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S. Carolina councilwoman apologizes for describing Catholic beliefs as ‘hate’

Charleston, SC (CNA) - A South Carolina county councilwoman has apologized for remarks she made at a land management committee discussion considering whether to allow a Catholic church to expand. She had said she would oppose the expansion because she sees “hate” in the Catholic Church, criticizing the Church’s pro-life position and its lack of female clergy, which she called “an affront to my dignity and all of womankind.”

On Monday the Beaufort County Council heard a request from Saint Gregory the Great Church in Bluffton to rezone land for a proposed expansion.

The website of Saint Gregory the Great Church, whose pastor is named Father Ronald Cellini, reports it is seeing “unprecedented growth of this parish family,” increasing by more than 5,000 souls since 1995.

During a land management committee discussion, Laura Von Harten explained she would oppose the request of the parish at the full council meeting later in the week. Although Von Harten does not serve on the land committee, she took the floor to make plain her views about the Catholic Church.

According to the Beaufort Gazette, she cited “human rights issues” as a reason for her opposition.

“I could not have Father Cellini’s job or the Pope’s job if I wanted it and it’s an affront to my dignity as a woman and all of womankind,” said Von Harten, who is reportedly a Unitarian Universalist.

“I don’t want to support anything that will perpetuate that kind of ideology that would prevent me from being an active leader in an organization, and I don’t like the way they want to control women’s uteruses, and I just don’t want to do anything that would perpetuate that.”

If land must be rezoned, she said, “I want it to be to create a loving inclusive mixed-use community and that’s the only way I will give up rural land… I just have to vote in favor of love and against hate when I see hate.”

Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League, went so far as to call for the councilwoman’s resignation.

“Without the slightest provocation, Laura Von Harten decided to bash Catholicism,” Donohue said in a Wednesday statement. “This suggests an animus so deep as to call into question her fitness for public service. She should do more than recuse herself on matters Catholic—she should resign from her post as councilwoman. There is no legitimate role for bigots in public life.”

Following criticism of her remarks, Von Harten on Tuesday said she would abstain from any votes on St. Gregory the Great’s rezoning.

She made what she called a formal apology for her remarks on Wednesday, saying her reference to human rights pertain to “the Catholic Church as a political entity, with a seat at the United Nations, but I acknowledge that I offended individuals in my own community.”

The Holy See in fact has a permanent observer mission to the United Nations but no voting seat.

Saying she intended no infringement of anyone’s religious freedom and did not intend to disparage any individual member of the Church, she added:

“I respect the rights of all people to worship in the church of their choosing. Given the history of persecution endured by members of the Catholic Church, I regret my insensitivity on this matter.”

Saying she was “truly sorry” for having “interjected” her concerns about the Catholic Church into a zoning discussion, she claimed she had “meant only an extension of my overall opposition to development that restricts access on the basis of factors such as race, age or gender but it was an inappropriate forum.”

“Please be assured that I have been reminded of the importance of separation of church and state in matters of land use, and have learned a great deal from this incident,” Von Harten continued, asking for forgiveness and pledging “to approach my duties as councilwoman from a more restrained and objective viewpoint.”

Texas Bishop Repents Publicly for Catholic Hospital That Was Doing Sterilizations

By John-Henry Westen
 
TYLER, TX (LifeSiteNews.com) - In yet another sign of revival in the Catholic Church in America, a US bishop has taken the rare step of publicly repenting for failing to ensure respect for life at Catholic hospitals under his jurisdiction. 

An anonymous report issued last year revealed that tubal ligations were being performed for contraceptive purposes at Texas Catholic hospitals.  The report cited hospital inpatient discharge data that was reported to the Texas Health Care Information Collection Center for Health Statistics, as evidence for the claim.
 
The report said Trinity Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler had reported 1619 sterilizations, and Christus St. Michael in Texarkana had reported 188 sterilizations between the years 2000 and 2003.
 
Bishop Alvaro Corrada, SJ, initiated an investigation following the report and has today issued a public admission of guilt after finding that Catholic hospitals were in fact illicitly carrying out sterilizations. (See: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008_docs/tylerbishopstatement.pdf) 

“As a Bishop, I am deeply saddened and upset by this news,” said the Bishop. He added: “As Bishop of the Diocese of Tyler, I have to admit my failure to provide adequate oversight of the Catholic Hospitals as regards their protection of the sacred dignity of each human person.”
 
In the statement the Bishop explained that the hospitals were engaging in “serious mis-interpretation” of Catholic health care directives.  He noted further that he is working “directly with the Catholic Hospitals in the Diocese of Tyler, and with my brother Bishops in the state of Texas, to bring an end to immoral procedures and to put in place some method of ongoing accountability and transparency of monitoring both protocols and actual practices.”
 
In the statement the Bishop noted that “in response to their own investigation of the matter, CHRISTUS St. Michael’s in Texarkana has discontinued all tubal ligations.”  With regard to Trinity Mother Frances, the Bishop explained that it “is a large health care system and is developing plans to protect the sacred dignity of each human person through compliance with an authentic interpretation” of the Catholic health care directives which prohibit “direct sterilization.”

To read the complete statement by Bishop Corrada, go to: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008_docs/tylerbishopstatement.pdf

Christian-Founded Dating Website eHarmony Forced to Cater to Homosexuals

By Kathleen Gilbert

TRENTON, NJ (LifeSiteNews.com) - A New Jersey man has won a settlement forcing eHarmony.com, a leading dating website founded by Christian Dr. Neil Warren, to offer homosexual dating services through an equivalent website, entitled “Compatible Partners.”

The settlement ended a 3-year court battle in which eHarmony was accused of discriminating against homosexuals by operating a setup that did not extend searches to include partners of the same sex. In addition to setting up the new website, the settlement requires eHarmony to advertise its new site on gay websites and include pictures of same-sex matches in the “Diversity” section of the eHarmony website. 

eHarmony will also pay a settlement fee of $5,000 to the plaintiff and $50,000 in court costs.  The settlement acknowledges that eHarmony was not found to have violated New Jersey law.

“Although we believed that the complaint resulted from an unfair characterization of our business, we ultimately decided it was best to settle with the Attorney General since litigation outcomes can be unpredictable,” eHarmony explained in a statement, adding that they, “look forward to moving beyond this legal dispute, which has been a burden for the company.”

An eHarmony lawyer also told World Net Daily that the legal battle, which began in 2005, had become financially burdensome to the company.

During the dispute last year, Chemistry.com capitalized on eHarmony’s exclusivity to male-female couples.  The dating site, which is configured to facilitate homosexual matches, ran an advertisement featuring a man flipping through a magazine featuring semi-nude female models. After a while he closes the magazine and declares, “Nope, still gay.” The ad then declares that he was “rejected by eHarmony.” “Who knows why eHarmony has rejected over a million people looking for love?” says a woman’s voice, adding that people can come to Chemistry.com “as you are.” 

eHarmony said the ads were misleading and asked to have them removed, but their requests were denied.

Dr. Warren had in past years defended the heterosexual structure of eHarmony as based on compatibility research that dealt only with heterosexual couples.  Warren also argued in 2005 that eHarmony was geared toward legal marriage, and therefore did not pertain to homosexual unions.

The compatibility system foundational to eHarmony was first popularized through Focus on the Family, which gave the exposure that helped launch the website to its current status as one of the most popular dating websites available. 

“No one would have ever dreamed that something like this could happen here,” said a MassResistance report in response to the settlement. 

“This is exactly what the homosexual movement had in mind when they pushed so hard a decade ago for Civil Rights laws to include ’sexual orientation,’” it continued.  “It won’t end here.”

Some pro-family voices are critical of the settlement decision, saying Warren kowtowed too easily to homosexual pressure.

Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth wrote a strongly-worded letter to Dr. Warren chastising him for having “sold his soul (or at least eHarmony’s).”

“You could have set an example to Christians and freedom-loving Americans everywhere by fighting on principle for your company’s First Amendment right not to be bullied into submission by a politically correct state bureaucracy,” said LaBarbera.  “Instead, you capitulated.

“In addition to hurting the cause of Christianity, you have damaged the cause of freedom and particularly religious freedom in America. It appears that eHarmony is no longer a ‘match’ for Integrity.”

To view the official settlement, go to: http://www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases08/pr20081119a-eHarmony-SA.pdf

To contact New Jersey Civil Rights Division:
PO Box 090
Trenton, NJ 08625-0090
phone 609-292-4605
  
New Jersey Attorney General J. Frank Vespa-Papaleo:
P.O. Box 080
Trenton, NJ 08625-0080
phone 609-292-4925

To contact eHarmony.com:
888 E. Walnut Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91101
phone 626-795-4814

Bush Pushes Ahead with Regulations to Protect Doctors’ Conscience Rights

By Kathleen Gilbert

WASHINGTON D.C. (LifeSiteNews.com) - In spite of pro-abortion anger and the looming pro-abortion Obama administration, President Bush is poised to sign regulations that will help protect the rights of doctors and nurses to refuse to perform abortions on moral or religious grounds.

The regulations will enforce existing federal law that requires taxpayer-funded medical institutions not to discriminate against medical personnel who conscientiously object to performing abortions or assisting “in the performance of any part of a health service program or research activity,” including the distribution of abortifacient contraceptives. 

Pro-life advocates have hailed the regulations as a much-needed reminder to medical establishments of their employee’s religious rights under the Constitution. In recent years pro-life doctors frequently claim to have been discriminated against for refusing to perform procedures that went against their consciences.

Abortion supporters, however, continue to wage war against the regulations, denouncing them as a threat to women’s access to abortion.

Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Patty Murray (D-WA) introduced legislation Thursday to halt the regulations, accusing President Bush of “again putting ideology first” in a “last-minute attempt to undermine women’s health care.” The legislation cites a directive from White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolton that discourages the submission of regulation proposals late in an administration.

Though the proposed regulations do not change federal law, both abortion groups and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency assigned to enforce such regulations, complain that they are redundant and will result in a reduction of abortions.

“It’s unconscionable that the Bush administration, while promising a smooth transition, would take a final opportunity to politicize women’s health,” said Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards.

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt sponsored and vigorously defended the regulations throughout the verification process.

“Federal law is explicit and unwavering in protecting federally funded medical practitioners from being coerced into providing treatments they find morally objectionable,” Leavitt told the New York Times. 

The religious and civil rights coalition Catholic League released a statement urging President Bush to “move with dispatch” on the regulations, before the Obama administration can snuff them out. 

Catholic League President Bill Donohue noted that the religious rights of Catholic hospitals were soon to be gravely threatened by the Freedom of Choice Act, which would make it illegal for a doctor to refuse to kill an unborn child.  Passing regulations as a last stand for religious rights, says Donohue, will help set up the case against Obama’s extreme agenda against life and the civil right to conscientious objection.

“If Obama wants to undo them, it will set up a confrontation he will surely regret,” Donohue stated.

“The Priests” Irish Musicians Featured on CatholicTV

WATERTOWN, MA (MetroCatholic) - CatholicTV’s talk show “This is the Day” will feature “The Priests”. They are 3 priests from Ireland who are releasing a CD with Sony BMG amidst a $1.5 million dollar investment from Sony for the launch. This type of an investment is quite unusual considering that the act is relatively unknown. Despite this, Sony plans to release the CD in 20 countries starting Nov. 18th.

The priests will be phone-in guests and the show will broadcast live at 10:30AM on Tuesday. International viewers can watch at catholictv.com.

Also featured on the show are Big Y Foods president Donald D’Amour and his wife Michele. They recently gifted Assumption College with a $4.2 million donation- the largest in the school’s history. They will be on the show talking about supporting educational institutions which are fostering Catholic identity.

Friday’s “This Is The Day” is rebroadcast throughout the weekend (Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 6:30 p.m.). A new live show airs Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. The show can also be seen on demand at www.CatholicTV.com or downloaded via itunes.com. The hosts discuss various topics of the week and respond to viewer mail (you may email the show at thisistheday@catholictv.org.

About CatholicTV:
CatholicTV provides family-friendly, religious, news, and educational programming 24 hours daily. Founded over 50 years ago, CatholicTV is available in selected areas on cable in the United States and Canada, via Sky Angel IPTV and online via a live stream anytime, everywhere at the station’s web site. Father Robert Reed, a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston, is the Executive Director of CatholicTV.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Wife: I’m “a Catholic in Good Standing” But Also Pro-abortion and Pro-Homosexual

By Kathleen Gilbert

LONG BEACH, CA (LifeSiteNews.com) – California’s first lady, Maria Shriver, recently told Sally Quinn of the Washington Post that she considers herself “a Catholic in good standing” despite the fact that she openly advocates abortion.

“I find I don’t spend a lot of time trying to square my own daily life with the institutional Church,” said Shriver.  “I pick and choose.”

Shriver called herself a “cafeteria Catholic,” a term that is most often used in a derogatory manner, referring to individuals who only selectively submit to Church teaching and authority while still calling themselves Catholic.

On the disparity between Church teaching and her belief on abortion, Shriver told Quinn, “I often talk to my daughters at the dinner table about the difference between being pro-abortion and being pro-choice.”  She explained that she believes supporting the right to choose an abortion is different from supporting abortion.

Shriver also pointed out her disagreement with the Church on the issue of homosexuality.  She said she does not believe that “people who are gay shouldn’t be accepted into the church.”  However, while the Catholic Church teaches that all sexual activity outside of marriage, including homosexual activity, is sinful, there is no prohibition against people with homosexual inclinations being welcomed into the Church. The Church strongly recommends loving acceptance of such persons and spiritual direction and other assistance to help them live celebate, faithful Catholic lives. 

The office of Cardinal Mahoney, Shriver’s bishop, did not respond to repeated calls from LifeSiteNews.com yestereday and today up to press time.

Both Shriver and her husband, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, claim a Catholic identity despite public disavowal of Church teaching on the sanctity of life.

“I always said that you should not have your religion interfere with government policies or with the policies of the people,” Schwarzenegger said at a Toronto press conference last year, as he advocated research on human embryos. 

“I am a Catholic and a very dedicated Catholic, but that does not interfere with my decision-making because I know that stem-cell research, the way we are doing it in California … is the right way to go,” he said as quoted by the Toronto Star.

More recently, Gov. Schwarzenegger put aside his professed faith when he publicly joined homosexualists in the fight against Proposition 8, California’s amendment protecting legal marriage as between a man and a woman.

The View Co-Host Calls Homeschoolers “Demented”

By Jonquil Frankham

New York, NY (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a pair of squabbles with conservative co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck, The View’s Joy Behar labeled homeschoolers “demented” and Sarah Palin an “airhead.”

In a discussion about various education options for the daughters of president-elect Barack Obama, Behar advocated schooling the girls in the White House, rather than sending them to public or private schools. She joked, however, that rather than homeschooling the kids, a small school with other kids should be run out of the White House. 

At that point Hasselback interjected that she thought homeschooling could be a good thing, whereon Behar turned to her and said, “A lot of them are demented when they’re homeschooled.”

As Hasselback attempted to explain some of the advantages of homeschooling to her colleague, Behar shot back, “They’re afraid of children, they learn to be afraid of other children.”

Behar, who has also called Rush Limbaugh a “terrorist,” also dismissed Sarah Palin as an “airhead.” Her remarks followed a discussion of Newsweek and Time Magazine’s comparison of Obama to Franklin D. Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

Hasselbeck pointed out that the fact Obama is reading up on Lincoln earns him nothing but praise, while if Palin were caught doing the same, it would be seen as “cramming.” Behar dismissed her, saying “we all know that the woman is an airhead, so let’s not even go there.”

Homeschooling advocates charge that Behar’s remarks about homeschooling show a considerable lack of knowledge about the institution and about the achievements of children who are educated in this fashion.

Richard Sousa, Senior Associate Director and Research Fellow of the Hoover Institution and specialist in K-12 education, observed in a June 2007 article that homeschooling children, on average, score way above the national average “in every subject and at every grade level.”
 
Sousa calls America’s public school system “substandard,” and says that  “despite promises of reform and improvement from politicians, public school boards, school administrators, and unions, the results have either been maintaining the status quo or actually worsening.” A 2006 Harris poll demonstrated that less than 20% of American adults think their nation’s education is “very good” or “excellent.”

Homeschooling, said Sousa, is a natural reaction against the failing school systems.

According to Sousa, homeschoolers now make up the largest “school reform initiative,” more popular than charter schools and private schools. While the number of American homeschoolers is debated, Sousa places it at about 3% of the entire school-age population. This is significant, says Sousa, when one considers that in the 2002 National Geographic Bee, “four of the ten finalists were homeschooled, including the winner,” and in the 2003 National Spelling Bee, “homeschooled children took two of the top seven spots.”

The ultimate gift! An eight-year-old donates his entire birthday saving to Food For The Poor

PENSACOLA, FL (MetroCatholic) – Parents in Pensacola were surprised when their eight-year-old son, Pierce, casually walked into the kitchen and announced how he planned to use his birthday money. Pierce said he wanted to donate his entire birthday savings to benefit the people of Haiti through Food For The Poor.

“It was a no-brainer for him,” said Angela, the boy’s mother. “When you do not think your children are listening, they are not only listening, but they are learning by your example.”

The family personally supports many philanthropic causes. Through their actions they have taught their children the value and importance of sharing with others. Annually, their children sort through clothing, books and toys to donate to others. Pierce is eager to share his desire to help the less fortunate with his classmates at N.B. Cook Elementary School, and the entire Pensacola community.

“The innocence and sincerity of children are part of the reason why they are universally beloved, but when one adds compassion and generosity to a child as young as Pierce, the world becomes a better place,” said Angel Aloma, Food For The Poor’s Executive Director.

Pierce took notice when he read an article in the September 2008 issue of the National Geographic that described how desperately hungry Haitians eat “mud cookies” made with clay, shortening, and salt. For many poor mothers, these mud cookies have unfortunately become the only means of quelling a child’s hunger pangs. The article also described how less than 4 percent of Haiti’s forests remain, and in many places the soil has eroded down to the bedrock, making food production more difficult.

In November, a Food For The Poor speaker visited St. Joseph Catholic Church. Pierce was in attendance that day and took an immense interest in the Food For The Poor brochure that was distributed. He was touched by the expression of a young child inside the brochure. Pierce has read the Food For The Poor brochure to practically all of his friends and family members.

“Pierce has made us extremely proud. He did not wait for ‘someone’ to do something to help people in need. He just stepped up to the plate to be that someone,” said Angela. “We pray the entire community will come together to support Pierce’s effort to raise enough money to build a home in Haiti. Pierce’s goal is to raise enough to build ten homes.”

Pierce has started a community effort to collect donations to build homes in Haiti. It only takes $2,600, to provide a destitute family with a basic, safe and secure home, and support Pierce’s initiative. Checks for any amount should be made out to Food For The Poor and should include a special code “SC# 067130” so the money can be tracked to Pierce’s Birthday Savings for the Poor. The Combined Federal Campaign number is #10328. For more information, or to send your tax-deductible contribution, please call 1-800-487-1158, and reference the special code, or visit www.foodforthepoor.org/birthday.

Food For The Poor, the largest international relief and development organization in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. We provide emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor.

Poll Shows Overwhelming Support for Immigration Reform among Catholics

WASHINGTON DC (MetroCatholic) - A recent Zogby poll of Catholics nationwide showed overwhelming support for reform of our nation’s immigration laws, with Catholics supporting a path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million undocumented persons in the country.

The poll conducted October 17-20, included a sample of 1,000 people who self-identified as Roman Catholics and was commissioned by Migration and Refugee Services of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (MRS/USCCB). It had a margin of error of +/- 3.2 percentage points.

About 69 percent of Catholics polled supported a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, provided they register with the government; 62 percent supported the concept if they were required to learn English. The U.S. Catholic bishops have long endorsed a path to citizenship for undocumented persons that would include requirements to register with the government and to learn English.

“These results show that, like other Americans, Catholics want a solution to the challenge of illegal immigration and support undocumented immigrants becoming full members of our communities and nation,” said Johnny Young, executive director of Migration and Refugee Services of the USCCB. “It is clear that those opposed to a legalization of the undocumented are a minority,” he added.

In other findings, 64 percent of Catholics opposed the construction of a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, while three out of four Catholics agree that the church has a moral obligation to help provide for the humanitarian needs of immigrants, regardless of their legal status.

Todd Scribner, education coordinator for MRS/USCCB, stated that the poll results demonstrated that the efforts of the U.S. bishops to educate Catholics on the realities of immigration are bearing fruit.

“Catholics are generally in agreement with their bishops that there needs to be a comprehensive and humane solution to our immigration problems,” Scribner said. “The strong educational efforts of the bishops, through the Justice for Immigrants Campaign and their own teachings, have helped generate support in the Catholic community for comprehensive reform.”

- USCCB

Pope Names Msgr. Barry Knestout Auxiliary Bishop of Washington

Washington DC (MetroCatholic) - Pope Benedict XVI named Msgr. Barry C. Knestout, 46, Auxiliary Bishop of Washington. Bishop-elect Knestout has been Moderator of the Curia and Vicar for Administration for the Archdiocese of Washington since 2007.

The appointment was announced in Washington, November 18, by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Barry C. Knestout was born in Cheverly, Maryland, June 11, 1962.  He attended St. Pius X Catholic School in Bowie, Maryland, Bowie Senior High School, and University of Maryland, College Park, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in architecture in 1984.

He attended Mt. St. Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, 1985-1989, where he earned a Master of Divinity degree in 1988, and a Master of Arts degree in 1989. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Washington, June 24, 1989.

Assignments after ordination included Associate Pastor, St. Bartholomew’s Parish, Bethesda, Maryland, 1989-1993; Associate Pastor, St. Peter’s Parish, Waldorf, Maryland, 1993-1994; Priest Secretary to Cardinal James Hickey, 1994-2004; Executive Director, Archdiocesan Office of Youth Ministry, 2001-2003; Priest Secretary to Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, 2003-2004; Pastor, St. John the Evangelist Parish, Silver Spring, Maryland, 2004-2006; and Archdiocesan Secretary for Pastoral Life and Social Concerns, 2006-2007.

Bishop-elect Knestout also has been a member of the Priest Council, 1991, 2007-present; Priest Personnel Board, 2006-present; and Archdiocesan Commission for the Sacred Arts, 1996 and 2002.

- USCCB

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