Sunday, August 31, 2008

Priestly Misconduct-Common Sense Needed!


Once again we are faced with a Priest who is being accused of sexual misconduct by various people. It is indeed a grave thing to abuse a position of trust and authority and in the past the Catholic Church had failed it's Parishioners.


The Catholic Church has learnt from it's past mistakes and are now tackling this very sensitive issue with diplomacy and the law.

But there also comes to a time for people to use their common sense and not always play the 'perpetual victim card.'

If you write to Cardinal Pell and inform him of a Priests misconduct and he replies the very next day for you to report the matter to the police as well as seek help and support from the 'Towards Healing' run by Ms. Cain which deals with victims of Priestly misconduct and you ignore Cardinal Pells advice what is he supposed to do? Make a citizens arrest?!

Not only did Cardinal Pell encourage the young lady in question he also informed her that he, himself would contact Ms. Cain if the plaintiff failed to do so in order to allow Ms. Cain to help this particular woman.

What more can Cardinal Pell do?

Arcbishop Philip Wilson is now investigating the matter though he was not the Archbishop who ordained this particular Priest, that was Archbishop Faulkner's responsibility. Archbishop Faulkner is now retired.

If you have faced misconduct by a Priest, then yes report it to Church authorities but also take the role of empowerment and make a complaint to the police, yourself.

If a Priest behaves inappropriately towards your person in a way that is offensive, then report him to your local Archbishop. After that make a statement to the Police, seek help from organizations that have been put in place to help heal the wound inflicted by those Priests who have abused their power.

Always there comes a time when common sense and personal responsibility plays a part. If a Priest has behaved in a sexual manner towards your person on several occasions and you are not under age and have the ability to say 'no'. Then why didn't you simply say 'no' and remove yourself from the said Priests proximity?

I abhor all Priests who use their positions in this revolting manner and if the allegations are true then the retired Archbishop Faulkner has some questions to answer and should be held accountable for his decision to Ordain this Priest if he knew of the allegations beforehand.

It is past time for common sense to come into play because I fail to understand why a person who is being abused continues to see their abuser on a regular basis?

Report all misconduct to the police. Let the law come into play and start being pro-active and not the 'victim.'

I support our Priests who faithfully serve the Catholic Church and it's people. I also support our Cardinals who also serve the Church and its people. I am sure it must pain them greviously when one of their own abuses their position of trust.
Written by Marie

A PRAYER FOR AMERICA


Father, once again we are reminded that any security we have as individuals and as a nation comes only from the abiding hope and trust we have in You.

Father, we seek Your peace for our nation and our world. In the midst of our questions and uncertainty, we recognize that the unknown details of this day are already in Your grasp. We know You sent Your Son as the Prince of Peace and even this day falls under His command. Help us to find the strength and comfort we need as a nation to continue to humble ourselves, pray and seek Your face for a new day in America and a new hope for our world.

We seek Your peace for the emergency workers, that You would guard their lives as they seek to guard the lives of others. Give them the wisdom they need to perform their duties above and beyond the levels of their training.

Amen.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Where Are You Going?


Do you know where you're going to?

Do you like the things that life is showing you

Where are you going to?

Do you know...?


Do you get

What you're hoping for

When you look behind you

There's no open door

What are you hoping for?

Do you know...?


...Why must we wait so long

Before we'll see

How sad the answers

To those questions can be


Do you spend more time looking at closed doors and fail to see the open window? Do you see the glass half full or half empty? When in fact it is both.

Sometimes we simply think too much. Our minds are a cacophony of sound which can drown out the quietest of voices including The Holy Spirit.

We are drowning in a sea of thoughts.

Stop.

Step outside your door, look at the sky, note the colours, the different hues. The cloud formations and understand God created that sky as a carpet for your hungry eyes.

A feast for your soul is right above you.

Stop.

Look down and see the flowers as they bloom, the seeds that the wind blows here and there. Nothing is permanent, therefore embrace the beauty of the flower, gently feel its velvety smoothness as your fingers caress it.

Know God created that flower to bloom for you.

Close your eyes feel the wind on your face however gentle or sharp it may be, feel its freshness for in the very air you breathe is life.

Raise your arms and thank God for your next breath is because He Wills it.

Stop.

Understand, do you know where you're going too? Do you get what you're hoping for?

No. But what a journey we have crossed and what lay before us we do not know. This time is yours, this hour belongs to you.

Step gently lest you crush your dreams.

Written by Marie

Song Diana Ross.

Memories-Within Temptation



**************
If you love romantic songs, you will love this one. It is one of my favourite songs.
Enjoy listening
Marie xoxoox

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Hitler, Sanger, Obama & Pelosi VS The Bible & The CCC


"This is in keeping with the humanitarianism which, to avoid hurting one individual, lets a hundred others perish. The demand that defective people be prevented from propagating equally defective offspring is a demand of the clearest reason and if systematically executed represents the most humane act of mankind."Adolf Hitler. - Mein Kampf


". . .we prefer the policy of immediate sterilizarion, of making sure that parenthood is ' absolutely prohibed ' to the feeble-minded."Margaret Sanger The Pivot of Civilization

"The danger to the community of the unsegregated feeble-minded woman is more evident. Most dangerous are the middle and high grades living at large who, despite the fact that their defect is not easily recognizable, should nevertheless be prevented from procreation. . . In my view we should act without delay." Dr. Ernst Rubin head of Nazi Germany's eugenics program.

"I think it's very hard to know what that means, when life begins. Is it when a cell separates? Is it when the soul stirs? So I don't presume to know the answer to that question."Senator Barack Obama.

"We also recognize the importance of good medical care for women, that we're also recognizing the importance of age-appropriate education to reduce risks. I do believe that contraception has to be part of that education process." Senator Barack Obama.

"I think that most Americans recognize that this is a profoundly difficult issue(partial-birth abortion) for the women and families who make these decisions. They don't make them casually. And I trust women to make these decisions in conjunction with their doctors and their families and their clergy. And I think that's where most Americans are."Senator Barack Obama

"As I understand it, this puts the burden on the attending physician who has determined, since they were performing this procedure, that, in fact, this is a nonviable fetus; that if that fetus, or child - however way you want to describe it - is now outside the mother's womb and the doctor continues to think that it's nonviable but there's, let's say, movement or some indication that, in fact, they're not just coming out limp and dead, that, in fact, they would then have to call a second physician to monitor and check off and make sure that this is not a live child that could be saved." Senator Barack Obama

"As an ardent practicing Catholic, uh, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time. And what I know is over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition, and, uh, Senator -- uh, I'm -- Senator -- Uh, St. Augustin' (sic) said at three months. We don't know. The point is is that it shouldn't have an impact on a woman's right to choose. Roe v. Wade talks about very clear definitions of when the child -- uh, eh, er, first trimester, certain considerations second trimester, not so third trimester. The -- the -- there's very clear distinctions." Nancy Pelosi

"And this is, like, 50 years or something like that. So again, over the history, uh, of the church, this is an issue of, uh, controversy." Nancy Pelosi

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State." Joseph Goebbels

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The Bible and The Catholic Church

"True, I was born guilty, a sinner, even as my mother conceived me." Psalm 51:7

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you came to birth I consecrated you." Jeremiah 1:5

"When he issued the decrees for Jacob and instituted a Law in Israel, he gave our ancestors strict orders to teach it to their children; the next generation was to learn it, the children still to be born.." Psalm 78:5-6

You shall not kill. Exodus: 20:13

You must banish all shedding of innocent blood from among you if you mean to do what is right in the eyes of Yahweh. Deuteronomy: 21:9

You (Yahweh) never consent to that corrupt tribunal that imposes disorder as law, that takes the life of the virtuous and condemns the innocent to death. Psalms: 94:20-21

The ancient inhabitants of your holy land you hated for their loathsome practices, their deeds of sorcery and unholy rites, hated as ruthless murderers of children, as eaters of entrails at feasts of human flesh, initiated while the bloody orgy goes on, as murderous parents of defenseless beings. Wisdom: 12:3-6

Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his or her existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person - among which is the inviolable right of every innocent human being to life. 2270 Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Since the first century the church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to moral law.You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish.God, the Lord of life , has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes. 2271 Catechism of the Catholic Church

"Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains for ever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being." 2258 Catechism of the Catholic Church.

++++++++++++++++++

"Many say that such a system could never happen here. Sixty years ago, the Nazis declared that "inferior" races needed to be eliminated. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1973 ruled that the unborn human being could be exterminated legally. Declaring a human being to be a non-person is on the same level as the Nazi Nuremberg laws that made discrimination against Jews legal and set the stage for mass murder."

The Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion is actually a Nazi-type law. It is completely in the spirit of the Nazis; that is, it contains the elements of moral relativity and contempt for human life that characterized the Hitler regime."

"Mr.von Campe reminds us that the ongoing battle in the world is between truth and lie. Every person is either on the side of one or the other. He sends a warning to every American not to follow the road of appeasement to evil as millions of Germans did but stand up for truth. One cannot be a bystander and a Christian at the same time, he says. The future will belong to an America rooted in truth, and the world will follow her when "one nation under God" is a reality and not just a phrase. Hilmar von Campe."

The Truth? Abortion is not a choice it is murder. It is that simple.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

God the Magician


"Fear is useless, what you need is trust."(Mark 5:36).


Why does the Bible mention fear if God is Almighty? It is because God is indeed Almighty and we are not and that is the difference.

We sometimes think because we are Christians that troubles should not beset us, were the Saints free of troubles? Rita of Cascia will soon set you straight when she found herself married to a mean and violent husband who beat her almost on a daily basis. Should she have walked away from God because her life didn't turn out as she had hoped?

Is God a magician?

Do we expect God to wave a magic wand and make our lives as we think it should be?

What would Catherine Doherty say to us if she could. A woman who because of her deep love of Christ founded 'Friendship House,' only to have it closed through misunderstanding and calumny. When even her closest friends betrayed her. After this failure Catherine lay on the floor and banged her head on the floor boards as she fought to understand God's Will. Did Catherine throw up her arms and walk away because things didn't turn out how she would have liked?

Catherine Doherty moved on, she learnt that it is not what we do but why that is the most crucial and central to our spiritual life. Catherine founded another organization 'Madonna House.' Her cause for Beatification is now before Rome.

God is God. Do not make a single person your God.

People cannot heal our inner wounds and we all carry them. A husband or wife no matter how loving has not the capacity to heal your inner woundedness. Your friends are not God, they can listen, they can uplift you but they have not the power to heal you.

In order to be healed you must seek it.

Only the Divine Physician can heal a soul wound. To place a burden of this magnitude on a solitary soul is to ask too much. How can the broken, heal the broken hearted? We are all broken to a certain extent, we carry our own wounds, our scars from previous battles and skirmishes.

Why do we ask our friends to be God for us?

A woman from my former parish in her rush to get her children ready for school accidently ran over and killed her three year old child. She ran screaming onto a busy road as cars swerved to miss her, people ran out of their homes to help her and the poor child. The poor mother had accidently killed her own child. What mother could live with that guilt?

The mother in question suffered a nervous breakdown. A year later she returned to her Parish, there wasn't a dry eye in Church on that day. We wept for her and her family but we could not heal her.

The next time you think your suffering is greater than anyone else's. Think of that poor mother and then get on your knees and thank God you did not suffer such a loss.

If you think you are paying too higher a price then stand before a bloodied Crucifix or play a DVD of the Passion of Christ and tell God that your suffering is greater than His.

It is a good thing to remember, we were not put here on this earth in order to gain but to give and to give until it costs as did Christ.

Remember you were worth dying for.

Written by Marie

Let Go & Let God


As children bring their broken toys,

with tears for us to mend,

I brought my broken dreams to God

because he was my friend.

But then, instead of leaving Him

in peace to work alone,

I hung around and tried to help,

with ways that were my own.

At last, I snatched them back and

cried, "How can you be so slow?"

"My child," He said,

"What could I do?

You never did let go."

Friday, August 1, 2008

Blogging Difficulties


Some of our fellow bloggers have been experiencing problems in posting on their respective blogs. Two of these ladies are Jean and Esther, I hope that the blogger team will solve this problem promptly as we need good blogs such as these two ladies provide and other excellent quality blogggers.

Hopefully blogger will resolve this problem quickly and we can enjoy diversity and a variety of opinions in the blogsphere. After all, this is not China and we are free to express out thoughts and opinions freely without need of censorship.

Now back to my blogging break.

God's abundant love to you all

Marie xoxooxox