"We Have Met the Enemy and They Are Ours"

Perry's Victory on Lake Erie by Currier and Ives.

On this day 200 years ago - 10 September 1813, Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry, United States Navy, won a resounding victory over a British fleet near Put-in-Bay, Ohio, in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812:

At dawn on the morning of September 10, 1813, a lookout spotted six British vessels to the northwest of Put-in-Bay beyond Rattlesnake Island. Immediately Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry issued a flurry of orders and made preparations to sail forth to engage the British. 
 

Oliver Hazard Perry by Gilbert Stuart

With Perry's fleet on Lake Erie the British supply route from Fort Malden to Port Dover had been severed. The British had to either fight, or abandon Fort Malden. The British squadron consisted of six ships with sixty-three cannons, while the American flotilla comprised nine vessels and fifty-four guns. The British were armed with long guns that could throw a cannonball approximately one mile, accurately to about one-half mile. The American ships primarily armed with carronades had less than half the range of a long gun. The carronades could inflict much more damage at close range. Perry needed the wind to his back to close within carronade range.

When the squadron sailed from Put-in-Bay harbor at 7 a.m. the American vessels were steering west-northwest; the wind was blowing from the west-southwest. For more than two hours Perry repeatedly tacks his ships in an effort to put the wind to his back, but with no success. The frustrated Perry, conceded to mother nature at 10 a.m., issuing orders to turn his fleet in the opposite direction. But before the order could be executed the wind suddenly shifted and blew from the southeast, placing the wind directly behind the Americans.

Perry's opponent, Commander Robert Heriot Barclay, was an experienced Royal Navy officer who had fought with Lord Nelson at Trafalgar in 1805, and two years later he lost an arm fighting the French. Barclay's options did not alter when the wind shifted, so the Scotsman pointed his bow sprits to the westward, and hove to in line of battle.

With the wind at his back and the British battle line finally revealed, Perry made his own tactical adjustments. The Schooners Ariel and Scorpion were placed off the flagship's weather bow to engage the first British vessel and to prevent the enemy from raking his fleet. The Lawrence, a 20-gun brig serving as Perry's flagship, was third in line and would engage the Detroit, Barclay's 19-gun flagship. Next in line floated the Caledonia, a small brig with only three guns. Fifth in the American line of battle was the Niagara, Perry's other 20-gun brig and the Lawrence's sistership.

The Niagara, captained by Master Commandant Jesse Elliott, would engage the 17-gun Queen Charlotte, the second largest British ship. Lastly came the smaller schooners and sloop; these would engage the smaller British vessels.

Just before the engagement opened Perry hoisted his battle flag to the flagship's main truck. The large navy blue banner was emblazoned with the crudely inscribed words, "DONT GIVE UP THE SHIP". For his battle slogan Perry used the dying words of Captain James Lawrence, a friend of the commodore who was killed on June 1, 1813. Perry's flagship was named for the fallen Lawrence, and the dead hero's inspiring words clearly indicated Perry's determination to prevail.

Perry's Battle Flag, "Don't Give Up the Ship"

U.S. Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, MD

[...]

By 2:30 p.m. the flagship was a floating wreck; every gun on her engaged side was disabled and four of every five men fit for duty were either killed or wounded. Perry was facing the dismal prospect of surrender.

Then, as he gazed across to the Niagara, still out of range and relatively undamaged, the commodore made a fateful decision. Collecting four unwounded men Perry manned the flagship's first cutter and rowed through a hail of shot to the Niagara. Miraculously Perry and his boat crew reached the Niagara unscathed.

Perry transfers (along with his battle flag) from the badly damaged flagship Lawrence to the unscathed Niagara.

[...]

The British, though they had pounded the Lawrence into a crippled hulk, had suffered terribly. During the engagement Barclay was severely wounded, plus the captain and first lieutenant of every British vessel was incapacitated. The English fleet was now commanded by junior officers - brave men, but with little or no experience maneuvering ships in the chaos of combat. When they observed the Niagara bearing down on their line the British attempted to wear ship - to turn their vessels around to bring the unused starboard broadsides to bear. Orders were issued, but amidst the tumult of battle the battered Detroit and Queen Charlotte collided, becoming helplessly entangled.

Taking full advantage of the enemy blunder, Perry steered the Niagara through the jumbled British battle line. Unleashing both broadsides, the American commodore ravaged the vulnerable British ships. As the Niagara pressed through the British line Perry backed the maintop sail, holding the Niagara stationary while her belching carronades decimated the enemy decks. The wind had also picked up by this time, allowing the sluggish gunboats to rush forward and rake the enemy from astern.

A few minutes after 3 p.m. the British bowed to the inevitable, the four largest vessels surrendering one by one. The gunboats Chippawa and Little Belt sheered off and tried to escape, but they were tracked down and snared by the Scorpion and Trippe. The entire British fleet had been captured.

The vessels anchored and hasty repairs were underway near West Sister Island when Perry composed his now famous message to William Henry Harrison. Scrawled in pencil on the back of an old envelope, Perry wrote, "Dear General: We have met the enemy and they are ours. Two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop. Yours with great respect and esteem, O.H. Perry".   

The Battle of Lake Erie proved one of the most resounding triumphs of the War of 1812. The victory secured control of the lake, forcing the British to abandon Fort Malden and retreat up the Thames River. Harrison's army pursued, decisively defeating the small British army and its allied Indian force on October 5, 1813 at the Battle of the Thames. And later, during the peace talks, the dual victories of Lake Erie and the Thames insured that the states of Ohio and Michigan would remain the sovereign territory of the United States of America.

 

 Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial and a modern replica of the Flagship Niagara at Put-in-Bay, Ohio, during the Battle of Lake Erie Bicentennial celebrations over Labor Day weekend.

The blogger at Put-in-Bay for the Battle of Lake Erie Bicentennial, wearing his "Don't Give Up the Ship" battle flag tie from Buffalo Jackson Trading Co.

Don't Give Up the Ship!

Additional Online Resources:

Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial (National Park Service), Put-in-Bay, OH

Battle of Lake Erie Bicentennial 

Battle of Lake Erie: Building the Fleet in the Wilderness, Navy Department Library

The Battle of Lake Erie: Building the Fleet, Alliances and the Battle
Oliver Hazard Perry
Flagship Niagara 
"Perry's Victory: The Battle of Lake Erie" - Toledo Museum of Art exhibition
"Perry's Victory: The Battle of Lake Erie" - Toledo Museum of Art exhibition (video)
"Perry's Victory: The Battle of Lake Erie" - Toledo Museum of Art exhibition (TV ad)

"Perry's Victory" (trad. folk song) sung by Roger McGuinn
"Perry's Victory" song lyrics

Fort Meigs: Ohio's War of 1812 Battlefield

Fort Malden (Parks Canada)

Battle of the Thames

Robert Heriot Barclay

William Henry Harrison

Tecumseh

Recommended Books:

A Signal Victory: The Lake Erie Campaign, 1812-1813 by David Curtis Skaggs and Gerard T. Altoff

Oliver Hazard Perry and the Battle of Lake Erie by Gerard T. Altoff

Oliver Hazard Perry: Honor, Courage, and Patriotism in the Early U.S. Navy (Library of Naval Biography) by David Curtis Skaggs

Perry's Lake Erie Fleet: After the Glory (PA) (The History Press) by David Frew

The Lake Erie Campaign of 1813: I Shall Fight Them This Day by Walter P. Rybka 

We Have Met the Enemy: Oliver Hazard Perry, Wilderness Commodore by Richard Dillon

Chasing Oliver Hazard Perry: Travels in the Footsteps of the Commodore Who Saved America by Craig Heimbuch

 

Nolan Ryan is My President

Fearless Leader of the Ranger Nation

"Be Who God Meant You to Be and You Will Set the World on Fire." - Feast of St. Catherine of Siena, 29 April

Today is the feast day of the Dominican tertiary who dared to tell a Pope to get off his duff and do his job, St. Catherine of Siena - a fact of which the Anglican Bishop of London took full notice today in joining an arguably better-known Catherine to the future King of England:

LONDON: Bishop of London's Sermon at the Royal Wedding of William and Kate

April 29, 2011

"Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire."

So said St Catherine of Siena whose festival day this is. Marriage is intended to be a way in which man and woman help each other to become what God meant each one to be, their deepest and truest selves.

Many are full of fear for the future of today's world but the message of the celebrations in this country and far beyond its shores is the right one - this is a joyful day. It is good that people in every continent are able to share in the celebrations because this is, as every wedding day should be, a day of hope.

In a sense every wedding is a royal wedding with the bride and groom as king and queen of creation, making a new life together so that life can flow through them to the future.

William and Catherine, you have chosen to be married in the sight of a generous God who so loved the world that he gave himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ.

In the Spirit of this generous God, husband and wife are to give themselves to one another.

Spiritual life grows as love finds its centre beyond ourselves. Faithful and committed relationships offer a door into the mystery of spiritual life in which we discover that the more we give of self, the richer we become in soul; the more we go beyond ourselves in love, the more we become our true selves and our spiritual beauty is more fully revealed. In marriage we are seeking to bring one another into fuller life.

It is of course hard to wean ourselves away from self-centredness. People can dream of such a thing but the hope will not be fulfilled without a solemn decision that, whatever the difficulties, we are committed to the way of generous love.

You have both made your decision today - "I will" - and by making this new relationship, you have aligned yourselves with what we believe is the way in which life is spiritually evolving, and which will lead to a creative future for the human race.

We stand looking forward to a century which is full of promise and full of peril. Human beings are confronting the question of how to use wisely the power which has been given to us through the discoveries of the last century. We shall not be converted to the promise of the future by more knowledge, but rather by an increase of loving wisdom and reverence, for life, for the earth and for one another.

Marriage should transform, as husband and wife make one another their work of art. This transformation is possible as long as we do not harbour ambitions to reform our partner. There must be no coercion if the Spirit is to flow; each must give the other space and freedom. Chaucer, the London poet, sums it up in a pithy phrase:

"Whan maistrie [mastery] comth, the God of Love anon, Beteth his wynges, and farewell, he is gon." As the reality of God has faded from so many lives in the West, there has been a corresponding inflation of expectations that personal relations alone will supply meaning and happiness in life. This is to load our partner with too great a burden. We are all incomplete: we all need the love which is secure, rather than oppressive, and mutual forgiveness, to thrive.

As we move towards our partner in love, following the example of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is quickened within us and can increasingly fill our lives with light. This leads to a family life which offers the best conditions in which the next generation can practise and exchange those gifts which can overcome fear and division and incubate the coming world of the Spirit, whose fruits are love and joy and peace.

I pray that every one present and the many millions watching this ceremony and sharing in your joy today will do everything in their power to support and uphold you in your new life. I pray that God will bless you in the way of life you have chosen, a way which is expressed in the prayer that you have written together in preparation for this day:

God our Father, we thank you for our families; for the love that we share and for the joy of our marriage. In the busyness of each day keep our eyes fixed on what is real and important in life and help us to be generous with our time and love and energy. Strengthened by our union help us to serve and comfort those who suffer. We ask this in the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

---The Rt. Rev. Richard Chartres is the Bishop of London

March is Texas History Month - 175th Anniversay of Texas Independence

March is Texas History Month. And this March, folks in the Lone Star State are commemorating the 175th anniversary of Texas' independence.



Tomorrow, March 2, is Texas Independence Day - the day 59 representatives meeting at Washington-on-the-Brazos signed the Texas Declaration of Independence, declaring Texas to be a free and sovereign Republic. More on that tomorrow.



This coming Sunday, March 6, marks the 175th anniversary of the fall of the Texian garrison at the Alamo. More on that later this week. In a little over 2 weeks, commemorations of the massacre of Goliad will be held. And next month will mark the 175th anniversary of the "Waterloo" of the so-called "Napolean of the West" - the Battle of San Jacinto, where Texas independence was won.



In addition to posts on the topics I've listed above, I plan to commemorate Texas' 175th with some posts on my ancestral ties to the Lone Star State, and the contributions to the heritage of my home state by some of the more prominent members of the Anderson family of East Texas.

We'll begin with a post next week on American Revolutionary War veteran and frontiersman Bailey Anderson (my 6th great-grandfather), who, after the American Revolution, moved his family to Kentucky, then to Indiana, then to Indian Territory (present-day Arkansas), before finally settling in East Texas (before the Spanish had even opened Texas up to Anglo-American immigration, making him an illegal immigrant into Mexico). Additional family portraits of Bailey's descendants will follow.

So bear with me. I know we Texans tend to be insufferable when we go on and on about such things. It's a Texian thang - I hope y'all will understand.

Rep. Mike Pence: ‘A Nation That Will Not Stand For Life Will Not Stand For Long’ [UPDATED]

From Cybercast News Service:

(CNSNews.com) - Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) told pro-life activists in Washington on Monday that “a nation that will not stand for life will not stand for long.”

The Indiana congressman -- who appears to have his eye on higher office – told the 38th annual March for Life that pro-lifers “will keep gathering until Roe v. Wade is sent to the ash heap of history where it belongs.”

(Roe v. Wade is 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortions nationwide. One conservative leader, the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins, noted that the decision of seven unelected judges has led to the largest loss of life in human history.)

Despite the nation’s current economic challenges, Pence said the fight for life should not be ignored. He said the process of cutting federal spending should begin with a denial of all federal funding for abortion, both at home and abroad.

"We must not remain silent when great moral battles are being waged,” said Pence. “Those who would have us ignore the battle being fought over life have forgotten the lessons of history. As in the days of a house divided, America's darkest moments have come when economic arguments trumped moral principles.”

Pence called for stripping Planned Parenthood, which he referred to as the “largest abortion provider in America,” of federal funding.

“Every American knows in their heart, this is the greatest nation on earth because we acknowledge the God-given right to liberty, the pursuit of happiness and the unalienable right to life,” Pence said. He said it’s time to restore the “sanctity of life” to the “center of American law.”

[More]

My Comments:
Mike Pence is quickly becoming my favorite for President. Unfortunately, he hasn't said whether he's running yet. He may choose to run for Governor of Indiana instead. But, even then, that will provide him with some excellent executive experience in time for the 2016 elections.

(Obama probably has re-election in 2012 in the bag, anyway.)


UPDATE
As if on cue, Pence has announced that he will not seek the Presidency in 2012.

It's Less Than a Week Away from November ...

... and the Texas Rangers are still playing baseball !!!

Tonight is Game 1 of the World Series.

GO RANGERS !!!









Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
It's Time !

Been There, Seen That

Oh Yeah! Texas Rangers Moving On to the ALCS

The Feel-Good Sports Story of the Year

Oh Yeah! Texas Rangers Moving On to the ALCS

The Texas Rangers win a playoff series for the first time in their history! (Until tonight, they were the ONLY team in Major League Baseball never to have won a post-season series.)

Bring on the Yankees!!!


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
The Feel-Good Sports Story of the Year

When Lefties Congregate ...

... they do so in MUCH SMALLER NUMBERS while leaving the place FAR DIRTIER than their right-wing counterparts.

2010 Thomas More Studies Conference: "Thomas More's Influence on Shakespeare's 1-3 Henry VI and Richard III"

THE CENTER FOR THOMAS MORE STUDIES
at the University of Dallas, www.udallas.edu

HOSTS

SHAKESPEARE & THOMAS MORE
ON LAW & CITIZENSHIP



OFFERED WITH THE GENEROUS ASSISTANCE OF THE APGAR FOUNDATION


Friday-Saturday, 5-6 November 2010

Major Focus
Thomas More and Shakespeare both began their literary careers wrestling with the “sickness” of civil war in England. Shakespeare knew well More’s History of Richard III, a history that is rich in allusions to Greeks and Romans who investigated the nature and causes of civil war. They, like the American Founders, all agreed that “faction” is a major cause. What solutions do More and Shakespeare suggest for those who are “first” or leading citizens in such trying conditions? What skills and virtues do these leading citizens need? What role does law play?

Texts
Thomas More’s English version of History of King Richard III (as it appeared in Holinshed’s Chronicle)
Shakespeare’s History of King Henry VI.3 (depicting the height of England’s civil war)
Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Richard III (still one of Shakespeare’s most popular and most frequently performed plays)
Shakespeare, Munday, et al’s Sir Thomas More (a collaborative work of 5 London playwrights)

Major Lecturer and Seminar Participant
Dr. Robert S. Miola, Professor of English and Professor of Classics at Loyola College in Maryland
Among his publications are Shakespeare’s Rome (Cambridge UP, 2004), Shakespeare’s Reading (Oxford UP, 2000), Shakespeare and Classical Comedy: The Influence of Plautus and Terence (1997), Shakespeare and Classical Tragedy: The Influence of Seneca (1992); and editor of Much Ado about Nothing (Barnes & Noble, 2007), Measure for Measure (Apprentice House, 2007), Macbeth (Norton Critical Edition, 2003), A Comedy of Errors: Critical Essays (1997).

Friday, November 5, 2010
4:00—5:30 Dr. Gerard Wegemer: Citizenship, Law, & Self-Government in Thomas More’s Richard III
7:30—9:00 p.m. Plenary Address. Dr. Robert Miola: Shakespeare and The Book of Sir Thomas More

Saturday, November 6, 2010
9:00 a.m.—10:30 Seminar for paper presenters: More’s History of Richard III and Shakespeare’s Use of It in His Richard III
11—12:30 p.m. Seminar for paper presenters: Shakespeare’s Henry VI and His Scenes in Sir Thomas More
2:30—4:00 p.m. Dr. John Alvis: Citizenship & Law in Shakespeare’s First Tetralogy & in Sir Thomas More
4:30—6:00 p.m. Final Panel and Discussion: How did Thomas More influence Shakespeare? What are the most fruitful ways to explore the question of "influence"? What work remains if we are to understand better the relation between More's writing and Shakespeare's?

For more information, go to www.thomasmorestudies.org/conference.html or call 972-265-5741.

CLE also available: www.thomasmorestudies.org/docs/2010TMProgramCLE.pdf.

How Mother Teresa's 100th Birthday is Being Celebrated

Tim Drake writes at National Catholic Register:

While the Empire State Building won’t be lit up in the blue and white colors of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, there are many other ways that Mother Teresa’s 100th birthday – August 26 - is being honored worldwide.

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, who originally asked for the Empire State Building to be lighted, instead will hold a rally outside the Empire State Building on behalf of Mother Teresa on August 26.

Meanwhile, the Peace Bridge, on the Niagara River in New York, and the Hutchinson Metro Center’s two office buildings in the Bronx will be lit blue and white.

[...]

In the U.S., the Mother Teresa postage stamp is being issued. Similar stamps are being issued in Austria, Kosovo, and Monaco. France is issuing four collector-edition coins, one which shows Mother Teresa with Pope John Paul II.

The Knights of Columbus Museum in New Haven, CT is hosting the American premiere exhibit of Mother Teresa: Life, Spirituality and Message...

[More]

Other stories at National Catholic Register commemorating the occasion of Mother Teresa's 100th birthday:

Adopted Country
Non-Catholic India Goes Big on Mother Teresa Centenary

‘Do ordinary things with extraordinary love’
The Things that Made Mother Teresa Tick

The World Celebrates Mother Teresa
Nun Recalled Far and Wide on 100th Anniversary

Mother Teresa at 100
From Skopje to Calcutta to the World

Danielle Bean: Is Mother Teresa Embarrassed?

What's This About Some Big Soccer Thingy That's Going On?

Wake me when it's over.

Time for the BCS to Follow Suit

The NFL announced yesterday that the 2014 Super Bowl will be played in a cold-weather climate ... outdoors:

IRVING, Texas -- If you build it, they will come -- wearing winter coats.

The New Meadowlands Stadium, the $1.6 billion jewel co-owned by the New York Giants and Jets, will host the 2014 Super Bowl, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced Tuesday afternoon at the league's spring meeting.

"It's a historic moment for the league," Goodell said.

Saying that New York is a unique market, Goodell added: "It will be a great experience for our fans. It will be a great experience for the NFL."

The league's 32 owners, undaunted by the prospect of a wintry championship game, awarded Super Bowl XLVIII to the New York/New Jersey region after also considering bids from Tampa and South Florida, both traditional sites. South Florida and Tampa have hosted the Super Bowl 10 and four times, respectively.

One commentator notes that the namesake of the trophy awarded to the Super Bowl winner would be thrilled:

"Lombardi would love this Super Bowl"

I agree, as does my friend the Cranky Con, that this is a good move:

... I have always thought they should play the Super Bowl in a cold weather city. It is ridiculous to see the championship game of a winter sport played in balmy 80-degree weather in southern California or Florida. Not that it is always inappropriate to play the Super Bowl in warm weather cities, after all there are franchises in these cities, but this is a welcome development ...

And now it's time for the powers-that-be at the BCS to follow suit and hold a “National Championship” game in a northern city. Under the current practice, which has been in effect for the past 3 years, the title game is no longer tied to any particular bowl, so there’s absolutely no reason why this couldn’t be done.

Football is a fall/winter sport meant to be played outdoors. In the elements. On REAL GRASS. Northern teams who are built to play in cold/wet-weather conditions on soggy fields are put at a disadvantage when they must travel to warm-weather climates every December and January to play bowl games against teams built to play in more moderate and dryer weather.

Let’s see how the SEC powerhouses or Southern Cal perform in a “National Championship” game in Big 10-type weather and field conditions.


UPDATE
My preference for scheduling an occasional cold-weather BCS "Championship" Game is applicable only so long as Division 1-A college football insists on this farce of definitively crowning a "National Championship". It becomes moot as soon as they do the right thing and return to the traditional bowl alignments*.


*Surely you didn't think I was going to call for a playoff, did you?


UPDATE #2
Ignore the cries and complaints regarding the NFL's decision (and my argument that the BCS should do the same thing) by those who believe playing football in 70+ degree weather or, Heaven forbid, in-frickin-doors, is some sort of birthright.

(Especially ignore the pissing and moaning if said complainer apparently happens to believe that his NFL team's having sniffed Super Bowl success for the first time in said franchise's entire history suddenly makes him some sort of expert and/or decider on where Super Bowls ought and ought not to be played. And especially, especially ignore the pissing and moaning if said complainer is still smarting from his college team's loss in the Capital One Bowl, despite said team's much-vaunted "overall team speed", to a "slow" Big 10 team because - waaaaaaah! - they had to play outside in the cold rain and muck.)

Besides, NFL football was being played and NFL Championships being decided in cold-weather climes for decades before the first Super Bowl was even played. Ironically, the coldest Super Bowl ever played - at 39° F - took place in the home city (at Tulane Stadium) of the team just now sniffing Super Bowl success for the first time in its history.

An Ecumenicism I Can Support

Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, Shintoist, Wiccan, Animist, whatever. Fine is fine, and fit is fit.

And make no mistake: the new Miss USA, Rima Fakih, is smokin' hot, notwithstanding whatever her religion may be. In this instance, I'm ALL for ecumenicism.

The Anchoress has more.

(Hat tip: Opinionated Catholic)

Jamie's First Holy Communion

More on Facebook

First Communion Day

Today is the day that my oldest child, Jamie, will receive his First Holy Communion. We are very proud of him.

May the Body of Christ bring him to everlasting life.

Five Years Ago Today... "Ratzinger!" [UPDATED]

Do you remember where you were or what you were doing when Pope Benedict was elected? I was reading Amy Welborn's former blog, Open Book, when the news came that "Habemus Papam!"

One of the first things Sarah and I did immediately after learning the results of the conclave election was to purchase some Cardinal Ratzinger Fan Club t-shirts - the ones that say "Truth is not determined by majority vote."

I was still a wet-behind-the-ears blogger at the time, having started this blog just one month before. Here are a few of my posts regarding the election of a new pontiff following the death of John Paul II:

First Ballot: Ratzinger Not Elected Pope

"Habemus Papam!" - Pope Benedict XVI

Personal Reflections on the Election of Pope Benedict XVI

Mark Shea: Why Democrats Can't Connect With Religious Voters

Pope Benedict XVI: Enemy of Jihad

Peggy Noonan: "Why They Ran"

Andrew Sullivan: Benedict XVI to Unleash "Ferocious Culture War"

Coining a Term: "Ratzenfreude"

"Life on the Rock" - On Location in Rome With "Benedict XVI Priests"

Bill O'Reilly on the Election of Pope Benedict XVI

Pat Buchanan: "Behind the Rage at Benedict XVI"

Most U.S. Catholics Support Choice of Pope

Many of those posts are a reminder that the people who are currently attacking Pope Benedict hated him all along and, indeed, began attacking him even BEFORE he was elected; and their attacks went into overdrive in the immediate aftermath of his election. (Read all of Amy's April 2005 archives for coverage of more of the same kind of stuff.)

Today's anti-Benedict hatred is just more of the same.

May God bless and keep His servant, Joseph Ratzinger - Pope Benedict XVI, and give him many more years. Ad Multos Annos!


UPDATE
Opinionated Catholic has an example of the people who hated Ratzinger all along (i.e. the joke of a mag called U.S. Catholic) getting their digs in at him on the 5th anniversary of his pontificate:

Hans Kung has thrown down the gauntlet with his open letter to the world's Catholic bishops, including a six-point plan for reforming the church. Kung's advice, which culminates in a call for a new council, is wise and even, despite his reputation, much of it undeserved, as a theological renegade.

More controversial will be his account of the pope's five-year tenure, which he catalogs as a series of missed opportunities on ecumenism, relationships with Jews and Muslims, a revisionist interpretation of Vatican II and its liturgical reform, and now most seriously with the sex abuse crisis.

Kung's critique is a fair one, and I'd go as far as to say that in these five years the Ratzinger papacy has lurched from catastrophe to catastrophe, beginning with the Regensburg speech of 2006, continuing with the unconditional rehabilitation of the bishops of the Society of St. Pius X, and culminating in the international sex abuse crisis, which is only going to get bigger...

Blah, blah, blah. Pope Benedict isn't a liberal. Waaaaaaah!

Happy 100th Anniversary, Diocese of Toledo!

From the Diocese of Toledo's website:

Foundation Day Mass: Celebrating 100 Years in the Diocese of Toledo


Foundation Day Mass: April 15, 2010
2:00 pm
Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral
Established as a diocese April 15, 1910 by Pope Pius X, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo encompasses 8,222 square miles in a mixture of urban and rural areas that spans 19 counties in Northwest Ohio. The diocese includes Allen, Crawford, Defiance, Erie, Fulton, Hancock, Henry, Huron, Lucas, Ottawa, Paulding, Putnam, Richland, Sandusky, Seneca, Van Wert, Williams, Wood, and Wyandot counties.

We will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Diocese of Toledo with a special Mass at Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral. Bishop Blair will be joined by Archbishops and Bishops from around the country for this special occasion.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

Attendance at the Foundation Day Mass requires a ticket and seating is limited. Please contact the Chancery at 419-244-6711 x. 104 for more information.

The Diocese of Toledo and the Media Technology students of Central Catholic High School will be producing a LIVE video stream of the Mass. You can watch online by visiting http://www.centralcatholic.org/ and clicking the banner that says, "Anniversary Mass. Watch LIVE."

You can also download and print a copy of the program for the Mass by clicking here (Adobe Reader required).

Click here to watch the Toledo City Council present Resolution 181 honoring the Diocese's 100 years in Northwest Ohio.

Sister Carol Disinvited from D.C.-Based John Carroll Society Speaking Gig

American Papist first reported the news yesterday that Sister Carol Keehan (who just last week worked overtime in undermining the official Catholic stance of the U.S. Bishops opposing federally funded abortion as part of the health care bill) had been invited to speak at the John Carroll Society's Annual Dinner & Awards event in Washington D.C. on April 16th:

... The John Carroll Society operates “in service to the Archbishop of Washington”.

Sr. Keehan has spent the last months actively serving against the bishops of the United States. She has conspired against them, been rewarded for her services to the other side, and has confused Catholics across the country. When Catholic unity in defense of life was most needed, she abandoned it for personal, ideological and financial reasons.

Obviously the JCS extended this invitation to Sister Keehan’s before knowledge of her activities on behalf of the Democrat leadership became known. However, just as the Susan B. Anthony List has had to change their decision to honor Rep. Stupak after his 11th-hour betrayal, so should the JCS dis-invite Sr. Keehan after her harmful campaign against Catholic public unity and advocacy during this critical debate...

Today comes word that Sister Carol has now been disinvited from the event:

... This message was sent to members of the society:

Sister Carol Keehan has decided that our annual dinner this year is not the appropriate time to address our Society and friends. We continue to be grateful to her for her many years of service to the Church and especially the poor and those in need.

Of course, this was an incredibly diplomatic way to avoid any further tensions. I’m satisfied with this solution, but I dislike the implication that there could be an appropriate time for Sr. Keehan to again address a Catholic gathering.

If any time would be appropriate, it would be after or during her public apology to the faithful.

I'm actually a little surprised by this turn of events.

Happy 4th Birthday, Mary Virginia!

Pro-Life Youth & Enthusiasm Frighten the Opposition

Danielle Bean writes at National Catholic Register:

Of all the news stories I’ve read describing this year’s March for Life in Washington D.C., none make me prouder or more hopeful for the future than this little piece by Robert McCartney in the Washington Post:

“I went to the March for Life rally Friday on the Mall expecting to write about its irrelevance. Isn’t it quaint, I thought, that these abortion protesters show up each year on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, even though the decision still stands after 37 years. What’s more, with a Democrat in the White House likely to appoint justices who support abortion rights, surely the Supreme Court isn’t going to overturn Roe in the foreseeable future.

How wrong I was. The antiabortion movement feels it’s gaining strength, even if it’s not yet ready to predict ultimate triumph, and Roe supporters (including me) are justifiably nervous.”

First of all, kudos for Robert McCartney for reporting with integrity, despite his pro-abortion bias. Many of his colleagues found themselves incapable of such fact-based, balanced reporting.

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