Real Catholic Blog

I recently received a letter from former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. Written on behalf of the Cardinal Newman Society, his letter serves as an update — and a frightening alarm — on the assault by the governing Washington, D.C., secularists on Catholic teaching. More appalling is their willing accomplices — so-called Catholics, Catholics In Name Only (CINOs) — who scandalously give these progressives cover not only to devalue and debase the teachings of the Faith, but also redefine traditional American family values as well.

The letter below is a very important read. It was shortened for length, but you will get the picture. More like a horror film. Now, more than ever, it is important for all of us to engage civicly and do our part to restore the proper promulgation of the Faith in the public square and work to keep our institutions intact.  

As someone who treasures our Catholic Faith, I write with great concern.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo recently said that Catholics who lobbied for the health care reform law — ignoring the Bishops’ warnings about abortion funding and weak conscience protections — had caused “confusion and a wound to Catholic unity.”

And to make matters worse, among those working against the Church on pro-life health care were educators at our Catholic colleges.

And then there is this: President Obama’s latest addition to the powerful Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a same-sex marriage advocate whose concept of “sexual liberty” would trump our religious liberty.

And what were the credentials by which she was selected for this honor? Since 1991, she has been a celebrated professor at Georgetown Law Center — at a Jesuit Catholic university.

When Catholic colleges help advance the secular assault on morality and religious liberty, faithful Catholics need to stand up in defense of the Faith!

We cannot ignore the fact that certain Catholic colleges are employing and honoring dissenters who actively undermine the Church on abortion, marriage, healthcare and conscience protections. …

Chai Feldblum, the recent Georgetown law professor who is now at the EEOC, helped author the “Employment Non-Discrimination Act ” (ENDA) which is before Congress. This bill could cripple Catholic schools, hospitals and other charities by forcing them to provide benefits to same-sex couples.

Feldblum joins the EEOC just as it considers an appeal by Belmont Abbey College, a faithful Catholic college in North Carolina which has been charged with discrimination for refusing to cover birth control pills in its employee health plan.

If the appeal is rejected, Belmont Abbey and other faithful Catholic colleges could be forced to close their doors rather than compromise their Catholic identity! …

But the irony here is that the celebrated professor of a Catholic university is now a threat to faithful Catholic colleges! …

Consider the damage that liberal Catholics caused during the last days of the healthcare debate, when they undermined the Bishops’ demands for pro-life and conscience provisions.

For instance, an influential group of 25 leading “theologians” — 11 of them citing Catholic college credentials — lobbied Congress to reject concerns about the bill. That gave legislators cover to vote for the bill with a “clear conscience.”

And according to the Associated Press, the University of Notre Dame’s president emeritus Father Theodore Hesburgh helped House Speaker Nancy Pelosi convince a pro-life congressman to switch his vote in support of the health care bill.

Soon after the health care law was signed, Georgetown welcomed “special guest” Nancy Pelosi to a university celebration despite her firm opposition to any pro-life compromise in the law. …

Several leading Catholic colleges and universities have long been a source of disunity in the Church by employing dissident theologians, honoring pro-abortion politicians and hosting performances of the obscene play, The Vagina Monologues. …

The federal takeover of student loans — so that money is loaned directly from the U.S. government — is raising new concerns about protecting Catholic colleges from government intrusion. …

And the EEOC is expected to rule on Belmont Abbey College, potentially setting up a court battle that could have devastating consequences for the religious freedom of Catholics! …

If we want to restore a Culture of Life to America . . . if we want to protect the institution of marriage . . . if we want to hand on the Faith to future generations . . . then we must ensure faithful Catholic education, and we must oppose dissent and disunity.

We have all had enough of scandal. …

And may God bless you for all that will be accomplished with your support!

Rick Santorum

You might not think that 2009 was much of a year of hope — contrary to Orwellian rhetoric that emanates from our progressive secular rulers in Washington these days. But Brian Burch of CatholicVote.org lists 10 reasons why 2009, despite the government’s move toward rationed health care, taxpayer paid abortions and removal of conscience protections for medical professionals, among many other goals to debase the culture, gives us reason for real — not demogogic — hope. Here they are:

10. It’s Cool to be Pro-Life

Across the popular culture spectrum, the younger generation is, on average, more pro-life than their parents. Whether its reality-TV star Kourtney Kardashian telling People magazine about her decision to keep her child or the multiple opinion polls that show more and more Americans self-identifying as pro-life. Even the show Law & Order included a powerful courtroom scene that compelled a character to question her ‘dogmatic’ support for Roe v. Wade. Hope for the unborn is en vogue.

9. You – the Members of CatholicVote

Over 400,000 members of CatholicVote working to build up the Church and our world made 2009 truly memorable. Back in January the Super Bowl didn’t like the message, but millions of people watched a commercial by CatholicVote.org that reminded America of the dignity of every human life, including an unborn Barack Obama. The inauguration of a strident pro-abortion president was very disappointing, but the proud members of CatholicVote.org responded with the first in a series of ads in our “Life: Imagine the Potential” campaign that also included an ad during the American Idol finale, and a summer ad commemorating the historic achievement of Apollo 11. All of this work and more was made possible by you. Through hard work and prayer, you and I are building a movement. A movement we can be proud of.

8. Death of Fr. Richard John Neuhaus

The death of a man is a sign of hope? Only in the sense that Fr. Richard John Neuhaus once explained: “We are born to die. Not that death is the purpose of our being born, but we are born toward death, and in each of our lives the work of dying is already underway. The work of dying well is, in largest part, the work of living well.” In that sense, Fr. Neuhaus died well, evidenced by the lives he touched, the intellects he captivated, and the winsome pen that delighted and moved thousands of hearts and minds during his rich life. Fr. Neuhaus is no longer with us, but his ideas, and spirited engagement with the world — uniquely as a person of faith — most certainly are.

7. Priests, Religious, and More Priests

From Ireland to New Zealand to many dioceses across the United States, Catholic seminaries are recording record numbers of new seminarians after years of decline. Wherever you look, large numbers of young men and women are bravely choosing to serve Christ and his Church in a world that so urgently needs the witness of courageous, self-sacrificing men and women of God. Perhaps not coincidentally, Pope Benedict XVI designated the second of half of 2009 and first half of 2010 the ‘Year of the Priest.’

6. Maine Delivers for Marriage

During the spring and summer of 2009 a few states in New England, including Maine, legalized so-called same-sex ‘marriage.’ In November, the voters struck back at the ballot box and overruled their Legislature by returning marriage to the traditional definition of one man and one woman. This means that marriage has won 31 out of 31 times when put before the people for a vote! Maine’s triumph effectively put the brakes on efforts to legalize same-sex ‘marriages’ in New York and New Jersey.

5. Religious Leaders Unite to Sign Manhattan Declaration

Invoking the legacy of the late Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement, Catholic, Evangelical and Orthodox leaders released a powerful 4,732 word document renewing their commitment to the defense of unborn human life, marriage as a sacred union of one man and one woman, and the rights of conscience and religious liberty no matter the cost. The leaders drew a line in the sand stating their willingness to defy any edict that violates these foundational principles. You too can join over 300,000 people who have already signed the Declaration here.

4. Bart Stupak and the Rise of Pro-life Democrats

The deeply disappointing capitulation by Senator Ben Nelson is still fresh on our minds. But it is worth noting as a sign of hope the strengthening voice of pro-life Democrats in the House. For years these pro-life Democrats would vote for life, but remained relatively quiet and rarely publicly challenged their party’s leadership. But with Democrats in control of both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, pro-life Democrats couldn’t stay silent any longer. In the end it was the reckless power grab by the abortion lobby to hijack healthcare reform that spurred Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) into action. Stupak helped rally other pro-life Democrats to oppose any healthcare bill that included abortion funding, eventually forcing even Speaker Pelosi herself to buckle. As we write this, the final fate of the pro-abortion healthcare bill remains unknown. But the efforts by Stupak and other Democrats represent a sign of hope for a party that all too often is shamefully beholden to the powerful abortion lobby.

3. Smashing Success of the 40 Days for Life Campaigns

Community organizing at its finest. Volunteers who pray and witness outside abortion clinics across the country have always been the unsung heroes of pro-life activism. But the 40 Days for Life campaigns, begun in 2004, are exploding and have now included hundreds of thousands of participants in nearly 300 cities. Their efforts have shut down multiple clinics, saved countless lives, and have pro-abortion advocates grasping for a way to respond. There is none. Modeling prayer efforts on the biblically-based 40 days of prayer and fasting practiced by Our Lord himself is inspirational and paying dividends. Big time.

2. The Conversion of Abby Johnson

The 40 Days for Life campaigns began in Bryan/College Station, TX. In November, the Executive Director of the local Planned Parenthood in this same city was overwhelmed by the evil of abortion and walked out. After watching an abortion on an ultrasound, and seeing the warmth and joy of pro-life activists holding vigils outside the abortion mill, she walked down the street and joined the 40 Days for Life effort. This episode confirms that the conscience of every person is always burning, and nobody is a lost cause. In military terms, the pro-abortion forces suffered a major defector, as Ms. Johnson also revealed what we already know to be true – abortion is heavily pushed for the money and profits, not because it helps women. This story confirms the power of prayer in our fight for justice, and represents one of the most inspirational pro-life stories of 2009.

1. Bishops With Backbone

Someone check what the Catholic Bishops are eating for breakfast — it’s more than Wheaties. Who could have predicted the vocal stand by almost 70 Catholic bishops, led by His Excellency John D’Arcy of South Bend, Indiana, in opposing the bestowal of honors by Notre Dame on our pro-abortion President. The courage displayed over the scandal at Notre Dame carried over into the fall when the USCCB became one of the biggest opponents of health care “reform” because of provisions that included public financing of abortion. Their outspoken opposition prompted more than a few public leaders to call on the Church to be silenced, stripped of its tax-exempt status, and worse. The year also saw more than a few bishops speaking out more forcefully on the fundamental issue of life and its treatment by Catholic politicians. The laity is cheering as more and more bishops are becoming brave to the bone.

I found this doing some research on something else, and if this isn’t the world turned upside down, I don’t know what is: A year or so prior to the controversy over Notre Dame conferring an honorary doctorate to pro-abortion President Barack Obama, and allowing him to speak at its commencement, a university in Rome tried to keep Pope Benedict XVI from speaking there! Unbelievable! Maybe it’s a translation thing, but the definition of tolerance has one strange meaning in Italian. 

From CatholicNewsAgency.com/YouTube.

Let’s get this straight: One college protested the Holy Father’s appearance because of his teachings, while one welcomed with open arms a president who contradicts them?

President Barack Obama must be on the defensive. In fact, he’s publicly quoting Bible verses now, saying some are “bearing false witness” against his health care “reform” legislation. He’s even found time to preach, calling his health care plan a “moral obligation” (see CNSNews.com). However, he particularly detests people who are bringing to light the truth about how this bill will fund abortion on demand.

One of those people is Cardinal Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia and chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Pro-Life Activities. The president said in a radio interview today that anyone who says the bill will cover abortion services is committing a “fabrication.”  (If so, then why is Planned Parenthood in on the crafting of this bill?)

This is what Cardinal Rigali wrote in his pastoral letter (see entire letter here):

Because some federal funds are authorized and appropriated by this legislation without passing through the Labor/HHS appropriations bill, they are not covered by the Hyde amendment and other federal provisions that have long prevented federal funding of abortion and of health benefits packages that include abortion. The committee rejected an amendment to extend this longstanding policy to the use of federal subsidies for health care premiums under this Act. Instead the committee created a legal fiction, a paper separation between federal funding and abortion: Federal funds will subsidize the public plan, as well as private health plans that include abortion on demand; but anyone who purchases these plans is required to pay a premium out of his or her own pocket (specified in the Act to be at least $1.00 a month) to cover all abortions beyond those eligible for federal funds under the current Hyde amendment. Thus some will claim that federal taxpayer funds do not support abortion under the Act.

But this is an illusion. Funds paid into these plans are fungible, and federal taxpayer funds will subsidize the operating budget and provider networks that expand access to abortions.

When the president spoke at Notre Dame this past spring, he waxed on about coming together with Catholics, finding areas of agreement and respectfully disagreeing when necessary after honest dialogue. It looks here as if Cardinal Rigali knows more about the president’s own bill than the president does. But it doesn’t sound like the president truly is interested in honest dialogue.

So, for his respectful disagreement and research on the issue, this is how the leader of the free world reaches out to one of the American Church’s leaders. Just who is fabricating here, Mr. President?