As a husband and father, Rick Santorum knows the importance of protecting and providing for your family.

{{And whoever wrote that sentence can’t make up (his?) mind whether to write in 3rd or 2nd person = confusion.  Mr. Santorum doesn’t know anything about MY family.}}

He believes that at the core of the American experience is the family, and that without strong families, we cannot have a strong and vibrant nation.

{{Tell that to people whose forebears were slaves}}

Which is more important:  Strong and Vibrating – or Free? And, by the way, it took a lot of strong slaves to build half of what the other half wishes to boast about}}

Senator Santorum believes that at its core, America is a moral enterprise, but that foundation is quickly eroding. As President, Rick Santorum commits to rebuild that foundation and lead the way on restoring traditional American values

{{Then he wants to remove the vote from women & slaves….and reinstate further forcible eviction of and genocide of Native Americans.  That’s an “American value” isn’t it?}}

Executive Orders, Rulemaking and other Executive Branch Actions

• Repeal Clinton-era Title X family planning regulations, and will direct HHS to restore the separation of Title X family planning from abortion practices and restore a ban on referrals for abortion
• Reinstitute the Mexico City Policy to stop tax-payer funding or promotion of abortion overseas
• Ban federal funding for embryonic stem cell research
• Restore conscience clause protections for health care workers
• Defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court***
• Ban military chaplains from performing same sex marriage ceremonies on military bases or other Federal properties
• Repeal Obamacare mandate for contraceptive services in healthcare plans
• Re-direct funds within HHS so it can create a public/private partnership with state &local communities, not-for-profit organizations, and faith-based organizations for the purpose of strengthening marriages, families, and fatherhood**
• Veto any bill or budget that funds abortion or funds any organization that performs abortions including Planned Parenthood

Congressional Directives

• Call on Congress to abolish the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
• Advocate for a Personhood Amendment to the Constitution  {{=Women of child-bearing age not included}}
• Call on Congress to pass the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act
• Advocate for a Federal Marriage Amendment to the Constitution
• Call on Congress to reinstitute Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell
• Call on Congress to pass the Workplace Religious Freedom Act
• Call on Congress to reinstitute 2008-level funding for the Community Based Abstinence Education program
• Advocate for a federal law permitting schools to allow prayer at graduations, football games and other school functions

WOW.  Shrink the budget and let’s just not talk about the multiple millions dumped into promoting fatherhood, abstinence, marriage, and some of it going straight not just to church-like institutions, but to actual pastors, things JFK would be turning in his grave about. . . .   Rick Santorum is Catholic, but not JFK’s style.  His style is apparently a lot closer to Bush’s evangelism through federal institutions.  More on that below.

I have a LOT more to say, but let’s cut to the main point:  that pesky Opus Dei connection.

If you can (for the sake of convenience posting here) handle a “Puritan Weekly” calling Americans for Separation of Church and State a “wicked humanist” organization, they have pieced together some facts — as does the democratic underground and others.

I’ll just post the link and a chunk of quote and hope that some Iowans will think about this one — and Pennsylvanians.  If this country is going to go THAT way, I will personally dedicate myself to helping females evacuate not just Kansas (it’s about time…) but also the United States.   Since illegal immigration also has to be locked down, then people that THINK like this will have to find some of their own to have sex with and pick up their household messes, do their lowly work, etc.  I’m sure they’ll find substitutes, but for the record, I’m not going to stick around and subsidize this, nor should anyone.

We either hold allegiance to our founding principles and documents (whether or not ANY of our leadership does) or we do not.  Just say no to fascist Christianity and anti-everything but “us” morality!

OPUS DEI IN THE USA

By J. Parnell McCarter

What the Jesuit Order is for the left wing of the Roman Catholic Church, Opus Dei is for its right wing.  (Hegelian politics at its finest, for the Roman Catholic Church cannot lose if it has strong ties with both ends of the political spectrum!  Of course, to work it requires Protestants to be duped into political alliances with heretics.)  Many Protestants are not familiar with Opus Dei though, so a bit of education is necessary.

Although Americans United for Separation of Church and State is a wicked secular humanist {{smile…}} organization, its website contains useful information concerning Opus Dei.  One informative article, excerpted below, is at http://www.au.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8183&abbr=cs_ :

“…Opus Dei, Latin for “work of God,” has, according to media reports, at least 3,000 members in the United States but its influence, critics say, has been more substantial than its numbers would indicate. In 2002, an Opus Dei priest, the Rev. C. John McCloskey III, former director of the Catholic Information Center, converted U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) from evangelical Protestantism to Catholicism. Brown­back’s conversion was shepherded by U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), a conservative Catholic and Opus Dei booster.

Long the scourge of progressive Catholics, Opus Dei, with an estimated 80,000 members worldwide, has enjoyed a close relationship with the church’s conservative hierarchy, serving, as one writer put it in the mid 1980s, as a “holy mafia” to promote far-right views on “culture war” issues. The organization has long had its own order of priests, and in 1982, Pope John Paul II granted Opus Dei special status known as a “personal prelature.” That means the group is overseen by its own bishop, who reports directly to the pope. Opus Dei is the only organization to enjoy such unique privileges…

Ann Schweninger, a former Opus Dei member, told Martin, “Opus Dei plays by its own rules. If they don’t want to have something out in the open, they won’t make it accessible.”…

Opus Dei does not publish a directory of members but is known for its interest in targeting the rich and powerful. Over the years, rumors have surfaced that certain high-profile Catholics might be members. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel A. Alito have been fingered as possibilities. There is no proof in either case, but Newsweek magazine reported in 2001 that Scalia’s wife has attended functions at the Catholic Information Center, and his son Paul, a Catholic priest, has spoken there.

Santorum is also pegged as a possible member. In 2002, Santorum attended an Opus Dei event in Rome, during which he attacked President John F. Kennedy’s famous 1960 endorsement of church-state separation. Santorum said the Kennedy vow not to enforce Catholic doctrine through civil law has caused “much harm in America” and went on to describe President George W. Bush, a Methodist, as the nation’s first true Catholic president.

“From economic issues focusing on the poor and social justice, to issues of human life, George Bush is there,” Santorum told the National Catholic Reporter. He has every right to say, ‘I’m where you are if you’re a believing Catholic.’”

…McCloskey foresees a smaller Catholic Church in the future, but he predicts that it will be much more obedient and will include “hundreds of thousands of Evangelical Protestants” who convert to Catholicism…

We can begin to see why a conservative Mormon might go for ultra-conservative Santorum on the basis of similar platforms, then.

WHY I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THIS:

How Conservative is Opus Dei — beyond beyond.  It is a cult:

Philippinefolio.com article talks about a young man’s recruitment (age 15), becoming an Opus Dei “Numerary” at age 17, immediately being told to switch housing and colleges — to avoid contamination by the liberal Jesuits, Hans Kung influence, etc.  and to recruit male students:

At that stage of our lives, Bernie Villegas and Jesus Estanislao loomed large as the best and the brightest of the land, dedicating their entire lives to God, as celibates foregoing all thoughts of sex, marriage and children, as apostolic laymen in mundane professions that move the wheels of civilization — politics, business, finance, economics, military warfare, education, legislation, press and others.
At the Maynilad Study Center, together with Hermilando “Dodo” Mandanas, Imelda Romualdez Marcos’ right hand man, Bernie Villegas and Jess Estanislao shaped our lives, our aspirations, our life goals. 
     I was contacted by the Opus Dei in high school when I was only 15 years of age. When I joined the Opus Dei as a numerary, I was 17, a 2nd year student of Liberal Arts and a boarder in the Ateneo. Immediately I was told by the Spanish heads of Opus Dei, Jose Cremades and Javier de Pedro, to move my residence from the Ateneo Cervini Hall dormitory to the Opus Dei Banahaw Cultural Center in Cubao, and eventually to leave Ateneo at the end of my second year (with only an AA degree) and enroll in the University of the Philippines. 
     The Opus Dei was afraid I was going to be contaminated by the liberal Jesuit theology — Teilhard de Chardin’s Phenomenon of Man, Divine Milieu and the next stage of man’s evolution; Harvey Cox’s Secular City which was the forerunner of Liberation Theology; and the avant garde post-Vatican II theologians like Hans Kung and Karl Rahner SJ who proposed the abandonment of Latin and the use of English and the vernacular in the Mass, ecumenism, Protestant hymns plus quasi-Protestant doctrines in the Sacramental theology of the Church — which today is already old hat.

….  They could not fraternize with females, lest it tempt their celibacy:

found to my dismay that most of my classmates were girls with whom male Numeraries are forbidden to fraternize, since we cannot take a chance of being tempted to violate our “personal commitment” to celibacy.

. . . I was enticed to go frequently to the Maynilad Center because I wanted to be well prepared for college. Little did I know that I was subtly being introduced and recruited into the Work (of God). There Bernie Villegas taught us study techniques and Jesus Estanislao taught us “how to speak with a Harvard accent,” which he claimed would guarantee us success in all our endeavors. Like his idol President John F. Kennedy, Jess said “Hahvahd” instead of Harvard, and “berl in erl” instead of “boil in oil.”

. . .It is also ironic that in the 1980s, Jess’ favorite American magazines, including Time magazine which made Bernie part of its Board of Economic Consultants, were forbidden reading material in all Opus Dei Centers in the world.
At that stage of our lives, Bernie Villegas and Jesus Estanislao loomed large as the best and the brightest of the land, dedicating their entire lives to God, as celibates foregoing all thoughts of sex, marriage and children, as apostolic laymen in mundane professions that move the wheels of civilization — politics, business, finance, economics, military warfare, education, legislation, press and others.
At the Maynilad Study Center, together with Hermilando “Dodo” Mandanas, Imelda Romualdez Marcos’ right hand man, Bernie Villegas and Jess Estanislao shaped our lives, our aspirations, our life goals.

. . . Two of my girl classmates were Severina Villegas, sister of Bernie and now Dean of Women in CRC University, and writer May Quimpo, both already Opus Dei Numeraries with whom I never exchanged a word for three whole years in consonance with our rules. Our leader Josemaria Escriva boasted that he never got close enough to a girl to notice the color of her eyes.

For young girls too — Opus Dei is not just a run-of-the-mill cult, it is a horrible one.  In this article, Opus Dei was acquitted, but the young women being recruited at age 14, finally got out, weighing only 86 pounds, in 2001.  Opus Dei (article says) was founded in 1928, its founder was canonized in 2002.  This is a nightmare — little sleep, pay reclaimed automatically from her bank account, when taken to an (Opus Dei) doctor, she was “drugged senseless.”  They are clearly predatory on young people.  Note:  This is RECENT:

Two Opus Dei members tried in French court

Agence France-Presse

PARIS—Two members of the powerful Roman Catholic organization Opus Dei went on trial in a Paris court on Thursday accused of subjecting a disciple to years of abusive working practices.

The case comes after a nine-year probe and centers on Catherine Tissier, who says that as a teenager she was forced to work 14-hour days, resulting in charges of inadequate remuneration and illegal employment.

Claire Bardon de Segonzac, the head of the Dosnon School attended by Tissier, and Agnes Duhail, head of the Couvrelles International Meeting Centre connected to the college in northern France, are defendants at the trial.

The University and Technical Culture Association (ACUT), which runs the school, is also a defendant, but has said it has no more than a “cultural link” with the conservative Opus Dei group.

She said she was forced to take vows and made to work as a domestic servant for virtually no pay.Opus Dei has insisted it was “not involved in the charges being brought” and had “nothing to be guilty about.” The accused are charged with having “obtained from young students of the Dosnon School or those in an obvious state of psychological fragility… unpaid services or those paid with no respect for the work done.”

Tissier said the group compelled her to take vows of obedience, poverty and chastity and for the following 13 years gave her jobs with organisations that her lawyer Rodolphe Bosselut said were linked to Opus Dei.

. . . . . .

 She’s the only one saying these things,” said Bardon de Segonzac.
“I’m the only one who dared lodge a complaint,” said Tissier. “I know people who got out and who say exactly what I say. Some of them still tell me: ‘I have nightmares at night. I’m afraid.’”

Staff accompanied her wherever she went, including on visits to the doctor, she said. On these occasions she said she was taken to see an Opus Dei doctor who prescribed tranquilisers that left her “senseless”. 

“I went to my parents’ doctor urgently in January 2001,” Tissier told the court. “He told me that I was heavily drugged, with anti-depressants.”
Tissier weighed only 39 kilograms (86 pounds) when her parents rescued her from the group in 2001.

Lawyers first took legal action that year alleging “mental manipulation” among other charges. Other witnesses who appeared in court Thursday denouced the tight grip that the sect exerts over many of its members.

They were acquitted, and she will appeal per Huffington Post — just a few months later.

 At age 29, she claimed she weighed just 39 kilograms (86 pounds).

Tissier filed a complaint in 2001.

Tissier’s lawyer, Rodolphe Bosselut, denounced what he said was the “extreme hostility” of the court toward his client. “She was treated like a defendant.”

Santorum blames society for Roman Catholic pedophile scandal http://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=30

…It is startling that those in the media and academia appear most disturbed by this aberrant behavior, since they have zealously promoted moral relativism by sanctioning “private” moral matters such as alternative lifestyles. Priests, like all of us, are affected by culture.*** When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected.*** While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm.

The cultural change needed cannot end with our seminaries. Most of the American Cardinals, while strong defenders of the faith , are from a different era with only a few responding to the new demands our decaying culture has place upon them. With God’s grace, a new hierarchy must emerge that will be both faithful in thought and courageous in confronting all infidelity within the Church. Such Church leaders have a great example in Pope John Paul II’s battle with communism’s attempt to destroy the Church and human dignity. A new hierarchy must similarly fight against an array of “isms”-moral relativism, cultural liberalism-inside and outside of the Church.

Even now we witness this “new evangelization” through many ecclesial lay movements such as Opus Dei, the Neocatechumenate, Focolare, Regnum Christi, Communion and Liberation. The laity across America is also demanding faithful Catholic schools and colleges. The key to success, as the Pope stated in his 1999 exhortation, The Church in America, is to be “formed in the truths and values of the Church’s social teaching and in the basic notions of a theology of the laity.” A renewed, united effort of clergy and laity will transform the Church. That this does not already occur belies the greatest systemic failure of the Church in America where so many cradle Catholics have left the Church or go “unchurched” because of exposure to uninspired, watered down versions of our faith by those with deficient seminary training. In light of recent events, the laity must guide them back.
We as the Church, the people of God, cannot and should not leave the mission of the Church to the clergy alone, nor should our role be limited to overseeing priestly training and conduct. The laity must assist the whole Church in America reclaim our nominally Catholic colleges, schools, hospitals and social welfare agencies for the sake of our souls.

Yep:  Here’s an insignia for this too, at “Catholic Citizenship” (note:  most of these I’ve found by simply searching various terms;  however Talk2Action is a group I follow some).

Catholic Citizenship seeks to represent Roman Catholic voices in the public square. In May, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI called on the laity to become active in political life. Catholic Citizenship is following the Holy Father’s call by encouraging and enabling the faithful in civic engagement.

Catholic Citizenship supports the work of Catholic Bishops and Pastors in promoting a culture of life and family in government and politics. Catholic Citizenship is faithful to the Teaching Authority of the Roman Catholic Church and is loyal to His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI.

Here are two articles regarding Opus Dei active in Newton, Massachusetts, comparing it step by step to a cult.  This was written in 2002, and describes the TOTAL control of numeraries (most dedicated) who are to recruit; “supernumeraries” are allowed to marry.

How Opus Dei is Cult-Like  A sample:

• Numeraries typically report to their directors every time they leave or arrive at the Opus Dei house.  They are allowed only brief visits to their families, often with a chaperone.  They are not allowed to talk with members of the opposite sex behind closed doors.  Female numeraries are not allowed to hold babies.  Even personal friendships within Opus Dei are monitored and controlled.  Numeraries either live in single or triple rooms; this discourages them from becoming too close and from the temptation to discuss any of their doubts.  The one time when numeraries would have time to talk intimately with one another is at night after the examination of conscience; however, there is a “time of night” or silence, which is strictly enforced.  The only “friendships” they are allowed to cultivate are the ones with potential recruits.  All other friends are a waste of time.
• Numeraries have very little time for leisure, entertainment or vacations.  Movie and concert-going are discouraged as a “waste of time” because there is little time for apostolic conversations at these events.  Numeraries do go on one excursion per month with the other numeraries in their house.  Even if they have too much homework to do, they may still be directed to go and “have fun.”  If the excursion happens to be a trip to the beach, female numeraries are not allowed to lie down on a towel and sunbathe.  They always have to be in the upright position and must cover up their bathing suits, unless they are swimming in the water.  Otherwise, strangers might see the red prick marks or scabs made from wearing the cilice (a spiked chain typically worn around the thigh for two hours daily.)  Instead of vacations, numeraries attend an annual “summer course,” when they attend more indoctrination classes, but may have a little more time for afternoon “excursions,” which could also be some sort of a pilgrimage to a holy shrine.  Discussion in the car on trips is directed around subjects such as anecdotes about the Founder of Opus Dei or alleged miracles attributed to his intervention.
• Female Opus Dei numeraries sleep on a board placed on top of their mattress.  This definitely can interfere with sleep as the board does not absorb body heat and she easily wakes up cold.  One night a week the numerary is supposed to sleep without a pillow.

Intro relates this to Steve Hassan’s work on mind control and breaking free from cults… I put the excerpts above this intro:, below:

by Sharon Clasen, Former Numerary

Members are free to come, free to go, free to participate, free not to, free to walk right out the door, free to stay” [1] is deceptive.  The true personal freedom of numerary members, who make up 25-30% of all members, is hindered by the following controls that are put into place by Opus Dei.  The following table illustrates how Opus Dei’s methods resemble those used by cults.  It uses Steve Hassan’s BITE model (Behavior, Information, Thought and Emotional) of mind control described inReleasing the Bonds, Empowering People to Think for Themselves [2] as the basis for comparison.  (For more details about Hassan’s model, see the excerpt from his book.)

The examples cited in the right-hand column are based on the personal experiences of Sharon Clasen, who was a supernumerary for three years and a numerary for two years.  She experienced the following while living at Brimfield, the Center of Studies for numerary women in the United States. (All numeraries typically live in the Center of Studies for two years for intense study of the “spirit of Opus Dei.” There are separate Centers of Studies for numerary men.)  Also included are some writings of the Founder of Opus Dei (taken from The Way by Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer) as well as the testimonies from other former members. 

AND the other, apparently in distraught (or protesting) at the canonization of the founder of this group.  Notice (from my excerpt) that a Nassau District Attorney was a “Supernumerary” member.

Newsday/October 6, 2002

To 85,000 disciples around the world, Msgr. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer was a man ahead of his time. The Spanish priest said that ordinary people could achieve lives of holiness by doing the everyday work of the world, and he created Opus Dei – or ‘work of God’ – dedicated to that ideal.

To his critics, he was an arrogant, ill-tempered cleric who built a zealous and secretive organization around the cult of his own personality. Opus Dei’s highest-echelon members promise celibacy, turn over their paychecks to the group and in some cases, wear spiked chains and flagellate themselves.

Today, after one of the shortest waiting times in church history, Escriva will be declared a saint in a Vatican ceremony expected to draw at least 250,000 people.

To the delight of theological conservatives and the dismay of some progressives, the man who created the most controversial organization in the Roman Catholic Church has been on a fast track to canonization since he died in 1975, largely due to the overt patronage of Pope John Paul II, who has vigorously promoted the group’s work.

“From all I know about his life, he was a saint,” said Nassau District Attorney Denis Dillon, who was a married or “supernumerary”  member of Opus Dei for 10 years. . . . 

But Tammy DiNicola, 34, of Pittsfield, Mass., who joined the group’s elite echelon of celibate members after being lobbied heavily as a student at Boston College, said Opus Dei operates like a cult.

“I see this as a black day in the history of the church,” she said of Escriva’s canonization. “I really think that Opus Dei is a cancer on the church.”

DiNicola said she learned only after moving into a residence for celibate females in Newton, Mass., that she had to surrender control of her finances, have her mail monitored and cut back family ties. Besides a daily regimen of prayer and meditation, she said, she had to sleep on a wooden board, wear a chain with spikes around her thigh for two hours daily and flagellate herself with a small rope.

Her mother, Dianne DiNicola, said her daughter became withdrawn and distant until, in 1991, the family hired a counselor to persuade her to leave. Afterward, they founded the Opus Dei Awareness Network, a support group for families who have children in Opus Dei. Since then, Dianne DiNicola said she has received thousands of calls from all over the world from families, as well as ex-members, who tell stories similar to her daughter’s

I have something to say.   Many, many aspects of the Opus Dei control match — pretty closely (except the sleep on a board aspect, at least in my experience) what plain old “ABUSE” is like — domestic violence, etc.  It is enslavement, it is attempt to dominate another person, body, soul and spirit (and definitely finances) against their will.  In some cases this is justified with religion (Catholic or otherwise) in all cases, it is damaging and takes time to recover from.

In particular, the attempt to occupy all one’s free time, monitoring one’s mail, forbid holding of bank accounts or make it impossible, constant disruptions, degrading activities outside the marriage, degrading one’s relatives,  – – – and I know that this has been done right now to our own children after extracting them from sometimes people “outing” the abuse.

IT is an attempt to break someone’s spirit, to dominate them.  What is most sinister, however, about Opus Dei is that its allegiance is to the Vatican — NOT the U.S.!!  

For many, marriage itself is LIKE this type of experience.  Whether Republican or Democrat wins next year — and whichever of the Iowan contenders for “most pro-evangelical conservative” come out on top — NONE of them spells good news for women, or this country, til this issue of Religion in Government is handled.

But I would put Mr. Santorum at the bottom of the heap (despite Romney being Mormon) — because of this Opus Dei Association.

NOW let’s talk about Father Finn’s Cover up of Child Abuse, and the Deal he cut to avoid criminal prosecution for that coverup!  (this is from the ODAN site, which has more links on the story, too):

Opus Dei Bishop Indicted for Failure to Report Suspected Abuse

Bishop Robert Finn, Opus Dei member and bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, was indicted in October for failing to report suspected child abuse by a priest under his jurisdiction and diocese (Father Shawn Ratigan).  The accused priest was charged for taking pornographic pictures of underage girls.

Bishop Finn was informed of the pictures discovered on Ratigan’s computer in December 2010, yet failed to alert police until May 11, 2011.  This, despite the fact that Finn had agreed in a $10 million settlement with 47 plaintiffs three years ago to immediately report suspicions of child abuse to law enforcement officials.

According to a report by the Religion News Service, Finn has agreed to a deal with law enforcement in Clay County to allow monthly oversight by prosecutors over the next five years.  Charges still stand against Finn in neighboring Jackson County.

Not only has Bishop Finn breached the promises he made in the settlement three years ago, he has also ignored demands for his resignation from parishioners and abuse victims, who feel hurt and betrayed.  In an article appearing in huffingtonpost.com, former spokesman for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and well-known Opus Dei member Russell Shaw fails to identify himself as an Opus Dei member while speaking in Finn’s defense.  Shaw called repeated demands for Finn’s resignation “terribly distasteful” and implied that because Finn apologized, all should be forgiven and forgotten.

Finn is now the highest-ranking church official to be criminally charged with sheltering a priest suspected of sex abuse.  For more information:

Talk2Action has more to say on this affair and the group, and points out that the Vatican is assigning (Opus Dei / culture warrior-type) bishops around liberal American Cities, lest the Catholics in those cities support things the church doesn’t approve of, i.e., collective bargaining rights, etc.:

Bishop Finn’s appointment in Kansas City-St. Joseph appears to be part of a pattern in which the Vatican has placed vehement Catholic Right culture warriors in diocese serving liberal American cities.  The appointment of  Bishop Robert Morlino in Madison, Wisconsin is another excellent example. While municipal servants were recently fighting a conservative governor to keep their right to collectively bargain, Morlino did his best to pour cold water on Catholic support for the workers.  Madison is also the home to important embryonic stem cell research. Likewise, Archbishop Joseph Chaput‘s appointment in Philadelphia and Archbishop Timothy Dolan in New York. To the east of Dolan sits bishop Nicholas DiMarzio in Brooklyn and to his west, Bishop John J. Myers in Newark – both Opus Dei members.  Other recent Opus Dei appointments include Archbishop Jose H. Gomez in Los Angeles, and Bishop John O. Barres in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Opus Dei Bishop Appointed Head of Los Angeles Diocese

Archbishop Jose H. Gomez was announced coadjutor and future archbishop of the Los Angeles diocese on April 6, 2010.  Ordained as an Opus Dei priest in 1978, Gomez is the first Latino archbishop in Los Angeles.  The Los Angeles diocese is the largest diocese in the United States and one of the largest in the world.  Gomez will succeed Cardinal Roger M. Mahony in February 2011 when Manony turns 75, the age when bishops must submit their resignation to the Pope.

Born in Monterrey, Mexico in 1951, Gomez joined Opus Dei when in college.  He has degrees in business and philosophy from the National University of New Mexico (1975) and a doctorate in theology from the Opus Dei-run University of Navarre.  Previous to his appointment in Los Angeles, Gomez was archbishop in San Antonio, Texas since 2005.  Gomez became a US citizen in 1995.

News reports predict that it is likely Gomez will be appointed a cardinal in the years ahead.  In an article written by John Allen Jr., Gomez is quoted as saying that “he is not a “member” of Opus Dei, but rather that he was ordained a priest in Opus Dei and that his spirituality reflects that background. If he’s a “member” of anything now, he says, it’s the diocese he leads.”

The top article of this post — from the Washington Times — linked “Santorum” to another article, here:

TOP IOWA MORMON SHUNS ROMNEY TO STUMP WITH SANTORUM

by Paige Winfield Cunningham, The Washington Times, January 2, 2012

RANGE CITY, Iowa — As GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum spent Sunday stumping in northwestern Iowa, it was he — and not rival Mitt Romney — who had Mormon Secretary of StateMatt Schultz at his side.

Instead of backing Mr. Romney, a fellow Mormon,Mr. Schultz chose to support Mr. Santorum early last month while the devoted Catholic was still lagging near the bottom of the pack. He pointed to “core values” the two share, offering the former Pennsylvania senator another endorsement based not on his religion, but his positions.

Mr. Santorum has been pocketing endorsements from non-Catholic social conservatives, despite spending most of the campaign season overshadowed in a Republican field that includes three evangelicals, two Mormons and one fellow Catholic.

He recently won highly sought-after endorsements from prominent Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats, head of the Family Leader,** andChuck Hurley, president of the Iowa Family Policy Centre.**

TAGGS (federal funding):

Funded up through 2009 to reach this total.  Watch out for the Compassion Capacity Building grants — they will escalate (multiply) the next year:  See the Three kinds of grants so far….

Using this “DUNS Number” I go to USASpending and find, as anticipated:

1.  The source of this money is welfare funding:

2.  As so often — USASPending.gov’s total for this same group shows as over one million dollars less than HHS’s.  Either USASpending is UNDER-reporting, or HHS is OVER reporting.  In this case, by approximately >50%.

• Total Dollars:$1,650,000
• Transactions:1 – 3 of 3

Like clockwork it was distributed under three different titles, to Mr. Hurley:

Results 1 to 6 of 6 matches.

**The Family Leader and that Iowa Family Policy Center  show here — more information to follow.

It says it is a 501(c)3.  Naturally, I will check that out:

”

IFPC is our primary education division of The FAMiLY LEADER.  Presenting the truth through education can result in the action necessary to defend traditional family values.

IFPC, a 501(c)3 organization, believes that presenting the truth through education is fundamental in reversing the breakdown of a productive, ordered society caused by the failure of families to produce God-fearing church, civic, social, and family leaders.  One of IFPC’s key strategies is to engage Christians with truthful, biblical, and consistent messages.”

The Family Leader also features a trademarked group:

Marriage Matters® is a Christ-centered {{for-profit, no doubt}} organization that strengthens families by strengthening marriages.  This is accomplished primarily through marriage mentoring.

Despite sharing a name, numerous connections and an anti-gay marriage agenda, Iowa Family Policy Center President Chuck Hurley says the new incarnation of his organization — The Family Leader — has no affiliation whatsoever to a national groupwith the same name and apparent ties to the Mormon church.

IFPC’s The Family Leader will be an umbrella group led by former gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats, fresh from his successful campaign to oust three Iowa Supreme Court justices for their 2009 gay marriage ruling. The new group will incorporate the Iowa Family Policy Center, the IFPC PAC and the formerly federally funded program Marriage Matters. *** More specifics about the group are expected to be announced this weekend at IFPC’s annual fundraiser featuring possible 2012 presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee.

In 2004 Chuck Hurley earned $26K as President (for a 40 hour week) on the IFPC Political Action Center Inc.  (EIN# 421469051, CHUCK HURLEY 1100 N HICKORY BLVD #105 DES MOINES, IA 50327) with Program Goal ”

“DEVELOP, ADVOCATE, AND SUPPORT LEGISLATIVE AGENDA AT THE STATE-LEVEL WITH THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF SUPPORTING CHRISTIAN FAMILY VALUES”

In the same year and at the same address, he ALSO earned $42K (working, again a 40 hour week — must not be married?) at the IFPC itself (EIN# 421461169), which spent over $335K to:

‘STRENGTHEN IOWA FAMILIES BY PRESENTING A TRADITIONAL FOUNDATION OF PRINCIPLES AND VALUES (whatever that means!) FOR THE WELL BEING OF OUR SOCIETY IN THE PUBLIC POLICY ARENA”    

Vander Plaats told the Des Moines Register that the main focus of the group will bevetting and endorsing 2012 presidential candidates.

According to 990 tax forms, the national Family Leader Network was founded in 2006 and is based in Fairfax, Va. However, there is no such entity listed with the Virginia Secretary of the Commonwealth.*** The 990 was filed by a board member of The Family Leader Network based in Utah, but the Utah Secretary of State has no record of the organization either.

It is a very common, common situation for faith-based nonprofits to “forget to file” as a corporation at the state level, or as a charity at the state level.  I find this literally almost every single day.  This morning, I found “Pennsylvania Family Institute” (from a Marriage Matters conference in 2000 pdf).  Unbelievable — some of these are also LARGE when they fail to file.

The national Family Leader Network recently joined with the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) to file an Amicus brief in support of California’s Prop 8, a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage that was overturned by a federal judge.  NOM was instrumental in Vander Plaats’ campaign to oust three Supreme Court justices, spending $635,627 in Iowa, including more than $435,000 on TV advertising. The group also spent nearly $30,000 to co-sponsor the statewide “Judge Bus” tour that capped off the anti-retention campaign.

I like this reporter Andy Kopsa.  Here’s why:  We seem to be investigating the same sorts of data:

IOWA POLICY CENTER RECEIVED OVER $3 MILLION OF FEDERAL FUNDS

By Andy Kopsa in the Iowa Independent, APril 20, 2010

Between 2004 and 2009 the politically influential Christian organization Iowa Family Policy Center (IFPC) received more than $3 million in federal grants through two subsidiaries of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Iowa Family Policy Center President Chuck Hurley speaking on the steps of the state Capitol earlier this year (photo by Jason Hancock/Iowa Independent).

In 2004 and 2005 the IFPC received a total of $850,000 from the Administration for Children and Families’ Compassion Capital Fund.  From 2006 to 2009 they received $2.2 million through the U.S. Healthy Marriage Demonstration Fund, which is doled out in yearly increments of $550,000 and will be awarded to IFPC through 2011.

The Iowa Family Policy Center’s 2007 tax return claims $558,337 of their $1.1 million revenue came from federal grants. Tom Campbell, a representative at the Administration of Children and Families (ACF), the awarding agency within the HHS, said this money must be passed from the IFPC to a third-party to execute the Healthy Marriage Demonstration — the name under which the grants were awarded to IFPC — as part of the government’s Healthy Marriage Program.

The money IFPC receives apparently goes to a marriage-counseling program calledMarriage Matters, which offers couples weekends along with marriage and pre-marital mentoring.

AND:

Spending overlap probable

Dr. Mike Hartwig is the vice president of the Iowa Family Policy Center, for which he receives an annual salary of $78,098. Hartwig also serves as the program director for IFPC’s Marriage Matters, the program that is supposed to be the recipient of the federal grants.

Mike Hartwig, Chuck Hurley, Bryan English, Marriage Matters, The Iowa Family Policy Center and the IFPC Action PAC all share office space at 1100 N. Hickory Blvd. in Pleasant Hill, just east of Des Moines.

(this is still quotation….)

According to a representative of the U.S. Healthy Marriage program in Washington, D.C., federal grants are to be passed out through an intermediary organization (IFPC) to the Healthy Marriage Program contractor (Marriage Matters). But he did admit that certain overlap in spending might occur between the grantee and contractor programs, although not technically allowed.

Marriage Matters is not registered with Iowa Secretary of State as a separate corporation, but rather as a registered trademark of the Iowa Family Policy Center.

If people do not look, they will not know.  It is probably impossible, at this point to catch up with how many similar groups there are.  Essentially “Marriage Matters” sounds like it IS IFPC — meaning IFPC would then be functioning as a “front group” and channeling funds.  This is why the funding needs to be SHUT DOWN first, and CITIZENS — not cronies — GET TO INVESTIGATE BY THE KAZILLIONS, JUST HOW MANY OF THESE ORGANIZATIONS WERE HONEST, AND WHICH ONES WERE CHEATING.  THEN WE (?) CAN START A CLASS ACTION GROUP AS TAXPAYERS FOR THIS FUNDING, OR OTHER WHISTLEBLOWER ACTIVITIES.  BECAUSE FINANCIAL CORRUPTION OFTEN GOES SIDE BY SIDE WITH CHILD ABUSE.  ONE CAN HELP TRACK THE OTHER.  OTHER WISE, TOO FEW OF THE GROUPS HAVE THE SAME ETHICS THEY ARE PREACHING, AND JUST GO -REFORM ELSEWHERE.  AFTER ALL, GOD IS BEHIND IT, RIGHT  ? ???

QUESTION — WHEN FUNDS AREN’T HANDLED HONESTLY, OR GO MISSING — WHERE DO THEY GO, AND FOR WHAT PURPOSES?  Honest PURPOSES for DISHONEST GAIN??  (sure….)

The federal Compassion Capital and Healthy Marriage grants are meant to build capacity and conduct training of staff and board of directors but may not be used in the direct administration of service. This means that IFPC’s Marriage Matters can use the money to train staff and volunteers as marriage mentors, but cannot pay the expenses to host a weekend mentoring retreat for couples or for any other direct service expenditures.

The HHS representative said that from every indication the IFPC met all the requirements on the front end for securing the grant.

{{next time, please post a name, dept. and contact info!}}

The awarding federal agency is responsible for oversight on the back end, after the money has been released to the grantee. However, many times the HHS relies on citizen’s reporting suspected abuse in use of federal dollars to begin an investigation.