"My power is made perfect in weakness" ...

Sarah Shea sent a message to the members of 40 Days For Life.

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Intention:

May the King of the Universe, who entered this world as a helpless infant, give us the humility to be healed.

Scripture:

My power is made perfect in weakness.

--2 Corinthians 12:9

Reflection:

The great mystery of the Humility of God is very near and dear to the mission of those serving in pro life and in a special way, post abortion ministries across this nation. For those wounded by their participation in abortion, the door to healing often feels like crossing an abyss of great fear: fear of judgment, fear of being torn apart by the pain, by self hatred and rage at those who hurt and abandoned you, and manipulated you in your time of temptation. For men in particular, entering the unknown waters of emotional vulnerability, so necessary to healing calls for a different kind of courage that feels deceptively like weakness.

The door to healing is humility. It is born in the inability to no longer control the pain, to live with the consequences of that tragic decision to reject life. The hearts cries out, "I have committed a grave offense against my Creator and I am consumed by regret, grief and sorrow!"

During these forty days let us pray for all who have participated in abortion and with love call them to healing and reconciliation. With healing these women and men can become as John Paul II proclaimed in the Gospel of Life, "the most eloquent defenders of everyone's right to life."

Jesus proclaimed, "I am the Vine, you are the branches" (John 15:5). To bear the greatest fruit, the branches must be pruned. Each level of pruning of the vine requires a deeper level of humility so that we can abandon ourselves to His will. This is not a lofty theological concept as much as it is an earthy experience of pulling weeds, tilling rocky soil, pruning and healing the vines. "If a man wishes to come after me, he must deny his very self, take up his cross, and begin to follow in my footsteps" (Matthew 16:24).

Prayer:

Lord, during these forty days, we ask that with each day of this sacred vigil, everything in us that separates us from your perfect will would be pruned from our hearts and souls. In this blessed freedom may we experience a powerful anointing of your Holy Spirit. Filled with confidence and trust may we proclaim with the mother of Jesus, "Let it be done to me, according to your Word."

Kevin Burke
Executive Director, Rachels Vineyard Ministries
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Unborn Baby's Heartbeat Prompts Pro-life Vote

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut, OCT. 2, 2008 (Zenit.org).- A Knights of Columbus radio spot running in many U.S. markets until the Nov. 4 elections encourages citizens to listen to the heartbeat of a 10-week-old unborn baby and vote pro-life.

The 30-second spot is running in more than a dozen states. The ad features the sound of a baby's heartbeat at 10 weeks, and the voice of a woman saying, "Listening to this makes me wonder: Why would anyone question that her life has begun?" It concludes with the words, "Vote your heart. Vote pro-life."

Supreme Knight Carl Anderson announced the beginning of the ad campaign. "The fact that the child whose heartbeat we hear is alive is simply a matter of science," he said. "We believe that it is vital that America's pro-life community make it clear that they will reserve their votes for candidates of either party who are committed to protecting life from conception to natural death."

A similar ad is planned for broadcast in Canada, where general elections are set for Oct. 14.

FROM AMERICAN LIFE LEAGUE:

American Life League Thursday called on Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl to enforce Canon 915 at the annual Red Mass at St. Matthew the Apostle Cathedral on Oct. 5.

The Catholic Code of Canon Law requires that all those who persist in "manifestly grave sin" are not to be permitted to receive the Holy Eucharist.

"We implore Archbishop Wuerl to exercise his duty to protect the Holy Eucharist from the sacrilege of pro-abortion politicians receiving the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ," said Judie Brown, president of American Life League.

The Red Mass has been notoriously attended by politicians who actively support abortion and contraception – a position that is unequivocally opposed by the Catholic Church.

"The Blessed Sacrament has been desecrated in years past at this Mass by politicians with blood on their hands," Brown said. "We hope and pray that this year, Archbishop Wuerl has the courage to be a real shepherd and leader of his flock by protecting our most sacred Sacrament."

The Red Mass is a special Mass celebrated for those involved in the government and legal system. Catholics believe these officials' power comes from God – therefore they have a sacred duty to govern with justice and protect the most innocent and defenseless among us – the preborn."The Red Mass should be the perfect opportunity for Archbishop Wuerl to send a message to pro-abortion politicians everywhere – it is not possible to be Catholic and support abortion."

Terri's News Alert

October 3, 2008

This Saturday on America's Lifeline!

Don't forget to tune into America's Lifeline on Talk Radio 860 WGUL this Saturday, October 4th at 3pm, ET. America's Lifeline is also streamed worldwide via the internet at Talk Radio 860 WGUL. For those outside the Tampa area, simply log onto terrisfight.org and click on the 860 TALK RADIO LOGO button.

This Saturday, October 4, 2008 on America's Lifeline our guest will be Alex Schadenberg.

Alex Schadenberg is the executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and was a member of the Diocese of London - Family, Life and Youth Ministry Office team.

Alex has published a serious of pamphlets and a booklet concerning respect for human life, and has also produced the video, "Turning The Tide; Dignity, Compassion And Euthanasia."

This powerful DVD video is a compelling look at how the legalization of Euthanasia would affect society exposing the oversimplification, flaws and myths surrounding safeguards, pain management and suffering.

America's Lifeline is hosted by Sheila Liaugminas, former Time magazine reporter and a previous host on the popular radio show The Right Questions and Issues and Answers on Relevant Radio. The program will be co-hosted by Bobby Schindler and Suzanne Vitadamo, directors of Terri's Foundation and brother and sister of Terri Schiavo.

Will you help?

Click on the icon to make a donation to Terri's Foundation. Thank you!

Another Bishop Stands Up by Diogenes

From Catholic Culture: http://www.catholicculture.org/ "Off The Record" we read . . .

The Stuart Country Day School in Princeton, New Jersey is a Catholic institution-- or so they tell us-- run by the Society of the Sacred Heart. The nuns take pride in training girls for important roles in society, and so the school established a Women in Leadership Forum, inviting prominent speakers to the campus, to "provide girls with opportunities to interact with women role models."

The role models chosen, however, have been depressingly similar: women with liberal political views, women with no discernible love for Church teachings on hot-button social issues. After last year's Leadership Forum presentation by journalist Cokie Roberts, some parents complained, and Bishop John Smith of Trenton reportedly sought and received a promise that in the future the school would invite speakers more sympathetic toward Catholic social doctrine.

So this year, the school announced that the Leadership Forum speaker would be former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, who has gained nationwide prominence for her efforts to persuade her fellow Republicans to embrace the causes of unrestricted legal abortion and homosexual rights. In announcing Whitman's speech the Stuart School headmistress, Sister Frances de la Chapelle, said that the "pro-choice" activist would "bring an interesting perspective on the leadership role of women and the values they bring to the formation of public policy."

An "interesting perspective," yes. When he heard about the invitation to Gov. Whitman, Bishop Smith apparently found it interesting, too. The bishop wrote to the school's administrators, asking them to cancel the Leadership Forum event. And...

Just a week before Whitman's scheduled appearance, a terse announcement appeared on the Stuart School site: 

The October 6th Women in Leadership Forum has been canceled. Mark your calendar for the next Forum event on February 24.

Dramatic Increase in Taxpayer Funded Abortions

PALOS HEIGHTS, Ill., Oct. 3 /Christian Newswire/ -- Eighty-three U.S. Congressmen, including Illinois Congressmen John Shimkus (R-19) and Jerry Costello (D-12) sent a letter dated September 26, 2008, to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt asking for information about the dramatic and sudden increase in Medicare and Medicaid-funded abortions due to rape in Illinois. According to a document by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, the spike, entirely due to increased numbers in Illinois alone, rose from 20 in FY2005 to 84 in FY2006 and 363 in FY2007. Other states show no comparable increases. The letter requested specific information about this puzzling and alarming increase including whether the abortions were in a particular region or facility in Illinois, if the criminal rapes were verified, and, if unlawfully funded, were the funds recovered or are they in the process of being recovered. Concerned Women for America (CWA) of Illinois stands with these honorable Congressmen in requesting this vital information in light of the disturbing fact that sexual assault crimes may be involved in these cases in our state. Concerned Women for America is the nation's largest public policy women's organization.

A PRO-LIFE LETTER

At the direction of the Most Reverend Bishop, this letter is to be read by the celebrant at all Masses of Obligation on Respect Life Weekend, Saturday, October 4, and Sunday, October 5, at the time of and instead of the homily.

Moreover, a copy of the letter should be circulated with all parish bulletins on this same weekend.

A PASTORAL LETTER FROM BISHOP MARTINO
Respect Life Sunday


My brothers and sisters in Christ,

The American Catholic bishops initiated Respect Life Sunday in 1972, the year before the Supreme Court legalized abortion in the United States. Since that time, Catholics across the country observe the month of October with devotions and pro-life activities in order to advance the culture of life. This October, our efforts have more significance than ever. Never have we seen such abusive criticism directed toward those who believe that life begins at conception and ends at natural death. [Outta the gate fast! Good for you, Your Excellency!] [Comments in red are by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf http://wdtprs.com/blog/

As Catholics, we should not be surprised by these developments. Forty years ago, Pope Paul VI predicted that widespread use of artificial contraceptives would lead to increased marital infidelity, lessened regard for women, and a general lowering of moral standards especially among the young. Forty years later, social scientists, not necessarily Catholics, attest to the accuracy of his predictions. As if following some bizarre script, [well said] the sexual revolution has produced widespread marital breakdown, weakened family ties, legalized abortion, sexually transmitted diseases, pornography, same-sex unions, euthanasia, destruction of human embryos for research purposes and a host of other ills.

It is impossible for me to answer all of the objections to the Church’s teaching on life that we hear every day in the media. Nevertheless, let me address a few. To begin, laws that protect abortion constitute injustice of the worst kind. They rest on several false claims including that there is no certainty regarding when life begins, that there is no certainty about when a fetus becomes a person, and that some human beings may be killed to advance the interests or convenience of others.[Tell that to Speaker Pelosi and Sen. Biden, along with a whole crowd of Catholic politicians.] With regard to the first, reason and science have answered the question. The life of a human being begins at conception. The Church has long taught this simple truth, and science confirms it. Biologists can now show you the delicate and beautiful development of the human embryo in its first days of existence. This is simply a fact that reasonable people accept. Regarding the second, the embryo and the fetus have the potential to do all that an adult person does. Finally, the claim that the human fetus may be sacrificed to the interests or convenience of his mother or someone else is grievously wrong. All three claims have the same result: the weakest and most vulnerable are denied, because of their age, the most basic protection that we demand for ourselves. This is discrimination at its worst, and no person of conscience should support it. [The great thing about this is that it takes the "abortion rights" question out of the sphere of religion alone. Catholics don’t have to argue as Catholics, necessarily. They can argue from the basis of reason and science.]

Another argument goes like this: “As wrong as abortion is, I don’t think it is the only relevant ‘life’ issue that should be considered when deciding for whom to vote.” This reasoning is sound only if other issues carry the same moral weight as abortion does, such as in the case of euthanasia and destruction of embryos for research purposes. Health care, education, economic security, immigration, and taxes are very important concerns. [Excellent. What he has done is explode that other issues (with those exceptions) have a moral equivalence. They don’t. Some issues are more fundamental.] Neglect of any one of them has dire consequences as the recent financial crisis demonstrates. [He makes it current.] However, the solutions to problems in these areas do not usually involve a rejection of the sanctity of human life in the way that abortion does. Being “right” on taxes, education, health care, immigration, and the economy fails to make up for the error of disregarding the value of a human life. [Precisely! There is no moral equivalence between these blocks of issues.] Consider this: the finest health and education systems, the fairest immigration laws, and the soundest economy do nothing for the child who never sees the light of day. It is a tragic irony that “pro-choice” candidates have come to support homicide – the gravest injustice a society can tolerate – in the name of “social justice.” [And more ironic is the fact that unless you support embryonic research – because of the chimera of thereby curing grama’s Parkinson’s Disease, you are thus somehow against life.]

Even the Church’s just war theory has moral force because it is grounded in the principle that innocent human life must be protected and defended. [Interesting that he brings this in. The Church does admit that there can be just wars but does not admit that there are just abortions. There can be just executions, but not just euthanasia. Somewhere in this is a separate principle. And we must take into accont the principle of secondary (intended) effects, as well.] Now, a person may, in good faith, misapply just war criteria leading him to mistakenly believe that an unjust war is just, but he or she still knows that innocent human life may not be harmed on purpose. A person who supports permissive abortion laws, however, rejects the truth that innocent human life may never be destroyed. This profound moral failure runs deeper and is more corrupting of the individual, and of the society, than any error in applying just war criteria to particular cases. [Good paragraph… he properly disconnects anti-Iraq War sentiment from the abortion issue.]

Furthermore, National Right to Life reports that 48.5 million abortions have been performed since 1973. One would be too many. No war, no natural disaster, no illness or disability has claimed so great a price. [So, there is the issue of scale.]

In saying these things in an election year, I am in very good company. My predecessor, Bishop Timlin, writing his pastoral letter on Respect Life Sunday 2000, stated the case eloquently: [Continuity with his predecessor….]

Abortion is the issue this year and every year in every campaign. Catholics may not turn away from the moral challenge that abortion poses for those who seek to obey God’s commands. They are wrong when they assert that abortion does not concern them, or that it is only one of a multitude of issues of equal importance. No, the taking of innocent human life is so heinous, so horribly evil, and so absolutely opposite to the law of Almighty God that abortion must take precedence over every other issue. I repeat. It is the single most important issue confronting not only Catholics, but the entire electorate.

My fellow bishops, writing ten years ago, explained why some evils – abortion and euthanasia in particular – take precedence over other forms of violence and abuse.

The failure to protect life in its most vulnerable stages renders suspect any claims to the ‘rightness’ of positions in other matters affecting the poorest and least powerful of the human community. If we understand the human person as ‘the temple of the Holy Spirit’ – the living house of God – then these latter issues fall logically into place as the crossbeams and walls of that house. All direct attacks on innocent human life, such as abortion and euthanasia, strike at the house’s foundation . These directly and immediately violate the human person’s most fundamental right – the right to life. Neglect of these issues is the equivalent of building our house on sand. Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American Catholics, 23.

While the Church assists the State in the promotion of a just society, its primary concern is to assist men and women in achieving salvation. [Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. Their sphere’s of interest overlap at places, but are separate in significant ways.] For this reason, it is incumbent upon bishops to correct Catholics who are in error regarding these matters. [YES YES YES!] Furthermore, public officials who are Catholic and who persist in public support for abortion and other intrinsic evils should not partake in or be admitted to the sacrament of Holy Communion. As I have said before, I will be vigilant on this subject. [Get that? "I will be vigilant…"]

It is the Church’s role now to be a prophet in our own country, [It seems to me that this bishops really responded to Pope Benedict’s invitation to bishops made when he visited the USA.] reminding all citizens of what our founders meant when they said that “. . . all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” The Church’s teaching that all life from conception to natural death should be protected by law is founded on religious belief to be sure, but it is also a profoundly American principle founded on reason. Whenever a society asks its citizens to violate its own foundational principles – as well as their moral consciences – citizens have a right, indeed an obligation, to refuse. [Again… when Catholics argue for a life position, they can do so in such a way that they cannot be accused to imposing sectarian views on the majority in the public square.]

In 1941, [Blessed] Bishop Gustave [CLEMENS, no?] von Galen [the Lion of Munster] gave a homily condemning Nazi officials for murdering mentally ill people in his diocese of Muenster, Germany. The bishop said:

“Thou shalt not kill!” God wrote this commandment in the conscience of man long before any penal code laid down the penalty for murder, long before there was any prosecutor or any court to investigate and avenge a murder. Cain, who killed his brother Abel, was a murderer long before there were any states or any courts or law. And he confessed his deed, driven by his accusing conscience: “My punishment is greater than I can bear. . . and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me the murderer shall slay me” (Genesis 4:13-14)”

Should he have opposed the war and remained silent about the murder of the mentally ill? No person of conscience can fail to understand why Bishop von Galen spoke as he did. [And therefore no one can say that a Catholic Bishops in the USA does not have the right and obligation to speak up about the rights of the unborn and those who are targets of euthanasia.]

My dear friends, I beg you not to be misled by confusion and lies. [Redolent of St. Paul, in this Pauline year.] Our Lord, Jesus Christ, does not ask us to follow him to Calvary only for us to be afraid of contradicting a few bystanders along the way. He does not ask us to take up his Cross only to have us leave it at the voting booth door. [The money line.] Recently, Pope Benedict XVI said that “God is so humble that he uses us to spread his Word.” The gospel of life, which we have the privilege of proclaiming, resonates in the heart of every person – believer and non-believer – because it fulfills the heart’s most profound desire. Let us with one voice continue to speak the language of love and affirm the right of every human being to have the value of his or her life, from conception to natural death, respected to the highest degree.

October is traditionally the month of the Rosary. [We uses not only arguments but prayer.] Let us pray the Rosary for the strength and fortitude to uphold the truths of our faith and the requirements of our law to all who deny them. And, let us ask Our Lady to bless our nation and the weakest among us.

May Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Lord of Life, pray for us.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Most Reverend Joseph F. Martino, D.D., Hist. E.D.
Bishop of Scranton