Clarity Imperative in Distinguishing Right From Wrong

My fellow Catholics in the Public Square co-editor David has reported on the U.S. delegation to the installation Mass for Pope Benedict XVI, noting that Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL) would head the five members representing his brother President George W. Bush.

Our readers may find Gov. Bush's observations, as reported by Catholic News Service, of interest:

Catholic politicians can balance guidance from the Vatican with a commitment to following secular laws, said the head of the U.S. delegation to Pope Benedict XVI's April 24 inauguration Mass.

"I take advice from the leader of my church very seriously," Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida said at a press conference the afternoon before the Mass.

"I also have a duty to uphold the laws of the state. I don't believe this necessarily has to be in conflict," he said, adding that religious leaders have a right to take a stand on political issues.

"This helps not just Catholic governors, but others as well," said Bush, who in 1996 became a Catholic, which is the faith of his wife, Columba.

Gov. Bush indicated that he was confident that the new Pope would continue his predecessor's emphasis on human dignity.

The dialogue about creating a culture of life is one that needs to be ongoing,and religious leaders, particularly the pope, can play an important role for us to realize the value of life. It's not just related to abortion. It relates to end-of-life issues as well.

It's wonderful to have moral leaders that are not ambiguous about what's right and what's wrong.

I'm sure that our readers will agree with me that it would also be wonderful to have political leaders that reflected the same clarity.

The Final Hours of Terri Schiavo

Terri Schiavo's Final Hours: An Eyewitness Account, by Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life and President of the National Pro-life Religious Council:

Brothers and sisters to describe the way she looked as peaceful is a total distortion of what I saw. Here now was a person, who for thirteen days had no food or water. She was, as you would expect, very drawn in her appearance as opposed to when I had seen her before. Her eyes were open but they were going from one side to the next, constantly oscillating back and forth, back and forth. The look on her face (I was staring at her for three and a half-hours) I can only describe as a combination of fear and sadness . . . a combination of dreaded fear and sadness.

Her mouth was open the whole time. It looked like it was frozen open. She was panting rapidly. It wasn't peaceful in any sense of the word. She was panting as if she had just run a hundred miles. But a shallow panting. Her brother Bobby was sitting opposite me. He was on one side of the bed I was on the other facing him. Terri's head in between us and her sister Suzanne was on my left. We sat there and we had a very intense time of prayer. And we were talking to Terri, urging her to entrust herself completely to the Savior. I assured her repeatedly of the love and prayers and concern of so many people.

We held her hand and stroked her head. During those hours, one of the things I did was to chant, in Latin, some of the most ancient hymns of the Church. One of the chants I used was the "Victimae Paschali Laudis," which is the ancient proclamation of the resurrection of Christ. There, as I saw before my eyes the deadly work of the Culture of Death, I proclaimed the victory of life. "Life and death were locked in a wondrous struggle," the hymn declares. "Life's Captain died, but now lives and reigns forevermore!"

And then we had just times of silence . . . just sitting there in silence trying to absorb what was happening.

READ THE WHOLE THING, and remember it the next time you hear another dismiss her with the claim "she died peacefully." She was murdered, plain and simple. God have mercy.

Archbishop Chaput

One of the lessons from last year that too many American Catholics still don't want to face is that it's OK to be Catholic in today's public square as long as we don't try to live our beliefs too seriously; as long as we're suitably embarrassed by all those "primitive" Catholic teachings; as long as we shut up about abortion and other sensitive moral issues and allow ourselves to be tutored in the ways of "polite" secular culture by experts who have little or no respect for the Christian faith that guides our lives.

Read the whole thing.

Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act

The House of Represenatives is considering the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act today. If passed and signed into law it will make it a federal crime to transport a minor girl across state lines in order to circumvent a state's abortion notification law. The bill is likely to pass tonight. More on the bill here.

A note on this legislation and a Catholic rep from Missouri from the blog Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam:

Clay will switch vote, back abortion bill

WASHINGTON - Saying Democrats should be more flexible on hot-button social issues, Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, said Tuesday he will switch his vote on a key abortion bill set for a House vote this week. The measure would make it a crime to help a minor evade a state parental notification law.

"I'm going to follow my church leadership and vote in favor of this bill," said Clay, who is Roman Catholic...Clay said he hears "all the time" from his priest on the issue...

Because of this first step, Rep. Clay should be thanked for doing the right thing. As a fellow Catholic and our brother in Christ, he should be encouraged, in charity and hope, to continue in his journey toward the truth. And, as always, we should keep praying that our Lord will continue to bless him and provide the enlightenment necessary to convert his will and touch his heart regarding life issues.

I couldn't agree more!

UPDATE: Looks like Rep Clay changed his mind and voted 'No'. The bill passed nonetheless!

UPDATE: I was viewing the wrong Roll Call! Clay did vote 'Yes'! So did 53 other Democrats.

Democrats reveal plan to reduce abortions

WASHINGTON DC, USA, April 22 (CNA) - Democrats unveiled a policy proposal yesterday, which is intended to reduce the number of abortions in the United States. The proposal, called the "95-10 Initiative", includes 15 different policy programs that, when fully funded and implemented, are expected to reduce abortions by 95 percent over 10 years.

The policy proposal strongly promotes the adoption option. It provides for permanent adoption tax credits, counseling for women with unplanned pregnancies and pregnancy resource centers, where women can receive information about adoption as well as support to carry the baby to term.

Congressman Tim Ryan (D-OH), [a Catholic], announced at yesterday’s press conference that he plans to introduce legislation, modeled on the 95-10 Initiative, in Congress soon.

"Our party has made more progress on this issue in the last three months than we have in the last 10 years,” said former congressman and 9-11 Commissioner, Tim Roemer, [another Catholic].

"The 95-10 Initiative is our number-one priority,” said Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats For Life of America, a nonprofit pro-life group that joined politicians at yesterday’s press conference. She said the proposal has been met favorably by both pro-life and pro-choice advocates and elected officials.

Among the elected officials behind the 95-10 Initiative are Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE), Congressman Tim Ryan (D-OH), Congressman Jerry Costello (D-IL), [yet another Catholic] and Congressman Collin Peterson (D-MN).


Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A national group of pro-life Democrats has joined pro-life Democratic members of Congress, adoption agencies and pregnancy centers unveil a package of legislation designed to significantly reduce abortion in the next 10 years. Democrats for Life of America joined Reps. Tim Ryan (Ohio), Bart Stupak (Michigan) and Lincoln Davis (Tennessee) at a press conference Friday to announce the "95-10 Initiative" -- a plan to reduce abortions 95 percent in the next 10 years. Kristen Day, director of DFLA, said the plan was "a legitimate policy initiative that will actually reduce the number of abortions." She said it "has been met favorably by both pro-life and pro-choice advocates and elected officials." The initiative outlines 17 different policy programs designed to empower and promote women as well as protect unborn children. Some of those include a national toll-free number for pregnancy support, studying why women have abortions, funding daycare on college campuses, increasing funding for domestic violence programs, and making adoption tax credits permanent. Day's group has several Congressional lawmakers on board with the idea, including Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson, the only pro-life Democrat in the Senate. "The plan outlined today is a good first step to successfully reduce the rate of abortion by offering alternatives that promote family, promote adoption, and provide education and support for new mothers," Nelson said. In the House, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan said he would soon be introducing the policy package. Read the complete story.

UPDATE: Check out Democrats for Life for more info on "95-10".

Congressional Delegation to attend Installation Mass

The official US delegation to Benedict's installation Mass:

Twenty-one House members left Friday to attend Pope Benedict XVI’s inaugural mass, the second House delegation this month to travel to Rome to witness the transition of leadership in the Catholic Church.

The House also dispatched 27 lawmakers to attend the April 8 funeral of Pope John Paul II. Separately, 14 senators attended the funeral as did an official delegation led by President Bush, his father and former President Clinton.

The White House said Friday that the president’s brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, would lead a five-member delegation representing the president.

HT to Amy Welborn.

[Archbishop] Burke, pope are aligned on many moral issues, by Tim Townsend. St. Louis Post-Dispatch April 21, 2005.

"We know each other and I am very grateful to him for his encouragement," said Burke in an interview Wednesday. "I have a great deal of respect for him and I can't say how happy I am that he's our new pope."

The bishop and new pope share the same views on many moral and theological issues. For instance, in June, when U.S. bishops released a statement saying lawmakers who consistently supported abortion rights or euthanasia were "cooperating in evil," and could be denied holy Communion - very much Burke's take on the topic - Ratzinger said the statement was "very much in harmony" with his view.

Benedict and Burke despise the creeping influence of secularism on the church, especially in their native continents of Europe and North America. Burke said he believes the re-evangelization of Europe, especially, was probably foremost in the cardinals' minds when they elected Ratzinger pope.

Praise God! (Via Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.

Meanwhile, Diogenes at Catholic World News wonders:

when Pope Benedict XVI issues his first encyclical letter, should we ask to see the whole text, or just rely on Cardinal McCarrick to give us a quick summary?

Dangers of "Living Will" and "Brain Death" Exposed on Florida Talk Show

From the pages of Life Matters! . . .

Appearing last night on the David Allen Show, which airs on AM 1320 in Jacksonville, FL, and across the world via the Internet, Dr. Paul Byrne described the dangers of the misnamed "living will," which he said "has nothing to do with living and everything to do with dying."

Dr. Byrne is a neonatologist and physician in practice for more than 30 years. He has authored medical text books on death and dying, and has appeared before numerous state legislatures in defense of life.

An uncompromising opponent of euthanasia, Dr. Byrne presented the medical truth behind the legal fiction of "brain death" and the transplantation of vital organs it was concocted to facilitate.

Returning to the matter of advance directives, the past president of the Catholic Medical Association endorsed CURE's Life Support Directive, as the directive affording the greatest degree of protection to its users.

Supplemental Resources

• You may listen to or download, Allen's interview with Dr. Byrne on the show's website.
• You may request a free copy of the Life Support Directive by e-mailing CURE.

Catholic to be re-considered for 11th Circuit

From Jonathan Adler over on The Corner:

The Senate Judiciary Committee will soon (re)consider the nomination of William Pryor to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. More news on the efforts to confirm Pryor here.

Peggy Noonan on Benedict XVI

Peggy Noonan is a MUST READ today.

The choosing of Benedict XVI, a man who is serious, deep and brave, is a gift. He has many enemies. They imagine themselves courageous and oppressed. What they are is agitated, aggressive, and well-connected.

They want to make sure his papacy begins with a battle. They want to make sure no one gets a chance to love him. Which is too bad because even his foes admit he is thoughtful, eager for dialogue, sensitive, honest.

They want to make sure that when he speaks and writes, the people of the world won't come running.

What to do to help? See his enemies for what they are, and see him for what he is. Read him--he is a writer, a natural communicator of and thinker upon challenging ideas. Listen to him. Consult your internal compass as you listen, and see if it isn't pointing true north.

Look at what he said at the beginning of the papal conclave: It is our special responsibility at this time to be mature, to believe as adults believe. "Being an 'adult' means having a faith which does not follow the waves of today's fashions or the latest novelties." Being an adult is loving what is true and standing with it.

This isn't radical, or archconservative. And the speaker isn't an enforcer, a cop or a rottweiler. He's a Catholic. Which one would think is a good thing to have as leader of the Catholic Church.

Read the whole thing here.

Point Blank (Round 22): Pundits React to Papal Election

From the pages of Times Against Humanity . . .

"From 'Thank God!' to 'Oh my God!' reactions to Pope Benedict XVI are rolling in from all over," Arts & Letters Daily reports today. Comparisons with the late Pope are common. Our customary half dozen excerpts from the writers listed follow. We've also cited related pieces from the same pens or keyboards, as the case may be.

Dissident Pins Hopes on Post-Conclave Turnabout

The election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope comes as an enormous disappointment for all those who hoped for a reformist and pastoral Pope. But we must wait and see, for experience shows that the role of the papacy in the Catholic Church today is so challenging that it can change anyone. Someone who enters the conclave a progressive cardinal can emerge as a conservative (such as Montini—Pope Paul VI), and someone who enters the conclave a conservative cardinal can, indeed, emerge as a progressive (Roncalli—Pope John XXIII). –Hans Kung [original emphasis]

• See also "Cardinal accused of manipulating vote," Sydney Morning Herald, April 13, 2005.
• And "The Pope's Contradictions," Der Spiegel, March 26, 2005, for Kung's bile against the Holy Father's predecessor.

May Your Expectations Be Fulfilled

This was not an act of continuity. There is simply no other figure more extreme than the new Pope on the issues that divide the Church. No one....I expected continuity. I didn't expect intensification of the fundamentalism and insularity of the current hierarchy. I expect an imminent ban on all gay seminarians, celibate or otherwise. And I expect the Church's immersion in the culture wars in the West. –Andrew Sullivan [emphasis added]

• See also "Cardinal Sins," New Republic, July 4, 1998, for Sullivan's jaundiced views on Cardinal Ratzinger's theology.
• And note Sullivan's disdain for Pope John Paul II, as recently reported by Penraker.

"Final Gift" Brings Needed Focus on Culture

The election of Cardinal Josef Ratzinger as Pope was John Paul II's last gift to the Roman Catholic Church. No cardinal was closer to John Paul II, or talked at length with him more often....The new Pope will not be a clone of the old....He is a much shyer man, quieter, more like a country pastor or a scholar than like an actor striding across all history as his stage....Yet his ideas about the changes needed by Church institutions are, on the face of it, more radical than those of John Paul II, who was much more focused on the world at large than on the structure of the Church....

Pope John Paul II thought the first issue of his time was the murderous politics that resulted from the separation of Europe into two by the Soviet Union. He saw it as chiefly a political issue, to be defeated by moral means. Pope Benedict XVI...is more likely to take culture as the central issue of the new millennium: What is the culture necessary to preserve free societies from their own internal dangers—and to make them worthy of the sacrifices that brought them into being? –Michael Novak [emphasis added]

• See also "Culture in Crisis," National Review Online, April 19, 2005.

"Bothered" by the Truth? Au Contraire!

Pope Benedict XVI, born Joseph Ratzinger, is not afraid to be unpopular. That is why he was elected Pope.…The obligation of the Christian, Ratzinger has said, "is to recover the capacity for nonconformism." Just because the world (or at least certain wealthy, educated parts of it)is going in one direction does not mean that the Church should follow. On the contrary, he and those who follow him believe that the key to Catholic survival in the face of militant Islam and an evangelical Christianity that is growing rapidly in Latin America is to offer an alternative that is unembarrassed in declaring itself as the true path to God. Some may be bothered by that. Ratzinger is not. –E.J. Dionne, Jr. [emphasis added]

• See also "Cardinal Ratzinger's Challenge," Washington Post, April 18, 2005.
• And see Amy Welborne's rebuttal thereof on Open Book.

Challenging the Spirit of the Time

In his cast of mind the new Pope is rather more sombre than his predecessor. He is more disturbed by false argument, less optimistic about the immediate prospects for mankind. He believes, as he told the conclave this week, that the "dictatorship of relativism" is tyrannising the modern world. And so his favoured images are of survival, preservation of treasure, and of the regrowth of the Church from a tiny grain of mustard seed. He admires Englishmen such as Thomas More and Cardinal Newman—"a man who listens to his conscience and for whom the truth that he has recognised...is above approval and acceptance, is really an ideal and a model for me."

The answer to the question of our time, the new Pope believes, may be to challenge the spirit of that time: "The Church can be contemporary by being anti-contemporary." –Charles Moore

True Enough

One of the main thrusts of Benedict XVI's papacy will be will be to fight the notion that all truths are relative and, P.S., nothing's really true anyway. "We are moving," Ratzinger has said, toward "a dictatorship of relativism...that recognizes nothing definite and leaves only one's own ego and one's own desires as the final measure."...Maybe the motto for the new papacy should be the truth, the *whole* truth, and nothing but the truth.Oh, and one other thing: Based on what he has written and said, our new Pope understands the importance of beauty and a sense of sacredness in the liturgy. Isn't it just about time to put the altar back where it belongs? –Charlotte Hayes

"We're going to use Terri Schiavo later on."

Who said that?

DNC Chair Howard Dean this past Friday.

Suprised?

I'm not.

Disgusting! How can Democrats remain silent about this man and his remarks here?

Yes, the GOP memo from a now fired staffer of Senator Martinez of Florida which looked at the Congressional legislation as "good" for Republicans was dispicable. But that memo did not come from the chairman of major political party.

Habemus Papam!

With those joyous words last uttered in 1978, the city of Rome and the world heard the Good News of the election of the 265th Pontiff to govern the Universal Church from the Chair of St. Peter, Joseph Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, to whom we bend our knee in filial fidelity as Our Holy Father, Benedict XVI.

"The Ratzinger Fan Club" now has a new name—the faithful in union with Rome, of which, by God's grace, we are blessed to be part.

Long live Pope Benedict XVI! Victory to Christ Our King! All honor to Mary Our Queen!

Cardinal McCarrick's Modus Operandi

First, Dialogue With CINO Enablers of Abortion, Then...

"We have to learn to dialogue with Islam. The Catholic Church cannot be full and complete unless it is able to speak to those who are not Catholic." –Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Washington, DC, in Tracy Wilkinson and Richard Boudreaux, "Electors Gather to Pick a Pope," Los Angeles Times, April 18, 2005.

(excerpted from "Point Blank (Round 21): Papal Conclave" on Times Against Humanity)

"Thanks Be to God, Our Sister Is Being Cared For"

From the pages of Life Matters! . . .

Jorge Mederos' article cited below has been published by La Raza.

"By the intervention of the State of Illinois government, feeding was resumed for Clara Martinez," the paper's editor reports. "She had been 30 days without food per her husband's decision."

Some forty people were brought together by the Hispanic Evangelical Church for a vigil of prayers and hymns. They were greeted with the news that she was once again receiving nutrition. "Thanks be to God, our sister is being cared for,” said Bolivian Pastor Guillermo Espinoza.

Sources at the state's Department of Human Services told the EFE wire service that the woman's gastric feeding tube was ordered reconnected after the visit by an inspector to the house where she is being attended. Authorities would otherwise have ordered her moved to a hospital.

According to Espinoza, the state's intervention resulted from pressure by the press and right-to-life organizations in the United States....

The case, made public by La Raza newspaper, had immediate repercussions in the community of almost a million Mexicans who live in Illinois.

Furthermore, several right-to-life organizations, especially the movement that emerged with the Terri Schiavo case, pressured authorities with threats of recourse to a restraining order for legal protection for the Mexican woman.

These organizations also offered legal assistance to the family of Clara Martínez to fight in court against her husband's decision.

Editor's Note:

CURE's offer of assistance to Clara Martinez and her family, of course, still stands. Winning a battle should not be confused with ending the war. That can prove a deadly error.

A Pastor and a Paper Partner To Save a Life!

From the pages of Life Matters! . . .

As posted by CURE advisor Tim Ruchti on Blogs for Terri:

I have just received confirmation from Jorge Mederos, editor of the Chicago newspaper La Raza, that Clara Martinez has had her feeding tube reconnected and is receiving nourishment. The Human Services Inspector General's Office of the Governor, who contacted him yesterday, intervened. We will link to Jorge's article with the details when it is available.

Your prayers, phone calls, and public attention made a tremendous difference. Our highest respect to Pastor Espinoza for courageously raising his voice in defense of Clara Martinez's God-given right to life. Our compliments to Mr. Mederos and La Raza for exposing this covert crime in the making, which is no longer hidden thanks to their professional reporting.

Editor's Note:

Tim speaks for the entire CURE family, when we express our heartfelt gratitude to Pastor Espinoza for his courage, Jorge Mederos for his integrity, and all who joined us in praying and acting for Clara. Above all, we thank the One Who answered those prayers.

Supplemental Reading:

The priority of CURE's offline activity in defense of Clara Martinez precluded the timely crosspost of a several Life Matters! reports. For our readers' convenience, they are listed here for those seeking additional background information:

• Taking Action for Clara: Fighting Against the Odds (April 16)
• The Fight for Clara: A Battlefront Update (April 16)
• Your Constituent Needs You Now, Senator! (April 17)

New US Ambassador to the Vatican Is Named

His name is Francis Rooney. He is an Oklahoma Businessman.

Pastor Exposes Spousal Starvation

From the pages of Life Matters! . . .

As posted by CURE advisor Tim Ruchti on Blogs for Terri:

Several people have emailed me the following story about Clara Martinez, a Chicago woman who is reportedly being starved to death.

Martinez suffered a debilitating stroke a year ago, and her husband signed a "Do-Not-Resuscitate" order that led to the disconnection of her feeding tube. She is able to consume liquids through her mouth and, so far, has survived for thirty days without food.

Under "normal" circumstances her situation would have gone unnoticed had it not been for the intervention of a pastor of the Hispanic Evangelical Church. Her family also opposes the husband's decision.

I spoke to the article's author, Jorge Mederos. He said the family feels "powerless" and has called the media without response. "No one is paying attention," he said. "The family is planning a protest tomorrow or over the weekend."

Here is the first portion of the article.

In a house on Chicago's southeast side, a Mexican family is going through a heartbreak like the tragedy that befell the American Terri Schiavo’s family and deeply affected both those who defend the right to life and partisans of euthanasia. But no voices had been raised so far in this case because very few knew about the situation concerning the 39-year-old Latin woman whose husband decided to disconnect the tube that had been feeding her during her three and a half years in a vegetative state.

As of the close of this edition, Clara Martinez, 39 years old and mother of two children—aged five and seven years—had been almost 30 days without food and was still alive, taking only water. For the last year she has been cared for in her home, with special medical equipment installed in the living room, while the rest of the family try to go on with their lives.

This woman has remained in this condition since suffering a stroke. She was cared for in the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Medical Center, later at an intermediate care facility, then at the hospital again, and finally she was taken to her home. At that time the physicians had judged her condition to be irreversible.

Under these conditions her husband Salvador Martinez, 35 years old and also Mexican, resolved that his wife should not live artificially. He signed a "Do Not Resuscitate" order to keep her from being revived artificially and disconnected the feeding machine. Under these conditions the woman should have died by withdrawal of feeding and the case would have gone unnoticed, had it not been for the intervention of a pastor of the Hispanic Evangelical Church at 4340 W. 87th St....

[The pastor] said that when he was with the wife, "she moved, opened her eyes, and when we prayed and sang together by her bedside, she blinked as though she was listening." He said it was also significant that, in spite of her condition, the woman was still "able to take water."

Read the rest of Jorge Mederos' article in La Raza.

Editor's Note:

Tim has been in touch with Pastor Guillermo Espinoza, and CURE is offering its assistance to the family. May God bless Pastor Espinoza for raising his voice in defense of Clara's Martinez's God-given right to life. Our compliments to Mr. Mederos and La Raza for exposing this covert crime in the making, which is no longer hidden thanks to their professional reporting.

No Catholics Need Apply

From TAS:

Washington special interest groups -- notorious for their anti-religious hostility toward conservatives -- are conducting a coordinated smear campaign against Scott Bloch, George Bush's appointee to the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), which reviews and refers whistleblower disclosures to agency heads. In an interview with TAS, Pete Leon, legislative director for Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), who has called for Bloch's resignation, revealed the fundamental anti-religious bigotry at the heart of the campaign. Articulating his objections to Bloch, Leon said, "He is a devout Catholic," then quickly added, after he realized his gaffe, the famously insincere line from Seinfeld, "Not that there's anything wrong with that."

By "cronies," PEER [Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility] means Catholics. PEER's problem with Bloch is not that he has hired people he knows, but that he has hired Catholics he knows. Last Monday, PEER's press release made sure to mention that Hicks oversaw a Catholic boarding school. Its Nov. 17, 2004 press release smeared Hicks by suggesting he was complicit in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, diocese's sexual abuse scandal. He had nothing to do with it. In that release, Ruch, citing a popular anti-Catholic book, said, "Scott Bloch's personnel practices are taken straight from The DaVinci Code rather than the civil service manual."

The PEER press release also said Bloch "is a religious conservative who had served as deputy director in the Justice Department's Office of Faith-Based Initiatives." PEER cited Bloch's hires of graduates from "ultra-conservative" Ave Maria Law School as Schedule A attorneys, who can be hired non-competitively, ignoring that he has also hired attorneys from George Washington, Georgetown, and the University of Virginia. And what exactly is Ruch's objection to Ave Maria? It is an accredited law school in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and its first class of graduates performed better on the bar exam than any other Michigan school. Are graduates there prohibited from government service in his view?

Hat tip to Amy Welborn.

True Believers or False Deceivers?

Once again demonstrating that the Catholic vote is not a myth, its erstwhile traditional beneficiary, the Democrat Party, is renewing its efforts to entice it. "When it comes to religion, and particularly the 'Catholic vote,' Democrats have become true believers," Joe Feurherd observes in the National Catholic Reporter. NCR's Washington correspondent cites a 17-page memo on "Reclaiming the White Catholic Vote" by political operative Stanley Greenberg, a sidekick of the infamous Ragin' Cajun, James Carville.

"The Democrats can compete comfortably for half the Catholics," Greenberg claims at the onset.

Democrats win their greatest support from the less observant [and] those looking for a more modern Church...[Indeed,] Democrats hold a 22-point advantage in partisanship among those who would prefer a more modern Church.

It is interesting to note how the modernists peddle the embrace of evils as ancient as child sacrifice and unnatural vice as "modernity."

"But half is not good enough" to win elections, Greenberg concedes. "which means reaching across the cultural divide." True enough, but the question remains, as when Dives begged Lazarus for a drop of water to wet his burning lips across another monumental gap, can they? As Feurherd puts it:

The question, therefore, is no longer whether Democrats should appeal to the socially-conservative but economically-liberal voters who were once a core part of their constituency, but how they can do so without alienating the party's culturally-liberal base.

This will not be an easy task. Consider a few of the examples of Democrat efforts to woo "traditional Catholics" cited by Feuherd:

• "Since November's election, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and newly-installed Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean have lamented the party's inability to reach out to Democrats who oppose abortion-rights but agree with the party's principals [sic] on most every other issue."

But when, shortly after his 2004 defeat by President George W. Bush, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) told a closed-door liberal confab that Democrats needed to welcome more pro-life candidates into the party, there was an audible gasp, Nancy Keenan, NARAL Pro-Choice America, reported. And Planned Parenthood's Gloria Feldt whined that Kerry "had not helped his cause," echoing the complaints of many pro-aborts who blamed Kerry for not talking enough about his abortion albatross in a race lost in large measure in the Catholic vote.

• Rev. Jim Wallis' God's Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It, is a best seller.

But when the leftist minister wrote in defense of Terri Schiavo that "I cannot understand why parents willing to take care of their disabled daughter were not allowed to" and quoted his wife's observation that "the issue is not [the] quality of life, but the ethical quality of our society," the overwhelming response from readers of Sojourners' SoJoMail was negative.
Typical comments included a woman who described the mentally disabled woman as "already dead" and another who opined that "keeping a brainstem and heart functioning can in no way be defined as 'life.'"

• Congressional Democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, promoted the candidacy of former Rep. Tim Roemer, a pro-life Catholic, to head the Democratic National Committee.
  

But, of course, Roemer's doomed candidacy failed when he was defeated by pro-abort Dean, in a campaign in which, as James Antell reported for American Daily:

Roemer's candidacy was bogged down in the controversy over his pro-life congressional voting record. At some forums for the would-be DNC chairmen, pro-choice audience members would boo him when he rose to speak. He frequently found himself under attack.

"One day I received by messenger a dirty and smudged envelope with no return address," wrote the New Republic's Ryan Lizza. "Inside were five pages of anti-Roemer opposition research about his positions on everything from Israel and abortion to labor and Social Security."

"These tactics show the limits of Democratic outreach to pro-life voters and party members," Antell observed. As I concluded last December for Catholics in the Public Square:

Given the rabid resistance to the slightest concession to reason and, yes, morality by the Feminazis, any widening of the Democrat Party's tent in terms of pro-life Democrats and their views is apt to be a carnival sideshow: big on promise and short on delivery.