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Now that the election is over all of the sudden the American Catholic Bishops discovered that abortion is an issue. Many Catholic dioceses in the United States sent out letters which left big moral loopholes prior to the election. Although they said abortion was evil many of the letters said something to the effect that overwhelming moral concerns might override a single issue.  To maintain tax exempt status, religious organizations are not allowed to mention candidates by name in giving an endorsement but they are allowed to give guidance to conduct in accordance with belief.

For years now, hundreds of elected “Catholics”, from Senator Ted Kennedy to local aldermen in big cities, have been given a bye on the issue of abortion by the organized Catholic community.  The reality is that the Catholic Church in America has for some time given politicians a free hand on abortion in the hopes that other programs like welfare would be preserved.

Thousands of young people raised in the church and loyal church goers have year after year seen the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden and numerous others claim to be Catholic and at the same time boldly vote for more abortion funding and less restrictions.  Joe Biden even states that he knows Catholic teaching better than the Pope and that Saint Thomas condoned abortion! It is interesting that Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi have never studied seriously the catechism of the Catholic Church for if they had they would seen there are ways to challenge the canons which do not involve making speeches for votes.

Is it any wonder that the Catholic Church is losing thousands of members who are leaving to evangelical Protestant groups who do not have any doubt about the protection of the life in the womb.  The Catholic Church cannot convince its followers that life must be protected when it has blatantly taken no action to really protect life for years.  If this really is the most important issue of our time than SAY IT! Even it means giving up your tax exempt status is that too much a price to pay to protect human life.  The Catholic Church was guilty of standing by and saying nothing while Hitler was killing millions of Jews in Europe and now it appears that history is repeating itself in the United States.We should not condone violence of any kind but the right to life movement needs the commitment and the action that was demonstrated by those who fought for civil rights in the 1960s.  The Catholic Church’s current practice of supporting so-called Catholic candidates who support abortion publicly and then whispering to a few on Sunday that abortion is wrong is inexcusable.  The new Democratic Congress without a Republican veto will surely pass laws that require all health care facilities to provide abortion services including Catholic hospitals.  Challenges to the law by pharmacist who did not want to prescribe abortion pills were quickly turned down.

As citizens of a nation, we understand that a majority may not agree that abortion is wrong but religion is a subject of personal moral reckoning.  Thousands of Christian martyrs allowed themselves to be tortured and killed without putting up any violence when all they all had to do was to renounce their faith to escape punishment.

If the Catholic Bishops are serious finally about their faith then they now have to go all the way in furthering the cause of life as allowed in a democracy.  They may lose the battle in the short run but that should be nothing new to Christians. . The moral authority of the Catholic Church is now at its lowest point ever in history but this may be the moment when that could change. If your faith is wrong than change it. If your faith is right then live it.

See our news story on the Bishops meeting on Contempo Magazine Online.

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Felix Longoria grew up in a small town called Three Rivers between Corpus Christi and San Antonio, Texas.  His father was initially a foreman for the railroad but when his engine was destroyed he was dismissed and thereafter sought work as a migrant farm worker.  Taking his wife and small children on a truck they would canvas the state looking for work. As was common in the 1930s many times the family had to use the truck as a home if no barn was available because “Mexicans” were not allowed in hotels.

Young Felix emulated his father in learning how to fix things.  His late sister once said that he could fix just about anything around the house or on wheels.  Like many young men, he eventually married and moved to Corpus Christi to seek his future as a truck driver but the world was at war and he was now of age to serve in the military.

In 1945 he was a part of the invading forces retaking the Philippines.  Several reports indicate that he found life in the military different without the discrimination he had felt at home growing up in Texas. His family last heard from him when he was in California just before being shipped out to the Pacific. On June 15th, 1945 he was in the jungle of Luzon in the Philippines when a sniper’s bullet killed him instantly.  His family received word of his death some time later and that he had been buried in a temporary grave.

Three years later in 1948, his sister had received word that the body of Private Felix Longoria was being returned to the family. The body was shipped by train to Three Rivers and she took a bus trip from Corpus Christi to Three Rivers.  Initially the Rice Funeral Home had told her they would handle the body and funeral but just as the train was arriving, his widow Beatrice and her young daughter were told that the funeral home could not provide chapel services because “the whites would not like it”. Other accounts have carried the quote as “I’m sorry, but the whites would object… because Mexicans are not served here.”

She called Dr. Hector Garcia, a well known physician and recent founder of the G.I. Forum, who got the message out to the press and to the young ambitious Senator from Texas, Lyndon B. Johnson.The Senator had been a school teacher in Texas for poor Hispanics. He once had donated 75% of his salary to help a school for Mexican-American children. The national press embarrassed the State of Texas when Walter Winchell said on a national radio broadcast “the state of Texas, which looms so large on the map, looks so small tonight….”.

Horace Busby in an interview years later stated that then Senator Johnson on hearing about the incident said  “These boys go off and fight and die and they run into this at home.” He had been an aviator and awarded a Silver Star in the Pacific theater in 9142 before President Roosevelt ordered all members of Congress back to Washington.  In a statement to Congress, the young Senator noted that he had found out that Mexican Americans were winning medals for courage more than any other group.  On January 11th, 1949 he sent to the following telegram to group of over 1,000 people including Dr. Garcia which said ”I deeply regret to learn that the prejudice of some individuals extends even beyond this life. I have no authority over civilian funeral homes. Nor does the federal government.  However, I have today made arrangements to have Felix Longoria buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery here in Washington where , the honored dead of our nation’s war rest…. This injustice and prejudice is deplorable.  I am happy to have a part  seeing that this Texas hero is laid to rest  with the honor and dignity his service deserves.” U.S. Senator Johnson, Lady Bird Johnson, Congressman John Lyle, and President Truman’s military aide, Gen. Harry H. Vaughan joined the Longoria family for a full military burial with honors at Arlington National Cemetery on February 16, 1949.

That was not the end of the story. An official state inquiry found that there had been no wrong doing in Three Rivers. Since that time many have questioned the motives of the ambitious young Senator and what was really said. Unfortunately, the truth is that the Longoria family really just wanted Felix Longoria to be buried close to home and in that simple request there was no mercy. Today LONGORIA, FELIX Z ,PVT USAGF- 27TH INF rests in Section 34 of the Arlington National Cemetery.

Felix Longoria was a hero but so was the late Hector Garcia-Founder of the G.I. Forum, Beatrice Longoria-wife, Sara Posas-sister, then Senator Lyndon B. Johnson who took a political chance for a righteous cause and many others who stood up for what was just. The shy Beatrice Longoria died at the age of 88 this year (shown at the right).

Years from now what will future generations say about what we are doing now for our veterans?

Although many in Texas would argue that our most precious resource is petroleum which has meant so much to our state’s economy.  That answer is wrong.  Our conservation of this resource has not changed in the last 20 years, loses continue to drip away at one unit every 4 minutes  and will reach a level of potential tax loses in state income of $20 billion dollars soon.  Our state leaders have become so used to this loss that many accuse them of now planning for it in their yearly budgets.  Inaction on our part, will eventually directly affect more than 2 million Texans economic success as well as have effects on the whole of society.  No, it is not water or clean air.


Our most precious resource is the education of our youth.  The Intercultural Development Research Association reports that the level of attrition in Texas high schools has not significantly changed since 1986. About 1/3 of all high school students never graduate.   Among Hispanics the level is much higher at 44%. In our Rio Grande Valley which averages a population that is 89% Hispanic, several counties had the highest dropout rates in the state including Cameron 47%, Hidalgo 45%, and Starr 41%. The gap between Hispanic students and white students is actually increasing.

Many are complaining that we have become too complacent about this problem.  The President of the IRDA , Maria Robledo Montecel, Ph.D.,  tells of a freshman English teacher in a large inner-city high school preparing her curriculum when her principal sent her a list of 38 students assigned in one class. She marched to his office and told him that she could not do a good job with 38 students in one class. He told her: “Not to worry. In six weeks, your class will have 24 students.” The other 14, he assured her, will have dropped out by then.

Dr. Montecel was asked to testify before Congress where she provided an action plan. Her research has indicated that drop out rates can be reduced by

• Valuing all students equally. Not writing off difficult students or challenging students
• There must be at least one educator in a student’s life who is totally committed to the success of that student.
• Families must be valued as partners with the school, all committed to ensuring that equity and excellence is present in a student’s life.
• Schools must change and innovate to match the characteristics of their students and embrace the strengths and contributions that students and their families bring.
• School staff, especially teachers, must be equipped with the tools needed to ensure their students’ success, including the use of technology, different learning styles and mentoring programs. Effective professional development can help provide these tools.

There are critics who say that there is a major difference in what is an ideal situation and what can really be achieved.  Early this year in the Rio Grande Valley a conference, the 3rd Annual College Readiness Summit, was held to discuss the drop out problem and the main topic of discussion reported in the press was that too many poor Hispanics had the “pobrecito” syndrome, that is that they fell sorry for themselves.

What is the attitude of Hispanics toward education? The highly respected non-partisan Pew Center reported in 2008 that a survey of Hispanics showed that 94% rated education as an important issue.  Can a program work to improve Hispanic drop out rates?

Dr. Rogelio Lopez del Bosque was a high school principal in Houston at a Title 1 school that was 85% Hispanic and overwhelmingly consistented of poor students.  Over a five year period his school went from a high drop out rate to a majority of graduating seniors now attending college.

How did he achieve success?

• His success began with engaging the parents into the school.  Communication between teachers and parents is important. He found that parents regardless of their level of education wanted information about the school.  This interaction must be more than talk, the school must be transformed into a “parent friendly” environment and encourage parent participation.
• Teachers must be able to do more than teach. They must show an ability to value students and also be adept at communicating with parents at their level.  If there are language barriers to communication and the teacher is not bilingual than the school needs to have a plan for someone to translate. The conversation between teachers and parents should focus on positive points but that does not mean difficult issues cannot be addressed.
• For problem students a definitive intervention process needs to be made.  This process should create for the student a sense of responsibility in dealing the issue.
• By teachers and school officials becoming good listeners and engaging the parents he was able to break the cycle of negative expectations.  Parents welcomed the concepts of discipline and rigor in the classroom as well developed higher expectations for graduation or even attending college.  Engaging the community also got them interested in pursuing adult education of the parents as well.

For those of us lucky enough to have sent our children to private school all these ideas are striking familiar to what we have experienced. The ideas put forth by these talented educators are valid and should be instituted. Teachers and schools need to be given the time and resources to reach out to their communities. We have done a great job at creating programs for the few that are gifted but there is a tremendous untapped wealth of talent that could boost our nation in those that currently are failing and dropping out. Our first priority must be to improve our educational infrastructure to protect and develop our most precious resource.  Drs. Del Bosque and Montecel have taught us how to succeed. Now lets see if we as a society are good students who will apply what we have learned.

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