San Francisco, Calif., Feb 8, 2012 / 06:09 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Critics found the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ Feb. 7 ruling against the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8 to be “absurd” but not surprising.

“This decision was completely expected,” said William B. May, head of Catholics for the Common Good Action. “You have to remember, this is the most liberal, most-overturned appeals court and most-overturned judge in the country.”

Backers of Prop. 8 never expected to prevail at the appellate level, but saw it as a step to the U.S. Supreme Court. They will now appeal directly to the Supreme Court rather than ask for a full hearing from the Ninth Circuit, May told CNA on Feb. 7.

The California ballot measure Prop. 8 defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman. It passed in 2008 with 52 percent of the vote. In 2010, U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker overturned the decision as unconstitutional.

On Tuesday the federal appellate court ruled that Prop. 8 “served no purpose, and had no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California.” It rejected claims that the ballot measure protected religious freedom and parents’ rights to educate their children as they see fit.

May countered that it is “absurd” to say there is no rational reason or public interest in “protecting the only institution in society that unites kids with their moms and dads.”

“They’re looking at marriage as merely something for the benefit of adults, not as the foundation of the family.”

Redefining marriage will tend to isolate religious groups, including Catholic parishes, from the wider community, he predicted, adding that it will change what children are taught.

“If marriage is redefined, that’s what will be taught in the schools. That’s a fact,” May said.

“It’s not prejudiced for the people of California to want their kids to learn the reality of what marriage is, in a way that supports them and influences positive decisions they make about marriage and family in their lives.”

Other supporters of Proposition 8 criticized the ruling.

“No court should presume to redefine marriage,” Alliance Defense Fund senior counsel Brian Raum said Feb. 7. “No court should undercut the democratic process by taking the power to preserve marriage out of the hands of the people.”

He said Americans “overwhelmingly” reject changing the definition of marriage, noting the millions of people who voted in 31 states to preserve marriage as the “timeless, universal, unique union between husband and wife.”

“We are not surprised that this Hollywood-orchestrated attack on marriage – tried in San Francisco – turned out this way. But we are confident that the expressed will of the American people in favor of marriage will be upheld at the Supreme Court,” Raum stated.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said the decision was “disappointing but not surprising.”

“This is not about constitutional governance but the insistence of a group of activists to force their will on their fellow citizens,” he charged.

“This ruling substitutes judicial tyranny for the will of the people, who in the majority of states have amended their constitutions, as California did, to preserve marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”

Perkins expressed confidence that the Supreme Court will reject “the absurd argument that the authors of our Constitution created or even implied a 'right' to homosexual 'marriage,' and will instead uphold the right of the people to govern themselves.”

May told CNA he thought the prospect of success in the Supreme Court is “good” because the Ninth Circuit Court’s decision is “really out of line with every other court and the Supreme Court in cases similar to this.”

“This will ultimately be decided in the Supreme Court and we think that is the place to get a sober review of the arguments based on law, not on emotional rhetoric.”

He asked supporters of Prop. 8 to pray and to voice their opinions in letters to the editor and in calls to television and radio talk shows.

“It’s really important for supporters of Prop. 8 to realize that this debate about marriage is going on continuously. It’s going on in families. It’s going on in public forums. It’s going on in legislatures.

“It’s critical that people become informed about how to talk about the reality of marriage in secular terms, and to be able to engage in a positive way, related not only to protecting but promoting the only institution that unites kids with their moms and dads.”

Washington D.C., Feb 8, 2012 / 03:08 am (CNA).- Bishop Joseph W. Estabrook, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, passed away on Feb. 4, in Houston, Texas, after a lengthy illness. The bishop was 67 years old. 

“The Archdiocese for the Military Services has lost an energetic and sensitive Successor of the Apostles,” said Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, who leads the archdiocese. 

He described Bishop Estabrook as a shepherd “whose pastoral zeal and love for the men and women in uniform and their families electrified everything he did.”

“His valiant struggle with cancer and his sense of hope have given us all a lesson in how to live and how to face death,” the archbishop said.

Born in Albany, N.Y. in 1944, Bishop Estabrook studied at St. Bonaventure University and Christ the King Seminary in Olean, N.Y. He was ordained on May 30, 1969 as a priest for Diocese of Albany, where he served at St. Vincent de Paul Parish.

He also worked as Chaplain to the Parsons Child Development Center, before being appointed as the first diocesan family life director in 1971.

Fr. Estabrook became a Navy Chaplain in 1977 and served on ships throughout Europe as well as in chaplaincy positions in the U.S.

He eventually returned to Washington, D.C., where he worked as the executive assistant to the Navy Chief of Chaplains. In addition, he served as an ethics consultant for the Navy Surgeon General and the Department of Defense.
 
In 1995, Fr. Estabrook became a Captain in the U.S. Navy, where he received multiple medals and awards.

He continued serving in various capacities as chaplain until 2004, when he was named Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services. He was assigned to shepherd those in the Western Vicariate.

A funeral Mass for Bishop Estabrook will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 10 at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Alexandria, Va.

On February 8, the Church commemorates the life of St. Josephine Bakhita, a Canossian Sister who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Sudan. Josephine Bakhita was born in 1869, in a small village in the Darfur region of Sudan. She was kidnapped while working in the fields with her family and subsequently sold into slavery. Her captors asked for her name but she was too terrified to remember so they named her “Bakhita,â€� which means “fortunateâ€� in Arabic. Retrospectively, Bakhita was very fortunate, but the first years of her life do not necessarily attest to it. She was tortured by her various owners who branded her, beat and cut her. In her biography she notes one particularly terrifying moment when one of her masters cut her 114 times and poured salt in her wounds to ensure that the scars remained.  “I felt I was going to die any moment, especially when they rubbed me in with the salt,â€� Bakhita wrote. She bore her suffering valiantly though she did not know Christ or the redemptive nature of suffering. She also had a certain awe for the world and its creator. “Seeing the sun, the moon and the stars, I said to myself: 'Who could be the Master of these beautiful things?' And I felt a great desire to see Him, to know Him and to pay Him homage.â€� After being sold a total of five times, Bakhita was purchased by Callisto Legnani, the Italian consul in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.  Two years later, he took Bakhita to Italy to work as a nanny for his colleague, Augusto Michieli.  He, in turn, sent Bakhita to accompany his daughter to a school in Venice run by the Canossian Sisters. Bakhita felt called to learn more about the Church, and was baptized with the name “Josephine Margaret.â€� In the meantime, Michieli wanted to take Josephine and his daughter back to Sudan, but Josephine refused to return.  The disagreement escalated and was taken to the Italian courts where it was ruled that Josephine could stay in Italy because she was a free woman.  Slavery was not recognized in Italy and it had also been illegal in Sudan since before Josephine had been born. Josephine remained in Italy and decided to enter Canossians in 1893. She made her profession in 1896 and was sent to Northern Italy, where she dedicated her life to assisting her community and teaching others to love God. She was known for her smile, gentleness and holiness. She even went on record saying, “If I were to meet the slave-traders who kidnapped me and even those who tortured me, I would kneel and kiss their hands, for if that did not happen, I would not be a Christian and Religious today.â€� St. Josephine was beatified in 1992 and canonized shortly after on October 2000 by Pope John Paul II. She is the first person to be canonized from Sudan and is the patron saint of the country.

22 And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the sight of the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands towards heaven;23 And said: Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven above, or on earth beneath: who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that have walked before thee with all their heart.27 Is it then to be thought that God should indeed dwell upon earth? for if heaven, and the heavens of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house which I have built?28 But have regard to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplications, O Lord my God: hear the hymn and the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee this day:29 That thy eyes may be open upon this house night and day: upon the house of which thou hast said: My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth in this place to thee.30 That thou mayest hearken to the supplication of thy servant and of thy people Israel, whatsoever they shall pray for in this place, and hear them in the place of thy dwelling in heaven; and when thou hearest, shew them mercy.