Category: Prolife

On Respect Life Sunday

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I want to bring you an announcement straight from last week’s parish bulletin.
A FULL-PAGE announcement, placed right next to the Mass intentions for the week, so no one will miss it.
All caps, underlining, etc. are as printed in the bulletin.

ATTENTION:
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE NJ BOND REFERENDUM
TO PROVIDE PUBLIC FUNDING FOR STEM CELL RESEARCH

In light of Church teaching on the sanctity of human life, the Catholic Bishops have expressed opposition to any funding for human embryonic stem cell research and human cloning. Embryonic stem cell research always involves the destruction of the human embryo, which is innocent human life.

Catholics have an obligation to protect human life and promote responsible scientific research.
Therefore, Catholics can never support embryonic stem cell research.

Words of Life

“The Church says life is beautiful, it is not something to doubt, but it is a gift even when it is lived in difficult circumstances. It is always a gift.”
Pope Benedict XVI, May 9, 2007

A big THANK YOU to our pastor for his courage to speak the truth on this subject.

And here’s another pastor who’s not afraid to speak up: Father Martin Fox has today’s homily on the subject of contraception.

Jane has a helpful post highlighting the USCCB’s statement on Respect Life Sunday and a link to the full statement. (And the beautiful stained-glass image Jane has illustrating this post is not to be overlooked either!)

More on 40 Days for Life

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2 of the commenters in my 40 Days for Life post mentioned the Aurora, IL battle that is going on right now.

This could be anywhere. Denver will probably be next.

READ Jill Stanek’s column on this issue for a lot of information.

VISIT Mary Poppins NOT’s Crazyacres blog for updates. She is THERE! She is PRAYING and PARTICIPATING IN THE VIGILS. I didn’t link a specific post because she has many on the subject.

CHECK OUT Jane’s blog at Building the Ark. She has good links and information as well!

PRAY for those people who are able to participate in peaceful vigils at the Aurora site and other sites throughout our country. They need our strength to back them up. May God bless their efforts and protect them.

40 Days for Life Begins Today!

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Read here for a full explanation of the effort.

During these forty days, pro-life Americans will participate in a three-pronged spiritual battle against the evil of abortion:
1. Prayer and Fasting
2. Peaceful Vigil
3. Community Outreach

It’s not too late to consider how you and your family can participate in some or all of these efforts.

Prayer and fasting are self-explanatory, and peaceful vigil might not be possible for every family. Here are a few ideas for community outreach that families can do together:
1. Shop for baby necessities (diapers, formula, layette clothing, wipes) and deliver them as a family to a local Crisis Pregnancy Center. Check your Yellow Pages for “Abortion Alternatives” if you need to find a location near you.
2. Join the boycott against corporate supporters of Planned Parenthood. Don’t buy their stuff, and write to tell them why!
3. Donate a book to your school or public library that has a prolife perspective. Regina Doman’s Angel in the Waters is one such book, written for children and intended to be a read-aloud for ages 4 to 8.

Worth reading: Michelle at Rosetta Stone’s take on 40 Days for Life.
Milehimama has some ideas on this subject as well.

Don’t Let Your Money be Used to Fund Evil Works

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I’ve been participating in Life Decisions International’s boycott against corporate supporters of Planned Parenthood ever since I heard about it in the early 1990s.

The boycott is different, these days.

In some ways, it will be easier for me to participate, since nearly all the grocery-related corporations that had been on the Boycott List have been removed (removal from the list means that the corporation has agreed not to financially support Planned Parenthood in the future). The only supermarket-type items I still have to think about are personal-care items and certain over-the-counter medications.

And in some ways it will be harder. My favorite clothing source is now a boycott target. I’ll be sad to give up buying Lands’ End clothes–but there’s a greater good here that I have to consider. My husband’s favorite restaurant is now a boycott target. We didn’t go there often, but it was a nice occasional treat. And I’ll have to stop buying used books from half.com, since eBay is also on the Boycott List. Finally, we’ve gotten our last hoagies and cups of coffee from Wawa until it changes its tune about its corporate donations policy.

Two things make a boycott work. The first thing is that people have to be willing to be inconvenienced to do what is right. The second thing is that people have to regularly contact these companies and let them know why they are no longer using their products or services. As LDI points out in their Boycott List, “you do not want to cooperate with evil or help make it possible for others to do evil. If Company XYZ wants to find Planned Parenthood it will not be with the money God has placed in your care.”

Here’s how to order a Boycott List for your family. It includes a comprehensive list of brand names for each boycotted company as well as contact information, as well as an FAQ with guidance about how to write to these companies.

UPDATE: I just received communication from LDI that Wawa is no longer a boycott target! That makes 155 companies that have decided to stop funding Planned Parenthood.

UPDATE #2: Sears/Kmart/Lands End is also no longer a boycott target! Over 157 companies are no longer giving money to find Planned Parenthood’s evil work.

Just Say No

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to the kind of attitude that produces bumper stickers like the one I saw today:

Just say no to sex
with prolifers

Just say no to the idea that intimacy should not be used for selfish reasons. After all, selfishness is what it’s all about. Everything’s OK, as long as you feel good about it, and since you can easily take care of any “consequences” later.

(And what surprised me most about the bumper sticker is that it was on a minivan being driven by a male senior citizen! Yes, I did a double take right there on the highway.)

Lord, have mercy.

Enter Danielle’s Prolife Raffle!

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Enter the raffle to benefit St. Gianna Maternity Home by visiting Danielle Bean’s blog! 100% of your donation will go directly to help women and babies in need of your support.

Like many other bloggers and fans of Danielle Bean‘s work, I have sponsored a prize. All told there are 39 prizes including a Kitchen Madonna apron, subscriptions to Faith and Family magazine and National Catholic Register, books of all kinds, gift certificates to Aquinas and More, Amazon and Adoremus books, handmade rosaries, and lots of other wonderful prizes. But the best prize of all is helping those moms and babies who need a safe place to grow.

UPDATE: There are now 55 super prizes being offered! Check it out!

This raffle ends Monday, June 11 at 9 PM EDT.

UPDATE AGAIN: Wow! Danielle just posted that the grand total raised for St. Gianna’s home is over $8300!

So simple, even a child understands

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On the way to her softball game tonight, Middle Sister saw the many signs dotting the town and the high school for the upcoming Relay for Life. She wanted to know what that event is. It sounds harmless and fun: high school students having fun, staying up all night in exchange for money for the American Cancer Society.

Then she wanted to know why we don’t have a sign for the Relay for Life in front of our house. I told her that this is because the American Cancer Society is involved in supporting Planned Parenthood–which means supporting abortion. Also, I let her know that even though abortion has been shown to raise a woman’s risk of developing certain cancers, the American Cancer Society still supports abortion.

After she let that sink in, she told me that this makes no sense. If you are fighting cancer, why support doing something that could make you get cancer?

I don’t have an answer for her. Perhaps the American Cancer Society would like to explain this to my 11-year-old daughter. Until then, we won’t be buying that purple ribbon. We’ll save our money to buy diapers for the crisis pregnancy center.

Only Two Days Away

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In only two days it will be the National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers!

I hope it makes you as sick to read that sentence as it made me to type it.

I encourage you to mark this day with prayer and action.

Here’s an example–this is what I plan to do.
Prayer: I will pray the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary for the intention of an end to abortion and respect for all life, from conception to natural death.
Action: I will be doing a little shopping for diapers so that I can deliver them to my local crisis pregnancy center. (HINT: Buy a bigger-size diaper; most people donating to these wonderful centers buy things for newborns, but moms come in needing things for growing babies or even their older toddler.)

Last year when I delivered my bag of items, the volunteers were as horrified to hear the reason for my visit as they were grateful for the donation.

Let’s make this year the last year that this day is observed. Maybe next year we can have a National Day of Appreciation for Crisis Pregnancy Volunteers.

H/T to Dan Lacey at faithmouse for the “vintage faithmouse” image.

All You Need is Love

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Today, as you take time to show your loved ones how much you care, pray for the little ones who will never know that love.

Thanks to Dan at faithmouse for this beautiful reminder.