Justin's Corner

Killer Cell Phones: Why Honeybees Are Dying Worldwide

2011-11-04T17:06:00.004-04:00

Have you heard the news? In just the last ten years or so, the world’s honeybee population has taken a huge dive—and nobody seems to know why. I found this out myself recently by reading an article called “Bees Feel the Sting: The buzz on the worldwide decline in honeybee populations,” which appeared as the lead story in the September/October 2011 issue of Science Illustrated. According to this article, a group of French biologists is attaching tiny microchips to honeybees to track their daily behavior patterns in an effort to learn what’s killing them. Suspected causes of the unprecedented global honeybee dieoff include pests, predators, disease, pesticide sprays, climate change, and mobile phones. One single factor can be enough to do the bees in, as researcher Cedric Alaux of the Laboratoire Biologie et Protection de l’abeille admitted to Science Illustrated: “We cannot rule out that there is one single factor behind it all that influences the bees in a negative way.”

To identify that factor, the key question we should ask is: What on earth has changed so drastically in the last ten years that would cause billions of honeybees to perish? There has been no drastic change in nature or the global environment that can adequately explain this occurrence. Honeybee pests and predators have been around for centuries, and although their numbers have fluctuated, their populations have not exploded recently as far as I know. Diseases have similarly come and gone. Our climate has been changing recently, but not so drastically or in such a short time period as to explain the mass disappearance of a single insect species.

Thus we can reasonably rule out any natural causes for the world’s honeybee population plunge, and it makes sense to look for the culprit among possible artificial (i.e. manmade) causes. Although pesticide sprays have been in use for decades, their worldwide use has not increased dramatically in recent years; if anything, it has declined as the popularity of organic farming continues to grow.

The only other suspected manmade cause of the honeybees’ death is mobile phones (i.e. cell phones)—or, more precisely, the radio waves emitted by cell phones. Here we’re on to something, because in the last ten years the world’s use of cell phones has exploded dramatically, and an ever-growing global network of cell phone transmitter towers established to meet this demand now continuously fills much of the Earth’s air with a thick invisible web of electromagnetic radiation. Moreover, the negative effects of this artificial radiation on living organisms are already well known and documented by scientists. (Take, for example, the well-established link between increased cell phone use and increased rates of human brain cancer.) Furthermore, the steepest declines in honeybee populations have been observed in the United States and Europe—where cell phone use is greater than anywhere else in the world.

Nothing matches the worldwide decline in honeybee population like the worldwide increase in cell phone transmissions during the same time frame. Thus, it is reasonable to draw a link between the two and theorize that the former is the main cause of the latter.

But, some might say, the basis for this supposed theory is rather circumstantial. Is there any real, convincing evidence for it? Yes, there is. In a study conducted last year, researchers at Panjab University in Chandigarh, India fitted cell phones to a beehive and activated them twice a day for 15 minutes each. Within three months, honey production had ceased, the queen laid half as many eggs, and the hive population had fallen significantly. (See “Study links bee decline to cell phones,” at http://articles.cnn.com/2010-06-30/world/bee.decline.mobile.phones_1_bee-populations-cell-phone-radiation-ofcom?_s=PM:WORLD)

But the effect of cell phone towers on bees is even more drastic than that of individual phones. Barbara Hughes, a columnist for the Catholic Virginian who has been visiting the Franciscan monastery at Mission San Luis Rey in California, recently visited a Benedictine abbey near the mission. She related the following in the August 22, 2011 edition of the paper:

One of the monks, who has been a bee keeper at the Abbey for 40 years, explained how until numerous cell phone towers were constructed on the back of their property, he had been collecting 100 gallons of honey a week.

But as the use of cell phones expanded, all of his bees died within a few weeks until he discovered a small area near the base of the hill where he could not get cell phone service. Once he moved his hives to that particular area, the bees once again began to thrive and reproduce.

This anecdote is a graphic example of the danger that cell phone radiation poses to honeybees. According to researchers such as Milt Bowling, the radiation is interfering with the bees’ built-in navigational systems, disorienting them and preventing them from finding their way back to their hives. (See “Where Are the Birds and Bees?,” at http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/Milt_Bees_Birds.pdf)

The typical cell phone transmitter tower is a veritable beehive of electromagnetic activity. At any given moment it can be sending and receiving the radio transmissions of 10 to 25 different phone calls. A whole row of cell phone towers can process thousands of calls simultaneously. Try to imagine what all the radio waves from all the towers just in your local area would look like, filling the air all around you. If we had the capability to see radio waves, we would be blown away. Thus cell phone towers pose a much more serious threat to living organisms than individual cell phones because they emit much more concentrated doses of radiation. When we consider that the radiation of a single cell phone can cause brain cancer in a human being at an early age, it’s not difficult to imagine the deadly effect that thousands of times that radiation would have on a much smaller living creature.

In fact, the gradual, slight decline in world honeybee populations observed over the course of the twentieth century (which preceded the current precipitous decline) was probably due to the gradual establishment of radio stations and transmitters all over the world. Moreover, it is possible that radio waves crisscrossing our atmosphere from Earth-orbiting communications satellites as well as from more recently developed GPS satellites, satellite radio systems, and especially wireless Internet systems, all play minor contributing roles in the current honeybee population crisis. The lesson to be learned from this is that radio waves kill bees—and the world’s more than five billion cell phones combined generate more artificial radio emissions by far than all other currently operating high-tech inventions on Earth put together. (See “List of countries by number of cell phones in use,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_mobile_phones_in_use)

The modern handheld cell phone is a staple of globalized twenty-first century life—and it’s not hard to understand why. It’s a technological wonder, a marvel of electronic miniaturization and digital engineering, and a powerful tool of communication and entertainment whose convenience can’t be beat. With a typical cell phone we can not only send and receive calls but also text messages and emails; we can take pictures, make audio recordings, store textual information, listen to music, access the Internet (and all that that entails), watch videos, read e-books, play games—the capabilities are endless. Cell phones allow us to stay connected like nothing else. Who ever thought this nifty little multi-purpose gadget would pose a threat to the environment?

It’s unfortunate, but true: Within just the last ten years, the increasingly widespread and heavy global use of cell phones has placed the world’s honeybee population at risk. We are literally buzzing the bees out of existence. Meanwhile, the global pace of construction of new cell phone towers continues unabated, and worldwide cell phone transmissions continue increasing by the day, filling the Earth’s atmosphere with more and more artificial radio waves. If this trend continues into the next few years, we can expect further drastic reductions in the global honeybee population.

What would happen if honeybees became extinct? We would lose a lot more than just good-tasting natural honey. Honeybees play a critical role in the world’s food chain: they pollinate 75 percent of all the crops consumed by humans, many of which are also consumed by animals. Thus the extinction of honeybees would precipitate a global food crisis of almost unthinkable proportions. I don’t think any of us want to see that happen! Human survival is dependent on the survival of honeybees.

Given the enormity of the stakes involved, it is imperative that we take decisive measures soon to protect the endangered honeybees. This is not like trying to save the Pyrenean Ibex, the Golden Toad, the Javan Tiger, or the Alaotra Grebe (a bird of Madagascar that was officially declared extinct last year). All of these animal species have become extinct since the conservation movement began, but due to their isolated habitats and limited distribution, their extinction had little if any impact on the overall global food chain. The extinction of the honeybee would be an entirely different matter. Because of its worldwide distribution and the key role this little insect plays in crop growth, its demise would be catastrophic for a large percentage of life on earth.

So what can we do to save the honeybees? Here are a few ideas:

1) Spread the word. Tell everyone you know about what you’ve learned in this article. The more people who know about it, the better.

2) Use your cell phone less. Keep it turned off most of the time if you can. Note that you don’t have to make a call to send destructive radiation through the air—just turning the unit on will do that.

3) Buy land phones, which don’t emit harmful radio waves, for your home and office, and use your cell phone for calls only when away from those places. A cordless land phone offers the best of both worlds—it allows more mobility than a traditional corded land telephone but emits less harmful radiation than a cell phone.

4) At the local level, cities, counties and states could pass ordinances and laws preventing the construction of additional cell phone towers in certain areas (as long as this does not conflict with federal law).

5) Since honeybees continue to flourish in areas without cell phone service, it would make common sense for the governments of individual countries (especially in the United States and Europe) to review their existing communications policies and enact stricter nationwide regulations for cell phone transmissions.

6) Since more than 9 in 10 Americans now own cell phones (See “List of countries by number of cell phones in use,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_mobile_phones_in_use), a permanent nationwide moratorium on the construction of new cell phone towers should be seriously considered.

7) Our federal government could build on the model of the National Radio Quiet Zone, a 13,000-square-mile area straddling the Virginia-West Virginia border that was set aside in 1958 to protect the National Radio Astronomy Observatory from unwanted manmade radio interference. Within this zone, artificial radio transmissions, including cell phone services, are limited but not entirely eliminated. Similar protected zones could be established in America’s sprawling, thinly-populated agricultural regions (such as in the middle states and parts of California) where cell phone services are less in demand and where honeybees are especially needed to pollinate the crops that feed much of the world.

Such efforts to curtail cell phone transmissions, for the good of honeybees and for our own good, will likely be met with powerful opposition from the big cell phone companies like AT&T and Verizon. These huge businesses make a killing on cell phones, netting hundreds of billions of dollars annually, so their multibillionaire kings will not take kindly the least threat to the continued expansion of their global empire. They don’t really care what happens to the bees (or to us) as long as they can keep their annual profits swelling. Thus they’ll conveniently deny any connection between cell phone use and declining bee rates (just as they denied that there was any connection between cell phone use and brain cancer). But such opposition shouldn’t discourage us—because denying an inconvenient truth doesn’t make it go away.

Copyright © 2011 Justin D. Soutar. All rights reserved.

REFERENCES

“Endangered Bees Under Scrutiny,” Science Illustrated 4:5 Sep./Oct. 2011, pp. 36-41.

Sasha Herriman, “Study links bee decline to cell phones,” CNN World, June 30, 2010. Oct. 24, 2011

Barbara Hughes, “In Light of Faith: Paying the rent,” The Catholic Virginian, Aug. 22, 2011.

Milt Bowling, “Where Are the Birds and Bees?,” Health Action, 2007. Oct. 21, 2011

Wikipedia contributors, “List of countries by number of cell phones in use,” Wikipedia, Oct. 21, 2011. Oct. 24, 2011

Thought for the Day

2011-10-24T20:47:00.001-04:00

"Love is the most necessary of all virtues. Love in the person who preaches the word of God is like fire in a musket. If a person were to throw a bullet with his hands, he would hardly make a dent in anything; but if the person takes the same bullet and ignites some gunpowder behind it, it can kill. It is much the same with the word of God. If it is spoken by someone who is filled with the fire of charity — the fire of love of God and neighbor — it will work wonders."

—St. Anthony Mary Claret

Finally...I Am a Published Musician!

2011-10-03T11:05:00.003-04:00

A year and a half after acquiring the music software program Sibelius 6, I have published my first two scores on ScoreExchange.com (the new website which is the successor to SibeliusMusic.com). This is an exciting moment for me as a burgeoning composer and arranger of classical piano music.

My first score is a fairly simple arrangement of "O Holy Night," which can be found here: http://www.scoreexchange.com/scores/115949.html

The other score is an instrumental piano piece called "Death and Resurrection." This is a tribute to my Uncle Carl, who died of cancer some months back. It's here: http://www.scoreexchange.com/scores/116000.html

Note: To view and listen to these scores you need Scorch, which is the free downloadable program that the site uses to play back Sibelius scores.

I'm currently working on a brand-new arrangement of "We Three Kings" that I hope will be ready soon. I plan to write my own arrangements of other Christmas hymns and other favorite traditional hymns, as well as to produce occasional original compositions.

I look forward to writing lots more music! God has given me this wonderful gift and I plan to use it for His glory.

Roman Missal, Third Edition: Liturgical Renewal as Envisioned by Vatican II

2011-08-23T16:07:00.004-04:00

November 27, 2011 will be a historic day for the Roman Catholic Church across the English-speaking world. On that day the United States will join other English-speaking countries in implementing a new translation of the Third Typical Edition of the Missale Romanum (Roman Missal), the official liturgical text for the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church. This implementation will mark a watershed in the reform of the Sacred Liturgy that was set in motion by the Second Vatican Council. At the same time, this latest edition of the Roman Missal is part of an organic liturgical development within the 2,000-year history of the universal Church.

In the Jubilee Year 2000, Pope John Paul II issued a motu proprio in which he announced a forthcoming Third Edition of the Missale Romanum. Once this became available in 2002, bishops all over the world began a rigorous and time-consuming process of translating it into the vernacular languages used in the liturgy. The task of translation into English was assigned to the International Committee on English in the Liturgy in coordination with the bishops’ conferences of the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and other English-speaking countries. Once ICEL completed a draft English translation of the Roman Missal, it was submitted to the bishops’ conferences for review and approval. On June 15, 2006, after lengthy discussion and debate, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approved the draft ICEL text of the Roman Missal, while forwarding some minor suggested changes in this text to the Vox Clara Committee (which assists the Vatican with English liturgical translations) and the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. The Congregation and Vox Clara reviewed the bishops’ suggestions, made some slight changes to the new English text based on them, and then returned it to the bishops for their final approval. On November 20, 2009, the U.S. bishops approved the new English translation of the Missale Romanum, and their approval was confirmed by the Holy See on March 26, 2010. After undergoing a final review and edit by Vatican officials, the English translation of the Third Edition of the Roman Missal was officially sanctioned by the Holy See in July 2010. Now the new missals for use at Mass could be printed, and catechesis efforts could be launched to prepare English-speaking Catholics for implementation of the new Roman Missal the following year.

Translating the Liturgy

Since Vatican II, the Church has issued certain norms for the translation of liturgical texts from Latin into the vernacular. In 1969, the Council issued an Instruction titled Comme le Prevoit, which set guidelines for liturgical translators. This document established a guiding principle called “dynamic equivalence,” which involved the translation of basic thoughts rather than words. Translators working on this principle tried to convey the meaning of the original Latin text of the Roman Missal rather than the text itself. The result was a Mass translation into the English vernacular that sounded very modern and was easily understood, but at the price of significantly deviating from the original Latin text. In several subsequent Instructions issued by the Vatican, translation guidelines were adjusted somewhat but the central principle of dynamic equivalence was retained. The 1974 and 1985 English translations of the First and Second Editions of the Missale Romanum, respectively, followed this principle. Scriptural translations for use in the liturgy, such as the 1970 English translation of the New American Bible from Hebrew, were also based on the principle of dynamic equivalence.

In 2001, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued the Church’s fifth Instruction for liturgical translators since the Council. This document, entitled Liturgiam Authenticam, marked a paradigm shift in the translation of liturgical texts, as it replaced dynamic equivalence with a new guiding principle for translators called “formal equivalence.” Formal equivalence involves rendering the Latin text of the Roman Missal as faithfully as possible into the vernacular. Liturgiam Authenticam defines this principle as follows: “While it is permissible to arrange the wording, the syntax and the style in such a way as to prepare a flowing vernacular text suitable to the rhythm of popular prayer, the original text insofar as possible, must be translated integrally and in the most exact manner, without omissions or additions in terms of their content, and without paraphrases or glosses.” (LA, § 20) The result is an accurate and dignified translation of the Mass into English that allows the beauty and grandeur of the original Latin text to shine through. The new English translation of the Missale Romanum, Third Edition, follows this principle of formal equivalence. So do scriptural translations for use in the liturgy, such as the 1998 translation of the New Testament NAB from the traditional Latin Vulgate.

Why has the post-Vatican II Church shifted from one translation principle to another? To answer this question, we must clarify our understanding of the vision for authentic liturgical renewal set forth by the Second Vatican Council. The Third Edition of the Roman Missal, soon to be implemented in thousands of parishes, is more faithful than either of its predecessors to that vision for true renewal. It presents a golden opportunity for us English-speaking Catholics to review and reflect on the reality of what the Mass really is, as well as to deepen our appreciation for the rich liturgical heritage of the Catholic Church’s Latin Rite.

Worship and Liturgy

The Sacred Liturgy, which we call the Mass in the Latin Rite, is our formal public worship of God as Catholics. It’s “the great prayer of the Church” offered with Christ to God the Father in the Holy Spirit. In the Mass, Jesus offers Himself to the Father in atonement for our sins, and his Body and Blood become food for our souls. At the heart of the Sacred Liturgy is the Eucharist, which is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus physically present under the appearances of bread and wine. Thus the Mass is the celebration of the Eucharist and a re-presentation of Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross for our salvation two thousand years ago. The word “Eucharist” means “thanksgiving,” and in its Eucharistic worship, the Church is always giving thanks to God the Father for our deliverance from sin and our reconciliation to Him through the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ. The Eucharist is of paramount importance since it is the source, center and summit of the Church’s life according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Thus the matter of how the Mass should be celebrated, called “liturgy,” takes on great importance as well.

How should we worship God? This fundamental human question has rung through the ages. When Adam and Eve sinned and disobeyed God at the beginning of human history, God promised to send a Savior to free human beings from sin and reconcile them to Himself. His grand plan of salvation began in the Old Testament when God chose a people for Himself—the Jewish people. He delivered them from slavery in Egypt; brought them into the Promised Land; and revealed to them how He wanted to be worshiped. He gave Moses careful, detailed instructions for the building and furnishing of the Temple, the vestments to be worn by the priests, the prayers to be recited, and the offering of various animal sacrifices for sin. This instruction manual for Jewish worship comprised a large portion of the latter four Books of Moses (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). The practice of Jewish liturgy according to the Mosaic Law not only gave due honor and glory to God, but it also united the Israelite community and formed the core of their identity as a people. The summit of the Jewish religion was the annual celebration of Passover, when the Israelites converged on Jerusalem to sacrifice and eat the Paschal lamb in joyful remembrance of their deliverance from slavery in Egypt.

God established the worship rituals of the Old Testament not as permanent and complete in themselves, but as a preparation for the perfect New Testament worship to be offered by His Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, the Temple priests would offer animal sacrifices to God in atonement for sin, but these sacrifices were imperfect because they could not take away sin. Jesus, the mediator of the New Testament, is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world by His sacrifice on the Cross. His obedience repairs the damage done by Adam’s sin of disobedience. The summit of our Catholic religion is the celebration of Mass, which is the Paschal Mystery of Christ’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection. When we attend Mass, we participate in this perfect sacrifice of Christ. Thus our Catholic worship is a natural and logical descendant of Jewish worship.

The early Church spontaneously developed its own basic form of Eucharistic worship based on the Jewish Sabbath liturgy. Over the course of centuries, in the varied soils of the Middle East and Europe, this same liturgical seed grew into slightly different rites watered by theological reflection and increasing awareness of the riches contained in the mystery of the Eucharist. Today there are twenty-one approved rites for the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy within the universal Church, of which the Latin Rite (also called the Roman Rite because the Vatican uses it) is the largest. Although slightly different in their external rituals and ceremonies, all these rites share the same basic form of Eucharistic worship that has remained unchanged through the ages. Saint Justin’s description of the Eucharistic liturgy written in 155 A.D. is remarkably similar to our modern Latin Rite Mass.

In his classic work The Spirit of the Liturgy, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) makes the point that we’re supposed to worship God the way He wants to be worshiped, not the way we want to worship Him. This is because liturgy is not our work but our participation in God’s work of redemption. In the Old Testament, God promised the Israelites that if they obeyed the Ten Commandments, kept the Law of Moses and worshiped Him faithfully according to the divinely prescribed rubrics, He would remain with them and bless them and they would prosper. On the other hand, if they disobeyed the Commandments, disregarded the Law and substituted their own liturgical ideas for the divine ordinances, God would punish them. God kept His promises, and the Jewish people flourished as long as they remained obedient to God. But when they rebelled against God, they incurred His wrath and dreadful punishments.

These same principles apply to Catholics, who are the New Testament people of God. With authority given by Christ Himself, the Church teaches the truth, makes certain laws and sets the rules for New Testament worship. If we believe everything the Church teaches, obey her laws and participate faithfully in the proper celebration of the Eucharist, we will glorify God and be the holy people God is calling us to be. However, if we pick and choose which Church doctrines to believe, ignore Church laws and elevate our personal ideas for worship above the Church’s established liturgical rules, we insult God and risk His just punishment.

Evidently, humility and obedience are essential components of true worship. In fact, the interior dispositions of the heart are even more important than external liturgical practice. In the Old Testament, God made clear that the sacrifice of animals was meaningless without the sacrifice of obedience in the human heart: “More precious than sacrifice is obedience, submission better than the fat of rams!” (RSV, 1 Sam. 15:22) “Sacrifice or oblation you wished not, but ears open to obedience you gave me…Behold, I come to do your will, O God!” (NAB, Psalm 40:7, 9) Obedience, the humble sacrifice of our preferences to God’s Will, is the most perfect form of worship.

When it comes to Catholic worship today, there are those who think they know better than God and the Church. Their concept of liturgy has more in common with the feel-good pop psychology of the sixties than with ancient Jewish and Catholic worship traditions. “Authority” and “tradition” are bad words to them. They treat the Church’s regulations for worship as suggestions and reject its rich 2,000-year liturgical history out of hand in favor of their own innovative worship preferences. Such privately determined “worship” has no place in the Church. It is built on disobedience, the prideful exaltation of human ideas and preferences above God’s Will. In fact, it is the ultimate form of idolatry: the worship of ourselves.

The Language of Catholic Worship

But how did Latin come to be the official language of Catholic worship in the Roman Rite, and why does the Church give it so much importance? To answer these questions, let’s take a brief look at the development of this lingua franca within the Church.

In the early centuries of Christianity, the dominant formative cultural influence on the Church was the Roman Empire, whose official language was Latin. Rome became both the center of the universal Church and the capital of the Western Church. Latin was the universal language of the known world at that time; this, combined with its stable and unchanging nature, led to its adoption as the common language of the Western Church by the fourth century and eventually to its official adoption as the language of the Roman Rite about the year 1030. Saint Jerome translated the ancient Hebrew and Greek Scriptures into Latin near the end of the fourth century, and the resulting “Latin Vulgate” edition became the official Bible of the Western Church for the next 1500 years. Latin became a common bond uniting Catholics across the European continent and a vital element in the development of Western Catholic learning and culture. As the Roman Empire fell apart and barbarians ravaged Europe during the Dark Ages, Saint Benedict founded a chain of monasteries where monks painstakingly hand copied the Latin Bible; preserved Gregorian Chant for the singing of the Mass; and translated great literary works from Latin into the various European languages. These monasteries were little oases of civilization where literature, art, architecture, music, gardening and scientific knowledge were quietly preserved during a hostile time.

When conditions improved, these seeds of culture sprouted, bursting into full flower during the Middle Ages. The Latin Mass was then the focal point of European society and the wellspring of its culture; the best art, architecture and music were produced for the glory of God to enhance Catholic worship. Latin Rite Catholicism was the driving force behind the towering cultural achievements of this era including magnificent Gothic cathedrals, polyphonic chant, Saint Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica, the medieval universities, the poetry of Dante, the invention of the printing press, and the discovery of America. Knowledge of Latin remained widespread even as the cultural influence of the Church gradually decreased during the Renaissance and Age of Enlightenment in the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries. The ancient language of the Roman Catholic liturgy has profoundly shaped our modern Western culture; from science and medicine to law and politics and even to our English language, not a single area of life remains untouched by it.

The Latin Mass is our religious inheritance as Latin Rite Catholics and our cultural inheritance as members of Western civilization. Unfortunately, this heritage has been forgotten in the last forty years, to the point where many Catholics are not even familiar with Latin. Moreover, the relationship between liturgy and culture has been reversed: whereas liturgy used to shape culture, now popular culture influences the liturgy. Modern Catholic worship is often adapted to “fit in” with the surrounding pop culture, a culture that has completely broken off from the Church and is often hostile to it. These developments are part of a serious liturgical and cultural crisis that has gripped the Church in the wake of the Second Vatican Council.

Vatican II and Modern Liturgical Reform

Ever since Vatican II, a popular misperception has spread among Catholics as to what the Council intended concerning the Sacred Liturgy and, in a broader sense, concerning the Church herself. The sweeping liturgical and other reforms of the Council were widely misinterpreted as implying a radical change in the nature of the Mass and of the Church. Celebration of the liturgy in Latin, strict adherence to the prescribed rubrics, the concept of the Mass as sacrifice, and the dignity of the priesthood (in the case of the liturgy)—the Church as the Bride of Christ with infallible teaching authority, preserving and handing on the deposit of faith (in the case of the Church)—all of these suddenly became old-fashioned, “pre-Vatican II” ideas and were replaced with an “anything goes” mentality in “the spirit of Vatican II.” The Mass was no longer seen as the Church’s worship offered to God but as a celebration of human togetherness subject to the whims of the local community. Similarly, it was now up to the individual Catholic to believe and live as he pleased regardless of official Church doctrine and laws. Vatican II transformed the Church from a monarchy into a democracy. This unfortunate heresy known as “the spirit of Vatican II” has done catastrophic damage to the faith of millions of Catholics. It has even spawned an opposite myth adhered to by some traditionalist Catholics that the entire Second Vatican Council was heretical and its reforms null and void.

Yet despite these grave misperceptions and their accompanying fallout, there was nothing wrong with the Second Vatican Council. It simply applied traditional Church doctrine to the modern world, introduced reforms into the Church’s liturgy and calendar, and changed certain Church laws, all to help Catholics better live their faith and to enable the Church to effectively evangelize the modern world. The chief problems for the Council’s liturgical reforms have been misinterpretation and incorrect application of its directives by the clergy, and a lack of proper education with resulting misunderstandings by the laity. After the Council, many bishops and priests rushed into the liturgical changes and did a poor job of explaining to the faithful the reasons for those changes. This left lay Catholics unsettled and confused and even led some to abandon the Church altogether because the Mass appeared no longer recognizable. Very few Catholics bothered to read the actual documents of Vatican II, including the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum concilium), although good English translations of these documents were widely available. Moreover, in addition to problems from within the Church, the prevailing spirit of rebellion against authority in 1960s society influenced many Catholics to interpret and embrace Vatican II as a rebellion against traditional Catholicism. Even today many lack a proper understanding of what the Second Vatican Council had in mind for the Church in general and the Eucharistic liturgy in particular.

What did the Second Vatican Council intend—and not intend—with regard to the Church’s liturgy, specifically in the Latin Rite? To answer these questions, we can do nothing better than refer to the Council’s charter document for liturgical reform, Sacrosanctum concilium (in the Vatican’s official English translation). Glancing at the text, we notice immediately that one of the most frequently recurring words in this document is “tradition.” It’s obvious from the opening paragraphs that Vatican II never intended to radically change the Church or do away with liturgical tradition. Paragraph 23 of Sacrosanctum concilium, which sums up the Council’s guidelines for reform of the liturgy, dispels the myth that Vatican II fundamentally redefined the nature of the Mass:

That sound tradition may be retained, and yet the way remain open to legitimate
progress, careful investigation is always to be made into each part of the liturgy which is to be revised. This investigation should be theological, historical, and pastoral. Also the general laws governing the structure and meaning of the liturgy must be studied in conjunction with the experience derived from recent liturgical reforms and from the indults conceded to various places. Finally, there must be no innovations unless the good of the Church genuinely and certainly requires them; and care must be taken that any new forms adopted should in some way grow organically from forms already existing.

In other words, Vatican II did not erect a massive wall of separation between the pre-Vatican II and post-Vatican II Mass. Even after the Council, liturgical tradition was to be given preference to innovation; only necessary changes were to be made in the rubrics; and these innovations must have some connection to preexisting liturgical forms. The paragraph above encapsulates the true spirit of Vatican II: careful, measured reform within the context of sound tradition.

Furthermore, the Council fathers never intended that Latin Rite Catholics lose all touch with their splendid liturgical heritage. Supposedly, Vatican II put the Latin Mass in the Church’s closet and gave official preference to Mass said in the vernacular. Not so. While acknowledging that increased use of the “mother tongue” (the vernacular) in the liturgy “frequently may be of great advantage to the people,” Sacrosanctum concilium stipulated that “the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites.” (SC, § 36, 1) The document also directed that “steps should be taken so that the faithful may be able to say or to sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them.” (SC, § 54) Whether any parts of the Mass at all were to be said in the vernacular, and if so which parts, was to be determined by “the competent territorial ecclesiastical authority mentioned in Art. 22, 2,” that is, by the local bishops’ conference. However, it’s important to clarify that Vatican II did not intend to impose on the Church through the bishops a stiff rigidity in this matter. During an interview with Raymond Arroyo on EWTN in 2003, Cardinal Francis Arinze, who was then Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, said that “there should be flexibility” in the use of the Latin and the vernacular in the liturgy.

Supposedly also, Vatican II did away with Gregorian chant in favor of new, privately composed arrangements of liturgical music in the vernacular. Here again, the Council did no such thing; in fact, it intended that Gregorian chant be retained in the Roman Rite liturgy and that Catholics remain familiar with it. Sacrosanctum concilium states: “The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services.” (SC, § 116) In April 1974, Pope Paul VI issued a booklet for Latin Rite Catholics called Jubilate Deo. This prayer book, which is still in print and includes simple and easy-to-sing chants for the Ordinary parts of the Mass (such as the Kyrie, Gloria and Sanctus), was issued with the stated purpose of promoting “a minimum repertoire of plain chant” among the Catholic faithful.

The intention of Vatican II regarding the liturgy was to encourage “fully conscious and active participation” (SC, § 14) in the Mass for the greater spiritual benefit of the faithful worldwide. To this end, a revised Order of Mass (Novus Ordo) was compiled in Latin that simplified the text and rubrics of the Latin Rite Mass. Moreover, permission was given for the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy in the vernacular languages of the world; for the use of various musical instruments in addition to the traditional pipe organ; for priests to celebrate Mass facing the people if they wished; and for the reception of Holy Communion in the hand. Such extensive advantage has been taken of these permissions that Catholics have come to think of each as being the norm. However, all of these permissions are actually temporary indults, or special privileges granted in exception to permanent Church laws governing the Roman Rite. None of them are mandated or required by Vatican II, and the Church has the authority to extend these indults indefinitely or to revoke any of them at any time.

The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy clearly indicates that the purpose of the Second Vatican Council’s liturgical reforms was not to jettison liturgical tradition or destroy the sacred character of the Mass but to preserve and hand on the Church’s greatest treasure to the Catholics of the modern world.

The aim of the Second Vatican Council’s liturgical reforms was to promote a period of careful and strictly regulated liturgical experimentation to determine what would best help Catholics in the pews participate with their whole being in the Sacred Liturgy. The goal of the Novus Ordo and of the indults was not to diminish the sacred character of the Mass, to eliminate the use of Latin from it, or to make it plainer and more acceptable to contemporary social tastes. Unfortunately, these unintended consequences of Vatican II have become commonplace in the decades since the Council. As a result, millions of Catholics are now accustomed to an informal, casual style of worship exclusively in the vernacular that diminishes the sacredness of the Mass and makes them feel more comfortable. Some don’t like the upcoming changes in the Roman Missal, which they see as amounting to a repudiation of Vatican II and as discouraging active lay participation in the liturgy. Such misperceptions arise from a lack of proper education and understanding of what the new Roman Missal is all about, and more fundamentally, of what Vatican II was all about. Unfortunately, the somewhat inferior English Mass translation that has been in use for the last forty years has only reinforced these misperceptions.

Prior to Vatican II, the average Catholic never thought of complaining about the way Mass was celebrated; he simply accepted it the way it was in obedience to the Church. Now, however, many Catholics claim the right to have a say in how Mass is said. This stems from one of the biggest myths about Vatican II: that the Council authorized lay Catholic liturgists to manipulate the liturgy according to their own private whims and fancies. But Vatican II never gave laypeople authority to decide how the Mass is celebrated. It’s up to the Church—specifically, to the Pope and the bishops united with him—to set the rules for Catholic worship: “…no other person, even if he be a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority.” (SC, § 22, 3)

The only significant liturgical change mandated by Vatican II was the replacement of the 1962 Order of Mass (commonly known as the “Tridentine” Mass) with the Novus Ordo as the Ordinary Form of the liturgy in the Roman Rite. However, this was not a radical liturgical revolution as it is often perceived. The traditional Latin Mass and the Latin Novus Ordo are much closer akin than many people realize. Much of the Latin text of the Tridentine Mass was retained verbatim in the Novus Ordo. Furthermore, contrary to popular belief, Vatican II did not scrap the traditional Latin Mass altogether. Acknowledging its important place in the Latin Rite liturgical tradition, the Council retained the Latin Mass of 1962 as the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite liturgy, giving bishops the authority to allow its occasional celebration in their dioceses. Unfortunately, very few bishops have granted permission for this since the Council.

Roman Missal 3.0

When many of us first heard that a new English translation of the liturgy was being prepared, the news brought some angst. We’re used to the way Mass has been said in the Latin Rite our whole lives, and we’d like it to stay that way. Change is unwelcome. Fortunately, our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI understands the challenge as well as the opportunity that the new Mass text poses for English-speaking Catholics. “Many will find it hard to adjust to unfamiliar texts after nearly forty years of continuous use of the previous translation,” His Holiness remarked to members of Vox Clara in April 2010. Because of this, he added, “The change will need to be introduced with due sensitivity.”

But, some Catholics object, why can’t the Church retain the familiar English Mass translation it has been using since Vatican II? This objection indicates a narrow and distorted vision of the Church’s liturgy based on a mere few decades of experiencing the Latin Rite Mass exclusively in English. The answer to it is that the translation we’re used to was intended by the Church to be part of the period of careful experimentation following the Council. The Council’s Instruction Comme le Prevoit stated: “Above all, after sufficient experimentation and passage of time, all translations will need review.” The Instruction did not say that some translations might need review, but that all translations would. This clearly indicates that the new liturgical translations following Vatican II were not meant to be carved in stone, but to be eventually reviewed and revised.

The foundational text for the Novus Ordo Mass in the Latin Rite from which all vernacular liturgical texts are translated is the Missale Romanum (Roman Missal) issued in Latin by the Holy See. This contains both the Ordinary of the Mass (the unchangeable parts of the liturgy) and Propers for Mass (parts of the liturgy such as Scripture readings and certain prayers that change from day to day and season to season). Three editions of the Missale Romanum have been promulgated since Vatican II—one in 1969, one in 1975 and one in 2000. There have been very few changes to the Latin text of the Ordinary of the Mass through these three editions. Their main features have been additions to the Ordinary and the Propers and changes in some of the Proper prayers, with most of the additions and changes to the Propers resulting from revisions in the liturgical calendar. In this tradition, the Third Edition of the Roman Missal adds several new Prefaces for Eucharistic Prayers to the Ordinary, as well as new Votive Masses and prayers for the feasts of new saints to the Propers. Most of the differences we’ll be noticing in the English words of the Ordinary of the Mass on November 27, 2011 will stem from changes in translation based on the new principle of formal equivalence, not from changes in the Latin text of the Missale Romanum.

Many Latin Rite Catholics today lack familiarity with the original Latin words of the Mass. As a result, they are comparing, analyzing, and judging the old and new English Mass translations based solely on their perceived merits and demerits in the vernacular. This is unfortunate, because being cut off from the mother language of the liturgy presents a barrier to the proper understanding of any vernacular Mass text that comes from it. The true standard by which a vernacular Mass translation may be judged is its fidelity to the Latin text of the Missale Romanum. That text deserves considerable respect because it contains the accumulated riches of 2,000 years of Catholic liturgical tradition.

The new English translation of the Roman Missal includes a Mass text that is much more faithful to the original Latin than the 1974 and 1985 English Mass texts. For example, the first sentence of the Gloria in the Missale Romanum reads, “Gloria in excelsis Deo et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.” The new English translation of this passage reads: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will.” This is a precise, word-for-word rendering of the Latin text. By contrast, the previous translations read: “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth.” This rendering deleted the words “bonae voluntatis,” “good will,” and replaced “people of good will” with the more ambiguous term “his people,” thus losing some of the meaning of the original text. Another example is the first word of the Creed in the Missale Romanum, “Credo,” which literally means “I believe” and is rendered this way in the new translation. The outgoing translation reads “We believe,” diluting the significance of the Creed as a solemn statement of faith pronounced by each individual believer. Another part of the Creed that in the Missale Romanum reads “consubstantialem Patris” is accurately rendered “consubstantial with the Father” in the new translation. The same text appears in the outgoing version as “one in being with the Father,” which is similar in meaning but not as accurate a translation of the original Latin. The new Mass text also includes a literal translation of the traditional Latin response, “Et cum spiritu tuo”—“And with your spirit.” The previous translation, “And also with you,” is a paraphrase that has no precedent in our liturgical tradition. A fifth example of the fidelity of the new Mass text to the Missale Romanum is the prayer of priest and people before Communion, which reads in Latin: “Domine, non sum dignus ut inters sub tectum meum: sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima mea.” The new translation is a faithful rendering of that text: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” The 1985 translation, “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed,” changes some of the literal Scriptural text of this passage and dilutes some of its meaning.

Besides fidelity to the Latin, the new English Mass text has many other positive qualities that reflect its linguistic origin. One of these is a more formal and reverent tone that is better suited to divine worship. This is evident in a passage from the first Eucharistic Prayer, which in the outgoing translation reads: “Look with favor on these offerings and accept them as once you accepted the gifts of your servant Abel, the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith, and the bread and wine offered by your priest Melchizedech.” Here is the same passage in the new translation: “Be pleased to look upon these offerings with a serene and kindly countenance, and to accept them, as you were pleased to accept the gifts of your servant Abel the just, the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith, and the offering of your high priest Melchizedech, a holy sacrifice, a spotless victim.” This example also makes clear that intelligibility, good taste and beauty have not been sacrificed to accuracy in the new translation. Although traditional and dignified, there is nothing archaic or arcane about it. It is not a turning back of the liturgical clock to before Vatican II as some contend. There is no “Holy Ghost” or “thee” or “thou” to be found in it. The words of the new English liturgical text are simple and modern, yet they join together to form a beautiful, poetic rhythm reflecting the rhythm of the Latin and suited to the great prayer of the Church.

And even if we cannot fully grasp the reason for the wording of any part of the new Mass text, we ought to trust our Holy Mother the Church regarding it and accept it in a spirit of humble obedience to her. The new English translation of Mass is not the hasty work of one bishop or one translator, but the product of many thousands of hours of intense labor by all the English-speaking bishops of the world working together in careful collaboration under the direction of the Holy See. These prelates deserve recognition and hearty gratitude for providing English-speaking Catholics of the Latin Rite with a new and sound translation of the Sacred Liturgy that grows organically from their liturgical tradition while also fulfilling the aims of the Second Vatican Council.

Naturally, it will take some time for priests and laity alike to adjust to the words and phrases of the new Mass translation. The burden of adjustment will fall on our priests, since there are many more changes in the words of the priest than in the words of the people. In fact, a majority of the changes in the English Mass text occur in the four Eucharistic Prayers, where nearly every sentence has been reworded to better match the original Latin. Yet through all the changes in words of priest and people, the familiar prayers of the Novus Ordo Mass are still recognizable, and the basic form of the liturgy remains unchanged.

Catechesis, Catechesis, Catechesis

Widespread failure to correctly understand and implement the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council has produced a decades-long liturgical crisis in the Catholic Church, leaving the true aims of the Council fathers largely unrealized to date. However, during this dark and turbulent period for the Church, scattered glimmers of light have reflected the Council’s true vision for liturgical renewal. Two of these have been the Adoremus Society and Ignatius Press, both founded by Father Joseph Fessio, a Jesuit priest who studied for the priesthood under Cardinal Ratzinger in the 1970s. A close friend of our current pontiff, Father Fessio is deeply familiar with his traditional Catholic vision of the liturgy, and has conveyed that vision for many years in publications such as the Adoremus Bulletin, the Adoremus Hymnal and numerous books by Ratzinger, especially The Spirit of the Liturgy. These materials have helped familiarize American Catholics with the true spirit of Vatican II regarding the liturgy.

Another bright glimmer of light in the darkness of the post-Vatican II era has been the daily celebration of Mass in the tiny chapel of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery founded by Mother Angelica in Irondale, Alabama. Here, as in few other places in America, the celebration of the Novus Ordo liturgy has consistently followed the terms of Sacrosanctum concilium: certain parts of the Mass are always said or sung in Latin; Gregorian chant is a mainstay of the liturgical music; and missals are available to help people follow along with the Latin parts of the Ordinary. Different priests vary in their use of Latin and English in the liturgy, offering a good example of the flexibility that Cardinal Arinze referred to. Like the Benedictine monasteries of the European Dark Ages, Our Lady of the Angels has helped preserve the rich liturgical tradition of the Latin Rite and the true spirit of Vatican II through difficult times for the Church in the United States. Not only has it done that, but through daily broadcast of the Mass on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), it has communicated that tradition and that spirit to millions of Catholics across the United States, providing invaluable catechesis and promoting liturgical renewal in fidelity to the Second Vatican Council.

The implementation of the Missale Romanum, Third Edition, presents an excellent opportunity to correct the widespread misperceptions regarding the liturgical reforms of Vatican II. However, this educational opportunity must be seized and taken proper advantage of, not allowed to slide by. Pope Benedict underlined the importance of this in his April 2010 address to members of Vox Clara when he stated that “the opportunity for catechesis that it [the new Roman Missal] presents will need to be firmly grasped.”

Education is the key to understanding. Without proper catechesis, English-speaking Catholics of the Latin Rite will not correctly understand the reasons for the changes or appreciate the new translation. This catechesis should currently be going on in parishes across the United States to prepare parish staff and musicians for the new Roman Missal. However, the author is concerned that not enough is being done at the parish level to prepare the average Catholic in the pew for the changes in the Mass text. The extent of catechesis he has seen in his parish so far has been a brief mention in the bulletin of an invitation to a meeting being held at a neighboring parish to discuss the upcoming changes in the Roman Missal. This approach is simply not going to cut it for the millions of American Catholic laypeople who make up the lion’s share of the Church in the United States. These people shouldn’t have to go out of their way to learn about the new Roman Missal that will soon be taking effect. The catechesis should be brought to them on a platter when they come to church on Sunday. It should be served by the priest from the pulpit, on color inserts in the bulletin, in flyers in the pews, in the parish newsletter, and in pamphlets in the back of the church that people can take home with them. Catechesis about the new Mass translation must take the form of an all-out informational campaign based on the premise that all Catholics must be informed and prepared; otherwise, it will be ineffective, and the vast majority of Catholics in the United States will be unprepared for November 27, 2011.

All the same, there are many things that lay Catholics can and should do to educate themselves about the liturgical changes. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has a special section of its website devoted to the new Roman Missal at usccb.org/romanmissal that gives basic information and includes, under “Sample Texts,” the full new text of the Order of Mass as well as side-by-side comparisons of the old and new Mass text for the people and the priests. Every Catholic with access to the Internet should take advantage of these resources and print them out for closer study and review in preparation for implementation. In addition, Catholics who lack knowledge of Latin should start getting familiar with it. Two excellent resources for this purpose are the Adoremus Hymnal, which includes the Order of Mass in Latin and English side by side, and Jubilate Deo, both available from Ignatius Press and through the EWTN Religious Catalogue. Every Catholic of the Latin Rite should at least know the Gloria, the Credo, the Sanctus, the Pater Noster, and the Agnus Dei in Latin. For a better understanding of what the Mass is, Pope Benedict XVI’s little book The Spirit of the Liturgy offers a brilliant presentation of the theology of Catholic worship and the 2,000-year history of the Church’s liturgy. And finally, Catholics who have not yet done so should pore over Sacrosanctum concilium to soak up the true spirit of Vatican II and clarify their understanding of the Council’s liturgical reforms.

Yet even with proper catechesis, some Catholics will still object that changing the words of the liturgy now after forty years is a recipe for pastoral disaster, as it will cause people to leave the Church. This objection stems from all the misperceptions of the Second Vatican Council recounted in this article. Ironically, it is being made by those who are themselves predisposed to leave the Church because they disapprove of the changes. If some Catholics can’t live with the changes, that is their problem. For its own good, the Church must remain faithful to the true spirit of Vatican II, even if that means alienating some people. When the Vatican approved the new Roman Missal translation in July 2010, Cardinal Francis George, then president of the USCCB, admitted that some people will not like it but that in the end, “it will be the text the Church uses for prayer.” The implementation of the new Roman Missal will be a litmus test of fidelity to the Church. It will separate the wheat from the chaff—true, faithful members of Christ’s Mystical Body from parasites who hitch onto it for their own comfort and convenience. This pruning process will render the Church slightly leaner but stronger and healthier, in line with Pope Benedict XVI’s vision for the “new springtime” of the Church originally predicted by John Paul II.

The Dawn of Real Liturgical Renewal

A major priority of both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI has been correct implementation of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, especially the reform of the Sacred Liturgy. The Third Edition of the Missale Romanum and the Instruction for its translation, Liturgiam Authenticam, were both issued during John Paul’s pontificate. Liturgiam Authenticam marked the close of a four-decade period of experimentation with liturgical translations authorized by the Second Vatican Council, while the Third Edition of the Roman Missal represents a consolidation and integration of the Council’s liturgical reforms into the Church’s Latin Rite tradition. This project of correct implementation of Vatican II has been carried on with vigor by Pope Benedict XVI, who sees the proper understanding and faithful celebration of Catholic worship and liturgy as the key to renewal of the Church and effective evangelization.

In 2007, Pope Benedict took the bold step of issuing a universal indult that allowed the occasional celebration of Mass in the Extraordinary Form in any diocese of the Latin Rite without the necessity of obtaining the local bishop’s permission. This move may have been somewhat controversial at the time, but it was a stroke of genius. Pope Benedict recognized that lack of Catholic exposure to the traditional Latin Mass was impeding the authentic liturgical renewal envisioned by the Second Vatican Council. The pre-Vatican II Latin Mass and the Novus Ordo of Vatican II are not strangers to each other, nor was one ever intended to be radically different from the other. By giving modern Latin Rite Catholics the opportunity to experience the traditional Latin Mass, it allows them to reconnect with their liturgical (as well as religious and cultural) tradition and can help them better understand how the Novus Ordo Mass fits into that tradition.

Furthermore, a major theme running through the pontificates of John Paul and Benedict has been the prediction of a “new springtime” for the Church in the third millennium, particularly based on a revival of interest in Catholicism among young people. Both Popes have understood that there’s an important connection between the implementation of Vatican II and this theme of a new springtime for the Church: Renewal of the liturgy will lead to renewal of the Church from within. But what will the new springtime look like?

In an interview with Raymond Arroyo on EWTN in 2003, then-Cardinal Ratzinger opined that the new springtime would not be characterized by mass conversions to Catholicism all over the world. Rather, he said, it would consist of small, “convinced communities” of believers, especially young people, who would celebrate the liturgy together and witness the joy of their Christian faith to the modern society around them. That joyful witness of faith would be the primary method of evangelization, attracting other people to the Church and leading to a renewal of society as well.

This hope-filled yet realistic vision of the new springtime for the Church resembles not so much a flood of sunlight as an ever-growing number of lighted candles in the darkness. It has a particularly Benedictine flavor, and is part of the reason why our current Holy Father took the name Benedict. He did this to honor Saint Benedict, whose little monasteries scattered throughout Europe preserved Catholic faith and culture during the Dark Ages. The Church today confronts a certain kind of “dark ages,” as it is surrounded by the manifold evils of modern Western society and culture. In the Eucharistic liturgy, the heart of the Church’s life, the burning light of Christ can set each small, faithful, “convinced community” of believers ablaze, empowering them to spread the light of Christ to others.

A tantalizing glimpse of Pope Benedict’s vision for the new springtime can be seen in the hunger for liturgical tradition among Catholic young people. In dozens of places across the United States where Mass is now occasionally celebrated in Latin in the Extraordinary Form, the churches are packed with Catholics in their twenties and thirties. These small, “convinced communities” of young believers, with their devotion to truth, enthusiasm for Catholic tradition, respect for authority and commitment to fidelity to the Church, are already helping to make the Second Vatican Council’s vision for liturgical renewal a reality.

As the inauguration of the English translation of the Missale Romanum, Third Edition approaches, we are standing on the threshold of an exciting and historic moment for the Roman Catholic Church. The dark and difficult period of the post-Vatican II era is vanishing, and the dawn of real liturgical renewal as envisioned by Vatican II is upon us. In April 2010, Pope Benedict XVI expressed to Vox Clara his hope that the new Roman Missal will serve “as a springboard for a renewal and a deepening of Eucharistic devotion all over the English-speaking world.” With the realization of this hope, the new Mass translation will play a vital role in the new springtime for the Church. Its theological riches will help priests and people alike enter more deeply into the mystery of the Eucharist, the source, center and summit of the Church’s life. Its prayers will elevate Catholic worship and inspire and enrich our personal prayer lives. Along with a rediscovery of our rich liturgical and cultural heritage in the Latin Rite tradition, this renewal of the Sacred Liturgy will stimulate a new flowering of Catholic culture and enable the light of Christ to more brightly illuminate the world of the twenty-first century.

Copyright © 2011 Justin D. Soutar. All rights reserved.

Where Have I Been Lately?

2011-08-19T16:19:00.005-04:00

Answer: I've been busy, busy, busy! Which is a whole lot better than having nothing to do.

The former program director of Catholic Relief Services let me know that he has almost finished reviewing my book and answering my questions about his experiences with Mother Teresa. When he's done, he'll send the manuscript back to me so I can incorporate his answers, fix any errors and then finalize the manuscript. Then, finally, I'll be able to submit it to a publisher. I have been looking forward to this for years. It was truly an inspiration from God to write this book, and the Holy Spirit has been guiding the project from its inception in 2008. This book recounts an amazing true story that has never before been written about in detail or published: how Mother Teresa and Catholic Relief Services helped save the lives of ten million Bangladeshi refugees in India in 1971. This former program director, whom I am honored to call my friend, oversaw this vast relief effort for CRS. I am also honoring his wish to remain anonymous for as long as possible--that is, until the book comes out. I'll be sure to let you know when the book comes out, and where you can get it.

Meanwhile, I've been busy with other writing projects. In May, my comprehensive article on the new Roman Missal translation entitled "Missale Romanum, Third Edition: Liturgical Renewal as Envisioned by Vatican II" was conditionally accepted for publication by Inside the Vatican--the condition being that the article length should be cut in half (it was over 8,000 words). So I cut 3,000 words and the editor took out another thousand. In the end I was happy with the result--the essay still contains most of the essential information that I wanted to convey to readers. The editor said it would be placed in the August/September issue of the magazine. I recently obtained a subscription to the magazine, and am looking forward to getting that issue and seeing if my piece is in there. In the meantime, I've also submitted my original 8,000-word article (with ITV's permission) to other Catholic publishers, since I would like to get the whole thing published somewhere if I could. We're now only three months away from the full implementation of the new Roman Missal. Catholics need to be prepared for it.

I've also been writing some material dealing with Catholic creation doctrine and theology as I continue to work my way through Father Warkulwiz's tome, The Doctrines of Genesis 1-11. While I've found that this book has a lot of good information about Catholic teaching on creation and the importance of preserving and handing on the Church's creation doctrine, I disagree with some of the opinions expressed. So I'm writing down respectfully what I disagree with and why.

Another piece I have in the works challenges the conventional scientific wisdom about the planet Mars having once been a very wet place. This is a really interesting subject. I've been doing some research, and I've found that most of the evidence planetary scientists use to claim past oceans of liquid water on Mars can be readily and more accurately explained by non-hydrological processes in the Red Planet's past that scientists already have proof of such as volcanism, geothermal activity and impact cratering.

I'm also gradually getting more into music writing. I love creating new solo piano arrangements of traditional Catholic hymns. The last couple days I wrote my own arrangement of "O Holy Night," which is the second Christmas carol that I've written a piano arrangement for. The first was "We Three Kings" back in late 09/early 10. I haven't published any of my scores yet, but I'm hoping to do so soon. I recently acquired an account on ScoreExchange.com, which is a website where you can sell music, but I don't have a PayPal account yet. You have to have that before you can sell music on the site. I need to find out 1) how you get a PayPal account and 2) how it works--how the website will pay me through PayPal.

Earlier this month, here at Terra Patris we had a celebration in honor of the proposed feast day of God the Father. Our landlord has been holding this event annually for several years now on the first Sunday of August. This year we had a procession with an image of God the Father from the parking area into a tent in the riverside park, along with songs and a few prayers. (Good thing we had the tent, because it rained a little.) Then we had a dinner including a lamb roast, hamburgers, hot dogs and covered dishes that people brought to share. We had people come from Ohio, Virginia, Michigan, Alabama, Tennessee and Florida this year. Our local priest came as he usually does to lead us in the prayers and bless the image of God the Father. This painting was commissioned by Saint Margaret d'Youville, a Canadian nun who lived in the 1700s. The idea for a feast day in honor of our Heavenly Father came from the Heavenly Father himself in messages given to an Italian nun, Mother Eugenia Ravasio, in the 1930s. These messages have been approved by the Church. Sadly, God the Father has often become "the forgotten Person of the Trinity" these days. It is our hope to remind people how much God the Father loves us and to rekindle devotion to Him, hopefully leading eventually to the Church's formal institution of a feast day in His honor.

My sister and Dad went to the EWTN Family Celebration in Birmingham, Alabama last month. They really enjoyed it. My sister got to meet Raymond Arroyo (for the second time) as well as Father Frank Pavone, Johnette Benkovic, Father Anthony and Father Mark. Both my Dad and sister got to meet Bishop Baker as he was coming in to say Mass. It's phenomenal how EWTN has grown in the last thirty years. When we started watching it in 1993, the network was reaching 18 million homes. Today it reaches 160 million homes through television alone and many millions more through radio (AM/FM, shortwave, Sirius) and the Internet, proclaiming the truth of the Catholic faith to the whole world.

Well, I better get going--I've got to rest, too. Good night!

Osama bin Laden vs. the Back-Door Enemy

2011-05-13T20:56:00.006-04:00

We've all heard of the death of Osama bin Laden earlier this month. After more than thirteen years of trying, the United States finally eliminated its Most Wanted Terrorist enemy--the founder and leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization, which was held responsible for the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The official story presented by our government, and widely accepted, has been that Osama bin Laden himself orchestrated the 9/11 attacks, and that al-Qaeda carried them out. This official story is actually a lie and a cover-up that contradicts a good deal of evidence--evidence our government was aware of--that points to a different set of perpetrators for 9/11. Who concocted this lie? The answer is:

America's Back-Door Enemy.

Certain individuals within our government--specifically, within the Bush administration--deliberately fed President Bush false information about 9/11 in order to make him say what they wanted him to say about it. These individuals were agents of a foreign power, traitors to our country, who took advantage of 9/11 for their own political and financial gain. They played on Americans' fears to get them to support a policy of all-out "War on Terrorism." The fact is, beneath its patriotic colors and claims of divine sanction, the War on Terrorism was just another war profiteering scheme. Who benefited the most from it? The answer is:

America's Back-Door Enemy.

Our nation's Founding Fathers warned against this sort of thing. They warned that continual warfare and the enthronement of large corporations would destroy the liberty of the Republic. Advocates of the War on Terrorism argued that this new kind of war was necessary to preserve America's national security and freedom in the face of radical Islamic terrorists bent on our total destruction. However, this view was based on a distortion of what terrorism really is. Terrorism is not an end in itself. Terrorism is a tactic used by a less powerful party to try to frighten a more powerful party into doing its bidding. Terrorists often use evil means (such as the murder of innocent civilians) to try to achieve a good end when legitimate means to achieve that end have been unsuccessful. "Islamic" terrorists, like the majority of peaceful Muslims throughout the Middle East, wanted the United States to stop taking advantage of the region for its oil and fighting wars and supporting dictators for that purpose. But our back-door enemies had substantial oil interests in the Middle East, and couldn't afford to let go of them. So they caricatured the terrorists as liars and a dire threat to our nation's very existence, and disingenuously declared war on them in the name of protecting freedom and democracy. The real goal of the "War on Terrorism" was to beef up our military presence in the Middle East in order to protect and advance the petroleum interests of a handful of business elitists. Their most coveted prize was the vast oilfields of Iraq, long denied them by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. So Hussein was portrayed as a threat to the United States, and false intelligence was fed to President Bush that the Iraqi president was manufacturing weapons of mass destruction, to get the American people to support a war against Iraq. It worked, and the United States invaded and occupied Iraq. Who pulled off this coup? The answer, again, is:

America's Back-Door Enemy.

Unfortunately, Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda are small potatoes compared to the enemy within our gates. At least the "Muslim" terrorists are obvious religious fanatics who resort to evil acts to try to achieve a good cause. Our nation's back-door enemies are also religious fanatics, but their fanaticism is hidden and their religion is of a different kind. They are unscrupulous opportunists who have betrayed our country and taken advantage of its highest ideals to further their own evil objectives. It is about time they were identified and exposed for what they are. Where can you find out more about them? Once again, the answer is:

America's Back-Door Enemy.

Faith in God Begins With Creation

2011-05-04T21:43:00.003-04:00

Pope Benedict XVI is getting us back to the basics of our faith. In his Easter Vigil homily at Saint Peter's, he reminded us that faith in God begins with creation. We're not the product of random evolution in some tiny corner of the cosmos, but the product of divine creative love and reason. This is part of our Christian faith and it makes sense. However, such a statement is highly controversial in a culture where faith in God is weak and evolutionary propaganda controls the minds of many people, even many Christians. Thus I wasn't surprised that this article I seeded on Newsvine about the pope's homily drew 147 comments:

Faith in God Begins with Creation

It goes to show that once you abandon the truth of sound creation doctrine, you leave a vacuum to be filled by the errors of materialistic evolutionism.

Quote of the Day

2011-03-30T10:50:00.004-04:00

New Evangelization Needs New Media

"It is no longer enough to go on air, to publish, to write. Today one needs to be present in the marketplaces, to update the web pages, in order to reach a world ever hungrier for news. In other words, not having new technical tools at one's full disposal, or not knowing about the most current tools, will mean that one's message will arrive late, will arrive wrong, and might even arrive in vain. In the aforementioned Message for the 45th World Communications Day, The Holy Father has reminded us how the new media: "[are] contributing to the development of new and more complex intellectual and spiritual horizons, new forms of shared awareness." It is therefore essential for Vatican Radio to continue to adapt to these new tools if it wants to be the engine of new forms of consciousness, of awareness: in other words, of a new culture. Come to think of it, the development of a new culture based on a specific relationality is typical of the Church. Is not the Catholic Church the first global social network? Long before the new media existed, the Church's liturgical language, values, and way of thinking about the human person have bound together Catholics from around the world, whatever their culture, language, age, race or economic status. The globalization of the media cannot frighten us, because we were the phenomenon's first authors."

--Monsignor Peter Bryan Wells, Vatican Secretariat of State, in a talk given at Vatican Museums to mark the 80th anniversary of Vatican Radio, Feb. 10, 2011

Quote of the Day

2011-03-16T10:22:00.004-04:00

Catholics must not allow themselves to be intimidated into abandoning biblical chronology and accepting the speculations of modern astronomers concerning the age of the universe. The conclusion that the universe is ancient is not the scientific certainty that many of them assert it to be. They interpret data and construct models with the preconceived notion that the universe is ancient, but there is significant scientific evidence that it is not. The facts of modern astronomy do not make it a "necessity" to "depart from the literal and obvious sense" in the interpretation of Genesis' chronology. Rather the opposite is true. A correct interpretation of astronomical data agrees with the literal rendering of Genesis' chronology.

--Fr. Victor P. Warkulwiz, The Doctrines of Genesis 1-11: A Compendium and Defense of Traditional Catholic Theology on Origins (Caryville, TN: The John Paul II Institute of Christian Spirituality, 2009), p. 196.

Urgent Alert from Save Darfur

2011-03-09T20:36:00.007-05:00

Satellite images show hundreds of burned villages in Sudan
Tens of thousands homeless in Abyei, Darfur

Please read this message and take action to help stop the violence in Sudan.

We've taken two trips in the last few months to the disputed region of Abyei bordering North and South Sudan. Throughout this time, we've been sounding the alarm that Abyei was likely going to be a flash point for violence.

Sadly, our concerns are now becoming a reality.

Over the past week, villages in the Abyei region were burned to the ground, and tens of thousands of people were forced to flee their homes. In Darfur over the past few months, the UN has also documented aerial bombardment of civilians and burning of villages with tens of thousands of Sudanese driven from their homes.

We urge you to join us in acting before this violence leads to a full-scale resumption of war in Sudan.

Thanks to our Satellite Sentinel Project, we now have something we've never had before: satellite images that we can use to show the world, with indisputable proof, the systematic nature of violence targeted against civilian populations.

Last fall, when we traveled to the region and spoke with the citizens of Abyei, we heard the same message again and again: the people of Abyei were worried that fighting would erupt, and they asked for the United States and other countries to step in to help protect them.

Take a look at the Satellite Sentinel Project report, and join us in asking President Obama to take swift, bold action to help stop the violence — in Abyei, Darfur and all of Sudan.

Take action now.

Thank you for your help to support the people of Abyei and all of Sudan
at this critical moment.

Sincerely,

George Clooney and John
Prendergast

(From the Save Darfur Coalition, 3/9/2011)

"Safe Harbour Be, God of Us All"

2011-03-05T13:00:00.008-05:00

Many of you may not know who Richard Gillard is. He's the devout Christian singer and songwriter from New Zealand who wrote the well-known "Servant Song" back in the seventies. "Will you let me be your servant, / Let me be as Christ to you, / Pray that I may have the grace to / Let you be my servant, too." Now, in the aftermath of the earthquake that shook his country last week, Richard has written a new song which he calls "Safe Harbour Be, God of us all... a song, a prayer for Christchurch--our 'city in ruins.'" It's a beautiful, prayerful hymn of trust in God and I encourage you to take a listen.

May God grant His peace and comfort to all those affected by the earthquake.

Some of My Latest Projects

2011-03-01T12:34:00.003-05:00

Last week I started writing a review of the movie "Food, Inc." because I learned some important things from it about the U.S. food industry, and I want to make the film better known so that more Americans will watch it.

I'm also reading lately about the life of Father Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin, one of America's pioneer priests, who founded the Catholic community of Loretto in Pennsylvania. What an interesting character he was. He was a wealthy and well-educated Russian prince who gave up all his worldly privileges and fame to become a priest in the wilderness of the early United States. In forty years of hard mission work at Loretto, mostly done with his own hands and at his own expense, he did much to build up the Catholic Church in western Pennsylvania. His cause for sainthood was opened in March 2005 and he is currently honored by the Church with the title Servant of God. My next book project (after the Mother Teresa book) will be a biography of this saintly man, Father Gallitzin.

Also, I'm planning to write a long article about the new edition of the Roman Missal that the Church will begin using for Mass this November. I'm quite enthusiastic about the changes that are coming because the new liturgical texts are more faithful to the original Latin of the Novus Ordo and will impart a greater majesty and reverence to the celebration of the ordinary form of the Mass.

Case Open: Who Shot Gabrielle Giffords?

2011-01-13T16:20:00.002-05:00

The apparent assassination attempt on Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords this past Saturday, January 8, has shocked and saddened all Americans of goodwill, including myself. It does not matter that Representative Giffords’ political affiliation differs from mine, or that I disagree with her on some very important issues. What matters is that I abhor such violence and hatred with every fiber of my being, and that this brutal attack on an innocent person deserves the most vigorous condemnation. I am keeping Mrs. Giffords and her family in my prayers, and I am also praying for her attacker who committed this savage act of terrorism.

According to media reports, on Saturday Mrs. Giffords was attending a political event in the parking lot of a Tucson shopping center when a young Arizonan man opened fire on the crowd, killing six people (including a federal judge, John Roll) and wounding fourteen others. Mrs. Giffords was among the wounded, having been shot in the head at point-blank range. Although suffering severe brain damage and remaining in critical condition in a hospital in Tucson, the 40-year-old congresswoman survives and appears likely to make at least a partial recovery.

The suspect in this shooting has been identified as a 22-year-old man by the name of Jared Lee Loughner. The U.S. government has charged him with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted assassination of a member of Congress and two other counts of attempted murder. FBI investigators have dug up several pieces of evidence pointing to Loughner’s guilt. One is an envelope in his house with the handwritten phrases “I planned ahead” and “My assassination” along with “Giffords” and what looks like Loughner’s signature. Another is a “rambling Internet manifesto” written under the name of Loughner. This is an incoherent piece of Neo-Nazi extremist drivel in which the author repeatedly praises Adolf Hitler, accuses our government of mind control and demands a new U.S. currency without the motto “In God We Trust.” The picture that emerges is of a mentally disturbed young radical who acted alone in attempting to assassinate Representative Giffords, egged on by a national climate of political frustration with Democrats.

This official account sounds plausible enough on the surface—much like the official account of the assassination of JFK. In that case, the suspect was Lee Harvey Oswald, a 24-year-old former U.S. Marine who had briefly defected to the Soviet Union. Oswald was arrested shortly after the shooting of President Kennedy in Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas and charged with murdering the president the next day, but he insistently denied this charge. In 1964 when the Warren Commission, established by President Lyndon Johnson to look into the assassination of his predecessor, issued its official report on the matter, the conclusion was that in all likelihood Oswald acted alone.

In his 1991 bestselling book, Plausible Denial: Was the CIA Involved in the Assassination of JFK?, lawyer and investigative journalist Mark Lane offered a compelling challenge to the official government account of JFK’s death. He told how, in a Florida court case in which he was involved in 1985, veteran CIA agent E. Howard Hunt sued Spotlight magazine for an allegedly libelous article claiming that he was present in Dallas on November 22, 1963 and played a role in the assassination of President Kennedy. The magazine was found not guilty. Hunt had not acted alone but was part of a carefully orchestrated, super-secret plot to murder Kennedy and plant false evidence incriminating Oswald that involved half a dozen CIA operatives. Their reason for doing so was apparently to retaliate for the president’s determination to reform the Central Intelligence Agency and put a stop to the agency’s illegal activities around the world, such as the unsuccessful 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion in which it attempted to overthrow Fidel Castro. Kennedy was also conducting successful negotiations with the Soviet Union, leveling off the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, and planning to withdraw all American troops from Vietnam by 1965. These developments clashed with the agenda of the U.S. political establishment at the time, dominated by hard-line anti-Communists, who insisted on military might and clandestine subversive activities to bring down the Soviet Union.

So what does all this have to do with the attack on Mrs. Giffords? As with the Kennedy assassination, the official story we are being served by our government and media about the attempt on the congresswoman may be a cover story, not the true story. A powerful government establishment engineered the Kennedy assassination, almost fifty years ago; it is possible that scheming forces within the Washington establishment of our own time may have orchestrated this new act of political violence.

Both the JFK assassination and the Giffords assault are acts of domestic terrorism. As defined in my book America’s Back-Door Enemy, terrorism is violence carried out with a political motivation. If our government establishment played some role in the attack on Representative Giffords, it may have had the following motivation for doing so: Cast the rising Republican Tea Party movement—which threatens the establishment power—as extremist, bigoted, and hateful, thereby weakening it and undermining its reputation. The Tea Party stands for traditional values, an end to abortion, lower taxes, smaller government, and fiscal responsibility—all of which are anathema to the Obama administration. The Washington establishment cannot stop the peaceful Republican revolution from taking over America, but it can at least attempt to frighten and discredit the movement and tarnish its image ahead of the presidential election next year.

The violent, godless and evil ideals ascribed to Jared Lee Loughner could not be further from those of the new American popular movement. It is peaceful, positive, upright, and God-fearing in its aims and in the means to achieve them. Violence against other human beings is destructive and wrong, no matter who carries it out.

Welcome to the new Justin's Corner!

2011-01-07T21:39:00.003-05:00

As I mark one and a half years of blogging this month, I've switched to a new template that fits the theme of Justin's Corner better. Please be patient as the redesign and customization of my blog will continue to take shape in the coming weeks. In the meantime, curl up with a hot cup of tea, relax, enjoy your visit, and feel free to leave your comments about the new Justin's Corner.

2011: A New Year, New Hope

2011-01-04T14:50:00.002-05:00

2010 was quite a productive year for me. Among other things, I worked hard on the draft of my second book; learned how to use music software to write piano arrangements of my favorite hymns; undertook studies of creation theology, English literature and astronomy; grew corn, tomatoes, watermelon and cilantro in my garden, some of which I dried and put away for the winter; learned how to take care of ducks; had my computer's hard drive replaced; churned out a few articles about healthcare, the elections and solar flares; joined Twitter; and learned how to upload YouTube videos to my blog. I'm thankful to God for all the good things He gave me this past year.

2011 promises to be an even better year. After being dead for two years, my dad's irrigation design and drafting business is starting to come back. When things get busier I'll be able to help him with the business. My dad designs irrigation systems, mostly for residential areas; his main client is a landscape architect in southern California. In addition to helping him as needed, I look forward to continuing my studies, writing and music writing.

I think it was in a post last January that I said I'd report the results of niche marketing for my book on terrorism. Well, the result is that there was very little interest in the book this year. I'm sure that there are a number of reasons for this, including the difficult economy, an unpleasant subject matter, and a decline of interest in the subject of American foreign policy since the Bush administration passed on. Yet regardless of how many people buy the book, it contains an important message for the American people about what terrorism is and how to combat it, and how some of our politicians have deceived us regarding the true nature of "Islamic" terrorism. Should anyone be interested to read it, the book -- America's Back-Door Enemy: Unmasking the Unknown Terrorists -- is still available from Tate Publishing here as well as on Amazon.com and other book sites. You may also find the book at your local library or bookstore; check and see if they have it.

Details about my second book are coming soon.

May God bless you in 2011!

China Supports Genocide in Darfur

2010-12-02T16:03:00.005-05:00

Here is the latest from the Save Darfur Coalition:

With the referendum on southern independence only a few weeks away, time is running out to prevent a return to large-scale violence in Sudan and improve the deteriorating situation in Darfur.

Thankfully, the United States holds the Presidency of the U.N. Security Council during December. This is a critical opportunity for President Obama and Ambassador Susan Rice to rally world leaders to prevent violence in Sudan, but there is a big problem:

China.

China helped finance the genocide in Darfur through its oil purchases and supplied the genocidaires with weapons. Beijing has repeatedly used its influence to shield members of the regime in Khartoum from international pressure. Just last month China tried to bury a U.N. Report that says Chinese bullets were used in Darfur.

Tell Ambassador Rice to hold China accountable and demand that it join international efforts to promote peace in Sudan.

The U.N. Security Council was established to “ensure global peace and stability,” but China has not used its seat to help bring peace to Sudan. When given a choice to protect the leaders of the Sudanese regime or the people of Darfur, the Chinese have consistently sided with their business partners in Khartoum.

Ask Ambassador Rice to hold China accountable for its role in Darfur.

President Obama and Ambassador Rice have taken important and direct steps to prioritize Sudan on the global stage. But getting things done at the U.N. without China’s cooperation is nearly impossible. However, China does respond to pressure. China allowed the crisis in Darfur to be referred to the International Criminal Court, leading to arrest warrants for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and others. And China recently abstained on the reauthorization of the Darfur arms embargo. It’s not easy, but our activism can make a difference.

Send your message to Ambassador Rice: The U.S. must demand that China use its seat on the Security Council to promote peace in Sudan.

--Mark Lotwis

Election Report: The Pro-Life Elect

2010-11-11T10:16:00.031-05:00

AMERICA'S PRO-LIFE ELECT -- 2010
List compiled by Justin Soutar
December 1, 2010

There were many victories for the pro-life movement and traditional values in this year's election. Following is a complete state-by-state list of all pro-life governors, senators and representatives newly elected or re-elected in 2010. (NOTE: Only individuals who could be positively identified as pro-life are listed here. Elected individuals whose position on abortion is unknown or unclear have been omitted from the list.)

Triple stars denote the newly elected pro-life individuals; no stars, re-elected pro-life incumbents. All individuals belong to the Republican Party unless otherwise identified as Democrats. (Double stars indicate a pro-life Democrat.)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

ALABAMA
Governor -- *** Robert Bentley ***
Senator -- Richard Shelby
Representatives –
*** Martha Roby ***
*** Mo Brooks ***
Mike Rogers
Spencer Bachus
Robert Aderholt
Jo Bonner

ALASKA
Representatives --
Don Young

ARIZONA
Governor -- Jan Brewer
Senator -- John McCain
Representatives –
*** Paul Gosar ***
*** David Schweikert ***
Trent Franks
Jeff Flake

ARKANSAS
Senator -- *** John Boozman ***
Representatives –
*** Rick Crawford ***
*** Tim Griffin ***
*** Steve Womack ***
Mike Ross (**Pro-Life Democrat**)

CALIFORNIA
Representatives --
*** Jeff Denham ***
Duncan Hunter
Darrell Issa
Ken Calvert
John Campbell
Gary Miller
Ed Royce
Dana Rohrabacher
David Dreier
Jerry Lewis
Buck McKeon
Elton Gallegly
Kevin McCarthy
Devin Nunes
Dan Lungren
Wally Herger
Tom McClintock

COLORADO
Representatives --
*** Cory Gardner ***
*** Scott Tipton ***
Mike Coffman
Doug Lamborn

FLORIDA
Governor -- *** Rick Scott ***
Senator -- *** Marco Rubio ***
Representatives –
*** David Rivera ***
*** Mario Diaz-Balart ***
*** Dennis Ross ***
*** Sandy Adams ***
*** Daniel Webster ***
*** Richard Nugent ***
*** Steve Southerland ***
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Tom Rooney
Connie Mack
Vern Buchanan
Bill Posey
Gus Bilirakis
Bill Young
John Mica
Ander Crenshaw
Cliff Stearns
Jeff Miller

GEORGIA
Governor -- *** Nathan Deal ***
Senator -- Johnny Isakson
Representatives –
*** Austin Scott ***
*** Rob Woodall ***
Jack Kingston
Paul Broun
Lynn Westmoreland
Tom Graves
Tom Price
Phil Gingrey

IDAHO
Governor -- Butch Otter
Senator -- Mike Crapo
Representatives –
*** Raul Labrador ***
Mike Simpson

ILLINOIS
Representatives --
*** Adam Kinzinger ***
*** Joe Walsh ***
*** Randy Hultgren ***
*** Bobby Schilling ***
Tim Johnson
Peter Roskam
Donald Manzullo
Aaron Schock
John Shimkus
Dan Lipinski (**Pro-Life Democrat**)
Jerry Costello (**Pro-Life Democrat**)

INDIANA
Senator -- *** Dan Coats ***
Representatives –
*** Todd Young ***
*** Larry Bucshon ***
*** Todd Rokita ***
*** Marlin Stutzman ***
Mike Pence
Dan Burton
Joe Donnelly (**Pro-Life Democrat**)

IOWA
Senator -- Chuck Grassley
Representatives –
Tom Latham
Steve King

KANSAS
Governor -- *** Sam Brownback ***
Senator -- *** Jerry Moran ***
Representatives –
*** Mike Pompeo ***
*** Tim Huelskamp ***

KENTUCKY
Senator -- *** Rand Paul ***
Representatives –
Hal Rogers
Ed Whitfield
Brett Guthrie
Geoff Davis

LOUISIANA
Senator -- David Vitter
Representatives –
*** Jeff Landry ***
Steve Scalise
Bill Cassidy
Rodney Alexander
Charles Boustany
John Fleming

MARYLAND
Representatives –
*** Andy Harris ***
Roscoe Bartlett

MICHIGAN
Governor -- *** Rick Snyder ***
Representatives –
*** Tim Walberg ***
*** Justin Amash ***
*** Bill Huizenga ***
*** Dan Benishek ***
Mike Rogers
Candice Miller
Thaddeus McCotter
Dave Camp

MINNESOTA
Representatives –
*** Chip Cravaack ***
Michele Bachmann
Erik Paulsen
John Kline
Collin Peterson (**Pro-Life Democrat**)

MISSISSIPPI
Representatives –
*** Steven Palazzo ***
*** Alan Nunnelee ***
Gregg Harper

MISSOURI
Senator -- *** Roy Blunt ***
Representatives –
*** Billy Long ***
*** Vicky Hartzler ***
Jo Ann Emerson
Todd Akin
Blaine Luetkemeyer
Sam Graves

MONTANA
Representative -- Denny Rehberg

NEBRASKA
Governor -- Dave Heineman
Representatives –
Lee Terry
Jeff Fortenberry
Adrian Smith

NEVADA
Representatives –
*** Joe Heck ***
Dean Heller

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Senator -- *** Kelly Ayotte ***
Representatives –
*** Frank Guinta ***

NEW JERSEY
Representatives --
Chris Smith
Frank LoBiondo
Scott Garrett

NEW MEXICO
Governor -- *** Susana Martinez ***
Representatives –
*** Steve Pearce ***

NEW YORK
Representatives --
*** Chris Gibson ***
*** Nan Hayworth ***
*** Richard Hanna ***
*** Michael Grimm ***
*** Tom Reed ***
Peter King

NORTH CAROLINA
Senator -- Richard Burr
Representatives –
*** Renee Ellmers ***
Walter Jones
Howard Coble
Mike McIntyre (**Pro-Life Democrat**)
Virginia Foxx
Patrick McHenry
Heath Shuler (**Pro-Life Democrat**)

NORTH DAKOTA
Senator -- *** John Hoeven ***
Representative – *** Rick Berg ***

OHIO
Governor -- *** John Kasich ***
Senator -- *** Rob Portman ***
Representatives –
*** Bill Johnson ***
*** Jim Renacci ***
*** Bob Gibbs ***
*** Steve Stivers ***
*** Steve Chabot ***
Steve LaTourette
Steve Austria
Pat Tiberi
Jim Jordan
Bob Latta
Mike Turner
Jean Schmidt
John Boehner

OKLAHOMA
Governor -- *** Mary Fallin ***
Senator -- Tom Coburn
Representatives –
*** James Lankford ***
Dan Boren (**Pro-Life Democrat**)
John Sullivan
Frank Lucas
Tom Cole

PENNSYLVANIA
Governor -- *** Tom Corbett ***
Senator -- *** Pat Toomey ***
Representatives –
*** Mike Kelly ***
*** Mike Fitzpatrick ***
*** Lou Barletta ***
*** Tom Marino ***
Jim Gerlach
Joe Pitts
Todd Platts
Tim Holden (**Pro-Life Democrat**)
Glenn Thompson
Mark Critz (**Pro-Life Democrat**)
Bill Shuster
Tim Murphy

RHODE ISLAND
Representatives --
Jim Langevin (**Pro-Life Democrat**)

SOUTH CAROLINA
Governor -- *** Nikki Haley ***
Senator -- Jim DeMint
Representatives –
*** Tim Scott ***
*** Mick Mulvaney ***
*** Jeff Duncan ***
Joe Wilson

SOUTH DAKOTA
Governor -- *** Dennis Daugaard ***
Senator -- John Thune
Representatives –
*** Kristi Noem ***

TENNESSEE
Governor -- *** Bill Haslam ***
Representatives –
*** Chuck Fleischmann ***
*** Scott DesJarlais ***
*** Diane Black ***
*** Stephen Fincher ***
John Duncan
Phil Roe
Marsha Blackburn

TEXAS
Governor -- Rick Perry
Representatives –
*** Bill Flores ***
*** Quico Canseco ***
*** Blake Farenthold ***
Ron Paul
Pete Olson
Ted Poe
Kevin Brady
Louie Gohmert
Ralph Hall
Jeb Hensarling
Joe Barton
Michael McCaul
John Culberson
John Carter
Sam Johnson
Kenny Marchant
Michael Burgess
Kay Granger
Pete Sessions
Mac Thornberry
Randy Neugebauer
Mike Conaway
Lamar Smith

UTAH
Senator -- *** Mike Lee ***
Representatives –
Jason Chaffetz
Rob Bishop

VIRGINIA
Representatives –
*** Robert Hurt ***
*** Scott Rigell ***
*** Morgan Griffith ***
Rob Wittman
Eric Cantor
Frank Wolf
Randy Forbes
Bob Goodlatte

WASHINGTON
Representatives --
*** Jaime Herrera ***
Cathy McMorris Rodgers
Doc Hastings
Dave Reichert

WEST VIRGINIA
Representatives –
*** David McKinley ***
Nick Rahall (**Pro-Life Democrat**)

WISCONSIN
Governor -- *** Scott Walker ***
Senator -- *** Ron Johnson ***
Representatives –
*** Reid Ribble ***
*** Sean Duffy ***
Tom Petri
Jim Sensenbrenner
Paul Ryan

WYOMING
Governor -- *** Matt Mead ***
Representative -- Cynthia Lummis

Copyright © 2010 by Justin Soutar. All rights reserved. For reprint permissions, please contact the author at justin_86@ntelos.net.

Election Report: First Installment

2010-11-04T21:52:00.005-04:00

There were many victories for the pro-life movement and traditional values in this election. Here is a list of all pro-life candidates elected to the U.S. Senate who are new to Washington, D.C. or to the Senate:

*** Kelly Ayotte (New Hampshire) ***
*** Marco Rubio (Florida) ***
*** Pat Toomey (Pennsylvania) ***
*** Rand Paul (Kentucky) ***
*** Rob Portman (Ohio) ***
*** Dan Coats (Indiana) ***
*** Ron Johnson (Wisconsin) ***
*** Roy Blunt (Missouri) ***
*** Jerry Moran (Kansas) ***
*** John Boozman (Arkansas) ***
*** John Hoeven (North Dakota) ***
*** Mike Lee (Utah) ***

Here is a list of pro-life senators who were re-elected.

Jim DeMint (South Carolina)
Johnny Isakson (Georgia)
Richard Shelby (Alabama)
Richard Burr (North Carolina)
Chuck Grassley (Iowa)
David Vitter (Louisiana)
Tom Coburn (Oklahoma)
John Thune (South Dakota)
Mike Crapo (Idaho)

John McCain (Arizona)

Following is a list of newly elected pro-life governors.

*** John Kasich (Ohio) ***
*** Sam Brownback (Kansas) ***
*** Tom Corbett (Pennsylvania) ***
*** Rick Snyder (Michigan) ***
*** Scott Walker (Wisconsin) ***
*** Rick Scott (Florida) ***
*** Nikki Haley (South Carolina) ***
*** Nathan Deal (Georgia) ***
*** Robert Bentley (Alabama) ***
*** Bill Haslam (Tennessee) ***
*** Dennis Daugaard (South Dakota) ***
*** Mary Fallin (Oklahoma) ***
*** Matt Mead (Wyoming) ***
*** Susana Martinez (New Mexico) ***

The following pro-life governors have been re-elected.

Dave Heineman (Nebraska)
Rick Perry (Texas)
Jan Brewer (Arizona)
Butch Otter (Idaho)

Here is a partial listing of newly elected pro-life representatives (I have yet to gather data on the remaining 226):

*** Frank Guinta (New Hampshire) ***

*** Chris Gibson (New York) ***

*** Nan Hayworth (New York) ***

*** Richard Hanna (New York) ***

*** Tom Reed (New York) ***

*** Jon Runyan (New Jersey) ***

*** Mike Kelly (Pennsylvania) ***

*** Robert Hurt (Virginia) ***

The following pro-life representatives have been re-elected.

Peter King (New York)

Chris Smith (New Jersey)

Frank LoBiondo (New Jersey)

Scott Garrett (New Jersey)

Eric Cantor (Virginia)

Note: For the purposes of these lists, "Pro-life" does not necessarily mean 100% pro-life in accordance with natural law and Catholic teaching. Many of the newly elected candidates listed above are 100% pro-life, but some are not. Check individual governors, senators and representatives-elect to be sure.

Thought for the Day

2010-10-29T16:33:00.009-04:00

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
--Psalm 19:2

Know Your Enemies

2010-10-28T21:15:00.004-04:00

Pope Benedict XVI recently concluded the Synod of Bishops on the Middle East, a special meeting that was convened by the Holy See to discuss resolution of conflict in the Holy Land. Their final document, issued Saturday, as well as the Synod itself, have been attacked in some quarters for promoting anti-Israeli sentiment.

You need to read my book, America's Back-Door Enemy: Unmasking the Unknown Terrorists, to understand why this is happening. There is a small group of people in the United States and Israel who have been completely passed over in the War on Terrorism. I found out who they are and what they are doing. Like Muslim terrorists, they are religious fanatics. However, they are more sophisticated, more powerful, better financed and more deadly than their Islamic counterparts. These unknown terrorists and their sponsors operate with impunity. They have no conscience and will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. And they are viciously attempting to destroy all hope for peace in the Middle East.

Well-researched and written in a clear, concise style, America's Back-Door Enemy lifts the lid on these heretofore anonymous enemies of the United States, Israel and the peoples of the Middle East.

Father Thomas Dubay, R.I.P.

2010-10-15T21:06:00.002-04:00

On September 26, 2010, at the age of 89, Father Dubay passed on to his eternal reward. In my opinion, he was one of the greatest theologians this country has ever produced. He had the rare gift of being able to explain deep theological and spiritual matters in very clear and simple terms that the layman could understand. Not only that, but he was an amazingly prolific writer and speaker who wrote more than a dozen books on the spiritual life and recorded hundreds of television programs during his twenty-five years on EWTN. Most importantly, however, I have recently come to realize that Father Dubay was a holy man. Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote: "If a man be good and holy, let him pray for us; if he be learned too, then let him teach us." Father Dubay was a great teacher because he believed and lived what he taught.

May he rest in peace.

Tinkering with my Blog a Bit

2010-10-15T14:53:00.007-04:00

I've been making a few little changes to my blog lately: deleting some page elements, adding some new ones, cleaning things up a bit. I have a few more changes in mind as well, some of which I mention below and others that you'll just have to watch for in the next few weeks and months. The goals of these changes to Justin's Corner are: 1st, to give this blog a more uniformly and distinctly Catholic feel; 2nd, to make it a more presentable, interesting, reader-friendly and enjoyable place; and 3rd, to integrate it more into the rapidly exploding social networking sphere.

One improvement in line with goal 3 is that you can now access my Twitter page directly from this page--just click the "Follow Me On Twitter" button beneath my profile. Also, from now on every post will have a "share" button at the bottom to facilitate sharing of the posts among the various social networking websites. I'll be linking more to Twitter from my blog and vice versa. Also, I plan to get into YouTube in the near future and post videos on the blog that catch my interest (and which has to do with both goals 2 and 3).

In addition, I have an announcement to make here of a major change in blog protocol. Starting today and for the next thirty days, I will lift all restrictions on who can comment on my blog posts. Up until now I have only allowed registered users to post comments. From today until November 14, 2010, I will allow comments from anyone on the Internet, including anonymous users. This is just an experiment to see how many comments I get drifting in from the vast ocean of the World Wide Web. Depending on the results of this "open-mic" experiment, I may decide to continue allowing comments from anyone after November 14, or I may revert to the more restrictive system. Either way, I will continue to monitor all comments and will delete anything inappropriate or offensive.

Also, by the end of this year I'll be switching to a new template. This will give Justin's Corner a whole new look that will express the theme of the blog better.

So stay tuned!

Want to Take a Tour of Noah's Ark?

2010-09-30T14:09:00.012-04:00

Now you can!

NOAH'S ARK - THIS IS EXTRAORDINARY!!!

Working Replica of Noah's Ark opened In SCHAGEN, Netherlands .
Man Builds Noah's Ark to the exact scale given in the Bible.

The massive central door in the side of Noah's Ark was opened and the first crowd of curious townsfolk beheld the wonder. This replica of the biblical Ark was built by Dutch Creationist Johan Huibers as a testament to his faith in the literal truth of the Bible.

The ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide. That's two-thirds the length of a football field and as high as a three-story house.

Life-sized models of giraffes, elephants, lions, crocodiles, zebras, bison and other animals greet visitors as they arrive in the main hold.

A contractor by trade, Huibers built the ark of cedar and pine. Biblical scholars debate exactly what the wood used by Noah would have been.

Huibers did the work mostly with his own hands, using modern tools and with occasional help from his son Roy. Construction began in May 2005. On the uncovered top deck .... not quite ready in time for the opening .... will come a petting zoo, with baby lambs and chickens, and goats, and one camel.

Visitors on the first day were stunned.

'It's beyond comprehension', said Mary Louise Starosciak, who happened to be bicycling by with her husband while on vacation when they saw the ark looming over the local landscape.

'I knew the story of Noah, but I had no idea the boat would have been so big! ' There is enough space near the keel for a 50-seat film theater where kids can watch a video that tells the story of Noah and his ark. Huibers, a Christian man, said he hopes the project will renew interest in Christianity in the Netherlands, where church going has fallen dramatically in the past 50 years.

Now that I am old and gray....give me the time to tell this new generation (and their children too) about all of Your mighty miracles.
Psalm 71:18

In the midst of so much negative news here is a positive story about a devout Christian man wanting to share the story of Noah with this and the next generation hoping he will bring their faith alive. Amazing isn't it?

------------------------------
Yes, it's wonderful to see someone like this undertaking such a project for the greater glory of God. The above story and pictures are making the rounds of the email sphere, and apparently generating a lot of interest. A friend dropped them into my email box, and I decided to share them with my readers who may not have seen the story yet.

By the way, I am a "Catholic Creationist," who also believes in the literal truth of Genesis chapters 1 through 11 in accordance with the Fathers of the Church and traditional Catholic theology. It is my fervent wish to help revive this rich theological doctrine of creation which, as former Cardinal Ratzinger has lamented, has been all but lost in our time. Its revival and rediscovery will enrich our Catholic faith, greatly advance ecumenism and lay the foundation for a correct modern science. It will also give great honor to God our Heavenly Father, the Creator and Origin of all things.

I've Just Joined Twitter...

2010-09-22T12:28:00.003-04:00

...so that I could join millions of other Americans in sending an important message to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Click here to read the message.

A Miracle of God's Grace: Papal Visit to UK

2010-09-20T13:51:00.018-04:00

Pope Benedict XVI's historic visit to the UK unleashed a torrent of graces on that country, the effects of which will be felt for years to come.

After alighting at Edinburgh Airport on Thursday, September 16, the first day of his visit, the pope traveled via popemobile to Holyroodhouse Palace for his meeting with the Queen. This was followed by a lunch with Scottish bishops. More than 100,000 Scots--including many schoolchildren--lined the streets along his route, joyfully cheering the Holy Father.

That joyful atmosphere persisted into the evening, when Pope Benedict celebrated Mass at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow. A huge crowd of up to 100,000 people filled the venue to participate in this event. In his homily, the pontiff discussed the need for evangelization of culture and the vital importance of faith in society. The latter theme was addressed especially to the UK government and general public throughout his visit.

On Friday, Pope Benedict made history when he became the first pope to set foot in Westminster Hall. This large, handsome building erected in the 1300s has housed England's highest law court for some 700 years. It was here that Saint Thomas More was condemned to death in 1535 for refusing to acknowledge Henry VIII as head of the Church in England. Inside this historic place, Pope Benedict delivered a masterful speech to the nation's political representatives, intelligentsia, diplomats and religious leaders. He challenged them to examine the basis of their society and noted that faith and reason, Church and state need each other and should work together for the good of civilization.

On Saturday, no fewer than 200,000 well-wishers turned out in the streets of London, waving to the Holy Father as he journeyed from one destination to another. That evening, some 100,000 individuals participated in a prayer vigil with Pope Benedict in Hyde Park in preparation for Cardinal Newman's beatification the following day. The BBC News reported that during his address to the assembled throng, the pontiff remarked that he was happy to see many young people in attendance. The resulting cheers temporarily interrupted his speech.

The major highlight of the pope's visit to England was the long-awaited beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, a famous nineteenth-century Oxford scholar and Anglican priest who converted to Catholicism. Blessed Newman's search for truth and his discovery of it in the Catholic Church points the way for modern Anglicans who desire to return to full communion with Rome. Indeed, many Anglicans are already taking advantage of Pope Benedict's apostolic constitution directed to them, which lays down a set of basic guidelines for their reunion with the Catholic Church. Blessed Newman's heavenly intercession will certainly be pivotal in advancing the cause of Christian unity in his native England.

At the Mass of Beatification on Sunday morning, September 19, the Gospel reading was proclaimed by Deacon Jack Sullivan, a native of the United States who was miraculously healed of a severe back problem through the intercession of Cardinal Newman. This was the type of physical cure which the Church had been awaiting for decades in order to beatify Newman.

A memorable papal departure ceremony took place around six that evening at Birmingham Airport. In his farewell address to the pontiff, UK Prime Minister David Cameron was exceptionally kind and gracious, referring to the visit as "an incredibly moving four days for our country." He stated that His Holiness had posed "searching questions...about our society and how we treat ourselves and each other," and declared: "You have really challenged the whole country to sit up and think."

Such candid words, spoken in a spirit of goodwill by the head of government of a radically secularist European country, are a source of hope. They indicate an openness to the Pope's message and a willingness to do some serious national self-examination. More broadly, they also suggest that the dictatorship of relativism across Western Europe may be less secure than is often thought.

A good deal of negative publicity and virile attacks on Pope Benedict XVI in the British press preceding his visit to the UK had raised fears among many observers, including myself, that the papal visit would be a disaster for the Pope and the Church. Yet it was a great success. As it turns out, the media had focused undue attention on shrill voices of bigotry and hatred aimed at our Holy Father and the Catholic Church, which were representative only of an isolated minority of the British population. Supporters of the Pope far outnumbered protestors on the streets throughout his stay in the UK, with signs reading "We Love Our German Shepherd" visible among the crowds.

British security and police forces really had their act together for the papal visit, ensuring the safety and mobility of our Holy Father throughout his tour. Enclosed in his bulletproof popemobile and surrounded by a fleet of armed security vehicles, the Pope was smoothly whisked from one place to another, with an occasional last-minute detour in his route or slight delay in his arrival at an event to throw off any possible conspirators. Moreover, the government consistently treated the Holy Father with respect during his visit, refraining from attacks on His Holiness or the Catholic Church.

Furthermore, the weather for the pope's visit was as if scripted for the event. London fog retreated and sunny skies prevailed the first two days. On Sunday morning, just before the beatification Mass for Cardinal Newman, a rainbow framed the papal platform. Thick clouds heralded the Pope's departure.

Divine Providence was obviously arranging the details of Pope Benedict XVI's historic state visit to the United Kingdom. The visit was a resounding success, not just because all the details went well, but because the Vicar of Christ achieved his most important goal: reaching the hearts of the people of England and Scotland with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Even the British press and government have had to acknowledge that the Pope's visit was a "triumph." I would like to call it a miracle of God's grace. The seeds planted by the visible head of Christ's Church on earth will surely sprout under the influence of the Holy Spirit in the coming years, bringing a new springtime for Christianity to the historic island of Great Britain.

Copyright © 2010 by Justin Soutar. All rights reserved. This article may not be reproduced without the written permission of the author.

ElectionWatch: More Republican Victories

2010-09-16T16:29:00.008-04:00

On September 14, more new names and faces burst onto the rapidly changing American political scene. The following Republican candidates who represent the American people were nominated to, and are now officially running for, public office in the United States:

In Delaware, Christine O'Donnell for the U.S. Senate. (Note that the Senate seat for which O'Donnell is competing was formerly occupied by current U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.)

In New York, Carl Paladino for state governor.

These candidates join a slew of Republican Senate nominees, most of whom are now leading in the polls:

Marco Rubio in Florida
Sharron Angle in Nevada
Rand Paul in Kentucky
Ken Buck in Colorado
Joe Miller in Alaska

I hate to spoil the upbeat attitude of our ElectionWatch coverage with a sour note, but integrity and respect for the truth demand that I do so briefly. Note that a few of the Republican nominees present serious objections for the conscientious voter. For example, I would definitely not vote for Linda McMahon in Connecticut because, although an outsider to Washington, D.C., she is pro-abortion and represents values I disagree with. A few other of the Republican nominees, although definite improvements over the Democratic incumbents they are challenging, do have some drawbacks. For example, Kelly Ayotte, who narrowly won the Republican Senate nomination in New Hampshire, is pro-life but favors allowing abortion in cases of rape or incest. By contrast, Ovide Lamontagne, who narrowly lost nomination, is pro-life "without exception." I would have preferred to see the latter win this Senate nomination. Nonetheless, despite these exceptions, the overall political trend we are witnessing in the United States is a positive one.

Many of the Republican candidates now running for U.S. House and Senate seats, including those named at the top of this post, are outsiders to Washington, D.C., which is quite refreshing. More importantly than that, however, is what they stand for and the quality of their character. Collectively derided as the "Tea Party" and dubbed "right-wing extremists" in the major media, this remarkable group of individuals actually represents the main stream of the American people--a people who are utterly disappointed with the broken promises of the corrupt Obama administration. These new candidates are pro-life, they stand for limited government, and they favor tax cuts to help reinvigorate the economy. Political outsiders, they represent a rising new generation of God-fearing, conscientious statesmen and women who are devoted to public service and determined to make things right in Washington. This historic movement is the Republican Revolution of 2010.

Praised be God, who exalts the humble.

ElectionWatch -- Focus on Ohio

2010-09-09T11:55:00.006-04:00

As our nation prepares to vote in the upcoming general elections on November 2, 2010, certain states stand to gain or lose more than others. Ohio will be an interesting state to watch because of the multiple races underway there. In addition to electing all twenty of their representatives to Congress, residents of the Buckeye State will be choosing a new senator and casting their ballots for governor. Right now Ohio has two senators, Republican George Voinovich elected in 2004 and Democrat Sherrod Brown elected in 2006. The state's governor, Democrat Ted Strickland, was also elected in 2006. Given the current mood of the nation, it's likely that Ohioans will pick another Republican to fill the Senate seat left by Voinovich. In fact, polls show Republican Senate candidate Rob Portman with a clear lead over the Democratic contender, outgoing lieutenant governor Lee Fisher.

Even more significant, however, would be a Republican takeover of the state's governorship. Strickland is running for a second term with lots of money, political experience and support among his age group; however, he has several strikes against him. He is pro-abortion and has failed to cut taxes during the worst economic recession in 40 years. Strickland faces a good challenge from pro-life Republican candidate John Kasich. Both gubernatorial candidates have picked women as their running mates for lieutenant governor: Strickland has chosen Yvette Brown, while Kasich has selected Mary Taylor, the current state auditor. I don't know anything about Brown, but Taylor appears to be pro-life and is also an advocate for homeschooling.

Another reason why Ohio will be an interesting state to watch on election night is that it serves as a barometer of the country as a whole. Unlike most states, Ohio's population is split pretty evenly between Republicans and Democrats, city and country folk. As Ohio goes, so goes the nation. A recent poll of registered voters in the Buckeye State showed the needle tipped way over to the Republican side there, with 75 percent of Republicans determined to vote compared to 56 percent of Democrats. It looks like a powerful storm is brewing for Democratic politicians in Washington. If Republicans take over Ohio, including the governorship, it will spell definite bad news for the Obama administration in 2012.

Happy Birthday

2010-09-08T22:28:00.004-04:00

Happy Birthday to our Blessed Mother.

I'm Registered to Vote...

2010-09-01T19:55:00.003-04:00

...How about you? If your voter registration status for the upcoming election is in doubt, find it out. If you're already registered, good for you. If not, get on the rolls. Most states have deadlines for voter registration prior to an election. This upcoming election will be important, especially for the unborn and for our economy. Be sure to participate in it.

"The very least a loyal son of his country can do is to cast his vote for good men." --Father F. X. Lasance, The Young Man's Guide, p. 446

Mother Teresa's 100th Birthday

2010-08-26T22:04:00.005-04:00

Today is the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Mother Teresa. Her powerful witness of Christ's love for the poorest of the poor has touched the hearts of all people of good will throughout the world.

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us.

ElectionWatch Update: 3 Updates

2010-08-25T16:44:00.007-04:00

August 11, 2010: Four Republican outsiders to Washington, D.C. have now been nominated to the U.S. Senate: Ken Buck in Colorado, Rand Paul in Kentucky, Marco Rubio in Florida and Sharron Angle in Nevada.

August 17, 2010: In a Reuters/Ipsos poll of likely Kentucky voters, Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul led his Democratic opponent Jack Conway 45 percent to 40 percent.

August 25, 2010: In Alaska, polls showed Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller holding a slight lead over incumbent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski. Miller has the support of Sarah Palin.

Also in Arizona, longtime Republican Senator John McCain has been nominated for a fifth term. He had lost the 2008 presidential election to Barack Obama.

Perseid Meteor Shower Was Awesome!

2010-08-24T20:41:00.003-04:00

A couple weeks ago, I read in Astronomy magazine's e-newsletter that the Perseid meteor shower was going to peak on August 12. In all my previous attempts to observe meteor showers, I'd met with bad luck. However, I decided to go out and give the Perseids a try, since I had a mostly clear sky the evening of the predicted peak.

In one hour, I saw six meteors zip across the sky quick as a flash, all radiating from the direction of the constellation Perseus. Five of them left vapor trails in their wake that lingered for up to a second. Four of them were as bright or brighter than the planet Jupiter. In addition to these bright and fast meteors, I observed at least ten of the slower, dimmer kind track across the sky. It was like the sky was crawling with meteors. There were periods in which I couldn't go for more than a minute or two without seeing one. It was great fun!

Praise God for a thrilling celestial fireworks show.

News Flash: Quadruple Solar Flare!

2010-08-19T10:25:00.007-04:00

On August 1, 2010, American astronomers observed the sun emit a series of four large coronal mass ejections. A coronal mass ejection, also known as a "solar flare," is a powerful eruption of electromagnetic energy from the surface of the sun into the outermost layer of the sun called the corona. It looks like a series of gigantic fountains of fire issuing from the entire surface of the sun. The largest coronal mass ejection may have a temperature of up to 4 million degrees Fahrenheit and extend more than one billion miles from the solar surface into space.

These eruptions are associated with sunspots, magnetically polarized regions of the sun's surface that are ironically cooler than the surrounding surface area, often having temperatures of only 10,000 degrees F. A coronal mass ejection sends a concentrated stream of electromagnetically charged particles into space that can travel for many millions of miles. When these particles collide with earth, they interact with the planet's magnetic field in the exosphere --the outermost layer of earth's atmosphere -- high above the north and south poles, generating beautiful displays of colored lights in the polar night skies known in the Northern Hemisphere as the aurora borealis, or northern lights. A large solar flare may even cause the northern lights to be seen at temperate mid-northern latitudes, although the display will be significantly dimmer and more subtle here.

Such bursts of solar energy are a regular feature of the sun, but every so often an unusually powerful burst will occur. NASA's Solar Dymanics Observatory, a spacecraft launched to study the sun, recorded four such bursts on August 1. These coronal mass ejections, traveling at speeds of over 1 million miles per hour, reached the earth three days later on the evening of August 4. The result was a spectacular aurora borealis display over earth's northern polar regions. The show extended as far south as the 45th parallel of latitude, and was seen by people in the northern United States.

Because coronal mass ejections occur at irregular intervals, astronomers cannot predict their occurrence. However, a large solar flare is an event typically observed by astronomers once
every one and a half years. Previous such events occurred in 2008, 2005 and 2003.

When you hear about a large solar flare in the news, check the night sky in the days following the event to see if you can see an auroral display. Be sure to observe from a location with a dark sky and an unobstructed northern horizon.

I myself have seen the aurora borealis on two separate occasions from my home in Ohio. The first was in October 2003, when I saw a green glow above the horizon and observed subtle red curtains of light waving high in the northern sky. My second sighting was of an even more subtle event in May 2005, when I merely noticed that the usual yellowish-white glow of distant city lights bore a greenish tinge. Although neither show was spectacular compared to the displays visible in polar regions, I was thrilled to be able to see them because of their rarity at midnorthern latitudes and because they were the first two times I ever witnessed the aurora borealis. I missed out on seeing the most recent extraordinary auroral event because I did not live far enough north to see it, but I will keep my eye open for future such events.

Copyright © 2010 by Justin Soutar. All rights reserved. This article may not be reproduced without the written permission of the author.

I do enjoy coin collecting, but...

2010-08-12T16:00:00.005-04:00

...not at the price the Danbury Mint is asking. They want $20.00 for a single roll of twelve uncirculated America the Beautiful state quarters. That's $1.67 apiece or more than six times the face value of the coins. The U.S. Mint is issuing five of these state quarters a year, and the Danbury Mint would like to sell me a roll of twelve quarters for each state, every year as soon as they come out until the whole series is minted. If I accepted this offer and agreed to stick with the program (I could bow out at any time), I would end up spending a total of $1,000.00 plus shipping and handling for the privilege of owning fifty gleaming state quarter rolls, plus a bonus quarter in a resealable capsule for each state and a nice box to keep them in. The question I have to ask is: Would this really be worth it? Not for me. At that price, I don't want thirteen brand-new quarters from each state. I'd rather just get one quarter from each state. The Danbury Mint wants to sell me twelve apiece so they can make a fortune on this series.

Some might say that this is a sought-after coin series and I should get in on the ground floor. All the same, I can't bring myself to pay $100.00 for $15.00 worth of coins. It may also be true that the market value of these limited edition coins will skyrocket twenty or thirty years from now. Nonetheless, even if my collection were to go up ten times in value and I were to sell it for that much, I would not earn much more than the Danbury Mint originally charged me for it. Bottom line: This is a great deal for the Danbury Mint and a ripoff for customers. If I want a roll of these shiny new quarters, I can get it at face value from the bank.

By the way, I haven't even collected all fifty of the recent state quarter series yet, which is my favorite American coin series.

Americans Unhappy with Dems on Economy

2010-07-28T21:44:00.010-04:00

With midterm Congress- ional elections just over three months away, American dissatisfaction with the triple-blue Democratic administration they elected to Washington in 2008 persists and continues to grow. On Tuesday, July 27, Reuters-Ipsos released a survey showing significant disapproval of Democrats' efforts to revive the troubled economy. Americans rightly consider the economy an issue of major importance and believe that the administration of President Barack Obama has not adequately addressed it. According to the survey, 67 percent of respondents said that President Obama hasn't done enough to create jobs.

The reason why this administration has not adequately addressed our nation's economic woes is that President Obama and many of the Democrats in Congress are the pawns of special interests. They only pretend to care about the American people. That's why they spent $868 billion dollars to bail out the big banks instead of punishing them for irresponsible lending. That's why we have a war in Afghanistan still going on nine years later. That's why we have a vast new government bureaucracy including abortion "coverage" to help take care of our health, and new taxes for those who don't want to be a part of it. That's also why we don't have real tax cuts for working families and small businesses and major cuts in federal spending--measures that would help the American people to rebuild the economy on a solid foundation. The corruption runs deep. It is also why Americans are unhappy with the Dems on almost every issue, not just the economy.

As Democrats in D.C. continue losing support and momentum, Republicans are gaining it. The Reuters-Ipsos poll indicated that 46 percent of Americans plan to vote Republican this November, compared to 44 percent who intend to vote Democratic. Furthermore, nearly three-fourths of Republicans (72 percent) said they are certain to vote in November, compared to less than half of Democrats.

Republican candidates for U.S. House and Senate seats appear increasingly likely to score major victories this fall. May those who win election go on to win the trust, respect and approval of their constituents through faithful public service for many years to come.

Caritas in Veritate--1st Anniversary

2010-07-17T11:59:00.003-04:00

July 7 was the first anniversary of the release of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI's third encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth). In this landmark document, our Holy Father discusses globalization and its accompanying economic and social issues in the brilliant light of Catholic teaching. At the center of his discussion is the human person, redeemed by Christ. The Pope explains that God calls each man and woman to develop himself or herself fully in every aspect--spiritually, culturally, educationally, socially, economically, and so forth--and that this individual development takes place within the shared context of the family, the Church, the nation and international society. This exchange involves not merely relationships of rights and duties, points out the pontiff, but also relationships of gratuitousness, mercy and communion. In other words, human development is not built simply on justice, on doing your job and fulfilling your religious, social and political obligations, but it is also built on charity, on freely going out of your way to do good things for other people, for the Church, for your country and for your fellowmen in other countries. Moreover, this development must be built on truth, which together with charity unites human beings into a true family of God. Into this discussion the Pope brings the "economy of gift." Human life and all creation are free gifts out of love from God, who is the source of all charity and truth. He calls us to freely answer this love with gifts of love for him and for our neighbor. To the extent that we share God's love with others, we contribute to "integral human development," which is God's Will for the human race. Part of this development is science, in which man discovers more about the good things God has made, and technology, in which he eases life's burdens, making it more worthy of man. Science, technology, economics, politics and all other fields must serve the true good of the human person and of all humanity, not the selfish interests of individuals and small groups, or else they run the risk of causing great damage to human development and interpersonal relations. With jewel-like clarity Pope Benedict shows how this all fits together and makes sense.

I cannot say enough about this outstanding encyclical. It is a priceless gift to the Church and humanity, and I have only given a poor summary of its rich contents here. I am planning to write more articles about it in the near future. In the meantime, if you like you can check out a piece I've already written about it entitled A New Vision of Globalization, which is in the list of published articles in my blog sidebar.

Umm...Where Did June Go?

2010-07-05T21:26:00.004-04:00

I had a busy month. Tending my garden, finishing up my second book, and some other projects consumed my time, leaving less important pursuits such as blogging aside. And then in the middle of the month, my computer crashed, and I learned a few things. I'd like to tell this story in detail, in case my experience can be helpful to others.

In 2006 I purchased an HP Pavilion a1510n desktop computer with a 200 gigabyte hard drive for my work, which was mostly writing and a little AutoCAD drafting. It turned out to be a very reliable machine that met my expectations, serving me well for four years. I expected it to last about that length of time before going "kaput" and forcing me to buy a new PC. Well, I'd noticed over the past several months or so that it was taking longer to boot up when I turned it on every day. I knew that this was happening because I was adding more and more programs and files to the hard drive, but somehow it never dawned on me to do anything about it. I figured that with the 200 gigabyte hard drive I still had plenty of storage space. So one day last month, I unplugged my computer to protect it from possible damage by a severe thunderstorm. When I plugged it back in, it wouldn't boot up properly, but kept trying to restart itself over and over. I took it to a repair shop, hoping the motherboard or some lesser component was the culprit and I'd be able to recover my files from the hard drive. It turned out that the computer's hard drive had gone bad and that none of my files were retrievable. I lost more than 700 pictures, but thankfully I had nearly all of my important files backed up on CDs. I asked the technician how much it would be to replace the old hard drive with a new one of 167 to 200 gigabyte capacity and he quoted me $300.00. He recommended buying a new computer. I called HP and asked how much they would charge to put in a new hard drive, and they quoted me $500.00. I priced comparable PCs and found the new HP Pavilion p6550z for only $450.00. Buying a new computer looked like the thing to do, especially considering that I paid $600.00 four years ago for a computer with only half the capabilities of the latest model. But before forking over the cash, I decided to call one other repair shop I knew of further away with an excellent reputation and ask the technician there his price for installing a new 200-gigabyte hard drive. He said he could put a new one in in three hours for $150.00, or for just ten more dollars he could put in a 500-gigabyte hard drive, with a three-year warranty either way. Sold! I took my PC to his shop and he installed a new hard drive with 500 gigabytes. I ended up having to wait five and a half hours, but figured it was worth it to get my PC working again. I didn't want anything fancy, just the basic capabilities I needed for my work. When I returned home and set up the computer, I was quite pleased with the result--I found it not only worked, it ran faster and better than it ever did before. Within a day or so I had all my programs reinstalled and was back in business. The thing runs like a champ now with the new 500 gigabyte hard drive. It feels like having a new computer, and all for the fraction of the cost of a new computer.

I learned one valuable lesson from the technician at the first repair shop. He hinted that putting lots of pictures on a hard drive is a recipe for a crash, even if the drive seems to have a lot of space. I did have an awful lot of pictures on there, so that must have been a precipitating factor in the crash. From now on I will store most of my pictures on CDs rather than on the computer's hard drive. Another lesson I learned is that getting your old computer fixed--especially if it's just one component that's bad--can be preferable to buying a new computer. I'm quite happy with my repaired PC and look forward to using it for many additional years.

ElectionWatch 2010 Unveils Official Logo

2010-06-03T11:35:00.004-04:00

Here is the official logo for ElectionWatch 2010, your trustworthy source for news and information about the Congressional election campaign. We will also be bringing you the full, state-by-state results of the U.S. House and Senate elections this coming November. So stay tuned!

Saint Justin

2010-06-01T14:40:00.004-04:00

Today is the feast of Saint Justin, my patron saint. Justin was one of the earliest Fathers of the Church known for their writings on Church doctrine. Born around the year 100 in the Roman Empire, he was a Greek philosopher who converted to Christianity. He was arrested and summoned to trial for his faith by the pagan Roman emperor, who ordered him to provide information about the Christian religion. As a gifted intellectual and apologist, Justin explained and defended Church teaching and practice in a public court of law. His description of second-century Christian worship, which appears in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, portrays a ritual remarkably similar to today's Catholic Mass. For his adherence to his faith, Justin was martyred in the year 165. Saint Justin, pray for us!

I'm not sure why he is sometimes referred to as St. Justin Martyr. Perhaps it's to distinguish him from several other saints named Justin who lived around the same time, but were not martyred. In any case, he's one of my favorite saints and a patron of this blog.

Note: The word "apologist" comes from a Greek word apologia, meaning "speech." Justin wrote his speeches and delivered them in front of the emperor much as a defendant's attorney would at a modern trial.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend...

2010-05-29T13:19:00.002-04:00

...And don't forget to check out America's Back-Door Enemy!

Quote of the Day

2010-05-29T13:07:00.003-04:00

Agape, or selfless altruism, presents a major challenge for the evolutionist. It is quite frankly a scandal to reductionist reasoning. It cannot be accounted for by the drive of individual selfish genes to perpetuate themselves. Quite the contrary: it may lead humans to make sacrifices that lead to great personal suffering, injury, or death, without any evidence of benefit. And yet, if we carefully examine that inner voice we sometimes call conscience, the motivation to practice this kind of love exists within all of us, despite our frequent efforts to ignore it.
--Dr. Francis Collins, The Language of God, p. 27.

Thought for the Day

2010-05-27T21:31:00.004-04:00

From the rising to the setting of the sun
is the Name of the Lord to be praised.
--Psalm 113:3

Thought for the Day

2010-05-24T21:38:00.003-04:00

Prayer is not the breaking down of the reluctance of God; it is rather the opening of a door. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." The latch is on our side and not his. Prayer opens that door.
--Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Specter Out: Paul Up, Others Coming

2010-05-21T16:05:00.015-04:00

More good news from ElectionWatch 2010! In Pennsylvania, veteran senator Arlen Specter (a Democrat) loses his party's nomination for another U.S. Senate term. In Kentucky, Republican candidate Rand Paul, the son of Ron Paul, wins his party's nomination for the Senate by a landslide, defeating establish- ment fav- orite Trey Grayson. In Arkan -sas, the re-nomina- tion of Demo- cratic senator Blanche Lincoln hangs in the balance as state voters there await a runoff election.

The results of these Senate primary elections are the latest in a string of disasters for the Obama administration since late 2009, including the election of Republican governors in New Jersey and Virginia, the election of a Republican senator in Massachusetts and the decisions of several incumbent Democratic senators not to seek re-election in 2010.

As Rand Paul said after his nomination, this is democracy at work. The American people are telling Washington in no uncertain terms that they've had it with abortion, big government, high taxes and a dragging economy. A Republican Revolution is underway!

I don't care if they call me a tea-party activist. I'm excited to see these developments! They are paving the way for the kind of changes our country needs.

Mother Teresa and the Empire State Building

2010-05-16T20:52:00.011-04:00

This past week I received a series of messages from the Catholic League about an interesting story that is developing concerning the Empire State Building and Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

As you may know, this year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Mother Teresa. She was one of the greatest saints the Catholic Church has ever seen and one of the greatest humanitarian figures the world has ever seen, with a long list of accomplishments. During fifty years of her lifetime in Calcutta, one of the poorest cities in India and in the world at the time, she picked up more than 60,000 homeless orphans, sick people, destitute people, dying people and lepers from the streets in the vast slum district. She established hundreds of hospitals, clinics, shelters, orphanages, soup kitchens, and homes for the destitute-dying in Calcutta alone. She founded a new religious order called the Missionaries of Charity to care for the poorest of the poor, which has now spread to more than 120 countries on five continents. She brought help to the needy, new hope to the abandoned and love to those who were unloved. She became the voice of the most defenseless and forgotten human beings on the planet, especially unborn children in their mother's wombs. Her utterly selfless dedication to serving the least of Christ's brethren drew the admiration of the world, resulting in some 124 awards including the renowned Nobel Peace Prize. Like her famous contemporary Pope John Paul II, she was a very special person not just to Catholics but to everyone because she lived the Gospel message, which is to see Christ in everyone and practice the works of mercy. "I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me" (St. Matthew 25:36)

Given all this, it is fitting that in the year marking the 100th anniversary of her birth, Mother Teresa should receive special public honors in countries all over the world, and particularly in countries that cherish the values of human life and dignity which she unstintingly upheld. Now here is how the story begins from Bill Donohue of the Catholic League, May 12, 2010:

On August 26, the U.S. Postal Service is honoring the 100th anniversary of the birth of Mother Teresa. On February 2, I submitted an application to the Empire State Building Lighting Partners requesting that the tower lights feature blue and white, the colors of Mother Teresa's congregation, the Missionaries of Charity, on August 26. On May 5, the request was denied without explanation.

Mother Teresa received 124 awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Medal of Freedom. She built hundreds of orphanages, hospitals, hospices, health clinics, homeless shelters, youth shelters and soup kitchens all over the world, and is revered in India for her work. She created the first hospice in Greenwich Village for AIDS patients. Not surprisingly, she was voted the most admired woman in the world three years in a row in the mid-1990s. But she is not good enough to be honored by the Empire State Building.

Last year the Empire State Building shone in red and yellow lights to honor the 60th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Revolution. Yet under its founder, Mao Zedong, the Communists killed 77 million people. In other words, the greatest mass murderer in history merited the same tribute being denied to Mother Teresa.

We are launching a nationwide petition drive protesting this indefensible decision (TO SIGN THE PETITION, Click here). We are petitioning Anthony Malkin, the owner of the Empire State Building, to reverse this decision.

To protest this decision, contact: lightingpartner@esbnyc.com

On May 13, Donohue reported the following:

Daniel Hernandez, a PR specialist hired by the Empire State Building, has a nice job: he was hired to say he doesn't know anything. When asked by Jeffrey Scott Shapiro, an investigative journalist reporting for Fox News, about the decision to stiff Mother Teresa, he repeatedly said "there is no issue here." Oblivious to the obvious—why would a reporter call about a non-issue—he continued by saying he has been directed not to comment. The reporter then noted, as we did earlier, that it is ironic that the Empire State Building paid tribute to the 60th anniversary of the genocidal Chinese Communist regime last fall, but won't honor the saintly nun. Hernandez parroted, "I'm only telling you what I've been directed to say."

Imagine a spokesman for the Vatican responding to a reporter about an indefensible decision made by a cardinal, and all he offers is, "there is no issue here." Better yet, imagine him saying, "I'm only telling you what I've been directed to say," and expecting the reporters to simply walk away disappointed.

One wonders what world the elites who run the Empire State Building live in. Besides siding with the Communists and dissing Catholics, they are just plain stupid. If they think they can ride this out, they have no idea what they are dealing with.

To sign our petition, click here

Also, contact Melanie Maasch, the PR rep at the Empire State Building who hired Hernandez to say nothing: mmaasch@esbnyc.com

Finally, as stated in a press release on May 14, the Catholic League announced "the start of a worldwide campaign protesting the decision by officials from the Empire State Building to deny Mother Teresa the honor of having her blue and white colors shine from the tower on August 26, the 100th anniversary of her birth." According to the press release, Bill Donohue has written letters to the Missionaries of Charity all over the world asking them to join in a protest-letter drive, "the first of many such campaigns that will run through the summer, if necessary." To sign the petition, click here. To register a protest, e-mail Melanie Maasch at the Empire State Building, mmaasch@esbnyc.com. To contact Anthony Malkin, write to him at Malkin Properties, One Grand Central Place 60, E. 42nd St., NY, NY 10165

It's hard to argue why Mother Teresa shouldn't receive this honor, which is why the lighting staff of the Empire State Building is not even attempting to defend their position. They have no good reason for refusing to do this, which is why God's Irish bulldog is going after them. Believe me, you don't want to mix it up with Bill Donohue!

Thought for the Day

2010-05-11T09:40:00.006-04:00

When you look at the inner workings of electrical things, often you see small and big wires, new and old, cheap and expensive line up. Until the current passes through them there will be no light. That wire is you and me. The current is God. We have the power to let the current pass through us, use us, produce the light of the world--Jesus. Or we can refuse to be used and allow darkness to spread. --Mother Teresa

Terrorism is in the News Again

2010-05-10T21:02:00.008-04:00

Terrorism is in the news again lately. The US sent a drone plane into Pakistan to kill terrorists suspects responsible for the failed bomb plot in Times Square. It seems that Pakistan is emerging as the central front in the War on Terrorism. The well-researched book America's Back-Door Enemy: Unmasking the Unknown Terrorists offers some clues as to why this is so.

In 2001 the US went into Afghanistan, overthrew the Taliban regime and chased Osama bin Laden out of his cherished hiding place. So far so good. But one problem is that the Taliban never really went away. Its ringleaders regrouped, recruited thousands of new followers from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, and returned to the heart of Afghanistan to wage an ongoing guerrilla war against US troops. Now the Taliban movement is a force of many thousand strong with a permanent base in Pakistan. Another problem is that Osama bin Laden has apparently been hiding out in Pakistan for years, aiding and abetting the Taliban with his prodigious financial resources and anti-American speechmaking capabilities. In fact, the Taliban has supplanted al-Qaeda as the world's most notorious terrorist entity. This is really not surprising, since the two organizations are closely related; both are rooted in Islamic extremist doctrine; both originated in Afghanistan and have received steady support from bin Laden; even their insignia are almost identical. Why is bin Laden still at large and continuing to fund and support terrorism after all this time?

You'll find some answers to these perplexing questions in America's Back-Door Enemy. I spent years writing this book. Probing beneath the headlines, I tried to gather all the information I could about terrorism and present it in a single, coherent, readable book so that the average person could gain a better understanding of terrorism and the War on Terrorism. In doing so, I discovered an enemy behind the enemy: Traitors to our country, right here in the United States; agents of a foreign power attempting to subvert and destroy our nation. Their wicked religious extremist movement helped bring international Islamic terrorism into existence, and it is essential for the United States to destroy their movement in order to destroy Islamic terrorism. I published this urgent information about a secret enemy for the good of my country, because I love my country. I hope it will do some good. If you're interested, you can find the book in the right-hand sidebar of this blog by scrolling down just a bit from the top.

Follow-up on Geoengineering

2010-05-08T10:30:00.003-04:00

When I read through the article on geoengineering in the current issue of Science Illustrated (see We Are in God's Hands below), I found that some of the ideas scientists and engineers are proposing to help slow down global warming are pretty good. One of these ideas is to line highways with artificial trees, each of which could remove 1,000 times as much carbon dioxide from the air as a natural tree. These contraptions would be no substitute for planting natural trees, but they are much safer and would be a lot more effective than any of the other geoengineering ideas being floated. As even the geoengineers admit, reducing carbon emissions is the best way to counteract artificial global warming.

Quote of the Day

2010-04-29T10:00:00.005-04:00

Vanity of vanities, says Ecclesiastes; vanity of vanities, and all is vanity. --Ecclesiastes 1:2

We Are In God's Hands

2010-04-27T16:09:00.007-04:00

I recently received the May/June 2010 issue of Science Illustrated, one of my favorite magazines. The lead story introduces a new technological concept some scientists are getting into called "geoengineering." This would involve manipulation of the Earth itself to save humanity from predicted disasters of its own making, such as global warming. One of their ambitious ideas is to encircle the globe with gigantic mirror arrays that would reflect sunlight away from Earth. The payoff could be enormous, these scientists tell us, but the risks are also tremendous. I feel that this particular method of geoengineering is a classic case of attacking the disease by treating the symptoms while ignoring the cause. The problem with global warming is not in the amount of sunlight reaching Earth, but in the man-made greenhouse gases that trap more of its warmth and could potentially lead to a runaway greenhouse effect. It is dealing with these greenhouse gases from artificial sources right here on Earth and in our atmosphere that we will effectively address any problem of artificial warming, not by reengineering the planet from the outside in.

In his encyclical Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict XVI has warned us of an error widely prevalent in the modern fields of science and technology, namely, the idea that we human beings must take complete control of Earth and determine our own destiny. Here I'd like to quote Bishop Thomas Wenski, whom the pope recently appointed as archbishop of Miami, Florida and who was himself quoting our Holy Father from Deus Caritas Est: "'We are only instruments in the Lord's hands; and this knowledge frees us from the presumption of thinking that we alone are personally responsible for building a better world.' In all humility we will do what we can, and in all humility we will entrust the rest to the Lord. It is God who governs the world, not we."

While seeking solutions to the great problems facing our twenty-first century world, humanity must trust more than ever in the Lord and in His infinite mercy.

Thought for the Day

2010-04-21T20:53:00.003-04:00

I believe that the forces of life and the desires for communion are greater than the forces of death and hatred. At some moment in each of our lives there is an event that calls us to freedom and openness. At that point of epiphany we want to get out of the hole of depression and anger. We realize that we are imprisoned in ourselves or in our group, finding it difficult to relate to others....

To open up to others implies not only an awareness of our own fears, darkness, and brokenness, but also the presence of a light, a love, and an energy that will give the desire to move forwards to openness and not let ourselves be controlled by the darkness.

-- Jean Vanier

Pope Benedict XVI -- Fifth Anniversary of Election

2010-04-19T12:18:00.002-04:00

April 19, 2005 -- a day that we will always remember.

"Habemus Papam!" -- "We have a pope!"

A Happy 5th Anniversary, with prayers and best wishes for our beloved Holy Father, Benedict XVI.

Father Corapi to Release an Autobiography!

2010-04-16T21:45:00.004-04:00

This past Wednesday evening, Father Corapi was on EWTN's Bookmark with Doug Keck discussing his soon-to-be-published autobiography. This ought to be a fascinating book to read. Although Father has told his life story many times in conjunction with his conversion story, he has never gone publicly into the depth and detail that this autobiography will contain. This will be the complete story--from Father's early childhood in upstate New York through his brief stint in the Army, his days as a multimillionaire accountant in southern California, his drug addiction and subsequent homelessness, re-conversion to the Faith, seminary studies, ordination and years of preaching the Gospel all over the United States and the world. One interesting detail of Father's life previously unknown to me and which he mentioned on the show was that he grew up within half an hour of Stockbridge, Massachusetts--the headquarters of the Divine Mercy devotion in the United States. In this book, Father Corapi will delve into other lesser-known aspects of his life such as his brief experience as a parish priest in his hometown, and his longtime friendship with Mother Angelica, including his firsthand witness of her miraculous healing in January of 1998.

As Father Corapi's amazing life and fruitful ministry have been, his autobiography will surely be a powerful testament to the fact that God's Name is Mercy, and that His infinite mercy is strikingly evident in every twist and turn of our lives. I will be watching for this book, and I can't wait to read it when it comes out--late this year or early next, according to predictions.

Spring Weather, Gardening and Global Warming

2010-04-13T11:52:00.008-04:00

When the sun is shining, temperatures are pleasant and everything green is starting to sprout and grow, it makes you want to get outside and do some gardening. Spring has come early this year, but even if the weather is a little premature, it still has the same effect on us. As a result of unusually mild conditions in this area last month, (followed by summerlike conditions in early April,) I started working in my garden unusually early, in March. It seems strange to be outside sweating under a cooking sun when the threat of frost and cold nights is still very real, and it's too early to plant summer vegetables. Climate change is doing some interesting things to our weather.

One of the predictions of climate change scientists is that global warming will not simply produce overall warmer weather for the planet, but more extreme weather. This prediction has been borne out in the last few years all over this country and the world: increased rainfall in some areas, decreased rainfall in others; colder and drier winters in some places, snowier winters in others; bigger hurricanes, hotter summers, etc. Some of these changes have not caused any apparent major negative effects in the regions where they are taking place; other have led to serious problems for millions of people, as for example the severe droughts in parts of Africa causing widespread famine there.

However, we should not become overly alarmed about these changes that are occurring. In his book The Weather Makers, one particular climate change expert--author Tim Flannery-- has mixed a wealth of interesting research and data on the subject of climate change with a number of major scientific, historical and logical errors. For example, Flannery presents incontrovertible evidence that our planet has been warming up over the past fifty years. But when it comes to the cause of this warming trend, Flannery places the blame squarely on increased human population and fossil-fuel activity and rules out all possible natural causes. In a related error, Flannery claims that the current warmup is without precedent in human history. Both of these flimsy myths can be deconstructed rather easily.

It is a well-accepted fact that the burning of fossil fuels produces greenhouse gases, which trap the Sun's heat in Earth's atmosphere and contribute to global warming. However, to place the blame for the current warming entirely on this process is incorrect. Earth's temperature does fluctuate slightly over periods of decades and centuries; these slight variations are natural, and have nothing to do with human activity or the lack thereof on Earth. For instance, in Medieval Europe, an Ice Age was followed by the Medieval Warm Period, during which Greenland was warm enough for Leif Ericson to establish colonies and plant vineyards there. This fact of the historical record, known to legions of schoolchildren, is casually dismissed by Flannery as "bunk." (p. 44)

It is obvious that natural causes must have been responsible for the Medieval Warm Period; the human population and burning of fossil fuels then were a fraction of their values today, and far too insignificant to affect the Earth's climate. And if this is so, then natural causes may be primarily responsible for the warm period we are currently beginning to experience. Flannery downplays the importance of such cause and effect relationships as "an unhelpful way of thinking." (p. 162)

Flannery's book is useful for the scientific research it contains on global warming, changes in Earth's climate, and the effects of both on various ecosystems (notably the Great Barrier Reef) during the last five decades. But its author fundamentally errs in attributing the warming entirely to greenhouse gases produced by modern human civilization, and ignoring natural causes altogether. After all, the greatest and most powerful natural influence on Earth's weather and climate is beyond our planet: the Sun itself. There is a strong correlation between recent changes in solar activity, observed and documented by astronomers, and changes in Earth's climate documented during the same period.

We should do what we can to take care of our planet, including reducing our pollution of Earth's atmosphere with greenhouse gases from fossil fuels, but at the same time we should be aware that Earth is going through a natural warming cycle that must play itself out regardless.

The Meaning of Holy Week

2010-04-08T21:06:00.005-04:00

Alleluia -- He Is Risen!

This evening I was watching a talk on DVD by Father Corapi from his classic series "Immortal Combat," in which Father mentioned the importance of always coming as a servant for others in humility. This jogged my memory about something I had intended to post during Holy Week but didn't get around to posting. It was a quote from an obscure abbot who was a friend of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux that I felt was an appropriate meditation for "the Week that changed the world." I am posting it now, because its timeless message is a good reminder for all Christians of the heart of their faith, regardless of the time of year.

What could be more just than that you should serve Him by whom you were created, without whom you cannot exist; and what could be more blessed or more sublime than to serve Him? To serve Him is to reign. "I will not serve," man says to his Creator. "Then I will serve you," his Creator says to man. "You sit down, I will minister, I will wash your feet. You rest; I will bear your weariness, your infirmities. Use Me as you like in all your needs, not only as your slave but also as your beast of burden and as your property. If you are tired or burdened I will carry both you and your burden, so that I may be the first to keep My own law."

"Bear one another's burdens," we read, "and so you will fulfill the law of Christ."

--Blessed Guerric of Igny

Update: America's Back-Door Enemy

2010-04-05T09:14:00.004-04:00

It's time for an update on my book about terrorism. Tate Publishing has started the niche marketing phase of promotion for America's Back-Door Enemy. This is a part of book marketing that I have been especially looking forward to. Niche marketing targets the specific audience I had in mind when writing the book--namely, Catholics as well as other Christians and people who are interested in reading about the subjects of terrorism, U.S. foreign policy, and international relations from a well-grounded moral perspective--as opposed to merely informing local media outlets in my area about the book, as was done in an earlier phase of marketing. Thus a niche strategy has the potential to be much more effective in selling my book than general marketing. At a later date, an even more specific phase of marketing will target individual bookstores around the United States.

I have worked with my marketing rep to plan a unique niche strategy for America's Back-Door Enemy, and now he is carrying it out. We'll see what happens, and I'll let you know the results in a future post.

What Happened to Bipartisanship?

2010-03-26T14:12:00.008-04:00

As John McCain aptly put it, "It's hard to reach across the aisle when you're sitting that far to the left."

On Tuesday, President Obama signed the health care legislation, his pride and joy, into law.

The American people hate it. Not a single Republican in Congress voted for it.

I thought this was the man who was supposed to bring the country together. So much for the false promises of a false Messiah.

Quote of the Day

2010-03-25T21:21:00.001-04:00

"There are fiscally responsible ways by which we can reform healthcare and
expand quality coverage that do not involve the forcing of unfunded and
unprecedented mandates onto individuals and states, and the unsustainable
growing of our national debt."
--Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell

Thought for the Day

2010-03-24T10:50:00.002-04:00

The truth must always be told. It should be told boldly, accurately, and as
simply as possible. This is the everyday practice of those who truly love.
--George Gil, Problems in the Church #1, p. 5

March 21, 2010 -- A Day That Will Live in Infamy

2010-03-23T21:02:00.006-04:00

This is a travesty.

"This is your hour, and the power of darkness." (St. Luke 22:53)

"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing." (St. Luke 23:34)

Our elected representatives have betrayed us, but even worse, they have betrayed the innocent unborn child in the womb. They have told lies instead of the truth; they have condoned murder over respect for human life. They have chosen injustice over justice, and put personal gain ahead of the common good.

Worst of all is the betrayal of Jesus in this hour. Two thousand years ago, the Son of God was betrayed by Judas, one of His own disciples -- in exchange for a bag of money. Today He is betrayed by Nancy Pelosi, who also claims to be one of His own -- in exchange for very much the same thing.

We have done what we can to prevent this from happening. Now we must be at peace, because we have done the right thing and tried to get our national civil authorities to do the same.

"If I say to the wicked man, You shall surely die; and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his wicked conduct so that he may live: that wicked man shall die for his sin, but I will hold you responsible for his death. If, on the other hand, you have warned the wicked man, yet he has not turned away from his evil nor from his wicked conduct, then he shall die for his sin, but you shall save your life." (Ezek. 3:18-19)

We must also accept God's Will in permitting this to happen, and trust in Him for the future, because He has a plan. Our elected representatives may not know what they are doing, but God knows what He is doing. He is allowing evil a temporary triumph, because in the end it must suffer a complete, humiliating and crushing defeat.

The timing of this event in the latter part of Lent is more than coincidental. Something much deeper than a political reality is at work here: a moral and spiritual reality. "For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places." (Eph. 6:12)

We are in a war, a spiritual war that is escalating, a war in which we will ultimately be victorious--if we remain faithful. The final victory over evil will come at the end of the world, when Jesus returns in glory to inaugurate the Last Judgment of all mankind. As the Just Judge, He will assign eternal rewards to righteous individuals and sentence eternal punishments to evildoers.

"These will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." (Matt. 25:46)

Those who do evil will be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD will possess the land. (Ps. 37:9)

Truly the evil man shall not go unpunished, but those who are just shall escape. (Prov. 11:21)

The Bible is very clear about what will happen to unrepentant workers of iniquity. "He shall remember their iniquity and punish their sins." (Hosea 9:9)

"My foes will be terrified and disgraced; all will fall back in sudden shame." (Ps. 6:11)

For the evil man has no future, the lamp of the wicked will be put out. (Prov. 24:20)

"As the tongue of fire licks up stubble, as dry grass shrivels in the flame, Even so their root shall become rotten and their blossom scatter like dust." (Isa. 5:24)

"Just as weeds are collected and burned (up) with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth." (Matt. 13:40-42)

Just as Jesus triumphed over sin, death and the Devil by rising from the dead on Easter Sunday, the victorious apocalyptic Lamb (Rev. 5-7, 17:14) will definitively triumph over all the evil in the world on Judgment Day.

We await that Day in joyful hope.

"We Don't Have Real Representatives to Vote For"

2010-03-03T15:55:00.010-05:00

Jerry Fowler and Mark Lotwis of the Save Darfur Coalition recently traveled to Sudan to observe the humanitarian situation in this war-torn country. Here are some snippets from their firsthand report, issued yesterday.

IDPs [Internally Displaced Persons] named security as their number one concern. Many complained of being subject to violence when leaving camps — not just women risking rape but both men and women being attacked when they go to the market or work in the cities. We often heard descriptions of the most recent attacks and that this violence was on the rise, not decline.

Despite Sudanese government claims that IDPs were returning to their villages in large numbers, we found little evidence of this. While there may be some returns and some seasonal migration to farm, IDPs said the main reason they cannot return home is because of a lack of security, and in some cases because other people were occupying the land they once lived on. One leader said, "When we can travel for two days without being attacked, we will go with no one telling us."

While distribution of food aid has been picked up by the World Food Programme and some new partners, provision of adequate water supplies appeared to be more
problematic, exacerbated by poor rains last year. At one camp, water was shut down at noon, and hand pumps were broken. In multiple camps we visited, people lined up for water, with rows and rows of empty jugs waiting to be filled. We saw unsanitary conditions around some pumps where spilled water runs off and mixes with animal waste — and children run around in bare feet.

We asked IDPs what they thought about the upcoming elections. The overwhelming majority of IDPs said they did not register and therefore will be disenfranchised in the election. Some said they didn't bother because "we don't have real representatives to vote for," while others feel that free political conditions do not exist. The ongoing state of emergency and level of violence leave doubts about a safe environment for candidates and voters in Darfur. When asked whether he feared for his life, one tribal leader told us, "I lost my family, I lost my country, I may lose my life." But he was resolved to carry on advocating for a just and lasting peace.

I hope all Americans of goodwill are just as resolved to continue working for peace in Darfur.

Another Democrat Bails Out

2010-02-18T13:36:00.004-05:00

Indiana Senator Evan Bayh becomes the fourth Democrat to jump off the sinking ship of his party. The major media outlets are portraying Senator Bayh as an honorable statesman who has become the victim of political infighting in Washington, D.C. In fact, he has been trying to implement the same unpopular agenda as most of his fellow Senate Democrats. You can get the truth of the matter by reading my article, "Evan Bayh and the Democratic Strategy."

Lent Begins Today

2010-02-17T16:26:00.003-05:00

Here's a Lenten message from Father John Corapi:

I want to extend to each and every one of you wishes for the most blessed and grace filled Lent of your life.

In many ways Lent is like life itself—a preparation for something higher and greater; a journey to an ultimate destination that “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the mind of man what God has in store for those who love him.”

Even Jesus prepared for his public ministry by going into the desert, with all of its privations and dangers. We need to prepare for our meeting face to face with God, and that preparation should start sooner, rather than later. In fact,
Lent—this Lent—is the best time to begin. Don’t put it off!

In order to help you to do this, we are offering a collection of our most popular DVD
singles that we feel most fit into the theme of Lent. I realize that the economy is not good for many of us, and many individuals and families are feeling the financial pinch. To help to do our part as best we can financially, we are offering this collection of single DVDs at a significant savings. The everyday retail price of these single DVDs is $90.00 ($15.00 each), when purchased individually.

For a limited time we are offering The Lenten Power Pack for $49. This is an average cost of $8.17 each for the 6 single DVDs.

The titles in this offer are:

1. Personal Testimony—My own life story of how God’s grace and mercy are so infinitely greater than our sins and human weaknesses. No one need lose hope, for God’s Name truly is Mercy.
2. Humility—Humility is truly the foundational and essential virtue. In order to repent and believe in the Gospel, humility is absolutely essential. Humility is the simple acknowledgment of truth—the truth concerning who God is and who I am. No humility, no holiness, no holiness no Heaven. Humility is the only way to begin Lent, and to live a truly Christian and Catholic life.
3. How To Make a Good Confession—As Catholics we can talk all we want about repentance, but the only ordinary means of the forgiveness of serious sins after Baptism that the Church knows of is the sacrament of Penance, or Reconciliation. This presentation will help you to make a good confession, whether you do it every week, or haven’t done it in fifty years.
4. Repent and Believe in the Gospel—The basic theme of all of the prophets, and ultimately Jesus Christ himself, was and is: “Repent! The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” God’s mercy is a lot bigger than our sins, no matter how many or horrible they may be. Nonetheless, in order to receive God’s mercy and forgiveness we have to repent of our sins. To fail or refuse to do this is to refuse God’s mercy.
5. Penance, Penance, Penance!—The need for penance and sacrifice has been dangerously downplayed in recent times. This is not rocket science: No penance,
no spiritual or moral power; no pain, no gain; no cross, no crown. The greatest
form of penance is to accept joyfully and daily the trials and tribulations that go with our state in life. Easy to say, hard to do. Nonetheless, let’s take a look at this.
6. The Power of the Cross of Christ—“The Cross is the crossroads where all roads cross.” This is one of my favorite lines from my doctoral thesis in dogmatic theology. It translates into one of my Grandmother’s favorite sayings: “Offer it up!” There is quite simply no Easter Sunday morning victory without the pain and darkness of Good Friday, and, as Jesus reminds us, “The servant is no better than his Master.”

May God grant you every grace and blessing to overcome the trials of Lent and of life, and to hear those beautiful words at the end, “Well done, my good and faithful servant, now at last enter into the joy of your Master’s house.”

God bless you,

Fr. John Corapi, SOLT, STD

I have seen most if not all of the talks in this series, and can warmly recommend this new compilation. I can highly recommend numbers 1, 4 and 6 in particular.

Speaking of Josh Groban...

2010-02-17T14:41:00.004-05:00

What an amazing talent God has given this young man. I'll never forget the experience I had three years ago this month of hearing Josh Groban live in concert on the Awake tour. He performed for two hours, and his voice was awesome. He sang "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)," "February Song," "Awake" (the title track), "You Raised Me Up," and many others. Also, it was a real treat for me to see Josh play piano while singing "February Song," "Awake" and several of the other songs. There were about ten thousand people in attendance, which meant that most available seats in the multi-level arena were filled. I was sitting with my parents and sister in the top level, directly facing the right side of the stage from my perspective, and about five stories above Josh. Although this position gave us an excellent view of the stage, it also gave me the willies. I remained uncomfortable in this perch thruout the concert but managed to enjoy myself nonetheless.

While fame, success and wealth often corrupt people and make them selfish and arrogant, this has not happened to Josh. He is a fine young Christian man with good morals and charity towards other people, which makes him a celebrity I can look up to. He is part of a new generation of Hollywood stars led by Eduardo Verastegui who, in both their personal and professional lives, unswervingly follow their principles regardless of the immoral culture surrounding them.

My favorite Josh Groban album so far is Awake, and my second favorite is his famous 2001 debut, Josh Groban. I can't wait for him to record some more!

Josh Groban Sings "We Are The World" for Haiti

2010-02-10T20:40:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite singers, Josh Groban, was among the 80-plus artists who recently collaborated to produce a new recording of "We Are The World" to benefit Haiti. Here's a brief report from his website:

Josh and some of the biggest stars in the music industry gathered in
Hollywood Monday, the day after the Grammys, for an even bigger occasion: to
record a new version of “We Are the World.” Proceeds from the song will go to
benefit Haiti in the wake of that country’s devastating earthquake, as well as
mark the 25th anniversary of the original collaboration.

Josh tweeted yesterday, "Just sang my heart out for 5 hours...This is a
group performance that people will remember forever." The new single will
premiere February 12th on NBC during the opening ceremonies of the Winter
Olympics. Visit Entertainment Weekly for more details. Look for more information on the song coming soon!

Financial and Moral Deficits

2010-02-02T15:54:00.010-05:00

Our nation's record budget deficits are in the news lately. President Obama has projected an unheard-of $1.56 trillion deficit for fiscal year 2010, and the United States of America is now dragging with it a total national debt in excess of $12 trillion dollars. It is amazing to think that just thirty years ago, in 1981 when President Ronald Reagan took office, the entire national debt stood at "only" $900 billion. The whole debt amount currently projected for this year alone, $1.56 trillion, is equivalent to our nation's total debt figure in 1984.

But while we should be concerned about these financial deficits, we may tend to forget that our country is also experiencing a more serious kind of deficit--a moral deficit in its leadership. Moreover, these two kinds of deficits are closely related. The moral deficit in our nation's leadership will have to be remedied before the financial deficits can be brought under control.

More Trouble for President Obama

2010-01-25T12:27:00.013-05:00

One week after the devastating geological earthquake in Haiti, a political earthquake shook the United States. On Tuesday, January 19, in a special election, Massachusetts voters elected Republican Senator Scott Brown to replace the late Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy. Nicknamed the "Lion of the Senate," Senator Kennedy had served continuously from 1972 until his death in 2009. Moreover, Kennedy had been preceded by a Democratic senator for several years prior to his own record-long reign.

The political significance of this event cannot be underestimated, for many reasons. This marks the first time in more than 40 years that Massachusetts has elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate. The Bay State is a reliably Democratic domain that, less than one and a half years ago, helped carry President Barack Obama to the White House with 68 percent of the vote. So why didn't the state's voters act predictably and follow tradition by choosing Democratic senatorial candidate Martha Coakley to succeed Kennedy?

The answer is that the people of Massachusetts didn't like what Mrs. Coakley stood for, and what she represented. She stood for forcing all health care professionals in the state, including Catholics, to perform and participate in abortions even if they object to doing so for conscience reasons. Such a draconian position--which is in flagrant violation of the laws of God and nature, and indeed of our Constitution and Bill of Rights--was unacceptable even by the liberal standards of the
Massachu- setts electorate. Mrs. Coakley also stood for President Obama's healthcare reform plan, which has no conscience protections for pro-life medical professionals and would tax individuals who do not have "acceptable" health care coverage as defined by the government. Among Massachusetts voters, even many Democrats could not tolerate such measures.

Finally, as a Democrat, Mrs. Coakley represented the currently reigning political party in Washington, D.C, which is rapidly becoming a symbol of incompetent, immoral and corrupt government. And this is where the broader implications of this astounding upset come into play. If Democrats in the Bay State have grown frustrated enough with their party's performance in the federal government to blow their top and elect a Republican, then we can be sure that American citizens in general are even more frustrated with their elected representatives. Thus, Mrs. Coakley's loss to Senator Brown, together with the recent election of Republican governors in New Jersey and Virginia, represent a clear vote of no confidence in the Obama administration.

It should be noted that Massachusetts' new Republican Senator Scott Brown is not actually pro-life. Nonetheless, his election is still to be celebrated, because he represents the lesser of two evils in a very important respect. Martha Coakley supports the Democratic healthcare legislation in the Senate, especially the abortion provisions; Senator Brown, despite his support of abortion, opposes the Democratic healthcare legislation. Thus his victory also represents an important strategic victory for the pro-life movement in the United States.

Another significant thing is that as a result of this special election, the Democratic Party no longer constitutes a supermajority of the United States Senate. With 60 senators, Democrats could invoke the cloture rule to end debate and force a vote on any measure they wished, including a healthcare reform bill, and could also easily pass it. Now, with only 59 seats and not a single Republican senator in favor of the pending healthcare bill, that bill may never come to a vote, much less be passed, by the Senate. The door has now been opened for Republican senators to continue the Senate healthcare debate and challenge their Democratic colleagues regarding the contents of the healthcare bills. This is very good news for the American people, who have registered their intense dissatisfaction with the prevailing Democratic health care bills in opinion polls and to their elected representatives in the preceding months.

There are many reasons for the landslide opposition of the American people to Democrat- ic healthcare reform. One is its gigantic $2.3 trillion price tag, which comes at a time when our national debt is already $13 trillion and most Americans are hurting financially due to the effects of a Great Recession. They do not trust the smooth promises of their Democratic politicians that the healthcare reform bills currently on the table will make health care more affordable and accessible for all Americans. They realize that, far from increasing the healthcare options available to them and bringing down healthcare costs, the new system will create a giant new government bureaucracy, funded by unprecedented income tax hikes, devoted to its subjects' healthcare a la Communist Russia, requiring the participation of all American citizens under penalty of yet more taxes. The image of Democrats as "tax-and spenders" has reared its ugly head to a whole new level at a time when average Americans are already crushed by their income tax burdens. If the economy is to recover, Americans must have money to spend, and they will not have such money if it is annually depleted by excessive taxes.

However, in addition to these financial and economic reasons, Americans have a potent moral reason for opposing Democratic healthcare reform: It would force doctors and nurses everywhere in the United States to perform and participate in abortions. This same week, hundreds of thousands of Americans peacefully demonstrated for protection of the right to life of the innocent unborn. In Washington, D.C., 300,000 American citizens, half of whom were under the age of 25, participated in the 37th Annual March for Life, which became the longest march in American history. Americans have made clear their opposition to the radically anti-life agenda of the Obama administration, which this administration has attempted to bury in the healthcare bills. This agenda was previously enshrined in FOCA, which President Obama had promised Planned Parenthood to sign upon becoming president. But FOCA failed, and now the administration's Plan B--abortion coverage through healthcare reform--is collapsing.

In the words of President Obama himself during a visit to Ohio on January 22, his "agenda seems to be running into a buzz-saw." We had much to rejoice about in this week of political shakeup for the Obama administration. However, amid the celebration of the moment we must be careful to remain vigilant. As Republican Representative Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan's 11th district cautiously observed on The World Over Live with Raymond Arroyo on January 22, "I'm not going to brag about having 41 seats when the other side has 59." We still have our work cut out for us in the pro-life movement. Therefore, we must continue to work to build a culture of life and especially offer prayers and sacrifices for full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life.

Keep the People of Haiti in your Prayers

2010-01-25T11:37:00.003-05:00

Although media attention to Haiti has waned and relief programs are now well underway, the situation is still very difficult for millions of homeless people in this impoverished Carribean island nation. It will take years for them to recover and rebuild their country. Moreover, the situation is complicated by a corrupt, evil government that has protected its own wealth while leaving the national economy in tatters. We need to pray especially for the Catholic Church in Haiti, which lost its archbishop and hundreds of priests, seminarians, monks and nuns in the tragic earthquake on January 12. Let us pray that the Lord will help the suffering people of Haiti to rebuild their country; that He will turn the hearts of their leaders away from sin and self-aggrandizement so that they will promote sound economic development for the common good of all Haitians; that the human rights and God-given dignity of all the people will be respected; and that the citizens of Haiti will experience true freedom, security and peace.

Darfur Update

2010-01-21T10:26:00.006-05:00

This is a hopeful yet critical year for Sudan. The country's first presidential elections since 1986 will be held this coming April. Unfortunately, the conditions for a free and fair election do not exist in Sudan right now. Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir is forbidding political opponents from organizing public rallies; arresting and imprisoning hundreds of dissidents; and arresting and beating journalists who report these incidents. Bashir is taking every possible measure to ensure his re-election against the wishes of the people of Sudan. Why? Because Bashir is a corrupt and murderous leader--and if a free and fair election were held in his country, Bashir would be voted out of office. During the past seven years, Arab Janjaweed militias--armed and funded by Bashir's regime--have carried out a systematic extermination program of the non-Arab inhabitants in Sudan's large western region of Darfur, killing upwards of 500,000 innocent people. This far exceeds the estimated 150,000 people killed by Saddam Hussein between 1983 and 1991. And while the International Criminal Court has filed charges of war crimes against Omar al-Bashir and issued an arrest warrant for his capture, the United States has taken little tangible action to help stop the genocide.

The Save Darfur Coalition, of which I am a part, is a not-for-profit political advocacy group that has been working to change that. The Coalition "is an alliance of over 190 faith-based, advocacy and human rights organizations whose mission is to raise public awareness about the ongoing genocide in Darfur and to mobilize a unified response to the atrocities that threaten the lives of more than two million people in the Darfur region." Over the past few years, we have achieved several notable successes such as getting Fidelity (a major U.S.-based investment company) to divest from corporations that fund the mass murder, getting President Bush to uphold our commitment of troops for the UN-AU pracekeeping force in Darfur, getting the ICC to hold Bashir accoutable for his crimes, and getting all three 2008 U.S. presidential candidates to sign a statement pledging "unstinting resolve" to end the genocide in Darfur.

Our most notable success to date has been getting the U.S. government to formulate a comprehensive policy for Sudan that calls for a combination of pressures and incentives on the Bashir regime to stop the Darfuri genocide. The Obama administration released its Sudan Policy Review entitled "Sudan: A Critical Moment, A Comprehensive Approach" on October 19, 2009. But although this document contains many of the policy objectives we have been working for, the U.S. government has yet to back up its strong words with concrete actions. Our challenge now is to hold the U.S. to its officially proclaimed commitment to stop the genocide and save the people of Darfur.

The Save Darfur Coalition has urged me to forward the message below to as many people as possible. Please read and consider joining the Coalition--it's free--so that we can work to halt this unconscionable tragedy, the first genocide of the 21st century--the ethnic cleansing in Darfur.

--Justin

-------------------------------------------------

Dear friend,

One year ago today Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. As he took office, he promised high-level leadership to bring peace to Darfur and all of Sudan.

Unfortunately, President Obama's strong words in the campaign have yet to be accompanied by the kind of decisive leadership we expected from the new President.

Millions of people in Darfur still live in camps with the ever-present threat of violence. All of the people of Sudan continue to live without even the most basic human rights. Now, indicted war criminal Omar al-Bashir is preparing to steal the country's first election in 24 years.
We must not let this happen.

Tell President Obama we need his personal leadership to make sure the United States and the world do not to legitimize Omar al-Bashir's corrupt, genocidal regime.

Secretary of State Clinton took a small step forward when she recently called on Sudan "to suspend elements of the national security and public order laws that are incompatible with free and fair elections."

But her words still lack the support of the President himself, who has remained silent instead of calling out Khartoum for its lack of progress.

Sudanese security forces continue to harass and intimidate their political opponents. Violence and insecurity in Darfur will make voting difficult—if not impossible. The regime in Khartoum wants to use the upcoming election to tighten its grip on power and insulate its leadership from the reach of international justice.

We must act now. Send a message directly to President Obama and tell him that the United States must not recognize the results of an illegitimate election.

Thank you for your support and your activism.

Sincerely,

Mark Lotwis,
Save Darfur Coalition

Check Out the New Decent Films!

2010-01-13T16:10:00.002-05:00

Steve Greydanus, film critic for the National Catholic Register, has just redesigned and improved his website, DecentFilms.com, in honor of its tenth anniversary. For years this ever-growing site has been my principal reference and source for movie reviews from a Catholic perspective, and I am happy to see it get even better. Especially if you're a Catholic who wants to enjoy more good movies but doesn't know which ones they are, I'd highly recommend you visit this site. You can click here to read a blog post Mr. Greydanus has written about the new Decent Films Guide. Or, go straight to the home page here and see it for yourself.

Quote of the Day

2010-01-08T22:24:00.006-05:00

Let us work, then, for justice in the world, so that the nations of the earth will be moved to draw back from ominous arms races and unbalanced concentration on the tools of war, from the terrifying proliferation of nuclear weapons and from senseless quarrels and insane hatreds. Let us turn our united efforts instead to true human development throughout our world and to the betterment of all our brothers. Let us pray on this night, Christmas Eve, that all the nations of the earth may turn away from the ever present sounds of conflict and hear the angel's clear invitation to peace through love of God and neighbor.

--Cardinal Terence Cooke
(1921-1983)

Upcoming Elections in Sudan

2010-01-07T16:46:00.003-05:00

Here is the latest from the Save Darfur Coalition:

Dear Justin,

Intimidation, torture, and violence. Hundreds of activists, opposition party leaders and journalists arrested and beaten.

Welcome to election season in Omar al-Bashir's Sudan.

Sudan's first multi-party elections in 24 years are scheduled for April 2010. The elections were intended to serve as a capstone to the democratic transformation of Sudan promised in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that was signed by North and South Sudan in 2005. Instead, none of the conditions for truly free and fair elections are in place.

Bashir's regime has failed to: ensure freedom of association, movement, assembly and speech; limit the broad powers of arbitrary arrest, detention, search and seizure; end press censorship; allow equal access for all political parties to media; implement mechanisms to prevent election related violence; and allow unrestricted access for both domestic and international observation teams.

Not only are brave Sudanese who call for greater freedom being violently suppressed, the current conditions in Darfur make credible elections there inconceivable. Random attacks on civilians continue, movement of UN peacekeepers is restricted, and millions of Darfuris who live in displacement camps worry that participation in the election will lead to denial of their right to return to their homes. Any national election that does not include Darfur cannot be viewed as legitimate.

So what is the benefit of elections for Bashir's genocidal regime? They are a means to give it a veneer of legitimacy.

And without scrutiny by the Obama administration and the international community, the elections will deliver the sort of legitimization that Bashir desires.

This is why it is critical for the U.S. government to shine a spotlight on the fact that the political freedom necessary for free and fair elections in Sudan does not exist. We need President Obama and our elected leaders to send a message to the world that they will not recognize the results of an illegitimate electoral process, and will not permit a fugitive of the International Criminal Court to legitimize his brutal dictatorship.

Over the coming months we will need your help to make sure that our leaders do not let the upcoming elections provide legitimacy to Bashir's government. We will be collecting signatures, organizing lobby days and local events, blogging, and raising awareness through the media and social networks.

The people of Sudan need our support. Spread the word to your friends and family and encourage them to learn more.

Sincerely,

Mark Lotwis
Save Darfur Coalition

Get the Scoop on Counterterrorism

2010-01-05T16:36:00.016-05:00

My sense of deja vu is starting to get overwhelming. This afternoon, I read an Internet news report from Reuters about President Obama's expected announcement of some changes in his administration's counterterrorism policy. This comes after an attempted Christmas Day transatlantic airliner bombing, alleged to have been plotted by a 23-year-old Nigerian suspect en route from Amsterdam to Detroit. Apparently, this man (named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab) was in cahoots with al-Qaeda operatives in the Middle Eastern country of Yemen, yet despite this fact, somehow slipped through cracks between intelligence agencies and managed to smuggle explosives onto a commercial civilian airplane headed for the United States.

Something doesn't add up! What's wrong with this picture?

Well, for starters, the Bush administration was supposed to have fixed any lingering communication problems among U.S. intelligence agencies that might have allowed a terrorist to proceed this far with his plot. The USA PATRIOT Act, a landmark piece of legislation enacted in 2001, broke down virtually all barriers between U.S. intelligence, defense, police, security, investigation, and immigration departments, enabling and requiring these different agencies to share any and all terrorism-related information with one another. Thus an all-new network infrastructure was formed that should intercept terrorists long before their plans reach execution stage. Add to this the War on Terrorism, military action against al-Qaeda, the Department of Homeland Security, and better passenger screening at airports, and you have a thick, interlocking series of nets designed with the official purpose of catching terrorists and disrupting their activities.

President Obama talked tough against terrorism and boldly pledged to continue his Republican predecessor's War on Terrorism as he took office in January 2009. All was more or less quiet on the terrorism front until December, when the recent incident threw the issue of terrorism back into the spotlight. Now Republicans are charging President Obama with weak and inadequate counterterrorism policies, and the president himself seems to be admitting that they are right with his announcement of some changes to those policies. But is President Obama really to blame for the latest terror fiasco?

It is worth noting that high-profile terrorist attacks marked each year of the Bush administration (9/11, 2001; Bali, Indonesia, 2002; Istanbul, Turkey, 2003; Madrid, Spain, 2004; London, 2005; Iraq, 2006; Algeria, 2007; Mumbai, India, 2008). Moreover, in 2006 alleged al-Qaeda suspects came frighteningly close to carrying out a well-engineered and coordinated effort to bomb multiple transatlantic airliners flying from Britain to the United States.

U.S. counterterrorism debacles even date back to the Clinton administration, during which terrorists attacked the basement of the World Trade Center (February 26, 1993); attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II with a bomb on his plane to the Philippines (1995); Osama bin Laden established al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan (1996-98); and U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were simultaneously bombed (August 7, 1998).

Perhaps the most spectacular counterterrorism failure that runs through the past three administrations is the seeming ability of Osama bin Laden to escape justice as long as he pleases. Acting upon U.S. intelligence regarding bin Laden's location, President Clinton fired cruise missiles at bin Laden's training camps in Afghanistan in an attempt to kill the infamous terrorist leader and financier himself in 1998, but for some reason the missiles missed their target. Bin Laden remained on the run thruout most of the Bush administration, yet somehow we never managed to capture him. He survived our multilateral invasion of Afghanistan and overthrow of the illicit Taliban regime, which had been his host government, and continued to crank out televised speeches denouncing our foreign policy. Meanwhile, U.S. intelligence reports indicated that bin Laden was hiding out somewhere in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, yet his exact location was never conclusively identified. Senator Barack Obama and his running mate, Senator Joe Biden, capitalized politically on this failure in their 2008 run for president by promising a repeat of the Clinton strategy to deal with bin Laden: raining a trio of nuclear missiles on Pakistan if Osama is found there. As of this writing, America's no. 1 Most Wanted Terrorist is still at large.

Ironically, during the Bush administration, Democrats blamed the terrorist crimes and attempts on the president's overbearing, military counterterrorist policies. A similar attempt occurs during the Obama administration, and Republicans blame him for not being tough enough on terrorism. Our politicians have taken credit for what they didn't do right (in the case of President Bush) and apologized for what they didn't do wrong (in the case of President Obama). They have become accustomed to playing politics with terrorism, but this only heightens the urgency of the real issue. The issue is that the U.S. intelligence community--which includes the CIA, the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and dozens of sub-departments that serve them--seems to harbor a flaw that transcends political parties and presidencies. Moreover, this flaw has continued through four different CIA directors in the time period we are considering.

According to President Obama, intelligence agencies had the information necessary to prevent this terrorist attempt but failed to connect the dots. This is the same problem that has been plaguing the United States intelligence community since the Clinton years; it has resurfaced over and over again in Congressional reports, independent investigations, and the memoirs of senior officials from former administrations, during the past two decades. The question is, why has this vexing problem persisted with such remarkable regularity for almost twenty years through three different presidencies, including one that saw a complete revision and expansion of the federal government's counterterrorist system?

The suspect in our current terrorism case, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, has a supposed connection with al-Qaeda in Yemen. This rather obscure country dominating the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula has some significance related to last month's foiled Christmas bombing. For one thing, it is the birthplace of Osama bin Laden. He was born in Hadramawt, a lonely desert region famous since antiquity for producing the world's finest frankincense, some of which was offered to the Baby Jesus by one of the biblical wise men. Unfortunately, this nation that yielded a gift for the Prince of Peace has become a place where certain terrorists plot to kill innocent human beings in the name of freedom. Its extremely hot, dry climate, low population, limited government and ill-defined borders with neighboring countries render it amply suitable for clandestine subversive activities. Yemen has a fair amount of political instability in its history. During part of the Cold War, this region was divided into two nations, one under Communist rule (South Yemen) and one free (North Yemen). While popular dissatisfaction affected both republics, terrorist incidents climaxed in the years following the reunification of Yemen in 1990.

While not the center of al-Qaeda's presence, Yemen serves as an al-Qaeda outpost. The Arabian nation is also a major ally of the United States, commanding a strategic position for ships and warplanes between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Every year we give a good deal of financial and military support to Yemen's government, and Yemen in return looks out for our oil interests in the Persian Gulf; allows us to maintain military bases for our fighter jets on its soil; and allows our Navy ships to dock in port there. On October 12, 2000, suicide bombers--allegedly members of al-Qaeda--detonated a small boat laden with explosives near the U.S.S. Cole as it refueled in the port of Aden, killing seventeen Americans and injuring 35 others. This terrorist attack also happened during the Clinton administration. Yet if Yemen is our ally, another question emerges: Why is al-Qaeda still alive and well there today?

As we review the above examples, it becomes increasingly evident that neither Republican nor Democratic presidents are at fault for the string of lapses in security against terrorism in recent years. Nor have the U.S. military, intelligence agencies, security forces, or immigration officials necessarily been culpable for these failures. Something else is going on that renders the United States itself incapable of preventing certain terrorist attacks and plots that would seem to be easily preventable. America has a back-door enemy. Her federal government, military headquarters, and even intelligence agencies have been infiltrated by agents of a foreign power. While our politicians play politics with terrorism, these spies have quietly hijacked our government and are stealthily moving the pieces in a much more deadly, secret game.

You can find out which foreign power this is, its effect on our government and intelligence agencies, the organizations its agents belong to, the unique religious extremist philosophy they follow, and what the object of their game is, if you read my book, America's Back-Door Enemy: Unmasking the Unknown Terrorists. Scrupulously researched and authoritatively written with over 500 references, this book will help you make sense of the confusing picture of terrorism and America's response to it. Available on Amazon, at your local bookstore and direct from the publisher.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-04T16:16:00.002-05:00

I am looking forward to doing a lot more blogging this year! In addition to keeping readers abreast of important news and information about my book on terrorism, here is a look at what to expect on Justin's Corner in 2010:

More pictures;
More posts on abortion, the pro-life movement, and the struggle to protect traditional marriage;
Continuation of my article series studying the Holy Father's encyclical on globalization;
More analysis of health care reform;
Details about my second book (which hopefully will be completed this year);
Reviews of interesting programs I see on EWTN;
Wall-E: An in-depth look at this charming and imaginative Disney-Pixar movie reveals that it is more than just whimsical sci-fi for kids;
Astronomy news and information along with my opinions about space exploration, with a special tribute to the Hubble Space Telescope;
Why alternative energy solutions make so much sense, both for the planet and your wallet;
And much more!

I plan to maintain my Newsvine blog a little better this year as well, so you can continue to find news stories that I am following at that location, some of which I may write about here.

Enjoy!

The Church's Trust in God

2009-12-12T11:07:00.003-05:00

Last night when I was reading my Bible, I came across a psalm that struck me as being very appropriate for the time we are currently living in. If you have been keeping up with the news lately as I have, you're probably aware that the Catholic Church in the United States is under unprecedented, escalating attack from the forces of evil. And this, at a time when the "new springtime" in the Church foretold and prepared by Pope John Paul II, "John Paul the Great" of happy memory, is just beginning to blossom under the wise and holy pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI. The major reason for this attack is that our Catholic bishops, both individually and as a body, have been speaking out powerfully and with notable effect against abortion, homosexual "marriage," and the whole culture of death that the Obama administration stands for. The Catholic Church--united with many other Christians and people of good will in America--has scored major victories against FOCA, "gay marriage" and federal abortion funding in health care, and as a result, direct attacks on the Church have multipled. Some senators and representatives would like to revoke the Church's tax-exempt status and forbid Catholic bishops from publicly criticizing national policy. In Connecticut, a bill was introduced in the state legislature that would have placed the Catholic Church in that state directly under government control. Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina is being sued for refusing to cover abortion and contraception services in its health plan for students, even though the students themselves are against such coverage. A majority of U.S. senators is still attempting to pass health care legislation that would legally force Catholic hospitals around the country to provide abortions. In all of these assaults, the enemies of the Church have shed all pretenses of tolerance and civility, taken off their masks and declared open war on the Catholic Church and the traditional values it holds dear. The battle is joined and the weapons of the enemy are flying thick at the Church, because the Devil knows that his time is short. He knows that he is going to lose in the end, so he is doing all he can to snatch temporary victory from the jaws of eternal defeat. As Jesus promised in Matthew 16:18, the gates of Hell will not prevail against the Church.

The psalm I found, is Psalm 45, which expresses the Church's trust in God amidst persecution. Note that this is Psalm 46 in the New American Bible and most other translations. I quote the following from my favorite translation of the Bible, the Douay-Rheims Version of 1752:

PSALM 45.
Deus noster refugium.
The church in persecution trusteth in the protection of God.

Our God is our refuge and strength: a helper in troubles, which have found us exceedingly.

Therefore we will not fear, when the earth shall be troubled; and the mountains shall be removed into the heart of the sea.

Their waters roared and were troubled; the mountains were troubled with his strength.

The stream of the river maketh the city of God joyful: the most High hath sanctified his own tabernacle.

God is in the midst thereof, it shall not be moved: God will help it in the morning early.

Nations were troubled, and kingdoms were bowed down: he uttered his voice, the earth trembled.

The Lord of armies is with us: the God of Jacob is our protector.

Come and behold ye the works of the Lord: what wonders he hath done upon earth, making wars to cease even to the end of the earth.

He shall destroy the bow, and break the weapons: and the shield he shall burn in the fire.

Be still and see that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, and I will be exalted in the earth.

The Lord of armies is with us: the God of Jacob is our protector.

Controversy over the 9/11 Trials

2009-12-03T11:41:00.005-05:00

On Tuesday, December 3, I received the following communique from the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights:

SATURDAY DECEMBER 5th
RALLY IN FOLEY SQUARE STOP THE TERROR TRIAL IN NYC!
NEW YORKERS TO ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDER: “WE WILL FIGHT YOU ALL THE WAY!”

The 9/11 Never Forget Coalition http://www.911neverforget.us/, a diverse group of 9/11 victims, family members, first responders, active and reserve members of the military, veterans, and concerned Americans, will hold a December 5th rally protesting the plan to bring the 9/11 terrorist conspirators to trial in New York City.

The Coalition formed to fight the decision of President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder to try the 9/11 co-conspirators in New York City’s federal court, effectively giving war criminals the same rights as American citizens while endangering the safety of all New Yorkers. Two weeks ago, we sent a letter signed by 300 family members of 9/11 victims to the President, Attorney General and Defense Secretary Robert Gates asking them to reverse course. The letter has now been signed by over 120,000 Americans and is posted at [such and such a website I do not wish to promote]. Please visit the site and add your signature.

What: Stop The Terror Trials in NYC Rally
Where: Foley Square, Manhattan
When: Saturday, December 5th
Time: 12 noon

...
###

Here is the letter I have sent to Catholic League president Bill Donohue in response:

Dear Mr. Donohue:

As a 23-year-old American Catholic author who has been on your email list for several years, I would like to express my gratitude for the existence and activity of the Catholic League. Although at times I may find your personal style a bit overbearing, I nonetheless appreciate your loyal defense of the rights of the Catholic Church in the United States; your robust leadership of this crucial organization; and your unshakable fidelity to the principle of fairness in representing Catholic interests in our radically secularist culture.

In virtually every case of anti-Catholic bias you have confronted in recent months, I have been heart and soul with the Catholic League's position and efforts, and have applauded your notable successes with Kentucky Christmas trees, Christopher Hitchens, and expelling abortion from a health care bill.

However, I must respectfully take issue with a press release I received yesterday from the League entitled, "RALLY IN FOLEY SQUARE STOP THE TERROR TRIAL IN NYC!" Here I feel the Catholic League has overstepped its bounds as the defender of our faith, since the issue in question has much to do with politics and little to do with the Catholic Church in the United States.

In the press release, you informed us that the 9/11 Never Forget Coalition will be holding a rally in New York City on December 5 to protest the trial of 9/11 terrorist suspects in a federal court there. You explained that the Coalition "formed to fight the decision of President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder to try the 9/11 co-conspirators in New York City’s federal court, effectively giving war criminals the same rights as American citizens while endangering the safety of all New Yorkers."

In my recently published book, America's Back-Door Enemy: Unmasking the Unknown Terrorists, I explain that terrorism--even on the horrific scale of 9/11--is a crime under U.S. law, not an act of war as the Bush administration contended. Therefore terrorist suspects remain noncombatants who have the same rights as other criminal suspects, including the right to a trial. This position is also in accord with international law, which our Holy Fathers John Paul II and Benedict XVI as well as our Catholic bishops have consistently urged us to abide by in confronting terrorism.

As for the second problem you raise with the imminent 9/11 trial, it is difficult to see how weaponless terrorist suspects who have spent eight years in the Metropolitan Detention Center, and who will now be transferred to a civilian U.S. court building, all the while under surveillance and maximum security of law enforcement, can pose a tangible threat to the safety of New Yorkers. I even argue in my book that if the United States ever finds Osama bin Laden, he should be captured, publicly tried and convicted before receiving his just punishment.

I have arrived at these conclusions about terrorism and terrorists through much prayer, study and research (America's Back-Door Enemy contains over 500 references). Our Lord has entrusted to me a stewardship--valuable knowledge and the responsibility to act on that knowledge. Thus I cannot in good conscience align myself with the Catholic League in this matter, support the 9/11 Coalition, or sign the online petition.

I feel that in this case, you have allowed emotional partisan fervor to overwhelm clear thinkng and good judgment, resulting in the inappropriate involvement of a religious advocacy organization in a political issue that the Church regards as subject to the prudential judgment of our national leaders and the individual lay faithful.

I would be happy to discuss this issue further or answer any questions you may have. For more information about international "Islamic" terrorism and America's response to it from a Catholic perspective, I'd encourage you to check out America's Back-Door Enemy from Tate Publishing, available on Amazon and through your local bookstore.

In the meantime, please be assured of my continued prayers and support for the Catholic League and its mission. God bless you.

Justin Soutar

Giving Thanks for Many Blessings

2009-11-30T20:50:00.006-05:00

And now, it's time to recall some of the many blessings that God has bestowed on our country this past year:

1. Awesome turnout for the pro-life rallies. The 37th Annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. in January drew some 310,000 people, who marched up Constitution Avenue in a powerful witness of the right to life of the unborn to the newly inaugurated administration of President Barack Obama. Negative pro-abortion pundits in the media pointed out that this figure was 28,000 people lower than the 338,000 marchers who peacefully demonstrated last year. However, these commentators neglected to account for the devastating economic crisis that had begun to grip the whole nation and the world at the time. It speaks volumes that in spite of this turmoil, almost as many citizens showed up for the pro-life cause this year as in 2008. When adjustment is made for the country's economic condition and all the people who wanted to attend the 2009 March but were unable because of financial difficulties, this year's turnout can actually be considered an increase, in keeping with the trend seen thruout this past decade.

If the traditional, well-established March for Life leaves any lingering doubt as to the sentiments of the American public regarding abortion, the more recently founded Walk for Life West Coast in San Francisco doesn't. California is a bellwether state for the nation, which means that the trends we see occurring there serve as a good indicator of the general direction the nation as a whole is taking. In 2005, the first annual Walk for Life event drew an estimated 7,000 participants. Next year 15,000 people showed up. In 2007 23,000 individuals took part; last year there were 28,000 walkers. This year, the fifth annual Walk for Life drew 36,000 demonstrators, a substantial increase from the number recorded last year. Rising from humble beginnings, in just five years the Walk for Life has quickly mushroomed into a national phenomenon in its own right, becoming a destination for pro-life advocates across the western half of the United States. Both the D.C. and San Francisco rallies demonstrated that the pro-life movement in America is healthy and vibrant despite some political setbacks in the election of 2008.

2. FOCA was defeated. For more than twenty years, a radical coalition of senators and representatives in the U.S. Congress has been trying to enact certain provisions regarding abortion into law. These include the use of federal tax dollars to fund "abortion coverage"; legalizing the performance of abortion procedures by someone other than a licensed physician; forcing all U.S. hospitals and physicians to provide abortion services regardless of their objection to the practice; the repeal of all state restrictions on abortion; and the establishment of abortion as a "fundamental right" subject to unlimited government funding and support. All of these horrifying provisions were incorporated into a single nightmare bill called the Freedom of Choice Act, which was introduced into Congress in 2007. On July 17 of that year, at a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood, Illinois senator Barack Obama infamously declared, "The first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act." With the advent of the Obama administration, Congress finally had a real chance of passing this horrendous legislation. Thanks to the United States Catholic bishops and the American people, who registered their overwhelming outcry against FOCA in postcards, letters, phone calls, faxes, emails and online petitions, President Obama was unable to keep his promise upon entering the White House because the bill never reached his desk. Congress gave up its attempt to pass FOCA, and Obama's first act as president was to sign an economic stimulus bill instead.

3. Traditional marriage wins again. In November 2004, California voters had easily passed a statewide referendum which defined marriage exclusively as the union of a man and a woman. All was well until June 2008, when the California Supreme Court gave in to the urging of radical homosexual pressure groups and declared that the 2004 referendum adopted by 66 percent of the voters was un-constitutional. Supporters of traditional marriage quickly responded by placing a new bill, Proposition 8, on the state ballot, which rejected the high court's decision and reaffirmed the previous referendum banning any government recognition of homosexual marriage. In November 2008, the state's voters adopted Proposition 8 by a margin of 52 to 48 percent. This past May, California's Supreme Court again got involved, taking up the question of whether the new proposition approved by the voters was constitutional. On May 26, the high court ruled that Proposition 8 was constitutional, and thus the state of California from then onward would only recognize marriage between a man and a woman. This makes California the first state in the country to legalize "gay marriage" and then de-legalize it--and as with abortion, this is a pretty reliable indication of the direction our nation is taking with regard to homosexual marriage. State courts will continue trying to force legalization of homosexual "marriage" on a par with traditional marriage, and the people will continue turning it down.

So far, this trend is holding: In November, Maine became the 31st consecutive state in the union to approve a referendum preserving the legal institution of marriage as between a man and a woman.

As usual, my post has grown longer than I originally intended, so you will pardon me if I confine myself to one-liners for the rest.

4. Tate Publishing releases my first book, America's Back-Door Enemy. (June 23)

5. Pope Benedict XVI releases his first social encyclical, Caritas in Veritate. (July 7)

Lastly, and the biggest of all:

6. The United States House of representatives amends H.R. 3200 (America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009) to prohibit the use of federal taxpayer funds for "abortion coverage" and to reaffirm longstanding federal laws that protect the conscience rights of physicians and other health care professionals who object to conducting or participating in abortions. (November 7)

I was grateful for all of these blessings and many others this past Thanksgiving holiday. There is no denying that our country has been dragging through a lot of serious problems this year. However, at the same time we should not fail to duly appreciate the significant blessings recounted above. Nor should we forget to thank God, "from whom all blessings flow," or neglect the fact that these good things have been obtained from Him through the prayers and sacrifices of so many nuns and monks in convents and monasteries thruout this nation and the world.

Reality Check for President Obama

2009-11-24T12:56:00.008-05:00

Okay, I have some stuff to catch up on here. Good news! One year after the smashing electoral victory that sent Illinois Senator Barack Obama to the White House with such power and glory, a few state elections held earlier this month (on November 3) seem to hint that the process of recovery has already begun for Republicans. In Virginia, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell defeated Democratic contender Creigh Deeds by a landslide, winning 59 percent of the vote to Deeds' 41 percent. McDonnell will replace the state's Democratic incumbent governor Tim Kaine. In 2008 a big deal was made of the fact that President Obama cruised to a win in Virginia, making it a "blue state" for the first time in thirty years. However, the magic of Obama seems to be losing its power. Twice this year, the president visited Virginia to publicly demonstrate his support for Deeds and urged Virginians to vote for him. Such efforts were ultimately fruitless. However, this Republican comeback was considered fairly predictable in a state that has been traditionally red for decades, and because of that it still counted as only a minor setback for President Obama.

Yes, the Obama administration might have dismissed this loss and moved on, had it not been for another top-level Republican victory in New Jersey. Here a Republican candidate for the governorship, Chris Christie, defeated Democratic incumbent governor Jon Corzine by a margin of 49 to 45 percent. This victory was considered more significant, however, because New Jersey is a highly urbanized East Coast state that in recent years has been just as blue as California. Moreover, just last year New Jersey voters selected President Obama by a landslide of 66 percent.

This one-two punch was certainly a test of President Obama's influence, as the media correctly admitted. And I think it is fair to say, that these two Republican pickups in an election off-year are evidence of a much broader dissatisfaction with the Obama administration that has already permeated the American public just in that administration's first year in office. Americans may have elected Barack Obama with a rush of gushy feelings because he was a handsome, positive orator who offered hope and change, as well as to show their disappointment with certain aspects of the Bush administration and Republicans. But when it comes down to concrete issues such as abortion, traditional marriage, health care, taxes, and the economy, during 2009 it has been President Obama versus the American people. On abortion and traditional marriage, important victories have been won in spite of the administration. On health care, Americans don't want an expensive "public option" that would create a vast new government bureaucracy and jack up their taxes to further heights. On taxes, the American people want a real tax cut; the administration has not given it to them. On the economy, unemployment rates continue to rise, small businesses are closing much faster than new ones are opening, and the average Joe is no better off than he was a year ago. No wonder our president's nationwide approval rating is now in the 40s.

I myself do not profess to be a Republican or a Democrat, but am independent of political parties. Thus I find the election results in these two states significant not so much because Republican candidates won, but because both of the Democratic candidates who lost were pro-abortion. In other words, the Democratic ship is sinking because most of its passengers insist on continuing to promote an evil practice that Americans no longer support. Nationally, the election results taken together are a backlash against Democrats in Congress and the White House for championing abortion and raising taxes.

Oh, and did you hear the rest of the good news from Election Day? Voters in Maine turned down a referendum that would have allowed "gay marriage" in their state. This makes Maine the 31st state in a row to reject homosexual "marriage" by popular vote.

More good news in the next column.

A Tale of Two Seasons

2009-11-04T23:18:00.004-05:00

Fall is now one of my favorite seasons. There is something magical about the cool dry weather, the gentle slanting sunshine, the deep blue sky, and the brilliant colors adorning the trees that invites contemplation in a way that the piercing overhead sun, stifling humidity, and solid green of summer simply cannot. It is true that summertime is generally considered the ultimate season for relaxation; it is certainly the time when travel and outdoor activities are at their peak, while many people are enjoying a well-deserved break from work and school activities. However, if I am not mistaken, oftentimes summer can degenerate from a healthy period of recreation and refreshment into a mirror of the rest of the frenetic working year; people try to cram all the sports, vacations, family picnics, scenic drives, gardening, summer programs, and garage sales they can in between weddings and holidays during the three months of warm weather, only to find themselves exhausted as they return to their regular work schedule. This reminds me with a chuckle of a quotation from columnist Russell Baker in Back to Basics: "Leisure pastime in this country has become so complicated that it is now hard work....We are not far from the time when a man after a hard weekend of leisure will go thankfully off to his job to unwind."

I personally find the autumn environment more conducive to relaxation than that of summer. As I gaze at the natural beauty of a perfect autumn day, I observe that nature is slowing down, and this invites me to slow down as well. As fall moves on and the sun gradually traces a lower arc across the sky, the golden orb seems to be descending graciously toward the earth and bathing the forests in some of its light. The striking sight of a tree blanketed in yellow leaves especially evokes this impression. Then as October melts into November, the leaves silently drop off the tree branches as though they are surrendering with resignation to the approach of winter. This encourages me to prepare for the freezing weather that will soon be upon us.

While growing up in the temperate, semi-arid climate of coastal California, I did not really know what seasons were. We never had snow where I lived, and a hard frost was rare. The local farmers benefited from a twelve-month growing season for many of their crops. Also there were few deciduous trees that could turn color in fall. When I first moved to Ohio at the age of sixteen, I was initially shocked by the Midwest weather, which seemed extreme: humid with highs in the 90s in summer, mountains of snow and slippery ice with temperatures reaching thirteen below zero in winter. I could mention also the dozens of yearly thunderstorms with their deadly lightning and resulting thunder banging the windows of the house, or the tornado watches that frequently accompanied these storms. Over time, however, I gradually became adjusted to the meteorological conditions of the Buckeye State, and I learned to appreciate the more sedate weather that spring and fall offered. After about five years of living in Ohio, I felt that the rhythm of the seasons had finally sunk into my bones. It has been an interesting experience to see what “real” weather is like outside of California.

Lately I've been enjoying the sight of fall leaves adorning the ground around the house and getting my outdoor Christmas lightstrings ready for the joyful season ahead. There is something about brown fallen leaves and Christmas lights that makes the two go well together. This mimics the blending of fall and winter weather patterns that typically marks the month of November.

I enjoy putting up Christmas lights on the house just as my father used to do every year as I was growing up. My enthusiasm for this annual hobby has not waned with my entry into adulthood. Like a Christmas tree and other decorations inside the home, outdoor lights add cheer to the celebration of Christ’s birth, and they can lift the spirits of other people passing by in the evening too. Moreover, while the heavy, energy-consuming C9 lights of my childhood had to be stapled to the eaves of the roof, you can do just about anything with the miniature lights, and the energy costs are much lower. (And now the latest and greatest are LED lights, which use even less energy.)

Another trait that fall and winter share is dark, starry night skies. This is partly due to clearer, colder air and partly to the fact that the brightest stars in the heavens are found in the winter sky. Just as I admire the awesome sight of a dark winter sky filled with countless glistening stars, I take delight in the picturesque scene of little red, orange, green, pink, blue and purple lights contrasting with the black darkness of a winter evening. They remind me of Christ, the true Light of our lives, Who came down from Heaven into this world to lead us out of spiritual darkness.

A New Vision of Globalization

2009-10-30T10:10:00.008-04:00

Undoubtedly, one of the most important events of this year was the long-anticipated release of our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI's third encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth). This is the first social encyclical to emanate from the Vatican since Pope John Paul II published Sollicitudo Rei Socialis in 1987. Pope Benedict's first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love), drafted by John Paul II a few months before his death, had been completed and released in December 2005 within the first year of the new pontificate. Two years later in November 2007, Pope Benedict had issued his second encyclical, the first written entirely by him, Spe Salvi (Saved by Hope). This led some observers at that time to wonder whether a reverse pattern of the theological virtues was being set: with the new pope's first encyclical on love and a second about hope, would the third deal with faith? The late Father Richard John Neuhaus said in an EWTN interview with Raymond Arroyo that he did not think this would be the case. Although Father Neuhaus did not live to see the release of our present Holy Father's third encyclical, it turned out that he was correct.

Early in 2007, Vatican sources informed the press that Pope Benedict XVI had begun working on his second and third encyclicals. The topics of these documents engendered various surmises ranging from marriage and family life to religious fundamentalism--areas in which His Holiness was devoting considerable energy at the time. Meanwhile, curial officials close to the Pope soon confirmed that the third encyclical letter would apply Catholic social teaching to globalization and poverty. A cardinal in Rome also made clear in the summer of 2007 that His Holiness was not in a rush to write and release this particular document, but that because of the complexity of the subject matter, the Pope was devoting much time to prayer and study as he drafted the piece.

Indeed, I am glad that the Holy Father took his time in preparing this document, to ensure that it would carefully address all of the modern interrelated global social issues. To synthesize these multifarious issues into a coherent perspective would be a challenging task for anyone given the interdisciplinary nature of the subject. Yet in Caritas in Veritate, our Holy Father has aptly set globalization and its effects within the clear perspective of Catholic social doctrine. Furthermore, in a few concise lines he has laid out for the Church of this era the theological basis for Catholic social teaching, in itself an invaluable treasure. With this landmark encyclical, Pope Benedict has accomplished even more: in a simple, orderly fashion, he has placed social teaching and issues within the context of love and truth, faith and reason, life, marriage and the family. Indeed, there is hardly a single aspect of the Catholic faith that is not woven into this beautiful tapestry. Caritas in Veritate is like the key to a code or the instruction manual of a celestial telescope kit in which the Holy Father shows how everything fits together and works. It is a long document, but to the point and jam-packed with information. As a papal encyclical, it presents the infallible magisterium of the Church on a subject of hard-to-exaggerate significance; as a work of theology, it is a distillation of Joseph Ratzinger's theological riches mined over the past sixty years; as a rationally sound philisophical treatise, it offers one of the finest examples of our Holy Father's intellectual giftedness; as a blueprint for the Church's social mission in the twenty-first century, it offers not just theoretical groundwork for the hierarchy but practical tips for the laity; as a letter from a spiritual father to his children, it is touched with the childlike humility and charming graciousness for which Pope Benedict has come to be known; as a work of literature, it must surely rank among the great classics of human history. Caritas in Veritate may have been long-awaited, but the wait was well worth it.

Public anticipation of this encyclical was certainly heightened by unstable economic conditions worldwide, leading to the economic crisis that struck the globe like an asteroid in 2008. Just as the United States nonchalantly reveled in its seeming indestructibility prior to 9/11, a widely accepted notion held that the new post-Cold War global economy was immune to recession and failure. In both cases, when the popular myth collapsed, people were left with a sense of disillusionment and started hunting for truthful answers to the question of "what went wrong." In the current case, Catholics and non-Catholics around the world expected that the new social encyclical in the works would have some answers regarding the shortcomings of our contemporary globalization system and how these flaws might be remedied. Thus they looked forward with respectful eagerness to whatever words of wisdom our Holy Father would impart on this complicated issue. Caritas in Veritate does not disappoint at all in this respect either, as we will see.

Critics of Pope Benedict (who are a phenomenon unto themselves, as they have no rational basis for their criticism) foretold that this encyclical would be chiefly a condemnation of Communism or unrestrained capitalism, or both. But these folks ought to know by now that scolding and reviling are not the trademarks of Benedict XVI. While taking accurate and forthright account of the major problems with the current system of globalization, Caritas in Veritate is primarily a positive document. It is an exciting document, because here for the first time we have a truly insightful and accurate analysis of the phenomenon of globalization, enlightened by the full splendor of the Catholic faith, together with a vision of the vast potential that worldwide interdependence has for building a true human family on the basis of charity in truth. It is nothing less than a new vision of globalization that Pope Benedict is presenting to the Church and the world.

The introductory paragraphs of the encyclical, numbers 1 through 9, constitute the solid foundation on which Pope Benedict builds his thesis. In these passages, the Holy Father defines charity and truth, and succinctly explains the link between the two. Both have their origin in God, Who is Eternal Love and Absolute Truth, and both are fully revealed in Jesus Christ. Thus "to defend the truth, to articulate it with humility and conviction, and to bear witness to it in life are... exacting and indispensable forms of charity" (no. 1). In paragraph 2, Pope Benedict says that charity "is the principle not only of micro-relationships (with friends, with family members or within small groups) but also of macro-relationships (social, economic and political ones)." In subsequent chapters of his encyclical, the Pope makes abundantly clear the importance of both the "micro-relationships" and the "macro-relationships" to human society, and that as Catholics we have a responsibility to promote charity and truth in both spheres. Charity and truth are two sides of the same coin: "Truth needs to be sought, found and expressed within the 'economy' of charity," says His Holiness, "but charity in its turn needs to be understood, confirmed and practised in the light of truth." Furthermore, this light is lit by both reason and faith (no. 3). In paragraph 5 the Holy Father defines charity as "love received and given" (note the order of the words: love is first received from God and then given to others), and then points out that this dynamic of charity gives rise to the Church's social teaching, "which is caritas in veritate in re sociali: the proclamation of the truth of Christ's love in society."

In paragraphs 6 and 7, Pope Benedict examines two of the criteria that govern moral action which are relevant to human development in our increasingly globalized society: justice and the common good, respectively. First he deals with the interconnection between charity and justice, noting that we cannot be charitable to others unless we are first just towards them. Moreover, he says that "justice is inseparable from charity, and intrinsic to it" (no. 6). The pontiff quotes Pope Paul VI in calling justice the "minimum measure" of charity. In other words, to give people the basic requirements of justice is not a separate issue from charity, but an integral part of it. Then he explains that besides the good of the individual person, there is the good linked to living in society, the common good. "To desire the common good and strive towards it is a requirement of justice and charity" (no. 7).

But how do we strive towards the common good? In these same two paragraphs, the Supreme Pontiff weaves his answer to this question into a beautiful "theology of the city." Here the Pope is using the word "city" to mean "human community," and he identifies charity and justice as essential ingredients in building this community. He says in number 6 that the earthly city is built up not merely by relationships of rights and duties (justice) but "by relationships of gratuitousness, mercy and communion" (love). Pope Benedict explains what striving for the common good means: "To take a stand for the common good is on the one hand to be solicitous for, and on the other hand to avail oneself of, that complex of institutions that give structure to the life of society, juridically, civilly, politically and culturally, making it the pólis, or “city” (no. 7). He says that every Christian is called to practice charity "in a manner corresponding to his vocation and according to the degree of influence he wields" in public life. He then adds: "This is the institutional path — we might also call it the political path — of charity, no less excellent and effective than the kind of charity which encounters the neighbour directly." Putting politics and charity together in the same breath might strike some people as odd, but after all the whole business of politics is to promote the common good. Here the pontiff also confirms the error of some misguided Catholics who have chosen to opt out of political life altogether, and he proclaims that active citizenship is a duty of charity. Thus the Pope echoes the Catholic bishops of the United States, who maintain that "responsible citizenship is a virtue, and participation in political life is a moral obligation" (Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, no. 13). In an increasingly interconnected world, says our Holy Father, the concept of the common good and efforts to obtain it must be broadened in corresponding measure to embrace the entire human family, "that is to say, the community of peoples and nations." Pope Benedict goes on to say that "man's earthly activity, when inspired and sustained by charity, contributes to the building of the universal city of God" in unity and peace (no. 7); it is a prefigurement of the heavenly city, the ultimate goal of human existence.

(This article remains to be continued in a future post.)

Rollin' Along with the Newsboys

2009-10-26T16:30:00.008-04:00

The newsboys have been one of my favorite Christian pop/rock bands ever since I was introduced to their music in 2004. My family and I are relatively latecomer fans compared to the legions of music lovers who have been enjoying this group since the 1990s. Perhaps there are also a few Australians who remember the 'boys' independent first release on cassette tape in 1987, He's Coming Back, before they left for the States to sign their first record deal. It was the 1992 release of Not Ashamed on the Star Song label that catapulted the newsboys to fame in the Christian music world. A string of Dove Awards followed, and subsequent albums sold like hotcakes, with many number one hits such as "Shine," "Spirit Thing," "Beautiful Sound" and "Breakfast." In 2002, the year of their CD release Thrive, the newsboys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. Next year their first worship album, Adoration, was the third to top the Christian music charts. The favorably reviewed GO album of 2006 was followed by three national concert tours, all of which were very popular. During those tours, the newsboys released a compilation entitled The Greatest Hits. Continuing the theme of motion, in 2008 the band recorded and released a spectacular live concert DVD in Houston, Texas called Houston We Are GO. While I have not yet purchased this album, it is definitely on my list.

What is the secret to the newsboys' phenomenal success in such a highly competitive field as modern Christian music? In answer, I would simply say that the newsboys have been doing their best to proclaim the Gospel message in their music, and to believe and live it in their offstage lives as well. Through the years, their music has sounded consistently positive, uplifting, inspiring and entertaining. Moreover, the newsboys differ from many other pop and rock groups who call themselves Christian but do not faithfully proclaim the Gospel in their music, or do not live as disciples of Jesus. And although the group does not share the fullness of the Christian Gospel truth found in the Catholic Church, it is almost like a Catholic band in its joyful spirit and the peaceful demeanor of its members.

For this ground-breaking, chart-topping, multiple-award-winning contemporary Christian music group, 2009 has been a remarkable milestone year. First, in March band founder and longtime lead vocalist Peter Furler publicly announced his decision to retire from center stage, while continuing his work as producer and songwriter for the band. He also nominated a good friend of the newsboys, Michael Tait, the accomplished leader of dc Talk, to take his place, and Mr. Tait gladly accepted. Then in May, the newsboys' final album recorded before Peter's resignation, In the Hands of God, was released nationwide. In the following weeks it was snapped up by millions, becoming the band's first number-one bestselling Christian album in the United States since "Adoration" had achieved that ranking in 2003. Finally, in October "the new newsboys" took their show on the road with "The Way We Roll" tour, featuring Michael Tait along with veteran band members Jody Davis, Duncan Phillips and Jeff Frankenstein.

When I first heard that Peter Furler had quit his lead role, I considered the newsboys to be disbanded as far as I was concerned, and resolved not to follow them any more or purchase any of their future recordings. However, my opinion and resolution have fortunately changed, and the success of "The Way We Roll" tour has rekindled my enthusiasm for the band. Michael Tait couldn't have been a better choice to carry on the mission of the newsboys. While I still miss Phil Joel and Peter, Duncan and Jeff are familiar faces. Additionally, the return of Jody Davis (the only Catholic member) to the band is a pleasant surprise, and certainly a plus that helps balance out the recent losses. I am now looking forward with genuine interest to the release of the newsboys' first album starring their new lead singer, Michael Tait.

Good luck, 'boys.

Simplify, Simplify

2009-09-29T09:30:00.008-04:00

(Continued from previous post)

But despite the grave flaws in Thoreau's philosophy, there are precious nuggets of sound doctrine and timeless truth in his writings. Take, for example, his favorite motto, "Simplify, simplify," a message that the bewilderingly complex modern world would do well to heed. Most of us, most of the time are far too busy for our own good. Allow me to quote from the biography of Thoreau in the book I am reading: "He believed that civilization creates artificial needs, that luxuries become necessities, that men hurry forward in a feverish existence until they lose all purpose in life." (Roy J. DeFerrari et al, ed., American Literature, Seton Press, 1998) Isn't this true of us today? We work so hard for so many years just to make a profit so that we can buy more and more material things that we want, and as a result our whole goal in life becomes to satisfy our never-ending whims and desires. This vicious circle leads to weariness and feelings of emptiness and unhappiness, even to the point where "life is not worth living." The successful billionaire CEO materialist finds to his bitter disappointment that his life has no meaning. Why? Because God created us for more than just material things. He designed our lives for a spiritual purpose, and therefore only spiritual goods--love of God and love of neighbor--can make us truly happy on earth.

But how do we love God? One way we can do this is to enjoy the gifts He has given us, such as the beauty of nature. Thoreau was correct in his appreciation for this gift, which moved him to build a small home amid natural surroundings. I wouldn't recommend living perpetually in the wild as Thoreau did, and most of us couldn't even if we wanted to. However, we can all take a little time now and then to enjoy some natural beauty, and often we don't have to go far from home to find it. It might be a fishing trip to a nearby lake, a nature trail hike, a vacation to a national park or even a birdwatching session in your own backyard. Whatever it is, an experience of God's creation always leaves us with a sense of awe and wonder; it refreshes our spirit; and it refocuses our attention on what matters most in life. We come to realize the truth that God's creation is more important and meaningful than our handheld video games or the milion and one things we can do with our iPhone. Man-made products should improve, complement and enhance our lives, not turn into replacements for what God has made.

One way we can love our neighbor is by sharing some of our excess money and goods with those who are less fortunate. This is where charitable and humanitarian agencies, cordially despised by Thoreau, come in. From the local food pantry to diocesan relief programs to the Missionaries of Charity and Catholic Relief Services to the Boy and Girl Scouts, Red Cross, other Christian charities and even nonreligious organizations such as the Relay for Life, charitable institutions play a very important role in society. They enable those who have everything they need and then some to help those who lack even the basic necessities. Furthermore, many for-profit corporations are now donating a share of their income to programs that benefit people in the poorest parts of the globe. The key to loving your neighbor in this way is to realize that you do not need everything you have or wish to have, and then you find yourself free to give some of that to another person. If instead of unlimited greed and materialism we learned to set limits for ourselves and be content with less, our human civilization would be very different and our world would be a much happier place.

A tantalizing glimpse of this next best thing to paradise on earth is available in the award-winning film Into Great Silence. This intrepid two-hour masterpiece from German film director Philip Groning takes you inside a cloistered Carthusian monastery situated high in the French Alps. The monks who inhabit this enclosure live according to the most strict rule for a Catholic religious order in the world, which demands rigorous lives of prayer, work and contemplation, with conversation virtually prohibited altogether and no CD players, radio, TV or visitors. Yet in spite of their "stern and more than Spartan simplicity of life" (Thoreau), the monks are happy, as evidenced by their laughter during Sunday recreation and their playful games in the winter snow. Why? Because the monks possess spiritual treasure in their exalted love of God and neighbor. Moreover, the movie itself is almost exclusively a succession of candid scenes as it contains no music, no digital special effects, no discernible plot, no explanations of mysterious scenes, almost no dialogue and, as the title suggests, a bare minimum of sound. Yet this film somehow managed to pack theaters across Europe and also has enjoyed significant popularity in the United States. Why? For the same reason the monks are happy: because materialism has failed to satisfy people even in the modern age, leaving them empty and hungry for spiritual goods. Into Great Silence is truly a feast for the spirit that satisfies their hunger.

In the midst of this chopping sea of civilized life such as the clouds and
storms and quicksands and thousand and one items to be allowed for, that a man
has to live, if he would not founder and go to the bottom and not make his port
at all, by dead reckoning; and he must be a great calculator indeed who
succeeds. Simplify, simplify. --Henry David Thoreau

...Such As Literature

2009-09-10T17:29:00.014-04:00

After four posts about my book and three about health care reform, it's a pleasure to introduce a new subject to my blog, that of literature. Last night, I was browsing through an old collection of American literature when I came upon some selections from Henry David Thoreau. This unusual writer offers a good example of what happens when a person overreacts to one extreme by swinging to the other. Thoreau was painfully aware of the evils of his day in social institutions, politics, and American society in general, but his response was to withdraw from society altogether and become a hermit on the shore of Walden Pond. This reaction was based on Thoreau's own pessimistic philosophy of life and his excessive distrust of human nature. Human nature is indeed weak, but Thoreau went so far as to assert that no human organization or group was of any value or could contribute any real benefit to humanity.

Such a cynical view is incompatible with Christianity. The Christian believes that Jesus, by the power of his Cross and Resurrection, has adopted us as his sons and daughters and shared with us the power of His Grace, so that we can build a society of true love and faithful service to one another. While the Christian fully realizes that human nature is still weakened due to the effects of original sin, and that these effects have led and will always lead to disorders in society, he hears the voice of God constantly calling him to participate in society precisely to remedy the evils that are present there. We each have a responsibility to work for the common good and for the reform and strengthening of social and civic institutions so they can better fulfill their missions.

Now, I'd like to point out that Thoreau's reaction of abandoning society to its wickedness is fundamentally different from when a person chooses to enter a cloistered convent or a monastery. The Christian who follows God's call to religious life is not turning his back on the cruel world and sardonically wishing it good luck. On the contrary, he is convinced that he and his fellow members of the religious community can do the world even more good by a life of prayer and sacrifice than if they were out in the world. Then a mysterious thing happens. The closer they come to God, the closer monks and nuns are spiritually to all their brothers and sisters outside. And God works through their prayers to bring spiritual blessings to people all over the world.

(To be continued)

Just A Footnote, And Then On To Other Things

2009-09-05T12:28:00.010-04:00

I'd like to add a brief footnote to my previous post about the U.S. health care debacle. In this article, I explained that the massive public scrutiny being given to our government's health care reform effort is due to the Obama administration's agenda to increase federal funding of and expand public access to abortion. This is certainly a major reason for this scrutiny, as a result of the fine public awareness efforts of Cardinal Justin Rigali and our Catholic bishops. However, I neglected to fully account for the massive public opposition to President Obama's health care plan expressed at town hall meetings across the country in recent weeks. The foremost reason why Americans are rejecting the health care bills is that they would have to pay for them--and right now, they can't even afford to pay their existing taxes.

We Americans don't want a system of socialized medicine. Yet our Democratic representatives in the House, Senate and White House have been attempting to build just such a system by marketing it to us as "reform" of the current system. However, the American people are not fools. They understand that a government-run health care system costs money. The hundreds of millions and billions of dollars that federal health care would cost is going to have to come from somewhere. Where will it come from if not from the pockets of the American people and their children and grandchildren? In the long run, the only way to support any new federal government program is through tax increases. The economy is on eggshells as it is. If the Obama administration dares to raise taxes on the American people, the economy will grind to a halt.

Of course, many Americans have fortunately wised up to the fact that Democrats (before elections) routinely talk about lowering taxes, and then (after election) break those promises and raise taxes. I would like to ask President Obama: Where is the tax cut you promised for 95 percent of working families? Before election, then-Senator Obama remarked that "the folks out on Main Street" need a hand, and government should extend them a hand with a stimulus package. That much-vaunted stimulus package appears to have instead been a temporary stimulus for Wall Street. Sorry, but I and most other Americans would rather have the government extend us a real, true helping hand--not the greedy open hand of Uncle Sam, but a hand in the form of generous and permanent tax cuts.

One year ago, then-Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin said:

We do need tax relief and Barack Obama even supported increasing taxes as
late as last year [2007] for those families making only $42,000 a year. That's a
lot of middle income average American families to increase taxes on them. I
think that is the way to kill jobs and to continue to harm our economy.

I couldn't agree more, and I think this statement rings even truer now.

Americans in general are opposed to abortion, but they are more strongly opposed to any expansion of it, and they are overwhelmingly against it when it is to be funded with their own hard-earned tax dollars.

My next post will be about a different topic--I promise!

Hurried, Corrupt and Evil Health Care Reform

2009-08-18T15:40:00.005-04:00

While I hope to continue to make this blog an interesting and enjoyable place, I feel compelled at this time to express some strong personal convictions about what is happening in the United States right now with health care reform. In recent months and especially in the last few weeks, this has swelled into a big issue, almost rivaling the economic crisis in media attention and in many Americans' minds. Why?

Well, for one thing, everyone recognizes that the U.S. health care system is in dire need of reform (and frankly, just about every other system in this country run by the federal government is in the same boat). The percentage of Americans who lack health insurance has grown substantially in recent years, medical costs have skyrocketed, and many people are not getting the health care they need. Health care is a complex multifaceted issue that involves both the public and private sectors and directly affects all Americans sooner or later. Thus, reform of this system is a big project likely to draw wide attention.

But more than that, health care reform is in the spotlight right now because the administration of President Barack Obama has made it a priority. "Health care reform can not wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year," as President Obama famously declared near the middle of his first year in office. The president has been pushing Congress to quickly pass new legislation that would supposedly deliver better and more accessible health care to the American people.

I have to wonder, though: Why such a rush to health care reform? You can't fix a broken system overnight, whether it’s the economy or health care. Reform is a major undertaking that requires careful research and accurate analysis of the situation, together with a generous period of honest public discussion and debate concerning short-term, medium-term and long-term measures that should be taken to correctly address the situation. Moreover, these elements of reform need the foundation of common moral and ethical guiding principles.

None of these requirements are being met in the current rush to draft and pass health care bills. As a result, U.S. health care reform is on the road to disaster.

So again, why this hurried effort by the Obama administration to enact health care reform? The administration has its reasons for hurrying. One is that they have a semi-secret agenda to accomplish, and this agenda collides head-on with the will of the American people. Whether the mainstream media will acknowledge it or not, there is in fact a fundamental issue even more important to Americans than the twin heavyweights of economic recovery and quality health care. That issue is the right to life of every human being, especially the most innocent and defenseless--the unborn child in the womb.

In Washington, health care reform is being touted merely as a ruse. It serves as a convenient vehicle to advance the Obama administration’s ever more urgent hidden agenda. That agenda is to increase federal funding of, and expand public access to, abortion. And this is the most important reason why health care reform has drawn the scrutiny of Americans right now.

The urgency of this semi-secret agenda from the viewpoint of its proponents becomes clear when we look at trends in recent years. Since 1993, the annual number of abortions and abortion providers in the United States has been in steady decline. U.S. voters across this country (a majority of whom are women) have built and continue to support a vast infrastructure of state restrictions on abortion, from parental notification laws to bans on state funding for abortions to sonogram viewing and waiting period requirements for pregnant girls prior to their scheduled abortion procedure. These laws, together with adoption, crisis pregnancy care centers and various outreach programs, have been wonderfully beneficial for women, for their unborn children and for society itself. Meanwhile, polls have confirmed that an increasing percentage of American citizens oppose the legalization of abortion through the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision of 1973. As of this writing, survey reports indicate that a majority of the American people are pro-life.

However, in Congress the overall trend with abortion has been moving in the opposite direction, especially since a Democratic majority came to power in 2006 in the House and Senate. In 2007 Representative Jerry Nadler and Senator Barbara Boxer introduced an infamous joint resolution deceptively named the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). The contents of this revolting abortion bill are so evil and frightening that it could only have come straight from Hell and been conceived by the Devil himself. It would have, at one stroke, demolished all state restrictions on abortion. Moreover, this draconian bill would have far surpassed Roe v. Wade in elevating abortion to the status of a “fundamental human right” subject to unlimited government funding and support. Apparently our Congressional representatives intended to remove every legal barrier and provide every possible incentive for Americans to murder their offspring.

So a rift has opened up between the American people and their federal government on the issue of abortion, and in the past few years this rift has been growing increasingly wider. The Obama administration may have given up on FOCA due to massive public opposition (thank God), but it is still bound and determined to enact at least some of FOCA’s provisions into law—for example, the sickening concept of “abortion coverage” as a “health benefit”—whether the American people support them or not.

And what is driving this wicked agenda to ram abortion down our throats? The answer is money. Abortion is still a big, $100 million-per-year business that makes a handful of people and companies in the U.S. quite wealthy. But with the gradual nationwide decline in demand for killing “services” and a fervent pro-life ethic among the younger generation of Americans, abortion providers face the real threat of going out of business altogether sometime within the next decade or two. Thus to salvage a sinking enterprise, the multimillion-dollar abortion industry has turned to the rich and powerful federal government for a hand--just as the financial institutions have turned to the same government for rescue from annihilation since late last year. In both cases, the government has generously responded with legislation and fiat money. This administration is not serving our interests but the interests of rich and powerful lobby groups on Capitol Hill. In my estimation, the Obama administration is the most corrupt administration in American history.

This is another reason for the race to health care reform: President Obama and his cronies don’t want Americans to find out the truth behind their new health care policies. In a democracy, corruption has to hurry or else it can’t achieve its ends. Too much research, analysis, discussion and debate—essential for proper reform and healthy for democracy—would expose this corrupt agenda and result in its doom. The “hurried” and “evil” aspects of health care reform both result from the driving force of corruption. Transparency and accountability are crucial for the correct functioning of democracy, yet little of either is evident with our government’s rapidly coalescing health care plan.

So given the divergence between American respect for life on the one hand and governmental obsession with death on the other, our leaders are forced to pretend that they are representing the wishes of the people while they pursue an agenda contrary to those wishes. How long they can keep up this charade remains to be seen in these uncertain and unpredictable times. However, a few things are certain. The American people want affordable health care reform that respects life. Their elected representatives want a health care plan that pads their own pockets and funds murder. Sooner or later, either the abortion industry or its puppet government or both will cave in. But the pro-life movement in this country is strong, it is steadily advancing, and it is destined to win.

Attention: "FOCA-by-Stealth" At Work

2009-07-16T13:53:00.013-04:00

Yesterday I received the following press release from the Catholic League via email that merits much wider attention:

HEALTH CARE BILL:
FREEDOM OF CHOICE ACT BY OTHER MEANS?

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the proposed health care legislation favored by the Obama administration:

On July 17, 2007, President Obama told his pro-abortion fans at Planned Parenthood that “the first thing I’d do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA).” Two years later, FOCA has yet to be reintroduced. But there are no signs that Planned Parenthood is disappointed, and that’s because Obama is delivering FOCA by stealth.

The principal reason why FOCA was not reintroduced was due to opposition from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Under the tutelage of Francis Cardinal George, head of the USCCB, and Justin Cardinal Rigali, head of the pro-life committee of the USCCB, the bishops made it clear that they would fight tooth and nail any attempt to get FOCA signed into law. Obama got the word, as did the bill’s sponsors, Rep. Jerry Nadler and Sen. Barbara Boxer. But that didn’t derail the pro-abortion forces from trying some back door maneuvering.

The USCCB believes, as does the Obama administration, that health care is a human right. The health care bills that have been served up by supporters of Obama, however, have provisions that mirror the most draconian elements found in FOCA. To be specific, in the past week, an amendment by Sen. Mike Enzi explicitly denying abortion coverage was defeated. When Sen. Orrin Hatch asked Sen. Barbara Mikulski if she would clarify her amendment so that abortion services would not be mandated, she said no; the amendment passed.

In other words, stealth politics is at work. No, FOCA is not on the table, but central provisions of it have made their way into the health care reform bills. What is most disturbing about all of this is that the public is being hoodwinked: most have no idea of the games that are being played. All the more reason why a national discussion on this issue needs to begin immediately.

###

First of all, thank you to our bishops for their moral strength and fortitude in courageously defending the right to life of the unborn.

I would like to add to this, that another principal reason why the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) has not been reintroduced in the U.S. Congress is due to overwhelming opposition from the American people! As of this writing, more than 700,000 people have signed the Fight FOCA Petition (at www.fightfoca.com), a project of Americans United for Life (AUL). Why? Because Americans do not want all restrictions on abortion nationwide removed. They do not want abortions to be carried out by non-physicians (which would be extremely dangerous for women!) They do not want religious hospitals and health care facilities to be forced to kill unborn babies against their belief (doesn't sound like any freedom of choice there). And they do not want Big Government using their hard-earned taxpayer dollars to pay for other people's abortions, with the economy going down the tubes to boot.

As a result of this opposition to their bill, FOCA advocates have reverted to a more subtle strategy which AUL dubs "FOCA-by-Stealth." This involves slipping key provisions of FOCA into Congressional bills that deal with health care reform, such as the one mentioned above. If this bill passes Congress and gets signed into law by the president, every family in the United States would have access to free abortions paid for under the law by American taxpayers through Washington, D.C. I don't think Bill Donohue was exaggerating when he referred to this measure as draconian.

If this bill makes you unhappy, then this post has served its purpose. The more Americans become aware of FOCA-by-Stealth, the easier it will be to defeat. I will continue to expose FOCA-by-Stealth in future posts as the occasion arises.

Radio Interview

2009-07-10T21:17:00.006-04:00

I have some exciting news to share with all of you! On July 8 I received an invitation from the local radio station WCIT 940 AM in Lima, Ohio, to give an interview about my book America's Back-Door Enemy. My marketing agent informed me of the invitation through email and I accepted it yesterday.

The interview will be on Talk with Ron Williams this coming Wednesday, July 15, at 3:05 PM Eastern time. It will be conducted over the phone, so I won't even have to leave the house. Wonderful!

If you are not in the Lima area, you can listen to the interview live by logging onto WCIT's website, http://www.940wcit.com/, and clicking on the "Listen Live" icon. If you happen to miss the live broadcast, you can still listen to the interview by clicking on "Talk with Ron Williams" and then "Hour 1 of the July 15 Show."

I look forward to talking about my book with Ron, and I gladly appreciate your prayers that all goes well!

Breaking News: Book Officially Released

2009-07-02T19:01:00.006-04:00

On June 23, my first book America's Back-Door Enemy: Unmasking the Unknown Terrorists was officially released by Tate Publishing & Enterprises. This was a proud day for me as a young author, and roughly coincided with my four-year anniversary of beginning to write the book. (I started the first draft manuscript in early June 2005, although I cannot remember the exact date.)

From my viewpoint as author, the release date represents the culmination of a long and involved process that includes researching, writing, rewriting, submitting, finding a publisher, editing, and getting a book published. But for the staff at the publisher, things are only just beginning. They accepted the manuscript, helped me prepare it for publication, printed the book, prepared it for distribution, and developed a marketing strategy to get bookstores interested in the book. Now, finally, Tate Publishing can begin marketing and distributing the book to thousands of bookstores across the United States, giving it a chance to succeed.

There's a lot more to it than that, but it all boils down to this: As of June 23, America's Back-Door Enemy is now widely accessible through both traditional and online bookstores.

1. The book is available from Borders, Barnes & Noble or your local bookstore if that store is plugged into the Ingram/Spring Arbor distribution system (more than 25,000 bookstores in the U.S. are part of this system). If this store does not happen to have the book in stock, you may order it through them and expect delivery within a few weeks.

2. The book is available on Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, Target.com and other websites.

As always, I welcome your comments and questions regarding the book and my blog.

...And Here Is My First Book!

2009-06-09T11:31:00.006-04:00

(Photo courtesy Tate Publishing)

I'm excited to inform you that my first book, America's Back-Door Enemy: Unmasking the Unknown Terrorists, has finally been published! It is now available from Tate Publishing & Enterprises at http://www.tatepublishing.com/. It is also available in the form of an audio book (set of CDs) and as an electronic book (e-book) that you can read on your computer.

Based on two years of extensive independent research, America's Back-Door Enemy offers a fresh look at terrorism and America's response to it. Starting with the horrific terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, it begins to explain what terrorism is, what Osama bin Laden is really up to, how the Taliban sheltered al-Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan, why the United States invaded Iraq, and much more. Also, as the title implies, this book lifts the lid on a conspiracy involving certain members of the U. S. and Israeli governments--a conspiracy in which terrorism is exploited to serve their own political and financial ends. All this and more is discussed from the clear moral perspective of Catholicism and America's Founding Fathers.

Stay tuned for more information about the book in upcoming posts. In addition, I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have about the book.

Introduction: This Is My First Post, On My First Blog!

2009-06-05T12:36:00.000-04:00

Well, it took me four years to start my own blog, but here it is, finally. I have long dreamed of starting my own "real" website, but was always deterred by the monthly costs and time involved. I've since come to realize that a blog site is the next best thing--especially for a writer.

I am what may be described as a very traditionally-minded young person. When I first heard of "blogs" about seven years ago, I thought they were exotic, outlandish or a waste of time. But since then, the popularity of blogs and blogging on the Internet has exploded exponentially (just like the Internet itself and every other invention of the Digital Age). I resisted getting my own blog because I felt strongly that the "blogosphere," as it has come to be called, was just another symptom of modern cultural decay. The few blogs I had visited confirmed my generalized opinion: they were full of banal, meaningless chatter ridden with twenty-first-century slang that actually passed for "writing" about immoral subjects or topics that did not interest me in the slightest. Well, generalized negative opinions are often wrong, and this one was no exception. The realm of blogs is not uniformly dark. At best, the type of blog I just described can serve purely educational or recreational purposes; at worst, it is simply (like the Internet itself) another agent of the culture of death.

As the blogosphere expanded, I gradually got to know, and occasionally even visit, some really good blogs (which I will be recommending here). It dawned on me that the instrument of the blog can be used for good or for evil. So why not use it for good? After all, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have given us a challenge: They have called on us to use all the modern means of social communication available to evangelize the world, to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ, to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, and to foster a renewal of the Christian culture that gave birth to our Western civilization. I'm ready to answer that challenge right here on my first blog.

The main topics I currently plan to write about here are my first book, abortion & the pro-life movement, American politics and elections, the economic crisis, U.S. and world news stories that grab my attention, the Catholic Church, and anything else that interests me.

Enjoy the site, and feel free to post your comments below.