BIG C CATHOLICS

Optional Memorial - March 4th  (In 2018, this feast is superseded by the Sunday liturgy.)  This patron saint of Poland, Lithuania, and Russia made his mark on the hearts of his people even during his teenage years. Though born into high nobility in 1458, Saint Casimir, third child and second son of the King of Poland, never sought worldly honors or wealth. He is often depicted in iconography as having three hands, which is meant to emphasize his exceptional generosity toward the poor. While Casimir was known to be particularly pious and disciplined, there is no doubt that his education at the hands of a Polish priest named Jan Dlugosz helped develop these traits even further. Dlugosz was strict and conservative in his teaching, and emphasized ethics, morality, and religious devotion in his young pupils (both Casimir and his brother Vladislaus II were entrusted to his care). As a result, Casimir spent long nights in prayer, often sleeping on the ground as a form of mortifica

Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens... __________________________________________ Freedom is a Gift from God God of justice and Father of truth, who guides your creation in wisdom and in goodness to fulfillment in Christ your Son, open our hearts to the truth of his Gospel, that your peace may rule in our hearts and your justice guide our lives and the life of our nation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Feast Day - December 16th  Perhaps the most prominent European woman of the 10th century through her marriage to the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto the Great of Germany, St. Adelaide was a remarkable figure. The daughter of King Rudolph II of Burgundy, she was born in 931, in Burgundy, France. Adelaide was promised in marriage when she was only two to Lothaire, the son of the ruler of Provence, to end a political feud. When her husband was murdered by a rival prince, his successor tried to make Adelaide his wife. She refused and was held in captivity until freed by the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I. On Christmas Day 951, she would marry Otto at Pavia. The marriage consolidated his authority in northern Italy, and in 962 they were solemnly crowned emperor and empress of the realm by Pope John XII in Rome. Adelaide ruled with her husband until his death. Otto died in 973, and for twenty years Adelaide’s life was a turmoil of family and political troubles. Her daughter-in-law, the Byzan

By Father Thomas Mattison It does not take much thought to come up with the names of a half-dozen of political heroes whose sexual adventuring has been quietly ignored so that their marble memorials need not be torn down because of their exploitation of others and the hurt visited upon families who need fathers – no matter how bad they may be as husbands, and movements that need leaders – no matter how sleazy and seamy their “private” lives may be. The recent spate of revelations about what goes on in the upper reaches of the entertainment and news industries in this country may seem disconcerting, but these folks have almost always moved from marriage to marriage to marriage and no one batted an eye. The priests who have exploited and even assaulted minors and needy parishioners are no better. Wouldn’t you think that the rich and powerful could get along without such unseemly and shameful exploits? Or maybe that is just the problem! Behind the public face that each of us

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) Every three years we are presented with today’s gospel, one that interests many of us because it deals with the question of separation between Church and State. The first thing we should note is that the question put to Jesus was a lawyer’s trick question. It was not a question that sought enlightenment; it was not put to Jesus in order to learn from Him. No. It was put to Jesus to trap Him. Was He to be seen as an insurrectionist revolutionary and an enemy of the State or was He to be seen as a collaborator with the hated Roman authorities who so brutalized the Jewish people? The Pharisees, the religious fundamentalists of the day, hated the Roman tax. The Herodians, those Jews who supported the Roman puppet King Herod, supported the tax. Both groups, the Pharisees and the Herodians, hated each other. But here we find them joined together in a combined effort to trap Jesus, to discredit Him, an

Earlier this week, in a blatant display of political suppression, Twitter censored an ad by pro-life U.S. Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn announcing her candidacy for the U.S. Senate. On Monday, her campaign was informed by Twitter that it cannot advertise a video wherein Blackburn mentions Planned Parenthood and its sale of aborted baby body parts . Here is the part that merited the Twitter ban: "I know the left calls me a wing-nut or a knuckle-dragging conservative. And you know what? I say, that’s all right, bring it on. I’m 100-percent pro-life. I fought Planned Parenthood and we stopped the sale of baby body parts, thank God." Twitter told Blackburn’s campaign that it will run the video ad only if they remove the language about Planned Parenthood. She still may promote the video on her Twitter account. [Evidently, the first amendment does not apply to pro-lifers.] According to LifeNews , "The Tennessee Republican has established herself as a champion for the

"What is tolerance? Tolerance is an attitude of reasoned patience toward evil and a forbearance that restrains us from showing anger or inflicting punishment. But what is more important than the definition is the field of its application. The important point here is this: Tolerance applies only to persons, but never to truth. Intolerance applies only to truth, but never to persons. Tolerance applies to the erring; intolerance to the error. America is suffering not so much from intolerance, which is bigotry, as it is from tolerance, which is indifference to truth and error, and a philosophical nonchalance that has been interpreted as broad-mindedness. Greater tolerance, of course, is desirable, for there can never be too much charity shown to persons who differ with us. Our Blessed Lord Himself asked that we 'love those who calumniate us, for they are always persons,' but He never told us to love the calumny. In keeping with the Spirit of Christ, the Church encourage

The National Socialist German Workers' Party, or Nazi Party, greatly admired the policies and practices of the American eugenics movement advanced by Margaret Sanger and her fellow Progressives. In fact, Hitler received some of his most maniacal and destructive ideas directly from Sanger. The Nazi’s literally lifted the "Final Solution" from the blueprints and example of America’s eugenicists. This is the Hitler Margaret Sanger connection that most contemporary observers ignore. Today, if you pick up a Planned Parenthood brochure you get the impression its founder Margaret Sanger, was a champion of choice. She wanted all woman to decide whether, and how many, children to have. The real Margaret Sanger was opposed to choice. Her personal slogan, published in her magazine Birth Control Review , embodies her mission: "More children from the fit. Fewer children from the unfit. This is the chief aim of birth control." Margaret Sanger said, if you are unfit then

The late Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican’s former chief exorcist, once observed: "God never rejects his creatures. Therefore, even though they broke with God, Satan and his angels maintain their power and rank (thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, and so on) even if they use them for evil purposes. Saint Augustine does not exaggerate when he claims that, if God gave Satan a free hand, 'no man would be left alive.' Since Satan cannot kill us, he tries to 'make us into his followers in opposition to God, just as he is in opposition to God.'" Make no mistake, Satan's diabolical scheme continues apace. To wit: "Missouri has reportedly doubled its abortion capacity this year 'thanks to the Satanic Temple and Planned Parenthood,' who have worked in tandem to fight the state’s restrictions on abortion… Planned Parenthood has battled against [popularly enacted pro-life] state regulations requiring abortion clinics to meet the same surgica

Imagine if a Jewish or Islamic nominee with impeccable credentials, beloved by her students and colleges, were questioned by a Republican senator about her "dogma". The left would be apoplectic. Yet this is precisely what happened earlier this week when Democratic senators questioned federal appeals court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. At the very least, they were alarmed by her Catholicism. Senator Dick Durbin, (D-IL), a Catholic who readily demeans the teachings of the Magisterium, asked Barrett: "Do you consider yourself an orthodox Catholic?", as if being so were a cause for concern. Senator Al Franken (D-MN. questioned her appearances before law students at an event sponsored by Alliance Defending Freedom (a group that provides legal counsel to protect First Amendment rights). Franken called the ADF a "hate group"  and likened the appearance to speaking at an event organized by despot Pol Pot . A few minutes later, as the stupidity of the analogy beg

We post this because its assertion is unequivocally true. In the words of Saint Teresa of Calcutta: "the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself." We must change hearts and laws so they protect the unborn. Last year, DePaul University, the largest Catholic university in the U.S., banned this poster from being displayed on campus. Like other Catholic institutions of higher learning, Depaul has forsaken its Catholic tradition in favor of secular interests. As Catholics, the dignity of human beings at every stage of life should be our foremost concern; for without "life" all other concerns are non-existent. __________________________________________ Prayer to God the Father of All Life Eternal God, You have revealed Yourself as the Father of all Life. We praise You for the Fatherly care which You extend to all creation, and especially to us, m

By Father Thomas Mattison So, you will ask me — legitimately — how about the Crusades and the clashes between the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire etc.? Were these not instances of meddling in politics by the Catholic Church? As you can imagine, my answer will be, “No.” The Middle Ages represent the vacuum created in the western world by the collapse of the old and totalitarian Roman Empire. Hostages to their political past, and lacking in political imagination, both sides of these conflicts claimed as their due the mantle of European supremacy. They called it “ ius divinum ” (divine right). They both claimed it — the emperor no less than the pope. The collapse of the Holy Roman Empire and the rise of what we call the nation states of the modern world left the Church still claiming its ius divinum in the face of new claimants to the same right — the kings and parliaments of emerging countries. For background on this check out the internet’s treatment of such figures as P

It has long been an aspiration for the Left to impose a single-payer health care system like the kind found in Canada and much of Europe. Proponents of such socialized medicine argue it is the only viable alternative, both economically and morally. However, as the tragic case of Charlie Gard shows, faceless autocrats from government run universal health care bureaucracies invariably abrogate parental rights and the efforts of well-meaning doctors to provide alternate care. Townhall reports that Charlie’s parents have ended their legal battle as time has simply run out. "Connie Yates and Chris Gard, the parents of Charlie Gard, the terminally-ill baby who they sought to bring to the United States for a last-ditch experimental treatment, have dropped their legal battle to move their son. Per the couple's lawyer, it's simply too late for the treatment to have any... benefit." "Charlie's parents have been fighting for months to bring their son to the Unit

Optional Memorial - June 22nd Saints Thomas More and John Fisher were talented and energetic Renaissance men who contributed to the humanist scholarship of early modern England. More wrote theological treatises while making a career as a lawyer and government official. Bishop John Fisher worked as an administrator at Cambridge, confronted the challenge Martin Luther presented to Christianity and served as Bishop of Rochester. He dedicated himself to preaching at a time when prelates tended to focus on politics. Both men corresponded with Erasmus, who helped Fisher learn Greek and Hebrew, and famously referred to More as "a man of all seasons". Above all their accomplishments, these heroic disciples of Christ bore witness to a deep faith in God and his Church. More considered entering religious life and was assiduous in his devotional practices. A married man, he committed himself wholly to his vocation as a father. In the 16th century, disciplinary measures with chil

The Most Reverend Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. the Archbishop of Philadelphia presented this Brigham Young University forum address on March 22, 2016. He discusses the difficulties faced by believers in America today and the assaults on religious freedom perpetrated by the government and secular forces. Below is a partial transcript of Archbishop Chaput's remarks. They are well worth your time. Starting at 4:32: I want to begin by giving you some background on the Catholic experience in this country. I’ll do that through the lens of a particular Catholic bishop – me. I don’t claim to speak for all or even most Americans who describe themselves as Catholic. But my comments do reflect the views of many Catholics who rank their Catholic faith as the most precious thing in their lives — and actually live that way. So let’s start with a simple fact: Catholics have never entirely “fit” in America. We’ve tried, but the results are mixed. In fact some years ago Stanley Hauerwas

Via Greater Fitchburg For Life .   Right to Life of Michigan created a special video project for Black History Month in February that exposes the devastating impact of abortion on the black community. The 1-minute video uses statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and the Guttmacher Institute to show how abortions killed more African Americans than all other causes combined. The number is staggering: 19 million abortions since 1973 in the black community, according to the group’s research. Pro-life leader Walter B. Hoye II of the Issues 4Life Foundation found similar results when he compared abortion data to other leading causes of death in the black community from the U.S. Statistical Abstract for 2013 and the National Vital Statistics Report from 2015. According to the statistics: Heart Disease: 72,010 Abortion kills 5.9 times as many Blacks as heart disease. Malignant Neoplasms: 67,953 Abortion kills 6.3 times as many Blacks as cancer. Cerebrovascular D

Twenty-three years ago today, St. Teresa of Calcutta delivered a strident speech in defense of life and opposing abortion as a moral depravity. It was without a doubt a remarkable event, played out on live T.V. Lifenews describes the scene : The occasion was the annual National Prayer Breakfast, a huge ecumenical gathering in Washington. As president, Bill Clinton was a high-profile attendee, with Hillary accompanying him. That year, on Feb. 3, 1994, the keynoter was a very special guest, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and saintly figure who had come all the way from the most impoverished area of the planet, the slums of Kolkata. Mother Teresa was barely visible, being partially obscured by the microphones atop the podium. Her message, delivered in a firm voice was unmistakable. She called abortion "the greatest destroyer of love and peace", saying in part: But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct

Ed Whelan The following by Ed Whelan, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a former law clerk to the late Justice Scalia, discusses Judge Neil Gorsuch's recent nomination to the Supreme Court. It originally appeared in the January 31, 2017 edition of National Review Online under the subheading "Rocky Mountain native Neil Gorsuch has an impressive judicial record as an originalist." _____________________________________________________ On the Saturday afternoon last February when he received word of Justice Scalia’s death, Neil M. Gorsuch “immediately lost [his] breath” and “couldn’t see... for the tears.” In his grief over the death of a justice he deeply admired and emulated, Judge Gorsuch could hardly have imagined the series of events that would lead to his being selected today to fill the Scalia vacancy. And while he has rightly recognized that no one could ever replace Justice Scalia, there are strong reasons to expect Justice Gorsuch to

Whatever your take on the election results, here is a rare public testimony of faith by Ernie Johnson Jr. on Inside the NBA on TNT. His comments were made last November, just days after the 2016 election. (See full transcript below.) "When this campaign season started, I felt like I’d been dealt a bad hand. I had these couple of choices. And there were trust issues with Hillary Clinton I couldn’t get past. And there was this inflammatory rhetoric from Donald Trump which to me was incomprehensible and indefensible. I couldn’t vote for either one. For the first time in going to the polls for 42 years, I hit the write-in button and I voted for John Kasich. And I left knowing that John Kasich wasn’t going to win, but I left with a clear conscience because I hadn’t settled. Number two, I’m hopeful. I watched the video today at CNN on what was going on at the White House with Donald Trump and President Obama. I was hopeful and I was encouraged that there will be a difference

In the days leading up to the 2017 March for Life, we noted the vast discrepancy between the fourth estates' coverage of the annual pro-life rally and its obsession with the "Women's March". We wrote: "The march is ignored by the media. Star Parker points out the blatant hypocrisy in her weekly column that is worth your time. Calling out the self-centeredness of the 'me' culture, she writes: 'Bringing children into the world and raising them takes three things that don't work well with the 'me' culture: work, sacrifice and love. I wonder why when hundreds of thousands of women show up in Washington to demonstrate for what one Wall Street Journal columnist called "everything under the progressive sun," the press goes bonkers with coverage. Yet, when similar numbers of pro-lifers reportedly show up for the March for Life, as they have been doing every January since the Roe v. Wade decision in January 1973, and as they wil