Tragedy and Poverty

1. This piece from the Times is unbearably sad -- an online discussion of how a woman is in the process of deciding to have an abortion because her masters degree program was too inflexible to accommodate her pregnancy (which, by the way is illegal discrimination in violation of federal law). Here's a response that pretty much says it all. Let me get personal for a second. I have two graduate degrees, one of which is about as fancy as you can get. But Peggy and I lost three babies before birth. I would trade any of my degrees, and pretty much anything else I have ever owned or will ever own, for even one of those babies to have survived. How sad it is that someone can judge that any master's degree be worth ending someone's life. And even sadder is that people in her life encouraged that way of thinking. Please pray for this poor deluded woman, and all those who think like her.

2. In a not-unrelated matter, a woman is on trial in France for a series of homicides -- the victims were her newborns. Wesley Smith asks, if the newborn isn't a person, as some (like Peter Singer) allege, then what's the big deal?

3. The Cardinal Newman Society has identified ten "Catholic" colleges that promote abortion.

4. A profile of a woman who once worked for Dr. Tiller, but became a pro-lifer. She is very graphic in her description of the evil that took place in that clinic in Wichita. Not for the faint of heart.

5. Helen Alvare on the strategy to legalize same-sex "marriage" by federal lawsuit. She's cautiously optimistic about the outcome of a court challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Of course, the current Administration will be in charge of defending the statute, so I'm less optimistic.

6. The President, meanwhile, is granting some federal benefits to same-sex couples. Gay rights groups are less than enthused -- they want the whole enchilada.

7. Perhaps not the most ideal spokesman for chastity, but here's rock guitarist Lenny Kravitz for you.

8. A beer made from a 9000 year-old recipe will be available this summer.

Stop Legislation by Ambush

1. The NY State version of FOCA was scheduled to be quietly voted on by the Senate last week, but it was postponed by the coup. Call, write, email. Now.

2. The grip of evil clouds the mind and hardens the heart. A couple in Oregon is suing a doctor for failing to pre-natally diagnose their baby's Down Syndrome -- because if they had known, they would have killed the baby. (Wesley Smith's commentary, original story). In the UK, a couple's last frozen embryo was mistakenly implanted into another woman, who promptly aborted him.

3. Boo hoo. I am consumed with crocodile tears. The pro-abortion crowd is deeply concerned that in the future there will be a shortage of Priests of Moloch, er, I mean abortionists. The downside of this is that they will undoubtedly renew the push to require all med students to undergo training in killing.

4. Religious sisters are forming a network to fight against human trafficking (mainly for sex slavery), which is a wicked sin that cries out to God for vengeance. The Holy Father supports this effort.

5. Gay rights activists are annoyeed with the President because he hasn't come out. sorry, I mean his Administration is still defending the Defense of Marriage Act: here and here.

6. Democracy is once again thrwarted by our Platonic Guardian Rulers. The District of Columbia Board of Elections has denied the people the right to a referendum on same-sex "marriage".

7. The cultural imperialism of the West has many faces. Trying to push pro-abortion legislation in Nigeria. European couples using Indian women as surrogate mothers. Influential non-governmental organizations like Amnesty International harassing Latin American governments over their legal protections for the unborn.

8. Blogged over the weekend about the mess in Albany, and yesterday about the need to start facing the question of what we should do when faced with a legal regime that is completely committed to intrinsic moral evil. Check it out.

Debunking the "Common Ground"

1. Here is a thorough demolition of the effort (e.g., by Prof. Kmiec and others in the "common ground" crowd) to resurrect the "seamless garment" approach to Catholic social teaching in an effort to minimize the pre-eminent importance of the Church's actual teachings on life and marriage, in order to justify cooperation with the policies of the current Administration. This is a central issue to the "common ground" debate -- what position will we take on the intrinsically evil laws of our country that permit abortion on demand? Will we accept them and work instead on other issues, or will we concentrate our efforts on resisting the infamy? I posted about this at my ArchNY blog.

2. Not even waiting a discrete length of time, the polygamists are now knocking on the door, demanding "marriage" too. That slippery slope got pretty steep, pretty fast, didn't it?

3. A new bill in the UK could force Catholic schools, nursing homes, etc. to take down religious images if a non-Catholic finds them to constitute "harassment", which is defined nebulously as "unwanted conduct ... with the purpose or effect of violating a person's dignity". Note the word "effect" -- the standard is entirely subjective, and subjects religious liberty to the whims of those with the most sensitive delicacies.

4. Elsewhere in the UK, though, the parents of sextuplets report that they were advised to abort some of their babies, but they refused.

5. Statistics suggest the prevalence of sex-selection (including abortions) among Asian-Americans.

6. Kathryn Jean Lopez defends pro-lifers against the implication in the media that we're all dangerous lunatics.

7. Glowing reviews for a book about a guy who's in prison for making explosives that he planned to use to promote his political cause. Oh, don't worry, he's not a pro-lifer, he's an animal rights fanatic, so his brand of violence is apparently okay.

8. The University of San Fransisco, a school in the Jesuit tradition, honors the famous fourth vow of the Society of Jesus (special obedience to the Holy Father) by giving an award to a bishop from South America who dissents from the Church's teaching, recently re-iterated by the Holy Father himself, on the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV. My favorite quote, from a Catholic faculty member: "Calling USF a Catholic school is like saying Hillary Clinton is a Carmelite nun."

9. One of the State Senators who flipped, has apparently flipped back (I guess they finally found his price). An even split in the Senate equals confusion and paralysis.

10. A Cistercian monk asks some good questions: Why are there no Cistercian conspiracy theories? Why are they always about the Templars or Opus Dei? How about some equal time here?

Beware of Passive Euthanasia

1. Here is a very important document from a group of solid, faithful Catholic bioethics experts. The issue is the proposal being considered by the Bishops in their June meeting to bring the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health care into conformity with the Holy See's teaching on the care due to those in a persistent vegetative state. A few months ago a group calling themselves "the Jesuit Consortium" published a very dangerous piece that, if implemented in the ERD's, would lead to passive euthanasia being countenanced. Pray that our bishops get this right.

2. Follow-up on a previous story: Cardinal O'Malley of Boston has said that the Catholic health plan is attempting to make modifications so that it's arrangement with the secular entity won't violate Catholic moral doctrine.

3. Americans United for Life have a page up with all sorts of information about the Supreme Court nominee.

4. I guess work is a little light around NASA these days, what with fewer shuttle missions, and no moon shots in the near future, so they decided to have a "LGBT Pride Month". Did these people ever hear of the concept of staying on mission?

5. The bishops of Peru have asked the bishops of Canada to stop funding pro-abortion groups. Yes, you read that correctly -- one of the bishops' charities, the Canadian Catholic Organization of Development & Peace, has been documented to have given financial support to groups promoting abortion and contraception in Peru. The bishops of Canada have been investigating these claims since March, but no results have been announced.

6. Elsewhere in Latin America, the Dominican Republic has reaffirmed the true definition of marriage.

7. The legitimization of "a duty to die" continues to progress, which is especially dangerous as health care rationing looms on the horizon.

8. Why won't Notre Dame University make an effort to show mercy to those who were arrested on campus protesting the President's honorary degree?

9. Fr. James Martin, SJ, got whacked around a bit recently by pro-lifers (self included, mea culpa), but he wrote a really beautiful piece today about how happy he is to be a priest, in honor of his tenth anniversary of ordination. May God bless him and all our priests.

10. Chaos continues in Albany. Our hope is that their concern about their phony baloney jobs will distract them from doing mischief like same-sex "marriage" or a state FOCA. Pray, write, pray. I'll blog again about that today, and about the wicked decision by the NY Stem Cell Board to pay women to donate eggs (against the advice of the invaluable Fr. Thomas Berg).

She's No Pro-Lifer

1. Don't get your hopes up that the Supreme Court nominee is a crypto-pro-lifer: she was involved in filing pro-abortion briefs in six separate legal cases. See also here, where a senator reports that she claims never to have thought about the rights of the unborn. Pretty surprising, considering that she was in a Catholic High School while abortion was being legalized in New York State -- the subject never came up in conversation, much less in class?

2. At the same time, we should always recall that the idea that Catholics can't be trusted to be good citizens is an oldie but goodie of the anti-Catholic set (you remember the secret tunnel we built so the Pope can come here and rule). But here it is again, under the guise of an argument that Catholic Supreme Court judges have to step aside in certain cases (like abortion and same-sex "marriage", of course). I decline to link to the original article, but here's commentary on it. What's next, celebrating Guy Fawkes Day?

3. Ross Douthat speaks some words of wisdom about abortion -- in the Times! Hard to believe that he's going to last long there, sitting next to Maureen Dowd

4. There's a report that the Administration may be open to supporting some elements of the Pregnant Women Support Act. Seriously, though, don't get your hopes up -- they will never back some elements of the bill (support for crisis pregnancy centers and abstinence education) because the Cult of Moloch, er, I mean Planned Parenthood, is dead set against those, and any bill the White House proposes is going to be chock full of contraceptives. Still, if the Administration is willing to support any real pro-life initiative, we should look it over.

5. Leave it to Fr. Rutler to go all the way back to ancient Rome, Renaissance Italy, and the Abolitionist movement to explain some of the deeper meaning of the Tiller murder.

6. A valuable reflection on the verbal engineering by the "gay rights" movement.

7. Helen Alvare on the consequences of the growth in out-of-wedlock childbearing.

8. A man who stopped to ask for directions wound up getting severely beaten with his own golf clubs. That's exactly why we never do it, ladies.

9. I would be happy to explain to people just what is going on in Albany, but I am not a science fiction writer. I did blog about our pilgrimage there on Tuesday, so check it out. My take is, the more chaos, the better the chances are that they'll just close up shop and go home without giving us same-sex "marriage" or a state FOCA. But it's all up for grabs up there. Pray; then write, email and call your Senator; rinse and repeat.

Threats to the Church's Liberty

1. Here's a good summary of the situation in Connecticut, where the state government is trying to shut up the Catholic Church by accusing her of illegal lobbying. Here is Bishop Lori's statement, and if you're a real legal geek like me you can even read the documents in his federal lawsuit against the state. This is a very, very important case for the liberty of the Church.

2. Follow-up to the item yesterday about the Catholic health plan in Boston that may have gotten itself into an arrangement that would require them to cooperate in abortion. The Archdiocese of Boston is reviewing the situation.

3. Hopefully this won't encourage deranged consequentialists who believe that evil means can be used for "good" ends, but it appears that Dr. Tiller's abortion clinic will be permanently closed.

4. Meanwhile, the media continues to lionize abortionists, this time turning the hero treatment onto Dr. Hern of Colorado. Time magazine offers this wistful nonsense about Dr. Tiller. Our objective media, going maudlin for men who kill babies for a living.

5. The government (which would never ration health care and let people die from neglect, nosirree, Bob) wants you to sign an advance directive i.e. a living will), and may even give you a tax break if you do so. Problem is that these documents all too often are "refuse treatment, let me die" documents that encourage passive euthanasia by the "medical futility" crowd.

6. Another reminder that those who cite Cardinal Bernardin for the idea that abortion is just one among many issues should instead read what the man actually said. Here's a key quote: when asked if Catholic voters should disqualify candidates who don'’t support a human life amendment, he said, "Well, certainly. That’s what the consistent life ethic is all about... I don’t see how you can subscribe to the consistent ethic and then vote for someone who feels that abortion is a 'basic right' of the individual."

7. Spent yesterday in Albany at the Rally for Marriage. Crazy atmosphere up there, hard to tell what's going to happen on same-sex "marriage". There's even some odd speculation that Tom Duane, the gay Senator and prime same-sex "marriage" sponsor, might switch sides in order to get his bill passed. Weird. Keep praying. Contact your State Senator. Pray some more.

Chaos in the Madhouse

1. Chaos reigns in Albany, but the bizarre coup that put the Republicans back in charge of the State Senate may be the last nail in the coffin of same-sex "marriage" and the "Reproductive Health Act" (see here and here). Let us pray!!

2. Sex selection abortions are on the way, and soon, now that there is going to be a take-at-home test to determine the sex of an unborn child.

3. The depravity of the culture in the UK hits new lows every day. Now 12-year-old boys will be given "condom credit cards" so they can pick them up for free.

4. Well, what a surprise! The new Supreme Court nominee once filed an amicus brief advocating for liberalized abortion laws. Just as an aside, how lucky is Americans United for Life to have Dawn Eden working for them?

5. Continued concerns about the hospital merger in Boston that may have resulted in a Catholic hospital covering abortions in their health insurance plan, and being somehow involved in abortions themselves.

6. More on the President's deplorable appointment, to an important position in the Education Department, of the founder of GLSEN ("Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network"), the vehicle for indoctrinating children in the public schools in the gay agenda (note, the link leads to a sanitized article, follow the links to the full story only if you have a strong stomach). I guess "common ground" is now defined as where you bury your enemies after you vanquish them.

7. Sometimes politics produces strange ironies. Those few Catholics who've heard of her consider Alexia Kelley, the head of the Democratic front group "Catholics for the Common Good", to be quite liberal (she worked on the John Kerry and John Edwards presidential campaigns, and backed the current President as well), and, shall we say, a tad squishy on abortion, at least as a matter of practical public policy. But now that the President has appointed her to head his "Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships", the hard-core pro-abortion types are absolutely horrified that their hero would appoint an "anti-abortion activist" and a "religious figure". You have to laugh at the discomfort of our adversaries. Plus, here's a test to see if one of the pro-Obama Catholics can use their influence to actually moderate his 100% anti-abortion policies. Your move, Ms. Kelley.

8. Two prominent archbishops of the Church of England tell their flocks that they should not vote for a particular party (a neo-fascist anti-immigrant outfit) because it is racist, and they are applauded by the wise folks from the Humanist Society. Next, they will undoubtedly tell voters not to vote for parties that support the legalized killing of unborn children, because it's "age-ist". Uh, maybe you shouldn't stand on one foot and hold your breath until that happens.

The Clinic Access Bill and Freedom of Speech

1. The Times, of all papers, did a reasonably fair article on the New York City clinic access bill, which will take effect next month. They actually interviewed a woman who turned around after seeing a sonogram of her baby, and talked to pro-life sidewalk counselors, let them speak for themselves, and portrayed them fairly. Unintentionally, no doubt, the article made the pro-abortion clinic workers look bad -- not only did they make accusations that the reporter did not substantiate, but they displayed the deep intolerance for free speech that is behind this bill. Here's the give-away: a sign in the clinic that says: "Tell abortion protesters to mind their own business. This is America." Indeed it is, and there still is a First Amendment here, endangered species though it may be.

2. The propaganda effort continues elsewhere, however. In the Washington Post, there was a puff piece about a woman who became pro-abortion in medical school, and is in favor of killing unborn children with adverse fetal diagnoses. Here is a reaction to that terribly misguided attitude.

3. The next time some naive person says to you "Oh, no, nobody is really in favor of abortion", point them to the Rev. Kathrine Ragsdale, Episcopal priest, who calls abortion "a blessing", and may well be the most morally repellent person in America today. Read the whole article only if you have a strong stomach and have already taken your blood pressure medication.

4. What to make of this? Cosmopolitan magazine takes a moment off from peddling its sex-saturated tripe and favorably profiles women who are chaste.

5. Here's a chance for Notre Dame University to show a little of the Christian mercy that is part of its Catholic identity -- ask the prosecutors to dismiss the charges against the people arrested for protesting on campus.

6. Beautiful profile of a Boston priest who is continuing his ministry while suffering terminal cancer.

7. A video of a nun crushing cars with a monster truck -- now that's the way to drum up vocations!

The Challenges of Discipleship

1. Outstanding article from FirstThings.com on the challenges of pro-life discipleship in this age. My favorite quote: "We must not submit. No matter how smooth the oration, no matter how appealingly the hand of invitation is extended, the culture of death, which promises everything, ultimately offers nothing."

2. Now, here's a shocker from the Department of the Bleeding Obvious. In the states where more people self-identify as pro-life, there are fewer abortions. In states where fewer people identify as pro-life, more babies die, er, I'm sorry, more "reproductive choices" are made.

3. Theresa Bonapartis of Lumina, the post-abortion ministry (www.postabortionhelp.org), writes about why she is a "pro-life extremist".

4. You remember that the Holy See is conducting a visitation of women's religious communities in the US, to assess their fidelity to the Church's teaching, beliefs, and practices? Well, some of the religious are objecting to the idea that visitators will be required to subscribe to a profession of faith -- you know, the one that says that the subscriber actually believes what the Church believes. What more proof do we need that such a visitation is necessary?

5. Apropos of that, an interesting analysis by a Vatican official on two currents in the Church regarding relations with the secular culture -- a "current of integration" and a "current of controversy".

6. The pro-life movement mobilizes in Spain.

7. Well, I'm sure glad the President's comfortable with having an anti-Catholic bigot on his Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Woudn't want anyone to be uncomfortable with a person who hates Catholics.

8. Thank God for scientific researchers, who continue to give us useful information. Now they tell us that men who marry younger women (especially if she's 15 to 17 years younger) will live longer, but the opposite effect is true for women -- they die younger if they marry an older man. Sadly, it means we will have more time with Donald Trump.

Bad News from New Hampshire

1. New Hampshire has legalized same-sex "marriage", with totally inadequate religious protections.

2. In the UK, the government will force Catholic adoption agencies to place children with homosexual couples. The agenda to rid public life of religion advances another step. Just wait -- it's coming to us too.

3. Meanwhile, the 100% pro-"gay" Administration has appointed a gay activist to a policy-making position in the Department of Education. This is a man who founded GLSEN (the "Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network"), which specializes in indocrinating school children about homosexuality. Still, "gay" rights groups are growing impatient with the President because he hasn't gone far enough for them.

4. Other ethicists are joining Fr. Thomas Berg's dissent from the New York Stem Cell Board's decision to pay women for their eggs. Speaking of Fr. Berg, here's his view on the impossibility of authentic "dialogue" with the Administration on abortion.

5. You want a profile of a real pro-lifer? Try this one, of Rev. Walter Hoye from California. I blogged last night on the differences between him and Dr. Tiller, whom the pro-abortion world is holding up as a "saint and martyr".

6. A pro-choicer who sees and understands -- albeit still disagrees -- with our moral reasoning that the issues is the personhood of the unborn child. If she's gotten this far with her reason, all she needs is her heart to get on board and we may have a convert. Please pray for her!

7. Demolishing once again the smear campaign against pro-lifers over the Tiller murder.

8. An excellent explanation of how acceptance of contraception leads not only to abortion but to euthanasia as well. It's not a "slippery slope", but a line of inevitable reasoning.

9. The Holy Father, once again, reminds us of Christianity 101 -- that faith is more than just thinking, but involves the whole person, including our feelings.

10. Some good news to brighten your day (for once). A baby born in Pittsburgh at 12.5 ounces, 10 inches long (the size of a soda can!), 14 weeks early, is doing great and may go home soon.

More Depravity from the Cult of Moloch

1. Some depraved pro-abortion zealots from the Cult of Moloch, er, I'm sorry, an Episcopalian female priest and a Reconstructionist Jewish rabbi, are calling Dr. Tiller "a saint and a martyr". Absolutely demonic. There's no other word for it.

2. An Archbishop at the Holy See laments the decline in confessions. The proposed solution? A new handbook on confession. Yeah, that'll do so much more than, say, having the entire Church proclaiming "The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel." Oh, right, somebody already said that, and it didn't have any effect, so no point in saying it again.

3. Same-sex "marriage" advocates are still trying to make it look as if their bill is inevitable, even though all public vote counts show them to be short of victory. If so, they're going to have to do better than this event at which the Senate Majority Leader appeared: "at a rally of about 20 gay couples in support of marriage equality". At what point is it so small that it's not a rally but a coffee klatch?

4. Part Two of Mark Shea's demonstration of how our cultural decline has no principled terminus, now that the Christian sexual ethic has been rejected and replaced by "consent".

5. Meanwhile, to confirm Mark's point, the President has declared June to be "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month", and the Secretary of State has announced that promoting "gay rights" abroad is a foreign policy priority for this Administration. What can you even say about such stuff? Where even to begin?

6. The Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis has issued a statement that those protesting the Church's teaching on homosexuality by wearing rainbow sashes to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will be denied the Body and Blood of Christ due to their act of public dissent.

7. More intimidation on the way from the forces of "tolerance".

The Blame Game

1. I am not a fan of Bill O'Reilly, but the campaign to blame him and pro-lifers in general for the terrorist murder of Dr. Tiller is absurd and offensive, and wouldn't be tolerated with any other group. Try the thought experiment: will anyone blame all of Islam or all anti-war activists for the terrorist murder of the military recruiter by a Muslim convert?

2. Meanwhile, from the "Search for Common Ground" Department, abortion advocates are blocking the Pregnant Women Support Act, which would actually do something to reduce abortions. Mr. President?

3. You may hear about a study that reportedly finds that women who attend religious schools have abortions at the same rate as those who do not. Take the story with a grain of salt, warns Michael New, the sociologist who knows more about abortion rates than anybody.

4. The Culture of Death has gotten so far in the UK that there's an assisted suicide waiting list.

5. The invaluable Fr. Thomas Berg blows the whistle on the New York Stem Cell Board's immoral plan to pay women -- with taxpayer money -- to donate eggs for research.

6. New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is acting confident that the Senate will pass the same-sex "marriage" bill. The bill gets a boost from some celebrities that I'm sure somebody has heard of and former VP Dick Cheney, who is now the highest ranking public official to endorse same-sex "marriage".

7. As of now, the SSM bill is not on the Senate's agenda for the rest of the term, but that could change as soon as the wind blows from a different direction.

8. Here's more on the religion of the new Supreme Court nominee. It appears that she is a "special event" Catholic -- she only attends the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to receive the Body and Blood of Christ when it happens to coincide with some kind of event in her family.

9. Blogged yesterday on Memorial Day, and today on the murder of Dr. Tiller.

Gravely Wicked

1. "Gravely wicked". That's how Robert George described the murder of George Tiller, and nothing more needs to be said. It is also a reminder to us all of Our Lords's warning in Luke 12:20. The killer apparently was known to favor the murder of abortion doctors. Did any of this troubled man's brothers and sisters in Christ do anything to convince him that he was on the path to destruction, and that he should turn away from those sinful beliefs? Please pray for everyone involved in this tragedy.

2. Nat Hentoff calls on the President to live up to his words about "reducing the number of women seeking abortion". The Catholic Key (the blog for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph) wonders when the President's Catholic supporters will do the same.

3. I sent this out last week, but it's such a must-read that I'm doing it again. Robert George, in "Obama and his Pro-Life Apologists", diagnoses the President's position with surgical precision -- the President doesn't think that unborn children have any rights the law is bound to respect, and he doesn't think that abortion is wrong but instead views it as a legitimate solution to the problem of an unwanted pregnancy. The challenge of finding "common ground" will have to face those facts.

4. The National Organization for Marriage kicks off its campaign on same-sex "marriage" here in NY, generates lots of phone calls to senators. Maggie Gallagher gives an overview of the religious liberty issues involved in same-sex "marriage". Another rally on our side, this time in Buffalo.

5. Rich guy in Colorado spends millions to influence local political races in other states, including setting up phony organizations to run misleading attack ads. You expect outrage? Horror? Calls for reform? Silly you, of course not -- he's doing it to support "gay rights" and to "punish the wicked" (his words), namely those who support real marriage.

6. The modern face of anti-Catholicism. Frances Kissling (yes, the awful abortion apologist) asks the question "Are Six Catholics Too Much for the Supreme Court". The answer is, not if one if them is only a nominal Catholic. So, the converse of that reasoning is that "faithful, practicing Catholics need not apply". So much for the Religious Test Clause (Article VI of the Constitution). The bigotry isn't just directed at us Catholics. Same-sex "marriage" supporters are still going after the Mormons.

7. Interesting article about Notre Dame's struggle to find its Catholic identity. Nice coverage of the views of the pro-life and devout students.

8. The number of euthanasia cases in Holland rose by more than 10% last year.

9. The Diocese of Bridgeport, has sued the State of Connecticut to head off an investigation into alleged "lobbying" activity -- defending the real definition of marriage and defending the Church against a bill to take Catholic parishes out of the control of bishops. In the bureaucratic state of all-intrusive regulations, it is very, very difficult to evade the reach of the government into your life.