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

Human Life International e-Newsletter
Volume 03, Number 19 | Friday, May 09, 2008
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www.hli.org

Bankrupt Souls

While the pro-life movement continues to flourish around the world, there is plenty of evidence of the diminishing vitality of the pro-choice movement and their tired rhetoric. In fact, last week HLI received a form letter about "reproductive rights" from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. First of all, it's very hard to take seriously form letters that have a printed "Dear______" followed by a handwritten name. Not only that, but the senders didn't even bother to look up the very well-publicized names of the leaders of our organization to address the letter personally, nor did anyone sign it.

The letter arrived in a padded envelope which included a small-sized red hanger. Yes, a red coat hanger, the worn-out symbol of those who mindlessly claim that "women are dying from illegal abortion, and therefore, it should be made legal to make it safe!" More distressing, however, was the reality that some poor college students are already slaves to the distorted thinking of the pro-choice movement, and they actually think that we're going to go along with them. Below is an excerpt from their form letter to HLI. It would get a big "F" from any college professor who wanted his students to put some thought into their term papers. I have added some editorial comments for your information:

It has come to our attention that you are in a position to influence legislation [it may be news to them that HLI is an international grassroots organization, not a US lobbying organization] that takes away a female's right to control her bodily autonomy [rhetoric]. The American Civil Liberties Union of Mount Holyoke College is writing to you to urge you to reconsider this issue.

Without abortion rights, women's health is severely endangered [this is a totally unsubstantiated claim that ignores the damage that abortion has actually done to women's physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health]. Regardless of whether or not reproductive rights are illegal, women will continue to seek abortions [this is because pro-abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood and Marie Stopes commit illegal acts and violate national sovereignty by setting up and referring for illegal abortion services in foreign countries.] Internationally, countries in which abortion is criminalized see the same number of abortions performed as in countries in which abortion is legal [fact check 1: the number of abortions arises exponentially whenever and wherever it is legalized]; the only difference is the dangerous means by which it is done [fact check 2: the "dangerous" means by which illegal abortions are done are the same means by which legal abortions are done. Abortion is always dangerous; legal or illegal, it always injures and kills women.]. Every woman's life is valuable and should be treated with respect and dignity [the only thing in their letter with which I agree!]

Do you want the United States to return to the days of back-alley coat hanger abortions, or do you value the lives and health of women? [We value the lives and health of women so much that we want to save all women from the ravages of abortion everywhere in the world. The only way to do that is to outlaw this dangerous procedure and enforce laws that protect women from abortionists and other predatory men. And, on a more positive note, I would "urge you to reconsider this issue."]

There is more that could be said on each of these points, but, fundamentally, there is no pro-abortion argument that cannot be answered by a coherent, humane and practical response from the pro-life community. It's just that the bankrupt souls of those who fall prey to the extreme feminist rhetoric may not see the logic. That is why I ask you to pray for the young women of Mount Holyoke's ACLU group and all others who are so deeply deceived by these lies and distortions. They are literally a dying breed.

The future belongs to those families that are full of children and to those souls that are full of life!

Sincerely Yours in Christ,

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

NON-MONETARY COST OF THE HIGH PRICE OF GAS

I filled up the gas tank yesterday. It was unsettling standing there at the pump watching the numbers turn. The price wheel turns a lot faster than the gallons wheel these days of $3.84 per gallon. The cost of gas means something else must be foregone. The stores seem to be feeling the pinch. When I go shopping during the week, I practically have the place to myself. Clerks look bored, and it's uncomfortable to note that they watch my every move for lack of something better to do. I have always hated being "on stage".

My discomfort is insignificant compared to other fallout from the escalating price of oil.

In California a Franciscan farm that produced organic butter and milk while providing drug and alcohol rehabilitation for the homeless residents who run the farm will be closing its doors, victim of the high price of grain which is part of the fallout of the high price of oil.

The farm has been operating since 1954, when it was bought to provide food for St. Anthony Dining Room, a San Francisco soup kitchen. It reinvented itself a number of times before becoming a drug rehab center and working dairy farm in 1970. It houses 48 residents who are in 12-step recovery which includes demanding physical labor.

Closing the farm and a 30-bed women's shelter in San Francisco will save $2 million a year in an annual Franciscan Order budget of $19 million. That's significant. Perhaps it can be argued that $2 million can be used to help a lot more people than 78. Still, labor beats handouts every time in the grand scheme of social reform. This farm sounds like a program that needs to continue. Perhaps God has a miracle in store.

POLITICS IN TURIN

National Review Online contributing editor Michael Ledeen has written commentary about the politics prevailing in Turin, Italy, ignited by this weekend's book fair which features Israeli literature. The story caught my attention because Turin is a center of Satanic activity, and because the community of Damanhur is located nearby, so the politics of the area are interesting, though admittedly confusing. His comments ramble on to cover the credentials of the Muslim who was baptized by Benedict at this year's Easter Vigil who is now a deputy editor of Corriere della Sera. Reading the commentary brings home the changing culture on the European Continent.

MESSAGES HALTED

Locutionist "Little Mary" (of the apostolate Messages from the Immaculate Heart) has been told by retired Bishop Harry J. Flynn that she must cease publication of the messages.

FIRE MYSTERIOUSLY CONTAINED

At Our Lady of Fatima Basilica in Lewiston, N.Y. a statue of Our Lady of Fatima caught fire, but the fire didn't spread to the walls or to cardboard boxes standing nearby. A maintenance man and the priest pulled the burning statue outside.

There were burning candles surrounding the statue, but authorities are not yet saying these caused the fire.

Read it here...

At the website there is a news clip that shows pictures of the interior of the church and the burnt statue.

Hat tip to Spirit Daily for the link.

MAN SENTENCED FOR BURNING DOWN CHURCH

A Burlington man, who authorities say was involved in satanic activities, pleaded guilty today to charges that he started a fire that destroyed an historic church last April. Twenty-nine year old Kevin Ravelin will be sentenced at a later date, but the plea agreement states he will serve 35 years in a federal prison without the possibility for parole....

Ravelin was charged with arson for destroying the First United Methodist Church in downtown Burlington. Ravelin also started a fire at another nearby church, which was not damaged.

Read it here...

CHILDREN AND EUCHARISTIC ADORATION

There is an article in the May issue of New Oxford Review titled "Beware the Sajdah." It was written by Shannon M. Jones, Chief Executive Officer of www.CatechismClass.com, which provides Catholic educational content for the 4Marks Daily Catechism Program.

In the article she describes a recent trip to church for Eucharistic adoration:

On the way into the church with four small children in tow, I passed a college professor friend who was leaving the church in a huff. He was furious that there were "kids laying all over the floor carrying on with their butts up in the air, with the parents apparently encouraging and approving of this cutesy but grossly inappropriate behavior." Continuing with his invective, he pronounced this children's Holy Hour as a "Muslim copycat fest." He wanted me not to take my children inside. Convincing myself that it simply could not be as bad as he suggested, I entered the church. As it turns out, it really was that bad. I was dumbfounded by row upon row of children's derrieres staring me in the face.

The children were instructed to crouch, bend over, raise their buttocks in the air, rest their foreheads on the floor, and repeat. Dozens of children were flopping up and down in this strange fashion in a pattern emblematic of the worship style practiced by Muslims. Little girls were making desperate attempts at modesty, pulling down their shirts or skirts and smoothing them over their derrieres to prevent unwanted attention. Some of the little boys took advantage of this opportunity to express themselves by vocalizing gross bodily sounds, invoking laughter and carrying on in the group, all in the sanctuary of the church and during the public eucharistic adoration session.

None of the adults who were apparently in charge of this affair seemed to comprehend the significance of this perversion of Catholic etiquette.

She describes the scene as "the worship style practiced by Muslims" then goes on to describe legitimate Catholic prostration:

Legitimate prostration in the Catholic tradition, in which the practitioner lies prone at full length with his forehead resting on his hands, is peculiar to the ordained priesthood and is used at ordinations and on Good Friday, as well as in some religious communities. As a practice of personal piety, the laity may use the posture of prostration as an expression of humility in private.

Prostration, according to the Catholic sense of the word, has absolutely nothing to do with what was going on at the children's Holy Hour. The posture that the children were made to adopt en masse is called sajdah. It is the Muslim prayer practice of kneeling, slouching to the floor, and placing one's forehead on the ground. The Muslim sajdah and the Catholic prostration are two very different concepts. They should not--and cannot--be used interchangeably. (emphasis in oridinal)

I went surfing to see if I could find this practice on the web. Yes, it's there.

Saint Peter Catholic Church, in the webpage devoted to "Children's Eucharistic Adoration at St. Peter Catholic Church," describes it:

We will have a few seconds throughout the half hour for prostrations (where the children are invited to kneel, then bow their foreheads down to the floor, making themselves small before Jesus).

A link on that webpage goes to the source: the Apostolate of Fr. Antoine Thomas, and his "Children of Hope" webpage where the children are shown kneeling in supplication. The website takes a potential leader of these devotions through the steps including:

First act of bowing for all – may last just a short time...

Second act of bowing before God – silence for a bit while they remain bowed down. Now is a good time to introduce them to interior prayer. Give them silence mixed with a few words from Scripture, and some thoughts to help them listen to Jesus talking to them in the silence of their hearts. Invite them to close their eyes to remain more attentive to Jesus’ presence. You may ask them to tell Jesus
quietly in their hearts what they would like to share with Him.

Third act of bowing before God – this time you may invite them to take a longer time of silence (4–5 minutes), and to close their eyes to receive Jesus’ loving gaze upon them.

Jones comments on her view of this activity:

The players in this liturgical innovation, oddly enough, are not the usual "progressive Catholics" from whom we would expect nonsensical liturgical novelties. If my experience is any indication, this sajdah position is being pushed by a new brand of otherwise conservatice Catholics, including some homeschoolers, who may not even be aware of how incongruent this behavior is when juxtaposed to their usual conservative attitudes with most things Church.

She did, however, discover that the group had one thing in common--a unanimous dislike of the Tridentine Mass.

She goes on to cite Fr. Thomas' admission in his TV ads that "the intention of performing these 'prostrations' is to emulate Muslims." Once again I presume that we have ecumenism for this novelty. It conveys the wrong message according to Jones:

What Fr. Antoine fails to recognize is that the God Muslims worship ("Allah") is neither triune nor hypostatically united in the person of Jesus Christ, and Catholics certainly do not view themselves as nothing, "like a grain of sand." Catholics see themselves as fashioned in the image and likeness of God...

APOLOGY DESIRED

Victims of sexual abuse in Australia want the pope to apologize for the Church as he did in his recent visit to the U.S. A spokesman for the activist group Broken Rites says:

"In regard to the sexual abuse of children, treatment of children in homes that were run by the Catholic Church, it's a far deeper and more horrific story than what happened to the US"...

Read it here...

INSIDE THE CHURCH OF SATAN

Asheville, NC (PRWEB) May 7, 2008 -- New, controversial footage, from within the Church of Satan, has been released. It has been more than forty years since in-depth footage of the Church was shot, and a new Satanic ritual has been documented and publicly presented for the first time. It's revealed and confirmed that public servants and various celebrities are, or have been, members of the Satanic Church, including Sammy Davis, Jr. and Jayne Mansfield. In interviews leading up to the un-cut ritual, one Satanist says, if there is a God who feels Satanists should roast in hell, "He can go _ himself," and that all people are not created equal. Another said Christianity is "like a rabies."

The footage was captured by independent filmmaker Joshua P. Warren. He was granted unprecedented access to the Church, traveling internationally to live with Satanists and document the most intimate aspects of their philosophy. He has now released it in his new documentary, "Inside the Church of Satan."

"I'm an agnostic and my co-producer, C. Eric Scott, is a Christian," said Warren. "We approached this with an open, curious mind, investigating the Church to find the truth about their agenda. Christians, Satanists, Pagans, Atheists, and perhaps everyone else will appreciate what we found."

In December of 2007, the Catholic Pope formed exorcism squads to tackle the rising tide of Satanism across the world. Warren's new film will show what many of those bishops are fighting.

Aside from the complete ritual, "Inside the Church of Satan" includes a lengthy, candid interview with Peter H. Gilmore, High Priest of the Church of Satan, along with a witch, priests, and members of various ranks. Warren asks questions probing most aspects of their agenda and beliefs.

Continue reading...

At the producer's website you can view clips of the video and arrange to view the entire thing for a fee.

ACTON INSTITUTE HAS A LOT OF MONEY

You know the drill. Drop a cheap rosary or metal or holy card into the envelope that contains the solicitation for contributions. Maybe even use a nickel or a dine to capture attention. Soooooooo many Catholic charitable organizations use this technique. My mother-in-law's mail has been coming to our house since she moved down here. She must get three or four of these solicitations per day. There is no way under heaven that she could ever have funded all of them. It just looks like charities wasting money on garbage when it arrives in the mailbox.

I received a mailing from Acton Institute yesterday. Don't ask me how I ever ended up on their mailing list. One of those charities sending me the cheap rosaries must have sold their list. The Institute doesn't know whether I'm married or single, since they've addressed me as "Ms."

This is a mailing of a different caliber. The envelope, white, 9-3/4" by 6-1/2". Bottom left front reads "Environmental Stewardship from a Biblical Perspective." Inside I found a postcard on which I can request "study materials", two 8-1/2" x 11" sheets of white paper which contain three articles. One article from The Sunday Telegraph is by Cardinal Pell, a voice I tend to trust. On the back of this sheet is an article from Catholic World News. The second sheet contains an article from the Daily Mail by Simon Caldwell. All three deal with climate change from the Catholic perspective.

Also in the envelope is a DVD and a book by Robert Sirico. Lastly there is a letter describing these materials which tells how we should view the environmental discussion:

Balance [in discussions about the environment] is what we need...

You probably know parishioners with questions about present-day environmental challenges and how they ought to respond as Catholics. For this reason, I thought it might be helpful for you to have the following materials....

...some people heavily involved in the global warming debate are driven more by political agenda than a genuine knowledge of what may be happening to the planet...

The letter also describes the book as a "monograph" which "contains essays by Protestant and Jewish thinkers, both of which I think you will find illuminating." Part 2 in the book is titled "A Comprehensive Torah-Based Approach to the Environment".

Why me? And immediately after: Why Torah?

This sort of mailing requires a paradigm shift in thinking to even read through it. It raises red flags on the subject of funding, and on the subject of syncretism. Who is this man working for? Of course I sort of know who he is working for since I've researched Acton. I know that he operates largely on his own without diocesan oversight apart from the "technicalities" which he could hold up as evidence of his regularity. I know about Randy Engel's investigation into his past. I also know that Libertarian Austrian Economics plays a part in his activities.

What I don't know is whether his Acton Institute is Catholic or not, and what I suspect is that it is not, but rather ecumenical, which can lead to all sorts of deceptions. Are Catholic and ecumenical compatible? I suppose they could be, but I know that they just as easily might not be.

Trust in the representatives of the Church is a fragile thing that once destroyed, as it has been for me by 40 years of the Spirit of Vatican II culminating in the sexual abuse scandal, is nearly impossible to restore.

CANCER JOURNAL - THE SOAP OPERA CONTINUES

It's time to flip another coin.

Noticed a rash on my arm this morning in the shower--the same arm where the ultra-sounds revealed two blood clots, and the same arm that has remained swollen since last November.

Saw my oncologist at noon for the first time since being in the hospital and stopping all cancer medication.

She laid out the next plan of treatment which involves both IVs and tablets that will continue for 6 to 8 months and require a trip to her office every week during this period of time. This plan of action has resulted from the belief that the last medication I took caused the second blood clot. I showed her the rash and the swelling. She decided she needed yet another ultra sound done at the hospital where she practices. It was done this afternoon. When the technician finished she said she couldn't find any blood clots at all. She called the oncologist and then rechecked my veins. No blood clot. This is just 11 days after the ultra-sound at another hospital showed two.

If there has been no blood clot, I have been taking rat poison for six months for no valid reason. On the other hand, if there has been a blood clot and I stop the rat poison, I could die from another one developing in my heart.

One technician found them on two different tests five months apart. The second technician could not find any. The technician who found two was at the hospital where the records of Coumadin given to me in the hospital were not kept.

It would seem that somebody somewhere doesn't have their act together. The question is who?

Heads? Tails?

COED DORM ROOMS

In the Woodstock era, the advent of coed dorms caused a stir, with Life magazine proclaiming the development "an intimate revolution on campus." Coed floors came along over the next two decades, giving college students immediate proximity to each other. The next step, coed suites and bathrooms, brought the sexes even closer together.

Now, some colleges are crossing the final threshold, allowing men and women to share rooms. At the urging of student activists, more than 30 campuses across the country have adopted what colleges call gender-neutral rooming assignments, almost half of them within the past two years.

Once limited to such socially liberal bastions as Hampshire College, Wesleyan University, and Oberlin College, mixed-gender housing has edged into the mainstream, although only a small fraction of students have taken advantage of the new policies so far. Clark and Dartmouth universities introduced mixed-gender rooms last fall, and Brown and Brandeis announced plans last month to follow suit.

The University of Pennsylvania, Skidmore and Ithaca colleges, and Oregon State University also allow roommates of different genders. Students at New York, Harvard, and Stanford universities, among many others, are calling for gender-blind dormitory rooms.

"It's definitely a growing movement on campuses across the country," said Denise Darrigrand, dean of students at Clark, where about 30 students are living in mixed-gender rooms. "It's a new world, and gender has taken on all kinds of new definitions. It's about being more inclusive, and it's about keeping pace with the times."

Here's the article.

Actually there have been mixed gender dorm rooms for quite a while on most college campuses. They call it "married student housing". The difference between these units and the new co-ed dorm rooms is a ceremony that in many cases is maybe five minutes long...a ceremony that is no longer especially binding because it can be quickly undone through no-fault divorce if the participants so decide.

It seems to me that we are coming more and more often to the place where we are no different than the animal kingdom in this respect. As I watch the stories on Animal Planet, Meerkat Manor and Lemur Kingdom for instance, I can't help but notice similarities between the sexual habits of these creatures and those of humanity. In Lemur Kingdom, the announcer even refers to the Lemur offspring as "son" and "daughter". And so, for me at least, seeing this article about mixed gender dorm rooms is an indication that we are taking yet another step toward the animalization of the human population.

As you think about this, think also of the scenes of predator eating prey that turn up on those programs, and the kind of relativistic acceptance this activity generates. On a program about lions, the stalking and eating of an antelope is viewed beningly. If the program were about the antelope, the viewpoint would change, and the lion would become the evil enemy.

The viewpoint about morality associated with killing in the animal kingdom is fluid. If we have already adopted a fluid viewpoint of sexual morality that is closer to the promisciousness of the animal kingdom than it is to the Victorian Era of humanity, will our viewpoint about killing follow suit?

Playing with these two concepts of sexual morality and the morality of murder, it would seem to me that the survival of the fittest mentality of Austrian Economics might be a shadow lurking in the corner of the mixed gender dorm room.

Ok, now you can call in Mark Shea to tell me how far off the reservation my thinking has strayed!

YET ANOTHER DA VINCI CODE KNOCKOFF

is being reported by the National Post. This time there is a claim to having found Mary Magdalene's tomb.

PRIEST SENTENCED FOR SEX WITH INMATES

It is tempting, now that the sexual abuse scandal is fading from the headlines, to conclude that all is well in the priesthood. Two things oppose that conclusion:

1. The fact that the religious orders have skated under the radar, and

2. The fact that no news source ever looked at either priestly homosexual involvement with adults or priestly heterosexual involvement.

Now comes this curious story about a priest from a Nigeria-based religious order called the Missionary Society of St. Paul:

FORT WORTH -- A Roman Catholic priest who had sex with two female inmates at Federal Medical Center Carswell is headed to a prison cell of his own.

Vincent Inametti, a missionary from Nigeria who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, worked as a chaplain at the medical center in Fort Worth from Aug. 13, 2000, through Sept. 26.

He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Terry Means on Monday morning to 48 months in federal prison on two counts of sexual abuse of an adult ward in custody....

The Justice Department's Office of Inspector General received a complaint in March 2007 detailing sexual involvement between Inametti and an inmate identified in documents as D.D., who was serving an 11-year sentence for possession with intent to distribute cocaine. An investigation revealed another sexual involvement between Inametti and an inmate identified as E.R., who was serving a sentence of 12 years, 7 months for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana. Both inmates were under the "custodial, supervisory, or disciplinary authority" of Inametti.

On or about Feb. 18, 2006, Inametti directed D.D. to the chapel library for sex. In June or July 2006, Inametti summoned E.R. to a classroom in the chapel for sex.

He pleaded guilty to both counts against him in November.

Read it here...

According to the article the judge claimed: "This is rape and this is sodomy." and referred to Inametti's crimes as "surprisingly heinous". According to testimony one of the victims thought she was in love with Inametti, and the two victims were rivals for Inametti's affection.

The priest had been given limited faculties to hear confessions and offer Mass in the prison in 2000. Before 2000 he had served parishes in the diocese.

MOVING THE ARCHIVES

NEWS.scotsman.com has been covering the Bishop's of Scotland's decision to move the Scottish Catholic Archives:

Scotland's Roman Catholic bishops have agreed the oldest material in the Scottish Catholic Archives, based at Drummond Place in the New Town, should be given on long-term loan to Aberdeen University. It is understood the rest of the archive is likely to be transferred to Glasgow. Now a petition has been launched in a bid to persuade the bishops to rethink the plan and keep the material together in Edinburgh.

The archives – which hold records dating back to 1177AD – hit the headlines a few weeks ago when a man admitted impersonating a post-graduate history student to gain access to the premises and stealing 288 items worth £26,400. Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard Oliver Fallon, of Coombe Lane, London, ripped out pages and hid documents inside his notebook, which he then smuggled out at the end of the day.

The Catholic church's heritage commission is expected to announce the loan of material to Aberdeen soon, although premises to house the archive there will not be built until at least 2012.

Read it here...

Historians are upset:

OVER the past ten years or so, I have been a regular user of the Scottish Catholic Archives at Drummond Place and a frequent depositor of archival material, researching the history of the Scotland as it was affected by the Catholic community.

At Columba House it is possible, for example, to examine how extreme Protestants disrupted the Eucharistic Congress at Edinburgh in 1935 and how the people of the city reacted....

How could the SCHC [Scottish Catholic Heritage Commission] who, I understood, always valued and supported the work of Columba House, get it so wrong? Had they forgotten what happened fifty years ago when four men – Mgr David McRoberts (born in Wishaw), Fr William Anderson (Glasgow), Dr Lesley McFarlane (Aberdeen) and Dr John Durkan (Glasgow), all eminent historians and members of the Scottish Catholic Historical Association, made a hard-headed decision, based not on sentiment but on logic, to move the Catholic Archives from Aberdeen to Edinburgh as being the place where they had to be located for the SCA would now be within walking distance of the National Library of Scotland, the Scottish Record Office and the National Archives of Scotland and could create fruitful partnerships with these bodies.

Read this one here...

It appears that the theft actually took place and one wonders what the thief got:

THE documents, stained with the patina of time, evoked incense, candlewax and monks in dark cowels. Sitting on a table at the Scottish Catholic Archives was the forgotten history of the Catholic Church, as well as a pay-day for an opportunistic thief, Oliver Fallon, who impersonated a postgraduate history student to gain access to the Scottish Catholic Archives (SCA), yesterday admitted at Edinburgh Sheriff Court stealing 288 items worth £26,400.

The thief, who had launched similar raids on rare documents at other archives, made five visits in July 2006 to the centre which is based in Drummond Place, Edinburgh, and holds records dating back to 1177.

After requesting access to a range of documents, which were then brought into the reading room, Fallon ripped out pages and hid documents inside his notebook, which he then smuggled out at the end of the day.

Here is this article...

The oldest notation I found on this theft appeared in the Edinburg Evening News roundup of stories dated April 3.

It appears the decision to move the archives--what one would assume is a major decision--was made rather quickly.

It is also curious that a building to house them at Aberdeen University will not be built until 2012. 2012 is a significant date in many prophecy websites for a variety of reasons.

Will the archives be available to scholars in the interim? That has not been made clear. Nor has it been stated what exactly was contained in the pilfered cache.

Given the activities of Baigent, Lincoln, and Leigh, I have to wonder if there is more of the same contained in the archives.

What prompts me to wonder is the book WHEN SCOTLAND WAS JEWISH, a look at the history of Judaism in Scotland based on DNA samples and cemetary records. The book poses some very interesting questions and potentially may validate some of the claims made by Masonic scholars. I have not yet finished the book, and that is the reason I haven't blogged any of it.

NO NONSENSE ARCHBISHOP

MANILA, Philippines -- Philippine churches that allow cross-dressing homosexuals to play female saints in religious festivals are insulting the Virgin Mary and must be punished, Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales warned Monday.

"We should keep sacred what is sacred," Rosales said as he attacked parishes for allowing male homosexuals to play Saint Helena (Reyna Elena) and other female roles traditionally acted out by local beauty queens....

The church will ban the holding of masses at any parish that disregards the warning, he added.

Read it here.

WITHHOLD THE PARISH RECORDS

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

The Roman Catholic Church has recently directed dioceses worldwide not to give parish information to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The move is to prevent LDS Church members from baptizing by proxy Catholic ancestors. An April 5 letter from the Vatican Congregation for Clergy directs all Catholic bishops "to keep the Latter-day Saints from microfilming and digitizing information contained" in parish registers, according to a Catholic News Service article published Friday.

Continue reading the article...

DEFENDING THE FAITH MEANS INSULTING SOME PROTESTANTS

In an online discussion about faith sponsored by Newsweek Magazine and the Washington Post, R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, had the following to say about Benedict's recent U.S. visit during which he defended the truth of the Catholic faith, according to Towers online, the news service of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary:

"The secular press and a good many non-Catholic church leaders expressed outrage and offense at the Pope's comments — assuming that such teachings were simply out of place in the modern world," Mohler wrote. "But Benedict was restating the tradition and teachings of his church — and he did so because he cared for those he believes are outside the blessings of grace he is certain are given to those in the communion of his church — and to that communion alone."

Mohler even expressed appreciation that the pope would care about Protestants like himself.

"I actually appreciated the Pope's concern," he wrote. "If he is right, we are endangering our souls and the souls of our church members. Yet, I am convinced that he is not right — not right on the papacy, not right on the sacraments, not right on the priesthood, not right on the Gospel, not right in understanding the church."

Mohler cited the Pope's statements at in a 2006 speech at Regensburg, Germany, and at his baptism of a prominent Muslim convert this past Easter as examples of Benedict's strong advocacy of Roman Catholic doctrine.

"His statements about the address and the baptism — and the general question of Islam — were perfectly in keeping with Catholic doctrine since Vatican II," he said. "Evangelicals can admire his boldness without appreciating his inclusivism."

Benedict would have a lot easier job defending the faith if our last pope had done so as well instead of giving the world the impression that we were inviting the world's religions into Roman Catholicism. Benedict's comments would hardly come as a shock if he were following the reign of Pius XII.

BANISH RAMSAY FROM THE KIDDIE HOUR

The Catholic Church in Australia has petitioned the Government to either cancel chef Gordon Ramsay's show or move it to a later time slot because of the language. On one of Ramsay's shows he swore 80-plus times.

I haven't watched him for some time, but seem to recall that here in the states his foul language is bleeped out, isn't it?

Here's the story.

GETTING HOLOCAUST HISTORY RIGHT

Michael Preisler, a Polish Catholic survivor of Auschwitz, wants to set the record straight about Poland's stance during WWII. He believes that "Nowhere else is Holocaust history as distorted and misrepresented as it is about Poland."

As co-chair of the Holocaust Documentation Committee of the Polish American Congress he is distributing a thousand copies of Arthur Hempel's POLAND IN WORLD WAR II, using the books "to fill what he calls a 'gaping hole' in the average American's understanding of the Holocaust and the brutal terror the Germans used against the people of Poland."

One book was given to the Toronto Catholic Register which, according to Preisler displayed a "deplorable misunderstanding of the most basic facts of World War II history." when it reported "that Poland actually sided with the Germans and the Nazis".

Read about it here...

APPARITION RECOGNIZED BY THE CHURCH

The U.K. Telegraph reports:

The Roman Catholic Church has officially recognised a shrine in the French Alps where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to a young shepherdess - the first such recognition in France for almost 150 years....

Notre Dame du Laus, which already draws some 120,000 pilgrims each year, was formally acknowledged by the Vatican after three years of research into its credentials by a team of theologians, historians and psychologists.

About 6,000 Catholics, including more than 20 bishops and cardinals, attended a solemn Mass at the sanctuary of Benôite Rencurel – who was 16 when she first reported seeing the Virgin Mary in 1664.

The shepherdess was described by one observer as the French champion of apparitions, because she saw the Virgin Mary around 2,500 times over 54 years – averaging once a week....

Jean-Michel di Falco Leandri, the Bishop of Gap, told the gathering: "I recognise the supernatural origin of the apparitions and facts experienced and recounted by Benôite Rencurel, between 1664 and 1718.

"I encourage the faithful to come and pray and to seek spiritual renewal in this sanctuary," he said.

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 18 | Friday, May 02, 2008
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www.hli.org

Preparing for Pentecost

Have you ever wondered when the first Novena was prayed? Look no farther than chapters 1 and 2 of the Acts of the Apostles to see that the disciples were gathered together in the Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost with Mary waiting and praying for the coming of the Holy Spirit, the promised Gift of the Lord. They had been there since Ascension Thursday praying the Church's very first novena! Despite the modern anomaly of moving Ascension to a Sunday, the Church repeats that original novena every year in preparation for the coming of the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Sanctifier.

Let us make the nine days between Ascension Thursday and Pentecost Sunday an extremely fruitful time of prayer. There are three ways to bring fruitfulness out of this novena:

First, make time to pray in silence every day. This seems so simple, but busy people will know that it easier to say than to do. Jesus advised, "Go to your room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret." Indeed, that is what we need to do. Find the Upper Room of your life, whether it be your own private space, a Blessed Sacrament chapel at the local parish or just the focused "sanctuary of the heart" in a quiet moment and place; and spend some significant down time in silence so that you develop spiritual ears to hear the Voice that only speaks in silence. A minimum of 15 minutes each day in silence will train busy people to have more discerning hearts. That practice of a quarter of an hour in silence will undoubtedly lead the heart to want to spend more time with the Beloved every day.

Second, pray specifically for what you need. This means that you must identify the concrete needs of your life and present them to God as St. Paul says in Ephesians, "in every form of prayer and petition." God loves to answer prayers, but His answers can only be recognized by those who know exactly what they want! No need is too big. God will temper our prayer if it does not fully correspond to His Will. No need is too small either. God will also lift our spirits by answering our needs either by giving us just enough for the task at hand or showing us that what we ask for is less than what He really wants to give us. Either way, ask specifically and petition as many prayers as you and your loved ones need to a God who has an infinite storehouse of goodness ready to bestow on those who ask with childlike trust.

Finally, pray for the seven-fold Gift of the Holy Spirit. Even if you don't know what to pray for, the Eternal Spirit does. All good things in heaven and earth are contained in that One Gift. Pray to receive the One who satisfies all our needs in a new and special way this Pentecost. He gives gifts that cannot be exhausted: Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, Counsel, Piety, Fear of the Lord and Fortitude. Jesus also said, "Will not the Father give the Holy Spirit to anyone who asks him?" (Lk 11:11-13) Indeed He will!

Printable version of a novena prayer to the Holy Spirit here.

Sincerely Yours in Christ,

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

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Father's prayer turned out to be several prayers when I clicked his link. You can find them

Here

Here

Here (It was very slow to load)

And here

My own particular preference is "Holy Spirit grant me wisdom!", a prayer I utter in critical moments when there isn't time for anything longer. The prayer has been answered with just what I needed more times than I can count. Almost invariably "just what I needed" is something I would never have thought of on my own.