Trappist Martyrs of Atlas

Were they really martyrs or victims of friendly fire?

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One reason martyrs are not immediately canonized is that the Church must be convinced they had been killed for the faith. The Martyrs of Atlas, 7 French monks, were killed about 10 years ago in Algiers, presumed to have been executed by Islamic extremists, the only remains found being their heads:

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"During the night of March 27-28, 1996, seven monks of the Cistercian Monastery of Our Lady of Atlas, near the village of Tibhirine in Algeria, were abducted by Islamic fundamentalists. Their abduction was claimed by a radical faction of the GIA (Groupe Islamique Arm�) in a communiqu� dated April 18, 1996 and published on April 27. In a second communiqu�, dated May 23, the GIA announced that the monks had been executed on May 21, 1996. Their remains were identified and their funeral Mass was celebrated in the Catholic Cathedral of Algiers on Sunday, June 2. They were buried in the cemetery of their monastery at Tibhirine on June 4, 1996." - Source

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I wasn't aware there were other theories regarding the monks death until today:

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"PARIS (AFP) — President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday he was determined to find the truth of who was really behind the 1996 abduction and beheading of seven French monks in Algeria, which has been blamed on Islamists.

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"I want the truth. Relations between major countries are based on the truth and not on lies," he said, adding that he would release any classified documents on the killings which investigators might ask for.

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The move came a day after potentially explosive revelations that a French general told investigators the Algerian army killed the monks by mistake when it raided an Islamist camp and the French state covered up the tragedy.

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Critics have long been suspicious of the official French and Algerian view that the Trappist monks were killed by the Islamic Group Army (GIA) at the height of a decade of Islamist violence that left at least 150,000 people dead.

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The Paris prosecutor's office opened an inquiry in 2004 into the massacre of the monks after a civil suit was filed by the family of one of the men and by a senior member of the monks' order.

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Patrick Baudouin, lawyer for the plaintiffs, said Monday the latest allegations were proof there was an attempt at "dissimulation on the part of the Algerian authorities and certainly on the part of the French authorities." His comment came after a source close to the probe leaked remarks allegedly made to French investigators last month by General Francois Buchwalter, who in 1996 was France's military attache in Algiers.

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The now-retired general said Algerian army helicopters, hunting Islamist rebels, opened fire on a camp they spotted in the mountains near the monks' hilltop monastery in Tibehirine, 70 kilometres (45 miles) south of Algiers.

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The helicopter crews realised afterwards that not only had they hit members of the armed group but also the monks, Buchwalter said, according to the source." - Story

Summer reading.

The Naughty Archbishop.

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We intellectuals love to share with the Community College graduates what we are reading for the summer - and believe you me - you ignoramuses, it is so not an Oprah's book club selection either.
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Of course I'm just finishing my re-read of Brideshead Revisited - I might have said, my revisit... oh, oh, ah, ah, ah, ohhhhhhhhh! Oh you funny man you! And I've long thrown the Divine Comedy in the dumpster - what was with that Dante guy anyway?
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No, now I'm breaking the spine of Weakland's memoir... his tell all - Hollywood Wives style summation of his life.
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Seriously, with all due respect to his office, A Pilgrim In a Pilgrim Church by Archbishop Weakland is a fascinating, if not at moments, difficult read - in a heart-wrenching sort of way. I just picked it up this afternoon and I've been jumping all over the contents ever since, reading here and there, as well as beginning at the beginning. I think it is an important book historically, and definitely absorbing in the revelations by such a prominent figure in the American Episcopate. I have a million thoughts on his 'revelations' and the scary thing is - I know what he is talking about. I don't think I ever met him - but it sure seems as if I did. (In other words, he wasn't alone in his vision, mission, agenda for the Church.)
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I recall when he was named Archbishop of Milwaukee, I thought to myself, "Oh good, a monastic Archbishop - he will restore things as they should be!" Oh, oh, oh, ha, ha, ha, ha, ohhhhh, oh, oh, ah, ah, ah, oooooooooooo! - such a silly boy!
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So far, the memoir is helpful towards understanding the tragedy of the Archbishop, as well as the dysfunction of the post-Councilor Church in the U.S.. It's a real page turner. The really sad thing is - from what I gather - the Vatican knew. They knew the problems with Weakland and the other progressives - but nothing was done.

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Bark like a blog!

Reconstructing Catholic identity.

St. Anthony returns to Modesto church.
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A statue of St. Anthony, once removed from the church of St. Stanislaus due to the re-emergence of the ancient iconoclast heresy following the spirit of VII, has now been reinstalled. Read on - as to the reason why the statues were removed in the first place:
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All that is known is that after the reformations of Vatican II were handed down in the 1970s, priests often removed the statues of saints to help parishioners focus on the celebration of the Eucharist instead.
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"Before Vatican II, the Mass was in Latin," said the Rev. Ramon Bejarano, pastor of St. Stanislaus. "Because they didn't understand the Latin, people were praying devotions to the saints or saying the rosary during Mass. Some priests and parishes decided to move the statues out so people could concentrate and have active, full participation in the Eucharist." - Story
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Huh?
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The reformation of Vatican II? People didn't understand the Latin? So they wreckovated the churches in order that people could concentrate and have active participation in the Eucharist? That's what all that was about?
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This past weekend my pastor has taken to enhancing the Mass by adding explanatory prayers before the offertory and other parts of the Mass. After the gifts are brought up and the altar is prepared, he ad libs something like, "As we prepare the altar... let us bring our hearts, our cares our sorrows, etc., joining them to this bread and wine..." I don't know what else. He is a good priest and means well, but I really have to agree with Fr. Z - PLEASE: Just say the black and do the red.

Old sinners have a lot to teach us.

Alessandro Serenelli.

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After about 6 years into his sentence, the man who killed Maria Goretti experienced a profound conversion in prison after the blessed Marietta appeared to him in a dream, smiling upon his tortured soul. The saint assured him of her forgiveness and Alessandro finally experienced a sense of peace and penitence. Before that moment he had been tormented and filled with contempt for all that is good. His life had been debased by his passions, which he indulged in pornography leading up to the attack upon Maria. After the saint appeared to him, he became a different man. Upon completion of his prison sentence, Serenelli was accepted as a Capuchin tertiary and lived in the monastery, laboring as the friar's gardener and handy man. He was reconciled to the townsfolk, and more importantly to Assunta, Maria's mother, whom he accompanied to the canonization of her daughter.

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Alessandro Serenelli died on May 6th, 1970 in the Capuchin convent of Macerata. He left the following testimony, dated May 5, 1961, as his spiritual legacy:

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"I'm nearly 80 years old. I'm about to depart.

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"Looking back at my past, I can see that in my early youth, I chose a bad path which led me to ruin myself.

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"My behavior was influenced by print, mass-media and bad examples which are followed by the majority of young people without even thinking. And I did the same. I was not worried.

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"There were a lot of generous and devoted people who surrounded me, but I paid no attention to them because a violent force blinded me and pushed me toward a wrong way of life.

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"When I was 20 years-old, I committed a crime of passion. Now, that memory represents something horrible for me. Maria Goretti, now a Saint, was my good Angel, sent to me through Providence to guide and save me. I still have impressed upon my heart her words of rebuke and of pardon. She prayed for me, she interceded for her murderer. Thirty years of prison followed.

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"If I had been of age, I would have spent all my life in prison. I accepted to be condemned because it was my own fault.

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"Little Maria was really my light, my protectress; with her help, I behaved well during the 27 years of prison and tried to live honestly when I was again accepted among the members of society. The Brothers of St. Francis, Capuchins from Marche, welcomed me with angelic charity into their monastery as a brother, not as a servant. I've been living with their community for 24 years, and now I am serenely waiting to witness the vision of God, to hug my loved ones again, and to be next to my Guardian Angel and her dear mother, Assunta.

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"I hope this letter that I wrote can teach others the happy lesson of avoiding evil and of always following the right path, like little children. I feel that religion with its precepts is not something we can live without, but rather it is the real comfort, the real strength in life and the only safe way in every circumstance, even the most painful ones of life." - Alessandro Serenelli

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From John Paul II:

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"Maria Goretti, so illuminating with her spiritual beauty, challenges us to a firm and secure faith in the Word of God, as the only source of truth, to remain firm against the temptations of this world."

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"Young people, look at Maria Goretti, don’t be tempted by the tempting atmosphere of our permissive society, which declares, everything is possible. Look to Maria Goretti, love, live, defend your chastity."

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"Young people, don’t be afraid to carry the torch of your life, light and ideals into modern society."

The Apotheosis of Michael Jackson

The media event of the century...

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Al Sharpton was in Los Angeles Sunday preaching on Michael Jackson's contribution to the Civil Rights cause - according to the Rev., Oprah wouldn't be the success she is without Michael. He was also accusing Jackson's detractors - anyone in the press who brought up all the scandals in their coverage - as being racist and hate-filled. In death Michael is being rehabilitated and mythologized beyond all imagining. Sharpton:

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The Rev. Al Sharpton has delivered a sermon in Los Angeles where he called for nationwide "love vigils" for Michael Jackson on Tuesday.

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The civil rights activist addressed congregants at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church on Sunday.

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Sharpton is urging people to gather in schools, community centers and churches to honor Jackson on Tuesday, when a public memorial service will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. - AP

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My biggest surprise yet regarding the eulogies piling up in honor of Jackson came from Vox Nova with the most over-the-top post I have ever read on that blog: Michael Jackson: The Man in the Mirror.

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Reflecting on the 1980s and early 1990s, one labors to imagine a more heroic episode in history’s hard march against tyranny. Liberty sprang up amidst a near bloodless convulsion, and took a daring but peaceful step forward. It was in the intensity of this revolutionary fervor that the artistry of Michael Jackson towered as a beacon of light for those struggling to be free. - Gerald Campbell

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I will never again be embarrassed about anything I post on my blog.

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Most recent beatified model of purity.

Bl. Albertina Berkenbrock (1919-1931)
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From the Holy See website:
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"Albertina Berkenbrock was born on 11 April 1919 in São Luís, Imaruí, Santa Catarina, Brazil. She was baptized on 25 May 1919 and confirmed on 9 March 1925. She made her First Holy Communion on 16 August 1928.
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Albertina grew up in a devout family. She willingly helped her parents at home and on the land. At an early age she learned to pray with deep devotion and was strong in the practice of her Catholic faith. She spoke of her First Communion Day as the most beautiful day of her life and had special devotion to Our Lady and to St Aloysius Gonzaga, a model of purity and the Patron Saint of São Luís.
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At school Albertina was a model for her peers and a cause of admiration to adults. Her teachers especially praised her spirituality and morals, superior to children of her age. She was a diligent student who knew her Catechism and kept God's Commandments.
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At home, when her brothers teased and taunted her, as siblings do, she would not retaliate. With her Christian upbringing, even the childhood games she played reflected her deep religious sense. She played happily with the poorest children and shared her bread with them.
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At home, she was especially loving to the children of an employee of her father; while unknown to her, that man would become her future assassin.
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One day when Albertina was searching for a runaway bullock she came across Maneco loading beans into his cart. When she asked him if he had seen the bullock he pointed in the wrong direction to entice her to a place where he could satisfy his lust without attracting attention.
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Innocently, Albertina followed Maneco's directions and came to a wooded area. On hearing twigs cracking she turned, thinking it was the bullock, and found herself face to face with Maneco. She was petrified.
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He informed her of his intentions but she firmly refused him. Albertina fought hard for her virtue. Even when he threw her to the ground, she did her best to cover herself. Furious at having been morally defeated by the young girl, Maneco grasped her by the hair and slit her throat with a knife." - Finish reading here.
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Image source.
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Also: News report on Youtube. Another here.

Weird politics...

What's the deal with Palin? Is she quitting to head the secessionist movement up in Alaska? Is there some scandal going to break about her?

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Looks to me like she couldn't finish the job she started. So far I haven't been impressed by any woman in politics. Can't think of one I'd want as President.

True friendship

Happy Independence Day.

Another POV on TOB.

Not your ordinary pop-theologian-sex-therapist's POV either...
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Fr. Maurizio Faggioni, OFM, a professor at the top pontifical institute for moral theology, the Pontifical Academy “Alphonsianum,” said in a recent interview with Catholic News Agency that the teachings of the Church suggest “far more prudence” in approaching some of the issues raised by Christopher West in his presentation of the Theology of the Body.
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Faggioni, a Franciscan who teaches at the Alphonsianum, an academy named upon the father of modern Moral theology, St. Alphonsus of Liguori, is one of the most consulted moral theologians and is an advisor to several Vatican dicasteries.
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In a conversation with CNA, Fr. Faggioni explained that some of the issues discussed publicly by West, such as the appropriateness of anal sex or other forms of sexual “foreplay” in married relationships, have to be dealt with using great care, since “the risk is of displacing the attention from marital love and the anthropologic meaning of lovely gestures to merely the genital aspects.”
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“Sexuality,” Fr. Faggioni said, launching into his analysis West's presentation of the Theology of the Body, “is the language of love and this language is authentic only when it is respectful of the meaning of human love.”
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Fr. Faggioni said that “it is simply not true that the traditional Catholic morality supports the use of acts that Thomas Aquinas call contra naturam -against nature- (such as anal sex) as something ordinary.”
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Regarding the practice of blessing the genitals before a sexual relationship, Fr. Faggioni expressed “real perplexity.” “Without doubt, all the body in each one of its parts is God’s creation and deserves honor. We precisely respect our private parts by surrounding them with greater respect and modesty.”
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“In itself,” he continued, “nothing forbids thanking God for the sexual body of oneself or the spouse, but from the perspective of Christian anthropology, it is not right to emphasize the genitals as if our sexuality could be reduced to them. “Love is made with all the body, with the entire person’s humanity, not only with the genitals.”
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“This is not prudishness, but the wisdom of the Church that has time and again demonstrated the importance of discretion and prudence when it comes to sexual issues,” he added. - Finish reading here.

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Art: Adam and Eve - Tamara de Lempicka

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

July 4 is the feast day of Bl. Pier Giorgio, shown above partying with his friends. [Pier Giorgio is the one wearing the paper hat.]

Amazing face found on pebble...

Full frontal.

Profile.

Profile detail.

THE FACE IN THE ROCK.
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As I sat in my garden praying the rosary today, I noticed this pebble (shown) amidst the gravel. I tried to ignore it, but I kept looking back at it, no matter how hard I fought against the temptation to curiosity - my eyes were drawn to it. I got up to walk about the yard, yet something pulled me back to the strange little rock which seemed to stand out from the countless other stones. Once I finished my prayers, I picked up the tiny stone and immediately noticed the face. I stared in stunned silence, tears streaming down my face. I dropped to my knees and let out a loud, extended breath.... ohhhhhhhhhhhhh! It was the face of John Paul I! I immediately decided to photograph it - as you can see, my hands were trembling. I mounted the face on a brass orb with a miniscule piece of wax - and suddenly I understood: Volto Santo Padre! Faccio d'luna!
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The face on the moon - John Paul - the prophecy of Malachy - De Medietate Lunae! IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!

Rabbits really do dance at midnight.

One dark night...

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Last evening my friends, Puppy and Kitty came by on their way home from Kitty's birthday dinner. Kitty had on a very pretty pink dress with lots of ruffles and petticoats, which filled the front seat of the little truck they drive - her skirt popping up every once in awhile hiding her pretty little face. Puppy of course was wearing the smart little tux he wore at their wedding, along with his little top hat that he cut holes in for his big floppy ears.

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We visited for quite awhile and waved at one another through the bay window. Puppy was on his cell phone with Kitty, and I was in the house on my phone of course. I explained to them that the doors were locked and the cats in bed and I was just going to fix a late supper - I eat very late you know - so we contented ourselves with speaking on the phone and waving through the bay window, laughing and making silly faces. I love guests!

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Later, much later, as I was just getting into bed, I noticed the rabbits prancing about the yard, in circles and roundabouts, sometimes leaping, sometimes rolling. They made their way across the street into the park where they seemed to chase one another zig-zagging their way through the flower beds, almost flipping their way back onto the street. Then suddenly, they became very still, flopping down as if lounging together, perhaps absorbing a bit of the warmth yet remaining in the day-warmed pavement, they appeared to rest. Before I knew it, actually in a split of a split second, with a great leap, one of the rabbits seemed to fly onto the front lawn again, followed in quick pursuit by her partner, dancing about until they finally disappeared into the hedge.

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I remained standing in the dark, gazing out the window for I don't know how long a time, pondering a few stanzas from a poet I love....

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one dark night,

i went out unseen,

my house being now all stilled.

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on that glad night,

in secret,

for no one saw me,

nor did i look at anything,

with no other light or guide,

than the one that burned

in my heart...

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but where have you hidden,

beloved, and left me moaning?

you fled like a stag

after wounding me;

i went out calling you,

and you were gone.

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why since you wounded

this heart

don't you heal it?

and why since you stole it from me,

do you leave it so,

and fail to carry off

what you have stolen.

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extinguish these miseries

since no one else can...

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do not hold me bound

with these so strong bonds;

how i long to see

you;

i am so wholly miserable

that i die

because

i do not die.

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After my prayer, as I crawled into bed I whispered to the cats, "rabbits really do dance at midnight!" But they knew that.

Change, change, change...

Mother of Cherilyn Sarkasian LaPier, are these people nuts?!

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In the gay community coming out is a sort of ordination ritual proclaiming, "You are a gay forever, according to the order of... whatever." - and there are no dispensations after that - unless the person decides to go transgender. That doctrine could change however if recent studies can be verified. Heresy you say? Read on...

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"Back in 1973, Dr. Robert Spitzer persuaded the American Psychiatric Association to stop classifying homosexuality as a mental disorder. More than two decades later, the same Dr. Spitzer finds his new research out of step with the prevailing view of homosexuality that he helped create. He says his five-year study of 200 people shows that homosexuals can change their sexual preference.

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“I think I’ve always been somebody who likes to challenge prevailing orthodoxies,” said Spitzer, chief of biometrics research and professor of psychiatry at New York’s Columbia University. “There was an orthodoxy in 1973, and there is a recent orthodoxy in the mental-health profession which makes this kind of a taboo question to even ask.”

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Spitzer’s study of 143 males and 57 females was presented May 9 at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting and since has been met with praise from conservative groups and criticism from homosexual activists. He will also present it to the Catholic Conference on Healing for the Homosexual next month at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

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Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons of the Catholic Medical Association, which in November released “Homosexuality and Hope” for Catholic physicians, educators, clergy, parents and mental health professionals, said he feels vindicated by the Spitzer study. “It’s encouraging to see a man of science who is able to document what we are stating.”

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“Homosexuality and Hope” calls homosexuality a preventable and treatable condition and says it is not genetically determined and unchangeable. “Our statement says that there is no such thing as a homosexual identity. ... It is a state of emotional woundedness which can be healed,” said Fitzgibbons, a Philadelphia psychiatrist who helped head the task force that produced the document. " - Continue...

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Shifters.

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Other researchers presented opposing studies showing that their subjects reported suffering mental stress or emotional pain from the treatment used to overcome homosexuality. "Of the few [24 out 202] who succeeded in making changes, Schroeder and Shidlo said six were what researchers called “heterosexual shifters,” people who were able to shift from being attracted to the same gender to the opposite sex. The other 18, they said, continued to struggle with same-sex desires. “Some labeled themselves as heterosexual, eight or nine took no label at all, and many were asexual or celibate,” Schroeder said.

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Shidlo said the study found that most people felt they experienced success early on in their therapy, but failed later: “Some people that we spoke to who failed to change said that had we spoken to them at some point earlier in their journey, they would have told us that they succeeded.” - Same Source

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My thoughts.
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As I've said before - any individual seeking any sort of therapy must be strongly motivated to do so - few in this culture have that motivation - wanting it for them is neither practical or effective. One needs to remember what the Catechism teaches: “Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection” (No. 2359).

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In other words such persons are called to holiness, and by following this path, one's passions are eventually quelled and the person actually begins to experience the freedom of spirit and peace that are the guarantee of the promises of Christ... and persecution besides. Temptations are never absent to anyone in this life however, and in many cases, especially with young people, subsequent falls - but as Catholics we have the assurance of the sacrament of penance to restore us to grace. So not to worry so much about changing orientation - just stay in the state of grace: "Seek first his kingship over you, his way of holiness, and all these things will be given you besides." - Matt. 6:33

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"Do not, then, surrender your confidence; it will have great reward. You need patience to do God's will and receive what he promised." - Hebrews 10: 35-36 (The virtue of patience is sustained by the infused virtue of fortitude and the Holy Spirit's gift of fortitude, if it is lost, we can recover it through the sacrament of penance, this trust in the mercy of God bolsters our confidence.)

The Spendthrifts in Congress...

Nice work if you can get it.
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A couple of weeks ago Barry took Shelley to dinner - in NYC - they live in Washington - but you knew that. Kind of an expensive date, huh?
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Today the WSJ filed an interesting report concerning the extravagant travel budget enjoyed by Congressional representatives, and in some cases - their partners, keep in mind these are some of the same people who blasted auto executives for flying around in corporate jets.
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WASHINGTON -- Spending by lawmakers on taxpayer-financed trips abroad has risen sharply in recent years, a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records shows, involving everything from war-zone visits to trips to exotic spots such as the Galápagos Islands.
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The spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and has nearly tripled since 2001, according to the Journal analysis of 60,000 travel records. Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That's a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago.
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The cost of so-called Congressional delegations, known among lawmakers as "codels," has risen nearly 70% since 2005, when an influence-peddling scandal led to a ban on travel funded by lobbyists, according to the data.
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The Journal analysis, based on information published in the Congressional Record, also shows that taxpayer-funded travel is a big and growing perk for lawmakers and their families. - Story

The Blood of the Lamb

Blood of Christ, hope of the penitent, save us.

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As we now approach the feast and month devoted to honouring Christ's Blood ---- the price of our redemption, the pledge of salvation and life eternal -- may Christians meditate on it more fervently, may they savour its fruits more frequently in sacramental communion. Let their meditations on the boundless power of the Blood be bathed in the light of sound biblical teaching and the doctrine of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church. How truly precious is this Blood is voiced in the song which the Church sings with the Angelic Doctor (sentiments wisely seconded by our predecessor Clement VI [10] ) :

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Blood that but one drop of has the world to win
All the world forgiveness of its world of sin. [11]

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Unlimited is the effectiveness of the God-Man's Blood -- just as unlimited as the love that impelled him to pour it out for us, first at his circumcision eight days after birth, and more profusely later on in his agony in the garden,[12] in his scourging and crowning with thorns, in his climb to Calvary and crucifixion, and finally from out that great wide wound in his side which symbolizes the divine Blood cascading down into all the Church's sacraments. Such sur passing love suggests, nay demands, that everyone reborn in the torrents of that Blood adore it with grateful love.

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If only Christians would reflect more frequently on the fatherly warning of the first pope: "Look anxiously, then, to the ordering of your lives while your stay on earth lasts.

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You know well enough that your ransom was not paid in earthly currency, silver or gold; it was paid in the precious blood of Christ; no lamb was ever so pure, so spotless a victim."[15] If only they would lend a more eager ear to the apostle of the Gentiles: "A great price was paid to ransom you; glorify God by making your bodies the shrines of his presence."[16] Their upright lives would then be the shining ex ample they ought to be; Christ's Church would far more effectively fulfill its mission to men. God wants all men to be saved,[17] for he has willed that they should all be ransomed by the Blood of his only-begotten Son; he calls them all to be members of the one Mystical Body whose head is Christ. If only men would be more responsive to these promptings of his grace, how much the bonds of brotherly love among individuals and peoples and nations would be strengthened. Life in society would be so much more peaceable, so much worthier of God and the human nature created in his image and likeness.[18] - ON PROMOTING DEVOTION TO THE MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, Bl. John XXIII

Chip 'n Dale reenact...

Islamic extremists behead Christian boys in Kenya.

NAIROBI, Kenya, July 1 (Compass Direct News) – Islamic extremists have beheaded two young boys in Somalia because their Christian father refused to divulge information about a church leader, and the killers are searching Kenya’s refugee camps to do the same to the boys’ father.
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Before taking his Somali family to a Kenyan refugee camp in April, 55-year-old Musa Mohammed Yusuf himself was the leader of an underground church in Yonday village, 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Kismayo in Somalia. He had received instruction in the Christian faith from Salat Mberwa.
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Militants from the Islamic extremist group al Shabaab entered Yonday village on Feb. 20, went to Yusuf’s house and interrogated him on his relationship with Mberwa, leader of a fellowship of 66 Somali Christians who meet at his home at an undisclosed city. Yusuf told them he knew nothing of Mberwa and had no connection with him. The Islamic extremists left but said they would return the next day.
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“Immediately when they left, I decided to flee my house for Kismayo, for I knew for sure they were determined to come back,” Yusuf said.
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At noon the next day, as his wife was making lunch for their children in Yonday, the al Shabaab militants showed up. Batula Ali Arbow, Yusuf’s wife, recalled that their youngest son, Innocent, told the group that their father had left the house the previous day.
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The Islamic extremists ordered her to stop what she was doing and took hold of three of her sons – 11-year-old Abdi Rahaman Musa Yusuf, 12-year-old Hussein Musa Yusuf and Abdulahi Musa Yusuf, 7. Some neighbors came and pleaded with the militants not to harm the three boys. Their pleas landed on deaf ears. - Read the rest here.
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I'm amazed by what Americans consider a hate crime after reading something like this.

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool Helen Thomas

White House Reporters Grill Gibbs Over ‘Prepackaged’ Questions for Obama.
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"The point is the control from here. We have never had that in the White House. And we have had some control but not this control. I mean I'm amazed, I'm amazed at you people who call for openness and transparency and you have controlled..." veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas said Wednesday. - View the video.

Wait a minute, wait a minute!

Snap out of it!

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I decided I'm not going to shut up regarding the truth...

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"...the Congregation took note of the distinction commonly drawn between the homosexual condition or tendency and individual homosexual actions. These were described as deprived of their essential and indispensable finality, as being "intrinsically disordered", and able in no case to be approved of (cf. n. 8, $4).

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In the discussion which followed the publication of the Declaration, however, an overly benign interpretation was given to the homosexual condition itself, some going so far as to call it neutral, or even good. Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder.

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Therefore special concern and pastoral attention should be directed toward those who have this condition, lest they be led to believe that the living out of this orientation in homosexual activity is a morally acceptable option. It is not." - LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ON THE PASTORAL CARE OF HOMOSEXUAL PERSONS

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Thanks to Ignatius Insight Scoop for the critique of the Obama group hug of the gay community yesterday, I don't feel so alone...

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After so much propaganda, mythology, falsehoods, spin, social pressure, educational programs, television shows, movies, and, now, presidential public relation campaigns, there are still some of us who believe that "homosexual acts [are] acts of grave depravity", they "are intrinsically disordered", they "are contrary to the natural law", they "close the sexual act to the gift of life", and they "do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity." I, for once, still believe, in the words of the Catechism, that "under no circumstances can they be approved." And I also believe, just as strongly, that those with deep-seated homosexual tendencies "must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided" (CCC, pars. 2357-9). - A couple of thoughts about Obama's "Hey, You're Gay, Hurray!" Day

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Yeah - It ain't over 'till the fat lady sings.

Dancing on Michael's grave.

The spectacle.
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Everyone is out to make a buck or get themselves on camera - the shot above is the Rev. Al Sharpton dancing at the Apollo in a "celebration" of Michael's life. The black community is obviously very forgiving of Jackson's life-long effort to make himself white - although in the past he was roundly mocked, criticized, and generally disavowed for it.
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Sharpton told the crowd that Jackson "broke down race barriers." He and Director Spike Lee urged the audience to revel in Jackson accomplishments and disregard what they characterized as negative news coverage of the star.
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"Michael made young men and women all over the world imitate us," Sharpton said. "Before Michael, we were limited and ghettoized. But Michael put on a colorful military outfit, he pulled his pants up, he put on the one glove, and he smashed the barriers of segregated music." - Story
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What an opportunist. What a racist.

New focus for the blog.

July.

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June is over and July is here. July is full of feast days I love. Today is the Precious Blood and Bl Junipero Serra. Saturday is Bl. Pier Giorgio, Monday Maria Goretti, and the crown jewel of feasts is July 16, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel... I'll save my fireworks for Our Lady.

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Pride month - the President declared it such - is over. There will be a moratorium on that subject on this blog for as long as I can keep my mouth shut. (And don't start counting the days.) I hate to sound defeatist, but like I said in a post a day or two ago - it's over. Gay marriage, gay education, gay, gay, gay - it's gone mainstream - just like contraception and abortion.

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Better start homeschooling and hurry into the ark.

There are unjust laws to overturn and unfair practices to stop. - Barack Obama

The President closed LGBT Pride celebrations and offered the gay community a bone...

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Gay activists have been pretty upset with the Obama Administration for not moving fast enough with their agenda. Last night Obama may have calmed a few of their fears.

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"President Barack Obama implicitly endorsed the entire homosexual agenda in the remarks he made yesterday commemorating the 40th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots by homosexual activists in New York.

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Here is Obama’s blanket endorsement of homosexual rights, delivered near the conclusion of his comments:

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'We must continue to do our part to make progress — step by step, law by law, mind by changing mind. And I want you to know that in this task I will not only be your friend; I will continue to be an ally and a champion and a president who fights with you and for you.'

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Earlier in his talk, delivered at the first-ever “LGBT Pride Month reception” at the White House, Obama provided a detailed shopping list of the specific actions he has made or intends to make in order to accommodate the demands of the homosexual lobby. And the president made some dismissive references to the majority of Americans who continue to oppose the bid by homosexual activists to portray homosexuality as normal sexual behavior and their efforts to redefine marriage to make homosexual unions equal in law to authentic marriages between men and women.

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Said Obama, “There are still fellow citizens, perhaps neighbors or even family members and loved ones, who still hold fast to worn arguments and old attitudes; who fail to see your families like their families; and who would deny you the rights that most Americans take for granted.” - Source

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(When asked how citizens might be convinced to accept gay lifestyles as equal to heteronormal ones, a source close to the White House stated emphatically, "Zhay vill be reprogrammed immejiately!")

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And they all lived happily ever after.
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THE END
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Links:
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REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENTAT LGBT PRIDE MONTH RECEPTION