Pro-life

Hold up?

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — White House officials have acknowledged that abortion and the controversy surrounding embattled late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller are holding up President Barack Obama’s potential selection of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to become the next Health Secretary.

As LifeNews.com previously reported, White House aides told the New York Times last week that Obama had settled on naming the pro-abortion governor as his top health official.

Following the news, pro-life groups launched an all-out blitz to highlight Sebelius’ extreme pro-abortion views and her cozy relationship with Tiller, one of the few to do abortions so late in pregnancy.

Yesterday, a district court judge dismissed an effort by Tiller’s attorneys to throw out charges the state attorney general has filed against him for allegedly doing illegal abortions.

Now, White House officials tell CBN News that abortion and the Tiller-Sebelius connection are causing pause when considering Sebelius for the Cabinet post.

CBN News White House correspondent David Brody indicates that a senior Obama administration official confirmed that “concerns voiced by pro-life groups about potential HHS Secretary Nominee Kathleen Sebelius have come up in high level White House discussions but it has not disqualified her from the job. [reference]

It is interesting that she might be running into difficulties because of this considering that the the President’s voting record on abortion is even more extreme. President Obama’s actual voting record support infanticide to protect any imaginable infringement on abortion. I do wonder why Gov. Sebelius was even considered in the first place? Considering that Sen Dashle was the first appointment I wonder is there a pro-abortion Catholic Democrat quota for Secretary of Health and Human Services? I haven’t said anything before about the mention of Gov. Sevelius for this job. I had wondered if the Obama administration would be so stupid as to pick someone who has been told by her bishop not to go to Communion? Looks like they were, but are thinking twice now.

In other Killer Tiller news.

ichita, KS (LifeNews.com) — A decision by a local judge means Kansas-based late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller will stand trial for charges that he did illegal abortions. Tiller has been accused of violating state law requiring a second, independent, physician to sign off on his late-term abortions.

Tiller was slapped with 19 criminal charges for failing to follow the law and using a fellow abortion practitioner with whom he has a financial relationship to claim the abortions were medically necessary.

Sedgwick County District Court Judge Clark Owens released a decision Wednesday dismissing a request from Tiller attorneys that the evidence in the case be suppressed because of claims that it was improperly obtained.

Judge Owens addressed all the concerns Tiller’s attorneys brought up over six days of testimony, including claims that former Attorney General Phill Kline acted in a way that should allow the case to be dismissed.

Owens’ ruling exonerated Kline and allows the trial to move ahead.[reference]

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Liturgy

Ash Wednesday

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

The capybara kap-i-‘bar-uh, hydrochoerus hydrochaeris, is a semi-aquatic rodent of South and Central America. It is the only species in its genus, which belongs to the family Hydrochoeridae, order Rodentia.

When the Spanish missionaries found the capybara in Brazil during the 16th century, they wrote to the Pope to ask – there’s an animal here that’s scaly but also hairy, spends most of its time in the water but occasionally comes on land; can we classify it as a fish (and thus, the indigenous people could continue to eat it during Lent)?. Not having a clear description of the animal (and not wanting the petitioners to starve), the Pope agreed and declared it to be a fish.

Jimmy Akin has a good roundup of Lenten information.

Jimmy also has the guidelines for fasting from the Code of Canon Law.

I have also changed one of my top graphics to this.

Marcel LeJeune also has a solid Lenten FAQ.

Earlier this week I noticed the most ironic Facebook group ever. Giving up Facebook for Lent. Now I am not giving up blogging/social networking during Lent. I am giving up real world friends for lent instead.

I have an impressive list of things I am giving up for Lent to cure my pride. No doubt more impressive than yours.

I pray that all my readers will have grown closer to Christ by the end of Lent. Please pray that I will do likewise.

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News

Arbp. Dolan to New York

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

By now pretty much everybody knows that Archbishop Dolan will be the next archbishop for New York. Not much of a surprise for many blog readers since rumor leaked out over a week ago.

I once heard Archbishop Dolan speak and I was quite impressed with him as a speaker. He went to seminary with my Bishop and had been invited to give a talk on the feast day for the Diocese of St. Augustine. I described his talk previously here.

Arbp. Dolan is friends with Arbp. Burke and was supportive of him and the actions he took dealing with Catholic politicians. Though Arbp. Dolan’s approach in his own diocese was not the same as his friend. There is no doubt that Arbp. Burke is strongly pro-life. Here was a good interview he gave in reference to Archbishop Burke.

In the past Arbp Dolan had a Call To Action event in one of his parishes removed and they had to go off site. He once wrote a letter to dissident theologian Professor Maquire at Marquette University which said in part:

The opinions expressed in the two pamphlets enclosed in that correspondence are totally at odds with clear Church teaching. Sacred Scripture, the Magisterium, and Natural Law are consistent in opposition to abortion and so-called same-sex marriage.

Arbp. Dolan first went to the Diocese of Milwaukee in the wake of the Arbp. Weakland scandal. He certainly brought some solid progress to this diocese, though the next bishop will still be dealing with some of the problems and personnel Arbp. Weakland left.

Arbp. Dolan is probably a solid choice for New York and while I don’t think he has as strong of leadership skills as Cardinal O’Connor, he works well with people while bringing a solid orthodox viewpoint. Though I am only an armchair episcopal watcher so what do I know? Regardless since the Arbp just turned 59 not doubt he will be the Arbp. of New York for the next 16 years.

In related news today the Associated Press reported Monsignor Timothy Dolan named New York archbishop

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Pro-life

Tireless support for children's murder

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Denver, Colo., Feb 20, 2009 / 06:39 am (CNA).- In a startling defense of legal abortion supporter Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, Catholics United has attacked Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, accusing him being more interested in trying to score political points against the governor than in crafting effective abortion policy within the reality of politics.

The salvo from Catholics United comes as advisors to President Obama have told the press that he has decided on Sebelius as his next secretary of Health and Human Services nominee.

Kathleen Sebelius, who professes to be Catholic, has a problematic record on abortion.
Although Catholics United mentions the Kansas governor’s “tireless support for children’s health care and education, and her efforts to provide public financing for adoption and pregnancy support centers,” the group fails to mention her 30 years of simultaneously advocating to keep abortion legal.

In the Spring of 2008, Archbishop Naumann met with Gov. Sebelius to ensure that she understood the gravity of her position. After meeting with her, Archbishop Naumann asked her to stop receiving Communion.

As Archbishop Naumann explained to CNA, he requested that Gov. Sebelius stop receiving Communion because of her “30-year history of advocating and acting in support of legalized abortion.”

The Thursday statement by Catholics United, which is mostly dedicated to rebuffing the president of the Catholic League, Bill Donohue, marks the first time that the organization has targeted a specific Catholic bishop by name.

“Like Kansas City Archbishop Joseph Naumann – who often seems more interested in scoring political points against Gov. Sebelius than crafting effective abortion policy within the reality of politics – Mr. Donohue is doing a disservice to those Americans who will benefit from Gov. Sebelius’s leadership as Health and Human Services Secretary.” article

Catholics United is not a front group for the Democratic Party. They are a front group for Moloch.

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Liturgy

How dare you!

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

An article in the Tablet (unaffectionately known as the bitter pill) did a hit piece on Fr. Finigan from The Hermeneutic of Continuity blog. Evidently celebrating the extraordinary form of the Mass along with the ordinary form of the Mass and following the liturgical laws of the Church is something that must be done about.

Fr. Finigan replies to the article along with Father Z. in what Fr. Finigan calls a “simultaneous transatlantic fisk.”

I think father should consider it a badge of honor to be attacked in this way by the Tablet. In fact if he is ever considered officially for canonization the article could be used as proof of his obedience to the Church. No need for a devil’s advocate when you have the Tablet to substitute.

The article is unintentionally funny and it comes across like the tone of the movie “Reefer Madness” and they see Fr. Finigan’s liturgical moves in his parish as “Liturgical Madness.” Now I am not doing a full blown fisk, but just some fun parts.

In what was once a fairly typical parish, there are no extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist. Altar rails have been installed and the parish priest makes it clear that he prefers communicants to kneel and to receive the Host on the tongue.

Oh the horror! Can you imagine him having a preference for what is in fact the “ordinary” means for communicating?

Fr Finigan says the Eucharistic Prayer with his back to the congregation

Instead of his back to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

I have no objection to them having it once a month or once a week, but it should not be the main Sunday Mass and it should not be imposed over the whole parish,” said Les Thomas, a member of the delegation that went to see Bishop Lynch.

A parishioner that somehow couldn’t make it to any other ordinary form of the Mass held at the parish on Sunday. I love the “I have no objection”, wow that is pretty nice of him for his permission to allow what the Pope specifically allowed.

Most of the rest of the article is a whine fest from those that feel uncomfortable that the Mass isn’t a means for experimentation. It is rather sad that we have come to this point, but years of do-it-yourself Masses have lead to revolt at the mere idea of actually being obedient to the Church.

In my own parish I have a holy priest who has tirelessly poured himself out for his flock. We had the indult Latin Mass for quite a while along with at times the ordinary form of the Mass said in Latin and all Masses without liturgical abuses of any sort. In addition he says another Mass on Sunday in Spanish. Four Masses on Sundays along with two daily Masses in a downtown parish that would have been closed down in the hands of many others. Yet I know that there are people that are always upset at him and complaining to the bishop at times. This is a source of suffering for him, but not of bitterness and something that he uses in redemptive suffering for the sins of others. Some people just are never satisfied and can only see what they want to see in their limited liturgical mindset.

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Punditry

Family Planning Camps

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Vasectomy has always been an unpopular operation in the dacoit-infested Chambal district of Madhya Pradesh, but it enjoyed a brief surge in popularity last year.
More than 250 men put their private parts under the surgeon’s knife through 2008; this, in a place where the male sterilisation figure had never reached double figures in the past 20 years.

They had an incentive: the government, in the form of Shivpuri District Collector Manish Shrivastava, had promised them an arms licence each if they underwent the operation. They did so in family planning camps where forms for gun licences were made available.

The jokes almost write themselves. Funny that they would allow themselves to be disarmed for guns. That they are willing to shoot blanks. These men weren’t a cut above, in fact got cut below. Though there is a vas deferens between this plan and others.

Bhupendra, a Shivpuri resident and affected party, says, “I underwent vasectomy for the gun licence but the collector is reneging on his promise.” Lalit Gupta, another disgruntled sufferer, says, “I underwent the operation only for the gun licence. The announcement appears to have been a trick.” He wanted the licence because he often has to travel to dangerous places, he says.

Adding insult to injury. “I got a vasectomy and didn’t even get a lousy t-shirt.”

“Those who underwent the operation are mounting pressure on me for arms licences. What can I do? Ninety per cent of the people visiting the camps got operated for gun licences only,” says a Health department employee, requesting anonymity.

He says no one is ready to come to family planning camps any more. Moreover, “people are calling us cheats”, he says.

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