“I have been given personal assurances from the very highest sources….”

Pres. Obama’s attack on the Catholic Church – and the lead up to this attack, namely, a certain naivte on the part of the US Bishops during the prelude to Obamacare – I was reminded of the scene in the movie The Cardinal when Card. Innitzer of Vienna reassures Archbp. Fermoyle that he has assurances from the Fuehrer that the Church will be treated well with the Anschluss. Another reader here thought of the same thing and posted a comment elsewhere even as I was preparing to post the video clip.

Yah yah… I know about Godwin’s Law. That is not the point. In another entry I used the analogy of Shakespeare’s Richard III.

The point is that some people are suckers.  After they cede everything, for their reward, they get their throats cut.  I am sure you can come up with your own cinematographic examples.  One comes to mind: Bridge on the River Kwai.

Play

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18 Comments

  1. tcreek says:

    Forcing Catholic organizations to provide insurance for immoral procedures is but the third and final step in the assault against innocent human life. First contraception, then abortion, were made legal and bishops, for the most part, were all but silent until the last few years.

    Then, over the years, anti life forces passed laws which required that health insurance premiums cover contraception and abortion, forcing a large majority of Catholics to be unwillingly complicit in gravely immoral acts. Does anyone remember much outrage from the bishops when lay Catholics were forced to include contraception and abortion in many of their policies?

    Act 3 and the ball is placed in the bishops’ court. They are forced, now, to take a Collective stand. But is not the game lost? Even if they should win this political battle, what do they do about the 90% of Catholics that use contraceptives and pay insurance coverage for its use?

    And then there is this larger question, the gist of the problem, which would border on insanity if asked anytime in history other than the last 50 years. “Should the administration of health care to sick or injured patients include the prevention of new life forming in patients’(?) wombs and the destroying of that life if formed?” Our society got that wrong and it seems that all may be lost, whatever that “all” may be. Civilized society??? Bishops???

  2. Supertradmum says:

    I wrote earlier that if an adult is naive or gullible, there is a serious problem of character. Either a person has a hidden sin, which causes him or her to live in deceit, or that person has simply lost the Faith.

    Any adult is responsible for his or her actions, thoughts, decisions. We can choose to grow up and be real, or remain children, living in a fantasy world of no consequences and no responsibility. God’s World is Objective Truth, not subjective interpretation of morals based on feeling or political correctness. No more excuses, no more adolescent feeling sorry for one’s self and blaming others. Those narcissists who have created their own bubble worlds will find out that there are other narcissists who expect them to live in their world, only some have more power and and tyrannize the duped. We have had plenty of time to re-group either as individuals or as Catholics; since 1973 to be exact. Some of us have seen this coming for a long time. Personal holiness is the only answer. And, we have the Church to help us get to that holiness.

    This holiness means we shall be ostracized, marginalized, even persecuted. Some of us have already lost careers for standing up for Catholic truths in the market place. Some of us have suffered loss gladly, rather than compromise. I am reminded of two university professors, a married couple in Czechoslovakia under the Soviet Union, who, in the 1970s, both lost jobs rather than not go to Church. If people do not believe this has happened in America, they can talk to me.

    American Catholics can act now or suffer the consequences. It will be the same in Europe. There are three great enemies of the Church and if we do not identify these and prepare to fight against these, we shall lose the wars. Political correctness is a mirage. I am afraid that the hordes will win because we simply do not have enough gut for the battles. This one of freedom of conscience is only one battle. This is an obvious one. The harder enemy to conquer is this one within the Church and that is called Legion, but I also call it the Heresy of Modernism.

    The laity still refuse to learn their Faith. They are “too busy”. Like those in Germany, Austria, and most of Russia, they will be caught in their own laziness and stupor. All my adult life, I have tried to teach my students how to think, how to critically form and win arguments. I hope it is not too late for the rational arguments.

  3. MarkA says:

    Catholics still favor Obama over GOP candidates
    http://blog.chron.com/believeitornot/2012/02/catholics-still-favor-obama-over-gop-candidates/
    According to the Public Religion Research Institute, Obama gets 48 percent of the Catholic votes to Romney’s 40 percent and 56 percent of the Catholic vote to Gingrich’s 32 percent.

  4. Supertradmum says:

    PS This president is perfectly capable of purposefully leading us into a war and calling a draft, thereby getting automatically elected, as no president during an out and out war has not been so. Watch and see. Hitler created wars not only because of his fantasy of the Third Reich, but because the wars took people’s attentions away from unemployment and high inflation. He used the situation and manipulated the masses for his own purposes. I fully expect this to happen. The only real power against the burgeoning state in America is the Catholic Church and those in power know that. Also, if there is a war, a scapegoat always has to be found. In the Third Reich, it was the Jews. Guess who it will be the next time?

  5. Godwin’s Law is VASTLY over-rated. I wince at bad and hyperbolic analogies all the time, but sometimes, what we see around us really is analogous to Nazism. Lately, Godwin’s law has been invoked, or just hinted at, as a way of shaming folks out of drawing some very appropriate parallels.

  6. mwmn says:

    It just doesn’t make sense why Obama would announce a policy that wont’ take effect for a year and has the potential to cause him problems during the election. Why wouldn’t he until after the election? Why take the risk of alienating Catholics? I would think anyone in favor of this policy was more than likely going to vote for Obama anyway. I keep wondering if at sometime point before the election they back off and all the Obama Catholics will loudly rejoice and claim that it’s OK to vote for him. Of course, once he’s won the election, the policy returns. Sign me cynical.

  7. gambletrainman says:

    What comes to my mind is one of the Saint Theresas, I don’t remember which, who had visions of the future (according to her time period) that she was so sorry that she did not live in that generation, as there would be many, many martyrs for the faith. I’m wondering if she could have been referring to our time, as, take a look around—christians in the middle east murdered in Catholic churches, just for attending Mass (especially at Christmas time). Now, this, where we are forced into the health care. Many unborn babies (yeah, I know about limbo, but, if God wills, there may be exceptions and at least some of these children may be admitted into full glory—look at the group we respectfully honor as the Holy Innocents). Also, the plans for the elderly and infirm (I fit both categories), so that they will be forced into “euthanasia”. If IF Obama gets another term, he COULD be worse than Hitler. The more I see what is going on in today’s society, the more I’m of the opinion that this generation could see many martyrs, and not excluding me. Whatever God wills, let it be done.

  8. Supertradmum says:

    gambletrainman,

    When I taught, I told my classes, if they were Catholic ones, that they were in the age of martyrs. Just be prepared.

  9. r.j.sciurus says:

    So who should we nominate for the Neville Chamberlain Award?

  10. XYZ321 says:

    Excellent video clip!
    Thank you.

  11. Dennis Martin says:

    MWNM: Eggzackly!

    It is, in my view, a tactical mistake to focus on getting the regulations overturned. The real issue is Obamacare itself which hands authority for making regulations of this breathtaking scope to the bureaucrats.

    Subsidiarity. Subsidiarity. Subsidiarity.

    This is a head-feint. They will push back against us then suddenly let go and retreat. The bishops breathe a sigh of relief and Obamacare, with all of its incredible power in the hands of the Executive Branch, to do us even worse harm.

    If Obama gets 4 more years, the Federal Bench will be stuffed so full of Culture of Death types and the power of the bureaucracy will be so entrenched that future elections won’t matter.

    Getting the regulations overturned is not the center here. Sweeping electoral change and the repeal of Obamacare, returning health insurance and a host of other matters to the states and localities where it belongs, is the issue.

  12. Tradster says:

    Dennis Martin is absolutely correct. By focusing on only the Catholic issue, everyone is automatically ceding to the administration the power to impose the rest of the mandates without a whimper. The battle must be against the entire power grab, not just the Catholic hospitals piece. Do not lose sight of the big picture and do not give up any ground to those evil people!

  13. Hughie says:

    Sorry, didn’t see this post until Tuesday morning. The Cardinal is my favourite book but I am not really a fan of the film. The scene you mention, Fr, where Cardinal Innitzer of Vienna reassures Archbishop Fermoyle that he has assurances from the Fuehrer that the Church will be treated well with the Anschluss simply does not come from the book and has no relevance to any of the themes dealt with by Henry Morton Robinson in the book.

  14. Clinton R. says:

    That image of Obama being feted at Notre Dame is enough to make me sick! How revolting the shame and scandal brought by this once upon a time bastion of Catholic faith and tradition! How few will the number of Catholics be that adhere to the Faith when Our Lord comes again? Blessed Mary, ever Virgin Mother of God, ora pro nobis.

  15. Maltese says:

    @MarkA: Catholics still favor Obama over GOP candidates

    What’s surprising? 95% of fertile “Catholic” couples commit the mortal sin of contraception, [95%? Back that up with proper evidence, please.] and abort in equal measure with the rest of society. Soon they’ll get their baby-killing drugs for free.

  16. wmeyer says:

    The fundamental problem with Godwin’s Law is that it posits the notion that any reference to Nazism is a diversion or deflection of the argument. The first time I encountered it, I thought it was a joke. It is willful blindness.

    However, in the case at hand, whatever political label you choose to apply (and there is no shortage of candidates), Obama is most assuredly heading us in the direction of a totalitarian government.

  17. Supertradmum says:

    wmeyer,
    I hate the idea that we cannot make comparisons and I think you know the book on the steps of religious persecution to which I have referred here and elsewhere. One can extrapolate to make, from raw data, patterns. It is the blind who do not want to see these things that make fun or undermine the basic truths. Someone sent the complete list to me, which I had, but here it is nicely done, and I had a similar list on this blog months ago. Also, I put a chart on my blog today with a theme very like all of this discussion.

    1. Identifying: This involves finger-pointing by the ruling authority for the purpose of placing the blame for the nation’s troubles on one particular group. In 1 Kings 18:17, King Ahab identifies the prophet Elijah as being the one responsible for the drought that took place in the land of Israel. He accused Elijah by asking the question, “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” The true body of Christ and Biblical Christianity in America today are blamed for being the greatest obstacles to the liberal establishment’s plans for a totally humanistic “utopian” society.

    2. Marginalizing: By this means, the “politically incorrect” portion of the Church is looked upon as not being part of the mainstream of society. This is done by an organized smear campaign conducted by the ruling authorities through the national news media. They do this by the use of such trigger words as radical, extremists, separatists, and fringe.

    3. Vilifying: By this means, the persecutors employ such methods as uttering slanderous and abusive statements against targeted groups as to cheapen and debase their worth and significance in society. The accusers need no factual evidence for their accusations, but innuendoes, insinuations, hints and making associations with other previously known undesirables of society.

    4. Criminalizing: In implementing this step of persecution, it gives the state “legal” justification for arresting and incarcerating the accused. Here the state charges the persecuted with accusations of alleged criminal wrong-doing. The state naturally picks on the most vulnerable segment of the Church in order to send their threatening message to all the rest who adhere to similar views and practices. Incarceration of a few means intimidation of the many. Victimization of a government- protected group is a direct result of the incrimination of the accused. This gives the state “legal” authority to take a heavy-handed control in “protecting” its citizens. Presently, our federal government has several groups which they deem as “victims” for whom they feel responsibility to protect.

    5. Terrorizing. This is the blatant and outright acts of terrorism carried out by the police powers of the state against the persecuted. These are acts of coercion by threat or by violence and are intended to create anxiety and fear in the hearts of its victims, with the purpose of silencing and neutralizing the opponents of the tyrannical government in power–from adoremus

  18. Supertradmum says:

    I have been trying to find good research on the numbers of Catholics contracepting and cannot find reliable sources. The pro-choice Catholic websites put the number as high as 80-97%. But, I doubt that. Many Catholics use NFP or nothing, and as the numbers do not reflect the usual Midwest population, as the vast majority of polls are done either on the East or West Coasts, I would guess a number closer to 75% judging by the number of families I know which plus five children who are trad, and many which home school. If anyone finds a reliable poll or other statistic, let us know. But, Father Z is correct above at balking at the high percentage, gleaned as far as I can see, from sites that support abortion and contraception.

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