Tuesday, January 06, 2009
"The Face of Pro-life" my first TV interview
If you are considering attending the March for Life to greet our new President this year, watch to my first TV interview and get motivated.
Blogs for Life will feature Sen Brownback and Rep Chris Smith
This year will mark my third attendance at the Blogs for Life Conference at the Family Research Council. It is the best event in Washington on the morning of the March to meet and greet prolife movers and shakers like:
Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS)
Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ)
Phill Klein,Former Kansas Attorney General
Hadley P. Arkes, Edward N. Ney Professor in American Institutions at Amherst College
Dawn Eden, author and blogger
Eric Scheidler, Communications Director for the Pro-Life Action League, Chicago, ILMichael Illions, blogger for Conservatives with Attitude
Jill Stanek, pro-life blogger and speaker
The conference is free, but it's necessary to drive down yourself or stay in a hotel the night before, since it begins at 8:30AM, four hours before the March. It is well worth the trouble, and don't worry, no one will notice if you're not a blogger. Perhaps there's a blogger inside you, and Blogs for Life will bring it out.
The more of us out there stating the truth about the Culture of Death, the closer we get to seeing the Culture of Life.
Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS)
Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ)
Phill Klein,Former Kansas Attorney General
Hadley P. Arkes, Edward N. Ney Professor in American Institutions at Amherst College
Dawn Eden, author and blogger
Eric Scheidler, Communications Director for the Pro-Life Action League, Chicago, ILMichael Illions, blogger for Conservatives with Attitude
Jill Stanek, pro-life blogger and speaker
The conference is free, but it's necessary to drive down yourself or stay in a hotel the night before, since it begins at 8:30AM, four hours before the March. It is well worth the trouble, and don't worry, no one will notice if you're not a blogger. Perhaps there's a blogger inside you, and Blogs for Life will bring it out.
The more of us out there stating the truth about the Culture of Death, the closer we get to seeing the Culture of Life.
New study on Virginity invalid says Healthy Respect
Virginity' Study Provides Misleading Analysis
Bronx, New York Jan 6, 2009
A recent study that claimed to show the ineffectiveness of virginity pledges actually underlines the need for more classroom-based programs that stress abstinence until marriage, says Healthy Respect's Executive Director, Dr. Nanci Coppola.
Healthy Respect's holistic approach to abstinence education develops character and the ability to make good choices over a range of life issues, and a virginity pledge or decision can play a vital role, she said.
"Abstinence programs such as Healthy Respect focus on the whole student in his or her environment and seek to build the character and outlook that will help a teenager set realistic goals for life," Dr. Coppola said. "Abstinence until marriage is part of a wider skill set that requires more than signing a one-time virginity pledge or wearing a chastity ring, though these can be important parts of the decision to remain abstinent. We provide personal attention and ongoing guidance to each young man and woman."
In addition, unlike most abstinence programs, Healthy Respect trains its own instructors who teach in regular public classroom settings in male-female teams, who serve as models of effective communication and respect between the sexes.
The virginity pledge study, released just before the new year, drew upon statistics compiled on teens by the federal government more than a decade ago. The author of the study, Janet Rosenbaum of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, purported to show that there is no difference between teens who took a virginity pledge and those of similar family background and personal values who did not.
Lost in the media hype over the study, however, is the simple fact that both the pledgers and non-pledgers had their first sexual experience at age 21, four years later than the national average.
Valerie Huber, Executive Director of the National Abstinence Education Association, said in a statement, "This study looked only at individuals who have specific skills that are taught or reinforced in an abstinence program, so we are not at all surprised that they abstained about 4 years longer than their peers. This study simply reinforces the need to continue the skill building practices found in a typical abstinence-centered class."
Ms. Huber added: "The numerous and serious inaccuracies and deliberate mischaracterizations made by the author regarding abstinence education call into question her objectivity as a researcher and throws suspicion on the entire research she has conducted."
Citing Healthy Respect's success in inner-city public schools, Dr. Coppola concluded, "Independent researchers have shown that Healthy Respect has a significant impact on the attitudes of our students, and we will continue to teach the positive message of abstinence until marriage for the life and health of our teens."
Bronx, New York Jan 6, 2009
A recent study that claimed to show the ineffectiveness of virginity pledges actually underlines the need for more classroom-based programs that stress abstinence until marriage, says Healthy Respect's Executive Director, Dr. Nanci Coppola.
Healthy Respect's holistic approach to abstinence education develops character and the ability to make good choices over a range of life issues, and a virginity pledge or decision can play a vital role, she said.
"Abstinence programs such as Healthy Respect focus on the whole student in his or her environment and seek to build the character and outlook that will help a teenager set realistic goals for life," Dr. Coppola said. "Abstinence until marriage is part of a wider skill set that requires more than signing a one-time virginity pledge or wearing a chastity ring, though these can be important parts of the decision to remain abstinent. We provide personal attention and ongoing guidance to each young man and woman."
In addition, unlike most abstinence programs, Healthy Respect trains its own instructors who teach in regular public classroom settings in male-female teams, who serve as models of effective communication and respect between the sexes.
The virginity pledge study, released just before the new year, drew upon statistics compiled on teens by the federal government more than a decade ago. The author of the study, Janet Rosenbaum of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, purported to show that there is no difference between teens who took a virginity pledge and those of similar family background and personal values who did not.
Lost in the media hype over the study, however, is the simple fact that both the pledgers and non-pledgers had their first sexual experience at age 21, four years later than the national average.
Valerie Huber, Executive Director of the National Abstinence Education Association, said in a statement, "This study looked only at individuals who have specific skills that are taught or reinforced in an abstinence program, so we are not at all surprised that they abstained about 4 years longer than their peers. This study simply reinforces the need to continue the skill building practices found in a typical abstinence-centered class."
Ms. Huber added: "The numerous and serious inaccuracies and deliberate mischaracterizations made by the author regarding abstinence education call into question her objectivity as a researcher and throws suspicion on the entire research she has conducted."
Citing Healthy Respect's success in inner-city public schools, Dr. Coppola concluded, "Independent researchers have shown that Healthy Respect has a significant impact on the attitudes of our students, and we will continue to teach the positive message of abstinence until marriage for the life and health of our teens."
New England attacks true marriage
Here's an editorial on the attack on marriage here in New England by Deacon Keith Fournier at Catholic Online. "I have written before about the strategic efforts of some (not all) within the homosexual community to undermine true marriage. This effort is now being called the “Marriage Equality” and “Freedom to Marry” movement by its advocates and apologists. How clever this verbal slight of hand! The argument has been shifted, or so its proponents hope. Now, those who defend true marriage are being cast as somehow denying homosexual paramours some “right” to do what they are incapable of doing, be married and parent children. "
Monday, January 05, 2009
Friday, January 02, 2009
Dr Brian Clowes of HLI unpacks the Dignitaris Personae
I have had the benefit of an afternoon with Dr. Clowes, and learned more about the future of the Church and life issues than I had in several years of research. Christina was an infant, and he was one of the first people to take a delighted interest in her, taking several photos. He told me he had a young man in his parish with Down syndrome who was a genius. Listen to his discussion of the Vatican's new directive on bioethics.
Dignitas Personae and the Right to Life Brian Clowes, PhD
NOTE: this is the first of a two-part series on the new instruction from the Vatican on bioethics. Dr. Brian Clowes has been an HLI missionary for twelve years and offers this first reflection of 2009 for the Spirit and Life® audience.
There are two causes of most of the human misery that afflicts the world today. The first is lack of respect for the transmission of life within the marital union, which leads to destructive practices such as contraception, sterilization, abortion, homosexual adoption and "gay marriage." The second is a lack of respect for the born human person, which has given us murder, genocide, racism, slavery, rape and many other evils.
On December 12 of last year, the highest doctrinal agency in the Catholic Church, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), released its first comprehensive instruction on bioethics since Donum Vitae in 1987. This document, Dignitas Personae ["The Dignity of a Person"], is an "instruction," and therefore does not proclaim an infallibly defined dogma. However, it was carefully reviewed and approved by Pope Benedict XVI and thus carries his full authority. It is therefore an integral part of the universal ordinary Magisterium, with which Catholics must inform their consciences and adhere to with religious assent.
In Dignitas Personae, the Church applies timeless moral principles to new issues and situations that have arisen from biotechnology over the past two decades. This document is based on a foundation of consistency of respect for the human person at all stages of life. We have seen that, when we begin to make exceptions to the universal dignity of the human person for whatever reason, even if it is to promote the welfare of other human beings, we inevitably veer away from the natural law and flounder in the swamp of moral relativism.
Those who read Dignitas Personae in a cursory or superficial manner might believe it to be a mere laundry list of prohibitions. However, from the very first paragraph, the document affirms the fundamental dignity of every human person, from conception to natural death, regardless of race, sex or disability. To be created in the image and likeness of Almighty God is the highest calling, and Dignitas Personae vigorously defends this status.
Far from being a negative document, Dignitas Personae is very positive in tone, showing us how to live a life free of the oppressive worries and guilt suffered by those who even partially embrace the Culture of Death. It frequently refers to the dignity of marriage and the human person, in addition to the positive results of scientific research and therapy used to overcome infertility and disease.
The document does not shout "STOP!" at the progress of science, but instead guides it towards being truly at the service of life and not of death or the manipulation of human persons. As it so eloquently says, "Behind every 'no' in the difficult task of discerning between good and evil, there shines a great 'yes' to the recognition of the dignity and inalienable value of every single and unique human being called into existence" [37].
Dignitas Personae favors the weak. If we lose sight of the weak or exploit them, we also lose sight of our very humanity. In such a world, the strong rule without regard to the small and helpless, not only in the laboratory but also over entire continents.
Just because the Church renders negative judgments about some biotechnologies, or cautions about possible pitfalls, does not mean that it is anti-technological. Dignitas Personae says that, in using these new technologies, man "participates in the creative power of God" and is "the steward of the value and intrinsic beauty of creation" [36]. History has shown us that any new major technology can be used to enhance human dignity or to oppress, destroy and exploit entire populations. Science needs a firm and clear ethical framework precisely because it has such great potential for doing either good or evil.
The potential of the new biosciences seems to be limited only by man's imagination. Since it is sometimes difficult to find our way in a confusing and complex world, Dignitas Personae offers welcome guidance. It draws a straight and clear line between activities that treat human beings as a commodity to be produced -- or as God's greatest gift.
NEXT WEEK: Specific guidance from Dignitas Personae
Dignitas Personae and the Right to Life Brian Clowes, PhD
NOTE: this is the first of a two-part series on the new instruction from the Vatican on bioethics. Dr. Brian Clowes has been an HLI missionary for twelve years and offers this first reflection of 2009 for the Spirit and Life® audience.
There are two causes of most of the human misery that afflicts the world today. The first is lack of respect for the transmission of life within the marital union, which leads to destructive practices such as contraception, sterilization, abortion, homosexual adoption and "gay marriage." The second is a lack of respect for the born human person, which has given us murder, genocide, racism, slavery, rape and many other evils.
On December 12 of last year, the highest doctrinal agency in the Catholic Church, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), released its first comprehensive instruction on bioethics since Donum Vitae in 1987. This document, Dignitas Personae ["The Dignity of a Person"], is an "instruction," and therefore does not proclaim an infallibly defined dogma. However, it was carefully reviewed and approved by Pope Benedict XVI and thus carries his full authority. It is therefore an integral part of the universal ordinary Magisterium, with which Catholics must inform their consciences and adhere to with religious assent.
In Dignitas Personae, the Church applies timeless moral principles to new issues and situations that have arisen from biotechnology over the past two decades. This document is based on a foundation of consistency of respect for the human person at all stages of life. We have seen that, when we begin to make exceptions to the universal dignity of the human person for whatever reason, even if it is to promote the welfare of other human beings, we inevitably veer away from the natural law and flounder in the swamp of moral relativism.
Those who read Dignitas Personae in a cursory or superficial manner might believe it to be a mere laundry list of prohibitions. However, from the very first paragraph, the document affirms the fundamental dignity of every human person, from conception to natural death, regardless of race, sex or disability. To be created in the image and likeness of Almighty God is the highest calling, and Dignitas Personae vigorously defends this status.
Far from being a negative document, Dignitas Personae is very positive in tone, showing us how to live a life free of the oppressive worries and guilt suffered by those who even partially embrace the Culture of Death. It frequently refers to the dignity of marriage and the human person, in addition to the positive results of scientific research and therapy used to overcome infertility and disease.
The document does not shout "STOP!" at the progress of science, but instead guides it towards being truly at the service of life and not of death or the manipulation of human persons. As it so eloquently says, "Behind every 'no' in the difficult task of discerning between good and evil, there shines a great 'yes' to the recognition of the dignity and inalienable value of every single and unique human being called into existence" [37].
Dignitas Personae favors the weak. If we lose sight of the weak or exploit them, we also lose sight of our very humanity. In such a world, the strong rule without regard to the small and helpless, not only in the laboratory but also over entire continents.
Just because the Church renders negative judgments about some biotechnologies, or cautions about possible pitfalls, does not mean that it is anti-technological. Dignitas Personae says that, in using these new technologies, man "participates in the creative power of God" and is "the steward of the value and intrinsic beauty of creation" [36]. History has shown us that any new major technology can be used to enhance human dignity or to oppress, destroy and exploit entire populations. Science needs a firm and clear ethical framework precisely because it has such great potential for doing either good or evil.
The potential of the new biosciences seems to be limited only by man's imagination. Since it is sometimes difficult to find our way in a confusing and complex world, Dignitas Personae offers welcome guidance. It draws a straight and clear line between activities that treat human beings as a commodity to be produced -- or as God's greatest gift.
NEXT WEEK: Specific guidance from Dignitas Personae
Sarah Palin; a grandmother at 44
I am not shocked. When I was in the Maternity Ward with my second child at 35, my roommate's mother was 30. She was becoming a grandmother. My own mother-in-law was the mother of my husband at 16 in El Salvador. It happens, and life is a gift whenever or however it comes. Just ask Sarah Palin.Palin says she welcomes her first grandchild, Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston, born to Bristol and her fiance' Levi Johnston on December 27.
“We are over the moon with the arrival of this healthy, beautiful baby,” Governor Palin said. “The road ahead for this young couple will not be easy, but nothing worthwhile is ever easy."
"Bristol and Levi are committed to accomplish what millions of other young parents have accomplished, to provide a loving and secure environment for their child. They are both hard workers, they're very strong, and have faith they've made the right decision in setting aside their own interests to make this child their highest priority," the governor said in a statement LifeNews.com obtained.
When Tripp was born, reactions fromt the press were predictably mixed. But the Palins were predictably pro-life, unlike Barack Obama who said he didn't want his daughters "punished with a baby". Babies are blessings, normal or special needs, affordable or expensive, convenient or embarassing.Our Lady risked her life to say "yes" to bearing the Saviour of the World, as St Joseph had the option of having her stoned as an adultress if he didn't believe the child was the Son of God. We have to follow her perfect example.
In my experience, the more a child demands of her parents, the more they grow up, and learn to give. The Palins are growing more generous every day. I would love it if they grew to be the First Family some day.
Wendy Wright, the president of Concerned Women for America, told LifeNews.com that Sarah Palin's response to her daughter’s pregnancy reminds her of the pro-life response she had to the news that her fifth child had Down syndrome.
“The surprise announcement that Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter is pregnant provided another opportunity for the vice-presidential candidate to make a politically convenient choice or the right one,” Wright told LifeNews.com.
“The family could have treated the innocent baby as a 'punishment' and secretly snuffed out the child's life to avoid a high-profile embarrassment,” Wright said, referring to comments Barack Obama made about his own daughters.
“The surprise announcement that Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter is pregnant provided another opportunity for the vice-presidential candidate to make a politically convenient choice or the right one,” Wright told LifeNews.com.
“The family could have treated the innocent baby as a 'punishment' and secretly snuffed out the child's life to avoid a high-profile embarrassment,” Wright said, referring to comments Barack Obama made about his own daughters.
Judie Brown of American Life League said,"Human life is always something to celebrate as a gift of infinite beauty and value," said ALL president Judie Brown. "Even under trying circumstances, a child has come into the world made in the image and likeness of God. The Palin family is to be congratulated on their first grandchild."
Read the entire story at Life News.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
No more ethical alternatives to the MMR vaccines!
ACTION ALERT:
Manufacturer Stops Sales of Monovalents for Measles, Mumps, Rubella Vaccines
www.cogforlife.org/merck1208.htm
ATTENTION - all concerned parents and medical professionals -
Merck needs to hear from you now!
Without the separate doses for measles and mumps there will be NO MORAL ALTERNATIVES in the US for these vaccines!
Concerned Catholics
In December 2008, the Holy See affirmed in Dignitas Personae, that “everyone has the duty to make known their disagreement and to ask that their healthcare system make other types of vaccines available.” The Vatican further stated that “there is a duty to refuse to use such “biological material” even when there is no close connection between the researcher and the actions of those who performed the abortion.”
Read the article and the letter we sent to Merck - and let them know how you feel!
www.cogforlife.org/merck1208.htm
Manufacturer Stops Sales of Monovalents for Measles, Mumps, Rubella Vaccines
www.cogforlife.org/merck1208.htm
ATTENTION - all concerned parents and medical professionals -
Merck needs to hear from you now!
Without the separate doses for measles and mumps there will be NO MORAL ALTERNATIVES in the US for these vaccines!
Concerned Catholics
In December 2008, the Holy See affirmed in Dignitas Personae, that “everyone has the duty to make known their disagreement and to ask that their healthcare system make other types of vaccines available.” The Vatican further stated that “there is a duty to refuse to use such “biological material” even when there is no close connection between the researcher and the actions of those who performed the abortion.”
Read the article and the letter we sent to Merck - and let them know how you feel!
www.cogforlife.org/merck1208.htm
From the frying pan into the fire
I moved from the state represented by Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer thinking that Connecticut was a tiny bit more conservative. Since I moved last September, the Supreme Court OK'd homosexual marriage. and the state Attorney General Blumenthal wants to overcome the new Health and Human Services regulations protection physician's freedom of conscience on life issues like birth control. It was the last gift to prolifers of the Bush Administration.
Though the new regulations have nothing to do with birth control, Blumenthal is echoing the arguments from leading pro-abortion groups who claim its access will be adversely impacted by them.
"I will fight this outrageous rule -- the outgoing Bush Administration's latest and last swipe at women's health," he said in a statement LifeNews.com obtained.
"This rule is an appalling insult and abuse -- a midnight power grab to deny access to health care services and information, including even to victims of rape."
Blumenthal led a 13-state coalition to fight the abortion rule before it was adopted, calling on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in formal comments to entirely abandon the Provider Conscience Regulation.
Connecticut politics are MORE radical than New York! Only difference (for me) is that the state capitol, Hartford is only 1 hour away instead of four. They'll be seeing me shortly.
Meanwhile email AG Blumenthal to voice your support of freedom of conscience for medical workers, before you have to be in favor of murder to work in health care.
Attorney General Blumenthal's email is attorney.general@po.state.ct.us
Read the entire story on Life News.
Though the new regulations have nothing to do with birth control, Blumenthal is echoing the arguments from leading pro-abortion groups who claim its access will be adversely impacted by them.
"I will fight this outrageous rule -- the outgoing Bush Administration's latest and last swipe at women's health," he said in a statement LifeNews.com obtained.
"This rule is an appalling insult and abuse -- a midnight power grab to deny access to health care services and information, including even to victims of rape."
Blumenthal led a 13-state coalition to fight the abortion rule before it was adopted, calling on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in formal comments to entirely abandon the Provider Conscience Regulation.
Connecticut politics are MORE radical than New York! Only difference (for me) is that the state capitol, Hartford is only 1 hour away instead of four. They'll be seeing me shortly.
Meanwhile email AG Blumenthal to voice your support of freedom of conscience for medical workers, before you have to be in favor of murder to work in health care.
Attorney General Blumenthal's email is attorney.general@po.state.ct.us
Read the entire story on Life News.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
I'm nominated for the Pro-life blog awards!
Thank you, DR at The Maritime Sentry for nominating me for this prestigious award from the American Life League.As ALL says, blogging, especially pro-life blogging can be a lonely and thankless job. I hear that.Sometimes when comments are sparse, or overwhelimingly negative as they were on this post, I wonder if the only readers out there are coming by accident through Google. I certainly don't want to preach to choir, and unintentional readers may have their eyes opened in ways they never imagined, but still, it's so gratifying to be recognized by fellow writers, bloggers, and pro-lifers. Thank you.
There is no voting from thegeneral public, a panel of pro-life bloggers and media specialists will decide the winners. I'm on pins and needles; this would be a great honor coming from ALL.
A Century of Martyrs
The Twentieth Century had more Christian martyrs than all 20 previous centuries.
The secular West has been looking the other way for a very long time. Even the average church-going Christian is not likely to know that 45.5 million of the estimated 70 million Christians who have died for Christ did so in the last century. For this reason, scholars such as Robert Royal, president of the Faith and Reason Institute in Washington, D.C., and author of The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century, refer to the past century as one of the darkest periods of martyrdom since the birth of Christianity.
But they won't make TIME magazine's list of heroes, so I'm linking to the Catholic Online story about them here. This century is off to a brutal start for Christians, especially in Asia.
If the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church, we are due for a huge revival. Just in time, we've never needed one more.
HT A Catholic Mom in Hawaii
The secular West has been looking the other way for a very long time. Even the average church-going Christian is not likely to know that 45.5 million of the estimated 70 million Christians who have died for Christ did so in the last century. For this reason, scholars such as Robert Royal, president of the Faith and Reason Institute in Washington, D.C., and author of The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century, refer to the past century as one of the darkest periods of martyrdom since the birth of Christianity.
But they won't make TIME magazine's list of heroes, so I'm linking to the Catholic Online story about them here. This century is off to a brutal start for Christians, especially in Asia.
If the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church, we are due for a huge revival. Just in time, we've never needed one more.
HT A Catholic Mom in Hawaii
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Lila Rose; Woman of the Year
She bravely walked into Planned Parenthood Mills to expose their evil illegal activities,and made national headlines. Just don't expect her to be extolled on your TV news channel.
Lila Rose Chosen As Operation Rescue's 2008 Person Of The Year
Wichita, KS - Operation Rescue announces that Lila Rose, a 20-year old UCLA student that has made national headlines exposing wrong-doing at abortion clinics, is the recipient of its 2008 Person of the Year Malachi Award.
"Lila Rose exemplifies the new wave of pro-life activism and best reflects Operation Rescue's own efforts to expose illegal conduct in our nation's abortion mills," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "Her work has helped raise public awareness of the seedy underbelly of the abortion industry and has helped to launch criminal investigations that we pray will eventually hold out-of-control abortionists accountable for their criminal acts."
Lila Rose is the president of Live Action Films and has released a number of undercover sting videos of Planned Parenthood employees coaching girls to cover up for men who are committing statutory rape.
Each year Operation Rescue presents the Malachi Award to pro-life activists who are impacting the nation for the cause of life. The award is named after an aborted baby that was discovered in an abortion clinic dumpster, whose image has been used nationally to bring attention to the desperate plight of the pre-born.
Previous recipients include Dr. Johnny Hunter of LEARN, who is exposing the devestating effects of abortion on the African-American community, Leslee Unruh, who spearheaded efforts to ban abortion in South Dakota, and Phill Kline, the Kansas prosecutor whose abortion investigations have led to 107 criminal charges against Planned Parenthood.
To watch her sting videos of Planned Parenthood click here.
Lila Rose Chosen As Operation Rescue's 2008 Person Of The Year
Wichita, KS - Operation Rescue announces that Lila Rose, a 20-year old UCLA student that has made national headlines exposing wrong-doing at abortion clinics, is the recipient of its 2008 Person of the Year Malachi Award.
"Lila Rose exemplifies the new wave of pro-life activism and best reflects Operation Rescue's own efforts to expose illegal conduct in our nation's abortion mills," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "Her work has helped raise public awareness of the seedy underbelly of the abortion industry and has helped to launch criminal investigations that we pray will eventually hold out-of-control abortionists accountable for their criminal acts."
Lila Rose is the president of Live Action Films and has released a number of undercover sting videos of Planned Parenthood employees coaching girls to cover up for men who are committing statutory rape.
Each year Operation Rescue presents the Malachi Award to pro-life activists who are impacting the nation for the cause of life. The award is named after an aborted baby that was discovered in an abortion clinic dumpster, whose image has been used nationally to bring attention to the desperate plight of the pre-born.
Previous recipients include Dr. Johnny Hunter of LEARN, who is exposing the devestating effects of abortion on the African-American community, Leslee Unruh, who spearheaded efforts to ban abortion in South Dakota, and Phill Kline, the Kansas prosecutor whose abortion investigations have led to 107 criminal charges against Planned Parenthood.
To watch her sting videos of Planned Parenthood click here.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Jean at Catholic Fire's definitive answer on why abortion is wrong
Is a must read. Well done, my friend!
Spaniards celebrate the family
On the Feast of the Holy Family yesterday, hundreds of thousands of Spanish families gathered in Madrid. Let's follow their example here in the US.
Hundreds of thousands of people attended a Mass in central Madrid on Sunday designed to promote traditional family values in a predominantly Roman Catholic country that has legalized gay marriage and made it easier for people to divorce.
The service started with a message from Pope Benedict XVI, who urged Spanish Catholics to keep their families strong.
"Dear families, do not let love, openness to life and the incomparable links that join your homes weaken," the pope said in a message read out in Madrid. "The pope is by your side," the pontiff added.
Read the entire story here.
HT Associated Press
Hundreds of thousands of people attended a Mass in central Madrid on Sunday designed to promote traditional family values in a predominantly Roman Catholic country that has legalized gay marriage and made it easier for people to divorce.
The service started with a message from Pope Benedict XVI, who urged Spanish Catholics to keep their families strong.
"Dear families, do not let love, openness to life and the incomparable links that join your homes weaken," the pope said in a message read out in Madrid. "The pope is by your side," the pontiff added.
Read the entire story here.
HT Associated Press
Saturday, December 27, 2008
This does not bode well for Catholic leadership
Somehow I missed the voting results of the USCCB Convention. All right, maybe it was deliberate, these things end up frustrating me, and tempting me to the sin of detraction.
All the outspoken bishops who have the guts to reprimand so-called Catholic politicians who vote to exterminate babies, get silenced by losing the leadership positions to quieter bishops.
Now King Obama can ascend to the throne in peace, knowing that those in charge of the USCCB are the nice guys who won't bother him. And probably voted for him.
HT Totus Tuus Family and
The Washington Times
All the outspoken bishops who have the guts to reprimand so-called Catholic politicians who vote to exterminate babies, get silenced by losing the leadership positions to quieter bishops.
Now King Obama can ascend to the throne in peace, knowing that those in charge of the USCCB are the nice guys who won't bother him. And probably voted for him.
HT Totus Tuus Family and
The Washington Times
Friday, December 26, 2008
Feast of St Stephen, martyr
Obama and Hillary are about to invade the UN...
Unborn babies in unspeakable danger...
Dear Friend of the Friday Fax,
On this Christmas Eve, I am truly frightened about the battles that will begin in a few short weeks when Barack Obama becomes President and Hillary Clinton becomes US Secretary of States. I know what is about to happen.
I lived through the Clinton years when abortion was pushed relentlessly by the Clintons and their cohorts at the UN. It was awful.
Pro-lifers were outnumbered by 1,000 to one. Pro-lifers were outspent by $1 billion to one.
Pro-life Christians were persecuted by UN officials simply for being present and fighting for the unborn. The nightmare is about to continue and it will be worse than ever before.
Barack Obama is the most pro-abortion president the US has ever known. He will push for abortion in every venue there is. It will be worse at the UN than anywhere else? Why? Because hardly anyone pays attention to the UN. His work will be hidden. This hiddenness will allow Barack to truly be Barack when it comes to distain for the unborn child.
It will be far worse this time because Barack will also become the most pro-UN president the US has ever seen. He and his team believe the US should join the "global consensus" on a whole host of UN social policy issues, most especially abortion. Worse than that, he and his team believe whole-heartedly that the UN is the sovereign power, not the US, not other sovereign states. He and his team are eager to subsume national sovereignty into UN sovereignty. This includes not just US sovereignty, but Australian sovereignty, Canadian sovereignty, Spanish sovereignty and every other national sovereignty on the globe.
But it will be worse this time than during the Clinton years precisely because his UN team will be led by Hillary Clinton, the Grand Dame of UN pro-abortionists. Hillary was literally leader of the pack at the UN during the nineties, and the pack was braying for a right to abortion. We beat them then and they are back for revenge.
This is what will happen. The US will immediately join the European Union and the UN bureaucracy in advancing a woman's so-called right to choose abortion. You can expect the following:
• A new global conference on women's health, maternal health and violence against women. This will be used to advance a universal right to abortion.
• A new global conference celebrating and advancing Cairo+15 (Cairo+10 was largely ignored during the Bush years because pro-aborts feared a loss).
• A new global conference celebrating and advancing Beijing+15 (Beijing+10 was also largely ignored during the Bush years for fear of a loss).
• You will see renewed US funding of the UN Population Fund, the premier UN agency for advancing population control and abortion.
• You will see Obama strike down US laws forbidding abortion funding for groups around the world. This will result in millions of more dollars supporting abortion around the world.
You will see much much more. But here is the good news. C-FAM and the Friday Fax will be there. As much as the Obamas and the Clintons and the UN hate it, we will be there at every meeting. If we can't get into the meeting, we will be sitting in the hallway outside. We will delve in to documents no one else sees. We will meet with diplomats you will never hear of. We will stalk those halls at the UN all day and, if need be, into the night. We will shine our bright light on UN abortion shenanigans when no one else is there. We will tell the truth.
C-FAM and the Friday Fax are uniquely situated to do this work for the global pro-life movement. We have been here for more than ten years. We are the only pro-life group working exclusively on UN matters. It is as if we have been in training for a decade just to meet the challenge of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. And we say, bring them on! We are ready. But, we need your help. Right now the Friday Fax costs more than $100,000 a year to produce. This includes salaries, office space, computers, printing and mailing the snail-mail edition, and the cost of sending out emails (yes that costs money, too!). And our expenses are about to go through the roof.
Our hugely successful online petition for the unborn child that so far as netted almost 500,000 names will add a net 200,000+ names to our Friday Fax list. We do not have the money to email that many. Some firms want to charge us $2000 per month to mail that many! Needless to say, we will find a cheaper solution. Still, our costs are about to go much higher. Now is the time to step forward and help the Friday Fax,=2 0the only weekly source of pro-life and pro-family news coming out of UN headquarters in New York City.
Now and over the next five weeks we will be running our bi-annual Friday Fax fund drive. You can go right HERE and give. You can give by credit card over our super-secure server, or you can send us a check (mail instructions HERE). You can also wire us your contribution (instructions HERE).
Now is the time. The Obamas and the Clintons will be backed by billions and billions of dollars. The Friday Fax gets by on a pittance. Still, we and our allies have beaten them before. We can beat them again. But we need you now.
And remember to pray for us, too. This is not just a battle of people but of powers and principalities. We cannot beat them, only He can.
Please help the Friday Fax. We are here. We are ready. We are not afraid.
Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Austin Ruse of C-FAM
Unborn babies in unspeakable danger...
Dear Friend of the Friday Fax,
On this Christmas Eve, I am truly frightened about the battles that will begin in a few short weeks when Barack Obama becomes President and Hillary Clinton becomes US Secretary of States. I know what is about to happen.
I lived through the Clinton years when abortion was pushed relentlessly by the Clintons and their cohorts at the UN. It was awful.
Pro-lifers were outnumbered by 1,000 to one. Pro-lifers were outspent by $1 billion to one.
Pro-life Christians were persecuted by UN officials simply for being present and fighting for the unborn. The nightmare is about to continue and it will be worse than ever before.
Barack Obama is the most pro-abortion president the US has ever known. He will push for abortion in every venue there is. It will be worse at the UN than anywhere else? Why? Because hardly anyone pays attention to the UN. His work will be hidden. This hiddenness will allow Barack to truly be Barack when it comes to distain for the unborn child.
It will be far worse this time because Barack will also become the most pro-UN president the US has ever seen. He and his team believe the US should join the "global consensus" on a whole host of UN social policy issues, most especially abortion. Worse than that, he and his team believe whole-heartedly that the UN is the sovereign power, not the US, not other sovereign states. He and his team are eager to subsume national sovereignty into UN sovereignty. This includes not just US sovereignty, but Australian sovereignty, Canadian sovereignty, Spanish sovereignty and every other national sovereignty on the globe.
But it will be worse this time than during the Clinton years precisely because his UN team will be led by Hillary Clinton, the Grand Dame of UN pro-abortionists. Hillary was literally leader of the pack at the UN during the nineties, and the pack was braying for a right to abortion. We beat them then and they are back for revenge.
This is what will happen. The US will immediately join the European Union and the UN bureaucracy in advancing a woman's so-called right to choose abortion. You can expect the following:
• A new global conference on women's health, maternal health and violence against women. This will be used to advance a universal right to abortion.
• A new global conference celebrating and advancing Cairo+15 (Cairo+10 was largely ignored during the Bush years because pro-aborts feared a loss).
• A new global conference celebrating and advancing Beijing+15 (Beijing+10 was also largely ignored during the Bush years for fear of a loss).
• You will see renewed US funding of the UN Population Fund, the premier UN agency for advancing population control and abortion.
• You will see Obama strike down US laws forbidding abortion funding for groups around the world. This will result in millions of more dollars supporting abortion around the world.
You will see much much more. But here is the good news. C-FAM and the Friday Fax will be there. As much as the Obamas and the Clintons and the UN hate it, we will be there at every meeting. If we can't get into the meeting, we will be sitting in the hallway outside. We will delve in to documents no one else sees. We will meet with diplomats you will never hear of. We will stalk those halls at the UN all day and, if need be, into the night. We will shine our bright light on UN abortion shenanigans when no one else is there. We will tell the truth.
C-FAM and the Friday Fax are uniquely situated to do this work for the global pro-life movement. We have been here for more than ten years. We are the only pro-life group working exclusively on UN matters. It is as if we have been in training for a decade just to meet the challenge of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. And we say, bring them on! We are ready. But, we need your help. Right now the Friday Fax costs more than $100,000 a year to produce. This includes salaries, office space, computers, printing and mailing the snail-mail edition, and the cost of sending out emails (yes that costs money, too!). And our expenses are about to go through the roof.
Our hugely successful online petition for the unborn child that so far as netted almost 500,000 names will add a net 200,000+ names to our Friday Fax list. We do not have the money to email that many. Some firms want to charge us $2000 per month to mail that many! Needless to say, we will find a cheaper solution. Still, our costs are about to go much higher. Now is the time to step forward and help the Friday Fax,=2 0the only weekly source of pro-life and pro-family news coming out of UN headquarters in New York City.
Now and over the next five weeks we will be running our bi-annual Friday Fax fund drive. You can go right HERE and give. You can give by credit card over our super-secure server, or you can send us a check (mail instructions HERE). You can also wire us your contribution (instructions HERE).
Now is the time. The Obamas and the Clintons will be backed by billions and billions of dollars. The Friday Fax gets by on a pittance. Still, we and our allies have beaten them before. We can beat them again. But we need you now.
And remember to pray for us, too. This is not just a battle of people but of powers and principalities. We cannot beat them, only He can.
Please help the Friday Fax. We are here. We are ready. We are not afraid.
Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Austin Ruse of C-FAM
The Holy Father on True Joy
This was one of the Pope's reflections Monday when he met with the Roman Curia and other officials for the traditional exchange of Christmas greetings.
"A party is an integral part of joy," the Holy Father acknowledged. "And a party can be organized, but joy cannot.
"It can only be offered as a gift; and, in fact, it has been given us in abundance. That's why we feel grateful."
The Pontiff recalled how St. Paul lists joy among the fruits of the Holy Spirit and in the same way, St. John unites the Spirit and joy.
"Joy is the gift in which all other gifts are summed up," the Bishop of Rome affirmed, just a few days before Christmas. "It is the expression of happiness, of being in harmony with oneself, something that can only be derived from being in harmony with God and his creation."
HT Zenit
"A party is an integral part of joy," the Holy Father acknowledged. "And a party can be organized, but joy cannot.
"It can only be offered as a gift; and, in fact, it has been given us in abundance. That's why we feel grateful."
The Pontiff recalled how St. Paul lists joy among the fruits of the Holy Spirit and in the same way, St. John unites the Spirit and joy.
"Joy is the gift in which all other gifts are summed up," the Bishop of Rome affirmed, just a few days before Christmas. "It is the expression of happiness, of being in harmony with oneself, something that can only be derived from being in harmony with God and his creation."
HT Zenit
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
The Holy Father's Christmas gift to the Church: The Inconvenient Truth
"In thousands of news articles and talk shows around the world today from Bulgaria to India, Pope Benedict XVI is being bashed for daring to say we should care as much for mankind as the tropical rainforests; that the harm caused by going against the Creator's plan for human sexuality is destructive and hurtful. In truth, he is being pilloried for having enough love to tell his brothers and sisters struggling with same-sex attraction, promiscuity, pornography, adultery and more, that their behavior is hurting them and society at large. It is hurting them physically, psychologically, but most importantly - hurting them spiritually. "Life Site News
When a father sees his beloved children committing moral suicide, he tells them. He tells them, knowing that they most likely will scoff at him, tell him to mind his own business, or possibly get downright abusive in return.
Such has happened to our beloved Pope Benedict in return for his wisdom on the sins of the flesh, which Our Lady of Fatima told the children a century ago, led more people to hell than any other. He is speaking the truth in love. And because truth is so obscured by the mainstream press, and hated by the world, the virulent reaction should as no surprise to us. It merely indicates the necessity of the warning; if we continue to spit at God's gift of married love, through extra marital sexual relations, we are sowing the seeds of not only our own destruction, but the downfall of Western Civilization. It happened to Rome.
Such has happened to our beloved Pope Benedict in return for his wisdom on the sins of the flesh, which Our Lady of Fatima told the children a century ago, led more people to hell than any other. He is speaking the truth in love. And because truth is so obscured by the mainstream press, and hated by the world, the virulent reaction should as no surprise to us. It merely indicates the necessity of the warning; if we continue to spit at God's gift of married love, through extra marital sexual relations, we are sowing the seeds of not only our own destruction, but the downfall of Western Civilization. It happened to Rome.
And about the rainforests; they come under the same category as the liberal hypocrisy about smoking; these are mere distractions to make them seem morally righteous while they destroy their lives through promiscuity. And those of the poorly catechized Catholics who follow their lead. If you are dying of AIDS, quitting smoking won't save you, but a good confession will prepare you for eternity. That's why Mother Teresa and Cardinal O'Connor set up the first AIDS hospice in New York City in the 80's. Catholics not only speak the truth in love, but we pick up the pieces afterward when our brothers and sisters are suffering the physical, spiritual, and emotional devastation of disobeying God's laws. Cardinal O'Connor also set up a religious order, the Sisters of Life, to care for mothers in crisis pregnancies, and for victims of "choice", those suffering the trauma of post abortion syndrome.
Gay bashers we are not. Fr Paul Harvey and Fr Benedict Groeschel have organized "Courage" to help those with same-sex attraction overcome their addiction and lead chaste, happy lives full of wholesome relationships with man and God.
God bless Pope Benedict and the leaders of the Catholic Church and Pastor Rick Warren for daring to speak the truth on this crucial issue of our times. Let's do our best to support them in their mission to save humanity from itself, on the very feast of the birth of our Blessed Saviour.
Read the entire story on Life Site News.
Read the entire story on Life Site News.
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