Saturday, August 30, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
Talk About Gutting The Country And Selling It Down The Euphrates River
Your investment is safer in Iraqi Bonds than in 117 US Banks at the moment.
Google Bloomberg for yourself. PRESIDENT NIGHTMARE
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a6UtYSYLNjLY
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=afzQ6VM6cvzg
WHAT'S IN YOUR WALLET? HOW MANY HOUSES DO YOU HAVE?
Google Bloomberg for yourself. PRESIDENT NIGHTMARE
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a6UtYSYLNjLY
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=afzQ6VM6cvzg
WHAT'S IN YOUR WALLET? HOW MANY HOUSES DO YOU HAVE?
The Democratic Party Platform and Those Who Would Mis-quote it.
The Democratic Party also strongly supports a woman's decision to have a child by ensuring access to and availability of programs for pre and post natal health care, parenting skills, income support, and caring adoption programs.
Let the Games Begin- we will now with the selection of the obscure inexperienced 44 year old Alaskan Governor Palin electrify every childish self-righteous simple-minded whack-o who wants to use demagogic inflammatory irresponsible language against Democrats like "baby killers" "infantacide" "evil" - and no one is allowed to call them little self-righteous childish simple-minded small-minded whack-o's for it.
PALIN- PAAAALEEEEEEZE.
I'd be more likely to vote for Marcia Brady or Rachael Ray for Vice President.
That was just too dumb to see coming John.
Let me guess where she is on Alaskan reserve wilderness drilling. Oh-I don't need to- here it is:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/25394468
Just what we need- another oil company tool covered under the protective sanctimonious veneer of religious legitimacy by expoitation of well-intentioned people on the Life issue.
OBAMA and the DEMOCRATS want new innovation, alternative fuel sources, and Green technological development that can put people to work in America, strengthen the economy with new Green industry, get us away from the (foreign) oil based ecomony we exist on and get us
growing up in terms of international diplomacy. We are sick and tired of oil inspired war, death, mayhem and destruction.
Palin is lock-step more of the same old sorry old old in pink lipstick and a french manicure.
The Choice couldn't be clearer- and the stakes for the country's future couldn't be greater or more serious.
Let the Games Begin- we will now with the selection of the obscure inexperienced 44 year old Alaskan Governor Palin electrify every childish self-righteous simple-minded whack-o who wants to use demagogic inflammatory irresponsible language against Democrats like "baby killers" "infantacide" "evil" - and no one is allowed to call them little self-righteous childish simple-minded small-minded whack-o's for it.
PALIN- PAAAALEEEEEEZE.
I'd be more likely to vote for Marcia Brady or Rachael Ray for Vice President.
That was just too dumb to see coming John.
Let me guess where she is on Alaskan reserve wilderness drilling. Oh-I don't need to- here it is:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/25394468
Just what we need- another oil company tool covered under the protective sanctimonious veneer of religious legitimacy by expoitation of well-intentioned people on the Life issue.
OBAMA and the DEMOCRATS want new innovation, alternative fuel sources, and Green technological development that can put people to work in America, strengthen the economy with new Green industry, get us away from the (foreign) oil based ecomony we exist on and get us
growing up in terms of international diplomacy. We are sick and tired of oil inspired war, death, mayhem and destruction.
Palin is lock-step more of the same old sorry old old in pink lipstick and a french manicure.
The Choice couldn't be clearer- and the stakes for the country's future couldn't be greater or more serious.
MORE OF THE SAME McCAIN AND HIS SIDE-KICK GIDGET-GOES-A-DRILLIN'
www.ChildrensDefense.org
Denver rocks with the A-list;
Marion Wright Edelman: A genuine American Hero
How are the Twins J-Lo?
Marion Wright Edelman: A genuine American Hero
How are the Twins J-Lo?
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Let Them Eat Cake- while pregnant
Pro Life Has To Be More Than Another Unfunded Mandate.
I keep getting fundraising appeals from Father Frank Pavone- Dear Father Pavone. If you gave me the 75 Million you are raising for your lobbying enterprise and building in Washington, I would take fertility drugs until I dropped and have quadruplets every year for the next ten years.
Seriously, how many children do you think you could save if you just gave the money to pregnant women?
Who doesn't like kids for crying out loud. Who doesn't totally love them? We are wired that way.
What little girl do you know says "When I grow up I think I want to dismember my offspring before they are born." What little girl do you know rips the legs off her dollies and pokes their brains out with a penknife for kicks.
A fuller Pro-Life perspective means fundamentally altering some social constructions:
Here's what we mean: Incentivize Don't Penalize and Demonize. It's more effective. Trust Us.
There is something fundamentally rotten in the state of the Union- and don't blame me because I'm beautiful.
Study: Woman, Family Support Linked to Abortion Rate Drop
National Catholic Reporter
A study of the effects of public policy on abortion rates during the past two decades shows that providing social and economic supports for women and family contributes to a significant reduction in abortions, according to Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. The group, founded in 2005 and dedicated to "promoting awareness of the Catholic social tradition" said the findings should provide common ground for both Republicans and Democrats interested in reducing the rate of abortion in the United States. The study was released Aug. 27 in Denver during a town hall meeting sponsored by Democrats for Life of America. Click here to add your own comments to our Common Good Blog entry on this important story -- you will just click on the "Add New Comment" link at the bottom of the entry.
I keep getting fundraising appeals from Father Frank Pavone- Dear Father Pavone. If you gave me the 75 Million you are raising for your lobbying enterprise and building in Washington, I would take fertility drugs until I dropped and have quadruplets every year for the next ten years.
Seriously, how many children do you think you could save if you just gave the money to pregnant women?
Who doesn't like kids for crying out loud. Who doesn't totally love them? We are wired that way.
What little girl do you know says "When I grow up I think I want to dismember my offspring before they are born." What little girl do you know rips the legs off her dollies and pokes their brains out with a penknife for kicks.
A fuller Pro-Life perspective means fundamentally altering some social constructions:
Here's what we mean: Incentivize Don't Penalize and Demonize. It's more effective. Trust Us.
There is something fundamentally rotten in the state of the Union- and don't blame me because I'm beautiful.
Study: Woman, Family Support Linked to Abortion Rate Drop
National Catholic Reporter
A study of the effects of public policy on abortion rates during the past two decades shows that providing social and economic supports for women and family contributes to a significant reduction in abortions, according to Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. The group, founded in 2005 and dedicated to "promoting awareness of the Catholic social tradition" said the findings should provide common ground for both Republicans and Democrats interested in reducing the rate of abortion in the United States. The study was released Aug. 27 in Denver during a town hall meeting sponsored by Democrats for Life of America. Click here to add your own comments to our Common Good Blog entry on this important story -- you will just click on the "Add New Comment" link at the bottom of the entry.
Joe Bats 1,000 and Hits It Out Of The Park
BIDEN
Now you know why he is Chairman of the Judiciary.
Joe Biden and his son Beau who introduced us at the Democratic convention to his Dad gave us good insight into the Man Who Would Be Vice President.
More on this later-but here's to the man whose Dad taught him that we all Fall Down- But we get back up -and that's at the core of being a Great American.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYa5MY3MRXc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYa5MY3MRXc&feature=related
Now you know why he is Chairman of the Judiciary.
Joe Biden and his son Beau who introduced us at the Democratic convention to his Dad gave us good insight into the Man Who Would Be Vice President.
More on this later-but here's to the man whose Dad taught him that we all Fall Down- But we get back up -and that's at the core of being a Great American.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYa5MY3MRXc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYa5MY3MRXc&feature=related
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
The Eclipsing Evil
The Elephant in the Room
...Is the Republican platform difference from the Dems on Abortion.
Did Bob Casey bridge the divide? It is noteworthy that Bob Casey was this time invited to address the convention in contradistinction to the slight his father endured. But the issue remains- why is the party that has always championed civil rights and enfranchisement of the voiceless so hard-hearted about the ones in the womb?
The ostrich head in the sand lack of sensitivity to the numbers of "terminated" fetuses- "terminated" Americans remains stunning.
The attempt to make it a non-issue is insulting.
Nancy Pelosi apparently contracted foot-in-mouth disease in misquoting the Bishop's position on the issue. Below is their retort.
Note to Bob Casey- 'Barack is a guy like us who hangs at Sharkeys" isn't really an explanation as to how he is going to make the country more hospitable to creating and sustaining life, and respecting pregnancies. I don't hang at Sharkies in Latrobe or wherever. The "I feel respected because I am willing to be used so long as I keep my opinion to myself on this issue" message didn't really resonate. If you believe it- say why. The respect for differences doesn't tell me Obama listens to the concerns. It tells me he has a "toleration" ethic- which is like the "a finger pointing in every direction is no direction at all" sort of toleration.
Denver, we have a problem.
Why is the party that champions women's rights so oblivious to the incredible damage to the emotional and physical well being that abortions inflict and so duplicitous in the disinformation plaguing this issue? Why doesn't anyone get it that abortion allows men to slutify, demean, degrade and use women to a degree never before envisioned by the crafters of Roe v. Wade-
Why doesn't anyone get it that the moral climate of the country has taken a nose dive bigger than a falling Tower? This isn't just a Republican buggaboo. This isn't just a political volley-ball.
This is about tiny people- who can't speak for themselves- but who kick and thrash and flail in tortured pain in the wombs of women from Long Island to Catalina. This is about Millions and Millions of tiny people- How can you possibly talk about universal health care and ignore them all?
47 Million people without insurance- and we let over 3 Mil. be killed annually before they see daylight- without batting an eye. Killed in the most inhumane tortured way that no one would ever do to a puppy without shreiks of horror and cries of -lock them up! You want to talk about guys on starvation watch at Gitmo? How about ripping the limbs off a small beating heart inside a woman as it flails and bashes against her womb while being dismembered.
Denver, we have a problem.
The complete lack of appreciation of the depth of depravity of this issue makes the whole thing look like a circus on an MGM back-lot.
We need to start getting honest about this NOW.
US Bishops: Pelosi Got Church Teaching Wrong
House Speaker Misrepresents Catholic Understanding of Life
WASHINGTON, D.C., AUG. 26, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The chairmen of the U.S. bishops' Committees on Pro-Life Activities and Doctrine affirmed that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi misrepresented Church teaching on abortion during an interview on national TV.Pelosi was asked on NBC-TV's "Meet the Press" on Sunday to comment on when life begins. She responded saying that as a Catholic, she had studied the issue for "a long time" and that "the doctors of the Church have not been able to make that definition."Cardinal Justin Rigali, chairman of the U. Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Bishop William Lori, chairman of the Committee on Doctrine, said her answer "misrepresented the history and nature of the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church against abortion."They noted that the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, "Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law."And the prelates explained: "In the Middle Ages, uninformed and inadequate theories about embryology led some theologians to speculate that specifically human life capable of receiving an immortal soul may not exist until a few weeks into pregnancy. While in canon law these theories led to a distinction in penalties between very early and later abortions, the Church's moral teaching never justified or permitted abortion at any stage of development."These mistaken biological theories became obsolete over 150 years ago when scientists discovered that a new human individual comes into being from the union of sperm and egg at fertilization. In keeping with this modern understanding, the Church teaches that from the time of conception -- fertilization -- each member of the human species must be given the full respect due to a human person, beginning with respect for the fundamental right to life."For the recordOther bishops also released statements clarifying Church teaching. Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., noted that bishops are entrusted with the responsibility to interpret and teach Catholic doctrine."We respect the right of elected officials such as Speaker Pelosi to address matters of public policy that are before them, but the interpretation of Catholic faith has rightfully been entrusted to the Catholic bishops," he said in a statement. "Given this responsibility to teach, it is important to make this correction for the record. […]"From the beginning, the Catholic Church has respected the dignity of all human life from the moment of conception to natural death."And from Denver, Archbishop Charles Chaput and Auxiliary Bishop James Conley addressed an online letter to their faithful, titled "On the Separation of Sense and State: a Clarification for the People of the Church in Northern Colorado."The letter affirms: "Ardent, practicing Catholics will quickly learn from the historical record that from apostolic times, the Christian tradition overwhelmingly held that abortion was grievously evil. In the absence of modern medical knowledge, some of the Early Fathers held that abortion was homicide; others that it was tantamount to homicide; and various scholars theorized about when and how the unborn child might be animated or 'ensouled.'"But none diminished the unique evil of abortion as an attack on life itself, and the early Church closely associated abortion with infanticide. In short, from the beginning, the believing Christian community held that abortion was always, gravely wrong."Cardinal Edward Egan released a statement this morning saying he was "shocked to learn" of Pelosi's remarks. He said her statements were "misinformed."The cardinal affirmed that the unborn have "an inalienable right to live, a right that the speaker of the House of Representatives is bound to defend at all costs for the most basic of ethical reasons.""Anyone who dares to defend that they may be legitimately killed because another human being 'chooses' to do so or for any other equally ridiculous reason," he added, "should not be providing leadership in a civilized democracy worthy of the name."
...Is the Republican platform difference from the Dems on Abortion.
Did Bob Casey bridge the divide? It is noteworthy that Bob Casey was this time invited to address the convention in contradistinction to the slight his father endured. But the issue remains- why is the party that has always championed civil rights and enfranchisement of the voiceless so hard-hearted about the ones in the womb?
The ostrich head in the sand lack of sensitivity to the numbers of "terminated" fetuses- "terminated" Americans remains stunning.
The attempt to make it a non-issue is insulting.
Nancy Pelosi apparently contracted foot-in-mouth disease in misquoting the Bishop's position on the issue. Below is their retort.
Note to Bob Casey- 'Barack is a guy like us who hangs at Sharkeys" isn't really an explanation as to how he is going to make the country more hospitable to creating and sustaining life, and respecting pregnancies. I don't hang at Sharkies in Latrobe or wherever. The "I feel respected because I am willing to be used so long as I keep my opinion to myself on this issue" message didn't really resonate. If you believe it- say why. The respect for differences doesn't tell me Obama listens to the concerns. It tells me he has a "toleration" ethic- which is like the "a finger pointing in every direction is no direction at all" sort of toleration.
Denver, we have a problem.
Why is the party that champions women's rights so oblivious to the incredible damage to the emotional and physical well being that abortions inflict and so duplicitous in the disinformation plaguing this issue? Why doesn't anyone get it that abortion allows men to slutify, demean, degrade and use women to a degree never before envisioned by the crafters of Roe v. Wade-
Why doesn't anyone get it that the moral climate of the country has taken a nose dive bigger than a falling Tower? This isn't just a Republican buggaboo. This isn't just a political volley-ball.
This is about tiny people- who can't speak for themselves- but who kick and thrash and flail in tortured pain in the wombs of women from Long Island to Catalina. This is about Millions and Millions of tiny people- How can you possibly talk about universal health care and ignore them all?
47 Million people without insurance- and we let over 3 Mil. be killed annually before they see daylight- without batting an eye. Killed in the most inhumane tortured way that no one would ever do to a puppy without shreiks of horror and cries of -lock them up! You want to talk about guys on starvation watch at Gitmo? How about ripping the limbs off a small beating heart inside a woman as it flails and bashes against her womb while being dismembered.
Denver, we have a problem.
The complete lack of appreciation of the depth of depravity of this issue makes the whole thing look like a circus on an MGM back-lot.
We need to start getting honest about this NOW.
US Bishops: Pelosi Got Church Teaching Wrong
House Speaker Misrepresents Catholic Understanding of Life
WASHINGTON, D.C., AUG. 26, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The chairmen of the U.S. bishops' Committees on Pro-Life Activities and Doctrine affirmed that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi misrepresented Church teaching on abortion during an interview on national TV.Pelosi was asked on NBC-TV's "Meet the Press" on Sunday to comment on when life begins. She responded saying that as a Catholic, she had studied the issue for "a long time" and that "the doctors of the Church have not been able to make that definition."Cardinal Justin Rigali, chairman of the U. Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Bishop William Lori, chairman of the Committee on Doctrine, said her answer "misrepresented the history and nature of the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church against abortion."They noted that the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, "Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law."And the prelates explained: "In the Middle Ages, uninformed and inadequate theories about embryology led some theologians to speculate that specifically human life capable of receiving an immortal soul may not exist until a few weeks into pregnancy. While in canon law these theories led to a distinction in penalties between very early and later abortions, the Church's moral teaching never justified or permitted abortion at any stage of development."These mistaken biological theories became obsolete over 150 years ago when scientists discovered that a new human individual comes into being from the union of sperm and egg at fertilization. In keeping with this modern understanding, the Church teaches that from the time of conception -- fertilization -- each member of the human species must be given the full respect due to a human person, beginning with respect for the fundamental right to life."For the recordOther bishops also released statements clarifying Church teaching. Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., noted that bishops are entrusted with the responsibility to interpret and teach Catholic doctrine."We respect the right of elected officials such as Speaker Pelosi to address matters of public policy that are before them, but the interpretation of Catholic faith has rightfully been entrusted to the Catholic bishops," he said in a statement. "Given this responsibility to teach, it is important to make this correction for the record. […]"From the beginning, the Catholic Church has respected the dignity of all human life from the moment of conception to natural death."And from Denver, Archbishop Charles Chaput and Auxiliary Bishop James Conley addressed an online letter to their faithful, titled "On the Separation of Sense and State: a Clarification for the People of the Church in Northern Colorado."The letter affirms: "Ardent, practicing Catholics will quickly learn from the historical record that from apostolic times, the Christian tradition overwhelmingly held that abortion was grievously evil. In the absence of modern medical knowledge, some of the Early Fathers held that abortion was homicide; others that it was tantamount to homicide; and various scholars theorized about when and how the unborn child might be animated or 'ensouled.'"But none diminished the unique evil of abortion as an attack on life itself, and the early Church closely associated abortion with infanticide. In short, from the beginning, the believing Christian community held that abortion was always, gravely wrong."Cardinal Edward Egan released a statement this morning saying he was "shocked to learn" of Pelosi's remarks. He said her statements were "misinformed."The cardinal affirmed that the unborn have "an inalienable right to live, a right that the speaker of the House of Representatives is bound to defend at all costs for the most basic of ethical reasons.""Anyone who dares to defend that they may be legitimately killed because another human being 'chooses' to do so or for any other equally ridiculous reason," he added, "should not be providing leadership in a civilized democracy worthy of the name."
More than a Woman-18 Million Cracks And Still Counting
Looking Presidential
...was Hillary. **sigh**
and another Presidential almost who knows the Power of Love: Ingrid Betancourt.
http://www.h2onews.org/_page_videoview.php?id_news=999&lang=en
...was Hillary. **sigh**
and another Presidential almost who knows the Power of Love: Ingrid Betancourt.
http://www.h2onews.org/_page_videoview.php?id_news=999&lang=en
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
McCain's to Lose?
The following VEEPS would doom McCain
(let Limbaugh spit-n-spin it any way he wants, these guys are sure losers)
Lieberman-
lost it for Gore, turn-coat Democrat, believed to be too forgiving of Israel's strategic
blundering under its current corrupt Ehud Olmert administration.
Romney-
too Mormom, too whitebread, too rich and out of touch. Multiply the houses problem
times 100.
Ridge-
too much more of the same orange alert nonsense- too tied to Bush's fiasco policy
messes, too much of the politics of mean, nasty, brutish and short politics of fear
mongering- reminiscent of duck tape your "safe room" and pack your trunk with
tuna and saltines. Don't go there or we all go to the South of France.
Guiliani-
aside from the fact his own kids don't seem to like him much, his affair in office isn't very "Catholic" and he already lost to even Hillary once- are you kidding? Conspiracy theorists will have a field day about why he moved out of the Towers before the collapse, and wonder what he knew about False Flag attacks to support a bogus threat to attack a country that never attacked us and wage a billion dollar war that landed him, inter alia a few million dollar consulting contracts. The only thing he will be voted is "luckiest not to be indicted."
I like the guy from Wisconsin best- because I don't know squat about him and that's better than what I do know about the other characters.
Aside from him- the party draws a blank-
Rotza Ruck Fellas.
(let Limbaugh spit-n-spin it any way he wants, these guys are sure losers)
Lieberman-
lost it for Gore, turn-coat Democrat, believed to be too forgiving of Israel's strategic
blundering under its current corrupt Ehud Olmert administration.
Romney-
too Mormom, too whitebread, too rich and out of touch. Multiply the houses problem
times 100.
Ridge-
too much more of the same orange alert nonsense- too tied to Bush's fiasco policy
messes, too much of the politics of mean, nasty, brutish and short politics of fear
mongering- reminiscent of duck tape your "safe room" and pack your trunk with
tuna and saltines. Don't go there or we all go to the South of France.
Guiliani-
aside from the fact his own kids don't seem to like him much, his affair in office isn't very "Catholic" and he already lost to even Hillary once- are you kidding? Conspiracy theorists will have a field day about why he moved out of the Towers before the collapse, and wonder what he knew about False Flag attacks to support a bogus threat to attack a country that never attacked us and wage a billion dollar war that landed him, inter alia a few million dollar consulting contracts. The only thing he will be voted is "luckiest not to be indicted."
I like the guy from Wisconsin best- because I don't know squat about him and that's better than what I do know about the other characters.
Aside from him- the party draws a blank-
Rotza Ruck Fellas.
Everyone is Pro-Life
It's just a question of how best to get there.
Waging War as a solution and disguise to an Inept Foreign Policy is Not Pro-Life.
War is Anti-Life. War Equals Death.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
The Least Of These
My Brothers.
In so far as you do to the least of these, my brethren, you did it
to Me.
http://www.matthew25.org/
Oh sacred face so scourged and grieved
In so far as you do to the least of these, my brethren, you did it
to Me.
http://www.matthew25.org/
Oh sacred face so scourged and grieved
Oh weight of the world upheaved
from the grave
Oh redeemer uplifter of oppressed and crushed
appearing in the nave
in flesh again, the hope
of all humankind, lived
to die for all the pain
that a world could contain
Oh sacred face so scourged and grieved
let me be like you and heal the diseased
and raise the bereaved
and seal the hearts in holy peace
of your everlasting love that never ceased.
THE LEAST OF THESE
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Anonymous Peanut Gallery Note to the Short List Vetters
To have a prayer of winning:
Obama's VEEP
has to be:
(a) not from a State from New York to Maine
(b) recognized as firmly unwaiveringly "pro- Life"
(c) With more military background than a Boy Scout Eagle Badge
McCain's VEEP
has to be:
(a) from a State from New York to Maine
(b) recognized as firmly unwaiveringly "pro-Choice"
(c) with more credibility in the peacemaking community than chanting Kumbaya around the altar.
How screwed up are we?
I think we need more prayer.
Obama's VEEP
has to be:
(a) not from a State from New York to Maine
(b) recognized as firmly unwaiveringly "pro- Life"
(c) With more military background than a Boy Scout Eagle Badge
McCain's VEEP
has to be:
(a) from a State from New York to Maine
(b) recognized as firmly unwaiveringly "pro-Choice"
(c) with more credibility in the peacemaking community than chanting Kumbaya around the altar.
How screwed up are we?
I think we need more prayer.
Counterpoint to the Obamadrama
-No Social Policy Much Matters if You Can't Get Born.
Head of Vatican's Highest Court: Ministers Have "Obligation to Deny" Communion to Pro-Abortion Politicians
By John-Henry Westen
ROME, August 19, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The head of the highest court in the Vatican has given an interview with a Roman magazine in which he notes that when dealing with pro-abortion Catholic politicians, "the minister of the Eucharist has the obligation to deny It (Communion) to him."
Last month, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Archbishop Raymond Burke, formerly the Archbishop of St. Louis, as the Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, which is the highest judicial authority of the Catholic Church besides the Pope himself. In an interview published in the current edition of the Italian magazine Radici Cristiane, Archbishop Burke addresses the issue which has caused great controversy among the hierarchy in the West.
In the interview, parts of which were translated by Catholic News Agency, the Archbishop noted first that pro-abortion Catholic politicians should be publicly corrected and told not to receive: and, if they persist, they should be denied. He spoke of dealing with "public officials" who contravene Divine and Eternal law such as "if they support abortion, which entails the taking of innocent and defenseless human lives."
"A person who commits sin in this way should be publicly admonished in such a way as to not receive Communion until he or she has reformed his life," the archbishop said. "If a person who has been admonished persists in public mortal sin and attempts to receive Communion, the minister of the Eucharist has the obligation to deny it to him. Why? Above all, for the salvation of that person, preventing him from committing a sacrilege," he added.
The Archbishop explained that the Church does this "not with the intention of interfering in public life but rather in the spiritual state of the politician or public official who, if Catholic, should follow the divine law in the public sphere as well," reported Catholic News Agency.
"We must avoid giving people the impression that one can be in a state of mortal sin and receive the Eucharist," the archbishop continued. "Secondly, there could be another form of scandal, consisting of leading people to think that the public act that this person is doing, which until now everyone believed was a serious sin, is really not that serious - if the Church allows him or her to receive Communion."
"If we have a public figure who is openly and deliberately upholding abortion rights and receiving the Eucharist, what will the average person think? He or she could come to believe that it up to a certain point it is okay to do away with an innocent life in the mother's womb," he warned.
Head of Vatican's Highest Court: Ministers Have "Obligation to Deny" Communion to Pro-Abortion Politicians
By John-Henry Westen
ROME, August 19, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The head of the highest court in the Vatican has given an interview with a Roman magazine in which he notes that when dealing with pro-abortion Catholic politicians, "the minister of the Eucharist has the obligation to deny It (Communion) to him."
Last month, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Archbishop Raymond Burke, formerly the Archbishop of St. Louis, as the Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, which is the highest judicial authority of the Catholic Church besides the Pope himself. In an interview published in the current edition of the Italian magazine Radici Cristiane, Archbishop Burke addresses the issue which has caused great controversy among the hierarchy in the West.
In the interview, parts of which were translated by Catholic News Agency, the Archbishop noted first that pro-abortion Catholic politicians should be publicly corrected and told not to receive: and, if they persist, they should be denied. He spoke of dealing with "public officials" who contravene Divine and Eternal law such as "if they support abortion, which entails the taking of innocent and defenseless human lives."
"A person who commits sin in this way should be publicly admonished in such a way as to not receive Communion until he or she has reformed his life," the archbishop said. "If a person who has been admonished persists in public mortal sin and attempts to receive Communion, the minister of the Eucharist has the obligation to deny it to him. Why? Above all, for the salvation of that person, preventing him from committing a sacrilege," he added.
The Archbishop explained that the Church does this "not with the intention of interfering in public life but rather in the spiritual state of the politician or public official who, if Catholic, should follow the divine law in the public sphere as well," reported Catholic News Agency.
"We must avoid giving people the impression that one can be in a state of mortal sin and receive the Eucharist," the archbishop continued. "Secondly, there could be another form of scandal, consisting of leading people to think that the public act that this person is doing, which until now everyone believed was a serious sin, is really not that serious - if the Church allows him or her to receive Communion."
"If we have a public figure who is openly and deliberately upholding abortion rights and receiving the Eucharist, what will the average person think? He or she could come to believe that it up to a certain point it is okay to do away with an innocent life in the mother's womb," he warned.
The Right Reverend
REVEREND JESSE L. JACKSON
RAINBOW PUSH SATURDAY MORNING FORUM ADDRESS
SATURDAY AUGUST 2, 2008
I want to thank all of you who are here today, and those listening and viewing around the nation and the world, for your prayers and expressions of support, and even your criticism. It is challenging but also often helpful. We must see the value of healthy critiques. We are accountable to each other.
But through all of this, while I went on my sojourn to the desert, I thank you. I fasted and prayed and reflected. I went to the valley in a real search for my assignment and to renew the health and strength of my soul. I want to be morally and physically fit for this battle. I want my preaching and my living to be closely connected. Too often the preaching is higher than the living. The Gospel must not be compromised.
This is a magic moment in American history. I've been blessed to be a part of a great era. I was jailed in 1960 for trying to use a public library. I was jailed in 1963 going to the March on Washington for trying to use a public facility. I think about our journey from slave ships to championships, from 1948 to 2008---what a journey.
Jackie Robinson broke into the ranks of the white major leagues in 1947, before there was a NBA or NFL as we know them today. He, along with Jesse Owens and his victory in Berlin, and Joe Louis in his defeat of Max Schmeling, carried so much of our weight on their shoulders. They changed the cultural expectations. Our Sampsons beat their Goliaths. We rejoiced and named our children after them.
Then the 1954 court triumph that ended legal apartheid, followed by 10 years of test cases in Montgomery, Little Rock, and all across the South, culminating in the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Then the shift from seeking equal protection under the law to seeking empowerment. A blow was landed by Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in 1964. Then the battle for the right to vote and the Voting Rights Act. White women couldn't serve on juries. Farmers who couldn't pay poll taxes couldn't vote—Selma. Eighteen year olds got the right to vote in 1970---Selma. In 1974, student residency, you can vote where you go to school---Selma. 1975, bilingual voting---Selma. 1990, the Disabilities Act---Selma. All of these victories were rooted in that defining moment in Selma, Alabama.
The 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns which sought to break down barriers
and democratized the primary system by changing the rules so delegates were
elected on a proportional basis, not winner take all. The campaigns generated a multitude of newly registered rainbow voters.
Now, with the barriers down, we are running the last lap of this race with a brilliant
anchorman, Barack Obama---so able, intellectually, morally, and spiritually, to bring the baton home. This is a magic moment.
August 28, 1955: Emmit Till was lynched.
August 28, 1963: Dr. King addressed the March on Washington.
August 28, 2008: Barack receives the nomination.
This is a magic moment, one of those high peak moments for America and the world.
July 4, 1776: Independence from Britain.
1865: The 13th Amendment ending slavery.
1954: The Supreme Court Decision that ended legal apartheid.
August 28, 1963: Dr. King addressed the March on Washington.
August 28, 2008: We reach the political promised land Dr. King saw from the mountaintop.
On this journey we have faced trauma, and sometimes experienced errors of judgment, taste, and tone along the way. Yet, we play with our scars. I've had to reflect upon my traumatizing ordeal with sincerity and contrition. My private speech became public controversy. I addressed the hurt and the affected. I was not satisfied with my apology and response, so I went to the desert to see if there was any gap between my heart and my lips. It was a soul-searching journey. I wanted to examine my painful and errant language---whether private or public. I speak to you this way because I love you with a passion and pain, and with a pleasure and commitment that is immeasurable, to the death and beyond.
I find my deepest joy in lifting people up, whether in stress or distress. In a moment away from the high mark, I let you down. It hurts. The pain sticks to my bones. My soul cries out for understanding. There is an ongoing struggle to make a more perfect union and a more peaceful world. I want to address the wound in my soul, not just my words.
My investment in this struggle is not seasonal; it is a life's work.
As I enter this phase of our struggle and reflect upon my contributions and involvement, I want to be a productive finisher. I want it to be said that I kept the faith. I fought a good fight. I finished my course.
I have operated in two traditions. They merge, but sometimes there is tension between them---the political and the prophetic. The allegiances are sometimes different. Where is accountability? One to God, one to voters. They co-exist, often with great inner tension.
It is not my conflict with traditions that sent me to the desert. I have given much to our community and our nation, but a healed soul is required to serve.
David, a popular and talented politician with great favor from God and among the masses, was the chief politician of his day. Nathan, a supporter of David, had access to him. He loved David; but his allegiance was to his higher calling. He therefore found himself raising uncomfortable questions and concerns, not because of competition or jealousy, but out of love for his mission.
Dr. King would often say, vanity asks the question: Is it popular? Politics asks the question: Will it win? Conscience asks the question: Is it right? Ultimately, a matter may be neither politic nor popular. " Is it right ?" is the haunting question.
Conscience often swims upstream. It is deep in your bosom, covered up by your clothes and appearance. It is a tough negotiator. It will wake you up when all of your allies and enemies are asleep.
I went to the desert to talk to God, Dr. King, and myself. I tried to hear God's still and small voice. I felt I had fallen short of what would make heaven happy. I often asked God in prayer to search my heart because he knows my ways, my weaknesses, my strengths, and my struggle. I said to him, allow me to do your assignment, your will, and gain favor with you. If you find anything within me that should not be, any hatred, jealousy, malice, evil, or ungodly intent, remove it and make me better and more fit for the Kingdom. Keep me humble and sincere and grounded. Give me a tough mind and a tender heart. You alone know the thorns in my flesh and the wounds of my heart. Only pure hearts can see you.
In the presence of God you want 20-20 vision, and you will only see if your heart is pure. You want bold action, a pure heart, and vision. For my heart to be pure, I must deal with the sins that stand between me and God. If a snake bites you, you put on a tourniquet to stop the poison from spreading to the heart. Issues of life flow from the heart. Consistent with that, perfect love casts out fear. Fear of stature. Fear of sickness.
Fear of death. Fear of jobs. Fear of foes. Fear of money. Or the loss of those things.
I want to be fearless. Dr. Tillich would suggest that where love and power and justice meet, the new world we seek must begin in us. And we must start talking with God.
I talked with Dr. King. A certain sense of joy filled my soul when I was reminded of a scripture, Revelation 2:5, that says, "remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, repent and do the first works." I kept turning that thought over and over in my mind-- "remember your first works." The reason I packed my wife and young child up in 1964 and moved to Chicago was to be a voice for the voiceless, to fend for the poor, and somehow help the locked out get in.
He said remember the moral mandate to defend the poor, deliver the needy, and assist the fatherless and motherless. He said I told you at our last staff meeting it would be tough. You wanted this leadership challenge, and now you are into it. I observed closely our last staff meeting when he was in agony–-before we went to Memphis. I wondered why God would allow me to be a witness in that meeting. I was the agony, but I could not appreciate it fully at that time.
He said, I thought of quitting because i was under so much pressure. Nonviolence is under attack. There was such division in our ranks. And then I started to fast and pray to the point of death, just to convene our family. And then i decided to get up and go on to Memphis.
I saw him, in agony, turn a minus into a plus as we had done before. It was so much like the three steps of Jesus in Gethesemane. One, let this cup pass from me. Two, as he prayed the others slept. Three, not my will but thy will be done. I'm going to a higher calling.
As i talked with Dr. King and asked him what to do, he said: What is left to be done? Where did I leave you? I left you in and island of poverty, in and ocean of plenty. I left you in a valley of dried bones. We won our rights but we had to redeem the soul of America. That meant a real focus on the least of these. I left you in a valley to observe the impact of poverty; to observe intergenerational poverty and joblessness, where there are middle class workers–-police and teachers and firemen and social workers and lawyers and judges, monitoring the poor. Where they have payday lenders rather than banks. Predators rather than protection. Where workers live without insurance.
Where airport security workers, who can't strike in the name of homeland security, have to go 40-50 miles a day round trip to work and can't afford to pay for the gas to get there.
Neighborhoods of fast food restaurants, jobs without benefits, $4.00 for a gallon gas and for a gallon milk. Houses with lead paint. Children brain damaged.
First class jails that employ the middle class, and second class schools. Second class schools are the feeder system to the jails. They need each other.
In chicago's school system, there are 500,000 students. 7 of 10 boys, and only 6,000 of 500,000, finish four years of college. A multi-billion dollar system, 46,000 employees, 26,000 teachers, where janitors often makes more than teachers. There are police officers rather than truant officers in the schools. Secure teachers but insecure students. And teachers who are often forced to teach outside of their subject area.
In this valley, plants are closing and jobs are leaving. Education is funded upon a diminishing tax base. Government and the private sector are let off the hook.
I've been anointed to preach the gospel to the poor, Dr. King reminded me, and the broken hearted, and to set the captives free. In this valley, drugs are an industry, poor pushers or mules got to jail, while the rich got to college. Funeral homes are a growth industry.
Where Walmarts and big box stores are given free land and cheap labor, and the poor are forced to argue that something is better than nothing.
We addressed the Middle East peace process, European security, but we must also address the poverty in Haiti or Ickes housing project or the Delta. Haiti, where 70% of the population makes a dollar a day or less. Kids often walk five miles one way just to get one meal. Many eat mud pies.
Dr. King said, what's left to be done is largely unpopular, and its risky. To fight for the poor you must first fight their monitors, their overseers, their predators, their sub prime lenders, and their drug and gun suppliers. If the poor got a return on their vote, their dollars, their work, they would end poverty.
They make governors and presidents, and mayors and officials. But they give their power away.
While in the desert I recalled going to South Africa in 1979 for the first time. While I walked the streets of Soweto, the overseers, with their whips and guns, were from the community.
In the valley there are broken educational systems with buildings in need of repair, and a need for equal, high quality, public funding. People are surrendering -- some drop out some never show up. Ezekiel raised the question: Can these bones live?
Preaching alone is not enough. Ezekiel tried preaching and praying and singing. He finally surrendered. This issue of the poverty zone was bigger than the scope of his preaching. He was dealing with individuals not with the structure of the valley,
That's why Paul said the issue is not merely about the soul of individuals and personalities, but powers and principalities. Wickedness in high places.
Ezekiel stepped outside of the valley and went round about. He observed and studied the cause and effect of why the bones were dry. If at the top of the hill the water is cut off, the jobs are cut off, the airport is cut off, industry is cut off, first class school funding is cut off, decent housing is cut off, tourism is cut off, trade skills are cut off, and parks and recreation are cut off. Help is cut, promises are made, and hope is dashed. That's why the bones are dry.
You find yourself forever trying to put a size 10 foot in a size 8 shoe and think you can pray past the corns.
Often the rich are rich because the poor are poor. It is not that they are smarter and work harder, but they are protected by inheritance---intergenerational inheritance laws.
In that valley they trade life for life, eye for an eye, and conclude that a bullet is just a hot sensation, but then I sleep. Oh, a few get out---Tiger woods, the Williams sisters, Oprah Winfrey, Lebron James, Kobe Bryantt---very talented ones. But what about the rest of them, like 'Shadrack, Meshack, and Abendigo.'
Dr. King said to me: We must challenge the structure to work. We must demonstrate. Ghetto monitors resist mass action. Why demonstrate? Demonstrate to get attention, he argued, you can only ride a man's back if he is still lying down.
The biggest sins of the poor are feeling that nothing better is worth working for, and to adjust. We used to sing a song, "one thing i did wrong, let segregation stay too long. Hold on."
The poor are oppressed and trade off temporary convenience for long-term solutions. They have been taught that sacrifice is too risky. They adjust. Dr. King contended that we must be permanently maladjusted. This principle was the essence of the struggle in Birmingham; a massive few days of sacrifice that changed the entire southern culture.
Even when we are on the isle of poverty, like John, we still have the right to see beyond our pain and predicament, a new heaven and a new earth, the old one passing away. The oppressor adjusts to privilege. The oppressed adjust to pain. And both get mad when you force them to change.
Dr. King, like Jesus, died unpopular. He became popular when they resurrected him---the power that bullets could not stop, jail cells could not contain.
The rich say I lose money if there is change. The poor say it's risky; I may lose what I have. It's hard to convince the poor they are giants with grasshopper complexes. That is the burden of preaching.
And they are locked in this perverse marriage. There is a tension between satisfying the lust of the rich and privileged, and the pain of the poor. But ultimately, lion and lamb; black and white; rich and poor must lie together to reach peace in the valley.
As I come through this valley, I urge you to join me in this reassessment, and in our actions. This is a high moment for our politics. We must vote like never before. We've been blessed to have a "who" in Barack Obama. But there is the "what", the unfinished business of eliminating structural inequality: a criminal justice system for profit, with 2.2 million Americans, 1 million of whom are black, incarcerated. Blacks are number 1 in infant mortality, unemployment, and have shorter life expectancy.
As we seek the Olympic Games, the budget for an Olympic education system is not on the agenda. I challenge you today: We must reclaim our children. Join with us in embracing our seven point educational plan for parents and students:
1. Take my child to school
2. Meet my child's teacher
3. Exchange phone numbers with my child's teacher
4. Turn off the TV three hours a night so my child may study
5. Pick up my child's report card each grading period
6. Take my child to church, temple or synagogue
7. Fight for equal and adequate education funding
We've lost $90 billion in home equity for blacks and $70 billion for Latinos. We must restructure loans and not repossess homes. And our banks are collapsing.
In this journey, I want to be more fit for the fight. So I fast and I pray. I don't want to let you down.
We must at once fight for political change and honor our prophetic moral tradition, which is often un-political. Jail visits will give you bad press. Addressing the criminal justice collapse is swimming upstream. Equal, adequate education for all children is swimming upstream. Building an airport rather than a gambling boat in the south suburbs is swimming upstream.
And yet, I urge bold action to see the big picture relating to the entrenched struggle against structural injustice. My soul cries out for relief and remedy for the poor, the downtrodden, and the disinherited. I've been anointed to preach the Gospel. We must drive out predators, the guns, liquor, and the drugs. The government must reinvest in America along with private sector incentives. We must develop new forms of energy.
I've seen a lot. I've heard a lot. But there is more to be seen; there is more pain to be felt. But the Bible suggests that we heal by his stripes. Our appetites may change but the formula for healing does not. Your stars come from his scars.
If you're down, you must rise up. God will forgive and redeem. Rise to higher ground
Ask God to be the wind beneath your wings.
He will lift you up above your travails. He'll lift you up above your circumstances.
I heard Jacob, saying, "Come in. We've come to far to go back now.
Your tears wet and salty. They fall beneath our cheeks. But God will answer our prayers.
God will, remove our pain. God will, dry our tear stained eyes. God will, lift us up to higher ground.
God is our Shepherd. He fears no evil.
Thou is with us.
There's power in Thou.
There's hope in Thou.
There's future in Thou.
There's healing in Thou.
There's always another chance.
We fall down sometimes, we get back up again. Because nothing is too hard for God.
No mountain too high, no valley too low.
If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then God will forgive their sins, and they will hear from heaven, and there will be healing in the land.
RAINBOW PUSH SATURDAY MORNING FORUM ADDRESS
SATURDAY AUGUST 2, 2008
I want to thank all of you who are here today, and those listening and viewing around the nation and the world, for your prayers and expressions of support, and even your criticism. It is challenging but also often helpful. We must see the value of healthy critiques. We are accountable to each other.
But through all of this, while I went on my sojourn to the desert, I thank you. I fasted and prayed and reflected. I went to the valley in a real search for my assignment and to renew the health and strength of my soul. I want to be morally and physically fit for this battle. I want my preaching and my living to be closely connected. Too often the preaching is higher than the living. The Gospel must not be compromised.
This is a magic moment in American history. I've been blessed to be a part of a great era. I was jailed in 1960 for trying to use a public library. I was jailed in 1963 going to the March on Washington for trying to use a public facility. I think about our journey from slave ships to championships, from 1948 to 2008---what a journey.
Jackie Robinson broke into the ranks of the white major leagues in 1947, before there was a NBA or NFL as we know them today. He, along with Jesse Owens and his victory in Berlin, and Joe Louis in his defeat of Max Schmeling, carried so much of our weight on their shoulders. They changed the cultural expectations. Our Sampsons beat their Goliaths. We rejoiced and named our children after them.
Then the 1954 court triumph that ended legal apartheid, followed by 10 years of test cases in Montgomery, Little Rock, and all across the South, culminating in the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Then the shift from seeking equal protection under the law to seeking empowerment. A blow was landed by Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in 1964. Then the battle for the right to vote and the Voting Rights Act. White women couldn't serve on juries. Farmers who couldn't pay poll taxes couldn't vote—Selma. Eighteen year olds got the right to vote in 1970---Selma. In 1974, student residency, you can vote where you go to school---Selma. 1975, bilingual voting---Selma. 1990, the Disabilities Act---Selma. All of these victories were rooted in that defining moment in Selma, Alabama.
The 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns which sought to break down barriers
and democratized the primary system by changing the rules so delegates were
elected on a proportional basis, not winner take all. The campaigns generated a multitude of newly registered rainbow voters.
Now, with the barriers down, we are running the last lap of this race with a brilliant
anchorman, Barack Obama---so able, intellectually, morally, and spiritually, to bring the baton home. This is a magic moment.
August 28, 1955: Emmit Till was lynched.
August 28, 1963: Dr. King addressed the March on Washington.
August 28, 2008: Barack receives the nomination.
This is a magic moment, one of those high peak moments for America and the world.
July 4, 1776: Independence from Britain.
1865: The 13th Amendment ending slavery.
1954: The Supreme Court Decision that ended legal apartheid.
August 28, 1963: Dr. King addressed the March on Washington.
August 28, 2008: We reach the political promised land Dr. King saw from the mountaintop.
On this journey we have faced trauma, and sometimes experienced errors of judgment, taste, and tone along the way. Yet, we play with our scars. I've had to reflect upon my traumatizing ordeal with sincerity and contrition. My private speech became public controversy. I addressed the hurt and the affected. I was not satisfied with my apology and response, so I went to the desert to see if there was any gap between my heart and my lips. It was a soul-searching journey. I wanted to examine my painful and errant language---whether private or public. I speak to you this way because I love you with a passion and pain, and with a pleasure and commitment that is immeasurable, to the death and beyond.
I find my deepest joy in lifting people up, whether in stress or distress. In a moment away from the high mark, I let you down. It hurts. The pain sticks to my bones. My soul cries out for understanding. There is an ongoing struggle to make a more perfect union and a more peaceful world. I want to address the wound in my soul, not just my words.
My investment in this struggle is not seasonal; it is a life's work.
As I enter this phase of our struggle and reflect upon my contributions and involvement, I want to be a productive finisher. I want it to be said that I kept the faith. I fought a good fight. I finished my course.
I have operated in two traditions. They merge, but sometimes there is tension between them---the political and the prophetic. The allegiances are sometimes different. Where is accountability? One to God, one to voters. They co-exist, often with great inner tension.
It is not my conflict with traditions that sent me to the desert. I have given much to our community and our nation, but a healed soul is required to serve.
David, a popular and talented politician with great favor from God and among the masses, was the chief politician of his day. Nathan, a supporter of David, had access to him. He loved David; but his allegiance was to his higher calling. He therefore found himself raising uncomfortable questions and concerns, not because of competition or jealousy, but out of love for his mission.
Dr. King would often say, vanity asks the question: Is it popular? Politics asks the question: Will it win? Conscience asks the question: Is it right? Ultimately, a matter may be neither politic nor popular. " Is it right ?" is the haunting question.
Conscience often swims upstream. It is deep in your bosom, covered up by your clothes and appearance. It is a tough negotiator. It will wake you up when all of your allies and enemies are asleep.
I went to the desert to talk to God, Dr. King, and myself. I tried to hear God's still and small voice. I felt I had fallen short of what would make heaven happy. I often asked God in prayer to search my heart because he knows my ways, my weaknesses, my strengths, and my struggle. I said to him, allow me to do your assignment, your will, and gain favor with you. If you find anything within me that should not be, any hatred, jealousy, malice, evil, or ungodly intent, remove it and make me better and more fit for the Kingdom. Keep me humble and sincere and grounded. Give me a tough mind and a tender heart. You alone know the thorns in my flesh and the wounds of my heart. Only pure hearts can see you.
In the presence of God you want 20-20 vision, and you will only see if your heart is pure. You want bold action, a pure heart, and vision. For my heart to be pure, I must deal with the sins that stand between me and God. If a snake bites you, you put on a tourniquet to stop the poison from spreading to the heart. Issues of life flow from the heart. Consistent with that, perfect love casts out fear. Fear of stature. Fear of sickness.
Fear of death. Fear of jobs. Fear of foes. Fear of money. Or the loss of those things.
I want to be fearless. Dr. Tillich would suggest that where love and power and justice meet, the new world we seek must begin in us. And we must start talking with God.
I talked with Dr. King. A certain sense of joy filled my soul when I was reminded of a scripture, Revelation 2:5, that says, "remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, repent and do the first works." I kept turning that thought over and over in my mind-- "remember your first works." The reason I packed my wife and young child up in 1964 and moved to Chicago was to be a voice for the voiceless, to fend for the poor, and somehow help the locked out get in.
He said remember the moral mandate to defend the poor, deliver the needy, and assist the fatherless and motherless. He said I told you at our last staff meeting it would be tough. You wanted this leadership challenge, and now you are into it. I observed closely our last staff meeting when he was in agony–-before we went to Memphis. I wondered why God would allow me to be a witness in that meeting. I was the agony, but I could not appreciate it fully at that time.
He said, I thought of quitting because i was under so much pressure. Nonviolence is under attack. There was such division in our ranks. And then I started to fast and pray to the point of death, just to convene our family. And then i decided to get up and go on to Memphis.
I saw him, in agony, turn a minus into a plus as we had done before. It was so much like the three steps of Jesus in Gethesemane. One, let this cup pass from me. Two, as he prayed the others slept. Three, not my will but thy will be done. I'm going to a higher calling.
As i talked with Dr. King and asked him what to do, he said: What is left to be done? Where did I leave you? I left you in and island of poverty, in and ocean of plenty. I left you in a valley of dried bones. We won our rights but we had to redeem the soul of America. That meant a real focus on the least of these. I left you in a valley to observe the impact of poverty; to observe intergenerational poverty and joblessness, where there are middle class workers–-police and teachers and firemen and social workers and lawyers and judges, monitoring the poor. Where they have payday lenders rather than banks. Predators rather than protection. Where workers live without insurance.
Where airport security workers, who can't strike in the name of homeland security, have to go 40-50 miles a day round trip to work and can't afford to pay for the gas to get there.
Neighborhoods of fast food restaurants, jobs without benefits, $4.00 for a gallon gas and for a gallon milk. Houses with lead paint. Children brain damaged.
First class jails that employ the middle class, and second class schools. Second class schools are the feeder system to the jails. They need each other.
In chicago's school system, there are 500,000 students. 7 of 10 boys, and only 6,000 of 500,000, finish four years of college. A multi-billion dollar system, 46,000 employees, 26,000 teachers, where janitors often makes more than teachers. There are police officers rather than truant officers in the schools. Secure teachers but insecure students. And teachers who are often forced to teach outside of their subject area.
In this valley, plants are closing and jobs are leaving. Education is funded upon a diminishing tax base. Government and the private sector are let off the hook.
I've been anointed to preach the gospel to the poor, Dr. King reminded me, and the broken hearted, and to set the captives free. In this valley, drugs are an industry, poor pushers or mules got to jail, while the rich got to college. Funeral homes are a growth industry.
Where Walmarts and big box stores are given free land and cheap labor, and the poor are forced to argue that something is better than nothing.
We addressed the Middle East peace process, European security, but we must also address the poverty in Haiti or Ickes housing project or the Delta. Haiti, where 70% of the population makes a dollar a day or less. Kids often walk five miles one way just to get one meal. Many eat mud pies.
Dr. King said, what's left to be done is largely unpopular, and its risky. To fight for the poor you must first fight their monitors, their overseers, their predators, their sub prime lenders, and their drug and gun suppliers. If the poor got a return on their vote, their dollars, their work, they would end poverty.
They make governors and presidents, and mayors and officials. But they give their power away.
While in the desert I recalled going to South Africa in 1979 for the first time. While I walked the streets of Soweto, the overseers, with their whips and guns, were from the community.
In the valley there are broken educational systems with buildings in need of repair, and a need for equal, high quality, public funding. People are surrendering -- some drop out some never show up. Ezekiel raised the question: Can these bones live?
Preaching alone is not enough. Ezekiel tried preaching and praying and singing. He finally surrendered. This issue of the poverty zone was bigger than the scope of his preaching. He was dealing with individuals not with the structure of the valley,
That's why Paul said the issue is not merely about the soul of individuals and personalities, but powers and principalities. Wickedness in high places.
Ezekiel stepped outside of the valley and went round about. He observed and studied the cause and effect of why the bones were dry. If at the top of the hill the water is cut off, the jobs are cut off, the airport is cut off, industry is cut off, first class school funding is cut off, decent housing is cut off, tourism is cut off, trade skills are cut off, and parks and recreation are cut off. Help is cut, promises are made, and hope is dashed. That's why the bones are dry.
You find yourself forever trying to put a size 10 foot in a size 8 shoe and think you can pray past the corns.
Often the rich are rich because the poor are poor. It is not that they are smarter and work harder, but they are protected by inheritance---intergenerational inheritance laws.
In that valley they trade life for life, eye for an eye, and conclude that a bullet is just a hot sensation, but then I sleep. Oh, a few get out---Tiger woods, the Williams sisters, Oprah Winfrey, Lebron James, Kobe Bryantt---very talented ones. But what about the rest of them, like 'Shadrack, Meshack, and Abendigo.'
Dr. King said to me: We must challenge the structure to work. We must demonstrate. Ghetto monitors resist mass action. Why demonstrate? Demonstrate to get attention, he argued, you can only ride a man's back if he is still lying down.
The biggest sins of the poor are feeling that nothing better is worth working for, and to adjust. We used to sing a song, "one thing i did wrong, let segregation stay too long. Hold on."
The poor are oppressed and trade off temporary convenience for long-term solutions. They have been taught that sacrifice is too risky. They adjust. Dr. King contended that we must be permanently maladjusted. This principle was the essence of the struggle in Birmingham; a massive few days of sacrifice that changed the entire southern culture.
Even when we are on the isle of poverty, like John, we still have the right to see beyond our pain and predicament, a new heaven and a new earth, the old one passing away. The oppressor adjusts to privilege. The oppressed adjust to pain. And both get mad when you force them to change.
Dr. King, like Jesus, died unpopular. He became popular when they resurrected him---the power that bullets could not stop, jail cells could not contain.
The rich say I lose money if there is change. The poor say it's risky; I may lose what I have. It's hard to convince the poor they are giants with grasshopper complexes. That is the burden of preaching.
And they are locked in this perverse marriage. There is a tension between satisfying the lust of the rich and privileged, and the pain of the poor. But ultimately, lion and lamb; black and white; rich and poor must lie together to reach peace in the valley.
As I come through this valley, I urge you to join me in this reassessment, and in our actions. This is a high moment for our politics. We must vote like never before. We've been blessed to have a "who" in Barack Obama. But there is the "what", the unfinished business of eliminating structural inequality: a criminal justice system for profit, with 2.2 million Americans, 1 million of whom are black, incarcerated. Blacks are number 1 in infant mortality, unemployment, and have shorter life expectancy.
As we seek the Olympic Games, the budget for an Olympic education system is not on the agenda. I challenge you today: We must reclaim our children. Join with us in embracing our seven point educational plan for parents and students:
1. Take my child to school
2. Meet my child's teacher
3. Exchange phone numbers with my child's teacher
4. Turn off the TV three hours a night so my child may study
5. Pick up my child's report card each grading period
6. Take my child to church, temple or synagogue
7. Fight for equal and adequate education funding
We've lost $90 billion in home equity for blacks and $70 billion for Latinos. We must restructure loans and not repossess homes. And our banks are collapsing.
In this journey, I want to be more fit for the fight. So I fast and I pray. I don't want to let you down.
We must at once fight for political change and honor our prophetic moral tradition, which is often un-political. Jail visits will give you bad press. Addressing the criminal justice collapse is swimming upstream. Equal, adequate education for all children is swimming upstream. Building an airport rather than a gambling boat in the south suburbs is swimming upstream.
And yet, I urge bold action to see the big picture relating to the entrenched struggle against structural injustice. My soul cries out for relief and remedy for the poor, the downtrodden, and the disinherited. I've been anointed to preach the Gospel. We must drive out predators, the guns, liquor, and the drugs. The government must reinvest in America along with private sector incentives. We must develop new forms of energy.
I've seen a lot. I've heard a lot. But there is more to be seen; there is more pain to be felt. But the Bible suggests that we heal by his stripes. Our appetites may change but the formula for healing does not. Your stars come from his scars.
If you're down, you must rise up. God will forgive and redeem. Rise to higher ground
Ask God to be the wind beneath your wings.
He will lift you up above your travails. He'll lift you up above your circumstances.
I heard Jacob, saying, "Come in. We've come to far to go back now.
Your tears wet and salty. They fall beneath our cheeks. But God will answer our prayers.
God will, remove our pain. God will, dry our tear stained eyes. God will, lift us up to higher ground.
God is our Shepherd. He fears no evil.
Thou is with us.
There's power in Thou.
There's hope in Thou.
There's future in Thou.
There's healing in Thou.
There's always another chance.
We fall down sometimes, we get back up again. Because nothing is too hard for God.
No mountain too high, no valley too low.
If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then God will forgive their sins, and they will hear from heaven, and there will be healing in the land.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
DON'T JUST SIT THERE.
Change Lives Affected by AIDS:
Help Assemble Caregiver Kits at Conventions
With your help, 4,000 caregiver kits will be assembled by people attending the Republican and Democratic National Conventions.
These kits include basic supplies like washcloths, latex gloves, cotton balls, antibacterial soap, antifungal cream, petroleum jelly, antidiarrheal medicine and acetaminophen.
Dedicated family caregivers and volunteers are making a world of difference for people living with AIDS in Africa, Asia and Latin America. But too often, poverty denies them access to the supplies they need to help prolong lives, comfort the sick, and protect themselves from infection.
Join World Vision and the ONE Campaign at either convention. This event is open to the public and the news media.
Also, a visual reminder of lives lost to the AIDS pandemic will be on display organized by Got Cents.
Tuesday, August 26 Democratic National Convention
Time: 2-5 pm Location: Manual High School 1700 E. 28th Avenue Denver, CO 80205
Tuesday, September 2 Republican National Convention Time: 2-5 pm Location: Minneapolis Convention Center Hall B 1301 Second Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55403
Kick-off begins at 2pm with special guests including:
Senator Tom Daschle, National Co-Chair ONE Vote '08
Senator Bill Frist, National Co-Chair ONE Vote '08
David Lane, ONE Campaign
Princess Zulu, World Vision
And other special guests
Register Here!
Change Lives Affected by AIDS:
Help Assemble Caregiver Kits at Conventions
With your help, 4,000 caregiver kits will be assembled by people attending the Republican and Democratic National Conventions.
These kits include basic supplies like washcloths, latex gloves, cotton balls, antibacterial soap, antifungal cream, petroleum jelly, antidiarrheal medicine and acetaminophen.
Dedicated family caregivers and volunteers are making a world of difference for people living with AIDS in Africa, Asia and Latin America. But too often, poverty denies them access to the supplies they need to help prolong lives, comfort the sick, and protect themselves from infection.
Join World Vision and the ONE Campaign at either convention. This event is open to the public and the news media.
Also, a visual reminder of lives lost to the AIDS pandemic will be on display organized by Got Cents.
Tuesday, August 26 Democratic National Convention
Time: 2-5 pm Location: Manual High School 1700 E. 28th Avenue Denver, CO 80205
Tuesday, September 2 Republican National Convention Time: 2-5 pm Location: Minneapolis Convention Center Hall B 1301 Second Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55403
Kick-off begins at 2pm with special guests including:
Senator Tom Daschle, National Co-Chair ONE Vote '08
Senator Bill Frist, National Co-Chair ONE Vote '08
David Lane, ONE Campaign
Princess Zulu, World Vision
And other special guests
Register Here!
The Soros Solution- The Danish Model replicated in Mexico
The Next Civil Right?
Affordable Housing For All--A Roof Over Everyone's Head.
Dear Colleague,
I thought you would be interested in reading an article by George Soros that appeared in the Financial Times this week.
Michael Vachon
A Danish fix for the US mortgage crisis
By George Soros --- Published: August 11 2008
The recent compromise struck between the Treasury and Democrats in Congress on the fate of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage guarantors, constitutes the worst of all possible worlds. The Treasury offered a blank cheque to come to the rescue, if necessary, but the managements of both companies were kept in place. They know that their survival depends on not drawing on that blank cheque. They will therefore do everything in their power to reduce the need for any new equity capital that would be dilutive. In short, as privately owned but undercapitalised financial institutions, the GSEs cannot fulfil their stated mission of providing stability, liquidity and affordability to the nation's housing finance system.
In presentations to investors, which followed big quarterly losses, the GSEs said they would curtail purchases of mortgages and might shrink their holdings to preserve capital. They highlighted that fees from their insurance guarantee business had nearly doubled. They also improved the quality of new loans by focusing on borrowers with higher-quality credit, who put down greater down payments. This means that the GSEs have significantly increased the cost of mortgages and tightened lending standards.
The problems in the banking system have left the two GSEs as the only game in town in the mortgage market. Their market share of new mortgages has doubled over the past year and is now close to 80 per cent. Much of the balance is accounted for by the Federal Housing Administration, a fully guaranteed government agency. As the two companies fight for survival and try to reduce their need for new capital, the availability and cost of mortgages in the US suffer. Coming at a time when the supply of houses is swollen by a rising tide of foreclosures, this is a recipe for disaster. House prices have already fallen sharply and will continue to fall unless mortgages are made available on more favourable terms to a broader group of people.
This compromise, or stalemate, practically ensures that house prices will overshoot on the downside. That, in turn, renders the policies of the GSEs self-defeating as lower house prices increase their losses and push them further into insolvency. The GSE crisis has merely been postponed, at a cost of making the housing crisis more severe.
Confidence in GSE-backed bonds has been shaken. The stocks remain under pressure. Markets are forcing officials to come up with a better solution. We need to recognise that the business model of the GSEs is fatally flawed. They are public/private partnerships in which the risks are borne by the public sector while profits accrue to the private sector: management and shareholders. The companies have been plagued by accounting problems and other irregularities; their managements have spent enormous sums lobbying Capitol Hill. This is not a business model that deserves to be perpetuated.
Fortunately, alternatives are available. Hank Paulson, the Treasury secretary, has suggested the use of covered bonds, a mortgage-financing vehicle popular in Europe. I would recommend the system of mortgage credit used in Denmark, where loan-to-value ratios and underwriting standards are strictly enforced by a single, strong regulator. These mortgages are transformed into instantly tradable bonds. Cover for the bonds is provided by both the mortgages and the credit of the financial institutions issuing them. The mortgages remain on the balance sheets of the issuers, eliminating the moral hazard inherent in the US system, which is based on earning fees from selling them on to the market.
The standardisation of mortgages in the Danish system promotes transparency and liquidity. Householders can prepay their mortgages at any time by buying the bonds. Since house values and bond prices tend to move in unison this arrangement reduces the danger of householders' equity falling into negative territory. For the issuing banks, owning these bonds carries lower capital requirements so the bonds sell at a premium to ordinary covered bonds. This system has survived and provided affordable home mortgages since its creation shortly after the great Copenhagen fire of 1795.
I pioneered the introduction of the Danish system in Mexico with the support of Paul O'Neill, when he was Treasury secretary. With modification, it offers a long-term solution to providing affordable mortgages in the US.
The writer, author of The New Paradigm for Financial Markets, is chairman of Soros Fund Management, which has held and continues to hold short positions in GSEs.
The Financial Times Article
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ac770b58-67aa-11dd-8d3b-0000779fd18c.html
Affordable Housing For All--A Roof Over Everyone's Head.
Dear Colleague,
I thought you would be interested in reading an article by George Soros that appeared in the Financial Times this week.
Michael Vachon
A Danish fix for the US mortgage crisis
By George Soros --- Published: August 11 2008
The recent compromise struck between the Treasury and Democrats in Congress on the fate of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage guarantors, constitutes the worst of all possible worlds. The Treasury offered a blank cheque to come to the rescue, if necessary, but the managements of both companies were kept in place. They know that their survival depends on not drawing on that blank cheque. They will therefore do everything in their power to reduce the need for any new equity capital that would be dilutive. In short, as privately owned but undercapitalised financial institutions, the GSEs cannot fulfil their stated mission of providing stability, liquidity and affordability to the nation's housing finance system.
In presentations to investors, which followed big quarterly losses, the GSEs said they would curtail purchases of mortgages and might shrink their holdings to preserve capital. They highlighted that fees from their insurance guarantee business had nearly doubled. They also improved the quality of new loans by focusing on borrowers with higher-quality credit, who put down greater down payments. This means that the GSEs have significantly increased the cost of mortgages and tightened lending standards.
The problems in the banking system have left the two GSEs as the only game in town in the mortgage market. Their market share of new mortgages has doubled over the past year and is now close to 80 per cent. Much of the balance is accounted for by the Federal Housing Administration, a fully guaranteed government agency. As the two companies fight for survival and try to reduce their need for new capital, the availability and cost of mortgages in the US suffer. Coming at a time when the supply of houses is swollen by a rising tide of foreclosures, this is a recipe for disaster. House prices have already fallen sharply and will continue to fall unless mortgages are made available on more favourable terms to a broader group of people.
This compromise, or stalemate, practically ensures that house prices will overshoot on the downside. That, in turn, renders the policies of the GSEs self-defeating as lower house prices increase their losses and push them further into insolvency. The GSE crisis has merely been postponed, at a cost of making the housing crisis more severe.
Confidence in GSE-backed bonds has been shaken. The stocks remain under pressure. Markets are forcing officials to come up with a better solution. We need to recognise that the business model of the GSEs is fatally flawed. They are public/private partnerships in which the risks are borne by the public sector while profits accrue to the private sector: management and shareholders. The companies have been plagued by accounting problems and other irregularities; their managements have spent enormous sums lobbying Capitol Hill. This is not a business model that deserves to be perpetuated.
Fortunately, alternatives are available. Hank Paulson, the Treasury secretary, has suggested the use of covered bonds, a mortgage-financing vehicle popular in Europe. I would recommend the system of mortgage credit used in Denmark, where loan-to-value ratios and underwriting standards are strictly enforced by a single, strong regulator. These mortgages are transformed into instantly tradable bonds. Cover for the bonds is provided by both the mortgages and the credit of the financial institutions issuing them. The mortgages remain on the balance sheets of the issuers, eliminating the moral hazard inherent in the US system, which is based on earning fees from selling them on to the market.
The standardisation of mortgages in the Danish system promotes transparency and liquidity. Householders can prepay their mortgages at any time by buying the bonds. Since house values and bond prices tend to move in unison this arrangement reduces the danger of householders' equity falling into negative territory. For the issuing banks, owning these bonds carries lower capital requirements so the bonds sell at a premium to ordinary covered bonds. This system has survived and provided affordable home mortgages since its creation shortly after the great Copenhagen fire of 1795.
I pioneered the introduction of the Danish system in Mexico with the support of Paul O'Neill, when he was Treasury secretary. With modification, it offers a long-term solution to providing affordable mortgages in the US.
The writer, author of The New Paradigm for Financial Markets, is chairman of Soros Fund Management, which has held and continues to hold short positions in GSEs.
The Financial Times Article
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ac770b58-67aa-11dd-8d3b-0000779fd18c.html
Monday, August 11, 2008
Did you Know?
Saint Claire- Friend of Saint Francis of Assisi
is the Patron Saint of...
embroiderers
eye disease
eyes
gilders
goldsmiths
gold workers
good weather
laundry workers
needle workers
Santa Clara Indian Pueblo
telegraphs
telephones
television
television writers
Happy Feast Day to Saint Claire-Pray For Us All.
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Friday, August 08, 2008
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Hope For Us All
hey--If It Can Happen To Him [LOL] !!
http://news.aol.com/article/111-year-old-reptile-will-finally-be-a/120110
http://news.aol.com/article/111-year-old-reptile-will-finally-be-a/120110
Happy Feast Day of Saint Dominic-August 8 (still time to pray the Novena)
Special prayers to Br. Hugh Vincent Dyer, OP. in his new assignment.Love and Marriage
GOES TOGETHER LIKE A BABY AND CARRIAGE
[ZE08051504 - 2008-05-15]
Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-22593?l=english
Pope: Eucharist Linked to Marriage
Says All Families Represent Original Cell of Society
VATICAN CITY, MAY 15, 2008 (Zenit.org).-
Benedict XVI says there is a profound bond between the sacraments of marriage and the Eucharist.The Pope affirmed this today in the Vatican when he received in audience participants in the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers, focused on "The Emigrant and Itinerant Family."The Holy Father recalled how during his U.S. visit he encouraged people "to continue their commitment to welcoming those brothers and sisters who arrive there, usually from poor countries," and gave particular emphasis to "the serious problem of the reunification of families.""The Church's solicitude toward emigrant families does not diminish her concern for itinerant families," he noted, highlighting how families of whatever condition "represent the original cell of society that must not be destroyed but courageously and patiently defended."The family is "the community in which, from infancy, we are formed to adore and love God, learning the grammar of human and moral values, and discovering how to make good use of freedom in truth. Unfortunately, in no small number of situations this is difficult to achieve, and especially in cases of people affected by the phenomenon of human mobility," the Pope acknowledged.Benedict XVI went on to examine the "profound bond" between the sacrament of the Eucharist and that of marriage, noting how "the liturgy places the celebration of the sacrament of marriage at the heart of the celebration of the Eucharist. [...] In their daily lives, couples must draw inspiration for their behavior from the example of Christ who 'loved the Church and gave himself up for her.'""This supreme gesture of love is presented anew in each celebration of the Eucharist; and it is appropriate for the pastoral care of families to refer back to this sacramental fact as a reference point of fundamental importance," he added."People who go to Mass -- and the celebration of Mass must also be facilitated for migrants and itinerant peoples -- find in the Eucharist a powerful allusion to their own family, their own marriage; and they are encouraged to live their lives from the point of view of faith, seeking in divine grace the strength to succeed," the Pope affirmed.The Holy Father concluded by pointing out that "human mobility represents, in today's globalized world, an important frontier for new evangelization." In this context, he encouraged the members and consultors of the pontifical council "to continue your pastoral commitment with renewed zeal."Creative ministryWhen Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the pontifical council, inaugurated the assembly, he emphasized the importance precisely within the phenomenon of human mobility.Some people emigrate, he said, precisely to find more favorable conditions for the life of the nuclear family, or to flee from war or persecution. Even in other less dramatic situations, the cardinal affirmed, the family often suffers. And this represents a challenge for the Church.Cardinal Martino called for creativity and zeal in adapting pastoral plans to distinct situations, without losing the common goal, that of "carrying out the plan of God, who has wanted man and woman to form one flesh in the bond of matrimony."
[ZE08051504 - 2008-05-15]
Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-22593?l=english
Pope: Eucharist Linked to Marriage
Says All Families Represent Original Cell of Society
VATICAN CITY, MAY 15, 2008 (Zenit.org).-
Benedict XVI says there is a profound bond between the sacraments of marriage and the Eucharist.The Pope affirmed this today in the Vatican when he received in audience participants in the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers, focused on "The Emigrant and Itinerant Family."The Holy Father recalled how during his U.S. visit he encouraged people "to continue their commitment to welcoming those brothers and sisters who arrive there, usually from poor countries," and gave particular emphasis to "the serious problem of the reunification of families.""The Church's solicitude toward emigrant families does not diminish her concern for itinerant families," he noted, highlighting how families of whatever condition "represent the original cell of society that must not be destroyed but courageously and patiently defended."The family is "the community in which, from infancy, we are formed to adore and love God, learning the grammar of human and moral values, and discovering how to make good use of freedom in truth. Unfortunately, in no small number of situations this is difficult to achieve, and especially in cases of people affected by the phenomenon of human mobility," the Pope acknowledged.Benedict XVI went on to examine the "profound bond" between the sacrament of the Eucharist and that of marriage, noting how "the liturgy places the celebration of the sacrament of marriage at the heart of the celebration of the Eucharist. [...] In their daily lives, couples must draw inspiration for their behavior from the example of Christ who 'loved the Church and gave himself up for her.'""This supreme gesture of love is presented anew in each celebration of the Eucharist; and it is appropriate for the pastoral care of families to refer back to this sacramental fact as a reference point of fundamental importance," he added."People who go to Mass -- and the celebration of Mass must also be facilitated for migrants and itinerant peoples -- find in the Eucharist a powerful allusion to their own family, their own marriage; and they are encouraged to live their lives from the point of view of faith, seeking in divine grace the strength to succeed," the Pope affirmed.The Holy Father concluded by pointing out that "human mobility represents, in today's globalized world, an important frontier for new evangelization." In this context, he encouraged the members and consultors of the pontifical council "to continue your pastoral commitment with renewed zeal."Creative ministryWhen Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the pontifical council, inaugurated the assembly, he emphasized the importance precisely within the phenomenon of human mobility.Some people emigrate, he said, precisely to find more favorable conditions for the life of the nuclear family, or to flee from war or persecution. Even in other less dramatic situations, the cardinal affirmed, the family often suffers. And this represents a challenge for the Church.Cardinal Martino called for creativity and zeal in adapting pastoral plans to distinct situations, without losing the common goal, that of "carrying out the plan of God, who has wanted man and woman to form one flesh in the bond of matrimony."
Salvation Never Comes
Without Resistence
Every major movement in the spiritual dimension toward Salvation and further sanctification, redemption and renewal has come with profound resistence. Not merely the entrenched legal status quo but the powers that be who wish to quash and suppress newness and fullness of life---
Jesus' redemption was opposed by the highest powers of the day-the Pharisees
Saint Francis of Assissi brought renewal against the old doctrines to a way of purity of heart and devotion and casting off materialism, violence and imperialism-to a path and way of Peace.
Martin Luther King Jr. challenged the absurd racist classist assumption that all men were created equal unless there was something darker in their skin pigment and was met with hoses, dogs and jail.
Saints Peter and Paul did jail time as well. There is a church in Rome called "Saint Peter in Chains" -St. Pietre in Vincoli-in Chains- because people who are themselves in darkness just want to lock up people who speak truth to power-who speak life to death-who insist on pure joy over perversions. An angel released Peter from the chains of his imprisonment.
You can tell the authenticity of demands and reforms of institutional stagnation and perversions into the newness and fullness of life by the opposition waged against it- the bigger the threat, the fiercer and uglier the opposition---and the greatest potential for growth, and the fullness of joy and new life at the other end.
Who are you? The jailor or the Angel who broke off the chains. Saint Peter or Paul or the people shouting -off with his head-just crucify him. Who are you?
Every major movement in the spiritual dimension toward Salvation and further sanctification, redemption and renewal has come with profound resistence. Not merely the entrenched legal status quo but the powers that be who wish to quash and suppress newness and fullness of life---
Jesus' redemption was opposed by the highest powers of the day-the Pharisees
Saint Francis of Assissi brought renewal against the old doctrines to a way of purity of heart and devotion and casting off materialism, violence and imperialism-to a path and way of Peace.
Martin Luther King Jr. challenged the absurd racist classist assumption that all men were created equal unless there was something darker in their skin pigment and was met with hoses, dogs and jail.
Saints Peter and Paul did jail time as well. There is a church in Rome called "Saint Peter in Chains" -St. Pietre in Vincoli-in Chains- because people who are themselves in darkness just want to lock up people who speak truth to power-who speak life to death-who insist on pure joy over perversions. An angel released Peter from the chains of his imprisonment.
You can tell the authenticity of demands and reforms of institutional stagnation and perversions into the newness and fullness of life by the opposition waged against it- the bigger the threat, the fiercer and uglier the opposition---and the greatest potential for growth, and the fullness of joy and new life at the other end.
Who are you? The jailor or the Angel who broke off the chains. Saint Peter or Paul or the people shouting -off with his head-just crucify him. Who are you?
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
If you knew what would you do?
If you knew
Love was eternal
would you let it slip away
If you knew
you were still loved
even when you ran away
would you still turn your back on it
and brush it all away
If you knew how much
God loves you
would you talk to him
and pray you could hear him really say
how much He loves you
and what he needed you to do today
If you knew how much God loves you
would you pass it on
like a loud contagious song
to let it ring on
like the Bells of Saint Mary
or would you tarry and trifle
like it was too scary
If you knew the God who is so hot
he made all the heat in the sun
and so powerful the oceans make waves that break on
shores of sand too numerous to count-
a love higher than Mount Killamanjaro
and wider than the Sarengetti plane
deeper than the ocean mists
and softer than the rain
If you knew the tenderness
that held a new born baby
and wiped the tears from inside the grave
before he rose again
would you still run
and hide inside
or fall into the embrace
of arms outstretched in love
a love so strong that even death
could not keep it down.
Even Death cannot end it
So what's the point of pretending
If you knew what would you do?
Love was eternal
would you let it slip away
If you knew
you were still loved
even when you ran away
would you still turn your back on it
and brush it all away
If you knew how much
God loves you
would you talk to him
and pray you could hear him really say
how much He loves you
and what he needed you to do today
If you knew how much God loves you
would you pass it on
like a loud contagious song
to let it ring on
like the Bells of Saint Mary
or would you tarry and trifle
like it was too scary
If you knew the God who is so hot
he made all the heat in the sun
and so powerful the oceans make waves that break on
shores of sand too numerous to count-
a love higher than Mount Killamanjaro
and wider than the Sarengetti plane
deeper than the ocean mists
and softer than the rain
If you knew the tenderness
that held a new born baby
and wiped the tears from inside the grave
before he rose again
would you still run
and hide inside
or fall into the embrace
of arms outstretched in love
a love so strong that even death
could not keep it down.
Even Death cannot end it
So what's the point of pretending
If you knew what would you do?
Monday, August 04, 2008
He loves me, he loves me not
Pick a daisy from a pot
then pick a petal from it's stem
and pick a prayer then say Amen
He loves me, he loves me not
out of sight and out of mind
My soul is imprinted with his eyes
I am his and my beloved is mine
He loves me, he loves me not
He loves me like he loves the lot
nothing special nothing sacred
He just loves everything like vanilla ice cream.
He loves me, he loves me not
His world revolves around my thought
He dreams of days wrapped in roses
He dreams of night wrapped in stars dancing poses
He dreams of a tiny baby hand wrapped round his finger
He dreams of craddling a swadling angel
He dreams of kisses before bedtime
and hugs in the morning
and then tells his dreams he was just only kidding
Pick a daisy from a pot
then pick a petal from it's stem
and pick a prayer then say Amen
He loves me, he loves me not
out of sight and out of mind
My soul is imprinted with his eyes
I am his and my beloved is mine
He loves me, he loves me not
He loves me like he loves the lot
nothing special nothing sacred
He just loves everything like vanilla ice cream.
He loves me, he loves me not
His world revolves around my thought
He dreams of days wrapped in roses
He dreams of night wrapped in stars dancing poses
He dreams of a tiny baby hand wrapped round his finger
He dreams of craddling a swadling angel
He dreams of kisses before bedtime
and hugs in the morning
and then tells his dreams he was just only kidding
Sunday, August 03, 2008
This Week in Mexico-still time to register
WISH I WAS THERE
How Serious Are We REALLY About Fighting AIDS?
The shouting between the total abstinence crowd and the 'Give me condoms or give me death' crowd is deafening.
Wouldn't it be crazy wonderful if we all start loving and respecting that each side wants to cure disease and end the pandemic and we can perhaps listen to each other and learn something.
It's sheer folly to ignore that risk adverse behavior curbs transmission- you don't have to be a religious zealot or a rocket scientist to understand that if you limit partners or-heaven help us- limit them to just one you are actually married to- and if you delay all sex until marriage your chances of receiving or communicating a disease of any kind including AIDS are dramatically reduced. Common Sense.
Is it common sense defying to note that if people refuse not to be risk adverse that they should be helped at least by something that will stop disease. I know a diabetic who eats too much sugar. Should we take away her insulin?
The spiritual benefits of not raping your soul with ill- suited unintended partners can be and are widely discussed by people like Dawn Eden who is bravely relentless trotting the globe discussing her recovery from the mindless 'sex and the city' promiscuity that lands people in the wildnerness of meaningless casual sex as the defining feature of shallow relationships that doom people to despair-in many but not all cases.
(http://www.dawneden.blogspot.com/) Get the girl's book. It's now printed even in Chinese. She's the biggest unknown celebrity in Washington.
Register here:
http://www.aids2008.org/
The EAA also organizes an inter-faith exhibit booth at which many organizations -- Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish and others -- exhibit their resources. Because this is a joint effort, the booth is large enough to "compete" with pharmaceutical companies, large governmental displays, etc., for the attention of the some 25,000 participants in the International AIDS Conference.
Make a vacation of it and detour to Guadeloupe. You might find a miracle.
How Serious Are We REALLY About Fighting AIDS?
The shouting between the total abstinence crowd and the 'Give me condoms or give me death' crowd is deafening.
Wouldn't it be crazy wonderful if we all start loving and respecting that each side wants to cure disease and end the pandemic and we can perhaps listen to each other and learn something.
It's sheer folly to ignore that risk adverse behavior curbs transmission- you don't have to be a religious zealot or a rocket scientist to understand that if you limit partners or-heaven help us- limit them to just one you are actually married to- and if you delay all sex until marriage your chances of receiving or communicating a disease of any kind including AIDS are dramatically reduced. Common Sense.
Is it common sense defying to note that if people refuse not to be risk adverse that they should be helped at least by something that will stop disease. I know a diabetic who eats too much sugar. Should we take away her insulin?
The spiritual benefits of not raping your soul with ill- suited unintended partners can be and are widely discussed by people like Dawn Eden who is bravely relentless trotting the globe discussing her recovery from the mindless 'sex and the city' promiscuity that lands people in the wildnerness of meaningless casual sex as the defining feature of shallow relationships that doom people to despair-in many but not all cases.
(http://www.dawneden.blogspot.com/) Get the girl's book. It's now printed even in Chinese. She's the biggest unknown celebrity in Washington.
You may not know what Zenit has reported (see right column)-
For the past several International AIDS Conferences, the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA), based in Geneva, has made efforts to organize an ecumenical pre-conference. This year, in Mexico City, the EAA had some 450 registered participants for the pre-conference which was held from July 31 to Aug. 2. The conference starts Aug.3.Register here:
http://www.aids2008.org/
The EAA also organizes an inter-faith exhibit booth at which many organizations -- Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish and others -- exhibit their resources. Because this is a joint effort, the booth is large enough to "compete" with pharmaceutical companies, large governmental displays, etc., for the attention of the some 25,000 participants in the International AIDS Conference.
Make a vacation of it and detour to Guadeloupe. You might find a miracle.
Saturday, August 02, 2008
AUGUST 15
Assumptions All Over The Place
It's a special day- (and my grandmother's birthday)
Take Your Youth Group
to the opening night of
HENRY POOLE IS HERE
(about a guy who finds real love while his neighbors find a real image of the Blessed Mother on his stucco house wall.)
at
G Street Cinema if in DC.
http://www.myspace.com/henrypooleishere
Friday, August 01, 2008
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