Budget agreement saves 1,000 unborn babies a year!

We didn't get Planned Parenthood defunded. But it was trending on Twitter, which proves we had the attention of the public, it was discussed, even on CNN who tries to ignore abortion issues. It will be voted on in the Senate, giving Democrats and Republicans who claim they are pro-life to prove it. It will be a topic of discussiion, giving us a chance to win hearts and minds. Taking down 38 years of the abortion industry will be laborious, but I can see it accelerating, thanks be to God. Here is more reason for hope; we are already seeing reason to rejoice; saving 1,000 precious lives a year in our nation's capitol.


from the Susan B. Anthony List
 1,000 innocent, unborn children.

That’s the number of lives that are saved each year thanks to the Dornan Amendment, which prevents federal funding of abortion in the District of Columbia.

And in last night’s eleventh hour negotiations on the federal budget, our pro-life House leadership forced the radically pro-abortion Senate and the most pro-abortion president ever to concede on the Dornan amendment, which will save one thousand lives in the shadow of the Capitol building.

Leticia, I know you know the value of one life saved, and will join with me in celebrating all those children in Washington, D.C. that will be born as we all are: with a purpose.

And while we did not win everything, we cannot loose sight of this partial victory.

Like you, I am extremely disappointed that Planned Parenthood will continue to receive federal funding. But the debate these past few months since Lila Rose released undercover footage from an abortuary in Perth Amboy, NJ has dealt them a significant blow.

Planned Parenthood has been exposed. Their friendly “pro-woman” image has been shattered. Instead, they’re now seen for what they are: a billion-dollar business centered around abortion, a habitual and unapologetic ally of those who wish to exploit young girls.

It was thanks to your emails, phone calls, participation in pro-life vigils, and your conversations with family and friends that we came further than ever before in the fight to defund Planned Parenthood. And as this battle continues, we have a huge leg up thanks to you.

Our work, your work, the work of pro-life America isn’t done yet.

Your SBA List will not rest until Planned Parenthood is defunded and we will continue working with our pro-life leaders in the House to get the job done. We already have work ahead, including Congressional hearings on Planned Parenthood that will further expose them.

A debate and vote on defunding Planned Parenthood will come up very soon in the Senate. While we do not have enough votes for passage, this will allow us to put each and every Senator on record, especially those up for re-election in 2012. 

Dems to shut down Govt over PP funding

Staff in both the Senate and House have been meeting to try to find a compromise
solution in order to pass a budget for the rest of this fiscal year.

As I expressed in my email to you yesterday, the stakes are high for our movement. For months, we have been
sacrificing and working overtime to federally de-fund Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider.

And because of everything you have done...calling and visiting your Congressman; writing Letters to the Editor
of your local newspaper; praying in front of Planned Parenthood facilities; and educating your friends and family
via social networking, on campus, and in church...we have never been closer to achieving this goal!

Yesterday, Planned Parenthood held a rally on the Capitol Lawn with only 1,000 people using the same old scare
tactics to demand that Congress continue to fund their operation.

Despite these protests and President Obama's repeated vows not to support any budget that de-funds Planned Parenthood,
our movement, along with pro-life Members of Congress, has been moving forward.

And because of your tireless dedication, the Senate, lead by the pro-abortionSen. Harry Reid, and President Obama are willing to
shut down the federal government in order to protect Planned Parenthood's funding. 

This is crazy. 

Our nation is facing an insurmountable fiscal crisis in the trillions of dollars, and President Obama and pro-abortion leaders
in the U.S. Senate are willing to shut down the entire federal government over $330 million taxpayer dollars which flows to
Planned Parenthood.

Time and time again, Planned Parenthood has proven it does not deserve our taxpayer money. In fact, if any other
government-funded organization did the things Planned Parenthood has been proven to do, they would have been
de-funded immediately .

(Go here for more information about Planned Parenthood's history of corruption: http://exposeplannedparenthood.net/get-the-facts/qa-about-planned-parenthood/) 
And we can't forget...

Every second, $11 taxpayer dollars goes to Planned Parenthood.
Every 96 seconds, Planned Parenthood ends the life of a precious pre-born child and hurts an entire family.
Because these shocking facts, we know we cannot cease in our demands to de-fund Planned Parenthood. And, now, is our greatest chance to go all the way.

This morning, before you do anything else, please join me in taking action:

1) Call your House of Representatives Member (Go here for the number: http://capwiz.com/sbalist/callalert/index.tt?alertid=32611501&tr=y&auid=8115302)

- If your Member is pro-life, demand that they stand strong to de-fund Planned Parenthood.

-If your Member is still supporting Planned Parenthood, remind them that Planned Parenthood's claim that they provide mammograms is 100% false. 
Then kindly ask them to read a former Director of Planned Parenthood's explosive Op-Ed about Planned Parenthood's business
model before casting any vote: http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/153699-exposing-the-planned-parenthood-business-model

Yesterday, the phones on Capitol Hill were ringing off the hook - let's keep them that way today.

2) Forward this e-mail to all of your friends and family members and paste it on your Facebook wall or on your blog.

3) Donate your Facebook or Twitter Status to the Pro-Life Movement.Sign up at the new AbolishAbortion.com and donate your Facebook or Twitter status.
This site will change your Facebook/Twitter Status once a day for all your friends to see – posting messages about why Planned Parenthood must be de-funded!

4) Chip in a few dollars at http://donate.studentsforlife.org and help SFLA continue to help lead the pro-life movement in our fight to de-fund Planned Parenthood.

5) Pray. Remember, through Him all things are possible!

Leticia, thank you for all that you have done over the past 3 months to de-fund Planned Parenthood. You are the reason we have gotten this far,
something that most people told us was impossible.

Now, today, help us go all the way! 

1957-Sanger Still a Eugenicist

Let disabled infants starve; Canadian Paediatric Society

In a media release, the Canadian Paediatric Society stated:
ANH [artificial nutrition and hydration] refers to nutrition or hydration that is delivered by artificial means, such as via a feeding tube or intravenously. Legal and ethics experts say there is no difference between withholding or withdrawing ANH versus other therapies that sustain or prolong life. The CPS makes clear that any decision should be based solely on the benefit to the child, while considering the child’s overall plan of care.
“Food and drink evoke deep emotional and psychological responses, and are associated with nurturing,” said Dr. Tsai. “But artificial nutrition and hydration is not about providing food and fluids through normal means of eating and drinking. It should be viewed the same as any other medical intervention, such as ventilatory support.”

Yes, the headline is right, now Canadian parents can give consent to let their disabled but otherwise healthy infant starve and dehydrate to death like Terri Schiavo. Less than a week ago, in this piece for Patheos,  I expressed fear that my daughter with Down syndrome would be refused medical treatment if I were not there to fight for her.
Now it seems that my nightmare coming true, bit by bit. First they dehydrate your child with your consent. Do you think it will be long before they justify doing it without your consent, or behind your back? It happened before, in Christ Hospital in Illinois.
Not surprisingly,  the media is silent on this abomination. 

  What's worse is that the American Association of Pediatricians agrees with this position.Peter Singer's 'bioethics" is actually a nighmarish reality. 

According to Life Site News;

The statement is similar to the statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Both statements approve the withholding or withdrawing of nutrition and hydration (fluids and food) from infants who may not be dying. 

It is most likely happening in a hospital near you.
What are you going to do about it?
Read the entire story on Life Site News.

Republican presidential hopefuls weigh in on defunding Planned Parenthood

The field of hopefuls is wide open at this point, with even Donald Trump jumping into the ring. As I explained to my soon to be voting teenager, he would make a great Secretary of the Treasury, but he hasn't got the moral fiber to be president. Neither does the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
However, there are many candidates who do, according to these statements they made about defunding Planned Parenthood. I will not vote for anyone who doesn't make a statement on this crucial issue.

This week, the Susan B. Anthony List contacted Republican presidential hopefuls to ask them where they stand on defunding Planned Parenthood. Several potential candidates, including Gov. Haley Barbour, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Gov.Sarah Palin, and Gov. Tim Pawlenty provided statements directly to the SBA List. Rep.Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, former Gov. Mitt Romney and former Sen. Rick Santorum had already publicly spoken out or provided statements to media outlets in support of defunding America's largest abortion provider, which receives a third of its income from taxpayers' pockets.

Gov. Haley Barbour:
"I support a halt to any federal funds going to America's largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood."
--Statement provided to SBA List

Former Gov. Mike Huckabee:
"We need to demand this Congress vote to defund Planned Parenthood. Our tax dollars should never be used to provide abortions and our government should put an end to it immediately."
--Statement provided to SBA List

Former Gov. Sarah Palin:
"I join Rep. Mike Pence and others of conscience and common sense who are leading the charge to end the taxpayer funding of the nation's largest abortion provider. We recognize that not only is our country buried under Mt. McKinley-sized debt, but that the truest measure of any society is how it treats those who are least able to defend and speak for themselves."
--Statement provided to SBA List

Gov. Tim Pawlenty:
"Washington has a massive spending problem, and we need to set priorities. Recent undercover videos show that employees of America's largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, aided alleged human traffickers wishing to exploit young girls. Yet, they continue to receive significant taxpayer funding. That should come to an end."
--Statement provided to SBA List, April 1, 2011

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN):
"...one thing that we can do, quite simply, is to withhold funding from Planned Parenthood."
--CNS News, "Rep. Michele Bachmann: De-Fund Planned Parenthood," December 6, 2010

Herman Cain:
"I absolutely would defund Planned Parenthood...people who know the history of Margaret Sanger, who started Planned Parenthood, they know that the intention was not to help young women who get pregnant to plan their parenthood. No -- it was a sham to be able to kill black babies."
--www.renewamerica.com/columns/fischer/110118

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich:
"...I want to say I strongly endorse his cutting out all funding for Planned Parenthood which has become a major source of abortion in America."
--Speech at Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, March 7, 2011

Former Gov. Mitt Romney:
"Mitt Romney supports the Pence amendment."
--NRO, "The Defunding of Planned Parenthood Litmus Test?" April 2, 2010

Former Sen. Rick Santorum:
"If you look at Planned Parenthood; if you look at the abortion industry...they fight every single regulation every single bit of information that should be given to the patient, they all fight it as an affront to the right of abortion."
--Family Talk with Dr. James Dobson, February 24, 2011

Faith and family Mom's Day Away

Hallie Lord 

 I didn't sleep much the night before,  I was worried about having a backache when I drive (turns out I was right, four hours on the road gave me a bad backache), and, knowing my daughter set the alarm for 6AM, I shut if off, intending to sleep in and arrive late. But my guardian angel had other plans, for at 5:30 AM, I was awake, walking out of the house by 6:15. A major accomplishment, though Christina did pop up in her bed like a piece of toast. Why is it that on school days, you could run the INDY 500 through the bedroom without waking her up, but try and sneak past her on the weekend, and she's wide awake? Gabbi took over for me, and I grabbed a coffee and ran for the car before guilt keep me home. I needed a retreat to restart my Lenten fervor.
 I was on the road as the sun was clearing the horizon, and at a pit stop, I found my John Denver CD (the one that makes the teens roll their eyes) and played it, full blast, singing along to "Country Roads";my day away was off to a roaring start! I was greated in St Patrick's Church in Stoneham by two friends from CT; Robyn Lee and Lynn Wehner, and I knew that the conference was going to feel more like a reunion than a roomful of strangers.Soon Rachel Balducci came over to say hello, and I felt like I was at a family reunion.
I found a table near the sun-filled window in the most beautiful church auditorium I've even seen, with Palladium windows and vaulted, timbered ceilings, thinking it was as pretty as a church (that's only because I hadn't seen the church yet, it was breathtaking).
Though most of the women at my table were stranger from as far afield as Martha's Vineyard and Maine, thanks to plenty of breakout sharing sessions in the day, we shared from the heart about our stuggles to live  as holy moms and wives. By the end of the day, we took a group photo and promised to look for each other next year.
When Pat Gohn began singing "Come Holy Ghost, Creator Blest" I knew this was going meet my high expectations. The Holy Spirit indeed was there, in the loving embraces of women who met online and were now meeting face to face, the fervent prayers during Benediction and the Scriptural Rosary in the gorgeous church, and the beauty of women's voices lifted together in traditional eucharistic hymns. There was a perfect blend of fellowship and sharing, quiet prayer and funny speakers, good food and perfect take home  gifts (each attendee received a lovely chaplet from Melanie Gillespie from Trendy Traditions and her choice of Noah's Ark or Jesus and the disciples toy set from Bible Toys). Three women from my table won prizes, handmade necklaces, Mystic Monk coffee and lovely hand cream and goat's milk soaps. We felt pampered in body, mind and spirit.
I enjoyed the reminder from Danielle Bean that we can ask God for help in every minute of the day.  She was in rare comedic form, explaining how a simple trip to the post office to mail a tricycle can lead to a lesson in learning to trust God in the little (or no so little) things. Rachel Balducci reminded us to offer God even our frustrated desire for prayer, as she described circling the parking lot of the adoration chapel unable to find a spot, while precious time to pray before the Eucharist ticked away. She gave us the takeaway line, "Love inspires more than the law requires", to remind us to give love the more difficult people in our lives without counting the cost, so that we too can be saints.

Some of the bloggers at "Faith and Family Live" pose for a photo

  Jennifer Fulweiler's talk centered on how fear can keep us from getting closer to God, we fear that He will not give us the grace to do what he asks of us. The common theme was putting prayer first, beginning our day with ten minutes for Our Lord, and remembering Him throughout the day, to keep our daily routine centered in His will. Hallie Lord, aka Betty Beguiles(see her at the podium in the first photo) was the picture of femininity in her red dress and platform shoes, balancing her baby as she spoke to us about her terrible night in the hotel room with a sleepless baby. It reminded me of the time American Life League was giving me an award for this blog, and Gabbi, Christina and I stayed in a hotel in Washington DC the night before the ceremony. Christina had a stuffy nose, and I took a taxi at 3 AM to find nasal spray. No one slept much, and I felt awful when it came time to give my acceptance speech. Such is the life of a mommy who blogs, these ladies do it with such grace and sincere love, that the 'comparing monster' was nowhere to be seen. We were swimming in a sea of love.
Pat Gohn said we should ask God to speak to us through the speakers of the day, and my message from Our Lord was to start the day with ten minutes for Him. I have been getting better at a daily rosary or Mass, but still, there are days when God gets my last ten minutes, as if He were on my to do list. We reminded each other in our sharing time at the table, that a day given to God is a day which has peace and order, and goes better than when we do it alone. If Jennifer Fulweiler can find time to pray the Divine Office with little babies, then certainly I can get up ten minutes early and give my day to God in a morning offering and short meditation.
Thank you Pat, Danielle and my new friends at my table (last photo) for a wonderful day which has me happy to serve God right where He has me; wife, mom,and a  blogger.

Death in Sprintime; how this mother relates to Mary Schindler

How did the mother of a daughter with Down syndrome react when Terri Schindler Schiavo was dehydrated to death five years ago? Read my article over at Catholic Lane and find out.

How one reporter sees America

From a Czech newspaper, an insightful comment into the problem with this nation..

"The danger to America is not Barack Obama, but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency.  It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America.  Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince.  The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool.  It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools, such as those who made him their president." 

We get the president we deserve, if we ignore his lack of morality, religious faith, and experience, we ignore his radicalism, and his anti-Americanism, and believe his empty promises without explanation, we are fools who sow the seeds of our own doom. We are desperately greedy, to overlook his pro-abortion views because of his promises to give us all money, and we end up with more dead babies than ever, and less money.  

Ellen McCormack with Dr. Mildred Jefferson (1)

Quote from Dr Jerome Lejeune

The Catholic Education Resource Center had this quote from Dr Jerome Lejeune on their weekly newsletter;

Quote of the Week:

"To dissociate the child from love is, for our species, a methodological error: contraception, which is to make love without making a child; artificial (in vitro) fertilization, which is to make a child without making love; abortion, which is to unmake the child; and pornography, which is to unmake love: all these, to varying degrees, are incompatible with natural law." - Jerome Lejeune


I am going to be quoting him this week as we approach his birthday on April 3. Thank you to CERC for recognizing the wisdom of this great man. 

Aborted baby cells used to make Pepsi, Nestle, andKraft products tastier

                                                                                 

Biotech company using aborted fetal cell lines to test food flavor enhancers

 Children of God for Life is calling for a public boycott of major food companies partnering with Senomyx, a biotech company that produces artificial flavor enhancers using aborted fetal cell lines to test their products.

In 2010, the pro-life organization wrote to Senomyx CEO Kent Snyder, pointing out that moral options for testing their food additives could and should be used.  But when Senomyx ignored their letter, they wrote to the companies Senomyx listed on their website as "collaborators" warning them of public backlash and threatened boycott.  Food giants Pepsico, Kraft Foods, Campbell Soup, Solae and Nestlé are the primary targets of the boycott.

Senomyx website states: “The company's key flavor programs focus on the discovery and development of savory, sweet and salt flavor ingredients that are intended to allow for the reduction of MSG, sugar and salt in food and beverage products....Using isolated human taste receptors, we created proprietary taste receptor-based assay systems that provide a biochemical or electronic readout when a flavor ingredient interacts with the receptor.” 

Their collaborators provide Senomyx research and development funding plus royalties on sales of products using their flavor ingredients.

“What they don’t tell the public is that they are using HEK 293 – human embryonic kidney cells taken from an electively aborted baby to produce those receptors”, stated Debi Vinnedge, Executive Director for Children of God for Life, a pro-life watch dog group that has monitored the use of aborted fetal material in medical and consumer products for years.

“They could have easily chosen animal, insect, or other morally obtained human cells expressing the G protein for taste receptors”, she added.

In writing to their collaborators, it took three letters before Nestlé finally admitted the truth about their relationship with Senomyx, noting the cell line was “well established in scientific research".

Both Pepsico and Campbell Soup also responded.

Shockingly, Pepsico wrote: “We hope you are reassured to learn that our collaboration with Senomyx is strictly limited to creating lower-calorie, great-tasting beverages for consumers. This will help us achieve our commitment to reduce added sugar per serving by 25% in key brands in key markets over the next decade and ultimately help people live healthier lives.” 

Campbell Soup was more sensitive in their response: “Every effort is made to use the finest ingredients and develop the greatest selection of products, all at a great value. With this in mind, it must be said that the trust we have cultivated and developed over the years with our consumers is not worth compromising to cut costs or increase profit margins."

While Campbell didn’t state they would change their methods, their response, gave Vinnedge hope.

“If enough people voice their outrage and intent to boycott these consumer products, it may convince Senomyx to change their methods”, she noted. “Otherwise, we will be buying Coca-Cola, Lipton soups and Hershey products!”

See www.cogforlife.org/senomyxalert.htm





UPDATE!!! March 29, 2011 11:45AM
Within hours of our press release, Children of God for Life received notice from Campbell Soup that they have severed their ties with Senomyx.

Stated Juli Mandel Sloves, Senior Manager of Nutrition & Wellness Communications at Campbell Soup Company, "We are no longer in partnership with Senomyx. This fact was discussed during the Senomyx conference call with its investors earlier this month."

If you choose to write to Campbell Soup, please thank them for their decision.Here is the comment form. 
 Mmmm good!

Abby Johnson Exposes Planned Parenthood

Should Geraldine Ferraro be given a Catholic funeral?

My friend Dr Gerry Nadal has a thought provoking piece over at his blog Coming Home which may make me change my mind on whether Geraldine Ferraro deserves a Catholic funeral. Its about mercy, not covering up her public sin of being unabashedly pro-abortion.

Something is radically wrong here. If the people seem indifferent to abortion, might they be mirroring their bishops? The point of public censure of such politicians is at once medicinal for the politician, and catechetical for the laity. If the Kennedy’s and Ferraro’s of our time do not merit public censure and prohibition of Eucharistic reception in life, then it seems pointless and even cruel to suddenly get serious about their souls in death.

This funeral discussion has more to do with the cowardice of our bishops than we may like to admit. Catholic politicians use bishops to lend them support, maybe not verbally, but they rush to St Patrick's Day parades to file past St Patrick's Cathedral wearing shamrocks waving and smiling. What does that tell the Catholic faithful who are often too lazy to look at any programming other than ESPN and the parade? Images speak louder than words to a public which is only semi-engaged in their spiritual lives. They lead to this kind of thought,
"These guys are just one of us. They're OK to vote for. Why not, our bishops seem to support them? "

Why don't the bishops fight for their salvation before they die, by telling them  in plain language the true state of their souls and arguing with them about their sins? Its not condemnation, its an act of mercy. Its a spiritual act of mercy to admonish the sinner.
St Maria Gorretti cared more for Alessandro's soul than for her own life, when he was threatening to defile her, she didn't beg for her life, she told him, "No, no, no, its a sin, you'll go to hell!" Maria cared more for Alessandro's soul than he did. It should be the same for the bishops, They should be willing to become unpopular for the sake of Ted Kennedy's or Geraldine Ferraro's eternal destiny. This is hardly martyrdom.
They may be doing it privately, but if a sin is public, it requires a public denunciation for the sake of the scandal it causes, for the bad catechesis as Gerry Nadal says.

Remember Cardinal O'Connor? Here is a tribute to him on EWTN's website.

Cardinal O'Connor battled with prominent Catholic abortion rights supporters, most notably with former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and Geraldine Ferraro, the 1984 Democratic vice presidential nominee. Cardinal O'Connor refused to accept their position, writing in 1990 that Catholics who opposed the Church's teachings on abortion by "advocating legislation supporting abortion, or by making public funds available for abortion ... must be warned that they are at a risk of excommunication. If such actions persist, bishops may consider excommunication the only option." 

 He gave pro-abortion politicians a run for their money, just ask Mario Cuomo who  coined the phrase, "I'm personally opposed to abortion, but I don't want to inflict my beliefs on others". The good Cardinal never let him or Geraldine Ferraro away with that kind of doublespeak, and they both treated him shamefully. They imposed excommunication on themselves by supporting abortion publicly and never publicly apologized. Cardinal O'Connor cared for their souls more than they did and did them the favor of pointing that out to them, despite their rude responses. That is why, at his funeral, President and Mrs Clinton were forced to stand for a ten minute ovation when his courageous stand on life issues was lauded. It was a wonderful teaching moment, I was never prouder to be a Catholic in New York than that moment.

Maybe we should support a Catholic funeral for Geraldine Ferraro because of how desperately she needs our prayers. I think the reason we balk at Catholic funerals is because they become canonizations, like Teddy Kennedy's in Boston. We know these politicians thumbed their noses at Catholic moral teaching and no one corrected them publicly from the chancery. Then, their friends, fellow crooked politicians, knowing the cameras are rolling, use the occasion to extol those virtues which happen to fall within Catholic teaching, like advocating for the poor, while ignoring their pro-death stand on abortion. All of this happens while the Cardinal is silent, within the Holy Mass. It's intolerable!
Wouldn't it be refreshing to pro-lifers and instructive to lukewarm Catholics who see Ferraro's funeral in the news to hear a bishop say, "we know that if she did not repent of voting for the death of millions of unborn children, then she is in hell, so let us pray for God's mercy on her immortal soul."
Now that's Catholicism, justice and mercy!

The National Institute of Health wants to know if you want Down syndrome research funding

The NIH has decided to gather info (Request for Information or RFI) regarding an interest in Ds research, data base and bio bank.  They want to receive responses by April 1, 2011, in order to decide if there is enough interest to move in that direction.  We feel this is clearly a move in the right direction and would love for you to send your email of support.  You can write your own or simply modify the wording in the first sentence....As a friend(uncle, relative, etc) of a child with Down syndrome who has five siblings, .....  

FYI, the majority of individuals with Ds start with Alzheimer-like symptoms in their 40s.  This will dramatically impact the entire family and there is currently a human clinical trial being conducted on just this topic.  Of course the majority of funding is through private donations, so to have the support of NIH in funding Ds research more fairly (currently Ds is the most common genetic chromosomal abnormality, yet it is funded by far the lowest) hopefully more breakthroughs will be found to improve cognition and delay the later loss.

 If you do write an email please send to:   dsrdrfi@mail.nih.gov and cc: nihresponse@globaldownsyndrome.org   with subject:  RESPONSE TO NIH DOWN SYNDROME RESEARCH DATABASE & BIOBANK RFI

Please pass along to anyone else who may be willing to send an email. 

Fr Corapi targeted by disgruntled employee?

Yes, according to this statement by his company director who also was a victim of this angry woman.

Statement of Santa Cruz Media, Inc. Relative to Fr. Corapi’s Suspension

  Santa Cruz Media, Inc. is the owner of all of Fr. John Corapi’s intellectual property and the DVDs, CDs, and books that flow from it. We are a secular corporation and not affiliated with the Catholic Church in any way. As such, we are not under the jurisdiction of any bishop or other official in the Catholic Church, although we have the utmost respect for Church authority. 

We fully support Rev. John Corapi in this terrible trial, not surprisingly having begun on Ash Wednesday. Through the sacrifice and struggle of the desert and all of the dark moments that this entails, we are confident that the glory of the risen Lord will shine forth from the power of the Resurrection and Easter. 

We have consulted with a number of canon lawyers. They have assured us that the actions of the Bishop of Corpus Christi, Texas are, on several points of canon law, illicit. It is our fervent hope that The Dallas Charter will be changed because of false accusations like this. There is no evidence at this time that Fr. Corapi did anything wrong, only the unsubstantiated rant of a former employee, who, after losing her job with this office, physically assaulted me and another employee and promised to "destroy" Father Corapi. We all continue to pray for this person, and we ask you to do the same. 

We sincerely believe that the work Fr. Corapi has done is of greatest value to the Church, hence hated by the devil. We fully intend to make Fr. Corapi’s material available as a service to the Church and the world for as long as we possibly can. 

The Church provides no financial support to Fr. Corapi. He has to pay for his own legal representation, medical costs, food, housing, etc. We have never accepted donations or charitable contributions of any kind. We are supporting Father’s efforts to defend himself. Your purchase of products from Santa Cruz Media helps provide the funding for Father's continued work as well as the legal expenses he continues to incur as a result of these malicious allegations. 

Father Corapi and all of us here at Santa Cruz Media, Inc. greatly appreciate your kindness, support, and prayers. Please continue to pray for Father Corapi and his accuser, as well as all priests who find themselves in this unfortunate situation. 

 Sincerely yours in Christ, 

  Bobbi Ruffatto 
Vice President of Operations 
Santa Cruz Media, Inc. 

First ever pro-active pro-life victory in CT!

I was saddened but not shocked to read yesterday, that CT has one of the five highest abortion rates in the nation. Such a tragic legacy for what was, a half century ago, considered a fortress of moral values due to the high density of our Catholic population. Legislators used to be afraid of passing immoral legislation up here, but obviously  with gay marriage and high abortion rates, they have won the battle.  But not the war.
 We are one of the few states with virtually no restrictions on abortion; no informed consent, no waiting period, and no parental notification, but that is about to be challenged, according to Peter Wolfgang a the Family Institute of CT: Instead of waiting for more abhorrent legislation to oppose, he is on the offensive, demanding parental notification. We have the evidence in a dozen Planned Parenthood sting operations from Lila Rose at Live Action, (see video here) that sexual slaves are being abused, then their babies are aborted by PP and the underage women are being sent back to the abusive man. The time for outrage, leading to action is NOW!

FIC’s Biggest-Ever Pro-Active Victory! The pro-life movement’s #1 legislative goal in Connecticut was accomplished earlier this month. And it happened because of the Family Institute of Connecticut. The Program Review and Investigations Committee has agreed to a study about teen health. The scope of the study will include parental notification for minor girls seeking to obtain an abortion. There will be a public hearing on the study this summer. In other words: We secured a public hearing on parental notification! Our accomplishment is such a delicate matter at the state Capitol that it is only now, two weeks later, that we can even tell you about it. We cannot provide our usual behind-the-scenes report, but we do wish to acknowledge our gratitude toward those legislators who attended FIC’s February 3rd legislative breakfast. Connecticut is one of only a handful of states that does not have a parental notification law. Though there was an informational hearing on it a few years ago, getting a public hearing on parental notification has been the #1 legislative goal of Connecticut pro-lifers. Make no mistake: This hearing does not end the roughly 15,000 abortions a year occurring in Connecticut. Our ultimate goal is a state where every unborn child is protected in law and welcomed in life. But even those who do not share that goal will agree with us that it is a travesty that a minor girl can obtain an abortion without notifying her parents. Correcting that travesty is a first step toward a more humane Connecticut. By taking this step, FIC has secured the first public hearing on abortion in Connecticut in over twenty years. We are grateful to our allies on Program Review for what they have accomplished. We are also grateful to those legislators who do not yet share our pro-life convictions but voted for this study in good faith and with an open mind. We pledge to work with those on both sides of the abortion issue on our shared goal of protecting the health of Connecticut’s minor girls.

Safe Legal and Rare

The Catholic League's Bill Donohue shows how to reduce abortions; help women make better choices.
We know abortion is the choice of a desperate woman, who is acting by emotion without thought.
IF the so-called pro-choice side cared about women, they would support initiatives like the 3 day waiting period just signed into law in South Dakota. But they put profit over people.
When women know they really have choices other than abortion, when they see what their baby looks like and how they will be affected by abortion, THEY CHOOSE LIFE!

For the past few years, the pro-abortion community has inexplicably said they support "abortion reduction" efforts (it is not clear why they would want to reduce the rates of a procedure they say is non-lethal). In any event, they should now be supporting what is going on in South Dakota (somehow, we believe they will side with Planned Parenthood, which is filing suit against the state).

 

Yesterday, the governor signed a law in South Dakota to require women who want an abortion to first learn what assistance is available to them in the event they decide to keep their babies; a waiting period of three days after the initial visit with an abortionist was also approved. In a New York Times article today, it notes that this is happening in a state "despite an abortion rate that is among the lowest in the nation." Which made me wonder: Which states have the highest, and the lowest, rates of abortion? Also, what accounts for the disparity? That is why I repaired to the data on these subjects collected by the Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of Planned Parenthood.

 

The states with the five highest rates of abortion (1-5) are: New York, New Jersey, Nevada, Delaware and Connecticut. Those with the five lowest rates (46-50) are: North Dakota, Nebraska, Kentucky, Utah and South Dakota. None of the five with the highest rates has a waiting period, and none offer written material on the procedure, including fetal development throughout pregnancy. All of those with the five lowest rates require a 24-hour waiting period (now 72 in South Dakota), and all offer written material, including information on fetal development through term. Moreover, Utah and South Dakota also offer information on the ability of the baby to experience pain when he or she is being killed.

 

If the high abortion states are to mimic success, they will have to abandon their policy of keeping women ignorant. If these liberal states are to be truly pro-choice, they will have to start allowing women to make real choices. Their resistance to informed consent must end.

Defund Planned Parenthood

Today is World Down Syndrome Day

And to honor those who are born with Trisomy 21 around the world, and share the joy we have had in my daughter Christina, my daughter Gabriela is releasing her documentary entitled, "An Extra Special Missionary", which is in the Voters's Choice Phase of the Goodness Reigns Film Competition.
Please watch the 7 minute film and if you like it, vote for it at the link below;
http://goodnessreigns.com/vote/all/an-extra-special-missionary/

We Are The Youth

Swimming in swift waters; take the plunge

I was watching "The Journey Home" episode for the second time with John Peterson of "Catholics Come Home". I am fascinated with his wonderful commercials and his joyfully articulated faith, which is so contagious, EWTN seems to be passing him from show to show, and he never seems to lose the glow in his eyes when he discusses his reversion to the Faith or the joy he finds in his apostolate of bringing thousands of other Catholics home. . His commercials have brought over 200,000 Catholics back to the Faith, though they are aired in only 30 dioceses! One parish priest alone had 16 confessions from fallen away Catholics in one week. Imagine if ALL the dioceses in the US had those beautiful spots! See them here. Spread them around , they are marvelous. Why did I feel so inspired to write about at midnight when were are losing an hour? Saving souls of youth, who are literally drowning in the pop culture is a cause which is never far from my heart since I am a youth minister turned teacher.
I reflected on my youth and how I was a bit adrift after my Confirmation. I was all excited, fasted, and prayed during Lent before my Confirmation, but was crushed by how no one in my family was as excited about my newfound dedication to God as I wanted them to be. I cried that next day, to my mother's mystification, because the party we had was beautiful.I had trouble telling her what it was that I was looking for, I only knew I hadn't found it.  I can still see the statue of Our Lady in the middle of our living room, surrounded with flowers both from our yard and the florist, and I laid my heartbreak at her feet. I never left the Church, but felt like now that CCD was over, and this is before any type of youth movements were born, I wondered "Where does a 13 who deeply loves God belong in our Church?".
Teens and single twenty-somethings seem to be missing in action in most parishes. There are mostly adults and children in the pews,  and in the activities, and at that vulnerable time of life, we want to have a flag to carry in the parade, a bumper sticker on our car, a button for our lapels saying,, "here I am and here's my job in the Church". There is a place, but they are not finding it. We have to help them.
We know that Our Lord never told teens they weren't welcome, in fact,  scholars say Our Lady was a young teen at the Annunciation. But its the prevailing culture which tells teens they are to be catty, vain, selfish, materialistic hedonists, whose only sacrifice is for causes like the environment. Notice how readily a teen who balks at Lenten practices will suddenly, with great conviction, declare himself a vegan. A lifelong sacrifice. We should be asking more of our teens! We as adults need to recognize that though Jesus and Mary are calling our teens to sacrificial holiness of life and outspoken defense of the Faith and its tenets, there are floodwaters of culture which seem to be washing away the grace of Baptism in their souls.
Today I took Molly my Golden Retriever to the river for our first walk in the spring. With all the pent up enthusiasm of a long cold winter spent without walks, she nearly threw herself into the rushing river, which was overflowing its banks. Wisely, for an impulsive young dog, she only dipped her nose into the water, felt the force and the freezing temperature, and backed out.
Too many of our teens have already thrown themselves into that cold, dirty, rushing water which is popular culture, and are being tossed about by the current, hitting the rocks of temptations, and life-altering choices and getting bloodied and dying spiritually. We can't merely stand at the shoreline, calling out to them, the noisy water drowns us out, we have to plunge in, adding the waters of grace to the dirty waters of popular culture in order to attract those young souls away from the dangerous current to the safety of the shore. To their role in the Body of Christ which will help use their ability to give, their talents, their enthusiasm, and their love for the building up of the Kingdom of God.

When I was 13, in the mid seventies, popular culture was certainly a muddy stream, but it was shallower.  I only waded ankle deep. I had the radio in my room, a few  records and cassettes, and one TV in the house, which my parents dominated. It was quiet enough in my home that I was able to find "A Story of A Soul" on my parents' bookshelf when I had trouble sleeping at night and find a lifeline in St Therese. I stayed up all night reading  her life story.
 The Church was finding her balance after Vatican II, and John Paul II had not yet stepped unto St Peter's balcony, but in that quiet environment, God's voice was still audible to a teen with a searching heart. Walking to daily Mass in the summer, my faith grew in the quiet of our Church, and when offered the chance to assist at CCD, sing in the choir, join in the March for Life, and serve as a sacristan at my Catholic school, I found outlets for my growing need to share my faith. I had a flag to carry. A role to play. God needed me to add my gifts to help complete what was lacking in the cross of Christ. God needed me; how honored I felt!
The teens who swim in today's overwhelming current of endless texts, tweets, Iphone movies which you can take everywhere fall victim to the prejudice of society's low expectations of them. They are "Pretty Little Liars", "Bridezillas-to-be", and have Secret Lives from their families which they would confess on Facebook but not to a priest.
We who are secure in our faith are called to jump into the swift waters of popular culture, despite the risk of bruises, knowing that our experience in the Faith can be a lifeline to teens drowning in the murky waters of sin and impurity. We need to text. Tweet, Facebook, blog, podcast, YouTube along with Lady Gaga, if only to highlight the utter depravity of her spiritual downfall from the indulged student in an exclusive Catholic high school in NYC to the self-abusing wretch she is today. We can help Our Lord's voice reach over the rushing current to them, helping them gain a foothold on the shore, and find a place in our Church.
As my 17 year old daughter Gabbi said on a pro-life TV show, "The Face of Pro-life". 'Its MY friends who will be facing the temptations of abortion, I need to tell them there is a better way'. Who can do that better than a peer? We need teens to be salt and light to other teens, to be 'signs of contradiction' like Our Lord was. But they have to hear the call and they are surrounded by the other side, tickling their ears with temptations. Our voices must reach them.
Pray, fast for them this Lent. Make sacrifices of time for them; volunteer in youth ministry, get involved in Social Media to be a light in the darkness. Fr Pavone once suggested that pro-lifers should dive into chat rooms, to evangelize. I must say jumping into that muck with the provocative phrase "I love Jesus and Mary don't you?" is not for the faint hearted, but the two people who attacked me the most for that phrase were a priest who was laicized and a post-abortive Catholic woman. I found myself talking to them instead of shouting slogans, and God willing, being a voice in the wilderness of that chatroom.

Our beloved Holy Father Benedict has begged us to get involved with social media, he has had a conference on it, and has a Facebook presence: Pope2you, he has established an office in the Vatican dedicated to it, so we must follow his lead, plunge into the swift waters armed with a strong life in grace, and see whom we can rescue.

My interview with Dr Jerome Lejeune's daughter

It was one of the greatest honors of my life to meet Clara Lejeune Gaymard, daughter and biographer of my great hero, Servant of God Dr Jerome Lejeune. I met with her at the New York Encounter last month.
She is an international businesswoman, travelling the world for GE while raising nine children. Her wonderful book "Life is a Blessing" is now availalble from the National Catholic Bioethics Center e-store.
Here is the interview at the National Catholic Register.

Pray for abortionists

I am reading the absolutely riveting story "Unplanned" about Abby Johnson's conversion from a Planned Parenthood Clinic director to a pro-life Catholic activist, and thinking of Dr Bruchalski.
Read about how Our Lady brought him from an abortionist to the head of a completely pro-life medical center which serves poor women in crisis pregnancies. It is named after where Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared, the hill of Tepeyac, the Tepeyac Family Center.
Read the entire story at Life Site News.