Catalyst January/February Issue 2010
It was a tricky season for those who delight in warring with Christmas. Consider what happened in Waterbury, Connecticut. Erik Brown is the principal of Walsh Elementary in the Waterbury School District. His staff was under strict orders not to employ secular, as well as religious, Christian symbols when they enjoyed their “winter celebration” on... [Read more...]
CRAZIEST CHRISTMAS STORIESCatalyst January/February Issue 2010
As usual, there was a litany of bizarre Christmas stories in 2009. A few days before Christmas, we commented on a handful of them. There was a Christmas tree inside Cary, North Carolina’s town hall, but the town officials couldn’t bring themselves to call it by its proper name, instead they relabeled it the “Community Tree.” In Madison, Wisconsin... [Read more...]
OREGON SCHOOL RESTORES “GIVING TREE”Catalyst January/February Issue 2010
A day after we commented and urged our members to contact Oregon’s Ashland School District Superintendent, a “Giving Tree” that was removed from Belleview Elementary School was restored. Belleview Elementary’s principal, Michelle Zundel, said that one family made a complaint about the “Giving Tree” that was displayed in the school lobby,... [Read more...]
FAKE ANIMALS SUBSTITUTE FOR MANGER SCENECatalyst January/February Issue 2010
Residents of Howard County, Indiana that were hoping to see a manger scene on the lawn of the county courthouse were disappointed this past Christmas season. Instead, they got a lighted display of the Loch Ness Monster, a whale and other animals. From the pictures we saw, the lighted whale was our favorite. Commissioner Tyler Moore defended the exercise... [Read more...]
HOLIDAY GIFTS BANNED IN SCHOOL GIFT SHOPCatalyst January/February Issue 2010
The Byam Elementary School in Chelmsford, Massachusetts asked parents to donate holiday gifts to the school’s holiday gift shop; the shopping days were December 1-4. Shopping guidelines informed that “Seasonal items such as snowmen, mittens, snowflakes are a big hit.” But the school also had a list of “Items NOT Permitted.” The school was... [Read more...]
OBAMA’S DOUBLE CROSS ON ABORTIONCatalyst January/February Issue 2010
Presidential advisor David Axelrod recently made it clear that President Obama opposed the amendment introduced my Rep. Bart Stupak that would ban abortion funding in the House version of the health care bill. When the Senate version was completed, it contained nothing like the language of the Stupak amendment. As reported by the AP, “On a controversial... [Read more...]
CHURCH’S CRITICS WANT GAG RULECatalyst January/February Issue 2010
Getting Nancy Pelosi to accept a health care bill that bans federal funding of abortion was the greatest victory scored by the U.S. bishops in a generation. It also unleashed an attempt to censor them. Among them was Geoffrey Stone of the Huffington Post. Stone found it troubling that the bishops were so vocal. He yearned for a time when JFK was president,... [Read more...]
NIH OKAYS EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCHCatalyst January/February Issue 2010
In December, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) cleared the way for federally funded embryonic stem-cell research. We unleashed as soon as we caught wind of this development. When Barack Obama was in the Illinois State Senate, he fought passionately to deny little babies born alive as a result of a botched abortion the medical care they needed... [Read more...]
MIXED RESULTS ON GAY MARRIAGE BILLSCatalyst January/February Issue 2010
When the D.C. gay marriage bill was first introduced, the Archdiocese of Washington kept quiet because the bill protected the rights of churches and other houses of worship not to perform gay marriages. But then the gay overreach took place: the language was changed to narrow the religious liberty protections. Because the archdiocese feared that the... [Read more...]
GAY ACTIVISTS BULLY D.C. PRIESTSCatalyst January/February Issue 2010
A homosexual website, ChurchOuting.org, was launched with the intent of publicly disclosing the gay priests serving in the Archdiocese of Washington. The goal of this outing was to intimidate gay priests, as well as heterosexual priests who may be “romantically involved,” into voicing objections to the Church’s opposition to gay marriage. This... [Read more...]