From Peanut Research to Pig Waste, Pork-Laden Spending Bill Called a ‘Monstrosity'

The proposed federal budget, that the Obama-Reed-Pelosi ruling troika is attempting to push through a lame-duck Congress, ranks with Obamacare in its arrogance and contempt for the American people.

In a stinging speech on the Senate floor, Senator John McCain listed some of the earmarks incorporated into a bill which he said had been “written by a handful of senators who happen to be members of the Appropriations Committee.” The bill reached his office just after noon on Tuesday. 

This is why the American people removed these thugs from control of the House, and it is why the Senate and White House will change hands in two years. 

American Cardinal Denounces 'Catholic in name only' Colleges

Any Catholic college or university "at which Jesus Christ alive in His Church is not taught, encountered in the Sacred Liturgy and its extension through prayer and devotion, and followed in a life of virtue is not worthy of the name."

Cardinal Raymond Burke,  the American who serves as chief justice of the universal Church, recently addressed The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts on the importance of vibrant and authentic Catholic higher education:

The Importance of the Catholic University to Society and the Church

My first reflection concerns the importance of the Catholic university to society and the Church. The Declaration on Christian Education, Gravissimum Educationis, of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council underlines the importance which the Church has consistently assigned to Catholic higher education, in order that “the convergence of faith and reason in the one truth may be seen more clearly.” It is sufficient to consider the challenges of a lifetime as a member of the Church and a citizen of the nation, and the many and significant fields of human endeavor for which the university student prepares himself to know the importance of his receiving a complete education, that is, an education in which the convergence of faith and reason in the pursuit of the one truth is consistently taught and exemplified. Pope Benedict XVI gives clear expression to the irreplaceable service of Catholic higher education for the attainment of the necessary unity of faith and reason. In his meeting with Catholic Educators at The Catholic University of America, on April 17, 2008, addressing the fundamental Catholic identity of the Catholic university, he reminded the educators:

Clearly, then, Catholic identity is not dependent upon statistics. Neither can it be equated simply with orthodoxy of course content. It demands and inspires much more: namely, that each and every aspect of your learning communities reverberates within the ecclesial life of faith. Only in faith can truth become incarnate and reason truly human, capable of directing the will along the path of freedom (cf. Spe Salvi, 23). In this way our institutions make a vital contribution to the mission of the Church and truly serve society. They become places in which God’s active presence in human affairs is recognized and in which every young person discovers the joy of entering into Christ’s “being for others” (cf. ibid., 28).

In a particular way, the Catholic university which is true to her identity will help students to be strong in giving an account of their faith in their vocation in life, whether it be the married life, the dedicated single life, the consecrated life or the ordained priesthood, and in whatever field of human endeavor they engage, resisting the secularist dictatorship which would exclude all religious discourse from the professions and from public life in general.

Quoting the Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman, the Venerable Pope John Paul II underlined the importance of the service of the Catholic university to the Church and society, in general, in his Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae with these words:

It is the honour and responsibility of a Catholic University to consecrate itself without reserve to the cause of truth. This is its way of serving at one and the same time both the dignity of man and the good of the Church, which has “an intimate conviction that the truth is (its) real ally … and that knowledge and reason are sure ministers to faith”. Without in any way neglecting the acquisition of useful knowledge, a Catholic University is distinguished by its free search for the whole truth about nature, man and God. The present age is in urgent need of this kind of disinterested service, namely of proclaiming the meaning of truth, that fundamental value without which freedom, justice and human dignity are extinguished.

The fact that the Catholic university had its birth from “the heart of the Church,” to quote the beginning of the same Apostolic Constitution, demonstrates the importance in which the Church has always held higher education. During various periods of the Church’s history, the service of the Catholic university has been critical to meeting the challenges of the time. In a society which is marked by a virulent secularism which threatens the integrity of every aspect of human endeavor and service, for example, medicine, law, government and higher education itself, the service of the Catholic university is more needed than ever. How tragic that the very secularism which the Catholic university should be helping its students to battle and overcome has entered into several Catholic universities, leading to the grievous compromise of their high mission.

Obamacare Ruled Unconstitutional

Federal Judge Henry Hudson ruled this morning that Obamacare is unconstitutional.

The Virginia based federal judge determined that the federal government has no authority to require citizens to buy health insurance or pay penalties. It is expected that the ruling will give Congressional Republicans and pro-life forces added impetus to repeal the government takeover of health care opposed by an overwhelming majority of the American people. According to a recent Rasmussen poll, 60 percent favor repeal, with only 34 percent opposed.

Black Conservative Group Launches Petition Drive to Remove RNC Chairman Michael Steele

Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson, Founder and President of BOND Action, a national organization created to educate, motivate, and rally Americans to greater involvement in the moral and political issues that threaten America, announced today that his group is launching a "Michael Steele Must Go!" petition drive. Rev. Peterson was one of the first Republicans to publicly call for embattled RNC Chairman Michael Steele to step down last January, citing his financial mismanagement and lack of conservative convictions to lead the committee.

We don't have a favorite in this race yet, but one thing is clear, the national GOP needs a party builder who can raise funds, recruit quality candidates, improve the state and national party machinery, and most urgently, fix state rules governing the party nominating process. We do not need someone who hires friends and relatives at three times the usual salaries, promotes himself, undertakes personal book tours, attacks icons of Republican thought like Rush Limbaugh, and takes the bows on election night after contributing absolutely nothing to the final outcome.

The time has come for the GOP national committee to elect a Republican spokesperson who can lead the the party to full control of the Congress and the White House and a national redirection toward small, accountable, constitutional government.

To sign Reverend Peterson's petition click here.

From the Pastor - 'Christian Joy'

A Weekly Column by Father George Rutler

J

oy is more than happiness if you take happiness to mean feeling good. Joy is a fact beyond feeling, and the fact is the actual possession of what is good. As only God is good, true joy is being with God. Because “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself,” only Christ can make our joy “full” (2 Cor. 5:19; John 15:11). Gaudete, or “Rejoice” Sunday is, like Laetare Sunday in Lent, a glimpse of joy along the way to joy.

C. S. Lewis called his spiritual autobiography Surprised by Joy because, I think, he was brought up in a Calvinist atmosphere which had a pessimistic view of the world. Saints are grateful for joy, but they are not surprised by it. They expect it because Jesus promises it. For the martyrs, their most joyful moment in this world was their physically painful death, because they were not sentimentally motivated by feelings. St. Stephen rejoiced as he was being stoned, for he could see the heavens opened.

Cardinals of the Church wear red as a sign of their joyful willingness to suffer for the Faith and for the Pope who is guarantor of that Faith. In modern times, Cardinals like Mindszenty and Kung and Van Thuan did that vividly. Sometimes that suffering is more subtle. Earlier this month, the Archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, was threatened with physical violence by students at the Autonomous University of Madrid if he gave a lecture there on the subject “The God who is unknown to 21st century Spaniards.” A laureate of the universities of Salamanca and Munich, Cardinal Varela is a finer scholar than the sophomoric hypocrites who would not let him speak. So God remains unknown to them, and they remain deprived of God’s joy. The Spanish radio network COPE remarked that “freedom and truth have become a nuisance at the place which is supposed to be the pillar of knowledge—the university.” Compounding the scandal were the weakness of the faculty in protecting free speech and the Spanish government’s claim that it could not guarantee the Cardinal’s security. In 2008, the Pope himself was threatened if he spoke at the University of Rome. The Prince of Lies hates places dedicated to the pursuit of truth and so he screams when the truth is spoken, and he becomes most agitated in those places once thought to be most Christian.

Secularism” is not just a cultural fashion. It is the world’s worship of its worldliness, the most degrading kind of narcissism. By its self-hypnosis, it is more subtle and thus more lethal than other heresies and tyrannies. All this was foreseen by Christ when He fortified his disciples with joy as he warned them of obstacles and obscurantists to come. “Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matt. 5:12).

Fr. George W. Rutler is the pastor of the Church of our Saviour in New York City. His latest book, Coincidentally: Unserious Reflections on Trivial Connections, is available from Crossroads Publishing.

Lichfield Cathedral Choir - Lo! He Comes With Clouds Descending

The choir of Lichfield Cathedral sings the lovely advent hymn "Lo! He comes with clouds descending". Words by Charles Wesley rewritten from the original text by John Cennick . Note the beautiful descant by the choristers during the last verse. All pictures are of Lichfield Cathedral.

Lo! He comes with clouds descending,
Once for favoured sinners slain;
Thousand thousand saints attending,
Swell the triumph of His train:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Christ appears on earth to reign

Every eye shall now behold Him
Robed in dreadful majesty;
Those who set at naught and sold Him,
Pierced and nailed Him to the tree,
Deeply wailing, deeply wailing,
Shall the true Messiah see.

Those dear tokens of His passion
Still His dazzling body bears;
Cause of endless exultation
To His ransomed worshipers;
With what rapture, with what rapture
Gaze we on those glorious scars!

Yea, amen; let all adore thee,
High on thine eternal throne;
Saviour, take the power and glory;
Claim the kingdoms for thine own:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Thou shalt reign, and thou alone.

The Wreaths Across America Story

 

Wreaths Across America™, a non profit 501-c3 organization, was formed as an extension of the Arlington Wreath Project.  The Arlington Wreath program was started by Morrill Worcester (Worcester Wreath) in 1992 with the donation and laying of 5000 Christmas wreaths to Arlington National Cemetery.  This became an annual journey for Mr. Worcester.  Read more about this in the History of Arlington.

It was relatively obscure until 2005 when a photo of the stones adorned with wreaths and covered in snow circulated around the internet.  The project received national attention.  Thousands of requests poured in from all over the country from people wanting to emulate the Arlington project at their National and State cemeteries spurred the creation of “Wreaths Across America™”.  Unable to donate thousands of wreaths to each state, Mr. Worcester conceived the idea of sending 7 wreaths (one for each branch of the military as well as POW/MIA).  In 2006 with the help of the CAP and other civic organizations, over 150 locations held wreath laying ceremonies simultaneously.

The Patriot Guard Riders volunteered as escort for the wreaths going to Arlington.  This began the annual “Veterans Honor Parade” that travels the east coast in early December.

By 2007 the requests for more wreaths grew.  The Worcester family established the non-profit group Wreaths Across America™ to further promote Veterans remembrance.  The mission Remember, Honor and Teach characterized the projects goals perfectly.

Yesterday, more than 500 locations held wreath laying ceremonies in every state, Puerto Rico and 24 overseas cemeteries.  Over 100,000 wreaths were placed on veterans graves.  Over 60,000 volunteers participated.

Wreaths Across America™ would not be successful without the help of the volunteers, many active organizations and the generosity of the trucking industry.

For more information visit WreathsAcrossAmerica.org