When John heard in prison of the works of
the Messiah, he sent his disciples to him with
this question, "Are you the one who is to come,
or should we look for another?" Jesus said to
them in reply, "Go and tell John what you hear
and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame
walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the
dead are raised, and the poor have the good
news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the
one who takes no offense at me."
Matthew 11:2-6

But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse,
and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit
of the LORD shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom
and of understanding, A spirit of counsel and of
strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the
LORD, and his delight shall be the fear of the LORD.
Not by appearance shall he judge, nor by hearsay
shall he decide, But he shall judge the poor with
justice, and decide aright for the land's afflicted.
He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his
mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall
slay the wicked. Justice shall be the band around
his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips.
Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the
leopard shall lie down with the kid; The calf and
the young lion shall browse together, with a little
child to guide them. The cow and the bear shall be
neighbors, together their young shall rest; the
lion shall eat hay like the ox. The baby shall
play by the cobra's den, and the child lay his
hand on the adder's lair. There shall be no harm
or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth
shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD, as
water covers the sea. On that day, The root of
Jesse, set up as a signal for the nations, The
Gentiles shall seek out, for his dwelling shall
be glorious.
Isaiah 11:1-10

Apparently liberal anti-Christian hatred isn't just confined to the Left Coast

I would draw attention to the second image on this page, the one with the man in the clerical shirt wearing the "ignore the poor" button. If the Minnesota Democratic Party had the intention of attacking one specific Protestant minister then perhaps they should have chosen an image that singled him out specifically. As it stands, this ad appears to be an attack on all conservative clergy and is therefore inexcusable. Liberals attack conservatives who use bigotry to gain votes, for them to turn around and stoke the flames of anti-Christian hatred for votes in hypocrisy at its worst.

Apparently the whole Establishment Clause thing only protects religious beliefs that liberals agree with

The sad thing is that this isn't even surprising. This is the Ninth Circuit, after all, the court that never found a liberal violation of the Constitution that it couldn't excuse or a conservative opinion that it couldn't quash. Nobody should be surprised at San Francisco's bigoted condemnation of the Catholic faith, considering the anti-Catholicism that has come out of that city in the past. I'm sure that the establishment in that city was quite hostile toward Cardinal Levada when he was Archbishop and quite happy when he left, now of course they're upset that his successor has proven just as immune to their corrupting influence and so they're looking for a way to justify discriminating against him and his flock.

Any impartial observer would have to admit that San Francisco's resolution violates the Establishment Clause. The First Amendment doesn't only prohibit the government favoring a particular religion, it also clearly forbids discrimination against a particular religion. If any liberal denies that they would reject the Council's action if it involved any other religion, think about what the response would be if some city in the conservative part of California passed a resolution condemning the Episcopal Church's vocal opposition to Prop 8. Better yet, think how people would react if San Francisco's City Council condemned the anti-gay marriage beliefs of Muslims or Orthodox Jews. It is a fact of life that anti-Catholicism is a permissible bigotry, not even considered a bigotry by many, and that Catholics are attacked in ways that few other groups would be forced to endure. People may attack Muslims for the actions of a few that are not supported by the many, but this comes from an ignorance of the typical beliefs of Muslims where the attacks on Catholics come from knowledge of our universal teachings and are therefore attacks on the integrity of all the faithful. Hopefully the Supreme Court will hear this case and instruct the Circuit Court to revisit their decision, otherwise we may see many more of these "no Catholics allowed" resolutions by liberal cities in the future. I'm very grateful that I don't live in San Francisco right now, because the Council has sent a clear message that Catholics don't have freedom of worship within city limits, and I am also relieved that I don't live under the jurisdiction of the obviously biased Ninth Circuit. New Jersey is quite liberal, but I haven't heard anything about Newark or Camden passing such a hateful resolution so at least for the moment I have hope of tolerance here. Unless the higher court steps in I fear all tolerance may be lost forever in the western states.

He that is faithful in that which is least,
is faithful also in that which is greater: and
he that is unjust in that which is little, is
unjust also in that which is greater. If then
you have not been faithful in the unjust mammon;
who will trust you with that which is the true?
And if you have not been faithful in that which
is another's; who will give you that which is
your own? No servant can serve two masters: for
either he will hate the one, and love the other;
or he will hold to the one, and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon.
Luke 16:10-13 (D-R)

In how many ways do we serve mammon instead of God? It doesn't have to be money, many things in our society take the place of God in our lives. It could be fame, or sex, or objects like iPods and designer clothes. It could also be people, those around us who we look to for validation and whose approval we seek when we should be looking to God. How much better would our world be if we sought God in the same way we seek out the latest celebrity news? How many could be converted if we approached evangelization with the same energy that we bring to seeking our own wealth? Even among Christians, there are many who look to personal advancement while rarely thinking about what God may want from us. Many see religion as only involving an hour's obligation on Sundays, while they spend the rest of their time behaving no differently from any of their non-Christian neighbors. We cannot be devoted to God while we're also devoted to the things of this world, and if we become obsessed with the pleasures of the physical world then we risk pushing God out of our lives. You cannot put your trust in God and the world at the same time, because they stand in opposition and seek to eliminate the other's influence on us. We must remember that the world provides benefits that are fleeting and only of this life, while God's benefits are eternal.

It seems that Christopher Hitchens has decided to resurrect the old hate-mongering in anticipation of Pope Benedict's visit to the UK, namely that the Pope is guilty of crimes against humanity and should be arrested when he sets foot on British soil. Never mind the fact that nobody has been able to lay any blame on our current Pope for the abuse crisis, no matter how much they've tried (and how they have tried!). Never mind that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith only received jurisdiction over cases of child abuse by clergy in 2001, long after most of the cases were alleged to have occurred, and every indication is that Cardinal Ratzinger pursued justice for the victimized pretty quickly after being given the authority to do so. Never mind that Pope Benedict has, in his five years as Pope, shown himself to be committed to justice and has repeatedly made it easier for cases to be investigated and if necessary turned over to civil authorities. People like Hitchens don't really care about the victims, they only care about punishing the Pope for being conservative and brow-beating Catholics into bowing before their destructive brand of hedonistic narcissism. I will quote and respond to particularly egregious sections of the article below.

I came across the following passage from Cardinal John Henry Newman's classic statement of belief, his Apologia Pro Vita Sua:

The Catholic Church holds it better for the Sun and Moon to drop from Heaven, for the earth to fail, and for all the many millions on it to die from starvation in extremest agony … than that one soul, I will not say, should be lost, but should commit one single venial sin, should tell one wilful untruth, or should steal one poor farthing without excuse.

I doubt that Hitchens is operating under any misunderstanding, rather I think that he is intentionally mischaracterizing Newman's statement in an attempt at character assassination. Newman obviously wasn't saying that Catholics want people to starve and suffer, rather that we hold apostasy to be a horrible thing and do not desire it to happen to any person. We certainly don't enjoy the suffering of human beings, but so much more than that do we deplore the loss of souls to sin.

As we have recently been forcibly reminded, the Roman Catholic Church holds it better for the cries of raped and violated children to be ignored, and for the excuses and alibis of their rapists and torturers indulged, and for a host of dirty and wilful untruths to be manufactured wholesale, and for the funds raised ostensibly for the poor to be paid out in hush money and shameful bribery, rather than that one tiny indignity or inconvenience be visited on the robed majesty of a man-made church or any limit set to its self-proclaimed right to be judge in its own cause

We've recently been reminded, actually, that human beings are sinful and that applies as much to human beings in the Church as it does to those outside. Peter Tatchell, a leading opponent to the Pope's visit, has said in the past that nine year old children could consent to sex with adults. If a Catholic priest said that then Hitchens would put the blame for it directly on the Pope, and yet I hear nothing from him about his ally's reprehensible beliefs. Hitchens is also overlooking, of course, the many actions that have been taken by the Pope to safeguard children in the wake of the abuse scandal. Not only has the Pope raised the statue of limitations to 20 years, an action that Hitchens would hail if it had been undertaken by civil leaders, but he has also put together concrete rules governing the removal of accused priests and religious from their positions. When he was given responsibility for these cases as head of the CDF the Pope essentially had to create rules from scratch, and personally I think that he's done an admirable job of it.

I asked a simple question in print. Why was this not considered a matter for the police and the courts? Why were we asking the church to "put its own house in order," an expression that was the exact definition of the problem to begin with?

That's exactly what has been done. In fact, in many cases the accusations were brought before the civil authorities and they either declined to prosecute or else investigated and found no basis for an indictment. There was certainly a cover up in some dioceses, but the blame for a lack of prosecutions lies in the hands of civil government at least as much as in the Church's hands.

I followed this up with a telephone call to Geoffrey Robertson, a British barrister with a second-to-none record in international human rights cases.

Robertson is the moron who tried to stoke anti-Catholic hatred in England to gain support for his plan to put the Pope on trial at the Hague, solely to increase his own name recognition and make himself look good without any concern for those who actually suffered from the actions of clergy. I am not at all surprised that Hitchens would be allied with this guy, after all they're birds of a feather.

Consider: The now-resigned bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, stands revealed by his own eventual confession as being guilty of incest as well as rape...Very belatedly, a few months ago, the Belgian police finally rose from their notorious torpor and raided some ecclesiastical offices in search of evidence that was being concealed. Joseph Ratzinger, who had not thus far found a voice in which to mention the doings of his Belgian underlings, promptly emitted a squeal of protest—at the intervention of the law.

The problem that the Church has with the civil investigation is in its methods, not its motives. In executing their warrant the police violated the crypts of two bishops, a horrid sacrilege without justification. The Church has no problem with civil authorities investigating accusations of abuse, so long as they don't intentionally insult our religion in the process. How would Muslims react if the Belgian police had desecrated a Koran in a search for evidence? How would Jews react if they had searched for evidence by tearing apart the ark that contains the Torah scrolls?

Robertson's brief begins with a meticulous summary of the systematic fashion in which child-rape was covered up by collusion between local Catholic authorities and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, an office that under the last pope was run by Ratzinger himself.

Funny, considering that the CDF did not gain jurisdiction over such cases until 2001 at around the same time that many of the cases came to light. During most of the time of cover-up, and in fact when the vast majority of cases were alleged to have been committed, the responsibility for investigating cases and bringing them to the attention of law enforcement fell on individual bishops rather than any central Church authority. That was the problem, and giving the power to the CDF and then-Cardinal Ratzinger was the solution.

The Catholic authorities have now rudely disinterred the bodies, finding nothing that had survived decay or could serve as a relic.

Hitchens seems crudely satisfied at this fact, as if it proves that Newman wasn't a saint. Of course, the Church does not teach that a saint's body must be incorruptible in order for that person to be a saint. Many saints have shown such incorruptibility, and it can be seen as a sign of sainthood, but it is not required.

The sun and moon don't need to fall and the species doesn't have to die in agony in order to expiate this sin—a little application of simple earthly justice is all that is required. Will it really continue to be withheld?

Hitchens hates the Catholic Church, and in spite of his protestations to the contrary his words and actions scream hatred for those who choose to believe in the Church. Since he can't brow-beat the Pope into renouncing the faith and dragging its followers down with him he'll try to destroy the Pope by putting him on trial for false accusations and making him rot in jail. May God bless the Pope in his journey to hostile lands, and if he must be martyred by Hitchens and his pagan friends may his martyrdom obtain blessings for the Church and conversion for the English people who so desperately need it.

Then he said, "A man had two sons, and the
younger son said to his father, 'Father,
give me the share of your estate that should
come to me.' So the father divided the
property between them. After a few days, the
younger son collected all his belongings and
set off to a distant country where he
squandered his inheritance on a life of
dissipation. When he had freely spent everything,
a severe famine struck that country, and he found
himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to
one of the local citizens who sent him to his
farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his
fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody
gave him any. Coming to his senses he thought,
'How many of my father's hired workers have more
than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from
hunger. I shall get up and go to my father and I
shall say to him, "Father, I have sinned against
heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be
called your son; treat me as you would treat one of
your hired workers."' So he got up and went back to
his father. While he was still a long way off, his
father caught sight of him, and was filled with
compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and
kissed him. His son said to him, 'Father, I have
sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer
deserve to be called your son.' But his father
ordered his servants, 'Quickly bring the finest
robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and
sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and
slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast,
because this son of mine was dead, and has come to
life again; he was lost, and has been found.' Then
the celebration began.

Now the older son had been out in the field and, on
his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the
sound of music and dancing. He called one of the
servants and asked what this might mean. The servant
said to him, 'Your brother has returned and your
father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he
has him back safe and sound.' He became angry, and
when he refused to enter the house, his father came
out and pleaded with him. He said to his father in
reply, 'Look, all these years I served you and not
once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me
even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But
when your son returns who swallowed up your property
with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened
calf.' He said to him, 'My son, you are here with me
always; everything I have is yours. But now we must
celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead
and has come to life again; he was lost and has been
found.'" Luke 15: 11-32

Today's very long Gospel reading contains a very important message, and I hope that you all heard the long version so that you were exposed to this parable. One of the Devil's most favored tactics to separate us from the faith is to tell us that we are beyond hope, that we have sinned so much that God has given up on us and we are certainly damned. The idea, of course, is that a man without hope of salvation has no reason to behave like a man in search of salvation. This is, of course, a lie, and what we find in the parable of the Prodigal Son is a God who loves us and never stops seeking us out no matter what we do against Him. It doesn't matter how many sins we commit, how far we drive ourselves away from God and His Truth, because He will always be there waiting for us when we return. It is also good to look at the Second Reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to Timothy, where Paul gladly acknowledges his own sinfulness because he knows that God's mercy and love are most apparent when we come to him in our sin and ask for His forgiveness. We all sin and fall short of what we should be, but that is no reason for despair because God is Love and He will never abandon or disown us. We are His children in our sin, even in the moment of our commission of sin, and He is always waiting to rejoice when we come to our senses and seek Him out again. How blessed indeed are we to have this wonderful gift, to know that our God loves us so much that He will suffer infinite disrespect from us without ever rejecting us or turning His back on us.