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A Call of Christian Conscience

Christians, when they have lived up to the highest ideals of their faith, have defended the weak and vulnerable and worked tirelessly to protect and strengthen vital institutions of civil society, beginning with the family.

We are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians who have united at this hour to reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the common good, and to call upon our fellow citizens, believers and non-believers alike, to join us in defending them. These truths are:

1. the sanctity of human life
2. the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife
3. the rights of conscience and religious liberty.

Inasmuch as these truths are foundational to human dignity and the well-being of society, they are inviolable and non-negotiable. Because they are increasingly under assault from powerful forces in our culture, we are compelled today to speak out forcefully in their defense, and to commit ourselves to honoring them fully no matter what pressures are brought upon us and our institutions to abandon or compromise them. We make this commitment not as partisans of any political group but as followers of Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Lord, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. 

Over at the Creative Minority Report, the really drop the hammer on Senator Casey, and in the process lament the absence of a certain someon not afraid to hold Casey’s nose to the grindstone.

And now “pro-life” and “Catholic” Casey can’t even say whether he agrees with a simple statement by Cardinal Rigali.CNA reports:

Pro-life Catholic Sen. Bob Casey, Jr. (D-Pa.) wouldn’t give a clear response when asked if he agreed with Cardinal Justin Rigali’s Nov. 20 statement that there is “no way” the current Senate health care bill can be supported as it currently stands, since it permits tax dollars to fund abortions.

“I’m not going to comment on what he (Rigali) has said in particular,” said Sen. Casey to CNSNews.com reporters on Tuesday. “I’m not one who compares what I say versus what someone else says about the bill.”

What?! I’m not one to compare what I say versus what someone else says? Uhm. That’s called debate Senator. So Pennsylvania has a Senator that isn’t one to debate? Great.

Backed into a corner, Bob Casey has only shown steely determination to find more corner.

A woman pulled a knife on a pro-life protester and held it to her throat outside an abortion clinic, two abortion protesters say.  The pro-lifers said they were confronted by 25-year-old Mechelle Talluah Hall as she entered the Building for Women in Duluth, Minn., Nov. 24.  “We asked the woman, ‘Please don’t take the life of your little unborn baby. We care about what happens to them,’” pro-lifer Sarah Winandy told KBJR-TV.  Winandy said that’s when the woman pulled the knife out of her purse and attacked fellow abortion protester Leah Winandy.  “She said, ‘Don’t do this. Don’t talk to me. Don’t come near me!’” said Leah Winandy.

Read more at World Net Daily

So I’m walking down North Franklin St in Wilkes-Barre late yesterday afternoon.  Across the street I notice 2 women and a teenage girl walk out of a building, their around eachother, stopping a few times to hug eachother real tight.  The girl, 15-17 I think, was wearing the uniform of a school many of you would recognize.

Just from their body language, I knew; I KNEW, what had just transpired.  Honest to God, tears came to my eyes.  I looked back at the building they walked out of, and I saw what I already knew must be the case.  There were four  businesses in this location:

Family Service Associates of Wy‎oming Valley

 Northeast Regional Cancer Institute‎

Peace Center‎

Planned Parenthood‎

And at that, my heart sunk right into the pit of my stomach, and I had to sit down.  I didn’t know PP was in Wilkes-Barre.

From Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures

Why we must not give up the fight.

‘One widespread section of public opinion in the educate may find it exaggerated and inopportune — indeed, downright diostasteful — that we continue to remind them that the problem of respect for a life that has been and is not yet born is a decisive question.  In the last 15 years almost all Western countries have legalized abortion, to the accompaniment of lacerating debates; ought we not today to consider this problem settled and avoid brushing the dust off antagonistic ideological positions that have been made obsolete by the course of events?  Whyn not accept that we lost this battle and choose instead to dedicate our energies to initiatives that can hope to find support in a broader social consensus?  INdeed, if we remain on the superficial lever, we could be convinced that the legal approval of abortion has not really changed much in our private lives and in the life odf our societies; basically, everything seems to be going on as before.  Everyone can act in accordance with his consience:  a woman who does not want to have an abortion is not compelled to do so, and a woman who does have an abortion with the approval of a law would perhaps have done so in any case (or so we are told).  It all takes place in the silence of an operating room , which at least guarantees this ‘medical intervention’ will take place with a certain degree of safety: and it is as if the fetus that will never see the light of day had in fact never existed.  Who notices what is going on?  Why should we continue to speak publicly of this drama?  Is it no perhaps better to leave it buried in the silence of the consciences of the individuals involved?

The book of Genesis contains a passage that addresses our problem with impressive eloquence:  the blessing the Lord God pronounces on Noah and his sons after the flood.  After the event of sin, God reestablishes here, once and for all, the only laws that can guarantee the continuation of life for the human race.    God lays aside the bow of his wrath and embraces the world anew in his mercy, indicating (in view of future redemption) the essential norm’s for the world’s survival:  ‘For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning; of every beast I will require it and of man; of every man’s brother I will require the life of man.  Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image’ (Gen 9:5-6).

With these words, God claims the life of man as his own specific posession: it remains under his direct and immediate protection.  It is something ’sacred’.  When a man’s blood is shed, it cries out to him (Gen 4:10), because man is made in his image and likeness.  The authority of society and the authorities in society are instituted by him precisely in order to guarantee the respect of this fundamental right, which is endangered by the wicked heart of man.

It follows that the recognition of the sacred character of human life and of its inviolability — a principle admitting no excetpions — is not some trivial little problem or a question that may be considered relative, in view of the pluralism of opinions we find in modern society.  The text from Genesis guides our reflections in a double sense, which corresponds well to the double dimension of the questions we asked at the beginning of this essay:

First, there are no ’small murders’.  The respect of every human life is an essential condition if a societal life worthy of the name is to be possible.  Secondly, when man’s conscience loses respect for life as something sacred, he inevitably ends by losing his own identity.’

Q.  Does support for abortion make one “less of a Catholic”?
A.  Yes.

Read why here.

I’ve spent the last several days attempting, and failing, to sit down and write something about Down’s Syndrome in response to, among others, this article from the Guardian. This article stems from the news that despite a significant increase in diagnoses, the number of babies born with Down’s syndrome has decreased because around 92% of these pregnancies end in abortion.

I find however that Archbishop Chaput, writing in First Things, has done a much better job than I could have hoped to, so I would urge you to read his article Conscience, Courage, and Children With Down Syndrome.

The real choice in accepting or rejecting a child with special needs is never between some imaginary perfection or imperfection. The real choice is between love and unlove, between courage and cowardice, between trust and fear. And that’s the choice we face as a society in deciding which human lives we will treat as valuable, and which we will not.

I would also refer you to this letter, also from the Guardian, written in response to the same article addressed by Archbishop Chaput, from a mother of a child with Down’s who asks:

Why do we learn of the number of lost foetuses who don’t have Down’s syndrome but not the number “lost” who do? When my nine-year-old, who has Down’s syndrome, reads an article like this, why won’t it feel like ethnic cleansing?

No-one, absolutely no-one, disputes that raising a child with a disability can be immensely difficult. That’s why we all share in the responsibility to help these families in any way we can. Our medical establishment, our media, our entire society suffers from what Archbishop Chaput describes as “a kind of schizophrenia in our culture’s conscience”. This is often well meant, stemming from misguided compassion, but it not love. As noted in the original Guardian article, it is tragic when a healthy baby dies as a result of amniocentesis, but it is no less tragic when a baby with Down’s dies as a result of abortion. And is an indictment of our society that the fear of conditions like Down’s is so overwhelming that the risks of invasive procedures like amniocentesis are seen as worth taking.

The only way we should ever greet any pregnancy is with love and with recognition that each and every life is precious with it’s own special God-given value. We often tell school-children that if one of their friends or classmates comes to them with the news that they’re going to have a baby, their response should be “Congratulations!” closely followed by “I will help you in any way that I can.” This goes equally when we’re given the news that a friend or relative is preganant with, or has, a child with a disability. Children with disabilities can bring just as much, and even more, joy to the lives of their parents and those around them as healthy children. No one should ever feel that they have to have an abortion because they don’t believe that they would be able to cope and it’s the responsibility of all of us to help them cope, not out of pity but out of love.

by Richard Long

(Following on with yesterday’s theme, let’ s pray for the Queen Charlotte Islands and also the city of Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory today, that the Lord would bring a revelation of his son to them in this special season.)

Today I want to encourage your hearts with an amazing answer to prayer.  This story was publicized on The Drudge Report (possibly the most popular website on the whole internet) yesterday.  That’s getting the word out!

Most of you know that today is the last day of the Forty Days for Life campaign, so this is one of the best stories of answered prayer coming out of that effort.

Here’s the opening paragraphs from the Lifesite News website.

“By Kathleen Gilbert

BRYAN, Texas, November 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The director of the Texas Planned Parenthood abortion mill where the 40 Days for Life campaign began has resigned, saying she experienced a conversion after watching an ultrasound video of a child being killed by abortion.

“I just thought I can’t do this anymore, and it was just like a flash that hit me and I thought that’s it,” said Abby Johnson in an interview with local news network KBTX 3.”

Read the whole story here.

Pray MORE

“Consequently, whoever, even unknowingly, circumvents the institution of the family undermines peace in the entire community, national and international, since he weakens what is in effect the primary agency of peace… Everything that serves to weaken the family based on the marriage of a man and a woman, everything that directly or indirectly stands in the way of its openness to the responsible acceptance of a new life, everything that obstructs its right to be primarily responsible for the education of its children, constitutes an objective obstacle on the road to peace.”

- Pope Benedict XVI, Message for 2008 World Day of Peace

‘If my life is mine, what shouldn’t I do?’

Wow.

Sr Roseann will be in the south west of England this weekend speaking in several schools and parishes. Her programme is as follows:

Friday 16th October

Sister will be speaking to Year 11s at Notre Dame Catholic Girls School, Plymouth. She will then travel to St Boniface Boys Catholic College, Plymouth to talk to Year 11s and 6th formers.

At 7.30pm that evening Sr Roseann will be giving a talk to the West Cornwall SPUC group at St John’s School, Camborne.

Saturday 17th October

At 11am, Sister Roseann will give a talk in St Mary’s Parish Centre, Bodmin on how the Pro-Life Initiative began, the foundation of the Sisters of the Gospel of Life and our current work.

Later, Sister  will speak briefly after 5.30pm Mass at Padstow.

Sunday 18th October

On Sunday Sr Roseanne will speak after the 8.30am Mass in Wadebridge and the 10.30am Mass in Bodmin.

Sr Roseann is very much looking forward to the trip and would like to thank Lynne, Fr Chris, all who helped organise the visit and all who’re providing hospitality!

Last night we had the great pleasure of joining the Little Sisters of the Poor in Robroyston for a prayer vigil on the eve of the canonization of their foundress, Jeanne Jugan.

We love the Little Sisters and it’s was a real privilege to be with them as this great event approaches. We pray that St Jeanne’s canonization will bring many women to the Little Sisters, allowing them to continue with their great work.

As Mother Agnes said last night, our work is very much linked with that of the Little Sisters – we’re all concerned with protecting and promoting the dignity of human life at all stages.  As we move more and more towards euthanasia, assisted suicide, etc, the Little Sisters are a powerful witness to the continued value of the lives of the sick and elderly.

It was particularly moving to hear extracts from Pope John Paul’s homily at St Jeanne’s beatification in 1982. The homily can be read in full here.

May the beatification of their well-loved foundress impart to the Little Sisters of the Poor a new élan of fidelity to the spiritual and apostolic charism of their Mother! May the repercussions of this event, reaching to all the houses, have the effect of drawing more and more young women throughout the world into the ranks of the Little Sisters!..Finally, may this beatification be a refreshing source of joy and of hope for all the aged of the world, thanks to the witness, hereby solemnly acknowledged, of the woman who loved all of them so much in the name of Jesus Christ and of his Church!

Saint Jeanne, pray for us!

Saint Damiaan, pray for us!

From Bd Mother Teresa’s speech at her acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize on December 11, 1979:

“…I feel the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a direct war, a direct killing – the direct murder by the mother herself.”

This is the red Mass at St. Matthew’s Cathedral In Washington DC.   When I was at college, I attended Mass here a few times, when I went at all.  I’m genuinely not certain of what the correct Pastoral Approach to this is, but no matter what that approach may be, I think it is a crying shame that the protest was necessary.  By the way, is that Fr. Charles O’Connor in the Foreground at 5′21″.

A recent poll suggests that Americans do not want government sponsored health care to cover abortion, and Americans also support the right of doctors and nurses to refuse to be involved in abortion, either directly or indirectly. 68% also said they don’t want any insurance policy of theirs to cover abortion. In other words, even if Americans somehow support a vaguely defined “freedom of choice,” most Americans don’t want to be involved in actually funding an abortion (either by taxes or insurance premiums). And, not surprisingly, Americans still support the right of health care workers not to act contrary to their consciences.  While we have a long way to go, this is good news.

by Kirsten Harty

The fall campaign for 40 Days for Life is back in full swing. This will be the campaign’s third season in Ottawa, with six other Canadian cities participating. The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada is showing their support for the event as well.

By choosing to be a silent, prayerful witness, you are a voice for the unborn:  the vulnerable, the voiceless….

Prov. 31:8 – 9  ”Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.  Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

Here were the events for Day 1.

Vigil guidelines can be found here.

See you there.

A woman is promoting her new book, “Impossible Motherhood” detailing her own dark choices: 15 abortions in 16 years, much of it as a married woman.

Irene Vilar worries that her self-described “abortion addiction” will be misunderstood, twisted by the pro-life movement to deny women the right to choose.

Uhhh… mission accomplished.

On tuesday, Secretary of Health and Human Services and former Governor of Kansas (and George Tiller Fan) Kathleen Sebelius Gave an interview to the Washington Post.  Clik the link for the whole transcript as well as the video.

Here’s the part where she represents the faith and teaches us how we live our lives as Catholics.

MS. ROMANO: You are also a pro-choice Catholic, and I was reading some stories out of your home state recently where one of the bishops took an action. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

SECRETARY SEBELIUS: Well, the Archbishop in the Kansas City area did not approve of my conduct as a public official and asked that I not present myself for communion.

MS. ROMANO: What did you think about that?

SECRETARY SEBELIUS: Well, it was one of the most painful things I have ever experienced in my life, and I am a firm believer in the separation of church and state, and I feel that my actions as a parishioner are different than my actions as a public official and that the people who elected me in Kansas had a right to expect me to uphold their rights and their beliefs even if they did not have the same religious beliefs that I had. And that’s what I did: I took an oath of office and I have taken an oath of office in this job and will uphold the law.

MS. ROMANO: Do you continue to take communion?

SECRETARY SEBELIUS: I really would prefer not to discuss with you.  That’s really a personal–thank you.

I don’t really have anything charitable to say and I’ll close it here, but just so we are clear — I am NOT presenting this as a demonstration of how to integrate your faith with your daily life.

The wonderful Rachel’s Vineyard have a variety of special music videos and other useful resources.  A good example is the below which is to ‘Fix You’ by Coldplay, there’s another to ‘How to Save a Life’ by the Fray and so on. These would be good for classes, presentations, etc.

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) – The pro-life Democrat who says he had 40 Democrats who will vote against the health care bill in the House because it funds abortions can’t get a meeting with President Barack Obama. Rep. Bart Stupak, in a new interview, talks more about how the pro-life Democrats can hold up the pro-abortion bill, HR 3200.

Stupak, a Michigan congressman, told the conservative magazine that he has repeatedly asked for a meeting, or even a few minutes on the phone, with Obama but has been consistently refused.