The following comes from a January 3 story from CNSNews.com.
President Obama issued a statement Wednesday (Jan. 2) rejecting several provisions of the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), including a conscience protection for military chaplains that he called “ill-advised”.
“Section 533 is an unnecessary and ill-advised provision, as the military already appropriately protects the freedom of conscience of chaplains and service members,” he said in his signing statement.
Obama made clear that his administration would remain unmoved by the NDAA’s conscience provision, stating that the Department of Defense would continue to implement the repeal of the military’s ban on homosexual service members.
“My Administration remains fully committed to continuing the successful implementation of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and to protecting the rights of gay and lesbian service members; Section 533 will not alter that.”
The president said that the Secretary of Defense would ensure that no “discriminatory” actions result from Section 533’s conscience protections.
“The Secretary of Defense will ensure that the implementing regulations do not permit or condone discriminatory actions that compromise good order and discipline or otherwise violate military codes of conduct.”
Section 533 of the NDAA provides legal protections for military chaplains, barring the Defense Department from forcing them to perform services which violate their moral or religious beliefs.
“No member of the Armed Forces may — (1) require a chaplain to perform any rite, ritual, or ceremony that is contrary to the conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs of the chaplain; or (2) discriminate or take any adverse personnel action against a chaplain, including denial of promotion, schooling, training, or assignment, on the basis of the refusal by the chaplain to comply with a requirement prohibited by paragraph,” the section reads.
Advocates had feared that the military might begin forcing chaplains to perform marriage or civil commitment ceremonies for homosexual service members or civilians in states where such ceremonies are legal – ceremonies which could run afoul of the religious beliefs of those chaplains.
President Obama signed the NDAA into law Wednesday, and while he does not have the power to veto particular sections of a bill – known as a line-item veto – he can issue such signing statements indicating how his administration will interpret its duty to enforce the laws he is signing.
Such statements were used widely by former President George W. Bush, earning scorn from Democrats – including then-Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.)
For entire story, click here.
Gee, if Obama keeps this up, Notre Dame just might have to give him another honorary degree. Maybe Bishop Soto can do the honors this time.
Clinton,
““Sexual intercourse, outside of the marriage covenant between a man and a woman, can be alluring and intoxicating but it will not lead to that liberating journey of true self-discovery and an authentic discovery of God. For that reason, it is sinful.
“Sexual relations between people of the same sex can be alluring for homosexuals but it deviates from the true meaning of the act and distracts them from the true nature of love to which God has called us all. For this reason, it is sinful.”
–Bishop Jaime Soto speaking before a National Association of Gay and Lesbian Ministries audience (at their invitation). Nov. 2010. Read how several members, expecting the liberal affirmation they were used to, walked out when Bishop Soto surprised them by speaking the TRUTH of the faith.
OK, the words have been put out there; now what about the actions, such as Canon 915? Or is it good enough to tell your child that apple pie is yummy but you won’t get any and will have to be happy with only the thought of delicious? Yep, our bishops proclaim how great Catholicism is for the soul, but they do not provide much of this Catholicism. The figs on their fig tree are nothing more than a fond memory … Jesus condemned a fig tree for not producing figs, btw.
Yes, correctly zo!
Yes, correctly so! Holy Mother the Church has had her rights protected for years!!
Our comdr. in chief is incapable of making decisions based on the greater good for his whole life is an example of someone who has always been self-indulgent and sympathetic to those who share his view. From what I have read, his relationships in Chicago were, shall we say, highly questionable to the average person, especially those he shared in a private men’s club that are well documented. We are only reaping the fruits of what the Chicago political machine has wrought many years ago and in the very near future shall see ever more depredations against the family , Church, and our beloved country.
if the president (or any commanding officer) tries to force a CATHOLIC chaplain to do gay weddings, they will find themselves facing a bit, fat, “no,” and then facing the deaparture of CATHOLIC chaplains from the military.
our country is DESPERATE for more CATHOLIC chaplains to serve in the armed services, so the powers that be will be very foolish to drive away the chaplains we already have by asking them to do dumb stuff…like asking a JEWISH chaplain to lead a CHRISTIAN service…or asking a ROMAN CATHLIC CHAPLAIN to preside over a homosexual marriage…ETC.
I wish I had your apparent confidence in the orthodoxy of “Roman Catholic” chaplains. If Obama means what he says and if your confidence is well-placed, we should be finding out, shortly. (I heard a recent report of a no-names poll of priests recorded 80% disbelief in the Real Presence, i.e., effective Protestants.)
i have absolutely no faith in any so-called poll claiming that ROMAN CATHOLIC CHAPLAINS don’t believe in the REAL PRESENCE.
nonsense.
PRIESTS dedicate their whole lives to celebrating the EUCHARIST and bringing JESUS to their people!!!
max, why do you always confuse wishful thinking with reality? Don’t you see the difference?
If it were a fact that most Catholic military chaplains believe in Church teaching, then why haven’t they stood up to the anti-Christ tyrant who is telling them to forsake their religion and bow the knee to the US govt?
SKAI, your dramatic post makes no sense.
what in the world do you expect the CATHOLIKC chaplains in our armed forces to do?
they are there, like all priests, to minister to the needs of the faithful, counsel the dying, preach the GOSPEL, and other priestly tasks.
if you think they are called to lead some revolution agains the tgovernment of the united states, you are nuts.
Max, thanks for telling the truth in your post of January 8, 6:48 AM.
max,
What you described above is EXACTLY what your man Obama wants, that is the departure of Catholic Chaplains from his Military!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
To understand Obama is to start from the viewpoint that he is a pagan. Once you accept that he does not know or understand the Christ, our Savior, all of his words and actions become much clearer. He has no moral compass but himself. He needs our love and prayers but not our cooperation in his thoughtlessness.
He doesn’t need our love, what he needs is something more powerful. God’s true conversion.
If ‘OneoftheSheep” means Obama needs our “love” as in “love your enemies and do good to those who persecute you” and “pray for your enemies”, then I would have to be in agreement. I do show love for my enemy Obama by praying for him. We should all be doing the same. We should be pleading the blood of Jesus on Obama and his allies. The blood of Jesus is most powerful and our only remedy.
Sometimes love means dispatching the enemy before he or she incurs even more eternal punishment, it would seem.
Thou shalt not kill.
SKAI, are you suggesting that someone be killed?
someone specific?
max, are you biding your tongue with the Accuser, the devil? Are you attempting to align the Just War theory and the basis for the Constitutional government of the USA with sin and/or unlawful conduct? You reading challenged people need to take your meds so that your paranoia does not overwhelm you and distort your perception.
True Skai…people have different views on what love is but I would hope to go by God’s true definition of love.
Anonymous, God takes life on a daily basis. God also provides us with the Just War Theory. You and your arrogant aristocratic european serf mentality should immigrate back to europe and stop cluttering up America.
Look up, The Battle of Athens, 1946 in Tennessee. The rebels won by use of firepower, and legitimate government once again prevailed. Read the Second Amendment, and if you don’t approve, then go live in some other country.
Skai, oh, you want to God to kill him?
Obama needs to be impeached, found guilty and thrown in jail. Same with his regime members. Although it would never happen unless first the Church were to get rid of its homosexual clergy, from the top down. This won’t happen until the laity moral up and stop leading lives of sleeze such as worshiping idols such as bishops, hollywood personalities, sports figures, politicians.
Some of us are not surprised that the administration wants ALL chaplains to perform same sex weddings – with the result that many Catholic chaplains will leave the military. This would be “right up their alley”. No one to minister to the Catholic military, thus their faith is weakened, then we have fewer practicing Catholics……viola, it further weakens the Catholic Church. The devil is really not too obvious as he goes about his work……….but oh, I’ve forgotten, few believe there is such a thing as the devil.
mrpkguy, you are very right. A morally weakened military, or shall we say, an immoral military will be needed in order to impose an unconstitutional military coup. For Obama’s “utopia” to work, Christians will need to be in the margins of society or non existent.
This is what happens when people vote for an EVIL person.
Voting at every level of government is important – Local, State and Federal.
Obama does not care about the Constitution or Laws – he does whatever he pleases – and the Democratic Majority in the Senate let him get away with it.
Homosexuals who want to violate the Faiths of others, should start their own Faith with their own Ministers.
They have already, OSCAR. The homosexuals now have their own religion called the Pseudo-United States of America.
OSCAR – How is asking for equal rights under the law violating the “Faiths of other”? To suggest it is nonsense . . . you give homosexuals too much power.
Too much power??? Ha just try and get a movie made that makes gays look bad or reveals the truth about who and what you people are….if you were the victims you claim to be you would all be in camps …
There is no right for sodomites. Sin does not have any rights. Much of the ruling classes … oops, “class” is the wrong word since most of them have none … “governing” (that’s not exactly what they do either, since tyranny is not the same as governing) groups … yes, groups would … organized mobs perhaps is better, or democratically manipulated groups tyrannically mocking God by the way they attempt to govern.
Skai is correct…no one has the right to sin, it’s a free will, yes but not a right because there are always consequences to sin, nor can anyone impose sin on others etc. Freedom is not based on people’s personal ideologies but real freedom is what sets us free from the slavery of sinfulness!
Skai: If you read the Catechism of the Catholic Church, you would find something different:
2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. They do not choose their homosexual condition; for most of them it is a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.
That, YFC, is not a magisterial statement. It is an opinion, and one which is contradicted by much of Holy Scripture. Do some research and find out the hostility between gay clergy and the Holy Bible. I’ve made my choice; you make yours.
Skai is right……one can not have the church without holy scripture and vise versa. God bless you Skai for speaking the truth. We can’t accept YFC’s faulty interpretation. He is a practicing homosexual…the church does acknowledge that it is a disorder and the church advices those with such disorders to be chaste.
Again let me remind everyone that sodomy is a mortal sin.
Sodomy is a mortal sin.The Catholic Church teaches that sodomy is always sinful. It calls homosexual inclinations “objectively disordered”, which means it is a behavior whose object is always against the order God created. Homosexual acts are always sinful, under any circumstances for any reason therefore homosexual acts-sodomy and others-are called intrinsically disordered. The argument was on how people are to be treated which is with respect, acceptance and sensitivity.
YFC, You must have the first edition of the Catechism. The second edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church has 2358 as: “The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition. 2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.” Also, there have been many discussions concerning terminology about persons with homosexual tendencies. Some of the posters insist that they word “gay” means persons who are actively engaged in homosexual sexual relations and are actively trying to undermine the morality of the citizenry of the United States. To some of us, it means those who are attracted predominently to the same sex whether acting on their attractions or not. Huge arguments have ensued because of the semantics. We started to use the initials SSA to mean individuals who did not act on their tendencies. Another poster who identifies as gay but is in a heterosexual marriage and has never acted on any same sex attraction finds that term offensive. For the better people who post here, homosexuality acted upon is an issue of mortal sin and the risk of damnation if repentence does not occur. There are some posters who also are concerned about the erosion of sexual morality in general, the erosion of the Faith and the culture of the US. There is a fear for the souls led astray and of a chastisement from God. Some see themselves as militant Catholics fighting for the preservation of the Faith.
Skai- This is a cut and paste from the Catechism. Therefore it IS a magisterial statement, requiring your assent.
k, you have an unusually keen grasp (for a CCD commentor) on some of the nuances of the issue. The point, as I’m sure you will agree, is that people on this forum often violate the CCC when they treat gay people with disdain, as you see above.
YFC, I have pointed it out to them and have been targetted by a couple of them for over 2 years.
I think it is something you have to live to understand. Many things are like that.
Abeca Christian, Do you remember how keen and complimentary TA was? Beware of new and sudden tag team arrivals in the village who enter through the slick and oily rivers known as keen and nuance.
Taken from Brainy “keen” Quotes: “Philosophy likes to keen common sense on the run.”
The Catechism is not magisterial because it keeps changing. Truth on the other hand does not change, ever.
Catherine who is TA? Yes I must be careful.. I agree.
Catherine I understand now, I had to re-read this whole thread. It’s a pity that some would act like if they were a victim targeted for several years now. Those are serious allegations and of slandering those two too…it’s interesting how some view commenting their freedom of speech here being targeted. People have free will to comment here, they can leave anytime as well when they feel that there is too much disagreements. No one is targeting anyone. Since most names are just anonymous nature because no one here knows anyone personally. It’s a false notion that this person has in regards to being targeted.
If we all played victims here, then WE WERE ALL targeted…gee sh, which we know very well it is not close to the truth. How can we trust someone to be faithful when they act victim, especially on a Catholic website with lay faithful who defend the faith. It’s very sickening to me and that mental state of mind is disturbing. With that victim mentality, we have given away to intimidation, those who come here to stir up the pot against the faith and of those with convictions, have and continue to censor many, they will continue to allow secular agenda’s to come into our websites of faith and cause division and destruction….all they have to do is shout victim to shut up those with convictions and the homosexuals may someday as well run Catholics websites too and less and less faithful would be allowed to admonish and call them out on their error! That applies to all.
Abeca Christian, The initials TA stand for Traditional Angelo.
Wow TA…thank you…who here is acting in that way towards me? Why do I fall for those traps often? But I do appreciate your warning. God bless you for looking after me.
“Sometimes love means dispatching the enemy before he or she incurs even more eternal punishment, it would seem.”
SKAI, these words of yours are clear.
you would rather kill your ‘enemy’ now than allow him more time to sin even further.
God takes lives, max. Apparently you’ve never wondered why. Think about it for a while and see what you come up with. We usually think of war as defending against tyranny, and this is the case; however, war also kills unjust aggressors who likely would increase their sins if not stopped all the sooner. You soft headed people are always trying to make John Browns out of anyone who proposes invoking the Just War Theory, a Church approved activity. Read the Gospel and find out how Jesus defines the role of a ruler. In short rulers wage war and sue for peace and build civilizations. In common American parlance this is called “guns and butter”, and is the twofold action of the govt. As an experiment, max, why don’t you spread yummy butter all over yourself, and then walk around with a sign saying that no matter what you would never defend yourself?
max, a more direct reply to your question: If attacked, would you opt to dispatch your enemy asap or wait til he sins further?
Bottom line, max: Would you prefer to dispatch someone who prefers to harvest you?
True Love of Neighbor is not emotional.
True Love is wanting what is best for that person for him or her to get to Heaven.
The other day my spouse gently said the nicest thing to me. It was not ‘I love you”, it was “I want you to get to Heaven”.
OSCAR, btw, emotions are good as they are part of human nature. Love of neighbor involves emotion. There is no condition in a human being that does not involve emotion. Emotion, unlike reasoning, is not subject to an on, off switch. But of course emotion should be subject to reason. When it is not, then all hell breaks lose.
For example, the Gospel’s shortest sentence, “Jesus wept” gives us a view of an emotional Jesus, and remember that Jesus tells us that He is “the truth”, and St John tells us that Jesus “is love”. Therefore True Love wept, ie experienced and displayed emotion.
And, no, I’m not making a plug for John Boehner, “Weeper” of the House.
OSCAR.
“I want you to get to heaven!” What a jewel of a spouse. Please thank your spouse again for that most loving statement. Your spouse’s comment reminds me of a true story about spouses to be. A very wise and good priest was speaking to a group of Catholics about sin and about the Catholic faith. This priest had to speak with young couples before they got married. This priest often met many couples who were very open about already living together. He tried many different ways to impress upon them the necessity for them to move into separate places before they were married. Many would start to bring up excuses about this and that or talk about the convenience of shared finances.
This priest said that he knew that he had to also make the decision to truly love. This priest knew that being nice just for the sake of being nice or being nice because you want to be viewed as being cool about everything or politically correct and liked by everyone, well, that was not real love either.
The priest then decided to treat each couple who openly admitted that they were living together with the same amount of real love. Whenever this priest was faced with this situation, the priest would look at the young man and in a kind and very concerned voice he would say, “May I ask you a very important question? The young men, hearing the sincere kindness in the priest’s voice would always say, “Sure, Father go right ahead.” Then the priest in the kindest tone would ask the young man, “Why do you hate her so much?” The young man and the young woman’s eyes would both become wide as saucers, and the man would always say, “Oh no Father, I don’t hate her, I love her, in fact I love her with all of my heart.” “No!” said the priest, “You don’t love her, you are showing that you hate her, and let me explain why”.
“When you truly love someone you would never do anything that could hurt them. You would never do anything to harm their relationship with God. You would never ever consider jeopardizing their soul. If you are already living together as man and wife, then you are risking her soul and your own. This means that if either of you died while you are living together and in the state of mortal sin that you would go to hell and you would have helped to send her to hell for all eternity.” “Do you still call this love?” When you truly love someone you only want the very best for them. The very best means that you want them to go to heaven.”
The young men would always respond, “No Father, I get it! I won’t call that love, now I see what you mean. I had really never thought of it that way. Now I get your point.”
Oscar, Many might think that these young couples would get angry or walk out. The priest said that no one ever walked out. It had the opposite effect. They knew that they were hearing the truth and they would immediately go out of their way to make everything right and they would still ask this good priest to marry them.
More to it than that, it seems. The marriage is contracted by the couple, while the priest can only bear witness to its validity. So, it seems that the priest’s task would be to discern if it were a valid marriage. If so, then what would be the point in separation? If not, then what would it matter, other than the priest would not then give them a marriage Mass? If it didn’t matter, then at least the couple would be aware that there might be more to marriage than they had realized, and renew their decision making process. There is the sacramental aspect of marriage, but why does it depend on a real marriage being separated prior to a wedding Mass?
Alternate ending: And the young men said “By golly, you are right. I do hate her. I’m outta here. Whew! That was close one. I almost made the biggest mistake of my life. I really was just doing this out of guilt. Thanks Father, you saved my life.”
OSCAR I am so filled with joy that you have a wonderful spouse that really loves you. I pray that our children will be so blessed to find such good spouses that care enough about their salvation!
I hope everyone reads your comments, it should set a powerful witness! God bless you!
“Love” and “Emotion” are human. They are defined differently. They are not the same.
Emotions can be good or bad. Love is always good.
OSCAR you come off as a deep spiritual being in Christ…deep in thought too…God bless you and always keep you faithful in Him.
What the government is attempting to do, with the help of many bishops, is to displace its guilt onto the public at large. After all, doesn’t the govt simply do the will of the voters? Now, when or if the govt can convince the public that the guilt for all the evils is on the head of the public, then the public would feel unworthy to make any decisions for fear of doing even more evil — so the good govt will remove all guns from the guilty public so that the guilt won’t drive the public to further evils. Some readers might see how this works, but most will probably not get it. I recall when I read St Augustine that he described some of the basic religious errors that people held onto, most of which stemmed from even more ancient times. A number of these errors are being acted out by the bishops today, and this one of siding with a secular govt by helping to convince the public of the guilt for all kinds of bad things being on the public’s head.