My Friend Jesus – No, the One in Prison Awaiting Deportation

My friend, an undocumented immigrant, was arrested for driving to work without a license he cannot legally obtain. With no public transportation available, he was risking his freedom, like millions of others, working to support his family AND paying taxes through taxpayer ID numbers, fake social security numbers, sales taxes and as a consumer of services [...]

Stop Government Funding of the Catholic Church

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) received $69,377,785 (a little over 31% of total revenues) from government contracts and grants in 2010, up from $58,327,207 (40% of revenues) in 2009, per their latest financial statement. Also controlled by the bishops, Catholic Charities USA, the umbrella organization for all the diocesan Catholic Charities, received [...]

Why the Pope Doesn’t Care What We Think About the Nuns

(As posted on dailykos.com) God’s Rottweiler and Panzer Kardinal are the sobriquets which won Joseph Ratzinger the papacy. He earned them by squelching not only internal dissent but also Liberation Theology, a movement in Latin America among the clergy and the vowed religious to help the poor. “’There are those who fear that the religious [...]

National Catholic Reporter Sanctions Reconciliation between SSPX and the Catholic Church

Open Tabernacle/Bilgrimage blogger, Dr. William Lindsey, has done exemplary – as well as solitary and underappreciated – work in establishing that the so-called “liberal” Catholic media such as National Catholic Reporter, Commonweal and America, are barely centrist. The NCR’s top two reporters proved today just how astute Dr. Lindsey has been. The Society of St. Pius [...]

“Apostolic Journeys” or Trade Junkets?

(as posted on DailyKos.com) After Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to both countries, Mexican President Felipe Calderon met this past week with Cuban President Raul Castro and Havana Cardinal Jaime Ortega to “discuss possible business ventures, including oil deals.” Mexico is considering leasing exploration blocks in Cuban territorial waters which are part of the Gulf of [...]

The Mightiest SupePAC of All

There is a non-profit political action group with affiliates in every state and metropolitan area which campaigns for ballot initiatives, legislation and indirectly for political candidates which can promise complete secrecy for foreign and domestic donors, uncontestable tax deductions, no restrictions on the amounts contributed with no accountability or oversight as to how their tax [...]

Wake Up, America!

This past week, the Senate held a floor vote on a proposal to allow employers to decline to provide health benefits which conflict with their religious beliefs. With a twitch of their collective noses, Catholic bishops – each one appointed by the head of a foreign nation – have generated two Congressional hearings, legislation  introduced [...]

Santorum – the Catholic Theocrat

Ever since Rick Santorum surged ahead in recent GOP primaries, pundits and journalists have been quick to point out how Santorum isn’t a “real” Catholic in the mold of former American Catholic leaders. This opinion has intensified after Santorum’s attacks on President John F. Kennedy. Santorum, however, is advocating theocracy and that is very much [...]

The Church in Ghana: Latest Victim of the Corporatocracy

A devout (“not even the Pope is more Catholic than I am”) and involved lay Catholic, Yaw Owusu-Brefo, wrote an article, “The Eroding Stature of the Catholic Church in Contemporary Ghana.”  It was listed in the National Catholic Reporter’s Morning Briefing for July 6, 2011. Being destitute has kept many areas of Asia and Africa [...]

Serving Mammon

Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. The Vatican recently released their 2010 annual financial report for the Vatican City State (the independent and sovereign [...]