Washington D.C., Oct 16, 2016 / 12:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- As Planned Parenthood celebrates the centennial of the opening of its first birth control clinic, pro-life leaders are condemning the abuses of the nation’s largest abortion provider. &l... Read more

Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Dec 22, 2016 / 03:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Fr. Donald Calloway could give St. Augustine a run for his money, in terms of dramatic conversion stories. In a recent Vimeo video produced by Spirit Juice Studios and the Knights of Columbus, Fr. Calloway recalled his radical transformation from atheist, drug-addicted high school dropout to Catholic priest. The child of a military family, Donald (his family called him Donnie), moved from Virginia to Southern California with his parents at the age of 10. He was enticed by the lifestyle of Southern California, and by the age of 13, was living solely for pleasure, a pursuit that would eventually lead to a downward spiral landing him in rehab, jail, and with suicidal thoughts. When his dad announced one day that the family would be moving to Japan, Donnie became “enraged” at the thought of leaving. Once in Japan, Donnie sought out friends who were into the same things he was. Those friends soon became his connection to the Japanese mafia organization called the yakuza.  “I was a little Caucasian boy that they could fill up my backpack with all these drugs and money, to run to different casinos on the big island of Honshu, the main island of Japan,” he recalled in the video. Donnie was wanted by the Japanese government and the United States government, including the U.S. military presence in Japan.   “They literally kicked me out of the country with two military police officers handcuffed at my feet and my hands, and I was released into the custody of my father,” he said.   Donnie was placed into a rehabilitation center, but relapsed immediately after he was released. At that point in his life, happiness was equivalent to feeling good, which meant never coming down from being high. He tried to never be sober. Occasionally he would wonder about the meaning of life, but it was always in terms of achieving and maintaining the high of those experiences, it wasn’t in a religious context. Then one night, an almost-21-year-old Donnie was spending a quiet night at home in his room. Without the distraction of music or the noises of a party, his thoughts soon turned dark - to panic and suicide. Looking for a diversion, he grabbed a random book from his parent’s bookshelf, which happened to be about Marian apparitions. Although his mother was a devout Catholic, he had rejected religion for so long that he had no idea who the Blessed Virgin Mary was. But he started reading, and he was hooked. “It talked about a beautiful woman named Mary who was the mother of Jesus, and that she was beautiful, so beautiful that she would make little children cry and fall on their knees because of her femininity and her loveliness. That fascinated me,” he said.   “I think God used the beauty of the Virgin Mary to get me, and it was a brilliant method because it worked. I read the whole book in one night, and that began my radical falling in love with Jesus Christ.” In his book “No Turning Back: A Witness to Mercy”, Fr. Donald recalls what happened the next morning. Barely able to spit out his experience to his mom, because of his embarrassment and lack of religious vocabulary, he eventually convinced her that he had had a sincere religious experience. She immediately started calling every priest she could think of that would meet with her son. But it was just after 6 a.m., and most priests were not awake, or were not up for a very early morning appointment. “...the priest did not comprehend the urgency of the situation — the need for a meeting at 6:30 a.m., with no prior notice. In his mind, what could be so important that it couldn't wait a couple of hours? Unwilling to give up so easily, my mother called a second priest but got much the same response. ‘Can we put off the meeting until 8:30 or 9:00 a.m.?’ he asked.” “As she was dialing a third priest, I interrupted and said, ‘Mom, isn't there one of those ... .’ My voice trailing off much as it did before. I didn't even know what to call it. We were living at Norfolk Naval Air Station, and I didn't know if the place I was thinking of was called a church or a chapel. I said, ‘Isn't there one of those things just inside the main gate?’” he recalled in his book. “Understanding what I was referring to, she looked me right in the eye and said, ‘Yes, Donnie. Run!’” Soon after, he was able to meet with a priest, who invited him to come and watch him celebrate Mass. After Mass, the priest gave Donnie a painting of Jesus. “I was shocked that (Jesus) was not looking at me like he was going to crush me. The image was of him in a gesture of blessing. I began to cry. I realized that I was loved and that I was wanted by God,” he said. Eventually, Donnie became a priest with the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. He often travels to speak about his remarkable conversion story. “I often tell people that I’m Exhibit A of Divine Mercy - it works. I’ve done so many bad things and hurt so many people, and yet there’s mercy for someone like me. And if that’s true, and it is, then the whole world, there’s an ocean of mercy waiting for us,” he said.   “Jesus loves you, and he came for you. God is madly in love with you, he’s longing for your friendship, he’s panting for your heart. Give it to him, and trust in him.”   This article was originally published on CNA Oct. 15, 2016. Read more

Philadelphia, Pa., Oct 14, 2016 / 05:53 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Charles J. Chaput did not enjoy his first and only encounter with two leaders of Catholics United.   “It was an interesting experience,” Archbishop Chaput recounted in his Oct. 13 column for Catholic Philly magazine. “Both men were obvious flacks for the Obama campaign and the Democratic Party – creatures of a political machine, not men of the Church; less concerned with Catholic teaching than with its influence,” he said. “And presumably (for them) bishops were dumb enough to be used as tools, or at least prevented from helping the other side.” Right now the group is in the news after being mentioned in a leak of emails published by the anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks. The Feb. 10-11, 2012 emails were reputedly hacked from the account of John Podesta, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s current campaign manager, former chief of staff for President Bill Clinton, and past president of the Center for American Progress think tank. Sandy Newman, president of the progressive organization Voices for Progress, wrote Podesta about the controversy over Catholic resistance to the Obama administration’s then-new rule mandating insurance plan coverage of contraceptives, including some drugs that can cause abortions. For Newman, a longtime political actor who once hired a young Barack Obama for a voter registration project in Illinois in 1993, the controversy appeared to be a chance to foment revolution within the Church. “There needs to be a Catholic Spring, in which Catholics themselves demand the end of a middle ages dictatorship and the beginning of a little democracy and respect for gender equality in the Catholic church,” Newman suggested to Podesta. “Even if the idea isn't crazy, I don't qualify to be involved and I have not thought at all about how one would ‘plant the seeds of the revolution,’ or who would plant them,” Newman added. “Just wondering…” To this email, Podesta responded: “We created Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good to organize for a moment like this. But I think it lacks the leadership to do so now. Likewise Catholics United,” Podesta replied, according to the email. “Like most Spring movements, I think this one will have to be bottom up.” Podesta suggested consultation with Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, former Lt. Governor of Maryland and daughter of Robert F. Kennedy. In his column, Archbishop Chaput recounted his visit from two young men from Catholics United just weeks before the 2008 presidential election between Barack Obama and John McCain. The two men “voiced great concern at the manipulative skill of Catholic agents for the Republican Party,” Archbishop Chaput reported. “And they hoped my brother bishops and I would resist identifying the Church with single-issue and partisan (read: abortion) politics.” “Yet these two young men not only equaled but surpassed their Republican cousins in the talents of servile partisan hustling,” the archbishop charged. “Thanks to their work, and activists like them, American Catholics helped to elect an administration that has been the most stubbornly unfriendly to religious believers, institutions, concerns and liberty in generations.” “I never saw either young man again. The cultural damage done by the current White House has – apparently — made courting America’s bishops unnecessary,” the archbishop lamented. “But bad can always get worse.” The archbishop noted other emails in the leak showing staffers at the Center for American Progress insulting Catholics and Catholic converts, claiming they “must be attracted to the systematic thought and severely backwards gender relations and must be totally unaware of Christian democracy.” He cited a letter from a nationally prominent non-Catholic attorney experienced in Church-State relations. The attorney declared the emails “some of the worst bigotry by a political machine I have seen… (a) Church has an absolute right to protect itself when under attack as a faith and Church by civil political forces.” He suggested it would be nice if former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton repudiated its content: “All of us backward-thinking Catholics who actually believe what Scripture and the Church teach would be so very grateful.” Yet Archbishop Chaput appeared no friendlier to Clinton’s leading rival. He recounted a friend’s description of the leading political candidates: “A vulgar, boorish lout and disrespecter of women, with a serious impulse control problem; or a scheming, robotic liar with a lifelong appetite for power and an entourage riddled with anti-Catholic bigots.” The archbishop lamented that in a country where the concept of choice is “the unofficial state religion,” the menu is “remarkably small.” His unnamed attorney interlocutor also reflected on the state of the country, saying that before the leaks there was been “strong evidence” of the current administration’s hostility to religious organizations. “Now there is clear proof that this approach is deliberate and will accelerate if these actors have any continuing, let alone louder, say in government,” the attorney said, according to the archbishop’s column. The attorney charged there is an active strategy to shape Catholicism into the religion the political leaders wish. “Look where we are now. We have political actors trying to orchestrate a coup to destroy Catholic values, and they even analogize their takeover to a coup in the Middle East, which amplifies their bigotry and hatred of the Church,” the attorney said. After 2008, Catholics United would go on to run efforts in Colorado and in Pennsylvania critical of the Catholic Church. It would also go on to take funding from the Gill Foundation of Tim Gill, a politically savvy Colorado-based millionaire businessman, and from the Arcus Foundation of billionaire heir Jon Stryker. Both men are deeply influential LGBT activists involved in funding Catholic dissenting groups and efforts to restrict religious freedom they consider discriminatory. Catholics United’s aligned organization, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, received hundreds of thousands of dollars from billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundations from 2006-2010. Read more

Phoenix, Ariz., Oct 14, 2016 / 02:36 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- When the Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010, it immediately prompted concerns about freedom of conscience. From this seemingly adverse situation sprouted a new cost-sharing organization, Solidarity HealthShare, which aims to place Catholic values, the common good, and affordable healthcare at the center of its mission. “The inspiration of it was when the Affordable Care Act was passed. Some Catholic leaders in Phoenix realized that our religious liberty and our consciences were going to be violated if Catholics had to follow these mandates,” the company’s CEO Bradley Hahn told CNA. “So that kind of led the journey to find an ethical and affordable way to pay for medical costs,” Hahn continued. The Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010. It includes a mandate from the Department of Health and Human Services requiring insurance plans to fund contraception, sterilizations and early abortion pills. The mandate has prompted lawsuits from more than 300 plaintiffs, including companies, non-profits, U.S. states, and individuals who say that it violates their religious beliefs. Many of these lawsuits are still in the process of litigation. In response to religious freedom concerns – as well as concerns about rising insurance costs – some Americans began turning to health care-share organizations, which have grown in popularity over the past few years. Solidarity HealthShare, based in Phoenix, Arizona, was founded in 2012 in conjunction with a pre-existing healthshare group called Melita Christian Fellowship Hospital Aid Plan. Solidarity HealthShare facilitates health-sharing among individuals and families across the country, who are looking to opt out of traditional healthcare for a more ethical and faith-centered option. Solidarity HealthShare is not health insurance. Rather, it is a ministry intended to share the financial burden of those who pay for their own healthcare through voluntary, financial sharing of eligible medical costs between its members. Rather than paying premiums to an insurance company, every member pays a monthly “share,” which is directly matched to another member’s medical bills. Solidarity HealthShare is a non-profit organization and exempt from federal regulations, protecting it from the contraception mandate. Its members are also exempt from a separate mandate requiring individuals to purchase health insurance. Since their official launch last week, Solidarity HealthShare has gained about 50 members in total, but Hahn expressed that they are looking to “add about a thousand members in the next couple of months.” Although they began taking members in July, Solidarity HealthShare didn’t formally launch until Oct. 4. Within a week, there was an incredible outpouring of support for Solidarity HealthShare. Hahn said “the response from Catholics across the country has been very incredibly positive and grateful that Catholics now have an option that's available to them.” Solidarity HealthShare welcomes any members who agree with the “moral, ethical teachings of the Catholic Church,” Hahn noted, saying that the whole backbone of the organization is founded upon the Catholic Church’s teachings. The namesake of the organization points to the Catholic Church’s teachings on solidarity, Hahn explained, saying “we aren’t just committed to ourselves, we are committed to the common good and to help others.” Hahn also said that the idea behind solidarity encompasses problem-solving at the lowest level possible. In this case, Solidarity HealthShare is aiming to “restore that relationship where the doctor and the patient decide what is best for medical care.” Following their launch, Solidarity HealthShare is looking forward to gaining more members and spreading the word about alternative health care sharing through evangelization. “We want to use Solidarity as an evangelization tool. We want to reach out to other groups and ministries to help basically catechize and explain why certain medical procedures are objectionable morally,” Hahn stated. “We want to use Solidarity more as an outreach so we can educate everyone, because the healthcare system touches everybody.” Read more