Year: 2012

Obama’s Assault on Religious Liberty

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Source: The Voice Blog | Chris Banescu

– President Barack Obama, a life-long Champion for Abortion, is hell-bent on forcing religious institutions to pay for birth control and abortion drugs coverage for their employees. New regulations implemented by the Obama administration mandate that sterilization options, abortifacients (abortion drugs), and contraception services must be included in virtually all health plans, including those offered by Christian charities, church-based hospitals, Christian universities, and other faith-based social services agencies. Obama now demands that his anti-life and pro-abortion agenda must be supported not only by our tax dollars, but also by the donations of Christians who consider the destruction of human life morally abhorrent and an abomination. Abortion is held in such high regard by President Obama that he is willing to violate the First Amendment religious rights of millions of Americans in order to impose and fund his agenda.

On January 20, 2012, the Health and Human Services (HHS) department, under the direction and influence of the Obama administration, issued a final rule that requires health insurance plans, including those of religious institutions, “cover preventive services for women including recommended contraceptive services without charging a co-pay, co-insurance or a deductible.” HHS’ rule further states that plans must cover the “full range of the Institute of Medicine’s recommended preventive services, including all FDA – approved forms of contraception.” The FDA’s list of approved methods of contraception includes abortifacients, abortion drugs prescribed to kill life in the womb after conception.

Pro-Abortion Groups Cheer and Praise Obama

Confirmation of the wrongness and immorality of this mandate came directly from the head of NARAL, a militantly pro-abortion organization. Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL, praised the Obama administration for its courage and stead-fast support of this government policy. “The administration stood firm against intensive lobbying efforts from anti-birth-control organizations trying to expand the refusal option even further to allow organizations and corporations to deny their employees contraceptive coverage,” she said. “As a result, millions will get access to contraception—and they will not have to ask their bosses for permission,” she continued.

On its website, NARAL proudly touts its intense pro-abortion lobbying efforts. “NARAL Pro-Choice America activists sent 135,543 messages to the Obama administration calling on the White House to stand strong in support of no-cost coverage of contraception. This latest activism adds to the list of actions it has taken to make no-cost birth control a reality for all American women.” Clearly, Obama listened and agrees with their stance. As a result, his rules not only force faith-based organizations to cover these abortion services, they must also offer them for free, with support from donations and dues from their members whose religious beliefs and views emphatically oppose abortion.

Catholic Organizations Condemn the Mandate

Reaction from the Catholic Church, its bishops, several Catholic universities, and many other Catholic leaders has been swift and categorical.

Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, sharply criticized the president’s decision and denounced the rule as unconscionable. “Never before has the federal government forced individuals and organizations to go out into the marketplace and buy a product that violates their conscience. This shouldn’t happen in a land where free exercise of religion ranks first in the Bill of Rights,” Cardinal-designate Dolan said. “The government should not force Americans to act as if pregnancy is a disease to be prevented at all costs,” the archbishop emphasized.

“This is nothing less than a direct attack on religion and First Amendment rights,” said Franciscan Sister Jane Marie Klein, chairperson of the board at Franciscan Alliance, Inc., a system of 13 Catholic hospitals. “I have hundreds of employees who will be upset and confused by this edict. I cannot understand it at all.”

Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society, a Catholic university watchdog group, denounced the “cult of choice” agenda of the Obama administration. “The White House has sold the First Amendment for a few pennies of political support from the ACLU and the abortion lobby,” he said.

Despite the strong denouncements and intense opposition from Catholic groups, Obama only agreed to delay this mandate until 2013. This transparent “compromise” is obviously intended to help his re-election efforts and deflect the full effect of the controversy until after the November 2012 elections. Luckily, these political games have little traction with the Catholic Church. “In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences,” said Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan. “The Obama administration has now drawn an unprecedented line in the sand,” he said. “The Catholic bishops are committed to working with our fellow Americans to reform the law and change this unjust regulation.”

Archbishop Dolan and the Catholic Church understand the seriousness and severity of this latest attack on all faith-based organizations. Obama’s mandate sets a dangerous precedent for our democracy and undermines our Constitution. It is a wholesale assault on the specific protections of religious liberties afforded to all Americans by the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” If this obamination is allowed to stand, then the religious liberties of all Americans will be endangered, not just Christians and Catholics. Such an unconstitutional and tyrannical policy must be opposed and defeated if liberty is to survive in the “land of the free and home of the brave.” Silence is not an option, now more than ever.

Pope to American Bishops: Secularism Threatens Liberty, Church Must Respond

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Pope Benedict

Freedom detached from moral truth, said Pope Benedict XVI in a recent address to American Catholic Bishops, reflects an “extreme individualism” that requires response from the (Catholic) Church. This is an argument not limited to Catholics alone (see: “Has Europe Lost its Soul” by Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks) and includes the Orthodox as well (see: “With the Rise of Militant Secularism, Rome and Moscow Make Common Cause“).

“The Gospel,” said Pope Benedict, “proclaims unchanging moral truths,” as indeed it does. If those truths are not proclaimed, particularly in the cauldron of moral confusion that characterizes Western Culture today, then we can conclude that fidelity to the Gospel does not exist. This is a hard saying but true: if religious leaders remain silent on the moral issues that have become flashpoints in the culture, then it is time to question whether they really comprehend this gospel that they say they guard.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ cannot be conflated to a political ideology or any other human contrivance. If any structure seeks to contain the Gospel — to claim the Gospel as the justification for whatever the goals of that structure might be, then that structure will face obliteration. The rock falls and crushes anyone who seeks to possess it. This includes ecclesiastical structures as well. If a Church leaves off the Gospel and seeks instead its self-perpetuation and the inevitable accommodation with the dominant culture that this calculation requires, it will face judgment. If it remains unrepentant, it will die.

Source: The Vatican

Thursday, 19 January 2012

Dear Brother Bishops,

I greet all of you with fraternal affection and I pray that this pilgrimage of spiritual renewal and deepened communion will confirm you in faith and commitment to your task as Pastors of the Church in the United States of America. As you know, it is my intention in the course of this year to reflect with you on some of the spiritual and cultural challenges of the new evangelization.

One of the most memorable aspects of my Pastoral Visit to the United States was the opportunity it afforded me to reflect on America’s historical experience of religious freedom, and specifically the relationship between religion and culture. At the heart of every culture, whether perceived or not, is a consensus about the nature of reality and the moral good, and thus about the conditions for human flourishing. In America, that consensus, as enshrined in your nation’s founding documents, was grounded in a worldview shaped not only by faith but a commitment to certain ethical principles deriving from nature and nature’s God. Today that consensus has eroded significantly in the face of powerful new cultural currents which are not only directly opposed to core moral teachings of the Judeo-Christian tradition, but increasingly hostile to Christianity as such.

For her part, the Church in the United States is called, in season and out of season, to proclaim a Gospel which not only proposes unchanging moral truths but proposes them precisely as the key to human happiness and social prospering (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 10). To the extent that some current cultural trends contain elements that would curtail the proclamation of these truths, whether constricting it within the limits of a merely scientific rationality, or suppressing it in the name of political power or majority rule, they represent a threat not just to Christian faith, but also to humanity itself and to the deepest truth about our being and ultimate vocation, our relationship to God. When a culture attempts to suppress the dimension of ultimate mystery, and to close the doors to transcendent truth, it inevitably becomes impoverished and falls prey, as the late Pope John Paul II so clearly saw, to reductionist and totalitarian readings of the human person and the nature of society.

With her long tradition of respect for the right relationship between faith and reason, the Church has a critical role to play in countering cultural currents which, on the basis of an extreme individualism, seek to promote notions of freedom detached from moral truth. Our tradition does not speak from blind faith, but from a rational perspective which links our commitment to building an authentically just, humane and prosperous society to our ultimate assurance that the cosmos is possessed of an inner logic accessible to human reasoning. The Church’s defense of a moral reasoning based on the natural law is grounded on her conviction that this law is not a threat to our freedom, but rather a “language” which enables us to understand ourselves and the truth of our being, and so to shape a more just and humane world. She thus proposes her moral teaching as a message not of constraint but of liberation, and as the basis for building a secure future.

The Church’s witness, then, is of its nature public: she seeks to convince by proposing rational arguments in the public square. The legitimate separation of Church and State cannot be taken to mean that the Church must be silent on certain issues, nor that the State may choose not to engage, or be engaged by, the voices of committed believers in determining the values which will shape the future of the nation.

In the light of these considerations, it is imperative that the entire Catholic community in the United States come to realize the grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres. The seriousness of these threats needs to be clearly appreciated at every level of ecclesial life. Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion. Many of you have pointed out that concerted efforts have been made to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices. Others have spoken to me of a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience.

Here once more we see the need for an engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity endowed with a strong critical sense vis-à-vis the dominant culture and with the courage to counter a reductive secularism which would delegitimize the Church’s participation in public debate about the issues which are determining the future of American society. The preparation of committed lay leaders and the presentation of a convincing articulation of the Christian vision of man and society remain a primary task of the Church in your country; as essential components of the new evangelization, these concerns must shape the vision and goals of catechetical programs at every level.

In this regard, I would mention with appreciation your efforts to maintain contacts with Catholics involved in political life and to help them understand their personal responsibility to offer public witness to their faith, especially with regard to the great moral issues of our time: respect for God’s gift of life, the protection of human dignity and the promotion of authentic human rights. As the Council noted, and I wished to reiterate during my Pastoral Visit, respect for the just autonomy of the secular sphere must also take into consideration the truth that there is no realm of worldly affairs which can be withdrawn from the Creator and his dominion (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 36). There can be no doubt that a more consistent witness on the part of America’s Catholics to their deepest convictions would make a major contribution to the renewal of society as a whole.

Dear Brother Bishops, in these brief remarks I have wished to touch upon some of the pressing issues which you face in your service to the Gospel and their significance for the evangelization of American culture. No one who looks at these issues realistically can ignore the genuine difficulties which the Church encounters at the present moment. Yet in faith we can take heart from the growing awareness of the need to preserve a civil order clearly rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition, as well as from the promise offered by a new generation of Catholics whose experience and convictions will have a decisive role in renewing the Church’s presence and witness in American society. The hope which these “signs of the times” give us is itself a reason to renew our efforts to mobilize the intellectual and moral resources of the entire Catholic community in the service of the evangelization of American culture and the building of the civilization of love. With great affection I commend all of you, and the flock entrusted to your care, to the prayers of Mary, Mother of Hope, and cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of grace and peace in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Pope Benedict XVI

Rise Up and Walk!

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Do you think miracles don’t happen like they did in the Gospels, or that the Lord does not work like He did in the book of Acts? Read this.

Source: Friends of Indonesia

During the massive eruption of Mount Merapi in the fall of 2010, Fr. Marcus and Fr. Alexios started to reach out to the people of that area, first in their physical relief efforts, later in their spiritual. While they were delivering relief supplies and housing refugees, they were also spreading the gospel.

A small seed that has since flowered. Fr. Markus had been talking to a shaman of the area whose wife, Kartini, was very sick and had been paralyzed for many years. The shaman, Pak Mulyoto, wanted to know if Jesus Christ could heal people; he had tried every other type of healing powers. Shamans in Indonesia, and this one in particular, believe that they have a great power for healing, but he could not heal his own wife.

Fr. Markus assured him that indeed Jesus could heal, but it was faith in Jesus Christ that brought the healing power. The shaman said that he believed. Fr. Markus said that Jesus wouldn’t heal his wife while he was worshiping his own power and magic. He couldn’t worship two gods, which is a very common thing in Indonesia where people often practice many religions at once. Pak Mulyoto gave Fr. Markus all of his magical implements, not keeping even one back.

Fr. Markus went and burned them all and then he prayed for Kertini’s healing. Suddenly, the woman could move her head and talk. She asked for a spoon so she could eat. She was healed and was hungry. The former shaman and all of his family were then catechized and baptized, along with many other people of their area who had witnessed the miracle.

A mission then started in earnest on the slopes of Mount Merapi. There are now about 40 people in the mission, and they meet in the house of one of the elders of the village who also converted. The church is composed mostly of flower farmers, the main industry of the region.

Fr. Markus goes to visit this new community almost every Sunday after services are over in Solo. Fr. Alexios often lends a hand, especially in teaching all the new converts. Mount Merapi is not far from Solo where both Fr. Alexios and Fr. Markus are stationed. The community is growing fast. Praise God!

Click to enlarge

Baptisms at Mt. Merapi

Mt. Merapi converts

Russian Church Declines to Comment on Constantinople Statement on Abbot’s Arrest

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How is Moscow commenting on the imprisonment of Abbot Ephraim any different than Constantinople urging the Europeans to support passage of the Geneva Protocols before Global Warming was discredited? Don’t both concern an act of state? Or is Constantinople claiming a prerogative that in fact does not exist: Whenever the state takes an action that impacts the Church, only the hierarch of the region has authority to speak out. If that’s the case, then no Church could protest in support of, say, the Coptic Orthodox or any other group persecuted by the state. This is a prescription for recalcitrant states to increase pressure on all Christians, not just the Orthodox. Moscow is wise not to say anything.

Source: Interfax

Pats. Bartholomew and Kyrill

Moscow, January 12, Interfax – The Russian Orthodox Church has declined to comment on a statement from the Patriarchate of Constantinople on Tuesday on the recent arrest in Greece of Archimandrite Ephrem, abbot of the Vatopedi Monastery in Greece’s Mt. Athos monastic community, over real estate deals.

“I assume that [the statement] speaks for itself. All that the Russian Orthodox Church has considered necessary to say on this matter is said in the letter of the Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to the Greek president and in the comments of Metropolitan Hilarion [head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations] that date back to December 28,” an External Church Relations Department spokesman told Interfax-Religion on Wednesday.

In its statement, the Constantinople Patriarchate deplored the Ephrem affair but said it respected the independence of Greek justice and avoided interfering with unfinished court cases, one reason being it does not know all the details of any such case.

The Constantinople Patriarchate also pointed out that the fact that the community comprising its see includes monks of various nationalities does not vest it with authority over the entire world Orthodox community that would give it the right to interfere in the affairs of other churches.

Archimandrite Ephrem was arrested by court order last month as part of an investigation into real estate deals between the Vatopedi Monastery and the Greek state that was launched in 2008.

Late in December, Patriarch Kirill wrote a letter to Greek President Karolos Papoulias in which he asked for Ephrem to be released, expressing surprise at the detention of “a monk who poses no public danger and has repeatedly offered to cooperate with the investigators.”

Metropolitan Hilarion branded Ephrem’s arrest as an attack against the Mt. Athos community and against Orthodoxy as a whole.

Influential Russian politicians and the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed support for the archimandrite.

Among those who rose up in his defense was Russia’s Foundation of St. Andrew the First-Called, which brought the Belt of the Most Holy Mother of God to Russia this autumn in what was the first time the highly venerated Orthodox relic, which is kept at the Vatopedi Monastery, was taken outside Greece.

The cincture was shown in various Russian cities from October 20 to November 28 and was seen by nearly 3 million people, including top Russian state leaders.