McCain "100% Pro-Life"

Moral theologian Father Gregory Coan specializes in medical ethics and has this to say about McCain's pro-life views:

"I looked up John McCain’s official website to see where he stands on embryo research. I quote:

'As President, John McCain will strongly support funding for promising research programs, including amniotic fluid and adult stem cell research and other types of scientific study that do not involve the use of human embryos.'

I thought he had a change in mind, and it shows that he does on his official website. Thus John McCain seems to be 100 % pro-life, while the other major party candidate is not.

In Christ, Fr. Coan"

Election Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, You told us to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God. Enlighten the minds of our people [in] America. May we choose a President of the United States, and other government officials, according to Your Divine Will. Give our citizens the courage to choose leaders of our nation who respect the sanctity of unborn human life, the sanctity of marriage, the sanctity of marital relations, the sanctity of the family, and the sanctity of the aging. Grant us the wisdom to give You, what belongs to You, our God. If we do this, as a nation, we are confident You will give us an abundance of Your blessings through our elected leaders. Amen.

Composed by Father John Anthony Hardon, S.J.

Imprimatur: +Rene H. Gracida, Bishop of Corpus Christi, July 7, 1992
Published by Eternal Life in 1992

Thanks to Fr Z @ WDTPRS.

CCHD ends funding to ACORN over financial irregularities

By Dennis Sadowski | Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The Catholic Campaign for Human Development suspended funding a nationwide community organizing group after it was disclosed June 2 that nearly $1 million had been embezzled.

Funding was suspended for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, popularly known as ACORN, because of the financial irregularities, said Ralph McCloud, executive director of CCHD, the U.S. bishops’ domestic anti-poverty and social justice program.

“We’re not funding them at any level,” McCloud told Catholic News Service Oct. 15.

The suspension covers all 40 ACORN affiliates nationwide that had been approved for $1.13 million in grants for the funding cycle that started July 1, 2008. [...]

Vatican suspends bishop who adopted woman

NEW DELHI — The Vatican has suspended a Roman Catholic bishop in southern India after he adopted a 26-year-old woman, a senior church official said Saturday.

Bishop John Thattungal, 58, will be barred from performing any religious or administrative duties until a formal inquiry into his conduct is completed, said the Rev. Stephen Alathara, a spokesman for the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council, in a telephone interview from the southern Indian city of Kochi.

Alathara said the bishop's adoption of the woman earlier this year had upset other priests in the Kochi diocese.

"The majority of the priests were unhappy and asked for his resignation," he said, adding that the Vatican ordered the suspension on Thursday.

He said there are questions surrounding the legality of the adoption because the woman is not a minor.

Thattungal could not be reached for comment, but news reports in Kerala have quoted him as saying, "I have only fatherly love toward the woman who has spiritual powers. This relation is giving me spiritual refreshment."

A three-member committee of bishops will investigate Thattungal's conduct and submit a report to Archbishop Daniel Acharuparambil, the president of the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council, who will then forward it to the Vatican, Alathara said.

The investigating committee does not have a set deadline, but the Vatican has asked for a report "as early as possible," he said.

Christians make up 2.5 percent of India's 1.1 billion people, the majority of whom are Hindus.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Are the bishops in Texas right?

Is it an intrinsic moral evil to vote for the pro-death presidential candidate?

See the debate "Is there a choice?" on Fr. Mark White's blog.

Hard Reality

A friend, Nilda, recommends you take a look at Eduardo Verastegui's web site and pro-life video.

FOR ADULTS ONLY - the images of what is done to unborn babies are horrifying. Many children are not prepared to deal with the HARD REALITY, "Dura Realidad" in Spanish.

Bless you, Nilda, and all pro-life women.

See the video here.

No moral equivalence between prudential issues and those involving "intrinsic evil"

"As Catholics we are faced with a number of issues that are of concern and should be addressed, such as immigration reform, healthcare, the economy and its solvency, care and concern for the poor, and the war on terror. As Catholics we must be concerned about these issues and work to see that just solutions are brought about. There are many possible solutions to these issues and there can be reasonable debate among Catholics on how to best approach and solve them. These are matters of "prudential judgment." But let us be clear: issues of prudential judgment are not morally equivalent to issues involving intrinsic evils. No matter how right a given candidate is on any of these issues, it does not outweigh a candidate's unacceptable position in favor of an intrinsic evil such as abortion or the protection of 'abortion rights.' "


- From "Voting as 'Faithful Citizens' " by Most Reverend Kevin J. Farrell,
Bishop of Dallas, and Most Reverend Kevin W. Vann, Bishop of Fort Worth, Texas.

Read the entire letter here.

Call for Reparation

28,692 people have petitioned YouTube to pull the Host Desecration from its site. But they refuse to comply.

Why?

Just yesterday, YouTube removed a video called "Welcome to Saudi Britain" which asks viewers to petition the British government NOT to accept Sharia (Islam) law in Britain.

Contradiction -- YouTube removes an anti-Islam video, but keeps 43 videos showing desecration of the Holy Eucharist in horrible ways -- one was flushed down the toilet!

What should we do in response?

Well, besides expanding our YouTube protest, it’s time to appeal to a higher court: to God in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.

That's why I'm doing an act of reparation in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

Will you join me?

Go here to let me know or reply to this email with yes in the subject line.

The intention is to do reparation for the 43 desecration on YouTube, for all sacrilege against the Holy Eucharist, and for whatever intentions are in your heart.

Thank you for praying with me, and please continue countering the desecration videos on YouTube by seeing the action items below.

Sincerely,

Robert E. Ritchie

P.S. Go here to let me know that you will offer reparation in front of the Blessed Sacrament for the 43 desecration videos on YouTube. And I’ll keep you posted.

* * *

Four point action plan to protest the Host desecration videos on YouTube:

1) Go to user fsmdude (person who posted the videos) YouTube channel and flag all his videos. Right under the video window is the link to FLAG. Next choose “hateful or Abusive Content.” Next Choose the sub-section – “promotes hatred or violence.”

Next choose “Religion” as the “group attacked.” Next type in your specific reason, such as "he is desecrating what Catholics hold sacred. YouTube just removed an anti-Sharia video, so why the double standard?”

2) Call YouTube (Google owns YouTube). Dial 650-253-0000, then press 0 for a live person. Tell them, in polite yet firm terms, how upset you are with the 43 desecration videos posted by user fsmdude. Ask them to remove his videos and pledge never to allow such videos again.

3) Send a fax to YouTube/Google 650-253-0001 telling them, in polite yet firm terms, how upset you are with the 43 desecration videos posted by user fsmdude. Ask them to remove his videos and pledge never to allow such videos again.

4) Pass on this 4 point action plan to all your friends and family members. In numbers there is strength.

For more information visit America Needs Fatima.

Sage and sweet advice

“Soyez toujours le plus doux que vous pourrez, et souvenez-vous que l’on prends plus de mouches avec une cuillère de miel qu’avec cent barils de vinaigre.

"Always be as gentle as you can and remember that one catches more flies with a spoonful of honey than with a hundred barrels of vinegar."

-- According to the Louis de la Rivière in his Vie de saint François de Sales (1624 – p. 584), the doctor and bishop of Geneva of St. Francis de Sales (+1622) to his friend and prodigy Jean Pierre Camus (+1652) Bishop of Belley.

(Thanks to Fr Z. @ wdtprs.com)

Rabbi invited to speak at Synod perpetuates anti-Pope legends

"As you know, the absolute innovation of this Synod [of Bishops] is the presence of a rabbi, who yesterday afternoon spoke in congregation: it is the Chief Rabbi of Haifa, Shear-Yashuv Cohen. The latter, in an intervention dedicated to the interpretation of Scripture according to the Jewish faith, attacked Iranian president Ahmadinejad. And, in the evening, interviewed by Phil Pullella, a Vaticanist for Reuters, said that the Church should not beatify Pius XII and that, had he known that Benedict XVI was about to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Pope Pacelli (with the Mass he will celebrate tomorrow at Saint Peter's), he would not even have come to the Synod. Apart from the fact that the date of the death of Pius XII is not exactly a Mossad secret, being found in every encyclopedia, apart from the fact that the fiftieth [anniversary] represents an important date, I find completely out of place that a Jewish exponent, invited to speak to the Catholic bishops, makes use of it to embarrass the Pope, most of all based on black legends."

-- From Andrea Tornielli's blog

(Photo: Reuters Pictures)