Saturday, October 12, 2013

Are We Seeing An Increased Level Of Violence Against Pro-Lifers In The Public Square?

Remember three weeks ago when I said this:

I was strangely reluctant this morning to get out and do my regular protests at the parishes in St. John's area. Mostly I think this was a result of the troubling comments made recently by Pope Francis. Immediately that I read the transcript of his remarks I thought to myself that he has just made it doubly difficult now for anyone on the frontlines in the culture wars. Not only will we get the usual flack and venom from the secular side but we'll also have liberal Catholics and dissidents of all stripes reminding us that we "obsess" too much over abortion, contraception, etc....according to none other than the Pope.

Even before my day started, the psychological and spiritual damage from the Pope's words were, for me, quite significant. I predict there may well be a serious backlash to pro-life efforts on a widespread basis. I am not directly blaming the Pope for the attack which I endured today but I will simply say that considering I suffered a vicious attack from a fellow Catholic, I expect that future attacks from this quarter will be even more probable. In fact I was truly expecting some Catholics today to mock my protest using the Pope's words! It didn't happen today but I guarantee it will sometime soon.

Yup, that was the same day I was attacked viciously outside a Catholic Church by none other than a fellow Catholic, who immediately proceeded inside to attend Mass while I picked myself up from the street.

Since then I’ve been watching the news carefully to see if I can detect any upsurge in the frequency or degree of antagonism and violence against pro-lifers. It didn’t take long. LifeSite News reported this unbelievable story from our own nation of Canada a few days ago. Now today, this shocking report of violence against pro-lifers in Australia.

Just a coincidence? Too dramatic? Maybe. We’ll see as time goes on. But my thought is that when the Vicar of Christ muzzles the soldiers of God by sullying—wittingly or unwittingly—their faithful witness, a spiritual bomb explodes; the portals of heaven and hell are shaken and the demons are emboldened to more destruction.

And yes, on another point, it’s happened. Two weeks ago I had a Catholic parishioner confront me during a sign carrying protest outside one of the local parishes and ask me whether I respect what Pope Francis had to say about the Church being obsessed about abortion, contraception, etc.


Life Chain 2013 St. John's, NL




[Info supplied on YouTube video above:
LifeChain, an annual prayerful and silent public witness to life, was held October 6 at 2:30 PM in St. John's, NL, in front of the abortuary at 202 LeMarchant Road. Video supplied by Corina @Ash2Life. The video indicates a cold wet day, few pro-life witnesses by comparison to previous years, and a noisy group of disrespectful pro-abortion advocates.]

In the US, the first Sunday in October is regarded as Respect Life Sunday by the American Bishops. Canadian Bishops have no such day designated in October. Life Chain is scheduled on the same day as Respect Life Sunday and many dioceses organize to take full advantage of the Life Chain impact on pro-life awareness.

Life Chain founder Royce Dunn recently wrote the following in his Press Release for this year’s Life Chain event:

Life Chain is devoted foremost to prayer, but wise participants understand that prayer to end abortion is not of great value before God unless accompanied by love that will battle legal child killing and defend forsaken Preborns committedly.

Pro-life’s two leading stories in 2013, Life Chain’s 26th year, are unchanged in America and Canada: 

Abortions remain numerous, and the church remains bound by deception and apathy. All the while God mercifully waits. He waits to work through His sons and daughters to end the unspeakable horror, but the ears of His church do not hear and the eyes of His church do not see. The result is a church imprinted by shame and a calamity much larger than the German Holocaust. While 56 million chiefly surgical abortions have been reported in America and 3 million in Canada, the actual numbers are much higher, and hidden deaths from the abortive chemicals in birth controls may exceed the surgical deaths.

Mr. Dunn knows well what it will take to end legalized abortion and frames the challenge as one of prayer “accompanied by love that will battle legal child killing and defend forsaken Preborns committedly.” He knows also that God waits for His children to rise up from a Church bound by deception and apathy and put an end to “the unspeakable horror.”

You can read the outline of the Life Chain Principles (pdf) and see that Life Chain is a peaceful and prayerful public witness of pro-life individuals standing and praying for our nation and for an end to abortion. It is a visual statement of solidarity by the Christian community that abortion kills children and that the Church supports the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception until natural death. Furthermore, the guidelines state:

Use only approved Life Chain signs. Half of them should be Abortion Kills Children–Life Chain’s foremost life-saving message. Millions of our fellow citizens support abortion, but very few of them support “killing” unborn children. Do not use graphic signs. (They have purposeful uses, but Life Chain strives to move reluctant Christians from the pews to the sidewalks, and they are not ready for graphic signs.)

Can you possibly imagine any good reason that a Christian group or Church community would purposefully ignore, let alone marginalize, such a hugely successful international pro-life event? Don’t you imagine that every Church group that claimed the label of “Pro-life” would be anxious to publicize and support such a visible, powerful expression of solidarity with unborn children—and no controversial, graphic pictures allowed? Granted, some Protestant assemblies don’t self-identify as “pro-life” but think of the pro-life conscience of Catholic Church parishioners alone in our local area, with 40 parishes and approximately 110,000 Catholics. Certainly, one imagines the Archdiocese of St. John’s undertook a serious effort to organize for and participate in such an endeavour in order to raise the awareness of the plight of unborn children in Canada, and even more particularly, of the unborn children of NL being killed at the abortuary on LeMarchant Rd., precisely where the Life Chain event was being scheduled.

Yet, in the announcements page—the official communicator for all approved events—of the Archdiocesan website, on October 5, 2013, not a word was to be found about the Life Chain event. The Archdiocese instead chose to highlight a different event taking place on Sunday the 6th. Here is the text of the announcement:

10. Centre for Life: Please visit our new website at www.centreforlife.ca

Respect Life Sunday October 6th is observed in Canada and the U.S.  as a day  that acknowledges the precious gift of human life from conception to natural death. The following churches have offered these times for prayer and reflection on October 6th.   Salvation Army St. John's West Corps on Mundy Pond Road 2pm-4pm, Mary Queen of the World Topsail Road- Holy Hour with Exposition 3:30pm - 4:30pm.

Respect Life Sunday - The Centre for Life gratefully acknowledges the support of Archbishop Martin Currie and the Archdiocese with a collection on Oct. 6th. Your donation will enable the Centre for Life to continue to offer a compassionate presence in our community with our educational and supportive outreach.

Other announcements included a number of video series (some Catholic, some secular), a Development and Peace workshop, a new initiative for Multicultural Christians, a Christian Youth Conference, upcoming sessions on T’ai Chi Chih and Chow Qigong, but nothing about the Life Chain event.

So once again, we see the Archdiocese, and, by implication, the Archbishop, marginalizing the hi-impact, visual pro-life presence in the community by fostering only the prayerful, reflective side of the battle. As important as that aspect is, I agree wholeheartedly with the words of Mr. Royce Dunn, as stated above,

Life Chain is devoted foremost to prayer, but wise participants understand that prayer to end abortion is not of great value before God unless accompanied by love that will battle legal child killing and defend forsaken Preborns committedly.

Rather than work for unity in the pro-life cause in NL and support also the bold initiatives to defend the Unborn, or condemn abortion, or advocate for an end to abortion, we see the Archbishop putting his weight behind only the “private” affairs, away from the glare of lights and cameras…and the public’s view. Unsurprisingly then, his priests follow cue, speaking the “A” word only in private setting stuff at parishes; rarely, if ever, in homilies, prayers or announcements.

Sad to say, and with deadly consequences for one-third of our unborn children, my fears about Archbishop Martin Currie are coming to pass:

Alcock claims the rarity of pro-life appeals in parishes along with “virtual silence on the subject of abortion in homilies and prayers at Masses throughout the province insulates Catholics from any reminders of the child-killing taking place around them. It also serves to marginalize advocates of unborn children and distances them from the Christian community, portraying them as extremists.”

And so the battle to save little womb children rages on, with a shrinking number of us standing in the public square and making statements of condemnation of the murder taking place in our midst, while others who are commissioned to lead us instead portray us as radicals and extremists through their subtle tactics of silence and marginalization.

Are we surprised then that Life Chain, this latest pro-life public witness, had such a poor turnout this year? I remember just a few short years ago another Life Chain event.

…to be continued

Wednesday, October 02, 2013

Defund Abortion Campaign Kicked Off in St. John’s NL




As noted in a recent blog posting, The Defund Abortion rally took place Saturday September 30 outside the Confederation Building in St. John's, NL, and was the first of many provincial rallies organized across Canada in the coming months. This rally was part of a national strategy by Campaign Life Coalition of Canada (CLC) to have provincial governments defund abortion. About 40 pro-lifers participated and held signs such as 'Defund Abortion' or 'Not from my wallet!' Rowdy counter-protesters chanted their disgusting, nonsensical slogans in the background.

In addition to Life Site News reporting, there was significant local coverage of this event as well from CBC, and The Telegram.

At first glance, this campaign sounds like a sensible approach, given the fact that, as CLC points out:

According to a 2010 Angus Reid poll, 39% of Canadians said taxpayer funds should cover abortion only for medical emergencies and 10% said it should be completely defunded. Less than half, 44%, believed abortion should be funded in all cases.

However, the hearts and minds of Canadians have been corrupted and hardened by nearly 50 years of legalized abortion. It is very easy for those polled in a survey to moralize but then to hush up at the first sign of political correctness on the issue of a woman’s “right to choose.” As I have noted in the past, the pro-life movement in Canada requires a different approach, and it won’t be pretty or easy. To change the status quo, nothing less than a Campaign of Accountability will do.


New Signage For The Campaign Of Accountability


The Campaign of Accountability continues.

The signs above were shown at St. Teresa, St. Patrick's and Corpus Christi parishes on the weekend.

The text of the brochure used at my protests is shown below.
____________________________________________


PASTORS AND BISHOPS WITH BLOOD ON
THEIR HANDS

Dear Fellow Catholic,

If... you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked man from his way, he (the wicked man) shall die for his guilt, but I will hold you responsible for his death. (Ezekiel 33:8)

Introduction
Many ask me why I take the measures I do to communicate my message and my concerns. The answer is simple: to save lives and to save souls. Please do not allow mindless religion to overtake you. Instead, exercise the full range and authority of your Catholic faith. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.
The Silence of the Bishops
Along with many other Catholics, I am greatly distressed by the ongoing, virtual silence of too many Bishops on the subject of legalized child-killing in Canada and I plead with the Bishops to take every necessary step to confront the demon of abortion in Canada which has claimed over three million unborn victims. In addition I am very troubled by the near total neglect by Bishops—and their priests—to teach and reinforce the Moral Law of God, as defined by the Catholic Church in her official teachings, to those under their spiritual care. These two striking failures have taken a dramatic toll on Canadian society, paving the way for a multitude of present day evils.
Desecration of the Eucharist Precludes Respect for Life
In evaluating the factors contributing to the tragedy of legalized child-killing in our nation, special notice must be taken of the desecration of the Eucharist by obstinate, dissenting Catholics living in grave sin and this widespread and large-scale practice counts as the single greatest contributing factor to Canada’s moral descent and disrespect for human life. Without acknowledging the neglect and/or indifference of too many Bishops in this tragic situation, it would be impossible indeed to account for such a phenomenon, because, in fact, the oversight of the Eucharist is entrusted entirely to the Successors of the Apostles. How is it possible to foster respect for human life when disrespect for God Himself, through the Body and Blood of Christ, is not only tolerated but modeled at every Mass?
This sacrilege of handing over Jesus to His enemies, through Holy Communion, is no less a crime today than when it was first perpetrated by Pilate 2000 years ago.  The Scriptures warn, “For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.” Furthermore, the Christian “cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.” Communion with Christ and communion with devils cannot be had at once. Christians, who by association, sympathies, and actions participate in devilish strategies that destroy life, family and the common good, cannot participate in Holy Communion. Unless the Holy Scriptures can lie, the implications of this truth are clear and astounding: No such wholesale sacrilegious communion could take place unless so many Bishops sympathize, knowingly or unknowingly, with the doctrines of demons!
Shockingly then, just as “pro-choice” Pontius Pilate, who was “personally opposed,” nevertheless delivered Jesus over to His enemies, so too many Bishops of Canada have dispensed the Body and Blood of Jesus to any and all Catholics in the communion line, even though independent sources cite that as many as 90% of Catholics reject the authority and certain crucial teachings of His Church in Canada. The truly faithful Catholics have been scandalized and demoralized for decades by this officially sanctioned sacrilege.
A Pseudo-Catholic Culture Flourishes in Canada
The result of this abomination is a flourishing pseudo-Catholic culture—one based not upon the mystery of the Eucharist but upon the “magic” of the Eucharist. Thanks to the negligence, or perhaps simply the spiritual darkness, of too many Canadian Bishops, regardless of the moral conduct or spiritual disposition of vast numbers of renegade Catholics, attendance at Mass and mere reception of Holy Communion is assumed to magically confer absolution for even the gravest sins and satisfy all of God’s significant imperatives for the Catholic. This grave misrepresentation of the Catholic faith not only dishonors faithful Catholics but scandalizes the entire Christian community in Canada, many of whom are forced to conclude that Catholicism is but another cultish enemy of the true Christian faith.
The Bishops are well aware that, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, those Catholics who deny Church teaching on the intrinsic evils of contraception, abortion and sodomitic relations as well as the mortal sins of masturbation, co-habitation, fornication, pornography, adultery and divorce disqualify themselves from partaking in the Holy Eucharist. Without first giving evidence in Confession of genuine repentance and receiving absolution, they may not receive the Body and Blood of Christ. Despite such explicit teaching, not only inordinate numbers of average Catholics condemn themselves through sacrilegious Communion but significant numbers of openly dissenting priests, religious, theologians, and professors do so as well. These leaders are permitted to further corrupt the faithful by disparaging the Church’s doctrine on priestly celibacy, women’s ordination, same sex “marriage,” and other non-negotiables of the faith, all without public rebuke by the Bishops.
The dissent—if not outright heresy—from Rome’s teaching by too many Bishops themselves in regard to Catholic sexual ethics, particularly contraception, with its consequent immoral living by millions of Catholics is bringing Canada to the brink of demographic and cultural collapse. The most egregious example of such rebellion surfaced in the Church’s last encyclical on contraception, "Humanae Vitae" in July 1968, wherein the Church reinforced its prohibition of contraception as a moral absolute. However, the Canadian bishops in their “Winnipeg Statement” of September 1968 said it was not. In effect their statement was the same as saying that there are circumstances in which fornication and adultery and sodomy are legitimate. Through sophistry, the Winnipeg Statement planted the seeds of destruction of the Canadian Catholic Church.
Shouldn’t the Bishops be warning all obstinate unrepentant Catholics that neither baptism nor the Eucharist will save them?  Again, according to the Catholic Catechism, to die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love is to be separated forever from Him in Hell. The Bishops know these things but their neglect or unbelief betrays them since they refuse to teach and to warn Catholics. Therefore they corrupt the faith and prove themselves not shepherds but wolves, risking the eternal salvation of millions of Canadian Catholics. The result of their distorted, devilish thinking is a collapse in the integrity of the Canadian Catholic community as a whole and an entire generation of Catholics is confused about the true means of obtaining God’s grace.
Pope Emeritus Benedict Pointed to the Problem
Which habits have the Bishops determined to change in light of Pope Benedict’s warning in October 2006? In no uncertain terms, the Pope tackled the failure of Bishops to address the moral problems of Canada, specifically pointing to homosexual “marriage” and abortion and to the extreme split between the Gospel and culture, strongly evidenced by the exclusion of God in the political realm. If the Bishops continue the unscriptural and heretical practice of granting Holy Communion to those who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, and refuse to take due diligence in defending the Holy Eucharist from sacrilege by the ordinary Catholic, Canadian society will continue to go amuck “in the most disturbing of ways,” in the Pope’s words, through neglect of the truth and of discipline.
The Pope’s comments politely and subtly point to a pervasive counterfeit culture which is supported by these sacrilegious communions and the immoral lifestyles of Catholics living in grave sin. Multitudes of such corrupted Catholics said to be “in good standing with their Church” impact every strata of Canadian society, including politics and the courts, and further degrade it with their anti-God and anti-life attitudes. Politicians, particularly pro-abortion, pro-sodomy Catholic Prime Ministers, draw special attention and indeed are capable of shocking degrees of scandal but it is the average uncatechized Catholic voter, in step with the spiritual blindness and befuddlement of too many Bishops, who empowers these “pro-choice” legislators and killers of the Unborn.
Bishops Have Failed to Mobilize the Catholic Voting Bloc
There is perhaps no greater example of the dereliction of duty of too many Bishops to halt the killing of Unborns in Canada than the failure to mobilize the Catholic voting bloc in Canada through strong spiritual formation which generates an authentic Catholic conscience. Legal protection for unborn children necessitates a political, legislative solution, a fact evident to even the least politically savvy of Canadians. Roman Catholic Bishops in Canada exercise moral authority over a formidable voting bloc of nearly 10 million Catholics and yet after nearly forty years of legalized child killing in Canada there is no indication whatever that Catholics have been guided by the Bishops to effect this political change in Canada through even the simplest of voting strategies, one solidly founded on basic moral principles yet not centred in partisan politics.
Why must such an emphasis on mobilizing the Christians of Canada to vote effectively on behalf of securing legal rights for the Unborn originate with a campaign outside the oversight of the Bishops? Surely if the Bishops had a will to stop the child killing in Canada a focused and comprehensive Canada wide, diocesan wide, strategy to engage every Catholic of voting age to cast a vote for legal protection of the Unborn would have yielded long ago a complete halt to the killing. In the rare case where Bishops have been found to do anything in this regard it has amounted to a poorly organized, last minute, ineffective scramble. God have mercy on the Bishops for their failure in this most practical of all ways to end the holocaust of the Unborn. Their inaction for decades makes them culpable in the deaths of millions of unborn children.
Political Consequences of the Counterfeit Catholic Culture
Out of Canada’s counterfeit Catholic culture has emerged political devils such as Catholic Prime Ministers Trudeau, Chretien, and Paul Martin. Catholic Bishops were clearly in a compromised, weakened state when, in 1969, they permitted Catholic Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Catholic Justice Minister John Turner to foist the triad of legal contraception, abortion and homosexuality upon Canada, along with the liberalization of divorce laws.
Up until our current PM’s election, except for a five month break in 38 years, Catholic Prime Ministers have managed the affairs of Canada. Every one of them without exception has flouted Catholic teaching on sexuality through their pro-contraception, pro-abortion, pro-sodomy agendas. And every one of them considered themselves good Catholics and regularly presented themselves for Holy Communion. During that 38 year reign of social devastation and spiritual ruin the Catholic Bishops failed to take steps to deal with this epic scandal. Despite the fierce defiance of Catholic teaching exhibited by the Prime Ministers there is no record of even one single occasion when a Catholic PM was denied communion.
Canada’s Bishops failed to deal with the grave scandal caused by Paul Martin, Canada’s most recent pro-abortion, pro-sodomy Catholic PM, defeated in the 2006 election, who spearheaded same sex marriage in Canada and vehemently proclaimed his government’s commitment to “a woman’s right to choose” without restrictions. His Bishop, the Bishop of Canada’s capital city, Ottawa, dismissed any possibility of discipline for Martin, claiming that the PM was a “faithful member of my cathedral parish.” This same Bishop attends the Ottawa March for Life and at the 2004 March delivered a homily condemning the killing of human embryos for their stem cells.
Profound failures such as this by too many Bishops of Canada blur the line between that which is evil and that which is good and sustain the “extreme split between the Gospel and culture, strongly evidenced by the exclusion of God in the political realm” lamented by Pope Emeritus Benedict. How can such a caricature of apostolic leadership be described as anything other than the “blind leading the blind?”
Bishops Urgently Need to Implement Guidelines Provided by Rome
Two sets of guidelines authored by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Benedict XVI, if diligently and universally honoured by the Bishops of Canada, would decidedly impact the moral climate of Canada and immediately set Canada on a path to rescuing the Unborn and reviving respect for the moral law of God.
In a 2004 letter to the American bishops entitled appropriately Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion                 [Web address: http://www.catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?recnum=6041&longdesc]                                     
then-Cardinal Ratzinger said that those Catholics who continue to obstinately reject Church teachings must be denied Communion. He cited Canon 915 and other church documents to support this position.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in 2003, published The Participation of Catholics in Political Life               [Web address: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20021124_politica_en.html]
which was directed to Catholic Bishops, Catholic politicians and all lay members of the faithful called to participate in the political life of democratic societies. Principles contained in this guide urgently need application in Canada but are constantly ignored by the Bishops.
Bishops Need to Call for a National Fast and Penance
Much is made these days in Catholic circles of initiatives such as the “New Evangelization” and “Social Justice.” However, truly worthwhile Catholic endeavours such as these can never see the blessing of God until the fundamental errors and injustices addressed in this letter are resolved. Celebrations like the recent 2008 international celebration in Quebec City by the Bishops with the theme “The Eucharist, gift of God for the life of the world” ought to instead be a call for a national fast whose primary purpose is repentance and conversion. God desires first of all obedience from His Bishops, certainly not festivals, celebration and song at such a time of crisis as we face. Ironically, God’s gift of life is also the Unborn…who will pay with their life for the ongoing desecration of the Eucharist.
Rather than using the Old Testament imagery of an Ark making its journey across the nation the Congress ought to have enjoined Catholics throughout Canada to instead put on sack cloth and ashes, seeking repentance and forgiveness for the disobedience of the Bishops and the profanation of the Holy Eucharist.
Every day the Bishops delay, the souls of Catholics entrapped in the darkness of a false religious culture remain in great danger of eternal damnation and every day the Bishops delay, a further 300 unborn Canadians perish. Their silent scream continues to daily torment those whose Christian conscience remains unfettered by the deceptions of demons.

I hate, I despise your festivals -- and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings, and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon. 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. 24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.     (Amos 5: 21-24)

Conclusion & Statement  of Goodwill
To the best of my knowledge and belief, nothing said in this letter contradicts the Catechism of the Catholic Church or the official teachings of the Catholic Church. My approach has been criticized and some have accused me of saying uncharitable things about religious leaders, i.e. Bishops, Priests and Pastors. If what I say is true then it cannot be uncharitable since charity demands the truth. For those who claim I have made false accusations against the clergy, I simply ask: Please provide the proof of that charge and supply evidence that refutes my claims.

Eric Alcock 
Paradise, NL
For more info visit my blog:
Follow me on Twitter @Contra1diction
Or email me: info@pillaroftruth.org


No Crisis? Really?

The Demolition of the Faith Part 2
For those who deny or downplay the current crisis in the Church—from Catholic Bishops through to lay leaders—these numbers CANNOT be ignored.