Here’s a puff piece that I was going to ignore, but was alerted to by a reader.
I wasn’t particularly impressed with the non-mention of Fr. Rosica’s scandalous behaviour during the Kennedy Funeral fiasco in the first version of this article. Kathy added that later.
I chimed in near the end of the article in the comment section with this friendly reminder about what the REAL ISSUE IS ABOUT.
Father Rosica seems to be working overtime on his Rolodex, however. First the Toronto Star, now Catholic World Report. Who’s next on the circuit?
Fr. Tom needs to keep Salt + Light’s reputation inflated, I suppose. Sooner or later, however, the balloon loses the helium. I expect more helium to be released in the years to come.
Lots of rising stars have fallen in the Catholic Church over the last few years because of their infidelity.
Legionnaires of Christ. Development & Peace. Caritas Internationalis. And that’s just to name a few.
I expect more of them in the years to come. And I caution people not to get too caught up in successes, personalities, credentials, flash, and size. The larger they are, the harder they fall….
….because, you know, the TRUTH doesn’t give a damn about how “official” one is or the number of letters after one’s name.
Ted Kennedy, the late U.S. senator and the youngest of the three brothers who lit up Washington in the 1960s, rented an entire brothel for a night during a South American junket, it has emerged. Read more: here.
That’s true in the Catholic Church too. As the Catholic Church goes, so goes the pro-life movement. The battle in society over abortion is mirrored in the disputes within the Catholic Church as well, as “progressives” and “conservatives” fight for influence among its 1 billion + members. Even the Vatican is taking a more hardline view on social issues at the U.N., much to the chagrin of the Marshmallow peddlers in the Church.
In Canada and indeed around the world, Real CatholicsTM are starting to put the boot to the social justice cabal which has ruled the Church for over 40 years. Readers will, of course, remember the success of small pro-life and Catholic news agencies along with a rag-tag collection of a few bloggers and the role they played in stopping the blood money flow to the pro-abort partners of Development & Peace. There was no admission of wrong-doing from the bureacracies involved, of course, but no one can deny that D&P’s sexual orientation was reversed significantly as a result of the exposure to the truth. (There’s stillplennnnty of problems with this organization and the remaining groups it sponsors, but it appears that the most outrageous pro-aborters have had their funding cut.) Just this past week, for instance, we also learned about Caritas Internationalis, the global co-ordinating body of the social justice clique in the Church, is undergoing a change in top management too. It seems that the Vatican has finally figured out that perhaps these pseudo-Catholic organizations needed to actually apply Catholic teaching and principles a little more strenuously in practice. Of course, in its research, Socon or Bust, had long suspected major problems at the top level. This past November, I wrote this:
Well…we know now who was right in the end, who was Faithful to the Gospel, and who didn’t drink the Koolaid, don’t we? Disinterested and “neutral” observers should keep the sad spectacle of Development & Peace front and center in their minds when they consider the claims and pronouncements of Fr. Rosica against and over LifeSite News or even this Blog. It’s all about credibility. Some of us peddle bulldung and some of us call it out. We’ll let our readers decide who represents which constituency.
This was a wonderful speech by Archbishop Chaput, one of the few solid bishops in North America today. He hit the nail right on the head in every topic he answered.
If you want to hear a bishop teach THE REAL CATHOLIC FAITH, then I highly recommend this talk. It’s long, but it’s worth it.
As you will see, the good bishop takes direct aim at John F. Kennedy and explains why his abdication of his faith in gaining the Presidency has marginalized religion in the public square for all Christians.
We live in amazing times. They are times where a Catholic bishop receives a warm welcome at a Protestant university and is not welcome at a “Catholic” one. And the bishop notes this paradox in his opening remarks too.
Over the years, John has frequently written about “sham unity“, where people in the Church, particularly clergy, feel the need to “gloss over” major dissentions or scandals among some of the brethren in order to avoid breaking the image of “unity”. As John has rightly pointed out, this is just a facade, a hypocrisy. The divisions are real, but many in the clergy refuse to address them. As any alcoholic or drug addict will tell you, the first and essential step towards a solution requires that you admit there’s a problem. Too many clergymen refuse to do so.
Breaking this false unity is an essential step. But don’t take my word for it. Listen to what St. Paul told the Corinthians in his First Letter.
But what the hell, eh? When it’s time to bury them, bring out Yo-Yo, open the doors to the Cathedral and eulogize them until the sun sets at Arlington.
By a mutual decision, Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence and Representative Patrick Kennedy– the son of the late Senator Edward Kennedy– have postponed their meeting to discuss the Catholic congressman’s support of abortion. Over the weekend, the Rhode Island congressman sided with abortion advocates in voting against the Stupak amendment, which barred the use of federal funds from paying for most abortions in the House’s health care reform legislation.
Following the vote, Bishop Tobin issued a public letter to Representative Kennedy in which he ripped the congressman’s statement that “the fact that I disagree with the hierarchy on some issues does not make me any less of a Catholic.”
“That sentence certainly caught my attention and deserves a public response, lest it go unchallenged and lead others to believe it’s true,” wrote Bishop Tobin in the letter, which will appear in the November 12 edition of his diocesan newspaper. “And it raises an important question: What does it mean to be a Catholic?”
The bishop continued:
[W]hen someone rejects the teachings of the Church, especially on a grave matter, a life-and-death issue like abortion, it certainly does diminish their ecclesial communion, their unity with the Church. This principle is based on the Sacred Scripture and Tradition of the Church and is made more explicit in recent documents …
But let’s get down to a more practical question; let’s approach it this way: What does it mean, really, to be a Catholic? After all, being a Catholic has to mean something, right?
Well, in simple terms – and here I refer only to those more visible, structural elements of Church membership – being a Catholic means that you’re part of a faith community that possesses a clearly defined authority and doctrine, obligations and expectations. It means that you believe and accept the teachings of the Church, especially on essential matters of faith and morals; that you belong to a local Catholic community, a parish; that you attend Mass on Sundays and receive the sacraments regularly; that you support the Church, personally, publicly, spiritually and financially.
Congressman, I’m not sure whether or not you fulfill the basic requirements of being a Catholic, so let me ask: Do you accept the teachings of the Church on essential matters of faith and morals, including our stance on abortion? Do you belong to a local Catholic community, a parish? Do you attend Mass on Sundays and receive the sacraments regularly? Do you support the Church, personally, publicly, spiritually and financially?
In your letter you say that you “embrace your faith.” Terrific. But if you don’t fulfill the basic requirements of membership, what is it exactly that makes you a Catholic? Your baptism as an infant? Your family ties? Your cultural heritage?
The prelate concluded:
[I]n confronting your rejection of the Church’s teaching, we’re not dealing just with “an imperfect humanity” – as we do when we wrestle with sins such as anger, pride, greed, impurity or dishonesty. We all struggle with those things, and often fail.
Your rejection of the Church’s teaching on abortion falls into a different category – it’s a deliberate and obstinate act of the will; a conscious decision that you’ve re-affirmed on many occasions. Sorry, you can’t chalk it up to an “imperfect humanity.” Your position is unacceptable to the Church and scandalous to many of our members. It absolutely diminishes your communion with the Church.
Congressman Kennedy, I write these words not to embarrass you or to judge the state of your conscience or soul. That’s ultimately between you and God. But your description of your relationship with the Church is now a matter of public record, and it needs to be challenged. I invite you, as your bishop and brother in Christ, to enter into a sincere process of discernment, conversion and repentance. It’s not too late for you to repair your relationship with the Church, redeem your public image, and emerge as an authentic “profile in courage,” especially by defending the sanctity of human life for all people, including unborn children. And if I can ever be of assistance as you travel the road of faith, I would be honored and happy to do so. (Source)
Once again, we have an episcopal spine alert coming from the U.S.
Bishop Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island seems to actually take the Gospel and his role as bishop seriously. That’s a refreshing change from what we’re use to seeing, is it not?
So, just to ensure you’re all following here. Ted Kennedy, Patrick Kennedy’s father, was accorded a grandiose public funeral by the Marshmallow Wing of the Church. He did far, far worse than Patrick Kennedy will ever do in his life. In fact, Ted Kennedy arguably did more to support and spread abortion than any politician in history – certainly American history, at the very least. And yet, Bishop Tobin has questioned Patrick Kennedy’s Catholicism because of the latter’s support for abortion. I very much doubt that Patrick Kennedy would be given a public funeral or any Catholic honour by Bishop Tobin, the way it stands now.
It’s quite clear that we have two diametrically opposing views of how to live the Catholic faith. One is accommodating towards the world – not in a healthy sense – but like a prostitute, spreading her most precious beliefs and gifts to be trodden over by the swine. The other view is caricatured by “fundamentalism” and “militantism”. That’s false, of course. But that’s the caricature just the same.
So we have two kinds of Catholics: Militants and Marshmallows. Militants actually believe in the Catholic faith and believe there should be consequences to not publicly adhering to it, especially when the departures from it are so grossly scandalous as in the case of abortion or gay “marriage”. The Marshmallows believe everything the Church teaches too, but for them, they would prefer not to disturb the Catholic political class because that would mean the good reputations they have made in the world would suffer.
And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. ”For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? “For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:34-38)
Last week, Salt + Light, Canada’s presumptive “channel of hope”, held a posh fundraising soirée at the Royal Ontario Museum, raising close to $2M. Here’s some of the details:
Gutless leaders strike again: Henry Morgentaler’s Order of Canada exposes spineless G-G, questionable commissions
Toronto Sun: July 7, 2008
By Fr. Thomas Rosica, C.S.B.
The sudden decision of the Order of Canada Advisory Council to award its highest distinction to Dr. Henry Morgentaler has put the spotlight once again on Canada’s abortion architect and activist and raised serious questions about the significance and integrity of the “the centerpiece of Canada’s honours system” which “recognizes a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation.”
…
When Canada honours someone who took the Hippocratic Oath and has wreaked such hurt, havoc, sorrow and grief, something is wrong with the Canadian government commission that grants medals and a Governor General who, claiming Catholic roots when convenient, shows herself to be spineless, politically correct and without respect for human life.
The recent controversy has also shed light on another dark area of Canadian society: The membership of government commissions that consist of patronage appointments who advance personal agendas, reward friends, lurk in shadows of “confidentiality” and hide behind structures and institutions. They pass themselves off as “government officials” when in reality they are not elected and do not represent the public.
…
Henry Morgentaler clearly does not deserve to receive the Order of Canada.
He debases the medal and those who have received it for heroism and the building up of Canadian society. Over 20 years of successive Canadian governments have been gutless and without courage to repeal the abortion law that bears Morgentaler’s name.
Perhaps the day has come when Canadians of good will who love life will rise up and say: “Enough is enough.” The Canadian killing fields that are now found at the gateways of human life in our country must be transformed into sacred and safe places of life, liberty and security of every person.
First of all, let me just say that I am shocked – shocked I tell you! – that Fr. Rosica would write such a hard-hitting column. I commend him for it. It shows that there is some zing in his step. And I appreciate it. I really do.
However, let us all take a sobering look at what Fr. Rosica says above and compare it to his position regarding Ted Kennedy’s public and celebratory funeral.
Does anyone else see the irony here, or is it just me?
Why, pray tell, does Fr. Rosica not have the same harsh words for Cardinal O’Malley as he does for the Order of Canada Advisory Council? Henry Morgentaler doesn’t merely exist in the abortion chamber, dismembering the innocent. He exists in the U.S. senate too, preparing the way for that work.
But while Fr. Rosica sees fit to unleash on poor Henry and the Order of Canada Advisory Council for honouring the abortionist with the Order of Canada, Fr. Rosica is conspicuously on the other side of the issue when it concerns “Henry in the U.S. Senate”, when the one doing the honouring is a “prince of the Church”.
Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani of Lima, Peru, has directed that lay people should received Communion on the tongue, kneeling, in that city’s cathedral. The cardinal urged others to adopt the same practice, saying that this is “the most respectful way to receive the Eucharist.” He explained that he is instituting the policy because “we must regain the respect and reverence that is due to the Eucharist.” (Source)
Here’s a little enlightment for the Marshmellow crowd out there:
Don’t you think it’s a coincidence that the Eucharist is held in the same esteem and respect these days as the unborn child is?
When the Bread of Life is defiled so is unborn life.
The Lord will not let what passed in Boston go without a fight.
Archbishop Raymond Burke – arguably the strongest ally to the pro-life movement in the Catholic Church today with the exception of the Holy Father – has come out swinging to denounce the fraud that went on during the Kennedy funeral, and more particularly to provide strong words of encouragement to itscritics.
Needless to say, his tough talk more than vindicates those of us who have been blowing the whistle on the prostitution and hypocrisy of the Catholic hierarchy who went along with this sham spectacle. Pay particular attention to the Archbishop’s words which I have highlighted in red.
WASHINGTON, September 29, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Archbishop Raymond Burke, head of the highest Vatican court, the Apostolic Signatura, has offered a public defense of those pro-life leaders who spoke out against the scandal of the grandiose funeral of Senator Ted Kennedy. “One of the ironies of the present situation is that the person who experiences scandal at the gravely sinful public actions of a fellow Catholic is accused of a lack of charity and of causing division within the unity of the Church,” wrote Archbishop Burke.
In addition to this news service, public statements lamenting the scandal of the funeral – which according to some prominent leaders seemed almost a canonization – came from leaders of Human Life International, American Life League, C-Fam, Catholic World News, EWTN, Inside Catholic, Catholic Culture and many more.
While he was not mentioned by Archbishop Burke, the most public of the harsh criticisms came from a U.S.-born priest who is now living and operating in Canada as the head of Salt and Light Television network. Fr. Rosica’s remarks were emblematic of other criticisms and his status as a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications gave his remarks weight.
After pro-life leaders had expressed their scandal at the funeral, Fr. Thomas Rosica wrote: “Leading up to the Kennedy funeral last weekend, and in its aftermath, many so-called lovers of life and activists in the pro-life movement, as well as well-known colleagues in Catholic television broadcasting and media in North America, have revealed themselves to be not agents of life, but of division, destruction, hatred, vitriol, judgment and violence.”
Burke however sees the matter quite differently. “In a society whose thinking is governed by the ‘tyranny of relativism’ and in which political correctness and human respectare the ultimate criteria of what is to be done and what is to be avoided, the notion of leading someone into moral error makes little sense,” he said. “What causes wonderment in such a society is the fact that someone fails to observe political correctness and, thereby, seems to be disruptive of the so-called peace of society. Lyingor failing to tell the truth, however, is never a sign of charity.”
Archbishop Burke goes so far as to suggest that “The person who experiences scandal at public actions of Catholics, which are gravely contrary to the moral law, not only does not destroy unity but invites the Church to repair what is clearly a serious breach in Her life.”
He added: “Were he not to experience scandal at the public support of attacks on human life and the family, his conscience would be uninformed or dulled about the most sacred realities.”
Archbishop Burke also sees the hand of the devil at work in the Kennedy affair. “One sees the hand of the Father of Lies at work in the disregard for the situation of scandal or in the ridicule and even censure of those who experience scandal,” he said.
Burke’s comments come in an article published September 26 in Crisis Magazine, which is an adapted version of remarks he made at an Inside Catholic event on September 18.
A dividing line is being drawn, folks, with the goats and the sheep assembling. Make sure you review your basic Catechism on what it means to be a Catholic and who you should follow.
I tell you most solemnly: you will be referring to it before your life on this earth is finished.
There are two teachers in the Church today. Ones that actually abide by the Catechism, the Liturgical norms, Canon Law, and basic morality. And the ones who wing it, who ignore it, who accomodate spiritual prostitution, and who bristle when anyone dares to question or criticize them.
TORONTO, Ontario, September 29, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a new editorial, Catholic Insight magazine editor Fr. Alphonse de Valk, C.S.B., criticizes Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston, for his defence of the Kennedy funeral, saying that the Cardinal’s statement “that the funeral would be controversial because the Senator ‘did not publicly support Catholic teaching’ must be seen as an extraordinary understatement.”
On September 2nd, four days following the funeral, Cardinal O’Malley posted to his blog his reflections on the event, taking the opportunity to respond to criticism of the funeral and of his participation in it. “There are those who objected, in some cases vociferously, to the Church’s providing a Catholic funeral for the Senator,” he wrote. “In the strongest terms I disagree with that position.”
“Needless to say, the Senator’s wake and Catholic funeral were controversial because of the fact that he did not publically support Catholic teaching and advocacy on behalf of the unborn,” the Cardinal says earlier on. He said “there is a tragic sense of lost opportunity in his lack of support for the unborn,” calling it “a great disappointment.”
Fr. de Valk responds, however, that the major objections to the funeral regarded the fact that it was public, rather than the fact that it was Catholic. “To my knowledge, having read over three-dozen articles and hundreds of letters and blogs, nobody seems to have objected ‘to the Church’s providing a Catholic funeral for the Senator,’” he writes. “The objections, instead, centred on replacing an ordinary private Catholic funeral with an extraordinary public spectacle which showed the Catholic Church in Boston virtually canonizing one who many found wholly unworthy of such acclaim.”
“Those in charge allowed the Catholic funeral liturgy to be gravely distorted,” he says, criticizing for example, the “three lengthy eulogies” – which are prohibited in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal – and the prayers of the faithful, two of which, he said, “called for the success of the late Senator’s political views in conflict with Catholic teaching.”
As you know, Father Rosica has spent the better part of the last two weeks doing a tour of Catholic media outlets in order to criticize pro-lifers and discredit Internet news sources and blogs. I don’t claim to know what he or the CCCB are thinking. Nor will I attempt to make a judgment of their intentions. However, I am entitled to express my feelings.
I feel scared. Very scared. And you should too. I feel that our freedom of expression is at risk.
As Socon or Bust readers know, faithful Catholics are under the gun these days. Unless we are living under a rock, we’ve all noticed that 
In addition to this news service, public statements lamenting the scandal of the funeral – which according to some prominent leaders seemed almost a canonization – came from leaders of Human Life International, American Life League, C-Fam, Catholic World News, EWTN, Inside Catholic, Catholic Culture and many more.
On September 2nd, four days following the funeral, Cardinal O’Malley 
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