Full Video of the Canonization of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II

Homily of Pope Francis for the Canonization of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II

HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS 

St. Peter's Square

Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday), 27 April 2014

Video

At the heart of this Sunday, which concludes the Octave of Easter and which Saint John Paul II wished to dedicate to Divine Mercy, are the glorious wounds of the risen Jesus.

He had already shown those wounds when he first appeared to the Apostles on the very evening of that day following the Sabbath, the day of the resurrection. But, as we have heard, Thomas was not there that evening, and when the others told him that they had seen the Lord, he replied that unless he himself saw and touched those wounds, he would not believe. A week later, Jesus appeared once more to the disciples gathered in the Upper Room. Thomas was also present; Jesus turned to him and told him to touch his wounds. Whereupon that man, so straightforward and accustomed to testing everything personally, knelt before Jesus with the words: “My Lord and my God!” (Jn 20:28).

The wounds of Jesus are a scandal, a stumbling block for faith, yet they are also the test of faith. That is why on the body of the risen Christ the wounds never pass away: they remain, for those wounds are the enduring sign of God’s love for us. They are essential for believing in God. Not for believing that God exists, but for believing that God is love, mercy and faithfulness. Saint Peter, quoting Isaiah, writes to Christians: “by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Pet 2:24, cf. Is 53:5).

Saint John XXIII and Saint John Paul II were not afraid to look upon the wounds of Jesus, to touch his torn hands and his pierced side. They were not ashamed of the flesh of Christ, they were not scandalized by him, by his cross; they did not despise the flesh of their brother (cf. Is 58:7), because they saw Jesus in every person who suffers and struggles. These were two men of courage, filled with the parrhesia of the Holy Spirit, and they bore witness before the Church and the world to God’s goodness and mercy.

They were priests, and bishops and popes of the twentieth century. They lived through the tragic events of that century, but they were not overwhelmed by them. For them, God was more powerful; faith was more powerful – faith in Jesus Christ the Redeemer of man and the Lord of history; the mercy of God, shown by those five wounds, was more powerful; and more powerful too was the closeness of Mary our Mother.

In these two men, who looked upon the wounds of Christ and bore witness to his mercy, there dwelt a living hope and an indescribable and glorious joy (1 Pet 1:3,8). The hope and the joy which the risen Christ bestows on his disciples, the hope and the joy which nothing and no one can take from them. The hope and joy of Easter, forged in the crucible of self-denial, self-emptying, utter identification with sinners, even to the point of disgust at the bitterness of that chalice. Such were the hope and the joy which these two holy popes had received as a gift from the risen Lord and which they in turn bestowed in abundance upon the People of God, meriting our eternal gratitude.

This hope and this joy were palpable in the earliest community of believers, in Jerusalem, as we have heard in the Acts of the Apostles (cf. 2:42-47). It was a community which lived the heart of the Gospel, love and mercy, in simplicity and fraternity.

This is also the image of the Church which the Second Vatican Council set before us. John XXIII and John Paul II cooperated with the Holy Spirit in renewing and updating the Church in keeping with her pristine features, those features which the saints have given her throughout the centuries. Let us not forget that it is the saints who give direction and growth to the Church. In convening the Council, Saint John XXIII showed an exquisite openness to the Holy Spirit. He let himself be led and he was for the Church a pastor, a servant-leader, guided by the Holy Spirit. This was his great service to the Church; for this reason I like to think of him as the the pope of openness to the Holy Spirit.

In his own service to the People of God, Saint John Paul II was the pope of the family. He himself once said that he wanted to be remembered as the pope of the family. I am particularly happy to point this out as we are in the process of journeying with families towards the Synod on the family. It is surely a journey which, from his place in heaven, he guides and sustains.

May these two new saints and shepherds of God’s people intercede for the Church, so that during this two-year journey toward the Synod she may be open to the Holy Spirit in pastoral service to the family.  May both of them teach us not to be scandalized by the wounds of Christ and to enter ever more deeply into the mystery of divine mercy, which always hopes and always forgives, because it always loves.

Fr. Robert Barron Reports from Rome on the Canonization of Popes John and John Paul II

Those who can, will be watching this weekend's momentous events in Rome on EWTN.  But for those who don't have access to the global, Catholic, television network, or want to see again parts of the canonization of these two saints, Sunlit Uplands will be posting throughout the weekend on the events in Rome.

The chant, indeed the spontaneous, heartfelt prayer of millions, "Santo Subito!," will soon be answered.  Deo Gratias!

The Church's One Purpose

 

Why Pope John XXIII is a Saint

Patrick J. Buchanan: On Treating Putin as Pariah

By Patrick J. Buchanan

“Mr. Obama is focused on isolating President Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia by cutting off its economic and political ties to the outside world … and effectively making it a pariah state.”

So wrote Peter Baker in Sunday’s New York Times. Yet if history is any guide, this “pariah policy,” even if adopted, will not long endure.

William Oddie: John Paul II Set the Barque Back on Course

Pope John Paul’s major achievement for the Church was to recover Pope John’s original purpose: to “guard” and to teach more efficaciously “the sacred deposit of Christian doctrine”

Those closest to Pope John Paul II regarded him as a truly great man (CNS)

From The Catholic Herald (UK)

Why is Pope John Paul to be canonised this Sunday, not alone but together with Pope John? There is a very good answer to this question: but it is not the one generally being touted by the liberal press, Catholic or secular. Here, for instance, is the often sensible John L Allen, writing in the National Catholic Reporter: “With the canonisations,” he writes, “Francis is speaking not just to the outside world but to rival camps within the Catholic fold who see John XXIII and John Paul II as their heroes – meaning liberals and conservatives, respectively. The message seems to be, ‘You both belong here’.”

ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand

Today our New Zealand and Australian friends and allies observe ANZAC Day.  Originally,  this was a day of remembrance for all those of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought and died at Gallipoli  during World War I.  Today it is a day to remember and honor all Australians and New Zealanders "who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations."

Happy Saint George's Day to All the Anglosphere!

On this, the Feast Day of Saint George, patron saint of England, we wish all our English friends, visitors and all those throughout the world whose roots are in that "sceptred isle," a proud, blessed and happy Saint George's Day.  

We remember, too, that it is on this day that William Shakespeare, the greatest writer in the English language, was born and died; so what could be more appropriate to the day than these lines from his great history play, King Richard II. Act ii. Sc. 1?

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm this England....

Prime Minister David Cameron's Message for St. George's Day

Patrick J. Buchanan: Nationalism, Not NATO, Is Our Great Ally

By Patrick J. Buchanan

With Vladimir Putin having bloodlessly annexed Crimea and hinting that his army might cross the border to protect the Russians of East Ukraine, Washington is abuzz with talk of dispatching U.S. troops to Eastern Europe.

But unless we have lost our minds, we are not going to fight Russia over territory no president ever regarded as vital to us.

Indeed, should Putin annex Eastern and Southern Ukraine all the way to Odessa, he would simply be restoring to Russian rule what had belonged to her from Washington’s inaugural in 1789 to George H. W. Bush’s inaugural in 1989. 

Confronting Britain's Vocation Crisis: Shrewsbury Looks to American Dioceses for a Way Forward

From The Catholic Herald (UK)

By Francis Phillips

I blogged some time ago about a book I was reading: Renewal: How a new generation of faithful priests and bishops is revitalising the Catholic Church by Anne Hendershott and Christopher White. The book’s main theme, addressing the situation in the US, is that faithful bishops leading faithful dioceses attract more young men to the priesthood than dioceses where strong Catholic episcopal leadership appears to be weak and which seem to be run by committees.

In support of this contention, the book quotes the retired Archbishop Elden Curtiss of Omaha, Nebraska, who published an article in 1996, entitled “Crisis in Vocation?”, in which he wrote, “When dioceses and religious communities are unambiguous about the ordained priesthood and vowed religious life; where there is strong support for vocations, and a minimum of dissent about the male celibate priesthood and religious life, loyal to the Magisterium; when the bishop, priests, Religious and lay people are united in a vocation ministry – then there are documented increases in the number of candidates who respond to the call.”

'Heaven is for Real' Director Randall Wallace with Raymond Arroyo

Have you seen "Heaven Is For Real"?  If so, please leave a comment below and share your thoughts and reaction.

RANDALL WALLACE, author, Academy Award nominated screenwriter, and director of the new film, HEAVEN IS FOR REAL, the true story of a young boy who experiences Heaven while undergoing surgery. In an exclusive interview, Randall Wallace talks about the new movie, his work in Hollywood, and the role his faith has always played in his life, both personal and professional.

The Recovery is Dead

 

There’s a damning number regarding our economy that Obama doesn’t want to talk about. It’s a number, but for him, would be lower. And, lower, in this case would be a good thing for the economy. 

“Although estimates vary,” says Joel Kurtzman, a senior fellow at the Milliken Institute, “American companies have between $4 and $5 trillion in liquid assets, a sum greater than the size of the German economy.”

How is it that companies can now have more cash than anytime in history, while unemployment remains so high, inflation in many goods so low, and national income grows so anemically?

Oh, yeah. Democrats at work. Shhhh.

If all that was needed to bring us a juggernaut economy was more money, we’d be in boom times boys.

But alas, while more money is the Democrat recipe for success in everything-- and generally good in the corporate sense-- in this case it’s a telltale sign that something is wrong with policies coming out of Washington.

Because those high cash balance sheets are telling us a few things. 

Read more at Townhall Finance >>

Easter from King's 2014

Homily of Pope Francis for the Easter Vigil

Vatican Basilica

Holy Saturday, 19 April 2014

Video

 The Gospel of the resurrection of Jesus Christ begins with the journey of the women to the tomb at dawn on the day after the Sabbath.  They go to the tomb to honour the body of the Lord, but they find it open and empty.  A mighty angel says to them: “Do not be afraid!” (Mt 28:5) and orders them to go and tell the disciples: “He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee” (v. 7).  The women quickly depart and on the way Jesus himself meets them and says: “Do not fear; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me” (v. 10). “Do not be afraid”, “do not fear”:  these are words that encourage us to open our hearts to receive the message.

After the death of the Master, the disciples had scattered; their faith had been utterly shaken, everything seemed over, all their certainties had crumbled and their hopes had died.  But now that message of the women, incredible as it was, came to them like a ray of light in the darkness.  The news spread: Jesus is risen as he said.  And then there was his command to go toGalilee; the women had heard it twice, first from the angel and then from Jesus himself: “Let them go to Galilee; there they will see me”. “Do not fear” and “go to Galilee”.

Galilee is the place where they were first called, where everything began!  To return there, to return to the place where they were originally called.  Jesus had walked along the shores of the lake as the fishermen were casting their nets.  He had called them, and they left everything and followed him (cf. Mt 4:18-22).

To return to Galilee means to re-read everything on the basis of the cross and its victory, fearlessly: “do not be afraid”.  To re-read everything – Jesus’ preaching, his miracles, the new community, the excitement and the defections, even the betrayal – to re-read everything starting from the end, which is a new beginning, from this supreme act of love.

For each of us, too, there is a “Galilee” at the origin of our journey with Jesus.  “To go to Galilee” means something beautiful, it means rediscovering our baptism as a living fountainhead, drawing new energy from the sources of our faith and our Christian experience.  To return to Galilee means above all to return to that blazing light with which God’s grace touched me at the start of the journey.  From that flame I can light a fire for today and every day, and bring heat and light to my brothers and sisters.  That flame ignites a humble joy, a joy which sorrow and distress cannot dismay, a good, gentle joy.

In the life of every Christian, after baptism there is also another “Galilee”, a more existential “Galilee”: the experience of a personal encounter with Jesus Christ who called me to follow him and to share in his mission.  In this sense, returning to Galilee means treasuring in my heart the living memory of that call, when Jesus passed my way, gazed at me with mercy and asked me to follow him. To return there means reviving the memory of that moment when his eyes met mine, the moment when he made me realize that he loved me.

Today, tonight, each of us can ask: What is my Galilee?  I need to remind myself, to go back and remember.  Where is my Galilee?  Do I remember it?  Have I forgotten it?  Seek and you will find it! There the Lord is waiting for you.  Have I gone off on roads and paths which made me forget it?  Lord, help me: tell me what my Galilee is; for you know that I want to return there to encounter you and to let myself be embraced by your mercy. Do not be afraid, do not fear, return to Galilee!

The Gospel is very clear: we need to go back there, to see Jesus risen, and to become witnesses of his resurrection.  This is not to go back in time; it is not a kind of nostalgia.  It is returning to our first love, in order to receive the fire which Jesus has kindled in the world and to bring that fire to all people, to the very ends of the earth.  Go back to Galilee, without fear!

“Galilee of the Gentiles” (Mt 4:15; Is 8:23)!  Horizon of the Risen Lord, horizon of the Church; intense desire of encounter…  Let us be on our way!

The Easter Homily of St. John Chrysostom

O death, where is your sting? 

O Hades, where is your victory?

Let all pious men and all lovers of God rejoice in the splendor of this feast; let the wise servants blissfully enter into the joy of their Lord; let those who have borne the burden of Lent now receive their pay, and those who have toiled since the first hour, let them now receive their due reward; let any who came after the third hour be grateful to join in the feast, and those who may have come after the sixth, let them not be afraid of being too late; for the Lord is gracious and He receives the last even as the first. He gives rest to him who comes on the eleventh hour as well as to him who has toiled since the first: yes, He has pity on the last and He serves the first; He rewards the one and praises the effort.

Come you all: enter into the joy of your Lord. You the first and you the last, receive alike your reward; you rich and you poor, dance together; you sober and you weaklings, celebrate the day; you who have kept the fast and you who have not, rejoice today. The table is richly loaded: enjoy its royal banquet. The calf is a fatted one: let no one go away hungry. All of you enjoy the banquet of faith; all of you receive the riches of his goodness. Let no one grieve over his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed; let no one weep over his sins, for pardon has shone from the grave; let no one fear death, for the death of our Saviour has set us free: He has destroyed it by enduring it, He has despoiled Hades by going down into its kingdom, He has angered it by allowing it to taste of his flesh.

When Isaias foresaw all this, he cried out: "O Hades, you have been angered by encountering Him in the nether world." Hades is angered because frustrated, it is angered because it has been mocked, it is angered because it has been destroyed, it is angered because it has been reduced to naught, it is angered because it is now captive. It seized a body, and, lo! it encountered heaven; it seized the visible, and was overcome by the invisible.

O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? Christ is risen and you are abolished. Christ is risen and the demons are cast down. Christ is risen and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen and life is freed. Christ is risen and the tomb is emptied of the dead: for Christ, being risen from the dead, has become the Leader and Reviver of those who had fallen asleep. To Him be glory and power for ever and ever. 

Amen.

Pope Francis Presides at the Way of the Cross in the Colosseum

Pope Francis has presided over the evening Way of the Cross in Rome, joining thousands of people gathered in prayer.

Standing in the midst of a giant cross outlined with small torches, Francis said the Cross is a reminder of how much evil people are capable of and how much love Jesus had for a sinful humanity.

“It was a heavy cross like the night for those who are abandoned, heavy like the death of a loved one and heavy” because it took on all the pain of evil, he said.

Standing on a hillside overlooking the Colosseum, the pope told the thousands of people who gathered with him in prayer that Jesus shows “that evil will not have the last word”, and love, mercy and forgiveness will be victorious.

“From the Cross we see the monstrosity of mankind when it lets itself be guided by evil. But we also see the immensity of the mercy of God, who doesn’t treat us according to our sins, but according to his mercy.”

Do not forget those who are sick and abandoned with their own cross, but pray “they find the strength of in the trials of the cross, the hope of God’s resurrection and love”, he said before imparting his blessing. 

Read more at The Catholic Herald >>

Lucia Popp - "Pie Jesu" - Gabriel Fauré Requiem Op.48

The Sacred Triduum - Holy Thursday

Today we begin the Sacred Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil.  These days are the pinnacle of the liturgical year and commemorate the Paschal Mystery of Christ's salvific mission, which continues through His Church and through time.  Christ's passion, death and resurrection are the dividing point of all human history and the source of our hope in Christ.

Our posts at this solemn and holy time will, for the next few days, be focused on these sacred mysteries.  We wish you, dear friends in Christ, every grace and blessing.  May you, and all those you love, be filled with the hope and joy of our Lord's Resurrection.

Happy 87th Birthday, Dear Pope Benedict!

On this, Pope Benedict's 87th birthday, we remember that he had the daunting task of succeeding one of the most beloved, longest and greatest papacies since the day Christ established His Church on the rock of Saint Peter.  The brilliant scholar quietly took up his task and in a few, short years healed wounds in the Church that had festered for a half century, and wounds in the Body of Christ that had divided the people of God for a millennium.

On this kind and gentle shepherd's 85th birthday we wrote:

In these seven years, he has undertaken 23 international trips, including the first state visit by a Pope to England and Scotland (Pope John Paul II made a pastoral visit in 1982).  He has made 26 pastoral trips throughout Italy.  He has presided over 4 synods of bishops and 3 world youth days.  In 3 encyclicals and in all of his many books, homilies, letters and addresses he has spoken powerfully, clearly and from the heart, to the heart.

His contributions to building the unity of the Church and healing old divisions have been monumental and historic.  There has never been such friendship and collaboration with leaders of the Orthodox churches as there has been throughout this pontificate.  Through his apostolic constitution Anglicanorum coetibus he has provided a bridge through which thousands of Anglicans and other Protestants are entering the Church, while maintaining their own rich patrimony.  Through his Apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum he has restored the Roman Church's own patrimony, ending nearly a half century of division and conflict and restoring reverence and beauty to sacred liturgy.  And in the English-speaking world he has restored a faithful and reverent translation of the Roman Missal.  He has been tireless in seeking reconciliation with those alienated by false interpretations and reckless innovations following the Second Vatican Council.

Most importantly, his joyful, faithful and total submission to the service of Jesus Christ and His Church has inspired vibrant, new, evangelical growth throughout the universal Church, that has also spawned a boom in religious and priestly vocations.

Today we give thanks for all of this and so much more, and pray that Pope Benedict may continue for many more years in his prayerful service to the Holy Father and God's people, and in his holy example to us all.

We love you and thank you, dear Pope Benedict!

Patrick J. Buchanan: The End of Ideology?

By Patrick J. Buchanan

On our TV talk shows and op-ed pages, and in our think tanks here, there is rising alarm over events abroad. And President Obama is widely blamed for the perceived decline in worldwide respect for the United States.

Yet, still, one hears no clamor from Middle America for “Action This Day!” to alter the perception that America is in retreat.

If a single sentence could express the seeming indifference of the silent majority of Americans to what is going on abroad, it might be the simple question: “Why is this our problem?”

If a Russian or Ukrainian flag flies over Simferopol, why should that be of such concern to us that we send U.S. warships, guns or troops? If Japan and China fight over islets 10,000 miles away, islets that few Americans can find on a map, why should we get into it?

Pope Francis Names British Sociologist, Lady Archer, to Head the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences

Lady Margaret Archer

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has named a British sociologist to run a pontifical academy, marking the highest-ranking appointment of a woman in his papacy.

The Vatican announced Saturday that Margaret Scotford Archer will lead the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which produces research to help the church establish policy.

Francis has made giving women a greater-decision making role in the church a priority of his papacy.

Archer, 71, replaces another woman appointed by John Paul II, Mary Ann Glendon, a Harvard University law professor and former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See.

Archer is director of social ontology center at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale in Lausanne, Switzerland. She spent much of her career at the University of Warwick in Britain, and was named to the pontifical academy in 1994.

The Choir of King's College, Cambridge - "All Glory, Laud and Honor"

Oath Keepers Asks Bikers To Muster At The Bundy Ranch In Nevada

From Oath Keepers

We would like to invite all of our motorcycling members and supporters to ride to Bunkerville, NV to support the Bundy family in their struggle against tyranny. Many Oath Keepers are riders and the weather is fantastic. What more perfect way to start the season than riding out to Nevada and standing for the constitution and this brave family?

Let's send a message to the federal government that the people are not to be trampled upon and our natural rights are not theirs to take. Get your clubs, groups and riding buddies together, take your camping gear and stay as long as you are able. Riding is freedom. Let's use that freedom to support ALL freedom.

More information can be found here 

"The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it." 

~ John Hay

Father Ray Kelly Surprises Bride, Groom and Families with a Special Song

From The Christian Post

Father Ray Kelly of Oldcastle, County Meath, Ireland hit the viral jackpot this week with this surprise performance of a rewritten "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen at the wedding of Chris and Leah O'Kane. The YouTube video is now at 9 (now 16) million views and going strong.

Regaling audiences in song is nothing new to the priest from Tyrrelstown in County Westmeath. He had vocal training in Dublin and was part of "The All Priests Show."

"I love to sing, and I love the buzz of performing," Fr. Kelly told The Irish Times. "I travelled to America and did shows there."

However, viral stardom is quite a different experience.

"I've never had to deal with anything like this before, but I'm coping," he said.

Fr. Kelly also has experience as a recording artist and is working on his third album, which is good news for a world who's fallen hard for him. Friday night, the singing priest will appear on the venerable "Late Late Show" in Ireland.

Lucky for his new fans, another wedding performance by Father Ray Kelly is now online. Here he is, singing the classic tune "You Raise Me Up" by Secret Garden – popularized by Josh Groban – for a wedding in 2010.

More TEA Party Leaders Join in Supporting Bill Connor for US Senate, Issue Statement

Columbia, SC - The week after prominent state Tea Party leader Joe Dugan endorsed Afghanistan combat veteran, attorney, and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Bill Connor, more leaders of the Tea Party movement across the state have followed suit.

We, as individual patriot leaders in South Carolina’s constitutional community, fully endorse Bill Connor to be the next US Senator from South Carolina.

Bill is a constitutional conservative who will fight to stop the massive spending, bailouts, and debt that are destroying our country. He isn't afraid to stand up to the Washington establishment and he will do what it takes to stop Obamacare, amnesty, and stop government intrusion in our lives.

Bill has been a part of the Tea Party movement in South Carolina since its inception in 2009. He spoke at the first SC Tea Party event on Feb 27, 2009 and at the following event two months later on April 15 where he introduced Jim DeMint. Over the years, and as the movement has grown nationwide, he has not wavered from the conservative principles that brought him into active politics all those years ago.

Bill Connor is a 24 year Airborne Ranger Infantry officer and Afghanistan combat veteran and currently serves as a Lt. Colonel in the US Army reserves. Bill also is a partner in a successful general law practice with an emphasis on military law. He will stand with and support our troops.

As a family man, along with his wife who is a practicing OB/GYN in South Carolina and veteran herself, he has personal experience from a patient and doctor perspective on the harm that Obamacare is doing to the quality, availability and cost of our healthcare system. He will be a champion and stand with Ted Cruz and Mike Lee to stop this dangerous legislation.

We believe it is vital to America’s future to send a true comprehensive, Reagan-conservative to replace Lindsey Graham, and Bill fits that description best among those challenging Senator Graham. He is a fiscal, social, and national defense conservative, who will not only stand up for Constitutionalism at home, but also stand for a strong military, stand by allies like Israel, and stand true to a "strategic national interest only" foreign policy.

Janet Spencer N. Myrtle Beach, SC Chair, Carolina Patriots Freedomworks Activist  Charlotte Hendrix Florence, SC Chair, Tea Party Patriots Florence Freedomworks Activist

Pat Dansbury Ridgeland, SC Chair, Bluffton Tea Party Freedomworks Activist   Linda Ensor Summerville, SC Chair, Lowcountry Conservatives in Action

Renee Cannon N. Charleston, SC Freedomworks Activist

Audrey Aldridge - Longs Al Aversano - Myrtle Beach Richard Whitford, Jr. – N. Charleston Richard Spencer – N. Myrtle Beach Michael Cutler - Florence Bill Besemer - Conway Lee Besemer - Conway Janice Rice - Florence Diane Aversano – Myrtle Beach Sandra Wellington - Florence Carl Wellington - Florence Gene Geraldo – Myrtle Beach Diane Geraldo – Myrtle Beach Dick LoBue – Murrells Inlet Sandra Camlin - Florence Harold Camlin - Florence Ralph Billeter - Conway George O’Neill – Little River Janice Owens - Florence Blair Owens - Florence Sue O’Neill – Little River Shelia Bond – Myrtle Beach Barbara Matthews - Florence Sam Matthews - Florence Mary Ann Carnazza - Longs Leonila Eaddy - Longs Jack Justice - Florence Dave Truby – Myrtle Beach Connie Hudson - Florence Jean Hampton – Myrtle Beach Cathy Cantey - Florence Ron Hendrix - Florence

Bill Connor is a 24 year Airborne Ranger Infantry officer and Afghanistan combat veteran. He currently serves as a Lt. Colonel in the US Army reserves. He is a Citadel graduate who returned to SC after active military service. He has been married to his wife, Susan, for 23 years and they have 3 children. The Connors make their home in Orangeburg, where Bill and a partner operate a small general practice law firm with an additional emphasis in military law.

Ding Dong Sebelius is Gone!

Couldn't run a federal department, couldn't create a website, couldn't collate the pages of a speech, but she thought she knew how to run your life.

Patrick J. Buchanan: What Would Reagan Do?

By Patrick J. Buchanan 

President Reagan was holding a meeting in the Cabinet Room on March 25, 1985, when Press Secretary Larry Speakes came over to me, as communications director, with a concern.

The White House was about to issue a statement on the killing of Major Arthur Nicholson, a U.S. army officer serving in East Germany. Maj. Nicholson had been shot in cold blood by a Russian soldier.

Speakes thought the president’s statement, “This violence was unjustified,” was weak. I agreed. We interrupted the president, who reread the statement, then said go ahead with it.

What lay behind this Reagan decision not to express his own and his nation’s disgust and anger at this atrocity?

Lee Bright's Political Heroes? Vladimir Putin and Bashar Al-Assad of Syria

Lee Bright's Political Heroes - Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin

We wrote previously that the failed upstate businessman, Lee Bright, whose personal finances are in crisis and has debt totaling between $1.1 million and $3.1 million owed to 29 creditors, appears willing to say or do anything to secure a job offering a six year contract, a salary of $174,000, an outside earned income allowance of more than $27,000, a large taxpayer-paid staff, paid travel, housing deductions, health, dental and life insurance, a private gym and the world's best pension fund.

The desperate Bright has now demonstrated our point and raised a red flag for all those who want Lindsey Graham replaced with a solid, thoughtful and respected conservative.  On April 6, (not so) Bright told the Washington Watch television audience that Republicans should look to Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad, two thuggish war criminals, as models.  In Bright's own words:

If [Speaker] Boehner had the courage that Putin and Assad had, we'd be living in a different America, but we don't have the leadership and we've got to continue to try to get folks to Washington that are going to take the fight to the liberal agenda.

One thing I didn't mention earlier, you were talking about things going around the state, we've got the homosexual agenda on the full march in our institutions of higher ed and we've gone from education to indoctrination, so we are in a fight — they have seized the educational establishment and we've got to take that back and we've got to get folks involved in that or otherwise that's our next generation.

If the likes of Putin and Assad were running America, it would, indeed, be a different country, but it would not be anything like the America our Founders established.  And much as we agree with Bright's criticism of "the homosexual agenda on the full march in our institutions of higher ed," someone who has actually spent some time at an institution of higher education might have some awareness of authentic conservative models.  He might have cited the kind of models who actually believed in freedom, human dignity and God-given rights -- thoughtful men like Edmund Burke, Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson and Russell Kirk, not murderous thugs.

Lee Bright's comments point up just how important an American political campaign can be in distinguishing the charlatans from potential statesmen.  After the traitorous career of Lindsey Graham, South Carolina does not need a Senator who would quickly become a national joke.  

Catholicism Flourishing in South Carolina and Throughout the South and West

Saint Joseph Catholic Church, Columbia, South Carolina

We were astonished to learn this past Sunday that in our Columbia, South Carolina parish, 9 adults will be baptized and an additional 28 adults will be received into the Church at the Easter Vigil.  In following-up on this good news, the statistician for the statewide Diocese of Charleston informs us that approximately 500 adults throughout South Carolina will be received into the Church this Easter.  In a small state where Catholics are not quite 4% of the population, that is a remarkable rate of growth.  Indeed, Catholic numbers in South Carolina are up by more than 30,000 in the past 10 years, and unlike traditional centers of Catholic life, like the Archdiocese of Newark, which has closed more than 80 schools in the past 10 years, South Carolina is building new churches and schools.

At a recent conference at Villanova University, demographers have presented heartening data indicating that Church numbers in the United States are climbing and would continue to grow even without immigration.

Holy Mass at Prince of Peace Catholic Church, Taylors, South Carolina

Having lived in Virginia and South Carolina, as well as in the Northeast and Midwest, we can attest to an extraordinary contrast between regions.  The most faithful, orthodox and beautiful liturgies we have encountered have been in the South.  Devotion to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, traditional Catholic devotions, sound preaching and all the richness, beauty and fullness of the Faith are alive and well in places like the Dioceses of Arlington and Charleston.  After all the painful corruption and scandal on the part of a few, we can see the hand of God renewing His Church in unexpected places and in  wondrous and surprising ways.  "Where sin abounded, grace did more abound."

Queen Welcomes Irish President Michael D Higgins on First State Visit to Britain

Irish President Michael D Higgins is welcomed to the UK by the Queen at the start of the first state visit by an Irish head of state

Michael D Higgins met the Queen at Windsor Castle Photo: Getty Images

Irish President Michael D Higgins has met the Queen on the first ever state visit to Britain by the country's head of state.

Mr Higgins and his wife Sabina met the monarch at Windsor Castle - three years after the Queen's historic visit to Dublin heralded the start of a new chapter in the relationship between the two countries.

The significance has been further deepened with the presence of Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister and former IRA commander Martin McGuinness, who will attend a banquet hosted by the Queen - a move unthinkable only a decade ago.

The streets of Windsor were decked out in Union flags and Irish Tricolours this morning ahead of the visit. 

Read more at The Telegraph >>

DeMint: ‘Big Business Is No Friend of Conservatism’

Former Sen. Jim DeMint, the president of the Heritage Foundation, writes in his new book—“Falling in Love With America Again”—about the cozy relationship between big business and big government.

“Almost all big corporations benefit from, advocate for, and downright like big government,” DeMint writes.

In an interview with CNSNews.com, DeMint explained his view that a corollary to this principle is that big business and conservatism are not on the same team.

Read more at Cybercast News Service >>