Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3: 16-18)

By Peter LaBarbera

Folks, in the few years I have known Matt Barber — I met him in 2005 after he was fired by Allstate Insurance Company after writing an article on his own time critical of homosexuality — I have come to see him is an antidote of sorts for the ills besetting the “anti-homosexual-agenda” movement. (Calling it “anti-gay” makes it sound like we’re against people when we really oppose destructive, unnatural and changeable behaviors that for centuries have been prohibited according to Judeo-Christian moral teachings; “gay” self-identity is a very new concept, historically speaking.)

Barber’s contribution to our noble cause should not be underestimated: he is just as unapologetic and aggressive for biblical truth as hell-bent activists like Kevin Jennings and HRC’s Joe Solmonese are for their evil agendas. That’s why coming to see him at AFTAH’s banquet on Saturday, October 24 will be so good for your soul. Each of us needs to have our batteries recharged to fight the anti-Christian Left — and there is no force, short of Muslim extremists perhaps, that poses a greater threat to our God-given American liberties than the homosexual/transsexual activist juggernaut.

Matt will pump you up to fight on for God, family and country and help put things in perspective about why we must resist the nefarious “GLBT” (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) lobby — or lose our nation and its precious freedoms as we know them.

STUDENT/PASTOR DISCOUNT:  I am so convinced that Matt will spur you on to do good deeds for the Kingdom that I have cut the price in half for pastors and teenage students to attend: from $50 to $25 per person. Would you please prayerfully consider sponsoring your pastor or teenage students (and their friends) for $25 to hear Matt’s talk? If you cannot muster up the $25, then e-mail AFTAH and we’ll find a way to get that person there — because I do not want anyone to miss this uplifting presentation for lack of money. You can call 910-308-7619 or write us at americansfortruth@comcast.net.

In a world of insane political correctness and perversion- and gender-confusion-based “rights,” our young people and spiritual leaders NEED to hear Barber’s bold defense of truth.

If it is true that religious America is filled with “evangellyfish” and “Catholic cop-outs” who are marked by their timidity in the public square and disdain for the “culture wars,” then Matt is just the shark we need to tear down their bogus excuses and restore a vision of courageous Christian citizenship in this blessed nation. He doesn’t try to be “nicer than Jesus,” as many Christians do today who cannot bear to apply God’s “tough love” standard to this Sin Movement euphemistically known as “gay civil rights.” Instead, Matt just stands fearlessly on the truth that flows from the Bible — backed by reason — and fights as hard for it today as he did in the ring as a professional heavyweight boxer who went undefeated before bowing out due to an injury. (Click HERE to watch Matt’s knock-out fights on YouTube.)

If you fall into one of these categories, then hearing Matt’s tough but true message on Oct. 24 is just what you need:

• Are you overly defensive about fighting in the “culture war” or think that it gets in the way of Christians “ministering to the gay community”?
• Do you shy away from cultural confrontation and think it’s more “Christ-like” for believers to stay out of the messy Culture Wars?
• Do you have doubts about the rightness of our cause or whether God’s word remains valid in today’s “gay”-affirming culture? Are you sometimes embarrassed or resentful about the Bible’s strong prohibition against homosexual sin, or find yourself questioning God’s word even as you accept the flawed presumptions of homosexual apologists?
• Are you nervous about being called “intolerant” or hateful if you stand up for real marriage and against the many demands of the GLBT movement?
• Do you feel homosexuals largely have no choice about their “orientation” so why shouldn’t they have (homosexuality-based) “civil rights” like other minorities?
• Do you feel we’ve already lost this battle so what’s the point of fighting on? That “same-sex marriage” is inevitable? Or that the Culture War is futile because the “end times” are upon us and Bible predicts immorality will continue to grow anyway?
• Are you beaten down by the persistence and power of ungodly forces in our culture? Are you so sick of this issue you just don’t want to deal with it anymore?
• Do you think protecting the word “marriage” is the best we can hope for when it comes to stopping the GLBT movement?
• Do you feel like “gays and lesbians” are largely victims in our culture — including at the hands of “rigid,” pharisaical Christians — and that the Church should move away from its “obsession” with this issue and on to more pressing matters like Global Warming?
• Are you largely ignorant of the size, financial resources and clout of the GLBT movement? Would your attitude toward the Culture War change if you saw how outgunned pro-family forces are in this battle?
• Do you have trouble answering this question from the other side: “How does my gay marriage affect your marriage?”

Now be honest: most of us struggle with at least one of those questions, and many justify inaction using similar lines of thinking.

Matt Barber’s inspiring story is the answer to such Christian confusion and defeatism. He is the personification of that very non-obscure verse in the Book of Romans (8:28): “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” He could never have predicted what his Heavenly Father had in store for him when he was fired by Allstate in a heavy-handed act of anti-religious bigotry. (If you doubt that, apply the “gay-Christian” substitution test: can you imagine a Fortune 500 corporation abruptly firing a homosexual employee who was privately championing “gay pride” on the web? Exactly.)

Matt and his wife faced financial ruin and a sudden dead-end to his solid career path thanks to Allstate’s liberal intolerance. However, through God’s amazing grace and provision, he now rhetorically battles the very same Homosexual Activist Lobby that cost him his job. (The homosexual group Human Rights Campaign, which played a key role in Matt’s demise at Allstate, is welcoming President Obama as keynote speaker at its fund-raising dinner Saturday night.) And frankly, Matt is amazed that so many fellow Christians are now bowing out of the “culture war” on the “gay” issue despite the clear and present danger that organized homosexuality poses to our children and to our First Amendment liberties — at at time when our political enemies are boasting that they are on the precipice of total victory!

God wouldn’t have us quit the battle for Truth in a free society and concede to a powerful special interest lobby that despises and twists His Inerrant Word to rationalize their particular besetting sin (one He calls “detestable”). We must defend the Truth no matter what comes — as Matt has — because God wins in the end, and His truth will set men free.

_________________________________

Read these Matt Barber columns:

Matt Barber Answers Charge that Christians Focus Too Much on Homosexuality

Matt Barber: Commies, Fascists and Perverts, Oh My!

Also relevant:

Dr. Michael Brown Corrects Andrew Marin and Emergent Evangelicals on their ‘Celebration of Ambiguity’ on Homosexuality

Promoting Human Wrongs in the Name of Human Rights: HRC and its president, Joe Solmonese, love to smear defenders of traditional marriage and the Bible’s teaching on homosexuality (including preachers) as “haters” and “extremists.” Barack Obama demeans the office of the presidency of the United States by celebrating this radical and profoundly anti-Christian organization.

President Barack Obama is telegraphing his left-wing sympathies and defiance of America’s historic, Judeo-Christian-based morality to the world. The same man who didn’t have time for the National Day of Prayer has worked into his busy schedule a keynote address at a fundraiser Saturday for the world’s largest homosexual lobby group — one that glories in its anti-religious bigotry (masquerading as tolerance, of course). Yes, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is really all about Human Wrongs — whether it’s demonizing as “extremists” Americans who are simply trying to protect the age-old definition of marriage; crusading for legislation that denies our First Amendment right to defend normalcy and Judeo-Christian mores; lobbying for taxpayer funding of transsexual “sex-change” mutilations operations; or its ongoing attempt to redefine the clear Word of God to serve the sinful cause of “proud” homosexuality. (HRC’s Harry Knox — an Obama “faith council” appointee — outrageously calls his own homosexuality a “gift from God.”) At bottom is the HRC press release below highlighting Obama’s address Saturday evening.

Obama’s friend, HRC President Joe Solmonese (above left), is to true respect and “tolerance” what John Edwards and Mark Sanford are to “family values.” Solmonese revels in his role as D.C.’s top homosexual power-broker. A former exec with the pro-abortion PAC EMILY’s List, he embodies the spirit of the age that elevates subjective feelings and libertine, godless ideologies over timeless revelation of right versus wrong. Moreover, Solmonese and fellow “queer” advocates arrogantly behave as if there is no legitimate “other side” to their homosexual movement. He has no problem castigating religious foes of the homosexualist agenda — including pastors, who he accuses of “preaching hatred from the pulpit” for merely agreeing with God about homosexual sin. (Much as they hate religious “fundamentalists,” those homosexual activists sure do have their own set of absolute “fundamentals” down pat, huh?)

Solmonese even has the chutzpah to accuse the Vatican of having a “truth” problem when the Catholic Church tries to deal with its crisis caused by homosexual priests (you know, the ones with a sexual preference for adolescent boys). What he and fellow “gay” activists call a witch-hunt was actually an attempt by the church to prevent further man-boy predations that have badly damaged its reputation. When the pope condemns same-sex “marriage,” HRC and Solmonese dismiss him as “anti-gay” and say he is out to divide “faithful Catholics.” (Last I heard, people who champion sins are not called “faithful.”)

I remember way, way back when HRC joined other “gay” organizations in blacking out its websites following the murder of college student Matt Shepard — and shamelessly used the tragedy as an opportunity to promote “Hate Crimes” legislation. They cynically demonized Christian pro-family groups as somehow having a role in the crime. This is a profoundly anti-Christian organization, so when President Obama celebrates HRC and helps it raise funds, he honors their particular brand of animus and bigotry, which equates genuine, God-fearing Christians (and orthodox Jews, and traditional Muslims) with “hatred” and vile prejudice. That makes this a hateful act by Mr. Obama, and one that demeans the office of the presidency of the United States. Pray for Obama — he cannot serve both God and a Bible-distorting sin group. You can contact the White House HERE. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

______________________________

HRC’s press release follows:

President Barack Obama to Deliver Keynote Address at the 13th Annual Human Rights Campaign Dinner

U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy will also present first Edward M. Kennedy National Leadership Award to Judy and Dennis Shepard

10/5/2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, announced today that President Barack Obama will deliver the keynote address at the 13th Annual National Dinner on Saturday, October 10th, in Washington, D.C.  U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy will also present the first-ever Edward M. Kennedy National Leadership Award to Judy and Dennis Shepard.  The award is named in honor of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), a champion in the fight for LGBT equality.

“We are honored to share this night with President Obama, who has called upon our nation to embrace LGBT people as brothers and sisters,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.  “It is fitting that he will speak to our community on the night that we pay tribute to his friend and mentor Senator Edward Kennedy, who knew that as president, Barack Obama would take on the unfinished business of this nation – equal rights for the LGBT community, and for every person who believes in liberty and justice for all.”

The event will begin at 7 p.m. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.  All media planning to attend the Human Rights Campaign National Dinner must pre-register by Thursday, October 8.  ….

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

By Peter LaBarbera

Here’s a bit of history on “gay” activist intolerance — representative of what has gone on for decades across the country whenever citizens try to resist the homosexual activist agenda using the freedoms we possess as Americans. These are photos of a sign for the Christian Civic League of Maine in front of their headquarters that was defaced during the League’s successful 2005 drive to repeal a “gay rights” law using Maine’s “People’s Veto.” Under the Veto, citizens can repeal legislation passed by the Maine legislature through a statewide ballot vote. Multiply this harassment by a thousand and you will understand what proponents of Proposition 8 were up against in California.

This may seem like a minor act of vandalism (note the number “666,” symbolic of Satan, spray-painted in red), and it is, but applying our “Gay-Christian” Substitution Test puts it in proper perspective. Can you imagine the yelling and screaming (and government hate crimes charges?) that would have ensued had Christian activists defaced a sign on the private property of Equality Maine (the state’s leading homosexual group), or the Maine Civil Liberties Union? Exactly.

There is another People’s Veto vote coming up in Maine in November to overturn a homosexual “marriage” bill that was signed into law in May by Gov. Baldacci (D) — who rationalized that he had to sign it, against his convictions, “to uphold the Constitution” (nice try, guv). Homosexual activists will lose the marriage referendum — of that we are quite confident, due mainly to the groundbreaking work that Mike Heath (executive director of the League), Catholic pro-family stalwart Paul Madore, and Paul Volle of the Christian Coalition of Maine did in fighting against homosexual special rights in Maine over the last two decades.

These valiant culture warriors never received the credit they were due from the larger, national pro-family movement because, well, Christian pro-family groups were so petrified of being labeled “anti-gay” that they rarely gave enthusiastic support to efforts to resist “gay rights” laws the way they should have. That defensiveness, or perhaps we should say cowardice, now translates into a pro-family movement that still defends traditional marriage (sometimes in name only), but is woefully under-funded and inadequate when it comes to stopping the rest of the pro-homosexual agenda. (Americans For Truth supports a full repeal of all “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” laws, which began  undermining religious freedoms long before the onset of “same-sex marriage.”)

Heath (Board Chairman of AFTAH) is participating in but not leading the current drive to overturn Maine’s “gay marriage” law. He rejects the politically correct “spin” of fellow marriage defenders who argue that this battle (against homosexual “marriage”) is not about homosexuality itself. Sure it is, which is why we can expect more intolerance and thuggery in the weeks and months leading up to the November vote.

Many homosexual activists, imbued with their own propaganda equating a sexual sin movement with “civil rights,” have adopted an arrogant, ends-justifies-the-means attitude in the service of their misguided cause. Like AFTAH, Mike Heath and friends are compared to bigots, anti-Semites and Nazis because … well, doggonit, that’s how judgmental “queer” activists and their liberal allies see it! (Don’t expect logical reasoning from the pro-”gay” side on this — the modern liberal takes it almost as a matter of faith. Besides, it’s much easier to simply claim the mantle of civil rights and keep repeating it with the media’s help, even though this fiction has been roundly rejected by the vast majority of African Americans.)

I will be visiting Maine next month to speak at the Christian Civic League, and plan to discuss how the current push for oxymoronic “gay marriage” is precisely an outgrowth of the homosexualist agenda — which will continue to threaten religious and moral freedoms even after Mainers pass the People’s Veto and sweep “same-sex marriage” off the law books in November. As usual, AFTAH will keep you abreast of the ongoing, anti-democratic tactics of homosexual activists in Maine, California and across the nation.

Mike Heath

Following are the remarks by Preston Noell, President of Tradition, Family, and Property, at yesterday’s coalition press conference in Chicago against Obama’s homosexual agenda:

“President Obama’s much vaunted ’search for a common ground’ no longer passes even a perfunctory smell test. His bromides are designed to soothe and assuage. But his hypnotic rhetoric belies his actions.

“By appointing Harry Knox to his Faith Advisory Council, Obama panders to the homosexual movement, and manifests cynicism at its worst.

“Knox is the very incarnation of hate-filled, anti-Catholic bigotry and must go. His militant, hate-mongering anti-Catholicism is amply on display. Knox’s malicious attack on Pope Benedict as a “discredited leader of an army of oppression” is the rallying cry portending the persecution of the Church.

“Knox is the ugly new face of anti-Catholic oppression and persecution.  President Obama has a choice: either give Knox a pink slip or be known not only as the abortion president but the anti-Catholic president as well.

“Mr. President, fire Knox, NOW!!”

__________________________________

Related AFTAH stories on Harry Knox:

• VIDEO: Satan’s Talking Points? HRC’s Harry Knox Claims Homosexuality Is ‘Gift from God’ in MSNBC Debate with CWA’s Matt Barber
• White House ‘Comfortable’ With Anti-Catholic Homosexual Activist Harry Knox on Faith Council

Harry Knows Better than God?  Homosexual activist and Obama “faith council” appointee Harry Knox calls his homosexuality an “unchangeable gift from God” in an MSNBC debate. Knox has also called Pope Benedict a “discredited leader” and the (Catholic) Knights of Columbus the pope’s “foot soldiers” in a “discredited army of oppression.” TAKE ACTION: urge your Congressman and Senators (202-224-3121; 202-225-3121) to ask President Obama to remove Knox — with his deep prejudices against traditional religion — from his Faith Advisory Council.

Folks, click here to see the AFTAH’s “Satan’s Talking Points” post on Harry Knox’s MSNBC TV debate with AFTAH Board Member Matt Barber, in which he claimed that: “being gay or lesbian is an immutable, unchangeable gift from God, one for which I am very grateful. And it would fly in the face of my respect for God to give that gift back.” (The YouTube video is embedded in the story.) We highly recommend LifeSiteNews.com, from which this article is reprinted, and also CNSNews.com, which has done several excellent pieces on the Knox controversy:

By Peter J. Smith, reprinted from LifeSiteNews.com

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The White House says the President is “comfortable” with a homosexual activist on his advisory council of faith-based initiatives, a man who has come under attack for having vilified the Catholic Church, calling the current Pope a “discredited leader” and the Knights of Columbus his “foot soldiers” in a “discredited army of oppression.”

CNSNews.com reported [June 3] that the White House has essentially shrugged at calls from Catholics that Harry Knox, the former director of the “religion and faith program” at the Human Rights Counsel, a homosexual lobby group, be removed from the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships for his insulting and bigoted language toward the Catholic Church (see LSN coverage).

Prominent Catholic figures, including House Republican Leader John Boehner, Catholic League President Bill Donohue, American Life League’s Judie Brown, and members of the Family Research Council, expressed their concern to Obama in a May 13 letter, citing Knox’s remarks as proof he is “unfit to serve” on an advisory board billed as fostering interfaith cooperation.

“As Catholics, we call on you to remove Mr. Knox from his position and to formally disassociate yourself from his militant anti-Catholicism,” stated the letter, signed by 22 Catholic leaders. “Failure to do so will result in the tainting of your Faith-Based Council – and indeed, your entire administration – as anti-Catholic.”

The letter also stated, “We do not know if you or members of your Administration were aware of Knox’s deplorable, abusive attitude towards the Church and Pope Benedict XVI when you named him to the Council. We assume you were not.”

The letter continued, “But since then, there have been numerous press reports on Knox’s loathsome and clearly bigoted rhetoric, so there no longer is any excuse for your failure to act. We can remain silent no longer.”
A CNSNews reporter finally obtained comment from White House press secretary Robert Gibbs on the issue, who made clear Obama had no problem with Knox on his advisory counsel.

“The president is comfortable with the makeup of his faith advisory council,” Gibbs said

Knox has refused to back down from comments in which he accused Pope Benedict XVI of being “morally reprehensible” for not supporting the use of condoms in Africa.

“The Pope’s statement that condoms don’t help control the spread of HIV, but rather condoms increase infection rates, is hurting people in the name of Jesus,” Knox said in a March statement, two weeks before his appointment to the council.

In 2007, Knox called it “immoral and insulting to Jesus” when the bishop of Cheyenne, Wyoming instructed that an activist lesbian couple not receive Communion.

“If all Knox had done was to criticize the Catholic Church on public policy issues, there would be no problem,” said Catholic League President Bill Donohue. Instead, Donahue said Knox had stepped beyond merely disagreeing with the Church to demonizing it, “slamming the Catholic Church on internal matters that are none of his business.”

“In short,” continued Donahue, “the letter by Catholic leaders to President Obama requesting him to remove Harry Knox from his post is entirely warranted.”

_________________________

Related stories:

Obama ‘Comfortable’ with Adviser Who Made Repeated Anti-Catholic Statements, Says White House: this CNSNews story contains links to several other CNSNews pieces on the Knox controversy

LifeSiteNews.com: “Catholics Call for Obama to Oust Homosexualist Pope Critic from “Faith” Council”

Americans For Truth: “VIDEO: Satan’s Talking Points? HRC’s Harry Knox Claims Homosexuality Is ‘Gift from God’ in MSNBC Debate with CWA’s Matt Barber”

This book is a must for any social conservative’s library. (Order it HERE.) I’ve known Dale for over a decade, and few in the pro-family movement have demonstrated the diligence, courage, dedication and intelligence that she has in answering the various propaganda myths and lies emanating from the radical feminists and their homosexual and gender-confused (”transgender”) allies. Here is a typically sensible quote from One Man, One Woman (p. 217):

It’s true that human beings can be weak, selfish, and sinful, and not every married couple will be good parents. But a male/female married couple nonetheless has built into it all the things children need for healthy development: a mother and a father to fulfill parenting roles and to model gender identity; a vowed bond of permanent commitment between two persons with sexual complementarity; and freedom from the stigma and distractions that accompany “experimental” family forms.

As you can see from the book’s outline below, there are several chapters on the cause and development of “SSA” — Same-Sex Attraction (Disorder), as some call it. I doubt I will agree with everything presented in those chapters, but I’ve always known Dale to make her case thoughtfully, so it will be engaging. You can order Dale’s book HERE. It’s a few dollars cheaper on Amazon. — Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth

This outline is taken from the Sophia Institute Press website, where there is also an essay from Dale titled, “Why I Spent Ten Years Writing This Book, and Why You Need to Read It.”

Contents

Introduction: Clarion Call at Cairo

Part I: The Politics of Sex and Marriage

1. The Political Struggle Over the Definition of Marriage
2. The Ideology of the Sexual Left
3. The Debate Over Same-Sex Attraction

Part II: Understanding Same-Sex Attraction

4. How Sexual Attraction Develops
5. Same-Sex Attraction in Men
6. Same-Sex Attraction in Women
7. SSA Treatment and Change

Part III: Marriage and Intimate Relationships

8. The Definition and Purpose of Marriage
9. Why Redefining Marriage Will Harm Persons with SSA
10. Why Redefining Marriage Will Harm Society

Part IV: The Effects on Children

11. Same-Sex Parenting Places Children at Risk
12. Dangerous Lies: The Politicization of Research

Part V: Beyond Same-Sex Marriage

13. Same-Sex Marriage and the Slippery Slope
14. The Threat to Religious Freedom
15. The Threat to Public Schools

Conclusion: What Must Be Done?
Biographical Note: Dale O’Leary

___________________

LaBarbera response to “Kyle”:

Kyle …

…I don’t know where my feelings of lust, etc., came from.  So should I join the Lust Pride Movement and rationalize the embrace of that sin. (I’ll call myself a “Luster,” which is analogous to you calling yourself “gay.”) Grow up, Kyle. This is the cop out of the century –– and then you go on to support “gay marriage” –– an incredible blasphemy against God, who created man and woman for each other.  You are responsible for your behavior –– period. Sodomy and all homosexual acts are deeply sinful, the Bible teaches (see Romans 1), so what does it mean to say your “orientation” is “gay”?  Repent and believe Jesus Christ as so many FORMER “gays” – now born again of God — have done. (See Steve Bennett’s wonderful story at www.sbministries.org.)  Are you born again? Do you deny Jesus Christ has the power to help you heal or at least help you remain out of homosexual sin?  There is NO way a faithful Christian can embrace homosexuality.  You are deeply deluded, but there is hope in the Lord, and He WILL forgive you if you humble yourself and seek him like a child, and repent and accept Jesus’ death on the cross as the penalty for your sin. I suggest you start by reading the Gospel of John.

God bless you –– and try reading the Bible to apprehend who God is, so you can conform yourself to His holiness (a never-ending process) –– rather than seeking to conform God to YOUR image of what YOU think He should be, and what YOU think He should accept. All the best on your journey: www.biblegateway.com.

Sincerely,

Peter LaBarbera
Americans For Truth
www.aftah.org

——————————————————————————–

Letter from “Kyle” to Americans For Truth:

From: Kyle
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2009 12:22 PM
To: americansfortruth@comcast.net
Subject: [AFT Web Site] Gay Rights and Religion

The following message was sent from the Americans for Truth Web site:

——————————————————————————–

I\’m a gay Catholic (yes, it is possible). The Church teaches that for something to be a sin, the person doing the action must fully know what they are doing is wrong and then freely choose to do the action anyway, yet the Catechism teaches that being gay is not a choice. Therefore according to the church being gay is not a sin. If that\’s true, then why do they campaign against it so much? Do they not realize that God made me just as He made you and your family and everyone else you know? And one more thing. I firmly believe that the gay marriage ban in several states is unconstitutional and should be repealed, as there are nearly 1,200 rights that are only guaranteed through marriage. Since gay marriage is illegal in almost every state, the laws banning it are unconstitutional! I can\’t wait for the Supreme Court to rule in favor of our community. And quite honestly, if you have a problem with my arguments, please either respond to me or post it on your webpage.

Leo, Italy

http://www.hamtramck.org/family/

Click on photo to enlarge. Opposition to homosexuality- and gender-confusion-based “sexual orientation” laws is something that all committed religious people can agree on — because these laws invariably oppress religious people’s freedom to live out their beliefs. At right is multi-religious, multi-ethnic rally held Oct. 12 in Hamtramck, Michigan against a proposed “gender identity”-inclusive homosexual law.

Press Release
Contacts: Jay McNally: 734 717-1174; Fr. Andrew Wesley: 313 892-1310;
Akm Rahman: 313 293-7343; e-mail:  HamtramckFamily@gmail.com

Dear Readers,

It always strikes me as odd to see homosexual activists aligning themselves with American Muslims, who oppose homosexual practice as sinful in accordance with the religion, like faithful Christians and Bible-believing Jews. These photos from a rally in Hamtramck, Michigan reflect the appropriate political/sociological equation against homosexual activism: religious people (and moral people who are irreligious) cannot abide “rights” based on same-sex misbehavior (sin). In fact, as we’re seeing in California (where Christian doctors will now be forced to perform artificial inseminations for lesbians) and across the nation, the very outworking of government-enforced homosexuality-based “rights” is to oppress religious freedom.

Americans will have to decide whether creating aberrant-sex- and gender-confusion-based “rights” — including “same-sex marriage” and its cowardly cousin, “civil unions” — is worth trampling on the historic religious and First Amendment freedoms that have defined the American republic since its beginning.  –Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

Here is the Hamtramck Citizens Opposing “Special Rights” press release put out before the rally; under that is an article on the coalition’s website explaining the coalition’s position:

__________________________________________________

Catholic, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu Religious Leaders Speak Out Against Hamtramck Gay-rights Ordinance at campaign rally

HAMTRAMCK (Oct. 10) – Nearly a dozen religious leaders in the City of Hamtramck and a nationally prominent lawyer will speak at a campaign kick-off rally for the group Hamtramck Citizens Voting NO to `Special Rights’ Discrimination.

The rally will be held Sunday, Oct. 12th, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 9632 Conant St. Admission is free.

The speakers will all urge a NO vote on the Nov. 4 referendum concerning the city’s new ordinance that provides special protection to people based on sexual identity, sexual orientation and sexual behavior.
The ordinance provides no new rights for anyone except for homosexuals, as all other rights are covered by state and federal law.

Speakers will explain – in Arabic, Bengali, English and Polish — why the controversial ordinance is a threat to religious freedom, free speech, and women’s privacy rights.

The keynote speaker will be Brian Rooney, attorney for the Thomas More Law Center and legal expert on discriminatory “gay rights” legislation.

Below is a list of speakers scheduled…

Government officials:

•      Abdul Algazali, City Councilman.

Religious leaders (the imams represent various ethnic communities – Yemeni, Bosnian and Bengali}:

•      Rev. Andrew Wesley, pastor of St. Ladislaus Church and co-chair of the group Hamtramck Citizens Voting NO.

•      Najim A. Quddus, imam of the Al Islah Islamic Center in Hamtramck.

•      Masud Khan, president of the Al Islah Islamic Center.

•      Rev. Dharmananda Bikkhu, Budhist monk and founder of the International Peace Community in Hamtramck.

•      Showrob Chudhury, secretary of the Hindu community in Hamtramck.

•      Abdul Latif Azom, imam of Al Falah mosque.

•      Abdul Salam, imam of Masjid Un Nur mosque.

•      Adbo Zindani, secretary of Eiman Islamic Complex.

•      Amin Alwagah, representing Algalazali mosque.

•      Saleh Algahaim, president of Eiman Islamic Complex.

•      Dzenan Kalanac, imam of Bosnia Islamic Center.

•      Mohammed Shehab Khan, imam Baitul Islam mosque

Community leaders:

Several community leaders will also speak, including Akm Rahman, community leader and co-chair of Hamtramck Citizens Voting No.

•      Kamal Rahman, community activist.

•      Roberts Zwolak, former city councilman and city clerk.

•      Gregory Kirchner, businessman and Polish community leader.

•      Mohammed Delaware Hussein, community leader. …

The group’s Web site is www.hamtramck.org/family.

==== 30 ===

———————————————-

Below is an article on the website of Hamtramck Citizens Voting NO to `Special Rights’ Discrimination:

Why Hamtramck’s “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” ordinance a
threat to religious freedom, free speech, and women’s privacy rights.

In the 2004 election, 55 percent of Hamtramck voters voted in favor of a Marriage Protection Amendment to our state constitution, helping preserve one-man, one-woman marriage for future generations of children.

But in June 2008, by a 6-to-1 vote of its politically correct city council, Hamtramck is now among the handful of cities in Michigan whose local ordinances – in conflict with federal and state law – treat homosexual behavior and cross-dressing as the moral, social, and legal equivalents of immutable characteristics such as race, color, and sex.

Obviously, many Hamtramck residents reject that comparison — based on religious, medical, and philosophical concerns.

For example, a compassionate society that rationally discourages smoking because of the clearly identified health consequences should not irrationally enact laws giving special protection to homosexual behavior that has been scientifically associated with a dramatically higher incidence of domestic violence, mental illness, substance abuse, eating disorders, life-threatening disease — AIDS, cancer, and hepatitis — and premature death by up to 20 years.

The Vatican expressed similar concerns in a 1992 letter to Bishops of the Catholic Church – authored by then-Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI – regarding legislation to “Tmake discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation illegal,” which according to Ratzinger, “may in fact have a negative impact on the family and society.”

“Even when the practice of homosexuality may seriously threaten the lives and well-being of a large number of people, its advocates remain undeterred and refuse to consider the magnitude of the risks involved,” Cardinal Ratzinger wrote.  “’Sexual orientation’ does not constitute a quality comparable to race, ethnic background, etc., in respect to non-discrimination. Unlike these, homosexual orientation is an objective disorder and evokes moral concern.”

“Including ‘homosexual orientation’ among the considerations on the basis of which it is illegal to discriminate,” Ratzinger wrote, “can easily lead to regarding homosexuality as a positive source of human rights…(and)…to the legislative protection and promotion of homosexuality.”

The American Family Association of Michigan strongly agrees.  However, the practical effects of such legislation extend beyond medical or religious concerns.

Proving to have exactly the opposite effect of their supposed intent, so-called “sexual orientation” ordinances have a track record of being used to discriminate against individuals and organizations who don’t support homosexual activists’ political agenda.

Detective Richard Stern, a fifteen-year veteran and president of the Ann Arbor police officers union, was fired after the chairman of the city’s “rights commission” formally accused him of violating that city’s “sexual orientation” ordinance.  Stern’s offense?  On behalf of his union, in a public forum for police chief candidates, he “was accused of saying that one of the candidates had a gay-rights agenda,” according to Between the Lines, a Detroit homosexual advocacy newsmagazine.

“Stern’s comments were clearly in violation of a human rights ordinance that includes sexual orientation,” the newsmagazine commented, making clear that homosexual activists believe so-called “sexual orientation” ordinances outweigh our Constitutionally-guaranteed free speech rights.  Stern’s union disagreed, charging in a lawsuit that he was “illegally and discriminatorily” discharged by the city.

Also in Ann Arbor, the city council – once again specifically citing its discriminatory “sexual orientation” ordinance — banned donations to the United Way through city employees’ payroll deduction plan.  Why?  Because the United Way financially supported local Boy Scout troops, which appropriately refuse to allow adult males who engage in homosexual behavior to take 13-year old boys on overnight camping trips.

“A council majority believes its own anti-discrimination ordinance prohibits it from supporting Boy Scouts in any fashion, including using staff time and city computers for payroll deductions that go through the United Way to the Boy Scouts,” the Ann Arbor News reported.

In an Ann Arbor News commentary supporting the city council’s action, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan said the Boy Scouts’ stand made them comparable to “white supremacist groups.”

Similarly, the homosexual activist group Triangle Foundation threatened to sue the city of Detroit, demanding that city officials cut all funding of local Boy Scout troops, deny the Scouts access to public parks and facilities, and prohibit sponsorship of Scout activities by the police and fire departments, the Detroit News reported.  The Scouts’ refusal to allow openly homosexual Scoutmasters, Triangle charged, “is in direct violation of the City Charter and Human Rights Ordinance…(that) expressly forbid discrimination based on sexual orientation.”

In Philadelphia, under authority of its “sexual orientation” ordinance, the city is currently evicting the local Boy Scout council from offices it has occupied in a city park for nearly 80 years.

In Chicago, Cook County officials refused to hire the Salvation Army to deliver services to low-income residents, saying “the county’s ordinance banning employment discrimination against gays and lesbians bars it from contracting with the Salvation Army,” a traditional Christian denomination whose religious doctrine teaches that homosexual behavior is a sin.

Under Massachusetts’ “sexual orientation” law, Catholic Charities was given an ultimatum: either agree to process adoptions of children to homosexual couples in violation of the church’s moral opposition to such adoptions, or abandon its century-old adoption referral service altogether.  To its credit, Catholic Charities chose the latter.

The “sexual orientation” language now included in the Hamtramck ordinance is disturbing even beyond its proven discriminatory effects in other cities.

The Oakland Press reported in March 2005: “Bill Scharffe, director of bylaw and policy services for the Michigan Association of School Boards, advises local districts not to include the term ‘sexual orientation’ in their anti-harassment policies.  ‘Schools need to be very careful with that,’ he said, noting that neither federal nor state civil rights laws consider people of a particular sexual orientation a protected class.  He added that literal interpretation of ‘sexual orientation’ could include people who gravitate toward any sort of sexual activity, including that with animals, children and corpses.”
Not content with adding the discriminatory “sexual orientation” language to city law, homosexual activists and their political allies succeeded in adding the words “gender identity” as well.

Simply put, “gender identity” refers to delusional men who claim to believe they’re really females stuck in a man’s body and insist on wearing a dress and high heels to work.

This “gender identity” language is so radical in its potential effects that even openly homosexual Congressman Barney Frank, D-Mass., refuses to include it in his federal “gay rights” legislation.

Rep. Frank said: “There are workplace situations — communal showers, for example — when the demands of the transgender community fly in the face of conventional norms and therefore would not pass in any Congress.  I’ve talked with transgender activists and what they want — and what we will be forced to defend — is for people with penises who identify as women to be able to shower with other women.”

Don’t take Barney’s word for it?  Consider the case of “Naomi Snyder,” a Lansing man who applied through the mail – using a female name – for membership at a women’s health club.  His membership approved, he showed up in person, and being obviously a man, was refused entry to the women’s locker room and shower.  According to Between the Lines, the Michigan ACLU threatened to sue for “discrimination,” but Lansing voters in a 1996 ballot vote had wisely rejected adding “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” to their local civil rights ordinance; thus, there was no legal basis for the threatened suit.  But in Hamtramck, now, there would be.

Thankfully, Hamtramck residents who want to protect the privacy of women and girls and prevent discrimination against people of faith and community groups such as the Boy Scouts, the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, and the United Way can by law conduct a petition drive to force this issue onto the ballot for a vote of the people.  On behalf of our supporters who reside in the city, the American Family Association of Michigan stands ready to assist in any way we can.

MILITARY MEN AS HOMOSEXUAL SEX OBJECTS? Above is an ad for one of the many “gay” military-oriented porn websites: American male soldiers do not bunk and shower with women; should they be forced to shower and bunk with men who identify themselves as sexually attracted to other men? TAKE ACTION: call 202-224-3121 or 202-225-3121 or contact your U.S. Representative and Senators online to voice your opposition to opening up the military to homosexuality. Read below about how homosexual men with their same-sex attractions compromised the Catholic practice of priestly celibacy.

Allyson Smith of AFTAH sends along this compelling essay with obvious parallels to putting homosexual men in the military. Rev. James Haley’s logic presumably would extend to (public) restrooms — not just for the “transgendered” but for all suffering from what some are calling “same-sex attraction disorder.” Rev. Haley of The Roman Catholic Faithful writes in “The Real Story about Celibacy”:

Excerpted from the article by Rev. Haley:

The Real Story about Celibacy

…By assigning religious men to live only with men, and religious women to live only with women, the bishop or abbot is apparently also following the tradition and moral prudence, or one can more properly say, the moral necessity, of keeping religious men and women separated from one another – a very prudent practice because, in the words of an honest speaker concerning human nature and Christian love: “There is nothing more naturally attractive for a Christian man in love with God, than a Christian woman in love with God.”

But that same-sex living assignment quickly and clearly runs seriously afoul when the sexual orientations and desires are reversed from their norm and, even more so, when those sexual orientations remain hidden from the outside world – that leads to the very improper, imprudent and secret situation that the Church was trying to prevent. In other words: There is nothing more “naturally” attractive for a homosexual man in love with God, than another homosexual man in love with God.

So ironically, tragically, inexplicably, it is the Church itself, the model and guide to moral life, that is encouraging, advocating and requiring the perpetual near occasion of sin for homosexual priests, and, in turn, creating an extremely uncomfortable situation for the heterosexual priests who are not interested in forming one of those personal, lifelong, secret, exclusive, intimate and emotionally fulfilling relationships with other men. And this non-interest from the heterosexual priest is a frequent cause of alienation, resentment and bitterness from the homosexual priests who would prefer to live with, and associate with, other homosexual priests, especially when so many other homosexual priests are afforded that “secret” privilege. In simple terms: the straight priest is neither wanted nor welcome among the homosexual priests….

Click HERE to read the full article, “The Real Story about Celibacy”

According to some militant homo-fundamentalists in San Diego, supporting the preservation of marriage as solely between a man and a woman constitutes “hate.” Acting on that absurd and bigoted notion, “queer” activists in San Diego are planning a protest against hotel owner Doug Manchester, to be held Friday, July 18 (1:00-2:00 PM) at Manchester’s San Diego Grand Hyatt Hotel. Manchester, to his credit, gave $125,000 to the California Marriage Protection Amendment effort. A strong Catholic, he is worried that “gay marriage” in the state will lead to lawsuits against religious schools that teach that real marriage is between a man and a woman — i.e., that the counterfeit homosexual variety is wrong.

Folks, can you see the escalating anti-religious harassment that follows the progression of the homosexual activist movement? To affirm their “rights” and contorted brand of “equality” (which is actually radical egalitarianism), they need to tear down Judeo-Christian tradition and culture. Now is the time for all marriage supporters and defenders of sexual sanity to frequent hotels and businesses owned by pro-family marriage defenders like Doug Manchester. Unilateral Christian disarmament in this “culture war” will lead to state-sanctioned oppression of people of faith — it’s that simple.

Here’s the link to Doug Manchester’s Grand Hyatt Hotel, and that to his other hotel in San Diego: the Grand Del Mar. — Peter LaBarbera

UPDATE: We learned June 26 from a Catholic, pro-family advocate who contacted the Chicago Archdiocese that AGLO has now been denied permission to march officially in this year’s homosexual “pride parade.” Stay tuned for more on this story.

[Click on photo to enlarge.] Topless transsexual bares his (presumably hormone-induced) breasts at last year’s (2007) Chicago “gay pride” parade. The “man” rode exposed like this for blocks along the parade route, as the crowd lining the streets cheered him on. Faithful Catholics in Chicagoland are outraged that a church-affiliated group called AGLO (Archdiocesan Gay and Lesbian Outreach) may march in this year’s homosexuality-celebrating parade. (AGLO is listed as #114 in the parade line-up.) Photo: AFTAH. Click HERE to contact the Archdiocese of Chicago regarding AGLO.

Folks, I cannot help but commend this brilliant response from my friend Gary Morella to the news that Chicago Cardinal George is allowing (at least for now) a so-called “gay Catholic”-oriented group called AGLO (Archdiocesan Gay and Lesbian Outreach) to march in this Sunday’s “Chicago Gay Pride” parade. (AGLO is listed as #114 in the parade line-up.) Morella is a Catholic pro-family, pro-life activist and research mathematician at Penn State, who catches enormous flack for his stubborn insistence on proclaiming truth at that academic den of iniquity.

Gary as a Catholic and I as an evangelical disagree on some points of theology, but we are completely in accord on the need to combat all worldly attempts to transform the sinful yet changeable behavior of homosexuality into some kind of inherent and innocuous “identity.” — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

P.S. I learned from my friend Susan Jordan, a Chicagoland Catholic, that AGLO has marched in other Chicago “gay pride” parades.

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Gary Morella (left) writes:

In regard to the report of a Chicago “AGLO” group marching in a “Gay Pride” parade, some seminal Catholic truths apply in regard to the “bottom line,” not the least of which is the following. The Chicago Archdiocesan Gay and Lesbian Outreach is misnamed. There is nothing “gay” about being inclined to unnatural acts that are so revolting as to cause extreme revulsion when accurately described! We are talking about sexual perversion that has not evolved to sexual deviance to sexual preference to sexual orientation, which is the politically correct lie of those practicing same in order to anesthetize society that they must accept the vices of a radical fringe under force of law – to heck with the common good! Rather, we’re talking about aberrant behavior that remains sexual perversion, regardless of the devil’s packaging! Accordingly, there is nothing Catholic about celebrating such perverse behavior that is condemned by traditional Catholic teaching rooted in Sacred Scripture, PERIOD! This truth should be obvious to anyone who is Catholic in more than name only in the recognition that the common good leads ultimately to a supernatural good in accord with God’s Divine Plan for His Creation. To thwart the common good is to do the work of the devil!

This begs the obvious question, why are Catholic frauds repeatedly allowed to cause public scandal to the faith with impunity? AGLO does not deserve to exist because, as an organization, it shamelessly promotes the commission of Mortal Sin which is anathema to Catholicism. Why can’t Cardinal George see that seminal truth? Just how much more scandal must be tolerated, putting souls at extreme risk of eternal perdition, before the plug is pulled on the AGLO liars? The Catholic goal should be the encouragement to leave, not live, homosexual lifestyles!

What is frustrating is that this decline in the Church could be thwarted by some very simple courageous actions on the part of bishops, in particular, Cardinal Archbishops as metropolitans for their Episcopal brethren, by taking the bull by the horns and saying, e.g., to the Archdiocesan Gay and Lesbian Outreach (AGLO) in Chicago, “You can no longer exist because your premise is counter to Church teaching in that you believe that one can live homosexual lifestyles and still be Catholic, which is a lie.” Are you listening, Cardinal George?

The traditional Church teaching on sins against nature is very clear using Sacred Scripture and Tradition in the form of statements from the Popes, Councils, Saints, and Apologists combined with the tradition of civil legislation to show the moral chasm that has resulted when the language of “pseudo charity” replaces the language of “tough love” for salvation’s sake. The result being that the necessary feelings of revulsion toward those proudly trumpeting their sodomite tendencies are no longer there opening the door for a misplaced compassion that such individuals do not deserve. They are differences between an ontological dignity to which all are entitled by virtue of being made in the image and likeness of God, and a moral dignity as a function of being endowed with an intellect and will whereby good can be accepted and evil rejected. Moral dignity does not exist for sodomites, a distinction that AGLO never makes using language that would have us erroneously believe that there exists something called the homosexual person, a concept which turns Catholic anthropology on its head making God, Who is Perfect Good, out to be a liar in creating man with a built-in one way ticket to hell in complete ignorance of the effect of the concupiscence due to Original Sin.

The clear consistent condemnation of homosexuality in Catholic teaching does not have to be needlessly qualified, which is something that Saints Peter, Jude, Pius V, Basil of Cesarea, Augustine, Aquinas, John Chrysostom, Gregory the Great, Peter Damian, Albert the Great, Bonaventure, Catherine of Sienna, Bernardine of Sienna, Peter Canisius, and the councils of Ancyra, Toledo, Nablus, and Third Lateran did not suffer.

Is it possible to be Catholic and be inclined to homosexual acts? The answer is yes as there is no guarantee that Catholics are not tempted to sin. It is better to ask, “Is it possible to remain a Catholic and live a lifestyle that equates sexual perversion with normality?” The answer is an unequivocal no. For to do so makes a mockery of Sacred Scripture which states emphatically that Jesus condemns the sin out of concern for the sinner’s eternal end. The same “good and gentle” Jesus who is readily quoted out of context by the contemporary disciples of “dignity” and “self esteem” also is the “just” Jesus who talked more about the consequences of grave sin than any other New Testament figure. He was especially discriminatory in this regard as while some ceremonial aspects of the old law were rescinded, the moral requirements were not.

Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For amen, I say unto you, till Heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall not pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven. For I say to you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and of the Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew 5:17-20)

But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of scandals. For it must needs be that scandals come: but, nevertheless woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh. And if thy hand of thy foot scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to enter into life maimed or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee with one eye to enter into life, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. (Matthew 18:6-9)

It is an oxymoronic contention that you can be a practicing homosexual and be Catholic. This is a violation of a fundamental philosophical principle in that “Something cannot ‘be’ and ‘not be’ at the same time in the same respect.” The Church’s clear teaching is that there is nothing “gay” about being inclined to proven self-destructive physically, psychologically, and especially spiritually, unnatural behavior that has also been proven to be changeable, i.e., there is no such thing as a homosexual orientation in an innate final sense. Such inclinations are to acts which the Church considers intrinsic moral evils, the inclination itself being objectively disordered because of the unnatural tendencies involved. To say otherwise is absurd!

This is not a question of exclusion but rather one of unconditional love for man’s salvific eternal end that demands telling the Truth, Who is a Someone, not a something, per the beginning of the Gospel of John.

Catholics, above all clerics, ought to realize that by lying to people who need the full truth does nothing to help them. And it is a lie to have someone believe that they can be Catholic and have no problems with being inclined to acts, which if performed, lead to final spiritual ruin. That is playing with fire. The Church calls those inclined to homosexuality to leave, not live, their lifestyles. In order to do that the Church cannot lie about such inclinations being benign naturally, and especially spiritually, given the eternal truth of the Natural Law of God which is a participation in His Eternal Law.

Would so-called “Catholic” apologists for the homosexual lifestyle have us believe that Matthew 5:21-31 excuses any responsibility for living it because homosexuality is not explicitly referred to?

“You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire….You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart…It is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”

It most certainly is. In particular, see Genesis 18:20-21, Romans 1:24-28, and the Epistle of Jude. Moreover, Jesus took the old law one step further and made the actions leading to the act as severe as the act itself. Are we to believe as Catholics that somehow homosexuality fell through the cracks in Sacred Scripture? Thus, from the Catholic standpoint, to imply that Jesus never said anything about being inclined to unnatural acts is Bible eisegesis with the consequences of Matthew 18:6.

To give a message to those inclined to homosexual acts that “they are OK as they are” is un-Catholic in the extreme given the above observations. It makes no more sense than to tell an alcoholic that you may continue drinking to get over alcoholism. Moreover, it is akin to giving a serial killer more bullets.

The Magdalenes of the Gospel were most certainly forgiven, but the words of Jesus following His forgiveness are conveniently forgotten. “Go and sin no more.” That is what it means to be Catholic. To make the attempt to live a Faith which will be mocked by the world. To imply that the homosexual lifestyle somehow has a Catholic blessing is tragic. It is tragic because souls are at stake — those living the lie and, especially, those telling it. For Catholics, that’s NOT love but REAL hate for their fellow man.

Lest we forget, Jesus Christ exists eternally as Second Person of the Blessed Trinity of the One True Triune God, i.e., as God Jesus destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, which is the first thing that should be remembered when the heinous lie that “Jesus never had anything to say about homosexuality” rears its ugly heads via the disciples of the devil! We are talking about a proven changeable lifestyle with the Grace of God that is physically, psychologically, socially, economically, and most especially spiritually ruinous!
As Ralph McInerny in Catholic Dossier has pointed out, obfuscation has reached the college campuses and campaigns are waged against something called “homophobia,” the net effect of which is to suggest that it is the judgment that homosexual acts are sinful that is sinful, not the acts themselves. In this effort, Scripture and magisterial documents are invoked as if they favored homosexuality as erroneously implied in many college editorials. One has a Catholic duty, it seems, not to state the Catholic message on the matter. During campus campaigns to give recognition to homosexual organizations, no mention is ever made of the serious health dangers that follow homosexual activity. And this on “smoke-free” campuses. Now it is the consequences of the vice that dare not speak their name.

Lenience toward homosexuality is only an aspect of the Dionysian frenzy that characterizes talk of human sexuality. Human persons need the sane and saving doctrine of the Catholic witness on homosexuality today more than ever. To give a stone where bread is asked for is unkind. The Church’s mission is not to conform to the world, but to stand in contradiction to it in order to save it. Given this seminal Catholic truth, AGLO is not saving anyone, and as such, deserves to be summarily condemned by Holy Mother Church. — Gary L. Morella, Catholic Activist

“General Pace did nothing wrong in stating his moral and religious opposition to homosexual acts as immoral….Pace also said adultery is wrong, and yet I don’t see two ‘pro-adultery’ organizations out condemning him.” –Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth

Here is more evidence of the sheer hatred that fanatical homosexual activists have for Judeo-Christian teachings on sex. Gen. Peter Pace’s “crime”? He affirmed the historic teachings of his Catholic faith that homosexual sex is immoral. You’d have to be blind or brainwashed not to see the goal of homosexual militants: intimidate good people and especially public servants into silence on the moral question of homosexual practice. AFTAH is mentioned in the following Cybercast News Service article, “Homosexual Activists Oppose Medal for Retired General,” excerpted below:

Homosexual Activists Oppose Medal for Retired General
By Randy Hall
CNSNews.com Staff Writer/Editor
June 19, 2008

(CNSNews.com) – Two homosexual advocacy groups are criticizing the decision to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to retired General Peter Pace. He’ll be honored on Thursday.

“Honoring General Pace with the country’s highest civilian award is outrageous, insensitive and disrespectful to the 65,000 lesbian and gay troops currently serving on active duty in the armed forces,” said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), in a news release on Wednesday. …

“Honoring General Pace for using his personal prejudice to meddle with military matters is just plain wrong,” PFLAG [Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays] added. “There should be no medal for bigotry and intolerance.”

Both PFLAG and the SLDN criticized Pace for comments he made during an interview with the Chicago Tribune in May 2007, when the general remarked: “I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts,” including adultery. …

However, Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth — a group devoted to opposing “gay” activism — told Cybercast News Service on Wednesday that he was “stunned” by the homosexual lobby’s self-centeredness and vindictiveness in trashing Pace as he was about to be honored for his service to America.

“General Pace did nothing wrong in stating his moral and religious opposition to homosexual acts as immoral,” LaBarbera said. “Pace also said adultery is wrong, and yet I don’t see two ‘pro-adultery’ organizations out condemning him.

“These petty attacks on a good man’s character by PFLAG and the SLDN are just more evidence that homosexual activists put their selfish and misguided cause way above the national interest,” he stated.

“If we’ve come to the point in this country where our leaders cannot answer a question about homosexuality for fear of being demonized by the ‘Gay Thought Police,’ then we’ve lost the very freedom that Gen. Pace defended — and for which our heroic men and women in the armed forces paid the ultimate price to protect,” he added.

LaBarbera said PFLAG and SLDN should apologize to Gen. Pace “for using this moment when we as a nation honor our national leaders — so they could make a cheap point for a bad cause: bringing open homosexuality into the military during a time of war.”

Pace will join five other persons in receiving the Medal on Thursday, including: Benjamin Carson, M.D., for improving the lives “of those suffering from neurological disorders;” Anthony Fauci, M.D., for advancing “our understanding and treatment of HIV/AIDS;” and Tom Lantos, “the only Holocaust survivor to serve in the Congress.”

Click HERE to read the entire CNSNews.com story, “Homosexual Activists Oppose Medal for Retired General”

Contact: Peter LaBarbera: 630-717-7631.

TAKE ACTION: Contact WTTW online or through their main switchboard at 773-583-5000; ask for WTTW CEO/President is Dan Schmidt and/or Programming Director Dan Soles. Or you can call WTTW’s “Member Services” phone number at 773-509-1111, ext. 6 (between 9-5:00 Central); hit “6″ and you will get a live person; kindly communicate your opposition to WTTW’s pro-homosexual programming and the blatant anti-Christian bigotry that is part of it. Click HERE to find the PBS TV station in your area to check if they are engaged in the same “Gay Pride Month” biased programming and let us know what you find: americansfortruth@comcast.net.

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AFTAH Condemns WTTW, PBS for Airing Anti-Christian Programming Celebrating Homosexuality During ‘Gay Pride Month’

NAPERVILLE, Illinois — Americans For Truth President Peter LaBarbera today accused the Chicago public TV station WTTW, and by extension the Public Broadcasting System, of using taxpayer monies to celebrate homosexuality and worse, air programs that displays flagrant anti-religious bigotry during “Gay Pride Month.”

“It is unconscionable that WTTW would show such blatant disregard for its faith- and tradition-minded viewers that it would use anti-Christian programs celebrating homosexuality for its fund-raising telethons,” LaBarbera said. “Public television must be impartial on controversial moral issues. We call on WTTW and PBS to balance their pro-homosexual programming with faith-based educational material from the other side, or stop it altogether.”

Last night (and apparently on June 1), WTTW used the documentary, “The Power of Harmony,” featuring the Dallas-based Turtle Creek Chorale, as a fund-raiser. It included:

• The homosexual men’s choir singing the song, “I Ain’t Afraid,” which contains the following refrain denigrating faithful Christians, Jews and Muslims: “I ain’t afraid of your Yahweh, I ain’t afraid of your Allah, I ain’t afraid of your Jesus, I’m afraid of what you do in the name of your God”;
• Repeated assertions that God made homosexuals that way and that portray Christians who disagree as hateful, ignorant or prejudiced. Said one homosexual man’s mother: “God created homosexuality. It’s just part of a person.” Historic Christian teaching holds that homosexual acts are sinful but that this behavior pattern – like other sinful lifestyles – can be overcome through faith in Christ;
• Testimonies by bitter “gay” men who despise and attack the religion of their upbringing because it does not sanction their lifestyle;
• A homosexual male couple adopting a Guatemalan baby.

WTTW’s 2007 Annual Report, shows that the Chicago station received $3,030,000 in Corporation for Public Broadcasting grants in Fiscal Year 2007 and a State of Illinois grant of $1,679,000.

WTTW’s airing of the anti-Christian “The Power of Harmony” comes during June, when homosexuals celebrate “Gay Pride Month.” This month, WTTW also repeatedly has aired another pro-homosexual documentary, “Out & Proud in Chicago,” as a telethon fund-raiser.

“WTTW talks a good game about diversity, but it shows profound disrespect for people of faith and real diversity with its bigoted, one-sided programming on homosexuality,” LaBarbera said. “We expect PBS and WTTW officials to fix this bias problem.”

Pro-Gay, Anti-Christianity

by David R. Carlin

May 21, 2008, InsideCatholic.com

The trouble with “liberal Christianity” is that it isn’t Christianity. It is something else — a new and ever-changing religion that attempts to hijack the old and revered name of Christianity.– David Carlin

A learned friend of mine recently wrote an op-ed piece for a newspaper in which she argued that the drive for same-sex “marriage” is not simply about same-sex “marriage”; it is also about winning moral approval for homosexuality. If society, acting through the state, tells us that homosexuals can marry one another, then it is by the same token telling us that there is nothing morally objectionable about homosexual conduct.

My friend is, of course, correct. But I’ll add to this that the drive for same-sex “marriage” is not simply about same-sex “marriage” or the moral legitimization of homosexual behavior; it is also about the de-legitimizing of Christian morality. More, it is about the de-legitimizing of Christianity itself.

The taboo on homosexual conduct is as old as Christianity itself (pace the late gay historian John Boswell, who argued — absurdly — that the taboo didn’t appear until many centuries after the foundation of Christianity and is therefore not an essential part of Christian morality). And it is older even than that. It clearly goes back to Old Testament times. And if there is such a thing as natural law, the taboo is rooted in natural law; for nature (or God as author of nature) seems to have designed the anatomy and physiology of human beings in such a way that sex between men and women is sex “according to nature.” Sex between men and men or between women and women, though it can be accomplished in an unnatural manner, doesn’t seem to be what nature/God had in mind.

What’s more, the taboo on homosexual conduct is not only as old as Christianity and Christian morality; it is an essential element in Christian morality, not a merely incidental element. St. Paul made this clear by going out of his way on a number of occasions to condemn it in no uncertain terms. And even though pro-homosexuality speakers and writers, with the intention of surrounding their sexual opinions with a spiritual aura, often contend that Jesus did not utter a word of condemnation of homosexual behavior, this is not exactly so; for He condemned it by implication when He spoke in an unflattering way of the city of Sodom. (See Matthew 11:23-24 and Luke 10:12.)

The Catholic Church has classified it as a mortal sin — a moral offense that merits eternal damnation. This is why Dante (Inferno, canto 15) assigned his teacher, Brunetto Latini, to hell. (I wouldn’t be surprised if some resourceful academic apologist for same-sex marriage contends that Dante sent Ser Brunetto to hell not for his sodomy, but because he gave Dante a bad grade on a term paper. I myself have often had students who would gladly have sent me to hell because of an “unfair” grade.)

The taboo on homosexual conduct is as much an essential element of Christian morality as is the taboo on abortion. And both taboos are strongly connected with the extraordinarily high valuation that Christianity has always given to the virtue of chastity.

So if you wish to overthrow the Christian rules against sodomy and abortion, which is precisely what the prevailing secularist morality of the day wishes to do (and indeed is doing very successfully), then you wish to overthrow the Christian moral system. You don’t necessarily have to be conscious of that wish: Some of those who are out to destroy Christian morality are fully conscious of their intention, others are not. Whether conscious or not, however, the course you will be pursuing is a course tending to the overthrow of Christian morality.

But the Christian moral system is no minor part of Christianity, any more than the heart or lungs are minor parts of the human body. Overthrow the Christian moral system and you will have overthrown Christianity itself. Therefore, those who are pushing for the institution of same-sex “marriage” are ipso facto pushing for the elimination of the Christian religion. Q.E.D.

Of course, there are objections to the train of reasoning I have outlined above, and the most common is this: While some Christian churches (e.g., the Catholic Church and Evangelical Protestant churches) consider the bans on homosexuality and abortion to be essential to their religions, there are other Christian churches (the more liberal or “mainstream” Protestant denominations) that take a much more tolerant and open-minded attitude toward these former “sins.” Unlike Catholicism and Evangelical Protestantism, both of which hold a “fundamentalist” or “originalist” view of Christianity, these liberal denominations contend that Christianity is a “living” religion, much like our “living” United States Constitution. That is, you mustn’t, these up-to-date religions tell us, adhere literally to the classic doctrines of Christianity, for “the letter killeth.”

On the other hand, the spirit giveth life, and the life of the Christian religion is evolution. When we focus on the essential feature of Christianity — namely, love of neighbor — and disregard the incidentals — e.g., condemnations of sodomy and abortion — we realize that Jesus and Paul, if only they had been so lucky as to live in the wonderful and enlightened 21st century, would have endorsed homosexual sodomy and strongly approved of same-sex “marriage.” Jesus would have been in the forefront of those endorsing same-sex “marriage”: He would have been on cable TV talk shows applauding the California Supreme Court.

The trouble with “liberal Christianity” is that it isn’t Christianity. It is something else — a new and ever-changing religion that attempts to hijack the old and revered name of Christianity. Liberal Christianity is, and ever has been since its commencement about 200 years ago, an incoherent attempt to synthesize Christianity and whatever is the fashionable anti-Christianity of the day. It began in America with early 19th-century Unitarianism, a synthesis of Christianity and Deism. The fashionable anti-Christianity of today stresses abortion and same-sex “marriage.” And so today’s liberal Christianity (a religious deviation that used to be found only among Protestants, but is now often found among Catholics as well) says, “Fine, we can do that. We can bless abortion and same-sex marriage.”

In other words, they can — and do — bless the forces that are out to destroy Christianity.

David R. Carlin, a professor of sociology and philosophy at the Community College of Rhode Island, is the author of The Decline and Fall of the Catholic Church in America (Sophia Institute Press, 2003).

Youth walk in Boston’s annual “Gay/Straight Youth Pride March” holding a banner for BAGLY, the Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Youth. The group is run by a cross-dressing, male-to-female transsexual activist adult. Kudos to MassResistance for exposing the corrupting influences on Massachusetts youth.

Brian Camenker of MassResistance.org writes:

We’ve just found out that the [Massachusetts] Senate Ways and Means Committee will be meeting tomorrow – Wednesday, May 14 – to decide on the 2009 budget appropriations. This includes the $750,000 now earmarked for homosexual activism targeting children in schools. Click HERE to contact the Ways and Means Committee to oppose the use of Massachusetts taxpayer dollars for this agenda.

Massachusetts citizens: want to know where your tax money is going? Read on:

1. Homosexual “Youth Pride Day” includes hardcore “gay” anti-religious propaganda. Speaker incites crowd to attack photographers.

This past Saturday was homosexual “Youth Pride Day” in Boston, run by the tax-funded Massachusetts Commission on Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Youth. It included a “celebration” on the Boston Common followed by a parade past the State House and a “transgender prom” that evening at Boston City Hall.

Kids were bussed in from all over the state. Homosexual activists were everywhere.

The “celebration” drew a huge crowd of hundreds of kids around a stage and several invited speakers. There was a main theme, which was constantly repeated: The kids need to understand that they are being oppressed by our homophobic society, which doesn’t allow them to enjoy their true (gay) sexuality.

The kids were given these hardcore sexual propaganda handouts:

• “History of Saints Servius and Bacchus”, handed out by a man dressed as a Catholic priest, claiming that these two Catholic saints were actually homosexual lovers.
• “Catholic Theological Defense of Same-sex Marriage” pamphlet which states that there is “no moral right to declare marriage off limits to persons whom God has made gay” and that the Pope “is definitely wrong and he will be corrected some day by one of his successors.” (Also handed out by the aforementioned “priest”.)
• “Reading the Bible with New Eyes” – a pamphlet that portrays Jesus as having had a homosexual affair with Lazarus and Mary as a lesbian. It also describes the Book of Acts as “defining a lesbian and gay ‘nation.’” It also states that Jesus “was a functional, if not physical, eunuch.”
• “Queer Spirituality” A booklet from a “church” describing how homosexuality is a spiritual experience that “opens us up to God.”
• “Out and Proud – Coming out to your Parents” A how-to guide for kids to explain to their parents that they are now homosexuals.
• “Boston Gay & Lesbian Film / Video Festival” A pamphlet inviting the kids to a homosexual film festival, showing photos of (among other things) men in bed with each other and women kissing.
• “Tips for organizing on high school / college campuses on transgender issues” How to push cross-dressing and transgenderism at schools. Includes a section on “Transgender Students Use of Bathrooms and Locker Rooms.”

Special (depraved) award given out. As part of the speeches to the kids, an award for outstanding service was given to hardcore homosexual and transgender activist Mark Snyder. In accepting the award, Snyder bragged about his “service” to the homosexual community: how he had disrupted a Catholic Mass with a homosexual “kiss-in” to protest the Church’s objection to same-sex marriage, and how he had organized a demonstration that terrorized a downtown Boston church to the point where they had to order lunch to be delivered rather than go outside for lunch. Finally, he bragged how he had personally persuaded the vulnerable special-needs daughter of MassResistance staffer Amy Contrada to “come out as a lesbian.” (Actually, the girl never was a lesbian; this was simply meant to cause her and her family confusion and distress.) And here’s a sample of Mark Snyder’s political “activity” – a vulgar drag-queen parody former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey.

Inciting the crowd to assault photographers. And it got violent. During this event, homosexual publications had photographers there taking pictures of all the kids. (Over 350 pictures were on the gay websites the next day.) But when one of the speakers spotted the independent ComFLM people pointed them out to the crowd as being from MassResistance, and exhorted the audience to “send [MassResistance] a message.” Things got very ugly. The crowd of kids started screaming, then surrounded them, blocked their cameras, and assaulted them. Not surprisingly, the uniformed Boston policemen standing right there would not arrest anybody, though eventually the cops asked the activists to stop their harassment. (A police report has been filed.) It was a hideous scene.

We will be posting the audio and video of all of this, as well as photos of our own, with our next email. It’s really unbelievable. (We’ll also be posting the pamphlets mentioned above.) We will be presenting a full report on this entire day.

THIS is how your [Massachusetts] Legislature is continuing to spend your money – to placate a very destructive special interest group whose target is schoolchildren.

[An interesting footnote: None of the Boston media reported on this, even through we alerted them to and described what had happened in the past.]

 Larry Cirignano (right) in courtroom with Michael Gilleran, the attorney who helped him beat bogus charges by ACLU activist Sarah Loy that he assaulted her after she disupted his pro-marriage rally. Click HERE for more on the case, and HERE to read about a Worcester, Mass. reporter who helped smear Cirignano but who refuses to recant his discredited story. For MassResistance’s comprehensive account of Cirignano’s trial and Sarah Loy’s fraud, click HERE.

By Larry Cirignano

This week we celebrate All Saints Day and All Souls Day.  The Catholic Church venerates saints as role models for all of us to emulate, and to encourage us to strive to defend our faith and principles as they did, despite each of them being a sinner.

In early American history, back in 1597, five Franciscan friars were martyred, in what is now Georgia, for standing up against polygamy and defending marriage.

In early church history St John the Baptist, St John Fisher and St Thomas More were all beheaded for standing up for marriage. 

If we are going to continue as a society, we need to stand up for marriage as these brave saints did, by promoting families raising children, and by protecting our children as our most precious resource.

The family is an essential building block for society.  Families are the first protectors of children as the first providers of food, shelter, health care and education. The home is the domestic church and serves as the first hospital, school and restaurant that most kids will know.

We would need a lot fewer government programs for charity and welfare if our family structures were intact.

Who can deny that divorce and adultery are problems that we as a society ought to deal with?  All of the cultural indicators show that children who live with their biological parents are healthier, are more likely to graduate from high school, go to college and are less likely to be involved in the judicial system, drugs, or suicide.

Sure there are alternative situations because of divorce or death.  Increasingly we see that many children are being born out of wedlock, but as a society we should strive to support the ideal situation for raising children in a family with a married Mother and Father.

The Catechism teaches us that we do violence to children if we intentionally deprive them of either a Mother or a Father and that the best way to raise a child is with both a male and a female biological parent who are married.

Children should have a Mother and a Father. It’s not “hate” to say that. Teenagers will frequently declare that their parents “hate” them because they will not allow them to stay out late, go to R-rated movies or go out on unsupervised dates.

Parents know better.  They know that it is precisely because they “love” their children that they will not allow them to get into harms way.  Telling kids NO and offering discipline can make a big difference in their lives. Most of us figure out sooner or later that our parents were a lot wiser than we ever gave them credit for.

Last December, at a Rally for Marriage, in Worcester, MA, I was accused of “hate” because I would not allow a woman to stand in front of a podium and taunt a crowd of people, with her sign blocking their view of the speaker. She accused me of “hate” because I escorted her off the steps and back into the crowd.

She tripped and fell after I left.  When she noticed the attention she received for tripping over the foot of a teenager she went to the ground and started loudly chanting “that’s what hate does”  as she curled up into the fetal position.  She wanted me arrested for assault, battery, violating her civil right to protest and a “hate” crime, because she could not have her way. The police had to prevent her from coming back on the steps and protesting. She told them that she knew her rights and that she was with the ACLU.

The police never charged me with a “hate” crime but in February they did charge me with violating her civil rights and assault and battery. After five trips to Worcester for hearings and motions and a five day trial, a judge said that I could not violate her civil right since she did not have a right to interfere with our speaker, on our stage. A jury said that I was NOT guilty of assaulting her.

I do not “hate” someone because they have a different point of view. I did move her off the steps and back into the crowd to prevent a fight.  I did not know what might happen if I left her there bantering with the audience as she blocked their view. I have seen situations where additional protesters sometimes would join arms in a daisy chain and block off a stage, I have also seen  where passionate supporters of differing views, come to blows at an event.

This was an intentional disruption of our rally. It distracted the people who were videotaping the event who wound up focusing on the protesters in the back of the crowd rather than on the speakers at the podium. The police were at the back of the crowd keeping a path open between two groups.

Videos showed the organizers of the protest chanting and shouting during our opening prayer and our Pledge of Allegiance.  The prosecutor did not want the jury to see this disruptive behavior and it was excluded from their viewing.

For the record, we have had many of the same people protesting at our other rallies. In Springfield, Mass., the week before, the city gave us a permit and provided a podium and microphone at the front door of City Hall but the police issued a separate permit for City Hall steps to our opponents, thereby forcing us to go across the street to hold our rally and leaving the gay “marriage” supporters on City Hall steps.

The judge in Worcester did not think that this was relevant to our case and did not allow us to present those facts to the jury.

Just because people saw me escort her and saw her fall down they assumed that I pushed her.  One “eye witness” saw me push her from behind with both hands on her shoulders. Another “eyewitness” saw me push her backwards with both hands on her shoulders. One witness who I found particularly offensive testified that I had pushed her chest. None of the witness could see her feet or if she tripped and none of them saw that I was holding a portfolio the whole time and thus could not have used both hands.

We were able to prove conclusively that two of the prosecution’s “eye witness’” were not where they said they were and could not have seen what they claimed they saw. Two other prosecution witnesses say that while they did not see me push Loy down they concluded that I had done so because Loy fell shortly after I escorted her away from the podium.  One of these even admitted on the stand that he had “assumed” I had pushed her down.

My witness testified that I had left her and was on my way back to the podium when she tripped over a young girl’s foot and fell down. Luckily she was not seriously injured in her fall although one person reported that I had bashed her head into the sidewalk.

I’m no saint and luckily I’m not a martyr.  The prosecution wanted to incarcerate me in the brand new jail.  Luckily I will avoid their hospitality. This was a huge waste of government resources because I held the politically unpopular view that Marriage should be between One Man and One Woman. Any other case would have been thrown out for wasting the court’s time.

In the future I hope the police will set up a separate place for protesters and spend more time preventing trouble and protecting the free speech of the permit holders.

Government might be able to change the definition of marriage but it can not redefine sin and so far only judges, not the people’s elected representatives, have seen fit to change the interpretation of the law’s definition of marriage. 

I will always stand up for the people’s right to vote to define marriage, defend the Church’s teaching that adultery and sodomy are wrong, and in Christian charity, correct people who want to teach our children otherwise.

I want to thank Michael Gilleran Esq., who made it possible for me to defend myself in court by taking my case pro-bono.  I could not have afforded to defend myself otherwise.

I also want to thank all the people who came to my trial and offered prayers and support. 

Nobody wins in these cases.  The time and effort are very costly financially and emotionally.  I would “hate” to waste more taxpayers money, more court and police time and even my opponents time on any further litigation.  I wish her peace.

Larry Cirignano
larryvote@aol.com

111 So Columbus St
Arlington, VA 22204

703-521-0478

“The world is a dangerous place to live–not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”

–Albert Einstein

This open letter below (emphasis added) was delivered to San Francisco Archbishop Niederauer on October 29.

It is a request to publicly excommunicate the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and other similar groups and to remove the pastor of Most Holy Redeemer Parish, Fr. Steve Meriwether.

(If you’re not familiar with this event, please take a few minutes to check these links: http://americansfortruth.com/news/more-san-francisco-nuttiness-catholic-archbishop-gives-communion-to-sisters-of-perpetual-indulgence.html (Americans For Truth was the first to report that Archbishop Niederauer gave Communion to members of the blasphemous, drag-queen-”nuns” group, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence; he later apologized);
http://www.qdomine.com/Morality_pages/MHR.htm and http://romancatholicblog.typepad.com/roman_catholic_blog/2007/10/bill-oreilly-di.html
 
or Google “Niederauer Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence”  or “Niederauer homosexual” for pages and pages of documents, photographs, videos, interviews and commentary about this event that occurred 3 weeks ago and is STILL being reported on from Canada to Germany.  The latest: an interview with an openly “gay” member of Most Holy Redeemer Parish Council with other historical facts here:
http://www.tfp.org/TFPForum/TFPCommentary/san_francisco_article.htm

Please call the archbishop’s office (don’t talk to a voicemail – make your request to a human). Fax and email them asking the archbishop to excommunicate these groups and their members and to replace Fr. Steve Meriwether as pastor:

Contact info here:
Phone:   Chancery Office: 415 614 5500
Lori Miller, Secretary; John North, Pastoral Ministry xt 5504; Barbara Lordi, Pastoral Outreach ext. 5506 and Maury Healy, Dir. of Communications.

 

email : (with a personal note)
info@sfarchdiocese.org
 
Also fax to: 415 565 3679

Please consider forwarding to the nuncio at nuntiususa@nuntiususa.org, and Pope Benedict XVI at benedictxvi@vatican.va

____________________________
 
Open Letter delivered to the archbishop, Oct 29, 2007

St. Joseph’s Men Society 

15732 Los Gatos Blvd. #303, Los Gatos, California 95032

October 29, 2007

Most Reverend George H. Niederauer 
Archbishop of San Francisco
One Peter Yorke Way
San Francisco, CA 94109-6602

Your Excellency: 

During your first visit to Most Holy Redeemer parish on Sunday October 7th, 2007, you gave Our Lord in Holy Communion to members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (SPI) a homosexual activist group widely known for its attacks upon and mockery of the Catholic Faith.  Your subsequent October 11th apology notes that you did not recognize these “strangely dressed persons” as members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and that these individuals should not have received Holy Communion, nor should the minister of the Church administer the Sacrament to them. 

First: For the sake of their souls and the souls of those Catholics worldwide who have been scandalized, your office requires you to state this formally, according to the teachings of the Church.

You must immediately and publicly state that, per canon 915:

• Membership in the so-called “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” is incompatible with the Catholic Faith (and any other group of similar nature must also be named)
• Under no circumstances are members of this group to be admitted to Holy Communion
• Those who obstinately remain in this group, incur automatic excommunication from the Catholic Church
• Members who decide to leave the group must repent publicly. A public act of scandal requires a public act of repentance.  (see attached document) The Discipline Regarding the Denial of Holy Communion to Those Obstinately Persevering in Manifest Grave Sin)   http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/holycom/denial.htm

These sanctions should be implemented now so that those under this discipline will have the opportunity to repent publicly by the First Sunday of Advent, December 2, 2007.

Second: In 1986, the Magisterium issued the instruction, the Letter to Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons (document attached). The then Cardinal Ratzinger wrote, “All support should be withdrawn from any organizations which seek to undermine the teaching of the Church, which are ambiguous about it, or which neglect it entirely. Such support, or even the semblance of such support, can be gravely misinterpreted. Special attention should be given to the practice of scheduling religious services and to the use of Church buildings by these groups, including the facilities of Catholic schools and colleges. To some, such permission to use Church property may seem only just and charitable; but in reality it is contradictory to the purpose for which these institutions were founded, it is misleading and often scandalous.” 

Fr. Stephen Meriwether, as pastor of Most Holy Redeemer parish, has continually allowed groups that “seek to undermine the teaching of the Church…or neglect it entirely,” to use its facilities.  Golden Gate Guards, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and the Desperate Divas Grand Drag Pageant are just a few of the groups who have rented the parish hall for their blatantly sinful displays.                                     

Because of the public scandal this has generated, you must:

• Replace the current pastor with a priest who is faithful to Church teachings, especially on this pivotal issue.
• Give specific instructions to all ministers of the Eucharist that giving Holy Communion to men dressed in drag is not an option and can only bring further scandal.
• In addition, we, the Faithful have the right to demand that you do your Episcopal duty and publicly reiterate the position of the Church that homosexual advocacy groups cannot meet in or use any facility of the Archdiocese.

Third: It is essential that you publicly urge those ensnared in the homosexual lifestyle to seek repentance and healing through the Sacrament of Penance. Your canonical responsibility for the salvation of souls is not optional, and is a greater imperative than a misguided “tolerance” which fails to admonish the sinner.

Finally: Considering the outrageous events that have been documented by photo or video within the walls of Most Holy Redeemer parish, and especially for the probability of sacrileges that have NOT been documented, we suggest a thorough blessing of the entire building and re-consecration of Most Holy Redeemer Church.

If you are unwilling or unable to take these necessary steps, then in humility you have the responsibility to offer your resignation to Pope Benedict XVI.  

We are praying that you will take the appropriate steps and do your duty as a successor of the apostles to repair the damage done by this scandal. 

Sincerely in Christ,

Anthony Gonzales, President
St. Joseph’s Men Society
15732 Los Gatos Blvd. #303
Los Gatos, CA. 95032      

2 enclosures:

The Discipline Regarding the Denial of Holy Communion to Those Obstinately Persevering in Manifest Grave Sin: http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/holycom/denial.htm

Letter to Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19861001_homosexual-persons_en.html

Above, two “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” in their Catholic-mocking garb and make-up are photographed attending a mass offered by San Francisco Archbishiop George Niederauer, in the Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church. At bottom, the twisted “sisters” are seen receiving communion from the Archbishop. These photos were taken by a member of the St. Joseph’s Men Society, a conservative Catholic group.

By Peter LaBarbera 

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any wackier: on Sunday, just a week after the depraved, nudity-filled “Folsom Street Fair” in San Francisco, the city’s Archbishop, George Niederauer, has been photographed giving Communion to two Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in their mock “nun” outfits.

The “Sisters” are a group of men who dress up in outlandish outfits and white facial make-up mocking Catholic nuns and adopting blasphemous, sexualized names like “Sister Porn Again” and “Sister Roz Erection.” Their motto is “Go forth and sin some more!” While the group is detested by orthodox Catholics as epitomizing homosexual activists’ perverted anti-Catholic and anti-Christian bigotry, it is respected in San Francisco as a charity group that raises funds for causes like AIDS.

Every year, various “Sisters” greet attendees at the sadomasochist Folsom Street Fair (WARNING: BE PREPARED FOR GRAPHIC PHOTOS IN OUR PHOTO-STORY OF THIS YEAR’S “FAIR“), and the drag queen group is a “major beneficiary” of the funds raised at Folsom. This year, one “novice,” “Sister Bambi Dextrous” (see photo at right) at Folsom wore a “Bottom for Jesus” T-shirt, referring to the act of homosexual sodomy. “Bambi” said that he usually “tops,” but that he “bottoms for Him” (referring to Christ).

The photos above were taken at the Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in the city’s “gay”-dominated Castro district, by a member of St. Joseph’s Men Society, a conservative Catholic group based in San Jose.

“Bottom for Jesus” at this year’s Folsom Fair; photo: Americans For Truth

Most Holy Redeemer has a history of pushing the limits in its pro-homosexual activism – in clear violation of Roman Catholic Church teachings – including marching in this year’s San Francisco homosexual “pride” parade. The church also leased a hall to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence for its “Revival Bingo” games, where the drag queen “sisters” passed out porn DVDs and sex toys as prizes, until faithful Catholics protested and the lease was cancelled. Click HERE to watch a revealing YouTube video of the very “queer” ”Revival Bingo,” showing the “sisters” passing out porn and sex toys as prizes (WARNING: NOT FOR CHILDREN).

Allyson Smith, an analyst for Americans for Truth, commented, “San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer did not condemn the depravity of Folsom Street Fair, which occurred in front of one of his own parishes (St. Joseph’s on 10th Street), or the blasphemous antics of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence there. Yet one week later, he gave Holy Communion, which Catholics believe is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, to these same twisted ’sisters’ who were dressed in full drag costumes. This begs the question: Does Archbishop Niederauer approve of or identify with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and their sacrilegious and disordered homosexual behaviors? If so, then he is unfit to shepherd San Francisco Catholics and should be immediately removed from his post by Pope Benedict XVI.”

St. Joseph’s Men Society President Anthony Gonzales said, “The Roman Catholics of the San Francisco Bay Area are sick and tired of their ‘leaders’ kowtowing to the Homosexual Mafia. Archbishop Niederauer – in giving Holy Communion to known sodomites who not only practice this perversion but promote it – not only committed sacrilege but blasphemy.

“I doubt that even Judas would have done such a perverse thing as this,” Gonzales said. ”Not only did Niederauer sell out our Lord for human respect but deliberately crucified Him again within the very sanctuary of the Church that he was consecrated to protect. If Rome does not remove him immediately from his position and excommunicate him for this evil, then Rome itself becomes complicit in the crime. Enough is enough!”

Catholic activist Gary Morella, a member of the research faculty at Penn State University, added, “How can the apologists for Vatican II ignore the fact of Niederauer’s public sacrilege in giving Holy Communion to known sodomites who mock the faith?!”

____________________________

TAKE ACTION: Catholics and other concerned pro-family Americans are encouraged to voice their outrage at Archbishop George Niederauer’s action at info@sfarchdiocese.org.

Please cc the following people on your email to the Archbishop:

Auxiliary Bishop Ignatius Wang at wangi@sfarchdiocese.org
The Archbishop’s secretary at MillerL@sfarchdiocese.org.
The editor of Catholic San Francisco at morrisyoungd@sfarchdiocese.org
Communications Director for the Archdiocese of San Francisco at healym@sfarchdiocese.org

Or write to:

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco
One Peter Yorke Way
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 614-5500

His Excellency The Most Reverend Pietro Sambi
The Apostolic Nuncio to the United States
The Apostolic Nunciature
3339 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008-3687
phone: 202-333-7121
fax:     202-337-4036

Cardinal William J. Levada
Prefect
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
[Secretary: Most Rev. Archbishop Angelo Amato, S.D.B.]
Piazza del S. Uffizio 11
00l93 Rome, Italy
Europe
phone: 011.39.06.69.88.33.57
phone: 011.39.06.69.88.34.13
fax:      011.39.06.69.88.34.09
email:  cdf@cfaith.va
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/