Month: November 2016

Gianna Jessen is an abortion survivor. Gianna was speaking at Queen’s Hall Parliament House in Victoria. Australia on the eve of the debate to decriminalize abortion in Victoria. This speech was given August 21, 2013.

Men, you are made for greatness. You are made to stand up and be men. You are made to defend women and children, not to stand by when you know murder is occurring and do nothing about it. You are not made to use women and leave us alone. You are made to be kind and great and gracious and strong and stand for something.

By Archpriest Alexander F. C. Webster

Benjamin Franklin, one of our nation’s greatest founding fathers, was asked by a resident of Philadelphia after the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” Franklin replied famously, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

In the wee hours of this morning, we learned that God the Holy Trinity had bestowed an extraordinary gift of grace upon our American Republic through the much maligned American electorate—a second chance to reverse the cultural, moral, and political slide that we, the people of the United States, have allowed—and even fostered—during the last few decades, a second chance to keep our Republic alive and to revive the unique American spirit that celebrates faith, family, community, patriotism, and liberty and justice for all as participants in the American experiment in ordered liberty.

As faithful Christians, as well as good Americans, we must always remember the wisdom of King David in ancient Israel: “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to his earth; on that very day his plans perish” (Pslams 146:3-4, LXX). No king or queen, prince or princess, elected man or woman merits the faith and love that is due to God the Holy Trinity alone. But we may still hope that our political leaders will open their hearts to the Holy Spirit and let Him work wonders through them. Sometimes hope is a worthwhile plan.

The fictional character Captain John H. Miller’s last words to PFC James Francis Ryan in what I have described as “the greatest anti-war pro-soldier film” ever made, Saving Private Ryan, are these: “Earn this”

My prayer to Almighty God today, after the most grueling, exhausting, mean-spirited, and divisive presidential election in my memory dating back to 1960, is that we, all of us, will accept the gift the same way that a grateful PFC Ryan does in that uniquely moving film.

Archpriest Alexander F. C. Webster, Ph.D., is a retired U.S. Army chaplain (Colonel) and parish priest of St. Herman of Alaska Orthodox Church, Stafford, Virginia.

By Fr. Johannes L. Jacobse

Giving the Patriarch Athenagoras Human Rights Award to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was a mistake. Cuomo is a defensive tackle for the abortion industry. He uses the power of the state and his bully pulpit to bulldoze anyone who dares defend the unborn. Gov. Cuomo also advocates for partial birth abortion through the ninth month of pregnancy. Maybe you didn’t know.

The award muddies the moral waters. The first calling of Bishops of the Orthodox Church is to “rightly divide the word of truth.” All of us — clergy and laity alike — pray for this every time we meet for worship. Rightly dividing the word of truth applies not only to what is taught inside the church but also to our public witness. And the moral tradition is clear: aborting the unborn is morally indefensible.

This is not the first time the waters were muddied. Paul Sarbanes, the Greek Orthodox former senator from Maryland, was feted countless times with no mention that his abortion advocacy militated against the moral tradition. It scandalized the faithful, so much so that when Sarbanes was appointed as the honorary chairmen of the Twentieth Anniversary Celebration of International Orthodox Charities back in 2012, the faithful protested.

No second-tier moralizing is necessary either. We know that abortions are frequent. We understand that given the cultural climate some women choose abortion out of desperation and confusion. Priests deal with this all the time. But certainly you know that no therapy can be applied until the disease is properly diagnosed and that the unrestricted abortion that infects American society is a cultural disease of the first order.

Sin corrupts and the corruption that abortion fosters affects the larger culture. Do you not understand this? Ask yourselves: Does selling aborted baby parts reveal that we are falling even deeper into a dark pit? If this bothers you at all, then ask: Why give Gov. Cuomo — who defends these practices as a moral and social good — an award for human rights?

Yes, we know that Gov. Cuomo untangled a political knot that allowed the Ground Zero ecumenical structure to be built. We also understand that politics is a complicated business especially in New York. Yet you could have given Gov. Cuomo a certificate of merit or a plaque thanking him for his service — anything that does not muddy the moral waters in the ways that giving the award did.

The waters have been muddied, the public witness of Orthodox Christianity weakened, the meaning of the words “human rights” diminished, and the award cheapened.

Do you not see how this erodes your own moral authority as well?