What Queenslanders Really Think About Abortion - The Catholic Leader

“What Queenslanders Really Think About Abortion" warns that an average swing of 12 per cent would be generated against members of State Parliament who voted in favour of decriminalising abortion.

The report has been sent in booklet form to all 89 members of the State Parliament aimed to convince those politicians in the middle the issue of abortion is much more complicated than is commonly presented.

Australian Family Association (AFA) spokesman Alan Baker told a media conference at the launch of the report at the Parliamentary Annexe last Monday, the independent opinion poll also showed there had been no swing in favour of decriminalising abortion since a recent Cairns trial related to abortion.

A Cairns jury on October 14 found a woman not guilty of procuring an abortion and a man not guilty of supplying drugs to procure an abortion.

Continue reading at The Catholic Leader
Full results of survey can be found here.
As usual the Courier Mail plays a role in pushing the Pro-Abortion agenda.

Sacred, Beautiful & Universal

From Corpus Christi Watershed
(56min 19sec)

SACRED, BEAUTIFUL, & UNIVERSAL: Colloquium XIX from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.

Six Stages of a Catholic Converts Life (post conversion)

Tridentine Mass, Novus Ordo Mass

Whilst I'm not a big fan of the Tridentine Mass and some of the problems with the Novus Ordo may be overstated, you have to wonder why the opposition to the tradition Tridentine Mass is so strong. I think Michael Voris is also right in saying the meal aspect of the Mass should be secondary to the sacrificial aspect of the Mass as seems to be indicated in the Cathechism.

New Twist to Same Sex Marriage

Single woman marries herself

If marriage can be anything you want it to be… Why not?

Oct 23 2010

A 30-year-old Taiwanese woman has put an unusual twist on the traditional white wedding by ditching the husband part and marrying herself.

PHOTOS: Woman marries herself

Office worker Chen Wei-yih said she wanted to show other single thirty-something women that they were not failures, media reported.

“I was just hoping that more people would love themselves,” Chen said.

Single woman marries herself (Warning: Ninemsn story. Treat with caution)

Leslie Cannold advocating for Dead Beat Dads?

When feminists start to support the "rights" of men you just know in reality it's all about women's "rights".

Safe Sex Failure

Australian HIV diagnoses hit 18 year high

Danny Rose  AAP  October 18, 2010

AUSTRALIANS newly diagnosed with HIV totalled 1050 during 2009, the highest number in almost two decades.

It was the fourth year in a row that new HIV diagnoses in Australia hovered around the thousand mark, and up significantly from about 700 cases annually seen during the late 1990s.

Australia had a "decreasing trend throughout the 1990s" for HIV transmission, University of NSW Associate Professor David Wilson said, but the trend had rebounded in the past 10 years.

Continue reading Australian HIV diagnoses hit 18 year high | Courier Mail

Revisiting Geoffrey Robertson’s plan to arrest the Pope

Should the Pope be tried for crimes against humanity?

Mercator Net, Michael Cook | Friday, 9 April 2010

A United Nations jurist wants to put Benedict XVI in the dock for condoning sex-abuse. The real question is, how many others should be there with him?

A prominent Australian-British human rights lawyer and United Nations jurist has suggested that the Pope be put on trial for crimes against humanity. I think that this is a brilliant idea.

Geoffrey Robertson outlined his scheme in The Guardian and a number of Australian newspapers. Although he feels strongly that the Vatican is fraudulently representing itself as an independent country, the Pope should be brought to account for systematic abuse of human rights during his pontificate. Since 2002, he points out, heads of state are no longer immune from prosecution before the International Criminal Court. For instance, a warrant has been issued for the arrest of the president of the Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

In Pope Benedict’s case, Robertson argues that this includes sexual abuse of minors:

Continue reading at MercatorNet: Should the Pope be tried for crimes against humanity?

If you are interested in reading more, please check out MercatorNet's focus blog on the sexual abuse crisis -- Just B16

Hollywood and the usual anti-Christian cliches

"GLEE" TACKLES RELIGION

Catholic League, October 6, 2010

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on last night's episode of the Fox show, "Glee":

The producers of "Glee" decided to address religion. A gay atheist was treated with sympathy for his victim status, the victimizer being Christianity, especially Catholicism. Judaism was treated with kid gloves and Islam got a pass. In other words, it was the usual Hollywood stuff.

The show revolved around a football player who sees an image of Jesus in his grilled cheese sandwich, labeling it "Grilled Cheesus." Throughout the show the audience was treated to such lines as "I think God is kind of like Santa Claus for adults. Otherwise, God's kind of a jerk, isn't he?"; "Asking someone to believe in a fantasy [religion]…however comforting, isn't a moral thing to do. It's cruel." References to Catholicism included mocking quips about "Sweet Holy Mother of God Academy."

The pivotal remark, which set the tone, was made by the gay atheist: "The reason I don't go to church is because most churches don't think very much of gay people. Or women. Or science."

The lines mouthed by the characters are a reflection of what Hollywood script writers and producers believe. Back in 1986, S. Robert Lichter, Stanley Rothman and Linda Lichter wrote a landmark book, The Media Elite. The three social scientists, not affiliated with conservative causes, found that the media elite had nothing in common with most Americans on the subject of religion: while 94 percent of Americans identified themselves as religious, only 50 percent of the media elite did. Even more striking, while 86 percent of the public said religion was important to them, 86 percent of the media elite said they seldom or never attend church. Studies since have shown that nothing much has changed.

Homosexuality and atheism are all the rage these days with the cultural elite. As "Glee" showed last night, so is ripping on Christians.

Catholic League: For Religious and Civil Rights

Art depicting Jesus receiving head from another man destroyed

VILE JESUS ARTWORK SMASHED

 Catholic League, October 7, 2010

A Montana truck driver, Kathleen Folden, took a crowbar to the Plexiglass case housing artwork at Colorado's Loveland Museum which depicted a man performing oral sex on Jesus. Folden was arrested after she ripped the artwork to pieces. Commenting is Catholic League president Bill Donohue:

Had the art depicted a man performing fellatio on Muhammad, the museum may have been blown up by now. So it is lucky that Ms. Folden is a Christian.

It is striking to read the responses of those who defended the obscene art. "I am appalled by the violence," says Loveland's director of Cultural Services Susan Ison. But she is not appalled by the portrayal of Jesus having a man perform oral sex on him. Indeed, she justified this obscenity by calling it "very complex." Had the artwork showed her performing oral sex on her father, it's a sure bet it would lose its complexity.

Continue reading at Catholic League: For Religious and Civil Rights

ABC’s religious department twisting the truth again.

Priest denies making claims about mary MacKillop's excommunication

Clare Rawlinson and James Madden  The Australian October 07, 2010

THE priest who spent 25 years lobbying for Mary MacKillop's canonisation has angrily dismissed recent media reports.

The reports said the soon-to-be saint was excommunicated from the Catholic Church for exposing acts of child sex abuse by a South Australian clergyman.

Paul Gardiner, chaplain of the Mary MacKillop Penola Centre, said the claims, published on ABC Online and in Fairfax newspapers last month, were false, and he feared the misleading coverage was an attempt to take a swipe at the church and distract the public in the lead-up to MacKillop's canonisation on October 17.

ABC Online and Fairfax both reported that MacKillop's ousting from the church in 1871 was prompted by her exposure of a Kapunda priest's abuse of local children. The claims were based on remarks made by Father Gardiner in a documentary made for ABC TV's Compass program.

But both Father Gardiner and the program's executive producer deny ever making such an inference. "Early in 1870, the scandal occurred and the Sisters of Saint Joseph reported it to Father Tenison Woods, but Mary was in Queensland and no one was worried about her," Father Gardiner told The Australian.

Father Gardiner, considered the nation's foremost authority on the history of MacKillop, said his words had been twisted to suit the "ill will" of media outlets.

Continue reading Priest denies making claims about MacKillop's excommunication | The Australian

Good news for Catholic Bioethics:

Researchers pioneer new method to generate non-embryonic stem cells

 Boston, Mass., Oct 1, 2010 / 07:03 am (CNA).-

In what one expert calls a “major paper,” researchers have reported new advances in creating efficient and safe alternatives to human embryonic stem cells.
A team led by Derrick J. Rossi of the Children’s Hospital Boston used laboratory-made versions of natural biological signals to quickly convert ordinary skin cells into cells that appear virtually identical to embryonic stem cells. They can then coax these cells to change into specific tissues that would be a match for transplantation into patients, the Washington Post reports

Continue reading Researchers pioneer new method to generate non-embryonic stem cells :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Geoffrey Robertson at Protest the Pope

Another elitist Atheist demonstrates he doesn't know what he's talking about.
The video shows the lies preached by Roberston:


Geoffrey Robertson speech at Protest The Pope march


And below, the facts Roberston chooses to ignore:

The Pope demeaning women? Demonising homosexuals? Wishing that IVF children had never been born? Maybe Robertson is suffering some mental disorder???

The Pope has never demeaned women. As for as Demonising homosexuals here is what Pope Benedict as Cardinal Ratzinger said to the Catholic Bishops of the world in 1985 on the pastoral care of homosexual persons:

"10. It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action. Such treatment deserves condemnation from the Church's pastors wherever it occurs. It reveals a kind of disregard for others which endangers the most fundamental principles of a healthy society. The intrinsic dignity of each person must always be respected in word, in action and in law."

And of course the pope never said that he wished IVF children had never been born. What the Church teaches is that most artificial reproductive methods injure the dignity of the person conceived. Once conceived every human being has a right to be protected.

Jon Stewart Misleading the Public about Pope Benedict XVI

Jon Stewart can be a funny guy... A moron too.

In the video below he uses a New York Times story (which is actually false) as the basis for a long skit to ridicule the Pope and the Catholic Church.

The truth is of course out their... Just not in the New York Times (or the Melbourne Age that ran with the same story) or on Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show".

Plenty of rebuttals to the lies in the New York Times story that Jon Stewart used for his hate mongering can be found here.

If there's too many to choose from Jimmy Akin's article is a good summary.

Pope Benedict referred to the lies against him as gossip. Gossip like the New York Times story is usually lacking fact. I suppose Jon Stewart needs to resort to lies sometimes in order to get his laughs.

Stupidity and Artificial Reproduction hold hands again.

Anger at IVF treatment for jailed terrorist couple – Courier Mail

2nd October 2010

SPANIARDS have reacted with fury to the news that two convicted Eta terrorists are undergoing IVF treatment in prison at the State's expense.

Fernando Garcia Jodra, 40, and his girlfriend Nerea Bengoa Zarisolo, 39, are hoping to become parents despite the fact that both have been condemned to minimum jail terms of 30 years after being found guilty in 2004 of four murders.

They are held in separate prisons and are not allowed physical contact, communicating only by letters, which are checked and censored. It is their right, however, under Spanish law, to apply to have IVF treatment in jail.

Continue reading Anger at IVF treatment for jailed terrorist couple | Courier Mail

Response to CNN Documentary on the Pope

The Catholic League responses to another slur against the Pope.

William A. Donohue, Ph.D. Catholic League – 1st October 2010

The CNN documentary, "What the Pope Knew," which aired September 25, deserves a response.

The program begins with music and graphics that set the tone: those who think Pope Benedict XVI has been adept at combating priestly sexual abuse must realize that there is "a darker, more complicated story." Dark, yes, but from CNN's perch, the story is not all that complicated: the pope is guilty of "foot-dragging and, perhaps, obstruction."

We learn from CNN host Gary Tuchman that "For decades, before he became pope, Joseph Ratzinger was a high-ranking Vatican official who, more than anyone else beside Pope John Paul, could have taken decisive action to stem the sexual abuse crisis." Similarly, author David Gibson says the pope "always took the stalling tactic."

It is simply not true that Ratzinger was in charge of this issue "for decades." In fact, he wasn't given the authority to police the sexual abuse problem until 2001. What is truly astonishing is that Tuchman concedes as much later in the program. After he notes that "By 2001, the sexual abuse crisis was beginning to engulf the Catholic Church," he says, "The pope gave Cardinal Ratzinger and the CDF (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) the power to cut through the bureaucracy and handle all sexual abuse cases directly."

In other words, Tuchman was incorrect the first time when he said that "for decades" Ratzinger "could have taken decisive action." He couldn't have been in charge "for decades" if he wasn't given police powers until 2001 (he became pope in 2005).

Nowhere in the program is there any evidence that the pope was guilty of obstruction of justice. This is a serious charge—the most serious made in the course of the documentary. Yet to throw this out, without ever producing evidence to substantiate it, is malicious. It won't cut it to say that he was "perhaps" guilty of obstruction. CNN intentionally planted this seed and never explicitly addressed the subject of obstruction of justice again.

Continue reading at Catholic League: For Religious and Civil Rights

Not all Sexual Abuse is Equal

 
Catholic League - October 1, 2010

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on a news story about a former priest who molested a male listed as John Doe:

On September 28, the Chicago Tribune reported that "former Chicago priest and convicted sex offender Daniel McCormick sexually abused him [Doe] while he was a grammar school student." We then learn that the student was really a middle-school student, in the eighth grade, when the abuse began. The abuse reportedly continued for five years. According to the lawsuit, "McCormack inappropriately sexually touched, hugged, rubbed and/or abused Doe."

It's time to ask some tough questions. Why did this young man not object earlier? Why did he allow the "abuse" to continue until he was 18? The use of the quotes is deliberate: the charge against the former priest is not rape, but rubbing. While still objectionable, there is a glacial difference between being rubbed and raped.

Here's what we know. We know that this case, like most of them, was the work of a homosexual, not a pedophile. And like most of the cases of priestly sexual misconduct, there was no rape involved. Inappropriate touching is morally wrong, and the offenders should be punished, but the time has come to object to all those pundits who like to say that the scandal is all about child rape. Most of the cases did not involve children—they were post-pubescent males—and most weren't raped.

Why does this matter? Because those looking to sue the Catholic Church for being inappropriately rubbed decades ago are not exactly the poster boys for the victims of child rape. And because those who hate the Church continue to use the term child rape as a way of discrediting the Church. They lie about this being a pedophilia problem and they lie about the nature of the misconduct. That’s reason enough to call them on it.

From Catholic League: For Religious and Civil Rights

Another stunning clear insight from the Pope

 By Phil Lawler | September 16, 2010 – CatholicCulture.org

Pope Benedict has a disconcerting way of hitting nails directly on the head. It's disconcerting, I say, because I struggle and strain to make a point, never satisfying myself that I've made it clearly, and then along comes the Holy Father, and he pounds home the same point in a simple, clear, remark.

For example, in writing The Faithful Departed I tried to explain that when Church leaders seek after public affirmation, they lose focus on the faith, and eventually lose public affirmation as well. To be honest, I've always had trouble summarizing that argument quickly; I have trouble boiling down the message of the book into a single paragraph.

Then today, as he met with the journalists who are accompanying him on his trip to Great Britain, the Pope made the point deftly, clearly-- and quite unexpectedly, I think-- in response to one journalist's question. The question was how the Church could be more attractive to the public. Notice how the Pope, in the very first phrase of his reply (which I emphasize below), steers the conversation off its predictable course to make a more important point:

“I would say that a Church that seeks to be particularly attractive is already on the wrong path, because the Church does not work for her own ends, she does not work to increase numbers and thus power. The Church is at the service of another: she serves, not for herself, not to be a strong body, rather she serves to make the proclamation of Jesus Christ accessible, the great truths and great forces of love, reconciling love that appeared in this figure and that always comes from the presence of Jesus Christ.”

I spent many months, and 264 pages, trying to get at that point. Pope Benedict nailed it down in one stroke with an extemporaneous comment. Disconcerting. But beautiful!

From Catholic Culture : On The News : another stunning clear insight from the Pope