www.Restore-DC-Catholicism.com

In this page, we’ll
attempt to correct the errors and shortcomings of the official Archdiocesan
periodical. It will be updated as errors
and omissions become known. Remember – if
you learn of anything, please advise us!
RUSSERT
AND
By now you’ve heard of the
latest Catholic Charities debacle, this one in nearby
One colossal waste of space
has been all the coverage devoted to Tim Russert’s
passing. Of course we pray for the
repose of his soul and for his bereaved family.
I’ll say, though, that during that same time, the father of friends of
mine passed away after a long illness.
He and his family raised eight children and was a faithful
Catholic. How much coverage in the
Standard did his death garner? The same amount
as did the
The June 19th
issue of the Standard was almost entirely devoted to the bewailing of Russert’s death. I
cannot recall a single page that didn’t mention him at least once. I suppose the June 26th issue was
an improvement, since only half the pages therein had Russert
articles. Now it is known that Russert, in the past, did work for the campaigns of both
Patrick Moynihan and Mario Cuomo – both pro-abortion Democrats. Did he ever renounce his promotion of
pro-abortion politics, however indirect such promotion might have been? We certainly hope so. Moreover, we hope that the Standard made
due-diligence inquiries into the same: although we strongly doubt it.
Our point, though, is not to
speculate on whether or not Russert was faithful to
the Majesterium with regards to life issues. Rather, we deplore the Standard’s (and the
archdiocese of
UPDATE! Rocks are
being overturned, and details are being unearthed. Yes, he did more than just work for Moynihan
and Cuomo. According to the Wanderer
(July 3rd edition), he took
their flagging primary campaigns and propelled them to victory. How, you may ask? By encouraging them to embrace the
pro-abortion position. You can read it here,
but you’ll have to subscribe to the online edition to read it (the article is
called “An Insider’s Take on Tim Russert”). Now why is this important, now that the man
is dead? Two reasons: if this is true,
and it probably is, he has advocated abortion and may well have died in mortal
sin. We don’t know that for certain, but
there is cause for concern, and need for much prayer. Second, in keeping with their dubious
tradition of celebrating the rich and famous Catholic (regardless of virtue, or
lack thereof), the Archdiocese of Washington has established (drum roll,
please!) the “Tim Russert Memorial Fund”! Ostensibly it’s a scholarship fund of sorts,
aimed no doubt at those celebrities who continue to wax lyrical about Russert. Why, what
better way to express their admiration for their colleague by dropping a few
thousand into this worthy fund?
Seriously, the archdiocese
must be challenged on this. It is simply
not appropriate to establish any memorial of any sort for someone who may well have
advanced the culture of death.
Christopher Manion of the Wanderer did excellent research. However, it was the duty of the archdiocese
to do their homework before establishing this memorial.
ANOTHER UPDATE With all the
sad saga and sorry excuses that seem to be popping up like kudzu regarding the
Richmond/DiLorenzo scandal (see the “national news”
section of this site), we’d think that the Catholic Standard would see fit to
mention it at least once. Well, now the
July 3rd issue has arrived, and still there is not one word about
it. The writers/editors at the Standard
continue to emulate the Three Monkeys.
However, there is progress in one aspect. The lament regarding Tim Russert’s
death is waning! This time, we only saw
the back page devoted to the rehash.
Perhaps by the time next week rolls around, it will be all out of their
system, and they can let the poor man rest in peace.
HARRY
FORBES BLATHERS AGAIN
Harry Forbes, the USCCB movie
reviewer who made a laughingstock of himself after giving favorable reviews to
the poison contained in the movies “
We kid you not! The review actually makes those statements –
in that order! It is not acceptable for
anybody (How on earth does one talk about “discreetly filmed beheadings”??!?!?). Oh, by the way – he fails to mention in any
way the resultant apostasy of
HUMANAE
VITAE DISSENTER EULUGIZED IN THE STANDARD
Walter J. Burghardt, S.J., passed away February 16, 2008. His eulogy appeared in the Standard. In it, he was praised up and down and right
and left for his social justice advocacy.
There was mentioned, very briefly (very VERY
briefly) his public dissent against Humanae
Vitae. He was quoted as saying that was
a difficult decision for him, that it “cost him dearly.” What screams the loudest is what was NOT
said. No mention was made of any
recantation, any repentance on his part for disobedience to Pope Paul VI. We of Faithful Catholics of MD/DC hope that
he did indeed repent; else he may have found that his dissent cost him even
more dearly than he originally believed.
May God have mercy! As for the
Catholic Standard, we wonder why they gloss over this dissent, a dissent that
more than besmirches all the other good that Father may have done. Again, the Standard should have implored the
prayers of all for this man’s repose, but it should never have sung his
praises.
TRANSGENDER
PANDERER EULUGIZED IN THE STANDARD
Montgomery County
Councilwoman Marilyn Praisner passed away on February
1, 2008. The Standard’s questionable
eulogy (page 18 of the Feb 14th edition) starts with a headline
describing her as “woman who lived her faith as public servant”. We find one of her final votes to be quite
at variance with Catholic moral teaching.
In November 2007, the Montgomery County Council unanimously passed Bill
23-07, the Transgender Identity Bill.
Among other things, this bill would allow cross-dressers the legal right
to use public facilities that are designated for the “gender of choice” at any
given moment. This webmistress
is aware of three occasions when women went into ladies’ restrooms and found
therein men in drag. All facilities –
churches and schools included – would be forced to accommodate perversion. No exceptions are allowed. Many good people are spending countless hours
trying to bring this bill to referendum – and to undo Ms. Praisner’s
fine public service! (Note: to aid in
restoring some semblance of sanity, please visit www.notmyshower.net to see how you can
assist!)
So why on earth does Mary McGinnity (Director of the Archdiocesan Social Concerns Office)
think that Ms. Praisner’s public service was inspired
by her faith (as stated in the Standard)?
Does Ms McGinnity not realize that what Ms. Praisner did was to facilitate mortal sin? Whatever else Ms. Praisner’s
support of that bill may be, it was not based on inspiration by the Catholic
faith.
Additionally we ask why the
Catholic Standard sees fit to sing Ms. Praisner’s
praises? Yes, the woman has passed away,
and by all means we should pray for the repose of her immortal soul. But in no way should she be lionized in a
Catholic publication!
CONTROVERIES
– HUSHED AT THE STANDARD
On the front page of the
December 17th edition of the
One thing the Standard did
mention in its December 21, 2006 issue is that the Archdiocese of Washington is
paying out the paltry sum of $1.3 million dollars in sex abuse
settlements. Currently the article is on
their website at www.cathstan.org, but
should it mysteriously disappear from that website, you can see it here. Of particular note is Archbishop Wuerl’s statement, "the funds are from insurance
reserves; no funds have or will come from the archdiocese's operating funds,
Archbishop's Appeal, Forward in Faith or parishes." He fails to mention that those same insurance
reserves originated from insurance premiums, paid by the archdiocese, that
ultimately had their source in the dollars that faithful Catholics have been
putting into the collection baskets. Of
course no mention is made of the most likely probability that now these
insurance premiums are going to skyrocket owing to this payout (and maybe more
to come). Again – why the spin?
Not long after the sex abuse
scandals broke out, the archdiocese began a series of panel discussions to
(ahem!) “explain” what was happening to the parishioners. The first one was held at St. Raphael’s in
The Catholics in attendance
at this session were very alert and articulate.
They did an excellent job in refuting this propaganda, and others like
it. Clearly, this archdiocesan-picked panel
of “experts” was not prepared for honest challenge. This “first session” of panel discussions, to
the best of my knowledge, was also the last.
Gee – makes you wonder why, doesn’t it?
Interesting “aside” to
consider – wouldn’t the $1.3 million have been put to excellent use to help the
beleaguered
Open
Letter to Father Peter Daly and Mark Zimmerman
These comments regard Father
Daly’s column in the April 13th edition of the Catholic
Standard. This particular issue was
devoted to the questions surrounding illegal immigration into the
It certainly is acceptable
that Father Daly disagrees with the Minutemen.
However, it must be taken into consideration that the Minutemen are
simply decent people who are addressing the issue as they deem best; the means
they are exercising are perfectly legitimate.
Father Daly had no moral right to label them as a “xenophobic group” and
no basis for claiming that they “know nothing about history, culture, religion,
justice and economics.” Who does Father
Daly think he is to sit in judgment of their faith and intelligence? Father Daly, in using such slanderous
language against good people, disgraced his Roman collar. He owes the Minutemen a public apology.
Equally inexcusable was the
decision by the editorial staff of the Catholic Standard to let that sort of
diatribe appear in a Catholic newspaper.
For the life of us, we cannot fathom what induced the Standard to allow
what is arguably “hate speech” to be published.
Indeed, we suspect that they would never allow such language to be used
against a Catholic politician who supports abortion; indeed, over the years,
several of them have been favorably portrayed in the Standard. Additionally, we believe that the editors of
the Catholic Standard would never allow any derogatory remarks against gay
priest-abusers to be published on their pages.
Why then, did Mr. Zimmerman et al allow the Minutemen to be verbally
savaged in the pages of the Standard?
The editors and management of the Catholic Standard showed deplorable
lack of professional and moral judgment in allowing Father Daly’s article to be
published as it was.
The entirety of this article
is being mailed/emailed to Father Daly and Mark Zimmerman at St. John Vianney and the Catholic Standard respectively. It also appears on this website (www.Restore-DC-Catholicism.com)
because we know it will never be published (at least not in its entirety) in
the Catholic Standard. Indeed, ever since many good people wrote to
protest the Cardinal’s decision to allow pro-abortion Catholics to receive
Communion, the “letters to the editor” have all but disappeared. Any responses received (or lack thereof) from
these two gentlemen will likewise be published on this site.
To all other recipients:
please feel free to copy and distribute this; we ask, though that you do so in
its entirety and to make plain the source of this article. Additionally, you may wish to contact both of
them yourselves about this matter.
Father Daly’s address is:
St. John Vianney Roman Catholic
Church (He is the pastor)
Prince Frederick, MD
20678
Ph: 410-535-0223
Fax: 410-535-4422
Email: none, to the best of our knowledge
Mark Zimmerman can be
reached at:
Catholic Standard
Ph: 202-281-2410
Fax: 202-281-2408
Email: mark@cathstan.org
STRANGE SILENCE ON EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH On page 4 of the March 9, 2006 issue of the Standard
is an article regarding the so-called “Statement of Principles” signed by a
bunch of pro-abortion “Catholic” Democrats from the U.S. House of
Representatives. Having been quite
occupied by the struggle in the Maryland Senate over SB144 (regarding embryonic
stem cell research), this webmaster was somewhat flummoxed over the apparent
priorities of the Standard staff. The
Standard devoted almost a full page to the bloviation
about these disobedient Catholics, yet made no mention whatsoever about the
efforts to keep embryonic stem cell research at bay in