Guest Post, the "Conference" and Carl

This guest post is dedicated to Carl Rossetti who passed away this weekend.
Carl was a pro-life warrior and I was blessed to know and love him for many years.

He worked with Bishop Vasa in Baker, Oregon as his Pro-Life Director when he and his lovely wife of over sixty years, Dorothy, lived in Sisters enjoying a change of pace.  They moved back after missing the kids and grandkids too much.   Having this guest post referencing Eastern Oregon compliments "Life" nicely.

We long remember Carl at Pro-life events telling his jokes.  At Board meetings he always had some old standbys: some at his wife's expense. :) His passion was his family; his Church and the unborn. 

His funeral mass will be on Friday, Sept. 28th, 11:00 am at  St. Edwards Church, North Plains (click for map) Oregon.  The Rosary is beforehand at 10:30 am.   God Bless you Carl.  You are loved and will be missed.

GUEST POST.

We had an opportunity to attend the Diocese of Baker's Respect Life Conference at the Powell Butte facility last Saturday.

Dr. Richard Thorne (formerly ORTL president) gave a powerful, comprehensive presentation entitled "Tyranny of the Minority," which described how several small, but powerful socialist and abortion lobbies worked to impose their agendas on the (complacent, uninformed) majority.

Our new Bishop Carey gave an alarming report on the unprecedented assault on religious liberty in this country by the current administration, using Obamacare as its weapon. He cited how so cleverly-crafted was the "healthcare bill" by the unscrupulous bureaucrats, that it was impossible for a Catholic employer to provide, or avoid providing, health insurance without either violating his religious conscience or incurring such severe penalties (monetary or jail) such as to destroy the entity.

I also had an opportunity to chat with the Bishop and asked him whether it was possible to be both a true Catholic and a Democrat. After some thought, he replied in the affirmative, but quickly qualified his response with the word "ignorance." Essentially, he was saying that ONLY if a Catholic was ignorant of the Dem's (and Obama's) platform/record/positions re. abortion, marriage, etc., could they support (i.e., vote for) that party or candidate. Otherwise, of course, they would be formally cooperating with an intrinsic evil, which would be a mortal sin. (It's hard to imagine that any voter would not know that Obama, who voted three times against the IL infant-born-alive-protection act, is the most pro-abortion president in history and that the Democrat party has a pro-abortion platform.)

So, then, the challenge is to assist Catholics with their civic duty by informing them about the critical, non-negotiable, issues and eliminating the excuse of "ignorance." We are morally obligated to properly form and follow our conscience and if it happens to be in conflict with Church teaching, then we must defer/conform to the Church teaching (i.e., God's law as interpreted by His Church with the guidance of the Holy Spirit), which takes precedence over strictly human laws/preferences. A common "Catholic" voter error is to morally equate all issues (e.g., welfare, housing, medical, etc.), which derives from the old Crd. Bernardin "seamless garment theory." Such an interpretation is both illogical and immoral, for one cannot give moral preference to the issue of health, or material status, over the issue of abortion, which is intrinsically (of its nature) evil; the two issues are not equivalent and can never have the same priority or rank of importance. The issues of food, clothing and care are irrelevant if one, first, does not have the right to exist (i.e., be born).

Anyway, I attached some "guides" that you might find helpful and/or wish to share with any friends who may be ignorant of the critical moral issues (including religious liberty itself) involved with the coming election!

Dominus vobiscum

James Strelchun

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2012PFLcandidateGuide.pdf 4949K View Download

2012PFLplatform-Comparison.pdf 814K View Download

VotersGuideInsert.pdf 575K View Download