Why Do Catholic Women Reject Catholic Teachings?

Caroline Kennedy's speech at the DNC earlier this month was a prime example of what has come to be called "Cafeteria Catholicism." In a cafeteria line you can pick and choose what you want to eat, and leave behind things that are not so appealing. Similarly, Cafeteria Catholics pick and choose the teachings and practices that fit their schedule or routine or whim, and leave the "meat" behind. Perhaps they should be called "Vegetarian Catholics" instead. Or, they are often called CINOs -- Catholic In Name Only.

Whatever the name given to the phenomenon, the most notorious example of this in recent years is Catholic women and men who reject the Church's teaching on birth control and abortion. I have never understood how women in particular can call themselves Catholic while, as Ms. Kennedy does, brazenly rejecting the Church's teachings. A new study has come out that purports to answer this question. I don't think there is a one-size-fits-all answer, but this study does dig deeper than anything that I have seen to date on the subject.

 Remember back in February when the Democrats were trying to justify the mandate to provide contraceptives, abortafacients and sterilizations to women free of charge? They kept repeating the talking point that 98% of Catholic women used birth control. That number was never substantiated. Indeed, there was no way to refute it because it was made up. (It's kind of like the fictitious "jobs created or saved" statistics that the Democrats love to spew.) Anyway, that figure was debunked by a number of sources, but the mainstream media and Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Kathleen Sebelius--both CINOs--continue to push it. They use their government jobs as bully pulpits to promote abortions and to denounce Catholic teaching.

But back to the study. The two things that it identifies as being responsible for Catholic women who reject the teachings of the Church are the influences of culture and the lack of education in Catholic teaching. LifeSiteNews explains a portion of the study:

Mistakenly or not, 53 per cent of all women in the study who dissent in part or completely from church teaching cite a couple’s “moral right” to decide which method of family planning they will use. This makes it the top reason given for rejecting church teaching on the matter.

Two other reasons are cited frequently among this group: 46 percent say couples have “the right to enjoy sexual pleasure without worrying about pregnancy”, and 41 percent think that natural family planning is not an effective method to space or postpone pregnancy.

The authors perceive two main dynamics shaping these views: the influence of a cultural mindset that divorces sex from procreation and promises “sexual pleasure without consequences”, and a deficit on the church side in presenting Church teaching.

The latter can be deduced from the fact that 72 per cent of women surveyed said they rely mainly on the homily at Sunday Mass for learning about the faith, and yet just 15 per cent of that group fully accept the Church’s teaching on sex and reproduction. The weekly Mass homily, the authors say, “seems to represent a lost opportunity when it comes to conscience formation on the contraception issue.”

As for cultural influences, they seem likely (although the authors don’t say so) to account for at least some of the scepticism about natural family planning given the systematic bad press NFP [Natural Family Planning] is give by mainstream family planners and the media.

I personally know a priest who promotes the "conscience" exception to Church teachings. He tells women (and men) that they can follow their consciences when it comes to morals. Naturally, those who think that they are not ready for a child for whatever reason will convince themselves that their conscience is telling them that contraception is okay or, if they do get pregnant, that abortion is acceptable.

My parents used to tell my siblings and me as children that misery loves company. They explained that when someone holds an opinion that they know is not right, or if they do something that they know is wrong, they want others to join them in order to make them feel justified, or to make them feel less guilty. Often times this leads to bullying. Those who hold the "right" or truthful belief are ridiculed or bullied by those who must try to lessen their own guilt. This is what I see happening amongst Catholics today.

Karen Handel

And it is happening on the political front as well. Planned Bullyhood is a new book that just came out on September 11. It was written by Karen Handel, who was senior vice-president at Susan G. Komen for the Cure  earlier this year when that organization announced that it was parting ways with Planned Parenthood. Handel reveals that the decision not to provide any more funding to the abortion-providing organization was long in the making. The lightning rod organization has been under investigation for quite some time for a number of violations. Handel's book exposes the hypocrisy and bullying that took place in the battle between the two well-known organizations. 

To order Karen Handel's Book, go to  www.plannedbullyhood.com. 

Pledge Allegiance to ... Obama?

When the President is so willing to desecrate the American flag, is it any wonder that his followers choose to pledge allegiance not to the FLAG but to OBAMA? This is getting even scarier, Friends. Hollywood celebrities like Jessica Alba, Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman have pledged their loyalty and their votes to Obama. Alba waxed nostalgic on her youth when she and her friends pledged allegiance to the flag. But no more. Now they pledge allegiance to Obama.

What is it with liberals and mottoes and mantras and
posting pics of yourself showing "I heart Obama"?

So on Twitter there is a place called #ForAll that you can send your pics of yourself pledging allegiance to Obama and telling why you are going to vote for him. I am not going to waste space reprinting any of those idiots Obamaphiles, but here are some of my favorite #ForAll Twitter bombs.

And one of my favorite conservative pundits, Dana Loesch got in on the action.

This is not the first scary thing liberals have done in support of Obama. Remember this child indoctrination video a few years ago?

These young black "Obama Youth" in Missouri also got in on the Obamidolatry before the 2008 election. (The teacher was suspended until the attention blew over.)

And then there was this video with Hollywood celebrities when Obama had his campaign to force people to do social service. (You don't have to watch the whole ridiculous thing.) I wonder how many of these idiots have kept their "pledges" - especially the really creepy tattooed dude at the 3:17 mark.

Below is the video that Jessica Alba and Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman and all the other liberal Obamabot boys and girls need to see. I am sure they have no clue who Red Skelton was, but I grew up watching him in the 60s. Red Skelton knew what the pledge of allegiance is all about, boys and girls.

Did you pay attention to the end, where Red predicted what is at stake today? What he says would be "a pity" -- dropping "under God" -- is almost preferable to what is happening now -- people switching their allegiance from the flag to Obama.

And have you heard America's most famous Cowboy, John Wayne, recite and explain the pledge?

 I am willing to give Misses Alba, Portman, and Johansson the benefit of the doubt that they do not know how disrespectful and unpatriotic their pledge of allegiance to Obama is.They probably do not even know the Pledge of Allegiance, so here is someone who can teach them.

And in this final video is for Misses Alba, Johansson, and Portman. Little Chloe can recite the pledge for you, so pay close attention and you might learn a thing or two.

And now, if anyone knows Miss Alba or Miss Johansson or Miss Portman, please forward this blog post to them so they can learn the meaning of pledging allegiance to the FLAG, and that pledging allegiance to a mere man is as un-American and close to treasonous as you can get in my book.

Obama Desecrates Flag to Serve His Ego

This story will not get any play in the mainstream media, but every American should be concerned over this desecration of the American flag by Obama.

Obama tweeted about the desecrated symbol today:

President Barack Obama took the Cult of Obama and narcissism to perhaps an unprecedented level on Wednesday when his campaign began selling posters that desecrated the image of the American flag by replacing the stars on the flag with the “O” symbol that serves as the Obama campaign’s logo. 

Obama’s Twitter account (@BarackObama) sent a tweet that said, “A poster to say there are no red states or blue states, only the United States: http://OFA.BO/gfHgXM ."

The tweet linked to Obama’s campaign store, where people could purchase a limited edition “OUR STRIPES: FLAG PRINT” poster for $35.

This is what the Obama website looks like where it is selling these obnoxious posters.

What happened to the original 13 colonies? Seven red and six white stripes are the official numbers. Which of the first 13 states is Obama leaving out?

Can you imagine the media outrage that we would be hearing if this image had popped up on Romney's website?

The Obama You Don't Know

Today's issue of the Washington Examiner has a Special Report pullout section, accessible online at http://washingtonexaminer.com/obama#.UFsRm1F7SSp. It is titled "The Man Behind the Image," with Barack Obama being the nominal "Man." The report is divided into an Introduction and 10 chapters, and is a must-read. Even if you are an Obama supporter, this report gives insight into the past and present of the man who holds the most powerful office in the world.

Introduction: The Obama you don't know (Print version: Obama's real life story in 10 acts)

Chapter 1 A childhood of privilege, not hardship

Chapter 2 Myth of the 'rock-star' professor

Chapter 3 The 1997 speech that launched Obama

Chapter 4 Defense attorney for Chicago slumlord

Chapter 5 Obama's toughest critics on the Left

Chapter 6 The poor people Obama left behind

Chapter 7 Myth of Obama as state senate reformer

Chapter 8 Using state pensions to help friends

Chapter 9  Obama's Arab-American network

Chapter 10  Obama brings Chicago to Washington

Please pass this Special Report along 

to every American of voting age.

And maybe you will want to take a look at this video again: "Obama That I Used to Know"

WAKE UP, AMERICA!

Off the Cuff Remarks and Hidden Videos

In a now famous impromptu "interview," Joe the Plumber outed Obama as a socialist in 2008 during an Obama campaign swing through Ohio. Obama later tried to spin what he said and denied that he had socialist leanings.

Now a new audio interview of Obama from ten years earlier has surfaced, and there is no doubt that he is a died-in-the-wool socialist who completely embraces and advocates for redistribution of wealth, one of the fundamental premises of socialism. This You Tube video has been viewed more than 277,000 times since it was posted yesterday. Here are the introduction and the audio that have cornered Obama and undoubtedly sent shivers through his campaign.

At an October 19, 1998 conference at Loyola University, Barack Obama spoke against "propaganda" that said government doesn't work and the need to "pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution because I actually believe in redistribution."

Obama and his minions in the mainstream media have been focusing for three days on a video tape of Mitt Romney from earlier this year when he made comments to a group at a fundraising event. Someone secretly recorded the video, and a small excerpt has been played over and over on every news channel and program.

The transcription of what Romney said is provided on the video by Mother Jones, the group that bought the tape and posted it on You Tube. It was already out in circulation, but it had not gained any momentum until this week.

Here is what gets me. I agree with Romney. Most conservatives agree with Romney. So why is he apologizing? He dares to be honest, and he has to apologize? He should stick to it and say, "You're darn right I said it, and I meant it!" Then he should say it again and tell Americans that he cares  about Americans and he can offer Americans a way out of the depressed economy that Obama has fostered, nurtured and promoted for four years. This is not hate. This is tough love!

No more apologies, Mitt! Don't be bullied by the 47% who will never vote for you anyway! We can and will win this in November!

Amazing Karaoke Performance

Catholics do not believe in reincarnation. But if I did, I would swear that the young woman in the video below was Whitney Houston reincarnate.



Wow. That's all I can say.

The HHS Mandate Controversy Grows

"I'm Catholic, I'm pro-abortion, and I'm proud of it!"

Earlier this month, Caroline Kennedy was a speaker at the Democrat National Convention. Many found this DNC speech to be  extremely troubling. In her 6 minute speech, Kennedy invoked her Catholic faith as justification for her stance on women's reproductive rights. "As a Catholic woman, I take reproductive health seriously," Kennedy said, "and today, it is under attack. This year alone, more than a dozen states have passed more than 40 restrictions on women's access to reproductive health care. That's not the kind of future I want for my daughters or your daughters." That's the most despicable part of her speech. Luckily, her droning was so unappealing that the audience barely claps at anything that she says. Indeed, Jesse Jackson is shown making a grand entry with is entourage, and he looks about as interested in her speech as a sleeping cat would have been. [Aside: It's funny that Democrats have complained so vigorously about Mitt Romney refusing to release more of his tax returns when they have members like Kennedy who refused to release ANY financial records back in 2008 when she sought the appointment to fill Hilary's Clinton's Senate seat.]

The more interesting video to watch is this clip from Bill O'Reilly wherein he, as a Catholic himself, expresses his shock over Kennedy invoking her Catholic faith as justification for the reason she supports abortion. Sure, she calls it "reproductive rights," but that is simply the Democrat's' politically correct term for abortion, or baby murder. Here is the O'Reilly clip.

Like Bill O'Reilly, I find it stunning that Kennedy thinks that her position on supporting abortion is somehow in accord with the teachings of the Catholic Church. I stopped trying a long time ago to understand such deluded thinking. Anyone who heard her speech and thought, "Oh, Caroline Kennedy is a Catholic, so if she thinks abortion is okay, then it must be okay and now I can vote for Obama," is just as delusional as she is.

Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois

What is clear, however, is that issue of the HHS mandate on employers to cover all the needs for women to get free "reproductive care" is becoming even more of a hot button issue. Most Catholics think the mandate goes too far and infringes upon religious liberty. Trying to fend off at least one of the many lawsuits that have been filed against the mandate, the Obama administration tweaked its existing exception in order to get one lawsuit dismissed. Wheaton College in Illinois had filed a lawsuit earlier this year because it did not fit the religious exemption that the administration originally  laid out for employers who objected to the mandate. So, in late August, the administration amended the mandate yet again so that it covered Wheaton College's situation. But this change is only a temporary "fix," as it merely extends the time which the college has to comply with the mandate -- to next August (2013), along with the other religious employers who fall under the exemption. This "tweak" succeeded in making the college's claim not yet ripe, so the judge dismissed the lawsuit. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the college, will have members speaking at a Catholic parish in my area this coming Saturday morning, so I will be spending part of my weekend there to ask questions and hear the latest news.

55 plaintiffs filed 23 federal lawsuits earlier this year. New plaintiffs have also filed since the initial filings.

Another of the battles that is finally being waged in the war against the HHS mandate is that of the rights of "non-religious" employers. This includes employers who run secular businesses but who seek to follow their religious beliefs in the way they run their businesses. EWTN reports on this latest piece of the mandate controversy.

A lawyer challenging the Obama administration's contraception mandate said that employers should not be forced to compromise religious beliefs in order to run a for-profit company.
"The idea that just because you open a business, you leave your religion at the door is not supported by anything in our law," said Francis J. Manion, senior counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice.

Manion told EWTN News on Aug. 23 that while it is common to see employers in America separating their religious beliefs from their business practices, they are not required to do so.
The Supreme Court and other U.S. courts have consistently recognized corporations as persons with "the same rights as anyone else," he explained.

In defending the controversial federal contraception mandate, the Obama administration has argued that "for-profit, secular employers generally...do not engage in any exercise of religion protected by the First Amendment.”

But Manion pointed to the landmark 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case, in which the Supreme Court ruled that corporations have a First Amendment right to free speech.

This ruling was consistent with 100 years of precedent in America, Manion said, and if corporations have a right to free speech, they should also have a right to religious freedom, which is also protected and given a position of priority in the First Amendment.

Manion is currently involved in defending a for-profit company from the contraception mandate, which requires employers to offer health insurance plans that cover contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs even if doing so violates their consciences.

Read more: http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/US.php?id=6036#ixzz26jxTm2Wk

Similarly, a businesswoman from Chicago is also standing up for her religious rights and fighting the mandate because she "believes that the government must respect her identity as a Catholic woman as well as a business owner."

Mary Anne Yep, co-founder and vice president of Triune Health Group [...] told CNA on Aug. 23 that she cannot separate her identity as a woman, a business owner and a Catholic. The government cannot expect her to “carve out a portion” of herself during working hours, she said.

Yep helped found Triune Health Group in 1990, along with her husband, Christopher, who serves as the company’s president and CEO.

The company was recently named the Best Place to Work for Women in the Chicago metro area by Crain’s Chicago Business.[...]

The Yeps and their business are suing both the federal government and the state of Illinois for infringing upon their religious freedom in their business decisions.

An Aug. 23 statement announcing the lawsuit explained that the Yeps “view business as a form of religious stewardship and an integral part of their lives as faithful Roman Catholics.”

Read more: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/woman-friendly-catholic-business-sues-over-hhs-mandate/

But the biggest entry into the fray is probably the arts and crafts retailer Hobby Lobby, which announced last week that it is filing suit against the Obama administration over the HHS mandate. The owners of Hobby Lobby are not Catholic, but they are Christian. They are represented by the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty. Hopefully they will update us this weekend on what is going on in the case.

So, this coming Saturday, after I attend the meeting at St. John the Beloved Parish in Arlington, VA, I will head over to Hobby Lobby to pick up some decorations for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. And then I will hit Chick-Fil-A for some delicious chicken. On Sunday, the Church will be open, but the other two businesses will be closed.

St. John the Beloved Catholic Church, McLean, VA