Digest of Today's Posts (30 September 2008)

Blame Game: McCain's Ad Very Effective

Archbishop Burke: Democrats Risk Becoming a "Party of Death"

(Digest of Yesterday's Posts (29 September 2008))

Blame Game: McCain's Ad Very Effective

Archbishop Burke: Democrats Risk Becoming a "Party of Death"

Christopher Blosser has the details over at Catholics in the Public Square.



UPDATE
Matthew Archbold offers his take on Abp. Burke's comments at Creative Minority Report.

Digest of Today's Posts (29 September 2008)

The Democrats: The Party of the “Common Good”?

Michaelmas - Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, 29 September

The Democrats: The Party of the “Common Good”?

George Marlin, author of The American Catholic Voter: Two Hundred Years of Political Impact (St. Augustine’s Press), writes at The Catholic Thing:

Democratic Party insiders know that they must persuade practicing Catholics to return to the party of their forefathers if they are to win the presidential election this November.

To achieve that goal, the Democrats are throwing rhetorical crumbs to Catholics voters. In their 2008 national platform, for instance, they claim they “will empower grassroots faith-based and community groups to help meet challenges like poverty, ex-offender reentry, and illiteracy” so long as they “do not endanger First Amendment protections… [and] ensure that public funds are not used to proselytize or discriminate.” In other words, Catholic institutions need not apply because they support the tenets of their Church and oppose homosexual couple adoption or distribution of contraceptives.

As for abortion, Democrats, on the one hand, try to schmooze Catholics by claiming support for education and health care that will “help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and thereby also reduce the need for abortions.” Yet, on the other hand, they have employed the strongest pro-abortion language in their history: “The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.”

Democrats also frequently refer to the Roman Catholic social concept of the “common good” when describing their approach to governing.

In their party platform preamble, they demand that “leaders abandon the politics of partisan division and find creative solutions to promote the common good.”

***
To recapture the loyalties of an integral part of Franklin Roosevelt’s electoral coalition, urban and blue-collar Catholics, the Democrats are disingenuously appealing to the “common good” to lull them into believing the party is in sync with their beliefs. Catholics should not fall for this ruse.

[More]

My Comments:
And, lest we forget, here's what Cardinal George said recently on this topic:

... Good law defends the defenseless. Our present laws permit unborn children to be privately killed. Laws that place unborn children outside the protection of law destroy both the children killed and the common good, which is the controlling principle of Catholic social teaching. One cannot favor the legal status quo on abortion and also be working for the common good...

(emphasis added)

Michaelmas - Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, 29 September

Saint Michael the Archangel,
Defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the
Wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him,
We humbly pray.
And do thou,
O Prince of the Heavenly Host,
By the Power of God,
Cast into Hell
Satan and all the evil spirits
which prowl about the world,
Seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.

From the Medieval Saints Yahoo Group:

The Dedication of Saint Michael the Archangel, Michaelmas Day
Hebrew "Mikha El," (Who is like unto God?), Venerated by Jews, Christians and Muslims

Commemorated September 29: the dedication of the sanctuary which was built on Monte Gargano in honor of the apparition of Saint Michael the Archangel. This feast is very ancient.

Also commemorated on May 8th a lesser feast is observed to commemorate the appearance of St. Michael on the summit of Mount Gargano in Apulia during the time of Pope Gelasius (492-6).

Devotion to Michael was common in the East during the fourth century and the Western Church began to observe the feast sometime in the fifth century. In the offertory anthem of the mass for the dead, St. Michael is charged with the care of all departed souls, "holy standard bearer, introduce them to the holy light, which thou didst promise of old to Abraham and to his seed."

St. Michael's Day, or Michaelmas is one of the Medieval Quarter days. The celebration was marked by harvest festivals, hospitality, costumes, music and dancing. Many popular traditions grew up around the day, which coincided with the end of harvest and the end of the fiscal year.

Patronage: champion of the Jewish people, against temptations, ambulance drivers, artists, bakers, bankers, banking, battle, boatmen, coopers, danger at sea, dying people, emergency medical technicians, EMTs, England, fencing, Germany, greengrocers, grocers, haberdashers, hatmakers, hatters, holy death, knights, mariners, milleners, paramedics, paratroopers, police officers, radiologists, radiotherapists, sailors, security forces, security guards, sick people, soldiers, Spanish police officers, storms at sea, swordsmiths, watermen, protector of the Nile

In art, he is shown as an angel with a sword raised, standing over the devil or a dragon; holding a balance, a pair of scales, which he uses to weigh the souls; "Quis ut Deus" is often inscribed on Saint Michael's shield.


St. Michael the Archangel
http://www.stthomasirondequoit.com/SaintsAlive/id183.htm

The Church has never canonized angels. If we pay liturgical honors to the archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, we give them the title saint because they have always been in heaven.

All three archangels are now venerated in a common feast on September 29, which used to be St. Michael's feast alone. Because the new common feast seems to diminish his importance, let us consider him a little more at length in connection with his other feastday, the Apparition of St. Michael, formerly observed on May 8.

The name Michael means, of course, "Who is like God?" He is represented as perhaps the chief angel in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Several early apocryphal writings do the same. While these writings are not accepted as scriptures by the Church, they nevertheless testify to popular devotion to the "generalissimo" of the heavenly hosts.

Michael was regarded as the protector of the Israelites, especially in the days of their captivity in Babylon. "Michael, the great prince," the Old Testament prophet Daniel calls him, "guardian of your people." (Dn,12:1). In the New Testament Book of Revelation, St. John speaks prophetically of the ultimate victory of Michael and his regiments against the army of the great dragon, Satan. After a mighty struggle, Michael casts the enemy down to earth. (Rev.,12:7-9). Thus St. Michael, protector of Israel, was also hailed as the protector of the New Testament's People of God.

Churches dedicated to St. Michael in the Mideast date from as early as the fourth century. In the West, the cult of Michael became widespread, particularly after his alleged apparition around AD 500 in a cave in Mount Gargano, southeast Italy. The archangel revealed to the local bishop, St. Lawrence of Siponto, that he should erect a shrine there in honor of the archangel himself and all other angels. This St. Lawrence did, and the "Mount Santangelo" soon became a noted place of pilgrimage.

St. Michael also figures in the annals of Pope St. Gregory the Great. During the pestilence that struck Rome in the year 590, Gregory organized a great penitential procession about the streets of the Eternal City to beg God to withdraw the plague. Tradition says that when the march passed by the massive tomb of Emperor Hadrian, St. Michael appeared on its summit sheathing his sword, and the epidemic ceased. Today Hadrian's fortified tomb is called the Castel SantAngelo - Castle of the Holy Angel - and for centuries it has been topped by a statue of St. Michael, dressed in the armor of a Roman soldier, returning sword to scabbard. In Rome, therefore, St. Michael is considered both healer and defender.

The other major Western shrine of the Archangel is the famous Mont St. Michel, a rocky outcropping off the coast of Normandy, France, where the bishop of Avranches established a Benedictine monastery in AD 708; again, we are told, on the advice of the Archangel Michael. In Cornwall, too, near the city of Penzance, there is a little offshore island resembling Mont St. Michel, which in medieval times was likewise the site of a Benedictine monastery that became an English place of pilgrimage.

Pope Leo XIII had the soldier-angel in mind when he ordered that a prayer to St. Michael and several other prayers be recited by priest and faithful at the end of every low Mass. The date of this order was 1884 - an era in which Germany was engaged in a stern persecution of the Catholic Church. Vatican II cancelled the rule, but the invocation to the Archangel is still appropriate - indeed, necessary in our troubled times:

"St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the malice and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do you, O prince of the heavenly host, by the divine power, thrust into hell Satan and the other evil spirits who roam through the world seeking the ruin of souls."

--Father Robert F. McNamara

-----------------------

Michaelmas(se)
http://www.camlann.org/michelmas.htm

In the middle ages, Michaelmas(se) celebrated the end of the harvest. It marked the official end of the farming and accounting year. This was an important time, when manor books were closed out, rents paid, a new reeve (the chief officer of the village) was chosen, and storehouses stocked for the winter ahead. Celebration of this holiday traditionally was symbolized with "glofe, gees, and gyngeuer." The glove represented the open-handedness and generosity of the lord of the village, goose eaten for good luck in the coming year ("If you eat goose on Michelmasse day, you will never want money all year"), and ginger, believed to provide protection against infection. The harvest feast paid the laborers for their boon work with meat, fish, ale and good bread.

------------------------

More on St. Michael at:
http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j093sdMichael_9-29.htm

Links:
Patron Saints Index - St. Michael

Women for Faith & Family - St. Michael and All Angels

Variations of St. Michael Prayer

Pictures of St. Michael

Recipe - Michaelmas Goose with Traditional Potato & Apple Stuffing

St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall

Mont-Saint-Michel, Normandy

Skellig Michael, Ireland

Digest of Today's Posts (25 September 2008)

Corny

Hot Damn, I Love That Woman!

Brits Set to Lift 300-Year-Old Ban on Catholic Succession to the Throne

Bubba Twists the Knife [UPDATED]

Senate Passes Brownback's Down Syndrome Bill

(Digest of Yesterday's Posts (24 September 2008))

Corny

Toledo, Ohio-area farmer puts Sarah Palin's face in a corn maze (video: MyFoxToledo).

Hot Damn, I Love That Woman!

“They will take the phrase ‘under God’ away from me when my cold, dead lips can no longer utter those words”
- Mayor of Wasilla, AK, Sarah Palin in a letter to a San Francisco newspaper

Here's more:

“Dear Editor,” Palin wrote in 2002. “San Francisco judges forbidding our Pledge of Allegiance? They will take the phrase ‘under God’ away from me when my cold, dead lips can no longer utter those words,” Palin wrote.

“God Bless America,” she concluded.

Hundreds of notes and letters
Palin’s letter to the editor is one of hundreds of personal notes and letters written by the former Mayor, and obtained this week to NBC News and others. The documents shed light on the management style--and personality--of the small town mayor turned vice presidential candidate.

There are few headline grabbers in the lot. Even Palin’s Pledge-of-Allegiance rant was a commonly held view at the time. (The U.S. Supreme Court later overturned the ruling on technical grounds. But not before Palin pushed through a city resolution stating that the Wasilla City Council “shall continue to recite America’s Pledge of Allegiance, in its entirety, including and especially the words, ‘…one nation, under God…”)

Brits Set to Lift 300-Year-Old Ban on Catholic Succession to the Throne

From The Daily Mail:

The 300-year-old rule excluding Catholics from the throne is set to be abolished under plans drawn up by Downing Street.

***
Legislation including the 1701 Act of Settlement bars all Catholics and anyone married to a Catholic from reigning and forces any monarch coming to the throne to reject Catholicism.

***
'To bring about changes to the law on succession would be a complex undertaking involving amendment or repeal of a number of items of related legislation, as well as requiring the consent of legislatures of member nations of the Commonwealth,' the spokesman said.

[More]

Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Joanna Bogle on "For God and Queen: The Quandary of the English Catholic"

British Prelates to Press for Repeal of Act of Settlement

Scottish Cardinal Denounces Great Britain's Official Anti-Catholicism

This Day in Jacobite History: The Acts of Union - 1 May 1707

This Day in Jacobite History: Death of Queen Anne; George, Elector of Hanover, Becomes King - 1 August 1714

Bubba Twists the Knife [UPDATED]

Fox News Blames Democrats for Financial Crisis, Bill Clinton Agrees

Going very much against the media meme that the current financial crisis is all George W. Bush and the Republicans' fault, Bill Clinton on Thursday told ABC's Chris Cuomo that Democrats for years have been "resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress or by me when I was President to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac" (video available here, relevant section at 2:45).

Whether he knew it or not, Clinton was going against virtually all press outlets that have been pointing fingers at Republicans since this crisis began, and likely much to the dismay of such folk actually agreed with a Fox News segment aired on Tuesday's "Special Report"...

McCain’s acting in good faith in pulling out of the debate, says Clinton

Via Breitbart, here he is from this morning’s GMA, just a week after calling McCain a “great man” and mere hours before stressing how “personally, profoundly honored” he is to have him speak at his charity. This must be the first time since … ever that he and Gingrich have agreed on something. Think he’s enjoying feeding The One this turdburger in bite-sized morsels as thanks for all the racial demagoguery thrown at him during the primary?

The best part of this isn’t the “good faith” bit but his point — which he repeats, so that no one misses it — that Maverick actually wanted more debates, not less. That’ll be a handy riposte tomorrow if McCain ends up skipping out and the left starts accusing him of being scared. Exit question that’s really not a question: Dude, he’s totally voting Republican this year, isn’t he?

My Comments:
They may be publicly endorsing Sen. Obama, but I have a feeling that both President Clinton and Sen. Clinton, in the privacy of the voting booth, may be pulling the lever for Sen. McCain.


UPDATE
Leftwing Blogosphere Enraged Over Bill Clinton's Defense of McCain Debate Delay Request

Heh. I wonder what they think of Pres. Clinton's blaming the Fannie/Freddie debacle on the Democrats' "resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress or by me when I was President to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac"?


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
I Wish This Version of President Clinton Had Been in the White House

Senate Passes Brownback's Down Syndrome Bill

From Jean at Catholic Fire:

The Senate approved a measure that requires doctors to give expectant mothers more comprehensive information if they receive a positive test for Down syndrome.

The bill is the product of an unusual partnership between Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, an anti-abortion Republican, and Sen. Edward Kennedy, an abortion-rights advocate from Massachusetts.

About 90% of women who learn they are carrying a fetus with the genetic disorder have an abortion.

Kennedy is a longtime advocate of disabled and children with special needs.

The bill requires doctors to give parents information about caring for children with disabilities and about support services.

Great news!



Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Michael Gerson: "Trig's Breakthrough" [UPDATED]

Sen. Kennedy Joins Sen. Brownback on Pro-Life Legislation

Digest of Today's Posts (24 September 2008)

A Reminder: The Catholic Vote

Hubris, Thy Name is Obama

Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham - 24 September

(Digest of Yesterday's Posts (23 September 2008))



In the wrackes of Walsingam
Whom should I chuse
But the Queene of Walsingam
To be guide to my muse?

~ The Arundel Ballad

O gracious Lady, glory of Jerusalem,
Cypresse of Syon and Joye of Israel,
Rose of Jericho and Star of Bethlehem,
O glorious Lady, our asking not repel,
In mercy all wymen ever thou dost excel,
Therefore, blessed Lady, grant thou thy great grace
To all that thee devoutly visit in this place.

~ The Pynson Ballad

A Reminder: The Catholic Vote

CatholicVote.com

Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Fidelis Debuts CatholicVote.com

Hubris, Thy Name is Obama

Ed Morrissey reports:

First we had the Vero Possumus seal, and then the Barackopolis. One might have thought that Team Obama would have learned their lesson on hubris and self-absorption, but a deal with a British firm goes even farther. Democrats have begun striking coins with Barack Obama’s profile — and already proclaiming him President ...

[More]

This commenter nailed it:

Commemorating the man whose biggest achievement was writing two autobiographies.

I suppose these coins might constitute "change". Of course, the only way they'll be worth anything is if Obama loses, which appears to be a distinct possibility.

Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham - 24 September

[Originally posted on 24 September 2006, and updated on 24 September 2007]




Pilgrimage to the Land Known as "Our Lady's Dowry"


O England great cause thou hast glad for to be
Compared to the land of promise Sion
To be called in every realm and region
The Holy Land, Our Lady's Dowry ...


Three years ago today - on the Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham, I was on pilgrimmage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in the picturesque village of Little Walsingham in Norfolk, East Anglia, England.

The Blessed Virgin Mary, under her title of Our Lady of Walsingham is the patroness of England (as well as the Anderson household).


Historical Background

Walsingham has been a place of pilgrimage since medieval times. At one time, it was ranked among the 3 most important pilgrimage sites in Europe, along with Santiago de Compostela and Rome.

The original Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham was founded in 1061 by Richeldis de Faverches, who was taken in spirit to Nazareth and asked by Our Lady to build a replica, in Norfolk, of the Holy House of the Annunciation. The Shrine of the Holy House stood for almost 500 years as a place of devotion to the Holy Virgin Mother of God and the Incarnation of Her Son, before it was destroyed by Henry VIII at the Reformation.

Many barren years passed until the Slipper Chapel, a 14th century wayside pilgrim chapel just outside the village of Little Walsingham, was restored and pilgrimage to Walsingham in honor of Our Blessed Lady began once more. Originally dedicated to St. Catherine of Alexandria, this wayside chapel had served medieval pilgrims on their way to England's Nazareth. Just as on Mount Sinai Moses took off his shoes because he was on holy ground, so pilgrims used to remove their shoes at the Slipper Chapel (hence, its name) and walk the Holy Mile into Walsingham barefoot.

In 1934, the English Bishops named the Slipper Chapel the Roman Catholic National Shrine of Our Lady. The Slipper Chapel's first Mass since the Reformation was celebrated there on August 15, 1934, and on September 8, 1938, the Shrine was re-consecrated by the local Bishop.

The most important image in the Chapel is the Statue of Our Lady of Walsingham.



From the Women for Faith & Family website:

Our Lady of Walsingham
by Raven Wenner
Our Lady of Walsingham Church
Houston Texas

In AD 2000, The Holy Father John Paul II decreed that the feast of Our Lady of Walsingham, mediaeval patroness of England, and in modern times patroness of all English-speaking peoples, is now celebrated on September 24th in England. It is a solemnity for all parishes in any part of the world named for Our Lady under this title.

Our Lady of Walsingham was formerly celebrated on March 25th, "Lady Day" (Feast of the Annunciation), but for ecumenical considerations was moved to September 24th. (September 24 in England had been the feast of Our Lady of Ransom, who was entreated for the re-conversion of England, "Our Lady's Dowery".

The feast of Our Lady of Walsingham was celebrated for the first time on the new date in 2001. The feast of the Annunciation is increasingly celebrated as a pro-life feast, considering children in the womb; Our Lady of Walsingham's feast asks us to contemplate the joy of the Incarnation in the simple family life of the Holy Family at Nazareth. The new date and emphasis on this feast is timely considering how family life is under attack in Western culture.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our Lady of Walsingham
by Joanna Bogle
Voices' Contributing Editor

Walsingham is England’s national shrine to Our Lady, and a major place of pilgrimage and prayer. It is in Norfolk, a few miles from the North Sea, and is a small village set in the green countryside characteristic of this corner of Britain. The shrine dates back to the 12th century, when the local lady of the manor, Richeldis, had a vision of the Holy House – the home of the Holy family at Nazareth – on this spot. For centuries, pilgrims visited here and Our Lady of Walsingham was honoured with countless processions and prayers. Springs of water – they still exist today – were said to have healing powers. A great priory drew men who devoted themselves to the religious life. At the shrine itself, the image was always surrounded by candles, flowers, and gifts left by grateful pilgrims who had knelt there in prayer.

In the early 16th century, among those who came were the young king Henry, and his wife Catherine. They were praying that God would grant them a son. England had seen terrifying wars in an earlier generation as the houses of Lancaster and York battled out their struggle for supremacy, and now stability was needed for the new ruling house of Tudor. It was not to be. Catherine bore several children, but all died in infancy except one daughter, Mary. Henry, angry and disappointed, decided to marry his mistress Anne Boleyn. He sought an annulment of his marriage through the Church, but failed to obtain it. Divorcing Catherine unilaterally, he married Anne – who by then was carrying his child – and announced himself head of the Church. The Lord Chancellor, Thomas More, and the Bishop of Rochester, John Fisher, were beheaded at the Tower of London in 1534 for refusing to affirm him in his claims, maintaining instead that only the Pope, the successor of Saint Peter, could hold that office. . Needing funds, Henry turned on the Church and crushed monasteries and priories. On the excuse of its being idolatrous, the shrine at Walsingham was destroyed and the statue burned. For some 400 years, there were no more pilgrimages, processions, or signs of devotion to Mary in this quiet village.

The shrine was revived in the early 20th century – an Anglican vicar researched the history and re-created the Holy House in a new shrine, and a Catholic lady obtained the old “Slipper Chapel” just outside the village and this became the revived Catholic centre of devotion. Today, there are pilgrimages throughout the summer and the Catholic shrine has its own large church built of attractive local stone. Pilgrims pray and sing as they walk the “Holy Mile” – traditionally barefoot – from the village. Schools, parish groups, Catholic organisations – all come with their banners and their choirs, their sandwiches and their children, to greet Our Lady at a place which combines the pleasures of unusually beautiful countryside with an atmosphere of real devotion and joy. Some groups stay for days – a local farmer rents out fields in which large groups of young pilgrims and families can camp – and in recent years Walsingham has seen a revival of Eucharistic adoration and confession, promoted by “Youth 2000”, a major initiative of the “John Paul 11 generation”.

When Pope John Paul visited Britain in 1982 the image of Our Lady of Walsingham was brought to London where it was the centrepiece of a major rally attended by the Holy Father. Many Catholic families, churches and schools, have copies of the image: it is an unusual one in which Mary is seen seated, as a dignified queen wearing a simple Saxon-style crown and carrying the Christ-child seated upright on her lap. Honour to Our Lady of Walsingham is linked to prayer that the people of England may once again return to the practice of the Catholic Faith: Our Lady of Walsinghan, pray for us!

From the September 2007 issue of the Walsingham Newletter:

... The message of Walsingham, from the very beginning, has been the message of the Incarnation. "The Word was made Flesh and dwelt amongst us." Pilgrimage is a great way of expressing the idea that God came to share our human life, it is a sign that we are journeying ever closer to God and in this way it is sacramental. It reminds us that we can meet God in our everyday lives and not only in church. Mary, who attended to the human needs of her Son and walked with him on his journey from Galilee to Jerusalem and the cross, will join us on our journey. In relating Mary to the Eucharist Pope Benedict finishes by saying "She is the Immaculata, who receives God's gift unconditionally and is thus associated with his work of salvation. Mary of Nazareth, icon of the nascent Church, is the model for each of us, called to receive the gift that Jesus makes of himself in the Eucharist."

~ Noel Wynn S.M.

From the Medieval Saints Yahoo Group:

Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham

Also known as Virgin by the Sea, site also known as England's Nazareth

Shrine established in 1061, priory in 1150

Commemorated September 24

"Let all who are in any way distressed or in need seek me there in that small house that you maintain for me at Walsingham. To all that seek me there shall be given succour."

Until the martyrdom of St. Thomas a Becket at Canterbury in 1170, Walsingham was England's most celebrated and visited shrine. Many miracles were attributed to Our Lady of Walsingham, including one in which Kind Edward I was saved from a piece of falling masonry. There constructed shrine was recently voted England's favourite spiritual place in a poll of BBC Radio 4 listeners.


Our Lady of Walsingham
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/mary0018.htm

In 1061 Lady Richeldis de Faverches, lady of the manor near the village of Walsingham, Norfolk, England, was taken in spirit to Nazareth. There Our Lady asked her to build a replica, in Norfolk, of the Holy House where she had been born, grew up, and received the Annunciation of Christ's impending birth. She immediately did, constructing a house 23'6" by 12'10" according to the plan given her. Its fame slowly spread, and in 1150 a group of Augustinian Canons built a priory beside it. Its fame continued to grow, and for centuries it was a point of pilgrimage for all classes, the recipient of many expensive gifts.

In 1534 Walsingham became one of the first houses to sign the Oath of Supremacy, recognizing Henry VIII as head of the Church in England. Dissenters were executed, and in 1538 the House was stripped of its valuables, its statue of the Virgin taken to London to be burned, its buildings used as farm sheds for the next three centuries.

In 1896 Charlotte Boyd purchased the Slipper Chapel and donated it to Downside Abbey. In 1897 Pope Leo XIII re-founded the ancient shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, and pilgrimages are permitted to resume. The statue of Our Lady is enshrined in 1922 beginning an era of cooperation at the shrine between Catholics and Anglicans. In 1981 construction began on the Chapel of Reconciliation, a cooperative effort between the two confessions, and located near the shrine. The feast of Our Lady of Walsingham was reinstated in 2000.

-----------------

Walsingham Priory
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15543a.htm

Walsingham Priory stood a few miles from the sea in the northern part of Norfolk, England. Founded in the time of Edward the Confessor, the chapel of Our Lady of Walsingham was confirmed to the Augustinian Canons a century later and enclosed within the priory. From the first this shrine of Our Lady was a famous place of pilgrimage. Hither came the faithful from all parts of England and from the continent until the destruction of the priory by Henry VIII in 1538. To this day the main road of the pilgrims through Newmarket, Brandon, and Fakenham is still called the Palmers' Way.

Many were the gifts of lands, rents, and churches to the canons of Walsingham, and many the miracles wrought at Our Lady's shrine. Henry III came on a pilgrimage to Walsingham in 1241, Edward I in 1280 and 1296, Edward II in 1315, Henry VI in 1455, Henry VII in 1487, and Henry VIII in 1513. Erasmus in fulfilment of a vow made a pilgrimage from Cambridge in 1511, and left as his offering a set of Greek verses expressive of his piety. Thirteen years later he wrote his colloquy on pilgrimages, wherein the wealth and magnificence of Walsingham are set forth, and some of the reputed miracles rationalized.

In 1537 while the last prior, Richard Vowell, was paying obsequious respect to Cromwell, the sub-prior Nicholas Milcham was charged with conspiring to rebel against the suppression of the lesser monasteries, and on flimsy evidence was convicted of high treason and hanged outside the priory walls. In July, 1538, Prior Vowell assented to the destruction of Walsingham Priory and assisted the king's commissioners in the removal of the figure of Our Lady, of many of the gold and silver ornaments and in the general spoliation of the shrine. For his ready compliance the prior received a pension of 100 pounds a year, a large sum in those days, while fifteen of the canons received pensions varying from 4 pounds to 6 pounds. The shrine dismantled, and the priory destroyed, its site was sold by order of Henry VIII to one Thomas Sidney for 90 pounds, and a private mansion was subsequently erected on the spot.

The Elizabethan ballad, "A Lament for Walsingham," expresses something of what the Norfolk people felt at the loss of their glorious shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.
------------------

More on Our Lady of Walsingham at:
http://www.udayton.edu/mary/resources/walsh.html
http://www.walsingham-church.org/
http://www.walsingham.org.uk/

The Prayer of the Feast: Lord God, in the mystery of the Incarnation, Mary conceived your Son in her heart before she conceived Him in her womb. As we, your pilgrim people, rejoice in her patronage, grant that we also may welcome Him into our hearts, and so, like her, be made a holy house fit for His eternal dwelling. We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.






Our Lady of Walsingham,
pray for us.











Links:
Official Shrine Site

The Virgin by the Sea; Our Lady of Walsingham (University of Dayton)

Patron Saints Index: Our Lady of Walsingham

Our Lady of Walsingham (MaryPages.com)

Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church (Anglican Use) - Houston, TX

Orthodox Christian Society of Our Lady of Walsingham

Fr. Finigan's Walsingham posts at The Hermeneutic of Continuity


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
National Catholic Register on "Our Lady's England"

London: Plans Unveiled for Memorial to Pre-Reformation Shrines [UPDATED]

EWTN Documentary 2008 - "Walsingham: England's Nazareth"

A Memorial in Chelsea to the Marian Shrines Destroyed in the English Reformation

Fr. Finigan's Day Trip to Walsingham

Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham - 24 September

Our Sacred Spaces

Catholic Cultural Heritage Images - Recta Ratio Features Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham

A Couple More Walsingham-Related Posts By Fr. Finigan at The Hermeneutic of Continuity

"Sinne is Where Our Ladye Sate"

Morris Dancing at Walsingham

Our Lady of Walsingham - 24 September

Photos, Postcards, and Mementos of My 2005 Pilgrimage to Walsingham

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 1

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 2

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 3

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 4

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 5

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 6

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 7

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 8

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 9

Some Walsingham Pilgrims Causing Consternation for Residents of Medieval Village

Impressions of England

Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in Norfolk, England

Digest of Today's Posts (23 September 2008)

"Nonpartisan" Catholics United Attacks the Knights of Columbus

I Wish This Version of President Clinton Had Been in the White House

Fr. Longenecker on Voting Your Values

Abortion Rate Falls ... Again

I'm the NRA ...

(Digest of Yesterday's Posts (22 September 2008))

"Nonpartisan" Catholics United Attacks the Knights of Columbus

Darwin has the details and an excellent rebuttal:

... Let me reply, both as a fellow Catholic and as a Knight, to Chris Korzen and to James Salt, the "organizing director" who is the signatory to all the emails that go out from Catholics United:

Your attitude towards the open letter from Supreme Knight Carl Anderson is not only disappointing, it is deplorable. You and your organization should be ashamed of yourselves and of your politicization of Catholic teaching in order to support the most pro-abortion candidate ever to seek of the office of President of the United States.

Further, your attempts to attack McCain and uphold Obama on "pro-life" grounds are misguided to the point of being morally disgusting.

***
Moreover, it is doubly hypocritical for you to first attack Republicans for not agreeing with your opinions as to what specific policies are actually most conducive to the common good, and then denounce the Knights for asserting basic Catholic teaching about the morality of abortion. The truth can never be a distraction from the "real issues".

I assume that you are in earnest in your belief that progressive policies are most conducive to the Common Good. If you called yourselves "Progressives United" that would be all well and good. But to call yourselves "Catholics United" and then denounce those who put forth basic Catholic teachings, while acting as if your personal policy preferences have the stamp of doctrinal necessity is the height of dishonesty.

[Read the whole thing]

My Comments:
Amen, worthy Brother Knight.

Spelling out for Sen. Biden the Church's position on abortion is a "distraction from the serious and urgent issues Americans are facing"? Another worthy Brother Knight, Regular Guy Paul, is exactly right in pointing out the fallacy inherent in the "nonpartisan" Catholics United's criticism: As if the well-being and legal protection of the unborn isn't a "serious and urgent issue"!

That group should change their name to "Catholic Partisan Hacks United to Elect Obama".


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
"Nonpartisan" Catholics United Hits McCain with Ad Questioning His Pro-Life Credentials

Supreme Knight Carl Anderson: "Real Change" Entails Getting Rid of Roe

"Non-Partisan" Group of Catholic Obama Supporters Calling Itself "Catholics United" Gets Divisive

The Catholic Left Meets in Philadelphia

Convention for the "Common Good"

Bill Donohue: "How the Catholic Left Is Boxed in by Abortion"

Deal Hudson: "Catholics Organize to Elect Barack Obama"

I Wish This Version of President Clinton Had Been in the White House

Before there was "Bush Derangement Syndrome" and "Palin Derangement Syndrome", there was "Clinton Derangement Syndrome". I am ashamed to admit that I was one of the chief sufferers of the latter malady, and that I wasted 8 years of my life (and arguably a relationship with the woman to whom the Church says I was never married) by obsessively hating William Jefferson Clinton. A word of advice to the haters on the left and the right: it will eventually eat you up inside.

Since old Billy Jeff left office, however, I've gotten a little bit of a soft spot in my heart for him. Here are a couple of examples of why that is:

"Clinton: 'I get why Palin is hot' "

Bill Clinton has said he understands why middle America thinks Sarah Palin is "hot".

The Republican vice presidential candidate appeals to the heartlands of America because people relate to her life, he told reporters yesterday.

***
"I get this," Clinton said. "My view is ... why say, ever, anything bad about a person? Why don't we like them and celebrate them and be happy for her elevation to the ticket? And just say that she was a good choice for him and we disagree with them?"

And then there's President Clinton's conciliatory remarks on The View (click on the image):


People can and do change. I certainly hope that I have. And I believe President Clinton has, as well.

Some might cynically view his softened rhetoric toward those he opposes politically as an attempt to undermine Sen. Obama. I choose to believe that he, too, has learned the lessons of being overly partisan and engaging in the politics of personal destruction. In the examples I've provided above, he gives those with whom he differs politically the benefit of the doubt and recognizes the good qualities within them (something I wish I had done for him while he was in office).

I have been pleasantly surprised at how President Clinton has certainly proven to be a more gracious former president than President Carter has.

Fr. Longenecker on Voting Your Values

Fr. Longenecker writes:

... from now on I will not voice my enthusiasm for Sarah Palin as a politician, nor will I criticize Barack Obama or Joe Biden by name. Instead I will simply outline the issues for my readers so that they can make the choice that is most spiritually sound, and most consistent with the Catholic faith.

So let's be absolutely clear: I believe that Catholics should not vote for a person who votes for partial birth abortion or supports abortion in any way. They should not vote for a party that supports abortion formally on their platform. Especially Catholics should find it abhorrent to vote for a person who proclaims himself to be a Catholic, yet publicly dissents from the Church's teaching on the matter of abortion.

On the other hand, Catholics should find it easy to vote for politicians who are not only pro life, but who live it out by having a large family. If, for instance there were a politician who had a baby with Downs Syndrome and did not have an abortion, that would be a good example of a pro life person. If their running mate adopted a baby from Mother Teresa's orphanage--a baby with a severe cleft palate--that also would be a good example of a pro life candidate.

LOL! I love it. I wish more priests would "not endorse" candidates in the same manner Fr. Longenecker has.

;-)

Abortion Rate Falls ... Again

The pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute reports that the overall U.S. abortion rate has fallen again to its lowest level since 1974.

And yet the Catholic left continues to promote the discredited and dishonest meme that abortion has increased under President Bush.


UPDATE
Ed Morrissey discusses the newest findings and their implications.

The key statistic in the latest report that Ed examines is that abortion rates are falling for blacks and Latinas but far less than for whites. The question is whether the rates have fallen at a slower rate for minorities due to higher levels of poverty or due to efforts on behalf of abortion advocates that have specifically targeted these groups. Ed thinks it's the latter, and I concur wholeheartedly.


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Mark Stricherz: "Why the Democratic Abortion Strategy is Worse"

U.S. Catholic Bishops: "You Can't Reduce Abortions by Promoting Abortions"

Blackadder: "Would Overturning Roe Reduce the Abortion Rate?"

Proof That Abortion Increases When Republicans Are In the White House?

"Poverty and Abortion: A New Analysis"

Number of Abortions Lowest in Decades

National Review Online: Mainstream Media Continues to Distort on Abortion

Pro-Life Quote of the Day

I'm the NRA ...

... and I approve this message.

Digest of Today's Posts (22 September 2008)

Friday Night at "The Jake by the Lake"

The Obama-Kmiec Magical Mystery "Faith Tour"

Creative Minority Report: "Catholics Returning to GOP Fold. Why?"

Deacon Fournier: "Doug Kmiec’s ‘Can a Catholic Support Him?’ Asks the Wrong Question"

(Digest of Friday's Posts (19 September 2008))

Friday Night at "The Jake by the Lake"

Friday night, I got to attend my first Cleveland Indians game at Jacobs Field (note: I do not use that new name that they've given to the ballpark). I took my 4-year-old sports fanatic son, Aidan, along with me to see his first ever professional baseball game. The 6-5 9th inning victory over the rival Detroit Tigers was such a great game to see for our first time at the ballpark.

Watching Fausto Carmona pummel the headlocked Gary Sheffield was icing on the cake. (Of course, I had to explain to Aidan that the bench-clearing brawl we had just witnessed was inappropriate behavior and bad sportsmanship, and that Daddy was wrong to yell "Hit him again! Hit him again!").

We were fortunate to have 2 of the best seats in the house - on the front row along the first base line. We were practically right on the field. Sarah's grandmother had won the seats while attending a game the week before ... I'd have never been able to afford those seats otherwise.

And what a terrific fireworks show after the game was over. But nothing in comparison to the "fireworks" we had just witnessed on the field. One of the best and most exciting MLB games I've ever witnessed in person.

The Obama-Kmiec Magical Mystery "Faith Tour"

(Hat tip: Dave Hartline at The Catholic Report)

Deal Hudson writes:

Barack Obama's campaign will try to reverse its recent loses among religiously-active voters with a Magical Mystery "Faith Tour." Our friend Doug Kmiec is the one of the featured speakers, along with former Congressman Tim Roemer (who hasn't been heard much lately).

The subtitle of the Faith Tour is "Voting ALL Our Values." Very clever. The real subtitle should be "Ignoring the Foundation of ALL Values."

My Comments:
The "Democrat Faith Partisans" swing into high gear to paint pro-lifers as "divisive" and "narrowly focused".

I GUARANTEE you that those words - "divisive" and "narrowly focused" - will be used ad infinitum during this "faith tour". Straight out of the Gaillardetz playbook.

Creative Minority Report: "Catholics Returning to GOP Fold. Why?"

At Creative Minority Report, Matthew Archbold ponders why a majority of Catholic voters are likely to vote Republican again this year.

Deacon Fournier: "Doug Kmiec’s ‘Can a Catholic Support Him?’ Asks the Wrong Question"

(Hat tip: Thoughts and Faith to Share)

Deacon Keith Fournier writes:

On Wednesday I received a personal copy of my friend Doug Kmiec’s latest book entitled “Can a Catholic Support Him?” The book is subtitled “Asking the Big Question about Barrack Obama”. I appreciate being mentioned in his Acknowledgement of the book with these words “Deacon Keith Fournier’s writing and editing of Catholic Online is courageous and wise”. So, I write this review to be faithful, to a friendship I value, to the claim in the acknowledgment of this book and to the truth. Doug asks the wrong question. The proper question is not “can” but “should”. The word “can” addresses the issue of capacity and ability. Any Catholic can exercise their right to vote in any manner in which they choose. The Church to which Doug and I both belong does not tell people how to vote, in the sense of which candidate to choose. “Should” on the other hand examines the morality of that choice given our obligation to exercise our freedom with reference to the truth. In short, what is our duty? Sadly, in his argumentation in this book, Doug confuses or conflates the two. It is on this that I completely disagree with Doug Kmiec and am compelled to make that disagreement widely known.

***
Doug maintains that Senator McCain’s position in favor of the overturning of Roe v Wade is simply a "Federalist position" and not a truly Pro-life stance. He argues (contrary to his own past claims) that the reversal of Roe v Wade will not really affect the state of the current law protecting abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy as a “right”. He confuses position with application. John McCain’s quick response to Pastor Rick Warren’s question on when human rights attach to human persons (“at conception”), as well as his pro-life record, demonstrate that his position is Pro-life. He recognizes that the neighbor in the womb is a human person. Yet, he is a Federalist and believes that the decision to outlaw the killing should be returned to the States, that is application. I favor a Constitutional Amendment protecting the inalienable Right to Life and recognizing the personhood of our first neighbor. I am an abortion abolitionist. However, as an officer of the Court like Doug, I know that the reversal of Roe opens up the field to securing protection of the children and will at least slow the shedding of innocent blood while we work on outlawing the act. I think he does as well but has backed himself into a corner. Doug’s candidate promises to sign the “Freedom of Choice Act” as soon as he is sworn in to office. This will ensure the continued failure to recognize the child’s right to life. The best his candidate has to offer is a comment that abortion is a “moral issue”. His responses at the Saddleback forum on this issue were abysmal. As to the so called “changes” in the Democratic platform and his candidate’s comments on the need to decrease the number of abortions, it is meaningless in light of his stated position. Doug and I used to agree that Senator McCain was wrong on his support of stem cell research. After all, every so called “extraction” of stem cells from a human embryo takes a human life. But now it appears that Senator McCain is beginning to recognize this and is moving closer to consistency. His candidate is not.

Finally, throughout this little book Doug vacillates between acknowledging the existence of objective moral truths which should govern human behavior and contending that someone could deny their existence, claim that such a denial is a “deeply held religious belief” and we should form our positive law to accommodate them under some misguided understanding of religious liberty and pluralism. Doug, what if a group insisted that children were not persons until they were able to walk? After all, they maintained, mobility is what makes them truly autonomous and therefore “persons”. What if they also claimed that their position was a deeply held religious belief? Would you make the same argument? Well, the argument you now defend, that the child in the womb can be killed, without any protection against this objective violation of the Natural Law, is effectively the same argument. How can you take solace in the Senator from Illinois saying that he believes this type of killing is a “moral issue” but continuing to insist on calling it a “right”?

These two arguments are repeatedly presented in this little book as if repetition makes them more acceptable. It does not. Along with them we read Doug’s story of being wrongly denied communion, his story of how he came to admire and support Barrack Obama and the other articles he has written in the past trying to justify his endorsement. I refuse to join those who personally attack Doug or question the sincerity of his Catholic faith. I do however vehemently disagree with him. I just found out that he will soon speak all over the Country trying to persuade other Catholics and other Christians to his position. I know that Catholics can be wrong; witness Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Joe Biden as only two recent examples. However, I really did not expect Doug Kmiec to join with them in incorrectly stating the position of our Church...

[More]

(emphasis added)

Prof. Kmiec's snotty and condescending response to Deacon Fournier (in which he refers to Sen. McCain as Pres. Bush's "protégé" - and Kmiec has the nerve to note the "partisanship" of those he calls “Republican Faith Partisans”?) can be read here.


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Ponnuru Raps Kmiec for Defending Obama's Born-Alive Vote

Whither the "Catholic Vote"? Some Interesting Posts at the Fidelis Blog

Darwin Catholic: "Douglas Kmiec, Master of Dissembling" [UPDATED]

Prof. Rick Garnett on Kmiec's "Missing the Point"

A Former Student of Prof. Kmiec Speaks Out ...

Prof. Kmiec Shifts the Goalposts

Kmiec's "Bridge Too Far"? Obama's Attacks on Justice Thomas

Without Further Ado: Doug Kmiec on McCain v. Obama at Saddleback [UPDATED]

Paging Prof. Kmiec ...

Doug Kmiec Claims Democrats Making "Steps Toward Honoring Life" in Platform

Prof. Garnett Takes on Prof. Kmiec ... Again

Casey Jr. to Get Prime-Time Slot in Denver to Appease Catholics [UPDATED]

Fr. Neuhaus Responds to Doug Kmiec

Deal Hudson's Open Letter to Doug Kmiec

National Catholic Register on Catholics, Kmiec, and Obama

Prof. Hadley Arkes: "Political Distraction Among the Catholics"

Doug Kmiec - What He Said Then vs. What He Says Now Re: Constitutional Jurisprudence

What is the "Pro-Life Position" Regarding Abortion?

Traumatized

Unrequited Love

Doug Kmiec: "After Meeting with Barack" [UPDATED]

Cranky Conservative: "But At Least He Says It with a Smile"

Doug Kmiec Again Places Platitudes Above Policy [UPDATED]

Prof. Bainbridge on "Obama, Abortion, & Catholics"

Prof. Rick Garnett on Kmiec's Latest Nonsense

Deacon Keith Fournier: "Why I Disagree with Doug Kmiec, Once Again"

Give It a Rest Already, Prof. Kmiec!

Deacon Keith Fournier: "No More ‘Left’ or ‘Right’, Time for a New Catholic Action"

Doug Kmiec's Newfound Celebrity Status Among Those on the Left

Doug Kmiec Soon To Be Sorely Disappointed

E.J. Dionne on Kmiec Being Denied Communion [UPDATED]

Deal Hudson on Prof. Kmiec and Blurring the Lines Between "Pro-Choice" and Pro-Abortion

Did Doug Kmiec Just Now Catch On That Obama and NARAL Are Politically Conjoined? [UPDATED]

Deal Hudson on "How Obama's Catholics Will Dodge the Infanticide Question"

Kmiec's Dishonesty [UPDATED]

Catholic Teaching and Political Risk Taking: When Credit Isn't Given Where Credit is Due [UPDATED]

Kmiec's Wishful Thinking on Obama and Abortion

The Curt Jester: "Shameless Garment" [UPDATED]

So-Called "Catholic Reaganite" Doug Kmiec Endorses Obama [UPDATED]

"No'bama for Me, Thanks"

Can a Catholic Vote for Obama?

Obama's Pledge to Planned Parenthood: “I Will Not Yield"

Deal Hudson: "Barack Obama's Catholic Problem"

"Why American Catholics are Supporting Barack Obama"

Catholics at the Ballot Box

How the Catholic Left Will Tackle McCain

Why Does Kmiec Criticize McCain for Positions on Which He Gave Romney a Pass?

Deal Hudson on "Douglas Kmiec and the Lure of Obama"

Douglas W. Kmiec on "The Moral Duty to Inquire"

Professor Bainbridge: "Will Catholic Reaganites Go for Obama?"

Deal Hudson: "Preacher Man: Barack Obama and the the Gospel of Liberalism"

"Sorry, Doug Kmiec, But This Catholic Isn't Buying Obama"

Ramesh Ponnuru on Douglas Kmiec and "Catholic Reaganites for Obama" [UPDATED]

Romney Advisor Says Obama "a Natural for the Catholic Vote"

Digest of Today's Posts (19 September 2008)

Born-Alive Barry the Lying Liar [UPDATED]

Now It's My Turn to Ask: Who Are You to Question My "Patriotism"?

Palin Boosts McCain With Devout Catholic Voters

(Digest of Yesterday's Posts (18 September 2008))

Born-Alive Barry the Lying Liar [UPDATED]

What do pro-abort infanticide-supporting liars do when they get caught lying? They lie some more and accuse others of being liars.



This born-alive issue is toxic to Obama and he knows it (which is the reason for this despicable ad). His record coming to light completely wrecks his strategy for winning over so-called "values voters".

It's damaging him big time. Keep hitting him with it. I hope BornAliveTruth responds with another ad.


UPDATE
In case you haven't seen it, here's the ad the pro-abort liar Obama is responding to:



UPDATE #2
And, in case you couldn't tell, this lying ad really ticks me off, not the least of which because it lies about McCain's position on abortion - making McCain out to be MORE pro-life than he actually is, and acts as if that is a BAD thing.

Just more proof that Obama the pro-abort liar is not worthy of the support that some Catholics want to give him.


UPDATE #3
Ed Morrissey is on the case:

Barack Obama has decided to respond to Gianna Jessen’s powerful ad on his opposition to a bill that would have protected the lives of infants born from botched abortions. In essence, he accuses John McCain of lying, when the record speaks so clearly that Obama’s campaign had to admit they lied about his position on the Illinios version of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. This has produced a hysterical reaction from Team O that pretty much has become a One-Note Charlie when responding to any criticism...

***
The record here is very, very clear. Obama initially said that he opposed the bill in Illinois because it didn’t have the “neutrality clause” included in the federal version of the legislation. As documentation proved, Obama voted against it even with the neutrality clause added. The Obama campaign finally acknowledged that Obama had lied about his position a month ago. Why? Because it would have actually forced doctors to provide care for live infants from abortions — or in other words, it would have worked.

Obama attempts an end run around this by making the issue about abortions. It isn’t. Babies born alive from abortions got left in laundry rooms to die, a practice exposed by Jill Stanek, a nurse at Christ Hospital in the Chicago area. A subsequent investigation showed that as many as 20% of all late-term abortions resulted in live births — and that abortionists routinely allowed the infants to die by denying them normal medical attention. That was the entire reason the issue came before the Illinois legislature, but Obama reacted by denying the problem existed...

***
... Of course, I missed one important point: the Jessen ad wasn’t put out by McCain at all. Obama’s swinging at the wrong critic here. Why doesn’t Obama call Jessen a liar?

(emphasis added)