Special Report : Dolan & the Dolanites

Michael Voris: Let the Persecution Begin

By Michael Voris

(ChurchMilitant.TV) Hello everyone and welcome to The Vortex where lies and falsehoods are trapped and exposed. I’m Michael Voris.

Everything wrong with the Church throughout the world today is summed up in the fiasco that was the Al Smith dinner in New York last night - the event where public enemy number one of Christ and His Holy Roman Catholic Church got to use and abuse the bride of Christ all under the watchful and supporting eye of a prince of the Church.

In the remaining couple of days before the lead up, some intrepid researchers did a little investigating - only to discover that a number of muckety-mucks who comprise the board of directors of the Al Smith foundation which sponsors the dinner are big-time Obama worshipers.

For example, exceedingly wealthy real estate developer John Zuccotti, who helped the hapless anti-Church Catholic Joe Biden when he ran for president a few years back.

John Zuccotti has all the admiration of the money people in NYC. He mingles with the in crowd.

Then there is Robert Wright who was the grand pooba of the television network NBC for nearly 20 years right up until five years ago. That’s quite an impressive resume, that one job alone.

Next is Peter Kiernan III, a former Goldman-Sachs moneyman and investment banker who has piloted many many projects that have assets into the billions.

And of course, we can’t leave out Al Smith IV, the chairman of the Foundation.

Federal Election Commission records he has showered donations on every pro-abortion democrat New York has offered up: Charles Schumer, Bill Clinton, Hilary Clinton, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Christopher Dodd, even the notorious Congressman Jerry Nadler who has never missed chance to support the executions of pre-born babies in every congressional vote that has come up.

All these guys bankrolled by Al Smith IV. You wonder what his great grandfather who the event is named after would think of him.

But see, Catholic associations cozying up to and hopping in bed with rich or influential people is nothing new in America. We see it in the Knights of Columbus who refuse to expel from their midst pro-abortion and pro same-sex marriage Catholic politicians from their midst... hiding behind the canard that the bishops don’t do anything about them.. so the KofC doesn’t have the right.

Total garbage that by the way.

And of course... there is Notre Dame and the filthy rich board of trustees there... a large number of whom are big-time Chicago democratic machine operatives who are of course all in the tank for Obama and his child-murdering policies. They were the ones who orchestrated the entire May 2009 insult to the Mother of God by bringing Obama to campus to not just speak, but drape him in honors, complete with the seal of the university of the Mother of God.

But when you turn to the situation of the Al Smith dinner, you are especially revolted.

This is nothing more than a sellout of the faith presided over by a Cardinal of the Church, Timothy Dolan, who is touted as some kind of conservative wonderman.

He has cooperated in this insult to the faith with these moneychangers... who are big time Obama cheerleaders. His Eminence has openly declared in an Wall Street Journal article that he and other bishops failed miserably to teach the faith and defend the Church in the area of sexual morality.

He and other bishops are constantly droning on about the need to re-establish a Catholic identity. You don’t establish a Catholic identity by selling out the faith for your own personal popularity and to hob nob with a bunch of wall street moguls who spend their efforts and money to ensure that enemies of the faith keep getting elected.

Cardinal Dolan is a priest who has a duty to catechize and teach these men and others like them the faith that they either never got taught properly and or simply rejected... whichever the case.

If they won’t listen, then he needs to shake the dust from his feet... the words of the Master... not mine. But he has not only not done that, he has acquiesced to their bringing in Obama and refused the pleas of tens of thousands of faithful Catholics to rescind the invitation.

He has ignored the sheep and opened the front door for the wolf... complete red carpet and all. And here is why we say... this Al Smith Dinner is a microcosm of all that is wrong in the Church.

The faithful are ignored... the wicked are elevated and mingled with and supported... and the leaders are the most culpable of all. Since the Church is quite obviously in dire need of cleansing... and since those who are charged with keeping Her pure will not do the job... then Our Lord Himself will have to sweep them aside and do it Himself.

Often when the Church has been in need of purification... Our Lord has permitted persecution to ensue. Can anyone look around at the Church today and say she is not in need of massive purification.

Bring it on. We should be happy to be victims for the Faith. Let the persecution begin!

GOD Love you,

I’m Michael Voris

Link:

• Let the Persecution Begin 10-19

Related:

• Update: The Al Smith Dinner is upon us: A solution!
• The Cardinal's Criteria Fall into Question  
• Bishop Rene Gracida: Michael Voris Pierces the Veil Surrounding the Invitation of Obama to the Al Smith Dinner 
• HSH fisks Cardinal Dolan’s invite of Obama to the Al Smith Dinner 
• Al Smith Dinner Willing To Accept Pro-Abortion Group 
• Catholics for Obama: "President Obama to be honored guest at Al Smith Dinner"
• Purpose Of Al Smith Dinner Is Flawed
• Oh, Puhleeeze! - Michael Voris 
• Nancy Pelosi denied photo-op by Pope Benedict XVI
• Sign the Petition
• AONY Blog Response
• Disinvite Obama
• Clear as MUD! (Obama Invited to Alfred Smith Dinner by Archdiocese of New York)

Krauthammer: 'Biden’s Debate Prep Was Watching The Shining'

By Noel Sheppard

(NewsBusters)  "One would think that Biden’s debate preparation was watching repeatedly 'The Shining,' and I think he did an excellent imitation of Jack Nicholson."

So marvelously said syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer on Friday's Special Report on Fox.

Link:

• Krauthammer: 'Biden’s Debate Prep Was Watching The Shining' - 'Excellent Imitation of Jack Nicholson' 

Related:

• Angry old man yells at Paul Ryan for 90 minutes
• Jack Nicholson on Abortion

Angry old man yells at Paul Ryan for 90 minutes

"If a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool only rages and laughs, and there is no quiet." - Proverbs 29:9

Update: From Chris Wallace at Fox News Channel via The Blaze:

"I don't believe I've ever seen a debate in which one participant was as openly disrespectful of the other as Biden was to Paul Ryan tonight."

From AllahPundit at HotAir:

Angry old man yells at Paul Ryan for 90 minutes

Update: CNN insta-poll of undecideds shows tie; Update: Ryan wins CNN insta-poll overall, 48/44

I expected “table-pounding atmospherics” from Biden but I didn’t expect him to act like a total jackhole for fully 90 minutes. Give him credit for knowing his target audience, though: His task tonight was to get the left excited again after Obama fell into a semi-coma in Denver, and evincing utter disdain for Ryan — grimacing, shouting, laughing inappropriately, constantly interrupting, the total jackhole experience — is just what the doctor ordered. He might have irritated independents and undecideds, but probably not so much that it’ll change people’s votes. The Democrats needed someone to go out there and clown for liberals, and if there’s one thing this guy knows, it’s clowning.

Here’s a taste of what I mean via Mediaite, centered around one of Ryan’s more cutting lines of the evening. For what it’s worth, the media lost patience with Biden’s shtick too, but I doubt that’ll cost him anything tomorrow. And yes, needless to say, Raddatz was also terrible. Exit quotation from Greg Gutfeld: “Biden is the drunk at the bar; Martha is the unhappy bartender, and Ryan is the unfortunate salesman caught in the middle.”

Update from the RNC via Daniel Halper at The Weekly Standard: Biden Laughed at the Issues

And from Patrick Gavin at Politico:

Twitter frowns on Joe Biden's laugh

Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan were the two candidates on stage at Thursday’s vice presidential debate, but a third character emerged: Joe Biden’s laugh, which didn’t escape the notice of tweeting politicos. (And led, of course, to at least three satirical Twitter accounts: Laughing Joe Biden, Biden Smirk, and yet another Laughing Joe Biden.)

Weekly Standard’s Mark Hemingway: “Joe Biden’s laughing through talking about Iran sanctions?”

TIME’s Michael Scherer: “Not sure debate cameras have been light tested for Biden’s teeth. Best to watch with sunglasses.”

Washington Examiner’s Philip Klein: “Biden’s strategy seems to be to laugh at Ryan constantly. Will it work to infantalize Ryan, or backfire like Gore sighing?”

NBC’s David Gregory: “Biden’s smile is out of control.”

BuzzFeed’s Ben Smith: “So did Biden practice laughing at Ryan???”

Radio host Neal Boortz: “Looking like Biden’s gameplan is to laugh his way through this.”
 
Townhall.com’s Guy Benson: “Will Biden laugh his ass off at the terrible economy, too?”

MSNBC’s S.E. Cupp: “Biden needs to laugh a little less through the Libya, Middle East, nuclear Iran segment.”

Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin: “Biden’s laughing is losing the debate- obnoxious...”

Links:

• Angry old man yells at Paul Ryan for 90 minutes
• Twitter frowns on Joe Biden's laugh
• Republicans: Biden Laughed at the Issues
• Fox‘s Chris Wallace Blasts Biden’s ‘Unprecedented’ Debate Behavior: ‘Contemptuous and Disrespectful’

Democratic Convention: Cardinal Dolan Prayed for God to Protect the Lives of Those “Waiting to be Born”

h/t the Blaze

Klein: Hillary Turned Down Vice President Spot

By Larry Kudlow

(Townhall)  According to author Edward Klein, Obama has put out feelers to Hillary Clinton about accepting the VP spot on the ticket, but Hillary has said no. In the exclusive video below, Klein tells Larry Kudlow why Clinton is reluctant to take the number two spot.

Klein: Until just a couple of weeks ago, the White House was putting out feelers to see if Hillary would accept the vice presidential nod and replace Joe Biden. Bill Clinton was, I'm told, urging his wife to accept the number two slot. He saw this as a great launching pad for her for running in 2016. But then Hillary had lunch in the White House a couple of weeks ago with Valerie Jarrett, Michelle's best friend, senior adviser to both the First Lady and the President.

Kudlow: Just about the biggest Lefty in the White House.

Klein: That's right. She told Valerie she would not accept the vice president spot. The lunch was ostensibly about other matters, but it came up. The vice presidential thing came up. Hillary felt burned out after four years as secretary of state. But I'm told there were more important reasons for her not accepting.

(continued in video below)

Biden sent home to Delaware

Vice President Joe Biden waves as he arrives to speaks at Staffilino Chevrolet, Thursday, May 17, 2012 in Martins Ferry, Ohio. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

By Neil Munro

(The Daily Caller)  Vice President Joe Biden is going home to Delaware.

The updated White House calendar for Aug. 17 reports that “in the morning, the Vice President will meet with senior advisers. Later, the Vice President will be in Wilmington, Delaware.”

“There are no public events scheduled,” said the 5:36 p.m. White House announcement, titled “Daily Guidance for the Vice President.”

Biden’s retreat home during the increasingly frenetic 2012 race comes amid increased criticism for his campaign-trail performance.

Biden was slated to share an uncomfortable lunch with President Barack Obama on Thursday, following his disastrous week on the campaign trail, which culminated with a racially inflammatory warning to African-American supporters that Mitt Romney will “put y’all back in chains.”

The flubs revived chatter about whether the president will drop Biden, and seek a substitute vice president to win the tough 2012 race...

Biden’s campaign trail flubs this week also included two errors that prompted derision from GOP supporters and from the media.

Biden also managed to irritate the Washington Post’s editorial-writers, who complained about Biden’s response to a voter’s question about the Social Security program, which is heading rapidly toward bankruptcy.

“I guarantee you, flat guarantee you, there will be no changes in Social Security. … I flat guarantee you,” he said.

But Biden’s chain claim was especially damaging because it diverted attention from the Democrats’ criticism of Gov. Mitt Romney’s running-mate, Rep. Paul Ryan.

It also helped Romney persuade swing-voters that the Obama campaign is divisive and hateful, in contrast to Obama’s 2008 “hope and change” message...

Link:

• Biden sent home to Delaware

Cardinal Donald Wuerl Silent on Biden Remarks

From RORATE CÆLI:

By now, it's old news that the Vice President of the United States Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, a nominal Catholic, not only said he supports homosexual "marriage", but that there's no difference between homosexual "marriage" and heterosexual marriage (also known simply as marriage). His support for this issue was so persuasive that, about an hour ago, the President of the United States announced his support for homosexual "marriage" as well.

What's most troubling is the deafening silence stemming from the Ordinary of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction where the Vice President, his diocesan faithful, works - Cardinal Wuerl. Wuerl, who is accustomed to giving our Lord to pro-abortion politicians and celebrities, such as Nancy Pelosi, Chris Matthews and other nominal Catholics in not-so-good standing, has been silent on Biden's remarks. In fact, when contacted by Rorate Caeli, his communications office refused to comment and said it was "highly unlikely" Wuerl would ever say anything publicly.

Yet, he sure was vocal and public when it came to Father Marcel Guarnizo, who is STILL suspended in the Archdiocese of Washington, all for refusing to give Holy Communion to a lesbian Buddhist.

Maybe you, your family, friends, and everyone else who cares about the name of the Church can get the good Cardinal to speak up. If you get a statement, any statement, please let us know:

Office of Media and Public Relations
Secretariat for Communications
301-853-4516 communications@adw.org

Link:

• Cardinal Wuerl Silent on Biden Remarks

Related:

• The Scandal That is Eating the Heart out of the Catholic Church in America
• Cardinal Raymond Burke: Obama’s Policies ‘Have Become Progressively More Hostile Toward Christian Civilization’
• Cardinal Donald Wuerl:  Not His Style
• Fr. Marcel Guarnizo Update
• EITHER BISHOPS TAKE CONTROL OVER THE SACRAMENTS OR THE CHURCH’S ENEMIES WILL
• Fr. Marcel (!) Guarnizo receives gift from Chancery
• Lesbian denied Communion at her mother’s funeral is also a Buddhist

Magisterium of Nuns

Obama Pretends He Doesn't Know The Difference Between The Pope and the Dopes

From Carol at The Tenth Crusade:

I can't believe this...but Maria was right.

Obama is pretending Carol Keehan's disobedience to religious law is equivocal to the authority of the Pope.

"I can't speak to differences within the Catholic Church,"

White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew said on Fox News Sunday when reminded that "the most powerful statement by the Catholic Church in this country" was a denunciation of Obama's att empt at accomodation. "I would point to the statement put out by the Catholic Health Association which knows a fair amount about what it requires to [provide] health care in this country," he added.

They don't know what the differences are within the Catholic Church and can't speak to them.

In their ignorance they knew exactly how to avoid getting the official answers on Catholic ethics and religious liberty. What a coincidence.

Wow. They're either really stupid or pathological liars.

Maybe they're both?

• Link

White House Panics Hiroshima With Enola Gay Photo-Op Flyover

TOKYO - Just days after the White House apologized about an Air Force One photo-op flight around the Statue of Liberty that panicked New Yorkers still skittish about 9/11, the White House apologized to the people of Japan for sending the Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, for a photo-op flyover above the once-devastated city.

Early yesterday morning, on the White House’s instructions, the infamous bomber was secretly removed from display at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center and recommissioned for deployment.

Without alerting Hiroshima, an unnamed pilot, filmmaker Michael Moore and Vice President Joe Biden then flew the bomber over the city to film a recreation of the August 6, 1945 bombing that destroyed much of the city for Mr. Moore’s upcoming film Tōjō & Me, a film about Mr. Moore’s fictional efforts to speak with Hideki Tōjō, Japan’s prime minister in World War II.

Mr. Biden reportedly believed that the men were actually on a mission to drop an atomic bomb over Hiroshima.

After it became known that the mission terrified residents of Hiroshima, President Obama said he welcomed the opportunity to apologize to Japan.

“I was hoping to find some reason to apologize to Japan on behalf of the United States anyway, and this is the perfect opportunity.”

• Link

Obama Fomenting A Constitutional Crisis: Constitutional Lawyer Discusses Ramifications Of Controversy

By John P. Connolly, The Bulletin

12/01/2008

Controversy continues to surround President-elect Barack Obama's eligibility to serve as president, and a case involving his birth certificate waits for its day before the U.S. Supreme Court. A constitutional lawyer said were it to be discovered that Mr. Obama is not a natural-born U.S. citizen, it would have grave consequences for the nation.

According to the Constitution, a president must be a natural born citizen of the U.S. Mr. Obama's critics have failed to force him legally to produce his original birth certificate, and Mr. Obama has resisted any attempt to make him do so. Currently, only Hawaii Department of Health officials have access to Mr. Obama's original records.

Some of Mr. Obama's critics have said he was born in Kenya and have claimed he is a citizen of Kenya, Indonesia, or even a British subject.

Edwin Vieira, a constitutional lawyer who has practiced for 30 years and holds four degrees from Harvard, said if it were to be discovered Mr. Obama were not eligible for the presidency, it would cause many problems. They would be compounded if his ineligibility were discovered after he had been in office for a period of time.

"Let's assume he wasn't born in the U.S.," Mr. Vieira told The Bulletin. "What's the consequence? He will not be eligible. That means he cannot be elected validly. The people and the Electoral College cannot overcome this and the House of Representatives can't make him president. So what's the next step? He takes the oath of office, and assuming he's aware he's not a citizen, then it's a perjured oath."

Any appointments made by an ineligible president would have to be recalled, and their decisions would be invalidated.

"He may have nominated people to different positions; he may have nominated people to the judicial branch, who may have been confirmed, they may have gone out on executive duty and done various things," said Mr. Vieira. "The people that he's put into the judicial branch may have decided cases, and all of that needs to be unzipped."

Mr. Vieira said Obama supporters should be the ones concerned about the case, because Mr. Obama's platform would be discredited it he were forced to step down from the presidency later due to his ineligibility, were it to be discovered.

"Let's say we go a year into this process, and it all turns out to be a flim-flam," said Mr. Vieira. "What's the nation's reaction to that? What's going to be the reaction in the next U.S. election? God knows. It has almost revolutionary consequences, if you think about it."

Mr. Vieira said Mr. Obama's continued silence and avoidance in the release of his birth certificate is an ethical issue because of the dire consequences that could be caused by a possible constitutional crisis.

"If he were my client and this question came up in civil litigation, if there was some reason that his birth status was relevant and the other side wanted him to produce the thing and he said 'no,' I would tell him, 'you have about 15 minutes to produce it or sign the papers necessary to produce the document, or I'm resigning as your attorney," said Mr. Vieira. "I don't think any ethical attorney would go ahead on the basis that his client could produce an objective document in civil litigation [and refused to do so]."

Further, Mr. Vieira cited a fraud ruling in a 1977 case called U.S. v. Prudden, which he feels applies in this case.

"Silence can only be equated with fraud when there is a legal and moral duty to speak or when an inquiry left unanswered would be intentionally misleading," the ruling reads. "We cannot condone this shocking conduct ... If that is the case we hope our message is clear. This sort of deception will not be tolerated and if this is routine it should be corrected immediately."

Mr. Vieira said such an ethical question of representing a client who refused to produce such a basic document is important, even in a small civil case. The current question is concerning the man who potentially could have his finger next to the nuclear button.

"[The birth certificate], in theory, should be there," said Mr. Vieira. "What if it isn't? Who knows, aside from Mr. Obama? Does Russian intelligence know it isn't there? Does Chinese intelligence know it isn't there? Does the CIA know that it isn't there? Who is in a position to blackmail this fellow?"

Mr. Vieira explained all laws have to be submitted to the president. In the event that there is no valid president, then no laws passed by Congress in that administration would be legally null and void. Because of that, this case will probably not go away, even after Mr. Obama takes the oath of office.

"If you don't produce it, you think it's going to go away," he said. "There are all these cases challenging Mr. Obama, and some challenging secretaries of state, and they run into this doctrine called standing."

Mr. Vieira explained although legal standing is difficult to get around in Federal courts, the document could be produced in any criminal cases stemming from legislation passed in the Obama administration.

"Let's assume that an Obama administration passes some of these controversial pieces of legislation he has been promising to go for, like the FOCA (Freedom of Choice) Act," said Mr. Vieira. "I would assume that some of those surely will have some severe civil or criminal penalties attached to them for violation. You are now the criminal defendant under this statute, which was passed by an Obama Congress and signed by President Obama. Your defense is that is not a statute because Mr. Obama is not the president. You now have a right and I have never heard this challenged, to subpoena in a criminal case, anyone who has relevant evidence relating to your defenses. And you can subpoena them duces tecum, meaning 'you shall bring with you the documents.' "

Such a criminal defense would enable the defendant to subpoena any person to testify in court and any person to bring evidence in their possession to the court.

Further, records could be subpoenaed directly, in the case of a birth certificate. Once the record could be subpoenaed, the birth certificate could be examined by forensic experts, who would then be able to testify to the document's veracity as expert witnesses. Any movement by the judges to make a special exception to the president in a criminal case would hurt the legitimacy of that presidential administration.

"I can't believe I'm the only lawyer who would think of this," said Mr. Vieira. "I think any criminal lawyer defending against one of these politically charged statutes is going to come up with this. That means it will never go away until that document is laid down on the table and people say, 'yes, there it is.' And therefore they're caught. If people keep challenging this and the judges out of fear keep saying 'no, go to jail, go to jail, go to jail' then that's the end of the Obama administration's legitimacy. On the other hand if they open the file and it's not there, then that's really the end of the administration's legitimacy."

Several court cases in the birth certificate controversy are waiting admission to the Supreme Court.

A gathering of judges will meet on Dec. 5 to decide whether or not to hear a case from New Jersey, and a decision is still pending on a case from a lawyer in Pennsylvania. Should four of the judges vote to hear the case in the Dec. 5 meeting, then it will be scheduled for hearings. Court cases from Connecticut and New York have also applied for hearings at the U.S. Supreme Court.

John P. Connolly can be reached at jconnolly@thebulletin.us

• Link

Modesto pastor condemns votes for Obama: Priest urges confession due to Obama's pro-choice stance

By Sue Nowicki / The Modesto Bee

11/28/08 22:48:56

MODESTO -- Father Joseph Illo, pastor of St. Joseph's Catholic Church, has told parishioners in a homily and in a follow-up letter that if they voted for Barack Obama, they should consider going to confession because of the president-elect's pro-choice position.

"If you are one of the 54% of Catholics who voted for a pro-abortion candidate, you were clear on his position and you knew the gravity of the question, I urge you to go to confession before receiving communion. Don't risk losing your state of grace by receiving sacrilegiously," Illo wrote in a letter dated Nov. 21.

The letter was sent to more than 15,000 members of the St. Joseph's parish. It is one of 34 parishes in the Stockton Diocese, which has more than 200,000 members in Stanislaus, San Joaquin and four other counties.

Though Obama's support of abortion rights angered many Catholics nationally during the campaign, Illo's letter is believed to be the first in Central California from a priest to his parishioners on the topic.

The Most Rev. Stephen Blaire, bishop of the Stockton Diocese, disagrees with Illo. He said Catholics should not feel compelled to disclose how they voted to their priest.

Blaire said Catholics who carefully weighed many issues and settled on a candidate were not in need of confession. He said confession would be necessary "only if someone voted for a pro-abortion or pro-choice candidate -- if that's the reason you voted for them."

"Our position on pro-life is very important, but there are other issues," Blaire said. "No one candidate reflects everything that we stand for. I'm sure that most Catholics who voted were voting on economic issues.

"There were probably many priests, and I suspect many bishops, who voted for Obama."

Illo's letter states, "Many Catholics voted for such pro-abortion candidates thinking that their good positions on other issues, such as the war or health care, outweighed their deplorable stand on abortion."

Illo said in an interview, "I've gotten a lot of e-mails and phone calls. It's about 12-to-1 in favor of what I said. One person has left the parish. But I got all of these other positive things."

Across the country, Obama's nomination and campaign were divisive for many Catholics. Many priests and church officials sermonized against him because of his stance on abortion, as they did four years ago when Democratic John Kerry challenged President Bush. There were Catholic-inspired anti-Obama videos on YouTube regarding the issue.

National exit polling after the Nov. 4 election shows a majority of Catholic voters rejected the hard-line position -- 54% of them voted for Obama and 45% for John McCain, the Republican nominee.

• Link

BIDEN DEFIES POPE AND BISHOPS: NOW HE IS PRO-GAY MARRIAGE

October 20, 2008

On today’s episode of “Ellen,” Joe Biden told Ellen DeGeneres “that if I lived in California, I would vote against Proposition 8.” This initiative reads, “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” Yet in his debate with Sarah Palin on October 2, Biden said that “Barack Obama nor I support redefining from a civil side what constitutes marriage.”

Catholic League president Bill Donohue weighed in on this today:

“Proposition 8 is a civil initiative that would secure marriage as an institution that is exclusively between a man and a woman, and Joe Biden told Ellen DeGeneres that he is opposed to that measure. In other words, Biden did not tell the truth in his debate with Sarah Palin. He cannot logically be opposed to both gay marriage and Proposition 8, but that is exactly what he is trying to get away with. More important, Biden is openly defying both the pope and the bishops.

“Last year, in his Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, Pope Benedict XVI pointedly said the following about people like Joe Biden: ‘Worship pleasing to God can never be a purely private matter…it is especially incumbent upon those who, by virtue of their social or political position, must make decisions regarding fundamental values such as respect for human life, its defence from conception to natural death, the family built upon marriage between a man and a woman....These values are not negotiable.’ (My emphasis.)

“Last year, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship wherein it said that the family based on marriage between a man and a woman ‘should be defended and strengthened, not redefined or undermined by permitting same-sex unions or other distortions of marriage.’

“Biden is in a major jam. He needs to hold a press conference explaining his irreconcilable moral positions, and why he has chosen to defy the pope and the bishops.”

• Link
  

Catholic Vote 2008

• Death Wish - Parts 1 & 2

Palin in 'debate camp' until Thursday

(CNN)– Gov. Sarah Palin will now spend two and a half days near Sedona, Arizona, to prepare for Thursday's debate, instead of prepping in St Louis, as originally planned.

Sarah Palin will be at John McCain's rustic creek side home outside Sedona for what a top aide calls "debate camp..."

• Link

Lipstick

• Oh.No.He.Dih-in't

Biden skips Mass where new Bishop speak out against him

From American Papist:

Once again, my low expectations are wonderfully surpassed.

Reader John V notes that Biden, as I predicted, skipped town:

"Looks like you were right. [Biden] was in Wilmington yesterday, but had to go to Green Bay today."

And it's a good thing, too. I wouldn't have wanted to present myself for communion after this homily by Bishop Malooly:

... Mary’s mother, St. Anne, carried a very special life in her womb which serves as a vivid reminder that every life is special. We will continue to stress the constant teaching of the Church that each person must respect every life from conception to natural death. And we will continue to seek the intercession of Saint Thomas More for Statesmen, Politicians, Supreme Court Justices, Judges and Lawyers—that they may be courageous and effective in defending and promoting the sanctity of human life, the foundation of every human right, the foundation of our love for the poor.

While Bishop Fran Malooly does not name Joe Biden (or Nancy Pelosi) by name, anyone who has been keeping up on this story knows what's being said quite plainly.

Nor is the St. Thomas More reference a throw-away line, I would argue. In his new book on Catholic voting, Abp. Charles Chaput spends an entire section talking about the example of St. Thomas More.

Coincidence? Perhaps. But lest we forget, St. Thomas summed up his witness in one line before his martyrdom:

"I die the King's good servant - but God's first."

• Link

Change

Catholic leaders react to Biden pick; Bishops say he should refrain from Communion

"Fr. Frank Pavone, the head of Priests for Life, took a broader view of Barack Obama’s vice presidential selection, calling it 'a wake-up call to the Church (clergy and laity alike). '

Among the steps that the Church needs to take, said Fr. Pavone, are: to “improve the way we hand on the Faith, be willing to exercise the spiritual work of mercy of admonishing the sinner, and to keep politically active so that such people are voted out of office.”

Politicians, Fr. Pavone underscored, are engaged in publicly expressing “their support for keeping abortion legal” while at the same time consistently refusing to admit what abortion is. He added, 'if a politician cannot respect the life of a little baby, how is he supposed to respect yours and mine?..'

'Biden's own bishop, Bishop Michael Saltarelli of Wilmington, Del., has said that the issues pertaining to the sanctity of human life are the ‘great civil rights issues of this generation’.

Bishop Saltarelli denounced the notion that politicians can 'personally oppose' abortion, but refuse to pass laws protecting the unborn. In fact, Bishop Saltarelli has made clear that pro-abortion Catholic politicians should refrain from receiving the Eucharist.

On Monday morning in Denver, where the Democratic National Convention is underway, Archbishop Charles Chaput told the Associated Press that because of support for abortion, Biden should refrain from taking Communion..."

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