Monday, January 31, 2011

This saint called the Eucharist the "medicine of immortality"

               February 1 -- St. Ignatius of Antioch

St. Ignatius of Antioch, as a disciple of St. John the Evangelist, believed his writings in the Apocalypse that the Church on earth should resemble Heaven as closely as possible. 

To this end, he instituted the practice of singing in Church as he had seen heavenly choirs in a vision.  Being a good shepherd of his flock, he protected his people from persecution by prayer and fasting.  For forty years, St. Ignatius continued his stand against apostasy in this way.

Finally, he was arrested and brought before the emperor who chided him: " Who are you, poor devil, to set our commands at naught?" "Call not poor devil, one who bears God within him," St. Ignatius answered. 

The emperor tried all means to persuade Ignatius to deny Christ but received the following answer: "What could such honors matter to me, a Christian, who offers every day a sacrifice of praise to the One True God and am ready to offer myself to Him." St. Ignatius gained the crown of martyrdom in the year 108 A.D.

"Call not poor devil, one who bears God within him."  St. Ignatius called the Eucharist the "medicine of immortality".

We, Catholics, have this medicine readily available to us. Do we realize Its healing balm? Do we realize Its ability to strengthen our poor souls? Do we appreciate God's Goodness in such a Gift?

Let us pray to St. Ignatius of Antioch for his understanding of this Celestial Remedy so that we may be nourished with the spirit of the martyrs and be willing to die for Christ rather than deny Him.

Why conservative America should not follow Socialist Europe

There are certain healthy fibers of the American soul that are diametrically opposed to Socialism, and to everything that comes along with the Socialist mindset.

Perhaps it is better to refer to the Socialist personality, rather than to the Socialist mindset.  This is because Socialism, once accepted, permeates every aspect of the person.  So the personality is more profound than the mindset.

This is well explained in the booklet Exposing Socialism: The Errors of Russia, by Luis and Gustavo Solimeo. 

You can download a free copy here:

http://www.americaneedsfatima.org/Protests/e0123-errors-of-russia-pdf.html

However, after this excellent booklet was written, other more recent aspects of the Socialist personality in Europe have surfaced, such as described in this article:

http://www.dakotavoice.com/2011/01/homosexual-war-on-normalcy-spreading/

SAY NO to the blasphemous Jerry Springer: The Opera at the Beck Center for the Arts

Please join America Needs Fatima in a Rosary of Reparation outside the Beck Center on Friday, February 18th, against the blasphemies in the play Jerry Springer: The Opera.

             Way of the Cross

The “opera” defies description in detail since it contains so much nudity and blasphemous content.  Some examples include:

  • The crucifixion is mocked and the Eucharist is trashed
  • There is a lady singing “Jerry eleison” (mocking the Mass: Kyrie Eleison)
  • Jesus is introduced as “the hypocrite son of the fascist tyrant on high.” He wears a diaper, is fat and effeminate and later admits: “Actually, I am a bit gay.”
  • Eve gropes Jesus in a manner too indecent to describe while the Annunciation is described as a rape.
  • God is a fat man in a white suit who complains about being blamed for everyone’s problems. He invites Jerry Springer to join Him to “sit in Heaven beside me, hold my hand and guide me.” At the end, Jerry emerges as the true savior of mankind.

Throughout its history, the “opera” has earned its blasphemous reputation. In London, the debut was the subject of a libel suit for defaming Christians. When it was to be aired on the BBC, it drew more than 60,000 complaints. In face of such insults to the Faith, Catholics cannot remain silent. Please attend the public act of reparation:

Date: Friday, February 18

Time: 6-8:00 PM

Place: Beck Center for the Arts

17801 Detroit Ave, Lakewood, OH 44107

(Intersection with Webb Ave.)

For directions and information, please call Edward Ritchie at 717-632-3596.

Can't the Pro-Life American Be Treated with Civility?

About the only thing more certain than the fact that hundreds of thousands of pro-life Americans go out into the streets nationwide every January 22 is the fact that the official establishment media will ignore or belittle their efforts.

As activists nationwide gather on the date of the fateful Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, they know they will not get a fair hearing. If media do print stories, they will generally minimize the numbers and passion of those who brave cold winter weather to appear in Washington and other capitals. Reporters will always find a few pro-abortion counter-protesters amid the pro-life throngs to present disproportionally “both sides” of the story.

More often than not however, the media will simply ignore this groundswell of Americans who enter the public square to voice their concerns. It is as if there is an unwritten rule that this story be forever unwritten.

Such treatment speaks volumes of the state of the nation. There has been much talk about a lack of civility in our society. The blame has curiously been shifted to a lack of public discourse.

Yet, the March for Life and other such rallies are healthy expressions of a desire for public discourse. These are striking manifestations of Americans asking for a voice in the public square.

This huge movement has converged upon Washington for 38 years, for example, without a single incident of violence in its whole history. With the greatest of civility, participants have been courteous, compassionate and prayerful. At similar peaceful events all across the country we see a cross-section of every major group in America–all without any violent rhetoric. They are ever younger and more enthusiastic. They are as American as apple pie.

All they ask for their effort is a fair hearing–a voice in the debate, some recognition and respect for their great efforts. They want the other side of the issue to be told. All they receive from most official media is to be ignored, belittled if not scorned. Pro-life Americans are blamed for creating a climate of hostility and hate for the “crime” of merely disagreeing with establishment media on these issues.

They are unjustly condemned as guilty by association when crazed individuals (with leftist anarchist views) like Jared Loughner fire upon a crowd. That is to say, the pro-life American is treated like a second-class citizen without any civility in this one-sided debate which hardly qualifies as discourse.

California abortionist who killed woman will surrender his license

by John Jalsevac

SACRAMENTO, California, January 28, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) — The Medical Board of California has made an agreement with troubled abortionist Andrew Rutland to surrender his medical license on February, 11, 2011, ending a long and sordid career.

“This decision was many years in coming,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman, whose group has closely followed the case of Rutland. “It is a victory for women and babies who will never have to be subjected to his shoddy, back-alley practices.”

Rutland was first licensed in California in 1973. His license was revoked in 2002 after two babies died due to his negligence. At that time he was also charged with frightening women into agreeing to unnecessary hysterectomies, botching surgeries, lying to patients, falsifying medical records, over-prescribing painkillers and having sex with a patient in his office.

In 2007, Rutland reapplied and was granted a new license.

“This was a huge mistake by the board,” said Newman. “It ended up costing one woman her life.”

The board aggressively pursued Rutland after 30-year-old Ying Chen died from a reaction to anesthesia at a dirty San Gabriel acupuncture clinic in August, 2009. The board attempted to suspend Rutland’s license on an emergency basis, but a judge instead ordered Rutland not to commit surgical abortions while allowing him to continue prescribing the abortion pill.

However, Operation Rescue subsequently caught Rutland offering abortion appointments and reported him to the Medical Board.

In June of last year, the medical examiner reclassified Chen’s death as a homicide. The board filed an amended complaint, charging that Rutland did not adequately secure Chen’s consent for a second trimester abortion or recognize the severity of her condition. He attempted the abortion at an unsafe facility that did not have proper emergency equipment or trained staff, and did not call 911 when he should have.

Rutland has not been criminally charged; in his surrender agreement, he did not admit to guilt on the homicide count. The District Attorney told reporters that a criminal case is under investigation.

This news comes on the heels of the arrest of Kermit Gosnell and nine of his employees for murder and other violations of the law of an eerily similar nature to Rutland’s.

“The political climate that has shielded abortions for decades is changing. Boards and prosecutors who once yawned at allegations of abortion abuses are now turning a keen eye toward them,” said Newman. “These cases send a strong message to abortionists everywhere that they are no longer above the law.”

January 31 -- St. John Bosco

In 1817, the father of St. John Bosco died when he was only two years old.  His mother, Mama Margarita, now had to support her three young children alone. Therefore, John had to work in the fields and take odd jobs to make ends meet, putting off his hopes of becoming a priest. 

Fortunately, in 1835, with the help of a kindly priest, he entered the seminary where his wit and good memory were sought after for various parish offices.

One day, St. John struck up a friendship with a young boy who was being treated poorly. His kindly way and interesting stories attracted other boys and soon an "oratory" was formed to educate young boys in the Faith. Parents would do well to follow the advice of St. John in raising children: Weakness of character is derived from misguided kindness.

Parents tend to give too much attention to precocious talents of their children. This is turn develops an intelligent child without forming his will or tempering his character. The entire edifice of education should stand on the pillars of frequent reception of the sacraments, praying the rosary, knowledge of the catechism and the good example of superiors.

Although St. John and his mother, Mama Margarita, worked untiringly for the good of souls, there were many who wanted to terminate their good and holy work. Several attempts were made to kill him including a near stabbing, a bludgeoning, and a shooting.

A factor in all of this could have come from circles in Italy that were following the evil ideas of Rousseau and Voltaire who wanted to end the primacy of the Papacy, which was a principle that St. John would have given his life to uphold.  Some biographers also include those who adhered to the Waldensian heresy to be enemies of our saint.

Notwithstanding all of this difficulty , danger and opposition, St. John founded the Salesian Order which, at the time of his death in 1888,  had 250 houses all over the world. Along with St. Maria Mazzarello, he also founded the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians for young girls.

St. John Bosco knew very well the importance of proper education of our youth and consequently the salvation of souls.  Let us ask Mary, Help of Christians to understand the importance of true Catholic education and to endeavor to study the methods of the saints in attaining it.

Go to see how the methods of St. John Bosco are applied in a real school setting go to: www.montfortacademy.edu

Sunday, January 30, 2011

So far, over 18,000 protests sent to Beck Center for blasphemous Jerry Springer show – please keep at it!

A recent report in the Plain Dealer newspaper out of Cleveland Ohio, says the Beck Center for the Arts in Lakewood, Ohio, has already received more than 18,000 e-protests from around the USA and the world against the blasphemous Jerry Springer:The Opera show, which is scheduled to open at that center on February 18th at 8PM.

See full media story here:

http://www.cleveland.com/onstage/index.ssf/2011/01/jerry_springer_the_opera.html

(Caution when accessing; this is a not a Catholic site.)

There will be a prayer vigil and rosary of reparation in front of the Beck Center for the Arts on Friday, Feb. 18th, at 6PM.

Please spread the word.

Abortionist formally charged for involvement in illegal abortion ring

by John Jalsevac

BALTIMORE, Maryland, January 28, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) — The Maryland State Board of Physicians has issued formal charges against Utah abortionist Nicola Riley, an associate of illegal late-term abortionist Steven Chase Brigham, reports the pro-life organization Operation Rescue. Riley’s next hearing is scheduled for April 6, 2011.

In a document filed last week, the Medical Board charges Riley with fraudulently attempting to obtain a medical license, unprofessional conduct, aiding an unqualified person in the practice of medicine, and lying on her medical board license application.

Riley’s Maryland medical license was suspended last September after she botched a late-term abortion on a woman at Brigham’s secret illegal abortion clinic in Elkton. Brigham would ferry women already in the throes of labor to this Maryland clinic from New Jersey, where late-term abortions are illegal.

After Riley perforated the client’s uterus and pulled out part of her intestine, she reportedly first contemplated wheeling the semi-conscious woman to the emergency room two blocks away in a wheelchair, but instead persuaded Brigham to drive them there in his private vehicle. Once at the hospital, Riley’s suspicious behavior further delayed emergency care for the woman, who was later airlifted to Johns Hopkins University Medical Center in Baltimore for emergency surgery.

Police were notified and raided Brigham’s Elkton clinic where they found 35 bodies of illegally aborted late-term babies; the medical records related to those abortions were not found.

Riley could still be charged criminally in Maryland and New Jersey.

The Board also details how Riley lied about a previous felony conviction in order to fraudulently obtain licensure in Maryland. The abortionist attempted to lead the board to believe that she only failed to report a credit card and identity theft ring that was being conducted by enlisted men under her command while serving in the U.S. Army at Ft. Collins, Colorado.

However, Riley’s records from the Army, which were obtained by Operation Rescue, indicate that Riley would access names and social security numbers of personnel through her normal duties, then would use that information to fill out credit card applications at nearby jewelry stores. Riley would use the fraudulent credit line to procure thousands of dollars of merchandise. Riley was convicted and served over a year at Ft. Leavenworth Military Prison in Kansas, after which she was dishonorably discharged.

Riley attempted to conceal the true nature of her crimes by telling the Board that her military records were sealed due to her “top secret security clearance,” which she never had, and by indicating that her records were lost in a fire.

The Medical Board also discovered that Riley lied to gain acceptance at the University of Utah Medical School after her conviction. Riley stated on her application that she completed her tour of duty in 1992 and “left the military with numerous decorations, a multitude of experiences, and friends spanning the globe.” She never mentioned that part of her “multitude of experiences” included a year of incarceration in a federal military prison.

Remarkably, in spite of having been declared a danger to the public, Riley continues to abort babies in Utah.

“We call on the University of Utah to strip Riley of her fraudulently obtained medical degree. We have already filed a complaint with the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing asking for a suspension of her Utah medical license based on Maryland charges. Their slowness in acting to protect women is disturbing,” said Troy Newman, the head of Operation Rescue.

Health worker threatened with sack for sharing abortion views reinstated

by Hilary White

LONDON, January (LifeSiteNews.com) – Margaret Forrester, a Christian mental health worker who was threatened with firing after discussing the harms of abortion with co-workers, has been reinstated at her job. 

The 39-year-old Forrester was suspended from her job with National Health Service just before Christmas after she told colleagues privately that she was worried women considering abortion were not being given full information on the impact of the procedure.

She gave colleagues a booklet containing testimonies from women who had struggled with post-abortion syndrome. Forrester was later called before her superiors and suspended for “distributing materials some people may find offensive.”

The Christian Legal Centre (CLC) reports that she has now been offered a better position, and has accepted.

Forrester said she was “pleased,” saying it is a “victory for freedom of speech.”

“It was incredible that I was suspended in the first place, just because I expressed a personal opinion,” she said. “I should be able to express my opinion privately without fear and act freely in good conscience.”

Andrea Minichiello Williams, barrister and Chief Executive of the CLC, said the case is just another example of a worrying trend of official intolerance against conscientious Christians.

“The level of intolerance in the public sphere, demonstrated increasingly in public sector employment, is deeply worrying,” she said. “We hope that today’s decision by the NHS will help to reverse the tide of intolerance.

“Nobody wants to live in the kind of society where people lose their job for expressing a moderate opinion in a private conversation.”

Williams said that the lack of information offered to women on the long-term harms of abortion is “bad medical practice.”

“Well known research has confirmed that abortion can be harmful to mothers and there should be freedom to express that opinion privately and publicly,” she said.

“Women need to be able to make a fully informed decision about having an abortion, as it will impact their lives forever. They need to be made aware of all of the risks, including the well documented mental health risks.”

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Prayer of a Sinner to the Queen of Heaven

Most Holy Virgin Immaculate, my Mother Mary, to Thee who art the Mother of my Lord, the Queen of the universe, the advocate, the hope, the refuge of sinners, I who am the most miserable of all sinners, have recourse this day.

I venerate Thee, great Queen, and I thank Thee for the many graces Thou hast bestowed upon me even unto this day; in particular for having delivered me from the hell which I have so often deserved by my sins.

I love Thee, most dear Lady; and for the love I bear Thee, I promise to serve Thee willingly for ever and to do what I can to make Thee loved by others also.  I place in Thee all my hopes for salvation; accept me as thy servant and shelter me under thy mantle, thou who art the Mother of mercy.

And since thou art so powerful with God, deliver me from all temptations, or at least obtain for me the strength to overcome them until death.  From Thee I implore a true love for Jesus Christ. Through Thee I hope to die a holy death.  My dear Mother, by the love thou bearest to Almighty God, I pray Thee to assist me always, but most of all at the last moment of my life. Forsake me not then, until thou shalt see me safe in heaven, there to bless Thee and sing of thy mercies through all eternity.  Such is my hope.  Amen.

by Saint Alphonsus Ligouri

Arkansas Senate votes to exclude abortion coverage from Obamacare exchanges

by Rebecca Millette

LITTLE ROCK, AR, January 28, 2011 (www.LifeSiteNews.com) – The Arkansas Senate approved a bill yesterday in a 27-8 vote that will ensure no taxpayer dollars go to funding abortions in the state. 

Senate Bill 113, sponsored by Republican Sen. Cecile Bledsoe, maintains that “Health insurance exchange coverage of abortions in the state health insurance exchange [is] prohibited.” It will now go to the state House for a vote.

Under the new national health reform law, individual states are responsible for their own health exchanges, which will take effect in 2014, allowing states to opt-out of insurance coverage for abortion.

Senate Bill 113 contains an exception in the case of the mother’s life being in danger. Unlike some other similar state bills, it includes no exception for cases of rape and incest.

Women can purchase coverage for abortion outside the state health insurance, but such optional supplemental abortion coverage would be at the complete cost of the individual. 

“We just feel that the policy that we are putting forth, this opt-out of abortion, goes along with how Arkansans feel,” said Sen. Bledsoe, according to CNBC.  Citing the federal health care law, she said, “We’re not trying to do anything more than what we have been given the right to do.”

“This is about tax dollars and Arkansans have said overwhelmingly we don’t want to spend tax dollars on abortions,” Bledsoe told the Senate.

Republican Sen. Jason Rapert supported Bledsoe. “I think we’re here to protect and serve the interests of our constituents and not force their dollar to be utilized for something they don’t agree with,” he said.

Opposition leader Democrat Sen. Joyce Elliott said the bill needed amendments to include exceptions in the cases of rape and incest.

“Rape is nothing more than an assault,” said Elliott, according to Arkansas News. “Suppose you are a man and you are in the exchange, you get mugged and beaten, bloodied, that is an assault on you. You are going to be covered. But [an abortion is not covered] if it’s an assault on a woman who is part of the exchange, and she’s raped and she gets pregnant.”

Bledsoe said she decided to exclude exceptions for rape and incest from the bill because they were not included in the Arkansas Constitution Amendment 68 on abortion, approved by votes in 1989, to ban public funding for abortions in Arkansas.  Amendment 68 states, “No public funds will be used to pay for any abortion, except to save the mother’s life.”

Governor Mike Beebe said he would prefer that women who are pregnant as a result of rape and incest should be included in the bill.  However, his spokesman told Arkansas News Beebe would support whatever the Legislature approves.

Should the Arkansas House pass the bill, Arkansas will join Arizona, Tennessee, Mississippi, Missouri, and Louisianna, in approving such legislation.  Several other states are expected to consider legislation in their upcoming legislative sessions.

San Diego firefighters victorious in suit against forced participation in homosexual pride parade

by Kathleen Gilbert

SAN DIEGO, California, January 28, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Four California firefighters forced to participate in a homosexual pride parade in July 2007 are victorious after the California Supreme Court this week refused to hear the city’s petition to review an appellate court decision last year.

The four men, led by Fire Capt. John Ghiotto of the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, filed the suit against the city of San Diego for sexual harassment a month after a battalion chief directly ordered them to ride a fire engine in a lewd parade through the city streets. The men endured verbal abuse and come-ons, as well as overtly sexual gestures from the crowd.

“You could not even look at the crowd without getting some type of sexual gesture,” stated the original complaint, which noted that Christian protesters reviled them for joining the parade. Had the men refused, Ghiotto noted, the men risked being immediately suspended and stripped of any chance of promotion.

“As a supervisor I felt disgusted and embarrassed, that I had to subject my crew to this type of behavior.”

An initial trial ended in a hung jury in September 2008, before a jury sided with the firefighters the following February. After the San Diego attorney’s office appealed, the firefighters won again in October of last year, when the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate District issued a ruling strongly in their favor.

Charles LiMandri, the general counsel for the California branch of the National Organization for Marriage who represented the firefighters, told LifeSiteNews.com that his clients were “delighted” with the outcome.

“It’s an important case because it shows that if Christian or people of faith generally are willing to stand up for their religious beliefs, and refuse to be bullied by secular agendas, that they do have rights that can and should be enforced in court,” said LiMandri. “In this case those rights were upheld.”

LiMandri said that it also “sends a strong message to people about what these gay pride parades are really like.”

This saint reproached King and clergy alike for their sloth in defending the Faith

           January 29----St. Gildas the Wise

St. Gildas was born about 494 to a British family of high rank.  At a very young age, he was placed in a monastery in order to procure the best education possible. 

Early on, he distinguished himself in genius and in maturity of judgment so that eventually he applied himself only to the study of the science of the saints.  The more he read the greater became his virtue because he emulated the great masters of the interior life.

In addition to sacrifice and prayer, St. Gildas wrote eight canons of discipline and a severe treatise against the crimes of the Britons.  Although he tried all methods of saintly persuasion, a large number of Britons did not convert.  Consequently, God punished the lot by allowing the scourge of the Scots and the fierce Saxons.

Then, St. Gildas went on the reproach Kings and clergy alike for their sloth and lack of zeal in defending the spreading the Faith.
St. Gildas died in solitude in 570.

St. Gildas rightfully earned the title "wise" because he had the wisdom to understand how to defend the Church of God conforming his actions according to a variety of different circumstances.

Therefore, during his life he was a hermit, a preacher, a writer, a teacher, a rebuker of kings,clergy and laity, a monk and a missionary.  Let us ask St. Gildas for the virtue of his wisdom.              

Friday, January 28, 2011

URGENT PROTEST: This art exhibit shows a painting of bullet ridden Pope Benedict XVI called “Persona Non Grata”

Send your e-protest message against this exhibit.

On Friday, February 5, an art exhibit that includes a painting of a bullet ridden Pope Benedict XVI will open in Toronto, Canada.

According to press reports, the exhibit is called Persona Non Grata – The Veil of History and is intended to portray "the story of oppression, pain, suffering, persecution and death," according to a statement from the art gallery.

The Bezpala Brown Gallery said this exhibit expresses "anger directed at a pontiff and an institution that has abandoned its flock, choosing to focus on dogma while its subjects suffer and, in many instances, die from its archaic policies."

Persona Non Grata contains 30 paintings and four sculptures by the apostate Catholic Peter Alexander Por.

Instant e-protest message against this anti-Catholic exhibit.

On the other hand, President Obama is shown nailed to a cross, with the gallery saying he is cast as "a victim, crucified in the wake of special and distorted interests."

In contrast, the painting of the Pope is riddled with bullet holes.
How shocking!

Just imagine if the art gallery had shown the leader of some other religious sect in the same manner – what a ruckus would follow.

But they seem to take special delight in ridiculing the Catholic Faith. This is not fair.

So please join this peaceful and prayerful protest campaign against by sending your message to The Bezpala Brown Gallery in Toronto right away.

Send e-protest message against this anti-Catholic exhibit.

More contact information of The Bezpala Brown Gallery:
Mr. Darrell Brown, president
dbrown@bezpalabrown.com
Bezpala Brown Gallery
17 Church Street
Toronto, ON M5E 1M2
Phone (416) 907-6875

Website: www.bezpalabrown.com

Lyudmila Bezpala-Brown, Gallery Director
mila@bezpalabrown.com

Fariz Kovalchuk, Gallery Manager
fariz@bezpalabrown.com

Dubravko Naumov, Art Council Advisor
info@bezpalabrown.com

Eva Lewarne, Art Council Advisor
info@bezpalabrown.com

Canadian Blood Services seeks end to homosexual donor ban

by Rebecca Millette

OTTAWA, January 27, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A spokesperson for the Canadian Blood Services (CBS), the federal blood donor agency, told the Toronto Star yesterday that the lifetime ban on homosexual men donating blood is outdated and needs to be loosened.

The ban was put in place in 1985 after the Canadian Red Cross, in charge of the blood supply at the time, failed to properly screen donors. The result was that thousands of Canadians were infected with HIV and hepatitis C from contaminated blood.

The Public Health Agency of Canada reported in 2008 that homosexual men as a group had by far the highest rate of new HIV infections, 44%, and that 51% of people with HIV in the country were homosexual men.

“A lifetime ban extending by one year every year is just not sustainable,” Lorna Tessier, director of public relations at Canadian Blood Services, told the Star.

Tessier said that CBS is committed to working actively to shorten the current ban and find a more “appropriate restriction” to homosexual men donating blood after having sex with another man (‘MSM’).

CBS reportedly plans to conduct research with a $500,000 grant administered by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and to approach Health Canada for permission to loosen the ban.

“There have been lots of changes in the environment, lots of changes in testing (and) lots of changes on the international front,” said Tessier.  “We are committed. There is definitely no doubt about that.”

However, all challenges to the ban have been thus far rejected.  The ban made national news last spring and summer in the court case between homosexual Kyle Freeman and CBS. 

CBS had previously sued Freeman for lying about his homosexual conduct in a pre-screening process and giving blood despite the lifetime ban.  Freeman launched a counter-suit against CBS saying the ban on ‘MSM’ giving blood discriminates against homosexuals and he has a right to give blood under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In September 2010 an Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision upheld the ban in the case of Freeman, saying giving blood is not a constitutional right.  “It is based on health and safety considerations; namely, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne, sexually transmitted pathogens in the [men who have sex with men] populations, and the corresponding risk this creates for the safety of the blood supply system,” the judge ruled.

The court also noted that the Charter of Rights does not apply to the blood agency’s policies, because it is not a government entity.

Following the case, CBS chief executive officer Dr. Graham Sher praised the decision.  “It is important to understand, and as the judge affirmed, our donor selection policies have always been about protecting the safety of blood recipients, and the [‘MSM’] policy is no exception.”

Gwen Landolt, vice-president and spokesperson for Canada’s REAL Women, told LifeSiteNews.com that CBS is “spinning the wheel for no reason.”  “There has been no proof that people will be safe,” she said.

“It is going to cause a lot of confusion and a lot of problems with the public. Certainly it will undermine the credibility of the blood services.  Who wants to give blood and who wants to take it when you’re so uncertain of the safety?”

Today the Canadian Hemophilia Society (CHS) issued a news release that expressed concern about the direction CBS was taking.  CHS said that while they found that “blood, blood products and their alternatives are very safe and in sufficient supply,” CBS has taken a “giant step backwards” in accountability over the past year.

CBS by-laws, CHS reported, state CBS boards must have at least two positions filled by persons with “relevant knowledge or experience with organizations representing persons consuming blood and blood products.”  In the past, these positions have been held by persons with “very close links to recipient organizations and extensive knowledge of safety and supply issues.” 

However, the 2009 and 2010 Board renewal processes saw public directors named who have “no apparent links to recipient organizations and little knowledge of key issues from a recipient perspective,” according to CHS.

The organization said that the 2010 decision upholding the ban on ‘MSM’ blood donors “was welcomed by recipient organizations,” and that as a result of that decision, “decisions on screening procedures will continue to be made on the basis of the latest science and epidemiology.”

Xtra, Canada’s Gay and Lesbian News, reported today that CBS is now “backtracking” on the Toronto Star’s report.

Media coverage saying CBS wants to lift its homosexual blood donor deferral is not news, blood bank spokesperson Ron Vezina told Xtra.

“There is no change. It’s exactly what we said during the Freeman trial. We’re continuing down the same path. When the judge said a 33-year ban is unsustainable, we couldn’t agree more. But we need evidence to what we should change it to. Until we have an alternative, we’re stuck with it,” said Vezina.

LifeSiteNews.com did not hear back from the Canadian Blood Service before press time.

To contact the Canadian blood collection agency with your concern:

Canadian Blood Services
1800 Alta Vista Drive,
Ottawa, Ontario, K1G 4J5
Phone: (613) 739-2300
Fax: (613) 731-1411
Email: feedback@blood.ca

Groups with affiliates that advocate abortion shouldn’t receive Catholic funding: Bishop Vasa

by Patrick B. Craine

BAKER, Oregon, January 26, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Organizations with a “spin-off group” advocating abortion, contraception, or population control ought to be deemed ineligible for funding from Catholic organizations like the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, said Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker, Oregon this week.

“At some point, we must decide that their complicity with evil is too great, and we will not support them,” he said.  “Some people’s consciences may find some minor complicity acceptable, but for me, I believe that there are better places where our money can go.”

The bishop made the comments in an interview with Catholic World Report, after the announcement this week that he’s been appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Santa Rosa, California.  He discussed a variety of controversial issues that came up while he served in Oregon.

Asked why he would deny Communion to a pro-abortion Catholic politician, the bishop said, “It has to do with communion with the Lord.”

“You cannot claim a unity with the Church—a communion with the Church, a communion with Christ—when your beliefs, behaviors, and actions, particularly in terms of your pro-abortion stand, speak in absolute contradiction to that communion,” he said.

Speaking about the beleaguered Catholic Campaign for Human Development, he said he is concerned about how the Church in the United States interacts with elements in society that do not share Catholic values.  “It is one thing to interact with those who do not share our values, but it is quite another to financially support agencies, individuals, or agendas which are absolutely, diametrically opposed to our principles and values,” he explained.

The bishop also spoke about his decision to require extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion and lay catechists to make an Affirmation of Personal Faith.

After the diocese adopted the Charter for the Protection of Children, which aims to protect children from physical and emotional abuse, the bishop said, “it dawned on me that if we don’t do something likewise to protect children from spiritual harm, then we’re not really minding the flock as we should.”

“I wanted anyone who taught the faith or who is held up as a public witness for the faith ... to attest to the fact that they affirm and believe the basic teachings of the Church as found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church,” he continued.

“It’s a Creed, yet it adds what I consider to be those important moral issues some Catholics seem to have the impression they can openly and publicly dissent from without any kind of consequence,” he added.

He said his controversial decision to renounce the Catholic status of St. Charles Medical Center-Bend came down to the fact that the hospital refused to obey the Catholic religious and ethical directives, and, in particular, refused to cease performing sterilizations.  “I thought, here is another issue regarding adherence to Catholic teaching which led me to adopt the Affirmation of Personal Faith,” he said.

“How can I continue official sponsorship of a hospital which is acting on a belief system that is contrary to the Catholic faith? I cannot.”

Why pro-lifers are treated unfairly in a nation that prides itself on being fair and civil

About the only thing more certain than the fact that hundreds of thousands of pro-life Americans go out into the streets nationwide every January 22 is the fact that the official establishment media will ignore or belittle their efforts.

As activists nationwide gather on the date of the fateful Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, they know they will not get a fair hearing.

If media do print stories, they will generally minimize the numbers and passion of those who brave cold winter weather to appear in Washington and other capitals. Reporters will always find a few pro-abortion counter-protesters amid the pro-life throngs to present disproportionally “both sides” of the story.

More often than not however, the media will simply ignore this groundswell of Americans who enter the public square to voice their concerns.  It is as if there is an unwritten rule that this story be forever unwritten.

Such treatment speaks volumes of the state of the nation.  There has been much talk about a lack of civility in our society. The blame has curiously been shifted to a lack of public discourse.

Yet, the March for Life and other such rallies are healthy expressions of a desire for public discourse. These are striking manifestations of Americans asking for a voice in the public square.

This huge movement has converged upon Washington for 38 years, for example, without a single incident of violence in its whole history. With the greatest of civility, participants have been courteous, compassionate and prayerful. At similar peaceful events all across the country we see a cross-section of every major group in America–all without any violent rhetoric. They are ever younger and more enthusiastic. They are as American as apple pie.

All they ask for their effort is a fair hearing–a voice in the debate, some recognition and respect for their great efforts. They want the other side of the issue to be told.

All they receive from most official media is to be ignored, belittled if not scorned. Pro-life Americans are blamed for creating a climate of hostility and hate for the “crime” of merely disagreeing with establishment media on these issues.

They are unjustly condemned as guilty by association when crazed individuals (with leftist anarchist views) like Jared Loughner fire upon a crowd.

That is to say, the pro-life American is treated like a second-class citizen without any civility in this one-sided debate which hardly qualifies as discourse.

by John Horvat II

This saint put a wild bear to work like an ox

January 28----St. James of Tarentaise

St. James was a knight of 5th century Syria.  One day, he witnessed the martyrdom of some Catholics and converted.  Soon he traveled West and was ordained a priest after sufficient studies. 

His piety and zeal were such that he was consecrated bishop and sent to Tarentaise where the pagan populace received him with fervor.  Seeing this, St. James immediately set about the build a church to continue to spread the faith. Men gathered together to cut wood from the great forests and to transport it by carts pulled by oxen.

However, one day , a bear came out of the forest , killed an ox and started to devour it.  St. James addressed the beast: 

"I, James, servant of Christ, order you, o repulsive and untamed beast, to bow down your savage head in the name of the Lord. I order you to continue the work you have just interrupted and to take the place of the ox you have killed." 

Obediently, the bear put down his head and carried on the work of the ox.  When finished, St. James ordered him back to the forest, never to bother the town again.

This true story sounds very much like a fairy tale because we, in the 21st century are not accustomed to the ways of Divine Providence. St. James is given an extraordinary grace to talk to a bear and to make it obedient to his commands.

The faithful witness this miracle and understand God's omnipotence.  They understand that a servant of God who is totally dedicated to His Will, can make a wild beast totally docile through the action of grace. Did this not strengthen everyone's faith? 

This story, like the parables of the Gospel, serves to show us the supernatural presence of the time.  In the 19th and 20th centuries, God chose to send His Mother to visit special souls and to prove her presence by incredible miracles. 

Let us ask St. James to help to see the glories of the Catholic Faith  and to dedicate ourselves to its Cause.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Jesuits to hire former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold to teach at Marquette University -- Feingold favors partial birth abortion...

Sign emergency e-protest message to Marquette University

Catholic and Jesuit run Marquette University will hire former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold to teach a course about law and the US Senate in the spring.

Feingold's pro-abortion, pro-homosexual voting record as a US Senator is a public fact. He also approved partial birth abortion and voted against prayer in schools.

Is this who we want teaching the next generation of Catholic lawyers at Marquette University?

Sign emergency e-protest message to Marquette University

Among other things, Feingold voted NO on:

  • restricting UN funding for population control policies
  • defining unborn child as eligible for SCHIP
  • prohibiting minors crossing state lines for abortion
  • barring HHS grants to organizations that perform abortions
  • expanding research to more embryonic stem cell lines
  • notifying parents of minors who get out-of-state abortions
  • criminal penalty for harming unborn fetus during other crime
  • maintaining ban on Military Base Abortions
  • banning human cloning

But there's more. According to Pro-life Wisconsin:

"Feingold is hardly Marquette's first controversial professor, however. Two current Marquette professors are also on the Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin Board – Jacqueline Boynton and Daniel Maguire."

This is outrageous.

It's very troubling that Marquette would hire someone who publicly and consistently opposes Catholic teaching on key moral issues.

And it's time we voice our opinion against this scandalous, public and blatant violation of the Catholic sense.

So please take a moment right now to send an instant protest message to Marquette University.

Sign emergency e-protest message to Marquette University

Feingold's appointment seems to brush aside the words of Pope Benedict XVI to Catholic educators delivered at the Catholic University of America in 2008:

"Teachers and administrators, whether in universities or schools, have the duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice. This requires that public witness to the way of Christ, as found in the Gospel and upheld by the Church's Magisterium, shapes all aspects of an institution's life, both inside and outside the classroom."

Please voice your peaceful protest politely yet firmly:

Marquette University Law School
Joseph D. Kearney
Dean and Professor of Law
joseph.kearney@marquette.edu
Phone: (414) 288-1955

Marquette University
Fr. Robert A. Wild, S.J., President
O'Hara Hall, 101
P.O. Box 1881
Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881
robert.wild@marquette.edu
Phone: 414-288-7223

These pictures from the 2011 March for Life in DC are exceptional and unique

March for Life 2011 068

There were an amzaign number of young people among the 400,000 pro-life marchers in Washington on Monday.

March for Life 2011 171

America Needs Fatima had a special presence at the March with the Pilgrim Statue, honor guard, and large banners.

March for Life 2011 236

Each year, the March grows.

March for Life 2011 363

Our 30 member marching band plays lively music throughout the whole march to keep the spirits up. 

Belgian doctors harvesting organs from disabled euthanasia donors

by Rebecca Millette

BELGIUM, January 26, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Belgian doctors are not only harvesting organs from disabled euthanasia donors, but are publicly advocating the practice and setting down guidelines for it.

Doctors Dirk Ysebaert, Dirk Van Raemdonck, and Michel Meurisse, of the University Hospitals Of Antwerp, Leuven, and Liège, presented a PowerPoint presentation at a conference organized by the Belgian Royal Medical Academy in December, in which they advocate “Organ Donation After Euthanasia.”

Bioethics writer and lawyer, Wesley J. Smith, who drew attention to the presentation in his First Things blog “Secondhand Smoke,” said he has been expecting this “organ harvesting shoe to drop” for years. 

From mercy killing of the terminally ill, it is merely “a hop, skip and a jump to killing people who don’t have a good ‘quality’ of life, perhaps with the prospect of organ harvesting thrown in as a plum to society,” said Smith. 

In May, Smith brought to light an article in the journal Bioethics advocating organ transplant after euthanasia.  He said it was perhaps the first time the question of “organ donation euthanasia” was not simply asked, but advocated. 

He also previously reported the story of a woman in Belgium whose request for euthanasia and subsequent organ donation had been “accommodated.”  “The woman in question,” wrote Smith, “was not terminally ill, but in a “locked-in” state, that is, fully conscious and completely paralyzed.  She wanted to die – a desire accommodated by her doctors.” 

“I can think of few more dangerous activities then to convince people with disabilities – and society – that their deaths have greater value than their lives.  That pebble with which I was concerned has grown into a massive boulder that is generating tidal waves of harm,” said Smith of the recent public presentation by the Belgian doctors.

The December PowerPoint presentation lays out guidelines for organ donation in cases of euthanasia, saying that there must be a “strict separation” between the euthanasia request, the euthanasia procedure, and the organ procurement. 

The procedure must be documented with informed consent from the donor and relatives, write the doctors, and the euthanasia should be performed by a neurologist/psychiatrist and two doctors.  Organs may only be retrieved after a clinical diagnosis of death by three physicians.  Finally, physician and nursing staff should participate only on a voluntary basis.

Charts in presentation say that of the 705 people who died through euthanasia (officially) in 2008, 20% were people suffering from neuromuscular disorders, whose organs are of relatively high quality for transplanting to others.

The presentation concludes by asserting the potential of the procedure, that “organ donation after euthanasia is feasible” and a “strong patient’s wish to donate cannot be denied.”

Great, great grandson of Saint Louis speaks at Marian Conference – listen to the recording here

Imperial Prince Bertrand Orleans-Braganza is the great grandson 22 times removed from the Saint Louis IX King of France.  He spoke about Why Our Lady Cries at the Marian Conference in Saint Louis recently. 

You can hear the recording of his talk here:

http://www.4shared.com/audio/aUW2VKWe/Prince_Bertand_Marian_Conferen.html

He attended the annual March for Life in Washington DC on Monday, where he handed out fliers of the American TFP to the public.  You can see him below:

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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

This saint feared only one thing – sin!

                    January 27 -- St. John Chrysostom

St. John Chrysostom was born in 344 in Antioch.  In 374, he retired to live in silence to attain the art of conversing with God through contemplation. 

After six years, under the direction of his bishop, he preached to all who would come to hear him, sometimes one hundred thousand people at one sermon.  His eloquence fortified by a keen genius along with a soul dedicated only to Christ converted large numbers of pagans and heretics.

Although beloved by many, St. John had many enemies who were attached to their vices and thus, needed him removed from Constantinople.

After being banished to the desert, St. John told the hostile empress, “Chrysostom fears only one thing -- not exile, prison, poverty or death -- but sin."

St. John is not considered a martyr but his life had all the merit, attributes and glory of one.  St. Paul was the object of his admiration and of him he said, "The heart of Paul was the Heart of Christ."

St. John teaches us the importance of solitude and meditation.  In the quiet of his soul, God taught him the secrets of the apostolate, the sacred mysteries which unlock the grace to touch men.  Sheer eloquence is never enough to change man's heart, to convert man from pagan to Christian.

He also teaches us that nothing should be feared except sin.  And finally, his life can be summarized by his dying words," Glory be to God for all things.  Amen." 

Let us ask St. John for the grace to follow his example.

Evangelicals disappointed at lack of Catholic leadership on homosexuality push in Ontario schools

by Patrick B. Craine

HALTON, Ontario, January 26, 2011 (www.LifeSiteNews.com) - Evangelicals have expressed disappointment at the apparent collapse of the Ontario Catholic Church in the face of pressure from homosexual activists, who successfully lobbied a Catholic school board last week to scrap a pro-family equity policy that included explicit wording to prevent instruction that undermines Church teaching on homosexuality.

“It seems to me that [the Roman Catholic Church] is being co-opted before our very eyes, as illustrated by this recent event,” said Royal Hamel, an Evangelical minister.  “I view this with no small degree of alarm, ... because the Roman Catholic is one of the last few remaining bulwarks against the deluge.”

Phil Lees, a Protestant who leads Ontario’s Family Coalition Party and runs Public Education Advocates for Christian Equality (PEACE), which aims to help families make faith-based educational choices, said the Halton Catholic board’s collapse is a blow to traditional families in the public system.

Meeting in a room packed with dozens of homosexual activists January 18, the trustees at the Halton Catholic District School Board voted 6-2 to scrap a pro-family equity policy that had been passed in November by the previous board. The policy was targeted by gay activists over its ban of gay-straight alliances.

The day before the vote, the Chancellor of the Diocese of Hamilton said the issue should be handled strictly at the school board level.

“This is an issue entirely for the school board - the teachers, the trustees and the parents and all the parties concerned are those who have to make those decisions,” Monsignor Vincent Kerr, spokesman for Bishop Douglas Crosby, told the Burlington Post.  “It’s not a question of the bishop making a decision for a publicly-funded board; they should be making the decision themselves and standing by it.”

According to Lou Piovesan, general secretary of the Assembly of Catholic Bishop of Ontario, speaking to Canada’s homosexualist newspaper Xtra! last Wednesday, “The bishops don’t dictate to the school boards; they give advice.”

“This office has no jurisdiction over school boards,” he continued.  “The Bishops of Ontario give advice to school boards on various matters pertaining to morality and faith and religious education programs.”

Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto issued a statement on behalf of the Ontario bishops on January 14th, four days before the vote.  “The bishops of Ontario agree with a January 13, 2011 Globe and Mail editorial when it says, ‘It is not for the Church, by itself, to run Catholic education in Ontario,’” said the statement. “There are numerous partners involved in the formation of our young people, all playing critical roles in the educational journey: teachers, administrators, parents, trustees, government, etc.”

“In our publicly funded Catholic schools, however, as bishops it is our role to help to weave the thread of faith in our schools by offering guidance, as well as pastoral leadership and support, to our partners in Catholic education on a host of issues relating to the faith foundation of our schools,” it added.

Suresh Dominic of Campaign Life Catholics insisted that the Bishops have a special duty to ensure that Catholic education is faithful to the Church’s teachings, pointing to a 2009 instruction from the Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education.

“The whole Christian community, and particularly the diocesan Ordinary, bear the responsibility ‘of arranging everything so that all the faithful have a Catholic education’ and, more precisely, of having ‘schools which offer an education imbued with a Christian spirit’,” the document reads.  “Catholic schools are characterised by the institutional link they keep with the Church hierarchy, which guarantees that the instruction and education be grounded in the principles of the Catholic faith and imparted by teachers of right doctrine and probity of life.”

Minister Royal Hamel told LifeSiteNews, “I am very disappointed ... because for a long time what I’ve seen happening is that the only ones who have been willing to take a stand and hold the line for Biblical truth and morality with respect to this whole issue of homosexuality and what the Bible teaches has been the Roman Catholic Church.”

“It’s disappointing, and it’s going to make it even more difficult for families in the public school system who are asking that their faith be respected, and not be part of lessons that contradict our values,” explained Lees.  “The response from the public school system is ‘Well, the Catholic school’s doing it.’”

“I think it’s disappointing that we can’t get the bishops to really have a look at what the concerns are,” Lees added.  “They seem to be depending on the [Institute for Catholic Education].”

Tim Bloedow, executive director of ChristianGovernance, a think-tank dedicated to promoting public policy that aligns with Christian faith, said it was “disappointing” that the board “buckled to homosexualist pressure,” adding that this was “yet another example of how homosexualists use intimidation tactics instead of science and reason to advance their agenda.”

“How is the Catholic school board going to hold the line against sexual propaganda that violates the best interests of their students now that they have terminated their pro-family equity policy?” he asked.

“If Halton Catholic school board trustees are not prepared to provide the protection students need, then their parents should think more seriously about other options such as home schooling,” added Bloedow.
Former Halton Catholic trustee Joanne Matters, who was involved in passing the pro-family policy in November, expressed disappointment with the returning Halton trustees who switched their vote.  “I’m not sure what has changed for them except a storm of pressure and, quite frankly, bullying, from gay activists and their sympathizers, and folks who just don’t understand Catholic teaching in this area,” she said.

“I wonder about the relevance of a Catholic institution that caves to the popular culture whose beliefs and practices run counter to that which defines the Catholic identity of the institution in the first place,” she added.

LifeSiteNews did not hear back from the Diocese of Hamilton by press time.

The Conversion of St. Paul and the Conversion of the United States

         January 26---The Conversion of St. Paul, Part II

St. Paul was born a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin. Being a Roman citizen, he was educated according to the precepts of Mosaic law.  This learning led to his becoming a member of the sect of the Pharisees, which was among the most severe in practice.  Having an unusual zeal for all Jewish law, he became a blasphemer and a persecutor of all Christians, a terror of the faithful, inflicting death and privations on them.

On his journey to Damascus, St. Paul was struck from his horse by a supernatural light.  God touched him with a special interior grace and his heart was changed.  Now he was willing to suffer all for Christ and committed himself to fulfilling the will of his Creator.

It was the perfect example of a true conversion, the work of grace.   The corporal blindness that St. Paul experienced for three days was a true reminder of the spiritual blindness of his former life. It signified the importance of dying to the world in order to be totally mindful of heavenly things.  Self love was thus conquered and now the great mission that God had for him could be undertaken. 

St. Paul was continuously mindful of his wonderful conversion and never ceased in praising and thanking Almighty God.

As penitents, we should meditate on the supernatural graces that God gave to St. Paul and ask for a true conversion so that we may be used in whichever way God sees fit for His glory. 

In the case of Saint Paul, he went on to become the most successful of all the apostles in converting people.   In other words, the man who had so vehemently persecuted Catholics was the now the greatest apostle of the Catholic Church.

In the case of the United States, our nation has sadly been responsible for spreading the spirit of Hollywood all across the globe.  As a result, many nations abandoned their Catholic traditions to adopt the Hollywood way of life.  The wisdom of Catholic customs, traditions, and ways of being that were handed down from one generation tot he next were destroyed.  Like Saint Paul, the United States persecuted Catholics.

Also, like Saint Paul we can be converted.  And once converted, great things can be expected of the United States.  First of all,  we must launch a spiritual crusade to undo the errors we spread around the world.

Somehow, the massive March for Life in Washington DC on Monday, and the many other marches for life across America, are a spiritual crusade against abortion.  May it serve as an example for the world to also fight abortion in their respective countries.

May Saint Paul, with Our Lady’s assistance, argue the case of the conversion of the United States before the Throne of Almighty God so that we will receive graces and courage to undo all the evil we have spread in the world, just like he did in life.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Massive 38th March for Life Reflects Youthful Resolve to Stop Abortion

When activist Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL, saw last year’s March for Life in Washington, D.C. she was utterly astounded: “I just thought, my gosh, they are so young,” she told Newsweek. “There are so many of them, and they are so young.”March for Life

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Abortion advocates like Keenan must be uneasy with the "so-many-so-young" trend.  However, as leaders of the pro-abortion movement get older and focus on retirement, the pro-life movement is ever more youthful, numerous and vibrant.  And nowhere is the resilience and vitality of the pro-life movement more apparent than at the annual March for Life, where hundreds of thousands of Americans stand against the slaughter of the unborn.
On Monday morning, January 24, busload after busload of pro-lifers rolled into the Capitol eager to peacefully oppose abortion and roll back the culture of death.  Bishops, priests and religious were also there as parishes and schools came to protest the slaughter of the innocents.
As the march proceeded up Constitution Ave., its sheer size was massive.  The crowd – estimated at 300,000 – filled the width of the avenue from side to side and stretched into the horizon as far as the eye could see.  What a sight. 
Why don’t the major media networks give this any real attention?  The reason is simple:  Like a barometer, the march indicates that the pro-life movement is alive and well.  The liberal media would rather ignore this fact.
But marchers brave the cold not for media attention but to make reparation before the throne of God for the sin of abortion. Many recite the rosary.  Banners and signs fill the esplanade.  The event, so ably organized by March for Life president Nellie Gray, also brings together a veritable who’s who in pro-life America with cardinals and bishops, senators and congressmen.
TFP in Action
Tradition Family Property Student Action volunteers were present together with a large contingent of over 120 members, supporters and friends, who carried banners and eighteen-foot TFP standards and distributed this year’s TFP statement:
“Ten More Good Reasons to Fight Against Abortion.”
A TFP honor guard wearing the TFP ceremonial habit escorted the pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima. The student body of St. Louis de Montfort Academy of Herndon, Penn. was also present, and The American TFP was pleased to receive contingents from organizations in Italy (Voglio Vivere), Germany (SOS Leben), and France (Droit de Naitre).
As in past marches, the TFP’s Holy Choirs of Angels marching band played a selection of patriotic hymns and American marches. The ensemble included brass, fifes, drums and bagpipes, which were greatly appreciated by the passing crowds.
Student Conference
TFP Student Conference
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Students from all parts of the country gathered for a lively weekend of study, Catholic camaraderie and pro-life action at the 2011 March for Life.
Before the march, students gathered at the TFP headquarters for a two-day conference on the leadership role of Catholic men.  The seminar was honored by the presence of Prince Bertrand of Orleans-Braganza, a direct descendant of two crusader kings, St. Louis IX of France and St. Ferdinand III of Castile. 
A line-up of informative lectures sparked lively study circles and thought-provoking discussion.  “I really learned a lot during Mr. Gustavo Solimeo’s talk on the Dictatorship of Equality,” said Joseph Jordan, age 17.  “My generation is facing very challenging times, but after this conference, I feel well prepared to meet the challenge and fight the good fight.”
Rallies Multiply
The March for Life in Washington is the largest of many similar events held nationwide to protest the tragic anniversary of Roe v. Wade.  For the seventh consecutive year, the Walk for Life in California has been gaining momentum.  An estimated 45,000 participants attended this year. 
While many TFP Supporters, led by TFP member Philip Calder, joined this West Coast rally, for the first time, a Louisiana Life March also kicked off in Baton Rouge on January 22, which members of TFP—Louisiana were happy to support.
Persevering and Confiding
For the last 38 years, the pro-life movement has organized, protested and prayed. It has challenged the pro-abortion movement and put it on the defensive. What is needed now is confident public action to finish the task at hand.
As the TFP 2011 pro-life message states:
“With an unshakable confidence and determined insistence, we must continue our peaceful and legal fight against abortion.  It is with certainty of the justice of our cause that we have recourse to Our Lady who at Fatima added a final certainty that these evils will be overcome and we will see the triumph of her Immaculate Heart.”

‘Bullet-ridden’ Pope Benedict included in art show of ‘evil-doers’

by Rebecca Millette

TORONTO, Ontario, January 24, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Toronto art gallery is scheduled to exhibit an array of inflammatory works that include a picture of a seated Pope Benedict XVI riddled with bullet holes, alongside portraits of other “evildoers” such as President George Bush and Hitler. 

The exhibit, entitled “Persona Non Grata – The Veil of History,” by Toronto-based artist Peter Alexander Por, is due to open at the Bezpala Brown Gallery on February 5, 2011. It comes at a time that the United States has been plunged into a debate over civility in public discourse, following the tragic shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Gifford and several others in Tuscon earlier this month. Many commentators had blamed the shooting on violent political rhetoric, pointing to a map on the website of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin that had included an image of gunsight cross-hairs over Rep. Gifford’s district. 

Por’s exhibit, 30 canvases and four sculptures, also includes depictions of Pope Innocent III, Stalin, Mussolini, Kim II Sung, Pol Pot, and others. 

In a press release the gallery said that the “bullet-ridden” depiction of the pope is “a less than subtle expression of the hurt and anger directed at a pontiff and an institution that has abandoned its flock, choosing to focus on dogma while its subjects suffer and, in many instances, die from its archaic policies.”

On the other hand, the exhibition also includes a depiction of the “crucifixion of Obama,” casting the current U.S. president as “a victim, crucified in the wake of special and distorted interests,” according to the gallery.

“Mr. Por is deeply opposed to violence in any form,” Darrell Brown, president of the Bezpala Brown Gallery, told LifeSiteNews.com.

“His paintings are an attack on those he perceives as having failed or harmed humankind. His paintings may be shocking but they are meant to provoke an examination of what has transpired, not to promote hate or violence.”

Por’s intent, said Brown, was to depict the individuals, such as Hitler or Pol Pot, but also label them with just how many deaths were the result of their “exercises of power and oppression.” 

“There is value in examining past wrongs.”

LifeSiteNews.com asked Brown specifically about Por’s image of Pope Benedict XVI, used in their advertisement for the exhibition.  Brown appeared to back away from the gallery’s description of the painting as “bullet-ridden.”

“He painted holes,” said Brown, “he does not regard them as bullet holes - that was my view as to how it would be perceived too … by analogy, [they] suggest that this is a troubled institution. He was not in any way intending to incite hatred against an individual. He was intending to promote debate about the Church and its stance on certain issues.”

“If an art piece provokes debate and that debate includes such issues, then it is a worthwhile exercise to exhibit that art piece.  The artist does not have an intense dislike for the Pope. He questions the legitimacy of the institution and its actions.”

When asked the gallery’s motivation for choosing to exhibit Por’s work, Brown said, “We chose to exhibit because, in essence, his intent was a noble one.”

“His exhibition shows we have not traveled very far. Centuries ago horrible things happened. Decades ago horrible things happened. Today, horrible things happen. He is merely showing that we have much more work to do to be an enlightened, non-violent society.”

To contact the gallery:
Mr. Darrell Brown, president
dbrown@bezpalabrown.com

Bezpala Brown Gallery
17 Church Street
Toronto, ON M5E 1M2

Phone (416) 907-6875
Website www.bezpalabrown.com

Record-breaking 50,000 attend Walk for Life West Coast

by Meaghen Hale

January 24, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Tens of thousands of pro-life activists filled Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco’s downtown this weekend, and then walked 2.5 miles along the waterfront in a record-breaking turnout for the 7th Annual Walk for Life West Coast.

The day began at 11 am., as Walk for Life West Coast founder Eva Muntean welcomed the crowd as it gathered in the plaza: “When I look out at you, all I see is hope.”

Hope was the prevailing theme of the Walk: hope for change. “We are here to break the chains of the culture of death,” said Dolores Meehan, also a founder of the walk.

Organizers estimated that at least 40,000 people participated in the event, which was held on the 38th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion. One local TV station, KTVU, reported the crowd at an estimated 50,000, and said that police confirmed to them that it was the largest Walk for Life yet.

Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson, who walked away from her job at a Texas Planned Parenthood clinic on October 6, 2009, told the crowd, “For eight years January 22 was a special day for me, because it was a day that I honored choice.”

But, she added, “Today on January 22nd, I do not honor choice any more, I mourn choice.”

In a spirited address, Johnson, who had quit her job after assisting in an ultrasound-guided abortion of a 13-week-old unborn child,  said that change relies on the willingness of young people to fight for life. “You are the movement. You are the new generation of the pro-life movement and I can tell you Planned Parenthood is shaking in their boots.”

“Get out there and do something about it!”

Johnson urged people to “get uncomfortable for life.”

“For so many years we have been comfortable,” she said. “It is time to go where we have never gone, to reach out to people we would never reach out to. Almost 4,000 babies die every day just in this country. Are we going to sit at home or are we going to do something about it? Today is not the end of our activism. Today is not the end of our advocacy. Today is the beginning.”

There was also a message of hope for forgiveness. Mary Poirier of Holy Family Apostolate told the crowd she felt called to speak about God’s mercy. “How could God forgive my three abortions?” she asked. “Abortion is wrong. Abortion hurts women. But if you have been through it, it is never too late to ask for forgiveness. God is so powerful; nothing is too big for God to forgive.”

The enigmatic Rev. Denise Walker of Everlasting Light Ministries echoed this statement. “God can forgive you because he forgave me!”

Denise and her husband Brian had chosen to abort their child four months before their wedding. Denise later founded Everlasting Light Ministries with her husband, to bring hope and healing to those who have lost children through abortion.

Rev. Brian Walker emphasized that “it is as much about this child as it is about us: everybody suffers from abortion.” Rev. Brian spoke particularly to the men in the crowd, saying “respect for life starts with you.” He called men to be courageous, to honor women, to live in the footsteps of Christ. “At four weeks the heart is beating,” he said. “Why can’t it beat in a grown man?”

The story of speaker Kathleen Eaton proved not only that forgiveness is possible, but that great things can come of an apparent evil. After an abortion in 1980, Kathleen asked God for forgiveness and told Him that the only way she could forgive herself was if she could save at least one woman and child from the same fate.

“If you say ‘God, use me,’” laughed Kathleen, “he will!” In 1981, she started a small pregnancy resource center which then expanded to half a dozen Birth Choice Health Clinics. According to an abortionist in her community, the spread of Birth Choice clinics across America would cause a “seventy-five percent decrease in abortion without overturning one law.”

As the Ferry Building clock tower struck noon, the walk began to make its way along the Embarcadero past such famous landmarks as Pier 39, Fisherman’s Wharf, and Ghirardelli Square to Marina Green Park.

Blessed with sunshine and highs of 70°F, the spirits of the walkers were soaring. Several groups sang and chanted, and a large group of young people played drums, guitars, and tambourines, singing and dancing throughout.

“The people walking are reflections of the healing power of God for life and the protection of life,” said Bishop Blair of Stockton. “We are bearing witness to the Gospel of Life.”

Auxiliary Bishop of San Bernardino Rutilio del Riego said, “It is a gift and a blessing to witness to the sanctity of life. It is an opportunity for many people to hear the message in a positive way, to show that the pro-life movement is one of peace and non-violence.”

A small group of pro-abortion protesters, who gathered along the sidewalks in garish costumes, disrupted the walk with raucous shouts of “You don’t care about women!” and other slogans.

In his opening blessing, Bishop Walsh of Santa Rosa said God “did not spare his own Son and his Mother from a vulnerable beginning. We must care for the unborn, care for all mothers, protect all life, and change the hearts of our fellow citizens.”

For the first time in the history of the Walk for Life, the walkers were accompanied off shore by a sailing ship manned by thirty-three men, which followed the walk as it wound around the bay.

After passing Ghirardelli Square, the endless river of people could be seen streaming along the coast towards the Maritime National Historical Park. The almost 3 mile Walk ended just past the park at Marina Greens, where testimonies were shared at a Silent No More gathering, and numerous vendors provided resources at an Info Fair.

For sale by Ignatius Press was “Unplanned,” Abby Johnson’s best-selling book detailing her experience with Planned Parenthood and her conversion of heart. Abby signed books for a seemingly endless line of admirers, her husband Doug at her side. When asked how she had been most blessed since leaving Planned Parenthood, Abby laughed that it was coming into the Catholic Church. But both she and Doug agreed that in addition to faith, the best blessing was new-found “family time.”

“Without God’s will and without faith, we wouldn’t have the family structure, and the time we spent together wouldn’t have meaning.”

The walk was followed by a Walk for Life Youth Rally that brought together the teenagers and young adults who attended the walk for praise and worship, networking, and advice for further involvement in the pro-life movement.

The 2011 Walk for Life West Coast was attended by a variety of pro-life groups spanning all cultures and faiths, including Silent No More, Priests for Life, Students for Life of America, Lutherans for Life and Anglicans for Life. Next year, the Walk hopes to rally in the AT&T Park, as the numbers of participants have quickly outgrown the plazas downtown.

Monday, January 24, 2011

This saint exhorted his disciple to rebuke with all patience…

   January 25 -- The Conversion of St. Paul

When St. Paul felt the call of death, he called St. Timothy to his side and exhorted him:

"Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and which have been committed to thee...I charge thee, before God and Jesus Christ, Who shall judge the living and the dead, by His coming and His kingdom:  Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, entreat, rebuke with all patience and doctrine.  For there shall be a time when they will not endure sound doctrine...and will turn away indeed their hearing from the truth but will be turned to fables." 2nd Epistle to St. Timothy.

St. Paul, through Divine Inspiration, warned Timothy about the heresies which were circulating in the Church, both in their time and in the times to come.

Throughout the ages, innumerable people did not want to hear the orthodox Catholic doctrine and today, is no exception and perhaps, this sad state is even worse.

It is much "easier" to believe in "fables" than to believe in true Catholic teaching.

To counteract this, St. Paul counseled Timothy:

"Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and which have been committed to thee: knowing of whom thou hast learned."

In other words, persevere in the traditions which have been past down and are immutable and spread these teachings everywhere and in every way possible.

This is the blueprint for every Catholic to know how to be faithful and to do an apostolate.  Let us ask St. Paul for the fullness of his spirit. 

The Impossible Quest of Catholic Liberals

The great temptation for a Catholic, whether layman or churchman, is to allow himself to be attracted by the world and wish to become part of it, being accepted and admired.

Triple Concupiscence
We are not talking about the physical world created by God, which, like everything else He created, is “very good.”1 The world here is a moral entity opposed to God: “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world.”2

Thus, to give in to the temptation of the world is to cave in to the triple concupiscence, to adopt “worldly” wisdom and flee from the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which the world sees as “foolishness.”3

The Impossible Quest of Catholic Liberals
Our Lord does not pray for this world,4 for it refused His light.5 Hence “the whole world is under the power of the evil one,”6 under Satan, “the prince of this world.”7

Now then, “what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever,”8 the one who “loved darkness rather than the light”?9

Therefore, it is impossible, as liberal Catholics claim, to remain Catholic while being admired by the world; and to have the consolation of the Faith along with the pomp and honors of the world.

“If the World Hates You”
Our Lord himself explained the reason for this impossibility as He warned the apostles:

“If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘The servant is not greater than his master.’”10

Thus, to wish to be part of the world is to stray from the right path and drive away from the truth; for only Jesus is “the way, and the truth, and the life.”11 It is to fall under the domination of the one who “is a liar and the father of lies.”12

Saint_Michael_combats_the_world_flesh_devil.jpg

 

 

 

The Christian is called “into the world, to testify to the truth” not only through a flawless life but by fighting error and evil.

 

 

 

It is to lose the peace of Christ: “my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you.”13

Confront the World and Combat its Malice
That does not mean that a Catholic must only flee from the world without fighting its malice: “I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.”14

Instead, like his Savior, the Christian is called “into the world, to testify to the truth.”15

This testimony must be given not only through a flawless life but by fighting error and evil.

That is why the Savior said: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword.”16

That is the two-edged sword of the word of God, “penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.”17

The Voice of the World and the Voice of Christ

Lucifer, father of lies

“There is no truth” in the prince of this world. “When he tells a lie, he speaks in character, because he is a liar and the father of lies.”

He not only employs direct lie, as when he seduced Eve,19 but also ambiguity and deceitful words: “But let your speech be yea, yea: no, no: and that which is over and above these, is of evil.”20

The world accepts lies and ambiguity because “the whole world is under the power of the evil one.”21

But those who belong to Christ do not allow themselves to be deceived: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”22 Since He is the Incarnate Truth, his words are clear, tender toward the good and the repentant sinners,23 severe and even terrible to those hardened in evil: “You belong to your father the devil and you willingly carry out your father’s desires.”24


The World in its Present Form Is Passing Away
Let us therefore not allow ourselves to be carried away by this world’s deceitful appearance. Its joy is false; it is “sorrow [that] produces death.”25 “For the world in its present form is passing away.”26 Eternity is the only thing that really counts, as “our citizenship is in heaven.”27

Notre_Dame_de_Paris.jpg

 

 

Let us raise our eyes to Our Lady, Queen of Heaven and Earth, and to her Divine Son. “I have conquered the world” He said, and He will give us the necessary strength to resist the snares and attractions of the world.

 

 

 

The world enslaves and takes away “the liberty of the glory of the children of God.”28 Only the truth liberates,29 whereas lie and sin enslave.

In this tragic situation we are going through, in which vice is glorified and virtue oppressed, lie and ambiguity have free rein while truth and the evangelical language of “yea, yea: no, no” are despised, let us ask the One Who said “In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world,”30 that He give us the necessary strength to resist the snares and attractions of the world.

Let us not be as the liberal Catholics that want to serve God and the prince of this world: because “’No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Written by Luiz Sérgio Solimeo

 


Footnotes

1. Genesis 1:31 [back]
2. 1 John 2:16 [back]
3. Cf. 1 Corinthians 1:16-31 [back]
4. John 17:9 [back]
5. Id. 3:19 [back]
6. 1 John 5:19 [back]
7. John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11 [back]
8. 2 Corinthians 6:15 [back]
9. John 3:19 [back]
10. Id. 15:18-20 [back]
11. Id., 14:6 [back]
12. John 8:44 [back]
13. Id. 14:27 [back]
14. Id. 17:15-16 [back]
15. Id. 18:37 [back]
16. Matthew 10:34 [back]
17. Hebrews 4:12 [back]
18. John 8:44 [back]
19. Cf. Genesis 3:1-13 [back]
20. Matthew 5:37 [back]
21. 1 John 5:19 [back]
22. John 10:27 [back]
23. Id. 8:1-11 [back]
24. Id. 8:44 [back]
25. 2 Corinthians 7:10 [back]
26. 1 Corinthians 7:31 [back]
27. Philippians 3:20 [back]
28. Romans 8:21 [back]
29. John 8:32 [back]
30. Id. 16:33 [back]