Courage From a Boy and a Priest

Father Peter Shaba

America sent many missionaries to Africa. Now Africa is sending them to us because the Catholic faith is growing there but has atrophied here. One such is Father Peter Shaba from Nigeria who said 10:30 mass last Sunday at Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Fryeburg, Maine. His homily on abortion was only the third I’ve heard in thirty years of attending mass nearly every week all over New England.

“If the mission of Jesus is to save life,” said Father Shaba in reference to Sunday’s mass readings, “for us his followers, our mission is to save and protect life as well. Yes, to save and protect life no matter how young or old that life is, especially the most vulnerable, the unborn. But is that the world mission today? Especially [for] those [who] call themselves Christians — good Catholics? Brothers and sisters, good Catholics don’t support the killing of innocent children — never.”

“We [all]watched what just happened in New York — the passing of the abortion law legalizing abortion up until birth, the Reproductive Health Act which was called ‘a historic victory for New Yorkers and for our progressive values…’ Are we progressing as humans in matters of life or are we retrogressing?” asked Father Shaba. “When we can kill babies who are very vulnerable, who should be cared for and protected since they cannot do that for themselves — but instead of doing that, we are happy and joyous that a law signing their death warrant has just been passed?”

He was referring to all the Catholic legislators who celebrated as Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law on the 46th anniversary of Roe V Wade. As Fox News reported it: “Cuomo directed the 408-foot spire on the One World Trade Center, the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, the Kosciuszko Bridge, and the Alfred E. Smith Building in Albany to be lit pink to ‘celebrate this achievement and shine a bright light forward for the rest of the nation to follow.’” 

Father Shaba continued: “I watched with sadness the man who signed this law [and] the women who were with him, other men and women present there especially those close to him — how happy they were, cheering him on, the grandmother who sat close to him, happy, laughing, cheering evil and thinking that all is well? These people should be crying and wailing. Brothers and sisters, I am telling you today: all is not well. We need to pray for our nation.”

Catholics, including lay people, priests, and a few American bishops are calling on their fellow bishops to censure Governor Cuomo — either excommunicate him or at least to deny him the Eucharist in his home parish. Is anything stirring? On Saturday, Bishop of Albany Edward Scharfenberger wrote to Governor Cuomo, according to according to Fox News: “Your advocacy of extreme abortion legislation is completely contrary to the teachings of our pope and our Church.”

Cuomo knows what he’s doing: making an ass of his bishop. So what now Bishop Scharfenberger? Another strong letter to follow? Only days before signing this sinful bill, Governor Cuomo “touted his Catholic faith during the State of the State address,” according to Fox News. Ordinary Catholics want their bishops to do something and we’re gravely disappointed with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for refusing to uphold, or even practice Catholic teachings. How can they now allow Cuomo to peddle his Catholicism for political purposes and days later publicly defy the church to which he claims to belong? According to the Catholic Encyclopedia of Canon Law: “The diocesan bishop governs with legislative, executive, and judicial powers according to the norms of law.” Do your job, bishop!

Nick Sandmann, Bishop Foy

And speaking of cowardly bishops, what did Covington, Kentucky Bishop do last week after a Covington Catholic High School boy was pilloried in the pro-abortion media for marching against abortion? Did he defend the boy? No. The bishop threatened him with expulsion! As LifeSiteNews reported: “Bishop Roger Joseph Foy of Covington, Kentucky, along with the Covington Catholic High School administration succumbed to the mainstream media's leftist spin of the Friday, January 19 altercation.”

When our bishops lack the courage of a sixteen-year-old high school junior in the face of political and media pressure, what are we to think? Do they really believe in the teachings of the church they pretend to lead? It’s no wonder pews are emptying and churches are closing in America and Europe. Too few priests and bishops believe strongly enough in church teachings to champion them.

It takes a boy and a priest from Africa to show us what courage looks like, to shine the light on what America has become when “progressive” Catholics celebrate the slaughtering of our unborn children while calling it “Reproductive Health Care.”

Gutless Disgrace

Recent consternation about incivility in politics is lost on me. I’m thinking our politicians are much too polite. Our early leaders often worked out differences fighting duels. President Andrew Jackson took office with two bullets still in his body. Vice President Aaron Burr shot former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. There’s a place for diplomacy, certainly, but too much isn’t good and we’re way over the limit.

It’s hard to stay quiet and be “polite” while listening to someone lie. It’s impossible if one must work with the person or live with him. The most diplomatic we should get is talking to him privately after - and we should only do that once. If there’s a next time, we must confront publicly. To sit quiet is to abet deceit and silence implies assent. Lying - when everyone in the room knows it - challenges us. If we don’t react, what are we?

Which brings us to the United Nations. It started off well back in 1945, dealing seriously with problems in Cyprus, Israel and Korea, but the UN today is useless. North Korea has ignored every UN resolution since 1993 while it built nuclear weapons and ICBMs - and it’s led by a nut-case. Meanwhile, Israel is forced to defend itself against Iranian terrorist puppets Hezbollah and Hamas, which rockets Israel daily. Iran ignores UN resolutions, lies to the world about building nuclear weapons, develops long-range missiles with North Korea’s help, denies the Holocaust, then promises to perpetrate another one by repeatedly threatening to wipe Israel off the map. What good is the UN?

In the face of all this, President Obama gave a speech filled with naive cliches like “No nation can or should try to dominate another nation.” What? Has he ever opened a history book? Ask Poland, Czechoslovakia or Hungary if a nation can try to dominate another nation. Ask Tibet. Ask Georgia. Ask Ukraine. Nobody is going to argue about the “should” part, but the can part? Who is going to stop them? The United Nations? Don’t make me laugh. I thought this guy was supposed to be smart.


Obama was followed at the podium by Libyan President Moammar Ghadafy, who - and I’m not making this up - tried to pitch a Bedouin tent on Donald Trump’s lawn the night before. After complaints from neighbors, he was kicked out by code enforcement officers. This is the guy who ordered one of his minions to hijack and blow up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland killing 139 Americans, then gave a hero’s welcome to the conspirator in Tripoli a only weeks ago after he was inexplicably released by the Scots. In his 96-minute diatribe, Ghadafy had the gall to say: “It should not be called the [UN] Security Council, it should be called the ‘terror council.’”

Diplomats listened politely.

Evidently, he was pleased by Obama’s remarks because he kept referring to him as “our son” and said, “We are content and happy if Obama can stay forever as a President of United States of America.” So are Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro and Vladimir Putin. It’s the American people who are nervous about him.

Ahmadinejad spewed his lies that night.

The next day, President Obama chaired the UN Security Council and said he envisioned a world without nuclear weapons. What? Last week, he scrapped the anti-missile system planned for Poland and the Czech Republic - knowing Iran had recently launched a satellite into space with a missile that can double as an ICBM. He also knew that Iran has built a second uranium processing plant and is close to making a nuclear weapon. Poland and the Czechs accused Obama of selling them out. Envisioning a world without nuclear weapons is fine if you’re some kind of mystic, but Obama is our commander-in-chief. We rely on his judgement for our security, even our very existence, in a dangerous world.

After listening to Obama’s remarks, French President Sarkozy said: “President Obama dreams of a world without [nuclear] weapons . . . but right in front of us are two countries doing the exact opposite. . . . We live in the real world, not the virtual world. And the real world expects us to take decisions.”

You know it’s bad when the President of the United States has to be lectured by the president of France about courage.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s turn came next. To the UN General Assembly - most of whom sat politely through speeches by terrorist murderers Ghadafy and Ahmadinejad - Netanyahu said: “. . . to those who gave [Ahmadinejad] a hearing, I say on behalf of my people, the Jewish people, and decent people everywhere: Have you no shame? Have you no decency? . . . a mere six decades after the Holocaust, you give legitimacy to a man who denies the murder of six million Jews while promising to wipe out the state of Israel? What a disgrace! What a mockery of the charter of the United Nations.”

Now, to save itself, Israel must confront Iran alone because the UN doesn’t have the guts to do it, and neither does our president. It’s time to quit this useless organization and kick them out of New York City. Let them practice their “civility” somewhere else.

Meanwhile, let’s look around for another Andrew Jackson.