Back in 2003, I sat beside soon-to-be Premier Dalton McGuinty at an All-Candidate’s Debate in Ottawa South. You can hear my opening and closing remarks below.
As you will hear in the clip, I was rather animated and “direct” about McGuinty’s pro-gay, anti-religious freedom stance. Most people did not really see the danger of McGuinty’s position, or if they did, they didn’t bother getting too worked up about it.
I didn’t pull any punches then, because I knew what was coming down the pipe for our Catholic kids today. And I was right. What was “unthinkable” 10 years ago with homosexuality in Catholic schools is becoming the standard fare today.
With the current “Anti-Gay Bullying” Bill just months away from becoming law and affecting Catholic education forever in this province, I think my remarks were spot-on.
I even told the crowd assembled at that Debate that their problems would be 10 times worse in 10 years. Well that was 9 years ago. We’re well on the way for that prediction to come true. And we’re further along in losing our religious freedom.
Without the necessary resolve and leadership, we Catholics – and what I mean by that is real Catholics – are well on the way to second-class citizenship in Ontario and in Canada.
I am amazed, really, at just how clueless and naive the regular Joe Six Pack Catholic is….or maybe I am just amazed at how little their religion means to them.
Either way, a pruning is happening because this Gong Show is coming to a quick end because God really does want to know if we’re all serious about being Catholic.
The time is ripe for faithful Catholics, especially in the US, to approach the clergy and humbly ask them to preach about sexual morality.
Think about it: the tone of the discourse of the US bishops towards Obama’s abortion/contraception mandate is rapidly approaching a feverish pitch. Some weeks ago we heard the call for a national day of fasting on March 30. Then the USCCB released a blunt statement in April on this issue. Now they’re calling for civil disobedience.
Clearly, the bishops are setting this up as the greatest battle of our age. And rightfully so. So why aren’t they preaching about it from the pulpit?
They’ve spun the issue of paying for contraception and abortion as a matter of fundamental religious freedom. Fair enough. Given how much noise they’re making, any non-Catholic outsider would logically conclude that these issues are a central part of the Catholic Faith, as opposed to accessory parts of Catholicism, like the colours of priestly vestments on different feast days. Yet, if this same non-Catholic outsider were to sit in a Catholic pew every day for a year, he’d never hear a peep about contraception and maybe only one or two mentions of abortion.
Does it make sense that I hear more about birth control on CNN than in our churches? The bishops tell us that we have to be willing to go to the rack over these issues, but they dare not mention these same issues at Mass? Read the rest of this entry »
VERY timely movie to come out now with the assault on the Catholic Church and religious liberty…
WASHINGTON – In the upcoming movie “For Greater Glory,” Catholic actor Andy Garcia plays a Mexican Revolution-era general lured out of retirement a decade later to head the insurgent “Cristero” forces doing battle against their own government’s severe curbing of religious freedoms, which included the murder of priests, the desecration of churches, and laws designed to reduce the visibility of the Catholic Church in the overwhelmingly Catholic country….more
On Thursday, the Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State claimed the homily violated federal law by taking sides in a political campaign.
“No rational person could believe the bishop was doing anything but saying vote against Obama,” said Barry Lynn, the group’s executive director… Churches are tax-exempt institutions, and they aren’t allowed to intervene in partisan politics.” (Source)
They’re absolutely right, by the way. The good bishop was indeed telling the faithful that they shouldn’t vote for Obama. That’s a no-no under existing tax rules. In both the U.S. and Canada, registered charities have restrictions on how they may intervene on political issues (a principle that makes perfect sense, in my view). The good bishop crossed the line. Americans United for Separation of Church and State make a valid legal point.
But, you know, Barry is the Messiah. He just can’t make a mistake. It’s not even possible.
So, ya wanna fight, Messiah? You’re going to get one in November.
It’s an amazing thing to see: how we Christians have been powerless to unite ourselves for 1000 years, yet here comes Barry and he’s doing it with one legislative act. Boy, am I believer now! You go, Barry. You’re doing a splendid job.
Straight from the mouth of Cardinal Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura:
“This is correct. It is not only a matter of what we call “material cooperation” in the sense that the employer by giving this insurance benefit is materially providing for the contraception but it is also “formal cooperation” because he is knowingly and deliberately doing this, making this available to people. There is no way to justify it. It is simply wrong.” (Source)
Hey, Obama! You’re so darn smart! You’re so smart that you ignored the consummate political wisdom of the Left and the Right: avoid going directly after the Catholic Church because if you do, you will pay the price. That’s why your liberal predecessors stuck to the issues instead of attacking the Catholic Church head-on.
But because you want to play, you’re going to have to play with opponents you would otherwise not expect to show up.
Hungary’s Ambassador to the Holy See is rather perplexed by the negative reaction of some European figures and institutions to his country’s new Constitution — a document he sees as offering a possible impetus to a “Christian renaissance” in Europe.
“We think it’s a little bit strange to hear such voices,” Ambassador Gábor Győriványi told ZENIT March 27th. “The real founding fathers of the European Union planned to base the Union on Christian values, and expressed the notion that European democracy can only be viable if constructed on the Christian basis.”
The preamble of the new Constitution, or “Fundamental Law,” which came into force Jan. 1, contains references to God, Christianity, and traditional family values. It further stipulates that the life of a fetus be protected from the moment of conception (abortion remains legal, however, in cases where the mother’s health is threatened).
The Constitution states that it recognizes the role of Christianity “in preserving nationhood”; it requires that marriage only be between a man and a woman; it assigns parents, rather than the State, primary responsibility for protecting the rights of the child; and it holds that “the family and the nation constitute the principal framework of our coexistence.”
In sum, it marks a refreshing change in stark contrast to a Europe suffering from increasing secularism and a European Union that only a few years ago tried to push through its own Constitution, which conspicuously omitted references to God or Christianity. It also points to the positive contribution some former Eastern bloc countries could make to the spiritual well-being of the continent….
…
And yet the new law, drafted by the ruling centre-right Fidesz party and its coalition partner, the Christian Democratic People’s Party, has drawn hyperbolic criticisms both domestically and internationally. Often these attacks are driven by liberals, greens, socialists and secularists – particularly in the European Parliament – who have labelled some of the Constitution’s laws “extremist,” hard line and a threat to democracy…(Source)
Looks like Hungary will not be made a Colony of the European Union. Good for them. Obviously this country isn’t afraid of displaying its Christian heritage. As Canucks, we need to get some of that Hungarian in us!
Cardinal Keith O’Brien of Edinburgh, Scotland will use his Easter Sunday homily to encourage Christians to wear a cross, the Scotsmanhas learned. The newspaper quotes from a text of the cardinal’s prepared homily, in which he urges the faithful “wear proudly a symbol of the cross of Christ on their garments each and every day of their lives.” The cardinal’s suggestion is clearly a response to the news that the government of Great Britain will oppose the petition by two Christian women to the European Court of Human Rights for redress, after they were told they could not wear crosses at their places of employment. (Source)
The Cross has become a sign of contradiction: a sign of obedience and now defiance. Good on the Cardinal. If we don’t turn this thing around now, it’s the gallows for our children and grandchildren.
…“I have to say to the bishops: ‘You’re not allowed to do that anymore,’” said Murray, an open homosexual who serves as McGuinty’s Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, according to the Hansard transcript. I’m not allowed to say to the Catholics—nor should I—or to other Christians or Muslims or Jews, that because of your faith you’re intrinsically disordered,” he continued. “I would never say to you that anything that goes on in your family with the person you love—can you imagine me describing a husband-and-wife relationship as inherently depraved?” he added….(Source)
You’ve got that wrong, Mr. Murray. You can tell us that we’re intrinsically disordered. You have that right as a free citizen.
You just won’t because it might cost you, politically.
So you do the next best thing: since you won’t tell us what you really think of us, you demand that we stop calling out your totalitarianism and a disordered condition which you are trying to shove down the throats of our children.
Dalton McGuinty, as far as I know, is still (officially) a Catholic in good standing. He can receive Communion and call himself a Catholic with no opposition whatsoever from the Episcopacy in this Province. It’s the infamous “pastoral” approach which the Bishops have adopted these past 40 years. So, your Graces, how’s that workin’ for ya?
This “Vatican II” approach to dealing with dissent and error has been a complete disaster. We just keep retreating and retreating. It’s like a train wreck you can see coming a mile away. Underlying all this is an almost complete and total collapse of our doctrine of bishop as father.
Pope boldly asks Cuban Communists to make Good Friday a National Holiday. And he gets it! Question: when has a Western politician really gotten anything of worth or significance out of Fidel?
Long Live Benedict! For only God is the author and protector of true human liberty and He uses the Catholic Church to bring it.
Dolan does say that a lack of clarity on Catholic teachings regarding sex is partly to blame for the recent furor over contraception; even many Catholics don’t understand the Church’s prohibition of birth control, and use it without scruple.
For this he faults the church leadership. “We have gotten gun-shy . . . in speaking with any amount of cogency on chastity and sexual morality.” He dates this diffidence to “the mid- and late ‘60s, when the whole world seemed to be caving in, and where Catholics in general got the impression that what the Second Vatican Council taught, first and foremost, is that we should be chums with the world, and that the best thing the church can do is become more and more like everybody else.” (Source)
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