Memories of John F. Kennedy and His Crime

Sen. John F. Kennedy Addressing the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, Sept. 12, 1960 at the Rice Hotel in Houston, TX

Some of my memories of President John F. Kennedy are so indelible it is as if they happened only yesterday. One of those memories is of Senator John Kennedy going to Houston to face a group of ministers in an effort to prove to them that his Catholic faith would not keep him from being a good President of the United States. What I, and probably most of those ministers, didn’t realize then was that Senator Kennedy committed a grievous crime that night as he stood there before them defending his ability to perform the task he aspired to without being hindered by the tenants of his Catholic faith. The crime he committed was in theorizing the most rigid separation of Church and state, in order to be acceptable as president.  It wasn’t a criminal act according to the law of the land, but it was a crime against the American people, the Roman Catholic Church, and, by extension, against all American Christians of every branch of Christianity—including the ministers before whom he spoke that fateful night. In short, it was a crime or sin, if you will, against God in his fellowman everywhere.

Here is a talk given by Charles Chaput, Archbishop of Denver, some 50 years later, before that selfsame group of ministers which was the very scene of Kennedy’s crime. I think it reasonable to assume that, by the time the Archbishop Charles finished speaking that night, those ministers understood the crime Kennedy had committed when he spoke before them that night.

THE VOCATION OF CHRISTIANS IN AMERICAN PUBLIC LIFE

by Charles J. Chaput

Charles J. Chaput, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Denver

One of the ironies in my talk tonight is this. I’m a Catholic bishop, speaking at a Baptist university in America’s Protestant heartland. But I’ve been welcomed with more warmth and friendship than I might find at a number of Catholic venues. This is a fact worth discussing. I’ll come back to it at the end of my comments. [...]

I need to offer a few caveats before I turn to the substance of our discussion.

The first caveat is this: My thoughts tonight are purely my own. I don’t speak for the Holy See, or the American Catholic bishops, or the Houston Catholic community. In the Catholic tradition, the local bishop is the chief preacher and teacher of the faith, and the shepherd of the local Church. Here in Houston you have an outstanding bishop – a man of great Christian faith and intellect – in Cardinal Daniel DiNardo. In all things Catholic tonight, I’m glad to defer to his leadership.

Here’s my second caveat: I’m here as a Catholic Christian and an American citizen – in that order. Both of these identities are important. They don’t need to conflict. They are not, however, the same thing. And they do not have the same weight. I love my country. I revere the genius of its founding documents and its public institutions. But no nation, not even the one I love, has a right to my allegiance, or my silence, in matters that belong to God or that undermine the dignity of the human persons He created.

My third caveat is this: Catholics and Protestants have different memories of American history. The historian Paul Johnson once wrote that America was “born Protestant” ¹. That’s clearly true. Whatever America is today or may become tomorrow, its origin was deeply shaped by a Protestant Christian spirit, and the fruit of that spirit has been, on the balance, a great blessing for humanity. But it’s also true that, while Catholics have always thrived in the United States, they lived through two centuries of discrimination, religious bigotry and occasional violence. Protestants of course will remember things quite differently. They will remember Catholic persecution of dissenters in Europe, the entanglements of the Roman Church and state power, and papal suspicion of democracy and religious liberty.

We can’t erase those memories. And we cannot – nor should we try to – paper over the issues that still divide us as believers in terms of doctrine, authority and our understandings of the Church. Ecumenism based on good manners instead of truth is empty. It’s also a form of lying. If we share a love of Jesus Christ and a familial bond in baptism and God’s Word, then on a fundamental level, we’re brothers and sisters. Members of a family owe each other more than surface courtesies. We owe each other the kind of fraternal respect that “speak[s] the truth in love” (Eph 4:15). We also urgently owe each other solidarity and support in dealing with a culture that increasingly derides religious faith in general, and the Christian faith in particular. And that brings me to the heart of what I want to share with you.

*

Our theme tonight is the vocation of Christians in American public life. That’s a pretty broad canvas. Broad enough that I wrote a book about it. Tonight I want to focus in a special way on the role of Christians in our country’s civic and political life. The key to our discussion will be that word “vocation.” It comes from the Latin word “vocare,” which means, “to call.” Christians believe that God calls each of us individually, and all of us as a believing community, to know, love and serve him in our daily lives.

But there’s more. He also asks us to make disciples of all nations. That means we have a duty to preach Jesus Christ. We have a mandate to share his Gospel of truth, mercy, justice and love. These are mission words; action words. They’re not optional. And they have practical consequences for the way we think, speak, make choices and live our lives, not just at home but in the public square. Real Christian faith is always personal, but it’s never private. And we need to think about that simple fact in light of an anniversary.

Fifty years ago this fall, in September 1960, Sen. John F. Kennedy, the Democratic candidate for president, spoke to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association. He had one purpose. He needed to convince 300 uneasy Protestant ministers, and the country at large, that a Catholic like himself could serve loyally as our nation’s chief executive. Kennedy convinced the country, if not the ministers, and went on to be elected. And his speech left a lasting mark on American politics. It was sincere, compelling, articulate – and wrong. Not wrong about the patriotism of Catholics, but wrong about American history and very wrong about the role of religious faith in our nation’s life. And he wasn’t merely “wrong.” His Houston remarks profoundly undermined the place not just of Catholics, but of all religious believers, in America’s public life and political conversation. Today, half a century later, we’re paying for the damage.

Now those are strong statements. So I’ll try to explain them by doing three things. First, I want to look at the problems in what Kennedy actually said. Second, I want to reflect on what a proper Christian approach to politics and public service might look like. And last, I want to examine where Kennedy’s speech has led us – in other words, the realities we face today, and what Christians need to do about those realities.

*
John Kennedy was a great speaker. Ted Sorensen, who helped craft the Houston speech, was a gifted writer. As a result, it’s easy to speed-read Kennedy’s Houston remarks as a passionate appeal for tolerance. But the text has at least two big flaws ². The first is political and historical. The second is religious.

Early in his remarks, Kennedy said: “I believe in an America where the separation of Church and state is absolute.” Given the distrust historically shown to Catholics in this country, his words were shrewdly chosen. The trouble is, the Constitution doesn’t say that. The Founders and Framers didn’t believe that. And the history of the United States contradicts that. Unlike revolutionary leaders in Europe, the American Founders looked quite favorably on religion. Many were believers themselves. In fact, one of the main reasons for writing the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause – the clause that bars any federally-endorsed Church – was that several of the Constitution’s Framers wanted to protect the publicly funded Protestant Churches they already had in their own states. John Adams actually preferred a “mild and equitable establishment of religion” and helped draft that into the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution ³.

America’s Founders encouraged mutual support between religion and government. Their reasons were practical. In their view, a republic like the United States needs a virtuous people to survive. Religious faith, rightly lived, forms virtuous people. Thus, the modern, drastic sense of the “separation of Church and state” had little force in American consciousness until Justice Hugo Black excavated it from a private letter President Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1802 to the Danbury Baptist Association ⁴. Justice Black then used Jefferson’s phrase in the Supreme Court’s Everson v. Board of Education decision in 1947.

The date of that Court decision is important, because America’s Catholic bishops wrote a wonderful pastoral letter one year later – in 1948 – called “The Christian in Action.” It’s worth reading. In that letter, the bishops did two things. They strongly endorsed American democracy and religious freedom. They also strongly challenged Justice Black’s logic in Everson.

The bishops wrote that “it would be an utter distortion of American history and law” to force the nation’s public institutions into an “indifference to religion and the exclusion of cooperation between religion and government.” They rejected Justice Black’s harsh new sense of the separation of Church and state as a “shibboleth of doctrinaire secularism” ⁵. And the bishops argued their case from the facts of American history.

The value of remembering that pastoral statement tonight is this: Kennedy referenced the 1948 bishops’ letter in his Houston comments. He wanted to prove the deep Catholic support for American democracy. And rightly so. But he neglected to mention that the same bishops, in the same letter, repudiated the new and radical kind of separation doctrine he was preaching.

The Houston remarks also created a religious problem. To his credit, Kennedy said that if his duties as President should “ever require me to violate my conscience or violate the national interest, I would resign the office.” He also warned that he would not “disavow my views or my church in order to win this election.” But in its effect, the Houston speech did exactly that. It began the project of walling religion away from the process of governance in a new and aggressive way. It also divided a person’s private beliefs from his or her public duties. And it set “the national interest” over and against “outside religious pressures or dictates.”

For his audience of Protestant ministers, Kennedy’s stress on personal conscience may have sounded familiar and reassuring. But what Kennedy actually did, according to Jesuit scholar Mark Massa, was something quite alien and new. He “‘secularize[d] the American presidency in order to win it.” In other words, “[P]recisely because Kennedy was not an adherent of that mainstream Protestant religiosity that had created and buttressed the ‘plausibility structures’ of [American] political culture at least since Lincoln, he had to ‘privatize’ presidential religious belief – including and especially his own – in order to win that office” ⁶.

In Massa’s view, the kind of secularity pushed by the Houston speech “represented a near total privatization of religious belief – so much a privatization that religious observers from both sides of the Catholic/Protestant fence commented on its remarkable atheistic implications for public life and discourse.” And the irony – again as told by Massa – is that some of the same people who worried publicly about Kennedy’s Catholic faith got a result very different from the one they expected. In effect, “the raising of the [Catholic] issue itself went a considerable way toward ‘secularizing’ the American public square by privatizing personal belief. The very effort to ‘safeguard’ the [essentially Protestant] religious aura of the presidency… contributed in significant ways to its secularization.”

Fifty years after Kennedy’s Houston speech, we have more Catholics in national public office than ever before. But I wonder if we’ve ever had fewer of them who can coherently explain how their faith informs their work, or who even feel obligated to try. The life of our country is no more “Catholic” or “Christian” than it was 100 years ago. In fact it’s arguably less so. And at least one of the reasons for it is this: Too many Catholics confuse their personal opinions with a real Christian conscience. Too many live their faith as if it were a private idiosyncrasy – the kind that they’ll never allow to become a public nuisance. And too many just don’t really believe. Maybe it’s different in Protestant circles. But I hope you’ll forgive me if I say, “I doubt it.”

*

John Kennedy didn’t create the trends in American life that I’ve described. But at least for Catholics, his Houston speech clearly fed them. Which brings me to the second point of my talk: What would a proper Christian approach to politics look like? John Courtney Murray, the Jesuit scholar who spoke so forcefully about the dignity of American democracy and religious freedom, once wrote: “The Holy Spirit does not descend into the City of Man in the form of a dove. He comes only in the endlessly energetic spirit of justice and love that dwells in the man of the City, the layman” ⁷.

Here’s what that means. Christianity is not mainly – or even significantly –- about politics. It’s about living and sharing the love of God. And Christian political engagement, when it happens, is never mainly the task of the clergy. That work belongs to lay believers who live most intensely in the world. Christian faith is not a set of ethics or doctrines. It’s not a group of theories about social and economic justice. All these things have their place. All of them can be important. But a Christian life begins in a relationship with Jesus Christ; and it bears fruit in the justice, mercy and love we show to others because of that relationship.

Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets” (Mt 22:37-40). That’s the test of our faith, and without a passion for Jesus Christ in our hearts that reshapes our lives, Christianity is just a word game and a legend. Relationships have consequences. A married man will commit himself to certain actions and behaviors, no matter what the cost, out of the love he bears for his wife. Our relationship with God is the same. We need to live and prove our love by our actions, not just in our personal and family lives, but also in the public square. Therefore Christians individually and the Church as a believing community engage the political order as an obligation of the Word of God. Human law teaches and forms as well as regulates; and human politics is the exercise of power – which means both have moral implications that the Christian cannot ignore and still remain faithful to his vocation as a light to the world (Mt 5:14-16).

Robert Dodaro, the Augustinian priest and scholar, wrote a wonderful book a few years ago called “Christ and the Just Society in the Thought of Augustine”. In his book and elsewhere, Dodaro makes four key points about Augustine’s view of Christianity and politics ⁸.

First, Augustine never really offers a political theory, and there’s a reason. He doesn’t believe human beings can know or create perfect justice in this world. Our judgment is always flawed by our sinfulness. Therefore, the right starting point for any Christian politics is humility, modesty and a very sober realism.

Second, no political order, no matter how seemingly good, can ever constitute a just society. Errors in moral judgment can’t be avoided. These errors also grow exponentially in their complexity as they move from lower to higher levels of society and governance. Therefore the Christian needs to be loyal to his nation and obedient to its legitimate rulers. But he also needs to cultivate a critical vigilance about both.

Third, despite these concerns, Christians still have a duty to take part in public life according to their God-given abilities, even when their faith brings them into conflict with public authority. We can’t simply ignore or withdraw from civic affairs. The reason is simple. The classic civic virtues named by Cicero – prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance – can be renewed and elevated, to the benefit of all citizens, by the Christian virtues of faith, hope and charity. Therefore, political engagement is a worthy Christian task, and public office is an honorable Christian vocation.

Fourth, in governing as best they can, while conforming their lives and their judgment to the content of the Gospel, Christian leaders in public life can accomplish real good, and they can make a difference. Their success will always be limited and mixed. It will never be ideal. But with the help of God they can improve the moral quality of society, which makes the effort invaluable.

What Augustine believes about Christian leaders, we can reasonably extend to the vocation of all Christian citizens. The skills of the Christian citizen are finally very simple: a zeal for Jesus Christ and his Church; a conscience formed in humility and rooted in Scripture and the believing community; the prudence to see which issues in public life are vital and foundational to human dignity, and which ones are not; and the courage to work for what’s right. We don’t cultivate these skills alone. We develop them together as Christians, in prayer, on our knees, in the presence of Jesus Christ – and also in discussions like tonight.

*

Now before ending, I want to turn briefly to the third point I mentioned earlier in my talk: the realities we face today, and what Christians need to do about them. As I was preparing these comments for tonight, I listed all the urgent issues that demand our attention as believers: abortion; immigration; our obligations to the poor, the elderly and the disabled; questions of war and peace; our national confusion about sexual identity and human nature, and the attacks on marriage and family life that flow from this confusion; the growing disconnection of our science and technology from real moral reflection; the erosion of freedom of conscience in our national health-care debates; the content and quality of the schools that form our children.

The list is long. I believe abortion is the foundational human rights issue of our lifetime. We need to do everything we can to support women in their pregnancies and to end the legal killing of unborn children. We may want to remember that the Romans had a visceral hatred for Carthage not because Carthage was a commercial rival, or because its people had a different language and customs. The Romans hated Carthage above all because its people sacrificed their infants to Ba’al. For the Romans, who themselves were a hard people, that was a unique kind of wickedness and barbarism. As a nation, we might profitably ask ourselves whom and what we’ve really been worshipping in our 40 million “legal” abortions since 1973.

All of these issues that I’ve listed above divide our country and our Churches in a way Augustine would have found quite understandable. The City of God and the City of Man overlap in this world. Only God knows who finally belongs to which. But in the meantime, in seeking to live the Gospel we claim to believe, we find friends and brothers in unforeseen places, unlikely places; and when that happens, even a foreign place can seem like one’s home.

The vocation of Christians in American public life does not have a Baptist or Catholic or Greek Orthodox or any other brand-specific label. John 14:6 – “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me” – which is so key to the identity of Houston Baptist University, burns just as hot in this heart, and the heart of every Catholic who truly understands his faith. Our job is to love God, preach Jesus Christ, serve and defend God’s people, and sanctify the world as his agents. To do that work, we need to be one. Not “one” in pious words or good intentions, but really one, perfectly one, in mind and heart and action, as Christ intended. This is what Jesus meant when he said: “I do not pray for these only, but also those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (Jn 17:20-21).

We live in a country that was once – despite its sins and flaws – deeply shaped by Christian faith. It can be so again. But we will do that together, or we won’t do it at all. We need to remember the words of St. Hilary from so long ago: “Unum sunt, qui invicem sunt”, they are one, who are wholly for each other ⁹. May God grant us the grace to love each other, support each other and live wholly for each other in Jesus Christ – so that we might work together in renewing the nation that has served human freedom so well.

__________

The complete text of the speech given by John F. Kennedy on September 12, 1960, to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association:

> “While the so called religious issue…”

__________

On the book “Render Unto Caesar” by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput:

> How to Conduct Politics as Catholics. The Denver Memorandum (13.8.2008)

__________

On a recent appeal from representatives of various Christian confessions of the United States:

> The “Manhattan Declaration”: The Manifesto That’s Shaking America (25.11.2009)

__________

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“An Inconvenient Truth” has indeed become convenient, or should I say a convenience, in Britain where Global Cooling has turned into Global Freezing. The extreme temperatures they are experiencing over there has overcome the Brit’s reluctance to buy Al Gore’s book. In fact, not only are they buying them and taking them home, they are hoping Al will write more books, since his global climate change book has turned out to be so heart (and butt) warming, and very good for the environment, too, because it burns so clean.

The inconvenient Truth about Global Cooling is that it is happening now

Check out this short video to see how those Brits are warming to the idea of buying Al baby’s books as long, that is, as it is convenient and good for the environment.

For the sake of my British cousins I certainly hope Al baby writes more clean burning and, hence, environmentally friendly books that can be freely purchased for practically nothing.

Global Warming ain’t here; Global Cooling is

Click on the link, Global Cooling, for several more videos that will further enlighten anyone who needs it,  that Global Warming is a farce perpetrated on the American people for a larger cause, a dictatorial one-world government.

One World or one-world or oneworld or however you want to spell it, the Global Warming crowd wants it

I am definitely of the opinion all the Global Warming malarkey is gearing  up to cause the U.S.A.  to accept one-world government without a fight. I, for one, am prepared to die fighting rather than give up the hard-won freedoms we Americans have received from the founders of our country and the fighting men who have die already defending it from tyranny.

Buy “An Inconvenient Truth” and read it or burn it for heat or both

And, finally, there is a link in the first sentence of this post that takes one to the book, “An Inconvenient Truth,” so that anyone who is so inclined may buy Al’s book. It is up to the buyer whether they read it before considering whether they should send it to Great Britain, so a Brit or two might be warmed by the clean blaze that arises once it is fired up.

How did Great Britain get to be Great Britain?

I have one more click in me mind. Click on Great Britain and watch the delightful video short, “Remember Great Britain.” Whether you click on any of there links, click on that one and watch it. You won’t regret having watched it, I promise.

Ah, come on now. You aren’t that harried.  Take some time and get a little learnin’ in your head by clicking and reading or watching what’s on the links in this post. You might be surprised and surprise yourself before you are through.

Actually, I am just kidding you all a bit. You are standup Americans or else you wouldn’t bother reading this post.

Thanks for reading. My miserable writing would stop anyone without some grit.

God bless you all.

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The one recent event that grabbed everyone’s attention was the stunning upset victory by Republican Scott Brown in the race for the U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts long held by Ted Kennedy. That victory is being hailed across this land as a national victory for political conservatives. It appears some of the first fallout from that Republican victory is the refocusing of President Obama’s view on what America says is job one: the U.S. economy.

It took a cataclysmic event to do it, but if you choose to believe him this time, President Obama is signaling a change in his economic policy.

Here is what the president said in his announcement of his economic policy change.

I’m proposing a simple and common-sense reform, which we’re calling the “Volcker Rule”–after this tall guy behind me. Banks will no longer be allowed to own, invest, or sponsor hedge funds, private equity funds, or proprietary trading operations for their own profit, unrelated to serving their customers. If financial firms want to trade for profit, that’s something they’re free to do. Indeed, doing so–responsibly–is a good thing for the markets and the economy. But these firms should not be allowed to run these hedge funds and private equities funds while running a bank backed by the American people.”

Sounds good, doesn’t it. Now let’s look at who this Paul Volcker fellow is. He is a brilliant economist. I remember Paul Volcker from when he was the Fed Chairman in the Jimmy Carter administration. Making him the Fed Chairman is just about the only good thing I can remember Jimmy Carter doing during his presidency. I remember how Mr. Volcker showed his willingness to do the difficult things that had to be done to change the economic direction the country was headed in when he came into office. He swiftly moved to put a stop to the raging inflation that was threatening at the time. You may recall if you are old enough that Mr. Volcker was successful in stopping that inflationary trend. It took a recession to do it, but he stuck to his guns and got the job done.

So, at first blink, it would appear from that scenario we should expect tough times ahead—as if we haven’t had enough tough economic times already. Assuming Mr. Volker can walk on the economic hot waters we find ourselves in presently, I don’t expect he’ll see much need for making things get much worse before they get better, although that may well be in the offing rather we like it or not.

What I do foresee is that, since this man knows his job, we can expect he will see to it that what needs to be done is done, if, that is, the president gives him the power to do the job by appointing him his Fed Chairman. There are rumblings around Democratville that the present Fed Chairman, Mr. Bernanke, may be on the way out but that does not assure that Mr. Volker will get the job in his stead. So that is the big question, will the president give Paul Volcker the power to do the job or is he just kidding us again.

I say we can hope the president will keep his word this one time, but I won’t count on it. The man is an ideologue and the latest wind out of his mouth indicates he is not going to step back from what he sees as the best socialistic policies yet devised to turn America into just another failed European-style socialist country.

Gosh, I hope I am wrong about that. I hope he got a call from President Clinton telling him it is time to change course if he wants to be a two term president and that he took that advice to heart. I hope but not that much that he got the call and that he listened and understood, and took to heart that sage advice from the savviest political mind to live in the Whitehouse since President Ronald Reagan.

Still, I will be one happy fellow and a strong supporter of the president on this one issue, if he does keep his promise this one time to strengthen our republic by being tougher on banks and other financials, but only if he does it for all the right reasons.

We need a true believer in the Whitehouse; a true believer in the republican way the founding fathers of our republic gave us in the Constitution of these United States. When he is not spewing hate, Mr. Obama appears to be a nice American gentleman. We need to see more of that nice American gentleman and less of the hatemonger we have so often seen in the past.

If I could speak with the president, I would tell him to join in with us in our victory celebration. I would say that he has said more than once that what is good for America is good for him. I would tell him now is the time to show the truth of that statement before his time has run its course.

The president should appoint Paul Volcker Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank.

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Victory!

Victory, oh, victory; how sweet, how fleeting.

Yes, the Scott Brown victory last night in the Massachusetts senatorial race was a victory; no, make that an astounding victory for conservative America. It remains to be seen just how conservative he is, but it remains that he is certainly a step in the right direction. He was by all means the right man at the right time in the right place to pull off this astounding victory for the conservative cause.

The swift and growing pull to the left in American politics of recent times has been halted for the moment. Now we must make sure we follow through and build on the base of that astounding victory, along with the other recent victories we have had in Virginia and New Jersey, for a true broad-based return to the American ideals of the founding fathers of our ongoing American Revolution against the tyranny of elitism in government.

We have won a few battles lately, but the war is far from won. If we let down our guard for even a minute, we will find that we must win that lost minute a second time at a far greater cost than when first we won it.

Let all now pull even more strongly for the conservative cause of our revitalized, ongoing American Revolution for  “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Let us join together as a part or a partner of the Tea Party movement to fight against the left elitist agenda of the Obama government and the cause of the ultra-liberals. It is easy to see what is next on the agenda in their fight to turn our country into another European-style, failed socialist country. We must do everything in our power to stop the bailouts, cap and trade, out-of-control spending, government-run healthcare, and ever higher taxes.

Together let us fight to fulfill the cravings of every American heart for a return of the better economic times of the last generation, the generation of our fathers and mothers. Let those times be not merely a goal but a steppingstone to a greater tomorrow for America and for the whole world.

We have been given the freedoms we enjoy by our Creator. Now we are called upon to share them with those of our fellowman who crave them as we do.

Interestingly, as I write this, I am hearing on the radio that some of our nation’s prominent Democrat legislators are already publicly backing away from not only the proposed ObamaCare legislation, but from other parts of the ultra-liberal agenda of Obama and the other liberals who have stolen the Democrat Party. I said last year that the election of Obama as president of these United States would be the best antidote for our rush to socialism (see my comment here .

We have made it happen. Now we must stop basking in the glory of this victory and start preparing the next one. It is as I stated at the beginning of this article. Victory, oh, victory; how sweet, how fleeting.

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We can hope for a Democratic loss in Massachusetts tomorrow, but we cannot afford to expect it. An unfulfilled hope is bad enough; an unfulfilled expectation can be devastating.

A win by Scott Brown will be a vote against ObamaCare and that is wonderful, but don’t be too disappointed later when you discover Scott Brown is a “RINO” (Republican In Name Only). A win in Massachusetts for the Republican Party is a win for better government. Be happy with that for now.

We must take what we can get in Massachusetts; after all, politics in that state has been off-the-chart leftist politics for a long, long time. Change comes one step at a time.

Make no mistake about it; what is happening in Massachusetts has and will continue to affect the whole country. That fact stands whether the Republicans win or lose at the ballot box tomorrow.

The shift that has already taken place there would have been unthinkable just a few months back.

It is time to shout for joy at the great strides Massachusetts has taken toward conservatism. It was the home of the original tea party, don’t forget. Good things can happen there and they are in the throws of happening now: today.

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America's founding fathers signing the Declaration of Independence

In October My Personal Introspections blog published a post that asked if the United States would fall apart in 2010, as predicted by Professor Igor Panarin and dutifully reported by IZVESTIA. Today the question is will the United States become a socialist country in 2010.

The answer will be yes, if our legislators pass the Obama/Reid/Pelosi health care legislation now being considered and if we, the people, accept this new status quo without a fight. We can stand up and fight to stop this from happening by speaking up and engaging in civil disobedience when and if necessary.

Recently our church leaders across the United States have joined in signing a document called The Manhattan Declaration, which says in part: “We will not be intimidated into silence or acquiescence or the violation of our consciences by any power on earth, be it cultural or political, regardless of the consequences to ourselves.” If you would like to sign this declaration, just click here and you will be taken to The Manhattan Declaration website where you can sign it and become a fellow freedom warrior.

Some very promising news has just come out of Massachusetts concerning the U.S. Senate race going on there between Republican Massachusetts state Senator Scott Brown and Democratic state Attorney General Martha Coakley in the general election race to fill the seat vacated by the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.). Brown, who started out behind Coakley some 30%, has substantially moved up in the polls. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state finds Coakley ahead of Brown 50% to 41%, with 1% preferring some other candidate, and 7% undecided. This means Brown has closed the gap in that senatorial race to 7%. Should he win, the Democrats would lose their filibuster proof majority in the Senate, which would potentially stop the Democratic health care legislation in its tracks. It would be a seismic shift in the political structure of Massachusetts and of the United States Senate. Let’s hope he wins.

Watch this video and see what you think about Scott Brown’s political philosophy and chances. At the very least I think you will be taken by the commercial for Scott Brown for Senate included in the video.

It has just been reported that Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan has just decided not to run in the coming election. He is 22% behind the Republican candidate, so it is not hard to see why he has given up.

Republicans have a good chance to win in seven other states, as well, so not all is lost for freedom in America.

Just remember that God is alive and He is in charge. Now, go to work, do your best and all will be well. The alternative is too terrible to consider.

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MORNING PRAYERS

My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me. Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt (Matt 26:36).

On arising from sleep, stand before the holy icons with reverence and fear of God; make the sign of the sign of the Cross and say:

IN the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Then the introductory prayers:

Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee.

Heavenly King, O Comforter, the Spirit of truth, Who art everywhere present and fillest all things, O Treasury of every good and Bestower of life: come and dwell in us, and cleanse us from every stain, and save our souls, O Good One.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (3)

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
All-holy Trinity, have mercy on us. Lord, be gracious unto our sins. Master, pardon our iniquities. Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities for Thy Name’s sake.

Lord, have mercy. (3)

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

OUR Father, Which art in the Heavens, hallowed by Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Priest: For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory; both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

(Or:)

People: Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us. Amen.

Then the following Troparia to the Holy Trinity:

AS we arise from sleep, we fall down before Thee, O Good One, and we cry unto Thee with the hymn of the Angels, O Mighty One: Holy, Holy, Holy art Thou, O God. Through the Theotokos, have mercy on us.

Glory. (Abbreviation meaning say, Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;)

HAVING Raised me from bed and from sleep, O Lord, enlighten my mind and my heart, and open Thou my lips that I may praise Thee, O Holy trinity. Holy, Holy, Holy art Thou, O God. Through the Theotokos, have mercy on us.

Both now.

OF a sudden the Judge shall come, and the deeds of each shall be laid bare. But let us cry out with fear in the midst of the night: Holy, Holy, Holy art Thou, O God. Through the Theotokos, have mercy on us.

Lord, have mercy. (3)

And the following prayer:

AS  I rise from sleep I thank Thee, O Holy Trinity, for because of Thy great goodness and long-suffering Thou wast not wroth with me, the slothful and sinner, nor didst Thou destroy me in mine iniquities, but didst show Thy wonted love for man, and when I was prostrate in despair, Thou didst raise me to keep the morning watch and glorify Thy dominion. And now enlighten Thou the eyes of my mind, open my mouth to meditate on Thy words and to understand Thy commandments, and to do Thy will, and to chant unto Thee in heartfelt confession, and praise Thine All-holy Name, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

O come, let us worship and fall down before our King and God.

O come, let us worship and fall down before Christ, our King and God.

O Come, let us worship and fall down before Him, Christ the King and our God.

PSALM 50

HAVE mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy; and according to the multitude of Thy compassions blot out my transgression.
Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know mine iniquity, and my sin is ever before me.
Against Thee only have I sinned and done this evil before Thee, that Thou mightest be justified in Thy words and prevail when Thou art judged.
For behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins did bear me.
For behold, Thou hast loved truth; the hidden and secret things of Thy wisdom hast Thou made manifest unto me.
Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be made clean; Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.
Thou shalt make me to hear joy and gladness; the bones that be humbled, they shall rejoice.
Turn Thy face away from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away form Thy presence, and take not Thy Holy spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and with Thy governing Spirit establish me.
I shall teach transgressors Thy ways, and the ungodly shall turn back unto Thee.
Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation; my tongue shall rejoice in Thy righteousness.
O Lord, Thou shalt open my lips, and my mouth shall declare Thy praise.
For if Thou hadst desired sacrifice, I had given it; with whole-burnt offerings Thou shalt not be pleased.
A sacrifice unto God is a broken spirit; a heart that is broken and humbled God will not despise.
Do good, O Lord, in Thy good pleasure unto Sion, and let the walls of Jerusalem be builded.
Then shalt Thou be pleased with a sacrifice of righteousness, with oblation and whole-burnt offerings.
Then shall they offer bullocks upon Thine altar.

THE CREED

I BELIEVE in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible;
And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only-begotten, begotten of the Father before all ages; Light of Light, true God of true God; begotten, not made; being of one essence with the Father; by Whom all things were made;
Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from the Heavens, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man;
And was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried;
And arose again on the third day according to the Scriptures;
And ascended into the Heavens, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father;
And shall come again, with glory, to judge both the living and the dead; Whose Kingdom shall have no end;
And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Give of life; Who proceedeth from the Father; Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; Who spake by the Prophets;
In One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
I confess one baptism for the remission of sins.
I look for the resurrection of the dead,

And the life of the ages to come. Amen.

A PRAYER OF SAINT BASEL THE GREAT

THEE do we bless, Thou most High God and Lord of mercy, Who ever workest with us deeds great and unfathomable, glorious and extraordinary, whereof there is no number; Who hast given unto us sleep for rest from our infirmity, and for repose of our much-toiling flesh. We thank Thee that Thou hast not destroyed us in our iniquities, but hast shown Thy wonted love for man, and though we  were prostrate in despair, Thou hast raised us up to glorify Thy dominion. Wherefore, we beseech Thine incomparable goodness: Enlighten the eyes of our understanding and raise our mind form the heavy sleep of slothfulness. Open our mouth and fill it with Thy praise, that we may be able undistracted to sing and chant and give thanks unto Thee, Who art God glorified in all and by all, the beginningless Father, with Thine Only-begotten Son, and Thine All-holy and good and life-creating Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Most glorious, Ever-virgin, blessed Theoto-kos present our prayer to thy Son ad our God, and pray that through thee He would save our souls.

My hope is the Father, my refuge the Son, my shelter the Holy Spirit. O Holy Trinity, glory be to Thee.

Unto thee do I commit mine every hope, O Mother of God; guard me under thy shelter.

IT is truly meet to call thee blest, the Theotokos, the ever-blessed and all-immaculate, and Mother of our God. More honourable than the Cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim, thee who without corruption gavest birth to God the Word, the very Theotokos, thee do we magnify.

FORGIVE them that hate us and do us wrong, O Lord; do good unto them that do good unto us. To our brethren and kinsmen, grant their requests that are unto salvation and life everlasting. Visit them that be in sickness, and grant them healing. Pilot them that be at sea. Accompany them that journey. Be Thou the ally of Orthodox Christians. Unto them that minister and show mercy unto us, grant forgiveness of sins. Upon them that have enjoined us, the unworthy, to pray for them, have mercy, according to Thy great mercy. Remember, O Lord, all our fathers and brethren who have gone to their rest before us, and grant them rest where the light of Thy countenance shineth. Remember, O Lord, our brethren, the captives, and deliver them from every misfortune. Remember, O Lord, them that bring oblations and do good works    in Thy holy churches, and grant them their requests that are unto salvation and life everlasting. Remember, O Lord, us also, Thy humble and sinful and unworthy servants, and enlighten our mind with the light of Thy knowledge, and lead us in the path of Thy commandments; by the intercessions of Thine all-immaculate Mother, our Lady the Theotokos and Ever-virgin Mary, and of all Thy Saints, for blessed art Thou unto all ages of ages. Amen.

THE PARYER OF SAINT EPHRAIM THE SYRIAN

This prayer is said during the Holy and Great Fast, except on Saturdays and Sundays.

O Lord and Master of my life, a spirit of idleness, curiosity, ambition, and idle talk give me not. (prostration)
But a spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love, bestow upon me Thy servant. (prostration)
Yes, O Lord King, grant me to see mine own failings and not to condemn my brother; for blessed art Thou unto the ages of ages. Amen. (prostration)

Then we make twelve bows, after which we repeat the concluding verse of the prayer:

Yes, O Lord King, grant me to see mine own failings and not to condemn my brother; for blessed art Thou unto the ages of ages. Amen. (prostration)

And at the last, say:

Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us. Amen.

Source: Holy Transfiguration Monaster

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Obama Health Care Panacea

GOP and Demos Square off over the socialistic Obama-Reid-Pelosi Health Care Plan

The latest Rasmussen polls say 58% opposed and 49% are strongly opposed to the socialistic Health Care Plan. On the other side of the issue, among the 39% who favor the plan are 19% who strongly favor it.
Many people are questioning whether those in Congress know what enough of what is in it. Be that as it may, it is certainly clear from the numbers that we are having this socialistic health care panacea pushed down our throats by the Democratic majority in Congress.

Same Song; Second Verse

78% believe the Health Care plan will cost more than projected. Come to think of it, when has the federal government every missed on the high side of a cost projection.

Democrats and liberals have more confidence in the cost projections for the plan than do other voters, but the majority of all partisans share the belief that the costs will be higher than projected. That means people are at long last awakening to the dangers of bigger and worse government.

Plan Attack Spooks Public Confidence in War on Terror

Another Rasmussen poll says belief that the bad guys are winning the War on Terror is at its highest level in over two years, and nearly half of U.S. voters say America is no safer now than it was before 9/11.
A mere 18% believed the terrorists were winning when President Obama was sworn into office last January.  Now that figure has claimed to 30% of voters think the terrorists are winning the War on Terror.

Gift Cards: Use ‘Em or Lose Money

Did you get any gift cards form your local Chinese outlet store, Wal-Mart; or Bet Buy or American Express for Christmas?

Consumer advocates advise you to use them now, if you did. That is the best way to avoid potential fees and other pitfalls that can suck up the value of gift cards—at least, that is, until the Federal Reserve imposes limitations on some of those fees next year.

As far as many companies are concerned, it is still open season of shoppers. Of course, you can help make those merchants have a happy new year by not using the gift cards you received at all or not for full value, if you are feeling that generous this holiday season.

There is one other worry for you if you have a gift card. The merchant may fail before you spend it if you don’t hurry. That reminds me of a very big—for those times—check that Babe Ruth received for something-I can’t remember what off the top of my head. Anyway, the Babe showed that check around and bragged on it for a long time. Then, when he went to cash it, it the company had gone belly up and the check was worthless. Don’t let that happen to you with your gift cards. Spend ‘em.

Read full story here.

Now here’s some good news

Why doing nothing is good for you

Worried that the holidays have taken a toll on your fitness? Relax, a break from exercise is what you need

by Peta Bee

You might have been working out diligently since making last year’s resolution to get in shape. But what happens when you succumb to the inevitable under-activity and overindulgence of the festive season? Will hours spent popping chocolates in front of the TV and skipping the gym mean the past 12 months’ effort will count for nothing as your figure and fitness go to pot? Not necessarily, say leading exercise scientists. In fact, a break from the gym might be just what your body needs.

“Rest and recovery are often overlooked, but are as important as exercise itself,” says John Brewer, professor of sport at the University of Bedfordshire. “Even elite athletes have one easy day a week to allow their bodies to recover from the stresses of training and to encourage the positive physiological changes, such as muscle growth, that are induced by hard workouts.”

Without enough rest, Brewer says, a tough exercise regime is doomed. “You may improve in the short term, but each body part generally needs 24 hours to recover from hard exercise. If you have been lifting weights with your arms, for instance, it will take a full day for the tiny tears in muscle fibres to be repaired.” He says that most fitness injuries stem from a lack of rest. “Taking time out to let your body recover could save you weeks out through injury in the long run.”

Click here to continue reading the rest of the article

So, relax and enjoy for the moment.

I wish you one and all Happy New Year!

May God forget the bad that we have done and bless us abundantly.

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Orthodox and non-Orthodox Catholic Christians are invited to read and take to heart this archpastoral message of Metropolitan Jonah, an Episcopalian convert to the Faith of our Fathers. All will be edified by this message of love. The Feast of the Nativity is celebrated by the most traditional Orthodox Catholic Christians on December 25 according to the ancient Christian calender, the Julian Calendar, which is 13 days behind the new Gregorian (new) Calendar. Being 13 days behind the new calender means December 25 comes on January 7.  A meditative reading of His Beatitude’s letter will edify your heart and soul.

Yours truly

Archpastoral Message of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah for the Nativity of Christ 2009

Posted 12/25
To the Very Reverend and Reverend Clergy,
Monastics, and Faithful of
The Orthodox Church in America

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

We rejoice in the coming of the Savior, the Advent of the Son of God into this broken world. His Nativity anticipates and prefigures His Second and Glorious Coming again in the flesh, not clothed in the swaddling bands of humility, for but a few years; but in the radiant vesture of the Kingdom to reign forever.

For us Orthodox Christians, the Nativity of Christ is the Winter Pascha, and our celebration is rooted in the liturgical life of the Church; the world’s “Xmas” hymns go on and on, oblivious, rather intentionally, to the point of the celebration. While we enjoy the worldly celebration, the family time, the gifts and giving, these are empty if we miss the central celebration itself: the services of the Nativity, culminating in receiving the Holy Mysteries. We can have Christmas without the Nativity, as does the world; but for Christians the Feast of the Nativity is Christmas!

We pray and fast to prepare ourselves for forty days before Christmas not only to be obedient to the Church, but to prepare ourselves to receive the Mystery of Communion. Will this Christmas be unto salvation, discerning and receiving His Body–that same Body born of Mary and laid in the Manger, the Son of God who has taken flesh and likened himself to us, so that He might liken us to Himself? Or do we judge ourselves, unaware or oblivious to the Mystery of Christ’s assumption of our nature. We pray and fast to open our spiritual eyes, so that we can see Christ, discern Christ, know Christ–not just as a historical figure who taught nice things, but as God who has come and will come again.

The traditional Christmas carols talk about Baby Jesus lying in the manger. Let us contemplate this mystery during this season, a mystery that at that time only His Mother really understood: that this little infant, no different than any other, would become the Savior of the world, and redeem mankind, indeed all of creation, from death. What infinite potential, the potential of a man fulfilling the Divine Likeness, and manifesting God in His flesh, was invested in that little child. Who would have thought that a child born in the most destitute poverty and anonymity would become the criterion of judgment for the whole world?

We can also contemplate this same mystery in the life of every child. Who knows what the destiny of that child will be? Who can tell if he or she will become a point of hope for the whole world? That same infinite potential, the potential for deification, the potential for a life transfigured by God, the potential for a life that will bring joy and peace, or beget such a child?

The Feast of the Nativity is not only the contemplation of God taking human flesh. It is also the great celebration of humanity, that God so loved as to become one of us, that through that One, joy and peace and salvation may be given to the whole world. Let us treasure the life of every child, who is the image of Christ born of the Virgin, and remember the great calling which he or she, and each of us, has in God. Let us also remember that the ultimate fulfillment of that calling is found in the transformation of our very flesh, in which God became incarnate, that having become man for our sake, He enables us to partake of His Divinity on that glorious day of His coming again in the flesh.

With love in the Newborn Lord,

+JONAH
Archbishop of Washington
Metropolitan of All America and Canada

Source: Orthodox Church in America

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’Tis the Season to be jolly, but . . . the news just keeps on a’comin’ and trying to spoil the fun; still, be of good cheer, not all of it is bad.

Christmas Comes But Once A Year

Over at Rasmussen their polling shows that for most Americans, Christmas is a day off to celebrate the joys of family, peace on Earth – and, most importantly, the birth of Jesus Christ.

Their polls shows that Sixty-six percent (66%) of Americans celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday, a fact that is sometimes overshadowed by the mad dash for presents. For another 20%, it’s a secular celebration.

Of those who celebrate Christmas, 81% believe that Jesus is the Son of God sent to earth to die for our sins, and 72% say He was born to a virgin

.

Sixty-one percent (61%) of Americans will attend religious services this Christmas, up from 44% who regularly attend church during the year.

Americans also remain overwhelmingly in favor of allowing religious symbols to be displayed on public land and feel strongly that public schools should celebrate at least some religious holidays.

For all the debate over religious freedom and the separation of church and state, it’s interesting to note that two-out-of-three (66%) Americans regard Christmas as one of the nation’s most important holidays. That puts it at the top of the list for American holidays. The Fourth of July is second, with 62% who consider the nation’s birthday one of our most important holidays.

Click here to get the full story.

And now to the most important issue of the day or any day for America that Rasmussen has ever polled on. If this one issue is settled the way the left wants it to be settled that will be it for us; we will become a socialist republic. Fortunately I think there is a more than a good chance that will not happen. Read on  . . .

Voters Frown on Health Plan Details  – Abortion, Proof of Citizenship, Public Option. . . .

At the start of the week, 41% of voters nationwide were in favor of the health care bill, but 55% were opposed. . . . Part of the opposition comes from a general skepticism about Congress, rather than specific policy issues.

But there are specific policy issues that also raise challenges as the Democrats try to pass a final version of this legislation in early 2010.

Fifty-four percent (54%) say taxpayer-funded health insurance should be prohibited from covering abortions, up six points from September. The House version of the legislation includes such a prohibition, but the Senate version does not.

Fourteen percent (14%) of U.S. voters say health insurance paid for or subsidized with government funding should be required to cover abortions. Twenty-nine percent (29%) say the legislation should have no requirements one way or the other.

On another hot-button topic, 87% believe that before anyone receives government health care subsidies, they should be required to prove they are legally in the United States. . . .

A commentary by Michael Barone notes that it been more than 150 years since such significant but unpopular legislation was passed through Congress on a partisan basis. The political ramifications in 1854 were so significant that it led to the creation of a new political party, the Republican Party. Ultimately, the Kansas-Nebraska Act also played a key role in the run-up to the Civil War.

Click here to get the full report on this matter.

See, not all of the news is bad for us conservatives.

I hope every one of you conservatives will consider reading the two posts I have recently published regarding The Manhattan Declaration.

I believe all conservatives will find this declaration of interest and something they can wholeheartedly support. Please read those two posts and sign the petition in support of our Christian leaders in America. This is after all a Christian nation founded by Christians for Christians, and it is Christians that will overcome all evils and prevail against the evil one in the end.

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