Thursday, September 25, 2008

Continued...Stop the Insanity.Pro-gay hires but Why No Pro-Life Catholic Speakers? Sr. Simone Campbell, NETWORK, Darling of Archdiocese

Dear Advocates for Life...

Many of us are working together to bring a "Summit for Life" to Oregon, where practicing Catholics can work out a stratedgy that follows the teachings of Christ. We have been silent for too long. If you'd like to be involved, just let me know. We can't have these meetings at a Catholic Church however, more insanity.

Thank you Diana R. Walters (Oregon Catholic Citizens) and Stephanie Block (Los Pequenos de Cristo) for helping with these articles.

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Find Out About .NETWORK.don't be in the dark.

Be sure to read all about NETWORK; Find information and links at bottom of this email)
Faith Alive: Catholic Social Teaching, Spirituality
and the 2008 Election by Sr. Simone Campbell
Promoted in  the bastion of  pro-homosexual St.Andrew Catholic Church (Cat Willett,Director of the Office of Justice and Peace. Sunday Bulletin, 9/21/08, the Catholic Sentinel

Theresa Willett Memorial Lecture
at All Saints Church (Claire Willett, confirmation teacher, soulforce Scandal Unopossed  )
Monday 9/22/08 at 7:30 pm
"Sister Simone Campbell, a gifted and faithful witness for justice and peace and a national and international leader for advocacy and reconciliation, will be this year's speaker. The time with Sister Simone should assist all of us in integrating our rich Catholic Social Teaching with the decisions we will soon make in the November election."

St. Michael's and All Angels Episcopal Church, Porltand
Tuesday 9/23/08
For more information, or comments contact: Catherine (Cat) Willet, Director of Archdiocesan Office of Justice and Peace, Parishioner St. Andrew Catholic Church: cwillet@archdpdx.org, or phone: (503) 233-8361

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So, Who is Sister Simone Campbell and What is NETWORK?

Please read: Obama: Orthodox Christians are hijackers, 6/25/07: Insight Scoop - Ignatius Pres

Excerpt:

"Which is not to say that good people, including Catholics, cannot hold differing views on many of these issues. What I wonder is simply this: how many people really buy into this sort of rhetoric, which is transparently self-serving, confused, and condescending?

Specifically, when Obama mocks those Christians who abhor abortion based on a traditional Judeo-Christian understanding of moral basics (that is, killing innocent people is wrong), does this really expand his appeal? I'd like to think it doesn't, but that is obviously the approach he's taking. And it seems to mesh, more or less, with the approach embraced by many "progressive" Catholics who are pro-abortion but would rather emphasize how committed they are to the poor, to women, to social justice, etc., as a June 24th U.S. News and World Report article, titled "Democrats set their sights on winning back Catholics," explains:

A Roman Catholic nun who leads a social justice advocacy group called Network, Simone Campbell rarely got a phone call from Capitol Hill before the 2006 election. Campbell, based in Washington, D.C., says she "wore her knuckles bare" fruitlessly knocking on lawmakers' doors, particularly those of Democrats who should have been natural allies on issues like raising the minimum wage and comprehensive immigration reform.

Then came last year's midterm elections. Campbell joined a new Catholic voter-turnout operation working to reverse the wilting Catholic support Democrats had seen in 2004. After her efforts helped elect Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown in Ohio and Bob Casey Jr. in Pennsylvania, her phone began ringing. Campbell's group is now regularly invited to meetings with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

In a recent conference call about immigration with other religious activists, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York announced at the last minute that she wanted to jump on. Campbell was asked to give the closing prayer at a big Democratic National Committee meeting last winter. "I stopped being a pariah," she says. "Now, I'm value added."

What are the beliefs of Sister Simone and Network? According to the Network site, "NETWORK is a progressive voice within the Catholic community that has been influencing Congress in favor of peace and justice for more than 30 years." The site also states that issues are analyzed according to "Principles of Catholic Social Teaching and the Gospel Message," as well as "A feminist/womanist/mujerista perspective that ... respects the diversity of women's experiences in moving from oppression to liberation..." In other words, Sister Simone gives lip service to Catholic teaching but is pro-abortion. Therefore it's no surprise that she has ties with another, better known "progressive" group, Call To Action.

NETWORK  one more time...

NETWORK is a Catholic social justice lobby, founded in 1971 by 47 Catholic sisters from several orders around the country to influence the federal government on various policy issues.

They believed that in addition to charitable services for the poor, the Church must also work to change unjust systems that perpetuate economic inequity. To this end, they formed a "network" of sisters to lobby for federal policies and legislation that promote their understanding of economic and social justice.

In addition, NETWORK has produced educational resources and programs related to public policy. The NETWORK Education Program (NEP) is designed to provide issues analysis, skills development for responsible citizenship, and faith reflection on political ministry. To address these issues, NETWORK activists – lay and religious – are asked to familiarize themselves with the talking points, backgrounders, and sample letters supplied by the organization for writing and phoning legislators and media.


NETWORK has a liberationist approach to its policy recommendations. According to its literature, the organization analyzes issues from "a feminist/ womanist/ mujerista perspective that," among other things, "respects the diversity of women's experiences in moving from oppression to liberation."

The group has been highly influential in the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), assisting the Conference in its formulation of its own public policy positions. It is referenced in a number of "official" USCC[B] documents and programs, such as the "Communities of Salt and Light: Parish Resource Manual" and CCHD's adult education program "Poverty and Faithjustice."

NETWORK is a Call to Action "church renewal group" supporting Catholic Church 'reform." [See Call to Action]. It has been involved at Call to Action conferences for many years and its national coordinators, past and present, are on Call to Action's "Speakers and Artists Referral Service" listing.

Issues supported by NETWORK over the years have included normalizing US relations with communist Cuba, pushing for federally funded "universal" health care, closing the US Army School of the Americas, increasing availability of public housing, child care, and transportation for low income workers, and lobbying for global governance. Its well-connected leadership has also worked for homosexual and abortion "rights," population control, and within the Church, for women's ordination.

References:

Conner, Laurene, Sustainable Development: A Global Agenda Structured on Population Control, Wanderer Forum Foundation, 1997.

Network website: NETWORK

Steichen, Donna, Ungodly Rage: The Hidden Face of Catholic Feminism, (San Francisco: Ignatius Press), 1991.

8 If I tell the wicked man that he shall surely die, and you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked man from his way, he (the wicked man) shall die for his guilt, but I will hold you responsible for his death.
9 But if you warn the wicked man, trying to turn him from his way, and he refuses to turn from his way, he shall die for his guilt, but you shall save yourself. Ezekiel 33

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