Rest in Peace

“These Live For All Time” salutes Doctor Ralph McInerny, who died yesterday (Friday, January 29, A.D. 2010). He is the author of The Father Brown Mysteries and of The Defamation of Pius XII, a book that defends Pope Pius XII, the Catholic Church, and the natural law. Dr. McInerny’s book praises the Pope and the Catholic Church as the perennial defender of the natural law against the Nazis and their “hidden successors” who in other nations continued the anti-natural law agenda of the Nazis during the time period from right after the War until the present day.
We pray for the happy repose of the soul of Dr. McInerny. May he rest in peace in the loving arms of God, his Almighty Father.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

The Natural Law Lives in US

A recent Knights of Columbus poll finds that 56% of all Americans and 58% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 years consider abortion to be morally wrong. (This was reported on EWTN's The World Over on January 22, 2010.)
The election of Scott Brown to fill the vacant Senate seat of Edward M. Kennedy has—at least for now—put up a roadblock to the passage of the current Health Care Bill, which would further fund abortions and take away the legitimate conscience rights of health care workers who are following the natural law in refusing to participate in abortions. Thanks also to Bart Stupak and his group of Democrats who oppose any abortion funding in the Bill, and of course to the Republicans who have been opposing the Bill all along.

"The Righteous Gentile"

We are pleased to publish these words of high praise by a leading Jewish newspaper upon the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958:

… There probably was not a single ruler of our generation who did more to help the Jews in their hour of greatest tragedy, during the Nazi occupation of Europe, than the late Pope.
–The Jewish Post, November 6, 1958

Pius XII: Silent? Coward? Evil Collaborator? Nay!

"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light!"

This quotation from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew applies--of course--to the Messiah, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. But the saints, who followed Christ heroically, are "smaller lights" that give off the light of Christ to their contemporaries.

Look what the New York Times had to say in the Year of our Lord 1941, on Christmas Day, during the initial stages of War World II:

"The voice of Pius XII is a lonely voice in the silence and darkness enveloping Europe this Christmas. He is about the only ruler left on the continent of Europe who dares to raise his voice at all."

Editorial, The New York Times, December 25, 1941

Click on the link to view the blog! theselive.blogspot.com

Venerable Facts

On December 19, in the Year of Our Lord 2010, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI declared Pope Pius XII venerable. This means that now the process of canonization can move forward. Pius could canonically and officially become a saint. The doors are wide open!
Between 1939 and 1945, twelve thousand Jews were allowed into the Dominican Republic, safe from the Nazis thanks to the silent and heroic efforts of Pope Pius XII.
Until recently, every major Jewish leader “adored” Pius XII. In Israel, Golda Meir even planted a forest in honor of Pope Pius XII.
The Jewish philosopher Maimonedes said this: “The highest form of charity is anonymous charity.” That is what Pius XII is “guilty” of. He secretly, silently, and anonymously saved the lives of 186,000 Jews. That’s 186,000 of the people who were the first to receive the Revelation of the one true God.
The Ambassador from the United States of America wanted to know what Pius XII thought of Hitler and the Nazis. Pius told him that Hitler was an “untrustworthy scoundrel” who was “fundamentally wicked.” Now, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I ask you: “Do these sound like the words of ‘Hitler’s Pope’, of someone who collaborated with der Furer of Nazi Germany?” No! They do not. In fact, they are the words of a good and holy man, a “righteous Gentile” who is totally committed to Truth and Goodness.
Note: These facts are--in large part--from an interview of Gary Krupp by Raymond Arroyo in The World Over Live on EWTN, which aired on Friday, January 9, 2010. Krupp is Jewish and is the founder of the Pave the Way Foundation.

The Custodian of the Natural Law

Pius XII was a good and holy man. He was a heroic defender and protector of Jews during World War II. The evidence for this truth is massive, the testimonies are many, the facts are unchangeable. All efforts to show the opposite have been conclusively refuted. The question is not whether Pope Pius XII acted heroically during World War II and was instrumental in saving hundreds of thousands of Jews from Nazi extermination. The question is not whether libels and slanders against this good and holy man can be refuted. [They certainly can!] The overwhelming question that has to be addressed it this: Why is this good man being defamed? Who are those who devote themselves to besmirching the reputation of Pius XII? What are they really after? What is their fundamental objective?
The Didache taught that there are two paths, one of light, the other of darkness. John Paul II has spoken of a Culture of Death and a Culture of Life. During World War II, Pius XII courageously walked the path of light. He stood up against the Culture of Death and Defended the Culture of Life. The Nazis he condemned are no more. Their totalitarian twin, the Communists, have withered away as the state was supposed to. But the Culture of Death is still among us, stronger than before. Those who opposed Hitler now occupy countries which have espoused under other names his genetic atrocities. The moral relativism and nihilism of the West, which have permitted the Culture of Death to flourish among us, recognizes its main enemy. That enemy is the Catholic Church. For such foes, Pius XII is merely a target of opportunity. Their aim is the natural law which, as Pius emphasized from the beginning of the war, was violated by the Nazi racist policies. The Culture of Death is an equally systematic assault on the natural law of which the Catholic Church is the chief custodian. Hence the libel and defamation of the Church.

-Ralph McInerny, The Defamation of Pius XII (South Bend, Indiana: St. Augustine's Press, 2001) xi-xii. Emphasis (bold)added.

Dear Friends,
Dr. McInerny speaks truly! We want to look at the big picture. Pope Pius XII has been defamed because--as Supreme Pontiff and Teacher of the one true Church--he defended the natural law, "of which the Catholic Church is the chief custodian". So this is a burning issue that continues even--or rather especially--into our own day, Anno Domini 2010. Just look at what's happening in the "Health Care debate" in the highest levels of government of the United States of America! Some people are working very hard to have abortion funding written into this proposed law of the land. They also are resistant to any efforts to have conscience clauses inserted into the bill, clauses that would protect medical personnel who still have a well-formed conscience, that is, who still want to follow the natural law.
And there has been a continuum of Church defense of the natural law. After Pope Pius XII, Pope Paul VI defended the natural law; indeed, his argument in Humanae Vitae was a strong natural law argument. John Paul II, Paul VI's nearly immediate successor, defended nearly every aspect of the natural law: the family, the right to life, etc. And Benedict XVI continues to defend the natural law.
Empires come and go, but the Catholic Church, the custodian of the natural law, will endure until the end of time, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it! (Mt. 16:18)