February 2024
Editor’s Note: A previous version included Rep. Nancy Mace , R-SC, as a Catholic zero. She is not Catholic, but Protestant, nevertheless she remains a zero.
HEROES
Bishop Steven Raica, Diocese of Birmingham, AL
This month, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that the frozen embryos held in IVF stasis are children and protected under the law. Bishop Raica publicly championed the court’s decision as honoring human dignity following the natural law. He said:
“It really … puts into focus the fact that all life should be treated with a certain respect with the dignity that is accorded to it by God. [The maxim that] ‘life should be respected from the moment of conception to natural death’ comes into play here as we examine this question that the court had ruled on.”
We applaud our brave bishops who exercise their teaching office to encourage lawmakers in the natural law – may more men like him preach the truth about IVF!
Senator J.D. Vance, R-OH
Sen. J.D. Vance is keying up to become the popular voice of the people.
In a scathing speech opposing the latest Ukraine funding package, Sen. Vance schooled his peers on the dichotomy between the government’s concern for Ukraine and the lack of concern for their own citizens during the border crisis.
“If you talk to people and ask them what are the most pressing problems the country faces, none of them will say Ukraine,” asserted Vance. Vance’s message to the Senate was firm: the people are done enabling lawlessness and proxy wars.
Not only that, but Vance tied the demographic winter of the West to the decline of our society in general – not a connection made often in the halls of power. He understands that progressive talking points are a distraction from the real threats to faith and families in America today.
Cardinal Raymond Burke
Not one to be silenced when he sees the Church in need, Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke is calling all Catholics to join in prayer over the next nine months as America faces historic challenges.
The novena will begin March 12 and end with a consecration on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.
In his video message, Cardinal Burke notes that the world today is ravaged by hatred, confusion, disease, starvation, and war. It seems as though everywhere we turn, there is another story of an attack against the Church and the faithful. But it is now more than ever, he says, that we must remain hopeful.
So what’s so heroic about a prayer campaign? Cardinal Burke has faced harsh and public criticism and even rejection in recent years from his brother bishops. But that has not stopped him from continuing to lead by word and example, reminding us that the Church’s primary mission is the salvation of souls.
ZEROES
Governor Kathy Hochul, D-NY
The governor of New York ardently defends the right to practice your faith without harassment. Unless you’re Catholic, of course. Gov. Kathy Hochul made no sound in response to the desecration of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.
Shortly thereafter, however, she found the time to condemn the harassment of Muslims at a New York Mosque:
Double-standard much?
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY
Following the trans takeover of a funeral at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Coretz, D-NY, exacerbated the activists’ spiritual insurrection – preaching about the life of the deceased Cecilia Gentili on the House Floor.
Gentili was a man who believed he was a woman, and his “funeral” was used as a platform for LGBTQ activists to attack the Catholic Church from the pulpit of “America’s Parish Church.”
Ocasio-Cortez – wearing a prominent ash cross on her forehead – made no mention of the desecration of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. There was no recognition of the offense caused by radicals who gained access to the Cathedral by deception. Nor was there any apology for the violation of the sanctuary, or the mockery of the Catholic faith by revelers.
“Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” – Luke 23:34
Michael Sean Winters, Catholic Journalist
Michael Sean Winters once again “covered” the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast INCPB), but only it seems as an opportunity to bash bishops, sponsors, and attendees.
Claiming the event was deeply partisan, Winters forgot to provide any evidence … and instead focused on the fact that Bishop William Byrne recirculated Dr. Anthony Fauci’s recent remarks that he “no longer goes to church.” Winters scolded Bishop Byrne, saying he had no right to even mention Fauci, as he was not his pastor. Byrne, Winters scoffed, was using Fauci as an easy jab for a political talking point, making Byrne a political hack.
At least Winters acknowledges that only political hacks are permitted to deride those they have never personally pastored. He himself? Hack Extraordinaire… We encourage Winters to actually listen to all of a speaker’s address before reporting – or commenting – on it…
We could go on, but Winters has already enjoyed too much attention.