1 Peter 2:8 – Psalm 2 - USCCB

 "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message--which is also what they were destined for.”  1 Peter 2:8

Psalm 2

 ¹Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

 ²The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,

 ³Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

 ⁴He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.

 ⁵Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

 ⁶Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

 ⁷I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

 ⁸Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

 ⁹Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

 ¹⁰Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

 ¹¹Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

 ¹²Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

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USCCB – Bully Pulpit – U.S. Catholic Bishops - Lobbying War on Women and Gays continues…$$$ 26 millions worth

(Father Charles Coughlin Bishop William Lori)

$26,000,000 in bribes, fees paid by the USCCB, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, is a lot of chump change, a lot of little old ladies’ dollar bills in the collection plate on Sunday, to lobby Congress with in the ongoing discriminatory war on women and war on gays. 

The Catholic Bishops' Lobby and the Moral Center of Catholicism

Recently, I took note of a back-and-forth between Michael Sean Winters and Tom Roberts at National Catholic Reporter, in which Roberts calls into question a persistent meme of Winters' reporting on behalf of the U.S. Catholic bishops.  Roberts notes that Winters's defense of the bishops depends on asserting and re-asserting that Catholics are under "attack" today in secular culture, and that anti-Catholicism in American culture lingers on and feeds the "attacks" Catholics are experiencing. 

Roberts doubts the viability of this meme of anti-Catholic attack when, as he notes, Catholics are "liberally sprinkled" all through "the most powerful quarters" of the nation's political and economic life.  And when the Supreme Court is dominated by (conservative) Catholics.

And now this piece of information comes down the pike, and I think it's going to be even harder for the U.S. Catholic bishops and their centrist spokespersons to keep the victim meme alive: the Pew Forum has just released a report showing that the USCCB ranks number two of all faith-based lobbying groups in D.C., with $26,662,111 (and see Kevin Clarke at America on the Pew report) spent on lobbying activities in 2009.  That's a hefty chunk of change for a victimized little old minority group suffering societal persecution to have at its disposal to try to wheedle and cajole legislators to do its faith-based bidding.

Men Behind the War on Women

A group of men with no real background in law or medicine, but blessed with a strong personal interest in women’s bodies, have quietly influenced all of the major anti-abortion legislation over the past several years. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops may be one of the quietest, yet most powerful lobbies on Capitol Hill, with political allies that have enabled them to roll back decades of law and precedent.

Over the past two years the GOP-controlled House of Representatives has launched one of the most extreme assaults on women's choice the U.S. has seen in decades. Republicans voted twice to slash federal family planning funds for low-income women, moved to prevent women from using their own money to buy insurance plans that cover abortion, introduced legislation that would force women to have ultrasounds before receiving an abortion and, most recently, passed a bill that will allow hospitals to refuse to perform emergency abortions for women with life-threatening pregnancy complications.

But the erosion of women's rights didn't begin with the GOP takeover. President Barack Obama's health care reform law contained some of the most restrictive abortion language seen in decades.

 Lift the curtain, and behind the assault was the conference of bishops.

 In the 1930s, Catholic demagogue Father Charles Coughlin never dreamed of the power that the RCC in America now has, can acquire simply by buying it, here in the future.


But beware bishops:

“St. Irenaeus of Lyon warned early Christians that we’ve been sent like sheep into the midst of wolves. The moment we become wolves ourselves, we lose.” - - Bp. Charles Chaput 

(Bishop William Lori Father Charles Coughlin)

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Catholic Sharia Upheld Wash.,D.C. - Cardinal Wuerl Lawsuit - Separation of Sexes - Discrimination Muslims

Interesting article about a discrimination lawsuit down in D.C. regarding separation of the sexes:

The D.C. Office of Human Rights (OHR) has dismissed the complaint filed by George Washington University law professor John F. Banzhaf III in response to The Catholic University of America’s single-sex housing policy, affirming the University’s position that the law does not require men and women to be housed together in residence halls. 

and discrimination against Muslims at Catholic University.  Yeah their tuition money is good but they just don't understand that minorities in America are supposed to keep their heads down and suck it up.

Banzhaf’s complaint about single sex residence halls is the first of two that he has lodged this year against the University. He filed a second complaint in October against Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington and University chancellor, charging that Catholic University has been engaging in discrimination against its Muslim students. The University has yet to receive any official notification from the OHR that it intends to move forward with adjudicating the second complaint.

Like Bishop Lori has said, this "Religious Liberty" culture war to establish Catholic Sharia in the U.S. has come into the legal stages of the battle of that war.

http://publicaffairs.cua.edu/releases/2011/complaint-dismissed.cfm

Whatever.

Have a nice day.


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"Religious Liberty" War on Secularism - Bishop William Lori

How has the secularization of American culture fueled these legal and legislative challenges to religious freedom? 

The erosion of religious liberty is first a cultural issue, then a legal issue. It has been going on for a long time. Some philosophers, social scientists and others in a position to influence culture have long regarded religion not only as absurd but also as the source of much societal and personal unhappiness. Their views have not remained confined to the academy but have become popularized through the media and entertainment industries and, over time, have been reflected in laws, judicial decisions and administrative rules. As the great constitutional lawyer Learned Hand once said, if liberty dies in the hearts of men and women, “no constitution, no law, no court, can save it.” 

The Church, “an expert in humanity,” must strive to transform the culture. In this sense, the defense of religious liberty is very much a part of the New Evangelization, which is very much a theme of this pontificate. In proclaiming the Gospel afresh and in bearing witness to the Gospel with renewed conviction, we must seek, in God’s grace, to heal the rift between the Gospel and an aggressively secular culture.

http://www.bridgeportdiocese.com/index.php/fcc/article/bishop_lori_religious_liberty_the_pre_eminent_social_justice_issue_of_our_t

Catholic Culture War on Americans continues.  Don't these Prissy Bishops have something better to do with their free time?  Like Pray?

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Cardinal Burke Fears Arrest - Persecution of American Catholics in U.S. that bad under Obama

Quote of the Day:

In fact, Cardinal Burke said he believes persecution may be looming for the U.S. Church.

“Yes, I think we’re well on the way to it,” he said, pointing to areas of social outreach – such as adoption and foster care – where the Church has had to withdraw rather than compromise its principles.

This trend could reach a point where the Church, “even by announcing her own teaching,” is accused of “engaging in illegal activity, for instance, in its teaching on human sexuality.”

Asked if he could envision U.S. Catholics ever being arrested for preaching their faith, he replied: “I can see it happening, yes.”

Source: http://blog.cardinalnewmansociety.org/2011/11/30/cardinal-burke-on-secularism-vs-the-church-it-is-a-war/


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Day 31 - Year 152 A.D. (After Darwin)

The year is flying along.  The first month of the year just disappeared.

I believe we should use the European way of calculating, depicting a date. Today is 1-2-152 A.D.

reference: http://thisculturalchristian.blogspot.com/2011/11/happy-celtic-new-year-year-152-ad-after.html


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Calling America, E.L.O.