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This strikes me as a very reasonable thing to do. This from the official newspaper for the Diocese of Green Bay, WI:

Sometimes, a timeout is needed to review the facts.

That’s what the Diocese of Green Bay is doing this year with the annual collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). Normally on the fourth Sunday of Lent parishes in the Diocese of Green Bay take up a collection titled The World’s Poor, which benefits three outreach ministries: Peter’s Pence (work of the Holy Father), Catholic Relief Services (U.S. bishops’ disaster relief aid) and CCHD.

This year, however, donations to The World’s Poor will be shared between Peter’s Pence and Catholic Relief Services only.

“There have been some questions about programs that have received funding from CCHD,” says Fr. John Doerfler, vicar general and chancellor for the Diocese of Green Bay. “That, along with the enormous post-earthquake needs in Haiti, we decided this is an appropriate time to give additional support to Catholic Relief Services while we analyze the situation with CCHD.”

On a typical year, 75% of this collection goes outside the diocese to the CCHD national coffers.

I’ve blogged about my concerns over the CCHD before. I’m happy that the diocese of Green Bay can now spend the full 100% of this collection on local Catholic charities, under local supervision. I would urge other dioceses to consider doing the same.

update: I should mention that I doubt this decision was made without the explicit permission of the diocese’s bishop: Most Rev. David L. Ricken (pictured above).

For the third day in a row, I am posting publicly-available information about the activities of St. Francis Xavier Church which I argue constitute a grave scandal to Christian faith and morals.

Sadly, St. Francis Xavier represents a microcosm of the tendency in many Catholic parishes to pass over the Church’s teaching on human sexuality and dignity and replace it with the sexual “liberation” and dysfunction celebrated by the homosexual community.

After the jump, more evidence that St. Francis Xavier is in grave need of conversion.

Read the rest of this entry »

As Anglican bishops in the UK lobby for gay marriage ceremonies in their churches, married life is becoming more difficult for heterosexual Catholics in this country:

Last Valentine’s day, Feb 14, Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral offered married couples a chance to celebrate their spousal fidelity by renewing their vows to each other during Mass. Yet in order to do so, couples had to pass through an angry crowd of “gay rights” protestors who marched by the steps of the cathedral, accusing Church hierarchy of hatred toward gays and telling parishioners to “stop funding the bigots!”

Police refused to interrupt the demonstration, despite laws that prohibit protesting near places of worship while services are ongoing.

Chicago lawyer Nora Doherty, who was present during the demonstration, recounted via Renew America’s Matt Abbott how “one of the particularly angry protesters yelled at my three-year-old daughter, ‘Little girl, I hope you grow up to be gay so that your mother will disown you and you can know how I feel!’” (LifeSiteNews)

This sort of thing happens. And yet we never hear it reported in the mainstream. Can you imagine if a group of Christians went to protest a same-sex union in this horrendous manner?

Meanwhile the New York Times reports matter-of-factly on the organized, well-financed efforts to unseat politicians who dared to vote down a gay marriage initiative in New York. These interests represent tens of millions of dollars in this targeted environment alone.

If you read the article you will notice that the homosexual organizations do not attack politicians for their position on marriage. Instead, they use any means at their disposal (including bringing up old criminal charges) to take down their opponents.

Why? Because they know Americans support traditional marriage. But I wonder if Americans know why gay activists are trying to influence their vote?

Related: Catholics Organize to Promote Gay Marriage  - Inside Catholic

Paul Kengor checks the facts, and finds Hillary’s resolve wanting:

[Reporter] Belz caught Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s keynote at [the recent] National Prayer Breakfast, where Clinton extolled the “common ground” she once found with Mother Teresa. The two had come together to open an adoption center, the Mother Teresa Home for Infant Children, near the northwest section of Washington, D.C. In a 30-minute address, Clinton devoted five minutes to the home.

I certainly wasn’t surprised by the reference. The home is a warm example of Hillary Clinton and Mother Teresa—rabid abortion advocate and abortion opponent—joining in a wonderful cause. Mrs. Clinton touts it whenever she can.

Belz, however, had a thought: Why not call the home to see how things are going? She did just that, only to find it closed—for almost 10 years now.

Hmmm, Clinton and her spokespersons never mentioned that.

… Has Mrs. Clinton known that the home has been shut down, all the while boasting about it in books, statements, interviews, and no less than the keynote at the 2010 National Prayer Breakfast? (Weekly Standard)

Let’s hope the adoption home doesn’t still appear in Mrs. Clinton’s tax write-offs.

I’ve watched a lot of interviews and I was so impressed by Catherine Davis and her explanation on CNN for why her Georgia Right to Life organization has placed almost 80 billboards across the Atlanta metro area with the provocative message: “Black Children are an Endangered Species.”

As Catherine points out: “Georgia leads the country in the number of reported abortions performed on black women; 18,901 in 2008 alone.” Here is her complete appearance on CNN:

Knowledgeable. Calm. Confident. Passionate. Compassionate.

These are the traits to exhibit (and pray for) when you have an opportunity to witness for life before a mainstream audience.

And they have an amazing website.

The beautiful:

Dignitaries preview ‘Sacred Made Real’ exhibit at National Gallery of Art

Moments after walking through “The Sacred Made Real” – an emotionally searing exhibit of Spanish paintings and sculptures from 1600-1700 that will be on display at the National Gallery of Art in Washington from Feb. 28 through May 31 – the Vatican’s apostolic nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, said, “Some of these images will remain forever in the eyes and hearts of visitors.”

… The exhibit was organized by the National Gallery of Art in Washington and by the National Gallery in London, where it was on display from Oct. 21 to Jan. 24. (Archdiocesan newspaper of Washington, DC)

The not:

“WOMEN & SPIRIT: Catholic Sisters in America” is a traveling exhibit sponsored by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in association with Cincinnati Museum Center. It reveals the mystery behind a small group of innovative American women who helped shape the nation’s social and cultural landscape. (Official website)

It is currently exhibited in the Smithsonian. The actual content might be okay, but I’m skeptical considering every single one of the nuns involved couldn’t be troubled to wear their habit for the official photo (I mean, not even a veil?).

Fr. Frank Pavone has invited me to participate with him on a conference call this Thursday evening, February 25, from 9 to 10pm ET. The call is part of the “Vote Pro-life” Coalition, which seeks to help listeners gear up for the 2010 elections.

This is an interactive format, so you will be able to submit and ask questions during the hour. You can join this month’s webcast live here tomorrow (a recording of last month’s webcast can be heard here).

The Vote Pro-Life Coalition focuses on non-partisan activities. For example, their first major joint activity is the promotion of non-partisan voter registration drives in Churches and other venues. Particular Sundays in 2010 have been designated as “Voter Registration Sundays”, which for 2010 are Sunday, March 14; Sunday, May 23; Sunday, July 4; and Sunday, September 12.

I believe that if more Catholics are involved in politics and voting, this is a good thing. Please join us this Thursday night!

Over at the APP blog I’m reporting on breaking news that Rep. John Boehner has requested that President Obama invite Rep. Bart Stupak – author of the abortion-neutral Stupak house amendment – to the President’s bipartisan health care summit tomorrow.

Simply put, Rep. Stupak’s amendment was the most bipartisan thing to happen during the crafting of the House version of the health care bill.

A majority of democrat and republican congressmen – as well as the majority of American men and women – agree that federal dollars shouldn’t be going to subsidize abortions. 

If Obama fails to invite Stupak, it will be a clear sign that he simply does not welcome pro-life interests to his negotiating table. Period.

APP has also launched a Support the Stupak Coalition effort on Facebook.

A couple weeks ago I completed an interview with Lisa Hendey. I’m eager to hear the final version and will let readers know as soon as it is online at the Catholic Moments podcast home.

Lisa recently published her first book, The Handbook for Catholic Moms, and I just received my copy in the mail. It’s available here on Amazon.

It’s very exciting to see the best of the “mommy bloggers” getting a chance to share their wisdom with more of the world.

My first impression is that this book would make an excellent gift for your mother , wife or … well, it would be jumping the gun to give it to your girlfriend, unless she knows how to take it the right way. Maybe give it to her mother.

I’m looking forward to meeting Lisa in person later this year – but that’s a surprise for another time.

Click here for full-size version.

Description: “It’s no secret that the distribution of wealth is inequitable in the United States across racial, regional, and socio-economic groups. But there is a distinct variance among and within America’s faiths as well. This transparency takes a look at the income levels of America’s major religious groups, as compared to the average U.S. income distribution.”

It’s not often that something I’m reading stops me in my tracks. This did, however:

When I was in middle school hanging out by the local shopping plaza, I saw these two kids (a year younger than I) riding their bikes around. Don’t ask me why, but I had this sudden urge to talk to one of them. Just that one. But I had nothing to say. He was younger, I never seen him before, and he was with his friend I was with mine. So I just kept walking, and looking back every now and then as if making sure he’s still there; Okay.

A few minutes later this kid got hit by a car crossing the highway by the shopping plaza. People started running to his side, cars stopped, and at that point I was the furthest one away. My friend and I went over and saw a helmet on one side, a smashed bike on a completely different side.

Why did I have this ridiculous urge to talk to a complete stranger? Why didn’t I just say hi, anything, that would stop him for just one second before he got onto that highway?

… How many times did we have a gut feeling, or an intuition, and didn’t go with it? What if we could be saving someone’s life every day if we just said what we felt, did what we knew was right, followed the journey we were meant to follow? That day changed me. 

I’ve often thought these intuitions are given to us by our guardian angels – seriously. And if the intuition doesn’t have any harm in it (i.e., simply talking to someone or calling someone on the phone), why not do it? An angel will never tempt you do something that a well-formed conscience knows is wrong. But we may tempt ourselves out of doing something that we don’t think is easy.

Yesterday I wrote about a situation at St. Francis Xavier church in New York City. After presenting my evidence, I asked AmP readers to contact the Archdiocese of New York so they can look into it and take the appropriate action.

One of my readers also sent a note to the pastor of the parish, Fr. Joe Costantino. Here is what he wrote back:

Like Jesus, who founded the Church, we minister to all peoples, Jews and Gentiles, saint and sinners, rich and poor. We are to be compassionate and loving to all, would you not agree? We have a welcome table in which the poor are fed, a place each night for the homeless to be sheltered, an opportunity each week for families with children to gather for catechesis, a place for young adults to explore what it is to be single in NYC, and yes we also provide an opportunity for those with same sex orientation to gather to explore together how to spiritually grow closer to God. Being male or female, black, white, Asian or Latino is a given as is being heterosexual, bisexual or gay. Minsitering to all these various people created by God is not suggesting anything but care and compassion. I am sorry if you think welcome and outreach along with love and care for all peoples without discrimination is not Catholic or of Christ. However, we here at St. Francis Xavier endeavor to follow as closely as we can the Gospels which show Jesus time and again as one who welcomed, ministered, healed, and eat [sic] with all sorts of people. I trust you and all Catholics who profess to follow Jesus as disciples are each and every day doing so as well without prejudice or discrimination, but showing in word and deed enormous love and compassion for saint and sinner alike.

I find his response unsatisfying, and even condescending. Let’s try to set the record straight.

I am not impugning the validity of being compassionate and loving to all: I’m saying I do not think it is compassionate and loving to encourage people in harmful behavior that violates their human dignity. Homosexual acts do not allow someone to grow spiritually closer to God. Being homosexual is not exactly like being male or female: it creates a unique challenge to living a holy and upright life. Nor is it “discriminating” to tell people that some lifestyles are inappropriate and wrong. The lifestyle championed by “Gay Pride” parades in this country – which this parish supports – is not a Christian lifestyle. 

Let’s talk about what Jesus taught us through his ministry to sinners: that sin keeps us from Him. Whenever Jesus associated himself with the sinners, prostitutes and thieves, he always called them to repentance. Is this what happens in this parish’s encounters with persons who have a homosexual orientation?  How does hosting a Cabaret, an event with a very specific meaning to the homosexual community, bring people closer to Christ’s love? How can one love by hiding the truth, especially the truth about the consequences of sexual sin? We live in a culture that constantly tries to obscure the supernatural vision of sexuality and human dignity which Christ reveals – is this parish a sign of contradiction against this evil lie, or an accomplice?

In a concrete way, 1) does Fr. Joe Costantino support the authentic ministry offered to homosexual persons through organizations such as Courage? 2) Does he support the clear teaching of the Church as described well by Deacon Keith Fournier here? And does he condemn his own parish’s sponsorship of the the event last week promoting Equality Ride 2010, created by the anti-Catholic organization Soul Force?

Fr. Joe has some explaining to do, to all Catholics who “profess to follow Jesus as disciples.”

If you think Fr. Joe should explain all this to the Archdiocese of New York, let them know at Communications@archny.org.

Photo: The Church of Saint Francis Xavier online photo album.