by Mark Henry
It all started out 7:00 a.m. Wednesday morning when Melanie Pritchard texted my wife Tina telling her that she was going into labor and “asking for prayers”. Little did we know how much Melanie would soon need prayers and how a digital juggernaught of prayer would soon be unleashed to save the life of Melanie and her new born daughter, Gabriella Cecilia.
Right after we returned from morning Mass, Melanie’s friend Meghan called Tina in tears telling us that Melanie’s heart stopped during delivery and she desperately needed our prayers.
During the frantic drive to the hospital, my wife was distraught. She loved Melanie like a younger sister. In her own eyes, Melanie’s greatest accomplishments are being a loyal wife to her husband Doug and dutiful mother to her son Brady. To the public, Melanie is a nationally known pro-life speaker and the founder of the Foundation For Life And Love (lifehttp://foundationforlifeandlove.org) an educational organization that seeks to preserve and promote the dignity and sanctity of human life at all stages. Melanie is the former Education Director for Arizona Right To Life.
Melanie is much in demand as a vibrant speaker to youth and adult groups on pro-life issues, modesty and chastity. Melanie and her husband Doug teach marriage preparation classes for the Diocese of Phoenix using Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body writings. Melanie’s Catholic spirituality is steeped in the Culture of Life and thoroughly imbued with the teachings of Pope John Paul II.
My wife first became acquainted with Melanie when Melanie graciously agreed to serve, without pay, as a virtues coordinator in a modesty and chastity apostolate Tina runs. Melanie is a mentor of countless young Catholic girls, a fabulous role model of motherhood, chastity and modestly and treasured by the pro-life community in Phoenix and beyond.
In the dreadfully long drive to the hospital, we felt helpless and wondered what could we possibly do for Melanie? Well, let’s pray a decade of the Rosary. We also prayed to Pope John Paul II that he would intercede for a miraculous healing of Melanie, a prayer that we and countless others would invoke many times over the next 48 hours. After our drive time prayer, we still had quite a bit of time before reaching the hospital so we started calling everyone we knew, requesting fervent prayers and that they “pray it forward” however they could.
I called contacts I had in Catholic media, both new and traditional. Fortunately, I got through to close friends at Immaculate Heart Radio, St. Joseph Communications and other Catholic media outlets who faithfully responded and immediately started broadcasting prayer requests for Melanie on the radio, internet and other media. Of course, Melanie’s friends and family had already started prayer requests of their own and impassioned pleas for prayers were made to many convents, monasteries and religious orders.
Very quickly news of Melanie’s critical condition spread like a digital wildfire with “prayer for Melanie” requests now going “viral” online. The pray it forward juggernaught to save Melanie had begun in earnest with many specifically praying for Pope John Paul II’s intercession to save the life of his loyal spiritual daughter, Melanie.
When we got to the hospital, the news was worse than we thought. Melanie had suffered an amniotic embolism and there was massive internal bleeding. Her heart had stopped again, twice, and they were rushing her into surgery again. There was a real likelihood of heart and kidney failure. I learned later that the medical condition Melanie was experiencing was usually fatal.
There was some good news, however, which was that Melanie and Doug’s new born daughter Gabriella Cecilia was healthy after her emergency C-Section delivery. Additionally, Melanie’s brother Larry, a renowned heart surgeon, was on the scene and keeping a keenly trained medical eye on everything.
Melanie somehow made it through surgery but then suddenly took a turn for the worse. Fr. John Muir, a childhood friend of Melanie and Doug, arrived at the hospital and administered the last rites to Melanie. Melanie’s husband Doug was told that Melanie was slipping away and it was time to say his final goodbye to Melanie, the love of his life. Shortly thereafter, Melanie’s parents and sisters also proceeded to Melanie’s bedside to bid her goodbye.
By now, legions of prayers were storming heaven from Melanie’s bedside, from the local community and throughout the country as well. Prayer vigils were organized at a number of Phoenix parishes and all the way across the country at a Theology of the Body conference in Philadelphia they took a break to pray for Melanie’s healing.
Inspirational stories of personal faith conversions of those hearing and reading about Melanie’s faithful fight for life started coming in. Melanie’s friend Brooke told us about the man in the Midwest who had never attended Church but read the email appeal for prayers for Melanie and was so inspired that he went in to the nearest Church to pray. Brooke’s sister, Meghan, told us of the security guard at the hospital who was a lifelong Catholic who had never been to adoration before but open hearing of Melanie he went to the adoration chapel and spent the night on his knees, in prayer. Father John Parks excitedly told us about the long confession lines after the prayer vigil for Melanie at Mt. Carmel Parish in Tempe, Arizona.
Throughout the country, a rising multitude of prayers were rising up for Melanie and her family. The sheer magnitude of this prayer groundswell first became apparent to me when one of Melanie’s younger tech savvy friends excitedly exclaimed that “Prayers for Melanie” made the “Top 100” on Twitter. I am told that Twitter has one-quarter of a billion visitors, so being in the Top 100 is pretty amazing.
At the hospital, Melanie’s husband Doug, her parents Jim and Sherry Welsch and their other children exhibited a degree of faith and fortitude that was hard for me to fathom. Looking back now, I realize that they were being spiritually lifted up in this most difficult of times by the chorus of prayers being offered for them by rapidly increasing numbers of Catholic faithful throughout the country. .
Something that really stood out to me was Melanie’s father Jim’s reply when I asked him how he was doing. This was after Melanie’s third heart attack and her life was ebbing away. He replied that he loved his daughter dearly, that he was praying for her recovery but the most important thing was that if God was calling Melanie to heaven then he would accept God’s will. To me it was a supernatural manifestation of faith, one that God just could not ignore.
Every hour, against all odds, Melanie continued her fight for life. The fact that she survived emergency surgery Thursday night stunned and amazed a hospital nurse who was in the operating room when Melanie was being operated on. When this nurse returned to work Friday morning, she exclaimed to Melanie’s family that Melanie was a “walking miracle.”
When we returned to the hospital Friday morning, we were astounded to see Melanie awake, talking and pushing a walker around and determined to get out of the hospital so she could resume taking care of her family, especially her new born daughter Gabriella. Many who were there in the hospital and witnessed Melanie’s amazing recovery were starting to realize that God had abudantly answered the fervant prayers of His faithful.
It is above my spiritual station in life to discern whether Melanie’s recovery is a miracle or not. What I do know is that she has survived against overwhelming odds and that the coming together of such a large and diverse nationwide community to pray for her Melanie’s healing is an amazing thing to behold.
Interestingly enough, it appears that the cause of Pope John Paul II’s canonization has been delayed since Sister Marie Simon-Pierre’s previously thought miraculous recovery from Parkinson’s disease may have been premature with the recurrence of Sister Marie’s medical condition. If this is true and the postulators for John Paul II’s cause are one miracle short they may need to look no further than what just happened to Melanie Pritchard here in Phoenix. If a faithful pro-life Catholic mother, wife and leader like Melanie Pritchard could advance the canonization of her spiritual mentor John Paul II, it would be fitting indeed.
Mark Henry is a Catholic writer, author and speaker. He can be reached at mthenrysaz@gmail.com
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Obama’s Oval Office Address Fails To Address Oil Spill Crisis
by Mark Henry
The Gulf Oil Spill is an unprecedented environmental catastrophe that presented President Obama an opportunity to show executive leadership and reassure Americans that the federal government is doing all it can to stop the hemorrhaging of oil into the Gulf.
By almost all accounts, President Obama’s Oval Office Address failed to achieve this objective. Obama was roundly criticized by leading liberal media pundits and conservative commentators alike. President Clintons Media Advisor David Gergen stated that this was Obama’s last opportunity to take control of the gulf oil spill problem and that he fell short of it.
Interestingly, some of the most vocal criticism came from liberal media stalwarts like Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann. The criticized President Obama’s speech for being “Carter like”, lacking in executive command and directionless.
Obama’s address had a military-like tones using terms like “battle” and “siege”. Perhaps this is part of the President’s newly adopted “get tough, be emotional” demeanor to counteract criticisms that he is too detached and unemotional. What is clear is that Obama’s anger was directed at BP and the oil industry as the President stated emphatically that BP will pay for damage sustained in the Gulf.
Getting angry about the oil spill is natural and of course BP will be liable for actions that caused this catastrophe. Federal law already imposes liability on companies like BP for oil spills. However, the extent of BP’s liability should be resolved through the rule of law, not by Presidential fiat. Such autocratic Presidential behavior may pass muster in Venezuela but that has not been the American way, at least until lately.
Many commentators felt that the President’s address focused too much on casting blame for the Gulf oil spill crisis. Americans wanted the President to explain that the federal government was doing all it could do to stop or at least stem the flood of oil into the Gulf. In his Oval Office Address, President Obama failed to do this and disappointed the vast majority of Americans.
What disappointed many viewers - of all political persuasions – is that we are now 60 days into the greatest oil spill in U.S. history and the President was not able to tell us that the federal government has a plan to stop the oil from flooding into the Gulf.
What President Obama did tell us is that this catastrophe reveals a need for a new energy policy. This prompted many conservative critics to complain that Obama was taking advantage of the crisis to promote the controversial “cap and trade” legislation which is stalled in the U.S. Congress.
In arguing for a new greener energy policy, Obama erroneously asserted that we are running out of places to drill for oil. However, critics cited a June 30, 2008 stated that America has enough untapped oil reserves to supply 300 years of America’s demand for oil. These reserves are nearly three times more than the reserves held by Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations. The problem is that Democratic Party policies catering to demands of environmental extremists have made most of these reserves off-limits to drilling.
Essentially, Obama used the “running out of places to drill” canard – a problem which his party created - as a pretext to call for yet another new government program; a new energy policy. Many viewers of Obama’s speech feel that much of the script came right out of the community activist play book; agitate people about a problem, be vague about real solutions but do come up with a big government program to “administer” the problem.
Obama’s approach reflects a belief that every crisis has a silver lining that can be exploited to achieve political goals that would otherwise be unattainable. This approach was used by Obama with the recent federal take over of health care. Recall that spiraling health care costs as well as the need to improve access to health care were the pretexts for nationalizing the health care insurance industry. Fast forward to the present oil spill crisis which presents a dual opportunity to push for cap and trade policy and subjugate BP and the oil industry to more federal control.
In short, Obama’s Oval Office address was a historic disappointment that left many Americans of all political stripes wishing that the President would have focused on solving the continuing Gulf oil spill crisis rather than engage in spirited finger pointing. It was also an inopportune time to push the controversial cap and trade legislation under the guise of a new greener national energy policy. Mr. President, it is time to table cap and trade start working seriously on the real environmental crisis; the flood of oil into the Gulf.
Solving serious national problems requires experienced executive leadership rather the community activist leadership style. Without it, our pristine gulf coast environment will continue to needlessly suffer more than it has to.
The Gulf Oil Spill is an unprecedented environmental catastrophe that presented President Obama an opportunity to show executive leadership and reassure Americans that the federal government is doing all it can to stop the hemorrhaging of oil into the Gulf.
By almost all accounts, President Obama’s Oval Office Address failed to achieve this objective. Obama was roundly criticized by leading liberal media pundits and conservative commentators alike. President Clintons Media Advisor David Gergen stated that this was Obama’s last opportunity to take control of the gulf oil spill problem and that he fell short of it.
Interestingly, some of the most vocal criticism came from liberal media stalwarts like Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann. The criticized President Obama’s speech for being “Carter like”, lacking in executive command and directionless.
Obama’s address had a military-like tones using terms like “battle” and “siege”. Perhaps this is part of the President’s newly adopted “get tough, be emotional” demeanor to counteract criticisms that he is too detached and unemotional. What is clear is that Obama’s anger was directed at BP and the oil industry as the President stated emphatically that BP will pay for damage sustained in the Gulf.
Getting angry about the oil spill is natural and of course BP will be liable for actions that caused this catastrophe. Federal law already imposes liability on companies like BP for oil spills. However, the extent of BP’s liability should be resolved through the rule of law, not by Presidential fiat. Such autocratic Presidential behavior may pass muster in Venezuela but that has not been the American way, at least until lately.
Many commentators felt that the President’s address focused too much on casting blame for the Gulf oil spill crisis. Americans wanted the President to explain that the federal government was doing all it could do to stop or at least stem the flood of oil into the Gulf. In his Oval Office Address, President Obama failed to do this and disappointed the vast majority of Americans.
What disappointed many viewers - of all political persuasions – is that we are now 60 days into the greatest oil spill in U.S. history and the President was not able to tell us that the federal government has a plan to stop the oil from flooding into the Gulf.
What President Obama did tell us is that this catastrophe reveals a need for a new energy policy. This prompted many conservative critics to complain that Obama was taking advantage of the crisis to promote the controversial “cap and trade” legislation which is stalled in the U.S. Congress.
In arguing for a new greener energy policy, Obama erroneously asserted that we are running out of places to drill for oil. However, critics cited a June 30, 2008 stated that America has enough untapped oil reserves to supply 300 years of America’s demand for oil. These reserves are nearly three times more than the reserves held by Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations. The problem is that Democratic Party policies catering to demands of environmental extremists have made most of these reserves off-limits to drilling.
Essentially, Obama used the “running out of places to drill” canard – a problem which his party created - as a pretext to call for yet another new government program; a new energy policy. Many viewers of Obama’s speech feel that much of the script came right out of the community activist play book; agitate people about a problem, be vague about real solutions but do come up with a big government program to “administer” the problem.
Obama’s approach reflects a belief that every crisis has a silver lining that can be exploited to achieve political goals that would otherwise be unattainable. This approach was used by Obama with the recent federal take over of health care. Recall that spiraling health care costs as well as the need to improve access to health care were the pretexts for nationalizing the health care insurance industry. Fast forward to the present oil spill crisis which presents a dual opportunity to push for cap and trade policy and subjugate BP and the oil industry to more federal control.
In short, Obama’s Oval Office address was a historic disappointment that left many Americans of all political stripes wishing that the President would have focused on solving the continuing Gulf oil spill crisis rather than engage in spirited finger pointing. It was also an inopportune time to push the controversial cap and trade legislation under the guise of a new greener national energy policy. Mr. President, it is time to table cap and trade start working seriously on the real environmental crisis; the flood of oil into the Gulf.
Solving serious national problems requires experienced executive leadership rather the community activist leadership style. Without it, our pristine gulf coast environment will continue to needlessly suffer more than it has to.
Monday, May 31, 2010
A Tribute To Dad, Old Glory And God
By Mark Henry
On this Memorial Day, we are called to honor and remember those who have served our country. We must never forget that the freedom we take for granted is not free and comes with a heavy price. It is also a time to remember that we are one nation under God and we honor those in the military who sacrificed to keep it that way.
While all Americans need to be thankful for the service of our military veterans, there are those among us who owe a particular debt of gratitude to family members who served in the armed forces.
This Memorial Day is particularly significant for my family since my father, a veteran of WWII and the Korean War, was interred this week at Punchbowl National Cemetery in Hawaii. My father was one of a whole generation of young men who were pressed into military service when WWII broke out. Since Dad was not keen to fight in the trenches, he opted to enroll in flight training school to become a Marine aviator. Barely meeting the pilot minimum age requirement of 18, he went on to flight training school and was rushed into air combat in the Pacific.
By military standards, Dad had a successful tour of duty as he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross among other wartime citations and awards. However, Dad never liked to talk much about his experiences in the war. In fact, the Catholic chaplain at my father’s memorial service this week nailed it when he said that if my father were here he would say he did nothing special, nothing but his duty.
My father’s memorial service last week was with "military honors" and was a deeply moving experience. Since I never served in the military, I had no idea what I was in for. Seeing an honor guard of seven Marine soldiers firing their rifles into the air three times was awe-inspiring. The ceremonial playing of taps by a lone bugler, followed by eight additional Marine honor guards presenting the American flag to me as the next of kin was an unforgettable experience.
Many Americans do not realize or appreciate the deep Christian symbolism which is reflected in the flag presentation ceremony at a military funeral. The honoring of God in the presentation of the American flag was personally comforting and surprising in this age where our federal government seems so determined to remove any semblance of Christian faith from the public square.
Each individual fold of the flag has symbolic significance, with a number of folds honoring God and traditional Christian values. At my father’s service, the flag was folded thirteen times by eight Marine honor guards, standing in two rows of four honor guards each.
The first fold of the flag is a symbol of life. The second fold of the flag is a symbol of a belief in eternal life. The fourth fold of the flag represents man’s fallibility, man’s need to trust in God and the importance of turning to God for His divine guidance in times of war and peace.
The twelfth fold of the flag symbolizes eternity and glorifies God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The thirteenth and last fold of the flag reveals the stars on the flag and symbolizes the United States' national motto, “In God We Trust.”
My father’s military memorial service, especially the flag presentation ceremony, was an experience that will live with me all my days. However, what made Dad’s memorial service not just moving but spiritually significant was realizing how different events in my father’s life, like the ceremonial folding of the American flag, manifested God’s providence and led my father inexorably closer to God.
Earlier in his life, my father never seemed to have too much of an interest in his faith. While he occasionally joined the family for services on holidays and other occasions, it seemed more in his character, as the battle hardened Marine combat pilot, to be the breadwinner, disciplinarian and sports coach rather than spiritual leader of the family. While the Lord may have called Dad, he was not yet willing to listen and the Lord's call fell, for the moment, on deaf ears.
However, during his final years my father’s worsening physical condition provided him a timely opportunity to reflect on his life, his accomplishments, his regrets and also his gradually awakening desire to come closer to Christ.
During this stage of Dad’s life, his numerous hospitalizations required that we, his family, “stand guard” at his bedside and literally defend his life. I believed it was the least we could do in return for all Dad did for us and his country. The need for this was clear as each time Dad was hospitalized the hospital staff tried to convince us that Dad was dying and it was futile and pointless to insist that he received life-sustaining care like food and water intravenously. According to the hospital staff, the better thing to do was to medicate him, not provide him nutrition and hydration and let him die.
Essentially, the hospital staff wanted us to agree that Dad could be euthanized. Fortunately, we resisted the unrelenting pressure of the hospital staff to terminally sedate Dad and each time Dad walked out of the hospital on his own.
While I did not realize it at the time, I eventually came to appreciate the eternal spiritual significance of the battle that we were waging for Dad. He needed just a little more time for God’s loving arms to embrace him. Had the hospital had its way and been able to euthanize Dad, he may not have come back to Christ and his soul could have been lost forever.
After Dad was discharged from the hospital for the last time, he sat down with me and the final and most joyous chapter of his life unfolded. I remember it well, after having lunch with my father and returning to his apartment we sat down and he asked me to tell him about my faith in Christ! Hearing his request brought a lump to my throat and tears to my eyes. Dad had now unfolded the first and second folds in the flag, he was acknowledging the importance of life and eternity.
This conversation with my father was the first in a sequence of memorable events that ended with Dad accepting Christ as his Lord and Savior. Soon enough, Dad began attending church services with us. He also started a daily prayer life, sometimes on his own and sometimes with friends of his who also had been encouraging him to renew his Catholic faith.
The Lord’s plan for my father was finally unfolding before my very eyes. By now, my father’s failing health made it apparent that he may not have long to live. He was now at the fourth fold in the flag and had recognized his own fallibility and his need to turn to God in this most difficult of times.
All to soon, Dad was admitted to the hospital for the last time and he took his final step of spiritual reconciliation - he confessed his sins to the hospital Chaplain and received the last rites. Dad was now unfolding the final folds in the flag where he recognized the need to reconcile with God, to glorify Him and to trust in His saving grace. Within twenty-four hours, the Lord tenderly reached out and took Dad home.
My father’s memorial service at Punchbowl last week was a tribute to a man, his service to country and his Catholic faith. Like the faith inspired folding of the American flag, Dad’s life journey was a testimony to the values of life, honor and God’s providence. My father, the prodigal soldier, finished faithful which was God’s plan for him all along. Semper Fidelis, Dad.
On this Memorial Day, we are called to honor and remember those who have served our country. We must never forget that the freedom we take for granted is not free and comes with a heavy price. It is also a time to remember that we are one nation under God and we honor those in the military who sacrificed to keep it that way.
While all Americans need to be thankful for the service of our military veterans, there are those among us who owe a particular debt of gratitude to family members who served in the armed forces.
This Memorial Day is particularly significant for my family since my father, a veteran of WWII and the Korean War, was interred this week at Punchbowl National Cemetery in Hawaii. My father was one of a whole generation of young men who were pressed into military service when WWII broke out. Since Dad was not keen to fight in the trenches, he opted to enroll in flight training school to become a Marine aviator. Barely meeting the pilot minimum age requirement of 18, he went on to flight training school and was rushed into air combat in the Pacific.
By military standards, Dad had a successful tour of duty as he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross among other wartime citations and awards. However, Dad never liked to talk much about his experiences in the war. In fact, the Catholic chaplain at my father’s memorial service this week nailed it when he said that if my father were here he would say he did nothing special, nothing but his duty.
My father’s memorial service last week was with "military honors" and was a deeply moving experience. Since I never served in the military, I had no idea what I was in for. Seeing an honor guard of seven Marine soldiers firing their rifles into the air three times was awe-inspiring. The ceremonial playing of taps by a lone bugler, followed by eight additional Marine honor guards presenting the American flag to me as the next of kin was an unforgettable experience.
Many Americans do not realize or appreciate the deep Christian symbolism which is reflected in the flag presentation ceremony at a military funeral. The honoring of God in the presentation of the American flag was personally comforting and surprising in this age where our federal government seems so determined to remove any semblance of Christian faith from the public square.
Each individual fold of the flag has symbolic significance, with a number of folds honoring God and traditional Christian values. At my father’s service, the flag was folded thirteen times by eight Marine honor guards, standing in two rows of four honor guards each.
The first fold of the flag is a symbol of life. The second fold of the flag is a symbol of a belief in eternal life. The fourth fold of the flag represents man’s fallibility, man’s need to trust in God and the importance of turning to God for His divine guidance in times of war and peace.
The twelfth fold of the flag symbolizes eternity and glorifies God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The thirteenth and last fold of the flag reveals the stars on the flag and symbolizes the United States' national motto, “In God We Trust.”
My father’s military memorial service, especially the flag presentation ceremony, was an experience that will live with me all my days. However, what made Dad’s memorial service not just moving but spiritually significant was realizing how different events in my father’s life, like the ceremonial folding of the American flag, manifested God’s providence and led my father inexorably closer to God.
Earlier in his life, my father never seemed to have too much of an interest in his faith. While he occasionally joined the family for services on holidays and other occasions, it seemed more in his character, as the battle hardened Marine combat pilot, to be the breadwinner, disciplinarian and sports coach rather than spiritual leader of the family. While the Lord may have called Dad, he was not yet willing to listen and the Lord's call fell, for the moment, on deaf ears.
However, during his final years my father’s worsening physical condition provided him a timely opportunity to reflect on his life, his accomplishments, his regrets and also his gradually awakening desire to come closer to Christ.
During this stage of Dad’s life, his numerous hospitalizations required that we, his family, “stand guard” at his bedside and literally defend his life. I believed it was the least we could do in return for all Dad did for us and his country. The need for this was clear as each time Dad was hospitalized the hospital staff tried to convince us that Dad was dying and it was futile and pointless to insist that he received life-sustaining care like food and water intravenously. According to the hospital staff, the better thing to do was to medicate him, not provide him nutrition and hydration and let him die.
Essentially, the hospital staff wanted us to agree that Dad could be euthanized. Fortunately, we resisted the unrelenting pressure of the hospital staff to terminally sedate Dad and each time Dad walked out of the hospital on his own.
While I did not realize it at the time, I eventually came to appreciate the eternal spiritual significance of the battle that we were waging for Dad. He needed just a little more time for God’s loving arms to embrace him. Had the hospital had its way and been able to euthanize Dad, he may not have come back to Christ and his soul could have been lost forever.
After Dad was discharged from the hospital for the last time, he sat down with me and the final and most joyous chapter of his life unfolded. I remember it well, after having lunch with my father and returning to his apartment we sat down and he asked me to tell him about my faith in Christ! Hearing his request brought a lump to my throat and tears to my eyes. Dad had now unfolded the first and second folds in the flag, he was acknowledging the importance of life and eternity.
This conversation with my father was the first in a sequence of memorable events that ended with Dad accepting Christ as his Lord and Savior. Soon enough, Dad began attending church services with us. He also started a daily prayer life, sometimes on his own and sometimes with friends of his who also had been encouraging him to renew his Catholic faith.
The Lord’s plan for my father was finally unfolding before my very eyes. By now, my father’s failing health made it apparent that he may not have long to live. He was now at the fourth fold in the flag and had recognized his own fallibility and his need to turn to God in this most difficult of times.
All to soon, Dad was admitted to the hospital for the last time and he took his final step of spiritual reconciliation - he confessed his sins to the hospital Chaplain and received the last rites. Dad was now unfolding the final folds in the flag where he recognized the need to reconcile with God, to glorify Him and to trust in His saving grace. Within twenty-four hours, the Lord tenderly reached out and took Dad home.
My father’s memorial service at Punchbowl last week was a tribute to a man, his service to country and his Catholic faith. Like the faith inspired folding of the American flag, Dad’s life journey was a testimony to the values of life, honor and God’s providence. My father, the prodigal soldier, finished faithful which was God’s plan for him all along. Semper Fidelis, Dad.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Lessons Learned From Greece: Dominos and Subsidiarity
by Mark Henry
The recent economic chaos in Greece has generated shockwaves felt all the way to America with many financial commentators opining that last weeks dramatic stock market losses were due to Wall Street anxiety about the economic problems in Greece and what it portends for other countries which have adopted economic policies similar to those adopted in Greece.
The recently announced bailout of Greece by the E.U. Union and IMF are stop gap measures that fail to address structural weaknesses that are firmly entrenched in most European economies. These stress fractures of the welfare state are now spreading to the U.S. economy and the economic policies of America’s current political leaders threatens to exacerbate the economic hardship that may be in America’s future.
Political leaders in Europe and America would do well to adopt economic policies guided by pertinent Catholic social doctrine, including the principle of subsidiarity. If policymakers reject these Catholic teachings they will do so at their own peril and jeopardize the well being of the countries they have been entrusted to protect.
Essentially, Greece’s financial meltdown is due to the government’s socialistic leaning policies which, inter alia, promote government entitlements and discourage private enterprise. The Greek government policies favors government employees who receive higher wages, better benefits and more generous retirement than private sector employees. These policies require increasing levels of taxation and result in significant redistribution of wealth.
Greece’s policies favoring public employees are seen as a quid pro quo for the political support of these well provided for public employees. However, a recession weakened economy in Greece, combined with costly government entitlements has pushed the country to the brink of financial collapse. The European Union and the IMF have agreed to a monetary bailout of Greece in exchange for austerity measures which Greece’s ruling socialist leaders have been compelled to implement. These austerity measures include deep pay cuts to the salaries and pensions of government workers.
What the Greeks are learning – and what other developed countries in Europe are having to cope with – is that socialist economies doesn’t work very well and are not sustainable over the long-term. That’s why the E.U. and IMF have to bail out Greece.
The bigger problem is that other European countries like England, Spain, Portugal and Ireland also have “Greek” economic problems of their own with unsustainable overspending on government entitlement programs. Like Greece, these countries have also overpromised entitlements which they can no longer afford give to their citizens. The fear is that Greece is just the first domino to fall and if other countries follow the E.U. and IMF are going to be unwilling or unable to bail these other countries out. This could result in sovereign defaults with disastrous effects on the worldwide economy.
How can we understand the causes of this growing economic problem and discern the direction our political leaders should take to deal with it? As is usually the case, Catholic teachings provide helpful guidance on how the faithful should analyze this pressing problem.
Pope John Paul II harshly criticized the welfare state in his 1991 encyclical Centesimus Annus wherein he stated that the welfare state undermined this core principle of subsidiarity. This Catholic teaching states that when something can be done locally by a smaller simpler organization this is better than central planning type action by a larger and more complex organization. This tenet safeguards the ideals of limited government and personal freedom and stands squarely opposed to the welfare state’s goals of centralization and bureaucracy.
John Paul II warned us that the welfare state discourages human initiative and results in an excessive increase of public bureaucracies. This results in an enormous increase in spending by a government whose goal is to achieve its own statist agenda rather than to serve the public.
What we are seeing in Europe are the disastrous financial consequences that come to countries that reject subsidiarity and embrace the failed economic model of socialism. Recent images of Greek government workers rioting in the streets in response to limited austerity measures announced by Greece’s socialist ruling party is an omen of economic chaos that can spread throughout Europe and to America if unsustainable government entitlements are not brought under control.
However, the “fix” to these serious national economic problems is not a knee-jerk return to unfettered capitalism. The seeds of the serious recession we have been going through in the U.S. were planted during the Bush administration which was roundly criticized for excessive government spending and ineffectual regulation of the financial industry. And this occurred with an administration that professed support for free market policies instead of socialism.
While socialism’s economic failures are obvious and historically documented, improperly regulated capitalism has had its fair share of train wrecks as well. The 2008 stock market crash, recent banking and insurance industry failures and the collapse in real estate values were the handiwork of capitalism gone wild.
It is true that misguided government intervention into the free market arena was at least partially responsible for some of these economic collapses.
However, regardless of whether these economic failures were caused by free wheeling capitalists, wrong-headed statist minded politicians or all of the above, Catholic social teachings in the economic realm can be a light on the path to improving the economic well being of all of us.
In his recent Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict reveals his keen insight on some of the financial abuses which caused the recent meltdown on Wall Street. Pope Benedict writes “Economy and finance, as instruments, can be used badly when those at the helm are motivated by purely selfish ends. Instruments that are good in themselves can thereby be transformed into harmful one… The Church's social doctrine holds that authentically human social relationships of friendship, solidarity and reciprocity can also be conducted within economic activity.” (CV 36) Benedict goes on to say that “Financiers must rediscover the genuinely ethical foundation of their activity, so as not to abuse the sophisticated instruments which can serve to betray the interests of savers” (CV 65).
In light of these pressing economic problems how can Catholic’s chart a path which avoid the abject failures of socialism while avoiding the excesses of unbridled capitalism?
Steering clear of socialism’s bureaucratic welfare state is clearly called for. America needs to learn from and not embrace the failed social welfare system currently wreaking economic havoc in Europe. These failed ideologies have jumped the pond and are taking hold in America under the statist policies of the Obama administration and the majority party leaders.
The most recent example of European modeled statist policies being implemented here at home is the federal takeover of health care insurance, destined to be a huge public entitlement that will raise taxes but is not likely to measurably improve health care.
Another example of the recent drift towards the European style social welfare state is the accelerated growth of both the numbers of government employees and the benefits paid in the public sector. According to leading economic historian John Steele Gordon, federal workers currently earn almost twice what their private-sector counterparts earn. Further, Obama's new spending programs will result in a 14.5 percent increase in the number of federal employees in just two years.
A variety of other policies the America’s political leaders are pushing will, if unchecked, take us down the path of unsustainable government spending which is creating economic chaos in Europe.
On the other hand, an unconditional embrace of purely economic driven capitalism, bereft of any ethical parameters, is not the answer either. We have recently seen that this economic philosophy generally works but is accompanied by periodic upheaval that leaves far too many suffering in its wake. Pope Benedict’s Caritas In Veritate highlights the need for economic practices which are not just efficient and productive but are also based on ethical principles which promote positive human development.
Pope Benedict’s refreshing economic philosophy manifested itself recently in a recent study by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. This study was issued by the Pontifical Academy during its recent April 30 - May 4 session, just as the economic chaos in Greece was coming to a head.
Pontifical Academy Chair Mary Ann Glendon called for financial reform to promote “the essentially ethical nature of economics as an activity of and for human beings.” The study also attributed part of the current economic instabilities to an overreliance on speculative financial activities that are separated from productive activity in the real economy.
While this recent study shied away from detailed economic policy directives, it is sensible to conclude that we are called by Catholic social doctrine to take a middle path somewhere in between the two extremes of socialism and laissez faire capitalism.
To the extent that these recent teachings call for increased government oversight of the economy, it would be mistaken to interpret this as support for the type of top down centralized government control of major economic sectors like the recent federal government takeover of the health insurance industry.
While Catholic social doctrine acknowledges a proper role for government to play that role is purposely limited. Government is called to regulate but not to dominate or unduly control commerce. A country’s government and economic system need to coexist and have a complimentary relationship in order to advance the overall well being of a country’s citizens.
Fundamental Catholic teachings on both subsidiarity and the proper but limited regulatory role of government are a critical light on the path to guide socio-economic policies to maintain the delicate balance between government and economics. Political leaders who disregard these important Catholic social teachings jeopardize their own political futures and imperil the well being of the citizens they are entrusted to lead.
The recent economic chaos in Greece has generated shockwaves felt all the way to America with many financial commentators opining that last weeks dramatic stock market losses were due to Wall Street anxiety about the economic problems in Greece and what it portends for other countries which have adopted economic policies similar to those adopted in Greece.
The recently announced bailout of Greece by the E.U. Union and IMF are stop gap measures that fail to address structural weaknesses that are firmly entrenched in most European economies. These stress fractures of the welfare state are now spreading to the U.S. economy and the economic policies of America’s current political leaders threatens to exacerbate the economic hardship that may be in America’s future.
Political leaders in Europe and America would do well to adopt economic policies guided by pertinent Catholic social doctrine, including the principle of subsidiarity. If policymakers reject these Catholic teachings they will do so at their own peril and jeopardize the well being of the countries they have been entrusted to protect.
Essentially, Greece’s financial meltdown is due to the government’s socialistic leaning policies which, inter alia, promote government entitlements and discourage private enterprise. The Greek government policies favors government employees who receive higher wages, better benefits and more generous retirement than private sector employees. These policies require increasing levels of taxation and result in significant redistribution of wealth.
Greece’s policies favoring public employees are seen as a quid pro quo for the political support of these well provided for public employees. However, a recession weakened economy in Greece, combined with costly government entitlements has pushed the country to the brink of financial collapse. The European Union and the IMF have agreed to a monetary bailout of Greece in exchange for austerity measures which Greece’s ruling socialist leaders have been compelled to implement. These austerity measures include deep pay cuts to the salaries and pensions of government workers.
What the Greeks are learning – and what other developed countries in Europe are having to cope with – is that socialist economies doesn’t work very well and are not sustainable over the long-term. That’s why the E.U. and IMF have to bail out Greece.
The bigger problem is that other European countries like England, Spain, Portugal and Ireland also have “Greek” economic problems of their own with unsustainable overspending on government entitlement programs. Like Greece, these countries have also overpromised entitlements which they can no longer afford give to their citizens. The fear is that Greece is just the first domino to fall and if other countries follow the E.U. and IMF are going to be unwilling or unable to bail these other countries out. This could result in sovereign defaults with disastrous effects on the worldwide economy.
How can we understand the causes of this growing economic problem and discern the direction our political leaders should take to deal with it? As is usually the case, Catholic teachings provide helpful guidance on how the faithful should analyze this pressing problem.
Pope John Paul II harshly criticized the welfare state in his 1991 encyclical Centesimus Annus wherein he stated that the welfare state undermined this core principle of subsidiarity. This Catholic teaching states that when something can be done locally by a smaller simpler organization this is better than central planning type action by a larger and more complex organization. This tenet safeguards the ideals of limited government and personal freedom and stands squarely opposed to the welfare state’s goals of centralization and bureaucracy.
John Paul II warned us that the welfare state discourages human initiative and results in an excessive increase of public bureaucracies. This results in an enormous increase in spending by a government whose goal is to achieve its own statist agenda rather than to serve the public.
What we are seeing in Europe are the disastrous financial consequences that come to countries that reject subsidiarity and embrace the failed economic model of socialism. Recent images of Greek government workers rioting in the streets in response to limited austerity measures announced by Greece’s socialist ruling party is an omen of economic chaos that can spread throughout Europe and to America if unsustainable government entitlements are not brought under control.
However, the “fix” to these serious national economic problems is not a knee-jerk return to unfettered capitalism. The seeds of the serious recession we have been going through in the U.S. were planted during the Bush administration which was roundly criticized for excessive government spending and ineffectual regulation of the financial industry. And this occurred with an administration that professed support for free market policies instead of socialism.
While socialism’s economic failures are obvious and historically documented, improperly regulated capitalism has had its fair share of train wrecks as well. The 2008 stock market crash, recent banking and insurance industry failures and the collapse in real estate values were the handiwork of capitalism gone wild.
It is true that misguided government intervention into the free market arena was at least partially responsible for some of these economic collapses.
However, regardless of whether these economic failures were caused by free wheeling capitalists, wrong-headed statist minded politicians or all of the above, Catholic social teachings in the economic realm can be a light on the path to improving the economic well being of all of us.
In his recent Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict reveals his keen insight on some of the financial abuses which caused the recent meltdown on Wall Street. Pope Benedict writes “Economy and finance, as instruments, can be used badly when those at the helm are motivated by purely selfish ends. Instruments that are good in themselves can thereby be transformed into harmful one… The Church's social doctrine holds that authentically human social relationships of friendship, solidarity and reciprocity can also be conducted within economic activity.” (CV 36) Benedict goes on to say that “Financiers must rediscover the genuinely ethical foundation of their activity, so as not to abuse the sophisticated instruments which can serve to betray the interests of savers” (CV 65).
In light of these pressing economic problems how can Catholic’s chart a path which avoid the abject failures of socialism while avoiding the excesses of unbridled capitalism?
Steering clear of socialism’s bureaucratic welfare state is clearly called for. America needs to learn from and not embrace the failed social welfare system currently wreaking economic havoc in Europe. These failed ideologies have jumped the pond and are taking hold in America under the statist policies of the Obama administration and the majority party leaders.
The most recent example of European modeled statist policies being implemented here at home is the federal takeover of health care insurance, destined to be a huge public entitlement that will raise taxes but is not likely to measurably improve health care.
Another example of the recent drift towards the European style social welfare state is the accelerated growth of both the numbers of government employees and the benefits paid in the public sector. According to leading economic historian John Steele Gordon, federal workers currently earn almost twice what their private-sector counterparts earn. Further, Obama's new spending programs will result in a 14.5 percent increase in the number of federal employees in just two years.
A variety of other policies the America’s political leaders are pushing will, if unchecked, take us down the path of unsustainable government spending which is creating economic chaos in Europe.
On the other hand, an unconditional embrace of purely economic driven capitalism, bereft of any ethical parameters, is not the answer either. We have recently seen that this economic philosophy generally works but is accompanied by periodic upheaval that leaves far too many suffering in its wake. Pope Benedict’s Caritas In Veritate highlights the need for economic practices which are not just efficient and productive but are also based on ethical principles which promote positive human development.
Pope Benedict’s refreshing economic philosophy manifested itself recently in a recent study by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. This study was issued by the Pontifical Academy during its recent April 30 - May 4 session, just as the economic chaos in Greece was coming to a head.
Pontifical Academy Chair Mary Ann Glendon called for financial reform to promote “the essentially ethical nature of economics as an activity of and for human beings.” The study also attributed part of the current economic instabilities to an overreliance on speculative financial activities that are separated from productive activity in the real economy.
While this recent study shied away from detailed economic policy directives, it is sensible to conclude that we are called by Catholic social doctrine to take a middle path somewhere in between the two extremes of socialism and laissez faire capitalism.
To the extent that these recent teachings call for increased government oversight of the economy, it would be mistaken to interpret this as support for the type of top down centralized government control of major economic sectors like the recent federal government takeover of the health insurance industry.
While Catholic social doctrine acknowledges a proper role for government to play that role is purposely limited. Government is called to regulate but not to dominate or unduly control commerce. A country’s government and economic system need to coexist and have a complimentary relationship in order to advance the overall well being of a country’s citizens.
Fundamental Catholic teachings on both subsidiarity and the proper but limited regulatory role of government are a critical light on the path to guide socio-economic policies to maintain the delicate balance between government and economics. Political leaders who disregard these important Catholic social teachings jeopardize their own political futures and imperil the well being of the citizens they are entrusted to lead.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Restoring The Primacy of Christian Values in America
by Mark Henry
The fact that America has elected the most pro-abortion and most socialist leaning U.S President and Congress in our Country’s history says much about how far our country has strayed from the traditional Christian values upon which our country was established.
Quo Vadis – where is America headed? With Congress’s passage of the federal health insurance takeover bill, America has lurched down the path of socialism. Emboldened by this victory, the far left leaders of the Democratic party will likely seek to further increase the power of the federal government over the private sector and the individual by way of new laws, regulations and policies.
With the federal health insurance takeover finally completed, a wide array of statist oriented policies are likely to follow which will dramatically expand the role of government and further undermine the important impact that the values of life, faith and family historically have had in America. These new policies will result in the federal government promoting abortion, euthanasia, and non-traditional marriage at an unprecedented level.
Additionally, we will no doubt see new entitlement programs established that will stifle personal freedom and initiative and, instead, will usher in greater citizenry dependence on big government. The unprecedented growth in government that will follow is contrary to the fundamental principle of Catholic social doctrine of subsidiarity. Essentially, this important Church doctrine states that decisions are best made at a smaller, more local level, rather than issuing forth from a more distant centralized source.
The common thread running through the federal health insurance industry takeover and other statist policies the government is pursuing is a modus operandi to transform America into a post Christian nation. What the majority party leaders seek is to subordinate traditional values like faith, family and personal responsibility and to elevate moral relativism, utilitarianism, narcissism and other secular values. We cannot allow them to do this.
Of course, these striking changes in government policy should not come as a big a surprise to most clear thinking Americans. This is because during his campaign for the Presidency, Barrack Hussein Obama often said that he intended to transform America while he studiously avoided saying just what it was he wanted to change. Regrettably, the mantra of unspecified change was good enough for far too many Americans.
Now it is patently clear what the President and the Democratic leadership plan to do to America and its citizens. What they envision is an America that looks more like the secular and socialistic countries of Europe and nothing at all like the traditional Christian values based country our founders established.
Any serious doubt about this euro-centric direction vanishes when you see that the major policy initiatives of the Obama administration are substantially identical to the statist big government policies followed by the dominant countries of the European Union. This administration’s policies concerning health care, abortion, same sex marriage, global warming and taxation are all in lock step with prevailing European Union policies.
Well, what is so wrong with coming back into the fold and returning to the values of Europe, the land where many of our ancestors hailed from? Well, to begin with today’s Europe is a world apart from the traditional Christian values based civilization of either our forefathers or the Europe which American soldiers died defending in World Wars I and II. Foundational American values like respect for life, traditional families and freedom of religion are on the wane in most of Europe.
Our Constitution’s Bill of Rights expressly protects the free exercise of religion. On the other hand, the Constitution of the European Union intentionally lacks any acknowledgment of the singularly important role that Christianity has had in shaping European civilization. While the ramifications of such a collective rejection of Europe’s Christian heritage is beyond the scope of this article, it suffices to say that our American Constitution and the European Union’s Constitution are oceans apart and America is much better off for it, thank you.
Therein lies the crux of the problem. President Obama and the leftist leadership of the Democratic party would like to build a statist bridge to take America down the path towards the European socialist welfare state.
However, to take America on this transformative journey, Democrat leaders will need to cajole more Americans into sacrificing their traditional values like faith, freedom and personal responsibility and, instead, get Americans to accept these new statist policies and leftist secular values. Faithful Catholics need to join together with increasing numbers of Americans who will oppose these efforts to transform America into a nation the Founders would scarcely recognize.
What Can Catholic Christians Do To Restore America’s Christian Values? With the Democrat leadership’s game plan now more obvious, the only questions unanswered are whether the Catholic faithful are prepared to fight for our country’s Christian heritage and, if so, how are we to wage that battle?
There are critically important actions we the Catholic faithful need to begin taking immediately to restore and preserve America’s Christian heritage for future generations. The strategies we need to pursue run the gamut and include ecclesial, cultural, economic, educational, legal and, most assuredly, political action. More will be said in the next issue in this series of articles; The Fight to Preserve America’s Christian Heritage.
The fact that America has elected the most pro-abortion and most socialist leaning U.S President and Congress in our Country’s history says much about how far our country has strayed from the traditional Christian values upon which our country was established.
Quo Vadis – where is America headed? With Congress’s passage of the federal health insurance takeover bill, America has lurched down the path of socialism. Emboldened by this victory, the far left leaders of the Democratic party will likely seek to further increase the power of the federal government over the private sector and the individual by way of new laws, regulations and policies.
With the federal health insurance takeover finally completed, a wide array of statist oriented policies are likely to follow which will dramatically expand the role of government and further undermine the important impact that the values of life, faith and family historically have had in America. These new policies will result in the federal government promoting abortion, euthanasia, and non-traditional marriage at an unprecedented level.
Additionally, we will no doubt see new entitlement programs established that will stifle personal freedom and initiative and, instead, will usher in greater citizenry dependence on big government. The unprecedented growth in government that will follow is contrary to the fundamental principle of Catholic social doctrine of subsidiarity. Essentially, this important Church doctrine states that decisions are best made at a smaller, more local level, rather than issuing forth from a more distant centralized source.
The common thread running through the federal health insurance industry takeover and other statist policies the government is pursuing is a modus operandi to transform America into a post Christian nation. What the majority party leaders seek is to subordinate traditional values like faith, family and personal responsibility and to elevate moral relativism, utilitarianism, narcissism and other secular values. We cannot allow them to do this.
Of course, these striking changes in government policy should not come as a big a surprise to most clear thinking Americans. This is because during his campaign for the Presidency, Barrack Hussein Obama often said that he intended to transform America while he studiously avoided saying just what it was he wanted to change. Regrettably, the mantra of unspecified change was good enough for far too many Americans.
Now it is patently clear what the President and the Democratic leadership plan to do to America and its citizens. What they envision is an America that looks more like the secular and socialistic countries of Europe and nothing at all like the traditional Christian values based country our founders established.
Any serious doubt about this euro-centric direction vanishes when you see that the major policy initiatives of the Obama administration are substantially identical to the statist big government policies followed by the dominant countries of the European Union. This administration’s policies concerning health care, abortion, same sex marriage, global warming and taxation are all in lock step with prevailing European Union policies.
Well, what is so wrong with coming back into the fold and returning to the values of Europe, the land where many of our ancestors hailed from? Well, to begin with today’s Europe is a world apart from the traditional Christian values based civilization of either our forefathers or the Europe which American soldiers died defending in World Wars I and II. Foundational American values like respect for life, traditional families and freedom of religion are on the wane in most of Europe.
Our Constitution’s Bill of Rights expressly protects the free exercise of religion. On the other hand, the Constitution of the European Union intentionally lacks any acknowledgment of the singularly important role that Christianity has had in shaping European civilization. While the ramifications of such a collective rejection of Europe’s Christian heritage is beyond the scope of this article, it suffices to say that our American Constitution and the European Union’s Constitution are oceans apart and America is much better off for it, thank you.
Therein lies the crux of the problem. President Obama and the leftist leadership of the Democratic party would like to build a statist bridge to take America down the path towards the European socialist welfare state.
However, to take America on this transformative journey, Democrat leaders will need to cajole more Americans into sacrificing their traditional values like faith, freedom and personal responsibility and, instead, get Americans to accept these new statist policies and leftist secular values. Faithful Catholics need to join together with increasing numbers of Americans who will oppose these efforts to transform America into a nation the Founders would scarcely recognize.
What Can Catholic Christians Do To Restore America’s Christian Values? With the Democrat leadership’s game plan now more obvious, the only questions unanswered are whether the Catholic faithful are prepared to fight for our country’s Christian heritage and, if so, how are we to wage that battle?
There are critically important actions we the Catholic faithful need to begin taking immediately to restore and preserve America’s Christian heritage for future generations. The strategies we need to pursue run the gamut and include ecclesial, cultural, economic, educational, legal and, most assuredly, political action. More will be said in the next issue in this series of articles; The Fight to Preserve America’s Christian Heritage.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Congressman Massa Tries To Torpedo Obama Healthcare Bill
by Mark Henry
Congressman Eric Massa resigned from office Monday night claiming that Democrat leaders pressured him to resign because he intended to vote “no” on the Senate’s controversial health bill. Massa’s resignation occurred after an ethics investigation into allegations of sexual harassment of staffers was made public.
Massa alleges that he was set-up by Democrat leaders who are desperate to reduce the number of yes votes needed to pass the health bill. Massa, a former Naval Commander, admits to using inappropriate "salty" language but that the remaining ethics charges are trumped up.
Last Sunday, on a Hornell, N.Y. radio program Massa spent 90 minutes attacking Democrat leaders including Majority Whip Steny Hoyer and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. In his comments, Massa lambasted Emanuel, calling him “the son of the devil's spawn" and said he would "strap his children to the front end of a steam locomotive" to get a vote passed through Congress.
Democrat leaders are doing the best to maintain a stiff upper lip and deny Massa’s allegations that they will do “whatever it takes” to pass the unpopular health bill, including destroying the career of one of their own party members. However, Massa’s story has marathon legs and is getting extensive coverage on the radio, television and online media. The story is not only garnering coverage from the predictable conservative programs but is also getting critical attention from leading left of center venues like the Huffington Post.
The details of former Congressmen Massa’s complaints of harsh tactics by Democrat leaders are interesting but not that important. The real story here is the emergence of a clear modus operandi of unseemly deal-making and Chicago thug like intimidation by Democrat leaders intent on doing whatever it takes to get this health insurance bill passed.
Massa is part of a group of centrist and blue dog Democrats who have come under fierce pressure to pass the health bills in the Senate and House. Democrat Bart Stupak has been critical of the Senate bills lack of prohibitions against federal funding of abortions. Others have criticized the Senate bill as an expensive first step towards an eventual takeover of the health insurance industry. Republicans have strongly criticized the Senate bill’s mandate that essentially all Americans purchase health insurance.
These problematic aspects of the health bills, along with the hardball tactics employed by Democratic leaders to win approval of fellow Democrats have resulted in this version of health reform being very unpopular with the majority of Americans.
Given the unpopularity of the health bills, many are wondering why the Democrat leadership is so doggedly determined to pass the bills.
Conservative Commentator Mark Steyn has opined that “Government health care is not about health care, it’s about government.” Steyn asserts that once socialized medicine is put into place it will be next to impossible to get rid of this new entitlement program. This will result in a fundamental change in America with the country having a new and likely permanent left of center entitlement based foundation.
The Senate bill’s encroachment by the federal government into health care insurance is contrary to the fundamental principle of Catholic social doctrine of subsidiarity. This important Church doctrine states that decisions are best made at a smaller, more local level, rather than issuing forth from a more distant centralized source. Subsidiarity is wholly consistent with principles of limited government and personal freedom. On the other hand, it stands squarely in opposition to the statist welfare state’s core tenets of top down, centralized bureaucratic planning.
With the extreme measures used by Democratic leaders to cajole cooperation by their rank and file, it should come as no surprise when a recalcitrant party member pivots, turns on their ex-leader and shouts out a critique or two as he is shoved out the door. Massa said that if he was forced to resign he would not go quietly.
Massa’s tour de force series of prime time interviews during which he rains down criticism on his party’s leadership may be the torpedo that hits the health insurance cruiser just below the waterline. The only question is whether the next command from Democrat leaders presently steering the ship of state will be "abandon ship" or "all hands on deck". Recent polls suggest that most Americans hope it is the former rather than the later.
Mark Henry is a Catholic writer, speaker and author of “Finish Faithful”, a how to guide on Catholic estate planning. He can be reached at mthenrysaz@gmail.com or http://markhenry-quovadis.blogspot.com/
Congressman Eric Massa resigned from office Monday night claiming that Democrat leaders pressured him to resign because he intended to vote “no” on the Senate’s controversial health bill. Massa’s resignation occurred after an ethics investigation into allegations of sexual harassment of staffers was made public.
Massa alleges that he was set-up by Democrat leaders who are desperate to reduce the number of yes votes needed to pass the health bill. Massa, a former Naval Commander, admits to using inappropriate "salty" language but that the remaining ethics charges are trumped up.
Last Sunday, on a Hornell, N.Y. radio program Massa spent 90 minutes attacking Democrat leaders including Majority Whip Steny Hoyer and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. In his comments, Massa lambasted Emanuel, calling him “the son of the devil's spawn" and said he would "strap his children to the front end of a steam locomotive" to get a vote passed through Congress.
Democrat leaders are doing the best to maintain a stiff upper lip and deny Massa’s allegations that they will do “whatever it takes” to pass the unpopular health bill, including destroying the career of one of their own party members. However, Massa’s story has marathon legs and is getting extensive coverage on the radio, television and online media. The story is not only garnering coverage from the predictable conservative programs but is also getting critical attention from leading left of center venues like the Huffington Post.
The details of former Congressmen Massa’s complaints of harsh tactics by Democrat leaders are interesting but not that important. The real story here is the emergence of a clear modus operandi of unseemly deal-making and Chicago thug like intimidation by Democrat leaders intent on doing whatever it takes to get this health insurance bill passed.
Massa is part of a group of centrist and blue dog Democrats who have come under fierce pressure to pass the health bills in the Senate and House. Democrat Bart Stupak has been critical of the Senate bills lack of prohibitions against federal funding of abortions. Others have criticized the Senate bill as an expensive first step towards an eventual takeover of the health insurance industry. Republicans have strongly criticized the Senate bill’s mandate that essentially all Americans purchase health insurance.
These problematic aspects of the health bills, along with the hardball tactics employed by Democratic leaders to win approval of fellow Democrats have resulted in this version of health reform being very unpopular with the majority of Americans.
Given the unpopularity of the health bills, many are wondering why the Democrat leadership is so doggedly determined to pass the bills.
Conservative Commentator Mark Steyn has opined that “Government health care is not about health care, it’s about government.” Steyn asserts that once socialized medicine is put into place it will be next to impossible to get rid of this new entitlement program. This will result in a fundamental change in America with the country having a new and likely permanent left of center entitlement based foundation.
The Senate bill’s encroachment by the federal government into health care insurance is contrary to the fundamental principle of Catholic social doctrine of subsidiarity. This important Church doctrine states that decisions are best made at a smaller, more local level, rather than issuing forth from a more distant centralized source. Subsidiarity is wholly consistent with principles of limited government and personal freedom. On the other hand, it stands squarely in opposition to the statist welfare state’s core tenets of top down, centralized bureaucratic planning.
With the extreme measures used by Democratic leaders to cajole cooperation by their rank and file, it should come as no surprise when a recalcitrant party member pivots, turns on their ex-leader and shouts out a critique or two as he is shoved out the door. Massa said that if he was forced to resign he would not go quietly.
Massa’s tour de force series of prime time interviews during which he rains down criticism on his party’s leadership may be the torpedo that hits the health insurance cruiser just below the waterline. The only question is whether the next command from Democrat leaders presently steering the ship of state will be "abandon ship" or "all hands on deck". Recent polls suggest that most Americans hope it is the former rather than the later.
Mark Henry is a Catholic writer, speaker and author of “Finish Faithful”, a how to guide on Catholic estate planning. He can be reached at mthenrysaz@gmail.com or http://markhenry-quovadis.blogspot.com/
Monday, February 15, 2010
Cogito Ergo Sum (I Think, Therefore I Am); Comatose Patients Think and Communicate
by Mark Henry
The medical world was stunned last week by a study published in a prestigious medical journal revealing that a number of patients diagnosed as being in a vegetative state could actually think and communicate. Experts are calling the study a “game changer” that will prompt changes in how patients in coma-like states will be treated in the future.
The study was evaluated in the February 3, 2010 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine in an article aptly titled “Cogito Ergo Sum (I think, therefore I am) by MRI”. Doctors scanned a man’s brain while asking him questions like “is your father’s name Thomas”. They were astonished when the results of the scan showed that the man was able to think “yes” or “no’ answers by consciously changing his brain activity.
The author of the article, Dr. Allan M. Roper, said that the findings will make it “difficult to tell families confidently that their unresponsive loved ones are not in there somewhere.”
This study is re-igniting a controversy in the Catholic pro-life community about the medical profession’s using diagnostic terms like “brain death”, “vegetative state” and “minimally conscious state” to justify denying life sustaining medical care to a patient. This controversy is not just about semantics as the use of such terms to describe a patient’s medical condition can be a life or death matter. This is because any one of these diagnosis’s can result in a patient’s death by dehydration, their organs being harvested or suffering another form of medically induced death.
Dr. Paul Byrne, organizer of the February 2009 Signs of Life Conference in Rome, has long been an opponent of the brain death standard. When interviewed for this article, Dr. Byrne pointed out that while official Catholic teachings prohibit the taking of a person’s vital organs before death there remains much support for the brain death criteria within the Vatican.
According to Dr. Byrne, for many decades now medical professionals have supported “brain death” as the standard for determining when a person has died and their organs can be removed. Among the many criticisms of the brain death standard is that a person can be pronounced dead even though their heart is beating, they are breathing, they can digest food and even carry a child to term.
To most of us, such a person would be considered alive. However, if such a person was in a coma then under prevailing medical practice this person could be pronounced “brain dead” and their organs could be removed. According to Dr. Byrne, an organ donor’s vital organs are usually removed without giving then anesthesia. To support his point that “brain dead” patients are not really dead, Dr. Byrne points out that doctors who remove organs from such patients often see the patient move, their heart beat jump and their blood pressure rise rapidly during the organ incision.
When medical workers see an unanaesthetized patient’s physical reaction to the removal of their organs it can traumatize them. For that reason, organ donors in the U.S. are often injected with a paralyzing drug to control the patient and reduce trauma to the medical staff. How's that for misdirected compassion?
In light of these and other revelations, the Vatican’s support for brain death may be changing. In September 2008, Professor Lucetta Scaraffia, Vice-President of the Italian Association for Science and Life and a member of the Italian National Committee on Bio-Ethics, wrote a front page article in the Vatican newspaper L’Observatore Romano that was highly critical of the brain death standard.
While such a writing is not by any stretch considered Magisterial teaching, it is an indicator that the Vatican may be reassessing its support of the brain death standard.
Bobby Schindler, brother of Terri Schindler Schiavo, also weighed in on this development. When I interviewed Schindler, he said the story adds to the growing evidence critical of the persistent vegetative state ("PVS") diagnosis. Schindler also voiced his objection to using the PVS standard when diagnosing and treating people with severe head injuries.
In the case of Schindler’s sister, Terri, Schindler said that the doctor’s diagnosis that she was in a persistent vegetative state paved the way for denying her food and water resulting in her tragic death by dehydration.
The New England Journal of Medicine’s article will hopefully trigger a groundswell of support to change how doctor’s diagnose and treat people with serious brain injuries. This study will certainly be welcome news for families who have compassionately cared for brain injured loved ones in the face of a medical establishment that far too often treats these patients and their families cavalierly, without empathy and without the medical attention they need and deserve.
During the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop's annual meeting in 2009, the Bishops commendably adopted new guidelines requiring the provision of nutrition and hydration to patients in a persistent vegetative state. Let us hope and pray that this study discussed in the New England Journal of Medicine will be a light on the path to encourage the Church to continue further down this road and adopt new policies that protect helpless brain injured persons who desperately need the Church to be a vocal moral ally in their corner.
The Church could advance the Culture of Life by voicing disapproval of the medical establishment’s harsh approaches to dealing with people who are diagnosed as brain dead, in a persistent vegetative state or who are minimally conscious. A good starting point would be Magisterial teaching which categorically rejects the morally bankrupt “brain death” criteria and expunges the dehumanizing phrase “vegetative state" from Catholic health care lexicon.
The medical world was stunned last week by a study published in a prestigious medical journal revealing that a number of patients diagnosed as being in a vegetative state could actually think and communicate. Experts are calling the study a “game changer” that will prompt changes in how patients in coma-like states will be treated in the future.
The study was evaluated in the February 3, 2010 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine in an article aptly titled “Cogito Ergo Sum (I think, therefore I am) by MRI”. Doctors scanned a man’s brain while asking him questions like “is your father’s name Thomas”. They were astonished when the results of the scan showed that the man was able to think “yes” or “no’ answers by consciously changing his brain activity.
The author of the article, Dr. Allan M. Roper, said that the findings will make it “difficult to tell families confidently that their unresponsive loved ones are not in there somewhere.”
This study is re-igniting a controversy in the Catholic pro-life community about the medical profession’s using diagnostic terms like “brain death”, “vegetative state” and “minimally conscious state” to justify denying life sustaining medical care to a patient. This controversy is not just about semantics as the use of such terms to describe a patient’s medical condition can be a life or death matter. This is because any one of these diagnosis’s can result in a patient’s death by dehydration, their organs being harvested or suffering another form of medically induced death.
Dr. Paul Byrne, organizer of the February 2009 Signs of Life Conference in Rome, has long been an opponent of the brain death standard. When interviewed for this article, Dr. Byrne pointed out that while official Catholic teachings prohibit the taking of a person’s vital organs before death there remains much support for the brain death criteria within the Vatican.
According to Dr. Byrne, for many decades now medical professionals have supported “brain death” as the standard for determining when a person has died and their organs can be removed. Among the many criticisms of the brain death standard is that a person can be pronounced dead even though their heart is beating, they are breathing, they can digest food and even carry a child to term.
To most of us, such a person would be considered alive. However, if such a person was in a coma then under prevailing medical practice this person could be pronounced “brain dead” and their organs could be removed. According to Dr. Byrne, an organ donor’s vital organs are usually removed without giving then anesthesia. To support his point that “brain dead” patients are not really dead, Dr. Byrne points out that doctors who remove organs from such patients often see the patient move, their heart beat jump and their blood pressure rise rapidly during the organ incision.
When medical workers see an unanaesthetized patient’s physical reaction to the removal of their organs it can traumatize them. For that reason, organ donors in the U.S. are often injected with a paralyzing drug to control the patient and reduce trauma to the medical staff. How's that for misdirected compassion?
In light of these and other revelations, the Vatican’s support for brain death may be changing. In September 2008, Professor Lucetta Scaraffia, Vice-President of the Italian Association for Science and Life and a member of the Italian National Committee on Bio-Ethics, wrote a front page article in the Vatican newspaper L’Observatore Romano that was highly critical of the brain death standard.
While such a writing is not by any stretch considered Magisterial teaching, it is an indicator that the Vatican may be reassessing its support of the brain death standard.
Bobby Schindler, brother of Terri Schindler Schiavo, also weighed in on this development. When I interviewed Schindler, he said the story adds to the growing evidence critical of the persistent vegetative state ("PVS") diagnosis. Schindler also voiced his objection to using the PVS standard when diagnosing and treating people with severe head injuries.
In the case of Schindler’s sister, Terri, Schindler said that the doctor’s diagnosis that she was in a persistent vegetative state paved the way for denying her food and water resulting in her tragic death by dehydration.
The New England Journal of Medicine’s article will hopefully trigger a groundswell of support to change how doctor’s diagnose and treat people with serious brain injuries. This study will certainly be welcome news for families who have compassionately cared for brain injured loved ones in the face of a medical establishment that far too often treats these patients and their families cavalierly, without empathy and without the medical attention they need and deserve.
During the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop's annual meeting in 2009, the Bishops commendably adopted new guidelines requiring the provision of nutrition and hydration to patients in a persistent vegetative state. Let us hope and pray that this study discussed in the New England Journal of Medicine will be a light on the path to encourage the Church to continue further down this road and adopt new policies that protect helpless brain injured persons who desperately need the Church to be a vocal moral ally in their corner.
The Church could advance the Culture of Life by voicing disapproval of the medical establishment’s harsh approaches to dealing with people who are diagnosed as brain dead, in a persistent vegetative state or who are minimally conscious. A good starting point would be Magisterial teaching which categorically rejects the morally bankrupt “brain death” criteria and expunges the dehumanizing phrase “vegetative state" from Catholic health care lexicon.
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