100s Detroit Black Pastors Denounce 'Gay Rights'

Catholic leaders and pastors of many denominations across Michigan are unified in their message calling all Christian leaders to boldly speak to their congregations and to their government to dispel the fiction of the "Gay Agenda" and make clear the reality, the truth, of "God's Agenda" regarding marriage and family.

"We believe that marriage between one man and one woman creates the best possible environment for the health and wellness of children.  While we agree that every American has a right to choose to live as he or she wants, no one is entitled to redefine marriage."
-- Pastor Lennell Caldwell, First Baptist World Changers Detroit

"God does not agree with this kind of [homosexual] behavior; [it's] despicable -- an abomination."
-- Rev. James Crowder, president of Westside Ministerial Alliance Of Detroit

"We love everybody, but we don't love the [homosexual] lifestyle. [It's a] small group of people trying to destroy the [country's] foundation.  It's time to take our nation back."
-- Pastor Rex Evans, Free Will Baptist Church (Ypsilanti, MI)

"We will not follow men who would rather believe a lie than the truth. We cannot and we will not endorse anyone who blatantly blasphemies the Word of God and leads people in the wrong direction."
-- Rev. Dr. Randolph Thomas, Senior Pastor of Greater Bethlehem Church (Detroit, MI), president of the Baptist Pastors Fellowship of Detroit and Vicinity

For background, read Judge Negates Michigan Voters' Marriage Amendment

Also read Black Pastors Split with NAACP, Obama on Gay Agenda as well as Illinois Black Churches, RC Diocese Block 'Gay Marriage'

-- From "Black pastors protest gay marriage in Michigan" by CBS News - posted at WCSC-TV5 CBS (Charleston, SC) 5/14/14

"There's no surer way to destroy the backbone of a society, the family, than to destroy an institution like marriage and destroy its meaning," said Pastor Stacy Swimp of the Revive Alive Missional Ministry [Flint, MI].

"A lot of the exceptional nature of our country is Judeo-Christian," said Dr. Rader Johnson of the Greater Bible Way Temple. Johnson believes those values are under attack, "By an immoral, materialistic culture, namely, the gay rights movement," he said.

Gay rights supporters compare their legal win at the federal courthouse to the one blacks received with the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Pastors say there's no comparison.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Conservative Christian groups join legal fight to keep Michigan's gay marriage ban" by Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press Staff Writer 5/14/14

Representing potentially millions of worshipers in the state, the Michigan Catholic Conference, the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, and a national coalition of Baptists, Lutherans, Mormons and evangelicals led by Catholic bishops filed three separate briefs Wednesday in the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. The briefs back Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette in his efforts to defend the state's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, which was overturned earlier this year by a federal judge in Detroit.

Joining [Pastor Stacy Swimp] were leaders with various Baptist, Pentecostal, Catholic and non-denominational churches in Michigan, including the head of the influential Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit and Vicinity. The pastors represent hundreds of churches across metro Detroit and included leaders with denominations such as Church of God in Christ (COGIC) that are popular in Detroit and strongly opposed to same-sex marriage.

Catholic leaders in Michigan also oppose same-sex marriage, saying in their brief Wednesday that the voters' will must not be overturned. Archbishop of Detroit Allen Vigneron, spiritual leader of 1.3 million Catholics in metro Detroit, has said that people who support gay marriage should not present themselves for holy Communion.

A separate brief was filed Wednesday by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), the lead public voice of the Catholic Church in the U.S.

They were joined by the National Association of Evangelicals, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon Church), the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protest denomination in the U.S., and Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. All of the groups have substantial numbers in Michigan.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Coalition of Michigan ministers voices opposition to same-sex marriage" by Charles E. Ramirez, Detroit News 5/14/14

"God has left that on record in the Bible," said [Rev. James] Crowder, pastor of the St. Galilee Baptist Church in Detroit. . . .

Crowder made the remarks during a Wednesday media conference where a coalition of mostly African-American ministers announced plans to file a brief with the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals opposing the legalization of gay marriage in Michigan.

Also Wednesday, the Michigan Catholic Conference filed a brief with the court on behalf of diocesan Catholic bishops.

"We have made this legal contribution to preserve and promote the time-honored institution of marriage that brings male and female together in a unique way for children and for the common good," Paul Long, the Catholic Conference's president and CEO, said in a statement. "... The legal briefs to be filed today make clear that support for natural marriage does not impugn the dignity that must be afforded to all human persons, regardless of their orientation."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.


From "100 Black Pastors Denounce Gay Rights-Civil Rights Comparison; Join Legal Fight for Michigan's Marriage Amendment" by Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter 5/15/14

"We wanted to hold the press conference to help get the message out that God is not dead. Moreover that there is yet a remnant of God's people who are willing to contend for the faith in the churches and in our local communities," said Swimp.

"The Civil Rights movement was based upon a righteous cause. Pastors led Christians around the nation to demand that government be true to the U.S. Constitution and uphold our God-given right of freedom," said Swimp.

"It was not a movement to break down the family or strip children of the only thing that can possibly unite them with their mom and dad: marriage."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Graham: `True Followers of Jesus...Cannot Endorse Same-Sex Marriage'" by Michael W. Chapman, CNSNews.com 5/16/14

Rev. Franklin Graham, son of world-renowned evangelist Billy Graham, said [the following:]

"In the end, I would rather be on the wrong side of public opinion than on the wrong side of Almighty God who established the standard of living for the world He created. Marriage is a biblically moral issue, not a political or theological one."

"This debate is ultimately about something much more important than the question of same-sex marriage," said Rev. Graham.  "It is about the great compromise, calling into question the authority of Scripture. If Christians do not agree concerning the authority of Scripture, we will eventually disagree about all sorts of things."

He continued, "The church is on dangerous ground when it departs from the teaching of Christ and attempts to redefine His commands and compromise His truth. There are many things in Scripture that Christians disagree on, but the Bible is crystal clear about the sanctity of life and marriage. It is also clear that homosexuality is spelled out as sin-there are no ifs, ands or buts."

"In our country today, there is tremendous pressure on Christians, churches, and Christian organizations to lower our moral standards. God is clear in His Word, and His standards never change."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Pope Removes Democrat Party Antagonist, Media Crow

In a move that American liberal media outlets tout as Pope Francis' focus toward inclusion, culture warrior Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, the archbishop emeritus of St. Louis, Missouri, has been removed from the Congregation for Bishops.

“One gets the impression, or it’s interpreted this way in the media, that [the Pope] thinks we’re talking too much about abortion, too much about the integrity of marriage as between one man and one woman. But we can never talk enough about that.”
-- Cardinal Raymond L. Burke

For background, read Burke Says Liberal Catholic Candidates Must Repent Publicly and also read Pope Francis I Says Wayward Politicians Can't Take Communion (e.g.: Biden, Pelosi, Kerry, et. al.) as well as Burke Instructs Flock: NEVER Vote for a Pro-choice Candidate

In addition, read Rep. Nancy Pelosi is a Fraud, Catholic Leaders Say



--From "Pope Changes Roster at Influential Vatican Office" by The Associated Press 12/17/13

Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington was appointed Monday to the Congregation for Bishops. The pope also reconfirmed Cardinal William Levada, the former archbishop of San Francisco and former head of the Vatican's orthodoxy watchdog office.

Some members of the congregation were not reconfirmed. Cardinal Raymond Burke will no longer serve in the office. The former St. Louis archbishop had been a member for several years. Burke retains his position as the head of the Vatican high court, the Apostolic Signatura.

Burke drew attention in the U.S. in 2004 when he said he would deny Communion to Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, a Roman Catholic who supports abortion rights.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Pope Francis removes former St. Louis Archbishop Burke from Congregation of Bishops" by Jesse Bogan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch 12/17/13

Some observers of the Roman Catholic Church said the move by Pope Francis is yet another example of his effort to tone down highly publicized stances on divisive social issues such as gay marriage, contraception and abortion, on which Burke has made strong remarks.

National Catholic Reporter journalist John Allen said in an email that the “face-value reading” of the changes was that Francis wants more moderate bishops, fewer who are “heavily invested in culture wars.”

In a blog post Monday after the news hit, [Religion News Service reporter David] Gibson described Burke as a “very conservative holdover from the Benedict XVI era and a fan of the kind of high liturgical finery that Pope Francis does not take to, at all.”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Pope Replaces Conservative U.S. Cardinal on Influential Vatican Committee" by Jim Yardley And Jason Horowitz, New York Times 12/16/13

The pope’s decision to remove Cardinal Raymond L. Burke from the Congregation for Bishops was taken by church experts to be a signal that Francis is willing to disrupt the Vatican establishment in order to be more inclusive.

“[The Pope] is saying that you don’t need to be a conservative to become a bishop,” said Alberto Melloni, the director of the John XXIII Foundation for Religious Studies in Bologna, Italy, a liberal Catholic research institute. “He wants good bishops, regardless of how conservative or liberal they are.”

Cardinal Burke, who came to the Vatican in 2008 after serving as archbishop of St. Louis, is a favorite of many conservative Catholics in the United States for his upholding of church rites and traditions favored by Pope Benedict XVI. . . .

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Pro-life leaders shocked by removal of Cardinal Burke from important Vatican post" by John-Henry Westen, LifeSiteNews 12/16/13

Burke has been known for his outspoken championing of the high priority that Popes Benedict and John Paul II gave to the Church’s pro-life and pro-family teachings. He has especially been both praised and criticized for his frequent insistence that persistently pro-abortion Catholic politicians must be denied Holy Communion according to Canon law requirements which Cardinal Ratzinger, before he became pope, directed the US bishops to follow.

John Smeaton, President of the UK Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, told LifeSiteNews, "Cardinal Raymond Burke is a giant man of the Catholic Church and a fearless defender of unborn children, whom Mother Teresa rightly called the poorest of the poor.”

“While other leading churchmen downplay or dismiss the priority to be given to the right to life of babies before birth, billions of whom have been killed in recent years, Cardinal Burke stands strong and says such an attitude is wrong,” Smeaton added. “We need churchmen like Cardinal Burke to become bishops and so it's puzzling and disappointing to see him lost to the Congregation for Bishops which has the responsibility for appointing good bishops and to see other men appointed who don't have Cardinal Burke's clear commitment to the greatest human rights issue of the day and the gravest crisis facing the Catholic Church today.”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Vatican Chief Justice: Pro-Abortion Kerry, Pelosi Shouldn't Receive Communion" by Michael W. Chapman, CNSNews.com 12/16/13

In an interview with EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo on Dec. 13, Cardinal Burke explained that it is necessary to protect the Sacrament, the Communion wafer offered at Masses, from “being profaned, being violated by someone receiving unworthily,” someone “who knows that he or she is unworthy and yet presumes to come forward and to take the Holy Eucharist.”

Cardinal Burke, whose official title is Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, or chief of the Vatican’s highest court, said, “I’ve thought about it because I’ve received very severe criticism, both at the time that I was insisting on applying the discipline and also in my writing and other situations. But I have to say that, I think about it again, the discipline itself, and it’s a consistent discipline from the time of St. Paul, from the very first years of the Church, and it makes perfect sense.”

The cardinal continued, “The Holy Eucharist is the most sacred reality. It is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. And I simply wouldn’t approach to receive Holy Communion if I was in a state of sin, and neither would I give Holy Communion to someone who I knew was in a state of sin.”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Also read Liberal Media Say Pope Francis OKs Gay & Women Priests

Biden, Pelosi Take Communion in Rome, Pope Opposed

Vice President Joe Biden and House Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi took communion at the papal installation Mass at the Vatican Tuesday despite Pope Francis I saying that politicians who do not follow Church teaching (for example, by not opposing abortion with all of their might) are not in communion with our Savior.

For background, read about Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi's Pro-choice Stance and about her Catholic Opinion on Nuns and Abortion; also read how the Bishops Chasten VP Biden, a 'Practicing Catholic'

In 2010 the Vatican proclaimed: Liberal Catholic Candidates Must Repent Publicly

And remember the assurance from Pope Benedict XVI: Public Opinion Won't Liberalize the Church

In addition, read just how much Pope Francis I Opposes What Too Many (Self-proclaimed Catholic) Politicians Favor

UPDATE 6/22/13: Rep. Nancy Pelosi is a Fraud, Catholic Leaders Say

UPDATE 4/2/14: Pelosi's own archbishop says apostate Catholics like her mustn't take communion

UPDATE 4/4/14: Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin's hometown bishop says he's not permitted to take communion

-- From "Despite abortion views, Biden, Pelosi receive Communion in Vatican Mass" by Dave Boyer, The Washington Times 3/19/13

The vice president’s office confirmed Tuesday night that both he and Mrs. Pelosi took Communion during the Mass at St. Peter’s Square in Rome.

“Vice President Biden and Nancy Pelosi should certainly not receive Communion, either at the papal installation or anywhere else. Communion means ‘union,’ and they are not in union with the church on the most fundamental moral issue of the right to life,” said the Rev. Frank Pavone, founder of Priests for Life, a U.S.-based Catholic anti-abortion organization.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Biden, Pelosi Stir Controversy by Taking Communion" by Kenneth T. Walsh, U.S. News & World Report 3/20/13

Pope Francis, when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires in 2007, opposed giving communion to politicians who supported abortion rights.

During a vice presidential debate last year, Biden said he personally accepted the church's teaching that life begins at conception and as a personal matter he opposes abortion. But he added that he would not impose his belief on others and believes every women should have the right to make that choice.

In a torrent of comments on the web, Catholics and others began a fiery debate on the issue and related themes.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Biden, Pelosi take communion despite threatened backlash" by Donovan Slack, Politico 3/19/13

Pope Francis has said he is clearly against the practice, particularly by pro-choice politicians.

"We must adhere to ‘eucharistic coherence’, that is, be conscious that they cannot receive holy communion and at the same time act with deeds or words against the commandments, particularly when abortion, euthanasia, and other grave crimes against life and family are encouraged," he wrote in 2007. "This responsibility applies particularly to legislators, governors, and health professionals."

A spokeswoman for Biden declined to comment. A spokesman for Pelosi did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Pro-abortion Biden and Pelosi receive communion, but not from Pope at inaugural Mass" by John-Henry Westen, LifeSiteNews.com 3/20/13

Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro, the head of the Rome office of Human Life International told LifeSiteNews that “While some Americans were perfectly entitled to received Communion, like Congressman Smith, as Cardinal Raymond Burke has said so eloquently, politicians who consider themselves Catholic but support abortion should absent themselves from Holy Communion.”

Vice President Biden was received in a short meeting by Pope Francis.  Monsignor Barreiro explained, “When you have diplomatic relations with a country you can’t refuse to receive them in a lineup, you can however refuse them Holy Communion.”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Also read Bishops Warn Voting for Democrats is 'Grave Sin'

Pope Francis Says Gay Agenda is Work of the Devil

Once again, abortionists, feminists, and homosexualists are disappointed that the new Pope is not going to discard the Bible and Church doctrine.  The man who will lead faithful Catholics has been very outspoken on Culture War issues, lament the liberal media.

For background, read Pope: All Religions to Team Up Against Gay Agenda and also read Pope Says Gay Agenda & Abortion Dooms Society as well as Pope Says Public Opinion Won't Liberalize the Church

“. . . we should commit ourselves to ‘eucharistic coherence’, that is, we should be conscious that people cannot receive holy communion and at the same time act or speak against the commandments, in particular when abortion, euthanasia, and other serious crimes against life and family are facilitated.  This responsibility applies particularly to legislators, governors, and health professionals.”
-- Pope Francis said in 2007, as then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio

For background concerning communion, read about Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi's Pro-choice Stance and about her Catholic Opinion on Nuns and Abortion; also read how the Bishops Chasten VP Biden, a 'Practicing Catholic'

In 2010 the Vatican proclaimed: Liberal Catholic Candidates Must Repent Publicly

UPDATE 3/20/13: Biden, Pelosi Take Communion in Rome, Pope Opposed

-- From "Is There Hope for Francis on Gay Rights?" by Richard Socarides, The New Yorker 3/14/13

Pope Francis comes from one of only eleven countries where same-sex marriage is legal. In Argentina, where Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, as he was known until Wednesday, was the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, the population is mostly Roman Catholic, and yet same-sex marriage became legal there in July, 2010, a full year before the law changed in New York. (It is the first Latin American country with marriage equality.) Yet any Catholics who were hoping that new leadership would modernize (even a little) the Church and its teaching when it comes to the issue of homosexuality will likely be disappointed.

. . . Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the President of Argentina, said that Francis’s remarks suggested “medieval times and the Inquisition.”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Pope Francis on Same-Sex Marriage: 'A Move of the Father of Lies;' 'A Total Rejection of God's Law'" by Terence P. Jeffrey, CNSNews.com 3/13/13

In 2010, when his native Argentina was considering a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage, Pope Francis I, then archbishop of Buenos Aires, said that the legislation was a total rejection of God's law and an effort by the father of lies to confuse and deceive humanity.

Then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio made these observations in a letter to a group of monasteries in Argentina, in which he asked the sisters for their prayers in defeating the same-sex marriage legislation.

The Argentinian Congress approved the same-sex marriage legislation and Argentinian President Cristina Kirchner signed it into law on July 21, 2010.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Cardinal Bergoglio Hits Out at Same-Sex Marriage" by Edward Pentin, National Catholic 7/8/10

. . . Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires and Primate of Argentina, has said that if a proposed bill giving same-sex couples the opportunity to marry and adopt children should be approved, it will “seriously damage the family.”

He wrote: “In the coming weeks, the Argentine people will face a situation whose outcome can seriously harm the family…At stake is the identity and survival of the family: father, mother and children. At stake are the lives of many children who will be discriminated against in advance, and deprived of their human development given by a father and a mother and willed by God. At stake is the total rejection of God’s law engraved in our hearts.”

Cardinal Bergoglio continued: “Let us not be naive: this is not simply a political struggle, but it is an attempt to destroy God’s plan. It is not just a bill (a mere instrument) but a ‘move’ of the father of lies who seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God.”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "New Pope Francis Called Abortion the 'Death Penalty for the Unborn'" by Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com 3/13/13

Last year, then-Cardinal Bergoglio stated, “Abortion is never a solution. We listen, support and understanding from our place to save two lives: respect the human being small and helpless, they can take steps to preserve your life, allow birth and then be creative in the search for ways to bring it to its full development.”

In an October 2, 2007 speech Bergoglio said that “we aren’t in agreement with the death penalty,” but “in Argentina we have the death penalty.  A child conceived by the rape of a mentally ill or retarded woman can be condemned to death.”

Meanwhile, he made the following comments to his priests last year: “In our ecclesiastical region there are priests who don’t baptize the children of single mothers because they weren’t conceived in the sanctity of marriage. These are today’s hypocrites… Those who separate the people of God from salvation. And this poor girl who, rather than returning the child to sender, had the courage to carry it into the world, must wander from parish to parish so that it’s baptized!”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

UPDATE 7/28/15: Gay Agenda Destroys Everything it Contacts

Next Pope? On Abortion: Like Murdering Congressmen

Speculation that the next pope may be an African, possibly Nigeria's Cardinal Francis Arinze, has resurfaced his public remarks of 2007 comparing an oft-cited American liberal Catholic politician's "personal position" of opposing abortion while saying it's OK for others to choose to murder the unborn, to the position of saying it's OK for others "to shoot all of you in the Senate" while you personally oppose the mass murder.



For background, read about Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi's Pro-choice Stance and about her Catholic Opinion on Nuns and Abortion; also read how the Bishops Chasten VP Biden, a 'Practicing Catholic'

. . . beyond Congress, President Obama Praises Killing 55 Million over 40 Years

-- From "Two African Cardinals in the Running to Be Pope" by Bazi Kanani, ABC News 2/12/13

Two African cardinals are rumored to be among the top candidates to succeed Pope Benedict, and many Vatican watchers believe the election of a non-European pope is a very real possibility at a time when the majority of the church’s growth is in the developing world.

Cardinal Francis Arinze, 80, of Nigeria is again being mentioned as a possible pope, as he was in 2005 when Pope Benedict was elected.  Arinze served as a priest for 27 years and became one of the world’s youngest bishops before Pope John Paul II elevated him to cardinal in 1985.

He was appointed to lead the Vatican’s Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and colleagues compliment his ability to cooperate with people of other faiths.  Arinze is also considered a conservative.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Cardinal Arinze: ‘Personally’ Against Abortion Is Like Saying ‘Personally’ Against Shooting Members of Congress" by Michael W. Chapman, CNSNews.com 2/18/13

During a question-and-answer session at a conference held at Familyland USA in Bloomington, Ohio in 2007, Cardinal Arinze was asked about Catholic U.S. politicians who vote for abortion and then present themselves for Holy Communion and what could the Church do about the issue.

Arinze said,  “The question of voting [for] abortion is not Catholic law, but Divine law. So, those who kill unborn babies are breaking not the law of the Church but the law of God. … They have gone against Divine law: Thou shall not kill.”

As for those pro-abortion Catholic politicians who present themselves for Holy Communion at Mass, Cardinal Arinze said, “Do you really need a cardinal from the Vatican to answer that?”

“The children for First Communion will answer that at the drop of a hat.  You don’t need a cardinal to answer that,” he said.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Vatican cardinal weighs in on pro-abortion politicians and Communion" by Catholic News Agency 4/12/08

In a satirical manner, Cardinal Arinze criticized a standard pro-abortion political argument.

“To the person who says, ‘Personally, I am against abortion, but then if people really want to do it I leave them free’ you can say ‘You are a member of the senate or the congress.

“‘Personally I am not in favor of shooting the whole lot of you, but if somebody else wants to shoot all of you in the senate or all of you in the congress, it’s just pro-choice for that.

“’But personally I’m not in favor.’

“That is what they are saying,” the cardinal argued.

“They are saying that personally, he is not in favor of killing these millions of children in the womb, but if others want to do it, he is pro-choice.”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Also read Bishops Warn Voting for Democrats is 'Grave Sin'

Atheist, NASA Conceal First Communion on Moon

Yesterday, astronaut Buzz Aldrin commemorated his crewmate, Neil Armstrong, at the memorial service for the first man on the moon. Unbeknownst to the world, before Armstrong made the first footprint, he sat quietly in the lunar space module observing Aldrin celebrating the body and blood of Jesus Christ, broadcasting Scripture to earth, which NASA censored.

For background, read Christians Can Forget Having Any Career at NASA and also read Prayer in America: Hidden Faith, or Public?

UPDATE 12/23/13: Obama's NASA Ignores God's Creation: Apollo 8 1968



-- From "Armstrong memorialized in National Cathedral ceremony" by Jessica Wehrman, Washington bureau (Dayton Daily News) 9/13/12

Neil Armstrong, who died Aug. 25 from complications after a cardiovascular procedure, was remembered in a solemn and sometimes emotional service in Washington National Cathedral . . .

Among the notables at the service were legendary astronauts John Glenn and Buzz Aldrin, House Speaker John Boehner, R-West Chester Twp., and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and U.S. Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "How Buzz Aldrin's communion on the moon was hushed up" by Matthew Cresswell, The UK Guardian 9/13/12

Before Armstrong and Aldrin stepped out of the lunar module on July 20, 1969, Aldrin unstowed a small plastic container of wine and some bread. He had brought them to the moon from Webster Presbyterian church near Houston, where he was an elder. Aldrin had received permission from the Presbyterian church's general assembly to administer it to himself. In his book Magnificent Desolation he shares the message he then radioed to Nasa: "I would like to request a few moments of silence … and to invite each person listening in, wherever and whomever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours, and to give thanks in his or her own way."

He also read a section of the gospel of John. During it all, Armstrong, reportedly a deist, is said to have watched respectfully but without making any comment.

The story of the secret communion service only emerged after the mission. Aldrin had originally planned to share the event with the world over the radio. However, at the time Nasa was still reeling from a lawsuit filed by the firebrand atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair, resulting in the ceremony never being broadcast. The founder of American Atheists and self-titled "most hated woman in America" had taken on Nasa, as well as many other public organisation. Most famously, she successfully fought mandatory school prayer and bible recitation in US public schools.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Finding God on the moon" by Josh Graves, FoxNews.com 8/31/12

. . . Aldrin read the words of Jesus, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (Jn. 15:5) He also read Psalm 8: “You have set your glory in the heavens . . . When I consider the heavens, the words of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place . . . Who are we that you are mindful of us, human beings that you care for us?”

In Aldrin’s own words: “. . . It’s interesting to think that some of the first words spoken on the moon were the words of Jesus Christ, who made the Earth and the moon — and Who, in the immortal words of Dante, is Himself the ‘Love that moves the Sun and other stars.’”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

NY Gov. Cuomo Should Be Denied Communion

Dr. Edward Peters, a Vatican canon law adviser, says that Governor Andrew Cuomo has committed an “objectively sacreligious” act that “produces grave scandal” by receiving communion.

-- From "Vatican Canon Law Adviser: NY Governor Andrew Cuomo Should Be Denied Communion" by Michael W. Chapman, CNSNews.com 2/21/11

Peters specifically cited Cuomo's cohabiting with Food Network hostess Sandra Lee as "publicly acting in violation of a fundamental moral expectation of the Church," and that "as long as he persists in such conduct, he should refrain from taking holy Communion" and "if he approaches for holy Communion, he should be denied the august sacrament in accord with Canon 915."

[Recently, Gov.] Cuomo, as the Daily News reported, “the divorced son of former Gov. Mario Cuomo, who was once chastised by Catholic leaders for his support of abortion rights, calmly received Holy Communion. Lee walked in line for Communion with him.”

Writing about the Cuomo-Lee relationship on his canon lawyer’s blog on Jan. 4, Dr. Peters wrote, “Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, and Sandra Lee, a television celebrity, live in what is known technically as public concubinage. The fact that both Cuomo and Lee are divorced renders the concubinage adulterous on both sides as well.”

In his Plan for Action, Cuomo calls for putting same-sex marriage on the same legal ground as heterosexual marriage. He also defends abortion and calls for its expansion under the Reproductive Rights Act.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Vatican: Liberal Catholic Candidates Must Repent Publicly

Catholic politicians who publicly support abortion or homosexual marriage and then seek to turn away from such “gravely sinful acts” must perform “public” actions of “repentance,” said Raymond Burke, the archbishop emeritus of St. Louis and the current head of the highest court at the Vatican, the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.

UPDATE 3/14/13: Pope Francis I Says Wayward Politicians Can't Take Communion

UPDATE 10/20/10: Pope elevates Burke to cardinal


-- From "Vatican's Chief Justice: Catholic Politicians Who Support Abortion or Gay Marriage Must Publicly Repent" by Michael W. Chapman, CNSNews.com 10/18/10

In remarks at the 5th Human Life International World Prayer Congress for Life in Rome, Italy, Arbp. Burke said that the culture today pushes a “cafeteria Catholicism,” whereby some Catholics pick and choose “what part of the deposit of faith to believe and practice.” As a result, “there has developed in places a false notion that the Christian or any person of faith, in order to be a true citizen of his nation, must bracket his faith life from his public life.”

“We find self-professed Catholics, for example, who sustain and support the right of a woman to procure the death of the infant in her womb, or the right of two persons of the same sex to the recognition which the State gives to a man and a woman who have entered into marriage,” said the archbishop. “It is not possible to be a practicing Catholic and to conduct oneself publicly in this manner.”

Arbp. Burke also said that Catholics in public life “who persistently violate the moral law” on abortion and homosexual marriage “lead many into confusion and or even error,” which does the “gravest harm to our brother s and sisters and, therefore, to the whole nation.”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Archbishop Burke laments effect of dissenting bishops, pro-abortion politicians" posted at CatholicCulture.org 10/15/10

“When a person has culpably espoused and cooperated in gravely sinful acts, leading many into error and confusion over fundamental questions regarding respect for life and integrity of marriage and family, his repentance of such actions must also be public,” Archbishop Burke added, referring to Catholic politicians who support abortion and same-sex marriage.

The “perennial discipline of the Church [has] prohibited the giving of Holy Communion or the granting of a Church funeral to those who persist after admonition in the grave violation of the moral law,” he noted. “It is said that these disciplines which the Church has consistently observed down the centuries presume to pass judgment on eternal judgment of a soul, a judgment that belongs to God alone, and therefore can be abandoned.”

“On the contrary, [such] public action[s] of the soul are in violation of the moral law, and do grave harm to all who are confused and led into error by these actions.”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Click headlines below for previous articles:

Vatican Stakes Position in U.S. Elections

Catholics Who Voted for Obama Cooperated With Evil

Archbishop Slams Obama For Anti-Life, Anti-Family Agenda

Cardinal Speaks Pro-life, whereas Catholic Scholars Support Obama

Faithful Priests Call on All Bishops to Back Archbishop Burke

Bishop Bars Kennedy from Communion

Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin has forbidden Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy to receive the Roman Catholic sacrament of Holy Communion because of his advocacy of abortion rights . . .

UPDATE 11/24/09: Two Massachusetts U.S. Senate candidates slam Catholic Church as hypocritic


-- From "Bishop confirms banning Kennedy from receiving communion" by John Moroney, NECN 11/22/09

Bishop Thomas Tobin say he made his request public after Kennedy revealed it to the Providence Journal. Tobin released a letter he wrote to Kennedy in 2007. The letter read in part:

"In light of the Church's clear teaching, and your consistent actions, therefore, I believe it is inappropriate for you to be receiving Holy Communion and I now ask respectfully that you refrain from doing so."

The bishop said he did not want to make this issue public, but felt he was forced to by Kennedy's actions.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Kennedy: Barred from Communion" by John E. Mulligan, The Providence Journal Washington Bureau 11/22/09

“The bishop instructed me not to take Communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me Communion,” Kennedy said in a telephone interview.

Kennedy said the bishop had explained the penalty by telling him “that I am not a good practicing Catholic because of the positions that I’ve taken as a public official,” particularly on abortion. He declined to say when or how Bishop Tobin told him not to take the sacrament. And he declined to say whether he has obeyed the bishop’s injunction.

Their dispute comes against the backdrop of the national debate about whether U.S. taxpayers should subsidize abortions in the new health-care system that President Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress have labored for months to create.

Because every bishop has wide latitude in his own diocese, the controversy between Kennedy and Bishop Tobin is likely to be greeted with silence from other bishops — even if most would disagree with action to deny Communion to a Catholic legislator, according to Father Reese.

Orders by bishops to deny Communion to Catholic public officials are very unusual but not unprecedented. In 2003, another prominent Catholic Democrat with a mixed voting record on abortion, Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin, was admonished not to take Communion in his congressional district by Bishop Raymond Burke of LaCrosse.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Vatican: Catholics Who Voted for Obama Cooperated With Evil

Archbishop Raymond Burke, head of the papal courts, said . . . that Catholics who voted for President Barack Obama and knew of his pro-abortion position were engaging in "a form of cooperation" with evil.

UPDATE 6/2/09: Obama advisor, Pepperdine's Douglas Kmiec, chides archbishops

UPDATE 3/27/09: Archbishop Burke explains further

-- From "Vatican Offical Says Catholics Who Voted for Obama Cooperated With Evil" by Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer CNSNews.com 3/25/09

In an interview in Rome with Catholic activist Randall Terry, Archbishop Raymond Burke said . . . If a Catholic knew that abortion was gravely sinful and that Obama wanted to make abortion more available and voted for him, that Catholic “cooperated” and bears a responsibility for the consequences. . .

Terry, who founded Operation Rescue and now heads the Society for Truth and Justice, traveled to Rome in February to talk to high-ranking Church leaders about a range of topics, including “renegade” U.S. bishops. These are bishops, said Terry, whose actions or inactions resulted in the election of Obama, as well as those bishops who disobey Church law by serving Holy Communion to pro-abortion Catholic politicians like Vice President Joe Biden.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Cardinal to Politicians: Vote for Abortion? You're Excommunicated!

Catholic members of Congress who vote for the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) could face “automatic excommunication” if the act is determined to be “formal cooperation” in the evil of abortion.

-- From "Catholics Who Vote for Freedom of Choice Act Could Face Automatic Excommunication" by Matt Hadro, CNSNews.com 11/19/08

When asked last week whether a Catholic politician voting for the FOCA – which would impose nationwide abortion on demand and government funding of abortion – would incur automatic excommunication from the Catholic Church, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago said the question would need to be discussed once the actual language of the bill was known.

George is president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

“The categories in moral theology about cooperating in evil, which make you complicit in the evil even though you don’t do it yourself, are material cooperation, which is usually remote and therefore doesn’t involve you in the moral action except in a very auxiliary and minor way, and formal cooperation, which would involve you even though you are not doing it, in the way that makes you culpable,” said George.

President-elect Barack Obama promised in his campaign to sign FOCA. As introduced in the current Congress, FOCA denies all federal, state and local governments the power to interfere with a woman’s “choice” to abort a baby, and prohibits “discriminating against the exercise of those rights in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information.”

Fr. Frank Pavone of the Priests for Life told CNSNews.com: “Any legislator who would vote for such an extreme piece of pro-abortion legislation [FOCA], and any executive who would sign it or judge who would uphold it, or even a citizen who would lobby in any way in favor of it, would be committing a serious sin, objectively speaking. It is cooperation with evil in a totally unjustified way.”

Dr. Mark Miravalle, a theology professor at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, said of a Catholic politician voting for FOCA, “I think you would have to conclude that it would be a formal act, a formal cooperation [in the act of abortion].”

The purpose of FOCA, he continued, “is to ensure the right of a woman to have an abortion.”

When asked about a pro-abortion Catholic politician seeking to receive Holy Communion, Dr. Mark Miravalle said, “Canonically, based on scandal, and based on proper protection of the Eucharist, no pro-abortion, pro-choice Catholic politician should be admitted to receive Holy Communion.”

To read the entire article, which includes interview comments with Cardinal George, CLICK HERE.

Priest Calls Catholic Obama Voters to Confession

"If you are one of the 54% of Catholics who voted for a pro-abortion candidate, you were clear on his position and you knew the gravity of the question, I urge you to go to confession before receiving communion. Don't risk losing your state of grace by receiving sacrilegiously."

-- From "Modesto pastor condemns votes for Obama" by Sue Nowicki, The Modesto Bee 11/28/08

MODESTO -- Father Joseph Illo, pastor of St. Joseph's Catholic Church, has told parishioners in a homily and in a follow-up letter that if they voted for Barack Obama, they should consider going to confession because of the president-elect's pro-choice position.

The letter was sent to more than 15,000 members of the St. Joseph's parish. It is one of 34 parishes in the Stockton Diocese, which has more than 200,000 members in Stanislaus, San Joaquin and four other counties.

Though Obama's support of abortion rights angered many Catholics nationally during the campaign, Illo's letter is believed to be the first in Central California from a priest to his parishioners on the topic.

The Most Rev. Stephen Blaire, bishop of the Stockton Diocese, disagrees with Illo.

To read the bishop's defense of voting for pro-abortion candidates, CLICK HERE.

Archbishop Questions Pelosi Eligibility for Communion

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has accepted an invitation from San Francisco’s archbishop to discuss whether she should continue to receive communion at the Catholic Church in the wake of comments she made about abortion.

-- From "Archbishop, Pelosi to talk about communion" by Jackie Kucinich and Ian Swanson, The Hill 9/8/08

San Francisco Archbishop George H. Niederauer said he had received letters and e-mails from “many Catholics” expressing dismay over Pelosi’s remarks, in which she said the matter of when life begins remained controversial within the church. He said many of them questioned whether she should be able to receive communion from the church.

Pelosi made the remarks in an Aug. 24 interview with “Meet the Press” host Tom Brokaw after Brokaw said that the Catholic Church believes strongly that life begins at conception.

Niederauer concludes that, based on Catholic Church statements, it is up to him as Pelosi’s pastor to address whether she may continue to receive communion. He then invites the Speaker “into a conversation with me about these matters.”

Niederauer said he wrote the article because it is his responsibility “to oppose erroneous, misleading and confusing positions when they are advanced.” He described Pelosi’s comments as “opposed” to church teaching.

“Authentic moral teaching is based on objective truth, not polling,” Niederauer wrote. He noted that in 1861, polls in different states showed different views on slavery, but this did not mean that slavery was moral in one state and not in another.

Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl earlier had issued a statement criticizing the comments, which he said “were incorrect.”

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Chicago Cardinal's Remarks on Communion For Pro-Abort Politicians Disappoint Pro-Life Catholics

From "Chicago Cardinal's Remarks on Communion For Pro-Abort Politicians Disappoint Pro-Life Catholics" by Hilary White, posted 3/21/07, at Lifesite.Net.

Answering questions about priests who do not sufficiently support the Church’s doctrine on the right to life, Chicago’s archbishop, Francis Cardinal George, called the attitude of some pro-life advocates “judgemental.”

Speaking at a crowded pro-life conference sponsored by the Archdiocese, Cardinal George said on the issue of pro-abortion politicians receiving Communion, “Maybe you should talk to Pope Benedict XVI, who gives communion to the pro-choice Prime Minister of Italy. You have to look at a lot of things. It's not all that simple.”

The diocesan newspaper, Catholic New World, quotes the Cardinal saying, “You may win your battle but you'll lose the war when it appears to be just another sectarian movement that punishes anyone who doesn't agree with them.”

Read the rest of this article.

Cardinal George might want to take another look at I Corinthians chapter 5.