Politickles

When LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) described the healthcare plan’s abortion mandate to Roger Playwin, the National Executive Director of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, he interrupted to say: “The bishops’ office has advised us that that’s not accurate. So I can’t speak to it, because all I know is that the bishops’ office has said that story is going around, but it’s inaccurate. That’s all I know.”

Playwin said that by bishops’ office he meant the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, specifically the bishops’ charity arm, Catholic Charities USA. “There’s a lot of disinformation about – there is no legislation, number one,” he said. Asked to clarify, Playwin said, “There is not a piece of legislation that the House and Senate are going to agree to about health care reform.” – LifeSiteNews

Feel free to publish, post, or pass on Your Weekly Politickle by F.R. Duplantier:

SOCIALIST JUSTICE
When in reason and faith understood,
It promotes a profound common good;
But, when used to defend a
Demonic agenda,
“Social justice” betrays brotherhood.

From the archive:

NON SERVIAM
If it seems that the things you believe’ll
Lead to ugliness and to upheaval,
If you find that you revel
In dissent like the devil,
Then perhaps your belief system’s evil.
(2009)

VINCENTIANS
When desperate disasters begin,
They don’t have to send anyone in,
‘Cause these people who care
Are already there –
In the places they always have been.
(2005)

Last week’s limerick:

STUPID?
If an honest and well-meaning cop
Doesn’t know when he better had stop,
He is bound to regret
The abuse he will get
For arresting a world-famous fop.

Three of the top lay Catholic organizations have divorced themselves from Catholic teaching by supporting the Obama health-care plan, which would foster a culture of mandatory abortion coverage, contraceptive services, and permissive sex education, euthanasia and eugenics. Catholic Charities USA, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and the Catholic Health Association are joining together to push the current version of the plan through Congress. – American Life League

The  Society of St. Vincent de Paul has been captured by the socialist justice crowd, its founders and its faithful and generous members have been betrayed, and the reputation of this wonderful organization has been tarnished. Donations will surely decrease, and conferences and councils will feel compelled to withhold their solidarity dues or separate themselves entirely from the national office. The “leadership” were warned not to go in this direction, but they were too arrogant and corrupt to listen. Maybe next time the Vincentians pick a president, they’ll make sure to choose a Catholic.

The right to speak anonymously was of fundamental importance to the establishment of our Constitution. Throughout the revolutionary and early federal period in American history, anonymous speech and the use of pseudonyms were powerful tools of political debate. The Federalist Papers (authored by Madison, Hamilton, and Jay) were written anonymously under the name “Publius.” The anti-federalists responded with anonymous articles of their own, authored by “Cato” and “Brutus,” among others. See generally McIntyre, 514 U.S. at 341-42. Anonymous speech is a great tradition that is woven into the fabric of this nation’s history.

The right to speak anonymously extends to speech via the Internet. Internet anonymity facilitates the rich, diverse, and far ranging exchange of ideas. The “ability to speak one’s mind” on the Internet “without the burden of the other party knowing all the facts about one’s identity can foster open communication and robust debate.” Columbia Ins. Co. v. Seescandy.com, 185 F.R.D. 573, 578 (N.D. Cal. 1999). People who have committed no wrongdoing should be free to participate in online forums without fear that their identity will be exposed under the authority of the court. Id. — Doe v. 2TheMart.com Inc. (cited in State of Tennessee v. Cobbins)

I made a similar argument when challenged about my anonymous posting on the nefarious unethical and criminal activities at my former place of employment, the national office of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Nothing I said was untrue, but I had reason to fear reprisal — I’d already been fired for raising some of these questions — and I wanted my exposé to be considered on its own merits, not dismissed as the plaint of a disgruntled ex-employee.

There seems to be a law of the universe that states that any so-called independent organization whose existence can be used to attack capitalism will be eventually captured by the left and put to that purpose. The Catholic Society of St Vincent de Paul seems to be striking proof of the existence of this law. . . . — Gerard Jackson, BrookesNews.com

The Australian and European National Councils of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul may be more radicalized than the American, but ours is not far behind, is striving to catch up, and may soon be just as ignorant and subversive. Where in the writings of Vincent and Frederick is there any warrant for lying and thievery in the name of charity?

Last October, Bishop Robert Hermann, acting leader of the St. Louis Archdiocese, sent Catholic Charities board members a memo saying the organization had been allowed “to drift in a direction that began to work contrary to the desires” of previous archbishops. He informed them that the relationship between the archdiocese and Catholic Charities was “at an impasse.” — St. Louis Post-Dispatch

In a 1998 “Behind The Headlines” commentary, I summarized a recent issue of Alternatives in Philanthropy, published by the Capital Research Center, describing Catholic Charities’ increasing reliance on government handouts and its concomitant secularization. The commentary concluded as follows:

Didn’t Jesus say something rather pithy about the folly of a man gaining the world and losing his soul? What are we to think of a religious organization that seems willing to make a similarly shortsighted bargain? Where is the charity in distributing funds forcefully extracted from the taxpayer? Where is the charity in depriving productive citizens of the resources they might have used to make voluntary contributions of their own? Where is the charity in undermining the incentive for self-improvement of the destitute and debauched? Where is the faith of the determined little do-gooders who dare not rely on true charity to fund their efforts? If they had faith, and their good works were demonstrably good, God and their fellow man would ensure their success.

In recent years, Catholic Charities has embraced a leftwing agenda under the false banner of “social justice” — and, even more recently, has used its increasingly close ties with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, to divert that organization from its true mission as well. A crackdown by the Church is long overdue, and most welcome.

As part of its continuing nationwide campaign to cut poverty in half by 2020, Catholic Charities USA is ramping up efforts to help people understand the ties between poverty and racism. . . . Precious Blood Father Clarence Williams, senior director of racial equality and diversity initiatives at Catholic Charities USA, said Catholics must begin to understand the depth of poverty and take significant steps to alleviate it across racial lines. — Catholic News Service

You’re probably familiar with the phenomenon of radical leftwingers using the banner of “social justice” to implement their agenda in the Church, but I wonder if you’re aware of another looming threat: racial reeducation. Under the auspices of Catholic Charities, Fr. Clarence Williams will introduce his “racial sobriety” program to dioceses across the country.

In person, Fr. Clarence, whom I’ve met, is disarmingly cordial, not the least bit threatening. But his program is malicious, utterly vile, and dangerous. I tried to read his book, also called Racial Sobriety, but was so repulsed by it that I got less than halfway through. The premise is that all white people are bigots and all blacks are innocent victims. A white person who denies being a bigot is, ipso facto, a bigot. Any person, white or black, who fails to affirm the malignancy of white culture is in denial. White participants in the program, modeled on the AA 12-step plan, must admit their bigotry before they can be healed. You can imagine what happens to a person who resists self-denunciation. The program would be laughable, were it not for the fact that Catholic Charities and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul have committed to implementing it.

Whatever became of what’s-his-name,
The kid with the freckled face
Who lived next door
When I was four
Then left without a trace?

What was I thinking? Me, the urban hermit, joining a networking site? But a jobless friend suggested that we take the plunge — and, suddenly, we were “linked in.” Of course, we were only linked to each other, but, gradually, our circle of associates began to widen. Mine would have widened rapidly, had the thousands of members of the national organization I recently worked for not been afraid to be connected to a pariah. You see, I was terminated by a Catholic charity for telling the truth, and my former colleagues know, all too well, that the truth can set them free, too.

Networking’s not exactly my strong point, but I figured, What the hell? It can’t hurt, right? The only problem was, when I got started, I decided to link to people I like instead of to people who can help me “get ahead.” And all of my connections were linked to likeable people, too, instead of go-getters. It was a vicious circle, or the opposite of a vicious circle: a kindly cul de sac. When it comes to networking, my friends and I all seem to suffer from  “invincible ignorance.” We just don’t get it. Maybe there should be a networking site for losers like us. We could call it LockedOut.com.

Months went by and nothing came of being “linked in.” Then, I noticed that my children really were linked in — on Facebook. They weren’t getting ahead either, but they were having fun with their friends. Figuring it was for kids, and with Danny Glover’s Lethal Weapon line running through my head, I decided to risk making a fool of myself and see what Facebook was all about. No sooner had I signed up than two old friends from high school surfaced. I hadn’t seen or heard from either one in over 35 years. Amazing.

I still don’t get all the chit-chat stuff, and the befriending of complete strangers. Even with time on my hands, I don’t have time for that kind of nonsense. But it is nice to discover, every now and then, and always unexpectedly, whatever became of what’s-his-name.

Can someone please explain to me . . . why on Sunday the Archdiocese of St. Louis sponsored and celebrated its annual Mass in commemoration of non-Catholic, Baptist preacher and political activist Martin Luther King, Jr.? — St. Louis Catholic

At their annual midyear meeting in St. Louis, the leaders of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul process down the aisle at the Old Cathedral carrying icons of saints. Included with Sts. Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac, Blesseds Frederic Ozanam and Rosalie Rendu, are Sts. Dorothy Day, MLK, and Gandhi — purchased from Trinity Stores. When I pointed out that Dorothy Day had not yet been beatified, and that King and Gandhi were not even Catholic, the persons responsible for this travesty either were, or pretended to be, unable to see the relevance.