BIG C CATHOLICS

Last Sunday's New York Times Magazine includes the article " Is This the End of Christianity in the Middle East ?" by Eliza Griswold. It is worth your time albeit, prepare to be heartbroken. ISIS and other extremist movements across the region are enslaving, killing and uprooting Christians, with no relief in sight. It is nothing short of a holocaust. According to Pope Francis, "There are more Christian martyrs today than ever."   You can help Christians suffering under the persecution of militant Islam in the Middle East and throughout the world. Nasarean.org  was founded by Father Benedict Kiely, pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Stowe, Vermont in the Diocese of Burlington, and supported by the people and businesses there to help, in some small way, Christians suffering under the persecution of militant Islam throughout the world. This is a conflict that has been going on for centuries - and it will not end until the final victory of Christ. F

Elizabeth exclaimed unto Mary: "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb." Luke 1:42 Amid Planned Parenthood's summer of shame comes this from  Brietbart : Father Frank Pavone of Priest for Life told a Washington D.C. radio show that America and Planned Parenthood should brace for a video a week for the next five or six weeks exposing the ongoing trafficking in fetal body parts. This is the first time that anyone from the inside of the investigation has hinted at what is to come, and that is an all-summer-long mirror showing America to itself and how many have become complacent with the underlying issue of abortion on demand. Please recite this prayer to defund Planned Parenthood and for our nation to experience the renewal of human dignity, from conception until natural death, based on The Gospel of Life. Prayer to Defund Planned Parenthood Lord of Life and Truth, Your Providence guides the course of history. Yo

Human beings are moral actors because, as persons, we have the capacity to make choices.  A person has an intellect with which to know and a will with which to choose.  As a result, a person is always a "someone," never a "something." Animals are incapable of sin. Their intellects are governed by instinct and they do not have free will. Only persons can freely choose and act out their choices . We must weigh three criteria when judging a moral act good or bad: The act itself The person’s subjective motive The circumstances under which the act occurs Every moral act consists of three criteria: the objective act (what we do), the subjective intention (why we act), and the situation or circumstances in which we act (where, when, how, etc.). For an act to be morally good, what we do (the act itself), must be objectively good. Some acts are always wrong because they are intrinsically evil (i.e. the killing of innocents, torture, and rape). The goa

This is evil personified! ( via  The Center for Medical Progress) A second undercover video shows Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s Medical Directors’ Council President, Dr. Mary Gatter, haggling over payments for intact fetal specimens and offering to use a “less crunchy technique” to get more intact body parts. It is similar to last week’s viral video showing PPFA Senior Director of Medical Services Dr. Deborah Nucatola admitting to using partial-birth abortions to get intact parts and suggesting a price range of $30 to $100 per specimen. Gatter is a senior official within Planned Parenthood and is President of the Medical Directors’ Council, the central committee of all Planned Parenthood affiliate medical directors.

It is legitimate and necessary to ask oneself if this (gay marriage) is not perhaps part of a new ideology of evil, perhaps more insidious and hidden, which attempts to pit human rights against the family and against man. — Pope Saint John Paul II 

Fr. Barron on the SCOTUS Same-Sex Marriage Ruling  Ryan Anderson: The Marriage Debate Fr. Barron on Gay Marriage and the Breakdown of Moral Argument How Can Catholics Approach the Topic of Same-Sex "Marriage"? Made for Each Other

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. Director, La Salette Shrine Enfield, NH ( Click here for today’s readings ) The heart of Jesus, we are told, was moved with pity for the crowd, “for they were like sheep without a shepherd.” There are various ways for such a situation to occur. Nowadays, the obvious and literal case described in the Gospel is found when there are simply no shepherds to tend to the sheep. One thinks immediately of mission lands where one or two missionaries travel almost constantly in hopes of visiting each community two or three times a year. We can forget that in many parts of our own country, less than 150 years ago, that was the reality as well, with many rural areas served by “circuit priests.” Many dioceses seem to be reverting to that condition. In the Archdiocese of Boston, for example, there were so many priests 50 years ago that none of them could reasonably expect to be named a pastor before his 25th anniversary of ordination, if ever. Today, even after ha

Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. He is the author of several books including Beyond Good Intentions: A Biblical View of Politics . Below are excerpts from his article " Roe v. Wade: Four Decades of Tragedy ," ( The American Spectator , 15 January 2013). Roe v. Wade, perhaps the most ostentatiously unconstitutional of many dubious Supreme Court decisions purporting to interpret the Constitution, was issued 40 years ago. Rather than settle the abortion issue, the justices triggered a bitter political conflict which continues unabated.  Roe represents tragedy. An unwanted pregnancy can cause serious, sometimes overwhelming, problems. Moreover, there are few more personal decisions than to terminate a pregnancy. Liberty and life seemingly come into sharp conflict. But abortion is not a just another "choice." Rather, it is a flight from responsibility. Abortion is a response to choice, that is, the decision to have sex. Other than rape, sex is

I draw your attention to a noble, informative contribution to the cultural debate surrounding gay "marriage" from Fr. John Hollowell and Blackstone films. The short documentary " The Third Way ", was released last year. It presents the Catholic Church’s position on homosexuality which rejects both anti-gay bigotry and the unqualified endorsement of homosexual activity. Featured in the film are first-hand testimonies from faithful Catholics who struggle with same sex attraction. Take 30 minutes to watch this documentary. It is well worth your time.  

Lauded by some as a woman of valor, Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, made numerous disreputable statements about race, birth control and abortion. An avowed eugenicist, Sanger was strident and contemptuous in promoting her racist ideals . Planned Parenthood continues to lionize Sanger despite the historical record and Ms. Sanger's prejudiced worldview as illustrated by her own words. (Video below) The most merciful thing that the large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it. From Sanger's Woman and the New Race , ch. 6: "The Wickedness of Creating Large Families."  (We should) apply a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is tainted, or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring. "Plan for Peace" from Birth Control Review (April 1932, pp. 107-108)  (The most penetrating thinkers) are coming to see that a qual