Tag Archives: prolife
Legislative Fight Over Human Embryo Experiments Coming
The good news continues. According to the Washington Post, the National Institutes of Health Monday ordered a immediate halt to all experiments on human embryonic stem cells. Last week the NIH shelved any requests for new funding for experiments and Monday’s announcement applied to experiments done by NIH. This was in response to the temporary injunction barring the federal government from funding experiments on human embryonic stem cells. The judge in the case upheld the law which prohibits the use of taxpayer money on human experimentation through embryonic stem cell research. The Dickey-Wicker amendment, that has been attached to annual appropriations bills for the Department of Health and Human Services since 1996, prohibits the use of federal funds to support research in which embryos are destroyed or discarded.
The American people should not be forced to pay for needless experiments–prohibited by federal law–that destroy human life. Deriving stem cells results in destruction of the embryos; this cannot and should not be paid for by taxpayers. Expect the battle to move quickly from the courts to the legislature.
The polls are in our favor; a new Rasmussen Reports national survey shows 57% Oppose Taxpayer Funding of Embryonic Stem Cell Research, but we expect the Congress to move quickly to try to repeal the Dickey-Wicker amendment.
Helping Expectant Mothers and Churning Miracles
In our ongoing battle to end abortion and help the poor, SMS has been blessed to work with Father Stefan Starzynski in his mission to care for expectant mothers through maternity homes in Virginia. Over the past three years, the Paul Stefan Foundation – www.paulstefanhome.org has cared for and nurtured over 80 expectant mothers and babies in our homes in Central and Northern, VA.
The PSF not only cares for these women and their newborns before, during and after the baby’s birth, we also help them find jobs, and further their education to help them get back on their feet in society.
We are now raising money not only for the essential daily care of these women and their newborns, but also to open more homes in the region.
On Saturday, September 25, the Paul Stefan Foundation will have its annual Gala Dinner — Celebrating Life.
I hope you will consider either purchasing a table or making a contribution to this heartwarming charity.
Information on gala here: http://www.paulstefanhome.org/celebration-of-life-gala/
Two events happened separately and came together for the formation of The Paul Stefan Home of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The first event was a trip in October, 2005 by Father Stefan Starzynski to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico. While there he prayed for Randy and Evelyn James and their unborn child. After many tests, the doctors had advised Mr. and Mrs. James that the baby had a diaphragmatic hernia and could not survive delivery. They recommended an abortion. Randy and Evelyn said the pregnancy would continue and the outcome would be in the hands of God.
Father returned home and brought with him a beautiful picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe which he blessed and gave to Sharon Fentress. She had given him money and requested that he bring her something from Guadalupe.
Sharon subsequently met Evelyn James at mass. When Sharon later found out there was a problem with Evelyn’s pregnancy, she took the picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Randy and Evelyn’s home and left it with them. The picture was taken along to the hospital when Evelyn was ready for delivery.
The James baby was born on December 13, 2005. He was given the Name Paul Stefan James. He died about an hour after be was born. To read more about the miracle of Paul Stefan, go to the area on this web site dedicated to Paul Stefan James.
The second event began on November 30, 2005. Father Stefan started a novena to Saint Andrew that was to end on Christmas day. On December 4th, which was Confirmation day at St Patrick church, Father prayed for the Holy Spirit to come down. On that day two parishioners, Kathleen Wilson and Theresa Rousseau, decided to join Father in making that novena. It was decided they would pray for a home for unwed mothers.
Father began to talk to other parishioners and also spoke from the pulpit about prayers being said for a home for unwed mothers. A parishioner told Father Stefan that her husband would arrange to lease fifty acres of land for a dollar a year and the donation of two houses on that land so a home for unwed mothers could be established.
A Board of Directors was formed and what to name the home was discussed. Everyone agreed it should be named in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Paul Stefan James. Thus the home was christened the Paul Stefan Home of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Please pray for the PSF Mission, the women and their babies.
Thank you and God Bless you.
Nancy Pelosi Pretends She’s a Catholic Theologian (Again)
Because we haven’t written on Nancy Pelosi in awhile and because the things the supposedly Catholic Speaker of the House says are too ridiculous not to bring to your attention, here we go.
Nancy Pelosi said earlier this year, when talking about the massive healthcare bill, that she wanted to pursue policies “in keeping with the values” of Jesus Christ, the “Word made Flesh.” Which is why she passed a bill that allowed for government funding of abortion of course.
At a press briefing last week, a CNSNews.com reporter reminded Pelosi of her previous statement and of the very fact that the bill takes life rather than saves it.
Pelosi, the quick Catholic thinker that she is, declined to say when Jesus obtained the right to life.
“Whenever it was,” said Pelosi, “we bow our heads when we talk about it in church, and that’s where I’d like to talk about that.”
That part where we “bow our heads” is during the Nicene Creed when we profess how Jesus came into this world:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
In other words, we bow because we acknowledge that extraordinary miracle of the Incarnation, the moment of Christ’s conception when God became man, yet still retained his divine nature.
The reporter followed up with a question about Christ’s conception and if that was when Jesus got the right to life. Through her press secretary, the answer was: “The speaker answered the question. Thanks.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, along with science, also makes it very clear when life begins: “From its conception, the child has the right to life.” (2322)
CNS News has the full story here with the audio clips and the line of questioning – http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/70445.
From the Lips of Walter Dellinger to the Ears of God
What was probably a publicity stunt to energize pro-abortion activists on the eve of the nomination hearings of Obama’s latest Supreme Court pick Elena Kagan, former acting Solicitor General Walter Dellinger predicted Tuesday night that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe vs. Wade, the landmark decision that brought about the murder of millions of children. The POLITICO today reports:
The noted liberal scholar said the 1973 decision has become a “trophy” that the court’s conservative bloc could overturn if a Republican president chooses a replacement for Justice Anthony Kennedy.
“I absolutely believe it,” Dellinger said during a forum cosponsored by POLITICO.
“For a while I thought that one could simply chip away at a lot more and more regulations that sort of protected access (to abortions) for the most affluent women but really made it impossible for women who were vulnerable to geography, poverty (and) youth,” he added. “But now I think that, actually, it is such a symbol of a kind of jurisprudence that conservatives have set themselves in opposition to.”
Catholics need to be engaged. Information on Elena Kagan found here and Students for Life has organized a petition. Sign it here.
Fatherless
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.
Andrea Bocelli: Almost Aborted, Devout Catholic
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.
Ignorance of Thinking Only of the Practical
The Catholic philosophical tradition has long recognized a basic distinction (that the Greeks had already discerned) between speculative and practical orders of knowledge. Simply put, rational processes are “speculative” when their goal is to know reality in and of itself. Distinctly, “practical” kinds of reasoning are ordered toward making or doing something in particular. Similarly, we distinguish between “theoretical” and “applied” divisions of some sciences.
The speculative philosopher seeks to know what the human is. What makes all humans be what they are, always and everywhere? What is the raison d’être of the human creature? Classically, the answer is something like the following: All “human beings” are animals that possess the capacity for moral freedom. All human life is personal. To be pro-life is, more accurately, to be pro-person. Those of us who recognize this say “pro-life” because pro-abortion activists do not admit that all human life is sufficiently personal: the pro-abortionist generally believes that only those who can exercise choice are worthy of having their lives preserved.
Most of us are not habitually speculative thinkers. But each of us is routinely practical, ordered, as we are, for the exercise of moral freedom. And even if we don’t know this in a speculative way – in a clear, definitional sort of way – we know it from our concrete experience: The goodness of our lives depends on ordering our understanding and hopes into particular acts of doing this thing or that, whether life-changing or mundane. Each of us, to be sure, has an agenda.
The difficulty is that the subject of morality, and more specifically, of politics and public policy, melds these two categories together. Those whose prerogative it is to judge what is beneficial for a particular society of persons must know what makes it a society “of persons” to begin with.
Government, then, must be thoughtful in a speculatively practical kind of way.
But this distinction between “speculative” and “practical” is rejected by the modern world. Karl Marx proclaimed that reason’s reason is not to understand the world but to change it. The American philosopher (and impresario of predominant educational theories), John Dewey, said, “Truth is what works.” In our own day, we are encouraged to “Just do it” … as the motto’s own icons evidently do.
And a Constitution manifestly conceived as based upon essential truths is claimed to be “living.”
So what’s the problem? Well, if a society is unable to believe, much less converse in speculative truth, its practical judgments can only be based on other practical judgments. And if practical judgments are not moored to speculative truths, the only thing that can make one practical judgment more convincing than another is the influence of power. This play of suasion and power is what we pejoratively mean by “politics.”
“Pro-choice” activists for abortion-rights are pragmatists. They “defend” the rights of those who are actively capable of exercising choice. They dismiss the radical continuity between the relative ability to exercise choice (in the competent adult) and the radical capacity to exercise choice that begins when human life is identifiable, both by modern science and classical philosophy. But it is this capacity to exercise choice that remains throughout human development, even when a competent adult is sleeping, or when senility renders him or her no longer actively able to make free decisions.
Our government and media certainly need to become more speculative; but we the people actually need to become even more practical, and fight the good fight against our culture’s murderous ignorance.
Rev. Bruno M. Shah, O.P.
Welcome Hadley Arkes to the Catholic Church!
Political philosopher, constitutional theorist, professor at Amherst College and contributor to First Things, Hadley Arkes was welcomed into the Catholic Church on Saturday in Washington, DC.
Mr. Arkes is widely known for his efforts to protect the unborn and was one of the chief architects of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act – the one that then-Senator Obama voted against 4 times.
Francis Beckwith, an author and professor of Philosophy at Baylor University, was at the Mass where Hadley was baptized, confirmed and received his First Communion. His account is here.
Robert George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, writes in his blog about Hadley’s conversion and entry into the Catholic Church:
In remarks after the service yesterday, [Hadley] explained that his faith in Christ had come through the Church. The Church’s moral witness, especially on the sanctity of human life and on marriage and sexual morality—a witness that has in our time made the Church a “sign of contradiction” to the most powerful and influential elements of the elite sector of contemporary western culture—persuaded him that the Church is, despite the failings of so many of its members and leaders, fundamentally “a truth-teaching institution.” In teachings that many find to be impediments, Hadley found decisive evidence that the Church is, indeed, what she claims to be.
Hadley Arkes is Jewish and said this of his conversion:
Speaking of his Jewish identity, Hadley said that he neither would nor could ever leave the Jewish people. His entry into the Church was for him, he stated, a fulfillment of his Jewish faith, and in no way a repudiation of it. Invoking the testimony and authority of the late Cardinal Lustiger of Paris, he declared that he was and would always remain a Jew, though a Jew who, like the earliest Christians, had come to accept Jesus as ”the Christ, the Son of the living God.
He is right that the first Christians were Jewish and Catholics today retain quite a lot of the Jewish rites, rituals and traditions because of those early believers who were Jewish but were trying to incorporate their newfound faith in Christ into their Jewish faith.
So congratulations to Hadley Arkes and welcome home!
(h/t CatholicVoteAction)
2nd Undercover Planned Parenthood Video Catches Staff Giving Out Medical Misinformation
Community Health Centers got an $11 billion infusion when President Obama signed the healthcare legislation. CHCs are centers that provide basic healthcare but aren’t prohibited from doing abortions. Planned Parenthood clinics that have a wide range of health services, including abortions, could fit the definition of a CHC.
Besides covering up child rape and abuse and urging teens to keep their abortions a secret from their parents, Planned Parenthood staff are also deliberately giving out medical misinformation to women seeking abortions, as this latest undercover video from Live Action indicates.
In the video, a Planned Parenthood employee tells a woman who is reportedly 6-8 weeks pregnant that her unborn child has “no arms, no legs, no heart no head, no brain” despite medical and scientific facts of fetal development.
Take a look:
Elections have consequences. By electing pro-choice politicians and the most pro-abortion politician in history as President of the United States, this is what taxpayers will be funding.
