They hope to show the leaders of the Church it’s time to "get in step" with the modern world, to "relax" the Church’s old-fashioned ideas on sexual morality and to let the faithful decide for themselves which doctrines they’ll accept or reject.These radicals have already collected more than 2 million signatures in Europe and the United States.They also are invading our schools, and recruiting children to gather signatures and raise money for their nefarious scheme. For every signature the children get, they’re supposed to ask a $1 donation, and they split the proceeds 60/40: 60 cents for the children, and 40 cents for the radicals.

What can faithful Catholics who support the Holy Father and the Magisterium do to fight back? First, don’t sign their Church-wrecking petitions. Second, support Human Life International’s counter-drive (HLI, 4 Family Life, Front Royal, VA 22630). Third, pray for the conversion of these poor, misguided souls. Pray for the brave souls of Human Life International who are on the front line doing battle for God’s truth and the sanctity of human life every day.

Catholics should refuse invitation to Ellen’s coming out party

The media are all abuzz about Ellen DeGeneres, star of the ABC-TV sitcom "Ellen." Her claim to fame used to be her down-to-earth humor. But now that she has "come out" as a lesbian, she has been elevated to cultural hero. Both Ellen and "Ellen" are gay. On the sitcom, Laura Dern is Ellen’s love interest. Now Dern is generating her own press conferences because she’s so "brave" to portray a lesbian lover. But it’s not brave at all. As Joseph Sobran pointed out in the Wanderer newspaper, it would be brave for DeGeneres or Dern to go on the show advocating pro-life. In trendy Hollywood, being pro-gay is GOOD for a career, not to mention ratings.

What should the Catholic in the pew think about Ellen? First, remain true to Catholic teachings. The best place to go for a refresher course on this subject is the Universal Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2357-2359.. . . Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." (see Gen. 19:1-29; Rom. 1:24-27; 1Cor 6:10; 1Tim 1:10). They are contrary to the natual law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementary. Under no circumstances can they be approved.. . . Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.Second, do not allow children to watch the show. By making the character Ellen seem like a funny, happy, fulfilled human being, she popularizes a lifestyle that is not only difficult to live out in real life, but also has been declared "intrinsically disordered" by the Church. Third, TAKE ACTION! Catholics who let their beliefs or values be vilified are in danger of becoming converted -- to paganism. Take action by not buying the products advertised on the show and by writing letters to the advertisers, to the television stations and to the network. Addresses of advertisers can be found on their products: Take your pen and paper to the grocery store to make notes. Or look them up in the telephone book or on the Internet. Most companies are listed under their company name, for example, www.XYZ.com . Channel 11 has a similar listing: www.KNTV.com . Or use your "search" function to hunt for the company name. If you need inspiration to fight back, send for Fr. Benedict Groeschel’s Gates of Hell videotape. Fr. Groeschel admonishes Catholics not to take lightly moral decay or potshots against the Church. We’ve got to stop trying to "blend in." Get angry! Speak up! For a catalog that includes Gates of Hell, write to Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul’s Ave., Boston, MA, 02130.

Ignorance is not bliss

SEEKING CHRIST IN READING by The Rev. Eugene Boylan Scepter Booklets 481 Main St., Suite 401 New Rochelle, N.Y. 10801

This little booklet, a short reprint from the late Fr. Boylan’s book This Tremendous Lover, explains why it is good, even necessary, for adult Catholics to read about their faith. Prayer is a must. Receiving the Sacraments and living the Catholic life is a must. But allowing the mind to grow with the faith is a must, too. In today’s world, where living the Catholic life may be difficult, the "modern environment has a positive tendency to lead us away from God. This it does not so much by being against God, but rather by leaving him out."

Reading of the right sort may be the only way that Catholics can restore the balance caused by a pagan world. Religion is not just a matter of the heart; it is also a matter of the mind. Faith must be informed by reason. There is no reason why any educated Catholic should not go further, and bring his knowledge of Catholic theology up to the standards of the other branches of his knowledge . . .

A man’s mind develops after he leaves school; his knowledge and experience increase, his view broadens, his judgment matures . . .

To expect the grown and mature mind of the man to be satisfied with the hazy memory of what his immature mind had acquired from the limited instruction suitable to boys is, at the least, imprudent; one runs the risk of having religion rejected as inadequate. . .

Once educated, one reads differently; in fact it is only then that one performs the exercise which we wish to describe as a daily practice of the spiritual life. . .

Spiritual reading is a food, and we must digest what we read. . .

we must read slowly. . .

This exercise should be a daily one. . .

it should always be closely connected with prayer. . .

We must read in the spirit of faith. . . (that is) we must believe that God will speak to us in our reading, and when he does speak, we must be ready to listen to him and heed his words.

Fr. Boylan mentions one particular reading problem that other Catholics may have experienced: being left cold by readings about the lives of saints. Often, he says, the saints are presented as individuals who were always other-worldly, saintly creatures, not capable of spitting, stumbling or uttering an evil word. Boylan notes that the saints books are improving (this was in the 1960s), but books about the saints may not be as fruitful as books by the saints.

This little booklet is a gem. If you would like a copy, please send $1 (60 cents for the booklet plus mailing) to View from the Pew, P.O. Box 700084, San Jose, CA 95170-0084.

Leaving the Church because of scandal makes us no better than Judas Iscariot

(Editor’s note: This response was written in reply to those Catholics who feel abuses compel them to leave the Church.)

Dear Editor: It is surely proof of divine care that the Church has survived its clergy. And there is another point that goes right to the heart of being scandalized by the Church: Leaving the Church for such a reason makes as much sense as apostatizing because Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus. Fundamentally, my faith is a matter of accepting Christ as my Lord and Savior, and resolving to live discipleship as He would have me live it, within the community of His disciples. If Judas betrayed Him, if the others turned tail and ran out of the garden, that does not excuse me from discipleship or from the obligation to stand at the Foot of the Cross with Mary and John, as I do at each Mass I attend. I mustn’t take my eyes off Jesus, and abandon Him just because others have. If the option which tempts me is to continue to try to be a disciple, but to do without the Church which has so disappointed me – yes, in many ways our religion would be more comfortable for many of us without the inconvenient, maddening Church . . . which is why I should be profoundly suspicious of that very comfortable option! After all, the faults of the Church are OUR faults – yours and mine.

Finally, there is a theological axiom which we can never meditate upon too deeply – Grace builds upon Nature. Grace perfects Nature, it does not obliterate it. I think this has bearing here because there are so many Catholics who seem to idealize the workings of grace in the life of priests and religious.While I was going through that nine-year exercise in congenital idiocy that my bishop dignifies with the term "formation program," it was occasionally mentioned to us that we should be using the time to acquire the habits of prayer and study etc., which we would need as priests, for they would not be magically vouchsafed on the day of ordination. I knew that this was true – on some level. But as I look back it is obvious that on another level, I didn’t expect that this was true at all, for surely there was a transformation worked by ordination.Well, surely there is. But that is the story of the "life hid with Christ in God," as Paul tells the Colossians; the day after ordination I woke up the same man, with the same sinful tendencies, but now with a greater obligation to strive for holiness and with the assistance of the grace of orders. I stress this point because I’m afraid Catholics too readily idealize clergy. Religious, and even the saints, as though these are somehow "other" types of beings, are somehow made differently for the path to holiness, and there is a subtle danger in that holiness becomes an ideal out of reach of "regular Christians," whereas, of course, it is the invitation extended to us all. I suspect that many do not hear that invitation because they too readily idealize that call to holiness and think it is for others. And they become utterly scandalized when a priest or religious falls into sin and become disheartened, which is the great danger I fear. (Incidentally, nowadays we priests make exactly the opposite mistake. We so emphasize our utter humanity and so de-emphasize grace and the supernatural that we are utterly focused upon ourselves, our needs, our frailties. It is literally true that in seminary we had almost nothing of practical, spiritual or pastoral training, and that virtually all of the advice we heard had to do with being good to ourselves, taking time off, pacing ourselves, learning to say "No," and avoiding "burnout" – a complete denial of the reality that what we are seeing in the priesthood today ain’t burnout, it is rust-out. But this is the subject of another diatribe).
Fr. Wilson

J Bright Views J

Know where not to shop ’em
The St. Antoninus Institute of Washington, D.C., has increased the pressure on corporations that support abortion by publishing the Pro-Life Shopping Guide. The guide lists more than 100 corporations and more than 3,000 subsidiaries and brands linked to the pro-abortion movement.The guide can be downloaded from the following Web address; http://www.ewtn.com/antonin/listab.htm. A small donation is requested to support the institute’s effort. The guide is also available in a hard-copy version by calling Dr. Jean-Francois Orsini at (202) 686-0849.

Company aborts pill
German drug manufacturer Hoecht AG said it was transferring all rights for RU-486 to a former manager and would cease production of the drug.Hoecht said it had suffered damage to its image through association with the pill. Hoecht’s French subsidiary, Roussel Uclaf, will cease manufacturing, marketing and distributing the drug.In the United States, Hoecht has already transferred rights to the non-profit organization The Population Council at the request of the government.

L Dim views L

Condom distribution balloons
The U.S. government has made a grant of $1.6 million to Population Services International to expand its condom marketing program to fight AIDS in Cambodia.The grant brings to $4 million the amount of funding for PSI programs in Cambodia. In 1996, PSI sold 9.5 million condoms to this country of 18.5 million people. The condoms are promoted through advertising, aggressive sales and a popular mascot dressed in a giant condom that appears at public events.

30 fetuses found in box
The hot item from San Bernardino in March was the discovery of a box containing 30 fetuses. The fetuses appeared to be in early stages of development, according to sheriff’s deputies.Why does the media care? They weren’t babies. Were they?

Consider the source . . .
An Alabama judge whose order that the Ten Commandments must be removed from a courtroom sparked large protests was named the winner of the John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage award.Circuit Court Judge Charles Price will be presented with the 425,000 award by members of President Kennedy’s family at a ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Library and museum in Boston on May 29, the 80th anniversary of the president’s birth.

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