Explicating Pat Buchanan's "Suicide"
Pat Buchanan, former presidential candidate, adviser to Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Reagan, prolific author, and paleoconservative political commentator, knows whereof he speaks and writes. He has written a new book, a book deeply-disturbing to anyone who loves the United States of America and fears for our future.
Titled, Suicide of a Superpower, its subtitle, the question, Will America Survive to 2025? is even more disconcerting.
Scheduled to be officially released by Macmillan on October 18th, Drudge.com obtained a pre-publication copy of Suicide and outlined its contents which are not for the fainthearted. Or, for those smugly confident that, since America is the only superpower now and since we are the richest, most potent force on the planet, we will always be.
To anyone who has closely followed international and national developments over the course of the past few decades and especially of the last three years or even to casual observers, what Buchanan coalesces in the 496 pages of Suicide will strike many chords.
All the chords lead to the inexorable conclusion that the days of America’s greatness, if not to our days of existence as a nation, are numbered with very few numbers.
The Muslim world, which at this juncture stands to inherit what remains of Western civilization, will love Buchanan’s book. So, too, will the Left, which has been working tirelessly for decades to destroy the foundations of that civilization.
A few of the points noted by Buchanan, with this writer’s bracketed observations:
. We have created an totally dependent underclass ”who cannot cope” and who rely on government to provide their daily necessities. [I would add that they also cannot think. Testimony to both is the burgeoning welfare and food stamp programs and the fact that over 40% of Americans still support President Barack Hussein Obama.]
. Successful efforts to “de-Christianize” America and Europe “will prove culturally and socially suicidal,” as will the disintegration of Catholic schools and the abandonment by Catholic colleges and universities of Catholic principles on such issues as abortion. [Buchanan, a Roman Catholic, is right on the mark, not because Christians or Catholics are flawless but because ours was a Christian nation from its inception and because Catholics have been the primary advocates for the central moral issue of our time, the sanctity of life.]
. “White America is an endangered species,” . . . (Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=5720.)
Showing posts with label CATHOLICS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CATHOLICS. Show all posts
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Abortion, in Russia and in Obamaland
Abortion, in Russia and in Obamaland
According to Reuters, last July Russia went where the Obama administration dares not go on the issue of abortion. With a declining birth rate and one of the highest abortion rates in the world, the Russians mandated that abortion providers carry warnings of health risks in their advertisements.
Ironically, the now-defunct Union of Soviet Socialists Republics under Vladimir Lenin’s Bolsheviks was one of the first nations on the planet to legalize aborting pre-born babies in 1920. Ninety one years later, Russia is finally coming to the realization that abortion can be almost as harmful to women as it is to fetuses.
The administration of Barack Hussein Obama can evidently learn a few things about the “procedure” from the administration of Dmitry Medvedev and Vlad Putin: Abortion not only has terminal effects on the pre-born, it can have deleterious effects on the mothers who abort them.
The most pro-abortion American president in history, a distinction preceded by his record as the most pro-abortion United States senator during his two-year stint in that august body and his history as an Illinois state senator where he voted in favor of requiring that babies born during botched abortions be left to die, Obama hasn’t done or said much lately regarding abortion.
(See “Obama Flips OFF Babies, http://bit.ly/q4pHk3.)
Election 2012 is less than thirteen months away so he prefers to have his henchmen do his dirty work.
With America’s predominant abortionist posing as a “family planner,” Planned Parenthood of America, exposed as a fraud and its taxpayer funding under scrutiny by House of Representative Republicans, Obama’s henchmen are duly stressed and forced to execute his policies surreptitiously and cunningly.
Thus, they quietly ended a five year agreement with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the USCCB.
Catholics, of course, are notorious for staunchly holding to the principles that human life is sacred from the moment of conception and that abortion is an abomination but the agreement in question was irrelevant to those beliefs. Rather, the rescinded $19 million grant related to comprehensive services provided by the USCCB to assist sex trafficking victims–2700 since 2006–with food, clothing and access to medical care . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=5704.)
According to Reuters, last July Russia went where the Obama administration dares not go on the issue of abortion. With a declining birth rate and one of the highest abortion rates in the world, the Russians mandated that abortion providers carry warnings of health risks in their advertisements.
Ironically, the now-defunct Union of Soviet Socialists Republics under Vladimir Lenin’s Bolsheviks was one of the first nations on the planet to legalize aborting pre-born babies in 1920. Ninety one years later, Russia is finally coming to the realization that abortion can be almost as harmful to women as it is to fetuses.
The administration of Barack Hussein Obama can evidently learn a few things about the “procedure” from the administration of Dmitry Medvedev and Vlad Putin: Abortion not only has terminal effects on the pre-born, it can have deleterious effects on the mothers who abort them.
The most pro-abortion American president in history, a distinction preceded by his record as the most pro-abortion United States senator during his two-year stint in that august body and his history as an Illinois state senator where he voted in favor of requiring that babies born during botched abortions be left to die, Obama hasn’t done or said much lately regarding abortion.
(See “Obama Flips OFF Babies, http://bit.ly/q4pHk3.)
Election 2012 is less than thirteen months away so he prefers to have his henchmen do his dirty work.
With America’s predominant abortionist posing as a “family planner,” Planned Parenthood of America, exposed as a fraud and its taxpayer funding under scrutiny by House of Representative Republicans, Obama’s henchmen are duly stressed and forced to execute his policies surreptitiously and cunningly.
Thus, they quietly ended a five year agreement with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the USCCB.
Catholics, of course, are notorious for staunchly holding to the principles that human life is sacred from the moment of conception and that abortion is an abomination but the agreement in question was irrelevant to those beliefs. Rather, the rescinded $19 million grant related to comprehensive services provided by the USCCB to assist sex trafficking victims–2700 since 2006–with food, clothing and access to medical care . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=5704.)
Friday, September 30, 2011
We Are All Jews, Sort Of, on Rosh Hashanah
We Are All Jews, Sort of, on Rosh Hashanah
In a certain sense, Americans are all Jews, that is, if we only consider our Judeo-Christian heritage and disregard the millions of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, etc. who are American citizens. Semi-Jews at heart or no, it hasn’t been smooth sailing between those who adhere to the religion of Abraham and Christians.
The late Pope Pius XII and, by inference, the entire Catholic Church, have long been accused by Jews and the Jewish media of not merely sympathizing with WWII fascists and Nazis but of actual complicity in the Holocaust.
That calumny still exists three generations after the Holocaust and despite the historical record that Pope Pius condemned anti-Semitism, interceded on behalf of Rome’s Jews and Jewish people in Slovakia and other nations, and was even cited as a conspirator in the attempted assassination of Hitler in 1944. Still, he was accused of not doing nearly enough and not publicly denouncing the Nazis.
Living in Benito Mussolini’s fascist, an ally of Adolph Hitler’s Nazi Germany, it’s entirely possible that had he protested much more the Vatican could have been reduced to a mass of rubble.
Not to be forgotten either is that hundreds of Catholics protected and saved the lives of thousands of Jews and literally hundreds of thousands of Catholics surrendered their lives during the Second World War in the cause of freedom and, not incidentally, freed millions of Jews from oppression and concentration camps.
The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) marked a watershed in Catholic-Jewish relations by instituting reforms which included an outreach to Jews in an attempt to salve the wounds of centuries of antipathies, misunderstandings, and lack of inter-communication.
Whether all of Vatican II’s reforms and changes were beneficial to the Church is still a matter of conjecture although the effort to institute a dialogue with Jews and dispel age-old beliefs of Jews as Jesus-killers who subsequently committed atrocities against Christian children in the Middle Ages was clearly a step forward but, apparently, some Jewish people wanted more and bigger steps.
Some years ago, the radical Jewish Defense League adopted the slogan “Never Forget!” meaning Jews would never forget the horrors of the Holocaust and, by implication, would never tolerate its repetition. Both were eminently reasonable, if unnecessary, goals.
They were reasonable for obvious reasons but unnecessary since Jews and Jewish groups the world over have never forgotten and, in fact, all too often invoke memories of Hitler’s “Final Solution” whenever an issue arises which they perceive as somehow exhibiting anti-Semitism.
A major drawback to those repetitive, kneejerk reactions is that they serve to worsen rather than alleviate the problem, especially today when anti-Jewish sentiment and incidents are becoming increasingly common in various European nations.
In addition, when Jews use the Holocaust as an instrument to interfere with the internal affairs of the Catholic Church, they are foolishly overstepping the bounds of reconciliation.
Unfortunately, some Jewish groups have done precisely that by protesting the Vatican’s attempt to heal its own house by engaging in dialogue with the traditionalist Society of Pius X and trying to reunite that “breakaway” sect with the Church. . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=5593.)
In a certain sense, Americans are all Jews, that is, if we only consider our Judeo-Christian heritage and disregard the millions of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, etc. who are American citizens. Semi-Jews at heart or no, it hasn’t been smooth sailing between those who adhere to the religion of Abraham and Christians.
The late Pope Pius XII and, by inference, the entire Catholic Church, have long been accused by Jews and the Jewish media of not merely sympathizing with WWII fascists and Nazis but of actual complicity in the Holocaust.
That calumny still exists three generations after the Holocaust and despite the historical record that Pope Pius condemned anti-Semitism, interceded on behalf of Rome’s Jews and Jewish people in Slovakia and other nations, and was even cited as a conspirator in the attempted assassination of Hitler in 1944. Still, he was accused of not doing nearly enough and not publicly denouncing the Nazis.
Living in Benito Mussolini’s fascist, an ally of Adolph Hitler’s Nazi Germany, it’s entirely possible that had he protested much more the Vatican could have been reduced to a mass of rubble.
Not to be forgotten either is that hundreds of Catholics protected and saved the lives of thousands of Jews and literally hundreds of thousands of Catholics surrendered their lives during the Second World War in the cause of freedom and, not incidentally, freed millions of Jews from oppression and concentration camps.
The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) marked a watershed in Catholic-Jewish relations by instituting reforms which included an outreach to Jews in an attempt to salve the wounds of centuries of antipathies, misunderstandings, and lack of inter-communication.
Whether all of Vatican II’s reforms and changes were beneficial to the Church is still a matter of conjecture although the effort to institute a dialogue with Jews and dispel age-old beliefs of Jews as Jesus-killers who subsequently committed atrocities against Christian children in the Middle Ages was clearly a step forward but, apparently, some Jewish people wanted more and bigger steps.
Some years ago, the radical Jewish Defense League adopted the slogan “Never Forget!” meaning Jews would never forget the horrors of the Holocaust and, by implication, would never tolerate its repetition. Both were eminently reasonable, if unnecessary, goals.
They were reasonable for obvious reasons but unnecessary since Jews and Jewish groups the world over have never forgotten and, in fact, all too often invoke memories of Hitler’s “Final Solution” whenever an issue arises which they perceive as somehow exhibiting anti-Semitism.
A major drawback to those repetitive, kneejerk reactions is that they serve to worsen rather than alleviate the problem, especially today when anti-Jewish sentiment and incidents are becoming increasingly common in various European nations.
In addition, when Jews use the Holocaust as an instrument to interfere with the internal affairs of the Catholic Church, they are foolishly overstepping the bounds of reconciliation.
Unfortunately, some Jewish groups have done precisely that by protesting the Vatican’s attempt to heal its own house by engaging in dialogue with the traditionalist Society of Pius X and trying to reunite that “breakaway” sect with the Church. . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=5593.)
Friday, June 24, 2011
Gays on Parade, Literally!
Gays on Parade, Literally!
Get your gay-est hats on, folks! There’s a big day coming up in New York City, a day you may want to put on your calendar–or maybe not.
Following on the heels of an even bigger day, the passage by the New York State legislature of a gay marriage bill Friday evening, homosexuals should be positively ecstatic and promise to make Sunday a day to remember.
The legalization of homosexual weddings in the Empire State, long-sought by Democrats and the gay lobby, was rushed to Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo who signed the Marriage Equality Act into law in the dark of night.
Finally passed after decades of gay agitation and weeks of heated debate, and after 4 Republican state senators caved under pressure, the law joins New York with just 5 other states and D.C. in the unique position of conferring a legal imprimatur on homosexual marriage.
Gay couples hugged and wept with joy in the gallery.
Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan was far less sanguine and released a statement of his concerns which included these foreboding words: “We worry that both marriage and the family will be undermined by this tragic presumption of government in passing this legislation that attempts to redefine these cornerstones of civilization. Our society must regain what it appears to have lost–a true understanding of the meaning and the place of marriage, as revealed by God, grounded in nature, and respected by America’s foundational principles.” (http://cbsloc.al/iWkKuY)
However, what’s now passed is past and whether it’s prologue will be determined by the future. For now, let the gay games begin or, more precisely, continue.
There will be little if any weeping or worries about civilization this Sunday, what was once called the Lord’s Day, though there defiintely will be lots of hugging and other things.
Sunday will culminate the annual Gay Pride Week in N.Y.C., actually 8 days. but who’s counting, with a big parade and a “Pridefest” street fair starting at noon. Marchers will begin strutting their stuff at 36th Street and head down to Christopher Street in Greenwich Village for the annual Gay Pride rally and the annual “Dance on the Pier” on Hudson Street, near but not in the Hudson River.
Sad to say, at this juncture you have already missed the kick-off celebrations last Saturday with the annual rally at Central Park’s Summerstage and may have missed the annual “Rapture on the River: A Women’s Dance”. . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=4885)
Get your gay-est hats on, folks! There’s a big day coming up in New York City, a day you may want to put on your calendar–or maybe not.
Following on the heels of an even bigger day, the passage by the New York State legislature of a gay marriage bill Friday evening, homosexuals should be positively ecstatic and promise to make Sunday a day to remember.
The legalization of homosexual weddings in the Empire State, long-sought by Democrats and the gay lobby, was rushed to Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo who signed the Marriage Equality Act into law in the dark of night.
Finally passed after decades of gay agitation and weeks of heated debate, and after 4 Republican state senators caved under pressure, the law joins New York with just 5 other states and D.C. in the unique position of conferring a legal imprimatur on homosexual marriage.
Gay couples hugged and wept with joy in the gallery.
Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan was far less sanguine and released a statement of his concerns which included these foreboding words: “We worry that both marriage and the family will be undermined by this tragic presumption of government in passing this legislation that attempts to redefine these cornerstones of civilization. Our society must regain what it appears to have lost–a true understanding of the meaning and the place of marriage, as revealed by God, grounded in nature, and respected by America’s foundational principles.” (http://cbsloc.al/iWkKuY)
However, what’s now passed is past and whether it’s prologue will be determined by the future. For now, let the gay games begin or, more precisely, continue.
There will be little if any weeping or worries about civilization this Sunday, what was once called the Lord’s Day, though there defiintely will be lots of hugging and other things.
Sunday will culminate the annual Gay Pride Week in N.Y.C., actually 8 days. but who’s counting, with a big parade and a “Pridefest” street fair starting at noon. Marchers will begin strutting their stuff at 36th Street and head down to Christopher Street in Greenwich Village for the annual Gay Pride rally and the annual “Dance on the Pier” on Hudson Street, near but not in the Hudson River.
Sad to say, at this juncture you have already missed the kick-off celebrations last Saturday with the annual rally at Central Park’s Summerstage and may have missed the annual “Rapture on the River: A Women’s Dance”. . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=4885)
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
News You Really Don't Need
News You Really Don't Need
With apologies to Ben Franklin, there are other certainties in life aside from death and taxes and Ben may not have said that in the first place. Another surety is news since something is always happening on our planet whether we want to hear about it or not.
There are many happenings the squeamish would prefer not to know about, other events few of us care about, and still more most of us find so mystifying or just so plain dumb that we tend to believe the news accounts just have to be wrong.
In the recently mystifying category are a plethora of stories which, no matter how hard we wish, are true whether we choose to believe them or not.
Take, for example, the Holy Name of Jesus parish in West Palm Beach, Florida, which offered a “prayer request” in last Sunday’s bulletin for the repose of the soul of the mass murderer and architect of 9/11, Osama bin Laden.
More rational critics abounded and parishioner Lois Pizzano spelled out their objections: “I think it’s totally wrong, he doesn’t belong in the Catholic religion. For what he did to Americans, he doesn’t belong anywhere. It’s unconscionable, it’s sacrilegious,” a sentiment with which the pastor, Father Gavin Badway, took issue.
Rev. Badway concedes that many in his congregation are less than happy with the idea of praying for the Butcher of 9/11 but “he says the church has never turned down a prayer request before. He says making the right decision isn’t always easy.” He added that, “Their [parishiners'] hearts are troubled because they’re thinking emotionally about what he has done and he has done a lot of evil. Nevertheless, Jesus tells us, love and forgive.”(http://bit.ly/myxk0Q)
As a fellow Catholic, I have to wonder if Rev. Badway is in complete possession of his senses and whether we are also expected to pray for Judas, Attila, Hitler, and other poor, misunderstood, bloody souls. I also have to wonder whether Badway is just ambitious to move on up the clergy ranks by demonstrating how caring he is or whether he’s gay since homosexuals are said to be very empathetic.
Out there in the secular world, Maryland’s Governor Martin O’Malley is also evidently a sensitive guy. He joined his state to ten others in signing on to the so-called Dream Act, which act has been repudiated, so far, by the U.S. Congress and which is only a dream for illegal invaders of our country and for Democrat politicians who crave their votes . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=4492)
With apologies to Ben Franklin, there are other certainties in life aside from death and taxes and Ben may not have said that in the first place. Another surety is news since something is always happening on our planet whether we want to hear about it or not.
There are many happenings the squeamish would prefer not to know about, other events few of us care about, and still more most of us find so mystifying or just so plain dumb that we tend to believe the news accounts just have to be wrong.
In the recently mystifying category are a plethora of stories which, no matter how hard we wish, are true whether we choose to believe them or not.
Take, for example, the Holy Name of Jesus parish in West Palm Beach, Florida, which offered a “prayer request” in last Sunday’s bulletin for the repose of the soul of the mass murderer and architect of 9/11, Osama bin Laden.
More rational critics abounded and parishioner Lois Pizzano spelled out their objections: “I think it’s totally wrong, he doesn’t belong in the Catholic religion. For what he did to Americans, he doesn’t belong anywhere. It’s unconscionable, it’s sacrilegious,” a sentiment with which the pastor, Father Gavin Badway, took issue.
Rev. Badway concedes that many in his congregation are less than happy with the idea of praying for the Butcher of 9/11 but “he says the church has never turned down a prayer request before. He says making the right decision isn’t always easy.” He added that, “Their [parishiners'] hearts are troubled because they’re thinking emotionally about what he has done and he has done a lot of evil. Nevertheless, Jesus tells us, love and forgive.”(http://bit.ly/myxk0Q)
As a fellow Catholic, I have to wonder if Rev. Badway is in complete possession of his senses and whether we are also expected to pray for Judas, Attila, Hitler, and other poor, misunderstood, bloody souls. I also have to wonder whether Badway is just ambitious to move on up the clergy ranks by demonstrating how caring he is or whether he’s gay since homosexuals are said to be very empathetic.
Out there in the secular world, Maryland’s Governor Martin O’Malley is also evidently a sensitive guy. He joined his state to ten others in signing on to the so-called Dream Act, which act has been repudiated, so far, by the U.S. Congress and which is only a dream for illegal invaders of our country and for Democrat politicians who crave their votes . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=4492)
Monday, November 22, 2010
Of Popes and Condoms
Of Popes and Condoms
The so-called worldwide consternation over Pope Benedict XVI’s recent comments about the use of condoms is a veritable tempest in a teapot manufactured as if Benedict, countless popes before him, and the Catholic Church have long waged a vendetta against Trojan Inc. and every other manufacturer of condoms on the planet.
That makes as much sense as believing the Crusades were really all about re-claiming vacation spots in Jerusalem.
The remarks that ignited a “firestorm” by allegedly condoning condoms: “There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants.”
Benedict’s circuitous comments, made in an extensive, book-length interview with German writer Peter Seewald, do not at all change Church teachings on sex and birth control but rather assert that condoms make health sense for male prostitutes as well as, presumably, male homosexuals whose only chances of becoming parents don’t begin in bedrooms but in courts.
His remarks on condom use by such individuals as “a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility” and that prophylactics are “not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection. That can really lie only in a humanization of sexuality,” http://tiny.cc/zo2pv, seem to reflect wishful thinking more than they do serious hopes or expectations for a viable path toward moral redemption.
Practically speaking, gigolos and homosexuals aren’t very likely to become paragons of virtue and morality on the basis of a Catholic pope granting his okay. Indeed, if they needed that permission to protect themselves from disease, they’re too far gone already.
Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi clarified any misconceptions, . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=2780)
The so-called worldwide consternation over Pope Benedict XVI’s recent comments about the use of condoms is a veritable tempest in a teapot manufactured as if Benedict, countless popes before him, and the Catholic Church have long waged a vendetta against Trojan Inc. and every other manufacturer of condoms on the planet.
That makes as much sense as believing the Crusades were really all about re-claiming vacation spots in Jerusalem.
The remarks that ignited a “firestorm” by allegedly condoning condoms: “There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants.”
Benedict’s circuitous comments, made in an extensive, book-length interview with German writer Peter Seewald, do not at all change Church teachings on sex and birth control but rather assert that condoms make health sense for male prostitutes as well as, presumably, male homosexuals whose only chances of becoming parents don’t begin in bedrooms but in courts.
His remarks on condom use by such individuals as “a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility” and that prophylactics are “not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection. That can really lie only in a humanization of sexuality,” http://tiny.cc/zo2pv, seem to reflect wishful thinking more than they do serious hopes or expectations for a viable path toward moral redemption.
Practically speaking, gigolos and homosexuals aren’t very likely to become paragons of virtue and morality on the basis of a Catholic pope granting his okay. Indeed, if they needed that permission to protect themselves from disease, they’re too far gone already.
Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi clarified any misconceptions, . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=2780)
Monday, November 15, 2010
Catholics and Devils
Catholics and Devils
Yahoo recently posted a Reuter’s article titled, “Exorcists wanted: apply to Catholic Church,” which began with the lead, ”Overwhelmed with requests for exorcists, U.S. Roman Catholic bishops are holding a special training workshop in Baltimore this weekend to teach clerics the esoteric rite, the Catholic News Service reported.”
Exorcisms? An overwhelming demand? What’s next, overwhelming requests for clerics to cast out evil politicians? Well, no, the Catholic Church believes that casting out evil politicians is and always will be the prerogative of voters, at least in America. Elsewhere, it may be the prerogative of the politicians who manipulate elections.
Point is, exorcisms, the ritualistic process of ”ἐξορκισμός, exorkismos–binding by oath, the practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed,” is alive and well, if not a favorite belief of most people, Catholics and otherwise, today.
The whole idea of exorisms and exorists is just, well, not popular.
Nevertheless, American Catholic clerics who refuse to concede that all is not exactly sweetness and light and jollity in America and that some nasty devils really exist are looking for people–males only!–who will commit to exorcising those devils.
Americans are woefully lacking in such exorcist-qualified men and ”each diocese deserves its own,” according to Bishop Thomas Paprocki. . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=2660)
Yahoo recently posted a Reuter’s article titled, “Exorcists wanted: apply to Catholic Church,” which began with the lead, ”Overwhelmed with requests for exorcists, U.S. Roman Catholic bishops are holding a special training workshop in Baltimore this weekend to teach clerics the esoteric rite, the Catholic News Service reported.”
Exorcisms? An overwhelming demand? What’s next, overwhelming requests for clerics to cast out evil politicians? Well, no, the Catholic Church believes that casting out evil politicians is and always will be the prerogative of voters, at least in America. Elsewhere, it may be the prerogative of the politicians who manipulate elections.
Point is, exorcisms, the ritualistic process of ”ἐξορκισμός, exorkismos–binding by oath, the practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed,” is alive and well, if not a favorite belief of most people, Catholics and otherwise, today.
The whole idea of exorisms and exorists is just, well, not popular.
Nevertheless, American Catholic clerics who refuse to concede that all is not exactly sweetness and light and jollity in America and that some nasty devils really exist are looking for people–males only!–who will commit to exorcising those devils.
Americans are woefully lacking in such exorcist-qualified men and ”each diocese deserves its own,” according to Bishop Thomas Paprocki. . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=2660)
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Gay Priests and the Church that Tolerates Them Part Two
Gay Priests and the Church that Tolerates Them Part Two
In my own experience as an active Catholic, altar boy, and choir boy, I never experienced, witnessed, or heard of any untoward, sexual advances by any priest toward anyone, male or female, adult or child. That is not to say that it never happened but is mentioned only to emphasize that such occurrences had to have been rare or virtually non-existent.
The rarity seems to have ended coincidental with Vatican Council II in 1962 which not only re-introduced the vernacular to Church services and declared that marriage is of equal value to virginity. It opened the floodgates of greater secularization of the clergy–and of nuns–and eventually led to lax requisites for seminarians to fill the gaps created by a virtual collapse of religious vocations.
Today, according to The Changing Face of the Priesthood, estimates of gays in American seminaries range from 25 to 50%. As for active, gay priests, the numbers are probably similar.
All of the above is preface to the influx of homosexuals into the priesthood in the past 50 years and, specifically, to what happened recently in Rome when three gay priests were discovered, and videotaped, indulging in la dolce vita,homosexual-style, at night while acting as priests during the day. . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1802)
In my own experience as an active Catholic, altar boy, and choir boy, I never experienced, witnessed, or heard of any untoward, sexual advances by any priest toward anyone, male or female, adult or child. That is not to say that it never happened but is mentioned only to emphasize that such occurrences had to have been rare or virtually non-existent.
The rarity seems to have ended coincidental with Vatican Council II in 1962 which not only re-introduced the vernacular to Church services and declared that marriage is of equal value to virginity. It opened the floodgates of greater secularization of the clergy–and of nuns–and eventually led to lax requisites for seminarians to fill the gaps created by a virtual collapse of religious vocations.
Today, according to The Changing Face of the Priesthood, estimates of gays in American seminaries range from 25 to 50%. As for active, gay priests, the numbers are probably similar.
All of the above is preface to the influx of homosexuals into the priesthood in the past 50 years and, specifically, to what happened recently in Rome when three gay priests were discovered, and videotaped, indulging in la dolce vita,homosexual-style, at night while acting as priests during the day. . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1802)
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Jews, Catholics and SCOTUS
Jews, Catholics and SCOTUS
It’s long past time for America to consider the heretical idea of amending the Constitution and make new openings on the Supreme Court term-limited if not elective offices.
When the Founding Fathers devised the Constitution in the late eighteenth century, life expectancy at birth, thanks to rampant diseases, was a mere 24 years although, depending on where one lived, it could range up to 60 in New England, 45 in the Middle Colonies and 35 in the South. Those figures are according to Encyclopedia.com.
Averaging the 3 locales, a person could expect to live 46.7 years, with a little bit of luck. Today, thanks to the marvels of modern science and medicine, Americans can reasonably expect to live well into their seventies and beyond and late eighties and nineties are no longer unusual.
There is no possible way that James Madison . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1683)
It’s long past time for America to consider the heretical idea of amending the Constitution and make new openings on the Supreme Court term-limited if not elective offices.
When the Founding Fathers devised the Constitution in the late eighteenth century, life expectancy at birth, thanks to rampant diseases, was a mere 24 years although, depending on where one lived, it could range up to 60 in New England, 45 in the Middle Colonies and 35 in the South. Those figures are according to Encyclopedia.com.
Averaging the 3 locales, a person could expect to live 46.7 years, with a little bit of luck. Today, thanks to the marvels of modern science and medicine, Americans can reasonably expect to live well into their seventies and beyond and late eighties and nineties are no longer unusual.
There is no possible way that James Madison . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1683)
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Nervy News #1
Nervy News #1
We’ve all heard that dog bites man isn’t newsworthy but that man bites dog is. Likewise, we’ve heard of other stories which are so banal we wonder why the editor publishes them and stories which strike a chord as classic examples of overreaching and obnoxiousness.
One of the latter comes to us from the benighted state of Mexifornia, from the bi-lingual city of Los Angeles.
California Cardinal Condemns Arizona Immigration Law: Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Los Angeles archdiocese has ripped the content of the bill just sent to Governor Jan Brewer as encouraging “German Nazi and Russian Communist techniques” since it requires suspected illegal aliens to provide identification papers showing they have a right to be in our country.
Reasoning that illegal immigrants are really nice people . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1639)
We’ve all heard that dog bites man isn’t newsworthy but that man bites dog is. Likewise, we’ve heard of other stories which are so banal we wonder why the editor publishes them and stories which strike a chord as classic examples of overreaching and obnoxiousness.
One of the latter comes to us from the benighted state of Mexifornia, from the bi-lingual city of Los Angeles.
California Cardinal Condemns Arizona Immigration Law: Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Los Angeles archdiocese has ripped the content of the bill just sent to Governor Jan Brewer as encouraging “German Nazi and Russian Communist techniques” since it requires suspected illegal aliens to provide identification papers showing they have a right to be in our country.
Reasoning that illegal immigrants are really nice people . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1639)
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Big Brother, Obama-Style
Big Brother, Obama-Style
That classic image of Uncle Sam forcefully advising draft-aged young men and all Americans to support the war effort actually dated back to the First World War.
It has been superseded in the Age of Obama with the Orwellian image of Big Obama Brother cautioning the citizens of Oceania to be on their toes because he’s watching every move they make.
Orwell’s Big Brother presided over Oceania’s unending wars with Eurasia and Eastasia but the Obama Big Bro isn’t concerned with war and certainly isn’t perturbed by any war on terrorism since terrorism doesn’t exist.
His designs involve waging battle against the minds, hearts, spirits, and freedoms of his subjects.
And Obama’s Big Brother isn’t kidding!
Cross Obama’s version of Big Bro or make the Obamassiah cross in any manner, shape, or form, and your arse will be grass and either the Executive Branch or one of its congressional minions will take you out.
Or, try to.
For example:
Papists, Beware! The Catholic Church had the impertinence to challenge Obama’s lies on the inclusion of abortion coverage in Obamacare. As a consequence of its insolence, it’s in the cross hairs of Obama’s Big Bro!
The Church was more politic than Rep. Joe Wilson and didn’t confront the president on national television by validly charging, “You lie!” and simply apprised Obama that it begged to disagree on what Obamacare included.
That was enough for congressional lackey, Lynn Woolsey, (D, CA), to threaten those insolent papists with revocation of the I.R.S. tax-exempt status of the Catholic Church.
It’s a toothless threat . . .
(Read the rest at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1327)
That classic image of Uncle Sam forcefully advising draft-aged young men and all Americans to support the war effort actually dated back to the First World War.
It has been superseded in the Age of Obama with the Orwellian image of Big Obama Brother cautioning the citizens of Oceania to be on their toes because he’s watching every move they make.
Orwell’s Big Brother presided over Oceania’s unending wars with Eurasia and Eastasia but the Obama Big Bro isn’t concerned with war and certainly isn’t perturbed by any war on terrorism since terrorism doesn’t exist.
His designs involve waging battle against the minds, hearts, spirits, and freedoms of his subjects.
And Obama’s Big Brother isn’t kidding!
Cross Obama’s version of Big Bro or make the Obamassiah cross in any manner, shape, or form, and your arse will be grass and either the Executive Branch or one of its congressional minions will take you out.
Or, try to.
For example:
Papists, Beware! The Catholic Church had the impertinence to challenge Obama’s lies on the inclusion of abortion coverage in Obamacare. As a consequence of its insolence, it’s in the cross hairs of Obama’s Big Bro!
The Church was more politic than Rep. Joe Wilson and didn’t confront the president on national television by validly charging, “You lie!” and simply apprised Obama that it begged to disagree on what Obamacare included.
That was enough for congressional lackey, Lynn Woolsey, (D, CA), to threaten those insolent papists with revocation of the I.R.S. tax-exempt status of the Catholic Church.
It’s a toothless threat . . .
(Read the rest at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1327)
Monday, August 17, 2009
Disconnect Between Catholic Hierarchy and Catholics
The Disconnect Between the Catholic Hierarchy and Catholics
An article in AmericanThinker.com brings to the front and center of America’s crowded social stage the aching void that exists between the Catholic Church hierarchy, the bishops and cardinals, and the mass of laity.
Titled, “Catholic Church and Health Care Reform,” the piece by Bill Claydon illustrates that Church leaders aren’t exactly on the same page as churchgoers when it comes to social issues in America: http://bit.ly/2Il8x
For that matter, neither are “Catholic” American poiticians such as Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, Ted Kennedy, et al. even in the same chapter as Catholic churchgoers, but I’ll save that subject for future attention.
Claydon points out that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the USCCB, enthusiastically endorses Obamacare– universal, government-run, health care–despite its tacit acceptance of two Catholic cardinal sins, abortion of innocent pre-born babies and euthanasia.
None of the Democratic-sponsored versions of Obamacare explicity mention government-paid abortions and none dare mention euthanasia. Implicit in all versions is government-endorsed, and paid for, both abominations.
Abortion is widely understood for what it is, the execution in the womb of an innocent life.
Those who object to that definition are welcome to disagree, unless they have a vested interest in abortion, as in their having had an abortion.
In that case, my heart goes out to them but it’s all but impossible for you to be objective.
Wikipedia misleadingly defines euthanasia as “the practice of ending a life in a painless manner.” That “practice” really involves much more, namely, physician-assisted suicide, mercy killing, and the eradication of lives no longer considered as contributing to society.
At this point, anyone thinking Hitler, Goebbels, or Mengele would be an intelligent thinker.
Much has been made of late as to end of life “death panels” in the Obamacare proposals and . . .
(Read the rest at http://genelalor.com)
Monday, May 25, 2009
Angels, Demons, Dan Brown and the Vatican: Oh, My!
Angels, Demons, Dan Brown and the Vatican: Oh, My!
I honestly don’t know what to think about Tom Hanks’ new conspiracy flick, “Angels and Demons,” a prequel witten prior to his earlier blockbuster, “The DaVinci Code.”
I’m not crazy about Hanks to start with, although I must be admit he’s a talented actor. As for director Ron Howard, I still can’t get past the image of Opie of years ago but he seems to know how to direct movies. He was cuter as a kid but losing his hair seems to have sharpened his directorial expertise.
I didn’t want to go see “Angels and Demons” mainly because it was awarded a mere 2 stars by most expert critics and 3 stars is my criterion to lay out bucks to go to the local movie house instead of waiting for the DVD. However, I listened to the wife for a change who had reminded me that “Benjamin Button” had earned 3 stars, wasn’t all that special, and which was entirely too long.
So, we went to view ”Angels” on a semi-big screen. At 135 minutes, it too was much too long but I was glad I did. I think.
Granted, like “Button” and “DaVinci,” “Angels” is largely a fantasy thriller although, as with “The DaVinci Code,” author Brown swore it was factual which causes one to wonder what he considers fact as opposed to fiction.
Had F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of the 1921 short story on which “Button” was based, had read the screenplay and heard any suggestions that the film was based on fact, both he and Zelda would have retched, and then would have quaffed a few more martinis.
In “DaVinci,” Brown fabricated a plot postulated on age-old and long-discounted conspiratorial slanders against the Catholic Church, such as Jesus Christ being a family guy who wed Mary Magdalen. He invented obtuse anagrams and silliness about the Priory of Sion, which dates to the 1950’s, not to the 1600’s: http://priory-of-sion.com/psp/id43.html. Brown also cites the ancient Knights Templar and the relatively new Catholic organization, Opus Dei, (est. 1928), as conspiratorialists and vicious murderers.
The author brings to mind the truism that even paranoiacs have enemies. If true, Brown has tons of enemies, all somehow associated with Catholicism.
In “Angels” he ranges even farther afield from reason with some anti-matter nonsense and an attempt to vaporize the Vatican with an anti-matter experiment run amok, which may have been wishful thinking on Brown’s part.
You see, many hundreds of years back the Church was supposed to have slaughtered a bunch of Illuminati in order to suppress scientific advancement, . . .
(Read the rest at http://genelalor.com)
I honestly don’t know what to think about Tom Hanks’ new conspiracy flick, “Angels and Demons,” a prequel witten prior to his earlier blockbuster, “The DaVinci Code.”
I’m not crazy about Hanks to start with, although I must be admit he’s a talented actor. As for director Ron Howard, I still can’t get past the image of Opie of years ago but he seems to know how to direct movies. He was cuter as a kid but losing his hair seems to have sharpened his directorial expertise.
I didn’t want to go see “Angels and Demons” mainly because it was awarded a mere 2 stars by most expert critics and 3 stars is my criterion to lay out bucks to go to the local movie house instead of waiting for the DVD. However, I listened to the wife for a change who had reminded me that “Benjamin Button” had earned 3 stars, wasn’t all that special, and which was entirely too long.
So, we went to view ”Angels” on a semi-big screen. At 135 minutes, it too was much too long but I was glad I did. I think.
Granted, like “Button” and “DaVinci,” “Angels” is largely a fantasy thriller although, as with “The DaVinci Code,” author Brown swore it was factual which causes one to wonder what he considers fact as opposed to fiction.
Had F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of the 1921 short story on which “Button” was based, had read the screenplay and heard any suggestions that the film was based on fact, both he and Zelda would have retched, and then would have quaffed a few more martinis.
In “DaVinci,” Brown fabricated a plot postulated on age-old and long-discounted conspiratorial slanders against the Catholic Church, such as Jesus Christ being a family guy who wed Mary Magdalen. He invented obtuse anagrams and silliness about the Priory of Sion, which dates to the 1950’s, not to the 1600’s: http://priory-of-sion.com/psp/id43.html. Brown also cites the ancient Knights Templar and the relatively new Catholic organization, Opus Dei, (est. 1928), as conspiratorialists and vicious murderers.
The author brings to mind the truism that even paranoiacs have enemies. If true, Brown has tons of enemies, all somehow associated with Catholicism.
In “Angels” he ranges even farther afield from reason with some anti-matter nonsense and an attempt to vaporize the Vatican with an anti-matter experiment run amok, which may have been wishful thinking on Brown’s part.
You see, many hundreds of years back the Church was supposed to have slaughtered a bunch of Illuminati in order to suppress scientific advancement, . . .
(Read the rest at http://genelalor.com)
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Resignation Letter of Notre Dame's President
Resignation Letter of Notre Dame's President
In order to make life easier for Notre Dame’s president to resign his position in disgrace after inviting the avidly pro-abortionist President Obama to speak and receive an award on May 17th at the university commencement, Randall Terry has obligingly drafted Rev. John Jenkins’ letter of resignation.
If hope truly does spring eternal, we can hope Father Jenkins wises up, smells his forgotten priestly vows, and signs it.
If he refuses due to the ravages of his sin of pride on top of turning his back on his Catholicity and the moral foundations of Notre Dame, it would be an even more powerful demonstration of support for the right to life of pre-born babies if the faculty and graduates play hooky on May 17th, stand with their backs to Jenkins and Obama during their addresses, or respectfully vacate the Joyce Center when they take the dais.
One wag wishfully suggested, “Notre Dame has recently redesigned the carved inscription above the side door entrance to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. What used to read “God, Country, Notre Dame” now proudly declares “Obama, Country, Notre Dame:” http://chatteringteeth.blogspot.com/2009/05/notre-dames-new-motto-obama-country.html. I would disagree with the country reference, as well.
The Resignation Letter of Rev. John I. Jenkins, CSC
To the Board of Trustees:
When I took holy vows as a priest, I had high hopes and deep desires to serve Christ and His Church with valor, and without wavering in fidelity.
Regrettably, I have failed in my duty as a priest, . . .
(Read the rest of Randall's resignation letter submitted on Father Jenkins' behalf at http://genelalor.com/)
In order to make life easier for Notre Dame’s president to resign his position in disgrace after inviting the avidly pro-abortionist President Obama to speak and receive an award on May 17th at the university commencement, Randall Terry has obligingly drafted Rev. John Jenkins’ letter of resignation.
If hope truly does spring eternal, we can hope Father Jenkins wises up, smells his forgotten priestly vows, and signs it.
If he refuses due to the ravages of his sin of pride on top of turning his back on his Catholicity and the moral foundations of Notre Dame, it would be an even more powerful demonstration of support for the right to life of pre-born babies if the faculty and graduates play hooky on May 17th, stand with their backs to Jenkins and Obama during their addresses, or respectfully vacate the Joyce Center when they take the dais.
One wag wishfully suggested, “Notre Dame has recently redesigned the carved inscription above the side door entrance to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. What used to read “God, Country, Notre Dame” now proudly declares “Obama, Country, Notre Dame:” http://chatteringteeth.blogspot.com/2009/05/notre-dames-new-motto-obama-country.html. I would disagree with the country reference, as well.
The Resignation Letter of Rev. John I. Jenkins, CSC
To the Board of Trustees:
When I took holy vows as a priest, I had high hopes and deep desires to serve Christ and His Church with valor, and without wavering in fidelity.
Regrettably, I have failed in my duty as a priest, . . .
(Read the rest of Randall's resignation letter submitted on Father Jenkins' behalf at http://genelalor.com/)
Sunday, December 7, 2008
CHRISTMAS PART IV: A RE-PRINT OF A 3 YEAR OLD ARTICLE
Home » Archives » December 2005
This Christmas Season
By Gene Lalor
Posted On December 22, 2005
Well, the weather outside is frightful….That’s not really true in the New York City area right now, although commuters would probably prefer the transit strike to have happened in June, rather than December, but the weather mavens say it will be frightful soon enough. Other things this Christmas season are sort of frightful though, notably, the relentless campaign by some folk to virtually abolish this most holy season and to replace it with a secular “holiday” which extols Grinch-y greed and, as Wordsworth wrote many years ago, “getting and spending.”
Without trying to antagonize the left wing of this country — since it is the season of good will — I really don’t grasp their motives in trying to secularize Christmas. Ok, there are many un-Christian things I could say about America’s “liberals,” but I’ll forgo them, or most of them.
The point is, What’s the harm of Christmas? We’re told the nation is eighty-four percent Christian and that some ninety-four percent, whatever their religion, or lack thereof, celebrate Christmas. Many actually go to church! And, it’s not only the season of good will but it’s a season when people at least try to mend familial fences, when people, more than they do usually, sincerely hope and wish for peace on earth and good tidings to everyone, when people even tend to smile more.
Just what’s so bad about all that?
I hate to say it, but I believe those who oppose Christmas–and many do oppose it, despite their protestations to the contrary–seem to have a certain negative mind-set, unfortunately a characteristic of the “liberal” psyche. New York area cases in point include a recent flap over a Catholic priest actually daring to use the words “Jesus Christ” at a Christmas tree lighting and another involving a Nativity scene, or manger, and a menorah.
For those from Jupiter, ...
(Read the rest of this article at http://genelalor.com/.)
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