A Bannon Apologia

Austin Ruse

Out of the blue in the summer of 2014, I received an email from Steve Bannon asking if I ever published anyplace other than Crisis and would I be interested in writing for Breitbart. I knew Bannon’s name from a weekly conservative coalition that still meets in Washington DC. Bannon occasionally called in but never appeared in person.

A few months later I sent him a piece about a new book puncturing holes in the Matthew Shepherd myth, that he was killed by homophobes just because he was gay but rather was killed in a deal gone bad by a fellow drug dealer and sometimes gay sex partner. That story ended up getting something on the order of 25,000 Facebook shares and thousands of comments. That was my introduction to the power of Breitbart.

It was also my introduction to the mission of Breitbart and to Steve Bannon, which primarily is to change the leftist narrative, which is sometimes impossible to change. Even now after Stephen Jiminez’s masterful investigative book on Matthew Shepherd, the left still lies about his death.

Andrew Breitbart dedicated his career to changing the narrative and taking down the establishment.

There is much stuff and nonsense said about Steve Bannon, particularly after Andrew’s untimely death, when Bannon became executive chairman. They say he has taken Breitbart News far from Andrew’s vision. It should be known that Breitbart is run by Andrew’s childhood best friend and his longtime business partner Larry Solov. The editorial staff is helmed by Andrew’s first employee Alexander Marlow. Andrew’s widow is still involved as is Joel Pollack, a kippah-wearing Orthodox Jew. There has not been some great disconnect from Breitbart’s death to the present day.

Bannon came onto the scene as a documentary filmmaker. He came out of investment banking where, among other things, he handled the sale of Castle Rock Entertainment and instead of taking a fee, took a piece of a series then in pilot called Seinfeld. Bannon and Breitbart made films together including the remarkable Occupy Unmasked that explains who is behind the masked rioters who are even now burning American cities. Bannon became a partner in Breitbart News, bringing cash, vision, and drive.

The stuff and nonsense about Bannon includes that he is a “white nationalist,” and that he and now Breitbart News are racist, xenophobic, and anti-Semitic. Certain Breitbart stories are trotted out to make the point; David Horowitz’s story calling Bill Kristol a “renegade Jew” for a political position Horowitz said would have exposed Israel to a nuclear Iran; Milo Yiannopoulos’s perhaps too gleeful story explaining the “alt-right.” There is also Bannon’s quote from last summer that Breitbart is a “forum for the alt-right.” Bannon also said he is a “Leninist” and “Thomas Cromwell in the Court of Henry VIII.” This last quote was from after Bannon joined the Trump campaign.

Here is the Bannon I know. He is brilliant, salty, visionary, and driven. Did I say salty? Very salty. He can be loud and some say bullying but he’s just a tough boss, something even young snowflakes on the right aren’t used to.

Bannon never sleeps. Over almost three years I wrote several hundred stories for Bannon and Breitbart. I might be trading emails with Bannon at midnight, go to bed, and at 6 a.m. see he was still emailing me at 3 a.m. He and Trump are similar that way. I suspect they email each other all night long.

He is broadly and deeply read. I took Robert Reilly on the Breitbart News radio program on Sirius Satellite Radio one morning to talk about his then new book Making Gay Okay: How Rationalizing Homosexual Behavior is Changing Everything. We sat down in the studio, went live, and quite unexpectedly Bannon launched into a half hour debate about a Theban general named Epaminondas, whom Cicero called “the first man of Greece” and who had two or three male lovers, one of whom he was buried with. Bannon knew everything about this man and about the political and military issues of those days. Reilly gave as good as he got. I could only sit and watch. Walking away, Reilly said, “That was amazing.” You get the feeling Bannon can do this on almost any topic.

Bannon is visionary; he engineered the expansion of Breitbart with bureaus in California, Texas, London and Jerusalem—odd for an anti-Semitic site?—with more to come in France and Germany. He took Breitbart from an also-ran conservative site to one of the largest sites of any kind in the world. He started Breitbart News radio that is now a daily show on the Sirius XM Patriot Channel. And he had a vision on how to take over the conservative movement and supplant the GOP establishment.

One thing people don’t know is that Breitbart publishes a huge amount of Catholic content. I call it the largest Catholic site on the net. Bannon moved the radio show to Rome to cover the canonization of John Paul II and John XXIII live. He hired former priest Thomas Williams to report from Rome and Williams files Vatican and other Catholic news constantly. I wrote on Catholic topics all the time, as do many other Catholic writers on Breitbart. Breitbart’s editor-in-chief Alex Marlow is a Catholic who in recent years has reengaged his faith.

I call Bannon a non-practicing orthodox Catholic. I am not aware that he dissents from any teachings of the Church, still I am not aware that he practices the faith. It could have something to do with three ex-wives. But it should be understood there is a difference between weakness and dissent. Moreover, he came this close to going with me on a retreat a few years ago. Maybe one day.

So, what about the things he has said? Bannon did not prepare all his life for this moment in the public square, most especially this moment in the global spotlight. Like Trump, he is not airbrushed like so many bland talking-head-type politicians these days, those guys who have planned to be president since the seventh grade. Have you seen those pictures of Bannon just last year sitting on the couch at the Breitbart Embassy behind the Supreme Court? He sits there in short pants, white legs, wrinkled shirt, three-day growth, unkempt hair. This is not a guy who expected to be in the White House a few months later. Even during the campaign, you could see him walking in his cargo shorts and canvas coat alongside dapper Donald Trump.

“We are a forum for the alt-right,” he said. I suspect that Bannon considered the alt-right to be nothing more than young guys on the Internet who were sick of globalization, illegal immigration, Mitch McConnell, and National Review. And what he was no doubt referring to was the comment boxes of Breitbart, which are lengthy, bawdy, scatological, and often hilarious.

“I’m a Leninist.” Yes, Bannon is a revolutionary but not a Bolshevik. He wants to overturn the GOP establishment that seems incapable of doing anything they promise to do and seem utterly indifferent to those Bannon calls “Hobbits from the Shire.”

There are hundreds of radio hours the Washington Post and others are scouring right now for more shocking things Bannon has said. They reported recently that he said something about going to war with China on the radio so now the Trump administration is supposed to be going to war with China.

Much of what he has said is Bannon riffing, having fun, shocking the lefty reporters. What the left and sadly some conservatives have done is take these quotes and spun dystopian fantasies about Steve Bannon. The best glimpse into the thinking of Steve Bannon is the lecture he gave via Skype to a conference at the Vatican two years ago. You can find the transcript online. There is also his interview with Kimberly Strassel a few months ago in the Wall Street Journal. What you will find is not a cartoon villain but a deeply thoughtful man.

Bannon always called Breitbart “Fight Club” and the highest compliment one could get at Breitbart’s Fight Club is “Honey Badger.” When Bannon and Marlow called me this one day, I had to look it up on YouTube. He is a tough determined and utterly fearless little animal that takes down anything in his way including bigger and nastier creatures. To put it politely, “Honey Badger, doesn’t give a hoot.”

So, there is the seeming contradiction; Bannon is a deeply thoughtful pugilist who does not care what you think. Some will say this is a recipe for disaster. I say it’s just what we need.

http://www.crisismagazine.com/2017/a-bannon-apologia

(Photo credit: Gerald Herbert / AP)

Is Islam an “Abrahamic” Religion?

For most non-Muslims and Westerners, Islam is a religion which was founded in the 7th century by the Prophet Muhammad, spread throughout the Middle East, Asia, and the Mediterranean area (including many European countries), and is now in a state of flux, making inroads in some areas, causing turmoil in others.

But this viewpoint differs sharply from the narrative accepted by many Muslims. Like (probably) the majority of Catholics who do not read the Bible, most Muslims do not read their sacred scriptures – the Qur’an, the Hadith (sayings of the apostle Muhammad), and the Siras (biographies of Muhammad). But for those who do – including scholars, enthusiasts, and converts – a very different interpretation is attached to their religion. In their eyes, Islam does not stem from the 7^th century, but has had a much more extensive history, as follows:

ŸAbrahamic religion: According to the Qur’an, which Muslims believe was dictated directly by God, Abraham (Ibrahim) was a Hanif (Muslim). [Sura 3:67] When Allah tested Abraham, he was ready to sacrifice his son, Ishmael, but was released by Allah from that duty. Abraham and Ishmael preached Islam, and traveled to Bekka (Mecca) [3:96-7], where they built humanity’s first temple, the Kaaba, the place for Muslim pilgrimage even today. [2:125-127] True Muslims believe in the original, universal Hanifi religion (din al-fitrah), which was “sent down to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the Patriarchs, and what was given to Moses and Jesus and the prophets.” [3:84]

ŸJesus and Mary: Jesus was the son of Mary, the daughter of Imran, the father of Moses and Aaron. [66:12] Thus Mary was Aaron’s sister. [19:28] Jesus was born to Mary by divine help, did wondrous deeds, and preached the coming of the prophet Muhammad. [61:6] He was not crucified, but only appeared to be crucified, and then was taken up to heaven by Allah. [4:157-8]

ŸPolytheism: One of the worst blasphemies against the unity of Allah is the doctrine of the “Trinity.” This Christian doctrine, as interpreted in the Qur’an, concerns a divine trinity of Allah, Jesus, and Mary. [5:116], although – in Muslim eyes – Jesus denied that he was divine. To believe that Allah had a son is polytheism. [4:171, 5:75, 9:30]

ŸMuhammad, last of the prophets: Mecca was host to devotees of multiple gods during Muhammad’s lifetime, and his initial attempts to convert polytheists to the worship of Allah as the sole god met considerable opposition; and he acquired only a small cadre of followers. With them he fled in a famous migration (Hijrah) to Medina, where he was initially accepted cordially, and attracted converts. But as he continually received the revelations later incorporated into shariah law, strong opposition developed, especially from Jews who rejected or ridiculed his status as a prophet. His responses evolved from apparent tolerance (“let there be no compulsion in religion” [Sura 2:256]), to warnings that those who do not accept Islam will go to hell [Sura 3:85] and should never be taken as friends [3:28, 4:89, 5:51].

Mohammed (right) converses with Abraham (left) in Paradise [Persian, 15th century]

Jihad: Islamic scholars speak of the principle of abrogation, according to which later suras of the Qur’an can abrogate earlier suras. Allah himself sanctifies this principle in sura 16:101. Thus, many late revelations at Medina [e.g. suras 2, 4, 5,8, 9, 47, and 48], given the resistance of unbelievers to tolerant approaches, advocated spread of Islam by “the sword,” making war on neighboring peoples a duty [9:39, 123], and promising an instantaneous paradise of sensual pleasures, including the ministrations of 72 comely virgins for men who die in battle against infidels.

ŸFinal goals: According to the narrative of this Abrahamic religion, Islam is the original and indispensable religion for all mankind [34:28], and Muslims are the chosen people [3:110] whose religious duty is to rule the world and implement Sharia everywhere [2:193]. At the end, the Muslim version of Jesus (Isa Al-Masee) will come to destroy all crosses, vanquish the Muslim Anti-Christ (Dajjal), and thus assist the final caliph, the Mahdi, to bring about a world in which Islam remains the only religion.

ŸIslam vs. history: This extended narrative in which Muhammad becomes the agent who finally brings about the fulfillment of the true Abrahamic religion is comparable to the narratives of some other religions.

Foremost in similarity is the narrative of Mormons (Latter Day Saints), who assert that a group of ancient Hebrews (“Lamanites”) migrated to America before the birth of Christ. The Christian church apostatized shortly after the ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven, and Jesus appeared to American Indians, who were the descendants of the Lamanites, but also eventually apostatized. Finally, in the 19^thcentury, Joseph Smith, after some revelations and angelic visits, restored the true “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.”

Also similar, if mind-boggling, is the narrative of the “Nation of Islam.” According to Elijah Muhammad, its founder, blacks came into existence trillions of years ago, progressed tremendously, but were betrayed by a mad black scientist, “Yakub,” who created the white race to rule until the year 2000.

Conscientious Mormon anthropologists and geographers have tried to explain or correct Joseph Smith’s narrative. No one would try to find evidence for Elijah Muhammad’s narrative. But both narratives have dedicated believers.

Muslims would encounter especially difficult problems if they tried to establish historical evidence for their narrative. The only possible source for investigating the history of Abraham and his Hebrew descendants would be the Old Testament. But that, according to Muslims, has been distorted and is completely untrustworthy.

There is historical evidence of the life and actions of Jesus not only in the Gospels but also in historians like Tacitus and Josephus. Nonetheless, in the Muslim narrative, the New Testament – it’s claimed – is also distorted, creating false doctrines about Jesus’ crucifixion, the Trinity, and the Christian Church.

So Muslims, relying solely on the word of Muhammad, share less with Jews and Christians than is often implied in calling all three faiths “Abrahamic.”

https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2017/01/26/is-islam-an-abrahamic-religion/

© 2017 The Catholic Thing. All rights reserved. For reprint rights, write to: info@frinstitute.org The Catholic Thing is a forum for intelligent Catholic commentary. Opinions expressed by writers are solely their own.

BREAKING: Trump nominates pro-life Neil Gorsuch to Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 31, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – President Trump confirmed Tuesday night that his Supreme Court nominee is pro-life Neil Gorsuch of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

"When Justice Scalia passed away suddenly last February, I made a promise to the American people" to find "very best judge in the country for the Supreme Court," said Trump. “I am a man of my word. I will do as I say, something that the American people have been asking for from Washington for a very, very long time.”

This afternoon, the conservative news site Independent Journal Review reported that "two high-ranking administration sources" confirmed Gorsuch would be the nominee. CNN released a similar report. 

Trump said Gorsuch has a "brillant mind, tremendous discipline" and bipartisan support. Trump noted that a justice can serve for half a century or so.

Maureen Scalia, the wife of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, was at the White House for Trump's announcement. The president called her a representative of the "late, great Justice Antonin Scalia."

Gorsuch, 49, is a favorite of social conservatives because of his pro-life views and his record defending religious liberty. In Hobby Lobby Stores v. Sebelius, Gorsuch sided with the Christian-owned craft store that did not want to be forced by the government to provide certain contraceptives through its health plan.

Gorsuch favored the Little Sisters of the Poor when dissenting from a 10th Circuit decision saying the nuns must be forced to formally cooperate with the provision of contraception. The dissent essentially said that the 10th Circuit "had shown insufficient deference to the Little Sisters’ own articulation of the tenets of their religious beliefs," according to SCOTUS blog.

Gorsuch attended University of Oxford, Columbia University, and Harvard Law School. He has "a flair that matches — or at least evokes" that of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, SCOTUS blog reports, because his "opinions are exceptionally clear and routinely entertaining; he is an unusual pleasure to read, and it is always plain exactly what he thinks and why."

Gorsuch brought up Scalia in his speech tonight.

"Justice Scalia was a lion of the law," he said. "I miss him."

In 2009, Gorsuch wrote The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, in which he argued that human life has intrinsic value and "that intentional killing is always wrong." The nuanced book examined legal and ethical issues surrounding assisted suicide and euthanasia, as well as the roles patient autonomy and refusal of unwanted medical care play. Its publisher Princeton University Press calls the book "the most comprehensive argument against their legalization ever published." Gorsuch studied under natural law expert John Finnis. 

Just last year, Gorsuch sided with Utah Governor Gary Herbert when he sought to defund Planned Parenthood. 

Of Roe v. Wade, Gorsuch wrote that there is "no constitutional basis" for giving a mother more rights than her unborn child (The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, p. 82): 

In Roe, the Court explained that, had it found the fetus to be a “person” for purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment, it could not have created a right to abortion because no constitutional basis exists for preferring the mother’s liberty interests over the child’s life.

It doesn't appear that Gorsuch has ruled on a case directly related to the constitutionality of abortion.

Gorsuch's resume is "as good as it gets," Trump said. He is "someone who respects our laws…and who loves our Constitution."

"I am so thankful tonight for my family, my friends, and my faith," said Gorsuch. "These are the things that keep me grounded at life’s peaks and sustain me in its valleys."

He said he is "honored" and "humbled" to be nominated.

St. John Bosco and the Danger of Tolerance:

St. John Bosco and the Danger of Tolerance

Sean Fitzpatrick

St. John Bosco was a master teacher who loved his students and, by his love, many souls were saved. Not all students were open to Don Bosco’s love, however, and not all the souls he loved were saved. A preventive method of education was championed by Don Bosco and is now practiced by his Salesians, an order he founded inspired by the gentleness, patience, and charity of St. Francis de Sales. Don Bosco often used St. Francis’ words to endorse this preventive method: “You can catch more flies with a teaspoon of honey than with a barrel of vinegar.” The preventive method consists chiefly in kindly supervision with the aim of building character and guarding against harmful influences: the conjunction of vigilance and familial affection, to prevent infractions rather than punish them. At the same time, Don Bosco, in his wisdom and vision as a saintly educator, knew well the menace to the common good posed by even one boy who refused the good, and, in an extreme act of prevention, never hesitated to expel those who were entrenched in sin or malice. He had no tolerance for those who would not be converted and was swift to prevent their influence from taking root. Though an unspeakably brave, humble, generous, and holy priest, St. John Bosco knew the danger of tolerance when it came to evil and was never afraid to be intolerant when occasion demanded.

There is a striking and even strange story that illustrates well St. John Bosco’s philosophy when it came to an expulsion, a situation when tolerance was impossible.

In 1886, while John Bosco was in Turin, an incident was brewing at the Salesian College of Sarria, an institution for troubled young men in Spain founded by the saint, under the nose of the superior, Fr. Branda. Among the students was a cunning group of posers who, under the guise of goodness, were plotting a crime. In the dead of a January night, Fr. Branda was startled from his sleep not by the cry of “Murder!” or “Thief!” or “Help!” but by the voice of Don Bosco. “Father,” Don Bosco called, “Get up!” Fr. Branda rolled over in his sheets and shook his head to clear it from what he regarded as a dream. Don Bosco was in Italy, after all, and not in his bedroom. The silence of sleep overtook him once again.

One week later, on February 6, “Father!” Don Bosco’s voice shattered the nighttime stillness, “Get up!” Fr. Branda sat bolt upright in his bed. Don Bosco stood before him, smiling amid the shadows of his bedroom. Stupefied, Fr. Branda bounced out of bed, struggled into a cassock, and, taking the hand of his superior—and finding it flesh and blood—kissed it. “Your house is bright,” Don Bosco said, “but there is one dark spot.” Suddenly Fr. Branda became aware of a group of four men in the room. Two he recognized as boarding students and the other two as day students. They shifted like shadows in the gloom. Don Bosco approached them with his fellow priest. “Tell this one to be prudent,” he said pointing to one. “Expel the other three immediately. Show no mercy and no pity. Be sure to do this at once, I tell you. Now, come!”

Don Bosco turned out of the room and glided silently down the hall with the breathless Fr. Branda at his heels. They moved noiselessly toward the dormitories under the noiseless night. Locked and bolted doors yielded without key to the hand of the saint, and even opened of their own accord as he approached, walking in a low patch of light cast from no visible source that illuminated their way. As they passed by the rows of slumbering students, Don Bosco put a word of advice or instruction in Fr. Branda’s ear for every one. “He must study for his examination more diligently.” “He needs to go to confession soon.” “He wishes to see his sister very much.” So it went, all down the rows of two dormitory bays, and then back to Fr. Branda’s bedroom.

“Remember, Father,” Don Bosco said upon their return, “expel those three without delay and without fail.” With these words uttered, Fr. Branda found himself alone in his room once again. Don Bosco had vanished. Darkness resumed its sway. The clock struck four. When the sun rose two hours later, it found Fr. Branda standing where he had stopped, his mind racing with questions and doubts. Had he really seen Don Bosco that night? How could it be possible? It must have been a dream. Was he truly to expel those boys without clear reason or any proof of guilt? He decided to wait.

Days passed. Still Fr. Branda had not determined to do as Don Bosco had instructed him. As he continued to mull over his mysterious experience, he received a letter from Turin from an oratorian priest named Fr. Rua in which he read with pounding heart that Don Bosco had told Fr. Rua to write to Fr. Branda asking if he had carried out the order he had received from Don Bosco. It was as yet not accomplished—and still Fr. Branda hesitated.

Again, days passed. Fr. Branda was in the sacristy preparing to celebrate Holy Mass. Though praying, his mind remained troubled by the words of Don Bosco and the difficulty he had in doing what had been so inexplicably put to him. He ascended the altar steps. He arranged the chalice. He descended the steps and genuflected. He began the prayers at the foot of the altar. “Introibo ad altare Dei, ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meum...” “If you do not expel those boys immediately as I ordered,” Don Bosco’s voice suddenly whispered directly in Fr. Branda’s ear and echoed in his inmost being, “this will be your last Mass.”

After Mass, Fr. Branda, pale as a ghost, summoned the three boys. They appeared, and stood shifting like shadows before Fr. Branda who expelled them then and there without explanation or hesitation. Though their crimes were still a secret, to God and his chosen ones, nothing is hidden, and nothing that is evil can be tolerated.

The young clung to St. John Bosco because he was not afraid to tolerate youthful vigor and tomfoolery. Most teachers are not so brave. Even less are brave enough to be intolerant of evil. Don Bosco understood the nature and spirit of adolescence, knowing therefore the critical, and even dangerous, balance between order and disorder, between discipline and spontaneity, between good and evil. Prudence was first and foremost for him, for it was only by this virtue that his boys could truly find happiness and holiness. To John Bosco, nothing was so important as this joy. Without joy, nothing can be truly learned, lived, or loved. Don Bosco knew this deeply, and so brought joy to everything he did with his boys, from soccer to the Sacraments, but all the while, defended his boys from those who would destroy the joy he fostered. He was not tolerant when intolerance was called for, and this was a part of his genius.

The banner of tolerance is one that flies proudly over modern world. Though tolerance is in some cases salubrious, too much of it can be suicidal. In the effort to accept and acclimate, there exists a real need to preserve cultural identity and spiritual integrity. John Bosco understood this and was intolerant of those that threatened the order and spirit of his oratories. He knew well that there is a type of tolerance that can ultimately compromise nature, society, and the soul, and undermine culture by changing it into the chameleon called diversity. Culture without definition and distinction in values is no longer culture—it is confusion. People cannot be themselves if they do not know who they are. Without the effort to remain true to who we are, it will be impossible to remain true to Him who died that we may live. St. John Bosco is a testament to the courage to be intolerant for the right reasons. May he guide us all as he guided Fr. Branda and help us to be brave enough to be intolerant to those powers that threaten our friendship with God.

Pro-Life From Start to Finish:

Pro-Life From Start to Finish

Fr. Ed Broom, OMV

Human life begins at the very moment of conception; human life dies when the soul leaves the body at natural death. God is the origin, the author, the sustainer, and the only one who can determine the actual moment that each and every human person dies. These are the first principles, on a human and biological level, that all those engaged in Pro-life dialogue must commence with.

Theological Foundations

At the very moment that a child is conceived, then it is God Himself who intervenes infusing an immortal soul in that human person. This immortal soul, from its inception, is endowed with an intellect with the powers of memory, understanding and imagination. Also the immortal soul is endowed with free will by which this individual can choose to love God with all his energy, strength and will. By utilizing the word immortal, we mean that this soul infused at the moment of conception will live for all eternity, that means forever and ever and ever—not until the end of the world, but forever and ever and ever! If this individual decides to love God in his life on earth and dies loving God, then he will be united with God forever in heaven.

This being the ultimate reality, what can we do as People of Life to defend life? Until the crude and horrendous reality of abortion is eliminated from the face of the earth, all of us, and we must emphasize all of us, must be involved in one way or another in the Pro-life movement. Not just once a year, in the month of January, when we lament the tragic legalization by the Supreme Court of abortion—killing innocent babies—but always! In a word, the innocent babies in the wombs of their mommies cannot speak so as to defend themselves. Therefore, we must be the clear, unequivocal, concise and determined voice of the unborn. They cannot speak or defend themselves, so we must do it for them!

Following we will offer several ways by which you can undertake the most noble task of fighting against abortion—the number one moral evil in the country—and defend the innocent and the most vulnerable persons in our country. Indeed they are persons, smaller and less-developed biologically, but they are persons. The founding Fathers of the United States of America had no confusion or identity crisis on human life when they wrote and said: Every human person has inviolable rights: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

First and foremost, all of us can do the following: pray! Prayer gives us power. Prayer is our weapon. Prayer can change hearts. Prayer can move the mountains, even the highest mountains—remember the movie Little Boy. Prayer gives life, defends life, and sustains life. Why? For the simple reason that prayer unites us and fortifies us with God Himself. Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life…”  Jesus also said: “I have come to give LIFE and LIFE in abundance.”  Saint Alphonsus Liguori expressed it in these words: “There are not strong people and weak people, but rather people that pray and those who do not pray.”  In other words, the person who prays well and fervently, with faith, confidence, and perseverance will eventually win the battle. If we have a nation or country in prayer, then the victory is ours. The famous Rosary-priest, Father Peyton expressed it in these words: “A world in prayer is a world in peace.”  Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta asserted: “This world will not know peace until the end of abortion.”  In sum, let us pray in reparation for the many crimes and abominations of abortion, but also for the end of abortion.

Second, we must undertake the practice of penance and fasting.  Jesus said: “Some devils can be expelled only by prayer and fasting.” Jesus conquered and overcame the devil in the desert by praying and by fasting for forty days and forty nights. Jesus said: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that issues forth from the mouth of God.”  Most likely none of us can fast forty days and forty nights in imitation of Jesus, but we can all give up something. Saint Therese encourages us with these words: “Holiness consists in doing small (ordinary) things with great or extraordinary love.”  There we have the secret to holiness: doing all we do with great love!

Third, another key to preventing abortion we might call preventative medicine by means of teaching teens the value of the virtue of chastity or holiness. Would it not be a great idea if all the Parishes throughout the country, better yet, all the Parishes throughout the world, would teach teens the importance of the virtue of chastity? How? By teaching them the beauty of chastity. Teach them that sexuality is a beautiful gift from God but it must be practiced and expressed in the proper time and the proper place. Of course, this means that while human sexuality is a beautiful gift from God, its proper time and place is only in the context of a man and woman married in the Sacrament of holy Matrimony, in the church. Only then does a couple have a right to the marital act, of course being always open to the possibility of conception, or if you like the possibility of Procreation. What a beautiful and most profound word, that of Procreation. What this word really means is that God allows two human persons, a man and a woman, to collaborate with Him in the bringing forth of a new human life by means of conception.

Another motivation for the young to embrace chastity and sexual relations only in the context of Sacramental love might be a CHASTITY MASS AND RING. What is meant by this is that young people involved in their Confirmation program would have built into this Confirmation program a chastity Mass with the chastity ring as an integral part of the program itself. Therefore, in the context of the Mass, after the homily, the priest (or priests) will place chastity rings on the young girls and boys. Then these youth will wear this ring until they are married as a clear reminder that they have made the commitment to be chaste or pure and that they will have no sexual relations until their wedding night.

All of this is said in the context of fighting against abortion on this front because many abortions are perpetrated by the young, and that is even the teenagers, and for many reasons. However, one of the fundamental reasons for the high incidence of abortions among teens, among the youth, is a very weak formation and foundation in the virtue of chastity, not taught well at home or anywhere else for that matter!!!

One last note, with respect to chastity—the virtue of modesty! Young people, possibly girls more than boys, but both, must be educated in the practice of modesty, which the Catechism of the Catholic Church states is the “Guardian of chastity.”  We must never forget that we are created in the image and likeness of God. Through Baptism we are transformed into sons and daughters of God the Father, brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, intimate friends of the Holy Spirit, that is living tabernacles of the Blessed Trinity, Sanctuaries of God! With this knowledge of our sublime dignity, as well as the knowledge of our destiny, we must live accordingly and practice the virtue of modesty. May Our Lady be our sublime example!

Fourth, the use and viewing of the ultrasound. One of the most notorious abortionist’s in the United States in the early 70’s was a Doctor who practiced abortions in New York. He was known as the “King of abortions.”  Why? He had carried out 80,000 abortions. Nonetheless, God works miracles in strange ways according to the human perspective. The name of this Doctor was Bernard Nathanson. Divine providence worked in this way. Doctor Nathanson viewed a primitive ultrasound in which he saw the baby moving. Touched and moved by grace, Nathanson honestly admitted that it was a baby, a living human person. From that moment on, he never performed another abortion in his entire life! On the contrary, he became one of the most vocal Pro-life advocates in the country, and not only that, in the world at large. Gifted with a very keen intellect, Nathanson wrote against abortion in very scholarly terms. However, most likely his greatest claim to fame was the production of the movie The Silent Scream. In this movie, Nathanson portrays graphically a baby being torn from the womb of his mother and suffering intensely; the baby is opening up his mouth screaming, but the scream cannot be heard! Once produced and released for the public this film accomplished untold miracles of grace, definitely saving the lives of many unborn persons—babies in the womb.

Incidentally, Nathanson was converted to Catholicism and received all the Sacraments of Initiation in St. Patrick’s Cathedral by the late Cardinal John O’Conner.

Years have passed since the movie The Silent Scream was released. Now, thanks be to God and the advance of modern technology, the Ultrasound is much more advanced, clear, and graphic in the presentation of the unborn baby within the womb. A woman considering an abortion, if exposed to the ultrasound of her baby, might be able to see the baby waking up, yawning, stretching, scratching his nose, sucking his thumb, and even smiling at his mother. Many women upon viewing their baby in the Ultrasound cannot carry out the grisly murder of their innocent child.

In sum, if you know of a woman considering an abortion with an already developed child, why not bring her to view the Ultrasound. There is a good chance that after seeing this, the mother will say YES to life, graced and blessed with seeing her little baby moving and possibly smiling at her!

Fifth, the Biblical YES of two holy women! Why not present to the woman considering abortion the example of two holy women who would most likely be targets for abortion today: Saint Elizabeth and the Blessed Virgin Mary (Read from the Gospel of Saint Luke: 1: 39-45) Why? Saint Elizabeth was obviously too old—way beyond the age of child-bearing; and Mary, was too young, almost certainly a mere teenage. We all know the end of this story! Both said YES to carrying their babies and they brought forth the two greatest: Saint John the Baptist and Jesus, the Savior of the world, who is truly the Way, the Truth and the Life. If Mary and Elizabeth could say YES to life, so can all women. What is definitely needed is this attitude of the heart: Trust. All pregnant women must trust, not in the world and its false values, but in God who is not only the Origin and Author of life, but also the Provider and the Sustainer of life. With Saint Faustina let us pray: Jesus, I trust in You!

In conclusion, let all of us feel the call, as well as the duty, as men and women of life to defend unborn human life. It is God who gives life. The holy Job expressed it in clear and unequivocal words: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked I return to the earth; the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord!”  Indeed, it is only the Lord, God Himself, who can give life and it is only God who can take life away! As human persons created in the image and likeness of God, and through Baptism sons and daughters of God Himself, we must be staunch defenders of life from the very moment of conception to the very last breath of life. We are People of Life. May Our Lady who said YES to life encourage us by her prayers to love life at all times, in all places, until the end of time!

Righteousness Exalts a Nation

Karl Marx thought of culture as the superstructure of economics. He was, of course, mistaken. I think, though, that we can use his observation in a different, and helpful, manner. Politics is the superstructure of culture. A good political order follows from a virtuous foundation in the lives of the people. (Proverbs 14:34, 29:18).

As the American Founders understood, we cannot reasonably expect “good politics” (which is the wedding of justice with power) unless there is a strong moral sense in the people. The Catechism puts it succinctly: “The social duty of Christians is to respect and awaken in each man the love of the true and the good. . . .Thus, the Church shows forth the kingship of Christ over all creation and in particular over human societies.” (#2105) A Catholic theory of politics is simply stated: We do not wish to control the apparatus of the State, but we must invariably and insistently speak truth to power.

There’s a reason that the First Commandment comes first. Abjure God, and we abjure sound teaching. (Psalms 111:10) The Church has the overarching duty of anamnesis – of constantly reminding us of supernatural reality. 

Deference to that reality is the hallmark of the good political order.

In Veritatis Splendor, St. John Paul II wrote that “only a morality which acknowledges certain norms as valid always and for everyone, with no exception, can guarantee the ethical foundation of social existence.” The defense of that absolute truth must begin with real education – with learned, orthodox, and engaging professors at genuinely Catholic institutions. We know that good education is not itself sufficient to ensure a life of virtue; but without it, virtue is lost and with it the prospect of a good political order. We get the institutions, the representatives in Congress, and the political prospects we deserve.

Pope Leo XIII

Our politics is often deranged because so is our education. Therein lies the root of the crisis: we cannot have good politics until we have wise and virtuous citizens, and the Church must be instrumental in producing them. After four years of learning at a Catholic college, the graduate ought to be able to call what is good, good; and what is evil, evil. Fail in that regard and very little else truly matters.

One of the great questions of political science is: Who will guard the guardians? With equal urgency we must ask, Who will catechize the catechists? Our education and formation are too often rooted in the poisoned soil of the profane culture around us. We have heard lies so often that we have difficulty in hearing the still, small voice of Truth.

In 1959, St. John XXIII saw the emerging problem: “All the evils which poison men and nations and trouble so many hearts have a single cause and a single source: ignorance of the truth – and at times even more than ignorance, a contempt for truth and a reckless rejection of it. Thus arise all manner of errors, which enter the recesses of men’s hearts and the bloodstream of human society as would a plague. These errors turn everything upside down: they menace individuals and society itself.”

This “contempt for truth” has only worsened in the past half-century, and it has wormed its way into the minds of too many who are charged with speaking with and for the Church and of teaching wisely and well. With the ignorant teaching the ignorant, how are we to do what Pope Leo XIII called us to in his efforts to develop modern Catholic social teaching: The Church, he said, must “make strong endeavor that the power of the Gospel may pervade the law and institutions of the nations.”

When we reform our “Catholic” institutions, we may, please God, then be able to hold our self-proclaimed Catholic politicians to account. (cf. Wisdom 6:8) With restored Catholic education, we may begin to build a culture which can spawn a good and even noble political order. Such a political order, at the behest of its citizens, calls good, good; it calls evil, evil.

Marx, indeed, was wrong, for politics emerges, not from high finance, but, rather, from the womb of what we cherish – or of what we reject; of what we hold sacred – or of what we substitute for the sacred. We will not have moral politics until we have a culture in which the good, the true, and the beautiful are known, defended, instilled.

“Catholic education” will be a chimera until our students hear the truth that will set them free. When we truly educate, we form consciences. We will then be developing citizens who can render to God what is God’s and to Caesar what is Caesar’s.

We will then know what freedom truly is (cf. Evangelium Vitae #96) – and we may, with restored purpose, pray that it will long reign in the land that we love.

© 2017 The Catholic Thing. All rights reserved. For reprint rights, write to: info@frinstitute.org The Catholic Thing is a forum for intelligent Catholic commentary. Opinions expressed by writers are solely their own.

https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2017/01/15/righteousness-exalts-a-nation/

The Misguided Compassion of Social Justice Catholics - Crisis Magazine

The Misguided Compassion of Social Justice Catholics - Crisis 

The Misguided Compassion of Social Justice Catholics

Dana R. Casey

There are many reasons for the downfall of our urban public schools, but beyond the undeniable corruption of those sucking the system dry for financial gain, the greatest destruction to our schools, and more importantly to the individual children in those schools, is the misguided and dishonest compassion of Social Justice.

Before going further, a distinction must be made between those who honestly believe in the Social Justice movement and those who use the movement for their own agenda, usually an agenda that leads to more power and profit in their hands and less in the hands of those they pretend to champion.

There is no point in addressing the latter group; they know who they are and they know full well what they are doing. No amount of argument will convince them to change their actions short of spiritual conversion. Neither is this essay aimed at those with scowling faces, voices raised in “righteous indignation,” and fists pumped ready to foment “civil unrest” based on false narratives manipulated by a dishonest media as exemplified in Beyoncé’s 50th Super Bowl half-time show.

No, this essay is aimed at those who believe themselves authentic Catholic Social Justice warriors: the priest lecturing the congregation in his homily, the teacher inculcating in her marginalized students Social Justice values, the voter who believes that one more entitlement program, one more educational paradigm shift, or one last moment of empathy while ignoring the destructive behavior of others, will justly end poverty and crime ushering in a new Eden. Nor can we should not forget those who just wish to assuage their own “guilt” no matter the unintended consequences for those less able to recover from the Social Justice warriors’ so-called benevolent compassion.

As the daughter of an urban public school teacher and as a veteran urban public school teacher myself, I have seen first-hand the destruction caused by the Social Justice ideology in our schools over the past six decades. The following anecdote illustrates but one of many moments in which teachers or administrators, either on their own or forced by the system, do more harm than good to students.

In 2007, I had an exciting opportunity to work for a start-up Catholic high school whose mission was to help college-bound urban students. I had already spent a decade working at my district’s top college prep school, which achieved a 94 percent acceptance rate to 4-year colleges. I had first-rate experience teaching students who often lacked basic skills as freshman, but wanting to learn.

I looked forward to doing the same at a Catholic school where I would also be allowed to relate literature to God and a school where discipline and academics would be held to a higher standard. As good as my previous public school was, it never unlocked the students’ full potential because they were not held accountable to the academic or behavior standards that would allow them to fully blossom. However, just as the first quarter of the first year ended, it was clear that my new Catholic school would perpetuate the same destructive program mislabeled “Social Justice.”

Making Excuses for Bad BehaviorHere is the scenario. The first novel I assigned was Ernest Gaines’s A Lesson before Dying. Each student was given one character to follow. When it was time to write their first high school character analysis essay, I provided graphic organizers and models. Most of these students had never written an essay and they would need lots of assistance.

Only after each step of the writing process was taught, each student had received individual help with their assignment, and most students had completed graphic organizers, I brought 30 brand new laptops into the room for a week. Since this was a college prep high school, all essays had to be typed.

Additionally, the brand new computer lab was open before school, during lunch, and after school. Tutors were available after school if students needed more time or more help. Furthermore, the computer technology teacher allowed students to work on the essay during computer class time that week to help them with formatting and other computer issues. I had written the introductory and concluding paragraphs for them, so the students had almost 10 class hours and plenty of support to type three body paragraphs.

However, Tom and Tony, two cousins who entered ninth grade together, did none of the reading, none of the noting, and none of the planning. While others wrote on their laptops, I frequently found the cousins shopping for tennis shoes or playing solitaire, anything but typing an essay. Throughout the quarter, I repeatedly informed administrators, tutors, and parents these two, along with a few others, were far behind, but there was no change.

The academic dean came to me when the essay was more than three weeks past due, after the last late submission date, and with the quarter about to close. She wanted me to let the cousins submit hand-written essays. I said “No! Absolutely not! I made my expectations clear and I gave them plenty of time and support.” Her reply was, “But this is a matter of Social Justice! They don’t have a computer or the internet at home!”

I reminded her that I had provided the cousins multiple opportunities and that they had access to plenty of generous resources, resources that they had squandered, but she would not be swayed. In her mind, I lacked compassion because I would not allow them to turn in an essay more than three weeks past due and hand-written to boot. I still refused to give in knowing it would set a terrible example for other students.

Students Deliver When More is Expected
The students I teach are like people everywhere. If the door is opened to more excuses and work is easy to avoid, most people will take the easiest path. This is especially true when we no longer instill character, morals, or honor in our children. Push students to achieve and they generally rise to the challenge … shockingly, even urban black students … because it is human nature!

Urban students recognize those determined to fight for Social Justice from a mile away, and they know how to manipulate them. Urban students, like most students, grow to respect a teacher who holds them to higher standards, although at first they will struggle and fight and accuse that teacher of being a racist if she is white or evil if she is black. Eventually most realize that the Social Justice teacher is not really concerned about their education, while the latter is.

These two cousins learned that excuses worked at this school and especially with this dean. They did not grow at all. They spent the rest of the year doing nothing or disrupting class. They failed out of the school that first year. No one knows where they ended up, but it was not in a school that provided as many opportunities as ours.

Other students witnessed such moments and learned that they could run to the dean and others who claimed to have compassion for their lives full of “Social Injustice.” The school enabled them to fail. Many did succeed, but fewer succeeded than might have if standards had been respected. It is not compassionate to tell struggling students that they will not be held accountable on one hand while promising them a pathway to college on the other. Neither is it compassionate to spend time making excuses for failing students while utterly ignoring the needs of students with the potential to excel, as this school often did.

A major fault of the Social Justice movement, especially for Catholics, is that it does not seek justice for individuals, but collectives. The cousins, seen as individuals, might have been held accountable. Then they might have been given the tools to succeed in school. As teachers and parents, we know that children must often be pushed to do what they do not want to do in order to grow and that they must be held accountable. Had that happened in this case, the boys might have grown, or not, but the school should have tried.

However, they were seen as victims of Social Injustice, not as Tom and Tony, two individual young men with hopes and dreams and possibilities. That is how it is possible for Social Justice warriors to neglect individuals while at the same time claiming they are uplifting people. Social Justice cares not about lifting individuals, but about lifting groups of “helpless victims.” The expedient sacrifice of a few individuals along the way is acceptable as long as the agenda is preserved.

False Compassion is EverywhereThis false compassion is not limited to urban systems. It is affecting the suburban world too: the trophy-for-everyone, the best team kicked out of competition to give other teams a chance, the end of honors classes, remedial classes, and vocational classes. The top students in suburbia learn that hard work does not pay. Struggling students do not receive the help they desperately need lest they feel left out of “regular” classes. This is not compassion, but self-serving indifference disguised as compassion.

Catholics are not called to be Social Justice warriors. Jesus says, “Get up and walk,” not “You’re a cripple, so we will give you a ‘best bed sitter’ award to increase your self-esteem,” or, “You’re black. I can’t expect you to behave any better.” This is not to say that we should not feel compassion for the crippled man or the poor single mother or the struggling urban student; but we should expect and help the cripple to be independent, to walk if possible, even if it hurts. We should expect and help the poor mother or the struggling student to push themselves to their highest level of achievement, even if they fail sometimes. And we should be willing to tell them when they are failing, not lie to them to make ourselves feel better.

A better example than “Social Justice” for the truly compassionate Catholic is found in a beautiful short film The Butterfly Circus directed by Joshua Weigel. Set in the dark times of the Depression, this “short” is about Will, a man born with no arms and no legs, found in a sideshow by Mr. Mendez. In the sideshow, Will is taunted by the audience and the sideshow barker who introduces Will as, “…a perversion of nature, a man, if you can even call him that, a man who God himself has turned His back on!” Mr. Mendez tells Will he is “magnificent,” but Will, believing Mendez to be mocking him, spits in his face.

Will later finds out that Mr. Mendez is the ringleader of the famous and respected Butterfly Circus. He finds a way to stow away in the circus’s truck. The somewhat odd troupe of performers welcomes Will, but he is left struggling to find a satisfactory role in a circus that has no sideshow. Mr. Mendez encourages him saying, “The greater the struggle, the more glorious the triumph!”

One day the troupe finds a refreshing river pool and stops for a swim, but Will gets stranded on the rocks on the other side. He calls for help. No one seems to hear. Mr. Mendez walks right past him, saying, “I think you’ll manage” when Will demands his help. In his struggle to get to the others, Will falls into the water, a potentially deadly baptism. Instead of dying, he discovers he can swim. With this discovery, he finds his role in the circus. He becomes a high diver into the classic small pool of water.

Unlike the Social Justice crowd, no one makes excuses for Will, no one rewards him just for being crippled. Rather, they celebrate his triumph, a triumph he would never have experienced if the troupe made excuses for him instead of challenging him. Mr. Mendez, the Christ-like figure, sees Will as “magnificent” just as he is, but also sees the potential for his butterfly-like metamorphosis into something more triumphant, much as our Lord sees us.

The Social Justice movement has been working steadily and stealthily causing destruction in our society for decades, crippling further those already crippled physically or psychologically and those already struggling to find their own triumphs. As Catholics, if we keep our brothers and sisters helpless cripples or turn them into faceless Social Justice projects, we are perpetuating something evil. As Catholics, our job is not to force Social Justice policies into our schools, our churches, or our laws, but to seek justice in our own hearts and beauty in our fellow man, and when possible, to help our fellow man achieve magnificence and triumph on his own, one person at a time.

Kellyanne Conway

Monday, January 2, 2017

Kellyanne Conway: Feminism's Nightmare^Featured

Written by  The Remnant Newspaper

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As President-elect Donald Trump's campaign manager, Mrs. Kellyanne Conway helped pull off one of the most stunning political victories in U.S. history. So, why do the feminists hate her? Why isn't she being praised as a feminist icon by CNN or the gals from The View? Could it be because Kellyanne Conway is outspokenly pro-life?

And here's another hopeful sign:  President Donald Trump's top advisor will be an Irish-American, happily married Catholic mother of four who makes breakfast every morning for her kids and then goes to Mass. She's a daily communicant! 

And there's more: Kellyanne Conway reportedly took Donald Trump to meet Father George Rutler, the Anglican convert priest and pastor of the Church of St. Michael in Mahattan, who blessed the future president just days before his election.

Who knows how this is all going to play out but, for the moment, it's nice to know that a faithful Catholic is to become chief advisor to the next President of the United States. May God help her remain true to the promises of her baptism as she takes on this crucial position. 

http://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/remnant-television/item/2967-kellyanne-conway-feminisms-nightmare
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