Confessions of a Former Communist

Joseph Farah reveals how much his youth matched that of Obama

From WorldNetDaily
By Joseph Farah

 

Farah circa 1972

I have a confession to make.

It might help explain why I fear a second term of Barack Obama so much.

I understand what Obama is and what he is doing because I was once like him: I am a former communist.

As a youth growing up during the Vietnam War, I was influenced by some of the more extreme, anti-American opposition to that conflict and began to identify with the enemy. I became convinced the U.S. epitomized all that was evil in the world.

Nun Reveals Truth About LCWR Assessment

Sister Mary Rose Reddy: “We do not feel at all represented by the LCWR”

We've avoided this story because it is so close to women religious we have known  -- heroically faithful sisters who have suffered in silence while those around them lost their grounding in Catholic orthodoxy and embraced new age beliefs and practices, abandoned community prayer and the Blessed Sacrament and in the cause of "peace and justice" became pawns in social and political movements antithetical to the Church.  We have also known those swept away by the fevered ideologies of our times - radical feminism, environmentalism, pantheism, socialism and even the occult.  Some of the latter serve in the offices of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and head major Catholic institutions.  They see themselves as "defecting in place," but it is a rebellion rapidly drawing to a close.  Their communities are dying because joyless defiance of the Church has no appeal to idealistic young women eager to dedicate their lives to the service of Christ and His Church.

The following is reprinted with the permission of a superb blog we were pleased to discover today, Courageous Priest.  Sister Mary Rose Reddy has provided a clear and succinct summary of the Holy See's intervention into the direction of the Leadership Conference of  Women Religious.  Unlike those sisters who are rightly threatened by the Vatican's intervention, there are thousands of bright, zealous and dedicated young women, like Sister Mary Rose, who are responding to God's call, eager to be faithful brides of Christ.

From Courageous Priest

By Sister Mary Rose Reddy, DMML

What did the Holy See actually say to the LCWR?

Recently the Office of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith issued a statement entitled, Doctrinal Assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.   (All quotations are taken directly from this 8 page document).  Many people in the United States have mistakenly regarded this document as disparaging to women religious.  Actually the contrary is true; the document praises the legitimate contributions of women religious over the years: “The Holy See acknowledges with gratitude the great contribution of women Religious to the Church in the United States as seen particularly in the many schools, hospitals, and institutions of support for the poor which have been founded and staffed by Religious over the years.”

At the same time as the Holy See praises these legitimate accomplishments it rightfully criticizes destructive aberrations in authentic religious life that have developed in and through the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). (The LCWR was founded at the encouragement of the Vatican in 1956 to be the official representative body of women religious in the United States).  Here are some of the LCWR errors which this document from the Vatican addresses:

1. There has been “a diminution of the fundamental Christological center and focus of religious consecration which leads, in turn, to a loss of a ‘constant and lively sense of the Church’ among some Religious.”

2. Speakers have been allowed to promote destructive teachings such as “Sr. Laurie Brink’s address about some Religious ‘moving beyond the Church’ or even beyond Jesus. This is a challenge not only to core Catholic beliefs; such a rejection of faith is also a serious source of scandal and is incompatible with religious life.”

3. Some members of the LCWR have been “protesting the Holy See’s actions regarding the question of women’s ordination and of a correct pastoral approach to ministry to homosexual persons, e.g. letters about New Ways Ministry’s conferences. The terms of the letters suggest that these sisters collectively take a position not in agreement with the Church’s teaching on human sexuality.”

4. “Moreover, some commentaries on ‘patriarchy’ distort the way in which Jesus has structured sacramental life in the Church; others even undermine the revealed doctrines of the Holy Trinity, the divinity of Christ, and the inspiration of Sacred Scripture.”

5. “…while there has been a great deal of work on the part of LCWR promoting issues of social justice in harmony with the Church’s social doctrine, it is silent on the right to life from conception to natural death, a question that is part of the lively public debate about abortion and euthanasia in the United States. Further, issues of crucial importance to the life of Church and society, such as the Church’s Biblical view of family life and human sexuality, are not part of the LCWR agenda in a way that promotes Church teaching.”

6. “Moreover, occasional public statements by the LCWR that disagree with or challenge positions taken by the Bishops, who are the Church’s authentic teachers of faith and morals, are not compatible with its purpose.”

Having been a professed religious Sister for more than 29 years I welcome this statement of the Holy See.  We, the Daughters of Mary, Mother of Healing Love (along with hundreds and probably thousands of other women religious), do not feel at all represented by the LCWR.  We consider that the vocation of women religious is to personify the Church as Bride.  The Bride is submissive to Christ, the Head (as particularly represented by the Pope and the magisterium).  Through this powerful charism of submissive obedience, entrusted particularly to women religious in imitation of the exalted Mother of God, the life of Christ is brought to birth and nurtured in multitudes of hearts.  Thank you, Pope Benedict XVI and the Holy See for protecting the authentic charism of women religious which we receive as an eternal gift from Christ the Bridegroom.

Sister Mary Rose Reddy, DMML (Daughters of Mary, Mother of Healing Love), is a founding sister of the Running Nuns,  a religious order dedicated to housing children victimized by trauma, abuse and neglect.  They are called the Running Nuns because they have a daily running program to relieve anger and stress of the victimized children and have a  nationally known annual 5k race.  Sister wrote this article because she “feels so strongly that we need to speak out for the many Sisters who love and support our Holy Father and the magisterium.”

Post-Comfortable Christianity and the Election of 2012

By Rev. George W. Rutler 

 

Shortly before he died in Oxford in 1988, the Jesuit retreat master and raconteur, Bernard Bassett, in good spirits after a double leg amputation, told me that the great lights of his theological formation had been Ignatius Loyola and John Henry Newman, but if he “had to do it all over,” he’d only read Paul.  “Everything is there.”  There is a temptation to think that God gave us the Apostle to the Gentiles in order to have second readings at Sunday Mass, usually unrelated to the first reading and the Gospel.  But everything truly is there.  Paul was one of the most important figures in human history, and a great character to boot.  That is, a character in the happiest sense of the word.  “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain” (1 Cor 15:10).

Read the rest of this entry at Crisis Magazine >>

Condi Rice? Absolutely Not!

It is being reported tonight that Condoleezza Rice is leading a short list of potential Vice Presidential running mates for Obama White.  That the Romney campaign would even float such an idea confirms how very out-of-touch Mitt Romney is with the conservative base of the Republican Party, particularly Christian conservatives.  

Here in South Carolina, those of us who have been alienated by the GOP establishment's imposition of a Massachusetts liberal as the party's nominee, have the luxury of casting a protest vote knowing that our South Carolina electors will not be voting for Barack Hussein Obama.  However, there are many battleground states where the Republican base will be looking for a sign from the Etch-a-Sketch candidate that he might actually govern like the conservative he now claims to be.  The selection of Condoleezza Rice will make clear this is a Nelson Rockefeller-Christie Whitman-Lindsay Graham kind of Republican.  The suggestion is an affront to the majority of Republicans who voted in the primaries for a candidate other than Romney.

It is establishment, liberal Republicans who brought America the tragedy and ruin of the Obama administration.  Those Bush Republicans are deservedly anathema to millions of Americans.  A choice such as this should be first among many reasons for Republican delegates to abandon this doomed candidacy and select a candidate with broad national appeal.

Four years ago, when another RINO was floating the idea of Rice as a running mate, we posted the following column by Janet Folger.  If there are any sane political consultants advising the Romney campaign, we hope it will serve as a warning.

My 'Mild' Opposition to Condi Rice for VP

Secretary Rice administered the oath of office for the global AIDS coordinator, homosexual activist Mark Dybul, while Dybul's domestic partner held the Bible.

From WorldNetDaily

By Janet Folger

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is making the rounds vying for vice president. Last week, she paid a visit to Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform coalition meeting. I quit going to that meeting about a decade ago when Ann Stone of "Republican's for Choice" sat three seats away from me straining to hear our pro-life activities so she could try and stop them. Some tents are just too big.

By the way, Norquist, who often describes his position as "guns good, taxes bad" (something upon which most conservatives agree), after speaking for the Dallas Log Cabin Republicans, might want to update his introduction: "Homosexuality good, Marriage bad," since his event was the biggest fundraiser of the year for the group that fought against marriage while it was on the Texas ballot in 2005. I like to strategize with people who want the same things – the very reason I don't attend meetings at Obama headquarters. But I can certainly understand why Condoleezza stopped by.

I am a Republican because of the principles in the party spelled out in the platform. I will remain one until the Republican Party ceases to stand for my beliefs, including the basic principles of life, marriage, less government and a strong defense. And when candidates violate these basic principles, I simply will not vote for them – even for vice president.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described herself as "mildly pro-choice." Let me first say, there is nothing "mild" about having your arms and legs ripped off your body in that "choice" we call abortion. Use any rhetoric you'd like, if you favor abortion, you still have a dead kid – 4,000 of them a day, actually, killed in the most non-mild ways imaginable.

Nothing particularly "mild" about Stephen Douglas being "pro-choice" when it came to slavery, either. No, the Republican Party was the one to stand against slavery even when candidates tried to hide behind the "pro-choice" (for the slave-owner) rhetoric.

Washington Times White House correspondent Bill Sammon pressed Rice, "But it sounds like you do not wish to change the laws that now allow (abortion). ..."

Rice responded, "Well, I don't spend my entire life thinking about these issues. … What I do think is that we should not have the federal government in a position where it is forcing its views on one side or the other."

If Lincoln held that position on slavery, we'd probably still have slave states today. We certainly wouldn't have an African-American secretary of state, that's for sure.

Beyond being wrong on the prerequisite issue of life, you won't believe what else she's wrong on. Austin Ruse, president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, summarized Rice's activities as head of the State Department with a Dec. 28, 2006, letter protesting the U.S. vote to give three radical homosexual groups official U.N. status.

Among the homosexual groups who were granted official "NGO (non-governmental organization) U.N. status was the Danish National Association for Gays and Lesbians, which supports homosexual "marriage," forced homosexual adoption and laws that would force churches to "bless" homosexual unions. Under Rice's direction, the U.S. also voted to recognize the International Lesbian and Gay Federation, which was linked to the North American Man/Boy Love Association and has refused to condemn adult-child sex.

Nothing "mild" about pedophilia, either. Forget going after child molesters; let's give them official status at the U.N.! Good one, Condi.

Then, on Oct. 10, 2006, Secretary Rice administered the oath of office for the global AIDS coordinator, homosexual activist Mark Dybul, while Dybul's domestic partner held the Bible. Ironic, isn't it? Too bad they never opened it. Dybul will oversee how $15 billion of our hard-earned tax dollars gets spent. Think of how you could further your agenda if your budget was $15 billion. I'd include the link to the homosexual publication that documents this, but it's laden with porn. What a shock.

Rice then introduced first lady Laura Bush to Dybul's domestic partner's mother as Dybul's "mother in law." This is only "mildly" at odds with the Federal Defense of Marriage Act (which even President Clinton signed) declaring that the federal government shall not recognize "marriage" between two men. Obviously, Secretary Rice doesn't "spend her entire life thinking about federal law" on that issue, either – "mildly speaking."

Seems Rice is so anxious to recognize homosexual "marriages" that she can't even wait for her radical homosexual U.N. efforts to take effect. Maybe she'd do better at Obama headquarters.

Not to mention her "road map for peace," which has "mildly" negative consequences for the survival of Israel, forcing the Jewish state to give up even more strategically significant land for promises of "peace" from "mild-mannered" terrorists and their mildly fanatical pursuit of world domination and the eradication of Israel from existence.

On my radio program yesterday, I was questioned about exposing the secretary of state's position without first going to her directly. Oh, I've already done that. I asked her to re-examine her radical abortion-on-demand position when I saw her at the inaugural ball back in 2001. I didn't have time to get to the rest.

Let me just summarize it for you: I am categorically, vehemently, emphatically and intensely opposed to Condoleezza Rice for vice president … to put it "mildly."

Two and Counting: New Jersey to Consider Obamacare Nullification

From Tenth Amendment Center

On the heels of a recent announcement that Oklahoma State Representative Mike Ritze would be introducing legislation to nullify the Affordable Care Act, New Jersey Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose (R- Sussex) has verified with the Tenth Amendment Center that she has a bill pending which would do the same.

Assembly Bill 861 (A861) would “Render the federal “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” null and void in New Jersey”

In a statement to the Tenth Amendment Center, McHose indicated that trusting the federal courts to fix federal problems isn’t working. She said, “Americans were always misguided to trust the good intentions of the unelected Court. The Court being the failsafe of the establishment.”

Pope Attends Concert Conducted by Daniel Barenboim

Concert offered by the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra (11 July 2012) in the Courtyard of the Papal Residence, Castel Gandolfo.

Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 (Pastoral Symphony)

From Vatican Radio

A concert in honor of Pope Benedict began at 6pm this evening at Castel Gandolfo. Italian president Giorgio Napolitano and his wife were scheduled to attend the concert, and afterwards join the Holy Father for dinner. The peformance includes parts of two symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven, and was being peformed by the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a Sevilla-based orchestra of young Arab and Israeli musicians conducted by world renowned conductor Daniel Barenboim.

“The music of Beethoven is always contemporary – his works are not modern because they were written many years ago – but they are contemporary in the sense that they have significance for the world today,” he told Vatican Radio before Wednesday’s performance.

“It is an expression of the unchanging nature of the human soul,” he said. “Even though technology has moved the world forward - along with humanity - the human soul remains, at the most profound level, the same.”

The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra co-founded by Barenboim is a youth orchestra consisting of musicians from countries in the Middle East, and is meant to promote understanding between Israelis and Palestinians.

Listen:

From Our Mail: Senate Committee Considers Subjecting US Parents to UN Oversight

Daniel

I wanted to alert you quickly to a hearing that is happening TODAY before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations that is deeply concerning.  

 

This Senate committee will be holding a hearing to discuss possible ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Translation: Elected members of our government will be discussing a United Nations treaty that, if ratified, will tell us how we should parent our disabled children.  

It is astounding that in America we may be subject to UN oversight on how we should care for our special needs kids.  Many of you know about our four year-old daughter Bella -- our joyful and loving special needs little girl -- and why this issue is something Karen and I are very personally passionate about. 

Please contact your Senator today by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and urge him or her to vote against ratification if this were to come before the Senate. 

I'll be in touch again soon to update you on what happened at the hearing and what action we'll need to take next.

All my best,

Rick Santorum