Has the Catholic Church Lost Its Focus?

Has the has the Catholic Church lost its focus? The following article, which was part of a reading assignment in my Old Testament Theology class seems to suggest that.  

https://onepeterfive.com/gaia-church-love-the-earth-heaven-can-wait/

While I agree with the author that Pope Francis is not  the Anti-Christ, I also agree that he could do so much more to focus on eternal things such as getting to heaven and less on the temporal and transient things. 

Too often, I think that there is a related problem.  I  strongly believe that Pope Francis and even some of our  bishops are too worried about politics and not enough about getting people to heaven.  I honestly think that they try too hard not to be a church of "no". They are afraid to point out our sins such as homosexuality and abortion,  maybe because the people in the pews are experiencing those things. Instead of pointing out those sins,  I think that too often they look the other way when  Catholic politicians are not faithful and support those sins. The focus should be on getting to heaven.  We do that by repenting of our sins and asking for forgiveness, not by sweeping them under the carpet and hoping that nobody notices them. 

Back in June about 6 weeks before President Biden dropped out of the Presidential race, I sent the following letter to Archbishop Cardinal Gregory,  the  Archbishop of the Diocese of Washington DC, calling him out for looking the other way when,  Biden, a Catholic supported abortion and transgenderism.  

                 June  7, 2024

His Eminence 

Wilton Cardinal Gregory 

Archbishop of Washington DC 

PO Box 29260

Washington, DC 20017-0260

Your Eminence,  

I am a 5th Grade PSR (CCD)  teacher in the Diocese of Wichita. 

When we studied the Sacrament of the Eucharist,  the following questions came up...  

"For what reason should a Catholic not receive Communion? Why is this appropriate? What must a person in this state do in order to receive Communion again?"

The answer that our workbook contained was...

"Because they are in a state of mortal sin. If we are in the state of mortal sin and receive the Eucharist, we commit sacrilege, treating a sacred object unworthily, as if we don't care. Confession restores grace to the soul and purifies the soul for the Eucharist."

That goes with what Cannon 915 teaches...

"Can. 915 ...and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion."

What should I tell my students when they find out that you don't actually enforce this? In fact, you look the other way when Catholic politicians obstinately support abortion, same sex marriage, contraception use, and transgenderism.  

What am I talking about?  President Biden who ran for President on a pro abortion platform. The record shows that he is the most pro abortion president ever. Most recently at State of the Union he invoked the name of God when he said...

"My God, what freedom else would you take away?"

Then he made a promise to restore Roe v. Wade when he said... "If you — if you, the American people, send me a Congress that supports the right to choose, I promise you I will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again."   

More recently he declared Easter Sunday to be "Transgender Day of Visibility."  During a recent pro abortion rally in Florida,  Biden blessed himself making the Sign of the Cross (What a slap in the face.) and then doubled down on his promise to make abortion the law of the land.  He has also campaigned with the promise to reinstate the Contraception mandates, and is also requiring any insurer or physician receiving federal financial assistance to cover or provide sex-reassignment surgeries and therapies on the grounds that refusal to do so would constitute discrimination based on sex. 

And your response, Cardinal Gregory...

To go on the CBS news show  "Face the Nation " and assert 

that President Joe Biden “picks and chooses” elements of the Catholic faith to follow, that he is “sincere” in his faith but he refuses to engage with some of the “challenging” aspects of it. 

Did you go far enough? Probably not. You could do more.  

In May 2022, Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone decided to bar Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi from Communion in the San Francisco Archdiocese. Cordileone invoked canon 915 writing that a "Catholic legislator who supports procured abortion, after knowing the teaching of the Church, commits a manifestly grave sin which is a cause of most serious scandal to others. 

Your silence and inaction are scandalous.  

You have two jobs here:

1. You must protect the Sanctity of the Holy Eucharist.  By looking  the other way, you bring scandal upon yourself and upon the Church.  That's because Biden  is obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin by supporting procured abortion. Jesus didn't look the other way when he told a woman accused of adultery: He told her... "Go, [and] from now on do not sin any more."

What are faithful Catholics sitting in the pews supposed to think when you look the other way? What are faithful Catholics supposed to think when you ingore Cannon Law? 

Can they "pick and choose" what they want to believe? Looks like they are already doing that!

While the Catholic Church itself holds that abortion is wrong and should not be legal, 6 in 10 U.S. adult Catholics say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to a newly released profile of Catholicism by Pew Research.

Pew reports that many U.S. Catholics would welcome more change. Some 83% say they want the church to allow the use of contraception, 69% say priests should be allowed to get married, 64% say women should be allowed to become priests, and 54% say the Catholic Church should recognize same-sex marriage. No wonder only one third of Catholics believe in the Real Presence.  What are they supposed to think when the leaders of their church fail to defend the Eucharist? 

2. Your other job is to get to heaven and take as many people who you can with you. How are Biden (and all of those other Catholics who are picking and choosing) supposed to get to heaven when they are allowed to receive Holy Communion while in a state of mortal sin? Are they  committing sacrilege as my workbook suggests? 

What a teaching moment, Cardinal Gregory! You need to do the same thing  that Nancy Pelosi's Archbishop did with her. Invoke Cannon 915. Once Biden has made a good Confession and  promised to avoid the near occasion of sin, he could  receive Communion again.  

In the meantime,  what am I supposed to tell my 5th graders?

Sincerely,  

Terry Brennan 

Is Trump Still Pro-Life?

 Donald Trump,  in his first term, was one of the most Pro-life  Presidents in U.S  history. 

But is he still pro-life? 

I am Catholic.  I am pro-life! From the moment of conception I  believe that what is in the womb is a human being.  It is never okay to kill any human being no matter what their stage of life.  I would like to see a law where abortion would never be allowed.  But that's not what most Americans believe.  The country is divided. 

In the latest Knights of Columbus Marist Poll, 58`percent of the respondents were pro choice and 40 percent were pro-life. Nine percent of Americans agree with me that abortion should never be allowed. Twenty-nine percent are at the other extreme that abortion should be available to a woman anytime she wants one during her entire pregnancy.  Most Americans fall somewhere in the middle.  They want abortions  but with restrictions such as allowing them  only during the first six months, allowing them only  during the first three months,  allowing them only in cases of rape or incest,  or allowing them only to save the life of the mother. 

Past history has shown that Trump is pro-life. He even takes credit for appointing Supreme Court Justice who overturned Roe v. Wade, saying that he was “proudly the person responsible for the ending” of the constitutional right to an abortion.
But this year he and the Republican Party are taking a more moderate approach. Trump, who has advocated for a national 15 week abortion ban has now backed down from that position instead suggesting that we leave it up to the states and the will of the people. 

That's because taking an approach that is too extreme possibly hurts conservatives and pro-lifers at the ballot box where pro-lifers are losing. It would be political suicide.

They’ve been defeated in every state referendum so far, and Republicans fear a backlash in support of abortion rights will hurt GOP candidates, too, possibly costing the party the presidential contest. We know that all too well here in Kansas. We lost the Value Them Both  amendment  and had a pro-abortion government re-elected in 2022.

After Republicans' disappointing performance in the 2022 midterm elections, Trump complained that his party's candidates had "lost large numbers of Voters" because they "poorly handled" the "abortion issue," especially when they "firmly insisted on No Exceptions." Republican politicians who share Trump's concern were relieved when he helped neutralize this electoral liability by accepting a wide range of state policies.

Trump urged the GOP lawmakers not to run away from the abortion debate, a posture that he said cost Republicans as many as 40 seats in the midterm elections, one source in the room told CNN.
“Republicans are so afraid of the issue,” Trump said, according to the source.
He emphasized the importance of supporting exceptions for rape, incest and the health of the mother – a call to neutralize Democratic attacks that have framed his party as “extreme” on reproductive rights

Pro-lifers have been critical of Trump.  Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, was "deeply disappointed" by Trump's position, while Live Action founder Lila Rose flatly declared that "President Trump is not a pro-life candidate."

Even if Trump moved only to rescind President Joe Biden’s wave of executive actions on abortion access and reimplement his own first-term actions, the effect would likely be far greater in the absence of federal protections for the procedure.

Among Trump allies, there’s no expectation he’d follow a different path from the one trod during his first four years.

Among the abortion actions that Trump has vowed to reimplement and reenforce, is reviving the so-called Mexico City policy. The Reagan-era rule restricts foreign nongovernmental organizations that receive assistance from the US from providing abortion services or information. Under an expansion of the policy under Trump, groups were barred from providing any abortion care, even with non-US funds, lest they risk losing American support altogether.

It was one of several key anti-abortion actions the Trump administration executed on the global stage.

Biden rescinded the policy in his first days in office.

A second Trump term would also put back in place and expand restrictions on Title X grants – federal funds for public and nonprofit groups that provide family planning.

While that funding is already barred from being used to pay for abortion clinics, the Trump administration’s restrictions sharply curtailed the number of providers who utilized the program – by more than 25%, per some estimates provided by abortion rights groups. “His first term was disastrous for reproductive rights and freedoms — including devastating changes to Title X which left far too many people without access to essential sexual and reproductive health care,” Julie Lewis, the director of public policy at Planned Parenthood Votes, told CNN. “A second term would be catastrophic for freedom and liberty.”

The Trump administration also took several actions to undermine the Affordable Care Act, which provides coverage for preventative services and birth control for millions of women, and it slashed hundreds of millions of dollars from the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program at the HHS.

Resurrecting these actions in a second Trump term would almost entirely be up to the discretion of whomever he appoints to lead the relevant federal agencies.

There are some pro-lifers who still support Trump. “He’s a pro-life president,” former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway told Fox News days after Trump released his statement on Truth Social. “I believe he’ll be a pro-life president in the future also.”

Pro-lifers upset with Trump have mistaken their situation. Since The Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, the rules have changed. The landscape has changed They’re not missing an opportunity to declare a universal right to life; they’re rather in a pitched battle to stop the other side from re-establishing a universal right to abortion.

It’s a battle they’ll lose without allies like Trump. Pro-lifers need Trump. What's important is that Republicans save the nation first.  Trump  understands that. He's being realistic.
He can do them no good if he doesn't get re-elected. He can do them no good if we don't  increase our majority in the House.  He can do them no good if he doesn't take back the Senate.

That’s what Frank Pavone of Priests For Life says in this video. Lets concentrate on getting back in power first. Even though our ultimate goal is to get to a point where there are no abortions. Lets save the nation first. The country is divided.  I showed you that above. Once we take back control of the country then we  let the will  of the people determine the policy on abortion

https://www.youtube.com/live/KgikKOQppp8?si=opBNRnDZhMf9_DhV

In this video Frank Pavone and  Bishop Joseph Strickland discuss the issue.  They come to the conclusion that although it's important that our end goal be no abortions we must get there incrementally.  To use a football analogy,  go for the first down, instead of the touchdown.

https://youtu.be/vD42HRqNCxI?si=kkOtsry4cfyKA56f

That makes sense to me. It took us 50 years overturn Roe v. Wade.  Is Trump pro-life?  I think so but he's also realistic.

Why Catholics Can't Vote For A Pro-abortion Candidate

 

Why Catholics can't vote for a pro abortion candidate, and why  I still support Donald Trump.

Back in 2016 I wrote an article.

"From a Catholic Perspective: Why I support Donald Trump"

In 2020 I updated it and posted it on my blog.  You can read it here...
https://terrysbits.blogspot.com/2021/03/from-catholic-perspective-why-i-support.html

Donald Trump lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden and is running against his Vice-President Kamala Harris this year and I still support Donald Trump.  Here's why...

The issue comes up every election season.  What does the Catholic Church teach on Voting? One of my favorite priests, Fr Chris Alar with the the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception answers the following questions.  Do we have a moral obligation to vote? Are there Non-negotiable Voting Issues?  What is the Preeminent Voting Issue? You can watch the video here...

https://youtu.be/gn_C8lRwY_w?si=sBxQXhDQGrlY59-R

Do we have an obligation to vote?
The answer is yes. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church...
2240 Submission to authority and co-responsibility for the common good make it morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend one's country:

Are there Non-negotiable Voting Issues?
Yes, Pope Benedict gave us three. 

1. The Dignity of Life
Abortion
Euthanasia
Stem Cell Research

2. Sanctity of Marriage Between a Man and a Woman

3. Preservation of Religious Liberty

All other issues are considered negotiable. Issues such Immigration,  The Economy,  Racism,  Healthcare,  and the Environment are important but how a candidate stands on the Non-negotiable Issues is determines worthiness. 

Doesn't that mean that as Catholics, we're Single issue voters? Not at all. Some issues can disqualify a candidate.  For instance if a candidate was a member of the  KKK or a Neo-Natzi, but promised to fix the Economy,  Healthcare Immigration  and the Environment.  His involvement in the KKK or as a Neo-Nazi would surely disqualify that candidate.  The Non-negotiable issues are intrinsically evil.  They can never be justified.

The Church teaches that if there is a viable option for a political candidate, meaning one who supports one or more of the Non-negotiable you have a moral obligation to vote.  Personal moral  character is not important, but it is the stated commitment to public policy in keeping with the common good of the Non-negotiables which is most significant. 

What if all the candidates are unworthy? Then you must choose the one who is most supportive of the Non-negotiables. First you vote on Non-negotiables and only then, evaluate their views on the other issues such as Environment. Healthcare, Economy,  etc.
We are not voting to canonize these candidates but to give them temporary power to do the will of God. 

Formal Cooperation with evil would be:
• directly doing an abortion
• Driving someone to,an abortion clinic
• Paying for an abortion
• Murdering someone
Remote or material cooperation with evil would be shopping at a store that you find out supports  abortion/Planned Parenthood. 

Ratzinger  tells us that a Catholic would be guilty of Formal Cooperation in evil if they deliberately vote for a candidate because of the candidate's permissive stand on abortion or euthanasia.  But votes that candidate for other reasons would be considered  Remote Material Cooperation which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons are not your feelings.  "I don't like the way this candidate looks." A proportionate reason cannot be found in comparing Non-negotiables with negotiables. You can't say: "Yeah,  I know that they are pro life and they defend marriage,  but they are racist, or they are hurting Healthcare or they are not worried about the economy."
You cannot put negotiable issues in proportionate reasons above Non-negotiable Issues.  It doesn't mean that those issues aren't important.  They are. But how to fix them is negotiable.  There is no time that you can allow Non-negotiables!  They are always wrong.  Only comparing two candidates regarding Non-negotiable reasons establishes a proportionate reason.

What is the Preeminent Voting Issue?
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) tells us that abortion is the preeminent issue among the Non-negotiables.  It can never be allowed!
All of the single issues (Healthcare,  Environment,  Economy,  immigration and even racism) depend on the most fundamental human right, the right to life.

We are obligated to inform our consciences and then follow it. St Thomas Aquinas says that we have to follow our conscience or we can be condemned.  Conscience is the activity of your intellect judging actions as right or wrong.  Feelings don't matter.  Conscience is the voice of truth.  Not your feelings.  Your opinion has to be in harmony with the truth.  I can't have an opinion contrary to the truth. My opinions can't be... "Well, I'm going to vote for this guy even though the truth of the matter is  that he stands for everything that's wrong."

Conscience only works when we inform it. When we learn the moral truth.  As a Catholic,  how do you do that?  The Magisterium gives us the Catechism but tells us what the moral issues are and why they are based on scripture.

You don't have to vote for a person who is pro-life, but you may not vote for a candidate who supports abortion.  Voting for a pro abortion candidate can be a mortal sin.  Do not vote on party affiliation lines or appearances. Don't vote for someone just because they say that they are Catholic.  Don't vote on you own interests or opinions. Don't vote for those candidates who support the lesser issues but don't  support the Non-negotiables. 

We are Catholics first, Americans second,  and Democrats or Republicans third.

The abortion stance is not new. It goes back to the first century.  Letter of St. Barnabas. 
Chapter 19

"You shall not slay the child by procuring abortion; nor, again, shall you destroy it after it is born."


Deuteronomy 30:19
"I call heaven and earth today to witness against you. I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live,"



At this point I will emphasize that The Catholic Church is not trying to tell us what political party to belong to or vote for. Their job is to simply help us form our consciences. As most Catholic Bishops will tell you, it is not their duty to tell you for whom to vote, but they do have an obligation to speak out on moral issues. In 2012 the Catholic bishops of Kansas said: 

“The Church has a constitutional right, like other organizations, to express its viewpoint on matters of public policy. However, the Catholic Church is not a political interest group. Rather than instructing Catholics who to vote for, the Church’s role in the political process is to illuminate the moral dimension of the various political issues, and to form the consciences of Catholics so that they can make morally informed judgments as both voters and elected officials


Now let's apply this to the upcoming election.
Let's take a look at the Candidates and see how they stack up against the Non-negotiable Issues. 

The Dignity of Life

As I said four years ago...
Joe Biden claims to be Catholic, but goes against the teachings of the church. He supports abortion. President Biden ran for President on a pro abortion platform. The record shows that he is the most pro abortion president ever. At State of the Union he invoked the name of God when he said...
"My God, what freedom else would you take away?"
Then he made a promise to restore Roe v. Wade when he said... "If you — if you, the American people, send me a Congress that supports the right to choose, I promise you I will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again."    
During a recent pro abortion rally in Florida,  Biden blessed himself making the Sign of the Cross and then doubled down on his promise to make abortion the law of the land. 

Actions speak louder than words.  Here are a couple of articles about Biden's executive orders reversing Trump's pro life policy. 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/28/politics/biden-abortion-executive-orders/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/28/politics/biden-abortion-executive-orders/index.html

Also, a White House briefing bragging about Biden's pro abortion policies. 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/03/07/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-continues-the-fight-for-reproductive-freedom/

HARRIS AND WALZ ARE ALSO  EXTREME ON ABORTION. 

Since I wrote this,  Biden has dropped out of the race.  Harris has disenfranchised 14 million Democrat voters, taking over as the party's nominee.  She is just as extreme as Biden.  She has promised to restore Roe v Wade even if it means eliminating the filibuster. 

https://www.npr.org/2024/09/23/nx-s1-5123955/kamala-harris-abortion-roe-v-wade-filibuster

And Harris’s selection of Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate doubles down on her extreme strategy to put abortion at the top of the ticket. The Harris-Walz ticket is the most pro-abortion in U.S. history, openly advocating for zero regulations on abortion and even denying healthcare to babies who survive abortions. 

In Minnesota, Walz removed a requirement for doctors to report cases where babies survived abortions, an act so extreme that even former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) advised him to tone it down — advice he publicly rejected.

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4837181-harris-walz-abortion-issue/

Check out some of her lies about abortion.


https://americafirstpolicy.com/issues/kamala-harriss-extreme-abortion-policies-hurt-women

Earlier this year she went as far as to visit a Planned Parenthood clinic.


https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2024/08/kamalas-abortion-extremism







TRUMP IS PRO-LIFE!



Meanwhile Trump was probably the most pro life  presidents ever. He was the first president to attend at the March For Life. You can see his speech  here...

https://youtu.be/3RjuADPBo-Q?si=xa9XF4F-0Ej6xLOM

Once again,  actions speak louder than words and Trump has a record to run on. Check out the list of pro life accomplishments as noted by Priests For Life. 


https://www.priestsforlife.org/elections/trump-prolife-accomplishments.aspx


This article from the National Catholic Register also does  a great job of summarizing Trump's accomplishments...

https://www.ncregister.com/news/trump-pro-life-legacy

The Truth About Abortion - What is in the Womb?

 

As I  write this,  it's been a little over a week since the Value Them Both amendment was defeated.  I wrote the following on election night...

I am disappointed that we lost the Value Them Both vote tonight.  But it will not ruin my day. I will keep on fighting, till the day I die,  just like I  have every other day prior to this. In fact it will make me work harder. We have to. We may have lost the battle but we didn't lose the war. We've  been fighting this battle for many years.  We're used  to it.

When my Ohio State Buckeyes give up a touchdown on the opening drive,  they don’t give up. They get up off the ground and keep fighting. Eventually, they win the game!

God has a plan! I don't know what it is. What I do know is that in the end we win. Just like my Buckeyes, I too will get up off the ground and continue to fight. I don't know how long it will take, but I'm ready to do what it takes.

It's just a matter of getting there. Someone has to take a stand for the unborn baby in the womb who has no voice!

Anyone with me?

Why do I fight? Let me ask you this. If there is something that you are so passionate about that you know it is true?  Did you remain silent or did you feel like you had to shout it out to the whole world? Was this cause so important that perhaps you could make a difference, and maybe even save the lives of others?

If you are silent about your beliefs because you are worried someone will be offended, then your beliefs are not that important to you, but rather what people think about you is. When you stand up for what's right and true, you will receive both hate and love, but everyone will know what you are fighting for.

In this country we have the freedom to speak up and express our opinions about things that are important to us, even if others may not agree. People in other countries don’t always have what we call “freedom of speech”. We should not take this right lightly. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” 

To me, Abortion is one of those issues. When discussing abortion, what   everyone avoids is the discussion of what is in the womb.  Basic science tells me  that its a human being.  Catholic doctrine  and the Bible tell me that its wrong  to kill any human being no matter what the stage of development. 

Go back to your basic science and answer two questions. 
What  is in the womb?
What is abortion?
If you can answer honestly answer those questions looking at the science of human development, looking at photos of  preborn babies in the womb, watching videos of doctors describing abortion, and  looking at pictures of aborted babies and then honestly answer those questions, I can almost guarantee that you will be pro life.

Fr. Frank Pavone of "Priests for Life" says that America will not reject abortion until America sees abortion. That is my goal.  To go back to the roots, define the issue, and show America the truth of what abortion is. 

I am willing to have that discussion with anyone as a Facebook  Messenger or email.

The sad thing is that those who support abortion rights use linguistic gimmickry, changing definitions,  to avoid answering the questions and to dehumanize what's in the womb

They call abortion a choice, a right,  or a medical decision about their body but they don't tell us what that  choice, right or decision is.  And when you ask them,  you are the bad guy,  you are stupid,  or you are playing games with them. 

They use terms like fetus (which is actually a stage of human development), clump of cells, or parasite to define what's inside the womb while ignoring terms like human and baby.

Most importantly, they ignore the right to life of the developing human being as a separate, and unique individual with its own DNA and body parts. 

Recently I had a discussion with someone on Facebook.  A Facebook friend of mine posted the following...

"Women have spoken,  our body is our choice!  The Government,  rather Federal  or State  can't make our Decisions for us!
So I asked the question...
"The choice to do what. "
A friend of hers answered...
"To make a medical decision between a woman and her Dr that is not anyone else's business."
I asked...
"What is that medical decision? A medical decision to do what?"
He answered...
"Have you been in a coma for the past 6 months or do you have early onset dementia? Legit question since I need to know if I have to sit you down and explain like I would my 4yr old granddaughter.
My reply...
"Just answer my question.  The choice to do what? What is that medical decision? "
He answered...
"Not playing your game go try to rope someone else in."
My reply...
"I'm not playing games.  I'm trying to get you to engage in an honest discussion based on facts, which you seem unwilling to do. Usually when someone asks a question you don't answer it with another question.  Seems like you are the one playing games.  I'll answer it for you.  Is it the right to have an abortion?  My next question...what is an abortion?"
His answer...
"An abortion is the removal of a mass of parasitic cells
A mass of parasitic cells that if allowed to continue to grow may or may not form into a baby

My  reply...
"That's not what medical science says...
Life Begins at Fertilization
The following references illustrate the fact that a new human embryo, the starting point for a human life, comes into existence with the formation of the one-celled zygote:

"Development of the embryo begins at Stage 1 when a sperm fertilizes an oocyte and together they form a zygote."
[England, Marjorie A. Life Before Birth. 2nd ed. England: Mosby-Wolfe, 1996, p.31]

"Human development begins after the union of male and female gametes or germ cells during a process known as fertilization (conception).
"Fertilization is a sequence of events that begins with the contact of a sperm (spermatozoon) with a secondary oocyte (ovum) and ends with the fusion of their pronuclei (the haploid nuclei of the sperm and ovum) and the mingling of their chromosomes to form a new cell. This fertilized ovum, known as a zygote, is a large diploid cell that is the beginning, or primordium, of a human being."
[Moore, Keith L. Essentials of Human Embryology. Toronto: B.C. Decker Inc, 1988, p.2]

"Embryo: the developing organism from the time of fertilization until significant differentiation has occurred, when the organism becomes known as a fetus."
[Cloning Human Beings. Report and Recommendations of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission. Rockville, MD: GPO, 1997, Appendix-2.]

"Embryo: An organism in the earliest stage of development; in a man, from the time of conception to the end of the second month in the uterus."
[Dox, Ida G. et al. The Harper Collins Illustrated Medical Dictionary. New York: Harper Perennial, 1993, p. 146]

"Embryo: The early developing fertilized egg that is growing into another individual of the species. In man the term 'embryo' is usually restricted to the period of development from fertilization until the end of the eighth week of pregnancy."
[Walters, William and Singer, Peter (eds.). Test-Tube Babies. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1982, p. 160]

"The development of a human being begins with fertilization, a process by which two highly specialized cells, the spermatozoon from the male and the oocyte from the female, unite to give rise to a new organism, the zygote."
[Langman, Jan. Medical Embryology. 3rd edition. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1975, p. 3]

"Embryo: The developing individual between the union of the germ cells and the completion of the organs which characterize its body when it becomes a separate organism.... At the moment the sperm cell of the human male meets the ovum of the female and the union results in a fertilized ovum (zygote), a new life has begun.... The term embryo covers the several stages of early development from conception to the ninth or tenth week of life."
[Considine, Douglas (ed.). Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia. 5th edition. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1976, p. 943]

"I would say that among most scientists, the word 'embryo' includes the time from after fertilization..."
[Dr. John Eppig, Senior Staff Scientist, Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, Maine) and Member of the NIH Human Embryo Research Panel -- Panel Transcript, February 2, 1994, p. 31]

"The development of a human begins with fertilization, a process by which the spermatozoon from the male and the oocyte from the female unite to give rise to a new organism, the zygote."
[Sadler, T.W. Langman's Medical Embryology. 7th edition. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins 1995, p. 3]

"The question came up of what is an embryo, when does an embryo exist, when does it occur. I think, as you know, that in development, life is a continuum.... But I think one of the useful definitions that has come out, especially from Germany, has been the stage at which these two nuclei [from sperm and egg] come together and the membranes between the two break down."
[Jonathan Van Blerkom of University of Colorado, expert witness on human embryology before the NIH Human Embryo Research Panel -- Panel Transcript, February 2, 1994, p. 63]

"Zygote. This cell, formed by the union of an ovum and a sperm (Gr. zyg tos, yoked together), represents the beginning of a human being. The common expression 'fertilized ovum' refers to the zygote."
[Moore, Keith L. and Persaud, T.V.N. Before We Are Born: Essentials of Embryology and Birth Defects. 4th edition. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company, 1993, p. 1]

"The chromosomes of the oocyte and sperm are...respectively enclosed within female and male pronuclei. These pronuclei fuse with each other to produce the single, diploid, 2N nucleus of the fertilized zygote. This moment of zygote formation may be taken as the beginning or zero time point of embryonic development."
[Larsen, William J. Human Embryology. 2nd edition. New York: Churchill Livingstone, 1997, p. 17]

"Although life is a continuous process, fertilization is a critical landmark because, under ordinary circumstances, a new, genetically distinct human organism is thereby formed.... The combination of 23 chromosomes present in each pronucleus results in 46 chromosomes in the zygote. Thus the diploid number is restored and the embryonic genome is formed. The embryo now exists as a genetic unity."
[O'Rahilly, Ronan and M�ller, Fabiola. Human Embryology & Teratology. 2nd edition. New York: Wiley-Liss, 1996, pp. 8, 29. This textbook lists "pre-embryo" among "discarded and replaced terms" in modern embryology, describing it as "ill-defined and inaccurate" (p. 12}]

"Almost all higher animals start their lives from a single cell, the fertilized ovum (zygote)... The time of fertilization represents the starting point in the life history, or ontogeny, of the individual."
[Carlson, Bruce M. Patten's Foundations of Embryology. 6th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996, p. 3]

"[A]nimal biologists use the term embryo to describe the single cell stage, the two-cell stage, and all subsequent stages up until a time when recognizable humanlike limbs and facial features begin to appear between six to eight weeks after fertilization....
"[A] number of specialists working in the field of human reproduction have suggested that we stop using the word embryo to describe the developing entity that exists for the first two weeks after fertilization. In its place, they proposed the term pre-embryo....
"I'll let you in on a secret. The term pre-embryo has been embraced wholeheartedly by IVF practitioners for reasons that are political, not scientific. The new term is used to provide the illusion that there is something profoundly different between what we nonmedical biologists still call a six-day-old embryo and what we and everyone else call a sixteen-day-old embryo.
"The term pre-embryo is useful in the political arena -- where decisions are made about whether to allow early embryo (now called pre-embryo) experimentation -- as well as in the confines of a doctor's office, where it can be used to allay moral concerns that might be expressed by IVF patients. 'Don't worry,' a doctor might say, 'it's only pre-embryos that we're manipulating or freezing. They won't turn into real human embryos until after we've put them back into your body.'"
[Silver, Lee M. Remaking Eden: Cloning and Beyond in a Brave New World. New York: Avon Books, 1997, p. 39]


I continued...
here's some more basic science for you.  

Prenatal development is the process in which an embryo or fetus (or fetus) gestates during pregnancy. Normal prenatal development lasts about 38 weeks and is divided into three stages: germinal, embryonic, and fetal. During these three stages of gestation, the original single-celled zygote develops into an embryo and then fetus

Zygote 0-2 weeks
Embryo 3-8 weeks
Fetus 9-weeks to birth

After birth
Infancy (neonate and up to one year age)
Toddler ( one to five years of age)
Childhood (three to eleven years old) - early childhood is from three to eight years old, and middle childhood is from nine to eleven years old.
Adolescence or teenage (from 12 to 18 years old)
Adulthood.

His response...
"We can go back and forth all day is why my statement of I am not playing your stupid game. I can cite medical journals that state otherwise more recent ones to be exact. You are not going to get me to change my mind or anyone else for that matter so just leave it alone we voted and you lost."
My reply...
"then cite one for me. Don't just say it.  Prove it. Show me the quote or give  me the link that shows all of my sources are wrong.  Once again I'm not playing games here. It seems like you are. Maybe you can't handle the truth. "

He never did respond or cite any medical journals. I continued...

Here are some amazing photos of those babies in the womb.  With modern science we actually have a window to the womb. With  a laparoscopic camera we get great pictures.  We actually know what's in the womb and it's not a mass of parasitic cells.  Its actually a growing and developing human being. Check them out.  That's what you want women to have a choice to make a medical decision to have dismembered,  decapitated,  and ripped from the womb. 
https://www.priestsforlife.org/graphic-images/?gid=1&sid=1

what's amazing is that we've had that technology to take pictures of the growing and developing baby for a long time.  Check out the cover of Life Magazine from April 30 1965.  Sure doesn't look like a mass of parasitic cells.

that science also gives us another window to the womb. It's no guessing that it's a human being.  With the development of the 3d and 4d  ultrasound medical science makes sure that we don't have to guess at what we're looking at.  It sure looks like a growing and developing baby to me.  Check out this remarkable video.

https://youtu.be/WH9ZJu4wRUE

That's the science! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see it. From the moment of conception/fertilization, we know beyond a doubt that what's in the womb is human. When has it ever been okay to kill another human being? But that's what our society does.  Why? For political reasons? Since 1973  there have been 63 million babies aborted in the United States.  When have you ever seen the science in the newspaper or on the nightly news?  The mainstream media refuses to give us a platform to educate Americans. Let's get the word out. Share this information with everyone you know.  Let's open up that window to the womb so America can see it. 

Yellow Journalism - Kansas City Star prints hit piece from Kansas Senator attacking Catholic Church

 Less than a week before the August 2nd primary in Kansas,  the Kansas City Star printed a an op-ed from Kansas Senator Cindy Holscher that amounted to yellow journalism. What's obvious is that Cindy couldn't make the case against the Value Them Both amendment. How could she? How does anyone support the intentional dismemberment, decapitation,  and ripping an innocent baby from the womb?  You can't. So she changed the subject.  A classic case of whataboutism.  Instead,  even though she tells us that she has "no quarrel with members of the Catholic Church," she writes a hit piece attacking the Catholic Church.  Here is her letter...after that you can read the response that I sent to her.

Kansas Constitutional Amendment on Abortion is a Bailout for the Church

Does your church have a lobbyist? I posed a similar question in social media last week. I suppose during my time in Topeka, I’ve grown accustomed to seeing lobbyists who work for certain religious organizations and affiliations, but overwhelmingly, regular taxpayers seemed to be unaware of this activity. Some who replied to me indicated the very idea seems inappropriate given the separation of church and state.

Over the past few years, certain lobbyist groups in Kansas have been extremely focused on forwarding the constitutional amendment on the Aug. 2 ballot dubbed “Value Them Both,” which would allow the Legislature to ban abortion. Lobbyists for the Kansas Catholic Conference, Kansans for Life and Kansas Family Voice have had a consistent presence in the Capitol the past several sessions. Having a church building with an oversize banner supporting the amendment and offices directly across the street from the Capitol allows for easy access to legislators, along with a constant reminder of their agenda. Mind you, this is all perfectly legal — although some would contend that’s only because state statutes have special carve-outs and loopholes allowing it. The bigger issue, though, is that many people — including parishioners of the Catholic Church — seem surprised to hear of this. Some voice concern about how their offerings to the church have been spent.

To say the movement to ban abortions in Kansas has been fueled by the Catholic Church is no overstatement. The Sunflower State Journal noted several main funders:
▪ The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas gave approximately $2.5 million to the campaign this year. Last year, it contributed close to $500,000. On the Vine A weekly conversation between The Kansas City Star and the minority communities it serves, bringing you the news and cultural insights from across the Kansas City region and abroad, straight to your inbox every Thursday. SIGN UP This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
▪ The Catholic Diocese of Wichita contributed $550,000 this year, and the Kansas Catholic Conference added another $275,000.
▪ Kansans for Life provided close to $325,000.
▪ The Catholic Diocese of Salina and St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Leawood each contributed $100,000.

The Legislature currently has the power to pose limits on abortion. To date, there are dozens of restrictions. What the Legislature can’t do is ban the procedure, as the Kansas Constitution currently guarantees access. That’s what this amendment is about, contrary to the confusing language that appears on the ballot. Here is what’s interesting, though: More than half the membership of the Catholic Church believes abortion should be legal. So why has the church invested so much in this effort? The answer appears to be finances. Consider this:
▪ Over the past decade, the Catholic Church has lost substantial membership, dropping by nearly 20% since 2000, according to the Catholic News Agency.
▪ The church has paid out close to $4 billion in sexual abuse settlements involving priests. Of course, there are more cases out there.
▪ The church is “going broke” in the U.S., as a Catholic News Agency analysis recently put it. The long-term financial health of many parishes across the country is in question as people leave the church. This is not a sustainable path for any organization, let alone a denomination that enjoys opulent buildings and a massive, top-heavy hierarchy that is dependent upon strong incoming revenue.

The church has been relying on handouts to continue its power establishment, including receiving more than $1.4 billion in aid through the federal Paycheck Protection Program. Additionally, lobbyists in Kansas tied to the church work to divert taxpayer money from public schools to their private facilities. And then there’s the topic of abortion. What could that have to do with finances? It has to be a major challenge for the church to retain members with messaging about banning abortion when half its congregation believes it should be legal and accessible. Loss of membership means fewer people in the pews and a loss of revenue. If the church gets the government to ban abortion, it doesn’t run the risk of continuing to lose members by consistently bringing the topic up. It’s a government bailout.

BILL TO HELP SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIMS BLOCKED
Here’s something else you should know. A few years ago, I introduced a bill to update the statute of limitations (which is currently very narrow) for civil cases for survivors of childhood sexual assault. The person who chairs the committee the bill has been assigned to is state Sen. Kellie Warren, a Catholic. Additionally, the lobbyist for the Kansas Catholic Conference has voiced concern regarding the “impact” on the church if it should pass. My bill — S.B. 420, which would help dozens of survivors of childhood sexual violence pursue justice — has never been granted a hearing. Coincidence? I think not, especially considering the staggering amount of power the church wields at the state house.

Please know, I have no quarrel with members of the Catholic Church — or any church, for that matter. I do have a problem with a church using its outsize, top-heavy power structure to force its belief system on everyone while looking for government hand-outs to do it. And, guess what? Most of its rational members also have a problem with that.

There are many reasons to vote no on this amendment. One of the most compelling being the fact the government already provides unparalleled support to churches through their tax exempt status. In Kansas, roughly 18% of the population is Catholic. Getting the entire state to confirm to church doctrine would be a huge win. And that brings us to the final reason to vote against this amendment: No state or body of citizens in a democracy should have the religious doctrine of one faith imposed upon them. Period.

Value them both? No, this is the church valuing its bottom line. Don’t fall for it.

Cindy Holscher represents District 8 in the Kansas Senate.

Read more at: https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/readers-opinion/guest- commentary/article263915311.htm

Here is my response which I emailed to Senator Holscher.  She hasn't replied,  and I don't really expect a reply from her. 

You owe the Catholics in your district an apology for the hit piece that you did against our Church.  I am offended. As an elected representative I hold you to a higher standard.  You need to do the research and  check the facts before you write this type of yellow journalism.

Senator  Cindy Holscher  said the following...
"Some who replied to me indicated the very idea seems inappropriate given the separation of church and state."

Actually,  that doesn't exist.  The words separation of church and state are not in the US Constitution.  Go back  and read the 1st Amendment. 

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"

In other words, Congress can't promote one religion over another.  We can't have a state religion such as the Church of England. Also, Congress can't restrict religious practices. As Christians our faith isn't limited to the walls of the church.  We take our religious practices into the public square.  The First Amendment guarantees freedoms concerning religion, expression, assembly, and the right to petition.

As Christians  religious freedom isn't just going to church on Sundays.  We are taught to practice our faith everyday outside of the church walls.  You don't have to have the same beliefs,  but the US Constitution says that you have to let me practice them. 

There is so much that government does to take away our religious freedoms. Its more than just abortion. What she doesn't tell us that faith and politics do come together. I want someone fighting for my right to practice my faith when it does come together with politics.    She doesn't tell us what are what other issues that The Kansas Catholic Conference prioritizes. Why?  Because this is a hit piece against the Catholic Church and it's pro life beliefs. 

The Kansas Catholic Conference

Founded in December of 1967 by Kansas’ Catholic bishops, the Kansas Catholic Conference serves as the official voice of the Catholic Church in Kansas on matters of public policy. The Conference operates at the intersection of faith and politics. By applying Catholic moral principles to the important political questions of the day, the Conference strives to ensure that citizens and elected officials evaluate public policy options in light of a moral framework that transcends party affiliation or partisan politics.

Priorities of

1. Protect Human Life from conception until natural death

2. Religious Liberty - do you think its okay for government to require doctors or pharmacists to provide services that go against their beliefs?
Bakeries and florists have been forced to  provide services for events that go against their religious beliefs.  Do you  think that is okay?  What about our freedom of speech.  We've already seen those rights trampled in social media. What ever happened to having an honest discussion. Will government trample on those rights just because they disagree with our religion?

3. Marriage and Family -  Catholics and many other Christians believe that same sex marriage are wrong. We believe that families are stronger with a mother and a father,  but more and more  same sex marriage is forced upon us.

4. Education-School Choice

5. Healthcare

6. Immigration

7. Poor and Vulnerable

She is critical of the Catholic Church and it's tax exempt status.  What she fails to tell you is all of the good that the Catholic Church does.  For instance did you know that the Catholic Church is one of the largest charitable organizations not only in the United States but also in the world.  Locally, we have homeless shelters, a food bank,  a soup kitchen....the Lord's Dinner which provides a meal every night of the year and over a million meals served in its history,  a medical clinic...the Guadalupe Clinic providing thousands of visits every year,  Catholic Charities who provide resources, adoption services,  and counseling for families in need, crisis pregnancy centers to assist  pregnant  women  with baby supplies ultrasounds, and prenatal care,  hospitals that also provide charitable services, a baby supplies  warehouse, and schools...etc. the list goes on...recently the mens group at my local church just completed a week with our annual fireworks tent earning thousands of dollars that we donate to charities - see the  photo showing some of the many causes that we support.  During Lent, we had a food drive at our parish where we collected and donated 3,600 lbs of food including 300 lbs of ground beef. Efforts similar to those are replicated  in every parish and diocese. What would be the cost of government providing those services?


She also is critical of the Catholic Church and  it's payments in sexual abuse settlements involving priests. It is sad anytime a child, teenager or adult  is sexualy abused.  What she doesn't tell you is that most of the cases that you read about in the mainstream media are decades old. What she also doesn't tell you about are the great strides that the Catholic Church has done to correct the problem. 
After the Church reforms articulated in the Dallas Charter and Essential Norms (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2002a, 2002b), the number of new cases in the United States averaged about a dozen per year; during the past five years, it went down to about one new case per year. The Church has gone from averaging about 660 new cases of abuse per year during the 1970s to about 1 new case per year since about 2014 (John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 2011; Steinfels, 2019; United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2018). 
There are about 25,000 Catholic Priests  in the United States.  What she doesn't tell you about is all of the good priests who don't abuse children. What she doesn't tell you that a higher percentage of  public school teachers abuse children.  What  she doesn't tell you  that there are far more children sexualy abused in their homes. Why not? Maybe because the Catholic Church is an easy target. 

She also tells us...
"More than half the membership of the Catholic Church believes abortion should be legal. So why has the church invested so much in this effort?" What she doesn't tell us is where she got her statistics. 

But that's not entirely true depending on what poll you are reading.  A Knights of Columbus/Marist Poll of 1,004 adults taken in January of this year tells us that 49% of Catholics are pro life, 45% are pro choice,  and 6% are unsure.

If you break it down even further 
Only 12% of Catholics believe that abortion should be available for a woman any time she wants one during her entire pregnancy. 
10%  believe that abortion should be allowed only during the first  6 months of pregnancy.
19% believe that abortion should be allowed only during the first three months of pregnancy.
31% believe that abortion should be allowed only in cases of rape,  incest or to save the life of the mother. 
14% believe that abortion should be allowed only to save the life of the mother.
14% believe that abortion should never be allowed under any circumstances. 

The problem with polls in the words of Bishop Fulton Sheen -1953
"Moral Principles do not depend on a majority vote.  Wrong is wrong even if everybody is wrong . Right is right even if nobody is right."


Finally  she tells us ..."No state or body of citizens in a democracy should have the religious doctrine of one faith imposed upon them. Period." I agree, but people who tell you that  have no problem imposing their irreligious beliefs on you.

This is a hit piece against the Catholic Church because she is pro abortion and the easiest way to attack the Catholic position on abortion abortion is to attack the Catholic Church.

What  she and everyone else avoids is the discussion of what is in the womb.  Basic science tells me  that its a human being.  Catholic doctrine tells me that its wrong  to kill any human being no matter what the stage of development. 

Go back to your basic science and answer two questions. 
What  is in the womb?
What is abortion?
If you can answer honestly answer those questions looking at the science of human development, looking at photos of  preborn babies in the womb, watching videos of doctors describing abortion, and  looking at pictures of aborted babies and then honestly answer those questions, I can almost guarantee that you will be pro life.

I am willing to have that discussion with anyone as a Facebook  Messenger or email.

Terry Brennan



PS

Are you upset with the source of most of the funding for the Vote No side...Filed with the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission last week, KCF's financial report showed that about 71% of the $6.54 million in contributions it has received were from out-of-state entities. An estimated 29% of the contributions it received were from residents or groups in Kansas

Notably, an estimated 22% of contributions received by KCF were from abortion providers or abortion lobbying organizations located both in-state and out-of-state.

Large contributions received by KCF include $1.38 million from Sixteen Thirty Fund, a powerful left wing dark money group, and $850,000 from Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes, an advocacy arm for Kansas' Planned Parenthood Great Plains, also donated more than $490,000.

HYPOCRISY! 

From a Catholic Perspective: Why I support Donald Trump

This is something that I wrote a couple of years ago and have kept up......

 Here's something that I wrote a couple months ago when a liberal friend asked me why I support President Trump. 

To understand this we need to go back in history. Let's go back 10 years to the start of the Obama Administration. He was the most pro-abortion president that we have ever had. Even before he got to the White House as a senator in the state of Illinois he voted twice to kill babies of botched abortions who were born alive. They would just be carted off to utility room where they would be left to die. That's infanticide! 

Next, there was the HHS contraception mandate where Christian businesses and organizations were forced to provide contraception to their employees, as part of their health care plans, something that they were against. All he had to do was give them an exemption, something that Trump did in November 2018. Clearly against the free exercise clause of the First Amendment to the US Constitution.

After that, the Supreme Court gave homosexual couples a right to get married, something that isn't in the constitution. What's next will they tell my church that we have to allow same sex marriages? Will they tell my priest that he has to officiate same sex marriages? Where does it stop when activist judges such as those that Obama appointed write law from the bench?

Next Christian business owners where forced to provide services for same-sex marriage ceremonies when clearly their religion said that it was a sin. They were forced to go against their consciences and provide services or face steep fines. Some lost their businesses which they had worked all their lives to build up. Clearly this also goes against the free exercise clause to the First Amendment of the US Constitution. Luckily, the courts have agreed that it is unconstitutional to force Christian businessmen to go against their consciences. 

In 2012 the Democratic Party voted three times to remove God from their platform. Do you see where this is going? The religious freedom for Christians to exercise their faith is being eroded by people who don't believe in God yet want my vote. 

Now enter the 2016 election season. Hillary Clinton promised to give Christians more of the same with her liberal policies. Then she called us a "basket of deplorables" and said we were irredeemable. Check out a speech that she made at an LGBT event. "You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. (Laughter/applause) Right? (Laughter/applause) They're racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic – Islamophobic – you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people – now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks – they are irredeemable, but thankfully, they are not America." 

And it gets better with emails from her campaign staff. At issue was an email exchange that included the Clinton campaign’s director of communications, Jennifer Palmieri. The exchange was released by the anti-secrecy group Wikileaks as part of its release of John Podesta’s hacked emails. In the emails, which copy Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chair, Center for American Progress senior fellow John Halpin derides Rupert Murdoch and Wall Street Journal editor Robert Thompson for raising their children Catholic. Halpin’s email goes on to assert that the Catholicism of socially conservative Catholics is “an amazing bastardization of the faith.” He adds: “They must be attracted to the systematic thought and severely backwards gender relations and must be totally unaware of Christian democracy.” In her email, Palmieri, who served as President Obama’s director of communications before assuming her role in the Clinton campaign replies in a way seen as insulting to both Catholics and Evangelicals. She wrote: “I imagine they think it is the most socially acceptable politically conservative religion. Their rich friends wouldn’t understand if they became evangelical.” 

In another email exchange, John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chair, talked about starting various groups in order to fundamentally change the Catholic Church. Writing to Podesta, Sandy Newman of Voices for Progress - a non-Catholic - writes: “There needs to be a Catholic Spring, in which Catholics themselves demand the end of a middle ages dictatorship and the beginning of a little democracy and respect for gender equality in the Catholic Church.” 

Do you see the problem. I admit that Trump isn't a saint, but neither was Hillary Clinton. At least Trump reached out to Christians. He didn't trash my church. And it was more than just abortion. While he has been stong on abortion he has also promised to protect our religious freedom. He prays to God instead of denying God. He gave us exemptions to the HHS mandate so we wouldn't have to act against our consciences. 

Now it's 2020. Joe Biden isn't any better. Joe Biden claims to be Catholic, but goes against the teachings of the church. He supports abortion. His running mate Kamala Harris has attacked the Catholic Church and the Knights of Columbus, a charity organization that I belong to. I am offended. He supports same sex marriage. He even went as far as to officiate a same sex wedding. He has promised to restore the contraception mandate to the health care system, forcing the little sisters of the poor to go against their freedom of conscience. 

Biden is not a Catholic. He may say he is, but to be Catholic, you have to believe and act on everything that the Catholic church teaches. It's not a smorgasbord where you can pick and choose what you want to believe. 

One thing we all need to remember is that we are voting for a President, not a Pope. Everyone we vote for will be cast as a sinner. Everyone I have ever voted for is a sinner. I am a sinner. You are a sinner. We are all sinners. Pope Francis calls the church a hospital for sinners. As Christians we don't stop there. We do what Jesus Christ did. We forgive those who sin against us. That's why Jesus Christ died on the cross. So that we all could be saved and forgiven for our sins. I don't know if Trump is still doing the things that he is accused of doing in the past. He hasn't been convicted of any crimes. Is he guilty of having a big ego? Yes. But so are a lot of other politicians. That's not against the law. As Christians, shouldn't we be forgiving him for his sins? In the meantime, I'll let God judge his soul. 

If you really want to fix problems and heal the divisions you don't do it by attacking people for their faith. Instead you try to learn why they believe what they believe. What's evident is that the progressive liberal left does not understand Christianity. They look at it as a roadblock for the quest of power. But power comes from God. 

Those who say that Trump is not fit for office never tell us who would be a better candidate. One thing I won't do is to vote for a third party candidate. In a close election that could give the election to the other candidate who is worse.