Courageous Priest reported on September 2, 2011:

A recent series of advertisements attacking homosexuality has dragged the Catholic Diocese of El Paso into a citywide political recall debate.

The advertisements, titled “The truth about homosexuality,” were written by the Rev. Michael Rodriguez of San Juan Bautista Catholic Church and published in four parts in four consecutive editions of the El Paso Times. The ads started running on Saturday and ended Tuesday. The advertisements were also on elpasotimes.com.

While Rodriguez maintains the ads represent the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, officials of the Diocese of El Paso said they do not.

“These paid advertisements are the personal views and opinions of Father Michael Rodriguez,” said the Rev. Anthony C. Celino, the vicar general and moderator of the curia for the diocese.

Celino said the Catholic Church is not taking and cannot take a side in the recall effort.

The advertisements quote several Bible passages and denounce homosexuality and any encouragement of homosexuality. It also alluded to Mayor John Cook and city Reps. Susie Byrd and Steve Ortega, who are currently the target of a recall petition, organized by Word of Life Church Pastor Tom Brown.

“All Catholics have a moral obligation before God to oppose any government attempt to legalize same-sex unions,” Rodriguez wrote in part two of the series. “Here in El Paso, certain City Council members have remained obstinate in promoting public recognition and legitimization of homosexual unions. Whether

they realize it or not, their actions are objectively immoral and gravely harmful to marriage and the family. It should be obvious to all Catholics what our duty is with respect to these members of City Council.”

Rodriguez said he wrote the pieces but did not pay for the advertisements or submit the writings to the Times.

A couple from Plano, Texas, paid for the advertisements.

“I decided to write these articles primarily because it’s my duty as a Catholic priest to teach the truth when it comes to faith and morals,” Rodriguez said in a written statement to the Times. “My mission is to labor for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. That’s why I wrote the articles. The government has no right to undermine or redefine the institution of marriage. This is beyond the scope of their competence.”

Rodriguez said he also did not like the precedent the City Council is setting.

“Furthermore, the government has no right to undermine basic public morality,” Rodriguez said. “Unfortunately, members of El Paso’s City Council have made decisions that are immoral, irrational, and contrary to the common good of our city.”

Byrd said the advertisements are a political action because they alluded to the recall effort.

“To me, that is not the most terrible thing about the ad,” Byrd said. “What is, is the fact that he spent a lot of time and money to harm a group in our community.”

Ortega said he does not believe that religion should be mixed with government.

“I haven’t read his opinion pieces,” Ortega said. “I firmly believe in the principle of separation of church and state and therefore his opinions, as a priest, carry absolutely no weight with me as a public official.”

Brown said the advertisements came as a pleasant surprise.

“I think it’s wonderful. It is freedom of speech,” Brown said. “Ultimately, I agree with Rodriguez.”

Brown said the diocese should not remain silent on the recall because it goes against the Catholic faith.

“I think the Catholics should have an opinion,” he said.

Paul Landernan, an adviser for the El Paso chapter of the Stonewall Young Democrats, said that his organization —a youth-based organization that supports lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in the United States —is disappointed that Rodriguez is still stuck in the 19th century.

“He has official duties for the people of his parish,” Landernan said, “some of whom are parents of gay people, related to gay people or work with gay people every day.”

Rodriguez’s words can divide communities, Landernan said.

“Why would a person like this have that level of a violent reaction to the evolution of our society?”he asked. “He suddenly turned the clock back 40 to 50 years to a time when the Jim Crow-type of thinking was acceptable.”

In two weeks, recall petitions for Cook, Byrd and Ortega will be due at City Hall. Landernan said the advertisements’ timing was “curious.”

“It would have been a blip on the radar” if Rodriguez were not a priest, Landernan said. “And really, the church is almost a victim in this. He has almost used the name of the church without authorization.”

The controversy was not limited to the paid advertisements.

On Aug. 21,members of St. Raphael Catholic Church found fliers on their car windshields after church services.

The fliers said, “Four popes and bishops have reminded us that we must oppose all government efforts to legitimize homosexual unions by attempting to equate them with marriage.”

The fliers also said, “Members of the City Council and the mayor have violated our rights and overturned our popular vote. We must hold our politicians accountable and insist that they truly serve our people.”

The church’s head priest, Monsignor Francis Smith, and the diocese said the fliers were not approved by or affiliated with the church.

“The diocese does not endorse or oppose candidates, political parties, or take actions that can be construed as endorsement or opposition,” Celino said. “Recall fliers claiming to be ‘Catholic’ were not authorized by the Diocese of El Paso.”

Smith said the people who distributed the fliers sneaked into the church’s parking lot during that Sunday’s two largest Masses.

“I always tell my people that if they stick it under your windshield, I did not authorize that,” Smith said. “If it is something worthwhile, then why be sneaky about it.”

The message on the fliers is not what Smith preaches at his church, he said.

“We have been asked several times to take their stance, and we will not,” Smith said. “I do not agree with that lifestyle (homosexuality),but I will help anyone who needs it.”

The fliers also list names and numbers of individuals who filed the intent to recall Cook, Byrd and Ortega.

Two of those individuals, Ben Mendoza and Nacho Padilla, said they had no prior knowledge of the fliers. Neither did Brown, he said.

“I personally would not authorize that,” Mendoza said. “I can see handing it out on the sidewalk, but not on cars.”

Mendoza said he is for the recall because the people’s vote was overthrown and he believes that should be the main issue.

Padilla said the fliers led to more individuals signing petitions.

“What they did has worked really positive,” Padilla said. “We have gotten a lot of signatures. We won’t deny that.”

Brown said he was proud that those who support the recall are acting on their own.

“It’s a free country, and people are free to promote however they want,” Brown said.

Brown said “we’d like to make more progress” as the deadline nears to turn in recall petitions.

“I’d like to say we can predict victory, but we are not there yet. We need to keep working.”

[TLDM Editor's Note: This story was brought to our attention by one of Fr. Michael's parishioners. She told us that Fr. Michael also said the Latin Mass. Since he has been moves, they no longer have the Latin Mass available to them.]

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"Man shall not condone evil or rationalize sin. Homosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of God and man! The Creator condemns those who do not repent of this sin." - Our Lady of the Roses, August 5, 1977

"Are you so blind that you do not recognize the acceleration of sin among you? Murders abound, thievery, all manner of carnage, destruction of young souls, abortion, homosexuality, condemned from the beginning of time by the Eternal Father. Yet sin has become a way of life. Sin is condoned now, even unto the highest judge of your land and your lands throughout the world. As you have sown so shall you reap. Sin is death, not only of the spirit, but of the body. Wars are a punishment for man's sin, his greed, his avarice." - Our Lady of the Roses, August 14, 1981

EDITOR'S COMMENT:  Evil is expanding and the Anti-Christ forces are gaining power in the world.  When the persecution starts, Christian web sites on the internet will be forced to close, including this one.  Be sure to have in your possession all the following items: the Bayside books, Bayside Medals, Douay-Rheims Bibles, the Protection Packets, Candles, Sacramentals, and Religious Books.  Purchase these items now while they are still available!  You will urgently need them in the days ahead.  Also, you can print out all PDF files for the Directives from Heaven and all of the Bayside Prophecies.  Copy Our Lady's messages and the Directives from Heaven now while they are still available!  Pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance on how to prepare now and for the days ahead.  God bless.

The awesome Bayside Prophecies... https://www.tldm.org/../Bayside/
These prophecies came from Jesus, Mary, and the saints to Veronica Lueken at Bayside, NY, from 1968 to 1995.

SIN IS INSANITY
"I have told you, counseled you in the past, that sin is insanity. Your world and its people are involved--they walk as on a treadmill, seeking power and money and material goods and pleasure. And they go round and about, never stopping as the world plunges faster to the abyss.” – Our Lady, August 4, 1979 

FREE WILL
"I say unto you, as your God, I bring not your destruction. You will bring about your own destruction, for I leave you, as your God, to the exercise of your free will. In your free will, if you reject your God and the plan for man's redemption as given from the beginning of time, I say unto you, you will destroy yourselves.
     "Sin is insanity; insanity shall be loosed upon your world. There will come a time, if you continue on your present path, so vile and evil upon mankind that those who are living will envy the dead.” – Jesus, May 18, 1977 

THE GREAT FOUNDATION
"Pray constantly your Rosary, your beads of prayer to Heaven. Remain unified in your family lives. The institution of your country--the great foundation is based on family life. Destroy the family and you destroy your country. The enemies--the enemy is already within your country. Watch and pray well, My children." - Our Lady, June 18, 1980

READ YOUR BIBLES
"Your word of homosexuality can be explained by the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Read in your Bibles or consult your clergy.  Find yourselves, My children, a humble, pious clergy.  Many have fallen away from the Faith." Our Lady, October 6, 1992 

PASTORS  HELD  RESPONSIBLE
"We hold the pastors of My Son's House, We hold them as being responsible for the fall of the children.  Be ye warned now, My children, that woe to the man who has this responsibility upon his conscience and his soul.  Scandals have been brought into the lives of your children.  Perversion, homosexuality, immorality, perverted sex, My children-where shall you stop but at the abyss!" Our Lady, December 7, 1977

AN  ABOMINATION
"Man shall not condone evil or rationalize sin. Homosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of God and man! The Creator condemns those who do not repent of this sin." Our Lady, August 5, 1977

BLACK  CLOUD  OVER  AMERICA
"In the days of Sodom, so too were men giving themselves over to all the pleasures of the flesh: eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriage. All manner of sinful lusts are being committed. Men shameful with men, women casting aside their role of motherhood and lusting after women. As it was in the days of Sodom, so now is this black cloud over America."  Our Lady, July 14, 1979

SODOM:  "WE  DESTROYED  IT"
"And the great issue now of homosexuality in your country, that shall be on the balance that Michael holds.  Unless this balance is evened by removing this evil from your country and bringing in just laws to prevent the spread of homosexuality, you cannot be saved; your country cannot be saved.  Because I repeat again, as I have repeated in the past:  When a country has given itself over to immorality and all pleasures of the flesh, and abominations of the flesh, then that country will fall!  If you do not believe Me, My children, I say:  You will read your history books, and you will find out that there was a Sodom and Gomorrah.  And what did We do to that abominable city, Sodom?  We destroyed it!  And what did We do to Gomorrah?  We destroyed it!  And We destroyed all who did not follow the plan for their redemption." Jesus, November 1, 1985 

SIN:  FORERUNNER  OF  WAR
"For sin is always a forerunner for war, My children:  murders, persecutions, robberies, all manners of sins of the flesh, homosexuality, lesbianism, perversion, sodomy.  Sodom and Gomorrah fell for less sins than you have committed now upon your earth.  Noah took to the ark and the world was in a better state spiritually than your world now; for you have accepted a sophisticated manner of sin, based on man's reasoning and not God's truth." Our Lady, October 2, 1979 

ANY  COUNTRY
"Any country that allows homosexuals to roam and to seduce the young shall be destroyed."  Our Lady, June 30, 1984

Directives from Heaven... https://www.tldm.org/directives/directives.htm

D167 - The Family - Part 1 PDF
D168 - The Family - Part 2 PDF
D174 - Homosexuality, Part 2  PDF
D175 - Defilement of the Young   PDF
D176 - Sodom and Gomorrah   PDF
D205 - Sin is insanity  PDF

Articles…

Homosexuality a disorder:

"Homosexuality is not hardwired," concludes head of the Human Genome Project
https://www.tldm.org/News10/HomosexualityNotHardwired.htm

Expert research finds homosexuality more dangerous than smoking
https://www.tldm.org/News10/HomosexualityMoreDangerousThanSmoking.htm

What the Saints say about the sin of homosexuality
https://www.tldm.org/news7/homosexualitySaints.htm

Pope Benedict: homosexuals destroy themselves
https://www.tldm.org/News9/PopeHomosexualsDestroyThemselves.htm

Pope Benedict blasts 'dismal theories' on gays
https://www.tldm.org/News9/homosexualityPopeDismalTheories.htm 

U.S. sexuality survey shows homosexuals 107% more likely to engage in criminal activities
https://www.tldm.org/News8/homosexualityCriminalActivity.htm 

Great Britain study says 43% of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals have a mental disorder
https://www.tldm.org/news7/GayMentalDisorder.htm

Spanish Archbishop refers to homosexuality as an "epidemic" and a "fount of psychological problems and painful frustrations"
https://www.tldm.org/News7/homosexualityArchbishopSebastian.htm

Canadian Bishop: The State must curtail homosexuality for the common good
https://www.tldm.org/News7/homosexualityBishopHenry.htm 

Homosexuality and Hope: excerpts taken from a document by the Catholic Medical Association
https://www.tldm.org/news6/ssa.htm

Ghana bans homosexual conference, says its "culture, morality and heritage totally abhor homosexual and lesbian practices"
https://www.tldm.org/News9/homosexualityGhana.htm 

Gay marriage:

Vatican: Gay marriage evil
https://www.tldm.org/News10/AbortionTerrorismWithAHumanFace.htm 

John Paul II calls gay marriage part of "ideology of evil"
https://www.tldm.org/news7/homosexualMarriageIdeologyOfEvil.htm 

Top Vatican Cardinal: gay marriage is "a crime which represents the destruction of the world"
https://www.tldm.org/News8/homosexualityCardinalTrujillo.htm 

Canadian Cardinal warns Senate of impending anti-Christian prosecution with gay 'marriage'
https://www.tldm.org/News8/homosexualityAnti-ChristianProsecution.htm 

Maryland Catholic bishops identify "coordinated effort" in homosexual war on the family
https://www.tldm.org/News8/HomosexualWarOnFamily.htm 

America: Slouching towards Gomorrah
https://www.tldm.org/news5/gomorrah.htm 

John Paul II urges authorities to stop gay marriages
https://www.tldm.org/News6/homosexuality10.htm

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Place a Crucifix on the outside of your front and back door...  The only real protection against terrorists...
Jesus - "Pray and wear your sacramentals. And, also, My children, I ask you again to place a crucifix upon your door. Both front and back doors must have a crucifix. I say this to you because there will be carnage within your areas, and this will pass you by if you keep your crucifix upon your doors." (6-30-84) (Testimonies of lives and homes saved by the crucifixes.)  https://www.tldm.org/news/crucifix.htm 

Heaven’s Home Protection Packet...
Our Lord stated we must have crucifixes upon the outside of all of our outside doors. In the "Heaven’s Home Protection Packet" there are instructions, four crucifixes, and a tube of special cement for wooden or metal crucifixes. Wooden crucifixes adhere better to the doors when the aluminum strap is removed from the back. Put a light coat of cement on the back of the crucifix and then press it to the outside of the door. If you have any problems, you can call us at 616-698-6448 for assistance. This Heaven’s Home Protection Packet is available for a donation of $7.00 plus $3.00 shipping and handling. Send $10.00 to TLD Ministries, P.O. Box 40, Lowell, MI 49331. Item # P15  (Order Form)

Incredible Bayside Prophecies on the United States and Canada book . . .
We have researched the Bayside Prophecies on the United States and Canada and put these outstanding prophecies in a 360 page pocket size paperback book.   Veronica said it was very good.  It tells what is going to happen here and how to prepare for it.  Every North American must read this book!  Item #B2 Cost $5.00 (Order Form)

Your names have been written in Heaven… "It is not by accident that you are called by My Mother, for your names have been written in Heaven.... But with this great grace you have great responsibility to send this Message from Heaven throughout the world, for if you are able to recover just one more for Heaven, an additional star shall be placed in your crown." - Jesus, August 5, 1975

A great obligation to go forward... "It is not by accident that you are called by My Mother, for it is by merit and the prayers that have risen to Heaven for your salvation.  For those who have received the grace to hear the Message from Heaven, you have a great obligation to go forward and bring this Message to your brothers and sisters.  Do not expect a rest upon your earth, for you will have eternal rest very soon." - Jesus, June 12, 1976

The sin of omission...  "The sin of omission shall condemn many to hell, be they layman or Hierarchy.  I repeat:  not the sin of commission, but the sin of omission will commit many to hell." - Our Lady of the Roses,  October 6, 1980  

We encourage everyone to print or email copies of this web page to all the Bishops and all the clergy.  Also, email or send this web page to the news media and as many people as possible.

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