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US bishops conference mounts late drive against 'unacceptable' health-care reform October 29, 2009 The US bishops' conference is mounting a late drive to secure passage of a pro-life amendment to the health-care reform bill. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is asking pastors all across the country to include an insert in their weekly bulletins, urging parishioners to call their Congressional representatives and encourage a vote for a pro-life amendment. The USCCB's pro-life office has indicated that it will press bishops to promote the dissemination of these bulletin inserts. The insert exhorts parishioners to act immediately. "Congressional votes may...

At the gravesite of Senator Edward Kennedy on Saturday, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former Archbishop of Washington, shared a private letter that the deceased Senator wrote to the Pope. The Cardinal also read what he described as a response from the Pontiff. This marvelous bit of political theatre (as so much of Senator Kennedy’s funeral was), should not escape attention. That moment in particular revealed a great deal. First of all, it must be recalled that Cardinal McCarrick has a rather unfortunate history involving the delivery of letters, particularly those from a certain Vatican official by the name of Ratzinger....

Addressing the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Cherie Blair has again called upon the Church to change her perennial teaching on contraception. “If you look at what progress women have made in the world, one of the reasons they have been able to make progress is because they have been able to control their fertility,” said the wife of the former British prime minister. “I personally don't think there is anything wrong with that, and indeed without being able to control that I wouldn't have been able to achieve the things that I've been able to do. I think it's a...

Teddy Kennedy was memorialized at a solemn funeral Mass on Saturday in Boston in a service reminiscent of the way Kennedy spent his days on Earth: bringing together disparate elements of the America's political and social worlds, flummoxing his foes and inspiring his more numerous admirers – and, albeit through surrogates this time, tirelessly working the room on behalf of his latest legislative project. This was a "Catholic" event in both the uppercase and lowercase sense of the word--a grand religious ritual that matched or exceeded anything even in the storied history of the Boston church, and a "catholic,"...

Dr. Miguel Humberto Diaz Rome, Italy, Aug 27, 2009 / 12:03 pm (CNA).- This morning Dr. Miguel Diaz arrived in Rome with his family to begin serving in his new position as the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See. Ambassador-designate Diaz said that he and his family are looking forward to the coming weeks and that he hopes to "deepen and expand upon the special relationship" between the U.S. and the Vatican.Dr. Miguel Humberto Diaz, arrived with his family this morning at Rome's Fiumicino International Airport. Prior to leaving the U.S. he was sworn in as ambassador on August...

Friday, August 7, 2009Priest jailed for missile silo stunt Sharon Dunn A Roman Catholic priest from Illinois was jailed Thursday after police said he cut a hole in a fence at a Weld County missile silo and trespassed as a way to protest nuclear arms. It is now his third such arrest in Weld County. Weld sheriff's office deputies responded at 8:50 a.m. Thursday to a Minuteman III missile silo between Weld County roads 86 and 88 along Weld County Road 113, about 40 miles northeast of Greeley, on report of a man trespassing. There, they found a 75-year-old Carl...

Religious communities of women have been responsible for many of the good things that the Catholic Church in the United States has achieved, both before and after the Second Vatican Council. It is all the more distressing, therefore, that two Vatican agencies --- the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) --- have targeted these communities and their principal leadership organization for a "visitation" and "doctrinal assessment" respectively. One of the most disturbing aspects of the "visitation" is the requirement that each of the visitors...

Dr. Miguel Diaz Washington D.C., Jul 22, 2009 / 05:12 pm (CNA).- Dr. Miguel Diaz, President Obama's nominee to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, spoke at his confirmation hearing this morning in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In his remarks, Diaz pledged to "embrace President Obama and Secretary Clinton's diplomatic vision of leading through active listening and learning from others to seek common ground."Before delivering his remarks, Diaz was introduced by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who described him as "a faithful Catholic...a gifted theologian...a respected scholar...a natural teacher...and a dedicated bridge-builder." According to...

...Newsweek eagerly published a hit piece by...Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, in which she sees fit to lecture Mother Church in the person of the Holy Father...[I]t is a mostly rambling and predictable litany of the accusations against the Church by one who is obviously outside of it.

If President Barack Obama needed to nominate a Catholic public relations chief, he would have to look no further than Mark Linton, director of the Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives within the department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). According to US News and World Report, Linton has become the most important Catholic advisor to Obama, carrying on a role that began during the presidential campaign, and has thus far culminated in a successful diplomatic encounter with Pope Benedict XVI. Securing the support of American Catholics, most of whom have historically identified themselves with the Democratic Party, has always...

Wednesday July 15, 2009 White House: New Catholic Surgeon General Supports Obama Abortion Agenda By Kathleen GilbertWASHINGTON, D.C., July 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A White House spokesman appears to have settled confusion on the position of Surgeon General nominee Dr. Regina Benjamin by saying that the doctor, though widely considered a devout Roman Catholic, supports President Obama's agenda on abortion.White House spokesman Reid Cherlin said in a Miami Herald report yesterday that Benjamin "supports the president's position on reproductive health issues." Earlier this year Secretary of State Hillary Clinton explicitly confirmed that for the Obama administration the term "reproductive health" includes abortion....

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the faithful had ready access to reliable media sources that consistently present news items and important issues truthfully and completely, while also communicating the authentic doctrine of the faith so dependably that Catholics could receive the information they relay with complete confidence? The Second Vatican Council thought so. In the Decree on the Media of Social Communications, Inter Mirifica , the Council Fathers spoke of the “inherent right of the Church to have at its disposal media as necessary or useful for the instruction of Christians, and all its efforts for the welfare of souls”...

Letter to the Editor of The Island Packet: On June 5, you printed a letter that reflected only one side of what Catholics believe about abortion. It used emotive language that really does damage to the pro-life cause. This letter said: "With pro-abortionists, you are compromising the truth" ... "legalized abortion kills babies." I don't know any Catholic who is "pro-abortion." I do know a lot of Catholics who, unlike our bishops, do not think that contraception is "intrinsically evil." We Catholics use contraception to increase love in our marriages and want it to be available to the public to...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama has rewarded the head of a fake pro-life Catholic group that was responsible for misleading voters about his abortion position to a top Health and Human Services post. The nomination is seen as political payback for Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG).Obama named former CACG executive director Alexia Kelley to head the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the Department of Health and Human Services.Kelley is also a former advisor to the John Kerry presidential campaign and Kerry is a strong abortion advocate.CACG came under fire from pro-life groups...

We have a Vatican II president. Barack Obama, I am sure, does not think of himself in those terms, but when I heard his speech at Grant Park in Chicago the night he was elected, and more recently his commencement address at Notre Dame, that is what immediately struck me. On those occasions he embodied and professed in his public persona the spirit of the council. In making that statement I know that I am entering a minefield. Catholics who denounce the president for his stance on abortion are of course responsible for many of the mines in the...

(CNSNews.com) – A prominent Catholic academic and supporter of President Barack Obama says that Roman Catholic Archbishops Raymond Burke and Charles Chaput and Bishop Joseph Naumann did not take a "Catholic approach" when they insisted that prominent pro-abortion Catholic politicians should not take communion.  He also said bishops and priests who deny communion to pro-abortion Catholic politicians are engaging in “intimidation.”   “Let me tell you that to be separated from the body of Christ even once is intimidation,” said Douglas Kmiec, professor of constitutional law at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif. Kmiec--a campaign advisor to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008--was barred from communion by a...

(CNN) -- Father Alberto Cutie, an internationally known Catholic priest who admitted having a romantic affair and breaking his vow of celibacy, is joining the Episcopal Church to be with the woman he loves, he said Thursday. "I will always love the Catholic Church and all its members," he said at a news conference. "But I want to start today by going into a new family. "Here before this community where I have chosen to serve and where I live, I am going to continue to proclaim the word of God and my love for God," Cutie said. Cutie (pronounced...

A reporter for a small newspaper was forcibly removed from a press area near Air Force One shortly before President Barack Obama arrived at Los Angeles International Airport to depart California early Thursday. Airport security officers carried the woman away by the feet and arms as she protested her removal. She later identified herself as Brenda Lee, a writer for the Georgia Informer in Macon and said she has White House press credentials. The newspaper's Web site says it is monthly publication a Brenda Lee column is posted on it. Calls to the newspaper and the White House press office...

Washington D.C., May 28, 2009 / 01:35 am (CNA).- In a surprising move, President Barack Obama announced on Wednesday evening that Miguel H. Diaz, Ph.D., a 45 year old lay Liberation theologian born in Havana (Cuba) is his pick to become the United States Ambassador to the Holy See. An associate professor of theology at St. John's University and the College of Saint Benedict in Minnesota, Diaz, a strong Obama supporter and father of four, earned his bachelor’s degree from St. Thomas University in Miami, Fla., and his master’s and doctorate in theology from the University of Notre Dame at...

Professor Miguel H. Diaz, PhD Washington D.C., May 28, 2009 / 01:35 am (CNA).- In a surprising move, President Barack Obama announced on Wednesday evening that Miguel H. Diaz, Ph.D., a 45 year old lay Liberation theologian born in Havana (Cuba) is his pick to become the United States Ambassador to the Holy See.An associate professor of theology at St. John's University and the College of Saint Benedict in Minnesota, Diaz, a strong Obama supporter and father of four, earned his bachelor’s degree from St. Thomas University in Miami, Fla., and his master’s and doctorate in theology from the...

A top constitutional law professor who served as a surrogate for then-presidential candidate Barack Obama told CNSNews.com that he would like to see “marriage” replaced in the legal sense with a neutral “civil license.” “As awkward as it may be, I think the way to untie the state from this problem is to create a new terminology that they would apply to everyone--straight or gay-call it a ‘civil license,’ said Douglas Kmiec, a law professor at Pepperdine University and author of “Can a Catholic Support Him?’ “The net effect of that, would be to turn over--quite appropriately, it seems to...

(ChattahBox)—Jesse Ventura appeared on Larry King Live this week and spoke his mind, pulling no punches, telling it like it is, as only a former pro wrestler, former Navy Seal and former Governor of Minnesota can. Larry King asked Ventura his opinions on a variety of political subjects and Ventura began the interview by calling former Senator Norm Coleman a hypocrite and that was just the beginning (Videos below). Ventura took on Norm Coleman for delaying the inevitable and refusing to concede to Al Franken when Coleman himself, called for Franken to concede before the recount, saying Coleman has always...

JOHNSTON, Iowa — Democratic U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin said Friday he no longer holds the same views he held when he voted for the federal Defense of Marriage Act that prohibited federal recognition of same-sex marriage nearly 13 years ago. Harkin described his own evolution on the issue during a taping of Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press,” which airs this weekend. “We all grow as we get older, and we learn things and we become more sensitive to people and people’s lives,” Harkin said. “And the more I’ve looked at that, I’ve grown to think differently about how people —...

As things wind down here at Kenrick-Glennon for the year, there are many things to look back on and be thankful for. We opened our academic year with a farewell for Archbishop Burke and we closed it with a farewell for our long-time Academic Dean Fr. Larry Brennan and our New Testament prof. Fr. Randy Soto. Tonight we send off the men who will be ordained to the priesthood for their respective dioceses in the coming weeks. Your prayers for them are appreciated. May Our Lady protect them. Her month, May, always seems to be a time for new...

One of the most massive and widespread occurrences of identity theft has happened, and it is not even attracting the attention of local, state or national leaders. This particularly insidious method targets a minority group, stealing their most precious possession, and yet even more compelling is that the perpetrator assumes nearly permanent "residency" in the victim's identity. The mastermind behind this worldwide ring has cells in every city and town in America – including operatives in many unsuspecting homes. The evidence of this outrage is right before our eyes, but we have simply chosen to ignore its existence, pretending that...

From The Times April 8, 2009 Tony Blair tells the Pope: you're wrong on homosexuality Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent Tony Blair has challenged the “entrenched” attitudes of the Pope on homosexuality, and argued that it is time for him to “rethink” his views. Speaking to the gay magazine Attitude, the former Prime Minister, himself now a Roman Catholic, said that he wanted to urge religious figures everywhere to reinterpret their religious texts to see them as metaphorical, not literal, and suggested that in time this would make all religious groups accept gay people as equals. Asked about the Pope’s stance,...

Obama campaign co-chair slams Cardinal George April 03, 2009 William M. Daley-- son of legendary Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley, brother of current mayor Richard M. Daley, US commerce secretary from 1997 to 2000, chairman of Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign, co-chairman of Barack Obama's presidential campaign, and a Catholic-- has harshly criticized Cardinal Francis George for opposing the University of Notre Dame’s decision to award President Barack Obama an honorary degree. “Cardinal Francis George recently said this invitation is an embarrassment to Catholics because the president disagrees with church doctrine on abortion and stem-cell research,” writes Daley. “But I...

Georgetown University President John J. DeGoya announced today that Satan, Prince of Darkness will receive an honorary doctorate at the University's 220th commencement. DeGoya called the announcement a proud day for Georgetown. "We've been honored to continue the proud tradition of Catholic education which has produced alumni such as President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and World Spiritual Leader Al Gore, but when Notre Dame scored the Messi-- uh, the President for this year's graduation, well, it didn't seem fair. We felt being named the fighting Irish gave them an unfair advantage with O'bama. The faculty felt like...

Please take a moment to sign the petition to stop Notre Dame from honoring our current pro-abortion/pro-infanticide president. The petition can be found at various places on the internet, including: http://www.NotreDameScandal.com/ and http://www.StopObamaNotreDame.com/ You do not need to be Catholic to sign these petitions. As a background, Mr. Obama assured us during the election that he was not pro-abortion. In point of fact, he is aggressively pro-abortion. While serving in the Illinois state legislature, Mr. Obama defended the practice of placing children who survived abortions in the soiled utility room to die, as had been happening in at least one...

Pope to Pelosi: Catholics cannot back abortion U.S. House speaker — a pro-choice Catholic — met with pope in Italy VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict, underscoring the Vatican's ruling on an issue that divides Americans, told U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday that Catholic politicians and legislators cannot back abortion rights. Pelosi, a powerful U.S. politician who is Catholic and pro-choice, has been accused by U.S. bishops in the past of misrepresenting Church teachings on abortion. "His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural and moral law and the Church's consistent teaching on the...

In my piece for Pajamas Media, I said that basically, the meeting between The Pope and The Pelosi would produce no fireworks, and that “…the impact of this meeting may not be felt until it has been forgotten.�Well. Not quite. The Vatican - clearly as aware as Pelosi of the power of an image - made a point of releasing no photo, as “the encounter was private� and the pope “briefly greeted� Pelosi and did not mention any other subject they may have discussed.: Benedict spoke of the church’s teaching “on the dignity of human life from conception to natural...

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday told U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic who supports abortion rights, that Catholic politicians have a duty to protect life "at all stages of its development."

The group Catholics United is trying to rally support for President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan by running advertisements on Christian radio appealing to faith and targeting Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) in their respective states. The aids will air in 18 cities on over two dozen radio stations during the morning rush hour on Thursday, Feb. 5, a Catholics United press release states. The radio ads coincide with an email and radio campaign that Democrats are launching to garner support for President Obama’s stimulus package. Catholics United argues that the economic recovery bill has "essential...

February 1, 2009 Dan Rooney's Obama Worship Many recipients of championship trophies thank God for the giving them the opportunity. Those who don’t thank God will generally thank teammates or coaching staff. During the presentation of the Lombardi Trophy, the first utterance to proceed from the mouth of Steelers President Dan Rooney was - no kidding - “I would like to thank President Barack Obama.” For what reason is he thanking a politician in connection with this Super Bowl victory?...

Faith of Our Feminists by: Malcolm A. Kline, December 22, 2008 One of the oddities of modern-day Catholic higher education, particularly in institutions run by Jesuit priests, is that Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues seems to be more ubiquitous on such campuses than Nativity scenes or Crucifixes. Recently, Rev. Kenneth Himes, OFM, explained how the Theology department at Boston College came to sponsor such a production. In comments to Michael Reer, editor-in-chief of The Observer, the Catholic newspaper at BC, Rev. Himes laid out his rationale for giving the show the go-ahead at BC. His comments did not make it into...

I am not sure of the process, but I want to propose a new law. Honestly, I am not sure if it would be a Canon Law, State or Federal Law, or even some rule in some bloated bureaucracy somewhere, but I want this law. This law has been brewing in my head for sometime, every time in fact that some matron in a muʻumuʻu claim to the Catholic priesthood was reported as fact. Today I was set off by Maria Shriver's claim to being a Catholic "in good standing" even though she doesn't believe what the Church teaches. Enough...

PORTSMOUTH, UK, November 14, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Following a barrage of criticism from Catholics and advocates for the unborn, the Catholic bishop of Portsmouth in the U.K., Crispian Hollis, has issued a “clarification” on his warm welcome of Barack Obama as the newly elected president of the United States. Hollis had written a message that was posted to the diocese’s website, saying he was “thrilled” at the election of the man pro-life advocates are calling the “most pro-abortion president in US history.” “With millions of others,” Bishop Hollis said, “I have been thrilled by Barack Obama’s victory and I thank...

Like the GOP, Catholics today face an identity crisis. "Reformers" want the Church to liberalize by softening its positions on homosexuality, women priests, and abortion rights, to go with its already liberal policies on immigration, welfare, the death penalty and healthcare. Then there are your traditionalists who think the Church has abandoned its core principles in a wrong-headed attempt to get hip to the times -- even if the times are to a large extent decadent. The majority of "cafeteria" Catholics dine in moderation, selecting what looks good from official doctrine and passing on the rest.

In the battle to shape the future of the Republican party, many have suggested a move to the center. In a recent interview, for example, John McCain’s campaign manager, Steve Schmidt, said, “The Republican party wants to, needs to, be able to represent . . . not only conservatives, but centrists as well. And the party that controls the center is the party that controls the American electorate.” Also, David Frum wrote that the GOP must move away from its traditional positions on issues such as abortion and the environment, and adopt a style and tone that is “less overtly...

"No specific charges were ever levied against Key's grandson. The editor's offense was simply that he had dared criticize President Lincoln. Thus, some of the liberties Francis Scott Key had enjoyed and had written about so eloquently had been lost in just one generation. Nevertheless, the patriotic fire that had dwelt in Key's heart was still alive in his grandson. . ."

Sacramento, Nov 6, 2008 / 07:47 am (CNA).- St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, California has invited Pepperdine University law professor and Obama backer Doug Kmiec to give an election “post-mortem” lecture.According to the California Catholic Daily, Kmiec will give the Thirteenth Annual Newman C. Eberhardt Lecture next Tuesday. The seminary’s web site says his lecture will examine “the prominent role played by the American Catholic community in the 2008 election, from Bishops educating candidates on ensoulment to alternative ways to be pro-life to the selection of running mates.”Kmiec, former legal counsel for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, has...

It's tempting right now to say President Bush will go down as one of the worst presidents ever to dis-grace the White House. But is that fair, or even accurate? Historian renderings of a legacy are often at odds with fluctuating public opinion polls that gauge the heat of the moment. Take Truman. The man had a 22 percent approval rating toward the end of his presidency--due in large part to a highly unpopular Korean War--yet he's among the most popular presidents in history. I'm going to play the devil's advocate and argue that it is at least in the...

Faithful Catholics in the US have been both stunned and gratified by the recent show of episcopal strength in dealing with the heretical nonsense of “Catholics� in public life who clearly misrepresent the Church’s teaching on vital issues. To date, more than fifty bishops have spoken out about this kind of misconduct or issued guidelines about voting at this critical juncture in our nation’s history. The trend is truly heartening. Let’s pray that it continues! Much more could be done, of course, but I am grateful that more bishops are standing up to strengthen and protect the faith of millions....

Regardless of the outcome of the presidential election, the 2008 election cycle has been a winnowing season for all Americans who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ. Both of the major parties nominated individuals whose views discard the nation's founding principle of respect for the authority of the Creator God. Faced with this circumstance, those in full possession of the facts had to make a choice for or against telling the truth. Many so-called Christian leaders chose to act deceitfully. They produced voters' guides and made statements pretending that John McCain is pro-life. His record includes some actions that...

George Weigel Washington DC, Oct 24, 2008 / 07:09 am (CNA).- The discussion over Catholic support for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama continued this past week as professors Nick Cafardi, Cathy Kaveny, and Doug Kmiec—all Obama backers—debated the topic with political commentator George Weigel in the pages of Newsweek. Obama’s Catholic supporters argued that Obama would serve the pro-life cause in other aspects, while Weigel charged that such arguments ignore or minimize Obama’s vigorous support for abortion rights.The pro-Obama professors made their case in an October 17 essay on Newsweek Online. They argued that an Obama presidency would...

I believe that abortion is an unspeakable evil, yet I support Sen. Barack Obama, who is pro-choice. I do not support him because he is pro-choice, but in spite of it. Is that a proper moral choice for a committed Catholic? As one of the inaugural members of the U.S. bishops' National Review Board on clergy sexual abuse, and as a canon lawyer, I answer with a resounding yes. Despite what some Republicans would like Catholics to believe, the list of what the church calls "intrinsically evil acts" does not begin and end with abortion. In fact, there are many...

O'Reily with Fr. Beck on show tonight.

A pro-life Catholic group called Catholics United will begin running a cable television ad in Catholic sections of Cleveland, Youngstown and Dayton on Friday that criticizes Sen. John McCain's support for the Iraq war and his August 2007 vote against a bill to provide health care for uninsured children. "Senator McCain, when will you start defending all human life, without exception?" asks the woman in the ad, who identifies herself as a pro-life mother of three children. The Cleveland-area ads will run for a week on the CNN, Fox News, Headline News, Home & Garden and AMC networks. The ads...

Obama presidency would be a good fit for Catholics Saturday, September 6, 2008 While the agents of division seek to deceive Catholic voters with single issues and stories of Communion denials, there is much for Catholics to look forward to with a Barack Obama presidency. With families struggling to survive, as both parents work jobs under threats of layoffs, America needs new leadership. With health-care costs soaring and millions of Americans without health insurance, America needs a new plan. With our country at war and relations with other countries strained, America needs a new strategy. With our educational systems failing...

Brendan Daly, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, issued the following statement yesterday from Denver, where the Democratic National Convention is under way.) “Her views on when life begins were informed by the views of Saint Augustine, who said: ‘... the law does not provide that [abortion] pertains to homicide, for there cannot yet be said to be a live soul in a body that lacks sensation.’” “While Catholic teaching is clear that life begins at conception, many Catholics do not ascribe to that view. The Speaker agrees with the church that we should reduce the number...