The Bishop Weighs In

1. Bishop D'Arcy's very strong and clear statement on the Notre Dame affair. Here is their pastor speaking: "Indeed, as a Catholic University, Notre Dame must ask itself, if by this decision it has chosen prestige over truth. Tomorrow, we celebrate as Catholics the moment when our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, became a child in the womb of his most holy mother. Let us ask Our Lady to intercede for the university named in her honor, that it may recommit itself to the primacy of truth over prestige."

2. More good commentary from the National Catholic Register and the Wall Street Journal. Of course, the media is always ready to crank the handle to produce one of the usual Jack in the Box "Catholics" who can always be counted on to pop out of the box to disagree with all things Catholic. This time it's Fr. Thomas Reese, SJ, who stands in his perch of sublime superiority to pooh-pooh the concerns by us poor benighted yahoos as being "absurd". See the response to Fr. Reese here. By the way, if you really want to get a flavor of contemporary anti-Catholicism, read the comments to Fr. Reese's post (like the one that says that "fanatic Catholics" should be burned in the public square).

3. Well, we know that ND is proud of this whole situation, because they said they were. So why isn't the President's upcoming appearance prominently featured on the ND home page or their news and information page. Why is the "Secret Life of Frogs" more prominent? Could it have something to do with the 111,000+ signatures on the petition, which is more than would fit into ND's storied football stadium? Just askin'.

4. A spokesman for ND said yesterday "We fully expected some criticism and have received it, though nothing more than we anticipated". I'm sorry, but that can't possibly be true -- they expected open criticism by their bishop, widespread anger and denunciation by Catholics across the nation, and 100,000 signatures on a petition? Don’t they teach the Eighth Commandment somewhere on ND campus? If it is true, it actually makes things worse -- so this wasn't an insensitive goof, it was a deliberate choice to flout USCCB policy and to scandalize the faithful. Here's a shovel, boys, keep digging.

5. Just as a reminder of what the 100% anti-life President's policies are doing, a new report on the UN Fund for Population Activities -- which will be funded with our tax dollars now, thanks to the President -- shows that our money is supporting enforcement of China's wicked "one child policy". This enforcement includes "crippling fines, intense pressure to be sterilized, the flagrant display of quota information, and even the seizure of ‘illegal children’ by the government". But he's really actually for sure pro-life in a deep meaningful way.

6. Here's an excellent resource from the ZENIT news agency -- "Stem Cells for Dummies".

7. Please pray for the Sisters of Life today -- it's their special feast day. Also, if you're in the Bronx tonight at 8 pm, why not drop in at our Lady of Mt.Carmel Church (Arthur Ave. and 187th Street) for the Pontifical High Mass (Extraordinary Form), which is being offered for the cause of human life?