Painful Regret

 This story is related by a Lay Dominican.  When she was young and dumb she had an abortion.  It didn't sit right with her, but life went on and she tried to get over it.  Eventually, she married a Catholic man who was very devotional.  By that I mean that he prayed the Rosary, went to daily Mass... you know the type. 

He also committed himself to do regular hours of Adoration.  This means he is   worshipping the Eucharist outside of the Mass. The Eucharistic Host is displayed in a monstrance on the altar so that all can see and pray in the presence of Christ.

He committed himself to going the same time, the same day, every week.  She didn't.  She is Catholic, but going to Mass on Sunday was essentially all. But one day, he couldn't make his commitment and he asked his wife.  This was fine and she went.

She knew she couldn't pray the whole hour, so she brought a magazine with her to read--at least it was a religious magazine. So, there she was sitting with Jesus in the Monstrance, snapping her gum.  Even though, there was no one in the chapel with them, she suddenly felt disrespectful chewing gum instead of praying.  She took it out and started reciting some prayers.  

I then witnessed a ring from the perimeter of the Eucharistic Host.  It started to glow.  I think it was beating, too.  Suddenly, a baby's face appeared.  Instinctively, I thought of my aborted baby.  I prayed.  I told God that I  was so sorry, so sorry.  The baby's face seemed to be crying.  I didn't know what to do next.  I questioned what I was seeing.  I walked around a bit and the face was still there. When another adorer came in, I watched her reaction.  She acted like she didn't see anything strange in the Host.  I left, shaken.
     In the car, I asked God, "What do You want me to do?"  As clear as if I am here sharing the story with you I heard, "You never told your baby you were sorry." Of course!  I said I was sorry to my baby.  I have never regretted anything so much.
     Next week, I told my husband I would do his Adoration for him.  To my surprise--same scenario--the ring around the Host and the materialization of my baby's face--but smiling back at me.  I was blessed.  I have been an Adorer, myself, ever since.

This story touched me.  I'm not an Adorer, myself, but when the next opportunity arises, I will go.

Rendered Speechless

 

                    How can anyone answer heart beats?  Each beat speaks volumes.

The pregnant women are holding amplifiers on their babies to broadcast their babies' heartbeats.

The Babe Unborn

I thought this poem appropriate for the March for Life in Washington, DC.  I miss marching there.   

 THE BABE UNBORN

by G. K. Chesterton

If trees were tall and grasses short,

As in some crazy tale,

If here and there a sea were blue

Beyond the breaking pale,

If a fixed fire hung in the air

To warm me one day through,

If deep green hair grew on great hills,

I know what I should do.

In dark I lie; dreaming that there

Are great eyes cold or kind,

And twisted streets and silent doors,

And living men behind.

Let storm clouds come: better an hour,

And leave to weep and fight,

Than all the ages I have ruled

The empires of the night.

I think that if they gave me leave

Within the world to stand,

I would be good through all the day

I spent in fairyland.

They should not hear a word from me

Of selfishness or scorn,

If only I could find the door,

If only I were born.

Should some politicians be excommunicated?

Should some politicians be excommunicated?: Q. The Church's Code of Canon Law (No. 1398) says that a person who procures an abortion incurs an excommunication. Do Catholic politicians who vote to provide abortions incur this same penalty?

Father Kenneth Doyle
Catholic News Service

This article in the Pilot describes why some bishops deny Communion to politicians.  I understand both sides but to me denying Communion is a publicity stunt.  The bishop and the politician need to talk privately and not broadcast the results of the discussion, certainly not the spiritual status of the politician.

Infanticide

https://unsplash.com/search/photos/newborn

The states of New York and Virginia have passed laws allowing babies to be murdered at 9 months in the womb, and possibly immediately after birth.  Now, these laws are coming to Massachusetts.  These are babies. 

House Bill 3320
     is "An Act removing obstacles and expanding access to women's reproductive health."

Senate Bill 1209
     is "An Act to remove obstacles and expand abortion access."  Current law would be dramatically changed by:
          (1) Expanding abortion access, including late-term abortions, during the nine months of
                pregnancy for virtually any reason.
          (2) Eliminating requirements that late-term abortions be performed in a hospital.
          (3) Eliminating the requirement that provides medical care to a child who survives an abortion
                attempt.
          (4)  Eliminating the requirement that a minor under the age of 18 have the consent of a parent,
                guardian, or the courts.
          (5) Expanding state funding for women who cannot afford the procedure.

What to do?

Contact your legislators, let them know you vote and you want them to say NO on Abortion Expansion.  Find your representatives at www.macatholic.org   Look for state senator and representative.  Members of the Joint Committee on Judiciary who will consider House Bill 3320.  Members of the Joint Committee on Public Health who will consider Senate Bill 1209.

Tell them that you want them to carefully consider the consequences that these bills would bring to the lives of babies, parents, families, and the citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  Urge them to oppose these extreme Acts.

21 Days for Life

Breakpoint is spearheading an initiative called 21 Days for life.  January 22 is the 43 anniversary of the passing of the law, Roe v. Wade.  This made abortion legal.  It doesn't matter that the Roe in this law, who is Norma Leah McCorvey (née Nelson; born September 22, 1947), better known by the legal pseudonym "Jane Roe", was the plaintiff in the landmark American lawsuit Roe v. Wade in 1973. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that individual state laws banning abortion are unconstitutional. 

She regrets being used in this infamous law.  And she is dedicating her life to overturn it.
I also, among others will pray to overturn this law.  That's the reason behind this prayer initiative.  It's the least we can do.  Start praying January 1st: http://www.breakpoint.org/21days 

Distorted Catholic Teaching on Sanctity of Life

Ads distort Catholic teaching on sanctity of life, says state conference: WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Ads appearing around the country  sponsored by a group "Catholics for Choice," are offensive.  If you are Catholic then abortion can never be a "choice."  It is murder.

Dr. Horatio Robinson Storer

This 19th C. Pro-Life Hero Quietly Saved Millions of Lives – Including Your Own     Click on this link to learn about Dr. Storer.  He noticed that most of the problems his female patients had were results of abortions.  Most of his adherents were Catholics.  He became convinced that life began at conception.

Express Your Outrage

A CALL TO ACTION! On July 8, the Democratic Platform Committee took a radical pro-abortion position in the draft platform. It calls for:

A. The promotion of abortion as a “core value” of Americans.
B. The repeal of the Hyde and Helms amendments prohibiting the use of taxpayer funds for abortions.
C. The repeal of reasonable safety regulations for the abortion industry.

Thus, the party has moved from a position of “safe, legal, and rare” to “unlimited and state-supported."

We are asking you to express your outrage in as many social media outlets as possible. Unless you speak out, the media and the party will not take notice!

So send out your personal message on Twitter, Facebook, and elsewhere. Emphasize the stupidity of this move, or quote US Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) who responded: “That’s crazy!”

Say things like: "Have you seen the Democratic Platform on abortion? Radically out of the mainstream! Are they crazy? Are they trying to run off voters?" Use the hashtags ‪#‎thatscrazy‬ ‪#‎openthebigtent‬.

Ask all the other pro-life friends and organizations you know to join the clamor in social media, spreading the word as far as we can about this affront to American values that is destroying the Democratic Party. 

Note: this is not Republicans bashing Democrats--This is a campaign promoted by DFLA and joined by all Americans who want to voice their opposition to this platform.

Eleanor McClellan

Tonight, my "cloistered brothers" and I listened to Eleanor McClellan.  This is the Eleanor from McClellan v. Coakley.  She told us her story.

In the year 2000 she felt moved to do something about abortion.  So she prayed.  She felt that she was just taking the easy way out and made herself go to an abortion clinic and pray.  Every week, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, from 9-12 she prayed in front of an abortion clinic.

Then came the day when one of the counselors was sick and she was asked to step in a be a counselor.  She had no idea what to do.  A couple walked by and she said, "Can I help you?"  They just looked at her as they passed by.  A few minutes later, the man came out to smoke a cigarette.  She said to the man that she wanted to help him if he would let her.  He looked at her and seemed interested.  So she said, "Go back inside and get your wife."

He did.

Eleanor was shocked.  Soon they both came out together and she said, "I'd like to help you, can we go somewhere to talk."  She took them to her house.  Once there, she telephoned someone to come talk to them.  The couple eventually was helped.  They had the baby.  He's eleven years old now and Eleanor gets a picture of him, every year.

This became her function--counseling.  Then, in 2007, Massachusetts passed what is known as the buffer zone law.  The pro life people have to stand 35 feet away from the doors to the abortion clinic.  This definitely hampers Eleanor's counseling.  She can't get close enough to counsel people.  Yet the workers in the clinic can.  Discrimination?

But the argument Eleanor and her lawyers are using is that sidewalks are protected places of free speech, protected under First Amendment rights.

Eleanor counsels consensually.  She doesn't hold signs or yell.  She quietly talks to people.  

The opposing side kept calling Eleanor a protestor.  The court objected to this label because Eleanor doesn't protest; she counsels.  

This is a counsel case, not a protest case.  And that's how it was left.  The decision won't be decided before June.

Pray with Fr. Gerald Souza for the Unborn

                            Fr. Gerald Souza urges people to pray with him, to end abortion.

Eleanor McCullen

I met Eleanor in prison.  That sounds like we're both inmates.  Maybe it sounds like one of us was visiting the other, who happened to be in prison.  None of these statements are true.  Eleanor and I are volunteers for the Catholic Chaplaincy, in a prison.  She is a Lay Franciscan, and I am a Lay Dominican.

Eleanor is an anti-abortion activist.  She doesn't throw bombs at abortion clinics.  She's not a violent activist.  She counsels the women going in to have an abortion.  She may distribute leaflets and educational literature, but she's not confrontational.

I'm requesting prayers for the success of her court case on Jan. 15th.  You see, the state of Massachusetts has a statute that prohibits anyone from approaching another person entering an abortion clinic, for counseling or educational purposes, within 35 feet of the abortion clinic.

This  Massachusetts abortion-clinic-entrance-access law prohibits “peaceful, nondisruptive antiabortion advocacy via the distribution of leaflets and oral advocacy at the very places it is most likely to be effective” .

This is a violation of the First Amendment's guarantees on free speech.  So far, this case, McCullen v. Coakley, (Coakley is Massachusetts' Attorney General) has gone as far as the Supreme Court.  Eleanor's case will be heard on January 15, 2014.  Pray for a successful outcome for Eleanor and all the innocent babies she has saved, and will continue to save, if she wins this case.  

Open Letter to Nancy Pelosi

This letter's message is too important not to share.  Please go to Fr. Pavone's web site, Priests' for Life, and fill out the form to tell Nancy Pelosi, to change her heart.

http://www.priestsforlife.org/pelosi/

Tuesday, June 18, 2013 

Dear Mrs. Pelosi,

      Last Thursday, June 13, you were asked a question in a press briefing that you declined to answer. The question was, "What is the moral difference between what Dr. Gosnell did to a baby born alive at 23 weeks and aborting her moments before birth?"

       Given the fact that the Gosnell case has been national news for months now, and that Congress, where you serve as House Democratic Leader, was about to have a vote on banning abortion after 20 weeks fetal age, this was a legitimate question.

       Instead of even attempting to answer the question, you resorted to judgmental ad hominem attacks on the reporter who asked it, saying, "You obviously have an agenda. You're not interested in having an answer."

Mrs. Pelosi, the problem is that you're not interested in giving an answer.

      Your refusal to answer this question is consistent with your failure to provide an answer to a similar question from me and the members of my Priests for Life staff. Several years ago, we visited your office with the diagrams of dismemberment abortion at 23 weeks, and asked the simple question, "When you say the word 'abortion,' is this what you mean?" In response, nothing but silence has emanated from your office.

      In what way is this refusal to address an issue of such national importance consistent with the leadership role you are supposed to be exercising? Public servants are supposed to be able to tell the difference between serving the public and killing the public. Apparently, you can't. Otherwise, you would have been able to explain the difference between a legal medical procedure that kills a baby inside the womb and an act of murder -- for which Dr. Gosnell is now serving life sentences -- for killing the same baby outside the womb.

          Moreover, you stated at the press briefing on June 13, "As a practicing and respectful Catholic, this is sacred ground to me when we talk about this. I don't think it should have anything to do with politics."

         With this statement, you make a mockery of the Catholic faith and of the tens of millions of Americans who consider themselves "practicing and respectful Catholics" and who find the killing of children -- whether inside or outside the womb -- reprehensible.

      You speak here of Catholic faith as if it is supposed to hide us from reality instead of lead us to face reality, as if it is supposed to confuse basic moral truths instead of clarify them, and as if it is supposed to help us escape the hard moral questions of life rather than help us confront them.

       Whatever Catholic faith you claim to respect and practice, it is not the faith that the Catholic Church teaches. And I speak for countless Catholics when I say that it's time for you to stop speaking as if it were.

        Abortion is not sacred ground; it is sacrilegious ground. To imagine God giving the slightest approval to an act that dismembers a child he created is offensive to both faith and reason.

       And to say that a question about the difference between a legal medical procedure and murder should not "have anything to do with politics" reveals a profound failure to understand your own political responsibilities, which start with the duty to secure the God-given right to life of every citizen.

   

       Mrs. Pelosi, for decades you have gotten away with betraying and misrepresenting the Catholic faith as well as the responsibilities of public office. We have had enough of it. Either exercise your duties as a public servant and a Catholic, or have the honesty to formally renounce them.

Sincerely,

Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life

Planned Parenthood, the Largest Abortion Store in the World

Is this what is meant by "shop till you drop?"

Suffering Children

Fr. Keven this morning gave a few words on today's Gospel, Mt. 19: 13-15.  This is the Gospel where Jesus tells his disciples to let the children come to Him, and He blesses them.  Fr. Kevin said that children are among society's most vulnerable.  And they still need protection today.  We still have child slavery, child porn, abuses, and neglect.

This led to my reflection on today's gospel.  I was reading "Our Endangered Species, A Hard Look at How We Treat Our Children," by Andrew Vachss and was given plenty of food for thought.  Vachss' article begins with an infant showing signs of suicide because he had no reason to live.

He was only an infant, and his mother was torturing him.

Yeah...when you start breathing again, Vachss explains how society has not advanced when it comes to parenting and protecting our most vulnerable.  It's shocking and it's true.  However I tie in the religious aspect.    While it is unconscionable to maltreat a child and helpless infant, is it not even more unacceptable to kill the unborn?  If we kill our own vulnerable babies, why does it shock anyone that we torture other innocents?

Another article, Vijai P. Sharma writes in Mind Publications, "How We Treat Our Children Says How Civilized We Are," gives a history of child rearing.  In prehistoric times, children only had one parent--their mother.  Fathers didn't have a role.  Gradually males came into the picture.  And once religion was introduced, then the human being was given dignity, because he had a soul, which was created in the image and likeness of God.  Gradually, over time more humane considerations were given to children. However, as Vachss points out, we have a way to go to protect all children.

I also think of how today the concept of family is being eroded.  With the political acceptance of same sex couples, what will happen to the natural idea of motherhood?  The traditional mother carries her infant in her womb.  Even in the history lesson that Sharma gives in his article, the mother was the primary natural bonding agent in the parent/child relationship, from the beginning of time.  Going through labor kicks in more than lactation. God created two species--why?  Think about it.

And if He created man and woman to be His helpers in creation, then that's the way it was meant to be.  Man and woman birthing their family.  Carrying this thread even further, then obeying God's commandments is the way to safeguard all mankind--especially our children.
   
I'll finish with a quote from Nelson Mandela, "There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children."

Jump! Jump!

The Arizona Republic had an article on the conflict between Bishop Olmsted and St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center.  St. Joseph's is the Catholic hospital that performed an abortion supposedly to save the life of the mother.  Perhaps you've heard of the controversy?  Yeah, ad naseum.  But in case you're cloistered and don't know what I'm referring to, go here for the story.  Thanks to http://themotleymonk.blogspot.com/.

I don't want to get into

• the pressure insurance companies put on doctors
• fear of litigation
• taking the easy way out
• the role of the media
• American mores
• whether of not the abortion was necessary

...and I really don't want to get into whether or not the Bishop is wrong, because he's not.  Either you're Catholic or not.  Fine.  Take the name Catholic off.  This is the Bishop's call.  Lump it.

What really bothers me are the people who are urging the Hospital Board to fight the Bishop.  The ACLU is attacking Bishop Olmsted for opposing abortion.  Commonweal urges the hospital administrators to stand up to the Bishop.  Some people question the Bishop's jurisdiction over a Catholic hospital.  I've even read that Rome needs to jettison "excommunications" from Canon Law because bishops have little credibility; the hospital needs to separate itself from the Catholic Church; the best thing the hospital could do is tell the Vatican to shove it; terminate all connection to the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix; fight the excommunication--the Bishop has no right to do this....

...yakty yak.  Reminds me of the type who stand on the street yelling at the man on the ledge, "Jump!  Jump!"

The heart wrenching exigencies that caused this predicament aren't even given consideration.

They just want blood.

Be Ready to Give an Account for your Choice.

I beg you to rear and nurture your children in the fear of God.  Be concerned not only for their physical needs but for the good of their souls as well.  Know that on the last day God will demand an account of them from you.    ~St. Catherine of Siena~

h/t for pic from Foreign Embassy

A Crime Against Nature

I'm in the car so much, that to keep me awake, or just to pass the boring down time, I listen to audio books. Presently, I'm listening to The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard. It's a mystery. The main character, the detective, is Gus Landor. He's investigating the "crime against nature." A young man has committed suicide. Crime against nature, # 1. Then someone stole the dead body and cut out its heart. Crime against nature, # 2. And I think the detective himself will commit suicide in the end. Maybe a crime against nature, # 3.

What depths of depravity mankind can sink! What about the ultimate crime against nature? If a mother "chooses" to murder her own baby inside her womb, she is committing THE ULTIMATE crime against nature.

What have we become?

Lord, have mercy on us.

Contact Your Representatives

This link gives a very helpful whip count of all House members believed to be unsure of their positions on the current health care reform bill. The list was published today in The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper of repute.

Now is a good time to increase the pressure on our reps to press for a health care reform bill that CLEARLY precludes abortion funding! Please contact them and ask them to support the efforts of Rep. Stupak of Michigan. He is working tirelessly for a clean bill in the House.

Mother Love

There's an article in the Boston Globe bemoaning that there aren't any abortion clinics in Brookline. In fact, (praise God) it's getting harder and harder to find a clinic to get an abortion in. The people in Brookline vetoed a clinic in their neighborhood, and the reason, according to the article, was not that the neighbors abhorred the very thought of mothers killing their own babies, but rather, it was the protesters' fault. They hold up disgusting signs, and intimidate with their chanting and prayers. The article concludes that abortion is legal and it's a shame that mothers who want to obtain an abortion, that is legal by law, can't.

Well, it's legal for people to spit on the sidewalk. We don't though because it's reprehensible. And that's what we pray for abortion to become. We pray to turn people's hearts to think that killing our babies is morally reprehensible. Abortion is a sign of moral depravity.

Just ask the people in Brookline, MA.