- “If God seems at times to be slow in responding, it is because he is preparing a better gift. He will not deny us. We well know that the long awaited gift is all the more precious for the delay in its being granted….Ask, seek, insist. Through the asking and seeking you will be better prepared to receive God’s gift when it comes. God withholds what you are not yet ready for. He wants you to have a lively desire for his greatest gifts. All of which is to say, pray always and do not lose heart.” St. Augustine on prayer from Sermon 61: 6-7.
- A recent Marist poll commissioned by the Knights of Columbus again showed that — when presented with clear choices in a polling question — only 8% of Americans favor abortion on demand throughout pregnancy. The poll also found that 60% of Americans favor banning all abortions, or limiting them to the rare cases of danger to the mother’s life, rape or incest. Click here for poll results.
- The Catholic Bishops pledged (at their recent November meeting) the resources of the Church to mobilize the Catholic community to oppose FOCA and all other attempts to eliminate existing pro-life laws and policies. This will include a massive education and postcard campaign beginning in January, urging members of Congress to reject the abortion extremism of FOCA.
Here are some encouraging quotes from individual Bishops attending the recent Bishop’s meeting:
- “We have lost 50 times as many children in the last 35 years as we have lost soldiers in all the wars since the Revolution. Any bishop here would be willing, would consider it a privilege, to die tomorrow if it meant ending abortion,” he said. “We should dedicate the rest of our lives to taking any kind of criticism, whatever it is, to stop this horrible genocide.” Auxiliary Bishop Robert Hermann
- Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki said FOCA would have a “significant and adverse effect” and that bishops “need to be prepared in the face of increasingly militant threats to unborn life. The next step would be for federal law to require abortions by all hospitals, including Catholic hospitals, which we cannot do,” he said. “We’d need to consider taking the drastic step of closing our Catholic hospitals completely.”
- “One cannot compromise between the fire and the fire department, the fly and the fly swatter. There are things that don’t admit of compromise – and vile … intrinsic evil such as abortion do not admit us any such compromise.” Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska
- Bishop Joseph F. Martino said the bishops must concentrate on reaching out to Catholic politicians who disagree with them, even if they have to threaten excommunication in the same way that bishops in St. Louis and New Orleans threatened segregationist Catholic officials in 1947 and 1962.
Bishops warn Obama about abortion issue Will resist ‘culture of coercion’
Annunciation, Vittore Carpaccio Galleria Franchetti in the Ca d’Oro, Venice
“In working for the common good of our society, racial justice is one pillar of our social doctrine. Economic justice, especially for the poor both here and abroad, is another.
But the Church comes also and always and everywhere with the memory, the conviction, that the Eternal Word of God became man, took flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary, nine months before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. This truth is celebrated in our liturgy because it is branded into our spirit. The common good can never be adequately incarnated in any society when those waiting to be born can be legally killed at choice.
If the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision that African Americans were other people’s property and somehow less than persons were still settled constitutional law, Mr. Obama would not be president of the United States. Today, as was the case a hundred and fifty years ago, common ground cannot be found by destroying the common good.”
Plenary Session Address by Cardinal George, 2008 Fall General Assembly of Bishops, Nov. 10-12.
Vierge Ouvrante (Opening Virgin) click on picture to open and see scenes from the Gospel
Loving Mother of the Redeemer
Gate of heaven, Star of the Sea,
Assist your people who have fallen
yet strive to rise again.
To the wonderment of nature
you bore your Creator,
yet remained a virgin after as before.
You who received Gabriel’s joyful greeting,
have pity on us poor sinners.
Sister Linus sent this to me: During Advent, this is the antiphon used in Compline for the Divine Office. She points out that, “Today it’s like a prayer of sorrow and reparation.”
Meeting of Mary and Elisabeth, Marx Reichlich, Austrian painter (b. 1460, Salzburg, d. 1520, Salzburg) Wood, 100,5 x 81,2 cm Alte Pinakothek, Munich
Many of us are shuddering at the prospect of the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) promised by the Democrats and president-elect Obama. For info on this act click here and here.
FOCA is a logical outgrowth of the Democratic Party Platform to promote and protect abortion as a uniquely construed “right” in and of itself. This platform plank, which has been central to the Democratic Party for many years, is a gross, ill-conceived principle at the foundation of the culture of death. It is a principle of death and a false “right”.
Meanwhile, on the sidelines now, millions are working for and praying for, a Culture of Life. In our gut there is a sense of desperation! But in our heart there must be a sense of expectation! Here are two key scripture verses at the pragmatic core of the Culture of Life philosophy/spirituality:
“…where sin increased, grace abounded all the more…” Rom 5:20
“…in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.” Rom 8:28
We can find wholesome expectation and hope in the Redemptive Pregnancy of Mary. More specifically, in the Unborn Baby, within the womb of Mary. He is Christ the Lord! (Lk 2:11) Is there a light at the end of this dark tunnel of the culture of death? Yes, He is Christ the light of the world! (Jn 8:12)
“The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.” (Jn 1:9)
“And from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace” (Jn 1:16). When you read this wonderful verse, think of John the Baptist within his mother’s womb leaping for joy! Joy? Yes, joy because he is in the immediate presence of Unborn Jesus (Lk 1:39-44).
Just because we must be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Mt 10:16; another key scripture verse at the pragmatic core of the Culture of Life spirituality), doesn’t mean we can not also leap for joy in expectation with Elizabeth and unborn John the Baptist.
So leap don’t weep! Leap while you pray! Leap in Holy Expectation!
Filed under: Thriving Not Just Surviving!
Proposition 8 states that “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in California.”
This election has taught me a powerful lesson. I live in California and I know first hand why Proposition 8 passed in one of the most liberal states in the union. How did they get this to pass in a state that is overwhelmingly liberal? Great organization, good ground game and hard work. The people at ProtectMarriage.com were ahead of the game. I had received a packet to collect signatures to put this proposition on the ballot a few weeks before the Supreme Court overturned marriage in California.
These people saw this coming and they were prepared. They had been watching the court case and saw where it was going. Once it was on the ballot the Knights of Columbus and the Mormon Church got into the fray right away along with many Christian and Catholic churches. In my town, not only did my Catholic Church push ‘Yes on 8’ but we had signs for everyone to put in their yards. Also extra signs to put them back in their yards when they were torn down. (Which happened frequently.)
A lot of people got involved in a phone bank (myself included and believe me I went way out of my comfort zone to do this) and I wouldn’t be surprised if most people on the voter list in my area got a phone call about ‘Yes on 8’. As the election approached people in my town often stood in groups on the street corners waving ‘Yes on 8’ signs. And on the day before the election many street corners were manned by 25 or more people waving Yes on 8 signs. The ‘Yes on 8’ also had a bus tour which had rallies all through California. I attended one that was in a town close to my own. I don’t know what it was like in the rest of California but I suspect something similar happened elsewhere.
‘Yes on 8’ passed and it taught me a lesson too. Next Presidential election pro-life people have to be as organized as their opposition. Also we have to be smarter, plan better and work harder to win for the unborn. The ‘Yes on 8’ were as organized as the Democrats were this year and they won. In fact, a Californian writing about 8 on one blog said “I heard a Democrat politician note that Prop 8 won because of good ‘ol fashion, door-to-door type neighborhood campaigning.” The Prop 8 people have stated on their website that over 100,000 volunteers were involved with ‘Yes on 8’.
I have always been proud of the pro-life movement in the U.S. We have worked hard and kept this issue alive. That is why the opposition has always been so ferocious. Now let us begin again and pray, fast, and work harder, smarter, and even better on helping Americans say ‘yes for the unborn’.
There is no doubt that many of us are discouraged right now. I wanted to talk about something that has helped me a great deal.
Many of you know that our blog’s subtitle is: Honoring the Unborn Christ Child, promoting the Gospel of Life, one day at a time…
During the election we encouraged those who read this blog to pray the Magnificat 9 times a day for the election in honor of the nine months that Jesus spent in Mary’s womb. This was a devotion that St. Juliana of Cornillon recommended to her friends. I assumed that most of you already were praying other Novenas etc. and that only a few would be able to add this to their already busy lives.
But I did start praying the Magnificat 9 times a day myself and we are continuing to pray this novena until the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12. I want to tell you about how profound and powerful this experience has been for me.
Let me explain – a few years ago I read Unborn Jesus Our Hope which is a meditation on the nine months that Jesus spent in Mary’s womb. Some of you know that it was written by my husband. It took him 20 years to write this book because he had to support a growing family and could only dedicate himself to it in his spare time. I basically ignored what he was doing for the entire 20 years. I didn’t really understand what he was trying to accomplish. When he decided that the book was ready and he turned to looking for a publisher (Life Cycle Books published it), I decided that I really should read it.
What happened is that I fell in love with the Unborn Christ Child. I only tell you this so that I can explain why praying the Magnificat has been so powerful for me.
I dedicate each Magnificat to a different month that Christ spent in Mary’s womb.
Initially with the first Magnificat, I place myself before Christ at the moment of His Conception.
With the 2nd Magnificat, Mary is visiting Elizabeth and praying this prayer herself.
At the 3rd Magnificat, Mary is with Elizabeth and Zachariah – the Unborn Christ Child is present at John’s Birth.
I travel the road back to Nazareth with Mary and Unborn Jesus while praying the 4th Magnificat.
The 5th Magnificat is with Mary, the pregnant mother who is unsure of her future but fully trusting in God as she senses Joseph’s agony until the Angel speaks to him.
At the 6th Magnificat Joseph joins Mary in her worship of the God within her womb.
The 7th Magnificat is in the happy home at Nazereth where Mary and Joseph prepared for the great task ahead of them while going about their ordinary duties.
At the 8th Magnificat, I am with them and unborn Jesus as the wonderful news of the census in Bethlehem came to them. They knew that God wanted the Messiah to be born in Bethlehem and now they saw God’s hand in history accomplishing this.
And finally, during the ninth Magnificat I am with Unborn Jesus, Mary and Joseph as they journey to Bethlehem, are rejected by the Innkeeper and find the stable that was the birth place of Our Blessed Lord.
John Paul II in his Encyclical Letter on the Holy Spirit (Dominum et Vivificantem) while speaking of the Incarnation reminded us:
“What was accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit “in the fullness of time” can only through the Spirit’s power now emerge from the memory of the Church. By his power it can be made present in the new phase of man’s history on earth.” Dominum et Vivificantem. 51
We can in a new way be present at that time in history when heaven was wedded to earth, when Jesus was powerfully present to our world in the womb of Mary. These are the moments in history where God first fully embraced humanity. And we can be reminded that he has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly and that His Mercy is on those who fear him in every generation. The Almighty has done great things for all of us and holy is His Name.
Taste and see the great goodness of Our Lord. Like St. Juliana, I too urge my friends to try this devotion. You will find strength and refreshment for your souls in this time of trial and disappointment. We need, like Pope John Paul reminds us, ‘to make present in this phase of man’s history what was accomplished by the Holy Spirit in the”fullness of time”. This is what will give us strength to begin again and renew the face of the earth and continue to fight for our beloved unborn children.
Filed under: Pro-life
Yesterday, Father Peter Irving, a great priest in LA, alerted me to this. Bishop Finn was interviewed on a number of radio shows. Here is a link to his blog, Holy Innocents, Long Beach. Actually, right after getting Father Irving’s email, I was able to hear Bishop Finn on Hugh Hewitt. Here is what Bishop Finn said:
“I would say, give consideration to your eternal salvation. Because to vote for a person who has expressed a fanatical determination to not only support abortion as it exists now, but to remove all limitations on it through the Freedom of Choice Act and to extend it without any recourse, throwing out all the efforts of citizens over the last 35 years to place reasonable limits on abortion; that you, by voting for a person who has expressed his determination to do this, to Planned Parenthood, to NARAL, that you make yourself a participant in the act of abortion. That’s gravely wrong and you mustn’t do it because your eternal salvation is tied up with that important choice.”
Here is a link to the audio from one of Bishop Finn’s radio interviews. Apparently, he went on a number of radio stations, yesterday.
I feel sorry for those who are unaware of the power of prayer! Every citizen has but one vote. Does he or she cast it prayerfully? Your vote should be like a spark en kindled by prayer striking conscience. Don’t waste your one solitary vote – vote your faith. Vote for the Culture of Life!
Your vote is like an angel’s arrow aimed at the heart of the body politic, not to kill it but to enliven it, to thrill it with a passion for justice, to ignite a firestorm of compassion for those in need and enkindle the social conscience, especially for the unborn.
But to vote well you must pray. Prayer is like a strong wind perfectly calibrated to deliver your vote to its proper place in the plan of God.
Your vote can be like a Word to enlighten others who are listening.
Your vote can be like an outstretched hand extended to those who need to be lifted up.
Your vote can be like a bandage which can be applied to those most bloodied.
Your prayerful vote is important. Send forth your prayers – ten thousand strong if you will – to deliver your one vote to society’s heart.
Today your Vote is Unborn – nurture it with prayer, deliver it on Election Day with conviction! Vote for the highest common good. Vote for a Culture of Life!
Filed under: Unborn Jesus
Sanctuary of Pregnant Virgin Mary in Gdansk-Matemblewo, Poland
“O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth!” Ps 96:1
Ultimately, the Word of God, Jesus Christ, is the Church’s ever-new and ever-discovered Song! Through Him, with Him and in Him, this Song of the Church resounds, pulses and echoes.
But it has pleased God, in different ages and varied dominions throughout salvation history, to inspire New Christian Songs, that is Christian Devotions, like variations complimenting the constant theme of Jesus Christ. Take the rosary for example, which had its origins in the late middle ages, or devotions like the Stations of the Cross, Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Lourdes, Fatima, and the Divine Mercy, to name a few.
With each new devotion “Song”, we “Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations…” (Ps 96:2-3). Devotions help build up the Church and extend the proclamation of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.
Many pro – life Catholics believe that a new devotion is just beginning to spread throughout Christendom; devotion to the Unborn Christ Child! We know intuitively why this devotion is needed at this particular time in human history. When Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus fled the Bethlehem region for fear of Herod, the Holy Innocents were slaughtered in place of Jesus:
“A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; Because they were no more.” Mt 2:18
Today this “wailing and loud lamentation” is heard worldwide. Almost all nations have opened wide their arms to legalized abortion, to the Trojan horse of “choice”, which has brought unparalleled sadness to the world and the trampling of respect for human life in its vulnerable unborn/preborn state.
But God wants to turn our weeping into singing, our sadness into devotion. UNBORN JESUS beckons us: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden…for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Mt 11:28-29).
Papal altar in Gdansk Matemblewo can be found close to Our Pregnant Lady Sanctuary (the only such sanctuary all over the world). By this altar, Pope John Paul II celebrated the Holy Mass in Sopot, on 5th June 1999 during his 7th pilgrimage to Poland.
“The picture on this page is an untouched photograph of a being that has been within its mother for 20 weeks. Please do me the favor of looking at it carefully.” Cardinal Egan
Click on the the Bishop’s last name to go to their statement.
35. Bishop Ronald Gilmore of Dodge City, KS
36. Bishop Paul Coakley of Salina, KS
37. Bishop Michael Jackels of Wichita
38. Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito of Palm Beach
39. Bishop Kevin W. Vann of Fort Worth
75. Joint Statement by the bishops of Florida (9 bishops)
One of Matteo Perez d’Aleccio’s fresco’s depicting the Great Siege. The frescos started being painted eleven years after the siege and although Matteo Perez d’Aleccio himself was not a witness to the event he relied heavily on Francisco Balbi di Corregio’s account of the Great Siege and on surviving Knights, including the Grand Master who surely furnished the artist with more information. They are on display in the Palace of the Grand Master in Malta
Father Corapi has been asking Catholics to pray a rosary novena to Our Lady of Victory for the election, click here to see our post on this novena.
Today I received an email from Dan Engler with a letter from Luis Mendoza encouraging others to pray this Novena for the election. He gave a personal testimony about how powerful this novena is and what happened after he and his wife and a small group prayed it:
Dear Pro-Life Friends,
I have attached Father Corapi’s letter explaining the importance of our uniting in prayer for a “Moral” outcome to this election.
This is an effective novena. My wife and I plus a small group prayed this Novena for Justice to be done in regards to Bertha Bugarin the owner of the CLINICA MEDICA abortion mill chain. On the final day of the the novena Bertha was arrested in a Los Angeles courtroom , brought to San Diego in shakles and paraded before the local television stations. And the most notorious abortion mill chain in California was eliminated…
Yours in Christ through Mary
Here are links and pictures that detail this story:
Unlicensed Abortionist Bertha Bugarin Arrested And Jailed After Botched Abortion Victims Come Forward
Fernando Bertelli: Battle of Lepanto (1571), Venedig 1572
The Holy League was outfitted with around 208 galleys; while the Turks had nearly 300. Click here to find out more about the Battle of Lepanto which the Christians won despite the odds against them.
I believe that millions are praying fervently for this elections. My hope for this election is in God and with this in mind I would like to make everyone aware of a Novena to Our Lady of Victory that Father Corapi is promoting. Click here to read his entire text. (It is a flyer from Father Corapi’s website that can be handed out to promote this Novena.) Below is Father Corapi’s explanation of this feast day and it’s significance for our times.
“Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.
Today we have a similar spiritual battle in progress—a battle between the forces of good and evil, light and darkness, truth and lies, life and death. If we do not soon stop the genocide of abortion in the United States, we shall run the course of all those that prove by their actions that they are enemies of God—total collapse, economic, social, and national. The moral demise of a nation results in the ultimate demise of a nation. God is not a disinterested spectator to the affairs of man. Life begins at conception. This is an unalterable formal teaching of the Catholic Church. If you do not accept this you are a heretic in plain English. A single abortion is homicide. The more than 48,000,000 abortions since Roe v. Wade in the United States constitute genocide by definition. The group singled out for death—unwanted, unborn children
No other issue, not all other issues taken together, can constitute a proportionate reason for voting for candidates that intend to preserve and defend this holocaust of innocent human life that is abortion.”
With this in mind, Father Corapi is calling on Catholics to pray a Rosary Novena for the nine days preceding the election (October 27 to November 4th) to Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary.
Solemn Novena to Our Lady of Victory, Click here.
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El Greco Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple. The episode is described in all four Gospels: St. Matthew (21:12-13), St. Mark (11:15-18), St. Luke (19:45-46), St. John (2:14-17).
There is a scene in the Gospel, one of the most vivid scenes, one that probably scandalized many of the religious and secular leaders but was secretly loved by all of the little ones of the flock. I’m speaking about when Christ went into the Temple and overturned the money changers driving them from the Temple.
Bishop Martino of Scranton did just that last Sunday. He went into one of those Church forums that many of us detest so much where questions of faith and morals are debated. Often at parish events like this Catholics leave not altogether sure what the Church is teaching. At this particular forum some panel members were trying to make the case for it being OK as a Catholic to vote for the most pro-abortion presidential candidate in the history of our country.
And then Bishop Martino overturned their applecart.
“No social issue has caused the death of 50 million people,” he said, noting that he no longer supports the Democratic Party.* “This is madness people.” Bishop Martino also said that he had wanted to persuade Father Martin Boylan, of St. John’s, to cancel the forum.
After his comments, most of the audience stood and clapped loudly.
The forum had handed out literature from the USCCB that was ambiguous.
Here is what Bishop Martino had to say about that:
“No USCCB document is relevant in this diocese,” said Bishop Martino. “The USCCB doesn’t speak for me.” “The only relevant document … is my letter,” he said. “There is one teacher in this diocese, and these points are not debatable.” Click here to read his letter.
Some people might take issue with that statement but he is correct. In 1998 Pope John Paul II issued an : APOSTOLIC LETTER “MOTU PROPRIO” APOSTOLOS SUOS, ON THE THEOLOGICAL AND JURIDICAL NATURE OF EPISCOPAL CONFERENCES (1) 21 May, 1998 Here follows an excerpt:
20. In the Episcopal Conference the Bishops jointly exercise the episcopal ministry for the good of the faithful of the territory of the Conference; but, for that exercise to be legitimate and binding on the individual Bishops, there is needed the intervention of the supreme authority of the Church which, through universal law or particular mandates, entrusts determined questions to the deliberation of the Episcopal Conference. Bishops, whether individually or united in Conference, cannot autonomously limit their own sacred power in favour of the Episcopal Conference, and even less can they do so in favour of one of its parts, whether the permanent council or a commission or the president. This logic is quite explicit in the canonical norm concerning the exercise of the legislative power of the Bishops assembled in the Episcopal Conference: “The Conference of Bishops can issue general decrees only in those cases in which the common law prescribes it, or a special mandate of the Apostolic See, given either motu proprio or at the request of the Conference, determines it”. (77) In other cases “the competence of individual diocesan Bishops remains intact; and neither the Conference nor its president may act in the name of all the Bishops unless each and every Bishop has given his consent”. (78)
See also Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, 27 and The Code of Canon Law, canon 381.
*I imagine this is the reason that Bishop Martino no longer supports the Democratic Party. From the 2008 Democratic Party Platform: “The Democratic Party stronly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.”
This year the Catholic Bishops have really stepped up to the plate. First, around 50 Bishops across the U.S. came out and soundly corrected Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden when these two ‘Catholic’ politicians deliberately distorted the Catholic position on abortion earlier this year.
During Respect LIfe month this year many Bishops around the country are clearly speaking to Catholics about their voting choices this November. What they are pointing out is that abortion should be the most important issue as Catholics step into the voting booth.
Here are quotes from some of these Bishops – If you click on the Bishop’s name it will bring you to the entire statement.
From: Little Murders by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, October 18, 2008.
“I believe that Senator Obama, whatever his other talents, is the most committed ”abortion-rights” presidential candidate of either major party since the Roe v. Wade abortion decision in 1973. Despite what Prof. Kmiec suggests, the party platform Senator Obama runs on this year is not only aggressively ”pro-choice;” it has also removed any suggestion that killing an unborn child might be a regrettable thing. On the question of homicide against the unborn child – and let’s remember that the great Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer explicitly called abortion ”murder” – the Democratic platform that emerged from Denver in August 2008 is clearly anti-life.”
“I Thought You Should Know” By Bishop Robert J. Hermann Archdiocesan Administrator St. Louis Diocese (he took over for Archbishop Burke who was given an appointment in Rome this year.)
“The decision I make in the voting booth will reflect my value system. If I value the good of the economy and my current lifestyle more than I do the right to life itself, then I am in trouble. Pope John Paul II, in his Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici tells us: ‘Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights – for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture – is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination….’ ”
Joint Statement from Bishop Kevin Farrell and Bishop Kevin Vann to the Faithful of the Dioceses of Dallas and Fort Worth
“Therefore, we cannot make more clear the seriousness of the overriding issue of abortion – while not the “only issue” – it is the defining moral issue, not only today, but of the last 35 years. Since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, more than 48 million innocent lives have been lost. Each year in our nation more than one million lives are lost through legalized abortion. Countless other lives are also lost through embryonic stem cell research. In the coming months our nation will once again elect our political leaders. This electoral cycle affords us an opportunity to promote the culture of life in our nation. As Catholics we are morally obligated to pray, to act, and to vote to abolish the evil of abortion in America, limiting it as much as we can until it is finally abolished.”
Bishop Holley Calls on Black Community to Overcome Abortion
“As an African American, I am saddened by evidence that Black women continue to be targeted by the abortion industry. The loss of any child from abortion is a tragedy, but we must ask: Why are minority children being aborted at such disproportionate rates?
Many African Americans are not aware that since the Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion throughout all 9 months of pregnancy, the number one cause of death in the African American community has been abortion. We have lost over 13 million lives. To put that in perspective, it is one third of our present Black population. Since 1973, twice as many Black Americans have died from abortion than from AIDS, accidents, violent crimes, cancer, and heart disease combined.
As I noted in my recent Respect Life Program article, ‘A Reflection on the African American Family and the Culture of Life‘ (www.usccb.org/prolife/programs/rlp/holley.pdf), our legitimate commitment to other social concerns must not push the primary moral issue of abortion onto the back burner. It clearly must be at the heart and center of our discussion of the survival of African American people.”
A PASTORAL LETTER FROM BISHOP MARTINO, Diocese of Scranton, Respect Life Sunday
“Abortion is the issue this year and every year in every campaign. Catholics may not turn away from the moral challenge that abortion poses for those who seek to obey God’s commands. They are wrong when they assert that abortion does not concern them, or that it is only one of a multitude of issues of equal importance. No, the taking of innocent human life is so heinous, so horribly evil, and so absolutely opposite to the law of Almighty God that abortion must take precedence over every other issue. I repeat. It is the single most important issue confronting not only Catholics, but the entire electorate.”
From: Bishop Robert W. Finn, Diocese of Kansas City, St. Joseph Can a Catholic Vote in Support of Abortion? Oct. 17, 2008.
“When a candidate regards the unborn child as unworthy of the defense of law, then he or she asks us to join them in ignoring the lessons of history by which African Americans in this country were once regarded as non-persons; or the Jews of Europe were once marked for genocide or racial purification. Had we known, would we have supported the “choice” to enslave or destroy these brothers and sisters of ours? Can a candidate expect us as Catholics to ignore the classification of the unborn as non-persons? Will he or she expect us to look aside while these babies are quietly exterminated at a rate of 4000 per day? This is precisely what they are asking us to do.“
Filed under: Pro-life
Click here to see a great MSNBC video entitled
Palin Strikes a Chord with Special Needs Families
On a more personal level here is a very moving account I found on Creative Minority Report. Evidently, one of their long time readers sent the video, letter and photographs about her own experience with Sarah Palin at a rally. It is really worth viewing and reading.
Hi Matthew and Patrick,
I read your blog every day, and have loved your posts on the election and everything else. I comment every once in a while, and thought I’d email in my story of meeting Sarah Palin yesterday.
I’m an amputee, and have had a lot of health and mobility problems over the past couple of years. I just got a new leg, and am finally getting back on my feet. (Pun intended!) Even standing for fairly short periods of time was impossible without a lot of pain a few weeks ago. At the McCain/Palin rally in Virginia Beach yesterday, we stood for around eight hours straight, and I wasn’t any more sore than anyone else. But that wasn’t what made the day one of the happiest of my life.
Since we were the first people in line, we were able to rush like mad when they opened up the area around the stage, so we were only about six or eight feet from it. There was something I really, really wanted to request if I was lucky enough to meet Governor Sarah Palin. After the speeches, when Sarah walked down the stairs, my mom’s was the first hand she shook. People were already crowding in and shoving things at her to sign, and she started moving away. I was so disappointed, but Mom grabbed her hand and asked her if she would grant my request–to sign my leg.
She kept moving, and Mom said, “Sarah!” one last time, and this time asked her to sign my artificial leg. Heh. Sarah’s face lit up and she said, “Oh, yeah, okay!” My sister Libby got a picture of her right when she realized what Mom was asking and looked at me. I just about melted into a puddle. (That’s my mom in the left of this photo, not me.) (By the way, you know how they say people on TV and in magazines are airbrushed within an inch of their lives and don’t really look that nice? Well, neither does Sarah Palin: she looks better. I joked with Mom that if she were any more radiant, our eyeballs would melt right out of our skulls. Photos and videos don’t do the woman justice.) Here’s a link the video Mom took. It’s shaky and super close-up in some shots, because we were all smashed so close together. The camera’s focused on Palin’s waist some of the time, but you can hear what was said and watch most of it. It ends with a shot of Sarah’s back when she hugs Mom, then one of Mom’s hand, and then I think Todd Palin’s feet…ha. The only thing missing from the video was when she first came over. There were several Secret Service men (and one incredibly dour woman) on every side, scowling the way they do, so I jokingly asked her if her guys would pounce on me if I took my leg off and tried to hand it to her, and she threw her head back and laughed.
I thought she’d hurriedly sign one ankle, but she signed “Sarah” on one side, then flipped it around and signed “Palin” on the other. It was all I could do to keep from turning into a weepy, snotty mess–and I would have if I’d looked to either side and realized Mom and one of my sisters were crying. She gave me a hug. I stepped back into my leg, and she kind of leaned over the barricade thing to check it out, and said I looked beautiful and was inspiring. I just barely managed, “So are you!” before I started crying, and she said, “Thank you!” and then hugged Mom, too.
When I shared the story with some lefty friends, I said I couldn’t explain why I see a totally different person than a lot of them see when they look at Gov. Palin, and I didn’t particularly care to try as I didn’t want to argue. What I see is someone who radiates love and compassion, someone who reminds me of my mother and other wonderful women in my life, someone who makes me want to do great things. What I wish I’d been able to say to her is that the major reason I consider her a hero is the way she stands in stark contrast to the false compassion of our day, in which otherwise good people believe love means trying to eliminate suffering by doling out death like it’s the ultimate gift. Modern humanitarians think, “I wouldn’t want to live like that,” and they never have a chance to see that (as Gov. Palin said in her RNC speech) with a special challenge comes a special joy. Even when we can’t see those special joys right away, our faith lets us trust we will see suffering turned right-side-out someday. I would still be here if my parents had known about my leg before I was born, because my mother is a lot like Sarah Palin, and they both have a heart like Our Lady: wise and brave; one that “ponders all these things,” when “all these things” includes the promise “a sword shall pierce your own heart, too.” But thousands of babies with my condition and others–cleft palate, club foot, Down syndrome, etc.–never had the chance to live.
In response to people who said it would have been better if a certain disabled little girl had never been born, the great Flannery O’Conner wrote, “In the absence of faith, we govern by tenderness. And tenderness leads to the gas chamber.” If Flannery had lived to see Roe vs. Wade and its effects, I think she would have added “abortion clinic.” Flannery knew about pain, suffering, and disability–she died of lupus when she was only forty years old. She lived her adult life dying, and knowing it, and you know how she wrote about it? “I have never been anywhere but sick. In a sense sickness is a place…and it’s always a place where nobody can follow. Sickness before death is a very appropriate thing and I think those who don’t have it miss one of God’s mercies.” Sickness and disability aren’t one and the same, but they share that quality of being a place apart–and a mercy, if only we let them. I admire Flannery greatly–oddly, all of my heroines either died or were born in 1964–Flannery, my mom, and Sarah Palin. Or maybe it’s not so odd–I can’t help but think Flannery passed a torch. Feel (more than) free to share this if you want! 🙂
The Madonna of Port Lligat
(detail) by Salvador Dali
Do you remember the story Jesus told His followers one day about the rich man and the beggar at his gate, “full of sores”, named Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31). Both of them die, the beggar goes to Abraham’s bosom while the rich man goes to Hades. The rich man calls out to Abraham asking that Lazarus be sent to the rich man’s brothers to warn them to change their lives. The rich man cries out to Abraham: “…if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent”. Abraham does not share the once-rich man’s unfounded optimism.
Well imagine if an unborn baby were to speak words that our modern world could understand, wouldn’t that be enough? Wouldn’t today’s pro-abortion doubters – especially those who claim to be “Christian” – finally repent?
An unborn baby has spoken!
“Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
‘Sacrifices and offerings thou hast not desired,
but a body hast thou prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings thou hast taken no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘Lo, I have come to do thy will, O God,
as it is written of me in the roll of the book.'” Heb 10:5-7
In this case, the Unborn Christ prays to His Father. When did this occur? It occurs after the Incarnation, traditionally it has been understood to have occurred immediately, that is, at the one cell stage of Our Lord’s development. In a General Audience December 10, 1997, Pope John Paul II says that Christ spoke these words “at the very moment he enters the world“. At “the very moment” would be at the one cell stage.
Centuries before John Paul II, the great doctor of the Church, St. Alphonsus de Liguori, said that Christ spoke these words “from the very first moment of his entrance into the world”. The Unborn Christ refers to His body with respect, acknowledging it as a gift from the Father…but for what purpose? He states it simply “…to do thy will, O God.” In fact, He acknowledges that He has been sent: “I have come to do thy will…”
This Unborn Christ is the exemplar for every unborn child. No other unborn child will be a redeemer. But all are blessed with the gift of life and certainly called to do the holy will of God.
The Unborn Christ has spoken. He has revealed a key mystery about life to all who have ears to listen.
“Didn’t the Virgin Mary do the will of the Father? I mean, she believed by faith, she conceived by faith, she was chosen to be the one from whom salvation in the very midst of the human race would be born for us, she was created by Christ before Christ was created in her. Yes, of course, holy Mary did the will of the Father. And therefore it means more for Mary to have been a disciple of Christ than to have been the mother of Christ. It means more for her, an altogether greater blessing, to have been Christ’s disciple than to have been Christ’s mother. That is why Mary was blessed, because even before she gave him birth, she bore her teacher in her womb.”
From Mary, a disciple of Christ, St. Augustine, Sermon 72/A, 7
“So much can be gained by reflecting on the way Mary learned from Jesus! From her very first “fiat”, through the long, ordinary years of the hidden life, as she brought up Jesus, or when at Cana in Galilee she asked for the first sign, or when finally on Calvary, by the Cross, she looked on Jesus, she “learned” him moment by moment. Firstly in faith and then in her womb, she received the Body of Jesus and then gave birth to him. Day after day, enraptured, she adored him. She served him with solicitous love, singing the Magnificat in her heart.”
From: Pope Benedict, XVI in Poland May 26, 2006 VIAGGIO APOSTOLICO DI SUA SANTITÀ BENEDETTO XVI IN POLONIA (25-28 MAGGIO 2006) (V) , 26.05.2006
UNBORN WORD of the day 