“Judgment Day is on its way,” the bishop wrote in the St. Louis Review. “We cannot stop it. We don’t know when it will come, but just as surely as the sun rises daily, the Son of Man will come when we least expect.”

“For many, this coming election may very well be judgment day, for this election will measure us,” he continued, referencing Christ’s words of judgment in Matthew 10:32-33:

“Everyone who acknowledges Me before others, I will acknowledge before My heavenly Father. But whoever denies Me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.”

Bishop Herman asked the faithful to consider what kind of witness they give to God when they enter the voting booth on Election Day.

“The decision I make in the voting booth will reflect my value system. If I value the good of the economy and my current lifestyle more than I do the right to life itself, then I am in trouble,” the bishop wrote.

He cited Pope John Paul II’s apostolic exhortation Christifideles laici, which said outcry on human rights is “false and illusory” if the right to life is not defended to the maximum.

“The right of our children to be protected from destruction is greater than my right to a thriving economy,” Bishop Herman continued.

“My desire for a good economy cannot justify my voting to remove all current restrictions on abortion. My desire to end the war in Iraq cannot justify my voting to remove all current restrictions on abortion.”

Bishop Herman looked to the spiritual dimension as well.

“Those 47 million children our nation destroyed are still living. We have destroyed their bodies, but their souls are still alive. When our Lord comes again, they may very well be there to judge us. Even worse, Jesus tells us that whatever we do to the least of our brethren, we do to Him. We would truly shudder if we heard the words, ‘I was in my mother’s womb but you took my life!’

“It is quite possible that we might see these children, but, depending upon the choices we have made, we may very well be separated from them by a great chasm which cannot be crossed, much as the rich man who ignored Lazarus, the poor man, during his lifetime here on earth but was separated from him after death.”

Bishop Herman said the “deepest problem” with many Catholics is that they have become accustomed to rationalizing away a “life of sinful actions” headed in the wrong direction.

“My goal is not to engage you in some political party way but to engage you with our Savior and His teachings. We need to constantly challenge our accustomed behaviors in the light of the Gospel,” he wrote.

He said the issues of the coming election could help people learn about the teachings of the Catholic Church and to use the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

“When we do this, both we and the heavens will be filled with

Bishop reminds Catholics to remember Judgment Day in the voting booth

Bishop Robert Herman
St. Louis, Oct 18, 2008 / 08:03 am (CNA).- Bishop Robert J. Herman, the administrator of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, has written a column reminding Catholics that their vote will be a decision weighed on the Day of Judgment. He urged Catholics not to treat the unborn as the neglectful rich man treated Lazarus in the biblical parable.

“Judgment Day is on its way,” the bishop wrote in the St. Louis Review. “We cannot stop it. We don’t know when it will come, but just as surely as the sun rises daily, the Son of Man will come when we least expect.”

“For many, this coming election may very well be judgment day, for this election will measure us,” he continued, referencing Christ’s words of judgment in Matthew 10:32-33:

“Everyone who acknowledges Me before others, I will acknowledge before My heavenly Father. But whoever denies Me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.”

Bishop Herman asked the faithful to consider what kind of witness they give to God when they enter the voting booth on Election Day.

“The decision I make in the voting booth will reflect my value system. If I value the good of the economy and my current lifestyle more than I do the right to life itself, then I am in trouble,” the bishop wrote.

He cited Pope John Paul II’s apostolic exhortation Christifideles laici, which said outcry on human rights is “false and illusory” if the right to life is not defended to the maximum.

“The right of our children to be protected from destruction is greater than my right to a thriving economy,” Bishop Herman continued.

“My desire for a good economy cannot justify my voting to remove all current restrictions on abortion. My desire to end the war in Iraq cannot justify my voting to remove all current restrictions on abortion.”

Bishop Herman looked to the spiritual dimension as well.

“Those 47 million children our nation destroyed are still living. We have destroyed their bodies, but their souls are still alive. When our Lord comes again, they may very well be there to judge us. Even worse, Jesus tells us that whatever we do to the least of our brethren, we do to Him. We would truly shudder if we heard the words, ‘I was in my mother’s womb but you took my life!’

“It is quite possible that we might see these children, but, depending upon the choices we have made, we may very well be separated from them by a great chasm which cannot be crossed, much as the rich man who ignored Lazarus, the poor man, during his lifetime here on earth but was separated from him after death.”

Bishop Herman said the “deepest problem” with many Catholics is that they have become accustomed to rationalizing away a “life of sinful actions” headed in the wrong direction.

“My goal is not to engage you in some political party way but to engage you with our Savior and His teachings. We need to constantly challenge our accustomed behaviors in the light of the Gospel,” he wrote.

He said the issues of the coming election could help people learn about the teachings of the Catholic Church and to use the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

“When we do this, both we and the heavens will be filled with joy!” he asserted.

“Judgment Day is on its way,” he repeated, encouraging people to pray the family Rosary daily between now and Election Day.

In a previous column for the St. Louis Review, Bishop Herman urged Catholics not to put politics ahead of the Fifth commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.”

“Save our children!” he wrote. “More than anything else, this election is about saving our children or killing our children. This life issue is the overriding issue facing each of us in this coming election. All other issues, including the economy, have to take second place to the issue of life.”joy!” he asserted.

In the classic 1962 movie thriller “The Manchurian Candidate,” a man was programmed by communist handlers, and then emerged into the public arena as a hero, with a largely manufactured history, large parts of which were either obscured or changed. Then he was planted into a position of great influence, having been programmed to usher in tremendous change at the appointed time.

Barack Obama was programmed for years by his atheist, Muslim father, by the communist sex pervert Frank Marshall Davis, by con man Tony Rezko, by domestic terrorist Bill Ayers and others – most of all by black liberation theology screamer Jeremiah Wright. Obama’s resume is largely manufactured. There is a total blackout on his college years. His campaign obscures what he did as a “community organizer.” All his radical associations are denied or minimized. His miserable legislative record (voting “present” over 100 times to avoid taking a stand), his lack of achievement, his radical views and so on – all have been laundered through the magic of public relations into the near-sacred saga of “The One” who has been sent to serve, and to save, America.

Yet, as I have documented previously, John McCain rendered more genuine service to his country each and every day of those five-and-a-half years he endured in a North Vietnamese prison than Barack Obama has in his entire life.

In “The Manchurian Candidate,” several war heroes came back to America from abroad. But one of them harbored a dark agenda, lying in wait, secretly, until it could emerge and transform America.

America has a choice Tuesday between a genuine war hero and a genuine Manchurian candidate.

Choose well.

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

Bishop Finn: Week of Prayer for Our Country (Catholic Key)

Yes, let’s get to the bottom of this important question, and spare no expense in doing so!

I’ll start with SS and Medicare. You can’t touch them, becuase they are separate from the Federal Budget. the money they bring in isn’t in trust like it should be. It is all lent to the government.

Still, Medicare has been determined to be 30% fraudulent. Cutting mosst of that waste by pursuing criminal charges would save around a $100B.

Military Budget can also be cut. The best way to do it properly is to pass a law that ALL military appropriations be stand-alone bills. Then one can better track the waste and fraud. Same as Medicare above. I’ve heard that some $60b/yr is truly waste.

Implementing McCain’s roughly revenue- neutral healthcare plan will allow quite a bit of elimination of Medicaid, as there will be much redundancy. That $209B could be cut substantially, but there’s no way for me to determine exactly how much.

Other. Merging some of the 18(?) Fed Police agencies would save some serious bank. Eliminating a few cabinet agencies and such would also be useful. I have in mind the NEA, which contributes just 2% of arts funding, and provides welfare for really bad art.

The Dept of Energy has accomplished nothing in all its years. Yeah I know, we want to do R&D, but there has to be a better way than this useless organization.

The Dept. of Education is also worthless. Schooling needs to be returned to local control.

The EPA is just not a necessary operation. Its purposes could be subsumed into other organizations. Besides, it’s too tyrannical. To accomplish anything they might block, one has to get a special law passed exempting one from their restrictions, like drilling for oil, or sealing the border.

Decriminalize certain drugs, or change the laws which will alow complete immunity for informing on the dealers. The jails are too full of drug criminals. Guys should not be serving ten years for a bag of pot, when a rapist gets out in less.

Expedite deportation. Also, sealing the border will go a long way towards reducing our court and incarceration costs. Pay the home countries to jail them. They’d charge us much less than it costs us to do it here, and their jails are much less nice. Cracking down on illegal immigration would also reduce schooling costs, increase wages (removing the unfair competition), increase our tax base (illegals pay no taxes), reduce losses to crime, etc….

Offer war bonds to pay for off-budget military costs. Long-term, tax-free bonds to retire some of our debt might do some good, too. I know, it’s like T-bills, but a marketing campaign could make them more appealing to people at a non-investor level. They couldn’t be cashed early,as a rule. People could buy $25 here or there for their kids to “retire the debt”.

I bet I could take a huge chunk out of that $324B shortfall. How’d I do?

I am an “Obama follower & if my friend
did not e-mailed me this article, I would of
never heard of your “open minded little group”
The reason I am responding to one of your
blogs saying, that Sarah Palen is the governor of the largest state in the USA!!
It has 600,000 people!!! The mayor of San Jose, California have more voters!