Weekly News (Fourth Week of August 2011)

1. Church's Future Is Hopeful, Pope Says After WYD

Calls Gathering of 2 Million Youth a "Cascade of Light"

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 24, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI says the young people who participated last week in World Youth Day give hope for the future of the Church. [Read More]

2. Bill Co-Sponsor Admits RH is a Population Control Measure

MANILA, August 26, 2011―The plenary debates at the House of Representatives on August 24 was an unexpected demonstration in unparliamentary behavior by a neophyte solon, but outshining the condescension exemplified was the equally unexpected admission that House Bill 4244, or the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill, targets population control. [Read More]

3. Church-Affiliated College Offers 'Gay' Benefits

ELMHURST, IL - A church-affiliated college in suburban Chicago is offering scholarships to students who identify themselves as lesbian, "gay," bisexual or transgendered. [Read More]

4. Explosive New Book Details War on Unborn Baby Girls

Washington D.C., Aug 27, 2011 / 07:33 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Imagine waking up one day to find that every single woman in the U.S. has disappeared. [Read More]

5. LISTEN: Cliff Kincaid Discusses Blood Supply Risks and Homosexuals in the Military [Read More]

6. Study: Birth Control Not Stopping Unplanned Pregnancies, Abortions

A new study conducted by a former research arm of Planned Parenthood shows the policies of the abortion business promoting contraception and birth control to poor women aren’t working, as unplanned pregnancy rates are rising. [Read More]

7. One of Spain’s Leading Gay Rights Group Condemns Homosexual ‘Kiss-In’ Protests at World Youth Day

MADRID, August 26, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - One of Spain’s leading homosexual organizations, the Spanish Confederation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgender People (COLEGAS), has issued a statement condemning “kiss-ins” and other forms of protest carried out by homosexuals against the pope and Catholics at the country’s recently-concluded World Youth Day. [Read More]

8. Women Increasingly ‘Pornified’ by Popular Media: Study

BUFFALO, NY, August 26, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A study by University at Buffalo sociologists has found a rise in “pornified” images of women in popular media. The researchers are warning that these findings are cause for concern because previous research has found that such images of women have negative consequences for both men and women. [Read More]

9. Survey: Catholic Infant Baptisms Decline

WASHINGTON (EWTN News) — A new study shows that infant baptisms in the Catholic Church have been declining year by year along with the birth rate in the U.S. [Read More]

10. Meet Ten Amazing Young Catholics [Read More]

Either Stop Contraception or Destroy the Family

With the renewed efforts to legislate RH bill as a priority bill in Congress, I am posting an article written by Fr. John Hardon to remind us again of why contraception is not beneficial in strengthening family life.


God in His mercy allows evil that greater good may come as a result of the evil. He has allowed contraception to plague the modern world so that we may repent and return to our Father’s house.

I have deliberately stated the title of this conference in uncompromising language: “Either we stop contraception or we destroy the family.” This is a warning to all of us, married and single, the laity and the clergy, bishops, priests, deacons, and religious, parents and children.

Why do I say this? Because, in greater or less measure, it has been the infidelity of so many professed Catholics in every state of life, which has contributed to the disappearance of the family in once Christian cultures of the modern world.

My plan, therefore, is to cover several aspects of this historic subject. There will be a series of statements followed by clear explanations and then what I hope will be an uncompromising conclusion.

Since the Incarnation, Christianity is the Foundation of the Family

It may seem strange to say that “Since the Incarnation, Christianity is the foundation of the family.”

What makes it sound strange is that the coming of Christ is so widely underestimated. When God became Man, He did more than die on the Cross to redeem a sinful world.

By His Incarnation, the God-man revealed to the whole human race such truths of faith and morality as had never been known before since the beginning of the world.

Among these truths which the Son of God revealed, the central truth was the truth of love.

That God is Love; the eternal Love of the Holy Trinity.

That out of love, God created man out of nothing.

That out of love, God gives us a free will to express our love for Him and thereby reach our heavenly destiny.

That out of love, God put other people into our lives, so that by loving them we might prove our love for Him.

That out of love, God became Man to die for us and gives us the privilege of dying to ourselves out of love for those whom He places into our lives.

It was not coincidental but divinely ordained that, when God became Man, He became a member of a family.

It was divinely ordained that, the Incarnate God made monogamy binding on all His married followers; one man with one woman, faithful to each other in marital chastity until death.

It was divinely ordained that, Christ should have instituted the vocation of celibacy or consecrated chastity. Why? To show His married followers the power of divine grace in controlling the desires of the flesh.

It was not coincidental but divinely ordained that His followers would master even their disorderly thoughts and sexually perverse desires.

So far from taking back the Old Testament precept to, “Increase and multiply,” the Savior told His followers to, “Let the children come unto me, for to such belongs the Kingdom of God.” Indeed, we adults need children to inspire us to become as little ones in humility, and thus enter the Kingdom of heaven.

How, then, is Christianity the foundation of the family? It is the foundation of the family in teaching and providing grace for the practice of selfless love. Without love, the family either does not exist; or if it exists, it will be destroyed.

Contraception Undermines the Foundation of the Family

Those who practice contraception can be militant in their claim that contraception does not undermine the foundation of the family.

They will give every conceivable reason for practicing artificial birth control:

the pressure of conformity to the practice of married people in today’s society.

the economic pressure of keeping up one’s standard of living with each additional child.

the social pressure of being told by other married people, “What, another child?” as though the pregnancy of a wife was something out of order, or motherhood a liability on society.

the political system of a nation, which discourages larger families and penalizes those who have children. In Russia, during the 70 years of Communist occupation, the average number of abortions each year was 16 million, and houses were built like prison cells, to house no more than two children per couple. Now in Red China, the law forbids a woman having more than one child.

the social structure of a nation, which favors feminism, discourages women from having children so they can be “productive for the people”. Thus in our country, the majority of employed persons in every sector of business and industry. This works havoc with even wanting a family. It encourages late marriages with their high percentage of sterility.

At the root of these factors, which undermine the family, is the contraceptive mentality.

In order to bring out in stark contrast, the teaching of Christ on selfless charity and the selfish philosophy of the contraceptive mentality, it will be worth looking at each with absolute frankness and sincerity.

The Teaching of Christ. The words of God became Man could not be plainer:

“This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12).

“Greater love than this has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13).

“These things I command you, that you have love for one another.” (John 15:17).

By this, He tells us, shall all men know that we are Christ’s disciples, if we have love for one another.

So literally did the early Christians take Christ’s teaching that this selfless love which they had for one another was the single principal reason for the marvelous conversion of so many pagans to Christianity.

One thing should be added, however, the selfless love of the early Christians was especially manifest in their strong family life.

Do I say strong family life? There was no family life until Christianity began to convert the Roman Empire.

As Christianity took root, not only contraception disappeared among the followers of Christ, but abortion, and divorce, and infanticide.

The verdict of history is absolutely clear. As Christianity, true, honest-to- Christ Christianity takes root among a people, contraception and its allied evils are removed.

Why? Because, as Christ tells us, there can be no compromise between Him and the world. We either accept Him and reject the contraceptive selfishness of the world; or we give in to the seductions of the world and write books defending contraception as just another moral option. For anyone who really believes in Jesus Christ, contraception is a mortal sin.

The Contraceptive Mentality.

In contradiction to the teaching of Christ, the contraceptive mentality sees nothing wrong in artificial birth control.

Once Christianity was established in the Mediterranean world, the practice of contraception - along with abortion and infanticide - ceased among believing Christians. This for the best of reasons: because from the first century of Christianity, already by the year 90 A.D., contraception was denounced by the Church as a grave sin against God.

For the next 1,800 years, even among those separated from Rome, contraception was generally forbidden until the present century.

Then two things happened. A chemical means of preventing conception was discovered, and the Protestant Church of England approved contraception for its members.

Given the tremendous influence of Anglican Protestantism on Anglo-Saxons Catholics, before long many Catholics began to practice contraception.

By 1968, the situation became so grave that Pope Paul VI issued in July of that year his historic encyclical Humanae Vitae, condemning contraception.

This was right after the close of the Second Vatican Council. Dissenters from the Church’s teaching erroneously used the council to support the idea of bishops being independent of the Pope.

When Humanae Vitae was published, the bishop’s conferences of most countries throughout the world met to vote on the binding character of Humanae Vitae. About half the bishops supported the Pope, while another half did not. Among the countries whose bishops left contraception open to the consciences of the people were the United States, Canada, France and Germany.

Inevitably the faithful in large parts of the Catholic world were confused.

All of this is part of the history of what we are calling “the contraceptive mentality”.

As might have been expected, at the Cairo meeting of the United Nations, the agents of evil were almost unanimous in their claims that:

the world is becoming overpopulated.

the alleged underdeveloped countries must be kept from growing in numbers by contraception, sterilization, and abortion.

The only world representative at Cairo to oppose this contraceptive-homicidal plot was the Vatican.

Christianity Must Be Restored

All that we have said so far leads to a sobering conclusion. The propagation of Christ’s teaching in today’s world is imperative as never before.

What am I saying? I am saying that the day is gone when we can think of evangelization as something merely good. Oh no! Evangelization of the world, including our own American world, is a dire necessity.

God is not mocked. When He became Man, He did not leave us the pleasant option of either proclaiming His Gospel or not. He said, in the imperative mood, “Proclaim the Gospel to all nations … Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

With the spread of the contraceptive plague, and its murderous consequences, we see something more evil taking place in our day than ever before. We see whole nations losing their grip on sound morality, and even the rudiments of the natural law.

Whole countries are going morally insane and crazed in their ethical thinking, as seen in the irrational laws they make to bind their people contrary to the most elementary prescriptions of the living God.

In the early Church, Christianity was given a name that is all the more meaningful today.

“Christians,” it was said, “are the soul of the world.” In Latin, “Christiani sunt anima mundi.” So we are. And we had better wake up to our God-given responsibility.

What the human soul is to the body, giving it life and rational power, we Christians are to the world in which we live.

In a deeper sense than we can fathom, because it is a mystery, the world without Christianity is a cadaver.

That is why God became Man, as St. John tells us. He is the Light of the world. He is the Life of the world. He is the Truth, without whom the world is walking in darkness and the shadow of death.

But Christ tells us that we are to bring His light to the world. We are to provide His life for the world.

If we do, and in the measure that we do, we shall restore stability and peaceful unity not only to our families, but to our parishes and dioceses as well.

Where a person stands on contraception is a good test of his (or her) authenticity as a Catholic.

The reason, as we have seen, is that at the root of the evil of contraception is selfishness. But the foundation of Christianity is the love of others out of love for God.

I am almost finished, but not quite. All of us, young and old, bishops, priests, clerics, religious and the laity have one basic obligation in life: to grow in the likeness of Christ by following His example of selfless charity.

But selfless charity is impossible without the Cross. Love and pain go together as condition and consequence. If I really love someone, including the unborn children that I can bring into the world, I am willing to pay the price of my love, which is pain.

That is why, over the years, I have come to define paganism as “Christianity without the Cross.”

We are truly followers of Christ, as genuine disciples of His Gospel, as really in love with Him - as we love the Crosses He puts into our lives, which generally have people’s names!

Prayer

Lord Jesus, teach us the hardest lesson in life we have to learn, to love others as you have loved us. This means that we accept suffering for others, even as you chose to suffer for us.

If we live, in this way, dear Jesus, we shall expiate the crimes of abortion and infanticide, whose roots are selfish contraception. We shall obtain for families the graces they need to live together in stable harmony and peaceful love. All of this we ask through your Mother, the Mother of the Holy Family and the spiritual Mother of the human family. Amen.


Source: www.therealpresence.org

Courage Philippines on Facebook

Dear Friends,

Courage Philippines is now on Facebook! You can visit our fan page at:

www.facebook.com/courage.philippines

This page was created through the efforts of one of our new members in the community.

To our regular blog visitors, thank you for continuously visiting our blog.

Have a blessed day and God bless everyone.

Weekly News (Third Week of August 2011)

1. Pontiff Asks Youth to Seek Out the Less Fortunate

MADRID, Spain, AUG. 19, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Faced with human suffering, God expects youth to give the best of themselves, Benedict XVI told World Youth Day participants at the end of the Way of the Cross this evening. [Read More]

2. P-noy's Sudden Prioritization of RH Bill Baffles CBCP Official

MANILA, August 20, 2011— President Benigno S. Aquino III’s directive to include the bill among 13 priority measures has elicited more questions than assertions from an official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). [Read More]

3. Youth Describe 'Stronger' Faith and Excitement Following Pope's Address

Madrid, Spain, Aug 19, 2011 / 12:31 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The immense crowd of young people in Plaza de Cibeles was filled with excitement after Pope Benedict XVI’s address to the youth in Madrid, Spain on Aug. 18. [Read More]

4. New Study Mixes Good, Bad News About HIV

The Centers for Disease Control has recently released updated statistics on HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. [Read More]

5. Birth Control, Contraception Don’t Stop Abortion, Help Women

I can’t count the amount of times I’ve been asked what my stance is on contraception. It’s not breaking news that many oral contraceptives and some invasive barrier methods (IUD) have been proven to cause abortion, including the highly controversial ella and Plan B drugs, and I stand firmly against the use of anything that destroys a life created at conception. But what about contraception that prevents conception from taking place? [Read More]

6. Florida High School Removes Teacher for Criticizing Gay ‘Marriage’ on Facebook

MOUNT DORA, FL, August 18, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Mount Dora High School has removed a veteran social-studies teacher Gerald (Jerry) Buell from his classroom for Facebook comments critical of homosexual ‘marriage’. [Read More]

7. World Youth Day Priests Granted Power to Lift Abortion Excommunications

MADRID, Spain, August 16, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, has granted all of the 2,000 priests attending World Youth Day this week the special power to the lift the excommunication and to grant absolution in confession to those who have committed the sin of abortion. [Read More]

8. Over-sexualizing Theology of the Body

DENVER — The secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Family said an overemphasis of the sexual aspect of the theology of the body runs the risk of eliminating the depth and “mystery” involved in human and divine love. [Read More]

9. Academic Conference Seeks to Normalize Pedophilia

BALTIMORE, MD, August 16, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Researchers from several prominent U.S. universities will participate tomorrow in a Baltimore conference reportedly aiming to normalize pedophilia. According to the sponsoring organization’s website, the event will examine ways in which “minor-attracted persons” can be involved in a revision of the American Psychological Association (APA) classification of pedophilia. [Read More]

10. Please Stop Sexualizing Our Children

Part 1

Part 2

Three Major Myths on Homosexuality

This is a primer to our SSA Conference that will be held this September 10, 2011, entitled 'It's Complicated - A Conference on Understanding Sex, Gender, Transexuality & Homosexuality. For more information, please refer to my post entitled It's Complicated or visit www.bagongpagasa.org.


The "politically correct" would have you accept three major myths on homosexuality:


Myth #1: Homosexuality is normal and biologically determined.

The Truth: There is no scientific research indicating a biological or genetic cause for homosexuality. Biological factors may play a role in the predisposition to homosexuality. However, this is true of many other psychological conditions. Research suggests that social and psychosocial factors are strongly influential. Examples include problems in early family relationships, sexual seduction, and sense of inadequacy with same-sex peers, with resulting disturbance in gender identity. Society can also influence a sexually questioning youth when it encourages gay self-labeling.

Myth #2: Homosexuals cannot change, and if they try, they will suffer great emotional distress and become suicidal. Therefore, treatment to change homosexuality must be stopped.

The Truth: Psychotherapists around the world who treat homosexuals report that significant numbers of their clients have experienced substantial healing. Change has come through psychological therapy, spirituality, and ex-gay support groups. Whether leading married or committed celibate lives, many report that their homosexual feelings have diminished greatly, and do not trouble them as much as they had in the past. The keys to change are desire, persistence, and a willingness to investigate the conscious and unconscious conflicts from which the condition originated. Change comes slowly, usually over several years. Clients learn how to meet their needs for same-sex nurturance and affirmation without eroticizing the relationship. As they grow into their heterosexual potential, men and women typically experience a fuller and more expansive sense of themselves as male or female. If some homosexuals do not wish to change, that is their choice, yet it is profoundly sad that gay rights activists struggle against the right-to-treatment for other homosexuals who yearn for freedom from their attractions.

Myth #3: We must teach our children that homosexuality is as normal and healthy as heterosexuality. Teenagers should be encouraged to celebrate their same-sex attractions.

The Truth: Scientific research supports age-old cultural norms that homosexuality is not a healthy, natural alternative to heterosexuality. Research shows that gay teens are especially vulnerable to substance abuse and early high-risk sexual behavior. It does far more harm than good to tell a teenager that his attractions toward members of the same sex are normal and desirable. Teens in this position need understanding and counseling, not push in the direction of a potentially deadly lifestyle. A 1992 study in Pediatrics found that 25.9% of 12-year-olds are uncertain if they are gay or straight. The teen years are critical to the question of self-labeling, so the facts must be presented in our schools in a fair and balanced manner.

Mary's Assumption and the Culture of Life

As we celebrate again the great feast of the Assumption of Mary, let us reflect on its significance in our present day affairs, especially in the area of preserving the culture of life.


The Assumption of Mary is a pro-life statement by God Himself, a fulfillment of His promise that He has a great plan for us and that He will never abandon us. Mary was the first sign given to us which points to the great reality of our ultimate destiny which is heaven. In this mystery, we can truly see how God values life so much as to glorify it body and soul and unite it to himself. How wrong of us therefore to undermine the sanctity of human life and treat it as if it were just a commodity at our own disposal.

Through this great mystery, we can also see clearly that it is the will of God to preserve human life and protect it from corruption brought about by sin. The Assumption is a living sign of God's fidelity to His promise that he will save from death all those who cooperate with life.



I would like to take this opportunity to promote devotion to the Holy Mother of God by encouraging you to read The Glories of Mary, one of the greatest works ever written concerning our Lady by St. Alphonsus Liguori.


"And after this our exile show unto us the blessed Fruit of Thy Womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary." (Salve Regina)

Weekly News (Second Week of August 2011)

1. The Foreign Woman Who Stopped Jesus in His Tracks

TORONTO, AUG. 9, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Today's watershed Gospel story of Jesus' meeting with the Syro-Phoenician woman (Matthew 15:21-28) presents us with a break in Jesus' usual procedure of ministering only to Israelites and anticipates his great mission to the Gentiles. [Read More]

2. CFC-FFL Top Leader Warns of New Threats to Family, Life

SAN PABLO City, August 8, 2011―The head of a large family renewal group in the country has warned of new threats to the solidarity of family in the face of spreading secularism in society and increasing moral relativism. [Read More]

3. Lay Groups Sue Artist, CCP Officials

MANILA, August 11, 2011—Officials of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and an artist are facing imprisonment if they will be found guilty of violating Art. 201 of the Revised Penal Code. [Read More]

4. Bishop Jean Laffitte Warns Against Overemphasizing Sexual Aspects of Theology of Human Love

Denver, Colo., Aug 11, 2011 / 05:05 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Bishop Jean Laffitte is warning against focusing too intently on the sexual aspect of Blessed John Paul II's Theology of the Body, which he says runs the risk of eliminating the depth and “mystery” involved in human and divine love. [Read More]

5. Bradley Dean Sues Rachel Maddow and MSNBC for $50 Million for Falsely Claiming he Wants to Kill Homosexuals [Read More]

6. Viewing The News Through Eyes of Faith

Two veteran journalists have authored a book that encourages Christians to understand the news of the day from a different perspective. [Read More]

7. Catholic Church: Unborn Children Have a Soul at Conception

Today we turn to the document’s treatment of the Church’s varied voices on when the body is infused with a soul. [Read More]

8. New York to Implement Mandatory Sex Ed in All Public Middle Schools, Bishops Encourage Opt-Out

NEW YORK, August 11, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The mayor of New York City plans to force all public middle and high school students to participate an explicit sex education regimen, a mandate the Archdiocese of New York is calling on Catholic parents to fight. [Read More]

9. Canadian Parents Battle Pro-Homosexual Public Schools

BURNABY, British Columbia — A Catholic civil-rights group in Canada has published a parental-rights declaration as a way to assist parents in their struggles with school bureaucracies intent on normalizing homosexuality. [Read More]

10. Pope Looks Forward to World Youth Day

VATICAN CITY (EWTN News/CNA) — Pope Benedict XVI is eager to meet the vast crowds of young people who are gathering in Madrid and is looking forward to the “wonderfully spiritual” moments that will occur during the four-day international event. [Read More]

Free Love, True Love

Forwarded invite from Couples for Christ.


Couples for Christ brings you FREE LOVE, TRUE LOVE: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE THEOLOGY OF THE BODY to be given by Fr. Joel Jason. Let's take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to learn more about Bl. John Paul II's Theology of the Body.

Course begins August 10 and runs every Wednesday thereafter until September 28, 7:30 to 10PM at the Layforce Multi-purpose Hall, San Carlos Seminary, Guadalupe, Makati.

Reg. Fee: P50/session only!

Reserve your slots now! Email cfcgiftoflife@gmail.com or joykatigbak@gmail.com or call 7094853.

It's Complicated!

It’s Complicated: A Conference on Understanding Sex, Gender, Transexuality & Homosexuality

September 10, 2011

Venue:

Philippine Heart Center

MAB Hall

East Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City


About the Seminar:

The whole day conference aims to promote awareness about homosexuality, prevention and change; educate and equip participants on how to handle people having unwanted same sex attractions and help practitioners address counseling concerns and develop indigenous methods towards working with those seeking for change.

The seminar is ideal for guidance counselors, psychotherapists, psychologists, educators, church workers and NGOs who deal with communities, families and people living with HIV & AIDS.


Conference Topics:

Gender identity: The basics of homosexuality, transexuality, & sexual abuse.

Diagnosis and prevention issues: What teachers, parents, & churches can do.

Counseling unwanted gender issues: Basic principles, dos and don’ts.

OUR SPEAKER

Dr. Melvin W. Wong, Ph.D.

Dr. Melvin Wong is a licensed clinical psychologist based in California USA for more than 20 years. He has taught graduate counseling courses in US, Canada and Hong Kong and has been a professional staff of psychiatric and mental health programs of numerous hospitals in California. His affiliations include American Psychological Association (APA), Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), among others. He has also recently written a book entitled “Raising Gender Healthy Kids” published in 2008 by Armour Publications in Singapore.

-oOo-

Registration Information

• You may send more than one representative to the conference.

• Request registration form from conference secretariat by email (info@bagongpagasa.org) or by fax (02-8864441).

• Registration fee is P1,000 per participant. The fee is inclusive of lunch and handouts.

For details, please contact the Conference Secretariat:

Bagong Pagasa

+ 63 927 578 8373 (Globe)

+63 923 619 1381(Sun)

(02) 886 4441 (Landline)

Email: info@bagongpagasa.com

Weekly News (First Week of August 2011)

1. A Prophet's Depression, an Apostle's Grief, a Disciple's Fear

Biblical Reflection for 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

TORONTO, AUG. 3, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Chapter 19 of the First Book of Kings presents us with the aftermath of Elijah's brilliant victory in the contest with Jezebel and the priests of Baal atop Mount Carmel. [Read More]

2. ‘Scandalous Works Lead to More Disordered Acts’

MANILA, August 5, 2011— “Goodness bears good fruit, but evil acts spawn more evil.”

This was the reaction of lawyer Jo Imbong over reports that two supposed vandals allegedly defaced a controversial art exhibit at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). [Read More]

3. Canadian Lutherans Struggle Over 'Gay' Marriage

Signs of fracture are appearing in Canada's Lutheran Church, specifically when it comes to homosexuality. The Evangelical Lutheran Church has voted to perform same-gender "marriages" and permit practicing homosexuals to become pastors. [Read More]

4. Keep the Gay Blood Ban – California AIDS Flier Exposes Extreme Risks of Homosexual Sex [Read More]

5. Obama Birth Control Decision Labels Pregnancy a Disease

By now, I’m sure you’ve heard that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), at the recommendation of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), has decided to re-define women’s health care yet again by mandating that by January 1, 2013, insurance providers give women a range of new “preventative services” free, no co-pay or deductible. [Read More]

6. Western Powers Pressure Needy Nations to Accept Abortion, Homosexuality

Western nations are using their financial power, and their clout at the UN, to pressure less nations to accept legal abortion and homosexuality, the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-Fam) reports. [Read More]

7. Gen Xers Don’t Want Divorce, But How Can They Avoid It?

August 5, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Generation X married couples prefer monogamy to divorce, according to a recent Baltimore Sun article. The article’s author Susan Reimer cited a survey by the University of Virginia’s National Marriage Project, including its continued confirmation that the number of divorces has been in decline since it peaked in 1980. [Read More]

8. 2011 List of TV Networks Which Most Promote Homosexuality

August 4, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has released its new listing of TV networks rated according to “quantity, quality, and diversity” of pro-homosexual propaganda shown during primetime programming. [Read More]

9. Dealing With Debt — and Stewardship

“This coming month and every month to come, more or less, this government will spend $300 billion a month. That’s a lot of money. It’s more than any government has ever spent in the history of man,” Florida’s Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said in a closing speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate, before August recess. [Read More]

10. 'CNN Hero' Feeds Children in Drought-Stricken Kenya

ARGYLL, Scotland (CNA/EWTN News) — Over 6,000 children in drought-stricken east Africa will receive a daily meal from this week onward. It is all thanks to a charity founded by a Catholic aid worker who was recently declared a “CNN Hero” and awarded the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth for his work. [Read More]

Timeline: Homosexuality and Homosexual Politics

H/T to Bro. R for this well-researched article.


- Ancient societies widely accepted homosexuality.

- The Greeks looked at men as perfect human beings and women less than perfect. Because of this, homosexuality was openly accepted between mentor and mentee and among warriors who engaged in back-to-back combat.

- Female poet Sappho, who lived in the island of Lesbos, wrote poems about woman-to-woman love. The word "lesbian" came from the island Lesbos. Sappho became the inspiration of Sapphic (lesbian) societies.

- The Judeo-Christian tradition consistently condemned homosexual practices. (Recall Sodom and Gomorrah, Leviticus 18:22, 20:13, etc., the Inquisition.)

- Middle Ages: Sex aberration was considered a heresy, so homosexuality was punishable by death via stoning or being burned at the stakes (being burned alive).

- Hitler and the Nazis persecuted homosexuals. The hard-core Nazis are now said to be closeted gays.

- 1948, 1953: The Kinsey Reports on human sexual behavior were released saying, among other things, that 10% of the population was gay.

- 1950s: The gay and lesbian movement was born via the leftist Mattachine Society (gays) in 1950 (USA, using the cell organization of the Communist Party as model) and the Daughters of Bilitis (lesbians) in 1955 (in San Francisco, USA). Their manifesto: 1) To lift homosexuals from being persecuted citizens to respectable citizens, 2) To decriminalize homosexuality, 3) To encourage gays’ full participation in society. Statements: 1) Homosexuality is not an illness. 2) Homosexuals must be in solidarity and on equal terms with the heterosexual world. 3) Homosexuals must use aggressive tactics to advance their views.

- 1950-1969: Founding and rise of the gay liberation movement

- June 28, 1969: The Stonewall rebellion was staged in New York City, where gays fought back for three nights when the police attacked their gathering place. The gays realized that, if they banded together, they would win and gain moral victory.

- 1970s: The term "gay" emerged. A "gay" person is defined as a homosexual. Gayness means an alternative and equal sexual preference with respect to heterosexuality or normal sexuality. The real definition of gayness, however, is that it is a sociopolitical construct/creation referring to chosen self-identity and lifestyle.

- The first Gay Pride Parade was inspired by Stonewall. Also called Christopher Street Day, appropriating the name of the street in which the gay watering hole Stonewall Inn was located.

- 1973: There was a successful campaign to remove homosexuality from the American Psychological Association’s list of mental disorders (DSM) due to pressure politics. Later, the American Psychiatric Association would follow suit.

- The causes of homosexuality, according to pro-gays, are all-natural: heredity, congenital defect, hormonal imbalance, brain structure, genes, natural impulse.

- Rebuttals: But experiments to prove any of these are unreplicated. Attempts to reproduce the results had either inconsistent or opposite results. Moreover, the researchers had gay bias: either they were gay or gay sympathizers. Methods used were defective, flawed. The real cause of homosexuality is environmental (early-life traumas), not genetic.

- How to deal with homosexuality, according to gays: Letting go through sexual promiscuity and monogamous relationship (which may either mean one to one or one at a time).

- 1993: The Gay Rights March to Washington D.C. was held to press the US Congress to pass the gay rights bill asking special rights for gays. This move was inspired by the historic Martin Luther King freedom speech; the comparison was said to be grossly unfair. About 300,000 marched to Washington, an event funded by a government organization.

- The documentary "Inside the Homosexual Agenda" was released. The documentary talks about, inter alia, the impact of passing the same-sex marriage law on business/employment, school/education, church, etc.

- In the documentary, Kinsey’s claim that 10% of the population is gay is proven to be a myth. The right figure is 1%, not 10%. The distortion in the figure is said to be a result of Kinsey’s basing his study on prisoners, child molesters, and the like. The documentary also notes the behavioral disorders many gays routinely engage in: “golden shower” (pissing as part of the sexual act), eating feces, “fisting,” “rimming,” sadomasochism and bondage practices like scarification, etc.

- Quote: “The gay lifestyle doesn’t just mean moral breakdown, but also health hazard.”

- Quote: “18% of homosexuals have sex with young people.”

- Quote: “The unrealistic understanding of homosexual rights had led to the Gay Agenda.”

- The Gay Agenda comprises of/consists in: Indoctrination to gay identity. Political and social acceptance of gayness and the gay lifestyle. Erosion of freedom to publicly dispute the Gay Agenda.

- 1967: The progay magazine The Advocate was launched in the United States. Other titles followed long after. July 1976: The widely read Christopher Street was also launched, capitalizing on the historic significance of the street.

- "After the Ball" was launched as a pro-gay bible detailing the dirty tactics in ensuring a thoroughly homosexualized society, especially through the neoliberal media as funded by wealthy homosexual patrons.

- The American Medical Association (AMA, not APA) still lists homosexuality as a sexual disorder, together with pedophilia and other 'paraphilias.'

- November, 2000: The Catholic Medical Association (of America) released their official statement, "Homosexuality and Hope." http://www.narth.com/docs/hope.html

- Vatican City released the pastoral letter "Homosexualitatis Problema." http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19861001_homosexual-persons_en.html

- Homosexuality is included in the definition of the late Pope John Paul II’s “Culture of DEATH”: divorce, euthanasia, abortion, total population control, homosexuality.

- The website and research group National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) was born. http://narth.com/

- The website and support group People Can Change was born. http://www.peoplecanchange.com/

- Among other figures, American Evangelical pastor and family counselor Don Schmeirer spread the word on the environmental factors causing homosexuality. http://www.hisservants.net/books.htm

- Evangelical and Protestant Christian groups addressing the concerns of individuals in a safe counseling and therapeutic environments were established in the Philippines: Bagong Pag-asa (Christian interdenominational?), New Hope, Pathway, Exodus, Desert Stream Ministries, Living Waters, etc.

- Vatican City, through the American psychologist-priest Fr. James Harvey, established Courage International based in the USA, originally to help address problem priests with same-sex concerns. Courage eventually evolved into a support group for lay people with the same problem. It uses the Alcoholics Anonymous' 12-Step program to deal with the homosexual condition.

- 1990?: Courage reaches the Philippines. Courage Philippines partners with local Christian Evangelicals. Other Catholic groups emerge in latter years.

- For "non-gay homosexuals" (i.e., nonpracticing homosexuals or individuals struggling with same-sex attraction) (Garcia, 1990), reparative therapy was offered based on the research of American psychologist Joseph Nicolosi, among a bunch of other investigators (Socarides, Moberly, Van den Aardweg, Cohen, Comiskey, et al.).

- In the University of the Philippines, students Danton Remoto, Venir Turla Cuyco, and Neil Garcia found the UP Babaylan, a gay grouup. A series of books on the gay lifestyle was published by them in the ensuing years.

- Ateneo established the Center for Gender Studies (?), with Remoto at the helm. (data for further confirmation). Progay beliefs may have infiltrated the Catholic Church through pro-gay lifestyle counselors, therapists, psychologists, and even priests.

2003: Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith wrote the "Considerations regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons." http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20030731_homosexual-unions_en.html

- Present: Legalization of same-sex marriage being pushed around the world by progay interest groups. Canada, Spain, Belgium, among other countries, are now same-sex havens. This is consistently opposed by local Catholic clergy.

- In the Philippines, the Anti-Gender Discrimination Bill was passed in the 12th Congress, but wasn’t tackled in the Senate. It’s back to square one in the 13th Congress for the progay lobby group Ladlad, both in Senate and Congress. Another progay group, a broad coalition, was founded, called LAGABLAB or the Lesbian and Gay Legislative Advocacy Network. In Davao, a group is pushing for the gay agenda in the form of a local ordinance. A Christian sect in Baguio City, the Metropolitan Community Church, led by Rev. Ceejay Agbayani, held a mass wedding, with local Catholic clergy vehemently protesting. Another such group in existence is called The Order of St. Aeldred. Both groups are not recognized by the Catholic Church, although they use Catholic rites.

- 2011: Extreme response (legislation of death just for being gay) against gays in Uganda hogged the headlines and shocked the world, especially the gay communities. The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines launched a local edition of Fr. Harvey's book, Homosexuality and the Catholic Church. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops releases the pastoral guideline, "Pastoral Ministry to Young People with Same-Sex Attraction." The United Nations enshrined "gay rights" as basic human rights. The New York Senate voted for gay marriage, making New York the sixth state to legalize same-sex marriage in the USA.


References:

A Strong Delusion by John Dallas (1996)
The Gay Agenda: A Christian Response by Human Life International
Exodus International, San Rafael, CA.

Ansel Beluso's Life Transformation

This life story of Mr. Ansel Beluso was published on PhilStar a long time ago. I am re-posting this to help people struggling with same-sex attraction realize that there is more to life than their sexual struggle. It is a sad fact that everywhere you look around nowadays you see so many 'confused' individuals going through life wondering what is it all about for them. Whoever you are, whatever your struggles in life may be, after reading this story, I hope you will find it in your heart to believe that in this life nobody is beyond God's grace and redemption, and that His supreme love for us will always be greater than the enormity of our sins. You can run away from God, but you cannot change His love for you. And as He relentlessly pursued Ansel, He will do the same for you and He will never rest until you are back into His fold. Come home now. God is waiting for you at the gates with open arms.

ANSEL BELUSO, Former Entertainment Writer and Showbiz Talk-Show Host

I am writing this in the waiting lounge of the Munich airport while waiting for my connecting flight to Lucerne. I just came from Barcelona, the first leg of my trip to six European cities on a special mission for Couples for Christ. From Lucerne, I’ll be riding a train to Milan, from Milan to Marseilles, and from Marseilles to Rome. Then, off to Vienna to meet with the different committees formed to take care of the documentation and some of the creatives of the 10th anniversary of the CFC mission in Europe.

I finished my prayer time earlier and right now my spirit is giddily swimming in the liquid magic of God’s palpable love in my life. Imagine, gold and silver I have none but I roam the streets of Europe with joy in my heart and a smile on my face. To think that barely five years ago I was a raging 'bading', reeling in the homosexual pains that I didn’t even have the sensitivity to realize I had.

Yes, for all the four decades of my checkered life then, I had come to accept and embrace and live out the homosexual orientation, basically because I thought that was the only way for me to gain my freedom. So clueless I was then about the evils that my rabidly gay lifestyle actually wrought on the world in which I lived. At the time, I thought that being gay was just that – being gay, which meant being happy.

The pursuit of happiness was the chief purpose of my life then. And I thought I was a success. In my career, I was the creative director of several top-rating TV shows and I even became a showbiz talk-show host. In my love life, I enjoyed the juiciest flesh around and conditioned my mind to believe I loved them and they loved me back.

Back then, sex was a commodity that didn’t run out. Every weekend, I’d hie off to some nearby province to taste the native delicacies. At one point, I participated in an orgy. I remember also having had sexual relations with six brothers pimped to me by their own father.

Each time I look back on those days, I cringe – both at the enormity of my transgressions and at how totally unaware I was then of how much I was offending God.

All I thought was that I was just having a good time. Besides, I rationalized, the boys whose innocence I purloined badly needed the money I gave them – I was simply sharing with them the blessings of my material prosperity!

Everything changed when that prosperity I believed was there forever began to dissipate. There was no earthquake but my world tumbled down. It just happened that, one day, I found myself without a job, without money, without a boy toy, without friends. And what did I have lots of? Debts. A humongous mountain of debts. I was a hapless victim of the check-rediscounting monster that rapaciously ravaged many showbiz personalities then.

A telephone ringing sent shivers of fear up and down my spine because creditors harangued and harassed me even at the unholiest hours. There was one time I hid inside my bedroom closet, shedding quiet tears, as a loan collector abused my doorbell.

I began to turn to God – not even because I believed He could save me but simply because there was really nowhere and no one to turn to anymore.

I had lost the appetite for going home even when the work of the day had long been done.

For one, my home was a living hell. For another, I was deathly afraid of debt collectors waiting in ambush somewhere. And I discovered that the adoration chapel was the only place open during those murky, dark nights. I went there – at first, not really to pray but to rest my weary bones and even wearier heart.

Then, the adoration chapel became a place of solace. I learned to cry – no longer to myself and at the world that, I felt, had betrayed me but to God!

This went on for several agonizing months. My phone was cut off. My electricity was disconnected. At that point, I knew with a clarity beyond any doubt why some people contemplated killing themselves. As for me, I don’t know if it was my Catholic childhood which prevented me from thinking about terminating it all or I was just too much of a coward to get the nozzle of a gun inside my throat and say goodbye, cruel world.

Then, Couples for Christ happened in my life. They wanted somebody to help them put up their TV ministry. It was the start of a romance with the Lord that has continued to this day and for the rest of my days.

In His Steps was the title of the 30-minute TV show I did for Couples for Christ. It was about the amazing stories of individual transformation of people from worldliness to a life with God. They weren’t the "I used to smoke three packs but now no more" type of stories but truly extraordinary tales of how the Almighty proves His might in the lives of those who allow Him to move in them.

A self-confessed gun-for-hire who first took a human life at 14 found Jesus behind prison bars. A top-ranking official of the Alex Boncayao Brigade who mouthed the communist ideology like Bro. Mike Velarde spewed bible verses. A junkie who could neither start nor end the day without shabu. A chronic philanderer who made life Calvary for his wife and children. They were just a few of the people we featured on the show, and how they forsook their past ways to follow the path of Christ and gain the fullness of God’s promise of prosperity and joy truly boggled my mind.

They all had several things in common that I also wanted to have – a ready smile that does not disappear as soon as you smile back; a humility that uses active silence as a potent weapon against the vexations of the world; an inner conviction to respond to a higher calling instead of to a baser instinct.

Slowly, I learned what it meant to have a personal relationship with God, and how repentance and faith go together as the twin towers standing outside the portals to a life of genuine freedom and happiness.

I began to desire God. As I hungered and thirsted for Him, I ate and drank of Him. And purely by grace, I saw the Lord!

Today, I have slain my homosexual demons. The past still revisits me once in a while but it does not enslave me anymore. I have a great God who empowers me with His strength to vanquish the temptations of the world and the Evil One.

I now have a wife and two children and my heart throbs with the peace and happiness that have been forged in the bosom of God’s love. Words are so puny and inadequate to even just approximate the profundity of the joyful bliss that now dwells in my heart.

And I now dedicate every breath I take, every waking moment, every toil of my life to glorifying my Lord! Over and above my tasks as a full-time pastoral worker in Couples for Christ, I have decided to respond to God’s call to start a psycho-spiritual program for the pastoral care and spiritual nourishment of active homosexuals who struggle to step out of the enslavement of their flesh.

I have taken the first, small steps. There are five in my core group right now: Mike Perfecto, Rollie de los Reyes, Antonio Alvarez, Milo Granados and Tony Santiago – and we are asking God to bless GOLD, which means Gentlemen of the Lord, together with our offer of commitment to help those still in the darkness from which Jesus has already saved us. Aside from the family ministries of Couples for Christ (particularly Singles for Christ and Youth for Christ), we hope to introduce the program to other Catholic charismatic communities as well. Another long-term goal is to spread the Word to female homosexuals.

The harvest in God’s vineyard is plentiful. I thank the Lord for calling me and giving me the opportunity to work in His vineyard.

I’ll be in Rome during Holy Week. I hope to express my prayerful thanksgiving to God at St. Peter’s Basilica. And I ask God for the opportunity to personally receive His blessings through the Holy Father Pope John Paul II’s Easter Sunday message at St. Peter’s Square. Life is beautiful.


Want to hear him speak? Watch this video: