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Dear Friends for Life, his week,
Thank you for 2012: This will be our last issue for 2012. We hope that you all had a Meaningful and Blessed Christmas! This is the season to give thanks to God for sending us His Son, for the many graces we have receive during 2012, and to ask his guidance and perseverance in our Pro Life work throughout 2013.
Resolution for 2013: We want to wish Friends for Life a New Year full of hope in Christ Our Lord, who came to us through Mary - as a baby - to save a sinful world. We invite you to join Pro-Lifers in the imitation of Mary throughout 2013 and work together to Bring Jesus to Planned Parenthood through Mary. This campaign by STOPP is the cog around which all the wheels involved in stopping Planned Parenthood revolve.
God Bless,
Jerry Novotny, OMI
(The Difference is LIFE) "The goal of the state cannot consists in a freedom without defined contents. In order to establish a meaningful and viable ordering of life in society, the state requires a minimum of truth, of knowledge of the good, that cannot be manipulated." - Pope Benedict XVI
*---*(Due to volume of spam received, do not reply to this message but instead send all emails to jerry@shirt.ocn.ne.jp. Pass this free service to your friends and various groups. Thank you!)
**************************************** (TABLE OF CONTENTS):
Lifeissues.net Newsletter #608
December 30, 2012
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1. Promoting conjugal chastity and NFP
2. Ex-Gay' Men Fight Back Against View That Homosexuality Can't Be Changed
3. Indonesia and Others See 'Embarrassing' Rise in H.I.V. Infections
4. 84% of global population follows some religion. Christians are 32%
5. Our Lady of Guadalupe: The Patroness of the Americas and of the Pro-Life Movement
6. The UN's Attempt to Sideline Parents of the Disabled
7. Five Awesome Pro-Life Videos of 2012 Everyone Should Watch
8. U.S. Has 5% of the World's Population, But Owns 50% of the World's Guns
9. Korea: Spate Of Suicides Highlights Workers' Gloom
10. What Christmas is really all about
11. Pope's Christmas Message: Make Time For God in Fast-paced World
12. EDITORIAL: A Christmas message
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(Human Life): "The Case for Man/Woman Marriage" - A new video from The Iona Insitute sets out the case for marriage as an institution that unites one man and one woman for life. In ninety seconds, it explains why marriage, as presently defined, is our most vital and child-centred social institution. The video is in response to the intense pressure in Ireland and other countries to redefine marriage.
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ITEM #1: Promoting conjugal chastity and NFP
Maybe God is telling us that he is not the dues ex machine of the theater who swoops in at the last minute to clean up the mess we have made and have refused to clean up. The culture war engaging the Church today is like football. No matter how glitzy the uniforms and how excellent the quarterback, you don't win championships without excellent basics - blocking and tackling. You don't win culture-war battles without good preaching and teaching.
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ITEM #2: Ex-Gay' Men Fight Back Against View That Homosexuality Can't Be Changed
Thousands of men, often Christians, say they have overcome same-sex attraction and protest against laws forbidding "reparative" therapies for those who desire them.
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ITEM #3: Indonesia and Others See 'Embarrassing' Rise in H.I.V. Infections
A new United Nations report on H.I.V.-AIDS has some encouraging findings, notably dramatic reductions in new infections in southern Africa, although several countries in Asia now have infection rates 25 percent higher than they were a decade ago. One of those countries is Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation.
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ITEM #4: 84% of global population follows some religion. Christians are 32%
The study by the Pew Center shows that Christians are in the majority in 157 countries, in 49 Muslims, Hindus in three. 62% of people "without religion" live in China, but among them there is 7% who believes in God or some higher power. Catholics are 50% of all Christians.
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ITEM #5: Our Lady of Guadalupe: The Patroness of the Americas and of the Pro-Life Movement
After Juan saw Mary, life did not pass as usual in Mexico. There are some estimates that in the following ten years, there were 9,000,000 conversions to the Catholic Faith. The annual sacrifices to the pagan gods of thousands of newborn babies stopped.
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ITEM #6: The UN's Attempt to Sideline Parents of the Disabled
Disabilities (UNCRPD) suggests compassion and respect for the dignity of the disabled. Yet the specifics of this treaty with the felicitous sounding name carry the potential for sinister consequences. The most worrisome aspect of the CRPD is its failure to protect the rights of parents and guardians to make decisions for their disabled children.
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ITEM #7 Five Awesome Pro-Life Videos of 2012 Everyone Should Watch
In 2010, the Kaiser Family Foundation released a study showing that 8-18 year olds spend an average of 7.5 hours every day with media devices. These include cell phones (many of which have internet connection), TV, computers, and the like. It's clear that the more life-affirming videos, commercials, and short clips that we can put out there, the more we will reach our youth.
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ITEM #8: U.S. Has 5% of the World's Population, But Owns 50% of the World's Guns
According to a CNN statistic making the rounds on social media networks lately, the U.S., which accounts for 5% of the world's population, owns 50% of the world's guns. I have a penchant for dissecting neatly-packaged little statistics like this one, so add this fact to the one above: Mexico accounts for less than 2% of the world's population, yet produces 67% of the world's marijuana. ******************************
ITEM #9: Korea: Spate Of Suicides Highlights Workers' Gloom
The end of the year has been marked by a tragic series of suicides.
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ITEM #10: What Christmas is really all about
As our increasingly secularized society comes unmoored from its Christian foundations, one of the most noticeable changes around this time of year has been the shift in how and why we celebrate Christmas (if we're even allowed to call it that anymore).
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ITEM #11: Pope's Christmas Message: Make Time For God in Fast-paced World
At the mass for some 10,000 people in the basilica and broadcast to millions of others on television, the pope wove his homily around the theme of God's place in today's modern world. "Do we have time and space for him? Do we not actually turn away God himself? We begin to do so when we have no time for him," said the pope, wearing gold and white vestments. The faster we can move, the more efficient our time-saving appliances become, the less time we have. And God? The question of God never seems urgent. Our time is already completely full," he said.
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ITEM #12: EDITORIAL: A Christmas message
Christmas is a time for giving, and as we reach out to family and friends, I hope we'll also open our hearts to those who are lonely and in need, citizens less fortunate than ourselves, brave soldiers working to preserve peace from the tip of Alaska to the shores of Lebanon, to the DMZ in Korea, families maintaining a constant vigil for their missing in action, and millions forbidden the freedom to worship a God who so loved the world that He gave us the birth of the Christ Child so that we might learn to love each other. I know they would welcome your expressions of love and support.
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1. BE INFORMED: "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6. Visit Lifeissues.net Website for insights into current Life Issues 2. 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 3. BECOME INVOLVED: Several years ago Fr. Jerry created a project entitled, "Journey for Life into the Heart of Asia". The project appeals for donations to help finance plane travel for lectures and seminars to developing countries in Asia. Strong focus is centered 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". For information about no-cost Pro Life Talks to your group in Asia: contact Fr. Jerry at
YOU CAN CHANGE SOCIETY:
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]
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jerry@shirt.ocn.ne.jp. Thank you! Editor"]------------------------------
Websites by Editor:
English LifeIssues Site:
http://www.lifeissues.net,Japanese LifeIssues Site:
http://www.japan-lifeissues.net,HIV/AIDS Site: http://capcha.org OMI Japan/Korea Site:
