Monday, November 22, 2010

Archbishop Dolan’s Critics Freak Out

November 17, 2010, Catholic League (USA)

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the way some of the critics of New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan are reacting to his election yesterday as the new head of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:

NPR is worried that Archbishop Dolan is "overtly conservative," and Tim Rutten of the Los Angeles Times is fretting about his "confrontational approach." Dissident Catholics are upset as well: New Ways Ministry says the vote "sends an ominous message"; Call to Action also sees his election as "ominous"; Sr. Maureen Fiedler says "we now have our very own Catholic version of the 'Tea Party' movement"; DignityUSA concludes that Dolan's election means the hierarchy is "out of step" with Catholics. Similarly, the Human Rights Campaign, a gay secular group, says the vote means the hierarchy is "out of step." Not to be outdone, the website of the Tucson Citizen accused Dolan of evincing an "arrogant" attitude in winning (it is true that he was caught smiling).

SNAP, the professional victims' group, opines that Dolan's "winning personality obscures his terrible track record on abuse." Marian Ronan of Religion Dispatches says his election is "not a good sign," and her colleague, Sarah Posner, concludes—and this really is ominous—that "the bishops are targeting families with loved ones who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender." The Internet site Lez Get Real calls Dolan "the Vatican's spin-doctor," and the website of Time has a headline which reads, "More Bad News for Obama 2012: Catholics Elect Dolan." Edgeboston.com picked up the AP piece, but chose to give it a new headline: "Catholic Bishops' Vote to Mean Harder Church Stance Against Gay Families." And atheist Susan Jacoby is sweating over the fact that Dolan will be treated by the media "as if he is the voice of all American Catholics." She needs to get used to it.

Now it is tempting to conclude that some in the asylum have escaped. More likely, it means these are not good times for those who have sought—in many cases their entire adult life—to turn the Catholic Church, and America more generally, upside down and inside out. They gave it their best shot, but they lost. Maybe it's time they retired.

Catholic League: For Religious and Civil Rights

Setback for China – Vatican Relations

Chengde: illicit Episcopal ordination, the first in four years

China-flag Beijing (AsiaNews) - The vice-president of the Patriotic Association, Liu Bainain confirmed to the media that the ordination of Fr Joseph Guo Jincai as Bishop of Chengde (Hebei) will take place tomorrow November 20. The ordination of the 42-year old priest, the first in the last four years, and the obligation of certain bishops to attend were criticized by the Vatican yesterday as "serious violations of freedom of religion and conscience" and "harmful" to the constructive relations between China and the Holy See.

Continue reading at  Asia News

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Non-Christian Requires Large Quantity of Cotton Wool - Again

Mamma Mia! Don't mention God or Jesus

Cotton Wool CAMMERAY Public School students have been told not to make reference to God or Jesus in the school’s end-of-year concert.

A teacher, who has been counselled by the school, told about 60 year 5 students they could not mention God or Jesus in the concert because it could offend people who were not Christians, a parent, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Daily.

The annual event involves the entire school, and every class is asked to come up with an idea for a song or play to perform, with ABBA being added to the list.

The school’s principal Pamela Crawley initially denied the religious ban, saying it would have been “crazy” for a teacher to make such a statement, but later, through the Education Department, said the teacher was being counselled over the November 5 incident.

Continue reading at the Mosman Daily.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Dutch journalist threatened with torture, death following letter condemning abortion

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman. DEN BOSCH, Netherlands, November 15, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com)

Mariska Orban Pro-life journalist Mariska Orbán de Haas says that she has received hundreds of death threats and more than ten threats of torture following the publication of an open letter she wrote to a pro-abortion parliamentarian asking her to reconsider her position on the subject.

The letter, which was addressed to Representative Jeannine Hennis-Plasschaert and published in the Katholiek Nieuwsblad (Catholic News), was written in response to Hennis-Plassschaert's angry reaction after receiving a plastic fetal model from Catholic bishop Everard de Jong. The bishop had sent the models to Hennis-Plasschaert and all other members of the Dutch House of Representatives.  He also included a letter in which he asked the representatives to stop the killing of the unborn in the face of impending budget restrictions, pointing out that defunding "bloody abortion clinics" would save money and help preserve future generations who could care for the elderly.

After Hennis-Plasschaert called the letter from the bishop "disgusting," Orbán wrote to her publicly, pointing out that both she and Hennis-Plasschaert have experienced the suffering of miscarriages, and that the fetal model she received from Bishop De Jong would resemble their lost children at the time of their deaths.

Continue reading at Life Site News.

Jay Leno Needs New Script

 November 11, 2010

Image by Lee Stranahan
Catholic League president Bill Donohue is asking Catholics to provide Jay Leno with some new script. He explains why:

Last night, Jay Leno did what comes natural to him—he bashed Catholicism for the umpteenth time. His scriptwriters handed him a few lines about one miscreant priest, and he took the opportunity to hype the case further by lying about what happened. The priest was charged with ripping off his parish to pay for his online porn habit, but this wasn't good enough for Leno. He wanted to implicate the entire Catholic Church. So what did he do? He said "the Church transferred him to another parish that has free WiFi. Yeah, so that's nice." Leno lied about the transfer; he did so because his goal was to indict the Church.

In the event Leno wants to practice diversity, we have some new script:

· In the news this week is the story of a woman being sentenced to death under Islamic law in Pakistan. Her crime? She is a Christian.

· Last week, Oprah Winfrey was in the news for featuring a discussion with adults who were sexually abused by Episcoplaian priests in their youth.

· This week it was reported that 17 Jews have been charged with stealing $42 million from Holocaust survivors; the money was financed by the German government.

Imagine how much fun Leno could have with script like this! He wouldn't even have to lie about any of it to get a good laugh.

Catholic League: For Religious and Civil Rights

Friday, November 12, 2010

The New Missal Translation

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Abortion in Victoria

The Media, the Pope and the Gay Kiss-in.

 8 November 2010. Catholic League of Australia.

pope If you ever wanted proof that the media does not give a fair go to the Pope and the Catholic Church then here it is.

Yesterday, the Pope arrived in Barcelona to open the new Cathedral of the Holy Family. As he was driving to the Cathedral around 100 to 200 hundred gay people staged a ‘kiss in’. This is compared to the 250,000 pilgrims who were there supporting the Pope. The protesters only represented 0.08% of the crowd.

Who do you think the media decided to focus on? These are the headlines of a few major Australian and international news services.

Continue reading The Media, the Pope and the Gay Kiss-in.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Dramatic defeat of Iowa judges raises hopes for marriage amendment

 Des Moines, Iowa, Nov 5, 2010 (CNA/EWTN News).
When U.S. voters are asked whether or not their state should retain its judges every two years, many aren't quite sure how to make their decisions. But a majority of Iowa voters knew exactly what they were doing, when they voted against retaining three of the state's Supreme Court justices on Nov. 2.

In April 2009, Justices David Baker, Michael Streit, and Chief Justice Marsha Ternus agreed with four other state justices in ruling that the Iowa state constitution's equal protection clause implied a right of same-sex couples to marry.

Their ruling overturned a 1998 state law specifying that “only a marriage between a male and a female is valid.” Suddenly, homosexual “marriage” was legal in Iowa.

This year, three of the deciding justices were up for retention or rejection by voters. As election day approached, organizations opposing the redefinition of marriage invested significant funding and energy to make Iowa voters aware that this year's judgment on judges was far from routine.

This time, it was the voters' turn to make a dramatic change. On Tuesday, Baker, Streit and Ternus became the first judges ousted by Iowa voters since 1962.
Continue reading Dramatic defeat of Iowa judges raises hopes for marriage amendment :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Friday, November 5, 2010

Cuba opens first Catholic seminary since the revolution

 4 November 2010. BBC News

Seminary Cuba Cuban President Raul Castro has attended the inauguration of the first new Catholic building on the communist island in more than half a century.

Mr Castro joined priests, including Vatican officials, at a new seminary outside of the capital, Havana.

Ties between the Roman Catholic Church and state soured in the aftermath of the 1959 Cuban revolution.

Continue reading at BBC News - Cuba opens first Catholic seminary since the revolution

Monday, November 1, 2010

What's in your Bible.

What's in Your Bible? Find out at BibleStudyMagazine.com