TWILIGHT
ZONE
***Who is more dangerous to the faith? Heretics in mitres who are loud and proud in defying Holy Mother Church; or those apparently orthodox who refuse to take action against egregious behavior? We vote for the orthodox. Their silence and inaction (what St. John Bosco called “the cowardice of good men”) encourage the wolves to eat the sheep. Dietrich von Hildebrand condemned the “lethargy of the guardians” warning that “failure to use holy authority to protect the holy Faith leads necessarily to the disintegration of the Church.” And so we ask for prayers for the following bishops.
***Betrayal of the bishops, case #1: Cardinal George of Chicago refused to take action to prevent pro-abort black extremist Al Sharpton from giving the homily at St. Sabina’s February 9th during Black History Month. Calling any action to stop the event a “futile gesture and a waste of effort,” the cardinal capitulated to controversial pastor Michael Pfleger whose disdain for Catholic teaching is well known. Disciplining the popular priest would no doubt be difficult and might result in an outcome similar to what happened in Rochester after Bishop Matthew Clark ordered Fr. James Callan to stop allowing women to “concelebrate” Mass. Callan left the Church and formed his own congregation taking many parishioners with him. Sad, but his followers abandoned the faith long before they followed him out the church door. If Pflager leaves with the bunny hoppers in the parish dancing behind, pray for their conversion, but let them go. The father of the prodigal son didn’t beg him to stay to scandalize the other children.
***Betrayal of the bishops, case #2: In January state delegate Peter Crary of North Dakota introduced HB 1242, the Pre-born Child Protection Act. It reads, “A person is guilty of a class AA felony if the person intentionally destroys or terminates the life of a preborn child” defined as a “human being from the moment of fertilization until the moment of birth.” The local bishops supported him right? Wrong! Bishops Paul A. Zipfel (Bismarck) and Samuel J. Aquila (Fargo) not only refused to endorse the bill, Bishop Zipfel testified against it (as did a rep from the local abortion mill) saying, “The central problem with the proposed legislation is the imposition of a criminal punishment on a woman who has an abortion.” The bill, however, said nothing about the woman, outlining only the duties of physicians. Respected lawyer, Charles Rice said the bishops’ position “makes no sense at all.” In pre-Roe America when abortion was illegal “prosecutions were practically universally restricted to the abortionist who is the real target of legislative efforts against abortion.” Rice said “explicit disclaimer of maternal prosecution” is unnecessary and confusing. American Life League and Human Life International both endorsed HB 1242. Unfortunately, it failed 13 to 79. For detailed information on this disgraceful abandonment of the babies see http://www.goodmorals.org/hb1242/.
***CTA continues to provide comic relief. Rea Howarth of Call to Action, Northern VA who never found a goofy dissent group she couldn’t join attended the phony ordination in Europe last summer of seven women who were subsequently excommunicated. In Witness to Her Story at www.womenpriests.org/called/howarth.htm Rea describes the event, “The ceremony took place under tight security on a cruise boat… [A fun place to play church and not far to the bar.] Giving the history of the schismatic bishop involved, Rea claims the ordinations are valid. Sorry, Rea, it makes no difference whether HE was validly ordained. Men can’t be mothers and women can’t be fathers. The priest acts in persona Christi as HUSBAND of his bride, Holy MOTHER Church. Chips and beer can’t become the Body and Blood of Christ; they’re invalid matter for the sacrament of Holy Eucharist. Women can’t be priests; they’re invalid matter for the sacrament of Holy Orders. No matter how many bad bishops try to ordain women, it’s IMPOSSIBLE. Get over it!
***Rea’s silliest project?
A feminist rosary: Rewriting the Lord’s prayer might
give the average Catholic pause. After all, Jesus Himself taught it. But
CTA folk are always up to a challenge. The result? “Our Father and
Mother in heaven, hallowed is your name. May your beloved community come…”
[Take that you pesky “king” word!] As for the Hail
Mary, Rea purges the admonition for sinners replacing it with, “Pray
for all people.” [Let’s see, no sinners, no hell, no commandments,
no dogma, and priestesses in the image of Gaia…That pretty much
eliminates the God of our fathers. So to whom are they praying? Better
not to ask!]
***Vagina Monologues nauseates again!
For the fortunate few unfamiliar with VM here’s a synopsis from
the Cardinal Newman Society website. The play is a “collection of
monologues by women describing their personal stories, replete with vulgarity,
frequent use of ‘vagina’ to represent women and femininity,
and explicit discussions of sexuality and sexual encounters including
lesbian activity and masturbation. In one scene, a woman describes her
seduction by a lesbian woman when she was 16 years old, declaring it her
‘salvation’.” [This replaced a scene where a 13
year old called her lesbian seduction a “good rape.”] Forty-two
Catholic colleges were slated to feature Eve Enzler’s monstrosity
this year up from 28 in 2002, but thanks to protests organized by the
Cardinal Newman Society the number dropped to 31. Five colleges banned
it outright. A big thank-you to those schools for acting with moral authority
accordance with Ex Corde Ecclesiae, the document on Catholic
higher education. Please call or email a thumbs up to: College of New
Rochelle, New Rochelle, NY, President Dr. Stephen J. Sweeney (914) 654-5430;
Iona College, New Rochelle, NY, President Br. James A. Liguori, CFC.,
jliguori@ iona.edu., (914) 633-2203;
Loras College, Dubuque, IA, President Dr. John E. Kerrigan, kerrigan@loras.edu,
(563) 588-7103; Rivier College, Nashua, NH, President Dr. William Farrell,
wfarrell@rivier.edu, (603) 897-8202;
and the University of Portland, Portland, OR. President: Rev. David T.
Tyson, C.S.C., Tyson@up.edu, (503)
943-7101. [Strange times when we need to make a big deal about those
in authority doing their duty. But gratitude is never out of fashion,
so thank-you, gentlemen.]
***And who are the bad colleges? Georgetown, Fordham, Holy Cross, Boston College, [That’s 4 for the Jesuits]. Bellarmine, DePaul, College of St. Rose, College of St. Scholastica, Loyola of Chicago [another Jesuit], St. John Fisher, [Ouch…these poor saints!] Marymount Manhattan, Regis College [Sigh… another Jesuit] University of Detroit Mercy [and another], Notre Dame, Xavier and John Carroll [Two more for the Jebbies…Yikes! might be shorter to list the Jesuit schools NOT showing VM], Marist College, Nazareth, Providence, St. Louis U. [One more Jesuit], College of Santa Fe, Creighton [And another], Dominican U. of CA, Edgewood College, Gonzaga U. [Production held off campus – WOW! a Jesuit with backbone! Last year they ONLY provided shuttle service…wouldn’t want those coeds to miss out.], St. Mary’s of CA, St. Mary’s South Bend, St. Thomas U., Siena College, Univ. of Dayton, and Univ. of San Francisco. [Another Jesuit…Did we miss any? Twelve of 28 Jesuit institutions belonging to the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities made the list. We think this calls for a conference in remedial morality for member schools. In the meantime we’re composing a song: “Mothers, don’t let your children grow up to be Jesuits.”]
***How safe are kids in diocesan
schools? On February 26th the Washington Post carried
a story about Al Santora, dean of students at Paul VI High School in Fairfax
and an active participant in the D.C. “leather boys.” Santora
also founded the Mid-Atlantic Leather Contest. To the uninitiated that
may sound like a bunch of motor cycle jocks; but no, it’s the butch
gays who engage in sado-masochistic play. [you know…cutting
and slashing, using whips and chains…the kind of moral example you
want for your kids.] The contest Santora founded includes a “Jock
Strap” event where “Each contestant appears in a Jock Strap
on stage and your written Fantasy is read by the Emcee.” The contest
application asks about “Current Relationships (single, lover, have
Master, slave, Daddy, etc.).” Keep in mind Mr. Santora was no shrinking
violet hiding in the closet. An internet name search pulled up several
pages of gay sites. He regularly emceed and judged leather events, many
advertised in THE BLADE, the raunchy D.C. gay paper.
The reaction of the Diocese through Linda Shovlain, Communication Director,
is disconcerting. She told The Post Santora hadn’t done anything
“illegal” (neither do abortionists) and had “only the
best interests of the students at heart.” Well, no, actually he
didn’t. He’s a gay activist promoting a deadly lifestyle that
preys on adolescent boys. In view of the much-ballyhooed policy on sexual
misconduct in this diocese we have some questions for Dr. McNiff, Superintendent
of Catholic Schools. Who hired Santora? Who did his background check?
Why did the diocese fail to discover his perverted fancies since he did
little to hide them? Did Santora have a diocesan advocate recommending
him? And what use is the diocesan policy if it doesn’t screen out
sado-masochistic homosexual activists? [This looks like another case
of taking action after embarrassing publicity? Was no one in authority
aware of Santora’s double life for all those years?]
***Keep Canada’s craziness corralled:
It’s time for the U.S. to build a “great wall” between
us and our wacky neighbor to the north. In February a Saskatchewan court
upheld a ruling by the Human Rights Commission that a man who ran an ad
quoting Bible verses against homosexuality was guilty of “inciting
hatred.” A drawing of two stick men holding hands inside the well-known
circle and slash “just say no” symbol accompanied the text
of the ad which ran during “gay pride” week. Hugh Owens of
Regina and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix newspaper were ordered to pay $1500
to three offended gays. Justice J. Barclay said the ad “exposes
homosexuals to detestation, vilification and disgrace.” [No,
Judge, the ad correctly showed homosexual behavior is detestable, disgraceful,
and should be vilified. Hate crime legislation is all about stifling Christian
criticism of sins like sodomy and abortion.] A pro-gay minister commenting
on the case called Catholics and Jews “extreme” and fundamentalist
Protestants “satanic.” He was not cited for hate speech.
***More nonsense from the north! Yes, Virginia, “hate crimes” and bad words must be banned. In Ontario a school board eliminated the word gun from all spelling tests in its district after a parent objected. Amanda Sousa told the Ottowa Citizen, “I realize people hunt in this area, but I still don't think that warrants the teaching of this word to my daughter or any other child…The word gun is synonymous with death.” [Well no, the word gun is synonymous with rifle, revolver, shotgun, pistol, six-shooter, etc. While we’re droppin’ words into the memory hole how ‘bout knife, boxcutter, sword, and…um…spit.] Fight political correctness – join the NRA.
***Ave Marie U. in the New York Times: A February 10th article by Tamar Lewin gave Ave Maria, the new Catholic university in Naples, FL some great press along with reporting a few snide comments from establishment liberals. Tom Monaghan, who’s put $200 million into the school described his desire to “help more people get to heaven” by giving them a solid Catholic education at a real Catholic school “with no coed dorms and no gay support groups.” Well-known dissenter Monika Helwig, president of ACCU (Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities) sniffed, “There has been concern among the colleges…that they are so dismissive of the rest of us.” [Dismissive? You mean of colleges where kids graduate with no faith, but can recite the Vagina Monologues by heart? Nah!] Dissenting theologian Richard McBrien, [who dusts off his roman collar every now and then to appear on CNN or C-span as a Catholic spokesman] chided Monaghan for not being a really good Catholic by “helping the poor.” [Let’s see…in the gospels who was reeeally concerned for the poor? Oh yeah, Judas.]
***How hard are you praying? With the U. S. on the verge of war and the battle for the Church raging, are you spending at least an hour a week before the Blessed Sacrament? Do you attend daily Mass if at all possible and pray the daily rosary as the Blessed Mother asked at Fatima? Do you fast and do penance for your own sins and the sins of others, especially priests? If not, don’t complain about the problem in the Church; you’re part of it. “Lord Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.”