"...the American man at arms. My estimate of him was formed on the battlefields many, many years ago, and has never changed. I regarded him then, as I regard him now, as one of the world's noblest figures; not only as one of the finest military characters, but also as one of the most stainless.
His name and fame are the birthright of every American citizen. In his youth and strength, his love and loyalty, he gave all that mortality can give. He needs no eulogy from me, or from any other man. He has written his own history and written it in red on his enemy's breast.
But when I think of his patience under adversity, of his courage under fire, and of his modesty in victory, I am filled with an emotion of admiration I cannot put into words. He belongs to history as furnishing one of the greatest examples of successful patriotism. He belongs to posterity as the instructor of future generations in the principles of liberty and freedom. He belongs to the present, to us, by his virtues and by his achievements." - General Douglas MacArthur.
In honor of Arthur Melanson, killed over the Pacific, WWII.
One of my favorite poets, who was also a great prophetic author, is James Dickey. In his book Deliverance, which was made into a film starring Burt Reynolds and Jon Voight, he writes about the system failing. Years later, a policeman told me something I already knew for myself: that the day was fast approaching when people wouldn't be able to rely on the police and we would be reduced to a fight for survival.
I realize for some of you, this will just sound like doom and gloom. But believe it. We are already seeing mob violence and the targeting of police.
Prepare now. Both spiritually and physically.
It can no longer be denied that America has become a "seething cesspool of filth and corruption." America has become a haunt of demons and of every foul spirit. Today, even those who present themselves as "Catholic" have lost the sense of sin. Archbishop Fulton Sheen warned that, "Man is powerless to resist evil if he does not recognize it as such, and deceives himself when he becomes indifferent to evil; his whole personality immediately begins to dissolve, for the power of conscience is inseparably bound up with the denunciation of evil. And this is precisely what our world is doing today; the very beliefs on which the best culture of the world was built are now called in question. Even the distinction between good and evil is lost, and now only a sense of civic loyalty remains. The prophet Isaias sounded such a decadence in his day: 'Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.' If we called sin by its name it would lose all of its seductiveness. Hell can be made attractive, only by surfacing it with the gold of Paradise." (Essay entitled The Sense of Sin).
Today, evil is called good and good is called evil. Catholics faithful to the Magisterium are portrayed as "divisive" and "offensive" even as active homosexuals are celebrated and told to have "pride" in their behaviors.
On April 6, 1941, Bishop Fulton John Sheen gave a sermon on his radio show "The Catholic Hour" in which he reminded listeners that, "The basic spirit of the modern world for the last century has been a determination to escape the Cross." He told his audience as well that, "There is no such thing as living without a cross. We are free only to choose between crosses." And then he asked them: "Will it be the Cross of Christ which redeems us from our sins, or will it be the double cross, the swastika, the hammer and sickle, the fasces"? Bishop Sheen believed, as I do, that America is at a crossroads. In his own words, "We in America are now faced with the threat of that double cross...Our choice is not: Will we or will we not have more discipline, more respect for law, more order, more sacrifice; but, where will we get it? Will we get it from without, or from within, Will it be inspired by Sparta or Calvary? By Valhalla or Gethsemane? By militarism or religion? By the double cross or the Cross? By Caesar or by God? That is the choice facing America today.
The hour of false freedom is past. No longer can we have education without discipline, family life without sacrifice, individual existence without moral responsibility, economics and politics without subservience to the common good. We are now only free to say whence it shall come. We will have a sword. Shall it be only the sword that thrusts outward to cut off the ears of our enemies, or the sword that pierces inward to cut out our own selfish pride"?
Thus far, America has chosen the double cross. Fleeing from the Cross of Christ and the supernatural kingdom established by the Son of God; one of sacrifice and sanctity, America has chosen to pursue a terrestrial kingdom of pleasure and power founded upon a distorted idea of what constitutes liberty or freedom. But this city of man, which has certainly achieved astounding advancements in various spheres while increasing the affluence of some, has also contributed to a climate where men are regarded as mere machines whose only value is to be found in what they produce or consume. This in turn destroys the individual’s sense of personal dignity and responsibility. Americans, in their tragic desire to flee from the Cross of Christ, have rushed to embrace this distorted notion of "freedom" and have forgotten that, as created beings, they only possess contingent rights. That is to say, rights which are accorded by Almighty God. Consequently, in their zeal to promote the fallacious idea that the basis of public morality should be whatever the majority of citizens are prepared to accept, they have also forgotten that man does not possess, and never will possess, the right to perform or engage in any act which is displeasing to God.
And where has this flight from the Cross of Christ led us up to this point? Was Bishop Sheen being an alarmist? In the words of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, taken from his Commencement Address at Harvard University entitled "A World Split Apart": "Destructive and irresponsible freedom has been granted boundless space. Society appears to have little defense against the abyss of human decadence, such as, for example, the misuse of liberty for moral violence against young people, motion pictures full of pornography, crime and horror. This is considered to be part of freedom, and theoretically counterbalanced by the young peoples’ right not to look or not to accept. Life organized legalistically has thus shown its inability to defend itself against the corrosion of evil."
Getting back to Bishop Sheen. What did he mean when he said that, "Our choice is not: Will we or will we not have more discipline, more respect for law, more order, more sacrifice; but, where will we get it"? I believe Pope Benedict XVI was providing us with a hint toward an answer when he spoke of the "dictatorship of relativism." Americans who have gleefully embraced the tenets of liberalism have not learned the lesson the concentration camp and the gulag. These unfortunate souls refuse to acknowledge that atheistic ideology (and make no mistake, the current idea of "freedom" which has taken root in America is itself rooted in atheistic ideology) always, and without exception, gives birth to sheer violence. This is the lesson of atheistic humanism. A lesson which the majority of Americans would rather not think about.
A couple of Catholics have written me with questions as to why good people [including devout Catholics] are also punished during various chastisements. I offer the following:
Excellent article from TFP on natural disasters and chastisement
By Luis Sérgio Solimeo
The string of natural calamities and
man-made tragedies afflicting the world and the United States,
particularly Hurricane Katrina in late August, have stimulated many people to
reflection. Some see these tragic events as God’s chastisement of a sinful
mankind; others see them as yet one more merciful warning from Providence; others yet deny both options and
give various reasons.
Modern society’s staggering apostasy from the truth of the Gospel prompts many
to ask themselves if God is not trying to send a message to the world through
these calamities. Could He be saying: “Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise.
Be zealous therefore and do penance. Behold, I stand at the gate and knock”?1
Could God be showing His supreme displeasure with the reigning amorality and
libertinism, loss of faith and dissemination of sins that “cry out to heaven
for vengeance” such as abortion and homosexuality?2
If we consider just abortion, for example, could these calamities be a Divine
chastisement for the blood of millions of innocent victims that rises to heaven
clamoring for justice? “They have poured out the blood of the Saints as water,
round about Jerusalem.
And there was none to bury them. Avenge, O Lord, the blood of Thy Saints, which
has been shed upon the earth.”3
An Archbishop’s WordsCommenting on 2005’s Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the
retired Archbishop of New Orleans, Most Reverend Philip M. Hannan was very much
of the opinion that these tragedies were Divine chastisements for sin:
“I’ve been speaking at local parishes, and here's what I kept telling the people
I say, look, we are responsible not only for our individual actions to God, but
in addition to that, we are also citizens of a nation and in the Old Testament as
well as the New Testament, it says that a nation has a destiny and we are
responsible whether we cause it or not for the course of morality in that
nation. We are responsible as citizens for the sexual attitude, disregard of
family rights, drug addiction, the killing of 45 million unborn babies, the
scandalous behavior of some priests – so we have to understand that certainly
the Lord has a right to chastisement.… We have reached a depth of immorality
that we have never reached before. And the chastisement was Katrina as well as
Rita.”4
That people who deny the existence of God would summarily write off Archbishop
Hannan’s courageous assessment is understandable. However, we see some
Catholics rush to join the opinion of such atheists – perhaps unwittingly –
emphatically denying any spiritual significance to these disasters. How can
these Catholics be so sure that these calamities are not “signs of the times?”5
That they are not chastisements? Or warnings from God?
A First Objection: If It Can Be Explained Scientifically It Cannot Be Divine
Intervention Among these Catholics are some who suggest that natural
catastrophes can be explained scientifically and that there is no need,
therefore, to bring Divine intervention into the picture to understand what
happened. This argument is only partly correct.
God Uses the Natural Causes He Created to Intervene in History Science can
explain the mechanics of natural disasters, but not their transcendent meaning.
For this, we must look to philosophy and theology.
Indeed, to suggest that the forces of nature act wholly on their own, to the
exclusion of any Divine plan, is to deny that they are God’s creatures. It is
to affirm either that the Creator made things without an end and purpose, or
that He is unable to intervene in His own creation.
However, if God were to have made things without a purpose, He would not be
wise; and if He were unable to control events and direct them toward the end He
had in mind when He created them, He would not be almighty. This would be
tantamount to denying His existence, for the sheer possibility of an imperfect
God contradicts the very idea of God. Either He is an absolutely perfect being,
or the very idea of God makes no sense.
Nothing in Creation Escapes God’s GovernmentIndeed, not only did God create all
beings through a sovereign act of His Divine Will, but He sustains them in
existence and directs them toward the end for which He created them: His
extrinsic glory. In other words, all of Creation is under Divine government and
is subject to God’s wise designs. As Saint
Thomas teaches:
“God [is] the ruler of things as He is their cause, because the same gives
existence as gives perfection; and this belongs to government. Now God is the
cause not indeed only of some particular kind of being, but of the whole
universal being. Wherefore, as there can be nothing which is not created by
God, so there can be nothing which is not subject to His government.… Now the
end of the Divine government is the Divine goodness. Wherefore, as there can be
nothing that is not ordered to the Divine goodness as its end, so it is
impossible for anything to escape from the Divine government.”6
Saint Thomas
further explains that while this Divine government is direct and immediate from
the standpoint of design, this does not mean that God cannot use secondary
means for the ultimate execution of His plans. Consequently, He can use the
angels or even men to intervene in History. He can use natural forces and the
physical laws that are derived from the nature of beings as He created them and
their relationships with each other.7However, just because God usually uses these
secondary causes to execute His plans, this does not mean that He is not
directing, in a superior fashion, all things to their true purpose, which is
His glory.8
Therefore, just because God does not suspend the laws of nature, as He did when
opening the Red Sea for the Chosen People,
that does not mean events are not obeying His designs.9
In fact, God’s absolute perfection demands that He act continuously in history.
This is abundantly confirmed by Holy Scriptures and the writings of the Church
Fathers.10
Therefore, when analyzing the present catastrophes, God’s government in the
world must be taken into consideration.
A Second Objection: God is Goodness Itself, So He Never Chastises MenOther
Catholics disagreeing with Archbishop Hannan’s assessment raise a second
objection: “God is supremely good, in fact He is Goodness itself, therefore He
never chastises men.”
Actually, since God is the absolute perfect being, and the cause of all
perfection, He must have in Himself all possible perfections.11
Thus, He is not only infinitely good and merciful, but also infinitely just. As
the Psalmist so aptly says: “Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and
peace have kissed.”12
Therefore, while God reserves definitive reward or punishment for the next
life, as seen in the parable of the wheat and the chaff,13
He also chastises on this earth. This truth is formally found in Revelation.
Some examples are: the plagues of Egypt, 14
the Flood,15
the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah16
and the destruction of Jerusalem.17
God Does Judge and Chastise Men, and Each Man IndividuallyAlso, Saint Paul says that
earthly authority “is God's minister: an avenger to execute wrath upon him that
doth evil.”18
Clearly, human authority could not be a “minister” or agent of Divine justice
if God Himself did not meet out earthly punishment.
According to the Apostle, man cannot escape Divine justice, be it in this life
or the next: “And thinkest thou this, O man … that thou shalt escape the
judgment of God? … But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou
treasurest up to thyself wrath, against the day of wrath and revelation of the
just judgment of God: Who will render to every man according to his works.”19
Finally, Mary’s prayer, the Magnificat, teaches that God’s mercy is manifested
“to them that fear him.”20
It is because God judges and chastises that we should fear offending Him.
A Third Objection: Since the Calamity Affected Both Good and Bad It Cannot Be
Divine Chastisement – God Would Never Chastise the GoodOther Catholics bring up
a third reason why they would disagree with Archbishop Hannan: “These natural
disasters, did not only affect evil men, they also brought untold suffering to
good people. Thus, they cannot be a chastisement from God. Were God to punish
the good, He would not be infinitely just.”
To properly address this objection we must first recall some basic teachings of
our Catholic faith:
a) God is the Lord of life: We owe our existence to God and just as He freely
gave us life, He is free to take it from us. There is no injustice when He does
so, regardless of the stage of life, be it that of an infant, a child, an adult
in the full vigor of manhood, or one who has reached venerable old age.
b) Eternal, not earthly, life and happiness are our ultimate goal: Moreover,
our earthly life and happiness are not ends in themselves. They are not the
supreme reason for our existence. They are the road, the means, for us to
attain eternal life, our true goal. Thus, Saint
Paul reminds us, “Our citizenship is in heaven.”21
God’s way of acting becomes incomprehensible when we lose sight of eternal life
and heavenly happiness.
c) God punishes collective sin, collectively: When sin becomes generalized, is
greatly tolerated, or is committed by particularly representative individuals,
it involves the whole family, city, region, nation, or even historical eras.
This collective dimension makes sin particularly grave and offensive to God and
the result is that Divine chastisement is also collective. Both good and bad
suffer. The first suffer to become more perfect; the second as a chastisement
for their faults.
Saint Augustine Explains Collective Chastisement The great Saint
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo in Northern Africa, and Doctor of the
Church, lived during the barbarian invasions that brought about the fall of the
Western Roman Empire. Indeed, the Vandals were
storming at the city gates as he died.
During
this troubled period, pagans blamed the Church for the collapse of Empire and civilization.
If the Empire had not become Christian, they argued, Jove and the other gods of
Rome would have
saved it from destruction. Moreover, they added, the God of the Christians was
no god at all since He had not spared the Christians from the barbarians. Saint Augustine
wrote The City of God to defend the Church and shore up the faith in hearts. In
his masterwork, he explains the reason for collective chastisements. His
reasoning can be summed up as follows:
1. Since nations as such do not pass to eternal life, they are rewarded or
chastised in this life for the good or evil they practice; good and bad alike
feel the effects of both reward and chastisement.
2. As for the good, the chastisement purifies their love of God, and may even
take them from the tribulations of this life to the eternally happy life of
Heaven; “Job’s case exemplifies that the human spirit may be proved, and that
it may be manifested with what fortitude of pious trust, and with how
unmercenary a love, it cleaves to God.”
3. On the other hand, very often the good are justly chastised for a certain
selfishness, a lack of courage and apostolic fervor, that prevents them from
pointing out to the bad, the evil of their ways: “Because they weakly relish
the flattery and respect of men, and fear the judgments of the people, and the
pain or death of the body; that is to say, their non-intervention is the result
of selfishness, and not of love.”
4. As for the bad, they are chastised by “Divine Providence, which is wont to
reform the depraved manners of men by chastisement.”22
Such is also the teaching of Saint
Thomas who says: “Justice and mercy appear in the
punishment of the just in this world, since by afflictions lesser faults are
cleansed in them, and they are the more raised up from earthly affections to
God. Likewise, Saint Gregory says: ‘The evils that press on us in this world
force us to go to God.’”23
Our Lady at Fatima: A Prophetic and Maternal
WarningProphets in the Old Testament continually warned the Chosen People of
chastisements that would come on account of their apostasies. Hence, we read of
the prophet Jeremias warning of the Babylonian captivity. In the New Testament,
Our Lord warned that Jerusalem
would be destroyed because it had rejected Him.24
In 1917, the Blessed Mother appeared in Fatima to warn that if the world did
not convert and do penance it would be chastised: “When you see a night
illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by
God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war,
famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father.… [Russia] will
spread her errors throughout the world.
… The good will be martyred… various
nations will be annihilated.”25At her last apparition in Fatima
on October 13, 1917, Our Lady performed the famous miracle of the sun, perhaps
to give us an idea of the natural or man-made cataclysms that could strike
mankind, if we do not convert. The miracle was witnessed by 70,000 people and
was reported extensively in the Portuguese anti-clerical secular press of the
time.26
Has the world converted and done penance during these 88 years since Our Lady
made her request? Archbishop Hannan’s words suggest that it has not. He
mentions a few of the evils that plague us, but many more can be added to the
list. The world has fallen into an almost universal apostasy. Its immorality is
unparalleled since the advent of Christianity. More than just an aggressive
libertinism, this sad state of things represents a sin of the spirit whereby
moral aberrations are esteemed and even protected by law. Massive public
parades that glorify homosexual vice have become frequent in nearly all of the
world’s major cities. In 2000, a world “homosexual pride” festival took place
in Rome. And in
August 2005, another 10-day one was to have taken place in Jerusalem, but the vigorous reaction from
residents forced the organizers to postpone it for a year.
New Orleans: Tears of Maternal Sorrow and Warning In this regard, it is
certainly significant that the International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady
of Fatima, one of the four statues carved under the direction of Sister Lúcia,
the main Fatima seer, shed tears in New Orleans in July 1972.27
One month after that miraculous weeping, the beautiful port city saw the
beginning of Southern Decadence – days filled with the public display of naked
flesh and homosexual lewdness28
– and with every passing year, New Orleans became increasingly a symbol for
those who ignore Our Lady of Fatima’s message of conversion.
Could Our Lady have chosen New Orleans for this
miraculous weeping because, in weeping over New Orleans, She was weeping over everything
it would come to symbolize?
A Call to Conversion and PenanceThis brings us back to the original question.
How should we look at Hurricane Katrina and the string of tragedies that have
befallen our nation and the world? As a chastisement? As a new warning from
Divine Providence?
The answer is that regardless if the causes of tragedy are natural or man-made,
we cannot exclude Divine Providence’s wise and unfathomable designs. Rather,
for all the reasons laid out above, and particularly Our Lady’s message at Fatima, it seems to us that prudence demands we give
serious consideration to the possibility that God is warning us of our faults
and calling us to repentance.
God does not want the death of the sinner, but his conversion. However, if the
world does not heed Our Lady’s call to conversion, we cannot be surprised if
even worse tragedies afflict the world – the annihilation of whole nations, for
example, as mentioned by the Blessed Mother at Fatima.Whatever the future may
have in store for us, however, we should always remember that Our Lady also
foretold at Fatima both mankind’s ultimate conversion and her final victory,
“Finally, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!”May the series of catastrophes that
have befallen America
and the world help us to take to heart Our Lady’s maternal call to conversion.
Notes 1. Apoc. 3:19-20. 2. “The catechetical tradition also recalls that there are
"sins that cry to heaven": the blood of Abel, (Gen. 4:10) the sin of
the Sodomites, (Gen. 18:20; 19:13) the cry of the people oppressed in Egypt, (Ex.
3:7-10) the cry of the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan, (Ex. 20:20-22)
injustice to the wage earner (Deut. 24:14-15).” Catechism of The Catholic Church
(Second Edition, n. 1867. 3. Adaptation of Psalm 78:3, 9-10, Tract of the Mass of the Holy
Innocents, Martyrs, (Feast day December 28) old Latin Roman Missal. 4. http://www.tfp.org
5. When the Pharisees and Sadducees asked the Divine Master for “a sign from
heaven,” He answered: “When it is evening, you say, it will be fair weather,
for the sky is red. And in the morning: Today there will be a storm, for the
sky is red and lowering. You know then how to discern the face of the sky: and
can you not know the signs of the times?” – Matt. 16:1-3. (Our emphasis). 6. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I.q. 103, a.5. 7. “In government there are two things to be considered; the
design of government, which is providence itself; and the execution of the
design. As to the design of government, God governs all things immediately;
whereas in its execution, He governs some things by means of others.” (Ibid.,
a. 6). 8. Of course, God respects men’s free will and, in case of sin,
reestablishes his offended glory by exercising His justice. 9. God commonly acts in history without suspending the laws of
nature but by steering them to obtain certain results. For example, when the
Prophet Elias prayed for rain in Israel, which was suffering from a terrible
drought, God caused many clouds to come together and rain heavily (1 Kings
18:41-45). At other times He suspends the laws of nature, as when the
Israelites crossed the Red Sea (Ex. 14:16). 10. Summarizing the central thesis of St. Augustine’s famous
work, The City of God, Fr. A. Rascol says that it is Divine Providence that
orders favorable events and allows adversities, regulating the joys and
afflictions of the just, and punishing some faults while saving others for the
day of definitive judgment (Cf. A. Rascol, s.v. “Providence, S. Augustin,” in
Vacant-Magenot-Amann, Dictionnaire de Théologie Catholique, (Paris: Letouzey et
Ané, 1936), Vol. 13, col. 963. On the role of Providence in Scripture, see Leslie J.
Walker, s.v. “Divine Providence,” at www.newadvent.org/cathen/12510a.htm. 11. Thus, St.
Thomas says: “Since therefore God is the first
effective cause of things, the perfections of all things must pre-exist in God
in a more eminent way.” (Summa Theologica, I, q.4, a2. 12. Psalm 84:11. (Douay-Rheims.) 13. Cf. Matt. 13:24-30. 14. Cf. Exodus, Chapters 7-8. 15. Cf. Genesis, Chapters 6-8. 16. Cf. Genesis, Chapter 19. 17. Cf. Matt. 24:1-2. 18. Rom. 13:4. 19. Rom. 3:6. 20. Lk. 1:50. 21. Phil. 3:20. 22. Cf. St. Augustine, The City of God, Book I, Chapters 1 and 9. The thesis
that nations are rewarded or chastised in this earthly life is an underlying
thesis found throughout The City of God, but particularly in Books IV and V. 23. Summa Theologica, I, q.21, a.4. 24. Cf. Lk., 19:41-44; Matt. 23:37. 25. Cf. http://www.tfp.org 26. Cf. John M. Haffert, Meet the Witnesses, (Washington, N.J.:
Ave Maria Institute, 1961). Mr. Haffert provides his interviews with numerous
eyewitnesses of this awesome miracle. 27. We read on the web site of the International Pilgrim Virgin
Statue of Our Lady of Fatima: “New Orleans, LA, July, 1972: During Her tour of the New Orleans diocese, the statue shed tears on
numerous occasions.… That was the first time it was discovered that the moisture
was human tears and also the first time photos began to circulate.”
http://www.tfp.org Cf. also Plinio Correa de Oliveira, “Tears, a Miraculous
Warning,” Folha de S. Paulo, Aug. 6, 1972. 28. This August, the homosexual event was officially cancelled
because of hurricane Katrina although two unofficial parades were held in New Orleans and Lafayette.
The festival’s immorality is evident from this description found on a New
Orleans’ tourist web site:“Leave your prudish friends and family at
home“Parades and non-stop parties aside, Southern Decadence may be most famous
(or infamous) for the displays of naked flesh which characterize the event ….
the atmosphere of Southern Decadence has stayed true to its name and public
displays of sexuality are pretty much everywhere you look. Like I said, you
might want to leave your more prudish friends and family at home…. August
31-September 5, 2005.” http://www.tfp.org 29. “Is it my will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God,
and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” Ezek. 18:23
Remember when New Hampshire Republican Steve Vaillancourt from Manchester defended the inappropriate comments made by Representative D.J. Bettencourt on Facebook last year in which he referred to Bishop John McCormack as a "pedophile pimp." Vaillancourt wrote, "This pedophile enabler has blood (and perhaps other bodily fluids) both figuratively and perhaps literally on his hands...The Bishop has disgraced the Catholic Church." See here.
The highly emotional and erratic Republican lawmaker had to be physically removed from the state House of Representatives on Tuesday afternoon after making a Nazi salute during a contentious debate about limiting what is considered valid voter identification. The Huffington Post is reporting that the angry Republican "shouted, 'Sieg Heil' and moved his hand in the air after House Speaker William O'Brien (R-Mont Vernon) restricted what he could address during a floor debate on an amendment to a state voter ID bill. O'Brien had restricted what Vaillancourt could say about the full bill, saying that he could not reference the House Election Law Committee's discussion, only the issues presented in the committee report.
O'Brien, who had previously threatened to toss Vaillancourt from the floor, used Vaillancourt's outburst to have the veteran lawmaker moved off the floor. It is the first time in at least a decade that a House member has been removed from the chamber in New Hampshire. House members then voted 238 to 103 to allow Vaillancourt to apologize to the full chamber in order to be allowed back in, setting off further debate when Vaillancourt did not apologize in the manner that O'Brien had expected.
'Part of the apology is to get the record straight. I did not use the word 'Hitler,' Vaillancourt said before O'Brien ordered him away from the podium.
State House police were called to remove Vaillancourt from the chamber, where he was sitting in his seat, with several House members tweeting that he would not leave. Rep. Christopher Serlin (D-Portsmouth) tweeted that "Stand Our Ground" was shouted by House members just before police physically removed Vaillancourt from the chamber. O'Brien also had Vaillancourt's voting card taken from him to prevent him from casting votes. A committee was formed by O'Brien that would meet with Vaillancourt to discuss his apology." (See here).
Dr. Germain Grisez, addressing the responsibilities which accompany communication, writes, "All communication should be open to community, and mutual good will and honor are essential for that purpose. Pleasantness in speech and manner manifests good will and the desire to please others. Marks of courtesy - polite words, gestures, and other actions - manifest not only respect for persons insofar as they are persons, but the honor appropriate for each in accord with his or her social status, the relationship of persons, and other circumstances (S.t., 2-2, q. 114, a. 1). Hence, in communicating, people should always be courteous and pleasant (See Col 4: 6), unless it is unavoidable to sadden others or there is some reason for not trying to please them."
Representative Vaillancourt had no such reason. His was merely a temper tantrum, an emotional outburst because he couldn't have his own way. For that reason, the sophomoric lawmaker should be censured appropriately.
I was pondering the strange rumblings which are being heard around the world and in particular the United States. In prayer this word comes to me:
"Go, my people, enter your chambers, and close the doors behind you;
Hide yourselves for a brief moment, until the wrath is past. See, the LORD goes forth from his place, to punish the wickedness of the earth’s inhabitants; The earth will reveal the blood shed upon it, and no longer conceal the slain." (Isaiah 26: 20).
The earth will soon reveal the blood of the little children slain in the womb. You hear rumbling. I tell you it is the Blood of Abel crying out to the Lord.
In a Blog post which may be found here, Republican Steve Vaillancourt from Manchester has defended the inappropriate comments made by Representative D.J. Bettencourt late last week on Facebook in which he referred to Bishop John McCormack as a "pedophile pimp." Vaillancourt writes, "This pedophile enabler has blood (and perhaps other bodily fluids) both figuratively and perhaps literally on his hands...The Bishop has disgraced the Catholic Church."
It is most ironic that Rep. Vaillancourt would accuse anyone of having blood on their hands. For Mr. Vaillancourt supports abortion within the first trimester of pregnancy. See here. And as Father Frank Pavone, Director of Priests for Life, has reminded us so often, "abortion itself is the worst form of child abuse." If you doubt this for even a moment, view the photos at the Priests for Life website of aborted first trimester babies here.
I'm not a defender of Bishop McCormack. For years I have said that he failed to protect children. For years I opposed his toleration of the dissent group VOTF within the Diocese of Manchester. I actually wrote him several times over the years expressing my concerns. But always while maintaining respect for his priestly office, for his office as Bishop. But for someone like Steve Vaillancourt who is supportive of the worst form of child abuse - the murder of innocents through abortion - to condemn another for having blood on their hands is, well, nothing less than blatant hypocrisy.
Has Bishop John McCormack disgraced the Catholic Church? By no means. He has disgraced himself alone. New Hampshire Catholics are not responsible for the moral failings of Bishop McCormack. Each of us is responsible for his own sins before God. D.J. Bettencourt understands this deep down. Which is why, in a conciliatory letter to Bishop McCormack, he wrote (in part): "My comments were in no way intended as an attack on the Catholic Church, or on the position which you hold...I came of age in the faith during the height of the sexual abuse scandal and when many were walking away from the Church. I remained. I stayed in the belief that the Christian faith and our Church were more than the few individuals who betrayed one of the greatest trusts a man can be given - that of a priest."
Rep. Vaillancourt has blood on his hands. If he wants to see clearly enough to render judgments, he should first remove the plank from his own eye.
Mr. LeVangie, thank you for showing our young people how important the American flag really is. You are one of its loyal defenders sir.
God Save the Flag by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr
Washed in the blood of the brave and the blooming, Snatched from the altars of insolent foes, Burning with star-fires, but never consuming, Flash its broad ribbons of lily and rose.
Vainly the prophets of Baal would rend it, Vainly his worshippers pray for its fall; Thousands have diedfor it, millions defend it, Emblem of Justice and Mercy to all:
Justice that reddens the sky with her terrors, Mercy that comes with her white-handed train, Soothing all passions, redeeming all errors, Sheathing the sabre and breaking the chain.
Borne on the deluge of old usurpations, Drifted our Ark o'er the desolate seas, Bearing the rainbow of hope to the nations, Torn from the storm-cloud and flung to the breeze !
GOD BLESS the FLAG and its loyal defenders, While its broad folds o'er the battle-field wave, Till the dim star-wreath rekindle its splendors, Washed from its stains in the Blood of the Brave
"See and contemplate the grandeur of this restoring and life-giving Sacrament of Penance, so forgotten and even scorned by ungrateful men, who in their foolish madness, do not realize that it is the only sure means of salvation after one has lost his baptismal innocence. What is most grievous is that even the ministers of My Most Holy Son do not give to it the value that they should, viewing with cold indifference this valuable and precious treasure, which has been placed in their hands for the restoration of souls redeemed by the Blood of the Redeemer. There are those who consider hearing confession as a loss of time and a futile thing. O, alas! If priests were given to see directly that which you are now contemplating and were enlightened with the Light that now illuminates you, they would then recognize this gift!..." (Our Lady to Sister Marianne de Jesus Torres, Quito, Ecuador 1634).
Mankind is facing so many problems today. Sin has been enshrined as a good. As Father Albert Hebert, S.M., once said, even the "great pagan juridical systems admitted the fact of wrong-doing and their legal systems prescribed punishment for it. It is only in our day that there is such a widespread denial of the existence of sin and moral laws. This makes God appear as the Creator of evil, and God hates this blasphemy, pride and hypocrisy on the part of His creature man....Today, persons great and lowly commit sin, deny it and even blasphemously call it virtue. For example, active homosexuals and lesbians call their practices 'love' and demand the legal status of normal married man and wife.."
It is because sin has been enshrined as a good, because so many people have turned away from the Merciful Heart of Jesus, that there is no peace today. Many will argue that I'm being "too simplistic," or that there are other reasons for the breakdown of peace we are experiencing across our culture and throughout the world.
But when Faustina Kowalska's confessor told her to ask Jesus the meaning of the two rays in the image which she had previously been shown, Jesus spoke to her while she was in prayer:
"The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls...These two rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross. These rays shield souls from the wrath of My Father. Happy is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him. I desire that the first Sunday after Easter be the Feast of Mercy... Mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to My mercy..." (Divine Mercy in My Soul, Notebook I, 299, 300).
If we want peace, we will only obtain it through Our Jesus of Mercy. We must confess our sins regularly and dwell in the shelter of the two rays which emanate from His Merciful Heart. There is no peace in attempting to legitimize sin. There is no peace apart from Our Jesus of Mercy.
The choice is ours. But not for much longer. "...before I come as a just Judge, I first open wide the door of My mercy. He who refuses to pass through the door of My mercy must pass through the door of My justice.." (Notebook III, 1146); "My daughter, Speak to the world about My mercy; let all mankind recognize My unfathomable mercy. It is a sign for the end times; after it will come the day of justice. While there is still time, let them have recourse to the fount of My mercy; let them profit from the Blood and Water which gushed forth for them." (Notebook II, 848).
We have two ways before us: Love and mercy which produce peace and tranquility or hatred, sin and unforgiveness which lead to despair, violence and war. The choice, as always, is ours to make. A way of life and a way of death as the Didache teaches.
