Sarah Palin’s announcement that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter is pregnant was apparently triggered by left-wing rumors that the governor had faked her own recent pregnancy to pass off her daughter’s child as her own. See the blog post at The Practicing Catholic for the details and some commentary on the Reuters article.

Senator John McCain’s selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate is a definite home run. She is an outspoken pro-family and pro-life politician and will help strengthen the Republican ticket in this November’s election.

Palin is the mother of five children, including a son named Trig who has Down syndrome. Her statements last April about being the mother of a special needs child speaks volumes about her faith, values and character:

Trig is beautiful and already adored by us. We knew through early testing he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives. We have faith that every baby is created for good purpose and has potential to make this world a better place. We are truly blessed.

Contrast this with Senator Barack Obama’s troubling abortion stand and there is no doubt which way Christians must vote this November: McCain-Palin.

It’s good to see many of our bishops clamping down on politicians who claim to be Catholic, but publicly denounce the Church’s teachings on the issue of life.

Today, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement against Nancy Pelosi which said in part, “In the course of a “Meet the Press” interview on abortion and other public issues on August 24, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi misrepresented the history and nature of the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church against abortion.”

FoxNews.com reports:

Archbishop of Washington Chides Pelosi; Denver Archbishop Warns Biden to Skip Communion

Irked by pro-choice Democrats who tout their Catholicism, the archbishop of Washington is chiding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for misstating church history and the archbishop of Denver is warning vice presidential hopeful Joe Biden not to take Communion.

…

Over the weekend, Biden’s pro-choice views raised the ire of Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput.

“I presume that his integrity will lead him to refrain from presenting himself for communion, if he supports a false ‘right’ to abortion,” Chaput told The Associated Press.

As for Pelosi, Chaput called her “a gifted public servant of strong convictions and many professional skills. Regrettably, knowledge of Catholic history and teaching does not seem to be one of them.”

Chaput added that abortion “is always gravely evil, and so are the evasions employed to justify it.” During that 2004 presidential campaign, Chaput and a dozen other bishops called on Democratic nominee John Kerry to refrain from taking Communion. The church has also objected to former GOP presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani taking Communion.

This past May, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius was reprimanded by Archbishop Joseph Naumann for her support of abortion:

Having made every effort to inform and to persuade Governor Sebelius and after consultation with Bishop Ron Gilmore (Dodge City), Bishop Paul Coakley (Salina) and Bishop Michael Jackels (Wichita), I wrote the governor last August requesting that she refrain from presenting herself for reception of the Eucharist until she had acknowledged the error of her past positions, made a worthy sacramental confession and taken the necessary steps for amendment of her life which would include a public repudiation of her previous efforts and actions in support of laws and policies sanctioning abortion.

…

I have not made lightly this request of Governor Sebelius, but only after much prayer and reflection. The spiritually lethal message, communicated by our governor, as well as many other high profile Catholics in public life, has been in effect: “The church’s teaching on abortion is optional!”

I reissue my request of the faithful of the archdiocese to pray for Governor Sebelius. I hope that my request of the governor, not to present herself for holy Communion, will provoke her to reconsider the serious spiritual and moral consequences of her past and present actions.

I applaud the bold stance being taken by these bishops. Hopefully, these politicians will recognize their errors, be reconciled to the Church, and properly use their public offices to uphold truth and life.

Hallmark, the nation’s largest greeting card company, has introduced same-sex wedding cards. According to the Associated Press story, “Hallmark says the move is a response to consumer demand, not any political pressure.” The article goes on to quote a Hallmark spokeswoman as saying, “It’s our goal to be as relevant as possible to as many people as we can.”

The same AP article notes that Hallmark’s largest competitor, American Greetings Corp., “has no plans to enter the market” with similarly targeted cards.

A friend who wishes to remain anonymous passed along her e-mail to Hallmark and the company’s response:

——————

Message to Hallmark:

I wanted to let you know that I am a loyal patron of Hallmark but am saddened to hear that your company is including a line of cards dedicated to same sex marriages. From what I read in the news article, Hallmark was not bowing to political pressure, but merely responding to the customer. Well, this customer does not appreciate this line of cards in your store. Please know that I will be shopping elsewhere for my cards, as I read that American Greetings has no plans to add a line such as this. Thank you.

——————

Response (Support Agent) – [to their credit, they responded in less than two hours]:

Thank you for your comment.

Beginning this summer, Hallmark’s selection of more than 200 wedding cards will include four cards that use specific language and images appropriate for same-sex wedding ceremonies or civil unions. Hallmark makes cards for all kinds of relationships and situations, and we have for years produced cards for relationships that might be defined as “non-traditional” – including heterosexual couples who are not married, those in mixed race or interfaith relationships and blended families – so people in each of these situations could find cards to meet their needs. It is our goal to be inclusive rather than exclusive so that our products appeal to the widest range of people who wish to communicate and connect with one another. Not every one of the more than 200 wedding cards we offer will be right for every relationship, but we want every consumer to be able to find one that is just right.

We understand that this is a sensitive issue for you and appreciate you letting us know your concerns.

Thanks,
Hallmark Customer Care
www.hallmark.com
1-800-HALLMARK

——————

It seems from the company’s response that they don’t really care about any moral ramifications of introducing this line of greeting cards. They really only care about seizing a market opportunity. If they can make a profit by selling this type of card, they will.

But at the same time, they appear to be trying to sneak this new line into stores “under the radar,” with no public announcement: a new product introduction press release is conspicuously absent from their corporate Current News page, at least at the time of this posting. Perhaps the secrecy is because they realize that a negative backlash from religious patrons — the kind that buy cards and gifts for real weddings, baptisms, confirmations, etc. — will hurt their business.

[FYI, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 2357-2359) provides a concise overview of the Catholic Church's view on homosexuality]

Just when you thought the election season couldn’t get any more exciting, suddenly a new earth-shattering product is launched: Presidential Candidate Paper Dolls! Oh, I know what you’re thinking. How have we survived without these in the past? But more importantly, how will the stiff-necked rendition of John McCain and the casual-and-relaxed pose of Barack Obama impact the upcoming November election? Never have paper dolls been more important to the future of our nation.

[Special thanks to RZ at Savings Potpourri for this one!]

Before attending some Olympic events, President Bush began his Sunday in China attending a worship service at Beijing’s Kuanjie church, which is an officially recognized Protestant congregation. He remarked:

Laura and I just had the great joy and privilege of worshipping here in Beijing, China. You know, it just goes to show that God is universal and God is love. And no state, man or woman should fear the influence of loving religion.

(Watch the YouTube clip)

That last remark was apparently an allusion to the millions of Chinese who brave harassment and arrest to worship at unregistered “house” churches.

This raises an important question for us comfortable Americans: if you were threatened with serious social ostracism or government arrest for going to church, would you still go?

After reading that the University of Georgia (my alma mater) is receiving a $9.2 million grant to fund embryonic stem cell research, I wrote this post to the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s article:

True service to humanity begins with respect for human life. Since embryonic stem cells are obtained by destroying an embryonic human being in its early development, this type of research is gravely immoral. Shame on UGA and the NIH for their involvement in this deliberate killing of human life!

On June 13 of this year, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a new statement on the topic of embryonic stem cell research (PDF 100K). Two weeks later, Richard Doerflinger wrote a great article, “Why the Embryo Matters,” which explains why it was important for the bishops to have issued this statement at this time:

Two things are new. First, the national policy debate is about to be renewed in a more intense way. Next year a new Congress and President will face this issue, and currently no presidential nominee supports President Bush’s position against funding stem cell research that requires destroying human embryos. This is a good time to remind Catholics and others what is at stake.

Second, this debate has reached a turning point in the scientific and medical community, though many politicians are slow to notice this. For years, the pro-life movement has said there are other and better ways to pursue the medical promise of stem cell research. It has become increasingly obvious that this is exactly right. Stem cells from adult tissues and umbilical cord blood have been used in clinical trials to repair heart damage, restore sight, and treat conditions like multiple sclerosis and juvenile diabetes. A new technique for “reprogramming” adult cells has produced cells with the properties of embryonic stem cells, without creating or destroying embryos – and prominent experts are abandoning embryo research in favor of this approach.

The article concedes that new technologies won’t simply make the embryonic-versus-adult-cell debate go away. But the hope is that talk of the supposed “unique promise” of embryonic research “may die down enough to allow the moral argument to be heard. If we have two promising ways to advance medicine, and one of them is free of moral problems, wouldn’t everyone prefer that route?”

Today marks the 40th anniversary of Humanae Vitae (Latin: Of Human Life), the encyclical promulgated on July 25, 1968 by Pope Paul VI. I know that many people could go their entire lives without ever reading a papal encyclical. But I must urge you to read at least this one.

Carrying the subtitle On the Regulation of Birth, this letter from the pope reaffirmed the Church’s teaching on the topics of abortion, contraception and other human life issues. Many consider this letter to have been prophetic, in that its four predictions about the social effects of contraception were accurate and have unfortunately come to fruition in our world: infidelity and moral decline; lost respect for women; government imposed birth control; and irreverence to human life.

It isn’t a long document: this free ebook of Humanae Vitae (PDF, 340 K) is only 16 pages. So don’t be intimidated. Read it! This is a critical document in understanding why the Catholic Church opposes contraception.

Father John Corapi recently delivered a very powerful message entitled Death Wish: The Impending Suicide of a Once Great Nation. It is available as a free PDF download from his website, fathercorapi.com. An excerpt:

A large number of endangered, unwanted, and unborn children held a town hall meeting on the 4th of July–alarmed at the brutal and untimely killing of millions of their brothers and sisters in recent years. That the murderous war waged on them had the full force and respectability of the law made their plight all the more terrifying.

Their complaint was humble and it was simple. They were not distressed by rising gas prices, or the deteriorating economy in general. They were not even frightened by the exponential increase of natural disasters. The threat of global warming or global terrorism did not greatly disturb them.

They had become an endangered species, and little had been done to answer their terrified and silent screams from the womb…

So the city of San Francisco officially condemns the Catholic Church. Hey, since the city is named after Saint Francis of Assisi, maybe the politicians might want to consider a name change. I think Sodom and Gomorrha are available.