Germain Grisez (1929-2018) - RIP

Matthew E. Bunson, "In Memoriam: Germain Grisez, Great Defender of Humanae Vitae (1929-2018)" (National Catholic Register, February 2, 2018):

Germain Grisez, professor emeritus of Christian ethics at Mount St. Mary’s University and one of the most articulate defenders of the Church’s teachings against contraception and in defense of natural law, died Thursday morning after a bout of cancer. He was 88.

Grisez served as professor of moral theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, from 1979 to 2009. He wrote dozens of books and articles in philosophy and moral theology and became one of the most revered Catholic theologians for his defense of Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae (The Regulation of Birth), which upheld the Church’s teachings on contraception at a time of great confusion and open dissent in Catholic universities.

He also left a lasting legacy in the area of natural law, while his magnum opus, the three-volume The Way of the Lord Jesus, became one of the main texts in the study of moral theology, especially its eloquent explanation of Catholic teaching on such key topics as abortion, contraception and chastity.

Russell Shaw, who was a longtime friend and collaborator with Grisez, including co-authorship of an ethics textbook, Beyond the New Morality: The Responsibilities of Freedom, told the Register, “Germain Grisez was a towering figure in contemporary Catholic thinking about morality. As a co-founder of the school known as the ‘New Natural-Law Theory,’ he was highly influential in his lifetime and has left a legacy that will shape reflection in the fields of ethics and moral theology far into the future.”

“As a scholar, he was a model of intellectual integrity,” Shaw added. “As a Christian, he was a faithful son of the Church and a devoted family man and friend. I was privileged to know and sometimes collaborate with Germain for well over half a century. He will indeed be greatly missed.” Read more >>

Not long after my reception into the Catholic Church, Prof. Grisez welcomed me to the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars and presented me with a relic of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. I shall never forget his charity, his courageous defense of Humanae Vitae, and his natural law arguments.

New studies: 'responsible contraception' doesn't prevent pregnancy or abortion in more than half of cases

• British Pregnancy Advisory Service: Half the women who had abortions in 2016 were using contraception when they became pregnant.
• Guttmacher Institute: 55-60% of woman having abortions were using contraception at the time.
• LifeNews: New Study Shows Birth Control and Contraception Don't Cut Abortions.

Pro-life group overwhelmed at abortion clinic

Maybe 'overwhelmed' isn't the right word. They held their own. I know some of these guys in the group reciting the Rosary -- Companions of the Cross. And the intrepid Monica Miller in the white coat in front. But they are soon nearly drowned out by the obscenities and shouts of wymyn representing the Culture of Death, with signs that proclaiming their message: keep baby-killing safe, affordable, and legal. (Safe?? For whom, the baby??) I can't help but admire the fortitude of those who continue to pray amidst the din and babble of hell, bearing witness to the truth about life, death, and abortion, and to the fact that the battle involves the unseen world of powers and principalities.

One of those present told me that he eventually found himself in a meaningful conversation with some in the pro-abort crowd. May the Lord bless that and such conversations and pro-lifers such as these to bring illumination to hearts darkened by a society now fallen under the shadows of the Culture of Death.

I was told that pro-aborts have rarely turned up at abortion clinics like this in the past. Word is that the election of President Trump seems to have galvanized them by a real fear that wymyn's right to have their babies killed may actually be in jeopardy.

Here are the published remarks below the video, from Feb. 11, 2017:

If there ever was a video that captures the difference between those who support the killing of the unborn and those who support the sanctity of human life-- well-- here's one. Demonstrators in support of abortion at this ProtestPP (see: www.protestpp.com) demonstration in Detroit, Feb. 11, 2017 are obnoxious, vulgar, obscene and rude-- indeed they acted like bullies toward those with whom they disagree-- namely the pro-lifers assembled calling for the defunding of Planned Parenthood. Notice the "F" word shouted out by abortion supporters in an attempt to drown out the pro-lifers peacefully praying. Surely God ​​still heard these prayers that no amount of noise and vulgarities could ever drown out.

For more information, see the account by Monica Miller at Citizens for a Pro-life Society

Shapiro: some excellent debate points on transgenderism and abortion

Note: I didn't say every one of his points was good. He doesn't understand the arguments against contraception. But he's got some terrific points on transgenderism, in particular.

What the NEWS will never show you (2017 March For Life Time-Lapse video)

Is there a connection? Our attitude toward the fragile unresistance of the Host and toward the defenseless vulnerability of the unborn infant?

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" (Assumption Grotto News, February 5, 2017):

Without veering into the arena of political commentary, allow me to say that Catholics ought to rejoice mightily that President Trump has made explicit and significant advances in the direction of the pro-life movement, to the extent that I feel real shame for those politicians who identify themselves as Catholics (though that may be a ploy, especially since they may in fact be excommunicated from the Church due to their pro-abortion voting) and who have been thus complicit in the abortion industry. Now here comes a non-Catholic man, who has no magisterium of the Church to direct him, and is the first president ot be unequivocally pro-life, and is actually doing something effective to prove his convictions.

As is often and rightly said, there will be no change in the crimes of abortion in the USA until there is a change of people's minds and a conversion of souls. The Church exists for this purpose. Faithful Catholics, however, have often been criticized for an over-emphasis on this "one issue." How any rational person can assume that the abortion problem is too important in political life is bewildering. Of all other social concerns which clamor for attention and remedy, can there be anything more urgent than to stop the willful killing of the innocent human lives of babies? Select any infant of choice and ask yourself the question whether it is a right to kill this human being. It is either madness or else demonic obsession that would admit the concession of such an evil. This "one issue" is of far, far greater importance than anything else, sins of sacrilege apart. Why are Catholics not united and vociferous in their opposition to these crimes against God and humanity? That needs to be probed.

Mother -- and now Saint -- Teresa of Calcutta is once reported to have said that abortion will not cease in our country until there's an end to the sacrilegious reception of Holy Communion -- i.e., until Catholics reform in respect to the Holy of Holies. If that assessment be correct, Catholics who commit sacrilege are the reason why abortion is still legal, or at least is widely practiced in our country! That may seem an absurd assertion, but there is some logic to it. If God Incarnate, truly present in the Holy Sacrament, is mishandled, received in a state of mortal sin, neglected, ignored, and profaned; if particles of the Blessed Sacrament (each of which carries the divine presence) are strewn on altar tops, flaked off the palm of the hands, and trampled upon the carpets of the churches (note that I speak here of the mistreatment of the very Son of God!), should we expect respect for mere human life? The easy fragility and unresistance of the Host has an analogous relation to the defenselessness and vulnerability of the pre-natal, infant life. If one can with impunity defile the one, why can one not slaughter the other?

While the reception of Holy Communion and the sacred liturgy are distinct topics they are related. Unless the people of the Church recover the true faith in its fullness, rediscover a rightful fear of the Lord, and conduct themselves reverently at Mass, there can be little hope for ending sacrilege and, by extension, there can be meager prospect for ending the abortion holocaust.

This is the Fatima centenary. The principal seer of the Blessed Virgin, Sister Lucia, was told to make prayers of reparation -- penitential compensation -- for "outrages, sacrileges, and indifference" which gravely offend God. This was told in 1917. We've made a long moral plunge since that time. Should we not make it our business to make such acts of 'apology' (for lack of a better synonym) to our Lord in the Holy Sacrament for all the mistreatment He has been receiving?

If you should ever lack intentions for your participation in Holy Mass or your reception of Holy Communions, know that making prayers of reparation to the offended God is a most noble objective. And, needless to add, making the most reverent, loving, and worthy reception of your Communion is an excellent way to advance your own spiritual life, to give honor to our affronted Lord, and ... here it is ... to contribute no small part to ending the horror of Abortion USA.

Principles of Catholic moral & political reasoning

Boniface, "Guest Post: Critiquing the 'Non-Negotiable' Distinction" (Unam Sanctam Catholicam, October 28, 2016) - a look at an assortment of voting positions and the reasoning behind them from a doctrinally-informed Catholic position.

Michael Matt: it's not 'the Donald,' stupid; it's his 13 conservative Catholic advisors

Pro-life hero: Phyllis Stewart Schlafly (1924-2016) RIP

Ann Coulter, "Phyllis Stewart Schlafly, 1924-2016" (Human Events, September 5, 2016):

Phyllis Schlafly, the St. Louis-born American intellectual who grew from a shy and beautiful girl to become one of the most influential political activists of the 20th and 21st century, died today, Monday, September 5, 2016 according to Eagle Forum.

Schlafly has written or co-written more than 20 books, on military policy, education, legal and social issues. Her first book, “A Choice, Not an Echo,” is credited with winning Barry Goldwater the Republican nomination for president and inspiring the conservative movement that eventually led to Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Her military work was a major factor in Reagan's’ decision to proceed with High Frontier technology.

Since 1967, Schlafly has published the Phyllis Schlafly Report and in 1972, Schlafly founded The Eagle Forum, which grew to nearly 100,000 members. Her syndicated column appeared in 100 newspapers, her radio commentaries were broadcast on more than 400 stations, and her radio talk show, "Eagle Forum Live," was broadcast on 45 stations and the Internet. Throughout her career, Schlafly gave college speeches – including in January 2009, in her still-spry 80’s, when, at a Berkeley speech, she fell and broke a hip.

She was appointed by President Reagan to serve on the Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution from 1985-1991. For years, Schlafly was the National Defense Chairman of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Over the years, Schlafly testified before more than 50 congressional and state legislative committees on constitutional, national defense, and family issues. She has been a delegate at every Republican National Convention since 1956. The Ladies' Home Journal named Schlafly one of the 100 most important women of the 20th century.

Read more >>

Catholic journalist & lawyer argue case for "Trumping Hillary"

Decisive issues for Catholics touched upon:

• Deceit of Rino Republicans
• Moral reasoning: principle of double effect vs. lesser of two evils
• Post-Christian America
• Slowing down civilizational collapse
• Immigration crisis
• Islamic terrorism
• National security
• Second Amendment as means of resisting nanny state & big government
• Religious freedom
• Education, Home schooling, Common Core, federal regulation
• Globalism & New World Order
• Supreme Court appointments
• Legal positivism and legislating justices
• Obergefell & same-sex 'marriage'
• Abortion on demand
• Overturning of the Johnson Amendment

Related:

Catholic millennials discuss 2016 Presidential Election (New Catholic Generation)

Daniel Amon, "Never Hillary: A Catholic Democrat's Wake-Up Call" (Fetzen Fliegan, August 8, 2016).

"Veteran pro-life activist: Baby body parts video are a 'glimpse of hell,' they 'shattred' me"

Meet Monica Miller, a local (and international) pro-life activist and hero, as well as theology professor: See the article at LifeSiteNews (June 22, 2016) and the video below:

We need a Catholic rapper ...

Reminds me that I once had two black rappers in my ethics class in NC when we were discussing life issues. When they learned about the eugenics movement and Margaret Sanger and the nefarious origins of Planned Parenthood, they petitioned to create a rap song about the issues as a class project and did a bang-up job. I only wish I had a recording of it to pass along. They weren't Catholics, but they did a terrific job addressing the issues.

[Hat tip to JM]

Monica M. Miller examines the fallout from 'Zikagate'

Monica Migliorino Miller, "A Virus, a Crisis" (New Oxford Review, April 2016)

Monica Migliorino Miller, a Professor of Theology, earned a Doctorate in Theology from Marquette University. She is the Director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society and the author of Abandoned: The Untold Story of the Abortion Wars (St. Benedict Press, 2012) and, more recently, The Authority of Women in the Catholic Church (Emmaus Road Publishing, 2015).  

The headline in The New York Times said it all: “[Pope] Francis Says Contraception Can Be Used to Slow Zika” (Feb. 19). Who in the history of Christianity would have thought that we would ever see a headline claiming that a sitting Pope has contradicted Church teaching? So, what exactly did the Pope say? Here is an English transcript of Francis’s exchange with a Spanish reporter, in its entirety, provided by the Catholic News Agency (Feb. 18), that took place during the Pope’s hour-long press conference on his return flight from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to Rome:

Paloma García Ovejero: Holy Father, for several weeks there’s been a lot of concern in many Latin American countries but also in Europe regarding the Zika virus. The greatest risk would be for pregnant women [who are potentially at risk of delivering children with a defect of the brain called microcephaly]. There is anguish. Some authorities have proposed abortion, or else avoiding pregnancy. As regards avoiding pregnancy, on this issue, can the Church take into consideration the concept of “the lesser of two evils”?

Pope Francis: Abortion is not the lesser of two evils. It is a crime. It is to throw someone out in order to save another. That’s what the Mafia does. It is a crime, an absolute evil. On the “lesser evil,” avoiding pregnancy, we are speaking in terms of the conflict between the fifth and sixth commandment. Paul VI, a great man, in a difficult situation in Africa, permitted nuns to use contraceptives in cases of rape.

Don’t confuse the evil of avoiding pregnancy by itself, with abortion. Abortion is not a theological problem; it is a human problem; it is a medical problem. You kill one person to save another, in the best-case scenario. Or to live comfortably, no? It’s against the Hippocratic Oath doctors must take. It is an evil in and of itself, but it is not a religious evil in the beginning. No, it’s a human evil. Then obviously, as with every human evil, each killing is condemned.

On the other hand, avoiding pregnancy is not an absolute evil. In certain cases, as in this one, or in the one I mentioned of Bl. Paul VI, it was clear. I would also urge doctors to do their utmost to find vaccines against these two mosquitoes that carry this disease. This needs to be worked on.

Francis’s comments on abortion are arguably the strongest of any pontiff. He compared the killing of the unborn to, of all things, Mafia tactics (“to throw someone out in order to save another”), and he called abortion a “crime” and an “absolute evil.” His stance is clear and unequivocal.

Unfortunately, the Pope’s strong condemnation of abortion has been almost completely overlooked due to his confused and equivocal statements regarding contraception. It is clear that Francis has the ability to speak plainly in defense of Church teachings, at least when his convictions regarding those teachings are heartfelt. Yet on the subject of contraceptive use in crisis situations, Francis made statements that lead one to conclude that he believes such use is morally licit, contrary to Catholic moral doctrine. Let us examine his exchange with the Spanish reporter.

In case you ever thought Planned Parenthood was innocent

The first video ["Planned Parenthood and Race"] shows Planned Parenthood representatives accepting donations from a man who says he wants his donations earmarked for the African American abortions because there are too many blacks in the country. The Planned Parenthood reps willingly go along with the caller, insisting that they'll comply with the caller's request, because they'll happily take the money regardless of why anyone donates.

The second video (below) is a montage of outright lies, fabrications, abuse on the part of Planned Parenthood in some case assisting clients involved in sex trafficking, sometimes involving minors. Sickening.

Fr. Perrone on the commodification of human beings in porn and abortion, as reflected in the McDonaldization of death

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" [temporary link] (Assumption Grotto News, January 31, 2016):

Funeral customs are fast a-changing in our time. Speaking recently with a local funeral director, I was shocked to learn about the new thinking of how we bid adieux to the dead, viz. with increased indifference and quick dismissal. It’s so very inconvenient to have someone’s death interfere with whatever one happens to be busy about. The old obsequies of making visits to the funeral home to “pay one’s respects,” of comforting the mourners, of praying for the happy repose of the departed, of taking time off from other demanding necessities in order to perform these corporal works of mercy–all that is fast vanishing from American life. In its place, according to my funeral director friend, is something like this. No funeral home visitation; no flowers or Mass offerings; the quickview scan of the online bio of the deceased with its ready-at-hand link to register a brief word of sympathy; cremation for the corpse; and, often, no funeral service or requiem Mass. Moreover, the strictly forbidden retention of the deceased’s cremains or, worse, their scattering to the four winds, is becoming more prevalent. In short, we’re making rapid disposal of the dead, just as we had avoided contact with them as living persons in their last years of life, allowing them to rot in a nursing home or hospice facility. (Even that fate is now become accounted as fortunate since the administration of painkilling drugs in high doses can speed along the death processes so as to avoid all the inconveniences of what we had been accustomed to call one’s “final illness.”)  

What’s caused these new customs, these new ways of thinking about the dead and the process of dying? For one thing, we’re all on life’s fast track. We have now no time to be bothered by the death (or even the life) of anybody else when we’re so busy getting done whatever we must do–or even–whatever we think advantageous to ourselves–even our own pleasures and idle leisure. And what’s behind that selfish preoccupation? A number of things. The indoctrination of Selfism has long been forming our attitudes, succeeded to convince us that only the Great I am worthy of myself, my time, my deeds; only my goals are important; only what I want–morally good or bad–is what I must have; and whatever may interfere with these ‘goals’–God and religion included–must be set aside. And how did we arrive at this?  

Among the contributing causes to this attitude and way of living is the ever increasing use of porn which reduces the human person to so many body parts for exploitation and titillation of the senses. The fact that the “models” who so shamelessly expose themselves for public viewing are real people with minds and consciences, with souls that have human feelings–these facts have been put out of mind with porn use. Other people are toys. They can be bought, used, abused and are disposable. This contributes to estimate that the bodies of the deceased are as so much useless trash. 

Another thing that has shaped our thinking about the body is our relative unconcern over the hideousness of crushing and dismembering babies in the womb. Killing babies or–worse yet–selling its surviving parts as ‘spares’ for the living or as ingredients for cosmetics–is regarded as a social good. But it’s an old heresy which regards the human body this way where it was said that only a person’s spirit, (soul) counts. The body is unimportant. This specious premise, which at first glance may seem an ascetical, spiritual perspective, is in fact a way of so denigrating the body as to make utilitarian use of it without a care to any moral considerations of it or even to consider the meaning of the human person as a unity, a totality, of spirit and body.  

Our world is changing fast, and with it our thinking about who (or what) we are. Necessarily we will think about God and the Catholic faith differently (and not for the better). We are transhumanizing, becoming something else. Monsters, I would say, caricatures of what we were made to be–the image of God–and of what we were privileged to become as Christians–children of God and Christs-in-miniature.  While we may not be able at large to stop these horrible denigrating ways of inhumanity, we can retain the consciousness of our human dignity and our Christian vocation to holiness and refuse to go with the flow. Keeping ourselves unsullied by all the filth this fallen world offers and by the devout practice of the Catholic life is a goal within the reach of all of us. 

Fr. Perrone

When your health insurance declines life-extending medication but covers assisted suicide

Imagine that there was medical help to save your life, but your health insurance plan denied authorization for it and offered you assisted suicide instead. This very thing happened to Oregon patients. The Oregon Health Plan notified them by letter that payment for life-extending mediation would not be covered, but that the Plan would pay for assisted suicide. (Sources: here, here, and here)

Here's what's coming, folks. It's already happening, though you may not have noticed it; but what do you think is going to happen when the next real financial crunch comes, when the economy tanks, resources are scarce, medicare and medicaid and social services are swamped and funds run dry?

"Nancy 'The Theologian' Pelosi tears the throat out of a reporter asking about big-business abortion"

As Fr. Z notes HERE. Start at about 14:00. It is only about a minute long:

She says she's a "devout practicing Catholic." But she won't field the most basic of questions about the natural right to LIVE when it comes to the most vulnerable of tiny, little human beings. The report's question is, she says, an "ideological question" that has no place in the halls of political policy and diplomacy............

Did you understand what she just said? It tells us all we need to ever know about the liberal shibboleths about "human rights" and "tolerance." Contemporary Democratic liberalism is about as tolerant as cold-hearted jack-boot-shod Gestapo agents pounding on your door.

Philly World Meeting of Families President Ciaruffoli has been promoting Planned Parenthood???

"World Meeting of Families President Funded Planned Parenthood Director's Political Campaign" (Lepanto Institute)

Monica Miller contra Mark Shea and Robert George on the ethics of the Planned Parenthood videos

Monica Migliorino Miller, "Were Planned Parenthood Videos Produced Unethically?" (Crisis Magazine, August 17, 2015).

The Vatican, the Devil, and the United Nations

A Lepanto Institute report of some historical and contemporary interest: Catholic dollars to pro-abortion, same-sex 'marriage' causes, and much more.