25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
29 “Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Matthew 14 25-33 (NIV)
“Take Courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Jesus’ words have as much meaning today as they did over two thousand years ago. Take Courage! Be strong! Life yourself up and carry one Christian Soldier!
Take Courage, hard words to hear when you are in despair or frightened, when life has you down and out for the count. But the words of Jesus ring true today, and they are words us Christians need to hear. In the light of the fresh attacks on the Catholic Faith and all Christians in the United States concerning so-called health care coverage of birth control, we need to hear the words, Take Courage! With our faith being tested in the public square, we need to stand strong, but in the face of big government, we often times feel very small, and courage seems very fleeting. But Jesus tells us, Be not Afraid and ask us Why do you doubt.
So take courage, and trust in the Lord, step on the waters and walk with faith onward to victory. We, as Christians must walk on the waters of the public square, we must stand up and be counted, we must have courage and speak the truth. Jesus is calling to us, calling us out into the sea, He is waiting for us to come to Him through the storm, and like Peter, he is waiting for us to call to Him Lord, same me!
You of little faith, is that what Jesus is saying to us now, is Jesus calling to us, and we are afraid to go to Him? Are the waves of humanity to big for us to withstand, or are we to timid to venture out into the waves, to call upon Jesus to calm them and let the sea of reasoning subdue the waves of insanity?
We all are being called, just like Peter, to walk upon the sea, to walk to Jesus and to trust in Him that calls. And yes, we all will, from time to time,will forget the one who calls and sink into the sea, but Jesus is there to stretch out His hand, from the cross of salvation, and pull us up from the depths, if only we call to Him.
The public square is our Sea of Galilee, and the public discourse is our storm that tosses us about. But whom among us is our Peter, brave enough to venture out on to the sea and humble enough to call to Jesus when he starts to sink. As a Catholic, I look to the new Peter, the current Pope, Pope Benedict XVI as my Peter, as my example. And Like the Holy Father, I to will walk upon the waters and state the truth, I will challenge others to reconsider there actions and voice my opinion at the polls this November, but I will also, like Peter, takes my eyes off of Christ and start to sink into the sea, and I pray, that like Peter, I too will be humble enough to call to our Lord for help.
We all are called to serve, we all are called to proclaim the good news. As Catholics we are Baptized as Priest, Prophet and King, how are you fulfilling your Baptism? Use this Lenten session as a time to reflect upon your calling, your mission. Are you being called into the storm, are you being asked to walk upon the waters of the public square? Were is Jesus calling you to? And are you responding or are you lacking the courage to respond. Pray and meditate about this, ask Jesus to help you and respond boldly to His call. Jesus will calm the storms and He will stretch out His hand to you, if you only ask.
God Bless & Happy Lent
Paul Sposite
Guided Insight Life Coach
42.303780
-83.378959
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Dear Catholics:
This Open letter it to all Catholics, be they liberal or conservative, laps or practicing, fallen away or on their way back home to Rome. In-fact this open letter should be shared with non-Catholics, non-Christians and anyone who is concerned about their personal liberty and freedom. This letter is intended to excite you, motivate you and call you to action. This letter is a letter of protest and a letter of compassion; it is written from my heart and shared with the world. It will, undoubtably contain miss-spellings, bad punctuation and grammatical errors. However, what it will not contain is false emotions and lack of integrity. It will be heartfelt and passionate, it will be my personal views and my faith presented for you and for all.
Revelation 3:16
So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
The above quote is the foundation upon I build my letter. The words of St. John in the book of Revelation needs to be in our hearts and on our minds as we read this letter and internalized. It is the basis of all that I have to say concerning the current state of anti-Catholic, anti-liberty rhetoric coming from Washington DC.
The Obama administration continues their attack on Liberty and Freedom; they continue to erode our rights to religious freedom. The latest being their insistence that Catholic Institutions abandon their core beliefs and offer healthcare benefits that cover birth control, sterilization and abortion causing drugs. This is a direct act against our religious freedom and anti-American. (Source)
We, as Americans, as Catholics as a freedom loving people must stand up, speak out and protest this act of religious bigotry. We, as Catholics, are called to do so, by our very baptism, we have been given the responsibility to stand up for and defend our faith and our Church. Yet, all too often, we fail to do so. If we remain still and quiet the Obama Administration will win, not just the healthcare debate, but even more importantly they 
will the war he and his administration has waged against religious freedoms.
Our right as Americans and our obligations as Catholics are being challenged and we must respond, and we must respond loudly and boldly. This administration is forcing Catholic Charities, Hospitals and Schools to support and pay for treatments that are counter to our faith, counter to our faith structure. This should shock all Americans, not just Catholics. This is an attack on all Freedoms, not just Religious Freedoms. The Founding Fathers would be shocked to their core and the call for Revolution would once again be heard over this great land. The Founding Fathers fought for Freedom and Liberty, the ability for people to choose their Faith and practices it as seen fit by the faith. They fought for less government and more personal responsibility, not for Big Brother and Government intervention into our daily lives. Healthcare is a personal responsibility and one that the government should not be involved in, but that will be saved for another time. Back to this open letter and the attack on our religious freedoms.
From Bishop Boyea of the Lansing Diocese
Diocese of Lansing Responds to HHS Mandate
These past days have seen a grave error on the part of the federal government, as well as a blessed response from Catholics all across this great state and nation.
By now, all men and women of faith know that the United States Department of Health and Human Services has declared that health benefit plans must include coverage for sterilization, contraception, and abortion-inducing drugs. This unconstitutional and unconscionable mandate is to take effect in stages during 2012 and 2013.
The Catholic Church in the United States will never comply with this mandate. Told that the federal government has allowed a one-year grace period during which the Church can adjust itself to this mandate, Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York responded that the Church does not need a year to determine whether it would comply. He is right. In offering this supposed mandate, the federal government misreads the Constitution of the United States. It equally misreads the determination of Catholics.
This nation is built upon the three-legged stool of the First Amendment. Our precious freedoms of religion, speech, and assembly underlie everything this nation is, and everything this nation has ever accomplished. Religious liberty gives the freedom to preach the Truth. And the truth is that pregnancy is not a disease. Nor is the natural fertility of a woman a disease.
Through the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Michigan Catholic Conference, we are exploring a number of options, including litigation and Congressional reform. As these efforts move forward, Catholics should make clear to their elected officials the crucial importance of religious liberty, and they should pray daily for those who have the responsibility for making these decisions.(Source)
God Bless Bishop Boyea for his strong stance, he truly is a Sheppard of his flock, and I for one am proud to know he is in Michigan and at one time was part of the Archdiocese of Detroit. He speaks boldly and strongly, and his statement should be ours, we, as Catholics, will never comply with this mandate. We need to refuse, to protest and to vote with our Catholic heart and sensibility. We need to let Obama and his administration that he cannot, that no politician can dictate the pillars of our faith, that no mortal man can overturn the laws of God! We will not stand for this and we will, we must, fight back!
It is not only Conservatives or Republicans that should be upset, but Liberals and Democrats, this is not going to stop, the power grab will continue if it is not revered. We will see more laws; more directives infringing upon our Liberates and Freedoms enter into the cause of fairness and equality. The forced secularization of Catholic institutions is neither fair nor equal; it is tyranny in its infancy. It is socialism at its birth and will continue to grow unless we, as Americans, stand and fight! It is time that we rejuvenate our revolutionary hearts and stand for what is right.
Please do not miss understand me here, I am not talking about bloodshed, but I am talking about revolution, a change in the current regime and a return to Liberty and the Constitution. This Administration has trampled this document more than any other has; they have no respect for the Founders and see the Constitution as outdated and in-need of an update, The Constitution 2.0, if you will. Obama himself has stated this:
The President said,”…our Founders designed a system that makes it more difficult to bring about change than I would like sometimes.” (Source)
Really, the system Obama is referring to is outlined and detailed in the Constitution… Hmm, How dare the Founders limit King Obama’s power to force his radical and leftist views upon Americans. That is exactly what he is doing with the contraceptive healthcare law being enforced upon Catholics. I know some Liberals and pro-abortionist are hailing this as a victory. However, they should be careful not to celebrate too much, because soon the heavy hand of tyranny will crush your freedoms and liberties, as it is ours. Hold your convictions tight, as Americans; we have the right to do so, and an obligation to defend them. However, be careful and de diligent, the road to socialism is paved with many tempting things. Such as forcing all to accept, for the betterment of all, abortion, birth control and serialization. It promises a nation with “free” healthcare and equality that is not only protected by the government but also guaranteed. The temptations of Utopia are many and they shine and glimmer of in the distance, just like fools gold below the waters of injustice. We all want Equality and Liberty, we all strive for Freedom and Fairness, but as we quest for and search for this Utopia, this perfection of Government and men, we often times forget the men to whom we are governing. Our Nation was designed with one concept in mind, that it is man who gives government its power, not government who gives man its Freedoms. We, as a Nation allow the Federal Government the power to withhold Liberties and Freedoms as a payment for protection of our Liberties and Freedoms. We give them the power, not the other way around. Yet they seem to see it differently, The Obama administration seems to see it as they grant us our Freedoms and Liberties, and in doing so, they rightly feel they have the power to remove, to hold ransom, our Liberties and Freedoms. As long as we allow them to feel this way, as long as we do not stand and fight for our Freedoms and Liberties, they will continue to act as if they have the power over us, and not as our Founding Fathers intended, we have the power of them. It is our Government, we created it and we can destroy it or we can restore it! What will it be? This is a defining moment in our history; this is a turning point for our Great Nation. How will we react?
Revelation 3:16
So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
I for one am going to stand and Fight!
God Bless
Paul Sposite
Guided Insight Life Coach
42.303780
-83.378959
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President Obama’s much-told story about his mother’s fight to get cancer coverage was untrue, according to a recently published book. And the White House isn’t disputing the author’s account.
The New York Times reports that Janny Scott, in her biography, “A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mother,” writes that Stanley Ann Dunham‘s health insurance provider did, in fact, cover most of the medical expenses related to her uterine and ovarian cancer.
New York Times, July 13: In her book, published in May by Riverhead Books, Ms. Scott writes that Mr. Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, had an employer-provided health insurance policy that paid her hospital bills directly, leaving her "to pay only the deductible and any uncovered expenses, which, she said, came to several hundred dollars a month."
Do we have a right to expect the President of the United States to tell us the truth? Or are we to expect that the President can spin stories and tell lies? Are we living in a day and age where this is the norm?
President Obama does not corner the market on spinning webs and stretching the truth, but to use his own mother to gain political headway is, well a little to much for me. (read here)
Here’s a fact that may surprise you: Candidates have a legal right to lie to voters just about as much as they want (read this). Well that’s good news to know that when they lie to us, they are not breaking any laws… Our right to freedom of speech is paramount and should apply to everyone. But one would hope that our elected officials would be help to a higher standard. But it seems that we, the voters, do not, that we expect to be lied to, and when we are not, when the politician tells the truth, we react as if they did something wrong. Take the new Governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder, he is doing what he promised to do, and now there is a recall effort. If Governor Snyder would have been like other elected officials, he would have gotten into office and served his own self-interest. Yet he did not, he got into office and did what he said he would.
I may not agree with him on everything he is doing, but he is doing what I voted for him to do. He is doing something most politician don’t, he is doing what he said he would, how refreshing that is….
I find it somewhat disheartening that so many people just take the lies and deceptions as part of life. We should expect more for our elected officials and from ourselves. But we must expect more from ourselves before we can even ask that of others. As Jesus tells us,
“You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:5
We, as individuals, as family and as community must set higher standards, we must create an environment that expects the truth and requires that we hold ourselves and our communities to higher standards.
There was a time when a lie was considered to be a sign of disrespect, but now it seems to be a excepted part of our communications. At one time we knew we could tune into the nightly TV news and expect to hear the truth, but it seems this is no-longer the case. We have accepted the fact the new casters will spin and twist, even lie to get there own political point of view across. (Read this)
(See this)
Trust, is it a thing of the past, can we only expect twist and 1/2 truth from our politicians and others we are to trust.
God Bless
Paul
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The scandal of the Church has been on the front pages of the papers and lead stories on the nightly news. Over all this is a good thing, the Church needs to deal with this scandal. But what confuses me is the pure joy they, meaning the media, seem to get from all this. The catholic priest who molested young boys need help and prayers for sure, the bishops who allowed this to carry on and moved them from parish to parish need to be reprimanded, they need to step down. But why al the joy in the media?
It is good that the media is investigating the scandal, or should I say it would be good if they were investigating the scandal fairly. But that is not the case, they are on a witch hunt and they are willing to take down the innocent as well as the guilty, and at the same time look the other way when it comes to our school systems or other faiths. This to me is a misuse of power and an injustice to children.
The current scandal in the Church is a scandal from twenty or thirty or more years ago, by no means lessening the travesty of it all, the over all population of priest involved is 2% at most. Once again not taking anything away from the harm caused, 2% is way to much, .0001% is to much, but over all 2% of our priest is not a large number.
Such figures led her to contend "the physical sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests." (Source)
Family members — fathers, stepfathers, uncles, older siblings — commit 47% of all reported sexual assaults against children in their own homes.
49% of all sexual assaults against children are committed by persons known either by the child or the child’s family — teachers, coaches, physicians, ministers, priests, neighbors, youth leaders. (Source)
I am not using the statistics to take the spot light off of the Catholic Church, but rather to point it also on public education and other areas of concern.
Over all the reporting on the scandal in the Church has been a scandal unto itself. And with the current wave of anti-Catholic feelings I expect it will continue for sometime to come. But we as Catholics can do something about we can fight back, promote the positive aspects of the Church, the good She does for youth and the community She resides in. We can also point out, in letters to the editors, the injustice of the persecution of the Church over our public schools.
In a way the abuse at the public schools is an even greater evil than the priest. We have no choice but to send our youth to school, and we allow teachers to have full access to our youth 8 hour per day, five days a week. And if they are involved in sports, we also allow them to change in front of grown adults. We, in some ways are asking for it,
The scandal involving the priest is sickening at best, but we hold some of that responsibility ourselves. We places the parish priest upon pedestals and made them gods in there own rights, we allowed our children to spend the night at the rectory or to go on trips with them. Sure some parents were good friends with the priest, and as the statistics above state 49% of abuse is by someone they know and trust. But do we have to allow the percentage to go up? Do we have to feed in to it?
The problem of abuse is a social problem and it is not a new problem, it is as old as time (article). The Greek society is full of stories of young boys and me, by no means justifying the actions, just pointing out the reality. The issue is social. Contrary to popular belief most people who sexually abuse youth are not gay. As stated above they are mostly family members or close family friends.
[M]ost men who molest little boys are not gay. Only 21 percent of the child molesters we studied who assault little boys were exclusively homosexual. Nearly 80 percent of the men who molested little boys were heterosexual or bisexual, and most of these men were married and had children of their own.27
These scientists have concluded that pedophilia is a separate orientation from homosexuality and that the vast majority of molesters who target boys have either no interest in mature males or are heterosexual men who are attracted to the feminine characteristics of young boys.(source)
Homosexuality and homosexual pedophilia are not synonymous. In fact, it may be that these two orientations are mutually exclusive, the reason being that the homosexual male is sexually attracted to masculine qualities whereas the heterosexual male is sexually attracted to feminine characteristics, and the sexually immature child’s qualities are more feminine than masculine. . . . The child offender who is attracted to and engaged in adult sexual relationships is heterosexual. It appears, therefore, that the adult heterosexual male constitutes a greater sexual risk to underage children than does the adult homosexual male.19 .(source)
My over all point to this blog, we need to look at facts and we need to understand what we are dealing with. Sexual abuse of children is not a “Catholic” thing, nor is it a “gay” thing, it is a society thing and one that needs to be understood. The media is not doing its job, rather it is conduction a man hunt, if you will, on Catholics.
As Catholics we need to educate ourselves so we can better defend the Church in these times of turmoil. We need to know facts so we are not just shooting from the hip but rather using facts to fight our cause. God willing the Church will survive and come out stringer when this persecution is over.
God Bless
Paul
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The scandal of the Church has been on the front pages of the papers and lead stories on the nightly news. Over all this is a good thing, the Church needs to deal with this scandal. But what confuses me is the pure joy they, meaning the media, seem to get from all this. The catholic priest who molested young boys need help and prayers for sure, the bishops who allowed this to carry on and moved them from parish to parish need to be reprimanded, they need to step down. But why al the joy in the media?
It is good that the media is investigating the scandal, or should I say it would be good if they were investigating the scandal fairly. But that is not the case, they are on a witch hunt and they are willing to take down the innocent as well as the guilty, and at the same time look the other way when it comes to our school systems or other faiths. This to me is a misuse of power and an injustice to children.
The current scandal in the Church is a scandal from twenty or thirty or more years ago, by no means lessening the travesty of it all, the over all population of priest involved is 2% at most. Once again not taking anything away from the harm caused, 2% is way to much, .0001% is to much, but over all 2% of our priest is not a large number.
Such figures led her to contend “the physical sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests.” (Source)
Family members — fathers, stepfathers, uncles, older siblings — commit 47% of all reported sexual assaults against children in their own homes.
49% of all sexual assaults against children are committed by persons known either by the child or the child’s family — teachers, coaches, physicians, ministers, priests, neighbors, youth leaders. (Source)
I am not using the statistics to take the spot light off of the Catholic Church, but rather to point it also on public education and other areas of concern.
Over all the reporting on the scandal in the Church has been a scandal unto itself. And with the current wave of anti-Catholic feelings I expect it will continue for sometime to come. But we as Catholics can do something about we can fight back, promote the positive aspects of the Church, the good She does for youth and the community She resides in. We can also point out, in letters to the editors, the injustice of the persecution of the Church over our public schools.
In a way the abuse at the public schools is an even greater evil than the priest. We have no choice but to send our youth to school, and we allow teachers to have full access to our youth 8 hour per day, five days a week. And if they are involved in sports, we also allow them to change in front of grown adults. We, in some ways are asking for it,
The scandal involving the priest is sickening at best, but we hold some of that responsibility ourselves. We places the parish priest upon pedestals and made them gods in there own rights, we allowed our children to spend the night at the rectory or to go on trips with them. Sure some parents were good friends with the priest, and as the statistics above state 49% of abuse is by someone they know and trust. But do we have to allow the percentage to go up? Do we have to feed in to it?
The problem of abuse is a social problem and it is not a new problem, it is as old as time (article). The Greek society is full of stories of young boys and me, by no means justifying the actions, just pointing out the reality. The issue is social. Contrary to popular belief most people who sexually abuse youth are not gay. As stated above they are mostly family members or close family friends.
[M]ost men who molest little boys are not gay. Only 21 percent of the child molesters we studied who assault little boys were exclusively homosexual. Nearly 80 percent of the men who molested little boys were heterosexual or bisexual, and most of these men were married and had children of their own.27
These scientists have concluded that pedophilia is a separate orientation from homosexuality and that the vast majority of molesters who target boys have either no interest in mature males or are heterosexual men who are attracted to the feminine characteristics of young boys.(source)
Homosexuality and homosexual pedophilia are not synonymous. In fact, it may be that these two orientations are mutually exclusive, the reason being that the homosexual male is sexually attracted to masculine qualities whereas the heterosexual male is sexually attracted to feminine characteristics, and the sexually immature child’s qualities are more feminine than masculine. . . . The child offender who is attracted to and engaged in adult sexual relationships is heterosexual. It appears, therefore, that the adult heterosexual male constitutes a greater sexual risk to underage children than does the adult homosexual male.19 .(source)
My over all point to this blog, we need to look at facts and we need to understand what we are dealing with. Sexual abuse of children is not a “Catholic” thing, nor is it a “gay” thing, it is a society thing and one that needs to be understood. The media is not doing its job, rather it is conduction a man hunt, if you will, on Catholics.
As Catholics we need to educate ourselves so we can better defend the Church in these times of turmoil. We need to know facts so we are not just shooting from the hip but rather using facts to fight our cause. God willing the Church will survive and come out stringer when this persecution is over.
God Bless
Paul
| Galatians 2:20“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) . All Rights Reserved. |
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I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man” – Elton John
Really, come on, really? Did he say that? Did he really?
I am at a loss for words. Now please understand I have nothing, and I mean nothing against gay people. But come on! This statement flies into the face of Christianity. How about I say something like “I think Napoleon was a confused, ignorant gay man” what do you think the gay community would say to that, or “Hitler was just a gay man who liked blue eyed young boy”. The media would have a field day with that. Come on!
I just don’t get the “legalized” and encouraged Christian/Catholic bashing going on. It seems like that we have to have some sort of off the wall statement or scandal concerning Christians and Catholics every week or the world may just stop spinning. Well I say lets try and see what happens.
I mean really? Elton said that… Come on…
I am at a loss, truly I am, and anyone who knows me, knows that is saying something… I just don’t get it…
I for one and sad that Elton would resort to saying that, it’s like we was out to get media coverage. Like he needs it. Wait, maybe that’s it, maybe he does need it. Lots of stars are media hungry, good, bad or indifference, as long as people are talking about them its all good.
I was originally going to call for a boycott of Elton music, but after that last revelation about Elton needing the media coverage I think I will call for prayers for Elton. We all need to pray for his soul… His salvation and redemption…. Say a rosary for him a few novenas and maybe a prayer or to in front of the Blessed Sacrament. That will do more to help him that not listening to his CD’s or going to his concerts. Lets just pray for Sir Elton and his soul.
God Bless
Paul
| 1 John 3:16“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”
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Last night I was reading an article in Townhall magazine about fairness. The basic point was this, liberals love to say things are unfair. It’s a battle cry for any issue that does not agree with their twisted out look on life. I found the article interesting for a few reasons, 1) I agree with the stance the article took 2) It is relevant to this whole issue of health care 3) It ties in to this mess with in the Catholic Church at the moment.
Taking each point, lets look at this:
Point 1:
The article took the stance that life ain’t fair and sometimes being fair is not the best course of action. For life not being fair, lets just look at some very basic concepts. Were I am born and to whom I am born can have a major impact on my life. If I am lucky to be born to a rich family that loves me and in a safe environment than life was good to me. But if I was born to a poor family with out love and an environment that is hostile, well life was unfair to me. But such is life. We can not control who is born to whom and were (even though Planed Parenthood is trying to). And we can not force a parent to love a child. Life just ain’t fair at times, that’s just the way it is. But fairness in nit just based on location, you can have to people raised in the same area and just as much love from the parents but one is the first born the other is not. Scientific proof states that on average the first born child has an higher IQ than non-first born children. That’s not fair, but not much we can do about it.
Examples can go on and on of just plain unfairness but lets look at something “we can control”
Berkeley High School in California wants to eliminate three science teachers positions and use the money to level the playing field form the minority students. This sounds good, they want to use the money to give them more one on one service, to teach them note taking skills and studying skills. Like I said, sounds all good, who could disagree with that idea. Well maybe the three science teachers and the other students who do not receive this “extra” help to get passing grades. Nope the other students must rely on the old fashion way of getting good grades. They have to work hard and study. Studies have shown that one of the major differences between the minority and non-minority students was their drive and habits. So we reward the students who look at their social lives as more important than their study life. This seems extremely unfair to the the students that do the hard work to earn the grades, yet the liberals fail to see this.
Fairness is not a universal right, not even in the United States to we claim that. The constitution on declares that we have the right to the pursuit of happiness and that we have the right to be treated fairly.
So tell me how the students who are not getting the extra help is being treated fairly? If Berkeley is a school of academic excellence, than but its very charter it is not a fair school, it is a school for the high achievers, not the average or below average students.
Point 2:
The current debate over Universal Health Care in the united states can be stated as a 
basic fairness question. Is it fair that some have insurance and others do not? This basic question is the whole issue is summed up in that one question.
So is it fair?
Once again, life ain’t fair. I work hard and have good health care coverage. But I have also been out of work with no insurance and have had insurance that was basically worthless. I never looked at health care coverage as an entitlement or a statement of fairness. All things considered, if health care is a fairness issue, than the privet sector insurance companies should be outlawed. The freedom to choose my own level of coverage means that I can choose to have a greater coverage that others, and in doing so creating an unfair situation.
I do think that the American health system needs to be overhauled, but I do not think that Universal Health is the answer, nor to I think that it is a question of fairness. I do believe that all should have access to health coverage, but we should be allowed the freedom to choose the level we want, with out punishment of taxation.
Point 3:
The current state of affairs in the Catholic Church is sad at best. We have a subset of Catholics who use the battle cry of “Fairness” as the tool to chip away at the cornerstone of the Church. They cry unfair concerning male only priesthood and celibacy. They cry unfair in the teaching of sex outside of marriage and same sex union. They look for fairness that fits in to there narrow view of the faith, yet see no unfairness in there actions of persecution of the faithful that do not agree with the theology of the fairness doctrine.
The modern Catholic Church is being duped in to the fairness of things regardless of the history, Traditions or meaning of certain aspects of the faith. They are allowing the liberal point of view and perverted view of the Church and world to cloud there eyes.
Fairness is not about sameness but about access and opportunity. It is fair to give all Catholic the opportunity to serve the Church and God, but not all opportunities are the same. I do not have the drive or the ability to be a world leader in apologetics, I would love to be like Scott Hahn, but do not have the smarts. Is that unfair? should I demand that they lower the bar so that I too can claim to be at the same level as Mr. Hahn? No that would be truly unfair to him and deceitful to not only me but to the public. My gifts and opportunities lie elsewhere with in the Church. Not all are called to serve at the same level or in the same capacity nor should they be. If we were all priest or scalars, who would we be shepherding or teaching?
Fairness is not a right but opportunity is, both in the world and the Church.
So stop whining and do something about it. Educate yourself look for opportunities and take the risks.
God Bless
Paul
| Romans 15:13“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
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Barack Obama represents American Catholics better than the Pope does
– Kathleen Kennedy-Townsend
The above quote is from a feature article she wrote for Time.
As I sit here reading and enjoying my Labor day this quote jumped off the page of the latest issue of “Town Hall” magazine, a conservative political magazine. I have already read “Our Sunday Visitor” and “The Michigan Catholic” and just started in on “Town Hall”. The quote is a a page called The Word, just a few pages that include tid-bits and quotes from people over the last month of so.
Man what a scary thought, that anyone would say that Obama was more Catholic than the Pope, or that he [Obama] represents Catholics more. As a Catholic I am insulted! Not that it really matters what I [a white, male Catholic] think. My opinions don’t matter to the secular world, and to tell the truth it really don’t matter in the Catholic world also. I am. for all statistical purposes a non-entity, but that is for another blog.
What offends me is the audacity of Mrs. Kennedy-Towsend, for her to presume that a pro-abortion, socialistic president who is not even Catholic represents my faith. If truth be told, Mr. Obama is anti-Catholic, anti-life and anti-American. And Mrs. Kennedy-Towsend may have misspoken, maybe she meant to say that Mr. Obama represented her form of the Catholic Faith better than the Pope. Maybe that’s it…. That would make since, because the Kennedy’s are pro-choice (pro-killing babies). As we know Mr. Obama not only believes this but is also trying to make it the norm and forcing it upon all.
It sickens me and makes me very angry that people like her can get “coverage” to state her sick form of the Catholic Faith, yet you will be hard pressed to find a true Catholics writings in Time or any other national magazine or paper. It is almost as if they are scared to print the truth. Maybe that’s it, maybe they feel that is the truth of the faith is printed than they, the press and elite will seen as they are, for what they are and what they stand for.
Paul
(Just wanted to get this off my chest, maybe I will explore it more sometime this week or so)
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9 out of 10, that’s a pretty good percentage, don’t you think? I would be happy with that percentage, if lets say it represented the percentage of Catholics who attended Mass every week, or lets say it was the percentage of the population who donated to end poverty or what if it represented the amount of people with healthcare. The possibilities of what that number could and can represent is endless.
9 out of 10…That’s 90%, only 10% less than 100%, so for every 100 people only 10 would be left out. Not a perfect number, but a respectable one. What parent would not be pleased if their child never went below a 90% in school. Every test, homework assignment and exam was 90% or better. What if we got to keep 90% of our money, and the government only took 10%, who would not be pleased with that?
Sure there would be some parents who would puss there child to get 100% and sure there would be some who would say that 10% was way to much taxation, but over all I think the average person would be pleased with a 90% average, I know I would be.
Yesterday I was doing a little research for this blog posting and typed in 9 out of 10 Americans as my search, I received over 163,000,000 hits. That’s a lot of 9 out of tens to go through, but it did tell me that we love this stuff, we love to know were we stand on an issue or on what side of that percentage we are on.
In truth I was looking for a fact, I have not yet found it, but I will, but it basically stated 
that the claim that many Americans do not have health coverage is a bogus statement. That in reality most Americans (9 out of 10) do, and of that 10 percent, a good portion of them choose not to be covered. They are young people who could afford coverage, but choose not to. It’s the “I’m immortal” attitude of youth. I had it, I was an uninsured American in my youth. I was to old to be on my parents, and chose not to pay for coverage for myself, I was young and would live forever.
Removing the people who choose not to be covered would than place us at a better than 90% coverage here in America, really that’s not to bad an average, don’t you think?
The funny thing about facts, they can be manipulated to fit our own needs, so it it really 9 out of 10, or 8 out of 10, or what about 9.8 out of 10, i would imagine it all depends on how you mix the data up, what point you want to make and who is paying you to come up with the facts.
My point is, we need to look deeper in to the question of health care, we need to understand the facts, and not just listen to the talking heads. We need to know who 
chooses to have no coverage and who can not get coverage. We need to understand the difference between the uninsured and no health coverage. All Americans have health coverage, no one can be refused treatment at any hospital. Any American can walk in to any emergency or urgent care center and receive treatment. So it is a lie to state that there are any Americans who do not have health coverage. The fact is that we all have coverage, and most have insurance (9 out of 10) and some choose not to have insurance, for what ever reason.
So is universal heath insurance needed? Or are better facts needed? Do we need the government to force those who choose not to receive health insurance to take the universal plan or do we force them to pay for it, because they can afford it?
The moral questions of a universal plan have yet to be raised, but will a universal plan
cover sex change operations, or abortion or how about fertility options? Will the elderly be told they are just to old to care for and the youth be told they have not lived a life as of yet worth saving? Will we become a selective society determining who is worthy of treatment? Will I be forced to take coverage that is in direct opposition to my faith? Will Doctors be forced to perform procedures that are morally wrong for them? Will they be forced to prescribe medication that is sinful for them to do so? Will my rights and freedoms be compromised in the name of universal health care? I would have to say yes, based on how it works in other parts of the world, yes, I would be compromised, my rights would be tossed under the bus, all in the name of universal health care.
9 out of 10 Americans ore covered, and a good percentage of the uninsured choose not to be. Or some numbers are 15% uninsured, but the fact remains that a good number choose not to be, they have decided that the money spent is not a wise investment for them, at this time in there lives, is it really the governments responsibility to force them to choose other wise?
What is the answer to the Health Care Crisis”, the free market, open up the market place, remove the state and federal restrictions to coverage and allow the market place to work.
Example: States require any insurance company to follow state guide lines as to what needs to be covered, in some states all insurers must cover birth control, this adds to everyone’s monthly premiums, other states may require that all insurance cover the little blue pill for men, once again adding to my premium. As a Catholic, I should not have to pay for birth control or abortions or other procedures that fly in the face of my faith. I would be able to lower my monthly premiums if I was not forced to cover and pay for the procedures that my faith deemed evil and/or sinful. But state laws and federal regulations require that all insurance cover certain things.
The free market would work to allow all to be covered, even if the federal government required that all insurers have 1 of there total insurance base be free to the truly poor. Give them the freedom to offer the coverage they choose to offer, and let the free market wash out the good from the bad. Create a system that allows for the faith of the insured to be honored. Allow the consumer the ability to choose the policy that fits there current needs and allows the company the ability to cater to there costumer base.
9 out of 10, not bad… All things considered.
Paul
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