1. Pope Says Murdered French Priest a Martyr, on Road to Sainthood, By Reuters, September 14, 2016, 2:27 A.M. E.D.T.
Pope Francis said Father Jacques Hamel, the French priest knifed to death at his altar by Islamist militants in July, was a “martyr”, and indicated on Wednesday he was already on the road to sainthood.
Francis spoke at a special Mass for pilgrims from the Rouen area of France where Islamist attackers stormed into the church in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, forced the 85-year-old Hamel to his knees and slit his throat while they chanted in Arabic.
“He accepted his martyrdom there on the altar of Christ,” the pope said in his homily in the chapel of the guest house where he lives in the Vatican.
“He gave his life for us so as not to deny Jesus,” Francis said, speaking in Italian. “He is a martyr and martyrs are beatified”.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2016/09/14/world/europe/14reuters-europe-attacks-pope-france.html
2. Hillary’s radical support for abortion, By Lila Rose, The Washington Times, September 14, 2016, Pg. B4, Opinion.
As we move toward the November elections, Hillary Clinton continues to demonstrate that a radical pro-abortion agenda is going to be a signature part of her campaign. Some of Mrs. Clinton’s highest priorities include increasing the availability of abortions — including forcing taxpayers to pay for them — and taking millions in campaign money from groups that advocate for abortion without restriction up to the moment of birth.
Mrs. Clinton showed just how prominent this issue would be for her when she invited the heads of America’s three biggest pro-abortion groups to speak at her nominating convention. Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice America and Emily’s List are also some of Hillary’s biggest contributors.
This is quite a change from the 1990s, when the Clintons themselves came up with the phrase “safe, legal and rare” when referring to abortion. But “rare” is no longer a consideration. On the campaign trail, Hillary now equates abortion with women’s progress, emphasizing that unwanted children are obstacles to women’s success. She’s also demanding even more taxpayer subsidies for Planned Parenthood, the scandal-plagued abortion chain that’s still under federal investigation for trafficking baby body parts.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/sep/13/hillary-clintons-radical-support-for-abortion/
3. Catholics for Choice ‘woefully’ misrepresent Church teaching, Catholic News Agency, September 14, 2016, 3:01 AM.
After a dissenting Catholic group recently circulated an ad campaign promoting publicly funded abortions, bishops have fired back by reaffirming the Catholic Church’s teaching against abortion and reiterating the value of every human being.
“The recent full-page advertisement in the Star Tribune, paid for by a national group calling themselves ‘Catholics for Choice,’ woefully misrepresents the noble Catholic social justice tradition,” read a Sept. 12 statement from the Minnesota Catholic Conference.
“The ad itself makes no effort to ground its claims in any authoritative source of the Catholic faith, which is rooted in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and is proclaimed by the Church,” the statement continued.
Catholics for Choice is a national, pro-abortion organization based in Washington, D.C. which advocates for Catholics who support abortion. Their recent advertisements have focused on promoting publicly funded abortions and have appeared in several papers across the United States, claiming that abortion is a “Catholic social justice value.”
4. Padre Pio shows the Church can be democratic after all, By John L. Allen Jr., Editor, The Crux, September 13, 2016.
It’s a commonplace of Catholic rhetoric to insist that “the Church is not a democracy,” and of course in many ways that’s true. Doctrines are not voted in and out by popular referendum, bishops are chosen by the pope rather than by plebiscite, and so on.
In democracies, power is understood to come from the bottom up, through the consent of the governed. In Catholicism, power comes from the top down, through the will of God.
That’s not to say, however, that popular will has no impact at all in the Catholic Church, and perhaps nothing better illustrates the point than the story of Francesco Forgione, known for most of his life as Padre Pio, and now in death as Saint Pio of Pietrelcina.
Padre Pio’s popular appeal was clear during his lifetime, and remains so today. In a recent poll, Italians were asked who they would be most likely to turn to in a time of need. By a landslide, the winner was Padre Pio.
Catholicism may not be a democracy, but Padre Pio clearly illustrates that the Church’s demos isn’t entirely powerless either.
https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2016/09/13/padre-pio-shows-church-can-democratic/
5. Archbishop rejects claim religious liberty used as excuse to discriminate, By Catholic News Service , September 13, 2016.
Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore sharply criticized comments made by Martin Castro, chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, that the phrases “religious liberty” and “religious freedom” were “code words” used to discriminate.
“Statements painting those who support religious freedom with the broad brush of bigotry are reckless and reveal a profound disregard for the religious foundations of his own work,” said Archbishop Lori of Castro in a Sept. 13 statement.
Archbishop Lori, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, said the notion that people of faith are “comparable to fringe segregationists from the civil rights era” is a “shocking suggestion.”
