Maggie Gallagher rallies support for Rick Santorum

So, now that I've stepped down as NOM's Chairman of the Board, why am I personally supporting Rick Santorum?
I explained in my nationally syndicated column here:
On Tuesday night in Iowa, he stood before the cheering throngs like a Republican Rocky, or better yet, a latter-day Rudy suddenly lifted above his Notre Dame teammates in a fantastic storybook finish.
Rick Santorum was a contender.
Santorum stood before the cameras, the living embodiment of a certain Northeastern Catholic sensibility: tough, hardworking, less than slick, often underestimated, the kind of guy who has to work hard to get respect because life is tough, not fair—the kind of man who gets knocked down but who will always get up again.
As he recalled his immigrant coal-miner grandfather's funeral, Santorum's words sang: "I knelt next to his coffin, and all I could do was look at his hands. They were enormous hands. And all I could think was: 'Those hands dug freedom for me.'"
"What wins in America," Rick Santorum said, "are bold ideas, sharp contrasts, and a plan that includes everyone."
What moved me most are the words Rick Santorum used to "connect the dots"—to explain why support for marriage, for life, and for an economy that provides the dignity of jobs to average Americans are not three separate things. They are bound together by principles—by American principles:
"Whether it's the sanctity of life in the womb, or the dignity of every working person in America to fulfill their potential, you will have a friend in Rick Santorum," he said.
Unlike some values voters, I am not anti-anybody, certainly not Mitt Romney. Romney is in my view a fundamentally decent, extremely capable man, who fought hard for marriage in Massachusetts. If he is the GOP nominee, I can vote for him with a clean conscience.
But, when the guy who has taken more hits than any other for standing up for life and marriage fights his way with nobody's help from nowhere to, well, becoming a major contender for the GOP nomination, I have to cheer. I have to show I stand with him in some special way. Will you help me? Click here now to act.

The left, which thought it had buried Santorum years ago, is going after him with a hatred unmatched. They hate him with that special ire reserved for a man's virtues, not his vices.

They will go after him not just to defeat Rick Santorum, but to smear his good name, to associate it with their own muck, to take a decent and honorable man and try literally to make his name mean mud.
(Any mother who has tried to google "Santorum" and gotten the gross and obscene definition gay activists have tried to make of his honorable family name—a name which literally means 'holiest of holies'—will know exactly what I am talking about).

They will not succeed.

The American people, I promise you, are not going to reject a man they would otherwise support because he believes in traditional Christian views of sex and marriage. Especially when he believes—not just with his words, and not just with his vote, but with every action of his soul and his life—that a man's job is to support his children, born and unborn, to commit a loving and faithful marriage to one woman, and to devote himself to being a good dad.

That's Rick Santorum.

The media and some GOP elites are trying to dismiss Rick Santorum as a mere "culture warrior" with no chance to win. Will you stand with me today against all those powerful elites who say life, marriage, and religious liberty are not "core" issues to voters?

Will you stand up and say: "Yes life, marriage, and religious liberty matter to me. Thank you Rick Santorum for fighting the good fight your whole political career?"
Here are the unconventional things I'm asking you to do: Regardless of which of these good men you ultimately plan to support, can I ask you today to sign this petition, thanking Rick Santorum for standing up so bravely for life, marriage, and religious liberty?
Can I count you as a "values voter" committed to demonstrating to the media and to Republican elites that social issues matter?
I know it will mean a lot to Rick Santorum and to the social conservative movement. And ultimately to the American Republic.
Win or lose we have a chance to demonstrate that consistent, principled support for marriage, for life, and for religious liberty, matter.
Elections come and go. God's enduring truths remain.
By signing this petition you will be saying "yes"

Yes, I want to thank Rick Santorum for his fearless defense of life, marriage and religious liberty.
Yes, I want to fight back against the hard left which attempt to smear not only Santorum but so many decent and good people who stand up for marriage.
Yes, I want to stand tall and tell the Wall Street Journal and all the Washington GOP elites: We values voters are here, we are not going away, and we matter.
Yes, I want the mainstream media to know: Some truths really are fundamental to the American Republic. Among these are life, marriage and religious liberty!
Thank you again for being a consistent, principled voice for fundamental truth.
I'm so proud to fight the good fight in the company of people like you.
Together, we can—and will—make a difference.

Maggie

Bring Out Yer Dead, Mr. Santorum! – UPDATED

Elizabeth Scalia shares her column on how our reaction to death has been sanitized, and how natural a home wake was only 80 years ago.

Death, for the people of that era, and every era before, was no stranger and brought no squeamishness. There was nothing mysterious about death beyond those questions we still ask–will we see them again in the next life, and why, so often, do the good die young while old bastards hold forth for far too long? A family mourned and drank, and fought and keened and then stumbled into church for the funeral; they buried their beloved and stumbled about some more, and life went on

Pundits Alan Colmes and Edward Robinson mocked the Santorum's handling of the death of their son Gabriel was a mean spirited act of ignorance. It was far beyond the pale and at least Alan Colmes has had the grace to apologized, which the Santorums gracefully accepted. It shows the depth of their Catholic convictions, and their loving hearts. I would have had a difficult time being that gracious!

Colmes and Robinson are not only part of the Culture of Death, but they are ignorant. They don't know what mothers know, that proper mourning a dead child is healthiest for the family. Karen Santorum is a mom of 8 and a neonatal nurse, she has training and life experience which she drew upon in her moment of crisis. What she and Rick did was the most healthy and loving for them and their children. How would the children know their brother Gabriel really ever existed without seeing him?

I lost three babies to miscarriage. The first time, I was in such shock, I allowed the OB to take the remains of my son to “the lab” without thinking about what that meant. The thought that my child may be disposed of like poor aborted babies, in medical waste, haunted me. Finally I researched and discovered that in my Catholic hospital, unborn children’s remains are put to rest in a common plot in a local Catholic cemetery. I felt comforted to know this.

The next two times I miscarried, I buried my children’s remains with their grandmother in our family plot in the same cemetery. My priest told me it was proper. I memorialized them in the book at the Shrine of the Holy Innocents in NYC. The book which inspired me to take such care of my children. to name them and bury them was Karen Santorum’s “Letters to Gabriel”.

Last night, I finally had the opportunity to thank Karen personally for her example and her book. If we truly want a culture of life, we participate in the corporal work of mercy and bury our dead with love, and dignity.

Just imagine how it would help the pro-life movement if we had Karen Santorum as First Lady, a promoter of the Culture of Life! Read more in Jill Stanek's column here.

New religious order Sisters of the Gospel of Life

Just as many religious owed their vocations to their experience at World Youth Day in the USA in 1992, the Holy Father's visit to the United Kingdom is bearing much fruit. Here is the first new order of sisters in Scotland in 150 years, dedicated to healing the Culture of Death brought about by contraception and abortion.
They are called "Sisters of the Gospel of Life" and have three members so far.

She (Founding Sister Roseann) said that the foundation of her religious community stemmed “from a need of the times” to address the damage done to women and society by abortion and the contraceptive mentality.

“When we didn’t have the education system that we have now, the great teaching orders evolved. When we didn’t have the social services we have now, all the groups like the Daughters of Charity (of St. Vincent de Paul) all came. When we didn’t have the medical system, that’s when the nursing orders came.

“So that’s where our order stems from. From a need of the times. For us, the greatest need was to uphold and defend human life from the moment of conception, to attack this ‘culture of death’.

This is a wonderful development for the Catholics of Scotland, I know how much New Yorkers have been enriched by the wonderful Sisters of Life. 

Read the rest of the story at Life Site News.

Does this image bother you?

This lovely ad is causing controversy in Britain. It's a tragically true sign of the Culture of Death when not only he Cross of Christ, but the Babe Himself becomes a stumbling block.
Come Lord Jesus!

An ecumenical non-profit in England has come under fire for their upcoming Advent campaign designed to put Christ back into Christmas. Their crime? Creating billboards and posters that show a baby Jesus as an ultrasound, with a halo. The ads, created byChurchAds.net say: “He’s on His way. Christmas starts with Christ.”

Read Tim Drake's entire post at the NC Register blog.

St Gianna Berrretta Molla video available

New DVD Tells Story of Modern Day Hero of Divine Love

“St. Gianna Beretta Molla: A Modern Day Hero of Divine Love” is a new DVD about a saint who lived in our own time. The DVD is a visual delight, featuring photos and home movies of St. Gianna, who lived from 1922 to 1962. One gets to see her getting married and playing with her children and living out her career as a doctor. Viewers see her laughing and smiling and loving life. This is a real woman. She is someone like us. 

Here we get to know a woman like so many of us who struggled to balance work and family. She was highly intelligent, excelling in her studies. She also loved music and art and being in the mountains. She loved her family above all else, but saw her career as a physician as a calling from God. Not only did she run her own practice, she was an active volunteer and sought to bring medical care to those who needed it, especially mothers and children. She would tell other doctors that “when you have finished your earthly profession, if you have done this well, you will enjoy divine life ‘because I was sick and you healed me.’” 

St. Gianna was raised in a Christ-centered family and sought to raise her children the same way. Her life was one of service and was deeply rooted in prayer. She attended daily Mass as often as possible and prayed her rosary daily. She was always ready to encourage others in their relationship with God. She was a woman who viewed life as a gift from God and trusted in the power of prayer. Totally pro-life, her ultimate sacrifice was to give birth to her last child, even though she was advised against it and knew it might result in her own death. After giving birth, she bravely bore her final suffering with grace and prayer. She died on April 28, 1962 at the age of 39. Beatified in 1994 and canonized in 2004, Pope John Paul II held St. Gianna up as a role model for mothers, physicians, and the pro-life cause.

“St. Gianna Beretta Molla: A Modern Day Hero of Divine Love” was produced by Catholic Action for Faith and Family which includes the St. Gianna Physician’s Guild. The mission of the Guild is to unite and encourage Catholic physicians and health care professionals, to promote and defend Catholic principles in a public way by word and example, and to inspire sanctification in their lives.

To order the video, please visit http://www.stgiannaphysicians.org/ 

Cardinal Arinze tells Church to defend the dignity of human life

Cardinal Arinze lecture at Holy Apostles Seminary, October 12, 2010

It was an important event in the Catholic community of Connecticut. Bishop Michael Cote, the Seminary Rector, Monsignor, Lynn and Tom Wehner, editors of the Faith and Family and National Catholic Register, EWTN host Rhonda Chervin, Sean and Julie Forrest, President of the Family Institute of Connecticut, Peter Wolfgang and his wife, Leslie, President of the National Catholic Bioethics Center Dr David Haas, dozens of seminary students, faculty members, religious sisters and friars in habit, and faithful Catholics came to hear Cardinal Arinze speak on the long history of the defense of the dignity of human life in the Church.

Dr John Haas, President of the National Catholic Bioethics Center,  iintroduced the Cardinal by reminding us of the urgency of keeping up with bioethics by pointing out that Nobel Prizes are being given to scientists who made human embryos subjects for destruction. The Church has always embraced science; said Dr Hass, and established the first Catholic Bioethics Center in 1972, a year before Roe v Wade, before AIDS, or stem cells. The Church has always been at the forefront of defending the dignity of human life from the threat of abortion, euthanasia or suicide, and opposes society’s efforts to decorate these crimes with the title of “rights”.

Cardinal Arinze’s address

(This is not a transcription, but a reconstruction of my notes. Any inaccuracies or inelegant language are, therefore, mine. )

      Humanity is the crown of creation; men were the last to be created in Genesis and placed in the Garden of Eden. Pope John Paul II said that man is the summit of creation, and all is subject to him. Man was created in the image of God with an immortal soul and free will. Man alone can participate in the Divine Life of eternal happiness; it is breathtaking proof that human life is precious.  As the Baltimore Catechism reminds us; why did God make us? “God made us to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this life, and be happy forever with Him in heaven.”

      St John the Evangelist said that human beings are gifted with intelligence, will and an immortal soul. Only the angels were created superior to mankind. By grace we recognize the sacred value of life beginning at conception through death. This is not romantic; it is reality that human life is sacred. There can be no civilization without recognition of the dignity of human life.
      The Passion of Jesus is proof that humans are precious to God. “For God so loved the world, that He sent His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). In Genesis, God said, “let Us make man in Our Own Image, giving him dominion over all creation. Men have intellence and will; God filled our hearts full of understanding. Vatican II stated that we alone know and love the Creator. Only when Cain slew Abel did the conflict of man vs. man begin.

      Evangelium Vitae said those who kill the unborn, the sick and the elderly violate “thou shalt not kill”. The law from Mt Sinai forbids the slaying of the innocent. Jesus, on the Sermon on the Mount, said that the value of human life is not absolute, “he who finds his life will lose it, he who loses his life for My sake, will find it” in praise of martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the Faith., like St Stephen. Church Tradition respects human life at all stages, Church Father Tertullian calls abortion ‘an abominable crime’ and forbids killing a child before or after birth which was common at that time. The encyclicals Casti Connubi, Humane Vitae, Evangelium Vitae, and Caritas en Veritate of Pope Benedict all reaffirm the sacredness of human life. Pope Benedict sated in Caritas en Veritate that “openness to life is at the center of true development”. Evangelium Vitae states the inviolability of human life, Gaudium et Spes condemns murder, abortion, euthanasia, slavery, prostitution, human trafficking, and unjust working conditions. Vatican II says that life must be protected from the moment of conception, and thus abortion and euthanasia are unspeakable crimes which incur automatic excommunication.

      Threats to human life include not only those inherent in nature; natural disasters, but attacks on human life include scientific and technology, contraception, abortions, and the conditioning of society to present these crimes as rights. The slippery slope is conspiring against the ethical dimension of the medical profession as defined in the Hippocratic Oath, taken 2,500 years ago by doctors, in which physicians promised to do no harm, refrain from administering deadly drugs, or abortifacients to women, refrain from sexual involvement with patients, or revealing their confidential information.  This reflects the gift of God to see the truth; the Natural Laws, which proves that the 10 commandments are within the grasp of reason. In1964 Luis Lasagna revoked parts of the Hippocratic Oath, dealing with abortion and physician assisted suicide. Most doctors don’t take it now. Vatican II says that abortion is an unspeakable crime, an epidemic of worldwide proportions, In Europe, in 2008, there were 2.8 million abortions, or one every 11 seconds.

What are the excuses used to justify abortion?

 Pluralism, laws should not favor one religion over another. This fallacious, as abortion is against reason, it’s not Church law, like not eating meat on Fridays, its part of the Natural Law. It is not imposing religious views on others, others are imposing secular views on us. We are under what Pope Benedict called the Dictatorship of Relativism. If the right to life doesn’t exist, neither do any rights.

Freedom is often used to justify abortion; however, the use of my freedom cannot lead to the death of others. If I want the freedom to drive my car all over the road, and I kill you as a pedestrian, my freedom must be curtailed to protect your life.  Preservation of human life takes precedence over my freedom.

“It’s my body.” The baby is NOT part of the mother’s body. She has no right to turn her womb into a tomb.

“I am ‘personally opposed’ to abortion, but I don’t want to impose my views on others.” How about this’ “I am personally opposed to shooting you, but this man here wants to shoot you and I don’t want to impose my views on him, so I’m going to let him shoot you.” Objective norms of right and wrong DO exist!

Population Control Committees decide abortion is necessary. How about the members of the committee offer to die instead of the unborn? After all, they are usually 60-70 years old, and the baby is young, and has not had a chance to live yet.

Food shortage; the world could fee many more people than it does now. It is not true that the lower the population, the higher the level of civilization, look at the USA, it is densely populated and highly civilized. The population explosion is a myth, countries are unwilling to share with the poor. Pope Paul VI said, ‘If there is not enough bread, don’t kill the guests, make more bread!”

      Evangelium Vitae says that we are obligated to disobey unjust laws, the bishops under St Peter’s authority, have always said that direct abortion always constitutes a grave moral disorder. Common sense is not very common.

      These are situations which provide temptation to abortion; unmarried mothers, poverty, wish to continue one’s studies, feeling like you have too large a family, however they can’t change the illicit nature of abortion.

      In Evangelium Vitae, Pope John Paul II states that the following are responsible for abortion; the mother, the father, friends, doctors, nurses, politicians, those who encourage sexual permissiveness, lack of respect for mothers, and national and international organizations which promote abortions. Contraception promotes abortion; they are fruits of the same tree. Pharmaceuticals to abort without doctors and use of embryonic stem cells are also unacceptable.

      Euthanasia is unacceptable, here are the reasons used to justify it; prolonged suffering,  a fragile person who wants to die, false compassion of relatives, a desire to have control over life and death, to transplant organs, a desire to decrease costs of caring for the sick, and a desire to kill handicapped children. Euthanasia is the result of a culture which takes no notice of Good Friday, an absence of religious inspiration.

Other types of death are suicide, which is wrong, but the person may fall prey to mitigating factors. Murder which is always sinful, and terrorism which cries to heaven for justice. The Church has no traditional objection to the death penalty, since the person is not innocent, however modern times it is no longer necessary to protect society.

It is a sinister tendency to claim euthanasia and abortion as rights Pope John Paul II said. Therefore, government funding to subsidize abortion, forcing families to promote abortion is wrong. Human beings are seen as objects, to be used, the sick, weak, or unborn cannot defend themselves, and it is an abuse of their freedom to extinguish their destiny. The life of people should never depend on majority vote, human freedom should never grant one person absolute power over another. That is the death of true freedom.

      Vatican II states that when God is forgotten, human creature is unintelligible, a fascination with technology and an overemphasis on preventing cruelty to animals are examples. For example, you cannot kill a dog, but you can kill an unborn child.. This type of practical materialism is an example of the Culture of Death.

     As we say at Mass, Dying you destroyed our death, raising you restored our life. The Church has received the mission to preach the Gospel of Life, via priests, teachers, catechists, and journalists. The Church extols the vocation of matrimony and sexuality. Jesus told us to expect opposition to this mission. In Rerum Novarum the Church defended the rights of workers, in Evangelium Vitae, the Church defends the unborn, and whose lives are snuffed out by abortion. In 1991, Pope John Paul II asked the bishops what they wanted, in 1995, he wrote Evangelium Vitae. Catholics have serious duties to insist on the sanctity of life, yet this shouldn’t bar them from prestigious positions. We shouldn’t say, “I am a Catholic, but. . . .” we should say, “I am a Catholic therefore. “    The right to life is from God not the state, and there will be accountability for this.

The state is not the only part of a civil society; it consists of families, churches, organizations, who all have duties toward the state. Pope Pius XI taught the right to private property and the principle of subsidiarty.

      Openness to life is at the center of true development. Some praiseworthy initiatives are; Natural Family Planning, hospitals, convalescent homes, religious and laypeople who serve sick, films like “The Silent Scream” and married couples who are open to life, especially that of the handicapped. The government should offer them assistance if they need it. Don’t just condemn abortion; offer women alternative homes to give birth.

Social and political action are needed, efforts to form consciences, mass media to promote the Culture of Life and send the Culture of Death packing.

The Cardinal’s remarks were met with a standing ovation and prolonged, thunderous applause. It seems his clear call to building a Culture of Life has struck a chord in the Catholic community of Connecticut. May we live up to the challenge he gave us to send the Culture of Death packing!

Writing letters to the editor about the right to life

If you want to be a force for life in this culture, you have to know how to contact the media. National Right to Life has provided us with this amazing tool to reach the editors of newspapers around the nation with the pro-life message.
Click here, and happy writing!

From Fr Markey of the Gospel of Life Society

From Fr Markey of the Norwalk CT Chapter of the Gospel of Life Society
There is a heated discussion going on in our country right now about President Obama’s proposed health care reform, H.R. 3200. From what I see in the media, much of the discussion revolves around the philosophical question of how large of a role do we want the government to have in our nation’s health care system.
How does the Catholic Church weigh in on this proposed reform? The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops has been advocating for comprehensive health care reform in our country for decades. Rather than the question of how much government involvement there should be in health care, the bishops recommend four principles:
respect for human life,
universal access for all,
pluralism and
equitable costs.
Considering the long history of the Catholic hospitals, and that today nearly one out of every five patients in the United States who is in a hospital is in a Catholic health care network, the Catholic Church’s opinion carries a great deal of weight in this discussion.
This past week Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York was asked how the bishops approach the health care reform question. He was quoted as answering: “Health care reform is a good thing. (However, if it) leads to the destruction of life, then we say it’s no longer health care at all - it’s unhealthy care and we can’t be part of that.”
According to the bishops, the current bill is seriously deficient with regards to the conscience rights of health-care providers, whether there is a mandate to finance and provide abortion, and whether seniors will be forced to forgo treatment, leading to euthanasia. Archbishop Dolan explained that the first thing that needs to be said is that “every health care system exists only to serve human life, not the other way around.”
“Human life is not some commodity, some customer, some cog that is at the service of a bigger system or some bureaucratic network,” but rather, it is “the end in itself and health care is how it is protected." If health care begins to lead to the “destruction of human life” through avenues such as abortion, end of life care, or the discarding human embryos, then “we say it’s no longer health care at all.”
Considering the fact that our current president is the strongest advocate for abortion rights of any president that we have ever had in our nation’s history, the philosophical discussion of how large a role we want the government to have in our nation’s health care system will have to wait until we can insure that human life, from the moment of conception to natural death, is truly protected in this new reform.
Sincerely in Christ,Fr. Greg J. Markeym Pastor
frmarkey@hisnet.org
St. Mary Church
669 West Avenue
Norwalk, CT 06850
www.stmarynorwalk.net

"Do not accept anything as the truth if it lacks love. And do not accept anything as love which lacks the truth!
One without the other becomes a destructive lie."
- Pope John Paul II

A Pro-Life Broadway Play to See

from the Catholic League
An extraordinarily life-affirming, pro-faith, pro-Jewish play is currently showing on Broadway, and it's having a significant impact on public opinion about faith and life. This is happening in New York City - the media capital of the country, and not a city known for supporting this kind of entertainment. The name of the play is Irena's Vow. It's been spectacularly well-received by audiences - and stunningly, by nearly all the critics, too! Only a single but very powerful critic took a predictably negative stand, but on Broadway, that is often all it takes to kill even a great play.
Right now, there is an opportunity to save this play and allow it to continue its affirmation of faith and life right on Broadway. By seeing Irena's Vow in the next 45 days and encouraging others to do the same, you can make it possible. If we succeed, it will certainly encourage other such plays and movies. Won't you please help?
Also, if you buy and register your purchase of tickets through www.InSupportofLife.org, 15% of the ticket price will be contributed to life-affirming non-profits like pregnancy centers. That's $30 for two $98 tickets!
Irena's Vow is an amazing Broadway show with a Judeo-Christian worldview, including a strong positive message about life. In a place like Manhattan, that is simply extraordinary. For that reason alone, people of faith ought to support it. But it's also a great play, based on a true story. When it ran Off-Broadway, every single critic loved it, and every performance was sold out.

The play is based on the riveting, life-affirming story of one of the most courageous and unsung heroines of World War II - Irena Opdyke, a young Polish Catholic girl forced to work as head housekeeper for the top Nazi official in her town. Because of an earlier vow, Irena risked her own life every day for two years to protect the lives of the twelve Jews she hid in the basement of the Nazi's house - without his knowledge, of course. When one of them gets pregnant, all fear the baby's cries will reveal their hiding place, so they decide to end the baby's life. But Irena remembers the vow she made.... and thinks of her Catholic faith.... What does God want her to do???
So this is the extraordinary true story of one woman's choice about one life and the twelve lives that would ultimately be saved - or lost - by her decision. The result is so heart-warming and uplifting that many in the audiences weep for joy.
Dr. Howard Edington, Bill Bright's former minister, saw Irena's Vow and called it "an overwhelming experience," one "you will never forget!" He believes it could have a significant impact on public opinion in NYC about courage and the value of life. We agree.
Please go see the play as soon as possible and please buy your tickets through www.InSupportofLife.org.
We also ask that you email and tell everybody you know about this play (and the website,) asking them to do the same with their friends. It's imperative that we show our support for a Broadway play with such a positive message on life and faith!After you see the play, email them again with your positive comments!
Thanks so much for your help! You will NEVER forget this play!

God does not call the equipped. He equips the called

So, get equipped to do battle for the Culture of Life. Here's a great resource: The Envoy Institute at Belmont Abbey College.
Patrick Madrid is a member, and you wil recognize many top Catholics there as well.

Christendom College to cancel classes for March for Life

Founded over 30 years ago Christendom College has attended the March for Life as a community every year. Its students are active in pro-life work year round, leading prayerful protests at a Planned Parenthood Clinic in Washington once a week, as well as taking part in sidewalk counseling and other pro-life activities. For more information visit www.christendom.edu.
Now, that's what I call a Catholic college!
We'll be looking for a college like this in three years...one which is entirely committed to the Culture of Life.
Read the entire story on Catholic Online.

Dr Alveda King on Obama and white guilt

The Obama election has changed the face of America. It strikes a blow to white guilt, because hundreds of thousands of white people voted for him to prove that they were not racists. It gives blacks who voted for him hope, because there has never been a black president of America.
And the election of Obama gives a face to abortion.
Like it or not president-elect Barack Obama has promised to do more to advance abortion rights than any other president in America’s history. His no-holds-barred promise to sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) - which should be renamed the No Limits on Abortion Act - is a promise to make abortions more accessible than they have ever been since Roe vs. Wade.
Dr King is the niece of Dr Martin Luther King, and is part of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign.
Read the entire story on Life Site News.

Pharmacists for Life supporting conscience on ABC News

See the video clip here (after the commercial). ABC News is right, this is a growing movement, of pharmacists who feel the need to open their own pharmacies to avoid being forced to dispense contraceptives and aboritifacients like the pill and Plan B. This is a great idea whose time has come, and I will support this noble effort to resist the Culture of Death.
Beware of the backlash, however, as states pass laws outlawing freedom of conscience, as California, New Jersey and Illinois have done.
Here is the website for Pharmacists for Life. You can look up a pro-life pharmacy in your area.

The Insidious Effect of Abortion on Culture

It's not a fantasy; abortion coursens a culture. I felt it yesterday, as a well-dressed woman in Toys R Us sneered at Christina, and then was cruel to us as we attempted to pay for a candy bar. I told the girls to forgive her as she may have suffered from an abortion, she certainly had little respect for children with disabilities. But you can certainly feel the coarsening of culture here on Long Island, which has one of the highest abortion rates in the world.
Human life isn't what's important; money and comfort matter.
Read this article by Fr. Euteneuer about a culture which has rejected abortion.

Maternal Deaths Down In Nicaragua Once Abortion Is Eliminated
Unsuspecting pro-life cultures are regularly assaulted by the "logic" of the international abortion promoters who push their anti-life agenda into every culture that will cave in to the pressure. Their main argument goes roughly like this: "When abortion is not legal, women have abortions anyway but in unsafe conditions and back-alley clinics with untrained people who injure and kill them. All this death and injury is totally unnecessary and we could just solve the problem overnight by legalizing abortion to make it safe and keep all these poor women from dying."
That's the main argument which, in one form or another, is repeated ad nauseam by the abortion lobby to sympathetic healthcare providers, social workers, government leaders and the media. It can be an effective argument for legalized abortion because people are generally more willing to sacrifice the rights of the unseen child for the immediate perceived needs of the suffering woman.
However, that argument is a ruse. Abortion doesn't work the way they say it does. In reality, legalized abortion, besides killing babies, creates a climate of disrespect for women's health that leads to a greater number of maternal deaths. Let's take another look at the most fascinating and heroic case study in the abortion wars that our modern age has seen: Nicaragua.
That marvelous little pro-life country in Central America is a good example of what happens when a country chooses a culture of life. Remember that Nicaragua made abortion completely illegal in 2006 and then reaffirmed that prohibition in 2007. The overall positive results for Nicaraguan women have been just amazing. The abortion promoters screamed that making abortion illegal would cause women to die in droves because of more back-alley abortions, but that didn't happen. In fact, the opposite is true - fewer women are dying now! A recent publication by Nicaragua's Ministry of Health noted that the overall maternal mortality rate decreased by 58% in the year that abortion has been made totally illegal. There were 21 maternal deaths for 2007 compared to 50 maternal deaths the year before. This is a stunning reversal!
The lie that women will die from back-alley, "unsafe," abortions is nothing but a scare tactic to coerce pro-life cultures into compliance with abortion. The truth is that abortion-free cultures have a greater respect for women and babies and are not subject to that degrading pall of killing that lies over the medical profession. In the case of Nicaragua, their rejection of abortion in 2006/2007 coincided - not surprisingly - with a greater provision of basic pre-natal services for pregnant women and accompaniment in childbirth which is what led to the surprising turn-around in the maternal death rate. Even aside from legal protection of babies, pro-life cultures just protect women better, it's that simple.
We don't have to listen to the liars who tell us that legalized abortion is "safe." Women are much safer in countries where abortion is not legal. Abortion enthusiasts were never able to use the maternal death argument in abortion-free Ireland which has the lowest rate of maternal deaths in the world. They are also confounded by pro-life cultures like Poland that restricted abortion in 1993 and has seen a phenomenal increase in maternal wellbeing ever since.
The abortion promoters tell us that certain abortions are unsafe. They're half right. Actually, all abortions are unsafe. The numbers don't lie.
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,
President, Human Life International

Take Heart, There are Signs of Spring in our Culture of Death

Sometimes it's overwhelming, in the middle of Lent when the world seems oblivious to the call to repentance, Catholics in the trenches fighting to restore the Culture of Life can get disheartened.
But, do not let your hearts be troubled. Doreeen Truesdell at Catholic Exchange has some words of encouragement for you. These are signs that I have also noticed in the Church, both on the internet, and in my personal experience in my diocese, and are, like my emerging daffodils, early signs that Easter is coming.

Keynote address of Archbishop Charles Chaput, Capuchin at SCSS Dinner

The title of his address, "The Church and the State Today; Giving to Cesar what is Cesar's", made one expect a typical discussion of politicians who should be adhering to Church doctrine by their votes, allowing the faithful Catholics in the room a measure of complacency, but the soft-spoken bishop had no such plans.

Rather, he described a culture, advanced in technology, with diversity of religious belief which were largely practiced in private, and a widespread infertility problem, fueled by rampant homosexuality, abortion, promiscuity, and contraception. Lawmakers try to help save families, but their efforts get nowhere, till the entire society sinks into oblivion. This nation, though it sounds eerily familiar to us, was Ancient Rome in it's decline, at the time Christ lived on earth.

Agnostic Rodney Stark in his book, "The Rise of Christianity" studied the causes of Christianity's successful takeover of the greatest empire of the Ancient World, in a matter of 400 years. Here, says Stark, were the strengths of the Christians' approach:
1. Doctrine; the Gospel of Jesus
2. Strong Adherence to that doctrine, those who believed in Jesus rejected the immorality of the surrounding culture, and lived pure lives, in contrast to the debauchery around them. Athenogoras said, "we regard that the fetus as a created being and object of God's care", clearly rejecting abortion. The Early Christians recognized the Culture of Death that was the Roman Empire. Venutus Felix said that birth control was an abortifacient,which "stills the beginnings of the person to be".

It was the courage of the first Christians to challenge the culture, trusting in God first, obeying and loving the Church as their Mother that helped to bring about a conversion of an entire society. They recognized that they were citizens first of Heaven, and were willing to stake their lives on that conviction.

Archbishop Chaput enjoined the 400 prominent Social Scientists at the Conference to first live their Catholic faith fervently, or they would have nothing worthwhile to bring to the debate. They should trust in the Lord's promise that, "the Truth will set us free", and remember if powerful Pagan Rome could be won for Jesus, so can this neo-pagan culture, we simply need to live our faith!

Sisters of Life co-worker training at Seton Hall University

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Greetings -

An unusual and important teaching event is coming up that will give college students in the NYC/N.J. area a firsthand understanding of the culture of life. On Saturday, November 17, the Sisters of Life will hold their first-ever on-campus Co-Worker (volunteer) training at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J. I've attached a flyer for the event and copied the press release below. The press release is also on the Cardinal Newman Society's Web site -- here is the direct URL:

http://cardinalnewmansociety.org/Home/tabid/36/ctl/Details/mid/435/ItemID/59/Default.aspx

Since becoming the first director of the Cardinal Newman Society's Love and Responsibility Program in July, one of my first priorities has been to bring the Sisters of Life's unique charism to Catholic college campuses. Could you please let your readers and friends know about this very special training opportunity? It is open to all college students; admission is free and includes lunch. If you would like more information, please call me at (703) 367-0333, ext. 107.

Thanks and God bless,
"What do I do if a friend tells me she's pregnant?"

Sisters of Life Co-Worker Training at Seton Hall to Show How to
Serve a Pregnant Woman with the Heart of Christ

Chances are that at some point during your college years, one of your friends—or a friend of a friend—will have an unexpected pregnancy. She may feel helpless, alone, unsure about her future, and under great pressure in multiple directions from her boyfriend and relatives. Her heart's desire may be to keep her baby, but that desire alone may not be enough to protect her from the stresses that seem to be tearing her apart.

You can help her—not with arguments or pleadings, but with love. When every other support has let her down, you can become part of a new culture emerging—one that can walk with her through this difficult time. Each pregnant woman needs to know that her life is not over now that she is pregnant.

Let the Sisters of Life—an order founded by John Cardinal O'Connor whose members take a fourth vow to protect and enhance the sacredness of every human life—show you how to serve a pregnant woman with the heart of Christ. On Saturday, November 17, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., come to the Sisters of Life Co-Worker (volunteer) training at Seton Hall University, sponsored by SHU Campus Ministry and the Cardinal Newman Society. Admission is free and includes lunch; registration is strongly requested (details below). The training is open to all college students, both men and women.

Topics covered at the training, which will be led by Sisters ( also featuring testimonies from Co-Workers and the women they serve) include:

Understanding the heart of a vulnerable pregnant woman
Communication skills to help you listen to a pregnant woman's needs and be fully present for her
The various ways your individual talents and skills may be placed at the service of life

Please register in advance to insure your place at this important event, the first Sisters of Life Co-Worker training ever to take place on a college campus. Send your name, e-mail address, and the name of the college you attend to dawneden@cardinalnewmansociety.org. You will receive directions to the training via e-mail.

For further information, contact Dawn Eden, director of the Cardinal Newman Society's Love and Responsibility Program, (703) 367-0333, ext. 107.
-- Dawn EdenDirector, Love and Responsibility ProgramThe Cardinal Newman Society9167 Key Commons CourtManassas, VA 20110 Phone: (703) 367-0333, ext. 10

A Great Way to Share Theology of the Body

George Weigel has called Theology of the Body, "The ticking theological time bomb which, when it goes off, will ignite the New Springtime of Evangelization".
I agree, that this powerful teaching, when properly explained, revolutionizes how the Faith is taught in a Culture of Death, transforming it into a Culture of Life.
Kelly Pence, Catholic homeschooling mother of five, in the Chicago area, recently felt called by God to help evangelize using Theology of the Body. She started Share a CD outreach. Share a CD is an opportunity to receive great teaching CDs with famous Catholic speakers as Christopher West, Fr. Loya, and Fr. Larry Richards in the mail, with enough to share with others as a great tool of evangelization. We must combat the poor formation in the faith so many of my generation and older have had in their faith. So many Catholics do not attend Mass because they have misunderstood the Church's reasons for her teachings on marriage and family. Theology of the Body as explained on Share a CD is the answer to this problem.
There are many ideas on how you can purchase enough of these to share with your friends, prayer group, or your entire parish, at way below retail cost. You can get a CD for only$ 1.47 a month, plus shipping. Visit the website, which within a month will be completely renovated including a shopping cart, and live audio demonstrations of the CDs.
You may call Kelly at 815-426-2494 for information on how you can use these CD's in quantities of 11 or more to reach your parish or prayer group, Catholic school or family with this life-changing theology.
"...all baptized Christians must commit themselves to evangelization." - Pope John Paul II

True Compassion in Times of Crisis

If you ever encounter one of those thorny end-of-life issues, and want to understand Church teaching on it, you can't do better than Fr. Tad Pacholczyk of the National Catholic Bioethics Center.He has a great collection of essays on current issues in bioethics on their website,

entitled, "Making Sense Out of Bioethics".
His recent article on Catholic Exchange, about the mercy killing of patients in a New Orleans hospital during the horrific aftermath of Hurricane Katrina clarifies what the Church thinks about the actions of Dr. Anna Maria Pou.
"While the debate continues as to what Dr. Pou did or did not do, compassion and heroism should never be confused with intentionally overdosing patients or loved ones in order to end their lives. The act of directly taking innocent human life is always incompatible with true compassion."
The World Over had a show last week, available in the online catalogue where Fr Pochalczyk had an enlightening discussion with on the Vatican 's recent clarification about what constitutes extraordinary means of keeping someone alive, and what is considered just standard care. The Saginaw Seminarians had a great post on the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith's clarification on this issue.
Food and water, given by whatever means, unless the patient is actively dying, is ordinary care, and may NOT be witheld, as it was in the case of Terri Schindler Schiavo, who could have lived for many more years, and even responded to therapy (if her husband had permitted it) yet she was deliberately dehydrated to death at a young age. According to the Vatican, this is MURDER. Is that clearly stated enough? Let's hope that Catholics avail themselves of this information, so that when their turn comes to make these decisions, they can do so with the wisdom of the Church, and not some nurse who took a misguided course in medical ethics.

I have entered into heated discussions with nurses in my family who insist that "Terri's soul had left her body because she was on life support". Nonsense! Only someone who had no religious formation in the Catholic faith would believe that fairy tale! The Schindlers knew better and so did Br. O'Donnell, pictured here with Terri's sister, Suzanned Vitadamo. They were just awarded the Proudly Pro-life Award for their heroic efforts to save Terri.
During "The World Over", a caller mentioned that she has lived a full life, going to Mass, and visiting her family all while using a feeding tube. Has her soul left her body? Terri Schiavo had no more extensive treatment than this woman, the only difference is that she couldn't talk to defend herself. That is why it is crucial that we, while we still have our faculties, assign someone who believes as we do in the Church's teaching on end-of-life issues, as our health care proxy. Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life has suggestions on his website.
If you find yourself embroiled in one of these end-of-life discussions, arm yourself with the truth to cut through all the "care in dying" rhetoric provided by the Culture of Death.

How the Culture of Death is Poisoning Latin America

Red de Mujeres Contra la Violencia (see them on the web here) is a coalition of hard-left, Latin American feminist organizations. Just recently they showed their true colors, putting their anti-life agendas ahead of the well-being of an innocent 9-year-old girl.
Steve Mosher
Rosa's Case:Lies of a Feminist Network Exposed in Nicaragua
by Carlos Polo
"Rosa" was the name the feminists of the Red de Mujeres Contra la Violencia, or Network of Women Against Violence (WNAV) gave to a 9-year-old Nicaraguan girl, who was raped and later became pregnant in the beginning of 2003 in Costa Rica. Accusations laid at the doorstep of the girl's neighbor are now being challenged by a more in-depth investigation, one that not only clears his name, but points to far more sinister forces at work.
WNAV used Rosa as a poster child to promote the decriminalization of abortion internationally, repeating the tired line that abortion is essential to save the lives of thousands of women. They produced videos, essays, books and organized several events in many American and European cities. At these events, the stepfather and the mother of Rosa were present, supported by the WNAV and demanding justice for Rosa, and a severe punishment of the rapist. On one of these occasions, egged on by the feminists, the girl's stepfather even said he would kill the neighbor with his own hands.
In a series of moves reminiscent of young children going to the right parent for the answer they want, some key case members of the WNAV traveled to Costa Rica with officials (ideologically pro abortion) of the Attorney General Office on Human Rights of Nicaragua. They advocated the "right" of Rosa to abort her baby, with the full approval of the stepfather and mother. Upon learning that the Costa Rican government refuses to permit abortion, they promptly rushed Rosa to Nicaragua. Once there, authorities established that the parents had the freedom to make their own decision, labeling this abortion as "therapeutic." Public pressure growing hotter, they quickly ended the life of Rosa’s baby.
After the abortion was completed, WNAV completely lost interest in the conviction and prosecution of "Rosita's" rapist.

As of November 17, 2006, abortion in Nicaragua is illegal with no exceptions.
We now know that the story was very different from WNAV's version. Reporters of a popular newspaper in Nicaragua, "El Nuevo Diario" (END), found "Rosita" and her mother in a WNAV lodging last month. Their actual situation was even more shocking than the one which made her unhappily famous to begin with: it is now known that the girl's 19-month-old daughter is not the neighbor's, rather, her stepfather's.
Not only that, but it soon became clear that WNAV had repeatedly ignored obvious warning signs about the baby's paternity. Even in the face of emerging evidence, they still argue that they had no knowledge of the truth of the matter, even though it is now coming to light that the stepfather raped the girl more than once, resulting in the conception of yet another child. WNAV's repeated half-baked explanations show how fanatical they are to legalize abortion, and how careless they had been with Rosa. "The true life of 'Rosita' was, until today, WNAV's best-kept secret," said END in an August 9 report. "It was the same girl, now 14 years old, who triggered the series of events that led END to expose what was happening."
WNAV still insists that Rosa's abortion was the best option available to the 9-year-old girl. According to her parents, after having an abortion she "was back to her dolls and was happy again". WNAV did not expect an investigation on the level of the one END conducted, one that uncovered the fact that Rosa’s life after the abortion was, in fact, hellish. Forever stigmatized by the event, Rosa was vilified by the community as a result of her abortion, as was everyone who participated.
Notwithstanding, WNAV's members' attitudes incriminate them. They have spent the duration of the case, now 4 years running, hiding information in order to keep "Rosita" and her mother away from anyone but them. END also complained that the police of Masaya province are also complicit in this crime, making any investigation into the matter extremely difficult. "For the time being, the whereabouts of "Rosita" and her daughter are privileged information of WNAV," END said bitterly. "This entire international campaign was based on a lie."
In the end, WNAV was forced to return "Rosita" to the authorities, but WNAV requested that one of their own psychologists supervise her at all times. The reason is simple: the truth could complicate WNAV's legal situation. It is now clear that WNAV's interest in the case arose solely from their interest in promoting the legalization of abortion. As a direct consequence of this, justice was not served, "Rosita" continued to be exposed to the rapist day and night for 4 years, and an innocent man suffered rebuke and imprisonment. These are serious charges, and WNAV is now desparate to avoid being prosecuted by the Family Affairs Ministry of Nicaragua.
The contradictions are multiplying every day, and the story can hardly have a happy ending for WNAV. If one good thing comes out of this entangled web of rape, murder, deception and coverup it is this: WNAV has lost its credibility in any future debate about abortion.

Colin Mason is the Director for Media Production at PRI.