Catholic Radio (finally) arrives in Washington, D.C., in a big way
May 6, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog
W-M-E-T 1160 AM is now on the air… serving our nation’s capital — Washington DC!Congratulations to Len Oswald, Toya Hall, Doug Pearson and all involved with Guadalupe Radio to help make this happen!Washington DC is the number 9 ranked radio market in the country, and with a powerful 50,000 watts, the station will be available to an estimated 5 million people throughout the DC metro.This is a great victory for Our Lord and His Church…. A big, big welcome to all our new listeners now hearing EWTN Radio on Guadalupe Radio in Washington, DC — WMET 1160 AM!
This is big news. The station’s 50,000 watts daytime signal— a blowtorch — will completely blanket all of DC, and will extend into large parts of the surrounding states of Maryland, Virgina, and Pennsylvania. This is muy good news, amigos. Muy, muy good.
Love Will Keep Us Alive
May 6, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog
I’m sure the Eagles didn’t have any theological or eschatological thoughts in mind when they wrote this beaut of a song, but, even so, it seems to me that it inadvertently offers a flash, here and there, of a certain theological truth we Catholics should remind ourselves about frequently, especially as we move through difficult times in which “the world is changing, right before [our] eyes.”
I'm looking for 100 committed Catholics. Are you one?
May 4, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog
Please click the image to read my message about the work we’re doing at the Envoy Institute and how you can play a role.
What a way to woo a woman
May 4, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog
Cheer Up, Sleepy Gene
May 3, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog
“Cheer up, sleepyGeneJean.Oh, what can it meanTo a daydream believerAnd a homecoming queen?”
Bishop Gene Robinson, the openly gay Episcopal bishop whose 2003 ordination threatened to tear apart the Global Anglican Communion, has published an open letter to Pope Benedict XVI, in which he advises the pope regarding how to reform the Church and denies any connection between homosexuality and the Church abuse crisis.In his letter Robinson recalls how the Episcopal Church became aware of the sexual abuse of minors in its ranks twenty years ago in the United States, and relates in detail how his Church dealt with the problem. “Rather than refusing to acknowledge our transgressions,” he says, “we sought to change our church’s culture.”Nevertheless, he also says, “I would not presume to instruct you. That would be arrogant. Nor would I impose upon you advice you’ve not sought.”Robinson commends the pope’s letter to the faithful in Ireland and his meeting with victims of abuse in Malta as “a good start.” But he also goes on to make the more controversial point that it is merely a “thoroughly debunked myth” that connects homosexuality with pedophilia and child abuse.“I believe it is misguided and wrong for gay men to be scapegoated in this scandal,” he says. “In the media, representatives of and advocates for the Roman Catholic Church have laid blame for sexual abuse at the feet of gay priests.”Robinson’s remarks were most likely directed at Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State of the Vatican, who had stated earlier this year that, “Many psychologists, many psychiatrists, have demonstrated that there is no relationship between celibacy and pedophilia.”“But many others have demonstrated, and have told me recently, that there is a relationship between homosexuality and pedophilia,” he continued. “That is the truth, this is the problem.” Bertone’s contentions appear to be supported by the fact that studies of clerical sex abuse have found that the vast majority of such abuse is homosexual in nature.According to the John Jay Report, a report commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and issued in 2004, 81% of the victims of priestly sexual abuse were male. A 2002 study conducted by USA Today in 2002 similarly found that 91% of allegations against priests involved male victims.One step that the Church has taken in addressing the abuse crisis has been to reiterate the requirement that men with deep-seated homosexual tendencies must not be admitted to the seminary or the priesthood.The cardinal’s remarks have also sparked a re-analysis of the data in reference to homosexuality and pedophilia. A lengthy paperissued last month by Brian Clowes of Human Life International cites multiple studies showing that homosexuality is far higher among pedophiles than among the rest of the population. “Celibacy is not the root of the problem,” Clowes claims. “Homosexuality is.”Robinson, however, says that “every reputable scientific study shows that homosexuals are no more or less likely to be child-abusers than heterosexuals. Psychologically healthy homosexual men are no more drawn to little boys than psychologically heterosexual men are drawn to little girls.”He also takes direct aim at Church requirements barring homosexuals from the priesthood. “Homosexual priests have faithfully and responsibly served God throughout Catholic history,” he says. “To scapegoat them and deprive them of their pulpits is a tragedy for the people they serve and for the church. Yours is a problem of abuse, not sexual orientation.” (source)
Reinforcements have arrived in the battle against relativism
May 3, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog
Just imagine having Dr. Peter Kreeft (renowned Catholic author and professor of philosophy at Boston College), Teresa Tomeo, Jim Burnham, and a whole group of dedicated Catholic leaders personally tutor you in the art of resisting and refuting the “Dictatorship of Relativism.” Well, with this stellar set of DVDs or CDs (or MP3 and MP4 downloads), you can have exactly what you’re looking for.
Check out this all-star lineup of dynamic Catholic speakers who will teach you how. This is a truly powerful set of 12 talks that will prepare you to more effectively “fight the good fight” on the modern intellectual battlefield of ideas and ideologies.
Would you like to reach out to those who have left the Catholic Church?
May 3, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog
If you’re looking for a speaker for your parish or group who specializes in helping former Catholics come home, someone with many years of experience who can effectively teach other Catholics how to do the same, I can help. I’m currently scheduling parish and conference events through 2013. If you’re interested in arranging one for your parish or group, please contact me at 740-334-4394 or send me a seminar request. More info here.
San Francisco-based Craigslist making millions on "adult" ads
April 29, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog
I know plenty of decent people who use Craigslist, innocently looking for a job, or to sell a car, or for a good deal on used books, furniture, and the like. There are some great buys available there, from what they tell me. But there is also a dark underworld to Craigslist, seething beneath the bland surface of ads for housing, stuff for sale, jobs, and services. Beneath that mundane patina lies the dank and dangerous basement of sex for sale.
“Biggest online hub for selling women against their will”San Francisco-based Craigslist, the international online classified advertising network, earned millions last year from selling “adult advertising,” ads that have prompted law-enforcement probes in at least 40 states.“The ads, many of which blatantly advertise prostitution, are expected to bring $36 million this year, according to a new projection of Craigslist’s income,” the New York Times reported April 25. “That is three times the revenue in last year’s projection.”“Law-enforcement officials have been fighting a mostly losing battle to get Craigslist to rein in the sex ads,” said the Times. “At the same time, officials of organizations that oppose human trafficking say the site remains the biggest online hub for selling women against their will.”“Last week, in the latest example, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested 14 members of the Gambino crime family on charges of, among other things, selling the sexual services of girls ages 15 to 19 on Craigslist,” the Times reported.“Sex Trade Big Business for Craig,” reported KNBC-TV, Channel 11 in the Bay Area, referring to Craigslist founder Craig Newmark. The television station said in a headline on its website, “Money charged for formerly free ads estimated to bring in $36 million.”“Craigslist revenue grew 22 percent last year, to $122 million, largely on the strength of increasing fees for ‘adult’ advertising and no longer sending that money to charity,” said NBC Bay Area.The revenue estimates for Craigslist come from the Advanced Interactive Media Group, which, said NBC Bay Area, “regularly calculates revenue estimates for the private company by tracking the number and nature of ads posted to the site.”Craigslist originally promised to donate revenues from ‘adult’ ads to charity, but “announced that it would no longer disclose its plans with that money last year, suggesting it’s now going to the bottom line,” said the NBC Bay Area report.According to the Times, Craigslist “had seemed to put the conflict over its sex ads to rest” last May when it agreed to monitor ‘adult’ postings for illegal activity. “Attorneys general in 40 states, including New Jersey, Illinois and Connecticut, investigated the company for facilitating criminal activity, after a wave of publicity about prostitution and violent crimes linked to the site,” the Times reported. . . . (Continue reading)
Say hello to my little friend
April 29, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog
My view from the pew on aspects of the sex-scandal crisis
April 27, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog
So, you want to go to heaven, do you?
April 26, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog
Then heed this wise advice from St. John Vianney, as explained and amplified by Father Roger J. Landry of New Bedford, Massachusetts. It might startle you. The message is simple to understand, if not easy to put into practice. St. John Vianney, pray for us!
For a Christian who wants to be saved, charity is not optional. “All of our religion is but a false religion, and all our virtues are mere illusions, and we ourselves are only hypocrites in the sight of God,” he declared emphatically, “unless we have universal charity for everyone, for the good and for the bad, for the poor people as well as for the rich, for all those who do us harm as much as those who do us good” . . . .
The obligation we have to love our neighbor is so important that Jesus Christ put it into a commandment that he placed immediately after that by which he commands us to love him with all our hearts. He tells us that all the law and the prophets are included in this commandment to love our neighbor. Yes, my dear brethren, we must regard this obligation as the most universal, the most necessary and the most essential to religion and to our salvation. In fulfilling this commandment, we are fulfilling all the others”
“Dear Lord, how many Christians are damned through lack of charity! No, no, my dear brethren, even if you could perform miracles, you will never be saved if you do not have love. Not to have charity is not to know your religion. It is to have a religion of whim, mood and inclination. … Without charity, you will never see God. You will never go to heaven!” . . . . (continue reading)
One lawyer behind many allegations of Catholic Church abuse
April 26, 2010 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog
Here’s an angle of the ongoing priest-&-bishop scandals that, I must say, I am surprised to see the mainstream media covering.
The last month has seen a blizzard of new sex abuse accusations against the Catholic Church from across the United States. Almost all of them — and the intense media attention they’ve garnered — can be trace d to one man: a Minnesota lawyer named Jeff Anderson.
Last week, an alleged victim of priest abuse in Wisconsin announced a lawsuit against the Vatican itself. Anderson is representing the alleged victim.
A couple of days earlier, a Mexican man who alleged abuse by a priest years ago filed suit against Mexico’s top Catholic cleric in a U.S. court. The plaintiff is another Anderson client.
And throughout April, new documents have come to light suggesting that the current pope may have played down warnings about abusive priests in the United States. Those documents came from Anderson’s St. Paul, Minnesota, office.
For decades, Anderson has won settlements from Catholic archdioceses across the country for abuse victims and, more than any other attorney in the country, has driven American media coverage of the church abuse scandal.
Now, with the church abuse crisis embroiling Europe for the first time and raising questions about whether the pope himself did enough to respond to church abuse, Anderson is employing novel legal tactics in an attempt to take his campaign all the way to the Vatican.
“I’m getting far more aggressive because all roads are leading to Rome,” Anderson, 62, said last Thursday, after filing suit against the Vatican on behalf of the alleged Wisconsin abuse victim.
“I’m pessimistic that the Vatican is capable of changing itself but I’m optimistic that external pressure will,” Anderson said. “We’re at a tipping point.”
Anderson’s last sex abuse suit against the Vatican, filed in 2002, has wound its way through the courts, with the U.S. Supreme Court now considering whether to hear the case.
But Anderson’s critics say that last week’s suit against the Vatican, along with much of his other work, is aimed more at attracting publicity than getting justice.
“Anderson has sued the Vatican many times, and has never won,” said Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. “He knows he will lose again this time, but that means nothing to him. What this is all about is grandstanding: getting more PR for himself and throwing more mud at the Catholic Church.”
Anderson’s firm — Jeff Anderson & Associates, which employs four other lawyers — has filed hundreds of sex abuse suits against the church. Though he won’t disclose how much he has won in settlements, Anderson is thought to be responsible for a good chunk of the roughly $2.5 billion that, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the U.S. Catholic Church has paid to sex abuse victims to date.
He was among the lawyers representing abuse victims in the $600 million settlement with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 2007, the church’s largest payout ever. . . . (continue reading)