The next meeting of the Notre Dame Pro-Life group is Thursday, February 5, 2009 at 7:00 . We will be brainstorming and planning upcoming projects! Email us at notredameprolife[at]gmail[dot]com for more info and meeting location.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
2009 Texas Rally for Life
It was sure cold, but it was wonderful to see everyone out, especially the teens and kids!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Crazy Thinking
Nancy Pelosi asserts that children are a "financial drain."
Ms. Pelosi, aren't you even the least bit embarrassed?
Read more here from the Catholic League.
Ms. Pelosi, aren't you even the least bit embarrassed?
Read more here from the Catholic League.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Prayer for Life
O God, our Creator,
all life is in your hands from conception until death.
Help us to cherish our children and to
reverence the awesome privilege of our share
in creation.
May all people live and die
in dignity and love.
Bless all those who defend the rights of the unborn,
the handicapped and the aged.
Enlighten and be merciful toward those who fail to love,
and give them peace.
Let freedom be tempered by responsiblity, integrity and morality.
Picture by: Mark Sanislo
How Families Can Win Back the World
Preacher Gives Families Strategy to Win Back World
Says Key Is Not Trying to Change Laws
MEXICO CITY, JAN. 14, 2009 (Zenit.org)
Christians should not focus all their energies on combating a secular concept of marriage. Rather they should rediscover its beauty for themselves and propose this ideal to the world, says the preacher of the Pontifical Household.
Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa affirmed this today at the 6th World Meeting of Families, inaugurated today in Mexico City by Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family.
Christians "need to rediscover the biblical ideal of marriage and family" so they can promote this ideal to the world, the preacher exhorted in his address titled "Family Relationships and Values in the Bible."
The Christian idea of matrimony and family does not just need "defending," he affirmed. The most important thing is the "task of Christians rediscovering it and living it in plenitude, such that they again propose it to the world with their actions, more than with their words."
The address was divided into three sections. First, the preacher considered God's original project for marriage and family, and how this was lived out in the history of the Chosen People. Then, he spoke of the renewal wrought by Christ, and how this was lived by the first communities of Christians. Finally, Father Cantalamessa had a look at what Revelation has to offer to the problems faced by marriages and the family today.
The preacher explained that for centuries, the spousal meaning of marriage, strongly present in the Bible, has been left to one side, in favor of a more institutional understanding.
Read more by clicking here ...
Says Key Is Not Trying to Change Laws
MEXICO CITY, JAN. 14, 2009 (Zenit.org)
Christians should not focus all their energies on combating a secular concept of marriage. Rather they should rediscover its beauty for themselves and propose this ideal to the world, says the preacher of the Pontifical Household.
Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa affirmed this today at the 6th World Meeting of Families, inaugurated today in Mexico City by Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family.
Christians "need to rediscover the biblical ideal of marriage and family" so they can promote this ideal to the world, the preacher exhorted in his address titled "Family Relationships and Values in the Bible."
The Christian idea of matrimony and family does not just need "defending," he affirmed. The most important thing is the "task of Christians rediscovering it and living it in plenitude, such that they again propose it to the world with their actions, more than with their words."
The address was divided into three sections. First, the preacher considered God's original project for marriage and family, and how this was lived out in the history of the Chosen People. Then, he spoke of the renewal wrought by Christ, and how this was lived by the first communities of Christians. Finally, Father Cantalamessa had a look at what Revelation has to offer to the problems faced by marriages and the family today.
The preacher explained that for centuries, the spousal meaning of marriage, strongly present in the Bible, has been left to one side, in favor of a more institutional understanding.
Read more by clicking here ...
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
From New Oxford Review, New Oxford Notes section
New Oxford Review
Where Do We Go From Here?
January 2009
When the U.S. bishops convened their annual meeting in November 2008, one of the top agenda items was abortion in light of the recent election. Francis Cardinal George of Chicago, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), issued a brief, mostly to-the-point statement on behalf of his brother bishops in anticipation of the pro-abortion presidency of Barack Obama.
It appears that the bishops learned their lesson from last year"s "Faithful Citizenship" debacle -- for the most part. Not a few bishops would still prefer to soft sell the Church's teaching against abortion: Bishop Blase Cupich of Rapid City, South Dakota, for example, warned that "a prophecy of denunciation quickly wears thin," and that it is preferable to be seen as "caring pastors." Archbishop Elden Curtiss of Omaha likewise counseled against "being deliberately divisive now, or creating divisions by our actions." But where abortion is concerned, the battle lines have already been drawn.
Going against these equivocations, Cardinal George states plainly that "the fundamental good is life itself," that "abortion is a medical procedure that kills," and that Roe v. Wade was "bad law" that is in danger of being "enshrined in bad legislation" in the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). No hemming and hawing about weighing other, lesser concerns. Still, he couldn"t resist throwing a shout-out to those other, lesser concerns, saying of his brother bishops, "We want to continue our work for economic justice," and the "reform [of] laws around immigration," and "better education and adequate health care," blah, blah, blah. C"mon, Your Eminence, stick to the topic!
Cardinal George warns against interpreting the election as a "referendum on abortion." What, then, are we to make of the election of Obama, whom Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver has labeled "the most committed 'abortion-rights" presidential candidate of either majority party since the Roe v. Wade abortion decision in 1973"? Obama is a co-sponsor of FOCA, which would codify Roe v. Wade as federal law, eliminate all state restrictions on abortion, and mandate taxpayer funding of abortion. Obama pledged in a 2007 address to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund that "the first thing I will do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act." As is well known, Obama"s vice president is Joe Biden, a pro-abortion (Catholic) senator from Delaware.
Cardinal George expresses concern that, under FOCA, "parental notification and informed consent precautions would be outlawed." But the people of California voted down just such a parental-consent law in this election -- the second consecutive time the people rejected such a proposition. Cardinal George also warns that FOCA would overturn laws that ban partial-birth abortion and protect infants born alive after botched abortions. Yet the people voted into office a president who supports partial-birth abortion and opposed the Born Alive Infants Protection Act.
Cardinal George is also worried that FOCA "would deprive the American people in all fifty states the freedom they now have to enact modest restraints and regulations on the abortion industry." Yet in this election, the American people rejected all modest to severe restraints on abortion. Aside from the failure of the California parental-notification proposition, a potentially paradigm-shifting constitutional amendment in Colorado that would have defined "personhood" as beginning at conception went down to electoral defeat, as did a South Dakota proposition that would have eliminated abortions in that state save for cases that present a "risk" to the mother"s health prior to 20 weeks gestation. Sure, many pre-election polls indicated that the majority of Americans favored restrictions on abortion. But the American people have spoken, and judging by the cold facts, it appears that the American people don"t want even modest restrictions on abortion.
With the humiliating failures of the prolife cause at the state and national levels (we haven"t even touched on congressional losses of prolife votes or Obama's pro-abort cabinet appointments), it"s difficult to see how this election could not be considered a referendum on abortion.
James Cardinal Stafford, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary of the Holy See, called Obama"s abortion agenda "apocalyptic," warning that, with Obama"s election, we as a nation have entered into a long night in our own Garden of Gethsemane. Referencing Pope Paul VI"s prophetic 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, Cardinal Stafford said, "If 1968 was the year of America"s 'suicide attempt," 2008 is the year of America"s exhaustion."
Yet Cardinal George concerns himself with "modest restraints" on abortion. Is that good enough? By piddling around with "incrementalism" and talk of "reducing" abortions, have we lost sight of our goal of abolishing abortion in America?
Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, called Obama"s election "one of the most devastating blows to American civilization that we have ever undergone" -- and he insists he does not "speak in hyperbole." Fr. Euteneuer says that, as a result of this election, we have lost the blessing promised in Psalm 41:1-4: "Happy those concerned for the lowly and poor; when misfortune strikes, the Lord delivers them. The Lord keeps and preserves them, makes them happy in the land, and does not betray them to their enemies. The Lord sustains them on their sickbed, allays the malady when they are ill." Will God continue to bless America as we continually reject Him in our rejection of the least of our brethren?
Fr. Euteneuer rightly calls for repentance: "Alas, we all need to get on our knees and repent from the very depths of our hearts for the plague that we have just invited onto our beloved nation." We faithful prolifers will do just that, as we should -- but how many of our countrymen who voted against life will join us? Indeed, how often has our prolife example been followed by those who are obstinate in their support of the murder of the unborn? Why has our prolife witness failed on the big stage?
The fundamental question we pose is this: Have we exhausted the electoral option in our fight against the scourge of abortion in the U.S.? Where does the prolife cause go from here?
Where Do We Go From Here?
January 2009
When the U.S. bishops convened their annual meeting in November 2008, one of the top agenda items was abortion in light of the recent election. Francis Cardinal George of Chicago, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), issued a brief, mostly to-the-point statement on behalf of his brother bishops in anticipation of the pro-abortion presidency of Barack Obama.
It appears that the bishops learned their lesson from last year"s "Faithful Citizenship" debacle -- for the most part. Not a few bishops would still prefer to soft sell the Church's teaching against abortion: Bishop Blase Cupich of Rapid City, South Dakota, for example, warned that "a prophecy of denunciation quickly wears thin," and that it is preferable to be seen as "caring pastors." Archbishop Elden Curtiss of Omaha likewise counseled against "being deliberately divisive now, or creating divisions by our actions." But where abortion is concerned, the battle lines have already been drawn.
Going against these equivocations, Cardinal George states plainly that "the fundamental good is life itself," that "abortion is a medical procedure that kills," and that Roe v. Wade was "bad law" that is in danger of being "enshrined in bad legislation" in the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). No hemming and hawing about weighing other, lesser concerns. Still, he couldn"t resist throwing a shout-out to those other, lesser concerns, saying of his brother bishops, "We want to continue our work for economic justice," and the "reform [of] laws around immigration," and "better education and adequate health care," blah, blah, blah. C"mon, Your Eminence, stick to the topic!
Cardinal George warns against interpreting the election as a "referendum on abortion." What, then, are we to make of the election of Obama, whom Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver has labeled "the most committed 'abortion-rights" presidential candidate of either majority party since the Roe v. Wade abortion decision in 1973"? Obama is a co-sponsor of FOCA, which would codify Roe v. Wade as federal law, eliminate all state restrictions on abortion, and mandate taxpayer funding of abortion. Obama pledged in a 2007 address to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund that "the first thing I will do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act." As is well known, Obama"s vice president is Joe Biden, a pro-abortion (Catholic) senator from Delaware.
Cardinal George expresses concern that, under FOCA, "parental notification and informed consent precautions would be outlawed." But the people of California voted down just such a parental-consent law in this election -- the second consecutive time the people rejected such a proposition. Cardinal George also warns that FOCA would overturn laws that ban partial-birth abortion and protect infants born alive after botched abortions. Yet the people voted into office a president who supports partial-birth abortion and opposed the Born Alive Infants Protection Act.
Cardinal George is also worried that FOCA "would deprive the American people in all fifty states the freedom they now have to enact modest restraints and regulations on the abortion industry." Yet in this election, the American people rejected all modest to severe restraints on abortion. Aside from the failure of the California parental-notification proposition, a potentially paradigm-shifting constitutional amendment in Colorado that would have defined "personhood" as beginning at conception went down to electoral defeat, as did a South Dakota proposition that would have eliminated abortions in that state save for cases that present a "risk" to the mother"s health prior to 20 weeks gestation. Sure, many pre-election polls indicated that the majority of Americans favored restrictions on abortion. But the American people have spoken, and judging by the cold facts, it appears that the American people don"t want even modest restrictions on abortion.
With the humiliating failures of the prolife cause at the state and national levels (we haven"t even touched on congressional losses of prolife votes or Obama's pro-abort cabinet appointments), it"s difficult to see how this election could not be considered a referendum on abortion.
James Cardinal Stafford, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary of the Holy See, called Obama"s abortion agenda "apocalyptic," warning that, with Obama"s election, we as a nation have entered into a long night in our own Garden of Gethsemane. Referencing Pope Paul VI"s prophetic 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, Cardinal Stafford said, "If 1968 was the year of America"s 'suicide attempt," 2008 is the year of America"s exhaustion."
Yet Cardinal George concerns himself with "modest restraints" on abortion. Is that good enough? By piddling around with "incrementalism" and talk of "reducing" abortions, have we lost sight of our goal of abolishing abortion in America?
Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, called Obama"s election "one of the most devastating blows to American civilization that we have ever undergone" -- and he insists he does not "speak in hyperbole." Fr. Euteneuer says that, as a result of this election, we have lost the blessing promised in Psalm 41:1-4: "Happy those concerned for the lowly and poor; when misfortune strikes, the Lord delivers them. The Lord keeps and preserves them, makes them happy in the land, and does not betray them to their enemies. The Lord sustains them on their sickbed, allays the malady when they are ill." Will God continue to bless America as we continually reject Him in our rejection of the least of our brethren?
Fr. Euteneuer rightly calls for repentance: "Alas, we all need to get on our knees and repent from the very depths of our hearts for the plague that we have just invited onto our beloved nation." We faithful prolifers will do just that, as we should -- but how many of our countrymen who voted against life will join us? Indeed, how often has our prolife example been followed by those who are obstinate in their support of the murder of the unborn? Why has our prolife witness failed on the big stage?
The fundamental question we pose is this: Have we exhausted the electoral option in our fight against the scourge of abortion in the U.S.? Where does the prolife cause go from here?
Monday, January 12, 2009
Spiritual Dry Spells
Wow, here is a post from one of my favorite blogs about some possible sources of spiritual dry spells.
Conversion Diary: More thoughts on spiritual dry spells
Conversion Diary: More thoughts on spiritual dry spells
Obedience
Here is an essay on obedience I thought was insightful... The two lines that jumped out at me were, "Obedience is learned through trust in those we obey" and "obedience is an exercise of faith." What gentle words, "trust" and "faith," yet the concept of obedience is mocked by so many. I wonder why? I think faithful obedience based on trust (not fear) helps us to attain that childlike attitude Jesus said in Luke 18:17 that we must have to enter His Kingdom.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
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