Jesuit University of Scranton to Welcome Pro-Abortion Speaker

From: TFP Student Action


While thousands of pro-life Americans prepare to attend the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., the Jesuit University of Scranton, located in Pennsylvania, makes very different preparations.

Marjorie Margolies

Former Congresswoman and avowed abortion advocate Marjorie Margolies has been invited to give the keynote speech at the University of Scranton’s Ready to Run: Campaign Training for Women program.  The event is scheduled on January 28, according to the university’s web site. 

One wonders how this Catholic university qualifies invited speakers. Clearly not on the grounds of Catholicism, since Ms. Margolies has publicly taken action against the Church’s timeless teachings on the sanctity of innocent human life. Particularly notable is her persistent opposition to the Hyde Amendment, which restricts the use of federal funds to procure abortion, even going so far as to say that: 

“If the Year of the Woman showed how far women had come, the day of the Hyde Amendment vote showed how much further women had to go.”¹

The Cardinal Newman Society reports that Ms. Margolies co-sponsored the Abortion Clinic Access Bill, “which sought to make it a federal crime to impede access to abortion clinics.”

After the end of her congressional career, her pro-abortion record only got worse, culminating in her position as Executive Director of the Women’s Campaign Fund, a pro-abortion organization dedicated to “dramatically increasing the number of women in elected office who support reproductive choices and options, from all parties and at all levels of government.”² As we all know, “reproductive choices” is simply a loaded term often used to disguise the sin of procured abortion.

How can it be that a woman with such a dismal pro-abortion record is invited to give not only a lecture, but a keynote address, at a Catholic institute, which ought to be a cornerstone in the defense of innocent life?

Furthermore, how can a Catholic university allow Ms. Margolies to be at the helm of a training program that purports to prepare leaders for public office?  What kind of future political leaders does the university hope to shape: Defenders of Catholic truth? Or willing pawns of the Culture of Death?

Contact information (please voice your concern politely)

Call Fr. Quinn today at 570-941-7500

University of Scranton 
Fr. Kevin P. Quinn, S. J., President 
800 Linden Street
Scranton, PA 18510
Phone: 570-941-7500
Email: info@scranton.edu 
or alumni@scranton.edu

Footnotes

1. http://books.google.com/books?id=gM5e21TrpecC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false Pg. 132 [back]
2. http://www.wcfonline.org/pages/about-us/mission.html [back]

Restoration of a Pickelhaube

       For a change, I have decided to write about a recent project of mine: a project of  the restoration and preservation of an artifact. Last month, I received a 1916 German Cavalryman's (Jager zu Pferde) helmet. It was in truly terrible shape: rusted, dented, corroded...etc. Here are some pictures of it's initial condition.

          My first action was research, lots of research. I was able, thanks to some very fine websites, to determine which exact model of helmet I had. I also found that it originally had a black finish, with steel-colored fittings.

As you can tell from the pictures, it certainly did not look like that when I received it. Initially, I was too scared to do any real cleaning on it, (I collect ancient coins, so I know exactly how much damage inept cleaning can do) so I restricted myself to using warm water and a soft brush. I see no need to post of picture of what it looked like after that, since it looked exactly the same as before.

       Taking my cues from the inestimably valuable Pickelhaubes.com, I decided to try 0000 (superfine) steel wool, with a bit of oil to help it glide. After treating a small spot on the back of the helm, I rinsed it off, and was shocked at what I saw. Under all the rust was the original black finish, still gleaming in the light. Eager to continue, I removed the Wappen (Imperial eagle crest) as well the other fittings, knowing that they needed a more delicate hand. With German Imperial marches playing in the background, I happily applied myself to my work, and soon the whole helmet shone black, with the exception of a few small areas where corrosion had pitted the metal and removed the finish.

    Now, on to the fittings. Initially, I sought to clean the fittings with the same delicate and ineffectual method as I had tried on the helm. Soon however, I gave up hope of ever making any progress. Stymied, I returned to Pickelhaubes.com for some additional browsing. After reading through page after page, I finally found a discussion of restoration, which touched upon the cleaning of the fittings. The general consensus seemed to be that a product known as Evaporust was the ideal way to do it. I immediately began calling local stores, trying to locate some, but without success. I then went online and I found the new nearest distributors. I went to them both; neither one had it. Finally, on my third try, I found it.

    I followed the instructions on the label, submersing the objects in the solution and leaving them overnight. In the morning, I excitedly removed the objects and rinsed them off. The results were amazing, a century of rust and decay simply flowed off them, yet the delicate patina remained unharmed. Now that the fittings and Wappen were seen to, it was time to return to the shell.

      I had read that gun bluing could be used to touch up the damaged black finish, so I gave it a try. Admittedly, it was a long process, of applying the bluing, waiting, wiping the bluing off, polishing, and repeating. After seven or eight coats of bluing, the damaged parts reasonably approximated the originals.

    After all this was done to my satisfaction, I reattached the Wappen, and the fittings, gave the whole thing a coat of museum wax, and it is now proudly displayed in my home, a relic of the Fatherland.

The great danger of Pacifism

                A great many people, and I am sad to note many clerics and prelates among them, fall prey to the error of pacifism. In practice, if not in profession, they value temporal peace, no matter how wretched the situation of Church and state, over even the most just of wars. A poignant example will suffice to illustrate this point.

Warriors for Christ

        In Mexico, in the 1920s, the masonic socialist government embarked on a campaign not of suppression, not of restriction, but of the absolute extermination of the Catholic Church in Mexico. Swayed by neither reason nor mercy, it carried out its dark purpose with a zeal which mirrored, in an inverted satanic way, that of the most fervent missionaries of salvation.

      But there were some who rose up in defiance, for God and Christendom! Amid the wreckage of churches and monasteries, amid the mutilated corpses of martyrs, the true sons of the Church Militant girded for battle.

 After years of war, and many great successes, they were suddenly defeated. This defeat came not with the speeding bullet, nor on the end of the bloodied bayonet.  It was not the government’s military might, nor even the aid and armaments sent by the US to aid the extermination, which brought this defeat.  It came from somewhere far more ignominious: within.  In a move which even today provokes righteous anger, the Bishops of Mexico signed a crippling and disadvantageous “peace” with the government. Threatened with excommunication, the Cristeros, as they had come to be known, laid down their arms.

      And what great boon did the Bishops receive for this? Did they receive assurance of the freedom and exaltation of Holy Mother Church? A Restoration of the rights of the faithful? Recompense for the slaughter and havoc wrought by the government forces? None of the above.  They received what amounted to little more than a promise of selective implementation of the anti-Catholic laws and statutes.

       And why did they do this? For “peace”.  They compromised the rights of the Church Militant. They abandoned the flock in their hour of great need. The betrayed their charge. And what did they gain by it? In the end, nothing.

                We must always take care to avoid repeating their error and falling into pacifism. For verily, there shall never be true peace on this earth, in this vale of tears. For Our Lord said: “I come not to bring peace, but the sword”. To compromise the rights of the Church for the sake of earthly peace is fall prey to utopianism.

      We are not here for peace; we are not here for comfort. We are at war, we were born into this war, and in this war we will die.  Our three-fold enemy, the world, the flesh and the devil, will hold out empty promises of earthly happiness, of peace. But to seize it, we must first compromise ourselves and the Church. And then, when we rush forward to catch hold of the promised peace, it is snatched away from our grasp. And we find that in our blind rush, we have gone over the edge of the abyss, and are plummeting into the fires of Gehenna.

Death, Violence, and the Kingdom of God.

"To live is Christ, to die is gain." -St. Paul.

      We live in a culture which both glorifies and demonizes violence. With one hand, it murders its own children, does violence to nature in its embrace of unnatural sterility, and seeks even to eliminate those it deems to be unworthy of life-sustaining care. With the other, it suppresses natural and healthy activities involving violence, tries to destroy the very human nature of people, (Which of course, involves healthy competition, violent pastimes and the like) and anathemizes the idea that violence can ever be justified for an ideological purpose. (Excluding of course, the revolutionary egalitarian ideology which governs society)

       

      This is really the polar opposite of the true Catholic, humane position. For us, as the Church militant, death is not a great evil. We do not view death with the feigned horror of the revolutionary. For him, it is the end; it is the proof that his myth of an egalitarian utopia is just that, a myth. For him, without Christ as he is, he sees no good in death, since it is simply annihilation. Conversely, the Catholic sees death, not as the end, but as the beginning, not as annihilation, but as rebirth.

    

       Consequently, we do not see violence as an absolute enemy, but rather a necessary part of the human condition. And indeed, despite what the trite saying may be, violence can sometimes be the answer. A good example of this is the Crusades, wherein, the material and physical wellbeing of Christendom was defended with force of arms. If this was justified, (Which I will take as granted, since it has been proven by far abler scholars than I) then how can we fail to admit to the justification of the use of force in certain other fields? I speak here of the spiritual wellbeing of Christendom. For, as Our Lord said: “fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell.”  Reading into history, we can see many examples of this: the Inquisition, the Albigensian wars, incidents such as the execution of Peter of Bruis, at the hands of indignant peasants.

    

       When we consider the infinitely greater value of the soul, than either property or even our own earthly lives, it becomes clear why, in the past, such stringent measures had to be taken. And indeed, such things are not limited to the obscurity of time. Verily, we may one day be called upon to take up arms, for the material, or greater still, the spiritual welfare of Christendom, and the holy Church. I will close with a quote from Becket: "The Kingdom of God must be defended like any other Kingdom." Although not complete, since as the Church Militant, we have spiritual weapons at our disposal more powerful than any army, it serves as a fine conclusion.

Suicide lobbyist Katherine White Tudor teaches ethics at Catholic Seattle University

http://www.tfpstudentaction.org/what-we-do/news-and-updates/alert-suicide-lobbyist-katherine-white-tudor-teaches-ethics-at-catholic-seattle-university.html By William Stover

In a society that increasingly embraces the culture of death, Catholic educational institutions are not only cut out to teach the truth but bound to proclaim it loud and clear.  Sadly, however, many Catholic colleges fail to live up to their title.

The latest blow to the Catholic identity of Catholic education comes from the Jesuit Seattle University School of Law, where a professional assisted-suicide lobbyist teaches Law, Medicine, and Ethics at the End of Life.

Katherine White Tudor, adjunct professor of law at Seattle University School of Law, does more than just teach.  In fact, she works as a professional advocate for Compassion and Choices, formerly known as The Hemlock Society. The admitted mission of Compassion and Choices is to uphold the “right to seek aid in dying to avoid intolerable suffering.”

To give a platform to someone who openly opposes Church teaching flies in the face of Seattle University’s Catholic identity and duty.  In light of the recent United States Conference of Catholic Bishops document, To Live Each Day with Dignity, this failure on the part of the university is even more blatant.  The document states: “People who request death are vulnerable… To offer them lethal drugs is a victory not for freedom but for the worst form of neglect.”

Seattle University’s decision to employ a person who openly opposes and professionally undermines Catholic teaching is a disgrace that cannot go unanswered.  TFP Student Action invites its members to contact the university in peaceful protest. 

Voice your concern today:

Fr. Stephen V. Sundborg, SJ
Seattle University, President
901 12th Ave.
Seattle, WA 98122-1090
Phone: 206-296-1891
E-mail: SUNDBORG@seattleu.edu

Pro-Abortion Professor at a Catholic College.

http://www.tfpstudentaction.org/what-we-do/news-and-updates/abortion-more-safe-than-giving-birth-says-professor-at-catholic-college-of-mount-st-vincent.html


       Of all the tenets of Catholic social teaching, perhaps the clearest and easiest to grasp is the right to life, the respect and protection of all innocent human life from conception to natural death.

However, Bianca Laureano, Professor of Sociology at the Catholic College of Mount Saint Vincent, is actively promoting abortion inside the classroom.

       As the Cardinal Newman Society recently reported, Prof. Laureano introduced a course this summer, titled “Soc of Human Sexuality.”  Describing her course on a pro-abortion web site, Advocates for Youth, she boasts about her involvement in the abortion industry.  Abortion is “safe, more safe than giving birth,” she affirms.

Bianca Laureano is also a registered volunteer for The Doula Project.  The group’s web site states: “We offer our services to pregnant people having medication abortion (the abortion pill) and surgical abortion. We currently partner with Planned Parenthood Brooklyn and a Public Hospital’s Reproductive Choices Clinic.”

In addition to supporting the culture of death, Prof. Laureano also makes use of blasphemous “art” directed against the Blessed Virgin Mary in her presentations.

The question that comes to mind is this:

If the College of Mount Saint Vincent calls itself “Catholic”, why does it allow this anti-Catholic voice a platform from which to harm the faith? Let us hope that this abuse will be corrected with the swift termination of Prof. Laureano teaching assignment.

Is it too much to ask a Catholic college to act Catholic and stop allowing abortion promoters like Prof. Laureano in the classroom?

Contact the college with your peaceful protest:

College of Mount Saint Vincent
Dr. Charles L. Flynn, Jr., President
6301 Riverdale Avenue
Riverdale, NY 10471
Phone: (718) 405-3233
Email: president@mountsaintvincent.edu

A much maligned Sacramental

It is with sadness that I have noticed the disdain and hostility that is shown by many people to a nearly two thousand year old aspect of Christianity. This essay addresses a sacramental that has, sadly , been forgotten by many and attacked by some: Holy Relics - the bones, flesh and clothing of Saints.
   If you mention relics to many of today's Catholics you will get raised eyebrows at best, and sneers at worst. The distressing truth is that most Catholics today ( much less non-catholics) neither understand , nor value these sacred items. Many go so far as to call the veneration of relics idolatrous and medieval.

     " These Reliquiary jamborees can only inflame irrational expectations in people who are suggestible........What the starry progress of the relics of the Little Flower has done for me is to remind me that we have in this country rather too much religious tolerance. The truth is that many religions — perhaps most — have certain doctrines and beliefs that are not merely irrational but sometimes dangerous and unacceptable......But I think we should insist that the Home Office does not lend any extra official respectability to religious hocus-pocus of any kind. Superstition, like St Thérèse, has a curious immortality on earth. "              - London Times Sept, 23rd 2009

"In the hierarchy of weird pastimes, relic worship must be among the most harmless. We do best to regard it as a test, not of our power of reason but of our power of tolerance."     -The Guardian, September 17th 2009

The source of the newspapers' vehemence was a public tour of the relics of St. Therese of Lisieux. The media's ignorance of the basis of these Religious practices should, and must, be addressed.

  My goal in this essay is to provide a comprehensible explanation of why the veneration of relics is a scriptural and praiseworthy practice.
First, I will attempt to show that the veneration of relics is a scripturally supported practice. Let us first examine 4 Kings 13:20-21,
  "And Eliseus died, and they buried him. And the rovers from Moab came into the land the same year. And some that were burying a man, saw the rovers, and cast the body into the sepulchre of Eliseus. And when it had touched the bones of Eliseus, the man came to life and stood upon his feet"
Here we see a miracle worked by God through the relics of St. Elisius. Granted, this is in the Old Testament, but if God chose to convey Graces and Miracles through relics in the Old Testament, what proof have we that He has stopped ? Now, consider Acts 19:11-12
"And God wrought by the hand of Paul more than common miracles. So that even there were brought from his body to the sick, handkerchiefs and aprons: and the diseases departed from them: and the wicked spirits went out of them."
Once again, we see God working miracles through relics. God so filled St. Paul with Grace that he saw fit to allow even Paul's garments to be imbued with the Holiness and Grace of God. So, how can we say that God never again saw fit to allow the garments of Saints to be imbued with His Holiness? And, if God allowed this to happen to garments, how much more would this Holiness saturate the bodies of God's Servants?
  Some may say that this is because the early Saints had more direct contact with God, since he lived among them, and that in later years , the Holiness was no longer great enough to imbue the bodies and garments of God's servants. And yet in John 20:29, Our Lord says:                                                                                                                                                               
"Blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed"
  And so if Jesus proclaims that they who have not seen have a special Holiness, how can we say that that the Saints who did not meet the Savior on earth were not Holy enough for us to give to their relics the same treatment that was given to those of the Apostles and Prophets? Against this we can also put up the case of Polycarp , a 2nd century Bishop, whose relics were secretly taken from the site of his martyrdom and enshrined. If the veneration of relics was practiced by the Christians a century after the Death of Christ, why  would  it not still be a praiseworthy practice?
And lastly, let us address the concerns of those who simply do not understand why someone would want to keep relics. A quote from St. Augustine's The City of God will do well here.

If a father's coat or ring, or anything else of that kind, is so much more cherished by his children, as love for one's parents is greater, in no way are the bodies themselves to be despised, which are much more intimately and closely united to us than any garment; for they belong to man's very nature.     

And who can disagree with him? Would not any of us keep as treasures the the heirlooms passed down from our parents? In modern society, people will pay ridiculous amounts of money for an item that belonged to a famous personage, how much more should we treasure an item that belonged to one of God's beloved Saints? If we hold so dear the handkerchief of one of the Beatles, imbued with sweat, how much more should we hold dear the bones of St. John Vianney, imbued with God's Holiness and  Love? I shall close with a quote from St. Jerome's Ad Riparium.
We do not adore, I will not say the relics of the martyrs, but either the sun or the moon or even the angels -- that is to say, with the worship of "latria"...But we honor the martyrs' relics, so that thereby we give honor to Him Whose [witness] they are: we honor the servants, that the honor shown to them may reflect on their Master... Consequently, by honoring the martyrs' relics we do not fall into the error of the Gentiles, who gave the worship of "latria" to dead men.