“Moscow is not Sodom”

MOSCOW, Russia,  May 30, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Orthodox Christians blocked an attempt Sunday by homosexuals to demonstrate outside of the Moscow City Council in response to the city’s ongoing refusal to permit a “gay pride” parade within its jurisdiction.

Calling the event “Gay Pride 2012,” despite the ban, protesters held rainbow flags and signs, and made declarations to the media. At least one wore a Wicca symbol on her neck.

According to video posted on YouTube by march supporters, Orthodox activists disrupted the event by snatching the signs from the protesters, and even splashing holy water on them.  Some scuffled with demonstrators and took swings at them, although there were no reports of injuries. Moscow police followed up by arresting the homosexual protesters, although some Orthodox were arrested as well.

Pro-family activist Dmitry Tsarionov told reporters: “I will not allow perverts to bring the wrath of God onto our city,” and added: “I want our children to live in a country where a sin that so awfully distorts human nature is not preached in schools,” according to the Associated Press.  He held a sign that read: “Moscow is not Sodom.”

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NYC bans large size, sugary soft drinks. What’s next … banning gay men from having sex and spreading deadly diseases?

‘God Bless’ Mike Bloomberg for ‘Revolutionary’ Soda Ban

Reader comment submitted by DontFeedTheTrolls on Thu, 05/31/2012 – 4:58pm:

Will they ban gay men from having sex and causing disease and death??

Monsignor Charles Pope, on the mindful mystery and power of the seven sacraments.

A fundamental principle of the seven Sacraments is that they have a reality that exists apart from the priest’s holiness or worthiness. They work ex opere operato (ie.. they are worked from the very fact of the work).

One need not doubt therefore that a sacrament is in fact given just because a bishop, priest or deacon seems less than holy or worthy. Neither can the disposition of the recipient un-work the work.

For example, Holy Communion does not cease to be the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ merely because the one who steps forward is unworthy or even an unbeliever. The Sacrament has a reality in itself that transcends the worthiness of the celebrant or recipient.

However, sacraments are not magic in the sense that they work effects in us in a manner independent of our disposition or will. Sacraments, though actually conferred by the fact that they are given, have a varying fruitfulness dependent upon the disposition, worthiness and openness of the recipient.

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Rep. Chris Smith Awarded for His Heroic Pro-Life Efforts

In a gala Americans United for Life is sponsoring tonight, pro-life champion and New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith will receive the 2012 Henry J. Hyde Defender of Life Award for his leadership on pro-life issues in the House of Representatives.

“Congressman Smith has shown unfailing, unflinching leadership for life throughout his 3 decades in Congress,” said Charmaine Yoest, president of AUL.

“Congressman Chris Smith’s heroic defense of life during his tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives includes his fight to end taxpayer-funding of abortion, his steadfast leadership to safeguard the health and safety of women against the harmful effects of abortion, and his work to defend the human rights of all human beings both domestically and internationally,” Yoest. “On Capitol Hill, Chris Smith has also joined AUL in calling for an investigation into the misuse of taxpayer funds by the abortion industry, a truly bipartisan effort.”

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Little understood fact: Even after sins are forgiven, a debt is still owed and a price must still be paid.

Of course … Jesus Christ personally paid the price that we never could … but Jesus also deliberately left some things up to us, that are within our power (and responsibility) as Christians.

For example: You carelessly wreck your neighbors car. There’s no police. No other property damage. No loss of life. No court case. No insurance.

You apologize to your neighbor for the wreck, and he forgives you.

But somebody still has to pay for a new car!

What is fair and just? Who pays? Who is actually responsible for the damage? Who has the ability to pay? How should any respective payments be apportioned?

What is the morally correct way to handle something like this, in order for justice to be served, and for the rights of all parties to be respected and preserved?

Would it be morally just for the person who wrecked the car to get away without making a good faith effort at paying at least some small amount of reparations?

And then there’s the very important, related concept of learning to avoid car wrecks, in the future!

All this leads us to the biblical and very Catholic concept of Purgatory, which is closely linked to the concept of paying a form of temporal punishment for our sins, even though they have been forgiven, and even though Jesus has already picked up the lion’s share of the “bill”.

A Short Catechesis On Purgatory

Purgatory IS Biblical. Also included is what some of the great minds of the Catholic world had to say about it, and when. Purgatory is not new. It goes back to the very beginning of the Judeo-Christian Faith Tradition.

This citation shows that EVEN after sins are forgiven, a price must be paid:

2Sam 12:13-18 – David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child that is born to you shall die.” 15 Then Nathan went to his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it became sick. 16 David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in and lay all night upon the ground. 17 And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground; but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. 18 On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead; for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us; how then can we say to him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm.”

There are 5 principles for the belief in Purgatory:

1 – As seen from the above verses, there is punishment for sin even after forgiveness.

2- Nothing unclean can enter Heaven:

Matt 5:48- You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Hebrews 12:22-23 – But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to a judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.

3 – There is a way that one is made perfect:

1Cor 3:15 – each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

Sounds like Purgatory to me!

4 – There is a place other the Heaven and Hell:

Matt 12:32 – And whoever says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

In hell there is no further forgiveness. In Heaven there is no need for it. So what is this third place where a sin cannot be forgiven?

5 – Some passages make no sense in a Heaven/Hell only theology:

Matt 18:32-35 – Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you besought me; 33 and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his lord delivered him to the jailers, till he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

Debt to be paid? When? Where?

Is there a penalty even after forgiveness? – See the above passages about David.

Some more citations:

2Macc 12:44-46 – For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. 45 But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in Godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Therefore he made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin.

Mt 5:26 – truly, I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny

1Cor 15:29- Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?

Paul never condemned Baptism for the dead.

1Pet 3:18-20; 4:6 – Jesus preached to spirits in prison 18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; 19 in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.

Where is this prison?

1Pet 4:6 – For this is why the gospel was preached even to the dead, that though judged in the flesh like men, they might live in the spirit like God.

2Tim 1:16-18 – Paul prays for dead friend Onesiphorus 16 May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me; he was not ashamed of my chains, 17 but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me eagerly and found me– 18 may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day, & you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.

Why would Paul pay for a dead person if his fate was supposedly already decided?

Rev 21:27 – But nothing unclean shall enter it (Heaven), nor any one who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Now, for what some of the greatest minds in Christian history:

Tertullian

“We offer sacrifices for the dead on their birthday anniversaries [the date of death—birth into eternal life]” (The Crown 3:3 [A.D. 211]).

“A woman, after the death of her husband . . . prays for his soul and asks that he may, while waiting, find rest; and that he may share in the first resurrection. And each year, on the anniversary of his death, she offers the sacrifice” (Monogamy 10:1–2 [A.D. 216]).

John Chrysostom

“Let us help and commemorate them. If Job’s sons were purified by their father’s sacrifice [Job 1:5], why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them” (Homilies on First Corinthians 41:5 [A.D. 392]).

“But by the prayers of the holy Church, and by the salvific sacrifice, and by the alms which are given for their spirits, there is no doubt that the dead are aided, that the Lord might deal more mercifully with them than their sins would deserve. The whole Church observes this practice which was handed down by the Fathers: that it prays for those who have died in the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, when they are commemorated in their own place in the sacrifice itself; and the sacrifice is offered also in memory of them, on their behalf. If, then, works of mercy are celebrated for the sake of those who are being remembered, who would hesitate to recommend them, on whose behalf prayers to God are not offered in vain? It is not at all to be doubted that such prayers are of profit to the dead; but for such of them as lived before their death in a way that makes it possible for these things to be useful to them after death” (ibid., 172:2). [AD 392]

Augustine

“Temporal punishments are suffered by some in this life only, by some after death, by some both here and hereafter, but all of them before that last and strictest judgment. But not all who suffer temporal punishments after death will come to eternal punishments, which are to follow after that judgment” (The City of God 21:13 [A.D. 419]).

“That there should be some fire even after this life is not incredible, and it can be inquired into and either be discovered or left hidden whether some of the faithful may be saved, some slowly & some more quickly in the greater/lesser degree in which they loved the good things that perish, through a certain purgatorial fire” (Handbook on Faith, Hope, & Charity 18:69 [A.D. 421]).

“But by the prayers of the holy Church, and by the salvific sacrifice, and by the alms which are given for their spirits, there is no doubt that the dead are aided, that the Lord might deal more mercifully with them than their sins would deserve. The whole Church observes this practice which was handed down by the Fathers: that it prays for those who have died in the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, when they are commemorated in their own place in the sacrifice itself; and the sacrifice is offered also in memory of them, on their behalf. If, then, works of mercy are celebrated for the sake of those who are being remembered, who would hesitate to recommend them, on whose behalf prayers to God are not offered in vain? It is not at all to be doubted that such prayers are of profit to the dead; but for such of them as lived before their death in a way that makes it possible for these things to be useful to them after death” (ibid., 172:2). AD 419

Written and Submitted by AndyP/Doria2

Doug responds to a seriously misguided soul who claims that God loves abortion.

Read the original article here.

by Doug Lawrence

The universal penalty for sin, is death. Conversely, a person who is totally without sin is not liable to die, at all.

Even babes in their mother’s womb, who are innocent of personal sin, cannot always escape its’ deadly consequences. Hence, spontaneous natural abortions remain an unfortunate fact of this life.

That even newly conceived infants are subject to death should be conclusive proof that sin negatively affects every human being, from the very moment of conception, and that every human being is in desperate need of the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, our Divine Savior and Redeemer.

God is sovereign and all powerful, and he alone rightly wields the awesomely creative power of life and death. God also has no need to apologize … to anyone … for anything … so don’t waste your time crabbing about the current, natural order of things.

Such is most definitely not the case with abortionists, who engage in the unnatural slaughter of innocent babies, for the sake of money and/or convenience, and with those who continue to promote and support such ungodly abominations.

A necessary component of God’s universal law of sin and death is divine judgment, which means that these blood-stained butchers of innocent humanity will someday have to answer to God, for their actions.

Perhaps God will be more merciful to them, than they were to the babies.

We can only hope!

A highly recommended article on modesty and today’s Western culture.

In regard to proper attire the Holy Bible tells us that women should “be decently dressed, adorning themselves with modesty and dignity, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but with good works, such as become women professing Godliness” (1 Tim. 2:9-10). The Old Testament also states: “A woman shall not be clothed with man’s apparel, neither shall a man use woman’s apparel; for he that does such things is an abomination to the Lord, your God ” (Deut.22:5). Though this rule may seem absurd and outdated today our trifling with it may have been one of the many factors that led to gender-role confusion and ultimately to the wide acceptance of homosexuality and same-sex marriage in our Western culture.

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Submitted by Bob Stanley

Archbishop Fulton Sheen explains “tolerance”

Thanks to the good folks over at American Catholic

For only $2, you can put an entire digital Catholic library in the hands of an African seminarian…

In Cameroon, Africa, books are rare—especially the good ones. My friend Linus is studying at one of the seminaries, and he says the situation is even worse there. The seminaries are bursting at the seams with young men, yet most lack solid Catholic materials. The libraries are meager and while most of the seminaries have computers, internet is spotty at best.

But what if we could change that? What if we could provide good Catholic books for every seminarian?

I think we can. Through the power of the Catholic blogosphere, I’m convinced we can crowd-source a solution.

That’s why I’ve created the Africa eBook Project. The plan is to send 2,000 CDs to all the seminarians in Cameroon, each loaded with Catholic eBooks including:

• The Holy Bible in English and Latin
• The complete writings of the Church fathers
• The full Catholic Encyclopedia
• St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae
• Several Church documents and encyclicals
• Apologia Pro Vita Sua (Cardinal John Henry Newman)
• Heretics (G.K. Chesterton)
• How to Make Homilies Better, Briefer, and Bolder (Fr. Alfred McBride)
• Lord of the World (Robert Hugh Benson)
• Men of Brave Heart: The Virtue of Courage in the Priestly Life (Archbishop Jose Gomez)
• Orthodoxy (G.K. Chesterton)
• Pensees (Blaise Pascal)
• Priests for the Third Millennium (Cardinal Timothy Dolan)
• The Church and New Media (Brandon Vogt)
• The Great Teachers (Pope Benedict XVI)
• The Little Flowers of St. Francis (St. Francis of Assisi)
• The Priest: A Bridge to God (Pope Benedict XVI)
• The Spiritual Exercises (St. Ignatius of Loyola)
• The Story of a Soul (St. Therese of Lisieux)

Each CD will cost $2 to produce and ship to Africa.

Click here to help

Did Jesus Plan a Monarchical Papacy? Is the Pope Catholic?

Jesus certainly did not plan for the inflated and corrupt popes of the popular imagination. He intended to found a church, but the church was not democratic in structure. It was established with clear individual leadership. In Matthew 16.18-19 Jesus says to Simon Peter, “You are Peter, and on this Rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it.” So, Jesus established his church not on a congregational model, but on the model of personal leadership.

Was this a monarchical papacy? In a way it was. In Matthew 16 Jesus goes on to say to Peter, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” This is a direct reference back to Isaiah 22.22, where the prophet recognizes Eliakim as the steward of the royal House of David. The steward was the Prime Minister of the Kingdom. The keys of the kingdom were the sign of his personal authority delegated by the king himself.

Jesus never intended a monarchical papacy in the corrupt sense of the Pope being an absolute worldly monarch, but the church leadership Jesus intended was ‘monarchical’ in the sense that it was based on his authority as King of Kings. The reference to Isaiah 22 shows that the structure of Jesus’  kingdom was modeled on King David’s dynastic court.

In Luke 1.32-33 Jesus’ birth is announced in royal terms. He will inherit the throne of his father David. He will rule over the house of Jacob and his kingdom shall never end. Like Eliakim, to whom Jesus refers, Peter is to be the appointed authority in this court, and as such his role is that of steward and ruler in the absence of the High King, the scion of the House of David.

That Peter assumes this pre-eminent role of leadership in the early church is attested to throughout the New Testament from his first place in the list of the apostles, to his dynamic preaching on the day of Pentecost, his decision making at the Council of Jerusalem and the deference shown to him by St Paul and the other apostles.

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Editor’s note: After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Catholic Church proceeded to rebuild Western civilization, in the image of Heaven.This was no accident, since the Holy Spirit remains the constant, official advocate of the Catholic Church, and Jesus Christ remains at the head.

That said, the prophetic, thousand year reign of Jesus Christ on earth, mentioned in the Book of Revelation, matches up closely with the thousand years that elapsed between the fall of Rome and the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him, that he should no more seduce the nations till the thousand years be finished. And after that, he must be loosed a little time. (Revelation 20:1-3)

God’s grace is an awesome, wonderful, powerful and transcendental thing … if only we choose to accept it … and cooperate … rather than reject it … and protest.

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan calls out Barack Obama, the NAACP, others, on the issue of homosexuality.

Minister Louis Farrakhan recently responded to President Obama’s endorsement of gay marriage calling him “the first president that sanctioned what the scriptures forbid,” according to a video posted by the Nation of Islam’s “official” news source, Finalcall.com …

Throughout his speech, Farrakhan carefully points out that he does not condone homophobia, saying “I’m not your enemy. I’m your brother, and I do love you.” However, he said “sin is sin according to the standard of God.”

“Males coming to males with lust in their hearts as they should to a female,” he said. “Now don’t you dare say Farrakhan was preaching hate; he’s homophobic. I’m not afraid of my brothers and sisters or others who may be practicing what God condemned in the days of Lot. That’s not our job to be hateful of our people. Our job is to call us to sanity.”

Farrakhan goes on to call out clergy who support gay marriage, saying they are placing society’s needs over God’s.

“Is this the book that you believe in, but now you(‘re) backing down from an aspect of it because people will get offended?” he asked …

Link

Ignorance, incompetence, and malice: First, Obama offends Catholics. Now he insults the Polish people.

Poles and Polish-Americans expressed outraged Tuesday at President Obama’s reference earlier that day to “a Polish death camp” – as opposed to a Nazi death camp in German-occupied Poland.

“The White House will apologize for this outrageous error,” Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski tweeted.  Sikorski said that Polish Prime Minister Donald “Tusk will make a statement in the morning. It’s a pity that this important ceremony was upstaged by ignorance and incompetence.”

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Editor’s note: This president just can’t help it. He insults and disrespects anyone and anything that is morally good, while personally promoting and attempting to normalize the most vile and disgusting abominations and perversions of modern society.

Yes indeed, change has come to America, and it’s certainly not for the better!

Catholic woman is now without a political party: At least she has the Church!

Jo Ann Nardelli isn’t just another Democratic committeewoman. She’s the president and founder of the Blair County Federation of Democratic Women, she was Vice President of the PA State Women’s Caucus, and was 1st Vice President of the PA State Federation of Democratic Women (she had been in line for the presidency of that organization in 2014). She met with Hillary Clinton,  gave a rosary to Joe Biden, and appeared on the cover of US News and World Report going to Church with then Senate candidate Bob Casey Jr.

Nardelli has always been a pro-life Democrat and felt that there was always room for that position in the party. But she said that for the past few years she’s felt that the party was drifting further and further away from her. She said she never shied away from speaking about her Catholic faith or her pro-life views as a Democrat.

She said that for years she hoped that she could change the party from within, make it more in line with traditional values. “I thought I could make a difference to change our party. It didn’t work,” she said. “I noticed it that it’s been going more and more to the left. This is not my father’s party. I did not leave the party, the party left me.”

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Refuting deadly lies with their own statistics: Planned Parenthood aborts one baby every 97 seconds. Over 91% of pregnancy services Planned Parenthood provided to pregnant clients were abortion services.

AddictingInfo.org blogger Stephen Foster recently tried to refute claims made by Pennsylvania representative Daryl Metcalfe about Planned Parenthood, titling the article ”Pennsylvania Congressman Falsely Claims That Planned Parenthood Performs An Abortion ‘Every 95 Seconds.’” Sorry, Foster, but this assertion is pretty accurate. I’ll break it down for you.

Planned Parenthood performs 330,000 of the 1,200,000 abortions in America annually. This means that Planned Parenthood performs about 27% of all American abortions, or 887 of the 3,287 abortions performed daily.

There are 86,400 seconds in a day. Calculate the 887 abortions Planned Parenthood commits on a daily basis into the 86,400 seconds PP has to do them, and you have an abortion performed by Planned Parenthood every 97 seconds.

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4th century Pentecost miracle: Fire in the sky over Jerusalem unifies Christians and Pagans alike, in holy terror.

It was called by the people “the day the sky caught fire.” At about 9 in the morning on May 7, 351, the feast of the Pentecost, the people of Jerusalem gathered in the streets, pointing to the sky in frightened shock. Tongues of flame were roaring across the horizon forming a gigantic blazing Cross in the sky. The apparition, “brighter than the sun,” extended from Golgotha to the Mount of Olives – about two miles – and was seen by everyone in Jerusalem. It remained extended over the city for several hours.

Many people fell to their knees, beseeching God to spare them from annihilation. Others went to the Churches to pray and ask forgiveness for their sins. But one man, the newly elected Patriarch of Jerusalem Cyril (315-386) bowed his head and gave thanks to God for this blazing sign from Heaven.

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More from David Maraniss: Barack Obama’s torrid love affair with marijuana.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) – According to Maraniss, Obama embraced “total absorption” while he smoked marijuana in the car, “the windows had to be rolled up.” The president would call out “Intercepted!” and grabbed the joint out of hand when it was passed among his high school friends.

Starting on page 293, the book lays out the dope – literally, on the high school-age Obama’s group of basketball and fun-loving buds, who dubbed themselves the “Choom Gang,” from a verb meaning “to smoke marijuana.”

“As a member of the Choom Gang, Barry Obama was known for starting a few pot-smoking trends. The first was called ‘TA,’ short for ‘total absorption.’ To place this in the physical and political context of another young man who would grow up to be president, TA was the antithesis of Bill Clinton’s claim that as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford he smoked dope but never inhaled,” Maraniss writes.

Link

Editor’s note: This explains a lot…

Shamefully Lame New York Times Editorial Calls Catholic HHS Mandate Lawsuits “A Dramatic Stunt”.

Read it for yourself

Editor’s note: If Freedom of the Press was treated the same way in this country as Freedom of Religion, Barack Obama and his minions would be dictating the contents of New York Times editorials.

Perhaps they are!

Reasons why they don’t like to see gruesome abortion pictures: #1 – Before you can flagrantly kill babies for profit, you must first dehumanize them, by denying the all too obvious reality.

by Doug Lawrence

Every body part of the aborted fetus shown above is obviously human, since never in the history of the entire human race has a non-human baby been naturally conceived by two other human beings.

Killing innocent human beings has always been morally wrong, so abortion is also obviously, morally wrong.

Anyone who believes anything to the contrary is either deranged, a liar, a fool … or …  President of the United States.

Anyone who financially assists such persons or groups, or lends political and/or ideological support of any kind to their cause is complicit in their evil work, and ultimately shares the responsibility for their immoral acts.

In the several thousand year-old, authentic Judeo-Christian Tradition, abortion has always been considered to be an intrinsically evil and gravely sinful offense against both God and man.

Some things were so logical, commonly understood, and firmly embedded in the culture of the people of that day, the biblical writers found little reason to expound upon them, to any great degree.

Abortion and homosexuality are two primary examples of such things. Neither was ever accepted or publicly tolerated, from the earliest days, since both were always considered gravely sinful by Jews and Christians, alike.

The pagans who routinely practiced such things were thought to be cursed by almighty God, and already destined for hell. Only by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, along with baptism and authentic repentance, through faithful membership and full participation in the Catholic Church, could such persons make peace with the one, true God, find justification in his grace, and hope to obtain eternal life.

Government efforts to normalize abortion, homosexual behavior, and other intrinsically evil acts only serve to lure gullible people into aberrant modes of existence that are offensive to God, harmful to society, and potentially deadly to their own immortal souls.

People who choose to build their lives around the promotion, pursuit and practice of illicit and offensive, intrinsically evil acts, literally cut themselves off from the primary sources of God’s grace … particularly, sacramental reconciliation and holy communion.

Unless and until their illicit living arrangements have been terminated (this also applies to unmarried cohabiting heterosexual couples) and/or their support for abortion and similar abominations ceases, such person will typically be “trapped” in their sins, through their own deliberate acts … and be unable to make a good confession … or worthily receive holy communion.

Contrary to the efforts of today’s highly skilled propagandists of perversity, nothing has happened over the last 5,000 years to alter these things … or to change God’s mind about them, in any way.

Jesus Christ is, was, and always has been God, the second person of the Holy Trinity … so every jot and tittle (iota, in the Greek) of the God-inspired sacred scriptures (the Bible) is indeed the authentic word of Jesus Christ … whether proclaimed directly by him, as recorded in the Gospels … or otherwise. No exceptions!

While the entirety of the old law was indeed perfectly fulfilled and respectfully set aside, in favor of Christ’s propitiatory sacrifice on the cross, the Catholic Church … exercising the awesome and virtually unrestricted power given to it directly by Jesus himself … soon reaffirmed (for all time) the essential substance of the great moral precepts contained in the Ten Commandments.

Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err: Neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers: Nor the effeminate nor liers with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor railers nor extortioners shall possess the kingdom of God.  (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

Jesus Christ, yesterday, and today: and the same for ever. Be not led away with various and strange doctrines… (Hebrews 13:8-9)

Cardinal Schönborn and his hopes for the New Evangelization

“From the very beginning of his ministry, the Pope has stressed that Christian faith, Christian life is not first of all a series of doctrines, not first of all as a series of rules, but a deepening friendship with Jesus. He (the Pope) is convinced that without faith you cannot understand Christian morals. Without faith you cannot understand Christian life. And therefore, I think the big challenge is really to deepen our faith. Call it new evangelization, call it mission – I think it has very much to do with conversion,” the cardinal explained.

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How the Daleys of Chicago, Vice President Biden, ex-Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, and HHS Secretary Sebelius, all professed Catholics, can be members of a political party or an administration that supports the contraceptive mandate boggles the mind of many who try to understand their moral reasoning.

If we soon hear sermons against ObamaCare and the drug cartels, are Catholic martyrs are not far off?  For those who think Catholic martyrs are impossible in the United States, today, consider the recent words of Cardinal George.

In his article for “Catholic New World,” Cardinal George writes: “[W]e all stand before Christ and give an accounting of our lives. … I ask lay Catholics and others of good will to step back and understand what is happening to our country as the church is despoiled of her institutions[.]”

Cardinal George continues, “The suffering being imposed on the church and on society now is not a voluntary penance. We should both work and pray to be delivered from it.”

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