Friday, January 29, 2016


We’ll go through the issues here (thanks to Conservative Review for a handy guide to Trump’s positions as well). We report, you decide:

Immigration. After a career of flip-flopping on immigration (he ripped Mitt Romney in 2012 for being too harsh on illegal immigration and in 2013 said he hired illegals at his golf courses), Trump has famously taken the most right-wing position on illegal immigration in this race. I wrote about it when Trump released it on his website. Trump wants a wall, shutting down remittances garnered from illegal wages, and foreign aid cuts. He wants strong deportation policies and an end to birthright citizenship. Because many Republicans feel that the immigration issue is the prerequisite for any continuation of a small government republic, Trump has made hay on this issue.

Meanwhile, Trump flipped on Muslim refugees. Originally he said the U.S. would have to take in Syrian refugees; then he said he would take in no Muslim immigrants at all. That position has proved surprisingly durable with the conservative electorate.

Foreign Policy. Trump’s been all over the place here. He’s said we should leave the Islamic State to Russia and expressed sympathy for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, but also said that we should “bomb the s***” out of ISIS. He has both said that he would topple Bashar Assad and that he would not arm the Syrian rebels. In the end, he said he had a great idea for defeating ISIS, but wouldn’t tell anyone what it was. He’s said that he wouldn’t immediately get rid of the Iran deal, but he stumped against the deal. He’s talked about how he admires China, but then explained he wants to put a 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods. Trump wants to expand the military, but how he would use that expanded military is far from clear.

Abortion. Trump says he’s pro-life. Bethany Blankley of Live Action News gives a solid roundup of the timeline:

1999: Trump says he is “very pro-choice” and said he wouldn’t ban partial birth abortion.

January 2015: Trump says he is “pro-life, with the caveats. You have to have the caveats.” What would those caveats be? He explains: “life of the mother, incest, and rape.” Asked repeatedly whether abortion outside of his “caveats” would be murder, he says, “it depends when.”

August 2015: Trump tells CNN’s Chris Cuomo, “Maybe some of the things [Planned Parenthood does] are good and I know a lot of things are bad… I mean, it’s like an abortion factory, frankly.” He then says he is pro-life and reiterates his “exceptions.” He tells Sean Hannity:

There’s two Planned Parenthoods, in a way. You have it as an abortion clinic. Now, that’s actually a fairly small part of what they do, but it’s a brutal part, and I’m totally against it. They also, however, service women. Maybe unless they stop with the abortions, we don’t do the funding for the stuff that we want. We have to help women. So we have to look at the positives, also, for Planned Parenthood.

Eventually he told Breitbart he’d oppose any government funding for Planned Parenthood.

During the first Republican debate, Trump says that he became pro-life sometime over the last few years, stating:

Friends of mine years ago were going to have a child, and it was going to be aborted. And it wasn’t aborted. And that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child. And I saw that. And I saw other instances. I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life.

Jamie Weinstein of The Daily Caller asked Trump if he’d have become pro-life if the kid had been a “loser.” Trump said no.

October 2015: Trump says he would appoint his sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, to the Supreme Court – even though she has ruled in favor of partial birth abortion. As to overturning Roe v. Wade, Trump says, “you need a lot of Supreme Court justices, but we’re gonna be looking at that also very, very carefully,”

This week, Trump said that he would think about pick pro-choice former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown for his vice president. He has never said that he would ban all abortions except for his exceptions – he’s left vague how early he’d ban abortion.

Same-Sex Marriage. Trump says he’s anti-same sex marriage but that it’s the “law of the land.” In August, he said, “Some people have hopes of passing amendments, but it’s not going to happen. Congress can’t pass simple things, let alone that. So anybody that’s making that an issue is doing it for political reasons. The Supreme Court ruled on it.” In December 2014, he reportedly told gay activist George Takei that he’d gone to a same-sex wedding and found it “beautiful.” Trump did say that he didn’t think Kentucky court clerk Kim Davis should have been jailed.

Religious Freedom. Trump pledges to uphold religious freedom but has not commented on the Indiana Religious Freedom and Restoration Act or any other similar act protecting religious practice in the face of leftist non-discrimination laws designed to quash religious observance.

Entitlements. Unlike virtually all the other Republican candidates, Trump has said he wouldn’t touch entitlements. He says that any Republican attempts to touch these programs will end in electoral defeat. His website currently carries an article from The Daily Signal titled, “Why Trump Won’t Touch Your Entitlements.” He said then, “I’m not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican and I’m not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid. Every other Republican is going to cut, and even if they wouldn’t, they don’t know what to do because they don’t know where the money is. I do.” He bashed Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)56%
’s plans for entitlements for being “too far out front with the issue.” Trump has, however, said that certain parts of Social Security could be moved to private accounts – although he then says that he will save Social Security without cuts by discovering magical barrels of money: “I know where to get the money from. Nobody else does.”

Campaign Finance Reform. Trump is for it, and he routinely attacks super PACs. Just last week, he said, “I think you need it.” He added, “Somebody gives them money, not anything wrong, just psychologically when they go to that person, they’re going to do it. They owe them. And by the way, they may therefore vote negatively toward the country. That’s not going to happen with me.” Campaign finance reform places outsized influence in the hands of the government and unions and quashes free speech.

Government Involvement In The Economy. Trump accuses Ted Cruz of being a Wall Street insider because his wife works for Goldman Sachs. Trump himself supported Obama’s 2009 stimulus, TARP, and the 2008 auto bailout. He said in 2009, “I think [Obama’s] doing very well. You do need stimulus and you do have to keep the banks alive.” He’s admitted over and over to paying elected officials to grease the skids on his deals – although, in fairness, he says that’s just how you have to work to get business done. In 2009, he said that the government should cap executive pay. Trump supported the Supreme Court’s egregious Kelo v. New London (2005) decision, in which the court absurdly declared that the government could seize private property and turn it over to another private party so long as the second party paid additional taxes on it. Trump explained, “I happen to agree with [the decision] 100%.”

Education. Trump opposes Common Core but has flip-flopped on whether he’d do away with the Department of Education; he told the South Carolina Tea Party last year that he wouldn’t dump them completely. “Certainly you could cut [that] way down,” Trump said, but added that he’d keep it alive for “coordination,” as Conservative Review points out.

Healthcare. Trump says he’d dump Obamacare but then praises the nationalized health care system of Canada and Great Britain. In 1999 and 2000 he endorsed nationalized health care openly; in 2015, he praised Scotland’s plan while appearing with David Letterman. He has proposed dumping restrictions on health care portability but continues to pump up nationalized health care systems. In September he told Hannity:

As far as single-payer and all — there’s so many different things you could have. Honestly, Sean, to do, to have great health insurance. The one thing I do tell people, we’re going to have something great. We’re going to repeal and replace Obamacare, which is a total disaster.

Tax Plan. Trump’s tax plan is certainly conservative. He proposes lowering the top tax bracket to 25 percent, drops the capital gains tax to 20 percent, dumps the death tax, and drops the corporate rate to 15 percent. The Tax Foundation states:

Our analysis finds that the plan would reduce federal revenues by $11.98 trillion over the next decade. However, it also would improve incentives to work and invest, which could increase gross domestic product (GDP) by 11 percent over the long term. This increase in GDP would translate into 6.5 percent higher wages and 5.3 million new full-time equivalent jobs. After accounting for increased incomes due to these factors, the plan would only reduce tax revenues by $10.14 trillion.

That’s different from his past positions on taxes, which include fighting the flat tax and proposing a wealth tax that would force owners to liquidate their property to pay taxes every year.

Trade. Trump is for international tariffs, including an extraordinarily heavy tariff on Chinese goods, in the mistaken belief that this somehow helps the American economy. Tariffs certainly benefit protected sectors, but they hurt American consumers and destroy American purchasing power. Trump also wants to leave mandatory union dues alone – or at least he hasn’t commented differently on the issue for several years.

Guns. Trump has become progressively more pro-Second Amendment over time. His website states: “The Second Amendment to our Constitution is clear. The right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed upon. Period.”
==================================================================
Should Christians support Donald Trump?  No.
We have sifted through the most popular arguments in defense of Trump and listed them below along with our own take.  Here they are:
1. “Trump is a leader we can trust”
While we share much of the frustration over the failure of the GOP to make significant progress, we are reminded of Republicans’ once oft-quoted criticism of President Bill Clinton: character matters.
Donald J. Trump left his first wife and married his mistress, only to leave her a few years later for another mistress. Reportedly he left his second wife by leaking the news to a NY newspaper and left the headline on the bed for his wife to find. In his book, The Art of the Deal, Trump bragged about having sex with many women, including some who were married. He has appeared on the cover of Playboy Magazine with a model wearing only his tuxedo jacket. He has mocked the disability of a NY Times reporter. He belittled John McCain for being a prisoner of war. His casino in Atlantic City was the first in the country to open up a strip club. His Twitter account is a running barrage of insults, lies, and personal attacks on anyone who disagrees with him. And did we mention he famously cheats at golf? Now who does that remind you of?
Now ask yourself: does this man have the character becoming of the President of the United States?
2. “Trump can’t be bought because he is rich!”
Trump is a salesmen, and salesmen don’t buy, they sell. So he won’t be “bought.” Instead he will sell out everyone and anyone when it benefits him, as he has his entire career. He was a liberal democrat, pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, pro-universal health care, pro-government bailouts, and a financial backer and friend of Hillary Clinton until he decided to run as a Republican last summer. He is the definition of an opportunist with no guiding principles.
3. “Trump is a leader who will get things done”
Trump markets himself as an effective leader who will get things done simply by making “smart deals.” He refuses to explain precisely how he intends to deliver results, and more often than not, promises to use force or work around or outside the law. Such a leader mirrors what we currently see in the White House. It would be incredibly harmful to our system of government, which is limited by our Constitution — even if we like the policy outcome. We must be a nation of laws. For Trump, it is all about power. For a Christian, the presidency should be about service.
4. “Trump is a successful businessman who will make great deals”
If you believe the headlines, you would assume everything Donald Trump touches turns to gold.  Not so. Trump has only demonstrated an ability to make deals that benefit him personally. Four times he bailed on his own casinos to shield himself from their impending bankruptcies. And then there is Trump Magazine, Trump Airlines, Trump Steaks/Steakhouse, Trump Vodka, and most famously Trump University, to name only a few — all bankrupt or closed, and massive failures.  “Losers” as Trump is fond of saying.
He has constantly cozied up to big government to trample the little guy, either by abusing private property rights, or selling out small contractors and vendors, many of whom lost their life savings. Just ask elderly widow Vera Coking, whom Trump attempted to displace via eminent domain laws to make way for a limousine parking lot for his New Jersey casino — the same casino he put into bankruptcy. Vera stood tall against the politically-connected billionaire Trump for years in court, enduring his practice of belittling personal attacks. She eventually won and called Trump a “maggot, a cockroach, and a crumb.”
5. “Trump will end illegal immigration”
Trump has pledged to build a massive wall on our southern border and to make Mexico pay for it. Meanwhile he has promised to deport 11 million+ illegals, without explaining how, then plans to allow them all back in legally according to criteria he has yet to fully explain.  
We agree illegal immigration is a problem that must be solved. Trump’s solution is delusional, strikes us as xenophobic — and truthfully, will never happen. If anything, Trump’s demagoguery on immigration showcases the emptiness of many of his promises. As President Obama has learned, American presidents don’t dictate laws. The Senate and House would have to pass any change of this magnitude, and such a solution has little to no chance of being approved. Border security and immigration enforcement are realistic fixes. Rounding up 11 million+ people and sending them back to Mexico is not practical or realistic, let alone humane. Those who rightfully want to solve the problem of illegal immigration deserve more than crowd pleasing platitudes. And it’s certainly worth noting that Donald Trump criticized Mitt Romney for being too harsh on immigration back in 2012. This is just another issue where Donald Trump had a very recent and rather convenient conversion.
Several other presidential candidates have outlined more realistic policies to deal with problem. And that’s what real leaders do. They outline solutions and build consensus. Hyperbole and demagoguery are tools of salesmen (see above) out for your money or your vote. Trump’s lack of detail reminds us of another famous politician who proclaimed: “we have to pass the bill before you can see what’s in it.”
6. “Trump will fight the Establishment!”
This defense of Trump is somewhat rich, given the irony that Trump himself has boasted of playing the game, paying off politicians and enriching himself from the very system he now purports to reform. Case in point: in the past week a growing number of so-called “establishment Republicans” have warmed to supporting Trump, people like Bob Dole and Trent Lott — including establishment Republicans in Iowa like Gov. Terry Branstad. Why? Because they believe, rightly in our view, that Trump doesn’t have any principles at the end of the day. He’s someone who will wheel and deal — and you and I will be stuck with the bill.
Electing Donald Trump would send the pro-life movement back to the 1990s, when the Republican Party wanted to run away from defending the unborn. In fact, Trump recommended his own sister, Maryanne Trump Berry, for the Supreme Court. She’s the federal judge who overturned New Jersey’s ban on grisly partial-birth abortions. The next President may choose as many as three or more new justices. Trump’s suggestion of his pro-abortion sister as an example ought to worry anyone who cares about the Court. And let’s not forget he once said Oprah would make a great Vice President. Enough said.
7. “Trump is one of us”
Trump’s political conversions have all happened at very convenient times. As recently as 2000, Trump was firmly “pro-choice,” even refusing to oppose partial birth abortion! He was in favor of gay civil unions. He is open, even now, to subsidizing abortion giant Planned Parenthood with our tax dollars. He considers gay marriage a settled issue and has offered no plan to protect religious freedom. He is pro-universal health care, supported the stimulus package and government bailouts, supported gun control and a host of radical positions. Trump is like many Democrats we know. He is a political opportunist.
Conclusion
Trump is right about something — it is time for a change. We do need to shake things up and make America great again. And his awakening of working class voters who are often sidelined by terrible policy and poor leadership is a lesson every Republican must take seriously or they will lose in November.
But the power to change does not require a fear mongering business mogul, appealing to our worst fears instead of our best hopes.
With other good candidates in the race, we encourage our members to look beyond Trump.
This is an historic opportunity to win back the White House with someone we can be proud to have as President.
Iowa, New Hampshire… we’re looking to you to lead the way.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Amazing Article: Archbishop Chaput

The Southern Nebraska Register is honored to exclusively publish this column by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia. Archbishop Chaput submitted this column in continuance of Bishop Conley’s series on building a culture of life.

History is a useful teacher.
I was a seminarian in Washington, D.C. when Bobby Kennedy was running for the Democratic party’s 1968 presidential nomination.  I was also an active volunteer in Kennedy’s campaign. I can still remember helping with secretarial work in the same room where Edward Kennedy and Pierre Salinger labored away on the campaign’s strategy. It was my first involvement in elective politics, and, after the Vietnam Tet Offensive in February and Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder on April 4, Kennedy’s cause seemed urgent. Then, on June 5, Kennedy was gunned down himself.
After Robert Kennedy died, the meaning of the 1968 election seemed to evaporate. I lost interest in politics. I didn’t get involved again until the rise of Jimmy Carter. Carter fascinated me because he seemed like an untypical politician. He was plain spoken, honest, a serious Christian and a Washington outsider. So I supported him during his 1976 campaign when I was a young priest working in Pennsylvania. After his election as president, I went to Denver as a pastor in 1977. I eventually got involved with the 1980 Colorado campaign for Carter’s re-election on the invitation of a parishioner and Democratic party activist, Polly Baca, who was a good friend.
Carter had one serious strike against him. The U.S. Supreme Court had legalized abortion on demand in its 1973 Roe v. Wadedecision, and Carter the candidate waffled about restricting it. At the time, I knew Carter was wrong in his views about Roe and soft toward permissive abortion. But even as a priest, I justified working for him because he wasn’t aggressively “pro-choice.” True, he held a bad position on a vital issue, but I believed he was right on so many more of the “Catholic” issues than his opponent seemed to be. The moral calculus looked easy. I thought we could remedy the abortion problem after Carter was safely returned to office.
Carter lost his bid for re-election, but even with an avowedly prolife Ronald Reagan as president, the belligerence, dishonesty and inflexibility of the abortion lobby has stymied almost every effort to protect unborn human life since.
In the years after the Carter loss, I began to notice that very few of the people, including Catholics, who claimed to be “personally opposed” to abortion, really did anything about it. Nor did they intend to. For most, their personal opposition was little more than pious hand-wringing and a convenient excuse – exactly as it is today.
Why do I mention this now?  Back in 2008, a group called “Roman Catholics for Obama ’08” quoted my own published words in the following way:
So can a Catholic in good conscience vote for a pro-choice candidate? The answer is: I can’t, and I won’t. But I do know some serious Catholics – people whom I admire – who may. I think their reasoning is mistaken, but at least they sincerely struggle with the abortion issue, and it causes them real pain. And most important: They don’t keep quiet about it; they don’t give up; they keep lobbying their party and their representatives to change their pro-abortion views and protect the unborn. Catholics can vote for pro-choice candidates if they vote for them despite – not because of – their pro-choice views.

What’s interesting about this quotation, which is accurate but incomplete, is the wording that was left out. The very next sentences in the article of mine they selected, which Roman Catholics for Obama neglected to quote, run as follows:
But [Catholics who support pro-choice candidates] also need a compelling proportionate reason to justify it. What is a “proportionate” reason when it comes to the abortion issue? It’s the kind of reason we will be able to explain, with a clean heart, to the victims of abortion when we meet them face to face in the next life – which we most certainly will. If we’re confident that these victims will accept our motives as something more than an alibi, then we can proceed.

On their website, Roman Catholics for Obama stressed that:
After faithful thought and prayer, we have arrived at the conclusion that Senator Obama is the candidate whose views are most compatible with the Catholic outlook, and we will vote for him because of that – and because of his other outstanding qualities – despite our disagreements with him in specific areas.

I’m familiar with this reasoning. It sounds a lot like me 34 years ago. And 34 years later, we still have a million abortions a year. We also have the most aggressively abortion-friendly White House in history, a coercive HHS mandate and an administration that seems intent on bullying individuals and whole organizations into violating their religious and moral convictions.
Catholics – some naïve, some confused and a few frankly worse – helped to ensure that.
What’s the lesson? People who represent Catholic citizens like you and me, or seek to do so, need to offer more than pious talk about their “personal opposition” to killing unborn children when they ask for Catholic support.  They need a plan of action to restrict and eventually end that killing. And then they need to be held accountable. Because we’ve seen what happens when they’re not.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Will Chicago get a red hat before Los Angeles?

Congregation for Bishops not consulted, says Italian reporter
Cardinal McCarrick
Cardinal McCarrick
The following comes from a Sept. 30 story by Sandro Magister on La Chiesa, part of La Repubblicanewspaper website.
While still reeling from the news of the imminent removal of Cardinal Raymond Burke, the more conservative and traditional Catholicism of the United States – and historically the more “papist” – has been dealt another blow with the appointment of the new archbishop of Chicago.
Francis’ selection of Blase Cupich as the new pastor of the third-ranking diocese in the U.S. has plunged this particularly dynamic component of American Catholicism into a profound depression, almost to the edge of a nervous breakdown. It is enough to scan the reactions of the websites and bloggers of this area to grasp the embarrassment and disappointment over the appointment.
On the contrary, the more progressive segment of American Catholicism, historically hypercritical of the recent pontificates, has celebrated with enthusiasm the arrival of Cupich, called a “moderate” by the secular press, a description typically used in the United States to indicate a “liberal” who may not be radicalized, but is still a “liberal.”
Cupich’s predecessor, Cardinal Francis George, had written not long ago in a column for the diocesan newspaper:
“I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the Church has done so often in human history.”
George has always been highly critical of the secular tendency in the legislative field established under the presidency of Barack Obama, whom he has known well since he was a senator for Illinois. But it is difficult to imagine that his prophecy will come true, at least for his immediate successor.
In order to understand this, it is enough to peruse even briefly the ecclesiastical career of the new archbishop of Chicago.
Cupich, 65, is not originally from Chicago, like George, but from Omaha, in the outlying rural state of Nebraska.
His first episcopal see was Rapid City, where he succeeded the conservative Charles Chaput. And it was in this tiny diocese of South Dakota that in 2002 he became noteworthy for prohibiting a traditionalist Catholic community from celebrating the Easter Triduum according to the ancient Roman rite, which was later liberalized in 2007 by Benedict XVI with the motu proprio “Summorum Pontificum.”
Conservative Catholics also remember that during the clash between the bishops of the United States and the White House over health care reform, Cupich was one of the very few prelates, fewer than a dozen, who said not even one word against it, even though the criticism of Obamacare was not a position of some “extremist” bishops or “culture warriors,” as they are often called in a disparaging sense, but the official position of the episcopate.
After being made bishop of Spokane in 2010, the following year Cupich prohibited his priests and deacons from taking part in prayers in front of abortion clinics. A ban in stark contrast with the “mainstream” of the Church in the United States. The Rosary is in fact recited in front of these clinics in almost all the dioceses of the United States. And dozens of bishops participate in them, including, for example, the “moderate” cardinal of Washington, Donald Wuerl, and the current president of the episcopal conference, Louisville archbishop Joseph Kurtz.
Cupich’s voice – as noted both by conservative Catholics, with distress, and by progressives, with satisfaction – always rings out loud and clear when the talk is of immigration or the death penalty, but he seems to get laryngitis every time there is a discussion of abortion, euthanasia, and religious freedom, or criticism of the Obama administration over health care reform.
Significant in this regard is the fact that Cupich decided to expand the scope of the Respect Life office in the diocese of Spokane, to give the fight against the death penalty the same weight as the fight against abortion.
So Cupich seems to be bringing Chicago back to the heyday of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, George’s predecessor, a champion of “liberal” Catholicism in the United States and the creator of the mountainous bureaucratic machine of the episcopal conference, of which he was president from 1974 to 1977 and “dominus” until his death in 1996.
And the Bernardin era seems to be coming back thanks to a move of Pope Francis, who has taken by surprise and wrongfooted an episcopate, like that of the United States, today widely characterized by appointments made by John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
That it was a surprise can be noted from the fact that a few days before the appointment the newspaper Our Sunday Visitor, the most official of the American Catholic periodicals – its president is the journalist Greg Erlandson, a member of the commission for the reorganization of the Vatican media that met in Rome for the first time last week – in listing eight names of possible successors to Cardinal George did not present the one selected by pope Jorge Mario Bergoglio, that of Cupich.
The fact that the appointment wrongfooted the U.S. episcopate is evident from the results of the elections of the current president and vice-president of the episcopal conference that were held less than a year ago, in November of 2013.
At that electoral cycle, in fact, the ten candidates included Cupich. And his was considered by his colleagues the most distinctly “progressive,” ecclesiasticaly speaking, of the candidacies presented.
So then, at the first round of voting, which saw the immediate election as president of the outgoing vice-president, Archbishop Kurtz, with 125 votes out of 236, Cupich was back in seventh place with only 10 votes.
More ballots went to Houston cardinal Daniel DiNardo (25), Philadelphia archbishop Chaput (20), archbishop of Los Angeles José Gomez and of Baltimore William Lori (15 votes each), and New Orleans archbishop Gregory Aymond (14).
In the two rounds of voting for the vice-presidency, Cupich was far from being elected, coming in fifth (out of nine) both at the first round, with 24 votes out of 236, and at the second, with 17 votes out of 235.
For Chicago, then, Pope Francis did not take the outlook of the local episcopate into account, unlike for example what he did in Spain, where in Madrid he promoted Carlos Osoro Sierra, who as archbishop of Valencia was elected vice-president of the episcopal conference in the first round last March, with 46 votes out of 79.
Nor does it seem that the pope took account of the recommendations of Cardinal George, who is believed to have asked for a priest of his diocese as coadjutor. Unlike what happened in Sydney, where instead on September 18 Francis appointed the Dominican Anthony Colin Fisher, the protégé of the outgoing archbishop, conservative cardinal George Pell, whom the pope has called to Rome as the czar of the Vatican economic-financial apparatus.
There is only one point on which Francis used the same procedure in Chicago as he did in Madrid and Sydney. In all three cases he proceeded with the appointment without having it discussed first by the cardinals and bishops of the congregation for bishops, even though all of them were confirmed by him last year with significant new additions and just as significant removals (the most sensational of these being that of United States cardinal Burke).
For Chicago, it appears that Pope Francis proceeded with his own personal consultation, parallel to that of the dicastery. The appointment of Cupich is thought to have been recommended to the pope with particular enthusiasm by Cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga and above all by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop emeritus of Washington, a representative of the “liberal” old guard of the U.S. episcopate.
To tell the truth, it is nothing new in this pontificate for official appointments, even important ones, not to be discussed collegially by the appropriate Vatican congregation. With Benedict XVI there was no discussion over the staffing of Venice (but with Milan, Mechelen-Brussels, Santiago, and Manila there was). With this pontificate, however, procedure seems to be set aside much more frequently.
The congregation was in fact not consulted to examine not only the appointments of Chicago, Sydney, and Madrid, but also, in Germany, the selection of three names to be submitted according to tradition to the chapter of Cologne, as well as all of the appointments, about twenty, for Argentina.
In Italy – to give two examples – the congregation for bishops was not consulted to examine the successors for Locri and Isernia, where the promotions went to the vicars general of two churchmen in the pope’s good graces, respectively of the bishop of Cassano all’Ionio and secretary general of the episcopal conference, Nunzio Galantino, and of the archibishop of Chieti-Vasto and special secretary of the upcoming synod of bishops, Bruno Forte.
Returning to the United States, at this point it will be interesting to see what will happen at the upcoming consistory for the creation of new cardinals.
Currently there are three traditionally cardinalate U.S. dioceses led by an archbishop not yet with the scarlet: Chicago, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia.
It is easy to guess that Pope Francis will grant the biretta to that of Chicago, the only one of the three that he has nominated.
But it will be curious to see if at the same time the scarlet will go to the diocese of Los Angeles, whose ordinary is of the clergy of Opus Dei, or to that of Philadelphia (not both at once, because it seems unthinkable that pope Bergoglio would make three new U.S. cardinals in one fell swoop).
Or if instead, as a further signal sent across the Atlantic, Chicago’s scarlet will be bare. Without any trim.

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Bishop Flores Dies

I will miss Bishop Flores. He was a good friend, a good priest and a good bishop. May he rest in peace. ​

-Ar. Gomez

Monday, June 30, 2014

U.S. Supreme Court Rules in Favour of Hobby Lobby

U.S. Supreme Court Rules in Favour of Hobby Lobby
In 5-4 Decision, Court Says Family Businesses May Claim Religious Exemption from Mandate on Contraception Coverage
WASHINGTON, D.C., June 30, 2014 (Zenit.org) - Religious groups in the United States are celebrating a U.S. Supreme Court decision today which has ruled that closely held companies can claim a religious exemption from the requirement that they offer contraception coverage in their worker health plans.
The justices voted 5-4 in favour of family-run businesses, including the craft-store chain Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., saying that on religious grounds they do not have to mandate the free provision of contraception to their employees, according to Bloomberg News.
The court majority concluded that the Obama administration failed to prove that the so-called HHS mandate is the least restrictive means of advancing its interest in guaranteeing the provision of free access to contraception in health insurance plans.
It also said the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act requires that closely held companies receive the same accommodation the administration has already granted to nonprofit organizations that object to the mandate on religious grounds.
The ruling is a significant advance in the expansion of corporate rights, showing that for-profit companies as well as individuals can claim religious freedoms under federal law.
Safeguarding the religious rights of corporations “protects the religious liberty of the humans who own and control those companies,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the court.
Bloomberg News said the case divided the court along ideological lines. Alito’s majority opinion was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Anthony Kennedy. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented.
The case centered on the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which says the U.S. government may “substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion” only when it meets a demanding test.
The Obama administration argued that the law doesn’t cover corporations and that the government’s interests outweighed any religious rights the corporations possess.
Responding to today’s decision, Human Life International President Father Shenan J. Boquet said the full implications of this decision are not yet known, but this appears to be “at least some good news in the fight for religious freedom.”
"What many found deeply disturbing about this case was not only the assault on religious freedom, but the manipulation of scientific facts in order to support a radical political agenda promoting abortion,” he said in a statement.
"There's scientific consensus that when sperm meets egg and fertilization occurs, a new human life begins. Yet we see our own government and pro-abortion lobbyist groups like American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) play games with the words 'fertilization,' 'conception,' 'pregnancy,' and even 'abortion' to make it seem as though the drugs and devices in question in the Hobby Lobby case don't kill innocent human life-when it's scientific fact that they can, and do destroy new life in the womb.”
Fr. Boquet said not only does the “HHS contraception/sterilization/abortifacient mandate seek to undermine our God-given freedom to practice our faith, the mandate furthers U.S. government support for the greatest human rights abuse in history, using taxpayer dollars to kill preborn human life.
"There's no doubt that legal action will continue on this mandate, and the many other troubling provisions of Obamacare,” Fr. Boquet said. “The American people must make clear to our elected representatives that we will not allow our religious liberty to be violated by our own government, especially in pursuit of an immoral agenda that furthers the erosion of human rights, and ends human lives."

Saturday, May 24, 2014

US CATHOLIC HISTORY (1865-Present)

My Semester II Work: 
US CATHOLIC HISTORY: SEMESTER II EXAM
Taught by:   Fr. Francis Gloudeman, O’ Praem
Why Study US Catholic History?
So that the Catholic Faith may be better known, loved, and lived in the United States and beyond.  
How, Who, and What we study?
We study not as antagonistic or non Catholics in a secular viewpoint, but as Catholics using Faith and Reason.  
We study Catholic People, canonized saints, and un-canonized Catholics, including native Americans and settlers.
We study the life of American Catholicism in seven different American periods. During the Second Semester we discussed three of these periods, the Industrial, the Cosmopolitan, and the Contemporary.    
-The Industrial Period (1865-1921)-
Liberals and Conservatives
The words “Liberalism and Conservatism” have three definitions: THE IDEAL DEFINITION, THE INDUSTRIAL DEFINITION, AND THE MODERN DEFINITION.  


Ideal Definition: Liberalism strives for progress and growth, and trying for the better, while Conservatism keeps the good, tried and tested methods for preserving society, while focusing on the good of the past.


The Modern Definition:  Liberalism sees Conservatism as judgmental, ridged, merciless, spiritless, acting in blind obedience, and dwelling too much on the past, while Conservatism sees Liberalism as disobedient, abusive, lacking morals, and traditionally, theologically and liturgically impaired.      

The Industrial Definition:  The Catholic Industrial Definition differences on a shift on emphasis.  
Here are some primary examples:  
Liberals were pro: action, the here and now, on earth, public schools, separation of church and state, unity, “out of the pews into the streets, bringing redemption abroad”, “Take culture in”, “Take people where they are, give the Faith slowly”, “Flow the Holy Spirit within”, the active virtues (such as feeding the poor, charitable deeds, etc), the natural virtues (purity, justice, kindness), Labor Unions, linked to workers
Conservatives were pro: Contemplation ,hoping for Heaven, Baltimore Councils to the letter, parish schools, unity of church and state, patience, “support parish life and community”, Labor Unions are bad because they are associated with Masonic Groups condemned by the Church, ethnicity (national churches), be cautious about the new, “Don’t hide the truth” “Put all your cards out there”, “Follow external authority”, passive virtues (obedience, submission), supernatural virtues (Faith Hope Charity)
3 Archbishops
Archbishop John Ireland (Liberal)
  • Archbishop of Saint Paul, MN
  • Built Saint Thomas College and Saint Paul Seminary
  • Built Saint Paul Cathedral
  • Built Pro-Cathedral of Saint Mary in Minneapolis
  • He swayed the Pope not to excommunicate Father Macglin, who was from New York, and was considered a socialist
  • Was a fan of Public Schools
  • Unsupportive of National Parishes
  • Friend of Cardinal James Gibbons (Baltimore)
  • Friends with The First Rector of the Pontifical North American College, Rome
  • Friends with the first president of C.U.A., Father Keen
  • Friends with Mother Seraphine, the Superioress of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Corondele
Cardinal James Gibbons (Liberal)
  • Second American Cardinal after Cardinal John McCklosky of NY
  • The Face of American Catholicism for over 100 years
  • Wrote a book on the Faith. “Faith of Our Fathers”
  • Archbishop of Baltimore
  • The U.S. Capitol building closed to honor his 50th Priesthood Anniversary
  • He got C.U.A off the ground


Archbishop Michael Corrigan (Conservative)
  • Archbishop of New York, surprisingly not a cardinal unlike his predecessor
  • Big on planning, organization and bureaucracy
  • Prepared for Plenary councils of Baltimore
  • Visit4ed every parish in his diocese
  • Friendly towards nationalism
  • Against secret societies
  • Invited the Scalibrians (Saint Peter’s Italian CC in LA) AND Mother Cabrini to USA
  • Opened 99 parishes
  • Invited 24 religious communities
  • Built Saint Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoody, NY


The Baltimore Councils and the Baltimore Catechism
What is a Council?
  1. Definition: A Council is a legally convened assembly of ecclesiastical dignitaries, gathered for the purpose of discussing and regulating matters of Church doctrine and discipline.  
  2. What is the difference between a Synod and Council? From Trent until after Vatican II Synod and Councils were used interchangeably, but now the distinction is that Synods are more on advisory, while councils are more on putting out decrees.  
  3. Kinds of Councils and Synods:
  • Ecumenical Councils (Convened by the Pope)
  • General Synods (Advise the Pope-Synod of Bishops)
  • Plenary Councils (USCCB)
  • Provincial Council (Metropolitan Archdiocese)
  • Diocesan Synod (Local bishop/priests/ experts of his diocese)
D.  There were 10 councils in Baltimore during a 50 year period:
The Seven Provincial Councils: 1829-1849
The Three Plenary Councils: 1852,1866, 1884
What: The Baltimore Councils were a series of ecclesiastical councils held throughout the 1800’s, and served as opportunities for US Bishops to discuss and deal with pastoral concerns in the US Church.  
Who: The Presider of the provincial councils was always the Archbishop of Baltimore as it was the only Archdiocese of the country with a Metropolitan Province for 80 years.  After 1850 when there were more US Archdioceses, it became a Plenary Council, but it was still presided by the Archbishop of Baltimore. The the bishops of the US as well as invited prelates, and priests participated.
Where: It was always held in the Cathedral of Baltimore, Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral Basilica.  To this day, the annual plenary assembles of USCCB is held in Baltimore.    
Why: The idea was originally conceived by Bishop John England, who wanted to promote unity and harmony between the US hierarchy, and it was also planned by Archbishop John Carroll, but it was interrupted by the War of 1812, and thus never came about until 1829.  It also was initiated to organize and discipline the US Church.    
Provincial Councils (1829-1849):  
Selected Main Decrees:
  1. Trusteeism should be resisted by ensuring that new churches are established in the bishop’s name.
  2. Priests should remain in their dioceses.
  3. The Douey-Rhiems version of the Bible should become standard.
  4. Registering of Baptisms, Confirmations and Marriages should be made uniform.
  5. A UNIFORM CATHECHISM SHOULD BE INSTITUTED
  6. Catholic Schools should be established to teach Faith to all Catholic Children
  7. Faithful must support their parish
  8. Pastors shouldn’t use inappropriate music at Mass
  9. Endorse Patriotism
  10. Membership in Secret Societies was forbidden
  11. Catholics who attempt marriage after divorce is excommunicated
  12. Confessionals should be in each church
  13. Immaculate Conception chosen as US Patroness
  14. The Immaculate Conception should be defined by the Pope

The Three Plenary Councils (1852-1884)
In 1852 there were six Archdioceses in the United States: The Archdioceses of Baltimore, Saint Louis, New York, Cincinnati, Oregon, and New Orleans
After these raisings of these archdioceses, Plenary Councils were held for all the metropolitan provinces.
Selected Main Issues (Not Decrees):
  1. Confronting Problems in the growth of the US Church
  2. Catholic involvement in the Reconstruction after the Civil War
  3. Immigration
  4. Anti-Catholicism
  5. Hope of the initiation of Vatican I and spirit of Pope Leo XIII  
Selected Main Decrees:
  1. The Pope is the head of the Church (Argument used to combat Americanism)
  2. Establishment of the Chancery Office
  3. Parochial Schools should be initiated
  4. Uniformity in Liturgy
  5. Secret Societies were condemned
The Baltimore Catechism
What is a Catechism? : A Catechism is a concise summary of Catholic teaching as described in four parts, Belief (the Creed), Worship (Sacraments), Morals (10 Commandments), and Prayer (Our Father).
-There are two types of Catechism, Local (Baltimore, Belarmine, Canissium) and Universal (CCC, Roman Catechism)
The History of Catechism:
  1. 1529: Martin Luther writes a Lutheran Catechism
  2. 1566 Roman Catechism from the Council of Trent (Focus on the Sacraments)
  3. 1885 the Baltimore Catechism, which was revised in 1941 and 1949
  4. 1992 The Catechism of the Catholic Church after Vatican II (Focus of Ecclesiology)
Basics of the Baltimore Catechism:
  1. Used to Unify US Catechicatics
  2. Standard for US immigrants
  3. The Baltimore Catechism was sought to be in tune with Vatican I
  4. Production began after the Third Provincial Council in 1884
  5. It is built upon Q and A format
  6. Main Writers were Bishop Spalding (Peoria, IL) and Msgr. Concilico (Jersey City, NJ)
  7. Imprimatur given in 1885
  8. Continuous revision from 1885-1941
  9. Remained in use until after Vatican II
  10. Three versions were made (1st communion, Elementary, and High School) The main audience in Jr.High
Saints Katherine Drexel and Francis Xavier Cabrini
Saint Katherine Drexel (1858-1955):
  • “Called Million Dollar Nun”
  • Born to very wealthy businessman Francis Drexel in Philidelphia, and her mother died soon after she was born
  • Francis Drexel remarried and raised Katharine and her sister in the Faith, but here step mother died soon, as well as her father who died in 1901.
  • Drexel Heights today in Arizona is named for her Father
  • Katharine’s sister died, and she inherited all of the family inheritance which was close to $250 million in today’s money
  • She wanted to be missionary, but Pope Leo XIII told her to minister to the blacks and Indians of Wyoming and the West.  
  • She entered the Sister of Mercy
  • 2 years later she founded her own community called “The Sister of the Blessed Sacrament” to minister to blacks and Indians She opened her headquarters near Philadelphia
  • The order opened 65 schools
  • In addition to the Evangelical Counsels, she added a fourth vow: “To be a mother and servant of the Indians and Negro Peoples”
  • Befriended and listened to advice from Mother Cabrini
  • She founded Xavier University the first US Catholic Academic Institution for blacks
  • 1935 Suffered a heart attack and lived for 20 years as a contemplative in ded
  • Died in March 3rd 1955, at age 95, and was canonized in 2000 by JP2
  • Major project: Xavier university

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850-1917):
  • Francesca was born in Lombary, IT, the youngest of three children and weak and frail
  • At age 13 she heard a sermon from a missionary to China which inspired her to seek a missionary vocation.
  • After working for six years in charity, she was asked by the local ordinary to start a religious community
  • She began “The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart” and took the name “Frances Xavier, for she wished to be a missionary to Asia.
  • When in Rome seeking a mandate for her order, Pope Leo XIII who asked her to take her order to the USA, instead of Asia to minister to Italian immigrants, first in New York under Archbishop Michael Corrigan
  • Despite her hydrophobia she crossed the Atlantic numerous time
  • Eventually houses of her Order were established in 8 US cities as well and Central and South America.  
  • Known as a “shrewd business woman”
  • In 1909 she became a US Citizen
  • She founded schools, clinics, and charitable institutions
  • Worked in CA, CO, IL, LA, SY, NJ, PN, WA
  • Died at 67 at Columbus Hospital in Chicago, IL
  • She was canonized the first American Saint and citizen by Pope Pius XII, and later declared “Patroness of Immigrants” in 1950
  • Major Project: Columbus Hospital
The Saints of Molokai and Father Edward Flanagan
Saint Damien of Molakai
  • Feast: May 10th
  • Born: 1840 in Belgium
  • Died: 1889 in Molokai
  • Canonized 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI
  • Patron: Lepers, AIDS, HIVS, Outcasts, State of Hawaii
Early Life:
  • Born Joseph De Veustur as a farm boy in Belgium as a 7th child
  • He attended college in Belgium and then joined the SSCC and took the name Damien, named after Saint Damienus (and his brother Cosmos), early Christian martyr, who were Physicians and are in the Roman Canon
  • He sought missionary, praying to Saint Francis Xavier
  • His brother, Fahter Augistine De Vestur, SSCC, was chosen to go to the missions, but because of his health could not go.  Thus Damien took his place and was sent to Hawaii.  
The Hawaiian Missions
  • He landed on Saint Joseph’s Day (March 19th), 1864 in Honolulu, HI
  • He was ordained at priest at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace of the Diocese of Honolulu
  • Along with other priest, he volunteered to be sent to the leper colony on  the island of Molokai, to the lepers who had been sent there per order of the government of Hawaii “the Act to Prevent the Spread of Leprosy” but he alone was chosen to minister to the peoples there.  Although this was virtually a death sentence
  • From 1866-1960 there were 8000 lepers
  • Sources say that by 1968 “The good-natured, easy-going people, soon resorted to drunkenness and immorality”
  • Founded the parish of Saint Philomena in the island and acted a a grave digger, medic, builder, teacher, farmer, and coffin-maker
  • He was well loved by the lepers and volunteered to stay there
  • His confessions stories….
Illness/Death and Legacy
  • In 1884 he contracted leprosy (“We lepers…..”) (How he realized it…..)
  • He continued working in Molokai for four years
  • Four people eventually came to help him: Saint Marianne Cope, a priest to help him, a construction-man, and a nurse
  • After his holy death, his body was sent to Belgium
  • After his death he received a high honor by the King of Hawaii
  • Protestants even helped donate to his cause, although some Congregationalist crtized him
  • Robert Louis Stevenson, Gandhi, and even Barack Obama have admired and defended his work.
  • Along with Marianne Cope, he is venerated in the Episcopalian Communion
  • The Colony of Lepers is now a US Historic Site under the National Park Service
  • Many films and books have been based on him
  • Called by some as “The Greatest Belgian”
  • SAINT MARIANNE COPE WAS BORN IN GERMANY AND DIED IN HAWAII.  SHE IWAS CONONIZED IN 2012 BY POPE BENEDICT XVI.  SHE BELONGED TO THE SISTER OF SAINT FRANCIS AND IS THE PATRON OF THE SAME THINGS AS SAINT DAMIEN.  SHE WAS THE FIRST PERSON BEATIFIED BY POPE BENEDICT XVI, AND THE LAST CANONZIED BY HIM.  


Servant of God Monsignor Edward Flanagan
  • He was born in Ireland in 1886 to a herdsman family
  • He was very bright and attended Summerhill College in Ireland, and after coming the US and becoming a citizen, attended Mount Saint Mary University in Emmetsburg, MY, as well as Saint Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoody, NY , Gregorian University, Innsburk College, Austria
  • 1917 He founded an orphanage for boys in Omaha, NE
  • A few years later he founded Boys Town, NE 10 miles west of Omaha
  • Boys Town was a large community with its own, Chapel, school, mayor, post office, gym, and trade school.  
  • He was named a Monsignor by Pope Pius XI
  • Became an advocate of child’s welfare, travelling to Japan and Korea after WWII to help in situations there.
  • He died of a heart attack in Berlin in 1948
  • He is buried in Boys Town, ne
  • He was honored on the Four-cent stamp, and was placed in the NE Hall of Fame
  • Boys Town has satilite locations in CA, NV, TX, IW, LA, IL, DC, NY, and throughout New England
  • In 1972, the institution went from Orphanage style to family-care system
  • In 1974 Boys and girls were admitted to Boys Town, and girls now make up 40% of the population.
  • Two films, “Boys Town” and “Men of Boys Town” have been made after this place
  • It is a Us National Historic Landmark
  • Today the city of Boys Town, NE had 745 residents
  • The Archbishop of Omaha opened the cause of canonization of Father Flanagan, and he is now a Servant of God.  

The Order of the Knights of Columbus
I. Definition /Reasons for Existence and Introduction
The Order of the Knights of Columbus is a society of Catholic men that embrace four principles: charity, patriotism, unity, and fraternity, that support member’s families and other marginalized or needy peoples.  
  1. To provide financial assistance to members’ families through life insurance
  2. To promote education
  3. To promote charitable, social and religious welfare by forming a fraternal society for the purpose of assisting their Church, Country, and Families though their Catholic identity and Faith, and by following the ideal of Christopher Columbus, who first brought Christianity to the new world.    
There are four different kinds of orders in the Church:
  • Holy Orders (Deacon, Priest, Bishop)
  • A Religious Order such as those who take the vows of the evangelical counsels. (the Norbertines, Benedictines, Carmelites)
  • Military Orders such as the Knights of Malta of Knights of the Holy Seplecure
  • Lay Orders: There are two kinds of Lay Orders: 1. A secular or ‘third order’ branch of a religious community (OCDS, Lay Norbertines), which are people who do not make vows but aspire to live in closer communion to a communities charism.  2. Lay groups such as the Knights of Columbus
Why Knights? The name Knights was chosen to show the order’s concern for the helpless and to model after the medieval knights from Europe who were ideally chivalrous, chaste, courageous and gentle, who strove to “defend the defenseless” .
Why Columbus? The name “Columbus” is to show the order’s connection to Christopher Columbus, to proprietor of American Catholicism, as well as to combat anti-Catholicism to show anti-Catholics that America would not be without the Catholics.  
II. Founder
Early Life:
  • Michael McGivney was born in Waterbury, CT IN 1852 to an Irish working class family.  His father worked at a Brass Mill, and he was the eldest of 13 children, six of whom died in childhood.  
  • He found his vocation at an early age and began attending minor seminary at 16, at the College of Saint Hyacinth in Quebec, Canada,
  • He then entered the Our Lady of the Angles Seminary at Niagara University, before being transferred to Saint Mary’s College in Montreal
  • In 1873, his father died, and because women’ wages were half of that of men’s, Michael was needed to return to his home, as his family could no longer afford to send him to seminary.  
  • But Bishop McFarland of the Diocese of Hartford offered to pay for the boy’s education and thus continued his schooling at Saint Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore.  
  • In 1877 he was ordained in Baltimore by Cardinal James Gibbons.  
  • He returned to his hometown to celebrate Mass a few days later.     
Priesthood:
  • He was given work at prishes and in jail/youth/labor ministries
  • He began to realize the working men needed a society to aid their families, much like a “secret society” except not anti-Catholic.  (Secret Societies provided insurance for worker’s families is the member got hurt on the job, but they were condemned by the Pope, and those who participated in a society such as the Masons, even for family insurance, were automatically excommunicated).
  • The First Council was called the San Salvador “Holy Redeemer” Council after the island where Christopher Columbus landed first in the New World.  
  • With permission he founded the Order of the Knights of Columbus on October 2, 1881 at a basement in a debt-ridden parish, called Saint Mary’s.  
  • By February the Oder began appearing in local newspapers, and Father McGivney began travelling around Connecticut spreading the Order.  
  • Even as the Order grew and he became the Supreme Chaplain, he remained very much as people-oriented, zealous pastor.  
  • After his death his two younger brothers, who were also priests, became the next two Supreme Chaplains.  
Death
  • Because of over-working, he developed pneumonia, on top of his already fragile health in Jan. 1890.
  • He died that summer after 13 years as a priesnt at 38 years old
  • His cause for canonization was opened in 2000, and he is currently a venerable, but there is a miracle awaiting approval from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, of a person healed in the Philippines in 2014.
III. Legacy
  • After Father McGivney’s death, the Order began implementing the “Commission of Religious Prejudices” and began donating hospital beds, medicines, and insurances for the destitute.
  • In 1917 for WWI Vets, the Knights sponsored recreational opportunities for returning solders, spending a total of $53 Million.   
  • They began fighting against Communism on radio programs.
  • During the Great Depresion, the prvoded services for the needy
  • In WWII, they supported the war-effort and provided scholarships to veteran’s children.  (They continue to provide sch0olarships for member’s children for college and they also help to pay off debts and to pay seminary expenses for aspiring seminarians)
  • In the 40’s, they began the “Columbian Squires” for boys.   
  • During the turmoil of the Vatican II aftermath, they remained Faithful to the Holy See, and Saint John Paul II called them “the strong right arm of the Church”
  • Their magazine ‘Columbia” is the most read Catholic magazine in the USA.  
IV. Today and Statistics
  • Supreme Grand Knight: Carl Anderson
  • Supreme Chaplain: Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore
  • Members as of 2014: 1.6 Million+
  • Members in the United States: 1.4 Million
  • Councils: 12,000 across the globe
  • Between 2000-2010, they donated over $1 Billion to charities
  • They are active in the pro-life movement
  • The funded the restoration of Saint Peter’s Basilica
  • They funded in the 1950’s the Bell Tower of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  “Columbia Tower”
  • They have helped in Haiti, Katrina, and Newtown, 9/11
  • Continue to provide life insurance
V. Famous Members
  • Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley of Boston
  • Cardinal William Leveda (Prefect-Emeritus of CDF)
  • Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore
  • Governor Jeb Bush (Convert and broth of President George Bush)
  • Coach Vincent Lombardy of the Green Bay Packers
  • Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees
  • President John F. Kennedy
  • Super-Liberal Senator Ted Kennedy
Father Leonard Feeney and the Feeneyites
Priesthood and Life:
  • Leonard Feeney was born in 1897 in Lynn, MA
  • He entered the Jesuits in 1914
  • He was an intellectual and attended Oxford University and Weston College in England
  • He was ordained in 1928
  • He very quickly became an inspiring and attractive writer and speaker
  • Known as a poet and became president of the American Poetry Society, as well as the editor of the American (Jesuit) Magazine
  • In 1940 he was given a teaching position at Boston College and became a student chaplain to a youth group which included young Avery Dulles
  • Together with students on campus he founded the Saint Benedict Center
  • His popularity became even more famous as he soon befriended Cardinal Richard Cushing, JFK, and Robert Kennedy.
Heresy:
  • He spoke once to a Protestant minister who confessed to his face that the Catholic Church was the true church, but for various reason, refused to enter thre Church.  This discussion got Father Feeney thinking more rigidly of the Church doctrine “Extram Ecclesiam Nulla Salvus”, and soon believed that NO ONE except baptized WITH ONLY WATER IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH could be saved. All else were bound for Hell.  
  • This heretical view caused his suspension from the Jesuits in 1949
  • It soon became known as the “Boston Heresy”
  • After receiving ecclesiastical censure, he was summoned to Rome by Pope Pius XII to clarification on the matter.  
  • He refused, and was excommunicated under grave disobedience to the Pope.  
  • With Catherine Clarke he founded a schismatic group for men and women religious called the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Still River, MA.  
  • The Order’s initials are MICM: M (Mancipia-Slaves), I (Immaculatae-Immaculate), C (Cor-Heart), M (Maria-Mary)
  • He later became anti-semetic and endorsed Hitler.  
Restoration?:
  • In 1972, the excommunication was lifted by Pope Paul VI and most of his followers, but they never recanted their belief.  
  • Feeney died in 1978 and upon his grave it reads “Extram Eccleicam Nulla Salvus”  


Two Interpetations of ‘Extram Ecclesiam Nulla Salvus’:
There are two interpretations of this doctrine-the True one and the heretical (Feeney) one
  1. True: No salvation is found outside the Church to those, who know the truths of the Catholic Faith and are properly exposed to them, refuse to believe in them.  Thus “Extram Ecclesicam Nulla Salvus”.  Also, Baptism of Water, Blood and Desire are all approved means of salvation.  This is state in the CCC and Lumen Gentium, as well as some of this in the Council of Trent and the Roman Catechism.   Thus an idian on Bornea, who follow his conscience to the best o his abilities, without ever hearing the Gospel, may be saved.  
  2. Heretical: Taking “Extram Ecclesia Nulla Saluvus” to the letter.  No one, except those baptized with water in the Catholic Church, may be saved.  


The Americanism Heresy
Definition and Summary of Belief
Americanism is a list of errs condemned in an apostolic letter by Pope Leo XXIII, written in 1899 addressed to Cardinal Gibbons.
Americanism is the belief that Catholicism should be adapted as much as possible externally to the modern cultural ideas and value of American, even though such cultural traditions were at times contrary to Church Teaching.  
Supported:
  • Sociopolitical Values
  • Democracy
  • Humanitarian Work
  • Separation of Church and State
  • Relaxation of requirements of the Church for converts
  • Relaxation of liturgical rubrics
Many bishops including Archbishop John Ireland sought to support these ideals, while other American bishops opposed such accommodations and sought to preserve Faith and Society against social trends.  
List of Major Errors
  1. Americanism sought to water down the Faith, belittle or wipeout Church teaching, thinking that these actions will help more people come into the Church.  Thus their goal of more converts was good, but their dissenting means was flawed.  This was the main err of Americanism: the others follow it-
  2. Religious Life is a hindrance to Religious Liberty.  The active life is far superior to the contemplative one. -----How to refute this?  Mary and Martha!  Who had chosen the better part?  Mary, who CONTEMPLATED AND LISTENED TO Christ’s words!  Also Saint Paul reminds us of this when he says “pray without ceasing…”Although the active life is important, the contemplative life is higher.  
  3. Active and Passive Virtues- Active Virtues are higher:  According to Saint Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica, no virtue is passive!  By its origin (strengthen, courage), virtue is an active thing.  It is an ACT of the Will!  Americanists of this time criticized what they saw as “passive virtues” such as submission, obedience and meekness.  
  4. The Natural Virtues are above the Supernatural Ones. --- They believed that the Natural Virtues such as chastity, industriousness, truth, and patience were above the Supernatural Virtues such as Faith, Hope, Love, and Mercy.  
  5. In order to Evangelize we need a Protestant Liturgy. --- Pope Leo XIII wrote “It is err to abandon the ancient method of defending the Faith” What these old methods? A life of Virtue!  A True Liturgy! Prayer!  
  6. The Church is the United States is different from the Church Universal----Americanists thought the the US Church was: more democratic, less hierarchical, separated from the Pope, contained different doctrine and worship.   
The History of and the Combating of Americanism
  • Father Isaac Hecker wrote a series of books which were sent to France after the French Revolution, which fell into the hands of the Monarchists (who opposed democracy and supported aristocracy) and the Progressives (who supported Democracy and Church Rights).  
  • The Progressives invited Archbishop Ireland to preach on Father Hecker’s books, but his talk stirred controversy, as it was seen to contain heretical teaching.  
  • The Monarchists combated this ideology, which became known as Americansm, by attacking Father Hecker and calling him as dissenter.   Thus began the so called “War of the Pamphlets”   Pope Leo XIII later stated the Father Hecker’s book (as interpresated by the Progessives) was wrong, and that this false teaching must not reach America.
  • Pope Leo XIII wrote the first Apostolic Letter to the United States in 1899 called “Testem Benevelincium” (Witness to Truth), in which he first affimed the Faith of the people, and then clarifys, corrects and then cautions against errs.  This letter was sent to Cardinal James Gibbons, and he, along with other liberals were surprised at the apperence of such a letter and assured the Holy Father that none of these practices were going on in the USA.  Conservatives on the other hand, were very happy because of this chastising letter. After this letter, Americanism died off.    
  • Thus Americanism is also known as Heckerism, because of the Progressive French’s interpretation of his book.  
Cardinal Francis Spellman and Cardinal Richard Cushing
Francis Cardinal Spellman
Early Years:
  • Francis was born in 1889 in Whitman, MA
  • He was bright boy and studied at Fordham College and later the North American College in Rome, earning a doctorate in Theology.  .  
  • Despite an illness in his college years he worked at Propaganda Fide in Rome
Preisthood:
  • He was ordained in 196 in Rome and sent to Boston as a parish priest for 2 years.  
  • He soon became the Vie-Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Boston
  • After that high title he became a secretary to the newly formed Vatican  City State, and was named a Monsignor by Pope Pius XI.  
  • While in Rome he made very powerful friends such as Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, the later Pius XII.  
  • Monsignor Spellman was given the secret job of smuggling Pius XI’s encyclical condemning socialism from Mussolini-Controlled Italy to Paris for global distribution.  
Bishop and Cardinal:
  • He was soon named the Auxiliary Bishop of Boston and was consecrated a bishop in Rome by Cardinal Pacelli.  
  • It was no surprise when the Pope named him Archbishop of New York in 1939, and later the Vicariate of the Military Services (This was before the Archdiocese of Military Services USA as ordered by JP2 IN 1984.  He was the spiritual father of 2 millions solders and visited them around the world for 24 years.)
  • He was made a Cardinal in 1946, and became the most powerful Catholic leader in the United States since Cardinal Gibbons, fifty years before.  
  • He had great fiscal and building abilities as was nicknamed “The Powerhouse”, “Cardinal Moneybags”
  • He was a friend of FDR, and was used as a personal embassy to foreign countries by him, as well as his personal confident.  
  • He spoke out against Communism
  • He wanted the US Government to fund Catholic Schools, and had disagreements with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who refused to fund him.   
  • He diputed with JFK in this same issue, and thus publically endorsed Nixon for president.  
  • He helped elect Saint John XXIII (Angelo Cardinal Roncalli) and Paul VI (Giuseppe Montini) as well as a participant in Vatican II.
  • He consecrated the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in DC in the 50’s.  
  • Along with Cardinal McIntyre of Los Angeles, Cardinal Spellman strongly opposed the Liturgical Changes of Vatican II.  
  • He endorsed Lyndon B. Johnson for president and supported the Vietnam War as a just war to stop Communism.  
  • He and Archbishop Sheen were once friends but because of a public incident they were silent opponents…The issue was that Sheen, when he was in charge of Propaganda Fide in New York, received a large donation of powdered milk from the US Government, but Spellman wanted the money from Sheen.  Sheen replied that their was none, for it was a gift.  Nonetheless, Spellman heavily criticized Sheen, even going to Pope Paul VI to side with him.  Paul VI however sided with Sheen, and to let the incited cool off moved Sheen out of New York.   
  • He submitted his resignation in 1966, but requested to stay longer as bishop.  
  • He spoke out against discrimination
  • He died at 76 years old as one of the greatest American Catholics.  
  • The President LBJ, V.P. Hugh Humphrey, Robert Kennedy, Gov. Rockefeller and 100+ bishops attended his funeral at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in NY.  
  • His Episcopal Motto was: “Follow God”  
  • Known as Ambitious and self-centered---using people for what he could get out of it.  


Richard Cardinal Cushing
Early Life:
  • Richard was born in S. Boston in 1895
  • He was an Honors student in Latin and Greek
  • He attended Boston College and later Saint John’s Seminary in Boston  
Priesthood:
  • He was ordained in 1921, and assigned to Proganda Fide
  • He served also in the Archdiocesan Chancery Office
  • His main job was to raise $ for missions and poor
Bishop and Cardinal:
  • In 1939 he was consecrated the Auxiliary Bishop of Boston, replacing Bishop Spellman who went to NY.  
  • Was apostolic administrator of Boston after the death of Cardinal O’Connell  
  • Archbishop of Boston in 1944
  • He was made a Cardinal by John 23
  • He was known as affectionate, affable, and outgoing.  
  • He was a TV/Radio pioneer
  • He was influential in Politics
  • He had a very close relationship with JFK and presided at his funeral and invocation Mass .
  • He was an out-spoken anti-communist
  • He was too optimistic, opening too many dioceasen facilities, emassing in huge sums of debt.  
  • He cared for the sick and crippled and mentally ill, leading a 100 person pilgrimage with such people to Lourdes once.  
  • His main goals were: improvements in Jewish/Protestent Realationships, unity between the rich and poor, a builder and fundraiser
  • His major weakness was over expansion and a bit of liberalism.  
  • He married JFK and Jaquilene Kennedy
  • He also was chastised by the Vatican for causing public scandal by marrying Jacquie Kennedy to a divorced-Orthodox man.  
  • He was a major author of Nostre Aetata, the Vatican II Document on the Jews
  • He was very Pro-Jew
  • He was very ecumenical and encourage Catholics to attended Billy’s Graham’s Talks.
  • He was VERY Pro-Mission
  • He would take nuns to Red Sox games
  • Liked Vatican II
  • His motto was “That all may know Thee”
  • He was known to accept people for who they were and loved all people
Father Solanus Casey and Father Paul Watson
Father Solanus Casey
He is known as the “Wonder Worker” He is the First US Man declared Venerable
  • Born Bernard Casey “Barney” in Oak Grove, WI of 16 children
  • At age eight he got diphtheria, leaving his voice permanently wispy
  • At 17 he left home to be a lumber jack, hospital orderly, jail guard, and street car operator.  
  • When working as a street car oprtator, he witnessed a murder that made him rethink his life.  
  • He discerned the priesthood and applied for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, but the classes were taught only in German or Latin, and since he didn’t even have a High School Diploma, left because of the rigourous studies.  
  • He joined the OFM CAP (Order of Friars Minor Brown) and was ordained a ‘sacerdotus simplex’ (a priest who can say Mass, but not preach or hear confessions).  
  • He went through 20 years of assignments in New York and was known as an inspiring speaker.
  • He came later the Saint Bonaventure Monestary in Detroit , MI serving there as a porter.  
  • Each week he would see the sick, and he cured many ill (mentally, physically, and spiritually)
  • After his death in 1957 in Indiana, 20,000 people passed by his coffin.  
  • Sacristan
  • Doorkeeper
  • Director of Young Ladies
  • Directors of Altar Servers
  • Family Support
  • Mission Promoter
  • Miracle worker
  • Healer
  • Knew Father Groschell story……
  • Prophet
  • Converter
Father Paul Watson “Prophet of Unity”
  • He was born the child of an Anglican “Priest” in Maryland during the Civil War and named Lewis Thomas Watson.    
  • He is known as the ‘Father of the Week of Christian Unity”  
  • Along with Mother Lorena White he founded the Society of the Atonement under a Fransiscan Spirituality
  • He truly believed he was Catholic, because he saw three Catholic branches: the Roman Branch, Eastern Branch and the Anglican Branch.  
  • The Original week of Christian Unity started on the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter and ended on the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul.  It was founded in 1908.  
  • Soon, he and Sister Lorena were received into the Catholic Church, and he was ordained a Catholic Priest in 1910, where Father Solanus Casey, who wasn’t normally able to preach, said the homily.    
  • His order was eventually approved by Rome and they are no known as the Greymoor Friars, because of their habits.  Their initials are S.A.


Archbishop Fulton John Sheen
I. In General
  • Archbishop Fulton Sheen was the face of American Catholicism from the 50’s-70’s.
  • He touched millions of lives
  • He wrote about 70 books
  • He was granted an Emmy Award for best show, where he thanked his writers: the 4 evangelists.  
  • He received 15,000 letters a day.  
  • Was the inspiration for thousands of priests
  • Converts? Who knows!
II. About
  • Peter Fulton Sheen was born in El Paso, IL in 1895
  • He took his mother’s maiden name “Fulton” for his first name.  
  • His father worked as a farmer, inventor and owned a hardware shop.  
  • When he was 5 years old, he moved to Peoria, IL and became a server at St. Mary’s Cathedral.  
  • Bishop Spalding Story……… U. of Levene ---bishop  
  • He graduated at the top of all his classes and was known as a debator and scholar by the end of High School (Valedictorian)
  • He entered Saint Paul’s Seminary in MN
  • He attended the Angelicum in Rome ,and a university in Paris  
  • He also attended the University of Luevene in Belgium
  • By the time he was 30, he had a PhD in Philosophy with Honors
  • After his ordination, he was sent to a very poor parish in Peoria where only 25% of the people spoke English.  After a short time, the bishop told him “I only sent you here to see if you would still be obedient even after all your achievements...”  
  • Sheen then began full time teaching at CUA and was a spellbinding teaching, and his classes always overflowed.    
  • He began soon speaking as a radio evangelist with 4 million listeners.  
  • He soon became also a TV Evangelists, paving the way for future evangelists.  
  • His award winning show “Life is Worth Living” went on for 13 years
  • He sought Common Ground with Protestants and Jews
  • He was funny, comical and witty   
  • He served as the Director of Propagandae Fide for 15 years
  • He donated all his money to the Church and Missions  
  • He was both a Preacher (Heart) and a Teacher (Head)
  • His major fault was pride.  
  • Loved reading
  • Always studied
  • Towards the end of his life he gave extensive retreats to priests, after his fallout with Cardinal Spellman.  
  • Gave all his books to Mary
  • Was a Prophet of Mercy  
  • He was a personal friend of Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI and knew John Paul II and Benedict XVI.   
  • He was a poor administrator, and resigned from bishop of Rochester, NY after three years.  
  • Spoke against Nazism, Communism, and the Vietnam War  
  • He was known as a prophet, especially in the Stalin Story…….
  • Pope John Paul II said to him “You have spoken and written well of our Lord Jesus Christ.  You are a loyal son of the Church”
III. Reforms
  Venerable Sheen taught that there were four reforms during major problems every 500 years in the Church.  Here they are:  
-The Carolinian Reform (500 AD-THE FALL OF ROME)
Problem: Barbarians and the Dark Ages
Counter Attack: Opening of Monasteries, and missionaries to the British Isles to preserve civilization while the rest of Europe was sieged.  
Great People: Pope Saint Gregory I, Charlemagne
-The Gregorian Reform (1000 AD-THE GREAT SCHISM)
Problem: 1052- the division of the East and West, Simony, Clerical Incontinence, lay investiture
Counter Attack: Reforms and Laws of Pope Greagory VII
Great People: Pope Saint Greagory VII
-The Tridentine Reform (1500 AD- THE DEFORMATION)
Problems: Split-North and South of Europe.  Growth of Protesentism
Counter attack: The Council of Trent, the Roman Catechism
Great People: Pope Saint Pius V, Saint Robert Bellarmine, Saint Francis De Sales, Etc.  
-The Vatican II Reform (2000 AD- CURRENT CRISIS PREDICTED BY FULTON SHEEN)
Problems: Everything!!!!
Counter Attack: Vatican II, CCC
Great People:  Pope Paul VI, Pope Saint John Paul II (whom he predicted would be a saint), Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI, Pope Francis
FATHER PATRICK PEYTON
  • Was born in 1909
  • Entered the Congreation of the Holy Cross (CSC)
  • Was diagnosed with incurable tuberculoses, and prayed to Mary and was cured- he vowed to spend the rest of his life spreading the Rosary
  • Promised Mary 10 Million Rosary-Praying Families daily
  • Started Family Radio Theatre in Hollywood with featured famous actors such as Bing Crosby .
  • Coined “Family the Prays together, stay together” “A World Praying the Rosary is a world at PEACE”
  • 1950 started the Family Rosary Crusade gathering up to 2 million people.  
  • Made films on Christ’s Life
  • Died in San Pedro in 1992 and is buried in MA
THOMAS MERTON
  • Thomas Merton was born in 1915 in France
  • In his early years he was a wild, and while a young man fathered a child
  • He became a literary major in college.  
  • Believed all religions lead to God
  • At 23 he converted influenced by Thomistic spirituality   
  • He became a social activist
  • He joined the Gethsemane Abbey Trappists in KY at the start of WWII, for he knew he needed discipline.    His religious name was Mary Louis
  • In 1948 He wrote the Seven Storey Mountain (seven storey’s after Dante’s 7 stories of purgatory),  It was translated into 15 languages, and Sheen called it a 20th century Confessions.  
  • The book takes Catholic Theology and combines it with modern thinking and has a Carmelite and Thomistic Spirituality, which sees the value of contemplation alone.  
  • He became open to Eastern, Zen and Buddhism Spirituality
  • When he entered the monastery there were 70 monks, when he died there where 200
  • He struggled with chastity throughout his life
  • He died in 1968 in Thailand.  
THE CATHOLIC PRESS
Catholicism is the only religion in the USA with such as widespread press.  
  1. 1820 The Catholic World Magazine
  2. 1822 First Catholic Newspaper
  3. 1829 Jesuit Sentential
  4. 1831: The Cincinatti Register
  5. 1865: the Ave Maria Magazine
  6. 1912:  OSV
  7. 1923: The Register
FRANK SHEED AND MAISE WARD
  • Frank was born in Sydney, Australia to a Catholic Mom and a Marxist Dad
  • He moved to London and as a young man began street preaching
  • He was trained in public speaking and gave over 7000 speeches in his life
  • He met his wife Maise Ward and they began a printing press “Sheed and Ward Publishers, INC”  
  • They moved to NY and published Dorothy Day, Catherine de Hueck, Chesterton, Augustine, as well as themselves
  • He received a Pontifical Doctorate in Theology from the Vatican.   
DOROTHY DAY
  • Dorothy Day was born in Brooklyn, NY  in 1897, and soon moved to San Francisco where she survived the 19006 earthquake.  
  • She attended the U. of IL, but dropped out after 2 years
  • Joined the Socialist Party and became a socialist reporter for “The Call” Newspaper in DC.  
  • She was continually jailed until she was 75 y.o. for protesting various things
  • She became an un-wed mother and had an abortion, which she always regretted.  
  • She became aware of the Faith, by her roommates, but still not well enough to practice Christian Virtue, as she had a child out of wed-lock
  • In 1927 both she and her child were baptized Catholics.  
  • In 1932, while reporting on a hunger strike in DC, she stopped to pray in the National Shrine, where she met Peter Maurin, the man who would help her start the C.W.M.
  • Together they became the CWM and started communes for workers as well as Houses of Hospitality.  
  • She was an extreme pacifist speaking out against all war including WWII, KOREA, AND VIETNAM.  
  • She supported communist and socialist leaders, even as a Catholic.  
  • She recived the “Women of Peace” Award from Saint Pope John XXIII in 1563.  
  • Along with Caesar Chavez, she was a civil rights, labor union organizer.  
  • Blessed Mother Theresa made her an honorary member of her community.  
  • She died in 1980, and was made a S.O.G. in 2012 by the USCCB
CAESAR CHAVEZ
  • He was born in Yuma, AZ IN 1927
  • His family lost their farm during the great depression, and they lived a migrant workers in California
  • He attended 65 schools, culminating in a 7th grade education.  
  • He joined the navy for 2 years calling it the worst days of his life.  
  • He married Helna Tabela and they moved to Deano, CA where they had 7 children  
  • He met Fr McDonald, who taught him social doctrine and Fred Ross, who taught him peaceful-protests in the Bay Area
  • He soon began marching for farmer’s rights and fair wages, starting the United Farm Workers Association  
  • He lead marches and protests around the country for rights of farmers
  • He began a 36 day fast for rights, in which he almost died.  
  • He was a vgan, supported animal rights, and allegedly the gay movement.
  • He also became a daily communicant at the end of his life
  • He is buried at Caesar Chavez National Monument in Tehachapi, CA under the NPS.  
Carrie Doheney
  • She was born in 1875 in Philly
  • In 1900 she married billionare Edward Doheny in CA.  
  • She was friends with the Vincentian Order and built, Saint Vincient’s Church (LA), San Vincent’s Hospital (LA)< AND Vincentiant run Saint John’s Seminary.  To which she gave a Gutenberg Bible and rare and historical church treasures.  Cardinal Mahony in the 1980’s sold the collection without Vatican permission.  
  • She and her husband lived on a Hacienda near Ojai and now the land is TAC.  
  • Mr. Doheney was found involved in the Teapot Dome Scandal in Wyoming, which took a tremendous toll on his health.  
  • She was named a Papal Countess in 1939 by Pius XI  
  • She donated the USC Library.
San Second d’ Asti and Mr. Secondo Guasti
A. San Secondo
  • Saint Secondo was a convert who died in 119 AD, who was beheaded for the Faith near Turin, IT.  
  • His relics lay in the Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption in Asti Diocese in Piedmont
  • Feast is March 30th
           B. Asti,IT
  • 75,000 residents
  • Its own diocese
  • 35 miles east of Turin
  • Home of a Eucharistic Miracle at eh Church of San Secundus d’ Asti
C. Mr Guasti and Legacy  
  • Mr Guasti was born in 1859
  • Born poor and uneducated
  • Came to the US via Mexicamarried a waitress in LA
  • Started “Italian Vineyard Co.” In Ontario
  • He had 5000 acres of grapes, producing 5 million gallons of wine/year
  • It was the most successful and largest vineyard in the world
  • Opened d the town of Guasti
  • He lived in the Guasti Mansion
  • Supported and beloved by Mussolini
  • He was kind to his Mex./It workers
  • Dedicated the Church in 1926
  • It was given to the LA Diocese of 1935 (now SB)
  • San Antonio -> Baldy
  • Modeled after Church of Saint Secondo of Asti in Asti, IT
US NORBERTINES
  • Norbert was born in 1018
  • Struck by lightning on a horse and reformed his worldly ways  
  • He was ordained a deacon and priest at the same time
  • He founded the Norbertine in 1120 in France near Leon in Premontre
  • He was appointed Archbishop in Germany
  • And by his death there were 500 Norbertine abbeys in Europe and Asia
What is a Canon? A General Canon is one who chants the Divine Office
A Secular Canon is one who chants the Divine Office in a Cathedral
A Religious Canon is one who chants the Divine Office in a monastery or Priory.  


  • Saint Norbert Reformed the priesthood
  • First Religious Order to appraise the Immaculate Conception
  • Almost all Norbertines were wiped out during the reformation and the French Revolution  
  • Father Pennings was called in 1893 to Green Bay, WI to minister to Dutch Immigrants, and he soon brought more priest and they opened the first priory there along with Saint Norbert’s College.  
  • In 1957 Hungarian Norbertine came to California fleeing Communists, hiking and crossing over many mountains ad rivers.  They were welcomed by Cardinal McIntyre and taught at Mater Dei H.S.  
  • In 1984 the Priary of Saint Michael was raised to an Abbey, and Abbot Parker was elected the first Abbot.  
FATHER JOHN COURTNEY MURRAY, SJ
  • He was born in NYC in 1904
  • He became a smart college professot  
  • He had major disagreements with Cardinal Ottavianni of the Holy Office over the issue of the Separation of the Church and State.  
  • He was censured (silenced) by him and order tnot to preach about Rel. Luiberty again
  • He was the main author of The Vatican II Document on Religious Liberty, and was a theological advisory to Cardinal Spellman.
  • He was for separation of church and state along with most American bishops.  They agreed onb Religious Liberty based on Natural Law, which is found in Chp. 1 of the Doc.
  • The opposition to his view was found by the bishop of Spain and Italy, who supported Rel. Lib. As revealed by Divine Revelation, and these view is found in chp. 2 of the doc.  
  • He was sadly pro-contraception and believed that it was a matter of personal choice  


Differences:
Religious Liberty: The Catholic Church has the fullness of Truth and should be treated as a higher religion, then any other church
Religious Freedom: All religions are equal in weight and value.  


Shrine of the United States
What is a Shrine?  According to the Code of Canon Law –“a Shrine is a church or other sacred place, with the permission of the bishop is because of special devotion, visited by the faithful as pilgrims.  For a shrine to be national it needs the approval of the bishop’s conference.  For a shrine to be international it needs the approval of the Holy See. “
Oldest US Churches:
  1. San Miguel Mission (1610)
  2. San Augustine Cathedral (1763)
  3. Saint Louis of France Cathedral (1789)
  4. Cathedral of San Fernando (1750_
  5. Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist (1521), PR 2ND OLDEST CHURCH IN W. HEMISPHERE
Shrines:
  • Loretto……
  • NA MARTYERS
  • CA MISSIONS
  • OUR LADY OF GUDELUPE, WI
  • SNOWS, IL


  • National Shrine of I.C.
  • IDEA: 1913
  • Land Grant from C.U.A
  • Architecture Finalized (Neo-Byzantine)
  • 1959 Spellman consecrates Church
  • 1979: JP2 VISITS
  • 1990: Named Basilica
  • 2008: B-16 Visits (2nd largest Church in USA after Saint the Divine Episcopalian in NY)
  • Not the local Cathedral (st. matts…)
  • Largest CC in the Western Hemisphere


WERE THE 40-50’S THE GOLDEN YEARS OF AMERICAN CAHTHOLICSMS?  
Yes, because of the promotion of good Catholic values in the media.  Priests were seen as good, manly models
No, because the same problems we have now were present, but they were more subtle.  
No, the problems were there, but just not shown publically.  
I. Overall
  1. Before the 40/50’s
  • The problem was rooted in negativity.  A negative view of God, the Church was due the remnants of the Heresy Jansenism.  
  • As God was seen, so was all authority.  Authority was too harsh in their thinking (bishops, priests, in confession, pulpit etc.), parents were in general too harsh.
  • “You don’t need an explanation, you do it because I say so”
  • A Black and White thinking   
  • Catholics are good and holy, all else are mediocre at best.  
  • Differences were not tolerated.  
  • Negative in the Church: demons, Hell, justice, rules.  
  • Extreme Fear of God “A lot of Fear, but not much Love”
  • Lots of Vocations-All those with an interest in a vocation got in!  even those without a true vocation!   They stayed because the thinking if you left was “Don’t be a failure! please your parents!”    
  • Fear for the laity….” You’re not a religious or priest, it’s harder for you to be saved!”
  1. During the 40/50’s
  • Everything looked good! Marriages were were sky-high
  • Media portrayed the Church well!  
  • Behind the “nice façade”, was really a storm brewing, cracks and problems were silently growing.  
  1. After the 40/50’s
  • The Complete opposite!  
  • We went from only Fear to No Fear!
  • The Church went from cowardliness to risky and from fear to tepidity
  • The Church was at one extreme and it swung to the opposite overnight!  (Because of false reports of VII and people were fed up with fear! Also the culture was changing….)
    • The Pre VII period was one of fear
    • The VII Period was one of transition
    • The Post VII period was one of liberalism
  • Vatican II was blamed for all the problems because it coincided with the transition from extreme conservatism to liberalism.   
II. Specifically
  1. Salvation-  Pre: Few shall be saved Post: All will be saved
  2. The Church- Pre: Focus on the Church “way up there the invisible Church or the Roman Church-Post: The Visible Church, the one I can see.
  3. Truth- Pre: Truth was seen scholastically, looking at truth OBJECTIVLY: This is how it is with or without me.  Using definition, being, scientific, and categorical Post: Truth is about feeling, no definitions for all (we all define truth ourselves) Truth was seen SUBJECTIVLY.  If it doesn’t pertain to me, why learn it?  
  4. General Worldview- Pre: Black and White alone. Post: Grey alone.  
  5. Moral Absolutes- Pre: There are Moral absolutes!  Truth is of essence! Post: Truth is relative…Truth is evolving!  
  6. Scripture: Pre: Scripture was not to be studied but only believed.  If the sun ‘rises and sets’, then the earth must be flat.  Post: “Make up your own translations!”  Believe what you want in the Bible!
  7. Sacrifice: Pre: The sacrifice was seen as “I am doing this for the good of the Church and souls” Post: “I am doing this because it fulfills me…”
  8. The Mass: Pre-The Sacrifice of the Mass Post: The Celebration of the Mass- a banquet
  9. Confession: Pre: People went to confession for dinky things! Scrupulosity abounded. Post: What is a sin?  
  10. The Eucharist: Pre:  We can’t receive our Lord, one communion per confession and strict fasting rules Post: All can receive even those in Mortal Sin and non-Catholics!
  11. Virtue: Pre: The Theological Virtues. Post: Social Justice Virtues
  12. Authority: Pre- “You do it because I said so” Post: Why???????  
  13. Differences Pre: Only focus on the differences. Post: Dialogue and celebrate the differences, even the bad.
  14. Afterlife: Pre: Hell, Long Purgatory, Wrath Post: No Hell, all will go to Heaven, False Confidence.  
  15. Feelings: Pre: “Don’t listen to your feelings…use logic, listen only to your priest and spiritual directors” Post: Feeling before Faith or reason
  16. Rights: Pre: Rights of the Church and of God. Post: Rights of the Individual.  
  17. Submission: Pre: DO WHAT I SAY Post: Use discernment and personal prayer to decide.  
  18. Prayer:  Pre: Devotions, Rosary, Mass… Post: Personal Prayer alone…”Me and Jesus”    
  19. Saints: Pre: “The saints are way up there” Post: “Nothing special…who needs them?”
The Bad Things after Vatican II
I. List
  • Decline in priests, even as the Catholic Population went up 30%
  • Major decline in Seminarians
  • Major decline in Religious Sisters
  • Decline in Catholic Hospitals
  • Decline in Catholic schools.  
  • Major decline in Jesuits and this order practiced: dissent, disobedience, and decline
  • Rise of liberal bishops especially in the US Church such as perhaps the worst bishop of the 20th century, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago, who invented the ‘seamless garment’ and other atrocities, as well as Cardinal Roger Mahony of LA, Archbishop Weakland of Milwaukee, Bishop Gumbleton of Detroit.  
  • The approval of the Abortion Movement in Roe. V. Wade in 1973 and the sexual revolution
  • The Homosexual Movement
  • The Environmental Movement
  • Major Liturgical Abuses
II. Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters  
  • A once good religious community, that wanted a bunch of changes: a bunch of small communities, less Mass and Divine Office, no habit, get rid of their religious names, less teaching and more social work.  
  • They flat-out told Cardinal McIntyre , that they would NOT teach over 35 students.
  • They took the opinions of wacko priests and psychologists about Vatican II (like most people) and never read the documents.  
  • They openly fought the Cardinal, and he gave them two options: Obey or Leave.  
  • They all left the community in 1968.  
III. Contraception
  • There are three kinds of Contraception: Surgical, Artificial and Natural, all are intrinsic evils condemned in the New and Old Testaments.  
  • In the 1960’s almost all Christians though that ‘the pill’ was OK, but just 60 years earlier, all Christians were against it.  At the Lambeth Conference in England, the Anglican Communion approved contraception for use in their Church, becoming the first Christians to approve it.  
  • By 1960 only the RCC opposed contraception  
  • Saint John XXIII began a papal commission on population in the early 60’s, but he soon died and Paul VI took over this work.  
  • 80% of the Commission (doctors, lay, priests, theologians), approved of contraception and reported this to the Pope.
  • Many people in the Church seriously began believing that the Church was about to change its teaching, and many priests got on the band wagon preaching on this, getting people excited. This news was leaked out of the commission to the general public and spread further through the media.  
  • In 1968, Pope Paul VI turned 180 degrees around the issued ‘Humane Vitae” (Life of Humans), and ratted out the evils of contraception and abortion, throwing people who had been told that contraception was about to be usable, into a panic
  • Priests in order to not injure their pride, still taught Pro-contraception beliefs, which lead to a division between conservatives for the Pope and Liberals.     
  • Paul VI Predictions about if Contraception was to be widespread were:   
1.  Lowering of Moral Standards.
2. More impurities
3. Abuse of women as objects
IV. Father Charles Curran
  • He was a professor at CUA and a pro-contraception dissenter  
  • In 1967 the Board of Trustees at CUA (bishops) denies to reinstate him, but the students and professors up rise and say they will quit the school if he gets kicked out. So, the bishops let him stay.  This was seen as a major liberal victory.  
  • He soon made a statement with 600 signatures of laity, clergy and bishop denying Humanae Vitae.   
  • In 1969 Cardinal O’Boyle of DC, disciplined 19 dissenting priests, but these priests appealed to the Congregation for Clergy in Rome and were reinstated….this showed goof bishop that even the Vatican Officials are against you. And the there is no punishment for dissenting.  Pope Paul VI approved this action in order to not cause a great schism in the American Church.  This Action was called the “Truce of 1968”
  • In 1984, Cardinal Ratizinger publically calls Curran a dissenter.   
  • Two years later Cardinal Hickey of DC, tells Curran he cdan no longer teach in his diocese.  
  • After 30 years, the Board of Trustees finally kicks Curran out of office.
  • He is currently a Professor at Southern Methodist University
V. Clerical Abuse Crisis
  • This crisis of priests abusing boys mostly 11-17 is a result of the dissent.  
  • In the seminary in the 50’s homosexual behavior was seen as “not a big deal”
  • 2% of priests of the time did these acts
  • Most cases were in the 1970’s
  • This issue was covered up by bishop and no one believed the victims because “Oh, Father would never do that”
  • If a wacko psychologist said the a priest was fit for office, the bishop said OK
  • 2002 the Crisis of Boston arose where the public was able to see files for the first time.
  • At the Council of Dallas in 2002, priests needed to be better checked, victims healed, seminarians needed better formation, and ‘0 tolerance’ for offenders
  • The price was many lost souls, resigning bishops, the lack of trust in future priests, $2 billion in payout including $720 million in LA. And $100 millions in OC.  Dioceses were bankrupted such as Wellington, Portland and Spokane.
The Good after Vatican II

  • The Rise of the Pro-Life Movement: Before Roe v. Wade the movement was just a bunch of rich Catholic people.  In 1967 the ‘National Right to Life Commission’ was started.  It has been said that it was the Catholic Church that created the Pro-Life Movement, and without it would not exist.  The Culture of Life term was coined by JP2 in WYD in Denver in 1993, and is now the slogan of the movement.    
  • The Culture of Life: Promotes: Chastity, Charity, Family Values, and Oran/blood donations.  It is against: Abortion, contraception, cloning, stem cell research, euthanasia, unjust way, death penalty, etc.  
  • Rise of Faithful Catholic Higher Education:  After the moral decline, conservative colleges began replacing giants like Georgetown and Notre Dame.  These “Ex Corde Ecclesia” (encyclical) schools were founded or refound their catholic identity after Vatican II.  Some are TAC, Aver Maria U, Christendom College, WCC, Thomas More, Stubenville, Benedictine….
  • Rise of the Catholic Homeschool Movement: This started in the wake of V2 : Seton (80), Kolbe (80), MODG (95).  
  • Rise of Ex-Protestant Theologians….Scott Hahn, Tim Staples, Jeff Cavis, and the Personal Ordinatiate of the Chair of Saint Peter (for Anglicans est.  by B-16)
  • EWTN.  Founded in 1981 by Mother Angelica, it is the world’s largest Catholic TV Network.  Catholic Media!!!!!!!!
  • Ecumenical Dialogue: Ortho-Catholic relations, as well as Prot., LG says “The Church, constituted and organized the world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church.”
  • Lay Involvement; NET, NFP, CHARISMATIC, CHURSIO, OPUS DEI, CARDINAL NEWMAN SOCIETY, ETC.  
  • Popes! John Paul II visited the USA 5X!!!! AS WELL AS B-16
  • Archdiocese for Military Service USA in 1985
  • Rise of American Canonized Saints (since VII) and saint in progress such as:
  • St. Marianne Cope
  • St Damien of Molokai
  • St Katherine Drexel
  • St Rose Duchene
  • St E Ann Seton
  • St John Neumann
  • Pierre Toussaint
  • Augustus Tolton
  • Archbishop Futon Sheen
  • Patrick Peyton
  • Dorothy Day
  • Michael McGivney
  • Cardinal Terence Cook
  • Solanus Casey
  • Juniper Serra
  • Demetrius Gallitzin
  • Isaac Hecker