Nick Cannon’s “Can I Live?”

I’ve heard rumours that Nick Cannon and Mariah Carey are planning to separate or divorce. That’s very sad, if true, but no surprise, especially for Hollywood personalities. I hope that Nick and Mariah can pull things together and move on with their marriage, trusting the Lord.

A few years back, Nick produced a remarkable, powerful and heart-warming pro-life video. Take a look and enjoy.

Sure You Go To Mass, But Do You Do All Things Well?

Support Fr. Paul Nicholson. Go here.

Michael Coren Complicit In Destruction Of Souls Who Practice Homosexuality Pt 1

Michael Coren is a brilliant writer and media personality. He is a powerful culture warrior in today's society, and an earnest and effective advocate for the Unborn. I enjoy his books and television shows. But unfortunately he is contributing to the corruption of our culture by his subtle advocacy on behalf of the "gay" lifestyle (which is based, almost exclusively, on homosexual acts). Out of concern for his soul, and the souls of those trapped in the practice of homosexuality, I must point out my concerns.



I don't say that he purposely sets out to promote sin and moral evil. I believe he is a sincere Christian man with a great deal of compassion for his fellow man. However, for some reason, he seems to have blinders on when it comes to warning his "gay" friends and audience to the moral evil of homosexual acts. Because of his prominent platform in the media, which affords an important role and privilege as an opinion-shaper, he is more accountable to God than most of us "ordinary" folks.

In fact, he could very well help to save many "gay" souls from their continued bondage to moral evil by simply incorporating a warning into the formula he uses on national TV whenever the subject is broached, which is often these days, as the above video makes obvious.  How could he do this? ...by way of personal endorsement of the truth of article #2357 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which, up to this point, he craftily avoids.

To put it plainly, I have never heard him say, unambiguously, in his books or on air, that he personally believes that the practice of homosexual acts is intrinsically wrong, a moral evil precisely, and that the continued practice of such acts of grave depravity could well constitute grave sin and threaten the eternal soul of the individual involved. My opinion, at this point, is that he really doesn't believe such an "offensive" notion.

Just yesterday and today I had an exchange with Mr. Coren on Twitter. A portion of the Twitter exchange appears below. Click through to view the full conversation for context or see screenshot just below at end of posting.

@Contra1diction @TheSheepcat Learn some humility & respect & stop demanding & ordering.
— Michael Coren (@michaelcoren) February 13, 2014

I think his last two responses to my tweets were inappropriate, perhaps even rude. I'll let the reader judge, bearing in mind that I was simply asking for his affirmation, his submission of mind and will, to article #2357 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I think any Catholic ought to be eager at any time to provide evidence of that to a fellow Catholic who voices some legitimate concern. In fact, the other party in the exchange of tweets was very quick to provide that affirmation, but Mr. Coren was not.

@Contra1diction @michaelcoren Agree. We ppl w SSA need to hear BOTH "I don't condemn you" (the person) & (re: the act) "Go & sin no more."
— Alan Yoshioka (@TheSheepcat) February 12, 2014

I am preparing a further posting under the same title as this posting, which will provide much greater detail, based on the above video, on my charge against Michael Coren, which, I admit, is a very serious charge.

Court Win For 73-Year-Old UK Street Preacher Pinned Down By 6 Police Officers

From a Breaking News email from Christian Concern:

A former teacher, who was ordered by a female PC to stop preaching outside Banbury Magistrates Court House, has had the charges of assault and breach of the peace against him dismissed by Oxford Magistrates Court.

The officer approached Bill Edwards, aged 73, when he was preaching outside the Courthouse, and asked him to move on as some people inside the building found his preaching “offensive”.  However, he refused after which the PC told him that he would be arrested.  Bill followed her into the police station a short distance away, where he was grabbed by 6 officers and taken to the ground and arrested.

Yesterday (11th February) the District Judge at Oxford Magistrates Court told Bill that he had no case to answer, and expressed doubt that the officer had acted in the execution of her duty.

An application for a restraint order to prevent Bill from preaching outside Banbury Court House was refused, and he was given an order for costs to cover his travel expenses.  Bill was supported throughout the case by the Christian Legal Centre, and was represented in court by allied solicitor to the CLC, Michael Phillips.

Help us keep supporting Christians like Bill

This is one of the many instances we have seen in recent times of heavy handed tactics by the police against lawful peaceful street preaching.   The Christian Legal Centre recently supported street preacher Tony Miano, who appeared before Dundee Sheriff’s Court after being arrested for preaching on sexual sin in Scotland.   In a free society, people should be able to share the gospel in the way they think best without being penalised.

See a similar case here supported by Christian Concern.

Vatican Surveys Confirm The Rebellion Of Too Many Catholic Bishops

Here in Canada we’ve seen some of the results of the Vatican surveys, although the Canadian Bishops are telling us they don’t intend to publish results.

Some survey results are emerging from the USA as well.

Now Hilary White of LifeSiteNews reports on Europe’s results.

Europe’s Bishops Discover What We All Knew: Most Catholics Reject Teaching On Sexual Morality

The bishops’ conferences of Germany and Switzerland have issued reports on the findings of the survey that found nearly all Catholics dissent from Catholic teaching. The report conveyed the findings of all of Germany’s 27 dioceses and about 20 Catholic organizations. It said “‘pre-marital unions’ are not only a relevant pastoral reality, but one which is almost universal” and that the great majority of respondents felt Catholic teaching on sexual morality is “unrealistic.”

…

The response showing the nearly universal rejection of Catholic moral teaching by Mass-going Catholics, including some priests, bishops and even cardinals, are surprising to no one with the least acquaintance with contemporary Catholicism. Libraries of books have been published on the subject of the widespread rejection of Catholic moral teaching on sexuality since the promulgation of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical, Humanae vitae, on artificial contraception. Hundreds of polls taken over the last four decades have shown a steady decline in Catholic adherence to the media’s favourite “hot-button” issues of pre and extra-marital sex, divorce, homosexuality, cohabitation, contraception and abortion.

Did such a crisis of faith happen in a vacuum with no logical explanation?

Did our Lord Jesus Christ fail His apostles, after giving them the Great Commission? His Commission was that they teach His flock to “observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” He handpicked them, commissioned them and promised to be with them for the course. Is this what we see happening in diocese after diocese throughout the world? Have the Successors of the Apostles taught their flocks to observe all the teachings of Christ their Master?

Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.

Matthew 28:19-20

Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.

I Corinthians 4:2

Surely, Catholics must expect more from their Bishops and find a way to communicate their expectations. Have you undertaken your part in this most sober challenge?

Who Is Going To Save Our Church?

"Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops like bishops and your religious act like religious."

Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen

The Sanctity Of Life Of A Bishop Or The Sanctity Of Life Of An Unborn Child?

Following are excerpts from a speech by John Smeaton of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) at the annual Legatus Summit. I urge you to read the entire speech, comprising 13 pages, for very rare and valuable insight into our current pro-life challenges. Which one of us would not wish to be privy to what John Smeaton said was “the fruit and conclusion of my four decades of work at the national and international level in the pro-life movement”?

But neither must we be slow ... neither must we be slow ...not in begging, not in pleading, but in insisting at the highest level within the Church that bishops are appointed who will uphold the teaching of the Church in opposing the greatest crime against children in history, the wholesale killing of children in the womb, and who will defend and assist parents in protecting the innocence of their born children.

…

Let’s not kid ourselves. The pro-life movement, however hardworking, however well-informed, however blessed and strong we may be in our initiatives, the pro-life movement cannot defeat the culture of death on our own.

…

But we cannot defeat the culture of death, which threatens constantly to overwhelm us, on our own. Pro-life organizations and the wider community must be fortified by unequivocal, unyielding voices of Catholic Church officials and bishops throughout the world.

Tragically, some of the most pernicious influences where legalised abortion is concerned come from officials within the Catholic Church.

…

I appeal today to church leaders in the United States and to church leaders throughout the world, to church leaders in Rome, to all Catholic Bishops in the World, as the chief executive of the oldest pro-life organization in the world, I appeal to you remember the words of Pope John Paul II in Evangelium Vitae (82) that you “... are the first ones called to be untiring preachers of the Gospel of Life”. Silence, and silence includes equivocal or half-hearted words, in the face of the daily slaughter, the maiming of mothers’ and fathers’ lives, simply will not do…the silence and equivocation that we have seen for the most part on the part of the Irish bishops over the past 40 years as Irish mothers have travelled to Britain for abortion. If it were Catholic priests or Jews who were being killed, or threatened with being killed, by national laws in Britain or in other parts of the world, would we expect, any day of the week, ever to enter a Catholic Church for Mass without the matter being mentioned, or being prayed about at that Mass?” Would we not be denouncing, and rightly denouncing, the killing of Catholic priests or Jews, in every pulpit in the world—notwithstanding the past sins and scandals associated with members of the Catholic Church? The Jew, the priest, the unborn child are all created in the image and likeness of God.

Also, in the spirit of friendly dialogue, I implore all Catholic bishops throughout the world to speak out clearly and categorically that politicians who vote for and publicly support abortion legislation such as that just passed by the Irish Parliament, must publicly retract and refute the position they have adopted before receiving the Body Blood Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Holy Communion in Whose image every unborn child targeted by wicked abortion legislation is made? It’s an absurd rationalization to suggest that bishops speaking up clearly and categorically on the public sacrilegious reception of the Holy Eucharist is turning the Sacrament into a battleground or circus, as has been claimed. I ask you again, if Catholic priests or bishops were targeted by the legislation passed by the Irish Parliament, for example, so that they could be executed with impunity, would you or would you not say publicly that politicians who voted for or who supported such legislation, without apologizing, retracting and refuting their position, may not go forward to receive Holy Communion? What is the difference in God’s eyes between the sanctity of life of a priest or a bishop or the sanctity of life of an unborn child?

…

Throughout Britain, Ireland and Europe, the failure of Catholic bishops to teach their flocks on matters relating to the fundamental right to life is directly responsible for great confusion and, consequently, for the failure of the overwhelming majority of Catholics, both clerical and lay, to provide truly effective resistance to the greatest legalized slaughter of human beings in the history of the world. Countless millions of unborn children are being killed each year and the policy of very many Catholic bishops in Europe is contributing hugely to this deplorable situation.

…

We mustn’t think that pro-life organizations on their own, all of them marching in perfect step with each other, can achieve anything definitive against the culture of death on our own. We must do everything we possibly can, not least by prayer and fasting, to involve church leaders in the war against the culture of death. I was delighted that the bishops on the Bishops’ panel at the Convention yesterday spoke about the need to work in partnership with the laity. The only thing I would add, Your Excellencies, is that we need your leadership. You have the charism, the grace of your ordination as bishops, and of the sacrament of your priesthood, and when you speak the truth you speak to Catholics and to non-Catholics with inspiring authority.

…

… the Catholic laity throughout the world must start burning with righteous indignation…

Thanks to LifeSiteNews for posting this speech online. Their report on the Legatus event is located here.

Mr. Smeaton provided some powerful commentary as well on recent statements by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria, noting particularly that, “Standing up against the worldwide homosexual agenda is crucial for the protection of children.”

Thank God for Mr. Smeaton and for the Legatus team. They are examples to the rest of us neither to be cowed by the daunting task of holding Bishops accountable nor by the enormity of the evil that we face down.

As I’ve said many times before, when the Catholic Bishops of Canada and the world take seriously their duty and their authority, the demon of abortion will be bound and unborn children will be safe once more. In the meanwhile, common folks must act.

Dublin Archdiocese Demands LifeSiteNews Article Naming Archbishop Diarmuid Martin Be Taken Down

One week ago, on Monday February 3, I posted on this blog a recent LifeSiteNews interview, a YouTube video, with Bernadette Smyth, Director of Precious Life in Ireland. The LifeSite report accompanying that video included the following account by Ms. Smyth:

…one bishop even “brought Enda Kenny Holy Communion to his seat after he signed this bill in, instead of Enda Kenny coming to the altar to receive, which he should have been denied…because he is in opposition to the Church.”  Ms. Smyth identified this bishop as Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin.

This was quite an explosive revelation, I thought at the time, and certainly warranted a blog posting. A couple days ago I reviewed that same posting to listen to the video once again, and to my surprise, found the YouTube video was now tagged private. I returned to the LifeSiteNews website and found what appeared to be the same video interview but after looking at it I realized it had been scrubbed of all reference to the Holy Communion encounter with Archbishop Diarmuid Martin and Enda Kenny. The text of the report had also been scrubbed of any such reference.

Obviously something had hit the fan. I send along a message via the Combox to Steve Jalsevac at LifeSiteNews:

It appears that the reference to Archbishop Martin providing Holy Communion to Enda Kenny at his seat during Mass has been scrubbed from the original video. I wonder if you could tell me why this portion of the video was deleted? Was the information provided by Bernadette Smyth not accurate?

His response:

We received a call from the archdiocese demanding that the article be removed. For now we have removed reference to the archbishop pending further independent investigation by ourselves.

I trust that LifeSiteNews will indeed do the follow up investigation that will either confirm or refute Ms. Smyth’s testimony, regardless of her motives or intentions. If true, then we shall have more to say to Archbishop Martin.

Which Came First: Cohabitation Or Contraception?

As you probably know, a debate in the Catholic Church over divorce and remarriage is heating up.

The recent Vatican questionnaire really brought the full extent of the rebellion in focus. All according to plan, I feel sure.

What sparked the title of this blog posting was this quote:  

The responses to the questions showed that cohabitation before marriage and contraception are almost universally accepted. As they are not considered “sinful”, they are therefore not usually considered something to be confessed.

It came from a story in last week’s The Tablet about the results of the Vatican questionnaire from England and Wales.

I have recently noticed that Catholic Priests and Bishops seem to be placing more and more focus on the phenomenon of cohabitation than ever before. Have you noticed too? I think it’s a convenient cover for them since they can now point to cohabitation as one of our greatest challenges rather than ever have to bring up contraception. Of course, nobody ever cohabitates without fornication (or adultery). And nobody fornicates without some kind of contraception.

The Bishops have doomed the West to a moral and demographic collapse due to their failure to uphold Catholic teaching on artificial contraception. They avoid the subject like a plague. Their chickens are coming home to roost in a big way in the USA with the HSS mandate and same sex “marriage” tsunami.

But let’s not be confused about the real culprit here and which came first.

FLASHBACK: The Future, It's In Our Hands

From an Editorial, The Telegram, October 10, 2007.

Appropriate, given today’s headlines.

___________________________________________

The Future—It’s In Our Hands

“I question The Telegram’s claim of being unbiased. Their editors, columnists and even their volunteer editorial board rarely, if ever, offer contrary views to the steady diet of pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, amoral bias of their commentary…Their acceptance of a few letters to the editor hardly qualifies as balancing the scales…surely there should be room for one [outspoken] pro-life minded columnist.”

With that rant, I ended my letter to the editor a little more than a year ago. Today, The Telegram is making me eat my words.

People are reluctant in our day to raise the subject of morals—unless of course it’s their kind of morals. Take for instance the recent comments about Danny Williams’ plan to give $1000 for every new child born in the province. Many scorned the plan, saying it would be abused and lead to more “unwanted children” and besides, the government has no business in our bedrooms. Yet some of these same self-proclaimed family planning “specialists” insist that not only must government legally protect the right to “terminate” these “products of conception” but that government must use taxpayer money to finance the destruction of the “unwanted” pre-born children resulting from their own bedroom activities.

Don’t misunderstand. It’s not that I agree with Danny’s bizarre approach to the problem of a “dying race.” Imagine—paying some mothers to create children while at the same time paying other mothers to violently destroy nearly a thousand new budding unborn lives just months away from residency. It’s a strange way to prove he is concerned about population growth but when Bishops and pastors would rather busy themselves with politically correct issues such as AIDS, poverty and the environment, what’s a premier to do? Indeed, forty years of outrageous sexual license in our society testifies to the far greater cowardice of today’s religious leaders. Honestly Danny I feel for you but, again, it’s just skewed morals at work.

Nevertheless, give this premier his credit—he rightly sees the future of Newfoundland and Labrador endangered by depopulation “choices.” Likewise I’m concerned about the future and I see dangers too. I’ve been accused of being a one issue guy. I admit it’s true. But the issue is not abortion.

The issue is our future—that of my children and grandchildren. That future will be best guarded by those who believe an accounting for their actions in this life will be demanded in the next. I hope we’ve just elected some politicians with such beliefs.

We’re back to morals again aren’t we? If lying, stealing, cheating and adultery are still not legitimate choices, why should pornography, gambling, sex outside marriage and all manner of sexual perversion be acceptable for our future?

The fact is that all of these choices are downright dangerous to our future because they destroy the fabric of our society. They represent selfish behaviour which paves the way for our province’s greatest challenges: abortion, sexual perversion and promiscuity, sexual assault and violence, school bullying, the home care crisis which is simply another ugly expression of elder abuse, corrupt politicians, STD and VLT epidemics. These all expose a crisis regarding respect for the life and presence of our fellow man.

I thank The Telegram for the opportunity in the coming months to share my views on the above subjects which touch the lives of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians daily. It will be my goal to place the subject of right morals front and centre where it belongs. 

by Eric Alcock