Category Archives: Catholic Life

Mother Teresa

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Today would have been the 100th birthday of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.  Here is one of the prayers that The Missionaries of Charity pray after daily Mass. 

  Dear Jesus, help us to spread Your fragrance everywhere we go.  Flood our souls with Your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being, so utterly, That our lives may only be a radiance of Yours. Shine through us, and be so in us, That every soul we come in contact with may feel Your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus! Stay with us, and then we shall begin to shine as You shine; So to shine as to be a light to others. The light O Jesus will be all from You, none of it will be ours; It will be You, shining on others through us. Let us thus praise You without preaching, not by words but by our example, By the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what we do, The evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to You.  Amen.

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$600,000 to be Awarded to Life Saving Heroes

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Exciting news out today from the Gerard Health Foundation …

The foundation again will be awarding $600,000 in prize money to those who have succeeded in saving human lives and awakening the conscience of America at an invitation-only event this January in Washington DC.

That’s some prize money!

Ray Ruddy, founder of the Gerard Health Foundation, shared this at the launch of this year’s program:

Our Foundation has a profoundly simple mission: to save lives. Life Prizes works to honor those who have best accomplished this noble goal and to inspire the next generation to break the mold in their life-saving work. As last year’s winners will tell you, ordinary people can achieve extraordinary goals. We look forward to celebrating six new heroes and thanking them for their ingenuity, dedication, sacrifices and leadership.

You may recognize most if not all of the six inaugural award winners 2009:

  • Jill Stanek – Nurse who first publicly exposed infanticide of abortion survivors
  • Lila Rose - Student leader who has launched several successful, undercover investigations exposing statutory rape cover-up and racism at Planned Parenthood
  • American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) - A professional voice reaffirming the unique value and dignity of individual human life in all stages of growth and development from conception onward.
  • Richard Doerflinger – Associate Director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, bioethics expert, and consummate researcher
  • Kay Coles James – Founder of The Gloucester Institute and of Black Americans for Life, pro-life advocate in the highest levels of government for decades
  • Margaret “Peggy” Hartshorn – President, Heartbeat International, a preeminent network of more than 1,000 pregnancy resource centers

As Human Events’ Elisabeth Meinecke notes in her piece , the 2009 ceremony and reception “drew over 1,200 attendees, with Laura Ingraham serving as master of ceremonies” and was held in January of 2009.  The popular rock band BarlowGirl headlined the fantastic event and several St Michael Society editors were fortunate enough to attend. It truly was like the Oscars of the pro-life movement.

LifeNews.com also aptly notes  that

… with the mainstream media frequently ignoring or twisting the coverage of pro-life advocates and Hollywood awards ceremonies featuring a who’s who of pro-abortion celebrities, the Gerard Health Foundation decided to create its own awards ceremony to honor pro-life heroes working against abortion.

Watch last year’s event video and read the ceremony speeches at www.LifePrizes.org.

We can’t wait until October when the award winners will be announced!

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So Called Ban on Abortion Funding – Anti-Catholic History – Faith vs Works

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I thought there is no public funding of abortion?

I wonder what Sister Carol Keehan, Bart Stupak and all the so-called Catholic health organizations think about U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi receiving an award from abortion giant Planned Parenthood in recognition of her efforts in ensuring that the abortion funding ban was not inserted in ObamaCare. Never mind, I don’t want to know.

History and Catholicsim:

I’m not looking to re-fight the Thirty Years War or defend all the actions of Mary I of England, but this interesting article should remind all Catholics that most of the history books we read are written by people that at their core are anti-catholic. If you like to read a good history of the Catholic Church to recommend Harry Crocker’s book:

Faith vs Works?  I choose Christ.

The New Oxford Review has a wonderful piece by Stephen Rombouts. He takes on the debate between faith versus works and talks about having a “truly personal relationship with Jesus” through the Eucharist.

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“Women: Where Are Your Children?”

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In an insightful new commentary  on the rise of “childlessness” in America, a Catholic woman who has experienced the joys of life as a mother of nine children and nurse addresses the pain experienced by women who “bought into the myth that contraception and abortion would liberate them for an awesome career in a ‘man’s world.”

Jennifer Giroux, Executive Director of HLI America, lays out a very strong case for the risks of deciding not to bear children. She cites recent census data that projects which groups of women are on track for “loneliness in their twilight years” due to being childless, describes the “prison of loneliness” that traps people in nursing homes or retirement centers with no children or grandchildren to visit them, and sheds new light on the Gospel of Luke that has sadly come true.

An excerpt from Mrs. Giroux’s piece:

Jennifer Giroux, HLI America

When I was a child we lived 5 doors from St. Margaret of Cortona church. I recall how often we would walk down the street during Lent to frequently attend the Stations of the Cross. It is not until recently that I have been able to fully grasp what was meant by Our Lord as he met the women of Jerusalem on the way to the Cross:

“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed!’ “(Luke 23:28)

Let us pray for a conversion of heart for those who have bought into the myth that a lack of children will afford a better life, and ask Our Lady to comfort those who regret decisions not to bear children.

Join HLI America, a program of Human Life International, to spread the word that protecting life begins at home.

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Pro-Life Foundation Helps Expectant Mothers Choose Life

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The Paul Stefan Foundation is an amazing mission.  It was inspired from the tragic experience of a family told to get an abortion and through the prayers of a parish priest in Novena to St. Andrew and at the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Read this inspiring story here.

Since its 2006 founding, the PSF has helped over 70 women and babies.  While they maintain three homes in Virginia, they are looking to open homes in Maryland soon, as well as in other parts of the country.

These homes are not only a great mission that SMS encourages our fellow Catholics to support, they are also important to our pro-life mission to overturn Roe vs Wade.  Overturning Roe is inevitable, and when it is overturned these life or death decisions will be left to the states to legislate.  An argument long used by pro-abortion advocates is what do you do with women who are pregnant and abandoned or abused who cannot afford a baby.  The answer is the Paul Stefan Foundation and its Homes for Expectant Mothers.

The PSF just announced that its 3rd Annual Celebration of Life Gala will be in Historic Fredericksburg, VA on September 25 and will feature former Virginia First Lady Susan Allen and acclaimed pro-life Catholic Doctor John Bruchalski, Founder and President of the Tepeyac Medical Center and Divine Mercy Care.

For more information on the event or how you can support this important mission read below.

Former First Lady of Virginia, Susan Allen, To Headline Virginia “Celebration of Life” Event for Expectant Mothers and Newborns

Fredericksburg, VA—The Paul Stefan Foundation, a Virginia-based charitable organization dedicated to providing homes for expectant mothers and their newborns, announced today that Susan Allen, former First Lady of Virginia, will be a featured speaker at the organization’s Third Annual “Celebration of Life” Gala Event to be held September 25, 2010 at the Fredericksburg Expo Center.

The former First Lady joins acclaimed Doctor Dr. John Bruchalski, Founder of the Tepeyac Medical Center and Divine Mercy Care as a featured speaker. Tickets for the event can be purchased by calling 540-854-2300, or online at http://www.paulstefanhome.org/celebration-of-life-gala/

“I am so excited to be a part of this event and this great cause.  When you see how the Paul Stefan Foundation, with its three homes in Virginia, is helping expectant mothers in need and their newborns, it is inspiring and incredibly heart-warming.  I look forward to seeing and meeting others in support of this cause at the Gala.  It will be a truly beautiful evening in so many ways,” Ms. Allen said.

Founded in 2006, The Paul Stefan Foundation www.paulstefanhome.org

operates three homes in Virginia, two in Orange County and one in Fairfax.  Since opening its doors to pregnant women in need, the PSF has helped over 70 women and newborns.  The Foundation was inspired through a Catholic priest, Father Stefan Starzynski, and by the death of Baby Paul Stefan James, who died less than an hour after birth.   Learn more about this miraculous story at http://bit.ly/bx2kCM

“We are so grateful to Ms. Allen for accepting our offer to speak at this year’s event.  She is an inspiration to us all and we are extremely honored to have her involved in our cause,” said Randy James, CEO of the Paul Stefan Foundation.

“We hope that with such great speakers this year to further enhance our cause of saving women and babies in a more ecumenical way.  There are so many women right here in Virginia, who find themselves pregnant, abandoned, some abused, others living out of their cars — they have no where to turn.  It is the goal of our Foundation to provide these women and their pre-born babies homes of safe haven where they will receive loving care, support and nourishment necessary for their further growth and development,” said Evelyn James, Director of Homes for the PSF.

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IVF Babies Being Aborted

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One of the arguments against in-vitro fertilization that the Catholic Church makes is that a baby should not be made into commodity – something that is bought or sold at whim….and something that can easily be discarded. IVF is a tough subject because of all the emotions that go into truly wanting to have a child and being unable to for some reason or another. There are many heartbreaking stories of childless parents who would do anything to conceive and bring a child into the world.

But as Pope John Paul II taught, the end cannot justify the means: “It is not licit to do evil that good may come of it.”[iv]

And now we come to a story that exemplifies how having a baby through IVF turns a baby into a commodity.

“About 80 unborn babies conceived by in vitro fertilization (IVF) are eliminated by abortion each year in Great Britain, according to a new report…. The statistics from Britain’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) show an increasing number of women are choosing abortion for ‘social,’ rather than medical reasons after becoming pregnant by IVF, The Times reported June 6.” 

It’s not like these women had an unexpected pregnancy. They aborted mostly for “social” reasons, reasons that (not to be judgmental) put the lives of their baby on the backburner and put their needs and wants above anything else. One woman said that her marriage was falling apart at the time she got pregnant via IVF and that she “didn’t want any link” that would force her to stay in touch with her husband. Not to say that a marriage wouldn’t fall apart if the baby was conceived through the loving marital act of selfless giving of each other, but it just seems so cold that the resulting child in this situation would merely be a link to her husband and not the result of love, even if it no longer exists, a human person in its own right.

As R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote on his blog: “We are witnessing the elevation of personal autonomy, personal happiness, and personal fulfillment to levels that can only be described as idolatry.”

 If this is happening in Great Britain, the likelihood that the same thing is happening in the US is very high. When will we wake up to the atrocities of trying to play God?

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Fatherless

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Have you read Fatherless” yet? You should. It’s a Catholic novel that is selling fast.

The book is a real page-turner and follows the lives of a parish priest and families that have entrusted themselves to his care. It tackles a lot of hot button issues like contraception, adultery and morality in the workplace. It’s one of those books where the reader is taken into the minds of characters and feels their emotions. You won’t be able to put the book down.

Now we have some good news about the book and need your help. Fatherless, written Brian J. Gail, has been selected as one of 12 featured titles in the 2010 Catholic Summer Reading program. Voting for the top 3 adult titles is currently underway on the Catholic Summer Reading website.

If you have a minute please vote this week to help keep Fatherless on the top 3 list – http://www.catholicsummerreading.com/.

In the meantime, if you haven’t picked up a copy (or need a gift for Father’s Day), you can get it at Human Life International here.

For more info on the book, go to www.fatherlessbook.com. Brian Gail’s next book, Motherless, is expected to come out this Fall so we’ll keep you posted.

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Praying That Your Favorite Sports Team Wins

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A local news station has a story about a Catholic priest in Chicago who is praying that the Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup. The priest, Fr. Marty Michniewicz, says that he doesn’t want to be in prayer competition with the Flyers so instead he prays that “God gives the Blackhawks players the will to win.”

This priest loves hockey. His office is adorned in the Blackhawks color of red and black and he has a statue in his office of Jesus playing hockey with children. And he tends to invoke hockey in his homilies if applicable.

“It’s is just like a hockey team, I’ll say. I’ll say you need your goalies, your finesse players. They all form a team. As a parish, we all have something to offer and something to form the body of Christ, the church, the team, whatever,” said Fr. Marty.

Have you ever been so intensely watching the game of your favorite sports team and instinctively prayed to God to let them score just one more goal or make that 3-pointer or run back a punt for a touchdown?

Do you think God hears our prayers for a win? God loves each one of us with a love that we can never fathom and he wants us to be happy but does that mean he’ll help our favorite sports teams?

What do you think?

UPDATE 6/10/10: Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup last night!

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Andrea Bocelli: Almost Aborted, Devout Catholic

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Award-winning  pro-life blogger Jill Stanek has posted a great piece “Almost Aborted: Tenor Andrea Bocelli .” Her story links to video of the esteemed opera singer sharing his personal connection to abortion, which is both moving and beautiful:

 This is a powerful reminder that every life truly is special and worth fighting for despite difficulty, pain, risk and even “expert” opinion. I’m inspired by Mrs. Bocelli having the courage to continue with her pregnancy even while knowing her child may have a severe disability. Only God could have foreseen that her child would bring so much joy – to her and to millions of people around the globe – through the gift of his voice.

It’s sad to think of how many people like Andrea we are missing today because parents feared a disability for their child and thought it was better to abort. There are so many friends, colleagues and family members we should have in our lives, but don’t. Let Andrea’s story  inspire those facing difficult pregnancies, and remind us to encourage and support those who parent children with disabilities.  God blesses each child with gifts, talents and the ability to touch so many lives regardless of their ability or disability.

This isn’t the first time Bocelli has publicly stood for what he believes in. As a devout Catholic, he declined the invitation from friends Tom Cruise and Katie Holms to sing in their wedding ceremony in 2007 because of his faith. He attended the post-ceremony festivities, but did not join them for the Scientology wedding “because I’m Catholic. I didn’t think it was respectful for my religion to be there.”

What a class act.  Bocelli follows his faith and his heart in a respectful yet assertive way. Hollywood could stand to benefit from a whole lot more than singing lessons from him.

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