MY OP-ED IN TODAY'S PDN: NO MAJOR CHANGES IN CATHOLIC CHURCH

In "Pope risks losing part of Catholic flock" (Sept. 21 Pacific Daily News), Brett M. Decker begins by saying "Pope Francis has put the world's 1.1 billion Catholics on notice that major changes are on the way" and suggests those changes will be to church teachings on "contraception, abortion, and gay sex."

Read full article at the Guam Pacific Daily News website or see a PDF copy if link no longer works.

AN ANGEL STORY FOR THE FEAST OF ST. MICHAEL

When I was ten-years old, my two-year old brother, Chris, was run over by a van - twice. My dad had been working on the family van in the driveway, and, unbeknownst to him, Chris had crawled under the van. Dad had finished fixing whatever he was fixing and was in the washroom cleaning his hands when Mom got in the van to go somewhere.

Read more

POPE FRANCIS AND THE SACRAMENT OF FAREWELL

Pope Francis gave another interesting talk the other day - to the youth in Sardinia. The talk, posted at this blog, is preceded by some comments of note:

1. The pope's security team is working overtime. Obviously this is due to the pope's eschewing the security measures developed by the Vatican since the attempted assassination of John Paul II. Thus, while we all ooh and ahh at this pope's desire to be close to the people minus the bullet proof glass, human shields (probably men with wives and families) are now more necessary.

2. The second group of staffers who are working overtime are the translators, for as the blogger says: "...given Francis' steady stream of words – and even more, the Pope's penchant for shredding his prepared (and already-translated) texts by either adding a host of unscripted asides or veering into a full stream-of-consciousness talk – keeping up is no mean task.

ESPERANSA NEWS: 3 ABORTION RELATED BILLS

See text of PNC news story here.

TIM ROHR WITH RAY GIBSON ON K57

Interview between Ray Gibson and Tim Rohr about Bill 195, Infant Child's Right to Life Act, as introduced by Senator Frank Aguon, Jr.

LISTEN HERE

ESPERANSA: CONGRATULATIONS TO SENATOR AGUON

Dear Friends of the Unborn...and already born:

Congratulations to Senator Frank Aguon, Jr. for introducing the "INFANT CHILD'S RIGHT TO LIFE ACT", BILL NO. 195-32 (COR).

The bill calls for healthcare providers to give "medically appropriate and reasonable life-saving and life-sustaining medical care and treatment" to all infants who survive an abortion procedure. It also goes on to criminalize the intentional lack of care as "criminal homicide."

The senator prefaced the bill with a personal message as follows:

"During my tenure as a Senator, I have accepted the fact that my decisions and actions in the past had been influenced and directed away from my personal beliefs.  As a man of my faith, it is my personal purpose to lend my voice to those who are voiceless and those who have been stripped of their fundamental right to life. Bill No. 195-32 (COR), "Infant Child's Right to Life Act", provides a voice to these children. I am deeply thankful to the authors of the original legislation and to all the staunch advocates for life."

These are good words and the senator can be commended for sharing them. Of particular note is the senator's acknowledgment "of the authors of the original legislation." 

NO BETTER PRO-LIFE "COMMERCIAL" THAN THIS

What's great about this news story is not the story, but all the images of fetal life crossing the screen while abortion and legislation to stem it is being discussed. We probably couldn't have come up with a more pro-life commercial if we tried!


KUAM.com-KUAM News: On Air. Online. On Demand.

UNSUBSCRIBE NOW. THIS IS GOING TO GET ROUGH. A POST FROM ESPERANSA

SEPTEMBER 25, 2013

Dear Friends of the Unborn,   

Most pro-life efforts on Guam have been traditionally limited to peaceful waves and quiet marches. Those are good and must continue. However, after many years of doing these things, Guam remained, according to a 2008 AUL study, the easiest place in the nation to procure an abortion. 

Something more needed to be done. We needed legal protections for the unborn and we needed to expose the real facts about abortion on Guam and the records of the people who support it.

This strategy has worked nationwide, where it has been reported just recently that abortions are down by 25% since its peak in 1990. At the same time, pro-life legislation at the state level has grown exponentially. It's a classic illustration of the precept "Lex magister", or "the law teaches". 

NOT A SPOOF

Unfortunately, this meme is NOT A SPOOF. It was posted on NARAL's Facebook page immediately after the publication of the pope's interview with the description "Now, this is progress." Business and media people know that perception is everything. What the pope really meant has nothing to do with it. They have the bigger microphone.

ONE MORE RANDOM FRANCIS THOUGHT

In response to the Facebook war over what Francis really said, or what he meant by what he said, or if he said what meant, or if meant to say what he said, or if he really said what he said, etc. And in response to Francis calling himself "a bit naive", and his interviewer calling Francis' words "an eruption of thought". 

"Truly, we need to cut the guy some slack. We're not used to men like this sitting in Peter's chair. Benedict, after nearly a lifetime in Rome and things Vaticano, was the very antithesis of naive. And JP2, winnowed and harrowed by the Nazis and decades of communism, knew well the face of relativism and evil. 

But Francis springs from the South American coca fields of liberation theology and all things Che. That's not to say that he subscribes to any of it, and he says he doesn't, but his eruptions of thought nevertheless smell of Evita and make one nostalgic for the 60's. It should be fun for the next decade or so. At least I think so. Have a beer and pray the rosary."

POPE STAYS CATHOLIC: EXCOMMUNICATES PRO-GAY MARRIAGE PRIEST

"He's not the liberal the media wants."   See story here.

Of course there was never any doubt. He has no power to change any of it. The charism of infallibility would cause him to be struck dead if he tried. So one wonders what everybody was panting about. 

However, on the other hand, just the mere trickle of a thought from Paul VI* that the church's ban on contraception might be changed (it couldn't) led to a giant apostasy on that teaching which has in turn given us closed churches, closed schools, a dearth of vocations, empty pews, and institutions full of the aged because there is no next generation to care for them.

So it matters not what a pope really means. It matters much what he says. Simply because he's the pope.

* Here's the "trickle of a thought from Paul VI":

"We say frankly that so far we do not have sufficient reason to consider the norms given by Pope Pius XII on this matter [of contraception] as out of date and therefore as not binding. They must be considered as valid, at least until We fell obliged in conscience to change them." - Paul VI, Acta apostolicae sedis (AAS) 56 (1964) 588-59, 1964 address to the special papal commission on the use of contraceptives

ESPERANSA PROJECT ANNOUNCES INTRODUCTION OF NEW BILL

Below is a copy of the letter sent out this morning by THE ESPERANSA PROJECT. Informed consent for abortion legislation has proven to be the most effective way to stem the slaughter of abortion. Informed consent puts a booklet in to the hands of every woman seeking an abortion and gives her information about the nascent life within her as well as her risks, rights, and alternatives. Please read, understand, and support if you care about the slaughter going on in Tamuning. For more information about abortion on Guam go to www.esperansa.org

EVIDENCE TAMPERING?

This may be just an internet error, but if not, then the Chancery is trying to erase some of its missteps. 

At the center of the Chancery v Gofigan controversy is Fr. Paul’s “illegal” removal as pastor of Santa Barbara Parish. As mentioned previously, the removal, and even transfer of a pastor, requires a careful canonical procedure (Cann. 1740 - 1752)

Fr. Paul was officially, but illegally removed as pastor by virtue of the fact that he was replaced by a parochial administrator on July 17, 2013, one day after Fr. Paul was called to the chancery and told to resign. 

HE'S GOT NOTHING TO LOSE!

Before posting the last two letters (here and here) between the Archbishop and Fr. Paul, I sought assurances from Fr. Paul's team (I have no direct access to him) that the making public of these supposedly private letters would not hurt Fr. Paul. 

The response was surprising, but logical. The response was "How could it hurt him? He's already lost everything. He's been removed as pastor and told to find another bishop. He's got nothing to lose."

One advisor went on to explain that being kicked out of a diocese by your own bishop is pretty much a death knell for a priest. No bishop is going to pick him up. So unless Fr. Paul can win his case, his life as a diocesan priest is probably over. 

PAGE VIEW REPORT

IT'S JORGE TALKING, NOT PETER

Instead of running around trying to prop up the pope, run interpretative interference, and blame the media, the Catholic press would do well to note what the man who interviewed the pope, Fr. Anthony Spardaro, S.J., actually said about interviewing the pope:

“Talking with Pope Francis is a kind of volcanic flow of ideas that are bound up with each other. Even taking notes gives me an uncomfortable feeling, as if I were trying to suppress a surging spring of dialogue.” 

And the press would also do well to note what the pope said about himself: 

“Yes, perhaps I can say that I am a bit astute, that I can adapt to circumstances, but it is also true that I am a bit naïve.”

RAIN VS HITS

In the last 24 hours Guam has had a record 10-15 inches of rainfall. Meanwhile, in the same period, the blog has had a record 2000 hits.

IT'S NOT THE MEDIA!

Yesterday, the media was abuzz with the news that Pope Francis had denounced the conservative emphasis on moral issues and had urged our church to be more welcoming and merciful. In media-speak, that means more “liberal”. 

I have been wanting to read the actual interview as posted on the website of the British Jesuits (I don't trust America Magazine - the U.S. Jesuits), but the link currently does not appear to be working. So for now, I’ll need to go with the news reports and try (once again) to decipher what the Pope “really” meant. 

POPE SAYS TO BISHOPS: 'STAY HOME!"

In my small opinion, the current pope, seems to better at enunciating the practical aspects and application of the faith than he is at expounding on the theological and doctrinal (as was his predecessor). Here is an example. Incidentally, I posted this on Facebook yesterday and immediately got a ton of “likes”. 

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/491093/pope-francis-wants-airport-bishops-grounded#ixzz2fSfZcWit

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Thursday lashed out at what he called the scandal of “airport bishops,” urging his peers to remain rooted in their dioceses and spend less time seeking the spotlight.

GOFIGAN TELLS APURON TO RESTORE HIM AS PASTOR

Fr. Gofigan has notified Archbishop Apuron that since he was not officially removed as pastor that he be fully restored to the office of pastor of Santa Barbara Parish.

GOFIGAN TO BE OUSTED

On Patti Arroyo's show yesterday, Arroyo stated that because Fr. Paul was saying Mass again, it appeared to her that the Archbishop was "back-pedaling" on the ouster of Fr. Paul Gofigan as Pastor of Santa Barbara Parish and ultimately from the Archdiocese of Agana. I assured her that the Archbishop was CERTAINLY NOT "back-pedaling" and was proceeding with his plan to remove Fr. Paul as per this letter:

TIM ROHR WITH PATTI ARROYO ON K57

Tim explains why Bill 52, which requires informed consent for abortion, still has not been implemented nearly one year after the bill was signed into law. Patti then asks about the situation with Fr. Paul, followed by comments and questions about the Neocatechumenal Way.

SEX IN THE CITY...AND IN OUR RELIGIOUS EDUCATION CURRICULUM

It has come to our attention that a program by Sr. Kieran Sawyer is being considered for a religious education curriculum in some local Guam parishes. Upon learning of Sr. Sawyer's invitation to speak at the Catholic Men's Conference in 2013, an Esperansa Project member prepared the following letter. We decided not to release the letter publicly, but did send our concerns to some of the conference organizers. Given the news that her curriculum is being considered for the education of our Catholic children, we decided to post the letter, with some modifications, here. Sr. Sawyer may personally be a good and holy religious sister. We simply disagree with her presentation of Catholic morality as detailed below.

GUAM: THE DIVORCE MILL

Did you know that if you google the words "Guam" and "divorce" you'll find our own page on Wikipedia describing Guam as a "divorce mill"?

AND NOW THIS

The whole same-sex marriage, gay rights, hate crimes agenda has as its epicenter the murder of Matthew Shepard. This is where the agenda found its cause celeb. The case has been used to depict anyone who speaks out against the gay agenda as homophobe, a bigot, and a hater. It has led to the revocation of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", the overturning of key portions of the Defense of Marriage Act, the persecution of clergy and businesses who refuse to mary same-sex couples or serve them, and even to the rights of school children in California to use whatever bathroom they want depending on which gender they feel like identifying with.