Prayers Please

Please say a prayer for all those suffering from the deaths and injuries suffered at Ft. Hood. My son is stationed there. He texted me to say he is fine, just still locked down. It is a tragedy. May all affected feel the mercy and healing of God's grace.

Why I will skip the Nov 22 CCHD second collection

I know that many worthy causes are supported by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. It is the unworthy causes that are also supported that create an issue for me. I've given up on this sort of aggregate giving. I am giving directly to charities and cutting out the middle man.




While this video suggests putting an acorn in the CCHD collection plate, I like the idea of this coupon instead.

USCCB is calling for urgent action from all Catholics on health care reform

The USCCB is asking every Catholic to get involved in fighting current health care legislation. Full information is available here. Take action now!

A Holy Halloween

If you are in the D.C. area and want to put the holy back into Halloween, check out the Dominican House of Studies All Saints Vigil.

Action needed to now to save pro-life amendment in health care bill

"Ardent, practicing Catholic" Nancy Pelosi is fighting tooth and nail to prevent the presentation of an amendment to prohibit federal funding of abortion in the House health care bill. Read more here then follow the Susan B. Anthony List link to urge your Congressman to support such an amendment.

Legal middle ground for same-sex marriage

If I were going to vote on the issue of same-sex marriage, I would oppose it. Marriage is a sacramental relationship between one man and one woman. Period. Those who try to portray other relationships as equivalent to marriage undermine the sacred institution of marriage and weaken the institution of the family. A weak family leads to an even weaker culture.

However, since some communities including our nation's capital, Washington D.C., seem hell-bent on calling these other relationships "marriage", I appreciate the work of an interdenominational group of attorneys to work for the protection of religious liberty. University of Notre Dame law professor Rick Garnett among others have sent a letter to the D.C. City Council outlining the deficiencies in religious liberty protection that are present in the current same-sex marriage legislation currently before the Council.

This issue illustrates the challenge of living as a faithful Catholic in a secular world. Not all Catholic principles need to be codified in law. The Church prohibits the use of artificial contraception. I do not think the sale of artificial contraception needs to be banned. There is no impediment to Catholics following their faith just because artificial contraception is available.

On the other hand, abortion involves the killing of a voiceless, innocent human beings. Opposition to the legalization of abortion is a necessary response to Catholic teaching. There is no room for wavering.

Same-sex marriage falls between these two extremes. There are those who view marriage as nothing more than a contract, no different than the one drawn up between homeowners and construction contractors. With this in mind, I can coexist with such thinkers as long as my right to view marriage as a religious sacrament between one man and one woman, a covenant made in the presence of God, is protected. I don't like this arrangement. It is fraught with contradictions. While I can ignore what two consenting gay adults choose to do as none of my business, I cannot stand by and let innocent, vulnerable children be indoctrinated that this is a normal or morally acceptable behavior.

Therefore, I think the approach taken by Professor Garnett and his legal colleagues is an acceptably Catholic response to an immoral secular circumstance.

Why we need a Vatican investigation into women's religious orders

Say a prayer for this misguided sister. Perhaps a request for St. Dominic's intercession would be appropriate. It seems Sr. Donna Quinn, OP, of Chicago has been volunteering for at least six years as an abortion clinic escort.

In addition to her support of abortion, Sr. Donna Quinn has publicly attacked the Catholic Church. According to Lifesite News:

In a 2002 address to the Women's Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School, Sr. Quinn described how she came to view the teachings of her Church as "immoral": "I used to say: 'This is my Church, and I will work to change it, because I love it,'" she said. "Then later I said, 'This church is immoral, and if I am to identify with it I'd better work to change it.' More recently, I am saying, 'All organized religions are immoral in their gender discriminations.'"

Quinn called gender discrimination "the root cause of evil in the Church, and thus in the world," and said she remained in the Dominican community simply for "the sisterhood."