Churches, Religious Groups Called Right-Wing Extremists

The Diocese of Albany, NY, said it would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after New York’s highest court ruled that NY can continue to require companies with health insurance plans to cover what is called medically necessary abortions. Catholic Charities, churches, and other religious groups argued that the regulation could force some employers to violate their religious beliefs. Yet Gov. Hochul said: “While right-wing extremists attempt to undermine our fundamental freedoms, New York will continue standing strong to protect women’s health care and safeguard abortion rights.” Dennis Poust, exec. dic. of the NY State Catholic Conference, said that Hochul “delved into name calling, referring to the plaintiffs in the case as ‘right-wing extremists.'” [excerpted, Kate Scanlon, OurSundayVisitor.com, 5/22/2024]

Born the Size of Her Father’s Hand

Baby Wren was born at just 22 weeks and was the smallest baby (14 oz) her neonatal intensive care unit had ever seen, measuring about the same size as her father Rob’s hand. The family just celebrated her first birthday by visiting the neonatal unit to thank the medical staff who helped Wren survive.

When she was only 22 weeks pregnant, Naomi went into hospital after noticing unusual symptoms. “I didn’t know you could go into labour that early. We didn’t know what to expect, we were shocked”, she said. “There wasn’t much hope and we were told to prepare ourselves as she was unlikely to survive. Yet, she exceeded all expectations. By all accounts Wren shouldn’t have survived, but she did. She is the happiest smiley baby. We are so lucky & I couldn’t be prouder.”

The latest annual abortion statistics for England and Wales (2021) reveal that 755 abortions were performed when the baby was at 22 or 23 weeks gestation. But, according to a recent study, there were 261 babies born alive at 22 and 23 weeks who survived to discharge from hospital in 2020 and 2021. This means there could be doctors at one end of a hospital fighting to keep a baby born at 23 weeks gestation alive, and, at the other end, there could be other doctors aborting the life of a 23-week baby. [excerpted from Right to Life UK, 5/20/24]

Will Baby Bonuses Save South Korea?

South Korea’s birth rate continues to remain at an all-time low, slowly reducing the nation’s population. In a Bloomberg column, American economist Tyler Cowen wrote that Korea is considering “baby bonuses of 100 million won (US$73,500) each,” two times the nation’s average annual income per capita. “At current birth rates, the plan would cost more than US$16 billion a year.”

“Unfortunately, it is impossible to say how much impact the subsidies would have, as there is no precedent,” Cowen wrote, noting that the only precedent that could account for such financial incentives would be Hungary’s childbearing subsidies and tax exemptions, which were only instated a few years ago. Having children changes everything you do and how you do it. If you are not interested in that life-altering transformation, a birth subsidy is not going to make a difference. Subsidies might convince a couple with two children to have a third, because now the additional child is easier to afford. The problem of course is that so many families are not having two children to begin with. “We all would learn from the results,” he concluded: There is not enough social experimentation in the world, and humanity has to try something to avoid disappearing.”[excerpt from Madalaine Elhabbal, catholivote.org, 5/21/24]

We, the entire church, having given our fixations & absolute certainties a primacy of place, and become infused with idolatry. Oh, we still display the “I love Jesus” certificate on the mantel, but now … our fervent ideas stand before it, reflecting what truly enthralls us — our politics, our celebrity obsessions, our outsized liturgical scruples …, our focus on our climate or sexuality or gender, our gadgets and — most destructively — the chaotic black mirror of our smartphones. Their addictive invitation to fall ever-more deeply down the echoing well of thought-narrowing self-reflection draws us away from silence and the natural world, where we may so readily find something greater than ourselves. Elizabeth
Scalia, OurSundayVisitor.com, 5/22/24.

More Pro-Lifers Charged

The U.S. Dept. of Justice (DOJ) has announced a lawsuit against even more pro-lifers for supposed violations of the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, as sentencing continues for nine pro-life advocates convicted last fall of the same. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, citing the FACE Act, said: “The Civil Rights Division is committed to enforcing federal law to protect the rights [sic] of those who seek and those who provide access to [abortion].” Pro-lifers entered Northeast Ohio Women’s Center in Cuyahoga Falls last June by falsely claiming to be patients, then began distributing roses to women in the waiting room and encouraging them to leave (five reportedly did so).

“Red Roses Rescues DO NOT violate the FACE Act,” said Monica Miller, the head of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society who oversees RRR. “In an RRR pro-lifers never block anything or anyone – and if the Department of Justice is coming after us for our peaceful life-saving efforts it’s because they will simply play fast and loose with the FACE language having to do with ‘physical obstruction’ that prevents ‘freedom of movement.’ There have been 37 RRRs. We have NEVER been charged with FACE, and indeed, for the RRR we did at the PP in Bedford Heights, June 5, 2021, one of the two that involves this DOJ accusation, all charges were dropped!” Since May 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court’s intention to overturn Roe v. Wade was first leaked, “there have been at least 90 attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers,” the Daily Signal reports. Yet the DOJ “charged only pro-life activists with FACE Act violations in 2022, and has since charged only five individuals with violating the FACE Act by targeting pregnancy centers.” At the same time, it has zealously pursued incidents involving pro-lifers, from the D.C. defendants to Philadelphia sidewalk counselor and Catholic father of seven Mark Houck. [Excerpted from Calvin Freiburger, LifeSiteNews, 5/21/24]

States Require Age Verification for Online Porn Access

To protect children, over a third of the states in the U.S. either have required age verification for access to pornographic websites or are in various stages of passing such legislation. In April, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a petition from a pro-pornography organization to block Texas from enforcing its age verification laws. “We need to demand more protective
measures from device manufacturers to filter out this content. Parents can always do more, but help from the institutions we build and fund is long overdue” said Family Research Council Senior Fellow Meg Kilgannon. Dani Pinter, senior legal counsel at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, said: “Pornography can be extremely harmful to children, with negative impacts on the brain and relational development.” She continued, “Some studies show that pornography exposure is a tool in grooming and those exposed are more vulnerable to assault and predatory acts. Online pornography sites have allowed filmed child sexual abuse, rape, sex trafficking, and other non-consensual explicit material on their websites — material that normalizes criminal activity.” A Common Sense Media survey released last year revealed that a lack of age verification laws impacts and harms minors: 73% of current teens aged 13 to 17 said that they had been exposed to internet pornography by the age of 12, most of them through porn advertisement links. [excerpts, S.A. McCarthy, The Washington Stand, 5/21/24]

Growing Skepticism of Gender Transition Procedures for Minors

The case for treating children with gender transition procedures is falling apart in real time before our eyes. Earlier this month, the German Medical Assembly overwhelmingly voted for restrictions, as more evidence shows the harms of these procedures & lack of benefits. No substantial studies show that children with gender dysphoria live happier lives if affirmed in their delusion. Advocates demand others to “trust the science” (meaning experts) when they themselves do not “follow the science” (data). Also, the Assembly passed a resolution disapproving of “self-ID” legislation and stated that minors should not be allowed to “self-identity” gender without psychiatric diagnosis.

Countries like the U.K. once performed gender transition procedures on minors at government-run health care centers. But, after a four-year review led by Dr. Hilary Cass, the nationalized health care system turned sharply away from procedures for which there was such “remarkably weak evidence.” An updated draft guidance released by the UK secretary of state for education says students older than nine will find that “biological sex” is the program foundation rather than a narrative that claims gender is on a spectrum. [Susan Berry, CatholicVote.org, 5/21/24] Last week, Dr. Cass criticized American medical associations for “holding on to a position that is now demonstrated to be out of date by multiple systematic reviews.” A study published last month found that people who underwent gender transition surgery were 12 times more likely to attempt suicide than those who did not. [excerpted, Joshua Arnold, The Washington Stand, 5/21/24]

New Report on Pregnancy Centers (PRCs)

Produced in collaboration with Heartbeat International, Care New, National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, and Focus on the Family’s Option Ultrasound Program, the report by the Charlotte Lozier Institute highlights the following:

• The value of goods and services provided in 2022 by over 2,750 U.S. PRCs was nearly $367 million.
• The total number of both in-person and virtual client sessions in 2022 was over 16 million.
• From 2019 to 2022, there was a 41% increase in attendees for parenting and prenatal education programs.
• There was a 142% increase in PRCs providing and overseeing the abortion pill reversal protocol & providing resources and support for women following drug-induced abortions between 2019-22. This resulted in at least 5,000 women successfully continuing their pregnancies after taking abortion drugs and regretting that decision.

At a time when the federal administration is trying to cripple pregnancy centers and the national media smears them, it’s important to demonstrate the value they provide and the real choices they give to pregnant and parenting moms. (See Newsweek, 5/22/24 article by Chuck Donovan,“End the War on Pregnancy Resource Centers.”)

April is Abortion Recovery Month

During the months of March and April there will be 85 Rachel’s Vineyard weekend retreats in the U.S. and globally. About 800 men and women will be served during these healing retreats. Attendees are always surprised that there are so many others who experience prolonged grief and trauma after abortion. Those in supportive healing groups learn it’s possible to survive and find meaning in all the unspoken suffering. When individuals are healed from the traumatic experience of abortion, healing is brought back into their families and marriages. There is a positive ripple effect for the entire family and the community. When peace ends their internal war, many women desire to give voice to their own experience. They believe women deserve better than abortion. Repeat abortions can be stopped as women are empowered to make healthier choices that do not involve violence to babies as a form of “reproductive healthcare.” [excerpted from Dr. Theresa Burke, Founder, Rachel’s Vineyard, Priests for Life newsletter, April 2024] Rachel’s Vineyard retreats are offered in confidence by many Catholic dioceses.

IVF’s Abuse of Human Dignity

The Alabama Supreme Court last month ruled that embryos created through IVF are human persons protected under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. Basic science tells us that whether the embryo is created through natural procreation or when sperm and egg are joined in a petri dish, it is a human being in the earliest of stages.

For every successful IVF-aided birth (there were more than 97,000 in 2021, according to federal data), multiple surplus embryos are either destroyed, used for experimentation (mostly to hone the industry’s own techniques), or frozen for possible future use. According to a recent worldwide survey, the vast majority of rejected embryos are simply tossed in the trash. Sometimes it’s because of a genetic disorder like Down syndrome. Increasingly, though, human embryos are screened out for other reasons, like the baby’s sex or eye color. “It’s like going to a sandwich shop and ordering a ham sandwich with cheese. Do you want to put pickles on?” one IVF doctor recently told The Washington Post. IVF clinics are designer baby boutiques and as death-dealing, on an industrial scale, as Planned Parenthood.

In the U.S. alone there are an estimated 1.5 million embryos in cold storage, equivalent to the population of the city of Philadelphia. Celebrity Paris Hilton boasts of having 20 unborn baby boys on ice. If she’s fortunate, some random person won’t wander into an unsecured cryopreservation area and accidentally drop them on the floor, which is what tragically happened to the embryonic children of three Alabama couples who filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against their IVF clinic. In 2018, 4,000 embryos were destroyed when a high capacity freezer tank malfunctioned at a fertility clinic in Cleveland. And what happens to Hilton’s embryos if she & her partner split up? Whose “property” are they?

Other countries regulate IVF to varying degrees but not the U.S. Many sincere Catholic couples who have struggled to start a family see IVF as an answer to their prayers. We want to support them, but many simply aren’t well-informed about what IVF entails or about the basis for the Church’s clear teaching against it. IVF violates human dignity by commodifying human life and de-humanizing and de-personalizing the sacrosanct process of procreation. The Church recognizes that each child has a right to be conceived in a natural way, not in a petri dish in a laboratory at the hands of technicians. And each child deserves to be protected and nurtured in the warmth and privacy of his or her mother’s womb, not stored in a freezer in cryogenic nurseries. Weeding out embryos because of certain subjectively undesirable traits is eugenics, plain and simple; allowing them to be experimented on before they’re destroyed is gravely evil. We saw that from the Nazis’ eugenics programs.

Yearning to have children is good, but resorting to means that trample on the dignity and rights of unborn children isn’t the answer. Fertility resources today are helping couples navigate this difficult medical/ethical landscape, groups like The Fruitful Hollow, Springs in the Desert and Them Before Us. The Saint Paul VI Institute & other principled Catholic medical practitioners offer couples ethical alternatives to IVF, such as those based on the FertilityCare System & NaProTechnology. These efforts need to be replicated nationwide.

Support with your prayers & understanding couples close to you who are struggling with infertility. Public opinion may not be on your side, but the truth is. It may be your witness and charity that changes everything. [excerpt from Michael Warsaw, publisher, National Catholic Register, 3/15/24]

Walgreens, CVS Now Abortion Businesses

By now, you’ve probably heard that Walgreens and CVS will dispense the abortion pill, Mifepristone. The neighborhood pharmacies that we trust with our everyday needs have now been turned into abortion mills. Chemical abortion now accounts for the majority of abortions. Mifepristone and Misoprostol are the two pills taken to complete a chemical abortion. A new investigation just found that a network of pro-abortion groups and websites are shipping foreign abortion pills, for less than $100, with zero oversight.

The FDA had initially approved the pills for women up to 8 weeks pregnant, then later changed that to 10 weeks. They were administered by the woman’s doctor who monitored any complications. Now, no age verification, no prescription, and no concern for state laws. This has catastrophic consequences for pregnant mothers who are deceived into believing that chemical abortion is “safe.” We have all heard the increasing number of horror stories of at-home abortions gone wrong.

Heartbeat International, has helped save over 5,000+ babies from death by the abortion pill, thanks to Abortion Pill Reversal (APR), a safe and successful option for the women who regret taking that first abortion pill. [Tom Brejcha, LifeNews.com, 3/29/24]

Your editor switched last year from CVS to a local, family-run pharmacy that does not deal with these abortion pills. If you are fortunate to have such a local pharmacy, you may want to do something similar.

Americans Becoming More Pro-Death?

Under the joint direction of Beacon Research and Shaw & Company Research, a recent Fox poll of Americans revealed a remarkable 35% of registered voters said they think abortion should always be legal. This is much higher than the McLaughlin & Associated poll reported in this newsletter’s previous month’s issue that 21% of all Americans surveyed support abortion being available anywhere, at any time. The survey also shows that voters are split on whether abortion should be banned at six months (when a child is fully formed and can survive outside the womb with proper life support). Nearly half (48%) are opposed to such a ban. Moreover, the survey showed that 68% of voters believe access to the abortion-inducing pill Mifepristone should be legal. The apparently increased support for abortion among American voters is troubling given that the procedure brutally kills innocent human life, as former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino has demonstrated. [For the full story, see Emily Mangiaracina, LifeSiteNews.com, 3/28/24]

A Free Online Pro-Life University

A free online pro-life university launched by Bishop Joseph Strickland, Deacon Keith Fournier & Frank Pavone will offer classes in science, medicine, law, religion, public relations, politics, & the process of healing the wounds after abortion. Deacon Keith said: “We need to equip people to go into the courts, into the culture, into the academy, wherever they are.” Students can log in whenever they have the time and choose from hundreds of courses. Bishop Strickland said: “A university for the sanctity of life is for now and the future.” For more information, go to ProLifeUniversity.org

Teen Anxiety

Talk therapy administered to youngsters one hour weekly has side effects including demoralization, rumination, alienation, overdiagnosis, hypochondriasis, overmedication. In a new book, Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up, Abigail Shrier argues that therapy is the cause of America’s youth mental health crisis, “the worriers, the fearful, the lonely, lost and sad.” From 1990 to 2007, the number of mentally ill kids increased 3,500%. Ever more teens present anxiety, depression, dissociation, gender dysphoria (the subject of her previous book), eating disorders, self-harm behavior, hair-pulling compulsions, and tics. Almost 40% of American kids have received therapy. But the benefits of psychotherapy are vague, and many kids get worse:

• Demoralized – the patient regards herself as a problem that her parents can’t solve
• Ruminative – told by therapists to dwell on disappointments and dissatisfactions
• Alienated – encouraged to judge as guilty or inadequate their friends and family
• Dysfunctional – patients take this on as their identity
• Over-medicated – loss of affect, mental acuity & libido; weight gain; suicidal ideation

Such therapy is too strong for developing brains, yet too many parents stress happiness & validation of children. Kids must receive “consequences,” not punishment. They should “enjoy themselves” at school, sports, piano lessons, etc. The “ideal childhood means no pain, no discomfort, no fights, no failure.” School discipline and teaching reflect these values. This is folly. Stress in life is normal, a learning experience. American schools exhibit a decline in academic outcomes and an increase in unruliness.

Shrier says that “conversations about feelings and problems styled as medicine” are easily hoisted on fragile teenagers whose parents’ insurance plans cover therapy. These trends coincide with increased fatherlessness and unchurching. Smartphones have only exacerbated the negative self-focus of teens. [excerpts from book review, Julia Yost, First Things, March 2024]

“I shall never tire of saying that abortion is murder, a criminal act; there is no other word for it. … It is a defeat for everyone who carries it out and anyone who is complicit in it: mercenaries, killers for hire!” Life: My Story Through History by Pope Francis.

This monthly newsletter is used by dozens of churches as a bulletin insert and as a handout. Since 2013 it has had over 30,000 readers and is now posted on three diocesan websites. To receive each month’s free issue in your inbox, email Frank Tinari, Ph.D. at tinarifr@shu.edu

Changing Hearts Will Take Huge Effort

According to Prof. Scott Yenor, the reshaping of sexual relations, including acceptance of abortion, developed over 150 years. Public schooling, introduced in America in the 19th century, transferred a main function of domestic life to the state. Divorce by mutual consent had become common in the mid-1900s. Later, obscenity regulation was loosened. But, ironically, the desire for fairness embedded in anti-discrimination laws, including discrimination on the basis of sex, established the main mechanism for the public deconstruction of sex roles within the family.

The new order, supported by extensive court findings and legislated rules, promotes a sexless, egalitarian understanding of “human dignity.” Though marriage showed men and women how their different interests could converge in a life well lived, any social pattern that presumes difference amounts to wrongful discrimination. The family must be rebuilt on this basis. Today, education and careers come first. Marriage is delayed. Childbearing is deferred. Women are encouraged to celebrate their divorces and abortions. We strain to eliminate old stereotypes, but live under new ones.

Traditional practices are now deemed illegal and stigmatized, being replaced by an anti-discrimination “constitution.” The 2020 Supreme Court holding in Bostock v. Clayton County said that transgender individuals must not be discriminated against, a decision that requires us to affirm that men can become women and vice versa. The 1991 Civil Rights Act allows employers to be sued for emotional distress and punitive damages. Now corporate America “educates” its workers and seeks to deconstruct sex stereotypes.

We need to revive common-sense values reflecting the different innate roles of men and women. [For the full article by Yenor, see First Things, March 2024]

Most Abortions Are Unwanted

Recent Elliot Institute research reveals that “most women report feeling pressured to agree to an abortion that violated their own personal values.” Population controllers don’t mind unwanted abortions given their efforts to push the abortion pull to market precisely with the aim of eliminating “the barely educated, unhealthy and poor segment of our country.” For those who see babies born to “lower” classes as a burden on society, the fact that a “bare educated, unhealthy, and poor” woman wants to have her baby but feels pushed into an unwanted abortion by her male partner, social workers, doctors, or employers is just an alternative way toward achieving the goal of reducing birth rates among the poor. The goal is almost always hidden behind pro-choice euphemisms. [ElliotInstitute.org, 2/14/2024]

New Poll on Key Life Issues

Results from a newly February poll by McLaughlin & Associates, in partnership with leading pro-life organization Priests for Life, offer critical insight into American voters’ current priorities, steadfast values and stance on key issues like abortion. Poll respondents were Democrat (36%), Republican (36%), and 28% were Independent/Other.

• 85% support financial, medical and emotional assistance for women facing unplanned pregnancies.
• 81% support reducing legal and financial barriers to adoption and foster care
• 77% support ensuring faith-based organizations can help provide services to pregnant women and young mothers
• 61% say it’s good when the mother decides to keep and raise the child, or make an adoption plan
• 21% support an extremist position of abortion being available anywhere, at any time [Detailed poll info may be requested from Media@PriestsForLife.org]

Radiant is a platform for women in their 20s and 30s who are rooted in their identity in Christ, striving for a vibrant life on this side of heaven. We are all called to give glory to God throughout this one, beautiful life we’ve been given. Discover more at radiantmagazine.com

Anti-Woke Question Puts Teacher on Leave

Tiger Craven-Neely, an elementary school teacher who questioned a California school’s spending $250,000 on a teacher training program called “Woke Kindergarten,” was placed on leave by his school district, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Glassbrook Elementary School used the federal funds for underperforming schools to pay for training their teachers how to be “anti-racist” and “disrupt whiteness” in the classroom. The teacher said he had voiced concerned over the program at a staff meeting and questioned what it meant to “disrupt whiteness” in his third-grade classroom.

The bad news is that since implementing the “woke” program, scores for English and math at the school have fallen further. Fewer than 4% of students post proficient scores in math and a little under 12% test at grade level in English. [Brandon Poulter, Daily Signal, 2/11/2024]

Men Less Interested in Marriage

American men are significantly less likely to want to get married or raise a family, according to a recent analysis from religious statistician Ryan Burge who analyzed data from the Cooperative Election Study, which asks participants about their marital status. He found that in 2008, men tended to get married around 29 years old. In 2022, the average age of first marriage for both men and women jumped by about 4.5 years. Also, about 65% of 30-year old men had never been married, compared to 48% of 30-year-old women.

Only 33% of 30-year-old men were parenting, but for 30-year-old women, the number was 50%. Also, 65% of women between the ages of 35 to 40 were currently parenting young children. “Not only are women much more likely to get married, they are also much more likely to become parents, as well. In essence it’s like women are trying to maintain some of the traditional familial institutions in American society while men have decided that this is not the direction they want their life to go,” Burge wrote. For men, having a higher level of education makes one less likely to stay single and never have kids. Said another way, educated men settle down. But more highly educated women are more likely to be single & childless between the ages of 35 & 50 after controlling for race, ideology, income & religion. [H. Hiester, CatholicVote.org, 2/20/24]

Does Marriage Really Work?

If you were to form your opinions by relying solely on TikTok influencers, Netflix movies like “Marriage Story” or cultural commentary in The New York Times or the New Yorker, you could be forgiven for thinking marriage was dreadful. Sealed off from reality, young and middle-aged men and women think that anything but marriage is where to find fulfillment, happiness and prosperity. Boy, are they in for a surprise!

Sociologist Brad Wilcox found just the opposite in his book Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization. The data show that married men and women are the most financially secure, least lonely, healthiest and happiest people in America. Their children have the best life outcomes compared to peers whose parents are not married. The evidence from multiple studies is overwhelming, hence the title of his book. For example, 60% of married mothers aged 18-55, compared to only 36% of single, childless women of the same ages were completely or somewhat satisfied with their life. Also, happiness is reported even higher for those who regularly attend religious services with their spouses.

On average, men and women married with children, despite all of the challenges of marriage, are more likely to navigate life successfully, forging financially stable, meaningful and happy lives. [Our Sunday Visitor, 2/4/2024]

Have You Visited These Websites?

• For those having sexual identity issues, visit https://sexchangeregret.com/
• For those whose marriage is not doing well, a lot of help may be found at https://www.helpourmarriage.org/ and https://www.catholictherapists.com/
• Interested in social and political views from a Catholic perspective? Then try a visit to https://catholicvote.org/
• With easy electronic access, pornography is widespread. To free oneself from this addiction, visit https://www.covenanteyes.com/ and also https://www.strive21.com/
• Need relief from negative TV, radio and streaming news? Try https://relevantradio.com/ (free app) and https://www.ncregister.com/ (6 weekly issues free).

Reversing the STI Epidemic

In 2000, genital Chlamydia trachomatis infection was reported by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) at a rate of 257.5 cases per 100,000 persons. That rate of reported chlamydial infection among women had been increasing annually since the late 1980s. By 2021, the rate had nearly doubled to 495.5 cases per 100,000 population, In 2021, 58% of all reported chlamydia cases were among persons aged 15–24 years.

More striking is that back in 1994 the Surgeon General announced a “National Plan to Eliminate Syphilis from the United States.” The rate in the year 2000 was still too high at 2.2 per 100,000 persons. In 2021, the syphilis rate had skyrocketed to a huge 53.2 per 100,000 persons.

The latest CDC report states: “Reversing the STI epidemic is possible with a holistic approach” that employs holistic, coordinated care to address concurrent epidemics and health disparities. A critical first step is connecting people to the STI testing and treatment services they need. And, in recent months, we’ve seen historic progress toward new STI prevention innovations. Admitting that it cannot do this alone, the CDC director concluded that through collaboration and a whole-of-nation, whole-person approach, “I am hopeful that we can improve our nation’s health and well-being.” [The full reports are at https://www.cdc.gov/std/stats/archive/2000-Surv-All.pdf and https://www.cdc.gov/std/statistics/2022/2021-STD-Surveillance-Report.]

Ed. Note: What is really striking is that nothing is mentioned about trying to change people’s behavior that continues to feed the STI explosion. Promoting moral behavior seems to be sadly forbidden for consideration by government agencies like the CDC. Several agencies and organizations promote so-called “safe sex” and we now see the unhealthy results.

Can Human Life Be Easily Discarded?

Many Americans think babies with Down syndrome are better off being killed in the womb than being born. Their language turns a baby into a “thing.” But our language must remind the world that babies, in or out of the womb, are human. Each pre-born child is a real, immeasurably valuable, and unique human being. An innocent little person worthy of life.

Pro-lifers support a real alternative, a real choice for women, like pregnancy resource centers. Abortion activists frame the narrative that killing the baby is the only choice, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Those who believe in abortion must separate it from the fact that unborn children are people. They must use language that strips the unborn of all dignity and deceives vulnerable women into thinking killing a child is “reproductive freedom.” [extract from Sarah Holliday, Language Matters, The Washington Stand, 1/25/24]

Follow Up Thoughts

What our culture teaches us is that things are valuable insofar as they are productive, helpful or useful. Sensible as that utilitarian view is, many erroneously apply it to our fellow human beings. Thus, elderly, sickly and severely disabled persons are treated as “less valuable” than healthy individuals. What Pope St. John Paul II called a “culture of death” describes a strictly
materialistic, utilitarian view of our fellow human beings, be they elderly or in the womb. But science teaches us that each and every human being is unique, having his or her unique personality, skills, tendencies and other attributes. Each of us, then, needs to examine what we believe gives value to human life. As Christians, we know that each person, no matter what his or her condition is, has a soul and is loved infinitely by our Creator. [editor]

Over 3,000 Help Centers for Women

The March for Life has introduced a new resource at its website: “Support Families Facing Unexpected Pregnancies by Donating to Your Local Pregnancy Resource Center or Maternity Home!” The website has a pull-down menu of states. Every state is listed, many with multiple pregnancy help centers.

After choosing a state, one can select from among the many pregnancy centers listed. Your editor did this for New Jersey and found the following listed:

Bridge Women’s Center (Old Bridge), Crisis
Pregnancy Services (Egg Harbor City), Gateway
Pregnancy Center (Elizabeth), Good Counsel
Homes (Riverside), Several Sources (Ramsey),
and Solutions Health & Pregnancy Center
(Shrewsbury).

[www.marchforlife.org]

Reinvigorated Growth of …..

In 2020, parents got a glimpse of the bureaucracy of public sector education. The pandemic offered parents a rare opportunity to see its darker underbelly. It revealed, in many though not all places, a system that prioritizes staff over students, an administration that has a disdain for parental rights, a hollowed-out and often vacuous curriculum, and a teaching class motivated by political ideology and a false anthropology. One sad feature of modern secular education is its fragmentation. Following certain philosophical and pedagogical trends, it divides the student and the curriculum, and separates the illuminating and vivifying power of faith from both. For many parents, this was enough for them to seek alternative educational opportunities. Since 2020, there
have been over 200 new Catholic “classical” schools established in the United States and a 78% enrollment increase in established classical academies.

The aim and purpose of all education, whether classical, secular or parochial, is twofold: the acquisition of truth and the formation of culture. Schools, such as many modern online academies, choose to emphasize the quest for knowledge and, by design, have very little formation in culture. What makes Catholic classical education distinct is that it seeks to form students in the totality of truth and intends to initiate them into the breadth of Western civilization. Catholic classical schools aim at the acquisition of truth for the sake of truth itself and are not directly interested in passing on knowledge to prepare students for the labor market (although it does do this, and does it well), but rather focus on exposing them to the breadth of knowledge available to the human person. For an outstanding example, the Diocese of Tulsa reports that 30% of its parochial schools are now classical. There is also a large and very active diocesan supported K-12 home-schooling co-op that utilizes a thoroughly classical curriculum. [excerpts from Richard Meloche, Exploring the new springtime for Catholic classical education, Our Sunday Visitor, 1/26/24]

Americans Have Too Much Freedom

A new Rasumussen poll finds that 55% of graduates from Ivy League colleges said there is “too much freedom” in the country. Also, 47% of top-one-percent earners polled said Americans have “too much freedom.” However, a majority of everyday voters (57%) believe that there is “too much control,” compared to only 16% who said there was “too much freedom.”

The poll also found other areas where elite Americans had vastly different opinions from average citizens. For example, respondents were asked the following question: “To fight climate change, would you favor or oppose the strict rationing of gas, meat, & electricity?” A whopping 89% of Ivy League graduates supported rationing. Seventy-seven percent of the top 1% also agreed. Among everyday voters, only 28% supported the drastic measure.

Nearly three-quarters of the elites surveyed believe they are better off now financially than three years ago. Less than 20% of ordinary Americans feel the same way.

Most elites think that teachers unions and school administrators should control the agenda of schools. Most mainstream Americans think that parents should make these decisions. [Poll: Ivy Leaguers, Top 1% of Earners Think Americans Have ‘Too Much Freedom’, Catholic Vote, 1/26/24]

Meanwhile, the federal government administration has issued a new proposal to amend conscience protections for healthcare workers and institutions that wish to refrain from performing abortions and other procedures that violate their religious beliefs. The proposed rule eliminates protections that federal law shall not require individuals “to perform or assist in the
performance of any sterilization procedure or abortion if his performance or assistance in the performance of such procedure or abortion would be contrary to his religious beliefs or moral convictions.”

Also to be eliminated is the prohibition against mandating that recipients of federal funds make their “facilities available for the performance of any sterilization procedure or abortion if the performance of such procedure or abortion in such facilities is prohibited by the recipient on the basis of religious beliefs or moral convictions.”

Catholic Vote states that it’s now time for another grassroots effort, similar to a 2019 campaign, to stop the latest pro-abortion effort. [excerpt from www.CatholicVote.org, 1/16/24]

Human Rights Parallels: Racism & Abortion

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, I thought I’d offer some quotes from his “Letter from the Birmingham Jail,” written from a prison cell to the clergy in 1963. Parts of the letter have become well known, such as King’s insistence that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Here are a few longer excerpts, which can be read together or separately. The parallels with the pro-life movement are plain.

“But as I continued to think about the matter, I gradually gained a bit of satisfaction from being considered an extremist. Was not Abraham Lincoln an extremist? ‘This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.’ Was not Thomas Jefferson an extremist? ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ So the question is not whether we will be
extremist, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate, or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice, or will we be extremists for the cause of justice?”

“In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churches stand on the sidelines and merely mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard so many ministers say, ‘Those are social issues which the gospel has nothing to do with,’ and I have watched so many churches commit themselves to a completely otherworldly religion which made a strange distinction between bodies and souls, the sacred and the secular.” [W. Ross Blackburn, Martin Luther King—In His Own Words, www.HumanLifeReview.com, Jan. 2024]

“The Best Week Ever” for HS Juniors

Each year, hundreds of high school juniors entering senior year spend a week at Christendom College and say (4.7 out of 5) it’s one of the best weeks of their lives. This is a popular, well-attended and highly-ranked pre-college summer program. Attendance is competitive, and interested students should not delay in applying. If you mention Relevant Radio, you will receive a 50% discount. Here is the application link: https://www.christendom.edu/admissions/thebestweekever/

Helping Young Adults Find a Good Spouse

In The ABC’s of Choosing a Good Wife, Stephen Wood offers time tested advice for making the greatest decision of your life. It’s practical, convincing, full of invaluable wisdom including the key questions to ask before you ask the big question. For young women, you’ve dreamed of that special man who will appear and ask you to be his bride. In The ABC’s of Choosing a Good Husband, author Wood gives practical and insightful advice to women on how to choose a partner for life. Both books are available (get a 20% discount by submitting your email address) at https://shop.catholic.com/.

This monthly newsletter is used by dozens of churches as a bulletin insert. Since 2013 it has had over 30,000 readers and is now posted on three diocesan websites. To receive each month’s free issue in your inbox, email Frank Tinari, Ph.D. at tinarifr@shu.edu

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library

mails children a free book each month from birth until they are 5 years old. These high-quality books are chosen by experts in publishing & education, and are based on the child’s age. There are no eligibility requirements for the book club; any child can join.

Parton’s mission is to foster a love of learning in children, making the experience of reading fun and meaningful. Since the program’s inception in 1995, it has distributed more than 172 million children’s books to young readers worldwide.

Children get books appropriate for their age on subjects including nursery rhymes, letters, safety, diversity, and school preparation. Audio and braille books are also available. The first title that children receive is always The Little Engine That Could, and the last title is always Kindergarten, Here I Come! Your child will get at least 60 different books if you sign them up at birth. That’s a lot of reading!

To see if the program is available in your area, visit the availability page and enter your zip code. If the program is available, go through the steps of registering your child (submitting your mailing address & info about your child). [See: https://imaginationlibrary.com]

Many Young Women Feel Pressured

to sleep with and cohabitate with dates and boyfriends to try to win them over and perhaps one day marry them. These kinds of relational mistakes on the part of a young woman often lead a man to ask the proverbial question: Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free? The unique influence or leverage that a young woman has with a potential future husband is squandered away.

A woman who is not sexually available before marriage is perceived and approached differently by men; they have to put in the effort to woo and win her. In contemporary hook-up culture, meanwhile, young women give themselves away for nothing & men don’t have to woo anyone or bother with the complexities of interpersonal relationships or real-life intimacy skills.

Also, many men are drawn into the addictive world of pornography and similarly devalue women by reducing their gifts to a single highly sexualized dimensions. This disrupts healthy patterns of attraction and courtship that are meant to lead to male-female friendship, bonding, and marriage.

The remarkable gifts of a women – her “feminine genius” as Pope St. John Paul II used to refer to it – including the gift of her sexual nature and her interpersonal acumen, need to be esteemed and safeguarded. Over the course of civilization, these gifts have built up the family, protected children, supported men through the bond of marriage, and, more broadly, strengthened the life of society itself. We need great courage and resolve today to protect and advance these precious gifts. [Rev. Tad Pacholczyk, National Catholic Bioethics Center, The Beacon, 3/9/23]

Easter: Every Human Life Worth Saving

An implication of the Easter event is that Jesus’ extraordinary claims about himself were ratified. Jesus assumed a divine prerogative. When his band of Apostles saw him alive again after his death, they came to believe that he is who he said he was. For believers ever since, if the crucified and risen Jesus is divine, there is a moral imperative to make him unambiguously the center of our lives. He fought, not with the weapons of the world, not with an answering violence, but rather with a word of pardon: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.” The Resurrection of Jesus from the dead showed that this spiritual resistance was not in vain. Human beings killed God, and God returned in forgiving love. [Bishop Robert Barron, Wall St. Jnl, 4/3/21]

Mobile Pregnancy Van Parks Outside Planned Parenthood

When Idaho banned virtually all abortions, Planned Parenthood set up an abortuary a few miles over the border, in Oregon. That clinic is just a 45-minute drive from Stanton Healthcare in Meridian, Idaho, specializing in serving women with unexpected pregnancies by providing professional medical care, practical and emotional support, women’s wellness care, and a special outreach to refugee and marginalized communities. Stanton has affiliates across the country.

Stanton Healthcare is deeply troubled that the Ontario Planned Parenthood is engaged in “abortion trafficking” as it attempts to move abortions across state lines. Linda Thomas, Director of Stanton’s Community Outreach, states: “Planned Parenthood is aggressively continuing their profit-driven agenda of abortion as the solution for women facing unexpected pregnancies. They are actively sending Idaho women across state lines. Of the women we see at Stanton who are considering abortion, a full 90% report feeling pressured to do so by someone they trust. Abortion is not the option women choose when they have the support they want & deserve.”

Brandi Swindell, CEO and Founder, said: “Stanton Healthcare could not remain silent or indifferent so we brought our 37-foot, state-of-the-art, mobile medical clinic right next door to Planned Parenthood to serve the women of Oregon and Idaho. While Planned Parenthood treats women as a commodity for profit, Stanton Healthcare is dedicated to providing women with unexpected pregnancies hope and tangible support at no charge.” [www.LifeNews.com, 3/10/23]

Why Boycott Hersheys?

The Hershey Company is facing boycotts and backlash in response to a new ad campaign from Hershey Canada, using a male activist who identifies as a transgender woman as a spokesman for International Women’s Day. While the other four people chosen are actually women, the inclusion of a male dressed as a female in a campaign promoting a holiday dedicated to women has drawn widespread criticism.

In 2021, both Mars, Inc. and Nestle USA joined an op-ed in support of transitioning kids & decrying state laws that protect women’s sports. After years of these firms supporting the erasure of women, it appears that Americans are fed up. Recently, #BoycottHersheys hit number one trending on Twitter. Here are three great alternatives to trans-idolizing chocolate companies like Hershey’s:

• Equal Exchange, a fair-trade worker co-op founded in 1986, specializes in chocolate, coffee, tea, and snacks it sources from 40 small farmer organizations worldwide. It regularly highlights how churches around the world use its products in fostering fellowship, teaching their congregations about the importance of fair trade.
• Gertrude Hawk Chocolates, a family business, continues to bear her name and celebrate her legacy as a female small business founder. Gertrude’s descendants also operate the Hawk Family Foundation, which funds nonprofit organizations and private schools that seek to positively impact children, seniors, those currently incarcerated, and returning citizens. The fund will not contribute to causes that support abortion.
• Läderach, a chocolate company, was dropped by Swiss Air Lines in 2020 for its owner’s pro-life and pro-family views. While simultaneously running his luxury chocolate company, Jürg Läderach was known for his advocacy defending unborn children, upholding natural marriage, & fighting the pornography epidemic — all values that directly impact the human dignity of women. Leadership of the company is now under son Johannes. [Joy Stockbauer, The Washington Stand, 3/5/23]

Gender Transition Surgery?

The U.S. Bishops on March 20 issued new guidance that Catholic health care institutions must not perform gender transition interventions, whether surgical or chemical, on a person regardless of their age. Such interventions “do not respect the fundamental order of the human person as an intrinsic unity of body and soul, with a body that is sexually differentiated.”

“The Hippocratic tradition in medicine calls upon all healthcare providers first and foremost to ‘do no harm,’ the statement explains. “Any technological intervention that does not accord with the fundamental order of the human person as a unity of body and soul, including the sexual difference inscribed in the body, ultimately does not help but, rather, harms the human person.” The document was developed in consultation with medical ethicists, physicians, psychologists, & moral theologians.

With more than 600 hospitals and 1,600 long-term care and other health facilities across the United States, Catholic health ministry is the largest group of nonprofit health care providers in the nation, according to the most recent data from the Catholic Health Association.

The statement said “particular care should be taken to protect children and adolescents, who are still maturing and who are not capable of providing informed consent. The body is not an object, a mere tool at the disposal of the soul, one that each person may dispose of according to his or her own will, but it is a constitutive part of the human subject, a gift to be received, respected, and care for as something intrinsic to the person.”

The U.S. bishops say Catholic health care providers must continue to search for solutions to problems of human suffering, but in ways “that truly promote the flourishing of the human person in his or her bodily integrity. As the range of what we can do expands, we must ask what we should or should not do,” the bishops explain. “An indispensable criterion in making such
determinations is the fundamental order of the created
world. Our use of technology must respect that order.”
[John Lavenburg, https://cruxnow.com, 3/21/23]

Film to See: Unexpected

This fun, funny and uplifting film puts at its center relatable characters dealing with the vicissitudes of life. There are no glib answers; instead, we see flawed yet good-hearted people find the courage to get up when they’ve been knocked down, without super heroes, but with trust in God. And it is no accident that the film ends with a beautiful rendition of the hymn “His eyes are on the sparrow.” In an interview with Christian Headlines, co-producer Patricia Heaton said: “What that song signifies is that the lives that you’re watching in this movie–they’re small lives, they’re people you might pass on the street, never notice, never get to know–but everybody has a story. Everybody’s known to God.” [Maria McFadden Maffucci, Human Life Review, 3/23]