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Showing posts from May, 2012

It's a busy time

Folks:  I'm in Elliot Lake, Ontario this weekend and coming week leading a parish mission at Our Lady of Fatima Church. My daily schedule is packed and it will take me longer to post comments. I ask for your patience,prayers and understanding. Thank you. Fr. Tim

Poll: Record low are 'pro-choice' - Tim Mak - POLITICO.com

This article comes from an entirely secular source: POLITICO. I post it as evidence of the mounting tide that is beginning to turn against the killing of innocents in the womb. THIS IS A GOOD THING!! Clearly the pro-life movement is having success at changing the opinions of the majority in the land. We must keep up the pressure until we eventually win. And we will win eventually!!!  A GOOD thing indeed!!  Poll: Record low are 'pro-choice' - Tim Mak - POLITICO.com

For Immediate Release: Anti-Abortion Activists Highjack Abortion Rights’ Pet Project

In Matthew's gospel we read that we are to be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves. This initiative certainly qualifies on the first obligation... I'm not so sure on the second.  Given that the tactic used by the pro-abortion rights activists in 1970 was effective in achieving their stated goal of changing the law, it makes sense to follow their example. Any social change comes when the issue is raised in the public consciousness by demanding the government and/or courts right a perceived injustice. It's a proven technique that works.  But is walking across Canada and speaking to local groups and media the same thing as driving across with land in a moving 'billboard' pasted with pictures of aborted children? Today's activists would probably say that the images that they are presenting before everyone are not different from the graphic images that fill today's TV screens on shows such as the CSI crime series. The level of gore is no doubt simil

Gays should be put in an electrified pen, pastor tells congregation: WHAT THE.....!!!!! THIS GUY IS NUTTIER THAN A FRUITCAKE

I can't help but still believe that this is a story from 'The Onion'... but apparently, and TRAGICALLY it isn't. Still, I can hardly believe that such a thing would ever be spoken in even a civil conversation... but spoken from a pulpit!!!!  Since phobia means 'fear', and this idiot is suggesting gays and lesbians be locked away in internment camps... it is homophobia at its worst for he is CLEARLY afraid of them!  Didn't they try this in Germany as a lead up to WWII? Kind of a dry run for their 'final solution'? Can this fool not see the immense evil he is promulgating?  In what 'Church' did this man get his theological training? The KKK??? Some internet site that sells 'degrees' for $29.95? What congregation would hire such an disturbed individual. Even his defense (that it was all a joke) is sick. Who in their right mind or heart would think that such thing would be funny? IT BOGGLES THE MIND!!!!! Blessed John Paul II..

How Not to Prevent AIDS

Martin: I don't mean to impose on your time, but is this research valid? I'm not familiar with any of the sources but thought that you might be and could give it a quick look and comment. How Not to Prevent AIDS

One man’s vision guides St. Peter’s Seminary's first century

My Alma Mater is celebrating its 100th anniversary this years. My room was on the top floor - 2nd window the the right of the tower. While the claims of some clergy who visited us during my studies who said that the the seminary years would be 'the best years of our lives' were not exactly on the mark, I do have some very happy memories of my years there. My prayers and best wishes for all the faculty, staff, students and graduated. One man’s vision guides St. Peter’s Seminary's first century

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST

Folks: I need your help. Our parish is suffering through the worst weekend I've experienced here with all types of folks dying in the past 48 hrs. We're up to six deceased and it's only 10 am on Saturday! Please pray for one particular case: Braun Wuench, a young lad in his 20's drowned last evening when the canoe he was fishing in with a friend capsized in rough water. His friend was able to swim to shore but he did not make it. The Police are still searching for the body and have called in the OPP dive squad to help.  His mother Vicky is understandably distraught beyond measure as she waits at the shore for someone to bring her boy's body back to her. PLEASE PRAY that this happens as soon as possible.

What every wedding day should be like... well worth the view

http://www.godvine.com/Man-Plans-an-Entire-Surprise-Wedding-for-his-Girlfriend-634.html

The most fundamental of religious truths for believers

Thanks to Cristina Alarcon for posting this on her Facebook page.

Hotter-than-usual temperatures expected this summer | CTV News

Given that I believe government cutbacks have resulted in Environment Canada being reduced down to three blind, arthritic old men in a room without windows ("Ow... my arm hurts. It's going to rain"), I would recommend keeping a snow shovel and/or umbrella close at hand if they are predicting hot and dry weather for the summer ahead. Hotter-than-usual temperatures expected this summer | CTV News

CNS STORY: Half a century later, still answering Fatima questions

I have a personal connection to this issue, if only ephemerally as May 13th is the date I was ordained to the priesthood. It was not a conscious connection when I negotiated the date with my Bishop back then, but I was a happy discovery of serendipity that I've come to  love deeply and value in  my life as a blessed confluence of events. As a child, I knelt with my family before the Fatima Statue we owned to pray the rosary every month, and every night during Lent and Advent. Learning about this apparition, her message of love, and her call to holiness  at my parents knee. It helped form my understanding of the extent of God's love and grace for me as a sinner. I continue to believe the same throughout the past 24 years of my priesthood. But... I've always been uncomfortable with the piety of some Catholics that seem to exaggerate the lessons and devotion to the Fatima apparition. The fixation on the secrets received... the belief that what the Virgin asked for has not be

The Unintelligibility of Same-Sex Marriage

Here is an article that lays out an argument against same sex marriages. I'm hoping this might spark a bit of a conversation as this blog is blessed with a very intelligent voice that speaks in favor of this evolution in the concept of marriage. (I'm speaking of course about 'Martin' who has yet to be bested in these debates.) Others who regularly post here are also capable of arguing for the traditional definition. Feel free to jump in! Two Catholic Men and a Blog: The Unintelligibility of Same-Sex Marriage

A guide to how best to celebrate Mother's Day!

One last post on yesterday's big Rally & March for Life on Parliament Hill

Ottawa March for Life

It was a great day! What a boost to the spirits!  Sometimes, working for the Pro-life cause can seem a bit lonely. Yesterday was NOT one of those days. Whether the Police were right their estimate of the crowd (10,000+) or the organizers (claiming 19,500 participants were present), it was GREAT to stand with SO MANY others committed to the cause of preserving and protecting life from womb to tomb.

Off to Ottawa!

2011 Rally for Life on Parliament Hill Friends: I'm about to board a bus to head to Ottawa to participate in today's National Pro-life demonstration on Parliament Hill. I ask your prayers for a safe trip and successful rally. I'll try to take some pictures and post here later tonight. Thank you. Fr. Tim

A response to a comment raised by my 'Gordian Knot' column

Below is a response to my old friend 'Anonymous' which challenged my contention that pro-lifers are concerned about the expenditure of tax dollars. It affords me the chance to expand upon a point which I trust will satisfy his/her concern. Anonymous: I agree. But can you name for me one example in a democracy where an established right was removed successfully? The closest example I can think of is prohibition, and that would hardly be counted as a success. It doesn't happen. Roe v Wade (which is commonly held as the start of the abortion on demand era even up here) has survived every challenge. Courts and legislatures can try and set the HOW this right is exercised (must have sonogram, parental consent, etc.) but the essential decision that a woman has the right to control her body, even to the point of terminating a pregnancy is now as solidly set in principle and precedent that it will not be over turned. In statutory and social terms, it would be the equivalent of t

A way out of Abortion's Gordian knot for Canadians??

Is it possible that it is legal to both protect the existing right to access for abortion services while simultaneously respecting the belief that life should be protected from ‘womb to tomb’? I think it is. It may be possible to reconcile the conflict between the right of a woman to control her body (a fundamental human right that will not be re-litigated out of existence any more than slavery would be reinstated as legal) while simultaneously meeting the chief moral objections of the Pro-life community. On Thursday, I’ll be traveling to Ottawa to participate in the annual Pro-Life demonstration on Parliament Hill. I will be honored to be afforded the opportunity to once again stand shoulder to shoulder with fellow citizens in a common expression to a commitment to the sanctity of life, and asking that our government respect as public policy not to use our share of the national purse to pay for an activity we consider to be tantamount to a holocaust. But this doesn’t mean th

Hierarchy's inability to mourn thwarts healing in church

"Along with victims and advocates who have aggressively brought the church to task for the crimes of power inherent in sexual abuse, religious women -- usually much closer to actual human beings trying to live their lives than are the ecclesiastical nobles -- have raised powerful voices exhorting the Catholic community to attend better to the world’s suffering, especially that of the most marginalized. Even more recently, priests in some quarters have assumed a power to insist that attention be paid to the need and the rightness of expanding priestly ministry to the married and the female. In other words, the common citizens of the realm are calling out the royals on their failures to care well for those most in need -- victims of hierarchical neglect and abuse inherent in the sexual abuse crisis; priests who cannot meet the needs of the flock; women speaking on behalf of women and children, minorities, the Earth, and the poor. " Ok. But why is it necessary to

Hierarchy's inability to mourn thwarts healing in church | National Catholic Reporter

I don't agree. You? Hierarchy's inability to mourn thwarts healing in church | National Catholic Reporter

Catholic Church Faces Disruption and Banishment as Irish Cardinal Set to Resign (?)

An ad-hoc umbrella of malcontents and bigots (given the name of one organization is called 'Anti Catholic Church Activists Worldwide' - I think the terms are appropriate) demand that the Church license all priests as public servants, return all the 'wealth generated from the abuse of children', etc. etc. etc... The Ten Point statement was issued by The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State, an umbrella organization of over fifty organizations in the United States, Canada, Ireland, England and Australia. “Pope Benedict and his Bishops have until midnight on September 15 to start complying with these measures” said ITCCS Secretary Kevin Annett today. “After that, we will begin actions to halt the normal operation of the Roman Catholic Church around the world, and we will seek indictments against Pope Benedict and other Vatican officials for crimes against humanity and criminal conspiracy.” The ACCAW, ITCCS ( International Tribunal

Bishops Play Church Queens as Pawns - NYTimes.com

This is the source article written by Maureen Dowd that people are viscerally reacting to. Bishops Play Church Queens as Pawns - NYTimes.com

Maureen Dowd and Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times, Slam Catholic Church, anti-Catholicism

"The New York Times has shown yet again that the abuse of children does not really bother them unless it involves the Catholic Church. But if there were still any doubt, the Times has made it perfectly clear that the decades-old abuse of minors by Catholic priests is simply a rhetorical tool with which it can bludgeon the Catholic Church because it does not conform to its left-wing liking." Click on link to read rest of article Maureen Dowd and Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times, Slam Catholic Church, anti-Catholicism