President Barack Obama now considers himself to be the living teaching office of the Church?

President Obama insists that, "his understanding of the Bible and his Christian beliefs led him to issue the directive at public schools calling on students to be allowed to use the bathroom of their choosing regardless of their biological sex.

Speaking at a town hall in Elkhart, Indiana, Mr. Obama said that: "My reading of scripture tells me that that [the] Golden Rule is pretty high up there in terms of my Christian belief."

And therein lies the problem.  In 2 Peter 3: 15-16, we read, "And consider the patience of our Lord as salvation, as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, also wrote to you, speaking of these things as he does in all his letters. In them there are some things hard to understand that the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures."


It isn't Barack Obama's role to interpret the Sacred Scriptures.  It is the task of the Church.  In Dei Verbum, No. 10, of the Second Vatican Council we read: "...the task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whether written or handed on,  has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church,  whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ. This teaching office is not above the word of God, but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listening to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously and explaining it faithfully in accord with a divine commission and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it draws from this one deposit of faith everything which it presents for belief as divinely revealed.

It is clear, therefore, that sacred tradition, Sacred Scripture and the teaching authority of the Church, in accord with God's most wise design, are so linked and joined together that one cannot stand without the others, and that all together and each in its own way under the action of the one Holy Spirit contribute effectively to the salvation of souls."

The Golden Rule is a moral rule found in many religions, though it takes slightly different forms. In the Christian West, it takes the form based on the words of Jesus, "Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them" (Matt 7:12), or more popularly, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you."

 

It is true that everything must be done to help sinners but this cannot include helping them to sin or to remain in sin. Because of human frailty, every sinner deserves both pity and compassion. However, vice and sin (Such as that outlined in Deuteronomy 22:5, see here) must be excluded from this compassion. This because sin can never be the proper object of compassion. (Summa Theologica, II-II, q. 30, a.1, ad 1).

It is a false compassion which supplies the sinner with the means to remain attached to sin. Such "compassion" provides an assistance (whether material or moral) which actually enables the sinner to remain firmly attached to his evil ways. By contrast, true compassion leads the sinner away from vice and back to virtue. As Thomas Aquinas explains:

"We love sinners out of charity, not so as to will what they will, or to rejoice in what gives them joy, but so as to make them will what we will, and rejoice in what rejoices us. Hence it is written: 'They shall be turned to thee, and thou shalt not be turned to them.'" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, II-II, q. 25, a.6, ad 4, citing Jeremiah 15:19).
St. Thomas Aquinas teaches us that the sentiment of compassion only becomes a virtue when it is guided by reason, since "it is essential to human virtue that the movements of the soul should be regulated by reason." (Summa Theologica, II-II, q. 30, c.3). Without such regulation, compassion is merely a passion. A false compassion is a compassion not regulated and tempered by reason and is, therefore, a potentially dangerous inclination. This because it is subject to favoring not only that which is good but also that which is evil (Summa Theologica, II-II, q. 30, a.1, ad 3).

An authentic compassion always stems from charity. True compassion is an effect of charity (Summa Theologica, II-II, q. 30, a.3, ad 3). But it must be remembered that the object of this virtue is God, whose love extends to His creatures. (Summa Theologica, II-II, q. 25, a.3). Therefore, the virtue of compassion seeks to bring God to the one who suffers so that he may thereby participate in the infinite love of God. As St. Augustine explains:

"'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' Now, you love yourself suitably when you love God better than yourself. What, then, you aim at in yourself you must aim at in your neighbor, namely, that he may love God with a perfect affection." (St. Augustine, Of the Morals of the Catholic Church, No. 49, which may be found here: http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1401.htm).
 

This is the true practice of the Golden Rule.  Barack Obama doesn't understand this.  He interprets the Scriptures unto his own destruction....while doing damage to the common good of the nation he is supposed to represent.

 

Cardinal Dolan celebrates homosexuals

Cardinal Dolan is celebrating homosexuals marching in the Saint Patrick's Day Parade.  This comes as no surprise.  Church Militant notes how, "Sources from within the New York archdiocese are revealing that a corrupt homosexual network reaches into the top ranks of the New York archdiocese, involving the priest personnel office, the communications director, the vicar general, and even the former archbishop of Baltimore, Cdl. Edwin O'Brien — and that Cdl. Timothy Dolan is aware of much of this and does little to stop it."

Saint Peter Damian, in his Book of Gomorrah, decries the audacity of men who are "habituated to the filth of this festering disease," and who still dare to present themselves for holy orders, or if already ordained, remain in office.

Was it not for such crimes that Almighty God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and slew Onan for deliberately spilling his seed on the ground? he asks.  And then he cites St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians (Ephesians 5:5): "... if an unclean man has no inheritance at all in Heaven, how can he be so arrogant as to presume a position of honor in the Church, which is surely the kingdom of God?"  See here.

 Saint Catherine of Siena, a great mystic and Doctor of the Church, fought for reform at a time when many clergy had succumbed to the vice of homosexuality.  In her Dialogues, St. Catherine said that, "...these wretches not only do not bridle this fragility [of a weak nature], but do worse, committing that accursed sin against nature, and as blind as fools, with the light of their intellect darkened, they do not know the stench and misery in which they are."

Saint Peter Damian, another Doctor of the Church, a Cardinal and great reformer of the clergy, wrote an entire treatise entitled the Book of Gomorrah against the inroads made by homosexuality among the clergy.  In his important work, St. Damian describes the iniquity of homosexuality as well as its psychological and, more importantly, its moral consequences:

"Truly, this vice is never to be compared with any other vice because it surpasses the enormity of all vices...It defiles everything, stains everything, pollutes everything.  And as for itself, it permits nothing pure, nothing clean, nothing other than filth....The miserable flesh burns with the heat of lust; the cold mind trembles with the rancor of suspicion; and in the heart of the miserable man chaos boils like Tartarus [Hell]....In fact, after this most poisonous serpent once sinks its fangs into the unhappy soul, sense is snatched away, memory is borne off, the sharpness of the mind is obscured.  It becomes unmindful of God and even forgetful of itself.  This plague undermines the foundation of faith, weakens the strength of hope, destroys the bond of charity; it takes away justice, subverts fortitude, banishes temperance, blunts the keenness of prudence.  And what more should I say since it expels the whole host of the virtues from the chamber of the human heart and introduces every barbarous vice as if the bolts of the doors were pulled out."

Because the soul en route to Hell has lost faith and is utterly miserable, it seeks company on its journey to final impenitence and, ultimately, eternal damnation.

Such a soul welcomes a parade of filth.

England's new Cyber Security Strategy: Will it treat Christians who oppose homosexuality as "cyber bullies"?

England's intelligence agency GCHQ will play a key role in the new UK Cyber Security Strategy.  This new strategy was crafted, we are told, to protect against "criminals, hackers, foreign intelligence services..who want to harm us by compromising or damaging our critical data and systems."  See here.  Sounds like good news right?

But if one reads this document very carefully, a few red flags begin to emerge.  It's not only criminals, hackers and foreign intelligence services which the new Cyber Security Strategy will target by banning them from the internet, but "cyber-bullies" as well.  Here we enter a very subjective area.  What exactly is it that constitutes a "cyber-bully"?   The Human Rights Campaign [pro-homosexual] says that, "Perpetrators of cyber bullying may use personal computers or cellular phones to harass victimes through email, instant messages, online bulletin boards, websites or text messages." See here.  In other words, an individual who opposes the homosexual agenda on moral grounds at his or her website or Blog, or who argues against another individual's "gay lifestyle" at an online "bulletin board" could also be considered to be a "cyber-bully."

There is real reason for concern here.  The new UK Cyber Security Strategy, on page 39, states that it will, "Continue the process started by the London Conference on Cyberspace to establish international norms of acceptable behaviour in cyberspace."

And who or what exactly was behind the London Conference on Cyberspace?  And what does this reveal, if anything, about the approach which the UK Cyber Security Strategy will take as it works to "establish international norms of acceptable behaviour in cyberspace"?  The Conference was sponsored by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the same entity which provides travel advice for LGBT travellers.  This office tells such people:

"If you intend to frequent cruising areas or internet chat rooms find out about the local situation - police in some countries have been known to carry out entrapment campaigns."  Translation: Before you cruise for gay or lesbian sex on the internet in chat rooms, make sure you're not chatting with a police officer who is there to protect minors from being sexually assaulted by adult perverts.

Then there is this gem from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office:

"You're more likely to experience difficulties in rural areas so its best to exercise discretion."  Translation: When travelling in countries such as the United States, watch your conduct particularly in rural areas where the people are ignorant and backward because they live in the Bible Belt or because they still maintain their religious heritage and beliefs.


I don't know about you.  But I have a strong feeling that the new UK Cyber Security Strategy will find any excuse to ban internet content which is faith-based and which opposes the LGBT agenda.  What do you think?  Will cyber security soon become cyber censorship?

Read all of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office advice for LGBT travellers here.

Fitchburg Mayor Lisa Wong would like to see Planned Parenthood open an office at Burbank Hospital

According to the Sentinel & Enterprise, Mayor Wong said she would like to see more interaction between Planned Parenthood and the public. It's rather unfortunate that the mayor has no problem with Planned Parenthood. For, as Dr & Mrs. J.C. Willke explain in their book "Why Can't We Love Them Both: Questions and Answers About Abortion," Planned Parenthood "..is the largest, most powerful, most effective pro-abortion, anti-life, anti-family, anti-Christian force in the U.S. and internationally." (p. 340).


Planned Parenthood is virulently anti-life and anti-Christian. In one pamphlet, Planned Parenthood says: "In every generation there exists a group of people so filled with bigotry and self-righteousness that they will resort to any means - even violence - to impose their views on society. Today, such fanatics dominate a movement ironically called 'the Right-to-Life,' a movement which threatens the most basic of all human rights."


And, as Dr & Mrs. Willke explain, "Planned Parenthood has promoted a pro-abortion 'comic book,' geared for teenagers, entitled Abortion Eve. On the back cover is a caricature of the 'Assumption of the Blessed Virgin' depicting a pregnant Mary with the idiot face of Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Neumann. The caption says, 'What, me worry?'" (p. 343).

Don Weintraub, Vice President for International Affairs of PPFA, has admitted that, "Planned Parenthood is not just a social or medical service agency. It is part of a cause, a movement.." (March 12, 1985). And what is the driving force behind this movement? Racism, eugenics and the destruction of Christian morality. See here.

Margaret Sanger, the Founder of Planned Parenthood, was a prominent proponent of eugenics and forced sterilization. See here. She approved of Hitler's forced sterilization program. (See "Into the Darkness, Nazi Germany Today," by L. Stoddard, p. 196). Go here to learn more about Margaret Sanger by reading her own words.

Mayor Lisa Wong obviously views Planned Parenthood as something "positive" for Fitchburg. But what does this suggest about the mayor? That she has chosen sides in an ongoing spiritual war. That she cares little or nothing for the empirical evidence which proves conclusively that Planned Parenthood has failed on so many levels. As Catholic Blogger JayG put it:

"Planned Parenthood has had a generation to work to reduce sexually transmitted disease, and we do not believe their approach has worked. We believe the promotion of promiscuity, the mocking of monogamy, and the band-aid of safe-sex has been totally ineffective. Couple this colossal ineffectiveness with the fact that the Fitchburg Planned Parenthood office will be a feeder to the Worcester Planned Parenthood abortion center and you have all the reason Fitchburg needs to keep Planned Parenthood out of town." (See entire Blog post here).

Does Mayor Wong really believe that this belongs at Burbank Hospital?

Moral Crisis in Fitchburg, Massachusetts...

According to a report, federal stimulus money is being used to assist Planned Parenthood in opening an office on Main Street in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Whatever became of President Obama's decision to disallow a "family planning provision" from the economic stimulus package? See here.

There is outrage. Even as local pastors remain silent.

It was Father Paul Marx, writing in October, 1976, who said: "The gigantic worldwide struggle between pro-life and anti-life forces revolves ultimately around the nature, meaning, and purpose of human sexuality. So all-pervasive is sexuality in the human personality that even the slightest change in emphasis in attitudes toward it will profoundly affect both society and the individual....Widespread contraception is the gateway to abortion, which is not "one" issue, as so many have been brainwashed to believe." (The Wanderer, October 28, 1976).

The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes) No. 27 instructs us that, "..whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia or wilful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where men are treated as mere tools for profit, rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and others of their like are infamies indeed. They poison human society, but they do more harm to those who practice them than those who suffer from the injury. Moreover, they are supreme dishonor to the Creator."

Don't wait for your pastor to speak out. JayG at Defend the Faith has provided a list of City Councilors and others to contact. Let your voice be heard.