CatholicVoteAction.org

Some reports of this accident filtered there way to me last night, and I asked my twitter followers to begin praying. It turns out Doug Kmiec – notable Catholic for Obama and current U.S.  ambassador to Malta – was in a serious car accident yesterday:

Douglas Kmiec, current US Ambassador to Malta, was reported to have been involved in a serious car accident yesterday afternoon in Malibu, California.

Sister Mary Campbell from Our Lady of Malibu Catholic Church was killed in a one-car collision at Las Virgenes Canyon Road and Mulholland Drive on Wednesday afternoon.

Monsignor John Sheridan from OLM and former Pepperdine University law professor Douglas Kmiec were injured in the crash. They were reported to be in good condition following surgeries.

Press reports said that California Highway Patrol had limited information about the accident on Wednesday. (Malta Times)

The reports I heard was that Mr. Kmiec was doing well but Monsignor Sheridan was in need of more prayers.

It goes without saying that, while I realize many AmP readers are not huge fans of Mr. Kmiec’s recent legacy, only appropriate prayer intentions will be permitted in this comment thread.

This is a breaking story.

Miles Jesu has communities in the United States in the Archdiocese of Chicago, Diocese of Phoenix, and also operates in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. In England the group operates in the Diocese of Westminster. It is a community of both consecrated men and lay associates (”Vinculum”).

Yesterday they issued a statement on the homepage of their website. Evidently they have just finished completing an Apostolic Visitation. The situation affords many parallels with the recent visitation undergone by the Legionaries of Christ. Here is the most important part of thecommuniqué:

In a Decree issued on March 25, 2009, Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the Pope’s Vicar for the Diocese of Rome, named me, Fr. Barry Fischer, C.PP.S., as Commissary for Miles Jesu invested with full authority. The mandate is to write a new Constitution which defines the charism, spirituality, and apostolic nature of the Institute; to develop adequate vocational discernment and formation policies (ratio formationis); to review the financial policies, and in general to completely revise all its practices and customs.

During the past seventeen months, I have worked closely with the membership in pursuit of this mandate, as well as with former members who have left during or after the Apostolic Visitation. In time it has become clear and undeniable, that the Founder, Fr. Alfonso Durán, presented erratic behaviors that were totally beyond the scope of the powers given to him. Some members have identified wounds caused by the inappropriate exercise of authority under his leadership. The mistaken sense of allegiance and obedience instilled in the membership facilitated his behavior, which was totally unacceptable and not in accord with the discipline of the Church nor supportable in any way by a healthy sense of consecrated life.

Members who challenged his actions or behavior were often ostracized. The internal discipline and customs of the Institute provided protection for the Founder. It must be said in justice, that most of the members had no idea of the improper conduct of the Founder. Some of the allegations against Fr. Duran are hearsay and have not been verified. However, many are factual. It is important for all that the truth be disclosed, which is the reason for this public statement.

I have several quick observations to make:

• In sharp contrast with the situation of the Legionaries, it does not appear that Fr. Alfonso Duran, founder of Miles Jesu, was guilty of grave sexual sin. Rather, his infraction was “authoritarian” in nature. In other words, he considered himself above some of the laws of the Church, and used this false sense of authority to the detriment of those in consecrated life.
• As in the case of the Legion, Milus Jesu struggles with an accurately-defined charism, proper discernment techniques and practices, possible financial misdealings, and lack of competent oversight concerning its practices and customs.
• These failings have resulted in many members of the religious community leaving the order.
• As with the Legion, many in Milus Jesu live worthy lives dedicated to pursuing the will of God. The purpose of the visitation has been to free them of the harmful practices that are keeping them from living their vocation fully.
• On behalf of the Church, the visitator (Fr. Barry Fischer, CPPS): has “expressed [his] deep concern for all those members, former members and family members who may have been hurt in the past due to the manner in which authority was exercised.” He is also thankful for the courage of those who made the problems within the order known to the Holy See.

The final paragraph of the communiqué is instructive:

Though this communication may come as a surprise and be painful to many members, Vinculum members, and friends of Miles Jesu, the truth cannot be hidden. Only in truth can a better and healthier future for Miles Jesu be achieved. The work of renewal is already in progress and there is enthusiasm for the future that the members are building together. United in prayer and in fraternal love, and assured of the Church’s motherly care, we will get through this time of difficulty and come to the dawning of a new day. We walk towards that day in hope and trust in God’s loving care and protection.

Would that the Legionaries of Christ, for instance, had operated under the principle that the truth cannot be hidden, and that only in the truth can a better and healthier future be achieved.

The Milus Jesu website states, “All our members will be very grateful for your prayerful support in this time of renewal.” 

They can be assured of my prayers personally, and I would ask the AmP community to join in this prayer.

From the Rome beaureau of the Catholic News Service, some breaking news:

Pope Benedict XVI apparently gave a remarkable [off-the-cuff, apparently] homily at Mass today with members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, speaking about the clerical sex abuse crisis as an opportunity for the church to do real penance.

The pope first referred to a ”subtle or not so subtle aggression against the church” as a form of modern conformism ”under which it becomes obligatory to think as everyone thinks, to act as everyone acts.” Such conformism can become a dictatorship, he said.

Then he said the “attacks” against the church present an opportunity for purification and transformation through penance.

I must say that we Christians, even in recent times, have often avoided the word ‘penance,’ which seemed too harsh to us. Now, under the attacks of the world that speaks to us of our sins, we see that being able to do penance is a grace and we see how it is necessary to do penance, that is, to recognize what is mistaken in our life, to open oneself to forgiveness, to prepare oneself for forgiveness, to allow oneself to be transformed. The pain of penance, that is to say of purification and of transformation, this pain is grace, because it is renewal, and it is the work of Divine Mercy.

As Vatican officials were still preparing the release of the papal text, Vatican Radio posted the main quotes on its Web site.

Some thoughts:

• “Not so subtle aggression” seems to the Holy Father’s diplomatic, understated way of saying “blatant aggression.” This is the environment the Church is living in now.
• The pope prefaced his comments on penance by reminding us that the group-think which takes place in the media must be energetically resisted, otherwise their consensus about the “guilt” of the Church will become an ideological dictatorship, an orthodoxy of relativism where the Church is falsely maligned simply because media elites agree the Church is at fault.
• The idea that penance is a good thing for Christians to do, something indeed that we are urged to do in solidarity with the sufferings of Christ, is nothing new, of course. The pope, in his pastoral role, appears to me to be applying this teaching to the sufferings endured by the Church today, with a reminder that sins have indeed been committed by members of the Church, and an admonition that we are all called to “recognize what is mistaken in our life.”

Notably, the pope does not admit his own culpability (nor should he, if he is indeed innocent, as I believe), nor does he claim that new sins or mistakes have been credibly brought to light by the most recent onslaught of media attacks. 

My fear is that the media will take these words from the Holy Father as an admission of personal guilt, or that the Church has discovered something new about itself through the recent efforts of the media to malign the pope. Neither of these, of course, are true. But we will see how they decide to play it.

I’m sure it’s too much to hope that the reporters covering this story pause and considering their past sins, see the need for penance, and attempt to firmly amend their lives. Maybe even pursue a little reparation and publish retractions of their worst published falsehoods about the Pope and the Church?

I thought not.

Papists, thank you for all your efforts in follow-up to my post of yesterday about Sr. Keehan being invited to a John Carroll Society event.

This message was sent to members of the society:

Sister Carol Keehan has decided that our annual dinner this year is not the appropriate time to address our Society and friends. We continue to be grateful to her for her many years of service to the Church and especially the poor and those in need.

Of course, this was an incredibly diplomatic way to avoid any further tensions. I’m satisfied with this solution, but I dislike the implication that there could be an appropriate time for Sr. Keehan to again address a Catholic gathering.

If any time would be appropriate, it would be after or during her public apology to the faithful.

A timely and excellent press release from the Michigan Catholic Conference (Catholics United has been taking out advertisements against Bart Stupak in Michigan) – I have bolded parts of the statement:

Statement on Ad Campaign Attacking Congressman Bart Stupak

(Lansing) – Earlier today The Detroit News Washington bureau reported that a group calling itself “Catholics United” has undertaken a television advertising campaign against Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Menominee) for his strong stance against abortion funding in the U.S. Senate version of health care reform. The statement below was released in response to a separate media inquiry if “Catholics United” was affiliated with the Michigan Catholic Conference. The statement may be attributed to Paul Long, Michigan Catholic Conference Vice-President for Public Policy.

“The Michigan Catholic Conference (MCC) and United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) are the official voices of the Catholic Church, in this state and across the country, respectively, on matters pertaining to public policy. No group has done more to promote the need for universal health care coverage than the Catholic Church. Both the MCC and the USCCB have stated as clear as day, however, that the Senate-passed version of health care reform is unacceptable in its current form as it fails to uphold the Hyde Amendment, which ensures no federal taxpayer dollars are used to pay for abortions or health plans that cover abortions, and also fails to protect individual conscience rights.

“The aforementioned television advertising campaign is misleading the public and distorting the official policy positions of the Catholic Church in Michigan and throughout the country. In no way does Catholics United represent the public policy positions of the Catholic Church. In fact, the ad campaign and its accompanying news release grossly misrepresents the official position of the Catholic Church on health care reform, and unfairly and erroneously attacks Congressman Bart Stupak for his efforts to prohibit tax-payer funded abortions.”

Send a message to Catholics United – we papists won’t be misled – we Stand With Stupak.

Stupak, as of this morning, was still standing strong. Nancy Pelosi continues to shut him and his pro-life companion Democrats out of the process. She said to reporters today: “There will be no further changes in the bill.” She’s going for broke, in other words.

Catholic Democrats, meanwhile, is joining its catholyc friends at Catholics United and is blasting out emails trying to convince Catholics that subsidizing abortions and abortion providers will somehow bring down the rate of abortions. Yeah, right.

The Catholic Medical Association (good people), however, has also come out with a statement confirming that the health care legislation funds abortions (LifeNews reports on this and related topics here).

On a related note, Josh has already blogged about Bishop Bransfield calling the actions of Catholics United “deceptive.”

Let’s pray to St. Joseph today – patron of the family!

Related update - Archbishop Chaput writes today about the most recent round of catholyc deception: “The Captivity Of ‘Catholic’ Witness” (a must-read, as always)

As I wrote this morning, the mainstream media is continually making the stupefying claim that sixty thousand religious women support the health care bill – but that number is larger than the total number of religious women in the entire United States!

The USCCB just released a statement about this:

A recent letter from Network, a social justice lobby of sisters, grossly overstated whom they represent in a letter to Congress that was also released to media.

Network’s letter, about health care reform, was signed by a few dozen people, and despite what Network said, they do not come anywhere near representing 59,000 American sisters.

The letter had 55 signatories, some individuals, some groups of three to five persons. One endorser signed twice.

There are 793 religious communities in the United States.

The math is clear. Network is far off the mark. 

If I had to guess, there are maybe a few hundred religious women behind this letter.

I’d ask anyone who sees an article with the false number above (anything over “several thousand”) to send the author/editor a link to these facts. This is a simple matter of journalistic accuracy.

In related news, my father writes that it’s time to take a closer look at the Catholic Health Association.

An urgent alert from the Bishops of Northern Colorado (bold was in the original I received):

In the past two days, congressional leaders and the White House have brought tremendous pressure on prolife Democratic members of Congress to support a fatally flawed Senate version of health care reform.

Regrettably, groups like Network and the Catholic Health Association have done a grave disservice to the American Catholic community by undermining the leadership of the nation’s Catholic bishops, sowing confusion among faithful Catholics, and misleading legislators through their support of the Senate bill.

Do not be fooled. Nothing has changed. The Senate bill remains gravely flawed on the issues of abortion funding, conscience protections and the inclusion of immigrants. Unless seriously revised to address these issues, the Senate version of health care is unethical and should be firmly opposed.

+Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. (Archbishop of Denver)

+James D. Conley, S.T.L. (Auxiliary Bishop of Denver)

Papists are welcome to add (in the comment box below) links to statements of their own bishop(s) about health care. I’m guessing they will skew one particular direction.

My jaw almost hit the floor as I read this breaking report from Rep. Bart Stupak on what he is hearing in the Democrat closed chamber meetings where he and his pro-life Democrat coalition are having “both of their arms twisted”:

What are Democratic leaders saying? “If you pass the Stupak amendment, more children will be born, and therefore it will cost us millions more. That’s one of the arguments I’ve been hearing,” Stupak says. “Money is their hang-up. Is this how we now value life in America? If money is the issue — come on, we can find room in the budget. This is life we’re talking about.” (emphasis original, underlining/bold mine)

More revelations from Stupak:

Stupak notes that his negotiations with House Democratic leaders in recent days have been revealing. “I really believe that the Democratic leadership is simply unwilling to change its stance,” he says. “Their position says that women, especially those without means available, should have their abortions covered.” The arguments they have made to him in recent deliberations, he adds, “are a pretty sad commentary on the state of the Democratic party.”

Here’s video of Stupak telling all this to Fox News just now:

Don’t believe the lies some Catholics are telling us (that this bill doesn’t siphon money to abortions) – what I quoted above is what the Democrat leadership actually wants (and believes they are getting): abortion in the health care plan as a cost-saving provision.

This mentality, this perverted goal is what Bart Stupak is trying to fight.

The question remains: which side are you on? On the side of Stupak, or the side of the Democrats quoted above?

You still have time to contact your congressmen before this legislation gets voted into law! This post contains a list of representatives in Congress who have made public statements saying they won’t vote for the bill until it includes Stupak-approved pro-life language. It would be a good start to call and encourage them! Stupak says they are severely demoralized.

Please do everything you can to help spread the word about what the Democrat leadership has just admitted to Bart Stupak: that they think if his language passes, more babies will be born. 

That means if the bill passes without Stupak language, they know more babies will die. Plain and simple.

I’ve been deluged with emails this weekend keeping me up to date on the rapid developments taking place in the health care debate.

The most important news to absorb is that Senator Nelson – at this point – has caved and is promising to support Senator Reid’s pro-abortion bill when it is voted upon at 1AM tonight {update – he did cave and became the 60th and final vote for Reid’s pro-abortion bill.}

He refused to listen to pro-life groups who were attempting to support him, opting instead to strike a backroom deal with Senator Reid which saves his state of Nebraska $100 million over the next decade, as I report on the APP blog.

Others have noted the implications of Nelson’s “sweetheart” deal:

“Deacon Keith Fournier describes this as Nelson�s �bag of silver.�  Fournier explains, �If Senator Ben Nelson actually sold his vote for a bag of silver for Nebraska then this has become a �Judas moment� not a �Thomas More moment� and its implications are evil.�

The Casey-Nelson solution is unacceptable. The National Right to Life Committee is crystal clear :

“The manager�s amendment [= Casey-Nelson compromise] is light years removed from the Stupak-Pitts Amendment that was approved by the House of Representatives on November 8 by a bipartisan vote of 240-194.  The new abortion language solves none of the fundamental abortion-related problems with the Senate bill, and it actually creates some new abortion-related problems.”

The message from the US bishops, when briefed about Nelson’s decision, is uncompromising:

The Senate health reform bill should not move forward in its current form, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York, and Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City said December 19, as senators proceeded closer to a vote.

… [the bill] should be opposed unless and until such serious concerns have been addressed. The bishops’ conference continues to study that 383-page amendment’s implications from the perspective of all the bishops’ moral concerns — protection of life and conscience, affordable access to health care, and fairness to immigrants.

Deal Hudson – who has been very active in this debate through his new innitiative the Catholic Advocate – picks up on an argument I made last week during my EWTN appearance last week: “A Vote for Cloture Is a Vote for Abortion” (basically, anyone who votes for the current legislation is voting to create and expand federal sponsorship of abortion, in opposition to long-standing policy). Deal also writes :

The fight over federal funding for abortion will now move back to the House where 62 Democrats voted for the Stupak-Pitts amendment � it remains to be seen how many of those Democrats will follow in the footsteps of Sen. Ben Nelson.

Once again the bright light will fall on Cong. Bart Stupak (D-MI) who stood up against immense pressure last month to get his amendment passed.

Deal is absolutely right – presuming the bill is passed out of the Senate – everything hinges on Rep. Stupak and his coalition of pro-life Democrats in the House. That’s our last cause for hope.

As further background, the Catholic Health Association came out in support of the Casey-Nelson compromise, and Steven Ertelt picks apart why they probably did so. Shame on them. The Catholic Medical Association, meanwhile, is strongly against the bill. Good for them.


I will update this post as I find out more information.

Update 1:15 AM – the Senate ended debate and passed the bill on a party line vote of 60-40. All 58 Democrats and 2 Independents voted on the bill, not a single Republican voted for the bill. Senators Casey and Nelson both supported the pro-abortion bill. A sad day for America and the protection of unborn human life, but the fight is not over.

First, a quick recap: last Tuesday the Senate, led by Senator Harry Reid, voted down Senator Ben Nelson’s pro-life amendment.

After Nelson threatened to filibuster a bill with pro-abortion provisions, Senator Bob Casey worked with Senator Harry Reid (already a bad sign) to work on compromise language that would be acceptable to Nelson.

Late yesterday Casey gave new language to Nelson for him to review, and Nelson asked pro-life groups to comment.

Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life, having seen the language, was the first prominent pro-life consultant to declare the Casey compromise “unacceptable” – as he explained:

“This is far cry from the Stupak Amendment,” Johnson said in an email delivered to news outlets.

“This proposal would break from the long-established principles of the Hyde Amendment by providing federal subsidies for health plans that cover abortion on demand. This is entirely unacceptable,” he added.

The proposal apparently has an opt-out clause that would allow taxpayers who object to their premiums and tax money used to pay for abortions to leave the program.

“It is particularly offensive that the proposal apparently would make it the default position for the federal government to subsidize plans that cover abortion on demand, and then permit individual citizens to apply for conscientious objector status,” he said.

“This is an exercise is cosmetics — like putting lipstick on a legislative warthog,” Johnson concluded.

Staff for Nelson and Casey say process of drafting the language is ongoing, though the condemnation from National Right to Life might make its drafters go back to the drawing board.

Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, also came out against the Casey amendment. If Perkins and Johnson are against it, you can be very confident that the rest of the pro-life organizations will come to a similar conclusion. This really isn’t a hard call to make.

After all, remember – all pro-life groups are demanding at this point is that the new health care legislation follow long-standing Hyde amendment language (which prohibits federal funds from paying for abortions). The US Bishops have released a helpful side-by-side page which compares current federal law to the Nelson amendment and twitters “[they are] the same thing.”

And yet pro-abortion groups and legislators – and now Senator Casey himself – continue to try to sneak in (or outright provide for) an abortion mandate in the bill.

The word on the street is that Senator Casey will continue negotiations with Senator Nelson, hoping to win-over Nelson’s vote. Senator Casey is thus, in a real way, pushing for this health care bill.

Yesterday I uploaded one of the advertisements that pro-life groups are airing in Senator Casey’s home state of Pennsylvania, and also noted the pressure that Senator Nelson is under from within the Senate to change his vote.

Outside of Washington DC, however, it’s a very different picture. In Senator Nelson’s state of Nebraska, the majority of citizens don’t want Harry Reid’s health care bill. So Senator Nelson’s resistance to the current legislation need not solely be on the grounds that it provides a huge expansion to abortion funding and access. There are very practical political reasons to oppose it, in addition to the moral reasons I’ve mentioned.

I urge papists in these two states to continue doing their best to convince their Senators to make the right choice – to craft truly pro-life language, and to only vote for a bill that will improve the way health care is delivered, at an affordable cost, without rationing care to vulnerable persons.

Personally, I see no way the current legislation can address all of these serious issues.

I just watched on C-SPAN as the Nelson-Hatch amendment (the Senate version of the Stupak amendment in the House – I explain it here) was defeated 54-45.�

Hot off the Vatican (internet) press:

• APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION ANGLICANORUM COETIBUS PROVIDING FOR PERSONAL ORDINARIATES FOR ANGLICANS ENTERING INTO FULL COMMUNION WITH THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (includes these subsections–>)
• PRESS RELEASE
• APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION ANGLICANORUM COETIBUS
• COMPLEMENTARY NORMS FOR THE APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION ANGLICANORUM COETIBUS
• THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION ANGLICANORUM COETIBUS (FR. GIANFRANCO GHIRLANDA, S.J., RECTOR OF THE PONTIFICAL GREGORIAN UNIVERSITY)