Two courageous women, two evil court rulings

Long ago, I warned that Christians' misguided compassion would come back to bite them in the rear, and since that day, things have gotten so much worse. We Christians apparently still wish to be loved by the popular culture, and we don't seem to realize that the more we appease the beast, the more vicious the beast becomes.

Here is the latest, out of the very left-wing, very secular Washington State:

By a unanimous, 9-0 decision, the Washington Supreme Court...

... ruled that this 72-year-old grandmother [Barronelle Stutzman] who had employed gay workers and served gay customers for years, was required by law to participate in a gay wedding, even though this constituted a direct violation of her religious beliefs — beliefs which have been consistent and almost universally held among Christians for the last 2,000 years. 

Not only so, but the court upheld the attack on her personal assets as well — her house, her savings, her retirement funds — by requiring her “to pay the attorneys’ fees that the ACLU racked up in suing her,” fees which could reach as high as one million dollars.  [emphasis mine]

This kind and decent florist stated the following to the state's attorney general, regarding her motives and beliefs, and her refusal to accept an offer of "settlement":

You don’t really understand me or what this conflict is all about. It’s about freedom, not money. I certainly don’t relish the idea of losing my business, my home, and everything else that your lawsuit threatens to take from my family, but my freedom to honor God in doing what I do best is more important. Washington’s constitution guarantees us “freedom of conscience in all matters of religious sentiment.” I cannot sell that precious freedom. You are asking me to walk in the way of a well-known betrayer, one who sold something of infinite worth for 30 pieces of silver. That is something I will not do. 

I pray that you reconsider your position. I kindly served Rob [the 'gay' plaintiff] for nearly a decade and would gladly continue to do so. I truly want the best for my friend. I’ve also employed and served many members of the LGBT community, and I will continue to do so regardless of what happens with this case. You chose to attack my faith and pursue this not simply as a matter of law, but to threaten my very means of working, eating, and having a home. If you are serious about clarifying the law, then I urge you to drop your claims against my home, business, and other assets and pursue the legal claims through the appeal process.

I pray that the Supreme Court will eventually hear her case and undo the evil judgment that has been rendered against her.

I'll tell you what: I would not want to be one of those nine Washington judges when the ultimate Judgment is meted out by the Just Judge at the Day of Reckoning. Shudder. Pray for them; they need it.

Please read the short piece, here, and consider sharing on your social media. It will not go well with us if we continue to remain silent:

Shame on the Silent Christian Leaders 

Who Refuse to Stand Against Government Tyranny

Barronelle Stutzman (Alliance Defending Freedom)

We welcome any liberals of good will who will stand with us on this important issue of freedom of conscience, even if they disagree with us on gay "marriage". They will surely face a particular ridicule, venom, and attack if they speak against the liberal orthodoxy, but I beg liberals of good will to do what is right.

And if you want to understand how we got here, I implore you, watch Princeton's Professor Robert P. George explain. Take the time. It's so worth it. I was in the audience the night he gave the following talk, sitting next to our amazing Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, who nodded his head throughout. Some of our bishops truly understand, and we, as the laity, also have an obligation to SPEAK.

Stop being afraid, my friends! Cultivate the virtue of courage. It gets easier as you practice courage, I promise! God will give you the grace you need. Do you trust Him enough to take care of you, just as florist Barronelle Stutzman trusts?

+++++++

And now to another strong and courageous woman, an unlikely pro-life hero who stood up against the powers-that-be. 

Yesterday, we lost this wonderful lady, Norma McCorvey, aka Jane Roe, the plaintiff in the tragic Roe vs. Wade abortion ruling. After years of being used and abused by the pro-"choice" side -- she never did have an abortion, and her little girl was placed for adoption, by the way -- she was won by love (wrote a book by that name), became a Christian, and joined the pro-life movement. 

Norma ultimately became a devout Catholic, fighting for the remainder of her days and with all her heart and soul against the evil Supreme Court decision that bears her name. May God welcome His good and faithful servant, His beloved daughter, to her heavenly reward. She had a hard life; may she have eternal rest. 

 Requiescat in pace

Some final reflections on the election

In light of the fact that several Catholics (yes, Catholics) have recently, repeatedly, and definitively informed me there is "no threat" to our religious liberty or conscience rights in America by the Democrats, I thought I'd repost Why Trump Will Get My Vote. Just hours after I posted it on October 4th, it became the most popular piece on this blog, ever. And it didn't slow down for weeks.

The points are still valid as we approach the final hours of the most horrid election in my lifetime, and as you read it again or for the first time, here's one more specific to keep in mind:

Of the 13 appellate/circuit courts in America, four were considered "liberal" when Obama came to power (including the notorious 9th Circuit), and nine were considered "conservative" (i.e., less likely to infringe upon the basic rights of life, marriage, and religious liberty/conscience). Today, after eight years of Democrat appointees, those numbers have been reversed. There are now nine left-leaning circuit courts, and only four that lean conservative. We are rightly concerned with the Supreme Court, but many thousands more cases are adjudicated in the lower courts. Dear Catholics, think long and hard about the future of our religious liberty before you cast a vote to put the Democrats in charge of our land.

Here's the post that made the rounds:

Why Trump Will Get My Vote

I believe that retention of religious liberty is the most pressing political issue we face, as that is the natural right we are most rapidly (illegitimately) losing. Whenever I quote Pope Benedict's words to the concerned US bishops, that we Americans face a "grave threat" to religious freedom here at home, those on the "Catholic left" instantly dismiss me and inform me that it is actually I and other Catholic Trump-voters who are "the biggest threat to religious liberty" -- to foreign Muslims.

What I try to explain to these politically left-leaning Catholics goes something like this:

"At this moment, though, it is your own brothers and sisters in Christ, both Catholic and Protestant, who are being legally persecuted. Right now. This moment. In America. And with a revamped Democratic Party platform that promises much more of it. That is the immediate fire, the one I'd like to try to put out. So you can speculate about non-citizen Muslims based on a hypothetical, but meanwhile your fellow Christians are already afoul of the law thanks to Democrats and their core beliefs and legislation. Your co-religionists, including moms and pops and Little Sisters, are the legal "discriminators" today, fighting our government in the courts, losing their businesses and livelihoods, shuttering long-standing charitable agencies -- in this nation, now. That means something to me. Does that mean anything at all to you?"

The answer always comes back, No.

It means nothing to them.

Because they deny it's happening at all. "There is no threat to Christians' religious liberty and conscience rights from the Democrats." Nothing to see here, move along.

It makes me wonder: If the Democrats do get into power and make good on their Party Platform promises to double-down on the legal persecution of Christians who wish to refrain from participating in gravely sinful events or activities, will our left-leaning Catholic friends finally stand up for us when we begin to go to jail?

Or will they continue to say, as they do now, that it's our own fault for "not following the law," and that we "need to learn to get along in an increasingly diverse (read: post-Christian/secular) society."

I have my suspicions. But personally, I hope we can keep the Democrats out of power for at least a few more years so that I don't have to find out the answer anytime soon.


Lord, have mercy on the crazy experiment called America. The way things have been going, we surely don't deserve Your mercy, but we will take whatever cross you allow us, and we will be sanctified by it. 

And for any anxious readers, just remember that whichever way the election goes, Jesus is bigger.

Good Christian, WAKE UP!!!

Five years ago I warned readers that folks on the left do not care one whit about your religious liberty.

Four-and-a-half years ago, Pope Benedict voiced particular concerns about "certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion".

Four years ago, the US Bishops launched the first annual Fortnight For Freedom,  running from June 21—the vigil of the Feasts of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More—to July 4, Independence Day. This event, once unnecessary but now imperative, seeks "to highlight the importance of defending religious freedom" in America.

Unfortunately, the situation for Christians has not improved, but is getting worse by the day.

Laws and lawsuits demanding that Christians violate their consciences and their faith have led to the closure of Catholic charities and adoption agencies, ruinous fines for many mom-and-pop bakers, florists, and photographers, and B&B owners, a years-long federal lawsuit pitting President Obama against the Little Sisters of the Poor, and in the past few days, the rulings against Christian pharmacists and Christian online dating sites, suddenly no longer "allowed" to operate according to the dictates of their Christian faith.

Make no mistake: Secular progressives (who are as fervent about their secular religion as any Christian is about Christ) are not bringing these lawsuits because of any lack of access to gay dating sites, or wedding cakes, flowers, or photographers, nor is there any lack of access to abortifacient pills and devices (all these things are easily accessible to all those Americans who desire them).

No, they are bringing these lawsuits specifically to make you comply to their worldview, specifically to force "acceptance" without dissent, specifically to publicly shame you, specifically to "fundamentally transform America". "Tolerance" was never enough, because it was never the goal. If you've noticed, the forces against religious freedom and conscience rights for Christians are only getting more angry, more fierce, and more unyielding.

If you think that I and others, or perhaps even the bishops, are simply overreacting, you'll want to know that three of the highest judges in our land are themselves explicitly sounding the alarm. Here's the dire warning from Supreme Court Justice Alito in his recent dissent -- which was signed by Justice Thomas and Chief Justice Roberts as well -- regarding the Stormans case (Christian pharmacy owners who did not wish to stock and sell abortion-inducing drugs):

This case is an ominous sign.

At issue are Washington State regulations that are likely to make a pharmacist unemployable if he or she objects on religious grounds to dispensing certain prescrip- tion medications. There are strong reasons to doubt whether the regulations were adopted for—or that they actually serve—any legitimate purpose. 

And there is much evidence that the impetus for the adoption of the regulations was hostility to pharmacists whose religious beliefs regarding abortion and contraception are out of step with prevailing opinion in the State. Yet the Ninth Circuit held that the regulations do not violate the First Amendment, and this Court does not deem the case worthy of our time. 

If this is a sign of how religious liberty claims will be treated in the years ahead, those who value religious freedom have cause for great concern. 

[all emphases mine]

In other words, we are coming to a day when you may have your "religion" and your "conscience" -- but only in your head, your church building, or your home. You may not bring or live your faith anywhere else, including your own business. If you do, you will be fined, ruined, shamed, and, well, we can look to history to see the next steps.

And that brings us to St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher, and why they mean so much to US Catholics today. In honor of the Fortnight for Freedom activities, the relics of these two martyrs of conscience were brought from England to several American cities, including Phoenix. Local Catholics were blessed to be able to venerate these precious relics of two holy and courageous men.

St. John Fisher's ring on the left (the image is of Aristotle). Fisher was the only Catholic bishop in England at the time who stayed loyal to the Church. He was imprisoned, tortured, and ultimately beheaded, his head stuck on a spike on London Bridge. Two weeks later, St. Thomas More was beheaded, and his head replaced St. John Fisher's on the spike. St. Thomas' beloved daughter retrieved his head, and we see here part of his jawbone and half of his tooth (two of only three first-class relics of his in existence). 

We were also able to attend Holy Mass with our two bishops beforehand. Since the whole world couldn't be there, I'm bringing part of it to you.... Enjoy the inspiring homily of Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, which is so profound that it has been shared far past the borders of the Phoenix Diocese (the video can be seen here):

Neither Thomas More nor John Fisher wanted to be martyrs. They wanted to be friends of God and to be faithful to those whom God gave them to love: as a husband and father, lawyer and chancellor of England, or as a bishop and servant of the flock entrusted to his care. Both of them sought to be, as Thomas More put it, “the king’s good servant but God’s first.”

That there is a cost to fidelity to God did not come as a surprise to Thomas More and John Fisher nor should it come as a surprise to you and me. Jesus tells us quite bluntly (Mt 10:34f), “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword.” The Kingdom of God clashes with the kingdom of darkness. God’s word is a two-edged sword. It requires each person either to accept it or to reject it. Earthly loyalties, even those within the family, are put to the test. “For I have come,” Jesus says (Ibid), “to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

In the last months of his life, Thomas More was called a traitor by King Henry; and his successor as Chancellor of England labeled him “a foolish scrupulous ass.” Far more painful were the words of his own family. His wife Lady Alice disagreed with his “scruple of conscience” and even his beloved daughter Meg, his closest and dearest confidante during his last days in the Tower of London’s dungeon, failed to understand her father, and repeatedly tried to convince him to change his mind so as to save his life in this world. Certainly her words but especially her tears broke her father’s heart.

Jesus goes on to say, in our Gospel, that (Ibid) “whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.” When Jesus first spoke these words, crucifixion was the most horrifying form of execution employed by the Roman government. Not only was it excruciatingly painful, it was intended above all to be publicly humiliating. Public shaming was a political ploy to secure the grip of control by Rome. Shame was also a primary tool of torture in the days of Thomas More and John Fisher. Public shaming remains a popular tool today, used not only by ISIS terrorists but even by forces within our own country set on destroying the Church’s witness to the Gospel, aimed at silencing voices that uphold the dignity of every human person, that proclaim God’s plan for marriage and that insist on the first of all human rights, that of religious liberty.

In the daily administration of his duties, Thomas More was keenly aware of his own shortcomings and of his constant need of the mercy of God. He knew, too, of the need for reform among the clergy and religious in his day, and the need to restore honesty and civility among the powerful and those seeking positions of political influence. Both he and John Fisher resonated with the wisdom of our First Reading today where St. Peter writes (1 Pet 4:12), “Beloved, do not be surprised that a trial by fire is occurring among you, as if something strange were happening to you.” It is not strange that followers of Jesus should face hard times, unfair criticism, public shaming, outright persecution and even death for the sake of the Kingdom of God. It is strange and foolish to think that you can be a disciple of Jesus without sharing in the cross.

The irony of the martyrdom of these heroic Englishmen is that both of them had faithfully served the King for many years and were among those he trusted most. Moreover, he knew their loyalty; in fact, he had depended on it constantly. He even appreciated their impeccable integrity—that is, until one day when he asked them to do something that their very integrity did not allow them to do. Even then, Thomas More and John Fisher refrained from speaking out against the person of the king. Still, they refused to tell a lie. They refused to act like false prophets who play with the truth, rather than shape their lives in accord with it. They would not say what the king wanted to hear because they knew it was not what he needed to hear, for his own good on earth and in eternity. They refused, in other words, to say that the king could pretend to be head of the Church in England instead of the Successor of St. Peter. No matter the cost to themselves, they would not betray a well-formed conscience, would not act contrary to the truth they knew by faith in Christ. Thomas More wrote, “When statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short road to chaos.”

Since Thomas More is my patron saint, I trust you will understand if I focus a little more attention on him than on John Fisher, although the only bishop in England to remain loyal to the Catholic faith at the time of Henry VIII is certainly worthy of our veneration.

More important to Thomas More than his political influence and public office of Lord Chancellor were his wife and family, his Catholic faith, his daily pursuit of holiness, and his well-trained conscience.  Pope St. John Paul II said of him (Cf. Motu Proprio), “Thomas More witnessed the primacy of truth over power…He died as a martyr because of his passion for truth…for him his moral conscience was a defining voice, the voice of God in his soul.”

Thomas More’s ultimate stand in defense of the truth was determined long before his imprisonment and execution. It was the consequence of seeking, day after day and year after year, to know God’s will and put it into practice.

Already at the beginning of his public career, Thomas More knew that the greatest threat to freedom of conscience did not come from outside a man but from within his own heart. No one can force you to betray your conscience. Freedom of conscience requires freedom from self-deception, freedom from pride and freedom from fear. It has to be won anew through a daily examination of conscience, sincere contrition for any failures and sincere renewal of commitment to Christ. That is what Thomas More did.

It is highly instructive to recall that the first book he published was not about the law or the legal profession but about the spiritual life. At about the age of 25, he wrote, “…if you desire to be secure from the snares of the devil, from the storms of this world, from the hands of your enemies; if you long to be acceptable to God; if you covet everlasting happiness—then let no day pass without at least once presenting yourself to God in prayer, falling down before Him flat on the ground with a humble affection and a devout mind; not merely with your lips, but from the innermost recesses of your heart, crying out [to God].”

My brothers and sisters in Christ, the heroic witness of Thomas More and John Fisher is needed today more than at any time in our nation’s history. We Americans are facing an assault on religious liberty from forces within our own country that is unprecedented and constantly on the increase. For this reason, Pope Francis spoke about it more than once during his historic visit last September. In the presence of President Obama at the White House, the Holy Father said, “[Religious] freedom remains one of America’s most precious possessions… All are called to be vigilant, precisely as good citizens, to preserve and defend that freedom from everything that would threaten or compromise it.”

When speaking at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pope Francis said, “Let us preserve freedom. Let us cherish freedom. Freedom of conscience, religious freedom, the freedom of each person, each family, each people, which is what gives rise to rights. May you defend these rights, especially your religious freedom, for it has been given to you by God Himself.”

We Americans must also take care not to close our eyes to far worse violations of religious freedom happening in many other countries around the world. We have refugees coming to Arizona as a result of these violations of conscience, and we have much to learn from their words and courageous example.

In its 2016 Annual Report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom stated, “By any measure, religious freedom abroad has been under serious and sustained assault since the release of our commission’s last Annual Report in 2015…” The 2016 report said that the number of those held as prisoners of conscience, those imprisoned for reasons of religion, “remains astonishingly widespread;” and harsh conditions are faced by many millions of believers around the world. We must not close our eyes to these human rights violations or our ears to their cries for help.

In 1929, G.K. Chesterton wrote, “Thomas More is more important at this moment than at any moment since his death…but he is not quite so important as he will be in about a hundred years’ time.” May the Lord give us the grace to imitate John Fisher and Thomas More. Let the words of St. Peter resonate in our minds and hearts (1 Pet 4:12f), “Beloved, do not be surprised that a trial by fire is occurring among you, as if something strange were happening to you. But rejoice to the extent that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that when His glory is revealed you may also rejoice exultantly.”




As we Americans celebrate this Independence Day, may we never forget that religious liberty was the impetus for the founding of this beautiful nation, and may we never be complacent. May the Lord safeguard our religious freedom and freedom of conscience in this difficult time for our country. God bless America!

Professor Robert P. George on what's happening to religious liberty

It's been a bazillion years (give or take) since I've blogged, and while I have several things in the pipeline, my life at home has been incredibly busy, and I have not been able to complete a thing!

However, in the meantime, I urge you to watch this talk that I had the privilege of seeing in person, when Princeton Professor Robert P. George (one of my heroes) spoke locally at the invitation of Catholic Phoenix.

This talk is brilliant.

This talk left my own holy and courageous Bishop Olmsted nodding his head in agreement.

This talk outlines what has happened in this culture for the last few years, why our heads are spinning, why we are disoriented and bewildered, and what to expect next.

There is so much clarity here for anyone confused about the growing LGBT frenzy-obsession and the fallout for Christians and those who are concerned for religious liberty.

Get some tea, find some quiet time, and watch.

(If you have no time to watch the video, click here for the audio version.)