Urgent Prayer Request

Normally I wouldn't come back from a lengthy hiatus with a prayer request, but here I must.

I have just learned that an international release of the blasphemous film "Corpus Christi" is in the works.

The film and play portray Our Lord as an open homosexual who engages in lewd conduct with the Apostles, among other blasphemies.

Please, in your charity pray for the producers of this film!

A New Threat to Free Speech

Fox News alerts us in this article to a new threat being posed by the Left against conservative free speech.

Conservative bloggers say they are being terrorized by a potentially deadly prank in which phony 911 calls bring armed cops to their doors in search of criminals, all in retaliation for their blog posts.

At least two conservative Internet pundits have reported being victims of "SWAT-ing." In at least one incident, the caller claimed to be the resident of the home and confessed to shooting his wife, according to a recording of the call posted online. 

"It's a phone call that could have gotten me killed," Patrick Frey, a deputy district attorney at Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, wrote of the July, 2011 incident on his blog, Patterico's Pontifications.

The most recent incident involved blogger Erick Erickson, who claimed on his Red State site that sheriff's deputies arrived at his Macon, Ga., home Sunday night as his family gathered for dinner. He said the episode was unnerving, particularly considering one deputy had his hand on his pistol. But Erickson admitted it could have been worse had he not warned officials - in light of Frey's experience - that he anticipated being a victim.

The Left is becoming more unhinged as time goes on.  With their favorite president under fire for his abysmal record and facing a election that he stands a good chance to lose thanks to the efforts of conservatives to oust him, the radicals are looking at a new tactic; intimidate the opposition into silence by using law enforcement against them.  


This is dangerous, and it's going to get someone killed.  I doubt the hardcore Left will care, but all concerned citizens should be worried about this latest assault against freedom of speech.  We must support a Congressional investigation into this, pronto!

LSN Weighs in On Threat of New French President

Life Site News is weighing in on the election results in France and the rise of François Hollande to the French presidency.  Hollande is as red a red socialist can get, and LSN lays out for us exactly why that is bad for France and especially for the Faith in France.

PARIS, France, May 18, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Dismantling of the family, attacks against parental rights and times of trouble for faith-based, mainly Catholic schools are looming large in French politics since France’s new socialist president, François Hollande, took over office from Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday morning at the Elysée, in Paris.
French President François Hollande
Government nominations, as well as Hollande’s inaugural speeches, are making it clear that ideological choices have been made and can be expected to be implemented in the near future. The discussion of a law instituting gay “marriage” has been announced for the Fall by the new Family minister – that is, if the French legislative elections in June vote in a socialist majority, which is considered likely.
Hollande’s first public act after the official investiture ceremonies at the Elysée Palace in Paris, on Tuesday, was to drive over to the nearby Tuileries gardens to pay tribute to the founder of the French state school system, Jules Ferry, whose monument was erected there in 1910 by the secularist “Ligue de l’enseignement” (League of Education).
The timing and the symbolism of this first presidential act was seen as a clear indicator that Hollande aims to intensify the role of the state in education and to step up control over what remains of the private school sector.
The new president’s speech front of former education ministers – exclusively of the socialist variety – teachers and dozens of children, used military phraseology to make his point. “School is the weapon of justice. It is the weapon of republican equality,” he said. A weapon to force “equality”, or to put it more clearly, egalitarianism.
School, as François Hollande sees it, is “the locus of equality.” “Equality of opportunity,” according to the new socialist president, means equality that “knows no other measure of distinction than personal merit and effort, since birth, fortune and chance establish hierarchies which schools have the mission, if not the duty, to correct, and even to destroy.”
Interesting omissions and changes to the written speech were made by François Hollande in his spoken delivery at this point. He left out the word “talents” as a legitimate measure of distinction and changed the phrase saying that the mission of schools regarding these hierarchies is “if not to abolish, at least to correct” them, choosing the much more aggressive formula quoted above.
This agenda, to be implemented in a country where large sections of the poorer suburbs of many major cities are mainly populated by ethnic minorities, many of them Muslim, has already shown its limits: the level of general culture of most school-leavers has gone steadily down over the past decades in a system where exactly the same curriculum is supposed to apply to all pupils up to age 14 or 15. In state schools leftist teachers’ organizations and progressive pedagogues have had the upper hand since 1968. François Hollande clearly intends to enhance their power and to dismantle the few concessions made to parental rights by the Sarkozy administration, which gave families a bit more freedom to choose a state school for their children and stepped up financial aids to private, state-funded schools.
Secularism is also a master word for schools according to Hollande. He sees schools as the “locus of emancipation”: emancipation from traditions and “dogma” in view of the “sovereign liberty of the spirit,” of reason left to itself. And also of reason destroyed: in state-funded French schools, be they public or private, whole reading methods and other pedagogical aberrations are effectively preventing a large percentage of French children from learning to read and think independently.
This is a far cry from the school of Jules Ferry, which formed minds and intelligences effectively, albeit in open conflict with religious beliefs.
Jules Ferry himself was remembered by François Hollande for two laws: the one which instituted cost-free primary schooling for all in 1881, and the law which in 1882 made schools secular and compulsory. At the time these laws were accompanied with persecution of faith-based schools and Catholic teaching congregations, many religious being expelled from the country or driven into exile.
Over the years, elements of freedom were returned to parents and nowadays 20% of pupils go to private, mostly Catholic schools where state curricula are obligatory, and teachers are formed and paid by the State. Only a fraction of schools are completely independent, receiving no direct public funds but entitled to issue tax refund forms for donations. These tax refunds are at risk of being suppressed under Hollande’s period of office.
The French Republic has long seen secularist state education as a means to counter the influence of families and faith. Hollande’s first speech on the matter, from which the words “parental rights” and “liberty” were totally absent, has made it clear that securalism is back with a vengeance.
As regards families, the naming of Mrs Dominique Bertinotti, a close friend of François Hollande’s ex-partner Ségolène Royal, as delegate minister to the Family, is seen as an insult to its defenders. Wednesday morning, hours before taking up her new office, she committed herself during an interview with the nationwide news radio “France-Info” to reduce tax relief associated with the number of children for richer families – less tax is owed when more persons form the “fiscal home” – in order to increase social aid to poorer families at the beginning of the school years. This would break with the French tradition of compensating a fraction of the extra charge children bring with them, whatever the social status of their family.
Bertinotti immediately promised to work on legalization of homosexual “marriage” and homosexual adoption and to “redefine” the meaning of the word family which should include, she says, not only the “classic” type but also “recomposed, single-parent and homoparental families,” so that they can obtain “exactly the same rights and be seen the same way by society, whatever their way of life.”
Mrs Bertinotti also intends to step up availability of public childcare systems, and to increase the number of 3, and even 2 year-olds in State schools.

Gay marriage, erosion of parental rights, use of schools as centers of socialist indoctrination and erosion of the  influence of the Church in France.  This guy is reminding me more and more of our own president and his relentless drive for socialism in our country.

Remember Catholics, elections matter!

Obama makes unnatural unions the forefront of his campaign; I comment

This one comes to us again yet again from Life Site News.

May 17, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - After announcing his support for gay “marriage” earlier this month, President Obama appears to be putting the issue front and center in his campaign, reiterating his stance in a recently released campaign video, and in comments to the media and potential donors.

In an interview filmed Monday for ABC’s the View, Obama said that his current stance was influenced by gay family friends in “wonderful relationships” who told him he should support gay “marriage” and not just civil unions because “words matter.”

Obama added that the issue is “going to be a big contrast in the campaign,” since his opponent, Mitt Romney, is in favor of a constitutional amendment that would ban gay “marriage.”  His remarks echoed criticisms directed at the presumptive Republican nominee in a campaign video released last week which accused Romney of wanting to “take us back” rather than “move us forward.”

Obama is again proving himself to be a typical politician.  He can't run on his record, because by all objective standards it's abysmal; 8% unemployment, $15+ trillion dollars in debt, and an economy that's tanking, not to mention controversial laws like the NDAA 2012.  So, he's decided to use a hot-button issue that is guaranteed to energize his liberal base in order to win the election.  The sad thing is, it might work if we don't work hard enough to show what a terrible job he has done as president.

Pax Christi.

Rant About Ascension Thursday Sunday (Sorry Father Z)

It's been a common practice in some dioceses, certainly ones in the United States, to transfer the Feast of the Acension from Thursday, its proper place, to Sunday, what is supposed to be the Seventh Sunday of Easter.  I cannot stand this practice, which sadly occurs even in my own diocese!

The Scriptures tell us that Jesus ascended  into heaven forty days after His resurrection (Acts 1:9-11).  Guess what comes forty days after Easter Sunday... Thursday!  It's proper and in keeping with the rhythm of the Scriptures that the Feast be celebrated on Thursday!

I believe it's high time that we quit this foolish practice and got our calendar back into rhythm and harmony.

Jet Crashes in Virginia Beach; Prayers Urged

Local news outlets are reporting that a military jet has crashed in my city.  Both pilots are apparently OK, but people on the ground may have been hurt or, God forbid, killed.  Please pray.

Pray for Sean Stone

I have just received word that Sean Stone, son of director Oliver Stone, has converted to Islam.

"The conversion to is not abandoning Christianity or Judaism..."  He said to the Agence France-Presse.  Actually, Mr. Stone, you have.

There is no equivalence between Christianity and Islam, and Mohammed was not a prophet of God.  The Gospel is a message of God's love for all men, such a love that He was willing to give us His only Begotten Son, so that we may have everlasting life.  The message of Mohammed was of a god who despises all who do not believe in him and who salivates at the prospect of sending the "infidels" to hellfire.  Jesus Christ healed the sick, raised the dead, and was the Prince of Peace.  Mohammed led raids to capture booty and slaves, killed those who disbelieved that he was a "prophet", preached that Jews and others should be fought and killed until they either were enslaved or accepted Islam, and kept several wives and sex slaves, including a nine-year-old girl named Aisha.

Mr. Stone has made a grave error.  Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven.  Please, pray for him.  He needs it now.

Pax Christi.

Home Depot Continues to Sponsor Homosexualist Events

From the American Family Association:

Home Depot digs in, issues statement to AFA
January 23, 2012
Well, it looks like we got our hopes up only to have Home Depot knock them down.
Last week we reported that Home Depot appeared to be pulling back its support to homosexual activists. We spoke too soon. Immediately after we released our findings, Home Depot said it will continue to support homosexual activities.
Home Depot issued this email statement to AFA:
"We have never changed our commitment to diversity and inclusion of all people, and we have no intention of doing so. Nor have we changed our apron policy or the guidelines for our charitable giving."
It now appears Home Depot is also breaking its own written policies. 
Home Depot's online policy states it will not sponsor "...festivals, dinners...fundraisers...," yet it sponsors gay pride festivals and Human Rights Campaign fundraising dinner events.
Home Depot's official spokesperson told AFA that employees are not allowed to wear their orange aprons outside its stores. But according to gay supporter Jordan Humphrey of Illinois, in the first week of 2012, "over 30 orange aprons showed up in Champaign's new-years pride-fest."
Every homosexual organization Home Depot supports has as their top priority the legalization of homosexual marriage.  

The AFA is running a boycott of the Home Depot over this.  Every Catholic who's concerned about the push for same-sex "marriage" and the homosexualist agenda should support it.  You can find out more at their website.

Pax Christi.

News Roundup: December 29th, 2011

Pro-Life Edition.

Rockefeller Foundation Pushes Legalized Abortion in Uruguay (LifeNews.com)

The Rockefeller Foundation is pushing the small South American nation of Uruguay, where women and unborn children enjoy legal protection, to legalize abortion. New legislation the nation is considering — it has defeated previous attempts to make abortion legal — would legalize abortions within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Let me see if I get this straight; it's "cultural imperialism" for a McDonald's to open in France, but an American organization pushing a third world country to legalize abortion is not anything like that?  Please tell me I'm not the only one that sees the hypocrisy here.  Uruguay, don't let them get to you!  Keep the murder of the unborn illegal in your country!  Prayers will be offered.

Irish pro-life youth use stunning imagery of unborn child in Christmas message (LifeSiteNews)

The Irish pro-life organization Youth Defense has created a powerful Christmas video that features stunning imagery of the unborn child in the womb.

“The wonder of life. Part of the Christmas story and every human story since life began,” says a narrator as the camera leaves the womb and shows the child Jesus in the manger. “The gift of life. Protect it. Cherish it.

“Happy Christmas.”

It's good to see this coming out of a country that, sadly, is abandoning its Catholic identity and beginning to embrace the type of secularist insanity that has been engulfing the US.  What a way to remind everyone how precious the gift of life is.  ACIVB kudos to these young Irish.

Pregnant and poor at the Inn: how one pro-life home is giving pregnant women hope (LifeSiteNews)

Danielle Inn, located in Covington, Louisiana, is a “home of hope for the unwed expectant mother.” The Inn sees its mission as providing a “Christ-centered home to support and minister to the spiritual, physical, educational and emotional needs of pregnant, single/estranged, young women.”

A perfect rebuttal to the pro-abortion lie that abortion is the only hope for a poor woman facing an unexpected pregnancy.  God bless Danielle Inn.

Another OWS horror show; hacker group posts the information of police officers online

As if we needed another reminder of just how dangerous it is to be a cop in this day and age, they now have to deal with this latest outrage by the hacker collective Anonymous.  The group, according to The Washington Times, stole the personal information, including e-mail and physical addresses, of police officers involved in evicting the Occupy squatter camps from public property.

Computer hackers are avenging the Occupy movement by exposing the personal information of police officers who evicted protesters and threatening family-values advocates who led a boycott of an American Muslim television show.

In three Internet postings last week, hackers from the loose online coalition called Anonymous published the email and physical addresses, phone numbers and, in some cases, salary details of thousands of law enforcement officers all over the country.

The hackers said they were retaliating for police violence during evictions of Occupy protest camps in cities around the country, but law enforcement advocates slammed the disclosures as dangerous.

Does this "movement" have any shame?  Do these guys have any idea what they are doing?  I suspect they do, or else they wouldn't have done this.

If any officers are harmed as a result of this, it's going to be on the head of every single member of that group of collective.  Every.  Single.  One.

Pray that SOMEONE among them gets the courage to step and say "this was wrong".

News Roundup: December 9th, 2011

The return of News Roundup!  Enjoy!

Smithfield to end use of gestation crates by 2017 (The Virginian-Pilot)

Officials at Smithfield Foods Inc. have reinstated a self-imposed deadline to get rid of all gestation crates for pregnant sows on its farms by 2017, its president and CEO said Thursday.

I've never quite understood the whole hoopla, but if it will be kinder to the animals, good for Smithfield.  Also, they say happier animals produce better meat, so that's always welcome, better products that is.

Former Hill allies call out Gingrich (The Washington Times)

Reps. Peter T. King of New York and Steven C. LaTourette of Ohio, as well as Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and former Sen. Jim Talent of Missouri, are among the Republican lawmakers who worked with Mr. Gingrich and now warn that he lacks the leadership skills and discipline needed to be a reliable president.

Newt has always struck me in recent years as the typical career politician.  That, in addition to his public divorce and remarriage and the alleged ethics violations he had while in Congress have turned me off to his candidacy, unless I have no other choice (no way in heck am I giving Obama another four years).

McDonnell proposes shifting more tax dollars to highway, bridge repair (The Washington Examiner)

McDonnell's proposal would increase the percentage of state sales tax dedicated to transportation from 0.5 percent to 0.75 percent over the next eight years, an increase that the governor predicts will add $110 million to transportation coffers.

The roads in Virginia, as much as I love my state, have sadly been neglected and are in desperate need of repair.  If Governor McDonnell can find a way to do this without raising taxes, good for him.  With all the fiscal success he's had so far in Virginia, I have little doubt he can succeed in this endeavor.  I wish him the best of luck.

Horrible: OWS Mob in London Defecating INSIDE St. Paul's Cathedral

As if I needed another reason NOT to support the ridiculous and frankly communistic "Occupy Wall Street" global mob action, here comes another one from London, the capital of a once magnificent Britain.

The St Paul’s Cathedral protest camp has become littered with human waste and graffiti, while alcohol and drug use are rife, according to legal documents filed by the City of London.

The Corporation, which is taking legal action to evict the protesters, highlighted the filthy conditions ahead of the court battle which is due to start this week.

Parts of the dossier come from registrar of St Paul’s, Nicholas Cottam, who wrote to a corporation official outlining the disruptions faced by the cathedral.

Mr Cottam wrote: ‘Desecration: – graffiti have been scratched and painted on to the great west doors of the cathedral, the chapter house door and most notably a sacrilegious message painted on the restored pillars of the west portico.

‘Human defecation has occurred in the west portico entrance and inside the cathedral on several occasions.’

He also made reference to noisy interruptions during services, foul language directed at staff and the use of alcohol and ‘other stimulants’ that appeared to ‘fuel the noise levels day and night’.

Mr Cottam revealed more than half of schools scheduled to visit the cathedral had cancelled since the occupation began on October 15. He wrote: ‘The reason for the cancellations is directly as a result of their own risk assessments which that the view that entry and exit to the cathedral is in their opinion too difficult due to the camp’s presence.’

Drop-in visitor numbers were also down by half, leaving the cathedral’s cafe, shop and restaurant ‘faltering’.  Unchained dogs roam freely on the site, fouling the area, as litter including cigarettes and beer cans pile up, the report says.

A further witness statement from temporary police inspector John Zuber expressed ‘mounting concern of drugs within the camp’ including the arrest of a man in possession of ‘what is currently believed to be a liquid class A drug’.

He added: ‘A camp member handed police drug paraphernalia, which included needles and residue of drugs which they found around the tents. The camp has made a request for an official sharps container for needles to be put into.’

Joy Hollister, the director of community and children’s services for the Corporation, provided a witness statement raising concerns about the growing numbers of ‘vulnerable’ people at the camp. 

She said: ‘By which I mean people who were exhibiting behaviour that was indicative of poor mental health, people who were exhibiting signs of drug use including stumbling and compulsive behaviour, people who had body odor arising from significant periods without washing or change of clothing and a number of people who were clearly under the influence of drugs and alcohol.’

She added she had observed a ‘very strong smell of cannabis in several parts of the camp’ and the presence of several children in the camp – two of whom appear to be living there.

For the record, "Class A drugs" appear to be the equivalent designation to Schedule I in the US.


How much longer are we going to have to put up with this?  This global mob has no respect for our faith or for our houses of worship.  The anti-Christian sentiment is palpable with these people, what with OWSers in Rome desecrating a Catholic chapel to these London goons defecating and desecrating St. Paul's, one of the oldest churches in Britain.  I can't say I'm surprised this is happening, given that the whole movement is influenced by atheistic Marxist ideology which disdains religion as part of the problem, and seeks it's destruction.


Christians should not lend their support to this movment.  It is UNWORTHY of our support.  What we should be doing is praying that they will convert to Catholic Christianity and abandon this horrid movment.


Pax Christi.

Allow me to engage in a tiny bit of alumni pride

News coming out of Chicago says that my college alma mater, University of Virginia at Wise, has won the 2011 GEICO Play of the Year.  

Chicago, IL - The University of Virginia's College at Wise's punt return and lateral as time expired to beat Emory & Henry was named the 2011 GEICO Play of the Year, Intersport announced today on CBS Sports during GEICO Presents Best of College Football 2011.

Throughout the college football season, fans voted on Facebook (www.facebook.com/BestofCollegeFootball) to determine which plays reigned supreme. After more than 300,000 votes were tallied to determine the finalists, a group of CBS Sports college football experts named the Cavaliers' return the 2011 GEICO Play of the Year for its degree of difficulty, game-winning implication, and crowd excitement.

It's about time my old little podunk college got some national recognition, even if it is in sports.

Pax Christi.

Jake Plummer thinks Tim Tebow is too religious

http://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/msn/jake_plummer_wishes_tim_tebow_would_shut_up_go_hug_his_teammates_instead_of_publicizing_religion/8244544

So Mr. Plummer seems to think Tim Tebow (who, by the way, did much better than Plummer in his starts), should just "shut up" and not be open about his faith?

May I ask, since when were you in any position to comment?  Mr. Tebow has every right to be open about his faith in the public square.  Christianity BELONGS in the public square, no matter what every single atheist "activist" group will tell you.

Apparently, the only thing that matters in the NFL to some is selfishness, ego, and hedonism, just like in modern society.  Can't have any of that pesky faith  in public now, can we?  Gotta keep it all in the churches where we don't have to look at those stupid Christians.

Give me a break!

LSN: Massachusetts passes bill making transgenderism/crossdressing a protected class

And I'm considering moving to this bluest of blue state?

BOSTON, November 17, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Massachusetts legislature has passed a bill that elevates cross-dressing or transgendered individuals to a protected class, and grants universal access to sex-segregated areas such as bathrooms based on personal “gender identity or expression.”

The measure, known as the “Transgender Equal Rights Bill” (H. 502 in the House and S. 764 in the Senate) passed the upper chamber on Wednesday in a voice vote. It’s unclear when the bill will receive final approval votes and be signed into law by Democrat Gov. Deval Patrick, a strong gay rights supporter.

The bill inserts “gender identity” as a protected class under the state’s hate crime law, and also makes it so that a school or other business would be violating the law if it rejected an applicant because he or she was a crossdresser.

So, the good folks running the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are recognizing sexual "identity" (sexual identity DISORDER)?  That's bad in and of itself, but there's many more bad things that are going to come about because of this.

Do folks seriously even contemplate the potentially devestating effects that this bill presents?  Now all a pervert has to do is dress in woman's clothing to be able to sneak into a women's restroom and commit a sex offense, and security cannot stop him because all he would have to do is claim that he has the right as a "transgender person" to do so.  Laws like this put young girls in danger!

But the liberals who run the blue states have learned long ago not to let stuff like that get in the way of advancing the LGBT agenda.  Their lawyers wouldn't allow them to.

How much longer is this insanity going to go on?

LSN commenters blame Jews for abortion...

I was reading an article on Life Site News about a number of disabled Israeli children suing for having never been aborted (more on that horror later) when a couple of comments on the article caught  my attention.

First, one that appears to blame the Jewish religion for abortion, especially partial birth abortion.

MichaelL, you bring up issues that are of fundamental importance.  It is not only moral evil that is the problem, but intellectual error.  Actually, I think that you are being too generous with the 40 day figure in Judaism.  For instance, for many in Talmudic Judaism, “personhood” begins when the baby’s head emerges from the womb.  America’s legal framework for abortion is largely Jewish, with the practice of “partial-birth” [i.e., head still in the womb] abortion being the most striking indicator.I have posted this article in other comments previously, but people need to read this:  catholicintl.com/index.php/latest-news/573-the-jewish-roots-and-the-catholic-failure-on-abortion

 I don't think I'd be the first to say that that sounds like something a poster at Stormfront.org might post, allowing his fellow neandertahls to get their anti-Semitic rage rants in for the day (no to suggest the poster is a neo-Nazi or agrees or sympathizes with them).

Naturally, his comment was criticized.

Why am I not surprised that a character with a name like “Groebner” is posting anti-Jewish screeds? What is this—1940, for heaven’s sake? What’s next? “Sieg heil”?? Back under your rock, buster.
Lose the anti-Semitism, folks.

Ok, I admit that the mention of his name could be taken as a slight against Germans, but that's not the point.  Later, another commenter comes in to defend the OP.

 By Bob “Why am I not surprised that a character with a name like “Groebner” is posting anti-Jewish screeds? What is this—1940, for heaven’s sake? What’s next? “Sieg heil”?? Back under your rock, buster.Lose the anti-Semitism, folks.”
Really? You don’t see your own biased reacting here??? Stating facts isn’t anti anything! I didn’t see one word of hate or “antisemitism” in his post or the subsequent article he linked to. Climb out from your rock of political correctness 

I'm sorry my friends, but his comment did ring of anti-Semitism, whether intended or not, and I didn't read the article the OP linked to, but I'm sure it's filled with similar comments.

Blaming Jews or "Jewish influence" for societal ills (and abortion is the biggest one) is something the Nazis excelled at, and if they were around today, they would probably applaud things like this.  No one group of people is to blame for the scourge of abortion becoming acceptable except for the Supreme Court which made it a "right" in 1974.  Canards like the one above will do nothing to stop it.

Pax Christi

ICC: Islamists deliberately targeted Christians in deadly Nigerian attack

Another horror story coming from out of the Islamic world.  Yet more proof that Islam is far from the "Religion of Peace".

International Christian Concern (ICC) has discovered that the Nigerian Islamist group, Boko Haram, deliberately targeted Christians during a series of deadly bombings and killings in the northern Nigerian city of Damaturu.  According to the group, the terrorists responsible for the attacks asked their victims if they were Christian or Muslim, and if they answered that they were Christian, they were killed.

And yet the international press is painting this as an attack on the police force.  In a typical move for the MSM, they avoid mentioning this infomation, along with the fact that the majority of the 150 victims are Christian, and that 11 churches were bombed.  Why, if this is not anti-Christian violence, did Boko Haram not target police stations, instead of churches?  I suspect they would not have an answer, as it would force them to admit that maybe Islamic teachings calling for war and the death of non-Muslims play a role in the savage violence by Muslim groups.

But I'm not holding my breath.  We've been told the lie that all religions are equal too long, and some are completely unwilling to let it go.  As the old saying goes, I learned all I needed to know about Islam on 9/11.

Holy Lord, protect your persecuted Church on Earth!

Saints Nunilo and Alodia, pray for us!

Virginian-Pilot: Newport News man accused of cruelty, injury to child

Oh my gosh, when I read stories like this it breaks my heart.

NEWPORT NEWS

A 24-year-old man was charged with cruelty and injury to a child after police were called to Sentara Port Warwick’s emergency department for a report of possible child abuse.
About 1:45 p.m. Tuesday, Newport News police were called to check on a 4-year-old boy who had been brought to the hospital by his mother after spending several days with his father, a police news release said. The boy had bruising and marks over a large portion of his lower body and a bruise above his right eye.

VA Beach Schools offer money to kids to pass; I rant

An article in today's Virginian Pilot caught my eye with it's headline.

Program in Va. Beach schools awards cash for grades
By Mike HixenbaughThe Virginian-Pilot
© November 7, 2011
VIRGINIA BEACH
Students at two Beach high schools can take home hundreds of dollars this school year for earning passing marks on Advanced Placement tests. Their teachers will be rewarded, too.
The cash incentives at Salem and Green Run high schools are part of the Initiative for Military Families, a Navy-backed public-private partnership aimed at boosting student achievement in military-rich communities.

Has our education system really gotten so bad that schools are now offering what amounts to bribes for students to pass?  If that's the case, it means our schools are due for some long overdue reform.

St. Thomas More, patron of students, pray for us!

Pray the Litany of the Saints!

Today is All Saints Day, so be sure to pray this powerful devotion.

Lord, have mercy on us.Christ, have mercy on us.Lord, have mercy on us.Christ, hear us.	Lord, have mercy on us.Christ, have mercy on us.Lord, have mercy on us.Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of heaven, God the Son, Redeemer of the world, God the Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, one God,	have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us.have mercy on us.have mercy on us.have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, Holy Mother of God, Holy Virgin of virgins,St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael, All you Holy Angels and Archangels, St. John the Baptist, St. Joseph, All you Holy Patriarchs and Prophets,	pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.
St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Andrew, St. James, St. John, St. Thomas, St. James,St. Philip, St. Bartholomew, St. Matthew, St. Simon, St. Jude, St. Matthias,St. Barnabas, St. Luke, St. Mark, All you holy Apostles and Evangelists, All you holy Disciples of the Lord, All you holy Innocents,	pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.
St. Stephen, St. Lawrence, St. Vincent, Sts. Fabian and Sebastian, Sts. John and Paul, Sts. Cosmos and Damian, All you holy Martyrs,	pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.
St. Sylvester, St. Gregory, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Martin, St. Nicholas, All you holy Bishops and Confessors,All you holy Doctors,	pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.
St. Anthony, St. Benedict, St. Bernard, St. Dominic,  St. Francis, All you holy Priests and Levites, All you holy Monks and Hermits,	pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.
St. Mary Magdalene, St. Agatha, St. Lucy, St. Agnes, St. Cecilia, St. Anastasia,St. Catherine, St. Clare,All you holy Virgins and Widows,All you holy Saints of God,	pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.pray for us.
Lord, be merciful, From all evil, From all sin, From your wrath, From a sudden and unprovided death, From the snares of the devil, From anger, hatred, and all ill-will, From the spirit of uncleanness, From lightning and tempest, From the scourge of earthquake, From plague, famine, and war, From everlasting death,	Lord, save your people.Lord, save your people.Lord, save your people.Lord, save your people.Lord, save your people.Lord, save your people.Lord, save your people.Lord, save your people.Lord, save your people.Lord, save your people.Lord, save your people.Lord, save your people.
By the mystery of your holy Incarnation, By your Coming, By your Birth, By your Baptism and holy fasting, By your Cross and Passion, By your Death and Burial, By your holy Resurrection, By your wonderful Ascension, By the coming of the Holy Spirit, On the day of judgment,  By your Coming, By your Birth, By your Baptism and holy fasting, By your Cross and Passion, By your Death and Burial, By your holy Resurrection, By your wonderful Ascension, By the coming of the Holy Spirit,On the day of judgment,	Lord, save your people.Lord, save your people.Lord, save your people.Lord, save your people.Lord, save your people.Lord, save your people.Lord, save your people.Lord, save your people.Lord, save your people.Lord, save your people.
Be merciful to us sinners,	Lord, hear our prayer.
That you will spare us, That you will pardon us, That it may please you to bring us to true     penance, Guide and protect your holy Church, Preserve in holy religion the Pope, and all     those in holy Orders, Humble the enemies of holy Church, Give peace and unity to the whole Christian     people,  Bring back to the unity of the Church all     those who are straying, and bring all     unbelievers to the light of the Gospel, Strengthen and preserve us in your holy     service,Raise our minds to desire the things of     heaven, Reward all our benefactors with eternal      blessings, Deliver our souls from eternal damnation,     and the souls of our brethren, relatives,     and benefactors,Give and preserve the fruits of the earth, Grant eternal rest to all the faithful departed,That it may please You to hear and heed      us, Jesus, Son of the Living God,	Lord, hear our prayer.Lord, hear our prayer.Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer.Lord, hear our prayer.Lord, hear our prayer.Lord, hear our prayer.Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer.Lord, hear our prayer.Lord, hear our prayer.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of     the world,Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of     the world,Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of     the world,	Spare us, O Lord!Graciously hear us, O Lord!Have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us,Lord Jesus, hear our prayer.Lord, have mercy on us.Christ, have mercy on us.Lord, have mercy on us. Taken from EWTN.com	Christ, graciously hear usLord Jesus, hear our prayer.Lord, have mercy on us.Christ, have mercy on us.Lord, have mercy on us.