For those in the local Maryland area, next Monday (March 8th) will be the annual Maryland March for Life in Annapolis, MD. Fighting against legalized abortion in this state often seems like an uphill battle, but we’ll never win if we don’t try. Try to make an effort to be there next Monday.
Details can be found at: www.marylandmarchforlife.org
One of my favorite pro-life apostolates is Good Counsel Homes, which was founded by Fr. Benedict Groeschel and Chris Bell (who later married pro-life heroine Joan Andrews). Good Counsel Homes provides a home for homeless pregnant women and single mothers, and they have five homes in New York State. Both Chris and Joan Bell are on the Board of Advisors for Little Flowers Foundation.
For a taste of what Good Counsel Homes does, watch this video:
This Lent, if you are looking for a charity to support, consider Good Counsel Homes.
This is so encouraging: my daughter’s 13-year-old pen-pal, who lives in Ohio, wrote a letter to her local paper decrying the evil of abortion and, praise God, it was published. Entitled “Little Girls Don’t Dream of Abortions“, it is a beautiful statement for life:
To the editor:
When Roe v. Wade was passed in 1973, abortion became the lawful decision to terminate a pregnancy, which means terminating the life of an unborn child. In the United States alone, approximately 1.21 million abortions were performed in 2005 and the abortion industry made a profit of more than a billion dollars.
Abortions aren’t really solutions. They don’t offer women the opportunity to embrace a situation with strength and courage, but rather run from a situation with hurt and guilt. There are other alternatives. A woman could raise her baby or place the baby for adoption. Adoption may seem like a scary thing. Trusting your baby’s fate in the hands of another person is frightening, but what kind of fate is abortion for that baby? Women should consider this alternative and see adoption as a loving act filled with hope for her baby, for the adoptive family and for the birth mother as well. There are many organizations, like A.I.M. Women’s Center in Steubenville, dedicated to helping women make strong and courageous decisions.
I’m 13 years old and in the last few months I’ve learned a great deal about how abortion affects the lives of women and how we as a society are allowing women to terminate their pregnancies. How can we live with the fact that more than one million abortions take place every year in this country? It breaks my heart. I recently joined a group called the Pro-Life Youth Congress, which is dedicated to “Building the Culture of Life in which human life is valued and respected during all of its stages.” (www.prolifeyouthcongress.com) This group is locally directed by Nathan Coleman of Steubenville. Being a part of this group has really changed my life. I’ve learned to respect life and how important it is to defend it. I feel like I’m making a difference in the world.
Little girls don’t dream of growing up and having an abortion. No one plans to have an abortion, but hearing that more than a million abortions take place every year tells us that something is wrong and keeps going wrong over and over again. How long will this nation let abortion overtake us? How long will we let the wrong of abortion keep happening?
Alicia M.D. Libetti
Mingo Junction
Way to go Alicia! Thanks for reminding us that you don’t need to be an adult to stand for the Truth.
There is a good interview with Mark Shea over at Ministry Values on the topic of torture. Mark has become the preeminent spokesperson in the Catholic blogosphere for defending the Church’s condemnation of torture. An excerpt:
We asked Mr. Shea, how the policy of torture or enhanced interrogation found its way into official government policy. The obvious answer was of course everything changed after 9/11. Protecting our citizens at all cost became paramount but what we found interesting was his identification of the philosophical under pinnings of the moral justification for torture.
Mr.Shea gave an impassioned discourse on the ideal of “consequentialism” a philosophy that is the intellectual foundation for those whosupport “enhanced interrogation methods” . Simply put”Consequentialism” is “let us do evil as long as it results in good” or better known as “the end justifies the means”.
Mr. Shea assured us that this “ideal” of “consequentialism” has been fully condemned by Pope John Paul II and others. Mark Shea’s view on this issue he admits is not popular these days with many of his conservative friends.
Check out the whole interview here.
In the days leading up to the March for Life, I kept meaning to blog my appreciation for Metropolitan Jonah’s strong encourgement to his fellow Orthodox to take a public stand for Life. The Orthodox Church has always stood strong in condemning abortion, but they have unfortunately been mostly silent in this country in fighting legalized abortion (with Frederica Matthews-Green being a very notable exception). But this year Metropolitan Jonah urged all Orthodox – from bishops to the lowliest layman – to attend the March and to work against legalized abortion. I thank him for that effort.
But what reminded me was seeing this photo over at Byzantine, TX:
(Metropolitan Jonah is in the center in white).
What struck me about the photo was seeing my former classmate Jeff Fortenberry (second from left). Jeff was in the Masters of Theology program with me at Franciscan back in the mid-90’s and we worked together in the campus computer lab during that time. Jeff is now a congressman from Nebraska (quite a step up from assisting students and faculty in using MS Word!).
It seems as if we live in a world which the prophet Isaiah warned us about:
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who change darkness into light, and light into darkness, who change bitter into sweet, and sweet into bitter! (Isaiah 5:20)
The Church’s clear teaching on moral issues has been challenged in all corners, and unfortunately, even by its own members. Actions which should be unthinkable to any decently-formed Catholic must now be explicitly condemned, such as the killing of innocent babies and the idea of same-sex “marriage”.
And recently, another clear moral teaching has been challenged: the intrinsic evil of torture. Many Catholics – including many who proclaim that they are pro-life – are working to justify torture even though it has been condemned in no uncertain terms by the Church.
Erin Manning has begun a new group called “Coalition for Clarity” which works to defend the Church’s teaching in this area. I have proudly signed up as a listed member of this Coalition, although I admit that I find it sad that we have to distinguish ourselves simply by our acceptance of Church teaching.
For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, Until her vindication shines forth like the dawn and her victory like a burning torch. (Isaiah 62:1)
Looking ahead
Looking behind
In a few hours I’ll be leaving for the March for Life. It has been almost 20 years since my first March back in 1991, and I have now been to Marches under 4 different presidents. My oldest child is actually much closer to my age at my first March than I am. But as I march, I always try to remind myself why I go.
No, I march for one primary reason: because those I want to see protected by law and loved by society – the unborn – cannot march. They are silent victims of a terrible holocaust, and they cannot speak for themselves. They cannot stand up for their own rights; they need us to do that for them.
By marching, we are reminding everyone that every day innocent children are being ripped from their mother’s wombs, and this occurs under the full protection of the law and the complete acceptance of our society. By marching, we can be the voice for those who have not yet developed their own voices.
That is why I march.
I am attending the March for Life tomorrow with four of my children, and I hope anyone who can make it comes as well. I have been going off-and-0n since 1991, and I am always very encouraged by all the people I see – especially all the young people (I was one of those young people back in 1991!).
If for some reason you can’t make it, you can always attend the Virtual March for Life. Just don’t make that an excuse for not attending the real one if you can.
Also, the bishops have declared January 22nd a day of penance: whether you go to the March or not, be sure to pray and fast tomorrow for the end of legalized abortion.
Ohio Abortion Clinic Follows National Trend and Closes
After 34 years in the abortion business, the Mahoning Women’s Center in Youngstown, Ohio, permanently closed its doors on January 12, 2010. The owner has retired and the building will be sold. The closure leaves the community of Youngstown abortion-free.
“This is such great news for the people of Ohio and all Americans. It means that lives will be saved,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “We know from experience that when abortion clinics close, many women who would otherwise have opted for abortion will instead happily keep their babies or release them for adoption.”
The closure follows a well-documented national trend. In 1991, there were nearly 2,200 abortion clinics, but today there are 712. Since 1991 over two-thirds of all abortion clinics have permanently closed. That trend reflects the shifting attitude of Americans toward the pro-life position.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!
California abortionist accused of gross negligence in woman’s death
I’m looking forward to the day when the headline reads “Abortionist accused of gross negligence in unborn baby’s death”
This seemingly innocuous building:
will soon become a place of great evil. Planned Parenthood is planning to open the largest abortion clinic in the country in this former bank in Houston later this year.
One day we will look upon these buildings as we now look upon Auschwitz and Dachau.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!
One of the most popular movies in the 1980’s was “Rain Man” in which Dustin Hoffman plays an autistic man who had amazing mental abilities. The man Hoffman’s character was based on, Kim Peek, recently died at the age of 58.
Although mentally disabled in some ways, Peek’s mind could do things that were simply unbelievable. For example, you could name a date, any date, and he could tell you the day of the week it fell on and what happened that day in history
Peek and others like him remind us of two things:
1) We only have a very limited understanding of how the human brain works.
2) All of God’s creatures, no matter their disabilities, are amazing works of the Lord that should always inspire a sense of awe and wonder.
As our culture works to eradicate the non-perfect from our world, we should remember the joy and wonder that people like Peek bring to it.
Here are some videos about the real-life “Rain Man”:
Pray for Peek and Peek’s father, who cared for him throughout his life.
Praise God! A former abortionist in South Korea has made it his goal to eliminate abortions in that country:
South Korea has one of the highest rates of abortion in the world, even though abortion is technically illegal there except in a few rare circumstances. According to official government figures, there are 340,000 abortions each year, although one parliamentarian has estimated that there may be as many as 1.5 million. At the same time, Korea’s birth rate is the second-lowest in the world – 1.19 births per woman — and some Koreans fear that their very survival as a nation is in doubt.
That is the background for a courageous decision by a 50-year-old Seoul obstetrician and gynaecologist, Dr Sang-duk Shim, to stop doing abortions and to lobby the government for a dramatic reduction. He has even received death threats for his stand.
Could you explain the goal of your activist group of doctors? What is its name? How many members do you have?
Dr Shim: This movement is the Korean Gynecological Physicians’ Association, or “Gynob”, and is an organization consisting of obstetricians and gynaecologists. Currently we have about 680 listed members. Of course, Gynob is not an organization designed only to resolve the problem of abortion, but is intended to improve the distorted medical enviroment in which OB/GYNs work. It does not mean that all of the members of Gynob actively participate in Gynob activities. Our movement is led by a group of about 30 activists.
The goal of our movement is a Korea without abortions. To be more specific, our immediate goal is to reduce the number of abortions to 100,000 cases within ten years — one-third of what it is today — and to eliminate all forms of abortion except when necessary to save the life of an expectant mother.
How long did you do abortions? How many did you do?
Dr Shim: It has been about 20 years since I obtained my qualification as an obstetrician. I have been involved in abortion for almost 20 years until I discontinued it in October, as part of my commitment to the anti-abortion movement. I do not have any written record of the abortions I did. However, I had about 20 cases a month, which means a total of 4,000 cases over the period of 20 years.
Why did you stop? Has it been a big sacrifice for you?
Dr Shim: Practicing abortion violates fundamental ethical values for medical doctors and I have suffered pangs of conscience for a long while. Over time, I have noticed that society as a whole and the medical services sector in particular did not try hard to reduce the number of abortions. Rather abortion was encouraged and the basic issues have been left untreated. Simply because of financial pressures on obstetricians, it became clear that abortion has been encouraged and generally accepted.
Read the whole interview here and be sure to pray for Dr. Shim. He is not a believer, but he might very well follow the path of Dr. Bernard Nathanson, who went from abortionist to atheist pro-lifer to Catholic.
Two-thirds of abortion clinics in this country have closed since 1991
I look forward to the day when the headline reads “Three-thirds of abortion clinics in this country have closed”.
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I began my study of the Catholic faith in 1991 as an Evangelical Protestant, converting to the Catholic Church in 1993.
I serve as head of evangelization at St. John Neumann parish in Gaithersburg, MD, and am cofounder of Little Flowers Foundation, a non-profit whose mission is to assist Catholic families seeking to adopt children with special-needs.
I regularly speak to parish groups and other organizations on a variety of topics - contact me to schedule a talk for your group.
You can email me at eric@ericsammons.com.
