Archbishop Chaput on Church vs. State

"I don't think the government should listen to the church - the government should listen to the people and the people should listen to the church."

(HT: New Advent)

"Genocidal Islamism"

That's the phrase being used to describe accurately and honestly the Palestinian, Hamas, Hezbollah, Syrian, and Iranian coalition against Israel, a coalition aimed at wiping Israel off the map of the Middle East, as explicitly asserted by the Hitlerite leader of Iran. My source is Charles Krauthammer's article "Israel's Existence at Stake" at this RealClearPolitics.com link , courtesy of a reader from Rhode Island. The article will make the stakes of the current war clear. Lasting peace will come only from disarmament of both Hamas and Hezbollah and from regime change in both Syria and Iran. So lasting peace is very much a long term proposition. In the meantime, the U.S. must stand fast in full support of Israel. May Israel, the country of our elder brothers in the faith (in the words of John Paul the Great), be victorious in defending herself from her rabid enemies. May the enemies of Israel be put to shame and to flight. May the enemies of Israel be scattered. May the right hand of the Lord rescue his first chosen people who are still bound to the Lord's promises, as St. Paul wrote in Romans 11:29: "For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" (ESV). Many Catholics are unaware of this surprising verse from Paul that still binds the first Israel to God (the new and second Israel is the Church). But there it is. So to pray for old Israel's safety and continued existence is very Catholic, very New Testament, and very Pauline: another teaching moment.

Update: See this link for comments by Cardinal Schönborn, editor of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, affirming God's gift of land to Israel. The Cardinal cites John Paul the Great as agreeing that the biblical promise of land to Israel is still valid. See also Catechism, section 839.

New York Catholic Conference issues Voter Guide

Catholics will get a dose of election-year issues this fall as New York's priests weigh in on the statewide contests.
For the first time since the late 1980s, the Catholic Conference of New York State is putting together a voters guide to lay out where candidates for all statewide offices and the Legislature stand on 10 or 12 issues important to the church. The information will be distributed to parishes across the state, and priests will be encouraged to spread the word.

So some Sunday morning, expect to be reminded that Eliot Spitzer, the Democratic front-runner for governor, supports gay marriage and legalized abortion, while John Faso, his Republican and Catholic opponent, opposes both. . . . READ MORE

Politics from the pulpit New York Daily News Originally published on July 11, 2006.

Iran Starts Middle East War

That's the bottom line as Iranian funded terrorists groups have provoked Israel by kidnapping Israeli soldiers in blatant acts of war. The Iranian regime is the Islamic version of Hitler's Nazi regime, irrationally but resolutely determined to obliterate Israel and control the entire Middle East. Even the virulence of the anti-Semitism is the same. Appeasement won't work. I predict that diplomacy alone won't work either. After September 11th, President Bush identified the Axis of Evil consisting of Saddam Hussein's Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. Saddam is gone from power, and a democratic Iraq on the doorstep of Iran is emerging. President Bush called it as it is: an Axis of Evil now dramatically confirmed by the North Korean launching of several rockets in the past few weeks, also dramatically confirmed by the Iranian initiation of a war with Israel. The entire template of the congressional Democrats' way of dealing with foreign challenges is the pollyannish assumption that the other side is rational. Neither Iran nor North Korea is rational (just as Saddam Hussein proved his own irrationality with his bizarre, taunting shell game over weapons of mass destruction with the U.N.). Thank God that we have a Republican administration that doesn't live in the fantasy world of congressional Democrats. Pray and brace yourselves for what is ahead. Here is a link from RealClearPolitics.com that gives you the detailed analysis. I agree with the article from RealClearPolitics.com that the Iranian start of the war is based on the calculation that the U.S. does not have the will to respond forcefully. The big foundation for that premise is the rhetoric of the defeatist congressional Democrats and their media sympathizers, rhetoric that is music and inducement to the ears of America's enemies. The Iranians started the war: the rhetoric of the congressional Democrats and the mainstream media encouraged it. Now, the liberals have to wake up and see that the world is not as they imagined it for the sake of their narrow, partisan political ambitions.

Louisiana extending divorce wait for couples with kids under age 18

Catholic pols doing good work in Louisana:

Louisiana married couples with children under 18 soon will have to wait a year before they can get a divorce -- rather than six months -- after [Catholic] Gov. Kathleen Blanco signed legislation doubling the wait time for couples with minor children.

The bill by [Catholic] Rep. Ernie Alexander, R-Lafayette, extends the current six month waiting period unless there are allegations of adultery, physical abuse or sexual abuse. Childless couples and couples with children 18 and older can get divorced after a 180-day waiting period.