Special wallpaper and article for the month of June.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
53-Year-Old Cross To Be Torn Down, Thanks to ACLU
In 1959, the Middleboro Kiwanis Club in Massachusetts put up a large cross that said “WORSHIP” on it on a traffic island off one of the local freeways. It stood for 53 years. Then, a liberal lawyer spotted it.
Now, the state may have to tear it down.
More here:
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/05/30/ACLU-sues-middleboro-cross
Persecuted homeschoolers wow Brazilians by winning numerous prizes in academic contests
by Matthew Cullinan Hoffman
MINAS GERAIS, BRAZIL, June 1, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) - Two homeschooled boys, whose parents have been repeatedly fined and criminally convicted by Brazilian government officials for refusing to participate in the public school system, are impressing observers in Brazil and around the world by winning a number of academic contests.
Jonatas and Davi Nunes
Jonatas and Davi Nunes first made headlines five years ago when, at the ages of 13 and 14 respectively, they passed a law school entrance test. Now 18 and 19, they have won the equivalent of $15,000 in contest prize money during the first four months of this year for their achievements in computer science.
Their recent victories include the Mário Covas Award, a prize given by the state of São Paulo for innovative ideas related to government administration. Working together, the two won first place in one category and placed second in another, for a new design for the state’s web portal and and online educational service.
Davi has also recently won first place in the Open Innovation contest held by the Brazilian online retailer Submarino, the author of the most creative and innovative ideas submitted, which includes $5,000 worth of items sold by the company. Both Davi and Jonatas have been awarded an all-expense-paid trip to California in August to the U.S. Campus Party, a brainstorming meeting for computer science enthusiasts.
The two brothers are now preparing the commercial launch of two products they have designed using their skills in programming and multimedia.
The Nunes family gained international notoriety in 2008, when Cleber Nunes and his wife Bernadeth began to be prosecuted by government officials for having removed their two sons from the public school system to educate them at home.
During two sets of civil and criminal trials, the Nunes strove to prove that their children were not only educated adequately at home, but excelled well beyond their peers. In addition to passing law school exams at a very young age, in 2008 Brazilian courts subjected the two to rigorous tests that public school teachers admitted to being unable to pass. Yet both Davi and Jonatas passed the exams.
Despite these victories, the Nunes lost both the civil and criminal trials. They were ordered to pay fines totaling more than $3,200, and risked imprisonment and losing custody of their children. They have refused to pay the fines, but have never been incarcerated. At the time of their convictions, their children had already reached their 16th birthday, and truancy laws no longer applied. However, their daughter Ana, who is now five years old, will soon be subject to the same laws. Ana, who is already being homeschooled by her parents, is able to read and write. She is also fluent in English.
The Nunes and others who have been persecuted under Brazil’s educational laws may find hope in the recent creation of the Mixed Parliamentary Front for Home Education, a coalition of legislators in the National Congress who support the legalization of homeschooling in Brazil.
The organization, which is lead by Deputy Lincoln Portela, has 200 supporters in the Congress.
Experts gather to discuss under-reported dangers of 'the Pill'
With the recent government mandate that religious organizations must fund contraceptives, morning-after abortion drugs, and sterilization in direct violation of their faith and religious liberty, American Life League will host a panel of nationally renowned experts on the medical, cultural, and spiritual impact of the birth control pill.
"The media rarely if ever reports the whole reality of 'The Pill,' said Paul Rondeau, executive director at ALL. "President Obama chose to make this a national health issue at taxpayer expense and at the risk of religious freedom. So, let's get out the rest of the story to women, husbands, teenagers about The Pill and its proven dangers to the health of women, minority communities, and our faith."
Read more here:
http://www.prolifeblogs.com/articles/archives/2012/05/experts_gather.php
Homosexual pressure forced noted psychiatrist to change stand on therapy
CWN - June 01, 2012
Relentless pressure from homosexual activists forced Dr. Robert Spitzer to back away from his scientific judgment that therapy can help homosexuals change their sexual orientation, another leading therapist has charged.
Read more:
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=14504
Friday, June 1, 2012
For Catholics, the Contraception Mandate Is Unacceptable
by Luiz Sérgio Solimeo
The HHS mandate requiring health plans, including those of Catholics, to provide contraceptives and abortifacients has created a clear opposition between this Administration and the Catholic faith.
Indeed, if a Catholic does not have the right to practice morals according to the dictates of nature and Revelation, then his freedom to be faithful to the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ is curtailed and a religious persecution begins.
Destruction of Natural and Revealed Morals
It should be emphasized that the prohibition of employing artificial means of birth control is not a secondary or unimportant matter. First of all, because it is a moral issue and the Church cannot abdicate a moral principle no matter how small. For giving up one principle of morals is tantamount to renouncing morality as such.
This is because Catholic morals have two reference points: the natural law, which is a reflection of the eternal law (God ruling creatures) in human nature, and divine Revelation, which explains and confirms the natural law in the moral sphere.
If one point of natural law is denied, one destroys the ability of the human reason to distinguish good from evil and to guide the will to do good and avoid evil.
By refusing a point of revealed morality one also denies all of it by denying its foundation, which is the acceptance of God’s authority as the source of Revelation.
The Church Cannot Fail to Teach Morality
Now then, as the Popes have stated, and particularly Paul VI in the Encyclical Humanae Vitae, contraception is against natural law and Revelation, so that the Church cannot give up her teaching.
Indeed, in this encyclical the Pope Paul VI says that Church teaching in this matter is “a teaching which is based on the natural law as illuminated and enriched by divine Revelation.”[1] He continues: “The Church, nevertheless, in urging men to the observance of the precepts of the natural law, which it interprets by its constant doctrine, teaches that each and every marital act must of necessity retain its intrinsic relationship to the procreation of human life.”[2]
Whence the Pope concludes: “Since the Church did not make either of these laws, she cannot be their arbiter — only their guardian and interpreter. It could never be right for her to declare lawful what is in fact unlawful, since that, by its very nature, is always opposed to the true good of man.”[3]
Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed its doctrine: “Forty years after its publication this teaching not only expresses its unchanged truth but also reveals the farsightedness with which the problem is treated.”[4]
Soul of Martyrs, Mettle of Crusaders
One must be keenly aware of how serious it is to try and force Catholics to give up a fundamental point of natural and Revealed morals in order to understand why a Catholic must oppose the Obamacare mandate promulgated by HHS.
Are we going back to the times of lions and the Colosseum? While a Catholic must have the spirit of martyrs, preferring to die rather than betray his Faith, he must also have the mettle of crusaders in a peaceful and legal combat in defense of the true Faith.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
Encyclical Humanae Vitae, no. 4, at http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html.↑
2.
Idem no. 11.↑
3.
Idem no. 18.↑
4.
ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ORGANIZED BY THE PONTIFICAL LATERAN UNIVERSITY ON THE 40th ANNIVERSARY OF THE ENCYCLICAL HUMANAE VITAE, Clementine Hall, May 10, 2008, at http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2008/may/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20080510_humanae-vitae_en.html↑
June: Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Click here to request your free
Irresistible Novena to the Sacred Heart prayer card!
Hope of a Hopeless World
If there is an age whose sole hope lies in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, it is our own. The evils committed by mankind today can scarcely be exaggerated. To mention just a few, these include blasphemy, the destruction of the family through abortion, divorce, euthanasia, widespread pornography, immoral fashions and lifestyles, homosexuality and so on.
As Pope Pius XI once said, the contemporary world is so morally depraved that at any moment it could be plunged into a deeper spiritual misery than that reigning in the world when Our Blessed Redeemer was born. In consideration of so many crimes, the idea of divine vengeance naturally comes to mind.
When we view this sinful world, groaning beneath the weight of a thousand crises and a thousand afflictions but nevertheless unrepentant; when we consider the alarming progress of neo-paganism, which is on the verge of conquering humanity; and when, on the other hand, we consider the lack of resolve, foresight, and unity among the so-called remnant, we are understandably terrified at the grim prospects of catastrophes that this generation may be calling upon itself. 
There is something liberal or Lutheran in imagining that so many crimes do not deserve punishment, that such a widespread apostasy of humanity is merely the fruit of some intellectual error without moral guilt. The reality is otherwise, for God does not abandon His creatures. Rather, He continuously assists and supports them with sufficient grace to aid them in choosing the right path. If they choose to follow a way other than His, the responsibility is theirs.
Behold the grim picture of the contemporary world: on one hand, an iniquitous and sinful civilization and, on the other, the Creator holding high the divine scourge. Is there nothing left for mankind but fire and brimstone? As we face the dawn of the new millennium, can we hope for a future other than the scourge foretold by Sacred Scriptures for the final impenitence of the last days? Were God to act solely according to His justice, there is no doubt what we should expect. Indeed, could we even have made it as far as this twentieth century?
Nevertheless, since God is not only just but also merciful, the gates of salvation have not yet been shut against us. A people unrelenting in its impiety has every reason to expect God’s rigor. However, He Who is infinitely merciful, does not want the death of this sinful generation but that it “be converted...and live” (Ezech.18:23). His grace thus insistently pursues all men, inviting them to abandon their evil ways and return to the fold of the Good Shepherd. 
If an impenitent humanity has every reason to fear every catastrophe, a repentant humanity has every reason to expect every mercy. Indeed, for God’s mercy to be poured on the contrite sinner, his repentance need not have run its full course. Even while still in the depths of the pit, if the sinner but sincerely and earnestly turn to God with a budding repentance in his heart, he will immediately find help, for God never disregards him.
The Holy Ghost says in Sacred Scripture: “Can a woman forget her infant…. And if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee” (Isa. 49:15). That is, even in such extreme cases where even a mother gives up, God does not. God’s mercy benefits the sinner even while divine justice cuts him down on the way of iniquity. Modern man cannot lose sight of these two basic concepts of divine justice and divine mercy—justice lest we dare presume that we can save ourselves without merits; mercy, so that we do not despair of our salvation as long as we repent and start anew. 
God is charity, so the simple mention of the Most Holy Name of Jesus evokes love. It is the infinite, limitless love that drove the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity to become man. It is the love expressed in the utter humiliation of a God Who comes to us as a poor infant, born in a cave. It is the love shown in those thirty years of hidden life spent in the humility of the strictest poverty, in the three grueling years of evangelization, when the Son of Man traveled highways and country roads, climbed mountains, crossed valleys, rivers and lakes, visited cities and villages, walked through deserts and hamlets, spoke to rich and poor, dispensing love and, for the most part, reaping ingratitude. It is the love manifested in that supreme moment of the Last Supper when, after generously washing the feet of His apostles, He instituted the Holy Eucharist.
It is the love of that last kiss bestowed on Judas, of that poignant look at Peter, of those insults received and born patiently and meekly, of those sufferings endured until the last drop of blood was shed. It is the love in that last pardon to the dying thief that enabled him to steal heaven. Finally, it is the love manifested in the supreme gift of a heavenly mother for a wretched humanity!
Each of these episodes has been painstakingly studied by the learned, wondrously reproduced by artists, devoutly contemplated by saints, and, above all, incomparably celebrated in the Divine Liturgy.
In venerating the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Church specially praises the infinite love demonstrated by Our Lord Jesus Christ to men. Since His heart is the symbol of love, by venerating His Heart, the Church celebrates Love.
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart
Many and beautiful are the invocations used by Holy Mother Church in reference to Our Blessed Lady. Yet, every single one of these clearly underscores her relationship to God’s love. Each celebrates either a gift of God to her, to which she was perfectly faithful, or some special power or influence she has with her Divine Son. Now, what are God’s gifts but a special manifestation of His love? And what is Our Lady’s power of intercession with God in our favor but a sublime aspect of God’s special love for us?
Thus, it is perfectly appropriate to call her Speculum Justitiae, “mirror of justice” on one hand and “omnipotent intercessor” on the other. She is the mirror of justice because God so loved her that He concentrated in her all perfections possible to a human creature. In no other creature is He so well reflected as in her. Thus, she mirrors His justice perfectly. She is the omnipotent intercessor because no grace is obtained without Our Lady and there is no grace she cannot obtain for us. Thus, on invoking Mary as Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, we make a beautiful synthesis of all the other invocations; we recall the purest reflection of the Divine Maternity; we simultaneously strike all the chords of love in beautiful harmony, the same chords we strike when we recite her litany or sing the Salve Regina.
Yet, there is one other invocation of Our Lady that I especially wish to recall. It is “Advocate of Sinners.” Our Lord Jesus Christ is our judge, and as great as is His mercy, He nevertheless remains our supreme judge and cannot fail to exercise His judicial duty.
But Our Lady is our advocate and does solely what an advocate is supposed to do—defends the accused. Do we not have in Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, the Advocate of Sinners, an all-powerful advocate before the bar of divine justice whose pleas for mercy will not be refused? To say then, that Our Lady of the Sacred Heart is our advocate is equivalent to saying that we have an omnipotent advocate in heaven who holds the golden key to an infinite store of mercy. So, what better solution for a sinful humanity, a humanity that falls deeper into sin if justice is not mentioned but despairs of salvation if it is mentioned? By all means, let justice be mentioned; it is a duty; its omission has produced only sorry fruits. But right alongside justice, which targets the sinner, let us never forget mercy, which helps the seriously repentant sinner to abandon sin and thus be saved as He desires with all His Heart—the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
