Friday, January 28, 2011

Leticia's KIDS interview on EWTN to be aired tomorrow

Leticia was interviewed with KIDS member Dr Judith Mascolo by Teresa Tomeo as part of the live EWTN coverage of the March for Life on Saturday, January 29 at 2PM.


Our interview, which was very brief, was done immediately after the Verizon Center Mass. I estimate that it will be aired between 4:30 and 5PM EST tomorrow, Saturday Jan 29.
Go here to watch EWTN on your computer if you do not have the channel on TV.

Bookmark and Share

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Interview with Fr Gary Thomas of "The Rite"


Interview with Fr Gary Thomas, the priest on whose experience the film “The Rite” was based.
Leticia Velasquez
Catholic Media Review

Velasquez: I’d like to ask my first few questions about the book.
What did you first believe about Satan? How long had you been a priest and what was your belief?
Fr Gary: I was a priest for 27 years; I never doubted the existence of Satan. However, I don’t think I’d ever seen Satan until I became an exorcist. Like they say in the Creed. “All that is seen and unseen”. I had no reason to doubt Satan.
Velasquez: No doubt in your years as a priest you’ve seen his work, you just didn’t meet him. After you took the course in exorcism at the Regina Apostolorum, you had more of a change of experience than a change of belief then?
Fr Gary: Oh, I’d say so, absolutely, sure, because my belief in Satan and the existence of Satan, I just assumed there was a Satan, because the Church teaches about Satan and I thought it was true. Taking the course was very informative, but it wasn’t to much taking the course as being able to apprentice under an exorcist in Rome for three months, that was far more profound.
Velasquez: So that left you convinced that this was an important ministry within the Church?
Fr Gary: Absolutely. It’s a healing ministry, I think that should be underscored; it’s really a healing ministry. When you think of it that way then there isn’t so much of a provocation that somehow one has to think of it and A. be afraid, that B. think it is all smoke and mirrors. It’s a healing ministry.
Velasquez: What made you coordinate with Matt Baglio on the book?
Fr. Gary: Well, Matt was just taking the course in Rome like I was; I didn’t know him till we were in the course together. He was an American and we were the only two Americans in the class.
Velasquez: Were you helping each other with Italian?
Fr Gary: I wasn’t helping him with his Italian, because he’s very good with Italian, he’s married to an Italian. He was helping me with my Italian. He was so kind to translate the presentations for me. He would translate the presentations for me because the Regina Apostolorum didn’t always offer translator, however, I didn’t know that till I got there.
Matt and I would talk a lot, when I told him I was going to be there for a long time and I was looking to find an exorcist, and he asked me “would mind if I wrote a book about your experiences of your training?” I just kind of shrugged my shoulders and said, “OK, That’s fine if you want to.” I had no idea where this was going to lead, but I knew he was a journalist by profession. He spent hours interviewing me, especially when I was working with a priest in Rome.
Velasquez: And that Roman Capuchin exorcist is portrayed by Anthony Hopkins in the film as Fr Lucas?
Fr Gary: Yes. My character is played by Colin O’Donohue.
Velasquez: And he’s a seminarian rather than an experienced priest?
Fr Gary: That’s correct. The filmmaker did take a bit of license with that.
Velasquez: Did he play an Irish priest? He’s Irish, right?
Fr Gary: He is, but in the movie, you will not hear his brogue. He’s playing the role of a deacon, he’s been ordained already. He’s had a faith crisis, and he’s been having a faith crisis during every summer of his seminary formation, he realizes this after he is ordained a deacon. I think he just realizes that he’s made a mistake.
Velasquez: Do you think that the differences in the portrayal of the story affect the message?
Fr Gary: No, I don’t think so. I mean I watched the movie with Anthony Hopkins two weeks ago, I thought it was very riveting. It was very emotional for me, yes, they took some license, but the core message in that movie, and I think this is a movie about faith.
Velasquez: Its good to hear that because the book was very moving.
Fr Gary: The book is all true. There’s nothing in that book that’s not true.
Velasquez: So you think the movie is realistic. Unfortunately, the trailers are a bit sensationalistic.
Fr Gary: I know, the trailers don’t do the movie justice. I’ve had lots of my parishioners say, “Oh my Gosh, they look so scary”, but I tell them it’s not as scary as it looks.
Velasquez: Perhaps they chose the scary parts to attract an audience which might not be initially interested in the deeper message. I hope they do come and it works to get them in to see the film. What is the takeaway message of the film?
Fr Gary: I think the takeaway message is that its very important to have a faith life. And if you have that faith life, it will only lead to good. That evil does exist in the world and its bigger than just the force of a power. Its an intelligence. And in the same breath, Christ has come to be with us and get us through this life to the next.
Velasquez: Matt Baglio gave me the impression that you two were very devoted to spreading this message in the American Church.
Fr Gary: Oh yes.
Velasquez: You sent copies to all the bishops.
Fr Gary:
When Doubleday published the book, the religion editor called me and said, “Do you have any suggestions for us?” I said, “Yes, send this book to every bishop in the United States, and every rector of every major seminary”.
Velasquez: What kind of reaction did you get from the bishops and rectors?
Fr Gary: I got some very nice thank you notes and some letters acknowledging that they got the book, I know the religion editor got probably more than I did, but I got about a dozen. They were all very positive. Now I will tell you in the same breath, that there are bishops who don’t believe. I’ve had rector generals tell me they don’t believe.
Velasquez: What percentage of diocese have exorcists?
Fr Gary: There are 185 dioceses in the country I know there are at least 25 public exorcists, I know there’s a few more. I’d say there’s probably under 50. So probably maybe a quarter of US dioceses have one.
Velasquez: Yet, isn’t that something the Church recommends for every diocese?
Fr Gary:
The Church mandates it in the Code of Canon Law.
Velasquez: So we’re actually in violation of the Code. There was a meeting about exorcism before the USCCB general meeting in November. Do you think that sending the bishops a copy of “The Rite” had anything to do with it?
Fr Gary: I wouldn’t say in a profound way, but I would say Bishop Leprocki who is the head of the Canonical Affairs Committee of the USCCB, he had been to one of our conferences. We have a conference every year back in Chicago and its for exorcists and priests involved in the healing ministry and some lay people come too. He went to one of them. I don’t know if he got a copy of the book, although he should have, it came out in 2009 and he was already an ordinary. But he said he doesn’t remember receiving it. But he has since read it. I can’t say it didn’t have anything to do with it. I think the very fact that I wrote a cover letter to 185 bishops may have had an effect.  I hope it did.  But I do think that calling a conference and calling the bishops together should have been a wake up call for a lot of them. There were 65 bishops who signed up for that conference and 55 priests. I thought it was a very well done presentation myself.
Velasquez: Do you know Fr Thomas Euteneuer?
Fr Gary: I’ve met him, I don’t know him.
Velasquez: Have you read his book, “Exorcism and the Church Militant”?
Fr Gary: I’ve read parts of it.
Velasquez: Is it consonant with your experience?
Fr Gary: Yes, it is.
Velasquez: Do you have any stories to tell of exorcisms?
Fr Gary:  There was a situation in Rome once with a young woman who walked in speaking Italian to me, my exorcist trainer walked in and blessed her with holy water and she literally began screaming and picked up the chair, and was going to throw it at him. Now, they’re not all like that.
There’s the man I pray over and have been exorcising for two years, there’s huge manifestations, he’s improved dramatically, but, nonetheless, he opened himself up for a bunch of reasons. I can’t detail them on the phone, it would take too long. 
Velasquez: In general, what do you recommend people avoid if they don’t want to become involved with demonic activity?
Fr Gary: I think they should just stay away from everything that is pagan in the sense of ritual, so I recommend that people should stay away from dabbling in the occult; from dabbling in things that are idolatrous, from getting involved in things that are simply about self, and I don’t mean by that going to a club and doing physical exercise. Where people are into Wicca, earth worship of other kinds, witchcraft and spells, crystals, using metaphysical means to try and find answers to questions.
Velasquez: So stay away from New Age practices?
Fr Gary: Yes, those are all the New Age practices.
Velasquez:  I appreciate your influence upon the USCCB.
Fr Gary: I hope it has some enduring influence.
Velasquez: Is there any evidence that they are sending any more priests in for exorcism training?
Fr Gary: Well, we don’t have any training programs. I hope that is something which comes from the meeting in Baltimore, we have no training programs.  I was lucky to get the training I got in Rome, but as I said to the bishops, you can’t expect the exorcists in Rome to train all our exorcists. I have already oriented two guys in the last year; They’ve spent a few days with me. But it requires much more than that.
Velasquez: Do you think there’s a greater need now in the Church than in previous times?
Fr Gary: I do, because there’s more Catholics involved in more paganism and idolatry.
Velasquez: Fr Gabriel Amorth agrees with you, according to his books. Why do you think that there’s not enough of this ministry?
Fr Gary: I think for a long time we just relied so much on the social sciences, Psychiatry and Psychology as sort of a new religion to figure out the mysteries of human behavior. I think we felt we could just depend on science, and I certainly am a proponent of using Psychiatry and Psychology, but in the same breath, I think that there’s a limit to science and there’s the realm of the spiritual we know far less about. And because of our scientific mind and orientation as a Western society, I think we put these other kinds of things we can’t figure out on the shelf.
Velasquez: So its our prejudice against a spiritual explanation for things?
Fr Gary: I think so.
Velasquez: Thank you Father Gary.



Bookmark and Share

Sunday, January 23, 2011

KIDS to meet Congresswoman McMorris Rogers and Jerome Lejeune Foundation at National Right to Life Headquarters


Agenda for National Right to Life Committee Headquarters at 512 10th Street, Washington DC
  • 10:45 - Melissa and Neil Sloan will be at NRLC by 10:45 to greet KIDS families.
  • 11:00  KIDS families may start arriving. at 512 10th St, NW Washington, DC
  • 11:00-11:30 - Leticia is meeting EWTN for an interview behind the stage of the March for Life at the Mall and 4th Street. 
  • ALL KIDS members are welcome to join us and hold signs for the interview. 
  •  Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers will arrive at 12:15  for a brief update on her work on behalf of our children
  • Madame Valerie Guilloux of the Jerome Lejeune Foundation will address the group and present Congresswoman McMorris Rogers with a copy of "Life is a Blessing".
  • After a brief brunch, KIDS families will march!


Bookmark and Share

Friday, January 21, 2011

Dr Brian Skotko on new pre-natal test for Down syndrome

Fellow at Children's Hospital of Boston, Dr Skotko is more than a pediatrician, he is an advocate for those who have Trisomy 21, or Down syndrome. He has given countless workshops on Down syndrome, and has a special point of view as the sibling of a sister with Ds. He has written several books including Common Threads, and  Fasten Your Seatbelt; A Crash Course  on Down Syndrome for brothers and sisters.
My daughters and I enjoyed his sibling workshop and found it very helpful to discuss the issues which arise in families with children like my Christina. I wrote about our experience here.
His thoughtful  and sensitive article about the strong possibility that all pregnant women will now use a new blood test for Down syndrome is excellent, as he raises the point that few medical students receive training about patients with special needs, and thus are ill prepared to give a mother with a positive test for Down syndrome. Yet, that is exactly what they will be doing. Dr Skotko says,
Currently, 92% of all women worldwide who receive a definitive prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome choose to terminate their pregnancy. Based on those numbers, what does the future hold for the Down syndrome population once the new prenatal tests are available? The answer lies nestled in profoundly personal decisions, but still raises an important question, one that will be asked more and more frequently as other forms of prenatal testing come to the market: which forms of human genetic variation are valuable, and which are nott?
Its up to parents like me and professionals like Dr Skotko to spread the word that children with Down syndrome are a source of joy to a family which far suprasses the challenges in their lives. That is something no blood test will ever tell you!


Bookmark and Share

My guest column is up at Patheos

My guest column "No More 'Mental Retardation', so?" is up at Patheos.

Bookmark and Share

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

We're getting ready for the March for Life; are you?

Attention Christina Velasquez fans; she is about to make her debut on EWTN this Monday January 24 between 11 and 11:30 EST. We will be representing KIDS Keep Infants with Down Syndrome. a group Eileen Haupt and I began three years ago to call attention to the fact that babies with Down syndrome are targeted by what future saint, and the Father of Modern Genetics, 
 Dr Jerome Lejeune called "chromosomal racism". They are aborted at a rate of 90% when they are discovered by pre-natal diagnosis.
Until now this has been done largely by amnio, however, a new blood test threatens to dramatically increase the number of our lovely and special children aborted. This non-invasive blood test is being touted in the media as a life-saver, yet whose lives are worth saving and whose are not?
We at KIDS say ALL life is precious! 
Come join us for our EWTN interview behind the speakers platform at the March for Life, hold up a sign to say that you are for ALL KIDS. 
God made them as they are and finds them precious in His sight. 
Bookmark and Share

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Pro-life Weekend in Connecticut




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



This Saturday, January 22, 2011

Marks the 38th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade



On SATURDAY - 1-22-11, please come to

the RALLY for LIFE in HARTFORD



PLEASE COME show your support and then go to DC on Monday...
The Connecticut March for Life / Rally for LIFE
is sponsored by Helper's of God's Precious Infants, with support of CT Coalition for Life, Family Institute of CT, CT Right to LIFE and the St. Gerard's Center for LIFE.

Saturday, Jan. 22 we will begin at 9:00am with Holy Mass celebrated by Archbishop Henry J. Mansell
at St. Joseph's Cathedral, 140 Farmington Ave, Hartford CT

Following the Mass in the Cathedral, join us in praying the Most Holy Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet
OR
Pray the Rosary together while marching to the State Capital to take a stand against abortion and listen to Pro-Life speakers, rosary beginning at 11:30 a.m. at the State Capitol.
Since Roe vs Wade in 1973 more than 50 million unborn children have been denied the right to life through abortion. This figure continues to rise by more than 4000 babies every day.
Given the passage of a health care reform that will require public underwriting of abortion, we need now more than ever to make our voice heard. This Saturday marks one of the few days of the year where your voice and your support can have an impact on this crucial issue.

As Edmund Burke said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
Please be on the South Lawn of the state Capitol at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, January 22nd for a pro-life prayer march (participants will be from a wide variety of Christian denominations and each are invited to pray as they see fit). Afterwards, at 12:30 p.m., we will meet in Room 310 in the Capitol to hear local pro-life speakers including FIC executive director Peter Wolfgang, CT Right to Life's Bill O'Brien, Theresa Kranowski of St. Gerard's Center, Nicole Peck of Silent No More, Dr. Judith Mascola and Bob Judd of the Helpers of God's Precious Infants.
Also, on Saturday, Jan 22nd 2011, there is a pro life Mass at 7PM on Saturday January 22nd at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Norwich. It will be celebrated by Msgr Brown and will be to acknowledge the 38th anniversary of the Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion throughout the US.

The theme will be "The Measure of Love is to Love without Measure."

Bookmark and Share

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Tuscon v Ft Hood: why the disparity?

I have a little girl named Christina who is six months older than the one who was shot in Tuscon. Believe me, I grieve for her loss and that of the other innocent victims, and like the rest of America, I pray for Rep Gabrielle Giffords full recovery. FULL RECOVERY. You see, she had one serious impairment before she was shot. She did not value human life in the womb. I hope and pray that this brush with death has taught her to love life ALL life. Then she will be truly healed in body and soul. Only God can to this, and I am praying for her.

Our president sounded very good tonight, very compassionate to the victims and above the fray politically. He had moving words to say about heroes and victims and national healing. He was not finger pointing, as his friends on the left were proud to point out. And compare him to Sarah Palin, who somehow, had the entire weight of this tragedy laid on her shoulders by the left. But Obama left the name calling to his minions, and looked very presidential today, and had the crowd in the palm of his hand. No doubt his failing ratings soared today, as they were meant to.
 This is his moment to step away from the partisanship which marked his first two years in office, when he would tout, like an adolescent, I WON! Now he's a grown up. Hmmm this awakens my cynical side.

I couldn't help feeling resentful about Ft Hood, which also occurred on his watch. What did Obama do for those victims? It was former President Bush who visited the victims. Obama kept to his schedule, sounding lighthearted and ininvolved according to Robert George

Anyone at home aware of the major news story of the previous hours had to have been stunned. An incident like this requires a scrapping of the early light banter. The president should apologize for the tone of his remarks, explain what has happened, express sympathy for those slain and appeal for calm and patience until all the facts are in. That's the least that should occur. 
I noticed a completely different tone in Obama's speech tonight. And I can't help suspecting that he's using these victims to win re-election and avoid a dismantling of his agenda. 
Don't fall for it!
Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/politics/A-Disconnected-President.html#ixzz1AtgFxUsb

.




Bookmark and Share

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Santo Subito

According to Rocco Palmo over at Whispers in the Loggia, the way is clear for Pope John Paul II to be beatified. The miraculous cure of a French nun from Parkinson's disease has been proven inexplicable from a medical standpoint and thus miraculous. I find it particularly poignant that it was Parkinson's Disease which was cured, since the Holy Father suffered much from the same disease himself, yet God chose not to cure him. His death. coming on the heels of the dehydration death of Terri Schiavo was a lesson on how to treat the disabled in their vulnterability.
All that remains for the beatification process to continue is for Pope Benedict to approve it on Friday.
Does anyone out there see an obstacle there?
Santo Subito!

Now it's my turn to brag; I've seen two Blesseds in person: Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa,  and my family are distant relatives to Padre Pio (his great grandmother was Maddalena Crafa, from Pietrelcina where my grandfather,  Vincenzo Crafa immigrated at the turn of the 19th century, since its a tiny town its safe to assume we have family in common). This will not get me to heaven, I know, however, in the realm of Catholicism, its hero worship.I also had the honor of visiting St Frances Cabrini's tomb in NYC and hearing a talk from the daughter of St Gianna Berretta Molla. Whatever you say about the evil of the 20th century which was given to be tested by Satan, according to Pope Leo XIII, it certainly produced a bumper crop of saints.Where evil abounds, goodness abounds more so.
Aren't we fortunate to have been born at a time so greatly in need of saints? God must have great confidence in us! With Him, we can be the next saints the world so desperately needs.
Speaking of saints, another Servant of God, Dr Jerome Lejeune's cause for beatification was opened on June 28, 2007 and his daughter Clara Lejeune-Gaymard will be speaking on the intersection of his farith and science this Saturday at the New York Encounter in . I wlll try to record her talk and share it here, and have tried to ask EWTN to cover it.
We are surrounded by saints!


Bookmark and Share

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Dr Jerome Lejeune's daughter to speak on her father

For those of you who love someone with Trisomy 21 (also known as Down syndrome), and are alarmed by the 90% abortion rate of these precious children, here is a not to be missed pro-life event;
Jérôme Lejeune: A True Scientist


The life and work of the great geneticist and doctor through the eyes of his daughter, Clara LEJEUNE-GAYMARD
Saturday, January 15, 2011 3:15 PM
CONFERENCE ROOM of the MANHATTAN CENTER
311 West 34th Street at 8th Avenue
New York, NY 10001
A unique, eye-witness presentation by Dr. Lejeune’s daughter telling how he lived the unity between his faith and his passion for science, what it meant for him to witness his faith in a challenging, sometimes hostile, environment, and how his friendship with Pope John Paul II was born.


Bookmark and Share

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Fruit of the 2010 election sweep; Good Governor Brownback

I saw it as a social worker and teacher in minority communities, single women abandoned by their 'baby's daddy' who surive on welfare checks that encourage this shameful and harmful trend which has destroyed milliions of lives. Not one of the teens I worked with in inner city GED programs even knew anyone who had ever been married. It was not part of their worldview, thanks to three or four generations of welfare.
Welfare programs have supported women and children ONLY IF the man has fled. These type of programs encourage immorality and child abandonment, according to a famous Democrat;
Sociologist (and later U.S. Senator from New York) Daniel Patrick Moynihan warned in the 1965 Moynihan Report that the welfare rules created by the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program were breaking down low-income black families.
Such programs had stipulations that welfare payments would be made to women with dependent children, only if the “Man [was] out of the house” – a clear discouragement for poor dependent women to get married to their partners. Moynihan stated that the breakdown of husband-wife-led families in the black community was blocking their upward economic and social mobility, keeping them in poverty.
Former Senator and now Governor Sam Brownback is aware of this trend and wants to fight this family destroying trend.
“Studies show a healthy, loving family unit benefits not only the parents but, more importantly, the children,” Brownback said. “We will work to remove disincentives to marriage, so more couples can marry without the fear of losing crucial state support during difficult financial times.”

Conservatives like Governor Brownback and Former Senator Santorum who wrote "It Takes a Family" know the Catholicteaching of the sanctity of the family and how a nannny state will only create problems, like juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, gang membership and incarceration. This is borne out by statistics yet it takes a good pro-life governor to have the courage to change the system which beats down families. We need to take care of abandoned women, of course, but we need to stop men from abandoning them first.



Read the entire article at Life Site News.

Bookmark and Share

Monday, January 03, 2011

Breaking news: Republicans prepare two page repeal of Obamacare

Called the end to the "overturning of the job killing health care bill", it is the overturn of Obamacare.
Sen Schumer is already screaming that seniors will be abandoned. Horsefeathers, this is typical Democrat posturing to drum up opposition. It may not have enough votes to overcome Obama's veto, but its something that must be done. NOW.
Nice work, a good sign that the House is listening.
Plus the new governors, like Scott Walker of WI is authoring his AG to sue to say that the bill will go to the Supreme Court.
The battle has been joined. I wish them Godspeed.
Bookmark and Share

Clarifying what "Death Panels" are

Both Lisa Graas and I are fans of conservative pundit, Cal Thomas, but she felt, as I do, that his description of what Sarah Palin meant as "Death Panels" required clarification. It is not hairsplitting to distinguish between discussion of last wishes and denial of care as Lisa explains over at her site.

That is a reference to rationing by the IPAB. Note her reference to Ezekiel Emanuel who proposed a utilitarian system of rationing, which is what the IPAB has the potential to be…with or without end-of-life counseling. For example, if a Down Syndrome child has RSV, a system of rationing wouldn’t require any end-of-life counseling to result in the deteriorating health or death of the child. The only thing necessary for that would be a rationing board (IPAB) saying “no treatment for Down Syndrome children”. The child, then, never even gets to SEE a doctor, let alone any kind of ‘counseling’ coming into play. Understand? (That is, of course, a hypothetical scenario.)
The President, after Palin’s initial note, then came out and mentioned the end-of-life-counseling which she then responded to.


By the way when you find yourself in this situation as you most surely will someday, the National Catholic Biotethics Center has a 24 hour hotline to help counsel you and some general guidelines here
The most important point in discussing end of life care is WHOM you are discussing it with, your faithful pastor, or an agent of death like Judge Greer, who presided over Terri Schiavo's dehydration murder (and is mercifully retiring now).
This is why overturning Obamacare has to be the new Congress' first priority.
.
Read Lisa Graas's post here.
Bookmark and Share

Rosa's law is a ruse

Fr Raymond J De Souza commented on Rosa's Law on ALL President Judie Brown's blog, which I referred to in this post ;

In October, Barack Obama signed a new law that prohibits the U.S. government from referring to the “mentally retarded” in any of its laws and regulations. The term to be used instead is “intellectual disability.” Given the harshness with which it strikes the ear, the word “retarded” has long since dropped out of common usage, but it still survives in official policies.
The law is called Rosa’s Law, after a nine-year-old Maryland girl with Down’s syndrome. Her official classification at school was “mentally retarded,” which struck her mother as hurtful. The U.S. Congress passed the law in response to Rosa’s case, but also in response to a long campaign by the Special Olympics to end the use of the “R-Word,” as their campaign puts it.

I told you in my post, I had no objection to the term "mentally retarded" as a classification, as I understood its history, but I did bristle at my daughter being called a 'retard' in a pejorative fashion however, I'd rather she be called that horrible name than for this to be the cruel reality in our society;

We insist that harsh words are not used in regard to the mentally disabled, but the most lethal words today in medicine are those that announce Down’s syndrome. It is far better to be diagnosed with terminal cancer as an adult than to be diagnosed with Down’s syndrome as an unborn baby. No cancer has a 90% death rate within a month.
In 1962, there were live children and fake obituaries. In 2010, there are dead children and no obituaries. The late Ms. Shriver did not consider that an improvement. (Neither does this mother of a child with Down syndrome).
If Rosa is like almost all Down’s syndrome children, she is probably preternaturally gifted at showing love and transmitting joy. Those who know such children would be horrified to speak of them in anything but the gentlest language.
If, that is, they get a chance to speak of them at all.

Powerfully stated, Fr DeSouza! Eunice Kennedy Shriver is one of my heroes, and her legacy is poorly represented by her family members who let President Obama off the hook for his pejorative remarks about the Special Olympics and the fact that he is the ONLY politician who voted against the BORN ALIVE INFANT PROTECTION ACT. See his voting record here. while he was in the Illinois Legislature. Even NARAL let this law pass both houses of Congress, for it didn't want to appear too extreme. Barack Obama had no such qualms.Babies born alive during abortion attempts were to be abandoned to die under his leadership. This was a common method of aborting babies with Down syndrome, along with the horrific partial birth abortion, which was also outlawed. It has to do with the fact that amnio often offers a diagnosis of Down syndrome late in the pregnancy when other methods of abortion are impossible. But it is terrifying.

Christ Hospital nurse Jill Stanek happened upon an infant with Down syndrome who had been deliberately delivered before the age of viability, alone in a storage room, gasping for air. She held the tiny baby boy for forty five minutes until his little heart stopped beating (he was so tiny she could see it beating through the wall of his chest). At least this child knew 45 minutes of love in his life. Read her testimony here. 
If he had been born in the year of my birth, 1962, he might have been condemned to an institution, where he might have been loved, or he might have been neglected, but at least he would have had a chance to love, be loved, and live the life God gave him. Many of these institutionalized babies of the sixties, now adults,  lived in group homes near me on Eastern Long Island. They were busy, happy adults, limited in their abilities because of educational neglect, but alive.

How dare Obama claim to champion our children with Down syndrome with Rosa's Law when he repeatedly moved to defeat the Born Alive Infant Protection Act which would have prevented the death of this little boy and thousands like him? If he is born now, he has to be given life saving treatment, regardless of his mother's intentions. And his president's.
Did you know there are 600 approved families waiting to adopt babies with Down syndrome? Find out more here. 
Meanwhile, don't be fooled by a President, a prominent family, or an organization which claims to honor people with disabilities while remaining silent about their genocide.
(Photo is of our eight year old pride and joy, Christina, with Down syndrome, enjoying Daddy time! See what those who abort their children are missing?)

Read the entire post here. 
Bookmark and Share