Fearing God Rather than Man

Beppino Englaro may have won the legal "right" to make his daughter Eluana the next Terri Schiavo, but he'll have to go through the Misericordine nuns of Lecco in Italy to do it. The nuns run the hospice where Eluana, now 37, has lived for the last fourteen years in a "persistent vegetative state" -- although she opens her eyes and breathes on her own -- and they are refusing to remove her feeding and hydration tubes.

The Misericordines want to go on caring for Eluana, and are committed to doing so, thereby removing even the lousy excuse that her treatment is too costly. Said the nuns:

...once again, we maintain our availability, today and into the future, to continue to serve Eluana. If there are those who consider her dead, let Eluana remain with us who feel she is alive. We don’t ask anything but the silence and the liberty to love and to devote ourselves to those who are weak, poor and little in return.

Beppino Englaro might move his daughter to another hospital for purposes of having her done away with; but the Misericordines could petition for guardianship, says Msgr. Ignacio Barriero, a former lawyer and head of the Rome office of Human Life International. "It's more than reasonable that someone who wants to keep the person alive should be appointed the guardian, rather than the person who’s ready to kill her," says Msgr. Barriero. "You don't have to have a doctorate in theology to say that; it's just common sense."

Meanwhile, the Misericordines will go on lavishing on Eluana the care that her father has fought so vehemently to deprive her of.

Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. (Isaiah 49:15)

Forgotten Prayers: The St. Michael Prayer

Pope Leo XIII composed this prayer to St. Michael in about 1888, and directed that it be recited at the end of every Low Mass -- a practice that ended in 1964. It is said that he composed it after hearing the devil boast to God that he could destroy the Church in 100 years. My Dominican chapter recites it at the end of every Rosary.

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Here it is in Latin:

Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in proelio. Contra nequitiam et insidias diaboli esto praesidium. Imperet illi Deus, supplices deprecamur: tuque, Princeps militiae caelestis, Satanam aliosque spiritus malignos, qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo, divina virtute, in infernum detrude. Amen.

The Campaign for Human Development: Promoting Social(ist) Values

It's that time of year again: the USCCB is hitting us up for donations to the Campaign for Human Development.

But are your contributions going to help spread the Gospel? Are you helping to support a seminarian, or a retired priest or religious? Are you sending rosaries or Bibles to the missions? Are you providing food or medical attention to starving children?

Look at the list of CHD donees, and check out some of their websites. There seem to be a few good things sprinkled here and there, like teaching people to read or vocational training. But the main purpose of many of them seems to be to promote "activism;" their websites are full of pictures of people marching and carrying signs and bullhorns. In fact, last year, all but 29 of CHD's 308 donees came under the heading of "Community Organizing."

And one of the CHD's biggest donees is one whose misdeeds have finally attracted the national and official attention they have so richly deserved for so long. In 2007, the CHD granted a total of $996,000 to 37 branches of the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN). Yes, the very same that is under investigation by the FBI for voter fraud. It is now just four days since the USCCB announced that it is cutting off all funding to ACORN, based on embezzlement within the organization and its "alleged" involvement in voter fraud.

But what about all the other activities the CHD helps to support? Consider just a few of the organizations that have received grants from the Campaign for Human Development, and ask yourself if they are spreading the Gospel or politics -- or something even worse:

-- Alliance to Develop Power (formerly the Anti-Displacement Project). A left-wing organization that supports, among other things, universal health care. ADP received a grant $30,000 grant from CHD in 2007.

-- Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice. Boasts a "Center for Arts for Activism," in which youth are introduced to "the [undefined] concepts of oppression, justice, peace and violence, and worldwide struggles for freedom." It also promotes, among other things, New Age practices like reiki, yoga and meditation. The YMPJ received a $25,000.00 grant from CHD in 2007.

-- Green Worker Cooperatives. Dedicated to stamping out something called "environmental racism." It received a $35,000.00 grant from CDH in 2007.

-- Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice. Promotes political activism among seminarians, rabbinical students, and other training for leadership positions in their various communions. It received a $25,000.00 grant from CDH in 2007.

-- Idaho Community Action Network. Committed to "progressive social change," including, among other things, universal health care. A leading light in something called "Night of 1000 Conversations," in which participants somberly meditated upon Iowa immigration raids and undertook to change the world by sending "pledge cards" to the Department of Homeland Security. ICAN, whose website features a banner picture of some very obese concerned citizens, lists one of its issues as "food security." Though ostensibly dedicated to human rights, ICAN appears totally unconcerned about our eroding right to private property that is key to individual liberty. ICAN received a $40,000.00 grant from CDH in 2007.

Is all this true empowerment? Is turning everything into politics a real solution to poverty and distress? or is it merely another incarnation of bread and circuses -- and, incidentally, a way to line the pockets of demagogues? In what sense is political activism not a distraction from the Church's true mission to go out and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit? We hear a lot of talk about the number of poor people who could have been fed with the money that was spent on a statue or a chalice; but what about all the people to whom the Good News could have been brought by the $996,000.00 that ACORN got in 2007?

The poor we will always have with us. But at least we can quit compounding their material poverty with spiritual poverty. And we can quit giving money to organizations that merely distract the poor from their problems by getting them involved in politics.

Forgotten Prayers: The Angelus

This prayer used to be generally recited three times a day: 06:00, 12:00, and 18:00 (6 in the morning, noon and 6 in the evening, for those of you in Rio Linda). These times were once marked by the Angelus Bell. Church bells are increasingly rare nowadays, and even suppressed in some parts of the country; as for the prayer, I can testify that I went through twelve years of Catholic school without ever once reciting the Angelus.

V. The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
R. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord:
R. Be it done unto me according to Thy word.

Hail Mary . . .

V. And the Word was made Flesh:
R. And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary . . .

V. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray:

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

Here it is in Latin:

V. Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ:
R. Et concepit de Spiritu Sancto.

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostræ. Amen.

V. Ecce Ancilla Domini:
R. Fiat mihi secundum Verbum tuum.

Ave Maria...

V. Et Verbum caro factum est:
R. Et habitavit in nobis.

Ave Maria...

V. Ora pro nobis, Sancta Dei Genetrix:
R. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.

Oremus:

Gratiam tuam quæsumus, Domine, mentibus nostris infunde; ut qui, angelo nuntiante, Christi Filii tui Incarnationem cognovimus, per passionem eius et crucem, ad resurrectionis gloriam perducamur. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum.

Amen.

SoCal Burns

Pray for the firefighters battling wildfires from Santa Barbara to Riverside County, and for the people who are now homeless. The Santa Anas, which have died down somewhat at this writing, whipped and spread the fires through several communities, engulfing hundreds of homes and shutting down major freeways. Many have had to flee for their lives on just a few minutes' notice. Critical patients had to be evacuated from the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center. The governor has declared a state of emergency.

Click the picture for the latest news on the fires.

November 16th: St. Gertrude the Great

Born in 1256 in Eisleben, Saxony -- Martin Luther's home town, as it so happens -- Gertrude was raised at the Cistercian abbey from the age of five and distinguished herself as an extremely bright student. Although St. Margaret Mary Alacocque is most commonly associated with devotion to the Sacred Heart, St. Gertrude was also responsible for spreading this devotion. She received many visions during her life; the first one took place when she was 26, when Jesus appeared to her and reproached her for her inordinate love of study. Her writings -- many of which have unfortunately been lost -- influenced many saints, including St. Teresa of Avila and St. Francis de Sales.

St. Gertrude is well known today for a prayer she received for the souls in Purgatory:

Eternal Father, I offer you the most precious Blood of Your Divine Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in union with all the Masses offered throughout the world this day, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, and for sinners everywhere, in my home and in my family.

Read more about St. Gertrude here.

Testimonies to the Communion of Saints

The Communion of Saints is one of the hardest doctrines for non-Catholics to accept -- even though everyone who recites the Apostle's Creed professes to believe in it. Being united with Christ, we are also united with each other in Christ. This union is not broken by death: if it were, this would be a pretty poor testament to the omnipotence of the God Who is not the God of the dead, but of the living (Matthew 22:32; Mark 12:27; Luke 20:38).

And so, just as we ask others on earth to pray for us, we also ask the saints in Heaven to intercede for us. That the saints are able to hear our prayers and answer us presents no difficulties, because it is God who makes it possible. And, as St. Thomas More points out in his Dialogue Concerning Heresies, God demonstrates His approval of the practice of praying to the saints by working miracles through their intercession. With some exceptions (e.g., martyrs for the Faith, such as St. Thomas More), the Church requires miracles attributable to the intercession of candidates for sainthood as proof that these candidates are actually in Heaven before she will canonize them. They must be miracles of the highest order (such as a complete and instantaneous cure from an extremely grave and life-threatening illness, unexplainable by medical science); and they must withstand minute and relentless scrutiny in order to be passed as miracles. Although it is possible for individuals or groups within the Church to be taken in by frauds, it must be acknowledged that the Universal Church has been the greatest debunker of hoaxes and deceits in human history; she does not prop up fakes for veneration.

In her Diary, St. Faustina comments that the saints have God as their first Love, but they also bear a tender and heartfelt love for us. So we know that we may ask the saints for their intercession, and they will obtain for us what is for our good. But sometimes -- and perhaps more often than we think -- the saints take the initiative. Early in the life of this blog, I told the story of my own encounter with Bl. Margaret of Castello. Yesterday, The Redoubtable One posted the dramatic account of a Serbian abortionist whom St. Thomas Aquinas, of whom he had never before heard, visited in his dreams.

This put me in mind of a story from St. Thérèse of Lisieux's autobiography (The Story of a Soul), where she recounts the intervention of a saint of whom she had thitherto taken very little notice:

The very next day -- it was May 10th -- just as the dawn was breaking, though before I was awake, I found myself walking in a gallery with our Mother. Without knowing how they got there, I suddenly saw three Carmelites in their mantles and long veils. I knew they had come from Heaven. Then I thought: "If only I could see the face of one of these Carmelites! I would be so happy!"

As if she had heard me, the tallest of these Saints advanced toward me. I fell on my knees, and then to my joy she raised her veil, or rather, cast it all about me. I recognized her at once; it was the Venerable Mother Anne of Jesus, the Foundress of Carmel in France. How lovely she was; there was an unearthly beauty about her face, and though the heavy veil enveloped us, it seemed transfused with a gentle light I cannot describe. It seemed to be shining from within, but it did not cast any rays.

She kissed me tenderly, and when I saw how much she loved me, I took courage and spoke to her. "Tell me, Mother, I beg of you, is God going to leave me here much longer? Will He come and fetch me soon?" She smiled most tenderly, and said, "Soon...yes, soon...I promise you."

"Answer me something more, Mother; does God want anything more from me than the little things I do for Him, and my desires? Is He pleased with me?" A new light seemed to suffuse her face at once, and her expression appeared to me incomparably more tender. "God asks no more of you," she said, "...and He is pleased with you; very, very pleased." She took my head between her hands, and I cannot possibly express how tender were the kisses that she showered on me. Gladness filled my heart, and remembering my Sisters, I was about to ask for favors for them too, but I awoke.

I cannot say how lighthearted I was! Several months have gone by since this wonderful dream, yet the heavenly charm of it has lost none of its freshness. I can still see her loving gaze, her loving smile; I still seem to feel the touch of all her kisses....On waking, I not only believed that Heaven existed, I knew it; and I knew too that it was full of souls who loved me as their own child. The impression of it all remains in my heart, made all the more dear by the fact that until then I had been, I will not say indifferent to the Venerable Mother Anne of Jesus, but forgetful of her unless she happened to be mentioned, which was not very often, and I had never invoked her aid.

Yet now I know and realize that at any rate she had never forgotten me; and this not only makes me love her all the more, but also increases my love for all the Blessed in Heaven.

Do More than Half of American Catholics Need to Go to Confession Right Now?

Well, we all need to go to confession regularly if we are serious about saving our souls. But where do the 54% of us who voted for Barack Obama stand now? Some of our shepherds are giving us serious food for thought on this subject.

Radio host Hugh Hewitt interviewed Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph before the election, and asked him how he would address the Catholics who were then undecided about whom to vote for. His reply:

Well, I just don’t think there’s any question that in all of Church teaching that the life issues, particularly the protection of unborn children against the crime of abortion, has to be our greatest priority. This is an ongoing slaughter of 4,000 children every single day for the last 35 years. And if we don’t do anything about it, we bear a lot of responsibility. If we support and promote persons who have pledged to extend it and intensify the slaughter, then we bear a great responsibility with them.

Is it a grave sin to vote for a pro-abortion politician? asked Hewitt. Bishop Finn's reply:

I think it is, of course. You know, how important is, you know, someone might say how important is my vote. Well, ask somebody if they think what they think if their vote was taken away from them, or if they felt that they had been defrauded of their vote. And I think all of us as Americans would say my vote’s very, very important. So…and then we’re talking about the willful destruction, direct destruction of a human life. And so when you couple the gravity of the sense of our vote, and the gravity of the action of abortion, and we see candidates pledge that they’re going to, for example, in addition to promoting everything that we have right now, they’re going to enact the Freedom Of Choice Act, removing all reasonable limitations. So many Americans say they want limitations on abortion. The Freedom Of Choice Act would remove every single limitation that’s been put in place by well-meaning folks for the last 35 years – parental notification, mandatory waiting periods, counseling, the use of ultrasounds, and not to speak of the fact that taxpayers will have to pay for abortions, and also the conscious clauses will be removed from individual healthcare workers, or even institutions. So you can’t support a person who wants to go to complete full-scale war against the unborn.

What about a Catholic who will vote for an absolutist on abortion because that candidate is better than the opposing candidate on questions of poverty, global warming, etc.? Suppose such a Catholic thinks that dealing with these issues will in turn reduce abortions Bishop Finn's answer:

[T]he real root of abortion in our country is this total disregard and numbness about the value of human life. It’s the idolatry of self and selfish convenience. It’s the total neglect of personal responsibility. These are the things that are at the root of abortion, not just poverty. I’m afraid some people think that if we throw enough money at people, well then they’re going to stop all their choices for abortion. I don’t think that will work. I don’t think that it would be the solution fully, even if it was. And the same people who are then promoting someone who wants to remove limitations on abortions, which are measurable at having reduced abortions by 125,000 a year through parental notifications and the like, they can’t be serious. They can’t be serious that voting for someone who’s going to throw some more money at the poor is going to reduce abortion. What they’re looking for is a way to salve their conscience, and give them a rationalization that will help them sleep tomorrow after they vote....People have to realize that they will be held accountable for these important decisions before God.

Does being accountable before God for one's vote means that one could lose one's immortal soul over it?

Well, of course. I mean, the decisions that we make are important, and they have…you know, these people who get elected, they don’t just arrive all on their own. We elect them. We, you and I support them or we don’t. And so we have some participation in that. Now you know, someone wrote to me and said well, you know, I voted for Obama, I’ll repent later. And well, you know, I hope that God does change a heart if they feel that they’ve made a terrible mistake and to have to repent. But it’s much more important and vital that we make the right decision when it’s before us.

May a Catholic who votes for Obama knowing he is voting for abortion rights absolutism present himself for Communion the next day?

Well, they shouldn’t. It’s not a matter of public action, so it’s not the same scandal as a public official who places, a legislator who places a public vote in support of abortion. But no, if formal cooperation, there’s absolutely no doubt about it that if you agree with the right of abortion, you shouldn’t be, you’re in grave sin. You shouldn’t be receiving the Sacraments.

Archbishop Raymond Burke, canon law expert and formerly Archbishop of St. Louis, is now Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura at the Holy See, what might be thought of as the Vatican's Supreme Court. In a pre-election interview with Inside the Vatican, the Archbishop was even more pointed on the question of subordinating abortion to other pressing issues:

It is not my intention to engage in partisan politics. I wish that both of the major political parties in the United States of America were more coherent regarding the right to life. The Democratic Party, however has, over the years, put forth and defended a political agenda which is grievously anti-life, favoring the right to procured abortion and "marriage" between persons of the same sex. One can legitimately question the wisdom of the decisions taken in the war in Iraq, but war in itself is not always and everywhere evil, as are, for example, procured abortion, human cloning, embryonic stem-cell research, and the so-called "marriage" of persons of the same sex. Engagement of the nation in a war cannot be placed on the same moral level as the nation making laws which permit the wholesale killing of the unborn or the artificial generation of human life or experimentation on embryonic human life or "marriage" between persons of the same sex.

Procured abortion is the fundamental moral issue in the safeguarding and fostering of human life. To make economics or the environment the fundamental political issue, when life itself, in its most innocent and defenseless form, remains unprotected is morally irresponsible. Yes, the government of the United States must address a number of critical issues, including the current and most serious economic crisis. But it must address first its duty to promote the common good by defending the life of every human being, from the moment of its inception, and by safeguarding the integrity of marriage and the family.

Thus spake two of our shepherds, saying some of the same things I have been saying. So these are not just my opinions on Catholics supporting Obama that I spout here.

Covered with Glory

Behold the Premio Dardos Award, bestowed upon this humble blog by Fr. John Speekman of Homilies and Reflections from Australia (aka Father Down Under).

The rules:

1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person that has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2) Pass the award to other 15 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment.

3) Remember to contact each of them to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I don't have time to follow 15 blogs continuously, but here are the awardees:

Catholic Cartoon Blog, which is both hysterical and dead-on.

Catholic Church Conservation, blowing the whistle on liturgical abuse, church closings and other nonsense.

Salve Regina, featuring orthodoxy and good cheer, brought to us by Paramedic Girl, who would just as soon we didn't send any of our cast-off liberal nutjobs to her beloved Canada.

Lair of the Catholic Cavemen, home to those gun-toting, military-loving testosterone cases, the Paleolithic Papists.

Causa Nostra Laetitiae, home of solid pro-life bloggery.

And of course, I would also confer this award on The Redoubtable Marcus Magnus at Dominican Idaho, but Fr. Speekman beat me to it.

Keep up the good work!

Newspeak NOT the Official Language of the Courts After All

Fortunately, the story that circulated earlier this week about the Arizona Supreme Court prohibiting certain "politically incorrect" terminology in reference to illegal aliens in state courts is turning out to be untrue. Unfortunately, we do live in a world where this sort of thing sounds plausible, which of course gave this story legs. After all, even though it is not true the Arizona Supreme Court has implemented the prohibitions in question, it is apparently true that there are those who would like to see it happen. The power of words to shape thoughts and ideas is not lost on liberals any more than it was lost on George Orwell.

Which got me to imagining...

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF V FOR VICTORY

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS, Plaintiff/Respondent, vs. COMMON SENSE, Defendant/Appellant.

CASE NO. 2008-000001 ORDER

THE COURT having before it the Motion to Prohibit Legalist Terminology in the Courts of this State, and good cause appearing;

NOW, THEREFORE, THIS COURT HEREBY FINDS AS FOLLOWS:

1. In all this country’s egregious tradition of prejudice and bigotry, stretching back to the time of the Founding Fathers, no class of individuals has been more reviled through the centuries than the criminal class.

2. No institution in human history has been guilty of more oppression of the criminal class than the judicial system.

3. It is high time that the judicial system started showing some sensitivity to the criminal classes, and ended the age-old tradition of bashing criminals for no reason other than their choice of profession.

4. This Court finds that a necessary first step to evolving a new and improved attitude toward criminals is to make substitutions for the inflammatory terms too often and too carelessly tossed about in the courts, to the considerable detriment of the self-respect and dignity of criminals everywhere.

5. An emergency exists with regard to this grave problem in the courts, necessitating the immediate application of draconian remedies.

NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED as follows:

The following terms shall forthwith be banned and prohibited from use in any court in this state, and shall be replaced by the corresponding substitutions, to wit:

PROHIBITED TERM	SUBSTITUTE TERM
Jail	Protective hospitality
Drug dealer	Alternative pharmaceutical entrepreneur
Drunk driver	Chemically challenged motor vehicle operator
Peeping Tom	Alternative entertainment seeker
Thief	Cashless transaction specialist
Shoplifter	Inventory redistributor
Prostitute	Gratification facilitator
Rapist	Hyper-aggressive relationship initiator
Recidivist	Professional
Burglar	Non-conventional locksmith
Rioter	Community organizer
Con artist	Persuasion specialist
Felon	Senior level careerist
Murderer	Late-term abortionist

IT IS HEREBY FURTHER ORDERED that any person found using prohibited terminology in the courts of this state shall be FORTHWITH remanded to the custody of the Sheriff of the county wherein the offense shall have occurred, for a term of not less than five (5) days in protective hospitality.

SO ORDERED.