The Milwaukee affiliate of Voice of the Faithful is calling it quits. They correctly diagnosed the problem: they lost their way, ticked off conservatives and became a clone of Call to Action. Their last event will be September 26—Father Richard McBrien of Notre Dame has been tapped to preside over the funeral. We expect it won’t be long before the parent group packs it in as well.
Jessica Bennett, writing in a July 29 Newsweek web column on polyamory, puts the most positive face on swinging yet to appear in a mainstream media outlet. She maintains that having multiple partners among consenting adults is at the cutting edge of the new sexual revolution. The article ends with a quote from a swinger named Scott who feels sorry for the rest of us. “The people I feel sorry for are the ones who don’t ever realize they have any other choices beyond the traditional options society presents,” he says. So thoughtful.
The only problem these folks seem to acknowledge is parenting. Yes, that can be difficult at the breakfast table the next morning. As for how children fare, Bennett found a professor (we knew she would) who said the kids do just fine in poly families.
What was not mentioned, of course, is that the bed jumpers have a much higher rate of sexually transmitted diseases than the rest of us. It would be interesting to know if Scott thinks that is unfair and who is to blame. Or is genital herpes just the cost of doing business? And talking about costs, perhaps under the new health care bill we should levy a surcharge on those whose diseases are behaviorally driven. We could call it Donohue’s stimulus plan!
On July 27, Darlene Haynes was found mutilated to death in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her child is reported missing: the murderer cut her uterus open and stole the 23-year-old’s baby of eight months.
Now the woman’s aunt, Sandra Grandmaison, is demanding “we want our baby back,” explaining, “We want our grandchild back, and we want to know why.”
We’d be curious to know what the pro-abortion community would say to Ms. Grandmaison. We’d also like to know if her grandchild would be covered by the universal health-care bills currently being considered.
Philip Pullman, author of child-friendly atheist books like The Golden Compass, has been told by British authorities that he must register with the newly developed antipedophile database if he still wants to visit kids in the schools; the ruling applies to those who regularly work with children. In a snit, Pullman said the proclamation was “quite dispiriting and sinister,” labeling it an “absurd rule.”
Now perhaps the Brits have gone overboard, but we are nonetheless delighted that kids will be free from Pullman’s dogmatic proselytizing. He’s been working overtime for years promoting videos and books aimed at brainwashing children about just how awful Christianity is and how glorious atheism is. Now, at least, many more kids will be spared his moonshine. All thanks to his liberal buddies in the British government.
The Catholic League is delighted that its 2007 boycott of the film version of The Golden Compass worked so well that it persuaded the producers not to move forward with the second movie based on Pullman’s trilogy, His Dark Materials. As of now, there are no plans to make The Subtle Knife, and we hope it stays that way. Atheism is screwy enough, but when it is sold backdoor to little kids, it is downright pernicious.
Voice of the Faithful is now preparing its obituary. After lecturing the Catholic Church for years on such matters as financial accountability, the organization is in financial ruins. According to Voice officials, it needs $60,000 just to pay its summer bills. Good luck: it is well-known that Voice members are incredibly stingy.
To the extent that the Church made necessary reforms, it effectively spelled the demise of Voice. It was always a close cousin to Call to Action, another moribund organization, and now the cat is out of the bag. To think that Voice can exist as a volunteer group is delusional. Quite frankly, Voice is toast.
In a society where pushing the envelope has become sport, it is increasingly difficult to move audiences. But “The Stoning of Soraya M” is evidence enough that art can still be a provocative medium.
The movie is the dramatic story of an Iranian woman falsely accused of adultery by her husband. Her stoning by a mob, which includes her father, husband and two sons, would be sickening in a science fiction film. That it actually happened—and continues to happen—makes it all the more surreal.
The movie, which opens today, is a gripping statement about man’s capacity for injustice. It deserves a wide audience.
-Bill Donohue
A news report shows that when the infamous Roe v. Wade decision was granted by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973, President Richard M. Nixon worried that abortion would promote “permissiveness.” But he also thought that abortion would be justified in cases of interracial pregnancies. “When you have a black and a white,” he said, “abortion is necessary.”
No one in the pro-abortion camp has any principled reason to object to Nixon’s selective justification for abortion. Indeed, pro-abortion advocates cannot logically claim that abortion is morally neutral and then object to abortions for reasons they find objectionable.
Who are they to decide what is a good reason or a bad reason? Who are they to decide that a woman’s right to choose must accord with liberal rationales for abortion? Ultimately, if extracting a baby from a mother’s womb is the moral equivalent of a tooth extraction, then all abortions are morally equal.
Remember a while back when liberal gays learned that a “gay gene” may exist? They were scared to death that prospective parents might elect to abort such kids. Now we have the prospect of those who will condemn Nixon on this issue.
Ironically, the man who sits in the White House is just the kind of guy Nixon thought our society would be better off without. That the current occupant is also a pro-abortion extremist makes the story all the more bizarre, if not sickening.
“Irena’s Vow,” the fantastic Broadway play about a Polish Catholic woman who hid 12 Jews in the house of a German major during the Holocaust, is scheduled to close on June 28. To get discounted tickets (some of the proceeds benefit the Midtown Pregnancy Center), click this link: http://www.insupportoflife.org/.
“Irena’s Vow” is an extraordinary Broadway play that has a special appeal to Catholics and Jews. It is the real-life story of a Polish Catholic housekeeper, Irena Gut Opdyke, who hid twelve Jewish refugees in the house of a German major during the Holocaust. There is no greater testimony to the faith than this heroic venture. It was Irena’s deep love for Catholicism that allowed her to demonstrate her love to these Jewish men and women in need.
Catholics who go to this play will not only be moved by this riveting account, they will help support the work of all those wonderful persons associated with this dramatic production.
-Bill Donohue
“Irena’s Vow” is playing at the Walter Kerr Theatre, 219 West 48th Street, New York City. It is 90 minutes long with no intermissions.
They did it again today. The gals at the ABC-TV show, “The View,” went off in a rambling, barely coherent discussion of Catholicism.
Always led by Barbara Walters (does she secretly pine to be Catholic?), Joy Behar told us what Confession used to mean to her back in the days when she was “brainwashed.” Unfortunately, her unwashed brain now shows all the signs of corrosion.
Then there is Elisabeth Hasselbeck, the ex-Catholic whose preoccupation with all matters Catholic suggests she is still not at home with her Evangelical status. She told us today that she used to say things in Confession just to “entertain” the priests. Just think how far she’s come—now she entertains unemployed women with her remarkable insights.