Pastor gets political and supports Green Bay's Bishop Rickens

Pastor Ryan Kibbe of Life Church has written this blog in which he explicitly supports the Bishop Rickens (and, by impliction, all the Catholic bishops). Silence shows complicty, he says.

Six Things Everyone Should Know about the HHS Mandate

The USCCB continues its campaign against the HHS Mandate that forces religious employers and institutions to purchase services that go against their religion. Here is the text that can be found at the USCCB website:

1. The mandate does not exempt Catholic charities, schools, universities, or hospitals. These institutions are vital to the mission of the Church, but HHS does not deem them "religious employers" worthy of conscience protection, because they do not "serve primarily persons who share the[ir] religious tenets." HHS denies these organizations religious freedom precisely because their purpose is to serve the common good of society—a purpose that government should encourage, not punish.

2. The mandate forces these institutions and others, against their conscience, to pay for things they consider immoral. Under the mandate, the government forces religious insurers to write policies that violate their beliefs; forces religious employers and schools to sponsor and subsidize coverage that violates their beliefs; and forces religious employees and students to purchase coverage that violates their beliefs.

3. The mandate forces coverage of sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs and devices as well as contraception. Though commonly called the "contraceptive mandate," HHS's mandate also forces employers to sponsor and subsidize coverage of sterilization. And, by including all drugs approved by the FDA for use as contraceptives, the HHS mandate includes drugs that can induce abortion, such as "Ella," a close cousin of the abortion pill RU-486.

4. Catholics of all political persuasions are unified in their opposition to the mandate. Catholics who have long supported this Administration and its healthcare policies have publicly criticized HHS's decision, including columnists E.J. Dionne, Mark Shields, and Michael Sean Winters; college presidents Father John Jenkins and Arturo Chavez; and Daughter of Charity Sister Carol Keehan, president and chief executive officer of the Catholic Health Association of the United States.

5. Many other religious and secular people and groups have spoken out strongly against the mandate. Many recognize this as an assault on the broader principle of religious liberty, even if they disagree with the Church on the underlying moral question. For example, Protestant Christian, Orthodox Christian, and Orthodox Jewish groups--none of which oppose contraception--have issued statements against the decision. The Washington Post, USA Today, N.Y. Daily News, Detroit News, and other secular outlets, columnists, and bloggers have editorialized against it.

6. The federal mandate is much stricter than existing state mandates. HHS chose the narrowest state-level religious exemption as the model for its own. That exemption was drafted by the ACLU and exists in only 3 states (New York, California, Oregon). Even without a religious exemption, religious employers can already avoid the contraceptive mandates in 28 states by self-insuring their prescription drug coverage, dropping that coverage altogether, or opting for regulation under a federal law (ERISA) that pre-empts state law. The HHS mandate closes off all these avenues of relief.

Which is why it is important the everyone contacts their senators and representatives and petitions the White House about this matter.

Bishop of Miami celebrates Candlemas in the Extraordinary Form

Archbishop Thomas Wenski, the Archbishop of Miami, celebrated Candlemas (The Purification of Our Lady or Presentation of the Lord) on February 2nd in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. I feel that this is the only form of the feast's celebration that really brings to light (no pun intended) the splendour and significance of this feast as the Virgin Mary bears her divine Son, the Light of the World, into the temple forty days after His birth.

Nearly 75 priests and seminarians took part in the liturgy, as well as the assembled congregation. The Archbishop's homily is here and the diocese's report on the Mass is here.

South African Bishops commemorate 15 years of legalized abortion

The following letter was written by the Catholic Bishops of South Africa. The Archbishop of Cape Town, Archbishop Stephen Breslin, directed that it be read at all Masses last Sunday.

Fifteen years have passed since abortion on demand was legalized in South Africa. Since then it is estimated that over one million unborn children were denied the most fundamental of rights, the right to life. We remember those one million babies.  Those aborted fifteen years ago would now be in grade 9 or 10, bringing joy to their families and planning their own futures. Those whose lives were ‘terminated’ ten years ago would now be playing on the streets of our towns and villages in the evenings and singing and praying with us in our churches on Sunday. We regret that those children of God were denied the right to be born into God’s world and to enrich it with their own unique gifts and talents.  We will never fully realize what we have missed because the law says “abortion is fine”.

When the legislation was being discussed those in favour of it said it would save some mothers from the dangers of what has become known as “back-street abortions”. We question if this has in fact been the case. On almost every electricity pole along the streets of our cities and towns there are advertisements for ‘safe and painless’ abortions. They are outside the Head Office of the Department of Health in Pretoria and on the boundary walls of our schools. If the advertising is so public and so widespread, then the demand for those” back-street abortions” must be high.

The position of the Catholic Church on abortion is clear and unambiguous .Just because the law says it is legal does not make it morally right. Each unborn child is created by God, “knit together in (its) mother’s womb” (Ps139.13) .That unborn child is a human being with a human life that must be protected. He or she has a right to life, a right that must be respected by the mother and protected by the state.

Another right that must be respected by the state and its agents is that of conscientious objection. Those who believe that abortion is morally wrong have a right to refuse to participate in the medical procedures.

All of us, parents, teachers, members of the Church, must understand what a young girl is going through when she realizes she is pregnant. She needs our love, our support, our understanding and sometimes our forgiveness. We in the Church are committed to helping unmarried pregnant girls and couples tempted to take the abortion route in whatever way we can. We will never condemn, just as Jesus refused to condemn (John8.11)

As we remember the many children who have been aborted since February 1997, we also remember the mothers of these children. Just as we do not condemn a pregnant young girl, we do not condemn her if she made the mistake of procuring an abortion. Only she knows how much she has suffered as a result. She needs help and healing. We invite her to come and speak to one of our priests or counselors so that we can be part of reconciling her to God and bringing about healing.

Archbishop Buti  Tlhagale, OMI,

On behalf of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference

30^th January 2012

The Gay Mass Scandal in London

Like my friend Father Ray Blake, I was sent a link to this video and hesitated before publishing it. I do not want to unnecessarily scandalise my readers. I think particularly of some of my younger readers. But Father Blake and Father Finigan, who has also published it, are priests whose judgement I respect highly and trust implicitly. They have published it, and so do I.

"God", not "Lord", and prayers that the Church may change teachings she cannot change. References to the "season of Pride" as if a liturgical season rather than a one-day secular rally. This is a clear politicization of the Mass and must come to an end.

A correspondent has also sent me a link to the following video which he made, interviewing one of the prominent parishioners, who openly advocates homosexual relationships.



The interviewee is in fact Martin Pendergast, who entered into a civil partnership with Julian Filochowski, former head of the English and Welsh Bishops major overseas aid charity CAFOD (Catholic Fund for Overseas Development, mentioned elsewhere in this blog here). Father Finigan refers to the Pendergast/Filochowski union at his blog. Pendergast wrote in The Guardian on April 28, 2009:

Marriage is a variable and culturally conditioned social institution with no inherent religious inspiration, but subsequently clothed with meaning by various faiths. In many cultures it was rooted more in property contracts or ways of social engineering through annexing others into extended family networks.

which tells you all you need to know about his understanding of Christian marriage and how it is totally at odds with the Church's understanding.

A worrying claim by Mr Pendergast is that the Vatican is aware of these Masses and seems to think fit not to intervene. The teaching of the Catholic Church on homosexuality and chastity is contained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church ##2357-2359:

Chastity and homosexuality

2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

Pendergast clearly equates homosexual unions with marriage. He says that those who enter into such unions are prayed for at these Masses and on their anniversaries. He distinguishes between celibacy and chastity in the homosexual, as if one in a homosexual union is not called to live in the celibate state. This is contrary to Church teaching. One thing is clear: if you are a "liberal" in the terms described by the interviewee, you do not hold the Catholic faith.

Belated Baptism Congratulations

To Austin James Michael Hooker and his parents and family. Austin was baptized in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite on January 8.

Candlemas Extaordinary Form Mass at St Anthony, Gwinn

We had a good attendance. Thanks to Matthew, a regular attendee at EF Masses, who did the chanting solo. Thanks to servers who did a good job. The weather permitted a brief excursion out of the church for the procession. And thanks to one of our parishioners for the photos.