n Those who picket and pray at abortion mills.
n Those who go to jail for the cause.
n Those who pass out pro-life literature in churches, schools and shopping centers.
n Those who rise up at public meetings on behalf of the unborn.
n Those who contact the media.
n Those who contribute a few more dollars than they can spare to the cause.
n Those who pray every day for a change in the law.
n Those whose loving and compassionate counseling save lives.
n Those who have had abortions and publicly recanted.
n Those former abortionists who had a change of heart and came over to the right side.
n Those busy mothers, tired husbands, singles, young people and retirees who bring their time, energy and imagination to the struggle.
n The Pope, who never fails to address the issue.
n Those cardinals, bishops, priests and nuns who carry the banner fearlessly.
n Those statesmen who risk their political careers by introducing anti-abortion legislation.
n Those who will never forsake the helpless and who will stay in the battle because they know that children are the living message we send to the times we will not see.

This message from the unborn comes with deepest love and affection because what you are doing for us, you are doing for He who made us.
Merry Christmas.

The liturgy story is a tale of riches to rags
By David Anderson and Marc S. Crotty

The good ship "Rejoice With Me" steamed into San Jose and docked at the Santa Clara Mission Church on Sept. 12. It was called a "liturgical festival" and was attended by 800 (according to the diocese), about 80 percent women.

Most of those in attendance were "ministers," ranging from Eucharistic ministers to doughnut ministers. They fell into the Baby Boomer age range, for the most part, and they came to get their marching orders. The orders contained enough "ifs," "ands" and "maybes" to be right in the "spirit of Vatican II."

The keynote speech was delivered by Dolores Martinez, Ph.D in fine arts, specializing in piano. She said: "Rejoice with me (Luke 15:6) presumes you are addressing someone else."

Well, that’s news.

Martinez continued: "(The assembly) has the right to demand excellence from us . . . so that they may be formed day by day into an ever-more perfect unity with God and each other so that, finally, God may be all in all." This is called "proselytorial rejoicing" and appears capable of making rejoicers, a.k.a. the assembly, believe the whole point of going to Mass is being together. It’s like a lodge, complete with social directors, secret handshake and a kiss of peace!

POPULAR DEVOTIONS
The Rev. Jose Antonio Rubio, dressed in shirt and tie, led a seminar on "Popular Devotions: Lost Sheep or Molten Calf?" He spoke nostalgically of devotions he attended as a child but said devotions change and disappear. Se la vie Disenfranchised groups often use devotions, he said. Like lost sheep, they wander around trying to find some symbol to latch onto."Why would Fatima become so popular?" he asked, then suggested it was the rise of Communism. The Blessed Mother might be surprised it was not her appearance that made the difference.

LITURGICAL INCLUSIVENESS
Fr. Ronald Witherup, SS., Provincial, U.S. Province of Sulpicians, brought the house down with inclusive language jokes and jokes about the fringe group that wants to keep women in the kitchen and out of good-paying, respected (church?) jobs.

Witherup explained that U.S. churches will be receiving a new santized lectionary (due in November). The Canadian church already has one – and it was rejected by the Vatican, but not before thousands of copies of the corresponding missal were printed up. The Vatican relented because Canadians could not dispose of all the books. The problem is that "society is more sensitive" to things like language usage, Witherup said. "We should bring society into the church," he concluded.Funny. We thought it was the other way ‘round.

EARLY CONFIRMATION
Apparently not everything old is bad. In the spirit of picking and choosing, the Rev. Enrico Hernandez offered a seminar on why it makes sense to give the Sacrament of Confirmation at First Holy Communion. The Byzantine Catholic Church offers the sacrament at Baptism. And practices differ in other rites and in older times. so why not us?

Of course, we should mention that some modernist churches have changed the age of the sacrament to the late teens – a kind of born-again experience.

So there is a real split on this subject.

One thing is certain: Offering the sacrament at First Communion would avoid the problem of kids avoiding catechism classes and Confirmationaltogether.

VATICAN II HEART
The symposium "Celebrating the Rites with a Vatican II Heart" was a real heartburner. Fr. David Pettingill took delight espousing the virtues of Vatican II and condemning anything pre Vatican II.

Prancing back and forth in front of his audience, he shouted, "Hoo-ray for Vatican II and Hoo-ray for our hearts that celebrate liturgy with the spirit of Vatican II. Hoo-ray for what is happening inside of us or what can happen inside of us." He chuckled over the Latin Mass (mumbo jumbo), confessions (boring for priests), Communion on the tongue (sticking out his tongue), assorted Holy Days (superstitious) and the Baltimore Catechism (rote learning).

Funny thing is: Pettingill was ordained a priest in the days when seminarians had to pass physics as a way of weeding out the applicants. We don’t seem to have that kind of overcrowding these days – thanks to "the spirit of Vatican II."

No matter. Priestless parishes sound great, don’t they? Maybe these rejoicers are on to something. Let’s not only make parishes priestless but bishopless. Why not go all the way and make them Pope-less? Most of them are already hope-less. Many are god-less. If we keep it up, we’ll make them assembly-less, too.

That Renew tree, the symbol of Renewal in the Diocese of San Jose, is looking a bit tired and bare.

Dr. Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J., presided at the third phase of Renew meetings at St. John Vianney Church in San Jose, and despite the usual buzzwords, he had to contend with some folks who insist on kneeling at the consecration and who prefer to receive Communion on the tongue.

Fitzgerald’s agenda included videos of diverse Masses, featuring guitars, mariachis, drums, ethnic music and what-not. And a liturgical questionnaire contained leading questions like "Do you remember the Latin Mass?" and "Do you speak Latin?" The hidden agenda is, of course, to show that nobody does remember, nobody does understand and nobody wants to go back to those old nerdy ways when people said mumbo-jumbo, bowed and scraped and humbled themselves before the altar.

Even the old retreats came in for a verbal bashing -- the silence, the emphasis on sin. Retreats today are "alive" and "meet people’s real needs."Notably absent from the two Renew sessions the View visited were orthodox speakers or conservative tapes. Ironically, although the tapes were rapid-fire sound bites by liberal talking heads, the background music was traditional and sacred – the kind nobody hears or sings at Mass anymore.

The "feel" of these Renew sessions is comfy, anything-goes Catholicism. What else is old? That Renew tree, the symbol of Renewal in the Diocese of San Jose, is looking a bit tired and bare.

"The media is the message"
And the message says: We’re living in a moral Pompeii

This article was written by View editor Jane D. Anderson for Homiletic and Pastoral Review (C/O Ignatius Press, 2515 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94118, $26 per year). The message of the article was featured on EWTN’s daily Mass shortly after its distribution. In the magazine, editor Kenneth Baker, S.J. urged priests to address the situation of vulgar television from the pulpit.Once upon a time, prime time meant I Love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver, The Donna Reed Show, and Father Knows Best. Parents could rely on the hours from 7 to 11 for wholesome, family fare.

We all know prime times have changed. Catholic parents these days have to monitor Disney shows, as well as R-rated movies. But we still tend to rely on situation comedies for evening "baby-sitting." Bad idea. It is not that the sitcoms aren’t funny: Some are, especially to juveniles. But they poke fun at values Catholics should hold dear.

I contend that a week full of TV sitcoms is worse for society’s spiritual health than the former Catholic show called, Nothing Sacred, which portrayed a modernist priest in a doo-dah church, questioning Catholic values. A semi-literate Catholic could watch Nothing Sacred and see the gaping loopholes: he can read the furor caused by the show and realize there was a problem. But ordinary sitcoms just wear him down: They present sin as fun, sinners as heroes and values as nerdy.

I watched these television shows for one week to catalog their objectionable plot lines. Some of these shows have disappeared from prime time. But others like them have taken their places, and the shows reviewed here are in syndication. Here is what I saw:
 

Monday: Seinfeld. This is the most popular comedy show in television history. Its star, Jerry Seinfeld, is a stand-up comic. The Feb. 9, 1998, show featured George, Jerry’s friend, who is having a sex problem. "I can’t have sex (with girlfriend, Louise)," he explains. "She has mono. How can I hold out for SIX WEEKS!" Meanwhile, Jerry’s other friend, Elaine, is not having sex with her boyfriend because he is studying for a medical exam. As the plot unravels, we see George developing unknown intellectual powers as the result of his chasity while Elaine noisily goes to pieces. In the finale, George has sex with a waitress and resumes his normal stupidity. Elaine gets dumped by the medical student "because med students always ditch their help-mates."

Mad About You. This show was having a good night.Fired Up. This show, has been canceled, starts off with a penis joke. The plot involves Gwen’s "No. 5 date rule:" No sex on the first five dates. "I used to have a six-date rule," she shrugs, "but I found it tended to thin the herd a little too much." (Sound track laughter.) "Five dates?" her friend comments. "You don’t have to wait that long to get a handgun!" Anyway, Gwen explains the five-date rule to her fireman friend, and he goes along. On the sixth date, Gwen is raring to go – but he can’t get it up. Real funny.

Caroline in the City. Another new show that starts off with some scatological jokes. The situation involves two cartoonists, a man and a woman who work together but are not boyfriend and girlfriend – yet. Caroline buys a double desk – with a history. It seems the desk originally was the trysting place of two actors, one of whose letters is still inside the desk. Well, everyone meets and in the end, the old codgers (who are now married after many hits and misses) show up unexpectedly to "use the desk, if you know what I mean."

The Naked Truth. This show is about an over-sexed 50-something boss – Camilla – who reeks of licentiousness (much soundtrack laughter) and says things like: "Sex with me is like touching the face of God." After the characters cavort for a silly half hour, the finale takes place in an ambulance, where Camilla pays the ambulance attendants to turn out the lights so she can make love to the victim. Hilarious.

Tuesday: Mad About You. This popular show, starring Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt, scores some good ones, but on this night, the entire episode was about resuming sex after childbirth. The Paul character says, "Sex is like Canada . . . it’s right there, but we never go." The couple is seeing a marriage counselor, and they discuss the wife’s "faking it" and the husband’s feeling "ho-hum." Finale: the two are back in bed. Ho-hum, indeed.

Soul Man. This is the more respectful, Protestant version of Nothing Sacred. Dan Aykroyd plays a widowed minister with young children. Here is a man of God we can all love: He’s single (so he can date), he loves his children and he jives on the altar. This episode was pretty clean. Even the visit from the wild uncle was handled tamely, except for some gamy statements like: "I got a balloon [condom] in my wallet."

Home Improvement. This comedy show is usually quite good – and that’s the problem! On this night, the writers took the opportunity to lay some modern philosophy on their viewers. While baby-sitting his niece, Tim discovers he would like a daughter (he has three sons on the show), so he suggests to his wife they adopt or try to reverse his vasectomy. Jill says no; she has her career going. Tim finally realizes she’s right. This is the way the show usually handles family arguments: The wife wins because Tim is insensitive. On the show involving his vasectomy, for example, Tim doesn’t want to have the operation, but he finally succumbs because his wife convinces him he’s being selfish. Definitely not a Catholic view of life being presented here!

Just Shoot Me. This is a stupid show about employees at a women’s magazine. It just tries to titillate, as in: "Who do I have to sleep with to get this apartment? Seriously, I want to know."

Wednesday: Spin City. This show with popular Family Ties star Michael J. Fox gives viewers one more chance to see Fox run his fingers through his hair and wander about with his hands in his pockets. Otherwise, it’s the usual pointless, sex-obsessed stuff revolving around a young man who is the P.R. flak for a New York City mayor. In this episode, Fox’s mother, a divorcee, breezes in and winds up in bed with her old friend, the mayor. Who else?

Dharma and Greg. This show presents a young married couple drunk on sex – naturally. In this episode, mate-swapping between the in-laws is the theme, a confusion that has the old folks wondering "why not?" This was the Valentine’s Day show, no less, so Dharma and Greg were shown trying to spend a weekend in the snow – translate that "sack." Question: Why do people care?

The Drew Carey Show. This show features some great dialog: "Kate and I are moving in together tomorrow – what’s the big deal? We’ve been dating for months." "You just hopped in bed together." The camera zeroes in on a magazine cover: "How to Slow Down Your Man in the Sack." The humor is the quickie sex joke type, for example: "You’re the one who wanted to do it in the airplane bathroom."

Ellen. So here we are with Ellen, the character who caused all that hubbub with the admission she was a lesbian, both on and off screen. In this episode, the dialogue tends to support the gay rights theme. The story line involves a script written for a short cop, and Ellen has to argue the merits of presenting a short hero. She asks: "What is normal?" "Twenty years from now our kids won’t think it’s weird to be different." "This show can make being short [a hidden reference to being gay] more acceptable." Exactly.

Thursday: Friends. Lamaze class is the setting for much of this episode. Only in this class, the dad (one of the "friends") is the sperm donor. The "real" parents are two women. In a bit of hilarity, the pregnant mother can’t attend, and her lesbian lover and the donor have to "labor" together. The lesbian refused to play the part of the woman, so the guy offers it up. The instructor is saying, "Now imagine your vagina is opening like a flower." Our male friend gets a quizzical look on his face. There is more scintillating dialogue: "I’m going to play my sperm card one more time." "Nina, you’re fired, but how ’bout a quickie before I go to work?" "He’s been going out with her only a week; they haven’t even slept together yet."

Friday: Break day.

The catalogue of prime-time humor may make readers of this magazine wince. It should. I put it all down because I don’t think some people, especially busy priests, are aware of what "popular culture" really means. It’s such a benign term, but the malignancy of sex without responsibility, sex without love and sex without spirituality is growing. Even Catholic kids accept the notion that two people are going to go to bed together whether or not they’re married,whether or not they even like each other and whether or not they are opposite sexes.

Case in point: I served as a science lab aide for eighth graders in a Catholic school. The teacher was a young Catholic and a swell guy. But he didn’t know his religion. One of the projects he asked his students to complete involved a three-year, imaginary space trip to Mars. Students were to pick their crews out of a hat; part of the exercise involved selecting the right people and rejecting the wrong ones. The "right" people included an older, divorced woman; a sterilized woman; several older or sterile males, etc.After the selection process, I asked the teacher where he got the project. He said it was one of the enrichment projects worked out at a summer retreat attended by both public and private schoolteachers. I mentioned that the values expressed were certainly not Catholic. He said he had a fleeting thought about that. I suggested that perhaps he could come back in the following lab and set the record straight. He could tell the kids that some people may select their space crews according to the dynamics outlined in the project, but Catholics use a higher standard. He might even suggest that sending unmarried or unrelated men and women on a three-year trip in a small spaceship is asking for spiritual disaster. Maybe Catholics have to recognize that diversity doesn’t always have a place.

The correction didn’t happen. At the next lab, the students instead took the lead and suggested that sick bay should include a doctor "in case one of the women gets pregnant." No one batted an eye.

These are kids – and teachers – who watch the shows I have been detailing. After four days, I was hooked on some of the characters myself (you can usually find the same shows in syndication on alternate nights). Of course, I knew the situations were immoral, but it ceased to matter. I was laughing and feeling neighborly and tolerant, ready to cut corners for that jolly, good feeling.

Our children are getting more training in how not to recognize evil than how to say the Ten Commandments or recite the Act of Contrition. They are worldly – and spiritually bankrupt. And they’re "cool." We need to do something about this. Priests who suggest giving up television for Lent are asking for something quite righteous. How can we say the Stations of the Cross on Friday and laugh at strangers having sex just for laughs on Saturday? It makes no sense. Priests who ask people to screen their viewing in a very serious way – as part of their Catholic obligation – are simply ministering to an endangered people.

Television entertainment – and I haven’t even discussed the smarmy soap operas or the violent and sex-filled dramatic shows – is shaping the way we see reality. It’s as if we lived in two worlds: the real world and that small world (one hour a week) where we go to church and consider the "first things."

It’s time we got back to considering first things first.

+ Letters to the Editor +

View from the Pew international
I am a Polish traditional Roman Catholic and I’m terrified (at the) progress of modernistic heresy after Vatican II throughout the Catholic world and also in my homeland. I have heard very much about your meritorious traditional periodical View from the Pew. I have a big request, if at all possible: Could I receive your very good periodical View from the Pew? I thank you very much in advance and hope to keep in touch.Yours faithfully in Christo per Mariam.
Tomasz Niecikowski,Krakow, Poland

Forced to surrender beliefs
View from the Pew, Sept./Oct. issue really took me back home to my native country the Netherlands, and while I started to reminisce about my teenage days and years, much of this time was under German occupation including labor camp time, tears came to my eyes. During those horrible war years, we all prayed so much and made so many promises, especially to the Blessed Mother. Soon after being liberated, my age group was drafted and sent to the former Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) to restore order and peace, a four year and six month tour. Again it was our faith, the Roman Catholic faith that kept us sane! This made our friends and comrades of other denominations turn to us for help and consolation. What a gift!Today we are forced to surrender much of our old beliefs in order to "stay Roman Catholic." (We) have to search for a place of worship, a Catholic Church. What next? Please keep up the wonderful work you are doing, serving our Lord and His Church. We need you!
Jan W. Nijssen, Sr.,Rathdrum, ID

Disenfranchised orthodox Catholics
Although I am in the Oakland area, I love to read the View from the Pew (on the Internet). Our bishop recently celebrated a Mass for "gays and lesbians and their supporters." All of the issues you write about are relevant to every Catholic. But the fact is: No matter what the sign on the door says, If they are not teaching, preaching and celebrating the true Catholic faith handed down for 2,000 years, they are not Catholic.

It took me awhile to go outside my diocese and find an independent chapel which celebrates the traditional Latin Mass and the traditional Catholic faith. It is absolutely wonderful hearing sermons you can trust. Receiving our Lord in Holy Communion from a priest, on the tongue and kneeling. I have never been so impressed with the reverence. Everything feels so right. Why did I put up with all this un-Catholic junk for so long? Thanks for all your hard work!
R. G. Woods

View attitude found disturbing
I am a 15-year-old male Roman Catholic. I attend Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Roman Catholic High School and I attend Mass every Sunday (or Saturday Vigil) and Holy Day. I do consider myself a practicing Catholic.What I am writing to you about is my disappointment over your "Catholic" newspaper, View from the Pew. The attitude I get from this publication is a disturbing one. If our Church is so universal (Catholic), we do a lot of rejecting.

I have never been to a Tridentine Mass, nor do I have strong wishes to do so. Traditional Catholics claim the Tridentine Mass is the most reverent way to worship. I really do not see why the Novus Ordo Mass are so irreverent!

All we have at Divine Redeemer Church in Mount Carmel, Pa. (Harrisburg Diocese) is the Novus Ordo Mass. Every Mass we have is truly prayful, beautiful and reverent! What is wrong with the kiss of peace or sign of peace during Mass? The great St. Paul himself said we should greet each other with a sign of peace. What is wrong with girl altar servers? As an alter server since 1991, I do not see why the girls at the altar is so wrong. They are serving God, right?

The tabernacle in our church containing the Real Presence is to the side in an alcove, once a place for an old side altar. I see many more people going right up front to kneel in front of the tabernacle now than there were when the tabernacle was in the middle of the sanctuary.

Our church was renovated this past year to update it to modern style, from the old turn of the century style, and I truly think it is as beautiful as any Tridentine Rite Church. Jesus preached simplicity, and I think that going on what Jesus spoke is more important then what traditional Catholics like.What is so wrong about songs written by "Bob" and "Marty?" I think that GIA and OCP produce many wonderful spiritually inspiring songs. Just because they are new doesn’t mean that they are bad. Don’t forget that Panis Angelicus and Immaculate Mary were also new at one time. Immaculate Mary is a fairly new song, compared to others, coming from Lourdes only in the mid-late 19th century.

I think that Jesus’ heart hurts more with His Precious Body and Blood not being available to His people than it does for churches being renovated or renewed from old to new.

Catholic life is spiritual things and faith, not physical things, like church buildings and forms of a Mass. The Eucharist is the same whether in a tent, on a picnic table, in a basilica, a chapel, on the battle field, in a gymnasium or stadium. The bread and wine are still transformed into the Precious Body and Precious Blood, no matter what language the words of consecration are said in. As for people who will only go to a Tridentine Mass, they are still God’s people, but what I comprehend is that they are a large group of stubborn people that do not like, or cannot accept changes very well.Jonathan P. Sawicki,Pennsylvania

Fr. Fessio should revisit his evidence
I have just reread the July/August 1998 "View". I think that Fr. Fessio should revisit much of his evidence. However, Art Brew's choice of "outside the Church" in regard to orthodox (small 'o') Catholics' activities which are contrary to status leaders' directions was unfortunate. Traditional Catholics are always for the Magisterium and consequently inside the Church.

In reading the "View" I always feel the energy and determination of its writers. May God continue to bless your efforts.
Frank Schnorbus,Bordentown, NJ

A Catholic education not given
I’ve been an ardent reader of View from the Pew for a couple months now, and just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your recent article on the quiet revolution of homeschooling families. It was especially interesting for me because although I don’t have any children of my own, I’m starting a resource collection of traditional Catholic materials for children which I hope to someday use to start a homeschool lending library for any interested families. Looking back on the Catholic education I didn’t get in Catholic school, I wish I’d been homeschooled as a child! I currently attend Our Lady of Peace in Santa Clara, but am hoping to relocate within the year to the diocese of Birmingham, Ala., so I can live close to the Eternal Word Television Network. I also enjoy your on-line editions of the View. Keep up the great work you all do for the Church, and God Bless.
Lila Milton,San Jose, CA

Expose the wolves
We picked up a copy of View From The Pew at Saint Anne Byzantine Catholic Church in San Luis Obispo, and want to encourage you to keep up the good and much needed work that you are doing. You do not mince words in exposing the destructive work of the misguided modernists in our Catholic Church. Things in the diocese of Monterey are not any better than in your diocese. The bishop refuses to allow Latin Mass that Rome says should be granted to Catholics who request it.

Liturgical abuses are common in many, if not all parishes. The diocese "yellow press" Observer newspaper confuses ill informed Catholics who have limited knowledge of their faith. This trashy paper carries dissenter priest Richard McBrien's column (which is ideal to line bird cages; the larger the bird the better).

We thank the Lord for St. Anne's where those of us who cannot tolerate the balloons, butterflies, and dancing girls and countless other abuses, have found beauty, reverence and orthodoxy. Because of the liturgical abuses and pedestrian music at the Novus Ordo, orthodox Catholics must either attend the Byzantine rite or a Tridentine Mass and nothing in between.

Oh yes, don't give a cent to parishes where the liturgical parishes have destroyed the Mass and put on a cheap man-centered show, rather then focus on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Keep exposing the wolves in our troubled Catholic Church.
Mr. & Mrs. C.N. Santos,Atascadero, CA

Bishop McGrath: The unknown factor
What is known about [the new coadjutant bishop of San Jose] Bishop McGrath? A student of Quinn? Reads as if he's been too long in San Francisco. Your paper is doing good, conservative work – keep the candles burning.
Francis G. Battaglia,San Jose, CA

Thank you for your loyalty
I have much enjoyed View From The Pew from the first issue. I have found good places to distribute the extra copies that you send. Please keep me on your list of people who are interested in our Church.
Mrs. Irish McCabe,Los Altos, CA

Letter from the publisher
Dear Readers:
Now that the Democrats have won surprising victories in post-Clinton-scandal, midterm elections, what does all this tell us?

1) Republicans who hedge their bets by refusing to talk about pro-life or the evils of gay marriage, single-parent families, divorce, easy welfare (etc., etc., etc., ad nausiam) are not going to win! They might as well speak the truth and pray for the electorate to hear it!
2) If you pulled the Democratic lever, you were voting for infanticide, the killing of unborn babies. The Democratic party is committed to contraception, sterilization, abortion and infanticide. This is, "the culture of death" condemned by the Holy Father and the Roman Catholic Church.
3) The View recommends switching to the "American Independent Party" which is 100 percent committed to pro-life.