Look at that Poor Little Girl

This is the photo which accompanies the Telegraph story on how the Catholic Church will now be forced to permit homosexual adoption or get out of the adoption business. While the point is to present a beautiful girl with homosexual 'parents', the image may backfire. On seeing the photo, and the girl's expression I immediately felt for the girl in her plight, for her lack of a mother, and was motivated to take action to fight for the rights of these poor children to have a mother AND a father.

On Handing Over Communion to Pro-Choice Politicians

This comment from Catholic World News' Diogenes is priceless:

Bishops ought to think carefully before handing over Holy Communion to “manifest grave sinners,” like civil authorities who publicly promote contraception, abortion and same sex marriage. (Can. 915). Jesus was surely referring to the “chief priests” when He said to Pilate “he who handed me over to you is guilty of the greater sin” (Jn.18:35; 19:11).

My predictions for 2007

That the Holy Father will give a universal indult for the Traditional Mass and will do something else which will result in the defacto schism becoming formal.

I think the Archbishop Communist collaboration story in Poland is a SHAM

Colleagues in Poland have informed me the Wielgus was a conservative and the proposed successor is a liberal. Moreover, the records compilation was done by anti-Catholic communist bigots who would have liked nothing more than to defame with corrupt records. Now the records are being pointed to by the same old communists and their new anti-Catholic collaborators.

Here's the best round-up I've found so far on the topic by Sandro Magister in Rome.

When exactly did Red Fred Have his Conversion?

Calgary's Bishop Fred Henry is now known as Canada's most outspokenly pro-life and pro-family bishop.

That's a real transformation even regarding pro-life. After all he was one of the six bishops who concelebrated the Mass for the pro-abortion March of Women in 2000.

"six Catholic Bishops participated in a Mass for the feminist march at Notre Dame Cathedral. The bishops included Ottawa Archbishop Marcel Gervais, Calgary Bishop Fred Henry, London Bishop John Sherlock, Moncton's Bishop Ernest Leger, Edmonston NB's Bishop Francois Thibodeau, and Sault Ste Marie's Paul-Andre Durocher."

All about New Toronto Archbishop Tom Collins

In addition to the piece over at LifeSite,
there's the fact that he tried to have a Fraternity priest come to Edmonton from Nebraska

also there's this piece of old gold from the WCR

Collins works closely with Legionaries
Group banned in Minneapolis but accepted in Edmonton

Western Catholic Reporter/January 31, 2005
By Ramon Gonzalez
While barred by the archbishop of St. Paul-Minneapolis, the Legionaries of Christ have a close relationship with the archbishop of Edmonton.

Archbishop Thomas Collins says he meets regularly with the Legionaries' lay associate movement, Regnum Christi, and said the group is doing good work in the archdiocese.

"The Regnum Christi people have been most cooperative; very, very cooperative. And they are very zealous, active parishioners and I have great admiration for their work" Collins said in an interview.

Late last year Archbishop Harry Flynn of St. Paul-Minneapolis barred the Legionaries of Christ from his archdiocese saying they were encouraging a "parallel church." He also instructed parish heads to keep Regnum Christi "completely separate from all activities of the parishes and the archdiocese."

Collins called the Legionaries "a religious order very much approved by the holy father." The archdiocese doesn't have any Legionary priests but a few dozen members of Regnum Christi are involved in "various apostolic activities."

"I think they are doing very good work. I've tried to work together very closely with both the Legionaries' representative and also with the local Regnum Christi people to be sure that they are connected into the local Church, the local parish. When that doesn't happen there can be very real problems."

Collins thinks what happened in the St. Paul-Minnesota Archdiocese "is a very real possibility not only for Regnum Christi but any other spiritual group."

"And so in order to avoid that I have had numerous meetings with the leadership and the members of many different spiritual groups, including Regnum Christi, in order to maintain that close contact," he said.

Local Regnum Christi members hold retreats for their members, have a youth association and run catechetical programs.

"I must say they have been very good in letting me know what goes on in terms of their activities in the archdiocese as a whole," Collins said.

He said the Legionary priest responsible for the local Regnum Christi group always asks for his permission before visiting. The priest comes regularly to run retreats and to work with the lay movement in their activities.

Last year Collins met with every member of Regnum Christi and meets regularly with the group's leadership. He also meets regularly with Opus Dei and the charismatic renewal.

"It would be a terrible thing if the most fervent Catholics were all in these separate little groups. But I've found that the local members of Regnum Christi and the charismatic renewal and Opus Dei and all these various other groups have a great desire to work together with the local Church."

Collins would like to have "a great meeting" of the various spiritual organizations operating in the archdiocese "so they get to meet one another and so that they can appreciate what they are all doing and coordinate and work together with the local parish."

He said he has asked several of these groups, including Regnum Christi, to speak to the Council of Priests and perhaps to the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council "so that they are drawn into the life of the archdiocese and the parishes."

A Mexican priest, Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, founded the Legionaries in 1941, and it has grown to include about 500 priests and 2,500 seminarians, who work in more than 20 countries. The Regnum Christi movement has tens of thousands of members around the world, most of them lay men and women.

The Anti-Mafia Soon to be Saint

A picture of Sicily from John Allen.