Silver linings
The loss on health care was very discouraging. However, there are always silver linings to be found. Here are a few:
- Some pseudo-Catholics came out from the woodwork, and took a stand directly against the voice of the American bishops. Will the bishops now have the courage to take official sanctions against these groups? Let us pray that they will.
- We found out that many of the “pro-life” Democrats are pro-life in name only. With some of the comments Bart Stupak has made lately, it’s pretty unclear whether he is actually pro-life at all. People will now think twice before voting for a Democrat who claims to be pro-life. For that matter, we need to investigate more thoroughly the pro-life credentials of any candidate for office, not just see whether they identify themselves as pro-life on a questionnaire.
- The health care reform (and the abortion coverage within it) was very unpopular, leading to hope that the Democratic majority in the House will be erased after this year’s elections.
What do we do now? We continue to fight even harder and keep the real goal in mind. Make no mistake; our goal is that abortion will be illegal, and that we will create a civilization of love such that abortion will not be even considered as an option. If we do that, the concerns about the health care plan will fade away. America is becoming more pro-life. The outcome this time does not change that.
One thing we need to get into the public consciousness is that the “no federal funding of abortion” claim in regards to the health care reform is a farce. It’s no more than an accounting gimmick. The important thing is that people know that the bill DOES specify that the government plan covers abortion.
In the short term, this was a failure, but that we even came close to derailing it with sizable Demoncratic majorities throughout the government is somewhat encouraging. There is still hope that this can be repealed or at least heavily modified before it begins to drain the lifeblood out of our country.
Understanding our “enemy”
In order to defeat one’s enemy, one must understand them. In order to heal a disease, we must understand what that disease is. To most of us pro-lifers, it is nearly impossible for us to fathom what is going on in the head of someone who is “pro-choice”.
That is why this article is so very important. The article is written by Jennifer Fulwiler, who I have mentioned before in this blog, and explains the reasons why she was pro-choice before her conversion. To sum up a great article into three words, the reason was: the contraceptive mentality. This insidious mentality is behind nearly all of our sexual and family problems in the Western world today, and during Lent, I will be posting a series on how each problem is traceable back to contraception as the root.
If we are going to heal our society and once again instill a reverence for life, it will have to start with rooting out the contraceptive mentality. As people are starting to realize the harmful effects of non-natural foods, lotions, etc., this task may not be as overwhelmingly difficult as it seems.
Crunch Time to defeat Obamacare
Well, the latest is that the Senate version of Obamacare will be voted on this week or next by both the Senate and the House. If this is true, then the pro-life victory in the House which prohibited abortion coverage has been wiped out, and the version that will come to a final vote DOES contain coverage for abortion. Don’t be confused by claims that the bill is abortion-neutral or does not contain funding of abortion. The Senate bill, as currently stands, definitely DOES allow for abortions to be covered in the health care plan, and the most likely scenario is that the House will simply be voting on the Senate version without any chance to reinsert the pro-life Stupak amendment.
Public opinion is against this bill because of abortion, as well as other reasons. NOW is the time to make your voice heard to your Senators and Congressmen. For those of you that have Senators or Congressmen that will not be convinced by arguments about abortion (such as is the case with the Senators here in Minnesota), try using other reasons to make the case, such as the angle that the health care bill is a major expense at a time when our country can’t afford another money pit.
The best chance to defeat the bill is still in the House, so focus on your Congressmen, especially those of you who live in districts with more moderate Democrats who voted for the original Stupak amendment. Move your cursor over the Contact header on the main Rosaries for Life site to contact your Senators and Congressmen!
Don’t forget to fast and pray the Rosary for our nation in this critical time! If you have not already pledged your prayers, please do so!
Update: At US News and World Report, there is this informative report about the current abortion related issues in the health care bill.
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini and a great miracle
Today we celebrate the feast of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, a great missionary saint to the U.S. whose presence graced many places in our country, including Seattle, New Orleans, New York, Chicago, and Denver. She was the first United States citizen to be canonized.
She crossed the Atlantic 25 times back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, founded many hospitals, and spent time in Central and South America as well. She cared deeply about immigrants and is now the Patron Saint of Immigrants.
She also performed a spectacular miracle after her death. A nurse/nun accidentally gave a newborn baby an incorrect dose of silver oxide in the eyes that burned the baby’s eyes out! The baby’s eyes and sight were miraculously recovered due to the intercession of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini.
For more about this wonderful saint, go here, and for a detailed account of the miracle mentioned above (and others), I recommend the book, Nothing Short of A Miracle, by Patricia Treece.
Let’s ask this great saint to intercede strongly for our country, especially for moral and compassionate solutions to our immigration and health care issues!
Saddle up to stop Obamacare - beware deception!
I originally posted this last month, but it needs to be brought to the forefront again. This bill is going to pass within the next month, and WITH abortion coverage, unless there is a deluge of phone calls and E-mails to your senators and representatives in Congress. The latest is that Pelosi is going to try to ram through a version of the bill containing abortion before people can react to it. Let’s not let that happen.
Don’t be fooled by the rhetoric. Even the left-leaning factcheck.org comes to the conclusion that the health care bill currently being proposed WOULD have coverage of abortion.
Don’t be fooled by Obama’s misleading statement in his speech to Congress that “no federal funds will pay for abortions” either. Many seem to have been fooled by this, including some elements within the USCCB. This DOES NOT mean that the plan does not COVER abortions (though that’s what he would like you to believe). It simply means (again from the factcheck.org article linked above):
The Capps amendment does contain a statement…that prohibits the use of public money to pay for abortions, except in cases of rape, incest and to save the life of the mother. That would still allow the public plan to cover all abortions, so long as the plans took in enough private money in the form of premiums paid by individuals or their employers.
In other words, abortions ARE covered by the plan, but they are paid for using the premium revenues rather than the money that the government chips in. Very deceptive indeed, and probably an outright lie, since premiums, once received, are also federal funds. With this, any tiny bit of good will and honesty that I’d have liked to presume that this Administration had is gone. Go here for more details about this deception.
PLEASE get involved and let your senators and congressmen know how you feel. The “Contact” tab on our main site will get you to the right place. It is vitally important to the future of our country that we derail this plan.
For the best Catholic perspective I’ve seen on this health care bill, and health care issues in general as they relate to Catholic teaching, I HIGHLY recommend that you read the statement of Bishops Finn and Naumann of Kansas City. It is quite debatable whether this plan is the right plan for our country even if the legislation did not provide coverage for abortion, but as long as it does include abortion, we Catholics MUST oppose this with all of our might!
Pray, Pray, Pray for Church Unity!
Relations between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches are better now than they have been at any time since the tragic split of 1054. Pope Benedict XVI and Orthodox leaders, especially Russian Orthodox leaders, are quite close. There is an important meeting taking place over the next week in Cyprus wherein 30 Catholic and 30 Orthodox theologians will meet to discuss issues that separate us.
As Pope John Paul II said “The Church needs to breathe with both lungs.” He was, of course, referring to East and West. Unity is still going to be difficult to achieve, and is by no means imminent, but for the first time, it appears to be possible.
Please pray hard for Church unity…as Christ said in his important prayer before the Last Supper,
I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. (John 17:20-21)
Reading that closely, one could infer that the world will not believe until all Christians are one again. Indeed, looking at the history of Christianity, the last millenium, at least from about 1300 on, has been a gradual move away from faith in Christ, as the Church became more divided and fragmented. While the Catholic Church sails on as Christ promised, we are not complete without our separated brothers and sisters.
One concrete way you can help is to remember to pray for the souls of all those separated brothers and sisters who are in Purgatory, especially those whose traditions do not believe in Purgatory. We can be assured, in a mystical way, that this aids the cause of Church unity.
Keep your wallet closed for the CCHD
This story has been out for a few weeks, but hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves. The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), which has an annual 2nd collection in Catholic parishes across the U.S., has been funding groups which support and promote abortion, contraception, same-sex marriage, and legalized prostitution.
Thanks to some whistleblowers, the problems are starting to be addressed, but the question remains as to how this went on for so many years in the first place! I want to see a good track record from the CCHD for a good long time, before any of my $$$$ will go to them.
Check out this report from LifeSiteNews for more details.
Personhood
Personhood is a dangerous word. It is a legal term, and any time it is used, it is usually used to EXCLUDE a given group of human beings from the group of “persons”. This enables them to be considered property, or to not have the very right to live. Recent examples, of course, include slavery, the Jews and others under Hitler, and now abortion throughout the world.
With advances in science, we should have progressed to the point where all human beings have the right to life and freedom just by virtue of being human beings. Unfortunately, this is not yet the case.
Fortunately, there’s a group called Personhood USA doing some good work in attempting to define the unborn as persons. This approach has already had success in North Dakota, Montana, and Mississippi. Given that it shifts the focus onto the unborn child, it would seem to be a promising strategy. Please check them out, and get involved if you feel so called.
Urgent action needed - stop federal funding for abortions
Congress is, as we speak, debating health care reform. While the advisability of this is debatable in itself, there is one thing that we MUST take action on. Right now, Democrats are trying to sneak federal funding for abortion in to the health care reform bill, and that is UNACCEPTABLE. If successful, this would be as bad as, maybe worse than FOCA. Studies have shown that government funding of abortion increases the abortion rate by at least 20%.
Unless we all act by contacting our elected representatives now, WE will be footing the bill for abortions, to the tune of millions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of abortions. Please contact your Congressman and your two Senators!
One might phrase their letter to say that most people are opposed to abortion and even MORE people are opposed to having their tax money go to pay for them. However you phrase your letter, please contact them today! You should be able to find your representatives using our “Contact” section on the main website.
The Truth Comes Out
The pro-abortion side likes to keep its aims couched in euphemisms as much as possible. However, once in a while, the truth comes out and we see that the eugenic origins of the pro-abortion and pro-contraception movements are still there behind the curtain.
Witness a certain Supreme Court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in the New York Times:
Q: Are you talking about the distances women have to travel because in parts of the country, abortion is essentially unavailable, because there are so few doctors and clinics that do the procedure? And also, the lack of Medicaid for abortions for poor women?
JUSTICE GINSBURG: Yes, the ruling about that surprised me. [Harris v. McRae — in 1980 the court upheld the Hyde Amendment, which forbids the use of Medicaid for abortions.] Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of. So that Roe was going to be then set up for Medicaid funding for abortion. Which some people felt would risk coercing women into having abortions when they didn’t really want them. But when the court decided McRae, the case came out the other way. And then I realized that my perception of it had been altogether wrong.
There it is - the particular problem which abortion was to solve was that of too much population growth in “populations that we don’t want to have too many of.” It’s supremely ironic that our first minority President is resolutely committed to abortion when it is abortion that is killing off a high percentage of African-Americans. African-Americans have abortions at rates 5 times higher than the white population, with an estimated 14+ million abortions among African-Americans having occurred since 1973.
This also points out another ugly truth that Planned Parenthood and the rest of the pro-abortion movement want to keep hidden at all costs - abortion and contraception came out of the same hellish ideology that brought us Adolf Hitler - Darwinism. I’m not talking about believing in evolution necessarily; that is allowable according to Church teaching. However, Darwin posited that there is good genetic stock and bad genetic stock, and we all know about the “survival of the fittest” catchphrase. For his followers, then, it became an imperative to help those carrying the good genes proliferate as much as possible, while those carrying the “bad genes” should be stamped out whenever possible. Abortion and the gas chamber were simply different means to this end.
Today, the “bad” people who should be weeded out as much as possible are the poor, and those with genetic deformities, rather than certain races, but the principle remains exactly the same.
Hat tip to Creative Minority Report.
