BIG C CATHOLICS

Bill Donohue The terms “dialogue” and “common ground” are innocuous enough, and may even convey something benign. But when selectively invoked by ideologues as a political vehicle, they are worse than vacuous—they are devious. Such is the case with the latest effort by RHRealityCheck.org. RHRealityCheck.org may have been able to persuade reasonable persons like Steven Waldman of Beliefnet to join in this effort, but too many of the announced participants are hardened pro-abortion activists. Moreover, the website demonizes a number of religious conservative groups by labeling them “far right” organizations... Bad as these aspects of the project are, they are nothing when compared to the vicious denunciations of Crisis Pregnancy Centers. If giving young women an alternative to abortion is considered taboo, then the entire Common Ground project is destined to be an abysmal failure. It also shows that their alleged interest in adoption is a ruse.

We're a little behind in our posting. The following was intended for Father's Day. Still, better late than never. In keeping with the theme of fatherhood, we thought we would consider a father's role and responsibilities at the time of Christ. In addition to providing and protecting their families, fathers had vitally important ceremonial roles. I use ceremonial in the solemn, not the perfunctory sense. In a ritual recalling the Israelites flight from Egypt and the taking of the first born (Egyptian) male children, every Jewish father would go to the Temple and "redeem" his first son. Presenting his son to the Priest he would say (to his infant son) "I redeem thee," three times. After the first born son was redeemed he was circumcised. Circumcision was a sign in the male flesh of the Covenant which God made with the nation of Israel. Every Jewish male was circumcised. The father was to ensure this. Finally, the father was to lead the Passover meal commem...

This post is dedicated to my Father and to fathers everywhere. Icons represent and make present spiritual realities beyond us. Fatherhood is a special icon of God's love. My Dad's fatherly care has sustained our family. Because of him it is easy to believe that God is loving.

The Vatican has banned a small group of breakaway traditionalist Catholics from ordaining more priests and deacons. The Society of St Pius X (SSPX), which split from the Vatican in 1970, plans to ordain more than 30 men in June. But in a statement, the Vatican said sect members were not entitled to exercise their ministry and that any ordi- nations would be "illegitimate." ... SSPX was founded by a French archbishop, Marcel Lefebvre, in 1970 as a protest against the Second Vatican Council's reforms on religious freedom and pluralism. It claims to have almost 500 priests as members and says it is active in more than 60 countries. From the BBC

On March 16, 2009, His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, announced a special "Year of the Priest" which begins on June 19, 2009, the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, and continues up to that same date in 2010. In his letter to all bishops throughout the world about this prayerful observation, issued on April 3, 2009, at Vatican City, His Eminence, Claudio Cardinal Hummes, Perfect of the Congregation of the Clergy wrote: "The Year of the Priest represents an important opportunity to contemplate once more and with grateful awe the work of the Lord, who, 'on the night He was betrayed' (1 Cor. 11:3), willed to institute the ministerial Priesthood, linking it inseparably to the Eucharist, the source and summit of the life of the whole Church." [ ... ]

Let Us Pray Anima Christi This well known Catholic prayer dates to the early fourteenth century and was possibly written by Pope John XXII. Anima Christi means "the soul of Christ." It is popularly believed to have been composed by St. Ignatius Loyola who put it at the beginning of his "Spiritual Exercises." However, the prayer was in manuscripts written a hundred years before his birth. Soul of Christ, sanctify me. Body of Christ, save me. Blood of Christ, inebriate me. Water from the side of Christ, wash me. Passion of Christ, strengthen me. O Good Jesus, hear me. Within Thy wounds hide me. Suffer me not to be separated from thee. From the malignant enemy defend me. In the hour of my death call me. And bid me come unto Thee, That with all Thy saints, I may praise thee Forever and ever. Amen This prayer may be variously worded depending on its translation from the Latin.

Here is the second pro-life ad rejected by NBC and CNN that was to run during the 2009 Super Bowl: