Headline: Constructive Dialogue’ on Obama Invite No Longer Possible, ND President Tells Students

University of Notre Dame President Fr. John I. Jenkins, CSC, has denied a student coalition’s request for wider dialogue concerning the school’s invitation to President Barack Obama, saying “conditions for constructive dialogue simply do not exist.” Fr. Jenkins had initially offered to participate in a closed-door meeting with 25 members of the Notre Dame Response Student Coalition (ND Response), formed in reaction to Notre Dame’s invitation to the president to deliver the commencement address and to receive an honorary law degree.  (Read the rest)

I agree.  Constructive dialogue fell apart when Father Jenkins issued his idiotic justification for the invite, and then compounded it with an appeal to anonymous canon lawyers.

Notre Dame Unveils New Sport: Plans To Build New Colosseum

Source.  Information.

The Gospel of Life

“What have you done?” (Gen 4:10): the eclipse of the value of life

10. The Lord said to Cain: “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground” (Gen 4:10).The voice of the blood shed by men continues to cry out, from generation to generation, in ever new and different ways.

The Lord’s question: “What have you done?”, which Cain cannot escape, is addressed also to the people of today, to make them realize the extent and gravity of the attacks against life which continue to mark human history; to make them discover what causes these attacks and feeds them; and to make them ponder seriously the consequences which derive from these attacks for the existence of individuals and peoples.

Some threats come from nature itself, but they are made worse by the culpable indifference and negligence of those who could in some cases remedy them. Others are the result of situations of violence, hatred and conflicting interests, which lead people to attack others through murder, war, slaughter and genocide.

And how can we fail to consider the violence against life done to millions of human beings, especially children, who are forced into poverty, malnutrition and hunger because of an unjust distribution of resources between peoples and between social classes? And what of the violence inherent not only in wars as such but in the scandalous arms trade, which spawns the many armed conflicts which stain our world with blood? What of the spreading of death caused by reckless tampering with the world’s ecological balance, by the criminal spread of drugs, or by the promotion of certain kinds of sexual activity which, besides being morally unacceptable, also involve grave risks to life? It is impossible to catalogue completely the vast array of threats to human life, so many are the forms, whether explicit or hidden, in which they appear today!

11. Here though we shall concentrate particular attention on another category of attacks, affecting life in its earliest and in its final stages, attacks which present new characteristics with respect to the past and which raise questions of extraordinary seriousness. It is not only that in generalized opinion these attacks tend no longer to be considered as “crimes”; paradoxically they assume the nature of “rights”, to the point that the State is called upon to give them legal recognition and to make them available through the free services of health-care personnel. Such attacks strike human life at the time of its greatest frailty, when it lacks any means of self-defence. Even more serious is the fact that, most often, those attacks are carried out in the very heart of and with the complicity of the family-the family which by its nature is called to be the “sanctuary of life”.

How did such a situation come about? Many different factors have to be taken into account. In the background there is the profound crisis of culture, which generates scepticism in relation to the very foundations of knowledge and ethics, and which makes it increasingly difficult to grasp clearly the meaning of what man is, the meaning of his rights and his duties. Then there are all kinds of existential and interpersonal difficulties, made worse by the complexity of a society in which individuals, couples and families are often left alone with their problems. There are situations of acute poverty, anxiety or frustration in which the struggle to make ends meet, the presence of unbearable pain, or instances of violence, especially against women, make the choice to defend and promote life so demanding as sometimes to reach the point of heroism.

All this explains, at least in part, how the value of life can today undergo a kind of “eclipse”, even though conscience does not cease to point to it as a sacred and inviolable value, as is evident in the tendency to disguise certain crimes against life in its early or final stages by using innocuous medical terms which distract attention from the fact that what is involved is the right to life of an actual human person.

12. In fact, while the climate of widespread moral uncertainty can in some way be explained by the multiplicity and gravity of today’s social problems, and these can sometimes mitigate the subjective responsibility of individuals, it is no less true that we are confronted by an even larger reality, which can be described as a veritable structure of sin. This reality is characterized by the emergence of a culture which denies solidarity and in many cases takes the form of a veritable “culture of death”. This culture is actively fostered by powerful cultural, economic and political currents which encourage an idea of society excessively concerned with efficiency. Looking at the situation from this point of view, it is possible to speak in a certain sense of a war of the powerful against the weak: a life which would require greater acceptance, love and care is considered useless, or held to be an intolerable burden, and is therefore rejected in one way or another. A person who, because of illness, handicap or, more simply, just by existing, compromises the well-being or life-style of those who are more favoured tends to be looked upon as an enemy to be resisted or eliminated. In this way a kind of “conspiracy against life” is unleashed. This conspiracy involves not only individuals in their personal, family or group relationships, but goes far beyond, to the point of damaging and distorting, at the international level, relations between peoples and States.

13. In order to facilitate the spread of abortion, enormous sums of money have been invested and continue to be invested in the production of pharmaceutical products which make it possible to kill the fetus in the mother’s womb without recourse to medical assistance. On this point, scientific research itself seems to be almost exclusively preoccupied with developing products which are ever more simple and effective in suppressing life and which at the same time are capable of removing abortion from any kind of control or social responsibility.

It is frequently asserted that contraception, if made safe and available to all, is the most effective remedy against abortion. The Catholic Church is then accused of actually promoting abortion, because she obstinately continues to teach the moral unlawfulness of contraception. When looked at carefully, this objection is clearly unfounded. It may be that many people use contraception with a view to excluding the subsequent temptation of abortion. But the negative values inherent in the “contraceptive mentality”-which is very different from responsible parenthood, lived in respect for the full truth of the conjugal act-are such that they in fact strengthen this temptation when an unwanted life is conceived. Indeed, the pro- abortion culture is especially strong precisely where the Church’s teaching on contraception is rejected. Certainly, from the moral point of view contraception and abortion arespecifically different evils: the former contradicts the full truth of the sexual act as the proper expression of conjugal love, while the latter destroys the life of a human being; the former is opposed to the virtue of chastity in marriage, the latter is opposed to the virtue of justice and directly violates the divine commandment “You shall not kill”.

But despite their differences of nature and moral gravity, contraception and abortion are often closely connected, as fruits of the same tree. It is true that in many cases contraception and even abortion are practised under the pressure of real- life difficulties, which nonetheless can never exonerate from striving to observe God’s law fully. Still, in very many other instances such practices are rooted in a hedonistic mentality unwilling to accept responsibility in matters of sexuality, and they imply a self-centered concept of freedom, which regards procreation as an obstacle to personal fulfilment. The life which could result from a sexual encounter thus becomes an enemy to be avoided at all costs, and abortion becomes the only possible decisive response to failed contraception.

The close connection which exists, in mentality, between the practice of contraception and that of abortion is becoming increasingly obvious. It is being demonstrated in an alarming way by the development of chemical products, intrauterine devices and vaccines which, distributed with the same ease as contraceptives, really act as abortifacients in the very early stages of the development of the life of the new human being.

Beginning Today: A Rosary Novena For Life

(At left, my stature of Or Blessed Lady Of Victory. A Litany to her -along with other prayers-can be found HERE, scroll down to find)

From Father John Corapi: Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.

Today we have a similar spiritual battle in progress—a battle between the forces of good and evil, light and darkness, truth and lies, life and death. If we do not soon stop the genocide of abortion in the United States, we shall run the course of all those that prove by their actions that they are enemies of God—total collapse, economic, social, and national. The moral demise of a nation results in the ultimate demise of a nation. God is not a disinterested spectator to the affairs of man. Life begins at conception. This is an unalterable formal teaching of the Catholic Church. If you do not accept this you are a heretic in plain English. A single abortion is homicide. The more than 48,000,000 abortions since Roe v. Wade in the United States constitute genocide by definition. The group singled out for death—unwanted, unborn children.

No other issue, not all other issues taken together, can constitute a proportionate reason for voting for candidates that intend to preserve and defend this holocaust of innocent human life that is abortion.

I strongly urge every one of you to make a Novena and pray the Rosary to Our Lady of Victory between October 27th and Election Day, November 4th. Pray that God’s will be done and the most innocent and utterly vulnerable of our brothers and sisters will be protected from this barbaric and grossly sinful blight on society that is abortion. No woman, and no man, has the right to choose to murder an innocent human being.

May God grant us the wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and counsel to form our conscience in accordance with authentic Catholic teaching, and then vote that well‐formed Catholic conscience.

Please copy, email, link and distribute this article freely.

God Bless You
Fr. John Corapi
www.fathercorapi.com

The following resources come from a post by Sonitus Sanctus (a great place for finding online audio/video resources)

As for the power of the rosary, CAF poster ‘insight’ shared the following:

Will be happy to join the Election Novena. Glad to see another Blue Army Member, and thanks for some of the History on the Rosary. John Haffert’s (founder of the Blue Army of Fatima) confessor and “lifelong friend”, Father Vernard Poslusney has had great audio on the Power of the Rosary:

007A Mary, Mother of God’s People.mp3

007B Mary, Mother of God’s People.mp3

Wikipedia has a wonderful page dedicated to Haffert. There is an audio file there of him giving a talk on Fatima. He is one of the most powerful and charismatic people I have ever heard, no wonder he built up the Blue Army of Fatima membership to 25 million signed members.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Haffert (link in Media section).

If you’re not big on praying the rosary, maybe now is the time to start. If you need some audio to help guide you on your morning commute, here are a few:

Rosary Prayers (PDF File)

Joyful Mysteries:
Scriptural | Download MP3

Luminous Mysteries:
Scriptural | Download MP3

Sorrowful Mysteries:
Scriptural | Download MP3

Glorious Mysteries:
Scriptural | Download MP3

Bonus Audio:The Rosary Brings DirectionBringing the Mysteries to LifeAlternate MP3 Rosaries:
Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary, prayed by all of the seminarians of Cardinal Glennon College, along with the College Director, Fr. Timothy Cronin.

Join the second graders from Holy Trinity School as they pray the Joyful Mysteries – just six days after having received their First Holy Communion!Here’s the Novena prayer:

Our Lady Of The Holy Rosary Novena Prayer

My dearest Mother Mary, behold me, your child, in prayer at your feet. Accept this Holy Rosary, which I offer you in accordance with your requests at Fatima, as a proof of my tender love for you, for the intentions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in atonement for the offenses committed against your Immaculate Heart, and for this special favor which I earnestly request in my Rosary Novena: (Mention your request).

I beg you to present my petition to your Divine Son. If you will pray for me, I cannot be refused. I know, dearest Mother, that you want me to seek God’s holy Will concerning my request. If what I ask for should not be granted, pray that I may receive that which will be of greater benefit to my soul.

I offer you this spiritual “Bouquet of Roses” because I love you. I put all my confidence in you, since your prayers before God are most powerful. For the greater glory of God and for the sake of Jesus, your loving Son, hear and grant my prayer. Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation.

Have you prayed an election novena yet?

What the heck are you waiting for?  Do it now.

http://www.fathercorapi.com/PDF/ …ctionNovena.pdf

You can also do a three day fast.  Hey! Why not do both???

Prayer And Meditation For Life

Redneck Catholic is asking you to undertake three days of prayer and fasting before the election. Let him know you’re willing to join.

First Prayer
(I hope to post further readings and prayers in the near future)

You shall open my lips and my mouth shall give forth your praise.
O God, be intent on my aid, O Lord make haste to help me. Glory be to the Father, ect.

Hymn:
Sing praise to our Creator,
Offspring of Adam’s race;
God’s children y adoption,
Baptized into His grace.

Refrain: Praise the Holy Trinity,
Undivided Unity;
Holy God, Mighty God,
God Immortal, be adored.

To Jesus Christ give glory,
God’s coeternal Son;
As members of His Body
We live in Him as one.

Praise the Holy Trinity,
Undivided Unity;
Holy God, Mighty God,
God Immortal, be adored.

Now praise the Holy Spirit
Poured forth upon the earth;
Who sanctifies and guides us,
Confirmed in our rebirth.

Praise the Holy Trinity,
Undivided Unity;
Holy God, Mighty God,
God Immortal, be adored.

Psalm 8 (RSV)

Antiphon. Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have drawn a defense against your foes, to silence enemy and avenger.

2 by the mouth of babes and infants, thou hast founded a bulwark because of thy foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast established;
4 what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou dost care for him?
5 Yet thou hast made him little less than God, and dost crown him with glory and honor.
6 Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the sea.
9 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth!

Ant. Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have drawn a defense against your foes, to silence enemy and avenger.

Reading: And Jesus entered the temple of God and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, `My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you make it a den of robbers.” 14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant; 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, `Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast brought perfect praise’?” (Matt 21)

Please note that I am not a gifted writer. I’m looking for someone to edit the series of prayers which now follow. Any volunteers? Also,

Prayer: Lord Jesus, when confronted by your enemies who sought your death, you could find no better defense against their wickedness, snares, deceit and ignorance than the humble faith of little children. Today, within the temple of your Church, there are those who seek to crush the smallest stones of your beautiful battlements as they attempt to construct a sanctuary to a god of their own imagination and likings. We ask you to look with mercy upon your temple, which we ourselves have sometimes soiled; and, while begging your pardon, we also ask that you would convert the malicious and enlighten the ignorant.

O holy Jeremiah, you were chosen by God before he formed you in your mother’s womb to be a prophet to the nations. He commissioned you with these words: “”Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”" Every fiber of your being rebelled against the task and you lamented the day of your birth as “a man of strife and contention to all the land.” “All day long” you were “the object of laughter” for “the word of the Lord brought (you) reproach”. The word of the Lord brought you ‘derision and reproach all day.” You heard the “whispering of many” saying “Denounce! let us denounce him!” Yet in spite of derision, imprisonment, and threats of death, you told the people what they needed to hear, not what they wanted to hear, obeying the Lord’s command and warning: “gird up your loins; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them;” trusting too that He would fulfill his promise to you: “And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against (politicians, princes, and priests), and the people of the land. They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the LORD, to deliver you.”

O glorious Jeremiah, you, like Elijah and St John the Baptist, had the honorable distinction of being confused with the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ (see Matt 16:14). We ask that you, both with us and on our behalf, thank the Lord for our Bishops who, in spite of the recent revelation of the embarrassing failure of the some of them, have repented and committed themselves again to the message of the Gospel; both in their own lives and their ministry to us. We ask that they too, like you, may be mistaken for the real Jesus, and that each show themselves to be a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall against those in the service of death, and he who holds the kingdom of death.

O glorious Sampson, chosen from your mother’s womb to be “consecrated to God;” you were “blessed by the Lord” and His “spirit stirred you.” You fought the good fight for God but eventually failed him by a dissolute life, becoming a prop and an excuse for men to mock God and His will. Evil men celebrated the fact that a champion of God had been delivered into their power, and thanked their false messiahs. But you repented, prayed for the strength of the grace of God, and by that power forever enshrined yourself in the pantheon of men who served the one true God.

We ask you, repentant defender of the faith, to pray to the Lord Jesus that we too may repent of our sins and failing, and recommit ourselves to the service of God’s will. We ask that you, both with us and our behalf, pray through the intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ, that the Almighty Father strengthen and sustain our Bishops that they may, with justice and prudence, defeat the enemies of life by converting those who will be converted, and confounding those who will refuse.

O most glorious prophet, St John the Baptist, You were chosen from your mother’s womb to ” to go before the Lord to prepare His ways, to give people knowledge of His salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,” and “be called the prophet of the Most High.” With Elijah and Jeremiah you had the distinction of being confused with our Lord Jesus Christ because of your willingness to suffer in service to God’s will.

You placed your life in jeopardy by daring to criticize the immorality of a king (Mark 6:17-20); a “lover of pleasure rather than of God” he mad a pretense of religion but denied its power (2 Tim 3:4-5). You died by the whim of a queen who sought to free herself from the moral responsibility of her sexual indiscretions, and used her own child to achieve this end. We ask you who are the greatest prophet ever born of woman to pray for our politicians, that those committed to life be moved to even greater commitment; that those who vacillate may find strength to take a firm stand; and that those who are wrong be converted.

Saints Jeremiah, Samson, and John, we ask you to pray for those woman who have had, support, or are indifferent to abortion.

Pilgrimage Prayer To St Rambo The Archangel Against Obamacide

St Rambo the Archangel, defend us in the day of battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snare of the Socialists. May Chuck Norris rebuke them we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of Chuck thrust into France Barack and all evil obamacides who prowl about the world seeking the death of babies. [Original Photo Source: Kris Kuksi, via Curt Jester, via American Papist, via Acts of the Apostasy]

Obama’s Abortion Extremism

From the Witherspoon Institue: “Barack Obama is the most extreme pro-abortion candidate ever to seek the office of President of the United States. He is the most extreme pro-abortion member of the United States Senate. Indeed, he is the most extreme pro-abortion legislator ever to serve in either house of the United States Congress. “  Read the whole post.

Obama In Drag?

Not quite, but some of the things Margaret Sanger-eugenics pimp and the racist founder of planned parenthoodlums- says in this video sounds an awful lot like some of Obama’s supporters. “I believe that the greatest sin is bringing children into the world—that have disease from their parents, that have no chance in the world to be a human being practically. Delinquents, prisoners, all sorts of things just marked when they’re born. That to me is the greatest sin—that people can—can commit…”

H/T to Ignatius Insight Scoop

Bishops Ask Catholics To Pray An Election Novena

The American Bishops are asking Catholics to make a Novena For Faithful Citizenship, which is defined as a novena for life, justice, and peace.  The novena and other resources can be found HERE.