Life-saving abortions - have you ever heard of one?

The result of a "life-saving" procedure.

That's how Ireland's proposal to legalise abortion with a its double-speak "Life During Pregnancy Bill" is described by an Associated Press report. SPUC has described the Bill as worse than Britain's 1967 Abortion Act. Language has been emptied of its meaning when abortion can be described as life-saving. This is the tyranny of relativism.

A suicide of a 17 year old

Please pray for the eternal repose of a young girl in the town who took her life at the weekend, and for the young people she went to school with.

We're Catholics first - Archbishop Chaput on abortion

From Lifenews.com

US Bishops correct Biden "facts" on HHS

Of course the "Catholic question" came up. Ryan stated his views on abortion and how they are informed by his Catholic faith but are in fact based on science and reason from which it is clear that human life begins at conception and that therefore he was pro life. I noted he was very careful to say that the Romney government policy would be to make exceptions in the case or rape or incest but he did not himself endorse those exceptions. He also said that it would be unreasonable to expect his faith not to influence his public life. For me, he gave a coherent answer on this one.

Biden, on the other hand, went on about the Church's social doctrine, even using technical language such as "de fide" to describe the Church's teaching on human life. And then said how he should not impose his religious beliefs on others. This is quite disingenuous.

Anyway, following last night's Vice Presidential Debate, the USCCB has issued the following remarks on VP Biden's assertions regarding the HHS Mandate:

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued the following statement, October 12. Full text follows:

Last night, the following statement was made during the Vice Presidential debate regarding the decision of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to force virtually all employers to include sterilization and contraception, including drugs that may cause abortion, in the health insurance coverage they provide their employees:

"With regard to the assault on the Catholic Church, let me make it absolutely clear. No religious institution—Catholic or otherwise, including Catholic social services, Georgetown hospital, Mercy hospital, any hospital—none has to either refer contraception, none has to pay for contraception, none has to be a vehicle to get contraception in any insurance policy they provide. That is a fact. That is a fact."

This is not a fact. The HHS mandate contains a narrow, four-part exemption for certain "religious employers." That exemption was made final in February and does not extend to "Catholic social services, Georgetown hospital, Mercy hospital, any hospital," or any other religious charity that offers its services to all, regardless of the faith of those served.

HHS has proposed an additional "accommodation" for religious organizations like these, which HHS itself describes as "non-exempt." That proposal does not even potentially relieve these organizations from the obligation "to pay for contraception" and "to be a vehicle to get contraception." They will have to serve as a vehicle, because they will still be forced to provide their employees with health coverage, and that coverage will still have to include sterilization, contraception, and abortifacients. They will have to pay for these things, because the premiums that the organizations (and their employees) are required to pay will still be applied, along with other funds, to cover the cost of these drugs and surgeries.

USCCB continues to urge HHS, in the strongest possible terms, actually to eliminate the various infringements on religious freedom imposed by the mandate.

For more details, please see USCCB's regulatory comments filed on May 15 regarding the proposed "accommodation": www.usccb.org/about/general-counsel/rulemaking/upload/comments-on-advance-notice-of-proposed-rulemaking-on-preventive-services-12-05-15.pdf

Woman survives being burnt alive for 18 hours

I'm sure you'd find that a "chilling" headline. Well, that's what Gianna Jessen went through in the womb of her mother when a saline solution was injected into the womb. The baby swallows the solution so that she is being burned inside and out, and the mother delivers a dead baby. Well, Gianna survived.

Gianna gave an inspiring talk at the pro-life Marquette Care Clinic Banquet last Thursday evening, October 4th. Approaching 500 people attended the banquet which took place at the Northern Michigan University. The venue used in previous years was just too small.

Gianna was not afraid to touch on politics or religion. Her goal in life is tell as many people as possible about the love of Jesus Christ. She drew a comparison between her experience in the womb of her mother with that of Shadrach, Mishael and Abednego, the three young men who survived Nebuchadnezzar's fire in Daniel 3.

The banquet is an annual fund-raising event for Care Clinic which has just recently begun providing services in  this parish at KI Sawyer.

A number of our wonderful young people attended and were able to meet with Gianna.

Saline solution abortions are not carried out now, so does that make abortion less "chilling"?

Bishop Thomas J Paprocki on troubling issues of Democratic Party Policy

Bishop Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, (watch video above or read his article) addresses the "platforms" of the Democratic and Republican Parties. He points out the following intrinsic evils in the platform of the Democratic Party:

• Abortion should be safe and legal and should be a right "regardless of the ability to pay", which can only happen if taxpayers are required to fund abortion, or insurance companies can will be required to pay for them, or hospitals will be forced to perform them for free.
• support for same-sex marriage, recognizing that "gay rights are human rights", calling for the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal law signed by President Clinton in 1996 that defined marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman.

He also addresses the troubling conflict over whether or not the name of God should be included in the party platform, pointing out that if it was only included at the will of the The Party Leader, then it could also just as easily be removed at the will of The Leader, which does not bode well for democracy in the Democratic Party.

Bishop Paprocki looks at the Republican Party platform and finds party support for no intrinsic evils.

On other matters, a Catholic can hold a variety of opinions, such as how "to address the needs of the poor, feed the hungry, solve the problems of immigration, but these are prudential judgments about the most effective means of achieving morally desirable ends, not intrinsic evils."

Bishop Paprocki is concerned for the salvation of the souls of his flock when he concludes his piece as follows:

I am not telling you which party or which candidates to vote for or against, but I am saying that you need to think and pray very carefully about your vote, because a vote for a candidate who promotes actions or behaviors that are intrinsically evil and gravely sinful makes you morally complicit and places the eternal salvation of your own soul in serious jeopardy.

I pray that God will give you the wisdom and guidance to make the morally right choices.

May God give us this grace. Amen.

"A Consequential Election" - Bishop Alexander Sample

Bishop Sample of Marquette, Michigan, is contributing a 4-part series of articles in the diocesan newspaper The UP Catholic to guide his diocesan faithful in the November General Election.

His first article entitled "A Consequential Election" deals in general with the Church's social teachings describing her rich and well-developed social doctrine as "one of the 'best kept secrets of the Church'".

In his second article Bishop Sample writes about the Church's teachings on life. "From the very moment of conception, a unique and irreplaceable member of the human family comes into existence."

The UP Catholic, published twice monthly, is available free on line, and you can subscribe to receive a free email notification when a new edition is published by clicking on the enotify button at the top of the page.

Advice from former Baywatch, Playboy star: "Pray the Rosary every day. Attend Mass every Sunday. Go to Confession regularly."

Donna D'Errico is now a 44 year old pro-life mother of two who wears the Scapular, goes to Mass and says the Rosary every day with her children. "I know what it’s like to be led astray and fall into a life of sin. I know how easy that is. I’ve lived it. I also know what it’s like to come back." Read more at LifesiteNews.com.

UK ABORTION LAW CRITICIZED AS PARALYMPICS COME TO AN END

This from Zenit

Games Coordinator Calls on British Government to Change Legislation

LONDON, SEPT. 4, 2012 (Zenit.org).- James Parker, Catholic coordinator of the 14th Summer Paralympic Games, called on Christians and all who value human life to challenge leaders and politicians to change Great Britain's "discriminatory and outdated abortion laws." 

Parker serves as the first ever lay Catholic chaplain to serve at the games. He made this call in a pre-recorded interview with Vatican Radio.

As the Paralympic Games draw to an end, Parker spoke of his time working with the Games and directly with some of the athletes. "My own experience of the Paralympic Village, the heavily guarded home to all the athletes and officials alongside the Olympic Park, is that it is a sacred place," he said. 

Saying that while the village is strewn with wheelchairs, crutches, bodies of every shape and size, there is "a vibrant tangible passion for life, that not even the greatest town or city could boast."

"The joy in the Village is palpable," he said. "It is a place where everyone is celebrated and honored whether a medallist or not, and each person is in service of their neighbor. I am constantly reminded of the words of St. Lawrence when, in the year 258, he was commanded by the Emperor Valerian to bring to him the Church’s treasury. Days later he brought before the Emperor the poor, crippled, and maimed and stated: 'Behold the jewels of the Church!' He was then martyred for such a simple action."

Speaking about the lead up the Games, Parker mentioned that "we see the word 'Superhumans' on our billboards and yet Paralympians are no different to any other human being."

"What is astounding is that Britain is enabling the eyes of the world to be opened to the giftedness and potential of those with disabilities through its hosting of the Paralympic Games. However, its own laws vehemently and shockingly discriminate against any new life in the womb that might possibly be affected by a physical handicap, genetic problems or a mental defect."

Parker also noted that in conversations with a number of Paralympians during the games, he was astonished to discover that many didn't realize that had they or their teammates been conceived today in Britain, they would most likely be aborted. "If Britain wishes to retain its place towards the head of the medals table at future Paralympic Games in decades to come then it needs to seriously consider changing its laws to stop discriminating against what is presently termed as an ‘unacceptable quality of life.' Games aside, any society that wishes to be healthy needs to increasingly value disability and non-disability equally," he said. 

“The Christian community needs as a whole, along with others who share our beliefs on the dignity of human life, to continue to take the lead and, like St. Lawrence, to stridently work towards changing Britain’s discriminatory and outdated abortion laws," Parker concluded. "If this issue is not addressed as we wave goodbye to the Paralympic Games from our shores, then it is hard to imagine when another opportunity of this sort will pass our way when British society and the world as a whole is celebrating the incredulous achievements of those with disabilities."

Life is THE issue - vote pro-life first

I Vote Pro-Life First.com

Local Catholic's letter to local paper on contraception

Congratulations to Fae Presley, a parishioner at St Peter Cathedral Marquette, for her letter published in the August 21 edition of the Mining Journal.

To the Journal editor:

Thanks to Sandy Bonsall for her letter to the editor in the Aug. 5 Mining Journal in which she shares her thoughts regarding Catholicism and contraception. I, too, am a Catholic convert of the 1970s. I did not understand why the Church teaches artificial contraception is wrong, but I was attracted to natural family planning because of the health risks from hormonal contraceptives, risks known even in the 1970s. (The insert which accompanies the pill is a lengthy list of side effects.)

This danger compelled me as a young woman to investigate and practice NFP. When I did so, I discovered an age-old principle: faith precedes understanding. Though I didn't understand the church's teaching, I followed it for practical reasons. Then, and only then, did I begin to understand the wisdom and beauty of this ancient, yet current teaching.

Of human life, the church's primary document explaining the rationale behind its condemnation of artificial contraception, lists the certain fallout from widespread use of contraceptives. These include marital infidelity, general lowering of morals, men's loss of respect for women and coercion on the parts of governments regarding their use. Anyone can see that this has occurred in our society and around the world.

I taught NFP for over 20 years. Couples spoke candidly to me about their experiences with contraception, about how the woman felt used and taken for granted; about how their sex lives were boring and even divisive, leading to pornography use, infidelity, and divorce; and extreme regret from those who had been sterilized.

Today we know that the birth control pill is a class 1 carcinogen like asbestos which increases the risk of breast and cervical cancer, and possibly liver cancer as well. Recent research also indicates a nearly doubled risk of HIV transmission with pill use.

The Catholic Church offers a vision of human sexuality that is truly liberating in the freedom from negative health effects and that revels in the beauty of our sexuality, yet encourages responsible parenthood. The ways of goodness and truth are not always easy, as the martyrs and saints of our church show us.

Fae Presley

Negaunee

The witness of the Roman collar

The following from my 40 Days for Life friends arrived in my inbox recently:

We’ve been out there every day for the last 13 days doing what we do ─ with nothing to show for it ─ except to offer up our prayers and effort to God – until today!

The Roman Collar carries deep meaning for many, almost always evoking a reaction of some sort.  It is a sign of God’s chosen ones to a pastoral ministry.  It evokes emotion, respect, and hopefully turns one’s thoughts to Jesus Christ.  Today, Father Yamid Blanco joined us on the sidewalks with two of his parishioners from St. Francis Borgia – Cedarburg.  All priests have an open invitation to join us at any time – but they are human, just like us!  Most normal people just don’t wake up and say, “I think I’ll go down to the abortion mill to pray today.”  Most people who show up down here were personally invited – me included.  To say I like having priests join us in this spiritual battle is AN UNDERSTATEMENT!  We prayed, talked, counseled and then prayed some more.  Murphy’s Law took effect and they left just before things really started happening on the sidewalks of Farwell.  Here’s what took place.

I was counseling Natasia as she left the abortion mill.  I was asking her all the usual questions – How are you doing – Are you going to be ok – How is your baby doing – all of that.  At 12:06pm, Natasia shared with me that she wasn’t going through with the abortion.  I asked her, “What changed your mind?”  She said, “I just didn’t want to go through the procedure – it kindof’ scared me.”  I said, “Well, it’s a good thing you listened to your God-given intuition – this is a dangerous place.”  Just as I was telling her about the Women’s Care Center, another pair of women walked came outside and walked right between Natasia and me, saying, “Are their services still free – even though we came here first?”  I didn’t want to be rude to Natasia, so I backed up a bit and started talking to all of them and said, “Yes, of course they are!  Free today, tomorrow, next week – get over there and see for yourself!  Why don’t all of you go over there together, right now?!” I asked them what was going on, and they too shared with me that they were going to keep their baby.  Now, I was really curious, so I asked them as well, “What made you change your mind?”  They said, “We saw that young priest when we came in.  We were raised Catholic, but don’t really go to church anymore.  He made us think about what we were about to do.”  I said, “Really?!  What did Father Yamid say to you that made you change your mind?”  She replied, “He didn’t say anything!  He was just standing there praying the rosary with the blonde lady and her kid.”  Still curious, I said, “Did Tobey, the blonde lady, say anything to you?”  She replied, “Yeah, she did, but it was mostly seeing the priest – he looked so happy.”  I then told them what parish he was at if they ever wanted to talk to him someday.  They said, “Cool, thanks!”

If you’ve ever witnessed Tobey at work down here, you know just how focused she is – an excellent sidewalk counselor.  As excellent she is, she was trumped by a man of the cloth, who did nothing more than stand there and pray with his Roman collar in full view.  I’ve always known that someday a priest would be the reason someone turned away from abortion down here at the mill – and today it happened.  All praise, honor and glory be to Jesus Christ!  Thanks, Jesus!  Thanks, Father Yamid!  Thanks, Tobey!  Thanks, Creed!  Thanks, John!  Thanks, Jim!  Thanks, Tom!  Thanks, Missionaries to the PreBorn!  That’s right!  With Christ working through only seven people today, two lives were spared!

Tobey’s love for Christ really shines through in everything she does.  Join her and 2,500 other women from all over Wisconsin at the Women of Christ conference on November 3rd, 2012.  It is always a very moving, faith-filled day.  Get your tickets early – the last few years have ALWAYS sold out! 

TWO HUNDRED ELEVEN babies have been saved from abortion – that we know of!  Here are the running totals:  133-211-1.  133 saved during the last four 40DFL campaigns, 211 total since 8.3.2010 – and one post-abortive mom saved from suicide through this ministry.

See you out there.

Through Christ,

Dan Miller
40 Days for Life

Thoughts on rape and abortion

A certain Republican politician has got himself into hot water over his inadvised use of the phrase "legitimate rape". The media hype is preventing people from reflecting on the truth.

If conception occurs in a given rape situation, there is a child. This child is innocent. It should not be deprived of its life because of the crime of its father.

Some say that abortion should be permitted in the case of rape. But how is the occurrence of rape verified? Justice would require a juridical investigation and trial. Such a process would take time. A pregnancy typically comes to term in nine months. A proper process would hardly be concluded in such a time. So the child would be killed before rape is verified. What if, in fact, it was not a case of true rape?

I do not in any way wish to sound unsympathetic to those who are true victims of rape. They are truly victims of a most horrible crime.

But if the legitimacy of abortion were to be allowed in the case of rape, might some women plead rape in order to procure the abortion of their child?

To me, it makes no legal sense to permit abortion in the case or rape. Of course, it makes no moral sense either. But if I did hold that abortion would be morally acceptable in the case of rape, I would want to insist on a proper process to verify rape before inflicting the death sentence upon the innocent child, but how could such a process be completed before the birth of the child?

Sin, unfortunately, always opens up Pandora's box of dilemmas. We have always to start from where we are. The evil of whatever has occurred in the past (in this case, rape) cannot be undone, but we can always seek to ensure that the just path is followed from here on (i.e. the bringing to justice of the rapist without the killing of an innocent child).

Noah - a patron for Life?

Our local public radio station played some of Michael Angelo Falvetti's Il Diluvio Universale. You can hear it in sections on YouTube. More information on the broadcast can be found at http://wfiu.indiana.edu/harmonia/120820-whats-new.ram. and the excerpt played from Il Diluvio begins half an hour into the program. (It will download as a RealPlayer podcast. I can heartily recommend the Harmonia early music website.) Something the radio presenter said made it dawn on me that all future generations depended on Noah's obedience. We would not be here if he had not obeyed the Lord.

When human beings abort babies, it is not only that baby that is killed - all the possible offspring of that human being are aborted too.

When human beings contracept, the generations that would result from the child that would be otherwise conceived are denied conception and birth too.

When men waste their seed through masturbation, they throw away the potential for life that would result from the proper use of that seed. I do not know much about biology but the uniqueness of each individual derives not only from its mother's egg but also from its father's sperm - the particular sperm that fuses with the egg. Obviously, eggs are lost and sperm too in natural ways. But we should not take it upon ourselves to waste these elements of potential life. We should remember the harsh judgement meted out upon Onan (Gen. 38:9).

Abortion is anti-life.

Contraception is anti-life.

Masturbation is anti-life.

Pornography that is such a plague for many is anti-life.

Dunno about you but this makes me think. Let us each be obedient to the Lord as Noah was lest we be lost in the floods of passion.

The London Family Planning Summit and my pastoral experience

I was in Honduras some weeks ago.

I had an unexpected pastoral opportunity which gave me an insight into the difficulties women there face.

Several women had received the contraceptive injection (or vaccine - as if pregnancy were an illness). One did not know she was pregnant at the time and the contraceptive injection provoked the abortion of her pregnancy. She was naturally very upset and racked with guilt. Did the compassionate family planning "professionals" not take the trouble to do a pregnancy test? What care do they take over the women whose interests they claim to have at heart?

Several other women who had received this "treatment" desired to have children but were currently unable to because of the contraceptive. Presumably they bowed to professional advice from doctors and "experts" and went along with it, and now regret it. Might this have been a subtle form of coercion?

Others who had received the injection found that their husbands were now being unfaithful. I wonder whether the men were consulted about their wives being neutered in this manner? Were they helped in any way to understand the need for self-control and respect? Or does a woman's right to control over her body trump any right of the husband to be consulted before his wife is rendered infertile? Does this policy contribute to the stripping of men of their responsibilities and actually enable behaviour that is irresponsible from a sexual health point of view as well as resulting in damaging family breakdown?

I also have to report that I learnt of methods of abortion carried out by women on themselves that I never knew about. The women were, again, racked with guilt but faced at the time with a pregnancy they for some reason felt unable to carry forward, most likely because of fear from the husband who did not want a child as a result of his irresponsible behaviour. Such actions are bound to be prejudicial to the health - physical, spiritual, psychological - of any woman involved. THERE IS A PROBLEM! We cannot deny it, and cases such are these are precisely the ones that the likes of the Gates Foundation (Melinda Gates: I'm a Catholic but women need access to contraceptives) will appeal to in justification of their crusade, and of course will help them promote the cause of "safe abortion."

And now a question that should prod all of us who are pro-life and faithful to the Church's teaching on this matter: how is it that the "family planners" make it to these remote mountain villages to effectively sterilise the populace but we, the Church, and others have not been able to get the good news of Natural Family Planning and true Responsible Parenthood and healthy marriage to these villagers?

The Gates Foundation is clearly successful in getting mega-bucks to promote contraception (Melinda Gates pledges $560M for contraception). If we are to be truly a compassionate Church, we need to find some way of getting this message to these remote areas.

Bear in mind that the villages such as the one I visited get a priest once a year, and during that annual visit the priest will regularise marriages, administer baptisms, hear confessions, anoint the sick... What chance have these people of receiving sound instruction on NFP and the true dignity of marriage and human sexuality?

Walmart "Mom of the Year" nominee refused abortion during cancer treatment

From Catholic News Agency

Yarmouth, Canada, Jul 13, 2012 / 04:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The women who were nominated for Walmart’s Canadian “Mom of the Year” contest have many outstanding qualities, but few can claim they fought off breast cancer and gave birth to their seventh child at the same time.

“We knew right from the beginning that God wouldn't give us this life and then ask us to take it,” Maria Pitman told CNA July 10, explaining that the doctor wanted her to abort her child.

Pitman, a Canadian homeschooling mother of seven, was diagnosed with breast cancer early on in her most recent pregnancy.

Medically, the doctor said it “made sense” because it would make testing and treatment easier than if she were carrying a child. “We came home that day knowing we couldn't make that decision, and that God wouldn't be asking us to do that,” Pitman said.

Doctors continued to encourage Pitman to have an abortion, even up until the day before she underwent a full mastectomy 20 weeks into her pregnancy.

The day of surgery, however, the doctors stopped asking Pitman if she wanted to abort, because “they realized we were not about to change our minds.”

During that time, Pitman and her husband Jeff learned that, after one daughter and five boys in a row, they were having another girl.

“Those were the only tears I cried that day; in joy that it was a girl,” she said. After the mastectomy, Pitman endured three rounds of chemotherapy, in between which she delivered her daughter Johannah at 36 weeks.

Weighing in at seven pounds and four ounces, “she came out perfectly healthy.”

Pitman faced one of her hardest trials when, after Johannah's birth, she and her family had to travel three hours from their home in Yarmouth to Halifax for six weeks of radiation therapy while still homeschooling four of her children.

“I kind of figured things would be easier (since) I wasn't pregnant anymore,” Pitman explained, “but things got so much worse.”

Pitman said she would ask God just “for strength to get out of bed and spend some time with the kids.”

And God did support Pitman and her family, even during the toughest trial. “The Lord provided and orchestrated everything for us for the entire year,” especially by bringing “all the right people into our lives at the right time,” she said.

Pitman found particular strength in the scripture passage Matthew 21:21-22, which says in part, “ ... but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.

“God was able to move the 'cancer mountain' for our family,” she said.

After her battle with breast cancer, Pitman's 17 year-old daughter, Jocelyn, nominated her for Walmart's “Mom of the Year” award, which is a “celebration of the 9.2 million Canadian Moms who work tirelessly every day to provide for their family.”

The winner will receive $10,000 in cash and a $100,000 donation will be made to the charity of her choice. The top mom will also be honored with a “day of pampering,” a photo shoot and a “special red carpet gala” in Toronto.

Should she win, Pitman will give her donation to Camp Peniel, a nearby Christian camp where her daughter Jocelyn works.

“This camp is amazing and is doing a fabulous job of sharing Jesus Christ to so many each year,” Pitman said.

Nominations closed July 8, but the judges will deliberate the 16,909 entries and announce a winner “around August 15.”

Do you think she'll get it?

Tragedy and Truth

The Media are reporting a tragic accident in Torquay in Cornwall, England.

BBC, Irish Examiner.

A mother and father remain in critical condition after their two year old son died in a head on collision with a car being driven by a man in his 20's believed to be a Polish national who was arrested at the scene of the accident and who also later died in hospital. The media are also reporting the death of their unborn baby. The family are from Cork, Ireland and were on holiday in England.

What a terrible and tragic loss for this young couple (aged 39 and 36).

I am praying for this couple that they will both recover their health and strength and that they might have faith in God during this terrible ordeal. A loss such as this can put a lot of stress on a marriage and so I pray that they may be able to support each other in this very bad time for them.

I am thankful that all the media are referring to the loss of the couple's unborn baby. For that is what the mother was carrying within her: a little baby. This couple will for ever mourn the loss of their baby. Many also mourn the loss of their babies killed by abortion. They are generally not called "babies". One "terminates a pregnancy" but "keeps a baby". This baby was lost through a tragic accident and possibly as a result of the reckless driving of one of the drivers. Millions others are lost through a deliberate act permitted by governments.

We are bound to drive carefully for reckless driving puts not only our own lives at risk but those of others too. We may be responsible for their death, or/and the shattering of their lives.

May the Lord welcome the little children into Paradise, may He have mercy on the driver who died, and grant healing - spiritual and physical - to the husband and wife.

4th July in Marquette - March for Religious Liberty

A group of some 70 or 80 people joined the parade in Marquette yesterday under the banner of religious liberty. Many people on the sidewalk reacted favorably - cheering and clapping.

St Peter Cathedral in the background.

Sisters of St Paul de Chartres

More at UP Catholic

Personhood coming under violent attack

Lifesite News reports attacks upon Personhood USA president Keith Mason’s home and family a few days ago, and now on  69 year old Everett Stadig as he was gathering signatures for a personhood petition. Mr Stadig is in hospital with a broken hip.

Those who stand up for life can expect such outrage and anger for death entered into the world by the devil's envy and they who belong to his company experience it. (Wis. 2:24) The culture of death is the work of the devil and he will possess people to carry our irrational and violent attacks on the defenders of life.

Priest in South Africa attacked, left for dead

Father Andrew Cox, the fifty year old pastor of the parish of Constantia in the Archdiocese of Cape Town, was brutally attacked by three intruders on Sunday night as he was locking the parish premises. The attackers stabbed him, tied him up, attempted to gouge his eyes out and left him in the parish strongroom where he was discovered by his secretary on Monday morning.

He says he spent the night praying and he forgave his attackers. At one point he got hold of the knife the attackers were using against him but could not bring himself to attack his assailants.

It would appear that Father Cox is a faithful son of the Church. A google search reveals that he has recorded a talk defending Humanae Vitae as a prophetic documen inspired by the Holy Spirit and explains that opposition to contraception is integral to the Church's teaching on the dignity of human life.

Reports on the attack here and here.

Please keep this good priest in your prayers. (And his assailants too.)