FROM PRIESTS FOR LIFE:

Fr. Pavone on 'Choose Life' License Plate Victory - Free Speech Trumps Pro-Abortion Censors

STATEN ISLAND, Oct. 7 /Christian Newswire/ -- Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, said today that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to let stand a lower court ruling allowing the issuance of "Choose Life" license plates in Arizona is a victory against censorship.

"Only a pro-abortion zealot would consider the words 'Choose Life' to be controversial," stated Fr. Pavone.  "Abortion profiteers and their political supporters are obviously threatened by the thought that someone, somewhere, sometime might choose an alternative to abortion.  Now that the Arizona government's pro-abortion censors have been rebuked by the courts for the last time, drivers can finally exercise their free speech rights and choose 'Choose Life' license plates."

Priests for Life is the nation's largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.

FROM OPERATION RESCUE:

Funeral For Baby Shanice To Be Held 26 Months After Being Left On Abortion Clinic Roof To Die

October 7th, 2008

Ft. Lauderdale, FL - A funeral will be held for Baby Shanice Denise Osbourne in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, next week, over 26 months after she was born alive during an abortion, shoved into a biohazard bag, and tossed on the roof of a Hialeah abortion mill to die.

Clinic owner Belkis Gonzales, a woman with no medical background, delivered the African-American baby girl after the mother reported to the abortion clinic complaining of discomfort. She had started the process of abortion the previous day. Abortionist Pierre Renelique was contacted when the patient reported to the clinic but never answered his page.

According a police affidavit, the mother "observed the baby moving and gasping for air for approximately five (5) minutes. The staff began screaming that the baby was alive; at which time, Ms. Belkis Gonzalez cut the umbilical cord, threw it into a red bag with black printing. Ms. Gonzalez then swept the baby, with her hands, into the same red bag along with the gauze used during the procedure."

The bag containing Shanice was tossed onto the roof of the abortion clinic to conceal her body from police. A clinic worker informed police of the incident and Shanice's body was recovered.

An autopsy indicated that the baby's lungs contained gas bubbles and floated, proving that Shanice was alive and breathing at birth.

Gonzales is the subject of a current grand jury investigation, which will likely result in her being charged in the Baby Shanice's death. The abortion clinic where Shanice died has since closed.

The funeral will be held on October 14, 2008, at 11 AM at Queen of Heaven Cemetery, 1500 S. State Road 7, in Ft. Lauderdale. The ceremony will be officiated by Rev. O'Neal Dozier. Former presidential candidate Dr. Alan Keyes will deliver the eulogy. The public is encouraged to attend.

"We rejoice that Baby Shanice will finally be laid to rest with the dignity and love she was denied in her short life, and we pray her killers will soon be brought to justice," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. Operation Rescue helped break the story of Shanice's death, published documentation of the incident, and helped pressure the authorities to act.

"We also pray that the African-American community will rise up and say, 'Enough!' to the exploitation and decimation of their community by predatory abortionists such as Gonzalez and Renelique," said Newman.

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About Operation Rescue® 

 

Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation.  Operation Rescue recently made headlines when it bought and closed an abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas and has become the voice of the pro-life activist movement in America.  Its activities are on the cutting edge of the abortion issue, taking direct action to restore legal personhood to the pre-born and stop abortion in obedience to biblical mandates. Click here to support Operation Rescue. 

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Web site: www.operationrescue.org

E-mail: info@operationrescue.org

Barack Obama's Sweeping Agenda for Pro-Abortion Policy Changes Examined by NRLC's Douglas Johnson in 'National Review Online'

NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson and other NRLC staff persons are available for interviews on the subject of Mr. Johnson's new article on National Review Online, "Unholy Messaging," including radio debates with advocates for Barack Obama

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Obama campaign and its allies have adopted an extensive "messaging strategy" that seeks to persuade religiously committed Americans that Obama has a middle-of- the-road position on abortion policy and will promote "abortion reduction."

Douglas Johnson, longtime legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) and author of an article published today on National Review Online, titled "Unholy Messaging," calls the Obama effort "a brazen scam."

"The scam depends on the Obama campaign, with cooperation from the mainstream news media, deflecting attention away from Obama's actual record, and from his extensive commitments to pro-abortion interest groups," Johnson said. "Barack Obama is firmly committed to an agenda of sweeping pro-abortion policy changes that, if implemented, will surely greatly increase the number of abortions performed."

Johnson noted that a few short months ago, during his primary contest, Obama and his advocates were boasting about his record of leadership in opposition to legislation to ban partial-birth abortions, to protect infants born alive during abortions, and to require parental notification for minors seeking abortions, among other pro-life bills. "Those boasts were well-founded, and the current effort to re-package Obama as a moderate is a brazen scam," Johnson said.

The Obama "messaging" campaign includes a recently launched "Faith, Family & Values Tour" that will visit Colorado, Indiana, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Florida, New Mexico, Virginia, and Wisconsin. In addition, various independent groups are disseminating advertising and literature that advances the same strategy.

Among the specific Obama positions documented in Johnson's article (which contains extensive hyperlinks to documentation):

-- Obama is a cosponsor of the so-called "Freedom of Choice Act" (FOCA, S. 1173), which Johnson calls "the most sweeping piece of pro-abortion legislation ever proposed in Congress." The FOCA is a bill that would make partial-birth abortion legal again, strike down restrictions on taxpayer funding of abortion, and nullify virtually every state and federal law or policy that would in any way "interfere with" access to abortion, including parental notification laws. In a letter sent to every member of Congress by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on September 19, Cardinal Justin Rigali wrote, "No one who sponsors or supports legislation like FOCA can credibly claim to be part of a good-faith discussion on how to reduce abortions. In a speech to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund on July 17, 2007, Obama said, "The first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That's the first thing that I'd do."

-- Obama advocates the nullification of state laws requiring parental notification or consent for a minor daughter's abortion, which would be one of the effects of the FOCA. Moreover, since entering the U.S. Senate, Obama has had two opportunities to vote directly on the question of parental notification for interstate abortions on minors, and he voted "no" on both occasions.

-- Obama advocates repeal of the Hyde Amendment, the law that since 1976 has blocked almost all federal funding of abortion, even though both pro-life and pro-abortion analysts agree that this law has prevented many abortions. By even the most conservative estimate, there are more than one million Americans alive today because of the Hyde Amendment. "Because the Hyde Amendment must be renewed annually, a new president hostile to the Hyde Amendment could quickly place it in jeopardy," Johnson observed. The FOCA would also nullify all state laws restricting state funding of elective abortion.

-- In a written response to a pro-abortion advocacy group, the Obama campaign said that Obama is opposed to continuing current federal funding for "crisis pregnancy centers," which provide needed assistance to many thousands of pregnant women.

-- NRLC has thoroughly documented that in the Illinois state Senate, Obama led the opposition to legislation to protect babies who are born alive during abortions, and persisted in his opposition even after Congress had enacted a virtually identical federal bill without a single dissenting vote. Obama has in numerous ways actively misrepresented the content of this legislation, and his actions on it, but even when such misrepresentations were proved by NRLC and others, the major media simply let Obama abandon them and fall back to a different set of equally misleading claims.

In his article, Johnson criticizes recent coverage in the "mainstream news media," which, he writes, "have, with few exceptions, been very compliant with Obama's recent efforts to downplay his hard-line pro-abortion history and policy commitments, for the purpose of winning the general election." Typically, journalists simply describe Obama's position as "supports abortion rights," without giving details regarding his advocacy of federal funding of abortion, invalidation of parental notification laws, and the rest.

****

NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson and other NRLC staff persons are available for interviews on the subject of the Obama agenda on abortion, including radio debates with advocates for Barack Obama. Call 202-626-8820.

Mr. Johnson's article has been cross-posted on the NRLC website under the title "Efforts to Sell Obama to Pro-Life Americans Collide With His Support for Sweeping Pro-abortion Policy Changes."

Born and Unborn, we are all 'fearfully and wonderfully made' :)

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

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Intention:

Abortion is the great "no." May all of God's people have the freedom and grace to say "yes" to His marvelous plans.

Scripture:

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed and in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.

-- Psalm 139:13-16

Reflection:

Unlike the rest of creation, we are capable of a personal relationship with God. Not only did God create us, but created us according to a plan devised from all eternity. No matter how far back we go in our imagination, there was never a time when God did not know each of us, in every detail of our being.

There was not a particular time when God decided to make us. The decision to make us has been in the mind of God from all eternity. All our days were written in His book.

TO DARE TO SAY THAT A HUMAN BEING, DEVELOPING IN THE WOMB, SHOULD NOT BE BORN IS AS WRONG AS TO SAY THAT A BORN PERSON SHOULD NOT CONTINUE TO GROW AND LIVE. In each case, an attack on human life is an attack on the God who formed and made us. Jesus Christ is the great "yes" to the promises of God; abortion is the great "no."

Prayer:

Lord, I pray today for every unborn child. The beauty of the bodies and souls of these children flows from your hands and your eternal plan. Awaken in every human conscience a profound reverence for human life, and grant us grace to defend our smallest and most defenseless brothers and sisters, those still being formed in the secret places of their mothers' womb. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life

Bishop Finn's Statement:

Freedom of Choice Act Would Remove All Limitations on Abortions

Bishop Robert W. Finn

10/4/2008The Catholic Key
I urge you to learn more about the Freedom of Choice Act and its advocates so that you can make informed decisions in the voting booth. KANSAS CITY (The Catholic Key) - Bishop Robert W. Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is one of the strongest advocates for the Catholic faith in the United States Catholic Church. He is also an outspoken defender of the fundamental Right to Life from conception to Natural death. In this recent article published in the Catholic Key he exposes the grave dangers of the so called "Freedom of Choice Act":

"The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), was first introduced in November of 1989 by Representative Don Edwards (D- Calif) and Senator Alan Cranston (D-Calif). It was proposed to “codify Roe v. Wade,” and was, at that time, opposed by Senator Carol Moseley Braun (D-Ill), who argued that it did not go far enough to unleash – on a national level – a complete and unrestricted access to abortion. The first version, according to the Senator, dangerously allowed some conscience protection to health care professionals and did not require states to fund abortions.

The more recent wording of FOCA, introduced last year, is as follows:

“A government may not (1) deny or interfere with a woman’s right to choose – (A) to bear a child; (B) to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability; or (C) to terminate a pregnancy after viability where termination is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman; or (2) discriminate against the exercise of the rights set forth in paragraph (1) in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information.

This act applies to every Federal, State, and local statute, ordinance, regulation, administrative order, decision, penalty, practice, or other action enacted, adopted, or implemented before or after the date of enactment of this act.” Text of H.R. 1964 and S. 1173, introduced on April 19, 2007.

It is clear that FOCA would immediately make null and void every current restriction on abortion in all jurisdictions. According to a recent article by Tom McCloskey, “FOCA Would Harm Women and Remove Freedoms,” and reported by the Family Research Council, if FOCA was passed it would automatically overturn:

- State abortion reporting requirements in all 50 states
- Forty-four states’ laws concerning parental involvement
- Forty states’ laws on restricting later-term abortions
- Forty-six states’ conscience protection laws for individual health care providers
- Twenty-seven states’ conscience protection laws for institutions
- Thirty-eight states’ bans on partial-birth abortions
- Thirty-three states’ laws on requiring counseling before an abortion
- Sixteen states’ laws concerning ultrasounds before an abortion

There is evidence of a very significant reduction of reported abortions, particularly among teens, through the passage of parental involvement laws and the use of ultrasounds. The August, 2008, report of the Alan Guttmacher Institute notes the greatest decline in abortions over the last 30 years is among teens, attributable in large part to the above restrictions, as well as a later initiation of sexual activity. It must be concluded that chastity formation or abstinence education has a positive effect on lowering these rates, as well as enriching the lives of our young men and women.

I was recently asked to comment on claims by a group calling itself Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, which says that electing candidates who have permissive or clearly pro-choice stances in support of abortion, but are determined to provide more assistance to poor and vulnerable women and families would actually help to reduce abortions in the United States. This group, I believe has its priorities backwards. It seems unlikely that candidates advocating full access to abortion – which attacks the most vulnerable poor, the unborn - will at the same time have a consistent or principle-based plan for helping other poor people.

It should be noted that the Catholic Church worldwide provides more help in assisting the needy than any other single private agency – religious or secular. At the same time, she operates from the principle that the measure of our charity is first defined by what we do to and for the most vulnerable.

When a candidate pledges to provide “comprehensive sex education” to school children and promises to promote – or to “sign immediately upon taking office” - the Freedom of Choice Act, Catholics and all people of good will have cause to question the sincerity of the candidate’s determination to reduce abortions, when these already existing limits have caused a decrease of more than 100,000 abortions each year. (cf. Michael New-Matthew Bowman, Combined Reductions in Abortions, with data supplied by NARAL Pro-Choice America)

As Archbishop Naumann and I stressed in our recent Pastoral Letter, “Our Moral Responsibility as Catholic Citizens,” we can never vote for a candidate because of his or permissive stand on abortion. At the same time, if we are inclined to vote for someone despite their pro-abortion stance, it seems we are morally obliged to establish a proportionate reason sufficient to justify the destruction of 45 million human persons through abortion. If we learn that our “candidate of choice” further pledges – through an instrument such as FOCA - to eliminate all existing limitations against abortion, it is that much more doubtful whether voting for him or her can ever be morally justified under any circumstance.

I urge you to learn more about the Freedom of Choice Act and its advocates so that you can make informed decisions in the voting booth.

Tribulation Times - http://www.tribtimes.com

Archbishop Burke

Tribulation Times

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/october.asp?version=63

October 7, 2008  

ON THE ROSARY

The Rosary Batters the Gates of Hell
Mysteries Unlocked- The Scriptural Rosary Adds Depth to the Decades

ON CITIZENSHIP

Faithful Citizenship: A Message from the Bishop Joseph A. Galante

EDITORIAL EXCERPT: Archbishop Burke Calls Out the Democrats on Life Issues

Archbishop Burke is right that other bishops are slowly coming around. A sample of prelate's statements on the significance of abortion in this presidential election has been cited often. After House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the doctors of the Church have not been able to make that definition [as to when life begins]" a host of bishops issued rebuttals including New York Cardinal Edward Egan, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput and Auxiliary Bishop James D. Conley of Denver as well as Cardinal Justin Rigali and Bishop William Lori, chairman of the U. S. bishops' pro-life and doctrine committees. Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas has spelled out the reasons why the so-called "Catholic" Democratic Governor of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius (the daughter of pro-abort John Gilligan who was governor of Ohio) should not be entitled to receive Communion.

The Burkean view and the actions of other bishops against his favorite liberal Democrats will be viewed with disfavor by Fr. Andrew Greeley weekly columnist for "The Chicago Sun-Times." Greeley who trades on his photo where he is wearing a clerical collar has been long a faithful lip-synch mouthpiece for the Democratic party, touting the candidacy of Barack Obama who four-times as a state senator killed the Illinois version of "Born Alive," which would guarantee medical care for infants born from a botched abortion. Thus Obama is the first presidential nominee to have not only espoused but to have legislative blood on his hands by killing a bill that would relieve dying infants born outside the womb from pain—opposing the measure because…as a Harvard lawyer (along with his wife another Harvard lawyer) if you please…he fancies it would threaten "Roe v. Wade"—a point on which he has been in disagreement with the great majority of pro-aborts in the U.S. Senate who passed an identical bill prior to Obama's joining that body. Fr. Greeley says decorously his role as a priest forbids him to endorse anybody for office but has called Obama in his column "my guy." The self-same Greeley wore a golden saxophone proudly on his black clerical jacket emblematic that he had maxed out to Bill Clinton.

To the biblical injunction that one cannot serve both God and mammon, Fr. Greeley now finds himself roughly in the same position as Jack Benny did in a skit on his late popular radio show. Self-publicizing himself as a skinflint, Benny was characterized walking down a dark street one night when he was approached by a robber who stuck a gun in his ribs and rasped: "Your money or your life!" There followed a long, painful silence. The robber repeated: "I said, buddy, YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE!" To which Benny shouted—"I'M THINKING! I'M THINKING!" At his current age, over 80, Fr. Greeley has thus far avoided making the choice between God and mammon—mammon benefiting as he evades the argument. But in the immortal imagery of Francis Thompson's poetic masterpiece "The Hound of Heaven," Greeley may hear galloping footsteps coming near to him as he coasts into agedness. As one who is Greeley's identical age, I advise him to cup a hand to his ear and listen closely.

To-wit: When the time comes to meet the Just Judge, Greeley will likely surround himself with all the accoutrements of the Church's traditions he has so scornfully dissed including incense burners as he strives to get things his way. The man who once wrote during the last papal conclave that the Holy Spirit has proved Itself fallible by having fingered so many sinful popes…neglecting to point out what we learned from the Baltimore Catechism that infallibility is the preventative to teach error in faith and morals only… will have to surpass all the skills he has shown as an earthly communicator to justify these words and the long-long record of partisanship in behalf of pro-abortion Democratic politics.

(Gal 1:8-10) But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema. As we said before, so now I say again: If any one preach to you a gospel, besides that which you have received, let him be anathema. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

Ladder of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 8- "On Freedom from Anger and on Meekness"

11. An angry person is a willing epileptic, who due to an involuntary tendency keeps convulsing and falling down.   

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Prayer request?  Send an email to: PrayerRequest3@aol.com

This month's archive can be found at: http://www.catholicprophecy.info/news2.html.

FROM AMERICAN LIFE LEAGUE:

ARCHBISHOP DONALD WUERL AND THE WORLD
By Judie Brown

Today is the day we run our full-page ad in the Washington Times weekly edition. It is a full-color ad in which we pay tribute to the 16 Catholic bishops who have chosen to protect Christ from sacrilege by enforcing Church law, specifically Canon 915.

In the ad, we ask Archbishop Donald Wuerl ,of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., when he will join with these bishops. We have to presume from past statements and actions that the archbishop does not plan to do so any time soon; yet the question is a valid one. As Catholic columnist Barbara Kralis wrote in January 2007, 

Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington recently told journalist Allyson Smith that he would not discipline nor deny Holy Communion to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, nor to other Catholic politicians who promote and legislate procured abortion.

Without belaboring the point, it is sufficient to say that many opportunities have presented themselves to the archbishop to not only enforce Canon 915, but to instruct his priests, ordained deacons and extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion to do likewise. Such an action has not occurred.

The purpose of this column is to explain why we persist in this campaign and why our actions should not be perceived as disrespectful or otherwise antagonistic toward Catholic bishops. Quite the contrary is the case, as my comments will show.

Perhaps you have not read this particular canon before, so I will quote it for you:

Those upon whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, [emphasis added] are not to be admitted to holy communion.

We pursue this project of asking Catholic bishops, priests, ordained deacons and extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion to enforce this Church law specifically because numerous pro-abortion Catholic public figures, politicians, media types and so forth are scandalizing the faithful. They do so by being permitted to receive the body of Christ despite exhibiting obstinate persistence in the manifest grave sin of publicly supporting abortion.

As one Catholic wrote recently on Father John Zuhlsdorf's blog, 

Senator Lisa Murkowski was listed as a guest of honor in the program for the Red Mass in Anchorage last Sunday, attended by Archbishop Roger L. Schwietz, OMI. Lisa voted for the infamous "Harkin Amendment," proclaiming the "sense of the senate" that Roe v. Wade is a wonderful decision and should be the law of the land. Thank God, she wasn't able to attend and profane the Eucharist. Nonetheless, the impression left with the congregation was that if you publicly endorse abortion, you too can still be a guest of honor at a Red Mass, of all occasions.

The sentiments expressed in this comment expose the problem of not protecting Christ from sacrilege. The notion is created that pro-abortion Catholics in public life really aren't in direct conflict with Church teaching. And yet, the fact is that they are not only in conflict, but their souls are in grave jeopardy. Regardless of what your opinion may be on Catholic teaching, the fact is that for any Catholic who claims to be a practicing Catholic, the act of abortion is an intrinsically evil act that is always and in every case wrong. No Catholic should support the murder of the innocent and yet they do so with abandon, and few ordained priests and deacons remind them of the gravity of their public position by denying the body of Christ to them. This too is a scandal.

American Life League does not focus attention on Canon 915 because we disrespect Catholic bishops; on the contrary, we do this because we believe sincerely that the purpose of Canon 915 is two-fold. Enforcement of this Church law protects the body of Christ and helps to teach the errant public figure that his actions are an offense to God and he must repent in order to return to full communion with the Church. 

For these two reasons alone, we cannot understand why all 260-plus Catholic bishops have not united in a position of solidarity to protect Christ from sacrilege. And by sacrilege I do not mean to suggest that we at American Life League are sitting in judgment of others' intentions. Quite the contrary. If one examines the public record of any of these Catholic supporters of abortion, it is crystal clear that they endorse this crime against humanity while knowing full well that it conflicts with Church teaching, not to mention the commandment of God: "Thou shalt not kill."

Deacon John Giglio states in his Deacon for Life blog, 

Were there to be no support in the whole history of ethical and moral thought, were there no acknowledged confirmation from medical science, were the history of legal opinion to the contrary, we would still have to conclude on the basis of God's Holy Word that the unborn child is a person in the sight of God. He is protected by the sanctity of life graciously given to each individual by the Creator, Who alone places His image upon man and grants them any right to life which they have.

It is an undeniable fact that there is a human being in the womb during pregnancy; if it were otherwise, why would anyone promote, support, fund or acquire an abortion?

The presence of that baby in the womb, Fallopian tube or test tube is as real as is the presence of Christ in Holy Eucharist. It therefore makes perfect sense that just as the Catholic Church teaches that there is never a reason to abort a child, so too there should never be a reason to permit sacrilege against the truly present body of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. And yet it continues, day in and day out.

But we are not disheartened. We know that defending the truth does not resound well with many, but the accusations that we are divisive or judgmental cannot deter us. In fact, we welcome it all as we continue to defend the preborn and the real presence of Christ.

As Archbishop Raymond Burke wrote last year,

The United States of America is a thoroughly secularized society which canonizes radical individualism and relativism, even before the natural moral law. The application, therefore, is more necessary than ever, lest the faithful, led astray by the strong cultural trends of relativism, be deceived concerning the supreme good of the Holy Eucharist and the gravity of supporting publicly the commission of intrinsically evil acts. Catholics in public office bear an especially heavy burden of responsibility to uphold the moral law in the exercise of their office which is exercised for the common good, especially the good of the innocent and defenseless. When they fail, they lead others, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, to be deceived regarding the evils of procured abortion and other attacks on innocent and defenseless human life, on the integrity of human procreation, and on the family.

As Pope John Paul II reminded us, referring to the teaching of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, the Holy Eucharist contains the entire good of our salvation [91]. There is no responsibility of the Church's shepherds which is greater than that of teaching the truth about the Holy Eucharist, celebrating worthily the Holy Eucharist, and directing the flock in the worship and care of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Can. 915 of the Code of Canon Law and can. 712 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches articulate an essential element of the shepherds' responsibility, namely, the perennial discipline of the Church by which the minister of Holy Communion is to deny the Sacrament to those who obstinately persevere in manifest grave sin.

Judie Brown is president of American Life League and a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.