By refusing to defend DOMA, the White House fails to defend and enforce the law of the United States, taking upon itself the authority to override laws which have been passed by Congress, to override laws which represent the people of the United States.
In November of 2006, 59% of the voters in Wisconsin approved an amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution that would ban same-sex marriage or any substantially similar legal status. The people of Wisconsin had spoken, and gay marriage was banned in Wisconsin.
Aside: To complicate things, her ruling did not remove the ban; it simply declared the ban unconstitutional. When hopeful county clerks in Madison began issuing marriage licenses to hopeful same-sex couples, Judge Crabb had to restate the fact that she had not issued an injunction allowing marriage licenses to be issued. Gay marriage was still “on hold” in Wisconsin.
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Background on this Judge
Judge Crabb was appointed by Democrat President Jimmy Carter in 1979, and “unexpectedly” took on Senior Status in 2009 with President Obama’s approval. Her stated intent for switching to Senior Status was to continue her work for the court while opening up a position for another federal judge.
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Information sources Judgepedia and Wikipedia reveal that the transition was a surprising one: …………………….
BEFORE the switch: Judge Crabb made no noteworthy judicial rulings during her 30 year tenure as Federal Judge from 1979 to 2009. Not one ruling was important enough to be noted by Judgepedia or Wikipedia.
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AFTER the switch: She has made four extremely controversial, progressive, headline-making rulings in four years:
2009 – Judge Crabb ruled that the Wisconsin Judicial Commission’s code of judicial conduct, which restricts political activism by judges, was unconstitutional. Translation: Judges no longer have to behave impartially; they are now free to donate to political campaigns and to support political candidates.
2010 – Judge Crabb ruled in favor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s claim that the National Day of Prayer was unconstitutional. (This decision was reversed unanimously by a federal appellate court in 2011 due to lack of standing.)
Judge Crabb’s surprising transition to controversial and obviously “progressive” rulings invites speculation.
Do Judge Crabb’s recent progressive rulings reflect an impartial legal judgement?
Her rulings seem to reflect instead a prejudice that has little to do with logic or the law.
Is Judge Crabb’s prejudice philosophical? Religious? Personal?
Tipping the Scales
Could the Judge have been conscripted by a progressive organization such as the Freedom From Religion Foundation, in whose favor she has ruled more than once, and which represents only 1 per thousand atheists and one per 30,000 Americans?
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Could it be that the Obama Administration recruited her to help with its progressive agenda, including President Obama’s efforts to promote the gay agenda?
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What’s in it for Judge Crabb?
Why would a Judge suddenly make time for progressive controversial rulings?
Is anybody paying her, or rewarding her by some alternate means?
Regardless of her motivation, Judge Crabb started her progressive campaign with the most controversial ruling– eliminating for the first time the requirement that Judges behave impartially.
This set the stage for the chaotic rulings that followed.
What Is A Judge If Not Impartial?
A judge is a person who has the power to make decisions on cases brought before a court of law.
It is assumed that a judge rules fairly, impartially, and consistently with the rule of law.
The Wisconsin Judicial Commission’s code of judicial conduct spelled that out.
But Judge Crabb took it upon herself to reverse this requirement of a judge to be impartial.
THE QUEEN OF HEARTS from Alice in Wonderland
Such a decree, eliminating the requirement of impartiality for Judges, invalidates the purpose of the entire court system, and plunges society into a free-for-all-power-grab in which anyone who can bribe one judge wins.
The idea that one Judge could single-handedly make such a fundamental change in the functioning of American government is most disturbing.
The suggestion that a Judge who supports Planned Parenthood and Pro-Abortion political candidates publicly and financially could make impartial decisions on abortion as Judge is naive and unprofessional.
People who cannot limit their personal political activity in deference to the position of public trust that they hold as Judges are, by definition, not sufficiently impartial to hold the position of a Judge.
More Prejudiced Judgements (Progressive Proclamations)
Having set the stage with her first decision, having declared her right to rule without impartiality by Progressive Proclamation, Judge Crabb then went to town with subsequent prejudiced progressive proclamations, culminating now with her attempt to reverse Wisconsin’s same sex marriage ban.
Judge Crabb’s behavior since 2009 is reminiscent of the Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland), the ultimate parody of impulsive and irresponsible authority.
Little did the nation know that the upside-down world of Alice in Wonderland, in which logic and even the laws of gravity are often reversed, would soon be the norm coming out of the White House and it’s progressive appointees. (See also Embarrassing Women.)
The Judge’s Logic
Judge Crabb outlined the logic behind her reversal of the gay marriage ban:
The Judge first emphasized that the right of homosexuals to enter into a marriage contract is not related to religious teaching, to the morality of such unions, or to the ability of gay partners to maintain a marriage relationship or to raise children.
Then the Judge stated that the right of homosexuals to marry is related to liberty and equality, two cornerstones of the rights protected by the United States Constitution.
This case is not about whether marriages between same-sex couples are consistent or inconsistent with the teachings of a particular religion, whether such marriages are moral or immoral or whether they are something that should be encouraged or discouraged. It is not even about whether the plaintiffs in this case are as capable as opposite-sex couples of maintaining a committed and loving relationship or raising a family together. Quite simply, this case is about liberty and equality the two cornerstones of the rights protected by the United States Constitution.
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The Fault in the Judge’s Logic
Judge Crabb’s logic is faulty.
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Her first point above argues that the right of homosexuals to enter a marriage contract is not related to their ability to fulfill that contract. .
Yet ALL legal contracts are not only related to the person’s ability to fulfill the contract, but are dependent upon the person’s ability to fulfill the contract:
Underage people cannot drive.
People with poor eyesight cannot be airplane pilots.
People without necessary qualifications cannot teach, cannot design bridges, practice at hospitals, or become police officers.
The Judge’s second point, that the right to marry is related to liberty and equality also fails the logic test.
ALL citizens in the United States are allowed to marry, to marry a person of the opposite sex, in the manner that marriage has been defined by, globally by all cultures for millennia.
The question here is whether a court has the right to redefine marriage, and what the legal consequences of such a redefinition could be.
Judge Crabb seems to have missed this fact, as she does not discuss the right of the court to redefine marriage, nor the legal implications of such a redefinition in her ruling.
It did not surprise me when I found a much better, more logical analysis of the legality of gay marriage in my Catholic Parish’s Sunday bulletin. The article was not written by a lawyer, nor by a judge, but by a Catholic priest, a Monsignor.
The answer came from my favorite Monsignor, the Pastor and Rector of my parish, Madison’s Cathedral Parish- Monsignor Kevin Holmes.
Monsignor Holmes was born in Janesville, WI, holds graduate degrees in Philosophy from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and studied for the priesthood a the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium.
Monsignor Holmes addressed the two most pertinent questions:
Why Does the State Involve Itself with Regulating Marriage
and
Why Don’t Gays Have the Necessary Qualifications for Marriage?
Here is Monsignor Holmes’ very logical analysis of why there are legitimate reasons to restrict marriage to persons of opposite sex:
(from the Cathedral Parish Sunday bulletin, June 15, 2014)
From The Monsignor:
Dear Friends in Christ:
I feel compelled today to return to the topic of marriage, and the recent decision of Judge Crabb that Wisconsin lacks a “legitimate reason” to restrict marriage to persons of opposite sex.
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I could say much about that in theological terms, citing the plan of the Creator. Those are important points to make, but here I want to restrict my argument to one based on reason – the kind of argument that a civil court can and ought to recognize.
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What “legitimate reason” could the State have for defining marriage as a heterosexual relationship? There is an important prior question: Why does the State take an interest in marriage at all? Marriage confers recognition and certain benefits on adult persons who choose to enter a permanent and exclusive intimate relationship with each other. Why should the State take an interest in that?
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On what basis should the State of Wisconsin prefer stable, long-term sexual relationships over multiple episodic sexual encounters? Why should the State “legislate morality” in this way? Doesn’t the State recognition of marriage deny “equal protection” (as to taxation, for example) to the sexually promiscuous? In the contemporary climate, it could plausibly be argued that all laws about marriage are unconstitutional for discriminating against those who are averse to commitment . . . unless the State has a “legitimate interest” in preferring stable sexual relationships.
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Does the State have any rational basis for that preference? Sure it does: the fact that the sexual relationship between a man and woman can produce children. The State has an objective, non-sectarian interest in promoting a new generation of healthy and virtuous citizens, as well as an interest in having children supported as to their basic needs (food, shelter) by those who are rightly responsible for them. For this reason, the State has a legitimate reason for encouraging heterosexual couples to remain in a permanent union, and it rightly recognizes and privileges marriage, which is that relationship.
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For the same reason, the State formerly had laws to protect the stability of marriage. There were laws against adultery. And in a case of marital infidelity, only the innocent party could obtain a divorce. A couple of generations ago, our demand for sexual license led the State to abdicate any responsibility to protect the stability of marriage, and now we have “no-fault divorce,” unfailingly granted at the request of either party with no justification required. I think a very good case can be made that the State’s refusal to protect the stability of marriage has been very detrimental to the culture. And if the State forgets even what marriage is, it will be far worse.
Msgr. Kevin D. Holmes
So There We Have It-
Monsignor Logic Versus Activist Judge Logic.
Despite the fact that Catholicism is the largest religion in Madison, in Wisconsin and in the United States, Madison’s Wisconsin Sate Journal (WSJ) did not report on the historical global holy hour. Clearly hostile to Catholicism, WSJ prefers to report on Catholic dissidents, often on as few as two of them, rather than to report on thousands of Madisonians participating in a historical global prayer effort.
Historic Event of Biblical Proportions
The image of the entire world kneeling in adoration of Our Lord, led by the Pope, imploring God’s assistance, presents a picture of historical and Biblical significance. It calls to mind events such as God’s call of Nineveh to repentance, or the miraculous Christian victory at the Battle of Lepanto, attributed to God’s intervention after massive prayer of the Rosary.
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The assembly of all Catholics in simultaneous global prayer represents no small effort. There are about 1.2 billion Catholics in the world, and about 2,800 Catholic dioceses, so the number of people participating in this global holy hour was likely in the millions. Pope Francis requested feedback on participation, so details on participation may soon be available.
Rome Reports:
Putting Religion into Context in 2013
The secular (non-religious) “progressive” world, i.e. Madison’s Wisconsin State Journal’s (WSJ) world, despite their minority status in the United States, views religion as archaic and primitive. Their “enlightened” modernists ridicule religious beliefs and rituals, and try to reinterpret traditional belief in the light of new and modern philosophies. WSJ articles either ignore the existence of religion altogether, or attempt to spin (not very subtly) their reports to discredit proven and established religion.
A short visit to the WSJ discussion forums demonstrates the lack of tolerance and the air of conceit exhibited by many Madison progressives who use the forums for anonymous hate-mongering, particularly hate-mongering directed at the Catholic Church. A little participation in those forums (plus a bit of detective work) often reveals some major participants of those forums to be members, or even staff of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF). To read those WSJ forums, one would think religion to be an embarrassing and primitive Medieval error, which has now been corrected by enlightened modernists, who are themselves the infallible source of all wisdom and knowledge.
Secular (Non-Religious) Culture: the Rule or the Exception?
999 out of 1,000 atheists are tolerant, nice atheists, many of whom, according to Pope Francis, are candidates for salvation. Too bad the squeaky wheel, FFRF, often gives them all a bad name.
What Americans Actually Believe
In the United States, the most educated and technologically advanced nation in the world, 90% of Americans believe in God, 82% of Americans pray regularly, and 47% pray daily.
Why would they do that?
Because it works.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, the symbolic seat of American Catholicism, where Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass, and where Cardinal Dolan, the President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops now serves. Catholicism is the largest religion in the United States; 25% of Americans are Catholic.
The “enlightened” modernists would claim, of course, that the 82% of Americans who believe in God and who pray must be the primitive uneducated fools of America, while the 18% who do not believe in God and do not pray are the intelligent educated Americans.
But no.
There is no correlation between belief/unbelief in God and smarts or education.
Gallup polls tell us that 71% of Americans with postgraduate education believe that God is responsible for creating human beings (Gallup, 2010).
78% of all Americans (of any educational level) believe the same thing.
Only 16% of Americans believe in evolution without any involvement of God.
Proverbs 2:5-8
The knowledge of God comes from observation, experience, and common sense, and is available to the simplest of us. That knowledge is not lost by those who are get some formal education. We can all see that the sky is blue, whether we get graduate degrees or not. The brainwashing that often does occur on modern US campuses and is carried out by progressive minorities, evaportes quickly as soon as college kids leave the campus environment and start experiencing real life.
You couldn’t get numbers like 82% and 78% if the progressive brainwashing in college lasted.
What Do Believers Do When the Going Gets Rough, and Does it Work?
So, despite what mass media tells us, despite what Hollywood and television shows us, despite what agenda progressive governments try to push in our schools and in our legislation, Americans continue to believe in God and to pray.
When faced with powerful opposing forces, the now Progressive (previously Democrat) party, which tried to eliminate mention of God from their platform in the last election, desperately reaches for underhanded and unethical methods to win, believing that the ends justify the means. But those who believe in God and know that God’s power dwarfs our own, double down and pray. Pray hard, and wait.
A concerted global prayer effort in these difficult times is an even better idea than individual prayer. The Catholic Church is one of the most populous and organized groups capable of of arranging concerted global prayer, and that is what our very wise Pope Francis has just arranged.
If you think that the prayer and peaceful activism of the last few years are bearing fruit in unexpected ways today, with new Obama administration scandals surfacing almost daily and shocking even the mainstream (liberal) media, just wait until the fruits of this week’s Global Adoration begin to arrive. The radicals who have tried to strong-arm America into expansion of national and global federally-funded abortion, redefinition of marriage, and violation of religious freedom, will stand no chance against a praying American electorate.
For Skeptics
A reminder for skeptics of the mysterious mechanisms behind global change–
The demise of Communism and the end of the Cold War were not the result of politics, plans, troop movements, or elections. The Soviet Union was brought to it’s knees in 1991 without bloodshed because it fell into it’s own traps, while two courageous religious men, Pope John Paul the Great and “born-again Christian” President Ronald Reagan, stood up for what was right, while Catholic Poland resisted peacefully, and while the world prayed. See The Holy Alliance.
Concerted prayer efforts work just as well in the 20th and 21st centuries as they did in Biblical and Medieval times; God is outside of time. Those who don’t know history do not know this.
Why Some Don’t Believe
We don’t want to dismiss those good people who lack faith, or the reasons for their lack of faith. Those reasons can include a failure to understand why God does not always answer our prayers exactly the way we wanted Him to, and a failure to understand why God would permit evil to exist in the world. These are important questions addressed elsewhere, but can be summarized by making an analogy between God and a good parent.
The fact that God has not always given you what you want does not mean that He is not there, or that you cannot tap into His power if you approach Him the right way. Presumably your parents did not always give you what you wanted, particularly if you did not approach them in the right way, and you have not concluded that your parents do not exist.
God might also, like a good parent, allow you to experience a limited brush with evil, if that inspires you to make a course correction which will transform the rest of your life.
One more factor contributing to lack of faith in the world can be “religious” people who fail to live up to their professed beliefs. Religious people do make mistakes, much as math professors and doctors can make mistakes. Their mistakes (sins) do not invalidate the truth and beauty of Christ’s message or of His Church, but they do give non-believers a bad image of that message.
The intentions for which the Pope requested this global prayer were:
For the obedience of the Church so that she appear before the world as “beautiful,without spot or wrinkle,holy and without blemish.”
For victims of violence, drugs, human trafficking, economic insecurity and social marginalization.
Paraphrased, first for the holiness of the Church, so that the beauty of her message might be more apparent to the world, and also for the masses of humanity who are suffering from the sins of the world.
Violence, drugs, human trafficking, economic insecurity and social marginalization are all products of humanity’s violation of the Ten Commandments and of Christian morality. They are products of sin. If humanity did a better job of recognizing and following the wisdom and beauty of Judeo-Christian morality, human suffering would be reduced drastically.
No whale needed for Pope Francis. Unlike Jonah, he offers no resistance and does his job.
The misery and immorality of the present world resembles that of Nineveh in the Bible. The solution is a return to God’s law. Pope Francis is a modern Jonah, calling us to get down on our knees and to make the necessary corrections.
What is this Seemingly Archaic Rite of “Adoration?”
The word archaic , often used by progressives to describe the Catholic Church, her teachings and her ceremonies, can be interpreted in a negative or positive way, depending on one’s reference point. A narcissistic modern attitude might define archaic as old, out of date, or irrelevant. But a more broadminded modern approach would suggest that something that has survived 2,000 years successfully must be pretty advantageous and pretty awesome. Evolutionism is, after all, a popular modern mechanism for appraisal of ideas.
If the Church has persisted for two thousand years, and 1.2 billion people subscribe to it today, this Church would only be archaic in the very positive sense of being ancient, being respected, and being awesome. And despite what the media would like to tell you, the Catholic Church is treated with great reverence and respect worldwide. Why else would the funeral of Pope John Paul the Great draw over four million mourners, many of them not Catholic, and draw the world’s largest gathering of statesmen from over 200 countries to Rome?
What about this archaic word “adoration?”
Perpetual Adoration Chapel in Madison, WI
Adore:
–to regard with utmost esteem, love and respect; honor.
-to pay divine honor to; worship;
-to adore God.
-to like or admire very much: I simply adore the way your hair is done!
-to worship Origin: Latin ad + orare to speak; to speak to
So to adore God is to esteem, love and respect God.
To adore God is also to speak to God, i.e. pray.
Those who believe in God, in the Creator of the Universe and source of all that is good, adore God and pray to God.
That would be 90% of Americans (who believe) and 82% of Americans (who pray).
Catholics have a special opportunity to adore/pray to God in person, or face-to-face, since they have the Real Presence of God available to them in the Eucharist, or in Holy Communion. They have access to God personally and physically just as much as the apostles did 2,000 years ago. They have the Mass, they have Holy Communion, and they have Adoration, sometimes called Exposition, of the Blessed Sacrament. Why settle for virtual conversation with God (without the physical Presence), when you can have a face-to-face conversation?
Finally, regarding the pomp and ceremony with which Catholics treat the Blessed Sacrament-
If you were to meet face-to-face with God (not the Queen, not the President, not your future spouse at the wedding altar, but GOD), how much dressing up, bowing, kneeling, and reverence do you think would be warranted?
So How Did This Call to Global Adoration Look in Madison?
Bishop Morlino leads Adoration at Madison’s Cathedral Parish
In Madison, Bishop Robert Morlino responded to Pope Francis’ call for global Adoration by leading his Sunday congregation in Adoration for one hour before Sunday Mass, before the exposed Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance (the big gold thing holding the small white Communion host). The hour included scripture readings, a homily, and silent prayer. The Bishop’s (June 2) remarks will soon be available at Madison’s Cathedral Parish’s media archive.
Following the Holy Hour of Adoration, Mass was celebrated, and then the Blessed Sacrament was carried in procession through the streets of Madison, to the Capitol Building, where Catholics have been gathering to pray frequently throughout the last year (Last Year’s Corpus Christi Sunday procession, Freedom of Religion Rallies, Rosary at the Capitol). Benediction (a blessing with the Holy Host in the monstrance) at the State Street steps of the Wisconsin State Capitol in downtown Madison concluded the ceremonies.
Of course, skeptics will correctly point out that cause and effect are hard to prove when it comes to prayer, but in one humble Catholic’s opinion, we ain’t seen nothin’ yet, when it comes to the fruits of Global Adoration.
What worked for Reagan and for Pope John Paul II in 1991 (turning to God) will work for Pope Francis in 2013.
I’m bracing for the ride.
It should be a good one!
Catholic Belief Now Defined by Media and Sociologists?
Doug Erickson and Michele Dillon
This Sunday, reporter Doug Erickson and Sociology professor Michele Dillon attempted to define Catholic beliefs without consulting the Catholic Church.
The Wisconsin State Journal Progressive, in its usual presumptive manner, has bypassed reality and offered their Wisconsin readership a fantasy, in which Catholic Church doctrine is not longer determined by the teachings of Jesus Christ or by the Magisterium of the Church with the Pope and Bishops, but doctrine is declared up for grabs by the individual, and “Cafeteria Catholicism” is encouraged.
Doug Erickson’s article on the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council bypasses contacting the Catholic Church, the Bishop of Madison, or the Vatican, and relies on the word of one dissident Catholic, a professor of sociology from New Hampshire, to interpret the meaning of Vatican II. And MIS-interpret she does.
Cafeteria Catholicism as about as valid as cafeteria mathematics, cafeteria medicine, or cafeteria law. The teachings of mathematics, or of medicine, or of the law are not subject to the whims of individuals, and those who misrepresent a discipline are doing a disservice to all.
The Catholic Church has actually organized a year’s worth of events to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Vatican II. The commemoration is called the Year of Faith, is listed on the Vatican website, and Doug Erickson missed this; the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops provides information and videos on the Year of Faith, and Doug Erickson apparently missed these.
The Diocese of Madison has a year’s worth of events scheduled around the Year of Faith, listed on the Diocesan web page, and Doug Erickson also missed this.
Madison’s Cathedral Parish has a year’s worth of homilies and discussion groups planned on the documents of Vatican II, listed on the website, and Doug Erickson, again, has missed this. . This hat-trick is remarkable.
Bishop Morlino stands with Pope Benedict
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Listen to Bishop Morlino’s homily today for his reaction to this article and on their misrepresentation of Vatican II.
For additional accurate information on Vatican II, Monsignor Holmes, rector of Madison’s Cathedral Parish, has also scheduled about 20 homilies on the documents of Vatican II. The first two of this series are available on the parish website at Revelation and Faith and at Scripture, Tradition and Magisterium.
The Wisconsin State Journal and Doug Erickson should stop masquerading as religion reporters who “explore matters of faith, values and ethics in Wisconsin”, and should be truthful about their attempts to misrepresent Catholicism and undermine the wisdom of the Catholic Church, or they should at least do a little research.
Syte Reitz grew up in Queens, New York, in a family of Lithuanian immigrants who fled Nazi and Soviet domination during World War II. Her education includes a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, and post-doctoral work at Princeton University. Syte left her job as an Assistant Professor at Oakland University, Michigan, to devote herself to raising her children, and ultimately homeschooled them through the end of high school. She is a member of Madison's Cathedral Parish.