lifesitenews--2020-09-28--US bishop rebukes priest over homily warning against coronavirus vaccine

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CRYSTAL , Minnesota , September 28 , 2020 ( LifeSiteNews ) — The archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis has rebuked a priest over a controversial homily warning against coronavirus vaccines and ordered him not to speak about COVID-19 from the pulpit .
In a September 6 homily , Father Robert Altier rejected the three U.S.-backed coronavirus vaccines in late-stage testing on moral grounds and said the pandemic was started intentionally with a man-made virus and is now being prolonged to instill fear as part @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Posted on Complicit Clergy under the title “ The Coronavirus : the truth revealed , ” the homily has been viewed more than 400,000 times as well as making the national news and the front page of the Minneapolis daily paper .
On September 10 , the archdiocese stated that Altier 's sermon was under review .
On September 22 , Archbishop Bernard Hebda sent a letter to parishes in the diocese stating that the “ use of a homily to present medical or scientific speculation…could be seen as an abuse of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ address an issue unrelated to the liturgical celebration.
” Hebda , a Harvard graduate with a law degree from Columbia , said he had spoken with Altier who “ remains firm in his opinions on the pandemic situation , but …has acknowledged that his remarks were inappropriate in the context of a homily during Mass.
” The archbishop ’ s letter referenced the General Instruction on the Roman Missal which direct that a homily should explain some aspect of the Scripture readings or the texts from the ordinary or proper of the Mass @ @ @ @ @ @ @ account both the mystery being celebrated and the particular needs of the listeners.
” Hebda said he also consulted the Minnesota Department of Health and he included its refutation of six of the many points Altier made during his 20-minute homily .
Altier , a St. Paul native ordained 31 years ago , said that with three coronavirus vaccines moving into final testing , he thought he needed to say something “ about some of the moral implications that could be there.
” He based his homily on the reading from Ezekiel , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tell people what the truth was , ” he told LifeSiteNews .
However , the archbishop “ didn ’ t see it that way.
” Hebda asked him not to talk about coronavirus in his homilies , but did not forbid him from giving talks on the subject , Altier said .
The archbishop “ obviously has got to look at things from a different perspective , and so he puts out a statement .
That ’ s fine , but as far as his actual treatment of me , he has been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ added .
‘ We have been lied to in a huge way ’ Although the homily has been removed from the parish website at Hebda ’ s request , it is still available on Complicit Clergy .
“ We have been lied to .
We have been lied to in a huge way , ” Altier , the parochial vicar for St. Raphael ’ s , told parishioners .
He maintained that COVID-19 was created and released “ on purpose ” and that there was a practice run of the pandemic in October @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rockefeller Institute website details its “ national COVID testing and tracing action plan.
” Although those questioning the “ narrative ” are censored , the data show that 99.75 percent of those who were infected with the virus recover with no side effects .
Moreover , the Centers for Disease Control recently admitted only six percent of its reported Covid deaths were due to the virus alone , bringing the figure of those who died solely from it to 9,200 .
“ They want us to think that this is such a deadly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Think about the fact that most of us , if we ’ ve had it , the only way we ’ re going to know is if we went and got tested .
It ’ s so deadly that you don ’ t know if you had it ?
Really ?
C ’ mon.
” He questioned the reliability of coronavirus tests , stating that he knew of six instances where people who registered at a site but left before getting a test received a positive result in the mail .
Altier wryly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and their enforcement .
“ Somehow this virus knows that if it ’ s in church , it ’ s going to make people sick .
But if it ’ s rioting out on the streets , nobody ’ s going to get sick .
I mean , this is a truly impressive virus to be able to know these things.
” The restrictions have taken a deadly toll in another sense , he said , noting that suicide is about the seventh cause of death in America , but many restrictions remain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all engineered .
This is all an agenda .
And it ’ s pointing in a certain direction , ” he said .
“ So far , like the good sheeple that we are , we ’ ve all put on our masks and we 've stayed six feet apart .
We ’ re doing all these things .
There ’ s a point where we have to draw a line.
” His line is the coronavirus vaccine , Altier said .
“ The only way that they would allow it to happen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and hold me down and force it on me , ” Altier said .
He ’ s told his elderly parents not to accept a COVID-19 vaccine under any circumstance .
U.S. companies with vaccines in late-stage trials are Pfizer , which is working with German drugmaker BioNTech , Johnson and Johnson , and Moderna Therapeutics .
Altier said he knew one of these is without doubt derived from the cells of aborted babies but he did not know about the others and he mentioned only Moderna by name .
He described Moderna @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because it “ is designed to change the RNA in your body so that every cell in your body then has been changed to be able to fight the coronavirus .
Not your immune system anymore – the very cells in your body will be changed.
” “ This is evil .
This is pure evil .
This is where the money is being put.
” As well as Moderna , Pfizer/BioNTech is also developing a “ messenger RNA ” vaccine , in which , in theory , “ mRNA directs cells to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drug or vaccine .
To succeed , the mRNA has to enter the cell , avoid degradation , and be translated efficiently , ” according to ad Science Magazine .
Children of God for Life documents that Moderna uses cells from aborted babies to procure the “ spike ” protein used in its mRNA technology , and Johnson and Johnson ’ s vaccine candidate was developed using the PER C6 cell line harvested from a baby aborted at 18 weeks gestation .
According to Children ’ s Health Defense ( CHD ) , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to “ significant adverse effects ” in clinical trials .
CHD founder Robert Kennedy Jr. also blasted the corporation for moving to late-stage testing even though 20 percent of healthy individuals who were vaccinated at full dose in phase 2 became so sick they had to be hospitalized .
The Catholic Church “ has long recognized that there are at times ethical questions involved in the production of vaccines , ” Hebda noted in his response to Altier ’ s homily .
The U.S. bishops told the FDA in September that it was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to a coronavirus vaccine that was not developed using cells from aborted babies , he said .
Hate mail telling Altier he should be castrated Altier , whose video series on the fundamentals of the Catholic faith are broadcast on EWTN , told LifeSiteNews that he gave the homily for pastoral reasons .
“ I ’ m not a scientist , I ’ m not a doctor , I can ’ t say other than what other doctors and scientists are saying .
I can repeat what they ’ re saying , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ m not trying to stand up there as some expert , you know , here ’ s what viruses are or whatever , but I ’ m looking at it from a pastoral point of view and saying this is damaging people ’ s lives , this is affecting people ’ s lives terribly.
” No one protested the homily , and in fact , a number of people came to the sanctuary to thank him , Altier said .
However , Hebda called him the next day to ask him what it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was posted on the St. Raphael ’ s parish website , so someone must have been recording on a cellphone and sent it to the chancery , Altier said .
Moreover , after his homily received “ twisted ” coverage in the mainstream media , he began receiving hate mail in the form of “ several hundred emails and some phone calls.
” These increased markedly when the Minneapolis Star-Tribune covered the story and connected him with Father James Altman , the Wisconsin priest threatened with canonical penalties for stating in a homily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
A doctor castigated Altier as “ irresponsible ” and “ dangerous , ” and he received vile messages wishing him dead or castrated and labelling him a pedophile .
“ What does that have to do with the coronavirus ?
” Altier said .
“ It ’ s very , very , very sad.
” Ironically , “ the media that was trying , of course , to put a bad spin on things wound up causing thousands of people to look at it or listen to it that never would have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Hebda “ was getting pressure from some doctors ” and “ health professionals , ” Altier said .
“ And so what are you going to do ?
You ’ re going to turn to the authorities or the experts and get their opinion.
” However , Twila Brase of the St. Paul-based Citizens ’ Council for Health Freedom says there ’ s reason to view Minnesota Department for Health ( MDH ) information with skepticism .
“ I do not consider the health department an unbiased source .
The health department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told LifeSiteNews .
In fact , the MDH “ has said things and made estimations that are not true , ” notably , predicting there would be “ 1,400 to 2,000 people dead by the end of May , ” Brase said .
However , by May 26 , 899 people had died from COVID-19 , with a total of 1,988 deaths reported by MDH as of September 24 .
“ Now , when you make these kinds of estimates , as though you expect them to come true , you scare people.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ of one MDH graph which “ made it look like [ the virus ] was escalating rapidly in Minnesota , on par with New York , ” added Brase .
“ If you can ’ t be trusted because it is discovered along the way that predictions and estimates were nowhere close to what you claimed that they would be , and because you shut down and took away people ’ s rights based on estimates and then you never lift them when it ’ s nowhere close to what you said it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ think that you are doing anything other than violating their rights ?
” Brase told LifeSiteNews .
“ Officials are using their positions of power and executive authority to keep the fear high , ” she added .
“ That said , Covid 19 is a very serious condition for those few who get a severe case .
It ’ s a real condition that mystifies doctors .
But Americans should not be put under lock and key .
It ’ s against their right to breathe free , speak free and live @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most of Altier ’ s homily and while she can ’ t vouch for the accuracy of everything he said , by and large the information he presented can be verified online .
She agrees there is misinformation surrounding COVID-19 and cited the “ divergent statements ” about hydroxychloroquine , or HCQ — something Altier didn ’ t mention – as a prime example .
Although some people allege HCQ “ will kill people , ” it has been approved by the FDA for 65 years and taken by hundreds of thousands of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of heart complications , ” said Brase .
Moreover , Yale ’ s Professor Harvey Risch , who looked at all the HCQ studies and issued a report , “ found the evidence compelling that HCQ can work , particularly in the early stages of Covid 19 , ” she said .
“ So with HCQ it seems like there is a massive disinformation campaign against something that has been a rock solid medication long considered safe by the World Health Organization.
” Evidence to back Altier ’ s contention that COVID-19 testing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ August 29 report that a study of positive PCR test results in Nevada , Massachusetts and New York found up to 90 percent were “ probably negative ” because of the way they conducted the tests , Brase pointed out .
As for Moderna ’ s vaccine , Brase said she didn ’ t know enough of the science to comment , but to the MDH assertion that the vaccine will only affect the DNA in targeted cells , she would ask it to define “ targeted cells.
” More significantly , she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Anthony Fauci said to the Senate in May .
“ One is that there is no guarantee a vaccine will work .
And the other is that it could backfire , making the virus more virulent in those who have the vaccine , ” she told LifeSiteNews .
Brase tracked down a 1969 research study to develop a vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus ( RSV ) using human infants in which 80 percent were hospitalized and two died after being exposed to the virus following their vaccination in what is called “ a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a 2012 research article ( Immunization with SARS-coronavirus vaccine lead to pulmonary immunopathology on challenge with the SARS virus ) that confirmed a coronavirus vaccine can increase virulence , Brase said .
“ And Dr. Fauci ’ s agency funded this 2012 study .
So I think he knows of what he speaks when he says the vaccine could backfire.
” Steve Jalsevac , co-founder of LifeSiteNews , echoed Brase ’ s concerns when he described Hebda ’ s consulting the MDH as “ laughable.
” “ I can ’ t see @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to tell the truth about what is going on , ” said Jalsevac .
“ Also , the local health authorities are in the controlled health establishment that has been co-opted into imposing the ‘ evil ’ ‘ New Normal ’ which Fr .
Altier capably addressed in a previous homily here.
” Based on his own extensive research , Jalsevac found “ most of what Fr .
Altier says in the homily is largely credible ” but conceded that “ not every statement is completely accurate.
” “ However , given the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ natural rights and freedoms from government and health agencies ’ demands , we should be thankful for any priest who makes an attempt like this to warn his flock about the real dangers they are facing , ” he said .
Canon lawyer Philip Gray of the St. Joseph ’ s Foundation pointed out that a bishop “ has an obligation to ensure that the public presentation of the Mass , of all sacraments , remains in conformity with the mind of the Church.
” He is therefore obliged to investigate a homily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ take .
Moreover , “ it is not necessarily uncommon for a bishop or an archbishop to provide some kind of rebuttal to concerns he may have about a particular homily , ” Gray told LifeSiteNews .
In the present circumstances , it is also not uncommon for a bishop to consult secular experts on questions involving the liturgy , he said , noting that Portland ’ s archbishop asked doctors about distributing Holy Communion , and was told receiving on the tongue poses no greater risk than receiving in the hand .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the bishop is consulting with people , there are general guidelines that experts are to be chosen from among those who have a Judeo-Christian anthropology and at least do not oppose the moral teachings of the Church , ” said Gray .
“ Part of the issue is that the whole pandemic question has turned our world upside down and has raised a number of moral issues as well as very valid theological issues , ” he added .
“ It is a very significant controversy.
” The MDH promotes various activities that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ runs a condom distribution program and promotes “ LGBTQ-sensitive sexuality education ” and the broader homosexual cause .
It lists as “ characteristics of sexually healthy adults ” the ability to “ [ r ] espect the right of all people to enjoy and engage in the full range of consensual , non-exploitive sexual behaviors , ” not be “ threatened by others with sexual orientation different from theirs , ” “ [ d ] ecide on what is personally ‘ right ’ and act on these values , ” and be “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ identity and orientation.
” On its webpage about “ sexual health ” resources , the MDH links to the pro-abortion group Advocates for Youth , as well as New York City ’ s “ Safer Sex and COVID-19 ” guidance .
That guidance encourages masturbation as the safest sexual activity during the coronavirus outbreak .
It also “ assumes that group sex , casual sex and orgies are normal , ” the Ruth Institute ’ s Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse , PhD , noted upon its initial release .
‘ Majority of Catholic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ without any courageous leadership during the COVID crisis ’ Altier should be lauded for his courage and concern for his flock , Jalsevac said .
The priest “ makes it clear that it is his duty as a shepherd to present them with the truth , as far as he has been able to determine , about the massive deceptions they are having to endure .
He wisely , repeatedly urges them to do their own research to verify what he has told them , ” he observed .
“ It takes a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and otherwise persecuted , compared to the vast majority of Catholic clergy who have left their people defenseless and without any courageous leadership during the COVID crisis.
” Altier told LifeSiteNews that he thinks this is happening so people will realize they must choose a side .
“ I was trying to understand why the Lord was doing what he was doing here…and what became very , very clear to me what He ’ s doing is showing clearly the divide , ” he said .
“ This is a spiritual battle , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ evil , so there is no middle ground….It ’ s all or nothing .
You have to be 100 percent for Jesus or you ’ re on Satan ’ s side , ” Altier added .
“ And the only thing that is ultimately important is remaining faithful to Jesus .
And the best way to do that is to stay close to His Mother .
Because Jesus is the one who said , ‘ I am the way and the truth and the life.
’ He ’ s the truth .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who ’ s saying what , just stick with the Lord .
The truth is right there .
”

PETITION: No to mandatory vaccination for the coronavirus! Sign the petition here.
CRYSTAL, Minnesota, September 28, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — The archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis has rebuked a priest over a controversial homily warning against coronavirus vaccines and ordered him not to speak about COVID-19 from the pulpit.
In a September 6 homily, Father Robert Altier rejected the three U.S.-backed coronavirus vaccines in late-stage testing on moral grounds and said the pandemic was started intentionally with a man-made virus and is now being prolonged to instill fear as part of an agenda by world leaders.
Posted on Complicit Clergy under the title “The Coronavirus: the truth revealed,” the homily has been viewed more than 400,000 times as well as making the national news and the front page of the Minneapolis daily paper.
On September 10, the archdiocese stated that Altier's sermon was under review.
On September 22, Archbishop Bernard Hebda sent a letter to parishes in the diocese stating that the “use of a homily to present medical or scientific speculation…could be seen as an abuse of the cleric’s position of authority to address an issue unrelated to the liturgical celebration.”
Hebda, a Harvard graduate with a law degree from Columbia, said he had spoken with Altier who “remains firm in his opinions on the pandemic situation, but …has acknowledged that his remarks were inappropriate in the context of a homily during Mass.”
The archbishop’s letter referenced the General Instruction on the Roman Missal which direct that a homily should explain some aspect of the Scripture readings or the texts from the ordinary or proper of the Mass of the day and “take into account both the mystery being celebrated and the particular needs of the listeners.”
Hebda said he also consulted the Minnesota Department of Health and he included its refutation of six of the many points Altier made during his 20-minute homily.
The archbishop consulted the local chapter of the Catholic Medical Association as well, he wrote, “and learned that they too considered some of Fr. Altier’s affirmations to be ‘erroneous’ and that they essentially shared the critique by the Minnesota Department of Health (other than the section on vaccinations).”
Altier, a St. Paul native ordained 31 years ago, said that with three coronavirus vaccines moving into final testing, he thought he needed to say something “about some of the moral implications that could be there.”
He based his homily on the reading from Ezekiel, who was ordered by God to “tell people what the truth was,” he told LifeSiteNews.
However, the archbishop “didn’t see it that way.”
Hebda asked him not to talk about coronavirus in his homilies, but did not forbid him from giving talks on the subject, Altier said.
The archbishop “obviously has got to look at things from a different perspective, and so he puts out a statement. That’s fine, but as far as his actual treatment of me, he has been very, very kind,” he added.
‘We have been lied to in a huge way’
Although the homily has been removed from the parish website, it is still available on Complicit Clergy.
“We have been lied to. We have been lied to in a huge way,” Altier, the parochial vicar for St. Raphael’s, told parishioners.
He maintained that COVID-19 was created and released “on purpose” and that there was a practice run of the pandemic in October 2019 called Event 201, and the Rockefeller Institute website details its “national COVID testing and tracing action plan.”
Although those questioning the “narrative” are censored, the data show that 99.75 percent of those who were infected with the virus recover with no side effects, he said.
Moreover, the Centers for Disease Control recently admitted only six percent of its reported Covid deaths were due to the virus alone, bringing the figure of those who died solely from it to 9,200, he said.
“They want us to think that this is such a deadly disease,” Altier said.
“Think about the fact that most of us, if we’ve had it, the only way we’re going to know is if we went and got tested. It’s so deadly that you don’t know if you had it? Really? C’mon.”
He questioned the reliability of coronavirus tests, stating that he knew of six instances where people who registered at a site but left before getting a test received a positive result in the mail.
Altier wryly underscored the arbitrary nature of coronavirus regulations and their enforcement.
“Somehow this virus knows that if it’s in church, it’s going to make people sick. But if it’s rioting out on the streets, nobody’s going to get sick. I mean, this is a truly impressive virus to be able to know these things.”
The restrictions have taken a deadly toll in another sense, he said, noting that suicide is about the seventh cause of death in America, but many restrictions remain.
“The point is this is all engineered. This is all an agenda. And it’s pointing in a certain direction,” he said.
“So far, like the good sheeple that we are, we’ve all put on our masks and we've stayed six feet apart. We’re doing all these things. There’s a point where we have to draw a line.”
Altier: I draw the line at a vaccine
His line is the coronavirus vaccine, Altier said.
“The only way that they would allow it to happen to me is if they arrest me and hold me down and force it on me,” Altier said. He’s told his elderly parents not to accept a COVID-19 vaccine under any circumstance.
U.S. companies with vaccines in late-stage trials are Pfizer, which is working with German drugmaker BioNTech, Johnson and Johnson, and Moderna Therapeutics.
Altier said he knew one of these is without doubt derived from the cells of aborted babies but he did not know about the others and he mentioned only Moderna by name.
He described Moderna’s vaccine as “heinous” because it “is designed to change the RNA in your body so that every cell in your body then has been changed to be able to fight the coronavirus. Not your immune system anymore – the very cells in your body will be changed.”
“This is evil. This is pure evil. This is where the money is being put.”
As well as Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech is also developing a “messenger RNA” vaccine, in which, in theory, “mRNA directs cells to make a protein that works as a drug or vaccine. To succeed, the mRNA has to enter the cell, avoid degradation, and be translated efficiently,” according to Science Magazine.
Children of God for Life documents that Moderna uses cells from aborted babies to procure the “spike” protein used in its mRNA technology, and Johnson and Johnson’s vaccine candidate was developed using the PER C6 cell line harvested from a baby aborted at 18 weeks gestation.
According to Children’s Health Defense (CHD), Moderna admits that mRNA technology could lead to “significant adverse effects” in clinical trials. CHD founder Robert Kennedy Jr. also blasted the corporation for moving to late-stage testing even though 20 percent of healthy individuals who were vaccinated at full dose in phase 2 became so sick they had to be hospitalized.
The Catholic Church “has long recognized that there are at times ethical questions involved in the production of vaccines,” Hebda noted in his response to Altier’s homily.
The U.S. bishops told the FDA in September that it was “critically important” Americans have access to a coronavirus vaccine that was not developed using cells from aborted babies, he said.
Hate mail telling Altier he should be castrated
Altier, whose video series on the fundamentals of the Catholic faith are broadcast on EWTN, told LifeSiteNews that he gave the homily for pastoral reasons.
“I’m not a scientist, I’m not a doctor, I can’t say other than what other doctors and scientists are saying. I can repeat what they’re saying,” he said.
“So I’m not trying to stand up there as some expert, you know, here’s what viruses are or whatever, but I’m looking at it from a pastoral point of view and saying this is damaging people’s lives, this is affecting people’s lives terribly.”
No one protested the homily, and in fact, a number of people came to the sanctuary to thank him, Altier said.
However, Hebda called him the next day to ask him what it was about, even before the homily was posted on the St. Raphael’s parish website, so someone must have been recording on a cellphone and sent it to the chancery, Altier said.
Moreover, after his homily received “twisted” coverage in the mainstream media, he began receiving hate mail in the form of “several hundred emails and some phone calls.”
These increased markedly when the Minneapolis Star-Tribune covered the story and connected him with Father James Altman, the Wisconsin priest threatened with canonical penalties for stating in a homily that Catholics can’t be Democrats.
A doctor castigated Altier as “irresponsible” and “dangerous,” and he received vile messages wishing him dead or castrated and labelling him a pedophile.
“What does that have to do with the coronavirus?” Altier said. “It’s very, very, very sad.”
Ironically, “the media that was trying, of course, to put a bad spin on things wound up causing thousands of people to look at it or listen to it that never would have,” he told LifeSiteNews.
Meanwhile, Hebda “was getting pressure from some doctors” and “health professionals,” Altier said.
“And so what are you going to do? You’re going to turn to the authorities or the experts and get their opinion.”
Health department has ‘its own agenda’
However, Twila Brase of the St. Paul-based Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom says there’s reason to view Minnesota Department for Health (MDH) information with skepticism.
“I do not consider the health department an unbiased source. The health department has its own agenda,” she told LifeSiteNews.
In fact, the MDH “has said things and made estimations that are not true,” notably, predicting there would be “1,400 to 2,000 people dead by the end of May,” Brase said.
However, by May 26, 899 people had died from COVID-19, with a total of 1,988 deaths reported by MDH as of September 24.
“Now, when you make these kinds of estimates, as though you expect them to come true, you scare people.”
CCHF has exposed the poor quality of one MDH graph which “made it look like [the virus] was escalating rapidly in Minnesota, on par with New York,” added Brase.
“If you can’t be trusted because it is discovered along the way that predictions and estimates were nowhere close to what you claimed that they would be, and because you shut down and took away people’s rights based on estimates and then you never lift them when it’s nowhere close to what you said it would be, then why should people think that you are doing anything other than violating their rights?” Brase told LifeSiteNews.
“Officials are using their positions of power and executive authority to keep the fear high,” she added.
“That said, Covid 19 is a very serious condition for those few who get a severe case. It’s a real condition that mystifies doctors. But Americans should not be put under lock and key. It’s against their right to breathe free, speak free and live free.”
Brase said she listened to most of Altier’s homily and while she can’t vouch for the accuracy of everything he said, by and large the information he presented can be verified online.
She agrees there is misinformation surrounding COVID-19 and cited the “divergent statements” about hydroxychloroquine, or HCQ — something Altier didn’t mention – as a prime example.
Although some people allege HCQ “will kill people,” it has been approved by the FDA for 65 years and taken by hundreds of thousands of people for years “without any kind of heart complications,” said Brase.
Moreover, Yale’s Professor Harvey Risch, who looked at all the HCQ studies and issued a report, “found the evidence compelling that HCQ can work, particularly in the early stages of Covid 19,” she said.
“So with HCQ it seems like there is a massive disinformation campaign against something that has been a rock solid medication long considered safe by the World Health Organization.”
Evidence to back Altier’s contention that COVID-19 testing is unreliable includes a New York Times August 29 report that a study of positive PCR test results in Nevada, Massachusetts and New York found up to 90 percent were “probably negative” because of the way they conducted the tests, Brase pointed out.
As for Moderna’s vaccine, Brase said she didn’t know enough of the science to comment, but to the MDH assertion that the vaccine will only affect the DNA in targeted cells, she would ask it to define “targeted cells.”
More significantly, she recalled two things in particular that Dr. Anthony Fauci said to the Senate in May.
“One is that there is no guarantee a vaccine will work. And the other is that it could backfire, making the virus more virulent in those who have the vaccine,” she told LifeSiteNews.
Brase tracked down a 1969 research study to develop a vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) using human infants in which 80 percent were hospitalized and two died after being exposed to the virus following their vaccination in what is called “a challenge.”
The fatal study was mentioned in a 2012 research article (Immunization with SARS-coronavirus vaccine lead to pulmonary immunopathology on challenge with the SARS virus) that confirmed a coronavirus vaccine can increase virulence, Brase said.
“And Dr. Fauci’s agency funded this 2012 study. So I think he knows of what he speaks when he says the vaccine could backfire.”
Bishop should consult sources unopposed to Church teaching
Steve Jalsevac, co-founder of LifeSiteNews, echoed Brase’s concerns when he described Hebda’s consulting the MDH as “laughable.”
“I can’t see that any of them will be permitted to tell the truth about what is going on,” said Jalsevac. “Also, the local health authorities are in the controlled health establishment that has been co-opted into imposing the ‘evil’ ‘New Normal’ which Fr. Altier capably addressed in a previous homily here.”
Based on his own extensive research, Jalsevac found “most of what Fr. Altier says in the homily is largely credible” but conceded that “not every statement is completely accurate.”
“However, given the grave, on-going threats to our sacred natural rights and freedoms from government and health agencies’ demands, we should be thankful for any priest who makes an attempt like this to warn his flock about the real dangers they are facing,” he said.
Canon lawyer Philip Gray of the St. Joseph’s Foundation pointed out that a bishop “has an obligation to ensure that the public presentation of the Mass, of all sacraments, remains in conformity with the mind of the Church.”
He is therefore obliged to investigate a homily, regardless of what action he may take.
Moreover, “it is not necessarily uncommon for a bishop or an archbishop to provide some kind of rebuttal to concerns he may have about a particular homily,” Gray told LifeSiteNews.
In the present circumstances, it is also not uncommon for a bishop to consult secular experts on questions involving the liturgy, he said, noting that Portland’s archbishop asked doctors about distributing Holy Communion, and was told receiving on the tongue poses no greater risk than receiving in the hand.
At the same time, “if the bishop is consulting with people, there are general guidelines that experts are to be chosen from among those who have a Judeo-Christian anthropology and at least do not oppose the moral teachings of the Church,” said Gray.
“Part of the issue is that the whole pandemic question has turned our world upside down and has raised a number of moral issues as well as very valid theological issues,” he added. “It is a very significant controversy.”
MDH promotes contraception, fornication
The MDH promotes various activities that conflict with Catholic moral teaching.
It runs a condom distribution program and promotes “LGBTQ-sensitive sexuality education” and the broader homosexual cause. It lists as “characteristics of sexually healthy adults” the ability to “[r]espect the right of all people to enjoy and engage in the full range of consensual, non-exploitive sexual behaviors,” not be “threatened by others with sexual orientation different from theirs,” “[d]ecide on what is personally ‘right’ and act on these values,” and be “comfortable with their [own] sexual identity and orientation.”
On its webpage about “sexual health” resources, the MDH links to the pro-abortion group Advocates for Youth, as well as New York City’s “Safer Sex and COVID-19” guidance. That guidance encourages masturbation as the safest sexual activity during the coronavirus outbreak. It also “assumes that group sex, casual sex and orgies are normal,” the Ruth Institute’s Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, PhD, noted upon its initial release.
‘Majority of Catholic clergy…left their people defenseless and without any courageous leadership during the COVID crisis’
Altier should be lauded for his courage and concern for his flock, Jalsevac said.
The priest “makes it clear that it is his duty as a shepherd to present them with the truth, as far as he has been able to determine, about the massive deceptions they are having to endure. He wisely, repeatedly urges them to do their own research to verify what he has told them,” he observed.
“It takes a heroism and willingness to certainly be ridiculed and otherwise persecuted, compared to the vast majority of Catholic clergy who have left their people defenseless and without any courageous leadership during the COVID crisis.”
Altier told LifeSiteNews that he thinks this is happening so people will realize they must choose a side.
“I was trying to understand why the Lord was doing what he was doing here…and what became very, very clear to me what He’s doing is showing clearly the divide,” he said.
“This is a spiritual battle, this is a battle of good against evil, so there is no middle ground….It’s all or nothing. You have to be 100 percent for Jesus or you’re on Satan’s side,” Altier added.
“And the only thing that is ultimately important is remaining faithful to Jesus. And the best way to do that is to stay close to His Mother. Because Jesus is the one who said, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.’ He’s the truth. And so if we have to wonder about who’s saying what, just stick with the Lord. The truth is right there.”
Contact information for respectful communications:
Bishop Bernard Hebda
Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
777 Forest Street
Saint Paul, MN 55106
USA
651-291-4400
[email protected]
Online contact form
Father Robert Altier
St. Raphael's Parish
7301 Bass Lake Rd
Crystal, MN 55428
USA
September 30, 2020 update: This report now includes that Archbishop Hebda also consulted the local chapter of the Catholic Medical Association as well as MDH. The original story also mistakenly stated that Hebda requested the homily be removed from the parish website.
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lifesitenews--2020-09-28--Join our daily worldwide rosary HERE

Join our daily worldwide rosary HERE

September 28 , 2020 ( LifeSiteNews ) – In response to the crisis unfolding in our world and in the Church , LifeSite is offering Catholics throughout the world a chance to be united daily in prayer , in the Our Lady of Fatima Rosary Crusade .
Catholics from all over the world—from Israel , Uganda , Italy , France , Germany , Ireland , Pakistan , Singapore , the Philippines , India , Indonesia , Australia , New Zealand , Thailand , the United Kingdom , the U.S. , Canada , Brazil , and other countries—are gathering daily to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Anthony Pillari , J.C.L.
, an American priest currently studying in Italy .
Our goal is , by means of this daily rosary and by embracing and living out the message given by the Virgin Mary at Fatima , the triumph of Our Lady ’ s Immaculate Heart .
To help obtain that goal , Bishop Athanasius Schneider graciously composed the following prayer for this worldwide rosary crusade : O Immaculate Heart of Mary , you are the holy Mother of God and our tender Mother .
Look upon the distress in which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are living because of the spread of materialism and the persecution of the Church .
In Fatima you warned against these errors , as you spoke about the errors of Russia .
You are the Mediatrix of all graces .
Implore your Divine Son to grant this special grace for the Pope : that he might consecrate Russia to your Immaculate Heart , so that Russia will be converted , a period of peace will be granted to the world , and your Immaculate Heart will triumph , through an authentic renewal of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ purity of the Catholic Faith , of the sacredness of Divine worship and of the holiness of the Christian life .
O Queen of the holy Rosary and our sweet Mother , turn your merciful eyes to us and graciously hear this our trusting prayer .
Amen .
+ Athanasius Schneider , Auxiliary Bishop of the archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana To learn more about the urgency of responding to Our Lady ’ s message at Fatima , and about what you can do , please read Cardinal Burke ’ s 2017 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ https : //voiceofthefamily.com/full-text-cardinal-burkes-historic-call-for-consecration-of-russia/ ) .
As St. Padre Pio once said , “ The rosary is the weapon for these times.
” Through prayer , God can shape history , change the world , and bring about a great time of renewal and peace for the Church and for the world , through the triumph of Our Lady ’ s Immaculate Heart .
Join us today !
If you would like to follow along with the prayers said during this rosary , you can access them via this PDF .
This document also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the daily rosary on LifeSite led by Fr .
Pillari .

(LifeSiteNews) — In response to the crisis unfolding in our world and in the Church, LifeSite is happy to promote Regina Angelorum Press’s Daily Rosary, which is offering Catholics throughout the world the chance to be united daily in prayer, in the Our Lady of Fatima Rosary Crusade.
Catholics from all over the world — from Israel, Uganda, Italy, France, Germany, Ireland, Pakistan, Singapore, the Philippines, India, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the U.S., Canada, Brazil, and other countries — are gathering daily to pray the Rosary, led by Father Pillari, JCL, MCL, STL, an American priest currently studying in Italy.
The Daily Rosary is being offered each day at 12noon EST through Regina Angelorum Press’ YouTube Channel to which you can subscribe HERE.
The goal is, by means of this Daily Rosary and by embracing and living out the message given by the Virgin Mary at Fatima, the triumph of Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart.
To help obtain that goal, Bishop Athanasius Schneider graciously composed the following prayer for this worldwide Rosary crusade:
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, you are the holy Mother of God and our tender Mother. Look upon the distress in which the Church and the whole of humanity are living because of the spread of materialism and the persecution of the Church. In Fatima you warned against these errors, as you spoke about the errors of Russia. You are the Mediatrix of all graces. Implore your Divine Son to grant this special grace for the Pope: that he might consecrate Russia to your Immaculate Heart, so that Russia will be converted, a period of peace will be granted to the world, and your Immaculate Heart will triumph, through an authentic renewal of the Church in the splendor of the purity of the Catholic Faith, of the sacredness of Divine worship and of the holiness of the Christian life. O Queen of the holy Rosary and our sweet Mother, turn your merciful eyes to us and graciously hear this our trusting prayer. Amen. + Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of the archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana
To learn more about the urgency of responding to Our Lady’s message at Fatima, and about what you can do, please read Cardinal Burke’s 2017 address at the Rome Life Forum.
As St. Padre Pio once said, “The Rosary is the weapon for these times.” Through prayer, God can shape history, change the world, and bring about a great time of renewal and peace for the Church and for the world, through the triumph of Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart. Join us today!
If you would like to follow along with the prayers said during this Rosary, you can access them HERE. The document also includes a brief F.A.Q. pertaining to the daily Rosary.
You can send your prayer requests to https://reginangelorumpress.com/prayer-intentions/
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lifesitenews--2020-09-28--Flashback: Biden says ‘dregs of society’ support Trump, oppose LGBT agenda

PETITION : Urge Catholic bishops to refuse Holy Communion to pro-abortion Biden !
Sign the petition here .
September 28 , 2020 ( LifeSiteNews ) – Former Vice President and current Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden views Americans who hold a biblical view of marriage and a biological view of sexuality as among the “ dregs of society , ” according to a speech he gave in 2018 that resurfaced over the weekend .
Biden was addressing the 2018 national dinner of the pro-LGBT lobbying group Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) .
During the speech , he described social @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and lamented that “ this time they , not you , have an ally in the White House.
” “ They ’ re a small percentage of the American people , virulent people , some of them the dregs of society , ” Biden continued .
“ And instead of using the full might of the executive branch to secure justice , dignity , safety for all , the president uses the White House as a literal bully pulpit , callously exerting his power over those who have little or none.
” Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ supports effectively-unlimited abortion at taxpayer expense ; has endorsed the so-called “ Equality Act , ” which would force a wide variety of public and private entities to recognize and accommodate individuals ’ claims to be the opposite of their actual sex ; and promises to “ ensure that LGBTQ+ individuals have full access to all appropriate healthcare treatments and resources , ” which “ includes covering care related to transitioning — including gender confirmation ( sic ) surgery.
” By contrast , Trump supports same-sex “ marriage ” but has also sided @ @ @ @ @ @ @ encroachment from LGBT activists , especially in areas such as girls ’ sports , sex-change coverage , and women ’ s shelters .

In a 2018 speech at a pro-homosexual Human Rights Campaign event, the ex-Vice President characterized social conservatives as 'forces of intolerance.'
PETITION: Urge Catholic bishops to refuse Holy Communion to pro-abortion Biden! Sign the petition here.
September 28, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Former Vice President and current Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden views Americans who hold a biblical view of marriage and a biological view of sexuality as among the “dregs of society,” according to a speech he gave in 2018 that resurfaced over the weekend.
Biden was addressing the 2018 national dinner of the pro-LGBT lobbying group Human Rights Campaign (HRC). During the speech, he described social conservatives as “forces of intolerance” and lamented that “this time they, not you, have an ally in the White House.”
“They’re a small percentage of the American people, virulent people, some of them the dregs of society,” Biden continued. “And instead of using the full might of the executive branch to secure justice, dignity, safety for all, the president uses the White House as a literal bully pulpit, callously exerting his power over those who have little or none.”
Hi, I'm Joe Biden. If you oppose the LGBTQ “Equality Act” that squashes religious freedom, you are among the “forces of intolerance,” “virulent people,” and “the dregs of society.” I want to inscribe that view of you into law. Can I have your vote, idiots?https://t.co/vKQAyXXMUQ — Robert A. J. Gagnon (@RobertAJGagnon1) September 27, 2020
We are all used to Creepy Joe saying stupid stuff but this is too far even for him. https://t.co/vNiD9TDZg6 — Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 16, 2018
Biden, who claims to be Catholic, supports effectively-unlimited abortion at taxpayer expense; has endorsed the so-called “Equality Act,” which would force a wide variety of public and private entities to recognize and accommodate individuals’ claims to be the opposite of their actual sex; and promises to “ensure that LGBTQ+ individuals have full access to all appropriate healthcare treatments and resources,” which “includes covering care related to transitioning — including gender confirmation (sic) surgery.”
By contrast, Trump supports same-sex “marriage” but has also sided with religious liberty and biological reality against encroachment from LGBT activists, especially in areas such as girls’ sports, sex-change coverage, and women’s shelters.
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lifesitenews--2020-09-29--A scary look at America’s possible future under a Biden presidency

September 29 , 2020 ( American Thinker ) — The principle of limited government is at the heart of the American system .
The Founders believed that tyranny grows in proportion to power , threatening individual liberty .
History is littered with innumerable examples of `` absolute Despotism , '' to use the words of the Declaration of Independence , in which government exercised its power against the people rather than for the people .
The pivot of limited government is restraint .
Under the Constitution , government is confined to those powers that protect life , liberty , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It will not be denied that power is of an encroaching nature and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it '' ( Federalist 48 ) .
Despite accusations of fascism from the left , President Trump has attempted to scale back the power of government by eliminating or curtailing many federal regulations and by reducing the size of the federal government and the federal work force .
He has made mistakes , to be sure , but in terms of actual policy , his critics are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ amount to a pattern of `` tyranny '' and `` fascism . ''
Instead , much of the criticism surrounds his sometimes reckless language and his verbal attacks on the press .
( Ironically , it was Barack Obama who abused government power by investigating , spying on , and harassing journalists . )
Under a Biden administration , we will see a colossal escalation in the scope and power of government , projected by authoritarian policies , many of which were put in place under President Obama .
The apparently affable Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ primary purpose of government is to engineer social and economic structures in order to create a `` just society . ''
Progressives have no limiting principles to restrain government growth because they are convinced that government is a benign agent of the people — a supremely naïve belief according to the American Founders .
The prospect of an authoritarian government under Biden is not a nebulous accusation , but a concrete extrapolation based on his record and his current positions and policies .
The examples that follow are drawn from my eBook , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : How Progressives Are Dismantling America One Plank at a Time .
The book can be downloaded for free .
Biden has promised to sign the Equality Act into law if it is passed by the Senate .
This legislation limits religious freedoms by elevating LGBT rights , which , for Progressives , take precedence over other rights .
The Equality Act amends the 1964 Civil Rights Act to `` prohibit discrimination on the basis of the sex , sexual orientation , gender identity . ''
Section 1107 specifically denies exemptions for religious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Act of 1993 .
The Equality Act would force churches to open their sex-specific facilities , such as bathrooms , to members of the opposite sex .
It would threaten creative professionals , like Christian bakers , wedding photographers , and florists , who would be forced , against their deeply held religious beliefs , to use their artistic skills in support of same-sex couples attempting to marry .
In short , the Equality Act would force religious individuals and organizations to speak messages and act in ways that violate their beliefs , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will restore the Affordable Care Act ( `` Obamacare '' ) , forcing religious ministries and schools , along with businesses operated by religiously devout owners , to cover the insurance cost of birth control drugs that can cause abortions .
After a successful nine-year battle in the court system against the Obama administration , the Little Sisters of the Poor , a Catholic order of nuns , would find themselves in litigation again to protect their religious freedom .
Ironically , Biden claims to be a devout Catholic .
Biden will require @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exception for conscience .
Those who morally object to abortion as murder will be forced to subsidize it .
Most Americans have opposed government funding of abortion , including Biden himself .
Until recently , he supported the 1976 Hyde Amendment , which prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for abortions ( with a few exceptions ) .
This longstanding agreement was , in effect , a truce between the two opposing , and often hostile , sides of the abortion debate .
But Biden , under the influence of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tolerant and will settle for no middle ground when it comes to `` social justice . ''
Biden will restore Obama 's guidance for college tribunals on sexual misconduct .
In 2011 , the U.S. Department of Education 's Office for Civil Rights established new mandates under the Obama administration requiring colleges and universities that receive federal funding to dramatically reduce the due process rights of students accused of sexual misconduct .
These included : • denial of the right of the accused to face his accuser • denial of the right of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the right to see all the evidence collected in the case • denial of the right to objective and impartial investigations • denial of the right of presumed innocence until proven guilty These unjust regulations were rectified under the Trump administration to the accolades of civil rights organizations like FIRE .
But Biden intends to reinstitute Obama 's sham system , which has more in common with the show trials of authoritarian regimes than with American justice .
These shadowy tribunals give us a window into the Progressive view of justice and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Progressive legal system .
Biden will reinstate Obama 's heavy-handed transgender `` bathroom directive . ''
The federal government will order women and girls in public schools to permit males to use their bathrooms , locker rooms , and showers .
This violates their inalienable right to fundamental bodily privacy and poses a safety risk .
Girls ' and women 's sports teams will be required to admit males who pretend to be female , even though they represent an unfair and insuperable advantage over females .
The barometer of encroaching authoritarianism is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Founders sought to divide sovereignty between state and federal governments ( federalism ) , Progressives like Biden aspire to create a top-down system of control in order to implement their economic and social vision , effectively quashing the power of the states .
For example , Biden said he would shut down the country if necessary in order to stop the spread of the coronavirus , even though the direct oversight of public health is not a power delegated to the president or the federal government .
Only the states have the power @ @ @ @ @ @ @ determine what is in the best interest of public health and the police power to enforce it when necessary .
Biden 's attempt to consolidate power by running over the states is evident in his environmental policies , which give the federal government nearly plenary control over private property .
Though each state has one or more agencies to monitor and regulate the quality of the environment , the EPA has assumed expansive powers to override state regulations on land , air , water , wildlife , and other natural resources .
Under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ expanded further by giving the agency sweeping and unprecedented authority over streams and wetlands , even on private property .
President Trump rolled back this usurpation of power , handing control back to the states .
Biden , however , intends to reinstate Obama 's authoritarian regulations .
He will also establish an `` Environmental and Climate Justice Division '' in order to further consolidate federal power by using , in his words , an `` all-of-government approach . ''
Finally , under Joe Biden , the federal government will extend its tentacles @ @ @ @ @ @ @ His administration will end single-family zoning in many suburbs and create `` little downtowns '' in these communities by building high-density , low-income housing .
This will effectively destroy the suburbs by merging them with large cities .
In keeping with the authoritarian nature of this program , suburbs that refuse to comply will be cut off from millions of dollars in HUD grants , and possibly from critically needed federal transportation grants used to build and repair state highways .
Though Joe Biden presents himself as a moderate , his authoritarian policies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that is gradually undermining and replacing America 's social , political , and economic fabric .
Biden 's administration will have no limiting principle to restrain the growth of government power .
By further consolidating control , he will hasten the erosion of numerous constitutional rights , inching us closer to tyranny .
As James Madison warned , `` [ t ] here are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people , by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power , than by violent and sudden usurpations .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ author of The War on America 's Founding Principles : How Progressives Are Dismantling America One Plank at a Time , a free eBook .
His articles , books , and videos can be found on his blog , Science Et Cetera .
Published with permission from the American Thinker .

September 29, 2020 (American Thinker) — The principle of limited government is at the heart of the American system. The Founders believed that tyranny grows in proportion to power, threatening individual liberty. History is littered with innumerable examples of “absolute Despotism,” to use the words of the Declaration of Independence, in which government exercised its power against the people rather than for the people.
The pivot of limited government is restraint. Under the Constitution, government is confined to those powers that protect life, liberty, and property. James Madison warned, “It will not be denied that power is of an encroaching nature and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it” (Federalist 48).
Despite accusations of fascism from the left, President Trump has attempted to scale back the power of government by eliminating or curtailing many federal regulations and by reducing the size of the federal government and the federal work force. He has made mistakes, to be sure, but in terms of actual policy, his critics are hard pressed to cite substantive examples that amount to a pattern of “tyranny” and “fascism.” Instead, much of the criticism surrounds his sometimes reckless language and his verbal attacks on the press. (Ironically, it was Barack Obama who abused government power by investigating, spying on, and harassing journalists.)
Under a Biden administration, we will see a colossal escalation in the scope and power of government, projected by authoritarian policies, many of which were put in place under President Obama. The apparently affable Biden is a Progressive who believes that the primary purpose of government is to engineer social and economic structures in order to create a “just society.” Progressives have no limiting principles to restrain government growth because they are convinced that government is a benign agent of the people — a supremely naïve belief according to the American Founders.
The prospect of an authoritarian government under Biden is not a nebulous accusation, but a concrete extrapolation based on his record and his current positions and policies. The examples that follow are drawn from my eBook, The War on America's Founding Principles: How Progressives Are Dismantling America One Plank at a Time. The book can be downloaded for free.
Attacks on Religious Freedom
Biden has promised to sign the Equality Act into law if it is passed by the Senate. This legislation limits religious freedoms by elevating LGBT rights, which, for Progressives, take precedence over other rights. The Equality Act amends the 1964 Civil Rights Act to “prohibit discrimination on the basis of the sex, sexual orientation, gender identity.” Section 1107 specifically denies exemptions for religious freedom granted under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.
The Equality Act would force churches to open their sex-specific facilities, such as bathrooms, to members of the opposite sex. It would threaten creative professionals, like Christian bakers, wedding photographers, and florists, who would be forced, against their deeply held religious beliefs, to use their artistic skills in support of same-sex couples attempting to marry. In short, the Equality Act would force religious individuals and organizations to speak messages and act in ways that violate their beliefs, under the threat of punishment.
Biden will restore the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”), forcing religious ministries and schools, along with businesses operated by religiously devout owners, to cover the insurance cost of birth control drugs that can cause abortions. After a successful nine-year battle in the court system against the Obama administration, the Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic order of nuns, would find themselves in litigation again to protect their religious freedom. Ironically, Biden claims to be a devout Catholic.
Forced Taxpayer Funding of Abortion
Biden will require taxpayers to fund abortions, with no exception for conscience. Those who morally object to abortion as murder will be forced to subsidize it. Most Americans have opposed government funding of abortion, including Biden himself. Until recently, he supported the 1976 Hyde Amendment, which prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for abortions (with a few exceptions). This longstanding agreement was, in effect, a truce between the two opposing, and often hostile, sides of the abortion debate. But Biden, under the influence of the radical left, has become far less tolerant and will settle for no middle ground when it comes to “social justice.”
Shadow Justice System
Biden will restore Obama's guidance for college tribunals on sexual misconduct. In 2011, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights established new mandates under the Obama administration requiring colleges and universities that receive federal funding to dramatically reduce the due process rights of students accused of sexual misconduct. These included:
a recklessly broad definition of sexual harassment
a low threshold of evidence for determining guilt
denial of the right of the accused to face his accuser
denial of the right of the accused to cross-examine witnesses
denial of the right to see all the evidence collected in the case
denial of the right to objective and impartial investigations
denial of the right of presumed innocence until proven guilty
These unjust regulations were rectified under the Trump administration to the accolades of civil rights organizations like FIRE. But Biden intends to reinstitute Obama's sham system, which has more in common with the show trials of authoritarian regimes than with American justice. These shadowy tribunals give us a window into the Progressive view of justice and how it would be applied in a Progressive legal system.
Discrimination against Women
Biden will reinstate Obama's heavy-handed transgender “bathroom directive.” The federal government will order women and girls in public schools to permit males to use their bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers. This violates their inalienable right to fundamental bodily privacy and poses a safety risk. Girls' and women's sports teams will be required to admit males who pretend to be female, even though they represent an unfair and insuperable advantage over females.
Federal Control of Private Property
The barometer of encroaching authoritarianism is the consolidation of power. Whereas the Founders sought to divide sovereignty between state and federal governments (federalism), Progressives like Biden aspire to create a top-down system of control in order to implement their economic and social vision, effectively quashing the power of the states. For example, Biden said he would shut down the country if necessary in order to stop the spread of the coronavirus, even though the direct oversight of public health is not a power delegated to the president or the federal government. Only the states have the power, under the 10th Amendment, to determine what is in the best interest of public health and the police power to enforce it when necessary.
Biden's attempt to consolidate power by running over the states is evident in his environmental policies, which give the federal government nearly plenary control over private property. Though each state has one or more agencies to monitor and regulate the quality of the environment, the EPA has assumed expansive powers to override state regulations on land, air, water, wildlife, and other natural resources. Under the Obama administration, this power was expanded further by giving the agency sweeping and unprecedented authority over streams and wetlands, even on private property. President Trump rolled back this usurpation of power, handing control back to the states. Biden, however, intends to reinstate Obama's authoritarian regulations. He will also establish an “Environmental and Climate Justice Division” in order to further consolidate federal power by using, in his words, an “all-of-government approach.”
Federal Control of Local Zoning Laws
Finally, under Joe Biden, the federal government will extend its tentacles to local neighborhoods by regulating zoning. His administration will end single-family zoning in many suburbs and create “little downtowns” in these communities by building high-density, low-income housing. This will effectively destroy the suburbs by merging them with large cities. In keeping with the authoritarian nature of this program, suburbs that refuse to comply will be cut off from millions of dollars in HUD grants, and possibly from critically needed federal transportation grants used to build and repair state highways.
Though Joe Biden presents himself as a moderate, his authoritarian policies betray a more radical, Progressive philosophy that is gradually undermining and replacing America's social, political, and economic fabric. Biden's administration will have no limiting principle to restrain the growth of government power. By further consolidating control, he will hasten the erosion of numerous constitutional rights, inching us closer to tyranny. As James Madison warned, “[t]here are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people, by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations.”
William DiPuccio, Ph.D., is author of The War on America's Founding Principles: How Progressives Are Dismantling America One Plank at a Time, a free eBook. His articles, books, and videos can be found on his blog, Science Et Cetera.
Published with permission from the American Thinker.
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lifesitenews--2020-09-29--Jesuits to host pro-LGBT retreat featuring lesbian Episcopal ‘priest’

September 29 , 2020 ( Sons of St. Joseph ) — From October 9–10 , 2020 , at their Jesuit Retreat Center located in Parma , Ohio , ( Diocese of Cleveland ) the Society of Jesus will host an LGBTQ retreat called “ Emmaus 2020 : A Time for Healing : Ourselves and the World.
” According to the Center ’ s website : “ EMMAUS 2020 is the twenty-first annual retreat for LGBTQ Christians at Jesuit Retreat Center.
” The retreat will be facilitated by Sister Marian Durkin , C.S.A .
— a member of the Sisters of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ serves on the Leadership Team of her religious order ; they are headquartered in the Diocese of Cleveland .
In 2019 , Durkin was interviewed about Pope Francis and her ministry to the LGBT community : The “ Guest Speakers ” at the retreat will include : Rachel Drotar — the program coordinator for the Sisters of Charity “ Generative Spirit ” initiative ; the Reverend Adrienne Koch — an Episcopal priest at Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland ; and the Reverend Christopher Decatur — the “ Priest-in-Charge ” of St. Luke ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Adrienne Koch published an article entitled : “ God Made the Rainbow.
” She wrote : “ My Christian imagination can ’ t separate the rainbow flag billowing in the wind of a downtown hair salon from the story of Noah because I am a gay priest .
I am both a lover of god and a lover of another woman .
Whenever I see a rainbow , I remember god ’ s promise not to destroy me .
That ’ s the fear isn ’ t it ?
When you ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ agnostic burned by a judgmental religion…if you stand proudly under the flag of the LGBTQ+ nation , somewhere along the way you heard the church teach that god erases mistakes like you .
Why would you trust that god ?
” Christopher Decatur was raised a Catholic ; he was encouraged by a Catholic priest to speak to a gay female Episcopal priest concerning his vocation to the priesthood .
He said : “ I am openly gay , and I struggled with the aspect of having to deny a part of me…I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can be 100 percent myself , and where all are welcome without exceptions.
” The Society of Jesus has a long history of gay-affirmation and LGBT activism .
Probably beginning in the 1970s with the controversial writings of gay Jesuit priest John J. McNeill and culminating with the widespread approbation , within the highest echelons of the Catholic Church , for James Martin , the Jesuits host LGBT ministries at almost all of their local parishes and at their universities throughout the US .
The most notable include those in San Francisco , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2018 , the Jesuits hosted another pro-LGBT retreat at the Jesuit Center for Spiritual Growth located in Wernersville , Pennsylvania .
The Diocese of Cleveland hosts their own gay-affirmative ministry — “ Gay & Lesbian Family Ministry.
” From one of the publications promoted by the Ministry : Robert Nugent , along with Sister Jeannine Gramick , the co-founders of the dissident group , New Ways Ministry , were officially silenced by the Vatican in a 1999 “ Notification , ” which declared : “ Sister Jeannine Gramick , SSND , and Father @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prohibited from any pastoral work involving homosexual persons.
” In 2016 , James Martin accepted the “ Bridge Building Award ” from Gramick and New Ways Ministry ; his address at the awards ceremony formed the basis for his best-seller “ Building a Bridge : How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect , Compassion , and Sensitivity.
” Published with permission from Sons of St. Joseph .

September 29, 2020 (Sons of St. Joseph) — From October 9–10, 2020, at their Jesuit Retreat Center located in Parma, Ohio, (Diocese of Cleveland) the Society of Jesus will host an LGBTQ retreat called “Emmaus 2020: A Time for Healing: Ourselves and the World.” According to the Center’s website: “EMMAUS 2020 is the twenty-first annual retreat for LGBTQ Christians at Jesuit Retreat Center.” The retreat will be facilitated by Sister Marian Durkin, C.S.A. — a member of the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine; Durkin also serves on the Leadership Team of her religious order; they are headquartered in the Diocese of Cleveland. In 2019, Durkin was interviewed about Pope Francis and her ministry to the LGBT community:
“I appreciate Pope Francis’ compassionate look at homosexuality in the church…There are gay men in the priesthood, there always have been. And they serve God’s people with great integrity and love.”
She continued:
“I’m delighted whenever there’s good press about gays and lesbians…Francis is a breath of fresh air.”
The “Guest Speakers” at the retreat will include: Rachel Drotar — the program coordinator for the Sisters of Charity “Generative Spirit” initiative; the Reverend Adrienne Koch — an Episcopal priest at Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland; and the Reverend Christopher Decatur — the “Priest-in-Charge” of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland.
In 2020, Adrienne Koch published an article entitled: “God Made the Rainbow.” She wrote: “My Christian imagination can’t separate the rainbow flag billowing in the wind of a downtown hair salon from the story of Noah because I am a gay priest. I am both a lover of god and a lover of another woman. Whenever I see a rainbow, I remember god’s promise not to destroy me. That’s the fear isn’t it? When you’re a cradle Christian, a curious agnostic burned by a judgmental religion…if you stand proudly under the flag of the LGBTQ+ nation, somewhere along the way you heard the church teach that god erases mistakes like you. Why would you trust that god?”
Christopher Decatur was raised a Catholic; he was encouraged by a Catholic priest to speak to a gay female Episcopal priest concerning his vocation to the priesthood. He said: “I am openly gay, and I struggled with the aspect of having to deny a part of me…I was looking for a community where I can be 100 percent myself, and where all are welcome without exceptions.”
The Society of Jesus has a long history of gay-affirmation and LGBT activism. Probably beginning in the 1970s with the controversial writings of gay Jesuit priest John J. McNeill and culminating with the widespread approbation, within the highest echelons of the Catholic Church, for James Martin, the Jesuits host LGBT ministries at almost all of their local parishes and at their universities throughout the US. The most notable include those in San Francisco, Seattle, and New York. In 2018, the Jesuits hosted another pro-LGBT retreat at the Jesuit Center for Spiritual Growth located in Wernersville, Pennsylvania.
The Diocese of Cleveland hosts their own gay-affirmative ministry — “Gay & Lesbian Family Ministry.” From one of the publications promoted by the Ministry:
As Robert Nugent has stated in his article, “Homosexual Rights and the Catholic Community,” (Doctrine and Life 44 (1994): 166) “From contemporary research in the development of sexual identity, sexual orientation seems to be discovered rather than chosen…”
Robert Nugent, along with Sister Jeannine Gramick, the co-founders of the dissident group, New Ways Ministry, were officially silenced by the Vatican in a 1999 “Notification,” which declared: “Sister Jeannine Gramick, SSND, and Father Robert Nugent, SDS, are permanently prohibited from any pastoral work involving homosexual persons.”
In 2016, James Martin accepted the “Bridge Building Award” from Gramick and New Ways Ministry; his address at the awards ceremony formed the basis for his best-seller “Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity.”
Published with permission from Sons of St. Joseph.
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lifesitenews--2020-09-29--Pro-lifers tense as COVID-inspired ‘lethargy’ stalls abortion debate at United Nations

NEW YORK , September 29 , 2020 ( C-Fam ) — For the first time since the United Nations was founded in 1945 , the world ’ s leaders did not come to New York for the kickoff of the new General Assembly session .
World leaders pledged their continued support and eulogized the international organization ’ s enduring importance in pre-recorded video messages as the United Nations celebrated its 75th anniversary this week .
But the empty halls at UN headquarters told a different story .
The world ’ s diplomatic machinery has come to a screeching halt because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pandemic is forcing a re-assessment of international alliances and spheres of influence , raising the stakes in international diplomatic talks , including on issues such as abortion .
For the pro-life cause , the tension is compounded by the uncertain outcome of the looming U.S. election .
In his video message , U.S. President Donald Trump promised to continue to defend the unborn , as he did in his UN speech last year .
His re-election would likely ensure a continuation and expansion of U.S. pro-life diplomacy .
But a change of government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ abrupt reversal of all U.S. pro-life efforts internationally .
Despite U.S. opposition , the UN system insists on promoting abortion , depending on ever decreasing oversight by UN member states .
The diminished transparency and lack of accountability during the UN lockdown was exploited to promote abortion .
From the outset of the pandemic the UN bureaucracy , led by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Director-General of the World Health organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus , has systematically promoted abortion as an essential health service .
Only Trump administration officials have openly and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ countries who call themselves pro-life — Brazil , Poland , and Hungary — have stood by and watched the UN system promote abortion .
This may spell more trouble in the upcoming negotiations of roughly a dozen UN General Assembly resolutions that raise pro-life concerns .
The European Union , which favors keeping abortion in UN policy , has repeatedly bested U.S. pro-life diplomatic efforts .
In a recent vote in the UN General Assembly , the European Union could count over 120 countries on its side .
They all voted against a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ resolution on the UN coronavirus response .
The best the U.S. could get was 30 countries to abstain from voting .
And the lockdown of UN headquarters has made U.S. pro-life diplomatic efforts all the more difficult .
Like other businesses and government offices , the coronavirus has imposed a kind of lethargy .
Diplomats are not meeting each other on a daily basis .
Negotiations have been reduced to a bare minimum and are held virtually .
The diplomatic work of the General Assembly in weeks to come has already been severely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ started to talk about the resolutions they will adopt this year .
By this time last year initial drafts had been circulated to delegations .
All this may result in sharpening the pre-existing diplomatic alignments , especially since many countries may wait for the outcome of the U.S. election .
If Trump is re-elected , it will be easier for countries to peel away from the EU sphere of influence .
If he is not re-elected , the U.S. State Department will align itself with the European Union and support abortion in UN @ @

And the tension is compounded by the uncertain outcome of the looming U.S. election.
NEW YORK, September 29, 2020 (C-Fam) — For the first time since the United Nations was founded in 1945, the world’s leaders did not come to New York for the kickoff of the new General Assembly session.
World leaders pledged their continued support and eulogized the international organization’s enduring importance in pre-recorded video messages as the United Nations celebrated its 75th anniversary this week. But the empty halls at UN headquarters told a different story.
The world’s diplomatic machinery has come to a screeching halt because of the coronavirus pandemic. And the pandemic is forcing a re-assessment of international alliances and spheres of influence, raising the stakes in international diplomatic talks, including on issues such as abortion.
For the pro-life cause, the tension is compounded by the uncertain outcome of the looming U.S. election.
In his video message, U.S. President Donald Trump promised to continue to defend the unborn, as he did in his UN speech last year. His re-election would likely ensure a continuation and expansion of U.S. pro-life diplomacy. But a change of government in the U.S. would result in an abrupt reversal of all U.S. pro-life efforts internationally.
Despite U.S. opposition, the UN system insists on promoting abortion, depending on ever decreasing oversight by UN member states. The diminished transparency and lack of accountability during the UN lockdown was exploited to promote abortion.
From the outset of the pandemic the UN bureaucracy, led by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Director-General of the World Health organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has systematically promoted abortion as an essential health service.
Only Trump administration officials have openly and consistently taken issue with this. Even countries who call themselves pro-life — Brazil, Poland, and Hungary — have stood by and watched the UN system promote abortion.
This may spell more trouble in the upcoming negotiations of roughly a dozen UN General Assembly resolutions that raise pro-life concerns.
The European Union, which favors keeping abortion in UN policy, has repeatedly bested U.S. pro-life diplomatic efforts.
In a recent vote in the UN General Assembly, the European Union could count over 120 countries on its side. They all voted against a U.S. attempt to exclude abortion from a resolution on the UN coronavirus response. The best the U.S. could get was 30 countries to abstain from voting.
And the lockdown of UN headquarters has made U.S. pro-life diplomatic efforts all the more difficult.
Like other businesses and government offices, the coronavirus has imposed a kind of lethargy. Diplomats are not meeting each other on a daily basis. Negotiations have been reduced to a bare minimum and are held virtually.
The diplomatic work of the General Assembly in weeks to come has already been severely impacted. Diplomats haven’t even started to talk about the resolutions they will adopt this year. By this time last year initial drafts had been circulated to delegations.
All this may result in sharpening the pre-existing diplomatic alignments, especially since many countries may wait for the outcome of the U.S. election. If Trump is re-elected, it will be easier for countries to peel away from the EU sphere of influence. If he is not re-elected, the U.S. State Department will align itself with the European Union and support abortion in UN policy.
Published with permission from C-Fam.
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lifesitenews--2020-09-29--African nation faces UN pressure to open up to abortion on demand

WASHINGTON , D.C. , September 29 , 2020 ( C-Fam ) — Legislators in Malawi are facing heavy pressure to liberalize the country ’ s abortion laws during the current parliamentary session .
Religious leaders are calling for the proposed Termination of Pregnancy Bill to be shelved .
Meanwhile , organizations with international funding sources , as well as UN entities , are coordinating to ensure the bill is passed .
Currently , Malawi allows abortion only to save the mother ’ s life .
The proposed bill would allow “ safe ” and “ legal ” abortions in cases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or incest , and if the pregnancy is said to threaten the physical or mental health of the mother .
Malawi ’ s Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship pointed out that similar health exceptions have “ led other countries to effectively practice abortion on demand.
” It is also notable that while the rape and incest exception has a 16-week gestational limit , there is no such restriction on the health exception .
A similar bill was introduced in 2017 , a year after a Special Law Commission published a report calling for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ laws .
The Law Commission cited international pro-abortion organization Ipas , based in the U.S. , with providing the funding for the project .
One of the most outspoken proponents of the proposed bill is Emma Kaliya , chairperson of the Coalition for the Prevention of Unsafe Abortions ( COPUA ) .
COPUA was established in 2010 with support from Ipas , after Ipas with the Malawian Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization ( WHO ) to conduct a national strategic assessment on abortion .
Another key advocacy group in support @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Solutions Journalism , also based in Malawi and receives funding from Ipas , COPUA , and Amplify Change , an organization that promotes abortion and other “ sexual and reproductive health and rights ” projects in developing countries with funding from Denmark , the Netherlands Sweden , the UK , and other foundations based in Western countries .
Ipas Malawi ’ s country director recruited obstetricians and gynecologists to be “ new champions ” for changing the abortion law , featuring them as speakers at COPUA events and workshops .
According to an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Malawi , “ [ s ] ome of them became members of COPUA , while others were on the Special Law Commission , or both.
” The article itself was the result of a study funded by the UK government .
Malawi has faced pressure to liberalize its abortion laws from UN human rights bodies including the treaty monitoring committees attached to several treaties it has ratified .
Advocates for the abortion bill frequently cite these committees ’ recommendations as well as guidance from the WHO , although neither are binding .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ expand abortion in Malawi , local religious leaders are speaking out against it .
Two weeks ago , the regional Presbyterian General Assembly reaffirmed its stance against legalizing abortion .
The moderator of the assembly , the Reverend Bizwick Nkhoma said , “ We are repeating that we say no to abortion .
This is evil , and it is a sin .
We continue to legalise it , we are going to curse the country.
” A coalition of Catholic bishops , other Christian ministers , and Muslim leaders issued a joint @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and infanticide “ abominable crimes ” and “ gravely sinful.
” On Monday , the Malawi State House confirmed that the bill will be discussed in the current sitting of Parliament , which ends October 23 .

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 29, 2020 (C-Fam) — Legislators in Malawi are facing heavy pressure to liberalize the country’s abortion laws during the current parliamentary session. Religious leaders are calling for the proposed Termination of Pregnancy Bill to be shelved. Meanwhile, organizations with international funding sources, as well as UN entities, are coordinating to ensure the bill is passed.
Currently, Malawi allows abortion only to save the mother’s life. The proposed bill would allow “safe” and “legal” abortions in cases of fetal anomalies, cases of rape or incest, and if the pregnancy is said to threaten the physical or mental health of the mother. Malawi’s Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship pointed out that similar health exceptions have “led other countries to effectively practice abortion on demand.” It is also notable that while the rape and incest exception has a 16-week gestational limit, there is no such restriction on the health exception.
A similar bill was introduced in 2017, a year after a Special Law Commission published a report calling for changes to the country’s abortion laws. The Law Commission cited international pro-abortion organization Ipas, based in the U.S., with providing the funding for the project.
One of the most outspoken proponents of the proposed bill is Emma Kaliya, chairperson of the Coalition for the Prevention of Unsafe Abortions (COPUA). COPUA was established in 2010 with support from Ipas, after Ipas with the Malawian Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) to conduct a national strategic assessment on abortion.
Another key advocacy group in support of the bill is the Centre for Solutions Journalism, also based in Malawi and receives funding from Ipas, COPUA, and Amplify Change, an organization that promotes abortion and other “sexual and reproductive health and rights” projects in developing countries with funding from Denmark, the Netherlands Sweden, the UK, and other foundations based in Western countries.
Ipas Malawi’s country director recruited obstetricians and gynecologists to be “new champions” for changing the abortion law, featuring them as speakers at COPUA events and workshops. According to an article summarizing advocacy for abortion law reform in Malawi, “[s]ome of them became members of COPUA, while others were on the Special Law Commission, or both.” The article itself was the result of a study funded by the UK government.
Malawi has faced pressure to liberalize its abortion laws from UN human rights bodies including the treaty monitoring committees attached to several treaties it has ratified. Advocates for the abortion bill frequently cite these committees’ recommendations as well as guidance from the WHO, although neither are binding.
Despite the well-funded and well-coordinated campaign to expand abortion in Malawi, local religious leaders are speaking out against it. Two weeks ago, the regional Presbyterian General Assembly reaffirmed its stance against legalizing abortion. The moderator of the assembly, the Reverend Bizwick Nkhoma said, “We are repeating that we say no to abortion. This is evil, and it is a sin. We continue to legalise it, we are going to curse the country.”
A coalition of Catholic bishops, other Christian ministers, and Muslim leaders issued a joint statement condemning the bill, calling abortion and infanticide “abominable crimes” and “gravely sinful.”
On Monday, the Malawi State House confirmed that the bill will be discussed in the current sitting of Parliament, which ends October 23.
Published with permission from C-Fam.
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