ACTION ITEM! A TWITTER PROJECT REQUEST from Fr. Z

Posted on 9 May 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Catholics need to learn better how to use the new media, new tools of social communication, and social networking.

(On that score, I renew my appeal that you please use early and often the sharing buttons on these entries. Thanks!)

I saw this at the blog of Paolo Rodari of the Italian Il Foglio.  

It seems that Signor Rodari had a little time on his hands and he compared the number of Twitter followers of several Cardinals of Holy Catholic Church.

In the lead (to my dismay) is Card. Ravasi.  

In testa c’è Ravasi, ma la new entry è Dolan

A guidare i cardinali su twitter è Ravasi (anche se Red Ronnie lo accusa di non ritwittare mai), ma la macchina comunicativa Timothy Dolan (l’ultimo a entrare) sale, come un fulmine.

1. Gianfranco Ravasi, 18.224 followers.
2. Odilo Scherer, 13.462 followers.
3. Angelo Scola, 7.025 followers.
4. Sean Patrick O’Malley, 3.672 followers.
5. Timothy Dolan, 2.060 followers.
6. Wilfrid Fox Napier, 1.202 followers.

Card. Dolan’s account seems top be very new.

He needs followers.  And this is WHY….

I am convinced that because of this blog and you readers and the other Catholic bloggers who picked up the TIME 100 persons campaign, Card. Dolan wound up much higher on the list than he would have otherwise.   TIME Magazine is hardly important anymore, but these lists are useful.  I argued that, even as we admit that TIME is mostly irrelevant, it is better to be on the list than not.  In fact, a couple days I heard the host of an evening analysis show on FNC refer to this list.  Card. Dolan wound up higher on TIME’s list and I believe we made that happen.

So, I make this appeal to you.  Please “follow” Card. Dolan on Twitter, not because his tweets are terribly interesting (so far they aren’t), but because he is the President of the USCCB in a time when the Obama Administration is waging a war on religious liberty.  Push that number of followers up.

To “follow” Card. Dolan…

CLICK HERE

Send him a supportive tweet and tell him @fatherz sent you!

You saw that liberal catholics tried recently to use Twitter with a hashtag to divert attention from the real point of the CDF’s reforming efforts aimed at the LCWR.  That Twitter-war was written about in major newspapers.  You may say, “Oh that Twitter thing doesn’t interest me!”, but it is not nothing when it comes to current debates in the media and the dissemination of information.  Twitter gets attention.

As we learn from baseball – the game God loves best (except perhaps when the Yankees win) – the slow aggregation of tiny advantages can over the period of a season lead to a winning record.

Oh yes… please “follow” me, too, @fatherz, if you haven’t already.  Thanks!

Click the image, below.  Will you help me get to 10k?

ACTION ITEM! A TWITTER PROJECT REQUEST from Fr. Z

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Brick by Brick, Our Catholic Identity, Religious Liberty, The Drill, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged , , , , ,
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Whooping Cough, again

Posted on 9 May 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Please use the sharing buttons!  Thanks!

Do any of you remember that some months ago I mentioned in these electronic pages that Whooping Cough was making a comeback?

Do you have young children?  Get informed.

And even if you are an adult, you don’t want to get Whooping Cough.

A doctor friend of mine came down with the highly infectious Pertussis… Whooping Cough… and it knocked her off her feet for a couple months.   In a regular meeting of our literary group, she discussed Whopping Cough with another M.D.  They scared the you-know-what out of me.  I resolved to get periodic Tetanus and Pertussis boosters.

Pertussis is from Latin, of course.  Tussio is “to cough” and tussis is “a cough”.  The prefix per– is an intensifier.

Whooping Cough is so violent that you can break your own ribs.

Whooping Cough may sound like a blast from the past, some distant thing that perhaps your grandparents may have mentioned.

Now I read this story from the Santa Fe New Mexican:

N.M. infant dies of whooping cough

A 2-month-old San Miguel County infant died from whooping cough last week, the state Department of Health announced Monday.

The agency is still trying to determine how the child contracted the disease, also known as pertussis. There have been no confirmed cases of the disease among the child’s immediate family.

It was the first pertussis-related death in New Mexico since 2005.

The department recommends that babies receive three vaccinations against pertussis by the age of 6 months. According to the recommendations, the vaccinations should be administered at 2 months, 4 months and 6 months. Repeated vaccinations are recommended between 15 and 18 months, again between 4 and 6 years of age, again in middle school, and again as a teen or adult.

A booster is recommended for adults who have close contact with infants.

[…]

Read the rest there.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Linking Back, The Drill | Tagged , ,
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Joe Biden: Theologian!

Posted on 9 May 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A priest friend of mine, one of the 5 smartest people I know, has for many years referred to now Vice President Joe Biden as the dumbest man in the Senate.  I have sometimes argued in favor of one or two others for that slot, but my good friend usually prevails.

It appears that VP Biden is now, like Pres. Obama, a theologian.

Agere sequitur esse.

From Life News:

Pro-Abortion Joe Biden Claims Paul Ryan Violates Catholic Teaching
by Steven Ertelt

Joe Biden is at it again, attempting to represent the views of the Catholic Church and asserting someone else had violated them — all while he steadfastly supports abortion. [As well as unnatural acts, as we learned on Meet The Press last weekend.]

Biden spoke today at a rabbinical assembly and made the claim that Republican congressman Paul Ryan’s budget, which GOP lawmakers strongly support and around which Republican voters may rally in this year’s elections, violates Catholic social teaching. [See my comments, above.]

Biden made the claim that the budget is “contrary to the social doctrine you teach and the social doctrine my church teaches.”

Ed Morrissey of Hot Air noticed Biden’s comment and said he found it hypocritical.

“Few parts of Catholic doctrine are as misunderstood as the Catholic teachings on social justice, which is Biden’s reference here. Tina Korbe wrote about this very topic in connection with the Ryan budget a month ago, when Ryan defended his budget approach in relation to his faith,” he said. “But even apart from Ryan’s defense — which as a fellow Catholic I find compelling — let’s take a look at Pastor Biden and his own adherence to Catholic doctrine related to public policy.”  [Yes, let’s do!]

“In 2008, when Biden joined Barack Obama on the ticket, NBC’s Tom Brokaw asked him about his support for abortion rights after Edward Cardinal Egan ripped pro-abortion politicians as unworthy leadership in a self-respecting democracy. Brokaw asked how Biden would answer Obama if asked about when life begins,” he said.

This is the same Biden who, earlier this year, admitted the Obama Administration “screwed up” on protecting rights of conscience when the Obama administration issued its controversial mandate — also a key Catholic teaching and one the nation’s Catholic bishops have pressed against the Obama administration for years.

“I [Biden, lest you have lost the thread…] was the one that was tasked to meet with the National Conference of Bishops, and others and Cardinal Dolan, to talk about this,” Biden said in videotaped remarks that are making their way across the Internet today. “The fact of the matter is, the ultimate resolution to this problem is where it should have been in the first place.”

“The conscience clause is being honored in its literal sense. [?!? In that… what… there is an admission that people have consciences before the administration violates them?] What is happening now is that we have been able to provide what was hard to set up — it got screwed up in the first iteration — is that any hospital, no matter where it is, no matter who runs it, profit or non-profit, religious-based or otherwise, has to provide insurance to their employees like everybody else does,” he said.

Joe Biden’s own bishop has had to correct the pro-abortion politician on his misstating the pro-life teachings of the Catholic Church.

In the interview with the Delaware News Journal, Biden continued to misrepresent the position of the Catholic Church on abortion in a way that has gotten him in trouble recently.

“But throughout the church’s history, we’ve argued between whether or not it is wrong in every circumstance and the degree of wrong. Catholics have this notion, it’s almost a gradation,” Biden claimed. [See my remarks, above.]

Not so, says Rev. W. Francis Malooly, the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington.

He writes in a new letter to the editor that Biden “presents a seriously erroneous picture of Catholic teaching on abortion.”  [CANON 915!]

“This is simply incorrect,” he says of Biden’s interpretation. “The teaching of the Church is clear and not open to debate. Abortion is a grave sin because it is the wrongful taking of an innocent human life.”

“The Church received the tradition opposing abortion from Judaism. In the Greco-Roman world, early Christians were identifiable by their rejection of the common practices of abortion and infanticide,” Malooly goes on to say.

“The Didache, probably the earliest Christian writing apart from the New Testament, explicitly condemns abortion without exceptions,” he continues. “This has been the consistent teaching of the Church ever since.”

Poor man.  He probably can’t help it.

But you would think that, with a modicum of good will, he would be able to get right the Church’s teaching about abortion.

 

 

Posted in Emanations from Penumbras, One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity, The Drill | Tagged ,
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The order of the Moon and of the stars

Posted on 8 May 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Thus saith the Lord, who giveth the sun for the light of the day, the order of the moon and of the stars, for the light of the night: who stirreth up the sea, and the waves thereof roar, the Lord of hosts is his name. – Jeremiah 31:35

From Astronomy Pic of the Day. Take a break and watch this very cool video.

Posted in Lighter fare, Look! Up in the sky! |
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8 May: Indulgence – Supplication to O.L. of Pompeii

Posted on 8 May 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

8 May: Indulgence - Supplication to O.L. of PompeiiThere is a beautiful tradition for this day (often right at 1200 noon).  Once upon a time one could obtain this day a plenary indulgence by reciting the Supplication to the Madonna of Pompeii.  The other day for this is the first Sunday of October.

With the changes to the concessions for indulgences, according to the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, there is no longer any plenary indulgence for this prayer, notwithstanding anything you might see in some old book or on a website.  For example, if you see something about Pope Leo XIII granting an indulgence, etc., that is null and void now.

However, the new Enchiridion says with concession #17, §3 that Marian prayers obtain a partial indulgence under the condition that the prayer is approved by competent authority and that it is recited with fervor in the state of grace (you don’t need confession and Communion within 8 days, nor must you recite the prayers for the Roman Pontiffs intentions for a partial indulgence). You can receive a partial indulgence, by maintaining this beautiful custom of the Supplication today. 

The text of the prayer to recite is below (in English).  The language may seem florid to 21st century ears and tongues but it is vigorous, serious, and super Catholic.  We need more unabashedly fervent prayers like this, friends.

If you have a hard time reciting this, you can listen.  I attached an audio file of the prayer to this entry.

Brief background:

This devotion was started by Bl. Bartolo Longo, who had once been a Satanist “priest”.  He converted, did penance, and became a lay Dominican. In 1872, Longo, a lawyer, went to Pompeii see to the affairs of Countess Marianna Farnararo De Fusco. He started there a Confraternity of the Rosary.  They obtained a picture of the Blessed Virgin from a monastery, which before that was in a second hand store, before which they could recite the Rosary every day.  It showed Mary with Sts. Dominic and Catherine of Siena.  In 1875 Longo received permission to build a church.  Miracles were reported and pilgrimages began.  The picture has been restored several times since then.  Longo also saw tot he building of complex for works of mercy with orphans and prisoners.  Pope John Paul II beatified Bartolo Longo in 1980.  Some of his writings form the basis of the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary.

You reach the sanctuary easily by walking just a few minutes out the back gate of the ancient ruins of Pompeii, famously destroyed  by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79.

Here is the prayer to be recited (twice during the year).  It obtains, under the usual conditions, a partial indulgence. 

8 May: Indulgence - Supplication to O.L. of PompeiiPETITION TO OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY OF POMPEII

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I.
O august Queen of victories, Virgin who reignest in paradise, whose mighty name causes heaven to rejoice and hell to tremble, o glorious Queen of the most holy Rosary, we, thy happy children chosen by thy goodness in this century to build thee a temple at Pompeii, kneeling at thy feet on this solemn day to commemorate thy latest triumphs on the spot where idols and demons were formerly worshipped, we pour out with tears the feelings of our hearts and with a filial confidence lay before thee our miseries.

From that throne of mercy where thou sittest as Queen, o Mary, turn down thy pitiful eyes on us, on our families, on Italy, on Europe, and the whole Church; take into pity the afflictions which overwhelm us and the cares which embitter our life. Thou seest, o Mother, how many dangers of soul and body, how many calamities and afflictions press upon us.

O Mother, keep back the arm of justice of thy indignant Son, and conquer by thy mercy the hearts of sinners, since they are our brethren and thy children, redeemed through the blood of our sweet Jesus and through the wounds of thy most tender heart pierced with the sword. Show thyself to all in this day, as thou art, the Queen of peace and mercy.

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy,…
–    Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, o sacred Virgin.
–    Give me strength against thy enemies.
–    Pray for us, Queen of the most holy Rosary,
–    That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

II.
It is but too true that we, although thy children, are the first who crucify Jesus in our hearts and wound anew thy heart by our sins. We confess it, we deserve the severest chastisements; yet remember how thou didst receive, on the top of Golgotha, the last drops of that divine blood, and the testament of our dying Redeemer. And this testament of a God, sealed with the blood of a Man-God, appointed thee our Mother, the Mother of sinners. Thus, as our Mother, thou art our Advocate and our Hope. To thee, amidst sighs,  do we lift up our hands, crying for mercy!

Have pity, good mother, have pity on us, on our souls, on our families, on our relations, on our friends, on our departed brethren, above all, on our enemies, and on so many who claim the name of Christians, yet wound the loving heart of thy Son. Pity, o Mother, we now implore thee for pity on the erring nations, on all Europe, on the whole world, that they may repair repentant to thy heart. Be merciful to all, o Mother of mercy.

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy,…
–    Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, o sacred Virgin.
–    Give me strength against thy enemies.
–    Pray for us, Queen of the most holy Rosary,
–    That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

III.
What does it cost thee, o Mary, to hear us? What does it cost thee to save us? Did not Jesus entrust to thy hands all the treasures of his graces and mercies? Thou sittest as Queen at the right hand of thy Son, crowned with immortal glory, above all the choirs of angels. Thou extendest thy dominion as far as the heavens expand, the earth and all the creatures that people it are subject to thee. Thy power even reaches hell; and thou alone,  o Mary, canst rescue us from the devil’s grasp. Thou art almighty by grace, and therefore thou canst save us. Now if you sayest thou wilIest not help us because we are ungrateful children and unworthy of thy protection, tell us at least to whom shall we have recourse in order to be released from so many evils? Oh! No, thy maternal heart will never bear to see the ruin of thy children. The divine Child we behold on thy knees, the mystical crown we admire in thy hand, both inspire us with hope that we will be heard. And full of confidence in thee, we throw ourselves at thy feet, we trust ourselves as feeble children into the arms of the tenderest amongst mothers and today, this very day, we expect from thee the graces we are longing for.

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy,…
–    Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, o sacred Virgin.
–    Give me strength against thy enemies.
–    Pray for us, Queen of the most holy Rosary,
–    That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us ask Mary for her blessing

We now ask of thee, o Queen, a last favor which thou canst not refuse on this solemn day. Grant to all of us thy constant love and in a special manner thy maternal blessing. No, we will not leave thy feet today nor cease clasping thy knees till thou hast blessed us. Bless now, o Mary, the sovereign Pontiff: to the first laurels of thy crown, to the ancient trophies of the Rosary, whence thou art called Queen of victories, add also this one, o Mother, grant triumph to religion and peace to mankind. Bless our bishop, the priests and particularly those who promote the honor of thy Sanctuary; bless finally all those who are associated to thy new temple of Pompeii and who practice and spread devotion to thy most holy rosary .

O blessed rosary of Mary, sweet chain which unites us to God, bond of love, which connects us with the angels, tower of safety against the assaults of hell, sure harbor in the universal shipwreck, never more shall we part with thee; thou shall be our comfort in the hour of agony: to thee the last kiss of our life; and the last word of our dying lips shall be thy sweet name, o Queen of the Rosary of Valle di Pompei. Mother dear, only refuge of sinners, supreme comforter of the afflicted, blessed be thy name, now and forever, on earth and in heaven. Amen.

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy,…
–    Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, o sacred Virgin.
–    Give me strength against thy enemies.
–    Pray for us, Queen of the most holy Rosary,
–    That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, New Evangelization, Pray For A Miracle | Tagged , , , , ,
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What’s wrong with this?

Posted on 8 May 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From the Washington Free Beacon:

The White House Visitors Office requires that an unborn child—still residing in utero—must be counted as a full human being when its parents register for a White House tour, according to documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

White House Visitors Office director Ellie Schafer sent an email to a Capitol Hill staffer Tuesday morning explaining the process for registering an unborn fetus for a White House tour:

We have received a number of calls regarding how to enter security information for a baby that has not yet been born.

Crazy as it may sound, you MUST include the baby in the overall count of guests in the tour. It’s an easy process.

LAST NAME: The family’s last name

FIRST NAME: “Baby” as a first name
MIDDLE NAME: NMN as in No Middle Name
DOB: Use the date you are submitting the request to us as their birthday
GENDER: if the parents know put that gender down if not, you can enter either M or F as we’ll ask you to update it at the time of birth
SOCIAL: As they will not have a SSN and are under 18, you will not need to enter this field. Again if the spreadsheet asked for a social enter 9 zero’s (not the word nine zeros but 000000000 and yes it happens!)
CITIZEN/CITY/STATE: The citizen, city and state should be entered the same as the parents

The White House of the most aggressively pro-abortion President evv-errr.

 

Posted in Emanations from Penumbras, Throwing a Nutty | Tagged , , ,
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Dr. Maturin on Jesuits

Posted on 8 May 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Dr. Maturin on JesuitsAs most of you readers know, I am fond of Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin series.

In Reverse of the Medal (the 11th ) we find some comments about Jesuits and their schools.  Keep in mind that Dr. Maturin, a master of invective, is speaking in early 19th century, not the early 21st!

Context: Capt. Jack Aubrey has just met a son whom he fathered out of wedlock many years before, and he is distressed to learn that the young man is a – godforbid – a Papist.  Jack worries that young man, a seminarist, was being trained by -godforbid – Jesuits.

Jack says to Stephen (also a Papist):

‘You remember the Gordon riots, and all the tales about the Jesuits being behind the King’s madness and many other things.  By the way, Stephen, those Fathers were not Jesuits, I suppose?  I did not like to ask straight out.’

‘Of course not, Jack.  They were suppressed long ago.  Clement XIV put them down in the seventies, and a very good day’s work he did.  Sure, they have been trying to creep back on one legalistic pretext or another and I dare say they will soon make a sad nuisance of themselves again, turning out atheists from the schools by the score; but these gentlemen had nothing to do with them, near or far.’

When I am elected Pope, I shall have to consider taking them name… Clement.

 

Posted in Just Too Cool, Lighter fare, O'Brian Tags | Tagged , , ,
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The Final Frontier of the Civil Rights Movement

Posted on 8 May 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

One of the greatest victories of feminists and left – including their catholic dupes and water-carriers – was to divorce the issue abortion from civil rights (and in the context of the Church, social justice) and twist it instead into a “woman’s issue”.

[wp_youtube]WnmSKVGIulQ[/wp_youtube]

The right to be born is a social justice issue, not a woman’s issue. Do not be deceived by the lies of the left or of catholics.

Posted in Emanations from Penumbras, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, Religious Liberty, The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged , , , ,
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Fordham Feminist: You will be assimilated!

Posted on 8 May 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Please use the sharing buttons!  Thanks!

Fordham Feminist: You will be assimilated!It is almost as if Jesuit-run entities, such as universities and magazines, were at war with the US Bishops.

I picked this up from the Cardinal Newman Society which keeps an eye on what’s going on at Catholic schools.  My emphases and comments:

Catholic Professor: Bishops “Un-Christian” on Coverage for Contraception

A sociology professor at Fordham University has blasted U.S. bishops and Catholic universities that uphold the Church’s teaching on contraception as “un-[C]hristian.”  [So, paying for abortifacients and IUD’s is what Jesus would do.] Writing in the Huffington Post, Associate Professor of Sociology Jeanne Flavin accused the bishops of showing a “staggering disregard for young women’s everyday lived reality, and their futures” for their stance against providing insurance coverage for contraceptives. [She should probably be an Episcopalian.]

Flavin, the author of Our Bodies, Our Crimes: The Policing of Women’s Reproduction in America, [puhleez] seems incensed by the recent decision by Xavier University to stop providing contraceptive coverage and the bishops very public struggle for religious liberty against the HHS contraceptive mandate.

Flavin concludes her piece for the liberal website even more bombastically, saying:

The principle of cura personalis (or “care for the whole person” [Is that what “cura personalis” means?]), central to the mission of Catholic schools, does not come with a qualifier that says “unless you are sexually active” or “except if you are a woman.” [I suspect that the writer doesn’t believe in sin, other than “structural” sin.] While Catholic social teachings communicate powerful and uplifting messages about the dignity of the human person, the contraceptive coverage ban (not to mention the Vatican’s recent rebuke of the American Catholic nuns for not promoting the “Church’s biblical view of family life and human sexuality”) shouts volumes about women’s second-class status in the Catholic Church. [Lemme see here…. the writer applauds the Church’s “social teaching”, but elsewhere (read below) she is in favor of abortion, the ultimate violation of human dignity.  She claims there was a “rebuke of American Catholic nuns”, which at least an error of fact if not an open lie. The CDF, not the USCCB – about whom she is sniveling – instigated a reform of the leadership of the LCWR, not “American nuns”.  And she seems to have a bone to pick with the “Church’s biblical view”. ] This disrespect for the women who are here — in our midst, on our campuses — being shown by a powerful minority of conservative Catholics in favor of purported concern for the unborn must be called out for what it is: profoundly un[-C]hristian. [So the bishops have a dubious, or purported concern for the unborn. She, on the other hand, seems to be okay with killing the unborn. Read on.]

[…]

Fordham Feminist: You will be assimilated!Flavin wrote in The San Francisco Chronicle in 2008 that then-presidential candidate Barack Obama made her heart “flutter, nay, pound”” [OH, he’s so dreeeeeamy!] when he said he had an abortion litmus test for Supreme Court nominees. She also described the practice of late-term abortionist George Tiller as “compassionate.” [What a gal.  Let’s hear it for Fordham!]

Fordham Feminist: You will be assimilated![Get this…] Flavin contended in her piece in HuffPo that colleges and universities must take the place of dysfunctional and struggling families. She writes that “to do otherwise is to fail our students.” [The colleges should displace the outdated “biblical” view family and replace it with some sort of collective liberal Sparta.  I had a flash of a Star Trek episode or movie in which we catch a glimpse of Borg baby incubators.]

In light of the Pope’s recent statement that “the Christian vision, presented in its breadth and integrity, proves immensely appealing to the imagination, idealism and aspirations of the young, who have a right to encounter the faith in all its beauty, its intellectual richness and its radical demands,” perhaps, in the end, it is Fordham that is failing its students. [Yes, perhaps.]

Posted in Dogs and Fleas, Emanations from Penumbras, Our Catholic Identity, Religious Liberty | Tagged , , , , , , , ,
23 Comments

VP Biden’s unnatural-marriage gaffe is mess for the White House

Posted on 8 May 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

What more can one say about catholic pro-abortion Joe Biden, now VPOTUS?  He makes any effort at mocking him redundant.

From WaPo Opinion:

Vice President Biden’s gay-marriage gaffe is mess for White House

By Dana Milbank, Published: May 7

If Vice President Biden continues to make public appearances during this campaign, White House press secretary Jay Carney should be offered a membership in the janitors’ union.

As things stand, the spokesman does not have the supplies necessary to clean up the mess Biden made in his appearance Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Biden gave his full support to same-sex marriage — a position conspicuously at odds with the public stance of his boss, President Obama, who is widely assumed to share Biden’s views but who says that his own thinking is “evolving.”

The vice president said he is “absolutely comfortable” with same-sex marriage, committing the classic Washington gaffe of accidentally speaking the truth. This bit of straight talk made Obama’s position — neither for nor against such unions but in an evolutionary state, not unlike the Galapagos finch — all the more untenable. On Monday, Biden took off for a campaign event in Tennessee, leaving Carney on cleanup duty. But the more Carney swabbed the mess, the more it spread.

[…]

I am so glad he is still on the ticket!

Posted in Dogs and Fleas, Emanations from Penumbras | Tagged , , ,
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