Portland Archdiocese and Sisters of the Road

NOVEMBER 15, 2008 (Portland, Ore)  The Portland Archdiocese’s CATHOLIC CAMPAIGN for HUMAN DEVELOPMENT (CCHD) held the annual TOBIN LECTURE at ALL SAINTS CHURCH.  The National Director of CCHD, Ralph McCloud, gave the keynote speech on poverty, ‘Hear the Cry of the Poor: Standing in Solidarity with the Poor in Our Community.’

THE UNBORN

Director McCloud said to listen to the voice of the unborn in his lecture.  He mentioned the unborn two or three times.

ELIMINATE POVERTY

Director McCloud says we are called to eliminate poverty. Sounds like Utopian Communism.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Among the facilitators and panelists at today’s event was SISTERS of the ROAD.

WHO IS “SISTERS OF THE ROAD?”

A social justice community organizing project influenced by, if not part of, the Catholic Worker Movement.

See also Sisters of the Road CAFE.

See also Catholic Worker Publication.

Defunding ACORN: Catholic Campaign for Human Development

Thanks to radio talk shows like Hugh Hewitt and Rush Limbaugh, ACORN is getting the outing it deserves.  We at Fidelity and Action have been withholding donations to the Archdiocese because of ACORN.  Not only is ACORN involved in voter fraud and embezzlement, but also is pro-abortion.

Stephanie Block has written a good piece at Spero News . . .

‘Defunding ACORN is laudable but insufficient.’

Related stories:

‘CCHD End Funding To ACORN over financial irregularities.’

‘Catholic Campaign for Human Development:  Update’ - Stephanie Block.  2003.  The Wanderer.

NETWORK lobbies for “Earth Principles”

The “Catholic” social justice political lobby known as NETWORK lobbies for “Earth Principles.”

We Googled ‘earth principles’ and the result was nauseating:  Gaia or Earth Goddess.

Stay tuned.

Sr. Simone Campbell: “Amadinejad didn’t discuss Israel”

Sr. Simone Campbell, Director, NETWORK

Sister Campbell’s talk was dull.  All Saints Catholic Church in Portland is dull.  The architecture was dull.  The tiny crucifix (on a stand) was dull.

Why the heck does the Archdiocese of Portland need a social justice speaker in the first place?  I guess the United States Bishops are hen-pecked by the Catholic Feminists.  Women can’t be ordained.  I know!  Let’s throw out the Body and Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Savior — because he’s a male symbol of the “patriarchy” they hate and fear — and replace it all with Social Justice blather!  That’ll fill the pews!

“LIVE YOUR SOCIAL JUSTICE!  I LIVED MY SOCIAL JUSTICE IN THE PARKING LOT”—Sr. Simone

No, actually, Sister, that’s “charity.”

Stop Ahmadinejad – Official laws against women

official laws against women in Iran

Article 21 of Iran’s Constitution indicates: “The government must ensure the rights of women in all respects, in conformity with Islamic criteria…” This leaves it up to the clergymen to interpret the laws pertaining to women.

Article 83 of the Penal Code, called the Law of Hodoud, stipulates that the penalty for fornication is flogging, i.e. 100 strokes of the lash, for unmarried male and female offenders.

Article 102 of Iran’s Constitution indicates: “Women who appear on streets and in public without the prescribed ‘Islamic Hejab’ will be condemned to 74 strokes of the lash.”

Article 105 of the Civil Code “In the relationship between a man and a woman, the man is responsible as head of the family.” The Council of Guardians, has decreed, “A woman cannot leave her home without her husband’s permission, even to attend her father’s funeral”.

Article 1117 of the Civil Code states that the husband may ban his wife from any technical profession that conflicts with family life or her character.

Article 1133 of the Civil Code states: A man can divorce his wife whenever he so chooses and does not have to give her advance notice.

Article 102 of the Penal code, states that married offenders (adulterers) are liable to stoning regardless of their gender, but the method laid down for a man stipulates he be buried up to his waist, and a woman up to her neck.

Article 114 of Iran’s Civil codes states: When rajm [stoning] is being administered on a man he must be placed in a pit almost down to his waist, and when administered on a woman she must be placed in a pit almost down to her chest. Such barbaric behavior by the regime includes dictating the style, size and the administration of stoning while differentiating between male vs. female victims. Female victim up to her neck to avoid physical escape, however, even if condemned female victim is able to flee the scene, authorities are obliged to arrest her and execute her by firing squad. As for the male victims, they are buried up to their waist and if able to escape the scene no further punishment awaits them.

FACTS and FIGURES

· Tens of thousands of women have been executed in Iran since 1979, when the mullahs took power. They were executed on political grounds, for their opposition to the policies of the ruling government. Among those executed were tens of pregnant women.

· The worst kinds of torture are inflicted on woman prisoners who oppose the regime. These include repeated sexual assaults, amputation of body parts and…

· Women played a very active role in the 40,000 teachers’ demonstrations outside the Majlis on January 12, 2002. In these series of demonstrations, a number of women were arrested and imprisoned on charges of just participating in a demonstration.

Stop Ahmadinejad. Free Iran. www.925rally.org

http://www.wfafi.org/laws.pdf

Sr. Simone Campbell of NETWORK “Touched” by Ahmadinejad

NETWORK is the progressive Catholic social justice political lobby of graying Left-Wing Catholic Feminists.  Be sure to visit their website and read its laundry list of issues they lose sleep over, like the federal budget and a fair minimum wage.

Its current director, Sr. Campbell, is in Portland to speak about – what else – social justice and the 2008 Election.

Sr. Campbell is pro-abortion based on her close alliance with Call To Action.

SEPT. 22, 2008, 7:30 pm ALL SAINTS CATHOLIC CHURCH, PORTLAND OR

Sr. Simone Campbell, a gifted and

faithful witness for justice and peace
and a national and international leader
for advocacy and reconciliation, will
be this year’s speaker for the Theresa
Willett Memorial Lecture at All Saints
Church. The lecture this Monday,
Sept. 22, will begin at 7:30pm. The
topic of Sister Simone’s remarks will
be:  Faith Alive: Catholic Social Teaching,
Spirituality & the 2008 Election. The
time with Sister Simone should assist all
of us in integrating our rich Catholic
Social Teaching with the decisions we
will soon make in the November
election.

SISTER SIMONE CAMPBELL was among a group of Americans who met Iranian dranged and dangerous President Ahmadinejad at Columbia University.

MY REFLECTIONS ON THE EXPERIENCE: Simone Campbell, SSS

• I know so little about Iranian culture, and I sense that the rest of our country is the same. I was amazed at the religious/theological context for the dialogue that was presented. After conversation with others who have more experience than I, it seems that the President got elected as a populist, but now he is having to move in academic circles. Learning has been respected in the Persian culture for thousands of years. Apparently academic disputation is highly valued in Iran. He is not adept at doing this and is a bit insecure about it.

• In discussion following, I learned that the major religious leaders are the true leaders of Iran, and the President is actually quite far down on the power list. However, the U.S. administration keeps dealing with him as if he held the title in the same way as in the U.S. I understand that this is being dismissive of the religious leaders. Therefore, while they might not agree with President Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric, they are not moving to curb him

• Of his comments—I think I was most touched by his comments about poverty and how where there is absolute poverty there is a denial of someone’s human rights.

• Some of the questions asked were so culturally contained in an effort to connect at the human level, e.g. his fears, failings in Iran, etc. I don’t know how we get around this, but it seems unrealistic to expect him (or anyone from another culture) to respond to our U.S. human expectations of “bonding.”

Special thanks to Oregon Catholic  Citizens for contributing this story.

Will Catholics Tolerate Gay Weddings?

In her book, ‘Saving Those Damned Catholics,’ pro-life activist Judy Brown writes there is a “network of bishops who have adopted a sort of gospel of tolerance (page 72).’

She writes about the bishops who give communion to homosexual men in the Rainbow Sash Movement.

In January 2008, the OREGON EQUALITY ACT became law. The most troubling is the language which threatens religious freedom in this law.

Friends of Fidelity and Action testified at the Oregon Senate hearings against SB2.