Greetings from LifeIssues.net (www.LifeIssues.net)
Dear Friends for Life,
Christmas is a time to remind us of the humility and loving generousity of God towards every human being. The eternal word assumes our flesh and this is the source of our hope. Every human life is clearly of eternal significance. (taken from Archbishop Nichol's Christmas Message).
LifeIssues.net wishes each and everyone of you a meaningful, grace-filled Christmas this year with the joys of a beautiful New Year! May mankind grow in love and respect for all human life, especially for our unborn babies and senior citizens.
God Bless each of you and be assured of my Prayers and Mass during this Holy Season.
Jerry Novotny, OMI
(Quote) A Christmas candle is a lovely thing;
It makes no noise at all,
But softly gives itself away;
While quite unselfish,
it grows small.
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Lifeissues.net NEWSLETTER #454
December 20, 2009
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(TABLE OF CONTENTS):
1. The Re-Birth of Population Control
2. Navigating the Mine Field that is a Black Woman's Womb
3. Grassroots Women's Group Fights for the Family
4. Korean ex-abortionist explains commitment to the pro-life cause
5. most unfortunate
6. What? Maternal Health not Improved by Abortion?
7. Milwaukee Archbishop: You Can't Call Yourself Catholic and Support Contraception
8. Half of Urban Teen Girls Acquire STIs within 2 Years of First Sexual Activity
9. Documentary brings out plight of children affected by AIDS
10. Pope Benedict XVI Speaks Out Against Abortion, Euthanasia, Genetic Testing
11. The Tragic Case of Jodie and Mary: Questions about Separating Conjoined Twins
12. "Life-Giving Love in an Age of Technology": The U.S. Bishops on Assisted Reproduction
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(FOCUS ON ASIA): "Asia: Christmas, beauty and mission" - This year Christmas falls at a difficult time. From several signs in the world - not least the difficulties of dialogue between rich and poor countries in Copenhagen; the crisis of oil producing countries and the Emirates - we realize that the global economic crisis is not at all over, some economists are even expecting more falls in investment, production and employment.
Moreover if we look to the testimonies we have received from the peoples of Asia that fill our pages, we see that the crisis is not only economic but social. The many problems of the people remain unchanged after years: Burmese monks remain imprisoned in Myanmar, activists, democrats, bishops and priests remain in the hands of Chinese police, the Christians in India have yet to receive justice for the pogroms they suffered; Japanese young people and adults in their tens of thousands continue to take her own life.
http://www.speroforum.com/a/24471/Asia---Christmas-beauty-and-mission?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+speroforum%2Fnroq+(Spero+News)
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ITEM #1. The Re-Birth of Population Control
The Copenhagen climate summit has brought with it an outpouring of opinions on environmental issues. Among these is a disturbing return to the Malthusian position of seeing population control as the solution to the world's problems.
View full article at Zenit:
http://www.zenit.org/article-27826?l=english
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ITEM #2. Navigating the Mine Field that is a Black Woman's Womb
When I was growing up in Ghana in the home of a Black radical (my mother) and a regular dude (my dad), I was taught by my mother and other radicals of her ilk that "civilization was carried on the womb of the black woman", that her children were "kings and queens", that her "feet were shod with truth and beauty".
You get the picture; and anyone who was born between 1968-81 and raised in a home of "Black consciousness" knows what I'm talking about. For a short stretch of time, it was a good and honorable thing to raise a Black family with two parents, some kids, maybe even a dog.
There was a time, and not too long ago, that if a Black man wanted to have sex with a Black woman, by God he was going to have to marry her. We had that much respect for ourselves, our bodies and the concept of family.
View full article at georgialife.wordpress.com:
http://georgialife.wordpress.com/2009/12/11/navigating-the-mine-field-that-is-a-black-woman%E2%80%99s-womb/
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ITEM #3. Grassroots Women's Group Fights for the Family
Sonja Eddings Brown, a vocal supporter of marriage in California, founded The Kitchen Cabinet PAC. She got the name from President Andrew Jackson, who coined the term to refer to his "back-room advisors." It was also used by Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. "Now in the 21st century, I just thought it was really appropriate for it to refer for the first time to women and the ability of women to speak to Washington," Brown said. "There's just a crucial need right now for the civility and compassion and the wisdom of women." The PAC plans to bring together ordinary, conservative women from around the country, and unify them into a powerful voting bloc to defend life, marriage and the rights of children.
View full article at citizenlink.com:
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000011636.cfm
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ITEM #4. Korean ex-abortionist explains commitment to the pro-life cause
In Korea - a country with one of the world's highest abortion rates - a pro-life movement has set a goal of cutting the number of abortions by two-thirds. One of the movement's leaders is Dr. Sang-duk Shim, who estimates that he performed about 4,000 abortions before his conversion to the pro-life cause. He explains his new attitude in an interview with MercatorNet.
View full article at Catholic Culture:
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=4917
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ITEM #5. most unfortunate
To put it bluntly, the "lab rats" in this experiment were human beings with human hopes, loves, fears, responsibilities. Keep in mind that the participants necessarily had to be uninfected women at the outset of the trial. It is undeniable that the researchers wanted the women to be inseminated by men infected with a lethal disease agent. The trial would be pointless otherwise.
View full article at CatholicCulture.org:
http://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otr.cfm?id=5176
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ITEM #6. What? Maternal Health not Improved by Abortion?
Pro-abortion advocates frequently cite abortion as essential to maternal health, and I suppose that's true if you regard conception as a disease that needs to be cured. But it's apparently not true in any other sense. A recent report released by the World Economic Forum shows that nations with highly restrictive abortion laws often have the lowest rates of maternal mortality. For example, Ireland and Poland's maternal mortality rates are lower than those in the United States, where abortion is widespread.
See the full article at CatholicCulture.org:
http://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otc.cfm?id=550
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ITEM #7. Milwaukee Archbishop: You Can't Call Yourself Catholic and Support Contraception
The ad campaign states: "Young Catholics are having sex. We are using contraception and condoms. We are having abortions. We are bisexual, gay, lesbian, straight and transgender. And none of this makes us any less Catholic than conservative Catholics who speak out against us.
"The truth is, they don't represent what the majority of Catholics think about sex - especially those of us in our 20s and 30s. It comes down to Catholic teaching on conscience."
Article is located at LifeSiteNews.com:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/dec/09121503.html
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ITEM #8. Half of Urban Teen Girls Acquire STIs within 2 Years of First Sexual Activity
Half of urban teenage girls may acquire at least one of three common sexually transmitted infections (STI) within two years of becoming sexually active, according to an Indiana University School of Medicine and Regenstrief Institute study. The study appears in the December 2009 issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. The researchers followed 381 girls enrolled at ages 14 to 17 years and found that repeated infection with the organisms that cause chlamydia, gonorrhea and trichomoniasis also was very common.
Article can be found at LifeSiteNews.com:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/dec/09121502.html
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ITEM #9. Documentary brings out plight of children affected by AIDS
Five-year-old Savithri Kumar has vivid memories of her loving parents, both of whom passed away due to HIV-AIDS two years ago. "Both my parents loved me very much. I was the apple of their eyes. But unfortunately both died, just months apart, two years ago. Doctors say both had HIV-AIDS," Savithri (name changed), who too is HIV positive and currently staying with her grandmother in Bangalore, told the media.
View entire text at Headlines India:
http://headlinesindia.mapsofindia.com/health-and-science-news/aids/documentary-brings-out-plight-of-children-affected-by-aids-25109.html
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ITEM #10. Pope Benedict XVI Speaks Out Against Abortion, Euthanasia, Genetic Testing
The only just laws "are those laws that safeguard the sacredness of human life and reject the acceptance of abortion, euthanasia and unrestrained genetic experiments," Benedict said. Failure to recognize a respect for human life in the law leads to a "dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything definitive and leaves as the ultimate criterion only the self and one's own desires," he said.
He added a "an objective, unchanging truth accessible to human reason and that concerns practical action" exists -- something that guides pro-life people. "In our time especially in some countries, there is a worrying disconnect between reason, which has the task of discovering the ethical values of human dignity, and freedom, which has the responsibility to welcome them and promote them," Benedict said.
View entire text at LifeNews.com:
http://www.lifenews.com/int1413.html
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ITEM #11. The Tragic Case of Jodie and Mary: Questions about Separating Conjoined Twins
The tragic case of conjoined twins Mary and Jodie made news around the world and sent ethicists into speculation. Born in Manchester, England on August 8, 2000, Mary and Jodie's appearance was so unusual and their disabilities so severe that several doctors had to excuse themselves from giving care to the twins. Jodie and Mary were joined at the lower abdomen and shared a spine. Though both twins had nearly a full complement of organs, Jodie's heart and lungs maintained both of their lives since Mary's were not sufficiently developed to pump oxygenated blood. Doctors predicted that Jodie's circulatory system would give out in a matter of weeks under the strain of supporting both girls. It was a decision to rival Solomon's: Should one twin be sacrificed in order to save the other or should both be allowed to perish?
View entire text at LifeIssues.Net:
http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/kac/kac_13conjoinedtwins.html
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ITEM #12. "Life-Giving Love in an Age of Technology": The U.S. Bishops on Assisted Reproduction
The Bishops end their preliminary analysis by teaching that when spouses procreate, they cooperate with God in bringing into existence a new human being. This extraordinary gift of sharing in God's creative act requires resolute determination on the part of spouses to treat human life in its origins as God desires, as the bishops say, "in a uniquely personal way." And although the desire to bring children into the world "is positive and natural," not all means of doing so "respect this great gift."
View entire text at LifeIssues.Net:
http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/bru/bru_07assistedreproduction.html
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YOU CAN CHANGE SOCIETY:
1. BE INFORMED: "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6. Visit Lifeissues.net Website for insights into current Life Issues www.lifeissues.net. All prior email Newsletters Archives are located online at http://lifeissues.net/newsletters/mojo.cgi?flavor=archive&list=lifenews&start=0
3. PRAY DAILY: for the courage to be God's presence in society and to strongly support those who are deemed "unworthy of life". "If My people who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14
4. BECOME INVOLVED: Several years ago Fr. Jerry created a project entitled, "Journey for Life into the Heart of Asia". It is a project which appeals for donations to help finance plane travel for lectures and seminars to developing countries in Asia. Strong focus is placed on reaching Asian Catholic Major Seminaries, Universities, Parishes, Hospitals and Family/Pro Life related groups. The lectures place emphasis on "The Asian Family at Crossroads: Life Issues Trends and Challenges". In October, Fr. Jerry will be in Pakistan for 2 weeks. November in Malaysia.
For information about no-cost Pro Life Talks to your group in Asia: contact Fr. Jerry at jerry@shirt.ocn.ne.jp.
To become a supportive Missionary participant for this Asian project, kindly send your donations to:
** Fr. Jerry Novotny, OMI
** LifeIssues.net, Editor
** Akebono-cho 1-15-9
** Kochi City, Japan, 780-8072
(or transfer donation directly to ProLife bank account: Jerome Novotny, Shikoku Bank, Asakura Branch, No. 102-1-0080824)
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Contact EDITOR:
Jerry Novotny, OMI
Akebono-cho 1-15-9
Kochi City, Japan, 780-8072
[tel/fax: 088-843-0406]
[email: jerry@lifeissues.net (or) jerry@shirt.ocn.ne.jp]
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Websites by Editor:
English LifeIssues Site: http://www.lifeissues.net,
Japanese LifeIssues Site: http://www.japan-lifeissues.net,
OMI Site: http://www.omijapankorea.net/index.html
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