Thirty Pieces of Silver

Lately I've had a hard time finding the right words to express how strongly I feel our country is on the express train to someplace bleak and sad. I can't shake the feeling that the voting public sold the soul of the United States of America.

And today we have the news that the political party which has embraced socialism and the culture of death now has a filibuster-proof majority.

Jesus did not suffer so horribly and die on the cross so that millions of babies could be slaughtered each year. He did not die so that we could ration health care and let our infirm and elderly die in the name of progress. He did not die so that we might turn our back on the teachings of the Church because they are 'out of touch' or not particularly convenient.

Judas sold Him out for thirty pieces of silver. The United States of America sold Him out for the promise of 'hope' and 'change'.

Interesting how the price of Faustian bargains is always freedom.

Americans are about to lose so many of our precious freedoms, and we'll be crippled economically to boot.

Someone, somewhere is laughing.

It is not Our Lord.

Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.

Catholic Clarity

National Review Online editor Kathryn Jean Lopez caught up with Archbishop Raymond Burke on his recent visit to the United States.

Lopez made the most of her opportunity to interview the head of the Vatican’s Supreme Court, seeking guidance for the faithful on a variety of critical issues. Among the topics were the Notre Dame controversy, pro-abortion ‘Catholic’ elected officials, and consecrated virgins.

In the following excerpt, Burke offers perspective for Catholics who may have voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 election.

LOPEZ: You seemed to make very clear that Catholic voters collaborated with evil when they voted for Obama. If you’re Catholic and did, do you have to confess this now that Mexico City, embryo-destructive funding, among other things, have happened?

ARCHBISHOP BURKE: If a Catholic knowingly and deliberately votes for a person who is in favor of the most grievous violations of the natural moral law, then he has formally cooperated in a grave evil and must confess his serious sin. Since President Obama clearly announced, during the election campaign, his anti-life and anti-family agenda, a Catholic who knew his agenda regarding, for example, procured abortion, embryonic-stem-cell research, and same-sex marriage, could not have voted for him with a clear conscience.

Read the entire interview here.

No Shame at Notre Dame University

MSNBC news is reporting that there is a backlash against Notre Dame University inviting President Barack Obama to deliver this year’s commencement address.

The article asks, and answers…

“…The point of contention? The president’s record on issues related to abortion, the majority of which clash with the strict anti-abortion stance of the Catholic Church.”

True. Never mind that this fairly innocuous statement is the only polite way of saying that Barack Obama is the most anti-life person to ever occupy the office of President of the United States.

But the secular media doesn’t understand that the reason for the backlash goes deeper than opposition to President Obama’s abortion on demand stance.

To begin, it helps to know that Notre Dame University is not governed by the Catholic Church. Their website states "The University of Notre Dame is governed by a two-tiered structure (Fellows of the University and the Board of Trustees), in which laymen and women have joined with religious of the Indiana Province of Holy Cross in the governance of the University."

But it still bears the name of the Mother of Our Lord.

Notre Dame. Translated from French to English - Our Lady.

How DARE the president of Notre Dame University, Father John Jenkins, invite a man who is responsible for such colossal setbacks in the prolife movement, to speak at a University bearing the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary?

Patroness of the Unborn.

Does he not understand that by extending the invitation and giving Obama an honorary law degree, he is implying endorsement of Obama’s abortion policies?

Does he not understand how implying endorsement of Obama’s abortion policies in the name of Our Lady is so offensive it defies description?

What is next, a center for fetal stem cell research on the Notre Dame campus?

Their excuse is that it is prestigious to have the President of the United States accept an invitation to deliver the university’s commencement address, regardless of his policy stances.

Perhaps this argument would be defensible if the policy difference were minor, but abortion- on- demand is a central tenet of President Obama’s political ideology. Or maybe if it were not on the heels of the rescinding of the Mexico City policy and fetal stem cell decisions.

But there is no getting around Obama’s’ extreme position on abortion.

Notre Dame's bishop John M. D'Arcy, who was not informed of the university's decision to invite Obama, responded by deciding to boycott the event and invoking "Our Lady to intercede for the university named in her honor, that it may recommit itself to the primacy of truth over prestige"

As if to vindicate Father Jenkins' decision, MSNBC reminds us that Catholics voted 54-45 in favor of Obama in the 2008 presidential election.

What MSNBC and Father Jenkins don’t understand is that Catholics are paying attention these days. Obama’s action on abortion has been swift and absolute. Any doubt that ‘he couldn't be that bad on abortion’ has been erased.

Further, many Catholics have buyer’s remorse. Even those who wrongly overlooked his stance on life, thinking perhaps his economic policies had merit, are now concerned at the alarming rate at which he is spending money, expanding government and moving our country towards godless secularism.

Father Jenkins crossed a line. Backlash among alumni and donors is likely, but he may actually have provided the catalyst for an examination of the Catholic political conscience.

Bishop D'Arcy states: "Indeed, the measure of any Catholic institution is not only what it stands for, but also what it will not stand for."

The same holds true for Catholics everywhere. And, I can say without reservation, that offending Our Mother is something Catholics will not stand for.

Contact Notre Dame here, or call 574-631-5000. Better yet, travel to South Bend on May 17th to prayerfully protest this sad occasion.