Obama's Non-Admirer

JMJ. I have my friend Charlie's son, Darren, to thank for the majority of this post. He's a rare young man in that he manages to see through the politically-correct rhetoric of the Democratic Party. I was not that wise. I was an insufferable know-it-all (sometimes I think I still am) who bought the whole liberal schtick hook, line, and sinker. But that was many years ago and the times were not quite so perilous. I may have cleaned things up a little a deleted a bit but the vast majority of the following is Darren's. He took it on himself to have it printed up and placed the hand-outs under windshield wipers. A man of action in a time of apathy! Listen, please, to Darren.

"Many people in this country are considering voting for a man whom we know little about. He rose out of obscurity on the empty call for 'change.' The majority of the media are supporting him because he is a liberal, filtering and editing the truth about him, telling us only what they want us to know.

I believe that many Americans are voting for him simply because they think that he is the only alternative to the legacy of George Bush. Others because they, too, are liberal, others because their union tells them to do so, and maybe most because he is black. There are no guarantees that our great nation will remain that way, therefore it is important for us to put aside many of our petty predjudices and vote responsibly. Consider the following:

Barack Obama was a "community organiser" in South Chicago and was shaped by the Chicago political machine. His entire adult life has been aligned with the powers-that-be and shares interests with Socialists, anti-Americans, questionable business men and politicians, and domestic terrorists. You can verify these charges yourself with a little time and Google. Jeremiah Wright, his former pastor, espouses black liberation theology and racism being himself vehemently anti-white. Obama denounced Wright only when he saw that that affiliation was hurting his ratings. Two of his supporters, William Ayers and Bernadine Dorne of the former Weather Underground remain unrepentent of their domestic terrorism.

Another person who has immense impact on Obama is his wife. She openly declared that this was the first time in her life that she was proud of her country! She had to be muzzled until she managed to soften her rhetoric. Her master's thesis certainly bears noting, filled as it is with anti-white sentiment.

In his short time in the Senate he has voted 94 times to raise taxes and managed to NOT muster the courage to vote for the protecting of the lives of babies who survived abortion by remaining alive despite the best efforts of the abortionists to kill them!"

I've cut some of what Darren said for the sake of brevity but you get the idea. He is a man with a mission and I am proud to include much of what he says. If you can't manage to muster what it takes to vote for John McCain, consider at least voting for the Libertarian or Green Partys' candidates. You may not have someone you want to vote FOR but you are sure to have someone (Obama) to vote AGAINST. America deserves better, society deserves better, and our children deserve better. God will judge us, not because we say "Lord, Lord," but because of what we do and how we vote.

Pro-Life and Proud

JMJ. Too much of a liberal bent has been printed in the media concerning the pro-life movement--most of it distorted or just plain false. I'd like to take a few moments to clear up some of these points. They deserve clearing up because, regardless of which side of the aisle one sits on, God is pro-life. The question is whether we agree with God or oppose Him.

Pro-choice (or pro-abortion) is the direct antithesis of being pro-life. But life involves more than just the unborn. It embraces the entire spectrum of our existence from conception to a natural death. So often the liberals accuse us in the pro-life movement of protecting the unborn but not the innocent children in war-torn areas who are killed by bombs and such-like. Nothing could be further from the truth. I know of none who support the former who do not advocate protection for all of God's children regardless of where they might be!

Another unfounded accusation slung at us who are pro-life is that we should be anti-death penalty, too. The answer to this is "yes and no." The Catholic Church teaches that capital punishment is acceptable in certain circumstances. The crux here is that the condemned is presumed to be guilty. The unborn child, of course, is always innocent regardless of how he is conceived whether lovingly or as the result of indifference, rape, or incest. The late Holy Father, Pope John Paul II declared that the use of capital punishment should be seldom due to advances in the incarceration of the guilty and the ever-present possiblity that one was convicted unjustly. Most of us who consider ourselves pro-life are also in favour of abolishing the death penalty.

Why is all this important? As I said recently to one who argued in favour of abortion, if we allow the murder of the unborn for our convenience, where will the murder stop? It is but a small step to the murder of young children, unwanted or disabled. How about the mentally-ill or the terminally-ill? Are they fair game? And the elderly? If one has out-lived one's up-keep should we be put out of someone else's misery? At what point will the murder stop? For whom will it stop or not stop? Why not just agree with God and let all live until He calls them home?

Setting a Good Example

JMJ. One would think, from the title of this blog, that I reject any and all things non-Catholic. Nothing could be further from the truth! Of course I believe that the fullness of truth resides in the Holy Catholic Church. Does that mean that our separated brethren, those of the protestant persuasion are standing around in the outer darkness wailing and gnashing their teeth? Of course not. I don't believe that for a second and the Catholic Church doesn't teach that either.

I was raised Presbyterian. For one reason or another I turned to other religions about the time I entered college. I briefly dated a Jewish girl so for a brief time I embraced Judaism. Buddhism captivated me for an even longer time. To be different I looked into Islam, bought a Quran, read it, and even thought of converting. Those were my Lawrence of Arabia days when I even wore the headdress of an Arab male (which I made for myself.) Good heavens, I almost became a Bahai'i asI was dating one at the time. (I wonder what the relationship is of gonads to religion.)

In today's parlance, none of these "did it for me." None of them seemed to answer the questions that I didn't even know at the time that I was asking. One of my earliest witnesses to the power of Christ was a Korean convert to the Baptist faith. Charlie (an anesthesiologist, not my Catholic mentor) and I had long and involved discussions about Christianity. His living example evangelised exactly as St. Francis advised, "Preach always and if necessary use words." I owe this fine man much. Another righteous witness to our Lord Jesus is a fellow nurse, Jim, a Missouri Lutheran. Unassuming but uncompromising, I'm sure he put up with much from this poor pagan. You cannot imagine what a trial I was but I'm sure he remembers.

A third non-Catholic hero of mine is a young black guy who epitomises Christ's charity. He always has a sunny disposition, he decries the tendency of the black community to back the Democratic Party, and gives this poor, jaded man hope for the young people of our land. For all of you (and my many wonderful Catholic mentors) I give Jesus and His Mother my heart-felt thanks. You will probably never appreciate how much you mean to this struggling sinner.

Abortion

JMJ. Ok. The question, class, is this--"Under what circumstances is it permissible to end the life of an unborn child?" There are probably close to as many answers to this question as there are readers of it. Only one matters, though. Know whose that is? You're saying to yourself--"Self, I'm not pregnant. This is important to me, why?" Well, I guess it's because this is a litmus test. The answer, like the rings produced by dropping a stone in a pond, carries ramifications far beyond anything we might imagine.

The Democratic Party, Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, Joe Lieberman, etc. etc. ad nauseam say that this answer belongs with the mother's choice. Isn't it up to the mother what she does with her own body? Of course it is. Even the Catholic Church would agree with that! The stickler is that she has no right to determine the destiny of the body growing within her. There is another there--her unborn child. And that unborn body should have basic rights as guaranteed by our constitution. When asked point-blank whether an unborn baby has those basic human rights from the moment of conception, Barack waffled. He said that that was above his job description. McCain? He, of course, answered, "yes." A simple yes.

The issue I have with McCain, and with so many protestants (and even, God help them, some Catholics) is that they try to add so many qualifiers. "Well, I'm pro-life but abortion's ok in the case of rape or incest. Or if the baby has physical problems." What? Is this baby less innocent than one born of a loving conception within the confines of a valid marriage? C'mon folks! A baby is a baby is a baby. And it's innocent. God says that we may not murder an innocent being. And I'm on God's side. McCain ain't perfect but at least his party doesn't condone murder as a "woman's choice."

In Defence of Mother Mary

JMJ. We Catholics refer to Christ's mother as "Blessed Mary", the "Blessed Virgin", the "Blessed Mother," etc. Of course we're helping to fulfill biblical prophecy. Remember in Luke where She said, "Henceforth all ages will call me blessed?" Of course you do. NOT to refer to Her as Blessed seems almost disrespectful of Scripture, doesn't it? I once asked a protestant how she referred to Mary and she answered, "We don't. We don't pay much attention to her at all."

Thousands of years before, our first mother, Eve, through her disobedience to the command of God, brought us to the brink of destruction. Mary, through her obedience brought us our saviour. The Ark of the Covenant carried within its gold confines the tablets of God's law. The Blessed Mother bore within Her body God Himself. (Thus do we call Her the Ark of the New Covenant.) Moses interceded for the chosen people when they sinned in the desert. Mary interceded for the young marrieds at the Wedding at Cana. Against His will, She persuaded Her divine Son to begin His public ministry. On the cross He gave Mankind into Her care and Her honour into ours.

Whenever I think of this interchange I had with the young protestant woman I picture in my heart our Blessed Mary holding us safe within Her mantle over the caption: "Don't mess with my Mom. Her Son is your God!"

The Guys

JMJ. Most men make a point of getting together with the guys occasionally. Usually to watch football or play poker or whatever. I don't have that luxury. I have a loving wife who has MS who needs a fair amount of extra care. She sees to herself during the day when I'm at work but in the afternoon and evening she gets kind of pooped so I'm there to make things a little easier for her. I'm not complaining; we're all given a cross to bear and mine is to help her carry hers.

There are two guys, though, that I need to see from time to time and we get together at odd intervals to talk about our Catholic faith, the over-sensual world and its evils, our politics, etc. We're all three amazingly similar. We have pasts we're in the process of over-coming, we're all three the spouses of three great wives, and we're all three enamoured of our Catholic Church. Charlie and Bob are, and have always been, fantastic role-models for this struggling convert. Struggling, that is, to do in a short period of time what I SHOULD have been working on my whole life--learning to love God with my whole mind and heart. I'm learning (through the grace of God) and they're there to buoy me up when it all seems too much for me to take in. God grant that we should all have folks like this in our lives!

But the more I've thought about it, the more I've come to realise that this is what the "communion of saints" is all about. Helping each other to work out our salvation in fear and trembling--much like St. Paul. Bob is devoted to the Tridentine Mass and the glories of our Catholic heritage. Charlie is devoted to the Divine Mercy. I'm devoted to the conversion of souls and the salvation of sinners--like yours truly. We three complement each other. I like to think that we make each other a little bit better than we might have been on our own. That, after all, is what the communion of saints is all about. They're a lot farther down the path that leads to Christ than I am. But with His strength (and their help) I'm running to catch up. It's a whole lot more rewarding than poker and football, too.