Eduardo Verastegui will be on Life on the Rock Streaming Video

Just click here to get the link to EWTN's Life on the Rock interview of Bella producer and star, Eduardo Verastegui. His reversion story is very powerful. This man is a Catholic hero, and deserves our full support for his new film company Metanoia. Magazines such as Columbia, and Celebrate Life are featuring interviews with Eduardo this month.

The Legionaries of Christ, who are affiliated with Sean Wolfington, the financier of the film, have joined the effort to promote Bella, and are organizing screenings with the blessing of my bishop here on Long Island. Here is an email I'm sending out from the leader of the Legionaries' promotion of Bella, Fr. Roderick Ermatinger:

I am Fr Roderick Ermatinger with the Legionaries of Christ. I believe Leticia has already mentioned to you that Metanoia Films, the producer of the movie Bella, has asked me to help them with their grassroots promotional efforts for this inspiring movie. This is Metanoia’s first film, and hopefully there will be many more to come. Metanoia’s mission is to attract young film makers, producers, directors, writers and actors, and to help them to appreciate the fact that they should use their artistic talents to advance the dignity of the human person, while still making movies that will make money. They want their movies to reach beyond the “choir” to the mainstream. They also want to send a message to Hollywood that people want movies that will elevate them rather than be demeaning. Bella is a simple movie with a deep message – how one person, one event can change a person’s life. Ultimately, it is a celebration of life, both the life of an individual and that of the family. Bella presents an opportunity for high impact on a large scale.
Last summer Bella won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival.
I would like the opportunity to talk with you to discuss how we are promoting Bella on a grassroots level.
Please feel free to contact me by email rermatinger@legionaries.org. Also, please feel free to contact Leticia, leticia77@optonline.net if you are interested in learning more and helping with this important effort.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Fr Roderick Ermatinger,LC

Forty Days for Life; National Day of Prayer and Fasting

With just one day left before registrations beginfor 40 Days for Life, the national coordinatorsare asking you -- and other believers in yourcommunity and across the country -- to jointogether in a nationwide day of prayer and fasting TODAY, Monday, August 6.
Realizing that 164 cities and towns in 43 states are actively considering joining this historic campaign, it's vital that we all get down on ourknees and turn this entire effort over to God.
Please spread the word and ask others to join youin seeking God's will for our nation, for yourcommunity's involvement in 40 Days for Life, andfor each person's unique role in this effort.
I received this email, but it was Esther who reminded me to post it. We must unite to drive the demon of abortion from this country if we expect protection from outside forces of evil.
I tremble when I think about where we would be if God had not spared us in His infinite mercy.

Abortion is No. 1 Killer in Black Community

Abortion is No. 1 Killer in Black Community
Since 1973, more than 13 million black babies have been killed by abortion, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's more than twice the number of black deaths attributed to AIDS, violent crimes, accidents, cancer and heart disease during that period.
"Planned Parenthood kills more black people in three days than the Klan has killed in its entire history of existence," said Joseph Parker, pastor of Campbell Chapel AME Church in Pulaski, Tenn., the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan. "Yet many in the African-American community don't even see Planned Parenthood as an enemy, (they) would see them as a friend.
"Right now the biggest killer of the African-American community is abortion."
Dawn Vargo, associate bioethics analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said, "Pro-abortionists — with the help of anti-life organizations like Planned Parenthood — often succeed in making women think abortion is their only choice. This 'choice,' which isn't true choice at all, hurts both mother and child. "It's important for women to realize that abortion is not their only option. There are many life-affirming choices for women facing an unplanned pregnancy."
HT Focus on the Family Citizen Watch email
For more information on this topic, go to Blackgenocide. com

Population Research Institute: Part I

This video explains the orgins of Population Research Institute.

Harnessing the Power of Viral Marketing

Pro-Lifers need to use all the tools at their disposal to get their baby-saving message out. Viral marketing is one such tool that we are using at PRI—and you can help simply by forwarding our messages and videos.
Steven Mosher
Viral Marketing and the Pro-Life Cause
by Colin Mason
Earlier this year, an anonymous YouTube user known only as ParkRidge47 uploaded a video expressing his views about Hillary Clinton. The video blended footage from Ridley Scott’s famous 1984 Apple commercial with clips from Hillary's "Conversations with America" series. Hilary appeared as an Orwellian "Big Brother," an effect alternately unsettling or hilarious depending on your views of the Clintons. In a matter of a month, this no-budget, 74-second video garnered nationwide media attention and over three and a half million views on YouTube alone.We now know that ParkRidge47 is a man named Phillip De Vellis, and that his video was not authorized by any candidate. De Vellis cleverly used Photoshop and video editing software to create a video interesting enough (and controversial enough) to spread throughout the internet like a benign virus.

Viral marketing is cost-effective: a compelling message can be produced and disseminated with as little equipment as a video camera and a desktop computer.
As both the Clinton and Obama campaigns reacted publically to the video, the San Francisco Chronicle announced that we had reached "a watershed moment in 21st century media and political advertising." An ordinary citizen, albeit one with impressive editing skills, was able to create and post a video that impacted a huge number of people and may have changed the course of a presidential campaign.This incident is only one example of the growing phenomenon of what has become known as viral marketing. Made possible by the advent of the internet, viral marketing is a way of educating people about an idea, or spreading awareness about a product, by simply getting people interested enough to want to spread the word. Instead of paying to market a product, information is simply passed along from one person to another in the same way that a virus spreads.
Enthusiatic recipients spread the message at a geometric rate, giving a massive return on a small advertising investment.
Because of the success of Mr. ParkRidge47 and others, the huge potential of this means of communication is now understood, and political parties and companies are trying to harness it for their own ends. We at PRI are excited about harnessing the power of viral marketing, especially in the form of videos on YouTube, for the good of the pro-life movement.The pro-life movement faces a powerful opponent, one with far deeper pockets and better media connections than we.But as Howard Kurtz of Reliable Sources recently noted on CNN, viral marketing marks an "historic shift from a world in which a few important media outlets control the dialogue, to a game where anybody can play." Viral marketing and YouTube present us with unique opportunities not only to get our message out, but to stay one step ahead of our over-funded, bureaucratized anti-life adversaries. In fact, a grassroots movement like ours should enjoy a real advantage in this new kind of marketing, by virtue of our numbers and individual social networks.
In fact, whether or not pro-lifers will be able to win at this new media game depends almost entirely on our willingness to play it. After being battered for decades by a no-holds-barred media war against the pro-life movement, our side has every right to be suspicious of the press, the media, and marketing in general. But now we have access to a new technology that plays to our strengths. We have but to use it.Click here to see PRI's YouTube video in English or Spanish !
Colin Mason is the Director for Media Production at PRI.

Tommy Makem, 1932-2007--Rest in Peace

I am a big fan of Irish music, and Tommy Makem is one of my favorite Irish singers. His raspy voice may not be an Irish tenor, but his love for Ireland, and his sense of whimsy are present in every song. I have seen him perform live twice on the stage of my college, St. Anselm, and he gave the best show I have ever seen, both musically, and in stand-up, improv comedy. His love for music, for Ireland and warmth towards his fellow man made him an outstanding performer, who will be missed. My favorite album, The Makem and Clancy Collection contains his immortal ballad, "Four Green Fields" about the centuries old struggle for Ireland to obtain her freedom from England. Once, during my visit to an after hours pub in Carrick-on-Shannon, Ireland, I was asked to sing a song, as the group was taking turns. So I sang "Four Green Fields", and surprised my cousin Marion who never knew the "Yank" had it in her!
So, if you love Irish music, you owe it to yourself to listen to the Clancy brothers and Tommy Makem.

Vivicabis posed the most important question: will Tommy Makem make it to heaven? Of course, all speculation on this topic is futile, but I'd like to think that perhaps his film role, as a musical Irish priest, Fr. Halloran, in A Time to Remember , which was reminiscent of Bing Crosby's Fr. O'Malley in Going My Way, may have earned him clemency from Our Merciful Lord.
HT Vivicabis

Mugshot of Tiller the Serial Killer

Don't get excited folks, he's been arraigned secretly, and later released on his own recognizance, and is probably hotfootin' it down to Mexico City where I hear they're looking for abortionists.
It is a sight for sore eyes, however, it gives the appearance that justice is being done in Kansas, the state where Tiller has so maaaany friends in high place, his felonies are reduced to misdemeanors. Read more.

A commenter says, "Kansas got the name 'Bleeding Kansas' in the years before the Civil War when it was a battleground to keep human beings in human bandage. A century later it remains 'Bleeding Kansas' because it is the world headquarters for killing the next generation of humanity before it sees the light of day. That seat of power is held by Tiller the Killer, who is Attila the Hun of our time. When is Kansas going to rid itself of these inhuman, murderous legacies?
I recommended an exorcism, which is needed according to Fr. Tom Euteneuer of Human Life International.

The Power of Words

Today the Senate defeated a bill which would have offered health care to children. Unborn children. Abortion advocates fear that if we start covering unborn children under children's healthcare plans, people might start thinking of 'products of conception' and 'blobs of tissue' as children. They have been striving, since the now defunct argument about 'viablility' in the 1970's to own the battle over what to call the unborn child. About what to call themselves.
NARAL once theNational Association for Repeal of Abortion Laws, was changed to National Abortion Rights Action League, however it is now renamed Pro-Choice America. It's all about your choice of words, are you pro-choice or anti-choice, or as the news likes to call us 'enemies of choice'.
Read this quote from one of the founders of NARAL aetheist abortionist, turned pro-life Catholic, Dr Bernard Nathanson, in a speech from 1980:

"There was only silence from the opposition. We fed a line of deceit, of dishonesty, of fabrication of statistics and figures; we coddled, caressed, and stroked the press. We cadged money from various sources and we, in one short year, succeeded in striking down the abortion laws of New York State and in one fell swoop established the city of New York as the abortion capital of the world. We were calling ourselves pro-abortionists and pro-choice. In fact what we were were abortifiers; those who like abortion."
So the losers are poor women who have the misfortune of needing healthcare while pregnant. Aren't these the very women which the feminists claim to empower, to support, to give choices?

There were thousands of true feminists in India today, marching against sex-selection abortions and infanticide(redundant, I know) in which baby girls are being killed in the millions. These women understand something Pro-Choice America never will.
You can't kill some women while you speak about empowering others. True feminists are pro-life. Women deserve better than abortion.

Creative Minority Report: Deadline for 21 Remaining Christian Hostages - A Catholic Blog: Religion, Politics, Current Events, Humor, and more.

Creative Minority Report: Deadline for 21 Remaining Christian Hostages - A Catholic Blog: Religion, Politics, Current Events, Humor, and more.

Vote for your favorite Catholic Podcast here

New French Canadienne folk song decries abortion

Jean at Catholic Fire has a link to a story about one of the most downloaded songs in French Canada, which decries the culture's sterility. It is called, appropriately," Degeneration".It laments the modern man and woman's distance from the frutifulness of their grandparents. In the case of the man, it's his disconnect with the land which his forebears farmed, and his helplessness at being a government functionary. For the woman, it's her aborted children, she whose great-grandmother had 14. Canadienne Celine Dion was one of 14 children with solid Catholic parents, she grew up in the rural town of Charlemagne, Quebec. Perhaps this explains why she seems content with her life.
Roughly translated into English, the words say:
“Now you, my little lady, change partners all the time
When you screw up you save yourself by aborting
But there are mornings when you awake crying
When you dream in the night of a large table surrounded by little ones.”

Could our Culture of Death be awakening, ever so slowly from it's love affair with sterility? This article at Catholic Exchange concludes there are signs of life. If this song, the recent hits Knocked Up, and Waitress and the Cannes Film Festival winner are any indication, then I predict that Bella will be the sleeper hit of 2007. It will open nationwide in late October.

Call for submissions: our book on Catholic special needs mothers

As the summer ends, my co-author, Monica Rafie of Be Not Afraid and I would like to finish collecting the stories we will include in our book on Catholic Mothers of Special Needs Children(if you can suggest a title, we are still taking suggestions). This includes those of you whose children were seriously ill anytime after their birth, we know how needy these children are, and how many challenges we have face raising them. Here are some questions which we think should guide the writing of your story. If you don't want to write the entire story, just answer the questions, we will be happy to do the writing for you. If you would like to refer a Catholic mother, please give her my email address. leticia77@optonline.net

1. Are you a life-long Catholic or a convert?
2. What parish do you attend? Are you active in your parish?
Do you participate in any Catholic organizations or apostolates? (please list)
3. Did you receive a prenatal diagnosis? Y/N—If yes, please tell us about your baby.
What was your baby’s diagnosis? When in your pregnancy was your baby diagnosed?
—If no, tell us when you learned that there was a problem with your baby.
4. How specifically did your Catholic faith help you to accept what was happening to your family?
5. Did you then, or do you now have devotion to a particular saint as a result of your baby’s diagnosis, experiences, or from your own previous devotions? If so, are there any particular stories about the saint (or other saints) interceding for you, your family, or your child?

6. If you don’t already have a story written, consider setting up a very basic outline of events that walk us through the experience you wish to share about. We can help you to fill in your outline if needed.
Thanks very much for participating! We will use this set of questions to identify and draw out the different elements in your story that are most appropriate for our book.
God bless,
Monica and Leticia

Mes Aieux Offended that their song is considered Pro-life

By Elizabeth O'Brien and Steve Jalsevac
MONTREAL, QC, August 1, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The French Canadian folk-rock Band Mes Aïeux has furiously responded to a LifeSiteNews.com news article for its "misinterpretation" of their song Dégénération.
In a June 25 news article, entitled, Immensely Popular Quebec Folk Song Laments Abortion and the Modern Culture of Sterility, LifeSiteNews.com reported that Mes Aïeux's song Dégénération described modern men and women's increasingly desolate severance from the land and the traditional values of their great-great grandparents. Quebec was traditionally one of the most faithfully Catholic, pro-life and pro-family regions in the world.
LifeSiteNews reported that the song lyrics portrayed a vivid contrast of the young and older generations. Verse three of the song, for example, underlines how, "Your great great grandmother, she had 14 kids," whereas in today's life-demeaning culture, "Your mom didn't want any, you were an accident."
The news article reported that one of the verses gave what many would see as a negative portrayal of abortion
"Now you, my little lady, change partners all the time,
When you screw up you save yourself by aborting,
But there are mornings when you awake crying,
When you dream in the night of a large table surrounded by little ones."

LifeSiteNews interpreted these lines as indicating that the song "specifically refers to abortion as a traumatizing mistake for a woman".
The story did not focus on the then unknown ethical stance of the band Mes Aïeux. In fact the word "pro-life" was never mentioned in the article. It merely implied that a pro-life message could easily be interpreted from these lyrics about a subject that is rarely so frankly and honestly addressed in the entertainment industry. At the same time LifeSiteNews reported the anomaly that such a song had become one of Canada's most frequently downloaded iTunes.
Nevertheless, Mes Aïeux was deeply offended by the LifeSiteNews.com news report. They called it a "kidnapping" of the song. "You have associated our song with your anti-choice cause without consulting us" they wrote to LifeSiteNews.com, and requested removal of the photo of the group and even the link to their website. Upon learning that they are a pro-abortion band, LifeSiteNews gladly complied although there is no legal obligation to remove such a link. LifeSiteNews has never received such a request in its ten years of existence.
Mes Aïeux also requested that LifeSiteNews remove the entire June 25 article which LifeSiteNews has declined to do.
In its communication to LifeSiteNews via its lawyer - Louis Charles Landreville, at 294 Square Saint-Louis,Montréal (Qc), (514) 288-4985, Télécopie: (514) 849-5429, the group stated,
"We the members of Mes Aïeux, have read the following article and are in profound disagreement with the interpretation given to our lyrics. We consider that the association of our song with the anti-choice policies on this web-site is akin to moral kidnapping. We are, in fact, and unanimously, pro-choice.
This is simply bad militant journalism, and an infringement of our moral rights."
In a subsequent email Landreville even requested that the widely circulated link to the YouTube page with the group's music video of Dégénération be removed from the story.

Anti-Catholicism strikes Brownback Campaign

I wondered in 2002 whether Senator Brownback's conversion to Catholicism, a choice his wife and children have not yet made, would hurt him politicallyso, I sent him a 'welcome to our Church" card to show my support. I know he's not the type to base important personal decisions on political expediency. Therefore, this type of blatant bigotry is inexcusable!

I support Senator Brownback, because of his positions on life issues, and his moral character, NOT his religion. There is an ever-increasing list of Catholics I would never vote for, like Rudy Guiliani!
Deal Hudson stands against this bigotry here.
HT Pro Ecclesia

Catholic Carnival 130: Fair Daze

A Country Fair theme pulls together an excellent carnival 0ver at Just Another Day of Catholic Pondering.

Down syndrome students are doing well in Catholic schools

Ben Severian is the first student with Down syndrome to attend Xavierian Catholic High School. "Xaverian Brother James Kelly, president of the school, said it's "a testament to the caliber of our students" that Ben has been warmly embraced. No one has ever picked on Ben. Students have instead gone out of their way to help him, he said.
"I think he inspires them," said Brother James, noting that Mount St. Joseph is the first Xaverian school in the country to accept a child with Down syndrome.
"They see him working hard and struggling to learn while some of the others can be lazy at times," he said. "He's a great blessing to our community."
Brian Abbo, a 15-year-old classmate and Ben's best friend, said students feel close to Ben because he is a genuine and caring person.
"With Ben, you can't get mad," said Brian. "He never does anything to hurt you. He's not going to judge you. He considers everyone his friend."
The biggest challenge to enrolling students like Ben is the financial cost, according to Brother James. The inclusion program launched with Ben's enrollment is being funded this year by a grant from the Catholic Coalition for Special Education. The St. Giles program, named after the patron saint of people with disabilities, is currently operating on a year-to-year basis depending on the availability of funding, but Brother James would like to add another student with special needs next year. "
HTCatholic Online
Many more options are being offered to children with Down syndrome than ever before.
School districts are beginning to be open to providing therapies to children who do not necessarily attend their schools, but may attend private schools or homeschool.

My daughter Christina will not be attending Kindergarten in the public school, I plan to send her to part time Montessori pre-school where she can learn at her own pace.She loves the hands-on activities which she selects, and is able to use until she has learned what she needs to learn. Christina will, however, attend 10 hours of therapy provided for the district, three hours in the school, and seven hours at home.

Tax Cuts and Children

Why are tax cuts pro-family? Ask any young family who believes that the mother belongs at home with her children, and are struggling against mounting tax burden to do so. I have read that Norway actually pays some women to stay at home raising their children, as they recognize the societal benefits of well-raised children. They are more independent, law-abiding, hard-working, and less inclined to get tangled up in the vices which tear society apart; crime, drugs, alcoholism, violence, illegitimacy, etc. Funny, the liberals want to imitate Scandanavian health care systems, and marriage laws, yet not this policy.

Review of Guerrilla Apologetics for Catholics

I have always meant to compile a cheat sheet for apologetics, ready answers, complete with Scripture references in case I'm asked one of the 'big questions' like: "Why do Catholics believe in Purgatory?" Well, thanks to Guerrilla Apologetics for Catholics, I no longer have to write my cheat sheet. It's all here, by topic, and full of Scriptural references. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is not referenced because, non-Catholics don't accept that as valid, and discussion must stem from a source both believers trust, the Scriptures.

As with Guerrilla Apologetics for Life Issues, this book teaches how to frame the discussion, not merely respond to innumerable questions until your opponent is worn out. In fact, he teaches how to turn their question into our question.

A great jumping-off point for a beginning apologist, or handy pocket guide for a seasoned apologist. It covers all the basic points of discussion, Purgatory, the doctrine of "faith alone is necessary for salvation, the doctrine of "Scripture alone", the Papacy (with a handy list of every pope since St. Peter), divorce, the saints, the Blessed Mother, and the Eucharist.

Once you get these basic points down, or become proficient at looking them up in this user-friendly book, you can correct 90% of Protestant misconceptions about Catholicism.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said, "most people don't reject Catholicism, they reject what they misinterpret as Catholicism". Correct the misconceptions, and your job is done.

Eduardo Verastegui will be on Life on the Rock Thursday 8PM

Eduardo has a powerful conversion story, where God called him away from the fame of singing and television stardom in his native Mexico to face an uncertain future in the United States.

Don't miss this Life on the Rock show next Thursday, August 2 at 8PM on EWTN, and see if they ask him my question!

Good News Film Reviews

Scott Nehring of Nehring the Edge, which hosts the Carnival of Cinema, has a new blog, Good News Film Reviews. Here's a sample of how Scott thinks:

"The First Step is to Watch Where You're Going
Should I see this movie? That question is the usual opening line to most folk’s thought processes towards cinema. The question has a couple of meanings depending on where one stands. . . The Christian when they pose the question can mean these things as well. They can also mean “Will this film sully my soul, sour my resolve and propel me on a theological downward spiral from which I will eternally plummet?”