow the visit on Vatican.com:

http://www.youtube.com/vatican

IMAGINE THE POTENTIAL

Check out the latest Catholicvote.org video, just unveiled on the national day of prayer:

Catholic Vote

Posted using ShareThis

Secular Humanism and Popular Culture

Do you remember when, as a child, it first struck you that television ads are largely full of lies? Or certainly that the claims made are founded on little more than thin air? Were you as repulsed by this revelation as I was?

As children, we seek knowledge, we looks for facts. We want to know if something is true or not, and we look to our parents for answers. We set sail on the endless stream of information called media. We are engaged by television and confronted with advertising. We are told “its just a commercial.”

Over the years we have become desensitized to The Big Lie to the point where we celebrate good lies, watching re-runs of the “top ten all-time” Super Bowl Ads. The Mean Joe Green coca-cola ad is ranked number one. I remember watching it the first year it ran. The ending disappointed me. It posed a nice sentiment for football fans, but it left me feeling empty.

I believe the empty feeling I got from television ads resulted from my Christian grounding. I was raised in the Christian faith, and as an altar boy in the Episcopal Church for seven years; I absorbed the Liturgy of the Word and came to love our Lord deeply. Somehow I got it in my heart that true satisfaction in life would only be achieved through Him.

Along with most of my generation, my grounding in faith eroded as I ventured away from home, to college, and into adulthood. I watched our world change quickly in a few short decades. “One Nation Under God” transmogrified into a culture of self, celebrity, and self-celebrity. We allowed our discipline and strength of character to resist temptation to fade into the mist. We were successfully seduced by money, pleasure, power, fame, and the gentrification of infantilism, as the lines between advertising, self-promotion, and reality melted away.

Our culture of convenience and instant gratification has twisted our thinking. We are inclined to think of discipline as manipulation, an easy conclusion to reach because it justifies our distaste for moral authority and our lack of spiritual effort. Fallen away Christians cry “Oh, the guilt it gave me” while they drive their children around town on an endless tour of non-stop entertainment. No one has time for peace, reflection, or worship. We are too busy for discipline.

While we were scurrying around, the prevailing culture endorsed the primacy of the individual, authorized minimal contribution to the whole, and blessed the assertion that pleasure is the ultimate good. The individual has won the right to put out minimal effort for maximum pleasure. Freedom has become the right to do whatever you want. The power of the beautiful yet horrible adolescent temper tantrum has overcome patience and wisdom. It happened oh so fast.

The questions “What’s in it for me?” and “What is the least I can do to get to heaven?” snuck onto the spiritual agenda. Religious affiliation choices are filtered through the field of secular perception, resulting in a world where families shop for “user friendly” churches.

To be honest, I wasn’t overly concerned about all this until I discovered that my life had re-invented itself while I was busy being overwhelmed. My long, strange trip ran out of time.

I rediscovered my Christian grounding buried under a heap of confusion. As a consequence, I am getting headaches from The Big Lie again, and the emptiness of a story that doesn’t show me salvation, or at least redemption, leaves me dissatisfied. My conscience no longer allows me to accept “whatever” as a viable reaction to ugly social trends and the perpetuation of false promises.

Popular culture has evolved to where it is in blatant, direct conflict with Christian philosophy, and Secular Humanism has infected spirituality and the practice of religion on a global basis. The ugly truth is that popular western culture has become a carrier of this virus. Though we are still spiritually vital, the media portrays Christians as knee jerks who threaten the triumph of science and social progress. A large public segment views the Church through secular eyes, unwittingly desiring to cut it off from heaven.

Fortunately, I have learned to let worldly pain wash through me without clotting in my veins, and I want the same for my brothers and sisters. I feel compelled to join the battlefield of right and wrong because I want to get it right and finish strong.

I believe we are created by God, for God. We need to give thanks for the Grace we have been given and for the profound Love of the Holy Trinity--thereby regaining our essential purpose. Secular Humanism has been resisted before. Popular Culture can be changed.

"Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called."

1 Timothy 6:12

Where Faith and Reason Meet

Introducing the encyclical letter he addressed to the Bishops of the Catholic Church, “Fides Et Ratio,” on the relationship between faith and reason, Pope John Paul II had this to say:

“Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human
spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed
in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to
know himself—so that by knowing and loving God, men and
women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves
(cf. Ex 33:18; Ps 27:8-9; 63:2-3; Jn 14:8; 1 Jn 3:2).”

While this statement sums it up beautifully, I will attempt to elaborate below, borrowing heavily from the Supreme Pontiff’s encyclical, which relied in good part on St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae.

God loves us and wants to make himself known to us, and He instilled in us a desire to know him. We are free and intelligent, capable of knowing God, good and evil, truth, and fundamental moral norms. In time and history, basic principals, such as causality, finality, and non-contradiction emerged to help in giving us a deeper understanding of faith and the meaning of life. Thus faith and reason became interdependent.

In the “fullness of time” (Gal 4:4) God sent his Son, the eternal Word who enlightens all people, so that he might dwell among them and tell them the innermost realities about God (cf. Jn 1:1-18). To see Jesus is to see his Father
(Jn 14:9). Christ perfected Revelation by fulfilling it through his whole work of becoming present, manifesting himself with words, deeds, signs, and wonders, his death and glorious Resurrection, and his sending of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, he restored the divine life Adam and Eve refused, and offers the truth about the goal of history.

By his divinity and absolute transcendence, God himself is the credibility of what he reveals. Mankind accepts his divine testimony in freedom, by faith, reasoning upon its profound meaning. Freedom is not a result of reasoning made against God, for God is the very reality that allows our self-realization—

“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”
(Jn 8:32).

The proclamation of the Good News employed reason upon the coming of the Holy Spirit. “The law and the prophets” did not resonate with the pagans, so philosophy was used to create a link between universal reason and pagan religion. Rising to higher levels, reason provided a basis for the concepts of self-realization, transcendence, and the absolute.

Nature, a main concern of pagan religion, became a contributor to divine Revelation. Faith therefore, sought nature and trusted it. Grace builds on
nature and raises it to fulfillment, as faith builds on reason and perfects it.

Wisdom, a gift of the Holy Spirit, presupposes faith and enables judgment according to divine truth. Faith accepts divine truth as it is.

As history progressed, philosophy began to separate from reason, and in some ways, reason itself was abandoned. Modern philosophy has moved well away from Christian Revelation, to a point where philosophy is largely opposed to it, giving way to atheistic humanism and other dialectical structures. Faith has been accused of standing in the way of the development of full rationality. Philosophy has turned away from the contemplation of truth and the meaning of life toward a new form that can be directed by utilitarian ends—pleasure and power.

Scientists, by all rights allies of faith and reason, have taken a path similar to that of philosophy, succumbing to the temptations of assumed quasi-divine power over nature and humanity.

Once divine Revelation was shoved aside, reason swerved off the path to its goal. Faith, without its companion reason, has given way to feeling and experience, losing its status as the saving grace and driving force of human volition. Modern philosophy has become inept in facilitating the communication of the truth of the Gospel.

Atheism, agnosticism, and relativism lead the march toward universal skepticism. Truth has been devalued, and plurality rules the day. Undifferentiated plurality paints an assumption that truth is revealed equally in different philosophies and religions, even when they clearly contradict one another. Truth is reduced to opinion, and humankind waffles, adrift in a sea of “whatever.”

As the bearers of faith, reason, truth, and divine Revelation, it is incumbent upon Christians to protect God’s truth and continue the mission of the church fathers. Pope John Paul II “unstintingly recalled the pressing need for a new evangelization.”

There are many new icebreakers forging ahead through the icebound waters of “whatever.” We need to pull out our thermals and sign on to one of them. Or develop the ways and means to raise a navy, shore up the old ships, pull them out of the dry docks, and set sail. We already have the faith and reason required for victory. Jesus Christ saw to that.

SOUTER ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

With Supreme Court Justice David Souter announcing his upcoming retirement, the possibility of a Pro-Life appointment to the nation's highest court opens up. It seems likely that President Obama will replace him with a Pro-Choice justice, and so the battle continues...read all about it:

http://www.aul.org/PR_05-01-09

GOVERNOR HUCKABEE CALLED ME

...to tell me about the AUL, Americans United for Life. The website is a terrific tool for pro-life soldiers. Check it out. Life is the issue. Enlist today:

http://www.aul.org/

AUL offers a user-friendly vehicle to send messages to your government representatives concerning Pro-Life issues. All it takes is a few clicks and your name and address, the website does the rest! It took me under 30 seconds to send a message to President Obama regarding FOCA. Also--

The California Assembly currently has a bill, AB 67, or the "Pharmacy Patient Protection Act of 2008," which would require pharmacists to dispense all prescriptions, regardless of ethical, moral, or religious objections. Please urge your Representatives to vote against this bill!

CLICK ON THE LINK ABOVE TO GO TO THE AUL WEBSITE. CLICK ON "TAKE ACTION." CHOOSE YOUR ACTION BY CLICKING ON ONE OF THE LINKS ON THE LEFT, I.E. "CALIFORNIA: URGE YOUR REPS TO PROTECT PHARMACISTS."

Shroud Of Turin Article

The link below will take you to an excellent article about the shroud and relics in general. However, what the article fails to do is fully explain all the testing that has been done on the shroud. There are just as many viable theories and tests that validate the shroud as there are that invalidate it.


click here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123940218130209621.html

Catholic Tea Party!

Dear Friend:

Thank you for signing the petition at NotreDameScandal.com, opposing the University of Notre Dame’s planned honor to President Barack Obama, despite his dangerous record on life issues.

More than 264,000 Catholics have signed the petition at NotreDameScandal.com, including many priests, Notre Dame families, college presidents and even some bishops!

But The Cardinal Newman Society needs your help again… to recruit MORE signers!

Notre Dame still has not yielded, and we need more Catholics to stand up and be counted.

Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop of Chicago and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has urged faithful Catholics to “do what you are supposed to be doing: to call, to email, to write letters, to express what’s in your heart about this”!

Bishop Joseph Martino of Scranton, a champion of Catholic identity, has specifically urged Catholics to sign the petition at NotreDameScandal.com!

At this stage, and in addition to prayer, the single most important thing that the lay faithful can do THIS WEEK is to drive the number of signers on the petition even higher!

The petition has had a dramatic impact. Nearly every media article and broadcast about the Notre Dame scandal – at MSNBC, FOX News, EWTN, TIME magazine, U.S. News & World Report, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and more – has pointed to the LARGE NUMBER of protesters at NotreDameScandal.com!

And how often to we see nearly three dozen bishops so publicly decry scandal in the Church?

These bishops – including leading Cardinals and Archbishops – have declared Notre Dame’s planned honor a “travesty,” “unconscionable,” “indefensible,” “a public act of disobedience to the Bishops,” and “seemingly without regard for the mission of the Catholic Church in the United States”!

Please, take a few seconds to forward this e-mail to at least five friends and family, and encourage them to sign the petition at NotreDameScandal.com TODAY!

You see, at 7:00 a.m. Monday morning we are going to print the first wave of petitions, and what a statement it would make if Father Jenkins and the bishops (including some of our friends in Rome) saw that we had 300,000, 350,000 or even 400,000 Catholics demanding that Notre Dame live up to its Holy mission!

As much as pro-abortion Catholics want to make this a partisan issue, you and I know that at its core this scandal is about Catholics and Catholic institutions standing up as a witness for life and for our Holy, catholic and apostolic faith at this moment in history when it is under constant attack.

Please, it is critical that we get as many people as possible to sign the petition this week!

May God bless you for your faithful witness to the truth, and may He inspire Father Jenkins to withdraw this scandalous honor! Please keep watching NotreDameScandal.com for the latest breaking information on this story.

Yours in Christ,

Patrick J. Reilly

President, The Cardinal Newman Society

Pro-Life Campaign Having Impact

The CatholicVote.com campaign to bolster the Pro-Life message is working. Check out this recent Wall Street Journal article:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123854185757175689.html

PARTIAL BIRTH & NOTRE DAME SHAME

From: brianburch@catholicvote.com
Sent: 3/23/2009 1:19:48 P.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Notre Dame Shame

Dear CatholicVote.org Member,

http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/2923701:3759179976:m:4:142139552:E6A3C2A54E7EE361A1C60F156F1898FFLike many of you, we received the news last Friday that President Barack Obama will deliver the commencement address at the University of Notre Dame this May.

In addition to delivering the address, the President will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree. In short, one of our nation’s premier Catholic institutions will honor the President, and hold out him as an example to its students as someone worthy of emulation!

Given President Obama’s utterly shameful record on life, how could a Catholic university honor him?

The University could have politely and quietly told the White House that their standing invitation to the President of the United States was not available this year. Better yet, they could have said that while they would welcome his contributions to the public debate over how to solve our economic crisis, his regrettable policies in favor of a culture of death make it impossible for them to welcome him.

Notre Dame has regrettably hosted pro-abortion speakers in the past, but President Obama is a champion of the abortion cause.

Sadly, it is now indisputable that our President has become the world’s leading promoter of abortion, embryo-killing cloning and research, taxpayer-funded abortion, and a vigorous opponent of conscience protections for medical professionals. His campaign promises to find ‘common ground’ have sadly been ignored, or perhaps were simply lies. And this Administration has only just begun.

Is there anything a president could do that would disqualify him or her from delivering such a prestigious address?

If there is such a threshold, Barack Obama has not disqualified himself with Notre Dame officials.

And so we must act.

We have spoken with professors, students, and leaders at Notre Dame over the past 48 hours and have concluded that a massive protest will be practically difficult, and even counterproductive. The University has a right as a private school to prevent all protestors from entering campus, and could legally arrest those who violate this rule. Secondly, a protest could create exactly the wrong impression.

Therefore, we are recommending four courses of action.

1) CatholicVote.org has partnered with the Cardinal Newman Society, a dynamic organization dedicated to the renewal of Catholic higher education in establishing www.NotreDameScandal.com. Together our aim is to collect thousands of signatures and present them to University officials. Sign the petition now.

2) Contact Notre Dame and charitably express your outrage. CatholicVote.org is large enough to have a major impact, and we urge you to contact Notre Dame President Father Jenkins at (574) 631-5000.

3) Join your fellow CatholicVote.org members in a prayer of reparation on May 17 from 2-4 PM. We encourage you to organize local groups to pray for mercy for the decision by Notre Dame, but also for our nation for continuing to permit the tragedy of abortion.

***If you live in the Midwest, or near Notre Dame University, we invite you to personally join us in prayer at the Grotto on the campus of Notre Dame from 2-4 PM on May 17, where we will be joined by several Notre Dame professors, alumni, and current students. The gathering will be a peaceful and prayerful.

4) Please forward this message to your family and friends. Let them know about Notre Dame's decision to honor the most pro-abortion President in American history. We must not remain silent over this scandal!

Sincerely,

Brian Burch, President
CatholicVote.org

SUPPORT THE NEW CATHOLIC MEDIA

Join me on CatholicVote.org.

It is an exciting opportunity to be part of a new movement that’s committed to using powerful media projects to create a Culture of Life. We can help shape the movement and have a voice in its future.

Sign up: www.CatholicVote.org

Check us out on our Facebook Page and on Twitter

Vatican YouTube Channel

The Vatican has launched a video channel on YouTube that features news coverage of Pope Benedict XVI and major Vatican events. The initiative is part of the Vatican's vision "to be present wherever people are." To create the channel, a partnership was formed between the Vatican Television Center, Vatican Radio, and Google/YouTube. Hours after the launch, the new channel had recorded over 12,000 views and enrolled more than 500 subscribers.

What a terrific new vehicle for The Church! Check it out:

www.youtube.com/vatican

401K BLUES

Have you been watching your retirement account shrink faster than you can say, "earmark"? Do you have an awful knot in your stomach and random, bizarre thoughts about the future? Visions of pawnshops and soup kitchens? I heard the "D" word on TV today, not "D" for defense, "D" for depression, as in the next great.

I think a certain group of talking heads would have us ready to jump out the window. I am weary of an America where one political party sells doomsday while the other sells the future with pork on the side. Partisan politics are driving the country into the ground.

Oh, Lord, when will the greed and bickering end?

I have been drawn to the story of Job many times in the past few years, but never more so than now. To quote Job 1:21:

"Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall go back again; the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!"

Turn off the TV and pray for the grace to know and obey God's will for us. After all, its His board game, not ours. We were created by God, for God. He may just allow capitalism to go to hell in a hand basket.

Easier said than done, right? Well, if Job's revolutionary attitude doesn't strike you just right, try our Lord and Savior:

"Then He saw that they were tossed about while rowing, for the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea...(He said to them) ‘Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid’. He got into the boat with them, and the wind died down." (Mark 6:48-50 NAB)

Retirement accounts and our relationships to them are as varied as the projects getting government aid. Some of us are negligent in funding them, some of us worshiped them and the dream they represented, and most of us swore to increase our contributions as we signed our tax returns each of the past several years.

Those who worshiped long at the retirement account altar are watching their excursions to the Far East and African safaris disappear, while the C and E type contributors are forced to swear off Starbucks and trips to the mall. I haven't checked lately, but Wal-Mart might be the only safe investment right now. Those who have retired and live off interest, dividends, and social security, are praying the hardest. Those with cash are buying real estate.

When I think about all these things for too long, a little voice tells me to forget about it and re-focus on what God's will is for me. What does He want me to do today? He might say, "convert to cash," but more likely he will say "Call your brother," "Come to confession," or "Come to mass," and certainly "Be not afraid!"

Don't forget to say grace over your dinner tonight. Bless the Lord's name for knowing the number of hairs on your head, and for working out his plan for your life. The future always holds the certainty of change. With Him we are free to face it without fear.

THE BATTLE CONTINUES

President Bush, God bless him, signed broad job protection measures for health workers who refuse to provide care they find objectionable, i.e. doctors and nurses who do not want to perform abortions. The Obama administration is attempting to rescind these rules.

Meanwhile, back in California, the State Supreme Court begins a review of Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment that bans gay marriage. Wikipedia has a great page on Prop 8 with all the facts, figures and history of the issue--

Go to:

www.wikipedia.org

and type in "prop 8"

Ash Wednesday Message

Our Lady's Message of February 25, 2009

“Dear children! In this time of renunciation, prayer and penance, I call you anew: go and confess your sins so that grace may open your hearts, and permit it to change you. Convert little children, open yourselves to God and to His plan for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

the Medjugorje Web
http://www.medjugorje.org

POSTER BOY OBAMA

The irony involved in the recent catholic vote.com video is not lost: Obama, used as the example of one who lived-one who was not aborted, is quickly becoming one of the most impactful pro-abortionists of all time.

The message is very clear: Life is THE issue. We were created by God, for God. Playing in God's arena is "above our pay grade."

For more information, click on:

http://www.catholicworldreport.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=83&Itemid=63&AFID=323

Inauguration Message

Click here:

http://www.catholicvote.com