VOCAL says. Tomorrow morning I'm having my aortic valve replaced and another procedure to help my chronic atrial fibrillation. I've been quiet for a while, sitting on many things as I deal with this congenital condition found on a fluke. I ask for your prayers and forgive any typos, I have to get up early.
We need to open our hearts to the stirring of the Holy Spirit and rely on His words that He will never leave us. He will lead us through these dark valleys we all face in our bodies and souls. His Divine Will be done.
This correspondence was sent to me and I was given permission to share this with you. I have been waiting to see if our new Office of Justice and Peace/Respect Life Director Matt Cato and Father Tim Mockaitis the Respect Life Assistant Director would be any different from the over thirty years we've endured directors with an Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon mentality that has nothing to do with the Catholic Church. Please look at the links for documentation.
I want to thank Matt Cato for showing up at the Oregon Right to Life conference and going to a couple of workshops. This is the first time I've ever heard of a Justice and Peace director at an ORTL conference. Here comes the "BUT", as you will note in the correspondence, Matt has no clue about saving the unborn, contraception, cloning, fetal harvesting, buying eggs and sperm from college students, selling baby body parts, mixing human and animal DNA, death panels, assisted suicide, fetal homicide in hospitals, the depression, drug addiction etc, of most post abortive women and the pain unborn suffer during abortions, etc. As you will read: Matt Cato "would like more pro-life people to take positive stances towards life, to be for something."
(UNREAL.VOCAL)
It is a travesty that once again Catholic Collection plate money goes to pay the salary, perks, insurance, retirement, confidence in him etc. to someone who has the term Respect Life added to his title and has NO CLUE.
It saddens me that according to attendees even at these L,P and J meetings for the Archdiocese, Fr. Mockaitis has not attended any meetings, nor do I believe he has a Respect Life Committee in his parish Queen of Peace in Salem. Matt Cato's parish St. Juan Diego has the Faith Cafe, with EMO churches, http://www.stjuandiego.org/social_justice.htm and encourages "sustainability" which is code speak for population control in most links regarding this. Plus they don't have a standing pro-life committee.
Once again the 35 Oregon babies die each day without the Catholic church opening it 's mouth.
Archbishop Vlazny speaks at the ORTL rally each year, but has given no money to Oregon Right to Life or to the Father Taaffe homes while Father was alive. He was VOCAL's spiritual director and told me.
HERE"S THE CORRESPONDENCE. THANKS DAVID FOR YOUR COURAGE AND HOLY BOLDNESS. He has highlighted his letters, VOCAL makes comments as noted.
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MAY 4th, 2010
Hi Matt,
In your Newsletter you have a list of "Recommended Events Around the Archdiocese" that you think we should attend. By our attendance at these events we would indicate that we agree with the purpose of the event and goals of those sponsoring the event. I am wondering if you took the time to read the flyer for the May 1 demonstration and the web site of the organization sponsoring the event. (flyer shown below)
Blog link - http://www.maydaypdx.blogspot.com/
Does the Archdiocese agree with the statements that appear in the flyer and with the goals and objectives of the various organizations that are listed on this blog? Do you have a clue what these organizations are trying to accomplish? Do you think there is one pro life organization listed on the blog?
I can't imagine why I would attend. The reasons you list for attending do not explain what this demonstration is really all about - the promotion of socialism and Marxist ideology. Do we want to achieve worker rights in the same manner that were used in the former USSR - the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Workers in these countries came under control of dictatorships and were merely slaves to the state and the working conditions and pay were miserable.
Do you think we should be like communist Cuba? There will be a May Day demonstration in Cuba. Should we support the Cuban demonstration? What is the difference between the Cuban May Day demonstration and the Portland demonstration?
Think of the millions who died in the past as the result brutal socialist-Marxist regimes. You may say this is not about the promotion of socialism-Marxism . Just look on the blog. It reeks with organizations that promote socialism.
The Catholic Church should not participate in any way in a May Day demonstration of this nature.
Wouldn't be better if the Archdiocese came up with a stand alone program that did not link the Catholic Church with the progressive socialist-Marxist movement. That program should be true to the peace and justice teaching of the Catholic Church as well as the promotion of the civil rights of the unborn. By doing this I believe more Catholics would be motivated in participating in a meaningful way.
Sincerely,
David Lacheck
St. John Fisher Parish
From Matt Cato
Hello David,
Thank you for your comments. I'm not sure if we have met but I had worked with your daughter, my wife and I had attended SJF for years until we moved, and lots of my inlaws are parishioners. I'm really glad that Father Forbes is doing so well.
We are supporting this because one of the specific issues that the U.S. Bishop is focused on is immigration reform. One of the Archbishop's priorties is immigration reform. We do not support protests but we can support peaceful marches and vigils on worthy causes: the rights of immigrants is one such cause.
(is this a one issue focus? No Archdiocesan promotion like it regarding Pro-Life issues VOCAL)
May I ask what you mean by progressive socialist-Marxist movement? Would you mind defining it for me so I understand your point correctly? I was also uncertain about "progressive" since most people consider that the opposite is "conservative" and Jesus was not a conservative. Nor was Jesus a capitalist.
(note: this is the Jim Wallis/Soujournors take on Jesus, I don't know if they believe HE's actually God and not to be limited to the small minds of human creatures relatating the God of the Universe.VOCAL)
I wonder if you understand the implications of your comment that we don't want to be like Cuba and since Cuba has a May Day demonstration (this is not a demonstration) then we should not have a May Day march. If Cuba celebrated birthdays should we then not celebrate birthdays? Since the national sport of Cuba is baseball should we then not participate in or support baseball?
(strange comparisons...off the subject VOCAL)
This support in no way diminishes the fervor we have against abortion but we'd also like to see more pro-life people take positive stances towards life, to be for something.
(VOCAL - Deer in the headlight moment. This proves Matt Cato knows next to nothing about pro-life people and what we do. He should have listened to the whole conference. This was the topic of one of the workshops at the Oregon Right to Life conference last weekend. Matt was invited to speak at a breakfast before the ORTL conference held for all Pro-life Committee members. He would not attend IF I attended. So I did not. But to his credit stayed for a little while at the Oregon Right to Life Conference. He has not been seen at one since to my knowledge. Fr. Mockitis was absent.)
Again, thank you for expressing your concerns. And if you have the time I would like to know what you mean by socialist-Marxist.
Thank you David.
Peace,
Matt Cato
Office of Justice and Peace/Respect Life
Catholic Campaign for Human Development
Archdiocese of Portland
2838 E. Burnside St.
Portland, OR 97214
503.233.8361
mcato@archdpdx.org
justiceandpeace@archdpdx.org
www.archdpdx.org/jprespect
Hi Matt,
Thank you for taking the time to read and respond to my email. You must be very busy. I did not realize you and your family were past members of SJF. Unfortunately SJF does not have a Respect for Life Committee and no one has been appointed to represent the parish in pro life matters. I did attend the ORTL meeting and saw you but you were speaking to other people at the time. Also, I meet you when you conducted an informational meeting with the St Cecilia SOL group earlier in the year.
I am more than happy to answer your question as to what I mean by progressive socialist-marxist movement. Here are a couple examples from links on the maydaypdx blog. They represent what I mean with respect to socialist-Marxist. They tell us what they represent.
The International Socialist Organization says the following in part:
"We stand in the Marxist tradition, founded by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, and continued by V.I. Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg and Leon Trotsky.
A socialist society would not only take away the existing wealth of the ruling class, but also its economic control over the world. The means of production--the factories, offices, mines, and so on--would be owned by all of society. Under the current system, important economic decisions are left to the chaos of the free market and to the blind competition of capitalists scrambling for profits. Under socialism, the majority of people would plan democratically what to do and how do it."
The Freedom Socialist Party writes the following:
"THE FREEDOM SOCIALIST PARTY IS a revolutionary, socialist feminist organization, dedicated to the replacement of capitalist rule by a genuine workers' democracy that will guarantee full economic, social, political, and legal equality to women, people of color, gays, and all who are exploited, oppressed, and repelled by the profit system and its offshoot -- imperialism."
I am not aware of any Marxist or socialist organization or institution that opposes abortion. Are you? If so let me know. Also I don't see how these organizations are connected to immigration reform or the teachings of the Catholic Church.
As far as progressive is concerned I can only say that I do not know what a progressive stands for. Hilary Clinton says she is a progressive as do 83 members of congress who form the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Something must differentiate a progressive from a Democrat (no Republicans are members of the Caucus) otherwise there would be no reason to form the caucus. I would like to paraphrase G. K. Chesterton from his book Orthodoxy: "Proclaiming to be a progressive implies that one is moving toward an ideal goal and that it must be fixed. The only intelligible sense that progress or advance can have among men, is that they have a definite vision, and that they wish to make the whole world like that vision."
I have not seen or heard a person who claims to be a progressive identify a vision or a definite and fixed goal that the progressive is moving toward. However, all of those politicians who call themselves progressives, as far as I know, are pro abortion, pro homosexual marriage,pro embryonic stem cell research and pro euthanasia. And it seems to me they are dedicated in increasing the power of the federal government and ignoring the constitution whenever possible.
If you are aware of a politician who claims to be a progressive and is for an end to abortion and smaller government please send me the name of this person.
I consider all three, progressives, socialists and Marxists to be movements with similar objectives, as noted above, and these objectives are in direct opposition to the doctrines, dogmas and teaching of the Catholic Church and as such we should not be marching with people in these movements in a May Day demonstration. (a public meeting or march protesting against something or expressing views on a political issue. - from my dictionary.)
You made a comment about Cuba. In Cuba and other communist countries May Day parades express the view that Communism is a good thing. This is what May Day has been about since Lenin took control of Russia. Why should Catholics take part in a demonstration/celebration that promotes communism? Where is the connection to immigration reform?
Baseball and birthdays are not in anyway express political ideas and thus you are not making an apple to orange comparison.
You state: "This support in no way diminishes the fervor we have against abortion but we'd also like to see more pro-life people take positive stances towards life, to be for something. This was the topic of one of the workshops at the Oregon Right to Life".
Would you please explain what you mean by "positive stances toward life, to be for something". It sounds like a complaint of some kind to me.
I am for the following:
As noted below in my original letter I am for a Life/Peace/Justice (LPJ) campaign supported and funded by the Archdiocese that is a "stand alone" effort not connected with organizations that are not in agreement with the teaching of the Catholic Church regarding abortion and social teaching.
That effort should have a clear mission statement and contain outlined goals and objectives that are on line available to all who wish to view them. ( a five year plan make sense to me) Abortion should be given equal attention in such a program.
The program should be aggressively promoted with a requirement that all parishes participate.
Posters and flyers could be created in the local Catholic schools by students. Awards could be given to the student with comes up with the best original flyer and poster. (of course this is not new it comes right from ORTL)
Parishes that excel in increasing parishioner involvement should be given special recognition (Perhaps a visit by our Archbishop) for their accomplishments. There would have to be a sensitivity to not over selling the program so as not to give parishioners the feeling they were being forced into the program.
I am in favor of writing letters (news releases) to local media informing them of LPJ activities that have helped people. Parishioners who have a gift for writing could be asked to participate.
Different parishes in the Archdiocese should be sharing ideas, information and accomplishments as well as failures. In part this could be done in vicariate meetings that have LPJ as part of the agenda.
In my original email asked a number of questions which you did not answer. I do hope you respond to the questions.
I close with the following from Mother Teresa of Calcutta to the National Prayer Breakfast, Washington, DC, Feb. 1994
Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.
Many people are very, very concerned with the children of India, with the children of Africa where quite a few die of hunger, and so on. Many people are also concerned about all the violence in this great country of the United States. These concerns are very good. But often these same people are not concerned with the millions who are being killed by the deliberate decision of their own mothers. And this is what is the greatest destroyer of peace today - abortion which brings people to such blindness.
Sincerely,
David Lacheck
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Thank you David for your wisdom and love of Our Faith and the Dear Lord. So far there has been no further conversations that I know of. When they are available if they come...you'll know. VOCAL
3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by him.
3:18 He that believeth in him is not judged. But he that doth not believe, is already judged: because he believeth not in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
3:19 And this is the judgment: because the light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil.
3:20 For every one that doth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, that his works may not be reproved.
3:21 But he that doth truth, cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, because they are done in God.
The Book of John, the Words of Christ
