Bill Donahue, President of the Catholic League, has called on Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama to dissolve his national advisory council, which is comprised in large part of pro-abortion Catholics, an oxymoron by the Church's standard.

The sad fact is that much of the base of US Catholicism is in the predominantly Democrat affiliated northeast, where the misguided lemmings are in season year round and are as liberal in their politics as they are in their faith, to the extent that they even practice it at all. This isn't rocket science; it's demography.

The misinterpretation of Vatican II, the moral decline of our culture that began in the rebellious 60's, and the pervasiveness of liberalism in the region are all contributing factors.

The once oppressed Irish immigrants introduced and indoctrinated into New York's Tammany Hall were often literally and unabashedly bought and paid for support and votes by the strong and corrupt Democrat political machine that essentially ran the very city that most of these immigrants would at least have to pass through as they stepped onto US soil for the first time. From there, the wave only grew, particularly as fewer people took time to learn their new nation's Constitution and public schools, strongholds of the party, continued to dumb down generations of our kids until the defining boundaries of government function vs. private entity or individual responsibility became blurred, if not abandoned to our current socialist panacea of incessant Big Daddy government cradle to grave entitlements to supposedly satisfy every whim and wish.

The Church's official position is that no political party or specific candidate is endorsed. Each Catholic must first form a solid conscience (thus eliminating potential for moral relativism to take root) and then must apply that conscience to making a sound choice on the voting ballot.

While the Church espouses many political issues, contrary to popular belief, none of those issues rises any higher in importance to the sanctity of innocent and vulnerable human life. That translates to abortion, cloning, euthanasia, and (embryonic) stem cell research. Those issues are all pivotal, even above the limited allowance of capital punishment, self-defense, war, and the prohibition of torture. Yet time and again, so-called "cafeteria" Catholics, so named because like patrons in a buffet line, they pick and choose which items they will accept or reject, denigrate these pivotal life issues and falsely justify the prominence of lesser issues more palatable to their individual agendas.

In her June 18, 1965 apparition to the children of Garabandal, Spain, our Blessed Mother Mary warned that many priests, bishops and cardinals were on a path to perdition and are taking many souls with them. Note the timing of that message and the timing of Vatican II, which corrupted, liberalized and watered down Catholic theology from what some claim was vast misinterpretation. In her book, "Saving Those Damned Catholics," Judie Brown, President of the American Life League, and a practicing Catholic, cites several instances in which clergy members compromised on these issues because other needed projects were being funded by powerful politicians who were unabashedly on the wrong side of life and family issues.

Canon Law # 915 calls for prohibition of Holy Communion to those who persist in manifest grave sin, such as the advocacy of abortion. Yet in the 2004 presidential race, much controversy was spawned because of Catholic candidate, Senator John Kerry, an abortion advocate, with regard to his faith. Some bishops and priests called for refusal of distribution of the Holy Eucharist, while others took a more liberal tack, such as then Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington D.C. The codicil of this debate often neglected is that the celebrant of mass has a sacred duty to protect the integrity of the body and blood of Christ. The questionable state of grace of the recipient is secondary.

This problem is further exacerbated by overly timid and morally relative clergy members. During his recent visit to New York, Pope Benedict XVI affirmed Canon Law 915 and its strict enforcement, but talk is cheap, even from the Pontiff. Actions speak louder than words. Several pro-abortion Catholic politicians desecrated the Eucharist by receiving it while knowingly in a state of grave manifest sin. The only other recourse would be to confess of their sins first and repent to reform their ways and publicly reject abortion. To substitute for a more graphic term, procrastination rolls down hill. New York's Cardinal Egan was outraged that despite supposedly previous discussions on this matter with him, former New York Mayor and presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani received Holy Communion against Cardinal Egan's expressed wishes. Cardinal Egan blamed Giuliani, who was clearly at fault, but what did Egan do to prevent this desecration from occurring in the first place? Cardinal Egan's criticism of Giuliani simultaneously illustrates his own lack of action, and is as ridiculous as a police officer idly standing by and criticizing a burglar for stealing from a store without taking action to stop him from committing his crime. Furthermore, what priest under the Cardinal's authority actually distributed the Eucharist to Giuliani? Telling a politician to not do something holds about as much water as telling a kid to not do something, after all, left to their own devices, both politicians and kids think much alike. To coin President Reagan's philosophy of dealing with the Russians, "Trust, but verify." Ditto with this situation. Specific measures should have been taken by the Pope, and the various cardinals, bishops and priests present to protect the integrity of the Eucharist. Instead, they naively, or apathetically relied on rhetoric and the honor system. And that premise miserably failed because they all dropped the ball.

Now what? Does it end here? Yes, it does. The Pope has said no more. No cardinal, bishop or priest has been, or apparently will be disciplined for his ineptitude, and rest assured, this situation will occur again because no one of authority has the cahones to do anything more than talk and blame. This is the equivalent to when North Korean dictator Kim Jong (mentally) Il fired off a couple rockets during our Independence Day celebration a couple years back, after the US told him not to do so. Once he disobeyed, the US government merely expressed its displeasure. (Ouch! Don’t hurt me!) And our Lord will again be defiled until both clergy and laity are held strictly accountable for their neglectful, if not intentional sacrilegious actions.

The Church and I also part company on this nonsense of not endorsing a political party. Again, this isn't rocket science, but a little legwork and logical thinking is required. The Democrat Party embraces abortion, or to use their preferred vernacular, "choice." Much to my surprise, my recent quick (perhaps a little too quick) perusal of the 2004 Democrat National Committee Platform did not mention abortion, yet their embrace of it, as with their support of pro-abortion groups like NARAL and Planned Parenthood, and perhaps even the ghost of the late and once stifled pro-life Governor Bob Casey (D-PA) could well attest to the favoring of abortion being a Democrat staple issue.

Given this tight cohesion between most rank and file Democrat voters and officials, the DNC, and the abortion industry, one only need examine # 1868 of the Catholic Catechism under the title of "The Proliferation of Sin," Section V to see where they should truly stand in the sometimes blurry eyes of the Catholic Church:

"Sin is a personal act. Moreover, we have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate in them:

• By participating directly and voluntarily in them.
• By ordering, advising, or praising or approving of them.
• By not disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so.
• By protecting evil-doers."

The Church states, and correctly so, that acts such as abortion, euthanasia, cloning, and embryonic stem cell research that take innocent and vulnerable life are "intrinsically evil." That means your personal opinion and your own moral relativism need not apply. It is a theological, and I believe, also a philosophical premise, that truth is still the truth regardless of how many people, or even any people, agree or disagree. Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said the same thing. EWTN"s father John Corapi, giving a televised talk once expressed it another way. He pointed to the microphone in front of him at the pulpit. He announced that the microphone was, in fact, a microphone, and if you choose to believe it is instead a pepperoni pizza, that's OK, but like it or not, it's still a microphone, and not a pepperoni pizza. Yes, there's just a tad more substance to truth than, "I think, therefore, I am."

Thus, having established that the truth is that such acts are intrinsically evil, and that the Democrat Party embraces such acts that violate the sanctity of life, the approval of such acts is therefore evil and equally grave sin, just like the guy who drives his pregnant girlfriend to the abortion clinic is as guilty as she is for culpability of the abortion. So then, if such life issues are so pivotal, how can the Church say that it cannot endorse any political party, which is an indirect way of condoning Catholics being and supporting Democrats? I can only speculate on the answer, and I believe Judie Brown already answered it in her book. In short, one hand washes the other, between our priests and bishops and the Democrat, pro-abortion elected officials they must so often rely upon. In my own suspicious and cynical way of thinking, I wonder if that is why the US Council of Catholic Bishops (UCCB) also advocates for sympathy and amnesty for illegal immigrants, in defiance of the Book of Romans, Chapter 13, which tells us that governments and laws were made by God and thus must be obeyed. Latin America is now considered the new cradle of Catholicism, and home to 50% of the world's Catholics. That's a big pool to draw from to fill not only the roughly 75% of US Catholic Church pews empty on Sunday mornings, but the dwindling collection plates as well. Think about it! Once again, and as usual, "follow the money!" Brown also calls for the abolishment of the liberally slanted, grossly politicized, agenda-driven, and ever impeding USCCB. You go, Judie!

I would be remiss to let the Republicans entirely off the hook here. While the GOP platform does embrace life issues, many liberal republicans, and again, predominantly in the northeast and California, don't subscribe in part or in full to the pro-life plank. From this layman's point of view, as with buyers, voters beware. Do your homework and don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. That is to say, reject the candidate or official who opposes the pro-life plank, and not the Republican Party that has given it a home. In the same kind of way, I am angered and sickened by what I have seen some people within my Church do to add to its deterioration, but there is nothing at all wrong with the Catholic Church, originally founded by Jesus Christ, Himself. The problem is among some individuals, human sinners, like all the rest of us, within the Church. My criticism of what I see occur within my Church by such individuals aside, I love my faith. I was born and baptized as a Catholic, and I will proudly and lovingly die as a Catholic.

To add insult to injury, I recently stumbled upon a website called the National Catholic Reporter cafe, at http://ncrcafe.org. This site is apparently a blog for the far left liberal and secularly corrupted periodical, the National Catholic Reporter, an allegedly Catholic newspaper I once subscribed to until I finally figured out what it was all about and abruptly cancelled my subscription. Just to give you one example, the NCR sometimes featured columns from the late Father Robert Drinan, a former Democrat member of Congress from the People's Socialist Republic of Massachusetts. Drinan was also a Georgetown University professor and a leading advocate of abortion. Drinan (I refuse to call him "Father" any more) also supposedly coached and counseled Ted Kennedy that it is supposedly OK to advocate for abortion back in the 60's when the back of Teddy's political ears were still about as wet as the inside of Mary Jo's drowned lungs in the submerged Oldsmobile.

Yes, this is the flavor of the filthy and deceitfully "Catholic" rag called the National Catholic Reporter. On the blog, a "Sister Lea" not only praised Vatican II, but also praised and (in her mind) justified her zealous support of Barack Obama, the former Illinois state senator who killed legislation that would have protected babies of survived attempted abortions. (A similar bill, written almost verbatim in text, passed in the US Senate in 2002 with 98 affirming votes, including from among the most liberal of Democrats.) Obama claimed that if such infanticide (my word) was not allowed, Roe vs. Wade would be possibly endangered. (Boo-hoo!) Well, Sister Lea, you are living proof of the old adage that says, "People go to Heaven for the climate and to Hell for the company." Say hello to Bobby "The Baby Butcher" Drinan for me when you get down there. On second thought, don't even bother. That all said, I must concede that I really do now miss receiving the National Catholic "Distorter," though. While it was subversive in its views toward Holy Mother, the Church, (and toward the US for that matter) it was superb as kindling for my fireplace and lining for my cats' litter box. Somehow, though, I'll get by.

Much of the crux of the problem as I see it is the same among the electorate as it is among the "faithful," for lack of a better term: apathy and lack of knowledge. Our narcissistic culture of today breeds hordes of selfish heathens who don't care about anything unless it gives them instant gratification. And taking out some quiet time to brush up on one's national constitution and/or one's faith's catechism is simply too much to ask for these over-stimulated lemmings who require a constant barrage of noise, special effects, multi-tasking and entertainment, as so often exhibited by the highly testosterone-charged depravity of current movies, the proliferation of gratuitously violent and raucous video games, lurid and inane rap and hip-hop "music," and the TV show that spawned a new generic phrase of its theme and interjected it into our modern day lexicon: "reality TV."

Heaven forbid anyone read a book anymore, especially one without pictures, cartoons, nudity or sex acts. We are programming our future generations with as much stupidity as depravity. Meanwhile, nobody pays attention, reflects, learns or absorbs that which is not absolutely required. Go into any fast food establishment and give a simple order. Just once, I would like to see somebody actually get my coffee right without at least one repetition from me of what I ordered. Many people of today have the short, fleeting, and circuit-fried attention span of the sloths that they truly are. And thanks to radical liberalism in politics and the bastardization of Vatican II in Catholicism, the study and learning of the Constitution and the Catechism are not only much required, but of what little is required is greatly watered down to tidbits of trendy, feel-good revisionism. And truth need not apply.

President James Garfield once cynically quipped, "The truth will set you free, but first, it will make you miserable." In a culture where tough love has all but gone the way of the dinosaur, it is worth pondering that what lies ahead of this carefree and utopian false illusion of a yellow brick road of self-centeredness and tunnel vision fro many a fallen or misguided Catholic will be much more agonizingly tougher later on. Like a kid trapped in a candy store, many cafeteria Catholics have thrown caution to the wind and the guiding mores of their once traditional and moral past out the window. Those whom Jesus referred to as being of "this world" will assuredly have a rude awakening in the next one, when the piper, or more specifically, the devil, comes a calling to be paid his due.

Perhaps that is what Barack Obama means when he so often vaguely waxes romantic platitudes to his mesmerized followers about "change."

Doug Wrenn