Thursday, December 31, 2009

The Meaning in 2010

The Meaning in 2010
Pope Benedict XVI *

“This Child is God’s Son”, as one of our beautiful old Christmas carols has it. Here the outrageous has happened, the inconceivable and yet the always expected, even the necessary: God has entered our world.

He has established a union with man so inseparable that this man truly is God from God, light from light, and yet always true man as well.

The meaning of the world has come to us in such a real way that it can be touched and seen (Jn l). For John’s “Word”, in Greek, stands at the same time also for “the meaning”. Thus we would be entitled to translate “the meaning has become flesh”.

But this “meaning” is not merely a general idea inherent in the world. This meaning relates to us. This meaning is a message, addressed to us. This meaning knows us, challenges us, guides us.

This meaning is not some general principle, in which we might play a certain part. No it addresses each one of us personally. It is itself a Person: the living God’s own Son, born in stable in Bethlehem.

* Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, “Co-Workers of the Truth,” – December 30th - Meditations for Every Day of the Year – 1992, Ignatius Press, San Francisco

Everything Made New *
Revelation 21: 5-8

And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look I am making all things new!” And then he said to me. “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega – the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give the springs of the water
of life without charge!

All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. But cowards who turn away from me, and unbelievers, and the corrupt and the murderers, and the immoral, and those who practice witchcraft and idol worshipers, and all liars – their doom is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”

* “The Best of the Bible” – 365-Must-Read Bible Passages – December 30th - Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Wheaton, Illinois, 1996, The Livingston Corp.

Monday, December 28, 2009

PATRICK KENNEDY & LORETTA SANCHEZ - 3 OF 3

Patrick Kennedy & Loretta Sanchez 3 of 3

Bishop Thomas J. Tobin’s Public Letter to Rep. Kennedy – continued

After all, being a Catholic has to mean something, right? Well, in simple terms- and here I refer only to those more visible, structural elements of Church membership – being a Catholic means that your are part of a faith community that possesses a clearly defined authority and doctrine, obligations and expectations on essential matters of faith and morals: that you belong to a local community, a parish: and you attend Mass on Sundays and receive the sacraments regularly: that you support the Church personally, publicly, spiritually and financially.

Congressman, I’m not sure whether or not you fulfill the basic requirements of being a Catholic, so let me ask: Do you accept the teachings of the Church on essential matters of faith and morals, including our stance on abortion? Do you belong to a local Catholic community, a parish? Do you attend Mass on Sundays and receive the sacraments regularly? Do you support the Church, personally, publicly, spiritually and financially?

In your letter you say that you “embrace your faith.” Terrific. But if you don’t fulfill the basic requirements of membership, what is it exactly that makes you Catholic? Your baptism as an infant? Your family ties? Your cultural heritage?
Your letter also says that your faith “acknowledges the existence of an imperfect humanity.” Absolutely true. But in confronting your rejection of the Church teaching, we’re not dealing just with “an imperfect humanity” – as we do when we wrestle with sins such an anger, pride, greed, impurity or dishonesty. We all struggle with those things, and often fail.

Your rejection of the Church’s teaching on abortion falls into a different category – it’s a deliberate and obstinate act of the will; a conscious decision that you’ve re-affirmed on many occasions. Sorry, you can’t chalk it up to an “imperfect humanity.” Your position is unacceptable to the Church and scandalous to many of our members. It absolutely diminishes you communion with the Church.

Congressman Kennedy, I write these words not to embarrass you or to judge the state of your conscience or soul. That’s ultimately between you and God. But your description of your relationship with the Church is now a matter of public record, and it needs to be challenged. I invite you, as your bishop and brother in Christ, to enter into a sincere process of discernment, conversion and acceptance. It’s not too late for you to repair you relationship with the Church, redeem your public image, and emerge as an authentic ‘profile in courage,’ especially by defending the sanctity of human life for all people, including unborn children. & if I can ever be of assistance as you travel the road of faith. I would be honored to do so.

Sincerely,
T. Tobin, Bishop of Providence, http://lifesitenews.com /2000/nov/09111111.html

George H. Kubeck, Feast of the Holy Innocents, Mon. Dec. 28/09 - www.cinopsbegone.com
P.S. This is a most serious matter which is applicable to all Catholic-label politicians.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Patrick Kennedy & Loretta Sanchez 2 of 3

Patrick Kennedy & Loretta Sanchez 2 of 3

Bishop Tobin’s Public Letter to Rep. Patrick Kennedy – continued

What does it mean to be Catholic? “The fact that I disagree with the hierarchy does not make me any less of a Catholic.” Well, in fact, Congressman in a way it does. Although I wouldn’t choose those particular words, when someone rejects the teachings of the Church, especially on a grave matter, a life and death issue like abortion, it certainly does diminish their ecclesial communion, their unity with the Church. This principle is based on the Sacred Scripture and Tradition of the Church and is made explicit in recent documents.

For example, the “Code of Cannon Law” says, “Lay persons are bound by an obligation and possess the right to acquire knowledge of Christian doctrine adapted to their capacity and condition so that they can live in accord with that doctrine.” (Canon 229 # l)

The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” says this: “Mindful of Christ’s words to his apostles, ‘He, who hears you, hears me,’ the faithful receive with (#87) docility the teaching and directives that their pastors give them in different forms.”

Or consider the statement of the Church: “It would be a mistake to confuse the proper autonomy exercised by Catholics in political life with the claim of a principle that prescinds from the moral and social teachings of the Church.” (Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, 2002)

There’s lots of canonical and theological verbiage there, Congressman, but it means is that if you don’t accept the teachings of the Church your communion with the Church is flawed, or in your own words makes you “less of a Catholic.”

But let’s get down to a more practical question: let’s approach this way: What does it mean really, to be a Catholic? After all, a Catholic has to mean something, right? To be continued

George H. Kubeck, In pursuit of the truth – The Feast of the Holy Family, Sunday, December 27, 2009 - www.cinopsbegone.com -

GOD BECAME MAN!

GOD BECAME MAN!

God has become man. He has become a child. Thus he fulfills the great and mysterious promise to be Emmanuel: God-with-us. Now he is no longer unreachable for anybody. God is Emmanuel.

By becoming a child, he offers us the possibility of being on familiar terms with him. I am reminded here of a rabbinical tale recorded by Elie Wiesel.

He tells of Jehel, a little boy, who comes running into the room of his grandfather, the famous Rabbi Baruch. Big tears are rolling down his cheeks. And he cries, “My friend has totally given up on me.” He is unfair and very mean to me.”

“Well could you explain this a little more?” asks the Master. “Okay”, responded the little boy. “We were playing hide and seek. I was hiding so well that he could not find me. But then he simply gave up and went home. Isn’t that mean?”

The most exciting hiding place has lost its excitement because the other stops playing. The Master caresses the boy’s face. He himself now has tears in his eyes and he says, “Yes, this is not nice. But look it is the same way with God. He is in hiding, and we do not seek him. Just imagine! God is hiding, and we people do not even look for him.”

In this little story a Christian is able to find the key to the ancient mystery of Christmas. God is hiding. He waits for his creation to set out toward him, he waits for a new and willing Yes to come about, for love to arise as a new reality out of his creation. He waits for man.

From: Unpublished homily, December 24, 1980
Posted on Sunday, Dec. 27th the Feast of the Holy Family in Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger’s book, Co-Workers of the Truth – Meditations for Every Day of the Year, 1992 Ignatius Press, San Francisco

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Patrick Kennedy & Loretta Sanchez

Patrick Kennedy & Loretta Sanchez 1 of 2
In pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegone.com – Sat. Dec. 26, 2009

“The fact that I disagree with the hierarchy on some issues does not make me any less of a Catholic.” (Congressman Patrick Kennedy)

Both Kennedy and Sanchez voted against the Pitts-Stupak Amendment in Congress which was not to fund abortion in the Health Care Bill. Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of Rhode Island has written a Public Letter to Rep. Kennedy.

But before I post that letter, let’s study the public voting records of Congressman Kennedy and Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez in Congress. You will note how similar they are. This is the case of many Catholic-label politicians.

Congressman Patrick Kennedy voted against the Catholic position on the following: (Scorecard of Catholics in Congress – Catholic Advocate” A Project of the Morley Institute for Church and Culture.)

1.)Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act-passage (110th)
2.)Marriage Amendment Act (109th)
3.)Terrie Schiavo: Federal court review (109th)
4.)Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (109th)
5.)Coercive abortion/ United Nations Population Fund (109th)
6.)Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act: passage (109th)
7.)Human Cloning Ban: passage (108th)
8.)Unborn Victims of Violence Act (108th)

Now for Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez and her votes against the Catholic
position as follows.

1.)Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act-passage (110th)
2.)Marriage Amendment Act (109th)
3.)Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (109th)
4.)Abortion in military medical facilities (109th)
5.)Coercive abortion/United Nations Fund (109th)
6.)Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act: passage (108th)
7.)Partial-Birth Abortion Ban: passage (108th)
8.)Unborn Victims of Violence Act (108th)

Bishop Tobin’s Public Letter to Rep. Kennedy, Wed. Nov. 11th, LifeSiteNews.com:
Dear Congressman Kennedy:

Since our recent correspondence has been rather public, I hope you don’t mind if I share a few reflections about your practice of the faith in this public forum. I usually wouldn’t do that – that is speak about someone’s faith in a public setting – but in our well documented exchange of letters about health care and abortion, it has emerged as an issue. I also share these words publicly with the thought they might be instructive to other Catholics, including those in prominent positions of leadership.

For the moment I’d like to set aside the discussion of health care reform, as important and relevant as it is, and focus on one statement contained in your letter of October 29, 2009, in which you write, “The fact that I disagree with the hierarchy on some issues does not make me any less of a Catholic.” That sentence certainly caught my attention and deserves a public response, lest it go unchallenged and leads others to believe it’s true. And it raises an important question. What does it mean to be Catholic? To be cont’d
George H. Kubeck

Candle-Light Pro-Life Procession

Candle-Light Pro-Life Procession
Monday 28 December 2009
THE FEAST OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS

The annual Pro-life Candlelight Procession will take place on Monday December 28th as part of the Celebration of the Feast of the Holy Innocents.

THERE ARE TWO LOCATIONS IN ORANGE COUNTY - CALIF.

1.) Monday, December 28th at 7:00 PM at the LaHabra City Hall (201 E. LaHabra Blvd.) and marching down LaHabra Blvd. to Our Lady of Guadalupe with Mass following at 7:30 P.M. Candles will be provided and reception will follow in the Coleman Center.
You may wish to park at Our Lady of Guadalupe parking lot and then walk to the LaHabra City Hall for the Procession. Then you will have your car parked when you need it after the Mass.

2.) The Procession will start at Trinity Baptist Church on the northwest corner of Fairview and Baker in Costa Mesa at 7:00 PM. (Please begin to convene no later than 6:45 PM). The Knights of Columbus Color Corps will lead the procession.
The Rosary will be recited during the walk down Baker Street to St. John the Baptist (1015 Baker) for the Mass at 7:30 PM. Please bring your own candles. Baby gifts for the life center may be brought to the altar at the offertory, and there will be a collection taken for the Life Center. There will be refreshments in the Church Hall after Mass.

You may wish to park at St. John the Baptist parking lot, and then walk to the corner of Fairview and Baker for the Procession. This way you will have your car parked where you need it after the Mass. For more information call Respect Life Chair couple Tom or Duyen Doucette at 714-556-8787

Addendum: Mark Your Calendar
Dominican Laity Day of Recollection
Sunday, January 31, 2010 8:30 AM until 4:00 P.M.
Retreat Master: Fr. Brian Mullady,OP
Info: Call or E-mail – Lori Mountain, OPL, 310-502-9105
lorimountain@att.net

George H. Kubeck,OPL, Knights of Columbus member
www.cinopsbegone.com

Thursday, December 24, 2009

The Parents of Sarah Palin

The Parents of Sarah Palin
In pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegone.com – Thursday, December 24, 2009

“Go West young man, Go West and North to Alaska”

The southeast Alaska winters are brutal. In Skagway, icy winds tear relentlessly through town… Mom had agreed to give Alaska a one-year trial run, but our “short stint” in the quaint old tourist town inaccessible by roads turned into five years of Dad teaching and coaching, working summers on the Alaska Railroad & tending bar in seasonal tourist traps.

Mom stayed busy herding four small four small kids and driving a seasonal tour bus, and was active in community theatre and the Catholic Church. Both our folks loaded up for activities like hunting, fishing, and hiking, carting us on sleds or in backpacks …

Sports and the outdoors were Dad’s passion, but his parents thought they were a waste of time. Dad had a choice: he could either abandon his passion or fend for himself. So he road the bus 15 miles every day to Sandpoint High School (Hope, Idaho), and hitchhiked home every night after practice. He became a standout athlete, excelling in every sport.

He held the school record for the 100-yard dash for 44 years, until 1998 (Dad sent the boy who broke it a letter of congratulations)… Dad worked in a local lumberyard, staying with different families… Dad became his own man early on, and would pass that independent spirit on to his kids…

Smack in the middle of this jovial clan, my mom grew up in a very conventional life of Richland Bomber pep squads, piano lessons, and sock hops. After high school, she attended Columbia Basin College and worked as a dental assistant. When she met my dad, he had already served a stint in the Army. They were lab partners at CBC…

Dad loved teaching and coaching all kinds of sports, but he had grown up reading Jack London novels, and he craved adventure. London himself arrived in Skagway from California in the fall of 1897 and set out to hike the Chilkoot Trail…

My appetite for books connected my schoolteacher father and me, too. For my 10th birthday, his parents sent me “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” and Dad read to us at night. I appreciate that now even more, realizing he spent all day teaching elementary school science and coaching high schoolers and then came home no doubt a bit tired of kids…

Ever since I can remember. Dad would take us up to Mt. McKinley National Park … A vibrant sanctuary for most every bi-game animal, woodland creature, and bird in Alaska, the park is also the home to the highest peak on the continent, Mt. McKinley

Every spring, Dad would bring his sixth-grade class up to the park on the Alaska Railroad for a weeklong field trip to experience what they’d studied all year about animals, geography, geology and the environment. I was happy to tag along and appreciated that what his students learned during the school year in Mr. Heath’s classroom was what I got to learn every day from Mr. Heath, my dad. Dad would give us a quarter for being the first to spot a moose or a bear on our hour-long drives into Anchorage…

Dad had many opportunities to leave teaching and start making real money on the oil-pipeline, along with thousands of others … But he loved teaching and he loved his students, so he chose making a difference in kids’ lives over making money…

Dad wasn’t into organized religion so much, and he was usually busy Sunday mornings getting ready for our afternoon ski trips or hunts or hikes; he said it was in the outdoors that he “did church.” But he did his fatherly duty, making us answer to him if we ended up skipping church for any reason. And Mom never let us get by with weak excuses. Looking back I’m grateful to them for “forcing me” to go. Without that foundation of faith, we would never have been able to get through some of the tests and trials that have come our way.
Merry Christmas,
George Kubeck. the above from Sarah Palin’s book, Going Rogue, An American Life

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Obama's Christmas Message? 2 of 2

Obama’s Christmas Message? – 2 of 2
In pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegone.com – Wednesday, December 23, 2009

(# 2 of Chuck Norris article in the WorldNet Daily, Away with a Manger, Dec. 21st)

Will President Obama’s Christmas address rival those Christmas confessions of past presidents? Or will his yuletide cheer be another politically correct concoction that has already adorned the first year of his presidency?

Based upon President Obama’s first year’s utter disregard for America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and promotion of a secular-progressive agenda and pro-Islamic platforms, the only white Christmas I would count on the White House is continued whitewashing of religious tradition in Washington. But does America really need another version of “Away with the Manger”?

First, even during his campaign for the presidency, Obama sarcastically belittled America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and degraded its adherents with trite remarks typical of any atheistic antagonist: “Whatever we were, we are no longer a Christian nation”; “The dangers of sectarianism are greater than ever”; “Religion doesn’t allow for compromise”; “The Sermon on the Mount {is} a passage that is so radical that our own defense department wouldn’t survive its application”; and “To base our policy making upon such commitments {as moral absolutes} would be a dangerous thing.” (See the YouTube video: “Barack Obama on the importance of a secular government.”)

Second, President Obama has already denied America’s rich Judeo-Christian heritage before the eyes and ears of other countries, as he publicly declared in Turkey on April 6, 2009, for the whole world to hear: “We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation.” (Who are “we” to whom he refers? Would our former presidents agree with his “we.”?)

Third, quite contrary to Obama’s negative tone and sentiments about Judeo-Christian belief, in countless speeches over the past year he has sympathized and supported pro-Islamic theology and practice. Just recently, he encouraged Americans “not to jump to conclusions” about the Ford Hood shooter being a Muslim extremist. And he refused to say anything when the Muslim extremist and president of Iran publicly accused the U.S. of actively planning and plotting to stop mankind’s real savior: i.e. Mahdi, the iman that Muslims believe will be ultimate savior of mankind.

Fourth, President Obama has enabled an anti-Christian agenda unlike any former president by revising America’s religious history, minimizing the role of religion today, passing secular-progressive legislation and turning a blind eye to issues like atheists’ lawsuit to remove the national motto (“In God We Trust”) off of the walls of the new Capitol Visitors Center in Washington, D.C., or the ACLU’s disposal of Veteran memorial crosses in the Mohave Desert and at Mount Soledad. Every time President Obama has had an opportunity to stand for Christianity in any way, he has not only denied it but disdained it.

A GRAVE MANIFESTATION IS OBAMACARE’S INCORPORATION TO USE FEDERAL FUNDS TO PAY FOR ABORTION AND THEREBY FORCE PEOPLE OF CONSCIENCE WHO ARE PRO-LIFE TO PAY FOR THE TERMINATION OF LIFE IN THE WOMB ACROSS THE COUNTRY…
George H. Kubeck

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

FEELING CATHOLIC?

FEELING CATHOLIC
In pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegone.com – Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Feeling Catholic and being Catholic are two different things. Being Catholic could mean common sense, reason and natural law, the Ten Commandments, the Catechism of the Catholic Church and faith. What does feeling Catholic mean?

Let’s check out the meditation of Pope Benedict in Co-Workers of the Truth on December 18th, written about 32 years ago. Maybe the pope can help us.

“It is only true that religion, for many, has dissolved into an emotion no longer based on anything real, because the faith that once fed this feeling has disintegrated. Yet, in a certain respect, even more destructive may be the attitude of those who consider themselves believers but confine their religion equally to the realm of feelings only, excluding it from the rational proceedings of their daily lives, in which they pursue exclusively their own advantage. … Such an attitude is but a caricature of true faith.”

When Catholic-label politicians feel good about voting for a healthcare system that includes abortion coverage and no conscience protection for doctors and health care workers, there is something wrong with that good feeling.

The position of this writer is: there is more than abortion with a Catholic-label politicians like Rep. Patrick Kennedy voting against the Stupak Amendment in the House which limits public funding in Health Care. Catholic writers must recognize that abortion is just the tip of the iceberg. The political party that these Catholic-label politicians belong to also promotes the absolute and intrinsic evils of same-sex marriage, embryonic stem-cell research, and indirectly assisted-suicide and euthanasia. Why keep this information silent from their readers?

Why should Catholic writers treat these Catholic-label politicians with kid- gloves and as sacred cows? I have written last week a short message to about ten Catholic magazines and periodicals: Editorial Board and Writers, “Please research the Catholic-label politicians in Congress. Explain your findings to your readers. Make some recommendations when they run for office in 2010.”

1.) Commonweal 6.) Orange County Catholic
editors@commonwealmagazine.org ocreditor@rcho.org
(888) -495 -6755 714-282-3022
2.) America 7.) New Oxford Review
letters@americamagazine.org 510-526-5374
1-800-627-9533 FAX 510-526-3492
3.) Our Sunday Visitor 8.) Homiletic and Pastoral Review
oursundayvisitor@osv.com 1-800-353-2324
1-800-348-2440
4.) National Catholic Register 9.) First Things
editor@ncregister.com ft@firstthings.com
1-800-421-3230 (212) 627-1985
5.) The Tidings 10.)The Catholic World Report
(213) 637-7360 editor@catholicworlreport.com
FAX (213) 637-6360 1-800-353-2324

George H. Kubeck, Except for America, I receive all of the above and most of it stays unread.

Obama's Christmas Message? 1 of 2

Obama’s Christmas Message? – 1 of 2
In pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegone.com – Tuesday, December 22, 2009

The President will give his first Christmas message in a couple days. Let’s compare it to past presidents. Chuck Norris has written a poignant and serious article for WorldNet Daily, Monday, Dec. 21, 2009, titled, Away with the Manger.

Chuck begins as follows: “I am willing to bet that President’s Obama’s Christmas address will shine with religious significance about as bright as his unusually short Thanksgiving Proclamation, which gave a token reference to God via a quote from George Washington…” However, you decide. Let’s begin with the good news from our past presidents.

1.) On Christmas Day, 1795, President George Washington with members of Congress at his Mount Vernon estate, complete with a fox hunt, feast including “Christmas pie,” music, dancing & visiting that at times continued for a solid week.

2.) America’s second president, John Adams, was the first to hold a White House Christmas party.

3.) Thomas Jefferson loved celebrating Christmas, from his youth considering the day as a time of “merriment” and “The day of greatest mirth and jollity.” He threw elaborate parties at the White House and his Monticello estate for family and friends, played his violin, sang his favorite Christmas song, “Adeste Fideles” (“Oh Come All Ye Faithful”),…

4.) President Abraham Lincoln read the Bible throughout his life and attended services at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church on a regular basis, including Christmas time. During the Civil War he and his wife would visit hospitals on Christmas to help care for the wounded. During one political campaign, he declared “ I have never denied the truth of the Scriptures; & I have never spoken with intentional disrespect of religion in general … I do not think I could myself be brought to support a man for office whom I knew to be an open enemy of religion.”

5.) In 1870 President Ulysses S. Grant signed into law the bill that made Christmas Day a national holiday.

6.) Sen. Kennedy disclosed at the National Conference of Christians and Jews Dinner in 1957 what he believed would remedy the ills of society: “Upon what we rely? In what can we find hope for the future? The answer, I believe, lies in the very principles which we honor tonight – the principles of our Judaic-Christian heritage.

7.) President Ronald Reagan repeatedly, affirmed his and the nations’ Christian faith at Christmas time, like these words on Dec. 16, 1982, “In this holiday season, we celebrate the birthday of One who, for almost 2,000 years, has been a greater influence on humankind than all the rulers, all the scholars, all the armies and all the navies that ever marched or sailed, all put together … {I}t’s also a holy day, the birthday of the Prince of Peace, a day when ‘God so loved the world’ that He sent us His only begotten Son to assure forgiveness of our sins.”
George H. Kubeck

Sunday, December 20, 2009

DOWN WITH OBAMA'S JACOBINS!

Down with Obama’s Jacobins!
In pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegone.com – Sunday, December 20, 2009

“Henry Waxman – a congressman of some power and influence – sent a letter in August to the CEOs of health care companies asking for schedules of all salaries above a certain amount, and of the conferences they had been to, and how much they cost, and who was there.
Was it coincidence that he wanted this information just as health care debate was starting up? Could it be that he was trying to intimidate and silence potential opposition?

One of the many “czars” – isn’t that an ominous word? – in the Obama administration is Cass Sunstein, the czar of regulatory policy. Mr. Sunstein is a very smart man – a law professor, like the president – but he is on record of saying that speech rights should be redistributed by government bureaucrats much a wealth is distributed through Post-New-Deal tax and entitlement policy. This is not supposed to be a country where there are czars dealing with things like speech. BUT IT IS SUCH A COUNTRY RIGHT NOW.

The economic policies being proposed these days are very bad. But the principles behind them are worse. They represent a return to the idea THAT THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION REPUDIATED – the idea that some are equipped by nature or training to manage the lives of others without their consent.
I have been making the point lately that people are wrong who accuse the Obama administration of being socialist. I take the president at his word when he says he has no desire to own the automobile companies. Instead he wants to control them – and the rest of us as well – through a regulatory apparatus overseen by czars and bureaucrats. And again, his intentions are good.

WHAT IS BAD IS THE VIEW UNDERLYING THEM OF WHAT HUMAN BEINGS ARE. Rather than looking on us as equal beings with a set nature – such that none of us should rule another in the way that God rules man or man rules beast – our political leaders today have been taught to see us as material to be shaped and perfected by experts who have the proper technical training.

It has been close to 100 years now that the majority of people teaching in American colleges and universities have agreed with Woodrow Wilson, one of the founders of the Progressive movement and the first to write explicitly THAT THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IS OBSOLETE, and that we need to liberate the Constitution from the Declaration’s restraints.

This liberation leads to the idea of a “living Constitution,” characterized by constant changes or progress. Absolute truth, to the extent that ordinary people still believe in it, obstructs change or progress – which is why President Obama refers to it … as tyrannical.

But if change or progress is the rule, who is to determine what version of change or progress is good? And as any Hillsdale College student could tell you – is that once you deny the existence of absolute truth, the definition of “good” becomes subjective and the only standard of behavior is what want – “we,” in the political sense, meaning the government or bureaucracy. It reduces politics not to right, but to force. That is why there is bullying spirit about our government today, and why so many Americans are worried.

It is time for that to stop, and there are two conditions for stopping it. The first is for the ordinary folk of the United States to see in this the despotism that it is, and to rise up and repudiate it. The second … replace leaders who have bad education with leaders who have good education.

This is our work at Hillsdale College. We aim to recover the meaning of the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” and place that meaning firmly in the minds and hearts of ambitious men and women who have the courage to do something with that knowledge…”

George H. Kubeck, All of the above by Larry P. Arnn, President of Hillsdale College. IMPRIMIS – DEC. 2009. This is a monthly sent to you FREE – (800) 437-2268

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Thoughts for the New Year!

Thoughts for the New Year
In pursuit of the truth - www.cinopsbegone.com – Tuesday, December 15, 2009

“I am the vine, you are the branches.”
“Without me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15:5)

Point 1: The transformation of ourselves and the society around us:
The following has never happened before: It is a book recommended by Pope Benedict XVI and is to be translated in Italian. Why?

1.)Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, secretary of state sent a telegram in the Pontiff’s name, “This book will awaken renewed fidelity to Christ and generous evangelical witness.”

2.)Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, the president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity: “handbook for Catholic laity who make an effort to build a civilization of love.”

3.)Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, said this volume with “”typical clarity, in addition to the competence of Americans,” is very useful “for the formation of the laity.” He particularly lauded the reflection of questions found at end of every chapter.

4.)Silesian Father Guiseppe Costa, director of the Vatican Publishing House, “It gives us a plan of spiritual things to practice for he building or our interior and social I.”

5.)All of us are proud of the leader of the Knights of Columbus, Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight who has written this book, “A Civilization of Love,” a best seller in the United States. It synthesis the teachings on the civilization of love forged by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, and then applies it to the life of the laity, in the family, in the globalized world, in the market ethics and in defense of life.

On the net: http:///www.acivilizationoflove.com buybook.htlml
Ref for the above: http://www.zenit.org/article-27794?1=#english

Point 2: Without doubt after five years, the following book should also be in your library and maybe part of your Christmas gift purchases. It is Pope Benedict’s book titled: Co-Workers of the Truth – Meditations for Every Day of the Year- Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1992.

Briefly, the Pope hopes to awaken in each reader the courage and generosity to become co-workers with the Gospel, which is the truth of Jesus Christ.

George H. Kubeck

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Message to "Our Sunday Visitor"

Message to “Our Sunday Visitor”
In pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegone.com – Saturday, December 12, 2009

Please send this message is to all U.S. Catholic Newspapers and their writers:

Ref.: The National Historic Declaration on Christian Conscience posted Nov. 23/09
(Check Google and download The Manhattan Declaration)
Who Are You Senator Tom Harkin? Posted Sunday, Dec. 6, 2009
Catholic Writers Are On The Hot Seat! Posted Dec. 8th, 2009

Scene 1: The Supreme Court Decision of Roe vs. Wade – Jan. 22nd, 1973. In 1973 what we failed to do?

Scene 2: ObamaHealthCare: In December, 2009, what we must not fail to do?

Scene 3: A.) Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe: Miracles occurred in Mexico. They can also occur in America. B.) Now for today’s meditation from Pope Benedict’s Co-Workers of the Truth: “John the Baptist and Mary are the two great personages typifying our existence in Advent. They,therefore, dominate the liturgy of Advent. Let us first gaze on John the Baptist. Challenging and active he stands before us, a “type” of the manly vocation. In harsh terms he demands metanoia, a radical transformation of attitudes. Those who would be Christians must be “transformed” ever again… Metanoeite: change you attitude, so that you may see God’spresence in the world … that God may dwell in you… and in the world…”

What’s the good news?
Thanks to President Obama and the education our country has received from the mindset of his staff and the Czars around him; we are today a strong pro-life right of center nation. This transformation is in many ways miraculous. A negative was turned into positive. All of this was accomplished in spite of the secular media, Hollywood and academia. We have found other sources of info:

What’s the beef?
1.) The Obama Health Care has crossed the line on the fundamental truths about justice and the common good: 1.) Sanctity of Life 2.) The Dignity of Marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife. 3.) The rights of conscience and religious liberty. It must be killed. Only a bi-partisan approach will rectify these evils.

2.) THE HEALTH CARE BILL CANNOT PASS WITHOUT THE ASSISTANCE OF CATHOLIC-LABEL POLITICIANS. CATHOLIC WRITERS ARE DUTY BOUND TO TALK AND WRITE ABOUT THESE HORRIBLE SCANDALOUS POLITICIANS. This may be the biggest Catholic-label religious fraud in U.S. History. It needs to be discussed and rectified today and not in 2010.
George H. Kubeck, P.O. Box 865, Stanton, Ca. 90680 - 99998

Our Sunday Visitor – OSV- Editorial Board: Greg Erlandson, publisher; Msgr. Owen F. Campion, associate publisher; Berth McNamara, editorial director, editorial director; John Norton, editor; Sarah Hayes, presentation editor
200 Noll Plaza, Huntington, IN 46750, Phone (800) 348 -2440, Fax (260) 356-8472
E-mail – oursundayvisitor@osv.com – (editorial)

Friday, December 11, 2009

The American Tea Party Handbook - 2

The American Tea Party Handbook – 2
In pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegone.com – Friday, December 11, 2009

President Reagan ideas are like pebbles for David against Goliath. Other weapons are common sense, reasonableness, Constitution and Founding Fathers.

Government:
The more government we can keep at local levels in local hands, the better off we are and the more freedom we will have. Students, April 12, 1973

Common Sense practices of the private sector will work in government if you will just give them a chance. Interview, Sept. 18, 1973

Heaven help us if government ever gets into the business of protecting us from ourselves, Students, April 12, 1973

To be more responsive to the people, we must have enough government to carry out all of government’s legitimate responsibilities, but not one bit more. Speech, Sept. 7, 1973

The tragic inescapable truth is: government does not have all the answers. In too many instances, government does not solve problems, it subsidizes them. Speech, Nov. 14, 1974

For too many years, government has been growing is size and power with no regard for the economic consequences. And government loves it. Oct. 15, 1974

Wisdom in government is not a one-way street that always runs downhill. More often, the higher up the ladder of government you go, the less common sense you find. Speech, Oct. 15, 1973

Government in the United States at every level has been on a long financial drunk. We are in the first stages of the hangover: inflation and debasement of the dollar. And we beset by helpful souls who have us believe that what we need is more of what got us into this condition to begun with.

For a look at where we will be if we do not sober up in a hurry, hark back to Germany of the 1920’s. Workers were given time off every two hours to spend their earnings before the value of their money dropped. Germans carried 50,000 mark notes for lunch money. And that wild inflation brought them, finally, an Adolf Hitler. Speech, Oct. 15, 1973

Prosperity is something created by people and their industries and business for which government takes credit. There are always those who insist government must keep pace with our free society by increasing in size, in cost and ultimately and inevitably in power. It will not come as a shock to you. I am sure, to hear that even though I am part of government, I disagree… Speech, Aug. 6, 1973

George H. Kubeck – THE ABOVE FROM THE QUOTABLE RONALD REAGAN – J.R. HOLMES

Thursday, December 10, 2009

The American Tea Party Handbook - 1

The American Tea Party Handbook – 1
In pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegone.com – Thursday, December 10, 2009

Thank you President Ronald Reagan for your thoughts, words and actions: #

Free Enterprise:
I think it is time everyone in business and industry in this country recognize that for the second time in this century, business and the free enterprise system are under assault by those who would change this system quite drastically. Nov. 10/72

What some of our people seem to have forgotten is the fact that America’s prosperity was not a gift from government or anyone else. Free Enterprise, not government, is the source from which our blessings flow. Speech, Dec. 14, 1974

It is old-fashioned, even reactionary to remind people that free enterprise has done more to reduce poverty than all the government programs up by democracy. Speech, May 4, 1972

Freedom:
Under our system, we are all public servants. Yet, at what point does government become the dominant force in the economy? When does government become the master, instead of the servant? When government takes almost half or more than half of the people’s earnings, freedom is clearly threatened. Speech, May 16, 1973.

History makes it plain that unless restrained, government proliferates to a point where its cost bankrupts the people at the same time it robs them of their freedom. Speech, May 16, 1973.

It is time we realized that profit, property and freedom are inseparable. You can not have any one of them without the others. Speech, Oct. 15, 974

With freedom goes responsibility, a responsibility that can only be met by the individual himself. This is an eternal truth as valid today as it was in 1791 when Edmund Burke said, “Men are qualified for civil liberty in the exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their appetites …” May, 2, 1974

Freedom is indivisible – there is no “s” on the end of it. You can erode freedom, diminish it, but you cannot divide it and choose to keep “some freedoms” while giving up others. Speech, May 4, 1972

Free Market:
The tragedy is that our inflation problems are not the fault of the free market system. We stumbled into inflation because we strayed too far away from the free market concept. Speech, Oct. 15, 1974

# - The Quotable Ronald Reagan, compiled by Joseph R. Holmes, JRH & Assoc. / 73
George H. Kubeck

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

CATHOLIC WRITERS ARE ON THE HOT SPOT!

CATHOLIC WRITERS ARE ON THE HOT SEAT!
Pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegone.com – Immaculate Conception, Dec. 8/09

The Catholic writers have a duty to study the voting records of Catholic-label politicians in the Senate who are deciding whether or not abortion coverage will be included in the national Health Care Program. If they vote for abortion coverage and take away the conscience protection from doctors and healthcare workers; there is no reason for the Catholic-in-name-only politician to use the Catholic label to run for office in 2010. For decades, the CINOP have been getting away with murder. It would be an act of fraud and deception for him or her to use the Catholic-label to run for reelection. Please read on.

Last Sunday’s program at 6 P.M. on EWTN had the regular one about the “Apostle of Common Sense” – G.K. Chesterton. One question covered was: What is the definition of Truth? I took notes and here is what they said. It will help Catholic writers who are going to have to take a stand, explain and educate their position to their readers with the Truth.

1) Truth is consistent. Truth is always the same in all parts. 2) Truth does not change. It does not depend on the day of the week. It does not wear out. 3) Truth is distinctiveness. A lie deemphasizes what is important. It draws attention to the outlines of the truth. 4) Truth is wholesome. Heresy is part of the truth. One-half truth is a lie and is not satisfied with the whole truth. 5) Truth is good. It gets very little publicity. Truth is unpopular.

Truth makes us uncomfortable. A lie is uncharitable… Wisdom and charity fight each other. G.K Chesterton pulls the virtues together. Affirm is good and true. Be unafraid to speak the truth. Fiction is to suit ourselves. Truth is real and good.

Some might take a stand for truth. It should be exhilarating to defend what you love. Enjoy truth and defend it. Lies are like weeds. Truth is sacred. If you say it more often you will be hated. Doubt is usually reactionary and shallow. Doubt has led the war in the modern world.

Tolerance of all opinions: provincial bigots claiming to be important: Truth is saying things right. He says the things right. Truth suffers under Pontius Pilate. You can’t be neutral about the truth.
Jesus Christ is the truth, the same today, yesterday and forever. We are called to defend the truth. We have no better writer than G. K. Chesterton. Now for

Scorecard of Catholics in Congress – Catholic Advocate – Morley Institute …
Let’s take a look at the voting records of Senators Tom Harkin (IA), Dick Durbin (IL), Barbara Mikulski ((MD), Jack Reed (RI), Maria Cantwell (WA), and Patty Murray (WA). In the 108th and 109th Congress, they voted against the
CATHOLIC POSITION 100% OF THE TIME ON THE FOLLOWING:

1.) Funding of overseas of pro-abortion organizations (109th): 2.) Funding of embryo-killing stem cell research (H.R. 810) (109th): 3.) Child Custody Protection Act (S.403): passage (109th): 4.) Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (109th): 5.) Federal Marriage Amendment Act (109th): 6.)HARKIN AMENDMENT TO ENDORSE ROE V. WADE (108TH): 7.) PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTION BAN ACT OF 2003: PASSAGE (108TH): 8.) Abortion in military medical facilities (108th): 9.) Feinstein Substitute Amendment (single-victim substitute) (108th): 10.) Unborn Victims of Violence: passage (108th):

George H. Kubeck – please e-mail this letter or send by mail to all U.S.A. writers.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

WHO ARE YOU SENATOR TOM HARKIN?

WHO ARE YOU SENATOR TOM HARKIN?
In pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegone.com – Sunday, Dec. 6, 2009

I guess the same thing could be said for Senators Dodd, Durbin, Kerry and the eleven other Catholic-in-name-only Democratic Senators who voted to remove weeks ago the conscience protection clause for doctors and health care workers. Today, there are several life and death issues being debated on the Senate floor.

First I want to credit the Catholic-label Democratic Senators for the overall wonderful work they have done in the past on behalf of the poor. They have made wise prudential decisions. Today, they need to avoid any intrinsic evil decisions.

They seem to be blind to the absolute evil issues of abortion and infanticide, same-sex marriage, embryonic stem-cell research, assisted-suicide and euthanasia. One observes that in their own State they are often completely neutral, or for the above evils. I don’t understand how you can call yourself Catholic. They believe in buying the union label. Why should we buy their Catholic label in 2010?

There have no need to fear. They can do the right thing, speak out and be reelected, Why?

Thanks to President Barack Obama, we are now a solidly pro-life center-right nation. About 40% or more of the country is Conservative, 36% Moderate, and 20% Liberal. About 65% of our country does not want ABORTION COVERAGE IN ANY HEALTH CARE SYSTEM.

Abortion coverage is an absolute evil. So what is your problem Senator Harkin and others? Again, did I read correctly that Catholic-label Democrat Senators took away the CONSCIENCE CLAUSE? WHAT’S GOING ON HERE? THIS IS AN ATROCIOUSLY PUBLIC SCANDAL! REALIZE THAT IN 2010; IF YOU RUN FOR OFFICE USING THE CATHOLIC LABEL, YOU ARE A PUBLIC HYPOCTRIC.

ALSO THESE CATHOLIC-LABEL DEMOCRATIC SENATORS MUST BE AWARE THAT SOCIALISM AND CATHOLICISM ARE IRRECONCILIBLE FREE ENTERPRISE AND FREEDOM ARE PART OF THE AMERICAN TRADITION. SOCIALISM IS NOT ON THE AMERICAN RADAR SCREEN. IT IS ON THE EUROPEAN RADAR SCREEN. WE ARE AMERICANS!

LET’S WATCH SENATORS ON CSPAN FOR EXAMPLE, AND FIND OUT WHETHER THEY CAN USE THE CATHOLIC LABEL IN RUNNING FOR REELECTION IN 2010.

George H. Kubeck – the above also refers to the CINO politicians in Congress.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Proud to be an American - 2

Proud to be an American – 2
In pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegone.com – Saturday, December 5, 2009

Jefferson was addressing Christians. His entire argument about people having “unalienable rights” is contingent on the existence of God, and One who cares deeply about each and every individual. As Jefferson asked rhetorically on another occasion. “Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that their liberties are the gift of God?”…

If the life of an individual amounts to no more than a flicker in history, then the perpetuation of the state, society, or empire becomes the overriding political concern. This was Hitler’s philosophy, and it is the driving ideological force behind communism. Inherent in collectivist political systems is the idea that the interests of the individual must be subordinate to the supposed (and I must stress) interests of the whole. We begin to hear phrases like “national purpose.” “world government,” and “social theory” – ideas completely at odds with what America’s founding fathers had in mind…

Alexis de Tocqueville in the early part of the 19th century was commissioned by the French government to travel throughout the United States in order to discover the secret of the astounding success of this experiment in democracy… Tocqueville reported: “I do not know if all Americans have a sincere faith in their religion – for who can know the human heart? – but I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable for the maintenance of republican institutions. This opinion is not peculiar to class of citizens or to a party, but it belongs to the whole rank of society.”

Unless law is anchored in moral absolutes, Supreme Court Justice John Marshall’s statement that the government of the United States is a “government of laws and not of men” makes no sense…

As a writer and constitutional scholar John Whitehead points out, the idea of the “Higher Law” is closely connected to “common law,” a legal term referring to Christian principles adapted to the legal structure of civil life. The phrase first entered the vocabulary of English lawyers of the 12th century, after King John of Runnymede was forced by Pope Innocent III, English landowners, and the “Army of God” to sign England’s first written constitution, designed mainly to protect property fights. Magna Carta, or the great Charter, is filled with such phrases as: “The King himself ought not to be under a man but under God and under the law,...

The Continental Congress of the United States on Oct. 14, 1774, issued the Declaration of Rights stating that the colonists of the several states were entitled to the protections of the common law of England…

George H. Kubeck – the above from Benjamin Hart’s book Faith and Freedom, 1988, Chapter 1

P.S. Our president Barack Obama stated on at least three occasions that we are not a Christian nation. So what kind of change in America is he talking about? Some of his biggest supporters are the “Hate America Crowd” and the “The Lovers of Castro and Ho Chi Min.” Maybe the President is in the wrong country. Help him realize that; with true American change in 2010. No! No! No! To ACORN.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Proud to be an American - 1

Proud to be an American – 1
In pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegone.com – Friday, December 4, 2009

Washington achieved legendary status early in life with his heroic exploits during the French and Indian War. He never sought fame however; in fact he spent all his adult years trying to shun the public life…

Washington was the Electoral College’s unanimous choice for President of the United States. He expected to serve only one term, but was told that if he did not serve a second term the new republic would likely collapse… For almost 40 years this American legend had been trying to return to the peace and privacy of Mount Vernon and his wife Martha…

The United States of America is the freest, strongest, and most prosperous nation in human history. We owe this miraculous development in large part to the life one man – his bravery in battle, his perseverance through hardships, his patience with those who opposed him, his wisdom while in power. What was astonishing about this gallant Virginian, who rode a white horse, was that he actually lived by the ideals of which he spoke…

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports” he (George Washington) said. “In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens? The mere politician, equally with pious man, ought to respect and cherish them… Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”

Washington knew well that a nation’s laws spring from its moral and that its morals spring from its religion. And the religion of which Washington spoke was clear to all who knew him: “It is impossible to govern rightly without God and the Bible,” he said.

In his essay “What I Saw in America,” the great English writer G.K. Chesterton observed that “America is the only nation in the world that is founded on a creed. That creed is set forth with dogmatic and even theological lucidity in the Declaration of Independence.” Chesterton was referring to the second paragraph of America’s founding document which states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created the equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness...”

Thomas Jefferson was the primary author of the Declaration, and believed it was sufficient to assert certain transcendent truths as self evident… He meant the God of the New Testament. Whether Jefferson was himself a Christian is in dispute.
But he understood the society in which he lived and who his audience was when he made the case for severing ties with Britain on grounds that England had “violated the laws of nature and nature’s God.”

George H. Kubeck, the above from Benjamin Hart’s book, “Faith and Freedom” Chapter 1.

P.S. President Barack Obama is mistaken if he believes that he can change our motto to the French and European one of Liberty – Equality – Fraternity. Class warfare, income distribution, and socialism have no foundation in our America. Let the reformation and education begin for the 2010 election.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Manhattan Declaration: Preamble and Declaration

Manhattan Declaration: Preamble and Declaration
In pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegone.com – Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2009

Preamble:
Christians are heirs of a 2,000-year tradition of proclaiming God’s word, seeking justice in our societies, resisting tyranny, and reaching out with compassion to the poor, oppressed and suffering…

While fully acknowledging the imperfections and shortcomings of Christian institutions and communities in all ages, we claim the heritage of those Christians who defended innocent life by rescuing discarded babies from trash heaps in Roman cities and publicly denouncing the Empire’s sanctioning of infanticide…

After the barbarian tribes overran Europe, Christian monasteries preserved not only the Bible also the literature and art of Western culture. It was Christians who combated the evil of slavery: Papal edicts in the 16th and 17th centuries decried the practice of slavery and first excommunicated anyone involved in the slave trade; evangelical Christians in England, led by John Wesley and William Wilberforce, put an end to the slave trade in that country…

The great civil rights crusades of the 1950s and 60s were led by Christians claiming the Scriptures and asserting the glory of the image of God in every human being regardless of race, religion, age or class.

This same devotion to human dignity has led Christians in the last decade to work to end the dehumanizing scourge of human trafficking and sexual slavery, bring compassionate care to AIDS sufferers in Africa, and assist in a myriad of other human rights causes…

Like those who have gone before us in the faith, Christians today are called to proclaim the Gospel of costly grace, to protect the intrinsic dignity of the human person and to stand for the common good. In being true to its own calling, the call to discipleship, the church through service to others can make a profound contribution to the public good.

Declaration:
We, as Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christians, have gathered, beginning in New York on September 28, 2009, to make the following declaration, which we sign as individuals, not on behalf of our organizations, but speaking to and from our communities. We act together in obedience to the one true God, the triune God of holiness and love. who has laid total claim on our lives and by that claim calls us with believers in all ages and all nations to seek and defend the good of all who bear his image…

Today the lives of the unborn, the disabled, and the elderly are severely threatened; that the institution of marriage, already buffeted by promiscuity, infidelity and divorce, is in jeopardy of being redefined to accommodate fashionable ideologies; that freedom of religion and the rights of conscience are gravely jeopardized by those who would use the instruments of coercion to compel persons of faith to compromise deepest convictions...

In this declaration we affirm: 1) the profound, inherent, and equal dignity of every human being as a creature fashioned in the very image of God, possessing inherent rights of equal dignity and life; 2) marriage as a conjugal union of man and woman, ordained by God from the creation, and historically understood by believers and non-believers alike, to be the most basic institution in society and 2) religious liberty, which is grounded in the character of God, the example of Christ, and the inherent freedom & dignity of human beings created in the divine image...

To embrace our obligation – to speak and act in defense of these truths…that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence…
George H. Kubeck – http://www.manhattandeclaration.org/sign-the-declaration

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Bishop Thomas Tobin on the O'Reilly Factor - 1

Bishop Thomas Tobin on the O’Reilly Factor – 1
In pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegone.com – Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Preface: I believe that a public CINOP (A promoter of absolute evils of abortion, same-sex marriage, embryonic stem-cell, assisted-suicide and euthanasia) cannot run for office using the Catholic-label. If he does in 2010; he is a fraud.

CATHOLIC POLITICIANS MUST “QUIT YOUR JOB AND SAVE YOUR SOUL” RATHER THAN SUPPORT ABORTION

The above headline and story below by Kathleen Gilbert from Providence, R.I., Nov.25, 2009 – LifeSiteNews.com

Bishop Thomas Tobin of Rhode Island clarified his reasons for denying pro-abortion politicians Communion on Tuesday, noting that such politicians are not forced to be Catholic – but if they choose to, they must then “understand what the Church teaches. Accept those teachings, and live that faith.”

“The most important commitment we can make is our faith, because that defines our relationship with God. Nothing is more important than that. And if you do your job, your profession, your vocation gets in the way of that, you have to quit your job and save your soul,” said Tobin in an appearance on the Fox Network’s “O’Reilly Factor” Tuesday night.

Bishop Tobin has been at the centre of controversy after it was revealed that he told the Catholic pro-abortion Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) in 2007 to refrain from receiving Communion. Kennedy originally sparked the feud by accusing the Catholic Church of fanning the “flames of dissent and discord” by opposing the pro-abortion House health care bill.

Tobin denied that his decision to ban Rep. Kennedy from Communion was a “punishment.”

“Every Catholic has certain obligations; it means something to say you are Catholic. No one is forced to be Catholic,” said the bishop.

“If you choose freely to a Catholic it means you do certain things, and you believe certain things, and I think all I am trying to say to Congressman Kennedy and others who might be involved, say: if you’re a Catholic, live up to your faith. Understand what the Church teaches, accept those teachings, and live that faith.”

Tobin also defended the Church’s basic right to intercede in public debate on behalf of universal moral principles.

“If the church, not just the Catholic Church, but the religious community – if we don’t bring these values, this spiritual vision to these discussions, who else will do that?” said Tobin.

The tenor of the interview starkly contrasted with Tobin’s appearance on MSNBC’s “Hardball” with Chris Matthews Monday night, in which the Catholic Matthews lectured the bishop and accused Tobin of using public policy as leverage in getting Kennedy to heed his authority.
George H. Kubeck