Synod on the Family - A More Appropriate Outline

On October 16, Jadwiga and Jacek Pulikowski spoke to the synod fathers and asked them to "appreciate and encourage" the following:

• spouses who are faithful to each other and to God
• marriages raising many children
• responsible husbands
• mothers loving their children
• married couples who cannot have their own children but reject unethical methods of conception
• those who are left by their spouses but are still faithful to the sacramental wedding vows and live alone
• young people preparing for marriage and living in chastity
• all those who did not start own families but live alone and are faithful to the teaching of the Church.

These bulletin points seem to be a more appropriate outline for a document for the synod.

Their full speech can be viewed here.

Wisdom from the Saints: The Sermons of the Curé of Ars (20th Sunday after Pentecost)

That as soon as a woman is pregnant, she should say some prayers or give some alms. Better still, if she can do so, she should have a Mass said to ask the Blessed Virgin to take her under her protection, so that she may obtain from God the blessing that this little child may not die without having received holy Baptism. If a mother truly had the religious spirit, she would say to herself: "Ah! If I could only be sure of seeing this little child becoming a saint, of seeing him for all eternity by my side, singing the praises of God! What a joy that would be for me!"

Excerpt from this sermon was taken from Una Morrissy, trans. The Sermons of the Curé of Ars (Rockford, IL: Tan Books and Publishers, 1995), 80.

A Bishop Addresses Catholic Men

This type of leadership is refreshing. Read Bishop Thomas Olmstead's exhortation to Catholic men here. While addressed to the Catholic men of his diocese (Phoenix), it is nevertheless applicable to all Catholic men.

Wisdom from the Saints: The Sermons of the Curé of Ars (18th Sunday after Pentecost)

I do not believe that there is a more ugly and dangerous sin than envy because it is hidden and is often covered by the attractive mantle of virtue or of friendship. Let us go further and compare it to a lion which we thought was muzzled, to a serpent covered by a handful of leaves which will bite us without our noticing it. Envy is a public plague which spares no one. 

We are leading ourselves to Hell without realizing it.

But how are we then to cure ourselves of this vice if we do not think we are guilty of it? I am quite certain that of the thousands of envious souls honestly examining their consciences, there would not be one ready to believe himself belonging to that company. It is the least recognized of sins. Some people are so profoundly ignorant that they do not recognize a quarter of their ordinary sins. And since the sin of envy is more difficult to know, it is not surprising that so few confess it and correct it. Because they are not guilty of the big public sins committed by coarse and brutalized people, they think that the sins of envy are only little defects in charity, when, in fact, for the most part, these are serious and deadly sins which they are harboring and tending in their hearts, often without fully recognizing them.

"But," you may be thinking in your own minds, "if I really recognized them, I would do my best to correct them."

If you want to be able to recognize them, my dear brethren, you must ask the Holy Ghost for His light. He alone will give you this grace. No one could, with impunity, point out these sins to you; you would not wish to agree nor to accept them; you would always find something which would convince you that you had made no mistake in thinking and acting in the way you did. Do you know yet what will help to make you know the state of your soul and to uncover this evil sin hidden in the secret recesses of your heart? It is humility. Just as pride will hide it from you, so will humility reveal it to you.

Excerpt from this sermon was taken from Una Morrissy, trans. The Sermons of the Curé of Ars (Rockford, IL: Tan Books and Publishers, 1995), 35-36.

Wisdom from the Saints: The Sermons of the Curé of Ars (14th Sunday after Pentecost)

If people would do for God what they do for the world, my dear people, what a great number of Christians would go to Heaven! But if you, dear children, had to pass three or four hours praying in a church, as you pass them at a dance or in a cabaret, how heavily the time would press upon you! If you had to go to a great many different places in order to hear a sermon, as you go for your pastimes or to satisfy your avarice and greed, what pretexts there would be, and how many detours would be taken to avoid going at all. But nothing is too much trouble when done for the world. What is more, people are not afraid of losing either God or their souls or Heaven. With what good reason did Jesus Christ, my dear people, say that the children of this world are more zealous in serving their master, the world , than the children of light are in serving theirs, who is God. To our shame, we must admit that people fear neither expense, nor even going into debt, when it is a matter of satisfying their pleasures, but if some poor person asks them for help, they have nothing at all. This is true of so many: they have everything for the world and nothing at all for God because to them, the world is everything and God is nothing.

Excerpt from this sermon was taken from Una Morrissy, trans. The Sermons of the Curé of Ars (Rockford, IL: Tan Books and Publishers, 1995), 16.

Amidst the undercover videos, NOW defends Planned Parenthood, accusing CMP of the "Big Lie" technique - but who's really using the "Big Lie" technique?

I recently came across the official statement of Terry O'Neill, who is president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), that defends Planned Parenthood in light of the undercover videos revealing Planned Parenthood's illegal work of harvesting and selling of body parts of aborted babies. The full statement, entitled "Video Attacks on Planned Parenthood Don’t Fool Us And They Shouldn’t Fool Congress," can be found here.

I was shocked by the accusation by O'Neill laid against the group that created and publicized the videos. She said,

We can’t—and we won’t—respond to every “attack of the day” video that spreads the lie that Planned Parenthood sells parts from aborted fetuses for profit.  This is the classic “Big Lie” technique of repeating a salacious, made-up allegation enough times until people start to believe it.

 O'Neill later concludes,

No one should be fooled by this campaign of lies, distortion and hate-fueled rhetoric.  The videos are phony and the accusations they contain will wither under scrutiny.  We’ve got enough phony news coming from the likes of Donald Trump.  Instead of giving oxygen to this video attack on Planned Parenthood, we should change the channel.

First of all, watch the videos. They speak for themselves. What lie are the investigators (The Center for Medical Progress, or CMP) speaking when it is Planned Parenthood's senior staff and executives themselves who, plainly and simply, speak of collecting and selling body parts of aborted babies? Again, the videos speak for themselves. No wonder O'Neill says, "We can’t—and we won’t—respond to every 'attack of the day' video," for the only next logical step would be admit the veracity of what's said, not by CMP but by the confessions made by Planned Parenthood's own executives.

As for the "Big Lie" technique, look who's talking. I only gave a sample of O'Neill calling CMP liars, but it's all over her statement. It is O'Neill, not CMP, who uses, in her words, "the classic 'Big Lie' technique of repeating a salacious, made-up allegation enough times until people start to believe it." Here's O'Neill in her short statement "repeating a salacious, made-up allegation enough times until people start to believe it" (the following emphases were added):

...an anti-abortion group purporting [emphasis added] to reveal unethical practices at Planned Parenthood...

...abortion opponents probably have gathered thousands of hours of deceptively gathered video... 

Their ultimate goal is not simply to embarrass Planned Parenthood, but to concoct a tissue of lies that Congress can use to further roll back reproductive rights...

...“attack of the day” video that spreads the lie that Planned Parenthood sells parts from aborted fetuses for profit.

No one should be fooled by this campaign of lies, distortion and hate-fueled rhetoric.

The videos are phony...

To O'Neill's audience, I say, watch the videos and decide for yourself. But wait, O'Neill doesn't want you to watch the videos: "Instead of giving oxygen to this video attack on Planned Parenthood, we should change the channel." Instead of watching the videos, O'Neill only wants you to hear her "repeating a salacious, made-up allegation enough times until people start to believe it."

So who really is using the "Big Lie" technique: CMP or O'Neill?

Wisdom from the Saints: The Sermons of the Curé of Ars (13th Sunday after Pentecost)

When will it be time to come for Holy Communion? Listen to St. John Chrysostom. He himself is going to tell us when it will be time for Holy Communion. Is it Easter, at Pentecost, at Christmas? No, he tells us. Is it at the point of death? No, he tells us again. When is it then? It is, he says to us, when we have renounced sin for good and al, and are fully resolved, with the help of God's grace, not to fall into it again.

Excerpt from this sermon was taken from Una Morrissy, trans. The Sermons of the Curé of Ars (Rockford, IL: Tan Books and Publishers, 1995), 124.