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Jeffrey Miller

Pro-life

"President Obama's statement on Supreme Court's historic abortion decision"

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Today we recognize the 37th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, which affirms every woman’s fundamental constitutional right to choose whether to have an abortion, as well as each American’s right to privacy from government intrusion. I have, and continue to, support these constitutional rights.

I also remain committed to working with people of good will to prevent unintended pregnancies, support pregnant women and families, and strengthen the adoption system.
Today and every day, we must strive to ensure that all women have limitless opportunities to fulfill their dreams.

All women except the ones terminated in the womb.

So we have a right to privacy to kill our children, but conscience protection – not so much. With abortion rates skyrocketing in his home state of Illinois we know exactly what the second statement of his paragraph means – nothing.

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News

So I guess he is being transferred to the Padres?

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

As a top prospect for the Oakland Athletics, outfielder Grant Desme might’ve gotten the call every minor leaguer wants this spring.

Instead, he believed he had another, higher calling.

Desme announced Friday that he was leaving baseball to enter the priesthood, walking away after a breakout season in which he became MVP of the Arizona Fall League.

“I was doing well at ball. But I really had to get down to the bottom of things,” the 23-year-old Desme said. “I wasn’t at peace with where I was at.”

A lifelong Catholic, Desme thought about becoming a priest for about a year and a half. He kept his path quiet within the sports world, and his plan to enter a seminary this summer startled the A’s when he told them Thursday night.

General manager Billy Beane “was understanding and supportive,” Desme said, but the decision “sort of knocked him off his horse.” After the talk, Desme felt “a great amount of peace.”

“I love the game, but I aspire to higher things,” he said. “I know I have no regrets. [reference]

He hit a Rome Run!

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Pro-life

Miles to go in Massachusetts

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Phil Lawler says much better what I tried to write on Scott Brown.

In a Commentary piece yesterday I offered my analysis of the shocking Senate election in Massachusetts. It was, I am convinced, a long-overdue manifestation of independence on the part of the state’s voters, who have been held in thrall for years by liberal ideology and Kennedy mystique. That’s progress.

It was also a reminder that American voters, even in true-blue Massachusetts, resent the idea that their representatives in Washington might ignore their wishes and enact a sweeping federal policy- like health-care reform, in this case- despite heavy public opposition. With the arrival of Senator Scott Brown on Capitol Hill, the unpopular plan is apparently dead. That’s progress, too. (As C.S. Lewis pointed out, when you realize that you’re headed in the wrong direction, the best way to make progress is to turn back.)

However, I hope no one who read my analysis concluded that political sanity has returned to Massachusetts. We have a long, long way to go before a healthy political climate is restored. Consider:

Senator-elect Brown is not pro-life. On the issue of health-care reform his vote may benefit the pro-life position; the state’s largest pro-life group saw that as reason enough to endorse his candidacy. But Brown did not appeal for pro-life support, did not use pro-life arguments, did not mention pro-life issues. On the contrary, while his opponent Martha Coakley made her unswerving support for abortion the #1 issue in her campaign, Brown did his best to dodge the issue. He may now suspect that he won despite the support of pro-lifers, and liberal journalists will encourage him toward that conclusion. Republican consultants will tell their candidates to imitate Brown’s campaign strategy, avoiding the abortion issue. Already the new Senator from Massachusetts is being touted as the ideal GOP candidate: populist in approach, patriotic, conservative on fiscal questions, and silent on social issues. In the long run, the upset in Massachusetts is more likely to benefit the “big tent” Republicans than the pro-life movement.

Liberal ideology is alive and well- and dangerous! Although Brown was an attractive candidate and Coakley was a dud, 47% of the voters still chose the Democratic candidate, whose appeal was fully sympathetic to the ‘culture of death.’ In one of America’s most heavily Catholic states, nearly half of the electorate backed a candidate who suggested that faithful Catholics should not work in hospital emergency rooms. Fortunately Coakley was not elected to the Senate, but she remains Attorney General. The state’s top law-enforcement officer sees no problem in suggesting that religious freedom must bow before the needs of the abortion industry.

The Church remains silent. The majority of voters in Massachusetts are not registered in any political party. These independent voters swung the election for Scott Brown, demonstrating that they have finally escaped the magnetic force of the Kennedy family. But what will replace that influence? There’s an old common-sense principle in politics: You can’t beat somebody with nobody; you can’t beat something with nothing. For 45 years Ted Kennedy offered a vision of what the political system should accomplish, and Massachusetts voters embraced that vision. When Martha Coakley put forward a very similar vision, the voters rejected it. But Scott Brown had no compelling vision. The Republican Party- in Massachusetts, at least- has no vision at all. And politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum. Someone will provide a new vision: a new model for politics. Who will it be? As I explained in my book The Faithful Departed, the Catholic Church was once, not too very long ago, the dominant force on the local scene, and set the agenda for discussion of public issues. But for more than a full generation now the Catholic influence has been waning, and Church institutions have been co-opted to serve the purposes of a secular liberal ideology.

If ever there was a time for a genuine Catholic revival in Massachusetts, now is that time. But it won’t be easy; we have miles and miles to go.

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Pro-lifePunditry

Strange Bedfellows

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Tom at Disputations comes up with a sign for Anne Fox of Massachusetts Citizens for Life to carry at the March for Life.

MASSACHUSETTS
Now With 10% Less Evil
All it Costs is Your Soul
You’re Welcome!

I have been rather annoyed at the Republican glee over the so-called “Massachusetts Miracle” of the election of Scott Brown. If I was a voter in this state I would have been willing to support a greater good by voting for Mr. Brown over the even more pro-abortion Catholic Democrat, but I can’t see how I would be thrilled about it. Reducing damage is a good thing, but there is still a lot of damage involved with a candidate who calls Roe v. Wade the law of the land and supports torture (enhanced interrogation for those people who like terms like pro-choice).

Strangely the very commentators who gripe continuously about RINOs finally I guess found a RINO to love – for now. Now I well understand the chess game involved to stop the federalized healthcare plan and the evil it entails. If his election, block this than that is pretty good. But as a chess game it is like sacrificing one of your pieces. Unfortunately that sacrifice could entail the unborn on a different vote. Some have rejoiced over the Brown victory calling it “Baby steps” – a highly ironic term if I do say so myself.

Scott Brown was to be a Don Quixote candidate picked as fodder in what was suppose to be an unwinnable race. Sadly I guess this means the GOP could not even come up with a pro-lifer in what they thought was a throwaway candidate. I guess nobody wants to go against the prevailing idea that a pro-lifer couldn’t win in Massachusetts. Of course how would they know not ever running any. Exactly what pro-life Republican candidates are they grooming for the future? I find it ridiculous to see the whole country leaning more and more pro-life and that it is some kind of vacuum there. Or maybe they are treating this state like a nicotine patch. Just keep putting up candidates just a little less toxic each time to get the voters use to them. It is a crying shame that this state is 44% Catholic.

Politics might be the art of the possible, but it is a failure of imagination to think this is all that is possible. The little compromises repeated again and again until they are more than just a compromise but a giving away of what you stand for. Successfully electing a pro-abortion candidate should feel more like you are glad you only got one arm broke instead of two, but it is nothing to celebrate to such a degree.

Instead we should be praying for Scott Brown that he have a truly pro-life conversion (not Romneyification).

Speaking of strange bedfellows how about those Catholics in the House. I tweeted the other day wondering about why we are called single issue voters yet the Democrats are willing to let the health care plan die if we are not forced to pay for abortions. There zeal for death ironically might very well kill the bill. So I guess I have a weird indebtedness to them if this turns out to be so. I don’t want the Federal government involved in healthcare at all. Even with a Stupak-like amendment they will go after the unborn (and others) sooner or later with incrementalism. The Party of Death is so fanatical that it could not accept the House version of the Bill and instead set the much more evil Senate bill as the standard. It is rather interesting that when Clinton was President and that owned the both houses that Hillary so screwed up nationalized health care they never came close to a vote. Once again the Democrats have the Presidency and both houses and yet can’t pass what they say they want to pass so very much.

All this reminds me of Chesterton’s famous:

The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected.

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Punditry

Not to worry, Mr. Kennedy

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Via Creative Minority Report, Rep. Patrick Kennedy said about the election last night.

“It’s like in Roman times, they’d be trotted out to the coliseum and the lions would be brought out,” Kennedy said Tuesday night. “I mean, they’re wanting blood and they’re not getting it so they want to protest.”

Don’t worry Mr. Kennedy, it was faithful Catholics who were fed to the Lions. Ones actually obedient to their bishops (what a concept!). The Pagans who had no problems with worshipping Caesar and those who would leave infants outside to die of exposure were not fed to the Lions. Your Pagan sensibilities will prevent such a fate.

His statement is quite a contrast to me after just reading all the letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch who really was eaten by lions. Yet on his way to his martyrdom did not whine about it but saw his bones as wheat for the lions and his sanctification and way to Jesus.

Besides it is Kennedy’s side that want blood and will protest until taxpayers pay personally for the blood of the unborn.

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Book Review

Ignatius of Antioch & Polycarp of Smyrna

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

During this cycle in the Liturgy of the Hours for the Office of Readings they have some of the letters of Saint Ignatius of Antioch. I always do enjoy re-reading them as they come up again since they give such a glimpse into the early Church and the words of St. Ignatius as he prepares himself for Christ as he heads towards martyrdom are awe-inspiring.

So it is with great pleasure when I received Ignatius of Antioch & Polycarp of Smyrna (Early Christian Fathers)
by Kenneth J. Howell for review. This book published by CH Resources (Coming Home Network) is an excellent guide to the lives of these two saints and the writings of their’s history has preserved.

After the New Testament and the Didache these letters give us the earliest view of the Church. St. Polycarp who was a disciple of St. John the Apostle gives us an even closer link.

Reading the Church Fathers is always instructive especially in the case of the Apostolic Fathers. Though it is sometimes difficult to get the full context and depending on the translations the points they were getting across. This is what I really loved about this book is that it is a scholarly look at these two saints while at the same time being fully accessible to those who aren’t Patristic experts. The texts of all the letters were translated by the author and heavily footnoted to let you know where his translation might have differed from others and how those other translations might have rendered the texts.

The first sections of the book provide an introduction into each of the saints and their history along with a history of the times and the disputes that were occurring in the various churches. So before you get to the letters in the latter half of the book you already have a solid background unto which to draw out more from the texts than in a cold reading. It is easy enough to download the texts of these letters from these two saints off the internet, but this book make the reading of them so much more worthwhile.

Venerable John Henry Newman said “To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant.” and you can really understand this statement reading these two saints as you see the structure of the Church with bishops, priests, deacons, and laity; along with the sacraments such as the Eucharist. The authority of the bishop is quite evident, but even more their concerns as shepherds. Both Ignatius and Polycarp had so absorbed scripture it became for them a natural language in which they were able to repeat and to preach further with their own understandings.

I hope this book is the beginning of a series on the Church Fathers since I gained so much from reading it.

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Punditry

A Comparison

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

…I wondered whether the graduates of evangelical colleges and universities showed similar voting behaviors, so I compared the voting records of the 10 graduates of evangelical colleges and universities with the voting records of the 60 graduates of Roman Catholic colleges and universities. The results: Eight of the 10 evangelical college grads not only vote pro-life but are among the strongest anti-abortion voices in Congress. In contrast, 40 of the 60 Catholic college grads in the 111th Congress voted last year to expand abortion rights.

…Faithful Catholics were dismayed when nine of the other 12 Catholic college graduates in the Senate joined Durbin in voting to have the United States fund abortions overseas. Those favoring such funding: Georgetown grads Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; and Jim Webb, D-Va.; Loyola College Maryland grad Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.; Boston College grad John Kerry, D-Mass.; St. Peter’s College grad Robert Menendez, D-N.J.; Providence College grad Chris Dodd, D-Conn.; Catholic University of America grad Tom Harkin, D-Iowa; and to the surprise of some, Robert Casey Jr., D-Pa., a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross.

Three Catholic college grads, though, did vote to ban funding for overseas abortions: Georgetown grad John Barrasso, R-Wyo.; Xavier graduate Jim Bunning, R-Ky.; and Creighton University graduate Mike Johanns, R-Neb.

Similar voting patterns for Catholic college and university graduates are evident in the House, where 30 Catholic college graduates were instrumental in making it more likely that children of poor women living in the District of Columbia will be aborted. Still, 18 of the 48 Catholic college graduates in the House voted against D.C. abortion funding.

Many of the Catholic college grads went to schools under the authority of the Jesuits–the Society of Jesus, long the leading Catholic order oriented toward higher education. Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn recently told the National Catholic Reporter that Jesuit-educated graduates in Congress are “leavens of good for the wider society.” In the same article, Georgetown University spokesman Andy Pino claimed that the Jesuit graduates in Congress are “living the Jesuit value of educating leaders to be women and men for others.”

This article was written by a Catholic for World Magazine. Though I wouldn’t put all the blame on educational institutions, people can go to the most faithful of Catholic institutions and still be dissenters. But surely the environment of dissent that has existed certainly does not help and gives credence to this type of dissent being acceptable. It would appear thought that Evangelical colleges are doing a better job than most of the Catholic Universities.

Hat Tip Musings of a Pertinacious Papist.

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Punditry

The 2009 Campion Award goes to …

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

If anybody hears a strange sound coming from St. Edward Campion’s reliquaries in Rome in Prague, no doubt it is the saint spinning at high velocity after hearing about this story.

Jesuit magazine America has given the 2009 Campion Award to The Most Reverend Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury. [reference]

Yes an award named after the great saint and martyr who continually risked his life and ended up giving it for the Catholic faith is now given to an Anglican. St. Campion never compromised his Catholic faith in any way and returned to Britain as a priest knowing the risks involved providing the underground Catholics the sacraments. At the same time he continued writing against Anglicanism including his famous Ten Reasons written a week before his capture. In it he goes through scripture, discusses the nature of the Church, discusses the Church fathers, sophism, history, and the witness of the Church. The witnesses he described were all saints of course obedient to the Holy Father.

Nothing America Magazine does should surprise me, but this caught me by surprise in that while it would have been a great parody in the Onion – the real life version is not so funny.

Hat tip Diogeses who has some choice words as always.

I do wonder exactly what the Anglican Archbishop did to earn this honor from a Jesuit magazine. Must have been when Rowan Williams lectured the Pope on women’s ordination last year. Or maybe it was the “Archbishop” complaining about the Apostolic Constitution and saying “it put us in an awkward position.” Rowan Williams has done nothing ecumenically to bring the Anglican church closer to the Catholic Church. If anything he has added to the harm being done within his communion by making it ever harder to ever have a fuller reconciliation. If there was an anti-Campion award than surely Rowan Williams would deserve that. “Archbishop” Williams meeting with the Pope last year was a interesting development. It is certainly nice to see the somewhat friendly terms that goes beyond the polemics of the past. But friendly meetings that bear no real fruit and end up business as usual are not worth much.

It does beg the question about who did indeed deserve this award with this Jesuit saint’s name on it? If America Magazine was actually faithful to the Church the awardee no doubt should have been Pope Benedict XVI. The Pope achieved in part this year what St. Campion desired. That is a large group of Anglican returning to the Church. The Pope’s Apostolic Constitution “Anglicanorum Coetibus” made this much easier to bring this group back into the fold and setting a new path to make this happen. This new Apostolic Constitution not only clears the way to bring in the Traditional Anglican Communion, but other Anglicans/Episcopalian groups/individual. Surely St. Campion rejoiced over this in Heaven – America Magazine; not so much.

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News

On the tragedy in Haiti

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

I would now like to make an appeal regarding the dramatic situation in Haiti. My thoughts go out in particular to the people severely afflicted, just a few hours ago, by a devastating earthquake that has caused massive loss of human life, left a great number of people homeless, and left widespread tremendous material devastation. I invite everyone to unite themselves to my prayer to the Lord for the victims of this catastrophe and for those who mourn the dead. Be assured of my spiritual closeness to those who have lost their homes and to all people suffering in any way from this grave calamity, as I ask God to grant them consolation and relief amidst their suffering. I call upon the generosity of all so that our brothers and sisters living in this time of need and pain may not lack our concrete solidarity and the effective support of the International Community. The Catholic Church will not fail to take immediate action through her charitable institutions to meet the most pressing needs of the people. — Pope Benedict XVI

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