By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
The Family Research Council and Focus on the Family have released a Family Action Vote Scorecard on the 110the Congress which reveals the dramatic shift away from pro-family values that has resulted since the Democratic party took control of Congress in 2006.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
The brutal gang rape of a 28 year-old Catholic nun in India, a crime that occurred within sight of a dozen police officers, is just the latest atrocity in the on-going violence against Christians in India. The situation is so bad the U.S. Congress has issued a resolution condemning the violence and demanding action from the government.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, the newly appointed prefect of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature, told an Italian Catholic daily newspaper that the Democratic Party in the United States “risks transforming itself definitively into a ‘party of death’.”
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
Members of the audience reportedly walked out when the Coadjutor Bishop of Sacramento, Jaime Soto, boldly told attendees at the National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries (NACDLGM) in his keynote address that homosexual relations are sinful. When people lined up afterward to complain about his talk, the Bishop quietly listened to each and every person without wavering from Church teaching.
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Women of Grace Outreach Coordinator, Joanne Kane, just couldn't throw away the names of the Kalispell, Montana women even though she needed to reuse their lanyards for the participants of the upcoming Women Of Grace National Conference in Sacramento, CA September 19-21. They had attended the Women of Grace One-Day Conference August 2 sponsored by St. Matthew's Catholic Church in Kalispell.
"I just couldn't throw those names away," Joanne said. "They represented the beautiful women, our sisters in the Lord, that we met there." So, heeding an internal nudge, she put the Kalispell names in the lanyards along with the names of the women who would be attending the WOG National Conference.
At the event, Joanne explained her decision to the conference attendees and suggested they pray for the Kalispell woman whose name had been entrusted to her. Thus began "Ribbon of Grace," a new prayer ministry of Women of Grace which "ties" WOGs together in a special bond of prayer and intercession.
This past weekend, the Ribbon of Grace was wrapped around the women attending the Women of Grace One-Day Conference sponsored by the Diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend, Office of Spiritual Development and Evangelization. There, WOG attendees received the names of the Sacramento Conference participants, many of whom wrote special prayer requests on the back of their name cards. The idea was met with a standing ovation expressing the women's enthusiastic response.
While all of the women seemed delighted with the idea, for one conference attendee the Ribbon of Grace was particularly poignant. She had unexpectedly received her daughter's name who had attended the Sacramento Conference the weekend before. This delightful surprise amazed Joanne Kane who had given no attention to the Sacramento names she was slipping into the lanyards for the Indiana attendees. "This must be of the Holy Spirit," said Joanne, "I couldn't have come up with this!"
Participants coming to the Women of Grace One-Day Conference in Clermont on October 25th will receive the names of the ladies who attended the Indiana conference. And thus, the Ribbon of Grace will continue to unite Woggers nationally. In '09 those ties will become international ones. A Ribbon of Grace tying the women of the world together in prayer and intercession for each other. What a concept!
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I just got home last evening from Winona Lake, IN where the Diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend hosted a Women of Grace One-Day Conference at Grace College. It was a glorious day in the Lord as the capacity crowd of 350 women gathered together to experience the blessings God had in mind.
I again want to extend my thanks and gratitude to Bishop John M. D'Arcy and to Ginny Kohrman, Director of the Office of Spiritual Development and Evangelization, for their dedication and enthusiasm in sponsoring this conference and in making it a day filled to the brim with God's love. From beginning to end it was indeed grace-filled.
Thank you aslo to the women who gave of themselves so generously by participating in the many committees whose efforts made the day so special. And, of course, thank you to the many women who came to the event. What a blessing you were to me! May God bless all of you abundantly.
Our next Women of Grace One-Day Conference is October 25 at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Clermont, FL. For more information, go to
www.womenofgrace.com, click on "Speaking Engagements" and scroll down to the October 25th date. If you would like to find out about sponsoring a Women of Grace One-Day Conference at your parish or in your area, just give us a call at 1-800-558-5452 and ask for Thea at ext. 237.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
A major media watchdog organization is questioning why the many child sex abuse scandals that have been raging in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) have been left virtually unreported by the mainstream media.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
Fr. Michael Sopocko, the spiritual director of the woman who brought the message of Divine Mercy to the world, St. Faustina Kowalska, was beatified on Sept. 28 at a ceremony in Bialystok, Poland by Archbishop Angelo Amato, the Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
Speaking to participants in an international meeting of Retrouvaille, an organization that helps married couples in crisis, Pope Benedict XVI said marital crises can be overcome and be a “passage to a new phase” of their life together.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
During the last month, dozens of videos showing desecration of the Eucharist have been posted on YouTube, sparking public outrage and a national campaign to have the videos removed.
In one video, an individual known as FSMDude goes into a Catholic Church and receives Communion, then goes outside and takes the host out of his mouth. The next scene is in his home where he holds up the Host in preparation to desecrate it.
In all, FSMdude has posted more than 40 videos on YouTube showing Hosts being stepped on, burned, stapled, smoked and nailed to a stick. Videos show him feeding the Eucharist to ducks and a groundhog and flushing it down the toilet.
On his website, he says “From now on, one Eucharist desecration a day, and each day a different method. If they want blasphem[y], we'll give 'em blasphem[y].”
America Needs Fatima, an organization dedicated to spreading the message of Fatima in the United States, has launched a national petition campaign to have the videos removed from the site.
Their petition asks YouTube staff to “remove all of his videos and any others that target, demean, and aggressively attack Catholics and the Catholic faith.”
The videos are an obvious violation of YouTube community guidelines which state: “We encourage free speech and defend everyone's right to express unpopular points of view. But we don't permit hate speech (speech which attacks or demeans a group based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, and sexual orientation/gender identity).”
YouTube users are able to “flag” a video they find offensive and the site promises that their administrators, who review videos 24/7, will “immediately remove any content that violates the Terms of Use.”
However, some of these videos have been on the site for a month.
To demand that these offensives videos be removed immediately, send a petition to YouTube at
http://www.americaneedsfatima.org/yt/?sc=e0005.eml2.link3
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