TWILIGHT
ZONE
***Dominic Sisters Host Lesbian Retreat! A few issues ago we reported on the Dominican Retreat House in McLean, VA hosting a spirituality series with lesbian partners Mary Hunt and Diane Neu of WATER [Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual]. Happily it was cancelled after Bishop Loverde’s intervention. We hoped never to mention Dominicans and lesbians in the same sentence again. Alas, a correspondent from Philadelphia sent the following corroborated report about the VA Dominicans' PA counterparts. "Last summer the Dominican Sisters of the Congregation of St. Catherine de’Ricci sponsored a ‘conference’ at their retreat house in Elkins Park, PA just outside Philadelphia. This was, as the sisters said, ‘open to Quaker women…who are lesbian, bisexual or moving towards those identities.’" [Do they use U-Hauls or Ryders?] The ad for the retreat detailed the cost "for women and girls, 14 or over who sleep over," [Gulp!] as well as "for children under 14." [Yikes!] Our correspondent asked "Can this reasonably be construed as placing young female children in what is called ‘an occasion of sin?’" [Yup!] "Essentially, these Dominican Sisters, instead of fighting against the enemies of God, have joined them!" [You got that right! Unfortunately, Cardinal Bevilaqua, washed his hands of the matter relating through his Vicar, Msgr. Alexander J. Palmieri, that the sisters are "a religious institute of pontifical right…under the direct jurisdiction of the Apostolic See (Rome), and as such is exempt in most matters from the oversight of the diocesan bishop." The Cardinal chose not to use his "bully pulpit" or his diocesan paper to rein in the nuns’ loopy decision. He forwarded our correspondent’s letter to the good sisters who’s president, Sr. Mary Ellen Bennett, responded, "I am proud that the Dominican Sisters offer hospitality to all people, especially those who are most maligned." Oh, please, Sister. Sexual deviants are a privileged clique in our society maligning any who dare to question their depraved behavior.]
***We visited the Quaker Website for a description of the lesbian conference which casts the word "friends" in a whole new light. The conference "exists to be a loving time and space in which Quaker women and women familiar with Quakerism, who are lesbian or bisexual…can connect to spirit and to each other. [Hmm...] We envision a community in which each woman shares worship, spiritual exploration and loving relationships in an environment which embraces diversity, individual leadings [to where?], struggle, and play." [Exactly what kind of "play?" Would you trust your teenage daughter with these ladies? Or with the Dominican sisters at this point?]
***And Shame on the Sisters of Mercy! When the NCEA [National Catholic Education Assoc.] earned criticism last winter for naming renegade nun Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB a keynote speaker to their national convention in April, the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas were quick to rally support. In February they issued a press release from their office in Silver Spring, MD offering scholarships to pay for parochial school teachers "whose institutions are unwilling to finance their attendance." [Take that, you nasty bishops!] The sisters heartily endorsed Chittister’s dissent saying, "Many of us have drawn inspiration and insight from Sister Chittister’s numerous written and public presentations," [Translation: We love the way she bashes the hierarchy!] She is outstanding in her successful application of Catholic social teaching to contemporary issues and events." [Translation: We love her advocacy of globalism, environmentalism, feminism, and every other ism on the planet and admire the way she beats up on the magisterium who won’t allow women priests.]
Pray the Sisters of Mercy return to sanity for the sake of youngsters attending their schools. Don’t give ‘em any $$$!
***Check those paints, pastels, and crayons! They come in colorful boxes that look like markers and crayons. They’re sold in fun flavors like chocolate, banana, grape, and cola. You’ll see them at state and county fairs in the same kind of clear plastic bowls that hold ringpops and other candy. They’re condoms and the companies that produce them are after your kids! Line Laboratories’ spring catalogue markets condoms and lubricants like crayons and candy. There’s even a dental dam [Please don’t ask us to explain what that is.] in a package with big red lips on the outside, reminiscent of the wax lips we used to buy at the candy counter as kids. The setup displays are designed to attract children with bright primary colors and tempting pictures of fruit and candy. If you think this is about adults engaging in private behavior think again. It’s all about soliciting children for sex. Pedophiles and sexual deviants will love these products! They’ll help them seduce children. Remember when the liberals went after Joe Camel for selling cigarettes to our kids. Where are they now?
***The culture of death is consuming our women and children — and not only the unborn. In 1985 researchers at the University of Minnesota studied 3,636 rural high school students in grades 9 to 12. The average age of participants was 16.3 years old. Results showed that if a girl had an induced abortion in the preceding 6 months she was ten times more likely to attempt suicide. If she had an abortion any time previously in her life, she was six times more likely to attempt it. In 1996, the British Medical Journal published the results of a study of Finnish women. Those who aborted had a 488% higher risk of dying by suicide in the 12 months following the "completion of pregnancy" compared to women who carried their babies to term. Abortion kills children; it kills their moms too.
***Cure Diabetes by Cannibalizing Babies? The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation has embarked on a high visibility ad campaign, Samantha’s Hope for a Cure, featuring a beautiful, sad-eyed little girl with diabetes [Wonder why they didn’t use a pimply-faced adolescent boy?] to promote research using stem cells from human embryos. Only one leeeetle problem. They kill the tiny babies to harvest their cells. A July 17th full-page ad in the Washington Times referenced "a recent national survey" to back the foundation’s claim of overwhelming support for using embryos. They cited www.stemcellfunding.org . which reports on a June ABC poll that Richard M. Doerflinger of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops calls "biased and misleading." The poll made no distinction between stem cells from embryos vs. adults. Clearly there’s a BIG difference between killing a "little sprout" for his cells and taking them from the "spare tire" on an adult couch potato.
Ironically, research using adult stem cells is more promising than embryo research, with no examples of disasters like the recent study inserting embryonic stem cells into the brains of human guinea pigs where the cells rapidly multiplied causing spasms and uncontrollable jerking. The study was suspended, but they couldn’t undo the damage. The Samantha Campaign doesn’t mention the horrendous outcome of that research.
***Is There a Pro-life Credibility Problem? In recent years, a strategy among some pro-life groups has been to focus almost exclusively on opposing the gruesome Partial Birth Abortion method. It’s a big fund-raising tool! The photos of fully developed infants so brutally murdered evoke horror. But that strategy may have backfired by reducing the impact of killing babies who are "just embryos," or even tinier — "zygotes"? Does God see those little ones as the world does — insignificant and expendable? — or as unique, unrepeatable gifts, no less valuable than newborns, toddlers, teenagers, or adults. Isn’t that tiny cell the mustard seed that grows into a magnificent tree? God honored our earliest beginnings by experiencing the profound humility of being a single cell in Mary’s womb. He united Himself with us totally in our humanity from the first instant. So we must fight for the baby conceived in his mother’s womb or a petri dish with equal zeal to defending older children. If we don’t, all humanity is on the trash heap.
***Another Catholic U. Awards Pro-Abort! The Alumni Association of the University of Dayton, run by the Marianists plans to present retired Sen. John Glenn with their 2001 "Leadership in Virtue Award" on 9/20/01. Glenn consistently voted for pro-abortion legislation during his entire career in the Senate. Write to UD President, Brother Raymond L. Fitz, S.M. Ask him to follow the lead of Archbishop Charles Chaput and other Catholic leaders who will not lend credibility to pro-abortion figures, recognizing that such actions scandalize the faithful.
***Did James Kopp Kill Bernard Slepian? The FBI spent months tracking down the alleged sniper-killer of Canadian abortionist Bernard Slepian. But is Kopp the man? The FBI’s portrait of a misfit drifter doesn’t match the gentle scholar, described by friends, who left the field of embryology to fight for the unborn. Kopp attended daily Mass, worked with Mother Teresa’s sisters in Calcutta, and argued against killing abortionists because they died unrepentant. The hard evidence linking Kopp to the crime was "discovered" 13 days later buried in an area police had already searched extensively. They found a hat, flashlight, wristwatch and other items enclosed in a plastic bag. [How convenient for the forensic lab.] Interestingly, the discovery came a few days after a box of Kopp’s personal effects was retrieved from the attic of a friend in Buffalo. Would a cold-blooded killer in his right mind who had just committed a pre-meditated, well-planned crime take the time to bury his hat while police cars with screaming sirens headed to the scene? A lot of other things in this investigation just don’t match up. It reminds one of the rush to judgment of Richard Jewell for the Olympics bombing in Atlanta. Life Dynamics has an extensive 33-page analysis of the case on their website at www.ldi.org. Take a look and pray for James Kopp.