extreme Catholic

Why I'm not a happy guy today

I stayed up and watched the incredible come from behind victory of the Yankees over the Red Sox.

Ordinarily I'd be happy with the result. But in Florida there's a woman slowly dying of thirst and there's little I can do but pray.

Times Aganist Humanity is blogging the details.

When a Governor or a President really wants to do something, it gets done, and then after-the-fact a fiction is constructed to make it legal. I'm not suggesting that Governor Bush rule by decree but he ought to be able to find some aspect of civil rights or rights of the disabled law that is applicable here.

I also don't understand how Michael Schiavo's guardianship of Terri is so absolute. I read stories all the time where a court removes such guardianship for trivial reasons. Certainly a court should realize that MS's claim of knowledge of Terri's intentions is self-interested.

I think of all across the United States of people who are no longer able to chew and swallow but live through feeding tubes. God help them all if Terri's life is not spared.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:44 AM Permalink

Hannity is on the Terri Schiavo case

With her father, Robert Schindler, now:

She was strangled by Michael Schiavo and her injuries were caused by this and not by a medical condition.
Michael has prevented and continues to prevent any rehabilitation of Terri as this would enable her to identify Michael as her attacker.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 4:45 PM Permalink

Caller argues that Scalia should resign

As you know Justice Scalia recused himself from the Newdow Pledge case because of a request from Newdow himself.

The Christian website Crosswalk has misgivings about his recusal -- first, the standing of Newdow to bring this case has to be examined and Scalia gave no opinion on that.

My misgiving is that Scalia is free to have an opinion on a matter of public policy and give that opinion in public as he gave it to the Knights of Columbus this year. The K of C in the 1950's lobbied to have under God added to the pledge.

The Justice did not pre-judge the evidence and merits in the case which as far as I know had not yet formally presented to the SC. So I don't get the reason for the recusal. That's up to Scalia.

Now today this caller said that because Scalia has given his personal opinions in public on so many issues that could come before the court -- he'd be obligated to recuse himself on all of them -- and so he ought to nip this problem in the bud by resigning. It's yet another gotcha for the liberals to play with.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 3:09 PM Permalink

This is the 25th Anniversary of the election of the Pope

He's earned a special place in the hearts of all Catholics. I pray for him and wish him good health but realize he is being called back to God, so I pray for the Holy Spirit to be guiding the judgment of the Cardinals in contemplation of his successor.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:29 PM Permalink

New York Times: Feeding Tube Is Removed in Florida Right-to-Die Case By ABBY GOODNOUGH

PINELLAS PARK, Fla., Oct. 15 ?— Terri Schiavo received what was supposed to be her final feeding on Wednesday, but Gov. Jeb Bush told her parents that he would again try to stop her court-approved death.
Mrs. Schiavo, 39, who lost much of her brain function after her heart briefly stopped one night in 1990, has been at the center of a bruising legal battle between her husband, who says she is in an irreversible vegetative state and should be allowed to die, and her parents, who say she is aware and should be kept alive.
She breathes on her own, and her eyes are open much of the time, but she will starve within days without the stomach tube that has delivered her liquid nutrients for 13 years. It was removed at 2 p.m.

This is how most of the media handled it with the misleading headline that this is a Right-to-Die case.

My favorite newspaper, the New York Post didn't even run the AP story. New York today is consumed with news of the Staten Island Ferry disaster.

I also hope that there's not a spam bot in my comment boxes to annoy me. I'm praying and trying to increase awareness of the case in this blog.

Unfortunately, it looks like all the legal remedies that can be tried, have been tried. It always was in God's hands and even more so today.

I watched Hannity and Colmes and I thought legal analyst Lis Wiehl was disgraceful. She had a smirk on her face and constantly brought up the arguments used by Michael Schiavo -- making it clear that the court should have accepted all his claims without questioning them and neither does she question anything MS has said.

Sean: Leaving aside the court case, why doesn't MS allow her father to take care of Terri now? Lis: We can never question anyone's motives.

And then time ran out. Sean has been serious and passionate about getting this story out.

We always question people's motives -- especially so when in this case -- what Michael Schiavo does and intends to do contradicts common sense and common decency.

Another angle that is not often mentioned is suffering -- I don't know if Schiavo's attorneys represented that Terri is suffering or the only thing that requires the state to intervene here is the claim of persistent vegetative state.

terrisfight.org is the family's site.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:34 AM Permalink

aljazeera.net: US schoolgirl in hijab victory

An 11 year old American school girl from has won a historic victory after her school imposed a hijab ban.
Nashala 'Tallah' Hearn was suspended from school for five days when she refused to remove her hijab.
The Muslim teenager was told by teachers that it was against the school policy to allow anyone to cover their head in the classroom. One teacher referred to her hijab as a "bandana".
The case is the first of it's kind in the US involving a state school pupil.

I doubt very much that it is first of it's [sic] kind. In public schools all over the New York metropolitan area, the hijab is permitted. In fact, in some areas, the problem is that there's pressure applied to some Muslim girls to wear it who would prefer not to -- but don't expect aljazeera to report that.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:42 PM Permalink

1010WINS: Santeria Priest Vows to Go Ahead with Sacrifice

Saying he would not be cowed by fines against others like him, a Santeria priest vowed to go forward with an animal sacrifice in Passaic on Monday, insisting the activity is protected by a U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Felix Mota, a santero, or priest of the Afro-Cuban religion, said he will sacrifice a chicken at a Santeria altar in back of his religious artifact store, the Botanica St. Barbara, on Main Avenue in Passaic.
Mota, 43, a native of the Dominican Republic, where Santeria is more widely practiced, appeared with his lawyer, Jesus Pena, in front of the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Courthouse in Newark, in what they said was a pre-emptive measure.
Passaic Mayor Samuel Rivera said the city does not harass or interfere with animal sacrifice when it is involved in religious rituals but he said the city does have a livestock ordinance establishing standards for the keeping of livestock. He could not address what Mota and his lawyer described as a recent crackdown against other santeros.
Although no action has been taken against Mota, Pena brandished papers he said were a motion to dismiss charges against his client in the event Mota is arrested, fine or otherwise cited by authorities on Monday night.
Pena said the motion was based on the 1993 Supreme Court case, Lukumi Babaluaye v. the City of Hialeah, out of Florida, in which the justices found that ritual sacrifice was a protected form of religious expression, and therefor protected by the First Amendment.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 7:12 PM Permalink

1010 WINS: Staten Island Ferry Crash Might Have Been Pilot's Suicide Attempt

Passengers jumped for their lives as a Staten Island ferry crashed while docking at the St. George terminal on Staten Island. 1010 WINS correspondent Carol D'Auria reports that the pilot jumped ship after the accident and attempted to commit suicide at home.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 7:09 PM Permalink

Pledge

There's two ways the Court can avoid the issues raised in the pledge case:

The first is that the case is presented fradulently by Newdow:
- He did not and does not have custody of his daughter.
- She has no problem in reciting the pledge.
- She professes a belief in God
the other reason is a recent concept called ceremonial deism which is the idea that we say "God" but no longer mean it in the same sense that Washington and the Founders did. It's frequent and void-of-meaning usage no longer can in any sense be said to be establishing a religion.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:32 PM Permalink

1010 WINS: Gay Men Say Pastor Threw Them Out of Choir

(NEW YORK) A Catholic pastor ordered two men out of the choir because they went public with their gay wedding, the men say.
Michael Sabatino Jr., who has sung in the choir for 32 years, said he and his partner, Robert Voorheis, were confronted Sunday by Monsignor Edmund Whalen as they entered St. Benedict's Church in the Bronx.
Between Sept. 28 and Oct. 5, the Yonkers men had been profiled on the front page of The Journal News, featured in an article on gay marriage on ChristianityToday.com and married in a United Church of Canada ceremony in Ontario that was announced in The New York Times.

You can be sure that we're not getting the pastor's side of this without spin, but it looks like Msgr. Whalen did the right thing. I'm not sure if he didn't attempt to contact Sabatino privately after this so-called marriage was made public so as to avoid a confrontation at the Church.

Certainly Sabatino and Voorheis should have expected this would have come to the attention of the parish. What did they expect?

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:50 AM Permalink

UK Telegraph: Terrorists can have serious moral goals, says Williams

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, yesterday urged America to recognise that terrorists can "have serious moral goals".
He said that while terrorism must always be condemned, it was wrong to assume its perpetrators were devoid of political rationality. "It is possible to use unspeakably wicked means to pursue an aim that is shared by those who would not dream of acting in the same way, an aim that is intelligible or desirable."
He said that in ignoring this, in its criticism of al-Qa'eda, America "loses the power of self-criticism and becomes trapped in a self-referential morality."

File this under "I condemn terrorism but".

And speaking of "intelligible", when you are talking about the morality of an action -- what does rationality have to do with it? Evil is evil -- it's rationality is never an excuse.

Of course, Osama had strategy behind the 9/11 attack and if we measure success by body count -- it was successful. Is there something admirable about that, Your Excellency?

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:35 AM Permalink

Newsday: Garter ritual sparks melee at wedding

BELMAR, N.J. -- A wedding reception brawl that apparently started when a guest thought his girlfriend was manhandled during the traditional garter ritual ended with four people being arrested.
Four other people also were hospitalized and three police officers sustained minor injuries during the fight at the Barclay banquet hall in Belmar. About 40 people were involved in the melee, which began around 9:30 p.m. Sunday at the Monmouth County site.
Four Lyndhurst residents _ Anthony Juliano, 57, Joseph Haas, 38, Toni Powers, 32, and Stephen Ruzzano, 59 _ were charged with disorderly conduct. Juliano also charged with aggravated assault on a police officer and resisting arrest.
Haas told the Asbury Park Press of Neptune that his uncle, Ruzzano, caught the garter and put it "right up to her knee like a gentleman. Twenty minutes later, somebody walked up to my uncle and took a swing at him."
The unidentified guest who allegedly started the brawl was not charged, and the names of the injured guests were not immediately available. Kevin Murday, 27, a bartender who worked the wedding, said the fight appeared to be over before police arrived, but it flared up again as they arrived.
"It was a disaster," Murday said. "The bride and groom were pretty shocked. They just kind of sat there and stared."

That thing with the garter always struck me as just plain vulgar and I'm glad that I've not seen this at a wedding in over 10 years.

Who goes to a wedding to have a fight, anyway?

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:38 AM Permalink

Newsday: Diocese to Review St. Dom Faculty Credentials Probing principal's degree

Increasing its oversight of Long Island's oldest Catholic high school, the Diocese of Rockville Centre will review the academic credentials and certifications of the faculty of St. Dominic's in Oyster Bay. The action comes as the school's principal is being asked to produce evidence of her own advanced degree.
In a meeting today, top education officials of the diocese will meet with faculty to inform them of the details of the new evaluation process. Joanne O'Brien, associate superintendent of Catholic schools, will also review the "overall structure and academic programs," according to a recent memo sent to the staff.
The diocese is responding to "certain concerns in the parish about the school," said spokeswoman Joanne Novarro. "Everyone is going to have their credentials checked."
The challenge to Patricia A. Crisci comes amid a time of increased financial pressure on the high school as the struggling parish discontinues its annual $200,000 subsidy.
In recent weeks, Msgr. John Alesandro, St. Dominic's pastor, has twice asked Crisci to produce proof that she was awarded a PhD from Columbia University as she says. Alesandro challenged Crisci to respond after Newsday made an inquiry; he has declined to directly respond to requests for comment.

Columbia University cannot confirm that she has a PhD from them.

On the other hand, I have a Columbia University Masters of Science degree (Computer Science 1980)

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:32 AM Permalink

Mark-of-the-Beast (Rev. 13.16) Watch

Netscape: Sexist '60s Symbol Hot With Teen Girls

It's retro, but also cool. It's sexist and exploitative, but also sexy and alluring. It's the Playboy bunny logo--arguably one of the world's most recognizable corporate icons--and it's now the hottest new trend for teenage girls.
The 16-and-under crowd can't get enough of it. They paw through the racks and shelves at Gadzooks, Hot Topic, Wet Seal, and Spencer Gifts to find T-shirts, shorts, earrings, necklaces, and flip-flops emblazoned with the Playboy bunny. Huh? What's going on here?
According to one highly placed source--that would be a real, live 16-year-old girl who loves the stuff and has been "collecting" the Playboy bunny logo for two years--it's a great way to get guys to sit up and pay attention. "I want guys to notice me," Cassie Kalinger told Washington Post reporter Laura Sessions Stepp. "Once boys notice, they can get to know the real me." And when that happens, those boys will find out she's a field hockey goalie, a tutor in Washington, D.C. schools, and a good student.
Sales are sizzling. At Spencer Gifts, Playboy merchandise sales are up a whopping 80 percent this year. Playboy is quick to point out they are not marketing their goods to anyone under 18. But they know. They know who is really buying the stuff. And think about that for one minute. As The Post points out, this is the generation of girls who has been told since they were old enough to understand that they will not be judged on their looks and bodies and sex appeal. They will be judged on their brains and brawn and personality and character.
On the other hand, as any mother or teenage girl knows, finding clothing that is not provocative, low-cut, or high-rise is a challenge no matter what logo is emblazoned on it. Skin is in.
Weirdly, the clothes with the Playboy bunny on them tend to be more modest than the others. It turns out, that's being done on purpose. Pamela Fields, Playboy's senior vice president of licensing, told The Post that the company wants to go mainstream and become the "adult Disney."
They may be on to something. Last year, Playboy sold $300 million in consumer items, about $200 million of which was shelled out by women and teenage girls for fashion items and accessories.
And what does the legendary Hugh Hefner, now 77, think of this? He told The Post he "couldn't be happier." The rabbit represents "the best of our sexuality. It symbolizes personal and economic freedom for women, as well as men."

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:14 AM Permalink

Reuters: Bishop Wants Confession at Schools

NICOSIA (Reuters) - An Orthodox Bishop has offered to put confession boxes in every Cypriot school for teenagers to seek repentance for their sins.
Whether nabbed smoking or engaging in anything else that would make parents' hair stand on end, the bishop reckons the sanctuary of a confessional on school grounds would soon put teenagers back on the straight and narrow.

Netscape filed this under Fun and Games and not News

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:04 AM Permalink

Public Service Annoucement

The father of Terri Schindler-Schiavo will be on Hannity and Colmes on Fox News tonight.

This is the final hour as tomorrow is the date set for removing Terri's feeding tube. Worldnet Daily has the latest news.

Times Against Humanity has excellent coverage as well.

Remember Terri and all the others who are now living by means of a feeding tube in prayer.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 6:07 PM Permalink

Neopagan Watch

Diana, Queen of Heaven and some context

Wiccan Barbie on ebay

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 8:40 AM Permalink

Analogy

Primary credit for this goes to a caller to Limbaugh or Hannity today. I don't represent this as a verbatim transcript but it reflects my views as well:

Imagine a guy going into a 7-11 and has his hand buried in his coat so that it's either a finger or the barrell of a gun which is concealed.

"Give me all the money or I'll kill you". He says. You comply. A police officer appears at the door. "Hey's robbing me". "Get you hands up where I can see them." He doesn't comply but turns towards the police officer. "Bang!" The police officer shoots the guy. You and police officer discover that he had no gun. It was only a finger.

Was this a justifiable shooting? Yes, because the police officer has no way of discovering he had no weapon. The order to the robber to raise his hands was justified. You had no way of knowing that you would not have been killed so as to make your identification of the criminal impossible.

This would likely go down as "suicide by cop".

The point is that Saddam had the obligation to demonstrate that he did not posess the threat of WMD's. The 1991 creasefire agreement and UN resoutions placed the burden of proof on Saddam.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:19 AM Permalink

New York Times: Faith Fades Where It Once Burned Strong

ROME, Oct. 12 — Like many Italians in decades and childhoods past, Giampaolo Servadio used to go to Roman Catholic Mass every week. He even served as an altar boy.
But last Sunday morning, as church bells tolled around this city of storied cathedrals, he followed a different ritual: he went running. It struck him as a more relevant use of time.
"The church seems really out of step," said Mr. Servadio, 39, mentioning issues like birth control and questioning the very utility of prayer. "I don't see how something like a confession and a few repetitions of the `Hail Mary' are going to solve any problems."

Frank Bruni is at it again: spining that the Catholic Church is on its last legs.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 6:21 PM Permalink

Vis Vobiuscum...Et cum spiritu tuo.
May The Force be with you...and also with you.

wkyc: Mentor [Ohio] couple has out of this world wedding, Star Wars style

video link

Is this a wedding or a theme restaurant opening?

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 6:06 PM Permalink

A secret that isn't getting much circulation

Broadcast radio and television, at least in the United States, are supported by advertising -- they are free from the listener/viewer's point of view. At least there's the inconvenience of skipping over the commercials if you listen or watch time-shifted.

The secret is the cost of wireless phone calls and wireless internet is dropping so fast that that there might eventually be advertising-supported wireless phones.

How is this going to happen?

You'll enter a phone number and watch a commerical before you call is connected.

It's called media convergence.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 5:37 PM Permalink

Newsday: Clergy abuse victim, advocate commits suicide

NEWARK, N.J. -- A man who had been abused by a Roman Catholic priest as a youth, then spoke out about the burgeoning scandal that has rocked the church, committed suicide by stepping in front of a train.
Friends of James Thomas Kelly, 37, of Morristown, could not say whether his abuse was a direct factor in his death Sunday morning. But they said he was deeply hurt by his encounters with a priest as a young boy.
Kelly was an active member of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, and spoke often about his experiences in dealing with the molestation.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 5:31 PM Permalink

If they are a minority here, they must be a minority everywhere.

A caller to the Rush Limbaugh show disputed Rodger Hedgecock, the guest host.

The rebuttal by Rodger was familiar and unpersuasive: a lot of my neighbors are Muslims and they don't wake up in the morning with only one desire to kills Christians and Jews.

I have similar neighbors -- but too much of the world is Jihadist or in sympathy with them those who are. The world is not full of Muslim missionaries to win the hearts and minds of non-believers -- Islam where it is expanding geographically today is only doing so by violence (Sudan, Nigeria, Indonesia, Philippines, India, etc.)

The "War on Terror" is itself a politically correct term, the goals of Osama bin Laden was not terror for the sake of terror, but to start of sequence of geopolitical events to reconstruct the Caliphate along Wahabist lines -- so it could be called a "War on Jihad" if you want to connect the dots.

I didn't know that on 9/11/2001, and I don't expect everyone to agree with me but I urge everyone reading this who has the same opinion as Hedgecock to get educated on what this war is about by reading books on Islam's political and military strategies.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 4:51 PM Permalink

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Regina High bars girl wearing Muslim scarf

Follow-up: When last we heard, Amal Jamal who was given a choice of wearing the headscarf or no longer attending Regina High School (Euclid, near Cleveland, Ohio) by Sister Maureen Burke, the school's principal. The story appeared about 8/28/2003

It looks like the review was done and they did not change their mind.

Meanwhile in France, the story for what the rules will be in their secular schools is on page one. The original is in French and the English translation is from Google.

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 6:41 PM Permalink

Veronica Leuken / Bayside Movement / "Our Lady of the Roses"

Why do I call the Bayside Movement a Hoax?

Competent investigations have taken place and you can read what has been attributed to Jesus and Mary. I have drawn my conclusions and you can draw yours.

The Declaration Concerning the Bayside Movement (its condemnation by the Catholic Church.

These Last Days Ministries is one of the fractures of the original Bayside movement.

Lady of the Roses is the other fracture.

Queens Tribune: She came, she prayed, and she drew busloads of the faithful to the once-quiet enclave of Bayside Hills.

Veronica claimed she first received a message from "Our Lady of the Roses" in the kitchen of her Queens apartment. More sightings – and the scent of roses led Veronica to a series of vigils outside St. Robert Bellarmine Church in Bayside Hills. Crowds gathered from as far away as Canada to share the "miracle" – much to the chagrin of local residents.

Homeowners set-off a near riot when they held a street festival during one of the vigils. Another confrontation even led to the arrest of a local community leader and school board member [William Caulfield].

The Catholic diocese denounced the vigils and Queens prosecutors kicked-off an investigation of Veronica and her fundraising efforts. But nothing swayed Leuken. She came, she sat, she prayed – and Bayside Hills became a lighted fuse.

The Tribune was called on to act as liaison between the warring factors. Trib negotiators suggested Flushing Meadows as an alternate sight for the vigils.

In May 1975, Leuken said she had received instructions from "the Lady" to move the vigils to the sight of the former Vatican Pavillion in Flushing Meadows.

Future vigils were peaceful – and Bayside Hills returned to its once quiet routine. [another battle started when Mrs. Leuken died however]

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 12:29 PM Permalink

Mepham Update: "It's this simple: Keep your mouth shut and nothing will happen to you or your family."

Newsday/AP: Police: Threatening letters sent to parents

MERRICK, N.Y. (AP) _ Two parents who spoke publicly about the alleged sexual assault of three high school football players by their teammates received threatening letters telling them to keep quiet, Nassau County police said Saturday.
"We were given the letters," said police spokesman Officer Patrick Byrne. "The matter is under investigation." No arrests were made, he said.
The anonymous, handwritten letters bore no return address and were postmarked in neighboring Queens. The parents were warned in the notes that they would be sodomized with broomsticks unless they stopped speaking about the case, said Jim Rullo, who received one of the letters.
Three varsity players at Mepham High School have been accused of sodomizing three younger teammates with pine cones, golf balls and a broomstick at a preseason training camp in Pennsylvania.
Rullo said the letter read, "It's this simple: Keep your mouth shut and nothing will happen to you or your family."

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:10 AM Permalink