Bishop Vasa Fires Up Pro-Life Rally. Music To Our Ears.

Oregon's own Bishop Vasa rallied pro-life troops at the Roe v. Wade event in Santa Rosa, California on Sunday, January 22nd.

Now in Santa Rosa, Bishop Robert Vasa Sunday called politicians who support abortion rights “unfit for public office” and suggested they face excommunication from the Catholic Church for expressing such a position.

Vasa made the remarks at a rainy afternoon rally in Courthouse Square on the 39th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision, granting women the right to legal abortion.

The event drew about 100 participants who prayed, sang songs and carried signs such as “Defend life” and “Women do regret abortion.” It also drew a handful of protesters who tried to disrupt the event with chants of their own supporting abortion rights.

Vasa, who previously served as bishop of the Baker Diocese in politically conservative eastern Oregon, was blunt in his condemnation of laws and leaders that don't stand up to protect the unborn. 

He said that because of the position of the United States on the issue of abortion, it is “not the land of the free and the home of the brave.” 

“It's a land of the imprisoned and the home of the cowards,” said Vasa, who traded his bishop's mitre for a baseball cap in deference to the weather.

Such forceful public rhetoric is a marked departure from that of previous leaders of the 165,000-member Santa Rosa Catholic diocese, which sits in a strongly liberal region with widely held feminist values. Vasa became its spiritual leader in July. 

Sunday, he called laws like Roe v. Wade “illicit and invalid” and leaders who support abortion rights “as guilty of abortion as those who choose it themselves.”

“Any government leader, particularly those who claim to be Christian, who claim to be pro-choice, is unworthy of public office,” Vasa said to cheers from the damp crowd. “Absolutely unworthy and absolutely unfit for public office.”

In an interview after his remarks, Vasa suggested such leaders who publicly hold such a position shouldn't accept communion at Mass. He also said they could be excommunicated, or banished from the church through their actions. “In some ways, they excommunicate themselves,” he said. 

If he learned a politician expressed a position so out of line with Catholic beliefs, then he would first try to have a “face-to-face” with that person and urge them to recant their remarks. If they did not, then that person would be “on thin ice.” 

But he noted that the church “tends to resist” formal excommunications, noting that Catholics who advocate abortion rights suffer from the conflict between two incompatible positions within them. 

“I, for one, if someone wants to put hot coals on their own head, I say fine,” Vasa said.

Rep. Mike Thompson, the North Coast's seven-term Democratic congressman, is Catholic and supports abortion rights.  “I support a woman's right to make decisions about her health care,” Thompson has said, adding that he separates his role as a lawmaker from his Catholicism.

Midway through one of the early speeches, an abortion-rights activist jumped up and attempted to disrupt the event. When protesters pushed JT Bymaster, a 33-year-old massage therapist, and told him to leave, he began yelling “Abortion is a right!” and noted he was in a public place and enjoyed the same free-speech rights as they. 

Lawrence Lehr, president of the group Sonoma County Pro Life, said there are signs that anti-abortion activists are “chipping away” at Roe v. Wade and helping win support for the passage of state laws that restrict access to abortions. He urged them not to lose heart.

“The goal is not to be successful. The goal is to be faithful,” he said.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20120122/ARTICLES/120129839

Hey pro-lifers - Remember that we are not alone!

Hey, brother!

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue's Roe V Wade "Gift" to Catholics

Get ready to violate your faith, pay a fine or go to jail thanks to President Obama.

This morning President Obama called New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan to break the news. 

Secretary of Health and Human Services and pro-abortion Catholic Kathleen Sebelius just announced that the proposed mandate requiring all insurance plans to pay for contraception, sterilization and some abortion drugs is official -- and Catholics cannot escape.
...and the fig-leaf exemption for religious groups will not be modified, apart from allowing some groups an additional year to comply. (see Catholic Vote )
Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan responded minutes ago, saying: “In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences.”

Beginning August 1, 2012 (less than eight months from today), the insurance premiums we pay, including the insurance premiums paid by Catholics for employees of churches and schools -- will be used to cover drugs and procedures that are in direct conflict with the teachings of our Church.
That's right. Our government will now force us to pay for insurance coverage for birth control, sterilization and even some abortion drugs.

President Obama ignored the organized efforts of Catholics across the country, including bold statements from the Bishops, university presidents (including Notre Dame's Rev. Jenkins), and even his Catholic allies like Sr. Carol Keehan.

Instead, President Obama stood with his real friends -- Planned Parenthood.
Make no mistake, this decision is a direct attack on you, our Church, and the religious liberty of all Americans.

Just yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI addressed the bishops from the United States who were completing their "Ad Limina" visit in Rome. The Holy Father specifically cited the "grave threats" to the freedom of the Church in America, and urged the Catholic community to respond, especially with "an engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity."
He's talking to you and me. The Holy Father's brief address is a must read (link below).

Finally, today marks exactly one year from Inauguration Day. In exactly 12 months, America will welcome a new president, or usher in four more years of Barack Obama and his assault on our liberties. This irony is not lost on us.

We built CatholicVote into a movement to advance the cause of life, family, and freedom. Today's decision is an assault on all three. And it MUST be defeated.

You have our pledge that we will do everything possible to educate and mobilize the Catholic vote in 2012.

For on a day such as this, we realize that elections indeed have consequences.

The Catholic vote must rise up like never before. 

Sincerely,

Brian Burch, President
CatholicVote.org

"Cheerleader" Bishop Vasa rallies for Life and so do We

Rally for Life and Memorial Walk
This Sunday
January 22, 2012
Pioneer Courthouse Square
2:30 p.m.

sign-up for Oregon Right to Life emails - ortl.org

The Oregon 2012 initiative to end public funding of abortion needs help collecting signatures at the Portland Rally for Life on Jan. 22. For information about volunteering call Jeff Jimerson @ 541.971.0407. Or, just stop by the Oregon 2012 table on Sunday and ask for petition sheets! You can also order petition sheets and learn more at http://oregon2012.org/ . (thanks Diane)

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Cheerleader Bishop Vasa (the whole article)

Since 1984, this is the first time that a bishop has participated completely in a mass, rally and march. 

Bishop to rally abortion opponents at Santa Rosa protest 

Vasa to be keynote speaker at downtown Santa Rosa protest

By GUY KOVNER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 4:01 a.m.

Santa Rosa Bishop Robert Vasa says he will serve as a "cheerleader" at an anti-abortion rally Sunday in Old Courthouse Square, urging attendees to continue to fight to defend 
the sanctity of life.

"In many ways we are engaged in a battle for the American soul," said Vasa, who became spiritual leader of the 165,000-member Santa Rosa Catholic diocese in July.

He will be the keynote speaker at a Rally for Life from 2 to 3:30 p.m., sponsored by Sonoma County Pro Life, a local chapter of the National Right to Life Committee.

The rally is held annually on the Sunday closest to Jan. 22, the date of the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 granting women the right to an abortion.

Vasa, in his first public appearance as bishop, is challenging that principle in a liberal, strongly feminist region in which two members of Congress, one a Catholic, support abortion rights.

Vasa, who previously served as bishop of the Baker Diocese in politically conservative eastern Oregon, said his blunt words may cause some people, including Catholics, to bristle.

His answer would be: "Show me a circumstance where it is permitted by God to take a life," Vasa said in an interview Friday.

Abortion opponents should not be discouraged, he said, even if they cannot elect "pro-life candidates" or get the court ruling overturned. "It's about advocating for life," Vasa said. "As long as we are raising that voice (for the rights of "the pre-born child") we are a success."

Life in the womb that is "growing and metabolizing," even if it lacks consciousness, is "fully human," he said. "There are no gradations to it."


You are not alone…

"When the time comes, as it surely will, when we face that awesome moment, the  final judgment, I've often thought, as Fulton Sheen wrote, that it is a terrible  moment of loneliness. You have no advocates, you are there alone standing before  God -- and a terror will rip your soul like nothing you can imagine. 

But I  really think that those in the pro-life movement will not be alone. I think  there'll be a chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world but are  heard beautifully and clearly in the next world -- and they will plead for  everyone who has been in this movement. They will say to God, 'Spare him,  because he loved us!'"

Congressman Henry Hyde

Apostolic Visitation Finalized...Vatican reviews results

In Oregon, the Apostolic Visitation led by Mother Mary Clare Millea gathering an overview of women religious in the United States was welcomed by many of the laity disturbed by the Archdiocese of Portland's lax oversight of some of these Orders.

This Visitation was first mentioned in 2009 here as well as the dissenting Orders of woman religious.

There is support of the woman's ordination movement among other heresies.  They are so ingrained here that having any help is welcomed for sure.

Understanding that the Church confused many people forty years ago, there was much disappointment regarding the clergy, the times were changing, so many Religious bailed.

Change to right the wrongs seems agonizingly slow, but fighting for Christ just gives us perseverance. We pray that the women who broke their vows would make it right for their own Souls. 

Three-year study of women religious completed; Vatican reviews results
 

CNS Story: VISITATION-REPORT (UPDATED) Jan-11-2012 (810 words) With photo posted Jan. 10. xxxn Three-year study of women religious completed; Vatican reviews results By Dennis Sadowski Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A three-year study of U.S. women religious called for by the Vatican has been completed with the final comprehensive report recently sent to Rome. No details of the findings in what the church calls an apostolic visitation were released by Mother Mary Clare Millea, superior general of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the apostolic visitator appointed by the Vatican to undertake the study. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, confirmed Jan. 10 that reports had been received by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life "and is now studying them." "At this time, it is premature to expect comments from the congregation," he said. The Vatican spokesman said the congregation is expected "to make known its evaluation of the results of the visit" at some future date. The apostolic visitation office in Hamden, Conn., did not respond to several requests for an interview. In a Jan. 9 press release, the visitation office said a comprehensive report was sent to Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin, the congregation's secretary. In addition, the release said, Mother Clare had submitted most of the reports on each of the nearly 400 religious congregations in the U.S. and continues to work on completing them by spring, the release said. Mother Clare said in the release that the visitation "generated widespread interest." "The attention to it has resulted in a renewed appreciation for the role of religious in the church and society and has increased dialogue and mutual awareness among the various communities in the United States," she said. "These tangible benefits of the visitation will continue to be realized." The visitation was initiated in December 2008 by Cardinal Franc Rode, then prefect of the congregation who has since retired. He cited the desire to learn why the number of members in U.S. religious communities had declined since the late 1960s and to look at the quality of life for some 67,000 women religious as prime reasons for the investigation. As the process began, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which represents about 95 percent of U.S. women religious, questioned what its officials considered a lack of full disclosure about what motivated the visitation. They also objected to the plan to keep the orders from seeing the final reports. The decision to conduct the visitation, combined with the subsequent announcement that the LCWR would undergo a doctrinal assessment by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, cast a shadow over the work of women religious. As the apostolic visitation and doctrinal assessment were carried out, both were conducted with little formal comment from the parties involved. Privately, however, some sisters and leaders of religious orders questioned why the two inquiries were being undertaken and they expressed concern that their ministries, often among people on the margins of society, were being misunderstood by church leaders. Cardinal Rode subsequently said in a statement released by the Vatican that he hoped the visitation process would encourage vocations and "assure a better future for women religious." In an interview on Vatican Radio after the statement's release, Cardinal Rode said some media presented the investigation "as if it were an act of mistrust of American female religious congregations or as if it were a global criticism of their work. It is not." Cardinal Rode also asked the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to help cover the cost of the visitation, which was estimated at $1 million. The visitation process began with meetings between Mother Clare and 127 superior generals. It was followed up with the distribution of a questionnaire to the religious orders. Topics covered were related to the life and operation of the orders: identity; governance; vocation promotion, admission and formation policies; spiritual life and common life; mission and ministry; and finances. Once the information was collected and compiled, teams of visitors fanned across the country throughout 2010 to meet with congregational leaders as well as individual members of religious orders. About 90 congregations were visited by dozens of volunteers. Archbishop Tobin, an American, became congregation secretary in October 2010. He told Catholic News Service last August that the congregation would review all of the visitation reports when received and that its responses to the participating religious communities would be marked by dialogue and would be a step toward healing. Bishop Leonard P. Blair of Toledo, Ohio, was appointed apostolic visitor for the assessment of LCWR. He completed his report in July 2010. Sister Annmarie Sanders, LCWR director of communications, told CNS in late December that the last contact the organization had with Vatican officials occurred when its leadership team made its annual visit to Rome April 27-May 4. "They (the team) were informed that the congregation had no new questions," said Sister Annmarie, a member of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. "That's the last communication we've had." - - - Contributing to this story was Cindy Wooden in Rome. END

“Poor human reason, when it trusts in itself, substitutes the strangest absurdities for the highest divine concepts”
Saint John Chrysostom