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 Rev.
Thomas J. Euteneuer The announcement of a brand new baby
girl for Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes reached the ears of the fawning
media last Tuesday, but I just can't celebrate with them. It was
not the baby who made me feel out of sorts—you know that a
pro-life priest loves all babies! It's her parents' wretched example
that irks me. While so many others will be congratulating the happy
couple on their new (out of wedlock) baby, I will be praying for
their souls.
For those who don't know, both Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are former
Catholics who have totally abandoned their Catholic faith, upbringing
and education by joining Scientology which is hardly more than a
weird New Age cult. Katie's departure from Catholicism is, well,
shocking and repugnant given that she was allotted the best Catholic
education money can buy. She is also on record as saying that she
intended to remain a virgin until marriage, but Cruise blew that
one out of the water like the good top gunner that he is. Doctrinal
aberrations and moral degeneration usually go together. And needless
to say, the Cruises do not plan to baptize their baby.
Although the term apostasy is not used much these days, Catholics
who "convert" to Scientology are prime candidates for
the label. Case in point, the Cruises shed their Christian faith
and replaced it with Dianetics, and as Tom's pseudo-evangelistic
interviews with Parade magazine, The Today Show, Oprah and others
has made clear, not a vestige of the old time religion remains.
The Catholic Catechism defines apostasy as "the total repudiation
of the Christian faith" and with it heresy as "the obstinate
post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with
divine and catholic faith" (n. 2089). Yes, the Cruises fit
the bill.
However, Cruise and Holmes are not unique in their repudiation
of the Catholic Faith. They fit a disturbing genre that faithful
Catholics should not just gloss over as typical of Hollywood sell-outs.
So many "Catholics" in public life have either completely
rejected the faith or are living in irreconcilable, scandalous conflict
with it, and we shouldn't be silent about this lest our silence
be interpreted as consent.
Political apostates like Ted Kennedy and John Kerry repudiate the
faith daily while pretending to embrace it. Pop star anti-role-models
like Bruce Springsteen hardly make an effort to justify their irregular
marriages while Brooke Shields evangelizes the culture about in
vitro fertilization apparently without the slightest notion that
her Church condemns the practice utterly. Media compromisers like
Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Chris Matthews take only those doses
of the faith that leave their politics or their bloated opinions
undisturbed. And Madonna—well, she just blasphemes the faith.
What more is there to say?
When I was growing up my dad never hesitated to point out such "Catholics"
and make it abundantly clear to his family that people like the
Cruises and their ilk were reprehensible examples of Catholics in
public life. He always let me know that the faith deserved better.
In other words, I regularly heard the witness of a good Catholic
man defining for me what "Catholic" really means and of
course what it manifestly does not mean.
Faithful Catholics have to relentlessly expose apostasy, heresy
and any other compromises of our faith to the younger generations
so that the inordinate influence of the high profile apostates doesn't
hasten the death of faith in kids—or worse—the death
of their souls.
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,
President, Human Life International
Website: http://www.hli.org
Source:
Spirit & Life
"The words I spoke to you are spirit
and life." (Jn 6:63)
Human Life International e-Newsletter
Volume 1, Number 12 | Friday, April 21, 2006
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| LIVES
OF THE SAINTS |
SEPTEMBER 1
ST. GILES
St. Giles was born in Athens, Greece, in early times. When his parents died, he used the large fortune they left him to help the poor. 
SEPTEMBER 2
BLESSED JOHN DU LAU AND THE SEPTEMBER MARTYRS
Blessed John was the archbishop of Arles, France..
SEPTEMBER 3
ST. GREGORY THE GREAT
St. Gregory was born in 540 in Rome. His father was a senator. His mother is a saint, St. Celia.
SEPTEMBER 4
ST. ROSE OF VITERBO
St. Rose was born in 1235 in Viterbo, Italy. She lived at the time when Emperor Frederick had conquered land that belonged to the Church.
SEPTEMBER 5
ST. LAWRENCE JUSTINIAN
St. Lawrence Justinian was born in Venice, Italy, in 1381.
SEPTEMBER 6
BLESSED BERTRAND
Blessed Bertrand lived in the last half of the twelfth and first part of the thirteenth centuries.
SEPTEMBER 7
BLESSED JOHN DUCKETT AND BLESSED RALPH CORBY
Blessed James Duckett studied at the English college of Douay and became a priest in 1639.
SEPTEMBER 8
BIRTH OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
We do not usually celebrate the birthdays of the saints.
SEPTEMBER 9
ST. PETER CLAVER
St. Peter Claver, the Spanish priest of the Society of Jesus was born in 1580.
SEPTEMBER 10
ST. NICHOLAS OF TOLENTINO
St. Nicholas was born in 1245 in Ancona, Italy. His parents had waited long and anxiously for a child.
SEPTEMBER 11
BLESSED LOUIS OF THURINGIA
Blessed Loius, the German prince, lived during the last part of the twelfth and first part of the thirteenth centuries.
SEPTEMBER 13
ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
St. John Chrysostom was born in Antioch around 344.
SEPTEMBER 15
OUR LADY OF SORROWS
Our Lady had many great joys as the mother of Jesus, but she had much to suffer, too.
SEPTEMBER 16
ST. CORNELIUS AND ST. CYPRIAN
St. Cornelius, a holy priest of Rome, was elected Pope in 251. He accepted because he loved Christ.
SEPTEMBER 17
ST. ROBERT BELLARMINE
St. Robert Bellarmine was born in Italy in 1542.
SEPTEMBER 18
ST. JOSEPH OF CUPERTINO
St. Joseph was born on June 17, 1603, in a small Italian village to poor parents.
SEPTEMBER 19
ST. JANUARIUS
St. Januarius lived in the fourth century. He was born either in Benevento or Naples, Italy.
SEPTEMBER 20
ST. ANDREW KIM TAEGON AND ST. PAUL CHONG HASANG
St. Andrew Kim Taegon was a priest and St. Paul Chong Hasang was a lay person.
SEPTEMBER 21
ST. MATTHEW
St. Matthew was a tax collector in the city of Capernaum, where Jesus was living.
SEPTEMBER 22
ST. THOMAS OF VILLANOVA
St. Thomas was born in Spain in 1488.
SEPTEMBER 24
ST. PACIFICUS
St. Pacificus, a little Italian boy born in 1653 was named Charles Anthony. He was just five years old when his loving parents died.
SEPTEMBER 25
ST. SERGIUS
St. Serguis, the famous Russian saint lived in the fourteenth century.
SEPTEMBER 27
ST. VINCENT DE PAUL
St. Vincent de Paul, the son of poor French peasants, was born in 1581.
SEPTEMBER 28
ST. LAWRENCE RUIZ AND COMPANIONS
St. Lawrence Ruiz, and his fifteen companions were killed for their faith in 1637, in Nagasaki, Japan.
SEPTEMBER 29
ST. MICHAEL, ST. GABRIEL, ST. RAPHAEL
Sts. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are called "saints" because they are holy.
SEPTEMBER 30
ST. JEROME
St. Jerome was a Roman Christian who lived in the fourth century.
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PHOTO OF THE MONTH |
Tour
of the Relics of the Passion
(International Center
for Holy Relics)
www.HolyRelics.org
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| REFLECTIONS |
 “Jesus’
Baptism”
Why did Jesus, the sinless one sent from the Father in heaven,
submit himself to John’s baptism? John preached a
baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Luke
3:3). In this humble submission we see a foreshadowing of
the “baptism” of Jesus bloody death upon the
cross. Jesus’ baptism is the acceptance and the beginning
of his mission as God’s suffering Servant (Isaiah
52:13-15; 53:1-12). He allowed himself to be numbered among
sinners. Jesus submitted himself entirely to his Father’s
will. Out of love he consented to this baptism of death
for the remission of our sins. Do you know the joy of trust
and submission to God?
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