"Awake, My Heart, with Gladness"

Professor Robert George Urges Pope to Support Archbishop Cordileone

Princeton Professor Robert George has written an open letter to Pope Francis urging that he show "quiet support" for embattled San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.  The Archbishop has been severely criticized for insisting that the Catholic schools of his Archdiocese bear witness to the moral teachings of the faith.  Professor George's letter, published in First Things, follows:

Your Holiness:

I recall with pleasure and gratitude my visit to the Vatican in November and your moving address to our Colloquium on the Complementarity of Man and Woman in Marriage. There, gathered with leaders of the world’s great religious traditions, East and West, you reaffirmed the Church’s doctrine of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife and spoke movingly of the right of every child “to grow up in a family with a father and mother.”

Here in the United States we are blessed with many bishops who join you in bearing witness to these profound and indispensable truths. Even in the face of social and economic pressure on them to yield or go silent, they boldly and joyously proclaim the Church’s teachings on marriage and chastity. None has been more fearless or ardent in upholding these beautiful and liberating teachings than Salvatore Cordileone, the Archbishop of San Francisco.

Faithful Catholics in his archdiocese and throughout our country have been edified by his labors—particularly those addressed to ensuring that the Catholic schools under his care teach and model fidelity to Catholic doctrine in all matters of faith and morals. Unsurprisingly, however, these labors have drawn the antagonism of many who despise the Church’s moral teachings, especially those concerning marriage and sexual morality.

This morning, a group of people published an open letter to you in a San Francisco newspaper urging you to remove Archbishop Cordileone from his office. They identify themselves as Catholics and plead with you to send them a new archbishop that will be true to what they describe as “our values.” But their values, unlike the values proclaimed and upheld by Archbishop Cordileone, are not the values of the Catholic faith. Their complaint against the Archbishop finally comes down to his refusal to bow down before the values of contemporary secularist sexual morality and gender ideology. For this, however, he should be applauded and encouraged, not condemned, much less ousted.

Be assured, Holy Father, that the “prominent Catholics,” as the media describes them, who call on you to remove Archbishop Cordileone do not speak for the faithful Catholics of San Francisco. Already, a movement has emerged to support and encourage the Archbishop. It is a movement of grateful Catholics—not “prominent” people—but ordinary men and women, many of them immigrants or the children of immigrants from many lands. These men and women are grateful to have an archbishop who believes and teaches what the Church believes and teaches. They send their children to the diocesan schools because they desire for them an education imbued with a Christian spirit and shaped by the teachings of the Catholic faith. Their spirits have been lifted by Archbishop Cordileone’s tireless work to ensure that such an education is available to all who desire it.

With gratitude to God for your own witness and ministry, I humbly ask you to join those of us who are supporting and encouraging Archbishop Cordileone. It would be a wonderful thing for you quietly to let him know that he has your blessing, and that the insults and defamations he is experiencing as a result of his faithful apostolic work are a participation in the redemptive suffering of Jesus, who said: “anyone who would be my disciple must take up his cross and follow me.”

Sincerely yours in our beloved Savior,

Robert P. George

Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University

Happy 88th Birthday to Pope Benedict XVI

The great and holy Benedict XVI celebrates his 88th birthday today, and we wish him every grace and blessing and thank him for the extraordinary accomplishments of his papacy.  There was no behind the scenes intrigue about changing unchangeable Catholic doctrine during his tenure.  Rather, there was the unerringly faithful, elegant and clear teaching of an alter-Christi.  The beloved Benedict is sorely missed and appreciated more with each passing year.

On this 88th birthday, we reprint our tribute posted on the Holy Father's 85th birthday.   

Today is the 85th birthday of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, and this week we will mark the 7th anniversary of his election to the Chair of Saint Peter.  For this gentle, kind, brilliant, holy teacher and shepherd, we give thanks to God and pray that he continues as Christ's 265th Vicar on Earth for many more years.

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.  One of his frequent references to his predecessor and friendship with Christ provides a beautiful example:

Are we not perhaps all afraid in some way? If we let Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to Him, are we not afraid that He might take something away from us?...And once again the Pope said: No! If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation....When we give ourselves to Him, we receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ – and you will find true life.

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.

For all of this and so much more, we wish Pope Benedict God's richest blessings, a happy birthday and heartily proclaim "Viva il Papa!"

Reformer of the Clergy? Pope Francis Fails His First Real Test

Bishop Juan de la Cruz Barros

They still don’t get it.

With great fanfare and media fawning, Pope Francis appointed Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley to head the new Vatican Child Protection Commission to protect children from clergy sex abuse. O’Malley said the new commission would advise the pope about the protection of children and the pastoral care of victims of abuse.

Among the members of the child protection commission, was a clergy sex abuse victim, and an array of lay members from the medical, political, academic and diplomatic arena, along with two Jesuits. There was no legal document, no formal mandate or structure assigned to the commission, leaving some to criticize the commission as mere “window dressing.”

The Pope assured Catholics that reform had finally arrived to the Vatican.

Read more at The Remnant >>

Dick Morris Sums Up Hillary Clinton

This corrupt, old, leftist belongs in prison, not on the campaign trail.  If all her most recent scandals aren't enough to convince you, consider the following from Dick Morris, who worked closely with Hillary during the Clinton Administration.

If you happen to see the Bill Clinton five minute TV ad for Hillary in which he introduces the commercial by saying he wants to share some things we may not know about Hillary's background .. beware as I was there for most of their presidency and know them better than just about anyone, I offer a few corrections.