Thursday, October 29, 2020
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE AMERICAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS - The Catholic Thing
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE AMERICAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS
An Anonymous Catholic
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2020
Note: The Catholic Thing does not endorse candidates and neither does the author of the column below – who works in a diocesan chancery and therefore desires to remain anonymous. Instead, he urges our bishops to teach publicly what the Church teaches, and not to be intimidated by false claims of political partisanship, which is outside their competence as bishops anyway. Also, be sure to tune in tonight at 8PM ET to “The World Over” on EWTN: the Papal Posse will discuss civil unions, new cardinals, papal politics, and other topics.
Dear Catholic Bishops,
The poet John Milton wrote: “The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed.” Church leadership is called upon to do the right thing, especially in difficult times: to speak the truth boldly and lovingly and to watch over those entrusted to their care. When bishops fail to fulfill this sacred obligation, the lay faithful are left feeling confused, neglected, and abandoned.
Such is the situation as we approach our national election in which a clear and obvious divide exists on essential matters related to earthly wellbeing and eternal welfare: the protection of God-given life from conception to natural death; the safeguarding of the family and the wellspring of sexuality; the dignity of all persons, including the rights of conscience and the freedom to live and worship without interference from the state or persecution from the culture.
The Democratic Party that once championed the civil rights of all has now become hostile to Christian faith and those who practice it. Their shrunken tent has no room for those who are pro-life, no room for those who profess what has been called mere Christianity, nor for any who believe in the value of patriotism insofar as patriotism embodies a natural preference for one’s own country.
Moreover, the Democratic presidential candidate himself can be considered Catholic in name only, for in nearly a half-century of public life he has routinely, repeatedly, and systematically rejected what the Church teaches: on life issues, on sexual morality, on religious liberty. When asked recently whether he would support an eight-year old’s decision to change gender, he answered in the affirmative.
Through it all, the great majority of you have said and done nothing. Those bishops who have spoken – claiming that abortion, for example, is not the pre-eminent moral issue, or that the current administration is the most anti-life in history, or that a Catholic ought have no qualms of conscience voting for Democratic candidates and their party’s dismal culture-of-death platform – have done so without public criticism from their brother bishops who, in this regard, seem to share the Democratic standard bearer’s bizarre preference for remaining safely in the basement.
When will you, as successors to the Apostles, overcome whatever has silenced you?
Do you lack faith and conviction in what the Catholic Church teaches and has taught from the beginning?
Are you primarily motivated by human respect, fearful that speaking the truth will bring ridicule, laughter, and opposition?
Are you so attached to your standing in civil society, having places of honor at the world’s table, that you cannot speak the beliefs you privately cherish?
Have the basic Christian virtues – loyalty, honesty, and courage – been so bred out of you that you now find yourselves neutered by the world and unable effectively to confront its manifold faults and follies?
Do you have so little love for your flock, including deluded politicians who insist on self-identifying as Catholic when they no longer believe, that you dare not challenge or correct them?
Have you made a craven surrender to the Zeitgeist such that you have jettisoned the ancient practice of the spiritual works of mercy, counseling the doubtful, instructing the ignorant, admonishing the sinner?
And if you find yourselves now cringing or smirking at such principles, have you not become model citizens of that dictatorship of relativism of which Benedict XVI warned?
“We cannot be in the business of making political endorsements,” many of you doubtless think and say. But does not silence in the face of evil signify consent? Countering the Democratic candidate’s false claim of being a faithful Catholic – you know in your hearts he is not – and criticizing a party platform so obviously opposed to faith and morals does not mean you give unqualified support to his opponent.
On the contrary, you are simply speaking the truth, in charity, teaching those who have been entrusted to your care and removing the cloud of confusion that you and too many of your predecessors have allowed for decades to hover over the public square.
Surely, you must realize that the regard in which you are now held may well be at an all-time low. Although still reeling by the depravity of the likes of Mr. McCarrick, lay Catholics nonetheless continue to pray for you, hoping that you man up and embrace fully the special calling God has given you. But they do so with diminished confidence, embarrassed by your consistent failure to lead, teach, clarify, and correct.
The time grows short. Will you speak and act in these coming days, for the sake of souls and for the common good? Or will you slide into an even deeper irrelevance, abdicating the awesome responsibility given you by the Lord Jesus to whom you must, at last, make an account of your stewardship?
*Image: Bishop John Fisher (1469-1535) by Pietro Torrigiano, 1510–15 [The MET, New York]. In May 1535, the newly elected Pope Paul III made Fisher the Cardinal Priest of San Vitale, hoping to encourage Henry VIII to reconsider Fisher’s death sentence for refusing to acknowledge the king as head of the English Church. Cardinal Fisher was martyred on June 22nd and canonized on May 19, 1935.
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Weekend at Pat and Fred's Cabin in Lanark Highlands
Saturday, October 10, 2020
Friday, October 9, 2020
Wednesday, October 7, 2020
Sunday, October 4, 2020
Life Chain - October 4, 2020 - Corner of Montreal Road and Saint Laurent Blvd.
Below are a list of locations of Life Chain in Ottawa and surrounding areas this year
From 2:00 til 3:00PM
I attended the Montreal Road and Saint Laurent Blvd. Location ( photos below)
Russell - Castor & Concession Sts.
Orleans - St. Joseph & Orleans Blvd.
Ottawa South - Bank St. & Hunt Club Rd.
Ottawa East - Montreal Rd. & St. Laurent Blvd.
Ottawa East - Vanier Pkwy. & Montreal Rd.
Ottawa - St. Patrick & Cobourg
Ottawa - Bank & Nepean Sts.
Ottawa - Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus Carling Av.
Nepean - Merivale Rd. & Meadowlands Dr
Kanata - Hazeldean & Eagleson Rds.
Kanata - March Rd & Halton Terrace
Cornwall - Brookdale & Ninth AND McConnell & Marleau
Arnprior - Madawaska Blvd. & Daniel St.
Perth - 100 Gore St. East, on the bridge
Brockville - Parkdale Av. Across from TISS High School
Monday, August 31, 2020
Sunday, August 30, 2020
WATCH: Sister Dede Byrne’s full speech at the Republican National Conven...
.- Sr. Deirdre “Dede” Byrne, POSC, was among the speakers at the 2020 Republican National Convention. Now a Catholic religious sister, Byrne previously served as a surgeon, retired army officer, and missionary. The full text of her speech, delivered August 26, is below:
Good evening. I am Sister Dede Byrne, and I belong to the Community of the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Last Fourth of July, I was honored to be one of the president's guests at his Salute to America celebration. I must confess that I recently prayed while in chapel, begging God to allow me to be a voice, an instrument for human life. And now here I am, speaking at the Republican National Convention. I guess you’d better be careful what you pray for. My journey to religious life was not a traditional route, if there is such a thing. In 1978, as a medical school student at Georgetown University, I joined the Army to help pay for my tuition, and ended up devoting 29 years to the military, serving as a doctor and a surgeon in places like Afghanistan and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. After much prayer and contemplation, I entered my religious order in 2002, working to serve the poor and the sick in Haiti, Sudan, Kenya, Iraq and in Washington, D.C. Humility is at the foundation of our order, which makes it very difficult to talk about myself. But I can speak about my experience working for those fleeing war-torn and impoverished countries all around the world. Those refugees all share a common experience. They have all been marginalized, viewed as insignificant, powerless and voiceless. And while we tend to think of the marginalized as living beyond our borders, the truth is the largest marginalized group in the world can be found here in the United States. They are the unborn. As Christians, we first met Jesus as a stirring embryo in the womb of an unwed mother and saw him born nine months later in the poverty of the cave. It is no coincidence that Jesus stood up for what was just and was ultimately crucified because what he said was not politically correct or fashionable. As followers of Christ, we are called to stand up for life against the politically correct or fashionable of today. We must fight against a legislative agenda that supports and even celebrates destroying life in the womb. Keep in mind, the laws we create define how we see our humanity. We must ask ourselves: What we are saying when we go into a womb and snuff out an innocent, powerless, voiceless life? As a physician, I can say without hesitation: Life begins at conception. While what I have to say may be difficult for some to hear, I am saying it because I am not just pro-life, I am pro-eternal life. I want all of us to end up in heaven together someday. Which brings me to why I am here today. Donald Trump is the most pro-life president this nation has ever had, defending life at all stages. His belief in the sanctity of life transcends politics. President Trump will stand up against Biden-Harris, who are the most anti-life presidential ticket ever, even supporting the horrors of late-term abortion and infanticide. Because of his courage and conviction, President Trump has earned the support of America’s pro-life community. Moreover, he has a nationwide of religious standing behind him. You’ll find us here with our weapon of choice, the rosary. Thank you, Mr. President, we are all praying for you.