Religious Freedom & Gay Marriage: More than 60 briefs urge court to keep Gay Marriage bans
Happy Easter Monday to everybody! WOW What a phenomenal Holy Week! From the powerful Chrism Mass on Tuesday at the Cathedral (where we had a record number of clergy on hand: 150 priests/ 45 deacons); to the beautiful “Lord’s Supper Mass” on Holy Thursday with our beloved Bishop Barbarito; to the awesome Passion Meditation on Good Friday by “Battle Ready” Doug Barry at the “House that Molgano Made Holy & Bold”; to our Grand Finale of “40 Days for Life” on Sleepy Saturday (where we had over “100” Pro-Lifers in attendance; and finally, a beautiful Easter Sunday Mass at the Cathedral with our beloved pastor, Father Tom Barrett (where I did not recognize 85% of the “Chreaster Families” who showed up for this yearly event). Those are families who show up twice a year – Christmas & Easter. I even had a couple, who arrived late, ask me if we were handing out palm fronds before or after the service??? Lord, have mercy on us…Here’s your sign…
But, it was that Good Friday event that had me up for the rest of the week. Unlike Jesus, who rested in the tomb on the second day of the Triduum (Sleepy Saturday) – I stayed up all the way through Easter Sunday. That is how powerful EWTN’s Doug Barry’s performance was on Good Friday.
Friends: It was not the stunning performance that he put on during his intense Passion Meditation (which ran for 77 minutes & was even more powerful than last year’s performance) – but, it was the 45 minute “Battle Ready” sermon that he delivered before his performance that had everybody’s undivided attention. I mean everybody. I only wish we could have video-taped every minute of it because the Nebraska native covered it all. I almost felt like he was reading from my e-mails & articles as Doug covered it all – from the atrocities of Abortion; to the Curse of Common Core; to the disgusting topic of Gay Marriage; to the under-handed H.H.S. Mandate; to some powerful statements about the liberal political arena we face in our country every day; to the persecution of Christians all over the world (where he spoke about the horrors of the brutal murders by al-Shabab at the university in Kenya last week and the disappearance & kidnapping of the 200 plus girls in Kenya by Boko Haram…And, his theme was: WE BETTER PUT ON OUR ARMOR AND GET READY FOR THE BATTLE…
What I would give to have that 45 minute “beyond bold” sermon spoken in every Catholic church in this country today. I wish we had a DVD of it so that we could show it at all of our churches as part of the Sunday Homily. That is the type of Homily that needs to be delivered in every Catholic church in every diocese and every church in America. Delivered in that bold fashion, with no holding back. Covering every controversial issue that 95% of Catholics are afraid to hear about and that so many of our church leaders and clergy are petrified to even mention. I honestly felt like I was dreaming…This taking place in one of our Catholic parishes in our Palm Beach Diocese…It takes a gutsy, Pro-Life pastor like Father James Molgano – who walks the walk with those big, size 13 black shoes – to host a gutsy, Pro-Life evangelist like Doug Barry in his parish, and I will be forever indebted to these two Real Catholic Church Militants for doing what they did for us on a most appropriate day – Good Friday…
Yes, it took a gutsy, Pro-Life devout father-of-5 to deliver this critical message to the 170 who were in attendance. And, it only took 22 minutes of this powerful sermon to have three ladies get up and leave the church in an abrupt manner. Only 3…I was waiting for more. If that’s what it takes to clean the Lord’s House of hypocrites who do not want to hear the TRUTH – then, we need more house-cleaning in our churches. I, myself, got up 3 times – but, that’s because I could not keep my excitement in. I had to get up…Mr. Barry was speaking to me…and, at times, about me…beyond humbling…
My dear friends: It was more than humbling to have a world renown evangelist like Doug Barry unexpectedly mention my name quite a few times during his talk when he spoke about being “Bold for our Faith” and standing up for our religious freedom by putting my life on the line for our beloved faith day in and day out. Totally unexpected, folks. Publicly claiming that he reads all of my bold e-mails and saying what he said on Friday night is more than enough to give me the fuel, motivation and fire to take my fight against these intrinsic evils even up a notch or two. How does one put a price tag on a spiritual pep rally like that? We all need to hear that powerful message and we all need to act on it. Thank you, brother Doug. I am truly humbled by your encouraging words…
Which leads me to why I am sending this powerful e-mail out to you. It covers a lot of what Doug Barry spoke about on Good Friday and these two articles gives us a different perspective of what is taking place in our beloved country right now as we speak. With this Gay Marriage debacle going in front of the Supreme Court this June – we Pro-Life / Pro-Traditional Christians in this country better be “battle ready” to step it up. It’s time we become more Pro-active as opposed to being Re-active. That is the precise problem with the Holy Catholic Church today. Everything the Church has done since Vatican II has been “Re-active”. January 22nd, 1973 is a perfect example where the Catholic Church needed to flex her holy muscles and say NO to abortion – and Roe v. Wade would have become a footnote – not a death sentence…56 million dead with no birth or death certificate to show for…
The Curse of Common Core is following in the same footsteps as the abortion atrocity. And, the Catholic Church is right smack in the middle of it again – watching it all unfold right before our very own eyes – while jumping on the Bill Gates band wagon and reaching out for those “30 pieces of silver”…Almost makes one want to hang himself from a tree…the kiss of death…the future of our kids.
With 1.2 billion Catholics in the world and over 70 million right here in America – we can no longer afford to be re-active and quiet. WE NEED TO BE PRO-ACTIVE!!! WE NEED TO BE PRO-LIFE!!! We are the Holy Catholic Apostolic Church – the ONLY one that Jesus instituted, Himself! We cannot settle for mediocrity. We can no longer do business with the devil. We need to do business with Saint Michael the Archangel – the one who defends us in battle and serves as our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil, himself. We need to pray that prayer over and over again – and we need to prepare ourselves for an all-out battle. And, we need to be spiritually ready for what’s coming this Sunday – Divine Mercy Sunday – the best kept secret in the entire Catholic Church. (More on Divine Mercy Sunday in up-coming e-mails this week)…Stay tuned…
We should all be praying the 9 day Divine Mercy Novena that kicked off on Good Friday and runs through Divine Mercy Sunday (April 12th). Like Doug Barry & Father James say time and again – “We need to pray; go before the Blessed Sacrament for Adoration; pray before our Blessed Mother to intervene; go to confession; fast; and pray even more for conversion of our beloved country”…
Friends: With what is going on all around the world today and with the upper hierarchy of the Catholic Church not heeding the cry of Our Lady of Fatima to consecrate the country of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Jesus (that originally took place over 98 years ago) – we will continue to see more and more self destruction in our world. More suffering, more pain, more sinning. If we do not do these things that Father James & Doug Barry continue to ask us to do on a daily basis, we can all kiss our Holy Rosaries good-bye and continue to repeat over, and over, and over again.
More than 60 briefs urge court to keep gay marriage bans
by Richard Wolf, USA Today
WASHINGTON — Republican officials and religious organizations dominate a growing list of more than 60 groups urging the Supreme Court to uphold state bans against same-sex marriage.
The flood of “friend of the court” briefs arriving at the court by Friday’s deadline easily made the upcoming case the most heavily lobbied in the court’s recent history. Earlier this month, more than 70 briefs were filed by proponents of gay marriage, including one signed by more than 200,000 people.
Sixteen states led by Republican governors were among those calling for the bans in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee to be upheld. Among them were nine states where same-sex marriage bans have been struck down by federal courts — an indication that the battle there and elsewhere will be renewed if the justices uphold the bans.
“How much better for this issue to play out, state-by-state, with citizens locked in urgent conversation,” one of the briefs says. “That is precisely what was happening before the courts began to intervene two years ago. The court should let that process of self-governance continue.”
States opposing gay marriage include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, Utah and West Virginia, where federal appeals court rulings have struck down state bans. The Supreme Court refused to reconsider most of those decisions in October.
Now Is the Time to Talk About Religious Liberty
by Charles J. Chaput, Robert P. George, William E. Lori, R. Albert Mohler, Jr., and Russell Moore
within Religion and the Public Square
For many religious believers, Passover and the Easter season are cornerstones of the year. Thus our hearts have been especially troubled in recent days by the acrimony and lies surrounding legal efforts, in Indiana and elsewhere, at ensuring religious liberty for people of all faiths.
As Americans commemorate their respective holy days, we urge all our fellow citizens to remember the moral roots of their constitutional system, and to engage in a sensible national conversation about religious liberty. Even those who are not religious have a stake in seeing that our “first freedom”—religious freedom; freedom of conscience—is protected in law.
In recent days we have heard claims that a belief central to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—that we are created male and female, and that marriage unites these two basic expressions of humanity in a unique covenant—amounts to a form of bigotry. Such arguments only increase public confusion on a vitally important issue. When basic moral convictions and historic religious wisdom rooted in experience are deemed “discrimination,” our ability to achieve civic harmony, or even to reason clearly, is impossible.
America was founded on the idea that religious liberty matters because religious belief matters in a uniquely life-giving and powerful way. We need to take that birthright seriously, or we become a people alien to our own founding principles. Religious liberty is precisely what allows a pluralistic society to live together in peace.
Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Philadelphia
Robert P. George
McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence
Princeton University
William E. Lori
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Baltimore
Albert Mohler, Jr., President
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Russell Moore, President
Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission
Southern Baptist Convention
