Still Running Off at the Keyboard

CANCER JOURNAL

I've just completed round two of the blood clot routine. I now have one in my elbow, discovered last November, from which the swelling has not gone down. I also have a second one at the base of my neck. I'm back on the pig intestine mucous shots until my blood clotting factor reaches a therapeutic level. This second clot has developed while I've been taking blood thinners that are not only supposed to prevent more clots from forming but was also supposed to dissolve the one that is still showing up on the ultra-sound. In the meantime all cancer drugs have been suspended. Fortunately they let me come home from the hospital after just one night.

This episode taught me a few lessons.

1. DON'T go to the hospital emergency room on Friday, even if your doctor tells you to go, unless you are near death or in terrible pain. If by chance you get admitted, chaos will be your constant companion. If at all possible, wait until Monday morning to address the problem.

2. DON'T seek treatment from doctors who practice at two different hospitals. The chaos that follows this mistake is nearly impossible to sort out.

3. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD ANYONE DO BOTH 1. AND 2. AT THE SAME TIME!!

4. DO take all of your meds with you when you leave for the hospital, packed in the original prescription container. Some hospitals do not carry specialty drugs you may be taking, and if you don't have them with you, you will not be able to continue taking them. I'm still considering the prospect of secreting two or three doses of all meds separate from the perscription bottles, so that when the perscription bottles get sent to the pharmacy for verification, I can still take my perscription medication on schedule by using the hidden supply, even when the pharmacy fails to return the prescription bottles in time.

It has not been a good 48 hours!

DISSENTFEST

The 10th Annual West Coast Regional Call to Action Conference held in San Jose will conclude this coming Sunday. For the speakers and topics, check out the California Catholic Daily article.

JESUS THE LIBERTARIAN

From LewRockwell.com

Whatever one’s religious denomination, a careful, dispassionate analysis of the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth compels the conclusion that Jesus was an uncompromising political libertarian. Libertarianism is of course not a faith or a creed, but rather a political theory for organizing civilized society. The written record provides strong, unambiguous support for the fact that Jesus was a political libertarian who very likely had an Austrian understanding of money.

Jesus believed in and taught the importance of the following principles: (1) all people must treat others as they would like to be treated (the "Golden Rule"); (2) man’s primary responsibility is to obey God and his conscience, not man-made positivist legal codes; and (3) that state actors who violate God’s will are morally responsible for their actions. Further, Jesus’ parables repeatedly recognize and implicitly support the ownership and responsible stewardship of private property.

Before going further, it is necessary to understand what most libertarians believe. Libertarians believe that people have all right, title and dominion over their own lives, liberty and property. Libertarians believe that all people or entities (organized groups of people) that infringe on others’ lives, liberty and property violate reason and/or Natural Law. To most libertarians, government is legitimate only insofar as it meets both of the following conditions: (1) government’s power derives from the voluntary "consent of the governed" (i.e., everyone governed contractually agrees on the laws and a method of enforcement that ensures due process prior to restraining any single individuals’ life, liberty or property rights); and (2) government’s enforcement methods do not indirectly violate any individual’s life, liberty or property rights, including the rights of those not party to the social contract.

The Golden Rule

Libertarian theory is different from all other political theories primarily because libertarians reject the notion that government is entitled to a monopoly on violence or otherwise has license to violate reason, Natural Law or the Golden Rule. Simply put, libertarians believe that the Golden Rule applies to everyone, including government and its agents. Thus, a government that deprives an individual of property without prior consent violates reason, Natural Law and the Golden Rule. This is the sine qua non of libertarianism.

Yeah sure. Tell it to Ayn Rand and the practitioners of Thelema. Both groups claim to be Libertarians. From a review of the book SEX AND ROCKETS, co-authored by Robert Anton Wilson:

This book tells the life story of a very strange, very brilliant, very funny, very tormented man who had at least three major occupations (or vocations); he also had no less than four names. He acted as scientist, as occultist, as political dissident and often as a simple damned eejit (just like you and me).

Scientists, aware of his tremendous contributions to space science, generally call him John Parsons, and they’ve even named a crater on the moon after him. Those occultists who know of his work in their very specialized arts call him Jack Parsons, the name he himself preferred; in
some magick lodges they consider him second only to Aleister Crowley as a progenitor of the New Aeon. His best-known book, Freedom Is A Two-Edged Sword, which increasingly influences the libertarian and anarchist movements, gives his name as John Whiteside Parsons on the cover and title page. And, as the present biography documents, this odd bird actually had the legal name Marvel Whiteside Parsons imposed on him at birth. (emphasis mine)

Incidentally, I printed the article from LewRockwell. It came with an ad attached: "What Does Your Soul Look Like? Take A Free Kabalistic Personality Test". I wonder where the Libertarians stand on Kabbalah? A branch of them represented by the followers of Crowley, have embraced it.

THE NEWEST ATTEMPT TO SHOCK CHRISTIANS OUT OF THE FAITH

In his upcoming biography of Jesus, "Basic Instinct" director Paul Verhoeven will make the shocking claim that Christ probably was the son of Mary and a Roman soldier who raped her during the Jewish uprising in Galilee.

An Amsterdam publishing house said Wednesday it will publish the Dutch filmmaker's biography of Jesus, "Jesus of Nazareth: A Realistic Portrait," in September.

It will be translated into English in 2009, Marianna Sterk of the publishing house J.M. Meulenhoff said. Verhoeven hopes it will be a springboard for him to raise interest in making a film along the same lines, she said.

The 69-year-old director, who also directed "Showgirls" — starring Elizabeth Berkley in one of the most panned films of the '90s — and sci-fi action hits like "Total Recall" and "RoboCop," as well as the sci-fi bust "Starship Troopers," claims he and co-biographer Rob van Scheers have written the most realistic portrayal of Jesus ever published.

Read it here.

This sort of inventiveness just demonstrates that Jesus is the real deal. If He weren't, why would people go to so much trouble to discredit Him.

SEARCH FOR BALLOONING PRIEST CALLED OFF

Brazil's air force on Thursday suspended its search for a Roman Catholic priest who vanished after sailing into the air under a cluster of colorful balloons. The cleric's family chartered a private plane to continue the hunt....

"Over the past few days, air force planes flew over 5,000 square kilometers (1,900 square miles) of land and sea and found no trace of the priest," the spokesman said.

But the navy continued to search using a helicopter and two boats, he said.

Read it here...

The family has hired a private plane to continue searching for the priest.

WILL CHILDHOOD INNOCENCE SURVIVE SUCH A PROCEDURE ?

Children's Hospital Boston, a world-renowned center for pediatric healthcare, is being criticized by a Massachusetts-based pro-family group for offering sex-change therapy to patients as young as ten years old.

The Boston Globe recently published an article on Dr. Norman Spack, who last year started a new clinic at Children's Hospital that, among other treatments, performs sex-change therapy on "transgendered" children....

In the Globe article, Spack details how he prescribes hormone therapy to halt puberty in children as young as ten years old, and then uses further hormone therapy to change children to the sex of their desire....

Brian Camenker heads MassResistance, a pro-family organization based in Massachusetts. He laments what the future may hold.

"Just the idea that they would do this to innocent, confused, and vulnerable children -- it's beyond the pale.

Read the story...

Ten year olds have difficulty deciding what to wear to school on any given morning. How can a child of that age be consulted to determine if s/he wants to be male or female?

If this sort of thing progresses into common practice, will there be anything left of childhood innocence? I can already hear the third gender protesting parental intervention in the child's choice. Lest you think I'm exaggerating, think about the abortion your daughter can procure without parental notification.

UNDERCOVER HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVISM

Spirit Daily links a story describing the homosexual activism behind the trend in Colorado to undermine the family through pro-homosexual legislation. The bottom line is money, of course, and this time it's in the hands of homosexual activist Tim Gill, described by Carrie Earll, Senior Director of Issues Analysis for Focus on the Family, as "stealth" activism.

He's under the radar. When he goes after a candidate he doesn't make homosexuality the issue. He picks something else because he knows the issue of homosexuality is still risky among the electorate."

Gill stays out of the limelight:

...his sppokesperson, and big-time gay rights organizations all refused requests from CBN News to talk about Gill.

Perhaps it's because Gill fears the spotlight could hurt his current plans.

Gill did tell Atlantic Monthly that he has an even "larger target list in 2008".

CBN News found that the New York statehouse is one of those targets.

Last fall, according to the New York Attorney General's office, Gill gave $50,000 to the New York State Democratic Senate Campaign Committee.

Here's the story.

ORTHODOX AND ROMAN CATHOLIC STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS CALLED FOR

Sofia, Bulgaria, Apr 24, 2008 / 02:02 am (CNA).- Bishop Hilarion, the Russian Orthodox Bishop of Vienna and Austria, has said in an interview that the Orthodox and Catholic Churches are allies who could form a strategic alliance to defend Christian values, Interfax reports. He also criticized many Protestants for having a “light version” of Christianity.

Speaking to the Bulgarian magazine Christianity and Culture, Bishop Hilarion said, “We must realize that Orthodox and Catholic believers are no longer rivals. We are allies. The rivalry must be gone once and for all. If we understand that, proselytism will stop.”

The bishop said that “romantic ecumenism,“ which he said characterizes the World Council of Churches and the Conference of European Churches, is not viable. He said that many Protestants have created a “light version of Christianity, without apostolic succession, without sacraments, without strict dogmatic teaching and what is also important they don't require sticking to Christian moral norms.”

Read the rest...

STATE SPONSORED ORTHODOXY

Putin has aligned himself with the Russian Orthodox Church. Protestantism has fallen out of favor in Russia, and Protestant ministers are being harassed.

Read about it.

Is this what the Blessed Virgin had in mind when she said Russia would be converted?

SINGING PRIESTS

London, Apr 24 (ANI): Music company Sony BMG has signed up a trio of singing Catholic priests for a whopping 1 million pounds.

Fathers Eugene OHagen, Martin OHagen and David Delargy sealed the deal by the steps of Westminster Cathedral in London on April 23.

Known as The Priests, the trio said that they will be giving the money they have received to charity. However, they havent yet decided which particular charities will benefit from their singing.

Read it here.

BALLOONING PRIEST

There is a picture of Father di Carli hanging at the bottom of his balloons at the Times online website. The accompanying article mentions that his balloons were found in shark-infested waters.

Balloons were nicely color coordinated.

GEMATRIA AND FREEMASONRY

While researching the credentials of Rabbi Ariel Bar Tzadok for last Monday's blog, I happened into Peter's Gematria Site.

The Jewish Virtual Library tells us

Gematria is the computation of individual letters, words or entire sentences utilizing their numerical equivalence. Some people believe that the words and ideas in the Torah may be connected with or understood from the numerical values and relationships. It is alleged that the numerical word-value is not unintentional, but rather prearranged. This study was first introduced amongst tannaim in the 2nd century C.E.

Many believe there are secret codes to be uncovered by interpreting the numerical values of the letters in the Bible. The kabbalists employ gematria to decipher the Torah and everyday events.

Peter Bull takes the position that

The Latin code of gematria is the key that unlocks the meaning of some of Freemasonry's greatest secrets. It does this both in conjunction with the codes for Hebrew and classical Greek and more especially by virtue of the fact that it also provides the means to procure the cabalistic coding of English. The three cabalistic codes are all recorded in one of the main sourcebooks for the esoteric teachings of high degree Freemasonry - Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy (1531).

In that webpage you can find the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin codes.

The letter "G" plays a significant part in Masonic ceremony. It sometimes hangs above the head of the Grand Master as can be seen at the website of the Grand Lodge of British Columbia. The article at that link discusses the many interpretations of this symbol. The ones I have seen most often claim that "G" stands for God or for geometry.

An example of the use of gematria, which Peter Bull claims is Greek for "geometry", is given at the first webpage linked above:

We can consider, for example, a Vesica Piscis - one of the most important figures in sacred geometry. A vesica with a width of 26 - IHVH (the Creator), has a height of 45, which is the gematria value of the man he created ADM - Adam. The difference between God and man is 45 - 26 = 19. This is the value of the woman created as a companion for Adam, ChVH - 'Eve'. In this way the sacred vesica defines the relationship between the Creator and mankind.

Interestingly, the homepage of Bull's website has "Peter's Gematria Site" flanked by the Eye of Thelema, trademark of the followers of Aleister Crowley.

BALLOONS FOUND - PRIEST STILL MISSING

ONCE A BISHOP, NOW THE PRESIDENT

Fernando Lugo shed his cassock to win Paraguay’s presidential election on Sunday, ending 61 years of one-party rule in the South American country. Lugo stepped down as bishop of one of Paraguay’s neediest areas three years ago, saying he felt powerless to help the poor. A year later, he left the priesthood to launch his political career.

The Vatican responded by suspending him, but he remains a bishop under canon law because the Catholic Church views ordination as a lifelong sacrament.

Paraguay’s bishops said they recognise the mild-mannered, sandal-wearing Lugo as the new president, adding this may be the first country where a Catholic bishop has been elected leader.

Read it here.

CUTTING EDGE JOURNALISM

Bucking the trend of Catholic bashing typical of Catholic news stories since the scandal broke, Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson tells us Catholicism is essential for the world. He writes:

Secularism has traditionally taught that human beings will eventually outgrow religious conviction and moral absolutism -- that skepticism is evidence of maturity. Benedict contends that modern men and women, unguided by reasoned moral beliefs, turn toward adolescent self-involvement. Their intellectual growth is stunted. In a world where all moral claims are seen as equally true and equally false -- the world, for example, of the modern university -- human conscience is reduced to biology or prejudice. Moral behavior may continue to ride in grooves of socialization or genetics, but moral assertions are fundamentally arbitrary -- always trumped by a two-word response: "Says you."...

...this is important for a very practical reason: because a belief in human rights is also a moral conviction. Catholicism teaches that relativism and a purely material view of man have disturbing social consequences. "The criterion of personal dignity," wrote Pope John Paul II, "which demands respect, generosity and service -- is replaced by the criterion of efficiency, functionality and usefulness: others are considered not for what they 'are,' but for what they 'have, do and produce.' This is the supremacy of the strong over the weak."

The point here is simple and radical: As the Catholic writer G.K. Chesterton argued, men and women are either created in "the image of God" or they are "a disease of the dust." If human beings are merely the sum of their physical attributes -- the meat and bones of materiality -- they are easier to treat as objects of exploitation. ...

An institution accused of superstition is now the world's most steadfast defender of rationality and human rights. It has not always lived up to its own standards, but where would those standards come from without it?

Read the column here.

THE ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY PARISH

Blogger Hugh McNichol proposes doing away with the weekly bulletin and the disposable missallettes as a way to conserve the environment.

THE CATHOLIC GIRLS SCHOOL CLIQUE

A Catholic school in north Queensland is counselling students after discovery of an exclusive girls club within the school. Known as Club 21, the girls were ranked according to looks, weight, and popularity with boys. Girls wore their ranking on their wrist.

Read the story...

I remember the clique from Catholic school. I remember it from my daughter's parochial school as well. Neither of us were ever part of it. We weren't rich enough.

Some things never change.

WRONG WAY TO HEAVEN

A Roman Catholic priest who used 1,000 helium balloons to try to break a flying record has gone missing off the southern coast of Brazil.

Rev Adelir de Carli lifted off from the port city of Paranagua on Sunday, equipped with a parachute, thermal suit, satellite phone and a GPS device.

A sea and air rescue operation is under way after he lost contact with port authority officials late on Sunday.

Read more...

The rescue efforts and mentioned in the story.

Maybe this one falls into the "how to spend other people's money on your own foolishness" category. Should the parish be asked to pay the rescue bill?

FIRE BILL MAHER PETITION

American Life League is asking Catholics to dump their HBO channel subscription until Bill Maher is fired from his late night talk show. All Headline News claims there are already 17,000 signatures on the online petition.

You can view a clip of Maher at the American Life League website, and then sign the petition if you're so inclined.

I won't be signing it since I've never seen Bill Maher. We don't subscribe to HBO, and it looks like for a Catholic that is possibly a good thing since I get the impression they are prejudiced against Catholics.

Heh!

There is also a Don't fire Bill Maher petition at Profiles Blog. It has 8 signatures so far.

I can see merit in both viewpoints. Maybe I should change my mind and sign both of them?

Or how about a third blog--"Suspend Bill Maher For 90 Days Without Pay" and make him stand in the corner with the dunce hat on? Except that it is not stupid, but more likely a real jolt to ratings to get yourself made the subject of TWO (and possibly THREE!) national petitions.

So how about "Ignore Bill Maher"?

But then, I didn't see the show.

-------------------------------------------------

UPDATE

There are more "Don't Fire Bill Maher" petitions

Here

Here (This one has 28 signatures. Impressive, since the others have less than 10.)

Here

CANCER JOURNAL

It helps to have a sense of humor.

I was riding home from a luncheon recently with a friend who was a neighbor until recently. She happened to mention that someone we both know is taking Coumedan (a brand name of the generic drug Warfarin) and that it's difficult to regulate. Then she added "You know, it's rat poison."

"Oh really!" I replied. "I take Warfarin, and no one told me it's rat poison!"

Figuring that she might possibly be wrong, I looked it up. Wikipedia says:

Warfarin (also known under the brand names of Coumadin, Jantoven, Marevan, and Waran) is an anticoagulant. It is named for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which sponsored its development. It was initially marketed as a pesticide against rats and mice, and is still popular for this purpose, although more modern poisons such as brodifacoum are much more potent and toxic....

Pesticide use

Coumarins, a class of drugs of which warfarin is a member, are used as rodenticides for controlling rats and mice in residential, industrial, and agricultural areas. The active ingredient in rat poison is brodifacoum, which is sometimes referred to as a super-warfarin, because it is longer-acting than the drug warfarin. It is both odorless and tasteless. It is effective when mixed with food bait, because the rodents will return to the bait and continue to feed over a period of days, until a lethal dose is accumulated...

I wonder if I should Google "brodifacoum" and "chemotherapy"? No, better not. I just might find a match!

The new chemo drug I began taking today has a list of side-effects on the leaflet the pharmacist included that is daunting. Death wasn't mentioned, though. There is always something to be grateful for. :-) The first dose this morning has so far been relatively benign. If God is merciful, this will continue.

After reading the list of side-effects I did start to consider what outfit in my closet would look good with casket lining. I'm thinking pink lining and purple outfit. My apologies if dead-blogger humor bothers you. At this point I'm way past being disturbed by such notions, and we're talking about my last chance to make a fashion statement here. I'm better at laughing about such things some days than others.

KABBALAH AND FREEMASONRY

In exploring Freemasonry, it soon becomes obvious that Kabbalah plays a part. The questions are what part, and what sort of Kabbalah? Does Masonry embrace the Jewish Kabbalah, the Christian Cabala, or the occult (some say Islamic) Qabala? Perhaps Albert Pike provides a clue. In MORALS AND DOGMA there are 65 entries having to do with "K" (Kabbalah), 5 entries with "C" (Cabala) and none with "Q" (Qabala). Pike, at least, thought there was good reason to promote Jewish Kabbalah. He writes:

All truly dogmatic religions have issued from the Kabalah and return to it: everything scientific and grand in the religious dreams of all the illuminati, Jacob Boehme, Swedenborg, Saint-Martin, and others, is borrowed from the Kabalah; all the Masonic associations owe to it their Secrets and their Symbols. (ibid. p. 744)

The Kabalistic doctrine was long the religion of the Sage and the Savant; because, like Freemasonry, it incessantly tends toward spiritual perfection, and the fusion of the creeds and Nationalities of Mankind. (ibid. p. 625)

The website mastermason.com includes Kabbalah on its links page.

It is, therefore, interesting to read what Rabbi Ariel Bar Tzadok has to say about the topic. In an article sent in by a reader titled "The Role of Kabbalah in the founding of the United States of America", he writes:

...one group has played a key role in the development of western civilization. Their vision of social justice and human rights (which they borrowed from the true Kabbalah) has served as the foundation of western democracy since the 18th century. The group to which I refer is the fraternal order of Free and Accepted Masons, or the Freemasons.

He goes on to tell us of the many Masons who were instrumental in founding America, and that "Kabbalah and covert political action go hand in hand," and that "the Masons themselves say that their symbolisms are derived from the Kabbalah."

Rabbi Tzadok claims that:

Masonic rituals and prayers never mention the name of Jesus Christ. This [is] completely unheard of in any Christian order", yet "Masonic Cabbala is Christian in origin, though with many Jewish elements.

He believes that Thomas Jefferson, via his rewriting of the Gospels "leaving out certain aspects of the life of Jesus and simply leaving in the moralistic code that all scholars agree Jesus took from the Talmudic Rabbis" was attempting to create what, in Judaism would be called, a country for 'righteous Gentiles'."

"Righteous Gentiles" describes people who are attempting to live by the commandments given by God to the children of Noah after the flood. In other words, the Noahide Laws.

The Grand Lodge of North Carolina lists Jefferson as a Mason.

Freemasonry promotes the Noahide Laws. In the DICTIONARY OF FREEMASONRY, Robert Macoy's entry for "Noah, Precepts of" reads:

Certain comandments transmitted to the present time, in documents of the ancient stonemasons, bear this name. They require 1. The renunciation of all idols; 2. The worship of the true God; 3. The commission of no murder; 4. Freedom from the crime of incest; 5. The avoidance of theft; 6. The practice of justice; 7. The abstaining from flesh with blood in it. (p. 268)

Macoy also has an entry for "Noachite", the 21st degree of the Ancient and Accepted rite.

Rabbi Tzadok cites Albert Mackey's reference to the Noachide Laws. He writes:

According to the authoritative work, THE HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY by Albert Mackey, Masonic writers as early as 1723 have specifically written about this connection. On page 410 of this most revealing book, Mackey quotes the following from an old Masonic work entitled: "The Laws of Obligations laid before his Brother Masons by Prince Edwin"..."The first obligation is that you shall sincerely honor G-d and obey the laws of the Noachites, because they are divine laws, which should be obeyed by all the world."

Rabbi Tzadok writes further:

Masonic interest in the laws of the Noahide also explain why the Church would be so vehemently opposed to them. After all, the first Noahide law forbids idolatry. Any prayer other than to G-d the Father is considered to be idolatry. (emphasis mine)

Who is Rabbi Ariel Bar Tzadok? Let him answer it with his own website. He is an ordained Haredi Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi who has studied with "renowned Mekubal, Rabbi Meir Levi zt'l". He has studied Jungian psychology in New York. He is a Rabbinic/Life Coach counselor, and a practitioner of Chinese martial arts. He "actively teaches military style fighting systems". He established Yeshivat Benei N'vi'im in 1992 as an "anti-missionary, anti-cult organization to address the growing concerns of spiritual misguidance and misinformation that is pervasive in the Jewish community at large." He teaches Kabbalah.

The following quote is taken from another page in his Kosher Torah website:

Kohelet says (3:8) that there are both times for war and times for peace. Not for naught is the time of war written before the time of peace. War comes before peace. The plagues came to Egypt before the exodus and the apocalypse will come before Mashiah. Wars conquer enemies and only when the enemy is conquered can there truly be peace.

When Mashiah comes there will be plenty of time for peace. Until then, each and every day, it is time for war.

FROM THE EMAILBOX

Spirit & Life®
"The words I spoke to you are spirit and life." (Jn 6:63)

Human Life International e-Newsletter
Volume 03, Number 16 | Friday, April 17, 2008
..................................................................................
www.hli.org

My Hopes For Pope Benedict's Speech To The Intelligentsia

Pope Benedict has put on his schedule a meeting with presidents and other top personnel of Catholic universities in the United States. The former university professor himself is well aware of the impact academia can have on impressionable young souls, for good or bad, and he knows that the U.S. is home to the largest single concentration of Catholic universities in the world, so there is a lot at stake in this talk. My hope is that he will set them straight about a few items that these most intelligent people in higher education seem to be confused about. I would think that a few of the following issues would be of highest importance, as regards both theory and discipline.

Let's start at the beginning: I think he should demand that Catholic colleges and universities go back to actually teaching the fullness of the Catholic Faith to young people. What would be unreasonable about that? The fact that a handful of newer, unabashedly traditional, Catholic colleges have sprung up in recent years to defend and teach Catholic orthodoxy is in itself an indication that most of the other ones are not doing their job. I am not talking about presenting a façade of Catholic teaching to the kids. I am talking about immersing the youth of these schools in the Catholic intellectual tradition and forming their minds and souls to offer our dynamic Faith as a gift to our nation so desperately afloat in a sea of relativism and intellectual degradation.

Secondly, in order to do that, universities would basically need professors who are steeped in the Catholic intellectual tradition themselves and capable of applying that to modern times. Not only is the percentage of Catholic faculty declining in some major Catholic universities around the nation, but the quotient of orthodoxy of those who call themselves Catholic is highly questionable. Right now, it is virtually impossible even for Catholic university presidents to know which of their theology professors have actually signed the "Mandatum" (a statement that a professor can and will teach the Catholic Faith) required by the document Ex Corde Ecclesiae. If a Catholic professor at a Catholic university or college is not willing to formally be recognized as a teacher of the orthodox Faith, why is he or she on the faculty?

Thirdly, the Holy Father should just tell these elite members of higher education to get the secular, dissenting and hedonistic garbage off Catholic campuses and to do it immediately. Certain things are totally inconsistent with Catholic faith and practice. For starters, he can ask them to get over their obsession with the V-Monologues and eradicate every vestige of that wretched play from Catholic campus life. They should then decommission and remove all gay and lesbian groups from their lists of approved organizations on campus, and then uproot all radical, leftist causes and courses that both give scandal and cause a distortion of Catholic thinking on social issues. Presumably parents send their kids to these places to be fed with solid food for their souls; the intellectual junk food of our society should be taken off the menu at every institution that calls itself Catholic.

The most important part of his approach to these issues, however, has to be discipline, something that can only come from the top. University presidents who refuse to clean up their acts should just be removed, no matter how popular they are or respected in the communities. Their first responsibility is to God and the young people entrusted to their care, and the official church hierarchy has to ensure that. Tenured radicals should be gently set out to pasture so that they can no longer contaminate young souls - and vibrant, orthodox, faithful and intellectually honest Catholics should be given positions of authority at the institutions forming the next generation of Catholics. Remember that this is the generation that will uproot the culture of death from our land and transform it into a culture of life - but only if they are truly Catholic. Who else can set them straight on that except the Vicar of Christ?

Sincerely Yours in Christ,

Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,
President, Human Life International
-------------------------------------------------------

Amen, Father. It's called "truth in advertising" for the schools that call themselves Catholic. One would expect this truth to be basic to the concept of "Catholic University", but we've been given a re-education about "Catholic truth" by the failure of not only Catholic education, but also by too many in the Catholic priesthood, in recent years. While there is still time, though, there is still hope.

But wasn't April 17 a Thursday?

CT