What's Really in Obama's Health Care Bill?

What's really in Obama's health care reform bill? Almost no one knows, and here's why: It's 1,017 pages long and written in an alien form of bureaucratic English that can barely be decoded by earthlings.

And yet, astonishingly, a U.S. Army translator has been found who speaks "Washington Doublespeak" and he was kind enough to decode the bill and post his plain-language findings over at FreeRepublic.com (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f...).

Snip

From CMS at FreeRepublic.com:

• Page 16: States that if you have insurance at the time of the bill becoming law and change, you will be required to take a similar plan. If that is not available, you will be required to take the government option!
• Page 22: Mandates audits of all employers that self-insure!
• Page 29: Admission: your health care will be rationed!
• Page 30: A government committee will decide what treatments and benefits you get (and, unlike an insurer, there will be no appeals process)
• Page 42: The "Health Choices Commissioner" will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. None.
• Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free healthcare services.
• Page 58: Every person will be issued a National ID Healthcard.
• Page 59: The federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer.
• Page 65: Taxpayers will subsidize all union retiree and community organizer health plans (example: SEIU, UAW and ACORN)
• Page 72: All private healthcare plans must conform to government rules to participate in a Healthcare Exchange.
• Page 84: All private healthcare plans must participate in the Healthcare Exchange (i.e., total government control of private plans)
• Page 91: Government mandates linguistic infrastructure for services; translation: illegal aliens
• Page 95: The Government will pay ACORN and Americorps to sign up individuals for Government-run Health Care plan.
• Page 102: Those eligible for Medicaid will be automatically enrolled: you have no choice in the matter.
• Page 124: No company can sue the government for price-fixing. No "judicial review" is permitted against the government monopoly. Put simply, private insurers will be crushed.
• Page 127: The AMA sold doctors out: the government will set wages.
• Page 145: An employer MUST auto-enroll employees into the government-run public plan. No alternatives.
• Page 126: Employers MUST pay healthcare bills for part-time employees AND their families.
• Page 149: Any employer with a payroll of $400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays an 8% tax on payroll
• Page 150: Any employer with a payroll of $250K-400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays a 2 to 6% tax on payroll
• Page 167: Any individual who doesn't have acceptable healthcare (according to the government) will be taxed 2.5% of income.
• Page 170: Any NON-RESIDENT alien is exempt from individual taxes (Americans will pay for them).
• Page 195: Officers and employees of Government Healthcare Bureaucracy will have access to ALL American financial and personal records.
• Page 203: "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax." Yes, it really says that.
• Page 239: Bill will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors and the poor most affected."
• Page 241: Doctors: no matter what specialty you have, you'll all be paid the same (thanks, AMA!)
• Page 253: Government sets value of doctors' time, their professional judgment, etc.
• Page 265: Government mandates and controls productivity for private healthcare industries.
• Page 268: Government regulates rental and purchase of power-driven wheelchairs.
• Page 272: Cancer patients: welcome to the wonderful world of rationing!
• Page 280: Hospitals will be penalized for what the government deems preventable re-admissions.
• Page 298: Doctors: if you treat a patient during an initial admission that results in a readmission, you will be penalized by the government.
• Page 317: Doctors: you are now prohibited for owning and investing in healthcare companies!
• Page 318: Prohibition on hospital expansion. Hospitals cannot expand without government approval.
• Page 321: Hospital expansion hinges on "community" input: in other words, yet another payoff for ACORN.
• Page 335: Government mandates establishment of outcome-based measures: i.e., rationing.
• Page 341: Government has authority to disqualify Medicare Advantage Plans, HMOs, etc.
• Page 354: Government will restrict enrollment of SPECIAL NEEDS individuals.
• Page 379: More bureaucracy: Telehealth Advisory Committee (healthcare by phone).
• Page 425: More bureaucracy: Advance Care Planning Consult: Senior Citizens, assisted suicide, euthanasia?
• Page 425: Government will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney, etc. Mandatory. Appears to lock in estate taxes ahead of time.
• Page 425: Government provides approved list of end-of-life resources, guiding you in death.
• Page 427: Government mandates program that orders end-of-life treatment; government dictates how your life ends.
• Page 429: Advance Care Planning Consult will be used to dictate treatment as patient's health deteriorates. This can include an ORDER for end-of-life plans. An ORDER from the GOVERNMENT.
• Page 430: Government will decide what level of treatments you may have at end-of-life.
• Page 469: Community-based Home Medical Services: more payoffs for ACORN.
• Page 472: Payments to Community-based organizations: more payoffs for ACORN.
• Page 489: Government will cover marriage and family therapy. Government intervenes in your marriage.
• Page 494: Government will cover mental health services: defining, creating and rationing those services.

Image via The Patriot Post.

St. Ignatius of Loyola: Brief Biography, Favorite Quotes, Prayers, and Works

St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, was born in 1491 in the Basque Country of Northern Spain to parents of distinguished families in that area. He was the youngest of 13 children and was called was called Iñigo. At the age of 15, he served as a page in the court of a local nobleman and later embraced a military career and became a valiant soldier.

Wounded in battle by a cannonball, which broke one leg and injured the other, he was taken prisoner by the French, who set his leg and eventually allowed him to go home to Loyola. He spent his time recuperating at the home of his brother. Confined to his sick bed , he was given pious books to read, which he grudgingly accepted. To his surprise, he enjoyed them and began to dream of becoming a "knight for Christ", pursuing the ideals of St. Francis and St. Dominic. He eventually promised to devote his life to being a knight for St. Peter if he recovered, which he did after nine months of convalescence.

Ignatius noticed that after doing good deeds for the Lord, he felt peaceful -- which he termed as a "consolation", but when he thought of being a successful soldier or of impressing a beautiful woman where he had initially felt enthused, he later felt dry. Through this process of discernment, Ignatius was able to recognize that God was leading him to follow a path of service. Out of this experience he wrote his famous "Spiritual Exercises".

After traveling and studying in different schools, he finished in Paris, where he received his degree at the age of 43. Many initially hated St. Ignatius because of his humble and austere lifestyle. Despite this, he attracted many followers at the university, including St. Francis Xavier, and soon started his order, The Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits. He travelled to Europe and the Holy Land, then settled in Rome to direct the Jesuits. His health suffered in later years, and he was nearly blind at death. He died at the age of 65.

Favorite Quotes:

"If God causes you to suffer much, it is a sign that He has great designs for you, and that He certainly intends to make you a saint. And if you wish to become a great saint, entreat Him yourself to give you much opportunity for suffering; for there is no wood better to kindle the fire of holy love than the wood of the cross, which Christ used for His own great sacrifice of boundless charity."

"Few souls understand what God would accomplish in them if they were to abandon themselves unreservedly to Him and if they were to allow His grace to mold them accordingly."

~ Saint Ignatius of Loyola

Prayers of St. Ignatius of Loyola

More Prayers

Litany In Honor of St. Ignatius of Loyola

Works of St. Ignatius Online:

Letter on Obedience, by Saint Ignatius of Loyola

Spiritual Exercises

Image Source

Obama Science Adviser: Trees Should be Allowed to Sue, Babies Not Yet “Human Beings”

Just when you thought that the high advisers to President Obama couldn’t get any more radical.

Obama's new science and technical czar, John Holdren, believes a fetus is not a human being even after birth.

He also at one time believed a tree had the right to sue a human being.

As I reported previously, this is also the czar who supports forced abortions and compulsory sterilization.

Where on earth does he find these sickos? And why isn't the MSM reporting on this?

Media Ignores Extreme Views of Obama Science Czar | NewsBusters.org

Second Hand Smoke at First Things

Bill O'Reilly to Be Honored at Values Voter Summit

Washington, D.C. - Today, FRC Action, the legislative lobbying arm of Family Research Council, announced that Bill O'Reilly, host of Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor," will address FRC's fourth annual Values Voter Summit that will take place September 18-20 in Washington, D.C. O'Reilly is the author of eight best-selling books including Culture Warrior, Those Who Trespass and his most recent A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity: A Memoir.

For being a voice of virtue in a culture of death, FRC Action will honor him with the first ever Media Courage Award. In the face of intense pressure, Bill O'Reilly has stood for truth during a tumultuous time in the pro-life debate. Despite a firestorm of unfair allegations, he has defended his position against late-term abortions and brought new light to a gruesome procedure. He has used a national platform to promote the dignity of life - no matter what the personal or professional risk.

O'Reilly will join an already impressive line-up of speakers at the Summit, including: Governors Rick Perry (R-Texas) and Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.), former Governors Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) and Mike Huckabee (R-Ark), Reps. John Boehner (R-Ohio) Eric Cantor (R-Va.), Mike Pence (R-Ind.), and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), actor Stephen Baldwin, author Joel Rosenberg, Phyllis Schlafly, Ken Blackwell, Star Parker, and Lila Rose. Invited speakers include: Former Governor Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) and Governor Bobby Jindal (R-La.), Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Kirk Cameron, and many more.

FRC Action's Values Voter Summit is cosponsored by the American Family Association, Focus on the Family Action, American Values, Family Research Council, and the Heritage Foundation. The summit will be held September 18-20 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. in Washington, D.C. A presidential straw poll, exhibit hall, book signings, new media row sponsored by the National Organization for Marriage, and much more will be packed into this three-day conference. On Saturday evening Phyllis Schlafly will be honored at a gala dinner and receive the third annual James C. Dobson Vision and Leadership Award.

Who are the uninsured? Is Obama Care the solution?

This video report by National Center for Policy Analysis President & CEO and Kellye Wright Fellow John C. Goodman in a Fox News story on the uninsured in America confirms what I thought about it. Most of the uninsured are illegal immigrants, those who have been laid off (as a result of the current economic crisis), and those who don't bother to get it because they feel they don't need it or don't bother to sign up for it (when they can get it for free!). Health insurance can be expensive for those on a fixed income -- I know this from my own experiences. My family has been without health insurance for long periods of time at different times in our lives when my husband was without work due to job cuts or layoffs in the manufacturing field, but we survived and God provided for us. Today, Cobra is now less expensive than it used to be and there are now more affordable health insurance programs available tailor-made to each family's needs. Continuing to provide better, more affordable health insurance programs in this country is important.

What we don't need now is a health care reform plan that totally bankrupts our economy, pays for abortions, encourages euthanasia, rations care to the handicapped, makes us wait months or years before we can see a doctor, gives the federal government access to our bank accounts, and encourages companies to layoff even more workers. Just say "No!" to Obama death care.

What Obama death care will do:


* Result in the biggest expansion of abortion since
the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision...

* Force YOU to pay for abortions through your tax
dollars -- something 71% of Americans oppose...

* Implement a cornerstone of FOCA -- the Freedom of
Choice Act -- that would lead to a massive,
taxpayer-subsidized abortion industry bailout...

* Force you and virtually all Americans into health
plans with mandatory abortion coverage (health
care reform legislation must explicitly exclude
abortion in writing or else abortion automatically
becomes a minimum required benefit.)

What can you do about it?

It is very important that you -- and record numbers
of people -- do 2 things RIGHT NOW:

1. E-MAIL your Representative and 2 Senators and
tell them in no uncertain terms: "Keep abortion
out of health care! Any health care reform bill
must include language that explicitly excludes
abortion." It's easy to do -- just go to:

http://www.stoptheabortionmandate.com/email

2. CALL the Washington office and the local office
of your Representative and 2 Senators to say:
"Keep abortion out of health care. I urge you to
oppose any health care bill unless abortion is
explicitly excluded." Get tips and look up your
elected officials at:

http://www.stoptheabortionmandate.com/call

If each of us does these two things today -- and
encourages others to do these things -- we can
make a powerful impact at a crucial moment.


Go to http://www.StopTheAbortionMandate.com now!

Why Does Evil Exist?

Fr. Joe Koterski explains how we sometimes suffer despite the fact that God is all loving. Presented by the Diocese of Charlotte, NC, USA.

St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop and Doctor

Today is the optional memorial of St. Peter of Chrysologus, "the man of golden speech", who earned the title of Doctor of the Church for his eloquent sermons. Born at Imola, Italy in 406, St. Peter was baptized, educated, and ordained a deacon by Cornelius, Bishop of Imola. Made Archbishop of Ravenna by miraculous intervention of St. Peter in 433, he rooted out all remaining traces of paganism, as well as a number of abuses among the Christians. In his sermons he strongly urged frequent Communion. He is supposed to have given us the saying: "He who wants to laugh with the devil cannot rejoice with Christ." He practiced many corporal and spiritual works of mercy, and ruled his flock with diligence and care. He died about the year 450 in his native city of Imola.

My Favorite Quotes from St. Peter Chrysologus

"He is The Bread sown in the virgin, leavened in the Flesh, molded in His Passion, baked in the furnace of the Sepulchre, placed in the Churches, and set upon the Altars, which daily supplies Heavenly Food to the faithful."

"Today Christ works the first of his signs from heaven by turning water into wine. But water [mixed with wine] has still to be changed into the sacrament of his blood, so that Christ may offer spiritual drink from the chalice of his body, to fulfill the psalmist's prophecy: How excellent is my chalice, warming my spirit."

"Anyone who wishes to frolic with the devil cannot rejoice with Christ."

Learn more about St. Peter here and here.

Collect

Father, you made Peter Chrysologus an outstanding preacher of your Incarnate Word. May the prayers of St. Peter help us to cherish the mystery of our salvation and make its meaning clear in our love for others. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

The Catholic Faith and Suffering

Fr. Joe Koterski describes the teaching of the Catholic Church as it relates to end of life suffering.

St. Augustine on Receiving God's Fullness

"Even though you possess plenty, you are still indigent. You abound in temporal possessions, but you need things eternal. You listen to the needs of a human beggar, yet yourself are a beggar of God. What you do with those who beg from you is what God will do with His beggar. You are filled and you are empty. Fill your empty neighbor with your fullness, so that your emptiness may be filled from God's fullness."

~ St. Augustine

After A Government Health Care Takeover

CATHOLIC CHARITIES, VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY SUPPORTING ABORTION-PROVIDING HEALTHCARE PLAN

Three of the top lay Catholic organizations have divorced themselves from Catholic teaching by supporting the Obama health-care plan, which would foster a culture of mandatory abortion coverage, contraceptive services, and permissive sex education, euthanasia and eugenics.

Catholic Charities USA, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and the Catholic Health Association are joining together to push the current version of the plan through Congress.

"There is no social justice in rationing charity," said Judie Brown, president of American Life League. "Millions of taxpayers will be forced to subsidize abortion, contraception, euthanasia and bureaucratic denial of health care to the poorest of the poor."

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul and Catholic Charities USA sent out an action alert asking members to contact their legislators immediately:

We must maintain momentum for health care reform efforts with calls and emails supporting health care reform immediately. ... Your members of Congress need to hear from you that you support health care reform, and that the system needs to be reformed now.

The Catholic Health Association put together a YouTube video showing people displaying messages such as “I can’t wait for health-care reform” and “We can’t wait until the signing ceremony.”

"All these organizations claim to be faithful to Catholic social teaching – which unambiguously and passionately puts respect for human personhood at the core of all other social and charitable works,” Brown pointed out. “Yet these same organizations are undermining the very foundation they exist to protect and foster the dignity of human persons and the sanctity of their right to life.'

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Catholic Health Association: I Can't Wait ... For Health Reform
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYnhuSd6Uiw

Catholic Charities USA: Study Sheds Light on Role of Abortion Drug (16 June 2008)
http://capwiz.com/catholiccharitiesusa/issues/alert/?alertid=13746156

Society of St. Vincet de Paul: Link to Catholic Health Association YouTube
http://www.svdpusa.org/VoiceofthePoor/tabid/167/ItemId/164/language/en-US/Default.aspx

~ Via Katy Walker.

Putting the Health Back into Obama's Stealth Care

Congressman Jeff Fortenberry delivers a short, but powerful speech on the House Floor on putting the "health" back in health care.

Laws, Lies, and Videotape

A propaganda video against Personhood initiatives is making the pro-abortion rounds, and American Life League is right there to point out the omissions, inconsistencies, and outright lies being pushed by abortion advocates.

St. Martha

Mary and Martha lived with their brother Lazarus at Bethany, a village not far from Jerusalem. They are mentioned in several episodes in the Gospels.

On one occasion, when Jesus and His disciples were their guests (Luke 10:38-42), Mary sat at Jesus' feet and listened to Him while her sister Martha busied herself with preparing food and waiting on the guests, and when Martha complained, Jesus said that Mary had chosen the better part.

When Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, had died, Jesus came to Bethany. Martha, upon being told that He was approaching, went out to meet Him, while Mary sat still in the house until He sent for her. It was to Martha that Jesus said: "I am the Resurrection and the Life." (John 11:1-44)

Again, about a week before the crucifixion, as Jesus reclined at table, Mary poured a flask of expensive perfume over Jesus' feet. Mary was criticized for wasting what might have been sold to raise money for the poor, and again Jesus spoke on her behalf. (John 12:1-8)

On the basis of these incidents, many Christian writers have seen Mary as representing Contemplation (prayer and devotion), and Martha as representing Action (good works, helping others); or love of God and love of neighbor respectively.

Martha and Mary were sisters, related not only by blood but also by religious aspirations. They stayed close to our Lord and both served him harmoniously when he was among them. Martha welcomed him as travelers are welcomed. But in her case, the maidservant received her Lord, the creature her Creator, to serve him bodily food while she was to be fed by the Spirit.

No one of you should say, "Blessed are they who have deserved to receive Christ into their homes!" Do not grieve or complain that you were born in a time when you can no longer see God in the flesh. He did not in fact take this privilege from you. As he says, "Whatever you have done to the least of my brothers, you did to me."

~ from a sermon by Saint Augustine

Patronage: Butlers; cooks; dietitians; domestic servants; homemakers; hotel-keepers; housemaids; housewives; innkeepers; laundry workers; maids; manservants; servants; servers; single laywomen; travellers.

Prayer

O God, heavenly Father, whose Son Jesus Christ enjoyed rest and refreshment in the home of Mary and Martha of Bethany: Give us the will to love you, open our hearts to hear you, and strengthen our hands to serve you in others for his sake; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever.

100,000+ Letters Sent Urging Congress to Keep Abortion Out of Health Care

Today the Susan B. Anthony List announced that pro-life activists nationwide have sent over 100,000 letters to Congress urging the exclusion of abortion from any national health care reform effort.

"As we approach the August recess, already tens of thousands of pro-life Americans have contacted Congress urging them to keep abortion out of health care," said Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. "Americans are urging Members of Congress to preserve the real common ground, our long-standing tradition of limiting taxpayer funds for abortion. This is exactly the type of policy the President has sought to achieve, one that stands the test of time, has popular support and appeals to members on both sides of the aisle. Yet both the House and Senate versions of health care reform legislation seek to undo this commonsense policy. Without language to explicitly exclude an abortion mandate, the legislation will result in Americans footing the bill for abortion on-demand in the largest expansion of government-backed abortion since Roe v. Wade."

In an interview with CBS' Katie Couric last week, President Obama said, "What I think is important, at this stage, is not trying to micromanage what benefits are covered. [. . .] As you know, I'm pro choice. But I think we also have a tradition of, in this town, historically, of not financing abortions as part of government funded health care."

"Families are at the very heart of the health care issue," said Dannenfelser. "And with pregnancy there are always two patients, mother and baby. We must establish a health care system that respects, protects and cherishes both. Congress should explicitly exclude an abortion mandate and preserve the common ground policies supported by the growing majority of pro-life Americans."

To date this year, Susan B. Anthony List activists have sent nearly 400,000 letters urging Congress to keep taxpayer funds from supporting abortion on-demand, 112,000 of which called for the exclusion of abortion from health care. In a recent action alert, NARAL Pro-Choice America reported sending 12,500 letters to the Senate in support of an abortion mandate.

Who Will Tell Michael Fox He Needs to Die?

Should Michael J. Fox be put to death?

Celebrities and death. Now there's a potent cocktail.

Several parts fame, a few jiggers of Hollywood and a splash each for sports, business and journalism. Did I mention politics and government bureaucracy? Sorry. Without that essential element the mixture has no wallop. And a wallop this concoction surely will have, particularly if you believe actor Michael J. Fox has overstayed his welcome on the planet.

Read the rest at The American Spectator.

BREAKING NEWS: SOTOMAYOR APPROVED BY SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

The Senate Judiciary Committee just approved the Sotomayor nomination to the Supreme Court on a 13-6 vote. Floor vote will be next week.

Catholic Nurse forced to perform abortion: "It felt like a horror film unfolding!"

"It felt like a horror film unfolding. I felt violated and betrayed. I couldn't believe that this could happen."

These are the words of a Catholic nurse who was forced to choose between her religious convictions and her job when her employer ordered her to assist in a late-term abortion against her will. Catherina Cenzon-DeCarlo, 35, reports that she has had gruesome nightmares and hasn't been able to sleep since the May 24 incident.

Read the entire story here.

This is outrageous! It is a clear-cut violation of her conscience rights. During her job interview, she told the administrator that she would not perform abortions. I hope and pray that she wins her lawsuit.

Also, if Congress passes the current Healthcare System Reform Package, the scenario in this article will be the norm for all healthcare workers, including doctors. We must act to defeat this horrific bill.

Here are some simple things you can do:

1. Pray

2. E-mail and write letters to your Representative and two Senators

3. Call the offices of your Representative and two Senators

4. Spread the word to everyone you know

5. Write a Letter to the Editor of your local newspaper

Go to http://stoptheabortionmandate.com/ to learn more.

Saint Samson

Today's saint is St. Samson, a Welsh bishop and confessor, who is considered to be one of the greatest missionaries to come from the Bristish Isles. He was born in Wales aound the year 485. At the age of seven, his parents dedicated him to the service of God in gratitude for his birth after a long period of childlessness. He became a disciple of St. Illtyd at the monastery of Lianwit in Glamorgan and then lived as a monk (and later abbot) of a community on Caldey Island (Ynys Byr). He was joined there by his uncle, Umbrafel, and his father, Amon. After a trip to Ireland, Samson became a hermit with Amon whom he cured of a mortal illness. During a trip to Cornwall, he was consecrated a bishop and appointed an abbot. He then departed England and went to Brittany where he spent the rest of his life as a missionary, even though he had long searched for solitude. Samson founded monasteries, including one at Dol and another at Pental, in Normandy. He was one of the foremost evangelizers of his century and has long been venerated with enthusiasm in Wales and Brittany.

For more information, see the Catholic Encylopedia.

Pope Benedict on Bringing The Truth of God Back Into The World

"We must bring the truth of God back into the world, make Him known. Evangelization consists precisely in the distant God becoming close, in God no longer being far off but near, in this 'known-unknown' finally making Himself known and revealing His face. ... He shows us His face, He enters our world. There is no longer any need to use other powers because He is the true power, the Almighty".

~ Pope Benedict XVI


H/T: Ignatius Insight Scoop.

Exciting Job Opportunity

From my inbox:

Interested in a part-time job doing something FUN!?...

Would you like to help further the mission of Epiphany Studio Productions?...

Do you have education/experience in the theater (acting, directing or technical) - or know someone who does?...

PLEASE check out the current job opportunities that we have available OR pass the word along to those who you think might be interested!

http://www.epiphanystudio.com/job_opportunities

Thank you and God bless!
Jeremy D. Stanbary
Founder & Director

The Real Solution to our Problems

Our Lady of Fatima

"There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot solve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary."

~ Sister Lucia, the last survivor at Fatima

Iraq: A Soldier's Story of Faith

Prayer For the Safety of Soldiers

Almighty and eternal God, those who take refuge in you will be glad and forever will shout for joy. Protect these soldiers as they discharge their duties. Protect them with the shield of your strength and keep them safe from all evil and harm. May the power of your love enable them to return home in safety, that with all who love them, they may ever praise you for your loving care. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Prayers for our Military Men & Women -- from the Franciscans

What does the Eucharist mean to you?

~ Via Steve Silvia.

St. Pantaleon, Martyr

St. Pantaleon was born in Nicomedia, near the Black Sea in Asia. He was the son of a rich pagan, Eustorgius of Nicomedia, and a Christian mother, Saint Eubula, who instructed him in the faith, but died while he was still a child.

Pantaleon studied medicine with such great success that he was appointed as one of the court physicians to the Emperor Galerius Maximianus. The bad influence of the pagan court caused him to fall away from his Faith. A holy and zealous priest named Hermolaos helped him realize the error of his sinful ways by pointing out the example of his virtuous mother. Pantaleon returned to the Faith once more and imitated Our Lord's charity by distributing his goods among the poor and caring for the poor and the sick without charge.

When the Emperor Diocletian began his persecution, Pantaleon was accused of being a Christian. He was given the choice of denying his faith or being put to death, but no torture could force Pantaleon to deny his Faith. Pantaleon, openly confessed his Faith, and to prove that Christ is the true God, he healed a paralytic. However, the emperor viewed the miracle as a display of magic.

According to legend, Pantaleon's flesh was first burned with torches, but Christ was present with him, giving him the strength to withstand the torture. After this, when a bath of liquid lead was prepared, the fire went out and the lead became cold. He was now thrown into the sea, but the stone with which he was loaded floated. He was thrown to the wild beasts but these fawned upon him and could not be forced away until he had blessed them. He was bound on the wheel, but the ropes snapped, and the wheel broke. An attempt was made to behead him, but the sword bent, and the executioners were converted. Pantaleon implored heaven to forgive them, for which reason he also received the name of Panteleimon ("mercy for everyone" or "all-compassionate"). It was not until he himself desired it that it was possible to behead him. St. Pantaleon died around 305 A.D. He is the patron of physicians and belongs to the "Fourteen Holy Helpers." In the East, St. Pantaleon is called the "Great Marytr and Wonder-worker.

Patronage: bachelors; consumption; doctors; midwives; physicians; torture victims; tuberculosis; protection of domestic animals.

Image:

Conversion of St Pantaleon 1587-88
Oil on canvas, 277 x 160 cm
San Pantaleone, Venice

St. Anne and St. Joachim, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Anne (Hebrew, Hannah, grace; also spelled Ann, Anne, Anna) is the traditional name of the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Joachim (whose name means Yahweh prepares), was the father of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Both were the grandparents of Jesus. Tradition has it they first lived in Galilee and later settled in Jerusalem where the Blessed Virgin Mary was born and raised.

Joachim and Anne were a rich and pious couple who had been married for a long time, but found themselves childless. The couple prayed fervently for a child and promised to dedicate their first born to the service of God. An angel appeared to Anne and told her, "The Lord has looked upon thy tears; thou shalt conceive and give birth and the fruit of thy womb shall be blessed by all the world". Joachim also received the same message from the angel. Anne gave birth to a daughter whom she called Miriam (Mary), who was conceived without sin. As a child, Mary was taken to the temple and her parents suffered great sorrow but at the same time joy for fulfilling the vows they had made to the Lord.

We know very little about the lives of Joachim and Anne, but we do know that they must have been outstanding people to have been entrusted with raising the Mother of God.

Patronage

St. Anne is the patron saint of the province of Quebec, where the well-known shrine of St. Anne de Beaupre, (the site of many miracles) is located. She is patroness of women in labor and those who have difficulty conceiving; she is represented holding the Blessed Virgin Mary in her lap, who again carries on her arm the Both Joachim and Anne are the patron saints of grandparents.

Devotion to St. Anne dates back to the sixth century in the Church of Constantinople and the eighth century in Rome. St. Joachim was honored very early by the Greeks, who celebrate his feast on the day following the Blessed Virgin's birthday.


Childhood Memories

My memories of celebrating today's feast as a child are very vivid. My home parish held a novena to St. Anne nine days prior to her feast day and I remember going to church every evening with mom to the devotions. I remember being in awe of how my mom and the other women in our small French community were so devoted to St. Anne. When mom asked which of us children wished to accompany her, I always volunteered -- it was a special treat and a privilege to participate in this summer evening novena praying the beautiful devotions in the quiet, candle lit church that smelled of incense and sweet perfume. It was so meditative and mystical --at times I could almost feel her holy presence in the contemplative setting. I also remember feeling a sense of joy and accomplishment when it was over -- I felt as if I had helped mom in achieving something special for our family and for the Lord.

PRAYER TO ST JOACHIM AND ST ANNE

Great and glorious patriarch, St Joachim, and good St Anne, what joy is mine when I consider that you were chosen among all God’s holy ones to assist in the fulfillment of the mysteries of God, and to enrich our earth with the great Mother of God, Mary most holy. By this singular privilege, you have become most powerful with both the Mother and her Son, so as to be able to obtain for us the graces that are needful to us.

With great confidence I have recourse to your mighty protection, and I commend to you all my needs, both spiritual and temporal, and those of my family. Especially do I entrust to your keeping the particular favour that I desire and look for from your intercession.

And since you were a perfect pattern of the interior life, obtain for me the grace to pray earnestly, and never to set m heart on the passing goods of this life. Give me a lively and enduring love for Jesus and Mary. Obtain for me also a sincere devotion and obedience to Holy church and the sovereign pontiff who rules over her, in order that I may live an die in faith and hope and perfect charity. Let me ever invoke the holy Names of Jesus and Mary. And may I thus be saved. Amen.

Give Him What You Have!

Pope Benedict: True Power is Mercy and Forgiveness

CNS: During Alpine prayer service, pope says real power is love, mercy

Is there a co-pay with forced abortion?

Did you know that "science czar" John Holdren -- another one of Obama's great picks - supports forced abortions and compulsory sterilization? Read on.

Via WND:

The president has more "czars" running around than Mother Russia. It's mondo bizarro. Kind of fitting, though; must be a communist thing.

Still, as the debate over Obama's multi-trillion dollar pet experiment in socialized health care reaches terminal velocity, one of his newest czars underscores – in permanent marker – the true depth of BHO's deep-seated radicalism. His choice of Harvard professor and self-styled "neo-Malthusian" John Holdren as "science czar" provides the latest and perhaps most troubling example of just how bad America really muffed it last November. It could give us a sneak-peak into the not-so-distant future should this Obamacare-health-scare become reality.

In the name of population control, Holdren has advocated both forced abortion and compulsory sterilization through government-administered tainting of the water supply. In a book he co-authored, entitled "Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment," Holdren calls for a "Planetary Regime" to enforce mandatory abortions and limit the use of natural resources.

Click here to read the full story.

More Information:

WORLD Magazine: Reformed radical?

Family Research News: Science Czar or Bizarre? by Tony Perkins

Fox News: Obama's Science Czar Considered Forced Abortions, Sterilization as Population Growth Solutions

St. James the Greater

Today is the feast of St. James the Greater. St. James, known as the Greater, in order to distinguish him from the other Apostle St. James, our Lord's cousin, was St. John's brother, and, like him, a fisherman. He was one of the witnesses of the Transfiguration and one of those who slept through most of the Agony in the Garden. He was the first of the apostles to be martyred, being beheaded by King Herod Agrippa I to please the Jewish opponents of Christianity. He was buried in Jerusalem, and nothing more is known about him until the ninth century.

At this time we learn of a tradition that the relics of St James were brought to Spain some time after his martyrdom, (perhaps early, perhaps as late as 830), and his shrine at Compostela in Galicia grew in importance until it became the greatest pilgrimage center in western Europe. In every country there are churches of St James and known, well-trodden pilgrim routes. In Paris, the Tour St Jacques marks the start of the route and the Rue St Jacques points straight towards Compostela. In England, pilgrim routes lead from all parts of the country to the major ports that were used on the pilgrimage.

This network of routes is a vital witness to the fact that the Middle Ages were not the static stay-at-home time that we often think them to be: everyone must have known someone, or known someone who knew someone, who had made the pilgrimage.The scallop-shell, the emblem of St James, has become the emblem of pilgrims generally. In 1987 the pilgrimage routes to Compostela have been designated by the Council of Europe as historical cultural routes of international importance; and the Confraternity of St James is working to restore and upgrade the refuges on a route which is still in active pilgrim use today.

Patron: Against arthritis; against rheumatism; Antigua, Guatemala; apothecaries; blacksmiths; Chile; Compostela, Spain; druggists; equestrians; furriers; Galicia, Spain; Guatemala; horsemen; knights; laborers; Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina; Nicaragua; pharmacists; pilgrims; Pistoia, Italy; rheumatoid sufferers; riders; soldiers; Spain; Spanish conquistadors; tanners; veterinarians.

~ Excerpted, in part, from the Universalis.

To learn more about St. James go here and here. Be sure to watch the video below-- it is excellent and goes so well with the theme and title of this blog.

Saint Sharbel (Charbel) Makhloof

Saint Sharbel was born in 1828 in the small mountain village of Beqa-Kafra, Lebanon. His peasant family lived a strong faith, were attentive to the Divine Liturgy, and had a great devotion to the Mother of God.

At the age of twenty-three, he left his family to enter the Lebanese-Maronite Monastery called Notre-Dame de Mayfouk. Following studies and perpetual profession at St. Cyprian de Kfifane Monastery, he was ordained in 1859.

For the next seven years, Sharbel lived in the mountainous community of Anaya. He then spent the next twenty-three years of his life in complete solitude at Sts. Peter and Paul Hermitage near Anaya. He died there on Christmas Eve, 1898.

Sharbel had a reputation for his austerity, penances, obedience, and chastity. At times, Sharbel was gifted with levitations during prayer, and he had great devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament. He celebrated Mass close to noon so as to devote the morning to preparation, and the rest of the day to thanksgiving. In all things, Sharbel maintained perfect serenity. He was beatified in 1965 by Pope Paul VI and canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1977.

"May he make us understand, in a world largely fascinated by wealth and comfort, the paramount value of poverty, penance and asceticism, to liberate the soul in its ascent to God..."

~Pope Paul VI, October 9, 1977

For further information on St. Sharbel go here.

Dr. Alveda King to Join Other African American Leaders to Demand Abortion be Excluded from Health Care Bill

Dr. Alveda King, Pastoral Associate of Priests for Life and niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., will join with other African American leaders Monday at 10:00 AM in front of the Cannon House Office Building to demand that abortion and Planned Parenthood be excluded from any health care reform legislation.

"Our message is clear – abortion is neither health care nor a benefit. It's genocide," said Dr. King. "Give us procreative reproductive rights. Repair our communities with life affirming programs. My fellow civil rights workers and I will be on Capitol Hill to say that if President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, or anyone else truly wants to reduce the number of abortions, they will not coerce Americans to pay for them and they will not subsidize Planned Parenthood, the billion-dollar business that has killed more black children than the KKK."

~ Via Christian Newswire.

The Sanctity of the Sacrament of Matrimony

Marriage is like a beautiful gilded bird cage. All the Little birds on the outside want to get in, while all the Little birds on the inside want to get out!

This saying, by an author unknown to me, summarizes accurately the state of marriage today. Marriage is still an attractive and useful institution, and millions of couples each year begin the journey. At the same time, however, at least half of those who enter the “gilded bird cage” find themselves wanting to get out, their marriage ending in separation and divorce.

Check out the rest of this wonderful article at CNA: Matrimony: Is it Still Holy? by Bishop Thomas J. Tobin.

Sam Brownback: Trashed Job Market Follows Obama’s Health Plan

From my inbox today -- Senator Sam Brownback's response to Obama's health care reform plan:

We need to get more Americans covered with health insurance. But any proposed “solution” to the problem of the uninsured that has the effect of getting people laid off from their jobs is not the way to do it.

As unemployment reaches a 26-year high and our economy continues to shed 500,000 jobs a month, it would not seem to be the best time to enact new mandates on business likely to accelerate the rate of job loss.

This is precisely what President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are proposing with the “pay or play” mandates in health-care legislation making its way through Congress. Read the rest here.

ObamaCare in Trouble

From The Wall Street Journal:

Polls are turning against President Barack Obama’s health-care plan. The political calendar is, too.

On Monday, the Washington Post/ABC poll reported that 49% of Americans approve of his handling of health care while 44% disapprove. What many people missed is that those who strongly disapprove of the president’s approach on health care now outnumber those who strongly approve by 33% to 25%. That presages further decline. Already, 49% of independents disapprove of the president’s approach, up from 30% in April, a staggering shift in 11 weeks.

Mr. Obama is also slipping on the economy. Those who strongly disapprove now outnumber those who strongly approve of his handling of the economy (35% to 29%), of deficits (38% to 19%), and of unemployment (31% to 26%). On Tuesday, Gallup showed Mr. Obama’s personal approval was 55%, down from more than 60% a few weeks ago and lower than the 56% George W. Bush had at this point in his first term.

The polls are crumbling because of a flood of bad news about Mr. Obama’s health-care proposals. One batch of such news came from a July 17 study by the Lewin Group that was commissioned by the Heritage Foundation. It projects that if the House bill becomes law, 83.4 million people—nearly half of those with private coverage—will lose private insurance as employers drop their plans. Mr. Obama’s promise that you can keep your plan is being left on the cutting room floor with nary a peep from the president. Read the entire article here.

Saint of the Day: St. Bridget of Sweden

St. Bridget of Sweden, Widow, Third Order Franciscan (1303 – 1373)

Bridget was born in Finista in Sweden. From childhood, the Lord granted her special graces, visions and an extraordinary understanding of divine mysteries. At age seven, she had a vision of the crucified Jesus in all the suffering and sorrow of his Passion, which enkindled within her a deep devotion for our Savior.

The daughter of a provincial governor and judge, at age 13, Bridget married Ulf Gudmarsson, a prince, who was then eighteen; they lived happily together for twenty-eight years and had eight children, among them St. Catherine of Sweden. Bridget convinced her husband, by her own example, to live a life of piety and to strive for holiness.

At age 32, Bridget became the lady in waiting to Queen Blanche of Namur and King Magnus II of Sweden. She was known for her charitable acts, especially caring for the sick, but the royalty appeared more content to admire her piety rather than to follow her example.

After her youngest son died in 1340, she and her husband went on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella. On the return trip, Ulf became quite ill, and they returned home soon afterwards. Upon their return, Ulf' entered the Cistercian monastery and died there at the age of 46. Bridget was a widow at age 41. She continued to live in the world, but became a member of the Third Order of St. Francis, spending much of her time in prayer and penance.

At this time, Bridget’s visions became more frequent and intense and she began to wonder if they were from the devil; however, God assured her that they were not, but that she was to become His bride and His mouthpiece.

It was His voice in her visions that dictated to her to found a new religious order, even specifying the details of the Rule for that order. She then founded The Order of the Most Holy Savior, or Bridgettines, which consisted of a double monastery for both men and women at Vadstena. King Magnus and his queen generously supported the monastery. Any surplus of money they received was given to the poor and used to provide books for study. Through Bridget, Christ reprimanded the popes for not returning to Rome from Avignon; but even calling Clement VI (1342-52) “a destroyer of souls, worse than Lucifer, more unjust than Pilate, and more merciless than Judas” failed to change his mind. She also delivered several messages to Pope Innocent VI, Urban V, and Gregory XI.

Directed by God to go the Holy Land in 1371, Bridget set out on pilgrimage with her daughter, Catherine, two of her sons, and other pilgrims. Her son Charles died in Naples on the way there, and they were nearly shipwrecked, but once they made it there, Bridget was blessed with extraordinary graces. In the Holy Land, she received detailed visions of episodes in the life of Jesus in the places where they were said to have occurred. She also admonished the people of Cyprus and Naples for their immoral ways, with little effect. She arrived back in Rome early already ill and died on July 23, 1373, at the age of seventy – one. Her remains were taken back to the monastery at Sweden. She was canonized in 1391 Pope Boniface IX. She is the patron saint of: Sweden and widows. She is the co-patroness of Europe, along with St. Catherine of Siena, and St. Teresa Benedicta (Edith Stein).

Revelations:

St Bridget’s works that can be found online include:

The Revelations of Saint Birgitta, Book 1 - microsoft reader / mobipocket

Medieval Sourcebook: St. Bridget: Revelation to the Popes, 14th Century

Prayers and Promises:

Fifteen Prayers and Twenty-One Promises to St. Bridget

Palin to Feds: Alaska is Sovereign State

Gov. Sarah Palin has signed a joint resolution declaring Alaska's sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution – and now 36 other states have introduced similar resolutions as part of a growing resistance to the federal government.

Just weeks before she plans to step down from her position as Alaska governor, Palin signed House Joint Resolution 27 sponsored by state Rep. Mike Kelly on July 10, according to a Tenth Amendment Center report. The resolution "claims sovereignty for the state under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States."

Alaska's House passed HJR 27 by a vote of 37-0, and the Senate passed it by a vote of 40-0. Go here to read the rest.

Sarah is one smart lady! With Obama in office, I'm surprised more states aren't following her lead. While seven states – Tennessee, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Alaska and Louisiana – have had both houses of their legislatures pass similar decrees, Alaska Gov. Palin and Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen are currently the only governors to have signed their states' sovereignty resolutions.

Pro-lifers Fight Back as Obama and PP Push Congress to Pass Obama Death Care

On “Fox News Sunday” this past weekend, budget director Peter Orszag said he is “not prepared to rule ... out” taxpayer financing for abortions.

This video accurately and concisely summarizes what Obama's disastrous health care reform legislation is trying to do -- force US citizens to pay for all abortions that will be financed by both public funds and private insurance.



From the Philadelphia Bulletin:

The nation’s largest provider of abortions laid siege to Capitol Hill Thursday lobbying lawmakers to include “women’s health” issues in the massive Obama health care plan. The health care push came on the same day Planned Parenthood, along with other foster care/adoption organizations, launched a new effort Thursday to reduce teen pregnancy among foster care youth. Read the entire article.

Here's what Pro-lifers are doing to fight back:

The largest pro-life webcast in history will take place tomorrow (7/23 @ 9 pm) to mobilize on fighting mandate of taxpayer funded abortion – www.stoptheabortionmandate.com --1300+ are currently registered for this conference

Letter from 50+ leaders to Congress has been sent out

Letter from AUL to Obama was sent out today asking him to meet to talk about how abortion does not belong in healthcare

19 pro-life Democrats recently warned Pelosi they will NOT vote for a bill unless it expressly takes abortion OUT of healthcare

Previous Posts on Catholic Fire:

Culture of Life Quote of the Day: US Bishop William Murphy on "Life - Protecting" Health Care

Oppose Tax Funded Abortion (Obama Death Care)

Representative Chris Smith on Obama's Health Care Program

Pro-Life Organizations Announce Efforts to Stop Taxpayer Funded Abortions in the Obama/Pelosi Health Care Plan


Related Information:

LifeSiteNews --Obama: "Let's Not Get Distracted" over Taxpayer-Funded Abortion Coverage in Healthcare

LifeSiteNews -- More Pro-Life House Democrats Stand against Healthcare Abortion Funding

Inside Catholic -- Bishops Blast Obama Health Care Plan

Culture of Life Quote of the Day: US Bishop William Murphy on "Life - Protecting" Health Care

Bishop William Murphy

“Genuine health care reform that protects the life and dignity of all is a moral imperative and a vital national obligation.”

Bishop of Rockville Centre, New York William F. Murphy, comments in a July 17 letter to Congress on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

~ More information from the CNA article.

Saint of the Day: St. Mary Magdalene

The feast of St. Mary Magdalene is considered one of the most mystical of feasts, and it is said that of all the songs of the saints, that of Mary Magdalene is the sweetest and strongest because her love was so great. That love was praised by Jesus Himself who said that because much was forgiven her, she loved much. Where she is buried, no one knows. Legend has her dying in Provence, France, in a cavern where she spent her last days, and her body resting in the chapel of St. Maximin in the Maritime Alps. Another has her buried in Ephesus where she went with St. John after the Resurrection. This latter view is more likely, and St. Willibald, the English pilgrim to the Holy Land in the eighth century, was shown her tomb there.

She was the first witness to the resurrection of Jesus, His most devoted and loving follower. She had stood with Mary at the foot of the Cross on that brutal Good Friday afternoon and had been by the side of Mary during these difficult hours. On Easter morning, she went with the other women to the tomb and it was there, in the garden near the tomb, that Jesus appeared to her. It was she who brought the news of the Resurrection to the Apostles, and Peter and John raced to the tomb to see what had happened.

She was from Magadala, a small fishing town on the Sea of Galilee, between Capernaum and Tiberias. She was known to be a "great sinner," who heard Jesus speak of the mercy and forgiveness of God and changed her life completely. She was a model of penitence. Her matter-of-fact witness to the Resurrection moved Peter and John to go and see for themselves: "I have seen the Lord and these things he said to me." Jesus had chosen her to bring the news to them and she simply told them what had happened.

She has always been the example of great love and great forgiveness, one of those close to Jesus who grasped the truth of God's love for human beings and spent her life bearing witness to that love.

~Excerpted from The One Year Book of Saints by Rev. Clifford Stevens

Patron: Apothecaries; Casamicciola, Italy; contemplative life; contemplatives; converts; druggists; glove makers; hairdressers; hairstylists; penitent sinners; penitent women; people ridiculed for their piety; perfumeries; perfumers; pharmacists; reformed prostitutes; sexual temptation; tanners; women.


Prayer to St. Mary Magdalene

Saint Mary Magdalene,
woman of many sins, who by conversion
became the beloved of Jesus,
thank you for your witness
that Jesus forgives
through the miracle of love
You, who already possess eternal happiness
in His glorious presence,
please intercede for me, so that someday
I may share in the same everlasting joy.

Inspirational Quote & Video

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."

~Winston Churchill

Oppose Tax Funded Abortion (Obama Death Care)

Read Not One Dime For Tax-Funded Abortion in Obama’s Health Care Plan for more information.

Emergency Webcast This Thursday to Ban Abortion from Healthcare

Go to StopTheAbortionMandate.com to register.

Participation is free. After registering you will be enabled to listen to the live webcast and submit questions.

Many respected leaders will speak, including:

• David Bereit, 40 Days for Life
• Marjorie Dannenfelser, Susan B. Anthony List
• Kristen Day, Democrats for Life
• Doug Johnson, National Right to Life Committee
• Dr. Richard Land, SBC Ethics & Religious Liberties Commission
• Carmen Pate, Point of View Radio Show
• Fr. Frank Pavone, Priests for Life
• Tony Perkins, Family Research Council
• Congressman Joe Pitts, U.S. House of Representatives
• Congressman Chris Smith, U.S. House of Representatives
• Wendy Wright, Concerned Women for America
• Dr. Charmaine Yoest, Americans United for Life

Go to StopTheAbortionMandate.com to register.

H/T: Jill Stanek.

Catholic, Pro-life Couple Offer Free Medical Care to the Uninsured

As Obama tries to force his socialized medicine plan on US citizens, which, if passed, will use taxpayer's money to pay for contraception and abortion, a Catholic pro-life couple in Madison, Wisconsin have found a better solution to the health care crisis by offering free care to the uninsured. Patients with insurance only pay a single yearly fee.

From CNA:

When Drs. Michael Kloess and Anne Volk Johnson became unhappy with the medical system in which they worked, they decided to found Our Lady of Hope Clinic. Their goal was to start a clinic where they could minister to the poor while being free to practice their Catholic faith fully.

Our Lady of Hope Clinic is “totally pro-life and totally Catholic,” developmental director Steven Karlen told CNA. “So they don’t have to dispense birth control, they don’t have to refer for sterilizations or in-vitro or abortion or anything of that nature. They can practice in complete accordance with the teachings of the Catholic Church.”

The ability for doctors to freely practice their Catholic faith is currently being challenged throughout the country as lawmakers debate whether or not to exempt workers from performing abortions, prescribing contraceptives, or participating in other activities that violate their consciences.

At Our Lady of Hope, Kloess and Johnson are able to live out their faith by practicing the corporal works of mercy and providing free care for the uninsured, particularly the “working poor,” those who are employed but do not have insurance through their jobs and cannot afford it on their own. Read the entire article here.

The Vatican's Sandwich Shop

I wish I would have known about this shop when I visited the Vatican, but it's definitely on my list for the next trip.

Da Pacem Domine - Monastic Gregorian Chant

CHANTED BY THE BENEDICTINE MONKS OF SAN DOMINGO de SILOS, SPAIN



This Video Consists of 3 Chants:

1. Give peace, O Lord, to them that patiently wait for Thee, that Thy prophets may be found faithful: hear the prayers of Thy servant, and of Thy people Israel:I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord. V.: Glory be to the Father . . . -- Give peace, O Lord etc.(introit- in mode 1, from the 'Liber Usualis' No. 1056a)
---
2. and AFTER is Alleluia AT 4:53- they sing-
Dies sanctificatus illuxit nobis:
(A hallowed day has dawned for us:)
venite gentes, et adorate Dominum;
(come all, and adore the Lord;)
qui hodie descendit, lux magna super terram.
(for today has descended a great light on the earth.Alleluia) -Christmas 3rd week
----
3. FOLLOWED BY the 'Salve Regina' or 'Hail Holy Queen' at 6:48 to end.

~ Via Catholiques1.

Saint of the Day: St. Lawrence of Brindisi

St. Lawrence was born at Brindisi, in the kingdom of Naples, Italy, on July 22, 1559 and named Caesar de Rossi. He took the name Lawrence when he became a Capuchin Franciscan at the age of 16.

While still a deacon, St. Lawrence of Brindisi became known for his powerful preaching and after his ordination startled the whole of northern Italy with his amazing sermons. Because he could speak Hebrew, he worked for the conversion of the Jews living in Rome.

In 1596, he became a high-ranking superior in the order, and five years later was sent to Germany with Blessed Benedict of Urbino. They founded several priories throughout Europe. Lawrence also helped to raise an army to combat the Turks in Hungary, where he won a battle against them by leading the troops into battle with only a crucifix to protect himself.

In 1602, St. Lawrence became the master general of his order. He worked, preached and wrote to spread the Good News. He went on important peace missions to Munich, Germany, and Madrid, Spain. The rulers of those places listened to him and the missions were successful. But St. Lawrence became very ill. He had been tired out by the hard traveling and the strain of his tasks. He died on his birthday, July 22, in 1619. He was proclaimed a saint by Pope Leo XIII in 1881. He was honored as "apostolic doctor" by Pope John XXIII in 1959.

St. Lawrence was the first Capuchin to be honored as a Doctor of the Church. St. Lawrence, like his spiritual father St. Francis of Assisi, had an ardent devotion to the Immaculate Mother of God. He was the first to write on all aspects of theology that concern the Blessed Virgin.

In the practice of the religious virtues St. Lorenzo equals the greatest saints. He had the gift of contemplation and often fell into ecstasy when he celebrated Holy Mass. He had a great devotion to the Rosary and the Office of the Blessed Virgin.

His written works include a commentary on Genesis, several treatises against Luther, and nine volumes of sermons.

Quote

"God is love, and all his operations proceed from love. Once he wills to manifest that goodness by sharing his love outside himself, then the Incarnation becomes the supreme manifestation of his goodness and love and glory. So, Christ was intended before all other creatures and for his own sake. For him all things were created and to him all things must be subject, and God loves all creatures in and because of Christ. Christ is the first-born of every creature, and the whole of humanity as well as the created world finds its foundation and meaning in him. Moreover, this would have been the case even if Adam had not sinned.

~ St. Lawrence of Brindisi

Rep. Todd Tiahrt: With Tax-Funded Abortions Obama Might Not Have Been Born

Kansas Rep. Todd Tiahrt touched off a controversy last Thursday when he urged Congress not to fund abortions in D.C., pointing out that had such funding existed years ago it could have snuffed out the African-American luminaries of today before they were born. The children aborted in Washington, D.C., correlating to the city's community of poor on a whole, are disproportionately African-American.

During his remarks the Kansas congressman called for an up-or-down vote in the House of Representatives on the abortion funding in the Financial Services Appropriations bill. The bill had adopted a suggestion by President Obama to eliminate a ban on federal funds for abortions in the city.

"If you think of it in human terms, there is a financial incentive that would be put in place, paid for by tax dollars, that would encourage women who are single parents, living below the poverty level, to have the opportunity for a free abortion," said Tiahrt.

"If you take that scenario and apply it to many of the great minds we have today, who would we have been deprived of?" Rep. Tiahrt asked. "Our president grew up in those similar circumstances. If that financial incentive was in place, is it possible that his mother may have taken advantage of it?"

He added: "Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court justice - if those circumstances were in place, is it possible that we would be denied his great mind?" Thomas was born in an impoverished African American community in Georgia.

Read more here.

Well said, Rep. Tiahrt!

Representative Chris Smith on Obama's Health Care Program

“The ugly truth is that if his so-called health care reform care bill, if enacted, will lead to millions of additional deaths to children and millions of mothers will be wounded."

~ Representative Chris Smith (R-New Jersey)

From CNA: Obama misled Pope on his abortion agenda, congressman charges

GOP Senators Ignore Sotomayor's Criminal Activity

In the hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor last week, the Republicans did a good job of grilling Sotomayor on abortion and other pro-life issues. But, I can't help but wonder knowing what they do about her now, why are they in such a hurry to vote her into office? Why are they not acknowledging her criminal activity, and the contradictions she made in her sworn statements?

Devvy Kidd :

As the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, proceeded last week, one man could not understand why not one of the seven Republican senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee would question Sotomayor about her criminal activities. It's understandable no Democrat would ask Sotomayor to explain herself since each and every Democrat in the U.S. Senate is so ethically bankrupt, they would seat Satan on the high court if it would further their agenda. Their only concern for a justice on the highest court in the land is gender and ethnicity; these pusillanimous hucksters go for future votes. The law and truth be damned.

But, the silence by Sessions, Graham, Coburn and the others is beyond perplexing. Bill O'Reilly remarked last week at the end of the hearings that the Republicans will vote to confirm Sotomayor possibly to "garner favor" with Latino voters for the next election. Sounds like a good excuse as any for their cowardice in not taking Sotomayor to the box on Dr. Cordero's evidence. Click here to read the rest.

For more Information:

The Washington Times - Editorial Sotomayor's Secret Files

American Vision - Sotomayor's "Wise Latina": Perjury?

AUL -Sotomayor Contradicted Herself on What She Knew About PRLDEF Abortion Advocacy

Related Article:

LifeNews.Com - Catholics Should Oppose Pro-abortion Sonia Sotomayor Nod for Supreme Court

Saint of the Day: St. Apollinaris

St. Apollinaris was bishop, martyr, and possible disciple of St. Peter. He was born in Antioch, Turkey, and became the first bishop of Ravenna, in Italy, where he shepherded his flock for twenty-six years. He was a great preacher and miracle worker, who won many converts to the faith. His preaching was so successful that the pagans there beat him and drove him from the city. He returned, however, and was exiled a second time. After preaching in the area surrounding Ravenna, he returned to the city once again. Then, after being cruelly tortured, he was put on a ship heading to Greece. Pagans there caused him to be expelled to Italy, where he went to Ravenna for a fourth time. He died from wounds received during a savage beating. His shrine in the Benedictine Abbey of Classe in Ravenna was once a popular pilgrimage destination. was credited with many miracles. He also appeared to St. Romuald. St. Apollinaris is patron of Ravenna and is invoked against gout, epilepsy, and diseases of the sexual organs.

Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine

H/T to Hot Air and Adrienne's Catholic Corner.

Free American Health Care Now!

We have a health care crisis because doctors, patients, employers and employees are trapped in a wasteful, broken system that is often only a little better than government-run health care in Canada. To solve our problems, your doctor needs the opportunity to produce higher-quality, less-costly care. As a patient, you need access to services you are not now getting. At the workplace, you need access to health insurance that costs less and gives you more.

Please sign the online petition.

The New Obama Care Plan

H/T:Flo

St. Camillus de Lellis

St. Camilus was born in Bacchianico, Italy in 1550 and died in Rome, Italy in 1614. His mother died while he was still a child and his father was an officer in both the Neapolitan and French royal armies, leaving him neglected. While still a youth, he became a soldier in the service of Venice and later of Naples, remaining there until 1574.

While Camillus referred to himself as a great sinner, his only vice seemed to be gambling. He gambled away everything he had and to atone for actions, he went to work as a laborer on the new Capuchin buildings in Manfredonia. Here, after a moving exhortation from the Friar, he completed his conversion and begged God for mercy, at the age of twenty-five.

Camillus entered the Capuchin novitiate three times, but a nagging leg injury, received while fighting the Turks, each time forced him to give it up. He went to Rome for medical treatment where Saint Philip Neri became his priest and confessor. He moved into San Giacomo Hospital for the incurable, and eventually became its administrator.

He decided to become a priest at the encouragement of St. Philip Neri, and was ordained at the age of 34. He established his Order, the Fathers of a Good Death, for the care of the sick. Camillus chose a red cross as the distinguishing badge for the members of his Order to wear upon their black cassocks, and he taught his volunteers that the hospital was a house of God, a garden where the voices of the sick were music from heaven. Once when he was discouraged, he heard the consoling words from the crucifix, “This is my work, not yours”.

Camillus was a strong and powerful man, about 6'6" tall, but suffered throughout his life from abscesses on his feet. In spite of this infirmity, he was active in organizing his Order.

After leading the movement throughout Italy, Camillus died on July 14, 1614. In 1742, Pope Benedict XIV proclaimed Camillus de Lellis blessed; in 1746 he canonized him, calling him the “Founder of a new school of charity”.

Patronage: St. Camilus is the Patron of the sick, hospitals, and nurses.

Quote: “Think well. Speak well. Do well. These three things, through the mercy of God, will make a man go to Heaven.”

~ Saint Camillus de Lellis

Prayer to Saint Camillus of Lellis

Most wonderful Saint, your compassion for the sick and the dying led you to found the Servants of the Sick. As the Patron of nurses and hospital workers, infuse in them your compassionate spirit. Make hospitals resemble the inn in Christ's Parable to which the Good Samaritan brought the wounded man saying: "Take care of him and I will repay you for it." Amen.

Holy Father fractures wrist

While on vacation, the Holy Father fell and fractured his right wrist. He had a 20 minute surgery today and will wear a cast for a month. CNA has the story here.

Let's keep our dear Papa in our prayers for complete healing.

The Blessed Martyrs of Compiègne

On July 17, 1794, sixteen Carmelites caught up in the French Revolution were guillotined at the Place du Trône Renversé (now called Place de la Nation), in Paris.

When the revolution started in 1789, a group of twenty-one discalced Carmelites lived in a monastery in Compiegne France, founded in 1641. The monastery was ordered closed in 1790 by the Revolutionary gov­ernment, and the nuns were disbanded. Sixteen of the nuns were accused of living in a religious community in 1794. They were arrested on June 22 and imprisoned in a Visitation convent in Compiegne There they openly resumed their religious life.

For a full twenty months before their execution, the sisters came together in an act of consecration “whereby each member of the community would join with the others in offering herself daily to God, soul and body in holocaust to restore peace to France and to her Church.”

The nuns were not just mere victims of the Revolution overcome by circumstances. Each contemplated her martyrdom; each understood her offering. Each sought that “greater love” of giving herself for her fellow man in imitation of the Divine Lamb Who redeemed humanity.

On July 12, 1794, the Carmelites were taken to Paris and five days later were sentenced to death. Before their execution they knelt and chanted the "Veni Creator", as at a profession, after which they all renewed aloud their baptismal and religious vows. They went to the guillotine singing the Salve Regina. They were beatified in 1906 by Pope St. Pius X.

The Carmelites were: Marie Claude Brard; Madeleine Brideau, the subprior; Maire Croissy, grandniece of Colbert Marie Dufour; Marie Hanisset; Marie Meunier, a novice; Rose de NeufvillePebras; Anne Piedcourt: Madeleine Lidoine, the prioress; Angelique Roussel; Catherine Soiron and Therese Soiron, both extern sisters, natives of Compiegne and blood sisters: Anne Mary Thouret; Marie Trezelle; and Eliza beth Verolot. The martyrdom of the nuns was immortalized by the composer Francois Poulenc in his famous opera Dialogues des Carmelites.

For more information on these holy women, see The Catholic Encyclopedia. You can also read more here.

Sotomayor on Abortion

Lindsey Graham asks Sotomayor about abortion, and the assertion made by a group which Sotomayor was a board member for, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund (PRLDF).

The PRLDF had apparently said that denying women taxpayer-funded abortions was a form of slavery, and Graham confronts Sotomayor on this point.




For more information:

Sonia Sotomayor Continues Ducking Abortion Questions in Wednesday Hearing

Sonia Sotomayor Calls Abortion: "Woman's Right to Terminate Her Pregnancy"

Pro-Life Organizations Announce Efforts to Stop Taxpayer Funded Abortions in the Obama/Pelosi Health Care Plan

The name of the campaign is called "Abortion is Not Health Care" and it will begin on Sunday, July 26, in Washington, D.C.

A vote on the $1.5 trillion bill has been tentatively scheduled for the last week of July before the August recess.

"Abortion is Not Health Care" will include public prayer vigils, rallies, lobbying, demonstrations and cutting edge pro-life witness on Capitol Hill.

President Obama and his team have said that taxpayer funded abortions would be included in his health care plan.

The campaign will focus on fighting to ensure that:

Not one penny of public money is used to pay for abortions.

The "Conscience Clause" is not removed from health providers that decline to perform abortions.

No federal mandate requiring health plans to cover abortions.

No state law restricting abortion would be invalidated.

Planned Parenthood never becomes an "essential community health provider."

"Abortion is Not Health Care" is being organized by the Christian Defense Coalition and Operation Rescue.

Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, states,

"The most critical item on the pro-life agenda is stopping the Obama/Pelosi health care plan which includes taxpayer funded abortions. If abortion becomes part of a health care entitlement, it will add at least 25 years to our struggle toward ending the violence of abortion in America.

"If President Obama and Speaker Pelosi have their way, Pro-life Catholics and Evangelicals would be forced to pay for abortions. People of good will who believe that human rights begin in the womb would have to pay for the brutal crushing of that innocent life.

"'Abortion is Not Health Care' will be a public and prophetic witness to ensure that tax dollars are never used to diminish women and trample social justice.

"President Obama talks about being a progressive leader who embraces human rights and equality for all. It is tragic that he would turn health care, which is supposed to heal and bring comfort to those in need, into something that destroys innocent life."

~ Via Operation Rescue.

President of Americans United for Life: Sole Pro-lifer Testifying at Sotomayor's Confirmation Hearings

Dr. Charmaine Yoest, President of Americans United for Life, will be the only pro-lifer testifying at Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotmayor's Senate confirmation hearings.

She is scheduled to testify this afternoon.

Charmaine posted the following on AUL's blog:

My testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to take place tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon - please tune in and then let us know what you think. If you're not able to view the hearings on TV, you can view the hearings online at C-Span.org. We've heard that some of the Senators want to do some aggressive questioning, so we appreciate your support....

We have worked tirelessly to educate the Senators and pro-life Americans about Judge Sotomayor's record on abortion. You can view our work that includes charts, op-eds and fact sheets at Sotomayor411.com.

AUL Senior Fellow Dawn Eden has done a terrific job live-blogging the Sotomayor hearings. Following her live-blogging will give you the latest information about these crucial hearings....

If you are on Facebook or Twitter, please take a minute to find me there. I will be "tweeting" from behind the scenes as we get ready for my testimony tomorrow....

H/T: Jill Stanek and Kansans for Life

Update:

Following is the testimony of AUL's CEO Charmaine Yoest, given moments ago at the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Judge Sonia Sotomayor in both pdf and Word formats:

Yoest Testimony.pdf

Yoest Testimony.doc

Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

Today is the patronal feast of the Carmelites. The Order of Carmelites takes its name from Mount Carmel in Israel, which was the first place dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and where a chapel was erected in her honor before her Assumption into heaven.

In the Old Testament, Mount Carmel was a holy place sanctified by the memory of Elijah and his followers - who fought for the rights of the true God 900 years before Christ.

Christians would interpret Elijah's vision of the cloud rising from the Mediterranean sea as a symbol of the Blessed Virgin Mary whose Son would be the Messiah and Savior (1 Kings 18, 42-45). After the days of Elijah and Elisha other holy hermits lived on Mt. Carmel and led solitary, contemplative lives, praying and fasting. Along with the austere figure of Elijah, they looked for inspiration to the Mother of God. Her Latin title was "Virgo Dei Genitrix", which means "Virgin Mother of God".

July 16th is also the feast of the "Scapular of Mount Carmel." On this day in 1251, pious tradition says, the Blessed Virgin appeared to Saint Simon Stock, General of the Carmelites at Cambridge, England, showed him the scapular and promised supernatural favors and her special protection to his Order and to all persons who would wear her scapular. When she presented the scapular to him, she told him, "This is your privilege: whoever dies in it will be saved."

To obtain the indulgences and other benefits promised to those who wear the Carmelite scapular, a person must be invested by a priest and must lead a consistent Christian life.

For more information on today's special feast day and the special indulgences attached to wearing the scapular, please see my post: Our Lady of Mount Carmel: Practices, Promises, and Indulgences Plus Novena and Feast Day. Also, this site provides detailed information on the brown scapular itself. To learn more about the Carmelites, go here.

Prayer to Our Lady of Mount Carmel composed by Saint Simon Stock

O Beautiful Flower of Carmel, most fruitful vine, splendor of heaven, holy and singular, who brought forth the Son of God, still ever remaining a pure virgin, assist us in our necessity! O Star of the Sea, help and protect us! Show us that you are our Mother! Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, pray for us!

Happy feast day to all my readers and especially to my Carmelite friends!

Update on Obama's Surgeon General: An Obama Catholic Who Backs Abortion Rights

Earlier this week I posted on Barack Obama's pick for surgeon general, Regina Benjamin, who urged that future physicians be trained to learn how to perform abortions.

Now we have updated information on Benjamin which confirms her pro-abortion stance.

Via centredaily.com:

President Barack Obama's nominee for surgeon general is a Catholic best known for founding an Alabama clinic that treats the poor, but her lesser-known support for abortion rights puts her at odds with her church and some of the groups that have praised her work.

Regina Benjamin's Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic doesn't perform abortions. A clinic employee who declined to be identified said by telephone that patients seeking information about abortions would be referred to providers in the state.

But White House spokesman Reid Cherlin said Benjamin "supports the president's position on reproductive health issues."

Obama supports abortion rights and public funding of contraception and sex education.

Snip

Benjamin also was a board member of Physicians for Human Rights, an international group that has advocated access to safe abortions in its investigation of human rights conditions in some countries.

Read the entire article.

Is the Obama administration actively seeking out these dissident Catholics for top positions? It certainly seems as if that is their plan.

Congressman brings Margaret Sanger's Eugenics to House Floor

Congressman Jeff Fortenberry (R- Nebraska) delivers a five minute special order on the House Floor.

St. Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor

St Bonaventure Receiving the Banner of St Sepulchre from the Madonna

Solimena, Francesco

1710 — Oil on canvas, 240 x 130 cm

(Cathedral, Aversa: Caserta, Italy)

"In Bonaventure we meet a unique personality. He was unsurpassed in sanctity, wisdom, eloquence, and gifted with a remarkable skill of accomplishing things, a heart full of love, a winning disposition, benevolent, affable, pious, charitable, rich in virtue, beloved by God and man. . . . The Lord endowed him with such a charming disposition that everyone who saw him was immediately attracted to him." In these words the historian of the Council of Lyons concludes his account on St. Bonaventure.

St. Bonaventure, known as "the seraphic doctor," was born at Bagnorea, Italy in 1221. He received the name of Bonaventure as a result of an exclamation of St. Francis of Assisi, when, in response to the pleading of the child's mother, the saint prayed for John's recovery from a dangerous illness, and, foreseeing the future greatness of the little John, cried out "O Buona ventura"- O good fortune!

Because of the spirit that filled him and his writings, he was initially called the Devout Doctor; but in more recent centuries he has been known as the Seraphic Doctor after the “Seraphic Father” Francis because of the truly Franciscan spirit he possessed.

At the age of twenty-two, St. Bonaventure entered the Franciscan Order. After he made his vows, he was sent to Paris to complete his studies under the celebrated Alexander of Hales, an Englishman and a Franciscan. When Alexander died, Bonaventure continued his course under his successor, John of Rochelle. In Paris he became the intimate friend of the great St. Thomas Aquinas. He received the degree of Doctor, together with St. Thomas Aquinas. Like St. Thomas Aquinas, he enjoyed the friendship of the holy King, St. Louis.

Bonaventure was known as a brilliant teacher and a powerful preacher. At the age of thirty-five he was chosen General of his Order and became known as its second founder. He restored a perfect calm to the Order where peace had been disturbed by internal dissensions. He did much for his Order. He wrote 500 sermons and composed The Life of St. Francis. He also assisted at the translation of the relics of St. Anthony of Padua. He was nominated Archbishop of York by Pope Clement IV, but he begged not to be forced to accept that dignity. Gregory X obliged him to take upon himself a greater one, that of Cardinal and Bishop of Albano , one of the six suffragan Sees of Rome. He died while he was assisting at the Second Council of Lyons, on July 15, 1274.

Some of his written works include:

The Mind's Road to God

Psalter of the blessed Virgin Mary

Journey of the Mind to God

Perfection of Life

Soliloquoy

The Threefold Way

Patron: Bowel disorders.

Symbols: Cardinal's hat; ciborium; communion.
Often portrayed as: Cardinal in Franciscan robes, usually reading or writing.

Quote:

"When we pray, the voice of the heart must be heard more than that proceeding from the mouth. "

~ St. Bonaventure

To learn more about St. Bonaventure, see the Catholic Encyclopedia.

Catholic Vote's Third Video in "Life: Imagine the Potential" Series

Previous Post:

Life: Imagine the Potential

Limbaugh: "Original goal of Planned Parenthood was to abort various minorities out of existence"

Rush nails it here.


From the July 13th edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:



~ Via MediaMatters for America.

H/T: Katie Walker.

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend's Offensive Remarks about Obama and the Pope

Oh, no, it looks like we have another Princess Pelosi on our hands! It seems that the eldest daughter of Robert Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, in a Newsweek op-ed, called President Obama a better leader for American Catholics than Benedict XVI. Read what Deal Hudson has to say about Kathleen Kennedy Townsend's offensive remarks.

You would think that when a person doesn't know what they're talking about it would just be better for them to not say anything at all than to spout off and show their ignorance, becoming an embarrassment to themselves.

Former Catholic Democratic Leader Pleads Gulity to Prostituting Teenager

R. Eric McFadden, a former leader of several Democrat-leaning Catholic groups, has pled guilty to two counts of compelling prostitution for prostituting a 17-year-old girl on the internet.

Five other counts of pandering obscenity and promoting prostitution were dismissed.

McFadden, 46, was former director of Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland’s Office of Faith-Based Initiatives. He worked for Catholics for Kerry in 2004 and served as the president of Catholics for Faithful Citizenship in 2005. In 2006 he served as a spokesman for Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and was an outreach organizer for Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

Read the rest at CNA.

The "Catholic" groups he was a spokesman for were strong supporters of both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama...need I say more?

Previous Post:

Founder of Catholics for Kerry Arrested for Running Online Prostitution Ring

A pro-life volunteer shares her personal witness

Rosa María Ordaz is one of the millions of people who promotes and defends the value of life. Listen to her beautiful witness here.

Pope Benedict goes on Vacation

HOLY FATHER BEGINS A BRIEF HOLIDAY IN VALLE D'AOSTA

Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha

Biography

Kateri was born near the town of Auriesville, New York, in the year 1656, the daughter of a Mohawk warrior. She was four years old when her mother died of smallpox. The disease also attacked Kateri and transfigured her face.

Kateri was adopted by her two aunts and an uncle. Kateri became converted as a teenager. She was baptized at the age of twenty and incurred the great hostility of her tribe.

Although she had to suffer greatly for her Faith, she remained firm in it. Kateri went to the new Christian colony of Indians in Canada. Here she lived a life dedicated to prayer, penitential practices, and care for the sick and aged. Every morning, even in bitterest winter, she stood before the chapel door until it opened at four and remained there until after the last Mass. She was devoted to the Eucharist and to Jesus Crucified.

She died on April 17, 1680 at the age of twenty-four. She is known as the "Lily of the Mohawks". Devotion to Kateri is responsible for establishing Native American ministries in Catholic Churches all over the United States and Canada. Kateri was declared venerable by the Catholic Church in 1943 and she was Beatified in 1980. Work is currently underway to have her Canonized by the Church. Hundreds of thousands have visited shrines to Kateri erected at both St. Francis Xavierand Caughnawaga and at her birth place at Auriesville, New York. Pilgrimages at these sites continue today.

Bl. Kateri Teckakwitha is the first Native American to be declared a Blessed. She is the patroness of the environment and ecology as is St. Francis of Assisi.

Patronage: Ecologists; ecology; environment; environmentalism; environmentalists; exiles; loss of parents; people in exile; people ridiculed for their piety; World Youth Day.

Symbols: lily (a symbol of her purity); a cross (a symbol of her love of Jesus Christ); or a turtle (a symbol of her clan).

Prayer for the Canonization of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha

O God who, among the many marvels of Your Grace in the New World, did cause to blossom on the banks of the Mohawk and of the St. Lawrence, the pure and tender Lily, Kateri Tekakwitha, grant we beseech You, the favor we beg through her intercession; that this Young Lover of Jesus and of His Cross may soon be counted among her Saints by Holy Mother Church, and that our hearts may be enkindled with a stronger desire to imitate her innocence and faith. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

~Imprimatur: Most Reverend Howard J. Hubbard, DD, Bishop of Albany, N.Y.


LITANY OF KATERI TEKAKWITHA

The Voice of An Angel

I was truly inspired by Barbara Padilla's appearance on America's Got Talent last week. She is a stay - at - home mom and a cancer survivor.

Excerpted from her website:

Barbara was born in Guadalajara, Mexico where she studied music, acting, and dance. She graduated from the Universidad de Guadalajara as a music instructor and studied voice. She was the section leader and soloist for the State choir of Jalisco. Barbara was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma and underwent several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation. During this time Barbara was told that she may never be able to sing again as the radiation could harm her vocal chords. She was in treatment for several years and was near death on more than one occasion, but her faith, family and friends helped her through those difficult times. After traveling to Houston for a consultation with doctors at MD Anderson, Barbara had a chance to audition for the Moore’s School of Music at the University of Houston. She was awarded a full scholarship where she completed the Master’s Degree program.




H/T: Patriotic Nurse

Lila Rose Lays Out the Case Against Planned Parenthood on "The Factor"

~ Via LiveActionFilms.


Previous Posts:

Breaking: LILA ROSE VIDEO EXPOSES 7th PLANNED PARENTHOOD CLINIC IN UNDERCOVER INVESTIGATION

Planned Parenthood of Memphis caught covering up statutory rape

YouTube Removes New Undercover Video of Planned Parenthood Without Explanation

Lila Rose discusses PP Corruption on O'Reilly

Planned Parenthood Caught in the Act of Protecting Predators Again

Yet Another Planned Parenthood Cover-up

INDIANA RESIDENTS CALL FOR INVESTIGATION AFTER PP RAPE COVER-UP

Planned Parenthood suspends employee over rape cover-up

Planned Parenthood Cover-up of Reported Rape in N.C.

AMERICAN LIFE LEAGUE ENDORSES MONTANA PERSONHOOD MOVEMENT

The following is a statement from Judie Brown, president of American Life League and member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, regarding the Montana Pro-Life Coalition's effort to gain legal recognition of human personhood – for the born and preborn.

"Recognition of human personhood is not a question of consensus, but a moral imperative grounded in the most basic truths of the Catholic faith.

"As the largest grassroots Catholic pro-life organization in the country, American Life League applauds Montana’s effort to protect the dignity of every human being as a person from his or her biological beginning.

"This courageous effort is rooted in the core principles of Catholic social teaching. Galvanized by a vision of what Pope John Paul II called the “culture of life,” Montanans are promoting the most fundamental human right – the recognition and protection of human personhood – a God-given right the Catholic Church has proclaimed and preached for 2,000 years, a God-given right countless Catholic martyrs have sacrificed their very lives to uphold.

"Montanans are not alone. They’re joined by Catholics and other members of the pro-life movement around the country who are hungry for truth and justice – hungry for the legal recognition of human personhood. Seventeen states – and counting – are working on initiatives that proclaim this fundamental human right.

"Over the past 36 years, many in the pro-life movement have embraced a strategy of so-called pragmatism. However, many others, including those of us at American Life League, are horrified at its obvious failure and ongoing diminishing returns. Opponents will never give us the optimal climate for doing the right thing. Now is the time for the entire pro-life movement to regain the vision and passion that have inspired every human rights champion throughout history. It’s about human personhood."

~

~ Via Katie Walker.

Breaking: "Jane Roe" Norma McCorvey arrested at Sotomayor hearing

Jill Stanek shares the following:

From the Washington Post, within the hour:

The woman at the center of the Supreme Court's landmark abortion rights ruling was arrested today at the confirmation hearing for Sonia Sotomayor among a wave of anti-abortion protesters who lined the sidewalks outside the Senate office buildings and several of whom made it into the hearing room and disrupted in an attempt to disrupt the proceedings.

Norma McCorvey, 61, of TX, better known as "Jane Roe" in the famous Roe v. Wade case from January 1973, was arrested after she and another protester started yelling during the opening statement of Sen. Al Franken (D-MN).... McCorvey... eventually become a leading opponent of the procedure....

Snip


From the Journal Sentinal blog:

Norma McCorvey... began to scream at Sotomayor that she was "wrong " for her perceived abortion rights views.

"You're wrong Sotomayor," she said. "You're wrong."...

Earlier, she was among a small group of anti-abortion activists who protested Sotomayor's confirmation outside the Hart Senate Office building. The group lingered on a sidewalk nearby holding up signs saying "Stop All Abortions." Other signs depicted graphic images of what appeared to be aborted fetuses. One woman wore a black judicial robe and held a sickle in protest of what demonstrators perceived as Sotomayor's abortion rights views.

"I'm here to overturn Roe and defeat Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court," McCorvey said earlier in the day. "She's unworthy of the position. She's Catholic. She's even unworthy of taking communion because of her pro-abortion stance."

Read the entire post here.

Obama Surgeon General Pick Regina Benjamin supported teaching doctors to do abortions

President Barack Obama named Alabama physician Regina Benjamin as the next Surgeon General of the United States. Benjamin is an African-American doctor who is known for rebuilding her medical clinic after it was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and then ravaged by fire in 2006.

However, Benjamin has also urged that future physicians be trained to learn how to perform abortions. More here.

Via Reuters:

Dr. Regina Benjamin promised to advocate for Obama's healthcare agenda as "America's doctor" if she gets the job as chief public spokesperson on health issues, saying her own family and patients have been victims of the failing U.S. system.

More to come....

St. Henry II

Today is the optional memorial of St. Henry. Henry II, successively Duke of Bavaria, King of Germany and Emperor, devoted himself to the spread of religion by rebuilding churches and founding monasteries.

Henry II, son of Henry, Duke of Bavaria, and of Gisella, daughter of Conrad, King of Burgundy, was born in 972. He succeeded his father as Duke of Bavaria, and in 1002, he was elected emperor. In 1014, he went to Rome and received the imperial crown at the hands of Pope Benedict VIII.

Henry worked hard to establish peace in Europe. However, to defend justice, he had to fight many wars. He was honest in battle and insisted that his armies be honorable too.

Henry married a gentle and loving woman named Cunegund (or Kunigunda) around 998. She, too, has been proclaimed a saint. The couple remained childless. Some sources claim the two lived chastely, but there is no proof of this.

Emperor Henry was one of the best rulers of the Holy Roman Empire. He promoted needed reforms in the monasteries and strengthened the various ecclesiastical sees of his kingdom, built churches and monasteries, and ruled wisely, tempering justice with mercy. He was a man of prayer and was greatly attracted to religious life, but accepted his role as husband and ruler and fulfilled his duties generously.

Henry was just fifty-two when he died in 1024. He was proclaimed a saint by Blessed Eugene III in 1146. Pope St. Pius X named Emperor Henry the patron of Benedictine Oblates.

Patronage: Basel, Switzerland; Benedictine Oblates; childless people; disabled people; dukes; handicapped people; kings; people rejected by religious orders; physically challenged people; sterility.

Symbols: Sword and church; lily; crown; dove on an orb; model of Bamburg cathedral.

Learn more about St. Henry and St. Cunegund here.

Happy Birthday, Bill!

Have a great day! (click for music)

Gregorian Chant Benedictine

Out from the Depths, I Cry to You O Lord...




~ Via Catholiques1.

Saint Benedict of Nursia

Today is the feast of St. Benedict of Nursia, the twin brother of St. Scholastica and the founder of Western monasticism.

Biography:

Tradition teaches that St. Benedict lived from 480 to 547, though we cannot be sure that these dates are historically accurate. His biographer, St. Gregory the Great, pope from 590 to 604, does not record the dates of his birth and death, though he refers to a Rule written by Benedict. Scholars debate the dating of the Rule though they seem to agree that it was written in the second third of the sixth century.

Saint Gregory wrote about St. Benedict in his Second Book of Dialogues, but his account of the life and miracles of Benedict cannot be regarded as a biography in the modern sense of the term. Gregory's purpose in writing Benedict's life was to edify and to inspire, not to seek out the particulars of his daily life. Gregory sought to show that saints of God, particularly St. Benedict, were still operative in the Christian Church in spite of all the political and religious chaos present in the realm. At the same time it would be inaccurate to claim that Gregory presented no facts about Benedict's life and works. According to Gregory's Dialogues Benedict was born in Nursia, a village high in the mountains northeast of Rome. His parents sent him to Rome for classical studies but he found the life of the eternal city too degenerate for his tastes.

Consequently he fled to a place southeast of Rome called Subiaco where he lived as a hermit for three years tended by the monk Romanus.

The hermit, Benedict, was then discovered by a group of monks who prevailed upon him to become their spiritual leader. His regime soon became too much for the lukewarm monks so they plotted to poison him. Gregory recounts the tale of Benedict's rescue; when he blessed the pitcher of poisoned wine, it broke into many pieces. Thereafter he left the undisciplined monks. Benedict left the wayward monks and established twelve monasteries with twelve monks each in the area south of Rome.

Later, perhaps in 529, he moved to Monte Cassino, about eighty miles southeast of Rome; there he destroyed the pagan temple dedicated to Apollo and built his premier monastery. It was there too that he wrote the Rule for the monastery of Monte Cassino though he envisioned that it could be used elsewhere.

The thirty-eight short chapters of the Second Book of Dialogues contain accounts of Benedict's life and miracles. Some chapters recount his ability to read other persons' minds; other chapters tell of his miraculous works, e.g., making water flow from rocks, sending a disciple to walk on the water, making oil continue to flow from a flask. The miracle stories echo the events of certain prophets of Israel as well as happenings in the life of Jesus. The message is clear: Benedict's holiness mirrors the saints and prophets of old and God has not abandoned his people; he continues to bless them with holy persons.

Benedict is viewed as a monastic leader, not a scholar. Still he probably read Latin rather well, an ability that gave him access to the works of Cassian and other monastic writings, both rules and sayings. The Rule is the sole known example of Benedict's writing, but it manifests his genius to crystallize the best of the monastic tradition and to pass it on to the European West.
Gregory presents Benedict as the model of a saint who flees temptation to pursue a life of attention to God. Through a balanced pattern of living and praying Benedict reached the point where he glimpsed the glory of God. Gregory recounts a vision that Benedict received toward the end of his life: In the dead of night he suddenly beheld a flood of light shining down from above more brilliant than the sun, and with it every trace of darkness cleared away. According to his own description, the whole world was gathered up before his eyes "in what appeared to be a single ray of light" (ch. 34). St. Benedict, the monk par excellence, led a monastic life that reached the vision of God.

~ +Abbot Primate Jerome Theisen OSB STD

Patronage: Against nettle rash; against poison; against witchcraft; agricultural workers; cavers; coppersmiths; dying people; erysipelas; Europe; farm workers; farmers; fever; gall stones; Heerdt, Germany; inflammatory diseases; Italian architects; kidney disease; monks; nettle rash; Norcia, Italy; people in religious orders; schoolchildren; servants who have broken their master's belongings; speliologists; spelunkers; temptations.

Quote: "Prayer ought to be short and pure, unless it be prolonged by the inspiration of Divine grace."

~ St. Benedict of Nursia

Pope Surprises Obama with Gift: Vatican document on right to life and bioethics

Pope Benedict XVI received President Barack Obama this afternoon in his private library, and after 36 minutes of private conversation, the pair emerged without providing any details about their topics of conversation. Nevertheless, the Holy See revealed that the Pope gave Obama an “unannounced gift”--a Vatican document on bioethics and the right to life.

"The G8 has been very productive, 20 billion dollars have been allocated [to poor countries]; that's something concrete," President Obama told the Pope when he asked about the summit, as photographers and journalists were ushered out of the Papal library.

I wonder how much of that 20 billion dollars will be spent on "family planning" AKA birth control, forced abortions, etc. which in reality is actually given to Planned Parenthood for eugenics purposes? How much will actually be spent 0n food, clothing, shelter and other basic necessities?

The meeting between the Pope and the U.S. President started at 4:25 p.m. local time, after an unusually short meeting of ten minutes with the Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

After the private conversation, and again in front of the cameras, President Obama gave the Pontiff a stole that was drapped upon the body of St. John Neumann from 1988 to 2007. The Pope instead presented the president with a mosaic portraying St. Peter's Square and the Vatican Basilica, and an autographed copy of his latest social encyclical “Caritas in Veritate.”

“I will have something to read on the plane,” President Obama joked after receiving the encyclical. Read the entire article at CNA.

Obama Meets Pope in the Vatican

Grassroots Group Pushing U.S. Legislators to Read Health Care Reform Bill

Editorial: Passing Unread Laws

~ Via letfreedomringusa.

Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg Admits to Supporting Eugenics as a Legitimate Reason for Abortion

This is truly shocking! Operation Rescue President Troy Newman shared the quote below (in bold) from Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg this evening after we finished watching Maafa 21: Black Genocide in 21st Century America and it was horrible to hear her words.

Via Deacon Keith A. Fournier at Catholic Online:

Emily Bazellon of the New York Times Magazine conducted an interview with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg entitled “The Place of Women on the Court” which appeared in its’ July 7, 2009 issue. Justice Ginsburg was amazingly candid about her support of unrestricted abortion. In response to a particular question she supported even eugenics as a legitimate reason for a woman “choosing” to take the developing human life growing in her womb.

Here is an excerpt:

Q If you were a lawyer again, what would you want to accomplish as a future feminist legal agenda?

JUSTICE GINSBURG: Reproductive choice has to be straightened out. There will never be a woman of means without choice anymore. That just seems to me so obvious. The states that had changed their abortion laws before Roe [to make abortion legal] are not going to change back. So we have a policy that affects only poor women, and it can never be otherwise, and I don’t know why this hasn’t been said more often.

Q: Are you talking about the distances women have to travel because in parts of the country, abortion is essentially unavailable, because there are so few doctors and clinics that do the procedure? And also, the lack of Medicaid for abortions for poor women?

JUSTICE GINSBURG: Yes, the ruling about that surprised me. [Harris v. McRae — in 1980 the court upheld the Hyde Amendment, which forbids the use of Medicaid for abortions.] Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of.(emphasis added) Read the entire article here.

This is so sick! And someone like this is on the Supreme Court? Lord, have mercy!

Related Information:

LifeSiteNews.Com: Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg: I Thought Roe Would Help Eradicate Unwanted Populations Through Abortion

WorldNetDaily: Ginsburg: I thought Roe was to rid undesirables

What Does The Prayer Really Say? Justice Ginsberg originally thought Roe v Wade was about control of undesirable populations


Related Posts on Catholic Fire:

NC Remembers Sterilization Program; Margaret Sanger's Eugenics Program Continues Today

Abortion and Contraception Key Tools in Black Genocide: New Film

The Extinction of a Race

Klansmen for Obama

Video: Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood's Racist Founder

Barack Obama and Abortion From a Black Man's Perspective

The Evils of Planned Parenthood; What You Can Do to Stop Them

Catholic Church Offers Stem Cell Grants

HOPING to contribute to the end of the use of embryos in research, the Catholic Church is offering a $100,000 grant for research into the medical use of adult stem cells.

The Sydney Archdiocese announced the grant on Wednesday, saying it is still vehemently opposed to embryonic stem cell research but approves of the use of adult stem cells.

Sydney Archbishop Cardinal George Pell says adult stem cells can already be used in the treatment of heart and liver disease.

"The Catholic Church promotes and encourages medical research and we strongly support stem cell research and other forms of biotechnology that respect the dignity of every human life," Cardinal Pell said in a statement.

"Advances in adult stem cell research have been extremely impressive."

The Catholic Church says the grant will be awarded by an independent assessment panel.

This is the fourth adult stem cell grant the Church has awarded since 2002, with $300,000 already given.

~ Via The Northern Star.

Soul of Christ, Sanctify Me!

This is a must see video, filled with holy and heavenly images! The music is divine!

Anima Christi (Soul of Christ) a beautiful prayer, often said after receiving Communion, dates from the early 14th century.



Anima Christi, sanctifica me.
Corpus Christi, salva me.
Sanguis Christi, inebria me.
Aqua lateris Christi, lava me.
Passio Christi, conforta me.
O bone Jesu, exaudi me.
Intra tua vulnera absconde me.
Ne permittas me separari a te.
Ab hoste maligno defende me.
In hora mortis meae voca me.
Et iube me venire ad te,
Ut cum Sanctis tuis laudem te.
In saecula saeculorum.
Amen
~~~
Soul of Christ, sanctify me
Body of Christ, save me
Blood of Christ, inebriate me (refresh me)
Water from the side of Christ, wash me
Passion of Christ, strengthen me
O good Jesus, hear me
Within Thy wounds hide me
Separated from Thee let me never be
From the malicious enemy defend me
(from the malignant enemy defend me)
In the hour of my death call me
And bid me come unto Thee
That I may praise Thee with Thy saints
and with Thy angels
(That with thy saints I may praise Thee)
Forever and ever. Amen.

~ Via Catholiques1

Catholic Author Creates Comic to Spark Abortion Discussion

What a great idea!

CNA reports:

Matthew Lickona, author of “Swimming with Scapulars: True Confessions of a Young Catholic,” is now releasing a five-part comic series about a fetus named Alphonse who survives an abortion attempt and “sets out on a mission of revenge,” while his only friend persistently reminds him that payback isn’t the answer.

The first issue, titled, “Untimely Ripp’d” is described as a story about the intersection of eight lives following an attempted abortion on Alphonse.

For readers unfamiliar with the Japanese cartoons known as “Manga,” the powers attributed to Alphonse might seem ridiculous. But the exaggeration of emotions, actions and powers is part and parcel of the Manga style, which has become quite popular with American youth in the form of “Anime.”

The comic’s website explains that Alphonse is "grotesquely abnormal" due to his mother’s “use of controlled substances” which has left him “both sentient and coordinated.”

“He is also deeply wounded, twisted by fear and rage after the attempt on his life, and bent on revenge,” the site says. “But violence begets violence. Alphonse is pursued even as he is pursuing, and haunted by the claim that there may be another way... .” Read the entire article here.

Archbishop Chaput: News Media Fails to Fulfill its Role

Once again, the articulate and eloquent Archbishop Chaput speaks very candidly and truthfully about one of the most crucial issues of our day -- the bias in the mainstream media.

Via CNA:

At a Wednesday evening gathering of the Catholic business group Legatus, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver analyzed the influence of the media upon American Catholics. The news media, he said, has the important role in our democracy of protecting truth and pursuing reason, but it is failing to deliver.

"America’s news media have enormous opinion-shaping power," Chaput explained. "Therefore it’s vital for Catholics to understand how the media work, and especially how they work on us."

"The media’s power to shape public thought is why it’s so vital for the rest of us to understand their human element."

Instead of some impersonal organization, Catholics need to realize that the men and women who report the news bring their own cultural and political views, economic pressures and social ambitions to their reporting and editorial decisions, the Denver archbishop said.

"When we don’t recognize the personal chemistry of the men and women who bring us our news … then we fail the media by holding them to too low a standard. We also –and much more importantly—fail ourselves by neglecting to think and act as intelligent citizens."

But the media also has "an obligation to the public," Archbishop Chaput stated, "a duty to illuminate public discourse by presenting the facts of a story in a full and truthful context, regardless of the intellectual fashions of the moment."

While he noted that while "many of the reporters I talk with try to be diligent and fair," the prelate lamented, "too many news professionals don’t live up to this standard. And some, quite candidly, don’t seem to try."

Read the entire article here.

He certainly hits the nail on the head!