Thursday, December 31, 2009

Catholics believe that the political form of secular messianism is "intrinsically perverse"

The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, especially the "intrinsically perverse" political form of a secular messianism.
-- CCC 676

Art: Luca Signorelli, Preaching and Deeds 0f the Antichrist, Orvieto.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Catholics believe "pornography is a quiet family killer"

New study on effects of pornography reveals ‘a quiet family killer,’ researcher says

Patrick F. Fagan, Ph.D

.- A new study on the effects of pornography indicates that it erodes the family, corrupts men’s sense of normal sexuality and is frequently a major factor in most divorces. The author of the study characterized pornography as “a quiet family killer.”

The study, titled “The Effects of Pornography on Individuals, Marriage, Family and Community,” was authored by Patrick F. Fagan, Ph.D, who is a trained psychologist and a former Deputy Assistant Health and Human Services Secretary. He is also Director of the Center for Research on Marriage and Religion at the Family Research Council (FRC), which produced the study.

The study reports that men who regularly view pornography have a higher tolerance for abnormal sexuality, including rape, sexual aggression and sexual promiscuity.

For more, read here.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Catholics believe “The sexual abuse of a child is and always was grievously sinful"

“The sexual abuse of a child is and always was a crime in civil law; it is and always was a crime in canon law; it is and always was grievously sinful. One of the most heartbreaking aspects of the report is that while church leaders — bishops and religious superiors — failed, almost every parent who came to the diocese to report abuse clearly understood the awfulness of what was involved.”

--Archbishop Diarmuid Martin,
on the "Dublin Report"
Dublin, Ireland

For more, read: Pope calls Irish church leaders to Vatican to discuss abuse report

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Catholics believe that same sex attraction is not evil but "objectively disordered"

"The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition."
-- CCC 2358

Catholics believe "issues that are moral questions before they become political remain moral questions when they become political"

"The challenge to governing effectively and pastorally as bishops and priests is to be public without being co-opted and to be who we are without being isolated. We approach every issue from the perspective of the natural moral law and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for issues that are moral questions before they become political remain moral questions when they become political. To limit our teaching or governing to what the state is not interested in would be to betray both the Constitution of our country and, much more importantly, the Lord himself."

-- Cardinal Francis George,
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

2009 FALL MEETING OF THE US CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS

BALTIMORE
, 16 NOVEMBER 2009

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Catholics believe in the grace of "Exodus" from homosexuality

Interview: Former Gay Youth Leader Re-Emerges to Tell His Dramatic Conversion Story

By Patrick B. Craine

November 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Two years ago Michael Glatze sent shockwaves through the homosexualist establishment when he declared publicly that he had left his life as a prominent homosexual activist, become Christian, and embraced "normal human sexuality."

However, after being subjected to intense criticism and ridicule following his conversion, Glatze decided to "go inside," "be silent," and "process" for a time, but now says he feels compelled to share his story anew. In an interview with LifeSiteNews.com (LSN), Glatze said that, far from reverting back to his old lifestyle (as many of his critics in the homosexual community said he would) he is "extremely happy, and able to have a very good, normal, healthy life."

Click here to read the rest of the story.





http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/nov/09111207.html

Catholics believe that true health care protects all life

Bishops: True Health Care Protects All Life!

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK

“ Genuine health care reform that protects the life and dignity of all is a moral imperative and a vital national obligation” — Bishop William F. Murphy, chairman, USCCB Committee on Domes­tic Justice & Human Development.

The bishops of the United States recently asked that all Catholics be informed of their position on the current health care reform proposals. Plans be­ing debated by Congress include coverage for abortions. Abortion is not health care; abortion is murder. Any health care plan that includes paying for abortions is not health care and cannot be sup­ported by the bishops or any Catholic in good con­science. The most recent letter from the bishops dated October 8, 2009 is reprinted here.

+ + + Dear Member of Congress: On behalf of the United States Conference of Cath­olic Bishops (USCCB), we are writing to express our disappointment that progress has not been made on the three priority criteria for health care reform that we have conveyed previously to Congress. In fact, the Senate Finance Committee rejected a conscience rights amendment accepted earlier by the House En­ergy and Commerce Committee. If final legislation does not meet our principles, we will have no choice but to oppose the bill. We remain committed to work­ing with the administration, congressional leader­ship, and our allies to produce final health reform legislation that will reflect our principles.

We continue to urge you to: 1. Exclude mandated coverage for abortion, and incorporate longstanding policies against abortion funding and in favor of conscience rights. No one should be required to pay for or participate in abor­tion. It is essential that the legislation clearly ap­ply to this new program longstanding and widely supported federal restrictions on abortion funding and mandates, and protections for rights of con­science. No current bill meets this test.

2. Adopt measures that protect and improve people’s health care. Reform should make quality health care affordable and accessible to everyone, particularly those who are vulnerable and those who live at or near the poverty level.

3. Include effective measures to safeguard the health of immigrants, their children, and all of so­ciety. Ensure that legal immigrants and their fami­ly members have comprehensive, affordable, and timely access to health care coverage. Maintain an adequate safety net for those who remain uncovered. We sincerely hope that the legislation will not fall short of our criteria. However, we remain ap­prehensive when amendments protecting freedom of conscience and ensuring no taxpayer money for abortion are defeated in committee votes. If accept­able language in these areas cannot be found, we will have to oppose the health care bill vigorous­ly. Catholic moral tradition teaches that health care is a basic human right, essential to protect­ing human life and dignity. Much- needed re­form of our health care system must be pursued in ways that serve the life and dignity of all, never in ways that undermine or violate these fundamental values. We will work tirelessly to remedy these central problems and help pass real reform that clearly protects the life, digni­ty, and health of all.

Sincerely, Bishop William F. Murphy ( Diocese of Rockville Centre, chairman: Committee on Do­mestic Justice & Human Development); Justin Cardinal Rigali ( Archdiocese of Philadelphia, chairman: Committee on Pro-Life Activities); Bish­op John Wester ( Diocese of Salt Lake City, chair­man: Committee on Migration).

+ + + Take Action! Join the efforts of the U.S. Catho­lic bishops in supporting health care that respects the life and dignity of all people. You are invited to visit the National Committee for a Human Life Amendment web site at http:// actions. nchla. org and use the online form to send a message to your representatives that you stand up for life and against abortion coverage masquerading as health
care. Thank you.

+ + +
(See coverage of my journey in Italy and my run­ning in the 34th Marine Corps Marathon at apriestlife. blogspot. com.)

Monday, October 26, 2009

Catholics believe that being Catholic corresponds to truth

"Let me state clearly that I did not leave the C of E (Church of England) over women's ordination or homosexuality though in regards to both of these issues I hold the Catholic orthodox line. I became Catholic because being Catholic was true, the primacy of Peter and his infallibility is true and the lack of the Magisterium in Anglicanism leaves the priest with nothing other than his (or now her) own opinion.

"On June 7, 2009 I resigned as a priest in the Church of England. On July 18, 2009 I was received into full communion in the Catholic Church. I have been asked numerous times if I am sorry that I left when I did as a result of the news this week from the Vatican on what Pope Benedict XVI is graciously offering Anglicans. The answer is a theological profound no way. I am a Catholic now and I have never been more happy about my personal decision to depart when I did. I could do no other as it was an issue that impacted the salvation of my soul as one who was theologically convinced of Catholic theology and what it meant to be a Catholic in communio with the Holy Father and the universal Catholic Church."

-- Jeffrey Steel (De cura animarum blog), formerly an Anglican priest, writes of his reasons for entering the universal Church with his wife and six children

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Catholics believe that "the longest war, with the greatest number of 'fallen', is the practice of abortion"

L’Osservatore Romano published an article, signed by Lucetta Scaraffia, urging President Obama, named as this year's Nobel peace laureate, to recognize “ that the longest war, with the greatest number of ‘ fallen,’ is the practice of abortion, legalized and facili­tated by international structures.”

Read more here.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Catholics believe Pelosi and pals can run, but they can't "Hyde"

Pelosi and all her elected pro-abort pals want you to think the Hyde amendment applies to the proposed Health Care program. It doesn't.

We are not allowed to use the word "lie" to apply to this despicable and condescending behavior because that is now also declared politically incorrect. How about "mendacious"?

Nancy: You and your elected pro-abort pals can run, but you can't "Hyde". We are outing you.

Get the details at www.StopHyding.com.

Thank you.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Catholics believe no talk of dignity, justice and peace is meaningful in the face of abortion

"a society lacks solid foundations when, on the one hand, it asserts values such as the dignity of the person, justice and peace, but then, on the other hand, radically acts to the contrary by allowing or tolerating a variety of ways in which human life is devalued and violated, especially where it is weak or marginalized"

(Evangelium Vitae, 93; cf. Caritas in Veritate, 15).

-- Pope Benedict quotes Pope John Paul II in his speech upon the occasion of acceptance of the credentials of the new US ambassador to the Holy See, Honorable Miguel Humberto Díaz.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Many Catholics believe that CCHD needs oversight .... BVM provides it

"The BVM report ... offers concrete evidence that grantees on CCHD’s list for both 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 advocate policies and ac­tivities deeply contrary to fundamen­tal Catholic moral teaching, such as abortion, contraception, and legalized prostitution. The report also observes that some of these groups are involved in pushing Obama’s health care reform without prejudice to its proposed fund­ing of abortion and contraception." (The Wanderer Catholic Newspaper.)

Take a look at the Bellarmine Veritas Ministry (BVM) website that details their oversight of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. The work of this watchdog organization has prompted the CCHD to de-fund organizations that pursue agendas inimical to Catholic faith and morals.

Go to the BVM website by clicking here.

LifeSiteNews also has a recent report on the CCHD which you can find here.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Catholics Believe the Pope is Right About Condoms

And so does a French Epidemiologist:

Epidemiologist: Pope Is Right About Condoms


Says Issue Is a "Prisoner of Ideology"


PARIS, SEPT. 15, 2009 (Zenit.org).- There is a lack of realism in debate about condoms, according to a French epidemiologist who maintains that Benedict XVI's assertion that condom use can actually aggravate the AIDS crisis is "simply realistic."

Read the rest of the story by clicking on this link.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Catholics believe chastity is not optional

Another ecclesial group votes to make chastity optional for ordained clergy. And they said the slippery-slope would stop at artificial contraception.

More on the story here.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

"Unhealthy Care": Catholics cannot be part of it

Archbishop Dolan Tells KCs . . .
Church Won’t Be Part Of “Unhealthy Care”


PHOENIX ( CNA) — “ Health­care reform is a good thing,” New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan told Catholic News Agency (CNA) during an August 5 interview in Phoenix, where he was attending the annual Knights of Columbus gathering. However, if it “ leads to the de­struction of life, then we say it’s no longer health care at all — it’s un­healthy care and we can’t be part of that.”

Responding to a question about the Catholic Church’s view on health-care reform, Archbish­op Dolan explained to CNA that the Church regards health-care reform as a good thing. “ The Catholic Church has been saying that for a long time,” he said, adding that our human dignity “ means that one has access to quality affordable first- rate health care.”

“That having been said, the dev­il is in the details,” he warned. While the Church agrees on the “ what,” namely, “ on the reform and renewed, reinvigorated health care,” it has some things to say on how it is carried out.

The archbishop of New York af­firmed that the first thing that needs to be said is that “ every health- care system exists only to serve human life, not the other way around.”

“ Human life is not some com­modity, some customer, some cog that is at the service of a bigger system or some bureaucratic net­work,” but rather, it is “ the end in itself and health care is how it is protected.” If health care begins to lead to the “ destruction of human life” through avenues such as abortion, end of life care, or the discarding of human embryos, then “ we say it’s no longer health care at all.” “It’s unhealthy care and we can’t be part of that,” Archbishop Dolan stated.

While some people question the Church’s involvement in the de­bate surrounding health- care re­form, Dolan insisted that the Church should have a voice in the debate “ because nearly one out of every five patients in the United States who is in a hospital is un­der the embrace of the Church in a Catholic health- care network.”

“So please listen to us because we’ve been in this business a heck of a long time,” he said, recalling that members of the Catholic Church were the ones who “ opened up the first clinics, hos­pitals, and health- care networks.”

He concluded: “ Don’t exclude us now because you might be un­comfortable with the very values that gave rise to this magnificent network.”

Monday, August 17, 2009

Homosexuality is Bad For Your Health: Mortal Sin Means Mortal Danger

Why Isn't Homosexuality Considered A Disorder On The Basis Of Its Medical Consequences?

By Kathleen Melonakos, M.A., R.N.

I worked as an RN for several years during the eighties and nineties at Stanford University Medical Center, where I saw some of the damage homosexuals do to their bodies with some of their sexual practices. As a result of that eye-opening experience, I much admire the work of NARTH in the research and treatment of homosexuality.

I have long been concerned about the serious medical consequences which result from the gay-affirming attitudes that predominate in the San Francisco Bay Area. For example, I knew personally a prominent dermatologist, a dentist, an engineer, and a hairdresser that died in their mid-forties of infectious diseases related to their homosexual behavior patterns. I know of many others that have died young as a result of living a gay lifestyle.

The co-author of my own medical reference book, Saunders Pocket Reference for Nurses,[i] was the head of the surgery department at Stanford. She related case histories of homosexuals needing emergency surgery due to "fisting," "playing with toys," (inserting objects into the rectum) and other bizarre acts. I am certain--in light of my clinical experience, and since doing considerable amount of studying about it since that time--that homosexuality is neither normal nor benign; rather, it is a lethal behavioral addiction as Dr. Jeffrey Satinover outlines in his book, Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth.[ii]

As far as I know, there is no other group of people in the United States that dies of infectious diseases in their mid-forties except practicing homosexuals. This, to me, is tragic, when we know that homosexuality can be prevented, in many cases, or substantially healed in adulthood when there is sufficient motivation and help.

I now live in Delaware and work in conjunction with the Delaware Family Foundation to inform the public about homosexual issues. We are debating gay activists who want to add "sexual discrimination" to our anti-discrimination code. In trying to make the case that homosexuality is not healthy and should not be encouraged, we come up against the fact that neither the American Psychiatric Association, nor the American Psychological Association recognize it as a disorder. Our opponents say we are using "scare tactics."

Dr. Satinover brilliantly laid out in his book, Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth the solid, irrefutable evidence that there are lethal consequences of engaging in the defining features of male homosexuality--that is, promiscuity and anal intercourse.

It doesn't take someone trained in medicine to recognize that, as Brian Camenker of the Parent Right's Coalition said on national TV, "A lifetime of anal sex does not do great things for the body." Brian also said, "As troubling as that statement sounds, there is no logical argument against it." Thus, even lay people recognize what should be obvious, especially to those trained in medicine, and who know the basic facts about homosexuality. It seems to me that medical professionals should be more aware and concerned about the consequences of habitually engaging in promiscuous anal intercourse, and other oral-anal practices of active homosexuals.[iiia]

The risk of anal cancer soars for those engaging in anal intercourse. According to one report, it rises by an astounding 4000%, and doubles again for those who are HIV positive.[iiib]
Can anyone refute that anal intercourse tears the rectal lining of the receptive partner, regardless of whether a condom is worn, and the subsequent contact with fecal matter leads to a host of diseases?

Diseases to which active homosexuals are vulnerable can be classified as follows:
Classical sexually transmitted diseases (gonorrhea, infections with Chlamydia trachomatis, syphilis, herpes simplex infections, genital warts, pubic lice, scabies); enteric diseases (infections with Shigella species, Campylobacter jejuni, Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia lamblia, ["gay bowel disease"], Hepatitis A, B, C, D, and cytomegalovirus); trauma (related to and/or resulting in fecal incontinence, hemorroids, anal fissure, foreign bodies lodged in the rectum, rectosigmoid tears, allergic proctitis, penile edema, chemical sinusitis, inhaled nitrite burns, and sexual assault of the male patient); and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).[iv]

Can anyone refute that increased morbidity and mortality is an unavoidable result of male-with-male sex--not to mention the increased rates of alcoholism, drug abuse, depression, suicide and other maladies that so often accompany a homosexual lifestyle?[v] People with this whole cluster of behavior patterns are somehow "normal"?

My primary question is: why isn't homosexuality considered a disorder on the basis of its medical consequences alone? Dr. Satinover and others have made a solid case for why homosexuality parallels alcoholism as an unhealthy addiction. It should have a parallel diagnosis.
There is a lot of literature, including on the NARTH website, discussing the 1973 removal of homosexuality as a diagnosis. The arguments against the change in diagnosis seem to center around "societal standards," moral relativism, "subjective distress" of the client, and whether or not there is any objective standard for "psychological" normalcy (for instance, the debate between Joseph Nicolosi and Dr. Michael Wertheimer in A Clash In Worldviews: An Interview with Dr. Michael Wertheimer).

While these considerations are important, it seems like we can set aside, for the moment, the debate on whether homosexuality should be classified as a developmental disorder. Very simply, it seems, an objective person just looking at homosexuality's lifestyle consequences would have to classify it as some kind of pathology. Does it or does it not lead to a dramatically shortened lifespan? Studies say it does, some by as much as 40%; the Cameron study being only one of many other studies that suggest this.[vi]

Taken together, these studies establish that homosexuality is more deadly than smoking, alcoholism, or drug addiction. However, it appears that far too few physicians or other professionals are making arguments in favor of homosexuality as a diagnosis based on its adverse health consequences.

While doing research into the history of the 1973 decision to remove homosexuality from the diagnostic manual of disorders, I have been shocked to find out the specious reasoning upon which the decision was based, and that qualified physicians have allowed the decision to stand.
On Feb. 5, 2002, I corresponded by e-mail with Dr. Robert Spitzer of the APA and asked him to send me references for the position papers and studies upon which his committee based its decision to remove the diagnosis. He told me to read Ron Bayer's book,[vii] the "closest thing to a position paper" (American Journal of Psychiatry,130:11, 1207-1216), and he said, "There was no specific list of references, but what was influential too was the Evelyn Hooker Rorshach study and the Eli Robins community study."[viii]

I have read many of the criticisms of the Hooker study--how respondents were specifically selected rather than at random, and other methodological limitations.[ix] Dr. Charles Socarides, who was also on the Task Force on Nomenclature, informs us also that Spitzer was influenced by the Kinsey Report, which was recognized as early as 1976 by "social progressives" like Prof. Paul Robinson of Stanford as "a pathetic manifestation of Kinsey's philosophical naivete.. a mechanical contrivance, which...bore little relation to reality,"[x] and since has been discredited by the work of Judith Reisman and others.

It is clear that Dr. Socarides was right when he said that the decision to remove homosexuality as a diagnosis "involved the out-of-hand and peremptory disregard and dismissal not only of hundreds of psychiatric and psychoanalytic research papers and reports, but other serious studies by groups of psychiatrists, psychologists and educators over the past seventy years..."[xi]

It appears even more obvious that the Task Force on Nomenclature cavalierly ignored (and the APA's continue to ignore!) the substantial and unambiguous evidence that homosexuality involves a life-threatening behavior with an addictive component which has serious health implications.[xii]

That the APA's have escaped accountability for their lack of scientific and professional integrity is especially incredible since the advent of the AIDS epidemic. There are currently an estimated 900,000 people in the United States that are infected with the HIV virus, or 1 in 300 Americans. Though there has been a decrease in AIDS deaths per year due to drug therapy, (which costs an average of $12,000 per patient per year) the rate of new infections per year has remained the same, at 40,000, despite the twenty year "safe-sex" campaign.[xiii]

These facts demonstrate the failure of current policies in containing the AIDS epidemic. While drug therapy will briefly extend the life of these patients, AIDS remains the fifth leading cause of death among those aged 25-44, and 60% of new cases are contracted by men who have sex with men.[xiv] According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), homosexual men are a thousand times more likely to contract AIDS than the general heterosexual population[xv]
Dr. Satinover has said in an interview with NARTH:

"A recent article in a psychiatric publication informed us that 30% of all 20-year-old homosexual men will be HIV positive or dead by the age of thirty. You would think that the objective, ethical approach would be: let's use anything that works to try to take these people out of their posture of risk. If it means getting them to wear condoms fine. If it means getting them to give up anal intercourse, fine. If it means getting them to give up homosexuality, fine. But that last intervention is the one intervention that it absolutely taboo.

"There is no doubt that a cold, statistical analysis of this epidemic would lead you to believe that this attitude of political correctness is killing a substantial proportion of these people. I think there is an element of denial, in the psychological sense, of what gay-related illnesses really mean."[xvi]

It seems to me that the APA's should be aggressively pressed to recognize the facts about the morbidity and mortality directly attributed to homosexuality, or be exposed for the recklessly irresponsible "guardians of the public health" they have become, at least on this issue.
When will doctors and other health care workers demand that officers in the American Psychiatric Association respond to the clear evidence in the following: Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth: the mortality rates listed in their own "APA's Practical Guidelines for Treating Patients with HIV/AIDS";[xvii] and other important reports, such as the Monograph put out by the Institute of Sexual Health, Health Implications of Homosexuality?[xviii]

Lest we think that APA officers justify their neglect of medical consequences of homosexuality on the basis that sexual orientation cannot be changed, we note that Robert Spitzer acknowledged in his original 1973 position paper on Nomenclature that "modern methods of treatment enable a significant proportion of homosexuals who wish to change their sexual orientation to do so."[xix]

He has now confirmed the fact that sexual orientation can be changed with his recent study.[xx] We know that changing sexual orientation only became "impossible" in the nineties, as part of a political strategy by gay activists.[xxi]

Spitzer and his allies' rationale for removing homosexuality as a diagnosis in 1973 was that to be considered a psychiatric disorder,

"it must either regularly cause subjective distress, or regularly be associated with some generalized impairment in social effectiveness or functioning....Clearly homosexuality per se does not meet the requirements for a psychiatric disorder, since, as noted above, many are quite satisfied with their sexual orientation and demonstrate no generalized impairment in social effectiveness or functioning." (Spitzer, et.al, p. 1215).

The Task Force's reasoning fails for several reasons. First, even if we grant the validity of their stated criteria (which is questionable), the fact that many homosexuals "are satisfied with their sexual orientation," fails to take into account the large number of homosexuals who are not satisfied with their sexual orientation and who do experience "subjective distress and generalized impairment in social functioning." The removal of the diagnosis is not just unfair, but cruel to those who would seek treatment for their condition.

Secondly, there are unambiguous reasons to think that homosexuality per se does cause "generalized impairment in social effectiveness or functioning." If in fact it is a lethal addiction, and the many studies documenting the behavior patterns of homosexuals are correct (that show compulsive patterns of promiscuity, anonymous sex, sex for money, sex in public places, sex with minors, concomitant drug and alcohol abuse, depression, suicide), for the APA to argue that these features do not constitute an "impairment of social effectiveness or functioning," stretches the boundaries of plausibility. To argue that early death does not constitute an "impairment of social effectiveness or functioning" is absurd.

The APA claims its mission is "to promote a bio-psycho-social approach to understanding and caring for patients, in all aspects of health care, including illness prevention" (APA's Stategic Goals Statement). Thus the APA violates its own goals then when it ignores evidence that homosexuality can in many cases be prevented, and denies reorientation therapy to those who want it.

A careful reading of the articles opposing reorientation therapy reveals their authors' rationale that they find such therapy to be "oppressive" to those who do not want therapy.[xxii]
What if this logic was applied to any other lethal illness? What if doctors said, "We refuse to treat cancer (or, say, alcoholism) because we only achieve a 50% cure rate--and many people who don't want to be cured find it oppressive that we do cure the others?" Why wouldn't the lawsuits for malpractice be filed?

We know that Ronald Gold of the Gay Activist's Alliance, an openly gay man, was a member of the committee to remove homosexuality as a diagnosis in 1973. We know that gay activists were disrupting meetings, threatening doctors, and using other strong-arm tactics to get their way at that time.[xxiii]

We also know that homosexual activists like Dr. Richard Isay in the APA have pressed for resolutions to punish therapists for practicing reorientation therapy, and that threats of lawsuits appear to be the main reason the APA has not implemented his proposals.[xxiv]

We know homosexual advocates in the APA continue to suppress debate about Spitzer's new study documenting that sexual orientation can be changed (and to suppress debate about other supporting studies).[xxv] We also know that active homosexuals such as Clinton Anderson at the American Psychological Association refuse to permit NARTH to engage in open debate or announce NARTH meetings in APA publications simply because he disagrees with the premises upon which reorientation therapy is based.[xxvi]

For these reasons, I do not think it is far-fetched to use the analogy that the "drunks are running the rehab center," in reference to the APA's--at least as far as homosexuality is concerned. Active homosexuals can hardly be objective about an addictive behavior they engage in themselves. In light of the medical evidence, it seems that the Galenic dictum, "physician heal thyself," should apply, as it did it in the past, as Dr. Satinover suggests.[xxvii]

It seems to me the situation in this country will only get worse until the APA is held directly responsible for what is arguably their criminal negligence. In failing to reckon with serious medical consequences of the homosexual behavior pattern, they are harming our whole society, and especially the upcoming generation.

The recent decision by the American Academy of Pediatrics to endorse gay adoptions is yet another disturbing example of how the decision to "normalize" homosexuality by the APA has had a broad ripple effect. Health professionals especially, should heed Dean Byrd's outcry on the NARTH web site that it is time that the American people "insist on truth, not politics, from all of our professional organizations."

What will it take to insist on truth? Lawsuits? Protests? In my opinion, doctors and other health professionals must exert pressure, or share culpability.

What if every person reading this article sent a copy of it to the president of the American Psychiatric Association and asked for a response? Reasoned debate is the least that psychiatrists owe our society--especially those whose lives and loved ones are at risk.
The following is relevant contact information If interested in contacting these organizations, remember that our aim is to open up a principled, civil debate:

American Psychiatric Association
President, Richard Harding, M.D.mailto:M.D.RHarding@Richmed.medpark.sc.edu
President-Elect, Paul Appelbaum, M.D.appelbap@ummhc.org
Or: American Psychiatric Association1400 K Street N.W., Washington, DC 20005(888) 357-7924 -- FAX 202-682-6850 -- apa@psych.org

[i] Melonakos, Kathleen, Saunders Pocket Reference for Nurses, Philadelphia: Saunders, 1990, (2nd ed)., with Sheryl Michelson, , 1995.

[ii] Satinover, Jeffrey, Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth, Hamewith/Baker Books, 1996.

[iiia] For an eye-opening survey of the medical studies and journal reports describing the unhygienic and disease-producing practices of homosexuals, see http://www.cprmd.org, "Homosexual Myths--Male Homosexuals are Healthy and Have Normal Sex Lives."

[iiib] Fenger, C. "Anal Neoplasia and Its Precursors: Facts and Controversies," Seminars in Diagnostic Pathology 8, no. 3, August 1991, pp.190-201; Daling, J.R. et al., "Sexual Practices, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, and the Incidence of Anal Cancer," New England Journal of Medicine 317, no.16, 15 October 1987, pp. 973-77; Holly, E.A. et al., "Anal Cancer Incidence: Genital Warts, Anal Fissure or Fistula, Hemorrhoids, and Smoking," Journal of the National Cancer Institute 81, no. 22, November 1989, pp. 1726-31; Daling, J.R. et.al, "Correlates of Homosexual Behavior and the Incidence of Anal Cancer," Journal of the American Medical Association 247, no.14, 9 April 1982, pp. 1988-90; Cooper, H.S., Patchefsky, A.S. and Marks, G., "Cloacogenic Carcinoma of the Anorectum in Homosexual Men: An Observation of Four Cases"; Diseases of the Colon and Rectum 22, no. 8, 1979, pp. 557-58. Also see Between the Lines, Michigan's statewide gay newspaper, reporting on the risk of anal cancer for men who have sex with men, http://www.afa.net/homosexual_agenda/ha031901.asp

[iv] W.E. Owen Jr., "Medical Problems of the Homosexual Adolescent," Journal of Adolescent Health Care6, No.4, July 1985, pp. 278-85.

[v] See O'Leary, Dale, "Recent Studies on Homosexuality and Mental Health," http://www.narth.com/docs/recent.html. O'Leary gives a summary of health findings and references for specific studies.

[vi] Mr. Trey Kern, President of the Citizen's for Parent Rights, in Pasadena, Maryland has collected an impressive amount data on studies documenting the diminished lifespan of active homosexuals. See www.cprmd.org, "Homosexual Myths: Homosexuals Live Long Lives, Fact Sheet. Studies include: (G. Tardieu, 1858; M. Hirschfield, 1914, Kinsey, 1930's, 1940's; Mattachine Society, 1950's: Berger, 1960's, Kinsey Institute, 1969; Spada Report 1978; M. Mendola, 1979; Cameron, Playfair, Wellum, 1994; Hogg, R.S., et. al, International Journal of Epidemiology, 1997; Cameron, P, Cameron, K, Playfair, WL., Psychological Reports, 1998.

[vii] Bayer, R. Homosexuality and American Psychiatry, Princeton University Press, 1987. Mr. Bayer chronicled the story of how homosexuality was removed as a diagnosis. It confirms that the APA did not officially investigate or study the issue thoroughly before it gave formal approval of the deletion of homosexuality from the DSMII.

[viii] Personal e-mail correspondence with Dr. Spitzer, Feb. 5, 2002.

[ix] Socarides, Charles, W., "Sexual Politics and Scientific Logic: The Issue of Homosexuality," The Journal of Psychohistory, 10:3, 1992, p. 309 Dr. Socarides explains that a task force within the APA itself concluded in 1973 that Hooker's study was full of methodological errors, and did not warrant her conclusions. See also, Joseph Nicolosi, "Clash of Worldviews: Interview with Michael Wertheimer", http://www.narth.com/.

[x] Socarides, p. 324.

[xi].Socarides, p. 315

[xii] Spitzer, R.L, et. al, in "Symposium: Should Homosexuality Be in the APA Nomenclature?" American Journal of Psychiatry, 130:11, 1973 make no mention whatsoever of any health implications of homosexuality. Also, I asked Dr. Spitzer in an e-mail correspondence April 4, 2001, whether there was any chance the APA might change its policy in light of evidence that sexual orientation can be changed and the negative impact of homosexual practices upon lifespan. He acknowledged nothing about shortened lifespan, but gave a one-sentence reply that said there was no possibility that APA would change its policy on homosexuality at that time.

[xiii] "APA's Practical Guidelines for the Treatment of Patients with HIV/AIDS," Epidemiology, Clinical Features Influencing Treatment, sections, www.psych.org/aids/

[xiv] Ibid, Anti-Viral Treatment section.

[xv] The HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Division of HIV/AIDS, January, 1992, p. 9.

[xvi] Satinover, Jeffrey, "Reflections: Interview with NARTH," Feb. 5, 2001, http:www.narth.com/docs/satinover.html.

[xvii] See American Psychiatric Association website, www.psych.org/aids/, or obtain bound copy of report available from American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc., 1-800-368-5777, or http://www.appi.org/.

[xviii] Monograph is available from The Institute of Sexual Health, P.O.Box 162306, Austin, TX 78716, ph (512) 328-6268, fax (ph) 538-6269.

[xix] Spitzer, R.L, et. al, "Symposium: Should Homosexuality Be in the APA Nomenclature?" p.1215.

[xx] Spitzer, R.L, "Two Hundred Subjects Who Claim to Have Changed Their Sexual Orientation from Homosexual to Heterosexual," presentation made at the American Psychiatric Association, May 9th, 2001, in New Orleans, available from NYS Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, 10032, phone (212) 543-5524.

[xxi] Rev. Dr. Earle Fox, former president of the chapter of Exodus Intl. whose members picketed the 2000 APA convention to protest the denial of therapy to those who want it (which resulted in Dr. Robert Spitzer's 2001 study on reorientation therapy), tells in "Homosexuality Wrongly a Civil Right," Delaware State News, January 13, 2002, how no one was disputing that sexual orientation could be changed until gay activists, Kirk and Madsen, in After the Ball: How America will Conquer It's Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90's, Doubleday, 1989, outlined their plan to convince America gays were "born that way," and "beyond the realm of moral choice," p. 189.

[xxii] For an extensive survey of the articles promoting the view opposing reorientation therapy, see Diamond, Eugene, et.al, Homosexuality and Hope, the results of a two-year study, published by the Catholic Medical Association, p. 14, obtainable at P.O. Box 757, Pewaukee, WI, 53072 or http://www.cathmed.org/ . Some of the articles quoted are Davison, G., 1982; Gittings, 1973; Begelman, 1975, 1977; Murphy 1992; Sleek 1997; Silverstein, 1972; Smith, 1988. See also, "Psychiatrists Reject Therapy to Alter Gays: Efforts aimed at Turning Homosexuals into Heterosexuals are Harmful, Professional Board Declares, Even for Those Not Being Treated," Los Angeles Times, Dec. 12, 1998.

[xxiii] Socarides, p. 310. See also, Satinover, p. 31-40.

[xxiv] See Satinover, p. 36,180-182, and Stern, Mark, E, "The Battle Against the A.P.A. Resolution", www.narth.com, Interviews/Testimonies.

[xxv] Rev. Dr. Earle Fox, Delaware State News, Jan. 13, 2002.

[xxvi] NARTH Bulletin, Vol. 10, No. 3, Dec. 2001, Letter from Clinton W. Anderson to Drs. Nicolosi and Byrd, p. 16.

[xxvii] Satinover, p. 47.
Copyright © NARTH. All Rights Reserved. Leadership U.

(Thanks to Fr C.V. at Plinthos for bringing this to my attention.)

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Health Care Act: Incremental promotion of the "banality of evil"

JB of Wilmington, Delaware, wrote to say that she could not find mention of the elderly or disabled in USCCB statements about the Health Care Act:

"The Post had an interesting op-ed about how the House bill would pay doctors to give end of life counseling to seniors every 5 years. As a student of incrementalism, I can tell you that if this provision survived to become law, the next step would be to make it mandatory. Plus, the government would be providing the doctors with scripts. Care to guess what the scripts might say?

"Betsy McCaughey (former Lt Governor in NY, now heads an organization to build awareness about hospital deaths due to infections) had an interesting article on the risks of Obama care for the elderly in the Wall Street Journal. As a preview of things to come, she says that in Oregon, some cancer patients are being denied care by the state, and are afforded the benefit of physician-assisted suicide. Scary stuff. This is why people are angry. There will be countless opportunities via amendments to the law and regulations to push the culture of death inch by inch. First it's end of life counseling for seniors, then it will be mandatory prenatal testing & then counseling for pregnant women carrying a disabled child.

"Incrementalism is a powerful weapon in the culture of death - it helps promote the banality of evil that Hannah Arendt wrote of."

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Health Care Act: "would mandate abortion coverage in private health plans, expand abortion funding, override laws limiting abortion"

Health care: a basic right for all, from conception to natural death
Reform must not be vehicle for ‘abortion rights’ agenda
Congress: Follow President Obama’s pledge to preserve conscience rights

Cardinal Rigali Urges House Committee to Support Pro-Life Amendments to Health Care Reform Bill

WASHINGTON— Cardinal Justin Rigali, Chairman of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, wrote on July 29 to the members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee urging them to amend “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act” (H.R. 3200) to retain longstanding government policies on abortion and conscience rights.

Cardinal Rigali reiterated criteria for “genuine health care reform” set forth by Bishop William Murphy, Chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Domestic Policy, in his letter to Congress on July 17. He described health care as “a basic right belonging to all human beings, from conception to natural death” and said that “the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is working to ensure that needed health reform is not undermined by abandoning longstanding and widely supported policies against abortion funding and mandates and in favor of conscience protection.”

The Cardinal enumerated several problems with the bill as introduced: It would be used to mandate abortion coverage in private health plans, expand abortion funding, override state laws that limit or regulate abortion, and endanger existing laws protecting the conscience rights of health care providers.

For the whole article visit the USCCB site here.


Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Catholics believe that Jesus Christ is the "Charity in Truth" essential for the authentic development of every human person

INTRODUCTION

1. Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore witness by his earthly life and especially by his death and resurrection, is the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity. Love — caritas — is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace. It is a force that has its origin in God, Eternal Love and Absolute Truth. Each person finds his good by adherence to God's plan for him, in order to realize it fully: in this plan, he finds his truth, and through adherence to this truth he becomes free (cf. Jn 8:22). To defend the truth, to articulate it with humility and conviction, and to bear witness to it in life are therefore exacting and indispensable forms of charity. Charity, in fact, “rejoices in the truth” (1 Cor 13:6). All people feel the interior impulse to love authentically: love and truth never abandon them completely, because these are the vocation planted by God in the heart and mind of every human person. The search for love and truth is purified and liberated by Jesus Christ from the impoverishment that our humanity brings to it, and he reveals to us in all its fullness the initiative of love and the plan for true life that God has prepared for us. In Christ, charity in truth becomes the Face of his Person, a vocation for us to love our brothers and sisters in the truth of his plan. Indeed, he himself is the Truth (cf. Jn 14:6).

-- Benedict XVI, ON INTEGRAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
IN CHARITY AND TRUTH

Recommended additional reading, "Pope Benedict XVI calls for new economic system based on love in G8 message" in The TimesOnline.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Catholics believe that grown-up Faith demands the courage "to stand against the winds of fashion".

In the last few decades, the expression ‘adult faith’ [fede adulta, 'grown up faith'] has become a widespread slogan. It is often used in relation to the attitudes of those who no longer pay attention to what the Church and her Pastors say — which is to say, those who choose on their own what to believe or not to believe in a sort of ‘do-it-yourself’ faith. Expressing oneself against the Magisterium of the Church is presented as a sort of ‘courage’, whereas in fact not much courage is needed because one can be certain of receiving public praise.

Instead, courage is needed to adhere to the Church’s faith, even if it contradicts the 'order' of today’s world. Paul calls this non-conformism an ‘adult faith’. For him, following the prevailing winds and currents of the time is childish.

For this reason, it is part of an adult faith to dedicate oneself to the inviolability of life from its beginning, thus radically opposing the principle of violence, in defense precisely of the most defenseless. It is part of an adult faith to recognize the lifelong marriage between one man and one woman in accordance with the Creator’s order, re-established again by Christ. An adult faith does not follow any current here and there. It stands against the winds of fashion.

Benedict XVI
Homily - First Vespers of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul
June 28, 2009

Monday, June 22, 2009

"The fulfillment of the covenants...is found only in Jesus Christ."

"At the same time, we also believe that the fulfillment of the covenants, indeed, of all God's promises to Israel, is found only in Jesus Christ. By God's grace, the right to hear this Good News belongs to every generation. Fulfilling the mandate given her by the Lord, the Church, respecting human freedom, proclaims the truths of the Gospel in love."

Committee on Doctrine and Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
June 18, 2009

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Benedict: Pentecost a real event with "less activity and more prayer"

If we do not want Pentecost to be reduced to a mere ritual or to a suggestive commemoration, but that it be a real event of salvation, through a humble and silent listening to God's Word we must predispose ourselves to God's gift in religious openness. So that Pentecost renew itself in our time, perhaps there is need -- without taking anything away from God's freedom [to do as he pleases] -- for the Church to be less "preoccupied" with activities and more dedicated to prayer.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Vatican Council II: "Not a rupture."


In his epoch-making speech of December 22, 2005, Pope Benedict XVI introduced the notion that the documents of the Second Vatican Council must be interpreted only according to what he called the "hermeneutic of continuity" - that is, continuity with Tradition.

Today, the Pontiff developed this notion in his opening address of the Ecclesial Congress (Convegno Ecclesiale) of the Diocese of Rome. Excerpts:

"The Council was not a rupture which brought a new church into life, but a true and deep renewal of a single subject who develops."

According to the Pope, the Council "yielded good fruits", but was distorted by "an interpretive current which, referring to a supposed 'spirit of the Council', intended instead to establish a discontinuity with the Tradition of the Church, confusing, for instance, the objetively existing boundaries between the hierarchy and the lay faithful, observing the Church accordinng to a horizontal cut which excluded the vertical reference to God, in open contrast with Catholic doctrine."

(With special thanks and gratitude to Rorate Caeli.)

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Marriage: "Lifelong fidelity of a man and a woman"

This stage of my pilgrimage, I am confident, will draw the whole Church’s attention to this town of Nazareth. All of us need, as Pope Paul VI said here, to return to Nazareth, to contemplate ever anew the silence and love of the Holy Family, the model of all Christian family life. Here, in the example of Mary, Joseph and Jesus, we come to appreciate even more fully the sacredness of the family, which in God’s plan is based on the lifelong fidelity of a man and a woman consecrated by the marriage covenant and accepting of God’s gift of new life. How much the men and women of our time need to reappropriate this fundamental truth, which stands at the foundation of society, and how important is the witness of married couples for the formation of sound consciences and the building of a civilization of love!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Pope Pius XII: A "Righteous Gentile"

The blessed memory of a great Pontiff who was declared by the Jews a "righteous gentile" following the war because of his great efforts to save their lives.

On the day Pope Benedict XVI visits Yad Vashem, we recall the words of Paul VI:

The Church truly loves you all.

Our great Predecessor Pius XII affirmed this with all strength, and repeatedly, in the course of the last world conflict, and all know what he accomplished in defense and for the rescue of all those who faced difficulties, with no distinction whatsoever. And nonetheless, you are aware, suspicions, and even accusations, have been hurled against the memory of this great Pontiff. We are glad of having the opportunity of affirming it on this day and in this place: nothing is more unjust that this outrage against such a venerable figure.

Those who, like Us, knew this admirable soul closely know just how far his sensibility could go, his compassion for human sufferings, his courage, the sensitivity of his heart.

Those who, just after the war, came, with tears in their eyes, to thank him for having saved their lives also knew it. In truth, following the One whom he represents down here, the Pope wishes nothing else than the true welfare of all men.
Paul VI
Farewell from the Israeli authorities
Mandelbaum Gate (Jerusalem), January 5, 1964

With thanks to Rorate Caeli

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Vatican paper on 'Angels & Demons': 'Harmless entertainment'

The paper suggested moviegoers could make a game out of finding the many historical inaccuracies in the plot.

The Deacons Bench (deacbench.blogspot.com/)

NEW YORK - The first review of Ron Howard's "Angels & Demons" is in from the Vatican:

"L'Osservatore Romano ran a review and an editorial in Wednesday's edition, critiquing the movie based on the Dan Brown best-selling novel of the same name.

"Angels & Demons" had its world premiere Monday in Rome, after director Ron Howard charged that the Vatican interfered with getting film permits to shoot scenes in the city — a contention the Vatican said was a publicity stunt.

The newspaper wrote that the movie was "a gigantic and smart commercial operation" filled with "stereotyped characters." The paper suggested moviegoers could make a game out of finding the many historical inaccuracies in the plot.

However, L'Osservatore praised Howard's "dynamic direction" and the "magnificent" reconstruction of locations like St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. Much of the film was shot on sets that painstakingly recreated church landmarks.

The film offers "more than two hours of harmless entertainment, which hardly affects the genius and mystery of Christianity," L'Osservatore's reviewer wrote. It's "a videogame that first of all sparks curiosity and is also, maybe, a bit of fun."

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Vatican breaks silence on "Angels and Demons"

by Philip Pulella, Reuters

The success of books and films like "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons" should make the Catholic Church rethink the way it uses the media to present itself, the Vatican newspaper said on Wednesday.

The newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, ran two editorials on last Monday's premiere of "Angels and Demons" in Rome, ending an official institutional silence on the film. The editorials neither panned nor praised the film but rather offered up a mix of positive and negative comments.

One of the editorials called the film "ephemeral" but also conceded that it was "gripping" and called the camera work "splendid." It called the film "pretentious" but added that Ron Howard's direction was "dynamic and alluring."

One of the editorials, headlined "The Secret of His Success," said the Church should ask itself why such a "simplistic and partial" vision of the Church as portrayed in Dan Brown's works is so successful, even among Catholics.

"It would probably be an exaggeration to consider the books of Dan Brown an alarm bell but maybe they should be a stimulus to re-think and refresh the way the Church uses the media to explain its positions on today's burning issues," it said.

The film "Angels & Demons" sees symbologist Robert Langdon return to the big screen to try to help the Vatican rescue kidnapped cardinals who are being killed on the hour.

He also must stop a ticking time bomb by tracking down clues linked to a centuries-old secret society called the Illuminati.

Unlike its reception of The Da Vinci Code, the Vatican was officially silent in the run-up to "Angels and Demons," perhaps because its condemnation of "The Da Vinci Code" prompted an incalculable amount of free publicity that boosted box office sales.

"The Da Vinci Code" upset the Vatican and some Catholics because of its storyline, in which Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children, creating a royal bloodline that Church officials kept secret for centuries.

Howard accused the Vatican of trying to hamper his filming in Rome of "Angels & Demons," which had to recreate scenes of the Vatican and some Rome churches in Los Angeles.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

John T. Noonan: "What Can and Cannot Change"

Take a look at these interestingly titled books, highlighted in red, by John T. Noonan, Notre Dame's choice to replace Mary Ann Glendon on the dais 17 May:

Noonan is the author of numerous books, including “A Church that Can and Cannot Change: The Development of Catholic Moral Teaching,” “Contraception: A History of Its Treatment by Catholic Theologians and Canonists,” “Power to Dissolve: Lawyers and Marriages in the Courts of the Roman Curia,” “Bribes,” “The Lustre of Our Country: The American Experience of Religious Freedom,” and “Narrowing the Nation’s Power: The Supreme Court Sides With the States.” He also has contributed essays, articles and reviews to such magazines and journals as Commonweal, The Tablet, The Wilson Quarterly, National Review, America, and The New York Times Book Review.

This information and more is available at the Notre Dame web site here.

Anybody read either of these and can give us the rundown?

Thank you,
((((..))))

Monday, April 27, 2009

Notre Shame FaithWreck

The Notre Shame FaithWreck continues: Father Jenkins has announced that he will go "dumpster diving" to replace Mary Ann Glendon on the dais at 17 May Notre Dame commencement:

Statement by Father John Jenkins on the Laetare Medal

The following statement from Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame, is in response to the decision by Mary Ann Glendon to decline acceptance of the University’s Laetare Medal:

“We are, of course, disappointed that Professor Glendon has made this decision. It is our intention to award the Laetare Medal to another deserving recipient, and we will make that announcement as soon as possible.” (University of Notre Dame Office of News & Information)

N.B. Be assured the replacement will be the only acceptable kind of Catholic: a pro-abort "faux" Catholic. Wear Black 17 May to stand with preborn babies at risk, embryos destroyed for government-funded research and in protest of all crimes against human life.

Mary Ann Glendon: The Great Refusal

Mary Ann Glendon wrote the following to decline the Laetare medal at Notre Dame:

Dear Father Jenkins,

When you informed me in December 2008 that I had been selected to receive Notre Dame’s Laetare Medal, I was profoundly moved. I treasure the memory of receiving an honorary degree from Notre Dame in 1996, and I have always felt honored that the commencement speech I gave that year was included in the anthology of Notre Dame’s most memorable commencement speeches. So I immediately began working on an acceptance speech that I hoped would be worthy of the occasion, of the honor of the medal, and of your students and faculty.

Last month, when you called to tell me that the commencement speech was to be given by President (), I mentioned to you that I would have to rewrite my speech. Over the ensuing weeks, the task that once seemed so delightful has been complicated by a number of factors.

First, as a longtime consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, I could not help but be dismayed by the news that Notre Dame also planned to award the president an honorary degree. This, as you must know, was in disregard of the U.S. bishops’ express request of 2004 that Catholic institutions “should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles” and that such persons “should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.” That request, which in no way seeks to control or interfere with an institution’s freedom to invite and engage in serious debate with whomever it wishes, seems to me so reasonable that I am at a loss to understand why a Catholic university should disrespect it.

Then I learned that “talking points” issued by Notre Dame in response to widespread criticism of its decision included two statements implying that my acceptance speech would somehow balance the event:

• “President () won’t be doing all the talking. Mary Ann Glendon, the former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, will be speaking as the recipient of the Laetare Medal.”

• “We think having the president come to Notre Dame, see our graduates, meet our leaders, and hear a talk from Mary Ann Glendon is a good thing for the president and for the causes we care about.”

A commencement, however, is supposed to be a joyous day for the graduates and their families. It is not the right place, nor is a brief acceptance speech the right vehicle, for engagement with the very serious problems raised by Notre Dame’s decision—in disregard of the settled position of the U.S. bishops—to honor a prominent and uncompromising opponent of the Church’s position on issues involving fundamental principles of justice.

Finally, with recent news reports that other Catholic schools are similarly choosing to disregard the bishops’ guidelines, I am concerned that Notre Dame’s example could have an unfortunate ripple effect.

It is with great sadness, therefore, that I have concluded that I cannot accept the Laetare Medal or participate in the May 17 graduation ceremony.

In order to avoid the inevitable speculation about the reasons for my decision, I will release this letter to the press, but I do not plan to make any further comment on the matter at this time.

Yours Very Truly,

Mary Ann Glendon

[source: First Things - which appears to be inundated with traffic...]

Update: Expert commentary on Glendon's noble refusal

In reaction to this morning's breaking news story that Mary Ann Glendon has refused the Laetare Medal.

Fr. Raymond J. de Souza at NCRegister:

Father John Jenkins likely thought himself very clever. Professor Mary Ann Glendon just took him to school.

In declining to receive the Laetare Medal alongside President N.’s honorary doctorate of laws at next month’s commencement, Glendon has refused to participate in the shabby manipulation Father Jenkins attempted to engineer. It is a rare personage who could ennoble an award by refusing to receive it, but Professor Glendon has done just that. The Laetare Medal will now be known best for the year in which it was declined. Glendon chose, to use the apt words of Bishop John D’Arcy in this regard, truth over prestige.

The significance of Glendon’s refusal is enormous. The most accomplished Catholic laywoman in America — former ambassador of the United States to the Holy See and current president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences — has refused to accept Notre Dame’s highest honor. It is a signal moment for the Catholic Church in the United States. It is a signal moment for the Church’s public witness. It is may even be a signal moment for Notre Dame. What Glendon will not say at Notre Dame will finally be a fitting response to what Gov. Mario Cuomo said there some 25 years ago. [Read on.]

(CNS Photo: Mary Ann Glendon. Story thanks to American Papist.)

Saturday, April 25, 2009

America: Loss of moral direction?

'Tonight on my drive home from work I heard about how 'O' stated that America has lost it's 'moral direction' in the torturing of terrorists at Guantanamo Bay.

"America didn't lose it's moral direction in torturing terrorists. It lost it's moral direction in 1973 when it sanctioned the ripping and dismembering, the burning, the suctioning and the scraping out of millions of unborn babies. Now that's a loss of moral direction.

Some people simply have no sense of perspective."

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Thanks to American Papist

Thanks to Thomas Peters of American Papist for a mention of the "Wear Black" campaign for 17 May in solidarity with unborn human life and in protest of all crimes against human life. Peters offers a comprehensive wrap-up of articles and news about the "Notre Shame" incident at the link.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Bishop Finn on Notre Shame: "wrong, scandalous, discouraging and confusing"

Bishop Robert W. Finn of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese delivered a keynote speech entitled “Warriors for the Victory of Life” at the Gospel of Life Convention last Saturday, April 18. In his speech Bishop Finn characterized Notre Dame’s decision to honor N. as wrong, scandalous, discouraging and “confusing to many Catholics.”

During his speech, Bishop Finn said, “I suspect that, since Notre Dame will need a scapegoat for this debacle, and Fr. Jenkins will probably lose his job, at this point perhaps he ought to determine to lose it for doing something right instead of something wrong. He ought to disinvite the President, who I believe would graciously accept the decision. Notre Dame, instead, ought to give the honorary degree to Bishop John D’Arcy of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, who has supported and tried to guide the University, despite their too frequent waywardness, faithfully for 25 years.”

Saturday, April 18, 2009

The Easter witness of Peter: "No salvation through anyone else"

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, answered them, "Leaders of the people and elders: If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a cripple, namely, by what means he was saved, then all of you and all the people of Israel should know that it was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead; in his name this man stands before you healed. He is the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved."
-- Acts 4:1-12

The name "Jesus" signifies that the very name of God is present in the person of his Son, made man for the universal and definitive redemption from sins. It is the divine name that alone brings salvation, and henceforth all can invoke his name, for Jesus united himself to all men through his Incarnation, so that "there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
-- CCC 432

The Latin phrase Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus means: "Outside the Church there is no salvation". This expression comes from the writings of Saint Cyprian of Carthage, a bishop of the third century. The axiom is often used as short-hand for the doctrine, upheld by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, that the Church is absolutely necessary for salvation (cf. "one true faith"). The theological basis for this doctrine is founded on the beliefs that (1) Jesus Christ personally established the one Church; and (2) the Church serves as the means by which the graces won by Christ are communicated to believers.

An Eastern Orthodox bishop has expressed this doctrine as follows: "'Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus. All the categorical strength and point of this aphorism lies in its tautology. Outside the Church there is no salvation, because salvation is the Church' (G. Florovsky, Sobornost: the Catholicity of the Church, in The Church of God, p. 53). Does it therefore follow that anyone who is not visibly within the Church is necessarily damned? Of course not; still less does it follow that everyone who is visibly within the Church is necessarily saved. As Augustine wisely remarked: 'How many sheep there are without, how many wolves within!' (Homilies on John, 45, 12) While there is no division between a 'visible' and an 'invisible Church', yet there may be members of the Church who are not visibly such, but whose membership is known to God alone. If anyone is saved, he must in some sense be a member of the Church; in what sense, we cannot always say."[1]

The Roman Catholic Church also teaches that the doctrine does not mean that everyone who is not visibly within the Church is necessarily damned (see below).

Some of the most pertinent Roman Catholic expressions of this doctrine are: the profession of faith of Pope Innocent III (1208), the profession of faith of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), the bull Unam sanctam of Pope Boniface VIII (1302), and the profession of faith of the Council of Florence (1442). Whether these expressions constitute dogmatic definitions is the subject of investigation by Catholic theologians. The axiom "No salvation outside the Church" has been frequently repeated over the centuries in different terms by the ordinary magisterium.

-- From Answers.com

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Catholics believe in loving and living "the Word"

“Sanctify them in the truth.” Jesus adds: “Your word is truth.”

The disciples are thus drawn deep within God by being immersed in the word of God. The word of God is, so to speak, the bath which purifies them, the creative power which transforms them into God’s own being. So then, how do things stand in our own lives? Are we truly pervaded by the word of God? Is that word truly the nourish­ment we live by, even more than bread and the things of this world? Do we really know that word? Do we love it? Are we deeply engaged with this word to the point that it really leaves a mark on our lives and shapes our thinking? Or is it rather the case that our think­ing is constantly being shaped by all the things that others say and do?

Aren’t prevailing opinions the cri­terion by which we all too often mea­sure ourselves? Do we not perhaps re­main, when all is said and done, mired in the superficiality in which people today are generally caught up? Do we allow ourselves truly to be deeply pu­rified by the word of God? Friedrich Nietzsche scoffed at humility and obe­dience as the virtues of slaves, a source of repression. He replaced them with pride and man’s absolute freedom. Of course there exist caricatures of a mis­guided humility and a mistaken sub­missiveness, which we do not want to imitate. But there also exist a destruc­tive pride and a presumption which tear every community apart and result in violence. Can we learn from Christ the correct humility which corre­sponds to the truth of our being, and the obedience which submits to truth, to the will of God?

“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth”: This word of inclusion in the priesthood lights up our lives and calls us to become ever anew dis­ciples of that truth which is revealed in the word of God.

-- Pope Benedict's Chrism Mass homily, 9 April 2009

( Photo: Pope Benedict XVI holds a candle during the Easter vigil mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, on April 11, 2009. Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images)