Thursday, January 29, 2009

I Thought You Should Know, By Bishop Robert J. Hermann - Auxiliary Bishop Archdiocese of St. Louis, MO

Following is an article from the Priests for Life website, posted here with kind permission. (Emphasis mine)

January 27, 2009

I was very edified this past Saturday to see the Cathedral almost filled for the Pro-Life Mass. Then to see such a large contingent, on a very cold day, make a pilgrimage to the abortion clinic, praying the Rosary for Life, was truly heartwarming.

At the very moment I am writing this, our new president, Barack Obama, is being sworn into office. We congratulate him, and we pray for him, but we cannot condone his pro-death policies, even while we are happy that so many people feel they have new hope. We must do everything we can to oppose his pro-death-to-children efforts.

Joseph Bottum, in an article entitled "Abortion after Obama," writing in the January 2009 edition of First Things, pages 13-15, tells us, "Now the 2008 election has brought us the presidency of Barack Obama, the most consistent supporter of legalized abortion ever nominated by a majority party."

When asked about making decisions as to when a baby gets human rights, President Obama answered that "is above my pay grade." He also stated that he would not want his daughters "punished with a baby."

He has made it known that, upon taking office, he will remove all federal restrictions on funding embryonic stem-cell research. He also intends to sign the Freedom of Choice Act. Seldom has our nation ever been confronted with such an extreme measure. The Freedom of Choice Act will invalidate for the entire country all restrictions on abortion before viability, including parental notification, waiting periods and partial-birth abortion bans. President Obama has no problem supporting legislation that would even kill a child who survived a botched abortion.

If at this stage our anger is directed at President Obama, our anger is misdirected. Obama is not the enemy. He needs and deserves our prayers, not our condemnation.

As Catholics, we are not guiltless. It seems to me that when President Kennedy compromised Catholic teachings and accommodated political pressures in order to be elected to the highest office in the land, he set the tone for many Catholic leaders to follow and to compromise their Catholic principles to get ahead.

In our Supreme Court and in our Congress, we have a plethora of so-called Catholics who are failing to live their Catholic identity. Over 50 percent of our electorate voted for a president who is one of the most pro-culture-of-death candidates from a major party to run for the highest office of the land.

Yes, we can thank one-half of our Catholics for bailing out on their faith!

After almost 50 years of having 50 percent of Catholics abandoning their Catholic identity, we cannot expect to turn this culture around by short-term political efforts.

In order to bring about a transformation from a culture of death to a culture of life, we have to restore our Catholic identity.

This means that all of us, as Catholics, have to undergo a profound transformation. It means that we have to take a good look at every facet of our Catholic life, including the serious study of life issues, the regular and devout use of our Sacramental system, especially the devout and weekly attendance at Mass, the regular reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the devout praying of the daily Rosary, and then the faithful, loving and firm witness to lax Catholics about our Catholic beliefs and practices.

We have to live our lives in such a way that we will be unafraid to witness to what we believe and live.

I may courageously say that I am willing to die to end abortion, but am I equally willing to say that I am ready to let my ego get ruffled daily for the same cause? Yet … that is where I need to arrive if I am to be a credible witness.

What a glorious opportunity we all have to make a difference in the pro-life cause. Until we are willing to be politically incorrect in order to be biblically correct, we will never convince anyone that our religion is worth living.

It does not take 100 percent of our Catholics to transform this country. If 75 percent of our Catholics were steeped in Catholic identity, the abortion issue would be over for our entire country. We have many, many evangelicals on our side in the culture of life. Look at how many more of them would flock to our side if we really lived our Catholic teachings! They, too, are looking for changeless principles lived out in practice.

But there is more! Our laxity in living our Catholic life has blinded us into not seeing the role of Satan in the culture of death. Satan is having a heyday in our midst, because he has managed to remain invisible in the culture of death, and our laxity has granted him that luxury. Since we are not steeped in the Word of God as we should be, we do not recognize his darkness in our society. Our first reading from Hebrews tells us, "The word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart."

St. Paul tells us that our warfare is not against flesh and blood but against the power and principles of darkness. He also tells us that we should not let the sun go down upon our anger so as to give Satan a foothold. These readings are wake-up calls for us all. I bring this up deliberately, because I do not want us to fall into Satan's trap of getting us to hate President Obama or any of the pro-choice Catholic legislators in Congress. Being pro-life means that we engage far more in spiritual warfare than in political warfare.

That Satan is very alive in influencing all of us is his best-kept secret. Becoming steeped in the Word of God and the teachings of the Catholic Church exposes his evil machinations.

President Obama, pro-choice legislators and Planned Parenthood are not our enemies. Our enemies are the invisible forces masked behind these people. Most of them do not have a clue that they are being deceived by our common enemy, the devil. They are used by our common enemy, Satan, and his evil forces, to get us to hate so that we, too, will end up in a culture of death. President Obama and all pro-choice and pro-abortion legislators, as well as members supporting Planned Parenthood (and we have in our own state a national legislator who has received over $900,000 from groups that advocate for abortion rights) — these are not our enemies. They are used by the evil one to get us to hate them in our efforts to be pro-life and thereby ditch our pro-life efforts. We cannot fall for that trap!

We owe all of them prayers and fasting for their conversion. At one point, Gov. Reagan was California's very pro-abortion governor. Yet he became a very pro-life president. He repented and regretted the evil he supported.

We must bravely witness against supporting pro-choice and pro-abortion candidates in political elections, but pray daily for their conversion

http://www.priestsforlife.org/magisterium/bishops/09-01-27-hermann-obama.htm

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Pictures of 1st Trimester Abortions and more

It is said that America will not rise up against abortion until it is seen for what it is. Since so many tragically accept and support abortion under the guise of "freedom of choice". The question is, freedom to do what? The following link takes you to a page that shows what this so-called choice is about; what it is so many claim the "right" to have to do.

... following are photographs of aborted, first trimester babies sorted by age in weeks.
Click the thumbnails to view them full-size. Many also include a pathologist's medical authentication.

www.priestsforlife.org/resources/photosbyage/index.htm

The following link takes you to a page on the same site with more detailed information.

www.priestsforlife.org/images/index.htm#galleries

There is also a link where one can hear the partial-birth abortion procedure explained to other abortionists ... You can hear the vacuum and the applause that follows the killing. Can you imagine being at such a place? APPLAUSE?! How does such a monstrosity of an institution exist in our society, or in ANY society??

If America can tolerate the evil of abortion, and the killing of helpless adults like Terri Shiavo who was not dying, then what other evil can be done with legal backing? God save us and the unborn.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

“Abortion Manifesto” ... submitted to the Obama Transition team

I received this email from Priests for Life, written by Fr. Frank Pavone. He said:

Dear Friend,

I’ve sent you this urgent email because a secret plan to impose abortion-on-demand on all Americans has been uncovered.


The secret document I’m talking about is an “Abortion Manifesto” that was submitted to the Obama Transition team. It’s 55 pages long and lists 54 objectives the abortion industry expects Barack Obama to sign off on during his first 100 days in office ... most of which Obama can do using his executive privileges.

Without question this is a nightmare for the unborn and confirms what Priests for Life warned voters would happen if they allowed pro-abortion lawmakers to gain control of the powers of government.

Unfortunately, just as our message was hitting home and people were heeding our warnings, the economy went into a tailspin. So instead of voting their pro-life convictions, tens of millions of people panicked and made a grave mistake. They put economic self-interest above their duty to protect the sanctity and dignity of innocent human life.

The consequence of that terrible decision is the top secret “Abortion Manifesto” document that’s now in the hands of the Obama Transition Team.

I’ve gone through the “Abortion Manifesto” and I can assure you that it is both frightening in its scope and diabolical in its purpose.

... a powerful coalition of 33 rabid pro-abortion groups have signed on to the “Abortion Manifesto” and will spare no expense to see this diabolical agenda passed.

And the current leadership of the “Abortion Congress” will be only too willing to go along.

As will Barack Obama. After all:

  • He voted against legislation that would save the lives of innocent babies who were born alive in botched abortions ... not once but THREE TIMES!!!

  • He promised Planned Parenthood that his first action as President would be to sign the “Freedom of Choice Act” – which is on page 15 of the “Abortion Manifesto.”

  • And he is the man Archbishop Charles Chaput calls “the most committed ‘abortion-rights’ presidential candidate of either major party since the Roe v. Wade abortion decision in 1973.”With all that going against them, how will our unborn brothers and sisters survive? Who will protect them? Who will give of themselves and stand up to these pro-abortion extremists?

Fr. Pavone said much more in his letter but these are some highlights I wanted to share. I wonder why Barack Obama vote against legislation that would save the lives of innocent babies who were born alive in botched abortions. I heard him say in a debate that he wouldn't vote for legislation that didn't take into consideration the health of the mother. But I ask: When the baby who is born alive in a "botched abortion" is outside of the mothers womb, and she is still alive... at that point, how does it negatively affect the mother's health to save that baby's life???

In any case though, shouldn't parents be willing to die for their children? But I pose the above question to show how unreasonable the pro-abortion mentality is.

To find out more about Priests for Life go to: www.priestsforlife.org

Monday, January 12, 2009

A message from Fr. Frank Pavone

Hi everyone,

I received this email from Fr. Frank Pavone which I thought would be good to share here. Fr. Pavone says:


Ten days to go, and we will again mobilize women who regret their abortions and men who facilitated abortions. They will stand in front of the vast crowd in Washington DC gathered for the March for Life. They will stand publicly, holding signs saying “I Regret My Abortion” and “I Regret Lost Fatherhood.”

They will be the voice that greets the new Presidential Administration and the new Congress!

Would you please help us get as many such people together as possible? There are two ways you can do that.

1. Invite anyone you know who has lost a child to abortion to join the Silent No More Awareness Campaign. This does not mean they have to “go public.” It simply means that they let themselves be counted as someone who regrets the so-called “choice” of abortion. The place to go is www.SilentNoMoreAwareness.org/join.

2. Join in a teleseminar tomorrow night, Tuesday January 13, from 9 to 10pm Eastern Time, to hear from the co-founders of this campaign, which is the largest mobilization of post-abortion men and women in history. Janet Morana and Georgette Forney will guide and inspire us regarding how to grow this campaign even more. Go to www.SilentNoMoreAwareness.org/conferencecall/index.aspx to sign up.

Monday, January 5, 2009

2009 March for Life

The following is from the website of the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH)

Brothers,
The 2009 March for life will be held on Thursday January 22nd in Washington DC. I will be posting details about all of the events surrounding the March on this page, and updating it whenever new details emerge, in order to keep you well informed. Please join us this year, as we make clear to our Government officials that our committment to the Cause of Life Remains strong and steadfast.

Yours in our motto, Matt NelliganNational Pro-Life Chair

Read more for further information: http://aoh.com/pages/national_programs/pro_life/march_for_life_2009.html

An Open Letter to President-Elect Obama on Behalf of All Ohio Parents

Hi everyone. I've posted about the FOCA on my Blog before, but I feel it's important to continue helping to get this out there for people to be aware of. I encourage you to share this with others and to sign the petition on the Fight FOCA website.

Exceprts from the Open Letter to President-Elect Obama follow, plus a link to the whole letter on the FOCA website.

Dear President-Elect Obama,

A 14-year-old girl walked into a Planned Parenthood clinic in Cincinnati, accompanied by her soccer coach, John Haller. He was 21 years old and had initiated sexual activity with the girl when she was 13. Now that she was pregnant, Haller wanted her to have an abortion.

Rather than calling the parents as required under Ohio law, Planned Parenthood called the soccer coach’s cell phone and failed to verify he was the parent.

President-Elect Obama, why do you oppose these parental involvement laws that protect our children from sexual abuse?

Read more... http://www.fightfoca.com/open-letter/
Sign the Fight FOCA Petition - http://www.fightfoca.com/