Some politicians, notably Catholic dissident Representative Nancy Pelosi, and some very vocal extremist homosexual activist groups have launched a vicious attack on Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, protesting his announced decision to participate in and speak at a rally preceding the second annual March for Marriage organized by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which is being held tomorrow in Washington, D.C. Archbishop Cordileone has responded with an excellent letter addressed to his detractors, in which he defends his public defense of traditional marriage. Here are a few excerpts from this letter, followed by my comments:
"I appreciate your affirmation of my Church’s teaching—not unique to our religion, but a truth accessible to anyone of good will—on the intrinsic human dignity of all people, irrespective of their stage and condition in life. That principle requires us to respect and protect each and every member of the human family, from the precious child in the womb to the frail elderly person nearing death. It also requires me, as a bishop, to proclaim the truth—the whole truth—about the human person and God’s will for our flourishing. I must do that in season and out of season, even when truths that it is my duty to uphold and teach are unpopular, including especially the truth about marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife. That is what I will be doing on June 19th."
Yes, the good archbishop is simply doing his job to teach and consistently defend the full truth of what God has revealed and what the Catholic Church teaches about the human person and the Creator's institution of marriage. Whether people accept or reject certain divinely revealed truths is irrelevant. The fullness of the truth must and always will be proclaimed by the Catholic Church. Those who accept the fullness of that truth belong to the Catholic Church; those who claim to be Catholic while rejecting one or more Church teachings are heretics. Human fashions and opinions are subject to change, but God's truth doesn't change. And how dare Nancy Pelosi, who claims to be Catholic, attack her own archbishop as an intolerant, anti-gay bigot for publicly defending the truth of what the Church teaches regarding the sacred institution of marriage! Archbishop Cordileone addresses this latter point as follows:
"The March for Marriage is not “anti-LGBT” (as some have described it); it is not anti-anyone or anti-anything. Rather, it is a pro-marriage March. The latter does not imply the former. Rather, it affirms the great good of bringing the two halves of humanity together so that a man and a woman may bond with each other and with any children who come from their union. This is precisely the vision promoted by Pope Francis, who recently said, “We must reaffirm the right of children to grow up in a family with a father and mother.” Rest assured that if the point of this event were to single out a group of individuals and target them for hatred, I most certainly would not be there."
Right on. Part of the tired old mainstream media spin is to cast pro-life and pro-marriage Americans as wild-eyed, hateful, bigoted attackers of those who are pro-abortion or in favor of legally equating same-sex unions with traditional marriage. This highly inaccurate portrayal is in fact more descriptive of pro-abortion extremists and homosexual activists. On the contrary, the overwheling majority of pro-life and pro-marriage Americans are people of good will who love and respect their enemies and who are doing their fellow men and women a great service by defending basic human rights and institutions that come from our Creator and form the foundations of our society and civilization. Yes, we must reaffirm the basic right of children to grow up in a traditional family, with a Mom and Dad. Defending that right is in no way an attack on homosexual persons.
"It gives me assurance that we share a common disdain for harsh and hateful rhetoric. It must be pointed out, though, that there is plenty of offensive rhetoric which flows in the opposite direction. In fact, for those who support the conjugal understanding of marriage, the attacks have not stopped at rhetoric. Simply for taking a stand for marriage as it has been understood in every human society for millennia, people have lost their jobs, lost their livelihoods, and have suffered other types of retribution, including physical violence."
The archbishop points out here that those, like him, who defend traditional marriage are increasingly under attack for doing so. In other words, most of the unjust bigotry and intolerance are coming from homosexual activists, not from defenders of traditional marriage. He also alludes to the crucial fact that marriage as the union of a man and a woman is not just Catholic teaching, but a fundamental principle of the natural law that has been recognized by all human societies throughout world history. Traditional marriage is God's design, engraved on the human heart; it is and always has been the basic building block of society. When people who espouse it can be unjustly attacked with impunity for doing so, something is seriously wrong with that society.
In closing, Archbishop Cordileone requests that his attackers get to know him before passing judgment on him:
"Please do not make judgments based on stereotypes, media images and comments taken out of context. Rather, get to know us first as fellow human beings. I myself am willing to meet personally with any of you not only to dialogue, but simply so that we can get to know each other....When all is said and done, then, there is only one thing that I would ask of you more than anything else: before you judge us, get to know us."
Good advice. But will Nancy Pelosi and her homosexual friends take it? I hope so. Let's pray for them.
I commend Archbishop Cordileone for his courteous, thoughtful, and well-reasoned response to his handful of vocal critics. His uncompromising defense of Catholic teaching and the natural law regarding the holy institution of marriage is refreshing. At a time when corruption is rampant in American politics and business, thank God that at least we have many fine bishops like Cordileone who are not afraid to teach and defend the truth about the human person and society against the despicable attacks of godless radical secularists, some of whom masquerade as Catholics and who are traitors to Christ and His Church. If America manages to survive the current onslaught of radical secularism, much of the credit will be due to the Catholic Church and to her faithful shepherds, including Pope Francis and Archbishop Cordileone. Let's keep them also in our prayers, that they remain faithful to Christ and His Church and continue fighting the good fight.
Showing posts with label Nancy Pelosi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nancy Pelosi. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Monday, October 21, 2013
Some Thoughts on the Government Shutdown & Reopening
Our federal government is now officially back up and running. After a fifteen-day stalemate between Republican House and Democratic Senate leaders over federal funding of ObamaCare, with a Treasury default staring them in the face, it was unfortunately the House Republicans who caved in, throwing their principles to the wind and giving the Obama administration just what it wants--federal funding of ObamaCare, at least for the next three months.
I'm angry with my corrupt elected representatives in Congress--angry with the Democrats for trying to force on us an immoral, unjust, un-Constitutional, impractical, and unaffordable "healthcare" law against our will that only benefits them and the abortion, pharmaceutical and insurance industries. And I'm even angrier with the Republicans for abandoning their core moral principles under the onslaught of economic and fiscal crises and surrendering to the immoral and unjust dictates of a corrupt and godless president. The Republicans in Congress have fallen yet again into the Obama administration's trap, allowing their focus to be diverted from the grave moral issues our country is facing--abortion, artificial contraception, euthanasia, moral relativism, and radical secularism, which are attacks on human life, on marriage and family life, on freedom of religion, on freedom of conscience, on our freedom to act in accord with the universal moral law, on absolute truth, and on our nation's Christian identity--to lesser economic and fiscal matters, such as the debt and the budget.
Just a few weeks ago, I was cheering the House Republicans for standing on principle and refusing to fund ObamaCare, even if this meant temporarily shutting down the federal government because Senate Democrats are so stubbornly determined to rom this immoral law down Americans' throats. Although I sympathized with the tens of thousands of federal government employees who lost their jobs and their means of providing for their families, I was nonetheless filled with hope for our beloved country during the shutdown. It felt like the eagles were once again flying in American skies, that we had true leadership on which we could depend, and that ObamaCare was slowly disintegrating before our eyes. I hoped that the Republicans would hold out as long as necessary, doing everything in their power to stall and delay the implementation of ObamaCare until it can be successfully repealed in its entirety. But unfortunately, the Republicans got scared when the whites of the eyes of the Treasury default monster came staring in their faces. Suddenly, protecting innocent human life, marriage and family life, religious liberties and moral conscience rights, our freedom to act in accord with the natural moral law, and upholding absolute truth and our nation's Christian identity, all seemed remote and unimportant compared to averting a looming fiscal catastrophe. Faced with a frightening scenario, our nation's hitherto strong and principled Republican leaders cowardly wilted and dropped their wings. They tucked in their tails and slunk away to the negotiating table, opting for the easy way out of a difficult problem, surrendering their moral principles to the wind and resorting to compromise for the sake of expediency and appearance.
Does that sound familiar? Yes, it has happened many times before: Cowardly betrayal for the sake of some temporary advantage by government officials who are supposed to protect innocent human life and guarantee liberty and justice for all. Pontius Pilate condemned the innocent Son of God to death in order to prevent a riot and advance his career. Judas betrayed Christ for thirty pieces of silver. Nancy Pelosi and other so-called "Catholics" in the U.S. Senate helped ensure the passage of a "healthcare" law that requires the murder of millions of innocent babies in their mother's wombs, for their own personal enrichment and the advancement of their political careers. Now the House Republicans have given us their own act of cowardly betrayal, consenting to the funding of ObamaCare for three full months--which includes the moral outrage of federal funding for abortions--in order to avoid a Treasury default, end the partial shutdown, and get on with their political careers.
All the talk in the media since the federal government reopening has been about how we need to stop kicking the can down the road, cut spending, reduce the debt, balance the budget, get the economy going again, etc., and whether the shutdown was even necessary in the first place--with nary a mention of the grave moral issues that provoked the shutdown. This skewing of the discussion away from the moral issues, or rather its failure to remain properly anchored within the framework of the absolute moral law, represents a tactical and propaganda victory for the Obama administration, which wants to avoid having the spotlight shone on the grave immorality and injustice of its policies. But we need to grapple with these serious issues from a proper moral perspective and keep the spotlight focused intensely on them. Was it worth it to shut down parts of the federal government in order to avoid paying for a law that attacks innocent human life, marriage, family, religious freedom, freedom of conscience, freedom to obey the moral law, absolute truth, and our nation's Christian identity on such a vast scale as ObamaCare does? Yes, it was absolutely worth it. Would it have been worth it to allow the Treasury to default in order to protect all of the aforementioned sacred treasures of the American people? Yes, even that would have been worth it. Human life, marriage, and family are sacred; the Treasury is not. Yet in the minds of our elected preresentatives on both sides of the aisle, protecting the Treasury was even more important than protecting innocent human life. This clearly indicates that our elected representatives in both parties have lost their moral compass. At the end of the day, money is more important to them than protecting the values on which our nation is built and the inalienable human rights that flow from those values. They do not worship the one true God of our Founding Fathers, but the false god of the dollar.
Our Catholic bishops welcomed the end of the shutdown beause of its negative effects on the poor and the unemployed. I, for one, did NOT welcome the end of this shutdown. I am greatly disappointed that the showdown over ObamaCare ended with pro-life, pro-family and pro-marriage Republicans giving in to President Obama's regime of abortion, contraception, and sterilization. If we Americans of traditional moral values and religious beliefs don't stand strong and defend them courageously against all comers, how can we hope to win real victories for human life, marriage, family, religious freedom, moral conscience rights, the natural moral law, absolute truth, and our nation's Christian identity?
I heartily applaud those eighteen Senate Republicans who voted against the Continuing Resolution passed on October 16 that returned our federal government to "business as usual." In the midst of this terrible debacle, as their House colleagues' resistance to ObamaCare melted away, they alone--unthanked and uncelebrated by many of their constituents--demonstrated true leadership, standing strong and acting with the courage of their convictions while others all around them fell prostrate before the almighty dollar for the sake of convenience. They deserve our sincere and heartfelt thanks. We desperately need more of that kind of leadership in our country today.
The bottom line is that our current federal government is both morally and fiscally irresponsible. The two are not unrelated, as will be shown in a future blog post. But the moral issues have to come first and foremost. Otherwise, we're just spinning our wheels.
I'm angry with my corrupt elected representatives in Congress--angry with the Democrats for trying to force on us an immoral, unjust, un-Constitutional, impractical, and unaffordable "healthcare" law against our will that only benefits them and the abortion, pharmaceutical and insurance industries. And I'm even angrier with the Republicans for abandoning their core moral principles under the onslaught of economic and fiscal crises and surrendering to the immoral and unjust dictates of a corrupt and godless president. The Republicans in Congress have fallen yet again into the Obama administration's trap, allowing their focus to be diverted from the grave moral issues our country is facing--abortion, artificial contraception, euthanasia, moral relativism, and radical secularism, which are attacks on human life, on marriage and family life, on freedom of religion, on freedom of conscience, on our freedom to act in accord with the universal moral law, on absolute truth, and on our nation's Christian identity--to lesser economic and fiscal matters, such as the debt and the budget.
Just a few weeks ago, I was cheering the House Republicans for standing on principle and refusing to fund ObamaCare, even if this meant temporarily shutting down the federal government because Senate Democrats are so stubbornly determined to rom this immoral law down Americans' throats. Although I sympathized with the tens of thousands of federal government employees who lost their jobs and their means of providing for their families, I was nonetheless filled with hope for our beloved country during the shutdown. It felt like the eagles were once again flying in American skies, that we had true leadership on which we could depend, and that ObamaCare was slowly disintegrating before our eyes. I hoped that the Republicans would hold out as long as necessary, doing everything in their power to stall and delay the implementation of ObamaCare until it can be successfully repealed in its entirety. But unfortunately, the Republicans got scared when the whites of the eyes of the Treasury default monster came staring in their faces. Suddenly, protecting innocent human life, marriage and family life, religious liberties and moral conscience rights, our freedom to act in accord with the natural moral law, and upholding absolute truth and our nation's Christian identity, all seemed remote and unimportant compared to averting a looming fiscal catastrophe. Faced with a frightening scenario, our nation's hitherto strong and principled Republican leaders cowardly wilted and dropped their wings. They tucked in their tails and slunk away to the negotiating table, opting for the easy way out of a difficult problem, surrendering their moral principles to the wind and resorting to compromise for the sake of expediency and appearance.
Does that sound familiar? Yes, it has happened many times before: Cowardly betrayal for the sake of some temporary advantage by government officials who are supposed to protect innocent human life and guarantee liberty and justice for all. Pontius Pilate condemned the innocent Son of God to death in order to prevent a riot and advance his career. Judas betrayed Christ for thirty pieces of silver. Nancy Pelosi and other so-called "Catholics" in the U.S. Senate helped ensure the passage of a "healthcare" law that requires the murder of millions of innocent babies in their mother's wombs, for their own personal enrichment and the advancement of their political careers. Now the House Republicans have given us their own act of cowardly betrayal, consenting to the funding of ObamaCare for three full months--which includes the moral outrage of federal funding for abortions--in order to avoid a Treasury default, end the partial shutdown, and get on with their political careers.
All the talk in the media since the federal government reopening has been about how we need to stop kicking the can down the road, cut spending, reduce the debt, balance the budget, get the economy going again, etc., and whether the shutdown was even necessary in the first place--with nary a mention of the grave moral issues that provoked the shutdown. This skewing of the discussion away from the moral issues, or rather its failure to remain properly anchored within the framework of the absolute moral law, represents a tactical and propaganda victory for the Obama administration, which wants to avoid having the spotlight shone on the grave immorality and injustice of its policies. But we need to grapple with these serious issues from a proper moral perspective and keep the spotlight focused intensely on them. Was it worth it to shut down parts of the federal government in order to avoid paying for a law that attacks innocent human life, marriage, family, religious freedom, freedom of conscience, freedom to obey the moral law, absolute truth, and our nation's Christian identity on such a vast scale as ObamaCare does? Yes, it was absolutely worth it. Would it have been worth it to allow the Treasury to default in order to protect all of the aforementioned sacred treasures of the American people? Yes, even that would have been worth it. Human life, marriage, and family are sacred; the Treasury is not. Yet in the minds of our elected preresentatives on both sides of the aisle, protecting the Treasury was even more important than protecting innocent human life. This clearly indicates that our elected representatives in both parties have lost their moral compass. At the end of the day, money is more important to them than protecting the values on which our nation is built and the inalienable human rights that flow from those values. They do not worship the one true God of our Founding Fathers, but the false god of the dollar.
Our Catholic bishops welcomed the end of the shutdown beause of its negative effects on the poor and the unemployed. I, for one, did NOT welcome the end of this shutdown. I am greatly disappointed that the showdown over ObamaCare ended with pro-life, pro-family and pro-marriage Republicans giving in to President Obama's regime of abortion, contraception, and sterilization. If we Americans of traditional moral values and religious beliefs don't stand strong and defend them courageously against all comers, how can we hope to win real victories for human life, marriage, family, religious freedom, moral conscience rights, the natural moral law, absolute truth, and our nation's Christian identity?
I heartily applaud those eighteen Senate Republicans who voted against the Continuing Resolution passed on October 16 that returned our federal government to "business as usual." In the midst of this terrible debacle, as their House colleagues' resistance to ObamaCare melted away, they alone--unthanked and uncelebrated by many of their constituents--demonstrated true leadership, standing strong and acting with the courage of their convictions while others all around them fell prostrate before the almighty dollar for the sake of convenience. They deserve our sincere and heartfelt thanks. We desperately need more of that kind of leadership in our country today.
The bottom line is that our current federal government is both morally and fiscally irresponsible. The two are not unrelated, as will be shown in a future blog post. But the moral issues have to come first and foremost. Otherwise, we're just spinning our wheels.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
March 21, 2010 -- A Day That Will Live in Infamy
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.
"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.
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