Real Catholic Blog

Below is a very informative video from RealCatholicTV.com (via YouTube.com) about corruption and scandal at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, especially as it relates to personnel there and the activities in which they are engaged which are counter to the teachings of the Church. One individual, John Carr, served on the board of the radical leftist group Center for Community Change (see Bellarmine Veritas Ministry).

Mr. Carr and others at the USCCB are funding organizations — remember the revelation of its funding to ACORN? — that have a left-wing political agenda including those that work to advance the agendas of pro-abortion and homosexual rights groups. As Michael Voris (Catholic.org) and Vic Faust (The American Catholic) explains in the video, it calls into question the role of the USCCB. For example, the Conference doesn’t rule on doctrine and teaching — that is up to the Vatican.

However, that doesn’t stop it from issuing letters, which it represents as authoritative. But its biggest fault is that it has and continues to staff its organization with leftist political ideologues who have, since the USCCB’s inception, used the imprimatur of the U.S. Bishops to influence the notions of the faithful, seminaries and Catholic colleges. In this way, it has poisoned the faithful by confusing them as to what the Church (God) teaches. This has led to division within the Church and a weakened voice in the culture of our country which abets abortion, a weakening of marriage and a general deterioration of our culture and spiritual lives.  

By the way, we have added two sources from the video — RealCatholicTV itself and Bellarmine Veritas Ministry to our Media section and Blogroll, respectively. Two others, American Life League (see article) and Pew Sitter (see article) are mainstays in our Public Policy Section and Media sections, respectively.

The USCCB needs a staff and policy house cleaning. Michael Voris and Vic Faust  provide a detailed report.

I just received this e-mail from our friends at CatholicVote.org. Last week, its president, Brian Burch, asked people to sign a petition to back up CBS’ decision to air an pro-life ad during this Sunday’s Super Bowl, featuring star college quarterback Tim Tebow and his mom, who was urged to abort him 20-plus years ago. Big money pro-abortion groups have pressured CBS to pull the ad, so CatholicVote.org stepped in as a counter balance. We hope you signed on. Here’s Brian’s update:

Dear CatholicVote Member,

The President of CBS received a surprise at 9:53 a.m. yesterday.

A large Fed Ex box filled with nearly 500 pages of signatures from over 50,000 friends of CatholicVote arrived at the office of CBS President Leslie Moonves.

Enclosed in the package was a personal letter thanking CBS for standing firm and agreeing to air the ad produced by Focus on the Family featuring Florida football star Tim Tebow and his mother.

I explained that CatholicVote was especially interested in their decision because of our own efforts last year. With your help last January, we pushed hard to have our ad featuring President Obama aired during the Super Bowl.

NBC ultimately rejected the ad, yet I remain enormously proud of what we did together. We stood firm for the principle that every human life matters. We proudly stepped forward to tell the world that every human life is a gift — including the lives of those with whom we may disagree.

We had 2 million people watch our ad on YouTube over the past 12 months, while also sparking a healthy discussion in the media and on the Internet. And the ad was mentioned repeatedly again this year as controversy over the Tebow ad was discussed.

Did we help pave the way for this year’s Tebow ad to be aired? Who knows? What really matters is that we are winning.

Focus on the Family has taken the lead in making a Super Bowl ad a reality for an estimated 400 million people around the world. They deserve our heartfelt thanks.

I know when I see the ad this Sunday, my heart will swell with pride. This ad is not merely a story about Pam Tebow and her son, but also a statement about being pro-life in America.

We aren’t outsiders. We are mainstream, proud, and inspiring the rest of America with what we believe.

And more people every day are coming to see what we see: Life is indeed beautiful.

Be sure to catch Thomas Peters on Fox News tonight. Enjoy the Super Bowl. See you next week.

Sincerely,

Brian Burch, President

CatholicVote.org

P.S. Send us your prediction on the score for the Super Bowl. Pick the winner and the score. Whoever is closest will receive a surprise gift next week and get a shout out at our legislative arm, CatholicVoteAction.org. (Our combined sites receive 15,000 visitors every day!)

As we’ve noted before, Pope Benedict XVI endorses new media and digital technology as a vital tool in reaching and teaching people about God, our faith and the Church. Now, he’s taking it a step further. In a recent message, he promoted the 44th World Day of Social Communications, and calls “urgent and unavoidable task for priests and consecrated men and women,” to communicate through this new avenue of reaching people not before available through traditional forms of communication. He practices what he preaches — the Vatican has an excellent YouTube channel and Web site, for example. We would add that lay people have their own responsibility to reach out to those who are not familiar with the Church; or those who are, but who have declined the Lord’s invitation to come home.

Pope Benedict says: Get online, log on and log into the Word of God!

Catholics Come Home posted the video below on its YouTube Channel. It’s entitled, “The Bible proves Catholic beliefs that most protestants deny.” Although it is short, it is powerful, and debunks a few of the primary objections some protestants have toward Catholicism.

Of course, the fact that Catholic teaching comes from the Bible (and not from “some old men in Rome”) should not come as a surprise to anyone. Still, some people (Catholic and protestant) have been conditioned to believe otherwise. But, the fact is, every teaching of the Catholic Church is grounded in Scripture. Otherwise, we could not be one, true, apostolic, universal church. As CCH explains, the video proves Catholic teachings, using Biblical passages, that most protestants deny, including: 

Peter was the first Pope, Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Confession, The Bible alone is not sufficient, and justification by faith and works.

It should be noted that Catholics do consider protestants our separated brothers and sisters. And anyone who is Baptized “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” and believes in Jesus Christ is considered a Christian. But it is within the Catholic faith that the fullness of God’s revealed truth is found.

This video is a great primer on apologetics. Always remember, everything we believe is the Truth and it is the Truth because it is directly from Scripture. 

Father Frank Pavone (see Father Pavone’s Blog) and Priests for Life are hosting a Vote Pro-Life teleconference on Monday, January 25, 2010. The teleconference will focus on the 2010 elections and will have a panel of experts, including David Barton of Wallbuilders and Majorie Dannenfelser (see Weekly Standard interview on YouTube) of the Susan B. Anthony List (see The SOP.org).

The teleconference, which is designed to motivate, inspire and educate will be a great way to capitalize on the momentum of the March For Life later this week in Washington, D.C. (It’s not too late to attend. Ask your parish, diocese, a Knights of Columbus council, find here, or other Catholic or pro-life organization in your community if they are planning to charter a bus.) If you can’t attend the March For Life, the teleconference is a good way to learn how you can participate in the pro-life movement.

Sign up for the teleconference here, at Priest For Life. After you sign up, you will receive an e-mail with more details. You cannot receive the details on how to participate without an online RSVP. 

Father Pavone accurately notes that “A key part of putting our prayers into action is bringing them to the voting booth.” So, please, forward this link to friends you think are interested in getting more involved so they can learn about the teleconference. You can also join the Pro-Life Cause on Facebook by clicking here. Father Pavone asks that we “act for the unborn so that we may save Our Lord’s children.”

Sister Vicki Ix is probably tired of all the cooking nun puns and the comparisons to Sally Field (The Flying Nun). But you have to admit, her approach to vocations is unique.

Sister Vicki is the vocations director for the Benedictine Sisters of Virginia. She is combining new media technology and her love of the culinary arts —she’s a culinary school graduate and once worked as a restaurant chef before entering the religious life — to reach out to women who are interested in a life of religious vocation. She’s as adept at the tools of the Internet as she is with her cooking utensils. She has a YouTube channel, where she posts cooking lessons, and a blog, Monastic Journey. She has become a bit of a trans media sensation, receiving publicity this year across the new and traditional media spectrum, including Friends Eat Blog as well as the Richmond Times-Dispatch, which wrote a profile on her (and did a recent follow-up), and the religious media, such as the Arlington Catholic Herald. 

As she told the Times-Dispatch in late May:

If St. Paul were alive today, his letters would be going out on the Internet. It can be used for good things, really good things.

That makes sense and we agree. Congratulations Sister Vicki on some well-earned and deserved attention to a important need in the Church — vocations to the religious life. We add our prayers to your efforts.

Here is her “Cooking Pasta 2″ lesson (part one is an introduction):

Pasta and prayers: Sister Vicki Ix cooks for her Benedictine sisters and also works tirelessly and innovatively for vocations.

The national holiday season, Thanksgiving, is over. Now we enter into the holy day season, Christmas. Or, more precisely, we’re in Advent, preparing for the joyous day of the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Here is a beautiful video, from Totus Tuus Productions/YouTube, that explains Advent and our liturgical and worship traditions.

The reason for the season is Christ and the season is Advent.

The Vatican has been in the YouTube age for some time, but it has released a DVD for priests on how to celebrate the Latin Mass, excerpts of which can be found on YouTube. Some see this as a signal that it won’t be long before the option is a little less optional and the Vatican gets the Bishops in gear in ensuring each parish has at least one Mass per weekend in Latin.

After all, it is the Latin Rite isn’t? This comes via Telegraph UK (of all places) and PewSitter.com, a magnificent Catholic news resource and which we welcome to our media links as of today.

Forgot what the Latin Mass was like? So have many priests. Here’s a refresher. The Vatican may be about to ensure that each parish, where possible, offer one Latin Mass as an option for those who choose to worship that way.

If you have never heard or heard of Father John Corapi, you should. You can see him regularly on EWTN and online. Simply Google him and you will see how much material there is of him. His conversion story is one for the books and one everyone should hear. He even has his own YouTube Channel, from which this is taken: 

From a Los Angeles millionaire, to drug addicted street person, to a Catholic Priest . . . Father John Corapi’s story is simply amazing. This is a simplified ten minute version of Fr. Corapi’s Conversion Story (otherwise known as his Personal Testimony). The statement of this 10 minute video is simple . . . “God’s Name is Mercy!”

Father John Corapi is an inspiration to millions and an example to all those looking for their way to the Lord. Share his testimony with others.

From CTV/The Vatican YouTube Channel:

Pope Benedict reminds the faithful of the great missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius, and exhorts the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.