Yes, folks...it is that time (trumpets blare, women swoon, children cheer, etc.) for the Weekly Update of the Catholic Standard.We have an two articles focusing on Cardinal George of Chicago: Protection of Iraqi Catholics and the Health Care debate. You know, I was thinking, how many people and groups stood up against the burning of the Koran, but when terrorists (Muslim terrorists to be exact) enter a Catholic Church and murder people in prayer, not a sound is uttered by the President et al. There is a story on the National Council of Catholic Women and one of their speakers -- Sr. Carol Keehan. Yes, the same Sr. Carol Keehan who fully supported the Most Merciful's Health Care program. She says: "We need to be utterly intolerant of trashing other people in the Church." Well then Sr. K, then support life and not a pro-abortion president. Sorry, you reap what you sow. Again, we hear about supporting CCHD as a way of "giving Thanks to the Lord." Tell me, is the way of giving thanks to support those groups that oppose us? I don't think so. According to the article, it seems that our Catholic funds went to pay for two libraries and youth recreation centers in Ward 8? Personally, I would have thought that it is something that taxpayer dollars were to be used for. I mean the Archdiocese is having difficulty building a recreation center at the corner of Randolf and Georgia Ave., for the CYO program and yet, we are more than willing to spend $$ on things that we pay taxes for. We have a full page on the different things you can do in regards to the Consistory. You can wear red (lame), you can send a spiritual bouquet (good), you can watch it live (good) or participate in a Holy Hour (good). Congratulation to Sr. Rynn, the Principal of Little Flower School. She received the 2010 National Distinguished Principal Award by the NAESP. Congrats.Congrats also Archbishop Carroll for honoring Fr. Leslie Branch. And, let us thank/congratulate the following schools:- St. Mary in Bryantown for their charitable work for the Foundation of Children w/ Cancer.
- Annunciation in DC for their support of "Treas 4 Our Troops"
- St. Peter's for honoring their Principal on Veterans Day.
- Archbishop Neale School (La Plata) for winning first place in the Careers Category of the Charles Co. Chamber of Commerce Scarecrow Festival.
Great story on the Run for Vocations during the Marine Corp Marathon. Well folks, that's it for this week. Tune in next week when we will review the "Collectors Edition of the Catholic Standard" on the Consistory.
A note from a Anon Reader. If you have any thoughts, please feel free to share.Thank you.AWDCCatholic++++++++++++++++++I have a copy of a letter Bishop Knestout sent to all parishes Sept 24 asking them to participate in a solemn vigil for all nascent human life with the Pope on November 27th. This was never announced in our parish or in the Catholic Standard, but a parishioner of another D.C. parish obtained it from his parish after asking about such a vigil after Pope Benedict's request was publicized on the web.
This person also emailed the Archdiocesan office of life issues concerning this vigil and was told that they didn't have time to create a flyer concerning this vigil (a flyer for what--does anyone know where one such vigil is occuring in the entire Archdiocese of Washington?)
"The Archdiocese made known to pastors to do what makes sense with regard to timing and expression of this vigil. We understand that this is a busy weekend for parishes here in the US … not only is it the first Sunday of Advent, but it is also Thanksgiving weekend.
The Department of Life Issues is not putting together a flyer for this … unfortunately, this also hits us at an extremely busy time as we prepare for two Youth Rallies and an Adult/Family Rally all taking place on January 24th the morning of the March for Life. We simply do not have the “manpower” to work on a flyer for the vigil."
18-20 babies were murdered in my parish this past Saturday at the local abortion clinic. My parish has much time to organize a bazaar, the pastor says a Mass for peace in Iraq/Afghanistan the first Friday of every month, and we pray every week for those who have been killed by accidents and acts of terror around the world, whereupon said pastor adds a special prayer for those who are unemployed but never, EVER do we pray for those who have been killed at our own parish abortion clinic this past week.
There is no time to organize any prayer for the 50 million children aborted in the U.S. on November 27, but there have been two full page ads for the Mass for Thanksgiving for Archbishop Wuerl on November 28 in the Catholic Standard.
There is an article on the site now:http://www.cathstan.org/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=27&ArticleID=4232And of course there was more than enough time to make the announcement in all the parishes yesterday inviting us all to wear red to celebrate Archbishop's Wuerl becoming cardinal.
When I heard it the same thought occurred to me that if I wore anything it would be black in expression of deepest mourning...
And yet, do you get this, the same pope appointed him...
P.S. Everyone keeps saying how the priesthood has fallen 100,000 etc. Does anyone know how much the money has fallen or have government funds made it all up?
A couple of days ago, I posted on the City Center Consortium -- the amount of money spent, the merging of some schools, closing of others and the conversion of some into "values based" Charter schools. I would like to take this opportunity to follow-up on this. First, I think that Archbishop Wuerl did the right thing and needs to be given credit for facing this issue head on. I do not believe that this is something he wanted to do and it was a difficult choice but I do believe that he did the right thing. I think one of the most important issues discussed was the fact that he realizes that Catholic education, especially at the elementary school level, is hurting across the entire archdiocese. Costs have gone up and enrollment is down. This is due to a number of factors, not just any one particular one. Second, the use of the school facilities for charter schools will bring some much needed revenue into parishes that may have seen their donations drop over the years. The drop in donations is usually due to a change in demographics. Since charter schools pay rent, it will be a boon to these parishes. Many inner city parishes (and that even includes the one that I grew up in) are facing the same problems -- delayed maintenance, increased costs and a decrease in donations.
Finally, I do think that we should be pushing more for "vouchers" or some sort of tax relief for parents who send their children to Catholic school. To that end, a future posting will be on my proposal for "vouchers."
The Catholic Standard (Nov. 8, 2007 Page 31) ran an article entitled: Taxes, health care and slots top MCC's concerns to state lawmakers. According to the article, Richard Dowling (MCC Exec. Director) said that the tax system should be guided by three principles: raising "adequate revenues to pay for the public needs of society, especially the basic needs of the poor, structured according to the principle of progressivity, so that those with relatively greater financial resources pay a higher rate of taxation," and families below the poverty line should not have to pay income taxes."
What is the "public needs of society?" Is it public safety? Is it a free elementary education? Is it a chicken in every pot? The problem with Mr. Dowling and the MCC is that they offer no definition of "basic needs." Is it is one of those open ended statements that can mean almost anything to anyone. To some it means an apartment with hot/cold running water, a fridge and a stove. To others, it means a one family house on an tract of land with two cars. Still to others, a vacation to Disney at least once in every child's lifetime.
There is also this "soak the rich" and the "government knows what to do best with your money" Marxist mentality at the MCC. As I said in my last posting, the more you hit people up with higher taxes, the less they are going to give to charity. When you reduce taxes, you actually increase revenue and when people keep more of their money, they usually donate more of it.
Now, while the MCC was looking to "soak the rich" they seemed to miss the entire effort by the Montgomery County Council to pass Bill 23-07 which was sponsored by Councilmembers Tractenbery, Ervin and Elrich. This bill would allow "Any place of public accommodation...must not...make any distinction based on gender identity." Gender identity is defined as "an individual's actual or perceived gender..." To quote a council member when asked by the mother of a 10 year old girl about this, the reply was: "I cannot absolutely put to rest your concern that girls might find themselves in a locker room or dressing room in the presence of a person who expresses or asserts herself as a woman but who still has male genitals..."
Where the heck was the MCC on this? Nowhere to be found.
I think that Archbishop Wuerl needs to hand out a couple of pink slips at the MCC starting with Mr. Dowling.
