Vatican Invites Catholics Around the World to Join the Pope in Prayer

The Worldwide Eucharistic Adoration will be broadcast from St. Peter’s Basilica next Sunday, 2 June from 5:00 pm-6:00 pm EDT. Its theme is: “One Lord, One Faith”, which was chosen to testify to the deep unity that characterizes it. “It will be an event,” Archbishop Fisichella explained, “occurring for the first time in the history of the Church, which is why we can describe it as ‘historical’. 

The cathedrals of the world will be synchronized with Rome and will, for an hour, be in communion with the Pope in Eucharistic adoration. There has been an incredible response to this initiative, going beyond the cathedrals and involving episcopal conferences, parishes, lay associations, and religious congregations, especially cloistered ones.”

Blatty Submits Petition to Archbishop - Academy Award Winner Takes on Georgetown As Promised

Exorcist Author Submits Petition of 1200 Alumni, Students, Faculty, Parents to Address Repeated Scandals, Dissidence and Non-Compliance with Church Law

Washington, D.C. – Academy Award winner William Peter Blatty, whose best-selling book and blockbuster film The Exorcist were situated at his alma mater, Georgetown University, announced today that he has delivered a “Petition” on behalf of more than 1200 alumni, students, parents, teachers, and other laity from around the world.  The “Petition” prays that the Catholic Church will grant several remedies, including, if made necessary, the removal or suspension of top-ranked Georgetown’s right to call itself Catholic and Jesuit in its fundraising and representations to applicants.

The Petition cites a Vatican Decree issued on July 11, 2012, at the request of the Archbishop of Lima, that ordered the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, a very prominent Latin American university, to cease calling itself “Catholic” and “Pontifical” while declaring that it continued to be ecclesiastical property and subject to the requirements of Church law.

On the order of Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, based the decision on the university’s failure to comply with Ex corde Ecclesiae, the 1990 Apostolic Constitution for Catholic Universities and that the University of Lima persists “in continuing to orient its institutional initiatives according to standards that are inconsistent with the norms and morality of the Church.”

The Last Laugh of Alfredo Ottaviani

By George Weigel

Despite his humble origins as a baker’s son from Trastevere, Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, longtime curial head of the Holy Office (“successor to the Inquisition,” in journalese) and scourge of the nouvelle théologie of the 1950s, was a formidable figure in pre-conciliar Catholicism. Ottaviani’s approach to theology was neatly summarized in the Latin motto of his cardinalatial coat of arms, Semper Idem [Always the Same], and his fierce defense of what he understood to be orthodoxy made him a not-implausible model for the character of Cardinal Leone in Morris West’s novel The Shoes of the Fisherman.

Despite the caricatures of the world press, Ottaviani was no monster; indeed, he was reputed to be a man of considerable personal charm. Nor was he a dyed-in-the-wool conservative politically; he wanted the council to condemn all forms of modern war, another cause in which Ottaviani (whose Vatican II batting average did not rise above the Mendoza Line) failed. But perhaps his greatest defeat at the council came on the question of Church and state. For before and during the Vatican II years, Cardinal Ottaviani stoutly, and, ultimately, futilely, resisted the development of doctrine that led the world’s bishops to approve the council’s “Declaration on Religious Freedom.”

Read more at First Things >>

Vatican Official: Discrimination Against Christians Should Be Opposed Just As Firmly As Anti-Semitism And Islamophobia

(Vatican Radio) The Vatican Secretariat of State issued a tweet on Monday: “Intolerance against Christians, especially in the name of ‘tolerance’, should be condemned publicly.”

The tweet referenced a Statement of the Holy See delivered by Bishop Mario Toso, SDB, at the High Level Conference on Tolerance and Non-discrimination (including Human Rights Youth Education), which took place May 21-22 in Tirana, Albania.

The Conference was held under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

A New Sunlit Uplands Feature: Father Ted Tyler's Thoughts for Today

Father Ted Tyler

We are very pleased to offer our readers and visitors a wonderful new feature - a daily reflection on the day's Gospel reading.  These Gospel readings, which follow the Church's liturgical calendar and are the readings for daily and Sunday Holy Mass throughout the world, are followed by short but profound reflections that are written and presented by Father Ted Tyler, a priest in Australia's Upper Blue Mountains and part of the Diocese of Parramatta.  Father Ted's excellent talks are also available, along with printed text, on his superb blog, Catholic Thoughts. 

Father Ted's daily reflections will appear in our right sidebar.  To view the talk in full-screen, simply click the lower right corner of the video.  We know you will find Father Ted's website and daily videos spiritually enriching and a great blessing for you and your family. 

Memorial Day

All we have of freedom, all we use or know -
This our fathers bought for us long and long ago.

~ Rudyard Kipling 

Bring Flowers of the Rarest (Queen of the May) - John McDermott

Lovely Lady dressed in blue -------
Teach me how to pray!
God was just your little boy,
Tell me what to say!

Did you lift Him up, sometimes,
Gently on your knee?
Did you sing to Him the way
Mother does to me?

Did you hold His hand at night?
Did you ever try
Telling stories of the world?
O! And did He cry?

Do you really think He cares
If I tell Him things -------
Little things that happen? And
Do the Angels' wings

Make a noise? And can He hear
Me if I speak low?
Does He understand me now?
Tell me -------for you know.

Lovely Lady dressed in blue -------
Teach me how to pray!
God was just your little boy,
And you know the way.

 

 

This prayer-poem was written by Mary Dixon Thayer and was popularized in the 1950s by Archbishop Fulton Sheen.

Father Rutler: The Gift of Eternal Memory

A weekly column by Father George Rutler.

Before our present time, not so many people lived long enough for hips and knees to wear out. Memories also fade, but that problem of being old is not new: “Even if [your father’s] mind fails, be considerate of him; do not revile him because you are in your prime” (Sirach 3:13). A whole science is developing to stave off forms of dementia. There is also a spiritual dementia that forgets God, but the mystery of the Holy Trinity is the cure for forgetfulness. Pope Francis recently preached: “The Holy Spirit is God active in us, God who helps us remember, who awakens our memory. Jesus himself explains this to the Apostles before Pentecost: ‘the Spirit that God will send in my name will remind you of everything I have said.’”

The Risen Lord helped the two men on the Emmaus Road to remember the prophecies of the Resurrection. The Pope used the image of a road for Christian life: “Memory is a great grace, and when a Christian has no memory — this is a hard thing, but it's true — he is not a Christian; he is an idolater, because he is before a God that has no road, that does not know how to move forward on the road. Our God is moving forward on the road with us, He is among us, He walks with us. He saves us. He makes history with us. Be mindful of all that, and life becomes more fruitful, with the grace of memory.”

Through the Holy Spirit, the Blessed Mother had the Church’s best memory, and she “treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). Spiritual memory is not like the reminiscence in which our culture engages on Memorial Day, for instance. That is an edifying piety, and Cicero said that to forget one’s past is to remain always a child. But the Holy Trinity transports the soul into an existence not limited by time. That is why the “memorial of the Eucharist” is an actual encounter with Christ and not a form of nostalgia.

We cannot know the full mystery of the Holy Trinity, but unlike oriental forms of mysticism which would obliterate consciousness altogether, we are given an eternal memory when we love the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Beloved Disciple said, “We love Him because He loved us” (1 John 4:19). St. John lived until the third year of the reign of the emperor Trajan, which was 100 A.D. He may have had some gerontological decay, for he had to be carried about and kept repeating, “Little children, love one another.” When the Ephesian believers tried to “be considerate of him” by asking why he said only that, over and over again, he replied, “Because this is our Lord's command and if you fulfill this, nothing else is needed.”

Noonan: A Battering Ram Becomes a Stonewall

The IRS's leaders refuse to account for the agency's corruption and abuse.

"I don't know." "I don't remember." "I'm not familiar with that detail." "It's not my precise area." "I'm not familiar with that letter." 

Lois Lerner and her lawyer

These are quotes from the Internal Revenue Service officials who testified this week before the House and Senate. That is the authentic sound of stonewalling, and from the kind of people who run Washington in the modern age—smooth, highly credentialed and unaccountable. They're surrounded by legal and employment protections, they know how to parse a careful response, they know how to blur the essential point of a question in a blizzard of unconnected factoids. They came across as people arrogant enough to target Americans for abuse and harassment and think they'd get away with it.

So what did we learn the past week, and what are the essentials to keep in mind?

Read more at The Wall Street Journal >>

Moochelle Considering an Endless Vacation

Here's a dilemma to which we can all relate -- having to change seasonal wardrobes and repack for Hawaii when you've just returned from a grand tour of Europe, and then have  only hours for your lady's maid or valet to pack again for a weekend in Aspen or the yacht at the Vineyard.  Our always practical and thoughtful First Lady, Moochelle, has found a solution -- one long, extended, taxpayer-paid vacation.

From White House Dossier

With scandal swirling about the White House, First Lady Michelle Obama may be considering an extended exit from Washington this summer, fleeing for weeks to the Obamas’ traditional summer haven, Martha’s Vineyard.

According to the Boston Globe, “Michelle Obama and the children may be on the island for an extended period.” But the president would hardly be suffering by comparison. He may come up on weekends and then stay for two weeks at the end of the summer, the Globe reports.

The White House has not commented on the Obamas’ vacation plans.

The Obamas are said to be eying a house in Farm Neck on the Vineyard. If they land there, the president will have easy access to the lovely Farm Neck Golf Club and Cafe. Here’s the view from the tee on the third hole.

It appears Michelle may be skipping her usual spring excursion overseas, which in the past has included stops at a luxury resort in Spain and in South Africa. Instead, she’ll accompany her husband next month on an official trip to Africa.

But not to worry. She already spent two weeks in Hawaii this past winter and jetted out for some Apsen skiing in February.

The Obamas opted out of their annual trip to Martha’s Vineyard in 2012, likely because they were campaigning and because a luxury sojourn there would have conflicted with the campaign image Obama was trying to project as a fighter for the middle class.

The Spectator President

By Patrick J. Buchanan

No, this is not Watergate or Iran-Contra. Nor is it like the sex scandal that got Bill Clinton impeached.

The AP, IRS and Benghazi matters represent a scandal not of presidential wrongdoing, but of presidential indolence, indifference and incompetence in discharging the duties of chief executive.

The Barack Obama revealed to us in recent days is something rare in our history: a spectator president, clueless about what is going on in his own household, who reacts to revelations like some stunned bystander.

The Charismatic Renewal and the Catholic Church

A look at the history and future of the sometimes-controversial movement    

By Allesandra Nucci

When the newly elected Pope Francis appeared at the window before the cheering crowd in St Peter’s Square, and promptly bowed down asking the people to pray for him, most of the public at large was charmed, but puzzled. Pope Benedict too had asked the people to pray for him from the outset, but without the bowed head. To some spectators, however—including the members of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and their counterparts in the Protestant and Orthodox worlds—the gesture came as something surprisingly familiar.  In the “charismatic” galaxy, prayer is offered and asked for in this way by people of all levels—specifically, prayer for a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 

There is a photograph available on the Internet that shows Pope Francis, while still archbishop of Buenos Aires, on his knees with head bowed as a group of evangelical pastors and Catholic priests and laymen pray over him.  As Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the Pope would celebrate Mass on a monthly basis for the Charismatic Renewal of Buenos Aires. And despite the conflicts between Catholics and Pentecostals in Latin America, word has it that Pentecostal pastors rejoiced at the election of the new Catholic pope. 

Read more at Catholic World Report >>

Choir and Congregation of Notre Dame de Paris Sing Veni Creator Spiritus

Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest,

and in our hearts take up Thy rest;

Come with Thy grace and heav'nly aid, 

To fill the hearts which Thou hast made.

Father Rutler: Pentecost

A weekly column by Father George Rutler.

There is some sense to calling Pentecost the birthday of the Church, but it can be somewhat glib. You might say that the Church was born when Christ was born, or when water and blood, Baptism and Eucharist, flowed from Christ’s side on the Cross. You might even say that the Church was born with Adam and Eve and came to maturity when Jesus, the new Adam, and his mother Mary, the new Eve, greeted each other in the unrecorded instant before the break of Easter dawn. What we can say with precision is that on Pentecost the bond of love between the Eternal Father and the Eternal Son filled the Church. When Christ prayed the night before he died, he spoke of that unifier which is the Holy Spirit: “I made known to them your name, and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them” (John 17:26).

The Year of Faith proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI is to put to work the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are given in Confirmation: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. They give life to the Seven Holy Virtues and defeat the Seven Deadly Sins. He who has never been tempted by those sins would be an oyster or a rock rather than a human. Perhaps the most underestimated sin is sloth. It is not simple laziness: sloth is spiritual apathy that dampens ardor for serving God in our short lifespan. An example of this is an individual who recently complained about Pope Francis canonizing the 813 martyrs of Otranto, since it might be taken as an affront to Islam. We cannot pretend that they were martyred by wild Methodists brandishing water pistols, but the real problem is that slothful souls cannot understand why anyone would give one’s life for Christ. Rather, Pope Francis said, “As we venerate the martyrs of Otranto, let us ask God to sustain those many Christians who, in these times and in many parts of the world, right now, still suffer violence, and that he give them the courage and fidelity to respond to evil with good.”

In our corner of the Church, which is New York, sloth is more subtle than heresy or blasphemy or wrath. Notwithstanding all the good things in our archdiocese, it is significantly below many other areas of our nation in attendance at Holy Mass and in priestly vocations. This is not what one would expect of a people filled with the Holy Spirit. With the beauty of worship in our parish, and the springtime of vocations exemplified by two of our young men being ordained this month, we too may risk becoming smug, a condition as ugly as it sounds, forgetting that there is much more to do. “Come Holy Spirit. Enlighten the hearts of your faithful people."

Grifters for "Ethics Reform" - Nikki Haley's Assault on Senator Bright

Governor Nikki Haley came to the Upstate this past week to bash Spartanburg's fiscal and social conservative State Senator, Lee Bright, for his refusal to sign-on to the fraudulently misnamed "Ethics Reform" legislation. 

Nikki Haley as an advocate for ethics reform is a bit like Barack Hussein Obama pushing the cause for small, frugal and accountable government or the League of Prostitutes for Purity.  Politics is the second oldest profession, but Haley's assault on Senator Bright is audacious, even for her.

Senator Bright made clear that he would not support so-called "ethics reform" legislation until he could get a vote on the nullification of Obamacare.  As a principled conservative he is also right to oppose this misnamed, retrograde legislation because it does anything but advance ethical, transparent and good government in our state.  In fact, it would shield legislators from criminal prosecution for ethical violations.  The Spartanburg TEA Party has summarized here what they have aptly called a "crap bill."

Perhaps Haley's assault on Senator Bright is just the Establishment's first strike on a solid conservative with a real chance of defeating Senator Lindsey Graham next year in a GOP primary.  If that was her intent, we expect Boss Connelly, choreographer of the recent state GOP infomercial, and Curtis Loftis, Mitt Romney's SC chairman,  will be following in her wake.

We can well understand Governor Haley's personal interest in shielding corrupt politicians from criminal prosecution, but the people of South Carolina should not be fooled by Nikki Haley, the most ethically challenged of all South Carolina politicians.

West Wing Weak: Your Guide to Obama's Scandal-Filled Week

The Obama White House has released the latest installment of its ongoing and self-congratulatory video series, West Wing Week. But despite touting itself as "your guide to all things 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.," the new episode seems to be missing some of the key stories that have hit the headlines over the past few days.

There's no mention, for instance, of Benghazi or the AP phone tapping - and the IRS scandal is barely mentioned in passing.

Perhaps the White House is just too busy completely redacting documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act to fully document its recent highlights.

In a surge of civic pride, Reason TV offers "West Wing Weak," their look back at the administration's past seven days.

"West Wing Weak" is written and produced by Meredith Bragg and Nick Gillespie, who also narrates.

Pope Francis is Right to be Cautious about Distributing Communion

From the Catholic Herald (UK)
By Francis Phillis

Pope Francis celebrates the Eucharist during Mass at the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome Photo:CNS

In his blog for May 9, the veteran Italian commentator, Sandro Magister, explains why Pope Francis doesn’t give Communion when he is celebrating Mass, except in rare cases. Although the Holy Father has given no explicit explanation himself of why he has chosen this course, Magister points out that “there is one page in a book he published in 2010 that allows one to infer the motives at the origin of this practice.” In the book, the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires refers to parishioners “who have killed… indirectly, with improper management of capital, paying unjust wages…We know that they pass themselves off as Catholics but practice indecent behaviour of which they do not repent. For this reason, on some occasions I do not give Communion, I stay back and let assistants do it because I do not want these persons to approach me for a photo.”

Maxine Waters: ‘Obama Has Put In Place’ Secret Database With ‘Everything On Everyone’

"The President has put in place an organization with the kind of database that no one has ever seen before in life," Representative Maxine Waters told Roland Martin on Monday.   "That's going to be very, very powerful," Waters said. "That database will have information about everything on every individual on ways that it's never been done before and whoever runs for President on the Democratic ticket has to deal with that. They're going to go down with that database and the concerns of those people because they can't get around it. And he's [President Obama] been very smart.  It's very powerful what he's leaving in place."

In related stories (Don't Say We Didn't Warn You):

• Social Security Administration to Purchase 174 Thousand Rounds of Hollow Point Bullets 

• DHS Preparing For Civil War In The US?

• Change You'd Better Believe In: Obama Regime Purchases 2,700 Light-Armored Tanks to Go With Their 1.6 Billion Bullet Stockpile

• Bombshell: FEMA Camps Confirmed

• Obamanation Readies FEMA Detention Camps

• Staffing Up the FEMA Detention Camps

• Obama Seizes Control Over All Food, Farms, Livestock, Farm Equipment, Fertilizer and Food Production Across America

• Democrats Attempt to Silence Unfriendly Bloggers

• Obama Is Said to Consider Preventive Detention Plan

   

 

 

More Royal Designations Restored in Canada

Queen Elizabeth inspects the Canadian Forces Ceremonial Guard with the parliament building as a backdrop during the Canada Day celebrations in 2010.

Canada has restored the "Royal" designation for five of the country's Army corps.  As we reported several years ago, our friend and fellow blogger, Gregory Benton, along with Michael Smith led a successful campaign to restore the prefix "Royal" to Canada's Navy and Air Force.  Their national campaign received support from the Office of the Prime Minister.  These latest restorations of historical names, however, came from soldiers and officers within the Army itself.

From The Monarchist

The announcement of the restoration of historical names for Canadian Army corps on 19 April 2013 was the next logical step in the phased approach begun in August 2011, when the historical name of the Canadian Army was restored, along with the Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force.

It is quite apparent that our victorious campaign is still paying huge dividends in terms of the continuing impact it will have on all other regiments and corps that unfortunately lost their identity back in the 1960s because of the misguided attempt to purge ourselves of our British (i.e., Canadian) heritage and traditions.

It is especially gratifying that these most recent changes were requested by soldiers and officers in the army itself. The earlier restorations have created a natural momentum for other reinstatements, and it is only fair that if others are going to get back their identity, the same be afforded to all.

“Our country continues to ask a great deal of our soldiers. Our government is committed to honouring their actions, heritage and sacrifices,” said Minister MacKay. “Restoring these historic identities is an important way of reconnecting today’s men and women in uniform with the proud history and traditions they carry with them as members of the Canadian Army.”

The historical designations of the following corps have been restored:

• Royal Canadian Armoured Corps;
• The Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers;
• Royal Canadian Corps of Signals;
• Royal Canadian Infantry Corps; and
• The Corps of Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

These and other heritage changes are being phased in over the next year as Canada and its military prepares to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War and the 75th anniversary of the Second World War.

For more background information on these restorations, you can find it here.

The Light Breaks Through: One Day's Revelations About America's Enemy Occupiers

 

We have been ridiculed for our characterization of Obama and his regime as "illegitimate," "thugs," and "criminals," but a glance of one day's headlines makes clear what we have always believed; we were restrained in our characterizations of this traitorous, outlaw regime. 

May 13, a date pregnant with meaning for many of us, saw the light of truth pierce the darkness in extraordinary ways.  There were revelations about the IRS being used as a political weapon with that federal agency spying on TEA Party members and a vast array of conservative organizations.  It has since been revealed that the IRS office targeting and harassing conservative organizations, also gave a left-wing organization of journalists nine confidential applications for tax-exempt status that had been submitted by conservative groups.

Yesterday also saw revelations that the Obama Justice Department secretly obtained two months of phone records for Associated Press journalists and singled out those who asked tough questions for special harassment by the IRS.  Any one of these revelations would be enough to bring down governments in many parliamentary democracies, as they would have here in the days when the United States Constitution was the revered law of the land.  

Yesterday also saw the murder conviction of Kermit Gosnell, one of thousands of mass-murderers throughout America.  Indeed, revelations about what transpired in Gosnell's "clinic" were so shocking and abhorrent to most Americans,  Obama went before Planned Parenhood during Gosnell's trial to boost morale and invoked God's blessings on Gosnell's fellow killers.  But these are only one day's revelations about the sewer that is the Obama regime.  

In recent weeks, we have seen unravel 8 months of lies about the murder of 4 Americans in Benghazi, and while the former Secretary of State asks "what does it matter," there is still so much that does matter yet to be exposed.  

Eric Holder instigated gun-running to Mexican drug cartels,  and there have also been a host of fraudulent birth certificates and a fake social security number to hide the fact that Obama came to the United States as a foreign exchange student and is, therefore, ineligible for the presidency of the United States.  

Americans have also seen nationally orchestrated efforts to undermine democratic processes through voter fraud carried out by an array of Obama-allied, Alinsky front groups.

Contempt for Congress and the separation of powers has been a hallmark of Obama's governing style.  He has literally and unconstitutionally bypassed the legislative process through the promulgation of hundreds of Executive Orders.

Americans have seen their tax dollars given in the billions to Islamist jihadists who are at war with the United States, bomb and burn Christian churches, murder Christian clergy, and would not hesitate to decapitate any of us who have been forced to fund their barbarism.  But why should the stewards of the American tax dollars care?  Being a tax-cheat seems to be a prerequisite for service in the Obama regime.

Obama's arrogance is so over-the-top, that on a day when most politicians would be in crisis mode, Obama took a break from the links to attend yet another fundraiser with entertainment glitterati in New York. 

These outrages just scratch the surface.  America is an occupied country, led by a committed band of Marxist revolutionaries who hate everything about America's spiritual and philosophical foundations and all that this country once stood for in the world. 

Unless the United States Congress has  been so infiltrated by dark and perverted souls who share Obama's vision, they will quickly begin impeachment proceedings and begin the process of returning America to her Constitutional foundations.  The articles of impeachment should number in the hundreds.  That this criminal thug ever sought "to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” would be laughable were not the consequences so tragic for America and the whole world.

The Heretic at Heritage

By Patrick J. Buchanan

Jason Richwine, the young conservative scholar who co-authored the Heritage Foundation report on the long-term costs of the amnesty bill backed by the “Gang of Eight,” is gone from Heritage.

He was purged after The Washington Post unearthed his doctoral dissertation at the JFK School of Government.

Richwine’s thesis:

IQ tests fairly measure mental ability. The average IQ of immigrants is well below that of white Americans. This difference in IQ is likely to persist through several generations.

And the potential consequences of this?

Immortal Words Uttered 73 Years Ago: Churchill’s “Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat”

From The Water's Edge

By James M. Lindsay

Former British prime minister Winston Churchill is featured on a new banknote alongside his famous declaration "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat" (Bank of England/Courtesy Reuters).

You finally land the job you have long coveted. But many of your colleagues dislike you, and the task you have been given may be undoable. That’s the situation that Winston Churchill found himself in seventy-three years ago today. He responded with a speech that is regarded as one of the greatest ever delivered in the English language—and one that helped rally his country at one of its darkest moments.

Churchill was offered the prime ministership on May 10, 1940. His predecessor, Neville Chamberlain, had resigned after it became clear that he had lost the confidence of his fellow Conservative Party members. Chamberlain had championed the appeasement policy that was supposed to preserve peace in Europe. It had the opposite effect, emboldening rather than satisfying Adolf Hitler.

Churchill had been a biting critic of Chamberlain’s appeasement policy, even though he too was a Conservative. Churchill’s unrelenting criticism had angered many of his fellow Tories. They were not celebrating his elevation to prime minister; some privately expected (and perhaps hoped) to see him fail.

But Churchill’s domestic political difficulties paled in comparison to Britain’s foreign policy problems. The so-called Phony War that had prevailed in Europe since Germany invaded Poland the previous September had ended in April. Denmark and Norway had fallen to the Nazis. On May 10 the German army invaded France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.

Faced with this peril, Churchill addressed Parliament for the first time as prime minister on May 13. He spoke for just five minutes. His speech included these riveting lines:

I would say to the House as I said to ministers who have joined this government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and suffering.

You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea, and air. War with all our might and with all the strength God has given us, and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.

You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory. Victory at all costs – Victory in spite of all terrors – Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.

Let that be realized. No survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for the urge, the impulse of the ages, that mankind shall move forward toward his goal.

If Hollywood had staged the scene, Churchill’s defiant words would have been met with thunderous applause. But life seldom follows Hollywood scripts. Few MPs clapped. Many of Churchill’s fellow Tories grumbled. They still preferred Chamberlain.

No one outside of Parliament heard the speech live; BBC reports merely summarized it. Churchill’s first radio address to the nation would not come until May 19. It would take days for word of the speech to seep out into the broader public. A version of the speech was eventually recorded for broadcast. Disagreement exists as to whether Churchill recorded the speech himself. Some experts argue that Norman Shelley, a BBC actor, taped the speech because Churchill was too busy to do it himself.

Historians note that the line about “blood, toil, tears, and sweat” wasn’t entirely original. Churchill likely took it from Giuseppe Garibaldi, the nineteenth century Italian revolutionary who once rallied his troops by saying he could only offer them “hunger, forced marches, battles and death.” But genius often lies in borrowing from the past and reinventing it for today. That gift may be why Churchill remains the only politician ever to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Churchill’s promise that he could offer only “blood, toil, tears, and sweat” was sadly accurate. As he was speaking, the German army was crossing the River Meuse into Sedan. France fell just six weeks later. With the United States still clinging to its neutrality, Britain was left to battle Nazi Germany alone. In the Battle of Britain that lasted throughout the summer of 1940, the Luftwaffe devastated many British cities. Blood and tears flowed freely.

But Britain survived its darkest hour, in good part because of Churchill’s determination. So it is fitting that last month the Bank of England announced that the “blood, toil, tears and sweat” quote will appear alongside the portrait of Winston Churchill on Britain’s new five pound notes.

Cameron Calls Britain's Relationship with the EU "Unacceptable"

"Britons never will be slaves," but does David Cameron have the moral strength and vision to be a great liberator? 

 

It is amazing what a thrashing by the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) in recent by-elections has done to clear David Cameron's thinking on the question of whether Britain will continue to subjugate herself to tyrannical and unelected European bureaucrats.  The Prime Minister has called the status quo "unacceptable" and is committed to an in/out referendum on EU membership before the end of 2017.  

The Great Gatsby Tells Us the World is an Empty Place Without Faith

Leonardo di Caprio plays Gatsby in Baz Luhrmann's new film

Are you getting ready for The Great Gatsby, the latest film adaptation of F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, which has already opened in America and which will open on this side of the pond next week? I myself have prepared by re-reading the book, and will most certainly be seeing the film when it arrives.

Why the excitement?

First of all, the director is Baz Luhrmann, whose Romeo + Juliet was so astonishing. Second, the cast is stellar. There is the relative newcomer Carey Mulligan, along with Leonardo di Caprio and Tobey Maguire, both of whom are first-class actors. Third, the book is, to use an overworn word which in this case is the only word that will do, iconic.

Fitzgerald is not that great a writer, and fans will probably not forgive me for saying that his other books are duds. But in Gatsby he manages to convey the atmosphere of the time; very few writers ever do this; Waugh is one, but Fitzgerald’s evocation of the lives of the rich and the less rich in the roaring Twenties (the events in the novel are set in the summer of 1922) probably creates our impression of the time as much as it describes it.

Read more at Catholic Herald >>

Father Rutler: The Holy Spirit

A weekly column by Father George Rutler.

Following Pentecost, the Apostles discussed whether someone had to become a Jew to be a Christian. It seems an odd problem for us today, but everything was new then, and even the term “Christian” was not used until a significant number of believers had been baptized in Antioch, a city in Turkey near the modern city of Antakya. Christ (the name is a Greek form of “Messiah”) sent his followers out to convert “all nations,” and he promised that the Holy Spirit would show them what to do.

After the Holy Spirit came down on the Apostles at Pentecost, the prime question of Judaic observance was debated. Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem and consulted with the other Apostles. This was a hint of how the Church was to resolve matters in great Councils. Given the stolid temperament and vivid personalities of the Apostles, the term “debated” might be an understatement. But they remembered that the Risen Lord had promised that his “Paraclete” would guide them. Only rarely does ancient Greek use that term, as when the orator Demosthenes used it for a sort of legal advocate, and not necessarily an ethical one at that. But Christ makes it mean the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. How the Apostles were helped by this divine Helper is not said, but they sent their decision to the scattered Christians, beginning with the words “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us.”

To claim private guidance from the Holy Spirit that departs from what has inspired the collective agreement of the successors of the Apostles, would be to confuse personal opinion with divine truth. But the Holy Spirit does help us in the ways of truth every day. Sometimes he even works through children: “. . . and a little child shall lead them” (Isaiah 11:6). The birth of a child may convert a parent to more intense faith, or a child's First Communion may inspire a young father to return to Confession. The Holy Spirit works through encounters that are often unnoticed. Yogi Berra, not to be underestimated as a philosopher, said, “Some things are just too coincidental to be a coincidence.”

Our Lord requires of us only “meekness” to be helped by the Holy Spirit. The spiritually “meek” are not milquetoasts, or spineless wimps. The Greek praus for “meek” means controlled strength, a suppleness like that of an athlete. Without praus, a surfer would stand stiff and soon fall off the surfboard, and a boxer would be knocked out with the first punch without agile footwork. God calls the arrogant, who will not bend their opinions to his truth, a “stiff-necked people” (Exodus 32:9). Arrogance, as the opposite of meekness, is spiritual arthritis. Get rid of that moral stiffness, and then “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you” (John 14:26).

On This Day, O Beautiful Mother

A very happy Mother's Day to all mothers, including spiritual mothers.  May God richly bless you for countless acts of love.

 

The State Opening of Parliament 2013

Confederate Memorial Day in South Carolina: A Tribute to the Honored Dead

"The principle for which we contend is bound to reassert itself, though it may be at another time and in another form." 

 ~ President Jefferson Davis, C.S.A. 

The Death of Giulio Andreotti, the Political Giant Who Went to Mass Every Day, Marks a Milestone in European Hisory

Andreotti, who has died aged 94, was nicknamed the ‘Eternal One’ of Italian politics. He was the opposite of bunga-bunga loving Berlusconi

By Father Alexander Lucie-Smith

Giulio Andreotti, right, would 'never tell you what he was thinking' (Photo: PA)

The death of Giulio Andreotti, at the age of 94, marks a milestone in Italian, indeed European, history. Andreotti dominated Italian politics for decades, and was nicknamed l’eterno, the “Eternal One”. With its plethora of parties and its endless revolving door governments, Italy’s first republic seemed terribly unstable, but this was all smoke and mirrors: every one of those governments, up until 1992, contained Andreotti, either as Prime Minister (a post he held seven times) or in some senior position, or else several members of il corrente Andreottiano, his faction of the Christian Democrat party, which was nicknamed the gens Julia, the Julian clan. By happy coincidence, Andreotti’s wife was called Livia, a name all fans of Robert Graves will be familiar with.

Read more at Catholic Herald >>

So Very Proud of Our Congressman, Trey Gowdy, As He Peels Away 8 Months of Lies from the Obama Regime

Live Streaming Video of Congressional Hearings into Benghazi Murders and Cover-Up

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Huckabee: Benghazi Scandal Will Cost Obama His Presidency

Yes, Hillary, it makes a big difference, and if the Benghazi scandal and coverup can rid this country of the illegitimate devil occupying the presidency, along with his comrades, then at least those murdered will not have died in vain. 

Governor Mike Huckabee

Influential Republicans are setting their sights on toppling the Obama administration as evidence of a cover-up over the assault on the Benghazi consulate gets stronger.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is now openly talking about impeachment, saying he does not believe Barack Obama will survive the remaining 3½ years of his presidency.

“When a president lies to the American people and is part of a cover-up, he cannot continue to govern,” Huckabee said on his radio show Monday.

“As the facts come out, I think we're going to see something startling. And before it's over, I don't think this president will finish his term unless somehow they can delay it in Congress past the next 3½ years.”

Huckabee isn't alone in his belief that Obama could be toppled. The pressure is growing just as Congressional hearings on the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead are due to start on Wednesday.

Read more at Newsmax >>