Open to Life

A friend sent me a wonderful video, embedded below, about large families, which was also featured on Rorate Caeli. Rorate Caeli adds the caveat that “this post is ONLY intended to show the beauty of the big family, and in no way is it an endorsement of IVE. Read here for our post on this order.”

That said, the thoughts expressed by the people in the video beautifully expressed the joy of abandonment to Divine Providence. THIS is what being open to life is all about. Here are some quotes:

“My family is the greatest gift in my life because I have the love of fifteen children and my wife, which makes me very happy…[A] father doesn’t fulfill himself at his work, his office, unless he first fulfills himself in his family.”

“Always bet on a family, the true good.”

“I’m convinced that children are not parents’ private property. Children belong to God, and He lends parents the children’s souls.”

From a priest from a large family: “Don’t be afraid to give God what belongs to God, as all the saints did, giving love for love, life for life, everything for everything.

Another priest (seminarian?) says, “Don’t be afraid to surrender  to Jesus Christ. If he calls us, it’s not to take something away from us; it’s to give us everything.”

A young man who is an attorney says he misses having his family all together under one roof, as many are in various stages of their religious formation, but says, “I think the key attitude is to be obedient to God’s will, which makes us a very happy family”. He also notes that he has a girlfriend and wants to get married soon “and have children who learn to honor God”.

Rorate Caeli has a follow-up post in which they say ask for volunteers to share their “large family” stories:

The post on the Prado family sparked many emails, and discussions in my own home, about what it takes to be like them. While we don't know what they're really like with the cameras off, all evidence points to their holiness, and their happiness.

…If you have the time to write us, send in your stories to  athanasiuscatholic@yahoo.com. Don't worry about the grammar, the length, etc. Just jot your stories down and send them in. And tell us if you want to stay anonymous or not. Pictures are welcome as well as links to family blogs.

Be sure to check the post for all the details and requirements if you have a story to share. I hope some who have shared their stories with me will send in their anecdotes to Rorate Caeli!

Rorate Caeli had one more follow-up post with an example of an inspirational story. Here’s the beginning of that post – follow the link to read the whole thing:

Please consider sending your story to Rorate (see here for very flexible instructions) to post in this on-going series to help inspire young Catholic couples to forgo the abuses of Natural Family Planning (NFP) and simply go fourth and multiply with faith and confidence in a loving and all-knowing God:

By Maeana Cragg

Some people may think we’re crazy. Others may think that we are just foolish. Few have ever said that directly to us.

In fact, after asking the obligatory, “Are they all yours?” most people are kind enough to tell us what a beautiful family we have.

There was a time when a Catholic family with at least seven sweet little stair steps was not extraordinary at all, but quite typical. Somewhere, we seem to have lost that beautiful part of our Catholic identity… [read the rest here]

Thoughts from "V-for-Victory" Blog

Anita at “V-for-Victory” blog has a great post, which starts out with this quote from Venerable Archbishop Fulton S. Sheen:

The modern world, which denies personal guilt and admits only social crimes, which has no place for personal repentance but only public reforms, has divorced Christ from His Cross; the Bridegroom and Bride have been pulled apart. What God hath joined together, men have torn asunder. As a result, to the left is the Cross; to the right is the Christ...The Western post-Christian civilization has picked up the Christ without His Cross. But a Christ without a sacrifice that reconciles the world to God is a cheap, feminized, colorless, itinerant preacher who deserves to be popular for His great Sermon on the Mount, but also merits unpopularity for what He said about His Divinity on the one hand, and divorce, judgment, and hell on the other. This sentimental Christ is patched together with a thousand commonplaces....Without His Cross, He becomes nothing more than a sultry precursor of democracy or a humanitarian who taught brotherhood without tears.  

Ven. Fulton J. Sheen, Life of Christ

Be sure to read Anita’s whole post – it’ll make your day. I especially like her characterization of her recent Mass experiences. She writes:

This weekend, I had the joy of attending Low Mass in the Dominican Rite, for the feast of St. Vincent de Paul; then a Novus Ordo Vigil Mass for Sunday celebrated ad orientem.  But it all had to be paid for this morning, when I found myself at a Mass with muzak-like campfire ditties played on piano and bass guitar and bongos and cymbals and tinkly chimes; girl altar servers with loose hair and flip-flops; people encouraged to socialize with each other instead of getting recollected for Mass; a priest improvising Mass parts; the canon gone through hastily and almost carelessly; and applause at the end for Murph and the Magictones, followed by raucous yakking inside the church.

 So…how was your weekend liturgical experience?

More CCHD Scandal: Vortex

So… Ralph McCloud doles out money in the name of the CCHD - the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. McCloud is good friends with Wendy Davis, the Texas state senator who just about killed the major pro-life bill that passed in that state.  

Michael Voris asks, “So why is this significant?” And he answers that question. I think this is one where you have to either watch the whole video or read the entire script. We need to think about the big picture here – the picture that spans several decades of shady activity by the CCHD, as well as the years of friendship between two politicians who shouldn’t really have much in common.

See my recent post on the CCHD here.

The bottom line is this: the CCHD has been engaged in scandalous activity for years. They deny it every time someone broaches the subject; but as MV points out, the data is right there in their own documents and records. The ChurchMilitant.TV team has put together two special reports on this situation over the years, and both are embedded below.

The script for today’s Vortex is down below all three videos.

See the script for this Vortex below the next two videos.

Here's the script for "Pink Slip Time" Vortex:

We’d like to introduce you to a couple of “friends”. First, Wendy Davis, the Texas state senator who has become the darling of the pro-child murder crowd for her 11 hour filibuster a couple of weeks back which killed a major pro-life bill in the Texas state senate.

Thanks to Governor Rick Perry, Texas lawmakers were able to re-convene and eventually pass the law despite Davis’ political maneuverings.

The second person we’d like to introduce you to is our ‘ol buddy Ralph McCloud. Ralph

McCloud and Wendy Davis are old friends, going back years in Fort Worth Texas politics.

In fact, McCloud was the representative on the City Council for Fort Worth for District 8 and even mayor pro-tem back in 2005 as you can see here.

During a historic shift and restructuring of the council, Wendy Davis who was also a native Fort Worth politician lauded McCloud for his service to the locals – again as you can see in this picture. And it’s only fitting that she should praise him – they worked together for SIX years doing council work.

So McCloud and Davis go way back in Texas politics. And why is this significant?

Because, while Davis has been making a name for herself by touting the right of all women to butcher their children in the womb, her political buddy Ralph McCloud has been the US Catholic bishops’ point man on their anti-poverty program.

This anti-poverty program goes by the name of the CCHD, the Catholic Campaign for

Human Development, and was started largely by massively liberal Cardinal Joseph Bernardin back in the late 1960s.

It didn’t take long before many in the Church began noticing that different anti-poverty groups being awarded grant money to supposedly fight poverty, were also active in liberal and socialist political causes and supported abortion – just like McCloud’s pal

Wendy Davis does. McCloud is the guy responsible for doling out collection plate money to these groups.

When Wendy Davis ran for Texas state senate in 2008, McCloud came on board as her campaign treasurer in a role he claims was largely honorary. We’re still not quite clear on what an “honorary treasurer” does.

He is on record as saying he had no idea she was a radical pro-abortion politician – even as he was the treasurer and campaign contributions were coming in for her from Planned Parenthood and Annie’s List – another child killing political outfit.

McCloud served with Davis for six years in Fort Worth. They were politicians in the same party. He was her campaign treasurer as she ran against a pro-life incumbent and eventually defeated them.

And in all this time, in the world of politics, McCloud expects everyone to believe he had no idea that she was pro-abortion. The subject just never came up. Riiiiiight!

If he has a right to expect us to believe that, then we have a right to call that a whopper the size of Texas.

The CCHD – which pays McCloud – has been plagued for nearly two generations now by charges of deceiving Catholics in the pews by giving money to radical social groups often times trained in Saul Alinsky type methods of destabilizing the culture.

Abortion certainly destabilizes a culture, as does same-sex marriage; and as the bishops’ anti-poverty czar, McCloud has overseen the distribution of loads of dollars to groups who support these evils. No matter how much he and others at the bishops’ headquarters deny it, the CCHD did and does give your money to groups like this.

See our special report to find out extensive details if you would like – just click on the attached link. [Both special reports are embedded below.]

And every year, the staff that runs the CCHD denies it and says they’ve fixed what’s wrong, and these are nothing more than spurious charges, and we’ve heard ‘em all before, and blah blah blah.

They haven’t fixed what’s wrong, they are NOT spurious charges, and the fact that they keep getting repeated doesn’t make them untrue. In fact, it makes them more credible.

For years, some bishops and officials have been denying the charges – which have been proved time and time again by the way – despite the denials.

Press releases get generated. Liberals in and outside of the Church come scurrying and crawling out of their pits to support the CCHD and condemn faithful Catholics who are pointing out the evils.

Ralph McCloud supports politicians who are pro-abortion. He helps them get elected and officially serves on their campaigns. Why would it be so surprising then that he would direct money to groups are equally supportive of abortion?

Yet every time this comes up, the staff at the National Bishops’ headquarters acts so completely aggrieved and offended and truly stunned that such charges could be leveled.

Yet their leader helped to elect the very woman who nearly single-handedly killed the most pro-life bill to come out of a state legislature in decades. In fact, she DID kill it, the first time around. Wendy Davis made no secret of her pro-abortion politics. She openly ran on them, with the bishops’ poverty czar, Ralph McCloud cheering her on all the way and lending his support very publicly.

Why does Ralph McCloud still have a job at the bishops’ headquarters making decisions about which social justice groups get YOUR collection plate money?

This whole organization is ridiculous – not only philosophically, but theologically as

well. This isn’t charity, nor is it loving your neighbor.

The defense offered up privately by some bishops is that the CCHD is a mixed bag – it does some good, even if some of the groups it gives money to are questionable.

First of all, there are no questions. Some of the groups getting money are engaged in evil and activities that are flat-out anti-Catholic Church teaching. To hide behind the tired defense that – well, some of them do good and you gotta take the good with the bad is laughable.

That logic doesn’t apply when intrinsic evil is being supported. You may never do an evil to promote a good. Yet, here we have business as usual at the CCHD – where the leader is an active open public supporter of a notable pro-abortion politician – lent his name to her campaign – and no worries – his job is as safe as ever.

By the way – turns out that Ralph McCloud’s premiere politician Wendy Davis has become a darling of the baby-killing crowd.

A million dollars has poured into her campaign treasury from pro-aborts all over the country who see her as the new champion for ripping children to pieces in the womb – and standing right along beside her is the US Bishops’ anti-poverty man.

Maybe Wendy will take some of her new found money and give a donation to the CCHD – after all, its leader helped get her elected.

And Catholic establishment media types wonder why faithful Catholics are so upset at conditions in the Church. Really?

Anti-Catholicism in Eastern Oregon?

Baker City, Oregon

Anti-Catholicism in little ol’ Baker City, where never a discouraging word is to be heard? See what you think.

My husband, Jerry, recently wrote a letter to the editor of our local newspaper regarding the controversial topic of wind farm development – an issue with local importance here in our county and surrounds.  

Here’s his letter as it appeared in the paper:

County officials should deny wind farm developers

I agree fully with Bill Harvey and others who oppose wind farm developments in Baker County. If the two proposed sites are approved they won’t be in my view corridor like the monstrosity in Union County is. The blight on the landscape created by wind farms is not, however, my main objection. They are but another example of how the bogus climate change and green energy scams have influenced our nation’s policy makers and at great expense to us as taxpayers.

One of the leading corporations which packages funding for prospective wind farm developments brags that up to 80 percent of the capital costs of such developments can be paid by government grants. That’s our tax money. Further, such developments once built qualify for significant tax credits for every megawatt of electricity produced. There is another negative impact on an already struggling economy folks.

Looking at the big picture: appearance; negative impact on wildlife and the environment; and the fact that without substantial subsidies these projects are economic losers it is clear that the Board of Commissioners should not approve these projects. Approval by the Commissioners will contribute to the developers making money, but at the expense of the rest of us. The Commissioners’ responsibility is to the majority, not companies or individuals who will benefit at taxpayer expense.

Jerry Boyd

Baker City

Seems to me that he made his point, fairly objectively, for the “con” side of the wind farm issue. Of course, we would expect someone from the “pro” side to step up and rebut. And someone did, but I was a little taken aback by his approach. Here’s a response to Jerry’s letter:

Denying climate change runs counter to science

Jerry Boyd is a firm believer in showing obedience to Catholic Church doctrine. (See Baker City Herald letter of April 11, 2012.) If Boyd had lived in Galileo's time, would he have denounced Galileo, as the Catholic Church did, for saying that the Earth is not the center of the universe? Probably.

That's exactly what he does in his letter to the Herald of July 12, 2013, in which he denounces "climate change and green energy" as "scams." Boyd claims he's "looking at the big picture," when he argues against government subsidies to wind farms. That view is decidedly nearsighted, according to the world's scientific community.

The costs to counter human-caused global warming are going to be much more, the longer people like Boyd and Congress keep denying the obvious effects on the livability of our planet. As the Fram Filter man says, "Pay me now, or pay me later."

Jerry, how's the climate down there in the sand where your head is stuck?

Gary Dielman

Baker City

There is so much wrong with Dielman’s letter, I hardly know where to begin. And I believe the newspaper editors are a little remiss in allowing ad hominem attacks like this, but they’ve done so before.

I will say, though, that Dielman quite unintentionally pays my husband a supreme compliment: “Jerry Boyd is a firm believer in showing obedience to Catholic Church doctrine.” Yes, indeed he is! And he’s not afraid to say so! The previous letter, to which Dielman refers, was one regarding the HHS contraception mandate. It said, in part:

[A previous writer] is absolutely wrong when she states that a position regarding contraception is not a part of Church dogma. The encyclical (document) of Pope Paul VI (“Humanae Vitae”) makes the Church’s position crystal clear.

…[I]t is indisputable from a factual perspective (rather than “opinion” and convenience) that the Church’s position on contraception has not changed before, during, or since the Second Vatican Council. What has changed is that Bishops and Priests have, to a large extent, failed in their obligation to show obedience to the Holy Father (Pope) and support what the Holy Father decrees to be the official position of the Church. Such failure to obey, and the failure of many Bishops and Priests to teach in conformance with Church doctrine on this and many other subjects, is precisely what has led to so many Catholics believing and acting in ways contrary to the Church’s official position.

Yep, my husband is a true Catholic, and not afraid to speak the Truth of the Church.

Dielman, however, is using my husband’s faith as a "red herring". The fact that Jerry is a Catholic and is faithful to the Magisterium has absolutely nothing to do with this letter about wind farms, nor with the assertions he made about the untruth of global warming ideology. In fact, this recent Forbes article doesn’t mention the Catholic Church once, and puts the lie to Dielman’s argument. Dielman wants to deny any evidence that the “global warming” scare is a scam – and there are plenty from the scientific community who acknowledge that such evidence does exist. There's nothing explicily "Catholic" about that.

In addition, Dielman, by throwing in the “Galileo card”, implies that there’s something wrong with the fact that Jerry practices his Catholic faith. We all know, he seems to say, that Galileo was a champion of scientific thought while the Church was hopelessly mired in the dark ages of non-scientific thought. WRONG, Mr. Dielman. The fact is, the Church was concerned that Galileo could not adequately defend his scientific theory – not with the theory itself. Others, prior to Galileo, had voiced the same theory with better evidence. Galileo was remiss in his scientific efforts. Those who like to hold up Galileo as the poster child for anti-Catholic sentiment simply persist in believing and promoting the myths rather than the facts about Galileo’s disagreement with the Church. See this article for one example.

I think “global warming” and “climate change” are political machinations that have nothing to do with Truth, but that issue is not my main concern with the debate about wind farms. Rather, the most concerning thing, for me, is Dielman’s blatant disparagement of Jerry’s faith. I believe we’ll see more of this, and that it will be tolerated where demeaning comments about other faiths (and secular idolatries, like homosexual “marriage”) will not.  I predict there will be little outcry from the local Catholic community in response to Dielman’s comment, though you can bet I will respond!

And if any of you outside the community would like to send a little note to the editor of the Baker City Herald, feel free!  You can submit a letter here, though I have found that is not always a reliable pathway to the editor.  I usually send an email to editor Jayson Jacoby at jjacoby@bakercityherald.com.

Of Popes, Matadors, and Proper Attire

I have stumbled upon a little article that provides an excellent (and hilarious) analysis of why a priest/bishop/pope should wear the vestments appropriate to his office. (H/T to Annie.)

For the full effect – and a good laugh – you must read the whole thing. But here’s a sample of this little tirade by “Mantilla the Hon”:

OK hon, think about my fiancé Augusto. He’s a matador you know? What everybody think if Augusto go out to fight El Toro wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt? No. They want him to wear those tight pants with sequins and the little hat and those slippers and stand tall and fight El Toro. It is the same thing with a priest. Nobody wants to see the priest in jeans and a T-shirt to say Mass. No. He should wear his fighting clothes and they should be as beautiful as possible because he is handsome and good and strong and he is fighting El Diablo who loves ugliness and cheapness.

Mantilla concludes:

I think maybe I write to the Holy Father about this. He’s a good man, but he never do a degree in Ecclesiastical haberdashery like me. I think maybe I am going to say, “Holy Father, thank you for being poor and riding the bus” I am going to say. “Thank you for being poor and wearing brown shoes. Thank you for being poor and riding in an old jeep and kissing people, but Holy Father, when you come to the altar, then I want you to be a prince. Be poor like poor baby Jesus every day, but when you come the altar I want you to remind me of King Jesus.”

You know what I mean Hon?

 Seriously…well, humorously…go here and read the whole thing!

Holy Spirit, Command Me: Vortex

I love this Vortex. Michael Voris shares a bit of his "story" - the prayers of his mother for his return to the Church, and her instructions to him:

A couple of months before she died, she said to me, “Michael, I want to you pray a certain prayer I’m gonna tell you. Don’t pray it until you are ready, but when you pray it, mean it very sincerely. The prayer is – Holy Spirit, command me to do your will.”

Michael Voris did pray that prayer, and the Holy Spirit answered.


Go here for the script.

The Choir of Virtues: Fr. Andersen Homily

A homily by Fr. Eric M. Andersen, Our Lady of Peace Retreat, Summer Catechetical Institute

July 14th, 2013

Dominica XV Per Annum, Anno C.

Second Reading: (Col. 1:15-20) Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God,the firstborn of all creation.For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth,the visible and the invisible,whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers;all things were created through him and for him.He is before all things,and in him all things hold together.He is the head of the body, the church.He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,that in all things he himself might be preeminent.For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell,and through him to reconcile all things for him,making peace by the blood of his crossthrough him, whether those on earth or those in heaven.

This week, I will be talking about human anthropology, from the theological perspective: virtues, vices, the appetites, the passions, and the will. Today’s second reading (Col. 1:15-20) prepares us for this anthropological study. We start with Christ. St. Paul explains to us that Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. We start there. God is invisible, or in other words, He is pure spirit. But God is not limited to remaining invisible. He just does not depend upon matter in order to exist. He is pure spirit, and therefore, He is invisible. But according to His divine and perfect will, He became incarnate, taking on human flesh. It was not God the Father who became incarnate, but God the Son. This brings us back to Colossians: The Son is the image of the invisible God. God is pure spirit, and therefore invisible, but the Son has taken on material existence, and therefore He is visible.

We could say that the first man, Adam, was also the image of the invisible God. Moses teaches us that Adam was made in the image and likeness of God. But Adam was made. Jesus was begotten not made. Jesus is the only begotten of the Father:

“ …in Him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible.” So Adam and all things visible on earth were created in Jesus Christ. But St. Paul tells us that heaven was also created and that all things invisible were created in Jesus Christ: thrones, dominions, principalities, powers. Elsewhere, St. Paul writes of the angels called the virtues. The scriptures also tell us about angels, archangels, cherubim, and seraphim. These names identify the nine choirs of angels which we encounter regularly in the prayers of the Holy Mass.

 

What can we learn about anthropology by studying these nine choirs of angels? Let’s look briefly at these nine choirs and how they are hierarchically ordered. St. Thomas Aquinas, keeping with Dionysius the Areopagite, “divides the angels into three hierarchies each of which contains three orders. Their proximity to the Supreme Being serves as the basis of this division. In the first hierarchy he places the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones; in the second, the Dominations, Virtues, and Powers; in the third, the Principalities, Archangels, and Angels” (Pope, Hugh. "Angels." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 14 Jul. 2013 http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01476d.htm>.)

Venerable Prosper Gueranger writes this about the nine choirs of angels:

“It is from the lowest of the nine choirs, the nearest to ourselves, that the Guardian Angels are for the most part selected. God reserves to the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones the honour of following His Own immediate court. The Dominations, from the steps of His throne, preside over the government of the universe; the Virtues watch over the course of nature's laws, the preservation of species, and the movements of the heavens; the Powers hold the spirits of wickedness in subjection. The human race in its entirety, as also its great social bodies, the nations and the churches, are confided to the Principalities; while the Archangels, who preside over smaller communities, seem also to have the office of transmitting to the Angels the commands of God, together with the love and light which come down even to us from the first and highest hierarchy. O the depths of the wisdom of God! Thus, then, the admirable distribution of offices among the choirs of heavenly spirits terminates in the function committed to the lowest rank, the guardianship of man, for whom the universe subsists” (The Liturgical Year. Vol. XIV, Feast of the Guardian Angels).

We see in this hierarchy of the angels a mirror of the hierarchy of visible things. Man is the highest of the visible beings, because among visible beings, he is closest to God. But among the invisible creation, the Guardian Angels are the lowest because they are the closest to man.

All of these beings, visible and invisible, were created in Christ. He holds all things together in Him. He is the head of the body, the Church. So the holy angels share communion with mankind as members of the Mystical Body of Christ in the Church. Just as we pray to the saints for their intercession, let us remember to pray to the holy angels for their intercession.  We are here to speak this week of human virtues. But we can see here that the Virtues, among the holy angels, can be of great help to us.

For instance, the Holy Choir of Virtues watch over the course of nature's laws, the preservation of species, and the movements of the heavens (the weather). Let’s put these angels to work in these three areas! God has created the natural law. Let us first pray to the Holy Virtues that the Natural Law may be respected and guarded especially in the preservation of marriage between one man and one woman. Let us pray secondly for the preservation of species, especially of the human race. In the face of rapidly declining birth rates around the world, forced sterilizations, the use of abortifacient birth control and abortion, let us pray to the Virtues for increased birth rates, a culture of life, and the preservation of the human race. Thirdly, let us pray to the holy Virtues for their intercession in the movement of the heavens––for good weather. May they intercede for farmers and all who depend of the weather for crops, especially during this summer season. Let us pray also for protection against natural disasters caused by weather and for safe travel for all who travel in the air, on the seas, through mountain passes, and all who are in danger due to inclement weather. 

Let us entrust these all these intentions to the Holy Choir of Virtues through Christ our Lord. “For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven”.