Thursday, March 31, 2011

Planned Parenthood fraud - why our prayer vigils are important


We had a good turnout today: three hours covered. Above is the 1pm group. But check out this video



and Life Site News.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Catholic Heritage Association in Ireland

Am very happy to provide a link to St Conleth's Catholic Heritage Association whose aims are:


  • 1: To work as a lay Catholic movement for an organic restoration of the Liturgy in conformity with its nature and with the Latin tradition.
  • 2: To ensure that the traditional Roman Catholic Mass as codified in the Missale Romanum edited by Pope John XXIII in 1962 is maintained both in practice and in law as one of the forms of Eucharistic celebration, which are recognized and honoured, in universal liturgical life.
  • 3: To obtain freedom of use for all other Roman liturgical books enshrining previous liturgical disciplinary forms of the Latin tradition.
  • 4: To safeguard and promote the use of Latin, Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony in the Holy Roman Catholic Church.
  • 5: To encourage the establishment of non-territorial parishes and or chaplainces in which only the liturgical books used in 1962 are employed.
  • 6: To serve the Church by helping the members of the movement and through their apostolate all the Christifideles better to understand and more fully participate in the Catholic liturgy as a sacred action.
All of which I find perfectly laudable.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Tunbridge Wells Ordinariate Group in Ramsgate


As part of their preparation for incorporation into the Catholic Church, members of this group spent a day in Ramsgate with Father Marcus Holden. See the group's blog for further information.

Spiritual adoption of the unborn and Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist


Today the parish launced its Spirital Adoption of the Unborn to coincide with the period of Our Lord's gestation in the womb of His Virgin Mother. Parishioners were invited to adopt an unborn baby - naming it if they wished (I have named mine James, the name my mother gave to a child she miscarried) - and to pray Archbishop Fulton Sheen's the prayer of spiritual adoption each day.


The prayer runs as follows:
Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I love you very much. I beg you to spare the life of the unborn child whom I have spiritually adopted and who is in danger of an abortion.
Here are some of our young parishioners pictured with postulants of the Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist who were visiting Marquette this weekend.



The sisters with pastor Msgr Michael Steber and our own Sisters of Saint Paul of Chartes:



And...

No caption needed!

Canon Law Conference at Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, La Crosse, Wisconsin



Last year I attended a Canon Law Conference at this beautiful shrine. It was probably the best Canon Law conference I have attended. I have just received information about this year's and very hope to attend... once I know what I shall be doing (more later...)

2011 Canon Law Conference: August 9-10
Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe
La Crosse, Wisconsin

Host
Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke
Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
Founder of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Topics
Procedural Law, the Theory of Property in Canon Law, Natural Law vs. Positive Civil Law,
Penal Law, Fundamental Rights in Canon Law, and Matrimonial Law

Speakers
Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, Reverend John J. Coughlin, O.F.M.,
Dr. Charles E. Rice and Dr. Edward Peters

Cost
Early Registration Fee (Before July 15): $250.00
Registration Fee (After July 15): $325.00

Cost includes six formal presentations, question and answer sessions following each presentation,
continental breakfast and lunch both days,
and dinner on August 9 with special guests and a panel discussion.

Online Registration
Online registration will be available in the coming weeks at

Contact
Eugene J. Diamond
Director of Communications and Development

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Marquette 40 Days for Life - March 26th with Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist



We had an excellent turnout this morning for the 9am - 10am hour.

In the afternoon, there was an event for Middle Schoolers at the Care Clinic involving the Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist from Ann Arbor, Michigan, the community with a vocations crisis of a wonderful nature! For more great pictures see Father Ben Hasse's Facebook page.


After some explanations by Dana Richards of the mission of Care Clinic and some brief comments about 40 Days for Life, the group prayed a decade of the Rosary outside.


Marquette 40 Days for Life - March 25th


The above slideshow consists of photos taken by Jeff Geniesse at yesterday's pro-life vigil outside Marquette's Planned Parenthood. We were very pleased to be led in prayer by Bishop Alexander K Sample, bishop of Marquette.

To be completely accurate, I should say we were outside the neighbouring Care Clinic as Planned Parenthood supporters had staked out our usual position and, in the interests of fair reporting, here's a photo of their group:


A local TV6 reporter was on hand to film and interview representatives of both groups. Whereas the PP suporters ask motorists to honk, we simply pray. It is striking how many motorists do honk in favour of Planned Parenthood as if to say: "Yes, kill the children!" I couldn't help thinking of the thundering cries of "Crucify Him" that Our Lord endured as his Mother and disciples stood helplessly by.

Here are a couple of photos that I took before leaving:

Observing a minute's silent prayer.

A family that decided to stay on a little longer.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Abortion center firebombing!


From the National Catholic Register:

Call the national media! A firebombing attack just took place an abortion center in Kalispell, Montana! Tea Party violence strikes again! Call the Department of Homeland Security! These Christian Taliban extremists must be stopped!

Oh wait. Yes, a homemade incendiary device was thrown in the general vicinity of the All Family Health Care abortion center in Kalispell, Montana on Thursday night, March 17. At a pro-life demonstration on a public sidewalk. Specifically, at an elderly woman participating in a 40 Days for Life prayer vigil...

Now it makes sense that the mainstream media have completely ignored the story for the last two days.

Full story here.

What's a dead baby worth to BPAS?

From 40 Days for Life London:
And we're supposed to believe that BPAS is a charity, or that abortion providers offer a 'service'.

BPAS, just like Marie Stopes, is a business, and a business is there to make money. Last year, BPAS income was 25,042,000 pounds - an increase of 3% on their 2008/09 income. Almost all of that came from the NHS, paid for by the public through taxes.
Planned Parenthood states:
Nationwide, the cost at health centers ranges from about $350 to $950 for abortion in the first trimester. The cost is usually more for a second-trimester abortion. Costs vary depending on how long you've been pregnant and where you go. Hospitals generally cost more.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Father Corapi accused - prayers needed


From the website of Father John Corapi SOLT:

A Call for Prayer

On Ash Wednesday I learned that a former employee sent a three-page letter to several bishops accusing me of everything from drug addiction to multiple sexual exploits with her and several other adult women. There seems to no longer be the need for a complaint to be deemed “credible” in order for Church authorities to pull the trigger on the Church’s procedure, which was in recent years crafted to respond to cases of the sexual abuse of minors. I am not accused of that, but it seems, once again, that they now don’t have to deem the complaint to be credible or not, and it is being applied broadly to respond to all complaints. I have been placed on "administrative leave" as the result of this.

I’ll certainly cooperate with the process, but personally believe that it is seriously flawed, and is tantamount to treating the priest as guilty “just in case”, then through the process determining if he is innocent. The resultant damage to the accused is immediate, irreparable, and serious, especially for someone like myself, since I am so well known. I am not alone in this assessment, as multiple canon lawyers and civil and criminal attorneys have stated publicly that the procedure does grave damage to the accused from the outset, regardless of rhetoric denying this, and has little regard for any form of meaningful due process.

All of the allegations in the complaint are false, and I ask you to pray for all concerned.

40 days for life on St Joseph's feast

A great response this morning, with three of the above having travelled from Escanaba!

[UPDATE]: Jennifer Heikkila (she's in the picture above) writes up her experiences: What it's like to take a stand.

There was also a small group this afternoon.

Vigils will resume Monday.

Update to previous post: some of the above people thought they heard something metallic thrown from the passing car. Today they found a metal coat hanger shaped into an aborting device. What was the message: "we kill babies"? Or  "do you want to go back to back-street abortions"? I don't know. Either way it was pretty distasteful.

St Joseph can teach us men how to be more in awe of the mystery that each woman holds within her body.

Friday, March 18, 2011

What has contraception done to men?


Yesterday we had a lovely experience as a two ladies stopped their car where we were praying and lowered the window. I went over and the driver asked "Is this about abortion?" I explained that we were praying for an end to abortion. She said: "I'm pregnant and I don't agree with abortion. The child should not pay for my mistakes. Thank you for what you are doing." Naturally I expressed delight and asked if she needed any help and, particularly, if she had approached the Marquette Care Clinic which is right next door to Planned Parenthood where we are praying. She said that, yes, she had already visited the Care Clinic for help and support.

So, that was a nice positive event.

On the other hand, a car load of young men wound their car windows down and shouted abuse at us. It should be noted that the sidewalk (pavement for my English readers) prayer group consisted of five women plus me. There were two other young women standing near the back entrance to Planned Parenthood. What has become of men when they can shout abuse at nice ladies standing and praying by the roadside? Do the women they use realise what monsters they are getting into bed with and how little respect they have for them?

Contraception has made men into beasts and women into means of gratification. See comment from Genty.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Pray for Hilary White



Hilary, Rome correspondent for Life Site News, has been diagnosed with cancer. She writes about her situation here.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

40 Days for Life goes well


Sorry, but just haven't had the time or the inclination to do much blogging.

We are not doing an official 40 days for life but we are trying to do something in our own way. The response from parishioners and students has been very gratifying - we have been able to have prayer-vigils for between one and four hours daily (except Sunday) outside Marquette's Planned Parenthood facility since Ash Wednesday. The sun shines now and the snow is melting away. I am in the very pleasant position of having to satisfy people's requests to do an hour. "When can I do an hour, Father?" Daily phone calls and mass emailing/facebook messaging gets people committed for a day or two ahead.

Now some of the "opposition" (they are not really opposition but precisely the people whose hearts we pray may be converted) turn up when we are there. Relations are very cordial. They hold banners, we just pray.

One of the girls last week told me she was brought up without a father and she doesn't think any child should be brought into the world without a father. When I said "But look, you are here, and isn't that wonderful?" it was as if it was the first time someone told her she was wonderful.

Prayer and love needs to be poured out for these young women who are simply the play things of men thanks to contraception and abortion.

Here's a video that seems to sum up the alternative that users of Planned Parenthood need.

AdorationU.com from Cardinal Newman Society on Vimeo.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

In "Great" Britain Christians can no longer foster or adopt children

British Prime Minister David Cameron has supported a court ruling that went against prospective foster parents who would refuse to teach their foster children that homosexual relations were equal to marriage. British society is not a tolerant society.

See Protect the Pope for more.

Ash Wednesday Planned Parenthood Prayer Vigil


Here are a couple of photos of the group from St Peter Cathedral Parish at the end of our hour's vigil outside Marquette's Planned Parenthood facility. We were there from 3:45 - 4:45pm. There was no business going on but our main reason for being there was prayer. A good number of car drivers honked in support.


Times of vigils tomorrow and thereafter are being circulated to those who have indicated a willingness to participate. Let me know if you'd like to be included.

Planned Parenthood Prayer Vigil today

A group of Cathedral parishioners will spend an hour outside Marquette's Planned Parenthood facility this afternoon in peaceful and prayerful vigil. Contact me for details of today's vigil and those for Thursday to Saturday. Following weeks of Lent to be worked out.

The promised dump of snow if falling so don't be deceived by the sunshine in the above photo taken last August!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Planned Parenthood and Eugenics

The Blood Money blog reminds us that Planned Parenthood was founded by Margaret Sanger.

Sanger published a book in 1922, called The Pivot of Civilization, in which she echoed all of the sentiments of Malthus. Sanger claimed that there came a point where charity did more harm than good. “Such a point, it seems obvious, is reached when the incurably defective are permitted to procreate and thus increase their numbers.” The elite are then forced to carry what she called “a dead weight of human waste.”
Worth bearing in mind during these 40 Days for Life.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Ash Wednesday: significant date for Anglican Ordinariate

This Ash Wednesday a good number of anglican clerics resign their offices in the anglican communion to begin the process of reception into the Catholic Church and eventual ordination as Catholic priests in the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. On the one hand this is an occasion of great joy. On the other, as Fr Ray Blake points out, we should pray for those communities that are going through the pain of farewells. For their own reasons, not everyone will be following these clerics. So parishes will be depleted in numbers with the consequent effect on morale and future viability.

By the same token, I can think of several anglican lay people I know who would love their priest to take advantage of the Ordinariate process to join the full communion of the Catholic Church. And then they would follow. Why don't they become Catholics anyway? Well, it's complicated. There is huge attachment to heritage etc., which is precisely what Pope Benedict acknowledged in establishing an Ordinariate for these people.

The Ordinariate Portal gives news of the many resignations that are being offered at this time.

Over 20,000 attend Shahbaz Bhatti's funeral

Catholic Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistani's minister for minorities, was assasinated last week by Islamist extremists after he initiated a clemency petition for Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five sentenced to death for blasphemy.

The Catholic Herald reports on his funeral

Have just bought a Kindle

My last excuse for indulgence before Lent: I have just received my new Kindle from Amazon. It was while I was looking for Pope Benedict's Jesus of Nazarareth Part II that I decided to go kindle as this book is available on kindle for $9.99 as opposed to $14.52 for the hardcover version.

It's the 3G Wireless version which means that, in theory, I can order books from anywhere and they will automatically download onto my Kindle via the worldwide 3G network. That is, if there is a 3G network. And if there isn't a 3G network, it will use the slower speed EDGE/GPRS system. And if that doesn't exist, it will work via any wi-fi system. So if you go to Starbucks, for example, where there is free wi-fi, you can download books free.

To my surprise, 3G coverage is rather sparse in the USA:
There is none around here in Marquette:
although the map does seem to indicate we have the EDGE/GPRS system. But my Kindle detects neither 3G nor EDGE/GPRS, relying on the wi-fi internet connection I installed here at the Cathedral.

So where will I likely gain access to the 3G system? It would seem the Europe is far better off for 3G than the USA, but then Europe is far more densely populated:


So, if you are in the USA and you live somewhere like the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, 3G is not really necessary, unless you plan to travel. I'm sure, however, I will not have regretted the extra $50 just to have the more upgraded version. It certainly seems a remarkable piece of equipment.

Expose Planned Parenthood: Live webcast tonight 9pm Eastern



Register here. Amongst the participants are:

  • LILA ROSE, Live Action
  • ABBY JOHNSON, Former Planned Parenthood Clinic Director, Author of “UnPlanned”
  • KRISTAN HAWKINS, Students for Life of America
  • MARLYN MUSGRAVE, Former U.S. Congresswoman, Susan B. Anthony List
  • TONY PERKINS, Family Research Council
  • DAVID BEREIT, 40 Days for Life

International Conference on Eucharistic Adoration

“In order to evangelize the world, we need experts in celebration, adoration and contemplation of the Holy Eucharist” (John Paul II)

The Bishop of Fréjus-Toulon, France, Bishop Dominique Rey (see Fr Tim Finigan's blog for some facts about Bishop Rey) has announced a major International Conference on Eucharistic Adoration to take place in Rome from June 20-24, 2011.

Organised by the Missionaries of the Most Holy Eucharist, a new community founded by Bishop Rey in 2007, the conference brings together a wide range of international speakers, including six prominent Cardinals. “The first condition for the new evangelisation is adoration”, Bishop Rey said. “We must regain the ability to adore Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist if we are to bring the men and women of the twenty-first century to faith in Jesus Christ. This is one of the key themes of the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI”, he emphasised, “which is why we are taking this initiative.”

Adoratio 2011 will be held in Rome, June 20th - 24th. Speakers will include Cardinal Francis Arinze, Emeritus Prefect of the Congregation of Divine Worship; Cardinal Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura; Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Prefect for the Congregation of Divine Worship; Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo, Sri Lanka, former Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship.

The Conference aim: to promote the desire of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church to see Perpetual Adoration spread to Parishes and Dioceses around the world.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Is this education or brainwashing?




If you look at these videos, don't get drawn by the hateful comments that follow on you tube. I would be the first to condemn hateful comments about those who experience homosexual orientation or live that lifestyle, and educate those of all ages to love one's neighbour no matter what, particularly the children who find themselves in these "family" situations, but...

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Two foetuses make appearance at Ohio abortion bill debate

An interesting news item at Holy Post (with acknowledgements to Fr Tim Moyle) about the live monitoring of two unborn children in their mothers' wombs during a debate in the committee room of Ohio's state legislature. Attempts are being made to make abortion illegal once it is possible to detect the child's heartbeat. This could possibly make abortion pretty much illegal since the heartbeat can be detected as early as six weeks into pregnancy and, apparently, many mothers are not aware they are pregnant by that time.

The event was dismissed as an absurd stunt by Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, the state wing of the country’s most powerful abortion rights group. She said:
Did these legislators really need to see a fetus in the committee room to know it has a heartbeat? The whole thing was absurd. It seemed like the members of the committee had no idea what an ultrasound looked like or ever heard of a fetal heart monitor before.

This is not the kind of information that women need to decide whether they are going to get an abortion.

No, let's keep the truth from these mothers so that the killing industry can continue.

Traditional Latin Mass for Primary School children

Father Timothy Finigan reports on this excellent news of educating young children in the rich heritage of the Catholic faith.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Day of Prayer and Penance for the Cause of Bishop Baraga Friday March 11th

From the Office of Bishop Sample of the Diocese of Marquette, Michigan.

March 12, 2011 is a very important day in the Cause for Beatification of our first Bishop, Frederic Baraga.  On that day the positio will be examined at  the Vatican by a group of theological consultors to the Congregation for Causes of Saints.  This positio is the documentation of the life, ministry and writings of the Servant of God Frederic Baraga.  It also includes a summary of his virtues.

The theological consultors, after discussing Bishop Baraga's life and ministry, will make a formal recommendation to the Congregation for Causes of Saints concerning whether or not Bishop Baraga exhibited in his life what is referred to as "heroic virtue."  If such a recommendation is made and accepted by the Congregation, then it goes to the Pope who would declare the heroic virtue and give Bishop Baraga the title of "Venerable."


This is a critical step in the eventual beatification of Bishop Baraga, the other being the recognition of a miracle attributable to his intercession. We have been waiting for over twelve years for this step to be taken.


Bishop Alexander K. Sample is calling upon all the faithful of the Diocese of Marquette and beyond to observe Friday, March 11, 2011 as a day of prayer and penance for the success of this important step.  Due to the six-hour time difference between here and Rome, it is important that we pray before the examination by the theologians on March 12.  The bishop especially recommends attendance at Mass, Eucharistic adoration and not eating between meals.  Since this is a Friday in Lent, he is also asking that our communal abstinence from meat on March 11 be offered for this special intention.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Sometimes the Church must punish


In the light of the Church's sexual abuse crisis, the Church's penal law is being reviewed. For years it has been said that some bishops have simply failed to use the options of imposing penalties that the Code of Canon Law gives them.

John Allen of the National Catholic Register recently interviewed Archbishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts and will be publishing extracts of the interview. Today Allen writes:
One reason for the current lack of uniformity (in the application of penal law), Arrieta said, is that the new penal law of 1983, incorporating the vision of the Second Vatican Council, left tremendous discretion in the hands of individual bishops.

“There are something like 2,500 dioceses in the world,” Arrieta said. “In the post-Vatican II code, every bishop has a great deal of latitude in terms of deciding whether or not to punish someone, and if so, which punishment to impose.”

“As a result, the response of the church to the problems it faced was incredibly diverse,” he said. “Paradoxically, in order to respect the liberty of the bishops, the code effectively created a risk to the unity of the church.”
So it seems that proposed revisions to the Church's penal code have been circulated to various experts in Canon Law around the world. Read more at Crime and punishment in the church gets a new look.

Don't rub off your ashes!


So suggests Bishop Kieran Conry of Arundel and Brighton, England. The Catholic Herald quotes Bishop Conry:
The wearing of the ashes provides us with a wonderful opportunity to share with people how important our faith is to us and to point them to the cross of Christ. I invite you where possible to attend a morning or lunchtime Mass.

“Please try not to rub off your ashes as soon as you leave church, but take the sign of the cross to all those that you meet – in your school, office, factory, wherever you may be. This might just make people curious and wonder why you would do this. If you explain about Lent and Easter it might just make them think and may even awaken in them the questions that might lead to faith. Many people have a dim awareness of Lent and even ashes. It would be good to make this clear rather than dim.

Good suggestion from the Bishop.

Pope Benedict: the Jews are not guilty of Jesus' death

Theologically I always understood that it is not the Jewish race that is guilty of Jesus' death. It is all of humanity that rejected Christ who came into his own but his own received him not. (Jn 1) Of course he came first to the Chosen Race, but, as Pope Benedict says in his about-to-be-published Jesus of Nazareth II,
Jesus' blood "does not cry out for vengeance and punishment, it brings reconciliation. It is not poured out against anyone, it is poured out for many, for all."
Here's the BBC report.

This book will be my first Kindle purchase, pre-ordered for a mere $9.99. (Had to invest in the Kindle, of course!)

Here's a preview of the book:


See also Fr Fessio, Fr Z and others.

Shahbaz Bhatti professes his faith in Jesus Christ in the face of Pakistani blasphemy laws

Shahbaz Bhatti was the only Christian on the Pakistani Government cabinet and was assasinated yesterday. He knew his life was at risk.
I believe in Jesus Christ who has given his own life for us. I know what is the meaning of the Cross and the following of the Cross... I will die to defend the rights of my suffering people and for my principles.
Read this report at the BBC and watch a video Bhatti recorded two months ago.

40 Days for Life

The next observance of 40 days for life commences on Ash Wednesday March 9th and continues through to April 17th, Palm Sunday. There is an official 40 Days for Life website giving ideas and tips for how to observe the 40 Days. Crucial is prayer and fasting, and also some public manifestation, e.g. outside a Planned Parenthood facility or other place where abortions are either carried out or facilitated, or outside a City Hall, Courthouse, etc.

I am told that there are no abortions in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. However there is a Planned Parenthood facility here in Marquette. And even there were no such place or no abortions taking place in a particular area, it is still important to pray and to make some public witness so that minds and hearts, above all of legislatures, may be moved to promote pro-life laws.

The three elements of 40 Days for life are:
  • prayer and fasting


  • constant vigil

  • community outreach.


Daily prayers can be found here.

Visit the 40 Days for Life website for lots more information.

I am looking into whether we can do something public here in Marquette, but the important thing is prayer and fasting, and all of us can do some of that.

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