Fr. Z's Blog | Formerly entitled: "What Does The Prayer Really Say?" – Clear, straight commentary on Catholic issues, liturgy and life by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf o{]:¬)

Baker refuses to make “gay” cake. Jail for the baker?

Posted on 9 July 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Biretta tip to Pewsitter for this.

As I have been saying, we are going to see a lot more of this.

Colorado Baker Faces Year in Jail for Refusing to Make Cake for Gay Wedding

According to attorney Nicolle Martin, the owners of a Colorado bakery could face a year in prison for refusing to make a cake for a gay wedding, Jim Hoft reported at the Gateway Pundit Monday.

“The complainants can sue him civilly in the regular courts system or he can potentially be prosecuted by the district attorney for up to twelve months in jail,” Martin told Hoft.

…The Advocate said the Colorado Civil Rights Commission is set to hear the case in September.

Yes, folks. Coming to a parish near you.

One of these days a Catholic parish will get targeted for something along these lines. A “couple” will want to rent a hall, or use the church, or… something.

Posted in Our Catholic Identity, Religious Liberty, The Drill, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged homosexual activists, persecution
37 Comments

WISCONSIN: New pro-life law passed – ultrasound

Posted on 9 July 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From Citizen Link:

Wisconsin Gov. Signs Pro-Life Bill into Law
by Bethany Monk

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill into law Friday requiring that women seeking abortions be given the opportunity to see their preborn babies via ultrasound. Senate Bill 206, or Sonya’s Law, also requires that an abortionist have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of an abortion facility.

“Sonya’s Law will empower women to make truly informed decisions regarding how they will proceed with their pregnancies and will protect the lives of women who experience complications after their abortions,” said Wisconsin Right to Life Legislative Director Susan Armacost.

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin and Affiliated Medical Services announced plans to file suit against the law. [Whaddya know.]

This announcement is no surprise to anyone, Armacost said.

“It appears that the court challenge will focus on the hospital admitting privileges,” she explained. “Apparently, Wisconsin’s abortion clinics don’t believe their abortionists need to have hospital privileges at a local hospital within 30 miles of their clinic — or anywhere at all.

Laws requiring hospital admitted privileges have been enacted in North Dakota, Alabama and Mississippi, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion organization.

Currently, when a woman in Wisconsin experiences life-threatening complications after an abortion, the abortion seller sends to her a hospital alone. She must then explain her medical issues to the emergency room staff.

“The abortionist who performed the abortion is nowhere to be seen,” Armacost explained. “This deplorable situation must change.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Learn more about SB 206.

Read the Guttmacher Institute’s “State Policies in Brief: An Overview of Abortion Laws.”

UPDATE:

From Alliance Alert/AP:

AP: A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order Monday evening to block enforcement of a new Wisconsin law that bans doctors who lack admitting privileges at nearby hospitals from performing abortions. | Opinion and Order (July 8, 2013) | ACLU press release announcing the filing and complaint.

Posted in Brick by Brick, Emanations from Penumbras | Tagged abortion, Gov. Walker, Sonya’s Law, ultrasound, Wisconsin
6 Comments

Your Tax Dollars At Work

Posted on 9 July 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I had to work a while to get my mind around this headline.

From CNS:

$357K Federal Project Will Use Spanish Ads to Promote Condoms Among Gay Foreign-Born Men

Your tax dollars at work for Pres. Obama’s agenda.

This is a project of the National Institute of Health, an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Religious Liberty, The Drill | Tagged HHS, National Institute of Health, NIH, Pres. Obama
10 Comments

QUAERITUR: If I move, can I still go to my old parish?

Posted on 9 July 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

If one has been a particular parish for 40 odd years and now just because he has moved to a new place, bought a house and so comes under the jurisdiction of another parish, wants to continue coming to old parish and fulfill all obligation of providing support to church etc. Can he be stopped by the old parish priest to continue the membership?

“Membership” in a parish is a matter determined by law, not by the wishes of individuals.

Membership in a parish is determined by domicile, or by membership in a particular group for which a personal parish is established (ethnic parishes, college parishes, etc.).

One is not required to attend one’s territorial parish, and ordinarily, one cannot be prohibited from attending another parish, unless there is some sort of a penal precept involved. Or… now that I think of it, you have been a complete jerk and there is a court order prohibiting you from going there.

Remember, regular attendance does not equate to membership. Regular attendance does not give one the rights of a member (burial from that parish, inclusion in the intentions of the Missa pro populo or other spiritual benefits, right to have one’s marriage solemnized there…).

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged parishes
21 Comments

New book about women religious!

Posted on 9 July 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

If you want to understanding something about how many of the women religious in these USA have gone completely off their rockers, here is the book to get.

I have the first book, from 1997. Now there is an updated, second version.

This book is now available for PRE-ORDER at a reduced price. Based on my reading of her first version, I’ll recommend this sight not-yet-seen. In the new book Carey drills into the “doctrinal assessment” and the LCWR, as well as the rise of new communities which are more traditional (read: not crazy).

Sisters in Crisis Revisited: From Unraveling to Reform and Renewal by Anne Carey

Click!

UK and Canadian readers: copy and paste titles you see here into the Amazon search boxes I have at the bottom of the blog!

Posted in Our Catholic Identity, The Campus Telephone Pole, The Drill, Women Religious | Tagged Anne Carey, LCWR, women religious
7 Comments

Women sterilized in prison – like animals who shouldn’t breed

Posted on 9 July 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I saw a story in the Sacramento Bee. Here it is with a couple substitutions of words:

Female inmates sterilized in [Communist Chinese] prisons

Doctors under contract with the [Communist Chinese] Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation sterilized nearly 150 female inmates from 2006 to 2010 without required state approvals, the Center for Investigative Reporting has found.

At least 148 women received tubal ligations in violation of prison rules during those five years – and there are perhaps 100 more dating back to the late 1990s, according to state documents and interviews.

From 1997 to 2010, the state paid doctors $147,460 to perform the procedure, according to a database of contracted medical services for state prisoners.

The women were signed up for the surgery while they were pregnant and housed at either the [Communist Chinese] Institution for Women in Corona or Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla, which is now a men’s prison.

Former inmates and prisoner advocates maintain that prison medical staff coerced the women, targeting those deemed likely to return to prison in the future.

Crystal Nguyen, a former Valley State Prison inmate who worked in the prison’s infirmary during 2007, said she often overheard medical staff asking inmates who had served multiple prison terms to agree to be sterilized.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s not right,’ ” said Nguyen, 28. “Do they think they’re animals, and they don’t want them to breed anymore?”

[…]

Yes, I substituted “Communist Chinese” for California.

Smacks of eugenics, doesn’t it?

Posted in Emanations from Penumbras | Tagged California, eugenics, sterilization
31 Comments

CARTOON: A Brief Catholic History of the Internet

Posted on 8 July 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

In lighter news, a fellow named Jason Bach has been posting some Catholic cartoons online. This one caused a smile. Click the image for a larger version at his site:

Posted in Lighter fare | Tagged cartoons, Jason Bach
6 Comments

Wherein Fr. Z rants about “news” coverage

Posted on 8 July 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

While running errands today I heard an “oldie” from Don Henley, which included the lyrics (pretty close, I think):

We’ve got the bubble-headed bleach-blonde who comes on at five
she can tell you ’bout the plane crash with a gleam in her eye.
It’s interesting when people die.
Give us dirty laundry.

Dog on the freeway!

The latest kidnapping!

Teacher seduces 15 year-old student!

SUV chase in LA!

If it bleeds, it leads! If is screws, it’s news!

Granted a big plane crash is a bigger deal than a dog on the freeway, but – sheesh – 24/7 wall to wall? Really?

I want more public policy and international news coverage.

I am pretty annoyed with US news, both MSM broadcast and cable. They beat certain stories incessantly and leave what is going on in the rest of the world on the shelf.

Where do we have to go for news? Al Jazeera? CCTV?

I can stand a few minutes at a time now. Now I DVR certain programs so that I can cut out commercials – don’t get me started on them! – and bypass idiot stories.

And let’s not let give Catholic media a pass. The Pope is worried about what cars religious drive? REALLY? Liberals are all aflutter. You might not know this but he traded down from his new VW Phaeton (ka-ching) to a 10 year-old Ford Focus. Yes, indeed. He has also diminished his escort. Let’s think: a Pope in an old Ford Focus in Roman traffic with a small escort: What could go wrong?

I think spending a little more on a car and escort that would keep him alive between point A and B would cost a hell of a lot less than another conclave. Just’ thinkin’ out loud.

And does L’Osservatore Romano really have to delve into the question of whether The Hulk is Catholic? “Is the Hulk Catholic?” (Yes, by the way).

I need a new desk. There is a growing dent from my forehead right smack-dab in the center.

UPDATE

Because someone brought it up in the combos (where people are having a little fun because real Catholics have a sense of humor…):

And then there’s the Cap’:

Look.

The world is essentially divided into two types of people: DC types and Marvel types.

Lines like that could lead a guy to become a Marvel type.

On the other hand, Superman went to a priest, didn’t he.

What a dilemma.

Posted in Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged cable news
55 Comments

WaPo on Planned Parenthood and ALCU suing in Wisconsin

Posted on 8 July 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Pay attention to the language in “news” reports from the MSM. There is often a rhetorical battle being waged at the level of word choices. Background on the Wisconsin story HERE.

From WaPo:

Planned Parenthood, ACLU sue Wisconsin over abortion law

Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the American Civil Liberties Union are suing Wisconsin to try to block a new law that would require abortion providers to have admitting privileges at local hospitals. [Aside… big business abortion wants to keep their profits high.]

The law, set to take effect Monday, was “rushed” through the legislative process last month, [That’s not a journalist’s bias. Noooo….] the groups said in a complaint filed Friday in federal court in Madison, Wis. The measure would force two of the state’s four abortion providers to shut down, according to the complaint. A fifth clinic is set to close for unrelated reasons, according to the groups.

[…]

The Wisconsin law would force clinics in Milwaukee and Appleton to close and cause Planned Parenthood to cut staff and services at another clinic in Milwaukee, the state’s most populous city. The changes would make the procedure unavailable after 19 weeks of pregnancy and leave much of the state without any abortion providers, according to the complaint.

[…]

See what they are doing?

So, aside from the news item… the ACLU and Planned Parenthood, just one pair of interchangeable horns available to The Hornéd One on a daily basis… we see how language is used to sway opinion about the new.

UPDATE:

If you want to know what is going on between the sheets in the Planned Parenthood/ACLU menage with Ol’Scratch, just listen to what the hired protesters are chanting at the Texas capitol last week when the abortion legislation was debated. You can clearly hear at about 5:15 in the video onward, the chant “Hail, Satan!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OgfAAIpHns&feature=player_embedded

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Emanations from Penumbras, The Drill | Tagged abortion, ACLU, language, MSM, Planned Parenthood, Rhetoric
14 Comments

TV station to broadcast Muslim call to prayer

Posted on 8 July 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From WND:

An announcement by a television station in the United Kingdom that it will broadcast the Muslim call to prayer daily during the month-long religious observation called Ramadan has sparked concerns by those who point out that the nation’s constitution recognizes God the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ and “in any other age” the action “would have been regarded as treason.”

The announcement comes from Channel 4, which, according to spokesman Ralph Lee, is responding to factors that are pressing in society.

[…]

I wonder if the broadcasting of the adh?n will come before or after their broadcasting of the Angelus. What do you think would be better? Before? After?

Here’s the deal.

Ramadan is turning into a big deal because a) it is chic to prefer Muslims to Christians these days because we all know that Christians are hypocritical homophobic losers and Muslims are… well… not Christians (leave aside the head-sawing episodes and chants of “DEATH” to just about everyone) and b) Christians and especially Catholics have abandoned their Catholic/Christian identity in the public square. Nature abhors a vacuum.

Just looking at the “fasting” dimension of this: In the UK the bishops of England and Wales recently made abstinence on all Fridays binding for Catholics.

We could benefit from some commentary by our friends in Ol’ Blighty about how that is going.

In the meantime, Sts. Nunilo and Alodia, pray for us.

UPDATE:

Remember this poll?