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 PresleyNegaunee
Oremus pro Antistite nostro Alexandro. Stet et pascat in fortitudine tua, Domine, in sublimitate nominis tui. (Let us pray for our Bishop Alexander. May he stand firm and shepherd his flock by Your strength, O Lord, in the majesty of Your name.)
Saturday, August 25, 2012
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.
Labels:
Contraception,
Family,
Life,
Media,
Natural Family Planning
Chick-fill-A funds hate groups?
So the protestors in this video allege. But I couldn't see the hate group. Could you? All I could see was a never ending line of people showing their appreciation for Chick-fill-A's pro-family stance.
Here's what Dan Cathy, president of Chick-fil-A, famously told the Baptist Press on June 16:
"Well, guilty as charged. We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that. We intend to stay the course. We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles."
Attribution: MassResistance email update.
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
Labels:
40 Days for Life,
Abortion,
Life,
Prayer,
Priesthood,
Priests
Thursday, August 23, 2012
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.
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