May Newsletter: Life’s Fundamentals Cannot be Ignored

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by Frank Tinari, Ph.D., Life Education Council Board of Trustees

The Birth of the Doctor’s Own Child Ended Her Killing Any More Unborn

A former abortionist told a massive crowd at the 46th March for Life: “A woman cannot kill her child & remain unscathed. Millions of women in the USA have had abortions. Post-abortive women are hurting and need pro-lifers’ help and compassion. They need to hear that God wants to heal & restore them,” said Dr. Kathi Aultman.

“I used to feel that abortion is a woman’s right,” she said. “This belief became strengthened when I got pregnant & made the decision to have an abortion, a decision I terribly regretted later.”

“Medical students and residents are taught that abortion is a normal part of women’s health care. The pro-life view is discouraged.” She said it is difficult for pro-life students to get into medi- cal school and residencies, especially obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN). Medical professors can lose their positions if they express pro-life opinions. “The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, who should be the most pro-life, is staunchly pro-abortion,” Aultman revealed. “All OBGYN residents are required to do abortions unless they opt out because of conscience. But that is discouraged, and we need to protect those civil rights.”

The first time Aultman felt qualms about doing abortions was during her neo-natal rotations when she was trying to save babies of the same gestational age as the babies she was aborting. “I finally made the connection between ‘fetus’ and ‘baby’ and could no longer do abortions. The fact that the baby was unwanted was no longer reason enough for it to be killed.”

Believing the lie that having a baby out of wedlock inevitably destroyed a young woman’s life, she continued to refer for abortions. But her view changed: “I noticed that those who kept their babies did well in contrast to those who were dealing with the physical and psychological consequences of abortion,” she said. “My perspective was challenged as I watched children in my church who were almost aborted grow up.”

“It’s much easier to accept ‘terminating a pregnancy’ than it is ‘killing a baby’,” she noted. Aultman asked her listeners to “help people see that what’s in the womb is a person with their own unique characteristics and potential, not just a blob of tissue.” She thanked the massive crowds for their activism “for protecting those who cannot protect themselves, those who wouldn’t have a chance to live if you did nothing.” [Dorothy Cummings McLean, LifeSiteNews.com]

Assisted Suicide is “False Compassion”

The idea that assisting a suicide shows compassion and eliminates suffering is misguided. It eliminates the person, and results in suffering for those left behind – grieving families and friends, and other vulnerable people who may be influenced by this event to see death as an escape.

The sufferings caused by chronic or terminal illness are often severe. They cry out for our compassion, a word whose root meaning is to “suffer with” another person. True compassion alleviates suffering while maintaining solidarity with those who suffer. It does not put lethal drugs in their hands and abandon them to their suicidal impulses, or to the self-serving motives of others who may want them dead. It helps vulnerable people with their problems instead of treating them as the problem.” [U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, To Live Each Day with Dignity: A Statement on Physician-Assisted Suicide]

Primary Elections Coming in Many States

According to the U.S. bishops’ 2015 document, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship (or FC), four principles of Catholic social doctrine are key to making practical judgments to do good and avoid evil in voting:

1. Promoting and defending the dignity of the human person

2. Supporting the family and subsidiarity in local, state and national institutions

3. Working for the protection of human rights and meeting basic responsibilities

4. Concern for all as our brothers & sisters, espe- cially the poor and most vulnerable [FC, Nos. 40-52]

All of these issues are important, but they are not all morally or ethically equivalent. “The direct and intentional destruction of innocent human life from the moment of conception until natural death is always wrong & is not just one issue among many. It must always be opposed.” [No. 28] At the same time, issues such as war, the death penalty, racism, care for the poor and the immigrant are enormously important. “These are not optional concerns which can be dismissed.” [No. 29] So, before voting:

  • Inform yourself about the Church’s teachings. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is a great place to start. In your church’s men’s & women’s groups, discuss Church teachings in relation to the candidates or policies.
  • Inform yourself about the issues. Read the Catholic press. See where the candidates stand on critical moral and social issues.
  • Seek input from Catholics you respect.
  • Pray. Take your hopes, concerns and worries to the Lord and ask for His guidance.

Free issues of EWTN’s National Catholic Register It’s not easy to find a trustworthy source for Catholic news and information. For over 90 years, Catholics have turned to the NCR for reliable, timely and relevant news. So, try 6 issues FREE! If you continue your subscription after your trial, you will receive 26 issues in all for just $49.95. Otherwise, just cancel.

Youngest Planned Parenthood Director Quit, Became ProLife Activist

While running her clinic, Abby Johnson would remove & collect medals that pro-life protesters left in the flower beds. When she came to the realization that her clinic was killing developing human beings, she took her personal items and the jar holding the medals and left, never to return. “I didn’t know what they were but I was compelled to keep them in my office.”

Johnson later converted to Catholicism. She is now familiar with the history of the Medal of the Immaculate Conception which, due to countless reported miracles, came to be known as the Miraculous Medal. “When I look back, even to my childhood, I see that the Blessed Mother was always there with me. My Baptist mom told me that she used to come home & find me watching Mother Angelica on TV with a towel draped over my head like I was a nun.”

Calling herself a “testament that conversion is real,” Johnson today works to help others leave the abortion industry. Her ministry, And Then There Were None, has helped more than 500 clinic workers leave including several abortionists who have “put down their abortion tools to defend life.” [Joe P. Brown, Miraculous Images Found in “Unplanned” Our Sunday Visitor, 5/11/19]

The movie Unplanned tells her story in a compelling way. Though Hollywood has given it an R-rating, and Google’s biased editors call it ‘propaganda’, it’s a professional, well-done, must- see film for all who have a concern for the sanctity of human life.

Some Facts of Life

†   Over 3,000 pro-life crisis pregnancy centers exist in the U.S. offering support to women and their babies.

†   Over 2 million couples are willing to adopt – and that includes children of all races and those with special needs.

†   Abortion is legal through all nine months of pregnancy, which is not true in most of the rest of the world.

†   After 18 days in the womb, a baby’s heart begins to beat. After just 9 weeks, a baby has unique fingerprints. At 12 weeks (3 months), a baby can suck his or her thumb.

For College Students & Young Marrieds

“We live in a hookup culture that fears authentic intimacy above all else. What kind of problems does that cause in marriage? And how can sacramental marriage heal those wounds? That’s what we’re talking about in this episode with Dr. Timothy O’Malley, author of Off the Hook: God, Love, Dating and Marriage in a Hookup World, the book we wish would be used everywhere for marriage prep.”

“Tim is a husband, father of two, and the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life as well as academic director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy. He and his family live in South Bend, Indiana.”

“In this episode we discuss how married sex can be overemphasized as the center of married life, how the true nature of marriage is communion and deep friendship, and how raising children fits into everything. We also chat about misconceptions about marriage we have personally suffered from and how a Catholic view of marriage as two people helping each other to heaven differs from the cultural concept of marriage as achieving personal fulfillment. It’s a great conversation so grab a cup of coffee and listen in!”

[The full interview of O’Malley by Christy Isinger can be listened to anytime on your device at: https://fountainsofcarrots.com/?powerpress_pinw=13 54-podcast]

In his popular undergraduate course, “Nuptial Mystery: Divine Love and Human Salvation, ” O’Malley learned that the hookup culture is present in all his students’ lives, whether they’re hooking up or not. Some students approach sex and love as transitory and fleeting transaction—they love the idea of romance; they love the sexual chase; and they crave the hookup, but not the commitment. Others have come to idolize the mystery of marriage. This group lacks understanding about what real love and intimacy demand of two people in everyday life.

This free monthly newsletter is used by dozens of churches, and has over 30,000 readers. To subscribe, email your request to tinarifr@shu.edu

Editor since 2005, Frank Tinari, Ph.D.

April Newsletter

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by Frank Tinari, Ph.D., Life Education Council Board of Trustees

Laity & Clergy Continue to Promote ProLife Values

Jennifer’s Words: “On the day I walked out of the rectory…”

… after confessing my abortions to the priest, I fell in love with a God I never knew existed before. I became a new creation and the daughter He always had in mind.” The Sisters of Life journey with women like this who have suffered after abortion, to experience the love & healing mercy of Jesus. For more information about Days of Prayer and Healing, contact the Sisters at 866-575-0075.

They Entered a Planned Parenthood Facility to Help the Unborn

Just before last Christmas, Red Rose Rescue, led by Fr. Stephen Imbarrato of Priests for Life, Fr. Fidelis Moscinski of Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, and two others entered a Pl. Prthd. waiting room in NJ to speak to women, offering prayers and assistance for them to keep their unborn babies, and handed out red roses with a note, “A new life, however tiny, brings the promise of unrepeatable joy.” Red Rose Rescue has engaged in a number of similar efforts over the past few years. When law enforcement officers come, they go limp, refusing to cooperate with the arrest, and risk jail time for trespassing, disorderly conduct and such. [Stephen Vincent, Is Our Love Enough?, Human Life Review, Winter 2019.]

Knights of Columbus’ Ultrasound Initiative

An especially effective program since 2009, the KofC recently placed its 1,000th machine in pro-life pregnancy centers. In the Initiative, local Knights councils identify centers that are able to medically staff and operate an ultrasound machine and then raise half of the funds for its purchase. Knights’ headquarters in New Haven then matches the funds for the machine’s purchase and delivery. A majority of the women who see the live ultrasound image of their baby make the choice for life. Donations to this worthy cause are always welcomed. Go to www.kofc.org!

“The practice of medicine purposefully seeks to eradicate illness. Physicians pledge an oath to ‘do no harm.’ Taking a life before natural death violates that vow, and there is no turning back.” – Bishop David M. O’Connell of Trenton, NJ, speaking in opposition to the state’s Aid in Dying legislation.

Do Parents of Kids with Down Syndrome Love Their Offspring?

[Christopher M. Reilly, Eugenics Goes into Hyperdrive, Human Life Review, Winter 2019.] Most healthcare professionals have negative attitudes regarding DS and provide poor counseling and inadequate information for parents; they automatically recommend abortion when pre-natal DS is detected. As a result, close to 90% of unborn children diagnosed with DS are aborted in the United States.

Yet, it is astounding to learn that 99% of the parents of children with DS love their offspring, and 88% of siblings say they are better people because of their brother or sister with DS. [Skotko, Levine & Goldstein, Having a Son or Daughter with Down Syndrome: Perspectives from Mothers and Fathers, American Jnl of Medical Genetics, 2011.] This nearly universal positive attitude between siblings is extraordinary.

Hitler-style eugenics has been revived in a different yet still deadly form. Increasingly, unborn children are killed specifically because they have the potential to be disabled or are perceived as failing to thrive in some way. Opposition to eugenics works to protect vulnerable and genetically different populations from being excluded from the human community.

Subscribe to marriage news

Published on the internet by the Family Life Office of the U.S. Bishops, it is free and you can select the topics of most interest to you: dating, engagement, marriage preparation, married life, family life and parenting. http://www.foryourmarriage.org

Abortion Needed to Stop Overpopulation?

In China, India and Indonesia, tens of millions of unborn children, mostly female, have been aborted in the name of population control. But “overpopulation” is a myth. The world is not running out of living room or resources.

We can now easily feed the 7.5 billion people on the planet; with current agricultural methods, we can feed twice that number. We now produce more food on less land, and humanity is eating better than ever before. There are still hungry people, not because there is a global food shortage but due to corrupt governments, poor distribution systems, and ongoing wars and civil unrest.

Around the world, birth rates have fallen, and the number of workers is shrinking while the number of elderly increases. This is a recipe for economic decline. It is now clear that young people are the scarce resource in many countries. In this century the U.S. could be the slowly aging leader of a rapidly aging world.

Overpopulation is not only a myth, it is one that kills. We need more babies, not fewer. That means ending abortion. [Steven Mosher, Population Research Institute Review, March/April 2019.]

“Abstinence doesn’t generate a profit for Planned Parenthood. Risky behavior does.”

So said Ryan Bomberger of the Radiance Foundation in 2017: “Our nation is facing an STD epidemic. The 18% failure rate of condoms is alarming. Birth control pills, shots, implants, rings, and IUDs don’t prevent STDs at all. Abstinence is the only 100% effective way to avoid STDs, HIV, HPV & unintended pregnancy. So, should a business that profits from selling abortions, birth control and STD treatments be teaching our teens that there’s nothing wrong with promiscuity?”

A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found nearly 2.3 million people were diagnosed with chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis in 2017, an increase of more than 200,000 from 2016, according to Vogue. The 2017 numbers represent the fourth consecutive year of an increase and the highest number of STDs ever reported, according to the CDC.

Planned Parenthood’s materials suggest why. In 2015, pro-lifers discovered a Planned Parent hood booklet telling patients that it is their “human right” not to tell their sexual partner that they have HIV. The abortion chain also tells children on its Tumbler page that: “There’s nothing bad or unhealthy about having a big number of sexual partners.”

Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in America, aborting about 320,000 unborn babies annually. Abortion is a lucrative practice, and sexual promiscuity often is connected to abortion. [M. Bilger, STDs Reach Record Highs Despite Planned Parenthood and Its Tax- payer-Funded Sex-Ed Programs, LifeNews.com, 8/30/18.]

Unplanned Movie Inspires Nationwide Candlelight Vigils Outside Planned Parenthood Facilities

Organizers are calling the National Pro-Life Candlelight Vigil on April 13th outside abortion mills an outstanding success. Altogether, there were 166 vigils at Planned Parenthood facilities across the nation, in 40 U.S. states, including many for whom this was their first time taking part in pro-life activism. The vigils were inspired by the chilling look inside the abortion industry as portrayed in the recently released movie Unplanned, which tells the story of Abby Johnson, a Planned Parenthood manager turned pro-life activist. The film has seen unanticipated commercial success, playing for several weeks all through April, despite efforts to squelch awareness due to its pro-life message. Many of the attendees said they were inspired to participate because of having seen the movie.

At a number of vigils, clergy were guest speakers including Fairbanks, Alaska’s Bishop Chad Zielinski & Colorado Springs’ Bishop Michael Sheridan.

Eric Scheidler, executive director of the Pro-Life Action League, said: “We’re encouraging people to take those feelings of sorrow and sadness, what they saw in that movie, and also that feeling of gratefulness to God’s mercy that Abby Johnson was shown, and turn that into action,” he said. “Go out into the front lines, be part of this movement.” He listed praying at Planned Parenthood during a vigil, sidewalk counseling, volunteering at a pregnancy center, supporting pro-life groups, getting involved legislatively, talking to neighbors and becoming informed. “There’s so much that you can do,” Scheidler said, “but do something. Be a part of this movement actively. It’s the only way we’re going end abortion.” [LifeSiteNews.com, 4/15/19]

Well-Funded Groups Pressure Legislators to Legalize Marijuana Despite Health Concerns

Both the cannabis industry and states seeking more revenue are pushing for the legalization of marijuana. Even elements of the press such as the Newark Star-Ledger promote legalization in its editorials despite the numerous reports the paper itself publishes on the various dangers of pot use. One recent example is a report titled “Study: Smoking weed as teen linked to suicide risk as adult”, March 10, 2019.

A new book by Alex Berenson details the many problems with marijuana use: Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness and Violence (Free Press, 2019). Berenson once believed what many believe today: “Marijuana is safe. Nobody every died from smoking too much pot.” According to one reviewer: These words are a more or less perfect summary of the lazy, ignorant, self-serving beliefs of highly educated, rather stupid middle-class metropolitans all over the Western world in such places as, let’s just say for example, the editorial offices of the New York Times.” [Peter Hitchens, Reefer Sadness, First Things, May 2019.]

Medical studies indicate that a long-term cumulative effect of pot use leads to mental illness and, often, violence. Yet we are on the verge of allowing it to be advertised and put on open sale. Berenson’s book provides facts and data about violent crime in places where marijuana is widely available. The campaigns to legalize it cite “medical marijuana”use, but only about 6% of users use it for medical therapy. The book also exposes the false belief that associates marijuana and liberty.

March Newsletter: Most National Pro-Life Groups Headed by Women

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by Frank Tinari, Ph.D., Life Education Council Board of Trustees

National Press Ignores Pro-Life Women

These key pro-life groups are led by women:

  • March for Life – Jeannie Mancini
  • Center for Urban Renewal & Education (CURE) – Star Parker
  • Live Action – Lila Rose
  • Students for Life – Kristan Hawkins
  • Americans United for Life – Catherine Glenn Foster
  • Susan B. Anthony List (SBA) – Marjorie Dannenfelser
  • National Right to Life Committee or NRLC – Carol Tobias
  • And Then There Were None – Abby Johnson
  • American Life League – Judie Brown
  • American Association of Prolife Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) – Dr. Donna Harrison

Also noteworthy among women leaders are the late Phyllis Schlafly, founder of the Eagle Forum, and the late Dr. Mildred Jefferson who was the first black woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School, prominent prolife physician and activist, and the co-founder of the NRLC. Yet another leading figure in the pro-life movement is Dr. Alveda King, niece of the Dr. Martin Luther King. She works with Priests for Life to educate the public on how Planned Parenthood targets the black community.

Some Call it ‘Black Genocide’

Some Christian leaders like Pastor Clenard Childress say: “The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb.” They believe that Planned Parenthood targets elimination of babies in the minority community by placing a greater proportion of their facilities in those communities. This has echoes of the eugenics movement of past centuries. An engaging historical documentary on racism and abortion may be found at www.MAAFA21.com or Black Genocide in the 21st Century.

Rev. Childress is director of LEARN Northeast which, in February of 2015, together with the Center For Bio Ethical Reform launched the “All Black Life Matters” project that has proven to be extremely effective in opening the eyes of the public to the evils of abortion. The group’s website www.BlackGenocide.org contains numerous informational & educational resources.

Archbishop: Catholic Politicians Voting on Abortion Up to Birth are “On a Path to Hell”

Catholic Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Commit- tee on Pro-Life Activities and archbishop of Kansas City, KS, said those who refuse to repent for sup- porting the killing of babies are putting themselves in mortal danger. “While we can object to the actions of these public officials, we are not able to judge their souls. At the same time, we know there will be a Judgment Day,” he said in a statement last week. “Conscious and unrepentant mortal sin endangers our eternal souls and places ourselves on a path to Hell.”

Naumann said he felt compelled to condemn their actions so that other Catholics are not misled or confused. “Recent efforts to perpetuate and expand abortion in state laws have illuminated the deplorable actions of some Catholic public officials and advocates,” the archbishop said. “Their efforts to support and even celebrate such legislation will result in killing many more unborn children, as well as the spiritual and emotional wounding of their mothers and fathers. Advocating for intrinsically evil acts, like abortion, is a serious immoral act,” Naumann said. He also indicated that these so-called Catholic politicians may be denied communion if they continue to support the killing of unborn babies.

For example, a nominal Catholic New York Governor has enthusiastically signed a law that allows unborn babies to be aborted for any reason up to 24 weeks and up to birth for “health” reasons, a broad category that includes basically anything. It redefines a “person” as “a human being who has been born and is alive,” and describes abortion as a “fundamental right.” The law also removes state protections for infants born alive in botched abortions. The Catholic Church teaches that every human life is valuable from conception to natural death, and abortion, infanticide, euthanasia and other life-destroying practices are evil. [Micaiah Bilger, LifeNews.com, 3/1/19]

“No one becomes a Christian by his own unaided power. The process begins only when a person rejects the illusion of independency and self sufficiency. We must acknowledge that it is God Himself who must act in us, who must lead us to our true selves.” Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

“Reversing Roe” on Netflix is Fake News!

What do you do when you don’t like a factual version of history? You come up with made-up feminist ‘herstory.’ In an essay, Ryan Bomberger says a key figure in Roe v. Wade would be Jane Roe herself, the late Norma McCorvey. She’s nonexistent in a movie that wouldn’t exist without her historic role. Norma never aborted her child but made a loving plan of adoption instead. She became pro-life, devoting the rest of her years to aborting the Roe decision.

In one of the film’s massive omissions on the history of abortion in America, the Catholic Church is completely missing. There would be no prolife movement without Catholics, and their fight began long before Roe. It’s why eugenicist/ socialist Margaret Sanger repeatedly vilified Catholics, as evidenced in her alarmingly anti-human 1922 book, The Pivot of Civilization.

The film portrays a non-existent world where, magically, thousands of (mostly women-run) pregnancy help centers don’t even exist. Yet millions of American women oppose abortion.

Netflix offers free “educational screenings” in classrooms for their propaganda, calling its completely imbalanced film “essential viewing.” Notre Dame Univ. signed on and held an event recently, accusing the prolife movement of – get this – white supremacy. Yet, the slaughter of over 62 million human lives since Roe, nearly one million a year, is disproportionately black. Rabidly pro-abortion Notre Dame professors calling pro-lifers ‘racists’ for tireless efforts to protect mothers and their unborn children, regardless of race or ethnicity, is truly Just. Fake. News. It’s bizarre to see them defend a violent institution actually birthed in eugenic racism and elitism.

Bomberger says: “I’m a black adoptee and adoptive father, yet would be called a ‘racist’ for fighting abortion. More black babies have been aborted than born alive in New York City where eugenic pseudo-science spawned Planned Parenthood. Actual & fatal violence against black lives happens 247 times a day inside the nation’s largest abortion chain. The only thing that reigns supreme in “Reversing Roe” is deception. There are so many lies in this misinfomercial that it’d take another documentary to highlight them.” [2/26/91:“Reversing Roe” on Netflix: The Pro-Abortion Crockumentary of the Century” www.LifeNews.com]

“The basis for determining the value of work is not primarily the kind of work being done but the fact that the one doing the work is human. It is on this principle that the work of man – whether it be physical or intellectual – finds its value in the dignity of man.” St. John Paul II

Coming Train Wreck: Pro-Abortion Laws Coexist with Laws Protecting the Unborn

Why do the unborn have property & inheritance rights but not the right to life? Why do the unborn have a right to medical care, but not the right to live? Why do federal and state laws prohibit a death sentence from being carried out upon a pregnant woman? Every other area of law assumes the human rights of the unborn as a person, as a human: homicide, property, inheritance, medical malpractice, pre-term medical care and many others.

But for abortion, why is the mother’s desire the determining factor? How can one person’s feelings determine the rights & value of another person? Why can an abortionist kill an unborn baby with mom’s consent, but no one else can?

These questions are unanswered by abortion advocates. The silence is deafening – and deadly. [Matt Britton, Esq, Day 41, 40DaysforLife.com, 2019]

New York abortion law permits abortions up to the moment of birth, and allows non-physicians to perform them. Yet Ohio, Louisiana, North Dakota and Indiana have anti-discrimination laws prohibiting eugenic abortions of children with Down syndrome and other disabilities. Similar laws are in the works in other states. Much has been written about political polarization. In the cause of life, the moral stakes are now clearer than ever. [First Things, 3/19]

Man Virtues

That’s the title of a new book by the late Robert Lockwood (OSVCatholicBookstore.com) who asks: “What the hell am I doing with my life?” In the end, you just want to be happy. Not three-beer happy, I- got-a-raise happy, or the Steelers-made-the-playoffs happy, but that quiet contentment that comes with living a good life. Lockwood says that by developing some holy habits, and with the sacraments, a life of virtue and happiness really is possible.

Youth Study Re: Health & Well-Being

In September, the American Journal of Epidemiology published a Harvard study of more than 5,000 youths revealing the link between religious upbringing and better health and well-being. “Compared with no attendance, at least weekly attendance of religious services was associated with greater life satisfaction” and several other positive outcomes.

Those who prayed daily in their youth reported greater life satisfaction and positivity in their 20s. Following these same religious youth years later, the study found them less likely to have depressive symptoms, smoke, use illicit drugs, or have a sexually transmitted infection. [Family Research Council, Washington Impact Report, 2/2019]

Edited since 2005 by Frank Tinari, Ph.D who is on the LEC Board of Trustees. Past issues posted on the NJ Diocese of Paterson website. To have your parish receive this newsletter each month free of charge, email your request to the editor, tinarifr@shu.edu

February Newsletter: Life Issues are Everywhere in Society

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by Frank Tinari, Ph.D., Life Education Council Board of Trustees

This issue addresses the New York Times special section on women’s rights, as well as the 2019 March for Life.  It also highlights the litigation against the Little Sisters of the Poor, and two new Christian movies that will appear soon in theaters.

NYT Editors vs. Rights of the Unborn

In a special Sunday (1/20/19) section titled “A Woman’s Rights,” the paper’s editors mount a case against giving personhood rights to developing babies. Of course, they don’t ever use the words “developing baby” but use, instead, “fetus”. The unabridged Oxford Dictionary defines fetus as (1) offspring, and (2) the young of viviparous animals in the womb. In other words, “fetus” can be applied to animals as well as humans. So pro-abortionists use that word instead of saying the young animal or, in our case, the young person in the womb. Shouldn’t the prestigious newspaper use the more accurate term, “baby in the womb”?

The editors worry about “a deep shift in American society … toward the embrace of a relatively new concept: that a fetus in the womb has the same rights as a fully formed person. …The idea has … begun not only to extend rights to clusters of cells that have not yet developed in viable human beings but also to erode the existing rights of … women.”

The paper goes on to say that the idea of fetal rights is a reaction to the Roe v. Wade decision. It cites the words of then-presidential candidate Ronald Reagan, who had previously supported abortion rights in California: “With regard to the freedom of the individual for choice with regard to abortion, there’s one individual who’s not being considered at all. That’s the one who is being aborted.”

The Times piece states disapprovingly that “at least 38 states and the federal government have so-called fetal homicide laws, which treat the fetus as a potential crime victim separate and apart from the woman who carries it.” The various editorial writers note that such laws pit the rights of pregnant women and their developing babies. But nowhere in the eight pages is maternal responsibility mentioned, i.e., that a pregnant woman needs to take special care of herself in order to nurture her developing baby. Of course, the paper focuses on a few extreme cases that appear to unfairly persecute pregnant women. But such cases are few and far between.

The baby developing in the womb as a person with legal rights appears to be the next big battleground social issue in the U.S. We Catholics need to understand clearly what is at stake. Since science tells us that life begins at conception, we must stand firm in protecting the most vulnerable who cannot speak for themselves.

Little Sisters of the Poor Back in Court

Over several years, the sisters had to go all the way to the Supreme Court to protect their religious liberty to stop the federal government from mandating contraception, including abortifacients, for their employees. Last year, the current administration expanded the federal health law’s religious exemption to include the sisters and like- minded groups. But federal judges recently issued injunctions against the exemptions. So the Little Sisters, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, must return to court to battle again. As a WSJ editorial (1/19/19) stated, don’t under- estimate “the cultural imperialism of today’s American left.”

“Marriage means man and woman giving of themselves in their entirety. It is a surrender of one to another.” Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

Challenging to Be Catholic in Hollywood Today

Actor Neal McDonough was pretty much a constant on TV for years, and then he was gone … for a while. Why? The happily married man and Catholic father of five refused love scenes! He was fired from the television show Scoundrels and things looked pretty grim for a while. “After that,” McDonough said, “I couldn’t get a job because everybody thought I was this religious zealot. I am very religious. I put God and family first and me second. It was hard for a few years. Then Band of Brothers producer Graham Yost called me and said, ‘Hey, I want you to be the bad guy on Justified. I knew that was my shot back at the title.”

McDonough said everything has worked out well for him professionally because the setback pushed him to improve his acting. He’s on the History Channel’s new series Project Blue Book and has several other projects in the works including the animated Sonic the Hedgehog.

He met and instantly fell in love with his wife-to-be after meeting her in England where he was filming HBO’s acclaimed 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers. “Almost 20 years, five kids and just one heck of an awesome life later, to have her as my partner in everything, I’m just the most blessed guy I know,” he said. “That’s why I go to church every day and say thank you to God for everything he’s given me.” P.S. Scoundrels was cancelled after several episodes. McDonough’s career, however, is back on track. [Matthew Archbold, National Catholic Register, 1/10/19]

“We Stand Between America & Darkness”

“America was founded on the promise of God-given rights, chief among them the rights to life and liberty,” conservative commentator Ben Shapiro told the 2019 March for Life participants. Once America’s children were her most prized group; “then something happened. We decided to erase them … we lied to ourselves, and then we built walls around that lie. We pretended these were not human lives at all, but disposable balls of meat,” he continued, after detailing multiple scientific truths of fetal development denied by the abortion lobby. “We told ourselves we were virtuous for our lie. We reversed good and evil.”

Shapiro then cited Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s comment this week that pro-lifers are “not in line with where we are as a government and quite frankly where we are as a society.”

“Maybe they’re right. Maybe we today here are not in line with the rest of society,” Shapiro said. “To which I say, good. So were the abolitionists. So were the civil rights marchers. So were the martyrs in Rome and the Jews in Egypt. Righteousness doesn’t have to be popular; it just has to be righteous.”

He then assured the crowd that, despite the mainstream media’s best efforts, their stand for life would not be forgotten. “Our children standing here with us today, they will remember, and they will march until they no longer have to march. Our children yet unborn will remember, and they will thank us in our prayers. And most of all, God who built and preserves nations, who brings life and maintains it, who stands with those who suffer most at the hands of evil. He will remember us too. He will remember America and He will bless her. God will bless us, because we are the guardians of His most precious creations. We stand between America and the darkness, and we will march until that darkness is banished forever, & all of our children can stand together in the sunlight.” [Calvin Freiburger, LifeSiteNews.com, 1/18/19

Watch for Two New Movies

Garabandal [PG-13 for brief violence; in theaters in February] On June 18, 1961, in a small village in Northern Spain, four girls claim that St. Michael the Archangel appeared to them. On July 2nd they receive a visit from Our Lady of Mount Carmel. After this followed more than two thousand visits from this Lady. The village’s parish priest and the Civil Guard brigadier suddenly become protagonists in an overwhelming event, struggling to find the truth while confronting a perplexed hierarchy and facing an ever growing multitude of people arriving in search of answers. [www.garbandalthemovie.com]

Unplanned [in theaters in March] brings us an eye-opening look inside the abortion industry from a woman who was once its most passionate advocate. Based on Abby Johnson’s memoir, this inspiring true story gives voice to a woman who has been on both sides of the abortion conversation. This is an important movie about the most controversial issue of our time. No matter which side of the fence you’re on, no one will leave this film unmoved by Abby’s journey. [www.UnPlannedfilm.com]

Cut Off Taxpayer Abortion Funding

According to Fr. Tad Pacholczyk, Director of Education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, despite their “health care provider” veneer, “Planned Parenthood is much more of a menace than a benefit to the health and well-being of Americans. It has faced a string of scandals ranging from the sale of baby body parts to over billing and unsanitary clinic conditions, from cover ups of sexual abuse of minors to botched abortions, from falsified medical information to LGBT activism, to the promotion of offensive forms of sex education to young children.”

As House of Representative member Diane Black notes, “Abortion is not healthcare. It destroys one life and damages another.” Fr. Tad went on to explain:

“The U.S. needs to eliminate the financial lifeline of Planned Parenthood by defunding the organization of taxpayer dollars. Its supporters argue that low-income women would not be able to get needed healthcare. Yet federally qualified (community) health centers could take up the slack. They receive broad government funding and offer care regardless of the patient’s ability to pay, making available an even broader array of primary care services than Planned Parenthood. And there are many more community health centers than Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide.”

He supports Congress making Planned Parenthood affiliates ineligible to receive either Medicaid reimbursements or Title IX grants if they continue to perform abortions. Taxpayer money from these programs could be redirected to the more than 9,000 federally qualified health center sites that provide comprehensive health care for those in need without entanglement in abortion. [The Beacon, 1/17/19]

Do You Watch Fake or Biased News?

On Friday morning of the 46th annual March for Life in Washington DC, the largest national pro-life gathering of more than 100,000 people, ABC, NBC and CBS’s morning news shows all ignored the event. CBS gave a whole segment to the feminist, anti-Semitic “Women’s March” scheduled for Saturday but didn’t even give a passing mention to the March for Life. [www.LifeNews.com]

Written and edited by Frank Tinari, PhD, a member of the Life Education Council Board of Trustees

January 2019 Newsletter: Pro-Life is Pro-Science

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by Frank Tinari, Ph.D., Life Education Council Board of Trustees

Science Focus of National March for Life

This year’s March for Life plans to fortify its message with science that proves life begins at conception, and with a specific focus on stem-cell research.

“Unique from Day One: Pro-Life is Pro-Science” is the theme for the January 18th Rally and March in Washington, DC, that marks the anniversary of the Supreme Court 1973 Roe v. Wade decision which legalized abortion nationwide for all nine months of pregnancy. Rally speakers will include Ben Shapiro, editor of The Daily Wire, and Abbey Johnson, former abortion clinic worker who founded And Then There Was None. Political speakers are to be announced.

Jeanne Mancini, pres. of the March for Life, said that “our DNA is present at the moment of fertilization. Science should always be at the service of life, not the reverse. It is important to have a foundation of human dignity for any kind of research.” She called for the passage of H.R. 2918 (Patients First Act) that would require the Dept. of Health & Human Services to support research on adult stem cells, not those taken from aborted babies. David Prentice, research director of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, research arm of Susan B. Anthony List, said adult stem cells “from many different sources [e.g., umbilical cord blood]” would be a suitable replacement. [Catholic New York, 10/25/18]

Participation in the national March for Life is a once-a- year event that is unforgettable. Families, adults, teenagers, religious all make the civic and religious statement to show their opposition to the inhumane practice of abortion. Buses are being provided by hundreds of parishes for the trip to Washington. The Respect Life Office of your area diocese will provide details.

Disrespect for Life Leads to Other Problems

NY Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan recently wrote: “Drugs, war, unjust economic systems, crime, violence, oppression of people, family dysfunction & sexual abuse all start from degrading the innate value of the divine gift of human life.”

“We are pro-life, not just pro-birth. As Cardinal Terence Cooke wrote as he heroically neared his own painful death from cancer, human life is no less sacred when it is vulnerable, weak, or considered ‘inconvenient’.”

“I make no apologies for prioritizing concern for the unborn. If we get that wrong, we’re hardly credible on the other burning issues. If we allow the helpless life of the baby in the sanctuary of the mother’s womb to be thrown away, it’s tough to defend the lives of others who might be considered inconvenient or expendable.” [Catholic New York, 10/25/18]

Maternity Homes Seek to Empower Women

Trauma, homelessness, addiction, broken family life are not good conditions for birthing and raising a baby. That’s why there are over 400 maternity homes in the U.S. that offer pregnant women food, shelter, prenatal care, education and job search assistance. After their babies are born, mothers get help learning to care for an infant through post- partum, and support as they work toward finding independent housing.

Good Counsel Homes was founded by Christopher Bell in 1985 with the support of Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR, and now operates seven homes in four states. Sara Moran started Little Flower Maternity Home (Denver) after working at Maggie’s Place (Phoenix) & Several Sources Shelters (NJ).

Many success stories: “A lot of us made something of ourselves,” Shanika Dawson said. “I’m glad the home is still around. A lot of women have accomplished a lot after being there.”

Some crisis pregnancy centers are now opening their own maternity homes in response to the need they see among their clients. Chicago-based Aid for Women is one of 20 pregnancy help centers that offer maternity housing. The agency operates Heather’s House (Des Plaines, IL) for pregnant women and Monica’s House (Chicago) for those making the transition to independent living. [Our Sunday Visitor, 11/18/18]

Regardless of location, these homes deal with common problems faced by pregnant young women: a history of homelessness, incarceration, broken family life, broken relationships, spousal abuse, parental rejection and other trauma. Maternity homes offer these women a different path, one that could lead to a more fulfilling life for themselves and their children.

Quit!

That’s the single word filling the front of a postcard that is designed to be shared with abortion workers. The back of the card explains how And Then There Were None assists workers through a transition out of the abortion industry. The group provides job search resources, financial assistance, free legal counsel, emotional and spiritual support, and no- cost healing retreats. Nearly 500 abortion workers have walked away from the industry.

If you would like to have a set of these cards to hand to abortion facility workers outside of an abortion mill in your area, visit www.AbortionWorker.com, or #ATTWN.

NJ Campaign: Protect Babies in the Womb

Since the summer, tens of thousands of postcards have been signed and sent from Catholics for passage of the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (A-1686/S- 537).

Spearheading the campaign to save babies 20 weeks in the womb from abortion, Holly Wright said: “The 20/20 Project is a collaborative effort of many pro-life groups and individuals throughout the state to attain equal rights for babies in the womb and it is making great headway.” There is substantial medical evidence that babies in the womb feel pain by 20 weeks. The bill states: “Surgeons in the field of maternal and fetal medicine have found it necessary to sedate an unborn child to prevent the unborn child from engaging in vigorous movement in reaction to invasive surgery.”

To participate in the postcard campaign, parishioners are encouraged to meet with their pastor for permission to implement the program. They would then choose a Sunday date and have parishioners receive instruction about the project & how to sign the postcards that are provided. More information is found at www.babiesinthewombfeelpain.com. [The Beacon, Diocese of Paterson, NJ, 12/6/18]

Also, to promote the campaign, NJ drivers are encouraged to obtain & display the 20/20 magnetic decal.

Guidelines for Being a Faithful Pro-Lifer

1. Casual sex is not worth the risks

2. Unplanned pregnancy needs to be faced honestly and with loving support

3. Abortion has many bad physical & emotional effects

4. Healing is possible for those who have had an abortion

5. It is best to be chaste until marriage

6. Marriage is a sacrament between a man and a woman

7. Family planning should use natural means

8. Children are a gift from God

9. Sick or elderly people are to be given normal care and relief of pain

10. Suicide and assisted suicide are morally wrong

11. Abuse of a person by another is always wrong

12. Use of another person as an object is sinful

13. The church offers healing from the effects of all types of abuse

14. Help and protection is to be offered to all human beings, whether sick or poor or elderly or unborn “Life in all its stages is sacred and to be respected”

NFL Player Rae Carruth Released From Prison: Murdered Pregnant Girlfriend, Injuring Her Unborn Baby

Former NFL player Rae Carruth walked out of prison in October after serving 19 years for planning to kill his pregnant girlfriend and their unborn son. A former Carolina Panthers wide receiver in late 1990s, Carruth was found guilty of conspiring to murder his pregnant girlfriend, Cherica Adams, and attempting to destroy an unborn child, his son Chancellor. After being shot four times, Adams went into a coma and died a few weeks later, but doctors were able to save her son, Chancellor. He has cerebral palsy and lives with his maternal grandmother, Saundra Adams, who has devoted her life to caring for him. Chancellor’s condition is due to loss of blood and oxygen the night when his mother was shot; he also was born prematurely.

Carruth recently told reporters that he wants custody of his son, but Adams said she will fight to keep her grandson. “I’ve forgiven Rae already, but to have any type of relationship with him, there does have to be some repentance,” Adams she told reporters. “And I think this opens the door. But I can say definitively he’s not ever going to have custody of Chancellor. He will never be raised by a stranger, someone he doesn’t know and who tried to kill him.” She said her daughter refused to abort Chancellor, even though Carruth pressured her repeatedly. [M.Bilger, LifeNews.com, 10/22/18]

“Pro-life beliefs have definitely been gaining ground in recent years.”

That’s what Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said in reaction to a new poll of 3,000 Americans. (Full survey results are avail-able online at TheStateOfTheology.com) The national poll found 52% of Americans agreed that abortion is a sin. Abortion opposition has increased slightly since the 2016 State of Theology survey, when 49% said abortion is a sin.

The Christian group said the survey results show some in the media continue to exaggerate Americans’ support for social liberalism, even as a large number of Americans continue to agree with Biblical ethics. Dr. Mohler said that pastors & local churches have played a big part by teaching about the sanctity of human life. Ultrasound images plainly show the humanity of the child in the womb, and they are provoking the consciences of Americans. [S. Ertelt, LifeNews.com, 10/22/18]

Edited since 2005 by Frank Tinari, Ph.D., tinarifr@shu.edu Past issues posted on the Diocese of Paterson, NJ website. To have your parish receive this newsletter each month free of charge, email your request to the editor.

December 2018 Newsletter

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Building a Fulfilling Marriage

[Ed. note: every month we will present excerpts from Pope Paul VI’s encyclical, Humanae Vitae, the brief but prophetic papal letter to all people of good will, proclaimed in 1958. Pope Paul VI was canonized in October 2018.]

  • Married love is not confined wholly to the loving inter- change of husband and wife; it also contrives to go beyond this to bring new life into being. “Marriage and conjugal love are by their nature ordained toward the procreation and education of children. Children are really the supreme gift of marriage and contribute in the highest degree to their parents’ welfare.”
  • Parenthood Husband and wife must be fully aware of their obligations in the matter of responsible parenthood, rightly understood. In its biological, emotional, social and environmental aspects, the exercise of responsible parent- hood requires that husband and wife recognize their own duties toward God, themselves, their families and human society. It follows that they are not free to act as they choose in the service of transmitting life, as if it were wholly up to them to decide what is the right course to follow. On the contrary, they are bound to ensure that what they do corresponds to the will of God the Creator. The very nature of marriage and its use makes His will clear; the constant teaching of the Church spells it out.
  • Intimacy The sexual act, in which husband and wife are intimately and chastely united with one another, is the means through which human life is transmitted. The Church urges observance of the precepts of the natural law, which it interprets by its constant doctrine, and teaches that each and every marital act must of necessity retain its intrinsic relationship to the procreation of human life.

“It is poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.” St. Teresa of Calcutta

Incidence of STDs Continues to Rise

Over 110 million Americans have one or more sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and the number keeps rising. Some can pose permanent health problems; some persist for years without any symptoms; others can be treated and cured with antibiotics. The surest way to avoid infection is to practice sexual abstinence while single. If you marry, ensure that your partner is not infected with an STD, and remain sexually faithful during marriage. [STDs: What You Should Know booklet, www.abstinenceresources.com]

Adoption: Sharing New Life & Bringing Joy For each child who is available for adoption in the U.S., approximately 36 couples are waiting, hoping and praying for a chance to adopt. Open adoption helps pregnant women choose from dozens of approved families waiting to adopt. Contact arrangements with the adopting family are flexible and can be changed over time. Adoption services are free, and many expenses through pregnancy are covered through the adoption process. Adoption isn’t “giving your baby away.” Learn about Open Adoption in confidence at 800-923-6784. [www.LifetimeAdoption.com] Healing Brings Peace

For help after having, or participating in, an abortion, seek God’s peace and reconciliation through one of the following organizations:

  • Rachel’s Vineyard 877-467-3463 rachelsvineyard.org
  • National Helpline for Abortion Recovery 866-482-5433 nationalhelpline.org
  • Project Rachel 888-456-4673 hopeafterabortion.com
  • Abortion Recovery International 866-721-7781 abortionrecovery.org

Law Suit Filed Over “Disorderly Conduct”

A case was recently filed by the American Center for Law and Justice on behalf of two pro-life activists challenging the constitutionality of Iowa’s disorderly conduct statute. Two peaceful counselors were arrested on a public sidewalk outside an abortion business for preaching Scripture, carrying pro-life signs, and talking to passers-by.

The ACLJ has a superb track record of protecting free speech outside abortion clinics, having just won victories in two cases, Turco v. Englewood (NJ) and Devine v. City of NY. The ACLJ remains steadfast in its decades-long commitment to defending the free speech rights of those on the front lines who are speaking up to protect the lives of the unborn. “It’s my body, so it’s my choice!”

If the preborn child is just a part of her mother’s body (like an organ) or growing on her mother’s body (like a tumor), this rhetoric might make sense.

But the reality is that from the moment of fertilization, the child in the womb possesses her own individual, complex genetic makeup, separate from her mother’s DNA. A preborn child is definitely not part of the mother’s body – she is her own self, with her own body. [Who Do You Believe, magazine for teens & young adults, www.humanlife.org]

Recommended Books from Notre Dame U.

Great advice and good moral teachings for courting, marriage and raising kids may be found in many recent books from Ignatius Press, EWTN and Notre Dame’s Ave Maria Press. Dr. Greg and Lisa Popcak, authors of Just Married, published another book, Then Comes Baby, the Catholic guide to surviving and thriving in the first three years of parenthood. Author Dawn Eden revised and updated the Catholic edition of her book The Thrill of the Chaste, with the theme of “finding fulfillment while keeping your clothes on.” Author & radio personality Patrick Coffin said: “Very few writers can crank out prose that is at once elegant and funny … and spiritually enriching with no treacly aftereffects….”

And from Emmaus Road Press: Sex Au Naturel: What It Is and Why It’s Good for Your Marriage by Patrick Coffin. Making the case against contraception, this book presents a clear and compelling case for the timeless teaching of the Church on “birth control.” Why Cohabiting Couples Have Higher Divorce Rates

First, consider what research shows: most couples who live together never marry. Those who do marry have a divorce rate up to 80% higher than those who waited until after the wedding to live together. Cohabiting couples report greater marital conflict and poorer communication.

Those who cohabit are less likely to be faithful to one another. Cohabiting women are far more likely than wives to suffer domestic violence. Women who cohabit are more than three times as likely to be depressed as married women. Cohabiting couples are less sexually satisfied than married couples.

As to the higher divorce rate, cohabiting partners who marry think less of marriage and are less likely to work tirelessly to preserve it. Having sex during the courtship period hinders their ability to look at each other clearly. And cohabitation undermines commitment. On the one hand, the couple desires complete intimacy, but they also want to leave a way out if their partner does not measure up. This lack of faith in the other sows seeds of doubt and distrust from the start.

Successful marriages are not the result of few annoying qualities in one’s spouse, but the result of choosing to love and forgive the other each day, with all his or her imperfections. Wanting to “test drive” a marriage really shows a lack of understanding of what makes a marriage work. [www.chastity.com; also, www.usccb.org/laity/ marriage/cohabiting.shtml]

“I depend on life support, but I won’t ask for ‘aid in dying’”

That’s what Diane Coleman said recently in a guest newspaper column. “I have an advanced neuromuscular condition and must use breathing support with a mask 18 hours a day.” Regarding so-called assisted suicide laws in some states, “disability groups have pointed out the inherent discrimination and empty pretense of safeguards in these bills. Why does everyone else get suicide prevention, while old, ill and disabled people get suicide assistance? How could a doctor who’s known a person for an average of only 13 weeks know if he or she is being pressured to ask for assisted suicide?” Requests for suicide come from feeling a loss of autonomy, loss of dignity, or feelings of being a burden. Yet these “could be addressed by consumer- directed in-home care services. People who need home care are treated as disposable.”

Regarding assisted suicide bills like those proposed in New Jersey, if “the only other person present at the end is a greedy heir or tired care giver, there are no safeguards to determine whether they self-administered the lethal drug or were cajoled, tricked or forced.”

“We urge [elected officials] to consider the dangers to the many elders, ill and disabled people who are not safe from mistake, coercion and abuse.” [Newark Star-Ledger, 10/28/18]

“We must not be surprised when we hear of murders, of killings, of wars, of hatred. If a mother can kill her own child, what is left but for us to kill each other.” St. Teresa of Calcutta Questions for the New Year

Can Catholics who take God seriously yet request procedures, use certain prescribed drugs, or support health policies that attack the sanctity of unborn children or the elderly, can they still be right with God? Or if they vote for officials who support policies that undermine the dignity of human sexuality and the family, won’t God demand an accounting?

In his remarks to the Phoenix Catholic Physician’s Guild, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver condemned moral indifference in the face of the culture of death as dishonesty towards God and ruinous to America; and reminds us that God will hold us responsible for our lack of action in support of Life.

Edited since 2005 by Frank Tinari, Ph.D., tinarifr@shu.edu

Past issues: posted on the Diocese of Paterson, NJ website. To have your church receive this newsletter each month, email your request to the editor.

November 2018 Newsletter

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50th Anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s Encyclical, Humanae Vitae
[Ed. note: every month we will present excerpts from this short but incisive papal letter to all people of good will. Pope Paul VI was canonized last month.]

The transmission of human life is a most serious role in which married people collaborate freely and responsibly with God the Creator. It has always been a source of great joy to them, even though it sometimes entails many difficulties and hardships. The fulfillment of this duty has always posed problems to the conscience of married people, but the recent course of human society and the concomitant changes have provoked new questions. The Church cannot ignore these questions, for they concern matters intimately connected with the life and happiness of human beings.

  • Conjugal love is not “merely a question of natural instinct or emotional drive. It is …, above all, an act of the free will,” meant to help couples “not only to survive the joys and sorrows of daily life, but also to grow, so that husband and wife become in a way one heart and one soul, and together attain their human fulfillment.”
  • “It is a love which is total—that very special form of personal friendship in which husband and wife generously share everything, allowing no unreasonable exceptions and not thinking solely of their own convenience. Whoever really loves his partner loves not only for what he receives, but loves that partner for the partner’s own sake, content to be able to enrich the other with the gift of oneself.”
  • “Married love is also faithful and exclusive of all other, and this until death. This is how husband and wife understood it on the day on which, fully aware of what they were doing, they freely vowed themselves to one another in marriage. Though this fidelity of husband and wife sometimes presents difficulties, [it is] always honorable and meritorious. The example of countless married couples proves … that it is the source of profound and enduring happiness.”
  • “Finally, this love is … not confined wholly to the loving interchange of husband and wife; it also contrives to go beyond this to bring new life into being.” The 2nd Vatican Council states: “Marriage and conjugal love are by their nature ordained toward the procreation and education of children. Children are really the supreme gift of marriage and contribute in the highest degree to their parents’ welfare.” [Full text available online free of charge.]

“Aborting for the Reason of Race, Sex or Disability is Kind of Hitler-esque”
This was the reaction of Lake County (Indiana) pro-life group President Len Reynolds regarding an Indiana Law that prohibits such abortions and also requires abortion facilities to bury or cremate aborted babies rather than dispose of them as medical waste. “Nothing in the Constitution prohibits states from requiring health facilities to provide an element of basic human dignity in disposing of fetuses,” Attorney General Curtis Hill said in a statement.

Recent legal challenges by Planned Parenthood and the National Organization for Women have prevented the law from being implemented. Hill is now appealing to the Supreme Court for a constitutional ruling. [Dave Brooks, “Planned Parenthood Fights Law Requiring Proper Burial for Aborted Babies,” LifeNews.com, 10/22/18]

“Courage is a group of Catholics who experience same-sex attractions and who are committed to helping one another live chaste lives marked by prayer, fellowship and mutual support. EnCourage provides spiritual support for parents, spouses & other loved ones of people who are involved in homosexual relationships. [Courage International, Inc., http://couragerc.org]

“Can I Guard Myself and My Family from Inappropriate Internet Content?”
What you do online impacts your life offline. According to Covenant Eyes, that is an important reason to have internet content monitored and filtered. Their website has lots of free resources for families to review. Discover how the internet affects your life and the ones you love including cyberbullying, pornography, obsessions, new internet trends, and other issues. If you are interested in protecting your family, you could try their services free for 30 days by using the promo code Patrick. [www.covenanteyes.com]

On Election Day, we will make critical decisions about the types of leaders we will have for years to come. It is essential that we look carefully at the positions of the candidates. This step is critical in fulfilling our responsibilities as faithful citizens, as we must participate in the political process with a fully informed conscience. There are so many issues to consider: the environment, war, immigration, abortion, marriage, taxes, jobs, health care costs, poverty, homelessness, etc. Pro-life Catholics emphasize that the dignity of human life is a bedrock Christian principle: without respect for life, other issues pale in comparison. So our votes must reflect this basic concern.

Natural, Effective and Healthy Family Planning …. and It’s Free
Since 1971, the Couple to Couple League has sought to inspire, educate and support couples in family planning that is natural, effective, healthy and consistent with God’s plan for life, love and marriage.

Natural family planning (NFP) is fertility awareness which is simply knowledge of a couple’s fertility. It is a means of reading the body’s signs of fertility and infertility; applying this knowledge through the Sympto-Thermal Method (STM) which is over 99% effective. A married couple’s application of this knowledge either to try to achieve a pregnancy or to postpone a pregnancy is responsible parenthood. Practicing NFP is 100% natural: no drugs, chemicals or devices. Many today find it to be a positive & refreshing alternative to contraceptive methods. NFP honors our dignity as persons by respecting the natural rhythms and functions of the body. Many couples who use NFP speak of an increased awe and respect for femininity and their mutual fertility, and a greater sense of empowerment through self-knowledge.

Wives can avoid the risks and side effects that come with drugs and devices of contraceptive methods by choosing NFP. Because there are no potentially harmful chemicals, hormones or devices put into your body, NFP is safe. Because it does not interrupt your natural cycles and, instead, respects and informs you of your natural fertility, it is healthy. And because NFP does not involve the continual purchase of medications or devices, it is green, with no negative influence on either your body or the environment.

NFP couples tend to find that their love life improves when they make the switch from contraception. What they discover is that without artificial hormones dulling the wife’s natural sex drive, & with increased respect & communication from managing fertility together, NFP brings a spark and a sizzle that helps keep their intimacy fresh, exciting & fun. NFP couples feel more like a team that extends beyond family planning. Many couples find that NFP helps build a closer relationship to God since they are experiencing marriage as He intended. [For more info, visit www.ccli.org]

David E. Paul, “Culture War as Class War”
“The fight is over nothing less than who has the power to define reality. To lose such a fight [is] to have the weight of the dominant culture pressed firmly against you, peeling away members of your side and undermining the ability and willingness of the remainder to resist. It is to be denied access to elite institutions and networks, and to all the material and social benefits they confer. It is even to have the force of law and thus ultimately the power of the state used against you.” [First Things, Aug/Sep 2018. Author is professor, Williams College]

Entertaining Movies ….. with a Message
Whether in the theater or at home, here are films that you may not have heard much about but will find engaging and enjoyable. (Why not save the list & check-off the boxes as you see the movies?)

  • Gosnell (2018): this could still be in some theaters even though it has suffered a media blackout. Great crime drama with some great acting, based on an actual recent case tried in Philadelphia.
  • October Baby (2011): urged by her lifelong best friend Jason, Hannah, an adoptee, goes with friends on spring-break from Birmingham to New Orleans, planning to stop in Mobile where her birth certificate says she was born.
  • Unprotected (2018 documentary): #MeToo. Sexting. The hook-up culture. Teen depression. Fertility crisis. Divorce. Pornography. How did the culture become so toxic for women? Moving stories and inspiring commentary reveal the devastating effects of 50 years of the sexual revolution.
  • Bella (2006): a drama about characters, relationships and decisions. José was once a rising star with the Real Madrid soccer club before his budding career took an unexpected turn. Nina, already struggling at work, discovers that she is faced with an unwanted pregnancy.
  • Hush (2016): a dramatized documentary that gives equal coverage to pro-choice women, pro-life women and women who are concerned about themselves or their daughters achieving their reproductive goals with optimal chances for long-term health. Fascinating cultural history that has the flavor of investigative journalism.
  • Juno (2007): this outrageously offbeat comedy hit film has rare wisdom, one that knows that following your bliss is often another name for selfishness and immaturity, and the secret to lasting happiness is often a matter of taking what you have and deciding to make it work.
  • Indivisible (2018): just released is the extraordinary true story of Army Chaplain Darren Turner & his wife Heather. When war etches battle scars on their hearts, they face one more battle: the fight to save their marriage.

[Tell the editor about other life-affirming and family-supportive movie titles of which you may know.]

Family & ProLife News Briefs for Catholics May 2018

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Cherishing Every Life from Beginning to End

Reasons to Be Pro-Choice?

Recently, NY Times columnist & Catholic Ross Douthat wrote about ‘abortion extremists’ among his liberal friends. Abortion supporters responded in letters to the editor (NYT, 4/15/18). Some of their key points are paraphrased here together with a Catholic response by your editor.

  • Pregnancy exacts a heavy price on women in the U.S. Many die in childbirth; if she keeps her baby and is single, she is more likely to be unemployed; giving up a baby for adoption is heart-wrenching; it is better to have the right to abort the baby. Catholic Response: to reduce deaths during childbirth, pregnant women need better health care and services, not the killing of her baby. Single moms do face greater economic hardships. The Catholic Church provides much needed services to help such women including maternity homes, food banks, hospital services and more. And the Church promotes strong marriages through marriage preparation classes. Killing an unborn baby (“terminating a pregnancy”), like any killing, cannot be justified for economic reasons.
  • Government ban on abortion has its own real dangers. Catholic Response: The notion that regulating abortion will cause women to seek an illegal “back-alley” procedure is a myth. A 2012 study, e.g., reveals that outlawing abortion in Chile not only saved children, but advanced women’s health. Of course, pro-abortionists ignore the real danger to millions of pre-borns who have been “terminated” legally.
  • Pro-choice advocates want to choose reproductive outcomes for themselves & let others choose what they want. Catholic Response: Using misleading terms like “reproductive outcomes” is not helpful. What is really happening is the destruction of a tiny developing human being. The time to choose one’s reproductive outcomes is before one gets pregnant. Abortion destroys a separate living human being.
    [The remaining arguments will be covered in the next issue.]

Radical Pro-abortion Culture War Failing

Outgoing Planned Parenthood (PP) President Cecile Richards just published a book detailing her lifetime of pro-choice activism. The book claims pro-abortionists are “transforming the culture” so they can “quit apologizing for abortion.” 3,547,123 is the number of abortions committed at PP since 2006 when Richards became its president. Ten years of public opinion research shows that Americans consistently support significant restrictions on abortion. This year’s Marist poll on abortion found that more than 75% of Americans would limit abortion to — at most — the first three months of pregnancy. A majority of Americans (56%) said they believe abortion is morally wrong. Love is winning! 52% of respondents, and 52% of women, said having an abortion will more likely cause harm to a woman’s life than good. Likewise, 78% said that our laws can protect both the well-being of women and the lives of the unborn rather than choose between them. The poll makes clear that much of what Planned Parenthood advocates falls far out of the mainstream. For example, 63% of Americans support banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy unless the mother’s life is at risk, while just 33% oppose such a ban. Most Americans also oppose the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for elective abortion procedures – another position PP embraces that places them in a minority. In truth, there is a consensus in our culture on abortion: Americans support major rollbacks on abortion. That’s because the pro-life movement is winning hearts and minds on this issue. [March for Life President Jeanne Mancini on Fox News, 4/3/18]

There’s Nothing Funny About Abortion

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beyond crass … almost beyond belief.

“There is nothing in the least bit funny about abortion. Not for the baby’s mother. Not for the baby’s father. Not for the abortion workers. And, above all, not for the baby, who is brutally terminated in the womb.

There is nothing funny about the remains of abortion (clinically called the ‘products of conception’). Nothing funny about the severed parts of tiny humans – little hands and little legs and little eyes. Nothing funny about Planned Parenthood making money off these dismembered babies.

There is nothing funny about the after-effects of abortion. Nothing funny about the grief and guilt experienced by many a mother (and father). Nothing funny about the women who are unable to conceive after an abortion. Nothing to laugh at, at all.

Yet in the midst of a vulgar, over-the-top ‘comedy’ routine at the annual White House correspondents’ dinner, Michelle Wolf (right) decided to joke about abortion.

This was beyond tasteless. Beyond crass. It almost beyond belief.

Speaking of Vice President Pence, she said that he is ‘very anti-choice. He thinks abortion is murder, which, first of all, don’t knock it ’til you try it – and when you do try it, really knock it. You know, you’ve got to get that baby out of there. And yeah, sure, you can groan all you want. I know a lot of you are very anti-abortion. You know, unless it’s the one you got for your secret mistress.’

Perhaps Wolf was right to raise the issue of hypocrisy. There have been conservative politicians who allegedly urged their mistress to have an abortion. Perhaps some corrupt preachers have done the same.

But to joke about abortion itself. To joke about using violent means to dislodge a little baby from its mother’s womb – how does one respond to this? To repeat her words: ‘when you do try it, really knock it. You know, you’ve got to get that baby out of there.’

How would we respond if she decided to joke about the Holocaust? ‘You better get those ovens super hot! There are a whole lot of Jewish bodies to burn!’

How would we respond if she decided to joke about slavery? ‘How many Africans can you cram into the belly of a ship? Don’t worry about overcrowding. You can toss the extras overboard!’

How would we respond if she decided to joke about human trafficking? “You know why selling people is so much better than selling drugs? You can only sell drugs once.”

We would be horrified with such ‘jokes.’ From the left to the right, we would say, ‘Off limits! There’s nothing to laugh about here.’

And anyone who was idiotic enough to crack such ‘jokes’ would be universally panned, if not banned.

Why, then, is it OK to joke about abortion? About a decision that is terribly painful for many mothers to make. About a gruesome procedure that slices up or burns up or sucks out a helpless human being from the sanctuary of its mother’s belly.

Wolf has been rightly criticized for her savage attack on Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. But Ben Shapiro was correct to tweet: ‘The worst part of Michelle Wolf’s garbage performance last night wasn’t her nasty riff on Huckabee Sanders. It was that dumpster fire abortion joke. But few were as offended by her literally celebrating baby killing as they were by her knocking eye shadow.’

One of the side-effects of abortion is that it desensitizes a culture. As Mother Teresa famously said, ‘Abortion kills twice. It kills the body of the baby and it kills the conscience of the mother.’ And it kills the conscience of the nation.

If you wanted any proof for that, look no farther than the White House correspondents’ dinner, where a comedian thought it funny to crack a joke about abortion on live national TV. And look no farther than the wide-scale absence of outrage on the left in response to her ‘joke.’

Personally, I would love to see the day when Michelle Wolf becomes a passionate pro-life ally. She wouldn’t be the first to make a radical turn.

But for the moment, what we have is shame and woe. Shame for aborting more than 55 million babies. Disgrace for mocking their agony.”

Article created by Dr. Michael Brown on askdrbrown.org

Family & ProLife News Briefs for Catholics (April 2018)

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Joyous Easter Season: Time for Healing & Staying Informed

Healing After Abortion

Though abortion is a serious sin, we know that all sins can be forgiven. But there still remains regret, questions, guilt and other feelings long after someone has had an abortion. These, too, can be healed.The Sisters of Life work not only with those contemplating abortion but also those seeking healing. There is help and hope available, and the pain and sorrow of abortion need not endure for a lifetime. A “Day of Prayer and Healing” offers the opportunity to experience the love and mercy of God and to heal the wounds of abortion. They have only two Saturday sessions left before summer: April 21 and May 26, 2018. For location and confidential registration, or to talk to a Sister, please call the Sisters of Life at (866)-575-0075 (toll free) or email hopeandhealing@sistersoflife.org. And for men who have been involved in an abortion, sign up for a Day of Prayer and Healing for Men: contact Lumina at 877.586.4621 or Lumina@postabortionhelp.org.

“Hero of Legendary Courage & Integrity”

It’s rare to hear that said about an elected official, but that is what Congressman Dan Lipinski (D, IL) was called by Susan B. Anthony List (SBAL) president Marjorie Dannenfelser. “He’s not just a pro-life vote in Congress. He is a leader on this issue.” Lipinski is just one of a few Democrats who work hard for the pro-life cause. He co-chairs the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, speaks at anti-abortion rallies, and regularly sponsors legislation that seeks to restrict the termination of unborn babies. In the general election, SBAL will continue to support Lipinski over his Republican opponent, Arthur Jones, a Nazi and Holocaust denier. It is hoped that Lipinski’s success will embolden other Dems to vote against abortion rights. “We just think it’s important that the issue remains bipartisan,” Mallory Quigley said. “[Lipinski] is the model for how we want pro-life Democrats to act in Congress, to choose pro-life principles over party when those two things clash.” [Christina Cauterucci, Why an Anti-Abortion Advocacy Group Went All-In for an Illinois Democrat, Slate, 3/21/18] THE LIFE ISSUE IS POWERFUL. In the Lipinski primary, SBA List was outspent nearly 10 to 1 by the abortion lobby, yet its candidate won. Planned Parenthood spent $474,000 in the election. Radical abortion group NARAL spent $430,000. And pro-abortion women’s group EMILY’s List spent $250,000. ed. by Frank Tinari, Ph.D., tinarifr@shu.edu over 30,000 readers; for free subscription, email the editor.

“The Program Changed My Mind About Sex Before Marriage”

That was one of many positive comments from students who attended an all-day “True Love Waits” middle-school retreat on March 4, and the “Free to Love” retreat for high schoolers on March 18. These programs are offered to schools by LIFENET at very reasonable cost. They engage students with skits and discussion groups. If your local school might be a good place to host a pro-life retreat, contact Christine Flaherty at 973-497-4500 or www.lifneteducation.org