R. J. Grigaitis

Dear Friend,

The UN will celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights this December 10th.

To celebrate this occasion, radical pro-abortion groups intend to present the UN General Assembly with petitions calling for a universal right to abortion.

The largest, richest and most powerful pro-abortion groups are even now planning their attack on the unborn at the General Assembly.

Campaigns are being waged right now by International Planned Parenthood Federation and Maire Stopes International, the two groups responsible for more abortions than any other groups in the world. Both are beloved of the powers that be at the UN; and their efforts to promote an international right to abortion are welcomed by many UN Member States, perhaps most of the UN bureaucracy, and powerful US foundations that give millions to promote abortion at the UN and around the world.

We must stop them this December.

I am writing to ask you to sign a petition calling on UN Members States to interpret the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as protecting the unborn child from abortion. Did you know that the Universal Declaration calls for a right to life? Did you know that UN committees now interpret that as a right to abortion? We can stop them.

Please go HERE to sign the petition which we will present at the UN on December 10th, the celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. At the very least we must match what the pro-abortion advocates will present to the UN that day! They will present thousands and thousands of names. WE MUST MATCH THEM!

Go HERE to sign the petition and then please send this email to all of your family and friends. Our goal is to present 50,000+ names to the General Assembly. We need your help right now to block the pro-aborts from making huge progress for abortion at the UN.

We are going to run this campaign for the next six weeks. There is plenty of time to get this petition to everyone in your address book and all around the world. This is an international right. Please help us now.

Imagine the look on their faces when we slam down 50,000 names! Be a part of that. Sign the petition HERE and send this all over the world.

Yours sincerely,

Austin Ruse
President
C-FAM
(The only pro-life group working exclusively on UN social policy)

At the close of their 2008 Plenary Assembly which met in Cornwall, 22-26 September, the Bishops of Canada issued a pastoral letter, titled “Liberating Potential”, which invites all the faithful “to discover or rediscover,” the message of the Encyclical Humanae Vitae, issued by Pope Paul VI in 1968.

http://www.cccb.ca/site/images/stories/pdf/humanae_vitae_en.pdf

I got this link from Adele:

http://www.narth.com

This looks like a good association; however, they shouldn’t be using the word homosexuality.  Some people have a disorder called Same Sex Attraction, but no one is homosexual.

This is a must read for all Canadian Catholics:

http://www.cccb.ca/site/images/stories/pdf/election_2008_en.pdf

I really like the first sentence of paragraph 13:

In addition, the principle of choosing “the lesser evil” may also apply.

Remember that both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition were so-called “Catholic” when abortion was legalised in Canada.

On the Memorial of St. John Chrysostom, I will tell you about an abuse I witnessed during his Divine Liturgy (actually, there were a couple of abuses, but I’ll just tell you about one). This summer I attended a Divine Liturgy that was celebrated in a Latin Rite chapel. I’m pretty sure everyone there was Latin Rite except for the presiding Byzantine priest. To help us Romans through the Byzantine Liturgy, some little books were handed out. I’m familiar with these little books because my fiancée’s parish uses them. They were The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom published by the Synod of the Hierarchy of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.

The Liturgy unfolded as I was more or less accustomed to, until we came to the Nicene Creed. Everyone was of course following the little books because Canadian Roman Catholics say the Apostles’ Creed in Mass (praying the Chaplet of Belief is a good way to learn the Nicene Creed). Something very strange happened when we got to the line, “For us men and for out salvation.” The word “men” in my book was scribbled out, and I assume it was scribbled out in everyone else’s book because I was the only one that said, “us men.”

I’ve witnessed this kind of abuse in the Latin Rite a couple of times by the odd person in the congregation, but never in the Byzantine Rite, and never the whole congregation.

The cause of this abuse is so-called feminism (read Am I a Chauvinist? Are Feminists Feminine?). The phrase “us men” (nos hómines) is used in the inclusive sense to mean all men, male and female. To leave out the word men is not only an abuse of the Liturgy, it demonstrates  an ignorance of the English language (read Is “Inclusive Language” Inclusive?).

I wouldn’t be surprised if the next edition of these little books will leave out the phrase “and the Son” in the line “who proceeds from the Father [and the Son],” but such a change would be entirely historically and theologically correct. However, the word men in the line “For us men and for out salvation” will always remain in the Liturgy, despite the efforts of the so-called feminists, because the Catholic Church is not, and never will become, sexist.

I knew they had there own Code of Canon Law, but I didn’t know these specifics:

Q: Many Catholics don’t know that Eastern Churches have their own Code of Canon Law. What sort of differences are there between the two codes?

Vere: Many of the individual canons are similar, or in some cases even the same, but there are some significant differences. For example, for a marriage to be valid under the Eastern code, the couple must receive the blessing of the priest. This excludes deacons from presiding over marriages except in an emergency. On the other hand, nothing in the Latin code stops the deacon from acting as a qualified witness.

Another key difference, which again concerns marriage, is that a godparent cannot marry a godchild in the East. So a fiancée could not sponsor a non-Catholic fiancée into the Church under the Eastern Code, whereas there is no such prohibition in the West. There are also a few structural differences — the Latin Code is divided into seven books, whereas the Eastern Code is divided into 30 titles. And, of course, the terminology often differs between the two codes to account for the different spiritual patrimonies.

That being said, the most profound difference, in my opinion, is the treatment of our Eastern Catholic Churches. Notice I said “Churches” and not “Rites.” To me this denotes a profound shift in ecclesiology, that is, the Church’s theology of what it is to be a Church. This is important because how one understands the Church as an entity will affect how one interprets the Church’s law.

The Latin Code, promulgated in 1983, still treated our Eastern Catholic brethren as members of rites. In other words, Eastern Catholics were seen as an extension of the Latin Catholic Church, but with slightly different liturgies and customs, and in some parts of the world, their own hierarchy.

By using the expression “Churches sui iuris” in the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO), that is to say Churches of their own authority, the 1990 Eastern code recognized that Eastern Catholics belonged to their own Churches, each with its own distinctive spiritual patrimony, that exist in full communion with Rome and the Latin Church. Together, these Churches make up the universal Church.

And in the end, this is why Michael and I felt it important to include a chapter about the CCEO in “Surprised by Canon Law Volume II.” Although our spiritual patrimonies may differ somewhat between Churches “sui iuris,” we exist in full communion with each other, sharing the same mission, which is the salvation and sanctification of souls.

You can read the rest here:
http://www.zenit.org/rssenglish-23587

I’m sorry I didn’t get this to you sooner, but I’ve got a new page on my website:

http://grigaitis.net/?doc=tob/ustream.html

These are videos by Fr. Thomas Loya that go through the Theology of the Body. You can catch up by watching the videos for May 14th and June 11th, then join him live on September 10th. You can log in and chat live with Sr. Helena Burns who can relay questions to Fr. Thomas.

June 29, 2008

Pope Benedict XVI
The Apostolic Palace,
00120 Vatican City, Europe

Your Holiness,

It is very fitting that I write this letter to you today on the great Solemnity of St. Peter and  St. Paul. It is fitting because, although I can in no way compare myself to St. Paul, I am willing to correct Peter when he is wrong. I would never question you on an issue of faith and morals, but you have erred on an issue of psychiatry, of which I have a little knowledge because I have been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder.

It was in the following paragraph from your June 25, 2008 Wednesday General Audience that you erred:

However, the problem arises: Does not one end in this way in a sort of dualism? Is not one faced with affirming two complete personalities with reason, will, sentiment? How can this dualism be overcome? How can the completeness of the human being be preserved while protecting the unity of the person of Christ, who was not schizophrenic?

I believe that you did not mean to say that Christ did not have schizophrenia, but that He did not have dissociative identity disorder, also known as multiple personality disorder. Schizophrenia is often confused with dissociative identity disorder, and in some rare cases a person may have both disorders, but they are two very different disorders. A person with dissociative identity disorder will display multiple distinct identities or personalities, whereas a person with schizophrenia will have impairments in the
perception or expression of reality.

Most schizophrenics do not experience any sort of dualism in their identity or personality. My illness and the anti-psychotic drugs to control it have affected my personality; however, like most schizophrenics, I have always had one identity or personality.

All of my psychotic symptoms have been under control for a number of years, although I do suffer from the side affects of the drugs that control these symptoms. I very willingly accept my suffering by uniting it with Christ’s suffering, and it has afforded me time to devote to Christ and His Church. I have written a book about my illness, Bricks & Barbwire, and have published much of my theological work on my website
(http://grigaitis.net).

I very much appreciate your work and teaching, and I in no way want to admonish you. I just want to point out that by misusing the term schizophrenic, you may offend some people that desperately need to hear your message.

I remain your most humble servant,
R. J. Grigaitis, S.F.O.