Friday, February 25, 2005
Real Knights are NOT Pawns!
Those of us who join the Knights of Columbus pledge to support our priests, bishops, cardinals and the Pope. We proudly proclaim our solidarity with the men of the cloth. But, contrary to the actions and thoughts of some members of the organization, we do not pledge to be supportive of any action of any priest in an office less than that of the Pope. Our ultimate loyalty, as Roman Catholics, is to the Pope. Below that level, reasonable men may disagree.
However, a disturbing trend has arisen in the area in which I am a Knight: blind allegiance to the local powers. As a Fourth Degree member (the Patriotic Degree), it saddens me to see such blind devotion to the political agenda of leftist, and, perhaps, un-patriotic, members of the clergy simply because they wear the collar. The most recent example is the State Council of California's endorsement of the leftist organization, The Institute for Peace and Justice's family "non-violence" day to be held at the San Gabriel mission on March 5.
The title of the conference sounds good: "Creating Households of Faith where Peace and Justice Dwells." In fact, the content of the conference may be good. But taking good fruit, if it is that, from a rotten tree normally leads one to take bites of bad fruit in the future.
First, a search of the Institute's name in the database of the Achdiocese of St. Louis (where they are located) shows no listing of the organization even though some other groups perceived as "liberal" are there (look for yourself). Some might object that the website in question would only list organizations that are an official part of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. If that were the case, the Knights of Columbus would not be listed as they are.
So, one must immediatly ask, "why is this group not listed?" Perhaps, the answer lies in the fact that the good archbishop of St. Louis, the Most Reverend Raymond Leo Burke, is not one of the trendy American bishops. In fact, his letter on the obligations of Catholics in political life effectively told Senator Kerry not to bother presenting himself for communion in St. Louis. Archbishop Burke is a Vatican favorite. The exclusion of the Institute for Peace and Justice from the website of the archdiocese appears to be intentional. Why?
Perhaps this is due to the fact that the policies of the Institute seem to mouth those of the ultra-liberal whole-cloth anti-American nonsense of Pax Christi International. These are the same yahoos who argued that the Iraqi elections should be postponed while U.S. forces should be withdrawn since the Bush administration and the United States have no moral standing to be there (someone should direct these yahoos to Winston Churchill's Sinews of Peace speech or to any speech of President Regan that condemned tyranny). They are part of the moral equivalence crowd that the Gramscian-Marxists love and love to train (you can find the PaxChristi USA site here).
Oh, and you can find a link to the Institue on the PaxChristi website here! Oh, and you can find a link to PaxChristi on the Institute's families page.
Now, where is the link between Los Angeles and these whackos? Why are these leftists invited to into our own backyard? The Bishop President of the Executive Committe of Pax Christi USA is Bishop Gabino Zavala of the San Gabriel region of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. When I typed "Burke" (the simplest form of Archbishop Burke's name) in the search engine of Pax Christi, nothing was found!
Below are some of the more irritating quotes from the Institute of Peace and Justice's website (try finding them for yourself! Make it a game like a scavenger hunt!). Anything in brackets is my somewhat restrained commentary:
1) To multiculturalize a school or home library means more than stocking it with books that deal with a variety of racial groups. The quality of multicultural literature is the important factor. (Oh, how Gramscian-Marxist!)
2) The second is a heightened sense of patriotism as unwavering allegiance to the policies of one’s government and as total support of its military personnel during war. (U.S., U.S. uber alles, uber alles unter Bush! Come on!)
3) In fact, this statue of Jesus weeping is located across the street from the bombsite in Oklahoma City, where 168 people were killed by US terrorists on April 19, 1995. The words of Jesus in this setting are challenging: "America, America, if only today you knew the things that make for peace. But now they are hidden from your eyes…" (this is in the section that supposedly teaches teachers how to teach students to deal with 9/11... Answer: We are just as bad as the terroists!)
4) I asked schools with bulletin boards displaying "stars" for each US service person related to their students to add an additional star for Iraqi children. A few students sent their cranes to political leaders imploring them to find peaceful ways of dealing with conflict. I also encouraged the students and faculty to raise money for a special new fund for medicines for Iraqi children. (Hmm.. I didn't realize that the stated U.S. policy in Iraq was to kill children much as Hussein's henchmen did if they happened to be of an ethnic group that was determined to be trouble. And, of course, appeasement always works; just look at the example of Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler!)
5) I wore a "sandwich board" poster which proclaimed in front: "Act, Pray and Do Penance for Iraqi Children Killed by Sanctions & War and for US Children Denied Health Care Here Because of the War and Tax Cuts for the Rich." (oh, you have to make the effort to find the picture! And, it is of James McGinnis who is going to lead the the happy party on March 5 at the San Gabriel Mission... ahh, just do a Google Image search of his name! Just remember, it was the sanctions that killed all those children before the war and not the horribly corrupt United Nations oil-for-food program thoroughly controlled and manipulated by Saddam Hussein.)
6) Killing terrorists, those who supposedly harbor terrorists, and those who might arm terrorists may have the opposite result of creating even more terrorists to replace those they felt had died at the hands of a "bully" who loves to flaunt its military and economic power to keep others poor and subservient. (I wonder if James reads Noam Chomsky works more often than the Bible?)
I could go on, but I think I might just vomit if I do.
However, a disturbing trend has arisen in the area in which I am a Knight: blind allegiance to the local powers. As a Fourth Degree member (the Patriotic Degree), it saddens me to see such blind devotion to the political agenda of leftist, and, perhaps, un-patriotic, members of the clergy simply because they wear the collar. The most recent example is the State Council of California's endorsement of the leftist organization, The Institute for Peace and Justice's family "non-violence" day to be held at the San Gabriel mission on March 5.
The title of the conference sounds good: "Creating Households of Faith where Peace and Justice Dwells." In fact, the content of the conference may be good. But taking good fruit, if it is that, from a rotten tree normally leads one to take bites of bad fruit in the future.
First, a search of the Institute's name in the database of the Achdiocese of St. Louis (where they are located) shows no listing of the organization even though some other groups perceived as "liberal" are there (look for yourself). Some might object that the website in question would only list organizations that are an official part of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. If that were the case, the Knights of Columbus would not be listed as they are.
So, one must immediatly ask, "why is this group not listed?" Perhaps, the answer lies in the fact that the good archbishop of St. Louis, the Most Reverend Raymond Leo Burke, is not one of the trendy American bishops. In fact, his letter on the obligations of Catholics in political life effectively told Senator Kerry not to bother presenting himself for communion in St. Louis. Archbishop Burke is a Vatican favorite. The exclusion of the Institute for Peace and Justice from the website of the archdiocese appears to be intentional. Why?
Perhaps this is due to the fact that the policies of the Institute seem to mouth those of the ultra-liberal whole-cloth anti-American nonsense of Pax Christi International. These are the same yahoos who argued that the Iraqi elections should be postponed while U.S. forces should be withdrawn since the Bush administration and the United States have no moral standing to be there (someone should direct these yahoos to Winston Churchill's Sinews of Peace speech or to any speech of President Regan that condemned tyranny). They are part of the moral equivalence crowd that the Gramscian-Marxists love and love to train (you can find the PaxChristi USA site here).
Oh, and you can find a link to the Institue on the PaxChristi website here! Oh, and you can find a link to PaxChristi on the Institute's families page.
Now, where is the link between Los Angeles and these whackos? Why are these leftists invited to into our own backyard? The Bishop President of the Executive Committe of Pax Christi USA is Bishop Gabino Zavala of the San Gabriel region of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. When I typed "Burke" (the simplest form of Archbishop Burke's name) in the search engine of Pax Christi, nothing was found!
Below are some of the more irritating quotes from the Institute of Peace and Justice's website (try finding them for yourself! Make it a game like a scavenger hunt!). Anything in brackets is my somewhat restrained commentary:
1) To multiculturalize a school or home library means more than stocking it with books that deal with a variety of racial groups. The quality of multicultural literature is the important factor. (Oh, how Gramscian-Marxist!)
2) The second is a heightened sense of patriotism as unwavering allegiance to the policies of one’s government and as total support of its military personnel during war. (U.S., U.S. uber alles, uber alles unter Bush! Come on!)
3) In fact, this statue of Jesus weeping is located across the street from the bombsite in Oklahoma City, where 168 people were killed by US terrorists on April 19, 1995. The words of Jesus in this setting are challenging: "America, America, if only today you knew the things that make for peace. But now they are hidden from your eyes…" (this is in the section that supposedly teaches teachers how to teach students to deal with 9/11... Answer: We are just as bad as the terroists!)
4) I asked schools with bulletin boards displaying "stars" for each US service person related to their students to add an additional star for Iraqi children. A few students sent their cranes to political leaders imploring them to find peaceful ways of dealing with conflict. I also encouraged the students and faculty to raise money for a special new fund for medicines for Iraqi children. (Hmm.. I didn't realize that the stated U.S. policy in Iraq was to kill children much as Hussein's henchmen did if they happened to be of an ethnic group that was determined to be trouble. And, of course, appeasement always works; just look at the example of Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler!)
5) I wore a "sandwich board" poster which proclaimed in front: "Act, Pray and Do Penance for Iraqi Children Killed by Sanctions & War and for US Children Denied Health Care Here Because of the War and Tax Cuts for the Rich." (oh, you have to make the effort to find the picture! And, it is of James McGinnis who is going to lead the the happy party on March 5 at the San Gabriel Mission... ahh, just do a Google Image search of his name! Just remember, it was the sanctions that killed all those children before the war and not the horribly corrupt United Nations oil-for-food program thoroughly controlled and manipulated by Saddam Hussein.)
6) Killing terrorists, those who supposedly harbor terrorists, and those who might arm terrorists may have the opposite result of creating even more terrorists to replace those they felt had died at the hands of a "bully" who loves to flaunt its military and economic power to keep others poor and subservient. (I wonder if James reads Noam Chomsky works more often than the Bible?)
I could go on, but I think I might just vomit if I do.
