Kim Davis recounts secret meeting with Pope Francis

Davis refused a judge's order to issue marriage licenses, citing her religious beliefs

 \September 30, 2015

 

 

The following comes from a September 30 ABC News article:

Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis says a private meeting with Pope Francis has inspired her -– and given her a renewed sense of purpose.

“I was crying. I had tears coming out of my eyes,” Davis said in an exclusive interview with ABC News. “I’m just a nobody, so it was really humbling to think he would want to meet or know me.”
Davis, who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, says the private meeting occurred during the pope’s historic trip to the United States. After receiving a surprise phone call from a church official, the Kentucky county clerk says she traveled to Washington, D.C., where she and her husband Joe met the pope Sept. 24 at the Vatican Embassy.

“I put my hand out and he reached and he grabbed it, and I hugged him and he hugged me,” Davis said. “And he said, ‘thank you for your courage.’”

Hours later, Father Benedettini from the Vatican Press office said, “I do not deny that the meeting took place, but I will not comment on it further.” The Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C. would also not elaborate, echoing the Vatican’s latest statement.

Davis drew national attention -– and spent six days in jail -– after refusing a judge’s order to issue marriage licenses in Rowan County, Kentucky, to same-sex and heterosexual couples, citing her religious beliefs.

Pope Francis gave rosaries to Kim Davis and her husband.

Davis, back at work, is still not issuing any marriage licenses.

ABC News’ Terry Moran asked Francis Sunday night if he supports individuals, including government officials, who claim religious liberty as a reason to disobey the law.

Francis responded, “I can’t have in mind all the cases that can exist about conscientious objection, but, yes, I can say that conscientious objection is a right that is a part of every human right. It is a right. And if a person does not allow others to be a conscientious objector, he denies a right.”
Davis says Pope Francis left her and her husband with a rosary.

“He told me before he left, he said, ‘stay strong.’ That was a great encouragement. Just knowing that the pope is on track with what we’re doing, it kind of validates everything to have someone of that stature,” Davis said.

Oregon Tax Court Hearing for Mary Star of the Sea. Will Taxing Oregon Rectories be the norm?

In May, Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Astoria was denied tax exemption as a rectory.  On October 15th the church will go before the tax court.

Below is a link to the Oregon Tax Court calendar, the hearings are held in the Roberts Building on the corner of State Street and 12th in Salem, opposite Adam's Rib restaurant. Normally they are open to the public. The hearings start at nine o'clock.  Look up Mary Star of the Sea v. DOR (Department of Revenue).

http://courts.oregon.gov/Tax/Pages/TaxCourtCalendar.aspx












 

"Kim and Francis" aka Kim Davis and Pope Francis Regarding Their Meeting

  Inside the Vatican Magazine by Dr. Robert Moynihan

 # 38 - September 29, 2015, Tuesday — Kim and Francis

"For there is not any thing secret that shall not be made manifest, nor hidden, that shall not be known and come to light." —Luke 8:17

"Holy Father, you visited the Little Sisters of the Poor and we were told that you wanted to show your support for them and their case in the courts. And, Holy Father, do you also support those individuals, including government officials, who say they cannot in good conscience, their own personal conscience, abide by some laws or discharge their duties as government officials, for example in issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples? Do you support those kinds of claims of religious liberty?" —Terry Moran, ABC News, asking a question to Pope Francis on the papal airplane during an impromptu airplane press conference, on the evening of Sunday, September 27, just after the Pope left the United States to return to Rome

"Conscientious objection is a right that is a part of every human right. It is a right. And if a person does not allow others to be a conscientious objector, he denies a right. Conscientious objection must enter into every juridical structure because it is a right, a human right. Otherwise we would end up in a situation where we select what is a right, saying 'this right that has merit, this one does not.' It (conscientious objection) is a human right." —Pope Francis, answering Terry Moran's question on the papal flight on September 27

"Would that include government officials as well?" —Followup question by  Moran

"It is a human right and if a government official is a human person, he has that right. It is a human right." —Pope Francis, answer to the followup question

=========================

The Secret Meeting of the Papal Trip

Washington, D.C., September 29, 2015 — One meeting during Pope Francis' whirlwind trip to America has remained secret.

Until now.

It was, arguably, the most significant meeting, symbolically, of the entire trip.

It should, therefore, be brought to the attention of the public, both in the Church, and in the secular world.

That the meeting occurred may, perhaps, spark controversy. This is evidently why it was kept secret. The Vatican evidently feared the "politicization" of a "pastoral trip" which clearly wished to emphasize the encounter with Jesus Christ, with the poor, with the faithful, with the handicapped, with children, and with all Americans of whatever background. 

But there was also, evidently, a desire to meet with a person who has taken a controversial stand out of conscience.

The meeting is a fact, and facts are the material of which reality is composed, and human beings, though they cannot, as T.S. Eliot said, bear very much reality, strive nevertheless to live in reality. And reality cannot be understood without knowledge of the facts. Of what really happened.

(Here is a picture of Pope Francis on Sunday evening, September 27, on the airplane during his airplane press conference, after leaving the United States)

On Thursday, September 24, in the afternoon after his historic address to Congress, just a few minutes before flying to New York City,  Pope Francis received, spoke with, and embraced Kim Davis — the Kentucky County Clerk who was jailed in early September for refusing to sign the marriage licenses of homosexual couples who wished to have their civil marriages certified by the state of Kentucky. 

Also present was Kim's husband, Joe Davis.

Kim and her husband had come to Washington for another purpose -- Kim was to receive a "Cost of Discipleship" award on Friday, September 25, from The Family Research Council at the Omni Shoreham Hotel.

"Thank you for your courage"

Pope Francis entered the room. 

Kim greeted him, and the two embraced. 

There is no recording of this conversation, or photographs, as far as I know. But "there is not any thing secret that shall not be made manifest, nor hidden, that shall not be known and come to light." (Luke 8:17) 

Kim Davis gave me this account of the meeting shortly after it took place.

"The Pope spoke in English," she told me. "There was no interpreter. 'Thank you for your courage,' Pope Francis said to me. I said, 'Thank you, Holy Father.' I had asked a monsignor earlier what was the proper way to greet the Pope, and whether it would be appropriate for me to embrace him, and I had been told it would be okay to hug him. So I hugged him, and he hugged me back. It was an extraordinary moment. 'Stay strong,' he said to me. Then he gave me a rosary as a gift, and he gave one also to my husband, Joe. I broke into tears. I was deeply moved.

"Then he said to me, 'Please pray for me.' And I said to him, 'Please pray for me also, Holy Father.' And he assured me that he would pray for me."

Joe told Kim that he would give his rosary to her mother, who is a Catholic. And Kim then said that she would give her rosary to her father, who is also a Catholic.

Vatican sources have confirmed to me that this meeting did occur; the occurrence of this meeting is not in doubt.

Those who have seen the images of the film of the Pope answering the questions of the journalists on the airplane, on the matter of individual conscience, his determination and passion, are persuaded that he had in mind not a theoretical issue of conscience, but a specific person, someone he had met and embraced — someone whose burden, as a loving pastor, he had taken on his own shoulders.

He was thinking of this person when he answered those questions.

Why Did the Pope Meet Kim?

What was the purpose of this meeting? 

Pope Francis met with Kim, embraced her, encouraged her, and, on the papal airplane, when asked the question cited at the outset, he stated, very strongly, that "conscientious objection" is "a human right."

It is not surprising that the Holy Father met Kim Davis. The Holy Father is considered by many to be the father of all Christians, and is a man of compassion, a man ready to listen to and to comfort all who have suffered for their faith. 

It was the Holy Father's explicit request to visit a prison in Philadelphia, and he took the time to speak with each of the 100 prisoners he met on that occasion.

This is the attitude that prompted the Holy Father to receive Kim, who had been in jail.

And her response, from the very first moment of the meeting, showing great affection toward the Holy Father, showed that she responded to this desire of his to comfort her.

The meeting with the Holy Father was a moment of consolation for Kim.

It strengthened her conviction, she told me, to obey the law of God, before the  law of man. 

It is the teaching of the Catholic Church that, when the human law contradicts the natural law, it is not a valid law.

This encounter between Pope Francis and Kim Davis takes on new importance since the ACLU (the American Civil Liberties Union) has asked that Kim be held in contempt of court. 

This means that, should the judge agree with the ACLU, Kim could again in coming days be ordered to be held in prison.

In this sense, the Pope on September 24 clearly "wrapped his protective mantle" around Kim Davis, discreetly, in private, in a way completely hidden from the world, but in a way that was deeply moving for her personally, as a person of conscience

Complete Article http://insidethevatican.com/

March of Dimes Funds Research Using Body Parts From Aborted Babies, Former Employee Says

March of Dimes (MOD) claims they are neutral on the issue of abortion and are not involved with the abortion industry, including Planned Parenthood. However, a former employee is bringing their past statements into question and alleging that MOD has ties to using aborted babies’ body parts for research.

In South Carolina, Joy Barr worked as MOD’s community director for the organization’s Augusta, Georgia, and Aiken-Sumter, South Carolina, offices, and raised more than $250,000 for the organization. WND reports that Barr started asking her supervisor’s specific questions after watching the Planned Parenthood videos that were released by The Center for Medical Ethics (CMP).

She explained, “I was horrified by what I saw in the videos but not completely shocked. But when Cecile Richards (CEO of Planned Parenthood) made the comment about the importance of research using aborted fetal tissue for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, my next thought was, do we?”

The response Barr received was shocking. In July, she received an email from MOD’s director of public relations, Michelle Kling, that said, “Joy, yes, the March of Dimes has supported some research using cells and tissues obtained from induced abortion and probably will continue to support some.”

WND also contacted Kling, asked her the same questions as Barr and received the same response.
Kling said, “March of Dimes does have a small number of research grants in our very large portfolio, one or two every year, but the research grants are not given to Planned Parenthood, they are given to research universities whose investigators are using (aborted) fetal issue, and the material may or may not be obtained from a Planned Parenthood clinic.”


She added, “It could be obtained from a hospital that performs abortions, or the tissue might come from a different organization than Planned Parenthood that performs abortions. We generally have one or two grants per year that involve fetal tissue. There are some people who would prefer that we don’t have any.”

Barr was later fired because she wouldn’t stop asking questions.
 
She said, “I was just an employee trying to get answers to my questions, and at first they tried. And then it basically came to a dead stop, and they said you need to stop asking questions and go back to doing your job. You’re not getting any more information.”

Barr sought out help from the Thomas More Society, a nonprofit civil rights organization. Their special counsel, Peter Breen, said the following about March of Dimes in a statement: “The stated mission of March of Dimes is, ‘a fighting chance for every baby.’ That mission is totally inconsistent with experimenting on organs harvested from aborted babies. In the wake of revelations that Planned Parenthood is trafficking in the body parts of aborted babies, the public deserves to know whether the March of Dimes is funding this barbaric practice. Thomas More Society is providing legal counsel for Joy Barr as she works to get to the bottom of March of Dimes’ involvement in the baby parts trafficking scandal.”


Although Barr is horrified over MOD’s connection to Planned Parenthood, she is not surprised that they don’t want to talk about it.

She explained, “March of Dimes does not want to talk about this publicly. It’s like when your 8-year-old asks you if Santa Claus is real. You may not lie and say, ‘yes,’ but you only include information that leads him to believe that is the case. I’m not an 8-year-old child. I’m a 38-year-old employee. I asked a point-blank question, a yes or no question, and I got back a 42-page document.”
As LifeNews previously reported, March of Dimes released a statement saying they do not support Planned Parenthood after the CMP expose’ videos were released but did say that five of their chapters have a relationship with the abortion giant.
Here is the March of Dimes statement:

To set the record straight, the March of Dimes does not have a relationship with Planned Parenthood. Additionally, the March of Dimes does not promote or fund abortion services, nor may Foundation funds be used for directive counseling regarding abortion. Violation of this policy would be grounds for immediate cancellation of a grant or cooperative agreement. Since 2007, five local March of Dimes chapters have given local grants to Planned Parenthood exclusively for prenatal education. In these communities, these are the only such services available to improve the health of low-income women and reduce the risks of birth defects, low birthweight, and prematurity in their babies.

Blessed Herman, the Cripple - 40 Days for Life

Blessed Herman the Cripple, monk 1013 - 1054 is living proof why we value each life instead of the seeing it as a burden on our "environment". Roman Catholics are benefiting from this man, almost one thousand years later.

Each time we say the Hail Mary we need to know that Blessed Herman was the author of the Salve Regina (Hail Holy Queen).

This year we start 40 Days for Life on September 23, just before his feast day, September 26th and ends on November1st, two days from the elections. We believe each life has immeasurable value and we pray for leaders who see that value. Click on your area of Oregon for a 40 Days for Life near you. Portand Salem or just pray for its continued success in saving babies and their mothers.

 

Blessed Herman was born with a cleft palate, cerebral palsy, and spina bifida to a farm family. His parents cared for him until the age of seven, but in 1020 they gave him over to the abbey of Reichenau Island in Lake Constance in southern Germany; he spent the rest of his life there. He became a Benedictine monk at age twenty. A genius, he studied and wrote on astronomy, theology, math, history, poetry, Arabic, Greek, and Latin. He built musical instruments, and astronomical equipment. In later life he became blind, and had to give up his academic writing. The most famous religious poet of his day, he is the author of Salve Regina and Alma Redemptoris Mater. (thanks, Blessed Herman information to inspire Pro-lifers)

 

Herman The Cripple
by
William Hart Hurlbut, M.D.

I am least among the low,
I am weak and I am slow;
I can neither walk nor stand,
Nor hold a spoon in my own hand.

Like a body bound in chain,
I am on a rack of pain,
But He is God who made me so,
that His mercy I should know.

Brothers do not weep for me!
Christ, the Lord, has set me free.
All my sorrows he will bless;
Pain is not unhappiness.

From my window I look down
To the streets of yonder town,
Where the people come and go,
Reap the harvest that they sow.

Like a field of wheat and tares,
Some are lost in worldly cares;
There are hearts as black as coal,
There are cripples of the soul.

Brothers do not weep for me!
In his mercy I am free.
I can neither sow nor spin,
Yet, I am fed and clothed in Him.

I have been the donkey’s tail,
Slower than a slug or snail;
You my brothers have been kind,
Never let me lag behind.

I have been most rich in friends,
You have been my feet and hands;
All the good that I could do,
I have done because of you.

Oh my brothers, can’t you see?
You have been as Christ for me.
And in my need I know I, too,
Have become as Christ for you!

I have lived for forty years
In this wilderness of tears;
But these trials can’t compare
With the glory we will share.

I have had a voice to sing,
To rejoice in everything;
Now Love’s sweet eternal song
Breaks the darkness with the dawn.

Brother’s do not weep for me!
Christ, the Lord, has set me free.
Oh my friends, remember this:
Pain is not unhappiness.

by Blessed Herman the Cripple

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
our life, our sweetness and our hope.
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve;
to thee do we send up our sighs,
mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.

Turn then, most gracious advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us;
and after this our exile,
show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

V. Pray for us O holy Mother of God,
R. that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Thank you Lord for Blessed Herman and showing how Christ blesses each life, even when we feel alone and forgotten.