Still Running Off at the Keyboard

"DANNY GOSPEL"

For a while now many of the Catholic best sellers have been non-fiction and have discussed the sexual abuse scandal in the Church. Just maybe it's time for a change, and just maybe David Athey has the alternative.

DANNY GOSPEL is a novel with a five star Amazon rating. According to a report I received in email the storyline of the novel is as follows:

Once he'd performed in his family's gospel band, but now most of his loved ones have passed on. Still known as "Danny Gospel," he is living a quiet life as a postman in Iowa City. At the age of 25, his melancholy existence is broken open by—a dream, a vision, a sign?—a beautiful woman he is sure is his "beloved."

Like Don Quixote, Danny is a dreamer of impossible dreams. And like Dante, he must journey through pains too deep to name and emotions too raw to feel…in a quest for ultimate Love.

Maybe this could be the road out of our scandal-ridden despair...a writer with a Catholic vision who can tell a good story.

THE "MALE" INCUBATOR

By now you've probably heard about the "man" who plans to give birth. He brought his bump to Oprah where he explained that he

was born and lived the life of a female for 24 years. It wasn't until after college that he embarked on his "true identity." Beatie took testosterone and had his breasts removed but kept his reproductive organs -- hoping one day to conceive a child.

Anomalies like this used to be the forte of Ripley's Believe It Or Not. Now Oprah takes it up in the name of ratings.

While this "man" strokes his ego in the limelight, has anyone considered the plight of the kid soon to be born? Imagine the playground. "Does your daddy look like my mommy 'down there'?" "Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww. That is so gross." You think any of the kid's playmates' parents are going to let their kids stay overnight at this freak house? In fact what are the odds the poor kid is even going to have playmates? Kids are pretty savvy. They know when something ain't right, and they stay away in case it might be catching.

MORE DEMONSTRATIONS DURING THE PAPAL VISIT

The gays have planned a demonstration during the Pope's visit. Now a couple of New York Catholic teachers unions are planning to picket, this time over healthcare benefits which they say they can't afford on teacher's salaries, holding up the Church's social teaching ideals as a contrast to things going wrong where the Catholic school shoe leather meets the sidewalk.

From the viewpoint of the diocese, when budgets get out of control by trying to follow Catholic social teaching, the solution is to close something down--like an urban school. The article indicates more than a dozen have already been closed. New York Catholic teachers would like the Pope to become aware of this difficulty, and so they are taking the opportunity provided by the Papal visit to picket when he is around.

I couldn't help, while reading the article, but to consider that family budgets get out of control, too, especially when the Church's social teaching on contraception is being followed; and that closing something down is not an option when the cause is a child. Since both the schools and contraception revolve around children, it seems to me there are interesting parallels here; and that the Church is demonstrating by Her actions how one is supposed to cope with the conflict between Catholic social teaching and financial realities.

POPE LOTTERY

Kathleen Bielenberg of York County calls it a "once-in-a-lifetime chance." She and her husband will be among about 50 Peninsula residents celebrating Mass with Pope Benedict XVI when he visits Washington, D.C., later this month.

"I'm very excited, and I feel blessed to be able to see him," says Bielenberg, who attends St. Kateri Tekakwitha Catholic Church. "I feel that God picked me special."

More than 8,000 people in the Catholic Diocese of Richmond entered a lottery for the fewer than 400 slots available. Frances Jarabak and her husband, who attend Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Newport News, were lucky winners as well.

Continue reading...

I wonder what it cost to enter, and who got the profits?

Is this a lottery you would have entered?

FAKE EXORCISMS TO GENERATE CASH

A reader sent in this story of an Italian priest who performed false exorcisms for cash. He claimed that "30,000 people came to us every year." The priest operates the House of the Sainted Archangels which is not a registered business and does not have a bank account. Instead the account was opened in the priest's name and funnels money for their charitable works through it. Projects are located in India and the Philippines. No website is given in the article, but this looks to be the same organization. They have an orphanage or school, apparently, though I can't read Italian and I might be wrong. Sigh. Why does it always seem to be about the kids--the most vulnerable ones.

A GLOWING REVIEW OF RON PAUL'S BOOK

At the LewRockwell.com website Thomas E. Woods, Jr. has reviewed the book THE REVOLUTION A MANIFESTO by Ron Paul. It opens this way:

Whatever your expectations for Ron Paul’s book The Revolution: A Manifesto, I can say with confidence that they have been exceeded. By a mile.

Ron Paul has produced the kind of book that changes the person who reads it. It is one of the most persuasively argued and beautifully written defenses of the free society I have ever encountered. No president, no presidential candidate, indeed no American politician has ever written anything like this. But that is such faint praise, and such an unjust understatement, that I almost regret uttering it.

From the first page of this book to the last, Ron Paul tells his fellow Americans things that – if the usual political and media fare we are offered is any indication – they are not supposed to hear. As I’ve said in another context, Ron Paul’s The Revolution: A Manifesto is, to the establishment, rather like the man who shouts out in the middle of the show how the magician is really sawing the woman in half.

What does it cover? Oh, just the Constitution, war, terrorism, the economy, trade, civil liberties, the war on drugs, the dollar, gold, abortion, executive orders, taxation, the housing bubble, the Federal Reserve, education, health care, the environment, conservatism, entitlements, foreign aid, regulation, and presidential war powers.

In order to make progress toward liberty, economist and libertarian Murray Rothbard used to say, the benign façade of the state has to be dramatically torn down. The people must be made to understand that this institution, which they’ve been taught to venerate since elementary school as the expression of the popular will, is ripping them off.

Well, this is the book Murray was waiting for.

Frankly, after exploring the beliefs of the Libertarians and Randians, this review makes my stomach churn. Given the moral failure of Bill Clinton, who comes along with the pro-abortion Hillary; given the O'Bama religion exposed by Jeremiah Wright, and O'Bama's position on abortion which includes death to aborted infants born alive; and given the impression that John McCain represents business as usual which can't bring anything good; I fear that Ron Paul is coming up in the political world as a candidate of last resort. Even if he doesn't garner many votes in this presidential election, I fear his star will continue to rise with the help of Thomas Woods and other Libertarians, and I fear for the next generations when his dream finally comes true.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

FAITH AND GLOBALIZATION - TONY BLAIR'S NEW RELIGION

Former Prime Minster Tony Blair delivered his first speech on religion since becoming a Catholic on Thursday evening.

The full text is given at the TotalCatholic.com website.

The following is an excerpt:

I believe, in this era of rapid globalisation, where power is shifting away from its traditional centre in the west, the world will be immeasurably poorer, more dangerous, more fragile and above all, more aimless - I mean without the necessary sense of purpose to help guide its journey- if it is without a strong spiritual dimension. Today, precisely because all the fixed points of reference seem unfixed and constantly in flux; today is more than ever, when we need to discover and re-discover our essential humility before God, our dignity as found in our lives being placed at the service of the Source and Goal of everything. I can’t prove that religious faith offers something more than humanism. But I believe profoundly that it does. And since religious faith has such a strong historical and cultural influence on both East and West, it can help unify around common values what otherwise might be a battle for domination.

In her remarkable book ‘The Great Transformation’ Karen Armstrong traces the evolution of religious thought from the earliest times, both East and West, when religion did indeed seem often cruel, unforgiving and irrational, to the modern times in which the faiths share many common values and much common purpose.

The Foundation that I am starting is an attempt to do something a little different from the many excellent inter-faith bodies and organisations that already exist and many of which are represented here today. Indeed, I want to pay warm tribute this country’s pioneering record of inter faith relations and dialogue. I am proud that the Council of Christians and Jews was set up as long ago as 1942, and that many other bodies have since then come into existence, such as the Inter Faith Network, the Three Faiths Forum and others too numerous to mention. But my Foundation will attempt to complement their work, not duplicate it.

I am not a religious leader. Actually today I am no longer a political leader. I am aware of all the jibes and ridicule that attends anyone in politics speaking about religion. I make no claims to moral superiority. Quite the opposite.

But I am passionate about the importance of faith to our modern world and about the need for people of faith to reach out to one another.

The foundation will concentrate on certain key specifics. The first will be to help the different faith organisations to work together in furtherance of the Millennium Development Goals, which I helped advocate as Prime Minister and which are, in many ways the litmus test of the world’s values. Faith groups do great individual work in this area. But they could do even more, if helped also to combine together. The MDGs are stark in their ambition and necessity. We are falling short as a world in meeting them. It would be a great example of faith in action to try to bridge the gap and awaken the world’s conscience.
The second will be to produce high quality material – books, websites, every means of communication – to educate people better about the different faiths, what they truly believe not what we often mistakenly think they believe.

The foundation will concentrate, in the immediate term, on the six main faiths, the Abrahamic three and Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism. But, though the foundation will expressly not be confined to the Abrahamic faiths, we will partner existing organisations that promote better understanding and co-existence between Christians, Muslims and Jews, notably in The Coexist Foundation’s vision of creating Abraham House here in London, where people of those faiths but also others, can encounter some of their traditions, explore their roots and, without glossing over their differences, discover what they share.
We will also help partner those within any of the faiths who stand up for peaceful co-existence and reject the extremist and divisive notion that faiths are in fundamental struggle against each other.

But I freely confess there is a broader objective.

The Foundation will expressly not be about chucking faith into a doctrinal melting pot.

Not yet, anyway, I guess, but Scripture tells us that eventually that will be what happens, and we know who the leader of such an entity will be.

Catholic prophecy has a lot to say on this subject. However much of the prophecy does not have Church approval, even though the prophets may have been canonized. We can at least look at the prophecy of Pope Leo XIII which talks about a 100 year window of opportunity for Satan to destroy the faith.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

ONE MORE TRY

Pope Benedict XVI is preparing to clarify the Vatican’s position on the controversial Good Friday Prayer for the Jews, a Jewish interfaith official said.

The Vatican will issue a letter within a week aimed at easing Jewish fears that the Catholic Church wants to convert them, said the chairman of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, Rabbi David Rosen.

Rosen, who has seen a preliminary draft of the letter, said it will come from the pope via the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone....

“It has no bearing on Jewish-Catholic relations, and certainly in no way compromises the Church's total opposition to proselytizing," Rosen said.

Read all of it...

Maybe what's needed is a definition of proselytizing, because it seems to me that proselytizing is what interreligious dialogue is suppose to be about. Or so my fellow Catholics have argued when I've pointed out that interreligious dialogue is a break with the past when Catholics believed they were supposed to be missionaries.

We don't hear much about missionaries these days unless someone has their hand out. Why would a Catholic believe it is important to contribute to the missions if we are no longer missionaries?

But wait, this is only the Jews that we're talking about here. It's not the other religions that were formerly called "pagan", and now I suppose are called "separated brethren".

No, that isn't right either. "Separated brethren" are Christians but not Catholics, so the pagans must be called something else. But we still dialogue with them just like we dialogue with the Jews. It just doesn't mean the same thing since we aren't trying to convert the Jews but we are trying to convert the pagans, at least until they object to being proselytized, at which time I suppose we'll have to issue guarantees to the pagans that we just want to talk with them and we aren't trying to convert them.

Or something like that. Maybe it's not assurances against proselytizing that the world needs. Maybe it's a redefinition of the Gospel?

I guess if I were Jewish and if I knew the long history of Roman Catholic missionary efforts, and if I didn't trust popes, I might be upset about the Good Friday prayer as well, because the Catholic Church no longer seems to know what She is doing and some careful thought about all of the hair-splitting brings that out.

Let me re-headline this blog..."WHO'S ON FIRST ?"

CANCER JOURNAL

I have a 2-hour PET scan scheduled early this morning. After two hours of nothing to occupy my mind but my own thoughts, I'm usually ready to scream. Which is why I'm planning on a shopping trip immediately after as a nice little reward for getting through it. Rising up off the PET scan table gives a foretaste of what the first moment of eternal life in heaven must be like.

How do people get through PET scans without having the rosary to keep busy? Maybe one clue is the kleenex box. Apart from the blanket, the brown recliner, the brown walls in the small brown cubicle where one has to sit for an hour waiting for the contrast to permeate the cancer cells, there is nothing else in the room. I'd probably cry too if I couldn't pray, or else try bouncing off those brown walls just to break the monotony.

COIN BOYCOTT

There is a call for a boycott making its way around the web in email that the newly issued U.S. $1 coins do not have the motto "In God We Trust" on them and thus should not be accepted in change.

The motto, however, does appear on the coin--on the edge--although 300 million were mistakenly minted without the motto according to About.com where you can see a picture of the coins with the motto.

MADE IN CHINA

The PewSitter offers some comments on religious goods made in China:

April 2, 2008 - The label, "Made in China!" should shout a warning to Catholics when they search in religious goods stores for Catholic religious articles. The fact that religious articles are being produced by businesses in China for Catholics globally is an illustration of our lack of concern for the Chinese government’s lack of religious tolerance and freedom among the Chinese Catholic Church.

There's more to the opinion piece at the website.

ANOTHER BISHOP STEPS FORTH TO DEFEND THE FAITH

Donald Trautman -- the Roman Catholic Bishop for Erie, Pa. -- announced on Monday that he will not attend the Catholic Mercyhurst College's graduation because of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (N.Y.) planned visit to the college on Tuesday, the Erie Times-News reports. Trautman said he was "disappointed" that the college would host Clinton, who supports abortion rights. In a statement, Trautman said that he will not attend Mercyhurst's graduation as a "tangible expression" of his disappointment that the college did not "reflec[t] the pro-life stance of the Catholic Church regarding abortion." According to the Times-News, Trautman has attended the school's graduation ceremony for undergraduates in recent years.

Read the rest...

SHORT TRIP TO SAINTHOOD ?

Pope Benedict XVI today backed sainthood for his predecessor John Paul II, citing the ``supernatural qualities'' of the Catholic Church's longest- serving pope at a Mass on the third anniversary of his death.

John Paul, born Karol Jozef Wojtyla in Wadowice, Poland, died on April 2, 2005, at age 84. At his funeral, mourners chanted ``Santo Subito,'' or ``Sainthood Now.''

During his 26-year papacy, John Paul displayed ``an exceptional spiritual and mystic sensibility,'' Benedict told about 40,000 worshippers gathered today at St. Peter's Square in Rome....

The findings of initial investigations in Rome and Krakow will be presented to the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which will have to decide whether to beatify, or declare John Paul as blessed, before designating him a saint.

Read it here.

ADD YOUR OWN CAPTION...

to The Crescat's Caption Contest. I did.

MORE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES VANDALIZED

This time it took place across the pond and included several denominations. The damage was done over Easter weekend and included satanic messages in one instance.

HOUSE IS HAUNTED - SUING THE PREVIOUS OWNERS

New Oxford Review links this story of an Italian family that bought a house and all of its contents at a bargain price only to discover the place was haunted. An exorcism had been performed at the house in the past, confirmed by Fr. Amorth. The girl involved was ultimately exorcised by John Paul II.

Wonder what they'll do with the house now that the whole world has been informed there is something wrong with it?

WHO'S ON THIRD ?

They say you can't make this stuff up, but this Connecticut story is so bizarre that it should be in a spoof website, not a news website, or better yet in an afternoon soap opera.

Homosexual lover. Dog in designer duds. Buying a condo with parish funds. A bookkeeper who may or may not be an accomplice to theft. A priest on suspension. His replacement confirming some of the charges. A parish threatening to take away the single-mother bookkeeper's healthcare benefits to get her to shut up. Private detective paid for out of private funds of bookkeeper and a priest. Bookkeeper getting a divorce. Cover-up. A whistleblower lawsuit. Did I leave anything out? This one seems to encapsulate all of the Catholic scandals into one packaged example. Are we sure it's not satire after all?

If you don't laugh, folks, you cry.

SISTER LIGHTFINGERS

Sister Barbara Markey, a 73-year-old Roman Catholic nun in Omaha, Nebraska, has pled guilty to a charge of theft of more than $1,500 following an archdiocese audit that indicated she had stolen more than $250,000 to pay for and cover gambling debts.

Continue reading...

HEADLINE PREDICTIONS

Catholic League president William Donohue offers his predictions for what the pundits will say during the upcoming visit of Benedict. Yes, I think he is spot on, at least with the areas of criticism that will make the news.

I also think he is spot on with his claim that Benedict will be compared unfavorably to JPII. That, by the way, is not my opinion. I much prefer an intellectual to an actor. I base my conclusion that the comparison will be unfavorable on my mother-in-law's opinion. She's a little old Polish lady a few months short of 90 and feisty. Oh yeah, feisty. She doesn't hesitate to tell me she doesn't like the current pope. I haven't yet had the opportunity to ask her why. It may be just the fact that he isn't Polish, but there may be more to it.

In any case she is so typical of the little old ladies with their rosary beads that I personally believe have held the Church together through prayer while the liberals were spinning out of control. So her opinion does count, and I suspect she shares it with a lot of her contemporaries. It will be interesting to see if she and Bill Donohue are right.

THE SPOOF AND FR. LIGHTFINGERS

It's funny. Also I admit some of the same thoughts were running through my head when I read about our priest with a gambling problem and access to parish funds. Try not to get upset when you read it. If we can't laugh at ourselves, our pride is getting out of control.

GEORGIA BISHOPS AND GEORGIA RIGHT TO LIFE AT ODDS

Matt Abbott has tracked down the particulars of the brewing difference of opinion of Georgia's two bishops and Daniel Becker, president of Georgia Right to Life, over the proposed amendment to Georgia's constitution.

Abbott linked "Reflections on Georgia House Resolution 536", a statement by the bishops explaining the legal ramifications should the amendment pass. Their opposition makes sense to me after reading "Reflections". Given that Becker has emailed a statement, which Abbott quotes in part, indicating his displeasure over their decision, the bishops could appear to be pro-abortion to anyone who reads Becker's email and doesn't do the homework!

Nice work, Matt.

LIBERALIZING OF TRIDENTINE DRAWING TRADITIONALISTS BACK IN

The article doesn't give any statistics, but Catholic News Service reports that once schismatic Catholics are now being drawn back to the faith through Benedict's permission to say Mass using the Tridentine Rite.

Thanks to Steve for sending in the link.

THE RULE OF 72

Ever hear of it? It's explained here.

The 'Rule of 72' is a simplified way to determine how long an investment will take to double, given a fixed annual rate of interest. By dividing 72 by the annual rate of return, investors can get a rough estimate of how many years it will take for the initial investment to duplicate itself.

At 10% interest it takes approximately 7.3 years for the original investment to double.

It's been a long time since we saw 10% interest on savings accounts; and at the time when we did see it, we also saw inflation at a high rate.

Of course getting interest means that someone is paying interest. If it's a savings account, the payor is the bank. They have to get the money somewhere. One of the ways that they get cash is by creating money--otherwise known as credit cards.

Not only the banks, but other businesses create cash in this way. There is hardly a department store left that doesn't have their own credit card. Of course there's a bank back there in the support structure somewhere. Fail to pay off the balance some month and find out what happens to your bill. Eighteen percent is pretty common. At 18% it takes four years for the investment to double (72 divided by 18 equals 4). But this time it isn't you who reaps the benefits, it's the credit card company. At this rate of return who needs profits on sales?

Susanna tells me Macy's charges 22.9% on the unpaid balance. I looked at the back of my Macy's statement where all the fine print is written. They talk about a minimum finance charge of $1, but after three readings I still couldn't find the rate. At 22.9% the investment doubles in 3.1 years. And that doesn't take the late fees into consideration.

I'm beginning to see how Macy's can offer all those bargains on Alfred Dunner clothes near the end of a season. Run up a big enough bill and those clothes aren't a bargain anymore. And the temptation is oh so great to fill the closet with new stuff when the price tag is oh so low. Couple that with all the coupons sent to credit card customers, and the discount offered to customers who pay with a Macy's card. It almost appears wasteful to let the clothes hang on the rack. Of course if your bill gets lost in the mail, you're going to be in for a nasty surprise!

I wonder if Macy's sells Alfred Dunner at a loss and makes up the shortfall with credit card interest? Could it be that we are being duped into thinking Macy's is in the business of selling goods when their real money-making business is usury?

Now what is the definition of extortion again...???

FATHER LIGHTFINGERS

According to the AP:

Archdiocese says pastor in White Plains, N.Y., stole church funds to gamble

Here's the story.

SEVERING RELATIONS OVER AN OBSCURE LITTLE PRAYER

The German tabloid Bild splashed its broadsheet with "We Are the Pope" to announce the selection of the Bavarian-born Joseph Ratzinger as the successor to Pope John Paul II in 2005.

Three years later, the feel-good headline has turned into a disappointment for many Catholics and Jews. A theological row over the pope's decision to use a rare Latin prayer for Good Friday, which urges Jews to convert to Catholicism, has prompted the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Charlotte Knobloch, to sever relations with the Catholic Church.

"As long as Pope Benedict does not return to the previous wording, I assume that there will not be any further dialogue [such as we had] in the past," said Knobloch.

The Vatican press office in Rome could not be reached for comment on Sunday.

Read it here.

If this sort of activity took place on a grade school playground, I would label it "spoiling for a fight". When it takes place in international religious politics, I still call it "spoiling for a fight."

This petty attitude is the work of "the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Charlotte Knobloch" according to the article. A woman rabbi?--meaning that this is coming from the Reform/Conservative side of Judaism, not the Orthodox?

Who will be served when and if this woman's fight develops into a reality?
_____________________________________________

UPDATE

Here is the Wikipedia entry for Charlotte Knobloch. It does not say that she is a Rabbi. It does say:

Knobloch was born into a well-to-do Jewish family of lawyers. She is the daughter of Munich lawyer and Bavarian senator Fritz Neuland. Her mother Margarethe was born a Christian, but converted to Judaism upon marrying Neuland. However, her parents divorced in 1936. She was subsequently raised by her grandmother Albertine Neuland. Upon the arrest of her father, Knobloch recalls being saved by a stranger, a woman who took her in her hand and walked away. From 1942 onward, she lived with Catholic farmers in Franconia, who pretended she was their own illegitimate daughter.

There is a picture of her at the website as well.

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It appears that the Central Council of Jews in Germany began welcoming Reform Jews to the organization in May, 2004 according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency U.S.A.

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Knobloch was Vice President of the Central Council in 2005. She was elected President in 2006.

MORE MUSLIMS THAN CATHOLICS

The number of Muslims has overtaken that of Roman Catholics for the first time, the Vatican said yesterday.

Muslims account for 19.2% of the world's population, while Catholics make up 17.4%, according to the Vatican's new statistics yearbook, which is based on figures for 2006.

"For the first time in history we are no longer at the top: the Muslims have overtaken us," said Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, who edited the yearbook.

"While it is known that Muslim families continue to have many children, Christian families are having fewer," he said in an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.

The Vatican data showed that Christians as a whole, including Orthodox and Protestant groups as well as Catholics, made up 33% of the world's population.

Continue reading...

RE-IGNITING THE DISCUSSION

Voice of the Faithful plans to run a full-page ad during the Pope's visit aimed at placing the sexual abuse scandal and the culture of secrecy on the discussion agenda. They claim the culture of secrecy is still active in the Church.

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 13 | Friday, March 28, 2008
.................................................................................. www.hli.org

Nuclear Reaction to HLI Ad in Africa!

My Dear Friends,

I want to tell you about a most amazing project that HLI has initiated ... and then I need your immediate help so HLI can spread this truly life-saving program all over Africa!

First, let me tell you about the project. Last week we got the attention of those who promote "King Condom" in Tanzania (East Africa) ... big time! We did so when our HLI affiliate erected three billboards that featured a skeleton on a bright red background as the attention-grabber (image courtesy of American Life League) and used this title - written in Swahili so that the local population could read it - to drive home the truth about condom failure: "Faithful Condom User" [click here to see a picture of the billboard].

One large billboard was placed near a main road in the capital city of Dar es Salaam while two smaller versions were put up elsewhere in the city.

While we presumed that this message and graphic would be controversial, we didn't expect the international condom lobby to go utterly ballistic over it!

On Tuesday, the main newspaper in Tanzania, The Citizen, ran a story on our billboards. The article described people at "high-profile" anti-life organizations like United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, Family Health International, Population Services International and others as "up in arms" ... and government officials as "jolted." It said that the chairperson of the Tanzania Commission for AIDS was "furious" at HLI's billboards and told of meetings that were held with members of the Prime Minister's office to discuss an "urgent intervention" to suppress and censor our message!

When the power structure of an entire country is rallied against us, that's a sure sign that we're right!

Our billboards are telling the people the TRUTH about condoms ... and the heralds of the culture of death can't stand it!

Now that you see the impact our billboards are having, I need you to send HLI the largest gift you can so we can spread this program to every one of the 55 nations on the continent of Africa!

The cost to do so is prohibitive ... $6,000 per country (that's how much we sent Emil Hagamu, our man in Tanzania, to erect the three billboards) ... times 55 countries ... equals $330,000! That money will enable HLI to erect three billboards in each country.

Although I'd dearly love to raise all $330,000 today, I'm not counting on that. So my short-term goal is to raise $24,000 so we can put up billboards in Kenya and Cameroon (the next two countries on our list) ... and get billboards in the works for two more countries. Our affiliates are already working on the logistics.

I'm also frantically working to recruit 25,000 PRAYER WARRIORS who will help get the ball rolling by hitting their knees and praying for the success of this project.

To succeed, I need your help today ... RIGHT NOW in fact! Specifically:

Send HLI the largest donation you can out of the generosity of your heart!
Pray the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel for the protection of our HLI affiliate in Tanzania from any retaliation ... one of the billboards has been vandalized and legal action has been threatened ... including jail time!
Both your money and your prayers are needed NOW ... and both are deeply appreciated!

Spreading HLI's counter-cultural message of abstinence and fidelity will literally de-fang the AIDS monster, de-throne "King Condom", and give the people of Africa a fighting chance to take back their society and their pro-life culture from the powerful international anti-life lobby that seeks to impose its failed method of stopping the spread of AIDS.

Just click here and follow the instructions to send your contribution.

Please do it NOW ... time is of the essence. And PRAY. I'll keep you posted on how this fight is going both in Tanzania and other areas of Africa. Thank you for your immediate help! God bless you.

Sincerely Yours in Christ,

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

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Why did these three billboards bring out the big guns? Could it be that the conspiracy theory claims that AIDS was intended to wipe out the black population might have some validity? Just think about it. Condoms don't work to end AIDS, but they do permit government leaders to claim they are doing something to end the epidemic. Abstinence does work. Why not permit a widespread use of what works? If abstinence is reinstated, there will be a lot more black babies that live.

And while you are thinking about it consider the population control agendas that Lee Penn wrote about in FALSE DAWN, and that Theosophists had been promoting early in the last century. Consider the Margaret Sanger poetry contest's main point, that Sanger wanted to wipe out the black population by promoting birth control. Aren't there a few too many coincidences here to be summarily dismissed? - Carrie