Which Babies Should Get the Death Sentence?

By Terry Jeffrey

(Town Hall) Americans witnessed a remarkable drama this week when some of our most exalted politicians frantically scrambled to reassure voters that they, too, believed that the United States ought to permit the deliberate killing of at least some innocent human beings.

They apparently did so to persuade the public they are caring, compassionate and -- above all -- reasonable people.

The drama started when Rep. Todd Akin, the Republican nominee in the U.S. Senate race in Missouri, expressed his view that no innocent human being ought to be deliberately killed.

However, that was not the only thing Akin expressed.

"What about in the case of rape. Should it (abortion) be legal or not?" Charles Jaco of KTVI in St. Louis asked Akin in an interview broadcast over the weekend.

"Well, you know, people always want to try to make that as one of those things, well, how do you slice this particularly tough ethical question," said Akin. "It seems to me, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, that's really rare. If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let's assume that maybe that didn't work or something. You know, I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child."

Akin's answer had two distinct parts. In the first, he made a claim about the physiological likelihood of a rape victim conceiving a child as the result of the criminal act committed against her. In the second, he made a policy statement about whether aborting such a child ought to be permitted.

The first part of Akin's answer was worse than gratuitous. It made a claim he could not back up and did so in language that itself raised questions.

But what about the second part of Akin's statement -- that rapists ought to be punished but not children conceived through rape?

Is this a logical, morally defensible, even laudable and courageous position?

A good place to find the basic premises for conducting that analysis is on the website of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. It includes a statement explaining Romney's position on abortion.

"Mitt Romney is pro-life," says the first sentence of this statement. "Mitt believes that life begins at conception and wishes that the laws of our nation reflected that view," it further says. "Because the good heart of America knows no boundaries, a commitment to protecting life should not stop at the water's edge. Taking innocent life is always wrong and always tragic, wherever it happens," it also says.

"Americans have a moral duty to uphold the sanctity of life and protect the weakest, most vulnerable and most innocent among us," it concludes. "As president, Mitt will ensure that American laws reflect America's values of preserving life at home and abroad."

Now, I have not quoted here every word from Romney's campaign statement on abortion. But the term "rape" does not appear in it anywhere.

So, here is the syllogism a logical person might begin to construct from what Romney's campaign say about Romney's position on abortion: 1) "Life begins at conception," 2) "taking innocent life is always wrong and always tragic, wherever it happens," 3) "Americans have a moral duty to uphold the sanctity of life and protect the weakest, most vulnerable and most innocent among us," and 4) "Mitt will ensure that American laws reflect America's values of preserving life at home and abroad."

Therefore?

Given Romney's premises, what would be the logical position for Romney to take on whether American law should permit the taking of an innocent human life conceived through a rape?

"Gov. Romney and Congressman Ryan disagree with Mr. Akin's statement, and a Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape," Romney campaign spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg told multiple news organizations on Monday.

This has been Romney's position ever since he declared himself pro-life. "I am pro-life," Romney wrote in a July 26, 2005, op-ed in the Boston Globe. "I believe that abortion is the wrong choice except in cases of incest, rape and to save the life of the mother."

So, if abortion is not the "wrong choice" in cases of rape, what kind of choice is it?

Who exactly benefits when the government permits the deliberate killing of an innocent child conceived through rape?

"And in the quiet of conscience, people of both political parties know that more than a million abortions a year cannot be squared with the good heart of America," says the abortion statement on Romney's website.
Do those same consciences think permitting the deliberate killing of some innocent children can be squared with the good heart of America -- as long as it is only certain categories of children, such as those conceived through rape?

Rep. Todd Akin's substantive position that we should protect the right to life even of those conceived through rape -- who are themselves a second victim of that evil act -- is not only in keeping with the good heart of America, it is plain and simply right.

Link:

• Which Babies Should Get the Death Sentence?

Related:

• Romney says Ryan won't oppose abortion in rape cases: How does the GOP base accept that?
• Mitt Romney Told Catholic Hospitals to Administer Abortion Pills
• Mitt Romney's Planned Parenthood Questionnaire
• Mitt Romney: Jesus Will Reign in Missouri and Jerusalem  
• Mitt Romney Supports Homosexual Boy Scout Leaders, Homosexual Adoption
• Mitt Romney Punts on Chick-fil-A: "Not part of my campaign"
• Mitt Romney hires openly gay spokeman
• A choice between Satan and Beelzebub

Woman who rammed pro-lifers with car was Catholic Relief Services employee

By Patrick B. Craine

 
WASHINGTON, D.C., August 21, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – As Catholic Relief Services responds to criticisms over its partnerships with pro-abortion anti-poverty groups, LifeSiteNews has discovered that the aid organization also has a history of hiring employees with strong ties to pro-abortion and pro-contraception organizations.

One CRS employee lists the pro-abortion Pro-Choice Resources and Institute of Women and Ethnic Studies as former employers on her LinkedIn resume, while another was hired by the Catholic aid organization directly from the pro-abortion Population Services International.

Another former employee was convicted of assault last fall after ramming her car into a crowd at the DC March for Life in January 2011 as the pro-lifers traversed a crosswalk.

The latter employee, Charisse Espy Glassman, was a Democrat candidate for the DC school board as well as a legislative assistant with CRS-Haiti. Despite assault charges, she remained at CRS until August 4th, 2011. In a statement on Facebook responding to queries, CRS said they had “operated on the principle that people are innocent until proven guilty.” A victim of the assault, who suffered two herniated disks, reported that Glassman had seemed to laugh as she drove into the crowd.

CRS employee Dr. Amy Ellis joined the Catholic organization in October 2011 after working three years at Population Services International, a major advocate of population control through abortion and contraception.

Ellis, CRS’ Regional Technical Advisor for Health & HIV in Asia, represented PSI even after she had started working for CRS, giving a presentation on “global contraceptive needs” at the International Conference on Family Planning in Senegal from Nov 29 – Dec 2, 2011.

In May 2012, Ellis represented CRS at the Women Deliver conference in Bangladesh, a regular gathering of pro-abortion activists focused on achieving “universal access to reproductive health.” The session she joined included a focus on “revitaliz[ing] family planning.”

Ellis also worked at the Population Council, another pro-abortion population control organization, from 2001-2002.

Daphyne Williams, who has worked for CRS since 2008 and currently serves as the East Africa Regional Technical Advisor, interned at the Minneapolis-based pro-abortion group Pro-Choice Resources in 2001-2002, according to her LinkedIn page. The group is dedicated to expanding abortion access through programs such as the Hersey Abortion Assistance Fund, which provides “no-interest loans” and “grants” to help poor women pay for abortions.

From 2003-2004 Williams worked at the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center, which offers “the full range of reproductive health services including contraception.”  And from 2004-2005 she worked in STD prevention at the Institute of Women and Ethnic Studies, a national public health organization that advocates for abortion access and links to leading pro-abortion and pro-homosexual groups.

Dr. Pun Sok, CRS’ Health and HIV/AIDS Program Manager in Cambodia, joined the Catholic relief organization in 2008 after years working at CARE. A longtime partner and grant recipient of CRS, CARE has opposed restrictions on abortion and partnered with Marie Stopes International as well as promoted contraceptive initiatives in the Third World.

In 2011, Sok represented CRS on the steering committee of MediCam, an organizing body for Cambodian health NGOs that promotes contraception and abortion. He also joined a discussion of MediCam’s 2011 Position Paper as a member of the steering committee. The paper advocated expanded access to abortion and abortifacient contraception.

Notably, CRS’ Board of Directors includes Sister Carol Keehan, president of the Catholic Health Association, who famously defied the U.S. Bishops in 2010 when she endorsed Obama’s health care plan despite the bishops’ judgment that the plan included funding for abortion.

CRS communications director John Rivera did not respond to questions on the organization’s hiring practices by press time. However, on their website CRS explains that it “considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, national origin, religious beliefs, gender, age, marital status or physical or mental disability.”

Link:

• Woman who rammed pro-lifers with car was Catholic Relief Services employee

Related:

• USCCB Catholic Relief Services Special Report Episode of the Vortex
• ChurchMilitantTV's Response to the USCCB's Catholic Relief Services Demand For a Retraction
• Investigative Report on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development’s Grants for the year 2010-2011
• Social Injustice: The USCCB-run Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD)

Father Gay

By Michael Voris

Hello everyone and welcome to The Vortex where lies and falsehoods are trapped and exposed. I’m Michael Voris.

Just when you want to be hopeful that many of the crazies in the Church have finally passed on and the damage they have inflicted on tens of millions of Catholics might at

last be receding .. something like this pops up to remind you that we re nowhere near out of the woods.

In fact .. in many ways .. this spiritual insanity has become the new normal and so institutionalized that for most Catholics today .. they don’t even bat an eyelid.

Here’s the scene. In the upcoming election .. Minnesota has a ballot initiative declaring marriage to be between one man and one woman. In short .. banning same-sex so-called marriage.

So a yes vote is a vote in favor of traditional marriage and a no vote is in favor of homosexual sex being called marriage.

Look and listen who is leading the charge for homosexual sex to be called marriage. 2:23 It was in November 2005 - 2:58 A mistake?

An openly professing homosexual priest is coming out in favor of gay marriage. We’ve attached a link to the video if you can stomach his despicable twisting of Catholic truth.

A few weeks ago .. while we were in Rome .. we produced a couple of heavily viewed Vortex episodes on the serious problem of homosexual infiltration into the Catholic clergy .. at all levels.

Those Vortex episodes came about as a direct result of discussions with various individuals in Rome who are greatly distressed at the far-reaching and powerful influence of the homosexual network within the Church.

That network protects and allows men like Fr. Bob Pierson to stand up in front crowds of Catholics .. play the pity card .. and DE-form their intellects by calling good evil and evil good.

3:00 – I could not in good conscience – 3:19 we can vote no.

You can only vote no Father, if you are a dissident Catholic. A Catholic who disregards the authority of the Church and therefore the authority of Christ Himself.

In fact Father, you epitomize the very problem the Church has had to deal with for over 50 years now. Your superiors have allowed you to run wild and pervert the minds of others.

You take your own personal issues and problems twisted moral viewpoint and .. using your position as a priest .. try to convince others to join you in your wickedness. What you are doing is disgusting. Why don’t you take off that collar since you so vehemently disagree with what it stands for. Stand up for what you believe and stop living off the institution whose teachings you so bitterly despise.

If you are so honorable and so motivated by your conscience .. how in good conscience are you able to sponge of the good will of others. You don’t seem to have any pangs of conscience when it comes to that.

You let people address you as father, yet you are a nothing more than a hireling .. using the Church to advance your own twisted and sick ideology. Be a man father and take off that collar. Go make an honest living.

You hold yourself out as some kind of paragon of moral virtue and rectitude because you have the courage to stand up and profess your homosexuality and explain to us how it motivates your every action .. is the wellspring from which your priesthood flows.

You are supposed to be an other Christ for your flock. What you are is a walking presentation of the diabolical and someone in desperate need of prayers.

This speech was given in Edina Minnesota .. a Minneapolis St. Paul suburb before about 200 Catholics. They too have been malformed .. no doubt by many other wolves in sheep’s clothing through the decades.

A man of God .. dedicated to and ordained for the salvation of souls .. has the audacity to stand before fellow Catholics and reinforce their own wicked notions. Instead of leading them to Our Blessed Lord .. he is helping them lose the vision of Him for eternity.

Where are this man’s superiors? Where are other priests stepping forward to call him out on his evil .. and it is most decidedly evil. In fact .. it’s demonic.

What sort of delusion must men like this be suffering under to think that what they are proposing is something that Almighty God would bless and condone.

Fr. Pierson is involved in campus ministry at a nearby university. Think of the poison he can drip into the minds and hearts of young men and women who he encounters. Instead of building them into towering models of faith and virtue .. he drags them down to his own degraded level.

The whole 10 minute speech is nothing but a series of distortions and out of contexts comments quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church. He spends a great deal of time distorting the Church’s teaching on conscience but one gets the sense that at the end of the day .. Fr. Bob is trying desperately salve his own conscience and wants as many people as possible to come along with him so he can feel good about himself.

He has no regard for the Pope .. Our Lord .. the Church .. and most especially the souls he influences.

And just when you though it was safe to step out into the New Springtime of the Church.

If you google Fr. Bob, you will see that this pro-mortal sin speech he gave has become quite the cause célèbre on the liberal blogosphere.

They are all talking about it .. and nominating the “brave” priest for honors and awards.

He all the rage with the godless crowd.

But you will have to dig deep and look far and wide to see him discussed with any length or seriousness in the Establishment Church blogosphere – you know – the world where Catholic elites hang out. Nary a peep.

You see .. to openly discuss this sort of thing .. upsets the carefully crafted narrative the Elites want to advance. A narrative that there’s no crisis in the Church .. that we are a Church of joy .. not a Church of NO.

That most things are happy and nice. That we can sit down and dialog with enemies who hate us .. hate Christ actually .. and plop down expensive chicken dinners in front of them.

The establishment Church is about nothing other than dialog and civility .. social niceties and polite manners .. exchanging funny one-liners. They purposefully turn a blind eye to the evil right in their midst because to acknowledge it and those who point it out would be devastating to their presentation of the New Church.

Everyone of these examples .. like the morally filthy speech of Fr. Bob .. is just one more example of the larger rot in the Church .. the rot that allows immorality and wickedness to spread virtually unchallenged.

Do people in the Church who think they contribute to this silence .. and by extension allow the evil to remain .. are really gonna stand in front of Almighty God and not have to give an account for their complicity.

And it is complicity to see this sort of evil and filth and remain quiet and throw a cloak of silence over it and not call leaders to account.

Sitting in front of this “priest” is a near jubilant crowd of 200 Catholics hootin and hollerin as Fr. Bob mocks Church teaching by deforming it and his audience.

Ask yourself this .. do you think Our Blessed Lord would sit by silently and not say anything. His anger flared up against the moneychangers in the temple and all they were doing was using the temple precincts as their own personal bank to defraud people.

What will He do when his judgment comes to pass on those who pervert His truths and those who grant them license to do?

GOD Love you,

I’m Michael Voris

Link:

• ChurchMilitantTV
• Facebook

Romney says Ryan won't oppose abortion in rape cases: How does the GOP base accept that?

 

By James Rowen

(Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel) Odious remarks by GOP Missouri Senate candidate Cong. Todd Akin about how few pregnancies result from "legitimate rape" have done more than outrage people across the country and doom Akin's bid to move up from the House.

It motivated the Romney campaign - - already trailing among women voters in recent polls - - to distance itself from Akin by assuring voters that Romney and Paul Ryan - - the "Romney-Ryan administration" - - should they win in November, would not oppose raped women's access to abortion.

"Governor Romney and Congressman (Paul) Ryan disagree with Mr. Akin's statement, and a Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape," Romney spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg said... (continued)

Link:

• Romney says Ryan won't oppose abortion in rape cases: How does the GOP base accept that? 

Related:

• Mitt Romney Told Catholic Hospitals to Administer Abortion Pills
• Mitt Romney's Planned Parenthood Questionnaire
• Mitt Romney: Jesus Will Reign in Missouri and Jerusalem  
• Mitt Romney Supports Homosexual Boy Scout Leaders, Homosexual Adoption
• Mitt Romney Punts on Chick-fil-A: "Not part of my campaign"
• Mitt Romney hires openly gay spokeman
• A choice between Satan and Beelzebub

A 63-year-old engineer is Japan's 'last ninja'

 Photo By Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP

By Miwa Suzuki

(AFP) A 63-year-old former engineer may not fit the typical image of a dark-clad assassin with deadly weapons who can disappear into a cloud of smoke. But Jinichi Kawakami is reputedly Japan's last ninja.

As the 21st head of the Ban clan, a line of ninjas that can trace its history back some 500 years, Kawakami is considered by some to be the last living guardian of Japan's secret spies.

"I think I'm called (the last ninja) as there is probably no other person who learned all the skills that were directly" handed down from ninja masters over the last five centuries, he said.

"Ninjas proper no longer exist," he said as he demonstrated the tools and techniques used in espionage and sabotage by men fighting for their samurai lords in the feudal Japan of yesteryear.

Nowadays they are confined to fiction or used to promote Iga, some 350 kilometres (220 miles) southwest of Tokyo, a mountain-shrouded city near the ancient imperial capital of Kyoto that was once home to many ninjas.

Kawakami, a former engineer who began teaching ninjutsu -- the art of the ninja -- ten years ago, said the true history of ninjas was a mystery.

"There are some drawings of their tools but we don't always find all the details," which may have been left deliberately vague, Kawakami said.

"Many of their traditions were passed on by word of mouth, so we don't know what was altered in the process."

And those skills that have arrived in the 21st century in their entirety are sometimes difficult to verify.

"We can't try out murder or poisons. Even if we can follow the instructions to make a poison, we can't try it out," he said.

Kawakami first encountered the secretive world of ninjas at the age of just six, but has only vague memories of first meeting his master, Masazo Ishida, a man who dressed as a Buddhist monk.

"I kept practising without knowing what I was actually doing. It was much later that I realised I was practising ninjutsu."

Kawakami said training ranged from physical and mental skills to studies of chemicals, weather and psychology.

"I call ninjutsu comprehensive survival techniques," though it originated in war skills such as espionage and guerrilla attacks, he said.

"For concentration, I looked at the wick of a candle until I got the feeling that I was actually inside it. I also practised hearing the sound of a needle dropping on the floor," he said.

He climbed walls, jumped from heights and learned how to mix chemicals to cause explosions and smoke.

"I was also required to endure heat and cold as well as pain and hunger. The training was all tough and painful. It wasn't fun but I didn't think much why I was doing it. Training was made to be part of my life."

Kawakami said he was "a strange boy" growing up but his practice drew little attention at a time when many in Japan were struggling to make ends meet in the hard post-war years.

Just before he turned 19, he inherited the master's title, along with secret scrolls and special tools.

Kawakami is careful not to claim the title of the "last ninja" for himself and in the sometimes sectarian world of ninjutsu there are doubters and rival claimants, with the disputes centring on the authenticity of various teachings.

Kawakami says much of the ninja's art lies in catching people unawares, rather than in brute force.

"Humans can't be on the alert all the time. There is always a moment when they are off guard and you catch it," he said.

It is all about exploiting weaknesses that allows the ninja to outfox much bigger or more numerous opponents; distracting attention to allow a quick getaway.

It is possible to hide -- in a manner of speaking -- behind the smallest of things, Kawakami said.

"If you throw a toothpick, people will look that way, giving you the chance to flee.

"We also have a saying that it is possible to escape death by perching on your enemy's eyelashes; it means you are so close that he cannot see you."

Kawakami recently began a research job at the state-run Mie University, where he is studying the history of ninjas.

But, he said as he showed an AFP team around the Iga-ryu Ninja Museum and its trick house with hidden ladders, fake doors and an underfloor sword box, he is resigned to the fact that he is the last of his kind.

There will be no 22nd head of the Ban clan because Kawakami has decided not to take on any more apprentices.

"Ninjas just don't fit in the modern day," he said.

Link:

• A 63-year-old engineer is Japan's 'last ninja'

Sicily: Egyptian man beats pregnant wife for taking off veil in heat

(ANSA) - Porto Empedocle (Sicily), August 17 - An Egyptian man brutally beat his pregnant wife Friday after she took off her veil in an attempt to find relief from the scorching heat.

The woman, a 20-year-old from the town of Porto Empedocle in Sicily's southern province of Agrigento, was taken to hospital for treatment.

The man, 19 years old, was stopped by police after the incident and charged with assault.

The couple live in Turin for work reasons and had come to Porto Empedocle on vacation, to visit the woman's parents. According to the woman, whose father is Tunisian, she had asked her husband's permission to remove the veil because she was having trouble breathing. The husband at first responded by yelling at her, perhaps in hope of intimidating her, she said. When she removed the veil, he beat her for her lack of respect and also threatened passersby who tried to intervene on her behalf.

Link:

• Sicily: Egyptian man beats pregnant wife for taking off veil in heat

After 30 years, the Marines are returning to the Colt .45 pistol

From Stars and Stripes:

 By Matthew Sturdevant - The Hartford Courant

HARTFORD, Conn. — The newest Colt .45-caliber pistol is touted for its durability and design.

It is tested to make sure it can be dropped in water, covered in mud, immersed in sand or ice, or left in a dust storm — and still be able to blast off a round when you pull the trigger.

"Virtually, it's indestructible," said Casimir Pawlowski, who works in international sales and technical sevices for Colt Defense LLC. "You can drive over these things with a Humvee and they're still gonna work. It's like a brick that shoots bullets."

An order last month of new M45 Close Quarter Battle Pistols for the Marines is the first purchase of any Colt handgun in almost three decades by any branch of the U.S. military, though .45-caliber Colts were a trusty sidearm of the Army and Marines for most of the 20th century.

Pawlowski started working at Colt Defense several years ago after a 30-year career as a Navy Corpsman. In 1977, he joined the medical corps serving the Navy and U.S. Marines who carried an earlier version of the Colt as their official sidearm — the Model 1911 .45-caliber automatic.

"We saw the .45s out there, and that's what the guys wanted," Pawlowski said.

Connecticut's historic gun manufacturer first sold its semi-automatic Model 1911, designed by John Moses Browning, to the U.S. military in 1911. At the turn of the 19th century, the military was looking for a stronger handgun than the .38-caliber revolvers used in close combat during the Phillipine-American War. The .45-caliber promised knock-down power — more likely to kill than injure — compared with the .38-caliber.

Browning's design was an impressive development from 19th century single-action Army revolvers that held six, individually loaded bullets. The Model 1911 was designed to have a spring-loaded magazine of bullets fit vertically inside the pistol grip. The Model 1911 features a sliding top which ejects a bullet casing, or shell, immediately after a bullet is fired while slipping another round into position for the next shot.

"It's been a brilliant design," Pawlowski said. "Browning was kind of like the Jimi Hendrix of the gun world at the time."

The Model 1911 Colt has been called the "most respected handgun" and was carried, mostly by U.S. military officers, during both World Wars, in Korea and Vietnam.

But in 1985, the federal government, switched to Italian-owned Beretta to provide 9-millimeter pistols as the new official sidearm for the military. The switch was controversial in the 1980s.

The argument in favor of changing to 9-millimeter cartridges was mostly to standardize the U.S. military with other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO. The U.S. General Accounting Office, however, said in 1982, leading up to the change, that substituting an existing inventory with 9-mm pistols would be costly. It wasn't clear if there was any advantage to a 9-mm round versus existing sidearms, the GAO report said.

In recent years, the Marine Corps has been building its own .45-caliber pistols at a facility in Quantico, Va., using parts from existing inventory of Model 1911 pistols and other commercial parts, said Barbara Hamby, spokeswoman for Marine Corps System Command, which orders guns for the Marines. The government, however, hadn't bought new handguns from Colt for decades. That changed this month with the first order of up to 12,000 Colt pistols, starting with 4,036 right away.

"The Colt pistol met or exceeded all requirements put forth in the solicitation and offered the best value to the government," Hamby said. "Colt Defense LLC successfully competed under a best value competitive source selection utilizing a performance specification. Any historical significance inferred from the selection of Colt's offered weapon is coincidental."

The West Hartford Colt manufacturing plant where the pistols are made, along with many other guns, is a spectacle of curiosities.

A computerized lathe about the size of an MRI machine sculpts gun barrels to the 1/10,000th of an inch.

In one room, a team of highly skilled engravers chisel designs on custom-made revolvers, making art on the firearm. They tap tiny, 24-karat-gold-wire strands into inlaid designs, including one pistol with a scrimshaw-scratched portrait of Samuel Colt on one side of the ivory handle.

Engraver Jan Gwinnell says he has been carving designs for Colt for 33 years. Master engraver George Spring said he's been with the company since 1975, though he started engraving earlier than that.
Colt even has a special sauce.

Deep inside the big-box factory is a square vat of chemicals that looks like a doughnut grease fryer, labeled "Activated Black Magic." Beside it are similar vats full of water. This is where polished, carbon steel pistols can be stained as azure as the deep ocean in Belize.

"That'll give you your royal blue finish on carbine steel," said Phil Hinkley, vice president of quality at Colt Defense LLC, said of the oxidizing chemical. "After they pull it out of here, they'll dip it into a cold water tank."

The color can be contrasted with inlaid gold, for example, for an exotic look to the expensive, custom-designed guns that are sold to collectors by the other Colt — the company under the same roof that makes consumer guns sold at WalMart, Cabela's, Bass Pro Shops and gun stores.

Colt gives a pair of customized guns to each standing president, though Bill Clinton was the only one not to accept the offer, Hinkley said.

In the back of the factory, the accuracy of guns is tested in an indoor shooting range. In addition to paper targets, a series of microphones use acoustics to track the bullets.

"They pick up the acoustics of the round going by, and they'll chart what the group size is," Hinkley said. The microphones also measure the number of rounds fired per minute and the gun's muzzle velocity.

Two companies share the 310,000-square-foot facility on New Park Avenue in a commercial and industrial strip next to BJ's Wholesale Club.

Colt Defense LLC was spun off from its parent company Colt's Manufacturing Company LLC in 2002 to protect the military-contract business from lawsuits against gun makers. Colt Defense sells to U.S. and allied militaries in 90 nations around the world as well as to law enforcement agencies. Colt's Manufacturing makes guns for regular customers, such as collectors, hunters and target shooters.

While the military hasn't bought Colt handguns in 27 years, the federal government has purchased other Colt firearms all along. Since the M4 carbine was introduced in 1993, the U.S. Army has been a major customer, buying 19,000 the next year for the Army and Special Forces. Colt sells machine guns to the military, too.

Throughout the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the military bought a steady supply of the M4 — a short, lightweight rifle, which is a successor to the M-16 that the government bought from the Vietnam era until 1988.

The drawdown of troops a few years ago contributed to a financial slump at Colt Defense as net sales dropped from $270 million to $175 million between 2009 and 2010. Last year, sales were up to $208 million. The company also recovered from an $11.3 million net loss in 2010 to report net income of $5.2 million last year.

The Marines' contract to buy up to 12,000 pistols for $22.5 million over five years means it accounts for about 2 percent of Colt Defense's annual sales. That's not enough to drive the success of the company. But the historic return to Colt sidearms is significant and it's a morale boost within the company.

"I call it in the category of 'cool,'" said Gerry Dinkel, CEO and president of Colt Defense.

"It just has a lot of ring to it when you have something that's this long lived," Dinkel said of the Model 1911.
The return to West Hartford-made Colts from Italian-owned Beretta also carries some patriotic pride.
Dinkel said, "A lot of people have said it's great to go back to an American supplier."

Link:

• After 30 years, the Marines are returning to the Colt .45 pistol

Jack Nicholson on Abortion

"I’m very contra my constituency in terms of abortion because I’m positively against it. I don’t have the right to any other view. My only emotion is gratitude, literally, for my life." - Jack Nicholson

Would you eat this Albino Burmese Python? It's sweet and tasty; seriously!

By David Strege at GrindTV

The photo of this Albino Burmese Python looks so real, Francesca Pitcher of North Star Cakes in Kent, U.K., was prompted to add this tagline: "****I DO NOT SELL SNAKES****. This photo is of a snake CAKE made to look like an Amelanistic Burmese Python for a birthday party."

Yes, the snake is a fake. It's a fake snake cake...

According to the U.K. Daily Mail, Pitcher's now-6-year-old daughter, Claudia, who loves reptiles, wanted a spooky-themed birthday party. She wanted something that would scare her friends. Pitcher suggested a snake cake.

She regretted that idea immediately, and for good reason. Pitcher has a snake phobia.

From the U.K. Daily Mail:

'At first I couldn't even look at the images of them online but as I kept researching them I realised they weren't so bad and had quite beautiful patterns.

'Once I had got over my phobia I just cracked on with it...'

Over the course of three days, Pitcher spent 12 hours baking and shaping sponge layers, using "a white chocolate fondant with special dye to make the skin and replicate the distinctive markings of the dangerous snake," according to the Daily Mail... (continued)

Read More

Breakaway group Society of Pope Leo XIII seeks unity with Rome

Bishop David Bell meets Pope Benedict

By David V Barrett

(Catholic Herald) The English leader of a breakaway traditionalist group has said that he wishes to be reconciled with the Catholic Church.

Bishop David Bell, 41, is head of the Society of Pope Leo XIII, which upholds the pre-Vatican II teachings of the Church, particularly the older form of the Tridentine Mass. The society claims to have 73 bishops and 500 priests, and to be responsible for congregations totalling 8.5 million people.

In the eyes of the Church Bishop Bell’s ordination as a bishop is valid but illicit; he was ordained by bishops with the Apostolic Succession and has passed this on to other bishops he has ordained, but all of this is without the sanction of the Catholic Church.

A report in the Italian newspaper La Stampa last week said that Bishop Bell, who calls himself Archbishop of London, had prepared a “curse” against Bishop Mario Meini of the Diocese of Fiesole, Italy, but he said that this was incorrect.

“I issued a decree of anathema because he said I wasn’t a bishop. Only the Holy See can make such a declaration,” he said.

Bishop Bell met Pope Benedict XVI at a Wednesday audience in June 2011 and kissed his hand. “How did I meet the Holy Father? I asked,” he said, stressing that he applied to meet him as head of the Society of Pope Leo XIII.

He said that he accepts the infallibility of the Pope. “We don’t speak out against the Holy See,” he said, emphasising that doctrinally they are close to the Church. “As far as we are concerned there’s very little difference at all,” he said. The one important point is the Tridentine Mass, which Pope Benedict has brought to greater prominence in the Church.

Bishop Bell confirmed that the Society of Pope Leo XIII is “in talks” with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. “The Holy See has held private talks with illicit bishops for hundreds of years,” he said.

He accepted that if they were to come back into full communion they would have to accept the authority of the Church. “We intend to bend, to work more closely with Rome,” he said. He said that talks had already been held with officials at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

He said that if and when he would accepted back he will be a titular bishop only, without any episcopal power within the Church, and accepts that “my hands will be tied unless or until the Holy See decides otherwise”.

“It is a long journey and will take a long time,” he said.

• Breakaway group seeks unity with Rome

Klein: Hillary Turned Down Vice President Spot

By Larry Kudlow

(Townhall)  According to author Edward Klein, Obama has put out feelers to Hillary Clinton about accepting the VP spot on the ticket, but Hillary has said no. In the exclusive video below, Klein tells Larry Kudlow why Clinton is reluctant to take the number two spot.

Klein: Until just a couple of weeks ago, the White House was putting out feelers to see if Hillary would accept the vice presidential nod and replace Joe Biden. Bill Clinton was, I'm told, urging his wife to accept the number two slot. He saw this as a great launching pad for her for running in 2016. But then Hillary had lunch in the White House a couple of weeks ago with Valerie Jarrett, Michelle's best friend, senior adviser to both the First Lady and the President.

Kudlow: Just about the biggest Lefty in the White House.

Klein: That's right. She told Valerie she would not accept the vice president spot. The lunch was ostensibly about other matters, but it came up. The vice presidential thing came up. Hillary felt burned out after four years as secretary of state. But I'm told there were more important reasons for her not accepting.

(continued in video below)

• Biden sent home to Delaware

Flying car closes in on FAA OK

Terrafugia already has more than 100 orders for its $279,000 aircraft

By Marie Szaniszlo

(Boston Herald) Four months after its debut at the New York International Auto Show, Woburn-based Terrafugia’s version of the “flying car” has buzzed into a second phase of testing, with hopes of obtaining final approval from the Federal Aviation Administration in the coming months.

If everything goes according to plan, the Transition could earn its light sport aircraft air-worthiness certificate this winter, allowing it to go to market. The first delivery is expected in September 2013, said Cliff Allen, Terrafugia’s vice president of sales.

“Our No. 1 priority right now is getting our certification,” Allen said.

Although the company has already received more than 100 orders for the $279,000 aircraft, it will produce an initial edition of 10 so that it can monitor them before beginning full production in 2014, he said. Nearly a quarter of the people who have placed deposits on the Transition so far do not have pilot’s licenses, Allen added.

“We find that interesting because it’s bringing new people into aviation,” he said.

For now, the Transition has been making 1 1⁄2-hour deployments from Plattsburgh International Airport, a former Air Force base in New York. Terrafugia chose the airport because it is uncongested and has an 11,000-foot runway, features that make it safe for test flights, Allen said. There, it has been doing climbs, descents and turns to make sure everything works, he said.

After those have been completed, the Transition will do compliance flights to show the FAA that the Transition has met all of the agency’s requirements, Allen said.

The final phase of test flights involves the most extreme maneuvers, including dive testing and spin testing, he said.

The Transition will also undergo drive testing in three-mile laps at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway at higher and higher speeds for longer and longer times to ensure its durability, Allen said.

“They’re chasing a lifelong dream,” Semyon Dukach, one of Terrafugia’s board members and angel investors, said of the company’s Massachusetts Institute of Technology-trained aeronautics engineers. “It’s an improbable dream. People have been talking about flying cars for 50 years. But they took a practical attitude from day one.

“Their No. 1 goal is to have a plane that’s safer than any other small plane,” he added, “and now it’s moving toward production.”

Link:

• Flying car closes in on FAA OK

Biden sent home to Delaware

Vice President Joe Biden waves as he arrives to speaks at Staffilino Chevrolet, Thursday, May 17, 2012 in Martins Ferry, Ohio. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

By Neil Munro

(The Daily Caller)  Vice President Joe Biden is going home to Delaware.

The updated White House calendar for Aug. 17 reports that “in the morning, the Vice President will meet with senior advisers. Later, the Vice President will be in Wilmington, Delaware.”

“There are no public events scheduled,” said the 5:36 p.m. White House announcement, titled “Daily Guidance for the Vice President.”

Biden’s retreat home during the increasingly frenetic 2012 race comes amid increased criticism for his campaign-trail performance.

Biden was slated to share an uncomfortable lunch with President Barack Obama on Thursday, following his disastrous week on the campaign trail, which culminated with a racially inflammatory warning to African-American supporters that Mitt Romney will “put y’all back in chains.”

The flubs revived chatter about whether the president will drop Biden, and seek a substitute vice president to win the tough 2012 race...

Biden’s campaign trail flubs this week also included two errors that prompted derision from GOP supporters and from the media.

Biden also managed to irritate the Washington Post’s editorial-writers, who complained about Biden’s response to a voter’s question about the Social Security program, which is heading rapidly toward bankruptcy.

“I guarantee you, flat guarantee you, there will be no changes in Social Security. … I flat guarantee you,” he said.

But Biden’s chain claim was especially damaging because it diverted attention from the Democrats’ criticism of Gov. Mitt Romney’s running-mate, Rep. Paul Ryan.

It also helped Romney persuade swing-voters that the Obama campaign is divisive and hateful, in contrast to Obama’s 2008 “hope and change” message...

Link:

• Biden sent home to Delaware

Pete Best Was Fired From The Beatles 50-Years-Ago Today

Money (1962) by the Beatles with Pete Best

(The Inquisitr) John, Paul, George and Pete. It doesn’t really have the same ring to it but in 1960 it was Pete Best behind the drum kit for the Beatles and not Ringo Starr. That changed on August 16th, 1962, however, when Pete Best was fired from the Beatles.

According to Beatles-History.net, Best joined the group in 1960 when John, Paul, and George needed a drummer for a gig in Hamburg. They had met Best at the Casbah Coffee Club, owned by Best’s mother, the year prior and invited him to come play. After the Hamburg show, the not-quite-fab-four started booking gigs around Liverpool.

Best was reportedly the most popular Beatle at the time and some credit him with the group’s initial popularity in Liverpool. But the four members didn’t mesh together on a personal level. As an example, Best was the only member that did not adopt the “bowl” cut.

Best was fired from the Beatles in 1962. The following year the group recorded its first album, Please Please Me, and were nearly immediately struck with Beatlemania.

The reason’s for Best’s firing remains a bit of a mystery. Some claim that the three Beatles didn’t like Best personally. Others say that they were just more impressed with Ringo Starr. Best’s mother said that the rest of the group was jealous of her son.

In 2009, the fifth Beatle talked to Spinner Magazine about his life with, and without the Beatles. Best said that he still isn’t sure why he was kicked out of the group but said that he was pretty sure it didn’t have to do with talent.

Best, who was included on 10 songs in the Beatles’ Anthology, said:

“Being on Anthology, people had a bigger insight into what my drumming was about. From that point of view, I’ve always held my head up high and said, “Yes, it wasn’t the drumming ability.” There have been conspiracy theories — the hairstyle, jealousy, antisocial, didn’t speak enough, Brian [Epstein, the Beatles' manager] may have felt threatened — it goes on and on. I’ve long passed that...”  (continued)

Read More Here

Link:

• Pete Best Was Fired From The Beatles 50-Years-Ago Today

Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon in critical condition

(AFP) The founder of the controversial Unification Church is in a South Korean hospital in critical condition due to complications from pneumonia, his spokesman said on Thursday.

Sun Myung Moon, 92, was admitted to Seoul's St Mary's Hospital on Tuesday and has been unconscious since then, Ahn Ho-Yeol told AFP, describing his condition as very critical.

"He is on life support and cannot communicate... doctors say the next three days will be the critical period," Ahn said. Close family members, including Moon's son and successor as church leader Hyung Jin Moon, were at his bedside.

The church's website posted a message urging the faithful to hold special prayers from Thursday until September 24 for the recovery of "the true father", including a three-day fast beginning Friday.

The Unification Church -- founded in Seoul in 1954 and officially called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification -- is one of the world's most controversial religious organisations.

Its devotees are often dubbed "Moonies" after the founder and it is widely known for conducting mass weddings among followers involving thousands of couples.

It says it evangelises in some 200 countries and according to another spokesman has some three million followers worldwide.

The church's vast business empire includes The Washington Times newspaper and the New Yorker Hotel in Manhattan.

Hyung Jin Moon, the youngest of Moon's seven sons, succeeded his father as the church's most senior leader in 2008 at the age of 28.

Sun Myung Moon, who was born in North Korea, visited the North in 1991 to meet its then-president Kim Il-Sung.

Link:

• Unification Church founder in critical condition

Transalpine Redemptorists granted formal status within the Church after a four-year wait

The Transalpine Redemptorists pictured with Bishop Peter Moran of Aberdeen (Photo: Brother Martin)

By Mark Greaves

(Catholic Herald) A traditionalist group based on an island in Scotland has been formally established as an institute within the Catholic Church.

The Congregation of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer, also known as the Transalpine Redemptorists, was erected today, on the feast of the Assumption, as a Clerical Institute of Diocesan Right.

The community, which has about 15 members, has been in limbo since 2008 when it announced that it wished to enter into full communion with Rome.

The group’s decision was a response to Pope Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, which allowed priests to celebrate the traditional Latin Mass freely.

Previously, the community had been a part of the worldwide Society of St Pius X (SSPX), the estranged traditionalist group currently in dialogue with Rome.

This evening the community were to make a public profession of vows at their home on Papa Stronsay, a tiny, windswept island in Orkney, off the north-east of Scotland. The profession will be celebrated by Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB of Aberdeen, who, as their diocesan bishop, granted them canonical recognition.
Bishop Gilbert was ordained as Bishop of Aberdeen exactly a year ago, taking over from Bishop Peter Moran, who had retired.

Links:

• Traditionalist group granted formal status within the Church after a four-year wait
• Official Statement from the Congregation of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer
• Decree of Erection
• Transalpine Redemptorists

Robins: The Perfect Murder Machine

‘To think that we’re banning drag queens is obnoxious and ridiculous’

From California Catholic Daily:

On August 9, the Bay Area Reporter published an article about a new policy at San Francisco’s Most Holy Redeemer parish called “Drag is out at Most Holy Redeemer.”

The article quoted the church’s new pastor Father Brian Costello:
“Most Holy Redeemer’s new pastor, the Reverend Brian Costello, confirmed over telephone on Monday, August 6, that drag queen performers and emcees are no longer permitted to participate in events at the church.

“Costello said that during a telephone conversation with a Castro Country Club representative, when the topic of drag queens came up, he told the person, ‘That is not going to work under the present circumstances.’

“‘I said work with me. You can still have the dinner. You can have a regular emcee, but not drag queens on church property,’ Costello said. It seems the directive is the result of several factors. ‘I am the new pastor,’ Costello added. “There is a new archbishop. The archdiocese told me straight out, ‘No drag queens.’”

But apparent dissension about the policy has arisen. Not only that, it seems to be an open question as to who is in charge at the renegade parish. On August 13 the S. F. Examiner published an article called “Faux Pas Puts S.F. Holy Site in Fix” by Carolyn Copeland.

Copeland spoke to Michael Poma, the business manager at Most Holy Redeemer:
“… although church Business Manager Michael Poma acknowledged that Pastor Brian Costello did tell members of the Castro Country Club that they could not hold their event if drag queens were scheduled to attend, Poma said he quickly reversed his decision.

“‘Father Brian wasn’t educated about the importance of drag queens in the gay community,’ Poma said. ‘Once it was explained to him, he said they were welcome to attend as long as their behavior was church-appropriate...’  (continued)

Read More Here

Link:

• ‘To think that we’re banning drag queens is obnoxious and ridiculous’

Saint Maximina and Saint Hyacinth

"In 304 A.D., a native of Belgrade, widow and mother, was martyred for her magnificent defense of the Catholic Faith at Mitrovica, Yugoslavia. This was near the end of one of the fiercest Roman persecutions. She was beheaded and cast into the Sava River. Devoted Christians retrieved and buried her in the Roman catacomb of St. Priscilla, until she was given to the Sinibaldi family chapel. In 1927 her relics were given to the Poor Clares in Rome, who later moved them to the Poor Clares in Chicago. The remarkably preserved bones of the Saint were partly encased in wax and a be-jeweled red robe. Cardinal Mundelin of Chicago gave permission to celebrate her feast day on May 4th. After 40 years, St. Adrian's Church in Chicago received her relics for veneration and she became known as the "Miraculous Saint of Great Faith," and the saint of many miracles. With the coming of the Vatican II spirit, controversy arose and the Chicago cardinal made sounds like he wished to be rid of her and to bury her bones in the local cemetery. However, devoted clients of St. Maximina transported her remains to the Byzantine nuns of St. Clare in North Royalton, Ohio, where they remain to this day the object of many devoted visits and prayers. Many miracles are still being reported as the result of prayers made to this marvelous Martyr of the holy Catholic Church. If you need a miracle in your life, my advice is for you to go to St. Maximina." - from The Angelus

"St. Hyacinth is in a similar wax sculpture with the nuns in Ohio. He was a young Roman, about age 16, who was also beheaded for the Faith. He died in the year 109 A.D." - from randada at forums.catholic.com

Blood red lakes in France

By Victoria Cavaliere

(Daily News) At first glance, it might look like a sign of the apocalypse - but scientists say the blood red lakes in southern France are actually a natural phenomenon.

Camargue, France is a river delta where the Rhône meets the sea. The picturesque area is home to numerous salt flats, and it is this concentration of salt that will occasionally stain red the regions normally blue water.

A photographer driving through the region recently stopped to chronicle the incredible blood-red color of the water and the trillions of salt crystals crusting rocks, branches and shoreline.

Though it is unclear how often this phenomenon occurs, salt has been a lifeblood of the region for hundreds of years.

Today, evaporation pans at Salin-de-Giraud, the largest salt extraction city in Europe, extend for thousands of acres and produce some 1,000,000 metric tons of salt per year, according to Languedoc.com.

The area is also home to riz rouge, or red rice, so-named for its unmistakable blood red color.

It might look like something more a horror movie (or the Old Testament), but these red waters in France are a natural phenomenon caused by the high levels of salt in the water.

Link:

• In France, waters that look like blood

Indicted We Stand: Penance, Penn State, and Catholic Culture

By Fr. Gordon J. MacRae

Parallel stories of Jerry Sandusky at Penn State, the Duke University Lacrosse Team, and accused Catholic priests create a mosaic in varying shades of grey.

I wrote recently in “Why Are So Many Catholics So Angry with So Many Priests?” about two parallel stories in the news. One was the unjust conviction and jailing of Philadelphia Monsignor William Lynn on one count of child endangerment after his acquittal on all other charges.

The other news story was the not guilty verdict of a California man who savagely beat an elderly priest in front of numerous witnesses after conning his way into an elderly care center. The man was acquitted of the vicious beating because he claimed the priest molested him 35 years ago. With this verdict, a judge and jury have declared the judges and juries are no longer necessary if vigilante justice is to be the rule of law.

The point I made in that post was that Catholic anger and cultural hostility toward Catholic priests are not a result of the sex abuse scandal, but rather its frame of reference. Many readers agreed with me that the anger I described has preceded the Catholic sex abuse scandal by decades. On the part of Catholics, this vaguely defined anger has festered and grown, in my opinion, since the first implementations of the Second Vatican Council began to take shape in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The comments on that post are worth reading, and some are better than the post itself. In addition to those 20 or so comments, several TSW readers commented by e-mail and snail mail. The reactions of readers form a fascinating mosaic about perceptions of the priesthood in Western Culture at this point in our history. It’s a story I plan to revisit soon on These Stone Walls.

One of the letters I received was from a seminarian who asked whether I had noticed that the conviction of Monsignor Lynn and the conviction of former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky occurred in the same state and on the same day. Yes, I had noticed, and I think that fact stole some of the thunder from SNAP members who found the Monsignor Lynn story eclipsed on the cable news channels by the Sandusky verdict... (continued)

Read More at These Stone Walls

Link:

• Indicted We Stand: Penance, Penn State, and Catholic Culture 

Related:

• Fr. Gordon MacRae: Federal Court to Hear Oral Arguments in Habeas Corpus Appeal
• The Catholic Press Needs to Get 
Over Its Father Maciel Syndrome
• Priests are victims too, Vatican told
• Bishop Takes Pawn: Plundering The Rights of a Prisoner-Priest (Father Gordon MacRae)
• Father Gordon MacRae's These Stone Walls - Musings From Prison of a Priest Falsely Accused
• Alarming New Evidence May Exonerate Imprisoned Priest
• Special Report: New Appeal Filed in the Case of Fr. Gordon MacRae
• New Trial Motion Filed for Father Gordon MacRae
• Memorandum of Law in Support of a Motion for a New Trial (.pdf)
• Thy Brother’s Keeper: Why Wrongful Convictions Should Matter to You
• Trial by Therapists - by Ryan A. MacDonald
• Dr. Bill Donohue Discussing Fr. Gordon MacRae and SNAP on EWTN's The World Over
• A Touch of Deja Vu: The Case against Rev. Gordon MacRae - by Ryan A. MacDonald
• To Azazel: Father Gordon MacRae and the Gospel of Mercy - by Ryan A. MacDonald
• A Priest and His Wounds: Padre Pio Under Investigation
• SNAP Judgments Part II: Ground Zero of the Catholic Scandal 
• SNAP Judgements Part I: Catholic Priests Among the Public Ruins - by Fr. Gordon MacRae
• As The Year of the Priest Ends, Are Civil Liberties for Priests Intact?
• SNAP EXPOSED: Unmasking the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests - by William A. Donohue, Ph.D.

Local Episcopal priest to convert to Catholicism

BY PAUL LEIGHTON STAFF WRITER
 

(The Salem News) BEVERLY — A longtime North Shore clergyman is in line to become one of the first Episcopal priests in the country to be ordained as a Roman Catholic priest.

The Rev. Jurgen Liias, who led Christ Church in Hamilton for 14 years before forming a breakaway Episcopal church in Danvers, has applied to the Vatican to be ordained into a new U.S. ordinariate created by Pope Benedict XVI on Jan. 1.

Liias said he will resign as an Episcopal priest and will be confirmed as a Catholic in a Mass on Wednesday at St. Margaret Church in Beverly Farms. If his application is approved by the Vatican, he will be ordained as a Catholic priest this fall.

Sitting inside St. Margaret’s on Friday, still wearing his Episcopal priest collar, Liias said, “I feel like this is what God wants me to do.”

Liias is among the first wave of Episcopal priests who have responded to Pope Benedict’s invitation to join the Catholic Church through the ordinariate, which is designed to allow Anglicans to become Catholic while retaining elements of their Anglican heritage. Church officials describe an ordinariate as a parish without geographic boundaries.

Liias said that about 20 members of his former church, Christ the Redeemer in Danvers, plan to convert to Catholicism. The group would like to form its own parish within the Catholic church, with Liias serving as their priest and services held at St. Margaret’s.

Liias said he would also seek permission from Cardinal Sean O’Malley to assist the Rev. David Barnes, the pastor at St. Mary’s in Beverly and administrator at St. Margaret’s, in saying Masses and hearing confessions. St. Margaret’s does not have its own priest.

Barnes said he could not comment on Liias’ ordination because it has not yet been approved but said he is excited to have him join the Catholic faith.

“He’s definitely a leader,” Barnes said. “He’s got a lot of spirit and a lot of creativity. He’s dedicated to the Scriptures and to the Lord and to the church. I’m sure where he goes, a lot will follow.”

Liias, 64, is married with two grown children and two grandchildren. Priests who join the ordinariate are allowed to remain married but must submit a written letter of support from their wives in their applications for ordination.

Liias’ wife, Gloria, a member of Christ the Redeemer, is not converting but is supportive of his decision, he said.

“We’ve been married for 42 years, and we’ve managed to make our marriage work with differences,” he said. “It’s important to model marriages that don’t depend on absolute uniformity.”

Liias has been an Episcopal priest for 40 years, but his ties to the religion go even deeper.

He was born in Germany in 1948, just after World War II. His father was an Estonian who was wounded during the war and conscripted into the German army during the Nazi occupation. His mother was separated from her family in East Germany.

His parents applied for emigration after the war, and his family, which now included his younger brother, moved to the United States and lived in a camp for displaced persons in western Massachusetts.

The family was eventually taken in by the priest of an Episcopal Church in Charlestown and lived in the church rectory for 10 years.

“That had a profound influence on me,” Liias said. “From the time I was a little boy, I wanted to be a priest.”
Liias served for 14 years as rector at Christ Church in Hamilton. Concerned about what he said was the Episcopal Church’s move away from “basic Christianity” with its support of abortion and homosexuality, he led the effort to form a breakaway church, Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church in Danvers.

“I found myself moving in a different direction ideologically,” he said. “I began to wonder if the Episcopal Church was the best home for me.”

Liias said he had thought about becoming Catholic ever since Pope John Paul II made a “pastoral provision” in 1980 allowing Episcopalians to join the Catholic Church.

When Pope Benedict renewed the effort this year with the establishment of the ordinariate, he said, “That, to me, was the final sign that this was the time to become a Catholic. I couldn’t say no to that invitation.”

Link:

• Local Episcopal priest to convert to Catholicism

Cardinal Burke on the Liturgy - Traditional Latin Mass and Ordinary Form, New English Translation

Cardinal Raymond L. Burke with Raymond Arroyo on EWTN:


h/t New Liturgical Movement

Related:

• Moving Beyond
• Exile to Malta for Cardinal Burke
• The Scandal That is Eating the Heart out of the Catholic Church in America
• Cardinal Raymond Burke: Obama’s Policies ‘Have Become Progressively More Hostile Toward Christian Civilization’