Retreat

I will be leaving shortly for a seminarian retreat/gathering that will be held at a hunting lodge (yes, there will actually be guns).  I have been asked to preach at the closing Mass which is a great honor.  I will post the homily and more details on the retreat when I get back.  Please remember me and all the seminarians studying for the Diocese of Sioux Falls, SD in your prayer.

Very Interesting...

For those of you who think Tom Daschle is a "real South Dakotan"  just take a look here and see where his campaign money is coming from.  It's not here in South Dakota...

Tom Daschle Is Pro-Life???

"I am opposed to abortion. I do not support it. I have never supported it. It is an abhorrent practice. As a citizen and as a lifelong member of the Catholic faith I will do everything in my power to persuade others that abortion is wrong." -Tom Daschle

If he is pro-life, then I'm the Pope.  Even though he says it, he sure doesn't live it.  Just look at his voting record.  I guess it's just more of the flip-flopping that we have seen from some of our most prominent politicians.

Michael Moore Goes Mad...Again:

"Promoting his movie Fahrenheit 9/11 at the Democratic National Convention, radical filmmaker Michael Moore launched into a shouting, red-faced denunciation of Republicans Tuesday, saying supporters of the GOP are different from "real Americans"; that they are "people who hate"; that they are "up at six in the morning trying to figure out which minority group they're going to screw today"; and that in the upcoming presidential campaign, they "are going to fight...smear...lie...and hate."

For accusing others of being hate mongers he sure is good at being rousing up a good dose of hatred.  Read the whole thing here.

Mock Convention Poster From The Onion

Catholic Politcial Platform

Looks like a good idea...check it out here.

Good For A Laugh...

Being from South Dakota and coming from a family of hunters this picture of John Kerry "hunting" really made me chuckle.

And so did this one...

It reminds me of the Wonka-Vision scene from Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory.

Wearing Your Pain On The Outside:

I Always Knew Cats Were No Good

Give Me A Break

I can't believe what kind of stuff goes on in the public school system...

The New Mexico Health Department is standing behind a sex-education teacher in Santa Fe who encouraged ninth-graders to taste flavored condoms.

According to a report in the Santa Fe New Mexican, parent Lisa Gallegos said that when her 15-year-old daughter balked at putting a condom in her mouth, instructor Tony Escudero told her, "Come on, sweetie, have a little fun."

Also, Gallegos quotes her daughter as saying when a male student expressed his disgust with homosexual activity, Escudero said, "Never say never, because you never know. Someday you might like it that way."

"I agree with sex ed 100 percent," Gallegos, whose daughter attends Santa Fe High School, told the paper. "I also teach it here at my home. But I think that was inappropriate and wrong 100 percent."

According to the report, Dorothy Danfelser, deputy director for the public-health division of the state Health Department, said she wrote Gallegos last week to say Escudero did nothing wrong.

"It had been investigated," Danfelser told the New Mexican. "There was no wrongdoing. I have no more comment. ... (Gallegos) may or may not agree with that, but that's her prerogative."

I Better Watch What I Say...

My tracking softwear tells me that someone from the Vatican logged on.

Today Must Be Bathroom Humor Day...

This one made me think of my Lutheran friends...

Holy Number One Batman

"Would you eat food cooked in your own urine? Food scientists working for the US military have developed a dried food ration that troops can hydrate by adding the filthiest of muddy swamp water or even peeing on it.

The ration comes in a pouch containing a filter that removes 99.9 per cent of bacteria and most toxic chemicals from the water used to rehydrate it, according to the Combat Feeding Directorate, part of the US Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Massachusetts. This is the same organisation that created the "indestructible sandwich" that will stay fresh for three years (New Scientist print edition, 10 April 2002)."

You can read more here...if you can stomach it.

The Curt Jester Is At It Again...This Time It's The Flip-Flop Mysteries Of The Rosary

Fr. Corapi (My Favorite Preacher) Kicks Butt One Again!

Here are some excerpts: 

Good government and just laws are not optional if the human family is to survive, much less prosper.

The tired argument that is so often heard these days about the separation of church and state is a patently specious one, to say the least. The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

The current erroneous interpretation of the separation of church and state is nothing less than an attack on the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America itself. Every citizen has a right to express their views and to vote in accordance with those views. The legitimate separation of church and state concerns the constitutional prohibition of one state-sponsored religion, as well as the Founding Fathers' intent to keep the government out of the affairs of the various religions.

The version of separation of church and state that is presently being foisted on an unsuspecting public is tantamount to a suppression of the fundamental constitutional rights of a class of citizens. Since when is Christian thought not permitted to influence a country that was founded on Christian principles?

We share in the good and the evil of those we place in office. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that, although "sin is a personal act, we have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate in them" (CCC #1868). We can be accomplices in the sins of others

• by participating directly and voluntarily in them;

• by ordering, advising, praising, or approving them;

• by not disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so; (author's emphasis)

• by protecting evil-doers" (CCC #1868).

The Catechism is thus consistent with traditional Catholic teaching which held that there are nine ways we can be an accessory to another's sin:

1. By counsel. I.e., "I think you should have an abortion; go ahead and have the abortion. It will help preserve your lifestyle."

2. By command. I.e., Telling your employee, "Have an abortion, you may lose your job if you don't." Or telling your teen-age child, "Get rid of it or don't come home." Or telling your girlfriend, "You're having an abortion and that's all there is to it."

3. By consent. I.e., "If you and your partner feel it's the best thing, go ahead and have a sexual relationship, get married — even if you're both of the same sex, etc. It's nobody's business."

4. By provocation. I.e., "Have the abortion! Aren't you in charge of your own life. The pope is old and sick and who cares what he says anyhow."

5. By praise or flattery. I.e., "Oh, senator, you are so courageous and kind in defending a woman's 'right' to an abortion."

6. By concealment. I.e., the pastor allows the senator, judge, president, etc. who has voted for, or otherwise promoted, abortion, euthanasia, human cloning, same-sex marriage, etc. to appear to be in good standing, when, in fact, they have caused grave public scandal by their actions. When the sin is public, the redress must be public. Although I don't disagree with the courageous bishops who would deny such persons Communion, I do believe that the "confrontation" should take place, without question, long before they arrive at the altar rail.

7. By participation. I.e., "I'll drive you to the clinic. You need that abortion to be able to continue your lifestyle."

8. By silence. I.e., you refuse to speak out against what is a clear violation of human rights, an incredible persecution and prejudice against a class of human beings (the unborn). You hide behind the Supreme Court's unjust and inherently illicit decision on abortion, saying it's the law of the land, when in fact it is the subversion and perversion of authentic law. The Nazi SS officers tried for war crimes used a similar defense, saying they were only following orders. They hanged them, guilty as charged!

9. By defense of the evil. I.e., "It prevents child abuse by eliminating unwanted children; Women are more in charge of their lives, more liberated; it's so much more sophisticated and educated a thing to do…," etc., etc.

Since a physician needs to be concerned with what's sick, let's get right to the point. It is not morally possible for any Catholic to support abortion, euthanasia, fetal stem cell research, human cloning, or same-sex marriage. There are no ways around this, no justifications whatever. Why? For the simple reason that the Church holds these things to be intrinsically evil. They are evil in themselves, and no circumstances or subjective conditions can ever change that. They are not to be confused with such things as the death penalty and legitimate self-defense, which are not intrinsically evil, and which governments can, and often must, make use of. While the conditions for applying such unfortunate measures as the death penalty and waging war may be open to debate, they are not things evil in themselves, always and everywhere.

Any appeal to conscience concerning intrinsically evil matters is a specious one. Conscience is not an independent entity; it does not operate in a vacuum. Conscience must be formed to the objective norm of truth — Church teaching. Church teaching is clear on the issues mentioned (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church #1783). The theological position to the contrary is untenable and has been frequently condemned by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. The Second Vatican Council mentioned conscience more than seventy times, never without a modifying term: "well-formed conscience," "mal-formed conscience," "you must form your conscience," etc.

Conscience is not to be construed as one's mere ideas and opinions, or whatever vagrant and morally vacuous thoughts race through one's mind. "Conscience is a judgment of reason whereby the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act that he is going to perform, is in the process of performing, or has already completed" (Catechism of the Catholic Church #1778). It must be grounded in truth, formed to truth. For Catholics that is Church teaching in faith and morals.

Any candidate for political office, Catholic or otherwise, who is in favor of intrinsically evil things (abortion, euthanasia, same-sex marriage, etc.), votes for them, or otherwise funds or furthers their cause, cannot be supported in any way by a Catholic who wishes to remain Catholic in fact, not just in name.

Much of what Fr. Corapi said here is exactly what I talked with Sean Hannity about the other day.  Maybe I should e-mail him the article.

Get This...

Earlier today I was on Sean Hannity's Radio Show talking about Pro-Abortion Politicians being denied Communion...more on what was said tomorrow...

Archbishop Burke on Marriage Amendment And The Question Of Discrimination

The present need to define clearly the nature of marriage arises from the efforts of persons with same-sex attraction and others, who wish to have same-sex relationships recognized as marital. In other words, they wish civil authority to recognize as marriage the relationship of a man and a man, or a woman and a woman. To do so would be to treat marriage as an institution created by man, instead of God, and to violate what nature itself teaches us about the marital relationship. 

The protection of the institution of marriage by means of a constitutional amendment is not discriminatory toward persons with same-sex attraction. It does not offend their dignity or foster any unjust attitude or action toward them. It simply provides assurance that all in society will respect the true nature of marriage as the foundation of the life of the family, of society and of the Church. As Catholics, we must respect the moral law in all of its dictates, opposing homosexual acts and opposing any unjust attitude, word or action directed toward persons suffering with same-sex attraction. 

There is a tendency to accept same-sex relationships because we do not want to deal with the embarrassment and hurt of recognizing same-sex attraction as disordered. We find various excuses for failing to address a matter which lies at the foundation of our nature as man and woman. As with any anomaly or affliction in life, our human weakness leads us to pretend that it does not exist or to act as if it were other than a difficulty. By giving in to the tendency or temptation to treat same-sex attraction as equivalent to the attraction of man to woman and woman to man, we serve neither the good of persons who struggle with same-sex attraction nor the good of the family and of society. The fact that our American culture more and more fails to make any distinction between same-sex attraction and heterosexual attraction does not justify our failure to make the distinction, respecting God’s gift of human life in its integrity and helping others to attain the perfection to which we are called as true children of God. 

Homily 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Upon first reading this passage from the Gospel of Luke one might think that Jesus is scolding Martha for working instead of sitting at his feet like Mary.  At first it seems as though Jesus is separating our life of prayer from our work.  It’s as though he is saying that when we put on our work hat we take off our so called Catholic Hat – he seems to be saying either we pray or we work.  But I do not think that is what he is trying to tell us.  I think is telling us that rather than either/or it is both/and.  We both pray and work – there is a unity between the two. We, through this gospel and the examples of Martha and Mary are being told that we should strive to find God in the midst of our work – we should seek to transform our professional work, or social and political lives, and even our recreation into occasions for loving God.

The society in which we live tries very hard to get us to separate our faith from everything else that we do.  We see this playing itself out publicly as we prepare to elect new government officials this coming November.  There are a lot of people who would have us leave our Catholic Faith outside the voting booth, and sadly, there are many Catholics who do just that.  Our faith is not something that we can take off like a pair of clothes – it is who we are, it part of the very fiber of our being.  Our Catholic faith and our lives of prayer should be part of everything we do – no matter what it is that we are doing, and if what we are doing at any given moment is incompatible with our faith, then we should have enough sense to stop doing it.  For instance, I am a Catholic, it’s who I am – it’s part of the very fiber of my being and lets say that I work at a video store that rents out pornography.  I have a choice to make, and since I am Catholic the only acceptable choice is to do something about the situation.  Maybe I start by talking to the manager to try to convince him to stop renting out the pornography to tell him about the harmful effects of pornography on those who use it, maybe I have to go to the owner of the company and try to convince him, and if none of that works, I would probably have to find another job because pornography and Catholicism don’t mix – I can change my job, but I cannot change my Catholicism without the risk of losing my salvation and ending up in hell.  I cannot take my Catholic hat off when I go to work because in reality I don’t have a Catholic hat – there is no such thing. I have, like every baptized Catholic, a Catholic heart, and to take it off would mean death.  That is what it means to compromise our faith for work, politics, or anything else.  It means spiritual death – it cuts us off from the source of our life – Jesus. 

This is why so many bishops have been urging Catholics who may believe that abortion should be legal and have acted on that belief by voting for pro-choice candidates to be reconciled with God through the sacrament of penance before receiving communion.  To come forward to receive communion is meant to show that we are in union with the Church and in union with Christ, and to hold the belief that abortion is morally acceptable and to act on it in word or deed cuts us off from Christ, and so it would be a lie for someone in that position to come forward to receive communion.

Jesus calls us to a unity of life so that our religious, social, political and professional lives are one.  In reality, our faith should feed and strengthen all the other aspects of our life.  This a tall order – it’s hard to keep our faith and our work united because there are so many distractions, so much work to be done.  This is the error that Martha fell into, the gospel tells us that she was “anxious and worried about many things,” she forgot that it is important to spend time with Jesus – even in the midst of her work.  If we want to remember that Jesus is with us in our work maybe we should keep some holy reminders around us.  Maybe it’s a little crucifix on our desk or in our pocket.  Maybe it’s a picture of our Blessed Lady.  Maybe it’s a little one minute stop in the chapel to say hello to Jesus living in the tabernacle.  There is a story about a milkman in France who every day would stop his truck in front of the Church, run up, open the door, and yell, “Jesus, It’s me, Fred the Milkman.”  That was it, but it reminded him that in the midst of his work he must not forget Jesus, he must not forget that he is Catholic.  In today’s gospel Jesus challenges us to do just that, and so as we gather here, around this altar to celebrate the dying and rising of Christ let us pray that we, like Fred the milkman will have the grace to keep Jesus constantly before our eyes no matter what we may be doing.

Our Lady Of Mount Carmel

Yesterday I had the distinct privelege of serving as deacon at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at The Carmel of Our Mother of Mercy and St. Joseph in Alexandria, SD.  The Mass was offered ad orientem and in latin.  It was awesome.

I Would Rather Die Of Thirst...

When the company behind the New Gay Fuel energy drink started marketing its product, many believed it must be a joke, a parody, an urban legend.

But it's not.

Somewhere between 5 percent and 10 percent of profits from Gay Fuel go to what are described as "lesbian-gay-bisexual-transsexual charities."

Most of Gay Fuel's marketing efforts have been in the sponsorship of "gay pride" events and parties including Detroit's Motor Ball and homosexual film festivals in New York, Provincetown and San Francisco, Disney Gay Days in Orlando, and Christopher Street West L.A. Pride.

Check Out This Headline

Click above to read it.

Men And Abortion

Matt C. Abbott has a great little article over on the Renew America website on the effects of abortion on men.  Quite interesting...here is a little quote:

There is an interesting pro-life brochure entitled, "Men Hurt Too" (Bradley Mattes, Life Issues Institute). It talks about the feelings and emotions men often experience after being involved in the procurement of an abortion.

"The most consistent and evident symptom in men due to loss of a child from abortion is anger. . . . He may turn to alcohol and drugs to dull the pain of knowing he participated in or was too 'weak' to prevent the death of his unborn baby. . . . He may become a workaholic to avoid contact with other people. ... He may be unable to hold a job ... or he may be an excessive risk taker. . . . [Men involved in abortion] become addicted to pornography and masturbation. . . . Some experiment with homosexuality because it allows them to have a relationship with no commitment and no worry of pregnancy. Other symptoms include sleeplessness, panic attacks, poor coping skills, flashbacks, nightmares, self-imposed isolation of suicidal tendencies."

Athiest To Priest

No, I'm not talking about our friend Joe London, although it would be great to see him Catholic and a priest...maybe someday.  I am, however, talking about Deacon Michael Rudolph who "was raised an atheist. His parents were atheists, his father being a secular Jew and his mother a non-practicing Quaker."

Read more about him here.

Way To Go Bishop Carlson And Governor Rounds!

At Gov. Mike Rounds' urging, an Internet link to a Planned Parenthood Web site will be removed from a South Dakota State Library site for teenagers while the library board conducts a review.

The library board voted 5-1 Friday afternoon to remove the Planned Parenthood Teenwire site link for two months, reversing an earlier decision to retain it. The link likely will be removed today.

Rounds said Sunday he was made aware of the link by a letter that Bishop Robert Carlson of the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls sent to the governor, state education officials and the library board.

Rounds, who is Catholic, said he favors permanent elimination of the Planned Parenthood link from the library site. A state Web site shouldn't have links that promote particular positions, he said. He wants to add links to sites that provide similar information but are nonpolitical and non-promotional, such as medical providers.

"I'm not sure the state should be in the business of promoting a particular cause," the governor said. "A clear pro-choice message comes through strongly."

In his May 12 letter, Carlson wrote, "I trust that you will agree that the information found on these links are not only objectionable, but in many instances false. Undeniably, it is sending a harmful message to our valued youth. I find it extremely troubling that the State of South Dakota would encourage our young women and men to turn to Planned Parenthood for any guidance, whether it be sex education or the intrinsic evil of abortion."

Amen!

More On Condoms

Martin Rhonheimer wrote the article below about the morality of condom use.  I find it very interesting, but I am not so sure that he is totally right.  He makes alot of good points, but somethings still seems not quite right.  I would love to hear what all of you think.  I am especially interested in what Joe London has to say about it, as well as my readers who are more in line with the belief of the Church.

Church leaders have caused a furore by suggesting that even the HIV-infected should avoid condoms. But this is not church teaching, says a leading moral philosopher . . .

Whatever one may think about a promiscuous lifestyle, about homosexual acts or prostitution, that person acts at least with a sense of responsibility in trying to avoid transmitting his infection to others.

It is commonly believed that the Catholic Church does not support such a view. As a BBC Panorama programme recently suggested, the Church is thought to teach that sexually active homosexuals and prostitutes should refrain from condoms because condoms are “intrinsically evil” (The Tablet, 26 June). Many Catholics also believe this. . . .

But this is not a teaching of the Catholic Church. There is no official magisterial teaching either about condoms, or about anti-ovulatory pills or diaphragms. Condoms cannot be intrinsically evil, only human acts; condoms are not human acts, but things. What the Catholic Church has clearly taught to be “intrinsically evil” is a specific kind of human act, defined by Paul VI in his encyclical Humanae Vitae, and later included in No. 2370 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, as an “action which, whether in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible”.

Contraception, as a specific kind of human act, includes two elements: the will to engage in sexual acts and the intention of rendering procreation impossible. A contraceptive act therefore embodies a contraceptive choice. . . .

This is why contraception, regarded as a human act qualified as “intrinsically evil” or disordered, is not determined by what is happening on the physical level; it makes no difference whether one prevents sexual intercourse from being fertile by taking the Pill or by interrupting it in an onanistic way. . . .

The definition of the contraceptive act does not therefore apply to using contraceptives to prevent possible procreative consequences of foreseen rape; in that circumstance the raped person does not choose to engage in sexual intercourse or to prevent a possible consequence of her own sexual behaviour but is simply defending herself from an aggression on her own body and its undesirable consequences. . . .

But what of promiscuous people, sexually active homosexuals, and prostitutes? What the Catholic Church teaches them is simply that they should not be promiscuous, but faithful to one single sexual partner; that prostitution is a behaviour which gravely violates human dignity, mainly the dignity of the woman, and therefore should not be engaged in; and that homosexuals, as all other people, are children of God and loved by him as everybody else is, but that they should live in continence like any other unmarried person.

But if they ignore this teaching, and are at risk from HIV, should they use condoms to prevent infection? The moral norm condemning contraception as intrinsically evil does not apply to these cases. Nor can there be church teaching about this; it would be simply nonsensical to establish moral norms for intrinsically immoral types of behaviour. . . .

This is not a plea for “exceptions” to the norm prohibiting contraception. The norm about contraception applies without exception; the contraceptive choice is intrinsically evil. But it obviously applies only to contraceptive acts, as defined by Humanae Vitae, which embody a contraceptive choice. Not every act in which a device is used which from a purely physical point of view is “contraceptive”, is from a moral point of view a contraceptive act falling under the norm taught by Humanae Vitae. . . .

Stopping the worldwide Aids epidemic is not a question about the morality of using condoms, but about how to effectively prevent people from causing the disastrous consequences of their immoral sexual behaviour. Pope John Paul II has repeatedly urged that the promotion of the use of condoms is not a solution to this problem because he holds that it does not resolve the moral problem of promiscuity. Whether, generally, campaigns promoting condoms encourage risky behaviour and make the Aids pandemic worse is a question of statistical evidence which is not yet easily available. That it reduces transmission rates, in the short term, among highly infective groups like prostitutes and homosexuals is impossible to deny. . . .

In African countries condom-based anti-Aids campaigns are generally ineffective, partly because for an African man his manliness is expressed by making as many children as possible. For him, condoms convert sex into a meaningless activity. Which is why – and this is strong evidence in favour of the Pope’s argument – among the few effective programmes in Africa has been the Ugandan one. Although it does not exclude condoms, it encourages a positive change in sexual behaviour (fidelity and abstinence), unlike condom campaigns, which contribute to obscuring or even destroying the meaning of human love.
Campaigns to promote abstinence and fidelity are certainly and ultimately the only effective long-term remedy to combat Aids. So there is no reason for the Church to consider the campaigns promoting condoms as helpful for the future of human society. But nor can the Church possibly teach that people engaged in immoral lifestyles should avoid them.

My College Alma Mater On The Road To Losing It's Catholic Identity

Br. Louis DeThomasis, said that"Saint Mary’s is not ‘church’; rather, we are a teaching institution of higher learning under the sponsorship of the De La Salle Christian Brothers. We are not a church of the Diocese of Winona,” DeThomasis said in a written statement. … “It doesn’t own Saint Mary’s and it doesn’t control Saint Mary’s,” DeThomasis said. “Furthermore, it is our board of trustees who determine who will receive university honors and recognitions. The trustees select individuals from all walks of life and all faiths who merit recognition for deeds and accomplishments that manifest traits consistent with our identity and mission."

This statement is directly opposed to this statement made by Bishop Bernard Harrington: "the (U.S.) Bishops call upon Catholic communities and Catholic institutions not to honor those ‘in defiance of our fundamental moral principles' with awards honors or ‘platforms which would suggest support for their actions.'"

I hope Bishop Harrington does something about the situation.  I don't know about you, but I am sick and tired of Universities claiming to be Catholic while giving honors and accolades to people who hate the Church and her teaching.

Homily:  15th Sunday In Ordinary Time

Because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 

He wished to justify himself.  Boy, we are good at that aren’t we?  We all try to do that every once in a while.  We all, at one time or another, have tried to pawn off our responsibility on others.  How many times have we heard people say, or maybe even said ourselves, “I didn’t do it!” “Someone else will take care of that,” or “It’s not my problem.”  We, like the scholar of the law in the gospel tend to pass the buck.  But Jesus, through the telling of the parable of the Good Samaritan, tells us that the buck stops here!  The buck stops with you and with me.

We all know the story of the Good Samaritan – we have heard it a thousand times, but have we ever taken the time to really examine ourselves to see how we measure up?  Are we good Samaritans or do we just pass the buck – expecting that someone else will take care of the beaten, bloody man in the ditch.  Granted, it’s probably pretty rare that, while out on our evening stroll, we would find someone who had been robbed and beaten lying in the ditch, but there are plenty of people in our lives who are poor or hungry, emotionally or spiritually beaten down, and maybe even a few people who are physically beaten by an abusive spouse or parent.  These are the people – the neighbors – that we are called to be a Good Samaritan to.  So how do we help our brothers and sisters?  I would like to offer a few suggestions.

1. Our world is full of people who are hungry – most statistics say that there are 842 million people worldwide who are hungry.  In our own country – one in ten households suffer from lack of proper food.  These people are our neighbors and although we here at Holy Spirit cannot solve the problem of world hunger we can certainly do something to alleviate the suffering of those around us – and there is a perfect opportunity to do this coming up soon.  On July 26^th, our parish will be preparing and serving a meal at the Banquet here in Sioux Falls.  We need people to prepare the meal, bake cookies, and serve the meal.  What a perfect opportunity for us to serve Jesus who is present to us in the poor and needy. 
2. We all have a lot of stuff – especially clothing.  Yet, there are many people who can barely afford what they need, let alone be so fortunate as to have excess clothing.  These people are our neighbors – they aren’t beaten physically like the man in the parable, but nevertheless they need our help.  How about this:  let’s all go home today, and look through our closets, drawers and boxes.  If we see something that we haven’t worn in the past year take it out and put it in a pile.  If we haven’t worn it in the past year, the chances of wearing it ever is pretty slim, but the chances of someone who is struggling to make ends meet would wear it often.  Take the pile – chances are it will be bigger than we expected – and load it into your car – or for some of us a U-haul - and bring it here and put it in the family to family bin in the gathering space.  It’s a good way to help our neighbor, and clean your closet.
3. This next group of people that I would like to suggest we help may not be as obvious to us as the ones I have already spoken about.  This group of people desperately needs our help because they cannot fight for themselves – they are totally helpless – yet their very lives are threatened every day throughout our country.  The group of individuals that I am talking about is the unborn – children who are still in their mothers womb.  Since 1973, when Satan won the battle, and abortion was made legal there have been 45 million children killed through abortion – that is 23 times the number of people who lost their lives in every war that the United States has fought in combined.  Surely these children need our help – after all, they are our neighbors too.    So what can we do?  There is a lot.  First, and most importantly, we can pray every day for an end to abortion.  Secondly, we can go to the Planned Parenthood clinic and pray there – in the very place where the violence act takes place..  Not only does this bring the presence of Jesus to a place of death and violence, but it provides a witness to those who see us there.  We may be embarrassed, ridiculed or mocked, but so was Jesus.  It is the least we can do to show our love and care for our most vulnerable neighbors.  I suggest that we go and pray there often – the presence of Jesus needs to be there.  The mothers and fathers who go there to abort their children need to know that we care – that Jesus cares.  There is a group from Holy Spirit who goes there to pray on the ninth of every month at noon.  Join us in praying for our neighbors. Thirdly, we can get involved in lobbying our state and national representatives and vote for pro-life candidates.  How a catholic in good conscience could knowingly vote for someone who is pro-abortion is beyond me.  It makes no sense.  It’s a complete contradiction, yet I am sure that it has happened a lot.  That needs to change.  If every catholic voted for pro-life candidates things would change.  Let’s get to work and make it change – the lives of millions of our neighbors are at stake.

These are just a few ways that can we be a Good Samaritan to our neighbors.  It takes courage and strength to refrain from passing the buck, and take the steps needed to help those around us.  It is well worth the effort - for when we help our neighbors we are helping Jesus himself who lives within each person. 

Who Are These People?

My bet is that they are sick people trying to use the Church to rip people off.  I don't think I would give them a cent...they are posers like most internet services offering such things.  It reminds me of the site offering tickets into heaven.

Another Strong One

Bishop Bernard Harrington of Winona, MN recently joined the growing ranks of bishops exhorting their flocks to refrain from the Eucharist if you support abortion rights.  I spent four years at Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Winona, and spent some time with Bishop Harrington.  I traveled with him to many a confirmation as his master of ceremonies.  He is a very down to earth...and obviously courageous.  He is some info on what he said:

Diocese of Winona Bishop Bernard Harrington said in a statement that any Roman Catholic who supports abortion rights defies church teachings and should not receive Holy Communion.

"It is time we recognize that morality and ethics -- not our political parties -- determine what we believe," Harrington wrote in the July edition of the Courier, the diocese's official newspaper.

Harrington's statement came weeks after a national bishops' task force he served on said bishops have the authority to deny Communion to politicians who support abortion rights.

The task force's statement, "Catholics in Political Life," was overwhelmingly approved by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops last month amid controversy over U.S. Sen. John Kerry's support of abortion rights. Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, is Catholic.

Individual Catholics must determine whether they are worthy to receive Communion, Harrington said.

He wrote that "any Catholics who steadfastly support abortion should not come forward" for the sacrament, but he stopped short of repeating threats made by some U.S. bishops to deny Communion to Kerry or other politicians who support abortion rights.

Hmmm...Maybe The Church Is Right About Contraception...

Joe London isn't gonna like this:

The Catholic Church has long been criticized for opposing condom promotion as part of AIDS prevention programs and "safe sex" campaigns. Yet opposition to condoms does not mean the Church does not care about AIDS. Last year Kenya's health minister, Charity Ngilu, praised the Church for its role in fighting HIV and AIDS, the Catholic Information Service for Africa reported Aug. 17.

Ngilu commended the Catholic Church for its focus in three key areas: prevention through awareness-raising and promotion of behavior change; care and treatment of the people living with HIV/AIDS; and social and economic support for those infected and affected by the scourge.
And recently published information is showing the wisdom of the Church's refusal to back condoms. The journal Studies in Family Planning in its March issue published a wide-ranging review of scientific literature on the subject of condoms.

Authored by Norman Hearst, a professor at the University of California, and Sanny Chen, an epidemiologist with the San Francisco Department of Health, the article "Condom Promotion for AIDS Prevention in the Developing World: Is It Working?" notes that "Measuring condom efficacy is nearly impossible." A commonly accepted figure for their efficacy is 90%, the article affirms.

But this is not enough for condoms to be effective in AIDS prevention. For example, the articles notes: "In many sub-Saharan African countries, high HIV transmission rates have continued despite high rates of condom use." The authors admit that "no clear examples have emerged yet of a country that has turned back a generalized epidemic primarily by means of condom promotion."

Uganda's noted success in reducing the prevalence of AIDS was due a program that focused on delaying sexual activity among adolescents, promoting abstinence, encouraging faithfulness to a single partner, and condom use. Condom promotion was last in order of importance, notes the article.

Hearst and Chen explain that increased use of condoms was not responsible for the decline in AIDS among Ugandans. "The main cause of falling incidence in Uganda was a substantial drop in numbers of casual sex partners," they wrote.

Abstinence promotion even received support in a long article published June 13 in the New York Times Magazine. Written by Helen Epstein, a visiting research scholar at the Center for Health and Wellbeing at Princeton University, it observed that many efforts aimed at stopping the spread of HIV have had disappointing results.

Epstein explained that ignoring the need to promote fidelity in sexual relations "may well have undermined efforts to fight the epidemic." She noted: "Government planning documents, United Nations agency reports, AIDS awareness campaigns and AIDS education curriculums are strangely silent on the subject."

A case in point is the situation in Botswana. The Washington Times on June 17 described how Tsetsele Fantan, leader of the African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships, sponsored by pharmaceutical giant Merck & Company and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, felt embarrassed on taking a visitor to a primary school, whose walls had posters about using condoms and whose children sang songs about prophylactics.

"At that age, they should have been singing about 'saying no to sex,'" said Fantan. "The message should have been about abstinence. We need to focus our message better."

Kgomotso Ntsatsi, who directs the Christian AIDS Intervention Program that promotes abstinence, explained that she needs more financial support to get that message out, the article reported. "Condoms were the first thing people thought of. People never stopped to see if it was working," she said. "It eroded our culture terribly. Condoms brought so much unfaithfulness and so much early pregnancy. Now it looks like everyone is promiscuous."

In fact, there are signs that more governments are waking up to the need to promote abstinence. Recently, Zambia banned the distribution of condoms in schools, BBC reported March 15. Education Minister Andrew Mulenga explained that condoms were encouraging young people to have premarital sex. Some 120,000 Zambians die from AIDS each year, according to U.N. figures.

BBC quoted Mulenga as saying that students "should be advised to abstain from sex as a measure to fight the disease instead of being urged to use condoms which promote immorality."

Read the whole article here.