Friday, October 7, 2016

Archbishop Sample's First Pastoral Letter to the People of the Archdiocese of Portland



       
 
  
I am pleased to announce the release of my first Pastoral Letter to the people of the Church in the Archdiocese of Portland.

"A True and Living Icon" are my reflections on the reading of Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, in light of Church teaching.

I pray that you are uplifted, educated and inspired by this document.
http://archdpdx.org/documents/2016/10/PASTORAL%20LETTER%20A%20True%20and%20Living%20Icon%20FINAL-1.pdf

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Happy St, Francis' Feast Day: "Was St. Francis a 'tree-hugger'?"

Brother William Short, a professor of spirituality at the Franciscan School of Theology in Oceanside, says the saint's thinking was more profound and complex
St. Francis Statue at the St. Francis Vineyards and Winery, Sonoma Valley. (photo: Julie Eggers)
St. Francis is often cited as an example of poverty – he and his friars worked and begged for just enough food and resources to survive. The saint is also known for his love of creation, and statutes of the friar adorn many gardens. He is the patron of animals, ecology, and the environment and wrote the Canticle of the Sun where he praises God and His creation.

But the saint loved God first and creation in its proper order, stressed Fr. Augustine Thompson, O.P., a biographer of St. Francis.

“He loved nature and animals, and they caused him not only to pray and praise God but to become ecstatic. Nature was a reason for him to praise God, and he loved nature. But there was no confusion between nature and God for Francis,” he said.

Fr. Augustine wrote the book, “Francis of Assisi: A New Biography,” published in 2012. “One of the principal conclusions of my book is that Francis had no political projects, whether for the Church or for the society,” he told CNA.

“In fact, the idea that he would put himself in a position of knowing better than other people is completely contrary to his desire to be a servant of all and be below everyone else,” he said.
Francis’ love of creation really points to “the Christo-centrism of his spirituality,” said Brother William Short, a professor of spirituality at the Franciscan School of Theology in California.

“We can trivialize it and make Francis kind of a tree-hugger,” he told CNA, but “his Canticle of the creatures is a really profound way of understanding not just the presence of God, but the presence of Christ within all of creation.”

Brother William noted that there are false assumptions that Francis was eccentric and was purely a poet and mystic who was “vague on the details” and “not very well organized.” On the contrary, he said, Francis actually showed “very clear ideas and was very good at expressing them” and had “organizational and administrative skill” in founding three orders.

Another lesser-known side of Francis is the deeply religious and pious man who put a strict emphasis on care for the sacred vessels at Mass, reverence for the Eucharist, and obedience to the Church.

“The one case where he’s harsh in his deathbed confession is he says if there are any friars who are not Catholic or do not follow the books of the Roman Church for their services, they are to be arrested, put in chains, and held to be handed over to the corrector of the order, the Cardinal of Ostia,” Fr. Augustine said.

Of Francis’ nine letters, he added, “seven of them are basically dedicated to chastising priests for using unpolished chalices, dirty altar linen, and not keeping the sacrament in a suitable place.”
Claims that Francis excoriated the clergy for their decadence were false and circulated by excommunicates decades after his death, Fr. Augustine added.

“Francis never displays in any authentic documents about him or his own writings anything except absolute submission, obedience to the hierarchy,” he said.

“The stories about him humiliating prelates and so forth about not living poorly are stories that date to over 100 years after his death and come out of circles of radical Franciscans who have been excommunicated by the Pope and are against the hierarchy.”

(Thanks Cal-Catholic Daily.)St Francis Pray for us.

Thursday, September 29, 2016

A WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING - DVD from EWTN

http://www.ewtnreligiouscatalogue.com/shop.axd/ProductDetails?edp_no=32521



A WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING - DVD



Since the 1960s, Saul Alinsky's words and famous work, "Rules for Radicals" have influenced political tactics and theories, especially on issues concerning social justice. Behind his thesis, however, lurks a deadly agenda that threatens the very core beliefs of Christianity and the Church. Discover how Alinsky successfully pulled the wool over society's eyes, as the experts in this docu-drama unravel the lies and deception he spun, and ultimately reveal him as "A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing". 1 disc / 1.5 hrs. (CC)

Price: $15.00
Item #: HDWSC

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

EWTN SPECIAL PROGRAMMING: A WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING. SATURDAY 10/01/2016 - 7:30 PM PACIFIC - National Catholic Register Article Included!!!

Special Programming
A WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING
A look back on the life, ideals, and works of 1960s community activist, Saul Alinsky, through the lens of a Catholic perspective.
Saturday
10/01/2016
7:30 PM
01:30 hr.
CC TV-14

 Unmasking Saul Alinsky, a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

A brilliant new EWTN film unmasks the man behind community organizing and what has greatly contributed to today's chaotic culture.

09/24/2016 National Catholic Register

Do you want an understanding of where so much of society’s problems originated and how things went radically wrong in everything from culture to family life to politics?

You’ll find out from A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, set to air on EWTN television on Saturday evening, Sept. 24, at 6 pm Eastern time (check schedule for other time zones). (In Western Oregon Oct 1st. 7:30PM.)

The film is no less than riveting. By the brilliant team of Richard and Stephen Payne, the father-son filmmakers who head Arcadia Films, it explores the life and beliefs of one Saul Alinsky, often called the father of community organizing.

Sure, he said he wanted to help the poor, but we see how his tactics were no less than wrong and anti-Christian. He deceived many and used and abused elements in the Catholic Church in the process.

Richard Payne explained that St. Matthew gave the filmmakers the classic three-act structure in 7:15-20.

Act One: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves.” In this act we get the story of the rise of Alinsky, where he got h
is ideas, and how as a socialist/Marxist he began applying them to manipulate people and society.

Act Two: “By their fruits you will know them.” Was there good fruit in his work, or did it lead to a basket of rotten goods?

Act Three: “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit.” Here comes the assessment of the fruits which look ready for the trash heap. People at this point should be asking themselves, How did we get to this precipice and is there hope to back away 
 
The film immediately grabs our attention with the tale of a wolf dressing as a sheep to mingle unnoticed with the sheep in the pasture. That sets the stage for the early years of Alinsky.
Period photos, headlines, and film bring to life the narration of Alinsky’s beginnings and growth in a fascinating way to get to understand the man. The Paynes blend these techniques in a way that keeps us moving closer to the edge of our seats as details pile up about his rise to unholy power.

Born in 1909 into an Orthodox Jewish family where the father was a successful middle class tailor, Alinsky became an agnostic and wanted to help the poor rise out of their condition. But how?
In college he took a social pathology course that, among other things, devalued marriage and family and ideas were constructed in Marxist terms.

“Treat persons not as persons but symbols,” says Alinsky in one of the vignettes throughout the film, punctuating Alinsky’s ideas in his own words. Actor Jim Morlino of Navis Pictures portrays Alinsky as that disguised wolf yet shows his sinister and dark edge, like a commentator in a 50s film noir.
“Life is a corrupting process…he who fears corruption fears life…” he says another time.

“Truth is relative and is changing,” he asserts. Get the picture? There’s a healthy dose of relativism already here in early to mid-20th century. Make truth what you want it to be at the moment.
In his sheep’s clothing he says again, “The end justifies almost any means.” And “You do what you can and clothe it in moral garments.”

That he did, we learn. It all sounded so good, helping the poor improve their lot. Who could be against that? But with what we learn are Marxist, Socialist, Communist tactics? 
Of course, he must have picked up a thing or two from Chicago’s mob bosses. Studying criminality on a fellowship, he got to known the ruthless Al Capone and then Frank Nitti who took over for Capone.  By his own admission, Alinsky said of Nitti, “I called him the professor and I became his student.”

In sheep’s clothing, Alinsky linked with the trade unions to help backside workers in Chicago’s meat packing industry. A noble goal to get them out of squalor. He befriended a Catholic who introduced him to members of the Church and subsequently parish leaders who didn’t spot the wolf beneath.
The Paynes reveal some telling examples of the way Alinsky worked among the sheep who maybe didn’t realize the philosophy behind the tactics he was about to use.

One of the good examples we get is the conflict when the University of Chicago attempted to expand its campus into a poor neighborhood. Alinsky got the chance to apply his Marxist conflict theory using division and deceit to conquer, casting the university into the role of the big rich bully enemy against his poor group.

As we get other examples, one of the experts briefly interviewed in the film says the organizing talk used was the language of peace and light, but all this was putting into place something different — a great evil coming in like a fog where people no longer see things distinctly. His idea to help the poor was good, but the means were evil.

These short, insightful commentaries come at critical moments from people including Allice von Hildebrand, Father Andrew Apostoli, Father Mitch Pacwa, and actors playing Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko (we think we’re seeing the priest himself), Leo XIII, Hildegard of Bingen, and St. John Paul II, and clips of Bishop Fulton Sheen.

The Paynes bring us some shattered news in the way we learn a number of Catholics thought Alinsky’s way was the way to go to help empower the poor. One was Msgr. John (Jack) Egan who became a close associate and prompted Alinsky to write what would be his last book, Rules for Radicals (which is linked to Marx).

We learn that Cardinal John Cody of Chicago shut down the priest’s office when he realized what was going on with the organizing. But Msgr. Egan was invited to the Notre Dame University where he stayed for several years, working with five priests — four were Alinsky supporters — to form the Campaign for Human Development, convinced Alinsky’s approach was the best.

Msgr. Egan was appointed co-chair of the first Call to Action conference where radicals took over. One recommendation was training Alinsky organizers. At a news conference Cardinal John Krol said that “rebels have taken over our conference.”

It should be no surprise that Msgr. Egan up to a month before he died called for ordinations of women and married priests.

In this fascinating film, the Paynes are cinematic investigative reporters showing us how after Alinsky died, the organization used its Marxist, socialist progress causes to influence every facet of American political power and culture. Alinsky organizing has vastly impacted our society’s culture, marriage, family life, morality and even spiritualty. Over 800 Alinsky organizations are spread throughout American communities today.

As one of his ardent followers stated, it’s guised under the name of liberalism instead of socialism. Alinsky was a major wolf, and there were others. The Paynes make the connection by detailing for us, with names and places and ideas all visualized, the three “hellfire movements of Marxism” that helped Alinsky and then affected Americans.

We’re shocked to learn about Frankfurt Socialism called Institute for Social Research in the USA, to change and bring down America by criticizing it, developing political correctness, the sexual revolution, and gender conflict and confusion; Gramsci Socialism targeting specifically the Catholic Church and transform America’s Judeo-Christian culture from the inside through law, media, entertainment, and family life, and limit religion only to private worship; Fabian Socialism to slowly break down the morals of the family in a stealthy, nearly imperceptible way.
Sound familiar when you look around?

The film helps us understand how these goals have affected our society, politics (some top politicians were Alinsky followers), media, entertainment, families, morality, culture and even, sadly, some inside our Church. We have to be aware of that. St. John Paul II called this culture of death.

We’re reminded the names of the devil are his tactics — liar, deceiver, divider, accuser, adversary, lawless one, destroyer. Alinsky dedicated his book to Lucifer. Sadly, and tragically, Alinsky said if there is a heaven or hell, he would choose to the latter where he could organize. We’re told not to hate Alinsky but pray for him.

Despite all this the Paynes don’t leave us stranded because ultimately, they said the film is not a political one but a spiritual one. The last part, beautifully intertwined with the delicacy of lace yet the strength of steel, shows us that despite what has been done to America, by seeing what we have to reclaim there is hope of restoration.

The filmmakers spell out the way with uplifting visual details that multiply the effect of the narrative line which Stephen Payne delivers in a way that brings the viewer to trust the facts as coming from a caring authority who is also a friend.

We see what are the true social principles of the Catholic Church, how to restore our country to a nation recognizing that rights come from God and our God-given heritage, and how important our Blessed Mother is in this reclamation.

The Paynes end as they began, with the story of a wolf — only this one ends differently.
Don’t miss this most timely film about the wolves in sheep’s clothing at this critical time in our country and world.

Monday, September 26, 2016

Blessed Herman the Cripple, the Salve Regina and 40 Days for Life.


Each time we pray the Hail Mary, we need to remember that Blessed Herman the Cripple,  was the author of the Salve Regina (Hail Holy Queen) we sing, or say, at the end of this prayer.

Blessed Herman the Cripple, monk 1013-1054, is living proof why we value each life. According to our new Saint, Mother Teresa, "Each one of them is Jesus in disguise" instead of the seeing any human as a burden on our "environment".

Archbishop Sample has a few churches sing the Salve at the end of mass in Latin.
                                                                     
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, 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 the hymns: Salve Regina and Alma Redemptoris Mater.

Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiæ,
vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Hevæ,
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
in hac lacrimarum valle.
Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuo.
misericordes oculos ad nos converte;
Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.

O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.

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. 
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.


This year we start 40 Days for Life two days after his feast day, September 26th and ends on November 6th, 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.  This year there is a "mission".  This is for the Lovejoy Surgicenter to be closed down.

 Portland    Salem    Eugene   Klamath Falls

Blessed Herman is an inspiration to 40 Days for Life. Pray for us!


Sunday, September 25, 2016

Priest: ‘You might not have a church to go to if you don’t vote the right way in November’





NAPLES, Florida, September 23, 2016 (LifeSiteNews)—We are at a “precarious moment in our history” when churches must speak truth to power or risk the loss of a lot more than their tax statuses, former Ave Maria Law School chaplain Father Michael Orsi said in a blistering speech at a National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children event on September 10.

Orsi, now on the pastoral team of St. Agnes Church in Naples, Fl said, “For too long, pastors and churches have been bullied into believing that they can say nothing political from the pulpit,” said Orsi. The regulation that is used to silence them “was a piece of spite work” against non-profits that had opposed President Lyndon Johnson, he said.

“Let me remind you: the Bible is a political document,” the priest said. “The prophets, including John the Baptist, and Jesus, lost their lives because they spoke the truth to power."

“The Constitution is quickly being destroyed,” warned Orsi, and “unless the right choice is made in November, we may not have a court that is fair and balanced in its interpretation of the Constitution.”
“Too many of the pastors—too many, practically all—in Germany refused to speak against national socialism,” continued Orsi. “And look [at] the result: millions of Jews, pastors, priests, homosexuals, gypsies all lost their lives because everyone was afraid. What are you afraid of, a couple of bucks? Your tax-exempt status? What’s that going to do to you? Your churches may be closed anyway, because if a certain party gets elected, this certain party said, if the churches do not agree with our interpretation of women’s reproductive rights, they’ll just have to change their doctrine.”

“If a certain party gets elected, I can assure you what kind of judges are going to be on those appeals courts,” he said. And those judges will be charged with deciding whether the government may force churches and religious institutions to pay for abortion, contraception, and abortifacient drugs, he noted.

Furthermore, “I’m not going to vote for a candidate who decides that we can redefine the meaning of marriage,” proclaimed Orsi. “Our opponents believe once they destroy the family, once they destroy the churches, they can re-create society in their own image and their own likeness. That, my friends, is not just political. That is diabolical. Get it straight, for crying out loud! The devil is in this!”
“We are in a battle for the soul of America,” he said.

“Somehow, [Christians] have come to buy the story that you cannot be political in church,” said Orsi. “Let me tell you right now, oh yes, you can, and oh, yes, you better be. Because you might not have a church to go to if you don’t vote the right way in November.”

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

ON EWTN TONIGHT: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing:The Disguised Socialism of Saul Alinsky




This 60-minute docu-drama presents a Catholic response to the life and thought of a 1960s community organizer whose “Rules for Radicals” impacts the thinking of many in politics today as well some in the church, especially in the area of social justice.
Duration: 01:30

A WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING
A look back on the life, ideals, and works of 1960s community activist, Saul Alinsky, through the lens of a Catholic perspective.

TV-14
DateTime
Wednesday, 09/21 07:00 PM
Thursday, 09/22 12:00 AM
Saturday, 09/24 03:00 PM

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

AND IT BEGINS: The Election of 2016 - The Archdpdx OCC Agent's Response to Questions.


And it begins:  I emailed Bill Allen.  He is listed as a volunteer for the Oregon Catholic Conference www.archdpdx.org (OCC). He was the only contact.  Bishop Peter Smith was listed as Secretary/Tresurer.

Here is the response.

Sent: Monday, August 29, 2016 1:27 PM
To: Allen, Bill
Subject: Election



Hello,

I was wondering if there was anything from the Archdiocese to help Oregon Catholics who to vote for President this election? 

There are certain things that Catholics need from the Archdiocese to make a decision.

The "seamless garment" thought/heresy as it makes giving money to the less fortunate as critical as abortion a child.

We really don't have much time to educate on this issue. 

The Peace and Justice Ministry is pushing this "heresy" in equating some issues that are not the issues of abortion and euthanasia in protecting our brothers and sisters against.

Please let me know if there is any movement at all.  Maybe I'm just missing something.

Thanks,

Carolyn Wendell

"Dear Carolyn,


Thank you for your e-mail.



The U.S. Bishops recently revised the document “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship”.  The document lays out the primary principles that Catholics should consider when voting.  You can find it online, along with other good resources at: http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/faithful-citizenship/ .



Please let me know if you have additional questions.



In the peace of Christ,                                                                                

 

Todd Cooper                                                                      

Department Director

Special Ministries of the Archbishop

Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon

Representative, Oregon Catholic Conference

www.archdpdx.org"

Having more questions I continued:


Todd,
Thanks for getting back to me.  Just for point of inquiry, are you telling me that there is no Oregon Catholic Conference and that you and Matt Cato are the only ones that speak for the OCC and not Bill Allen or Bishop Smith?
The Faithful Citizenship info on the USCCB website is very confusing.  Wouldn't it be better to mention on "our" website the guidelines of not voting for intrinsic evils of abortion or euthanasia?  Feeding the hungry are not equal with these, even if there was a candidate, let's say, for President. 
Pointing out those qualities of each party would be very helpful since people's souls are a stake.  Don't you agree?
PATRON SAINT OF POLITICIANS

Thanks,
Carolyn 

Here is his response.  Many people have said that Matt Cato as agent had a "seamless garment" attitude and paraphrasing an Oregon Catholic,  Matt Cato said regarding the Life issues, "Oregon Right to Life can do the life issues".  Just ask him about them he is totally "Peace and Justice". The "Life" was added, in my opinion the make pro-lifers, "feel good".  And also save money. We need transparency and justice for the pro-lifers. But I digress.

Since Todd Cooper and Matt Cato are agents of  the Bishops, he continues:

Dear Carolyn,



The Oregon Catholic Conference is made up of the bishops in Oregon, including Archbishop Sample, Bishop Cary, and Bishop Smith.  I serve as representative of the OCC.  Matt Cato is on the OCC advisory committee.  Bill Allen works as a volunteer, assisting me with the work of the OCC and with other projects.  It is the bishops who speak for the OCC.  The rest of us serve as their agents.



Regarding the information on the USCCB website, if you find it confusing, I recommend reading in its entirety the recently revised edition of Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.  The document lays out the principles by which Catholics can form their consciences and faithfully exercise their political responsibility.  This includes voting in good conscience.



A Catholic cannot vote for a candidate who supports a policy that promotes intrinsic evil – if the voter’s intent is to support that position.  At the same time, a Catholic should not use a candidate’s opposition to an intrinsic evil to justify indifference to other important moral issues related to human life and dignity.



The challenge for Catholics is to allow their Catholic faith to inform their politics.  In the case of many, it is their politics that inform their Catholic faith. 



The Church respects freedom of conscience.  The US bishops do not tell Catholics which candidates or parties to support.  They simply give guidelines that help Catholics develop a well-formed conscience so that they can make well informed decisions and participate responsibly in political life.



Hope these thoughts are helpful.


In the peace of Christ,

Todd

Todd Cooper
 Representative

Oregon Catholic Conference



 
The response will be posted soon.  Any comments from you would be welcome. 

 

 

Thursday, September 8, 2016

From VOCAL reader: Is the $91 million Obama refugee grant to the USCCB tied to bishops’ silence on Hillary?

From almost the end of the column:  “Catholics are witnessing the bureaucratic deconstruction of the pro-life movement in chanceries and the elevation of migration and immigration in its place,” Yore concluded, and instead, “Catholic children are learning about the sin of littering, the importance of tree hugging and sexual hugging in the latest Vatican sex education curriculum.

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 8, 2016 (LifeSiteNews
 After leaked documents show billionaire George Soros has been trying to purchase influence with Catholic Church leadership in the United States and Rome to advance his “progressive” agenda, details continue to surface that raise the question of just how successful Soros may have been in his quest. The massive funds coming to the USCCB from the Obama Administration over pet issues such as refugees ($91 million) have some wondering if that is a reason for the bishops' virtual silence on Presidential candidate Hilary Clinton's atrocious record on life and family.
The American Catholic hierarchy is elevating other causes to primacy in place of the life issue, a new report says, “relegating the pro-life ministries to the doctrinal ash heap and committing funds and personnel to promote environmental and migration issues.”
“Migration pays very well,” said attorney and international child rights advocate Elizabeth Yore, “pro-life pays nothing.”
Thousands of federal grants and contracts come from the Obama administration to the Catholic Church, Yore says in the report, but in particular, hundreds of millions of dollars in fiscal year 2016 alone found their way to the USCCB, Catholic Charities, CRS, and the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC), “jaw dropping grants to carry out the Obama agenda.”
“We’ve got the most virulently anti-life administration in the history of the United States,” Yore told LifeSiteNews. “And the Catholic Church is propping up the administration.”
Added by VOCAL
“I find it very troubling that the Church is cooperating with the Obama administration,” she said.
Three of the grant recipients comprise an ongoing fiscal relationship between the U.S. bishops and Obama’s administration, Yore said in the report published by The Remnant.
The figures available on the USASpending.gov website show the USCCB garnering more than $91 million for refugee resettlement programs, more than $202 million going to Catholic Charities, which also serves refugees, and the Boston-based ICMC getting more than $17 million in government funds stipulated entirely for U.S. refugee resettlement.
LifeSiteNews did not hear back from the USCCB from an inquiry for comment on Yore’s report.
“The size of these grants is enormous,” Yore told LifeSiteNews.
Catholic observer Deal Hudson, Ph.D, publisher and editor of The Christian Review, echoed Yore’s concern that the nation’s bishops had become too beholden to the Obama administration, stating, “It appears that the bishops' conference has become a virtual vendor of the federal government.”
Hudson had also detailed in his column last month at the Christian Review how the U.S. church is helping the Clinton/Kaine ticket with its silence.
Two weeks later, Hudson lamented the failure of Catholic bishops and clergy to reasonably respond to the Clinton candidacy and pro-abortion Democrat platform, writing, “Yes, there are some bishops and priests reminding Catholics to consider the abortion issue in casting their ballots, but the number is pitifully small, resulting in virtual silence from the Church.”
Yore said things have changed from the days of U.S. Catholic missionary forerunners Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton and Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini establishing charities where the Catholic faith was evangelized.
“That’s not what’s going on,” she stated. “It’s a bureaucracy that’s going on.”
The Obama administration’s agenda with the Syrian refugee crisis has become the Church’s mission, but Yore said Middle Eastern Christians make up only a tiny fraction of the refugees; otherwise, the federal contracts would be in jeopardy.
“Along comes mega-billionaire George Soros as the global architect of an international mass migration policy that fills the Catholic Church coffers and floods Europe and America with Muslim refugees,” Yore said. “Wake up, Catholics! The USCCB and its partners are quietly assisting the Obama administration in resettling into the United States tens of thousands of Muslim Syrian refugees.”

SOROS -ACORN founder too.VOCAL
There has been no opportunity for a discussion about this, she continued, and if there was nothing to hide, then Americans should know how many refugees are being settled in the United States. But there are huge numbers and no pictures.
“When in doubt, follow the money,” said Yore, a member of the Heartland Institute delegation to protest the Vatican exclusion of all scientific opinions and reliance on population control experts. “This ecclesial trail is flush with cash.”
Yore said that given the Obama mass refugee resettlement program has been so lucrative for the USCCB, and GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s plan to suspend the Muslim refugee migration program into the United States would be quite costly for the bishops, it therefore is no surprise the bishops have been silent on the pro-abortion Clinton candidacy.
Individual bishops have been critical of Donald Trump, however, and Yore said as well it’s no surprise that the Catholic bishops, under Vatican direction, are promoting the migration of Muslim refugees into the United States.
“It’s no surprise that New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan criticized Trump by writing that “Nativism is alive, well – and apparently popular!” she recounted.
“It’s no surprise that Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas condemned what he called the “déjà vu of immigrant bashing,” Yore continued, “reminding his diocesan Catholics of Trump’s words.”
And further, she said, “It’s no surprise that LA Archbishop Jose Gomez opined that Trump’s stance on immigration “is not right.”
“Catholics are witnessing the bureaucratic deconstruction of the pro-life movement in chanceries and the elevation of migration and immigration in its place,” Yore concluded, and instead, “Catholic children are learning about the sin of littering, the importance of tree hugging and sexual hugging in the latest Vatican sex education curriculum.
It’s expected that the Bishops’ Conference will keep silent about Clinton while also criticizing Trump for his position on Syrian refugee migration, she said, opting to not bite the hand that feeds it. 
“We hear much about ‘vote your conscience,’” Yore said. “This isn’t about conscience, folks. It’s about their checkbook.”

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

BREAKING: Leaked e-mails show George Soros paid $650K to influence bishops during Pope’s US visit

VOCAL:  Saul Alinsky's  "pal", George Soros is no longer hiding in the bushes like he used to.  The "Puppet Master" is the Billionaire always pulling the strings by donating lots of money and starting many groups in which to hide doing his business to control and manipulate the Catholic Church. 

This hard push of George Soros is because he wants Hillary Clinton to be elected President and his input would further confuse Catholics as to who they could vote for.  

In 2007, Stephanie Block, with Catholic Media Coalition and a writer for Spero News for decades, has been informing us about Saul Alinsky and the "Faith in Public Life" network that is trying to destroy our Church.  She visited three venues, one in Portland then Salem and finally to the Baker Diocese where she met with Bishop Vasa after another workshop. 

You can go to the VOCAL main page and look up Stephanie Block, George Soros and Saul Alinsky.

Mary Jo Tully and Monsignor Lienart and Archbishop Vlazny were/are devotees of Saul Alinsky, according to sources. Alinsky started in Chicago where they are from and the Office of Justice and Peace is a conduit for teaching this error to Oregon Catholics.    "Saul in the Family"
is an interesting post on Saul Alinsky. 

Stephanie Block would be willing to travel to Oregon for speaking engagements.  Exposing Saul Alinsky is one of her missions.


August 23, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – Leaked emails through WikiLeaks reveal that billionaire globalist George Soros - one of Hilary Clinton's top donors - paid $650,000 to influence Pope Francis’ September 2015 visit to the USA with a view to "shift[ing] national paradigms and priorities in the run-up to the 2016 presidential campaign." The funds were allocated in April 2015 and the report on their effectiveness suggests that successful achievements included, “Buy-in of individual bishops to more publicly voice support of economic and racial justice messages in order to begin to create a critical mass of bishops who are aligned with the Pope.”

The monies were granted to two US entities that have been engaged in a long-term project, according to the report, of shifting “the priorities of the US Catholic church.” Grantees were PICO, a faith-based community organizing group, and Faith in Public Life (FPL), a progressive group working in media to promote left-leaning ‘social justice’ causes. Soros has funded left-wing causes the world over and was just found to have been funding an effort to eliminate pro-life laws around the globe.

Board Minutes from the May 2015 meeting of Soros’ Open Society Foundation in New York reveal that in the planning stages of the papal visit initiative, the group planned to work through one of the Pope’s key advisors, Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, naming him specifically in the report. In order to seize on the opportunity provided by the Pope’s visit to the US, says the report, “we will support PICO’s organizing activities to engage the Pope on economic and racial justice issues, including using the influence of Cardinal Rodriguez, the Pope’s senior advisor, and sending a delegation to visit the Vatican in the spring or summer to allow him to hear directly from low-income Catholics in America.”

In 2013 Cardinal Rodriguez endorsed PICO's work in a video during a visit from PICO representatives to the cardinal's diocese. "I want to endorse all the efforts they are doing to promote communities of faith," he said, "... Please, keep helping PICO."

The post operative report on the funding to influence the papal visit comes in the 2016 report entitled, Review Of 2015 U.S. Opportunities Fund. The Soros group was pleased with the result of their campaign and saw statements by various bishops against presidental candidates who are using "fearmongering" - likely a reference to the GOP lineup, and perhaps Trump specifically - as one outcome of their efforts. “The impact of this work and the relationships it has fostered can be seen in the broad range of religious leaders hitting pointedly back at presidential candidates for their use of fearmongering,” the report said.

Additionally, the summary report says their funding was helpful to counter “anti-gay rhetoric” in the media. The “efficacy of the media campaign can be seen in the team’s ability to react to and counter the anti-gay rhetoric following the Kim Davis story (the Kentucky county clerk who was jailed for defying a federal court order to issue marriage licenses to gay couples whom the Pope visited),” the report states.

The grant specifically targeted the ‘pro-family’ agenda, redirecting it from defending marriage to being concerned with income equality. “FPL’s media, framing, and public opinion activities, including conducting a poll to demonstrate that Catholic voters are responsive to the Pope’s focus on income inequality, and earning media coverage that drives the message that being ‘pro-family’ requires addressing growing inequality,” says the May report.

Attorney Elizabeth Yore, who served on the Heartland Institute Delegation that traveled to the Vatican in April 2015 to urge Pope Francis to re-examine his reliance on UN population control proponents who promote climate change, spoke to LifeSiteNews about the Soros initiative. “Catholics serve as a huge and influential voting block in the U.S. election,” she said. Soros, she said, is “using the head of the Catholic Church to influence this key voting block,” with the “bully pulpit of the papacy” to ensure Hilary Clinton’s election.

Yore pointed out “this is not the first time that the unholy alliance of Soros and the Vatican successfully collaborated on a political project.” In 2015, she recalled, “the Soros operatives, embedded in the Vatican, directed Pope Francis’ Environmental Agenda, by delivering for Soros and the UN, an Apostolic Exhortation on Climate Change, and a prized papal endorsement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Pope’s apostolic blessing on the Paris Climate Treaty.”
In terms of the Soros goal of shifting the priorities of the Catholic Church away from moral absolutes, two US bishops stand out as champions of the move. San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy has repeatedly stressed changing the Church’s priorities and has had the backing of Pope Francis’ ‘favored son,’ Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich. McElroy created a furor at the U.S. Bishops Conference meeting last November over his attempt to change a document instructing Catholics on how to vote.

McElroy made a pointed argument that the document was out of step with Pope Francis’ priorities -- specifically, by putting too much emphasis on abortion and euthanasia, and not enough on poverty and the environment.  Cupich later praised McElroy’s intervention as a “real high moment” for the conference and supported the move to put degradation of the environment and global poverty on par with abortion and euthanasia.

Concluding their report reflecting on the success of the grant to influence the papal visit, the Soros group was very pleased with the results. Looking to the future, they are excited that the long-term goal of shifting the priorities of the Catholic Bishops in the United States “is now underway.”

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

My mother was advised to abort me, says Cardinal Burke in new book

Thank you Lord for Cardinal Burke. 


The cardinal said the devil tries to sow doubt in Catholics' minds about defending human life publicly.

Cardinal Raymond Burke has revealed that his mother was advised to abort him.

In a new book-length interview with the French journalist Guillaume d’Alançon, Cardinal Burke says that when his mother was pregnant with him, she became seriously ill and a doctor advised her to have an abortion.

According to Cardinal Burke, the doctor said: “You already have five children, it is important for you to be in good health so as to take care of them”.

“My parents refused,” says the cardinal, who is now chaplain to the Order of Malta. “My parents told him that they believed in God and that Christ would give them the necessary help. My mother gave birth to me, and everything went well.

“I was therefore quite touched by this question of defending human life, because I could very well have been killed.”

In the book, entitled Hope for the World, Cardinal Burke argues that the “ferocious attack against life today” results from “the distortion of the sexual act by contraception”, and urges Catholics to defend human life.


He adds: “The devil, of course, wants to discourage us: he tries to sow doubt in our minds about defending human life publicly. And he subtly tempts us to remain silent, to mute our conscience, to tell ourselves that we are personally against abortion but do not have to express our faith and moral convictions in public.”

Elsewhere in the book, the cardinal claims Barack Obama “wants to push the Church back behind the walls of her church buildings”. He appears to be referring to the legal battles over President Obama’s healthcare mandate, the ongoing conflict surrounding religious freedom, and the administration’s demand that public schools, including Catholic ones, adopt gender neutral bathrooms.

“The federal government is trying to reduce religious liberty, contrary to the Constitution of the United States,” Cardinal Burke says in the interview.

“President Obama wants to push the Church back behind the walls of her church buildings and to prevent her applying her law to her own hospitals and schools.

“He claims that the Church may not intervene on the question of abortion, of homosexuality, but that the state alone must manage these questions.”

Cardinal Burke has previously said Obama seems to be “a totally secularised man who aggressively promotes anti-life and anti-family policies”.

In the book, which covers the cardinal’s own life, his thoughts on the history of the Church in his lifetime, and the current situation in the Church and the world, Cardinal Burke talks about “the rejection of God and the culture of death”.

He argues that the French Revolution began a process of secularisation which has led to “the grand capitalism of those who adore mammon” and to Marxism. “All those who have turned away from Christ have seen that Satan is a bloody tyrant,” the cardinal says.

He says that Protestant and Anglican communities compromised with the world in the 1930s by accepting contraception. But he believes that in the 50s and 60s, the Catholic Church was also weakened because Catholics took the faith for granted and were swept up by “a very strong but erroneous feeling of human progress”.

The cardinal, who was made a cardinal and prefect of the Vatican’s highest court by Pope Benedict XVI, cites Benedict’s analysis of “the dictatorship of relativism”. The cardinal says the “greatest danger” today is “the loss of a sound metaphysics and, consequently, of a sense of an objective reality”.

Thursday, July 14, 2016

"Treason, or Infiltration from the Very Beginning? Lucifer’s Unceasing Attacks on the Church" by Alice von Hildebrand




“He knows that he is running out of time”

From its very beginning, the holy Bride of Christ has been the butt of devilish attacks. In fact, Lucifer is paying her a compliment: he knows that to direct his poisonous arrows at sects which, born today, will be buried tomorrow, would waste his ammunition.
The Roman Catholic Church alone is the rock upon which Christ has built his Kingdom; she is the only one who never stops waging war on the satanic kingdom whose motto is “non serviam” (“I will not serve”). This duel will end in its total defeat and will be gloriously replaced by “I am the handmaid of the Lord.”


The Church was bound to be the victim of treason, starting with one of the Twelve. The evangelists warn us that the closer we come to the end of time, the more will Satan’s rage manifest itself, for he knows that he is running out of time. Has Christ not warned us when he said: “When I come back to the earth, shall I find some faith left?” Thus history repeats itself: whereas Peter, James and John were sound asleep in Gethsemane while Christ was sweating blood, Judas was very alert, guiding those who had been ordered to arrest Jesus.

That the 20th century has the doubtful honor of being the bloodiest of all centuries, cannot be denied. Thanks to the mind-boggling development of technology, many of us have closed our eyes to the fact that the Evil One saw these very inventions as a superb tool in his hand and managed to control the new media, entertainment, and “education,” thereby winning millions and millions of souls without much effort.


Trojan Horse in the City of God. DietrichI recall that when the atomic bomb was invented in the 1940s (a gnat compared to the means of destruction now available), the first thought that came to my mind was that, being told in the Gospel that the world will be destroyed by fire, it was now quite conceivable that man might be the culprit: what a superb victory of death over life, of non-being over being. When Nazism was defeated in 1945 and “peace” was proclaimed, many fell into the illusion that men, now realizing that they could destroy the world, would unite forces to guarantee that it would never happen.

Alas, Satan, working underground, started promoting a new means of destruction which he presented as a “glorious victory of freedom” — the efficiency of which would put atomic bombs to shame, and carrying the noble titles of progress, choice, and liberation from the shackles of the past. I am referring to Roe vs. Wade — a decision legalizing abortion in the USA — a day of such darkness that it sealed the radical moral decadence of a once-great country.


Statistics showing the number of babies murdered by their mothers – and recalling the glorious title that Adam gave to Eve, the “Mother of the living” — make one sob. The legalization of abortion puts both Stalin and Hitler “to shame” — devilish as they were, they were just beginners by comparison.
But worse than that: the crimes of both dictators were condemned; whereas the crime par excellence — murder of the innocent by their own mothers — is now accepted and praised: a magnificent victory of women over their own bodies and the burden of pregnancies that could prevent them from competing with men.

This is what in some way makes this crime surpass all preceding ones: we justify the murder.

Michael Rose_s great book, Good Bye, Good Men,This satanic triumph should not be interpreted to mean that Lucifer gave up traditional forms of attack, such as the atrocious persecutions of Christians in the Middle East. But the Evil One also knows that the blood of martyrs has always fecundated the Church. In his devilish “creativity,” he realizes that “infiltration” by his cronies into the very heart of the Church is a superb road to an easy victory: the enemy should be “within.”

I will limit myself to a few remarks about the priestly scandals that have battered the Church: That many cowardly bishops, betraying their mission as shepherds, closed their eyes to this scandal cannot be sufficiently condemned. But let us also recall the cowardice of the apostles themselves: one of them was a traitor, another denied Christ three times; the others of them fled (St. John came back, but we do not know how soon).

A superficial reading of the history of the Church informs us that even though she produced a surprising number of Popes who were saints and martyrs, some of them, alas (let us think of several at the time of the Renaissance) were unworthy to sit on the throne of Peter: clearly they were careerists attracted by the dignity and the power conferred to popes. But if we compare the number of saintly Popes with the number of truly great heads of state, we shall conclude that the Church has an astoundingly good record.

bella dolls
Bella Dodd
Frontal attacks against the Church are mostly counter-productive; a more refined way of harming the Bride of Christ is to introduce into her bosom “snakes” who have neither faith nor morals, and whose mission is to spread doubt — to undermine the believers’ faith, and encourage immoral practices now fully justified according to the latest findings of social sciences.

That this infiltration has taken place and is still taking place cannot be denied, and to my surprise, is hardly mentioned at all. This is in spite of the fact that we have written testimonies such as School of Darkness by Bella Dodd, who ”converted” to Communism while studying at Hunter College, became an ardent Communist disciple of Marx and Stalin, and devoted her great talents to not only spreading Communism, but also following Stalin’s orders to penetrate Catholic seminaries and religious orders. She succeeded in bringing in some 1000 men who had neither faith nor morals (the easiest to recruit were of course homosexuals, seminaries being for them a rich hunting ground for the obvious reason that they are composed of males; the fox had been introduced into the henhouse).

Such men were superbly trained for their devilish mission. Many of them managed to gain positions of authority, and as related in Michael Rose’s great book, Goodbye, Good Men, the seminaries then turned down the applications of young men devoted to the Church, while accepting those who were “open” to views more in harmony with “modern scholarship.”


My husband and I met Bella Dodd in the sixties and we soon became friends. In the course of conversation, my husband said to Bella, “I fear, indeed I do fear, that the Church has been infiltrated.” She replied (I quote): “Dear Professor: you fear it; I know it: when I was a Communist working full time for the Party, I was in close contact with four cardinals in the Vatican, working for us. And they are still very active today.” Needless to say, we were shattered — and this explains why my husband started working on his book, Trojan Horse in the City of God.

CULTURE Hildebrand june-julyTwo key words are “up to date” and “scholarly,” superb tools used to spread both doubt and the seeds of sexual perversions. For, since original sin, lust has a devilish attraction for fallen men. How easy it is to convince “modern man” that it is high time for the Church to “liberate” herself from the choking net of prejudices prevalent in the “Dark Ages”: thanks to modern advances, we now have a broader and healthier view of problems which have burdened the Catholic conscience, and realize that many acts condemned in the past are perfectly acceptable, and even healthy, including homosexuality.

Soren Kierkegaard (calling himself the greatest Danish philosopher, while remarking that there is only one!) saw that one particularly subtle means of sapping truth is by “spreading doubt.” The serpent did not challenge the divine prohibition, he just raised a question: “Why can’t you eat of the fruit of that tree?” In other words, God has to justify Himself and His commands —therefore sapping His divine authority.


S¯ren Aabye KierkegaardBut there are questions which, by the very fact that they are raised, condemn the person raising them: why can’t a man abuse, torture and kill a child if he enjoys doing it ? Why can’t I spit in my parent’s face, if it gives me a well-deserved relaxation? One bit of fashionable nonsense one hears in universities is “all ideas should be welcome,” making no distinction between true and false, healthy and perverse, moral and immoral. Alas, the distance separating theory from practice is a very narrow one, for when one is intellectually convinced, action is bound to follow.
To summarize: satanic attacks take two forms; one is the frontal one, challenging dogmas and openly defying the moral teaching of the Church. But the other, which has possibly always existed, is the infiltration of evil forces into the Church herself, into the clergy and all religious orders. One tempting wrong response is to accept defeat and therefore to lay down our arms, which are prayer, the sacraments, and trust in the promise that the gates of Hell shall not prevail. Turning in prayer to God, to Mary, to the glorious saints and martyrs, and eliminating cheap optimism (“It is a temporary crisis that will soon be over”), we know with certainty that God will have the last word.


from Inside the Vatican.