Surprise: Americans Rate Public Schools the Worst Place to Educate Children

(CNSNews.com) - A new Gallup poll released today indicates that Americans rate public schools the worst place to educate children.

In the national survey conducted Aug. 9-12, private independent schools, parochial and church-related schools, charter schools and home-schooling all rated higher than public schools.
Gallup interviewers asked respondents: "I’m going to read a list of ways in which children are educated in the U.S. today. As I read each one, please indicate--based on what you know or have read and heard--how good an education each provides children--excellent, good, only fair, or poor. How about: public schools, parochial or church-related schools, independent private schools, charter schools, or home-schooling?"

Guess where home-schooling ranked...
To read the results of the poll, click here

"The Darkest Two Years of My Life" The Story of a Priest Falsely Accused

August 28, 2012 By TheMediaReport.com 

"Walking on air": Rev. Eugene Boland is thrilled after being exonerated

Very few priests speak publicly about their horrifying ordeals of being falsely accused of child sex abuse, but Rev. Eugene Boland is doing so after a jury in Derry, Ireland, unanimously found him not guilty in June of the flimsy claim that he had somehow "inappropriately touched" a girl over two decades earlier.

The verdict brought an end to what the priest now calls "the darkest two years of my life."
From "a priest's worst nightmare" to victory

On March 31, 2010, Fr. Boland received the phone call that every priest fears. His bishop was on the line, and he told him to contact the diocese's child safeguarding leader the next day.

"That was a bleak day," Boland told the Irish Independent. "It just came out of the blue … I was shell-shocked. I'm sitting in my home on my own. I didn't know what the allegation was, or who was making it."

"I didn't sleep that night," says the priest.

The popular priest was eventually ripped from the ministry he so loved and forced to withstand screaming front-page headlines about his case, aggressive police tactics, and a high-profile criminal trial.

Throughout the ordeal, however, Boland felt a sense of "relief" over the fact that he knew he was innocent and there would be an opportunity to publicly make his case.

When the jury returned the unanimous "not guilty" verdicts, the priest could not have been more ecstatic. "I could have skipped down the street outside the courthouse. There was an overwhelming feeling of relief – that I had been heard and I had been vindicated.

"I have been walking on air ever since," says Fr. Boland.

And even though the priest's parishioners have been "extremely angry" at the accuser for lodging her completely bogus allegation, Boland has told the Derry Journal that he has "forgiven that person because to hold bitterness or anger would weigh me down … I always believed the truth would come out in the end."

Issues still unresolved
Although this story has a happy ending, there are still some aspects are troublesome.
Even though Rev. Boland was exonerated two months ago, he has yet to return to his parish assignment, as he still awaits official word from Rome for permission to return to ministry. Why the long wait?

In addition, the media still have not addressed the patent unfairness of Catholic priests being forced into having to prove that they didn't do something decades earlier. Think about it. How does one go about this? As Joe Maher, president of Opus Bono Sacerdotii ("Work for the Good of the Priesthood"), once said, "If you think it's tough proving an allegation from 30 years back, try disproving it."

The platform for accused priests is literally "guilty until proven innocent," yet very few people seemed too worked up about this unjust predicament, especially those in the media. And if there any evidence of men from other professions having to endure these same ordeals of trying to disprove allegations from so long ago, we haven't seen it.

Our world's priests remain very vulnerable targets, as this case amply demonstrates.

Homosexual Commercial Tyranny

Written by Gary Isbell

A chill has just fallen upon the markets in Vermont as business owners can now be forced to do business against their consciences. A Roman Catholic family was recently sued by two lesbians from New York who wanted to use The Wildflower Inn in Lyndonville, Vermont as the site for a homosexual “wedding” reception. An employee from the inn informed the inquirers of the owners’ feeling about hosting such a reception and politely turned them down.

That polite refusal brought down the wrath of the ACLU and Vermont Human Rights Commission upon Jim and Mary O’Reilly, who could not match the resources the two giants brought against them. They settled out of court, giving $10,000 to the commission and $20,000 to a charitable trust run by two lesbians. They also agreed not to host any more receptions.

It seems painfully clear that liberals are content with abrogating the freedoms of some in order to enforce the “freedoms” of others in the name of equality. The implications of this decision are chilling.

Business can only operate in an atmosphere of freedom, and contract without coercion. The recent decision against the O’Reilly’s demonstrates how government is dictating the terms of a contract to owners and with whom they must do business. If owners insist upon honoring their consciences, they must either conform, or get out the business altogether.

Another consequence of this decision is that it sends the message that owners can expect to see an array of disproportional powers brought against them. Small owners now know they can be punished by government and have legal action taken against them if they dare disagree with the homosexual agenda. So much for land of the free.

Finally, business owners are now feeling the tyranny of an ideological agenda that has entered into the markets and violates all the rules, exercising a kind of commercial “terrorism” against any who oppose it. Business owners in Vermont now know that all it takes is a single phone call from an out of state activist to shut down their operations. As in the case of O’Reilly’s Wildflower Inn, an activist need not even speak to the owners but to a mere employee, and they may see their life’s work threatened.

In such an atmosphere of intimidations, markets cannot be free. The chilling message taken from this case against the Wildflower Inn is that the free market in Vermont is no longer free.
 

CNN Poll: Majority of Americans Want Abortions Prohibited

by Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 8/24/12 4:44 PM

CNN has released the results of a new poll showing a majority of Americans want all or most abortions prohibited — a clear pro-life majority. The survey asked: “Do you think abortion should be legal under any circumstances, legal under only certain circumstances, or illegal in all circumstances?” Some 62 percent want abortions illegal in all cases or legal only in certain instances while just 35% want abortions legal for any reason. Read more here:
http://www.lifenews.com/2012/08/24/cnn-poll-majority-of-americans-want-abortions-prohibited/

The Silent Majority Honk Against Obamacare

Our Lady's Advice to Saint John Bosco

Saint John Bosco
recounts a vision in which
the Blessed Mother
emphasizes how important
youth education is, as well
as its inherent dangers

We must not worry about appearances when it comes to what people may think of us when doing our duty.

The great Saint John Bosco, founder of the Salesian Congregation, disclosed to a small group of friends an important supernatural vision he had. A priest in attendance took note of his words, which we transcribe below:

One day in the year 1847 the Queen of Heaven appeared to me and led me to a lovely garden. A gorgeous porch opened onto a beautiful avenue which prolonged, with a broad perspective, an alley worth seeing, flanked by and covered with marvelous roses in full bloom. The ground was completely covered with roses. The Blessed Virgin told me: “Take off your shoes.” After I had done it, she added: “Go ahead down that alley; that is the way you should go.”

I started walking but suddenly realized that these flowers concealed extremely sharp thorns, to the point that my feet began to bleed. After taking a few steps, I had to turn back. “At this point I need shoes,” I told my guide. “Of course,” she replied.

I put my shoes on and kept walking down that way with a number of friends who appeared at that very moment, asking to walk with me.

Meanwhile, all those friends – they were very many – watched me walk on the rose bushes and said: “Wow! Look how Don Bosco walks always well over the roses! And how tranquil he remains! For him, everything is easy.” They did not see the thorns tearing up my poor feet.

Many clerics, priests and laity, whom I had invited, were pleased to follow me, attracted by the beauty of those flowers. But as soon as they realized they would be walking on thorns, they retreated and left me alone. However, I took comfort in the arrival of a new group of excited followers who, having traveled with me all the way down the alley finally arrived at another extremely pleasant garden.

Then the Blessed Virgin Mary — my guide — asked me: “Do you know the meaning of what you have just seen?” I answered. “I beg you to explain it to me.” “You should know that the path you have walked among roses and thorns symbolizes the care you must take of the youth; you must walk in the shoes of mortification. The thorns on the ground represent the sensitive human affections, sympathies and antipathies that divert a teacher from his true goal, hurt him, hinder his mission and prevent him from forming and reaping wreathes for eternal life. Roses are the symbol of the ardent charity by which you and your associates must distinguish yourselves. The thorns symbolize the obstacles, sufferings and sorrows that await you. But do not lose heart. With charity and mortification you will overcome everything and will have roses without thorns!”

As soon as the Mother of God finished speaking, I came to and found myself in my room.(*)

For starters, it is interesting to note that it is Our Lady who points the way to the saint. She does not say: “Go wherever you want,” but shows him the right path, for God has chosen a path for each one of us; a path which, if we are faithful, we must tread all the way to the end.

In the case of Don Bosco, his path was not without many crosses and suffering, symbolized by the thorns that afflicted the great saint. In our earthly life, God wants us to face and overcome obstacles in order to sanctify ourselves and gain merits for Heaven.

As one can see from the words of the saint, people can sometimes wrongly assess the situation of others, seeing only roses and no thorns. In any case, what matters is not the concept that others have of us but what we do before God, Who judges our right intention regardless of what others may think.

Thus, while giving alms to the needy is of itself a good deed, anyone can do it for ostentation instead.

The final comment of the Mother of God is symptomatic in this regard. She warns Saint John Bosco about the dangers inherent to his well-deserving activity of educating the young. Indeed, educators can have attachments, preferences, ulterior motives, dislikes, and so forth. However, when doing something for the love of God, the latter must be our sole motivation, without mixing emotions and movements of the soul that distract us from that love, depriving us of the merits we would gain for our actions.

It is worth noting that Our Lady promises happiness — the rose without thorns — but only at the end. In this earthly life we will face greater or lesser problems and sufferings. Perfect happiness is attained only in the eternal life, for which we must constantly prepare ourselves. Let us emulate Saint John Bosco by doing what God asks of us with courage and perseverance: we will not lack the means to do it. And finally, we will receive the prize that Our Lady has prepared for us: eternal bliss.



(*)  Juan B. Lemoyne, Vida de San Juan Bosco, Ed. Don Bosco, Buenos Aires, 1954, pp. 170-172.

Hate Against Jesus! Protest Now:

     108 Productions is trying to raise funds to spread the anti-Jesus production Corpus Christi.
    They will screen its accompanying documentary film about it on Friday, August 24th, at 8 PM. The blasphemous play itself will be presented on Saturday, August 25th, at 730 PM.

(Please read with caution. This is very disturbing.)
     The trailer for the film is shocking and gross. It previews scenes from the play and shows “Our Lord” kissing “Apostles” and two homosexual men getting “married” by “Our Lord.” Interspersed is the usual attempt to portray protestors in the way you have come to expect while portraying the blasphemous play itself as all about “love and compassion”.

Send Your Instant E-PROTEST Message

And even worse, they plan to use ticket sales revenue from the showing in the big city of Los Angeles, with its large homosexual population, to spread the sinful play to the heartland of America.

Send Your Instant E-PROTEST Message

• According to their website, “Every dollar raised will help fund our upcoming tour to several cities in Iowa, Florida, Illinois and Missouri this fall.”

      Evil always seeks to spread itself and its false doctrine. We encourage anyone in the Los Angeles area to do a peaceful, legal, and public Rosary of Reparation on the wide public sidewalk outside the venue at:

• Metropolitan Community Church (LA), 4607 Prospect Ave, LA, CA 90027
  Using Google Earth, you can type that address into the search field (use street level) to see the venue. Public Transit: http://www.metro.net/

     To show Our Lord and His apostles as homosexuals is an outrage that must not go unanswered. Again, we are called to defend Jesus’ honor by peacefully and prayerfully, but loudly raising our voices against this blasphemy.

     And please, right now, send your send your e-protest message.

     Then let’s offer fervent prayers and ardent sacrifices in reparation. Here’s a beautiful reparation prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Again, we encourage anyone in the Los Angeles area to do a peaceful, legal, and public Rosary of Reparation on the wide public sidewalk outside the venue at:

• Metropolitan Community Church (LA), 4607 Prospect Ave, LA, CA 90027
  Using Google Earth, you can type that address into the search field (use street level) to see the venue. Public Transit: http://www.metro.net/

Illinios Bishop Urges Consecration to Our Lady!

Saying “the attacks of the world, the flesh, and the devil seem particularly ferocious in this current moment,” Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, has called on Catholics of the Diocese of Peoria to increase their devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary by consecrating themselves to her.  Read more:

http://www.thecatholicpost.com/post/PostArticle.aspx?ID=2583

Our Lady's Statue Brutally Vandalized in St. Louis Church

Published on St. Louis Review (http://stlouisreview.com)

The statue, a "signature" feature of St. Mary of Victories, was vandalized sometime late Aug. 9 or early the next morning -- the head was sliced off and was missing.  On Aug. 13, people coming to an early Monday morning Mass found the head returned to the bottom of the pedestal, with Satanic inscriptions in red and blood drawn dripping from the corners of Our Lady's mouth to make her look like a vampire. Father Harrison described it as "a horrible act of desecration."

See more here:
http://stlouisreview.com/article/2012-08-15/statue-vandalism

Nuns in St. Louis:I Could Not Resist

I couldn't resist this view of the final meeting of the liberal nuns in St. Louis. If anyone has in doubts on where they stand, the video below of the final "blessing" will give a good idea.

A Catholic Revival in France?

Posted by geoconger

The Feast of the Assumption of Mary — August 15 — was be marked by the Catholic Church in France by the revival of prayers for the eldest daughter of the Church (France).

Reuter’s report on the prayers characterizes them as:

opposing the same-sex marriage and euthanasia reforms planned by the new Socialist government.

The prayer, to be read in all churches on Aug 15, echoes the defense of traditional marriage by Pope Benedict and Catholic leaders around the world as gay nuptials gain acceptance, especially in Europe and North America.

King Louis XIII decreed in 1638 that all churches would pray on Aug 15, the day Catholics believe the Virgin Mary was assumed bodily into Heaven, for the good of the country. The annual practice fell into disuse after World War Two.

The article states the prayer that children “cease to be objects of the desires and conflicts of adults and fully benefit from the love of a father and a mother” is a rejection of gay adoption, while the prayer that Catholics pray for government leaders “so that their sense of the common good will overcome special demands” is a rejection of the Socialist government’s plans to authorize gay marriage and euthanasia.

The article notes:

The prayer is unusual for French bishops, who usually keep a low political profile. Church spokesman Monsignor Bernard Podvin said they wanted to “raise the consciousness of public opinion about grave social choices.”

The article also ties the story into a wider global political context citing Pope Benedict XVI’s January statement that gay marriage threatened the “future of humanity itself” along with the political push to legalize gay marriage in the U.S. and the U.K.

A front page interview in Le Figaro printed on 14 August with the Archbishop of Lyon, Mgr. Phillipe Barbarin entitled: «Il ne faut pas dénaturer le mariage» may strengthen a political interpretation of these prayers. In response to questions from Le Figaro about their political nature, Mgr. Barbarin stated:

Politics is not a “dirty word”! Prayer has a political dimension, but it is primarily a spiritual act. We turn to God with confidence, asking his help for our loved ones, especially those living in hard times. Nothing is more natural than to pray for our family or our country. [Catholic] prayer has never ignored the issues of social life, let alone human suffering. We can say that our prayer is marked by the living conditions of the society in which we find ourselves.

Why Contemporary Architecture is Against God and Man | Crisis Magazine

by Nikos Salingaros -- Architecture is the setting for how we live and the expression of how we think.



It reflects our shaping of the world in order to inhabit it, and the geometry of what we build is far from neutral. The built environment, like the biological and other natural systems that it engages, needs to function reliably in complex and adaptive ways on many different levels. Such adaptive and sustainable systems have similar characteristics that, despite distinct origins, develop in a broadly similar manner.
See full article here:
http://www.crisismagazine.com/2012/why-contemporary-architecture-is-against-god-and-man
---------------------------------------------------- 
Why Contemporary Architecture is Against God and Man | Crisis Magazine

The Amazing Story of the Hiroshima Eight

Early on August 6, 1945, a lone American B-29 Superfortress bomber circled in a vividly blue sky over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The unsuspecting inhabitants on the ground barely glanced at the plane. They were unaware of the deadly payload it was about to unleash on them, ushering in the atomic age with unimaginable death and destruction.

As one single bomb neared the ground, a city died in an instant. Houses crumbled, people evaporated, an immense ball of fire shot skywards, and a terrible wave of super-heated gas bulged out from ground zero, flattening buildings for miles.

Amongst the unsuspecting inhabitants of Hiroshima was Fr. Schiffer, a Jesuit missionary assisting the many Catholics of that city. On the morning of August 6, 1945, he had just finished Mass and sat down at the breakfast table. As he plunged his spoon into a freshly sliced grapefruit, there was a bright flash of light. His first thought was that a fuel tanker had exploded in the harbor, as Hiroshima was a major port where the Japanese refueled their submarines. Then, in the words of Fr. Schiffer: “Suddenly, a terrible explosion filled the air with one bursting thunder stroke. An invisible force lifted me from the chair, hurled me through the air, shook me, battered me, whirled me round and round like a leaf in a gust of autumn wind.” Next thing he remembered was that he opened his eyes and found himself on the ground. He looked around, and saw there was nothing left in any direction: the railroad station and buildings in all directions were gone. Yet, the only harm to him was a few slight cuts in the back of his neck form shards of grass. As far as he could tell, there was nothing else physically wrong with him.

The small community of Jesuits to which Fr. Schiffer belonged lived in a house near the parish church, situated only eight blocks from the center of the blast. When Hiroshima was destroyed by the atomic bomb, all eight members of the small Jesuit community escaped unscathed, while every other person within a radius of one-and-a-half kilometers from ground zero died immediately. The house where the Jesuits lived was still standing, while buildings in every direction from it were leveled. Father Hubert Schiffer was 30 years old when the atomic bomb exploded right over his head at Hiroshima. He not only survived, but also lived a healthy life for another 33 years!

How did this group of men survive a nuclear blast that killed everyone else, even people over ten times further away from the blast? It is absolutely unexplainable by scientific means. An interesting detail is that this group of Catholic clergy was made up of ardent enthusiasts of the Message of Fatima. They lived the Message. Was their fidelity to Our Lady rewarded by this stupendous miracle of their survival?

Even more astonishing is that the story was to be repeated a few days later at Nagasaki, the second Japanese city to be hit by an atomic bomb. In both Hiroshima and Nagasaki the survivors were Catholic religious. Most other buildings were leveled to the ground, even at 3 times the distance, but in both cases their houses stood – even with some windows intact! All other people, bar a handful of scattered mutilated survivors, even at thrice the distance from the explosion, died instantly. Those within a radius ten times the distance of the Jesuits from the explosion were exposed to fierce radiation and died within days.

After the American conquest of Japan, U.S. army doctors explained to Fr. Schiffer that his body would soon begin to deteriorate because of the radiation. To the doctors’ amazement, Fr. Schiffer’s body showed no radiation or ill effects from the bomb. All who were at this range from the epicenter should have received enough radiation to be dead within a matter of minutes. Scientists examined the group of Hiroshima Jesuits over 200 times during the next 30 years and no ill effects were ever found.

Could it have been a fluke? Could the bomb’s makers have designed it to avoid killing U.S. citizens? There is no known way to design a uranium-235 atomic bomb so it could leave such a large discrete area intact while destroying everything around it. The Jesuits say: “We believe that we survived because we were living the message of Fatima. We lived and prayed the Rosary daily in that house.” Fr. Schiffer feels that he received a protective shield from the Blessed Virgin, which protected him from all radiation and ill effects. Fr. Schiffer attributes this to his devotion to Our Lady, and his daily Fatima Rosary: “In that house the Holy Rosary was recited together every day.” Secular scientists are dumbfounded and incredulous at his explanation. They are sure there is some ‘real’ explanation. However, over 60 years later the scientists still have not been able to explain it.

From a scientific standpoint, what happened to those Jesuits at Hiroshima still defies all the laws of physics. It must be concluded that some other force was present, whose power to transform energy and matter as it relates to humans is beyond our comprehension.

Dr. Stephen Rinehart of the U.S. Department of Defense is widely recognized as an international expert in the field of atomic blasts. Says Rinehart: “A quick calculation says that at one kilometer the bulk temperature was in excess of 20,000 to 30,000 degrees F, and the blast wave would have hit at sonic velocity with pressures on buildings greater than 600 PSI. If the Jesuits, at one kilometer from the geometric epicenter, were outside the atomic bomb’s “plasma” their residence should still have been utterly destroyed. Un-reinforced masonry or brick walls, representative of commercial construction, are destroyed at 3 PSI, which will also cause ear damage and burst windows. At 10 PSI, a human being will experience severe lung and heart damage, burst eardrums and at 20 PSI limbs can be blown off. All the cotton clothing would be on fire at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and your lungs would be inoperative within a minute of breathing even one lungful of air at these temperatures.

“No way could any human have survived nor should anything have been left standing at one kilometer. At ten times the distance, about ten to fifteen kilometers, I saw the brick walls standing from an elementary school and there were a few badly burned survivors; all died within fifteen years of some form of cancer. Reconnaissance pictures taken of a panoramic view from epicenter of the blast, at Shima Hospital looking towards the Jesuits’ house, did show some kind of two-story building totally intact, at least from what I could make out, and it looked to me the windows were in place. Also there was a church with walls still standing a few hundred yards away, but the roof was gone.

“The Department of Defense never commented officially on this and I suspect it was classified and never discussed in open literature. I think it is possible the Jesuits were asked not to say anything either at the time.”

For God, who made all matter and energy, it is simply a matter of willing it and the laws that govern them are suspended. This is what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It also happened in ancient times, to the loyal servants of God Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, as is related in the Book of Daniel (3:19-24):

“Then was Nebuchodonosor filled with fury: and the countenance of his face was changed against Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, and he commanded that the furnace should be heated seven times more than it had been accustomed to be heated. And he commanded the strongest men that were in his army, to bind the feet of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, and to cast them into the furnace of burning fire. And immediately these men were bound and were cast into the furnace of burning fire, with their coasts, and their caps, and their shoes, and their garments. For the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace was heated exceedingly. And the flame of the fire slew those men that had cast Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago. But these three men, that is, Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, fell down bound in the midst of the furnance of burning fire. And they walked in the midst of the flame, praising God and blessing the Lord.”

Why Big Families are Better

Written by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira 
Experience shows that a family’s vitality and unity are usually in direct proportion to its fecundity.

In large families, the children normally look up to the parents as leaders of a sizeable community, given the number of its members as well as the considerable religious, moral, cultural, and material values inherent to the family unit. This surrounds parental authority with prestige.

A large family brings to the home liveliness and joy, and an endless creative originality in ways of being, acting, feeling, and analyzing reality both inside and outside the home. The Begas Family by BEGAS, Carl the Elder.

The parents are, in a way, a common good of all the children. Thus, it is normal that none of the children try to monopolize all the parents’ attention and affection, making of them a merely individual good. Jealousy among siblings finds scant favorable ground in large families. On the contrary, it can easily arise in families with few children.

Tension between parents and children is also frequent in small families and tends to result in one side tyrannizing the other. For example, parents can abuse their authority by absenting themselves from the home in order to spend their free time in worldly entertainments, leaving the children to the mercenary care of baby-sitters or scattered in the chaos of turbulent boarding schools devoid of any real affection. Parents can also tyrannize their children through various forms of family violence, so cruel and so frequent in our de-Christianized society.

In larger families, these domestic tyrannies become less likely. The children perceive more clearly how much they weigh upon their parents, and therefore tend to be grateful, helping them reverently, and, at the appropriate time, sharing the burdens of family affairs.

On the other hand, a large number of children brings to the home liveliness and joy, and an endless creative originality in ways of being, acting, feeling, and analyzing reality both inside and outside the home. Family conviviality becomes a school of wisdom and experience made up of a tradition solicitously communicated by the parents and prudently renewed by the children. The family thus constitutes a small world, at once open and closed to the influences of the outside world.

The cohesion of this small world which the family constitutes is strengthened by religious and moral formation. Wedding in the Village by Carl Pelz.

The cohesion of this small world results from all the aforementioned factors. It is strengthened mainly by the religious and moral formation given by the parents in consonance with the parish priest, and by the harmonic convergence of inherited physical and moral qualities that contribute to model the personalities of the children.


Taken from Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites in the Allocutions of Pius XII: A Theme Illuminating American Social History, by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira (York, Penn.: The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property, 1993), pp. 90-91.
 
Editorial Comment:
Catholic social doctrine has always affirmed that the family is the basic building block of society.

Today, this God-created institution finds itself in a great crisis, beset by multiple threats: Socialism strips away parents’ authority over their children; like sulfuric acid, the sexual revolution corrodes the affection and fidelity of spouses; anarchical urges pit children against their parents.

Society must continue though and it will turn again to the family as its wellspring. The renewed life it seeks will come from regularly established and loving families who are resistant to the evils in our culture and nourish and strengthen their family bonds in the inexhaustible waters of Christian charity.
 

Confidence in Our Lady Amid the Storm

 

Mr. Mark Serafino forward this copy of this picture with the following commentary:

"We were hit with a severe storm with 75 MPH winds. This hickory tree 60-70ft tall snapped like a twig in the wind, as did several other trees and major tree branches on our property.

"Isn't it fitting that Our Lady withstands so much and consistently offers us hope in the many storms we face, especially the Spiritual kind. We feel truly blessed that She gave us this Grace and a sign of hope to carry into the battlefield for our Faith."

Minn. Supreme Court Tosses 'Repressed Memory' Case Against Priest, Media Yawns

Last Wednesday, the Minnesota Supreme Court flatly rejected the psychological theory of "repressed memory" as bogus. The Court declared that scientific studies that have tried to prove the bogus theory have "lacked foundational reliability."

Church-suing lawyers and accusers of abuse have attempted to use "repressed memory" as a way to circumvent statutes of limitations in order to file big-money lawsuits against the Catholic Church.

According to proponents of the discredited belief, some people completely forget instances of extreme trauma or abuse. Then, years or decades later, an event or thought – often directed by a convincing therapist – causes one to suddenly "remember" having been abused or traumatized.

In the case in Minnesota, an accuser – represented by high-profile, Church-suing attorney Jeff Anderson – tried to claim that his case of abuse against a Catholic priest should not be limited by the state's statute of limitations because he was simply unable to remember being abused because he "repressed" the memory of it happening. Fortunately, the Minnesota courts didn't buy it.


Minn. Supreme Court Tosses 'Repressed Memory' Case Against Priest, Media Yawns

St. Louis Archbiship to Address LCWR Conference

Recent attention to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious is expected to increase as almost 900 women religious will converge upon St. Louis for the organization's annual assembly Aug. 7-11 at the Millennium Hotel Downtown.

In April, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith announced a major reform of the LCWR, which has more than 1,500 members of U.S. congregations of women religious. It currently holds a canonical status that is granted by the Vatican.

The announcement was made at the end of a four-year doctrinal assessment of the LCWR. An eight-page report indicated that the reform was needed to "remedy significant and longstanding doctrinal problems connected with the activities and programs of the LCWR," according to Toledo, Ohio, Bishop Leonard Blair, who conducted the assessment and wrote about it in his diocesan newspaper, the Catholic Chronicle.

Archbishop Robert J. Carlson will deliver the opening greeting at the assembly Tuesday evening, Aug. 7.

Read more here

Bakery Sees Business Boom After ‘Gay Wedding Cake’ Refusal | LifeSiteNews.com

LAKEWOOD, Colorado, July 31, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The owner of a cake shop in Lakewood, Colorado said that, following a refusal to provide a wedding cake for a homosexual couple his business has more than doubled.

Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, told local media that this wasn’t the first time he had turned away homosexuals seeking wedding cakes, but it is the first time his stand for Christian principles has resulted in so much media attention and some death threats.

Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop.

Phillips explained that since 1993 the family owned and operated business has refused about half-a-dozen requests for same-sex wedding cakes. However, on Sunday he said he was forced to call police because of several death threats over the latest refusal.

For more, see link below
Bakery sees business boom after ‘gay wedding cake’ refusal | LifeSiteNews.com